Abstract: Nowadays, manufacturers are facing great challenges
with regard to the production of green products due to the emerging issue of hazardous substance management (HSM). In particular,
environmental legislation pressures have yielded to increased risk,
manufacturing complexity and green components demands. The green principles were expanded to many departments within
organization, including supply chain. Green supply chain
management (GSCM) was emerging in the last few years. This idea
covers every stage in manufacturing from the first to the last stage of
life cycle. From product lifecycle concept, the cycle starts at the design of a product. QFD is a customer-driven product development
tool, considered as a structured management approach for efficiently
translating customer needs into design requirements and parts deployment, as well as manufacturing plans and controls in order to
achieve higher customer satisfaction. This paper develops an Eco-
QFD to provide a framework for designing Eco-mobile phone by integrating the life cycle analysis LCA into QFD throughout the entire product development process.
Abstract: In this article, LQR based PID controller design for
3DOF helicopter system is investigated. The 3-DOF helicopter
system is a benchmark laboratory model having strongly nonlinear
characteristics and unstable dynamics which make the control of such
system a challenging task. This article first presents the mathematical
model of the 3DOF helicopter system and then illustrates the basic
idea and technical formulation for controller design. The paper
explains the simple approach for the approximation of PID design
parameters from the LQR controller gain matrix. The simulation
results show that the investigated controller has both static and
dynamic performance, therefore the stability and the quick control
effect can be obtained simultaneously for the 3DOF helicopter
system.
Abstract: Nowadays predicting political risk level of country
has become a critical issue for investors who intend to achieve
accurate information concerning stability of the business
environments. Since, most of the times investors are layman and
nonprofessional IT personnel; this paper aims to propose a
framework named GECR in order to help nonexpert persons to
discover political risk stability across time based on the political
news and events.
To achieve this goal, the Bayesian Networks approach was
utilized for 186 political news of Pakistan as sample dataset.
Bayesian Networks as an artificial intelligence approach has been
employed in presented framework, since this is a powerful technique
that can be applied to model uncertain domains. The results showed
that our framework along with Bayesian Networks as decision
support tool, predicted the political risk level with a high degree of
accuracy.
Abstract: Changing technology and increased constituent
demand for government services derive the need for governmental
responsiveness. The government organisations in the developing
countries will be under increased pressure to change their
bureaucratic systems to be able to respond rapidly to changing and
increasing requirements and rapid technology advancements. This
paper aims to present a conceptual framework for explaining the
main barriers and drivers of public e-service development. Therefore,
the framework provides a basic context within which the process and
practice of E-Service can be implemented successfully in the public
sector organisations. The framework is flexible enough to be adopted
by governments at different levels; national or local by developing
countries around the world.
Abstract: The effectiveness of consuming a nutrient fortified oat drink on iron, zinc, vitamin A and vitamin C status was assessed among a cohort of school-aged Filipino children. Ultimate study implementation permitted only a within-subject comparison of change in nutritional status after four months of consuming a nutrient fortified oat drink. Thirty-eight anemic children (5-8 years) consumed an oat drink fortified with iron as NaFeEDTA, zinc, vitamin A and vitamin C for 120 days. Height, weight, serum nutrient levels, anemia status and dietary intake were assessed pre and post intervention. Thirty-four anemic children completed the intervention. After 4 months of intervention, prevalence of anemia decreased by 68% and significant improvements in iron and vitamin A status were observed. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of the fortified oat drink in alleviating anemia in young children and highlight the value of fortification programs
Abstract: Concatenative speech synthesis is a method that can
make speech sound which has naturalness and high-individuality of a
speaker by introducing a large speech corpus. Based on this method, in
this paper, we propose a voice conversion method whose conversion
speech has high-individuality and naturalness. The authors also have
two subjective evaluation experiments for evaluating individuality and
sound quality of conversion speech. From the results, following three
facts have be confirmed: (a) the proposal method can convert the
individuality of speakers well, (b) employing the framework of unit
selection (especially join cost) of concatenative speech synthesis into
conventional voice conversion improves the sound quality of
conversion speech, and (c) the proposal method is robust against the
difference of genders between a source speaker and a target speaker.
Abstract: This paper describes the crashworthiness assessment and improvement of tlting train made of sandwich composites. The crashworhiness assessment of tilting train was conducted according to four collision scenarios of the Korean railway safety law. Collision analysis was carried out using explicit finite element analysis code LS-DYNA 3D. The finite element model consists of 3-D finite element model and 1-D equivalent model to save the finite element modeling and calculation time. It found that the crashworthiness analysis results were satisfied with the performance requirements except the crash scenario-2. In order to meet the crashworthiness requirements for crash scenario-2, the stiffness reinforcement for the laminate composite cover and metal frames of cabmask structure were proposed. Consequentially, it has satisfied the requirement for crash scenario-2.
