Abstract: Producing IT products/services required carefully
designed. IT development process is intangible and labour intensive.
Making optimal use of available resources, both soft (knowledge,
skill-set etc.) and hard (computer system, ancillary equipment etc.),
is vital if IT development is to achieve sensible economical
advantages. Apart from the norm of Project Life Cycle and System
Development Life Cycle (SDLC), there is an urgent need to establish
a general yet widely acceptable guideline on the most effective and
efficient way to precede an IT project in the broader view of Product
Life Cycle. The current paper proposes such a framework with two
major areas of concern: (1) an integration of IT Products and IT
Services within an existing IT Process architecture and; (2) how IT
Product and IT Services are built into the framework of Product Life
Cycle, Project Life Cycle and SDLC.
Abstract: This study uses natural water and the surface properties of powdered activated carbon to acclimatize organics, forming biofilms on the surface of powdered activated carbon. To investigate the influence of different hydraulic retention times on the removal efficacy of trace organics in raw water, and to determine the optimal hydraulic retention time of a biological powdered activated carbon system, this study selects ozone-treated water processed by Feng-shan Advanced Water Purification Plant in southern Taiwan for the experiment. The evaluation indicators include assimilable organic carbon, dissolved organic carbon, and total organic carbon. The results of this study can improve the quality of drinking water treated using advanced water purification procedures.
Abstract: In this research, the researchers have managed to
design a model to investigate the current trend of stock price of the
"IRAN KHODRO corporation" at Tehran Stock Exchange by
utilizing an Adaptive Neuro - Fuzzy Inference system. For the Longterm
Period, a Neuro-Fuzzy with two Triangular membership
functions and four independent Variables including trade volume,
Dividend Per Share (DPS), Price to Earning Ratio (P/E), and also
closing Price and Stock Price fluctuation as an dependent variable are
selected as an optimal model. For the short-term Period, a neureo –
fuzzy model with two triangular membership functions for the first
quarter of a year, two trapezoidal membership functions for the
Second quarter of a year, two Gaussian combination membership
functions for the third quarter of a year and two trapezoidal
membership functions for the fourth quarter of a year were selected
as an optimal model for the stock price forecasting. In addition, three
independent variables including trade volume, price to earning ratio,
closing Stock Price and a dependent variable of stock price
fluctuation were selected as an optimal model. The findings of the
research demonstrate that the trend of stock price could be forecasted
with the lower level of error.
Abstract: A new approach to determine the machine layout in flexible manufacturing cell, and to find the feasible robot configuration of the robot to achieve minimum cycle time is presented in this paper. The location of the input/output location and the optimal robot configuration is obtained for all sequences of work tasks of the robot within a specified period of time. A more realistic approach has been presented to model the problem using the robot joint space. The problem is formulated as a nonlinear optimization problem and solved using Sequential Quadratic Programming algorithm.
Abstract: The development of the power electronics has allowed
increasing the precision and reliability of the electrical devices, thanks
to the adjustable inverters, as the Pulse Wide Modulation (PWM)
applied to the three level inverters, which is the object of this study.
The authors treat the relation between the law order adopted for a
given system and the oscillations of the electrical and mechanical
parameters of which the tolerance depends on the process with which
they are integrated (paper factory, lifting of the heavy loads,
etc.).Thus, the best choice of the regulation indexes allows us to
achieve stability and safety training without investment (management
of existing equipment). The optimal behavior of any electric device
can be achieved by the minimization of the stored electrical and
mechanical energy.
Abstract: The incorporation of computational fluid dynamics in the design of modern hydraulic turbines appears to be necessary in order to improve their efficiency and cost-effectiveness beyond the traditional design practices. A numerical optimization methodology is developed and applied in the present work to a Turgo water turbine. The fluid is simulated by a Lagrangian mesh-free approach that can provide detailed information on the energy transfer and enhance the understanding of the complex, unsteady flow field, at very small computing cost. The runner blades are initially shaped according to hydrodynamics theory, and parameterized using Bezier polynomials and interpolation techniques. The use of a limited number of free design variables allows for various modifications of the standard blade shape, while stochastic optimization using evolutionary algorithms is implemented to find the best blade that maximizes the attainable hydraulic efficiency of the runner. The obtained optimal runner design achieves considerably higher efficiency than the standard one, and its numerically predicted performance is comparable to a real Turgo turbine, verifying the reliability and the prospects of the new methodology.
Abstract: Fractional Fourier Transform is a powerful tool,
which is a generalization of the classical Fourier Transform. This
paper provides a mathematical relation relating the span in Fractional
Fourier domain with the amplitude and phase functions of the signal,
which is further used to study the variation of quality factor with
different values of the transform order. It is seen that with the
increase in the number of transients in the signal, the deviation of
average Fractional Fourier span from the frequency bandwidth
increases. Also, with the increase in the transient nature of the signal,
the optimum value of transform order can be estimated based on the
quality factor variation, and this value is found to be very close to
that for which one can obtain the most compact representation. With
the entire mathematical analysis and experimentation, we consolidate
the fact that Fractional Fourier Transform gives more optimal
representations for a number of transform orders than Fourier
transform.
