Abstract: Genetic algorithms (GAs) have been widely used for
global optimization problems. The GA performance depends highly
on the choice of the search space for each parameter to be optimized.
Often, this choice is a problem-based experience. The search space
being a set of potential solutions may contain the global optimum
and/or other local optimums. A bad choice of this search space
results in poor solutions. In this paper, our approach consists in
extending the search space boundaries during the GA optimization,
only when it is required. This leads to more diversification of GA
population by new solutions that were not available with fixed search
space boundaries. So, these dynamic search spaces can improve the
GA optimization performances. The proposed approach is applied to
power system stabilizer optimization for multimachine power system
(16-generator and 68-bus). The obtained results are evaluated and
compared with those obtained by ordinary GAs. Eigenvalue analysis
and nonlinear system simulation results show the effectiveness of the
proposed approach to damp out the electromechanical oscillation and
enhance the global system stability.
Abstract: In this paper we present the modeling, design, and
experimental testing of a nerve cuff multi-electrode system for
diameter-selective vagus nerve stimulation.
The multi-electrode system contained ninety-nine platinum
electrodes embedded within a self-curling spiral silicone sheet. The
electrodes were organized in a matrix having nine parallel groups,
each containing eleven electrodes.
Preliminary testing of the nerve cuff was performed in an isolated
segment of a swinish left cervical vagus nerve. For selective vagus
nerve stimulation, precisely defined current quasitrapezoidal,
asymmetric and biphasic stimulating pulses were applied to
preselected locations along the left vagus segment via appointed
group of three electrodes within the cuff. Selective stimulation was
obtained by anodal block. However, these pulses may not be safe for
a long-term application because of a frequently used high imbalance
between the cathodic and anodic part of the stimulating pulse.
Preliminary results show that the cuff was capable of exciting A
and B-fibres, and, that for a certain range of parameters used in
stimulating pulses, the contribution of A-fibres to the CAP was
slightly reduced and the contribution of B-fibres was slightly larger.
Results also showed that measured CAPs are not greatly
influenced by the imbalance between a charge Qc injected in cathodic
and Qa in anodic phase of quasitrapezoidal, asymmetric and biphasic
pulses.
Abstract: This paper describes the design and development of pico-hydro generation system using consuming water distributed to houses. Water flow in the domestic pipes has kinetic energy that potential to generate electricity for energy storage purposes in addition to the routine activities such as laundry, cook and bathe. The inherent water pressure and flow inside the pipe from utility-s main tank that used for those usual activities is also used to rotate small scale hydro turbine to drive a generator for electrical power generation. Hence, this project is conducted to develop a small scale hydro generation system using consuming water distributed to houses as an alternative electrical energy source for residential use.
Abstract: This paper proposes an alternative control mechanism
for an interactive Pan/Tilt/Zoom (PTZ) camera control system.
Instead of using a mouse or a joystick, the proposed mechanism
utilizes a Nintendo Wii remote and infrared (IR) sensor bar. The Wii
remote has buttons that allows the user to control the movement of a
PTZ camera through Bluetooth connectivity. In addition, the Wii
remote has a built-in motion sensor that allows the user to give
control signals to the PTZ camera through pitch and roll movement.
A stationary IR sensor bar, placed at some distance away opposite the
Wii remote, enables the detection of yaw movement. In addition, the
Wii remote-s built-in IR camera has the ability to detect its spatial
position, and thus generates a control signal when the user moves the
Wii remote. Some experiments are carried out and their performances
are compared with an industry-standard PTZ joystick.
Abstract: This paper is an extension of a previous work where a diagonally implicit harmonic balance method was developed and applied to simulate oscillatory motions of pitching airfoil and wing. A more detailed study on the accuracy, convergence, and the efficiency of the method is carried out in the current paperby varying the number of harmonics in the solution approximation. As the main advantage of the method is itsusage for the design optimization of the unsteady problems, its application to more practical case of rotor flow analysis during forward flight is carried out and compared with flight test data and time-accurate computation results.
Abstract: A transient heat transfer mathematical model for the
prediction of temperature distribution in the car body during primer
baking has been developed by considering the thermal radiation and
convection in the furnace chamber and transient heat conduction
governing equations in the car framework. The car cockpit is
considered like a structure with six flat plates, four vertical plates
representing the car doors and the rear and front panels. The other
two flat plates are the car roof and floor. The transient heat
conduction in each flat plate is modeled by the lumped capacitance
method. Comparison with the experimental data shows that the heat
transfer model works well for the prediction of thermal behavior of
the car body in the curing furnace, with deviations below 5%.
Abstract: Effect of high temperature exposure on properties of cement mortar containing municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) bottom ash as partial natural aggregate replacement is analyzed in the paper. The measurements of mechanical properties, bulk density, matrix density, total open porosity, sorption and desorption isotherms are done on samples exposed to the temperatures of 20°C to 1000°C. TGA analysis is performed as well. Finally, the studied samples are analyzed by IR spectroscopy in order to evaluate TGA data.
