Abstract: Wheat prediction was carried out using different meteorological variables together with agro meteorological indices in Ardebil district for the years 2004-2005 & 2005–2006. On the basis of correlation coefficients, standard error of estimate as well as relative deviation of predicted yield from actual yield using different statistical models, the best subset of agro meteorological indices were selected including daily minimum temperature (Tmin), accumulated difference of maximum & minimum temperatures (TD), growing degree days (GDD), accumulated water vapor pressure deficit (VPD), sunshine hours (SH) & potential evapotranspiration (PET). Yield prediction was done two months in advance before harvesting time which was coincide with commencement of reproductive stage of wheat (5th of June). It revealed that in the final statistical models, 83% of wheat yield variability was accounted for variation in above agro meteorological indices.
Abstract: Although there have been many researches in cluster
analysis to consider on feature weights, little effort is made on sample
weights. Recently, Yu et al. (2011) considered a probability
distribution over a data set to represent its sample weights and then
proposed sample-weighted clustering algorithms. In this paper, we
give a sample-weighted version of generalized fuzzy clustering
regularization (GFCR), called the sample-weighted GFCR
(SW-GFCR). Some experiments are considered. These experimental
results and comparisons demonstrate that the proposed SW-GFCR is
more effective than the most clustering algorithms.
Abstract: Public sector corruption has long-term and damaging
effects that are deep and broad. Addressing corruption relies on
understanding the drivers that precipitate acts of corruption and
developing educational programs that target areas of vulnerability.
This paper provides an innovative approach to explore the nature of
corruption by drawing on the perceptions and ideas of a group of
public servants who have been part of a corruption investigation. The
paper examines these reflections through the ideas of Pierre Bourdieu
and Alfred Schutz to point to some of the steps that can lead to
corrupt activity. The paper demonstrates that phenomenological
inquiry is useful in the exploration of corruption and, as a theoretical
framework, it highlights that corruption emerges through a
combination of conflict, doubt and uncertainty. The paper calls for
anti-corruption education programs to be attentive to way in which
these conditions can influence the steps into corruption.
Abstract: In recent years linguistic research has turned
increasing attention to covert/overt strategies to modulate authorial
stance and positioning in scientific texts, and to the recipients'
response. This study discussed some theoretical implications of the
use of rhetoric in scientific communication and analysed qualitative
data from the authoritative The Cognitive Neurosciences III (2004)
volume. Its genre-identity, status and readability were considered, in
the social interactive context of contemporary disciplinary discourses
– in their polyphony of traditional and new, emerging genres.
Evidence was given of the ways its famous authors negotiate and
shape knowledge and research results – explicitly appraising team
work and promoting faith in the fast-paced progress of Cognitive
Neuroscience, also through experiential metaphors – by presenting a
set of examples, ordered according to their dominant rhetorical
quality.
Abstract: The problem of spam has been seriously troubling the Internet community during the last few years and currently reached an alarming scale. Observations made at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research located in Geneva, Switzerland) show that spam mails can constitute up to 75% of daily SMTP traffic. A naïve Bayesian classifier based on a Bag Of Words representation of an email is widely used to stop this unwanted flood as it combines good performance with simplicity of the training and classification processes. However, facing the constantly changing patterns of spam, it is necessary to assure online adaptability of the classifier. This work proposes combining such a classifier with another NBC (naïve Bayesian classifier) based on pairs of adjacent words. Only the latter will be retrained with examples of spam reported by users. Tests are performed on considerable sets of mails both from public spam archives and CERN mailboxes. They suggest that this architecture can increase spam recall without affecting the classifier precision as it happens when only the NBC based on single words is retrained.
