Abstract: Let D = 1 be a positive non-square integer and let δ = √D or 1+√D 2 be a real quadratic irrational with trace t =δ + δ and norm n = δδ. Let γ = P+δ Q be a quadratic irrational for positive integers P and Q. Given a quadratic irrational γ, there exist a quadratic ideal Iγ = [Q, δ + P] and an indefinite quadratic form Fγ(x, y) = Q(x−γy)(x−γy) of discriminant Δ = t
2−4n. In the first section, we give some preliminaries form binary quadratic forms, quadratic irrationals and quadratic ideals. In the second section, we obtain some results on γ, Iγ and Fγ for some specific values of Q and P.
Abstract: The rapid growth of e-Commerce services is
significantly observed in the past decade. However, the method to
verify the authenticated users still widely depends on numeric
approaches. A new search on other verification methods suitable for
online e-Commerce is an interesting issue. In this paper, a new online
signature-verification method using angular transformation is
presented. Delay shifts existing in online signatures are estimated by
the estimation method relying on angle representation. In the
proposed signature-verification algorithm, all components of input
signature are extracted by considering the discontinuous break points
on the stream of angular values. Then the estimated delay shift is
captured by comparing with the selected reference signature and the
error matching can be computed as a main feature used for verifying
process. The threshold offsets are calculated by two types of error
characteristics of the signature verification problem, False Rejection
Rate (FRR) and False Acceptance Rate (FAR). The level of these two
error rates depends on the decision threshold chosen whose value is
such as to realize the Equal Error Rate (EER; FAR = FRR). The
experimental results show that through the simple programming,
employed on Internet for demonstrating e-Commerce services, the
proposed method can provide 95.39% correct verifications and 7%
better than DP matching based signature-verification method. In
addition, the signature verification with extracting components
provides more reliable results than using a whole decision making.
Abstract: The linear methods of heart rate variability analysis
such as non-parametric (e.g. fast Fourier transform analysis) and
parametric methods (e.g. autoregressive modeling) has become an
established non-invasive tool for marking the cardiac health, but their
sensitivity and specificity were found to be lower than expected with
positive predictive value
Abstract: CT assessment of postoperative spine is challenging in the presence of metal streak artifacts that could deteriorate the
quality of CT images. In this paper, we studied the influence of different acquisition parameters on the magnitude of metal streaking.
A water-bath phantom was constructed with metal insertion similar with postoperative spine assessment. The phantom was scanned with
different acquisition settings and acquired data were reconstructed
using various reconstruction settings. Standardized ROIs were defined within streaking region for image analysis. The result shows
increased kVp and mAs enhanced SNR values by reducing image
noise. Sharper kernel enhanced image quality compared to smooth
kernel, but produced more noise in the images with higher CT fluctuation. The noise between both kernels were significantly
different (P
Abstract: The benefits of physical activity for children are promoted widely and well understood; however factors which impact on children-s beliefs and attitudes towards physical education need to be explored in more detail. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how primary school children value and perceive their involvement in physical education (PE) classes through the use of drawings. While this type of data collection has been used previously to determine a child-s response to specific health education classes, such as drug education, to the best of our knowledge it has not been used in the context of PE. Results from this study showed that kindergarten children found PE classes fun and engaging. Children in Year 4 and Year 6 were less satisfied with PE classes because of the activities offered, the lack of opportunity to play sport, and perception that teachers did not appear to value this area of the curriculum.
Abstract: In present work the problem of the ITER fusion
plasma neutron source parameter reconstruction using only the
Vertical Neutron Camera data was solved. The possibility of neutron
source parameter reconstruction was estimated by the numerical
simulations and the analysis of adequateness of mathematic model
was performed. The neutron source was specified in a parametric
form. The numerical analysis of solution stability with respect to data
distortion was done. The influence of the data errors on the
reconstructed parameters is shown:
• is reconstructed with errors less than 4% at all examined values
of δ (until 60%);
• is determined with errors less than 10% when δ do not overcome
5%;
• is reconstructed with relative error more than 10 %;
• integral intensity of the neutron source is determined with error
10% while δ error is less than 15%;
where -error of signal measurements, (R0,Z0), the plasma center
position,- /parameter of neutron source profile.
