Abstract: The effects of divers carbon substrates were
investigated for the tabtoxin production of an isolated pathogenic
Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci, the causal agent of wildfire of
tobacco and are discussed in relation to the bacterium growth. The
isolated organism was grown in batch culture on Woolley's
medium (28°C, 200 rpm, during 5 days). The growth has been
measured by the optical density (OD) at 620 nm and the tabtoxin
production quantified by Escherichia coli (K-12) bioassay
technique. The growth and the tabtoxin production were both
influenced by the substrates (sugars, amino acids, organic acids)
used, each, as a sole carbon source and as a supplement for the
same amino acids. The most significant quantities of tabtoxin were
obtained in presence of some amino acids used as sole carbon
source and/or as supplement.
Abstract: Although backpropagation ANNs generally predict
better than decision trees do for pattern classification problems, they
are often regarded as black boxes, i.e., their predictions cannot be
explained as those of decision trees. In many applications, it is
desirable to extract knowledge from trained ANNs for the users to
gain a better understanding of how the networks solve the problems.
A new rule extraction algorithm, called rule extraction from artificial
neural networks (REANN) is proposed and implemented to extract
symbolic rules from ANNs. A standard three-layer feedforward ANN
is the basis of the algorithm. A four-phase training algorithm is
proposed for backpropagation learning. Explicitness of the extracted
rules is supported by comparing them to the symbolic rules generated
by other methods. Extracted rules are comparable with other methods
in terms of number of rules, average number of conditions for a rule,
and predictive accuracy. Extensive experimental studies on several
benchmarks classification problems, such as breast cancer, iris,
diabetes, and season classification problems, demonstrate the
effectiveness of the proposed approach with good generalization
ability.
Abstract: During the last couple of years, the degree of dependence on IT systems has reached a dimension nobody imagined to be possible 10 years ago. The increased usage of mobile devices (e.g., smart phones), wireless sensor networks and embedded devices (Internet of Things) are only some examples of the dependency of modern societies on cyber space. At the same time, the complexity of IT applications, e.g., because of the increasing use of cloud computing, is rising continuously. Along with this, the threats to IT security have increased both quantitatively and qualitatively, as recent examples like STUXNET or the supposed cyber attack on Illinois water system are proofing impressively. Once isolated control systems are nowadays often publicly available - a fact that has never been intended by the developers. Threats to IT systems don’t care about areas of responsibility. Especially with regard to Cyber Warfare, IT threats are no longer limited to company or industry boundaries, administrative jurisdictions or state boundaries. One of the important countermeasures is increased cooperation among the participants especially in the field of Cyber Defence. Besides political and legal challenges, there are technical ones as well. A better, at least partially automated exchange of information is essential to (i) enable sophisticated situational awareness and to (ii) counter the attacker in a coordinated way. Therefore, this publication performs an evaluation of state of the art Intrusion Detection Message Exchange protocols in order to guarantee a secure information exchange between different entities.
Abstract: Achievement motivation is believed to promote
giftedness attracting people to invest in many programs to adopt
gifted students providing them with challenging activities.
Intellectual giftedness is founded on the fluid intelligence and
extends to more specific abilities through the growth and inputs from
the achievement motivation. Acknowledging the roles played by the
motivation in the development of giftedness leads to an effective
nurturing of gifted individuals. However, no study has investigated
the direct and indirect effects of the achievement motivation and
fluid intelligence on intellectual giftedness. Thus, this study
investigated the contribution of motivation factors to giftedness
development by conducting tests of fluid intelligence using Cattell
Culture Fair Test (CCFT) and analytical abilities using culture
reduced test items covering problem solving, pattern recognition,
audio-logic, audio-matrices, and artificial language, and self report
questionnaire for the motivational factors. A number of 180 highscoring
students were selected using CCFT from a leading university
in Malaysia. Structural equation modeling was employed using Amos
V.16 to determine the direct and indirect effects of achievement
motivation factors (self confidence, success, perseverance,
competition, autonomy, responsibility, ambition, and locus of
control) on the intellectual giftedness. The findings showed that the
hypothesized model fitted the data, supporting the model postulates
and showed significant and strong direct and indirect effects of the
motivation and fluid intelligence on the intellectual giftedness.
