Power quality diagnosis using time frequency analysis and rule based techniques

Diagnosing a power quality disturbance means identifying the type and cause of the disturbance. Fast diagnosis of power quality disturbances is important so as to assist network operators in performing counter measures and implementing suitable power quality mitigation actions. In this study a novel method for performing power quality diagnosis is presented by using the S-transform and rule based classification techniques. The proposed power quality diagnosis method was evaluated for its functionality in detecting the type of short duration voltage disturbances and identifying the cause of the disturbances which may be due to permanent or non permanent faults. Based on the results, this new method has the potential to be used in the existing real time power quality monitoring system in Malaysia to expedite the diagnosis on the recorded voltage disturbances.     

Consistency of noise covariance estimation in joint input–output closed-loop subspace identification with application in LQG benchmarking

The LQG trade-off curve has been used as a benchmark for control loop performance assessment. The subspace approach to estimating the LQG benchmark has been proposed in the literature which requires certain intermediate matrices in subspace identification as well as the covariance matrix of the noise. It is shown in this paper that many existing closed-loop identification methods do not give a consistent estimate of the noise covariance matrix. As a result, we propose an alternative subspace formulation for the joint input–output closed-loop identification for which the consistency of the required subspace matrices and noise covariance is guaranteed. Simulation studies and experimental results are provided to demonstrate the utility of the proposed method.     

Short-term and long-term memory analysis of learning using 2D and 3D educational contents

ABSTRACT

The effect of 2D and 3D educational content learning on memory has been studied using electroencephalography (EEG) brain signal. A hypothesis is set that the 3D materials are better than the 2D materials for learning and memory recall. To test the hypothesis, we proposed a classification system that will predict true or false recall for short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM) after learning by either 2D or 3D educational contents. For this purpose, EEG brain signals are recorded during learning and testing; the signals are then analysed in the time domain using different types of features in various frequency bands. The features are then fed into a support vector machine (SVM)-based classifier. The experimental results indicate that the learning and memory recall using 2D and 3D contents do not have significant differences for both the STM and the LTM.     

A survey on search results diversification techniques

The quantity of information placed on the web has been greater than before and is increasing rapidly day by day. Searching through the huge amount of data and finding the most relevant and useful result set involves searching, ranking, and presenting the results. Most of the users probe into the top few results and neglect the rest. In order to increase user’s satisfaction, the presented result set should not only be relevant to the search topic, but should also present a variety of perspectives, that is, the results should be different from one another. The effectiveness of web search and the satisfaction of users can be enhanced through providing various results of a search query in a certain order of relevance and concern. The technique used to avoid presenting similar, though relevant, results to the user is known as a diversification of search results. This article presents a survey of the approaches used for search result diversification. To this end, this article not only provides a technical survey of existing diversification techniques, but also presents a taxonomy of diversification algorithms with respect to the types of search queries.     

Crystal dislocation in SEM with image processing

Image processing algorithm is implemented to detect the grain boundary of the crystal using (SEM) Scanning Electron Microscopy. This paper presents a method for edge-detection in color image based on Sobel, Canny operator’s algorithm and discrete wavelet transform. The performance of these methods is effective and faster. Filtering is another approach to clear the noise of an image. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) used to inspect semiconductor materials and devices for several decades, continues to increase in importance. Removal of noise is an important step in the image restoration process, but de-noising of the image has remained a challenging problem in recent research associated with image process. De-noising is used to remove the noise from corrupted images, while retaining the edges and other detailed features too are an essential part of de-noising.     

Closed loop identification and control loop reconfiguration: an industrial case study

The results of a joint university–industry collaborative project for control loop reconfiguration using closed loop experimental data from a fuel gas pressure control system are described in this paper. The fuel gas pressure was being regulated using a butane stream. For economic reasons, it was necessary to switch control to the ethane stream. Previous attempts at effecting this changeover had proved unsuccessful. In this study, a powerful system identification technique namely Canonical Variate Analysis (CVA) was employed to obtain the empirical plant models. A PI controller was then designed using the direct synthesis method. Acceptable closed loop behavior was obtained with little online tuning.     

Metal-on-metal hip simulator study of increased wear particle surface area due to 'severe' patient activity

This study investigated changes in metal-on-metal (MOM) hip wear and wear particle characteristics arising from a more aggressive patient activity level compared with normal walking. The test hypothesis was that 'severe'-gait conditions will change wear, wear particle sizes, and morphology owing to a decline in joint lubrication. Four carbon MOM hip bearings 40 mm high were subjected to normal-walking and fast-jogging simulations in an orbital hip joint simulator with 25 per cent alpha-calf serum as a lubricant. Co-Cr-Mo wear particles were extracted using an enzymatic method, and prolate ellipsoid equations were used to estimate particle volume and surface area. Fast-jogging simulations generated a sevenfold increase in volumetric wear, a 33 per cent increase in mean wear particle size, and a threefold increase in the number of larger (needle) particles compared with walking. This resulted in a twentyfold increase in total wear particle surface area per 10(6) cycles compared with walking, thereby confirming our hypothesis. The clinical significance of this result suggests that highly active MOM patients may exhibit greater ion release than less active patients.     

Computational haemodynamics: geometry and non-newtonian modelling using spectral/hp element methods

The increased availability of large scale computational facilities is enabling the use of computational modelling for the treatment of complex problems of industrial interest. Computational haemodynamics is an area where improved computational power and algorithmic development have permitted the application in biomechanics of techniques originally devised for direct numerical simulations in others areas of scientific interest. In this paper we present a highly accurate algorithm for the numerical solution of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations which employs a spectral/hp element spatial discretisation and a high-order time splitting. Two important developments discussed in this paper are the coupling of these techniques with unstructured mesh generation, used in many everyday engineering applications, and the introduction of a non-Newtonian viscosity model to account for the shear thinning properties of blood. The proposed method will be applied to the analysis of shear stress distributions in flows of interest in haemodynamics. Received: 5 May 1999 / Accepted: 21 september 1999