Abstract: Magnetic and semiconductor nanomaterials exhibit
novel magnetic and optical properties owing to their unique size and
shape-dependent effects. With shrinking the size down to nanoscale
region, various anomalous properties that normally not present in bulk
start to dominate. Ability in harnessing of these anomalous properties
for the design of various advance electronic devices is strictly
dependent on synthetic strategies. Hence, current research has focused
on developing a rational synthetic control to produce high quality
nanocrystals by using organometallic approach to tune both size and
shape of the nanomaterials. In order to elucidate the growth
mechanism, transmission electron microscopy was employed as a
powerful tool in performing real time-resolved morphologies and
structural characterization of magnetic (Fe3O4) and semiconductor
(ZnO) nanocrystals. The current synthetic approach is found able to
produce nanostructures with well-defined shapes. We have found that
oleic acid is an effective capping ligand in preparing oxide-based
nanostructures without any agglomerations, even at high temperature.
The oleate-based precursors and capping ligands are fatty acid
compounds, which are respectively originated from natural palm oil
with low toxicity. In comparison with other synthetic approaches in
producing nanostructures, current synthetic method offers an effective
route to produce oxide-based nanomaterials with well-defined shapes
and good monodispersity. The nanocystals are well-separated with
each other without any stacking effect. In addition, the as-synthesized
nanopellets are stable in terms of chemically and physically if
compared to those nanomaterials that are previous reported. Further
development and extension of current synthetic strategy are being
pursued to combine both of these materials into nanocomposite form
that will be used as “smart magnetic nanophotocatalyst" for industry
waste water treatment.
Abstract: Using the concept of measure of noncompactness, we present some results concerning the existence, uniform local attractivity and global attractivity of solutions for a functional integral equation. Our results improve and extend some previous known results and based on weaker conditions. Some examples which show that our results are applicable when the previous results are inapplicable are also included.
Abstract: The stability analysis of Marangoni convection in porous media with a deformable upper free surface is investigated. The linear stability theory and the normal mode analysis are applied and the resulting eigenvalue problem is solved exactly. The Darcy law and the Brinkman model are used to describe the flow in the porous medium heated from below. The effect of the Crispation number, Bond number and the Biot number are analyzed for the stability of the system. It is found that a decrease in the Crispation number and an increase in the Bond number delay the onset of convection in porous media. In addition, the system becomes more stable when the Biot number is increases and the Daeff number is decreases.
Abstract: Presents a concept for a multidisciplinary process
supporting effective task transitions between different technical
domains during the architectural design stage.
A system configuration challenge is the multifunctional driven
increased solution space. As a consequence, more iteration is needed
to find a global optimum, i.e. a compromise between involved
disciplines without negative impact on development time. Since state
of the art standards like ISO 15288 and VDI 2206 do not provide a
detailed methodology on multidisciplinary design process, higher
uncertainties regarding final specifications arise. This leads to the
need of more detailed and standardized concepts or processes which
could mitigate risks.
The performed work is based on analysis of multidisciplinary
interaction, of modeling and simulation techniques. To demonstrate
and prove the applicability of the presented concept, it is applied to
the design of aircraft high lift systems, in the context of the
engineering disciplines kinematics, actuation, monitoring, installation
and structure design.
Abstract: In this paper, the issue of pth moment stability of a class of stochastic neural networks with mixed delays is investigated. By establishing two integro-differential inequalities, some new sufficient conditions ensuring pth moment exponential stability are obtained. Compared with some previous publications, our results generalize some earlier works reported in the literature, and remove some strict constraints of time delays and kernel functions. Two numerical examples are presented to illustrate the validity of the main results.
Abstract: In this project, a tele-operated anthropomorphic
robotic arm and hand is designed and built as a versatile robotic arm
system. The robot has the ability to manipulate objects such as pick
and place operations. It is also able to function by itself, in
standalone mode.
Firstly, the robotic arm is built in order to interface with a personal
computer via a serial servo controller circuit board. The circuit board
enables user to completely control the robotic arm and moreover,
enables feedbacks from user. The control circuit board uses a
powerful integrated microcontroller, a PIC (Programmable Interface
Controller). The PIC is firstly programmed using BASIC (Beginner-s
All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) and it is used as the 'brain'
of the robot. In addition a user friendly Graphical User Interface
(GUI) is developed as the serial servo interface software using
Microsoft-s Visual Basic 6.
