Abstract: Fermented cassava flours (lafun) sold in Ogun and Oyo
States of Nigeria were collected from 10 markets for a period of two
months and analysed to determine their safety status. The presence of
trace metals was due to high vehicular movement around the drying
sites and markets. Cyanide and moisture contents of samples were
also determined to assess the adequacy of fermentation and drying.
The result showed that sample OWO was found to have the highest
amount of 16.02±0.12mg/kg cyanide while the lowest was found in
sample OJO with 10.51±0.10mg/kg. The results also indicated that
sample TVE had the highest moisture content of 18.50±0.20% while
sample OWO had the lowest amount of 12.46±0.47%. Copper and
lead levels were found to be highest in TVE with values 28.10mg/kg
and 1.1mg/kg respectively, while sample BTS had the lowest values
of 20.6mg/kg and 0.05mg/kg respectively. High value of cyanide
indicated inadequate fermentation.
Abstract: This paper presents a computational methodology
based on matrix operations for a computer based solution to the
problem of performance analysis of software reliability models
(SRMs). A set of seven comparison criteria have been formulated to
rank various non-homogenous Poisson process software reliability
models proposed during the past 30 years to estimate software
reliability measures such as the number of remaining faults, software
failure rate, and software reliability. Selection of optimal SRM for
use in a particular case has been an area of interest for researchers in
the field of software reliability. Tools and techniques for software
reliability model selection found in the literature cannot be used with
high level of confidence as they use a limited number of model
selection criteria. A real data set of middle size software project from
published papers has been used for demonstration of matrix method.
The result of this study will be a ranking of SRMs based on the
Permanent value of the criteria matrix formed for each model based
on the comparison criteria. The software reliability model with
highest value of the Permanent is ranked at number – 1 and so on.
Abstract: A state of the art Speaker Identification (SI) system requires a robust feature extraction unit followed by a speaker modeling scheme for generalized representation of these features. Over the years, Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) modeled on the human auditory system has been used as a standard acoustic feature set for SI applications. However, due to the structure of its filter bank, it captures vocal tract characteristics more effectively in the lower frequency regions. This paper proposes a new set of features using a complementary filter bank structure which improves distinguishability of speaker specific cues present in the higher frequency zone. Unlike high level features that are difficult to extract, the proposed feature set involves little computational burden during the extraction process. When combined with MFCC via a parallel implementation of speaker models, the proposed feature set outperforms baseline MFCC significantly. This proposition is validated by experiments conducted on two different kinds of public databases namely YOHO (microphone speech) and POLYCOST (telephone speech) with Gaussian Mixture Models (GMM) as a Classifier for various model orders.
Abstract: Manufacturing processes demand tight dimensional
tolerances. The paper concerns a transducer for precise measurement
of displacement, based on a camera containing a linescan chip.
When tests were conducted using a track of black and white stripes
with a 2mm pitch, errors in measuring on individual cycle amounted
to 1.75%, suggesting that a precision of 35 microns is achievable.
Abstract: Complex engineering design problems consist of
numerous factors of varying criticalities. Considering fundamental features of design and inferior details alike will result in an extensive
waste of time and effort. Design parameters should be introduced gradually as appropriate based on their significance relevant to the
problem context. This motivates the representation of design parameters at multiple levels of an abstraction hierarchy. However, developing abstraction hierarchies is an area that is not well
understood. Our research proposes a novel hierarchical abstraction methodology to plan effective engineering designs and processes. It
provides a theoretically sound foundation to represent, abstract and stratify engineering design parameters and tasks according to causality and criticality. The methodology creates abstraction
hierarchies in a recursive and bottom-up approach that guarantees no
backtracking across any of the abstraction levels. The methodology consists of three main phases, representation, abstraction, and layering to multiple hierarchical levels. The effectiveness of the
developed methodology is demonstrated by a design problem.
