bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An experimental approach to explain the southern Andes elevational treeline
Authors: Fajardo Alex , Piper Frida I.
Published: May 2014

• Premise of the study: The growth limitation hypothesis (GLH) is the most accepted mechanistic explanation for treeline formation, although it is still uncertain whether it applies across taxa. The successful establishment of Pinus contorta––an exotic conifer species in the southern hemisphere––above the Nothofagus treeline in New Zealand may suggest a different mechanism. We tested the GLH in Nothofagus pumilio and Pinus contorta by comparing seedling performance and carbon (C) balance in response to low temperatures.

• Methods: At a southern Chilean treeline, we grew seedlings of both species 2 m above ground level, to simulate coupling between temperatures at the meristem and in the air (colder), and at ground level, i.e., decoupling air temperature (relatively milder). We recorded soil and air temperatures as well. After 3 yr, we measured seedling survival and biomass (as a surrogate of growth) and determined nonstructural carbohydrates (NSC).

• Key results: Nothofagus and Pinus did not differ in survival, which, as a whole, was higher at ground level than at the 2‐m height. The root‐zone temperature for the growing season was 6.6°C. While biomass and NSC decreased significantly for Nothofagus at the 2‐m height compared with ground level (C limitation), these trends were not significant for Pinus.

• Conclusions: The treeline for Nothofagus pumilio is located at an isotherm that fully matches global patterns; however, its physiological responses to low temperatures differed from those of other treeline species. Support for C limitation in N. pumilio but not in P. contorta indicates that the physiological mechanism explaining their survival and growth at treeline may be taxon‐dependent.
Analytical development and optimization of a graphene–solution interface capacitance model
Authors: Karimi Hediyeh , Rahmani Rasoul , Mashayekhi Reza , Ranjbari Leyla , Shirdel Amir H , Haghighian Niloofar , Movahedi Parisa , Hadiyan Moein , Ismail Razali
Published: May 2014

Graphene, which as a new carbon material shows great potential for a range of applications because of its exceptional electronic and mechanical properties, becomes a matter of attention in these years. The use of graphene in nanoscale devices plays an important role in achieving more accurate and faster devices. Although there are lots of experimental studies in this area, there is a lack of analytical models. Quantum capacitance as one of the important properties of field effect transistors (FETs) is in our focus. The quantum capacitance of electrolyte-gated transistors (EGFETs) along with a relevant equivalent circuit is suggested in terms of Fermi velocity, carrier density, and fundamental physical quantities. The analytical model is compared with the experimental data and the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) is calculated to be 11.82. In order to decrease the error, a new function of E composed of α and β parameters is suggested. In another attempt, the ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm is implemented for optimization and development of an analytical model to obtain a more accurate capacitance model. To further confirm this viewpoint, based on the given results, the accuracy of the optimized model is more than 97% which is in an acceptable range of accuracy.
COULD GREEN TAXATION MEASURES HELP INCENTIVISE FUTURE CHINESE CAR DRIVERS TO PURCHASE LOW EMISSION VEHICLES?
Authors: Carreno Michael , Ge Ying-En , Borthwick Sarah
Published: May 2014

The paper begins with a brief review of evidence related to the different types of ‘green’ taxation measures that have been introduced by governments worldwide as a means to lessen the environmental consequences of private car ownership by incentivising the purchase of Low Emission Vehicles (LEV’s). An overview is then provided of current understanding of individuals’ car purchasing decisions, highlighting gaps in knowledge that exist with current explanatory models. Based on these gaps in knowledge and to investigate the potential of various taxation measures in influencing individuals’ car purchasing decisions, an online survey was conducted with students from Dalian University of Technology, China. The questionnaire was designed to measure: (1) situational and psychological factors that would be important for their next car purchase; (2) the impacts of adapting current taxation measures to incentivise LEV purchases; (3) the potential role of a range of taxation measures on their decisions on type of future car purchases. K-Cluster means analysis was employed to identify population segments according to their psychological preparedness and importance attached to situational factors in their future decisions to purchase a LEV, or not. This resulted in three distinct segments – Pro-Greens (33.6% of sample), Maybe-Greens (20.2%) and No-Greens (46.2%). Pro-Greens were more psychologically prepared to purchase LEV’s than the other two segments, whose future car purchasing decisions were primarily driven by situational factors (vehicle characteristics, performance, etc.). Pro-Greens were also more likely to be influenced by changes in current Chinese taxation measures (VAT and fuel duty), and also significantly more likely to be influenced by the introduction of future measures that would incentivise LEV purchases than the other two segments. In terms of future measures to incentivise future Chinese drivers LEV purchases and use, the introduction of a feebate system, a CO2 emissions VAT system, a distance based user charging scheme and annual road tax based on CO2 emissions would appear to have the greatest potential overall.
DRIVER’S REACTION TIME IN A SIMULATED, COMPLEX ROAD INCIDENT
Authors: Jurecki Rafał Stanisław , Stańczyk Tomasz Lech , Jaśkiewicz Marek Jacek
Published: May 2014

