Abstract: An innovative tri-axes micro-power receiver is
proposed. The tri-axes micro-power receiver consists of two sets 3-D
micro-solenoids and one set planar micro-coils in which iron core is
embedded. The three sets of micro-coils are designed to be orthogonal
to each other. Therefore, no matter which direction the flux is present
along, the magnetic energy can be harvested and transformed into
electric power. Not only dead space of receiving power is mostly
reduced, but also transformation efficiency of electromagnetic energy
to electric power can be efficiently raised. By employing commercial
software, Ansoft Maxwell, the preliminary simulation results verify
that the proposed micro-power receiver can efficiently pick up the
energy transmitted by magnetic power source.
As to the fabrication process, the isotropic etching technique is
employed to micro-machine the inverse-trapezoid fillister so that the
copper wire can be successfully electroplated. The adhesion between
micro-coils and fillister is much enhanced.
Abstract: This paper discusses the theory behind the existence of an idealistic model for business network governance and uses a clarifying case-study, containing governance structures and processes within a business network framework. The case study from a German pharmaceutical industry company complements existing literature by providing a comprehensive explanation of the relations between supply chains and business networks, and also between supply chain management and business network governance. Supply chains and supply chain management are only one side of the interorganizational relationships and ensure short-term performance, while real-world governance structures are needed for ensuring the long-term existence of a supply chain. Within this context, a comprehensive model for business governance is presented. An interesting finding from the case study is that multiple business network governance systems co-exist within the evaluated supply chain.
Abstract: This study investigates the possibility providing gully
erosion map by the supervised classification of satellite images
(ETM+) in two mountainous and plain land types. These land types
were the part of Varamin plain, Tehran province, and Roodbar subbasin,
Guilan province, as plain and mountain land types,
respectively. The position of 652 and 124 ground control points were
recorded by GPS respectively in mountain and plain land types. Soil
gully erosion, land uses or plant covers were investigated in these
points. Regarding ground control points and auxiliary points, training
points of gully erosion and other surface features were introduced to
software (Ilwis 3.3 Academic). The supervised classified map of
gully erosion was prepared by maximum likelihood method and then,
overall accuracy of this map was computed. Results showed that the
possibility supervised classification of gully erosion isn-t possible,
although it need more studies for results generalization to other
mountainous regions. Also, with increasing land uses and other
surface features in plain physiography, it decreases the classification
of accuracy.
Abstract: Technology or lack of it will play an important role in Africa-s effort to achieve inclusive development. Although a key determinant of competitiveness, new technology can exacerbate exclusion of the majority from the mainstream economic activities. To minimise potential technology exclusion while leveraging its critical role in African-s development, requires insight into technology diffusion process. Using system dynamics approach, a technology diffusion model is presented. The frequency of interaction of people exposed to and those not exposed to technology, and the technology adoption rate - the fraction of people who embrace new technologies once they are exposed, are identified as the broad factors critical to technology diffusion to wider society enabling more people to be part of the economic growth process. Based on simulation results, it is recommends that these two broad factors should form part of national policy aimed at achieving inclusive and sustainable development in Africa.
Abstract: The heuristic decision rules used for project
scheduling will vary depending upon the project-s size, complexity,
duration, personnel, and owner requirements. The concept of project
complexity has received little detailed attention. The need to
differentiate between easy and hard problem instances and the
interest in isolating the fundamental factors that determine the
computing effort required by these procedures inspired a number of
researchers to develop various complexity measures.
In this study, the most common measures of project complexity are
presented. A new measure of project complexity is developed. The
main privilege of the proposed measure is that, it considers size,
shape and logic characteristics, time characteristics, resource
demands and availability characteristics as well as number of critical
activities and critical paths. The degree of sensitivity of the proposed
measure for complexity of project networks has been tested and
evaluated against the other measures of complexity of the considered
fifty project networks under consideration in the current study. The
developed measure showed more sensitivity to the changes in the
network data and gives accurate quantified results when comparing
the complexities of networks.
Abstract: This paper discusses EM algorithm and Bootstrap
approach combination applied for the improvement of the satellite
image fusion process. This novel satellite image fusion method based
on estimation theory EM algorithm and reinforced by Bootstrap
approach was successfully implemented and tested. The sensor
images are firstly split by a Bayesian segmentation method to
determine a joint region map for the fused image. Then, we use the
EM algorithm in conjunction with the Bootstrap approach to develop
the bootstrap EM fusion algorithm, hence producing the fused
targeted image. We proposed in this research to estimate the
statistical parameters from some iterative equations of the EM
algorithm relying on a reference of representative Bootstrap samples
of images. Sizes of those samples are determined from a new
criterion called 'hybrid criterion'. Consequently, the obtained results
of our work show that using the Bootstrap EM (BEM) in image
fusion improve performances of estimated parameters which involve
amelioration of the fused image quality; and reduce the computing
time during the fusion process.
