Data warehouse access using multi-agent system

The new approach that we will propose, in this paper deals with the dynamic data distribution of the data warehouse (DWH) on a set of servers. This distribution is different from the “classical” one which depends on how data is used. It consists in distributing data when the machine reaches its storage limit capacity. The proposed approach insures the scalability and exploits the storage and processing resources available in the organization using the DWH. It is worth noting that our approach is based on a multi-agent model mixed with the scalability distribution proposed by the Scalable Distributed Data Structures. Our multi-agent model is made up of stationary agent classes: Client, Dispatcher, Domain and Server, and a mobile agent class: Messenger. These agents collaborate and achieve automatically the storage, splitting, redirection and access operations on the distributed DWH. In this paper, we focus on the global dynamic for the data access operation and we present the inherent experimental results.     

Compatibility study in poly(tetramethyleneadipate‐co‐terephthalate)/polystyrene bioblends

Bioblends of the biodegradable copolyester poly(tetramethyleneadipate‐co‐terephthalate) (EBU) and polystyrene (PS) were prepared in different weight compositions on a twin‐screw extruder at 160–200°C. The various bioblend compositions were then investigated using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), modulated differential scanning calorimetry (MDSC), and Fourier transform infrared photoacoustic spectroscopy (FTIR‐PAS). TGA studies showed that 25/75 and 50/50 EBU/PS blends had higher thermal stability than the more thermally stable blend component, PS. The MDSC studies showed a single T_g and single T_m for the blends, that were concentration independent. The FTIR‐PAS studies indicated a small shift (4–8 cm^?1) in the carbonyl absorption peaks of EBU to lower wavenumbers in 50/50 EBU/PS blend relative to that of neat EBU. It is concluded that, while the MDSC results were inconclusive, the TGA and FTIR‐PAS results support the existence of some degree of intermolecular interaction between EBU and PS components and, hence, partial compatibility in EBU/PS blends. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

High-level design flow and environment for FPGA-based dynamic partial reconfiguration

The main motivation of this paper is related to the lack of a high-level design flow for field-programmable gate array (FPGA) partial dynamic reconfiguration management. Our contribution consists in proposing a high-level add-on methodology to the Xilinx’s design flow for dynamic partial reconfiguration (DPR). The main objective is to give an abstract view of the developed application in order to facilitate the designer task. The suggested design flow offers an application-centric view on dynamic reconfiguration designs, which permits simplifying the optimisation and generation of such designs. A new formulation of the reconfigurable modules’ mapping process is put forward. This allows a design space exploration so as to find the convenient number of reconfigurable regions and their sizes as well as the reconfiguration sequence. A new tool was proposed to support our methodology by allowing creating and synthesising graphical models of the developed application. We introduce a new block diagram to represent this latter and a sequence model that can be used for the design optimisations. To validate the proposed DPR design environment, two application examples are given at the end of the paper. They demonstrate the usefulness of the suggested models and methods.     

Fractal Growth of Ferrite Nanoparticles Prepared by Citrate-Gel Auto-Combustion Method

Silicon - We report a tree fractal growth of ferrite nanoparticles prepared by Citrate-Gel Auto-Combustion method. We compared the growth pattern of CuFe2O4, Cr2FeO4, CdFe2O4, MgFe2O4, and...     

Improved algorithm for radial distribution networks load flow solution

The main aim of this paper is to present an improved method to solve load flow problem in balanced radial distribution systems with laterals. The method is efficient and easy to implement. Based on electric circuit laws, this method is iterative and allows the evaluation of both, voltage (rms) values and phase-angles. The phase-angles although of small values become necessary in the reactive energy optimisation problem. To solve the load flow in lines with laterals, a simple technique of determining nodes beyond each branch is given. Speed convergence was increased by an appropriate choice of initial voltages. The method requires a small number of iterations and less computational time. It has been used successfully in several line examples. The obtained results for voltage magnitudes and deviation-angles are found to be very close to those of previous works.     

