Abstract: In this paper, a set of experimental data has been used to assess the influence of abrasive water jet (AWJ) process parameters in cutting 6063-T6 aluminum alloy. The process variables considered here include nozzle diameter, jet traverse rate, jet pressure and abrasive flow rate. The effects of these input parameters are studied on depth of cut (h); one of most important characteristics of AWJ. The Taguchi method and regression modeling are used in order to establish the relationships between input and output parameters. The adequacy of the model is evaluated using analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique. In the next stage, the proposed model is embedded into a Simulated Annealing (SA) algorithm to optimize the AWJ process parameters. The objective is to determine a suitable set of process parameters that can produce a desired depth of cut, considering the ranges of the process parameters. Computational results prove the effectiveness of the proposed model and optimization procedure.
Abstract: Among many different methods that are used for
optimizing different engineering problems mathematical (numerical)
optimization techniques are very important because they can easily
be used and are consistent with most of engineering problems. Many
studies and researches are done on stability analysis of three
dimensional (3D) slopes and the relating probable slip surfaces and
determination of factors of safety, but in most of them force
equilibrium equations, as in simplified 2D methods, are considered
only in two directions. In other words for decreasing mathematical
calculations and also for simplifying purposes the force equilibrium
equation in 3rd direction is omitted. This point is considered in just a
few numbers of previous studies and most of them have only given a
factor of safety and they haven-t made enough effort to find the most
probable slip surface. In this study shapes of the slip surfaces are
modeled, and safety factors are calculated considering the force
equilibrium equations in all three directions, and also the moment
equilibrium equation is satisfied in the slip direction, and using
nonlinear programming techniques the shape of the most probable
slip surface is determined. The model which is used in this study is a
3D model that is composed of three upper surfaces which can cover
all defined and probable slip surfaces. In this research the meshing
process is done in a way that all elements are prismatic with
quadrilateral cross sections, and the safety factor is defined on this
quadrilateral surface in the base of the element which is a part of the
whole slip surface. The method that is used in this study to find the
most probable slip surface is the non-linear programming method in
which the objective function that must get optimized is the factor of
safety that is a function of the soil properties and the coordinates of
the nodes on the probable slip surface. The main reason for using
non-linear programming method in this research is its quick
convergence to the desired responses. The final results show a good
compatibility with the previously used classical and 2D methods and
also show a reasonable convergence speed.
Abstract: This paper has introduced a slope photogrammetric mapping using unmanned aerial vehicle. There are two units of UAV has been used in this study; namely; fixed wing and multi-rotor. Both UAVs were used to capture images at the study area. A consumer digital camera was mounted vertically at the bottom of UAV and captured the images at an altitude. The objectives of this study are to obtain three dimensional coordinates of slope area and to determine the accuracy of photogrammetric product produced from both UAVs. Several control points and checkpoints were established Real Time Kinematic Global Positioning System (RTK-GPS) in the study area. All acquired images from both UAVs went through all photogrammetric processes such as interior orientation, exterior orientation, aerial triangulation and bundle adjustment using photogrammetric software. Two primary results were produced in this study; namely; digital elevation model and digital orthophoto. Based on results, UAV system can be used to mapping slope area especially for limited budget and time constraints project.
Abstract: This paper analysis the integrated use of safety monitoring with the domestic and international latest research on rail safety protection system, and focus on the implementation of an organic whole system, with the monitoring and early warning, risk assessment, predictive control and emergency rescue system. The system framework, contents and system structure of Security system is proposed completely. It-s pointed out that the Security system is a negative feedback system composed of by safety monitoring and warning system, risk assessment and emergency rescue system. Safety monitoring and warning system focus on the monitoring target monitoring, early warning, tracking, integration of decision-making, for objective and subjective risks factors. Risk assessment system analysis the occurrence of a major Security risk mechanism, determines the standard of the future short, medium and long term safety conditions, and give prop for development of safety indicators, accident analysis and safety standards. Emergency rescue system is with the goal of rapid and effective rescue work for accident, to minimize casualties and property losses.