This paper presents an overview of research on the behaviour of drivers in simulated accident situations. The research was carried out by the authors of this work as a part of a research N N509 549 040 funded by the National Science Centre including new accident situations. The paper presents a description of the methodology and implementation of research on a track. During the tests, the simulation concerns about an accident risk situation involving pedestrians and passenger cars intruding the road area. In contrast to earlier research carried out by the authors, the scenario included the possibility of a pedestrian ‘entering’ from behind a curtain, both from the left and from the right sides of the road. This was possible thanks to a specially developed test stand. The paper analyses the values of driver’s reaction times characteristic to driver’s impact on: acceleration control pedals, service brake and steering wheel. In addition to the determination of average reaction time values and the regression line for the test group of 30 drivers, the assessment of the frequency of drivers taking individual defensive reactions was carried out. Keywords: traffic safety; collision; road accidents; regression equation; simulation.
ASSESSMENT OF THE PRECISION OF DATA COLLECTED ABOUT THE TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS WITH PROPERTY DAMAGE ONLY IN CLAIM HANDLING PROCESS BY INSURANCE COMPANIES
Authors: Ernits Erik , Antov Dago , Kott Anton
Published: May 2014

The number of serious road traffic accidents is decreasing in all European countries. Based on the trends and directions in the past it may be predicted that in longer perspective the number of serious road traffic accidents will decrease remarkably. This will create a situation where it is more and more difficult to ensure the reliability of traffic safety analyses performed by statistical methods. There are two possibilities to decrease the problem: either to carry out in-depth investigations of serious road traffic accidents and/or investigate also Property Damage Only (PDO) traffic accidents and traffic conflicts in addition to serious traffic accidents. The key issue in using the PDO accident data is its precision. The present paper is attempting to enlighten the area, and assess the quality of data of PDO road traffic accidents collected by insurance providers by example of Estonia. The survey results show that in spite of certain shortcomings, the PDO road traffic accident data collected by insurance provider is valuable to be used in traffic safety analyses.
A Low-Cost Full-Featured Extensible Laboratory For Online Hardware Engineering
Authors: Pearson Timothy Raymond
Published: May 2014

This paper describes the uLab, a new method and framework for remote hardware design laboratories, which uses Linux and FOSS to provide real-time design and debug services to students over standard RDP channels. A secure, encrypted, plugin-based remote laboratory framework allows customization of programming and debug/test services to match physical laboratory resources. Industry standard technologies such as LDAP and Kerberos are utilized to ensure scalability, security, and ease of management. Emphasis is placed on direct access to real hardware, with the normal array of simulation tools and design software also being provided. In contrast with many of the remote laboratories currently in existence, this system places strong emphasis on direct, long-duration access to real, physical hardware for non-trivial design and evaluation tasks. In order to achieve this goal, secure, network-enabled hardware "pods" were created from inexpensive COTS components, and a blend of new and existing open-source software was used to connect with the overall laboratory framework. Hardware-design software and tools, including the software for physical hardware access, are preloaded and made available within the desktop session, allowing students to log in and start working almost immediately.
Research on 3D Simulation Modeling Method of Faults Based on Coal Stratum Floor TIN
Authors: Mao Yachun , Che Defu , Chen Yongsheng
Published: May 2014

The research on 3D simulation technology for complex geological body according to geological and remote sensing data is a hot issue in current geosciences research field. The simulation and expression of coal mine structures containing faults are the main bottleneck. A new 3D interactive simulation modeling method is proposed and a relevant code is developed for the method. By using the system, the fault data can be gained from the coal stratum floor triangulated irregular network (TIN) interactively, and the 3D solid models of the fault are generated according to the results of computing the fault/coal seam intersection line, fault modeling centre lines and fault modeling influence domains. Moreover, the floor contours of coal stratum including faults can be updated quickly and accurately, which lay the foundation for precise modeling of coal body and digital mine construction.
Strategic Management Overview and SME in Globalized World
Authors: Baporikar Neeta
Published: May 2014

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in each economy. Some of them even became market leaders from an international perspective. This stands in stark contrast to the fact that scientific and strategic management research up to date has only rudimentarily covered the field of strategic management of SMEs. Globalization is not a trend, a fad, or an isolated phenomenon. It is an inescapable force. If anticipated and understood, it is a powerful opportunity. If not, it can swiftly destroy businesses and drown organizations. Meanwhile the concern for globalization and its effect on SMEs has grown tremendously over the recent decade. Hence, strategic management becomes critical and deserves more attention due to the threats and opportunities globalization exposes and offers SMEs to at the same time. This chapter intends to make a contribution to this research gap by means of raising the question whether strategic management is feasible and/or necessary for SMEs, identifying suitable concepts of strategic management and their applicability for SMEs so that they can maintain their independence and at the same time blossom to their fullest extent.
Strategic Asset Building and Competitive Strategies for SMEs which Compete with Industry Giants
Authors: Bianchi Carmine , Winch Graham W. , Cosenz Federico
Published: May 2014

