Low Cost Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

‡ This work was partially suported by ISA/DGOT/JNICT contract 28/94. Abstract: A new classification method which permits the integration of expert knowledge in satellite image classification is presented. This approach differs from other knowledge based ones for the following reasons: 1) it is a low-cost procedure; 2) it allows that the available experts explicitly express all their knowledge on the area to be classified, and 3) it does not have to face the problem of rule generalization over the whole area. The method is applied to a real image data set and it is shown that the achieved classification is more accurate than the classification just based on spectral data.

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- Mathematics, Expert Systems, Forestry, Image Processing
- by Anura De Zoysa
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- Industrial development, Low Cost, Financial & Managerial Accounting

Wireless sensor network (WSN) applications have expanded considerably over the past decade or so and now, solutions exit for various innovative applications. These wireless networks adopt commercial off the shelf devices and standardized protocols, which inherently creates security challenges. These challenges are ever changing as malicious interference and intrusion techniques evolve and dynamic efficient hardware becomes increasingly accessible. This paper presents the development of multiple low-cost hardware and software platforms designed so security enhancements and modifications to WSN protocol architecture and packet structure can be designed and tested. Each testbed has been built satisfying the requirements of being available as unmodified commercial off the shelf (COTS) components and based on open source software. The testbeds provide versatility through operating on various operating systems including Windows and Linux, are reproducible and can be deployed in a way which replicates real world WSNs. Each distinct system provides remote access, real time and off line data analysis, specific control of each network node and the ability to upload data from the WSN. This paper describes in-detail the individual pieces of suitable hardware for WSN protocol and packet structure design and illustrates the system architecture required to form testbeds which can experimentally validate modifications to a WSN protocol. Additionally, a baseline is defined and encapsulates the ZigBee standard. Example results of the distinct testbeds in operation are provided along with the specific open source software being used.

- by Colin Murphy
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- Computer Science, Security, Wireless Sensor Networks, Open Source

A simpli®ed co-rotating twin screw food extruder was designed, fabricated and tested in England, followed by extensive testing in Sri Lanka. It was built as a model to meet the speci®c product and ®nancial constraints of less developed countries and was expected to be used in those countries to widen the production capabilities of extruded foods. The machine had an estimated delivery of 10 kg/ h and was made mainly with mild steel. Two types of screw were made, one with a constant pitch of 14 mm and the other with varying pitch in segments of 14, 12 and 10 mm. The machine was powered by a 2.2 kW electric motor with electronic speed controls. The machine also had electrical heating with a temperature controller and a pressure sensing device. The cost of fabrication of the machine was estimated at £2000 with most of the parts built in a fairly simple workshop. A mixture of rice and dried banana was successfully extruded as a potential snack food and on the basis of maximum expansion the best results was obtained from a barrel temperature of 120°C, screw speed 125 rpm, feed moisture 15% and with a die ori®ce size of 3 mm. When the alternative compression screw was tested very similar results were achieved with no signi®cant improvement in product expansion. Ó 0260-8774/99/$ ± see front matter Ó 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 2 6 0 -8 7 7 4 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 4 9 -7

- by Suraji Senanayake
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- Design, Food Engineering, Food Technology, Conception

Nowadays, recycling issues has reached also the electrical machines engineering. Paper as "Principios de Diseño para Reciclar Motores de Inducción" [1] is an example of the interest of this matter within the engineers and professor all around the world. Students seem to be particularly interested in recycling, especially if its is applied to energy generation . Fractional horsepower electrical motors, which can be found in any home appliances, as washing machines, hovers, mixers, etc., and automotion are the preferred machines as they are very easy to find and they are be simply to handle and operate . The transformation of these machines into generators is not difficult, but it is a good exercise for students as it demands a deep knowledge of the electrical theory . Energy generated by these machines is always stored in batteries and accumulators, so it can be applied to move electrical water pumps, drip irrigation systems, and to provide energy to isolated farmhouses . The final purpose of this paper is to give ideas of how to make the lowest cost energy generator, both in terms of money and environmental impact.

- by Nagendra Sharma
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- Electrical Engineering, Renewable Energy, Sustainable Development, Recycling

In today’s competitive market, low cost production and high quality product could assists manufacturers to win new and maintain their existing customers thus gain bigger market share. Manufacturing cost is one of the key dominant factors towards achieving business success. As such, manufacturing firms are struggling to produce product with lowest manufacturing cost while at the same time maintaining their product quality. Lean manufacturing practice could be applied to lower the manufacturing cost and benchmarking technique to ensure on the implementation effectiveness. A case study was conducted in a small and medium manufacturing firm located in China. One of the lean manufacturing tools, i.e. 5S system was implemented in the production line of the case study company. For future reference, the present situation was studied prior to the 5S system implementation. Later, the result of the study was benchmarked against before, after and the best in class manufacturer. A framework was ...

