Abstract: This study investigated the relationship between urban
and rural ozone concentrations and quantified the extent to which
ambient rural conditions and the concentrations of other pollutants
can be used to predict urban ozone concentrations. The study
describes the variations of ozone in weekday and weekends as well as
the daily maximum recorded at selected monitoring stations. The
results showed that Putrajaya station had the highest concentrations
of O3 on weekend due the titration of NO during the weekday.
Additionally, Jerantut had the lowest average concentration with a
reading value high on Wednesdays. The comparisons of average and
maximum concentrations of ozone for the three stations showed that
the strongest significant correlation is recorded in Jerantut station
with the value R2= 0.769. Ozone concentrations originating from a
neighbouring urban site form a better predictor to the urban ozone
concentrations than widespread rural ozone at some levels of
temporal averaging. It is found that in urban and rural of Malaysian
peninsular, the concentration of ozone depends on the concentration
of NOx and seasonal meteorological factors. The HYSPLIT Model
(the northeast monsoon) showed that the wind direction can also
influence the concentration of ozone in the atmosphere in the studied
areas.
Abstract: The main objective of this paper is to provide an efficient tool for delineating brain tumors in three-dimensional magnetic resonance images. To achieve this goal, we use basically a level-sets approach to delineating three-dimensional brain tumors. Then we introduce a compression plan of 3D brain structures based for the meshes simplification, adapted for time to the specific needs of the telemedicine and to the capacities restricted by network communication. We present here the main stages of our system, and preliminary results which are very encouraging for clinical practice.
Abstract: The use of Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) implemented in the form of Inverse Fourier Transform (IFFT) is one of the standard method of reconstructing Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) from uniformly sampled K-space data. In this tutorial, three of the major problems associated with the use of IFFT in MRI reconstruction are highlighted. The tutorial also gives brief introduction to MRI physics; MRI system from instrumentation point of view; K-space signal and the process of IDFT and IFFT for One and two dimensional (1D and 2D) data.
Abstract: In order to obtaining the dynamic evolution image of Tungsten array for foam padding, and to research the form of interaction between Tungsten plasma and foam column, a shadow imaging system of four-frame ultraviolet probe laser (266nm)has been designed on 1MA pulse power device. The time resolution of the system is 2.5ns, and static space resolution is superior to 70μm. The radial shadowgraphy image reveals the whole process from the melting and expansion of solid wire to the interaction of the precursor plasma and the foam, from the pinch to rebound inflation. The image shows the continuous interaction of Tungsten plasma and foam in a form of “Raining" within a time of about 50ns, the plasma shell structure has not been found in the whole period of pinch. The quantitative analysis indicates the minimum pinching speed of the foam column is 1.0×106cm/s, and maximum pinching speed is 6.0×106cm/s, and the axial stagnation diameter is approx 1mm.
Abstract: Nowadays due to globalization of economy and
competition environment, innovation and technology plays key role
at creation of wealth and economic growth of countries. In fact
prompt growth of practical and technologic knowledge may results in
social benefits for countries when changes into effective innovation.
Considering the importance of innovation for the development of
countries, this study addresses the radical technological innovation
introduced by nanopapers at different stages of producing paper
including stock preparation, using authorized additives, fillers and
pigments, using retention, calender, stages of producing conductive
paper, porous nanopaper and Layer by layer self-assembly. Research
results show that in coming years the jungle related products will lose
considerable portion of their market share, unless embracing radical
innovation. Although incremental innovations can make this industry
still competitive in mid-term, but to have economic growth and
competitive advantage in long term, radical innovations are
necessary. Radical innovations can lead to new products and
materials which their applications in packaging industry can produce
value added. However application of nanotechnology in this industry
can be costly, it can be done in cooperation with other industries to
make the maximum use of nanotechnology possible. Therefore this
technology can be used in all the production process resulting in the
mass production of simple and flexible papers with low cost and
special properties such as facility at shape, form, easy transportation,
light weight, recovery and recycle marketing abilities, and sealing.
