Mehran University Research Journal of Engineering and Technology

6

Authors: Arif Khan, Sabahat Arif, Khalid Alamgir

As the sustainable settlements have been included as a vital end product of all planning exercises, the architectural layouts should be well integrated with the sun path charts and the orientations of windows. Appropriate orientations can offer thermally indoor conditions besides physical and psychological comfort in any settlement at lesser energy demand. This investigation uses a vast number of computer simulations to visualize and make better decisions about heating and cooling requirements of a building and facades as a function of window orientation in composite climatic condition of Lahore. This study in particular evaluates the solar load in residential buildings responsive to the objective of sustainable new housing leading to thoughtful integration of architecture. The orientation of the buildings could then be essentially integrated to the current architectural and urban design practices in order to optimize the relationship between the given site ant the orientations for sustainable developments.

6

Authors: Saba Baloch, Javed Ali Baloch, Mukhtiar Ali Unar

In most digital communication systems, bandwidth limited channel along with multipath propagation causes ISI (Inter Symbol Interference) to occur. This phenomenon causes distortion of the given transmitted symbol due to other transmitted symbols. With the help of equalization ISI can be reduced. This paper presents a solution to the ISI problem by performing blind equalization using ANN (Artificial Neural Networks). The simulated network is a multilayer feedforward Perceptron ANN, which has been trained by utilizing the error back-propagation algorithm. The weights of the network are updated in accordance with training of the network. This paper presents a very effective method for blind channel equalization, being more efficient than the pre-existing algorithms. The obtained results show a visible reduction in the noise content.

8

Authors: Sabahat Arif, Arif Khan, Khalid Alamgir

Indoor thermal comfort in a building has been an important issue for the environmental sustainability. It is an accepted fact that their designs and planning consume a lot of energy in the modern architecture of 20th and 21st centuries. An appropriate orientation of a building can provide thermally comfortable indoor temperatures which otherwise can consume extra energy to condition these spaces through all the seasons. This experimental study investigates the potential effect of this solar passive design strategy on indoor temperatures and a simple model is presented for predicting indoor temperatures based upon the ambient temperatures.

8

Authors: Javed Ali Baloch, Imran Ali Jokhio, Faisal Karim Shaikh

SSN (Smart Sensor Network) systems could be used to monitor buildings with modern infrastructure, plant sites with chemical pollution, horticulture, natural habitat, wastewater management and modern transport system. To sense attributes of phenomena and make decisions on the basis of the sensed value is the primary goal of such systems. In this paper a Smart Spatially aware sensor system is presented. A smart system, which could continuously monitor the network to observe the functionality and trigger, alerts to the base station if a change in the system occurs and provide feedback periodically, on demand or even continuously depending on the nature of the application. The results of the simulation trials presented in this paper exhibit the performance of a Smart Spatially Aware Sensor Networks.

8

Authors: Tanweer Hussain, Mujeebuddin Memon, Zeeshan Ali Memon

Under the condition of elastic-plastic deformation, aero engine casings experience local stress and strain concentrations along with associated variations in load paths and stiffness. The accurate prediction of such behaviour is clearly necessary for design optimisation, potentially leading to beneficial weight savings. The present research seeks to tackle the objective of accurate characterisation of elasticplastic casing behaviour. The objective is to develop approximate techniques for predicting the elasticplastic behaviour, for both generalised load-displacement responses (i.e. for global response) and notch stress-strain responses. Accurate prediction of the stress-strain distribution at a notch is difficult and existing notch prediction techniques can only be used for small strains. This paper seeks to develop novel techniques for predicting large elastic-plastic notch strain and associated stresses, with application to aero engine casing notches. The repeated local joints at the spoke-shell casing are of particular interest as they are the most likely sites for plastic deformation and possibly crack initiation. These local joints incorporate realistic notch-type features and the load cases cover a range of loading combinations, to develop insight and understanding of the elastic-plastic behaviour. This work analyse a double edgenotched flat bar with semicircular notches and a representative case of actual aero engine casing-type structures in a more simplified form. The investigation was carried out for structures for which stress and total strain are related by a power law. The equivalent stress at a notch can be estimated, given the value of n, by a linear interpolation between the stresses for a cases n=1 and n=0. The application of the notch stress-strain prediction method is illustrated through use of examples of notch components. The predictions are compared with results obtained using finite element analyses and approximate methods proposed by Nueber and Glinka.

