Description:
In this study, a small dish concentrator with a cylindrical cavity receiver was experimentally investigated as the heat source of a dryer. The system was examined for operation with pure thermal oil and Al2O3/oil nanofluid as the working fluids in the solar system. Moreover, the design, the development, and the evaluation of the dried mint plant are presented in this work. Also, the solar dryer system was simulated by the SolidWorks and ANSYS CFX software. On the other side, the color histogram of the wet and dried mint samples based on the RGB method was considered. The results revealed that the different temperatures of the solar working fluids at the inlet and outlet of the cavity receiver showed similar trend data compared to the variation of the solar radiation during the experimental test. Moreover, it is found that the cavity heat gain and thermal efficiency of the solar system was improved by using the nanofluid as the solar working fluid. Furthermore, the required time for mint drying had decreased by increasing the drying temperature and increasing air speed. The highest drying time was measured equal to 320 min for the condition of the air speed equal to 0.5 m/s and the drying temperature of 30 degrees C. A good agreement was observed between the calculated numerical results and measured experimental data. Finally, based on the color histogram of the wet and dried mint samples, it was concluded that intensity amount of the red color of the mint increased with the drying process compared to intensity amount of the red color of the wet mint sample.
Description:
In this study, a small dish concentrator with a cylindrical cavity receiver was experimentally investigated as the heat source of a dryer. The system was examined for operation with pure thermal oil and Al2O3/oil nanofluid as the working fluids in the solar system. Moreover, the design, the development, and the evaluation of the dried mint plant are presented in this work. Also, the solar dryer system was simulated by the SolidWorks and ANSYS CFX software. On the other side, the color histogram of the wet and dried mint samples based on the RGB method was considered. The results revealed that the different temperatures of the solar working fluids at the inlet and outlet of the cavity receiver showed similar trend data compared to the variation of the solar radiation during the experimental test. Moreover, it is found that the cavity heat gain and thermal efficiency of the solar system was improved by using the nanofluid as the solar working fluid. Furthermore, the required time for mint drying had decreased by increasing the drying temperature and increasing air speed. The highest drying time was measured equal to 320 min for the condition of the air speed equal to 0.5 m/s and the drying temperature of 30 degrees C. A good agreement was observed between the calculated numerical results and measured experimental data. Finally, based on the color histogram of the wet and dried mint samples, it was concluded that intensity amount of the red color of the mint increased with the drying process compared to intensity amount of the red color of the wet mint sample.
Description:
Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) deploys edge devices to act as intermediaries between sensors and actuators and application servers or cloud services. Machine learning models have been widely used to thwart malware attacks in such edge devices. However, these models are vulnerable to adversarial attacks where attackers craft adversarial samples by introducing small perturbations to malware samples to fool a classifier to misclassify them as benign applications. Literature on deep learning networks proposes adversarial retraining as a defense mechanism where adversarial samples are combined with legitimate samples to retrain the classifier. However, existing works select such adversarial samples in a random fashion which degrades the classifier's performance. This work proposes two novel approaches for selecting adversarial samples to retrain a classifier. One, based on the distance from malware cluster center, and the other, based on a probability measure derived from a kernel based learning (KBL). Our experiments show that both of our sample selection methods outperform the random selection method and the KBL selection method improves detection accuracy by 6%. Also, while existing works focus on deep neural networks with respect to adversarial retraining, we additionally assess the impact of such adversarial samples on other classifiers and our proposed selective adversarial retraining approaches show similar performance improvement for these classifiers as well. The outcomes from the study can assist in designing robust security systems for IIoT applications.
Description:
Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) deploys edge devices to act as intermediaries between sensors and actuators and application servers or cloud services. Machine learning models have been widely used to thwart malware attacks in such edge devices. However, these models are vulnerable to adversarial attacks where attackers craft adversarial samples by introducing small perturbations to malware samples to fool a classifier to misclassify them as benign applications. Literature on deep learning networks proposes adversarial retraining as a defense mechanism where adversarial samples are combined with legitimate samples to retrain the classifier. However, existing works select such adversarial samples in a random fashion which degrades the classifier's performance. This work proposes two novel approaches for selecting adversarial samples to retrain a classifier. One, based on the distance from malware cluster center, and the other, based on a probability measure derived from a kernel based learning (KBL). Our experiments show that both of our sample selection methods outperform the random selection method and the KBL selection method improves detection accuracy by 6%. Also, while existing works focus on deep neural networks with respect to adversarial retraining, we additionally assess the impact of such adversarial samples on other classifiers and our proposed selective adversarial retraining approaches show similar performance improvement for these classifiers as well. The outcomes from the study can assist in designing robust security systems for IIoT applications.
