Abstract: The autonomic nervous system has a regulatory
structure that helps people adapt to changes in their environment by
adjusting or modifying some functions in response to stress, and regulating involuntary function of human organs. The purpose of this
study was to investigate the effect of combined stimulation, both
far-infrared heating and chiropractic, on the autonomic nervous system
activities using thermal image and heart rate variability. Six healthy subjects participated in this test. We compared the before and after
autonomic nervous system activities through obtaining thermal image
and photoplethysmogram signal. The thermal images showed that the
combined stimulation changed subject-s body temperature more
highly and widely than before. The result of heart rate variability
indicated that LF/HF ratio decreased. We concluded that combined
stimulation activates autonomic nervous system, and expected other
possibilities of this combined stimulation.
Abstract: The Petri net tool INA is a well known tool by the
Petri net community. However, it lacks a graphical environment to
cerate and analyse INA models. Building a modelling tool for the
design and analysis from scratch (for INA tool for example) is
generally a prohibitive task. Meta-Modelling approach is useful to
deal with such problems since it allows the modelling of the
formalisms themselves. In this paper, we propose an approach based
on the combined use of Meta-modelling and Graph Grammars to
automatically generate a visual modelling tool for INA for analysis
purposes. In our approach, the UML Class diagram formalism is
used to define a meta-model of INA models. The meta-modelling
tool ATOM3 is used to generate a visual modelling tool according to
the proposed INA meta-model. We have also proposed a graph
grammar to automatically generate INA description of the
graphically specified Petri net models. This allows the user to avoid
the errors when this description is done manually. Then the INA tool
is used to perform the simulation and the analysis of the resulted INA
description. Our environment is illustrated through an example.
Abstract: Abdominal aortic aneurysms rupture (AAAs) is one of the main causes of death in the world. This is a very complex phenomenon that usually occurs “without previous warning". Currently, criteria to assess the aneurysm rupture risk (peak diameter and growth rate) can not be considered as reliable indicators. In a first approach, the main geometric parameters of aneurysms have been linked into five biomechanical factors. These are combined to obtain a dimensionless rupture risk index, RI(t), which has been validated preliminarily with a clinical case and others from literature. This quantitative indicator is easy to understand, it allows estimating the aneurysms rupture risks and it is expected to be able to identify the one in aneurysm whose peak diameter is less than the threshold value. Based on initial results, a broader study has begun with twelve patients from the Clinic Hospital of Valladolid-Spain, which are submitted to periodic follow-up examinations.
Abstract: In this paper, image compression using hybrid vector
quantization scheme such as Multistage Vector Quantization
(MSVQ) and Pyramid Vector Quantization (PVQ) are introduced. A
combined MSVQ and PVQ are utilized to take advantages provided
by both of them. In the wavelet decomposition of the image, most of
the information often resides in the lowest frequency subband.
MSVQ is applied to significant low frequency coefficients. PVQ is
utilized to quantize the coefficients of other high frequency
subbands. The wavelet coefficients are derived using lifting scheme.
The main aim of the proposed scheme is to achieve high compression
ratio without much compromise in the image quality. The results are
compared with the existing image compression scheme using MSVQ.
Abstract: In blended learning environments, the Internet can be combined with other technologies. The aim of this research was to design, introduce and validate a model to support synchronous and asynchronous activities by managing content domains in an Adaptive Hypermedia System (AHS). The application is based on information recovery techniques, clustering algorithms and adaptation rules to adjust the user's model to contents and objects of study. This system was applied to blended learning in higher education. The research strategy used was the case study method. Empirical studies were carried out on courses at two universities to validate the model. The results of this research show that the model had a positive effect on the learning process. The students indicated that the synchronous and asynchronous scenario is a good option, as it involves a combination of work with the lecturer and the AHS. In addition, they gave positive ratings to the system and stated that the contents were adapted to each user profile.
