Abstract: Supply chain (SC) is an operational research (OR)
approach and technique which acts as catalyst within central nervous
system of business today. Without SC, any type of business is at
doldrums, hence entropy. SC is the lifeblood of business today
because it is the pivotal hub which provides imperative competitive
advantage. The paper present a conceptual framework dubbed as
Homomorphic Conceptual Framework for Effective Supply Chain
Strategy (HCEFSC).The term Homomorphic is derived from abstract
algebraic mathematical term homomorphism (same shape) which
also embeds the following mathematical application sets:
monomorphisms, isomorphism, automorphisms, and endomorphism.
The HCFESC is intertwined and integrated with wide and broad sets
of elements.
Abstract: Axial flow fans, while incapable of developing high
pressures, they are well suitable for handling large volumes of air at
relatively low pressures. In general, they are low in cost and possess
good efficiency, and can have blades of airfoil shape. Axial flow fans
show good efficiencies, and can operate at high static pressures if
such operation is necessary. Our objective is to model and analyze
the flow through AXIAL FANS using CFD Software and draw
inference from the obtained results, so as to get maximum efficiency.
The performance of an axial fan was simulated using CFD and the
effect of variation of different parameters such as the blade number,
noise level, velocity, temperature and pressure distribution on the
blade surface was studied. This paper aims to present a final 3D CAD
model of axial flow fan. Adapting this model to the available
components in the market, the first optimization was done. After this
step, CFX flow solver is used to do the necessary numerical analyses
on the aerodynamic performance of this model. This analysis results
in a final optimization of the proposed 3D model which is presented
in this article.
Abstract: The final step to complete the “Analytical Systems
Engineering Process” is the “Allocated Architecture” in which all
Functional Requirements (FRs) of an engineering system must be
allocated into their corresponding Physical Components (PCs). At
this step, any design for developing the system’s allocated
architecture in which no clear pattern of assigning the exclusive
“responsibility” of each PC for fulfilling the allocated FR(s) can be
found is considered a poor design that may cause difficulties in
determining the specific PC(s) which has (have) failed to satisfy a
given FR successfully. The present study utilizes the Axiomatic
Design method principles to mathematically address this problem and
establishes an “Axiomatic Model” as a solution for reaching good
alternatives for developing the allocated architecture. This study
proposes a “loss Function”, as a quantitative criterion to monetarily
compare non-ideal designs for developing the allocated architecture
and choose the one which imposes relatively lower cost to the
system’s stakeholders. For the case-study, we use the existing design
of U. S. electricity marketing subsystem, based on data provided by
the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The result for
2012 shows the symptoms of a poor design and ineffectiveness due to
coupling among the FRs of this subsystem.
Abstract: Machining parameters are very important in
determining the surface quality of any material. In the past decade,
some new engineering materials were developed for the
manufacturing industry which created a need to conduct an
investigation on the impact of the said parameters on their surface
roughness. Polyurethane (PU) block is widely used in the automotive
industry to manufacture parts such as checking fixtures that are used
to verify the dimensional accuracy of automotive parts. In this paper,
the design of experiment (DOE) was used to investigate on the effect
of the milling parameters on the PU block. Furthermore, an analysis
of the machined surface chemical composition was done using
scanning electron microscope (SEM). It was found that the surface
roughness of the PU block is severely affected when PU undergoes a
flood machining process instead of a dry condition. In addition the
stepover and the silicon content were found to be the most significant
parameters that influence the surface quality of the PU block.
Abstract: Bamboo is extensively used in construction industry.
Low durability of bamboo due to fungus infestation and termites
attack under storage puts certain constrains for it usage as modern
structural material. Looking at many chemical formulations for
bamboo treatment leading to severe harmful environment effects,
research on eco-friendly preservatives for bamboo treatment has been
initiated world-over. In the present studies, eco-friendly preservative
for bamboo treatment has been developed. To validate its application
for structural purposes, investigation of effect of treatment on
compressive strength has been investigated. Neemoil (25%)
integrated with copper naphthenate (0.3%) on dilution with kerosene
oil impregnated into bamboo culm at 2 bar pressure, has shown
weight loss of only 3.15% in soil block analysis method. The results
from compressive strength analysis using HEICO Automatic
Compression Testing Machine reveal that preservative treatment has
not altered the structural properties of bamboo culms. Compressive
strength of control (11.72 N/mm2) and above treated samples (11.71
N/mm2) was found to be comparable.
