Abstract: Based on the fuzzy set theory this work develops two
adaptations of iterative methods that solve mathematical programming
problems with uncertainties in the objective function and in
the set of constraints. The first one uses the approach proposed by
Zimmermann to fuzzy linear programming problems as a basis and
the second one obtains cut levels and later maximizes the membership
function of fuzzy decision making using the bound search method.
We outline similarities between the two iterative methods studied.
Selected examples from the literature are presented to validate the
efficiency of the methods addressed.
Abstract: Petrol Fuel Station (PFS) has potential hazards to the
people, asset, environment and reputation of an operating company.
Fire hazards, static electricity air pollution evoked by aliphatic and
aromatic organic compounds are major causes of accident/incident
occurrence at fuel station. Activities such as carelessness,
maintenance, housekeeping, slips trips and falls, transportation
hazard, major and minor injuries, robbery and snake bites has a
potential to create unsafe conditions. The level of risk of these
hazards varies according to location and country. The emphasis on
safety considerations by the government is variable all around the
world. Developed countries safety records are much better as
compared to developing countries safety statistics. There is no
significant approach available to highlight the unsafe acts and unsafe
conditions during operation and maintenance of fuel station. Fuel
station is the most commonly available facilities that contain
flammable and hazardous materials. Due to continuous operation of
fuel station they pose various hazards to people, environment and
assets of an organization. To control these hazards, there is a need for
specific approach. PFS operation is unique as compared to other
businesses. For smooth operations it demands an involvement of
operating company, contractor and operator group. This study will
focus to address hazard contributing factors that have a potential to
make PFS operation risky. One year data collected, 902 activities
analyzed, comparisons were made to highlight significant
contributing factors. The study will provide help and assistance to
PFS outlet marketing companies to make their fuel station operation
safer. It will help health safety and environment (HSE) professionals
to arrest the gap available related to safety matters at PFS.
Abstract: In the numerical solution of the forward dynamics of a
multibody system, the positions and velocities of the bodies in the
system are obtained first. With the information of the system state
variables at each time step, the internal and external forces acting on
the system are obtained by appropriate contact force models if the
continuous contact method is used instead of a discrete contact
method. The local deformation of the bodies in contact, represented
by penetration, is used to compute the contact force. The ability and
suitability with current cylindrical contact force models to describe
the contact between bodies with cylindrical geometries with
particular focus on internal contacting geometries involving low
clearances and high loads simultaneously is discussed in this paper.
A comparative assessment of the performance of each model under
analysis for different contact conditions, in particular for very
different penetration and clearance values, is presented. It is
demonstrated that some models represent a rough approximation to
describe the conformal contact between cylindrical geometries
because contact forces are underestimated.
Abstract: In this paper, a novel and fast algorithm for segmental
and subsegmental lung vessel segmentation is introduced using
Computed Tomography Angiography images. This process is quite
important especially at the detection of pulmonary embolism, lung
nodule, and interstitial lung disease. The applied method has been
realized at five steps. At the first step, lung segmentation is achieved.
At the second one, images are threshold and differences between the
images are detected. At the third one, left and right lungs are gathered
with the differences which are attained in the second step and Exact
Lung Image (ELI) is achieved. At the fourth one, image, which is
threshold for vessel, is gathered with the ELI. Lastly, identifying and
segmentation of segmental and subsegmental lung vessel have been
carried out thanks to image which is obtained in the fourth step. The
performance of the applied method is found quite well for
radiologists and it gives enough results to the surgeries medically.
Abstract: In this work a new offline signature recognition system
based on Radon Transform, Fractal Dimension (FD) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) is presented. In the first step, projections of
original signatures along four specified directions have been performed using radon transform. Then, FDs of four obtained
vectors are calculated to construct a feature vector for each
signature. These vectors are then fed into SVM classifier for recognition of signatures. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of
the system several experiments are carried out. Offline signature
database from signature verification competition (SVC) 2004 is used
during all of the tests. Experimental result indicates that the proposed method achieved high accuracy rate in signature recognition.