- by Tan Jun ISK
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- Lean Manufacturing, Benchmarking, Low Cost, Market Share

The farming system and transition processing of organic farming have been examined and the under organic farming has been assessed with respect to important sustainability indicators such as conservation of soil, water, power and farmers economic well-being and livelihood security. The study is based on data for 2009-10 collected from 30 organic farming sample households from the Erode district of Tamil Nadu. The organic

- by GARPH Publication
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- Soil Science, Agronomy, Soil, Agriculture

Porous materials are usually employed since they are a well-known and effective passive approach. This class of material converts the acoustical energy into heat by viscous and thermal effects. That is, this transduction is carried out by the particles' friction and movement inside the pores. Considering this scenario, it is clear that characterization of porous materials plays an important role in noise control. A common way to estimate their properties is via Kundt's Tube measurements, where the sound absorption coefficients are extracted by applying a normal incidence acoustic wave over the sample. The method is standardized by the ISO 10534-2, which recommends Class 1 instrumentation. This work presents two groups of measurements. The former case is the fruit of a low-cost measurement system, applied to a custom Kundt's Tube constructed in the Acoustical Laboratory of the Federal University of Santa Maria, in south Bra-zil. In the latter case, a commercial Kundt'...

- by Matheus Pereira
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- Acoustics, Instrumentation, Porous Materials, ISO standards

We analyse the entry and exit activity in the UK airline markets in the post-liberalisation period and study the differential traits between traditional and low cost carriers. Alongside with the characteristics traditionally highlighted as determinants of entry (e.g., airport presence and network economies), we find that the existence of charter or seasonal operators, product differentiation opportunities and the level of quality provided by the incumbents are also relevant in explaining entry and/or exit. Despite the liberalisation policies, the contestability of important large markets still seems to be limited.

- by Claudio A Piga
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- Seasonality, Low Cost, Exit, Product differentiation

In response to the challenge of low costs airlines, several full service carriers (FSCs) around the world have created their own low cost subsidiary. In the UK, two successful examples of this strategy are bmibaby (bmi) and Go (British Airways). To compete with their low cost rivals, these subsidiaries need to create a similar low cost employment system and human resource management policies to support this system, which will be very different from that of the parent company. More importantly, in a 'customer facing' industry such as civil aviation, how staff respond to these management practices will have a crucial bearing on the success (or otherwise) of the airline. In this paper we assess the degree of decentralization of employment relations to subsidiary management at both airlines; we discern the man-agement style towards flight crew at the low cost subsidiaries; and finally, we analyse the response of flight crew to the management style adopted.

- by Geraint Harvey
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- Information Systems, Marketing, Industrial Relations, Employment Relations

The Australian greenhouse industry is primarily dominated by low-cost hydroponic greenhouses for delivery of water and nutrients to plants to grow a variety of vegetable crops including cucumber and tomato. The nutrient rich drainage water from these greenhouses is generally released into the local environment causing pollution concerns. This study was initiated to investigate the opportunities in recycling drainage water to increase water and nutrient-use efficiency of hydroponic greenhouses and reduce the environmental impact of the drainage water discharge. Results indicated that a total of 4.15 ML/ha of irrigation water was applied during the 13 weeks crop growing period of which 2.56 ML/ha was drained off and 1.59 ML/ha was used to meet the crop evapotranspiration demand. The study showed that the recycling of the drainage water resulted in a 33% reduction in potable water used for irrigation in cucumber production. The drainage water contained 59% applied N, 25% applied P and 55% applied K and illustrated the potential for nutrient recovery and production cost savings through the reuse of drainage water. This case study demonstrates that some relatively simple changes in irrigation practices within greenhouse systems to recycle drainage water can considerably improve sustainability of low-cost hydroponic greenhouses and help minimise the environmental footprint of the greenhouse industry.

- by Basant Maheshwari
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- Civil Engineering, Water, Recycling, Water Engineering

Our project deals with the fabrication of a solar stored cook stove. No being can live without food. To cook the food heat energy is required. In the present scenario, to get the heat energy, liquefied petroleum gas, kerosene etc. are being used as fuel. These fuels are highly expensive. Solar energy can be used to cook food. Solar energy is available almost everywhere and is well economical too. Solar stored cook stove is used to cook food efficiently. This type of cooker is very much useful in rural areas where LPG or kerosene is hardly available and wood is used as an alternate fuel, which causes pollution and depletes the environment. The solar stored cook stove is fabricated in such a way that it can be used for cooking as well as storing heat energy. This type of solar cooker can be used in areas where sun light is available, almost everywhere. This cooker can be used for a long time and the cost involved in manufacturing this cooker is low, so that even a small family or a common man can afford it.

Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) is a technology for effectively extracting data from filled-in fields or bubbles on printed forms. The current systems available for OMR are very expensive and they detect only a marking scheme. Moreover, the image processing techniques used for scanning the OMR sheet also consumes a lot of time and is quite complex, as it includes various restrictions related to the positioning of the sheet. In this paper, a solution to this problem is proposed, where an OMR system is developed using a scanner or a multifunctional printer as an input. The quality of the OMR sheet used in this system is low cost and easily available to any educational institution. The image processing techniques are implemented with the help of PyCharm IDE that not only helps to detect various marking schemes like bubble shape mark and tick mark but also verifies the answers in the sheet and displays the total marks obtained by the student, in a more efficient manner. In order to make the system user-friendly, the GUI of the system is improved and personalized by integrating an online website with the OMR software that displays the results of the individual student.

- by Ijariit Journal
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- Image Processing, GUI, Low Cost, Personalized

Glass powder is one of the most active research areas that encompass a number of disciplines including civil engineering and construction materials. Waste glass locally available and it has been collected and made into glass powder. Before adding glass powder in the concrete it has to be powdered to required size. Glass is widely used in our lives through manufacturing products such as bottles, glassware. Most waste glasses have been dumped into landfill sites. The Land filling of waste glasses is undesirable because they are not biodegradable, which makes them environmentally less friendly. So we use the waste glass in concrete to become the construction economical as well as eco-friendly. In this research study the (OPC) cement has been replaced by glass waste powder accordingly in the range of 10% and 20% by weight of cement for 0.30, 0.35, and 0.40 water/cement ratio. The compressive strength test and flexural strength test was carried out for 7, 14 and 28 days to measure the compressive strength and flexural strength of concrete. So the aim of the investigation is to study the behaviour of pervious concrete while replacing the waste glass powder with different proportions in concrete. Test results have reflected, the compressive strength and flexural strength achieved up to 20% replacement of cement with waste glass powder will be optimum without effecting properties of fresh and hardened concrete.

- by Shaikh Tufail Ahmed
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- Marketing, Real Estate, Literature, Higher Education

To establish feasibility and superiority of whey based nutritional beverage using established qualitative and quantitative tests for milk proteins and inclusion of cereal based additives. Additionally ensure that whey produced in processing milk; an important source of nutrition; is utilized to its maximum potential. Commercial milk processing recycles whey to extract soluble nutrients, hence whey discarded by commercial milk processing plants is of little use. On the other hand, domestic and low scale milk processing produces whey that has a higher nutritional content and can be utilized locally to produce nutritional drinks that can serve a variety of purposes from refreshment to dietary supplements.

- by IOSR Journals
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- Biochemistry, Chemistry, Biotechnology, Medicine

Competition between low-cost carriers in rapid expansion and full-service network carriers has definitely become one of the most relevant issues of the airline industry. The present paper addresses this matter by analyzing the entry of the lowcost Gol Airlines, in the Brazilian domestic market, in 2001. A route-choice model is estimated by making use of a flexible post-entry equilibrium profits equation and accounting for endogeneity of the main variables. Results indicate the relevance of market size and rival's route presence as underlying determinants of profitability. Furthermore, it is also performed an analysis of the consistency of Gol's entry patterns with the route-choice behavior classically established by the pre-eminent US low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines -that is, a focus on short-haul and high-density markets. Evidence is found that although Gol initiated operations by reproducing the behavior of Southwest, it quickly diversified its portfolio of routes and, at the margin, became more in accordance with the pattern of entry of JetBlue Airways (another successful US low-cost carrier), focusing mainly on longer-haul markets, albeit with some relevant country-specific idiosyncrasies.

