Experimental design and performance analysis in plasma arc surface hardening

In this paper, the experimental design by using the Taguchi method was employed to optimize the processing parameters in the plasma arc surface hardening process. The evaluated processing parameters are arc current, scanning velocity and carbon content of steel. In addition, the significant effects of the relation between processing parameters were also investigated. An orthogonal array, signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were employed to investigate the effects of these processing parameters. Through this study, not only the increasing in hardened depth and improvement in surface roughness, but the parameters that significantly affect on the hardening performance were also identified. Experimental results showed the effectiveness of this approach

An Overview of Multi-Attribute Decision Making (MADM) Vertical Handover Using Systematic Mapping

The evolution of infotainment industries yet the advancement of cellular gadgets such as smartphones, tablets, and laptop had increased the request on cellular traffic demands. As a result, a Heterogeneous Wireless Network (HWN) has been introduced to fulfil users requests in having seamless mobility and better Quality of Services (QoS) for the users. A lot of research works have been done in order to provide a seamless connection to the users. Even though a lot of methods have been proposed, a Multi-Attribute Decision Making (MADM) has been seemed like a promising way due to its ability to evaluate many attributes simultaneously. Previously, many reviews based on MADM methods in a Heterogeneous Wireless Network provides a details review which required researchers time in order to determine the possible potential areas to be explored. Therefore, in this study, we present an overview of the MADM method in performing vertical handover via a systematic mapping method. This will enable future researchers to identify the trends and research opportunities within this area. This mapping study analysed 30 papers. Results from the study show eight main potential research issues can be explored by researchers, including normalisation, criteria weighting, ranking abnormality, network selection, and performance comparison between MADM algorithms, network selection for a group of calls, mobility patterns and handover triggering

An Educational Knowledge-based System For Civil Engineering Students in Cement Concrete Construction Problems

AbstractCivil engineering students study only few courses in highway engineering that involves only little information about pavement construction. After their graduation, they face many problems in construction site that they cannot control as they do not have sufficient information. Therefore, developing of an educational system in this domain that contains a knowledge base including descriptions, causes and solutions to these problems is an effective way to help civil engineering students learn about the problems that they may encounter. This paper describes the development and evaluation stages of unprecedented system including knowledge acquisition, knowledge representation, system building, and system testing

In Situ Determination Of Layer Thickness And Elastic Moduli Of Asphalt Pavement Systems By Spectral Analysis Of Surface Waves (Sasw) Method

Spectral analysis of surface waves (SASW) is a non-destructive and in situ method for determining the stiffness profile of soil and pavement sites. The method consists of generation, measurement, and processing of dispersive elastic waves in layered systems. The test is performed on the pavement surface at strain level below 0.001%, where the elastic properties are considered independent of strain amplitude. During an SASW test, the surface of the medium under investigation is subject to an impact to generate energy at various frequencies. Two vertical acceleration transducers are set up near the impact source to detect the energy transmitted through the testing media. By recording signals in digitised form using a data acquisition system and processing them, surface wave velocities can be determined by constructing a dispersion curve. Through forward modeling, the shear wave velocities can be obtained, which can be related to the variation of stiffness with depth. This paper presents the results of two case studies for near-surface profiling of two different asphalt pavement sites.

Fuzzy Logic Controller Design for Intelligent Air-Conditioning System

Inefficient air cooling systems may cause of wasting energy in a great amount specially in the urban area. Being the most popular cooling system, air-conditioners have been used in domestic usage as well as in industrial applications. However, the unintelligent nature of such cooling system gives rise to excess energy consumption which causes a huge problem in the current energy hungry world. In this paper, we present design of a fuzzy logic controller for the intelligent air-conditioning system. The performance of the controller is also simulated. The proposed controller has the adaptive nature to control fan and compressor speed which leads to reducing power consumption. Also, the system controls the operation mode to retain the healthy oxygen level and humid condition of the indoor environment

A diagnostic expert system to overcome construction problems in rigid highway pavement

Constructing highway pavements faces complex problems, which are affected by multiple factors, where solution is nearly impossible without expert assistance. Diagnosing such construction problems and suggesting most suitable cost efficient solutions requires significant engineering expertise, which might not be available in all construction sites due to inadequate resource and remote locations. Developing an expert system in this domain is a very effective way to help novice engineers to overcome these problems and to learn about them. Moreover, the system can be used as an archive to document engineering knowledge and to share expertise among the experts in this domain. This article describes the development and evaluation stages of such a system, including knowledge acquisition, knowledge representation, system building, and system verification and validation. The initial knowledge is acquired from literature reviews. More expert knowledge is elicited through interviews and questionnaires. This knowledge is documented, analyzed, represented, and converted to computer software using the Visual Basic programming language and the system is called ES-CCPRHP. The system has been verified and validated in three ways: by extensive testing, comparison between system performance and expert reasoning, and case study. It can therefore be employed with confidence by end users. First published online: 24 Oct 201

A multimedia courseware for human heart anatomical and functional illustration

Advances in computer science have provided unique opportunities to apply Interactive Multimedia (IMM) courseware to a wide variety of medical and health care functions. Courseware can be called an easy to learn, teachable and course materials which is an important in Information Communication Technology world today. It helps the learners/students to improve their knowledge, skills and creativity. One area which holds the high ability for using computer systems is medical and health science education. This paper describes the design of an IMM courseware for learning about Human Heart. It proposes a Human Heart Anatomical and Functional Illustration (HHAFI) courseware for students, health officials and everyone interested in having a healthy heart. The HHAFI courseware is implemented by Toolbook Instructor and presented on Windows platform. The courseware includes an introduction that describes the heart and recall such as mechanisms of the heart, heart diseases, healthy tips and living a healthy lifestyle. The HHAFI courseware is tested with the student to identify the improvement in their knowledge and measure the level of interest in the topic. The HHAFI courseware provides learning and interactive training functions for interested individuals

Case study of the effectiveness of passive grease trap for management on domestic kitchen waste water

Household waste, generally known as trash or garbage is mostly includes food wastes, product packaging, and other miscellaneous inorganic wastes that are coming from domestic household. Grease waste such as oil and fats can contaminate water and also clot on pipes provoking blockages. Thus, waste water from kitchen sink need a proper way of filtration. Grease trap developed in this paper is viable in trapping the grease residue. The experiments have been conducted in controlled environment and the objectives are to investigate the effectiveness of grease trap by proving the existence of retention time and the expected ratio of collected water and oil during experiment process using a prototype model

High growth rate using new type demand feeding system with image processing program and fish behavior.

Demand feeding system serves feeds to fish, when fish switch on feeders. Although demand feeding system has advantages, it still has problems, e.g. hierarchy problem of fish school and system learning period problem for fish. New type of demand feeding system was develop to solve these problems using fish behaviour and image processing system. At first, behaviour experiment was conducted using the image processing software Roborealm to obtain the optimum parameter for computer program. Through the behaviour experiment, two typical behaviour patterns were detected. When fish was hungry, fish group came to the water surface (H: parameter >63%), and when fish was not hungry, fish came to bottom (L: <45%) of fish tank. These two parameters were obtained and were put into the computer program in the workstation. HD Wi-Fi camera continuously recorded the real time fish behaviour in fish tank, and when fish group came to above the “H”, then the command was sent from workstation to microcomputer to send the order to feeding device to feed on. The results of feeding experiment showed this system could provide pellets to fish day and night time equally following fish behaviour. This feeding system could provide the pellets to fish based on fish requirements. The growth rate was higher than other feeding system (timer feeder and demand feeder using an infrared light sensor)