bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A New Modular Control Board for Pulse-Jet Cleaning of Dust Collector Filter Bags
Authors: Carosso L. , Gaiki D. , Bertoldo S. , Allegretti M.
Published: November 2020

This work presents a timing system modular control board to be used for pulse-jet cleaning of dust collector filter bags or pneumatic conveying systems. Many systems of this kind are already available on the market but only some of them have the ability to operate in full range alternating current power supplies. The presented versatile and innovative control board can control the electro valves, either the ones operating with alternating current and those in direct current (since they are both used in the industrial plants). For the same reason, the designed prototype system can be powered with different voltages, widening the number of potential industrial applications. The electronic board has as main advantage the ability to fully automate the cleaning cycle. It can drive many electro valves simultaneously since it is possible to connect more control boards together if needed. It also allows the user to separate the control section of the system from the section dedicated to the actuation of the electro valves. The electro valves can be controlled from a PC terminal via ethernet. The work describes the adopted solutions and the steps made for the design of the entire prototypal modular board, with particular focus on the innovative timing system.
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Analysis of Phthalic Anhydride’s Yield Using Lab Synthesized and Commercially Available (V2O5/TiO2) Catalyst
Authors: Sarosh A. , Hussain A. , Pervaiz E. , Ahsan M.
Published: November 2020

V2O5/TiO2 is an important catalyst used in many industrial reactions like selective oxidation of o-xylene to phthalic anhydride, selective catalytic reduction of NOx, selective oxidation of alkanes, etc. The partial oxidation of o-xylene to synthesize phthalic anhydride is an exothermic reaction and leaves hot spots on the catalyst’s surface. The yield of phthalic anhydride strongly depends on the activity and stability of the catalyst. In this work, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis has been conducted to compare the yield of lab prepared catalyst with the commercially used catalyst. This work is first attempt to simulate V2O5/TiO2 catalyst for cracking heavy hydrocarbons in the petrochemical industry using k- ε turbulence and species transport models in CFD. The results obtained are in the form of scaled residuals, area-weighted average, and contours of pressure and temperature. Simulation results of lab synthesized and commercially used catalysts, applying finite volume method (FVM) are compared, which emphasize the scope of CFD modeling in the catalytic cracking process of petrochemical industry.
An Enhanced Binary Classifier Incorporating Weighted Scores
Authors: Virmani D. , Jain N. , Srivastav A. , Mittal M. , Mittal S.
Published: November 2020

In this study, an approach is being proposed which will predict the output of an observation based on several parameters which employ the weighted score classification method. We will use the weighted scores concept for classification by representing data points on graph with respect to a threshold value found through the proposed algorithm. Secondly, cluster analysis method is employed to group the observational parameters to verify our approach. The algorithm is simple in terms of calculations required to arrive at a conclusion and provides greater accuracy for large datasets. The use of the weighted score method along with the curve fitting and cluster analysis will improve its performance. The algorithm is made in such a way that the intermediate values can be processed for clustering at the same time. The proposed algorithm excels due to its simplistic approach and provides an accuracy of 97.72%.
A Survey on the Criteria for Measuring the Profitability of a Construction Organization
Authors: Memon A. H. , Soomro M. A. , Lakho N. A. , Bhutto M. A. , Memon A. N.
Published: November 2020

Any organization’s performance depends on profitability which depends on several adopted criteria. The preference and level of adoption of these criteria varies, on different industries. This study focuses on investigating the criteria of profitability in the construction industry. This investigation involves a survey to seek the perception of the contractors involved in handling physical activities of construction works. The survey considered 63 questionnaire forms. Statistical analysis was performed to compute the frequency and the relative importance index. The results indicated that structural capital, lifetime values, capital structure and competitor actions are the top 4 criteria implemented in construction organizations to measure profitability.
Effects of Uncrushed Aggregate on the Mechanical Properties of No-Fines Concrete
Authors: Memon M. A. , Bhutto M. A. , Lakho N. A. , Halepoto I. A. , Memon A. N.
Published: November 2020

Concrete’s self-weight is a major aspect of a structure’s overall weight. Recently, the use of lightweight concrete (no-fines, foamed and cellular concrete) has been increased. Normally no-fines concrete is produced with crushed coarse aggregate of uniform gradation. This study aims to investigate experimentally the effects of the use of uncrushed coarse aggregates on unit weight, compressive and tensile strength of the no-fines (NFC) as well as conventional concrete (CC). In addition, the effects of coarse aggregate size on the mechanical properties were also studied. Four gradations of uncrushed coarse aggregates ranging between (5.5-4.75) mm, (10-4.75) mm, (20-4.75) mm and (25-4.75) mm were used for preparing the concretes. The fixed cement-aggregate ratios of 1:6 (with w/c ratio=0.4) and 1:2:4 (with w/c ratio=0.5) were adopted for NFC and CC respectively. It was found that the gradation of uncrushed coarse aggregate has a significant effect on the mechanical properties of NFC. A maximum of 16% reduction in self-weight of the concrete without fines was obtained, as compared to that with fines. Moreover, the compressive strength of no-fines concrete significantly improved by replacing crushed with uncrushed coarse aggregate. The compressive strength increased by 16% for the batch of (25-4.75) mm.
Flexural Stress-Strain Behavior of RC Beams Made with Partial Replacement of Coarse Aggregates with Coarse Aggregates from Old Concrete: Part-1: 1:2:4 Ratio
Authors: Oad M. , Buller A. H. , Memon B. A. , Memon N. A.
Published: November 2020