Abstract: Several of the practical industrial control processes are
multivariable processes. Due to the relation amid the variables
(interaction), delay in the loops, it is very intricate to design a
controller directly for these processes. So first, the interaction of the
variables is analyzed using Relative Normalized Gain Array
(RNGA), which considers the time constant, static gain and delay
time of the processes. Based on the effect of RNGA, relative gain
array (RGA) and NI, the pair (control configuration) of variables to
be controlled by decentralized control is selected. The equivalent
transfer function (ETF) of the process model is estimated as first
order process with delay using the corresponding elements in the
Relative gain array and Relative average residence time array
(RARTA) of the processes. Secondly, a decentralized Proportional-
Integral (PI) controller is designed for each ETF simply using
frequency response specifications. Finally, the performance and
robustness of the algorithm is comparing with existing related
approaches to validate the effectiveness of the projected algorithm.
Abstract: The levels of maximum power density of GSM
signals in the cities of Lagos, Ibadan and Abuja were studied.
Measurements were made with a calibrated hand held spectrum
analyzer 200m away from 271 base stations, at 1.2m to the ground
level. The maximum GSM 900 signal power density was
139.63μW/m2 in Lagos, 162.49μW/m2 in Ibadan and 5411.26μW/m2
in Abuja. Also, the maximum GSM 1800 signal power density was
296.82μW/m2 in Lagos, 116.82μW/m2 in Ibadan and 1263.00μW/m2
in Abuja. The level of power density of GSM 900 and GSM 1800
signals in the cities of Lagos, Ibadan and Abuja are far less than the
recommended value of 4.5W/m2 for GSM 900 and 9.0 W/m2 for
GSM 1800 by the ICNRP guideline. It can be concluded that
exposure to GSM signals in these cities cannot contribute to the
health detriments caused by thermal effects of radiofrequency
radiation.
Abstract: Exact solution of an unsteady flow of elastico-viscous
electrically conducting fluid through a porous media in a tube of
elliptical cross section under the influence of constant pressure
gradient and magnetic field has been obtained in this paper. Initially,
the flow is generated by a constant pressure gradient. After attaining
the steady state, the pressure gradient is suddenly withdrawn and the
resulting fluid motion in a tube of elliptical cross section by taking
into account of the transverse magnetic field and porosity factor of
the bounding surface is investigated. The problem is solved in twostages
the first stage is a steady motion in tube under the influence of
a constant pressure gradient, the second stage concern with an
unsteady motion. The problem is solved employing separation of
variables technique. The results are expressed in terms of a nondimensional
porosity parameter (K), magnetic parameter (m) and
elastico-viscosity parameter (β), which depends on the Non-
Newtonian coefficient. The flow parameters are found to be identical
with that of Newtonian case as elastic-viscosity parameter and
magnetic parameter tends to zero and porosity tends to infinity. It is
seen that the effect of elastico-viscosity parameter, magnetic
parameter and the porosity parameter of the bounding surface has
significant effect on the velocity parameter.
Abstract: The growth in the volume of text data such as books
and articles in libraries for centuries has imposed to establish
effective mechanisms to locate them. Early techniques such as
abstraction, indexing and the use of classification categories have
marked the birth of a new field of research called "Information
Retrieval". Information Retrieval (IR) can be defined as the task of
defining models and systems whose purpose is to facilitate access to
a set of documents in electronic form (corpus) to allow a user to find
the relevant ones for him, that is to say, the contents which matches
with the information needs of the user.
Most of the models of information retrieval use a specific data
structure to index a corpus which is called "inverted file" or "reverse
index".
This inverted file collects information on all terms over the corpus
documents specifying the identifiers of documents that contain the
term in question, the frequency of each term in the documents of the
corpus, the positions of the occurrences of the word...
In this paper we use an oriented object database (db4o) instead of
the inverted file, that is to say, instead to search a term in the inverted
file, we will search it in the db4o database.
The purpose of this work is to make a comparative study to see if
the oriented object databases may be competing for the inverse index
in terms of access speed and resource consumption using a large
volume of data.
Abstract: The edge waviness in hot rolled steel is a common
defect. Variables that affect such defect include raw material and
machine. These variables are necessary to consider to understand
such defect. This research studied the defect of edge waviness for SS
400 of metal sheet manufacture. Defect of metal sheets were divided
into two groups. The specimens were investigated on chemical
composition and mechanical properties to find the difference. The
results of investigation showed that the difference was not significant.
Therefore the roll mill machine should be used to adjust to support
another location on a roller to avoide edge waviness.
Abstract: In this paper, the dynamic characteristics of a threelobe
journal bearing lubricated with micropolar fluids are determined
by the linear stability theory. Lubricating oil containing additives and
contaminants is modelled as micropolar fluid. The modified
Reynolds equation is obtained using the micropolar lubrication theory
.The finite difference technique has been used to determine the
solution of the modified Reynolds equation. The dynamic
characteristics in terms of stiffness, damping coefficients, the critical
mass and whirl ratio are determined for various values of size of
material characteristic length and the coupling number. The
computed results show that the three-lobe bearing lubricated with
micropolar fluid exhibits better stability compared with that
lubricated with Newtonian fluid. According to the results obtained,
the effect of the parameter micropolar fluid is remarkable on the
dynamic characteristics and stability of the three-lobe bearing.
