Experimental Performance Evaluation Research Articles

Analysis of factors influencing social responsibility in private education industry based on multimodal discourse analysis model of big data

Abstract The analysis of factors influencing social responsibility in the private education industry is to promote better implementation of social responsibility in the private education industry. In this paper, a multimodal depth quantization algorithm is constructed by using a convolutional neural network and deep denoising self-coding network, and a multimodal discourse analysis model is jointly constructed based on the MDQS algorithm and multimodal semantic space. For the model constructed in this paper, quantitative analysis of the data is carried out by examples and performance evaluation experiments. From the performance evaluation, the average accuracy of the model is improved by 22.52%, 27.19% and 7.87% compared with the CCQ algorithm, SEPH algorithm and CDQ algorithm, respectively. In terms of the influencing factors, the highest frequency of the word “interest” is 20.43% and the lowest frequency of the word “culture” is 13.72%. This shows that the multimodal discourse analysis model can effectively analyze the factors influencing the fulfillment of social responsibility in the private education industry and help the private education industry to make targeted improvements to implement social responsibility.

Experimental Performance Evaluation of a Filter Coated with Castor Oil for Particulate Matter Absorption (PM2.5 and PM10)

Experimental Performance Evaluation of a Filter Coated with Castor Oil for Particulate Matter Absorption (PM2.5 and PM10)

Experimental Performance Evaluation of a Hybrid Parabolic Solar Lighting System for Use in Agricultural Environments

This study presents a solar lighting system designed for indoor farming to provide natural light. The proposed system uses a parabolic dish concentrator integrating with polymethyl methacrylate optical fibers to direct concentrated light into a desired place. A water cooling mechanism is also used to prevent heat transmission to the optical fibers. The indoor sunlight's distribution is studied using a designed darkroom. The evaluation is carried out in 7 days, from November 23 to 29, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., to ensure the stability of the system under various weather conditions. The results of the experiments show that the receiver's temperature can remain at 63 °C on sunny days under a clear sky, even when the maximum value of solar radiation is about 982 W m−2 with the highest air temperature of 19 °C. During the experiments, the solar illuminance ranges from a maximum of 118,821.85 lx to a minimum value of 374.9.6 lx. The overall optical efficiency of the system, considering optical components, ranges from 31% to 32% under various outdoor illuminance levels. Overall, it is confirmed that the developed solar lighting system offers a applicable method to naturally illuminate protected agricultural environments, enhancing the quality of the growing crops.

Energy and environmental performance assessment of reused PET bottles panels for building thermal insulation solutions

The construction industry is responsible for several environmental impacts, such as high consumption of raw materials and energy, significant contributions to global CO2 emissions, and waste production. Furthermore, concerns regarding waste and by-products valorization have been growing recently, particularly for plastic waste, whose integration into building materials components is under investigation. Different applications of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) have emerged, particularly for nonstructural purposes, with potential benefits as thermal insulation solutions, showing that further studies should be conducted for a more detailed analysis and characterization of this type of building solutions. In this context, the current study contributes to the thermal and environmental performance characterization of alternative materials composed of PET bottle panels filled with soil, water, and air. An experimental evaluation of the thermal performance and a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) were conducted considering the horizontal and vertical positions of the bottle panels. The lowest values of the thermal transmission coefficient were observed for the PET bottles filled with soil, achieving 0.46 W/m2°C for the vertical position. Regarding LCA, the panel with empty bottles showed the best environmental performance, which was justified by the fact that no filling process was considered. Considering that filling bottles with air or soil results in similar environmental impacts, it can be concluded that PET bottles filled with soil provide the best thermal and environmental alternative.

