Abstract: The draw solute separation process in Forward
Osmosis desalination was simulated in Aspen Plus chemical process
modeling software, to estimate the energy consumption and compare
it with other desalination processes, mainly the Reverse Osmosis
process which is currently most prevalent. The electrolytic chemistry
for the system was retrieved using the Elec – NRTL property method
in the Aspen Plus database. Electrical equivalent of energy required
in the Forward Osmosis desalination technique was estimated and
compared with the prevalent desalination techniques.
Abstract: Global Solar Radiation (H) for Dubai and Sharjah,
Latitude 25.25oN, Longitude 55oE and 25.29oN, Longitude 55oE
respectively have been studied using sunshine hour data (n) of the
areas using various methods. These calculated global solar radiation
values are then compared to the measured values presented by
NASA. Furthermore, the extraterrestrial (H0), diffuse (Hd) and beam
radiation (Hb) are also calculated. The diffuse radiation is calculated
using methods proposed by Page and Liu and Jordan (L-J). Diffuse
Radiation from the Page method is higher than the L-J method.
Moreover, the clearness index (KT) signifies a clear sky almost all
year round. Rainy days are hardly a few in a year and limited in the
months December to March. The temperature remains between 25oC
in winter to 44oC in summer and is desirable for thermal applications
of solar energy. From the estimated results, it appears that solar
radiation can be utilized very efficiently throughout the year for
photovoltaic and thermal applications.
Abstract: In this paper, the modelling and design of artificial neural network architecture for load forecasting purposes is investigated. The primary pre-requisite for power system planning is to arrive at realistic estimates of future demand of power, which is known as Load Forecasting. Short Term Load Forecasting (STLF) helps in determining the economic, reliable and secure operating strategies for power system. The dependence of load on several factors makes the load forecasting a very challenging job. An over estimation of the load may cause premature investment and unnecessary blocking of the capital where as under estimation of load may result in shortage of equipment and circuits. It is always better to plan the system for the load slightly higher than expected one so that no exigency may arise. In this paper, a load-forecasting model is proposed using a multilayer neural network with an appropriately modified back propagation learning algorithm. Once the neural network model is designed and trained, it can forecast the load of the power system 24 hours ahead on daily basis and can also forecast the cumulative load on daily basis. The real load data that is used for the Artificial Neural Network training was taken from LDC, Gujarat Electricity Board, Jambuva, Gujarat, India. The results show that the load forecasting of the ANN model follows the actual load pattern more accurately throughout the forecasted period.
Abstract: This paper is concerned with motion recognition based fuzzy WP(Wavelet Packet) feature extraction approach from Vicon physical data sets. For this purpose, we use an efficient fuzzy mutual-information-based WP transform for feature extraction. This method estimates the required mutual information using a novel approach based on fuzzy membership function. The physical action data set includes 10 normal and 10 aggressive physical actions that measure the human activity. The data have been collected from 10 subjects using the Vicon 3D tracker. The experiments consist of running, seating, and walking as physical activity motion among various activities. The experimental results revealed that the presented feature extraction approach showed good recognition performance.
Abstract: The process of constructing a scale measuring the attitudes of youth toward violence on televisions is reported. A 30-item draft attitude scale was applied to a working group of 232 students attending the Faculty of Educational Sciences at Ankara University between the years 2005-2006. To introduce the construct validity and dimensionality of the scale, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was applied to the data. Results of the exploratory factor analysis showed that the scale had three factors that accounted for 58,44% (22,46% for the first, 22,15% for the second and 13,83% for the third factor) of the common variance. It is determined that the first factor considered issues related individual effects of violence on televisions, the second factor concerned issues related social effects of violence on televisions and the third factor concerned issues related violence on television programs. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed that all the items under each factor are fitting the concerning factors structure. An alpha reliability of 0,90 was estimated for the whole scale. It is concluded that the scale is valid and reliable.
Abstract: Majority of Business Software Systems (BSS)
Development and Enhancement Projects (D&EP) fail to meet criteria
of their effectiveness, what leads to the considerable financial losses.
