Abstract: Utilization of various sensors has made it possible to
extend capabilities of industrial robots. Among these are vision
sensors that are used for providing visual information to assist robot
controllers. This paper presents a method of integrating a vision
system and a simulation program with an industrial robot. The vision
system is employed to detect a target object and compute its location
in the robot environment. Then, the target object-s information is sent
to the robot controller via parallel communication port. The robot
controller uses the extracted object information and the simulation
program to control the robot arm for approaching, grasping and
relocating the object. This paper presents technical details of system
components and describes the methodology used for this integration.
It also provides a case study to prove the validity of the methodology
developed.
Abstract: The phylogenetic analysis using the most conservative
portions of 18S rRNA gene revealed the phylogenetic relationship
among the two populations where DNA divergence showed that the
nucleotides diversity value were -0.00838 for the Tanjung Dawai,
Kedah and -0.00708 for the Cherating, Pahang populations
respectively. The net nucleotide divergence among populations (Da)
was -0.0073 indicating a low polymorphism among the populations
studied. Total number of mutations in the Tanjung Dawai, Kedah
samples was higher than Cherating, Pahang samples, which are 73 and
59 respectively while shared mutations across the populations were 8,
and reveal the evolutionary in the genome of Malaysian T. gigas. The
tree topology of both populations inferred using Neigbour-joining
method by comparing 1791 bp of partial 18S rRNA sequence revealed
that T. gigas haplotypes were clustered into seven clades, suggesting
that they are genetically diverse among populations which derived
from a common ancestor.
Abstract: In this present work, the development of an avionics
system for flight data collection of a Raptor 30 V2 is carried out. For the data acquisition both onground and onboard avionics systems are developed for testing of a small-scale Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
(UAV) helicopter. The onboard avionics record the helicopter state
outputs namely accelerations, angular rates and Euler angles, in real time, and the on ground avionics system record the inputs given to
the radio controlled helicopter through a transmitter, in real time. The avionic systems are designed and developed taking into consideration
low weight, small size, anti-vibration, low power consumption, and easy interfacing. To mitigate the medium frequency vibrations
embedded on the UAV helicopter during flight, a damper is designed
and its performance is evaluated. A number of flight tests are carried
out and the data obtained is then analyzed for accuracy and repeatability and conclusions are inferred.
Abstract: An IEC technique is described for a multi-objective
search of conceptual solutions. The survivability of solutions is
influenced by both model-based fitness and subjective human
preferences. The concepts- preferences are articulated via a hierarchy
of sub-concepts. The suggested method produces an objectivesubjective
front. Academic example is employed to demonstrate the
proposed approach.
Abstract: Quantitative methods of economic decision-making as
the methodological base of the so called operational research
represent an important set of tools for managing complex economic
systems,both at the microeconomic level and on the macroeconomic
scale. Mathematical models of controlled and controlling processes
allow, by means of artificial experiments, obtaining information
foroptimalor optimum approaching managerial decision-making.The
quantitative methods of economic decision-making usually include a
methodology known as structural analysis -an analysisof
interdisciplinary production-consumption relations.
Abstract: With previous studies that examined the importance
of functional store image and CSR, this study is aimed at examining
their effects in the self-congruity model in influencing store loyalty.
In particular, this study developed and tested a structural model in the
context of retailing industry on the self-congruity theory. Whilst
much of the self-congruity studies have incorporated functional store
image, there has been lack of studies that examined social
responsibility image of retail stores in the self-congruity studies.
Findings indicate that self-congruity influence on store loyalty was
mediated by both functional store image and social responsibility
image. In influencing store loyalty, the findings have shown that
social responsibility image has a stronger influence on store loyalty
than functional store image. This study offers important findings and
implications for future research as it presents a new framework on
the importance of social responsibility image.
Abstract: Westudy a dual-channel supply chain under
decentralized setting in which manufacturer sells to retailer and to
customers directly usingan online channel. A customer chooses the
purchase-channel based on price and service quality. Also, to buy
product from the retail store, the customer incurs a transportation cost
influenced by the fluctuating gasoline cost. Both companies are under
the revenue sharing contract. In this contract the retailer share a
portion of the revenue to the manufacturer while the manufacturer
will charge the lower wholesales price. The numerical result shows
that the effects of gasoline costs, the revenue sharing ratio and the
wholesale price play an important role in determining optimal prices.
The result shows that when the gasoline price fluctuatesthe optimal
on-line priceis relatively stable while the optimal retail price moves
in the opposite direction of the gasoline prices.
Abstract: Modeling and vibration of a flexible link manipulator
with tow flexible links and rigid joints are investigated which can
include an arbitrary number of flexible links. Hamilton principle and
finite element approach is proposed to model the dynamics of
flexible manipulators. The links are assumed to be deflection due to
bending. The association between elastic displacements of links is
investigated, took into account the coupling effects of elastic motion
and rigid motion. Flexible links are treated as Euler-Bernoulli beams
and the shear deformation is thus abandoned. The dynamic behavior
due to flexibility of links is well demonstrated through numerical
simulation. The rigid-body motion and elastic deformations are
separated by linearizing the equations of motion around the rigid
body reference path. Simulation results are shown on for both
position and force trajectory tracking tasks in the presence of varying
parameters and unknown dynamics remarkably well. The proposed
method can be used in both dynamic simulation and controller
design.