This chapter studies companies which are arguably business super-heroes – the small firms which despite the apparent handicap of very limited resources are able to compete against much larger, multinational firms – the micro-giants Davids that take on Goliaths. Through a process of detailed case studies of actual firms, analysis of asset structure, and experiments with a simulation model, the relationships between key assets, critical success factors, and micro-giant competiveness are explored. The model produces six scenarios reflecting different strategies for developing tangible and intangible assets and, critically, the balance between them. A level of aggression is needed in asset building to maintain competitiveness, but the simulations show that this can all be undone if balanced development is not managed. This confirms there are pathways by which micro-giants can remain competitive and deny multinationals the overwhelming victory that the received wisdom suggests.
The Entrepreneurial Manager
Authors: Kolarov Kostadin
Published: May 2014

The concept of the entrepreneurial manager is not new, although there are different views about the context, profile, and competencies. In general, there are two distinctive views – the first considers the entrepreneurial manager as an entrepreneur who manages his own business, and the second as a manager who plays the role of internal entrepreneur in large established enterprises. The present chapter focuses on the common ideas coming from the both views and critically reviews both conceptually and empirically outlined key entrepreneurial and managerial competencies in different environments and organizational contexts. The purpose of this chapter is to review the understandings of the distinctive core competencies of the entrepreneurial manager and to outline the challenges to their development as a basis for future research and development projects.
Towards a New Model of SMEs' Internationalization
Authors: Della Corte Valentina
Published: May 2014

This chapter aims at exploring the internationalization of small and medium sized enterprises through the search within the referring literature for the main models challenging the internationalization process. In the light of the weaknesses and strengths as well as of the related gaps of such models, this study builds and presents a new model that is able to address the issue of both gradual and rapid growth at international level. This model, thanks to the supposed variables (roots of resources and development and direction trough which these resources are valorized) and mechanisms, offers interesting theoretical and managerial insights for the analysis of the internationalization process characterized by increasing uncertainty. Finally, the model is tested through the analysis of two case studies.
Knowledge Transfer Strategies within Family Firm Succession
Authors: Hatak Isabella , Roessl Dietmar
Published: May 2014

A firm's knowledge is considered a key strategic asset in the course of generating competitive advantages. However, especially within family firm succession, there is a high risk that knowledge embedded if the predecessor leaves the organization. Thus, in order to maintain the family firm's competitive advantage an understanding of the challenges regarding the knowledge transfer within family firm succession is needed. In this chapter, the authors employ a qualitative empirical approach to identify context-based knowledge transfer strategies and develop a typology of transfer constellations. The results provide insight for students, researchers, consultants, policy makers and family firm leaders, who are searching for the most appropriate knowledge transfer strategy given the nature, philosophies and traditions of specific small and medium sized family firms.
Strategic Aspects of Non-Family SMEs Succession
Authors: Durst Susanne , Katzenschlager Simon
Published: May 2014

While reviewing SME succession literature, an empirical dearth in internal non-family SMEs succession research was detected. This situation is somewhat surprising considering the demographic developments and the fact that in many countries (e.g. Belgium and the Netherlands) the majority of business transfers are actually non-family. In this chapter, internal non-family succession is explored in a smaller Austrian company to shed light on how the firm is preparing for this type of succession. With regard to succession preparation, insights into the aspects of successor selection, successor training, employee involvement in the succession process, and performance measurement systems are provided. The findings this chapter reports may be useful for both academics and practitioners.
A Democratic Approach to Strategic Management in Sport Organizations
Authors: Schneider Robert C.
Published: May 2014

The purpose of this chapter is to provide the reader with an understanding and working knowledge of a democratic management approach to sport organizations. Referenced narrative is supplemented by case studies, critical thinking questions, and defined terms that support the discussion of democratic management theory from the organizational mission development to implementation strategies. A range of strategic management approaches featuring a democratic approach for various types of sport organizations centers on influences of diversity, the sporting community and member input, voting as a cornerstone, fostering a culture of mutual sharing, managerial transparency, willful employee commitment and engagement, and threats to democratic management such as commercialism. Challenges to democratic management including maintaining a moral focus, its time intensive nature, and balancing stakeholder wants with adherence to the democratic process are addressed.
Entrepreneurship as a Survival-Seeking Strategy for Indigenous Communities
Authors: Barba-Sánchez Virginia , Molina-Ramírez Ericka
Published: May 2014

