Abstract: In this era of competitiveness, there is a growing need for supply chains also to become competitive enough to handle pressures like varying customer’s expectations, low cost high quality products to be delivered at the minimum time and the most important is throat cutting competition at world wide scale. In the recent years, supply chain competitiveness has been, therefore, accepted as one of the most important philosophies in the supply chain literature. Various researchers and practitioners have tried to identify and implement strategies in supply chains which can bring competitiveness in the supply chains i.e. supply chain competitiveness. The purpose of this paper is to suggest select strategies for supply chain competitiveness in the Indian manufacturing sector using an integrated approach of literature review and exploratory interviews with eminent professionals from the supply chain area in various industries, academia and research. The aim of the paper is to highlight the important area of competitiveness in the supply chain and to suggest recommendations to the industry and managers of manufacturing sector.
Abstract: In this paper, the direct AnsAz method is used for constructing the multi-wave solutions to the (2+1)-dimensional extension of the Korteweg de-Vries (shortly EKdV) equation. A new breather type of three-wave solutions including periodic breather type soliton solution, breather type of two-solitary solution are obtained. Some cases with specific values of the involved parameters are plotted for each of the three-wave solutions. Mechanical features of resonance interaction among the multi-wave are discussed. These results enrich the variety of the dynamics of higher-dimensional nonlinear wave field.
Abstract: Business scenario is an important technique that may be used at various stages of the enterprise architecture to derive its characteristics based on the high-level requirements of the business. In terms of wireless deployments, they are used to help identify and understand business needs involving wireless services, and thereby to derive the business requirements that the architecture development has to address by taking into account of various wireless challenges. This study assesses the deployment of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) solutions for several business scenarios in Asia Pacific region. This paper focuses on the overview of the business and technology environments, whereby examples of existing (or suggested) wireless solutions (to be) adopted in Asia Pacific region will be discussed. Interactions of several players, enabling technologies, and key processes in the wireless environments are studied. The analysis and discussions associated to this study are divided into two divisions: healthcare and education, where the merits of wireless solutions in improving living quality are highlighted.
Abstract: In this paper, the optimum weight and cost of a laminated composite plate is seeked, while it undergoes the heaviest load prior to a complete failure. Various failure criteria are defined for such structures in the literature. In this work, the Tsai-Hill theory is used as the failure criterion. The theory of analysis was based on the Classical Lamination Theory (CLT). A newly type of Genetic Algorithm (GA) as an optimization technique with a direct use of real variables was employed. Yet, since the optimization via GAs is a long process, and the major time is consumed through the analysis, Radial Basis Function Neural Networks (RBFNN) was employed in predicting the output from the analysis. Thus, the process of optimization will be carried out through a hybrid neuro-GA environment, and the procedure will be carried out until a predicted optimum solution is achieved.
Abstract: The acidity of different raw Jordanian clays
containing zeolite, bentonite, red and white kaolinite and diatomite
was characterized by means of temperature programmed desorption
(TPD) of ammonia, conversion of 2-methyl-3-butyn-2-ol (MBOH),
FTIR and BET-measurements. FTIR spectra proved presence of
silanol and bridged hydroxyls on the clay surface. The number of
acidic sites was calculated from experimental TPD-profiles. We
observed the decrease of surface acidity correlates with the decrease
of Si/Al ratio except for diatomite. On the TPD-plot for zeolite two
maxima were registered due to different strength of surface acidic
sites. Values of MBOH conversion, product yields and selectivity
were calculated for the catalysis on Jordanian clays. We obtained that
all clay samples are able to convert MBOH into a major product
which is 3-methyl-3-buten-1-yne (MBYNE) catalyzed by acid
surface sites with the selectivity close to 70%. There was found a
correlation between MBOH conversion and acidity of clays
determined by TPD-NH3, i.e. the higher the acidity the higher the
conversion of MBOH. However, diatomite provided the lowest
conversion of MBOH as result of poor polarization of silanol groups.
Comparison of surface areas and conversions revealed the highest
density of active sites for red kaolinite and the lowest for zeolite and
diatomite.
Abstract: Independent spanning trees (ISTs) provide a number of advantages in data broadcasting. One can cite the use in fault tolerance network protocols for distributed computing and bandwidth. However, the problem of constructing multiple ISTs is considered hard for arbitrary graphs. In this paper we present an efficient algorithm to construct ISTs on hypercubes that requires minimum resources to be performed.
Abstract: Chaiyaphum Starch Co. Ltd. is one of many starch
manufacturers that has introduced machinery to aid in manufacturing.
Even though machinery has replaced many elements and is now a
significant part in manufacturing processes, problems that must be
solved with respect to current process flow to increase efficiency still
exist. The paper-s aim is to increase productivity while maintaining
desired quality of starch, by redesigning the flipping machine-s
mechanical control system which has grossly low functional lifetime.