The second part of the project is to use speech recognition control
on the robotic arm. A speech recognition circuit board is constructed
with onboard components such as PIC and other integrated circuits. It
replaces the computers- Graphical User Interface. The robotic arm is
able to receive instructions as spoken commands through a
microphone and perform operations with respect to the commands
such as picking and placing operations.
Abstract: This study is to evaluate the behavior of integral and
segmental specimens through static and cyclic tests. Integral
specimens were made with the same size to be compared with
segmental specimens that were made by connected precast members.
To evaluate its bending performance and serviceability, 1 integral and
3 segmental specimens were tested under static load. And 1 integral
and 2 segmental specimens were tested under cyclic load, respectively.
Different load ranges were considered in the cyclic tests to evaluate the
safety and serviceability. The test results showed that under static
loading, segmental specimens had about 94% of the integral
specimen's maximum moment, averagely. Under cyclic loading, the
segmental specimens showed that had enough safety in the range of
higher than service load and enough serviceability. In conclusion, the
maximum crack width (0.16mm) satisfied the allowable crack width
(0.30mm) in the range of service load.
Abstract: Natural pozzolan (NP) is one of the potential
prehistoric alternative binders in the construction industry. It has
been investigated as cement replacement in ordinary concrete by
several researchers for many purposes. Various supplementary
cementitious materials (SCMs) such as fly ash, limestone dust and
silica fume are widely used in the production of SCC; however,
limited studies to address the effect of NP on the properties of SCC
are documented. The current research is composed of different SCC
paste and concrete mixtures containing different replacement levels
of local NP as an alternative SCM. The effect of volume of paste
containing different amounts of local NP related to W/B ratio and
cement content on SCC fresh properties was assessed. The variations
in the fresh properties of SCC paste and concrete represented by
slump flow (flowability) and the flow rate were determined and
discussed. The results indicated that the flow properties of SCC paste
and concrete mixtures, at their optimized superplasticizer dosages,
were affected by the binder content of local NP and the total volume
fraction of SCC paste.
Abstract: Voltage collapse is instability of heavily loaded electric
power systems that cause to declining voltages and blackout. Power
systems are predicated to become more heavily loaded in the future
decade as the demand for electric power rises while economic and
environmental concerns limit the construction of new transmission
and generation capacity. Heavily loaded power systems are closer to
their stability limits and voltage collapse blackouts will occur if
suitable monitoring and control measures are not taken. To control
transmission lines, it can be used from FACTS devices.
In this paper Harmony search algorithm (HSA) and Genetic
Algorithm (GA) have applied to determine optimal location of
FACTS devices in a power system to improve power system stability.
Three types of FACTS devices (TCPAT, UPFS, and SVC) have been
introduced. Bus under voltage has been solved by controlling reactive
power of shunt compensator. Also a combined series-shunt
compensators has been also used to control transmission power flow
and bus voltage simultaneously.
Different scenarios have been considered. First TCPAT, UPFS, and
SVC are placed solely in transmission lines and indices have been
calculated. Then two types of above controller try to improve
parameters randomly. The last scenario tries to make better voltage
stability index and losses by implementation of three types controller
simultaneously. These scenarios are executed on typical 34-bus test
system and yields efficiency in improvement of voltage profile and
reduction of power losses; it also may permit an increase in power
transfer capacity, maximum loading, and voltage stability margin.
Abstract: New generation mobile communication networks have
the ability of supporting triple play. In order that, Orthogonal
Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) access techniques have
been chosen to enlarge the system ability for high data rates
networks. Many of cross-layer modeling and optimization schemes
for Quality of Service (QoS) and capacity of downlink multiuser
OFDM system were proposed. In this paper, the Maximum Weighted
Capacity (MWC) based resource allocation at the Physical (PHY)
layer is used. This resource allocation scheme provides a much better
QoS than the previous resource allocation schemes, while
maintaining the highest or nearly highest capacity and costing similar
complexity. In addition, the Delay Satisfaction (DS) scheduling at the
Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, which allows more than one
connection to be served in each slot is used. This scheduling
technique is more efficient than conventional scheduling to
investigate both of the number of users as well as the number of
subcarriers against system capacity. The system will be optimized for
different operational environments: the outdoor deployment scenarios
as well as the indoor deployment scenarios are investigated and also
for different channel models. In addition, effective capacity approach
[1] is used not only for providing QoS for different mobile users, but
also to increase the total wireless network's throughput.