Abstract: This paper presents a new and efficient approach for capacitor placement in radial distribution systems that determine the optimal locations and size of capacitor with an objective of improving the voltage profile and reduction of power loss. The solution methodology has two parts: in part one the loss sensitivity factors are used to select the candidate locations for the capacitor placement and in part two a new algorithm that employs Plant growth Simulation Algorithm (PGSA) is used to estimate the optimal size of capacitors at the optimal buses determined in part one. The main advantage of the proposed method is that it does not require any external control parameters. The other advantage is that it handles the objective function and the constraints separately, avoiding the trouble to determine the barrier factors. The proposed method is applied to 9, 34, and 85-bus radial distribution systems. The solutions obtained by the proposed method are compared with other methods. The proposed method has outperformed the other methods in terms of the quality of solution.
Abstract: Aspheric optical components are an alternative to the use of conventional lenses in the implementation of imaging systems for the visible range. Spherical lenses are capable of producing aberrations. Therefore, they are not able to focus all the light into a single point. Instead, aspherical lenses correct aberrations and provide better resolution even with compact lenses incorporating a small number of lenses.
Metrology of these components is very difficult especially when the resolution requirements increase and insufficient or complexity of conventional tools requires the development of specific approaches to characterization.
This work is part of the problem existed because the objectives are the study and comparison of different methods used to measure surface rays hybrid aspherical lenses.
Abstract: Pyrolysis of waste tire is one of alternative technique
to produce petrochemicals, such as light olefins, mixed C4, and monoaromatics.
Noble metals supported on acid zeolite catalysts were
reported as potential catalysts to produce the high valuable products
from waste tire pyrolysis. Especially, Pd supported on HBeta gave a
high yield of olefins, mixed C4, and mono-aromatics. Due to the high
prices of noble metals, the objective of this work was to investigate
whether or not a non-noble Ni metal can be used as a substitute of a
noble metal, Pd, supported on HBeta as a catalyst for waste tire pyrolysis.
Ni metal was selected in this work because Ni has high activity
in cracking, isomerization, hydrogenation and the ring opening of
hydrocarbons Moreover, Ni is an element in the same group as Pd
noble metal, which is VIIIB group, aiming to produce high valuable
products similarly obtained from Pd. The amount of Ni was varied as
5, 10, and 20% by weight, for comparison with a fixed 1 wt% Pd,
using incipient wetness impregnation. The results showed that as a
petrochemical-producing catalyst, 10%Ni/HBeta performed better
than 1%Pd/HBeta because it did not only produce the highest yield of
olefins and cooking gases, but the yields were also higher than
1%Pd/HBeta. 5%Ni/HBeta can be used as a substitute of
1%Pd/HBeta for similar crude production because its crude contains
the similar amounts of naphtha and saturated HCs, although it gave
no concentration of light mono-aromatics (C6-C11) in the oil. Additionally,
10%Ni/HBeta that gave high olefins and cooking gases was
found to give a fairly high concentration of the light mono-aromatics
in the oil.
Abstract: Promoting critical thinking (CT) in an educational
setting has been appraised in order to enhance learning and
intellectual skills. In this study, a pedagogical course in a vocational
teacher education program in Turkey was designed by integrating CT
skill-based strategies/activities into the course content and CT skills
were means leading to intended course objectives. The purpose of the
study was to evaluate the importance of the course objectives, the
attainment of the objectives, and the effectiveness of teachinglearning
strategies/activities from prospective teachers- points of
view. The results revealed that although the students mostly
considered the course objectives important, they did not feel
competent in the attainment of all objectives especially in those
related to the main topic of Learning and those requiring higher order
thinking skills. On the other hand, the students considered the course
activities effective for learning and for the development of thinking
skills, especially, in interpreting, comparing, questioning,
contrasting, and forming relationships.
Abstract: Optimal design of structure has a main role in reduction of material usage which leads to deduction in the final cost of construction projects. Evolutionary approaches are found to be more successful techniques for solving size and shape structural optimization problem since it uses a stochastic random search instead of a gradient search. By reviewing the recent literature works the problem found was the optimization of weight. A new meta-heuristic algorithm called as Cuckoo Search (CS) Algorithm has used for the optimization of the total weight of the truss structures. This paper has used set of 10 bars and 25 bars trusses for the testing purpose. The main objective of this work is to reduce the number of iterations, weight and the total time consumption. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the present method, minimum weight design of truss structures is performed and the results of the CS are compared with other algorithms.