Experimental investigation and evaluation of the thermodynamical performance of a novel hybrid design for milk pasteurization

Experimental investigation and evaluation of the thermodynamical performance of a novel hybrid design for milk pasteurization

Modelling time-varying growth in state-space stock assessments

Abstract State-space assessment models (SSMs) have garnered attention recently because of their ability to estimate time variation in biological and fisheries processes such as recruitment, natural mortality, catchability, and selectivity. However, current SSMs cannot model time-varying growth internally nor accept length data, limiting their use. Here, we expand the Woods Hole Assessment Model to incorporate new approaches to modelling changes in growth using a combination of parametric and nonparametric approaches while fitting to length and weight data. We present these new features and apply them to data for three important Alaskan stocks with distinct data and model needs. We conduct a “self-test” simulation experiment to ensure the unbiasedness and statistical efficiency of model estimates and predictions. This research presents the first SSM that can be applied when length data are a key source of information, variation in growth is an essential part of the dynamics of the assessed stock, or when linking climate variables to growth in hindcasts or forecasts is relevant. Consequently, the state-space approach and growth estimation can be applied to more fish stocks worldwide, facilitating real-world applications and implementation of simulation experiments for performance evaluation of SSMs for the many stocks whose assessments rely on length data.

Experimental performance evaluation of solar still with zig-zag shape air cooled condenser: An energy–exergy analysis approach

In the present experimental effort is made to increase the performance of a solar still (SS) by including a novel design of a zig-zag-shaped air-cooled condenser (ZZACC) and cuprous oxide (CuO) as a nanomaterial. Research work is conducted in the climatic conditions of Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India, from September to November 2020. A comparison was made to assess the performance of a conventional solar still (CSS) and a solar still equipped with a zig-zag shape air-cooled condenser (SSWZZACC) with CuO. The experiments’ findings showed that adding CuO to SSWZZACC increases the distillate production by 46.83% and the daily energy efficiency by 45.98%, respectively, compared to CSS. Also, SSWZZACC demonstrates a better efficiency of exergy and latent heat of vaporization than CSS because CuO causes an increase in the evaporative heat transfer coefficient of water. In life cycle cost analysis study discovered that SSWZZACC has a 27.77% lower cost per litre of water (CPL) than CSS. The obtained maximum energy and exergy efficiency values for CSS and SSWZZACC were 2.36% & 25.75% and 3.9% & 37.59%, respectively. In economic and environmental aspects, it was found that SSWZZACC with CuO showed a cost-effective desalination unit and was highly effective from a carbon credit point of view (CCP) by CO2 mitigation.

Designing a Low-Cost System to Monitor the Structural Behavior of Street Lighting Poles in Smart Cities.

The structural collapse of a street lighting pole represents an aspect that is often underestimated and unpredictable, but of relevant importance for the safety of people and things. These events are complex to evaluate since several sources of damage are involved. In addition, traditional inspection methods are ineffective, do not correctly quantify the residual life of poles, and are inefficient, requiring enormous costs associated with the vastness of elements to be investigated. An advantageous alternative is to adopt a distributed type of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) technique based on the Internet of Things (IoT). This paper proposes the design of a low-cost system, which is also easy to integrate in current infrastructures, for monitoring the structural behavior of street lighting poles in Smart Cities. At the same time, this device collects previous structural information and offers some secondary functionalities related to its application, such as meteorological information. Furthermore, this paper intends to lay the foundations for the development of a method that is able to avoid the collapse of the poles. Specifically, the implementation phase is described in the aspects concerning low-cost devices and sensors for data acquisition and transmission and the strategies of information technologies (ITs), such as Cloud/Edge approaches, for storing, processing and presenting the achieved measurements. Finally, an experimental evaluation of the metrological performance of the sensing features of this system is reported. The main results highlight that the employment of low-cost equipment and open-source software has a double implication. On one hand, they entail advantages such as limited costs and flexibility to accommodate the specific necessities of the interested user. On the other hand, the used sensors require an indispensable metrological evaluation of their performance due to encountered issues relating to calibration, reliability and uncertainty.

