Abstract: Hydrogen production from cake wastewater by anaerobic dark fermentation via upflow anaerobic staged reactor (UASR) was investigated in this study. The reactor was continuously operated for four months at constant hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 21.57 hr, PH value of 6 ± 0.6, temperature of 21.1°C, and organic loading rate of 2.43 gCOD/l.d. The hydrogen production was 5.7 l H2/d and the hydrogen yield was 134.8 ml H2 /g CODremoved. The system showed an overall removal efficiency of TCOD, TBOD, TSS, TKN, and Carbohydrates of 40 ± 13%, 59 ± 18%, 84 ± 17%, 28 ± 27%, and 85 ± 15% respectively during the long term operation period. Based on the available results, the system is not sufficient for the effective treatment of cake wastewater, and the effluent quality of UASR is not complying for discharge into sewerage network, therefore a post treatment is needed (not covered in this study).
Abstract: This study reports a comparison from an exergetic point of view between three configurations of vapor compression industrial refrigeration systems operating with R134a as working fluid. The performances of the different cycles are analyzed as function of several operating parameters such as condensing temperature and inter stage pressure. In addition, the contributions of component exergy destruction to the total exergy destruction are obtained for each system. The results are estimated to be used in the selection of the most advantageous configuration from an exergetic view point.
Abstract: In this paper, we present a novel 2.5D face recognition method based on Gabor Discrete Cosine Transform (GDCT). In the proposed method, the Gabor filter is applied to extract feature vectors from the texture and the depth information. Then, Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) is used for dimensionality and redundancy reduction to improve computational efficiency. The system is combined texture and depth information in the decision level, which presents higher performance compared to methods, which use texture and depth information, separately. The proposed algorithm is examined on publically available Bosphorus database including models with pose variation. The experimental results show that the proposed method has a higher performance compared to the benchmark.
Abstract: In many practical situations, bubbles are dispersed in a
liquid phase. Understanding these complex bubbly flows is therefore
a key issue for applications such as shell and tube heat exchangers,
mineral flotation and oxidation in water treatment. Although a large
body of work exists for bubbles rising in an unbounded medium,
that of bubbles rising in constricted geometries has received less
attention. The particular case of a bubble sliding underneath an
inclined surface is common to two-phase flow systems. The current
study intends to expand this knowledge by performing experiments
to quantify the streamwise flow structures associated with a single
sliding air bubble under an inclined surface in quiescent water. This
is achieved by means of two-dimensional, two-component particle
image velocimetry (PIV), performed with a continuous wave laser
and high-speed camera. PIV vorticity fields obtained in a plane
perpendicular to the sliding surface show that there is significant bulk
fluid motion away from the surface. The associated momentum of the
bubble means that this wake motion persists for a significant time
before viscous dissipation. The magnitude and direction of the flow
structures in the streamwise measurement plane are found to depend
on the point on its path through which the bubble enters the plane.
This entry point, represented by a phase angle, affects the nature and
strength of the vortical structures. This study reconstructs the vorticity
field in the wake of the bubble, converting the field at different
instances in time to slices of a large-scale wake structure. This is, in
essence, Taylor’s ”frozen turbulence” hypothesis. Applying this to the
vorticity fields provides a pseudo three-dimensional representation
from 2-D data, allowing for a more intuitive understanding of the
bubble wake. This study provides insights into the complex dynamics
of a situation common to many engineering applications, particularly
shell and tube heat exchangers in the nucleate boiling regime.
Abstract: Control of diesel engine’s air path has drawn a lot of attention due to its multi input-multi output, closed coupled, non-linear relation. Today, precise control of amount of air to be combusted is a must in order to meet with tight emission limits and performance targets. In this study, passenger car size diesel engine is modeled by AVL Boost RT, and then simulated with standard, industry level PID controllers. Finally, linear model predictive control is designed and simulated. This study shows the importance of modeling and control of diesel engines with flexible algorithm development in computer based systems.
Abstract: This paper is devoted to present the advances in the design of a prototype that is able to supervise the complex behavior of water quality parameters such as pH and temperature, via a real-time monitoring system. The current water quality tests that are performed in government water quality institutions in Mexico are carried out in problematic locations and they require taking manual samples. The water samples are then taken to the institution laboratory for examination. In order to automate this process, a water quality monitoring system based on wireless sensor networks is proposed. The system consists of a sensor node which contains one pH sensor, one temperature sensor, a microcontroller, and a ZigBee radio, and a base station composed by a ZigBee radio and a PC. The progress in this investigation shows the development of a water quality monitoring system. Due to recent events that affected water quality in Mexico, the main motivation of this study is to address water quality monitoring systems, so in the near future, a more robust, affordable, and reliable system can be deployed.