The ‘MILD HOME’ is defined as the prototype of an affordable housing for the next few decades, discovering the appropriate architectural responses for the continuously changing environmental and social challenges. The ‘Eco Green Village’... more

- by Tamás Horváth
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- Intelligent, Do It Yourself (DIY), Low Cost

In this paper a voice controlled wireless smart home system has been presented for elderly and disabled people. The proposed system has two main components namely (a) voice recognition system, and (b) wireless system. LabView software has been used to implement the voice recognition system. On the other hand, ZigBee wireless modules have been used to implement the wireless system. The main goal of this system is to control home appliances by using voice commands. The proposed system can recognize the voice commands, convert them into the required data format, and send the data through the wireless transmitter. Based on the received data at the wireless receiver associated with the appliances desired switching operations are performed. The proposed system is a low cost and low power system because ZigBee is used. Additionally the proposed system needs to be trained of voice command only once. Then the system can recognize the voice commands independent of vocabulary size, noise, and speaker characteristics (i.e., accent).

- by Sophie Parks
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- Civil Engineering, Water, Recycling, Water Engineering

The main purpose of this abstract is to analyze up to date tendencies and upcoming trends in the development of modern tourism. Main destinations of inbound tourism were analyzed altogether with trend analysis of world`s top outbound tourism countries. Any development is impossible without applying certain efforts and expenses in fields as environmental, socio-cultural, technological, and economic and others. Most of those impacts on tourism development were analyzed both with certain factors which were underestimated during the dissemination of modern era of tourism – these are information technologies (Internet included) with their highest impact on globalization and promotion of tourism and low cost discounters with their impact on motivation of particular tourist - direct service consumer travelling.

- by jevgenija dehtjare
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- Environmental Sustainability, Development, Tourism, TRENDS

This article examines the inefficient use of resources in the Brazilian transportation system. The energy use growth and external cost generation in this essential economic sector are considerable, and the trend is towards an increasing problem in the coming years. The continued expansion of Brazilian cities and the increase in demand for mobility is a result of a substantial growth in the number of road transport users, as increased earnings enable lower income groups to acquire and use individual motorized means of transport. The aim of this paper is to estimate the potential gains from reducing individual motorized transport by the year 2020. This investigation concludes that in a conservationist scenario, by prioritizing low cost, low technology public policies-which include operation of Bus Rapid Transit systems, walking and cycling facilities and congestion charges, among others-it should be possible to save over USD 30 billion and USD 26 billion in external transportation and infrastructure costs, respectively, up to 2020. In addition, these public policies can save more than 35 million Tons of Oil Equivalents in energy consumption and avoid almost 4,000 thousand tons of local pollution emissions and 37,500 thousand tons of GHG emissions in the same period.

A low cost LED based spectrometer is described. This LED based spectrometer could be operated as a standalone instrument or under PC control via serial link. A total of seven wavelength selections are available by the plug-and-measure LED light module. With the seven wavelength selections, the LED based spectrometer could provide qualitative visible absorption spectra that predict the absorption maximum. Based upon the qualitative visible spectra, quantitative photometric information could be obtained.

- by Tai Sheng Yeh
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- Physics, Microcontroller, Low Cost, LED

This experiment was conducted to bring in a suitable and economic agarwood oil extraction method for Agar tree (Aquilaria agollocha) growers in Bangladesh. Agarwood was collected from Fotikchori upazila of Chittagong district and a prototype of hydro-distillation extraction chamber was developed at the lab of Department of Farm Power and Machinery, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh during January to March 2013. Using the prototype, 7 ml of agarwood oil was extracted from 15 kg matured agarwood. It was found from the calculation that the developed system can bring yearly benefit of Tk. 7,78,389 with benefit-cost ratio as 2.33. This development was, therefore, proven very beneficial for Bangladeshi agar tree growers.

- by mohamed risly
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- Low Cost, Oil Extraction, Distillation Column Tray Hydro, Agarwood

