Asymptotically optimum detection of primary user in cognitive radio networks

Traditionally, the frequency spectrum is licensed to users by government agencies in a fixed manner where the licensee has exclusive right to access the allocated band. However, with increasing demand for the spectrum and scarcity of vacant bands, a spectrum policy reform seems inevitable. Meanwhile, recent measurements suggest the possibility of sharing spectrum among different parties subject to interference-protection constraints. In order to enable access to an unused licensed spectrum, a secondary user has to monitor licensed bands and opportunistically transmit whenever no primary signal is detected. Spectrum-sharing between a primary licensee and a group of secondary users has been studied. The structure of an asymptotically optimum detector based on the measurements of all secondary users is derived and the effect of the quantisation error in such a system is evaluated. Also, it is shown that by using the proposed detector in a sequential detection structure, it is possible to shorten the decision time needed by the detector. The results show the superiority of the proposed detector to other schemes.     

An experimental study of a cross-flow type plate heat exchanger for dehumidification/cooling

The thermal and dehumidification behaviour of a standard cross-flow type plate heat exchanger, intended for use as a dehumidifier/cooler, has been investigated both experimentally and numerically. Three sets of experiments have been carried out where air is blown into the primary and secondary sides of the exchanger, while water and liquid desiccant were being sprayed in a counter flow arrangement. The first set represents the indirect evaporative cooling of the primary stream by the secondary air stream. The second set is with liquid desiccant only and no indirect evaporative cooling. In the third set of experiments the primary air stream is indirectly evaporatively cooled by the secondary air stream and dehumidified by the liquid desiccant sprayed into the primary side of the exchanger. The above experiments indicate that the heat exchanger performs well when used with liquid desiccant. Furthermore, for an exchanger angle of 45°, there is an optimum value of air mass flow rate at which the effectiveness and dehumidification efficiency of the plate heat exchanger are maxima. To investigate the effect of the ambient air conditions on the PHE performance, further experiments were carried out using a heater element and a humidifier. The results show that under laboratory conditions the exchanger effectiveness and dehumidification efficiency increase with increasing primary air inlet temperature and humidity ratio. The experimental results were used to validate a computer model developed for the cross-flow type plate heat exchanger/dehumidifier. Comparison indicates that the numerical results are in good agreement with the experiments.     

Optimizing the Runoff Estimation with HEC-HMS Model Using Spatial Evapotranspiration by the SEBS Model

Most of the commonly used hydrological models do not account for the actual evapotranspiration (ETa) as a key contributor to water loss in semi-arid/arid regions. In this study, the HEC-HMS (Hydrologic Engineering Center Hydrologic Modeling System) model was calibrated, modified, and its performance in simulating runoff resulting from short-duration rainfall events was evaluated. The model modifications included integrating spatially distributed ETa, calculated using the surface energy balance system (SEBS), into the model. Evaluating the model’s performance in simulating runoff showed that the default HEC-HMS model underestimated the runoff with root mean squared error (RMSE) of 0.14 m³/s (R²?=?0.92) while incorporating SEBS ETa into the model reduced RMSE to 0.01 m³/s (R²?=?0.99). The integration of HECHMS and SEBS resulted in smaller and more realistic latent heat flux estimates translated into a lower water loss rate and a higher magnitude of runoff simulated by the HECHMS model. The difference between runoff simulations using the default and modified model translated into an average of 95,000 m³ runoff per rainfall event (equal to seasonal water requirement of ten-hectare winter wheat) that could be planned and triggered for agricultural purposes, flood harvesting, and groundwater recharge in the region. The effect of ETa on the simulated runoff volume is expected to be more pronounced during high evaporative demand periods, longer rainfall events, and larger catchments. The outcome of this study signifies the importance of implementing accurate estimates of evapotranspiration into a hydrological model.

     

A game attention model for efficient bit rate allocation in cloud gaming

The widespread availability of broadband internet access and the growth in server-based processing have provided an opportunity to run games away from the player into the cloud and offer a new promising service known as cloud gaming. The concept of cloud gaming is to render a game in the cloud and stream the resulting game scenes to the player as a video sequence over a broadband connection. To meet the stringent network bandwidth requirements of cloud gaming and support more players, efficient bit rate reduction techniques are needed. In this paper, we introduce the concept of game attention model (GAM), which is basically a game context-based visual attention model, as a means for reducing the bit rate of the streaming video more efficiently. GAM estimates the importance of each macro-block in a game frame from the player’s perspective and allows encoding the less important macro-blocks with lower bit rate. We have evaluated nine game video sequences, covering a wide range of game genre and a spectrum of scene content in terms of details, motion and brightness. Our subjective assessment shows that by integrating this model into the cloud gaming framework, it is possible to decrease the required bit rate by nearly 25 % on average, while maintaining a relatively high user quality of experience. This clearly enables players with limited communication resources to benefit from cloud gaming with acceptable quality.     