Abstract: This research focuses on assessing the ground water quality of Northern Lebanon affected by saline water intrusion. The chemical, physical and microbiological parameters were collected in various seasons spanning over the period of two years. Results were assessed using Geographic Information System (GIS) due to its visual capabilities in presenting the pollution extent in the studied region. Future projections of the excessive pumping were also simulated using GIS in order to assess the extent of the problem of saline intrusion in the near future.
Abstract: This paper presents Differential Evolution Algorithm (DEA) based Variable Structure Position Control (VSPC) of Laboratory DC servomotor (LDCSM). DEA is employed for the optimal tuning of Variable Structure Control (VSC) parameters for position control of a DC servomotor. The VSC combines the techniques of Sliding Mode Control (SMC) that gives the advantages of small overshoot, improved step response characteristics, faster dynamic response and adaptability to plant parameter variations, suppressed influences of disturbances and uncertainties in system behavior. The results of the simulation responses of the VSC parameters adjustment by DEA were performed in Matlab Version 2010a platform and yield better dynamic performance compared with the untuned VSC designed.
Abstract: Governments constantly seek to offer faster, more secure, efficient and effective services for their citizens. Recent changes and developments to communication services and technologies, mainly due the Internet, have led to immense improvements in the way governments of advanced countries carry out their interior operations Therefore, advances in e-government services have been broadly adopted and used in various developed countries, as well as being adapted to developing countries. The implementation of advances depends on the utilization of the most innovative structures of data techniques, mainly in web dependent applications, to enhance the main functions of governments. These functions, in turn, have spread to mobile and wireless techniques, generating a new advanced direction called m-government. This paper discusses a selection of available m-government applications and several business modules and frameworks in various fields. Practically, the m-government models, techniques and methods have become the improved version of e-government. M-government offers the potential for applications which will work better, providing citizens with services utilizing mobile communication and data models incorporating several government entities. Developing countries can benefit greatly from this innovation due to the fact that a large percentage of their population is young and can adapt to new technology and to the fact that mobile computing devices are more affordable. The use of models of mobile transactions encourages effective participation through the use of mobile portals by businesses, various organizations, and individual citizens. Although the application of m-government has great potential, it does have major limitations. The limitations include: the implementation of wireless networks and relative communications, the encouragement of mobile diffusion, the administration of complicated tasks concerning the protection of security (including the ability to offer privacy for information), and the management of the legal issues concerning mobile applications and the utilization of services.
Abstract: Fault diagnosis of Linear Parameter-Varying (LPV)
system using an adaptive Kalman filter is proposed. The LPV model
is comprised of scheduling parameters, and the emulator parameters.
The scheduling parameters are chosen such that they are capable of
tracking variations in the system model as a result of changes in the
operating regimes. The emulator parameters, on the other hand,
simulate variations in the subsystems during the identification phase
and have negligible effect during the operational phase. The nominal
model and the influence vectors, which are the gradient of the feature
vector respect to the emulator parameters, are identified off-line from
a number of emulator parameter perturbed experiments. A Kalman
filter is designed using the identified nominal model. As the system
varies, the Kalman filter model is adapted using the scheduling
variables. The residual is employed for fault diagnosis. The
proposed scheme is successfully evaluated on simulated system as
well as on a physical process control system.
Abstract: Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) is a short-range
wireless communication around human body for various applications
such as wearable devices, entertainment, military, and especially
medical devices. WBAN attracts the attention of continuous health
monitoring system including diagnostic procedure, early detection of
abnormal conditions, and prevention of emergency situations.
Compared to cellular network, WBAN system is more difficult to
control inter- and inner-cell interference due to the limited power,
limited calculation capability, mobility of patient, and
non-cooperation among WBANs.
In this paper, we compare the performance of resource allocation
scheme based on several Pseudo Orthogonal Codewords (POCs) to
mitigate inter-WBAN interference. Previously, the POCs are widely
exploited for a protocol sequence and optical orthogonal code. Each
POCs have different properties of auto- and cross-correlation and
spectral efficiency according to its construction of POCs. To identify
different WBANs, several different pseudo orthogonal patterns based
on POCs exploits for resource allocation of WBANs. By simulating
these pseudo orthogonal resource allocations of WBANs on
MATLAB, we obtain the performance of WBANs according to
different POCs and can analyze and evaluate the suitability of POCs
for the resource allocation in the WBANs system.