A realização deste trabalho representou um percurso de crescimento, pontuado por dificuldades, descobertas e desafios e cuja conclusão resultou num esforço que foi partilhado e possível graças a um conjunto alargado de envolvidos na sua concretização. Em primeiro lugar, o meu sincero agradecimento ao Professor Doutor Sancho Silva, pela disponibilidade que demonstrou desde o início para a orientação científica, acompanhamento atento, discussão e incentivo, factores que tornaram possível a realização do presente trabalho e muito contribuíram para o meu enriquecimento pessoal. Um agradecimento especial à Professora Marta Castel-Branco, pelos seus esclarecimentos estatísticos e conselhos metodológicos, pela sua disponibilidade e prontidão na revisão de textos, fundamentais na prossecução do trabalho. O desenvolvimento da presente dissertação só foi possível graças à colaboração e disponibilidade dos entrevistados, sendo o meu agradecimento endereçado aos gestores das unidades hostel que contribuíram com a resposta aos questionários, por terem aberto as suas portas e partilhado a sua experiência desenvolvida, e aos turistas que contribuíram com o preenchimento dos questionários, detalhando parte da sua experiência turística em Lisboa. Agradeço, ainda, com especial relevo à Dra. Maria Tavares, representante da Associação de Turismo de Lisboa, pela disponibilidade no esclarecimento de dúvidas surgidas, pelas sugestões de consulta de documentação relevante, bem como pela resposta à entrevista efectuada, agradecimento que estendo ao Dr. Jorge Humberto, presidente da Região de Turismo de Lisboa e Vale do Tejo. Quero também agradecer a colaboração e disponibilidade que encontrei junto dos funcionários da Biblioteca da Escola Superior de Hotelaria e Turismo do Estoril, bem como no Centro de Documentação do Turismo de Portugal, que prontamente auxiliaram a pesquisa bibliográfica. Aos meus amigos, em especial à Cláudia Silveira, Manuel Macedo, Marta Correia, Sara Martins e Sarah Quina, cuja ajuda foi fundamental na revisão dos textos, na tradução do inquérito, na análise informática e na troca de ideias, que tornaram este percurso mais rico, obrigada. A todos os outros amigos que me acompanham sempre e em especial, à minha família, pela amizade, pelo incentivo e pelo apoio incondicional, o meu agradecimento sentido.

- by Vanessa Neves Saraiva
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- Geography, Low Cost

Traditional slurry copper (Cu) CMP processes have disadvantages in terms of dishing, erosion, Cu and oxide losses, micro-scratches and cost due in part to the presence of abrasive particles during polishing. A stable abrasive-free (AF) Cu CMP process and a low-abrasive barrier removal process have been developed. With these processes it has been possible to repeatably demonstrate metal-residue free wafers with low dishing, low erosion, low metal and oxide losses, over-polishing insensitivity, and low cost.

- by Stan Tsai
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- Chemicals, Copper, Low Cost, Chemical Mechanical Polishing

- by Basant L Maheshwari
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- Civil Engineering, Water, Recycling, Water Engineering

The paper presents the detailed design and some preliminary results obtained from a study regarding a wastewater treatment pilot plant (WWTPP), serving as a multistage constructed wetland (CW) located at the rural settlement of 'Chorfech 24' (Tunisia). The WWTPP implemented at Chorfech 24 is mainly designed as a demonstration of sustainable water management solutions (low-cost wastewater treatment), in order to prove the efficiency of these solutions working under real Tunisian conditions and ultimately allow the further spreading of the demonstrated techniques. The pilot activity also aims to help gain experience with the implemented techniques and to improve them when necessary to be recommended for wide application in rural settlements in Tunisia and similar situations worldwide. The selected WWTPP at Chorfech 24 (rural settlement of 50 houses counting 350 inhabitants) consists of one Imhoff tank for pre-treatment, and three stages in series: as first stage a horizontal subsurface flow CW system, as second stage a subsurface vertical flow CW system, and a third horizontal flow CW. The sludge of the Imhoff tank is treated in a sludge composting bed. The performances of the different components as well as the whole treatment system were presented based on 3 months monitoring. The results shown in this paper are related to carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus removal as well as to reduction of micro-organisms. The mean overall removal rates of the Chorfech WWTPP during the monitored period have been, respectively, equal to 97% for total suspended solids and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD 5 ), 95% for chemical oxygen demand, 71% for total nitrogen and 82% for P-PO 4 . The removal of E. coli by the whole system is 2.5 log units.

- by Martin Regelsberger and +1
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- Wetlands, Water Purification, Wastewater Treatment, Rural Settlement

This paper proposes a unique standalone hybrid power
generation system, applying advanced power control
techniques(APC), fed by four power sources: wind power, solar
power, storage battery, and fuel cell, and which is not connected
to a commercial power system One of the primary needs for
socio-economic development in any nation in the world is the
provision of reliable electricity supply systems. This work is a
development of an indigenous technology hybrid Solar –Wind
and fuel cell Power system that harnesses the renewable energies
in Solar- Wind and fuel cell to generate electricity. Here, electric
DC energies produced from photovoltaic and wind turbine
systems are transported to a DC disconnect energy Mix
controller. The controller is bidirectional connected to a DC-AC
float charging-inverter system that provides charging current to a
heavy duty storage bank of Battery and at the same time
produces inverted AC power to AC loads. This paper focuses on
the modeling and simulation of solar – photovoltaic, wind, fuel
cell and battery hybrid energy systems using
MATLAB/simulink.

