Abstract: In medical imaging, segmentation of different areas of
human body like bones, organs, tissues, etc. is an important issue.
Image segmentation allows isolating the object of interest for further
processing that can lead for example to 3D model reconstruction of
whole organs. Difficulty of this procedure varies from trivial for
bones to quite difficult for organs like liver. The liver is being
considered as one of the most difficult human body organ to segment.
It is mainly for its complexity, shape versatility and proximity of
other organs and tissues. Due to this facts usually substantial user
effort has to be applied to obtain satisfactory results of the image
segmentation. Process of image segmentation then deteriorates from
automatic or semi-automatic to fairly manual one. In this paper,
overview of selected available software applications that can handle
semi-automatic image segmentation with further 3D volume
reconstruction of human liver is presented. The applications are being
evaluated based on the segmentation results of several consecutive
DICOM images covering the abdominal area of the human body.
Abstract: The present study was carried out to evaluate the
effect of different levels of dietary seed and extract of Harmal
(Peganum harmala L.) on immunity of broiler chicks. A total of 350
one-day old broiler chicks (Ross 308) were randomly allocated to
five dietary treatments with four replicates pen of 14 birds each.
Dietary treatments consisted of control, 1 and 2 g/kg Harmal seed in
diet, 100 and 200 mg/L Harmal seed extract in water. Broilers
received dietary treatments from 1 to 42 d. Two birds from each pen
were randomly weighed and sacrificed at 42 d of age, the relative
weight of lymphoid organs (bursa of Fabercius and spleen) to live
weight were calculated. Antibody titers against Newcastle and
influenza viruses and sheep red blood cell were measured at 30 d of
age. Results showed that the relative weights of lymphoid organs
were not affected by dietary treatments. Furthermore, antibody titer
against Newcastle and influenza viruses as well as sheep red blood
cell antigen were significantly (P
Abstract: Vertical Handover(VHO) among different
communication technologies ensuring uninterruption and service
continuity is one of the most important performance parameter in
Heterogenous networks environment. In an integrated Universal
Mobile Telecommunicatin System(UMTS) and Wireless Local
Area Network(WLAN), WLAN is given an inherent priority over
UMTS because of its high data rates with low cost. Therefore
mobile users want to be associated with WLAN maximum of the
time while roaming, to enjoy best possible services with low cost.
That encourages reduction of number of VHO. In this work the
reduction of number of VHO with respect to varying number of
WLAN Access Points(APs) in an integrated UMTS and WLAN
network is investigated through simulation to provide best possible
cost effective service to the users. The simulation has been carried
out for an area (7800 × 9006)m2 where COST-231 Hata model
and 3GPP (TR 101 112 V 3.1.0) specified models are used for
WLAN and UMTS path loss models respectively. The handover
decision is triggered based on the received signal level as compared
to the fade margin. Fade margin gives a probabilistic measure of
the reliability of the communication link. A relationship between
number of WLAN APs and the number of VHO is also established
in this work.
Abstract: Validity, integrity, and impacts of the IT systems of
the US federal courts have been studied as part of the Human Rights
Alert-NGO (HRA) submission for the 2015 Universal Periodic
Review (UPR) of human rights in the United States by the Human
Rights Council (HRC) of the United Nations (UN). The current
report includes overview of IT system analysis, data-mining and case
studies. System analysis and data-mining show: Development and
implementation with no lawful authority, servers of unverified
identity, invalidity in implementation of electronic signatures,
authentication instruments and procedures, authorities and
permissions; discrimination in access against the public and
unrepresented (pro se) parties and in favor of attorneys; widespread
publication of invalid judicial records and dockets, leading to their
false representation and false enforcement. A series of case studies
documents the impacts on individuals' human rights, on banking
regulation, and on international matters. Significance is discussed in
the context of various media and expert reports, which opine
unprecedented corruption of the US justice system today, and which
question, whether the US Constitution was in fact suspended. Similar
findings were previously reported in IT systems of the State of
California and the State of Israel, which were incorporated, subject to
professional HRC staff review, into the UN UPR reports (2010 and
2013). Solutions are proposed, based on the principles of publicity of
the law and the separation of power: Reliance on US IT and legal
experts under accountability to the legislative branch, enhancing
transparency, ongoing vigilance by human rights and internet
activists. IT experts should assume more prominent civic duties in the
safeguard of civil society in our era.
Abstract: Carbon fiber reinforced polymersarewidely used to strengthen steel structural elements. These structural elements are normally subjected to static, dynamic and fatigue loadings during their life-time. CFRP laminate is commonly used to strengthen these structures under the subjected loads. A number of studies have focused on the characteristics of CFRP sheets bonded to steel members under static, dynamic and fatigue loadings. However, there is a gap in understanding the bonding behavior between CFRP laminates and steel members under impact loading. This paper shows the effect of high load rates on this bond. CFRP laminate CFK 150/2000 was used to strengthen steel joints using Araldite 420 epoxy. The results show that applying a high load rate significantly affects the bond strength but has little influence on the effective bond length.