Abstract: In a competitive energy market, system reliability
should be maintained at all times. Power system operation being of
online in nature, the energy balance requirements must be satisfied to
ensure reliable operation the system. To achieve this, information
regarding the expected status of the system, the scheduled
transactions and the relevant inputs necessary to make either a
transaction contract or a transmission contract operational, have to be
made available in real time. The real time procedure proposed,
facilitates this. This paper proposes a quadratic curve learning
procedure, which enables a generator-s contribution to the retailer
demand, power loss of transaction in a line at the retail end and its
associated losses for an oncoming operating scenario to be predicted.
Matlab program was used to test in on a 24-bus IEE Reliability Test
System, and the results are found to be acceptable.
Abstract: We assert here that there might be some factors that
influence professional identity construction at the university/higher
education stage. In accord, we propose a conceptual framework of
intervening factors in professional identity construction at university
from a literature review and preliminary data from a qualitative pilot
study using focus groups. This model identifies several factors that
might influence university students- professional identity
construction and group them into categories. In turn, we describe
how these factors might contribute in strengthening or weakening
their professional identity. Finally, we discuss the implications of
strengthening students- PI for the university, individuals and
organizations and we provide a roadmap for future empirical work in
this area.
Abstract: Thrombosis can be life threatening, necessitating therefore its instant treatment. Hydergine, a nootropic agent is used as a cognition enhancer in stroke patients but relatively little is known about its anti-thrombolytic effect. To investigate this aspect, in vivo and ex vivo experiments were designed and conducted. Three groups of rats were injected 1.5mg, 3.0mg and 4.5mg hydergine intraperitonealy with and without prior exposure to fresh plasma. Positive and negative controls were run in parallel. Animals were sacrificed after 1.5hrs and BT, CT, PT, INR, APTT, plasma calcium levels were estimated. For ex vivo analyses, each 1ml blood aspirated was exposed to 0.1mg, 0.2mg, 0.3mg dose of hydergine with parallel controls. Parameters analyzed were as above. Statistical analysis was through one-way ANOVA. Dunken-s and Tukey-s tests provided intra-group variance. BT, CT, PT, INR and APTT increased while calcium levels dropped significantly (P
Abstract: This work presents a numerical model developed to
simulate the dynamics and vibrations of a multistage tractor gearbox.
The effect of time varying mesh stiffness, time varying frictional
torque on the gear teeth, lateral and torsional flexibility of the shafts
and flexibility of the bearings were included in the model. The model
was developed by using the Lagrangian method, and it was applied to
study the effect of three design variables on the vibration and stress
levels on the gears. The first design variable, module, had little effect
on the vibration levels but a higher module resulted to higher bending
stress levels. The second design variable, pressure angle, had little
effect on the vibration levels, but had a strong effect on the stress
levels on the pinion of a high reduction ratio gear pair. A pressure
angle of 25o resulted to lower stress levels for a pinion with 14 teeth
than a pressure angle of 20o. The third design variable, contact ratio,
had a very strong effect on both the vibration levels and bending
stress levels. Increasing the contact ratio to 2.0 reduced both the
vibration levels and bending stress levels significantly. For the gear
train design used in this study, a module of 2.5 and contact ratio of
2.0 for the various meshes was found to yield the best combination
of low vibration levels and low bending stresses. The model can
therefore be used as a tool for obtaining the optimum gear design
parameters for a given multistage spur gear train.
Abstract: In this paper, genetic algorithm (GA) opmization technique is applied to design Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS)-based damping controllers. Two types of controller structures, namely a proportional-integral (PI) and a lead-lag (LL) are considered. The design problem of the proposed controllers is formulated as an optimization problem and GA is employed to search for optimal controller parameters. By minimizing the time-domain based objective function, in which the deviation in the oscillatory rotor speed of the generator is involved; stability performance of the system is improved. The proposed controllers are tested on a weakly connected power system subjected to different disturbances. The non-linear simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed controller and their ability to provide efficient damping of low frequency oscillations. It is also observed that the proposed SSSC-based controllers improve greatly the voltage profile of the system under severe disturbances. Further, the dynamic performances of both the PI and LL structured FACTS-controller are analyzed at different loading conditions and under various disturbance condition as well as under unbalanced fault conditions..
Abstract: This paper presents the impact study of apparent
reactance injected by series Flexible AC Transmission System
(FACTS) i.e. Thyristor Controlled Series Reactor (TCSR) on the
measured impedance of a 400 kV single electrical transmission line
in the presence of phase to earth fault with fault resistance. The study
deals with an electrical transmission line of Eastern Algerian
transmission networks at Group Sonelgaz (Algerian Company of
Electrical and Gas) compensated by TCSR connected at midpoint of
the line. This compensator used to inject active and reactive powers
is controlled by three TCSR-s. The simulations results investigate the
impacts of the TCSR on the parameters of short circuit calculation
and parameters of measured impedance by distance relay in the
presence of earth fault for three cases study.
