Abstract: In this study, a new procedure for inspecting damages on LNG storage tanks was proposed with the use of structural diagnostic techniques: i.e., nondestructive inspection techniques such as macrography, the hammer sounding test, the Schmidt hammer test, and the ultrasonic pulse velocity test, and destructive inspection techniques such as the compressive strength test, the chloride penetration test, and the carbonation test. From the analysis of all the test results, it was concluded that the LNG storage tank cover was in good condition. Such results were also compared with the Korean concrete standard specifications and design values. In addition, the remaining life of the LNG storage tank was estimated by using existing models. Based on the results, an LNG storage tank cover performance evaluation procedure was suggested.
Abstract: Multimedia security is an incredibly significant area
of concern. A number of papers on robust digital watermarking have
been presented, but there are no standards that have been defined so
far. Thus multimedia security is still a posing problem. The aim of
this paper is to design a robust image-watermarking scheme, which
can withstand a different set of attacks. The proposed scheme
provides a robust solution integrating image moment normalization,
content dependent watermark and discrete wavelet transformation.
Moment normalization is useful to recover the watermark even in
case of geometrical attacks. Content dependent watermarks are a
powerful means of authentication as the data is watermarked with its
own features. Discrete wavelet transforms have been used as they
describe image features in a better manner. The proposed scheme
finds its place in validating identification cards and financial
instruments.
Abstract: In this paper, design, fabrication and coupled
multifield analysis of hollow out-of-plane silicon microneedle array
with piezoelectrically actuated microfluidic device for transdermal
drug delivery (TDD) applications is presented. The fabrication
process of silicon microneedle array is first done by series of
combined isotropic and anisotropic etching processes using
inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching technology. Then coupled
multifield analysis of MEMS based piezoelectrically actuated device
with integrated 2×2 silicon microneedle array is presented. To predict
the stress distribution and model fluid flow in coupled field analysis,
finite element (FE) and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis
using ANSYS rather than analytical systems has been performed.
Static analysis and transient CFD analysis were performed to predict
the fluid flow through the microneedle array. The inlet pressure from
10 kPa to 150 kPa was considered for static CFD analysis. In the
lumen region fluid flow rate 3.2946 μL/min is obtained at 150 V for
2×2 microneedle array. In the present study the authors have
performed simulation of structural, piezoelectric and CFD analysis
on three dimensional model of the piezoelectrically actuated
mcirofluidic device integrated with 2×2 microneedle array.
Abstract: This paper presents design and implements the
T-DOF PI controller design for a speed control of induction motor.
The voltage source inverter type space vector pulse width modulation
technique is used the drive system. This scheme leads to be able to
adjust the speed of the motor by control the frequency and amplitude
of the input voltage. The ratio of input stator voltage to frequency
should be kept constant. The T-DOF PI controller design by root
locus technique is also introduced to the system for regulates and
tracking speed response. The experimental results in testing the 120
watt induction motor from no-load condition to rated condition show
the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.
Abstract: Wide applicability of concurrent programming
practices in developing various software applications leads to
different concurrency errors amongst which data race is the most
important. Java provides greatest support for concurrent
programming by introducing various concurrency packages. Aspect
oriented programming (AOP) is modern programming paradigm
facilitating the runtime interception of events of interest and can be
effectively used to handle the concurrency problems. AspectJ being
an aspect oriented extension to java facilitates the application of
concepts of AOP for data race detection. Volatile variables are
usually considered thread safe, but they can become the possible
candidates of data races if non-atomic operations are performed
concurrently upon them. Various data race detection algorithms have
been proposed in the past but this issue of volatility and atomicity is
still unaddressed. The aim of this research is to propose some
suggestions for incorporating certain conditions for data race
detection in java programs at the volatile fields by taking into account
support for atomicity in java concurrency packages and making use
of pointcuts. Two simple test programs will demonstrate the results
of research. The results are verified on two different Java
Development Kits (JDKs) for the purpose of comparison.
Abstract: The aerodynamic performances of vertical axis wind
turbines are highly affected by tip vortexes. In the present
work, different tip devices are considered and simulated against
a baseline rotor configuration, with the aim of identifying the
best tip architecture. Three different configurations are tested:
winglets, an elliptic termination and an aerodynamic bulkhead.