10

Authors: Junaid Ali Abbasi , Sarwar Ali Abbasi , Mukhtar Hussain Sahir

This research paper focuses on the process of machining complex and varying contour aerofoil parts used in aerospace industry like wings, blades of turbine and diffusers, etc. The main theme is to enhance productivity and on the other hand achieving accurate machining results for complex profile parts. The research consists of three main parts viz. Accurate and optimized tool path generation of complex profile, understanding and conversion of a 5-axes machine kinematics into mathematical relationships and developing a post processor which converts cutter location file into machine readable file, and finally a time and accuracy study has been made and compared with techniques used previously for machining of such components. Tool path is generated on CAM software from where CL (Cutter Location) file is generated, then by use of mathematical calculations post processor is developed and used for the conversion of that CL file into machine readable file. Time and accuracy analysis has been made in the end on an impeller blade machining. Tool paths generated in CAM software requires to be very closely analyzed in order to ensure collision free tool paths as movement in all 5-axes increases the chances of collision of head to work piece or with the table. For the study of 5-axes machine kinematics and calculations, a general 5-axes machine having 3 linear axes and two axes in rotary/tilting table has been used. By applying mathematical relationships using rotational matrix theorem and dot product of two vector quantities, equations were derived for rotary and tilting axes and then written in programming language (Visual C++) for line to line conversion of CL file into machine readable file. For the generation of CL file three different tool paths were generated. First process was the roughing of the area between every two adjacent blades then the next step was to finish the surface of the blades and the leading/trailing edge and the last process was to finish the hub surface of the impeller. The cutting parameters like feed, speed, axial depth of cut, radial depth of cut are dependent on the spindle power of the machine and the type of the material of part to be machined and that of the cutter itself. The selection of the size of the cutting tool used for the machining of each process is also dependant on the minimum area between two adjacent surfaces of the blades of impeller and maximum curvature of the blade from shroud surface to hub surface in order to avoid collision of the cutting tool with the blade surfaces. In the end, how the new approach has benefited is analyzed. The need for research on new approach was very demanding as to manufacture complex profile parts mostly used in aerospace industry with traditional machining approaches causes unpredictable delays due to manual calculations, inaccurate machining results like poor surface finish, tool breakage, etc, as well as requirement of various jigs/fixtures and skilled workers for accomplishing the task all the time. Now by adopting the approach as explored in this research gives a lot of advantages over traditional manufacturing approach. Some important features compared are presented in the tabular form.

12

Authors: Attaullah Shah, Saeed Ahmad

Experimental research on the shear capacity of HSRC (High Strength Reinforced Concrete) beams is relatively very limited as compared to the NSRC (Normal Strength Reinforced Concrete) beams. Most of the Building Codes determine the shear strength of HSRC with the help of empirical equations based on experimental work of NSRC beams and hence these equations are generally regarded as un-conservative for HSRC beams particularly at low level of longitudinal reinforcement. In this paper, 42 beams have been tested in two sets, such that in 21 beams no transverse reinforcement has been used, whereas in the remaining 21 beams, minimum transverse reinforcement has been used as per ACI-318 (American Concrete Institute) provisions. Two values of compressive strength 52 and 61 MPa, three values of longitudinal steel ratio and seven values of shear span to depth ratio have been have been used. The beams were tested under concentrated load at the mid span. The results are compared with the equations proposed by different international building codes like ACI, AASHTO LRFD, EC (Euro Code), Canadian Code and Japanese Code for shear strength of HSRC beams.From comparison, it has been observed that some codes are less conservative for shear design of HSRC beams and further research is required to rationalize these equations.

14

Authors: Muhammad Asif Chaudhry, Habib-Ur-Rehman

Globally there are about 25,500 storage reservoirs with total storage volume of about 6,464 Bcm. The maximum number of reservoirs are in North America, i.e. 7205 with the total storage volume of about 1,844 Bcm, whereas minimum number of reservoirs are in Central Asia, i.e. 44, with the total storage volume of about 148 Bcm. Over the globe, average annual reservoir storage loss due to sedimentation varies from 0.1-2.3%, however, average annual world storage loss is about 1.0%. In order to combat the storage loss, the techniques used globally are: watershed management, dredging of deposited sediments, sediment routing/sluicing, sediment bypassing, density current venting and sediment flushing through reservoir, separately and also in combination. Each approach has its own limitations, depending on the site conditions. Sediment flushing technique is used by two ways i.e. Drawdown flushing and Emptying and Flushing. In Emptying and Flushing, the reservoir is emptied before the flood season, resulting in the creation of river-like flow conditions in the reservoir. The flow velocities in the reservoir are increased to such an extent that deposited sediments are remobilized and transported through the low level outlets provided slightly above the original riverbed level with sufficient flow capacity. Flushing is not a new technique and has been experienced for the last 6 decades on several reservoirs of the world. The results of the study reveal that there are about 50 reservoirs which are flushed, out of which flushing data is available for about 22 reservoirs only. However 6 reservoirs have been found with successful application of flushing operation and all other are flushed with low flushing efficiency. Flushing has been successfully implemented at Baira-India, Gebidem-Switzerland, Gmund-Austria, Hengshan-China, Palagnedraswitzerland, Santo-Domingo-Venezuela Reservoirs, while the unsuccessfully flushed reservoirs are: Chinese reservoirs, Gaunting, Heisonglin, sanmenxia, Shuicaozi, Naodehai, Nanqin, Guernsey-USA, Ichari-India, ouchi-Kurgan and Zemo-Afchar of former USSR, sufid-Rud-Iran, Warsak-Pakistan, Jensanpei-Taiwan, Khashm El Gibra-Sudan, Mangahao-Newzealand, and Cachi of Costa Rica.

