Abstract: The application of agro-industrial waste in Aluminum
Metal Matrix Composites has been getting more attention as they
can reinforce particles in metal matrix which enhance the strength
properties of the composites. In addition, by applying these agroindustrial
wastes in useful way not only save the manufacturing cost
of products but also reduce the pollutions on environment. This
paper represents a literature review on a range of industrial wastes
and their utilization in metal matrix composites. The paper describes
the synthesis methods of agro-industrial waste filled metal matrix
composite materials and their mechanical, wear, corrosion, and
physical properties. It also highlights the current application and
future potential of agro-industrial waste reinforced composites in
aerospace, automotive and other construction industries.
Abstract: The minimal condition for symmetry breaking in morphogenesis of cellular population was investigated using cellular automata based on reaction-diffusion dynamics. In particular, the study looked for the possibility of the emergence of branching structures due to mechanical interactions. The model used two types of cells an external gradient. The results showed that the external gradient influenced movement of cell type-I, also revealed that clusters formed by cells type-II worked as barrier to movement of cells type-I.
Abstract: Phytotoxicity of Daphne gnidium L. was evaluated
through the effect of incorporating leaves, stems and roots biomass
into soil (at 12.5, 25, 50g/Kg) and irrigation by their aqueous extracts
(50g/L), on the growth of two crops (Lactuca sativa L. and Raphanus
sativus L.) and two weeds (Peaganum harmala L. and Scolymus
maculatus L.). Results revealed a perceptible phytotoxic effect which
increased with dose and concentration. At the highest dose, roots and
leaves residues was the most toxic and caused total inhibition
respectively, for lettuce and thistle seedling growth. Irrigation with
aqueous extracts of D. gnidium different organs decreased also
seedlings length of all test species. Stems extract was more inhibitor
on thistle than peganum seedling growth; it induced a significant
reduction of 80% and 67%, for, respectively, roots and shoots.
Results of the present study suggest that different organs of D.
gnidium could be exploited in the management of agro-ecosystems.
Abstract: Transferring patient information between medical care
sites is necessary to deliver better patient care and to reduce medical
cost. So developing of electronic medical records is an important trend
for the world.The Continuity of Care Document (CCD) is product of
collaboration between CDA and CCR standards. In this study, we will
develop a system to generate medical records with entry level based on
CCD template module.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose a robust disease detection
method, called adaptive orientation code matching (Adaptive OCM),
which is developed from a robust image registration algorithm:
orientation code matching (OCM), to achieve continuous and
site-specific detection of changes in plant disease. We use two-stage
framework for realizing our research purpose; in the first stage,
adaptive OCM was employed which could not only realize the
continuous and site-specific observation of disease development, but
also shows its excellent robustness for non-rigid plant object searching
in scene illumination, translation, small rotation and occlusion changes
and then in the second stage, a machine learning method of support
vector machine (SVM) based on a feature of two dimensional (2D)
xy-color histogram is further utilized for pixel-wise disease
classification and quantification. The indoor experiment results
demonstrate the feasibility and potential of our proposed algorithm,
which could be implemented in real field situation for better
observation of plant disease development.
Abstract: Aggregation behavior of sodium salicylate and sodium cumene sulfonate was studied in aqueous solution at different temperature. Specific conductivity and relative viscosity were measured at different temperature to find minimum hydrotropic concentration. The thermodynamic parameters (free energy, enthalpy and entropy) were evaluated in the temperature range of 30°C-70°C. The free energy decreased with increase in temperature. The aggregation was found to be exothermic in nature and favored by positive value of entropy.
Abstract: Recent developments in Soft computing techniques,
power electronic switches and low-cost computational hardware have
made it possible to design and implement sophisticated control
strategies for sensorless speed control of AC motor drives. Such an
attempt has been made in this work, for Sensorless Speed Control of
Induction Motor (IM) by means of Direct Torque Fuzzy Control
(DTFC), PI-type fuzzy speed regulator and MRAS speed estimator
strategy, which is absolutely nonlinear in its nature. Direct torque
control is known to produce quick and robust response in AC drive
system. However, during steady state, torque, flux and current ripple
occurs. So, the performance of conventional DTC with PI speed
regulator can be improved by implementing fuzzy logic techniques.
Certain important issues in design including the space vector
modulated (SVM) 3-Ф voltage source inverter, DTFC design,
generation of reference torque using PI-type fuzzy speed regulator
and sensor less speed estimator have been resolved. The proposed
scheme is validated through extensive numerical simulations on
MATLAB. The simulated results indicate the sensor less speed
control of IM with DTFC and PI-type fuzzy speed regulator provides
satisfactory high dynamic and static performance compare to
conventional DTC with PI speed regulator.