Abstract: The steady-state temperature for one-dimensional transpiration cooling system has been conducted experimentally and numerically to investigate the heat transfer characteristics of combined convection and radiation. The Nickel –Chrome (Ni-Cr) open-cellular porous material having porosity of 0.93 and pores per inch (PPI) of 21.5 was examined. The upper surface of porous plate was heated by the heat flux of incoming radiation varying from 7.7 - 16.6 kW/m2 whereas air injection velocity fed into the lower surface was varied from 0.36 - 1.27 m/s, and was then rearranged as Reynolds number (Re). For the report of the results in the present study, two efficiencies including of temperature and conversion efficiency were presented. Temperature efficiency indicating how close the mean temperature of a porous heat plate to that of inlet air, and increased rapidly with the air injection velocity (Re). It was then saturated and had a constant value at Re higher than 10. The conversion efficiency, which was regarded as the ability of porous material in transferring energy by convection after absorbed from heat radiation, decreased with increasing of the heat flux and air injection velocity. In addition, it was then asymptotic to a constant value at the Re higher than 10. The numerical predictions also agreed with experimental data very well.
Abstract: In this experimental investigation shake table tests
were conducted on two reduced models that represent normal single
room building constructed by Compressed Stabilized Earth Block
(CSEB) from locally available soil. One model was constructed with
earthquake resisting features (EQRF) having sill band, lintel band and
vertical bands to control the building vibration and another one was
without Earthquake Resisting Features. To examine the seismic
capacity of the models particularly when it is subjected to long-period
ground motion by large amplitude by many cycles of repeated
loading, the test specimen was shaken repeatedly until the failure.
The test results from Hi-end Data Acquisition system show that
model with EQRF behave better than without EQRF. This modified
masonry model with new material combined with new bands is used
to improve the behavior of masonry building.
Abstract: In this paper a mixed method by combining an evolutionary and a conventional technique is proposed for reduction of Single Input Single Output (SISO) continuous systems into Reduced Order Model (ROM). In the conventional technique, the mixed advantages of Mihailov stability criterion and continued Fraction Expansions (CFE) technique is employed where the reduced denominator polynomial is derived using Mihailov stability criterion and the numerator is obtained by matching the quotients of the Cauer second form of Continued fraction expansions. Then, retaining the numerator polynomial, the denominator polynomial is recalculated by an evolutionary technique. In the evolutionary method, the recently proposed Differential Evolution (DE) optimization technique is employed. DE method is based on the minimization of the Integral Squared Error (ISE) between the transient responses of original higher order model and the reduced order model pertaining to a unit step input. The proposed method is illustrated through a numerical example and compared with ROM where both numerator and denominator polynomials are obtained by conventional method to show its superiority.
Abstract: In this paper we propose an intelligent agent approach
to control the electric power grid at a smaller granularity in order to
give it self-healing capabilities. We develop a method using the
influence model to transform transmission substations into
information processing, analyzing and decision making (intelligent
behavior) units. We also develop a wireless communication method
to deliver real-time uncorrupted information to an intelligent
controller in a power system environment. A combined networking
and information theoretic approach is adopted in meeting both the
delay and error probability requirements. We use a mobile agent
approach in optimizing the achievable information rate vector and in
the distribution of rates to users (sensors). We developed the concept
and the quantitative tools require in the creation of cooperating semiautonomous
subsystems which puts the electric grid on the path
towards intelligent and self-healing system.
Abstract: In this paper, a study on the modes of collapse of
compress- expand members are presented. Compress- expand member
is a compact, multiple-combined cylinders, to be proposed as energy
absorbers. Previous studies on the compress- expand member have
clarified its energy absorption efficiency, proposed an approximate
equation to describe its deformation characteristics and also
highlighted the improvement that it has brought. However, for the
member to be practical, the actual range of geometrical dimension that
it can maintain its applicability must be investigated. In this study,
using a virtualized materials that comply the bilinear hardening law,
Finite element Method (FEM) analysis on the collapse modes of
compress- expand member have been conducted. Deformation maps
that plotted the member's collapse modes with regards to the member's
geometric and material parameters were then presented in order to
determine the dimensional range of each collapse modes.
