Abstract: This paper presents an evaluation for a wavelet-based
digital watermarking technique used in estimating the quality of
video sequences transmitted over Additive White Gaussian Noise
(AWGN) channel in terms of a classical objective metric, such as
Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) without the need of the original
video. In this method, a watermark is embedded into the Discrete
Wavelet Transform (DWT) domain of the original video frames
using a quantization method. The degradation of the extracted
watermark can be used to estimate the video quality in terms of
PSNR with good accuracy. We calculated PSNR for video frames
contaminated with AWGN and compared the values with those
estimated using the Watermarking-DWT based approach. It is found
that the calculated and estimated quality measures of the video
frames are highly correlated, suggesting that this method can provide
a good quality measure for video frames transmitted over AWGN
channel without the need of the original video.
Abstract: After the Terengganu state government decided to give a boost in teaching and learning through the allocation of free ebooks to all Primary five and six students; it was time to examine the presence of e-books in the classrooms. A survey was conducted on 101 students to determine how they felt about using the e-book and their experiences. It was discovered that a majority of these students liked using the e-book. However, although they had little problems using the e-book and the e-book helped to lighten the schoolbags, these new-age textbooks were not fully utilized. It is implied that perhaps the school administrators, teachers and students may not be able to overcome the unfamiliar characteristics of the e-book and its limitations.
Abstract: A shaft-type activated sludge reactor has been
developed in order to study the feasibility of high-rate wastewater
treatment. The reactor having volume of about 14.5 L was operated
with the acclimated mixed activated sludge under batch and
continuous mode using a synthetic wastewater as feed. The batch
study was performed with varying chemical oxygen demand (COD)
concentrations of 1000–3500 mg·L-1 for a batch period up to 9 h. The
kinetic coefficients: Ks, k, Y and kd were obtained as 2040.2 mg·L-1
and 0.105 h-1, 0.878 and 0.0025 h-1 respectively from Monod-s
approach. The continuous study showed a stable and steady state
operation for a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 8 h and influent
COD of about 1000 mg·L-1. A maximum COD removal efficiency of
about 80% was attained at a COD loading rate and food-tomicroorganism
(F/M) ratio (COD basis) of 3.42 kg·m-3d-1 and 1.0
kg·kg-1d-1 respectively under a HRT of 8 h. The reactor was also
found to handle COD loading rate and F/M ratio of 10.8 kg·m-3d-1
and 2.20 kg·kg-1d-1 respectively showing a COD removal efficiency
of about 46%.
Abstract: Buildings are one of the valuable assets to provide
people with shelters for work, leisure and rest. After years of
attacks by weather, buildings will deteriorate which need proper
maintenance in order to fulfill the requirements and satisfaction of
the users. Poorly managed buildings not just give a negative image
to the city itself, but also pose potential risk hazards to the health
and safety of the general public. As a result, the management of
maintenance projects has played an important role in cities like
Hong Kong where the problem of urban decay has drawn much
attention. However, most research has focused on managing new
construction, and little research effort has been put on maintenance
projects. Given the short duration and more diversified nature of
work, repair and maintenance works are found to be more difficult
to monitor and regulate when compared with new works. Project
participants may face with problems in running maintenance
projects which should be investigated so that proper strategies can
be established. This paper aims to provide a thorough analysis on
the problems of running maintenance projects. A review of
literature on the characteristics of building maintenance projects
was firstly conducted, which forms a solid basis for the empirical
study. Results on the problems and difficulties of running
maintenance projects from the viewpoints of industry practitioners
will also be delivered with a view to formulating effective
strategies for managing maintenance projects successfully.
Abstract: The gas safety management system using an
intelligent gas meter we proposed is to monitor flow and
pressure of gas, earthquake, temperature, smoke and leak of
methane. Then our system takes safety measures to protect a
serious risk by the result of an event, to communicate with a
wall-pad including a gateway by zigbee network in buildings
and to report the event to user by the safety management
program in a server. Also, the inner cutoff valve of an
intelligent gas meter is operated if any event occurred or
abnormal at each sensor.