Abstract: The main objective of this paper is to estimate the cost of road traffic accidents in Egypt. The Human Capital (HC) approach, specifically the Gross-Loss-of-Output methodology, is adopted for estimation. Moreover, cost values obtained by previous national literature are updated using the inflation rates. The results indicate an estimated cost of road traffic accidents in Egypt of approximately 10 billion Egyptian Pounds (about $US 1.8 billion) for the year 2008. In addition, it is expected that this cost will rise in 2009 to 11.8 billion Egyptian Pounds (about $US 2.1 billion).
Abstract: The research objective was to study the toxicity of silver nanoparticles in aquatic organisms. Three forms of free silver ion nanoparticles (Ag+), silver nano particles (nano-Ag0) and silver oxide nanoparticles (nano Ag2O) were examined for toxic effects with Chlorella sp. and Moina macrocopa. The results showed that the toxicity of three silver ion forms to both organisms was examined
Abstract: The objective of this research was to study the factors
related to the satisfaction of consumers who purchased a Toyota
SUV Fortuner. This paper was a survey data which collected 400
samples from 65 car dealerships. The survey was conducted mainly
in Bangkok, Thailand. The statistics utilized in this paper included
percentage, mean, standard deviation and Pearson Product-Moment.
The findings revealed that the majority of respondent were male with
an undergraduate degree, married and live together. The average
income of the respondents was between 20,001 - 30,000 baht. Most
of them worked for private companies. Most of them had a family
with the average of 4 members. The hypotheses testing revealed that
the factors of marketing mix in terms of product (ability, gas
mileage, and safety) were related to overall satisfaction at the
medium level. However, the findings also revealed that the factors of
marketing mix in terms of product (image), price, and promotion, and
service center were related to the overall satisfaction at the low level.
Abstract: In this paper, the optimum weight and cost of a laminated composite plate is seeked, while it undergoes the heaviest load prior to a complete failure. Various failure criteria are defined for such structures in the literature. In this work, the Tsai-Hill theory is used as the failure criterion. The theory of analysis was based on the Classical Lamination Theory (CLT). A newly type of Genetic Algorithm (GA) as an optimization technique with a direct use of real variables was employed. Yet, since the optimization via GAs is a long process, and the major time is consumed through the analysis, Radial Basis Function Neural Networks (RBFNN) was employed in predicting the output from the analysis. Thus, the process of optimization will be carried out through a hybrid neuro-GA environment, and the procedure will be carried out until a predicted optimum solution is achieved.
Abstract: The principal objective of this study is to be able to
extract niobium oxide from columbite-tantalite concentrate of Thayet
Kon Area in Nay Phi Taw. It is recovered from columbite-tantalite
concentrate which contains 19.29 % Nb2O5.The recovery of niobium
oxide from columbite-tantalite concentrate can be divided into three
main sections, namely, digestion of the concentrate, recovery from
the leached solution and precipitation and calcinations. The
concentrate was digested with hydrofluoric acid and sulfuric acid. Of
the various parameters that effect acidity and time were studied. In
the recovery section solvent extraction process using methyl isobutyl
ketone was investigated. Ammonium hydroxide was used as a
precipitating agent and the precipitate was later calcined. The
percentage of niobium oxide is 74%.
Abstract: Medical image modalities such as computed
tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound
(US), X-ray are adapted to diagnose disease. These modalities
provide flexible means of reviewing anatomical cross-sections and
physiological state in different parts of the human body. The raw
medical images have a huge file size and need large storage
requirements. So it should be such a way to reduce the size of those
image files to be valid for telemedicine applications. Thus the image
compression is a key factor to reduce the bit rate for transmission or
storage while maintaining an acceptable reproduction quality, but it is
natural to rise the question of how much an image can be compressed
and still preserve sufficient information for a given clinical
application. Many techniques for achieving data compression have
been introduced. In this study, three different MRI modalities which
are Brain, Spine and Knee have been compressed and reconstructed
using wavelet transform. Subjective and objective evaluation has
been done to investigate the clinical information quality of the
compressed images. For the objective evaluation, the results show
that the PSNR which indicates the quality of the reconstructed image
is ranging from (21.95 dB to 30.80 dB, 27.25 dB to 35.75 dB, and
26.93 dB to 34.93 dB) for Brain, Spine, and Knee respectively. For
the subjective evaluation test, the results show that the compression
ratio of 40:1 was acceptable for brain image, whereas for spine and
knee images 50:1 was acceptable.
