Abstract: This paper is to present context-aware sensor grid
framework for agriculture and its design challenges. Use of sensor
networks in the domain of agriculture is not new. However, due to
the unavailability of any common framework, solutions that are
developed in this domain are location, environment and problem
dependent. Keeping the need of common framework for agriculture,
Context-Aware Sensor Grid Framework is proposed. It will be
helpful in developing solutions for majority of the problems related
to irrigation, pesticides spray, use of fertilizers, regular monitoring of
plot and yield etc. due to the capability of adjusting according to
location and environment. The proposed framework is composed of
three layer architecture including context-aware application layer,
grid middleware layer and sensor network layer.
Abstract: Tribological behavior and wear regimes of ascast
and heattreted Al-Cu-Mg matrix composites containing SiC
particles were studied using a pin-on-disc wear testing apparatus
against an EN32 steel counterface giving emphasis on wear rate as
a function of applied pressures (0.2, 0.6, 1.0 and 1.4 MPa) at
different sliding distances (1000, 2000, 3000, 4000 and 5000
meters) and at a fixed sliding speed of 3.35m/s. The results showed
that the composite exhibited lower wear rate than that of the matrix
alloy and the wear rate of the composites is noted to be invariant to
the sliding distance and is reducing by heat treatment. Wear
regimes such as low, mild and severe wear were observed as per the
Archard-s wear calculations. It is very interesting to note that the
mild wear is almost constant in all the wear regimes.
Abstract: In this paper, we present a novel objective nonreference
performance assessment algorithm for image fusion. It takes
into account local measurements to estimate how well the important
information in the source images is represented by the fused image.
The metric is based on the Universal Image Quality Index and uses
the similarity between blocks of pixels in the input images and the
fused image as the weighting factors for the metrics. Experimental
results confirm that the values of the proposed metrics correlate well
with the subjective quality of the fused images, giving a significant
improvement over standard measures based on mean squared error
and mutual information.
Abstract: Two-dimensional finite element model was created in this work to investigate the stresses distribution within rock-like samples with offset open non-persistent joints under biaxial loading. The results of this study have explained the fracture mechanisms observed in tests on rock-like material with open non-persistent offset joints [1]. Finite element code SAP2000 was used to study the stresses distribution within the specimens. Four-nodded isoperimetric plain strain element with two degree of freedom per node, and the three-nodded constant strain triangular element with two degree of freedom per node were used in the present study.The results of the present study explained the formation of wing cracks at the tip of the joints for low confining stress as well as the formation of wing cracks at the middle of the joint for the higher confining stress. High shear stresses found in the numerical study at the tip of the joints explained the formation of secondary cracks at the tip of the joints in the experimental study. The study results coincide with the experimental observations which showed that for bridge inclination of 0o, the coalescence occurred due to shear failure and for bridge inclination of 90o the coalescence occurred due to tensile failure while for the other bridge inclinations coalescence occurred due to mixed tensile and shear failure.
Abstract: Sensors possess several properties of physical
measures. Whether devices that convert a sensed signal into an
electrical signal, chemical sensors and biosensors, thus all these
sensors can be considered as an interface between the physical and
electrical equipment. The problem is the analysis of the multitudes of
saved settings as input variables. However, they do not all have the
same level of influence on the outputs. In order to identify the most
sensitive parameters, those that can guide users in gathering
information on the ground and in the process of model calibration
and sensitivity analysis for the effect of each change made.
Mathematical models used for processing become very complex.
In this paper a fuzzy rule-based system is proposed as a solution
for this problem. The system collects the available signals
information from sensors. Moreover, the system allows the study of
the influence of the various factors that take part in the decision
system. Since its inception fuzzy set theory has been regarded as a
formalism suitable to deal with the imprecision intrinsic to many
problems. At the same time, fuzzy sets allow to use symbolic models.
In this study an example was applied for resolving variety of
physiological parameters that define human health state. The
application system was done for medical diagnosis help. The inputs
are the signals expressed the cardiovascular system parameters, blood
pressure, Respiratory system paramsystem was done, it will be able
to predict the state of patient according any input values.
Abstract: It is shown that the relationship of tick-borne
encephalitis virus with the human body comes in two ways, the
development of acute infection with the outcome in convalescence
and long stay by the virus in the body, its persistence in the nervous
tissue with periodic reactivation and prolonged circulating
immunoglobulin M. In spite of the fact that tick-borne encephalitis
virus has a tropism for nerve tissue, involvement in the process of
blood cells is an integral component of the infection. Comprehensive
study of the relation of factors of innate and adaptive immunity in the
tick-borne encephalitis providing insight into the features of chronic
disease.