One of the fundamental reasons for such projects- exceptionally low
success rate are improperly derived estimates for their costs and time.
In the case of BSS D&EP these attributes are determined by the work
effort, meanwhile reliable and objective effort estimation still appears
to be a great challenge to the software engineering. Thus this paper is
aimed at presenting the most important synthetic conclusions coming
from the author-s own studies concerning the main factors of
effective BSS D&EP work effort estimation. Thanks to the rational
investment decisions made on the basis of reliable and objective
criteria it is possible to reduce losses caused not only by abandoned
projects but also by large scale of overrunning the time and costs of
BSS D&EP execution.
Abstract: When the profile information of an existing road is
missing or not up-to-date and the parameters of the vertical
alignment are needed for engineering analysis, the engineer has to recreate
the geometric design features of the road alignment using
collected profile data. The profile data may be collected using
traditional surveying methods, global positioning systems, or digital
imagery. This paper develops a method that estimates the parameters
of the geometric features that best characterize the existing vertical
alignments in terms of tangents and the expressions of the curve, that
may be symmetrical, asymmetrical, reverse, and complex vertical
curves. The method is implemented using an Excel-based
optimization method that minimizes the differences between the
observed profile and the profiles estimated from the equations of the
vertical curve. The method uses a 'wireframe' representation of the
profile that makes the proposed method applicable to all types of
vertical curves. A secondary contribution of this paper is to introduce
the properties of the equal-arc asymmetrical curve that has been
recently developed in the highway geometric design field.
Abstract: In this paper we will develop further the sequential life test approach presented in a previous article by [1] using an underlying two parameter Inverse Weibull sampling distribution. The location parameter or minimum life will be considered equal to zero. Once again we will provide rules for making one of the three possible decisions as each observation becomes available; that is: accept the null hypothesis H0; reject the null hypothesis H0; or obtain additional information by making another observation. The product being analyzed is a new electronic component. There is little information available about the possible values the parameters of the corresponding Inverse Weibull underlying sampling distribution could have.To estimate the shape and the scale parameters of the underlying Inverse Weibull model we will use a maximum likelihood approach for censored failure data. A new example will further develop the proposed sequential life testing approach.
Abstract: To simulate heating systems in buildings, a research oriented computer code has been developed in Sharif University of Technology in Iran where the climate, existing heating equipment in buildings, consumer behavior and their interactions are considered for simulating energy consumption in conventional systems such as heaters, radiators and fan-coils. In order to validate the computer code, the available data of five buildings was used and the computed consumed energy was compared with the estimated energy extracted from monthly bills. The initial heating system was replaced by the alternative system and the effect of this change was observed on the energy consumption. As a result, the effect of changing heating equipment on energy consumption was investigated in different climates. Changing heater to radiator renders energy conservation up to 50% in all climates and changing radiator to fan-coil decreases energy consumption in climates with cold and dry winter.
Abstract: Finger spelling is an art of communicating by signs
made with fingers, and has been introduced into sign language to serve
as a bridge between the sign language and the verbal language.
Previous approaches to finger spelling recognition are classified into
two categories: glove-based and vision-based approaches. The
glove-based approach is simpler and more accurate recognizing work
of hand posture than vision-based, yet the interfaces require the user to
wear a cumbersome and carry a load of cables that connected the
device to a computer. In contrast, the vision-based approaches provide
an attractive alternative to the cumbersome interface, and promise
more natural and unobtrusive human-computer interaction. The
vision-based approaches generally consist of two steps: hand
extraction and recognition, and two steps are processed independently.
This paper proposes real-time vision-based Korean finger spelling
recognition system by integrating hand extraction into recognition.
First, we tentatively detect a hand region using CAMShift algorithm.
Then fill factor and aspect ratio estimated by width and height
estimated by CAMShift are used to choose candidate from database,
which can reduce the number of matching in recognition step. To
recognize the finger spelling, we use DTW(dynamic time warping)
based on modified chain codes, to be robust to scale and orientation
variations. In this procedure, since accurate hand regions, without
holes and noises, should be extracted to improve the precision, we use
graph cuts algorithm that globally minimize the energy function
elegantly expressed by Markov random fields (MRFs). In the
experiments, the computational times are less than 130ms, and the
times are not related to the number of templates of finger spellings in
database, as candidate templates are selected in extraction step.
