Effect of Different Tillage Systems on Soil Properties and Production on Wheat, Maize and Soybean Crop

Soil tillage systems can be able to influence soil compaction, water dynamics, soil temperature and crop yield. These processes can be expressed as changes of soil microbiological activity, soil respiration and sustainability of agriculture. Objectives of this study were: 1 - to assess the effects of tillage systems (Conventional System (CS), Minimum Tillage (MT), No-Tillage (NT)) on soil compaction, soil temperature, soil moisture and soil respiration and 2- to establish the effect of the changes on the production of wheat, maize and soybean. Five treatments were installed: CS-plough; MT-paraplow, chisel, rotary grape; NT-direct sowing. The study was conducted on an Argic-Stagnic Faeoziom. The MT and NT applications reduce or completely eliminate the soil mobilization, due to this; soil is compacted in the first year of application. The degree of compaction is directly related to soil type and its state of degradation. The state of soil compaction diminished over time, tending toward a specific type of soil density. Soil moisture was higher in NT and MT at the time of sowing and in the early stages of vegetation and differences diminished over time. Moisture determinations showed statistically significant differences. The MT and NT applications reduced the thermal amplitude in the first 15cm of soil depth and increased the soil temperature by 0.5-2.20C. Water dynamics and soil temperature showed no differences on the effect of crop yields. The determinations confirm the effect of soil tillage system on soil respiration; the daily average was lower at NT (315-1914 mmoli m-2s-1) and followed by MT (318-2395 mmoli m-2s-1) and is higher in the CS (321-2480 mmol m-2s-1). Comparing with CS, all the four conservation tillage measures decreased soil respiration, with the best effects of no-tillage. Although wheat production at MT and NT applications, had no significant differences soybean production was significantly affected from MT and NT applications. The differences in crop yields are recorded at maize and can be a direct consequence of loosening, mineralization and intensive mobilization of soil fertility.

Control Signal from EOG Analysis and Its Application

A game using electro-oculography (EOG) as control signal was introduced in this study. Various EOG signals are generated by eye movements. Even though EOG is a quite complex type of signal, distinct and separable EOG signals could be classified from horizontal and vertical, left and right eye movements. Proper signal processing was incorporated since EOG signal has very small amplitude in the order of micro volts and contains noises influenced by external conditions. Locations of the electrodes were set to be above and below as well as left and right positions of the eyes. Four control signals of up, down, left and right were generated. A microcontroller processed signals in order to simulate a DDR game. A LCD display showed arrows falling down with four different head directions. This game may be used as eye exercise for visual concentration and acuity. Our proposed EOG control signal can be utilized in many other applications of human machine interfaces such as wheelchair, computer keyboard and home automation.

Flow Characteristics and Heat Transfer Enhancement in 2D Corrugated Channels

Present study numerically investigates the flow field and heat transfer of water in two dimensional sinusoidal and rectangular corrugated wall channels. Simulations are performed for fully developed flow conditions at inlet sections of the channels that have 12 waves. The temperature of the input fluid is taken to be less than that temperature of wavy walls. The governing continuity, momentum and energy equations are numerically solved using finite volume method based on SIMPLE technique. The investigation covers Reynolds number in the rage of 100-1000. The effects of the distance between upper and lower corrugated walls are studied by varying Hmin/Hmax ratio from 0.3 to 0.5 for keeping wave length and wave amplitude values fixed for both geometries. The effects of the wall geometry, Reynolds number and the distance between walls on the flow characteristics, the local Nusselt number and heat transfer are studied. It is found that heat transfer enhancement increases by usage of corrugated horizontal walls in an appropriate Reynolds number regime and channel height.

Amplitude and Phase Analysis of EEG Signal by Complex Demodulation

Analysis of amplitude and phase characteristics for delta, theta, and alpha bands at localized time instant from EEG signals is important for the characterizing information processing in the brain. In this paper, complex demodulation method was used to analyze EEG (Electroencephalographic) signal, particularly for auditory evoked potential response signal, with sufficient time resolution and designated frequency bandwidth resolution required. The complex demodulation decomposes raw EEG signal into 3 designated delta, theta, and alpha bands with complex EEG signal representation at sampled time instant, which can enable the extraction of amplitude envelope and phase information. Throughout simulated test data, and real EEG signal acquired during auditory attention task, it can extract the phase offset, phase and frequency changing instant and decomposed amplitude envelope for delta, theta, and alpha bands. The complex demodulation technique can be efficiently used in brain signal analysis in case of phase, and amplitude information required.

Complex Dynamic Behaviors in an Ivlev-type Stage-structured Predator-prey System Concerning Impulsive Control Strategy

An Ivlev-type predator-prey system and stage-structured for predator concerning impulsive control strategy is considered. The conditions for the locally asymptotically stable prey-eradication periodic solution is obtained, by using Floquet theorem and small amplitude perturbation skills——when the impulsive period is less than the critical value. Otherwise, the system is permanence. Numerical examples show that the system considered has more complicated dynamics, including high-order quasi-periodic and periodic oscillating, period-doubling and period-halving bifurcation, chaos and attractor crisis, etc. Finally, the biological implications of the results and the impulsive control strategy are discussed.

