• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.1882-1890
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• 2014

This paper proposes an augmented Lagrange Hopfield network (ALHN) based method for solving multi-objective short term fixed head hydrothermal scheduling problem. The main objective of the problem is to minimize both total power generation cost and emissions of $NO_x$, $SO_2$, and $CO_2$ over a scheduling period of one day while satisfying power balance, hydraulic, and generator operating limits constraints. The ALHN method is a combination of augmented Lagrange relaxation and continuous Hopfield neural network where the augmented Lagrange function is directly used as the energy function of the network. For implementation of the ALHN based method for solving the problem, ALHN is implemented for obtaining non-dominated solutions and fuzzy set theory is applied for obtaining the best compromise solution. The proposed method has been tested on different systems with different analyses and the obtained results have been compared to those from other methods available in the literature. The result comparisons have indicated that the proposed method is very efficient for solving the problem with good optimal solution and fast computational time. Therefore, the proposed ALHN can be a very favorable method for solving the multi-objective short term fixed head hydrothermal scheduling problems.

• Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.228-244
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• 2008

ISO9000 set of standards has been widely applied in Iranian Automotive manufacturing industry. Regarding the effects of TQM and ISO9000 set of standards various studies have been conducted and different quantitative conclusions have been made. Due to lack of quantitative information, in many of the cases, using qualitative information becomes the best option. The qualitative nature of data in such cases, requires qualitative analysis methods that might lead to some challenging computational issues. This paper examines the impact of ISO9000: 2000 certification and its perceived benefits for an automotive manufacturing company. Using an empirical approach, the paper seeks to ascertain if certification has indeed improved the performance of the company. Our null hypothesis rotates around the effect of ISO9000: 2000 on the 4W's of an enterprise. To carry out the research, first we developed a couple of questionnaires including all criteria of ISO9000 and 4W's. Second, the questionnaires were discussed with two researchers knowledgeable in the field, and then submitted to the quality practitioners and executives of Iran Khodro Enterprise-a leading company in Iranian automotive manufacturing industry. Finally the null hypothesis was tested and the technology improvement dimensions were ranked through nonparametric tests. The results illustrated a reasonable cause and effect relationship, suggesting that ISO9000: 2000 has positive effect on the 4W's of company result. In this work we investigate the effect as technology improvement viz., the improvement of techno-ware, human-ware, info-ware, and organ-ware.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.30-34
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• 2012

A safety helmet is a personal protective equipment to protect the head from falling and flying objects. A safety helmet has the maximum delivered impact force as shock absorption performance, the lower delivered impact force the better performance, which was not a controlled variety during manufacturing safety helmet. Accordingly there were some difficulties in establishing the standard for improved performance as there was not a clear controllable impact force for improved performance. In this study the shock absorption performance was intended to be found as coefficient of restitution related to impulse. As a research method, a coefficient of restitution during the absorption of shock was calculated using the impulse transferred to pharynx utilizing the safety helmet shock absorption performance testing device based on the theory of momentum and impulse. The estimated impulsive force curve was derived assuming that shock was not absorbed using the measured data. The sample was selected as tested goods of ABS material for safety certification available mainly in the market. As a result of study, the maximum delivered impact force of safety helmet made by a domestic safety certified a company was 735 N, and its coefficient of restitution proved to be 0.64. The smaller coefficient of restitution is, the lower maximum delivered impact force and the higher shock absorption performance. The coefficient of restitution can be used as a performance index of safety helmet.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.189-197
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• 1996

Digital Elevation Model, Ortho-image, and 3-D positional data of terrain features are indispensable elements for producing 3-D image information. In this research, digital pbotogrammetric studies were conducted to measure the 3-D positional data on high performance computer systems in order to replace analytical stereo-plotter-oriented tasks with those of digital workstations. Especially, technical approaches to measure these data on stereo workstation were developed and then the results were applied on SPOT satellite images. As the result of this study, the possibilities of the proposed technologies were tested and proved based on the ap-plication of the digital photogrammetric processes to extract 3-D ground coordinates of terrain features from digital satellite imagery.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.30
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• pp.3-26
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• 2006

Supply chain is viewed as a number of organizations(at least three) working cooperatively with at least some shared objectives. The concept of supply chain management represents the most advanced state in the evolutionary development of purchasing, procurement and other supply chain activities. This study aims to analyze and develop a measurement instrument for supply chain performance in international logistics. A measurement instrument for supply chain performance in international logistics are developed by Lai et al(2002). Supply chain reliability, customer service and cost are constructed reflecting service effectiveness and operations efficiency between shipper, forwarder and liner. The results of this study are as follow. We firstly tested the measurement properties of the sub-dimension of the supply chain performance construct using reliability test and confirmatory factor analysis follow by exploratory factor analysis. For each of the factor, reliability and validity are achieved because of the significant loading of the measurement items on their latent factors. Further research perform the analysis of variance by multi respondents within each firm and across partner firms in the supply chain. The result of analysis present the difference with shipper, forwarder and liner in statistics.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Advanced Composite Structures
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.34-45
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• 2010