Occupancy, particularly in urban areas, requires more space than ever. Space constraints need erection of high rise buildings in place of short height buildings. This need demolishing of old structures which creates huge quantities of demolished concrete. One of its best disposals is its use in new concrete. Therefore, this research work uses 50% replacement of natural coarse aggregates with coarse aggregates from old concrete to study the flexural stress-strain behavior of reinforced concrete beams. Total of 12 reinforced concrete beams (900x150x150 mm) were cast with 2#4 bars in tension and 2#4 bars in compression zones. Ordinary Portland cement with hill sand and crush aggregate was used in 1:2:4 proportions. Water cement ratio used is 0.54. The beams were cast in two batches, one with 100% natural aggregates and another with 50% natural coarse aggregates replaced with coarse aggregates from old concrete. In each batch 3 beams were cured for 7 and 28 days respectively. After curing all beams were tested with central point load. The beams were monitored at regular intervals for load, displacement, strain and load until first crack. The beams under study were compared with the controlled specimen. The results were in good agreement with the normal concrete specimen. Maximum reduction in flexural stress is recorded as 8.8% for 7-day cured beams and 5.52% for 28-day cured specimen. Thus, the use of coarse aggregates from demolished concrete in new concrete is proved to be promising partial replacement of coarse aggregate in terms of flexural stress-strain relationship.
Accuracy of Bit Error Probability for W-CDMA System Using Code Tree
Authors: Ibrahim A. H.
Published: November 2020

W-CDMA is radio access utilized for 3G cell frameworks. A code tree allocation scheme is one of the most explored channelization techniques, used to improve system performance and capacity through adjustable data rates. This work investigates the accuracy of bit error probability for W-CDMA system using code tree orthogonal variable spreading factor (OVSF) codes, compared to pseudo-noise (PN) codes under various noise conditions, such as additive white Gaussian Noise (AWGN) and Random Noise (RN). Results are carried out theoretically and by computer simulation. The simulation includes the scenario of simple model representation for W-CDMA system. It was concluded that, the system has better performance using OVSF compared with PN code under different noisy channels.
Numerical Simulation of Single-Phase and Two-Phase Flows in Separator Vessels with Inclined Half-Pipe Inlet Device Applied in Reciprocating Compressors
Authors: Lucas F. P. , Huebner R.
Published: November 2020

This paper aims to apply computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to simulate air flow and air flow with water droplets, as a reasonable hypothesis for real flows, in order to evaluate a vertical separator vessel with inclined half-pipe inlet device (slope inlet). Thus, this type was compared to a separator vessel without inlet device (straight inlet). The results demonstrated a different performance for the two types in terms of air distribution and liquid removal efficiency.
MRI Image Segmentation Using Conditional Spatial FCM Based on Kernel-Induced Distance Measure
Authors: Gharnali B. , Alipour S.
Published: November 2020

Fuzzy C-means (FCM) clustering is the widest spread clustering approach for medical image segmentation because of its robust characteristics for data classification. But, it does not fully utilize the spatial information and is therefore very sensitive to noise and intensity inhomogeneity in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In this paper, we propose a conditional spatial kernel fuzzy C-means (CSKFCM) clustering algorithm to overcome the mentioned problem. The approach consists of two successive stages. First stage is achieved through the incorporation of local spatial interaction among adjacent pixels in the fuzzy membership function imposed by an auxiliary variable associated with each pixel. The variable describes the involvement level of each pixel for construction of membership functions and different clusters. Then, we adapted a kernel-induced distance to replace the original Euclidean distance in the FCM, which is shown to be more robust than FCM. The problem of sensitivity to noise and intensity inhomogeneity in MRI data is effectively reduced by incorporating a kernel-induced distance metric and local spatial information into a weighted membership function. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm has advantages in accuracy and robustness against noise in comparison with the FCM, SFCM and CSFCM methods on MRI brain images.
Modeling and Trading the EUR/USD Exchange Rate Using Machine Learning Techniques
Authors: Theofilatos K. , Likothanassis S. , Karathanasopoulos A.
Published: November 2020