Abstract: The Smart Help for persons with disability (PWD) is a
part of the project SMARTDISABLE which aims to develop relevant
solution for PWD that target to provide an adequate workplace
environment for them. It would support PWD needs smartly through
smart help to allow them access to relevant information and
communicate with other effectively and flexibly, and smart editor
that assist them in their daily work. It will assist PWD in knowledge
processing and creation as well as being able to be productive at the
work place. The technical work of the project involves design of a
technological scenario for the Ambient Intelligence (AmI) - based
assistive technologies at the workplace consisting of an integrated
universal smart solution that suits many different impairment
conditions and will be designed to empower the Physically disabled
persons (PDP) with the capability to access and effectively utilize the
ICTs in order to execute knowledge rich working tasks with
minimum efforts and with sufficient comfort level. The proposed
technology solution for PWD will support voice recognition along
with normal keyboard and mouse to control the smart help and smart
editor with dynamic auto display interface that satisfies the
requirements for different PWD group. In addition, a smart help will
provide intelligent intervention based on the behavior of PWD to
guide them and warn them about possible misbehavior. PWD can
communicate with others using Voice over IP controlled by voice
recognition. Moreover, Auto Emergency Help Response would be
supported to assist PWD in case of emergency. This proposed
technology solution intended to make PWD very effective at the
work environment and flexible using voice to conduct their tasks at
the work environment. The proposed solution aims to provide
favorable outcomes that assist PWD at the work place, with the
opportunity to participate in PWD assistive technology innovation
market which is still small and rapidly growing as well as upgrading
their quality of life to become similar to the normal people at the
workplace. Finally, the proposed smart help solution is applicable in
all workplace setting, including offices, manufacturing, hospital, etc.
Abstract: Ontologies provide a common understanding of a
specific domain of interest that can be communicated between people
and used as background knowledge for automated reasoning in a
wide range of applications. In this paper, we address the design of
multilingual ontologies following well-defined knowledge
engineering methodologies with the support of novel collaborative
development approaches. In particular, we present a collaborative
platform which allows ontologies to be developed incrementally in
multiple languages. This is made possible via an appropriate mapping
between language independent concepts and one lexicalization per
language (or a lexical gap in case such lexicalization does not exist).
The collaborative platform has been designed to support the
development of the Universal Knowledge Core, a multilingual
ontology currently in English, Italian, Chinese, Mongolian, Hindi and
Bangladeshi. Its design follows a workflow-based development
methodology that models resources as a set of collaborative objects
and assigns customizable workflows to build and maintain each
collaborative object in a community driven manner, with extensive
support of modern web 2.0 social and collaborative features.
Abstract: Accounting policies are a set of solutions compliant
with legal regulations that an entity selects and adopts, and which
guarantee a proper quality of financial statements. Those solutions
may differ depending on whether the entity adopts national or
international accounting standards.
The aim of this article is to present accounting principles (policies)
in Polish and international legal regulations and their adoption in
selected Polish companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The
research method adopted in this work is the analysis and evaluation
of legal conditions in Polish companies.
Abstract: The research conducted in early seventies apparently
assumed the existence of a universal decision model for union
negotiators and furthermore tended to regard financial information as
a ‘neutral’ input into a rational decision making process. However,
research in the eighties began to question the neutrality of financial
information as an input in collective bargaining rather viewing it as a
potentially effective means for controlling the labour force.
Furthermore, this later research also started challenging the simplistic
assumptions relating particularly to union objectives which have
underpinned the earlier search for universal union decision models.
Despite the above developments there seems to be a dearth of studies
in developing countries concerning the use of financial information in
collective bargaining. This paper seeks to begin to remedy this
deficiency. Utilising a case study approach based on two enterprises,
one in the public sector and the other a multinational, the universal
decision model is rejected and it is argued that the decision whether
or not to use financial information is a contingent one and such a
contingency is largely defined by the context and environment in
which both union and management negotiators work. An attempt is
also made to identify the factors constraining as well as promoting
the use of financial information in collective bargaining, these being
regarded as unique to the organisations within which the case studies
are conducted.
Abstract: E-service quality plays a significant role to achieve
success or failure in any organization, offering services online. It will
increase the competition among the organizations, to attract the
customers on the basis of the quality of service provided by the
organization. Better e-service quality will enhance the relationship
with customers and their satisfaction. So the measurement of eservice
quality is very important but it is a complex process due to
the complex nature of services. Literature predicts that there is a lack
of universal definition of e-service quality. The e-service quality
measures in banking have great importance in achieving high
customer base. This paper proposes a conceptual model for
measuring e-service quality in Indian Banking Industry. Nine
dimensions reliability, ease of use, personalization, security and trust,
website aesthetic, responsiveness, contact and fulfillment had been
identified. The results of this paper may help to develop a proper
scale to measure the e-service quality in Indian Banking Industry,
which may assist to maintain and improve the performance and
effectiveness of e-service quality to retain customers.