Abstract: Drop-in of R-22 alternatives in refrigeration and air conditioning systems requires a redesign of system components to improve system performance and reliability with the alternative refrigerants. The present paper aims at design adiabatic capillary tubes for R-22 alternatives such as R-417A, R-422D and R-438A. A theoretical model has been developed and validated with the available experimental data from literature for R-22 over a wide range of both operating and geometrical parameters. Predicted lengths of adiabatic capillary tube are compared with the lengths of the capillary tube needed under similar experimental conditions and majority of predictions are found to be within 4.4% of the experimental data. Hence, the model has been applied for R-417A, R- 422D and R-438A and capillary tube selection charts and correlations have been computed. Finally a comparison between the selected refrigerants and R-22 has been introduced and the results showed that R-438A is the closest one to R-22.
Abstract: Humic acids (HAs) have been shown to activate some
ion uptakes along with stimulating the lateral roots at effective
concentration of micronutrients. However, the effects of HA on ion
adsorption by plant roots are not easily explainable due to the
varieties of HAs that differ from origins. Therefore, this study was
aimed to investigate the effect of various concentrations of HA
obtained from the compost derived from mix manures and some
agricultural wastes on the growth of eggplant seedlings (Solanum
melongena L. cv. Chao Praya) in tissue cultures at low nutrient level.
Egg plant seeds were surfaced sterilized and germinated in ½
Murashige and Skoog medium (MS) without HA added or in ¼ MS
supplemented with 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 ppm of HAs. Then, they
were cultured for 4 weeks under the controlled environment. The
results showed that seedlings grown on ¼MS supplemented with
HAs at the concentration of 25 and 50 ppm had the average plant
heights (2.49 and 2.28 cm, respectively) higher than the other
treatments. Both treatments also significantly showed the maximum
average fresh and dry weights (p
Abstract: Method of determining of moisture diffusivity on two types of autoclaved aerated concretes with different bulk density is represented in the paper. On the specimens were measured one dimensional water transport only on liquid phase. Ever evaluation was done from moisture profiles measured in specific times by capacitance moisture meter. All values from capacitance meter were recalculated to moisture content by mass. Moisture diffusivity was determined in dependence on both moisture and temperature. The experiment temperatures were set at values 55, 65, 75 and 85°C.
Abstract: This paper proposes the novel model order
formulation scheme to design a discrete PID controller for higher
order linear time invariant discrete systems. Modified PSO (MPSO)
based model order formulation technique has used to obtain the
successful formulated second order system. PID controller is tuned to
meet the desired performance specification by using pole-zero
cancellation and proposed design procedures. Proposed PID
controller is attached with both higher order system and formulated
second order system. System specifications are tabulated and closed
loop response is observed for stabilization process. The proposed
method is illustrated through numerical examples from literature.
Abstract: Over the past decades, automatic face recognition has become a highly active research area, mainly due to the countless application possibilities in both the private as well as the public sector. Numerous algorithms have been proposed in the literature to cope with the problem of face recognition, nevertheless, a group of methods commonly referred to as appearance based have emerged as the dominant solution to the face recognition problem. Many comparative studies concerned with the performance of appearance based methods have already been presented in the literature, not rarely with inconclusive and often with contradictory results. No consent has been reached within the scientific community regarding the relative ranking of the efficiency of appearance based methods for the face recognition task, let alone regarding their susceptibility to appearance changes induced by various environmental factors. To tackle these open issues, this paper assess the performance of the three dominant appearance based methods: principal component analysis, linear discriminant analysis and independent component analysis, and compares them on equal footing (i.e., with the same preprocessing procedure, with optimized parameters for the best possible performance, etc.) in face verification experiments on the publicly available XM2VTS database. In addition to the comparative analysis on the XM2VTS database, ten degraded versions of the database are also employed in the experiments to evaluate the susceptibility of the appearance based methods on various image degradations which can occur in "real-life" operating conditions. Our experimental results suggest that linear discriminant analysis ensures the most consistent verification rates across the tested databases.
Abstract: Rainbow trout homogametic males, (XX or YY sex genotype), can be obtained, respectively, through masculinisation of genetic females or induced androgenesis. Aim of this study was to compare reproductive potential of neo-males (XX) and super-males (YY) with heterogametic males (XY). We measured spermatozoa motility parameters, sperm concentration, osmolality and characterized protein profiles in samples of stripped and testicular sperm obtained from XY and YY males, and testicular sperm of XX males. The motile spermatozoa, as measured by both subjective method and CASA, showed no differences between testicular sperm of XX males and stripped sperm of XY and YY males whereas testicular sperm of XY and YY males had significantly lower sperm motility. Result of protein densitometry showed similarities in protein profile between seminal plasma of XY and YY males and testicular fluids of XX males. Testis of XX males showed specific histological structures of cysts consists hypertrophied Sertoli cells.