The aim of this chapter is to offer an alternative to the emigration and marginalization currently experienced by indigenous Latin American communities by creating ecotourism ventures in their home territories. By fostering profitable and environmentally sustainable economic activities enabling them to remain in their settlements, it is possible to alleviate the problem of socio-economic marginalization which they currently face whilst helping conserve the environment and their ancient culture. Qualitative research has therefore been conducted by means of a multiple case study. This is an introductory work and the authors' preliminary findings highlight the importance not only of social networks in the creation of indigenous SMEs but also of the culture, values, uses and customs of such communities in the identification of the profile of the indigenous entrepreneur.
Methods and Perspectives in Face Tracking Based on Human Perception
Authors: Bruni Vittoria , Vitulano Domenico
Published: May 2014

This chapter aims at analyzing the role of human early vision in image and video processing, with particular reference to face perception, recognition, and tracking. To this aim, the change of perspective in approaching image processing-based problems where the decoder (human eye) plays a central role is analysed and discussed. In particular, the main topics of this contribution are some important neurological results that have been successfully used in face detection and recognition, as well as those that seem to be promising in giving new and powerful tools for face tracking, which remains a less investigated topic from this new standpoint.
Automatic Face Image Tagging in Large Collections
Authors: Barra Silvio , De Marsico Maria , Galdi Chiara
Published: May 2014

In this chapter, the authors present some issues related to automatic face image tagging techniques. Their main purpose in user applications is to support the organization (indexing) and retrieval (or easy browsing) of images or videos in large collections. Their core modules include algorithms and strategies for handling very large face databases, mostly acquired in real conditions. As a background for understanding how automatic face tagging works, an overview about face recognition techniques is given, including both traditional approaches and novel proposed techniques for face recognition in uncontrolled settings. Moreover, some applications and the way they work are summarized, in order to depict the state of the art in this area of face recognition research. Actually, many of them are used to tag faces and to organize photo albums with respect to the person(s) presented in annotated photos. This kind of activity has recently expanded from personal devices to social networks, and can also significantly support more demanding tasks, such as automatic handling of large editorial collections for magazine publishing and archiving. Finally, a number of approaches to large-scale face datasets as well as some automatic face image tagging techniques are presented and compared. The authors show that many approaches, both in commercial and research applications, still provide only a semi-automatic solution for this problem.
Face Recognition in Adverse Conditions
Authors: De Marsico Maria , Nappi Michele
Published: May 2014

In this chapter, the authors discuss the main outcomes from both the most recent literature and the research activities summarized in this book. Of course, a complete review is not possible. It is evident that each issue related to face recognition in adverse conditions can be considered as a research topic in itself and would deserve a detailed survey of its own. However, it is interesting to provide a compass to orient one in the presently achieved results in order to identify open problems and promising research lines. In particular, the final chapter provides more detailed considerations about possible future developments.
Analyzing Economic Indicators of Disaster Resilience Following Hurricane Katrina
Authors: Dottore Mark L. , Zobel Christopher W.
Published: May 2014

Many different metrics have been developed to measure the capacity for resilience to a disaster event. In order to track the dynamic response of a community in the aftermath of a disaster, however, it is necessary to consider measures that vary over time and for which data points are actually available on a relatively frequent basis. Unemployment, construction GDP, leisure and hospitality GDP, manufacturing GDP and information and communication technology GDP are all examples of measures which provide the opportunity to quantitatively assess the relative rate and extent of community recovery at regular time intervals following a disaster. By quantitatively analyzing the relative amount of resilience exhibited by a community we may gain better insight into its ability to recover, and thus develop a better understanding of the factors that allow it to return to normal levels of activity. The authors apply their analytical approach to compare the communities of New Orleans, Louisiana and Gulfport, Mississippi in the context of Hurricane Katrina.
Liquidity Efficiency in the Greek Listed Firms
Authors: Dokas Ioannis , Giokas Dimitris , Tsamis Anastasios
Published: May 2014

The scope of this paper is to investigate the liquidity efficiency of the Food and Beverage listed firms in the Athens Exchange, for the period 2006-2009, following a two stage analysis. In the first stage, Data Envelopment Analysis is employed to estimate liquidity efficiency for each firm of the sample. The results are consistent with the equivalent findings of the authors' analysis with financial ratios for the same period. The DEA analysis is validated by ordinary least squares (OLS) and the results prove that the regression equation can be used to evaluate a new liquidity efficiency for the firms of the specific sector. In the second stage of the analysis a Tobit regression model is applied in order to identify determinants of firms' liquidity efficiency. According to the authors' findings, a number of firms operating factors, like financial leverage, operating cost, firm size and Return on Equity to Return on Total Assets, have a significant impact on liquidity efficiency. In addition, the results of the Tobit regression model confirm the assumptions which are related to the links and their signs between liquidity efficiency and the aforementioned variables.
Using a Public Key Registry for Improved Trust and Scalability in National E-Health Systems
Authors: Liu Vicky , Caelli William , Chen Yu-Nien Maggie
Published: May 2014

