Abstract: Pipelines are extensively used engineering structures
which convey fluid from one place to another. Most of the time,
pipelines are placed underground and are encumbered by soil weight
and traffic loads. Corrosion of pipe material is the most common
form of pipeline deterioration and should be considered in both the
strength and serviceability analysis of pipes.
The study in this research focuses on concrete pipes in sewage
systems (concrete sewers). This research firstly investigates how to
involve the effect of corrosion as a time dependent process of
deterioration in the structural and failure analysis of this type of pipe.
Then three probabilistic time dependent reliability analysis methods
including the first passage probability theory, the gamma distributed
degradation model and the Monte Carlo simulation technique are
discussed and developed. Sensitivity analysis indexes which can be
used to identify the most important parameters that affect pipe failure
are also discussed.
The reliability analysis methods developed in this paper contribute
as rational tools for decision makers with regard to the strengthening
and rehabilitation of existing pipelines. The results can be used to
obtain a cost-effective strategy for the management of the sewer
system.
Abstract: We investigate the performance of an integrated cascade (IC) refrigeration system which uses environment friendly zeotropic mixtures. Computational calculation has been carried out by varying pressure level at the evaporator and the condenser of the system. Effects of mass flow rate of the refrigerant on the coefficient of performance (COP) are presented. We show that the integrated cascade system produces ultra-low temperatures in the evaporator by using environment friendly zeotropic mixture.
Abstract: 10 clinically healthy hemal nodes were collected from male bulls aged 2-3 years. Light microscopy revealed a capsule of connective tissue consisted mainly of collagen fiber surrounding hemal node, numerous erythrocytes were found in wide subcapsular sinus under the capsule. The parenchyma of the hemal node was divided into cortex and medulla. Diffused lymphocytes, and lymphoid follicles, having germinal centers were the main components of the cortex, while in the medulla there was wide medullary sinus, diffused lymphocytes and few lymphoid nodules. The area occupied with lymph nodules was larger than that occupied with non-nodular structure of lymphoid cords and blood sinusoids. Electron microscopy revealed the cellular components of hemal node including elements of circulating erythrocytes intermingled with lymphocytes, plasma cells, mast cells, reticular cells, macrophages, megakaryocytes and endothelial cells lining the blood sinuses. The lymphocytes were somewhat triangular in shape with cytoplasmic processes extending between adjacent erythrocytes. Nuclei were triangular to oval in shape, lightly stained with clear nuclear membrane indentation and clear nucleoli. The reticular cells were elongated in shape with cytoplasmic processes extending between adjacent lymphocytes, rough endoplasmic reticulum, ribosomes and few lysosomes were seen in their cytoplasm. Nucleus was elongated in shape with less condensed chromatin. Plasma cells were oval to irregular in shape with numerous dilated rough endoplasmic reticulum containing electron lucent material occupying the whole cytoplasm and few mitochondria were found. Nuclei were centrally located and oval in shape with heterochromatin emarginated and often clumped near the nuclear membrane. Occasionally megakaryocytes and mast cells were seen among lymphocytes. Megakaryocytes had multilobulated nucleus and free ribosomes often appearing as small aggregates in their cytoplasm, while mast cell had their characteristic electron dense granule in the cytoplasm, few electron lucent granules were found also, we conclude that, the main function of the hemal node of cattle is proliferation of lymphocytes. No role for plasma cell in erythrophagocytosis could be suggested.
Abstract: This article considers the problems of economic growth
and Russian energy strategy. Also in this paper, the issues related to
the economic growth prospects of Russian were discussed. Russian
energy strategy without standing Russia`s stature in global energy
markets, at the current production and extraction rates, will not be able
to sustain its own production as well as fulfil its energy strategy.
Indeed, Russia’s energy sector suffers from a chronic lack of
investments which are necessary to modernize its energy supply
system. In recent years, especially since the international financial
crisis, Russia-EU energy cooperation has made substantive progress.
Recently the break-through progress has been made, resulting mainly
from long-term contributing factors between the countries and recent
international economic and political situation changes. Analytical
material presented in the article is intended for a more detailed or
substantive analysis related to foreign economic relations of the
countries and Russia as well.
Abstract: The Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS)
technology is a new advanced solution that increases the reliability
and provides more flexibility, controllability, and stability of a power
system. The Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC), as the most
versatile FACTS device for regulating power flow, is able to control
respectively transmission line real power, reactive power, and node
voltage. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of the
UPFC on the load flow, the power losses, and the voltage stability
using NEPLAN software modules, Newton-Raphson load flow is
used for the power flow analysis and the modal analysis is used for
the study of the voltage stability. The simulation was carried out on
the IEEE 14-bus test system.