Experimental performance evaluation of water source heat pumps in different circumstances and comparison to air source heat pumps

This study aims to present a novel experimental method for studying the performance of wa-ter source heat pumps which have not received sufficient attention, although this is particu-larly important for hot regions with great potential of hot water sources. The experimental model has special characteristics as it allows to investigate the performance of heat pumps under different operating conditions and allows a comparison between different types of heat pumps without the need to install a ground heat exchanger. The ground heat exchanger is known to be the most expensive part of any experimental model. In addition to that, it only allows to study the performance under specific conditions. The ground heat exchanger was replaced by a secondary heat pump that allows to provide an environment that simulates the different operating conditions of different types of heat pumps. It was found that water source heat pumps are more efficient than air source heat pumps with efficiency that increases with increasing water source temperature. It was found that increasing the water source tempera-ture from 5 to 20 oC, improved the rate of heat extracted from the water source by 11.3% and the coefficient of performance by 2.8% for each degree. Another important feature of water source heat pumps is the stability of the energy flow rates, which is a guarantee of higher sea-sonal performance coefficients. It can be concluded that hot regions with high potential of hot water sources has valuable opportunities to invest in the field of water source heat pumps with the consequent significant energy savings.

Single-carrier 800-Gb/s self-homodyne coherent transmission of DP-16QAM, DP-32QAM, and DP-64QAM with uncooled DFB laser.

Self-homodyne detection (SHD) is a promising approach to realize high-capacity short-reach optical transmission systems with low cost and low power consumption. We experimentally demonstrate single-carrier net 800-Gb/s SHD transmission with low-cost ∼MHz linewidth distributed feedback (DFB) laser over 2 km, 10 km, 25 km, and 40 km single-mode fiber (SMF) using three different quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) formats, including 80-Gbaud dual-polarization (DP) 64QAM, 100-Gbaud DP-32QAM, and 120-Gbaud DP-16QAM. Among them, net 800-Gb/s DP-64QAM SHD transmission over 25 km SMF using an uncooled DFB laser with a linewidth of 2.6 MHz is experimentally verified. The detailed experimental performance evaluation of net 800Gb/s SHD system is performed, in which various configurations are considered, such as different laser linewidths, three QAM formats, and different transmission distances. DFB lasers with linewidths of 1 MHz and 2.6 MHz lead to negligible penalty when compared to the same SHD system but using an external cavity laser (ECL) with a linewidth of 26kHz in back-to-back (BTB) case. 80-Gbaud DP-64QAM obtains the highest optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) requirement and the highest bit-error rate (BER) floor but the best tolerance of chromatic dispersion (CD). 120-Gbaud DP-16QAM achieves the lowest OSNR requirement and the lowest BER floor but the worst tolerance of CD. The detailed experimental investigation is conducive to promote the practical application of SHD in different short-reach scenarios.

Experimental investigation and performance evaluation of spiral and serpentine collectors based photovoltaic thermal system in Peninsular Malaysia

Photovoltaic thermal (PVT) systems have been developed for nearly five decades as a further development of PV technology. The PVT system was designed to overcome the limited space for PV and solar water heaters and improve PV cell performance. However, many studies on PVT are theoretical and modeling, so experimentation is needed to confirm it. This study investigated the performance of PVT systems with a spiral and serpentine thermal collector without metal sheets in two scenarios, without and with insulation. Commercial PV was modified with the addition of a copper tube thermal collector and tested with a comparison PV under the weather of the Malaysian peninsula. The experimental results show a maximum electrical efficiency enhancement of 0.53% and a decrease in module temperature up to 5.60 °C in scenario 1. Also, the addition of insulation in scenario 2 increases thermal efficiency up to 18.26%, even though it causes a decrease in electrical efficiency. This research shows that an uncomplicated thermal collector is adequate to increase the electrical efficiency of PV panels. In contrast, the addition of insulation in the rear side of the PVT panel increases the thermal performance of PVT systems.

Experimental performance evaluation of non-toxic metal oxide synthesized via solid-state reaction for room temperature-sensing applications

Experimental performance evaluation of non-toxic metal oxide synthesized via solid-state reaction for room temperature-sensing applications

An Experimental and Numerical Evaluation of the Aerodynamic Performance of a UAV Propeller Considering Pitch Motion