An increasing number of countries are faced with an aging population increasingly needing healthcare services. For any e-health information system, the need for increased trust by such clients with potentially little knowledge of any security scheme involved is paramount. In addition notable scalability of any system has become a critical aspect of system design, development and ongoing management. Meanwhile cryptographic systems provide the security provisions needed for confidentiality, authentication, integrity and non-repudiation. Cryptographic key management, however, must be secure, yet efficient and effective in developing an attitude of trust in system users. Digital certificate-based Public Key Infrastructure has long been the technology of choice or availability for information security/assurance; however, there appears to be a notable lack of successful implementations and deployments globally. Moreover, recent issues with associated Certificate Authority security have damaged trust in these schemes. This paper proposes the adoption of a centralised public key registry structure, a non-certificate based scheme, for large scale e-health information systems. The proposed structure removes complex certificate management, revocation and a complex certificate validation structure while maintaining overall system security. Moreover, the registry concept may be easier for both healthcare professionals and patients to understand and trust.
Surface Roughness Estimation of Turned Parts from Optical Image Measurements and Wavelet Decomposition
Authors: Kamguem R. , Tahan A. S. , Songmene V.
Published: May 2014

The surface roughness is very significant information required for product quality on the field of mechanical engineering and manufacturing, especially in aeronautic. Its measurement must therefore be conducted with care. In this work, a measuring method of the surface roughness based on machine vision was studied. The authors' use algorithms to evaluate new discriminatory features thereby than the statistical characteristics using the coefficients of the wavelet transform and used to estimate the roughness parameters. This vision system allows measuring simultaneously several parameters of the roughness at the same time, order to meet for the desired surface function used. The results were validated on three different families of materials: aluminum, cast iron and brass. The impact of material on the quality of the results was analyzed, leading to the development of multi-materials. The study had shown that several roughness parameters can be estimated using only features extracted from the image and a neural network without a priori knowledge of the machining parameters.
Study on the Ultrasonic-Assisted Vibration Tapping Using Automatic Tracing Frequency System
Authors: Kuo K. L. , Tsao C. C.
Published: May 2014

In the past, researchers thought that the introduction of ultrasonic-assisted vibration in tapping processes could generate smaller tapping torque than nonultrasonic-assisted vibration process. However, since the ultrasonic vibrator's temperature increases with processing time, the temperature of the workpiece may get too high. As a result, the ultrasonic vibrator may generate an unstable resonant frequency and amplitude, which can cause poor quality in the workpiece. This research used ultrasonic-assisted vibration and LabVIEW software to develop an ultrasonic-assisted vibration automatic tracing frequency system (UAVATFS). With this orthogonal array experiment, UAVATFS and the appropriate processing parameters (vibration amplitude, vibration frequency) were used to perform tapping on a titanium alloy workpiece. The effect of using this system on internal thread processing was investigated.
Experimental Investigations with Fuzzy Controller for PV Fed DC Motor Incorporating SEPIC Converter as Efficient Power Interface
Authors: Josephine R.L. , Suja S.
Published: May 2014

The design and implementation of solar energy fed power electronic interface using SEPIC converter incorporating fuzzy logic controller for a DC motor has been attempted. The proposed scheme consists of a Photovoltaic (PV) array, a SEPIC DC-DC converter, a PIC microcontroller and a DC motor. The SEPIC converter has been fabricated using IGBT and associated circuit components. A PIC microcontroller has been programmed to automatically vary the duty cycle of the SEPIC converter with fuzzy logic controller depending upon the required speed of the motor. The Simulink model of the proposed scheme has been built using MATLAB/PSB. To test the satisfactory performance of the program written for PIC microcontroller, the program is loaded into the PROTEUS VSM simulator and the waveform of the gate pulses obtained from the simulator using MPLAB coding is studied. After confirming the satisfactory generation of the gate pulses by the simulator, the program is loaded into PIC microcontroller using PIC start plus and gate pulses generated is fed to the DC-DC converter for firing the IGBT. Experiments have been carried out on a 230V, 4.5A, 0.75 kW, 1500 rpm separately excited DC motor and the results are furnished for different load conditions. Various reference speeds have been set and the system automatically adjusts the actual speed of the DC motor close to the set speed. The PV array used in the system consists of the panels connected in series, each panel being rated for 18V and 5A. The comparison of experimental and simulation results show very close agreement between the two thus validating the proposed scheme.
Implementation of Embedded Floating Point Arithmetic Units on FPGA
Authors: Ramya Rani N.
Published: May 2014