Abstract: This paper discusses the intake of combining multi-criteria
decision analysis (MCDA) with OLAP systems, to generate
an integrated analysis process dealing with complex multi-criteria
decision-making situations. In this context, a multi-agent modeling is
presented for decision support systems by combining multi-criteria
decision analysis (MCDA) with OLAP systems. The proposed
modeling which consists in performing the multi-agent system
(MAS) architecture, procedure and protocol of the negotiation model
is elaborated as a decision support tool for complex decision-making
environments. Our objective is to take advantage from the multi-agent
system which distributes resources and computational
capabilities across interconnected agents, and provide a problem
modeling in terms of autonomous interacting component-agents.
Thus, the identification and evaluation of criteria as well as the
evaluation and ranking of alternatives in a decision support situation
will be performed by organizing tasks and user preferences between
different agents in order to reach the right decision. At the end, an
illustrative example is conducted to demonstrate the function and
effectiveness of our MAS modeling.
Abstract: Strategic investment decisions are characterized by
high innovation potential and long-term effects on the
competitiveness of enterprises. Due to the uncertainty and risks
involved in this complex decision making process, the need arises for
well-structured support activities. A method that considers cost and
the long-term added value is the cost-benefit effectiveness estimation.
One of those methods is the “profitability estimation focused on
benefits – PEFB”-method developed at the Institute of Management
Cybernetics at RWTH Aachen University. The method copes with
the challenges associated with strategic investment decisions by
integrating long-term non-monetary aspects whilst also mapping the
chronological sequence of an investment within the organization’s
target system. Thus, this method is characterized as a holistic
approach for the evaluation of costs and benefits of an investment.
This participation-oriented method was applied to business
environments in many workshops. The results of the workshops are a
library of more than 96 cost aspects, as well as 122 benefit aspects.
These aspects are preprocessed and comparatively analyzed with
regards to their alignment to a series of risk levels. For the first time,
an accumulation and a distribution of cost and benefit aspects
regarding their impact and probability of occurrence are given. The
results give evidence that the PEFB-method combines precise
measures of financial accounting with the incorporation of benefits.
Finally, the results constitute the basics for using information
technology and data science for decision support when applying
within the PEFB-method.
Abstract: Recent progress in the next generation of automobile
technology is geared towards incorporating information technology
into cars. Collectively called smart cars are bringing intelligence to
cars that provides comfort, convenience and safety. A branch of smart
cars is connected-car system. The key concept in connected-cars is the
sharing of driving information among cars through decentralized
manner enabling collective intelligence. This paper proposes a
foundation of the information model that is necessary to define the
driving information for smart-cars. Road conditions are modeled
through a unique data structure that unambiguously represent the time
variant traffics in the streets. Additionally, the modeled data structure
is exemplified in a navigational scenario and usage using UML.
Optimal driving route searching is also discussed using the proposed
data structure in a dynamically changing road conditions.
Abstract: This paper investigates the effects of breaks in bonds,
breaks in the earthing system and breaks in earth wire on the rise of
the earth potential (EPR) in a substation and at the transmission tower
bases using various models of an L6 tower. Different approaches
were adopted to examine the integrity of the earthing system and the
terminal towers. These effects were investigated to see the associated
difference in the EPR magnitudes with respect to a healthy system at
various locations. Comparisons of the computed EPR magnitudes
were then made between the healthy and unhealthy system to detect
any difference. The studies were conducted at power frequency for a
uniform soil with different soil resistivities. It was found that full
breaks in the double bond of the terminal towers increase the EPR
significantly at the fault location, while they reduce EPR at the
terminal tower bases. A fault on the isolated section of the grid can
result in EPR values up to 8 times of those on a healthy system at
higher soil resistivities, provided that the extended earthing system
stays connected to the grid.
Abstract: The maintenance of work rolls in hot strip processing
has been lengthy and difficult tasks for hot strip manufacturer
because heavy work rolls have to be taken out of the production line,
which could take hours. One way to increase the time between
maintenance is to improve the effectiveness of the work roll cooling
system such that the wear and tear more slowly occurs, while the
operation cost is kept low. Therefore, this study aims to improve the
work roll cooling system by providing the manufacturer the
relationship between the work-roll temperature reduced by cooling
and the water flow that can help manufacturer determining the more
effective water flow of the cooling system. The relationship is found
using simulation with a systematic process adjustment so that the
satisfying quality of product is achieved. Results suggest that the
manufacturer could reduce the water flow by 9% with roughly the
same performance. With the same process adjustment, the feasibility
of finishing-mill-stand reduction is also investigated. Results suggest
its possibility.