14

Authors: Kamran Ansari, Ashfaque Ahmed Memon, Naeem Aziz Memon

A numerical analysis of the ridges on the bed of wide, open channels and their effects on the distribution of secondary currents and wall shear is undertaken using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics). The presence of the lines of boil, consisting of low speed streaks, periodically in the transverse direction, is reported in the literature due to the presence of the ridges. In the present work, simulations are run on channel sections with varying the number of ridges on the bed and the size of these ridges. The effect of these variations on the flow structures and shear stress distribution in wide open channels is reported. The results offer an interesting insight into the 3D (Three-Dimensional flow structures involved and the link between flow structures and bed morpho-dynamics in prismatic channels.

20

Authors: Zeeshan Ali Memon, Saleh Jumani, Javed Larik

Automotive vehicle following systems are essential for the design of automated highway system. The problem associated with the automatic vehicle following system is the string stability of the platoon of vehicles, i.e. the problem of uniform velocity and spacing errors propagation. Different control algorithm for the longitudinal control of a platoon are discussed based on different spacing policies, communication link among the vehicles of a platoon, and the performance of a platoon have been analysed in the presence of disturbance (noise) and parametric uncertainties. This paper presented the PID (Proportional Integral Derivative) feedback control algorithm for the longitudinal control of a platoon in the presence of noise signal and investigates the performance of platoon under the influence of sudden acceleration and braking in severe conditions. This model has been applied on 6 vehicles moving in a platoon. The platoon has been analysed to retain the uniform velocity and safe spacing among the vehicles. The limitations of PID control algorithm have been discussed and the alternate methods have been suggested. Model simulations, in comparison with the literature, are also presented.

4

Authors: Mazhar Hussain Peerzada, Awais Khatri, Sadaf Aftab Abbasi

Much less has been done on failure characteristics of 3D (Three Dimensional) woven fabrics. This work is to attempt to this need. Shear behavior is key characteristic and play direct role to the performance of woven fabrics. In this study, three different 3D weave structures have been used to analyze the fabric shear rigidity. Shear analysis has been carried out in both directions using Kawabata evaluating system. Based on the results, a relationship of shear rigidity (G) and shear hysteresis are compared and analyzed in zero and 90o direction of fabric.

6

Authors: Sheeraz Memon, Faisal Karim Shaikh, Javed Ali Baloch

The environment affects largely the performance of automatic speaker recognition. This work investigates the effects of clinical environment on the task of speaker recognition. For this task we have used two sets of speakers, a clinical set which consists of speech samples from 70 clinically depressed speakers and a control set which comprises of 68 clinically non-depressed speakers. The MFCCs (Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients) are applied for feature extraction, and a number of modeling methods such as GMM-EM (Gaussian Mixture Models Based on Expectation Maximization), GMM based on Kmeans (GMM-Kmeans), GMM-LBG based on Linde Buzo Gray, and GMM -ITVQ based on Information Theoretic Vector Quantization are used. The different modeling methods are evaluated for the novel speech corpus. The results suggest that the speaker recognition rates for the depressed speakers are lower (60-71%) than for the non-depressed speakers (79-89%). This paper further investigate the performance of VQ (Vector Quantization) based Gaussian modeling, and proposes a novel approach called GMM-ITVQ. The results suggest that GMM-EM has the higher recognition rates however, the performance of GMMITVQ is comparable to GMM-EM.

6

Authors: Uzma Syed, Roger H. Wardman, Rafique Ahmed Jhatial

In this research software was designed for assessing the inter-yarn zone fabric porosity of Tencel plain weave fabrics in terms of flow of dye liquor by using Matlab. Fabric images were captured at constant light intensity and magnification using an optical microscope and image analysis software. The captured images were first converted into monochrome image and then into binary image at specific threshold value (150). The percentage of white pixels in the binary image were calculated which assessed the fabric porosity in percentage. The loosely woven fabric gives higher percentage of fabric porosity as compared to the tightly woven fabric. This software has potential to calculate the fabric porosity of plain weave fabric manufactured from any type of raw material.

