Abstract: This paper deals with the application of artificial
neural network (ANN) and fuzzy based Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy
Inference System(ANFIS) approach to Load Frequency Control
(LFC) of multi unequal area hydro-thermal interconnected power
system. The proposed ANFIS controller combines the advantages of
fuzzy controller as well as quick response and adaptability nature of
ANN. Area-1 and area-2 consists of thermal reheat power plant
whereas area-3 and area-4 consists of hydro power plant with electric
governor. Performance evaluation is carried out by using intelligent
controller like ANFIS, ANN and Fuzzy controllers and conventional
PI and PID control approaches. To enhance the performance of
intelligent and conventional controller sliding surface is included.
The performances of the controllers are simulated using
MATLAB/SIMULINK package. A comparison of ANFIS, ANN,
Fuzzy, PI and PID based approaches shows the superiority of
proposed ANFIS over ANN & fuzzy, PI and PID controller for 1%
step load variation.
Abstract: Human genome is not only the evolutionary
summation of all advantageous events, but also houses lesions of
deleterious foot prints. A single gene mutation sometimes may
express multiple consequences in numerous tissues and a linear
relationship of the genotype and the phenotype may often be obscure.
ß Thalassemia minor, a transfusion independent mild anaemia,
coupled with environment among other factors may articulate into
phenotypic pleotropy with Hypocholesterolemia, Vitamin D
deficiency, Tissue hypoxia, Hyper-parathyroidism and Psychological
alterations. Occurrence of Pancreatic insufficiency, resultant
steatorrhoea, Vitamin-D (25-OH) deficiency (13.86 ngm/ml) with
Hypocholesterolemia (85mg/dl) in a 30 years old male ß Thal-minor
patient (Hemoglobin 11mg/dl with Fetal Hemoglobin 2.10%, Hb A2
4.60% and Hb Adult 84.80% and altered Hemogram) with increased
Para thyroid hormone (62 pg/ml) & moderate Serum Ca+2
(9.5mg/ml) indicate towards a cascade of phenotypic pleotropy
where the ß Thalassemia mutation ,be it in the 5’ cap site of the
mRNA , differential splicing etc in heterozygous state is effecting
several metabolic pathways. Compensatory extramedulary
hematopoiesis may not coped up well with the stressful life style of
the young individual and increased erythropoietic stress with high
demand for cholesterol for RBC membrane synthesis may have
resulted in Hypocholesterolemia.Oxidative stress and tissue hypoxia
may have caused the pancreatic insufficiency, leading to Vitamin D
deficiency. This may in turn have caused the secondary
hyperparathyroidism to sustain serum Calcium level. Irritability and
stress intolerance of the patient was a cumulative effect of the vicious
cycle of metabolic compromises. From these findings we propose
that the metabolic deficiencies in the ß Thalassemia mutations may
be considered as the phenotypic display of the pleotropy to explain
the genetic epidemiology.
According to the recommendations from the NIH Workshop on
Gene-Environment Interplay in Common Complex Diseases: Forging
an Integrative Model, study design of observations should be
informed by gene-environment hypotheses and results of a study
(genetic diseases) should be published to inform future hypotheses.
Variety of approaches is needed to capture data on all possible
aspects, each of which is likely to contribute to the etiology of
disease. Speakers also agreed that there is a need for development of
new statistical methods and measurement tools to appraise
information that may be missed out by conventional method where
large sample size is needed to segregate considerable effect.
A meta analytic cohort study in future may bring about significant
insight on to the title comment.
Abstract: This paper deals with the evaluation of flow properties
of polymeric matrix with natural animal fillers. Technical university
of Liberec cooperates on the long-term development of “green
materials“ that should replace conventionally used materials
(especially in automotive industry). Natural fibres (of animal and
plant origin) from all over the world are collected and adapted
(drying, cutting etc.) for extrusion processing. Inside the extruder
these natural additives are blended with polymeric (synthetic and
biodegradable - PLA) matrix and created compound is subsequently
cut for pellets in the wet way. These green materials with unique
recipes are then studied and their mechanical, physical and
processing properties are determined. The main goal of this research
is to develop new ecological materials very similar to unfilled
polymers. In this article the rheological behaviour of chosen natural
animal fibres is introduced considering their shape and surface that
were observed with use of SEM microscopy.
