Pathmeswaran Raju

Ontology-Based Pathways Generation for Biomass to Bioenergy Conversion

Bio energy is a renewable energy and a solution to the depleting fossil fuels. Bio energy such as heat, power and bio fuel is generated by conversion technologies using biomass for example domestic waste, root crops, forest residue and animal slurry. Pyrolysis, anaerobic digestion and combined heat and power engine are some examples of the technologies. Depending on the nature of a biomass, it can be treated with various technologies giving out some products, which can be further treated with other technologies and eventually converted into the final products as bio energy. The pathway followed by the biomass, technologies, intermediate products and bio energy in the conversion process is referred to as bio energy pathway. Identification of appropriate pathways optimizes the conversion process. Although there are various approaches to create or generate the pathways, there is still a need for a semantic approach to generate the pathways, which allow checking the consistency of the knowledge, and to share and extend the knowledge efficiently. This paper presents an ontology-based approach to automatic generation of the pathways for biomass to bio energy conversion, which exploits the definition and hierarchical structure of the biomass and technologies, their relationship and associated properties, and infers appropriate pathways. A case study has been carried out in a real-life scenario, the bio energy project for the North West of Europe (Bioen NW), which showed promising results.

Ontology-based economic models for bioenergy and biofuel projects

Bioenergy is a renewable energy generated from biomass, while biofuel is a hydrocarbon fuel that is produced from biomass. Recently, bioenergy and biofuel projects are encouraged and supported by many governments and organizations in various ways such as providing incentives, technical supports, information, and decision support tools. Economic model is one of the decision support tools, which helps to estimate the costs and earnings involved in a project. It is constructed with various elements such as concepts, relations, logics, constants and equations. In current economic models, all the elements are hard coded into some programming code, which makes the model less reusable and extendable. To address the issue, we present an ontology-based economic model in this paper. In particular, we have leveraged the Semantic Web technologies to represent the knowledge about the bioenergy and biofuel economics and inferred the equations and other values required for economic calculations. The case study has been carried out in two of the INTERREG Projects and found promising results.

Parametric virtual laboratory development: A hydropower case study with student perspectives

In order to take advantage of trends such as genetic-design students need to be familiar, and comfortable, with the concept of parametric computer models and how their parameters relate to physical-forms. Virtual learning software can aid in creating that understanding and help support studies at all undergraduate levels in engineering design disciplines. As an example, hydropower rotors are complex and largely rely on computational analysis of geometries for single rotor types. That problem can be significantly overcome using a parametric algorithm capable of creating an almost-infinite variety of computer models. Therefore, this paper investigates the shared parametric properties of common crossflow hydropower rotor geometries, resulting in a generic model that is then used to illustrate application in real-time interactive virtual learning software capable of producing accurate stereoscopic images and stereolithography files for 3D printing, as well as linking to constructive solid geometry software for slower, but more detailed, analysis. A pilot survey of student attitudes to the virtual learning prototype and resulting geometries is then discussed, illustrating the potential for 3D graphics as an effective addition to virtual learning of parametric design methods, and giving initial direction for future work.

Knowledge based educational framework for enhancing practical skills in engineering distance learners

This paper presents a concept of knowledge-based education (KBEd) framework and method in capturing, mapping, reusing and automating the knowledge of on-campus engineering laboratory instructor for imparting and assessing practical skills in engineering distance learners. The concept of distance learning in engineering science subjects like mechanical and automotive is still in its infant stage. As laboratory plays a vital role in engineering curriculum, delivering these programs and evaluating them have been the two major challenges for universities offering distance learning engineering courses. In order to overcome these challenges; an instructional system automated through experts knowledge with more granularity in monitoring the learners transition throughout the learning process is required.

Physical-Informatical Essence-Duality-Aware Generic Modeling of Threat Handling Processes

Systems interact with real world entities, and must hold internal representations of these entities in order to handle them appropriately. Physical-informatical essence duality (PIED) is the parallel existence of the entity as both the original, usually physical source, and its informatical representation, as held by each agent interacting with the entity. The distinction between the original external entity and its representation is critical for correct modeling and realization of complex interactions of cyber-physical systems with the real world. The implications of this distinction must be recognized and accounted for. Conceptual modeling semantics for the PIED problem make this distinction possible, structured, and well-defined in the system model. We review a formalism based on Epistemic Logic semantics, and a model- based framework based on Object Process Methodology, and demonstrate the applicability of our framework for generic modeling of threat handling processes, common to various cyber-physical systems and various types of threats, such as safety hazards, terror attacks, and cyber-attacks.

Semantic Economic Models for Bioenergy Projects

One of the sustainable solutions to the depleting fossils fuels is bioenergy, which is a renewable energy generated from biomass, and biofuel is a hydrocarbon fuel that is produced from biomass. Recently, bioenergy and biofuel projects are encouraged and supported by many governments and organizations in various ways such as providing incentives, technical supports, information, and decision support tools. The economic model is one of the decision support tools, which helps to estimate the costs and earnings involved in a project. It is constructed with various elements such as concepts, relations, logics, constants, and equations. In current economic models, all the elements are hard-coded into some programming code, which makes the model less reusable and extendable. To address the issue, we present an ontology-based economic model in this paper. In particular, we have leveraged the Semantic Web technologies to represent the knowledge about the bioenergy and biofuel economics and inferred the equations ...

Model-based documentation

Knowledge acquisition is becoming an integral part of the manufacturing industries, which rely on domain experts in various phases of product life cycle including design, analysis, manufacturing, operation and maintenance. It has the potential to enable knowledge reuse, however, poorly managed knowledge can cause information loss and inefficiency. If technical documentation is managed well in the manufacturing industries, intended piece of knowledge can easily be located, used and reused for purpose and as a result, the corresponding industry can be benefited. Some examples of technical documentation are design specification, operating manual and maintenance manual. Model-based Documentation (MBD) is a documentation approach that uses model to provide structure to the data of the documents. MBD can be thought of as a way to better organize knowledge thereby knowledge identification and retrieval become easier, faster and efficient. In this paper, we propose MBD and its extension as a potential solution to overcome the issues involved in the typical technical documentation approaches.

Adaptation of Web services using policies

Web services technology is evolving as a base for implementing service-oriented architectures (SOA), which has become an important architectural style for Web applications development. As Web Services development has grown considerably, the need for Quality of Service (QoS) has become a substantial aspect for developing a reliable service applications. In diverse business domains, Web services need to exhibit quality characteristics such as response time, availability, and reliability. However, a problem arises when a Web service is modified, updated or replaced by a new one. The new Web service may not fully match the QoS features provided from the previous one, this unavoidable problem is recognized as a mismatch. Mismatches are found in different layers of the Web service interoperability stack and corresponding adapters are needed to deal with this issue. This paper proposes a study to investigate the feasibility of achieving interoperability in Web services by evaluating the functionality of adapters when mismatches appear at the policy layer, which includes non-functional properties like QoS.