Abstract: Raisin Concentrate (RC) are the most important
products obtained in the raisin processing industries. These RC
products are now used to make the syrups, drinks and confectionery
productions and introduced as natural substitute for sugar in food
applications. Iran is a one of the biggest raisin exporter in the world
but unfortunately despite a good raw material, no serious effort to
extract the RC has been taken in Iran. Therefore, in this paper, we
determined and analyzed affected parameters on extracting RC
process and then optimizing these parameters for design the
extracting RC process in two types of raisin (round and long)
produced in Khorasan region. Two levels of solvent (1:1 and 2:1),
three levels of extraction temperature (60°C, 70°C and 80°C), and
three levels of concentration temperature (50°C, 60°C and 70°C)
were the treatments. Finally physicochemical characteristics of the
obtained concentrate such as color, viscosity, percentage of reduction
sugar, acidity and the microbial tests (mould and yeast) were
counted. The analysis was performed on the basis of factorial in the
form of completely randomized design (CRD) and Duncan's multiple
range test (DMRT) was used for the comparison of the means.
Statistical analysis of results showed that optimal conditions for
production of concentrate is round raisins when the solvent ratio was
2:1 with extraction temperature of 60°C and then concentration
temperature of 50°C. Round raisin is cheaper than the long one, and
it is more economical to concentrate production. Furthermore, round
raisin has more aromas and the less color degree with increasing the
temperature of concentration and extraction. Finally, according to
mentioned factors the concentrate of round raisin is recommended.
Abstract: This paper presents functionality of negotiation agent
on value-based design decision. The functionality is based on the
characteristics of the system and goal specification. A Prometheus
Design Tool model was used for developing the system. Group
functionality will be the attribute for negotiation agents, which
comprises a coordinator agent and decision- maker agent. The results
of the testing of the system to a building system selection on valuebased
decision environment are also presented.
Abstract: Response surface methodology was used for
quantitative investigation of water and solids transfer during osmotic
dehydration of beetroot in aqueous solution of salt. Effects of
temperature (25 – 45oC), processing time (30–150 min), salt
concentration (5–25%, w/w) and solution to sample ratio (5:1 – 25:1)
on osmotic dehydration of beetroot were estimated. Quadratic
regression equations describing the effects of these factors on the
water loss and solids gain were developed. It was found that effects
of temperature and salt concentrations were more significant on the
water loss than the effects of processing time and solution to sample
ratio. As for solids gain processing time and salt concentration were
the most significant factors. The osmotic dehydration process was
optimized for water loss, solute gain, and weight reduction. The
optimum conditions were found to be: temperature – 35oC,
processing time – 90 min, salt concentration – 14.31% and solution
to sample ratio 8.5:1. At these optimum values, water loss, solid gain
and weight reduction were found to be 30.86 (g/100 g initial sample),
9.43 (g/100 g initial sample) and 21.43 (g/100 g initial sample)
respectively.
Abstract: In production planning (PP) periods with excess capacity
and growing demand, the manufacturers have two options to use the excess capacity. First, it could do more changeovers and thus reduce lot sizes, inventories, and inventory costs. Second, it could produce in excess of demand in the period and build additional inventory that can be used to satisfy future demand increments, thus
delaying the purchase of the next machine that is required to meet the growth in demand. In this study we propose an enhanced supply
chain planning model with flexible planning capability. In addition, a 3D supply chain planning system is illustrated.
Abstract: Three dimensional simulations in tube in tube heat
exchangers are investigated numerically in this study. In these
simulations forced convective heat transfer and laminar flow of
single-phase water are considered. In order to measure heat transfer
parameters in these heat exchangers, FLUENT CFD Solver is used in
this numerical method. For the purpose of creating geometry and
exert boundary and initial conditions in the present model, finite
volume method in Computational Fluid Dynamics is used in this
study. In the present study, at each Z-location, variation of local
temperatures, heat flux and Nusselt number at the whole tube is
investigated in detail. Thereafter, averaged computational Nusselt
number in this model is calculated. In addition, conceivable pressure
drops have been obtained at each Z-location in this model. Then,
pressure drop values in the present model are explored. Finally, all
the numerical results for this kind of heat exchanger will be discussed
precisely.