Abstract: Surgical site infections (SSIs) are the most common
nosocomial infection in surgical patients resulting in significant
increases in postoperative morbidity and mortality. The commonly
causative bacteria developed resistance to virtually all antibiotics
available. The aim of this study was to isolation and identification the
most common bacteria that cause SSIs in Medical Research Institute,
and to compare their sensitivity to selected group of antibiotics and
natural products (garlic, oregano, olive, and Nigella sativa oils). The
isolated pathogens collected from infected surgical wounds were
identified, and their sensitivities to the antibiotics commonly
available for clinical use, and also to the different concentrations of
the used natural products were investigated. The results indicate to
the potential therapeutic effect of the tested natural products in
treatment of surgical wound infections.
Abstract: In this paper a three dimensional thermal model of a
power toroidal transformer is proposed for both steady-state or
transient conditions. The influence of electric current and ambient
temperature on the temperature distribution, has been investigated.
To validate the three dimensional thermal model, some experimental
tests have been done. There is a good correlation between
experimental and simulation results.
Abstract: Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay and
conventional microbiological methods were used to detect bacterial
contamination of egg shells and egg content in different commercial
housing systems, open house system and evaporative cooling system.
A PCR assay was developed for direct detection using a set of
primers specific for the invasion by A gene (invA) of Salmonella spp.
PCR detected the presence of Salmonella in 2 samples of shell egg
from the evaporative cooling system, while conventional cultural
methods detected no Salmonella from the same samples.
Abstract: Each year many people are reported missing in most of the countries in the world owing to various reasons. Arrangements have to be made to find these people after some time. So the investigating agencies are compelled to make out these people by using manpower. But in many cases, the investigations carried out to find out an absconding for a long time may not be successful. At a time like that it may be difficult to identify these people by examining their old photographs, because their facial appearance might have changed mainly due to the natural aging process. On some occasions in forensic medicine if a dead body is found, investigations should be held to make sure that this corpse belongs to the same person disappeared some time ago. With the passage of time the face of the person might have changed and there should be a mechanism to reveal the person-s identity. In order to make this process easy, we must guess and decide as to how he will look like by now. To address this problem this paper presents a way of synthesizing a facial image with the aging effects.
Abstract: Whilst there is growing evidence that activity across
the lifespan is beneficial for improved health, there are also many
changes involved with the aging process and subsequently the
potential for reduced indices of health. The nexus between all forms
of health, physical activity and aging is complex and has raised much
interest in recent times due to the realization that a multifaceted
approached is necessary in order to counteract a growing obesity
epidemic. By investigating age based trends within a population
adherring to competitive sport at older ages, further insight might be
gleaned to assist in understanding one of many factors influencing
this relationship. This study evaluated those sport psychological
constructs of health, physical fitness, mental health states, and social
dimension factors in sport that were associated with factors to
participate in sport and physical activity based on responses from the
2009 World Masters Games in Sydney. The sample consisted of
7846 athletes who competed at the games and who completed a 56
item sports participation survey using a 7-point Likert response (1 -
not important to 7 - very important). Questions focuses on factors
thought to promote participation, such as weight control, living
longer, improving mental health (self-esteem, mood states),
improving physical health and factors related to the athlete-s
competitive perspective. The most significant factors related to
participation with this cohort of masters athletes were the socializing
environment of sport, getting physically fit and improving
competitive personal best performances. Strategies to increase
participation in masters sport should focus on these factors as other
factors such as weight loss, improving mental health and living
longer were not identified as important determinates of sports
participation at the World Masters level.
Abstract: Most of the drugs used for pharmaceutical purposes
are poorly water-soluble drugs. About 40% of all newly discovered
drugs are lipophilic and the numbers of lipophilic drugs seem to
increase more and more. Drug delivery systems such as
nanoparticles, micelles or liposomes are applied to improve their
solubility and thus their bioavailability. Besides various techniques of
solubilization, oil-in-water emulsions are often used to incorporate
lipophilic drugs into the oil phase. To stabilize emulsions surface
active substances (surfactants) are generally used. An alternative
method to avoid the application of surfactants was of great interest.
One possibility is to develop O/W-emulsion without any addition of
surface active agents or the so called “surfactant-free emulsion or
SFE”. The aim of this study was to develop and characterize SFE as a
drug carrier by varying the production conditions. Lidocaine base
was used as a model drug. The injection method was developed.