A comparative analysis on the most promising architectures is
conducted, focusing also on blade torque evolution during a full
revolution of the rotor blade. The most promising technology is
concluded to be a well designed winglet.
Abstract: According to development of communications and
web-based technologies in recent years, e-Learning has became very
important for everyone and is seen as one of most dynamic teaching
methods.
Grid computing is a pattern for increasing of computing power
and storage capacity of a system and is based on hardware and
software resources in a network with common purpose. In this article
we study grid architecture and describe its different layers. In this
way, we will analyze grid layered architecture. Then we will
introduce a new suitable architecture for e-Learning which is based
on grid network, and for this reason we call it Grid Learning
Architecture. Various sections and layers of suggested architecture
will be analyzed; especially grid middleware layer that has key role.
This layer is heart of grid learning architecture and, in fact,
regardless of this layer, e-Learning based on grid architecture will
not be feasible.
Abstract: Grazing and pastoral overloading through human factors result in significant land desertification. Failure to take into account the phenomenon of desertification as a serious problem can lead to an environmental disaster because of the damages caused by land encroachment. Therefore, soil on residential and urban areas is affected because of the deterioration of vegetation. Overgrazing or grazing in open and irregular lands is practiced in these areas almost throughout the year, especially during the growth cycle of edible plants, thereby leading to their disappearance. In addition, the large number of livestock in these areas exceeds the capacity of these pastures because of pastoral land overloading, which results in deterioration and desertification in the region. In addition, rare plants, the extinction of some edible plants in the region, and the emergence of plants unsuitable for grazing, must be taken into consideration, as along with the emergence of dust and sand storms during the dry seasons (summer to autumn) due to the degradation of vegetation. These results show that strategic plans and regulations that protect the environment from desertification must be developed. Therefore, increased pastoral load is a key human factor in the deterioration of vegetation cover, leading to land desertification in this region.
Abstract: The possibility of producing drinking water from
brackish ground water using Vacuum membrane distillation (VMD)
process was studied. It is a rising technology for seawater or brine
desalination process. The process simply consists of a flat sheet
hydrophobic micro porous PTFE membrane and diaphragm vacuum
pump without a condenser for the water recovery or trap. In this
work, VMD performance was investigated for aqueous NaCl solution
and natural ground water. The influence of operational parameters
such as feed flow rate (30 to 55 l/h), feed temperature (313 to 333 K),
feed salt concentration (5000 to 7000 mg/l) and permeate pressure
(1.5 to 6 kPa) on the membrane distillation (MD) permeation flux
have been investigated. The maximum flux reached to 28.34 kg/m2 h
at feed temperature, 333 K; vacuum pressure, 1.5 kPa; feed flow rate,
55 l/h and feed salt concentration, 7000 mg/l. The negligible effects
in the reduction of permeate flux found over 150 h experimental run
for salt water. But for the natural ground water application over 75 h,
scale deposits observed on the membrane surface and 29% reduction
in the permeate flux over 75 h. This reduction can be eliminated by
acidification of feed water. Hence, promote the research attention in
apply of VMD for the ground water purification over today-s
conventional RO operation.
Abstract: Optimal cultural site selection is one of the ways that
can lead to the promotion of citizenship culture in addition to
ensuring the health and leisure of city residents. This study examines
the social and cultural needs of the community and optimal cultural
site allocation and after identifying the problems and shortcomings,
provides a suitable model for finding the best location for these
centers where there is the greatest impact on the promotion of
citizenship culture. On the other hand, non-scientific methods cause
irreversible impacts to the urban environment and citizens. But
modern efficient methods can reduce these impacts. One of these
methods is using geographical information systems (GIS). In this
study, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method was used to
locate the optimal cultural site. In AHP, three principles
(decomposition), (comparative analysis), and (combining
preferences) are used. The objectives of this research include
providing optimal contexts for passing time and performing cultural
activities by Shiraz residents and also proposing construction of some
cultural sites in different areas of the city. The results of this study
show the correct positioning of cultural sites based on social needs of
citizens. Thus, considering the population parameters and radii
access, GIS and AHP model for locating cultural centers can meet
social needs of citizens.