:Floating point arithmetic plays a major role in scientific and embedded computing applications. But the performance of field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) used for floating point applications is poor due to the complexity of floating point arithmetic. The implementation of floating point units on FPGAs consumes a large amount of resources and that leads to the development of embedded floating point units in FPGAs. Embedded applications like multimedia, communication and DSP algorithms use floating point arithmetic in processing graphics, Fourier transformation, coding, etc. In this paper, methodologies are presented for the implementation of embedded floating point units on FPGA. The work is focused with the aim of achieving high speed of computations and to reduce the power for evaluating expressions. An application that demands high performance floating point computation can achieve better speed and density by incorporating embedded floating point units. Additionally this paper describes a comparative study of the design of single precision and double precision pipelined floating point arithmetic units for evaluating expressions. The modules are designed using VHDL simulation in Xilinx software and implemented on VIRTEX and SPARTAN FPGAs.
Power Conversion Performance and the Suitability of Z-Source Inverter of PMSG Based WECS at Variable Wind Speed Conditions
Authors: Radhika A. , Sivakumar L.
Published: May 2014

This paper presents a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator (PMSG) based wind energy conversion system with Z-source inverter. The output voltage of a Z-source inverter remains constant so long as the wind speed remains constant. Unfortunately, wind speed keeps changing and hence the output voltage at the inverter outlet. This poses a problem in getting the inverter connected to the grid. Recognizing the fact that the output voltage level at the inverter depends on the shoot through period, the authors propose a varying shoot through period depending on the wind velocity which enables the voltage level remain constant at the inverter output. A neural network is trained and made use of to predict the required shoot through period depending on the current wind velocity.
DSP Based Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) for Improving the Performance of DFIG
Authors: Karthika J.
Published: May 2014

In the recent years, wind power has been developed rapidly. So most of the research work focus towards the variable speed power generation rather than fixed speed power generation in wind energy conversion system. This paper presents a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technique for an improved power quality, high energy efficiency and controllability. For the experimental application a Back – to - Back configuration with two voltage source converters has been considered one on the machine side and another on the grid side. Each converter has been controlled with a high performance vector control technique ie FOC & VOC respectively. Two DSPs have been used to control both the inverters. Simulation result shows that the Digital Signal Processor provides effectiveness in controlling under different operating conditions.
Energy Efficient Scheduling Using Simulated Annealing Algorithm for Multi-Core Processors
Authors: Poongothai M. , Rajeswari A. , Sanmukapriya V.
Published: May 2014

The role of multi-core processors in recently developed real-time systems is gaining importance because of its energy and thermal conditions. The major development requirements and objectives to be met while designing multi-core processors are: low heat dissipation, low energy consumption and long battery life, which also helps to reduce the system costs. This paper is presented with an aim to achieve a better system performance in a multi-core processor platform by adjusting the trade-off between system performance and power dissipation. Dynamic Power Management (DPM) and Dynamic Voltage Scaling (DVS) are the two run-time techniques used to adjust the trade-off between the system performance and power dissipation. Simulated Annealing (SA) algorithm is implemented in order to find a good approximation to the global optimum. The idea behind Simulated Annealing algorithm is to iteratively improve the solution by investigating the neighbour solutions.
Real-Time Finger-Vein Recognition for Security and Monitoring System
Authors: Nandhini S. , Shyam D.
Published: May 2014

— The demand for simple, convenient and high security authentication systems protecting private information is rising with the development of improved consumer electronic devices. In existing systems cards, pin numbers and passwords are used for authentication. However theft of cards and guessing of pin numbers and passwords by exploiters is a serial threat. Hence the need to protect private information by means of biometric solutions is very essential. The proposed system finger vein recognition system is a biometric authentication system. The maximum curvature method of feature extraction used here extracts the centrelines without being affected by fluctuations in vein width and brightness. The results of processing are sent using GSM to owners or administrators. The system can be used for application such as bank ATM identification and verification, automatic door locking control systems and automated attendance register system.
Investigation of Wear Behaviour ZA 27 Using Bio-Lubricants
Authors: Gemsprim M. Samuel , Babu N. , Parimala Murugaveni S. , Thyla P.R.
Published: May 2014

