Scholarly

Model Predictive Control of Gantry Crane with Input Nonlinearity Compensation

Year: 2009 Volume: 3 Issue: 2 144 - 148 Pages

Abstract: This paper proposed a nonlinear model predictive control (MPC) method for the control of gantry crane. One of the main motivations to apply MPC to control gantry crane is based on its ability to handle control constraints for multivariable systems. A pre-compensator is constructed to compensate the input nonlinearity (nonsymmetric dead zone with saturation) by using its inverse function. By well tuning the weighting function matrices, the control system can properly compromise the control between crane position and swing angle. The proposed control algorithm was implemented for the control of gantry crane system in System Control Lab of University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), and achieved desired experimental results.

Ottoman Script Recognition Using Hidden Markov Model

Year: 2008 Volume: 2 Issue: 2 353 - 355 Pages

Abstract: In this study, an OCR system for segmentation, feature extraction and recognition of Ottoman Scripts has been developed using handwritten characters. Detection of handwritten characters written by humans is a difficult process. Segmentation and feature extraction stages are based on geometrical feature analysis, followed by the chain code transformation of the main strokes of each character. The output of segmentation is well-defined segments that can be fed into any classification approach. The classes of main strokes are identified through left-right Hidden Markov Model (HMM).

A Quality-Oriented Approach toward Strategic Positioning in Higher Education Institutions

Year: 2008 Volume: 2 Issue: 1 18 - 22 Pages

Abstract: Positioning the organization in the strategic environment of its industry is one of the first and most important phases of the organizational strategic planning and in today knowledge-based economy has its importance been duplicated for higher education institutes as the centers of education, knowledge creation and knowledge worker training. Up to now, various models with diverse approaches have been applied to investigate organizations- strategic position in different industries. Regarding the essential importance and strategic role of quality in higher education institutes, in this study, a quality-oriented approach has been suggested to positioning them in their strategic environment. Then the European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM) model has been adopted to position the top Iranian business schools in their strategic environment. The result of this study can be used in strategic planning of these institutes as well as the other Iranian business schools.

Production Planning and Measuring Method for Non Patterned Production System Using Stock Cutting Model

Year: 2009 Volume: 3 Issue: 1 22 - 26 Pages

Abstract: The simple methods used to plan and measure non patterned production system are developed from the basic definition of working efficiency. Processing time is assigned as the variable and used to write the equation of production efficiency. Consequently, such equation is extensively used to develop the planning method for production of interest using one-dimensional stock cutting problem. The application of the developed method shows that production efficiency and production planning can be determined effectively.

Convective Heat Transfer of Internal Electronic Components in a Headlight Geometry

Year: 2007 Volume: 1 Issue: 4 146 - 151 Pages

Abstract: A numerical study is presented on convective heat transfer in enclosures. The results are addressed to automotive headlights containing new-age light sources like Light Emitting Diodes (LED). The heat transfer from the heat source (LED) to the enclosure walls is investigated for mixed convection as interaction of the forced convection flow from an inlet and an outlet port and the natural convection at the heat source. Unlike existing studies, inlet and outlet port are thermally coupled and do not serve to remove hot fluid. The input power of the heat source is expressed by the Rayleigh number. The internal position of the heat source, the aspect ratio of the enclosure, and the inclination angle of one wall are varied. The results are given in terms of the global Nusselt number and the enclosure Nusselt number that characterize the heat transfer from the source and from the interior fluid to the enclosure walls, respectively. It is found that the heat transfer from the source to the fluid can be maximized if the source is placed in the main stream from the inlet to the outlet port. In this case, the Reynolds number and heat source position have the major impact on the heat transfer. A disadvantageous position has been found where natural and forced convection compete each other. The overall heat transfer from the source to the wall increases with increasing Reynolds number as well as with increasing aspect ratio and decreasing inclination angle. The heat transfer from the interior fluid to the enclosure wall increases upon decreasing the aspect ratio and increasing the inclination angle. This counteracting behaviour is caused by the variation of the area of the enclosure wall. All mixed convection results are compared to the natural convection limit.

