Position Error Compensation via a Variable Reluctance Sensor Applied to a Hybrid Vehicle Electric Machine

In the automotive industry, electromagnetic variable reluctance (VR) sensors have been extensively used to measure engine position and speed through a toothed wheel mounted on the crankshaft. In this work, an application that already uses the VR sensing unit for engine and/or transmission has been chosen to infer, this time, the indirect position of the electric machine in a parallel Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) system. A VR sensor has been chosen to correct the position of the electric machine, mainly because it may still become critical in the operation of HEVs to avoid possible vehicle failures during the start-up and on-the-road, especially when the machine is used with an internal combustion engine. The proposed method uses Chi-square test and is adaptive in a sense that it derives the compensation factors during the shaft operation and updates them in a timely fashion

The Evaluation of Risk of Substance Abuse Among The Youth through Bayesian Classification

In recent years, the rising use of addictive drugs and substances has become one of the biggest social problems around the world. The illicit use of a variety of drugs appears to be increasing among elementary and high schools students in Turkey. Therefore, it can be said that there is a big rising risk for the youth: substance abuse and addiction. There are many reasons leading students to be an addicted user. At first an adolescent cannot see the bad sides and realize the harmful effects of the substances. After being a drug abuser, this person struggles with the addiction and his/her life gets worse. Scientific studies show that it becomes very difficult for aperson to get rid of this habit after being a user. Hence, preventing students from being addicted becomes an important issue. The aim of this study is to determine a young person's probability of becoming a drug user in the future by means of Bayesian classification algorithm. The study is focused on informing the educators and families about the students who entertain high risk, and taking precautions and counter measures before it is too late. As data collection method, a questionnaire is asked the elementary and high school students in Buyukcekmece district of Istanbul and to the patients of substance abuse and addiction in the hospitals. The data collected from the questionnaires are used to indicate the percentage of risk probability for each student with the aid of Bayesian classification algorithm

Efficient Underground Object Detection for Ground Penetrating Radar Signals

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is one of the common sensor system for underground inspection. GPR emits electromagnetic waves which can pass through objects. The reflecting waves are recorded and digitised, and then, the B-scan images are formed. According to the properties of scanning object, GPR creates higher or lower intensity values on the object regions. Thus, these changes in signal represent the properties of scanning object. This paper proposes a 3-step method to detect and discriminate landmines: n-row average-subtraction (NRAS); Min-max normalisation; and image scaling. Proposed method has been tested using 3 common algorithms from the literature. According to the results, it has increased object detection ratio and positive object discrimination (POD) significantly. For artificial neural networks (ANN), POD has increased from 77.4 per cent to 87.7 per cent. And, it has increased from 37.8 per cent to 80.2 per cent, for support vector machines (SVM)

An investigation on the bear damages and reasons in Artvin

Artvin yöresi oldukça zengin bir yaban hayatı ekosistemine sahiptir. Bu ekosistemin en önemli öğelerinden birisi de Boz Ayı (Ursus arctos L.)’dır. Son yıllarda Artvin yöresinde ayı zararlarının arttığı yönünde yaygın bir kanaat oluşmuştur. Bu çalışmayla, ayı zararlarının gerçekten artış gösterip göstermediğinin tespit edilerek, varsa böyle bir artışın muhtemel sebepleri üzerinde durulmaya çalışılmış ve zararın kontrol edilebilmesi için gerekli tedbirler irdelenmiştir. Çalışmamızda, Artvin Doğa Koruma ve Milli Parklar (DKMP) Şube Müdürlüğü’nden alınan verilerden, Artvin halkı ile yapılan anketlerden, arazide gerçekleştirilen doğrudan ve dolaylı gözlemlerden faydalanılmıştır. Elde edilen veriler değerlendirilerek zarar çeşitleri çıkarılmış ve bu zararların sebepleri üzerinde durulmuştur. Yapılan tespitler sonucunda ayıların genellikle arı kovanlarına, evcil hayvanlara, ziraat alanlarına ve son olarak da insana zarar verdikleri ortaya konulmuştur. Bunların içerisinde en yoğun zararın ziraat alanlarına ve arı kovanlarına verildiği anlaşılmıştır.Artvin is rich in wildlife habitats and diversity. Brown bear is one of the most important species of these habitats because of its abundance and behavior. Recently, some villagers say that bear damage has been increased especially near to their settlements and cultivated areas. With this study, we intended to investigate bear damage and its effects on the people living near the bear habitats. To do this, we gathered data from records of Artvin Provincial Directorate of Natural Parks and Nature Conservation, applied questionnaires and made observations within the bear habitats and adjacent or neighboring villages