The present paper aims in investigating the performance of state-of-the-art machine learning techniques in trading with the EUR/USD exchange rate at the ECB fixing. For this purpose, five supervised learning classification techniques (K-Nearest Neighbors algorithm, Naïve Bayesian Classifier, Artificial Neural Networks, Support Vector Machines and Random Forests) were applied in the problem of the one day ahead movement prediction of the EUR/USD exchange rate with only autoregressive terms as inputs. For comparison reasons, the performance of all machine learning techniques was benchmarked by two traditional techniques (Naïve  Strategy and moving average convergence/divergence model). Trading strategies produced by the machine learning techniques of Support Vector Machines and Random Forests clearly outperformed all other strategies in terms of annualized return and sharp ratio. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first application of Random Forests in the problem of trading with the EUR/USD exchange rate providing extremely satisfactory results.
Indirect 3D-Space Vector Modulation for Matrix Converter
Authors: Abdelrehim A. , Erfan S. D. , El-Habrouk M. , Youssef K. H.
Published: November 2020

This paper discusses the indirect space vector modulation for four-leg matrix converter. Four-leg matrix converter has been proven to be a reliable, cost-effective, and compact power electronic interface to supply unbalanced or nonlinear loads. However, the added fourth leg has shifted the inverter side modulation from simple two-dimension SVM into complex three-dimension. This paper employs a new technique to implement indirect 3D SVM in digital controllers with further simplification in the modulation process. Moreover, Simulink simulation using repetitive controller has been performed to regulate the output voltage for 400 Hz Power supplies.
Thoughts on the Possibility of Damage of High-Voltage Electrical Insulation below the So-Called Inception Voltage: Simulation under a Superposition of AC and DC Voltage – Part III
Authors: Danikas M.
Published: November 2020

In a previous work, a typical case is studied, where a solid sheet insulation contains a void under DC or AC voltage. In the present paper, to study the charging phenomenon in HVDC valve windings and cables, a more complex case is studied under a superposition of AC and DC voltage. Real inception voltage is calculated, and it agrees with the experimental results reported in another paper. Moreover, the location of the charging phenomenon is calculated, and it is related to the ratio between AC and DC voltage.
A Dilated Trigonometrically Equipped Algorithm to Compute Periodic Vibrations through Block Milne’s Implementation
Authors: Oghonyon J. G. , Bishop S. A. , Eke K. S.
Published: November 2020

This paper intends to investigate the use of a dilated trigonometrically equipped algorithm to compute periodic vibrations in block Milne's implementation. The block-Milne implementation is established by developing a block variable-step-size predictor-corrector method of Adam’s family using a dilated trigonometrically equipped algorithm. The execution is carried out using a block variable-step-size predictor-corrector method. This system has significant advantages that include the varying step-size and finding out the convergence-criteria and error control. Convergence-criteria and operational mode are discussed to showcase the accuracy and effectuality of the proposed approach.
Mitigating the Adverse Impact of Un-Deterministic Distributed Generation on a Distribution System Considering Voltage Profile
Authors: Aman M. A. , Ahmad S. , Noor B. , Karam F. W.
Published: November 2020

Electric power systems are enforced to operate near to their stability limit due to the fast increase in power demand. Therefore, voltage stability has become a primary concern. The main cause of voltage variations is the imbalance between generation and consumption. In order to mitigate variations in voltage profile, most of the modern electric power systems are adopting new emerging technologies such as distributed generation. Validation of standard voltage optimization is a difficult task when distributed generation is integrated to medium and low voltage networks. Integration of distributed generation (DG) will have diverse impacts on voltage levels when connected un-deterministically to the electric distribution system. This paper analyzes both the impacts of un-deterministic large and small size DG on voltage profile. Feasible solutions by incorporating reactors and increasing cross sectional area of cables, variation in voltage profile were mitigated. Detailed simulations were performed in ETAP by modeling and evaluating Kohat road grid station situated in Peshawar, Pakistan. The results anticipated that this approach can be useful to ensure standard voltage profile and better utilization of un-deterministic DG units.
Forecast on 2030 Vietnam Electricity Consumption
Authors: Nguyen V. H. M. , Nguyen K. T. P. , Vo C. V. , Phan B. T. T.
Published: November 2020

The first but very significant step in electricity system planning is to make an accurate long-term forecast on electricity consumption. This article aims to forecast the consumption for the Vietnam electricity system (GWH) up to 2030. An econometric model with the Cobb Douglas production function is used. The five variables proposed in the forecasting function are GDP, income, population, proportion of industry and service in GDP, and number of households. The forecasting equation is tested in terms of stationary and co-integration to choose meaningful variables and to eliminate the minor ones which account for none or small impacts on the forecast. The results show that: (1) the qualified forecasting equation only includes 3 major variables: the per capita income, the population, and the number of households, (2) with the medium income scenario, the forecasting consumptions in 2020, 2025, 2030 are 230,195 GWH, 349,949 GWH, 511,268 GWH respectively. (3) The GDP and the proportion of industry and service in GDP do not make major impacts on this forecasting in Vietnam. The method and the result of this article are likely a typical example of forecasting electricity consumption in developing countries which have a transforming economy similar to that in Vietnam.
Effect of Prepackaged Polymer on Compressive, Tensile and Flexural Strength of Mortar
Authors: Memon N. A. , Larik A. H. , Bhutto M. A. , Lakho N. A. , Memon M. A. , Memon A. N.
Published: November 2020

