Abstract: A numerical study is made of laminar, unsteady flow
behind a rotationally oscillating circular cylinder using a recently
developed higher order compact (HOC) scheme. The stream function
vorticity formulation of Navier-Stokes (N-S) equations in cylindrical
polar coordinates are considered as the governing equations. The
temporal behaviour of vortex formation and relevant streamline
patterns of the flow are scrutinized over broad ranges of two
externally specified parameters namely dimensionless forced
oscillating frequency Sf and dimensionless peak rotation rate αm for
the Reynolds-s number Re = 200. Excellent agreements are found
both qualitatively and quantitatively with the existing experimental
and standard numerical results.
Abstract: Paper deals with the topic of questions as important
components of information behavior in the school. By analyzing the
Corpus Schola2010, the state of contemporary education in terms of
questioning is proven unsatisfactory: 80% of the questions are asked
by teachers; most of teacher-s questions are asked at the beginning of
the first grade, than their number decreases and is settling down on
80±10 questions per lesson. The average number of questions within
one lesson per one pupil is generally less than one whole question.
The highest values are achieved in the first, sixth, eighth and tenth
grade,, i.e. in the transition years in which pupils are moving into
higher levels of education and every following year it declines. We
can state Czech school do not support questioning and question skill
of their pupils, thereby typical Czech schools are neglecting the
development of thinking, reasoning and cooperation of their pupils.
Abstract: To calculate the temperature distribution of the slab in
a hot rolled reheating furnace a mathematical model has been
developed by considering the thermal radiation in the furnace and
transient conduction in the slab. The furnace is modeled as radiating
medium with spatially varying temperature. Radiative heat flux within
the furnace including the effect of furnace walls, combustion gases,
skid beams and buttons is calculated using the FVM and is applied as
the boundary condition of the transient conduction equation of the
slab. After determining the slab emissivity by comparison between
simulation and experimental work, variation of heating characteristics
in the slab is investigated in the case of changing furnace temperature
with various time and the slab residence time is optimized with this
evaluation.
Abstract: Embedding and extraction of a secret information as
well as the restoration of the original un-watermarked image is
highly desirable in sensitive applications like military, medical, and
law enforcement imaging. This paper presents a novel reversible
data-hiding method for digital images using integer to integer
wavelet transform and companding technique which can embed and
recover the secret information as well as can restore the image to its
pristine state. The novel method takes advantage of block based
watermarking and iterative optimization of threshold for companding
which avoids histogram pre and post-processing. Consequently, it
reduces the associated overhead usually required in most of the
reversible watermarking techniques. As a result, it keeps the
distortion small between the marked and the original images.
Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms the
existing reversible data hiding schemes reported in the literature.
Abstract: Evolution of one-dimensional electron system under
high-energy-density (HED) conditions is investigated, using the
principle of least-action and variational method. In a single-mode
modulation model, the amplitude and spatial wavelength of the
modulation are chosen to be general coordinates. Equations of motion
are derived by considering energy conservation and force balance.
Numerical results show that under HED conditions, electron density
modulation could exist. Time dependences of amplitude and
wavelength are both positively related to the rate of energy input.
Besides, initial loading speed has a significant effect on modulation
amplitude, while wavelength relies more on loading duration.
Abstract: Surveillance system is widely used in the traffic
monitoring. The deployment of cameras is moving toward a
ubiquitous camera (UbiCam) environment. In our previous study, a
novel service, called GPS-VT, was firstly proposed by incorporating
global positioning system (GPS) and visual tracking techniques for
the UbiCam environment. The first prototype is called GODTA
(GPS-based Moving Object Detection and Tracking Approach). For a
moving person carried GPS-enabled mobile device, he can be
tracking when he enters the field-of-view (FOV) of a camera
according to his real-time GPS coordinate. In this paper, GPS-VT
service is applied to the tracking of vehicles. The moving speed of a
vehicle is much faster than a person. It means that the time passing
through the FOV is much shorter than that of a person. Besides, the
update interval of GPS coordinate is once per second, it is
asynchronous with the frame rate of the real-time image. The above
asynchronous is worsen by the network transmission delay. These
factors are the main challenging to fulfill GPS-VT service on a
vehicle.In order to overcome the influence of the above factors, a
back-propagation neural network (BPNN) is used to predict the
possible lane before the vehicle enters the FOV of a camera. Then, a
template matching technique is used for the visual tracking of a target
vehicle. The experimental result shows that the target vehicle can be
located and tracking successfully. The success location rate of the
implemented prototype is higher than that of the previous GODTA.
