Abstract: The advances in wireless communication have opened unlimited horizons but there are some challenges as well. The Nature derived air medium between MS (Mobile Station) and BS (Base Station) is beyond human control and produces channel impairment. The impact of the natural conditions at the air medium is the biggest issue in wireless communication. Natural conditions make reliability more cumbersome; here reliability refers to the efficient recovery of the lost or erroneous data. The SR-ARQ (Selective Repeat-Automatic Repeat Request) protocol is a de facto standard for any wireless technology at the air interface with its standard reliability features. Our focus in this research is on the reliability of the control or feedback signal of the SR-ARQ protocol. The proposed mechanism, RSR-ARQ (Reliable SR-ARQ) is an enhancement of the SR-ARQ protocol that has ensured the reliability of the control signals through channel impairment sensitive mechanism. We have modeled the system under two-state discrete time Markov Channel. The simulation results demonstrate the better recovery of the lost or erroneous data that will increase the overall system performance.
Abstract: Directional over current relays (DOCR) are commonly used in power system protection as a primary protection in distribution and sub-transmission electrical systems and as a secondary protection in transmission systems. Coordination of protective relays is necessary to obtain selective tripping. In this paper, an approach for efficiency reduction of DOCRs nonlinear optimum coordination (OC) is proposed. This was achieved by modifying the objective function and relaxing several constraints depending on the four constraints classification, non-valid, redundant, pre-obtained and valid constraints. According to this classification, the far end fault effect on the objective function and constraints, and in consequently on relay operating time, was studied. The study was carried out, firstly by taking into account the near-end and far-end faults in DOCRs coordination problem formulation; and then faults very close to the primary relays (nearend faults). The optimal coordination (OC) was achieved by simultaneously optimizing all variables (TDS and Ip) in nonlinear environment by using of Genetic algorithm nonlinear programming techniques. The results application of the above two approaches on 6-bus and 26-bus system verify that the far-end faults consideration on OC problem formulation don-t lose the optimality.
Abstract: In this paper the combination of thermal oxidation and
electrochemical anodizing processes is used to produce titanium
oxide layers. The response of titanium alloy Ti6Al4V to oxidation
processes at various temperatures and electrochemical anodizing in
various voltages are investigated. Scanning electron microscopy
(SEM); X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and porosity determination have
been used to characterize the oxide layer thickness, surface
morphology, oxide layer-substrate adhesion and porosity. In the first
experiment, samples modified by thermal oxidation process then
followed by electrochemical anodizing. Second experiment consists
of surfaces modified by electrochemical anodizing process and then
followed by thermal oxidation. The first method shows better
properties than other one. In second experiment, Surfaces modified
were achieved by thicker and more adherent thick oxide layers on
titanium surface. The existence of an electrochemical anodized oxide
layer did not improve the adhesion of thermal oxide layer. The high
temperature, thermal formation of an oxide layer leads to a coarse
oxide grain morphology and a complete oxidative particle. In
addition, in high temperature oxidation porosity content is increased.
The oxide layer of thermal oxidation and electrochemical anodizing
processes; on Ti–6Al–4V substrate was covered with different
colored oxide layers.
Abstract: Text categorization is the problem of classifying text documents into a set of predefined classes. After a preprocessing step the documents are typically represented as large sparse vectors. When training classifiers on large collections of documents, both the time and memory restrictions can be quite prohibitive. This justifies the application of features selection methods to reduce the dimensionality of the document-representation vector. Four feature selection methods are evaluated: Random Selection, Information Gain (IG), Support Vector Machine (called SVM_FS) and Genetic Algorithm with SVM (GA_FS). We showed that the best results were obtained with SVM_FS and GA_FS methods for a relatively small dimension of the features vector comparative with the IG method that involves longer vectors, for quite similar classification accuracies. Also we present a novel method to better correlate SVM kernel-s parameters (Polynomial or Gaussian kernel).
Abstract: As the majority of faults are found in a few of its modules so there is a need to investigate the modules that are affected severely as compared to other modules and proper maintenance need to be done on time especially for the critical applications. In this paper, we have explored the different predictor models to NASA-s public domain defect dataset coded in Perl programming language. Different machine learning algorithms belonging to the different learner categories of the WEKA project including Mamdani Based Fuzzy Inference System and Neuro-fuzzy based system have been evaluated for the modeling of maintenance severity or impact of fault severity. The results are recorded in terms of Accuracy, Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE). The results show that Neuro-fuzzy based model provides relatively better prediction accuracy as compared to other models and hence, can be used for the maintenance severity prediction of the software.
