Abstract: In this article, we are going to do a study that consist in the configuration of a link between an earth station to broadcast multimedia service and a user of this service via a geostationary satellite in Ka- band and the set up of the different components of this link and then to make the calculation of the link budget for this system. The application carried out in this work, allows us to calculate the link budget in both directions: the uplink and downlink, as well as all parameters used in the calculation and the development of a link budget. Finally, we will try to verify using the application developed the feasibility of implementation of this system.
Abstract: Gluconic acid is one of interesting chemical products
in industries such as detergents, leather, photographic, textile, and
especially in food and pharmaceutical industries. Fermentation is an
advantageous process to produce gluconic acid. Mathematical
modeling is important in the design and operation of fermentation
process. In fact, kinetic data must be available for modeling. The
kinetic parameters of gluconic acid production by Aspergillus niger
in batch culture was studied in this research at initial substrate
concentration of 150, 200 and 250 g/l. The kinetic models used were
logistic equation for growth, Luedeking-Piret equation for gluconic
acid formation, and Luedeking-Piret-like equation for glucose
consumption. The Kinetic parameters in the model were obtained by
minimizing non linear least squares curve fitting.
Abstract: This paper presents a methodical approach for designing and optimizing process parameters in oil blending industries. Twenty seven replicated experiments were conducted for production of A-Z crown super oil (SAE20W/50) employing L9 orthogonal array to establish process response parameters. Power law model was fitted to experimental data and the obtained model was optimized applying the central composite design (CCD) of response surface methodology (RSM). Quadratic model was found to be significant for production of A-Z crown supper oil. The study recognized and specified four new lubricant formulations that conform to ISO oil standard in the course of analyzing the batch productions of A-Z crown supper oil as: L1: KV = 21.8293Cst, BS200 = 9430.00Litres, Ad102=11024.00Litres, PVI = 2520 Litres, L2: KV = 22.513Cst, BS200 = 12430.00 Litres, Ad102 = 11024.00 Litres, PVI = 2520 Litres, L3: KV = 22.1671Cst, BS200 = 9430.00 Litres, Ad102 = 10481.00 Litres, PVI= 2520 Litres, L4: KV = 22.8605Cst, BS200 = 12430.00 Litres, Ad102 = 10481.00 Litres, PVI = 2520 Litres. The analysis of variance showed that quadratic model is significant for kinematic viscosity production while the R-sq value statistic of 0.99936 showed that the variation of kinematic viscosity is due to its relationship with the control factors. This study therefore resulted to appropriate blending proportions of lubricants base oil and additives and recommends the optimal kinematic viscosity of A-Z crown super oil (SAE20W/50) to be 22.86Cst.
Abstract: This paper presents findings from the evaluation study carried out to review the UAE national ID card software. The paper consults the relevant literature to explain many of the concepts and frameworks explained herein. The findings of the evaluation work that was primarily based on the ISO 9126 standard for system quality measurement highlighted many practical areas that if taken into account is argued to more likely increase the success chances of similar system implementation projects.
Abstract: Deciding the numerous parameters involved in
designing a competent artificial neural network is a complicated task.
The existence of several options for selecting an appropriate
architecture for neural network adds to this complexity, especially
when different applications of heterogeneous natures are concerned.
Two completely different applications in engineering and medical
science were selected in the present study including prediction of
workpiece's surface roughness in ultrasonic-vibration assisted turning
and papilloma viruses oncogenicity. Several neural network
architectures with different parameters were developed for each
application and the results were compared. It was illustrated in this
paper that some applications such as the first one mentioned above
are apt to be modeled by a single network with sufficient accuracy,
whereas others such as the second application can be best modeled
by different expert networks for different ranges of output.
Development of knowledge about the essentials of neural networks
for different applications is regarded as the cornerstone of
multidisciplinary network design programs to be developed as a
means of reducing inconsistencies and the burden of the user
intervention.