Abstract: The increasing demand of electric power is giving an
emphasis on the need for the maximum utilization of renewable
energy sources. On the other hand maintaining power quality to
satisfaction of utility is an essential requirement. In this paper the
design aspects of a Unified Power Quality Conditioner integrated
with photovoltaic system in a distributed generation is presented. The
proposed system consist of series inverter, shunt inverter are
connected back to back on the dc side and share a common dc-link
capacitor with Distributed Generation through a boost converter. The
primary task of UPQC is to minimize grid voltage and load current
disturbances along with reactive and harmonic power compensation.
In addition to primary tasks of UPQC, other functionalities such as
compensation of voltage interruption and active power transfer to the
load and grid in both islanding and interconnected mode have been
addressed. The simulation model is design in MATLAB/ Simulation
environment and the results are in good agreement with the published
work.
Abstract: Environmental security clearly articulates the perfections and developments of various communities around the world irrespective of the region, culture, religion or social inclination. Although, the present state of insecurity has become serious issue devastating the peace, unity, stability and progress of man and his physical environment particularly in developing countries. Recently, measure of security and it management in Nigeria has been a bottle-neck to the effectiveness and advancement of various sectors that include; business, education, social relations, politics and above all an economy. Several measures have been considered on mitigating environment insecurity such as surveillance, demarcation, security personnel empowerment and the likes, but still the issue remains disturbing. In this paper, we present the application of new technology that contributes to the improvement of security surveillance known as “Wireless Sensor Network (WSN)”. The system is new, smart and emerging technology that provides monitoring, detection and aggregation of information using sensor nodes and wireless network. WSN detects, monitors and stores information or activities in the deployed area such as schools, environment, business centers, public squares, industries, and outskirts and transmit to end users. This will reduce the cost of security funding and eases security surveillance depending on the nature and the requirement of the deployment.
Abstract: An accuracy nonlinear analysis of a deep beam resting on elastic perfectly plastic soil is carried out in this study. In fact, a nonlinear finite element modeling for large deflection and moderate rotation of Euler-Bernoulli beam resting on linear and nonlinear random soil is investigated. The geometric nonlinear analysis of the beam is based on the theory of von Kàrmàn, where the Newton-Raphson incremental iteration method is implemented in a Matlab code to solve the nonlinear equation of the soil-beam interaction system. However, two analyses (deterministic and probabilistic) are proposed to verify the accuracy and the efficiency of the proposed model where the theory of the local average based on the Monte Carlo approach is used to analyze the effect of the spatial variability of the soil properties on the nonlinear beam response. The effect of six main parameters are investigated: the external load, the length of a beam, the coefficient of subgrade reaction of the soil, the Young’s modulus of the beam, the coefficient of variation and the correlation length of the soil’s coefficient of subgrade reaction. A comparison between the beam resting on linear and nonlinear soil models is presented for different beam’s length and external load. Numerical results have been obtained for the combination of the geometric nonlinearity of beam and material nonlinearity of random soil. This comparison highlighted the need of including the material nonlinearity and spatial variability of the soil in the geometric nonlinear analysis, when the beam undergoes large deflections.
Abstract: This paper started with the definitions of literature,
Arabic literature, transformation and went further to highlight the
components of educational transformation. The general history of
Arabic literature was discussed with focus on how it undergoes some
transformations from pre-Islamic period through Quranic era,
Abbasid literature to renaissance period in which the modernization
of Arabic literature started in Egypt. It also traces the spread of
Arabic literature in Nigeria from the pre-colonial era during the
Kanuri rulers to Jihad of Usman Dan Fodio and the development of
literature which manifested to the Teacher’s Colleges and Bayero
University in Northern Nigeria. Also, the establishment of primary
and post-primary schools by Muslim organizations in many cities and
towns of the Western part of Nigeria. Literary criticism was also
discussed in line with Arabic literature. Poetry work of eminent poets
were cited to show its importance in line with educational
transformation in Nigerian literature and lessons from the cited
Arabic poetry works were also highlighted to include: motivation to
behave well and to tolerate others, better spirits of interaction, love
and co-existence among different sexes, religion etc. All these can
help in developing a better educational transformation in Nigeria
which can in turn help in how to conduct researches for national
development. The paper recommended compulsory Arabic literature
at all levels of the nations’ educational system as well as publication
of Arabic books and journals to encourage peace in this era of
conflicts and further transform Nigeria’s educational system for
better.