Description:
This work was supported in part by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government under Grant R5020-18, and in part by the Innovation and Technology Commission of the HKSAR Government to the Hong Kong Branch of National Rail Transit Electrification and Automation Engineering Technology Research Center under Grant K-BBY1.
Description:
This work was supported in part by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government under Grant R5020-18, and in part by the Innovation and Technology Commission of the HKSAR Government to the Hong Kong Branch of National Rail Transit Electrification and Automation Engineering Technology Research Center under Grant K-BBY1.
Description:
As an important part of power system, power transformer plays an irreplaceable role in the process of power transmission. Diagnosis of transformer's failure is of significance to maintain its safe and stable operation. Frequency response analysis (FRA) has been widely accepted as an effective tool for winding deformation fault diagnosis, which is one of the common failures for power transformers. However, there is no standard and reliable code for FRA interpretation as so far. In this paper, support vector machine (SVM) is combined with FRA to diagnose transformer faults. Furthermore, advanced optimization algorithms are also applied to improve the performance of models. A series of winding fault emulating experiments were carried out on an actual model transformer, the key features are extracted from measured FRA data, and the diagnostic model is trained and obtained, to arrive at an outcome for classifying the fault types and degrees of winding deformation faults with satisfactory accuracy. The diagnostic results indicate that this method has potential to be an intelligent, standardized, accurate and powerful tool.
Description:
As an important part of power system, power transformer plays an irreplaceable role in the process of power transmission. Diagnosis of transformer's failure is of significance to maintain its safe and stable operation. Frequency response analysis (FRA) has been widely accepted as an effective tool for winding deformation fault diagnosis, which is one of the common failures for power transformers. However, there is no standard and reliable code for FRA interpretation as so far. In this paper, support vector machine (SVM) is combined with FRA to diagnose transformer faults. Furthermore, advanced optimization algorithms are also applied to improve the performance of models. A series of winding fault emulating experiments were carried out on an actual model transformer, the key features are extracted from measured FRA data, and the diagnostic model is trained and obtained, to arrive at an outcome for classifying the fault types and degrees of winding deformation faults with satisfactory accuracy. The diagnostic results indicate that this method has potential to be an intelligent, standardized, accurate and powerful tool.
Description:
As with other regions of Iran, due to excessive extraction of groundwater for intense agricultural activity, Ghorveh plain, a water-scarce irrigation district in the west of Iran, has faced a serious water crisis during the last decade. The present study investigates the impacts of two scenario policies, namely, non-price policy (as a supply-oriented policy) and water pricing policies (as a demand-oriented policy) on agricultural sector of Ghorveh Plain, using positive mathematical programming (PMP). The model was calibrated by using farm-level data for the crop years in 2016-2017. Our findings indicate that applying water supply constraint policy will change the land use and cropping pattern to the crops with higher water productivity. The increase of water resource constraints can lead to the increase of water economic return which indicates a rising value of water resources shortage, warning the producers of the agriculture sector to allocate water to the crops with higher economic value under the water resources shortage conditions. In addition, the findings underline that in a situation where the price of irrigation water is low due to the low elasticity of water demand in the agriculture sector, formulating the economic instruments such as rising water prices does not solely suffice to achieve sustainable water resource management. However, mixed scenarios emphasized that the water distribution policies should be aligned with the increases in water cost.
Description:
As with other regions of Iran, due to excessive extraction of groundwater for intense agricultural activity, Ghorveh plain, a water-scarce irrigation district in the west of Iran, has faced a serious water crisis during the last decade. The present study investigates the impacts of two scenario policies, namely, non-price policy (as a supply-oriented policy) and water pricing policies (as a demand-oriented policy) on agricultural sector of Ghorveh Plain, using positive mathematical programming (PMP). The model was calibrated by using farm-level data for the crop years in 2016-2017. Our findings indicate that applying water supply constraint policy will change the land use and cropping pattern to the crops with higher water productivity. The increase of water resource constraints can lead to the increase of water economic return which indicates a rising value of water resources shortage, warning the producers of the agriculture sector to allocate water to the crops with higher economic value under the water resources shortage conditions. In addition, the findings underline that in a situation where the price of irrigation water is low due to the low elasticity of water demand in the agriculture sector, formulating the economic instruments such as rising water prices does not solely suffice to achieve sustainable water resource management. However, mixed scenarios emphasized that the water distribution policies should be aligned with the increases in water cost.