8

Authors: Taj Mohammad Khan, Muhamad Ahmed Choudhry

In machine vision, occlusions problem is always a challenging issue in image based mapping and navigation tasks. This paper presents a multiple view vision based algorithm for the development of occlusion-free map of the indoor environment. The map is assumed to be utilized by the mobile robots within the workspace. It has wide range of applications, including mobile robot path planning and navigation, access control in restricted areas, and surveillance systems. We used wall mounted fixed camera system. After intensity adjustment and background subtraction of the synchronously captured images, the image registration was performed. We applied our algorithm on the registered images to resolve the occlusion problem. This technique works well even in the existence of total occlusion for a longer period.

8

Authors: Abdul Salam Soomro, Abdul Qadeer Khan Rajput , Sarfraz Hussain Solangi

The earthquake triggered enormous landslides on 8th October 2005 in the various areas of Pakistan especially in Balakot Region. This research paper fulfilled the urge to develop alternative landslide planning based on the consideration of landslide preventing measures using GIS (Geographical Informaton Systems) techniques. This specific type of land use planning differs from traditional type of land use planning due to consideration of the probable hazard of landslide disaster by applying zonation methodology for finding the appropriate suitable areas for various development purposes. The various parameters e.g. elevation, slope angle, forest/ vegetations, faults, landslide zones, and rainfall were utilized as GIS data themes in the vector format. The different GIS techniques were used: (i) Clipping the data layers; (ii) Spatial analysis by converting the vector layers into raster format; (iii) Classification of data themes into certain classes; (iv) Overlaying the data themes and (v) Map calculation techniques through GIS standard software. This applied research has found that various different regions such as high suitable, moderate suitable, low suitable and unsuitable may be considered as preventive measures from the probable hazard of the landslide disaster in future for rehabilitation and redevelopment purpose which can save human lives, residential and commercial infrastructure in future. It is believed that the various predicted regions for preventing landslide hazards can be very beneficial to the decision makers for the redevelopment of the region in future.

10

Authors: Suhail Zaki Farooqui

An innovative mould free method for the fabrication of ultimate light weight small wind turbine blades made out of composites has been suggested in this paper. The method has been practically applied with very satisfactory results. The method is low cost and is specifically suitable for individual small wind turbine makers. The airfoils used are simple to shape and possess good Cl/Cd characteristics. The blades are crafted using galvanized iron sheets, aluminum pipes, hard paper and fiberglass. A computer program is included with tip correction features to design the blades at the required power rating, wind speed, tip speed ratio and the chosen constant angle of attack. Results of the program run for designing 250 and 500 watt wind turbine blades at 8 m/s wind speed and tip speed ratios of 5.5 are tabulated. Performance results of the blades thus produced are also discussed.

10

Authors: Zubair Ahmed Memon , Nafees Ahmed Memon, Afaq Hyder Chohan

Construction sector together with service, manufacturing, agriculture and mining sectors is the main contributors of the Pakistan's GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and economic growth. It is also a key indicator in determining the economic performance of the country. As the issues of globalization and trades deregulation, stringer requirements of time, cost, quality and advancement of technologies have become more critical, the sector has to find ways to enhance its operational efficiency and effectiveness. IT (Information Technology) as a key enabler has been recognized to be an inseparable tool to sustain business and become more competitive. This paper gives an overview of the current status of IT application and presents the significant results from PCI (Pakistan Construction Industry). The result of survey also highlights the challenges to the construction industry of Pakistan before implementing the IT techniques. A statistical method 'Average Index' is used to analyze the collected data and statistical hypothesis testing is conducted to know the difference between the parameters. The survey produced knowledge about the use of computers, hardware and software, communication and strategies for the use of IT. The use of spread sheets, word processor, CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) in general has increased and the use of model based CAD software has increased among the major key players of construction industry. The use of project webs and electronic trade in the industry is not started properly. From the analysis it is concluded that construction firms in Pakistan are mostly using manual procedures and the use of

10

Authors: Dur Muhammad Pathan, Mukhtiar Ali Unar, Zeeshan Ali Memon

This paper proposes a fuzzy logic controller for design of autopilot of a ship. Triangular membership functions have been use for fuzzification and the centroid method for defuzzification. A nonlinear mathematical model of an oil tanker has been considered whose parameters vary with the depth of water. The performance of proposed controller has been tested under both course changing and trajectory keeping mode of operations. It has been demonstrated that the performance is robust in shallow as well as deep waters.