Considering the vibration generated by a propeller-driven UAV or encountering gust, the propeller will perform a very complex follower motion. A pitch and rotating coupled motion is proposed in the present work that can take more complex unsteady performance of follower force than a regular fixed-point rotating motion. In order to evaluate the unsteady follower force and conduct parametric study, an extensive ground test bench was designed for this purpose where the whole test system was driven by a linear servo actuator and the follower force was measured by a 6-component balance. For CFD simulation, coupled motion in particular needs detailed unsteady aerodynamic model; therefore, a high-fidelity CFD-based study integrated with the overset mesh method was complemented to solve the unsteady fluid of varying conditions. The results suggest that a significant influence on unsteady follower force is observed, and the mean value of in-plane force does not equal to zero during the coupled motion process. Compared with the regular fixed-point rotation of propeller, the fluctuation frequency of follower force in present work couples the rotation and pitch motion frequencies. In addition, the oscillation amplitude of out-plane force and torque is positively related with the pitch frequency, pitch amplitude, and relative length from leading edge of wing to the rotation center. For example, the oscillation amplitude of 1-blade’s out-plane force and torque increases by 57.122% and 66.542% for the 5 Hz-5 deg case compared with the 5 Hz-3 deg case, respectively. However, the torque is not sensitive to frequency of pitch motion. The generally excellent agreement evident between the ground test and numerical simulation results is important as guidance for our future investigation on “dynamic” aerodynamic performance of a propeller-driven UAV.

Experimental Performance Evaluation of Concrete-Filled Steel Tube Columns Confined by High-Strength Steel Bolts

Experimental Performance Evaluation of Concrete-Filled Steel Tube Columns Confined by High-Strength Steel Bolts

ECKN: An Integrated Approach for Position Estimation, Packet Routing, and Sleep Scheduling in Wireless Sensor Networks.

Network lifetime and localization are critical design factors for a number of wireless sensor network (WSN) applications. These networks may be randomly deployed and left unattended for prolonged periods of time. This means that node localization is performed after network deployment, and there is a need to develop mechanisms to extend the network lifetime since sensor nodes are usually constrained battery-powered devices, and replacing them can be costly or sometimes impossible, e.g., in hostile environments. To this end, this work proposes the energy-aware connected k-neighborhood (ECKN): a joint position estimation, packet routing, and sleep scheduling mechanism. To the best of our knowledge, there is a lack of such integrated solutions to WSNs. The proposed localization algorithm performs trilateration using the positions of a mobile sink and already-localized neighbor nodes in order to estimate the positions of sensor nodes. A routing protocol is also introduced, and it is based on the well-known greedy geographic forwarding (GGF). Similarly to GGF, the proposed protocol takes into consideration the positions of neighbors to decide the best forwarding node. However, it also considers node residual energy in order to guarantee the forwarding node will deliver the packet. A sleep scheduler is also introduced in order to extend the network lifetime. It is based on the connected k-neighborhood (CKN), which aids in the decision of which nodes switch to sleep mode while keeping the network connected. An extensive set of performance evaluation experiments was conducted and results show that ECKN not only extends the network lifetime and localizes nodes, but it does so while sustaining the acceptable packet delivery ratio and reducing network overhead.

Experimental verification and performance evaluation of an inertia-type bidirectional isolation system

Both horizontal and vertical ground motion can cause damage to vibration-sensitive equipment. However, most mature seismic isolation devices only isolate horizontal ground acceleration; few devices isolate both vertical and horizontal ground acceleration. In this paper, a novel inertia-type bidirectional isolation system (IBIS) is proposed that comprises independent vertical and horizontal seismic isolators. The IBIS’s vertical isolator comprises leverage apparatus with a counterweight, which provides a vertical lifting force in the static state to balance the self-weight of the isolated object, and an additional inertial force in the dynamic state, resulting in higher static but lower dynamic effective vertical stiffness. The horizontal isolator is a conventional sliding-type system comprising a sliding platform and pair of springs. The IBIS’s equations of motion are derived by using Lagrange’s equation, and the theoretical model is verified through shaking-table test results. Numerical simulation and experimental results show that the IBIS has an anti-resonance property in the vertical direction, leading to higher isolation performance under both near-fault and far-field ground acceleration. The conventional sliding-type horizontal isolator component performs well under far-field ground acceleration but may perform unsatisfactorily under near-fault ground acceleration.