Abstract: Through a proper analysis of residual strain and stress
distributions obtained at the surface of high speed milled specimens
of AA 6082–T6 aluminium alloy, the performance of an improved
indentation method is evaluated. This method integrates a special
device of indentation to a universal measuring machine. The
mentioned device allows introducing elongated indents allowing to
diminish the absolute error of measurement. It must be noted that the
present method offers the great advantage of avoiding both the
specific equipment and highly qualified personnel, and their inherent
high costs. In this work, the cutting tool geometry and high speed
parameters are selected to introduce reduced plastic damage.
Through the variation of the depth of cut, the stability of the shapes
adopted by the residual strain and stress distributions is evaluated.
The results show that the strain and stress distributions remain
unchanged, compressive and small. Moreover, these distributions
reveal a similar asymmetry when the gradients corresponding to
conventional and climb cutting zones are compared.
Abstract: The proper design of RF pulses in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has a direct impact on the quality of acquired images, and is needed for many applications. Several techniques have been proposed to obtain the RF pulse envelope given the desired slice profile. Unfortunately, these techniques do not take into account the limitations of practical implementation such as limited amplitude resolution. Moreover, implementing constraints for special RF pulses on most techniques is not possible. In this work, we propose to develop an approach for designing optimal RF pulses under theoretically any constraints. The new technique will pose the RF pulse design problem as a combinatorial optimization problem and uses efficient techniques from this area such as genetic algorithms (GA) to solve this problem. In particular, an objective function will be proposed as the norm of the difference between the desired profile and the one obtained from solving the Bloch equations for the current RF pulse design values. The proposed approach will be verified using analytical solution based RF simulations and compared to previous methods such as Shinnar-Le Roux (SLR) method, and analysis, selected, and tested the options and parameters that control the Genetic Algorithm (GA) can significantly affect its performance to get the best improved results and compared to previous works in this field. The results show a significant improvement over conventional design techniques, select the best options and parameters for GA to get most improvement over the previous works, and suggest the practicality of using of the new technique for most important applications as slice selection for large flip angles, in the area of unconventional spatial encoding, and another clinical use.
Abstract: Among the many promising nanomaterials with antifungal properties, metal nanoparticles (silver nanoparticles) stand out due to their high chemical activity. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) against Phomopsis sp. AgNPs were synthesized by silver nitrate reduction with sodium citrate and stabilized with ammonia. The synthesized AgNPs have further been characterized by UV/Visible spectroscopy, Biophysical techniques like Dynamic light scattering (DLS) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The average diameter of the prepared silver colloidal nanoparticles was about 52 nm. Absolute inhibitions (100%) were observed on treated with a 270 and 540 µg ml-1 concentration of AgNPs. The results from the study of the AgNPs antifungal effect are significant and suggest that the synthesized silver nanoparticles may have an advantage compared with conventional fungicides.
Abstract: Assessment for image quality traditionally needs its
original image as a reference. The conventional method for assessment
like Mean Square Error (MSE) or Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR)
is invalid when there is no reference. In this paper, we present a new
No-Reference (NR) assessment of image quality using blur and noise.
The recent camera applications provide high quality images by help of
digital Image Signal Processor (ISP). Since the images taken by the
high performance of digital camera have few blocking and ringing
artifacts, we only focus on the blur and noise for predicting the
objective image quality. The experimental results show that the
proposed assessment method gives high correlation with subjective
Difference Mean Opinion Score (DMOS). Furthermore, the proposed
method provides very low computational load in spatial domain and
similar extraction of characteristics to human perceptional assessment.
Abstract: Fuel cell is an emerging technology in the field
of renewable energy sources which has the capacity to replace
conventional energy generation sources. Fuel cell utilizes hydrogen
energy to produce electricity. The electricity generated by the fuel
cell can’t be directly used for a specific application as it needs
proper power conditioning. Moreover, the output power fluctuates
with different operating conditions. To get a stable output power
at an economic rate, power conditioning circuit is essential for fuel
cell. This paper implements a two-staged power conditioning unit for
fuel cell based distributed generation using hysteresis current control
technique.
Abstract: Organizational communication is an administrative
function crucial especially for executives in the implementation of
organizational and administrative functions. Executives spend a
significant part of their time on communicative activities. Doing his or her daily routine, arranging meeting schedules, speaking on the telephone, reading or replying to business correspondence, or
fulfilling the control functions within the organization, an executive typically engages in communication processes.
Efficient communication is the principal device for the adequate implementation of administrative and organizational activities. For
this purpose, management needs to specify the kind of
communication system to be set up and the kind of communication
devices to be used. Communication is vital for any organization.