Abstract: In order to explore the relationship of promotion activities, destination attribute and destination image of Vietnam and find possible solutions, this study uses decision system analysis (DSA) method to develop flowcharts based on three rounds of expert interviews. The interviews were conducted with the experts who were confirmed to directly participate or influence on the decision making that drives the promotion of Vietnam tourism process. This study identifies three models and describes specific decisions on promotion activities, destination attributes and destination images. This study finally derives a general model for promoting the Tourism Industrial Service Network (TISN) in Vietnam. This study finds that the coordination with all sectors and industries of tourism to facilitate favorable condition and improving destination attributes in linking with the efficient promotion activities is highly recommended in order to make visitors satisfied and improve the destination image.
Abstract: The talks about technological convergence had been
around for almost twenty years. Today Internet made it possible. And
this is not only technical evolution. The way it changed our lives
reflected in variety of applications, services and technologies used in
day-to-day life. Such benefits imposed even more requirements on
heterogeneous and unreliable IP networks.
Current paper outlines QoS management system developed in the
NetQoS [1] project. It describes an overall architecture of
management system for heterogeneous networks and proposes
automated multi-layer QoS management. Paper focuses on the
structure of the most crucial modules of the system that enable
autonomous and multi-layer provisioning and dynamic adaptation.
Abstract: Manufacturing, production and service industries within Libya have struggled with many problems during the past two decades due to many difficulties. These problems have created a negative impact on the productivity and utilization of many industries around the country. This paper studies the implementation levels of the manufacturing control systems known as Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRPII) being adapted within some Libyan industries. A survey methodology has been applied for this research, based on the survey analysis, the results pointed out that the system within these industries has a modest strategy towards most of the areas that are considered as being very crucial in implementing these systems successfully. The findings also show a variation within these implementation levels with a respect to the key-elements that related to MRPII, giving the highest levels in the emphasise on financial data accuracy. The paper has also identified limitations within the investigated manufacturing and managerial areas and has pointed to where senior managers should take immediate actions in order to achieve effective implementation of MRPII within their business area.
Abstract: Collaborative problem solving in e-learning can take
in the form of discussion among learner, creating a highly social
learning environment and characterized by participation and
interactivity. This paper, designed a collaborative learning
environment where agent act as co-learner, can play different roles
during interaction. Since different roles have been assigned to the
agent, learner will assume that multiple co-learner exists to help and
guide him all throughout the collaborative problem solving process,
but in fact, alone during the learning process. Specifically, it answers
the questions what roles of the agent should be incorporated to
contribute better learning outcomes, how agent will facilitate the
communication process to provide social learning and interactivity
and what are the specific instructional strategies that facilitate learner
participation, increased skill acquisition and develop critical thinking.
Abstract: A novel calibration approach that aims to reduce
ASM2d parameter subsets and decrease the model complexity is
presented. This approach does not require high computational
demand and reduces the number of modeling parameters required to
achieve the ASMs calibration by employing a sensitivity and iteration
methodology. Parameter sensitivity is a crucial factor and the
iteration methodology enables refinement of the simulation parameter
values. When completing the iteration process, parameters values are
determined in descending order of their sensitivities. The number of
iterations required is equal to the number of model parameters of the
parameter significance ranking. This approach was used for the
ASM2d model to the evaluated EBPR phosphorus removal and it was
successful. Results of the simulation provide calibration parameters.
These included YPAO, YPO4, YPHA, qPHA, qPP, μPAO, bPAO, bPP, bPHA,
KPS, YA, μAUT, bAUT, KO2 AUT, and KNH4 AUT. Those parameters were
corresponding to the experimental data available.
Abstract: Meshing is the process of discretizing problem
domain into many sub domains before the numerical calculation can
be performed. One of the most popular meshes among many types of meshes is tetrahedral mesh, due to their flexibility to fit into almost
any domain shape. In both 2D and 3D domains, triangular and tetrahedral meshes can be generated by using Delaunay triangulation.
The quality of mesh is an important factor in performing any Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations as the results is
highly affected by the mesh quality. Many efforts had been done in
order to improve the quality of the mesh. The paper describes a mesh
generation routine which has been developed capable of generating
high quality tetrahedral cells in arbitrary complex geometry. A few
test cases in CFD problems are used for testing the mesh generator.
