Abstract: Piezoelectric transformers are electronic devices made
from piezoelectric materials. The piezoelectric transformers as the
name implied are used for changing voltage signals from one level to another. Electrical energy carried with signals is transferred by means of mechanical vibration. Characterizing in both electrical and
mechanical properties leads to extensively use and efficiency enhancement of piezoelectric transformers in various applications. In
this paper, study and analysis of electrical and mechanical properties of multi-layer piezoelectric transformers in forms of potential and
displacement distribution throughout the volume, respectively. This
paper proposes a set of quasi-static mathematical model of electromechanical
coupling for piezoelectric transformer by using a set of
partial differential equations. Computer-based simulation utilizing the three-dimensional finite element method (3-D FEM) is exploited
as a tool for visualizing potentials and displacements distribution
within the multi-layer piezoelectric transformer. This simulation was
conducted by varying a number of layers. In this paper 3, 5 and 7 of
the circular ring type were used. The computer simulation based on
the use of the FEM has been developed in MATLAB programming environment.
Abstract: The index of sustainable functionality (ISF) is an adaptive, multi-criteria technique that is used to measure sustainability; it is a concept that can be transposed to many regions throughout the world. An ISF application of the Southern Regional Organisation of Councils (SouthROC) in South East Queensland (SEQ) – the fastest growing region in Australia – indicated over a 25 year period an increase of over 10% level of functionality from 58.0% to 68.3%. The ISF of SouthROC utilised methodologies that derived from an expert panel based approach. The overall results attained an intermediate level of functionality which amounted to related concerns of economic progress and lack of social awareness. Within the region, a solid basis for future testing by way of measured changes and developed trends can be established. In this regard as management tool, the ISF record offers support for regional sustainability practice and decision making alike. This research adaptively analyses sustainability – a concept that is lacking throughout much of the academic literature and any reciprocal experimentation. This lack of knowledge base has been the emphasis of where future sustainability research can grow from and prove useful in rapidly growing regions. It is the intentions of this research to help further develop the notions of index-based quantitative sustainability.
Abstract: The utilization of renewable energy sources in electric
power systems is increasing quickly because of public apprehensions
for unpleasant environmental impacts and increase in the energy
costs involved with the use of conventional energy sources. Despite
the application of these energy sources can considerably diminish the
system fuel costs, they can also have significant influence on the
system reliability. Therefore an appropriate combination of the
system reliability indices level and capital investment costs of system
is vital. This paper presents a hybrid wind/photovoltaic plant, with
the aim of supplying IEEE reliability test system load pattern while
the plant capital investment costs is minimized by applying a hybrid
particle swarm optimization (PSO) / harmony search (HS) approach,
and the system fulfills the appropriate level of reliability.
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: Web intelligence, if made personal, can fuel the process of building communications around the interests and preferences of each individual customer or prospect, by providing specific behavioral insights about each individual. To become fully efficient, Web intelligence must reach a stage of a high-level maturity, passing throughout a process that involves five steps: (1) Web site analysis; (2) Web site and advertising optimization; (3) Segment targeting; (4) Interactive marketing (online only); and (5) Interactive marketing (online and offline). Discussing these steps in detail, the paper uncovers the real gold mine that is personal-level Web intelligence.
Abstract: When consistently innovative business-models can
give companies a competitive advantage, longitudinal empirical
research, which can reflect dynamic business-model changes, has yet
to prove a definitive connection. This study consequently employs a
dynamic perspective in conjunction with innovation theory to examine
the relationship between the types of business-model innovation and
firm value. This study tries to examine various types of
business-model innovation in high-end and low-end technology
industries such as HTC and the 7-Eleven chain stores with research
periods of 14 years and 32 years, respectively. The empirical results
suggest that adopting radical business-model innovation in addition to
expanding new target markets can successfully lead to a competitive
advantage. Sustained advanced technological competences and
service/product innovation are the key successful factors in high-end
and low-end technology industry business-models respectively. In
sum up, the business-model innovation can yield a higher market value
and financial value in high-end technology industries than low-end
ones.