Improving the resistance of the packaging materials without reducing
the performance of packaging materials enhances the quality and the
value added of packaging. Improving the cellulose at nano scale can
have considerable electron optical and magnetic effects leading to
improvement in packaging and value added. Comparing to the
specifications of thermoplastic products and ordinary papers,
nanopapers show much better performance in terms of effective
mechanical indexes such as the modulus of elasticity, tensile strength,
and strain-stress. In densities lower than 640 kgm -3, due to the
network structure of nanofibers and the balanced and randomized
distribution of NFC in flat space, these specifications will even
improve more. For nanopapers, strains are 1,4Gpa, 84Mpa and 17%,
13,3 Gpa, 214Mpa and 10% respectively. In layer by layer self
assembly method (LbL) the tensile strength of nanopaper with Tio3
particles and Sio2 and halloysite clay nanotube are 30,4 ±7.6Nm/g
and 13,6 ±0.8Nm/g and 14±0.3,3Nm/g respectively that fall within
acceptable range of similar samples with virgin fiber. The usage of
improved brightness and porosity index in nanopapers can create
more competitive advantages at packaging industry.
Abstract: Ceramics comprise the largest proportion of Korea-s cultural heritage currently preserved (Cited from “The Beauty of Old Ceramics of Korea" written by Yoon Yong-iee). Thus, this researcher conducted this investigation in an attempt to gain insight into Korea-s past culture and the lost period of the colonial period and the Korean War by looking into the ceramics. Korea, China and Japan are part of the similar cultural bloc within the East Asian region. Their porcelains manifest distinctive characteristics by each nation along with similarities. Thus, this research seeks to find the distinctive characteristics of the Korean porcelain by conducting comparative analysis of the similarities and distinctive characteristics. These distinctive characteristics are manifested effectively in the colors of the porcelains following the materials that can be obtained in Korea, China and Japan and production method. Likewise, this research seeks to identify the characteristics of the Korean porcelains- colors based on the comparative analysis of the porcelain colors. The reasons that porcelains were selected were because they are the most well preserved cultural remains in Korea and since they have both similarities and distinctive characteristics due to the cultural interchanges among Korea, China and Japan, which facilitates comparative study. The research targets include Korea, China and Japan-s porcelains. By comparing the colors of the porcelains from Korea, China and Japan that have their distinctive characteristics, this research seeks to identify Korea-specific porcelain colors. These colors derive from the materials that can be obtained only in Korea, and they are affected by the ideologies that governed at the time. This research is meaningful in the sense that this identifies the colors that embraces the Korean culture and provides important data by leveraging the study of the characteristics of the Korea-specific porcelains.
Abstract: Medical image registration is the key technology in image guided radiation therapy (IGRT) systems. On the basis of the previous work on our IGRT prototype with a biorthogonal x-ray imaging system, we described a method focused on the 2D/2D rigid-body registration using multiresolution pyramid based mutual information in this paper. Three key steps were involved in the method ： firstly, four 2D images were obtained including two x-ray projection images and two digital reconstructed radiographies（DRRs ） as the input for the registration ； Secondly, each pair of the corresponding x-ray image and DRR image were matched using multiresolution pyramid based mutual information under the ITK registration framework ； Thirdly, we got the final couch offset through a coordinate transformation by calculating the translations acquired from the two pairs of the images. A simulation example of a parotid gland tumor case and a clinical example of an anthropomorphic head phantom were employed in the verification tests. In addition, the influence of different CT slice thickness were tested. The simulation results showed that the positioning errors were 0.068±0.070, 0.072±0.098, 0.154±0.176mm along three axes which were lateral, longitudinal and vertical. The clinical test indicated that the positioning errors of the planned isocenter were 0.066, 0.07, 2.06mm on average with a CT slice thickness of 2.5mm. It can be concluded that our method with its verified accuracy and robustness can be effectively used in IGRT systems for patient setup.