Abstract: These All pig-producing countries from around the world report the presence of Postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS.) In America, PCV2 has been recognized in Canada, United States and Brazil. Knowledge concerning the genetic sequences of PMWS has been very important. In Mexico, there is no report describing the genetic sequences and variations of the PCV2 virus present around the country. For this reason, the main objective was to describe the homology and genetic sequences of the PCV2 virus obtained from different regions of Mexico. The results show that in Mexico are present both subgenotypes \"a\" and \"b\" of this virus and the homologies are from 89 to 99%. Regarding with the aminoacid sequence, three major heterogenic regions were present in the position 59-91, 123–136 and 185–210. This study presents the results of the first genetic characterization of PCV2 in production herds from Mexico.
Abstract: A compact 1x3 power splitter based on Photonic
Crystal Waveguides (PCW) with flexible power splitting ratio is
presented in this paper. Multimode interference coupler (MMI) is
integrated with PCW. The device size reduction compared with the
conventional MMI power splitter is attributed to the large dispersion
of the PCW. Band Solve tool is used to calculate the band structure of
PCW. Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method is adopted to
simulate the relevant structure at 1550nm wavelength. The device is
polarization insensitive and allows the control of output (o/p) powers
within certain percentage points for both polarizations.
Abstract: Fuzzy controllers are potential candidates for the
control of nonlinear, time variant and also complicated systems. Anti
lock brake system (ABS) which is a nonlinear system, may not be
easily controlled by classical control methods. An intelligent Fuzzy
control method is very useful for this kind of nonlinear system. A
typical antilock brake system (ABS) by sensing the wheel lockup,
releases the brakes for a short period of time, and then reapplies again
the brakes when the wheel spins up. In this paper, an intelligent fuzzy
ABS controller is designed to adjust slipping performance for variety
of roads. There are tow major sections in the proposing control
system. First section consists of tow Fuzzy-Logic Controllers (FLC)
providing optimal brake torque for both front and rear wheels.
Second section which is also a FLC provides required amount of slip
and torque references properties for different kind of roads.
Simulation results of our proposed intelligent ABS for three different
kinds of road show more reliable and better performance in compare
with two other break systems.
Abstract: This paper proposes two types of non-isolated
direct AC-DC converters. First, it shows a buck-boost
converter with an H-bridge, which requires few components
(three switches, two diodes, one inductor and one capacitor) to
convert AC input to DC output directly. This circuit can handle
a wide range of output voltage. Second, a direct AC-DC buck
converter is proposed for lower output voltage applications.
This circuit is analyzed with output voltage of 12V. We
describe circuit topologies, operation principles and simulation
results for both circuits.
Abstract: The present study addresses problems and solutions
related to new functional food production. Wheat (Triticum aestivum
L) bran obtained from industrial mill company “Dobeles
dzirnavieks”, was used to investigate them as raw material like
nutrients for Bifidobacterium lactis Bb-12. Enzymatic hydrolysis of
wheat bran starch was carried out by α-amylase from Bacillus
amyloliquefaciens (Sigma Aldrich). The Viscozyme L purchased
from (Sigma Aldrich) were used for reducing released sugar.
Bifidibacterium lactis Bb-12 purchased from (Probio-Tec® CHR
Hansen) was cultivated in enzymatically hydrolysed wheat bran
mash. All procedures ensured the number of active Bifidobacterium
lactis Bb-12 in the final product reached 105 CFUg-1. After enzymatic
and bacterial fermentations sample were freeze dried for analysis of
chemical compounds. All experiments were performed at Faculty of
Food Technology of Latvia University of Agriculture in January-
March 2013. The obtained results show that both types of wheat bran
(enzymatically treated and non-treated) influenced the fermentative
activity and number of Bifidibacterium lactis Bb-12 viable in wheat
bran mash. Amount of acidity strongly increase during the wheat
bran mash fermentation. The main objective of this work was to
create low-energy functional enzymatically and bacterially treated
food from wheat bran using enzymatic hydrolysis of carbohydrates
and following cultivation of Bifidobacterium lactis Bb-12.
Abstract: In this study, numerical simulations on laminar flow in
sinusoidal wavy shaped tubes were conducted for mean Reynolds
number of 250, which is in the range of physiological flow-rate and
investigated flow structures, pressure distribution and particle
trajectories both in steady and periodic inflow conditions. For
extensive comparisons, various wave lengths and amplitudes of sine
function for geometry of tube models were employed. The results
showed that small amplitude secondary curvature has significant
influence on the nature of flow patterns and particle mixing
mechanism. This implies that characterizing accurate geometry is
essential in accurate predicting of in vivo hemodynamics and may
motivate further study on any possibility of reflection of secondary
flow on vascular remodeling and pathophysiology.