Abstract: Organizational innovation favors technological
innovation, but does it also influence technological innovation
persistence? This article investigates empirically the pattern of
technological innovation persistence and tests the potential impact of
organizational innovation using firm-level data from three waves of
the French Community Innovation Surveys. Evidence shows a
positive effect of organizational innovation on technological
innovation persistence, according to various measures of
organizational innovation. Moreover, this impact is more significant
for complex innovators (i.e., those who innovate in both products and
processes). These results highlight the complexity of managing
organizational practices with regard to the firm-s technological
innovation. They also add to comprehension of the drivers of
innovation persistence, through a focus on an often forgotten
dimension of innovation in a broader sense.
Abstract: It is well recognized that the green house gases such
as Chlorofluoro Carbon (CFC), CH4, CO2 etc. are responsible
directly or indirectly for the increase in the average global temperature
of the Earth. The presence of CFC is responsible for
the depletion of ozone concentration in the atmosphere due to
which the heat accompanied with the sun rays are less absorbed
causing increase in the atmospheric temperature of the Earth. The
gases like CH4 and CO2 are also responsible for the increase in
the atmospheric temperature. The increase in the temperature level
directly or indirectly affects the dynamics of interacting species
systems. Therefore, in this paper a mathematical model is proposed
and analysed using stability theory to asses the effects of increasing
temperature due to greenhouse gases on the survival or extinction of
populations in a prey-predator system. A threshold value in terms
of a stress parameter is obtained which determines the extinction or
existence of populations in the underlying system.
Abstract: This study focuses on examining why the range of
experience with respect to HIV infection is so diverse, especially in
regard to the latency period. An agent-based approach in modelling
the infection is used to extract high-level behaviour which cannot be
obtained analytically from the set of interaction rules at the cellular
level. A prototype model encompasses local variation in baseline
properties, contributing to the individual disease experience, and is
included in a network which mimics the chain of lymph nodes. The
model also accounts for stochastic events such as viral mutations.
The size and complexity of the model require major computational
effort and parallelisation methods are used.
Abstract: Problem Statement:Rapid technological developments of the 21st century have advanced our daily lives in various ways. Particularly in education, students frequently utilize technological resources to aid their homework and to access information. listen to radio or watch television (26.9 %) and e-mails (34.2 %) [26]. Not surprisingly, the increase in the use of technologies also resulted in an increase in the use of e-mail, instant messaging, chat rooms, mobile phones, mobile phone cameras and web sites by adolescents to bully peers. As cyber bullying occurs in the cyber space, lesser access to technologies would mean lesser cyber-harm. Therefore, the frequency of technology use is a significant predictor of cyber bullying and cyber victims. Cyber bullies try to harm the victim using various media. These tools include sending derogatory texts via mobile phones, sending threatening e-mails and forwarding confidential emails to everyone on the contacts list. Another way of cyber bullying is to set up a humiliating website and invite others to post comments. In other words, cyber bullies use e-mail, chat rooms, instant messaging, pagers, mobile texts and online voting tools to humiliate and frighten others and to create a sense of helplessness. No matter what type of bullying it is, it negatively affects its victims. Children who bully exhibit more emotional inhibition and attribute themselves more negative self-statements compared to non-bullies. Students whose families are not sympathetic and who receive lower emotional support are more prone to bully their peers. Bullies have authoritarian families and do not get along well with them. The family is the place where the children-s physical, social and psychological needs are satisfied and where their personalities develop. As the use of the internet became prevalent so did parents- restrictions on their children-s internet use. However, parents are unaware of the real harm. Studies that explain the relationship between parental attitudes and cyber bullying are scarce in literature. Thus, this study aims to investigate the relationship between cyber bullying and parental attitudes in the primary school. Purpose of Study: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between cyber bullying and parental attitudes. A second aim was to determine whether parental attitudes could predict cyber bullying and if so which variables could predict it significantly. Methods:The study had a cross-sectional and relational survey model. A demographics information form, questions about cyber bullying and a Parental Attitudes Inventory were conducted with a total of 346 students (189 females and 157 males) registered at various primary schools. Data was analysed by multiple regression analysis using the software package SPSS 16.
