Abstract: The objective of this paper is to support the application of Open Innovation practices in firms and organizations by the assessment and management of Intellectual Capital. Intellectual Capital constituents are analyzed in order to verify their capability of acting as key drivers of Open Innovation processes and, therefore, of creating value. A methodology is defined to settle a procedure which helps to select the most relevant Intellectual Capital value drivers and to provide Communities of Innovation with strategic and managerial guidelines in sustaining Open Innovation paradigm. An application of the methodology is developed within a specifically addressed project and its results are hereafter examined.
Abstract: Due to increased number of terrorist attacks in recent years, loads induced by explosions need to be incorporated in building designs. For safer performance of a structure, its foundation should have sufficient strength and stability. Therefore, prior to any reconstruction or rehabilitation of a building subjected to blast, it is important to examine adverse effects on the foundation caused by blast induced ground shocks. This paper evaluates the effects of a buried explosion on a pile foundation. It treats the dynamic response of the pile in saturated sand, using explicit dynamic nonlinear finite element software LS-DYNA. The blast induced wave propagation in the soil and the horizontal deformation of pile are presented and the results are discussed. Further, a parametric study is carried out to evaluate the effect of varying the explosive shape on the pile response. This information can be used to evaluate the vulnerability of piled foundations to credible blast events as well as develop guidance for their design.
Abstract: The effect of concentration of reduction agent of
sodium borohydrate (NaBH4) on the properties of silicon
nanoparticles synthesized via microemulsion route is reported. In
this work, the concentration of the silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4) that
served as silicon source with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and
polyethylene glycol (PEG) as stabilizer and surfactant, respectively,
are keep fixed. Four samples with varied concentration of NaBH4
from 0.05 M to 0.20 M were synthesized. It was found that the lowest
concentration of NaBH4 gave better formation of silicon
nanoparticles.
Abstract: In this article, by means of examination of Bolshevists
Turkistanskie Vedomosti" newspaper and “Erikti Oylar Organi" and
“Turkistanskyi Vestnik" newspapers which had been published
during 1917-1918, the fact that “Turkistan Governorship" established
in city of Kokand in November of 1917, within the framework of
former tsarist Russia Turkistan general-governorship, was the legal
government formed as a requisition of people of Turkistan was
proved. An examination of these two newspapers providing
information regarding history of “Turkistan Autonomy" but having
opposite to each other views makes it possible to obtain valuable data
concerning history of autonomy which was inappropriately
misrepresented during Soviet period.
Abstract: This paper investigates the structure and content of the
wine lists in upscale restaurants in Portugal (N=61). The respondents
considered that a wine list should be easy to use and to modify, welldesigned,
modern and varied. Respondents also stated that they
perform on average 6 revisions to the wine list per year. The
restaurant owner, the restaurant manager and the sommelier were the
main persons in charge of the wine list design. One of the most
important reasons for selecting wines across most restaurants was to
‘complement the menu’ and ‘pairing food with wine’. Restaurants
also reported to be relatively independent from suppliers and
magazine evaluations. Moreover, this work revealed that the
restaurant wine list is considered by restaurateurs as a strategic tool to
sell wine as a complement to the menu, to improve customer
satisfaction and loyalty, to increase restaurant value and to enhance a
successful positioning.
Abstract: Molecular dynamics simulation of annular flow
boiling in a nanochannel with 70000 particles is numerically
investigated. In this research, an annular flow model is developed to
predict the superheated flow boiling heat transfer characteristics in a
nanochannel. To characterize the forced annular boiling flow in a
nanochannel, an external driving force F ext ranging from 1to12PN
(PN= Pico Newton) is applied along the flow direction to inlet fluid
particles during the simulation. Based on an annular flow model
analysis, it is found that saturation condition and superheat degree
have great influences on the liquid-vapor interface. Also, the results
show that due to the relatively strong influence of surface tension in
small channel, the interface between the liquid film and vapor core is
fairly smooth, and the mean velocity along the stream-wise direction
does not change anymore.
Abstract: The present experimental investigation brings about
a comparative study of lactic acid production by pure strains of
Lactobacilli (1) L. delbreuckii (NCIM2025), (2) L. pentosus (NCIM
2912), (3) Lactobacillus sp.(NCIM 2734, (4) Lactobacillus sp.
(NCIM2084) and coculture of strain-1 and Stain-2 in solid bed of
wheat bran, under the influence of different nitrogen sources such as
baker-s yeast, meat extract and proteose peptone. Among the pure
cultures, strain-3 attained lowest pH value of 3.44, hence highest acid
formation 46.41 g/L, while the coculture attained an overall
maximum value 47.56 g/L lactic acid (pH 3.38) at 15 g/L and 20 g/L
level of baker-s yeast, respectively.