Experimental performance evaluation of a solar parabolic dish collector using spiral flow path receiver

The solar receiver design plays a crucial role in the performance and efficiency of a parabolic dish solar collector. This experimental study examines a finned spiral flow path receiver in a 16 m2 parabolic dish collector to enhance heat transfer from the receiver surface to the heat transfer fluid. The solar receiver is evaluated outdoors at water flow rates of 0.04 kg/s, 0.05 kg/s, 0.06 kg/s, and 0.12 kg/s. At water flow rates of 0.04 kg/s, 0.05 kg/s, and 0.06 kg/s, the receiver's average energy efficiency was 31.27 %, 44.34 %, and 50.69 %, respectively. At water flow rates of 0.12 kg/s, the peak energy and exergy efficiency are around 65.81 % and 6.85 %, respectively. The proposed solar receiver shows an increased heat transfer coefficient from the receiver surface to the fluid with more fluid residence time due to the spiral flow path and fins. The economic evaluation demonstrates that the solar receiver with a flow rate of 0.12 kg/s produces the most significant economic outcomes compared to other selected water flow rates. The proposed solar receiver's estimated levelized cost of energy, net present value, benefit-to-cost ratio, and payback period values are 0.18 ($/kWh), 925.61 $, 8.40 and 1.62 years. Thus, the finned spiral flow path receiver with a flow rate of 0.12 kg/s produces optimal performance among the selected water flow rates. The significant results benefit the solar community in designing an effective finned solar receiver for concentrated solar collectors.

MSWOA: A Mixed-Strategy-Based Improved Whale Optimization Algorithm for Multilevel Thresholding Image Segmentation

Multilevel thresholding image segmentation is one of the most widely used segmentation methods in the field of image segmentation. This paper proposes a multilevel thresholding image segmentation technique based on an improved whale optimization algorithm. The WOA has been applied to many complex optimization problems because of its excellent performance; however, it easily falls into local optimization. Therefore, firstly, a mixed-strategy-based improved whale optimization algorithm (MSWOA) is proposed using the k-point initialization algorithm, the nonlinear convergence factor, and the adaptive weight coefficient to improve the optimization ability of the algorithm. Then, the MSWOA is combined with the Otsu method and Kapur entropy to search for the optimal thresholds for multilevel thresholding gray image segmentation, respectively. The results of algorithm performance evaluation experiments on benchmark functions demonstrate that the MSWOA has higher search accuracy and faster convergence speed than other comparative algorithms and that it can effectively jump out of the local optimum. In addition, the image segmentation experimental results on benchmark images show that the MSWOA–Kapur image segmentation technique can effectively and accurately search multilevel thresholds.

Experimental evaluation of split air conditioning performance using nanodiamonds particles in compressor polyester lubricant oil

Rationing energy consumption in air conditioning (AC) systems has become increasingly necessary due to the continuous global increase in energy demand and the prevailing sustainability vision worldwide. Therefore, an AC system utilizing nanodiamond/Polyester (ND/POE) lubricant oil, which shows potential to improve the performance and reduce energy consumption, was investigated. Consequently, a 5-ton refrigeration split AC unit was modified with an oil separator to assess the ND/POE nanolubricant in the compressor’s loop, in particularly. The AC unit was examined under various operating conditions up to an extreme high ambient temperature of 52˚C, with an optimal nanolubricant concentration of 0.1% as recommended from the literature, using a fully automated psychrometric testing facility. The results showed that using ND/POE instead of pure POE resulted in a 4.7% and 3% reduction in compressor discharge temperature and pressure, respectively. Furthermore, the overall system's coefficient of performance (COP) improved by up to 8% due to a reduction in power consumption of up to 3% and an increase in cooling capacity of up to 6%. Therefore, it is anticipated that the use of ND/POE will result in improved compressor durability, reliability, and longevity, as well as a significant improvement in the performance of AC systems operating for prolonged periods, such as those operating in extreme high ambient temperature applications.

An assessment of the usefulness of handheld X-ray devices in general radiography based on a performance evaluation experiment

An assessment of the usefulness of handheld X-ray devices in general radiography based on a performance evaluation experiment