Parallel cycle-based branch-and-bound method for Bayesian network learning

Pattern Analysis and Applications - Bayesian networks (BNs) are one of the most commonly used models for representing uncertainty in medical diagnosis. Learning the exact structure of a BN is a...     

Experimental investigations of a gamma Stirling engine

The present work deals with the measurement and performance of a gamma Stirling engine of 500 W of mechanical shaft power and 600 rpm of maximal revolutions per minute. Series of measurements concerning the pressure distribution, temperature evolution, and brake power were performed. The study of the different functioning parameters such as initial charge pressure, engine velocity, cooling water flowrate, and temperature gradient (between the sources of heat) has been analyzed. The engine brake power increases with the initial charge pressure, with the cooling water flow, and with the engine revolutions per minute. The working fluid temperature measurements have been recorded in different locations symmetrically along both regenerator sides. The recorded temperature in regenerator side one is about 252 °C and about 174 °C in the opposite side (side two). It shows an asymmetric temperature distribution in the Stirling engine regenerator; consequently, heat transfer inside this porous medium is deteriorated. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Real time simulation of nonlinear generalized predictive control for wind energy conversion system with nonlinear observer

In order to make a wind power generation truly cost-effective and reliable, an advanced control techniques must be used. In this paper, we develop a new control strategy, using nonlinear generalized predictive control (NGPC) approach, for DFIG-based wind turbine. The proposed control law is based on two points: NGPC-based torque-current control loop generating the rotor reference voltage and NGPC-based speed control loop that provides the torque reference. In order to enhance the robustness of the controller, a disturbance observer is designed to estimate the aerodynamic torque which is considered as an unknown perturbation. Finally, a real-time simulation is carried out to illustrate the performance of the proposed controller.     

Experimental design of a fuzzy controller for improving power factor of boost rectifier

This article presents the design and the implementation of dSPACE DS1104 controller board-based PI and fuzzy logic peak current-mode controllers in the voltage loop and two controllers in the current loop based first on a standard fixed hysteresis band control, followed by a variable hysteresis band control to achieve constant switching frequency for a single-phase active power factor corrector in the continuous conduction mode. All these controllers have been verified via simulation in Simulink and a real-time implementation is performed on an experimental test bench utilising a rapid prototyping tool. The controllers are experimentally compared for steady-state performance and transient response. It is shown that the PI and fuzzy logic controllers give a superior steady-state performance, whereas the fuzzy logic inference based controller can achieve better dynamic response than its PI counterpart under large load disturbance and plant uncertainties. Furthermore, the variable hysteresis band control in the current loop gives a low total harmonic distortion of the input current compared to a standard fixed hysteresis band control.     

Liquid hydrocarbon fuels from fish oil industrial residues by catalytic cracking

In the present work, catalytic cracking of fish oil industrial residue was investigated to study the effect of temperature, type of catalyst and the heating rate on the yield of organic liquid fraction (OLF) and its acid value. The highest bio‐oil yield of 72% (wt.) was obtained at temperature range of 300–500 °C and heating rate of 10 °C/min with the mixture of Al₂O₃ and Na₂CO₃ as a catalyst. It was found that the mixture of Na₂CO₃ and MgSO₄ as a catalyst gives lowest acid value of 8.75 mg_KOH/g_oil and 68.1% of OLF yield. Furthermore, the acid value is reduced to 0.36 mg_KOH/g_oil using Na₂CO₃ as an absorbent. The results show that the catalytic cracking process represents a sustainable method to produce bio‐oil from fish oil industrial residues with physicochemical characteristics similar to the diesel fuel. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Answering content and structure-based queries on XML documents using relevance propagation

As XML documents contain both content and structure information, taking advantage of the document structure in the retrieval process can lead to better identify relevant information units. In this paper, we describe an information retrieval (IR) approach dealing with queries composed of content and structure conditions. The XFIRM model we propose is designed to be as flexible as possible to process such queries. It is based on a complete query language, derived from XPath and on a relevance values propagation method. This paper aims at evaluating functions used in the propagation process, and particularly the use of distance between nodes as a parameter. The proposed method is evaluated, thanks to the INEX evaluation initiative. Results show a relative high precision of our proposal.     

Effect of RC wall on the development of plastic rotation in the beams of RC frame structures

The objective of this study is, to interpret the influence of reinforced concrete walls addition in reinforced concrete frame structures considering behavior laws that reflects the actual behavior of such structures, by means of Castem2000computer code (pushover analysis). A finite element model is proposed in this study, using the TAKEDA modified behavior model with Timoshenko beams elements. This model is validated initially on experimental model. Then the work has focused on the behavior of a RC frame with 3 levels and three bays to better visualize the behavior of plastic hinges. Once the plastic hinge control parameters are identified (plastic rotation, ultimate curvature), a strengthening by introduction of reinforced concrete walls (RC/wall) at the ends of the reinforced concrete frame (RC/frame) has been performed. The results show that these RC walls significantly improve the behavior, by a relocation of efforts towards the central part of the beams.     

Using structural similarity for clustering XML documents

In this paper, we describe a method for clustering XML documents. Its goal is to group documents sharing similar structures. Our approach is two-step. We first automatically extract the structure from each XML document to be classified. This extracted structure is then used as a representation model to classify the corresponding XML document. The idea behind the clustering is that if XML documents share similar structures, they are more likely to correspond to the structural part of the same query. Finally, for the experimentation purpose, we tested our algorithms on both real (ACM SIGMOD Record corpus) and synthetic data. The results clearly demonstrate the interest of our approach.