Abstract: In this paper, a novel approach is presented
for designing multiplier-free state-space digital filters. The
multiplier-free design is obtained by finding power-of-2 coefficients
and also quantizing the state variables to power-of-2
numbers. Expressions for the noise variance are derived for the
quantized state vector and the output of the filter. A “structuretransformation
matrix" is incorporated in these expressions. It
is shown that quantization effects can be minimized by properly
designing the structure-transformation matrix. Simulation
results are very promising and illustrate the design algorithm.
Abstract: The current methods of predictive controllers are
utilized for those processes in which the rate of output variations is
not high. For such processes, therefore, stability can be achieved by
implementing the constrained predictive controller or applying
infinite prediction horizon. When the rate of the output growth is
high (e.g. for unstable nonminimum phase process) the stabilization
seems to be problematic. In order to avoid this, it is suggested to
change the method in the way that: first, the prediction error growth
should be decreased at the early stage of the prediction horizon, and
second, the rate of the error variation should be penalized. The
growth of the error is decreased through adjusting its weighting
coefficients in the cost function. Reduction in the error variation is
possible by adding the first order derivate of the error into the cost
function. By studying different examples it is shown that using these
two remedies together, the closed-loop stability of unstable
nonminimum phase process can be achieved.
Abstract: Automatic detection of syllable repetition is one of the
important parameter in assessing the stuttered speech objectively.
The existing method which uses artificial neural network (ANN)
requires high levels of agreement as prerequisite before attempting to
train and test ANNs to separate fluent and nonfluent. We propose
automatic detection method for syllable repetition in read speech for
objective assessment of stuttered disfluencies which uses a novel
approach and has four stages comprising of segmentation, feature
extraction, score matching and decision logic. Feature extraction is
implemented using well know Mel frequency Cepstra coefficient
(MFCC). Score matching is done using Dynamic Time Warping
(DTW) between the syllables. The Decision logic is implemented by
Perceptron based on the score given by score matching. Although
many methods are available for segmentation, in this paper it is done
manually. Here the assessment by human judges on the read speech
of 10 adults who stutter are described using corresponding method
and the result was 83%.
Abstract: We report the electronic structure and optical
properties of NdF3 compound. Our calculations are based on density
functional theory (DFT) using the full potential linearized augmented
plane wave (FPLAPW) method with the inclusion of spin orbit
coupling. We employed the local spin density approximation (LSDA)
and Coulomb-corrected local spin density approximation, known for
treating the highly correlated 4f electrons properly, is able to
reproduce the correct insulating ground state. We find that the
standard LSDA approach is incapable of correctly describing the
electronic properties of such materials since it positions the f-bands
incorrectly resulting in an incorrect metallic ground state. On the
other hand, LSDA + U approximation, known for treating the highly
correlated 4f electrons properly, is able to reproduce the correct
insulating ground state. Interestingly, however, we do not find any
significant differences in the optical properties calculated using
LSDA, and LSDA + U suggesting that the 4f electrons do not play a
decisive role in the optical properties of these compounds. The
reflectivity for NdF3 compound stays low till 7 eV which is
consistent with their large energy gaps. The calculated energy gaps
are in good agreement with experiments. Our calculated reflectivity
compares well with the experimental data and the results are analyzed
in the light of band to band transitions.
Abstract: The boundary layer flow and heat transfer on a
stretched surface moving with prescribed skin friction is studied for
permeable surface. The surface temperature is assumed to vary
inversely with the vertical direction x for n = -1. The skin friction at
the surface scales as (x-1/2) at m = 0. The constants m and n are the
indices of the power law velocity and temperature exponent
respectively. Similarity solutions are obtained for the boundary layer
equations subject to power law temperature and velocity variation.
The effect of various governing parameters, such as the buoyancy
parameter λ and the suction/injection parameter fw for air (Pr = 0.72)
are studied. The choice of n and m ensures that the used similarity
solutions are x independent. The results show that, assisting flow (λ >
0) enhancing the heat transfer coefficient along the surface for any
constant value of fw. Furthermore, injection increases the heat
transfer coefficient but suction reduces it at constant λ.
Abstract: Concrete pavement has superior durability and longer
structural life than asphalt pavement. Concrete pavement requires
less maintenance compared to asphalt pavement which requires maintenance and major rehabilitation. Use of the concrete pavement
has been grown over the past decade in developing countries. Fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) has been successfully used in design of concrete pavement in past decade. In this research, the effect of fibre
volume fraction in modulus of rupture, load-deflection, equivalent flexural strength (fe,3) and the equivalent flexural strength ratio (Re,3)
has been used in different fibre volume fraction. Crimped-type flat
steel fibre of size 50 x 2.0 x 0.6 mm was used with 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0% volume fraction. Beam specimens of size 500 x 100 x 100 mm were used for flexural as well as with JCI method for analysis flexural toughness, equivalent flexural strength. It was obtained as the 2% fibre volume fractions; reduce 45% of the concrete pavement
thickness.