Hydrodynamic Characteristics of Dry Beneficiation of Iron Ore and Coal in a Fast Fluidized Bed

Year: 2010 Volume: 4 Issue: 5 305 - 308 Pages

Abstract: Iron ore and coal are the two major important raw materials being used in Iron making industries. Usually ore fines containing around 5% Alumina are rejected due to higher proportion of alumina. Therefore, a technology or process which may reduce the alumina content by 2% by beneficiation process will be highly attractive . In addition fine coals with ash content is used nearly 12% is directly injected in blast furnace. Fast fluidization is a technology by using dry beneficiation of coal and iron ore can be done. During the fluidization process the iron ore band coal is fluidized at high velocity in the riser of a fast fluidized bed, the heavier and coarse particles is generally settled at the bottom in a dense zone of the riser while the finer and lighter particle are entrained to the top dilute zone and then via a cyclone is fed back to the bottom of the riser column. Most of the alumina and low ash fine size coals being lighter are expected to move up to the riser and by a natural beneficiation of ores is expected to take place in the riser. Therefore in this study an attempt has been made for dry beneficiation of iron ore and coal in a fluidized bed and its hydrodynamic characterization.

Elliptical Features Extraction Using Eigen Values of Covariance Matrices, Hough Transform and Raster Scan Algorithms

Year: 2007 Volume: 1 Issue: 6 1607 - 1612 Pages

Abstract: In this paper, we introduce a new method for elliptical object identification. The proposed method adopts a hybrid scheme which consists of Eigen values of covariance matrices, Circular Hough transform and Bresenham-s raster scan algorithms. In this approach we use the fact that the large Eigen values and small Eigen values of covariance matrices are associated with the major and minor axial lengths of the ellipse. The centre location of the ellipse can be identified using circular Hough transform (CHT). Sparse matrix technique is used to perform CHT. Since sparse matrices squeeze zero elements and contain a small number of nonzero elements they provide an advantage of matrix storage space and computational time. Neighborhood suppression scheme is used to find the valid Hough peaks. The accurate position of circumference pixels is identified using raster scan algorithm which uses the geometrical symmetry property. This method does not require the evaluation of tangents or curvature of edge contours, which are generally very sensitive to noise working conditions. The proposed method has the advantages of small storage, high speed and accuracy in identifying the feature. The new method has been tested on both synthetic and real images. Several experiments have been conducted on various images with considerable background noise to reveal the efficacy and robustness. Experimental results about the accuracy of the proposed method, comparisons with Hough transform and its variants and other tangential based methods are reported.

Influence of Active Packaging on the Quality of Pumpkin - Rowanberry Marmalade Candies

Year: 2012 Volume: 6 Issue: 7 444 - 452 Pages

Abstract: Experiments with pumpkin-rowanberry marmalade candies were carried out at the Faculty of Food Technology of the Latvia University of Agriculture. The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the quality changes of pumpkin-rowanberry marmalade candies packed in different packaging materials during the storage of 15 weeks, and to find the most suitable packaging material for prolongation of low sugar marmalade candies shelf-life. An active packaging in combination with modified atmosphere (MAP, CO2 100%) was examined and compared with traditional packaging in air ambiance. Polymer Multibarrier 60 and paper bags were used. Influence of iron based oxygen absorber in sachets of 500 cc obtained from Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Europe Ageless® on the marmalade candies’ quality was tested during shelf life. Samples of 80±5 g were packaged in polymer pouches (110 mm x 110 mm), hermetically sealed by MULTIVAC C300 vacuum chamber machine, and stored in a room temperature +21±0.5 °C. The physiochemical properties –moisture content, hardness, aw, pH, changes of atmosphere content (CO2 and O2), ascorbic acid, total carotenoids, total phenols in headspace of packs, and microbial conditions were analysed before packaging and in the 1st, 3rd , 5th, 8th, 11th and 15th weeks of storage.