Large Vibration Amplitude of Circular Functionally Graded Plates Resting on Pasternak Foundations

In the present study, the problem of geometrically nonlinear free vibrations of functionally graded circular plates (FGCP) resting on Pasternak elastic foundation with immovable ends was studied. The material properties of the functionally graded composites examined were assumed to be graded in the thickness direction and estimated through the rule of mixture. The theoretical model is based on the classical Plate theory and the Von Kármán geometrical nonlinearity assumptions. Hamilton’s principle is applied and a multimode approach is derived to calculate the fundamental nonlinear frequency parameters, which are found to be in a good agreement with the published results dealing with the problem of functionally graded plates. On the other hand, the influence of the foundation parameters on the nonlinear frequency to the linear frequency ratio of the FGCP has been studied. The effect of the linear and shearing foundations is to decrease the frequency ratio, where it increases with the effect of the nonlinear foundation stiffness. 

The Finite Difference Scheme for the Suspended String Equation with the Nonlinear External Forces

This paper presents the finite difference scheme and the numerical simulation of suspended string. The vibration solutions when the various external forces are taken into account are obtained and compared with the solutions without external force. In addition, we also investigate how the external forces and their powers and coefficients affect the amplitude of vibration.

Statistical Description of Wave Interactions in 1D Defect Turbulence

We have investigated statistical properties of the defect turbulence in 1D CGLE wherein many body interaction is involved between local depressing wave (LDW) and local standing wave (LSW). It is shown that the counting number fluctuation of LDW is subject to the sub-Poisson statistics (SUBP). The physical origin of the SUBP can be ascribed to pair extinction of LDWs based on the master equation approach. It is also shown that the probability density function (pdf) of inter-LDW distance can be identified by the hyper gamma distribution. Assuming a superstatistics of the exponential distribution (Poisson configuration), a plausible explanation is given. It is shown further that the pdf of amplitude of LDW has a fattail. The underlying mechanism of its fluctuation is examined by introducing a generalized fractional Poisson configuration.

Simulation of Particle Damping under Centrifugal Loads

Particle damping is a technique to reduce the structural vibrations by means of placing small metallic particles inside a cavity that is attached to the structure at location of high vibration amplitudes. In this paper, we have presented an analytical model to simulate the particle damping of two dimensional transient vibrations in structure operating under high centrifugal loads. The simulation results show that this technique remains effective as long as the ratio of the dynamic acceleration of the structure to the applied centrifugal load is more than 0.1. Particle damping increases with the increase of particle to structure mass ratio. However, unlike to the case of particle damping in the absence of centrifugal loads where the damping efficiency strongly depends upon the size of the cavity, here this dependence becomes very weak. Despite the simplicity of the model, the simulation results are considerably in good agreement with the very scarce experimental data available in the literature for particle damping under centrifugal loads.

Audio Watermarking Using Spectral Modifications

In this paper, we present a non-blind technique of adding the watermark to the Fourier spectral components of audio signal in a way such that the modified amplitude does not exceed the maximum amplitude spread (MAS). This MAS is due to individual Discrete fourier transform (DFT) coefficients in that particular frame, which is derived from the Energy Spreading function given by Schroeder. Using this technique one can store double the information within a given frame length i.e. overriding the watermark on the host of equal length with least perceptual distortion. The watermark is uniformly floating on the DFT components of original signal. This helps in detecting any intentional manipulations done on the watermarked audio. Also, the scheme is found robust to various signal processing attacks like presence of multiple watermarks, Additive white gaussian noise (AWGN) and mp3 compression.

Fuzzy Logic Control for a Speed Control of Induction Motor using Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation

This paper presents design and implements a voltage source inverter type space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) for control a speed of induction motor. This scheme leads to be able to adjust the speed of the motor by control the frequency and amplitude of the stator voltage, the ratio of stator voltage to frequency should be kept constant. The fuzzy logic controller is also introduced to the system for keeping the motor speed to be constant when the load varies. The experimental results in testing the 0.22 kW induction motor from no-load condition to rated condition show the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.

Periodic Mixed Convection of a Nanofluid in a Cavity with Top Lid Sinusoidal Motion

The periodic mixed convection of a water-copper nanofluid inside a rectangular cavity with aspect ratio of 3 is investigated numerically. The temperature of the bottom wall of the cavity is assumed greater than the temperature of the top lid which oscillates horizontally with the velocity defined as u = u0 sin (ω t). The effects of Richardson number, Ri, and volume fraction of nanoparticles on the flow and thermal behavior of the nanofluid are investigated. Velocity and temperature profiles, streamlines and isotherms are presented. It is observed that when Ri < 1, heat transfer rate is much greater than when Ri > 1. The higher value of Ri corresponds to a lower value of the amplitude of the oscillation of Num in the steady periodic state. Moreover, increasing the volume fraction of the nanoparticles increases the heat transfer rate.