Abstract: This paper aims to initiate an analytical account of the
issues of compliance with economy condition for incentive pay
system application in an enterprise. Economy is considered one of the
conditions for effective incentive pay system application another
condition being the achievement of desired efficiency level of the
incentive pay system application. Bonus pay system is discussed as
an example.
Abstract: Sweet cherries (Prunus avium L.) contain various
phenolic compounds which contribute to total antioxidant activity.
Total polyphenols, tannins, flavonoids and anthocyanins, and
antioxidant capacity in a fruits of a number of selected sweet cherry
genotypes were investigated. Total polyphenols content ranged from
4.12 to 8.34 mg gallic acid equivantents/g dry fruit weight and total
tannins content ranged from 0.19 to 1.95 mg gallic acid equivalent/g
dry fruit weight. Total flavonoids were within the range 0.42-1.56 mg
of rutin equivalents/g dry fruit weight and total anthocyanins content
were between 0.35 and 0.69 mg cyanidin 3-glucoside equivalent/ g
dry fruit weight. Although sweet cherry fruits are a significant source
of different phenolic compounds, antioxidant activity of sweet
cherries is not related only with the total polyphenolics, flavonoids or
anthocyanins.
Abstract: Recently, grid computing has been widely focused on
the science, industry, and business fields, which are required a vast
amount of computing. Grid computing is to provide the environment
that many nodes (i.e., many computers) are connected with each
other through a local/global network and it is available for many
users. In the environment, to achieve data processing among nodes
for any applications, each node executes mutual authentication by
using certificates which published from the Certificate Authority
(for short, CA). However, if a failure or fault has occurred in the
CA, any new certificates cannot be published from the CA. As
a result, a new node cannot participate in the gird environment.
In this paper, an off-the-shelf scheme for dependable grid systems
using virtualization techniques is proposed and its implementation is
verified. The proposed approach using the virtualization techniques
is to restart an application, e.g., the CA, if it has failed. The system
can tolerate a failure or fault if it has occurred in the CA. Since
the proposed scheme is implemented at the application level easily,
the cost of its implementation by the system builder hardly takes
compared it with other methods. Simulation results show that the
CA in the system can recover from its failure or fault.
Abstract: Web-based cooperative learning focuses on (1) the interaction and the collaboration of community members, and (2) the sharing and the distribution of knowledge and expertise by network technology to enhance learning performance. Numerous research literatures related to web-based cooperative learning have demonstrated that cooperative scripts have a positive impact to specify, sequence, and assign cooperative learning activities. Besides, literatures have indicated that role-play in web-based cooperative learning environments enhances two or more students to work together toward the completion of a common goal. Since students generally do not know each other and they lack the face-to-face contact that is necessary for the negotiation of assigning group roles in web-based cooperative learning environments, this paper intends to further extend the application of genetic algorithm (GA) and propose a GA-based algorithm to tackle the problem of role assignment in web-based cooperative learning environments, which not only saves communication costs but also reduces conflict between group members in negotiating role assignments.
Abstract: In order to increase in chickpea quality and
agroecosystem sustainability, field experiments were carried out in
2007 and 2008 growing seasons. In this research the effects of
different organic, chemical and biological fertilizers were
investigated on grain yield and quality of chickpea. Experimental
units were arranged in split-split plots based on randomized complete
blocks with three replications. The highest amounts of yield and yield
components were obtained in G1×N5 interaction. Significant
increasing of N, P, K, Fe and Mg content in leaves and grains
emphasized on superiority of mentioned treatment because each one
of these nutrients has an approved role in chlorophyll synthesis and
photosynthesis ability of the crop. The combined application of
compost, farmyard manure and chemical phosphorus (N5) had the
best grain quality due to high protein, starch and total sugar contents,
low crude fiber and reduced cooking time.
Abstract: This paper presents an efficient emission constrained
economic dispatch algorithm that deals with nonlinear cost function
and constraints. It is then incorporated into the dynamic
programming based hydrothermal coordination program. The
program has been tested on a practical utility system having 32
thermal and 12 hydro generating units. Test results show that a slight
increase in production cost causes a substantial reduction in
emission.
Abstract: Wind energy has been shown to be one of the most
viable sources of renewable energy. With current technology, the low
cost of wind energy is competitive with more conventional sources of
energy such as coal. Most blades available for commercial grade
wind turbines incorporate a straight span-wise profile and airfoil
shaped cross sections. These blades are found to be very efficient at
lower wind speeds in comparison to the potential energy that can be
extracted. However as the oncoming wind speed increases the
efficiency of the blades decreases as they approach a stall point. This
paper explores the possibility of increasing the efficiency of the
blades at higher wind speeds while maintaining efficiency at the
lower wind speeds. The design intends to maintain efficiency at
lower wind speeds by selecting the appropriate orientation and size
of the airfoil cross sections based on a low oncoming wind speed and
given constant rotation rate. The blades will be made more efficient
at higher wind speeds by implementing a swept blade profile.