Synthetic materials, like various types of polymers, are introduced as having cementitious qualities, which improve the system of pores of mortars and concretes by the formations of polymer films and thereby enhancing their strength and durability. This experimental study focuses to use a water-based pre-packaged grout powder containing polymer as cementitious material available in the local market under the brand ‘Hi- bond (universal)’ in mortar. The Hi-bond is added in mortar as partial replacement of cement. The replacement levels were from 2.5% to 10% of cement by weight with an increment of 2.5%. In addition, same proportions mortar without Hi-bond, was also tested to compare the Hi-Bond effectiveness in mortar. Mortars of three proportions; 1:2, 1:3 and 1:4 were cast and tested. The water-binder ratio was fixed at 0.5. The specimens were cured in three curing conditions i.e., water, room temperature and natural environment (outside the room, open to sky). All specimens were tested after 28 days of curing. The mortar performance with and without Hi-Bond was investigated in terms of compressive strength, tensile strength and flexural strength. Enhancements in almost all the strength properties of mortar with Hi-bond were observed. A pronounced effect of curing condition and the mortar proportion is observed on the strength properties of the prepackaged polymer.
Application of Failure Mode Effect and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) to a Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) Conveyor Belt
Authors: Elbadawi I. , Ashmawy M. A. , Yusmawiza W. A. , Chaudhry I. A. , Ali N. B. , Ahmad A.
Published: November 2020

Fault finding and failure predicting techniques in manufacturing and production systems often involve forecasting failures, their effects, and occurrences. The majority of these techniques predict failures that may appear during the regular system production time. However, they do not estimate the failure modes and they require extensive source code instrumentation. In this study, we suggest an approach for predicting failure occurrences and modes during system production time intervals at the University of Hail (UoH). The aim of this project is to implement failure mode effect and criticality analysis (FMECA) on computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) conveyors to determine the effect of various failures on the CIM conveyor belt by ranking and prioritizing each failure according to its risk priority number (RPN). We incorporated the results of FMECA in the development of formal specifications of fail-safe CIM conveyor belt systems. The results show that the highest RPN values are for motor over current failure (450), conveyor chase of vibration (400), belt run off at the head pulley (200), accumulated dirt (180), and Bowed belt (150). The study concludes that performing FMECA is highly effective in improving CIM conveyor belt reliability and safety in the mechanical engineering workshop at UoH.
RETRACTED: A Semi-Hexagonal Array (1×2) Antenna Using Half Mode Substrate Integrated Waveguide for Short Range Communication Devices
Authors: Munir M. E. , Qurashie S. S.
Published: November 2020

This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief due to extended similarites with an unpublished paper, written by other authors, that was submitted (but not yet published) to several other journals and was probably leaked during the review process.  The authors of the unpublished paper contacted the Editor-In-Chief with the above claim after the publication of this issue and ETASR has contacted several of the journals mentioned and the investigation resulted in the confirmation of the report. The authors of this paper failed to provide any reasoning regarding the case.
An Investigation of Temperature and Wind Impact on ACSR Transmission Line Sag and Tension
Authors: Abbasi M. Z. , Noor B. , Aman M. A. , Farooqi S. , Karam F. W.
Published: November 2020

Power transmission is mainly based on overhead transmission lines with conductors being supported by transmission towers. Transmission lines are subjected to environmental stress (temperature changes, winds, snow etc), have an impact on the surrounding areas (visual pollution, building restrictions) and experience heavy losses due to resistive, magnetic and capacitive effects. Thus, proper modeling and installation of these conductors are necessary. The conductors are generally installed in a catenary shape to minimize the capacitive effects and to balance the tension. This paper presents an investigation on the sag and tension behavior under different temperature and wind of ACSR (Aluminum Conductor-Steel Reinforced) lines. Four different cases of temperature and wind are tested to calculate sag and tension. Simulation setup is done in ETAP (electrical transient and analysis program). Results are recorded and discussed.
Studies of the Properties and Microstructure of Heat Treated 0.27% C and 0.84% Mn Steel
Authors: Mohamed M. I.
Published: November 2020

In the present work, different heat treatments like hardening with different cooling rates followed by tempering at different temperatures have been performed. The material used in this study is carbon steel of 0.27% C and 0.84% Mn. Samples of as-rolled steel were subjected to different heat treatment processes. The steel was heated to the austenitizing temperature of 870°C for 2hrs followed by water quenching, oil quenching, air and furnace cooling. Water and oil quenched samples were subjected to tempering for one hour at temperatures of 250°C, 350°C, 450°C and 550°C. Tensile and impact tests were carried out for as rolled and heat-treated steel. Results show that the heat treated steel revealed an excellent combination of tensile strength and impact strength, which is suitable for structural applications. Optical metallographic investigation was carried out for all samples compared with the as rolled steel. The heat treatment revealed remarkable changes in steel morphology and mechanical properties.
Effect of Shear Flow on Crystallization of Sydiotactic Polypropylene/Clay Composites
Authors: Ahmad N. , Fouad E. , Ahmad F.
Published: November 2020