Abstract: The sun is an inexhaustible source and harness its potential both for heating and power generation is one of the most promising and necessary alternatives, mainly due to environmental issues. However, it should be noted that this has always been present in the generation of energy on earth, only indirectly, since it is responsible for virtually all other energy sources, such as generating source of evaporation of the water cycle, allowing the impoundment and the consequent generation of electricity (hydroelectric power); winds are caused by atmospheric induction caused by large scale solar radiation; petroleum, coal and natural gas were generated from waste plants and animals that originally derived energy required for their development of solar radiation. This paper presents a study on the feasibility of using solar energy for water heating in homes. A simplified methodology developed for formulation of solar heating operation model of water in alternative systems of solar energy in Brazil, and compared it to that in the international market. Across this research, it was possible to create new paradigms for alternative applications to the use of solar energy.
Abstract: In recent years, the use of renewable energy resources
instead of pollutant fossil fuels and other forms has increased.
Photovoltaic generation is becoming increasingly important as a
renewable resource since it does not cause in fuel costs, pollution,
maintenance, and emitting noise compared with other alternatives
used in power applications. In this paper, Perturb and Observe and
Incremental Conductance methods are used to improve energy
conversion efficiency under different environmental conditions. PI
controllers are used to control easily DC-link voltage, active and
reactive currents. The whole system is simulated under standard
climatic conditions (1000 W/m2, 250C) in MATLAB and the
irradiance is varied from 1000 W/m2 to 300 W/m2. The use of PI
controller makes it easy to directly control the power of the grid
connected PV system. Finally the validity of the system will be
verified through the simulations in MATLAB/Simulink environment.
Abstract: This article aims to assess the evolution of imperfect competition in selected banking markets, in particular in the banking markets of Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia. Another objective is to assess the evolution of the relationship of imperfect competition and profit development in the banking markets. The article first provides an overview of literature on the topic. It then measures the degree of imperfect competition in individual markets using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index. The commonly used indicator of total assets was chosen as an indicator. Based on this measurement, the individual banking sectors are categorized into theoretical definitions of the various types of imperfect competition - namely all surveyed banking sectors falling within the theoretical definition of monopolistic competition. Subsequently, using correlation analysis, i.e., the Pearson correlation coefficient, or the Spearman correlation coefficient, the connection between the evolution of imperfect competition and the development of the gross profit on selected banking markets was surveyed. It was found that with the exception of the banking market in Slovenia, where there is a positive correlation; there is no correlation between the evolution of imperfect competition and profit development in the selected markets. This means a recommendation for the regulators that it is not appropriate to rationalize a higher degree of regulation in granting banking licenses on the size of the profits attained in the banking market, as the relationship between the degree of concentration in the banking market and the amount of profit according to our measurements does not exist.
Abstract: We present a new subband adaptive filter (R-SAF)
which is robust against impulsive noise in system identification. To
address the vulnerability of adaptive filters based on the L2-norm
optimization criterion against impulsive noise, the R-SAF comes from
the L1-norm optimization criterion with a constraint on the energy
of the weight update. Minimizing L1-norm of the a posteriori error
in each subband with a constraint on minimum disturbance gives
rise to the robustness against the impulsive noise and the capable
convergence performance. Experimental results clearly demonstrate
that the proposed R-SAF outperforms the classical adaptive filtering
algorithms when impulsive noise as well as background noise exist.
Abstract: Control system for hi-tech industries could be realized generally and deeply by a special document. Vast heavy industries such as power plants with a large number of I/O signals are controlled by a distributed control system (DCS). This system comprises of so many parts from field level to high control level, and junior instrument engineers may be confused by this enormous information. The key document which can solve this problem is “control configuration system diagram” for each type of DCS. This is a road map that covers all of activities respect to control system in each industrial plant and inevitable to be studied by whom corresponded. It plays an important role from designing control system start point until the end; deliver the system to operate. This should be inserted in bid documents, contracts, purchasing specification and used in different periods of project EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction). Separate parts of DCS are categorized here in order of importance and a brief description and some practical plan is offered. This article could be useful for all instrument and control engineers who worked is EPC projects.