Description:
Background: Time-to-event modelling is underutilised in sports injury research. Still, sports injury researchers have been encouraged to consider time-to-event analyses as a powerful alternative to other statistical methods. Therefore, it is important to shed light on statistical approaches suitable for analysing training load related key-questions within the sports injury domain. Content: In the present article, we illuminate: (i) the possibilities of including time-varying outcomes in time-to-event analyses, (ii) how to deal with a situation where different types of sports injuries are included in the analyses (ie, competing risks), and (iii) how to deal with the situation where multiple subsequent injuries occur in the same athlete. Conclusion: Time-to-event analyses can handle time-varying outcomes, competing risk and multiple subsequent injuries. Although powerful, time-to-event has important requirements: researchers are encouraged to carefully consider prior to any data collection that five injuries per exposure state or transition is needed to avoid conducting statistical analyses on time-to-event data leading to biased results. This requirement becomes particularly difficult to accommodate when a stratified analysis is required as the number of variables increases exponentially for each additional strata included. In future sports injury research, we need stratified analyses if the target of our research is to respond to the question: 'how much change in training load is too much before injury is sustained, among athletes with different characteristics?' Responding to this question using multiple time-varying exposures (and outcomes) requires millions of injuries. This should not be a barrier for future research, but collaborations across borders to collecting the amount of data needed seems to be an important step forward.
Description:
Background: Time-to-event modelling is underutilised in sports injury research. Still, sports injury researchers have been encouraged to consider time-to-event analyses as a powerful alternative to other statistical methods. Therefore, it is important to shed light on statistical approaches suitable for analysing training load related key-questions within the sports injury domain. Content: In the present article, we illuminate: (i) the possibilities of including time-varying outcomes in time-to-event analyses, (ii) how to deal with a situation where different types of sports injuries are included in the analyses (ie, competing risks), and (iii) how to deal with the situation where multiple subsequent injuries occur in the same athlete. Conclusion: Time-to-event analyses can handle time-varying outcomes, competing risk and multiple subsequent injuries. Although powerful, time-to-event has important requirements: researchers are encouraged to carefully consider prior to any data collection that five injuries per exposure state or transition is needed to avoid conducting statistical analyses on time-to-event data leading to biased results. This requirement becomes particularly difficult to accommodate when a stratified analysis is required as the number of variables increases exponentially for each additional strata included. In future sports injury research, we need stratified analyses if the target of our research is to respond to the question: 'how much change in training load is too much before injury is sustained, among athletes with different characteristics?' Responding to this question using multiple time-varying exposures (and outcomes) requires millions of injuries. This should not be a barrier for future research, but collaborations across borders to collecting the amount of data needed seems to be an important step forward.
Description:
Due to the increased environmental pollution, hybrid vehicles have attracted enormous attention in today's society. The two most important factors in designing these vehicles are size and weight. For this purpose, some researchers have presented the use of the dual-mechanical-port machine (DMPM) in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). This paper presents two modified converter topologies with a reduced number of switching devices for use on DMPM-based HEVs, with the goal of reducing the overall size and weight of the system. Beside the design of the DMPM in the series-parallel HEV structure along with the energy management unit, the conventional back-to-back (BB) converter is replaced with nine-switch (NS) and five-leg (FL) converters. These converters have never been examined for the DMPM-based HEV, and therefore, the objective of this paper is to reveal the operational characteristics and power flow mechanism of this machine using the NS and FL converters. The simulation analysis is carried out using MATLAB/Simulink considering all HEV operational modes. In addition, two proposed and the conventional converters are compared in terms of losses, maximum achievable voltages, required dc-link voltages, the rating of the components, and torque ripple, and finally, a recommendation is made based on the obtained results.
Description:
Due to the increased environmental pollution, hybrid vehicles have attracted enormous attention in today's society. The two most important factors in designing these vehicles are size and weight. For this purpose, some researchers have presented the use of the dual-mechanical-port machine (DMPM) in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). This paper presents two modified converter topologies with a reduced number of switching devices for use on DMPM-based HEVs, with the goal of reducing the overall size and weight of the system. Beside the design of the DMPM in the series-parallel HEV structure along with the energy management unit, the conventional back-to-back (BB) converter is replaced with nine-switch (NS) and five-leg (FL) converters. These converters have never been examined for the DMPM-based HEV, and therefore, the objective of this paper is to reveal the operational characteristics and power flow mechanism of this machine using the NS and FL converters. The simulation analysis is carried out using MATLAB/Simulink considering all HEV operational modes. In addition, two proposed and the conventional converters are compared in terms of losses, maximum achievable voltages, required dc-link voltages, the rating of the components, and torque ripple, and finally, a recommendation is made based on the obtained results.