12

Authors: Fayyaz Hussain Asghar, Muhammad Javed Hyder

Computational analysis of film cooling effectiveness using novel semicircular hole shapes with streamwise inclination of 30o has been carried out. Pitch to diameter ratios of 3.0 has been investigated. Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stoke equation solver FLUENT with standard k- turbulence model is used for simulations. Coolant to mainstream blowing ratios is varied from 1.33-2.0. It is observed that for the streamwise region x/D<20 the centerline and laterally averaged effectiveness values from a row of semicircular holes are higher than that from a row of circular holes due to the less jet lift-off of coolant jet. For a row of semicircular holes, mean coolant jet heights are lower than that from a row of circular holes. Simulations for two rows of inlined and staggered semicircular holes are also carried out and the results are compared with single row of full circular holes. It is found that centerline and laterally averaged effectiveness values from 2 rows of semicircular holes are much higher than a single row of full circular hole case at all streamwise regions at all blowing ratios tested. Among all the cases studied, effectiveness values from two staggered rows of semicircular holes are found to be highest. Jet lift-off is found minimum from two staggered row of semicircular holes. For all cases studied, the mean coolant jet heights from two staggered rows of semicircular holes are found minimum. Results for counter rotating vortex pairs from all cases at plane normal to mainstream

16

Authors: Aamir Hanif, Mohammad AhmedChoudhry, Tahir Mehmood

VSC (Voltage Source Converter) feed-forward control strategy of DVR (Dynamic Voltage Restorer) for an in-phase voltage injection scheme is proposed in this paper to tackle not only voltage sags and swells in the utility supply but also phase jumps as well. The proposed strategy utilizes a time based ramp at a clock rate of 50Hz to obtain a 3-phase reference signal that is compared with actual 3-phase utility voltage to obtain an error signal. If the error in each phase of the utility voltage is greater than zero then appropriate control signals are generated. The switching devices in VSC are switched accordingly to compensate voltage sags, swells and phase jumps in the utility voltage that propagates to load. For the mitigation of voltage sags, swells and phase jumps, the unipolar SPWM control is used. The proposed control system response time to compensate voltage sag, swell and phase jump through switching of VSC devices is less than 10ms whereas ITIC curve and SEMI-F-47 standard suggest a target of 20ms. Load voltage THD is below 5% as per IEEE Std. 519-1992. These results show that employed control strategy has an excellent capability of voltage restoration with acceptable harmonic distortion, within specified time frame for smooth and clean power flow to load. MATLAB®/Simulink® SimpowerSystem tool box has been used to obtain simulation results to verify the effectiveness and validity of the proposed control strategy to improve the quality of the power delivered to the load.

8

Authors: Muhammad Munawar, Nadeem A. Mufti, Hassan Iqbal

Optimization of surface roughness has been one of the primary objectives in most of the machining operations. Poor control on the desired surface roughness generates non conforming parts and results into increase in cost and loss of productivity due to rework or scrap. Surface roughness value is a result of several process variables among which machine tool condition is one of the significant variables. In this study, experimentation was carried out to investigate the effect of machine tool condition on surface roughness. Variable used to represent machine tool's condition was vibration amplitude. Input parameters used, besides vibration amplitude, were feed rate and insert nose radius. Cutting speed and depth of cut were kept constant. Based on Taguchi orthogonal array, a series of experimentation was designed and performed on AISI 1040 carbon steel bar at default and induced machine tool's vibration amplitudes. ANOVA (Analysis of Variance), revealed that vibration amplitude and feed rate had moderate effect on the surface roughness and insert nose radius had the highest significant effect on the surface roughness. It was also found that a machine tool with low vibration amplitude produced better surface roughness. Insert with larger nose radius produced better surface roughness at low feed rate.

8

Authors: Syed Asif Ali Shah, Wajiha Shah, Faisal Karim Shaikh

Flow time analysis is a powerful concept to analyze the flow time of any arriving customer in any system at any instant. A load management mechanism can be employed very effectively in any queueing system by utilizing a system which provides probability of dual service rate. In this paper, we develop and demonstrate the flow and service processes transition diagram to determine the flow time of a customer in a load management late arrival state dependent finite discrete time queueing system with dual service rate where customers are hypogeometrically distributed. We compute the probability mass function of each starting state and total probability mass function. The obtained analytical results are validated with simulation results for varying values of arrival and service probabilities.

10

Authors: Faisal Karim Shami , Arshad Hussain Qureshi , Muhammad Mansha

Flow-induced vibration is of prime concern to the designers of heat exchangers subjected to high flows of gases or liquids. Excessive vibration may cause tube failure due to fatigue or fretting-wear. Tube failure results in, expensive plant upholding and suffers loss of production. Therefore, tube failure due to unwarranted vibration must be avoided in process heat exchangers and nuclear steam generators, preferably at design stage. Such vibration problems may be avoided through a comprehensive flowinduced vibration analysis before fabrication of heat exchangers. However, it requires an understanding of vibration mechanism and parameters related to flow-induced vibration. For an accurate vibration analysis, it is of prime importance to have good estimates of structural and flow related dynamic parameters. Thus dynamic parameters such as added mass and damping are of significant concern in a flow regime. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of our state of knowledge and role of dynamic parameters in flow-induced vibration on tube bundles due to current trend of larger heat exchangers. The present paper provides published data, analysis, evaluation, formulation, and experimental studies related to hydrodynamic mass and damping by a large number of researchers. Guidelines for experimental research and heat exchangers design related to added mass and damping mechanisms subjected to both single and two-phase flow are outlined in this paper.