Abstract: New methodologies for XOR-XNOR circuits are
proposed to improve the speed and power as these circuits are basic
building blocks of many arithmetic circuits. This paper evaluates and
compares the performance of various XOR-XNOR circuits. The
performance of the XOR-XNOR circuits based on TSMC 0.18μm
process models at all range of the supply voltage starting from 0.6V
to 3.3V is evaluated by the comparison of the simulation results
obtained from HSPICE. Simulation results reveal that the proposed
circuit exhibit lower PDP and EDP, more power efficient and faster
when compared with best available XOR-XNOR circuits in the
literature.
Abstract: This paper proposes a novel architecture for developing decision support systems. Unlike conventional decision support systems, the proposed architecture endeavors to reveal the decision-making process such that humans' subjectivity can be incorporated into a computerized system and, at the same time, to preserve the capability of the computerized system in processing information objectively. A number of techniques used in developing the decision support system are elaborated to make the decisionmarking process transparent. These include procedures for high dimensional data visualization, pattern classification, prediction, and evolutionary computational search. An artificial data set is first employed to compare the proposed approach with other methods. A simulated handwritten data set and a real data set on liver disease diagnosis are then employed to evaluate the efficacy of the proposed approach. The results are analyzed and discussed. The potentials of the proposed architecture as a useful decision support system are demonstrated.
Abstract: This paper presents a speed fuzzy sliding mode
controller for a vector controlled induction machine (IM) fed by a
voltage source inverter (PWM).
The sliding mode based fuzzy control method is developed to
achieve fast response, a best disturbance rejection and to maintain a
good decoupling.
The problem with sliding mode control is that there is high
frequency switching around the sliding mode surface. The FSMC is
the combination of the robustness of Sliding Mode Control (SMC)
and the smoothness of Fuzzy Logic (FL). To reduce the torque
fluctuations (chattering), the sign function used in the conventional
SMC is substituted with a fuzzy logic algorithm.
The proposed algorithm was simulated by Matlab/Simulink
software and simulation results show that the performance of the
control scheme is robust and the chattering problem is solved.
Abstract: For controlling urban transportations, traffic lights
show similar behavior for different kinds of vehicles at intersections.
Emergency vehicles need special behavior at intersections, so traffic
lights should behave in different manner when emergency vehicles
approach them. At the present time, intelligent traffic lights control
urban transportations intelligently. In this paper the ethical aspect of
this topic is considered. A model is proposed for adding special
component to emergency vehicles and traffic lights for controlling
traffic in ethical manner. The proposed model is simulated by JADE.
Abstract: We present an explicit expression to estimate driving voltage attenuation through RC networks representation of an ultrahigh- speed image sensor. Elmore delay metric for a fundamental RC chain is employed as the first-order approximation. By application of dimensional analysis to SPICE simulation data, we found a simple expression that significantly improves the accuracy of the approximation. Estimation error of the resultant expression for uniform RC networks is less than 2%. Similarly, another simple closed-form model to estimate 50 % delay through fundamental RC networks is also derived with sufficient accuracy. The framework of this analysis can be extended to address delay or attenuation issues of other VLSI structures.
Abstract: Keystroke authentication is a new access control system
to identify legitimate users via their typing behavior. In this paper,
machine learning techniques are adapted for keystroke authentication.
Seven learning methods are used to build models to differentiate user
keystroke patterns. The selected classification methods are Decision
Tree, Naive Bayesian, Instance Based Learning, Decision Table, One
Rule, Random Tree and K-star. Among these methods, three of them
are studied in more details. The results show that machine learning
is a feasible alternative for keystroke authentication. Compared to
the conventional Nearest Neighbour method in the recent research,
learning methods especially Decision Tree can be more accurate. In
addition, the experiment results reveal that 3-Grams is more accurate
than 2-Grams and 4-Grams for feature extraction. Also, combination
of attributes tend to result higher accuracy.
Abstract: In this paper, the effect of bolt clamping force on the fatigue behavior of bolted single lap joints of aluminum alloy 2024- T3 have been studied using numerical finite element method. To do so, a three dimensional model according to the bolted single lap joint has been created and numerical analysis has been carried out using finite element based package. Then the stress distribution and also the slip amplitudes have been calculated in the critical regions and the outcome have been compared with the available experimental fatigue tests results. The numerical results show that in low applied clamping force, the fatigue failure of the specimens occur around the stress concentration location (the bolted hole edge) due to the tensile stresses and thus fatigue crack propagation, but with increase of the clamping force, the fatigue life increases and the cracks nucleate and propagate far from the hole edge because of fretting fatigue. In other words, with the further increase of clamping force value of the joint, the fatigue life reduces due to occurrence of the fretting fatigue in the critical location where the slip amplitude is within its critical occurs earlier.