Analysis of Climatic Strategies in Designing the Residential Buildings in Cold Dry Climate of Tabriz Metropolis to Reduce Air Pollution in Urban Environment

Year: 2011 Volume: 5 Issue: 4 183 - 186 Pages

Abstract: Nowadays, the earth is countered with serious problem of air pollution. This problem has been started from the industrial revolution and has been faster in recent years, so that leads the earth to ecological and environmental disaster. One of its results is the global warming problem and its related increase in global temperature. The most important factors in air pollution especially in urban environments are Automobiles and residential buildings that are the biggest consumers of the fossil energies, so that if the residential buildings as a big part of the consumers of such energies reduce their consumption rate, the air pollution will be decreased. Since Metropolises are the main centers of air pollution in the world, assessment and analysis of efficient strategies in decreasing air pollution in such cities, can lead to the desirable and suitable results and can solve the problem at least in critical level. Tabriz city is one of the most important metropolises in North west of Iran that about two million people are living there. for its situation in cold dry climate, has a high rate of fossil energies consumption that make air pollution in its urban environment. These two factors, being both metropolis and in cold dry climate, make this article try to analyze the strategies of climatic design in old districts of the city and use them in new districts of the future. These strategies can be used in this city and other similar cities and pave the way to reduce energy consumption and related air pollution to save whole world.

A Reconfigurable Distributed Multiagent System Optimized for Scalability

Year: 2009 Volume: 3 Issue: 3 612 - 623 Pages

Abstract: This paper proposes a novel solution for optimizing the size and communication overhead of a distributed multiagent system without compromising the performance. The proposed approach addresses the challenges of scalability especially when the multiagent system is large. A modified spectral clustering technique is used to partition a large network into logically related clusters. Agents are assigned to monitor dedicated clusters rather than monitor each device or node. The proposed scalable multiagent system is implemented using JADE (Java Agent Development Environment) for a large power system. The performance of the proposed topologyindependent decentralized multiagent system and the scalable multiagent system is compared by comprehensively simulating different fault scenarios. The time taken for reconfiguration, the overall computational complexity, and the communication overhead incurred are computed. The results of these simulations show that the proposed scalable multiagent system uses fewer agents efficiently, makes faster decisions to reconfigure when a fault occurs, and incurs significantly less communication overhead.

A Scenario Oriented Supplier Selection by Considering a Multi Tier Supplier Network

Year: 2011 Volume: 5 Issue: 7 1280 - 1287 Pages

Abstract: One of the main processes of supply chain management is supplier selection process which its accurate implementation can dramatically increase company competitiveness. In presented article model developed based on the features of second tiers suppliers and four scenarios are predicted in order to help the decision maker (DM) in making up his/her mind. In addition two tiers of suppliers have been considered as a chain of suppliers. Then the proposed approach is solved by a method combined of concepts of fuzzy set theory (FST) and linear programming (LP) which has been nourished by real data extracted from an engineering design and supplying parts company. At the end results reveal the high importance of considering second tier suppliers features as criteria for selecting the best supplier.

Assessment of Cadmium Level in Water from Watershed of the Kowsar Dam

Year: 2011 Volume: 5 Issue: 9 506 - 509 Pages

Authors:
Fardin Boustani

Abstract: The Kowsar dam supply water for different usages such as drinking, industrial, agricultural and aquaculture farms usages and located next to the city of Dehdashat in Kohgiluye and Boyerahmad province in southern Iran. There are some towns and villages on the Kowsar dam watersheds, which Dehdasht and Choram are the most important and populated cities in this area. The study was undertaken to assess the status of water quality in the urban areas of the Kowsar dam. A total of 28 water samples were collected from 6 stations on surface water and 1 station from groundwater on the watershed of the Kowsar dam. All the samples were analyzed for Cd concentration using standard procedures. The results were compared with other national and international standards. Among the analyzed samples, as the maximum value of cadmium (1.131 μg/L) was observed on the station 2 at the winter 2009, all the samples analyzed were within the maximum admissible limits by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, EU, WHO, New Zealand , Australian, Iranian, and the Indian standards. In general results of the present study have shown that Cd mean values of stations No. 4, 1 and 2 with 0.5135, 0.0.4733 and 0.4573 μg/L respectively are higher than the other stations . Although Cd level of all samples and stations have had normal values but this is an indication of pollution potential and hazards because of human activity and waste water of towns in the areas, which can effect on human health implications in future. This research, therefore, recommends the government and other responsible authorities to take suitable improving measures in the Kowsar dam watershed-s.

