Kalman Filters for Reference Current Generation in Shunt Active Power Filter (APF)

Shunt active power filter (APF) method have been used by many researchers as a solution in reducing the harmonics creating by the non-liner loads. Therefore, this research is targeted to design and implement a three-phase shunt APF employing Kalman filter estimator. Conventionally, low-pass filter (LPF) is used to filter out the unwanted DC component of the non-linear load to produce the sinusoidal waveform called the reference current. However, when applying LPF it contributes with the phase shift and high transient at the supply current. Therefore, to reduce these problems, the digital Kalman filter estimator is used to replace the LPF for generating the reference current. Details on the investigation between conventional and proposed methods under simulation based on Matlab Simulink platform and experimental that are made for two types of load, namely, three-phase rectifier with RC-load and three-phase induction motor, are presented. The performance criteria of the shunt APF are determined by the supply current waveform, total harmonic distortion (THD), harmonic spectrum and power quality measurements, which were also obtained by simulation and experimental. In conclusion, by employing Kalman filter estimator for generating the reference current, it reduces the time delay and high transient current at the power supply and, thus, improved the overall THD from 0.1 to 0.42% compared to the LPF.

Probiotics and Ruminant Health

Probiotics are viable microorganisms with beneficial health effects for humans and animals. They are formulated into many functional foods and animal feed. There is a growing research interest in the application and benefits of probiotics in ruminant production. Several recent studies have evaluated the potential of probiotics in animal nutrition and health. In this chapter, we have reviewed current research on the benefits of probiotics on gut microbial communities in ruminants and their impact on ruminant production, health and overall wellbeing.

An Extension of Massera’s Theorem for N-Dimensional Stochastic Differential Equations

In this chapter, we consider a periodic SDE in the dimension n ≥ 2, and we study the existence of periodic solutions for this type of equations using the Massera principle. On the other hand, we prove an analogous result of the Massera’s theorem for the SDE considered.

Automation of Integrated System for Grain Beverages Processing

The research work focus on design and construction of automatic system for integrated plant for grain beverages processing. A grain beverage processing plant is a complex system that integrates several operations (blending of soaked grains, mixing the slurry, extracting the aqueous liquid and discharging of the paste out of the machine) together and finished in one go. Incorporating an automatic system into the integrated system simplify its mode of operation. Essential design consideration, analysis and calculations were carried out in order to determine and select materials of appropriate strength and sizes for various part of the automatic system. The major parts of the automatic system includes power supply unit, transformer, filter capacitor, voltage regulator, power indicator, pre-set buttons, time controller, eprom, display unit, controllers, limiting sensor, solenoid valve and electro-mechanical switch. The system was designed to have two controllers, one interfaced with the button network and the other organized the operational time (blending, sieving and paste expelling) in minute. Results of the testing revealed that the highest machine output of 90.24 L/h was obtained from speed of 1650 rpm using the integrated machine with automated system, low value of output of 52.64 L/h was obtained from the same speed using the integrated machine with semi-automatic system. The least machine output of 32.59 L/h was obtained from the same speed using the integrated machine without the automated system. The machine output was found to be influenced by both the automatic system and machine speed. The automatic system allows efficient work flow, reduces human labor, ensure safety and hygiene product production by eliminating human interference. Also it increased the machine output by 67%, reduce operational time by 65% and completely eliminating human interference with the product.

Robotic Harvesting of Fruiting Vegetables: A Simulation Approach in V-REP, ROS and MATLAB

In modern agriculture, there is a high demand to move from tedious manual harvesting to a continuously automated operation. This chapter reports on designing a simulation and control platform in V-REP, ROS, and MATLAB for experimenting with sensors and manipulators in robotic harvesting of sweet pepper. The objective was to provide a completely simulated environment for improvement of visual servoing task through easy testing and debugging of control algorithms with zero damage risk to the real robot and to the actual equipment. A simulated workspace, including an exact replica of different robot manipulators, sensing mechanisms, and sweet pepper plant, and fruit system was created in V-REP. Image moment method visual servoing with eye-in-hand configuration was implemented in MATLAB, and was tested on four robotic platforms including Fanuc LR Mate 200iD, NOVABOT, multiple linear actuators, and multiple SCARA arms. Data from simulation experiments were used as inputs of the control algorithm in MATLAB, whose outputs were sent back to the simulated workspace and to the actual robots. ROS was used for exchanging data between the simulated environment and the real workspace via its publishand-subscribe architecture. Results provided a framework for experimenting with different sensing and acting scenarios, and verified the performance functionality of the simulator.

Endocrine and Cell Surface Receptor Signaling in Breast Carcinogenesis

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancerrelated death in female. To better understand the growth and progression as well as therapeutic management, breast cancers are grouped based on histopathological and molecular classification. A number of factors have been implicated in the development of breast cancer. Various cell surface as well as hormone receptor signaling play crucial role in breast cancer initiation and progression. This chapter briefly discusses few of the important receptor signaling pathways and the various strategies in practice as well as at different stages of development to target these pathways.

Seabirds as Bioindicators of Marine Ecosystems

Seabirds are those waterbirds that directly or indirectly depend on the marine environment over the waters, i.e., they foraged at sea either near shore or offshore and inhabit in coastal areas, islands, estuaries, wetlands, and ocean islands. They are mostly aerial waterbirds sailing above sea spending much of their time (weeks, months, and even years) in marine environments or floating on the water surface or diving in deep sea in search of food. Seabirds encompass of 65 genera, 222 marine, and 72 partially marine bird species. Seabirds have been used as good indicators (i.e., bioindicators) of marine ecosystems due to cause-effect association with different microclimate and habitats. They exploit broad scale of habitat, quickly respond to environmental changes, they can be detected easily (i.e., they showed their presence through vocalization), easy to identify, can be surveyed efficiently over large spatial scale, e.g., presence, abundance, and influenced by surrounding habitats as compared to other animals. Employing seabird as bioindicators is a cost-effective and informative tool (well defined matrix) to determine the effects of disturbances, contamination, i.e., effects of pollutants, organic substances, and oil-spills of the marine environment. Seabirds are top predators in the marine food chain and key component of the food web. Seabirds may indicate the status of habitat, reduction in food occurrence and abundance, rate of the predation, an effect of weather (climate change), and threats. The other reason could be that, seabirds often closely associate with inter-site more distinctly than other animals and may breed in the same site each year, easy to catch while incubating and during rearing chicks. Hence, it is crucially important to use seabirds as bioindicators within the context of ecological and spatial parameters to determine the effects of disturbances in the marine environment and for effective conservation and better management of seabirds in the future.

Capture of CO2 from Natural Gas Using Ionic Liquids

A Control System for Detecting Emotions on Visual Interphase Stimulus

Complex dynamic contents of visual stimuli induce implicit reactions in a user. This leads to changes in physiological processes of the user which is referred to as stress. Our goal is to model and produce a system that represents the mechanical interactions of the body and eye movement behavior. We are particularly concerned with the skin conductance response (SCR) and eye fixations to visual stimulus and build a dynamic system that detects stress and its correlates to visual widgets. The process consists of the following modules: (1) a hypothesis generator for suggesting possible structural changes that result from the direct interaction with visual stimulus, (2) an information source for responding to operator querying about users’ interactive and physiological processes, and (3) a continuous system simulator for simulating and illustrating physiological reactions during interaction. This model serves as an infrastructure for modeling physiological processes and could be of benefit in usability laboratory, web developers, and designers of interactive systems, enabling evaluators to visualize interface as a better access to identifying areas that cause stress to users.

Recent Drifts in pH-Sensitive Reverse Osmosis