Abstract: In automotive systems almost all steps concerning the
calibration of several control systems, e.g., low idle governor or
boost pressure governor, are made with the vehicle because the timeto-
production and cost requirements on the projects do not allow for
the vehicle analysis necessary to build reliable models. Here is
presented a procedure using parametric and NN (neural network)
models that enables the generation of vehicle system models based
on normal ECU engine control unit) vehicle measurements. These
models are locally valid and permit pre and follow-up calibrations so
that, only the final calibrations have to be done with the vehicle.
Abstract: This study analyzes characteristics determining
member’s willingness to invest in cooperatives using ordered logit
model. The data were collected in a field survey among 122
cooperative members in north-central China. The descriptive analysis
of survey evidence suggests that cooperatives in China generally
having poor ability to deliver the processing services related to
product package, grading, and storage, performing worse in
profitability, inability of providing returns to capital and obtaining
agricultural loan. The regression results demonstrate that members’
farm size, their satisfaction with cooperative price preferential
services, attitudes toward cooperative operational scale and
development potential have statistically significant impact on
willingness to invest.
Abstract: Bursa, since the establishment of the Ottoman Empire,
being on the important trade roads and having a capital accumulation
as a result of silk production, was one of the first cities of
modernization activities applied. Bursa maintained its importance
even during the Republican Period and became one of the most
important cities of the country and today is the fourth biggest and the
industrialized city in Turkey. Social, political, economical and
cultural changes occured with the reforms starting with the 1839
Edict of Tanzimat that aimed at modernizing the society and the
government and centralizing the political power began in the
Ottoman Empire. After the Tanzimat Reforms transformation of the
city changed and planning processes began in Bursa according to the
vision of Governors. The theresholds of the city are very important
data for a sustainable planning for the city planners. Main aim of this
study is to investigate the changes and transformations of the city
according to the changes in the socio-economical and cultural
properties for the city planners.
Abstract: Most standard software development methodologies
are often not applied to software projects in many developing
countries of the world. The approach generally practice is close to
what eXtreme Programming (XP) is likely promoting, just keep
coding and testing as the requirement evolves. XP is an agile
software process development methodology that has inherent
capability for improving efficiency of Business Software
Development (BSD). XP can facilitate Business-to-Development
(B2D) relationship due to its customer-oriented advocate. From
practitioner point of view, we applied XP to BSD and result shows
that customer involvement has positive impact on productivity, but
can as well frustrate the success of the project. In an effort to
promote software engineering practice in developing countries of
Africa, we present the experiment performed, lessons learned,
problems encountered and solution adopted in applying XP
methodology to BSD.
Abstract: Flexible manufacturing system is a system that is able to respond to changed conditions. In general, this flexibility is divided into two key categories and several subcategories. The first category is the so called machine flexibility which enables to make various products by the given machinery. The second category is routing flexibility enabling to execute the same operation by various machines. Flexible manufacturing systems usually consist of three main parts: CNC machine tools, transport system and control system. A higher level of flexible manufacturing systems is represented by the so called intelligent manufacturing systems.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose a new architecture for the implementation of the N-point Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), based on the Radix-2 Decimation in Frequency algorithm. This architecture is based on a pipeline circuit that can process a stream of samples and produce two FFT transform samples every clock cycle. Compared to existing implementations the architecture proposed achieves double processing speed using the same circuit complexity.
Abstract: Tomato nutrition value, color, flavor of their fruits and products depends mainly on lycopene, β-carotene, ascorbic acid, sugars and their ratio. The two most important carotenoids in fruits of tomato are lycopene, which determined fruits red color, and β- carotene, which accounts for approximately 7% of the tomato carotenoids. Therefore, tomato products and their quality can be well characterized by the content of these elements.Maturity at harvest is very important to composition and quality of tomatoes. This is especially a problem with tomatoes picked green since it is difficult to differentiate between mature and immature-green fruits. Typical and advanced mature-green tomatoes will usually attain a much better flavor than those picked at the immature or partially mature stages.To better understand the synthesis of biochemical compounds, their concentration should be compared not only at the last stage of maturity, but also during all fruit ripening period in different varieties.