Abstract: Educational institutions often implement policies with
the intention of influencing how learning and teaching occur.
Generally, such policies are not as effective as their makers would
like; changing the behavior of third-level teachers proves difficult.
Nevertheless, a policy instituted in 2006 at the Dublin Institute of
Technology has met with success: each newly hired faculty member
must have a post-graduate qualification in “Learning and Teaching"
or successfully complete one within the first two years of
employment. The intention is to build teachers- knowledge about
student-centered pedagogies and their capacity to implement them.
As a result of this policy (and associated programs that support it),
positive outcomes are readily apparent. Individual teachers who have
completed the programs have implemented significant change at the
course and program levels. This paper introduces the policy,
identifies outcomes in relation to existing theory, describes research
underway, and pinpoints areas where organizational learning has
occurred.
Abstract: Few decades ago, electronic and sensor technologies
are merged into vehicles as the Advanced Driver Assistance
System(ADAS). However, sensor-based ADASs have limitations
about weather interference and a line-of-sight nature problem. In our
project, we investigate a Relative Position based ADAS(RP-ADAS).
We divide the RP-ADAS into four main research areas: GNSS,
VANET, Security/Privacy, and Application. In this paper, we research
the GNSS technologies and determine the most appropriate one. With
the performance evaluation, we figure out that the C/A code based
GPS technologies are inappropriate for 'which lane-level' application.
However, they can be used as a 'which road-level' application.
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: There are only limited studies that directly correlate
the increase in reinforced concrete (RC) panel structural capacities in
resisting the blast loads with different RC panel structural properties
in terms of blast loading characteristics, RC panel dimensions, steel
reinforcement ratio and concrete material strength. In this paper,
numerical analyses of dynamic response and damage of the one-way
RC panel to blast loads are carried out using the commercial software
LS-DYNA. A series of simulations are performed to predict the blast
response and damage of columns with different level and magnitude
of blast loads. The numerical results are used to develop pressureimpulse
(P-I) diagrams of one-way RC panels. Based on the
numerical results, the empirical formulae are derived to calculate the
pressure and impulse asymptotes of the P-I diagrams of RC panels.
The results presented in this paper can be used to construct P-I
diagrams of RC panels with different concrete and reinforcement
properties. The P-I diagrams are very useful to assess panel capacities
in resisting different blast loads.
Abstract: It has been established that microRNAs (miRNAs) play
an important role in gene expression by post-transcriptional regulation
of messengerRNAs (mRNAs). However, the precise relationships
between microRNAs and their target genes in sense of numbers,
types and biological relevance remain largely unclear. Dissecting the
miRNA-target relationships will render more insights for miRNA
targets identification and validation therefore promote the understanding
of miRNA function. In miRBase, miRanda is the key
algorithm used for target prediction for Zebrafish. This algorithm
is high-throughput but brings lots of false positives (noise). Since
validation of a large scale of targets through laboratory experiments
is very time consuming, several computational methods for miRNA
targets validation should be developed. In this paper, we present an
integrative method to investigate several aspects of the relationships
between miRNAs and their targets with the final purpose of extracting
high confident targets from miRanda predicted targets pool. This is
achieved by using the techniques ranging from statistical tests to
clustering and association rules. Our research focuses on Zebrafish.
It was found that validated targets do not necessarily associate with
the highest sequence matching. Besides, for some miRNA families,
the frequency of their predicted targets is significantly higher in the
genomic region nearby their own physical location. Finally, in a case
study of dre-miR-10 and dre-miR-196, it was found that the predicted
target genes hoxd13a, hoxd11a, hoxd10a and hoxc4a of dre-miR-
10 while hoxa9a, hoxc8a and hoxa13a of dre-miR-196 have similar
characteristics as validated target genes and therefore represent high
confidence target candidates.