12

Authors: Abdul Fattah Abbasi, Mujeebuddin Memon, Ahsanullah Baloch

This paper describes the numerical predictions of isothermal closed rotor-stator flows. Steady-state finite-difference solutions are sought for two gap ratios and two rotational Reynolds number in the axisymmetric cylindrical polar coordinate frame of reference. Low Reynolds number models, low Reynolds number k-? and second moment closure models have been used to compute the necessary description of the flow inside the rotor-stator system without superpose flow. The most important dissimilarities among the computational calculations of both the turbulence models obtain at the lower radial locations, where k-? model predicted the premature transitional predictions from laminar to turbulent flow. The major feature of this computational work is the emergence of four regions of the flow i.e. source, sink and two boundary layers. Computed velocity components of both models are compared against the experimental measurements. Low Reynolds number second moment closure shows the improved level of matching with data, particularly on apex of the boundary layers and recirculating core in the middle of the rotor-stator cavity.

6

Authors: Hayder S., Bari A

Wastewater characterization is an integral part of treatment and management strategies for industrial effluents. This paper outlines the results of detailed wastewater characterization studies conducted for a textile mill in Lahore, Punjab. The results of this study demonstrated that the composition of textile wastewater could change continuously due to inherent nature of textile operations. In general, textile wastewater was high in temperature and alkaline in nature. It was highly polluted in terms of solids and organic content. Most of the portion of solids and organic load was in the soluble form. On the basis of mean values, temperature, pH, TDS (Total Dissolved Solids), BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) and COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) were above the limits set by NEQS (National Environmental Quality Standards) while chlorides and sulfates were below the limits set by NEQS. Prior neutralization of wastewater with an acid and addition of phosphorus and nitrogen is imperative for its effective treatment.

8

Authors: Khatri Z., Shaikh G.Y., Aziz S.

The colour produced by the application of either dyes or pigments on textiles must be close matched with reference (standard) provided by buyer. Meeting stringent requirement from Buyer that demands right colour on right time is not a simple task to achieve. The process of colour matching is a lengthy process and needs many trials to get close match. The colour quantification through instruments helps to cut most of the lead time, however, there is a serious need to manage colour during colour approval stage and coloration process. We adopted four different routes for colour approval and compared with the conventional one. The study revealed that out of four instrumental options, the 4th option had shortest route and minimum lead time. We also concluded that by using spectrophotometer, K/S (Colour Strength) and colorimetic values are very good to not only communicate colour numerically but also controlling colour during colour approval proce

8

Authors: Sahar S.N., Shaikh F.K., Jokhio S.H.

WSN (Wireless Sensor Network) has attracted wide attention from researchers over the recent years, with a major focus on the issues of data transport and management. Many traditional data management protocols are being developed for WSN and are evaluated using simulations only. Unfortunately there are very less protocols which are evaluated on real testbeds. Recently, P2P (Peer to Peer) protocols are gaining much attention to be utilized by WSNs since both have many similarities. However, a WSN faces resource constraints in terms of limited power supply, small storage capacity, low computing power and connectivity issue. Contrary, DTM (Data Transport and Management) protocols developed for P2P systems cause inefficient use of resources in a WSN. Lately, a VCP (Virtual Cord Protocol) has been proposed that uses P2P techniques for information management in a WSN and provides the efficient resource utilization. In this paper, we present the implementation and deployment of VCP to show its performance on a real deployment scenario using Mica2 motes.

8

Authors: Shah S.A.A., ,Shah W., Larik A.S.

Load balancing is an efficient technique used to maximize throughput, optimal resource utilization, minimized response time and avoiding congestion. This can be achieved by distributing the workload evenly across two or more network stations, nodes or buffers, links, central processing units, hard drives, or other resources. In this paper, we have modeled and developed a load balancing approach in a discrete-time domain to analyze and evaluate the system of finite network buffers using an early arrival system. Our approach of modeling such a system consists of two steps. The first step is the determination of all system-state stages and their corresponding transition probabilities. Next, we compute various performance measures by utilizing the system state transition probabilities for its steady-state behavior.

10

Authors: Qureshi L.A., Ahmed S.