Abstract: In this paper, a PSO-based approach is proposed to
derive a digital controller for redesigned digital systems having an interval plant based on resemblance of the extremal gain/phase
margins. By combining the interval plant and a controller as an interval system, extremal GM/PM associated with the loop transfer function
can be obtained. The design problem is then formulated as an optimization problem of an aggregated error function revealing the deviation on the extremal GM/PM between the redesigned digital
system and its continuous counterpart, and subsequently optimized by
a proposed PSO to obtain an optimal set of parameters for the digital controller. Computer simulations have shown that frequency
responses of the redesigned digital system having an interval plant bare a better resemblance to its continuous-time counter part by the incorporation of a PSO-derived digital controller in comparison to those obtained using existing open-loop discretization methods.
Abstract: Due to the high percentage of induction motors in industrial market, there exist a large opportunity for energy savings. Replacement of working induction motors with more efficient ones can be an important resource for energy savings. A calculation of energy savings and payback periods, as a result of such a replacement, based on nameplate motor efficiency or manufacture-s data can lead to large errors [1]. Efficiency of induction motors (IMs) can be extracted using some procedures that use the no-load test results. In the cases that we must estimate the efficiency on-line, some of these procedures can-t be efficient. In some cases the efficiency estimates using the rating values of the motor, but these procedures can have errors due to the different working condition of the motor. In this paper the efficiency of an IM estimated by using the genetic algorithm. The results are compared with the measured values of the torque and power. The results show smaller errors for this procedure compared with the conventional classical procedures, hence the cost of the equipments is reduced and on-line estimation of the efficiency can be made.
Abstract: One of the long standing challenging aspect in mobile robotics is the ability to navigate autonomously, avoiding modeled and unmodeled obstacles especially in crowded and unpredictably changing environment. A successful way of structuring the navigation task in order to deal with the problem is within behavior based navigation approaches. In this study, Issues of individual behavior design and action coordination of the behaviors will be addressed using fuzzy logic. A layered approach is employed in this work in which a supervision layer based on the context makes a decision as to which behavior(s) to process (activate) rather than processing all behavior(s) and then blending the appropriate ones, as a result time and computational resources are saved.
Abstract: The recent global financial problem urges government
to play role in stimulating the economy due to the fact that private
sector has little ability to purchase during the recession. A concerned
question is whether the increased government spending crowds out
private consumption and whether it helps stimulate the economy. If
the government spending policy is effective; the private consumption
is expected to increase and can compensate the recent extra
government expense. In this study, the government spending is
categorized into government consumption spending and government
capital spending. The study firstly examines consumer consumption
along the line with the demand function in microeconomic theory.
Three categories of private consumption are used in the study. Those
are food consumption, non food consumption, and services
consumption. The dynamic Almost Ideal Demand System of the three
categories of the private consumption is estimated using the Vector
Error Correction Mechanism model. The estimated model indicates
the substituting effects (negative impacts) of the government
consumption spending on budget shares of private non food
consumption and of the government capital spending on budget share
of private food consumption, respectively. Nevertheless the result
does not necessarily indicate whether the negative effects of changes
in the budget shares of the non food and the food consumption means
fallen total private consumption. Microeconomic consumer demand
analysis clearly indicates changes in component structure of
aggregate expenditure in the economy as a result of the government
spending policy. The macroeconomic concept of aggregate demand
comprising consumption, investment, government spending (the
government consumption spending and the government capital
spending), export, and import are used to estimate for their
relationship using the Vector Error Correction Mechanism model.
The macroeconomic study found no effect of the government capital
spending on either the private consumption or the growth of GDP
while the government consumption spending has negative effect on
the growth of GDP. Therefore no crowding out effect of the
government spending is found on the private consumption but it is
ineffective and even inefficient expenditure as found reducing growth
of the GDP in the context of Thailand.
Abstract: The UML modeling of complex distributed systems often is a great challenge due to the large amount of parallel real-time operating components. In this paper the problems of verification of such systems are discussed. ECPN, an Extended Colored Petri Net is defined to formally describe state transitions of components and interactions among components. The relationship between sequence diagrams and Free Choice Petri Nets is investigated. Free Choice Petri Net theory helps verifying the liveness of sequence diagrams. By converting sequence diagrams to ECPNs and then comparing behaviors of sequence diagram ECPNs and statecharts, the consistency among models is analyzed. Finally, a verification process for an example model is demonstrated.