Abstract: This document describes an electronic speed control designed to drive two DC motors from a 6 V battery pack to be controlled by a commercial universal infrared remote control hand set. Conceived for a tank-like vehicle, one motor drives the left side wheels or tracks and the other motor drives the right side. As it is shown here, there is a left-right steering input and a forward– backward throttles input, like would be used on a model car. It is designed using a microcontroller PIC16F873A.
Abstract: Vermiculite was used to develop inorganic
carrier-based formulations of fluorescent pseudomonad strains
R62 and R81. The effect of bio-inoculation of fluorescent
pseudomonad strains R62 and R81 (plant growth promoting
and biocontrol agent) on growth responses of Vigna-mungo
under field condition was enumerated. The combined bioinoculation
of these two organisms in a formuation increased
the pods yield by 300% in comparison to the control crop.
There was also significant increment in the other plant growth
responses such as dry root weight, dry shoot weight, shoot
length and number of branches per plant.
Abstract: Plants are commonly known for its positive
correlation in reducing temperature. Since it can benefit buildings by
modifying the microclimate, it-s also believed capable of reducing
the internal temperature. Various experiments have been done in
Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang to investigate the comparison in
thermal benefits between two rooms, one being a typical control
room (exposed wall) and the other a biofacade room (plant shaded
wall). The investigations were conducted during non-rainy season for
approximately a month. Climbing plant Psophocarpus
tetrogonobulus from legume species was selected as insulation for
the biofacade wall. Conclusions were made on whether the biofacade
can be used to tackle the energy efficiency, based on the parameters
taken into consideration.
Abstract: This paper provides an introduction into the evolution
of information and communication technology and illustrates its
usage in the work domain. The paper is sub-divided into two parts.
The first part gives an overview over the different phases of
information processing in the work domain. It starts by charting the
past and present usage of computers in work environments and shows
current technological trends, which are likely to influence future
business applications. The second part starts by briefly describing,
how the usage of computers changed business processes in the past,
and presents first Ambient Intelligence applications based on
identification and localization information, which are already used in
the production and retail sector. Based on current systems and
prototype applications, the paper gives an outlook of how Ambient
Intelligence technologies could change business processes in the
future.
Abstract: Policies that support entrepreneurship are keys to the
generation of new business. In Brazil, seed capital, installation of
technology parks, programs and zero interest financing, economic
subsidy as Program First Innovative Company (PRIME) are
examples of incentive policies. For the implementation of PRIME, in
particular the Brazilian Innovation Agency (FINEP) decentralized
operationalization so that business incubators could select innovative
projects. This paper analyzes the program PRIME Business Incubator
Center of the State of Sergipe (CISE) after calculating the mean and
standard deviation of the grades obtained by companies in the factors
of innovation, market potential, financial return economic, market
strategy and staff and application of the Mann-Whitney test.
Abstract: This paper proposes a methodology for analysis of
the dynamic behavior of a robotic manipulator in continuous
time. Initially this system (nonlinear system) will be decomposed
into linear submodels and analyzed in the context of the Linear
and Parameter Varying (LPV) Systems. The obtained linear
submodels, which represent the local dynamic behavior of the
robotic manipulator in some operating points were grouped in
a Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy structure. The obtained fuzzy model was
analyzed and validated through analog simulation, as universal
approximator of the robotic manipulator.
Abstract: The main purpose of this research is the calculation of implicit prices of the environmental level of air quality in the city of Moscow on the basis of housing property prices. The database used contains records of approximately 20 thousand apartments and has been provided by a leading real estate agency operating in Russia. The explanatory variables include physical characteristics of the houses, environmental (industry emissions), neighbourhood sociodemographic and geographic data: GPS coordinates of each house. The hedonic regression results for ecological variables show «negative» prices while increasing the level of air contamination from such substances as carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and particles (CO, NO2, SO2, TSP). The marginal willingness to pay for higher environmental quality is presented for linear and log-log models.