The high sensitivity of crystallization to shear flow is a subject of great research interest the last several years. A set of syndiotactic polypropylene/clay composite samples were used to examine the effect of shear flow on crystallization kinetics. This phenomenon alters both processing and material final properties. In the present work, the effects of clay contents and shear flow on the rate of flow induced crystallization were investigated using rheological technique. Small amplitude oscillatory shear experiments were performed using advanced rheometric expansion system (ARES). The crystallization rate is found to alter by both shear and clay contents in the polymer composites.
Analysis of Retransmission Policies for Parallel Data Transmission
Authors: Halepoto I. A. , Sadhayo I. H. , Memon M. S. , Manzoor A. , Bhatti S.
Published: November 2020

Stream control transmission protocol (SCTP) is a transport layer protocol, which is efficient, reliable, and connection-oriented as compared to transmission control protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP). Additionally, SCTP has more innovative features like multihoming, multistreaming and unordered delivery. With multihoming, SCTP establishes multiple paths between a sender and receiver. However, it only uses the primary path for data transmission and the secondary path (or paths) for fault tolerance. Concurrent multipath transfer extension of SCTP (CMT-SCTP) allows a sender to transmit data in parallel over multiple paths, which increases the overall transmission throughput. Parallel data transmission is beneficial for higher data rates. Parallel transmission or connection is also good in services such as video streaming where if one connection is occupied with errors the transmission continues on alternate links. With parallel transmission, the unordered data packets arrival is very common at receiver. The receiver has to wait until the missing data packets arrive, causing performance degradation while using CMT-SCTP. In order to reduce the transmission delay at the receiver, CMT-SCTP uses intelligent retransmission polices to immediately retransmit the missing packets. The retransmission policies used by CMT-SCTP are RTX-SSTHRESH, RTX-LOSSRATE and RTX-CWND. The main objective of this paper is the performance analysis of the retransmission policies. This paper evaluates RTX-SSTHRESH, RTX-LOSSRATE and RTX-CWND. Simulations are performed on the Network Simulator 2. In the simulations with various scenarios and parameters, it is observed that the RTX-LOSSRATE is a suitable policy.
An MTSS Based Underground Coal Mining Simulation Model
Authors: Okolnishnikov V.
Published: November 2020

In the frames of simulation system, a specialized library of simulating models of mining equipment and coal seam (MTSS) was implemented. Using the specialized simulating model library of technological mining equipment an integrated model for technological processes of underground coal mining in stoping face was developed. The main goal of simulation for coal mining technological processes in stoping face is the evaluation of productivity of a cutter-loader depending on different factors like the technical parameters of the cutter-loader, size of the longwall face, geophysical state of the coal seam.
An Analysis of Issues for Adoption of Cloud Computing in Telecom Industries
Authors: Ramzan M. , Farooq M. S. , Zamir A. , Akhtar W. , Ilyas M. , Khan H. U.
Published: November 2020

In the modern era companies seek the use of modern technologies in order to upgrade their infrastructure and enhance their business growth. The use of business intelligence, data science and cloud computing (CC) has become an integral part of business. Different factors play important role in the adoption of cloud services. An organization willing to adopt cloud services should consider them. This paper explores the factors and addresses the issues in implementing and deploying CC in telecom companies. In addition, this study also shares the benefits of utilizing CC which is a novel technical pattern which can change the use of different associations of information technology as a service. CC concentrates on the idea of definition, security problems, service models and infrastructures of its development. The important point is to analyze how this paradigm should be adopted in telecom industries and its results. This research study presents a comparative analysis of adaptation of CC by various telecom industries. The results identify certain limitations which also play their role for adaptation of CC in telecom companies.
Multicriteria Decision Making (MCDM) Methods for Ranking Estimation Techniques in Extreme Programming
Authors: Alshehri S.
Published: November 2020

It is essential to use multicriteria decision making (MCDM) methods to evaluate human judgments, for decision problems requiring the measuring of tangible and intangible criteria. Among the MCDM techniques, the analytic hierarchical process (AHP) and its extended version, the analytic network process (ANP) are the most powerful methodologies for ranking options and alternatives. They have been utilized by many scientists and researchers in numerous fields, especially for complex engineering problems. Both tools allow leaders to structure their issues numerically utilizing individual judgments. In this article, it is suggested that the MCDM can be useful in agile processes where complicated decisions happen routinely. This paper shows the ranking of the extreme programming (XP) estimation methods using AHP and ANP in educational and industrial environments.
Framework for Operational Performance Measurements in Small and Medium Scale Industries Using Discrete Event Simulation Approach
Authors: Odedairo B. O. , Nwabuokei N.
Published: November 2020