Abstract: Corporate credit rating prediction using statistical and
artificial intelligence (AI) techniques has been one of the attractive
research topics in the literature. In recent years, multiclass
classification models such as artificial neural network (ANN) or
multiclass support vector machine (MSVM) have become a very
appealing machine learning approaches due to their good
performance. However, most of them have only focused on classifying
samples into nominal categories, thus the unique characteristic of the
credit rating - ordinality - has been seldom considered in their
approaches. This study proposes new types of ANN and MSVM
classifiers, which are named OMANN and OMSVM respectively.
OMANN and OMSVM are designed to extend binary ANN or SVM
classifiers by applying ordinal pairwise partitioning (OPP) strategy.
These models can handle ordinal multiple classes efficiently and
effectively. To validate the usefulness of these two models, we applied
them to the real-world bond rating case. We compared the results of
our models to those of conventional approaches. The experimental
results showed that our proposed models improve classification
accuracy in comparison to typical multiclass classification techniques
with the reduced computation resource.
Abstract: Speedups from mapping four real-life DSP
applications on an embedded system-on-chip that couples coarsegrained
reconfigurable logic with an instruction-set processor are
presented. The reconfigurable logic is realized by a 2-Dimensional
Array of Processing Elements. A design flow for improving
application-s performance is proposed. Critical software parts, called
kernels, are accelerated on the Coarse-Grained Reconfigurable
Array. The kernels are detected by profiling the source code. For
mapping the detected kernels on the reconfigurable logic a prioritybased
mapping algorithm has been developed. Two 4x4 array
architectures, which differ in their interconnection structure among
the Processing Elements, are considered. The experiments for eight
different instances of a generic system show that important overall
application speedups have been reported for the four applications.
The performance improvements range from 1.86 to 3.67, with an
average value of 2.53, compared with an all-software execution.
These speedups are quite close to the maximum theoretical speedups
imposed by Amdahl-s law.
Abstract: Concerns about low levels of children-s physical activity and motor skill development, prompted the Ministry of Education to trial a physical activity pilot project (PAPP) in 16 New Zealand primary schools. The project comprised professional development and training in physical education for lead teachers and introduced four physical activity coordinators to liaise with and increase physical activity opportunities in the pilot schools. A survey of generalist teachers (128 baseline, 155 post-intervention) from these schools looked at timetabled physical activity sessions and issues related to teaching physical education. The authors calculated means and standard deviations of data relating to timetabled PE sessions and used a one-way analysis of variance to determine significant differences. Results indicated time devoted to physical activity related subjects significantly increased over the course of the intervention. Teacher-s reported improved confidence and competence, which resulted in an improvement in quality physical education delivered more often.
Abstract: The present work compares the performance of three
turbulence modeling approach (based on the two-equation k -ε
model) in predicting erosive wear in multi-size dense slurry flow
through rotating channel. All three turbulence models include
rotation modification to the production term in the turbulent kineticenergy
equation. The two-phase flow field obtained numerically
using Galerkin finite element methodology relates the local flow
velocity and concentration to the wear rate via a suitable wear model.
The wear models for both sliding wear and impact wear mechanisms
account for the particle size dependence. Results of predicted wear
rates using the three turbulence models are compared for a large
number of cases spanning such operating parameters as rotation rate,
solids concentration, flow rate, particle size distribution and so forth.
The root-mean-square error between FE-generated data and the
correlation between maximum wear rate and the operating
parameters is found less than 2.5% for all the three models.
Abstract: A lateral trench-gate power metal-oxide-semiconductor on 4H-SiC is proposed. The device consists of two separate trenches in which two gates are placed on both sides of P-body region resulting two parallel channels. Enhanced current conduction and reduced-surface-field effect in the structure provide substantial improvement in the device performance. Using two dimensional simulations, the performance of proposed device is evaluated and compare of with that of the conventional device for same cell pitch. It is demonstrated that the proposed structure provides two times higher output current, 11% decrease in threshold voltage, 70% improvement in transconductance, 70% reduction in specific ON-resistance, 52% increase in breakdown voltage, and nearly eight time improvement in figure-of-merit over the conventional device.