In conventional offices, communication takes place within the hierarchical pyramid called the organizational structure, and is known as formal or informal communication. Formal communication
is the type that works in specified structures within the organizational rules and towards the organizational goals. Informal communication, on the other hand, is the unofficial type taking place among staff as
face-to-face or telephone interaction.
Communication in virtual as well as conventional offices is
essential for obtaining the right information in administrative
activities and decision-making. Virtual communication technologies
increase the efficiency of communication especially in virtual teams.
Group communication is strengthened through an inter-group central
channel. Further, ease of information transmission makes it possible
to reach the information at the source, allowing efficient and correct decisions. Virtual offices can present as a whole the elements of information which conventional offices produce in different
environments.
At present, virtual work has become a reality with its pros and
cons, and will probably spread very rapidly in coming years, in line
with the growth in information technologies.
Abstract: In the present study, the rate of NOx emission in a
combustion chamber working in conventional combustion and High
Temperature Air Combustion (HiTAC) system are examined using
CFD modeling. The effect of peak temperature, combustion air
temperature and oxygen concentration on NOx emission rate was
undertaken. Results show that in a fixed oxygen concentration,
increasing the preheated air temperature will increase the peak
temperature and NOx emission rate. In addition, it was observed that
the reduction of the oxygen concentration in the fixed preheated air
temperature decreases the peak temperature and NOx emission rate.
On the other hand, the results show that increase of preheated air
temperature at various oxygen concentrations increases the NOx
emission rate. However, the rate of increase in HiTAC conditions is
quite lower than the conventional combustion. The modeling results
show that the NOx emission rate in HiTAC combustion is 133% less
than that of the conventional combustion.
Abstract: The paper presents a new hybridization methodology involving Neural, Fuzzy and Rough Computing. A Rough Sets based approximation technique has been proposed based on a certain Neuro – Fuzzy architecture. A New Rough Neuron composition consisting of a combination of a Lower Bound neuron and a Boundary neuron has also been described. The conventional convergence of error in back propagation has been given away for a new framework based on 'Output Excitation Factor' and an inverse input transfer function. The paper also presents a brief comparison of performances, of the existing Rough Neural Networks and ANFIS architecture against the proposed methodology. It can be observed that the rough approximation based neuro-fuzzy architecture is superior to its counterparts.
Abstract: This paper proposes two novel schemes for pilot-aided
integer frequency offset (IFO) estimation in orthogonal frequency
division multiplexing (OFDM)-based digital video broadcastingterrestrial
(DVB-T) systems. The conventional scheme proposed for
estimating the IFO uses only partial information of combinations
that pilots can provide, which stems from a rigorous assumption
that the channel responses of pilots used for estimating the IFO
change very rapidly. Thus, in this paper, we propose the novel IFO
estimation schemes exploiting all information of combinations that
pilots can provide to improve the performance of IFO estimation.
The simulation results show that the proposed schemes are highly
accurate in terms of the IFO detection probability.
Abstract: Many of the compounds present in potato are important because of their beneficial effects on health, therefore, are highly desirable in the human diet. Potato tubers contain significant amounts of anthocyanins. The aim of this research was to determine the content of anthocyanins and its relationship with the colour of organically and conventionally cultivated potato varieties. In the research eight potato samples of three potato varieties were analyzed on anthocyanins, dry matter content and color. Obtained results show that there was no significant influence on amount of anthocyanins between different cultivation environments (p>0.05) while between varieties – significant difference (p
Abstract: Signalized intersections on high-volume arterials are
often congested during peak hours, causing a decrease in through
movement efficiency on the arterial. Much of the vehicle delay
incurred at conventional intersections is caused by high left-turn
demand. Unconventional intersection designs attempt to reduce
intersection delay and travel time by rerouting left-turns away from
the main intersection and replacing it with right-turn followed by Uturn.
The proposed new type of U-turn intersection is geometrically
designed with a raised island which provides a protected U-turn
movement. In this study several scenarios based on different
distances between U-turn and main intersection, traffic volume of
major/minor approaches and percentage of left-turn volumes were
simulated by use of AIMSUN, a type of traffic microsimulation
software. Subsequently some models are proposed in order to
compute travel time of each movement. Eventually by correlating
these equations to some in-field collected data of some implemented
U-turn facilities, the reliability of the proposed models are approved.
