Design and performance evaluation of a fuzzy based traffic conditioner for differentiated services

The current Internet can only provide the best-effort services. By growing the Internet and its applications, new services with different requirements are developed. The differentiated services (Diffserv) [S. Blake, M. Carlson, E. Davies, Z. Wang, W. Weiss, An Architecture for Differentiated Services, IETF RFC 2475, 1998; K. Nichols, V. Jacobson, L. Zhang, A Two-bit Differentiated Services Architecture for the Internet, IETF RFC 2638, July 1999; T. Li, Y. Rekhter, A Provider Architecture for Differentiated Services and Traffic Engineering (PASTE), IETF RFC 2430, October 1998] is a scalable model for providing end-to-end quality of services. A Diffserv router consists of different components including classifier, meter, marker, dropper, shaper and scheduler. In this paper, we use the benefits of the fuzzy logic controller to design a fuzzy based traffic conditioner for Internet differentiated services. Our proposed model consists of three major parts: a fuzzy meter/marker (FM), a fuzzy active queue management (FAQM) algorithm and a fuzzy scheduler (FS). The proposed FM used to measure and mark the input traffic is based on the single rate three colors meter (srTCM) mechanism [J. Heinane, et al., A Single Rate Three Color Marker, RFC 2697, September 1999]. The FM meters an IP packet stream and marks its packets GREEN, YELLOW, or RED. The proposed FAQM is a fuzzy implementation of the well-known BLUE active queue management (AQM) algorithm [W. Feng, D. Kandlur, D. Saha, K. Shin, BLUE: A New Class of Active Queue Management Algorithms U. Michigan CSE-TR-387-99, April 1999]. To achieve a good throughput and reasonable packet loss ratio, the proposed FAQM mechanism employs a fuzzy logic controller. The third part of the proposed fuzzy traffic conditioner is FS. It is based on the traditional weighted fair queue (WFQ) mechanism [A. Demers, S. Keshav, S. Shenker, Analysis and simulation of a fair queueing algorithm, in: SIGCOMM Symposium on Communications Architectures and Protocols, Austin, Texas, September 1989, pp. 1–12] that tunes the weight of each queue by a fuzzy logic controller. To evaluate the performance of the proposed model, we developed a software in C++ environment to simulate it. Different network topologies with different traffic parameters were performed. The simulation results easily helped us to judge the merit of the proposed FM, FAQM and FS because of their remarkable performance over the traditional non-fuzzy mechanisms.     

Partial replacement of NR by GTR in thermoplastic elastomer based on LLDPE/NR through using reactive blending: Its effects on morphology,rheological, and mechanical properties

Attempts have been made to use different amount of ground tire rubber (GTR) powder as a partial substitute for natural rubber (NR) in thermoplastic elastomer based on linear low‐density polyethylene (LLDPE, 60 wt%) and NR (40wt%). Maleic anhydride (MA) and dicumyl peroxide (DCP) were used, during melt mixing of the compound, to modify GTR and vulcanize the rubber phases of the blends. Morphology of the blends was studied by scanning electron microscopy and rheological behavior investigated through rheomechanical spectroscopy. Mechanical properties of the blends were also measured, and the effect of GTR concentration on properties was evaluated. Obtained results showed that modification of GTR with MA and using DCP in the blends containing GTR improves the bonding between GTR and matrix. This leads to a distinctive rheological behavior and enhances tensile strength and elongation at break compared to its corresponding simple blend. It can be said that using of MA and DCP during melt mixing of thermoplastic elastomers based on LLDPE/NR containing GTR, concludes to a better dispersion of GTR and formation of morphology similar to that of a dynamic vulcanized thermoplastic elastomer, which improves interfacial bonding between phases and causes a dramatically increase in mechanical properties. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010     

Fish oil microencapsulation as influenced by spray dryer operational variables

The effects of spray‐drying air temperature, aspirator rate (drying air mass flow rate), peristaltic pump rate (feed mass flow rate) and spraying air mass flow rate on microencapsulation properties of fish oil including moisture content, particle size, bulk density, encapsulation efficiency and peroxide were investigated. The process was carried out on a mini spray dryer, and skim milk powder was used as the encapsulating wall material. Results indicated that increasing inlet air temperature increased the particle size, encapsulation efficiency and peroxide value but decreased the bulk density and moisture content of product. Increasing aspirator rate resulted in increased particle size and peroxide value but decreased the moisture content and bulk density. Increase in feed mass flow rate increased the moisture content, particle size, bulk density and peroxide value but decreased the encapsulation efficiency of microcapsules. The encapsulation efficiency and bulk density increased with the increasing aspirator rate but moisture content, particle size and peroxide value decreased.     