Such problems stem from the mechanical control system-s bearings,
as fluids and humidity can access into said bearing directly, in
tandem with vibrations from the machine-s function itself. The wheel
which is used to sense starch thickness occasionally falls from its
shaft, due to high speed rotation during operation, while the shaft
may bend from impact when processing dried bread. Redesigning its
mechanical control system has increased its efficiency, allowing
quality thickness measurement while increasing functional lifetime
an additional 62 days.
Abstract: We present design, fabrication, and characterization of
a small (12 mm × 12 mm × 8 mm) movable railway vehicle for sensor
carrying. The miniature railway vehicle (MRV) was mainly composed
of a vibrational structure and three legs. A railway was designed and
fabricated to power and guide the MRV. It also transmits the sensed
data from the MRV to the signal processing unit. The MRV with legs
on the railway was moving due to its high-frequency vibration. A
model was derived to describe the motion. Besides, FEM simulations
were performed to design the legs. Then, the MRV and the railway
were fabricated by precision machining. Finally, an infrared sensor
was carried and tested. The result shows that the MRV without loading
was moving along the railway and its maximum speed was 12.2 mm/s.
Moreover, the testing signal was sensed by the MRV.
Abstract: The cable tower of Liede Bridge is a double-column curved-lever arched-beam portal framed structure. Being novel and unique in structure, its cable tower differs in complexity from traditional ones. This paper analyzes the ultimate load capacity of cable tower by adopting the finite element calculations and model tests which indicate that constitutive relations applied here give a better simulation of actual failure process of prestressed reinforced concrete. In vertical load, horizontal load and overloading tests, the stepped loading of the tower model is of linear relationship, and the test data has good repeatability. All suggests that the cable tower has good bearing capacity, rational design and high emergency capacity.
Abstract: This paper presents the design, analysis and
development of permanent magnet (PM) torque couplers. These
couplers employ rare-earth magnets. Based on finite element analysis
and earlier analytical works both concentric and face-type
synchronous type couplers have been designed and fabricated. The
experimental performance has good correlation with finite element
calculations.
Abstract: Shear walls are used in most of the tall buildings for
carrying the lateral load. When openings for doors or windows are
necessary to be existed in the shear walls, a special type of the shear
walls is used called "coupled shear walls" which in some cases is
stiffened by specific beams and so, called "stiffened coupled shear
walls".
In this paper, a mathematical method for geometrically nonlinear
analysis of the stiffened coupled shear walls has been presented.
Then, a suitable formulation for determining the critical load of the
stiffened coupled shear walls under gravity force has been proposed.
The governing differential equations for equilibrium and deformation
of the stiffened coupled shear walls have been obtained by setting up
the equilibrium equations and the moment-curvature relationships for
each wall. Because of the complexity of the differential equation, the
energy method has been adopted for approximate solution of the
equations.
Abstract: This paper presents an equivalent circuit model based on piecewise linear parallel branches (PLPB) to study solar cell modules which are partially shaded. The PLPB model can easily be used in circuit simulation software such as the ElectroMagnetic Transients Program (EMTP). This PLPB model allows the user to simulate several different configurations of solar cells, the influence of partial shadowing on a single or multiple cells, the influence of the number of solar cells protected by a bypass diode and the effect of the cell connection configuration on partial shadowing.
Abstract: Encrypted messages sending frequently draws the attention
of third parties, perhaps causing attempts to break and
reveal the original messages. Steganography is introduced to hide
the existence of the communication by concealing a secret message
in an appropriate carrier like text, image, audio or video. Quantum
steganography where the sender (Alice) embeds her steganographic
information into the cover and sends it to the receiver (Bob) over a
communication channel. Alice and Bob share an algorithm and hide
quantum information in the cover. An eavesdropper (Eve) without
access to the algorithm can-t find out the existence of the quantum
message. In this paper, a text quantum steganography technique based
on the use of indefinite articles (a) or (an) in conjunction with the nonspecific
or non-particular nouns in English language and quantum
gate truth table have been proposed. The authors also introduced a
new code representation technique (SSCE - Secret Steganography
Code for Embedding) at both ends in order to achieve high level of
security. Before the embedding operation each character of the secret
message has been converted to SSCE Value and then embeds to cover
text. Finally stego text is formed and transmits to the receiver side.
At the receiver side different reverse operation has been carried out
to get back the original information.
