Abstract: Simulation is a very powerful method used for highperformance
and high-quality design in distributed system, and now
maybe the only one, considering the heterogeneity, complexity and
cost of distributed systems. In Grid environments, foe example, it is
hard and even impossible to perform scheduler performance
evaluation in a repeatable and controllable manner as resources and
users are distributed across multiple organizations with their own
policies. In addition, Grid test-beds are limited and creating an
adequately-sized test-bed is expensive and time consuming.
Scalability, reliability and fault-tolerance become important
requirements for distributed systems in order to support distributed
computation. A distributed system with such characteristics is called
dependable. Large environments, like Cloud, offer unique
advantages, such as low cost, dependability and satisfy QoS for all
users. Resource management in large environments address
performant scheduling algorithm guided by QoS constrains. This
paper presents the performance evaluation of scheduling heuristics
guided by different optimization criteria. The algorithms for
distributed scheduling are analyzed in order to satisfy users
constrains considering in the same time independent capabilities of
resources. This analysis acts like a profiling step for algorithm
calibration. The performance evaluation is based on simulation. The
simulator is MONARC, a powerful tool for large scale distributed
systems simulation. The novelty of this paper consists in synthetic
analysis results that offer guidelines for scheduler service
configuration and sustain the empirical-based decision. The results
could be used in decisions regarding optimizations to existing Grid
DAG Scheduling and for selecting the proper algorithm for DAG
scheduling in various actual situations.
Abstract: This study describes a micro device integrated with
multi-chamber for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with different
annealing temperatures. The device consists of the reaction
polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) chip, a cover glass chip, and is
equipped with cartridge heaters, fans, and thermocouples for
temperature control. In this prototype, commercial software is utilized
to determine the geometric and operational parameters those are
responsible for creating the denaturation, annealing, and extension
temperatures within the chip. Two cartridge heaters are placed at two
sides of the chip and maintained at two different temperatures to
achieve a thermal gradient on the chip during the annealing step. The
temperatures on the chip surface are measured via an infrared imager.
Some thermocouples inserted into the reaction chambers are used to
obtain the transient temperature profiles of the reaction chambers
during several thermal cycles. The experimental temperatures
compared to the simulated results show a similar trend. This work
should be interesting to persons involved in the high-temperature
based reactions and genomics or cell analysis.
Abstract: DG application has received increasing attention during
recent years. The impact of DG on various aspects of distribution system
operation, such as reliability and energy loss, depend highly on DG
location in distribution feeder. Optimal DG placement is an important
subject which has not been fully discussed yet.
This paper presents an optimization method to determine optimal DG
placement, based on a cost/worth analysis approach. This method
considers technical and economical factors such as energy loss, load point
reliability indices and DG costs, and particularly, portability of DG. The
proposed method is applied to a test system and the impacts of different
parameters such as load growth rate and load forecast uncertainty (LFU)
on optimum DG location are studied.
Abstract: In view of geological origin, formation of the shallow
gas reservoir of the Hangzhou Bay, northern Zhejiang Province,
eastern China, and original occurrence characteristics of the gassy
sand are analyzed. Generally, gassy sand in scale gas reservoirs is in
the state of residual moisture content and the approximate scope of
initial matric suction of sand ranges about from 0kPa to100kPa.
Results based on GDS triaxial tests show that the classical shear
strength formulas of unsaturated soil can not effectively describe basic
strength characteristics of gassy sand; the relationship between
apparent cohesion and matric suction of gassy sand agrees well with
the power function, which can reasonably be used to describe the
strength of gassy sand. In the stress path of gas release, shear strength
of gassy sand will increase and experimental results show the formula
proposed in this paper can effectively predict the strength increment.
When saturated strength indexes of the sand are used in engineering
design, moderate reduction should be considered.