Abstract: The advantage of solving the complex nonlinear
problems by utilizing fuzzy logic methodologies is that the
experience or expert-s knowledge described as a fuzzy rule base can
be directly embedded into the systems for dealing with the problems.
The current limitation of appropriate and automated designing of
fuzzy controllers are focused in this paper. The structure discovery
and parameter adjustment of the Branched T-S fuzzy model is
addressed by a hybrid technique of type constrained sparse tree
algorithms. The simulation result for different system model is
evaluated and the identification error is observed to be minimum.
Abstract: The expression of LFA-1 diverges from the
physiological condition, thus active targeting carrier can provide the
benefits from difference into LFA-1 expression in various conditions.
Here, the selectivity of cIBR-conjugated nanoparticles (cIBR-NPs),
in terms of uptake, was investigated using PBMCs, Mixed PBMCMolt-
3 cells and Molt-3 cells. The expressions of LFA-1 on Molt-3
cells, from flow cytometry and Western blot, possessed the highest
level whereas PBMCs showed the lowest level. The kinetic uptake
profiles of cIBR-NPs were obtained by flow cytometry, which the
degree of cellular uptake presented a similar trend with the level of
LFA-1 indicating the influence of LFA-1 expression on the cellular
uptake of cIBR-NPs. The conformation of LFA-1 had a slight effect
on the cellular uptake of cIBR-NPs. Overall we demonstrated that
cIBR-NPs enhanced cellular uptake and improved the selectivity of
drug carriers to LFA-1 on the leukemia cells, which related with the
order of LFA-1 expression.
Abstract: The new semi-experimental method for simulation of
the turbine flow meters rotation in the transitional flow has been
developed. The method is based on the experimentally established
exponential low of changing of dimensionless relative turbine gas
meter rotation frequency and meter inertia time constant. For
experimental evaluation of the meter time constant special facility
has been developed. The facility ensures instant switching of turbine
meter under test from one channel to the other channel with different
flow rate and measuring the meter response. The developed method
can be used for evaluation and predication of the turbine meters
response and dynamic error in the transitional flow with any arbitrary
law of flow rate changing. The examples of the method application
are presented.
Abstract: Exposure to radon occurs when breathing airborne
radon while using water: showering, washing dishes, cooking, and
drinking water that contain radon. The results of radon activity
measurements in water from public drinking fountain in city of Novi
Sad, Serbia is presented in this paper. Radon level in some samples
exceeded EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) recommendation
for maximum contaminant level (MCL) for radon in drinking water
of 11.1 Bq/l.
Abstract: This paper considers the integration of assembly
operations and product structure to Cellular Manufacturing System
(CMS) design so that to correct the drawbacks of previous researches
in the literature. For this purpose, a new mathematical model is
developed which dedicates machining and assembly operations to
manufacturing cells while the objective function is to minimize the
intercellular movements resulting due to both of them. A
linearization method is applied to achieve optimum solution through
solving aforementioned nonlinear model by common programming
language such as Lingo. Then, using different examples and
comparing the results, the importance of integrating assembly
considerations is demonstrated.
Abstract: This paper discusses the development of a qualitative
simulator (abbreviated QRiOM) for predicting the behaviour of
organic chemical reactions. The simulation technique is based on the
qualitative process theory (QPT) ontology. The modelling constructs
of QPT embody notions of causality which can be used to explain the
behaviour of a chemical system. The major theme of this work is
that, in a qualitative simulation environment, students are able to
articulate his/her knowledge through the inspection of explanations
generated by software. The implementation languages are Java and
Prolog. The software produces explanation in various forms that
stresses on the causal theories in the chemical system which can be
effectively used to support learning.
Abstract: Breast carcinoma is the most common form of cancer
in women. Multicolour fluorescent in-situ hybridisation (m-FISH) is
a common method for staging breast carcinoma. The interpretation
of m-FISH images is complicated due to two effects: (i) Spectral
overlap in the emission spectra of fluorochrome marked DNA probes
and (ii) tissue autofluorescence. In this paper hyper-spectral images of
m-FISH samples are used and spectral unmixing is applied to produce
false colour images with higher contrast and better information
content than standard RGB images. The spectral unmixing is realised
by combinations of: Orthogonal Projection Analysis (OPA), Alterating
Least Squares (ALS), Simple-to-use Interactive Self-Modeling
Mixture Analysis (SIMPLISMA) and VARIMAX. These are applied
on the data to reduce tissue autofluorescence and resolve the spectral
overlap in the emission spectra. The results show that spectral unmixing
methods reduce the intensity caused by tissue autofluorescence by
up to 78% and enhance image contrast by algorithmically reducing
the overlap of the emission spectra.