Abstract: Localization is one of the critical issues in the field of
robot navigation. With an accurate estimate of the robot pose, robots will be capable of navigating in the environment autonomously and efficiently. In this paper, a hybrid Distributed Vision System (DVS)
for robot localization is presented. The presented approach integrates
odometry data from robot and images captured from overhead cameras
installed in the environment to help reduce possibilities of fail
localization due to effects of illumination, encoder accumulated errors,
and low quality range data. An odometry-based motion model is applied to predict robot poses, and robot images captured by overhead
cameras are then used to update pose estimates with HSV histogram-based measurement model. Experiment results show the
presented approach could localize robots in a global world coordinate system with localization errors within 100mm.
Abstract: The control of sprayer boom undesired vibrations pose a great challenge to investigators due to various disturbances and conditions. Sprayer boom movements lead to reduce of spread efficiency and crop yield. This paper describes the design of a novel control method for an active suspension system applying proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller with an active force control (AFC) scheme integration of an iterative learning algorithm employed to a sprayer boom. The iterative learning as an intelligent method is principally used as a method to calculate the best value of the estimated inertia of the sprayer boom needed for the AFC loop. Results show that the proposed AFC-based scheme performs much better than the standard PID control technique. Also, this shows that the system is more robust and accurate.
Abstract: Transportation is of great importance in the current
life of human beings. The transportation system plays many roles,
from economical development to after-catastrophe aids such as
rescue operation in the first hours and days after an earthquake. In
after earthquakes response phase, transportation system acts as a
basis for ground operations including rescue and relief operation,
food providing for victims and etc. It is obvious that partial or
complete obstruction of this system results in the stop of these
operations. Bridges are one of the most important elements of
transportation network. Failure of a bridge, in the most optimistic
case, cuts the relation between two regions and in more developed
countries, cuts the relation of numerous regions. In this paper, to
evaluate the vulnerability and estimate the damage level of Tehran
bridges, HAZUS method, developed by Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) with the aid of National Institute of
Building Science (NIBS), is used for the first time in Iran. In this
method, to evaluate the collapse probability, fragility curves are
used. Iran is located on seismic belt and thus, it is vulnerable to
earthquakes. Thus, the study of the probability of bridge collapses, as
an important part of transportation system, during earthquakes is of
great importance. The purpose of this study is to provide fragility
curves for Gisha Bridge, one of the longest steel bridges in Tehran,
as an important lifeline element. Besides, the damage probability for
this bridge during a specific earthquake, introduced as scenario
earthquakes, is calculated. The fragility curves show that for the
considered scenario, the probability of occurrence of complete
collapse for the bridge is 8.6%.
Abstract: The modified Arcan fixture was used in order to
investigate the mixed mode fracture properties of high strength steel
butt weld through experimental and numerical analysis. The fixture
consisted of a central section with "butterfly-shaped" specimen that
had central crack. The specimens were under pure mode I (opening),
pure mode II (shearing) and all in plane mixed mode loading angles
starting from 0 to 90 degrees. The geometric calibration factors were
calculated with the aid of finite element analysis for various loading
mode and different crack length (0.45≤ a/w ≤0.55) and the critical
fracture loads obtained experimentally. The critical fracture
toughness (KIC & KIIC) estimated with experimental and numerical
analysis under mixed mode loading conditions.
