Abstract: A dissimilarity measure between the empiric
characteristic functions of the subsamples associated to the different
classes in a multivariate data set is proposed. This measure can be
efficiently computed, and it depends on all the cases of each class. It
may be used to find groups of similar classes, which could be joined
for further analysis, or it could be employed to perform an
agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis of the set of classes. The
final tree can serve to build a family of binary classification models,
offering an alternative approach to the multi-class SVM problem. We
have tested this dendrogram based SVM approach with the oneagainst-
one SVM approach over four publicly available data sets,
three of them being microarray data. Both performances have been
found equivalent, but the first solution requires a smaller number of
binary SVM models.
Abstract: Preparation of size controlled nano-particles of silver catalyst on carbon substrate from e-waste has been investigated. Chemical route was developed by extraction of the metals available in nitric acid followed by treatment with hydrofluoric acid. Silver metal particles deposited with an average size 4-10 nm. A stabilizer concentration of 10- 40 g/l was used. The average size of the prepared silver decreased with increase of the anode current density. Size uniformity of the silver nano-particles was improved distinctly at higher current density no more than 20mA... Grain size increased with EK time whereby aggregation of particles was observed after 6 h of reaction.. The chemical method involves adsorption of silver nitrate on the carbon substrate. Adsorbed silver ions were directly reduced to metal particles using hydrazine hydrate. Another alternative method is by treatment with ammonia followed by heating the carbon loaded-silver hydroxide at 980°C. The product was characterized with the help of XRD, XRF, ICP, SEM and TEM techniques.
Abstract: Recently in the field of bridges that are newly built or
repaired, fast construction is required more than ever. For these
reasons, precast prefabricated bridge that enables rapid construction is
actively discussed and studied today. In South Korea, it is called
modular bridge. Cross beam is an integral component of modular
bridge. It functions for load distribution, reduction of bending
moment, resistance of horizontal strength on lateral upper structure. In
this study, the structural characteristics of domestic and foreign cross
beam types were compared. Based on this, alternative cross beam
connection types suitable for modular bridge were selected. And
bulb-T girder specimens were fabricated with each type of connection.
The behavior of each specimen was analyzed under static loading, and
cross beam connection type which is expected to be best suited to
modular bridge proposed.
Abstract: In this paper, an automatic detecting algorithm for
QRS complex detecting was applied for analyzing ECG recordings
and five criteria for dangerous arrhythmia diagnosing are applied for a
protocol type of automatic arrhythmia diagnosing system. The
automatic detecting algorithm applied in this paper detected the
distribution of QRS complexes in ECG recordings and related
information, such as heart rate and RR interval. In this investigation,
twenty sampled ECG recordings of patients with different pathologic
conditions were collected for off-line analysis. A combinative
application of four digital filters for bettering ECG signals and
promoting detecting rate for QRS complex was proposed as
pre-processing. Both of hardware filters and digital filters were
applied to eliminate different types of noises mixed with ECG
recordings. Then, an automatic detecting algorithm of QRS complex
was applied for verifying the distribution of QRS complex. Finally,
the quantitative clinic criteria for diagnosing arrhythmia were
programmed in a practical application for automatic arrhythmia
diagnosing as a post-processor. The results of diagnoses by automatic
dangerous arrhythmia diagnosing were compared with the results of
off-line diagnoses by experienced clinic physicians. The results of
comparison showed the application of automatic dangerous
arrhythmia diagnosis performed a matching rate of 95% compared
with an experienced physician-s diagnoses.
Abstract: In this paper, we carry over some of the results which
are valid on a certain class of Moufang-Klingenberg planes M(A)
coordinatized by an local alternative ring A := A(ε) = A+Aε of
dual numbers to finite projective Klingenberg plane M(A) obtained
by taking local ring Zq (where prime power q = pk) instead of A.
So, we show that the collineation group of M(A) acts transitively
on 4-gons, and that any 6-figure corresponds to only one inversible
m ∈ A.
Abstract: The major source of allergy in home is the house dust
mite (Dematophagoides farina, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus)
causing allergic symptom include atopic dermatitis, asthma, perennial
rhinitis and even infant death syndrome.
Control of this mite species is dependent on the use of chemical
methods such as fumigation treatments with methylene bromide,
spraying with organophosphates such as pirimiphos-methyl, or
treatments with repellents such as DEET and benzyl benzoate.