Abstract: Steady state experiments have been conducted for
natural and mixed convection heat transfer, from five different sized
protruding discrete heat sources, placed at the bottom position on a
PCB and mounted on a vertical channel. The characteristic length (
Lh ) of heat sources vary from 0.005 to 0.011 m. The study has been
done for different range of Reynolds number and modified Grashof
number. From the experiment, the surface temperature distribution
and the Nusselt number of discrete heat sources have been obtained
and the effects of Reynold number and Richardson number on them
have been discussed. The objective is to find the rate of heat
dissipation from heat sources, by placing them at the bottom position
on a PCB and to compare both modes of cooling of heat sources.
Abstract: Microstructure, wetting behavior and interfacial
reactions between Sn–0.7Cu and Sn–0.3Ag–0.7Cu (SAC0307)
solders solidified on Ni coated Al substrates were compared and
investigated. Microstructure of Sn–0.7Cu alloy exhibited a eutectic
matrix composed of primary β-Sn dendrites with a fine dispersion of
Cu6Sn5 intermetallics whereas microstructure of SAC0307 alloy
exhibited coarser Cu6Sn5 and finer Ag3Sn precipitates of IMCs with
decreased tin dendrites. Contact angles ranging from 22° to 26° were
obtained for Sn–0.7Cu solder solidified on substrate surface whereas
for SAC0307 solder alloy contact angles were found to be in the
range of 20° to 22°. Sn–0.7Cu solder/substrate interfacial region
exhibited faceted (Cu, Ni)6Sn5 IMCs protruding into the solder matrix
and a small amount of (Cu, Ni)3Sn4 intermetallics at the interface.
SAC0307 solder/substrate interfacial region showed mainly (Cu,
Ni)3Sn4 intermetallics adjacent to the coating layer and (Cu,
Ni)6Sn5 IMCs in the solder matrix. The improvement in the
wettability of SAC0307 solder alloy on substrate surface is attributed
to the formation of cylindrical shape (Cu,Ni)6Sn5 and a layer of
(Cu, Ni)3Sn4 IMCs at the interface.
Abstract: Portuguese diet has been gradually diverging from the basic principles of healthy eating, leading to an unbalanced dietary pattern which, associated with increasing sedentary lifestyle, has a negative impact on public health. The main objective of this work was to characterize the dietary habits of university students in Viseu, Portugal. The study consisted of a sample of 80 university students, aged between 18 and 28 years. Anthropometric data (weight (kg) and height (m)) were collected and Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated. The dietary habits were assessed through a three-day food record and the software Medpoint was used to convert food into energy and nutrients. The results showed that students present a normal body mass index. Female university students made a higher number of daily meals than male students, and these last skipped breakfast more frequently. The values of average daily intake of energy, macronutrients and calcium were higher in males. The food pattern was characterized by a predominant consumption of meat, cereal, fats and sugar. Dietary intake of dairy products, fruits, vegetables and legumes does not meet the recommendations, revealing inadequate food habits such as hypoglycemic, hyperprotein and hyperlipidemic diet. Our findings suggest that preventive interventions should be focus in promoting healthy eating habits and physical activity in adulthood.
Abstract: The use of solar control film on windows as one of
solar passive strategies for building have becoming important and is
gaining recognition. Malaysia located close to equator is having
warm humid climate with long sunshine hours and abundant solar
radiation throughout the year. Hence, befitting solar control on
windows is absolutely necessary to capture the daylight whilst
moderating thermal impact and eliminating glare problems. This is
one of the energy efficient strategies to achieve thermal and visual
comfort in buildings. Therefore, this study was carried out to
investigate the effect of window solar controls on thermal and visual
performance of naturally ventilated buildings. This was conducted via
field data monitoring using a test building facility. Four types of
window glazing systems were used with three types of solar control
films. Data were analysed for thermal and visual impact with
reference to thermal and optical characteristics of the films. Results
show that for each glazing system, the surface temperature of
windows are influenced by the Solar Energy Absorption property, the
indoor air temperature are influenced by the Solar Energy
Transmittance and Solar Energy Reflectance, and the daylighting by
Visible Light Transmission and Shading Coefficient. Further
investigations are underway to determine the mathematical relation
between thermal energy and visual performance with the thermal and
optical characteristics of solar control films.