Abstract: This paper presents three models which enable the
customisation of Universal Description, Discovery and Integration
(UDDI) query results, based on some pre-defined and/or real-time
changing parameters. These proposed models detail the requirements,
design and techniques which make ranking of Web service discovery
results from a service registry possible. Our contribution is two fold:
First, we present an extension to the UDDI inquiry capabilities. This
enables a private UDDI registry owner to customise or rank the query
results, based on its business requirements. Second, our proposal
utilises existing technologies and standards which require minimal
changes to existing UDDI interfaces or its data structures. We believe
these models will serve as valuable reference for enhancing the
service discovery methods within a private UDDI registry
environment.
Abstract: Seaweed farming is emerging as a viable alternative
activity in the Indonesian fisheries sector. This paper aims to
investigate people-s perceptions of seaweed farming, to analyze its
social and economic impacts and to identify the problems and
obstacles hindering its continued development. Structured and
semi-structured questionnaires were prepared to obtain qualitative
data, and interviews were conducted with fishermen who also plant
seaweed. The findings showed that fishermen in the Laikang Bay were
enthusiastic about cultivating seaweeds and that seaweed plays a major
role in supporting the household economy of fishermen. However,
current seaweed drying technologies cannot support increased
seaweed production on a farm or plot, especially in the rainy season.
Additionally, variable monsoon seasons and long marketing channels
are still major constraints on the development of the industry. Finally,
capture fisheries, the primary economic livelihood of fishermen of
older generations, is being slowly replaced by seaweed farming.
Abstract: In this paper we discuss the behaviour of the longitudinal modes of a magnetized non collisional plasma subjected to an external electromagnetic field. We apply a semiclassical formalism, with the electrons being studied in a quantum mechanical viewpoint whereas the electromagnetic field in the classical context. We calculate the dielectric function in order to obtains the modes and found that, unlike the Bernstein modes, the presence of radiation induces oscillations around the cyclotron harmonics, which are smoothed as the energy stored in the radiation field becomes small compared to the thermal energy of the electrons. We analyze the influence of the number of photon involved in the electronic transitions between the Landau levels and how the parameters such as the external fields strength, plasma density and temperature affect the dispersion relation
Abstract: In this paper we present a soft timing phase estimation (STPE) method for wireless mobile receivers operating in low signal to noise ratios (SNRs). Discrete Polyphase Matched (DPM) filters, a Log-maximum a posterior probability (MAP) and/or a Soft-output Viterbi algorithm (SOVA) are combined to derive a new timing recovery (TR) scheme. We apply this scheme to wireless cellular communication system model that comprises of a raised cosine filter (RCF), a bit-interleaved turbo-coded multi-level modulation (BITMM) scheme and the channel is assumed to be memory-less. Furthermore, no clock signals are transmitted to the receiver contrary to the classical data aided (DA) models. This new model ensures that both the bandwidth and power of the communication system is conserved. However, the computational complexity of ideal turbo synchronization is increased by 50%. Several simulation tests on bit error rate (BER) and block error rate (BLER) versus low SNR reveal that the proposed iterative soft timing recovery (ISTR) scheme outperforms the conventional schemes.
Abstract: Happening of Ferroresonance phenomenon is one of the reasons of consuming and ruining transformers, so recognition of Ferroresonance phenomenon has a special importance. A novel method for classification of Ferroresonance presented in this paper. Using this method Ferroresonance can be discriminate from other transients such as capacitor switching, load switching, transformer switching. Wavelet transform is used for decomposition of signals and Competitive Neural Network used for classification. Ferroresonance data and other transients was obtained by simulation using EMTP program. Using Daubechies wavelet transform signals has been decomposed till six levels. The energy of six detailed signals that obtained by wavelet transform are used for training and trailing Competitive Neural Network. Results show that the proposed procedure is efficient in identifying Ferroresonance from other events.