Abstract: The blood ducts must be occluded to avoid loss of
blood from vessels in laparoscopic surgeries. This paper presents a
locking mechanism to be used in a ligation laparoscopic procedure
(LigLAP I), as an alternative solution for a stapling procedure.
Currently, stapling devices are being used to occlude vessels. Using
these devices may result in some problems, including injury of bile
duct, taking up a great deal of space behind the vessel, and bile leak.
In this new procedure, a two-layer suture occludes a vessel. A
locking mechanism is also required to hold the suture. Since there is
a limited space at the device tip, a Shape Memory Alloy (SMA)
actuator is used in this mechanism. Suitability for cleanroom
applications, small size, and silent performance are among the
advantages of SMA actuators in biomedical applications. An
experimental study is conducted to examine the function of the
locking mechanism. To set up the experiment, a prototype of a
locking mechanism is built using nitinol, which is a nickel-titanium
shape memory alloy. The locking mechanism successfully locks a
polymer suture for all runs of the experiment. In addition, the effects
of various surface materials on the applied pulling forces are studied.
Various materials are mounted at the mechanism tip to compare the
maximum pulling forces applied to the suture for each material. The
results show that the various surface materials on the device tip
provide large differences in the applied pulling forces.
Abstract: The effect of varying holding temperature on hatching success, occurrence of deformities and mortality rates were investigated for goldlined seabream eggs. Wild broodstock (600 g) were stocked at a 2:1 male-female ratio in a 2 m3 fiberglass tank supplied with filtered seawater (37 g L-1 salinity, temp. range 24±0.5 oC [day] and 22±1 oC [night], DO2 in excess of 5.0mg L-1). Females were injected with 200 IU kg-1 HCG between 08.00 and 10.00 h and returned to tanks to spawn following which eggs were collected by hand using a 100μm net. Fertilized eggs at the gastrulation stage (120 L-1) were randomly placed into one of 12 experimental 6 L aerated (DO2 5 mg L-1) plastic containers with water temperatures maintained at 24±0.5 oC (ambient), 26±0.5 oC, 28± 0.5 oC and 30±0.5 oC using thermostats. Each treatment was undertaken in triplicate using a 12:12 photophase:scotophase photoperiod. No differences were recorded between eggs reared at 24 and 26 oC with respect to viability, deformity, mortality or unhatched egg rates. Increasing temperature reduced the number of viable eggs with those at 30 oC returning poorest performance (P < 0.05). Mortality levels were lowest for eggs incubated at 24 and 26 oC. The greatest level of deformities recorded was that for eggs reared at 28 oC.
Abstract: Many organisations are nowadays interested to adopt
lean manufacturing strategy that would enable them to compete in
this competitive globalisation market. In this respect, it is necessary
to assess the implementation of lean manufacturing in different
organisations so that the important best practices can be identified.
This paper describes the development of key areas which will be
used to assess the adoption and implementation of lean
manufacturing practices. There are some key areas developed to
evaluate and reduce the most optimal projects so as to enhance their
production efficiency and increase the purpose of the economic
benefits of the manufacturing unit.
Lean manufacturing is becoming lean enterprise by treating its
customers and suppliers as partners. This gives the extra edge in
today-s cost and time competitive markets. The organisation is
becoming strong in all the conventional competition points. They are
Price, Quality and Delivery. Lean enterprise owners can deliver high
quality products quickly, with low price.
Abstract: Silicon is a beneficial element for plant growth. It
helps plants to overcome multiple stresses, alleviates metal toxicity
and improves nutrient imbalance. Field experiment was conducted as
split-split plot arranged in a randomized complete block design with
four replications. Irrigation system include continues flooding and
deficit as main plots and nitrogen rates N0, N46, N92, and N138 kg/ha
as sub plots and silicon rates Si0 & Si500 kg/ha as sub-subplots.
Results indicate that grain yield had not significant difference
between irrigation systems. Flooding irrigation had higher biological
yield than deficit irrigation whereas, no significant difference in grain
and straw yield. Nitrogen application increased grain, biological and
straw yield. Silicon application increased grain, biological and straw
yield but, decreased harvest index. Flooding irrigation had higher
number of total tillers / hill than deficit irrigation, but deficit
irrigation had higher number of fertile tillers / hill than flooding
irrigation. Silicon increased number of filled spikelet and decreased
blank spikelet. With high nitrogen application decreased 1000-grain
weight. It can be concluded that if the nitrogen application was high
and water supplied was available we could have silicon application
until increase grain yield.