Abstract: This paper presents a highly efficient algorithm for detecting and tracking humans and objects in video surveillance sequences. Mean shift clustering is applied on backgrounddifferenced image sequences. For efficiency, all calculations are performed on integral images. Novel corresponding exponential integral kernels are introduced to allow the application of nonuniform kernels for clustering, which dramatically increases robustness without giving up the efficiency of the integral data structures. Experimental results demonstrating the power of this approach are presented.
Abstract: Although many researchers have studied the flow
hydraulics in compound channels, there are still many complicated problems in determination of their flow rating curves. Many different
methods have been presented for these channels but extending them
for all types of compound channels with different geometrical and
hydraulic conditions is certainly difficult. In this study, by aid of nearly 400 laboratory and field data sets of geometry and flow rating
curves from 30 different straight compound sections and using artificial neural networks (ANNs), flow discharge in compound channels was estimated. 13 dimensionless input variables including relative depth, relative roughness, relative width, aspect ratio, bed
slope, main channel side slopes, flood plains side slopes and berm
inclination and one output variable (flow discharge), have been used
in ANNs. Comparison of ANNs model and traditional method
(divided channel method-DCM) shows high accuracy of ANNs model results. The results of Sensitivity analysis showed that the relative depth with 47.6 percent contribution, is the most effective input parameter for flow discharge prediction. Relative width and
relative roughness have 19.3 and 12.2 percent of importance, respectively. On the other hand, shape parameter, main channel and
flood plains side slopes with 2.1, 3.8 and 3.8 percent of contribution, have the least importance.
Abstract: Existing image-based virtual reality applications
allow users to view image-based 3D virtual environment in a more
interactive manner. User could “walkthrough"; looks left, right, up
and down and even zoom into objects in these virtual worlds of
images. However what the user sees during a “zoom in" is just a
close-up view of the same image which was taken from a distant.
Thus, this does not give the user an accurate view of the object from
the actual distance. In this paper, a simple technique for zooming in
an object in a virtual scene is presented. The technique is based on
the 'hotspot' concept in existing application. Instead of navigation
between two different locations, the hotspots are used to focus into
an object in the scene. For each object, several hotspots are created.
A different picture is taken for each hotspot. Each consecutive
hotspot created will take the user closer to the object. This will
provide the user with a correct of view of the object based on his
proximity to the object. Implementation issues and the relevance of
this technique in potential application areas are highlighted.
Abstract: There exists an injective, information-preserving function
that maps a semantic network (i.e a directed labeled network)
to a directed network (i.e. a directed unlabeled network). The edge
label in the semantic network is represented as a topological feature
of the directed network. Also, there exists an injective function that
maps a directed network to an undirected network (i.e. an undirected
unlabeled network). The edge directionality in the directed network
is represented as a topological feature of the undirected network.
Through function composition, there exists an injective function that
maps a semantic network to an undirected network. Thus, aside from
space constraints, the semantic network construct does not have any
modeling functionality that is not possible with either a directed
or undirected network representation. Two proofs of this idea will
be presented. The first is a proof of the aforementioned function
composition concept. The second is a simpler proof involving an
undirected binary encoding of a semantic network.