Abstract: Reburning is a useful technology in reducing nitric
oxide through injection of a secondary hydrocarbon fuel. In this paper,
an experimental study has been conducted to evaluate the effect of fuel
lean reburning on NOx/CO reduction in LNG flame. Experiments
were performed in flames stabilized by a co-flow swirl burner, which
was mounted at the bottom of the furnace. Tests were conducted using
LNG gas as the reburn fuel as well as the main fuel. The effects of
reburn fuel fraction and injection manner of the reburn fuel were
studied when the fuel lean reburning system was applied. The paper
reports data on flue gas emissions and temperature distribution in the
furnace for a wide range of experimental conditions. At steady state,
temperature distribution and emission formation in the furnace have
been measured and compared. This paper makes clear that in order to
decrease both NOx and CO concentrations in the exhaust when the
pulsated fuel lean reburning system was adapted, it is important that
the control of some factors such as frequency and duty ratio. Also it
shows the fuel lean reburning is also effective method to reduce NOx
as much as reburning.
Abstract: The effect of a 3-dimensional (3D) blade on the turbine
characteristics of Wells turbine for wave energy conversion has been
investigated experimentally by model testing under steady flow
conditions in this study, in order to improve the peak efficiency and
stall characteristics. The aim of use of 3D blade is to prevent flow
separation on the suction surface near the tip. The chord length is
constant with radius and the blade profile changes gradually from the
mean radius to tip. The proposed blade profiles in the study are
NACA0015 from the hub to mean radius and NACA0025 at the tip.
The performances of Wells turbine with 3D blades has been compared
with those of the original Wells turbine, i.e., the turbine with
2-dimensional (2D) blades. As a result, it was concluded that although
the peak efficiency of Wells turbine can be improved by the use of the
proposed 3D blade, its blade does not overcome the weakness of
stalling.
Abstract: In this paper a comprehensive review on various
factory layouts has been carried out for designing a lucrative process
layout for medium scale industries. Industry data base reveals that the
end product rejection rate is on the order of 10% amounting large
profit loss. In order to avoid these rejection rates and to increase the
quality product production an intermediate non-destructive testing
facility (INDTF) has been recommended for increasing the overall
profit. We observed through detailed case studies that while
introducing INDTF to medium scale industries the expensive
production process can be avoided to the defective products well
before its final shape. Additionally, the defective products identified
during the intermediate stage can be effectively utilized for other
applications or recycling; thereby the overall wastage of the raw
materials can be reduced and profit can be increased. We concluded
that the prudent design of a factory layout through critical path
method facilitating with INDTF will warrant profitable outcome.
Abstract: This paper investigates the joint effect of the
interconnected (n,k)-star network topology and Multi-Agent
automated control on restoration and reconfiguration of power
systems. With the increasing trend in development in Multi-Agent
control technologies applied to power system reconfiguration
in presence of faulty components or nodes. Fault tolerance is
becoming an important challenge in the design processes of the
distributed power system topology. Since the reconfiguration of a
power system is performed by agent communication, the (n,k)-star
interconnected network topology is studied and modeled in this
paper to optimize the process of power reconfiguration. In this paper,
we discuss the recently proposed (n,k)-star topology and examine its
properties and advantages as compared to the traditional multi-bus
power topologies. We design and simulate the topology model for
distributed power system test cases. A related lemma based on the
fault tolerance and conditional diagnosability properties is presented
and proved both theoretically and practically. The conclusion is
reached that (n,k)-star topology model has measurable advantages
compared to standard bus power systems while exhibiting fault
tolerance properties in power restoration, as well as showing
efficiency when applied to power system route discovery.
Abstract: Enterprise Architecture (EA) is employed by
enterprises for providing integrated Information Systems (ISs) in
order to support alignment of their business and Information
Technology (IT). Evaluation of EA implementation can support
enterprise to reach intended goals. There are some problems in
current evaluation methods of EA implementation that lead to
ineffectiveness implementation of EA. This paper represents current
issues on evaluation of EA implementation. In this regard, we set the
framework in order to represent evaluation’s issues based on their
functionality and structure. The results of this research not only
increase the knowledge of evaluation, but also could be useful for
both academics and practitioners in order to realize the current
situation of evaluations.
Abstract: The inspection of underneath vehicle system has been
given significant attention by governments after the threat of
terrorism become more prevalent. New technologies such as mobile
robots and computer vision are led to have more secure environment.