Disturbance decoupling control of an ultra-high speed centrifugal compressor for the air management of fuel cell systems

This paper presents a control solution based on dynamic disturbance decoupling control (DDC) for a centrifugal compression system, which is used to supply the compressed air to the fuel cell, thereby reacting with the hydrogen to produce electricity. As a result of its ultra-high speed, this compressor has a great advantage of ultra-compactness, which makes it more suitable for transportation applications. However, unlike positive displacement compressors, the centrifugal compressor has strong coupling between mass flow and pressure, which gives rise to the difficulty of control and also limits its operating region. In this paper, a unique dynamic DDC strategy, based on the active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) framework, is developed to control the mass flow and pressure simultaneously. The experimental results show that, compared with a traditional PI controller this controller performs better in both the transient and steady states. This control system has been validated on a 10 kW fuel cell model under load variations.     

Purification of Wet‐Process Phosphoric Acid by Hydrogen Peroxide Oxidation,Activated Carbon Adsorption and Electrooxidation

In this work, three technologies are studied for the purification of phosphoric acid produced by the wet process: chemical oxidation with hydrogen peroxide, adsorption onto activated carbon, and electrochemical oxidation by boron‐doped diamond anodes. The treatment of wet‐process phosphoric acid by chemical oxidation with H₂O₂ as oxidizing agent can remove 75 % of the initial TOC as maximum, indicating that this wet‐process phosphoric acid contains an important amount of organics that cannot be oxidized by hydrogen peroxide under the operation conditions used. High temperatures and hydrogen peroxide/TOC ratios close to 150 g H₂O₂/g TOC allow obtaining the best chemical oxidation results. The adsorption onto activated carbon can remove between 40 and 60 % of the initial TOC as maximum. Adsorption times of 2 hours and activated carbon/WPA ratios close to 12 g AC/Kg WTP assure both steady state and maximum adsorption of organics. The electrochemical process is the only technique by which complete mineralization of WPA organics can be achieved. Operating at 60 mA cm^–2 and at room temperature, high current efficiencies are achieved which only seem to decrease by mass transport limitations.     

Group vertical handoff management in heterogeneous networks

Traditional vertical handover schemes postulate that vertical handovers (VHOs) of users come on an individual basis. This enables users to know previously the decision already made by other users, and then the choice will be accordingly made. However, in case of group mobility, almost all VHO decisions of all users, in a given group (e.g., passengers on board a bus or a train equipped with smart phones or laptops), will be made at the same time. This concept is called group vertical handover (GVHO). When all VHO decisions of a large number of users are made at the same time, the system performance may degrade and network congestion may occur. In this paper, we propose two fully decentralized algorithms for network access selection, and that is based on the concept of congestion game to resolve the problem of network congestion in group mobility scenarios. Two learning algorithms, dubbed Sastry Algorithm and Q‐Learning Algorithm, are envisioned. Each one of these algorithms helps mobile users in a group to reach the nash equilibrium in a stochastic environment. The nash equilibrium represents a fair and efficient solution according to which each mobile user is connected to a single network and has no intention to change his decision to improve his throughput. This shall help resolve the problem of network congestion caused by GVHO. Simulation results validate the proposed algorithms and show their efficiency in achieving convergence, even at a slower pace. To achieve fast convergence, we also propose a heuristic method inspired from simulated annealing and incorporated in a hybrid learning algorithm to speed up convergence time and maintain efficient solutions. The simulation results also show the adaptability of our hybrid algorithm with decreasing step size‐simulated annealing (DSS‐SA) for high mobility group scenario. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wind energy in Egypt: Economic feasibility for Cairo

Motivated by the rise of the electricity tariffs applied on industrial customer and the frequent electricity cut offs recently experienced in Egypt, this paper assesses the economic feasibility of installing a stand alone wind energy technology by an industrial customer who seeks to reduce his dependency on the national grid. For this purpose, the wind energy potential at the wind regime of Cairo was chosen to be assessed using half an hour wind speed data for a full one-year period (2009). The Weibull parameters of the wind speed distribution function were estimated by employing the maximum likelihood approach. The estimation revealed that Cairo has poor wind resources. Despite the poor resources, the financial analysis has shown that under certain parameters the wind project can prove to be financially viable. Thus harnessing wind energy through stand alone systems can help in meeting the industries electric power needs.