- by IJSRP Journal
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- Low Cost, Standalone Hybrid Power Generation System

The swiftly mounting world energy consumption has sparked questions regarding supply constraints, the collapse of energy resources, and dense environmental effects. Although the construction industry has much developed, yet construction is still a difficult, and costly process. Consequently, there is a necessity to find additional energy-efficient and cost-saving substitutes to sustain the urbanization of houses at a reasonable price to low-income groups. This study aims to provide an energy-efficient proposal for a housing scheme with strict control over cost allowing the low-income groups to enjoy livability stemming from the thermally comfortable and cost-saving technology. For this purpose, visits and surveys were carried out to critically analyze the respective housing scheme. Two proposals were suggested i.e. Proposal A by applying a low-cost technique called a Rat-trap bond to the walls and Proposal B, by designing an architectural plan for proficient utilization of space along with Rat-trap bond. Proposal B is highly recommended for construction as it saves 799 units of electricity and is 28% cost-effective during the construction phase than the existing housing unit. Summarized results were prepared from cost analysis and Ecotect analysis which ascertains the proposal to be energy efficient in addition to low cost. It is recommended to invest in cost-effective and energy-efficient technologies at the governmental level so that the challenge of inadequate housing can be answered once and for all.

- by Jonathan Morduch
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- Economics, Public Economics, Globalization, Accounting
- by Ryan Eustice
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- Design, Optical Imaging, Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, Navigation
- by Marieta Pehlivanova
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- Nonparametric Statistics, Educational Measurement, Evaluation, Public Health

Este paper presenta el diseño e implementación
de un sistema de eye-tracking de bajo costo que permite medir
la rotación angular del ojo y la dirección de la mirada en
individuos sanos. El sistema consiste de un circuito de EOG
con componentes simples que adquieren tanto el movimiento
horizontal y vertical del ojo usando electrodos de contacto.
Posteriormente los datos son analizados y traducidos a los
valores correspondientes de ángulos que representan la rotación angular del ojo para ambas orientaciones. Los resultados muestran que las mediciones para los ángulos horizontales son mucho más precisos que las mediciones para ángulos verticales. Se presenta una discusión con respecto a los resultados y las mejoras.

- by Vicente P Acuña Otárola
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- Eye tracking, Eye-tracking, Español, Low Cost

- by Aktarul Islam
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- Low Cost, Oil Extraction, Distillation Column Tray Hydro, Agarwood

The paper presents low-tech and low-cost solutions such as, in particular, self-help retrofitting technologies, to improve the quality in spontaneous settlements (favelas) which arise close to the major Brazilian towns. In particular, a critical analysis of the favela Vila Novo Ouro Preto in Belo Horizonte has been elaborated, highlighting both social, cultural and technical aspects to design suitable technological components to be adopted in order to improve environmental comfort. The study has been developed in order to meet people needs and expectations so as to guide planning and design perspectives aiming at improving the quality of life in a sustainable socio-cultural way. The contribution suggests a selection of interesting techniques and processes achievable in self-help construction; some of them are quite innovative since they use in a new and different way recycled materials and products, thus boosting economic growth and social development.

- by Annarita Ferrante
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- Multidisciplinary, Low Cost

This study explored the feasibility of utilizing raw and calcinated dolomite under CO2 atmosphere for phosphate removal in laboratory experiments. The experimental work emphasized the evaluation of phosphate adsorption characteristics of this adsorbent material. Studies were conducted to delineate the effect of contact time, initial phosphate concentration, temperature, pH, stirring speed, adsorbent dose and calcination temperature. Phosphate removal decreased with increasing temperature and slightly increased with increasing of pH. The observed decrease in the adsorption capacity with increase of the temperature from 20 to 40 and to 60 °C indicates that the low temperatures favor the phosphate removal by adsorption onto dolomite. Phosphate removal was seen to decrease with increasing calcination temperature due to the structural changes occurring in the structure and pore size distribution of dolomite samples during calcination. The experimental data obtained were applied to the Freundlich, Langmuir, BET, Halsey, Harkins–Jura, Smith and Henderson isotherm equations to test the fit of these equations to raw and calcinated dolomite samples. By considering the experimental results and adsorption models applied in this study, it can be concluded that adsorption of phosphate occurs predominantly through physical interactions, and the dolomite sample has a heteroporous structure. The large values of the constants for Henderson equation and the high value of ym obtained from BET equation indicate the microporous structure is more stable in raw and calcinated dolomite samples.