With these models it would be possible to calculate travel time of
each movement under any kind of geometric and traffic condition. By
comparing travel time of a conventional signalized intersection with
U-turn intersection travel time, it would be possible to decide on
converting signalized intersections into this new kind of U-turn
facility or not. However comparison of travel time is not part of the
scope of this research. In this paper only travel time of this innovative
U-turn facility would be predicted. According to some before and
after study about the traffic performance of some executed U-turn
facilities, it is found that commonly, this new type of U-turn facility
produces lower travel time. Thus, evaluation of using this type of
unconventional intersection should be seriously considered.
Abstract: In this paper, a simple heuristic genetic algorithm is
used for Multistage Multiuser detection in fast fading environments.
Multipath channels, multiple access interference (MAI) and near far
effect cause the performance of the conventional detector to degrade.
Heuristic Genetic algorithms, a rapidly growing area of artificial
intelligence, uses evolutionary programming for initial search, which
not only helps to converge the solution towards near optimal
performance efficiently but also at a very low complexity as
compared with optimal detector. This holds true for Additive White
Gaussian Noise (AWGN) and multipath fading channels.
Experimental results are presented to show the superior performance
of the proposed techque over the existing methods.
Abstract: The main emphasis of metallurgists has been to process the materials to obtain the balanced mechanical properties for the given application. One of the processing routes to alter the properties is heat treatment. Nearly 90% of the structural applications are related to the medium carbon an alloyed steels and hence are regarded as structural steels. The major requirement in the conventional steel is to improve workability, toughness, hardness and grain refinement. In this view, it is proposed to study the mechanical and tribological properties of unalloyed structural (AISI 1140) steel with different thermal (heat) treatments like annealing, normalizing, tempering and hardening and compared with as brought (cold worked) specimen. All heat treatments are carried out in atmospheric condition. Hardening treatment improves hardness of the material, a marginal decrease in hardness value with improved ductility is observed in tempering. Annealing and normalizing improve ductility of the specimen. Normalized specimen shows ultimate ductility. Hardened specimen shows highest wear resistance in the initial period of slide wear where as above 25KM of sliding distance, as brought steel dominates the hardened specimen. Both mild and severe wear regions are observed. Microstructural analysis shows the existence of pearlitic structure in normalized specimen, lath martensitic structure in hardened, pearlitic, ferritic structure in annealed specimen.
Abstract: This study was carried out to develop a flotation
procedure for an oxide copper ore from a Region in Central Africa
for producing an 18% copper concentrate for downstream processing
at maximum recovery from a 4% copper feed grade. The copper
recoveries achieved from the test work were less than 50% despite
changes in reagent conditions (multistage sulphidisation, use of RCA
emulsion and mixture, use of AM 2, etc). The poor recoveries were
attributed to the mineralogy of the ore from which copper silicates
accounted for approximately 70% (mass) of the copper minerals in
the ore. These can be complex and difficult to float using
conventional flotation methods. Best results were obtained using
basic sulphidisation procedures, a high flotation temperature and
extended flotation residence time.
Abstract: Aspheric optical components are an alternative to the use of conventional lenses in the implementation of imaging systems for the visible range. Spherical lenses are capable of producing aberrations. Therefore, they are not able to focus all the light into a single point. Instead, aspherical lenses correct aberrations and provide better resolution even with compact lenses incorporating a small number of lenses.
Metrology of these components is very difficult especially when the resolution requirements increase and insufficient or complexity of conventional tools requires the development of specific approaches to characterization.
This work is part of the problem existed because the objectives are the study and comparison of different methods used to measure surface rays hybrid aspherical lenses.
Abstract: Today, Hydroforming technology provides an
attractive alternative to conventional matched die forming, especially
for cost-sensitive, lower volume production, and for parts with
irregular contours. In this study the critical fluid pressures which lead
to rupture in the workpiece has been investigated by theoretical and
finite element methods. The axisymmetric analysis was developed to
investigate the tearing phenomenon in cylindrical Hydroforming
Deep Drawing (HDD). By use of obtained equations the effect of
anisotropy, drawing ratio, sheet thickness and strain hardening
exponent on tearing diagram were investigated.
Abstract: The experiment was performed to study the
relationship between excreta viscosity and Nitrogen-corrected true
metabolisable energy quantities of soybean meals using conventional
addition method (CAM) in adult cockerels for 7 d: a 3-d preexperiment
and a 4-d experiment period. Results indicated that
differences between the excreta viscosity values were (P