This paper describes the design, manufacturing process, testing, application, and assessment of capacity-ratings of the first all advanced composites bridge on a public highway system. In order to verify the bridge design prior to the field application, a sub-scale bridge superstructure was built and tested in the laboratory. The field load test results were compared with those of the finite element analysis for the verification of validity. To investigate its in-service performance, field load testing and visual inspections were conducted under an actual service environment. The paper includes the presentation and discussion for advanced composites bridge capacity rating based on the stress modification coefficients obtained from the test results. The test result indicates that the advanced composites bridge has no structural problems and is structurally performing well in-service as expected. Since these composite materials are new to bridge applications, reliable data is not available for their in-service performance. The results may provide a baseline data for future field advanced composites bridge capacity rating assessments and also serve as part of a long-term performance of advanced composites bridge.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.53-67
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• 2013

This study aimed to develop a model to accurately predict the acceleration of structural systems during an earthquake. The acceleration and applied force of a structure were measured at current time step and the velocity and displacement were estimated through linear integration. These data were used as input to predict the structural acceleration at next time step. The computation tool used was the Volterra/Wiener neural network (VWNN) which contained the mathematical model to predict the acceleration. For alleviating problems of relatively large-dimensional and nonlinear systems, the VWNN model was utilized as the signal processing tool, including the Taylor series components in the input nodes of the neural network. The number of the intermediate layer nodes in the neural network model, containing the training and simulation stage, was evaluated and optimized. Discussions on the influences of the gradient descent with adaptive learning rate algorithm and the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm, both for determining the network weights, on prediction errors were provided. During the simulation stage, different earthquake excitations were tested with the optimized settings acquired from the training stage to find out which of the algorithms would result in the smallest error, to determine a proper simulation model.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.605-621
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• 2013

CFRP strips are widely used nowadays for repair/strengthening or capacity increase purposes. Sharp bending at the ends of the CFRP strips is frequently encountered at these applications. In this study, Reinforced Concrete (RC) beam specimens that were produced with 10 MPa compression strength concrete were strengthened by using bonded CFRP strips with end anchorages to tension region. The parameters that were investigated in this study are the width of the strip, the number of applied fan anchorages and whether additional layer of CFRP patch is used or not at the strip ends. Specimens were strengthened with 100 mm wide CFRP strips with one or two anchorages at the ends. In addition CFRP patch with two and three anchorages at the ends were tested for investigating the effect of the patches. Specimens that were strengthened with three anchorages at the ends with patches were repeated with 60 and 80 mm wide CFRP strips. The most successful result was obtained from the specimen that was strengthened with 80 mm wide CFRP strips with 3 end anchorages and patches among the others at the experimental program. The numbers of anchorages that were applied to ends of CFRP strips were more effective than the width of the CFRP strips onto strength and stiffness of the specimens. Due to limited space at the ends of the strips at most three anchorages could be applied.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.713-719
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• 2006

The effect of dietary iodine and selenium supplementation, alone or in combination, on peripheral blood lymphocyte function was determined in laying hens. Eight-hundred-and-sixty-four New-Loman laying hens were randomly allotted into 12 dietary treatments with different inclusion levels of iodine (0, 0.1 and 0.2 mg/kg), selenium (0, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.2 mg/kg) or their combinations for 24 weeks. The lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation index, concanavalin A (ConA) stimulation index, peroxide enzyme activity and phagocytosis to neutral red particles were tested. There were significant differences in LPS stimulation index, ConA stimulation index, peroxide enzyme activity and phagocytosis to neutral red particles in different iodine or selenium supplementation levels (p<0.05). The highest iodine and selenium supplementation both resulted in highest LPS-/ConA-stimulation indices (p<0.05). However, when iodine was lower than 0.2 mg/kg, the additional effect of different levels of selenium did not always result in significant differences in these indices. The results indicated that iodine and selenium may affect immunity in laying hens and, when the iodine level in the laying hen is lower than 0.2 mg/kg, a selenium allowance higher than 0.1 mg/kg may be necessary to improve immunity.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.11-18
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• 1994

We have studied the iron uptake by the purified brush-border membrane vesicles (BBMVs) to determine the effect of fructose on the absorption of iron. BBMVs were prepared by the modified calcium precipitation method, The degree of purification was routinely assessed by the marker enzyme, alkaline phosphatase, and the functional integrity was tested by $D-[1-^3H]glucose$ uptake. The appearance of membrane vesicles was shown by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The uptakes of complexes of labeled iron $[^{59}Fe]$ with fructose and ascorbate were measured with a rapid filtration technique, The uptake rate and pattern of the two iron-complexes, Fe(III)-fructose and Fe(III)-ascorbate, were also observed. A typical overshooting uptake of D-glucose was observed with peak value of $2{\sim}3$ times higher concentration than that at equilibrium. This result was similar to other studies with BBMVs. TEM showed that the size of BBMVs was uniform and we can hardly find any contaminants, Fe(III)-fructose has the higher value of $V_{max}$ and the lower value of Km than those of Fe(III)-ascorbate, respectively. It may be concluded that D-fructose is more effective in promoting the iron absorption than ascorbate.