Chloride salt type/ionic strength and refrigeration effects on antioxidant enzymes and lipid oxidation in cattle,camel and chicken meat

The effects of NaCl and KCl at varying ionic strengths on catalase and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities and lipid oxidation in ground Longissimus dorsi (LD) of cattle and camel and breast muscle of chicken during refrigerated storage were studied. NaCl and KCl significantly increased 2-thiobarbituric reactive substances (TBARS) and peroxide values. TBARS and peroxide values increased and GSH-Px activity decreased during 4 day storage in the 4 °C, but catalase activity was stable. Salt type had no consistent effect on GSH-Px and catalase activities. Chicken samples had lower enzyme activities and TBARS content than cattle and camel. Their peroxide values were lower than camel samples. Camel meat showed higher catalase activity and TBARS content than cattle meat. Results indicated that negative correlation between lipid oxidation and GSH-Px activity and the accelerated lipid oxidation in salted meat may be partly related to a decrease in GSH-Px activity.     

Pareto Optimal Multigene Genetic Programming for Prediction of Longitudinal Dispersion Coefficient

Water Resources Management - The longitudinal dispersion coefficient (Kx) is fundamental to modeling of pollutant and sediment transport in natural rivers, but a general expression for Kx, with...     

Energy and Exergy Analyses of Thin-Layer Drying of Potato Slices in a Semi-Industrial Continuous Band Dryer

This article is concerned with the energy and exergy analyses of the continuous-convection drying of potato slices. The first and second laws of thermodynamics were used to calculate the energy and exergy. A semi-industrial continuous-band dryer has been designed and used for drying experiments. The equipment has a drying chamber of 2 m length and the inlet air used for drying is heated by gas power. The experiments were conducted on potato slices with thickness of 5 mm at three different air temperatures of 50, 60 and 70°C, drying air mass flow rates of 0.61, 1.22, and 1.83 kg/s and feeding rates of 2.31 × 10^?4, 2.78 × 10^?4, and 3.48 × 10^?4 kg/s. The energy utilization and energy utilization ratio were found to vary between 3.75 and 24.04 kJ/s and 0.1513 and 0.3700, respectively. These values show that only a small proportion of the supplied energy by the heater was used for drying. The exergy loss and exergy efficiency were found to be in the range of 0.5987 to 13.71 kJ/s and 0.5713 to 0.9405, respectively, indicating that the drying process was thermodynamically inefficient and much energy was vented in the exhaust air. In addition, the results showed that the feeding rate and the temperature and flow rate of the drying air had an important effect on energy and exergy use. This knowledge will provide insights into the optimization of a continuous dryer and the operating parameters that causes reduction of energy consumption and losses in continuous drying.     

Effect of Fruit Properties on Pomegranate Bruising

Pomegranate fruit quality is adversely affected by bruise damage. Bruises are formed by a variety of static loads and dynamic impacts on the fruit when it strikes any other object during handling, sorting, packaging, or transportation. In order to be able to reduce this damage, it is necessary to ascertain the influence of fruit properties on bruise susceptibility. An experimental study was performed with varying storage time, temperature, and impact region. In these experiments, pomegranates were dropped from three heights onto a flat aluminum surface. Significant effects on bruising in relation to storage time, temperature, impact region, and their interactions were found (p < 0.05). It was concluded that higher fruit temperature, firmness, and peel thickness reduced bruise damage to the pomegranate fruit. Moreover, storage time and increased radius of curvature increased the bruise volume and bruise area, respectively.     

A review of principle and sun-tracking methods for maximizing solar systems output

Finding energy sources to satisfy the world's growing demand is one of society's foremost challenges for the next half-century. The challenge in converting sunlight to electricity via photovoltaic solar cells is dramatically reducing $/watt of delivered solar electricity. In this context the sun trackers are such devices for efficiency improvement.The diurnal and seasonal movement of earth affects the radiation intensity on the solar systems. Sun-trackers move the solar systems to compensate for these motions, keeping the best orientation relative to the sun. Although using sun-tracker is not essential, its use can boost the collected energy 10–100% in different periods of time and geographical conditions. However, it is not recommended to use tracking system for small solar panels because of high energy losses in the driving systems. It is found that the power consumption by tracking device is 2–3% of the increased energy.In this paper different types of sun-tracking systems are reviewed and their cons and pros are discussed. The most efficient and popular sun-tracking device was found to be in the form of polar-axis and azimuth/elevation types.     

Anisotropic optical properties of ZnS thin films with zigzag structure

ZnS sculptured thin films produced by thermal evaporation method using the glancing angle deposition technique at different deposition angles (0, 30, 60, 70 and 80\({^{\circ }}\)) are reported. The structural and optical properties of the prepared samples are investigated systematically using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV–VIS spectroscopy techniques. The XRD studies show cubic structure for the prepared films and deposition angle dependence of lattice constants, intrinsic stress, tensile stress and dislocation density. The obtained transmittance spectra in the range 380–850 nm for both s- and p-polarized light at normal incidence angle are used to study the s- and p-refractive indices and in-plane birefringence of the ZnS films. The maximum birefringence is evaluated at incident flux angle \(\alpha = 70{^{\circ }}\). Both the refractive index and packing density of the films decrease with increasing deposition angle, which confirm the structural inhomogeneity and porosity nature of the films.