The result of the mesh is compared with the one generated by a
commercial software. The results show that no sliver exists for the
meshes generated, and the overall quality is acceptable since the percentage of the bad tetrahedral is relatively small. The boundary
recovery was also successfully done where all the missing faces are
rebuilt.
Abstract: Lately there has been a significant boost of interest in
music digital libraries, which constitute an attractive area of research
and development due to their inherent interesting issues and
challenging technical problems, solutions to which will be highly
appreciated by enthusiastic end-users. We present here a DL that we
have developed to support users in their quest for classical music
pieces within a particular collection of 18,000+ audio recordings.
To cope with the early DL model limitations, we have used a refined
socio-semantic and contextual model that allows rich bibliographic
content description, along with semantic annotations, reviewing,
rating, knowledge sharing etc. The multi-layered service model
allows incorporation of local and distributed information,
construction of rich hypermedia documents, expressing the complex
relationships between various objects and multi-dimensional spaces,
agents, actors, services, communities, scenarios etc., and facilitates
collaborative activities to offer to individual users the needed
collections and services.
Abstract: In this paper, Neuro-Fuzzy based Fuzzy Subtractive
Clustering Method (FSCM) and Self Tuning Fuzzy PD-like
Controller (STFPDC) were used to solve non-linearity and trajectory
problems of pitch AND yaw angles of Twin Rotor MIMO system
(TRMS). The control objective is to make the beams of TRMS reach
a desired position quickly and accurately. The proposed method
could achieve control objectives with simpler controller. To simplify
the complexity of STFPDC, ANFIS based FSCM was used to
simplify the controller and improve the response. The proposed
controllers could achieve satisfactory objectives under different input
signals. Simulation results under MATLAB/Simulink® proved the
improvement of response and superiority of simplified STFPDC on
Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC).
Abstract: This article presents a numerical study of the doublediffusive
mixed convection in a vertical channel filled with porous
medium by using non-equilibrium model. The flow is assumed
fully developed, uni-directional and steady state. The controlling
parameters are thermal Rayleigh number (RaT ), Darcy number (Da),
Forchheimer number (F), buoyancy ratio (N), inter phase heat transfer
coefficient (H), and porosity scaled thermal conductivity ratio
(γ). The Brinkman-extended non-Darcy model is considered. The
governing equations are solved by spectral collocation method. The
main emphasize is given on flow profiles as well as heat and solute
transfer rates, when two diffusive components in terms of buoyancy
ratio are in favor (against) of each other and solid matrix and fluid
are thermally non-equilibrium. The results show that, for aiding flow
(RaT = 1000), the heat transfer rate of fluid (Nuf ) increases upto a
certain value of H, beyond that decreases smoothly and converges
to a constant, whereas in case of opposing flow (RaT = -1000),
the result is same for N = 0 and 1. The variation of Nuf in (N,
Nuf )-plane shows sinusoidal pattern for RaT = -1000. For both cases
(aiding and opposing) the flow destabilize on increasing N by inviting
point of inflection or flow separation on the velocity profile. Overall,
the buoyancy force have significant impact on the non-Darcy mixed
convection under LTNE conditions.
Abstract: Introduction: Visual performance is an important factor in sport excellence. Visual involvement in a sport varies according to environmental demands associated with that sport. These environmental demands are matched by a task specific motor response. The purpose of this study was to determine if sport specific exercises will improve the visual performance of male rugby players, in order to achieve maximal results on the sports field. Materials & Methods: Twenty six adult male rugby players, aged 16-22, were chosen as subjects. In order to evaluate the effect of sport specific exercises on visual skills, a pre-test - post-test experimental group design was adopted for the study. Results: Significant differences (p≤0.05) were seen in the focussing, tracking, vergence, sequencing, eye-hand coordination and visualisation components Discussion & Conclusions: Sport specific exercises improved visual skills in rugby players which may provide them with an advantage over their opponents. This study suggests that these training programs and participation in regular on-line EyeDrills sports vision exercises (www.eyedrills.co.za) aimed at improving the athlete-s visual coordination, concentration, focus, hand-eye co-ordination, anticipation and motor response should be incorpotated in the rugby players exercise regime.