Abstract: LSP routing is among the prominent issues in MPLS
networks traffic engineering. The objective of this routing is to
increase number of the accepted requests while guaranteeing the
quality of service (QoS). Requested bandwidth is the most important
QoS criterion that is considered in literatures, and a various number
of heuristic algorithms have been presented with that regards. Many
of these algorithms prevent flows through bottlenecks of the network
in order to perform load balancing, which impedes optimum
operation of the network. Here, a modern routing algorithm is
proposed as MIRAD: having a little information of the network
topology, links residual bandwidth, and any knowledge of the
prospective requests it provides every request with a maximum
bandwidth as well as minimum end-to-end delay via uniform load
distribution across the network. Simulation results of the proposed
algorithm show a better efficiency in comparison with similar
algorithms.
Abstract: Changing in consumers lifestyles and food
consumption patterns provide a great opportunity in developing the
functional food sector in Malaysia. There is only a little knowledge
about whether Malaysian consumers are aware of functional food and
if so what image consumers have of this product. The objective of
this research is to determine the extent to which selected socioeconomic
characteristics and attitudes influence consumers-
awareness of functional food. A survey was conducted in the Klang
Valley, Malaysia where 439 respondents were interviewed using a
structured questionnaire. The result shows that most respondents
have a positive attitude towards functional food. For the binary
logistic estimation, the results indicate that age, income and other
factors such as concern about food safety, subscribing to cooking or
health magazines, being a vegetarian and consumers who have been
involved in a food production company significantly influence
Malaysian consumers- awareness towards functional food.
Abstract: The classification of the protein structure is commonly
not performed for the whole protein but for structural domains, i.e.,
compact functional units preserved during evolution. Hence, a first
step to a protein structure classification is the separation of the
protein into its domains. We approach the problem of protein domain
identification by proposing a novel graph theoretical algorithm. We
represent the protein structure as an undirected, unweighted and
unlabeled graph which nodes correspond the secondary structure
elements of the protein. This graph is call the protein graph. The
domains are then identified as partitions of the graph corresponding
to vertices sets obtained by the maximization of an objective function,
which mutually maximizes the cycle distributions found in the
partitions of the graph. Our algorithm does not utilize any other kind
of information besides the cycle-distribution to find the partitions. If
a partition is found, the algorithm is iteratively applied to each of
the resulting subgraphs. As stop criterion, we calculate numerically
a significance level which indicates the stability of the predicted
partition against a random rewiring of the protein graph. Hence,
our algorithm terminates automatically its iterative application. We
present results for one and two domain proteins and compare our
results with the manually assigned domains by the SCOP database
and differences are discussed.
Abstract: We consider a cooperative game played by n players against a referee. The players names are randomly distributed among n lockers, with one name per locker. Each player can open up to half the lockers and each player must find his name. Once the game starts the players may not communicate. It has been previously shown that, quite surprisingly, an optimal strategy exists for which the success probability is never worse than 1 − ln 2 ≈ 0.306. In this paper we consider an extension where the number of lockers is greater than the number of players, so that some lockers are empty. We show that the players may still win with positive probability even if there are a constant k number of empty lockers. We show that for each fixed probability p, there is a constant c so that the players can win with probability at least p if they are allowed to open cn lockers.
Abstract: One of the basic concepts in marketing is the concept
of meeting customers- needs. Since customer satisfaction is essential
for lasting survival and development of a business, screening and
observing customer satisfaction and recognizing its underlying
factors must be one of the key activities of every business.
The purpose of this study is to recognize the drivers that effect
customer satisfaction in a business-to-business situation in order to
improve marketing activities. We conducted a survey in which 93
business customers of a manufacturer of Diesel Generator in Iran
participated and they talked about their ideas and satisfaction of
supplier-s services related to its products. We developed the measures
for drivers of satisfaction first by as investigative research (by means
of feedback from executives and customers of sponsoring firm). Then
based on these measures, we created a mail survey, and asked the
respondents to explain their opinion about the sponsoring firm which
was a supplier of diesel generator and similar products. Furthermore,
the survey required the participants to mention their functional areas
and their company features.
In Conclusion we found that there are three drivers for customer
satisfaction, which are reliability, information about product, and
commercial features. Buyers/users from different functional areas
attribute different degree of importance to the last two drivers. For
instance, people from buying and management areas believe that
commercial features are more important than information about
products. But people in engineering, maintenance and production
areas believe that having information about products is more
important than commercial aspects. Marketing experts should
consider the attribute of customers regarding information about the
product and commercial features to improve market share.