Abstract: International literature emphasizes on the concern regarding the phenomenon of aggression in hospital. This paper focuses on the reality of aggressive interactions reigning within an emergency triage involving three chaps of protagonists: the professionals, the patients and their carers. The data collection was made from a grid of observation, in which the various variables exposed in the literature were integrated. They observations took place around the clock, for three weeks, at the rate of one week a month. In this research 331 aggressive interactions have been listed and analyzed by means of the software SPSS. This research is one of the very few continuous observation surveys in the literature. It shows the various human factors at play in the emergence of aggressive interaction. The data may be used both for taking steps in primary prevention, thanks to the analysis of interaction modes, and in secondary prevention by integrating the useful results in situational prevention.
Abstract: This article presents a detailed analysis and comparative
performance evaluation of model reference adaptive control systems.
In contrast to classical control theory, adaptive control methods allow
to deal with time-variant processes. Inspired by the works [1] and
[2], two methods based on the MIT rule and Lyapunov rule are
applied to a linear first order system. The system is simulated and
it is investigated how changes to the adaptation gain affect the
system performance. Furthermore, variations in the reference model
parameters, that is changing the desired closed-loop behaviour are
examinded.
Abstract: In the present study, the effects of ultrasound as
emerging technology were investigated on germination stimulation,
amount of alpha-amylase activity on dry barley seeds before steeping
stage of malting process. All experiments were carried out at 20 KHz
on the ultrasonic generator in 3 different ultrasonic intensities (20, 60
and 100% setting from total power of device) and time (5, 10 and 15
min) at constant temperature (30C). For determining the effects of
these parameters on enzyme the Fuwa method assay based on the
decreased staining value of blue starch–iodine complexes employed
for measurement an activity. The results of these assays were
analyzed by Qualitek4 software using the Taguchi statistical method
to evaluate the factor-s effects on enzyme activity. It has been found
that when malting barley is irradiated with an ultrasonic power, a
stimulating effect occurs as to the enzyme activity.
Abstract: In this study, a low temperature sensor highly selective to CO in presence of methane is fabricated by using 4 nm SnO2 quantum dots (QDs) prepared by sonication assisted precipitation. SnCl4 aqueous solution was precipitated by ammonia under sonication, which continued for 2 h. A part of the sample was then dried and calcined at 400°C for 1.5 h and characterized by XRD and BET. The average particle size and the specific surface area of the SnO2 QDs as well as their sensing properties were compared with the SnO2 nano-particles which were prepared by conventional sol-gel method. The BET surface area of sonochemically as-prepared product and the one calcined at 400°C after 1.5 hr are 257 m2/gr and 212 m2/gr respectively while the specific surface area for SnO2 nanoparticles prepared by conventional sol-gel method is about 80m2/gr. XRD spectra revealed pure crystalline phase of SnO2 is formed for both as-prepared and calcined samples of SnO2 QDs. However, for the sample prepared by sol-gel method and calcined at 400°C SnO crystals are detected along with those of SnO2. Quantum dots of SnO2 show exceedingly high sensitivity to CO with different concentrations of 100, 300 and 1000 ppm in whole range of temperature (25- 350°C). At 50°C a sensitivity of 27 was obtained for 1000 ppm CO, which increases to a maximum of 147 when the temperature rises to 225°C and then drops off while the maximum sensitivity for the SnO2 sample prepared by the sol-gel method was obtained at 300°C with the amount of 47.2. At the same time no sensitivity to methane is observed in whole range of temperatures for SnO2 QDs. The response and recovery times of the sensor sharply decreases with temperature, while the high selectivity to CO does not deteriorate.
Abstract: Recent years, adaptive pushover methods have been
developed for seismic analysis of structures. Herein, the accuracy of
the displacement-based adaptive pushover (DAP) method, which is
introduced by Antoniou and Pinho [2004], is evaluated for Irregular
buildings. The results are compared to the force-based procedure.