Abstract: Measurements of radioactivity in the environment is of great importance to monitor and control the levels of radiation to which man is exposed directly or indirectly. It is necessary to show that regardless of working or being close to nuclear power plants, people are daily in contact with some amount of radiation from the actual environment and food that are ingested, contradicting the view of most of them. The aim of this study was to analyze the rate of natural and artificial radiation from radionuclides present in cement, soil and fertilizers used in Sergipe State – Brazil. The radionuclide activitiesmeasured all samples arebelow the Brazilian limit of the exclusion and exemption criteria from the requirement of radiation protection.It was detected Be-7 in organic fertilizers that means a short interval between the brewing processes for use in agriculture. It was also detected an unexpected Cs-137 in some samples; however its activities does not represent risk for the population. Th-231 was also found in samples of soil and cement in the state of Sergipe that is an unprecedented result.
Abstract: In this work, we present a novel active learning approach
for learning a visual object detection system. Our system
is composed of an active learning mechanism as wrapper around
a sub-algorithm which implement an online boosting-based learning
object detector. In the core is a combination of a bootstrap procedure
and a semi automatic learning process based on the online boosting
procedure. The idea is to exploit the availability of classifier during
learning to automatically label training samples and increasingly
improves the classifier. This addresses the issue of reducing labeling
effort meanwhile obtain better performance. In addition, we propose
a verification process for further improvement of the classifier.
The idea is to allow re-update on seen data during learning for
stabilizing the detector. The main contribution of this empirical study
is a demonstration that active learning based on an online boosting
approach trained in this manner can achieve results comparable or
even outperform a framework trained in conventional manner using
much more labeling effort. Empirical experiments on challenging data
set for specific object deteciton problems show the effectiveness of
our approach.
Abstract: In this study, a classification-based video
super-resolution method using artificial neural network (ANN) is
proposed to enhance low-resolution (LR) to high-resolution (HR)
frames. The proposed method consists of four main steps:
classification, motion-trace volume collection, temporal adjustment,
and ANN prediction. A classifier is designed based on the edge
properties of a pixel in the LR frame to identify the spatial information.
To exploit the spatio-temporal information, a motion-trace volume is
collected using motion estimation, which can eliminate unfathomable
object motion in the LR frames. In addition, temporal lateral process is
employed for volume adjustment to reduce unnecessary temporal
features. Finally, ANN is applied to each class to learn the complicated
spatio-temporal relationship between LR and HR frames. Simulation
results show that the proposed method successfully improves both
peak signal-to-noise ratio and perceptual quality.
Abstract: The evolution of information and communication
technology has made a very powerful support for the improvement of
online learning platforms in creation of courses. This paper presents a
study that attempts to explore new web architecture for creating an
adaptive online learning system to profiles of learners, using the Web
as a source for the automatic creation of courses for the online
training platform. This architecture will reduce the time and decrease
the effort performed by the drafters of the current e-learning
platform, and direct adaptation of the Web content will greatly enrich
the quality of online training courses.
Abstract: In this study, to accurately predict cavitation of a
centrifugal pump, numerical analysis was compared with experimental
results modeled on a small industrial centrifugal pump. In this study,
numerical analysis was compared with experimental results modeled
on a small industrial centrifugal pump for reliable prediction on
cavitation of a centrifugal pump. To improve validity of the numerical
analysis, transient analysis was conducted on the calculated domain of
full-type geometry, such as an experimental apparatus. The numerical
analysis from the results was considered to be a reliable prediction of
cavitaion.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate whether
magnetite nanoparticles affect the viability of Bradyrhizobium
japanicum cells residing on the surface of soybean seeds during
desiccation. Different concentrations of nanoparticles suspended in
liquid medium, mixed with and adhering to Bradyrhizobium
japanicum, were investigated at two temperatures, using both
soybean seeds and glass beads as surrogates. Statistical design was a
complete randomized block (CRB) in a factorial 6×2×2×6
experimental arrangement with four replications. The most important
variable was the viability of Bradyrhizobium on the surface of the
seeds. The nanoparticles increased Bradyrhizobium viability and
inoculated seeds stored at low temperature had greater viability when
nanoparticles had been added. At the optimum nanoparticle
concentration, 50% bacterium viability on the seeds was retained
after 5 days at 4ºC. Possible explanations for the observed effects are
proposed.