Abstract: Recommender Systems act as personalized decision
guides, aiding users in decisions on matters related to personal taste.
Most previous research on Recommender Systems has focused on the
statistical accuracy of the algorithms driving the systems, with no
emphasis on the trustworthiness of the user. RS depends on
information provided by different users to gather its knowledge. We
believe, if a large group of users provide wrong information it will
not be possible for the RS to arrive in an accurate conclusion. The
system described in this paper introduce the concept of Testing the
knowledge of user to filter out these “bad users".
This paper emphasizes on the mechanism used to provide robust
and effective recommendation.
Abstract: Computer modeling has played a unique role in
understanding electrocardiography. Modeling and simulating cardiac
action potential propagation is suitable for studying normal and
pathological cardiac activation. This paper presents a 2-D Cellular
Automata model for simulating action potential propagation in
cardiac tissue. We demonstrate a novel algorithm in order to use
minimum neighbors. This algorithm uses the summation of the
excitability attributes of excited neighboring cells. We try to
eliminate flat edges in the result patterns by inserting probability to
the model. We also preserve the real shape of action potential by
using linear curve fitting of one well known electrophysiological
model.
Abstract: The aim of this contribution is to present a new
approach in modeling the electrical activity of the human heart. A
recurrent artificial neural network is being used in order to exhibit a
subset of the dynamics of the electrical behavior of the human heart.
The proposed model can also be used, when integrated, as a
diagnostic tool of the human heart system.
What makes this approach unique is the fact that every model is
being developed from physiological measurements of an individual.
This kind of approach is very difficult to apply successfully in many
modeling problems, because of the complexity and entropy of the
free variables describing the complex system. Differences between
the modeled variables and the variables of an individual, measured at
specific moments, can be used for diagnostic purposes. The sensor
fusion used in order to optimize the utilization of biomedical sensors
is another point that this paper focuses on. Sensor fusion has been
known for its advantages in applications such as control and
diagnostics of mechanical and chemical processes.
Abstract: Urbanization and regionalization are two different
approaches when it comes to economical structures and development,
infrastructure and mobility, quality of life and living, education,
social cohesion and many other topics. At first glance, the structures
associated with urbanization and regionalization seems to be
contradicting. This paper discusses possibilities of transfer and
cooperation between rural and urban structures. An empirical
investigation contributed to reveal scenarios of supposable forms of
exchange and cooperation of remote rural areas and big cities.
Abstract: This paper presents a supervised clustering algorithm,
namely Grid-Based Supervised Clustering (GBSC), which is able to
identify clusters of any shapes and sizes without presuming any
canonical form for data distribution. The GBSC needs no prespecified
number of clusters, is insensitive to the order of the input
data objects, and is capable of handling outliers. Built on the
combination of grid-based clustering and density-based clustering,
under the assistance of the downward closure property of density
used in bottom-up subspace clustering, the GBSC can notably reduce
its search space to avoid the memory confinement situation during its
execution. On two-dimension synthetic datasets, the GBSC can
identify clusters with different shapes and sizes correctly. The GBSC
also outperforms other five supervised clustering algorithms when
the experiments are performed on some UCI datasets.
Abstract: This paper presents the results of a preventive maintenance application-based study and modeling of failure rates in breakers of electrical distribution systems. This is a critical issue in the reliability assessment of a system. In the analysis conducted in this paper, the impacts of failure rate variations caused by a preventive maintenance are examined. This is considered as a part of a Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) application program. A number of load point reliability indices is derived using the mathematical model of the failure rate, which is established using the observed data in a distribution system.
Abstract: As a part of an evaluation system for R&D programs,
the Korean Government has applied the preliminary feasibility study
to new government R&D program plans. Basically, the fundamental purpose of the preliminary feasibility study is to decide that the
government will either do or do not invest in a new R&D Program. Additionally, the preliminary feasibility study can contribute to the
improvement of R&D program plans. For example, 2 cases of new
R&D program plans applied to the study are explained in this paper and there are expectations that these R&D programs would yield better
performance than without the study. It is thought that the important point of the preliminary feasibility study is not only the effective
decision making process of R&D program but also the opportunity to improve R&D program plan actually.