Abstract: The remediation of water resources pollution in
developing countries requires the application of alternative
sustainable cheaper and efficient end-of-pipe wastewater treatment
technologies. The feasibility of use of South African cheap and
abundant pine tree (Pinus patula) sawdust for development of lowcost
AC of comparable quality to expensive commercial ACs in the
abatement of water pollution was investigated. AC was developed at
optimized two-stage N2-superheated steam activation conditions in a
fixed bed reactor, and characterized for proximate and ultimate
properties, N2-BET surface area, pore size distribution, SEM, pHPZC
and FTIR. The sawdust pyrolysis activation energy was evaluated by
TGA. Results indicated that the chars prepared at 800oC and 2hrs
were suitable for development of better quality AC at 800oC and 47%
burn-off having BET surface area (1086m2/g), micropore volume
(0.26cm3/g), and mesopore volume (0.43cm3/g) comparable to
expensive commercial ACs, and suitable for water contaminants
removal. The developed AC showed basic surface functionality at
pHPZC at 10.3, and a phenol adsorption capacity that was higher than
that of commercial Norit (RO 0.8) AC. Thus, it is feasible to develop
better quality low-cost AC from (Pinus patula) sawdust using twostage
N2-steam activation in fixed-bed reactor.
Abstract: Luneberg lens is a new generation of antennas that is
developed in the last few years and inserts itself strongly in
Microwaves, Communications and Telescopes area. The idea of this
research is to improve the radiation pattern by decreasing the side
lobes and increasing the main lobe. The new design is proposed to
work in the X-band. The simulated result and analysis are presented.
Abstract: The effects of equilibrium time, solution pH, and
sorption temperature of cationic methylene blue (MB) adsorption on nanoporous metallosilicoaluminophosphate ZnAPSO-34 was studied
using a batch equilibration method. UV–VIS spectroscopy was used
to obtain the adsorption isotherms at 20° C. The optimum period for
adsorption was 300 min. However, MB removal increased from
81,82 % to 94,81 %. The equilibrium adsorption data was analyzed
by using Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherm models.
Langmuir isotherm was found to be the better-fitting model and the process followed pseudo second–order kinetics. The results showed
that ZnAPSO-34 could be employed as an effective material and could be an attractive alternative for the removal of dyes and colors
from aqueous solutions.
Abstract: The Bayesian Optimization Algorithm (BOA) is an algorithm based on the estimation of distributions. It uses techniques from modeling data by Bayesian networks to estimating the joint distribution of promising solutions. To obtain the structure of Bayesian network, different search algorithms can be used. The key point that BOA addresses is whether the constructed Bayesian network could generate new and useful solutions (strings), which could lead the algorithm in the right direction to solve the problem. Undoubtedly, this ability is a crucial factor of the efficiency of BOA. Varied search algorithms can be used in BOA, but their performances are different. For choosing better ones, certain suitable method to present their ability difference is needed. In this paper, a greedy search algorithm and a stochastic search algorithm are used in BOA to solve certain optimization problem. A method using Kullback-Leibler (KL) Divergence to reflect their difference is described.
Abstract: The scientific perspective, the practice area of physical education and sports activities improve power capacity in all its forms of expression, being a generator of the research topics. Today theories that strength training athletes and slow down development progress will affect the strength and flexibility are discredited. On the other hand there are sectors and / or samples whose results are sports of the way higher manifestation of power as a result of the composition of the force and velocity, being based in this respect on the systematic and continuous development of both bio-motric capacities said. Training of force for children was and is controversial. Teama de accidentări sau a stopării premature a procesului de creştere a făcut ca în trecut copiii să fie ţinuţi departe de lucrul cu diferite greutăţi.Fear of injury or premature stop the growth process in the past made the children to be kept away from working with different weights. Recent studies have shown that the risk of accidents is relatively small and the strength training can help prevent them. For example, most accidents occur at the level of athletics ligaments and tendons. From this point of view, it can be said that a progressive intervention of force training, optimal design, will help enhancing their process, such as athlete much better prepared to meet training requests and competitions. Preparation of force provides a solid basis for further phases in the highest performance.