Abstract: In Indonesia, goat milk is often consumed and
believed as anti-allergy. The objective of this research was to study
the effect of goat milk and their fractions (casein and whey)
supplementation on total serum IgE concentrations and leukocytes
count in rat sensitized with contact allergen dinitrochlorobenzene
(DNCB). Female Wistar rats 6-8 weeks old were divided into four
groups: 1) whey, 2) casein, 3) whole milk supplementation and 4)
phosphate-buffered saline/PBS (control). The results showed that
supplementation of goat milk on rats did not affects on total serum
IgE concentrations and number of leukocytes. After sensitized with
DNCB, the monocyte percentage in rats was higher (P
Abstract: LSP routing is among the prominent issues in MPLS
networks traffic engineering. The objective of this routing is to
increase number of the accepted requests while guaranteeing the
quality of service (QoS). Requested bandwidth is the most important
QoS criterion that is considered in literatures, and a various number
of heuristic algorithms have been presented with that regards. Many
of these algorithms prevent flows through bottlenecks of the network
in order to perform load balancing, which impedes optimum
operation of the network. Here, a modern routing algorithm is
proposed as MIRAD: having a little information of the network
topology, links residual bandwidth, and any knowledge of the
prospective requests it provides every request with a maximum
bandwidth as well as minimum end-to-end delay via uniform load
distribution across the network. Simulation results of the proposed
algorithm show a better efficiency in comparison with similar
algorithms.
Abstract: To model the human visual system (HVS) in the region of interest, we propose a new objective metric evaluation adapted to wavelet foveation-based image compression quality measurement, which exploits a foveation setup filter implementation technique in the DWT domain, based especially on the point and region of fixation of the human eye. This model is then used to predict the visible divergences between an original and compressed image with respect to this region field and yields an adapted and local measure error by removing all peripheral errors. The technique, which we call foveation wavelet visible difference prediction (FWVDP), is demonstrated on a number of noisy images all of which have the same local peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR), but visibly different errors. We show that the FWVDP reliably predicts the fixation areas of interest where error is masked, due to high image contrast, and the areas where the error is visible, due to low image contrast. The paper also suggests ways in which the FWVDP can be used to determine a visually optimal quantization strategy for foveation-based wavelet coefficients and to produce a quantitative local measure of image quality.
Abstract: Pipeline infrastructures normally represent high cost of investment and the pipeline must be free from risks that could cause environmental hazard and potential threats to personnel safety. Pipeline integrity such monitoring and management become very crucial to provide unimpeded transportation and avoiding unnecessary production deferment. Thus proper cleaning and inspection is the key to safe and reliable pipeline operation and plays an important role in pipeline integrity management program and has become a standard industry procedure. In view of this, understanding the motion (dynamic behavior), prediction and control of the PIG speed is important in executing pigging operation as it offers significant benefits, such as estimating PIG arrival time at receiving station, planning for suitable pigging operation, and improves efficiency of pigging tasks. The objective of this paper is to review recent developments in speed control system of pipeline PIGs. The review carried out would serve as an industrial application in a form of quick reference of recent developments in pipeline PIG speed control system, and further initiate others to add-in/update the list in the future leading to knowledge based data, and would attract active interest of others to share their view points.
Abstract: Changing in consumers lifestyles and food
consumption patterns provide a great opportunity in developing the
functional food sector in Malaysia. There is only a little knowledge
about whether Malaysian consumers are aware of functional food and
if so what image consumers have of this product. The objective of
this research is to determine the extent to which selected socioeconomic
characteristics and attitudes influence consumers-
awareness of functional food. A survey was conducted in the Klang
Valley, Malaysia where 439 respondents were interviewed using a
structured questionnaire. The result shows that most respondents
have a positive attitude towards functional food. For the binary
logistic estimation, the results indicate that age, income and other
factors such as concern about food safety, subscribing to cooking or
health magazines, being a vegetarian and consumers who have been
involved in a food production company significantly influence
Malaysian consumers- awareness towards functional food.