Selection of Temperature Measuring Sensors Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process

This study presents an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method to objectively select the best temperature sensor from among different alternative sensors in a certain industrial application. The underlying decision method based on AHP methodology, ranks temperature sensors with different features with a score resulting from the synthesis of relative preferences of each alternative with respect to the others at different levels considering independent evaluation criteria and sub-criteria. At each level, relative preferences of each candidate alternative with respect to the upper immediate level are calculated from pairwise comparisons among the candidate alternative sensors with respect to a selected application. Pair-wise comparison matrices are compiled based on views of experts in this field. Seven alternative sensors were considered: the thermocouple, the thermister, the resistance temperature detector (RTD), the bimetallic strip thermometer, the mercury-in-glass thermometer, the optical disappearing filament pyrometer, and the liquid crystal display semi conductor thermometer (LCD). Three industrial applications were also considered: Automotives, Chemical Processes, and Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning. A case study is conducted which involves selecting the best sensor for an automotive catalytic converter. The thermocouple is found to be the most preferred sensor for this application with the largest score of 0.37849, the second ranked sensor is the RTD with a score of 0.34589, and the least preferred sensor is the thermister with a score of 0.27560. To test the robustness of the proposed work, a sensitivity analysis was conducted in which variations in the relative preferences of the alternative sensors against sub-criteria and criteria were employed

A Software Application for the Selection of Temperature Measuring Sensors Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)

This study presents a software application that applies the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to objectively select the best temperature sensors. Three industrial applications and seven sensor alternatives are considered. The developed application performs the selection process in a computerised, easy–to–use graphical user interface. The underlying decision method ranks temperature sensors with scores resulting from the synthesis of relative preferences of each alternative at different levels considering independent evaluation criteria. Pair–wise relative comparison matrices collected from experts are embedded and are retrieved according to user specifications. A case study is conducted which involves selecting the best sensor for an automotive catalytic converter. The thermocouple is found to be the most preferred sensor with the largest score of 0.37849, the second ranked sensor is the RTD with a score of 0.34589, and the least preferred sensor is the thermister with a score of 0.27560. Sensitivity analysis shows that the selection of the best sensor is dependent on the relative weights of the criteria as well as the chosen application. AHP is shown to provide a quantitative evaluation method which is simpler, easier and more organised than subjective opinions

A Proposed Vision of the Transformation of the Arab Universities into Smart Digital Universities

This research develops a proposed vision to transform Arab universities into smart digital universities. The descriptive research approach is used to achieve the research objectives. The research sample consists of 450 faculty members and 75 educational experts randomly selected by stratified random method. The questionnaire is adopted as a research instrument. The findings indicate that a proposed vision can be developed to transform Arab universities into smart digital universities by addressing several themes; the philosophical premises of the proposed vision, the features of the proposed vision “smart university administration, smart people, smart university environment, and knowledge network”, determining the requirements necessary to implement the proposed vision, setting the appropriate foundations for the proposed implementation and success in Arab universities, and demonstrating the potential challenges and threats that may stand in the way of implementing the proposed vision and methods to overcome them

Innovation and Transformation in Early Childhood Education in the UAE

This chapter explores the development of Early Childhood Education in the UAE, focusing on the period between birth and compulsory school age. A distinction is made between Early Childhood Care and Education, focusing on the age group birth to four and Early Childhood Education, focusing on the age group four to six. The contexts of public and private education are explored across the age range, including in-home care, public nurseries, federal nurseries, public kindergartens and kindergarten provision in private schools. Investments in early childhood give children enhanced opportunities for success later in life. Progress has been made in the UAE for the age range four to six years in terms of enhancing quality through rigorous inspection frameworks based on international best practice, as well as in terms of curriculum reform in public schools for that age group. However, for the age range of birth to four years, there has been limited progress in terms of service provision for the age range birth to four years. Quality assurance standards have been raised, but there is still no national curriculum framework in place in the UAE for the early years. The importance of this embodiment of a society’s educational aims and purposes appears well understood for school age children as the nation continues to refine and reform curriculum. The development of a curriculum framework for early childhood care and education is of critical importance in terms of reflecting broad societal values and aspirations and achieving the vision of the UAE

Global Governance Behind Closed Doors : The IMF Boardroom, the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility, and the Intersection of Material Power and Norm Change in Global Politics

Up on the 12th floor of its 19th Street Headquarters, the IMF Board sits in active session for an average of 7 hours per week. Although key matters of policy are decided on in the venue, the rules governing Boardroom interactions remain opaque, resting on an uneasy combination of consensual decision-making and weighted voting. Through a detailed analysis of IMF Board discussions surrounding the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF), this article sheds light on the mechanics of power in this often overlooked venue of global economic governance. By exploring the key issues of default liability and loan conditionality, I demonstrate that whilst the Boardroom is a more active site of contestation than has hitherto been recognized, material power is a prime determinant of both Executive Directors’ preferences and outcomes reached from discussions. And as the decisions reached form the backbone of the ‘instruction sheet’ used by Fund staff to guide their everyday operational decisions, these outcomes—and the processes through which they were reached—were factors of primary importance in stabilizing the operational norms at the heart of a controversial phase in the contemporary history of IMF concessional lending

Variational Problems with Fractional Derivatives: Euler-Lagrange Equations

We generalize the fractional variational problem by allowing the possibility that the lower bound in the fractional derivative does not coincide with the lower bound of the integral that is minimized. Also, for the standard case when these two bounds coincide, we derive a new form of Euler-Lagrange equations. We use approximations for fractional derivatives in the Lagrangian and obtain the Euler-Lagrange equations which approximate the initial Euler-Lagrange equations in a weak sense

Exceptional Laguerre and Jacobi polynomials and the corresponding potentials through Darboux-Crum Transformations

Simple derivation is presented of the four families of infinitely many shape invariant Hamiltonians corresponding to the exceptional Laguerre and Jacobi polynomials. Darboux-Crum transformations are applied to connect the well-known shape invariant Hamiltonians of the radial oscillator and the Darboux-P\"oschl-Teller potential to the shape invariant potentials of Odake-Sasaki. Dutta and Roy derived the two lowest members of the exceptional Laguerre polynomials by this method. The method is expanded to its full generality and many other ramifications, including the aspects of generalised Bochner problem and the bispectral property of the exceptional orthogonal polynomials, are discussed.Comment: LaTeX2e with amsmath, amssymb, amscd 26 pages, no figure

A formulation of the fractional Noether-type theorem for multidimensional Lagrangians

This paper presents the Euler-Lagrange equations for fractional variational problems with multiple integrals. The fractional Noether-type theorem for conservative and nonconservative generalized physical systems is proved. Our approach uses well-known notion of the Riemann-Liouville fractional derivative.Comment: Submitted 26-SEP-2011; accepted 3-MAR-2012; for publication in Applied Mathematics Letter

Fractional Derivative as Fractional Power of Derivative

Definitions of fractional derivatives as fractional powers of derivative operators are suggested. The Taylor series and Fourier series are used to define fractional power of self-adjoint derivative operator. The Fourier integrals and Weyl quantization procedure are applied to derive the definition of fractional derivative operator. Fractional generalization of concept of stability is considered.Comment: 20 pages, LaTe