Development of Fen4/C And Fen2/C Catalysts for Hydrodesulfurization and Hydrodearomitization of Model Compounds of Heavy Oil

Two novel hydrodesulfurization (HDS) catalysts: FeN4/C and FeN2/C, were prepared using an impregnation-pyrolysis method. The two materials were investigated as catalysts for hydrodesulfurization (HDS) and hydrodearomitization (HDA) of model compounds. The turnover frequency of the two FeN catalysts is comparable to (FeN4/C) or even higher (FeN2/C) than that of MoNi/Al2O3. The FeN4/C catalyst also exhibited catalytic activity toward HDA.

An Efficient VLSI Design Approach to Reduce Static Power using Variable Body Biasing

In CMOS integrated circuit design there is a trade-off between static power consumption and technology scaling. Recently, the power density has increased due to combination of higher clock speeds, greater functional integration, and smaller process geometries. As a result static power consumption is becoming more dominant. This is a challenge for the circuit designers. However, the designers do have a few methods which they can use to reduce this static power consumption. But all of these methods have some drawbacks. In order to achieve lower static power consumption, one has to sacrifice design area and circuit performance. In this paper, we propose a new method to reduce static power in the CMOS VLSI circuit using Variable Body Biasing technique without being penalized in area requirement and circuit performance.

Stagnation in Brownfield Redevelopment

Purpose of this paper is two-folded. At first it explains the major problems that are causing stagnation in brownfield redevelopment. In addition, these problems given the context of the present multi-actor built environment are becoming more complex to observe. Therefore, this paper suggests also a prospective decisionmaking approach that is the most appropriate to observe and react on the given stagnation problems. Such an approach should be regarded as prescriptive-interactive decision-making approach, a barely established branch. This approach should offer models that have prescriptive as well as an interactive component enabling them to successfully cope with the multi-actor environment. Overall, this paper provides up-to-date insight on the brownfield stagnation by gradually introducing the nowadays major problems and offers a prospective decision-making approach how these problems could be tackled.

Adaptive Fuzzy Routing in Opportunistic Network (AFRON)

Opportunistic network is a kind of Delay Tolerant Networks (DTN) where the nodes in this network come into contact with each other opportunistically and communicate wirelessly and, an end-to-end path between source and destination may have never existed, and disconnection and reconnection is common in the network. In such a network, because of the nature of opportunistic network, perhaps there is no a complete path from source to destination for most of the time and even if there is a path; the path can be very unstable and may change or break quickly. Therefore, routing is one of the main challenges in this environment and, in order to make communication possible in an opportunistic network, the intermediate nodes have to play important role in the opportunistic routing protocols. In this paper we proposed an Adaptive Fuzzy Routing in opportunistic network (AFRON). This protocol is using the simple parameters as input parameters to find the path to the destination node. Using Message Transmission Count, Message Size and Time To Live parameters as input fuzzy to increase delivery ratio and decrease the buffer consumption in the all nodes of network.

New Concept for the Overall use of Renewable Energy

The development and application of wind power for renewable energy has attracted growing interest in recent years. Renewable energy sources are attracting much alteration as they can reduce both environmental damage and dependence on fossil fuels. With the growing need for sustainable energy supplies, a case is made for decentralized, stand-alone power supplies (SAPS) as an alternative to power grids. In the era which traditional petroleum energy resource decreasing and the green house affect significant increasing, the development and usage of regenerative resources is inevitable. Due to the contribution of the pioneers, the development of regenerative resources already has a remarkable achievement; however, in the view of economy and quantity, it is still a long road for regenerative energy to replace traditional petroleum energy. In our prospective, in stead of investigate larger regenerative energy equipment, it is much wiser to think about the blind side and breakthrough of the current technique.

Experiments on Element and Document Statistics for XML Retrieval

This paper presents an information retrieval model on XML documents based on tree matching. Queries and documents are represented by extended trees. An extended tree is built starting from the original tree, with additional weighted virtual links between each node and its indirect descendants allowing to directly reach each descendant. Therefore only one level separates between each node and its indirect descendants. This allows to compare the user query and the document with flexibility and with respect to the structural constraints of the query. The content of each node is very important to decide weither a document element is relevant or not, thus the content should be taken into account in the retrieval process. We separate between the structure-based and the content-based retrieval processes. The content-based score of each node is commonly based on the well-known Tf × Idf criteria. In this paper, we compare between this criteria and another one we call Tf × Ief. The comparison is based on some experiments into a dataset provided by INEX1 to show the effectiveness of our approach on one hand and those of both weighting functions on the other.