Abstract: In the domain of machine vision, the
measurement of length is done using cameras where the
accuracy is directly proportional to the resolution of the
camera and inversely to the size of the object. Since most of
the pixels are wasted imaging the entire body as opposed to
just imaging the edges in a conventional system, a double
aperture system is constructed to focus on the edges to
measure at higher resolution. The paper discusses the
complexities and how they are mitigated to realize a practical
machine vision system.
Abstract: In this study, we are interested in the economic lot
scheduling problem (ELSP) that considers manufacturing of the
serviceable products and remanufacturing of the reworked products. In
this paper, we formulate a mathematical model for the ELSP with
reworks using the basic period approach. In order to solve this
problem, we propose a search algorithm to find the cyclic multiplier ki
of each product that can be cyclically produced for every ki basic
periods. This research also uses two heuristics to search for the optimal
production sequence of all lots and the optimal time length of the basic
period so as to minimize the average total cost. This research uses a
numerical example to show the effectiveness of our approach.
Abstract: Environmental accounting is a recent phenomenon in the modern jurisprudence. It may reflect the corporate governance mechanisms in line with the natural resources and environmental sound management and administration systems in any country of the world. It may be a corporate focused on the improving of the environmental quality. But it is often identified that it is ignored due to some reasons such as unconsciousness, lack of ethical education etc. At present, the world community is very much concerned about the state of the environmental accounting and auditing systems as it bears sustainability on the mother earth for our generations. It is one of the important tools for understanding on the role played by the natural environment in the economy. It provides adequate data which is highlighted both in the contribution of natural resources to economic well-being as well as the costs imposed by pollution or resource degradation. It can play a critical role as on be a part of the many international environmental organizations such as IUCN, WWF, PADELIA, WRI etc.; as they have been taking many initiatives for ensuring the environmental accouting for our competent survivals. The global state actors have already taken some greening accounting initiatives under the forum of the United Nations Division for Sustainable Dedevolpment, the United Nations Statistical Division, the United Nations Conference on Environment and development known as Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg Conference 2002 etc. This study will provide an overview of the environmental accounting education consisting of 25 respondents based on the primary and secondary sources.
Abstract: The groundwater is one of the main sources for
sustainability in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Intensive
developments in Al-Ain area lead to increase water demand, which
consequently reduced the overall groundwater quantity in major
aquifers. However, in certain residential areas within Al-Ain, it has
been noticed that the groundwater level is rising, for example in
Sha-ab Al Askher area. The reasons for the groundwater rising
phenomenon are yet to be investigated. In this work, twenty four
seismic refraction profiles have been carried out along the study
pilot area; as well as field measurement of the groundwater level in
a number of available water wells in the area. The processed
seismic data indicated the deepest and shallowest groundwater
levels are 15m and 2.3 meters respectively. This result is greatly
consistent with the proper field measurement of the groundwater
level. The minimum detected value may be referred to perched
subsurface water which may be associated to the infiltration from
the surrounding water bodies such as lakes, and elevated farms. The
maximum values indicate the accurate groundwater level within the
study area. The findings of this work may be considered as a
preliminary help to the decision makers.