In this paper, investigation regarding impact of fineness of cement on properties of concrete is reported for cement manufactured by five different factories. Clinker was collected from a selected batch of each factory. It was ground along with 4% gypsum in a laboratory ball mill. From each factory, six cement samples with different fineness values were prepared. In order to confirm uniformity of their oxide ratios, their chemical composition was analyzed by XRF-Cement Spectroscopy. Grinding time for each sample was recorded by the built-in timer of ball mills. From the prepared samples, consistency tests of all the samples were performed in the laboratory. Concrete cubes having same mix. and water cement ratios were cast and tested for compressive strength at the age of 3, 7, and 28 days. In order to have an idea of workability, slump test and compacting factor tests were carried out on concrete mixes prepared to cast test cubes. Comparisons were made between fineness of cement versus consistency of cement, compressive strength, slump, compacting factor of concrete, and grinding time. Mathematical relationships between fineness of cement and these parameters were established by using "Least Square Regression Method". Relative study of cost of grinding against desirable properties of cement & concrete at higher fineness levels was also conducted.

10

Authors: Khanzada T.J.S., Memon S., Hashmani A.A.

This article highlights the estimation of the results for the algorithms implemented in order to estimate the delays and distances for the indoor positioning system. The data sets for the transmitted and received signals are captured at a typical outdoor and indoor area. The estimation super resolution algorithms are applied. Different state of art and super resolution techniques based algorithms are applied to avail the optimal estimates of the delays and distances between the transmitted and received signals and a novel method for matrix pencil algorithm is devised. The algorithms perform variably at different scenarios of transmitted and received positions. Two scenarios are experienced, for the single antenna scenario the super resolution techniques like ESPRIT (Estimation of Signal Parameters via Rotational Invariance Technique) and theMatrix Pencil algorithms give optimal performance compared to the conventional techniques. In two antenna scenario RootMUSIC and Matrix Pencil algorithm performed better than other algorithms for the distance estimation, however, the accuracy of all the algorithms is worst than the single antenna scenario. In all cases our devised Matrix Pencil algorithm achieved the best estimation results.

10

Authors: Ismaili I.A., Bhatti Z., Shah A.A.

This paper describes the design and implementation of a Unicode-based GUISL (Graphical User Interface for Sindhi Language). The idea is to provide a software platform to the people of Sindh as well as Sindhi diasporas living across the globe to make use of computing for basic tasks such as editing, composition, formatting, and printing of documents in Sindhi by using GUISL. The implementation of the GUISL has been done in the Java technology to make the system platform independent. The paper describes several design issues of Sindhi GUI in the context of existing software tools and technologies and explains how mapping and concatenation techniques have been employed to achieve the cursive shape of Sindhi script.

12

Authors: Shaikh A. A., Bukhari A.H.S., Memon Z.A.

In universities scheduling curriculum activity is an essential job. Primarily, scheduling is a distribution of limited resources under interrelated constraints. The set of hard constraints demand the highest priority and should not to be violated at any cost, while the maximum soft constraints satisfaction mounts the quality scale of solution. In this research paper, a novel bisected approach is introduced that is comprisesd of GA (Genetic Algorithm) as well as Backtracking Recursive Search. The employed technique deals with both hard and soft constraints successively. The first phase decisively is focused over elimination of all the hard constraints bounded violations and eventually produces partial solution for subsequent step. The second phase is supposed to draw the best possible solution on the search space. Promising results are obtained by implementation on the real dataset. The key points of the research approach are to get assurance of hard constraints removal from the dataset and minimizing computational time for GA by initializing pre-processed set of chromosomes.

6

Authors: Chand R., Memon Z.A., Qadir A.

Granular materials have numerous industrial and geophysical applications. However, many phenomenon exhibited by granular media are not yet fully explained. Nowadays simulation has emerged as an important tool to investigate the complex properties exhibited by granular media. The influence of side walls movement of a granular column is investigated by discrete element, molecular dynamics simulations. The evolution of stress profile and deflection of vertical stresses is due to different bead sizes, coefficient of friction between grains and confining wall is investigated by using large-scale discrete element MD simulations in 3D. In such a configuration, it is found that apparent mass systemically increases with the increase in diameter of granules. As soon as the wall stops moving, the column attains equilibrium. The stress profiles are in good agreement with the Janssen form for high friction coefficient, while some deviations remain for smaller values of friction coefficient. The wall movement augments the number of particle-wall and particle-particle forces at the Coulomb criterion. The results indicate the variation in shielding of vertical stresses in granular column; it can be attributed to the fiction between the beads and the confining walls of the container.