Abstract: A two dimensional three segments coupled pendulum system that mathematically models human arm configuration was developed along with constructing and solving the equations of motions for this model using the energy (work) based approach of Lagrange. The equations of motion of the model were solved iteratively both as an initial value problem and as a two point boundary value problem. In the initial value problem solutions, both the initial system configuration (segment angles) and initial system velocity (segment angular velocities) were used as inputs, whereas, in the two point boundary value problem solutions initial and final configurations and time were used as inputs to solve for the trajectory of motion. The results suggest that the model solutions are sensitive to small changes in the dynamic forces applied to the system as well as to the initial and boundary conditions used. To overcome the system sensitivity a new approach is suggested.
Abstract: This research aimed to study the competency of health
and wellness hotels and resorts in developing use the local natural
resources and wisdom to conform to the national health and wellness
tourism (HWT) strategy by comparing two independent samples,
from Aumpur Muang, Ranong province and Aumpur Muang,
Chiangmai province. And also study in the suggestive direct path to
lead the organization to the sustainable successful.
This research was conduct by using mix methodology; both
quantitative and qualitative data were used. The data of competency
of health and wellness hotels and resorts (HWHR) in developing use
the local natural resources for HWT promoting were collected via
300 set of questionnaires, from 6 hotels and resorts in 2 areas, 3
places from Aumpur Muang, Ranong province and another 3 from
Aumpur Muang, Chiangmai province.
Thestudy of HWHR’s competency in developing use the local
natural resources and wisdom to conform to the national HWT
strategycan be divided into fourmain areas, food and beverages
service, tourism activity, environmental service, and value adding.
The total competency of the Chiangmai sample is importantly
scoredp. value 0.01 higher than the Ranong one while the area of
safety, Chiangmai’s competency is importantly scored 0.05 higher
than the Ranong’scompetency. Others were rated not differently.
Since Chiangmai perform better, then it can be a role model in
developing HTHR or HWT destination.
From the part of qualitative research, content analysis of business
contents and its environments were analyzed. The four stages of
strategic development and plans, from the smallest scale to the largest
scale such a national base were discussed. The HWT: Evolution
model and strategy for lodging Business were suggested. All those
stages must work harmoniously together. The distinctive result
illustrates the need of human resource development as the key point
to create the identity of Thainess on Health and wellness service
providing. This will add-on the value of services and differentiates
ourselves from other competitors. The creative of Thailand’s health
and wellness brand possibly increase loyalty customers which agreed
to be a path of sustainable development.
Abstract: Object Relational Databases (ORDB) are complex in
nature than traditional relational databases because they combine the
characteristics of both object oriented concepts and relational
features of conventional databases. Design of an ORDB demands
efficient and quality schema considering the structural, functional
and componential traits. This internal quality of the schema is
assured by metrics that measure the relevant attributes. This is
extended to substantiate the understandability, usability and
reliability of the schema, thus assuring external quality of the
schema. This work institutes a formalization of ORDB metrics;
metric definition, evaluation methodology and the calibration of the
metric. Three ORDB schemas were used to conduct the evaluation
and the formalization of the metrics. The metrics are calibrated using
content and criteria related validity based on the measurability,
consistency and reliability of the metrics. Nominal and summative
scales are derived based on the evaluated metric values and are
standardized. Future works pertaining to ORDB metrics forms the
concluding note.
Abstract: Having a very many number of pipelines all over the
country, Iran is one of the countries consists of various ecosystems
with variable degrees of fragility and robusticity as well as
geographical conditions. This study presents a state-of-the-art method
to estimate environmental risks of pipelines by recommending
rational equations including FES, URAS, SRS, RRS, DRS, LURS
and IRS as well as FRS to calculate the risks. This study was carried
out by a relative semi-quantitative approach based on land uses and
HVAs (High-Value Areas). GIS as a tool was used to create proper
maps regarding the environmental risks, land uses and distances. The
main logic for using the formulas was the distance-based approaches
and ESI as well as intersections. Summarizing the results of the
study, a risk geographical map based on the ESIs and final risk score
(FRS) was created. The study results showed that the most sensitive
and so of high risk area would be an area comprising of mangrove
forests located in the pipeline neighborhood. Also, salty lands were
the most robust land use units in the case of pipeline failure
circumstances. Besides, using a state-of-the-art method, it showed
that mapping the risks of pipelines out with the applied method is of
more reliability and convenience as well as relative
comprehensiveness in comparison to present non-holistic methods for
assessing the environmental risks of pipelines. The focus of the
present study is “assessment" than that of “management". It is
suggested that new policies are to be implemented to reduce the
negative effects of the pipeline that has not yet been constructed
completely
Abstract: In this paper, we were introduces a skin detection
method using a histogram approximation based on the mean shift
algorithm. The proposed method applies the mean shift procedure to a
histogram of a skin map of the input image, generated by comparison
with standard skin colors in the CbCr color space, and divides the
background from the skin region by selecting the maximum value
according to brightness level. The proposed method detects the skin
region using the mean shift procedure to determine a maximum value
that becomes the dividing point, rather than using a manually selected
threshold value, as in existing techniques. Even when skin color is
contaminated by illumination, the procedure can accurately segment
the skin region and the background region. The proposed method may
be useful in detecting facial regions as a pretreatment for face
recognition in various types of illumination.
