Abstract: Day by day technology increases and problems
associated with this technology also increase. Several researches
were carried out to investigate the deployment of such material safely
in geotechnical engineering in particular and civil engineering in
general. However, different types of waste material have such as
cement duct, fly ash and slag been proven to be suitable in several
applications. In this research cement dust mixed with different
percentages of sand will be used in some civil engineering
application as will be explained later in this paper throughout filed
and laboratory test. The used mixer (waste material with sand) prove
high performance, durability to environmental condition, low cost
and high benefits. At higher cement dust ratio, small cement ratio is
valuable for compressive strength and permeability. Also at small
cement dust ratio higher cement ratio is valuable for compressive
strength.
Abstract: The notion of Next Generation Network (NGN) is
based on the Network Convergence concept which refers to
integration of services (such as IT and communication services) over
IP layer. As the most popular implementation of Service Oriented
Architecture (SOA), Web Services technology is known to be the
base for service integration. In this paper, we present a platform to
deliver communication services as web services. We also implement
a sample service to show the simplicity of making composite web
and communication services using this platform. A Service Logic
Execution Environment (SLEE) is used to implement the
communication services. The proposed architecture is in agreement
with Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and also can be integrated
to an Enterprise Service Bus to make a base for NGN Service
Delivery Platform (SDP).
Abstract: With the advance in wireless networking, IEEE 802.16 WiMAX technology has been widely deployed for several applications such as “last mile" broadband service, cellular backhaul, and high-speed enterprise connectivity. As a result, military employed WiMAX as a high-speed wireless connection for data-link because of its point to multi-point and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) capability for many years. However, the risk of using WiMAX is a critical factor in some sensitive area of military applications especially in ammunition manufacturing such as solid propellant rocket production. The US DoD policy states that the following certification requirements are met for WiMAX: electromagnetic effects on the environment (E3) and Hazards of Electromagnetic Radiation to Ordnance (HERO). This paper discuses the Recommended Power Densities and Safe Separation Distance (SSD) for HERO on WiMAX systems deployed on solid propellant rocket production. The result of this research found that WiMAX is safe to operate at close proximity distances to the rocket production based on AF Guidance Memorandum immediately changing AFMAN 91-201.
Abstract: The distribution, enrichment, and accumulation of zinc
(Zn) in the sediments of Kaohsiung Ocean Disposal Site (KODS),
Taiwan were investigated. Sediment samples from two outer disposal
site stations and nine disposed stations in the KODS were collected per
quarterly in 2009 and characterized for Zn, aluminum, organic matter,
and grain size. Results showed that the mean Zn concentrations varied
from 48 mg/kg to 456 mg/kg. Results from the enrichment factor (EF)
and geo-accumulation index (Igeo) analyses imply that the sediments
collected from the KODS can be characterized between moderate and
moderately severe degree enrichment and between none and none to
medium accumulation of Zn, respectively. However, results of
potential ecological risk index indicate that the sediment has low
ecological potential risk. The EF, Igeo, and Zn concentrations at the
disposed stations were slightly higher than those at outer disposal site.
This indicated that the disposed area centers may be subjected to the
disposal impaction of harbor dredged sediments.
Abstract: Artifact rejection plays a key role in many signal processing applications. The artifacts are disturbance that can occur during the signal acquisition and that can alter the analysis of the signals themselves. Our aim is to automatically remove the artifacts, in particular from the Electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings. A technique for the automatic artifact rejection, based on the Independent Component Analysis (ICA) for the artifact extraction and on some high order statistics such as kurtosis and Shannon-s entropy, was proposed some years ago in literature. In this paper we try to enhance this technique proposing a new method based on the Renyi-s entropy. The performance of our method was tested and compared to the performance of the method in literature and the former proved to outperform the latter.
Abstract: The adsorption properties of CO and H2 on iron-based
catalyst with addition of Zr and Ni were investigated using
temperature programmed desorption process. It was found that on the
carburized iron-based catalysts, molecular state and dissociative state
CO existed together. The addition of Zr was preferential for the
molecular state adsorption of CO on iron-based catalyst and the
presence of Ni was beneficial to the dissociative adsorption of CO. On
H2 reduced catalysts, hydrogen mainly adsorbs on the surface iron
sites and surface oxide sites. On CO reduced catalysts, hydrogen
probably existed as the most stable CH and OH species. The addition
of Zr was not benefit to the dissociative adsorption of hydrogen on
iron-based catalyst and the presence of Ni was preferential for the
dissociative adsorption of hydrogen.
Abstract: The inphase/quadrature (I/Q) amplitude and phase
imbalance effects are studied in coherent optical orthogonal
frequency division multiplexing (CO-OFDM) systems. An analytical
model for the I/Q imbalance is developed and supported by
simulation results. The results indicate that the I/Q imbalance degrades the BER performance considerably.
Abstract: HSDPA is a new feature which is introduced in
Release-5 specifications of the 3GPP WCDMA/UTRA standard to
realize higher speed data rate together with lower round-trip times.