The Gerber-Shiu Functions of a Risk Model with Two Classes of Claims and Random Income

In this paper, we consider a risk model involving two independent classes of insurance risks and random premium income. We assume that the premium income process is a Poisson Process, and the claim number processes are independent Poisson and generalized Erlang(n) processes, respectively. Both of the Gerber- Shiu functions with zero initial surplus and the probability generating functions (p.g.f.) of the Gerber-Shiu functions are obtained.

SAĞLIK-NET Project in Turkey and HL7 v3 Implementation

This paper describes Clinical Document Architecture Release Two (CDA R2) standard and a client application for messaging with SAĞLIK-NET project developed by The Ministry of Health of Turkey. CDA R2 , developed by Health Level 7 (HL7) organization and approved by American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in 2004, to standardize medical information to be able to share semantically and syntactically. In this study, a client application compatible with HL7 V3 for a project named SAĞLIKNET, aimed to build a National Health Information System by Turkey. Moreover, CDA conformance of this application will also be evaluated.

Why I Trust My Father? : In the Eyes of Malaysian Adolescents

This study aims to investigate how much both son and daughter trust their father and what are the underlying reasons they trust their father. The results revealed five main reasons why Malaysian adolescents trust their father. Those reasons are related to the role of father, father-child relationship, father-s characteristics, father-s nurturing nature and father-s attitude and behavior. A total of 1022 students (males = 241, females = 781) from one of public university in Sabah, Malaysia participated in the study. The participants completed open-ended questionnaires developed by Kim (2008), asking how much the adolescents trust their father, and the reasons why they trust their father. The data was analysed by using the indigenous psychology method proposed by [1] Findings of this study revealed the pattern of trust towards father for both Malaysian male and female adolescents. The results contributed new information about Malaysian adolescents- trust towards their father form the indigenous context. The implications of finding will be discussed.

Lower Bound of Time Span Product for a General Class of Signals in Fractional Fourier Domain

Fractional Fourier Transform is a generalization of the classical Fourier Transform which is often symbolized as the rotation in time- frequency plane. Similar to the product of time and frequency span which provides the Uncertainty Principle for the classical Fourier domain, there has not been till date an Uncertainty Principle for the Fractional Fourier domain for a generalized class of finite energy signals. Though the lower bound for the product of time and Fractional Fourier span is derived for the real signals, a tighter lower bound for a general class of signals is of practical importance, especially for the analysis of signals containing chirps. We hence formulate a mathematical derivation that gives the lower bound of time and Fractional Fourier span product. The relation proves to be utmost importance in taking the Fractional Fourier Transform with adaptive time and Fractional span resolutions for a varied class of complex signals.

Forecasting Tala-AUD and Tala-USD Exchange Rates with ANN

The focus of this paper is to construct daily time series exchange rate forecast models of Samoan Tala/USD and Tala/AUD during the year 2008 to 2012 with neural network The performance of the models was measured by using varies error functions such as Root Square mean error (RSME), Mean absolute error (MAE), and Mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). Our empirical findings suggest that AR (1) model is an effective tool to forecast the Tala/USD and Tala/AUD.

The Simulation and Realization of Input-Buffer Scheduling Algorithm in Satellite Switching System

Scheduling algorithm is a key technology in satellite switching system with input-buffer. In this paper, a new scheduling algorithm and its realization are proposed. Based on Crossbar switching fabric, the algorithm adopts serial scheduling strategy and adjusts the output port arbitrating strategy for the better equity of every port. Consequently, it increases the matching probability. The algorithm can greatly reduce the scheduling delay and cell loss rate. The analysis and simulation results by OPNET show that the proposed algorithm has the better performance than others in average delay and cell loss rate, and has the equivalent complexity. On the basis of these results, the hardware realization and simulation based on FPGA are completed, which validate the feasibility of the new scheduling algorithm.

A Hybrid Technology for a Multiagent Consultation System in Obesity Domain

In this paper, the authors present architecture of a multi agent consultation system for obesity related problems, which hybrid the technology of an expert system (ES) and an intelligent agent (IA). The strength of the ES which is capable of pulling the expert knowledge is consulted and presented to the end user via the autonomous and friendly pushing environment of the intelligent agent.