Description:
High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard adopts several new approaches to achieve higher coding efficiency (approximately 50% bit-rate reduction) compared to its predecessor H.264/AVC with same perceptual image quality. Huge computational time has also increased due to the algorithmic complexity of HEVC compared to H.264/AVC. However, it is really a demanding task to reduce the encoding time while preserving the similar quality of the video sequences. In this paper, we propose a novel efficient intermode selection technique and incorporate into HEVC framework to predict motion estimation and motion compensation modes between current and reference blocks and perform faster inter mode selection based on three dissimilar motion types in divergent video sequences. Instead of exploring and traversing all the modes exhaustively, we merely select a subset of candidate modes and the final mode from the selected subset is determined based on their lowest Lagrangian cost function. The experimental results reveal that average encoding time can be downscaled by 40% with similar rate-distortion performance compared to the exhaustive mode selection strategy in HEVC.
Description:
The authors acknowledge the Capability Development Fund Scheme of RMIT University, the Maxwell Eagle Endowment Award and the CASS Foundation Science/Medicine Grant for financial support. N.T. is a recipient of an RMIT Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellowship.
Description:
Dissolved gas in oil analysis (DGA) is one of the most reliable condition monitoring techniques, which is currently used by the industry to detect incipient faults within the power transformers. While the technique is well matured since the development of various offline and online measurement techniques along with various interpretation methods, no much attention was given so far to the oil sampling time and its correlation with the transformer loading. A power transformer loading is subject to continuous daily and seasonal variations, which is expected to increase with the increased penetration level of renewable energy sources of intermittent characteristics, such as photovoltaic (PV) and wind energy into the current electricity grids. Generating unit transformers also undergoes similar loading variations to follow the demand, particularly in the new electricity market. As such, the insulation system within the power transformers is expected to exhibit operating temperature variations due to the continuous ramping up and down of the generation and load. If the oil is sampled for the DGA measurement during such ramping cycles, results will not be accurate, and a fault may be reported due to a gas evolution resulting from such temporarily loading variation. This paper is aimed at correlating the generation and load ramping with the DGA measurements through extensive experimental analyses. The results reveal a strong correlation between the sampling time and the generation/load ramping. The experimental results show the effect of load variations on the gas generation and demonstrate the vulnerabilities of misinterpretation of transformer faults resulting from temporary gas evolution. To achieve accurate DGA, transformer loading profile during oil sampling for the DGA measurement should be available. Based on the initial investigation in this paper, the more accurate DGA results can be achieved after a ramping down cycle of the load. This sampling time could be defined as an optimum oil sampling time for transformer DGA.
Description:
Dissolved gas in oil analysis (DGA) is one of the most reliable condition monitoring techniques, which is currently used by the industry to detect incipient faults within the power transformers. While the technique is well matured since the development of various offline and online measurement techniques along with various interpretation methods, no much attention was given so far to the oil sampling time and its correlation with the transformer loading. A power transformer loading is subject to continuous daily and seasonal variations, which is expected to increase with the increased penetration level of renewable energy sources of intermittent characteristics, such as photovoltaic (PV) and wind energy into the current electricity grids. Generating unit transformers also undergoes similar loading variations to follow the demand, particularly in the new electricity market. As such, the insulation system within the power transformers is expected to exhibit operating temperature variations due to the continuous ramping up and down of the generation and load. If the oil is sampled for the DGA measurement during such ramping cycles, results will not be accurate, and a fault may be reported due to a gas evolution resulting from such temporarily loading variation. This paper is aimed at correlating the generation and load ramping with the DGA measurements through extensive experimental analyses. The results reveal a strong correlation between the sampling time and the generation/load ramping. The experimental results show the effect of load variations on the gas generation and demonstrate the vulnerabilities of misinterpretation of transformer faults resulting from temporary gas evolution. To achieve accurate DGA, transformer loading profile during oil sampling for the DGA measurement should be available. Based on the initial investigation in this paper, the more accurate DGA results can be achieved after a ramping down cycle of the load. This sampling time could be defined as an optimum oil sampling time for transformer DGA.