Abstract: This paper presented a novel combined cycle of air separation and natural gas liquefaction. The idea is that natural gas can be liquefied, meanwhile gaseous or liquid nitrogen and oxygen are produced in one combined cryogenic system. Cycle simulation and exergy analysis were performed to evaluate the process and thereby reveal the influence of the crucial parameter, i.e., flow rate ratio through two stages expanders β on heat transfer temperature difference, its distribution and consequent exergy loss. Composite curves for the combined hot streams (feeding natural gas and recycled nitrogen) and the cold stream showed the degree of optimization available in this process if appropriate β was designed. The results indicated that increasing β reduces temperature difference and exergy loss in heat exchange process. However, the maximum limit value of β should be confined in terms of minimum temperature difference proposed in heat exchanger design standard and heat exchanger size. The optimal βopt under different operation conditions corresponding to the required minimum temperature differences was investigated.
Abstract: In diversity rich environments, such as in Ultra-
Wideband (UWB) applications, the a priori determination of the
number of strong diversity branches is difficult, because of the considerably large number of diversity paths, which are characterized
by a variety of power delay profiles (PDPs). Several
Rake implementations have been proposed in the past, in order to reduce the number of the estimated and combined paths. To this
aim, we introduce two adaptive Rake receivers, which combine
a subset of the resolvable paths considering simultaneously the
quality of both the total combining output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the individual SNR of each path. These schemes achieve
better adaptation to channel conditions compared to other known receivers, without further increasing the complexity. Their performance
is evaluated in different practical UWB channels, whose models are based on extensive propagation measurements. The
proposed receivers compromise between the power consumption,
complexity and performance gain for the additional paths, resulting in important savings in power and computational resources.
Abstract: The fault detection and diagnosis of complicated
production processes is one of essential tasks needed to run the process
safely with good final product quality. Unexpected events occurred in
the process may have a serious impact on the process. In this work,
triangular representation of process measurement data obtained in an
on-line basis is evaluated using simulation process. The effect of using
linear and nonlinear reduced spaces is also tested. Their diagnosis
performance was demonstrated using multivariate fault data. It has
shown that the nonlinear technique based diagnosis method produced
more reliable results and outperforms linear method. The use of
appropriate reduced space yielded better diagnosis performance. The
presented diagnosis framework is different from existing ones in that it
attempts to extract the fault pattern in the reduced space, not in the
original process variable space. The use of reduced model space helps
to mitigate the sensitivity of the fault pattern to noise.
Abstract: This paper proposes new hybrid approaches for face
recognition. Gabor wavelets representation of face images is an
effective approach for both facial action recognition and face
identification. Perform dimensionality reduction and linear
discriminate analysis on the down sampled Gabor wavelet faces can
increase the discriminate ability. Nearest feature space is extended to
various similarity measures. In our experiments, proposed Gabor
wavelet faces combined with extended neural net feature space
classifier shows very good performance, which can achieve 93 %
maximum correct recognition rate on ORL data set without any preprocessing
step.
Abstract: The feasibility of employing solar radiation for
enhanced Fenton process in degradation of combined chlorpyrifos,
cypermethrin and chlorothalonil pesticides was examined. The effect
of various operating conditions of the process on biodegradability
improvement and mineralization of the pesticides were also
evaluated. The optimum operating conditions for treatment of
aqueous solution containing 100, 50 and 250 mg L-1 chlorpyrifos
cypermethrin and chlorothalonil, respectively were observed to be
H2O2/COD molar ratio 2, H2O2/Fe2+ molar ratio 25 and pH 3. Under
the optimum operating conditions, complete degradation of the
pesticides occurred in 1 min. Biodegradability (BOD5/COD)
increased from zero to 0.36 in 60 min, and COD and TOC removal
were 74.19 and 58.32%, respectively in 60 min. Due to
mineralization of organic carbon, decrease in ammonia-nitrogen from
22 to 4.3 mg L-1 and increase in nitrate from 0.7 to 18.1 mg L-1 in
60 min were recorded. The study indicated that solar photo-Fenton
process can be used for pretreatment of chlorpyrifos, cypermethrin
and chlorothalonil pesticides in aqueous solution for further
biological treatment.