THE EFFECT OF PRECIPITATION PARAMETERS ON PREPARATION OF LITHIUM FLUORIDE (LIF) NANO-POWDER

Lithium fluoride powder (LiF) is a white powder with a density of 2.64 gr/cm³ and a melting point of 848°C. This powder has several applications such as flux, glaze, soldering, and aluminum melting process, but one of the most important uses of this powder is its application in dosimetry. The commercial powders currently used for this purpose have average sizes of 5 to 10 micrometers; the objective of this research is to produce LiF powder with nano-metric particle size. In this study, the reaction of LiOH + HF → LiF + H₂O has been selected from among several reactions that were able to produce LiF powder, and some precipitation parameters such as temperature, time, agitation type, and supersaturation degree have been controlled. The morphology, phase analysis, and particle size distribution of the resulting powders were analyzed by SEM, XRD, and LPSA. Finally, lithium fluoride nano-powder was synthesized at a temperature of 25°C, pH about 2-3, reaction time less than 1 s, and agitation by ultrasonic bath.     

Modeling of Hydrogen Permeation through Pd Membrane on Ceramic Supports Activated via Pd Nanoparticles–TiO2–Bohemite Suspension

Theoretical Foundations of Chemical Engineering - Thin dense Pd composite membrane was prepared via electroless plating method. Pd nanoparticles embedded polyethylene glycol (PEG) was used in...     

Investigation of Creep Feed Grinding Parameters and Heat treatment Effects on the Nickel-base Superalloys

The Nickel base Superalloys are the most famous complicated and useable of Superalloys to make hot zone components of the gas turbines. The complicated dimensional tolerances, specially at the root of the blade show importance of grinding processes at the production of blades root. The prediction of the effect of machining parameters on the soundness of component surface strengthening for reaching to a suitable surface finishing and avoiding from crack formation at the work part during machining operation often is not easy and feasible so needs to more industrial investigation.This research is about frame 5 blade designed by GE and made from Superalloy IN738LC has been investigated. The formation of a plastically deformed and heat affected zone during grinding of Superalloy IN738LC with a high depth of cut but slow work speed (creep feed grinding) was investigated. Parameters such as work speed, depth of cut and radial dressing speed have been considered as variables and their effects have been studied. During experimental performed, the voltage and current of motor measured and power and special energy calculated.Some samples heat-treated (of the 1176℃ for 1 hr under neutral argon gas and cooling rate of 15℃/min up to 537℃ and then air cooling) to study grains recrystallization. Other samples have been created from the roots of blades and then coated by Nickel to measure boundary layer micro-hardness. The results show that increasing work speed leads to increasing the use power. Increasing the depth of cut, by increasing material removal rate, and the radial dressing speed, by decreasing power, lead to decreasing special energy. The temperature created by grinding lead to decreasing plastic deformation and boundary layer formation. When the radial dressing speed changes from 1 to 0.6μm/rev and other parameters are kept unchanged the roughness of surface increases and the special energy decreases. Sufficient dressing is very essential in limiting the width of the molten zone to few micrometers. As a result, it was found that local melting at contact spots to be a rather common mechanism during grinding of superalloys, lead to so-called white layers which can easily be observed on metallographic cross sections.     

Design, fabrication and control of a magnetic capsule-robot for the human esophagus

Much research on the development of a robotic capsule and micro robot for the diagnosis of gastrointestinal diseases has been carried out. The powering of these micro systems is becoming very challenging as the implementation of such systems is limited due to the existence of on-board power supplies. This paper presents a micro robotic system based on magnetic principles. The goal is to build a system in which a capsule-robot can be manipulated wirelessly inside an enclosed environment such as human??s body. A prototype of capsule-robot is built and tested, that can be remotely operated with three DOF in an enclosed environment by transferring magnetic energy and electromagnetic waves. A magnetic drive unit generates magnetic energy for the manipulation. Experimental results show the capsule-robot is manipulated and moved through a desired trajectory in a viscous fluid. The capsule-robot can be potentially used for endoscopy and colonoscopy.     

Operational Regimes and Physics Present in Optoelectronic Tweezers

Optoelectronic tweezers (OET) are a powerful light-based technique for the manipulation of micro- and nanoscopic particles. In addition to an optically patterned dielectrophoresis (DEP) force, other light-induced electrokinetic and thermal effects occur in the OET device. In this paper, we present a comprehensive theoretical and experimental investigation of various fluidic, optical, and electrical effects present during OET operation. These effects include DEP, light-induced ac electroosmosis, electrothermal flow, and buoyancy-driven flow. We present finite-element modeling of these effects to establish the dominant mode for a given set of device parameters and bias conditions. These results are confirmed experimentally and present a comprehensive outline of the operational regimes of the OET device.     

An integrated model for closed-loop supply chain configuration and supplier selection: Multi-objective approach

Reverse logistics consists of all operations related to the reuse of products. External suppliers are one of the important members of reverse logistics and closed loop supply chain (CLSC) networks. However in CLSC network configuration models, suppliers are assessed based on purchasing cost and other factors such as on-time delivery are ignored. In this research, a general closed loop supply chain network is examined that includes manufacturer, disassembly, refurbishing, and disposal sites. Meanwhile, it is managed by the manufacturer. We propose an integrated model which has two phases. In the first phase, a framework for supplier selection criteria in RL is proposed. Besides, a fuzzy method is designed to evaluate suppliers based on qualitative criteria. The output of this stage is the weight of each supplier according to each part. In the second phase, we propose a multi objective mixed-integer linear programming model to determine which suppliers and refurbishing sites should be selected (strategic decisions), and find out the optimal number of parts and products in CLSC network (tactical decisions). The objective functions maximize profit and weights of suppliers, and one of them minimizes defect rates. To our knowledge, this model is the first effort to consider supplier selection, order allocation, and CLSC network configuration, simultaneously. The mathematical programming model is validated through numerical analysis.