Effects of ultrasound as well as of temperature on the properties of
the emulsion were studied. Particle sizes and release were
determined. The long-term stability up to 30 days was performed.
The results showed that the surfactant-free O/W emulsions with
pharmaceutical oil as drug carrier can be produced.
Abstract: Dynamic bandwidth allocation in EPONs can be
generally separated into inter-ONU scheduling and intra-ONU scheduling. In our previous work, the active intra-ONU scheduling
(AS) utilizes multiple queue reports (QRs) in each report message to cooperate with the inter-ONU scheduling and makes the granted
bandwidth fully utilized without leaving unused slot remainder (USR).
This scheme successfully solves the USR problem originating from the
inseparability of Ethernet frame. However, without proper setting of
threshold value in AS, the number of QRs constrained by the IEEE
802.3ah standard is not enough, especially in the unbalanced traffic
environment. This limitation may be solved by enlarging the threshold
value. The large threshold implies the large gap between the adjacent QRs, thus resulting in the large difference between the best granted bandwidth and the real granted bandwidth. In this paper, we integrate
AS with a cooperative prediction mechanism and distribute multiple
QRs to reduce the penalty brought by the prediction error.
Furthermore, to improve the QoS and save the usage of queue reports,
the highest priority (EF) traffic which comes during the waiting time is
granted automatically by OLT and is not considered in the requested
bandwidth of ONU. The simulation results show that the proposed
scheme has better performance metrics in terms of bandwidth
utilization and average delay for different classes of packets.
Abstract: In order to study of The Effect of seed inoculation
with Pseudomonas putida+Bacillus lentus on yield and yield
components of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars, an experiment
was carried out as factorial based on Randomized Complete Block
Design (RCBD) in Agricultural Research Station of Shahrood
University of Technology. Results showed that inoculation with
Pseudomonas putida+Bacillus lentus promoted seed germination.
Also, inoculation with Pseudomonas putida+Bacillus lentus
significantly affected grain yield, Number of spikes per m2,
Number of grain per spike and 1000-seed weight and There was not
statistically significant difference between Chamran and Pishtaz
cultivars . Finally, the dosages of chemical fertilizers currently
applied in commercial wheat field in Iran (Shahrood region) could be
reduced through proper combination of Pseudomonas
putida+Bacillus lentus inoculation plus fertilization.
Abstract: This paper presents software tools that convert the C/Cµ floating point source code for a DSP algorithm into a fixedpoint simulation model that can be used to evaluate the numericalperformance of the algorithm on several different fixed pointplatforms including microprocessors, DSPs and FPGAs. The tools use a novel system for maintaining binary point informationso that the conversion from floating point to fixed point isautomated and the resulting fixed point algorithm achieves maximum possible precision. A configurable architecture is used during the simulation phase so that the algorithm can produce a bit-exact output for several different target devices.
Abstract: Contractor selection in Saudi Arabia is very important due to the large construction boom and the contractor role to get over construction risks. The need for investigating contractor selection is due to the following reasons; large number of defaulted or failed projects (18%), large number of disputes attributed to contractor during the project execution stage (almost twofold), the extension of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) into construction industry, and finally the few number of researches. The selection strategy is not perfect and considered as the reason behind irresponsible contractors. As a response, this research was conducted to review the contractor selection strategies as an integral part of a long advanced research to develop a good selection model. Many techniques can be used to form a selection strategy; multi criteria for optimizing decision, prequalification to discover contractor-s responsibility, bidding process for competition, third party guarantee to enhance the selection, and fuzzy techniques for ambiguities and incomplete information.
Abstract: Wireless LAN technologies have picked up
momentum in the recent years due to their ease of deployment, cost
and availability. The era of wireless LAN has also given rise to
unique applications like VOIP, IPTV and unified messaging.
However, these real-time applications are very sensitive to network
and handoff latencies. To successfully support these applications,
seamless roaming during the movement of mobile station has become
crucial. Nowadays, centralized architecture models support roaming
in WLANs. They have the ability to manage, control and
troubleshoot large scale WLAN deployments. This model is managed
by Control and Provision of Wireless Access Point protocol
(CAPWAP). This paper covers the CAPWAP architectural solution
along with its proposals that have emerged. Based on the literature
survey conducted in this paper, we found that the proposed
algorithms to reduce roaming latency in CAPWAP architecture do
not support seamless roaming. Additionally, they are not sufficient
during the initial period of the network. This paper also suggests
important design consideration for mobility support in future
centralized IEEE 802.11 networks.