Although effective, their repeated use for decades has sometimes
resulted in development of resistance and fostered environmental and
human health concerns. Both decomposing animal parts and the
protein that surrounds mite fecal pellets cause mite allergy. So it is
more effective to repel than to kill them because allergen is not living
house dust mite but dead body or fecal particles of house dust mite.
It is important to find out natural repellent material against house
dust mite to control them and reduce the allergic reactions. Plants may
be an alternative source for dust mite control because they contain a
range of bioactive chemicals.
The research objectives of this paper were to verify the acaricidal
and repellent effects of cinnamon essential oil and to find out it-s most
effective concentrations. We could find that cinnamon bark essential
oil was very effective material to control the house dust mite.
Furthermore, it could reduce chemical resistance and danger for
human health.
Abstract: Agropyron cristatum L. Gaertn. is a native grass of
semiarid region in Iran which is quit resistant to cool and drought
climate and withstand heavy grazing. This species has close
phylogenetic relationship with Triticum and Hordeum. In this
research, the effect of seven different concentrations of growth
regulator 2,4-D on callus production and somatic embryogenesis of
A. cristatum was investigated on Murashige and Skoog medium. The
results showed that the rate of callus, embryo and neomorph were
highest in 1 mg L-1 2,4-D. Callus production was increased in 1 mg
L-1 2,4-D but dramatically decreased at 5.5 and 9 mg L-1 2,4-D. The
somatic embryos were observed at 1 and 4 mg L-1 2,4-D but matured
embryos and plantlet were only occurred at 1 mg L-1 2,4-D. There
were significant differences between 1 mg L-1 2,4-D and other
treatments for producing globular and torpedo embryos, plantlet,
rooted callus and number of roots (p
Abstract: We introduce an extended resource leveling model that abstracts real life projects that consider specific work ranges for each resource. Contrary to traditional resource leveling problems this model considers scarce resources and multiple objectives: the minimization of the project makespan and the leveling of each resource usage over time. We formulate this model as a multiobjective optimization problem and we propose a multiobjective genetic algorithm-based solver to optimize it. This solver consists in a two-stage process: a main stage where we obtain non-dominated solutions for all the objectives, and a postprocessing stage where we seek to specifically improve the resource leveling of these solutions. We propose an intelligent encoding for the solver that allows including domain specific knowledge in the solving mechanism. The chosen encoding proves to be effective to solve leveling problems with scarce resources and multiple objectives. The outcome of the proposed solvers represent optimized trade-offs (alternatives) that can be later evaluated by a decision maker, this multi-solution approach represents an advantage over the traditional single solution approach. We compare the proposed solver with state-of-art resource leveling methods and we report competitive and performing results.
Abstract: There are several ways of improving the performance of a vapor compression refrigeration cycle. Use of an ejector as expansion device is one of the alternative ways. The present paper aims at evaluate the performance improvement of a vapor compression refrigeration cycle under a wide range of operating conditions. A numerical model is developed and a parametric study of important parameters such as condensation (30-50°C) and evaporation temperatures (-20-5°C), nozzle and diffuser efficiencies (0.75-0.95), subcooling and superheating degrees (0-15K) are investigated. The model verification gives a good agreement with the literature data. The simulation results revealed that condensation temperature has the highest effect (129%) on the performance improvement ratio while superheating has the lowest one (6.2%). Among ejector efficiencies, the diffuser efficiency has a significant effect on the COP of ejector expansion refrigeration cycle. The COP improvement percentage decreases from 10.9% to 4.6% as subcooling degrees increases by 15K.
Abstract: Sixteen selected deep-sea fish obtained from Southern
Java Ocean and Western Sumatra Ocean was analyzed to determine
its proximate, fatty acid and mineral composition. The moisture
content was ranged from 64.38 to 86.04 %, ash from 0.17 to 0.69 %,
the fat content was 1.54 – 13.30 % while the protein content varied
from 15.84 to 23.60%. Among the fatty acids, oleic acid and palmitic
acid was the dominant MUFA and SFA. Linoleic acid was the
highest PUFA found at the selected deep-sea fish. Phospor was the
highest macroelement concentration on selected deep-sea fish,
followed by K, Ca, Mg and Iod, Fe and Zn among microelement. The
trace concentration was found at Se microelement.