Abstract: GFRG(Glass Fiber Reinforced Gypsum) wall is a green product which can erect a building fast in prefabricated method, but its application to high-rise residential buildings is limited for its poor lateral stiffness. This paper has proposed a modification to GFRG walls structure to increase its lateral stiffness, which aiming to erect small high-rise residential buildings as load-bearing walls. The elastic finite element analysis to it has shown the lateral deformation feature and the distributions of the axial force and the shear force. The analysis results show that the new GFRG reinforced concrete wall can be used for small high-rise residential buildings.
Abstract: Australia, while being a large and eager consumer of
innovative and cutting edge Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT), continues to struggle to remain a leader in
Technological Innovation. This paper has two main contributions to
address certain aspects of this complex issue. The first being the
current findings of an ongoing research project on Information and
Innovation Management in the Australian Information and
Communication Technologies (ICT) sector. The major issues being
considered by the project include: investigation of the possible
inherent entrepreneurial nature of ICT; how to foster ICT innovation;
and examination of the inherent difficulties currently found within
the ICT industry of Australia in regards to supporting the
development of innovative and creative ideas. The second major
contribution is details of the I.-C.A.N. (Innovation by Collaborative
Anonymous Networking) software application information
management tool created and evolving in our research group. I-CAN,
besides having a positive reinforcement acronym, is aimed at
facilitating productive collaborative innovation in an Australian
workplace. Such a work environment is frequently subjected to
cultural influences such as the 'tall poppy syndrome' and 'negative'
or 'unconstructive' peer-pressure. There influences are frequently
seen as inhibitors to employee participation, entrepreneurship and
innovation.
Abstract: A research study was conducted with an objective to propose a collaborative business strategy of a oil and gas trading company, representing PPT Energy Trading Co., Ltd., with its shareholder, especially electricity and power supply companies for LNG Form of Coal Bed Methane in B2B Transaction. Collaborative business strategy is a strategy to collaborate with other organizations due to have future benefits in both parties, or achieve the business objective through the collaboration of business, its strategy and partners. A structured interview was established to collect the required primary data from the company. Not only interview, but also company’s business plan and annual report were collected and analyzed for the company’s current condition. As the result, this research shows a recommendation to propose a new collaborative strategy with limiting its target market, diversifying product, conducting new business model, and considering other stakeholders.
Abstract: This paper discusses ways to foster cooperative learning through the integration of online communication technology. While the education experts believe constructivism produces a more positive learning experience, the educators are still facing problems in getting students to participate due to numerous reasons such as shy personality, language and cultural barriers. This paper will look into the factors that lead to lack of participations among students and how technology can be implemented to overcome these issues.
Abstract: This paper presents an efficient emission constrained
hydrothermal scheduling algorithm that deals with nonlinear
functions such as the water discharge characteristics, thermal cost,
and transmission loss. It is then incorporated into the hydrothermal
coordination program. The program has been tested on a practical
utility system having 32 thermal and 12 hydro generating units. Test
results show that a slight increase in production cost causes a
substantial reduction in emission.
Abstract: The expansion mechanism of a partially ionized plasma produced by laser interaction with solid target (copper) is studied. For this purpose we use a hydrodynamical model which includes a source term combined with Saha's equation. The obtained self-similar solution in the limit of quasi-neutrality shows that the expansion, at the earlier stage, is driven by the combination of thermal pressure and electrostatic potential. They are of the same magnitude. The initial ionized fraction and the temperature are the leading parameters of the expanding profiles,
Abstract: Recent widespread use of information and
communication technology has greatly changed information security
risks that businesses and institutions encounter. Along with this
situation, in order to ensure security and have confidence in electronic
trading, it has become important for organizations to take competent
information security measures to provide international confidence that
sensitive information is secure. Against this backdrop, the approach to
information security checking has come to an important issue, which
is believed to be common to all countries. The purpose of this paper is
to introduce the new system of information security checking program
in Korea and to propose synthetic information security
countermeasures under domestic circumstances in order to protect
physical equipment, security management and technology, and the
operation of security check for securing services on ISP(Internet
Service Provider), IDC(Internet Data Center), and
e-commerce(shopping malls, etc.)
Abstract: This article analyses the relationship between
sovereign credit risk rating and gross domestic product for Central
and Eastern European Countries for the period 1996 – 2010. In order
to study the metioned relationship, we have used a numerical
transformation of the risk qualification, thus: we marked 0 the lowest
risk; then, we went on ascending, with a pace of 5, up to the score of
355 corresponding to the maximum risk. The used method of analysis
is that of econometric modelling with EViews 7.0. programme. This
software allows the analysis of data into a pannel type system,
involving a mix of periods of time and series of data for different
entities. The main conclusion of the work is the one confirming the
negative relationship between the sovereign credit risk and the gross
domestic product for the Central European and Eastern countries
during the reviewed period.