Abstract: Voltage level must be raised in order to deliver the
produced energy to the consumption zones with less loss and less
cost. Power transformers used to raise or lower voltage are important
parts of the energy transmission system. Power transformers used in
switchgear and power generation plants stay in human's intensive
habitat zones as a result of expanding cities. Accordingly, noise
levels produced by power transformers have begun more and more
important and they have established itself as one of the research field.
In this research, the noise cause on transformers has been
investigated, it's causes has been examined and noise measurement
techniques have been introduced. Examples of transformer noise test
results are submitted and precautions to be taken were discussed for
the purpose of decreasing of the noise which will occurred by
transformers.
Abstract: Wireless sensors, also known as wireless sensor nodes,
have been making a significant impact on human daily life. The
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Wireless Sensor Network
(WSN) are two complementary technologies; hence, an integrated
implementation of these technologies expands the overall
functionality in obtaining long-range and real-time information on the
location and properties of objects and people. An approach for
integrating ZigBee and RFID networks is proposed in this paper, to
create an energy-efficient network improved by the benefits of
combining ZigBee and RFID architecture. Furthermore, the
compatibility and requirements of the ZigBee device and
communication links in the typical RFID system which is presented
with the real world experiment on the capabilities of the proposed
RFID system.
Abstract: Seeking and sharing knowledge on online forums
have made them popular in recent years. Although online forums are
valuable sources of information, due to variety of sources of
messages, retrieving reliable threads with high quality content is an
issue. Majority of the existing information retrieval systems ignore
the quality of retrieved documents, particularly, in the field of thread
retrieval. In this research, we present an approach that employs
various quality features in order to investigate the quality of retrieved
threads. Different aspects of content quality, including completeness,
comprehensiveness, and politeness, are assessed using these features,
which lead to finding not only textual, but also conceptual relevant
threads for a user query within a forum. To analyse the influence of
the features, we used an adopted version of voting model thread
search as a retrieval system. We equipped it with each feature solely
and also various combinations of features in turn during multiple
runs. The results show that incorporating the quality features
enhances the effectiveness of the utilised retrieval system
significantly.
Abstract: Introduction: To update ourselves and understand the
concept of latest electronic formats available for Health care
providers and how it could be used and developed as per standards.
The idea is to correlate between the patients Manual Medical Records
keeping and maintaining patients Electronic Information in a Health
care setup in this world. Furthermore, this stands with adapting to the
right technology depending upon the organization and improve our
quality and quantity of Healthcare providing skills. Objective: The
concept and theory is to explain the terms of Electronic Medical
Record (EMR), Electronic Health Record (EHR) and Personal Health
Record (PHR) and selecting the best technical among the available
Electronic sources and software before implementing. It is to guide
and make sure the technology used by the end users without any
doubts and difficulties. The idea is to evaluate is to admire the uses
and barriers of EMR-EHR-PHR. Aim and Scope: The target is to
achieve the health care providers like Physicians, Nurses, Therapists,
Medical Bill reimbursements, Insurances and Government to assess
the patient’s information on easy and systematic manner without
diluting the confidentiality of patient’s information. Method: Health
Information Technology can be implemented with the help of
Organisations providing with legal guidelines and help to stand by
the health care provider. The main objective is to select the correct
embedded and affordable database management software and
generating large-scale data. The parallel need is to know how the
latest software available in the market. Conclusion: The question lies
here is implementing the Electronic information system with
healthcare providers and organization. The clinicians are the main
users of the technology and manage us to “go paperless”. The fact is
that day today changing technologically is very sound and up to date.
Basically, the idea is to tell how to store the data electronically safe
and secure. All three exemplifies the fact that an electronic format
has its own benefit as well as barriers.
Abstract: Energy has a prominent role for development of
nations. Countries which have energy resources also have strategic
power in the international trade of energy since it is essential for all
stages of production in the economy. Thus, it is important for
countries to analyze the weaknesses and strength of the system. On
the other side, international trade is one of the fields that are analyzed
as a complex network via network analysis. Complex network is one
of the tools to analyze complex systems with heterogeneous agents
and interaction between them. A complex network consists of nodes
and the interactions between these nodes. Total properties which
emerge as a result of these interactions are distinct from the sum of
small parts (more or less) in complex systems. Thus, standard
approaches to international trade are superficial to analyze these
systems. Network analysis provides a new approach to analyze
international trade as a network. In this network, countries constitute
nodes and trade relations (export or import) constitute edges. It
becomes possible to analyze international trade network in terms of
high degree indicators which are specific to complex networks such
as connectivity, clustering, assortativity/disassortativity, centrality,
etc. In this analysis, international trade of crude oil and coal which
are types of fossil fuel has been analyzed from 2005 to 2014 via
network analysis. First, it has been analyzed in terms of some
topological parameters such as density, transitivity, clustering etc.