Abstract: Gas hydrates form when a number of factors co-exist:
free water, hydrocarbon gas, cold temperatures and high pressures are typical of the near mud-line conditions in a deepwater drilling
operation. Subsequently, when drilling with water based muds, particularly on exploration wells, the risk of hydrate formation
associated with a gas influx is high. The consequences of gas hydrate
formation while drilling are severe, and as such, every effort should be made to ensure the risk of hydrate formation is either eliminated
or significantly reduced. Thermodynamic inhibitors are used to reduce the free water content of a drilling mud, and thus suppress the
hydrate formation temperature. Very little experimental work has
been performed by oil and gas research companies on the evaluation
of gas hydrate formation in a water-based drilling mud. The main
objective of this paper is to investigate the experimental gas hydrate
formation for a mixture of methane, carbon dioxide & nitrogen in a
water-based drilling mud with or without presence of different
concentrations of thermodynamic inhibitors including pure salt and a
combination of salt with methanol or ethylene glycol at different
concentrations in a static loop apparatus. The experiments were
performed using a static loop apparatus consisting of a 2.4307 cm
inside diameter and 800 cm long pipe. All experiments were conducted at 2200 psia. The temperature in the loop was decreased at
a rate of 3.33 °F/h from initial temperature of 80 °F.
Abstract: Titanium nitride (TiN) has been synthesized using the
sheet plasma negative ion source (SPNIS). The parameters used for
its effective synthesis has been determined from previous
experiments and studies. In this study, further enhancement of the
deposition rate of TiN synthesis and advancement of the SPNIS
operation is presented. This is primarily achieved by the addition of
Sm-Co permanent magnets and a modification of the configuration in
the TiN deposition process. The magnetic enhancement is aimed at
optimizing the sputtering rate and the sputtering yield of the process.
The Sm-Co permanent magnets are placed below the Ti target for
better sputtering by argon. The Ti target is biased from –250V to –
350V and is sputtered by Ar plasma produced at discharge current of
2.5–4A and discharge potential of 60–90V. Steel substrates of
dimensions 20x20x0.5mm3 were prepared with N2:Ar volumetric
ratios of 1:3, 1:5 and 1:10. Ocular inspection of samples exhibit
bright gold color associated with TiN. XRD characterization
confirmed the effective TiN synthesis as all samples exhibit the (200)
and (311) peaks of TiN and the non-stoichiometric Ti2N (220) facet.
Cross-sectional SEM results showed increase in the TiN deposition
rate of up to 0.35μm/min. This doubles what was previously obtained
[1]. Scanning electron micrograph results give a comparative
morphological picture of the samples. Vickers hardness results gave
the largest hardness value of 21.094GPa.
Abstract: In this paper the direct kinematic model of a multiple
applications three degrees of freedom industrial manipulator, was
developed using the homogeneous transformation matrices and the
Denavit - Hartenberg parameters, likewise the inverse kinematic
model was developed using the same method, verifying that in the
workload border the inverse kinematic presents considerable errors,
therefore a genetic algorithm was implemented to optimize the model
improving greatly the efficiency of the model.
Abstract: In this work a new platform for mobile-health systems is
presented. System target application is providing decision support to
rescue corps or military medical personnel in combat areas. Software
architecture relies on a distributed client-server system that manages a
wireless ad-hoc networks hierarchy in which several different types of
client operate. Each client is characterized for different hardware and
software requirements. Lower hierarchy levels rely in a network of
completely custom devices that store clinical information and patient
status and are designed to form an ad-hoc network operating in the
2.4 GHz ISM band and complying with the IEEE 802.15.4 standard
(ZigBee). Medical personnel may interact with such devices, that are
called MICs (Medical Information Carriers), by means of a PDA
(Personal Digital Assistant) or a MDA (Medical Digital Assistant),
and transmit the information stored in their local databases as well as
issue a service request to the upper hierarchy levels by using IEEE
802.11 a/b/g standard (WiFi). The server acts as a repository that
stores both medical evacuation forms and associated events (e.g., a
teleconsulting request). All the actors participating in the diagnostic
or evacuation process may access asynchronously to such repository
and update its content or generate new events. The designed system
pretends to optimise and improve information spreading and flow
among all the system components with the aim of improving both
diagnostic quality and evacuation process.
Abstract: Classical Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) codes C that contain their dual codes can be used to construct quantum stabilizer codes this chapter studies the properties of such codes. It had been shown that a BCH code of length n which contains its dual code satisfies the bound on weight of any non-zero codeword in C and converse is also true. One impressive difficulty in quantum communication and computation is to protect informationcarrying quantum states against undesired interactions with the environment. To address this difficulty, many good quantum errorcorrecting codes have been derived as binary stabilizer codes. We were able to shed more light on the structure of dual containing BCH codes. These results make it possible to determine the parameters of quantum BCH codes in terms of weight of non-zero dual codeword.
Abstract: Global competition is tightening and companies have
to think how to remain competitive. The main aim of this paper is to
discuss how Finnish foundries will remain competitive. To fulfil the
aim, we conducted interviews in nine companies using castings and
analysed buyer–supplier relationships, current competitive
advantages of Finnish foundries and customer perspectives on how
Finnish foundries remain competitive. We found that the customerfoundry
relationship is still closer to traditional subcontracting than
partnering and general image of foundries is negative. Current
competitive advantages of Finnish foundries include designing
cooperation, proximity and flexibility. Casting users state that
Finnish foundries should sell their know-how and services instead of
their capacity, concentrate on prototype, single and short series
castings and supply ready-to-install cast components directly to
customers- assembly lines.