This paper proposed that a mobile robot like Aria robot can be used
to search and inspect the bombs under parking a lot vehicle. This
robot is using fuzzy logic and subsumption algorithms to control the
robot that movies underneath the vehicle. An OpenCV library and
laser Hokuyo are added to Aria robot to complete the experiment for
under vehicle inspection. This experiment was conducted at the
indoor environment to demonstrate the efficiency of our methods to
search objects and control the robot movements under vehicle. We
got excellent results not only by controlling the robot movement but
also inspecting object by the robot camera at same time. This success
allowed us to know the requirement to construct a new cost effective
robot with more functionality.
Abstract: Brown seaweeds are abundant in Portuguese coastline
and represent an almost unexploited marine economic resource. One
of the most common species, easily available for harvesting in the
northwest coast, is Saccorhiza polyschides grows in the lowest shore
and costal rocky reefs. It is almost exclusively used by local farmers
as natural fertilizer, but contains a substantial amount of valuable
compounds, particularly alginates, natural biopolymers of high
interest for many industrial applications.
Alginates are natural polysaccharides present in cell walls of
brown seaweed, highly biocompatible, with particular properties that
make them of high interest for the food, biotechnology, cosmetics
and pharmaceutical industries. Conventional extraction processes are
based on thermal treatment. They are lengthy and consume high
amounts of energy and solvents. In recent years, microwave-assisted
extraction (MAE) has shown enormous potential to overcome major
drawbacks that outcome from conventional plant material extraction
(thermal and/or solvent based) techniques, being also successfully
applied to the extraction of agar, fucoidans and alginates. In the
present study, acid pretreatment of brown seaweed Saccorhiza
polyschides for subsequent microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) of
alginate was optimized. Seaweeds were collected in Northwest
Portuguese coastal waters of the Atlantic Ocean between May and
August, 2014. Experimental design was used to assess the effect of
temperature and acid pretreatment time in alginate extraction.
Response surface methodology allowed the determination of the
optimum MAE conditions: 40 mL of HCl 0.1 M per g of dried
seaweed with constant stirring at 20ºC during 14h. Optimal acid
pretreatment conditions have enhanced significantly MAE of
alginates from Saccorhiza polyschides, thus contributing for the
development of a viable, more environmental friendly alternative to
conventional processes.
Abstract: The objective of meta-analysis is to combine results
from several independent studies in order to create generalization
and provide evidence base for decision making. But recent studies
show that the magnitude of effect size estimates reported in many
areas of research significantly changed over time and this can
impair the results and conclusions of meta-analysis. A number of
sequential methods have been proposed for monitoring the effect
size estimates in meta-analysis. However they are based on statistical
theory applicable only to fixed effect model (FEM) of meta-analysis.
For random-effects model (REM), the analysis incorporates the
heterogeneity variance, τ 2 and its estimation create complications.
In this paper we study the use of a truncated CUSUM-type test with
asymptotically valid critical values for sequential monitoring in REM.
Simulation results show that the test does not control the Type I error
well, and is not recommended. Further work required to derive an
appropriate test in this important area of applications.
Abstract: The Smart Help for persons with disability (PWD) is a
part of the project SMARTDISABLE which aims to develop relevant
solution for PWD that target to provide an adequate workplace
environment for them. It would support PWD needs smartly through
smart help to allow them access to relevant information and
communicate with other effectively and flexibly, and smart editor
that assist them in their daily work. It will assist PWD in knowledge
processing and creation as well as being able to be productive at the
work place. The technical work of the project involves design of a
technological scenario for the Ambient Intelligence (AmI) - based
assistive technologies at the workplace consisting of an integrated
universal smart solution that suits many different impairment
conditions and will be designed to empower the Physically disabled
persons (PDP) with the capability to access and effectively utilize the
ICTs in order to execute knowledge rich working tasks with
minimum efforts and with sufficient comfort level. The proposed
technology solution for PWD will support voice recognition along
with normal keyboard and mouse to control the smart help and smart
editor with dynamic auto display interface that satisfies the
requirements for different PWD group. In addition, a smart help will
provide intelligent intervention based on the behavior of PWD to
guide them and warn them about possible misbehavior. PWD can
communicate with others using Voice over IP controlled by voice
recognition. Moreover, Auto Emergency Help Response would be
supported to assist PWD in case of emergency. This proposed
technology solution intended to make PWD very effective at the
work environment and flexible using voice to conduct their tasks at
the work environment. The proposed solution aims to provide
favorable outcomes that assist PWD at the work place, with the
opportunity to participate in PWD assistive technology innovation
market which is still small and rapidly growing as well as upgrading
their quality of life to become similar to the normal people at the
workplace. Finally, the proposed smart help solution is applicable in
all workplace setting, including offices, manufacturing, hospital, etc.