Globally, production systems must cope with limitations arising from variabilities and complexities due to globalization and technological advancements. To survive in spite of these challenges, critical process measures need to be closely monitored to ensure improved system performance. For production managers, the availability of accurate measurements which depict the status of production activities in real time is desired. This study is designed to develop an operational data decision support tool (ODATA-DST) using discrete event simulation approach. The work-in-process and processing time of each workstation/buffer station in a bottled water production system were investigated. The status of each job as they move through the system was used to simulate a routing matrix. The production output data for 50cl and 75cl product from 2014-2016 were collected. A mathematical model for routing jobs from the point of arrival to the point of departure was developed using discrete event simulation. A graphical user interface (GUI) was designed based on the factory’s performance measurement algorithm. Simulating the factory’s work-in-process with respect to internal benchmarks yielded a cycle time of 4.4, 6.23, 5.04 and throughput of 0.645, 0.455, 0.637 for best case scenario, worst case scenario and practical worst case scenario respectively. The factory performed below the simulated benchmark at 26%, 28%, 28% for the 50cl and at 51%, 54%, 59% for 75cl regarding the year 2014, 2015 and 2017 respectively. Performance measurement decision support tool has been developed to enhance the production manager’s decision making capability. The tool can improve production data analysis and performance predictions.
Solving Cell Placement Problem Using Harmony Search Algorithms
Authors: Al Qasem R. M. , Massadeh S. M.
Published: November 2020

Cell placement is a phase in the chip design process, in which cells are assigned to physical locations. A placement algorithm is a way that satisfies the objectives and minimizes the total area while keeping enough space for routing. Cell placement is an NP-complete problem of very large size. In order to solve this problem, diversified heuristic algorithms are used. In this work, a new algorithm is proposed based on the harmony search algorithm. The harmony search algorithm mimics music improvisation process to find the optimal solution. Cell placement problem has many constraints, so in this work, the harmony search algorithm is modified to adapt to these constraints. Experiment results show that this algorithm is efficient for solving cell placement and is characterized by good performance, solution quality and likelihood of optimality.
The Effects of the Welding Parameters on Tensile Properties of RSW Junctions of DP1000 Sheet Steel
Authors: Elitas M. , Demir B.
Published: November 2020

In this study, the maximum tensile shear load bearing capacity of the resistance spot welded DP1000 steel was measured and the tensile shear properties of the joints were evaluated. The effects of different welding parameters on microstructure, microhardness and tensile shear properties were investigated. Weld processes were performed by using 5kA and 7kA weld currents and 2-6bar electrode pressures. The microstructure of the welded materials was evaluated and the hardness profiles were determined. Experimental results showed that increasing electrode pressure and weld current increased the tensile shear load bearing capacity. It was also observed that the expulsion had a negative effect on the tensile shear load bearing capacity.
Proposed Remedies to Prevent Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs) on Highways in Pakistan
Authors: Detho A. , Samo S. R. , Mukwana K. C. , Memon I. A. , Rajput U. A.
Published: November 2020

In Pakistan, the number of roads and highways is increasing along with the number of road traffic accidents (RTAs). Many researchers attempted to collect data of RTAs and to investigate their causes. Keeping those causes and reasons for RTAs in mind, remedies to prevent RTAs on the highways in Pakistan are proposed to make the roads and highways safer for traveling.
Breakdown in Nanofluids: A Short Review on Experimental Results and Related Mechanisms
Authors: Danikas M.
Published: November 2020

Nanofluids seem to gradualy become an alternative to traditional insulating liquids, such as transformer oil. In this paper, a short review of experimental results as well as of possible breakdown mechanisms and of some of the factors affecting the breakdown strength of the said fluids is conducted. Most of the reports suggest that the addition of nanoparticles in insulating liquids improves the breakdown strength. However, some reports that contradict the above are also to be found. In view of this, an outline of future research is discussed. This review does not encompass all possible effects, parameters and factors affecting nanofluids but it is solely concerned with breakdown strength.
Parametric Analysis of Magnetorheological Strut for Semiactive Suspension System Using Taguchi Method
Authors: Yerrawar R. N. , Arakerimath R. R.
Published: November 2020

Magnetorheological (MR) strut is among the leading advanced applications of semi-active suspension systems. The damping force of MR damper is controlled by varying the viscosity of MR fluid. In this work, the viscosity of MR damper varies by changing the current from 0.5A to 0.7A. The design of experiments is taken into account in concert with the product/process development as one completely advanced tool. The parameters used for ride comfort optimization are sprung mass, spring stiffness, tire pressure, current, and cylinder material with two levels of each. Taguchi orthogonal array method is used to select the best results by parameter optimization with a minimum number of test runs. In this paper, from Taguchi L16 array and S/N ratio analysis, it is observed that the cylinder material with Al and CS for damper cylinder is a key parameter for performance measure of semi-active suspension system. From regression analysis, a linear mathematical model is developed for Al and CS as cylinder materials. The interaction of cylinder materials with all four parameters is plotted. The methodology implemented for measurement of acceleration as a ride comfort is as per IS 2631-1997. The more economical model of magnetorheological damper will motivate Indian auto industry to broader applications.
Constrained K-Means Classification
Authors: Smyrlis P. N. , Tsouros D. C. , Tsipouras M. G.
Published: November 2020