Moreover, the HSDPA concept offers outstanding improvement of
packet throughput and also significantly reduces the packet call
transfer delay as compared to Release -99 DSCH. Till now the
HSDPA system uses turbo coding which is the best coding technique
to achieve the Shannon limit. However, the main drawbacks of turbo
coding are high decoding complexity and high latency which makes
it unsuitable for some applications like satellite communications,
since the transmission distance itself introduces latency due to
limited speed of light. Hence in this paper it is proposed to use LDPC
coding in place of Turbo coding for HSDPA system which decreases
the latency and decoding complexity. But LDPC coding increases the
Encoding complexity. Though the complexity of transmitter
increases at NodeB, the End user is at an advantage in terms of
receiver complexity and Bit- error rate. In this paper LDPC Encoder
is implemented using “sparse parity check matrix" H to generate a
codeword at Encoder and “Belief Propagation algorithm "for LDPC
decoding .Simulation results shows that in LDPC coding the BER
suddenly drops as the number of iterations increase with a small
increase in Eb/No. Which is not possible in Turbo coding. Also same
BER was achieved using less number of iterations and hence the
latency and receiver complexity has decreased for LDPC coding.
HSDPA increases the downlink data rate within a cell to a theoretical
maximum of 14Mbps, with 2Mbps on the uplink. The changes that
HSDPA enables includes better quality, more reliable and more
robust data services. In other words, while realistic data rates are
only a few Mbps, the actual quality and number of users achieved
will improve significantly.
Abstract: The main objective of this paper is applying a
comparison between the Wolf Pack Search (WPS) as a newly
introduced intelligent algorithm with several other known algorithms
including Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Shuffled Frog
Leaping (SFL), Binary and Continues Genetic algorithms. All
algorithms are applied on two benchmark cost functions. The aim is
to identify the best algorithm in terms of more speed and accuracy in
finding the solution, where speed is measured in terms of function
evaluations. The simulation results show that the SFL algorithm with
less function evaluations becomes first if the simulation time is
important, while if accuracy is the significant issue, WPS and PSO
would have a better performance.
Abstract: augmented reality is a technique used to insert virtual objects in real scenes. One of the most used libraries in the area is the ARToolkit library. It is based on the recognition of the markers that are in the form of squares with a pattern inside. This pattern which is mostly textual is source of confusing. In this paper, we present the results of a classification of Latin characters as a pattern on the ARToolkit markers to know the most distinguishable among them.
Abstract: Using data of listed Croatian firms from the Zagreb
Stock Exchange we analyze the relationship between firm ownership
(ownership concentration and type) and performance (ROA).
Empirical research was conducted for the period 2003-2010, yielding
with the total of 1,430 observations. Empirical findings based on
dynamic panel analysis indicate that ownership concentration
variable - CR4 is negatively related with performance, i.e. listed firms
with dispersed ownership perform better than firms with concentrated
ownership. Also, the research indicated that foreign controlled listed
firms perform better than domestically controlled firms. Majority
state owned firms perform worse than privately held firms but
dummy variable for privately controlled firms was not statistically
significant in the estimated panel model.
Abstract: Results are presented from a combined experimental
and modeling study undertaken to understand the effect of fuel spray
angle on soot production in turbulent liquid spray flames. The
experimental work was conducted in a cylindrical laboratory furnace
at fuel spray cone angle of 30º, 45º and 60º. Soot concentrations
inside the combustor are measured by filter paper technique. The soot
concentration is modeled by using the soot particle number density
and the mass density based acetylene concentrations. Soot oxidation
occurred by both hydroxide radicals and oxygen molecules. The
comparison of calculated results against experimental measurements
shows good agreement. Both the numerical and experimental results
show that the peak value of soot and its location in the furnace
depend on fuel spray cone angle. An increase in spray angle enhances
the evaporating rate and peak temperature near the nozzle. Although
peak soot concentration increase with enhance of fuel spray angle but
soot emission from the furnace decreases.
Abstract: Generally, administrative systems in an academic
environment are disjoint and support independent queries. The
objective in this work is to semantically connect these independent
systems to provide support to queries run on the integrated platform.
The proposed framework, by enriching educational material in the
legacy systems, provides a value-added semantics layer where
activities such as annotation, query and reasoning can be carried out
to support management requirements. We discuss the development of
this ontology framework with a case study of UAE University
program administration to show how semantic web technologies can
be used by administration to develop student profiles for better
academic program management.
Abstract: This paper proposes a “soft systems" approach to
domain-driven design of computer-based information systems. We
propose a systemic framework combining techniques from Soft
Systems Methodology (SSM), the Unified Modelling Language
(UML), and an implementation pattern known as “Naked Objects".
We have used this framework in action research projects that have
involved the investigation and modelling of business processes using
object-oriented domain models and the implementation of software
systems based on those domain models. Within the proposed
framework, Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) is used as a guiding
methodology to explore the problem situation and to generate a
ubiquitous language (soft language) which can be used as the basis
for developing an object-oriented domain model. The domain model
is further developed using techniques based on the UML and is
implemented in software following the “Naked Objects"
implementation pattern. We argue that there are advantages from
combining and using techniques from different methodologies in this
way.