Abstract: Medical imaging uses the advantage of digital
technology in imaging and teleradiology. In teleradiology systems
large amount of data is acquired, stored and transmitted. A major
technology that may help to solve the problems associated with the
massive data storage and data transfer capacity is data compression
and decompression. There are many methods of image compression
available. They are classified as lossless and lossy compression
methods. In lossy compression method the decompressed image
contains some distortion. Fractal image compression (FIC) is a lossy
compression method. In fractal image compression an image is
coded as a set of contractive transformations in a complete metric
space. The set of contractive transformations is guaranteed to
produce an approximation to the original image. In this paper FIC is
achieved by PIFS using quadtree partitioning. PIFS is applied on
different images like , Ultrasound, CT Scan, Angiogram, X-ray,
Mammograms. In each modality approximately twenty images are
considered and the average values of compression ratio and PSNR
values are arrived. In this method of fractal encoding, the
parameter, tolerance factor Tmax, is varied from 1 to 10, keeping the
other standard parameters constant. For all modalities of images the
compression ratio and Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) are
computed and studied. The quality of the decompressed image is
arrived by PSNR values. From the results it is observed that the
compression ratio increases with the tolerance factor and
mammogram has the highest compression ratio. The quality of the
image is not degraded upto an optimum value of tolerance factor,
Tmax, equal to 8, because of the properties of fractal compression.
Abstract: Drying characteristics of rough rice (variety of lenjan) with an initial moisture content of 25% dry basis (db) was studied in a hot air dryer assisted by infrared heating. Three arrival air temperatures (30, 40 and 500C) and four infrared radiation intensities (0, 0.2 , 0.4 and 0.6 W/cm2) and three arrival air speeds (0.1, 0.15 and 0.2 m.s-1) were studied. Bending strength of brown rice kernel, percentage of cracked kernels and time of drying were measured and evaluated. The results showed that increasing the drying arrival air temperature and radiation intensity of infrared resulted decrease in drying time. High bending strength and low percentage of cracked kernel was obtained when paddy was dried by hot air assisted infrared dryer. Between this factors and their interactive effect were a significant difference (p
Abstract: In this paper, we use nonlinear system identification method to predict and detect process fault of a cement rotary kiln. After selecting proper inputs and output, an input-output model is identified for the plant. To identify the various operation points in the
kiln, Locally Linear Neuro-Fuzzy (LLNF) model is used. This model is trained by LOLIMOT algorithm which is an incremental treestructure
algorithm. Then, by using this method, we obtained 3
distinct models for the normal and faulty situations in the kiln. One of the models is for normal condition of the kiln with 15 minutes
prediction horizon. The other two models are for the two faulty situations in the kiln with 7 minutes prediction horizon are presented.
At the end, we detect these faults in validation data. The data collected from White Saveh Cement Company is used for in this study.
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: Seemingly simple probabilities in the m-player game bingo have never been calculated. These probabilities include expected game length and the expected number of winners on a given turn. The difficulty in probabilistic analysis lies in the subtle interdependence among the m-many bingo game cards in play. In this paper, the game i got it!, a bingo variant, is considered. This variation provides enough weakening of the inter-player dependence to allow probabilistic analysis not possible for traditional bingo. The probability of winning in exactly k turns is calculated for a one-player game. Given a game of m-many players, the expected game length and tie probability are calculated. With these calculations, the game-s interesting payout scheme is considered.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose an approach of unsupervised
segmentation with fuzzy connectedness. Valid seeds are first specified
by an unsupervised method based on scale space theory. A region is
then extracted for each seed with a relative object extraction method of
fuzzy connectedness. Afterwards, regions are merged according to the
values between them of an introduced measure. Some theorems and
propositions are also provided to show the reasonableness of the
measure for doing mergence. Experiment results on a synthetic image,
a color image and a large amount of MR images of our method are
reported.
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: Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) account for an estimated 25-40% nosocomial infection, out of which 90% are associated with urinary catheter, called Catheter associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI). The microbial populations within CAUTI frequently develop as biofilms. In the present study, microbial contamination of indwelling urinary catheters was investigated. Biofilm forming ability of the isolates was determined by tissue culture plate method. Prevention of biofilm formation in the urinary catheter by Pseudomonas aeruginosa was also determined by coating the catheter with some enzymes, gentamycin and EDTA. It was found that 64% of the urinary catheters get contaminated during the course of catheterization. Of the total 6 isolates, biofilm formation was seen in 100% Pseudomonas aeruginosa and E. coli, 90% in Enterococci, 80% in Klebsiella and 66% in S. aureus. It was noted that the biofilm production by Pseudomonas was prolonged by 7 days in amylase, 8 days in protease, 6 days in lysozyme, 7days in gentamycin and 5 days in EDTA treated catheter.