- by Khouloud Haddad
- •
- Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Thermodynamics, Water

The requirement that mobile robots become independent of external sensors, such as GPS, and are able to navigate in an environment by themselves, means that designers have few alternative techniques available. An increasingly popular approach is to use computer vision as a source of information about the surroundings. This paper presents an implementation of computer vision to hold a quadrocopter aircraft in a stable hovering position using a low-cost, consumer-grade, video system. However, such a system is not able to stabilize the aircraft on its own and must rely on a data-fusion algorithm that uses additional measurements from on-board inertial sensors. Special techniques had to be implemented to compensate for the increased delay in the closed-loop system with the computer vision system, i.e., video timestamping to determine the exact delay of the vision system and a slight modification of the Kalman filter to account for this delay. At the end, the validation results of the proposed filtering technique are presented along with the results of an autonomous flight as a proof of the proposed concept.

- by Sašo Blažič
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- Cognitive Science, Computer Vision, Low Cost

- by Fabio Masi
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- Wetlands, Water Purification, Wastewater Treatment, Rural Settlement

In today's world, traffic jams during rush hours is one of the major concerns. During rush hours, emergency vehicles like Ambulances, Police cars and Fire Brigade trucks get stuck in jams. Due to this, these emergency vehicles are not able to reach their destinations in time, resulting into a loss of human lives. We have developed a system which is used to provide clearance to any emergency vehicle by turning all the red lights to green on the path of the emergency vehicle, hence providing a complete green wave to the desired vehicle. A 'green wave' is the synchronization of the green phase of traffic signals.

- by durgaprasad kolluri
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- Tracking, Low Cost

Agar is one of the most popular solidifying agents in plant tissue culture. High price of pure grade agar and fear of over exploitation of its resources caused searching for low cost alternatives. In this study, liquid medium with cotton substratum and different combinations of starch, semolina, potato powder and agar in two steps of micropropagation (shoot induction and proliferation) were investigated. The highest frequency of regeneration was found in media containing agar (0.8%), combination of starch: semolina: potato powder (2:1:1) in 9 and 12% and combination of starch (6%) plus agar (0.4%), but maximum shoot numbers were produced in media containing agar (0.8%), combination of starch (6%) plus agar (0.4%) and liquid medium with cotton substratum. The best shoot proliferation take place in liquid medium with cotton substratum. The results show that the combination of starch: semolina: potato powder (2:1:1) in 9% and starch (6%) plus agar (0.4 %) can be suitable alternatives for agar in regeneration stage but the shoot number is lower than agar alone. These options are very cheaper than agar. The best shoot proliferation can be done in bioreactors or liquid medium with suitable substratum like cotton.

- by Abas Sharifi
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- Technology, Biological Sciences, African, Low Cost
- by Laszlo Monostori
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- RFID, Low Cost, Product Life Cycle

Cost is an important consideration when transferring a technology from research to industrial and educational use. In this paper, we introduce the design of an industrial grade series elastic actuator (SEA) performed via re-engineering a research grade version of it. Cost-constrained design requires careful consideration of the key performance parameters for an optimal performance-to-cost component selection. To optimize the performance of the new design, we started by matching the capabilities of a high-performance SEA while cutting down its production cost significantly. Our posit was that performing a re-engineering design process on an existing high-end device will significantly reduce the cost without compromising the performance drastically. As a case study of design for manufacturability, we selected the University of Texas Series Elastic Actuator (UT-SEA), a high-performance SEA, for its high power density, compact design, high efficiency and high speed properties. We partnered with an industrial corporation in China to research the best pricing options and to exploit the retail and production facilities provided by the Shenzhen region. We succeeded in producing a low-cost industrial grade actuator at one-third of the cost of the original device by re-engineering the UT-SEA with commercial off-the-shelf components and reducing the number of custom-made parts. Subsequently, we conducted performance tests to demonstrate that the re-engineered product achieves the same high-performance specifications found in the original device. With this paper, we aim to raise awareness in the robotics community on the possibility of low-cost realization of low-volume, high performance, industrial grade research and education hardware.

- by Kenan ISIK
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- Industrial Design, Low Cost, Series Elastic Actuators

In the present paper the authors propose a portable and low-cost speckle interferometer for evaluating 3D deformation fields. The interferometer was designed and realized with the aim of carrying out measurements on small areas, hence it can be used to approach problems characterized by displacement field with highly localized gradients, such as the strain relief occurring in residual stress evaluation or the displacements which arise around notches or crack tips. The costs of the experimental equipment were reduced by employing laser diodes as light sources, a PZT actuator designed and calibrated by the authors and a control electronics realized on purpose. Moreover the configuration which was adopted allows further saving on optical components. The experimental results reported at the end of the paper, and obtained by a specimen subjected to 3D rigid body motions, show a high repeatability and accuracy. Furthermore the experimental results have shown that the geometry of the optical setup implies the variation of the sensitivity vectors on the inspected area, but this effect can be evaluated (analytically and/or experimentally) and taken into account in order to increase the accuracy of the measurements.