Classification-via-clustering (CvC) is a widely used method, using a clustering procedure to perform classification tasks. In this paper, a novel K-Means-based CvC algorithm is presented, analysed and evaluated. Two additional techniques are employed to reduce the effects of the limitations of K-Means. A hypercube of constraints is defined for each centroid and weights are acquired for each attribute of each class, for the use of a weighted Euclidean distance as a similarity criterion in the clustering procedure. Experiments are made with 42 well–known classification datasets. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm outperforms CvC with simple K-Means.
Preparation of Bimetallic Pd-Co Nanoparticles on Graphene Support for Use as Methanol Tolerant Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalysts
Authors: Singh R. N. , Sharma C. S.
Published: November 2020

Graphene-supported (40-x) wt% Pd x wt% Co (0≤x≤13.33) alloys/composites have been prepared by a microwave-assisted polyol reduction method and been investigated for their structural and electrocatalytic properties for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in 0.5 M H2SO4 at 298 K. The study demonstrated that the bimetallic Pd-Co composite nanoparticles are, in fact, alloy nanoparticles with fcc crystalline structure. Partial substitution of Pd by Co (from 3.64 to 13.33 wt%) in 40 wt% Pd/graphene decreases the lattice parameter as well as the crystallite size and increases the apparent catalytic activity, the latter, however, being the greatest with 8 wt% Co. The ORR activity of the active 32 wt% Pd 8wt% Co is found to be considerably low when it was deposited on the support multiwall carbon nanotubes under similar conditions. The rotating disk electrode study indicated that the ORR on 32 wt% Pd 8 wt% Co/GNS in 0.5 M H2SO4 follows approximately the four-electron pathway.
Information System for the Governance of University Cooperation
Authors: Laaziri M. , Khoulji S. , Benmoussa K. , Larbi K. M.
Published: November 2020

Recognizing the impact of international cooperation in science and technology, all higher education institutions prioritize strategic partnerships. If setting up a partnership is important, its management, monitoring and evaluation of cooperation actions, regular communication among partners, and the ability to allow all parties to monitor the functioning of the partnership are more important. For good co-operation management, an information system becomes a mandatory condition. Abdelmaleek Essaadi’s University team has set up an information system for the governance of a university cooperation called SIMACoop, to support cooperation between governments and universities, and to facilitate the process of partnership management. This system also helps in identifying the shared vision and goals of the partnership members and develops documents that define the partnership terms. In addition, SIMACoop has put in place procedures for maintaining and monitoring the partnership evolution [1]. The purpose of this article is to give a general presentation on SIMACoop’s design and development for the governance of university cooperation.
Reduced Feature Set for Emotion Based Spoken Utterances of Normal and Special Children Using Multivariate Analysis and Decision Trees
Authors: Siddiqui M. A. , Ali S. A. , Haider N. G.
Published: November 2020

The current paper deals with the use of multivariate data analysis and decision tree methods in order to reduce the feature set for the normal and special children speech in four different emotions: anger, happiness, neutral and sadness. Ten features were extracted, by an algorithm implemented in a previous study to classify the speech emotions of normal and special children. In the current study, the best features are selected using multivariate analysis: principal component analysis (PCA), factor analysis and decision tree. Step by step PCA is applied to reduce the feature set according to the variables that are collinear. The obtained reduced feature sets are applicable to both normal and special children samples. Experimental results revealed that PCA yields the feature set comprising pitch, intensity, formant, LPCC and rate of acceleration. Factor analysis provides three feature sets out of which the feature set comprising of Rasta PLP, MFCC, ZCR, and intensity provides the best result. Decision tree yields a feature set comprising energy, pitch and LPCC.
Surface Discharges and Flashover Voltages in Nanocomposite XLPE Samples
Authors: Papadakis C. , Yin Y. , Danikas M. , Charalambous C.
Published: November 2020

DC cable insulation is a field of intensive research activity. Special attention is being given to polymer nanocomposites, as promising insulation for such cables. Relatively little is known regarding surface discharges and flashover voltages for the aforementioned materials. In this paper, a comparison is made between samples of cross-linked polyethylene insulation with added MgO nanofillers and samples of pure polyethylene w.r.t. the behavior of surface discharges and flashover voltages in arrangements of water droplets of various conductivities on the said polymeric surfaces under the influence of uniform electric fields. Experimental evidence indicates that the flashover voltages of XLPE with MgO nanofillers are higher that the ones obtained with pure PE.
A Fuzzy Control Chart Approach for Attributes and Variables
Authors: Pekin Alakoc N. , Apaydin A.
Published: November 2020