Abstract: Recently, fast neural networks for object/face
detection were presented in [1-3]. The speed up factor of these
networks relies on performing cross correlation in the frequency
domain between the input image and the weights of the hidden
layer. But, these equations given in [1-3] for conventional and fast
neural networks are not valid for many reasons presented here. In
this paper, correct equations for cross correlation in the spatial and
frequency domains are presented. Furthermore, correct formulas for
the number of computation steps required by conventional and fast
neural networks given in [1-3] are introduced. A new formula for
the speed up ratio is established. Also, corrections for the equations
of fast multi scale object/face detection are given. Moreover,
commutative cross correlation is achieved. Simulation results show
that sub-image detection based on cross correlation in the frequency
domain is faster than classical neural networks.
Abstract: This study was conducted published to investigate
there liability of the equation pressure-impulse (PI) reinforced
concrete column inprevious studies. Equation involves three different
levels of damage criteria known as D =0. 2, D =0. 5 and D =0. 8.The
damage criteria known as a minor when 0-0.2, 0.2-0.5is known as
moderate damage, high damage known as 0.5-0.8, and 0.8-1 of the
structure is considered a failure. In this study, two types of reliability
analyzes conducted. First, using pressure-impulse equation with
different parameters. The parameters involved are the concrete
strength, depth, width, and height column, the ratio of longitudinal
reinforcement and transverse reinforcement ratio. In the first analysis
of the reliability of this new equation is derived to improve the
previous equations. The second reliability analysis involves three
types of columns used to derive the PI curve diagram using the
derived equation to compare with the equation derived from other
researchers and graph minimum standoff versus weapon yield
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The results
showed that the derived equation is more accurate with FEMA
standards than previous researchers.
Abstract: In this paper, Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage
(SAGD) is introduced and its advantages over ordinary steam
injection is demonstrated. A simple simulation model is built and
three scenarios of natural production, ordinary steam injection, and
SAGD are compared in terms of their cumulative oil production and
cumulative oil steam ratio. The results show that SAGD can
significantly enhance oil production in quite a short period of time.
However, since the distance between injection and production wells
is short, the oil to steam ratio decreases gradually through time.
Abstract: Proximate (moisture, protein, total fat, total ash) and mineral (K, P, Na, Mg, Ca, Zn, Fe, Cu and Mn) composition of chicken giblets (heart, liver and gizzard) were investigated. Phosphorous content, as well as proximate composition, were determined according to recommended ISO methods. The content of all elements, except phosphorus, of the giblets tissues were determined using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), after dry ashing mineralization. Regarding proximate composition heart was the highest in total fat content, and the lowest in protein content. Liver was the highest in protein and total ash content, while gizzard was the highest in moisture and the lowest in total fat content. Regarding mineral composition liver was the highest for K, P, Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn, Cu, and Mn, while heart was the highest for Na content. The contents of almost all investigated minerals in analysed giblets tissues of chickens from Vojvodina were similar to values reported in the literature, i.e. in national food composition databases of other countries.
Abstract: The use of Electronic Commerce (EC)
technologies enables Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to improve their efficiency and competitive position. Much of the literature proposes an extensive set of benefits for
organizations that choose to adopt and implement ECommerce
systems. Factors of Business –to-business (B2B)
E-Commerce adoption and implementation have been
extensively investigated. Despite enormous attention given to encourage Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to adopt and
implement E-Commerce, little research has been carried out in identifying the factors of Business-to-Consumer ECommerce adoption and implementation for SMEs. To conduct the study, Tornatsky and Fleischer model was adopted
and tested in four SMEs located in Christchurch, New
Zealand. This paper explores the factors that impact the
decision and method of adoption and implementation of ECommerce
systems in automobile industry. Automobile
industry was chosen because the product they deal with i.e.
cars are not a common commodity to be sold online, despite this fact the eCommerce penetration in automobile industry is
high. The factors that promote adoption and implementation of
E-Commerce technologies are discussed, together with the
barriers. This study will help SME owners to effectively
handle the adoption and implementation process and will also
improve the chance of successful E-Commerce
implementation. The implications of the findings for
managers, consultants, and government organizations engaged in promoting E-Commerce adoption and implementation in
small businesses and future research are discussed.