Abstract: Wind catchers are traditional natural ventilation
systems attached to buildings in order to ventilate the indoor air. The
most common type of wind catcher is four sided one which is
capable to catch wind in all directions. CFD simulation is the perfect
way to evaluate the wind catcher performance. The accuracy of CFD
results is the issue of concern, so sensitivity analyses is crucial to
find out the effect of different settings of CFD on results. This paper
presents a series of 3D steady RANS simulations for a generic
isolated four-sided wind catcher attached to a room subjected to wind
direction ranging from 0º to 180º with an interval of 45º. The CFD
simulations are validated with detailed wind tunnel experiments. The
influence of an extensive range of computational parameters is
explored in this paper, including the resolution of the computational
grid, the size of the computational domain and the turbulence model.
This study found that CFD simulation is a reliable method for wind
catcher study, but it is less accurate in prediction of models with non
perpendicular wind directions.
Abstract: In this paper, a novel method for a biometric system based on the ECG signal is proposed, using spectral coefficients computed through linear predictive coding (LPC). ECG biometric systems have traditionally incorporated characteristics of fiducial points of the ECG signal as the feature set. These systems have been shown to contain loopholes and thus a non-fiducial system allows for tighter security. In the proposed system, incorporating non-fiducial features from the LPC spectrum produced a segment and subject recognition rate of 99.52% and 100% respectively. The recognition rates outperformed the biometric system that is based on the wavelet packet decomposition (WPD) algorithm in terms of recognition rates and computation time. This allows for LPC to be used in a practical ECG biometric system that requires fast, stringent and accurate recognition.
Abstract: Seasonal variability of nutrients concentration in the Baltic Sea using the 3D ecosystem numerical model 3D-CEMBS has been investigated. Additionally this study shows horizontal and vertical distribution of nutrients in the Baltic Sea. Model domain is an extended Baltic Sea area divided into 600x640 horizontal grid cells. Aside from standard hydrodynamic parameters 3D-CEMBS produces modeled ecological variables such as: three types of phytoplankton, two detrital classes, dissolved oxygen and the nutrients (nitrate, ammonium, phosphate and silicate). The presented model allows prediction of parameters that describe distribution of nutrients concentration and phytoplankton biomass. 3D-CEMBS can be used to study the effect of different hydrodynamic and biogeochemical processes on distributions of these variables in a larger scale.
Abstract: This article analyses the peculiarities of Japan’s policy toward the countries of Central Asia. The increasing role of Central Asia in the system of international relations engendered an objective need for understanding of the policy of leading states, including Japan, in the region in the twenty-first century. The purpose of the study is to investigate the peculiarities of the formation and development of Japan policy in Central Asia and to identify the problems and prospects of Japan’s policy toward the countries of the region on the basis of experts’ opinions. In this article, the method of analysis of the situation and a systematic method were used. Prognostic methods, the collective expert assessment and scenarios were used in the study to determine the prospects of Japan’s policy toward the countries of Central Asia.
Abstract: In this paper, an artificial neural network simulator is
employed to carry out diagnosis and prognosis on electric motor as
rotating machinery based on predictive maintenance. Vibration data
of the primary failed motor including unbalance, misalignment and
bearing fault were collected for training the neural network. Neural
network training was performed for a variety of inputs and the motor
condition was used as the expert training information. The main
purpose of applying the neural network as an expert system was to
detect the type of failure and applying preventive maintenance. The
advantage of this study is for machinery Industries by providing
appropriate maintenance that has an essential activity to keep the
production process going at all processes in the machinery industry.
Proper maintenance is pivotal in order to prevent the possible failures
in operating system and increase the availability and effectiveness of
a system by analyzing vibration monitoring and developing expert
system.