Abstract: Thirty three re-wetting tests were conducted at
different combinations of temperatures (5.7- 46.30C) and relative
humidites (48.2-88.6%) with barley. Two most commonly used thinlayer
drying and rewetting models i.e. Page and Diffusion were
compared for their ability to the fit the experimental re-wetting data
based on the standard error of estimate (SEE) of the measured and
simulated moisture contents. The comparison shows both the Page
and Diffusion models fit the re-wetting experimental data of barley
well. The average SEE values for the Page and Diffusion models
were 0.176 % d.b. and 0.199 % d.b., respectively. The Page and
Diffusion models were found to be most suitable equations, to
describe the thin-layer re-wetting characteristics of barley over a
typically five day re-wetting. These two models can be used for the
simulation of deep-bed re-wetting of barley occurring during
ventilated storage and deep bed drying.
Abstract: A scaffold is necessary for tooth regeneration because of its three-dimensional geometry. For restoration of defect, it is necessary for the scaffold to be prepared in the shape of the defect. Sponges made from polyvinyl alcohol with formalin cross-linking (PVF sponge) have been used for scaffolds for bone formation in vivo. To induce osteogenesis within the sponge, methods of growing rat bone marrow cells (rBMCs) among the fiber structures in the sponge might be considered. Storage of rBMCs among the fibers in the sponge coated with dextran (10 kDa) was tried. After seeding of rBMCs to PVF sponge immersed in dextran solution at 2 g/dl concentration, osteogenesis was recognized in subcutaneously implanted PVF sponge as a scaffold in vivo. The level of osteocalcin was 25.28±5.71 ng/scaffold and that of Ca was 129.20±19.69 µg/scaffold. These values were significantly higher than those in sponges without dextran coating (p
Abstract: Recently, Genetic Algorithms (GA) and Differential
Evolution (DE) algorithm technique have attracted considerable
attention among various modern heuristic optimization techniques.
Since the two approaches are supposed to find a solution to a given
objective function but employ different strategies and computational
effort, it is appropriate to compare their performance. This paper
presents the application and performance comparison of DE and GA
optimization techniques, for flexible ac transmission system
(FACTS)-based controller design. The design objective is to enhance
the power system stability. The design problem of the FACTS-based
controller is formulated as an optimization problem and both the PSO
and GA optimization techniques are employed to search for optimal
controller parameters. The performance of both optimization
techniques has been compared. Further, the optimized controllers are
tested on a weekly connected power system subjected to different
disturbances, and their performance is compared with the
conventional power system stabilizer (CPSS). The eigenvalue
analysis and non-linear simulation results are presented and
compared to show the effectiveness of both the techniques in
designing a FACTS-based controller, to enhance power system
stability.
Abstract: Magnesium wastes and scraps, one of the metal wastes, are produced by many industrial activities, all over the world. Their growing size is becoming a future problem for the world. In this study, the use of magnesium wastes as a raw material in the production of the magnesium borate hydrates are aimed. The method used in the experiments is hydrothermal synthesis. The conditions are set to, waste magnesium to B2O3, 1:3 as a molar ratio. Four different reaction times are studied which are 30, 60, 120 and 240 minutes. For the identification analyses X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Raman spectroscopy techniques are used. As a result at all the reaction times magnesium borate hydrates are synthesized and the most crystalline forms are obtained at a reaction time of 120 minutes. The overall yields of the production are found between the values of 65-80 %.