Abstract: This paper presents the application of discrete-time
variable structure control with sliding mode based on the 'reaching
law' method for robust control of a 'simple inverted pendulum on
moving cart' - a standard nonlinear benchmark system. The
controllers designed using the above techniques are completely
insensitive to parametric uncertainty and external disturbance. The
controller design is carried out using pole placement technique to find
state feedback gain matrix , which decides the dynamic behavior
of the system during sliding mode. This is followed by feedback gain
realization using the control law which is synthesized from 'Gao-s
reaching law'. The model of a single inverted pendulum and the
discrete variable structure control controller are developed, simulated
in MATLAB-SIMULINK and results are presented. The response of
this simulation is compared with that of the discrete linear quadratic
regulator (DLQR) and the advantages of sliding mode controller over
DLQR are also presented
Abstract: Visual secret sharing (VSS) was proposed by Naor and Shamir in 1995. Visual secret sharing schemes encode a secret image into two or more share images, and single share image can’t obtain any information about the secret image. When superimposes the shares, it can restore the secret by human vision. Due to the traditional VSS have some problems like pixel expansion and the cost of sophisticated. And this method only can encode one secret image. The schemes of encrypting more secret images by random grids into two shares were proposed by Chen et al. in 2008. But when those restored secret images have much distortion, those schemes are almost limited in decoding. In the other words, if there is too much distortion, we can’t encrypt too much information. So, if we can adjust distortion to very small, we can encrypt more secret images. In this paper, four new algorithms which based on Chang et al.’s scheme be held in 2010 are proposed. First algorithm can adjust distortion to very small. Second algorithm distributes the distortion into two restored secret images. Third algorithm achieves no distortion for special secret images. Fourth algorithm encrypts three secret images, which not only retain the advantage of VSS but also improve on the problems of decoding.
Abstract: Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) is one of the most important communication techniques that allow wireless systems to achieve higher data rate. To overcome the practical difficulties in implementing Dirty Paper Coding (DPC), various suboptimal MIMO Broadcast (MIMO-BC) scheduling algorithms are employed which choose the best set of users among all the users. In this paper we discuss such a sub-optimal MIMO-BC scheduling algorithm which employs antenna selection at the receiver side. The channels for the users considered here are not Identical and Independent Distributed (IID) so that users at the receiver side do not get equal opportunity for communication. So we introduce a method of applying weights to channels of the users which are not IID in such a way that each of the users gets equal opportunity for communication. The effect of weights on overall sum-rate achieved by the system has been investigated and presented.
Abstract: The authors present an optimization algorithm for order reduction and its application for the determination of the relative mapping errors of linear time invariant dynamic systems by the simplified models. These relative mapping errors are expressed by means of the relative integral square error criterion, which are determined for both unit step and impulse inputs. The reduction algorithm is based on minimization of the integral square error by particle swarm optimization technique pertaining to a unit step input. The algorithm is simple and computer oriented. It is shown that the algorithm has several advantages, e.g. the reduced order models retain the steady-state value and stability of the original system. Two numerical examples are solved to illustrate the superiority of the algorithm over some existing methods.
Abstract: A network of coupled stochastic oscillators is
proposed for modeling of a cluster of entangled qubits that is
exploited as a computation resource in one-way quantum
computation schemes. A qubit model has been designed as a
stochastic oscillator formed by a pair of coupled limit cycle
oscillators with chaotically modulated limit cycle radii and
frequencies. The qubit simulates the behavior of electric field of
polarized light beam and adequately imitates the states of two-level
quantum system. A cluster of entangled qubits can be associated
with a beam of polarized light, light polarization degree being
directly related to cluster entanglement degree. Oscillatory network,
imitating qubit cluster, is designed, and system of equations for
network dynamics has been written. The constructions of one-qubit
gates are suggested. Changing of cluster entanglement degree caused
by measurements can be exactly calculated.
Abstract: Banana is one of the most consumed fruits in the tropics and subtropics. Brazil accounts for about 9% of the world banana production. However, the production losses are as high as 30 to 40% and even much higher in some developing countries. The green banana flour is a complex carbohydrate source, including a high total starch (73.4%), resistant starch (17.5%) with functional properties. Gamma irradiation is considered to be an alternative method for food preservation. It has been performed due to the need of extending the shelf - life of foods, whilst maintaining their safety and avoiding one of the main concerns: the nutrient loss. In this work data about on the effects of ionizing radiation on the physicochemical analysis (carbohydrate, proteins, lipids, alimentary fiber, moistures and ashes) of Brazilian functional products (biscuits and bread) of the green banana pulp are presented. The caloric value was calculated. No significant difference was observed between the samples of irradiated and non – irradiated green banana biscuits with the following determinations: carbohydrates, proteins, alimentary fiber and ashes. Only a small significant difference was found in lipids (macronutrients). The results of physical chemical analysis of the irradiated and non- irradiated green banana bread non- irradiated showed no significant difference with the following determinations: carbohydrates, lipids (macronutrients), moisture, ashes and caloric value. A small difference was found in proteins (macronutrients). Irradiation of functional products (biscuits and bread) with doses of 1 and 3kGy maintained their original macronutrients content, showing good radioresistance.