Abstract: The stereophotogrammetry modality is gaining more widespread use in the clinical setting. Registration and visualization of this data, in conjunction with conventional 3D volumetric image modalities, provides virtual human data with textured soft tissue and internal anatomical and structural information. In this investigation computed tomography (CT) and stereophotogrammetry data is acquired from 4 anatomical phantoms and registered using the trimmed iterative closest point (TrICP) algorithm. This paper fully addresses the issue of imaging artifacts around the stereophotogrammetry surface edge using the registered CT data as a reference. Several iterative algorithms are implemented to automatically identify and remove stereophotogrammetry surface edge outliers, improving the overall visualization of the combined stereophotogrammetry and CT data. This paper shows that outliers at the surface edge of stereophotogrammetry data can be successfully removed automatically.
Abstract: Globalization and therefore increasing tight competition among companies, have resulted to increase the importance of making well-timed decision. Devising and employing effective strategies, that are flexible and adaptive to changing market, stand a greater chance of being effective in the long-term. In other side, a clear focus on managing the entire product lifecycle has emerged as critical areas for investment. Therefore, applying wellorganized tools to employ past experience in new case, helps to make proper and managerial decisions. Case based reasoning (CBR) is based on a means of solving a new problem by using or adapting solutions to old problems. In this paper, an adapted CBR model with k-nearest neighbor (K-NN) is employed to provide suggestions for better decision making which are adopted for a given product in the middle of life phase. The set of solutions are weighted by CBR in the principle of group decision making. Wrapper approach of genetic algorithm is employed to generate optimal feature subsets. The dataset of the department store, including various products which are collected among two years, have been used. K-fold approach is used to evaluate the classification accuracy rate. Empirical results are compared with classical case based reasoning algorithm which has no special process for feature selection, CBR-PCA algorithm based on filter approach feature selection, and Artificial Neural Network. The results indicate that the predictive performance of the model, compare with two CBR algorithms, in specific case is more effective.
Abstract: The objective of the research was to evaluate the
quality of milk pomade sweet – sherbet packed in different packaging
materials (Multibarrier 60, met.BOPET/PE, Aluthen), by several
packaging technologies – active and modified atmosphere (MAP)
(consisting of 100% CO2), and control – in air ambiance.
Experiments were carried out at the Faculty of Food Technology of
Latvia University of Agriculture. Samples were stored at the room
temperature +21±1 °C. The physiochemical properties – weight
losses, moisture, hardening, colour and changes in headspace
atmosphere concentration (CO2 and O2) of packs were analysed
before packaging and after 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 storage weeks.
Abstract: Dynamic shear test on simulated phantom can be used
to validate magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) measurements.
Phantom gel has been usually utilized for the cell culture of cartilage
and soft tissue and also been used for mechanical property
characterization using imaging systems. The viscoelastic property of
the phantom would be important for dynamic experiments and
analyses. In this study, An axisymmetric FE model is presented for
determining the dynamic shear behaviour of brain simulated phantom
using ABAQUS. The main objective of this study was to investigate
the effect of excitation frequencies and boundary conditions on shear
modulus and shear viscosity in viscoelastic media.
Abstract: The pulp and paper mill effluent is one of the high
polluting effluent amongst the effluents obtained from polluting
industries. All the available methods for treatment of pulp and paper
mill effluent have certain drawbacks. The coagulation is one of the
cheapest process for treatment of various organic effluents. Thus, the
removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and colour of paper mill
effluent is studied using coagulation process. The batch coagulation
process was performed using various coagulants like: aluminium
chloride, poly aluminium chloride and copper sulphate. The initial
pH of the effluent (Coagulation pH) has tremendous effect on COD
and colour removal. Poly aluminium chloride (PAC) as coagulant
reduced COD to 84 % and 92 % of colour was removed at an
optimum pH 5 and coagulant dose of 8 ml l-1. With aluminium
chloride at an optimum pH = 4 and coagulant dose of 5 g l-1, 74 %
COD and 86 % colour removal were observed. The results using
copper sulphate as coagulant (a less commercial coagulant) were
encouraging. At an optimum pH 6 and mass loading of 5 g l-1, 76 %
COD reduction and 78 % colour reduction were obtained. It was also
observed that after addition of coagulant, the pH of the effluent
decreases. The decrease in pH was highest for AlCl3, which was
followed by PAC and CuSO4. Significant amount of COD reductions
was obtained by coagulation process. Since the coagulation process
is the first stage for treatment of effluent and some of the coagulant
cations usually remain in the treated effluents. Thus, cation like
copper may be one of the good catalyst for second stage of treatment
process like wet oxidation. The copper has been found to be good
oxidation catalyst then iron and aluminum.