Abstract: The alternative technique for sterilization of culture
medium to replace autoclaving was carried out. For sterilization of
culture medium without autoclaving, some commercial pure essential
oils, bergamot oil, betel oil, cinnamon oil, lavender oil and turmeric
oil, were tested alone or in combinations with some disinfectants,
10% povidone-iodine and 2% iodine + 2.4% potassium iodide. Each
essential oil or combination was added to 25-mL Murashige and
Skoog (MS) medium before medium was solidified in a 120-mL
container, kept for 2 weeks before evaluating sterile conditions.
Treated media, supplemented with essential oils, were compared to
control medium, autoclaved at 121 degree Celsius for 15 min. In
vitro sterile conditions were found 20 – 100% from these treated
media compared to 100% sterile condition from autoclaved medium.
Treated media obtained 100% sterile conditions were chosen for
culturing chrysanthemum shoots. It was found that 10% povidoneiodine
in combination with cinnamon oil (3:1) and 2% iodine + 2.4%
potassium iodide in combination with lavender oil (1:3) at the
concentration of 36 3L/25 mL medium provided the promising
growth of shoot explants.
Abstract: Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) based transform coding is very popular in image, video and speech compression due to its good energy compaction and decorrelating properties. However, at low bit rates, the reconstructed images generally suffer from visually annoying blocking artifacts as a result of coarse quantization. Lapped transform was proposed as an alternative to the DCT with reduced blocking artifacts and increased coding gain. Lapped transforms are popular for their good performance, robustness against oversmoothing and availability of fast implementation algorithms. However, there is no proper study reported in the literature regarding the statistical distributions of block Lapped Orthogonal Transform (LOT) and Lapped Biorthogonal Transform (LBT) coefficients. This study performs two goodness-of-fit tests, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test and the 2- test, to determine the distribution that best fits the LOT and LBT coefficients. The experimental results show that the distribution of a majority of the significant AC coefficients can be modeled by the Generalized Gaussian distribution. The knowledge of the statistical distribution of transform coefficients greatly helps in the design of optimal quantizers that may lead to minimum distortion and hence achieve optimal coding efficiency.
Abstract: Knowledge and these notions have become more and
more important and we speak about a knowledge based society
today. A lot of small and big companies have reacted upon these new
challenges. But there is a deep abyss about knowledge conception
and practice between the professional researchers and company - life.
The question of this research was: How can small and mediumsized
companies be equal to the demands of new economy?
Questionnaires were used in this research and a special segment of
the native knowledge based on economy was focused on.
Researchers would have liked to know what the sources of success
are and how they can be in connection with questions of knowledge
acquisition, knowledge transfer, knowledge utilization in small and
medium-sized companies. These companies know that they have to
change their behaviour and thinking, but they are not on the suitable
level that they can compete with bigger or multinational companies.
Abstract: Protein-protein interactions (PPI) play a crucial role in many biological processes such as cell signalling, transcription, translation, replication, signal transduction, and drug targeting, etc. Structural information about protein-protein interaction is essential for understanding the molecular mechanisms of these processes. Structures of protein-protein complexes are still difficult to obtain by biophysical methods such as NMR and X-ray crystallography, and therefore protein-protein docking computation is considered an important approach for understanding protein-protein interactions. However, reliable prediction of the protein-protein complexes is still under way. In the past decades, several grid-based docking algorithms based on the Katchalski-Katzir scoring scheme were developed, e.g., FTDock, ZDOCK, HADDOCK, RosettaDock, HEX, etc. However, the success rate of protein-protein docking prediction is still far from ideal. In this work, we first propose a more practical measure for evaluating the success of protein-protein docking predictions,the rate of first success (RFS), which is similar to the concept of mean first passage time (MFPT). Accordingly, we have assessed the ZDOCK bound and unbound benchmarks 2.0 and 3.0. We also createda new benchmark set for protein-protein docking predictions, in which the complexes have experimentally determined binding affinity data. We performed free energy calculation based on the solution of non-linear Poisson-Boltzmann equation (nlPBE) to improve the binding mode prediction. We used the well-studied thebarnase-barstarsystem to validate the parameters for free energy calculations. Besides,thenlPBE-based free energy calculations were conducted for the badly predicted cases by ZDOCK and ZRANK. We found that direct molecular mechanics energetics cannot be used to discriminate the native binding pose from the decoys.Our results indicate that nlPBE-based calculations appeared to be one of the promising approaches for improving the success rate of binding pose predictions.