Evaluation of Beauveria bassiana Spore Compatibility with Surfactants

Year: 2013 Volume: 7 Issue: 1 35 - 39 Pages

Abstract: The spores of entomopathogenic fungi, Beauveria bassiana was evaluated for their compatibility with four surfactants; SDS (sodium dodyl sulphate) and CABS-65 (calcium alkyl benzene sulphonate), Tween 20 (polyethylene sorbitan monolaureate) and Tween 80 (polyoxyethylene sorbitan monoleate) at six different concentrations (0.1%, 0.5%, 1%, 2.5%, 5% and 10%). Incubated spores showed decrease in concentrations due to conversion of spores to hyphae. The maximum germination recorded in 72 h incubated spores varied with surfactant concentration at 49-68% (SDS), 39- 53% (CABS), 78-92% (Tween 80) and 80-92% (Tween 20), while the optimal surfactant concentration for spore germination was found to be 2.5-5%. The surfactant effect on spores was more pronounced with SDS and CABS-65, where significant deterioration and loss in viability of the incubated spores was observed. The effect of Tween 20 and Tween 80 were comparatively less inhibiting. The results of the study would help in surfactant selection for B. bassiana emulsion preparation.

A Monte Carlo Method to Data Stream Analysis

Year: 2008 Volume: 2 Issue: 8 2666 - 2671 Pages

Abstract: Data stream analysis is the process of computing various summaries and derived values from large amounts of data which are continuously generated at a rapid rate. The nature of a stream does not allow a revisit on each data element. Furthermore, data processing must be fast to produce timely analysis results. These requirements impose constraints on the design of the algorithms to balance correctness against timely responses. Several techniques have been proposed over the past few years to address these challenges. These techniques can be categorized as either dataoriented or task-oriented. The data-oriented approach analyzes a subset of data or a smaller transformed representation, whereas taskoriented scheme solves the problem directly via approximation techniques. We propose a hybrid approach to tackle the data stream analysis problem. The data stream has been both statistically transformed to a smaller size and computationally approximated its characteristics. We adopt a Monte Carlo method in the approximation step. The data reduction has been performed horizontally and vertically through our EMR sampling method. The proposed method is analyzed by a series of experiments. We apply our algorithm on clustering and classification tasks to evaluate the utility of our approach.

XPM Response of Multiple Quantum Well chirped DFB-SOA All Optical Flip-Flop Switching

Year: 2009 Volume: 3 Issue: 8 1549 - 1553 Pages

Abstract: In this paper, based on the coupled-mode and carrier rate equations, derivation of a dynamic model and numerically analysis of a MQW chirped DFB-SOA all-optical flip-flop is done precisely. We have analyzed the effects of strains of QW and MQW and cross phase modulation (XPM) on the dynamic response, and rise and fall times of the DFB-SOA all optical flip flop. We have shown that strained MQW active region in under an optimized condition into a DFB-SOA with chirped grating can improve the switching ON speed limitation in such a of the device, significantly while the fall time is increased. The values of the rise times for such an all optical flip-flop, are obtained in an optimized condition, areas tr=255ps.