Abstract: This paper introduces a new method called ARPDC (Advanced Robust Parallel Distributed Compensation) for automatic control of nonlinear systems. This method improves a quality of robust control by interpolating of robust and optimal controller. The weight of each controller is determined by an original criteria function for model validity and disturbance appreciation. ARPDC method is based on nonlinear Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy systems and Parallel Distributed Compensation (PDC) control scheme. The relaxed stability conditions of ARPDC control of nominal system have been derived. The advantages of presented method are demonstrated on the inverse pendulum benchmark problem. From comparison between three different controllers (robust, optimal and ARPDC) follows, that ARPDC control is almost optimal with the robustness close to the robust controller. The results indicate that ARPDC algorithm can be a good alternative not only for a robust control, but in some cases also to an adaptive control of nonlinear systems.
Abstract: Turbulent forced convection flow in a 2-dimensional channel over periodic grooves is numerically investigated. Finite volume method is used to study the effect of turbulence model. The range of Reynolds number varied from 10000 to 30000 for the ribheight to channel-height ratio (B/H) of 2. The downstream wall is heated by a uniform heat flux while the upstream wall is insulated. The investigation is analyzed with different types of nanoparticles such as SiO2, Al2O3, and ZnO, with water as a base fluid are used. The volume fraction is varied from 1% to 4% and the nanoparticle diameter is utilized between 20nm to 50nm. The results revealed 114% heat transfer enhancement compared to the water in a grooved channel by using SiO2 nanoparticle with volume fraction and nanoparticle diameter of 4% and 20nm respectively.
Abstract: This paper describes the project and development of a
very low-cost and small electronic prototype, especially designed for
monitoring and controlling existing home automation alarm systems
(intruder, smoke, gas, flood, etc.), via TCP/IP, with a typical web
browser. Its use will allow home owners to be immediately alerted
and aware when an alarm event occurs, and being also able to
interact with their home automation alarm system, disarming, arming
and watching event alerts, with a personal wireless Wi-Fi PDA or
smartphone logged on to a dedicated predefined web page, and using
also a PC or Laptop.
Abstract: Technology transfer of renewable energy technologies is very often unsuccessful in the developing world. Aside from challenges that have social, economic, financial, institutional and environmental dimensions, technology transfer has generally been misunderstood, and largely seen as mere delivery of high tech equipment from developed to developing countries or within the developing world from R&D institutions to society. Technology transfer entails much more, including, but not limited to: entire systems and their component parts, know-how, goods and services, equipment, and organisational and managerial procedures. Means to facilitate the successful transfer of energy technologies, including the sharing of lessons are subsequently extremely important for developing countries as they grapple with increasing energy needs to sustain adequate economic growth and development. Improving the success of technology transfer is an ongoing process as more projects are implemented, new problems are encountered and new lessons are learnt. Renewable energy is also critical to improve the quality of lives of the majority of people in developing countries. In rural areas energy is primarily traditional biomass. The consumption activities typically occur in an inefficient manner, thus working against the notion of sustainable development. This paper explores the implementation of technology transfer in the developing world (sub-Saharan Africa). The focus is necessarily on RETs since most rural energy initiatives are RETs-based. Additionally, it aims to highlight some lessons drawn from the cited RE projects and identifies notable differences where energy technology transfer was judged to be successful. This is done through a literature review based on a selection of documented case studies which are judged against the definition provided for technology transfer. This paper also puts forth research recommendations that might contribute to improved technology transfer in the developing world. Key findings of this paper include: Technology transfer cannot be complete without satisfying pre-conditions such as: affordability, maintenance (and associated plans), knowledge and skills transfer, appropriate know how, ownership and commitment, ability to adapt technology, sound business principles such as financial viability and sustainability, project management, relevance and many others. It is also shown that lessons are learnt in both successful and unsuccessful projects.