Abstract: This paper presents the idea of a rough controller with application to control the overhead traveling crane system. The structure of such a controller is based on a suggested concept of a fuzzy logic controller. A measure of fuzziness in rough sets is introduced. A comparison between fuzzy logic controller and rough controller has been demonstrated. The results of a simulation comparing the performance of both controllers are shown. From these results we infer that the performance of the proposed rough controller is satisfactory.
Abstract: Pattern recognition and image recognition methods are commonly developed and tested using testbeds, which contain known responses to a query set. Until now, testbeds available for image analysis and content-based image retrieval (CBIR) have been scarce and small-scale. Here we present the one million images CEA-List Image Collection (CLIC) testbed that we have produced, and report on our use of this testbed to evaluate image analysis merging techniques. This testbed will soon be made publicly available through the EU MUSCLE Network of Excellence.
Abstract: Future space vehicles will require the use of non-toxic, cryogenic propellants, because of the performance advantages over the toxic hypergolic propellants and also because of the environmental and handling concerns. A prototypical capillary flow liquid acquisition device (LAD) for cryogenic propellants was fabricated with a mesh screen, covering a rectangular flow channel with a cylindrical outlet tube, and was tested with liquid oxygen (LOX). In order to better understand the performance in various gravity environments and orientations with different submersion depths of the LAD, a series of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of LOX flow through the LAD screen channel, including horizontally and vertically submersions of the LAD channel assembly at normal gravity environment was conducted. Gravity effects on the flow field in LAD channel are inspected and analyzed through comparing the simulations.
Abstract: This study was conducted to evaluate factors
regulating groundwater quality in an area with agriculture as main
use. Under this study twelve groundwater samples have been
collected from Padra taluka, Dabhoi taluka and Savli taluka of
Vadodara district. Groundwater samples were chemically analyzed
for major physicochemical parameter in order to understand the
different geochemical processes affecting the groundwater quality.
The analytical results shows higher concentration of total dissolved
solids (16.67%), electrical conductivity (25%) and magnesium
(8.33%) for pre monsoon and total dissolved solids (16.67%),
electrical conductivity (33.3%) and magnesium (8.33%) for post
monsoon which indicates signs of deterioration as per WHO and BIS
standards. On the other hand, 50% groundwater sample is unsuitable
for irrigation purposes based on irrigation quality parameters. The
study revealed that application of fertilizer for agricultural
contributing the higher concentration of ions in aquifer of Vadodara
district.
Abstract: Not with standing the importance of foreign highly
skilled professionals for host economies, there is a paucity of
research studies investigating the role of the corporate social context
during the integration process. This research aims to address this
paucity by exploring the role of social capital in the integration of
foreign health professionals. It does so by using a qualitative research
approach. In this pilot study the hospital sector forms this study-s
sample and interviews were conducted with HR managers, foreign
health professionals and external HR consultants. It was found that
most of the participating hospitals had not established specific HR
practices and had only partly linked the development of
organisational social capital with a successful integration process.
This research contributes, for example, to the HR literature on the
integration of self-initiated expatriates by analysing the role of HRM
in generating organisational social capital needed for a successful
integration process.
Abstract: Fecal coliform bacteria are widely used as indicators of
sewage contamination in surface water. However, there are some
disadvantages in these microbial techniques including time consuming
(18-48h) and inability in discriminating between human and animal
fecal material sources. Therefore, it is necessary to seek a more
specific indicator of human sanitary waste. In this study, the feasibility
was investigated to apply caffeine and human pharmaceutical
compounds to identify the human-source contamination. The
correlation between caffeine and fecal coliform was also explored.
Surface water samples were collected from upstream, middle-stream
and downstream points respectively, along Rochor Canal, as well as 8
locations of Marina Bay. Results indicate that caffeine is a suitable
chemical tracer in Singapore because of its easy detection (in the range
of 0.30-2.0 ng/mL), compared with other chemicals monitored.
Relative low concentrations of human pharmaceutical compounds (<
0.07 ng/mL) in Rochor Canal and Marina Bay water samples make
them hard to be detected and difficult to be chemical tracer. However,
their existence can help to validate sewage contamination. In addition,
it was discovered the high correlation exists between caffeine
concentration and fecal coliform density in the Rochor Canal water
samples, demonstrating that caffeine is highly related to the
human-source contamination.