Abstract: Theoptimal extraction condition of dried Phaseolus
vulgaris powderwas studied. The three independent variables are raw
material concentration, shaking and centrifugaltime. The dependent
variables are both yield percentage of crude extract and alphaamylase
enzyme inhibition activity. The experimental design was
based on box-behnkendesign. Highest yield percentage of crude
extract could get from extraction condition at concentration of 1, 0,1,
concentration of 0.15 M ,extraction time for 2hour, and
separationtime for60 min. Moreover, the crude extract with highest
alpha-amylase enzyme inhibition activityoccurred by extraction
condition at concentration of 0.10 M, extraction time for 2 min, and
separation time for 45 min
Abstract: Least Development Countries (LDC) like
Bangladesh, whose 25% revenue earning is achieved from Textile
export, requires producing less defective textile for minimizing
production cost and time. Inspection processes done on these
industries are mostly manual and time consuming. To reduce error
on identifying fabric defects requires more automotive and
accurate inspection process. Considering this lacking, this research
implements a Textile Defect Recognizer which uses computer
vision methodology with the combination of multi-layer neural
networks to identify four classifications of textile defects. The
recognizer, suitable for LDC countries, identifies the fabric defects
within economical cost and produces less error prone inspection
system in real time. In order to generate input set for the neural
network, primarily the recognizer captures digital fabric images by
image acquisition device and converts the RGB images into binary
images by restoration process and local threshold techniques.
Later, the output of the processed image, the area of the faulty
portion, the number of objects of the image and the sharp factor of
the image, are feed backed as an input layer to the neural network
which uses back propagation algorithm to compute the weighted
factors and generates the desired classifications of defects as an
output.
Abstract: It has been recognized that due to the autonomy and
heterogeneity, of Web services and the Web itself, new approaches
should be developed to describe and advertise Web services. The
most notable approaches rely on the description of Web services
using semantics. This new breed of Web services, termed semantic
Web services, will enable the automatic annotation, advertisement,
discovery, selection, composition, and execution of interorganization
business logic, making the Internet become a common
global platform where organizations and individuals communicate
with each other to carry out various commercial activities and to
provide value-added services. This paper deals with two of the
hottest R&D and technology areas currently associated with the Web
– Web services and the semantic Web. It describes how semantic
Web services extend Web services as the semantic Web improves the
current Web, and presents three different conceptual approaches to
deploying semantic Web services, namely, WSDL-S, OWL-S, and
WSMO.
Abstract: Metal matrix composites have been increasingly used
as materials for components in automotive and aerospace industries
because of their improved properties compared with non-reinforced
alloys. During machining the selection of appropriate machining
parameters to produce job for desired surface roughness is of great
concern considering the economy of manufacturing process. In this
study, a surface roughness prediction model using fuzzy logic is
developed for end milling of Al-SiCp metal matrix composite
component using carbide end mill cutter. The surface roughness is
modeled as a function of spindle speed (N), feed rate (f), depth of cut
(d) and the SiCp percentage (S). The predicted values surface
roughness is compared with experimental result. The model predicts
average percentage error as 4.56% and mean square error as 0.0729.
It is observed that surface roughness is most influenced by feed rate,
spindle speed and SiC percentage. Depth of cut has least influence.
Abstract: One of the most challenges for hard surface cleaning product is to get rid of soap scum, a filmy sticky layer in the bathroom. The deposits of soap scum can be removed by using a proper surfactant solution with chelating agent. Unfortunately, the conventional chelating agent, ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA), has low biodegradability, which can be tolerance in water resources and harmful to aquatic animal and microorganism. In this study, two biodegradable chelating agents, ethylenediamine disuccinic acid (EDDS) and glutamic acid diacetic acid (GLDA) were introduced as a replacement of EDTA. The result shows that using GLDA with amphoteric surfactant gave the highest equilibrium solubility of soap scum.
Abstract: This paper presents a new methodology to study power and energy consumption in mechatronic systems early in the development process. This new approach makes use of two modeling languages to represent and simulate embedded control software and electromechanical subsystems in the discrete event and continuous time domain respectively within a single co-model. This co-model enables an accurate representation of power and energy consumption and facilitates the analysis and development of both software and electro-mechanical subsystems in parallel. This makes the engineers aware of energy-wise implications of different design alternatives and enables early trade-off analysis from the beginning of the analysis and design activities.