Abstract: Authentication of multimedia contents has gained much attention in recent times. In this paper, we propose a secure semi-fragile watermarking, with a choice of two watermarks to be embedded. This technique operates in integer wavelet domain and makes use of semi fragile watermarks for achieving better robustness. A self-recovering algorithm is employed, that hides the image digest into some Wavelet subbands to detect possible malevolent object manipulation undergone by the image (object replacing and/or deletion). The Semi-fragility makes the scheme tolerant for JPEG lossy compression as low as quality of 70%, and locate the tempered area accurately. In addition, the system ensures more security because the embedded watermarks are protected with private keys. The computational complexity is reduced using parameterized integer wavelet transform. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme guarantees the safety of watermark, image recovery and location of the tempered area accurately.
Abstract: Open urban public spaces comprise an important
element for the development of social, cultural and economic
activities of the population in the modern cities. These spaces are also
considered regulators of the region-s climate conditions, providing
better thermal, visual and auditory conditions which can be optimized
by the application of appropriate strategies of bioclimatic design. The
paper focuses on the analysis and evaluation of the recent unification
of the open spaces in the centre of Xanthi, a medium – size city in
northern Greece, from a bioclimatic perspective, as well as in the
creation of suitable methodology. It is based both on qualitative
observation of the interventions by fieldwork research and
assessment and on quantitative analysis and modeling of the research
area.
Abstract: The Expert Witness Testimony in the Battered
Woman Syndrome Expert witness testimony (EWT) is a kind of
information given by an expert specialized in the field (here in BWS)
to the jury in order to help the court better understand the case. EWT
does not always work in favor of the battered women. Two main
decision-making models are discussed in the paper: the Mathematical
model and the Explanation model. In the first model, the jurors
calculate ″the importance and strength of each piece of evidence″
whereas in the second model they try to integrate the EWT with the
evidence and create a coherent story that would describe the crime.
The jury often misunderstands and misjudges battered women for
their action (or in this case inaction). They assume that these women
are masochists and accept being mistreated for if a man abuses a
woman constantly, she should and could divorce him or simply leave
at any time. The research in the domain found that indeed, expert
witness testimony has a powerful influence on juror’s decisions thus
its quality needs to be further explored. One of the important factors
that need further studies is a bias called the dispositionist worldview
(a belief that what happens to people is of their own doing). This
kind of attributional bias represents a tendency to think that a
person’s behavior is due to his or her disposition, even when the
behavior is clearly attributed to the situation. Hypothesis The
hypothesis of this paper is that if a juror has a dispositionist
worldview then he or she will blame the rape victim for triggering the
assault. The juror would therefore commit the fundamental
attribution error and believe that the victim’s disposition caused the
rape and not the situation she was in. Methods The subjects in the
study were 500 randomly sampled undergraduate students from
McGill, Concordia, Université de Montréal and UQAM.
Dispositional Worldview was scored on the Dispositionist
Worldview Questionnaire. After reading the Rape Scenarios, each
student was asked to play the role of a juror and answer a
questionnaire consisting of 7 questions about the responsibility,
causality and fault of the victim. Results The results confirm the
hypothesis which states that if a juror has a dispositionist worldview
then he or she will blame the rape victim for triggering the assault.
By doing so, the juror commits the fundamental attribution error
because he will believe that the victim’s disposition, and not the
constraints or opportunities of the situation, caused the rape scenario.
Abstract: The present paper reports results of an experimental
program conducted to study performance of fly ash based
geopolymer pastes at elevated temperature. Three series of
geopolymer pastes differing in Na2O content (8.5%, 10% and 11.5%)
were manufactured by activating low calcium fly ash with a mixture
of sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate solution. The paste
specimens were subjected to temperatures as high as 900oC and the
behaviour at elevated temperatures were investigated on the basis of
physical appearance, weight losses, residual strength, shrinkage
measurements and sorptivity tests at different temperatures. Scanning
electron microscopy along with EDX and XRD tests were also
conducted to examine microstructure and mineralogical changes
during the thermal exposure. Specimens which were initially grey
turned reddish accompanied by appearance of small cracks as the
temperature increased to 900oC. Loss of weight was more in
specimens manufactured with highest Na2O content. Geopolymer
paste specimen containing minimum Na2O performed better than
those with higher Na2O content in terms of residual compressive
strength.