The purpose of this study is to present a new approach for fuzzy control charts. The procedure is based on the fundamentals of Shewhart control charts and the fuzzy theory. The proposed approach is developed in such a way that the approach can be applied in a wide variety of processes. The main characteristics of the proposed approach are: The type of the fuzzy control charts are not restricted for variables or attributes, and the approach can be easily modified for different processes and types of fuzzy numbers with the evaluation or judgment of decision maker(s). With the aim of presenting the approach procedure in details, the approach is designed for fuzzy c quality control chart and an example of the chart is explained. Moreover, the performance of the fuzzy c chart is investigated and compared with the Shewhart c chart. The results of simulations show that the proposed approach has better performance and can detect the process shifts efficiently.
Performance Evaluation of Traveling Wave Fault Locator for a 220kV Hoa Khanh-Thanh My Transmission Line
Authors: Le K. H. , Vu P. H.
Published: November 2020

This paper presents the traveling wave based fault location methods of SEL-400L, and SFL-2000 available on the market for a 66.9km, 220kV Hoa Khanh-Thanh My transmission line in Central Viet Nam, such as single-ended, and double-ended, all of which rely on measurements from inductive CTs and capacitive VTs. Focus was given on the building process of a Matlab Simulink model to evaluate these methods. Current and voltage signals were sent to an analog Chebyshev type II filter which passes higher frequency signals at 3kHz and rejects low frequencies signal at 50Hz. After that, these output signals are used in Clarke's transformation for getting 0 and α components. The detail coefficient of the selected components after DWT using Db4 wavelet at decomposition level 1 can be used to determine the fault types, the direction of fault and propose a crest-wave comparison solution to identify exactly the adjacent bus' reflected wave from the fault point's reflected wave for the fault location. Finally, the accuracy of fault location on the transmission line is reviewed by varying various parameters like fault type, fault location and fault resistance on a given power system model.
Comparative Assessment of Gate Drive Control Schemes in High Frequency Converter
Authors: Yahaya N. Z. , Begam K. M. , Awan M.
Published: November 2020

Several gate drive control schemes are simulated and the results show that the Fixed Duty ratio (FDR) can help drive synchronous rectifier buck converter (SRBC) correctly with low dead time and hence reduce body diode conduction loss. Even though FDR is prone to cross-conduction effects, the design is simple. Apart from that, Adaptive Gate Delay (AGD) and Predictive Gate Delay (PGD) control schemes have also shown high level of efficiency. However, AGD generates more losses. Even though the total switching loss in PGD has not improved much of only 1 %, more than 82 % efficiency has been achieved in spite of the advantage in FDR and AGD schemes.
A Simple Electronic Circuit for an Automatic Train Safety Stop System
Authors: Donza A. , Jones R. , Teixeira R. , Da Silva B.
Published: November 2020

A particular safety system known as “dead man’s circuit” detects the presence of human command in the conduction of the trains operated by the Brazilian Company of Urban Trains (CBTU) in Recife, Brazil, thus consisting a security mechanism that makes automatic braking of any train composition circulating in the transportation system of the city feasible in incidents of loss or apparent loss of driving. Originally, the electrical signal indicating human control in the conduction of the vehicles came from the descent of the traction lever in the driving cabins, which caused the switching of a pair of electrical contacts. Given the importance of the system and the need to avoid repetitive strain injuries to drivers, the need to push the traction knob was eliminated by the use of an electronic device developed by an outsourced company and deployed in the trains of the older fleet. However, the high failure and downtime rates associated with the circuit acquired from the referred contracted company, caused the need to develop a more robust and maintenance-friendly design for the dead man’s system. In fact, despite the good performance of the purchased system, the strength of the resin coating that accommodated the capacitive touch sensor assembly at the end of the traction lever prevented the corresponding electronic circuit from any access for research or corrective interventions. Thus, the content of this paper essentially presents the specifications and the description of operation of the alternative electronic circuit designed for the dead man’s system, which is operating normally without electrical defects in 4 old trains for almost a year..
Numerical and Experimental Efficiency Evaluation of a Counter-Rotating Vertical Axis Wind Turbine
Authors: Malael I. , Dragan V.
Published: November 2020

This paper investigates the concept of a concentric counter-rotating vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT), consisting of a two stage vertical H-type turbine with three blades on each stage. The model has an inner and an outer stage, rotating in opposition to each other. Both numerical and experimental tests have been performed in order to validate this new concept. Numerical analysis is based on the use of 2.5-dimensional, unsteady simulations using a DOF type of analysis which allows for the two stages to self-adjust their rotation speed. Sliding mesh conformal interfaces are defined between these subdomains to minimize numerical artifacts such as artificial relations or entropy changes. Fully turbulent URANS were carried out in Ansys Fluent software. One key outcome was the momentum coefficient for each stage at different tip wind speed values. Another, more qualitative, outcome is the analysis of vortex shedding, impingement and overall interaction between the stages at different positions and scenarios. Ultimately, the numerical results have been validated using a scaled experimental device which was analyzed in the wind tunnel at different free stream speeds.