Abstract: Energy intensity(energy consumption intensity) is a
global index which computes the required energy for producing a
specific value of goods and services in each country. It is computed
in terms of initial energy supply or final energy consumption. In this
study (research) Divisia method is used to decompose energy
consumption and energy intensity. This method decomposes
consumption and energy intensity to production effects, structural
and net intensity and could be done as time series or two-periodical.
This study analytically investigates consumption changes and energy
intensity on economical sectors of Iran and more specific on road
transportation(rail road and road).Our results show that the
contribution of structural effect (change in economical activities
combination) is very low and the effect of net energy consumption
has the higher contribution in consumption changes and energy
intensity. In other words, the high consumption of energy is due to
Intensity of energy consumption and is not to structural effect of
transportation sector.
Abstract: In nature, electromagnetic fields always appear like
atmosphere static electric field, the earth's static magnetic field and
the wide-rang frequency electromagnetic field caused by lightening.
However, besides natural electromagnetic fields (EMF), today human
beings are mostly exposed to artificial electromagnetic fields due to
technology progress and outspread use of electrical devices. To
evaluate nuisance of EMF, it is necessary to know field intensity for
every frequency which appears and compare it with allowed values.
Low frequency EMF-s around transmission and distribution lines are
time-varying quasi-static electromagnetic fields which have
conservative component of low frequency electrical field caused by
charges and eddy component of low frequency magnetic field caused
by currents. Displacement current or field delay are negligible, so
energy flow in quasi-static EMF involves diffusion, analog like heat
transfer. Electrical and magnetic field can be analyzed separately.
This paper analysis the numerical calculations in ELF-400 software
of EMF in distribution substation in shopping center. Analyzing the
results it is possible to specify locations exposed to the fields and
give useful suggestion to eliminate electromagnetic effect or reduce it
on acceptable level within the non-ionizing radiation norms and
norms of protection from EMF.
Abstract: In this paper, a two factor scheme is proposed to
generate cryptographic keys directly from biometric data, which
unlike passwords, are strongly bound to the user. Hash value of the
reference iris code is used as a cryptographic key and its length
depends only on the hash function, being independent of any other
parameter. The entropy of such keys is 94 bits, which is much higher
than any other comparable system. The most important and distinct
feature of this scheme is that it regenerates the reference iris code by
providing a genuine iris sample and the correct user password. Since
iris codes obtained from two images of the same eye are not exactly
the same, error correcting codes (Hadamard code and Reed-Solomon
code) are used to deal with the variability. The scheme proposed here
can be used to provide keys for a cryptographic system and/or for
user authentication. The performance of this system is evaluated on
two publicly available databases for iris biometrics namely CBS and
ICE databases. The operating point of the system (values of False
Acceptance Rate (FAR) and False Rejection Rate (FRR)) can be set
by properly selecting the error correction capacity (ts) of the Reed-
Solomon codes, e.g., on the ICE database, at ts = 15, FAR is 0.096%
and FRR is 0.76%.
Abstract: This study carried out in order to investigate the
effects of salinity on carbon isotope discrimination (Δ) of shoots and
roots of four sugar beet cultivars (cv) including Madison (British
origin) and three Iranian culivars (7233-P12, 7233-P21 and 7233-P29).
Plants were grown in sand culture medium in greenhouse conditions.
Plants irrigated with saline water (tap water as control, 50 mM, 150
mM, 250 mM and 350 mM of NaCl + CaCl2 in 5 to 1 molar ratio)
from 4 leaves stage for 16 weeks. Carbon isotope discrimination
significantly decreased with increasing salinity. Significant
differences of Δ between shoot and root were observed in all cvs and
all levels of salinity. Madison cv showed lower Δ in shoot and root
than other three cvs at all levels of salinity expect control, but cv
7233-P29 had significantly higher Δ values at saline conditions of 150
mM and above. Therefore, Δ might be applicable, as a useful tool, for
study of salinity tolerance of sugar beet genotypes.
Abstract: The optimal bisection width of r-dimensional N×
· · ·× N grid is known to be Nr-1 when N is even, but when
N is odd, only approximate values are available. This paper
shows that the exact bisection width of grid is Nr
-1
N-1 when N is odd.