Abstract: The mechanical behavior of porous media is governed by the interaction between its solid skeleton and the fluid existing inside its pores. The interaction occurs through the interface of gains and fluid. The traditional analysis methods of porous media, based on the effective stress and Darcy's law, are unable to account for these interactions. For an accurate analysis, the porous media is represented in a fluid-filled porous solid on the basis of the Biot theory of wave propagation in poroelastic media. In Biot formulation, the equations of motion of the soil mixture are coupled with the global mass balance equations to describe the realistic behavior of porous media. Because of irregular geometry, the domain is generally treated as an assemblage of fmite elements. In this investigation, the numerical formulation for the field equations governing the dynamic response of fluid-saturated porous media is analyzed and employed for the study of transient wave motion. A finite element model is developed and implemented into a computer code called DYNAPM for dynamic analysis of porous media. The weighted residual method with 8-node elements is used for developing of a finite element model and the analysis is carried out in the time domain considering the dynamic excitation and gravity loading. Newmark time integration scheme is developed to solve the time-discretized equations which are an unconditionally stable implicit method Finally, some numerical examples are presented to show the accuracy and capability of developed model for a wide variety of behaviors of porous media.
Abstract: Discussion and development of principles of the
uniform nation formation within the limits of the Kazakhstan state
obviously became one of the most pressing questions of the day. The
fact that this question has not been solved "from above" as many
other questions has caused really brisk discussion, shows us increase
of civil consciousness in Kazakhstan society, and also the actuality of
this theme which can be carried in the category of fatal questions. In
any sense, nation building has raised civil society to a much higher
level. It would be better to begin with certain definitions. First is the
word "nation". The second is the "state". Both of these terms are very
closely connected with each other, so that in English language they
are in general synonyms. In Russian more shades of these terms
exist. For example in Kazakhstan the citizens of the country
irrespective of nationality (but mainly with reference to non-kazakhs)
are called «kazakhstanians», while the name of the title nation is
\"Kazakhs\". The same we can see in Russia, where, for example, the
Chechen or the Yakut –are \"Rossiyane\" which means “the citizens
of Russian Federation, but not \"Russians\".
The paper was written under the research project “Islam in modern
Kazakhstan: the nature and outcome of the religious revival”.
Abstract: The paper relates to a catalyst, comprising copperchromium
spinel, coated on carrier γ-Al2O3. The effect of preparation
conditions on the active component composition and activity
behavior of the catalysts is discussed. It was found that the activity of
carbon monoxide, DME, formaldehyde and methanol oxidation
reaches a maximum at an active component content of 20 – 30 wt. %.
Temperature calcination at 500oC seems to be optimal for the γ–
alumina supported CuO-Cr2O3 catalysts for CO, DME, formaldehyde
and methanol oxidation. A three months industrial experiment was
carried out to elucidate the changes in the catalyst composition
during industrial exploitation of the catalyst and the main reasons for
catalyst deactivation.
It was concluded that the CuO–Cr2O3/γ–alumina supported
catalysts have enhanced activity toward CO, DME, formaldehyde
and methanol oxidation and that these catalysts are suitable for
industrial application. The main reason for catalyst deactivation
seems to be the deposition of iron and molybdenum, coming from the
main reactor, on the active component surface.
Abstract: Raman spectroscopy are used to characterize the
chemical changes in normoxic polyhydroxyethylacrylate gel
dosimeter (PHEA) induced by radiation. Irradiations in the low dose
region are performed and the polymerizations of PHEA gels are
monitored by the observing the changes of Raman shift intensity of
the carbon covalent bond of PHEA originated from both monomer
and the cross-linker. The variation in peak intensities with absorbed
dose was observed. As the dose increase, the peak intensities of
covalent bond of carbon in the polymer gels decrease. This point out
that the amount of absorbed dose affect the polymerization of
polymer gels. As the absorbed dose increase, the polymerizations
also increase. Results verify that PHEA gel dosimeters are sensitive
even in lower dose region.