Abstract: Discharges in hydrogen, ignited by wire explosion, with current amplitude up to 1.5 MA were investigated. Channel diameter oscillations were observed on the photostreaks. Voltage and current curves correlated with the photostreaks. At initial gas pressure of 5-35 MPa the oscillation period was proportional to square root of atomic number of the initiating wire material. These oscillations were associated with aligned magnetic and gas-kinetic pressures. At initial pressure of 80-160 MPa acoustic pressure fluctuations on the discharge chamber wall were increased up to 150 MPa and there were the growth of voltage fluctuations on the discharge gap up to 3 kV simultaneously with it. In some experiments it was observed abrupt increase in the oscillation amplitude, which can be caused by the resonance of the acoustic oscillations in discharge chamber volume and the oscillations connected with alignment of the gaskinetic pressure and the magnetic pressure, as far as frequencies of these oscillations are close to each other in accordance with the estimates and the experimental data. Resonance of different type oscillations can produce energy density increasing in the discharge channel. Thus, the appropriate initial conditions in the experiment allow to increase the energy density in the discharge channel
Abstract: The paper discusses a 3D numerical solution of the inverse boundary problem for a continuous casting process of alloy. The main goal of the analysis presented within the paper was to estimate heat fluxes along the external surface of the ingot. The verified information on these fluxes was crucial for a good design of a mould, effective cooling system and generally the whole caster. In the study an enthalpy-porosity technique implemented in Fluent package was used for modeling the solidification process. In this method, the phase change interface was determined on the basis of the liquid fraction approach. In inverse procedure the sensitivity analysis was applied for retrieving boundary conditions. A comparison of the measured and retrieved values showed a high accuracy of the computations. Additionally, the influence of the accuracy of measurements on the estimated heat fluxes was also investigated.
Abstract: The forest fires in Thailand are annual occurrence which is the cause of air pollutions. This study intended to estimate the emission from forest fire during 2005-2009 using MODerateresolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer (MODIS) sensor aboard the Terra and Aqua satellites, experimental data, and statistical data. The forest fire emission is estimated using equation established by Seiler and Crutzen in 1982. The spatial and temporal variation of forest fire emission is analyzed and displayed in the form of grid density map. From the satellite data analysis suggested between 2005 and 2009, the number of fire hotspots occurred 86,877 fire hotspots with a significant highest (more than 80% of fire hotspots) in the deciduous forest. The peak period of the forest fire is in January to May. The estimation on the emissions from forest fires during 2005 to 2009 indicated that the amount of CO, CO2, CH4, and N2O was about 3,133,845 tons, 47,610.337 tons, 204,905 tons, and 6,027 tons, respectively, or about 6,171,264 tons of CO2eq. They also emitted 256,132 tons of PM10. The year 2007 was found to be the year when the emissions were the largest. Annually, March is the period that has the maximum amount of forest fire emissions. The areas with high density of forest fire emission were the forests situated in the northern, the western, and the upper northeastern parts of the country.
Abstract: An unsupervised classification algorithm is derived
by modeling observed data as a mixture of several mutually
exclusive classes that are each described by linear combinations of
independent non-Gaussian densities. The algorithm estimates the
data density in each class by using parametric nonlinear functions
that fit to the non-Gaussian structure of the data. This improves
classification accuracy compared with standard Gaussian mixture
models. When applied to textures, the algorithm can learn basis
functions for images that capture the statistically significant structure
intrinsic in the images. We apply this technique to the problem of
unsupervised texture classification and segmentation.
Abstract: This paper presents an algorithm to estimate the parameters of two closely spaced sinusoids, providing a frequency resolution that is more than 800 times greater than that obtained by using the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT). The strategy uses a highly optimized grid search approach to accurately estimate frequency, amplitude and phase of both sinusoids, keeping at the same time the computational effort at reasonable levels. The proposed method has three main characteristics: 1) a high frequency resolution; 2) frequency, amplitude and phase are all estimated at once using one single package; 3) it does not rely on any statistical assumption or constraint. Potential applications to this strategy include the difficult task of resolving coincident partials of instruments in musical signals.
Abstract: In this study, the precision heading process of
spur gears has been investigated by means of numerical
analysis. The effect of some parameters such as teeth number
and module on the forming force and material flow were
presented. The simulation works were performed rigid-plastic
finite element method using DEFORM 3D software. In order
to validate the estimated numerical results, they were
compared with those obtained experimentally during heading
of spur gear using lead as a model material. Results showed
that the optimum number of gear teeth is between 10 to 20,
that is because of being the specific pressure in its minimum
value.