Abstract: In this paper, a joint source-channel coding (JSCC) scheme for time-varying channels is presented. The proposed scheme uses hierarchical framework for both source encoder and transmission via QAM modulation. Hierarchical joint source channel codes with hierarchical QAM constellations are designed to track the channel variations which yields to a higher throughput by adapting certain parameters of the receiver to the channel variation. We consider the problem of still image transmission over time-varying channels with channel state information (CSI) available at 1) receiver only and 2) both transmitter and receiver being informed about the state of the channel. We describe an algorithm that optimizes hierarchical source codebooks by minimizing the distortion due to source quantizer and channel impairments. Simulation results, based on image representation, show that, the proposed hierarchical system outperforms the conventional schemes based on a single-modulator and channel optimized source coding.
Abstract: Korea Train eXpress (KTX) is now being operated,
which allows Korea being one of the countries that operates the
high-speed rail system. The high-speed rail has its advantage of short
time transportation of population and materials, which lead to many
researches performed in this matter. In the case of high speed classical
trackbed system, the maintenance and usability of gravel ballast
system is costly. Recently, the concrete trackbed structure has been
introduced as a replacement of classical trackbed system. In this case,
the sleeper plays a critical role. Current study investigated to develop
the track sleepers readily applicable to the top of the asphalt trackbed,
as part of the trcakbed study utilizing the asphalt material. Among
many possible shapes and design of sleepers, current study proposed
two types of wide-sleepers according to the shear-key installation
method. The structural behavior analysis and safety evaluation on each
case was conducted using Korean design standard.
Abstract: This paper describes an efficient and practical method
for economic dispatch problem in one and two area electrical power
systems with considering the constraint of the tie transmission line
capacity constraint. Direct search method (DSM) is used with some
equality and inequality constraints of the production units with any
kind of fuel cost function. By this method, it is possible to use several
inequality constraints without having difficulty for complex cost
functions or in the case of unavailability of the cost function
derivative. To minimize the number of total iterations in searching,
process multi-level convergence is incorporated in the DSM.
Enhanced direct search method (EDSM) for two area power system
will be investigated. The initial calculation step size that causes less
iterations and then less calculation time is presented. Effect of the
transmission tie line capacity, between areas, on economic dispatch
problem and on total generation cost will be studied; line
compensation and active power with reactive power dispatch are
proposed to overcome the high generation costs for this multi-area
system.
Abstract: In recent years in Kazakhstan, as well as in all countries, we have been talking not only about the professional stress, but also professional Burnout Syndrome of employees. Burnout is essentially a response to chronic emotional stress – manifests itself in the form of chronic fatigue, despondency, unmotivated aggression, anger, and others. This condition is due to mental fatigue among teachers as a sort of payment for overstrain when professional commitments include the impact of “heat your soul", emotional investment. The emergence of professional Burnout among teachers is due to the system of interrelated and mutually reinforcing factors relating to the various levels of the personality: individually-psychological level is psychodynamic special subject characteristics of valuemotivational sphere and formation of skills and habits of selfregulation; the socio-psychological level includes especially the Organization and interpersonal interaction of a teacher. Signs of the Burnout were observed in 15 testees, and virtually a symptom could be observed in every teacher. As a result of the diagnosis 48% of teachers had the signs of stress (phase syndrome), resulting in a sense of anxiety, mood, heightened emotional susceptibility. The following results have also been got:-the fall of General energy potential – 14 pers. -Psychosomatic and psycho vegetative syndrome – 26 pers. -emotional deficit-34 pers. -emotional Burnout Syndrome-6 pers. The problem of professional Burnout of teachers in the current conditions should become not only meaningful, but particularly relevant. The quality of education of the younger generation depends on professional development; teachers- training level, and how “healthy" teachers are. That is why the systematic maintenance of pedagogic-professional development for teachers (including disclosure of professional Burnout Syndrome factors) takes on a special meaning.