A possibilistic clustering approach to novel fault detection and isolation

In this paper, a new approach for fault detection and isolation that is based on the possibilistic clustering algorithm is proposed. Fault detection and isolation (FDI) is shown here to be a pattern classification problem, which can be solved using clustering and classification techniques. A possibilistic clustering based approach is proposed here to address some of the shortcomings of the fuzzy c-means (FCM) algorithm. The probabilistic constraint imposed on the membership value in the FCM algorithm is relaxed in the possibilistic clustering algorithm. Because of this relaxation, the possibilistic approach is shown in this paper to give more consistent results in the context of the FDI tasks. The possibilistic clustering approach has also been used to detect novel fault scenarios, for which the data was not available while training. Fault signatures that change as a function of the fault intensities are represented as fault lines, which have been shown to be useful to classify faults that can manifest with different intensities. The proposed approach has been validated here through simulations involving a benchmark quadruple tank process and also through experimental case studies on the same setup. For large scale systems, it is proposed to use the possibilistic clustering based approach in the lower dimensional approximations generated by algorithms such as PCA. Towards this end, finally, we also demonstrate the key merits of the algorithm for plant wide monitoring study using a simulation of the benchmark Tennessee Eastman problem.     

Performance of thermostatic and electronic valves controlling the compressor capacity

The performance of the energy consumption of an electronic valve and a classical thermostatic valve has been compared when these expansion valves are adopted in a vapour compression plant subjected to a cold store. The main aim is to verify experimentally which type of expansion valve would be preferable from energy point of view when a classical thermostat or a fuzzy logic algorithm are used as the control system for the refrigeration capacity. The fuzzy logic‐based control is able to modulate continuously the compressor speed through an inverter. The results show that with a fuzzy algorithm, the thermostatic expansion valve allows an energy saving of about 8% in comparison with the electronic valve. When on–off control is used, the electric energy consumption obtained both with the electronic valve and with the thermostatic valve is comparable. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Visible transmission spectroscopy for the assessment of egg freshness

The objective of this research was to investigate the feasibility of visible transmission spectroscopy for the non‐destructive assessment of the freshness of an individual egg. A total of 600 intact white‐shelled eggs of the same flock (Lohmann, 40 weeks of age) were measured. To obtain a considerable variation in freshness, groups consisting of 60 eggs were stored (18 °C, 55% RH) for 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 days. The non‐destructive spectral measurements were compared with the two most widely used destructive freshness parameters, namely Haugh units and albumen pH. A partial least squares (PLS1) model was built in order to predict Haugh units and pH of the albumen based on the transmission spectra. The correlation coefficients between the predicted value and the measured value were 0.842 and 0.867 for Haugh unit and pH of the albumen, respectively. These results show that the light transmission spectrum of an egg provides quantitative information about egg freshness. Relevant information concerning egg freshness is restricted to the interval between 570 and 750 nm. Furthermore, the models obtained for both destructive parameters were strikingly similar, indicating that Haugh unit and pH have the same physico‐chemical background. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry     

Effect of surface waxes on the persistence of chlorpyrifos-methyl in apples, strawberries and grapefruits

The effects of the cuticle and epicuticular waxes of grapefruit, strawberry and apple on the photodegradation and penetration of chlorpyrifos-methyl were studied. Photodegradation experiments were conducted by exposing the insecticide to the light of a xenon lamp in the presence of a film of wax extracted from the fruit surface. The half-life of chlorpyrifos-methyl irradiated in absence of waxes was 9.6 min. The half-lives of pesticide irradiated in the presence of wax extracts of apple, grapefruit and strawberry were 83, 34 and 26 min, respectively. In penetration studies, fruit with and without wax layers were treated with an aqueous suspension of pesticide. The penetration of the pesticide from the cuticle to the pulp was measured after 24 h. Samples without wax contained a higher total amount of insecticide than those with wax. No pesticide was detected in samples of apple and grapefruit pulp. Residues were detected in all fractions of strawberry. The waxes and cuticle appear to have some effect on the photodegradation and penetration of chlorpyrifos-methyl in fruit samples.     

Fast Positive Feedback Between the Adrenocortical Stress Response and a Brain Mechanism Involved in Aggressive Behavior.

Aggressive behavior induces an adrenocortical stress response, and sudden stressors often precipitate violent behavior. Experiments in rats revealed a fast, mutual, positive feedback between the adrenocortical stress response and a brain mechanism controlling aggression. Stimulation of the aggressive area in the hypothalamus rapidly activated the adrenocortical response, even in the absence of an opponent and fighting. Hypothalamic aggression, in turn, was rapidly facilitated by a corticosterone injection in rats in which the natural adrenocortical stress response was prevented by adrenalectomy. The rapidity of both effects points to a fast, mutual, positive feedback of the controlling mechanisms within the time frame of a single conflict. Such a mutual facilitation may contribute to the precipitation and escalation of violent behavior under stressful conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Formulation of a ceramic ink for a wide-array drop-on-demand ink-jet printer

This paper describes the methodology for simulating a reprographic ink with a ceramic ink based on a commercially available zirconia powder for direct ceramic ink-jet printing. Of over-riding importance was matching viscosity and this was tested systematically by using a mineral oil–hexane binary system. Of secondary importance was adjustment of the pressure defect behind the nozzle to compensate for small differences in surface tension. The inks tested in the wide array print-head were based on low electrical conductivity liquids to avoid damage to the electroding system. The organic binder for the zirconia ink was paraffin wax and the dispersant was a hydroxystearic acid based polyester.     

Anti-collusion fingerprinting for multimedia

Digital fingerprinting is a technique for identifying users who use multimedia content for unintended purposes, such as redistribution. These fingerprints are typically embedded into the content using watermarking techniques that are designed to be robust to a variety of attacks. A cost-effective attack against such digital fingerprints is collusion, where several differently marked copies of the same content are combined to disrupt the underlying fingerprints. We investigate the problem of designing fingerprints that can withstand collusion and allow for the identification of colluders. We begin by introducing the collusion problem for additive embedding. We then study the effect that averaging collusion has on orthogonal modulation. We introduce a tree-structured detection algorithm for identifying the fingerprints associated with K colluders that requires O(Klog(n/K)) correlations for a group of n users. We next develop a fingerprinting scheme based on code modulation that does not require as many basis signals as orthogonal modulation. We propose a new class of codes, called anti-collusion codes (ACCs), which have the property that the composition of any subset of K or fewer codevectors is unique. Using this property, we can therefore identify groups of K or fewer colluders. We present a construction of binary-valued ACC under the logical AND operation that uses the theory of combinatorial designs and is suitable for both the on-off keying and antipodal form of binary code modulation. In order to accommodate n users, our code construction requires only O(/spl radic/n) orthogonal signals for a given number of colluders. We introduce three different detection strategies that can be used with our ACC for identifying a suspect set of colluders. We demonstrate the performance of our ACC for fingerprinting multimedia and identifying colluders through experiments using Gaussian signals and real images.