Afterwards, fitness to Pareto distribution has been analyzed via
Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Finally, weighted HITS algorithm has
been applied to the data as a centrality measure to determine the real
prominence of countries in these trade networks. Weighted HITS
algorithm is a strong tool to analyze the network by ranking countries
with regards to prominence of their trade partners. We have
calculated both an export centrality and an import centrality by
applying w-HITS algorithm to the data. As a result, impacts of the
trading countries have been presented in terms of high-degree
indicators.
Abstract: This paper explored the challenges faced by the
management of a Ghanaian state enterprise in managing conflicts and
disturbances associated with its attempt to implement new work
practices to enhance its capability to operate as a commercial entity.
The purpose was to understand the extent to which organizational
involvement, consistency and adaptability influence employees’
consumption of new work practices in transforming the
organization’s organizational activity system. Using selfadministered
questionnaires, data were collected from one hundred
and eighty (180) employees and analyzed using both descriptive and
inferential statistics. The results showed that constraints in
organizational involvement and adaptability prevented the positive
consumption of new work practices by employees in the
organization. It is also found that the organization’s employees failed
to consume the new practices being implemented, because they
perceived the process as non-involving, and as such, did not
encourage the development of employee capability, empowerment,
and teamwork. The study concluded that the failure of the
organization’s management to create opportunities for organizational
learning constrained its ability to get employees consume the new
work practices, which situation could have facilitated the
organization’s capabilities of operating as a commercial entity.
Abstract: In this paper, a modified Wilkinson power divider for
GSM application is presented. The quarter–wavelength microstrip
lines in the conventional Wilkinson power divider (WPD) are
replaced by one-eighth wavelength transmission line. Wilkinson
power divider is designed using λ/4 and λ/8 transmission line. It has
the operating frequency of 915 MHz which is used in the GSM
standard. The proposed Wilkinson Power Divider is designed using
the simulation tool Advanced Design System. The results of λ/8
transmission line are very close to the results of λ/4 transmission line.
The isolation loss of λ/8 transmission line is improved by introducing
a capacitor between the output ports. The proposed Wilkinson power
divider has the best return loss of greater than -10 dB and isolation
loss of -15.25 dB. The λ/8 transmission line Wilkinson power divider
has the reduced size of 53.9 percentages than λ/4 transmission line
WPD. The proposed design has simple structure, better isolation loss
and good insertion loss.
Abstract: The field of instrumentation electronics is undergoing
an explosive growth, due to its wide range of applications. The
proliferation of electrical devices in a close working proximity can
negatively influence each other’s performance. The degradation in
the performance is due to electromagnetic interference (EMI). This paper investigates the negative effects of electromagnetic
interference originating in the General Purpose Interface Bus (GPIB)
control-network of the AC-DC transfer measurement system.
Remedial measures of reducing measurement errors and failure of
range of industrial devices due to EMI have been explored. The ACDC
transfer measurement system was analysed for the commonmode
(CM) EMI effects. Further investigation of coupling path as
well as much accurate identification of noise propagation mechanism
has been outlined. To prevent the occurrence of common-mode
(ground loops) which was identified between the GPIB system
control circuit and the measurement circuit, a microcontroller-driven
GPIB switching isolator device was designed, prototyped,
programmed and validated. This mitigation technique has been
explored to reduce EMI effectively.
Abstract: Holistic methods covering the development process as
a whole – e.g. systems engineering – have established themselves in
product design. However, technical product optimization,
representing improvements in efficiency and/or minimization of loss,
usually applies to single components of a system. A holistic approach
is being defined based on a hierarchical point of view of systems
engineering. This is subsequently presented using the example of an
electromechanical flywheel energy storage system for automotive
applications.
Abstract: Weak damping of low frequency oscillations is a frequent phenomenon in electrical power systems. These frequencies can be damped by power system stabilizers. Unified power flow controller (UPFC), as one of the most important FACTS devices, can be applied to increase the damping of power system oscillations and the more effect of this controller on increasing the damping of oscillations depends on its proper placement in power systems. In this paper, a technique based on controllability is proposed to select proper location of UPFC and the best input control signal in order to enhance damping of power oscillations. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is demonstrated in IEEE 9 bus power system.