Abstract: In this paper, we present a system for content-based
retrieval of large database of classified satellite images, based on
user's relevance feedback (RF).Through our proposed system, we
divide each satellite image scene into small subimages, which stored
in the database. The modified radial basis functions neural network
has important role in clustering the subimages of database according
to the Euclidean distance between the query feature vector and the
other subimages feature vectors. The advantage of using RF
technique in such queries is demonstrated by analyzing the database
retrieval results.
Abstract: An experiment was conducted with 80 unsexed
broilers of the Arbor Acress strain to determine the capability of a
carrot and fruit juice wastes mixture (carrot, apple, manggo, avocado,
orange, melon and Dutch egg plant) in the same proportion for
replacing corn in broiler diet. This study involved a completely
randomized design (CRD) with 5 treatments (0, 5, 10, 15, and 20% of
juice wastes mixture in diets) and 4 replicates per treatment. Diets
were isonitrogenous (22% crude protein) and isocaloric (3000 kcal/kg
diet). Measured variables were feed consumption, average daily
gain, feed conversion, as well as percentages of abdominal fat pad,
carcass, digestive organs (liver, pancreas and gizzard), and heart.
Data were analyzed by analysis of variance for CRD. Increasing
juice wastes mixture levels in diets increased feed consumption
(P
Abstract: Numerous concrete structures projects are currently running in Libya as part of a US$50 billion government funding. The
quality of concrete used in 20 different construction projects were assessed based mainly on the concrete compressive strength achieved. The projects are scattered all over the country and are at
various levels of completeness. For most of these projects, the
concrete compressive strength was obtained from test results of a
150mm standard cube mold. Statistical analysis of collected concrete
compressive strengths reveals that the data in general followed a
normal distribution pattern. The study covers comparison and assessment of concrete quality aspects such as: quality control, strength range, data standard deviation, data scatter, and ratio of minimum strength to design strength. Site quality control for these projects ranged from very good to poor according to ACI214 criteria [1]. The ranges (Rg) of the strength (max. strength – min. strength) divided by average strength are from (34% to 160%). Data scatter is
measured as the range (Rg) divided by standard deviation () and is
found to be (1.82 to 11.04), indicating that the range is ±3σ.
International construction companies working in Libya follow
different assessment criteria for concrete compressive strength in lieu
of national unified procedure. The study reveals that assessments of
concrete quality conducted by these construction companies usually
meet their adopted (internal) standards, but sometimes fail to meet
internationally known standard requirements. The assessment of
concrete presented in this paper is based on ACI, British standards
and proposed Libyan concrete strength assessment criteria.
Abstract: Multi-loop (De-centralized) Proportional-Integral-
Derivative (PID) controllers have been used extensively in process
industries due to their simple structure for control of multivariable
processes. The objective of this work is to design multiple-model
adaptive multi-loop PID strategy (Multiple Model Adaptive-PID)
and neural network based multi-loop PID strategy (Neural Net
Adaptive-PID) for the control of multivariable system. The first
method combines the output of multiple linear PID controllers,
each describing process dynamics at a specific level of operation.
The global output is an interpolation of the individual multi-loop
PID controller outputs weighted based on the current value of the
measured process variable. In the second method, neural network
is used to calculate the PID controller parameters based on the
scheduling variable that corresponds to major shift in the process
dynamics. The proposed control schemes are simple in structure with
less computational complexity. The effectiveness of the proposed
control schemes have been demonstrated on the CSTR process,
which exhibits dynamic non-linearity.
Abstract: This paper presents the visual control flow support of Visual Modeling and Transformation System (VMTS), which facilitates composing complex model transformations out of simple transformation steps and executing them. The VMTS Visual Control Flow Language (VCFL) uses stereotyped activity diagrams to specify control flow structures and OCL constraints to choose between different control flow branches. This work discusses the termination properties of VCFL and provides an algorithm to support the termination analysis of VCFL transformations.