Mechanism of Damping in Welded Structures using Finite Element Approach

The characterization and modeling of the dynamic behavior of many built-up structures under vibration conditions is still a subject of current research. The present study emphasizes the theoretical investigation of slip damping in layered and jointed welded cantilever structures using finite element approach. Application of finite element method in damping analysis is relatively recent, as such, some problems particularly slip damping analysis has not received enough attention. To validate the finite element model developed, experiments have been conducted on a number of mild steel specimens under different initial conditions of vibration. Finite element model developed affirms that the damping capacity of such structures is influenced by a number of vital parameters such as; pressure distribution, kinematic coefficient of friction and micro-slip at the interfaces, amplitude, frequency of vibration, length and thickness of the specimen. Finite element model developed can be utilized effectively in the design of machine tools, automobiles, aerodynamic and space structures, frames and machine members for enhancing their damping capacity.

A Numerical Investigation on the Dynamic Stall of a Wind Turbine Section Using Different Turbulent Models

In this article, the flow behavior around a NACA 0012 airfoil which is oscillating with different Reynolds numbers and in various amplitudes has been investigated numerically. Numerical simulations have been performed with ANSYS software. First, the 2- D geometry has been studied in different Reynolds numbers and angles of attack with various numerical methods in its static condition. This analysis was to choose the best turbulent model and comparing the grids to have the optimum one for dynamic simulations. Because the analysis was to study the blades of wind turbines, the Reynolds numbers were not arbitrary. They were in the range of 9.71e5 to 22.65e5. The angle of attack was in the range of -41.81° to 41.81°. By choosing the forward wind speed as the independent parameter, the others like Reynolds and the amplitude of the oscillation would be known automatically. The results show that the SST turbulent model is the best choice that leads the least numerical error with respect the experimental ones. Also, a dynamic stall phenomenon is more probable at lower wind speeds in which the lift force is less.

Bandwidth Efficient Diversity Scheme Using STTC Concatenated With STBC: MIMO Systems

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems are widely in use to improve quality, reliability of wireless transmission and increase the spectral efficiency. However in MIMO systems, multiple copies of data are received after experiencing various channel effects. The limitations on account of complexity due to number of antennas in case of conventional decoding techniques have been looked into. Accordingly we propose a modified sphere decoder (MSD-1) algorithm with lower complexity and give rise to system with high spectral efficiency. With the aim to increase signal diversity we apply rotated quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) constellation in multi dimensional space. Finally, we propose a new architecture involving space time trellis code (STTC) concatenated with space time block code (STBC) using MSD-1 at the receiver for improving system performance. The system gains have been verified with channel state information (CSI) errors.

The Effect of Slow Variation of Base Flow Profile on the Stability of Slightly Curved Mixing Layers

The effect of small non-parallelism of the base flow on the stability of slightly curved mixing layers is analyzed in the present paper. Assuming that the instability wavelength is much smaller than the length scale of the variation of the base flow we derive an amplitude evolution equation using the method of multiple scales. The proposed asymptotic model provides connection between parallel flow approximations and takes into account slow longitudinal variation of the base flow.

Application of Artificial Neural Network for the Prediction of Pressure Distribution of a Plunging Airfoil

Series of experimental tests were conducted on a section of a 660 kW wind turbine blade to measure the pressure distribution of this model oscillating in plunging motion. In order to minimize the amount of data required to predict aerodynamic loads of the airfoil, a General Regression Neural Network, GRNN, was trained using the measured experimental data. The network once proved to be accurate enough, was used to predict the flow behavior of the airfoil for the desired conditions. Results showed that with using a few of the acquired data, the trained neural network was able to predict accurate results with minimal errors when compared with the corresponding measured values. Therefore with employing this trained network the aerodynamic coefficients of the plunging airfoil, are predicted accurately at different oscillation frequencies, amplitudes, and angles of attack; hence reducing the cost of tests while achieving acceptable accuracy.

Receive and Transmit Array Antenna Spacingand Their Effect on the Performance of SIMO and MIMO Systems by using an RCS Channel Model

In this paper, the effect of receive and/or transmit antenna spacing on the performance (BER vs. SNR) of multipleantenna systems is determined by using an RCS (Radar Cross Section) channel model. In this physical model, the scatterers existing in the propagation environment are modeled by their RCS so that the correlation of the receive signal complex amplitudes, i.e., both magnitude and phase, can be estimated. The proposed RCS channel model is then compared with classical models.

Laser Doppler Flowmetry in Diagnostics of Vascular Lesions in Lower Extremities

Laser Doppler flowmetry is a modern method of noninvasive microcirculation investigation. The aim of our study was to use this method in the examination of patients with secondary lymphedema of the lower extremities and obliterating atherosclerosis of lower extremities. In the analysis of the amplitude-frequency spectrum of secondary lymphedema patients we have identified remarkable changes. To describe the changes we used a special amplitude rate. In both of patients groups this rate was significally (p

Determination of Electromagnetic Properties of Human Tissues

In this paper a computer system for electromagnetic properties measurements is designed. The system employs Agilent 4294A precision impedance analyzer to measure the amplitude and the phase of a signal applied over a tested biological tissue sample. Measured by the developed computer system data could be used for tissue characterization in wide frequency range from 40Hz to 110MHz. The computer system can interface with output devices acquiring flexible testing process.