Abstract: High voltage generators are being subject to higher
voltage rating and are being designed to operate in harsh conditions.
Stator windings are the main component of generators in which
Electrical, magnetical and thermal stresses remain major failures for
insulation degradation accelerated aging. A large number of
generators failed due to stator winding problems, mainly insulation
deterioration. Insulation degradation assessment plays vital role in the
asset life management. Mostly the stator failure is catastrophic
causing significant damage to the plant. Other than generation loss,
stator failure involves heavy repair or replacement cost. Electro
thermal analysis is the main characteristic for improvement design of
stator slot-s insulation. Dielectric parameters such as insulation
thickness, spacing, material types, geometry of winding and slot are
major design consideration. A very powerful method available to
analyze electro thermal performance is Finite Element Method
(FEM) which is used in this paper. The analysis of various stator coil
and slot configurations are used to design the better dielectric system
to reduce electrical and thermal stresses in order to increase the
power of generator in the same volume of core. This paper describes
the process used to perform classical design and improvement
analysis of stator slot-s insulation.
Abstract: Image compression is one of the most important
applications Digital Image Processing. Advanced medical imaging
requires storage of large quantities of digitized clinical data. Due to
the constrained bandwidth and storage capacity, however, a medical
image must be compressed before transmission and storage. There
are two types of compression methods, lossless and lossy. In Lossless
compression method the original image is retrieved without any
distortion. In lossy compression method, the reconstructed images
contain some distortion. Direct Cosine Transform (DCT) and Fractal
Image Compression (FIC) are types of lossy compression methods.
This work shows that lossy compression methods can be chosen for
medical image compression without significant degradation of the
image quality. In this work DCT and Fractal Compression using
Partitioned Iterated Function Systems (PIFS) are applied on different
modalities of images like CT Scan, Ultrasound, Angiogram, X-ray
and mammogram. Approximately 20 images are considered in each
modality and the average values of compression ratio and Peak
Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) are computed and studied. The quality
of the reconstructed image is arrived by the PSNR values. Based on
the results it can be concluded that the DCT has higher PSNR values
and FIC has higher compression ratio. Hence in medical image
compression, DCT can be used wherever picture quality is preferred
and FIC is used wherever compression of images for storage and
transmission is the priority, without loosing picture quality
diagnostically.
Abstract: In this paper we investigate the watermarking authentication when applied to medical imagery field. We first give an overview of watermarking technology by paying attention to fragile watermarking since it is the usual scheme for authentication.We then analyze the requirements for image authentication and integrity in medical imagery, and we show finally that invertible schemes are the best suited for this particular field. A well known authentication method is studied. This technique is then adapted here for interleaving patient information and message authentication code with medical images in a reversible manner, that is using lossless compression. The resulting scheme enables on a side the exact recovery of the original image that can be unambiguously authenticated, and on the other side, the patient information to be saved or transmitted in a confidential way. To ensure greater security the patient information is encrypted before being embedded into images.