— The Zinc–Aluminium (ZA) family of casting alloys are gaining wide commercial importance as journal bearing material for high load and low speed applications. These alloys, most notably ZA-27 is capable of replacing traditional bronze bearing at low cost. Recently, the ZA-27 alloy has been substituted for conventional journal bearing materials in a wide range of industrial applications. The journal bearings produced from these alloys have been used in earthmoving equipments, mining and milling machines, cable winches and compressors. The ZA-27 alloys and the bearings were also used in heavy and dusty environments such as underground machines, ore crashers and rock drills.The tribological properties of the ZA 27 alloy were tested using a Pin-on-Disc friction and wear tribotester.Sliding wear tests were performed using the tribotester by varying load, speed & sliding distance. The same tests are done with lubricating condition and also with bio lubricants. The Bio-lubrication is adopted in this work because of its biodegradability and eco-friendly nature. Especially the soya bean oil possess good lubrication properties. The wear rate of dry, base oil and bio lubricant oil condition were determined different applied load, speed and sliding distance compared with each other.
Cluster Based Geographical Routing (CBGR) for MANETs
Authors: Rajkumar Mylsamy , Subramanian Sankaranarayanan
Published: May 2014

-Routing has been the main challenge for ad hoc networks due to dynamic topology as well as resource constraints. High computational overhead and high mobility of the nodes typically require completely GPS enabled MANETs for higher performance. Due to the high mobility of nodes, the network topology of MANETs always changes. This makes it more difficult to find the routes that message packets use when they are routed. In this paper, we propose an Cluster based location routing (CBGR) scheme to improve the route discovery in MANET routing. In this scheme, we first decide a baseline, which is the line between the source cluster head and the destination node, for route discovery. The request packet is broadcasted in a request zone based on the baseline to determine the next gateway node. From the neighboring gateway nodes, with the shortest distance to the baseline is chosen as the next gateway node. The flooding of the packets to the intermediate gateway nodes are reduced since the route discovery packets are only forwarded to certain gateway nodes, which, fall into a determined region. Simulations are performed using NS2. The results illustrate that GBLR performs better compared to other protocols.
Wear Characteristics of Phosphor-Bronze/Boron Carbide Particulate Composites
Authors: Sankaravadivel P. , Babu N. , Gemsprim M. Samuel , Natarajan N.
Published: May 2014

The tribological properties of metal matrix composites (MMC’s) is of interest in several applications like bearing sleeves, piston and cylinder liners, aircraft brakes etc. The wear behaviour of unreinforced as well as B4C particles reinforced phosphor-bronze alloy composite material is studied as a function of sliding speed and applied loads under un-lubricated conditions. The content of B4C particles in the composite was varied from 1-6% in steps of 2% by weight. A pin on disc wear testing machine was used to evaluate the wear rate, in which cast iron disc was used as the counterface. Loads of 10-30N in steps of 10N and speeds of 1.30, 1.83 and 2.30 m/s was employed. The results indicated that the wear rate of both the composites and the matrix alloy increased with increase in load and sliding speed. However, the composites exhibited lower wear rate than the alloys.
Experimental Investigation of Process Parameters in Wire Electrical Discharge Machining by Response Surface Methodology on IS2062 Steel
Authors: Bharathi R.Arun , Varthanan P.Ashoka , Mathew K. Manoj
Published: May 2014

The objective of the present work is to predict the optimal set of process parameters such as peak current (IP), pulse on/off time (TON/TOFF) and spark gap voltage (SV) to achieve minimum Surface roughness (Ra), wire consumption rate (WCR) and maximum material removal rate (MRR). In this work, experiments were carried out by pulse arc discharges generated between ZnO coated brass wire and specimen (IS2062 steel) suspended in deionized water dielectric. The experiments were designed based on the above mentioned four factors, each having three levels. Custom design based Response Surface Methodology (RSM) is used in this research. 21 runs of experiments were constructed based on custom design procedure and results of the experimentation were analyzed analytically as well as graphically. Moreover the surface roughness after machining was measured by Taylor Hobson Surtronic device. Second order regression model has been developed for predicting Ra, WCR and MRR in terms of interactive and higher order machining parameters through RSM, utilizing relevant experimental data as obtained through experimentation. The research outcome identifies significant parametersand their effect on process performance on IS2062 steel. The results revealed that peak current, pulse on-time and their interactions have significant effects on Ra, whereas pulse off time and peak current have significant effects on MRR and it is also observed that peak current and interaction between peak current and pulse off time have significant effects on WCR. The adequacy of the above proposed models has been tested through the analysis of variance (ANOVA).
Experimental Investigation on Emission Characteristics of Catalytic Converter Using Different Wash Coat Material
Authors: Karthickeyan V. , Arulraj P.
Published: May 2014