Abstract: Dual phase steels (DPS)s have a microstructure
consisting of a hard second phase called Martensite in the soft Ferrite
matrix. In recent years, there has been interest in dual-phase steels,
because the application of these materials has made significant usage;
particularly in the automotive sector Composite microstructure of
(DPS)s exhibit interesting characteristic mechanical properties such
as continuous yielding, low yield stress to tensile strength
ratios(YS/UTS), and relatively high formability; which offer
advantages compared with conventional high strength low alloy
steels(HSLAS). The research dealt with the characterization of
damage in (DPS)s. In this study by review the mechanisms of failure
due to volume fraction of martensite second phase; a new method is
introduced to identifying the mechanisms of failure in the various
phases of these types of steels. In this method the acoustic emission
(AE) technique was used to detect damage progression. These failure
mechanisms consist of Ferrite-Martensite interface decohesion and/or
martensite phase fracture. For this aim, dual phase steels with
different volume fraction of martensite second phase has provided by
various heat treatment methods on a low carbon steel (0.1% C), and
then AE monitoring is used during tensile test of these DPSs. From
AE measurements and an energy ratio curve elaborated from the
value of AE energy (it was obtained as the ratio between the strain
energy to the acoustic energy), that allows detecting important
events, corresponding to the sudden drops. These AE signals events
associated with various failure mechanisms are classified for ferrite
and (DPS)s with various amount of Vm and different martensite
morphology. It is found that AE energy increase with increasing Vm.
This increasing of AE energy is because of more contribution of
martensite fracture in the failure of samples with higher Vm. Final
results show a good relationship between the AE signals and the
mechanisms of failure.
Abstract: Injection forging is a Nett-shape manufacturing
process in which one or two punches move axially causing a radial
flow into a die cavity in a form which is prescribed by the exitgeometry,
such as pulley, flanges, gears and splines on a shaft. This
paper presents an experimental and numerical study of the injection
forging of splines in terms of load requirement and material flow.
Three dimensional finite element analyses are used to investigate the
effect of some important parameters in this process. The experiment
has been carried out using solid commercial lead billets with two
different billet diameters and four different dies.
Abstract: Fair share is one of the scheduling objectives supported on many production systems. However, fair share has been shown to cause performance problems for some users, especially the users with difficult jobs. This work is focusing on extending goaloriented parallel computer job scheduling policies to cover the fair share objective. Goal-oriented parallel computer job scheduling policies have been shown to achieve good scheduling performances when conflicting objectives are required. Goal-oriented policies achieve such good performance by using anytime combinatorial search techniques to find a good compromised schedule within a time limit. The experimental results show that the proposed goal-oriented parallel computer job scheduling policy (namely Tradeofffs( Tw:avgX)) achieves good scheduling performances and also provides good fair share performance.
Abstract: The main objective of this project is to build an
autonomous microcontroller-based mobile robot for a local robot
soccer competition. The black competition field is equipped with
white lines to serve as the guidance path for competing robots. Two
prototypes of soccer robot embedded with the Basic Stamp II
microcontroller have been developed. Two servo motors are used as
the drive train for the first prototype whereas the second prototype
uses two DC motors as its drive train. To sense the lines, lightdependent
resistors (LDRs) supply the analog inputs for the
microcontroller. The performances of both prototypes are evaluated.
The DC motor-driven robot has produced better trajectory control
over the one using servo motors and has brought the team into the
final round.
Abstract: One of the most important requirements for the
operation and planning activities of an electrical utility is the
prediction of load for the next hour to several days out, known as
short term load forecasting. This paper presents the development of
an artificial neural network based short-term load forecasting model.
The model can forecast daily load profiles with a load time of one
day for next 24 hours. In this method can divide days of year with
using average temperature. Groups make according linearity rate of
curve. Ultimate forecast for each group obtain with considering
weekday and weekend. This paper investigates effects of temperature
and humidity on consuming curve. For forecasting load curve of
holidays at first forecast pick and valley and then the neural network
forecast is re-shaped with the new data. The ANN-based load models
are trained using hourly historical. Load data and daily historical
max/min temperature and humidity data. The results of testing the
system on data from Yazd utility are reported.