Abstract: Land shortage for burials is one of many issues that emerge out of accelerated urban growth in most developing Asian cities, including Kuala Lumpur. Despite actions taken by the federal government and local authorities in addressing this issue, there is no strategic solution being formulated. Apart from making provisions for land to be developed as new cemeteries, the future plan is merely to allocate reserve land to accommodate the increasing demands of burial grounds around the city. This paper examines problems that arise from the traditional practices of Malay funerary as well as an insight to current urban practices in managing Muslim burial spaces around Kuala Lumpur metropolitan region. This paper will also provide some solutions through design approach that can be applied to counter the existing issues.
Abstract: This paper study the high-level modelling and design
of delta-sigma (ΔΣ) noise shapers for audio Digital-to-Analog
Converter (DAC) so as to eliminate the in-band Signal-to-Noise-
Ratio (SNR) degradation that accompany one channel mismatch in
audio signal. The converter combines a cascaded digital signal
interpolation, a noise-shaping single loop delta-sigma modulator with
a 5-bit quantizer resolution in the final stage. To reduce sensitivity of
Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) nonlinearities of the last stage, a
high pass second order Data Weighted Averaging (R2DWA) is
introduced. This paper presents a MATLAB description modelling
approach of the proposed DAC architecture with low distortion and
swing suppression integrator designs. The ΔΣ Modulator design can
be configured as a 3rd-order and allows 24-bit PCM at sampling rate
of 64 kHz for Digital Video Disc (DVD) audio application. The
modeling approach provides 139.38 dB of dynamic range for a 32
kHz signal band at -1.6 dBFS input signal level.
Abstract: Supply chain management has become more
challenging with the emerging trend of globalization and
sustainability. Lately, research related to perishable products supply
chains, in particular agricultural food products, has emerged. This is
attributed to the additional complexity of managing this type of
supply chains with the recently increased concern of public health,
food quality, food safety, demand and price variability, and the
limited lifetime of these products. Inventory management for agrifood
supply chains is of vital importance due to the product
perishability and customers- strive for quality. This paper
concentrates on developing a simulation model of a real life case
study of a two echelon production-distribution system for agri-food
products. The objective is to improve a set of performance measures
by developing a simulation model that helps in evaluating and
analysing the performance of these supply chains. Simulation results
showed that it can help in improving overall system performance.
Abstract: Antimicrobial (AM) starch-based films were
developed by incorporating chitosan and lauric acid as antimicrobial
agent into starch-based film. Chitosan has wide range of applications
as a biomaterial, but barriers still exist to its broader use due to its
physical and chemical limitations. In this work, a series of
starch/chitosan (SC) blend films containing 8% of lauric acid was
prepared by casting method. The structure of the film was
characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Xray
diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
The results indicated that there were strong interactions were present
between the hydroxyl groups of starch and the amino groups of
chitosan resulting in a good miscibility between starch and chitosan
in the blend films. Physical properties and optical properties of the
AM starch-based film were evaluated. The AM starch-based films
incorporated with chitosan and lauric acid showed an improvement in
water vapour transmission rate (WVTR) and addition of starch
content provided more transparent films while the yellowness of the
film attributed to the higher chitosan content. The improvement in
water barrier properties was mainly attributed to the hydrophobicity
of lauric acid and optimum chitosan or starch content. AM starch
based film also showed excellent oxygen barrier. Obtaining films
with good oxygen permeability would be an indication of the
potential use of these antimicrobial packaging as a natural packaging
and an alternative packaging to the synthetic polymer to protect food
from oxidation reactions
Abstract: Middle-gate is located in Hasankeyf, Batman dating
back to 1800 BC and is one of the important historical structures in
Turkey. The ancient structure has suffered major structural cracks
due to aging as well as lateral pressure of a cracked rock which is
predicted to be about 100 tons. The existing support system was
found to be inadequate to support the load especially after a recent
rock fall in the close vicinity. Concerns were increased since the
existing support system that is integral with a damaged and cracked
gate wall needed to be replaced by a new support system. The
replacement process must be carefully monitored by crackmeters and
control mechanisms should be integrated to prevent cracks to expand
while the same crack width needs to be maintained after the
operation. The control system and actions taken during the
intervention are explained in this paper.