Abstract: A major challenge in camel productivity is the high
mortality rate of camel calves in the early stage due to the lack of
colostrums. This study investigates the time required for the calves to
obtain the optimum amount of the immunoglobulin (IgG). Eleven
pregnant female camels (Camelus Dromedarus) were selected
randomly and variant in age and gestation. After delivery, 7 calves
were obtained and used for this investigation. Colostrum samples
were collected from mothers immediately after parturition. Blood
samples were obtained from the calves as follow: 0 day (before
suckling), 24, 48, 72, 96, 120 and 144 hours, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th weeks
post suckling. Blood serum and colostrums whey were separated and
used to determine IgG concentration, total protein and concentration
of Cortisol and Thyroxin. The results showed high levels of IgG in
camel colostrums (328.8 ± 4.5 mg / ml). The IgG concentration in
serum of calves was the highest within 1st 24 h after suckling (140.75
mg /ml), and then declined gradually reached lower level at 144 h
(41.97 mg / ml). The average turnover rate (t 1/2) of serum IgG in
the all cases was 3.22 days. The turnover of ranged from 2.56 days
for calves have values of IgG more than average and 7.7 days for
those with values below average. In spite of very high levels of
thyroxin in sera of new born the results showed no correlation
between cortisol and thyroxin with IgG levels.
Abstract: Endemic Artemia franciscana populations can be found throughout the American continent and also as an introduced specie in several country all over the world, such as in the Mediterranean region where Artemia franciscana was identified as an invasive specie replacing native Artemia parthenogenetica and Artemia salina. In the present study, the characterization of the new invasive Artemia franciscana reported from Sabkhet Halk El-Menzel (Tunisia) was done based on the cysts biometry, nauplii instar-I length, Adult sexual dimorphism and fatty acid profile. The mean value of the diameter of non-decapsulated and decapsulated cysts, chorion thickness and naupliar length is 235.8, 226.3, 4.75 and 426.8 μm, respectively. Sexual dimorphism for adults specimen showed that maximal distance between compound eyes, diameter for compound eyes, length of first antenna and the abdomen length compared to the total body length ratio, are the most important variables for males and females discrimination with a total contribution of 62.39 %. The analysis of fatty acid methyl esters profile of decapsulated cysts resulted in low levels of linolenic acid (LLA, C18:3n-3) and high levels of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, C20:5n-3) with 3.11 and 11.10 %, respectively. Low quantity of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3) was also observed with 0.17 mg.g-1 dry weight.
Abstract: A feed-forward, back-propagation Artificial Neural
Network (ANN) model has been used to forecast the occurrences of
wastewater overflows in a combined sewerage reticulation system.
This approach was tested to evaluate its applicability as a method
alternative to the common practice of developing a complete
conceptual, mathematical hydrological-hydraulic model for the
sewerage system to enable such forecasts. The ANN approach
obviates the need for a-priori understanding and representation of the
underlying hydrological hydraulic phenomena in mathematical terms
but enables learning the characteristics of a sewer overflow from the
historical data.
The performance of the standard feed-forward, back-propagation
of error algorithm was enhanced by a modified data normalizing
technique that enabled the ANN model to extrapolate into the
territory that was unseen by the training data. The algorithm and the
data normalizing method are presented along with the ANN model
output results that indicate a good accuracy in the forecasted sewer
overflow rates. However, it was revealed that the accurate
forecasting of the overflow rates are heavily dependent on the
availability of a real-time flow monitoring at the overflow structure
to provide antecedent flow rate data. The ability of the ANN to
forecast the overflow rates without the antecedent flow rates (as is
the case with traditional conceptual reticulation models) was found to
be quite poor.
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: Among other factors that characterize satellite communication
channels is their high bit error rate. We present a system for
still image transmission over noisy satellite channels. The system
couples image compression together with error control codes to
improve the received image quality while maintaining its bandwidth
requirements. The proposed system is tested using a high resolution
satellite imagery simulated over the Rician fading channel. Evaluation
results show improvement in overall system including image quality
and bandwidth requirements compared to similar systems with different
coding schemes.