Abstract: The effect of cross linking of the protein isolates of
three legumes with the microbial enzyme transglutaminase (EC
2.3.2.13) on the functional properties at different NaCl concentration
was studied. The reduction in the total free amino groups (OD340) of
the polymerized protein showed that TGase treatment cross-linking
the protein subunit of each legume. The solubility of the protein
polymer of each legume was greatly improved at high concentration
of NaCl. At 1.2 M NaCl the solubility of the native legumes protein
was significantly decreased but after polymerization slightly
improved. Cross linked proteins were less turbid on heating to higher
temperature as compared to native proteins and the temperature at
which the protein turns turbid also increased in the polymerized
proteins. The emulsifying and foaming properties of the protein
polymer were greatly improved at all concentrations of NaCl for all
legumes.
Abstract: In a representative democracy political parties
promote vital competition on different policy issues and play
essential roles by offering ideological alternatives. They also give
channels for citizens- participation in government decision-making
processes and they are significant conduits and interpreters of
information about government. This paper attempts to examine how
opposition political parties and rebel fronts emerged in Ethiopia, and
examines their present conditions. In this paper, selected case studies
of political parties and rebel fronts are included to highlight the status
and the role of opposition groups in the country in the three
successive administrations: Haile Selassie (1930-1974), Derg (1974-
1991), and EPRDF (1991-Present).
Abstract: Palm methyl ester (PME) is one of the alternative
biomass fuels to liquid fossil fuels. To investigate the combustion
characteristics of PME as an alternative fuel for gas turbines, combustion experiments using two types of burners under atmospheric
pressure were performed. One of the burners has a configuration
making strong non-premixed flame, whereas the other has a
configuration promoting prevaporization of fuel droplets. The results
show that the NOx emissions can be reduced by employing the latter burner without accumulation of soot when PME is used as a fuel. A
burner configuration promoting prevaporzation of fuel droplets is
recommended for PME.
Abstract: The decision of information technology (IT) outsourcing requires close attention to the evaluation of supplier selection process because the selection decision involves conflicting multiple criteria and is replete with complex decision making problems. Selecting the most appropriate suppliers is considered an important strategic decision that may impact the performance of outsourcing engagements. The objective of this paper is to aid decision makers to evaluate and assess possible IT outsourcing suppliers. An axiomatic design based fuzzy group decision making is adopted to evaluate supplier alternatives. Finally, a case study is given to demonstrate the potential of the methodology. KeywordsIT outsourcing, Supplier selection, Multi-criteria decision making, Axiomatic design, Fuzzy logic.
Abstract: Fingerprint based identification system; one of a well
known biometric system in the area of pattern recognition and has
always been under study through its important role in forensic
science that could help government criminal justice community. In
this paper, we proposed an identification framework of individuals by
means of fingerprint. Different from the most conventional
fingerprint identification frameworks the extracted Geometrical
element features (GEFs) will go through a Discretization process.
The intention of Discretization in this study is to attain individual
unique features that could reflect the individual varianceness in order
to discriminate one person from another. Previously, Discretization
has been shown a particularly efficient identification on English
handwriting with accuracy of 99.9% and on discrimination of twins-
handwriting with accuracy of 98%. Due to its high discriminative
power, this method is adopted into this framework as an independent
based method to seek for the accuracy of fingerprint identification.
Finally the experimental result shows that the accuracy rate of
identification of the proposed system using Discretization is 100%
for FVC2000, 93% for FVC2002 and 89.7% for FVC2004 which is
much better than the conventional or the existing fingerprint
identification system (72% for FVC2000, 26% for FVC2002 and
32.8% for FVC2004). The result indicates that Discretization
approach manages to boost up the classification effectively, and
therefore prove to be suitable for other biometric features besides
handwriting and fingerprint.
Abstract: Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) has emerged as a cost-effective transport system for urban mobility. However its ability to stimulate land development remains largely unexplored. The study makes use of qualitative (interview method) and quantitative analysis (questionnaire survey and longitudinal analysis of property data) to investigate land development impact resulting from BRT in Beijing, China. The empirical analysis suggests that BRT has a positive impact on the residential and commercial property attractiveness along the busway corridor. The statistical analysis suggests that accessibility advantage conferred by BRT is capitalized into higher property price. The average price of apartments adjacent to a BRT station has gained a relatively faster increase than those not served by the BRT system. The capitalization effect mostly occurs after the full operation of BRT, and is more evident over time and particularly observed in areas which previously lack alternative mobility opportunity.