8

Authors: Pathan A.A., Mahar R.B., Ansari K

The characteristics of the greywater vary from country to country and it depends upon the cultural and social behavior of the respective country. There was a considerable need to characterize and recycle the greywater. In this regard greywater was separated from the black water and analyzed for various physiochemical parameters. Among various greywater recycling treatment technologies, RBC (Rotating Biological Contactor) is more effective treatment technique in reducing COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) and organic matters from the greywater. But this technology was not applied and tested in Pakistan. There was extensive need to investigate the RBC technology for greywater recycling at small scale before applying at mass scale. To treat the greywater, a single-stage RBC simulator was designed and developed at laboratory scale. An electric motor equipped with gear box to control the rotations of the disks was mounted on the tank. The simulator was run at the rate of 1.7 rpm. The disc area of the RBC was immersed about 40% in the greywater. Water samples were collected at each HRT (Hydraulic Retention Time) and analyzed for the parameters such as pH, conductivity, TDS (Total Dissolved Solids), salinity, BOD5 (Biochemical Oxygen Demand), COD and suspended solids by using standard methods. The results are encouraging with percentage removal of BOD5 and COD being 53 and 60% respectively.

8

Authors: Memon T., Chowdhry B.S., Dayo K.R.

In this paper single-bit SDM (Sigma Delta Modulation) based TFF (Ternary FIR Filter) with balanced ternary coefficients (i.e. -1/0/+1) has been mapped on small commercially available FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays). Filter coefficients were obtained using second order sigma delta modulator. The filter structure is based on a hierarchical adder tree that can easily be pipelined for high performance purpose. Filter structure was coded in VHDL (Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language) and simulated in Quartus-II software. The filter exhibits low I/O (Input Output) and core area usage and high performance-achieving clock speeds close to 200MHz on a low-cost FPGA and over 500MHz on a latest FPGA commercially available device. This single-bit ternary filter is intended to support video and audio processing applications in mobile communication systems.

8

Authors: Suleman Z., Khaleeq H.B.

This research paper describes design and analysis of power extracting unit of an onshore OWC (Oscillating Water Column) based wave energy power plant of capacity about 100 kilowatts. The OWC is modeled as solid piston of a reciprocating pump. The power extracting unit is designed analytically by using the theory of reciprocating pumps and principles of fluid mechanics. Pro-E and ANSYS workbench softwares are used to verify the analytical design. The analytical results of the flow velocity in the turbine duct are compared with the simulation results. The results are found to be in good agreement with each other. The results achieved by this research would finally assist in the overall design of the power plant which is the ultimate goal of this research work.

10

Authors: Sungra G.M., Malik A.Q., Sanaullah K

Numerical simulation was carried out using Autodyn 2D code to study the formation and tandem behavior of multiliner EFPs (Explosively Formed Projectiles). The main aim of multiliner configuration is to develop tandem behavior and to increase the length of explosively formed projectile in different applications. The high ductility and high dynamic material behavior of Ta (Tantalum) makes it difficult to generate a solid and stable projectile. To get these specific characteristics, mild steel was used for being the most stable liner material in the EFP technology. So when we used mild steel as a stabilization base and tantalum as a penetrator then solid and stable projectile was achieved. The tandem behavior with tantalum-mild steel multiliner configuration was studied. The effects of detonation method, confinement and waveshaper on the multiliner EFP configuration have also been determined by simulation. The detonation method has its effect on the tandem behavior whereas confinement has not. The waveshaper is found to have 40.4% more prominent and faster tandem effect on the multiliner EFPs.

12

Authors: Memon S., Khanzada T.J.S., Bhatti S.

In this paper VQ (Vector Quantization) based on information theoretic learning is investigated for the task of text-independent speaker verification. A novel VQ method based on the IT (Information Theoretic) principles is used for the task of speaker verification and compared with two classical VQ approaches: the K-means algorithm and the LBG (Linde Buzo Gray) algorithm. The paper provides a theoretical background of the vector quantization techniques, which is followed by experimental results illustrating their performance. The results demonstrated that the ITVQ (Information Theoretic Vector Quantization) provided the best performance in terms of classification rates, EER (Equal Error Rates) and the MSE (Mean Squared Error) compare to Kmeans and the LBG algorithms. The outstanding performance of the ITVQ algorithm can be attributed to the fact that the IT criteria used by this algorithm provide superior matching between distribution of the original data vectors and the codewords.

12

Authors: Ansari M.A., Umrani F.A., Memon K.A.

Autonomous robots are intelligent machines that are capable of performing desired tasks by themselves, without explicit human control. This paper presents design and implementation of the ASVR (Autonomous Sonar Based Vehicle Robot). ASVR is a microcontroller based, programmable mobile robot that can sense and react to its environment and can work in partially known and unpredictable environments. A novel algorithm based on ultrasonic sensors and simple calculations for real-time obstacle detection and avoidance that is intended for mobile robots is also outlined. Also a novel technique is proposed and implemented for steering referencing of vehicle. The design is implemented in air using ultrasonic sensors but can be adapted using sonar to underwater environments where it has important applications such as deep sea maintenance and reconnaissance tasks. The paper also presents performance results of a prototype developed to prove the design concept.