Abstract: Battery storage system is emerging as an essential component of hybrid power system based on renewable energy resources such as solar and wind in order to make these sources dispatchable. Accurate modeling of battery storage system is ssential in order to ensure optimal planning of hybrid power systems incorporating battery storage. Majority of the system planning studies involving battery storage assume battery charging efficiency to be constant. However a strong correlation exists between battery charging efficiency and battery state of charge. In this work a Fuzzy logic based model has been presented for determining battery charging efficiency relative to a particular SOC. In order to demonstrate the efficacy of proposed approach, reliability evaluation studies are carried out for a hypothetical autonomous hybrid power system located in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India. The impact of considering battery charging efficiency as a function of state of charge is compared against the assumption of fixed battery charging efficiency for three different configurations comprising of wind-storage, solar-storage and wind-solar-storage.
Abstract: In this paper, three dimensional flow characteristic was
presented by a revision of an impeller of an axial turbo fan for
improving the airflow rate and the static pressure. TO consider an
incompressible steady three-dimensional flow, the RANS equations
are used as the governing equations, and the standard k-ε turbulence
model is chosen. The pitch angles of 44°, 54°, 59°, and 64° are
implemented for the numerical model. The numerical results show that
airflow rates of each pitch angle are 1,175 CMH, 1,270 CMH, 1,340
CMH, and 800 CMH, respectively. The difference of the static
pressure at impeller inlet and outlet are 120 Pa, 214 Pa, 242 Pa, and 60
Pa according to respective pitch angles. It means that the 59° of the
impeller pitch angle is optimal to improve the airflow rate and the
static pressure.
Abstract: Automatic segmentation of skin lesions is the first step
towards the automated analysis of malignant melanoma. Although
numerous segmentation methods have been developed, few studies
have focused on determining the most effective color space for
melanoma application. This paper proposes an automatic segmentation
algorithm based on color space analysis and clustering-based histogram
thresholding, a process which is able to determine the optimal
color channel for detecting the borders in dermoscopy images. The
algorithm is tested on a set of 30 high resolution dermoscopy images.
A comprehensive evaluation of the results is provided, where borders
manually drawn by four dermatologists, are compared to automated
borders detected by the proposed algorithm, applying three previously
used metrics of accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity and a new metric
of similarity. By performing ROC analysis and ranking the metrics,
it is demonstrated that the best results are obtained with the X and
XoYoR color channels, resulting in an accuracy of approximately
97%. The proposed method is also compared with two state-of-theart
skin lesion segmentation methods.
Abstract: Under the limitation of investment budget, a utility
company is required to maximize the utilization of their existing
assets during their life cycle satisfying both engineering and financial
requirements. However, utility does not have knowledge about the
status of each asset in the portfolio neither in terms of technical nor
financial values. This paper presents a knowledge based model for
the utility companies in order to make an optimal decision on power
transformer with their utilization. CommonKADS methodology, a
structured development for knowledge and expertise representation,
is utilized for designing and developing knowledge based model. A
case study of One MVA power transformer of Nepal Electricity
Authority is presented. The results show that the reusable knowledge
can be categorized, modeled and utilized within the utility company
using the proposed methodologies. Moreover, the results depict that
utility company can achieve both engineering and financial benefits
from its utilization.
Abstract: A laboratory study on the influence of compactive
effort on expansive black cotton specimens treated with up to 8%
ordinary Portland cement (OPC) admixed with up to 8% bagasse ash
(BA) by dry weight of soil and compacted using the energies of the
standard Proctor (SP), West African Standard (WAS) or
“intermediate” and modified Proctor (MP) were undertaken. The
expansive black cotton soil was classified as A-7-6 (16) or CL using
the American Association of Highway and Transportation Officials
(AASHTO) and Unified Soil Classification System (USCS),
respectively. The 7day unconfined compressive strength (UCS)
values of the natural soil for SP, WAS and MP compactive efforts are
286, 401 and 515kN/m2 respectively, while peak values of 1019,
1328 and 1420kN/m2 recorded at 8% OPC/ 6% BA, 8% OPC/ 2% BA
and 6% OPC/ 4% BA treatments, respectively were less than the
UCS value of 1710kN/m2 conventionally used as criterion for
adequate cement stabilization. The soaked California bearing ratio
(CBR) values of the OPC/BA stabilized soil increased with higher
energy level from 2, 4 and 10% for the natural soil to Peak values of
55, 18 and 8% were recorded at 8% OPC/4% BA 8% OPC/2% BA
and 8% OPC/4% BA, treatments when SP, WAS and MP compactive
effort were used, respectively. The durability of specimens was
determined by immersion in water. Soils treatment at 8% OPC/ 4%
BA blend gave a value of 50% resistance to loss in strength value
which is acceptable because of the harsh test condition of 7 days
soaking period specimens were subjected instead of the 4 days
soaking period that specified a minimum resistance to loss in strength
of 80%. Finally An optimal blend of is 8% OPC/ 4% BA is
recommended for treatment of expansive black cotton soil for use as
a sub-base material.