Abstract: The present work deals with thermodynamic analysis
of cascade refrigeration system using ozone friendly refrigerants pair
R507A and R23. R507A is azeotropic mixture composed of HFC
refrigerants R125/R143a (50%/50% wt.). R23 is a single component
HFC refrigerant used as replacement to CFC refrigerant R13 in low
temperature applications. These refrigerants have zero ozone
depletion potential and are non-flammable and as R507A an
azeotropic mixture there is no problem of temperature glide. This
study thermodynamically analyzed R507A-R23 cascade refrigeration
system to optimize the design and operating parameters of the
system. The design and operating parameters include: Condensing,
evaporating, subcooling and superheating temperatures in the high
temperature circuit, temperature difference in the cascade heat
exchanger, Condensing, evaporating, subcooling and superheating
temperatures in the low temperature circuit.
Abstract: Considering the theory of attribute grammars, we use
logical formulas instead of traditional functional semantic rules.
Following the decoration of a derivation tree, a suitable algorithm
should maintain the consistency of the formulas together with the
evaluation of the attributes. This may be a Prolog-like resolution, but
this paper examines a somewhat different strategy, based on
production specialization, local consistency and propagation: given a
derivation tree, it is interactively decorated, i.e. incrementally
checked and evaluated. The non-directed dependencies are
dynamically directed during attribute evaluation.
Abstract: This paper mainly proposes an efficient modified
particle swarm optimization (MPSO) method, to identify a slidercrank
mechanism driven by a field-oriented PM synchronous motor.
In system identification, we adopt the MPSO method to find
parameters of the slider-crank mechanism. This new algorithm is
added with “distance" term in the traditional PSO-s fitness function to
avoid converging to a local optimum. It is found that the comparisons
of numerical simulations and experimental results prove that the
MPSO identification method for the slider-crank mechanism is
feasible.
Abstract: To achieve reliable solutions, today-s numerical and
experimental activities need developing more accurate methods and
utilizing expensive facilities, respectfully in microchannels. The analytical
study can be considered as an alternative approach to alleviate
the preceding difficulties. Among the analytical solutions, those with
high robustness and low complexities are certainly more attractive.
The perturbation theory has been used by many researchers to analyze
microflows. In present work, a compressible microflow with constant
heat flux boundary condition is analyzed. The flow is assumed to be
fully developed and steady. The Mach and Reynolds numbers are also
assumed to be very small. For this case, the creeping phenomenon
may have some effect on the velocity profile. To achieve robustness
solution it is assumed that the flow is quasi-isothermal. In this study,
the creeping term which appears in the slip boundary condition
is formulated by different mathematical formulas. The difference
between this work and the previous ones is that the creeping term
is taken into account and presented in non-dimensionalized form.
The results obtained from perturbation theory are presented based
on four non-dimensionalized parameters including the Reynolds,
Mach, Prandtl and Brinkman numbers. The axial velocity, normal
velocity and pressure profiles are obtained. Solutions for velocities
and pressure for two cases with different Br numbers are compared
with each other and the results show that the effect of creeping
phenomenon on the velocity profile becomes more important when
Br number is less than O(ε).
Abstract: A Finite Volume method based on Characteristic Fluxes for compressible fluids is developed. An explicit cell-centered resolution is adopted, where second and third order accuracy is provided by using two different MUSCL schemes with Minmod, Sweby or Superbee limiters for the hyperbolic part. Few different times integrator is used and be describe in this paper. Resolution is performed on a generic unstructured Cartesian grid, where solid boundaries are handled by a Cut-Cell method. Interfaces are explicitely advected in a non-diffusive way, ensuring local mass conservation. An improved cell cutting has been developed to handle boundaries of arbitrary geometrical complexity. Instead of using a polygon clipping algorithm, we use the Voxel traversal algorithm coupled with a local floodfill scanline to intersect 2D or 3D boundary surface meshes with the fixed Cartesian grid. Small cells stability problem near the boundaries is solved using a fully conservative merging method. Inflow and outflow conditions are also implemented in the model. The solver is validated on 2D academic test cases, such as the flow past a cylinder. The latter test cases are performed both in the frame of the body and in a fixed frame where the body is moving across the mesh. Adaptive Cartesian grid is provided by Paramesh without complex geometries for the moment.
Abstract: In this paper, a new Genetic Algorithm (GA) based
methodology is proposed to optimize the Degree of Hybridization
(DOH) in a passenger parallel hybrid car. At first step, target
parameters for the vehicle are decided and then using ADvanced
VehIcle SimulatOR (ADVISOR) software, the variation pattern of
these target parameters, across the different DOHs, is extracted. At
the next step, a suitable cost function is defined and is optimized
using GA. In this paper, also a new technique has been proposed for
deciding the number of battery modules for each DOH, which leads
to a great improvement in the vehicle performance. The proposed
methodology is so simple, fast and at the same time, so efficient.
Abstract: The evolution of ICT has changed all sections of society and these changes have been creating an irreversible impact on higher education institutions, which are expected to adopt innovative technologies in their teaching practices. As theorical framework this study select Rogers theory of innovation diffusion which is widely used to illustrate how technologies move from a localized invented to a widespread evolution on organizational practices. Based on descriptive statistical data collected in a European higher education institution three years longitudinal study was conducted for analyzing and discussion the different stages of a LMS adoption process. Results show that ICT integration in higher education is not progressively successful and a linear process and multiple aspects must be taken into account.