Both concrete and steel frame structures, asymmetric in plan and
elevation are analyzed and also torsional effects are taking into the
account. These analyses are performed using both near fault and far
fault records. In order to verify the results, the Incremental Dynamic
Analysis (IDA) is performed.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to study the oblique
stagnation point flow on vertical plate with uniform surface heat flux
in presence of magnetic field. Using Stream function, partial
differential equations corresponding to the momentum and energy
equations are converted into non-linear ordinary differential
equations. Numerical solutions of these equations are obtained using
Runge-Kutta Fehlberg method with the help of shooting technique.
In the present work the effects of striking angle, magnetic field
parameter, Grashoff number, the Prandtl number on velocity and heat
transfer characteristics have been discussed. Effect of above
mentioned parameter on the position of stagnation point are also
studied.
Abstract: The great challenge of the agricultural sector is to
produce more crop from less water, which can be achieved by
increasing crop water productivity. The modernization of the
irrigation systems offers a number of possibilities to expand the
economic productivity of water and improve the virtual water status.
The objective of the present study is to assess the global water
productivity (GWP) within the major irrigation command areas of
I.R. Iran. For this purpose, fourteen irrigation command areas where
located in different areas of Iran were selected. In order to calculate
the global water productivity of irrigation command areas, all data on
the delivered water to cropping pattern, cultivated area, crops water
requirement, and yield production rate during 2002-2006 were
gathered. In each of the command areas it seems that the cultivated
crops have a higher amount of virtual water and thus can be replaced
by crops with less virtual water. This is merely suggested due to crop
water consumption and at the time of replacing crops, economic
value as well as cultural and political factors must be considered. The
results indicated that the lowest GWP belongs to Mahyar and
Borkhar irrigation areas, 0.24 kg m-3, and the highest is that of the
Dez irrigation area, 0.81 kg m-3. The findings demonstrated that
water management in the two irrigation areas is just efficient. The
difference in the GWP of irrigation areas is due to variations in the
cropping pattern, amount of crop productions, in addition to the
effective factors in the water use efficiency in the irrigation areas.
Abstract: Analysis of blood vessel mechanics in normal and
diseased conditions is essential for disease research, medical device
design and treatment planning. In this work, 3D finite element
models of normal vessel and atherosclerotic vessel with 50% plaque
deposition were developed. The developed models were meshed
using finite number of tetrahedral elements. The developed models
were simulated using actual blood pressure signals. Based on the
transient analysis performed on the developed models, the parameters
such as total displacement, strain energy density and entropy per unit
volume were obtained. Further, the obtained parameters were used to
develop artificial neural network models for analyzing normal and
atherosclerotic blood vessels. In this paper, the objectives of the
study, methodology and significant observations are presented.
Abstract: The modified Claus process is the major technology
for the recovery of elemental sulfur from hydrogen sulfide. The
chemical reactions that can occur in the reaction furnace are
numerous and many byproducts such as carbon disulfide and carbon
carbonyl sulfide are produced. These compounds can often contribute
from 20 to 50% of the pollutants and therefore, should be hydrolyzed
in the catalytic converter. The inlet temperature of the first catalytic
reactor should be maintained over than 250 °C, to hydrolyze COS
and CS2. In this paper, the various configurations for the first
converter reheating of sulfur recovery unit are investigated. As a
result, the performance of each method is presented for a typical
clause unit. The results show that the hot gas method seems to be
better than the other methods.
Abstract: In this paper we used data mining techniques to
identify outlier patients who are using large amount of drugs over a
long period of time. Any healthcare or health insurance system
should deal with the quantities of drugs utilized by chronic diseases
patients. In Kingdom of Bahrain, about 20% of health budget is spent
on medications. For the managers of healthcare systems, there is no
enough information about the ways of drug utilization by chronic
diseases patients, is there any misuse or is there outliers patients. In
this work, which has been done in cooperation with information
department in the Bahrain Defence Force hospital; we select the data
for Cardiac patients in the period starting from 1/1/2008 to
December 31/12/2008 to be the data for the model in this paper. We
used three techniques for finding the drug utilization for cardiac
patients. First we applied a clustering technique, followed by
measuring of clustering validity, and finally we applied a decision
tree as classification algorithm. The clustering results is divided into
three clusters according to the drug utilization, for 1603 patients, who
received 15,806 prescriptions during this period can be partitioned
into three groups, where 23 patients (2.59%) who received 1316
prescriptions (8.32%) are classified to be outliers. The classification
algorithm shows that the use of average drug utilization and the age,
and the gender of the patient can be considered to be the main
predictive factors in the induced model.