Almost all automobiles in the world are emitting a huge amount of exhaust gases to the atmosphere every day. These exhaust gas contains harmful substances like carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, hydrocarbons, and other toxic substances. If these substances go on increasing they will cause several diseases like blood circulatory problem, lung diseases, bronchitis, blood cancer, etc. Also they may cause different environmental problems like acid rain, green house effect, etc. So, the emission of these substances should be controlled as far as possible. This project work presents a new catalytic converter to be used for compressed ignition engine. The catalytic converter is developed based on the catalyst materials consisting of metal oxides such as aluminum oxide and cerium oxide coated with wire mesh filter. Both the catalyst materials - aluminum oxide and cerium oxide are inexpensive in comparison with conventional catalysts such as palladium or platinum. The main objective of this work is to control the NOx, CO emission and to develop a low-cost three way catalytic converter. This catalytic converter is assembled in the exhaust manifold region of a computerized single cylinder four stroke diesel engine.
Optimal Design and Planning of an Autonomous Hybrid (Wind/Solar-PV/Diesel/Battery) Power System
Authors: Boopathy C.P. , Sivakumar L.
Published: May 2014

In most of the developing countries like India and South Africa, there exists still many remote places (isolated from the grid); where the electrification is unavailable due to the financial aspect related to establishing the infrastructure to distribute power over a long distance and consequent high transmission losses. Authors emphasize for an optimal design and planning of an Autonomous Hybrid Power System (AHPS), which will eradicate the problems, faced by the remote places and also reduce per unit cost of electricity. Integration of Wind/Solar-PV/Diesel/Batteries also ensures the prompt availability of power to primary health clinics, high way petrol bunks, schools and the basic communication networks located in remote places. In this scheme, Homer software has been used for analysis the simulation results and compares the generation cost of the proposed Autonomous hybrid power system. DC power is generated by the wind turbine and solar-PV and DC is connected to the load through an inverter. This system has been successfully deployed to meet the small energy requirement of an office room in the educational institution. It also reduces the dependence on one single source of power and has increased the reliability. While doing so, the quality of the power as well as the variations in the environmental conditions does not disturb the loads connected. Therefore the reliability is also ensured in power generated with the AHPS. It is easy to construct the plant with 400W capacity on the roof top of the building; with a meager cost of around $1800.
Development of Humanoid Robot Teaching System Based on a RGB-D Sensor
Authors: Yu Jian , Leng Chun Tao , Li Bo , Chen Qi Mei
Published: May 2014

A 17 degree-of-freedom humanoid robot is developed, and a humanoid robot teaching system based on RGB-D sensor is proposed. Through the analysis of the robot’s joint configuration, the transformation formula from the Cartesian coordinate space to the joint space was deduced. Using Microsoft Kinect, the human body skeleton is mapped to the humanoid robot joint. To smooth data without causing delay, a Velocity-based Selective Mean Filter (VSMF) was proposed. The teaching system was applied on the small humanoid robot and the experiment results verified the effectiveness.
Filter Design of Power Battery Resistance Measuring for New Energy Vehicle
Authors: Jian Yao Jia , Zhang You Tong , Fei Jian Guo
Published: May 2014

In order to measure the internal resistance of new energy vehicle power battery precisely, the high quality factor analog band-pass filter circuit and switched-capacitor circuit was studied. And the circuit was redesigned by using a switched capacitor circuit for digital control. Combined with the requirements of vehicle battery internal resistance measurement, the resistance measurement system architecture which is based on microcontroller and programmable logic devices is proposed. Finally, the system is validated via error calculation and the actual experiments.
Transient Vibration Analysis of Impact Ripper
Authors: Xu Ge Ning , He Meng , Wu Jian Feng
Published: May 2014

In view of the vibration problem of impact ripper working under the excitation force of hydraulic ripper, finite element method is adopted for transition analysis of the structure. The impact ripper operating process is divided into two stages. Analyze the producing process of main vibration source for the structure. Establish the model of impact ripper by the finite element software SolidWorks, and its modal analysis is based on Simulation. The modal analysis gives the former eight natural frequencies and their corresponding vibration modes. Then use modal superposition method for transient analysis, calculate the dynamic response of impact ripper under the excitation force. Results show that the excitation force of hydraulic hummer significantly influences on the displacement response of structure (increasing about 145%). Continuous impact load leads to fatigue failure of structure easily, so the vibration design should be done to reduce the negative influence caused by impact vibration.
Dynamic Model of Spindle-Holder Taper Joint of BT40 Holder
Authors: Xiao Wei Wei , Zhu Ming , Mao Kuan Min , Lei Sheng
Published: May 2014

The dynamic characteristics of spindle-holder taper joint greatly influencethe performance of machine tools. This paper proposed a 24-DOFs spring-damper model to deal with the dynamic model of spindle-holder taper joint. To identify the stiffness of springs and damping coefficient of damper, a parameter identification method was developed based on the inverse relationship of dynamic matrix and frequency response function matrix. Using modal test and the proposed dynamic model, the taper joint of BT40 holder was studied. At the end of this paper, a case was presented to validate the dynamic model. Because the radial, tangential and axial effects of the taper joint were all taken into considerations, the proposed model provided a higher accurate model of spindle-holder taper joint.