- by Luigi Bruno
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- Speckle interferometry, Actuators, Semiconductor Lasers, Low Cost

- by Andrea Poggialini
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- Speckle interferometry, Actuators, Semiconductor Lasers, Low Cost

The Penn State Lunar Lion Team plans to send a robotic explorer to the surface of the Moon and, by applying 30 years of technological advancements, win the Google Lunar X Prize. The Google Lunar X Prize aims to showcase the ability of the growing private space industry by having teams pursue the goal of becoming the first private entity to land a spacecraft on another body in the solar system. Through the Team's pursuit of this Prize, Penn State will establish itself as a leader in space exploration. The Lunar Lion Team will win this Prize through the collaboration of faculty and students from multiple disciplines, and the engineering and technical staff at the Penn State Applied Research Lab, as well as strategic collaborations with industry partners. The diversity of technical disciplines required to build a system that can land on the Moon can be found at Penn State. This multidisciplinary project will be not only a means for bringing together personnel from around the University, but also a way to attract faculty and students to these fields. The baseline concept for the Lunar Lion will strictly follow the requirements of the Grand Prize and the Grand Prize only, leading to the simplest possible system for the mission. By achieving the Grand Prize, Penn State will have accomplished what once took the largescale effort of NASA's early robotic lunar landers or the USSR's space program. While the Bonus Prizes are noteworthy, ensuring their accomplishment will add development and operational risk to the flight system that could jeopardize the Team's ability to win the Grand Prize. The Team will build the simplest spacecraft, with the fewest number of systems and components. This philosophy will shorten the development timeline and result in a robust flight system that is of minimum cost. Wherever possible, the Team will use commercially available products to satisfy the needs of the system. The work of the Team will be efficient systems integration, careful operational planning, and focused mission execution, all with the Grand Prize in mind. By focusing on innovation rather than invention, Penn State will lead the field of competitors and land the next spacecraft on the Moon.

- by David Spencer
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- Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Competition

This paper describes an approach for creating space transportation architectures that are affordable, productive, and sustainable. The architectural scope includes both flight and ground system elements, and focuses on their compatibility to achieve a technical solution that is operationally productive, and also affordable throughout its life cycle. Previous papers by the authors and other members of the Space Propulsion Synergy Team (SPST) focused on space flight system engineering methods, along with operationally efficient propulsion system concepts and technologies. This paper follows up previous work by using a structured process to derive examples of conceptual architectures that integrate a number of advanced concepts and technologies. The examples are not intended to provide a nearterm alternative architecture to displace current near-term design and development activity. Rather, the examples demonstrate an approach that promotes early investments in advanced system concept studies and trades (flight and ground), as well as in advanced technologies with the goal of enabling highly affordable, productive flight and ground space transportation systems.

- by Russel Rhodes
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- Systems Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering, Low Cost, Compatibility

We are currently developing a 118/183 GHz sensor that will enable observations of temperature and precipitation profiles over land and ocean. The 118/183 GHz system is well suited for a CubeSat deployment as ~10cm antenna aperture provides sufficiently small footprint sizes (~25km). This project will enable low cost, compact radiometer instrumentation at 118 and 183 GHz that would fit in a 6U CubeSat with the objective of mass-producing this design to enable a suite of small satellites to image the key geophysical parameters that are needed to improve prediction of extreme weather events. We will take advantage of past and current technology developments at JPL viz. HAMSR (High Altitude Microwave Scanning Radiometer), Advanced Component Technology (ACT'08) to enable low-mass and low-power high frequency airborne radiometers. The 35 nm InP enabling technology provides significant reduction in power consumption (Low Noise Amplifier + Mixer Block consumes 24 mW). In this paper, we will describe the design and implementation of the 118 GHz temperature sounder and 183 GHz humidity sounder instrument on the 6U CubeSat. In addition, a summary of radiometer calibration and retrieval techniques of the temperature and humidity will be discussed. The successful demonstration of this instrument on the 6U CubeSat would pave the way for the development of a constellation consisting of suite of these instruments. The proposed constellation of these 6U CubeSat radiometers would allow sampling of tropospheric temperature and humidity with fine temporal (on the order of minutes) and spatial resolution (~25 km).

- by Sharmila Padmanabhan
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- Temperature, Low Cost, Weather, Constellations