Abstract: Investigation of sandy clay behavior is important since
urban development demands mean that sandy clay areas are
increasingly encountered, especially for transportation
infrastructures. This paper presents the results of the finite element
analysis of the direct shear test (under three vertical loading 44, 96
and 192 kPa) and discusses the effects of different parameters such as
cohesion, friction angle and Young's modulus on the shear strength of
sandy clay. The numerical model was calibrated against the
experimental results of large-scale direct shear tests. The results have
shown that the shear strength was increased with increase in friction
angle and cohesion. However, the shear strength was not influenced
by raising the friction angle at normal stress of 44 kPa. Also, the
effect of different young's modulus factors on stress-strain curve was
investigated.
Abstract: In recent years, the development of e-learning is very
rapid. E-learning is an attractive and efficient way for computer
education. Student interaction and collaboration also plays an
important role in e-learning. In this paper, a collaborative web-based
e-learning environment is presented. A wide range of interactive and
collaborative methods are integrated into a web-based environment.
This e-learning environment is designed for information security
curriculum.
Abstract: Microstructure, wetting behavior and interfacial
reactions between Sn–0.7Cu and Sn–0.3Ag–0.7Cu (SAC0307)
solders solidified on Ni coated Al substrates were compared and
investigated. Microstructure of Sn–0.7Cu alloy exhibited a eutectic
matrix composed of primary β-Sn dendrites with a fine dispersion of
Cu6Sn5 intermetallics whereas microstructure of SAC0307 alloy
exhibited coarser Cu6Sn5 and finer Ag3Sn precipitates of IMCs with
decreased tin dendrites. Contact angles ranging from 22° to 26° were
obtained for Sn–0.7Cu solder solidified on substrate surface whereas
for SAC0307 solder alloy contact angles were found to be in the
range of 20° to 22°. Sn–0.7Cu solder/substrate interfacial region
exhibited faceted (Cu, Ni)6Sn5 IMCs protruding into the solder matrix
and a small amount of (Cu, Ni)3Sn4 intermetallics at the interface.
SAC0307 solder/substrate interfacial region showed mainly (Cu,
Ni)3Sn4 intermetallics adjacent to the coating layer and (Cu,
Ni)6Sn5 IMCs in the solder matrix. The improvement in the
wettability of SAC0307 solder alloy on substrate surface is attributed
to the formation of cylindrical shape (Cu,Ni)6Sn5 and a layer of
(Cu, Ni)3Sn4 IMCs at the interface.
Abstract: A concept of switched beam antennas consisting of
2×2 rectangular array spaced by λ/4 accompanied with a null locating
has been proposed in the previous work. In this letter, the
performance evaluations of its prototype are presented. The benefits
of using proposed system have been clearly measured in term of
signal quality, throughput and delays. Also, the impact of position
shift which mesh router is not located on the expected beam direction
has also been investigated.
Abstract: Portuguese diet has been gradually diverging from the basic principles of healthy eating, leading to an unbalanced dietary pattern which, associated with increasing sedentary lifestyle, has a negative impact on public health. The main objective of this work was to characterize the dietary habits of university students in Viseu, Portugal. The study consisted of a sample of 80 university students, aged between 18 and 28 years. Anthropometric data (weight (kg) and height (m)) were collected and Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated. The dietary habits were assessed through a three-day food record and the software Medpoint was used to convert food into energy and nutrients. The results showed that students present a normal body mass index. Female university students made a higher number of daily meals than male students, and these last skipped breakfast more frequently. The values of average daily intake of energy, macronutrients and calcium were higher in males. The food pattern was characterized by a predominant consumption of meat, cereal, fats and sugar. Dietary intake of dairy products, fruits, vegetables and legumes does not meet the recommendations, revealing inadequate food habits such as hypoglycemic, hyperprotein and hyperlipidemic diet. Our findings suggest that preventive interventions should be focus in promoting healthy eating habits and physical activity in adulthood.