Evaluation of Protein Digestibility in Canola Meals between Caecectomised and Intact Adult Cockerels

Year: 2009 Volume: 3 Issue: 9 433 - 435 Pages

Abstract: The experiment was conducted to evaluate digestibility quantities of protein in Canola Meals (CMs) between caecectomised and intact adult Rhode Island Red (RIR) cockerels with using conventional addition method (CAM) for 7 d: a 4-d adaptation and a 3-d experiment period on the basis of a completely randomized design with 4 replicates. Results indicated that caecectomy decreased (P

Scatter Analysis of Fatigue Life and Pore Size Data of Die-Cast AM60B Magnesium Alloy

Year: 2011 Volume: 5 Issue: 9 767 - 772 Pages

Abstract: Scatter behavior of fatigue life in die-cast AM60B alloy was investigated. For comparison, those in rolled AM60B alloy and die-cast A365-T5 aluminum alloy were also studied. Scatter behavior of pore size was also investigated to discuss dominant factors for fatigue life scatter in die-cast materials. Three-parameter Weibull function was suitable to explain the scatter behavior of both fatigue life and pore size. The scatter of fatigue life in die-cast AM60B alloy was almost comparable to that in die-cast A365-T5 alloy, while it was significantly large compared to that in the rolled AM60B alloy. Scatter behavior of pore size observed at fracture nucleation site on the fracture surface was comparable to that observed on the specimen cross-section and also to that of fatigue life. Therefore, the dominant factor for large scatter of fatigue life in die-cast alloys would be the large scatter of pore size. This speculation was confirmed by the fracture mechanics fatigue life prediction, where the pore observed at fatigue crack nucleation site was assumed as the pre-existing crack.

The Role of Faith-based Organizations in Building Democratic Process: Achieving Universal Primary Education in Sierra Leone

Year: 2008 Volume: 2 Issue: 8 845 - 852 Pages

Authors:
Mikako Nishimuko

Abstract: This paper aims to argue that religion and Faith-based Organizations (FBOs) contribute to building democratic process through the provision of education in Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone experienced a civil war from 1991 to 2002 and about 70 percent of the population lives in poverty. While the government has been in the process of rebuilding the nation, many forms of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), including FBOs, have played a significant role in promoting social development. Education plays an important role in supporting people-s democratic movements through knowledge acquisition, spiritual enlightenment and empowerment. This paper discusses religious tolerance in Sierra Leone and how FBOs have contributed to the provision of primary education in Sierra Leone. This study is based on the author-s field research, which involved interviews with teachers and development stakeholders, notably government officials, Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) and FBOs, as well as questionnaires completed by pupils, parents and teachers.

A Multiresolution Approach for Noised Texture Classification based on the Co-occurrence Matrix and First Order Statistics

Year: 2008 Volume: 2 Issue: 3 728 - 734 Pages

Abstract: Wavelet transform provides several important characteristics which can be used in a texture analysis and classification. In this work, an efficient texture classification method, which combines concepts from wavelet and co-occurrence matrices, is presented. An Euclidian distance classifier is used to evaluate the various methods of classification. A comparative study is essential to determine the ideal method. Using this conjecture, we developed a novel feature set for texture classification and demonstrate its effectiveness

REDD: Reliable Energy-Efficient Data Dissemination in Wireless Sensor Networks with Multiple Mobile Sinks

Year: 2013 Volume: 7 Issue: 6 635 - 639 Pages

Abstract: In wireless sensor network (WSN) the use of mobile sink has been attracting more attention in recent times. Mobile sinks are more effective means of balancing load, reducing hotspot problem and elongating network lifetime. The sensor nodes in WSN have limited power supply, computational capability and storage and therefore for continuous data delivery reliability becomes high priority in these networks. In this paper, we propose a Reliable Energy-efficient Data Dissemination (REDD) scheme for WSNs with multiple mobile sinks. In this strategy, sink first determines the location of source and then directly communicates with the source using geographical forwarding. Every forwarding node (FN) creates a local zone comprising some sensor nodes that can act as representative of FN when it fails. Analytical and simulation study reveals significant improvement in energy conservation and reliable data delivery in comparison to existing schemes.

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