Abstract: This paper presents the vibrations suppression of a thermoelastic beam subject to sudden heat input by a distributed piezoelectric actuators. An optimization problem is formulated as the minimization of a quadratic functional in terms of displacement and velocity at a given time and with the least control effort. The solution method is based on a combination of modal expansion and variational approaches. The modal expansion approach is used to convert the optimal control of distributed parameter system into the optimal control of lumped parameter system. By utilizing the variational approach, an explicit optimal control law is derived and the determination of the corresponding displacement and velocity is reduced to solving a set of ordinary differential equations.
Abstract: A direct search approach to determine optimal reservoir operating is proposed with ant colony optimization for continuous domains (ACOR). The model is applied to a system of single reservoir to determine the optimum releases during 42 years of monthly steps. A disadvantage of ant colony based methods and the ACOR in particular, refers to great amount of computer run time consumption. In this study a highly effective procedure for decreasing run time has been developed. The results are compared to those of a GA based model.
Abstract: Traditional parallel single string matching algorithms
are always based on PRAM computation model. Those algorithms
concentrate on the cost optimal design and the theoretical speed.
Based on the distributed string matching algorithm proposed by
CHEN, a practical distributed string matching algorithm architecture
is proposed in this paper. And also an improved single string matching
algorithm based on a variant Boyer-Moore algorithm is presented. We
implement our algorithm on the above architecture and the
experiments prove that it is really practical and efficient on distributed
memory machine. Its computation complexity is O(n/p + m), where n
is the length of the text, and m is the length of the pattern, and p is the
number of the processors.
Abstract: The trend of growing density on chips has increases not
only the temperature in chips but also the gradient of the temperature
depending on locations. In this paper, we propose the balanced skew
tree generation technique for minimizing the clock skew that is
affected by the temperature gradients on chips. We calculate the
interconnect delay using Elmore delay equation, and find out the
optimal balanced clock tree by modifying the clock trees generated
through the Deferred Merge Embedding(DME) algorithm. The
experimental results show that the distance variance of clock insertion
points with and without considering the temperature gradient can be
lowered below 54% and we confirm that the skew is remarkably
decreased after applying the proposed technique.
Abstract: Currently, one of the main directions is developing of
development based on the clustering of economic operations of
Kazakhstan, providing for the organization and concentration of
production capacity in one region or the most optimal system. In the
modern economic literature clustering is regarded as one of the most
effective tools to ensure competitive businesses, and improve their
business itself.
Abstract: Huge losses in apple production are caused by pathogens that cannot be seen shortly after harvest. After-harvest thermotherapy treatments can considerably improve control of storage diseases on apples and become an alternative to chemical pesticides. In the years 2010-2012 carried out research in this area. Apples of 'Topaz' cultivar were harvested at optimal maturity time for long storage and subject to water bath treatment at 45, 50, 52, 55°C for 60, 120, 180 and 240 seconds. The control was untreated fruits. After 12 and 24 weeks and during so called simulated trade turnover the fruits were checked for their condition and the originators of diseases were determined by using the standard phytopathological methods. The most common originator of 'Topaz' apple infection during storage were the fungi of genus Gloeosporium. In this paper it was proven that for effective protection of 'Topaz' apples against diseases, thermotherapy by using water treatments at temperature range of 50-52°C is quite sufficient.
Abstract: This paper presents a novel algorithm for path planning of mobile robots in known 3D environments using Binary Integer Programming (BIP). In this approach the problem of path planning is formulated as a BIP with variables taken from 3D Delaunay Triangulation of the Free Configuration Space and solved to obtain an optimal channel made of connected tetrahedrons. The 3D channel is then partitioned into convex fragments which are used to build safe and short paths within from Start to Goal. The algorithm is simple, complete, does not suffer from local minima, and is applicable to different workspaces with convex and concave polyhedral obstacles. The noticeable feature of this algorithm is that it is simply extendable to n-D Configuration spaces.
Abstract: Since supply chains highly impact the financial
performance of companies, it is important to optimize and analyze
their Key Performance Indicators (KPI). The synergistic combination
of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Monte Carlo simulation is
applied to determine the optimal reorder point of warehouses in
supply chains. The goal of the optimization is the minimization of the
objective function calculated as the linear combination of holding and
order costs. The required values of service levels of the warehouses
represent non-linear constraints in the PSO. The results illustrate that
the developed stochastic simulator and optimization tool is flexible
enough to handle complex situations.