A Simulation Model for the H-gate PDSOI MOSFET

The floating body effect is a serious problem for the PDSOI MOSFET, and the H-gate layout is frequently used as the body contact to eliminate this effect. Unfortunately, most of the standard commercial SOI MOSFET model is for the device with finger gate, the necessity of the new models for the H-gate device arises. A simulation model for the H-gate PDSOI MOSFET is proposed based on the 0.35μm PDSOI process developed by the Institute of Microelectronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMECAS), and then the model is well verified by the ring-oscillator.

La promoted Ni/α-Al2O3 Catalysts for Syngas Methanation

The Ni/α-Al2O3 catalysts with different amounts of La as promoter from 0 to 4 wt % were prepared, characterized and their catalytic activity was investigated in syngas methanation reaction. Effects of reaction temperature and lanthanum loading on carbon oxides conversion and methane selectivity were also studied. Adding certain amount of lanthanum to 10Ni /α-Al2O3 catalysts can decrease the average NiO crystallite diameter which leads to higher activity and stability while excessive addition would cause deactivation quickly. Stability on stream towards deactivation was observed up to 800 min at 500 °C, 0.1MPa and 600000 mL·g-1·h-1.

Increased Capacity of Information Hiding in LSB-s Method for Text and Image

Steganography, derived from Greek, literally means “covered writing". It includes a vast array of secret communications methods that conceal the message-s very existence. These methods include invisible inks, microdots, character arrangement, digital signatures, covert channels, and spread spectrum communications. This paper proposes a new improved version of Least Significant Bit (LSB) method. The approach proposed is simple for implementation when compared to Pixel value Differencing (PVD) method and yet achieves a High embedding capacity and imperceptibility. The proposed method can also be applied to 24 bit color images and achieve embedding capacity much higher than PVD.

A Study of Replacement Policies for Warranty Products with Different Failure Rate

This paper provides a replacement policy for warranty products with different failure rate from the consumer-s viewpoint. Assume that the product is replaced once within a finite planning horizon, and the failure rate of the second product is lower than the failure rate of the first product. Within warranty period (WP), the failed product is corrected by minimal repair without any cost to the consumers. After WP, the failed product is repaired with a fixed repair cost to the consumers. However, each failure incurs a fixed downtime cost to the consumers over a finite planning horizon. In this paper, we derive the model of the expected total disbursement cost within a finite planning horizon and some properties of the optimal replacement policy under some reasonable conditions are obtained. Finally, numerical examples are given to illustrate the features of the optimal replacement policy under various maintenance costs.

Experimental Study on Damping Ratios of in-situ Buildings

Accurate evaluation of damping ratios involving soilstructure interaction (SSI) effects is the prerequisite for seismic design of in-situ buildings. This study proposes a combined approach to identify damping ratios of SSI systems based on ambient excitation technique. The proposed approach is illustrated with main test process, sampling principle and algorithm steps through an engineering example, as along with its feasibility and validity. The proposed approach is employed for damping ratio identification of 82 buildings in Xi-an, China. Based on the experimental data, the variation range and tendency of damping ratios of these SSI systems, along with the preliminary influence factor, are shown and discussed. In addition, a fitting curve indicates the relation between the damping ratio and fundamental natural period of SSI system.

Improved K-Modes for Categorical Clustering Using Weighted Dissimilarity Measure

K-Modes is an extension of K-Means clustering algorithm, developed to cluster the categorical data, where the mean is replaced by the mode. The similarity measure proposed by Huang is the simple matching or mismatching measure. Weight of attribute values contribute much in clustering; thus in this paper we propose a new weighted dissimilarity measure for K-Modes, based on the ratio of frequency of attribute values in the cluster and in the data set. The new weighted measure is experimented with the data sets obtained from the UCI data repository. The results are compared with K-Modes and K-representative, which show that the new measure generates clusters with high purity.

Exploring Value of Time, Shopping Behavior and Shopping Motivation of International Tourists in the Chatuchak Weekend Market

The purpose of this study was to explore the demographic differences of international tourists according to three main factors, including the value of time, shopping behavior and shopping motivation. The Chatuchak Weekend Market is known as one of the biggest weekend markets in the world. Too little academic studies had been conducted in this area of weekend market, despite its growth and continuous development. In general, both domestic visitors and international tourists are attracted to the perception of cheap and bargaining prices the weekend market. However, systematic research study can provide reliable understanding of the perception of the visitors. This study focused on the group of international tourists who visited the market and aimed to provide better insights based on the differences in their demographic factors. Findings indicated that several differences in value of time, shopping behavior, and shopping motivation were identified by gender, income and age. Research implications and directions for further studies were discussed.