Performance was investigated using the computational fluid
dynamics (CFD).
Abstract: Product Lead Time (PLT) is the period of time from
receiving a customer's order to delivering the final product. PLT is an
indicator of the manufacturing controllability, efficiency and
performance. Due to the explosion in the rate of technological
innovations and the rapid changes in the nature of manufacturing
processes, manufacturing firms can bring the new products to market
quicker only if they can reduce their PLT and speed up the rate at
which they can design, plan, control, and manufacture. Although
there is a substantial body of research on manufacturing relating to
cost and quality issues, there is no much specific research conducted
in relation to the formulation of PLT, despite its significance and
importance. This paper analyzes and formulates PLT which can be
used as a guideline for achieving the shorter PLT. Further more this
paper identifies the causes of delay and factors that contributes to the
increased product lead-time.
Abstract: Sound pathways in the enclosures of small earphones
are very narrow. In such narrow pathways, the speed of sound
propagation and the phase of sound waves change because of the air
viscosity. We have developed a new finite element method that
includes the effects of damping due to air viscosity for modeling the
sound pathway. This method is developed as an extension of the
existing finite element method for porous sound-absorbing materials.
The numerical calculation results using the proposed finite element
method are validated against the existing calculation methods.
Abstract: In this paper, a neural tree (NT) classifier having a
simple perceptron at each node is considered. A new concept for
making a balanced tree is applied in the learning algorithm of the
tree. At each node, if the perceptron classification is not accurate and
unbalanced, then it is replaced by a new perceptron. This separates
the training set in such a way that almost the equal number of patterns
fall into each of the classes. Moreover, each perceptron is trained only
for the classes which are present at respective node and ignore other
classes. Splitting nodes are employed into the neural tree architecture
to divide the training set when the current perceptron node repeats
the same classification of the parent node. A new error function based
on the depth of the tree is introduced to reduce the computational
time for the training of a perceptron. Experiments are performed to
check the efficiency and encouraging results are obtained in terms of
accuracy and computational costs.
Abstract: In recent years demolished concrete waste handling and management is the new primary challenging issue faced by the countries all over the world. It is very challenging and hectic problem that has to be tackled in an indigenous manner, it is desirable to completely recycle demolished concrete waste in order to protect natural resources and reduce environmental pollution. In this research paper an experimental study is carried out to investigate the feasibility and recycling of demolished waste concrete for new construction. The present investigation to be focused on recycling demolished waste materials in order to reduce construction cost and resolving housing problems faced by the low income communities of the world. The crushed demolished concrete wastes is segregated by sieving to obtain required sizes of aggregate, several tests were conducted to determine the aggregate properties before recycling it into new concrete. This research shows that the recycled aggregate that are obtained from site make good quality concrete. The compressive strength test results of partial replacement and full recycled aggregate concrete and are found to be higher than the compressive strength of normal concrete with new aggregate.
Abstract: A novel direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation technique, which uses a conventional multiple signal classification (MUSIC) algorithm with periodic signals, is applied to a single RF-port parasitic array antenna for direction finding. Simulation results show that the proposed method gives high resolution (1 degree) DOA estimation in an uncorrelated signal environment. The novelty lies in that the MUSIC algorithm is applied to a simplified antenna configuration. Only one RF port and one analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) are used in this antenna, which features low DC power consumption, low cost, and ease of fabrication. Modifications to the conventional MUSIC algorithm do not bring much additional complexity. The proposed technique is also free from the negative influence by the mutual coupling between elements. Therefore, the technique has great potential to be implemented into the existing wireless mobile communications systems, especially at the power consumption limited mobile terminals, to provide additional position location (PL) services.
Abstract: Japan is known to be a technological powerhouse, being noted for its automobiles, consumer electronics, laptop computers, portable gaming devices, and more recently healing animal robots. Japan is also noted for its popular culture; manga, anime, novels, films, character goods, game programs, cosplay cafes, karaoke and so on. It may be natural for people outside Japan to assume that e-learning in Japan must be well advanced and innovative. In reality, the application of technologies in education in Japan is far behind of other developed countries. Especially in higher education, apathy of students towards their study prevails and teachers continue ignoring such student attitudes. E-learning, which is supposed to revolutionalize the way people learn as it has potentials to enable more student-centered learning, has not been realized in Japan and mostly used to perpetuate the teachercentered teaching in a different format.