Abstract: This paper addresses parameter and state estimation problem in the presence of the perturbation of observer gain bounded input disturbances for the Lipschitz systems that are linear in unknown parameters and nonlinear in states. A new nonlinear adaptive resilient observer is designed, and its stability conditions based on Lyapunov technique are derived. The gain for this observer is derived systematically using linear matrix inequality approach. A numerical example is provided in which the nonlinear terms depend on unmeasured states. The simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Abstract: In this work, a Modified Functional Link Artificial
Neural Network (M-FLANN) is proposed which is simpler than a
Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) and improves upon the universal
approximation capability of Functional Link Artificial Neural
Network (FLANN). MLP and its variants: Direct Linear Feedthrough
Artificial Neural Network (DLFANN), FLANN and
M-FLANN have been implemented to model a simulated Water Bath
System and a Continually Stirred Tank Heater (CSTH). Their
convergence speed and generalization ability have been compared.
The networks have been tested for their interpolation and
extrapolation capability using noise-free and noisy data. The results
show that M-FLANN which is computationally cheap, performs
better and has greater generalization ability than other networks
considered in the work.
Abstract: In this paper, a semi-fragile watermarking scheme is proposed for color image authentication. In this particular scheme, the color image is first transformed from RGB to YST color space, suitable for watermarking the color media. Each channel is divided into 4×4 non-overlapping blocks and its each 2×2 sub-block is selected. The embedding space is created by setting the two LSBs of selected sub-block to zero, which will hold the authentication and recovery information. For verification of work authentication and parity bits denoted by 'a' & 'p' are computed for each 2×2 subblock. For recovery, intensity mean of each 2×2 sub-block is computed and encoded upto six to eight bits depending upon the channel selection. The size of sub-block is important for correct localization and fast computation. For watermark distribution 2DTorus Automorphism is implemented using a private key to have a secure mapping of blocks. The perceptibility of watermarked image is quite reasonable both subjectively and objectively. Our scheme is oblivious, correctly localizes the tampering and able to recovery the original work with probability of near one.
Abstract: The analytical prediction of the decay heat results
from the fast neutron fission of actinides was initiated under a project, 10-MAT1134-3, funded by king Abdulaziz City of Science
and Technology (KASCT), Long-Term Comprehensive National Plan for Science, Technology and Innovations, managed by a team
from King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Saudi Arabia, and
supervised by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) has collaborated
with KAU's team to assist in the computational analysis. In this paper, the numerical solution of coupled linear differential equations
that describe the decays and buildups of minor fission product MFA, has been used to predict the total decay heat and its components from the fast neutron fission of 235U and 239Pu. The reliability of the present approach is illustrated via systematic
comparisons with the measurements reported by the University of
Tokyo, in YAYOI reactor.
Abstract: Sweet potato products are necessary for the provision
of essential nutrients in every household, regardless of their poverty
status. Their consumption appears to be highly influenced by socioeconomic
factors, such as malnutrition, food insecurity and
unemployment. Therefore, market availability is crucial for these
cultivars to resolve some of the socio-economic factors. The aim of
the study was to investigate market availability of sweet potato
cultivars in the North West Province. In this study, both qualitative
and quantitative research methodologies were used. Qualitative
methodology was used to explain the quantitative outcomes of the
variables. On the other hand, quantitative results were used to test the
hypothesis. The study used SPSS software to analyse the data. Crosstabulation
and Chi-square statistics were used to obtain the
descriptive and inferential analyses, respectively. The study found
that the Blesbok cultivar is dominating the markets of the North West
Province, with the Monate cultivar dominating in the Bojanala
Platinum (75%) and Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati (25%) districts. It
is also found that a unit increase in the supply of sweet potato
cultivars in both local and district municipal markets is accompanied
by a reduced demand of 28% and 33% at district and local markets,
respectively. All these results were found to be significant at p