Abstract: The pipe inspection operation is the difficult detective
performance. Almost applications are mainly relies on a manual
recognition of defective areas that have carried out detection by an
engineer. Therefore, an automation process task becomes a necessary
in order to avoid the cost incurred in such a manual process. An
automated monitoring method to obtain a complete picture of the
sewer condition is proposed in this work. The focus of the research is
the automated identification and classification of discontinuities in
the internal surface of the pipe. The methodology consists of several
processing stages including image segmentation into the potential
defect regions and geometrical characteristic features. Automatic
recognition and classification of pipe defects are carried out by means
of using an artificial neural network technique (ANN) based on
Radial Basic Function (RBF). Experiments in a realistic environment
have been conducted and results are presented.
Abstract: Since primary school trips usually start from home,
attention by many scholars have been focused on the home end for
data gathering. Thereafter category analysis has often been relied
upon when predicting school travel demands. In this paper, school
end was relied on for data gathering and multivariate regression for
future travel demand prediction. 9859 pupils were surveyed by way
of questionnaires at 21 primary schools. The town was divided into 5
zones. The study was carried out in Skudai Town, Malaysia. Based
on the hypothesis that the number of primary school trip ends are
expected to be the same because school trips are fixed, the choice of
trip end would have inconsequential effect on the outcome. The
study compared empirical data for home and school trip end
productions and attractions. Variance from both data results was
insignificant, although some claims from home based family survey
were found to be grossly exaggerated. Data from the school trip ends
was relied on for travel demand prediction because of its
completeness. Accessibility, trip attraction and trip production were
then related to school trip rates under daylight and dry weather
conditions. The paper concluded that, accessibility is an important
parameter when predicting demand for future school trip rates.
Abstract: In this study, a nickel film with nano-crystalline grains,
high hardness and smooth surface was electrodeposited using a post
supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) mixed Watts electrolyte. Although
the hardness was not as high as its Sc-CO2 counterpart, the thin coating
contained significantly less number of nano-sized pinholes. By
measuring the escape concentration of the dissolved CO2 in post
Sc-CO2 mixed electrolyte with the elapsed time, it was believed that
the residue of dissolved CO2 bubbles should closely relate to the
improvement in hardness and surface roughness over its conventional
plating counterpart. Therefore, shortening the duration of
electroplating with the raise of current density up to 0.5 A/cm2 could
effectively retain more post Sc-CO2 mixing effect. This study not only
confirms the roles of dissolved CO2 bubbles in electrolyte but also
provides a potential process to overcome most issues associated with
the cost in building high-pressure chamber for large size products and
continuous plating using supercritical method.
Abstract: Background: Tissue Doppler Echocardiography
(TDE) assesses diastolic function more accurately than routine pulse
Doppler echo. Assessment of the effects of dynamic and static
exercises on the heart by using TDE can provides new information
about the athlete-s heart syndrome. Methods: This study was
conducted on 20 elite wrestlers, 14 endurance runners at national
level and 21 non-athletes as the control group. Participants underwent
two-dimensional echocardiography, standard Doppler and TDE.
Results: Wrestlers had the highest left ventricular mass index, enddiastolic
inter-ventricular septum thickness and left ventricular
Posterior wall thickness. Runners had the highest Left ventricular
end-diastolic volume, LV ejection fraction, stroke volume and
cardiac output. In TDE, the early diastolic velocity of mitral annulus
to the late diastolic velocity ratio in athletic groups was greater than
the controls with no significant difference. Conclusion: In spite of
cardiac morphological changes in athletes, TDE shows that cardiac
diastolic function won-t be adversely affected.