Development, Design and Flight Test Evaluation of Continuous Descent Approach Procedure in FIR Zagreb

As part of Local Conversion and Implementation Plan which is based on the EUROCONTROL Revised Convention the Republic of Croatia has undertaken to make a plan of implementing the Basic Continuous Descent Approach procedures. This paper addresses the issue of navigational path optimization for the A-319/320 commercial aircraft within the fleet of Croatia Airlines, during the approach part of flight, which has a positive effect on fuel consumption, greenhouse gas emission and area of surface affected by noise. The experiments were carried out in real conditions, using internal sensors onboard (Flight Data Recorder) and independent GPS system. Two types of approach were tested: Continuous Descent Approach (CDA) and Step Down Approach. The implementation of CDA procedures, just for the fleet of Airbus 320/319 aircraft of the Croatia Airlines results in approximate calculation in fuel saving which amounts to 1.5 x 106 kg annually (only on Zagreb airport). In this way, the productiveness of an air carrier, which is an integral part of the traffic process along with the airports and air traffic control, is directly increased, thus fulfilling the purpose of air traffic technology research. KEY WORDS: navigational procedures, continuous descent approach, air traffic, ecolog

Evaluation of Eco-Driving Using Smart Mobile Devices

The methods of measuring driving behaviour and the quality of drive in road transport are important factors in data acquisition and subsequent analysis of driving. The prevalence of smart terminal devices and cost effectiveness of On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) sensor devices provide great potential and the availability of the aforementioned technologies. This study shows the possibility of using information and communication technologies (ICT) and sensor devices for measuring the effectiveness of eco-driving. The ease of implementation of ICT elements, the accuracy of collected data and their storage for later data analysis offer a number of possibilities to use. This study shows the technical solution of the system and analysis of collected data on actual driving samples. By comparing normal and eco-driving modes, the advantage of using eco-driving modes is demonstrated through reduced fuel consumption and CO2 emissions amounting to almost 23% and 31%, respectively

Helicopter Main Rotor Conceptual Design - Application to a Westland Lynx Helicopter

Helicopter design requires from the designers to make a lot of compromises and choices, sometimes affecting on positive parameters in order to improve global capabilities and performance. If these choices are made well, based on detail calculations and reliable input data, flight performances should be good and helicopter should be able to satisfactory sustain all the missions and tasks for which it is designed for. The following paper describes a shorter version of the initial design philosophy with an application to the Westland Lynx helicopter. This philosophy, of course with some specifics, could be applied in Croatia, in terms of determination of basics requirements and assumptions for making the right decision in selecting a specific type of an aircraft – both for the military and for civilian sector

Assessment Methodology of Interior Aircraft Noise Influence on Pilot Performance and Temporary Threshold Shift

Previous studies have shown that the impact of interior aircraft noise on pilot performance was not unambiguous, neither there was any unanimous methodology used for measuring it. Furthermore, the cumulative character of noise was never taken into account. This research proposes a methodology that aims to determine the impact of accumulated general aviation aircraft interior noise on pilot performance in laboratory conditions. The assessment of the aircraft interior noise influence on Temporary Threshold Shift is integrated as well, enabling extended research of all aspects of the physiological noise impact on pilots. Methodology defines measurable noise and pilot performance parameters in general aviation, equipment requirements, necessary laboratory conditions and subject selection criteria. The analysis of the deviation from the specified flight parameters along with Temporary Threshold Shift values at different accumulated noise doses is carried out. Data is analyzed using descriptive statistics, visualization methods and linear mixed effects models with False Discovery Rate as the method for correction for multiple testing which allows the determination of the potential population effect

Smart Delivery Systems with Shape Memory and Self-Folding Polymers

New generation delivery systems involve smart materials such as shape memory and self-folding polymers. Shape memory polymers revert back to their original shape above their glass transition temperatures where this temperature change can be induced conventionally, photolytically, with a lazer or magnetically depending on the composition of the material. This ability to assume original shape upon a trigger can be used in delivering drugs, DNA or cells. Self folding polymers are a new class of materials which may be composed of multilayers with different thermal expansion coefficients or with hinges that allow folding upon being triggered. These new materials allow various architectural designs of smart delivery vehicles predominantly for DNA and cells. The aim of this chapter is given shape and folding polymers and their usage for drug delivery systems