The proposed systemic framework is overviewed and justified as
multimethodologyusing Mingers multimethodology ideas.
This multimethodology approach is being evaluated through a
series of action research projects based on real-world case studies. A
Peer-Tutoring case study is presented here as a sample of the
framework evaluation process
Abstract: With the development of the Internet, E-commerce is
growing at an exponential rate, and lots of online stores are built up to
sell their goods online. A major factor influencing the successful
adoption of E-commerce is consumer-s trust. For new or unknown
Internet business, consumers- lack of trust has been cited as a major
barrier to its proliferation. As web sites provide key interface for
consumer use of E-Commerce, we investigate the design of web site to
build trust in E-Commerce from a design science approach. A
conceptual model is proposed in this paper to describe the ontology of
online transaction and human-computer interaction. Based on this
conceptual model, we provide a personalized webpage design
approach using Bayesian networks learning method. Experimental
evaluation are designed to show the effectiveness of web
personalization in improving consumer-s trust in new or unknown
online store.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop a “teachers’
self-efficacy scale for high school physical education teachers
(TSES-HSPET)” in Taiwan. This scale is based on the self-efficacy
theory of Bandura [1], [2]. This study used exploratory and
confirmatory factor analyses to test the reliability and validity. The
participants were high school physical education teachers in Taiwan.
Both stratified random sampling and cluster sampling were used to
sample participants for the study. 350 teachers were sampled in the
first stage and 234 valid scales (male 133, female 101) returned.
During the second stage, 350 teachers were sampled and 257 valid
scales (male 143, female 110, 4 did not indicate gender) returned. The
exploratory factor analysis was used in the first stage, and it got
60.77% of total variance for construct validity. The Cronbach’s alpha
coefficient of internal consistency was 0.91 for sumscale, and
subscales were 0.84 and 0.90. In the second stage, confirmatory factor
analysis was used to test construct validity. The result showed that the
fit index could be accepted (χ2 (75) =167.94, p
Abstract: Proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) is used to reconstruct spatio-temporal data of a fully developed turbulent channel flow with density variation at Reynolds number of 150, based on the friction velocity and the channel half-width, and Prandtl number of 0.71. To apply POD to the fully developed turbulent channel flow with density variation, the flow field (velocities, density, and temperature) is scaled by the corresponding root mean square values (rms) so that the flow field becomes dimensionless. A five-vector POD problem is solved numerically. The reconstructed second-order moments of velocity, temperature, and density from POD eigenfunctions compare favorably to the original Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) data.
Abstract: Lycopene, which can be extracted from plants and is
very popular for fruit intake, is restricted for healthy food development
due to its high price. On the other hand, it will get great safety
concerns, especially in the food or cosmetic application, if the raw
material of lycopene is produced by chemical synthesis. In this
project, we provide a key technology to bridge the limitation as
mentioned above. Based on the abundant bioresources of BCRC
(Bioresource Collection and Research Center, Taiwan), a promising
lycopene output will be anticipated by the introduction of fermentation
technology along with industry-related core energy. Our results
showed that addition of tween 80(0.2%) and span 20 produced higher
amount of lycopene. And piperidine, when was added at 48hr to the
cultivation medium, could promote lycopene excretion effectively
also.
Abstract: The cinema in Turkey during the 1940s was shaped
under the Second World War conditions. The amateur film makers
from different socioeconomic roots experienced movie production in
those years. Having similar socioeconomic characteristics and
autobiographies, each of them has a different understanding of
cinema. Nevertheless, they joined in making movies which address
native culture and audience. They narrated indigenous stories with
native music, amateur players and simple settings. Although the
martial law, censorship and economical deficiencies, they started to
produce films in the Second World War. The cinematographers of the
1940s usually called as thetransition period cinematographers in
Turkey, producing in the passage between the period of thetheatre
playersand the period of thenational cinema. But, 1940- 1950 period
of Turkish cinema should be defined not as a transition but a period
of forming the professional conscioussness in cinema.
Abstract: This investigation examines the effect of the sintering
temperature curve in manufactured nickel powder capillary structure
(wick) for a loop heat pipe (LHP). The sintering temperature curve is
composed of a region of increasing temperature; a region of constant
temperature and a region of declining temperature. The most important
region is that in which the temperature increases, as an index in the
stage in which the temperature increases. The wick of nickel powder is
manufactured in the stage of fixed sintering temperature and the time
between the stage of constant temperature and the stage of falling
temperature. When the slope of the curve in the region of increasing
temperature is unity (equivalent to 10 °C/min), the structure of the
wick is complete and the heat transfer performance is optimal. The
result of experiment test demonstrates that the heat transfer
performance is optimal at 320W; the minimal total thermal resistance
is approximately 0.18°C/W, and the heat flux is 17W/cm2; the internal
parameters of the wick are an effective pore radius of 3.1 μm, a
permeability of 3.25×10-13m2 and a porosity of 71%.