Abstract: Service trade is an important force of influencing economic development. A review on the related literatures is done firstly. Then through the construction of a Diamond Model, the main factors which influence the competitiveness of Chinese service trade are determined. With three competitiveness indexes served as the reference series respectively, the influencing factors served as the comparable series, three grey incidence models are then built up to conduct an empirical analysis on the main factors influencing the competitiveness of service trade after China entering WTO. The result indicates that urbanization level, open degree of service industry and foreign direct investment have larger impacts on Chinese service trade competitiveness, followed in turn by GDP in service industry and human capital, while commodity trade has the minimum impact. Further discussion provides train of thought for the upgrade of Chinese service trade competitiveness.
Abstract: Machining is an important manufacturing process used to produce a wide variety of metallic parts. Among various machining processes, turning is one of the most important one which is employed to shape cylindrical parts. In turning, the quality of finished product is measured in terms of surface roughness. In turn, surface quality is determined by machining parameters and tool geometry specifications. The main objective of this study is to simultaneously model and optimize machining parameters and tool geometry in order to improve the surface roughness for AISI1045 steel. Several levels of machining parameters and tool geometry specifications are considered as input parameters. The surface roughness is selected as process output measure of performance. A Taguchi approach is employed to gather experimental data. Then, based on signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, the best sets of cutting parameters and tool geometry specifications have been determined. Using these parameters values, the surface roughness of AISI1045 steel parts may be minimized. Experimental results are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Abstract: Studying alternative raw materials for biodiesel production is of major importance. The use of mixtures with incorporation of wastes is an environmental friendly alternative and might reduce biodiesel production costs. The objective of the present work was: (i) to study biodiesel production using waste frying oil mixed with pork lard and (ii) to understand how mixture composition influences biodiesel quality. Biodiesel was produced by transesterification and quality was evaluated through determination of several parameters according to EN 14214. The weight fraction of lard in the mixture varied from 0 to 1 in 0.2 intervals. Biodiesel production yields varied from 81.7 to 88.0 (wt%), the lowest yields being the ones obtained using waste frying oil and lard alone as raw materials. The obtained products fulfilled most of the determined quality specifications according to European biodiesel quality standard EN 14214. Minimum purity (96.5 wt%) was closely obtained when waste frying oil was used alone and when 0.2% of lard was incorporated in the raw material (96.3 wt%); however, it ranged from 93.9 to 96.3 (wt%) being always close to the limit. From the evaluation of the influence of mixture composition in biodiesel quality, it was possible to establish a model to be used for predicting some parameters of biodiesel resulting from mixtures of waste frying oil with lard when different lard contents are used.
Abstract: The development of biomimetic micro-aerial-vehicles
(MAVs) with flapping wings is the future trend in military/domestic
field. The successful flight of MAVs is strongly related to the
understanding of unsteady aerodynamic performance of low Reynolds
number airfoils under dynamic flapping motion. This study explored
the effects of flapping frequency, stroke amplitude, and the inclined
angle of stroke plane on lift force and thrust force of a bio-inspiration
corrugated airfoil with 33 full factorial design of experiment and
ANOVA analysis. Unsteady vorticity flows over a corrugated thin
airfoil executing flapping motion are computed with time-dependent
two-dimensional laminar incompressible Reynolds-averaged
Navier-Stokes equations with the conformal hybrid mesh. The tested
freestream Reynolds number based on the chord length of airfoil as
characteristic length is fixed of 103. The dynamic mesh technique is
applied to model the flapping motion of a corrugated airfoil. Instant
vorticity contours over a complete flapping cycle clearly reveals the
flow mechanisms for lift force generation are dynamic stall, rotational
circulation, and wake capture. The thrust force is produced as the
leading edge vortex shedding from the trailing edge of airfoil to form a
reverse von Karman vortex. Results also indicated that the inclined
angle is the most significant factor on both the lift force and thrust
force. There are strong interactions between tested factors which mean
an optimization study on parameters should be conducted in further
runs.