Abstract: This is a study on numerical simulation of the convection-diffusion transport of a chemical species in steady flow through a small-diameter tube, which is lined with a very thin layer made up of retentive and absorptive materials. The species may be subject to a first-order kinetic reversible phase exchange with the wall material and irreversible absorption into the tube wall. Owing to the velocity shear across the tube section, the chemical species may spread out axially along the tube at a rate much larger than that given by the molecular diffusion; this process is known as dispersion. While the long-time dispersion behavior, well described by the Taylor model, has been extensively studied in the literature, the early development of the dispersion process is by contrast much less investigated. By early development, that means a span of time, after the release of the chemical into the flow, that is shorter than or comparable to the diffusion time scale across the tube section. To understand the early development of the dispersion, the governing equations along with the reactive boundary conditions are solved numerically using the Flux Corrected Transport Algorithm (FCTA). The computation has enabled us to investigate the combined effects on the early development of the dispersion coefficient due to the reversible and irreversible wall reactions. One of the results is shown that the dispersion coefficient may approach its steady-state limit in a short time under the following conditions: (i) a high value of Damkohler number (say Da ≥ 10); (ii) a small but non-zero value of absorption rate (say Γ* ≤ 0.5).
Abstract: A mathematical model for the hydrodynamics of a
surface water treatment pilot plant was developed and validated by
the determination of the residence time distribution (RTD) for the
main equipments of the unit. The well known models of ideal/real
mixing, ideal displacement (plug flow) and (one-dimensional axial)
dispersion model were combined in order to identify the structure
that gives the best fitting of the experimental data for each equipment
of the pilot plant. RTD experimental results have shown that pilot
plant hydrodynamics can be quite well approximated by a
combination of simple mathematical models, structure which is
suitable for engineering applications. Validated hydrodynamic
models will be further used in the evaluation and selection of the
most suitable coagulation-flocculation reagents, optimum operating
conditions (injection point, reaction times, etc.), in order to improve
the quality of the drinking water.
Abstract: The exhaustive quality control is becoming more and
more important when commercializing competitive products in the
world's globalized market. Taken this affirmation as an undeniable
truth, it becomes critical in certain sector markets that need to offer
the highest restrictions in quality terms. One of these examples is the
percussion cap mass production, a critical element assembled in
firearm ammunition. These elements, built in great quantities at a
very high speed, must achieve a minimum tolerance deviation in
their fabrication, due to their vital importance in firing the piece of
ammunition where they are built in. This paper outlines a machine
vision development for the 100% inspection of percussion caps
obtaining data from 2D and 3D simultaneous images. The acquisition
speed and precision of these images from a metallic reflective piece
as a percussion cap, the accuracy of the measures taken from these
images and the multiple fabrication errors detected make the main
findings of this work.
Abstract: Movable power sources of proton exchange
membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) are the important research done in the
current fuel cells (FC) field. The PEMFC system control influences
the cell performance greatly and it is a control system for industrial
complex problems, due to the imprecision, uncertainty and partial
truth and intrinsic nonlinear characteristics of PEMFCs. In this paper
an adaptive PI control strategy using neural network adaptive Morlet
wavelet for control is proposed. It is based on a single layer feed
forward neural networks with hidden nodes of adaptive morlet
wavelet functions controller and an infinite impulse response (IIR)
recurrent structure. The IIR is combined by cascading to the network
to provide double local structure resulting in improving speed of
learning. The proposed method is applied to a typical 1 KW PEMFC
system and the results show the proposed method has more accuracy
against to MLP (Multi Layer Perceptron) method.
Abstract: This paper investigates the performance of Multiple- Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) feedback system combined with Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM). Two types of codebook based channel feedback techniques are used in this work. The first feedback technique uses a combination of both the long-term and short-term channel state information (CSI) at the transmitter, whereas the second technique uses only the short term CSI. The long-term and short-term CSI at the transmitter is used for efficient channel utilization. OFDM is a powerful technique employed in communication systems suffering from frequency selectivity. Combined with multiple antennas at the transmitter and receiver, OFDM proves to be robust against delay spread. Moreover, it leads to significant data rates with improved bit error performance over links having only a single antenna at both the transmitter and receiver. The effectiveness of these techniques has been demonstrated through the simulation of a MIMO-OFDM feedback system. The results have been evaluated for 4x4 MIMO channels. Simulation results indicate the benefits of the MIMO-OFDM channel feedback system over the one without incorporating OFDM. Performance gain of about 3 dB is observed for MIMO-OFDM feedback system as compared to the one without employing OFDM. Hence MIMO-OFDM becomes an attractive approach for future high speed wireless communication systems.