Abstract: The knowledge of biodiesel density over large ranges
of temperature and pressure is important for predicting the behavior
of fuel injection and combustion systems in diesel engines, and for
the optimization of such systems. In this study, cottonseed oil was
transesterified into biodiesel and its density was measured at
temperatures between 288 K and 358 K and pressures between 0.1
MPa and 30 MPa, with expanded uncertainty estimated as ±1.6 kg⋅m-
3. Experimental pressure-volume-temperature (pVT) cottonseed data
was used along with literature data relative to other 18 biodiesels, in
order to build a database used to test the correlation of density with
temperarure and pressure using the Goharshadi–Morsali–Abbaspour
equation of state (GMA EoS). To our knowledge, this is the first that
density measurements are presented for cottonseed biodiesel under
such high pressures, and the GMA EoS used to model biodiesel
density. The new tested EoS allowed correlations within 0.2 kg·m-3
corresponding to average relative deviations within 0.02%. The built
database was used to develop and test a new full predictive model
derived from the observed linear relation between density and degree
of unsaturation (DU), which depended from biodiesel FAMEs
profile. The average density deviation of this method was only about
3 kg.m-3 within the temperature and pressure limits of application.
These results represent appreciable improvements in the context of
density prediction at high pressure when compared with other
equations of state.
Abstract: Calcium phosphate cement (CPC) is one of the most
attractive bioceramics due to its moldable and shape ability to fill
complicated bony cavities or small dental defect positions. In this
study, CPC was produced by using mixture of tetracalcium phosphate
(TTCP, Ca4O(PO4)2) and dicalcium phosphate anhydrous (DCPA,
CaHPO4) in equimolar ratio (1/1) with aqueous solutions of acetic
acid (C2H4O2) and disodium hydrogen phosphate dehydrate
(Na2HPO4.2H2O) in combination with sodium alginate in order to
improve theirs moldable characteristic. The concentration of the
aqueous solutions and sodium alginate were varied to investigate the
effect of different aqueous solutions and alginate on properties of the
cements. The cement paste was prepared by mixing cement powder
(P) with aqueous solution (L) in a P/L ratio of 1.0g/0.35ml. X-ray
diffraction (XRD) was used to analyses phase formation of the
cements. Setting time and compressive strength of the set CPCs were
measured using the Gilmore apparatus and Universal testing
machine, respectively.
The results showed that CPCs could be produced by using both
basic (Na2HPO4.2H2O) and acidic (C2H4O2) solutions. XRD results
show the precipitation of hydroxyapatite in all cement samples. No
change in phase formation among cements using difference
concentrations of Na2HPO4.2H2O solutions. With increasing
concentration of acidic solutions, samples obtained less
hydroxyapatite with a high dicalcium phosphate dehydrate leaded to
a shorter setting time. Samples with sodium alginate exhibited higher
crystallization of hydroxyapatite than that of without alginate as a
result of shorten setting time in a basic solution but a longer setting
time in an acidic solution. The stronger cement was attained from
samples using the acidic solution with sodium alginate; however the
strength was lower than that of using the basic solution.
Abstract: Preparation of nanoparticles of cerium oxide and
adsorption of bovine serum albumin on them were studied. Particle
size distribution and influence of pH on zeta potential of prepared
CeO2 were determined. Average size of prepared cerium oxide
nanoparticles was 9 nm. The simultaneous measurements of the
bovine serum albumin adsorption and zeta potential determination of
the (adsorption) suspensions were carried out. The adsorption
isotherms were found to be of typical Langmuir type; values of the
bovine serum albumin adsorption capacities were calculated.
Increasing of pH led to decrease of zeta potential and decrease of
adsorption capacity of cerium oxide nanoparticles. The maximum
adsorption capacity was found for strongly acid suspension (am =
118 mg/g). The samples of nanoceria with positive zeta potential
adsorbed more bovine serum albumin on the other hand, the samples
with negative zeta potential showed little or no protein adsorption.
Surface charge or better say zeta potential of CeO2 nanoparticles
plays the key role in adsorption of proteins on such type of materials.