Abstract: The hydro-mechanical model for unsaturated soils has
been presented based on the effective stress principle taking into
account effects of drying-wetting process. The elasto-plastic
constitutive equations for stress-strain relations of the soil skeleton
have been established. A plasticity model is modified from modified
Cam-Clay model. The hardening rule has been established by
considering the isotropic consolidation paths. The effect of dryingwetting
process is introduced through the ¤ç parameter. All model
coefficients are identified in terms of measurable parameters. The
simulations from the proposed model are compared with the
experimental results. The model calibration was performed to extract
the model parameter from the experimental results. Good agreement
between the results predicted using proposed model and the
experimental results was obtained.
Abstract: Dengue, a disease found in most tropical and
subtropical areas of the world. It has become the most common
arboviral disease of humans. This disease is caused by any of four
serotypes of dengue virus (DEN1-DEN4). In many endemic
countries, the average age of getting dengue infection is shifting
upwards, dengue in pregnancy and infancy are likely to be
encountered more frequently. The dynamics of the disease is studied
by a compartmental model involving ordinary differential equations
for the pregnant, infant human and the vector populations. The
stability of each equilibrium point is given. The epidemic dynamic is
discussed. Moreover, the numerical results are shown for difference
values of dengue antibody.
Abstract: A feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effect
of periodically use of garlic on performance and carcass
characteristics in broiler chickens. 240 1-day-old Ross broiler chicks
randomly allocated into the 10 dietary treatments (A, B, C, D, E, F,
G, H, I and J) for 6 wk. Treatment A or control group, received basal
diet (based on standards of Ross management guidelines) without
supplementation of garlic powder while B, C and D dietary
treatments were basal diet supplemented with 0.5, 1 and 3% garlic
powder, respectively for the whole time of experiment (6 weeks).
Birds in group E, F and G were fed control diet supplemented with
0.5, 1 and 3% garlic powder, respectively just in their starter diet (0-
21d). Birds in three other treatments (H, I and J) received control diet
for the first 21 days and 0.5, 1 and 3% of garlic powder was added to
their finisher diets, respectively. 1 and 3% supplemented groups in
finisher period had better performance as compared with other
groups. Since present study conducted in optimum and antiseptic
conditions, it seems that better or more responses could be expected
in performance if the raising conditions would not be healthy.
Abstract: It is suggested to evaluate environmental performance
of energy sector using Data Envelopment Analysis with nondiscretionary
factors (DEA-ND) with relative indicators as inputs and
outputs. The latter allows for comparison of the objects essentially
different in size. Inclusion of non-discretionary factors serves
separation of the indicators that are beyond the control of the objects.
A virtual perfect object comprised of maximal outputs and minimal
inputs was added to the group of actual ones. In this setting, explicit
solution of the DEA-ND problem was obtained. Energy sector of the
United States was analyzed using suggested approach for the period
of 1980 – 2006 with expected values of economic indicators for 2030
used for forming the perfect object. It was obtained that
environmental performance has been increasing steadily for the
period from 7.7% through 50.0% but still remains well below the
prospected level
Abstract: Nowadays Multilevel inverters are widely using in various applications. Modulation strategy at fundamental switching frequency like, SHEPWM is prominent technique to eliminate lower order of harmonics with less switching losses and better harmonic profile. The equations which are formed by SHE are highly nonlinear transcendental in nature, there may exist single, multiple or even no solutions for a particular MI. However, some loads such as electrical drives, it is required to operate in whole range of MI. In order to solve SHE equations for whole range of MI, intelligent techniques are well suited to solve equations so as to produce lest %THDV. Hence, this paper uses Continuous genetic algorithm for minimising harmonics. This paper also presents wavelet based analysis of harmonics. The developed algorithm is simulated and %THD from FFT analysis and Wavelet analysis are compared. MATLAB programming environment and SIMULINK models are used whenever necessary.
Abstract: Optical burst switching(OBS) is considered as one of
preferable network technologies for the next generation Internet. The
Internet has two traffic classes, i.e. real-time bursts and reliable bursts.
It is an important subject for OBS to achieve cooperated operation of
real-time bursts and reliable bursts. In this paper, we proposes a new
effective traffic control method named Separate TB+LB (Token
Bucket + Leaky Bucket : TB+LB) method. The proposed method
presents a new Token Bucket scheme for real-time bursts called as
RBO-TB (Real-time Bursts Oriented Token Bucket). The method also
applies the LB method to reliable bursts for obtaining better
performance. This paper verifies the effectiveness of the Separate
TB+LB method through the performance evaluation.