Abstract: The Taiwan Health Literacy Scale (THLS) was developed to cope with the need of measuring heath literacy of Chinese-speaking adults in Taiwan. Although the scale was proven having good reliability and validity, it was not popularly adopted by the practitioners due to the length, and the time required completing. Based on the THLS, this research further invited healthcare professionals to review the original scale for a possible shorten work. Under the logic of THLS, the research adopted an analytic hierarchy process technique to consolidate the healthcare experts- assessments to shorten the original scale. There are fifteen items out of the original 66 items were identified having higher loadings. Confirmed by the experts and passed a pilot test with 40 undergraduate students, a short form of THLS is then introduced. This research then used 839 samples from the major cities of the Hua-lien county in the eastern part of Taiwan to test the reliability and validity of this new scale. The reliability of the scale is high and acceptable. The current scale is also highly correlated with the original, of which provide evidence for the validity of the scale.
Abstract: This paper describes the application of a model predictive controller to the problem of batch reactor temperature control. Although a great deal of work has been done to improve reactor throughput using batch sequence control, the control of the actual reactor temperature remains a difficult problem for many operators of these processes. Temperature control is important as many chemical reactions are sensitive to temperature for formation of desired products. This controller consist of two part (1) a nonlinear control method GLC (Global Linearizing Control) to create a linear model of system and (2) a Model predictive controller used to obtain optimal input control sequence. The temperature of reactor is tuned to track a predetermined temperature trajectory that applied to the batch reactor. To do so two input signals, electrical powers and the flow of coolant in the coil are used. Simulation results show that the proposed controller has a remarkable performance for tracking reference trajectory while at the same time it is robust against noise imposed to system output.
Abstract: Utilization of diverse germplasm is needed to enhance
the genetic diversity of cultivars. The objective of this study was to
evaluate the genetic relationships of 98 alfalfa germplasm accessions
using morphological traits and SSR markers. From the 98 tested
populations, 81 were locals originating in Europe, 17 were introduced
from USA, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Three primers
generated 67 polymorphic bands. The average polymorphic
information content (PIC) was very high (> 0.90) over all three used
primer combinations. Cluster analysis using Unweighted Pair Group
Method with Arithmetic Means (UPGMA) and Jaccard´s coefficient
grouped the accessions into 2 major clusters with 4 sub-clusters with
no correlation between genetic and morphological diversity. The SSR
analysis clearly indicated that even with three polymorphic primers,
reliable estimation of genetic diversity could be obtained.
Abstract: Based on statistics released by Islamic Republic of
Iran Police (IRIP), from among the total 9555 motorcycle accidents
that happened in 2007, 857 riders died and 11219 one got injured. If
we also consider the death toll and injuries of other vehicles'
accidents resulted from traffic violation by motorcycle riders, then
paying attention to the motorcycle accidents seems to be very
necessary. Therefore, in this study we tried to investigate the traits
and issues related to production, application, and training, along with
causes of motorcycle accidents from 4 perspectives of road, human,
environment and vehicle and also based on statistical and
geographical analysis of accident-sheets prepared by Iran Road
Patrol Department (IRPD). Unfamiliarity of riders with regulations
and techniques of motorcycling, disuse of safety equipments,
inefficiency of roads and design of junctions for safe trafficking of
motorcycles and finally the lack of sufficient control of responsible
organizations are among the major causes which lead to these
accidents.
Abstract: A novel method of individual level adaptive mutation rate control called the rank-scaled mutation rate for genetic algorithms is introduced. The rank-scaled mutation rate controlled genetic algorithm varies the mutation parameters based on the rank of each individual within the population. Thereby the distribution of the fitness of the papulation is taken into consideration in forming the new mutation rates. The best fit mutate at the lowest rate and the least fit mutate at the highest rate. The complexity of the algorithm is of the order of an individual adaptation scheme and is lower than that of a self-adaptation scheme. The proposed algorithm is tested on two common problems, namely, numerical optimization of a function and the traveling salesman problem. The results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms both the fixed and deterministic mutation rate schemes. It is best suited for problems with several local optimum solutions without a high demand for excessive mutation rates.