Abstract: Microarray technology is universally used in the study
of disease diagnosis using gene expression levels. The main
shortcoming of gene expression data is that it includes thousands of
genes and a small number of samples. Abundant methods and
techniques have been proposed for tumor classification using
microarray gene expression data. Feature or gene selection methods
can be used to mine the genes that directly involve in the
classification and to eliminate irrelevant genes. In this paper
statistical measures like T-Statistics, Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)
and F-Statistics are used to rank the genes. The ranked genes are used
for further classification. Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO)
algorithm and Shuffled Frog Leaping (SFL) algorithm are used to
find the significant genes from the top-m ranked genes. The Naïve
Bayes Classifier (NBC) is used to classify the samples based on the
significant genes. The proposed work is applied on Lung and Ovarian
datasets. The experimental results show that the proposed method
achieves 100% accuracy in all the three datasets and the results are
compared with previous works.
Abstract: In this paper, snow samples containing dust particles
from several sampling points around the city of Ostrava were
analyzed. The pH values of sampled snow were measured and solid
particles analyzed. Particle size, zeta potential and content of selected
heavy metals were determined in solid particles. The pH values of
most samples lay in the slightly acid region. Mean values of particle
size ranged from 290.5 to 620.5 nm. Zeta potential values varied
between -5 and -26.5 mV. The following heavy metal concentration
ranges were found: copper 0.08-0.75 mg/g, lead 0.05-0.9 mg/g,
manganese 0.45-5.9 mg/g and iron 25.7-280.46 mg/g. The highest
values of copper and lead were found in the vicinity of busy
crossroads, and on the contrary, the highest levels of manganese and
iron were detected close to a large steelworks. The proportion
between pH values, zeta potentials, particle sizes and heavy metal
contents was established. Zeta potential decreased with rising pH
values and, simultaneously, heavy metal content in solid particles
increased. At the same time, higher metal content corresponded to
lower particle size.
Abstract: Diabetes is a growing health problem in worldwide.
Especially, the patients with Type 1 diabetes need strict glycemic
control because they have deficiency of insulin production. This
paper attempts to control blood glucose based on body mathematical
body model. The Bergman minimal mathematical model is used to
develop the nonlinear controller. A novel back-stepping based sliding
mode control (B-SMC) strategy is proposed as a solution that
guarantees practical tracking of a desired glucose concentration. In
order to show the performance of the proposed design, it is compared
with conventional linear and fuzzy controllers which have been done
in previous researches. The numerical simulation result shows the
advantages of sliding mode back stepping controller design to linear
and fuzzy controllers.
Abstract: Cognitive Radio is a turning out technology that
empowers viable usage of the spectrum. Energy Detector-based
Sensing is the most broadly utilized spectrum sensing strategy.
Besides, it's a lot of generic as receivers doesn't would like any
information on the primary user's signals, channel data, of even the
sort of modulation. This paper puts forth the execution of energy
detection sensing for AM (Amplitude Modulated) signal at 710 KHz,
FM (Frequency Modulated) signal at 103.45 MHz (local station
frequency), Wi-Fi signal at 2.4 GHz and WiMAX signals at 6 GHz.
The OFDM/OFDMA based WiMAX physical layer with
convolutional channel coding is actualized utilizing USRP N210
(Universal Software Radio Peripheral) and GNU Radio based
Software Defined Radio (SDR). Test outcomes demonstrated the
BER (Bit Error Rate) augmentation with channel noise and BER
execution is dissected for different Eb/N0 (the energy per bit to noise
power spectral density ratio) values.
Abstract: The Sigma-Delta A/D converters have been proposed
as a practical application for A/D conversion at high rates because of
its simplicity and robustness to imperfections in the circuit, also
because the traditional converters are more difficult to implement in
VLSI technology. These difficulties with conventional conversion
methods need precise analog components in their filters and
conversion circuits, and are more vulnerable to noise and
interference. This paper aims to analyze the architecture, function and
application of Analog-Digital converters (A/D) Sigma-Delta to
overcome these difficulties, showing some simulations using the
Simulink software and Multisim.
Abstract: In this study, first thermoplastic composite materials
/plates that have high ballistic impact resistance were produced. For
this purpose, the thermoplastic prepreg and the vacuum bagging
technique were used to produce a composite material. Thermoplastic
prepregs (resin-impregnated fiber) that are supplied ready to be used,
namely high-density polyethylene (HDPE) was chosen as matrix and
unidirectional glass fiber was used as reinforcement. In order to
compare the fiber configuration effect on mechanical properties,
unidirectional and biaxial prepregs were used. Then the
microstructural properties of the composites were investigated with
scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. Impact properties of
the composites were examined by Charpy impact test and tensile
mechanical tests and then the effects of ultraviolet irradiation were
investigated on mechanical performance.
Abstract: Among all FACTS devices, the unified power flow
controller (UPFC) is considered to be the most versatile device.
This is due to its capability to control all the transmission system
parameters (impedance, voltage magnitude, and phase angle). With
the growing interest in UPFC, the attention to develop a mathematical
model has increased. Several models were introduced for UPFC in
literature for different type of studies in power systems. In this paper
a novel comparison study between two dynamic models of UPFC
with their proposed control strategies.