Abstract: Medical image modalities such as computed
tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound
(US), X-ray are adapted to diagnose disease. These modalities
provide flexible means of reviewing anatomical cross-sections and
physiological state in different parts of the human body. The raw
medical images have a huge file size and need large storage
requirements. So it should be such a way to reduce the size of those
image files to be valid for telemedicine applications. Thus the image
compression is a key factor to reduce the bit rate for transmission or
storage while maintaining an acceptable reproduction quality, but it is
natural to rise the question of how much an image can be compressed
and still preserve sufficient information for a given clinical
application. Many techniques for achieving data compression have
been introduced. In this study, three different MRI modalities which
are Brain, Spine and Knee have been compressed and reconstructed
using wavelet transform. Subjective and objective evaluation has
been done to investigate the clinical information quality of the
compressed images. For the objective evaluation, the results show
that the PSNR which indicates the quality of the reconstructed image
is ranging from (21.95 dB to 30.80 dB, 27.25 dB to 35.75 dB, and
26.93 dB to 34.93 dB) for Brain, Spine, and Knee respectively. For
the subjective evaluation test, the results show that the compression
ratio of 40:1 was acceptable for brain image, whereas for spine and
knee images 50:1 was acceptable.
Abstract: Cryptography provides the secure manner of
information transmission over the insecure channel. It authenticates
messages based on the key but not on the user. It requires a lengthy
key to encrypt and decrypt the sending and receiving the messages,
respectively. But these keys can be guessed or cracked. Moreover,
Maintaining and sharing lengthy, random keys in enciphering and
deciphering process is the critical problem in the cryptography
system. A new approach is described for generating a crypto key,
which is acquired from a person-s iris pattern. In the biometric field,
template created by the biometric algorithm can only be
authenticated with the same person. Among the biometric templates,
iris features can efficiently be distinguished with individuals and
produces less false positives in the larger population. This type of iris
code distribution provides merely less intra-class variability that aids
the cryptosystem to confidently decrypt messages with an exact
matching of iris pattern. In this proposed approach, the iris features
are extracted using multi resolution wavelets. It produces 135-bit iris
codes from each subject and is used for encrypting/decrypting the
messages. The autocorrelators are used to recall original messages
from the partially corrupted data produced by the decryption process.
It intends to resolve the repudiation and key management problems.
Results were analyzed in both conventional iris cryptography system
(CIC) and non-repudiation iris cryptography system (NRIC). It
shows that this new approach provides considerably high
authentication in enciphering and deciphering processes.
Abstract: Sediment and mangrove root samples from Iko River
Estuary, Nigeria were analyzed for microbial and polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) content. The total heterotrophic
bacterial (THB) count ranged from 1.1x107 to 5.1 x107 cfu/g, total
fungal (TF) count ranged from 1.0x106 to 2.7x106 cfu/g, total
coliform (TC) count ranged from 2.0x104 to 8.0x104cfu/g while
hydrocarbon utilizing bacterial (HUB) count ranged from 1.0x 105 to
5.0 x 105cfu/g. There was a range of positive correlation (r = 0.72 to
0.93) between THB count and total HUB count, respectively. The
organisms were Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus,
Flavobacterium breve, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Erwinia
amylovora, Escherichia coli, Enterobacter sp, Desulfovibrio sp,
Acinetobacter iwoffii, Chromobacterium violaceum, Micrococcus
sedentarius, Corynebacterium sp, and Pseudomonas putrefaciens.
The PAH were Naphthalene, 2-Methylnaphthalene, Acenapthylene,
Acenaphthene, Fluorene, Phenanthene, Anthracene, Fluoranthene,
Pyrene, Benzo(a)anthracene, Chrysene, Benzo(b)fluoranthene,
Benzo(k)fluoranthene, Benzo(a)pyrene, Dibenzo(a,h)anthracene,
Benzo(g,h,l)perylene ,Indeno(1,2,3-d)pyrene with individual PAH
concentrations that ranged from 0.20mg/kg to 1.02mg/kg, 0.20mg/kg
to 1.07mg/kg and 0.2mg/kg to 4.43mg/kg in the benthic sediment,
epipellic sediment and mangrove roots, respectively. Total PAH
ranged from 6.30 to 9.93mg/kg, 6.30 to 9.13mg/kg and 9.66 to
16.68mg/kg in the benthic sediment, epipellic sediment and
mangrove roots, respectively. The high concentrations in the
mangrove roots are indicative of bioaccumulation of the pollutant in
the plant tissue. The microorganisms are of ecological significance
and the detectable quantities of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
could be partitioned and accumulated in tissues of infaunal and
epifaunal organisms in the study area.
Abstract: This article presents the evolution and technological changes implemented on the full scale simulators developed by the Simulation Department of the Instituto de Investigaciones Eléctricas1 (Mexican Electric Research Institute) and located at different training centers around the Mexican territory, and allows US to know the last updates, basically from the input/output view point, of the current simulators at some facilities of the electrical sector as well as the compatible industry of the electrical manufactures and industries such as Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE*, The utility Mexican company). Tendencies of these developments and impact within the operators- scope are also presented.
Abstract: Tumor classification is a key area of research in the
field of bioinformatics. Microarray technology is commonly used in
the study of disease diagnosis using gene expression levels. The
main drawback of gene expression data is that it contains thousands
of genes and a very few samples. Feature selection methods are used
to select the informative genes from the microarray. These methods
considerably improve the classification accuracy. In the proposed
method, Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used for effective feature
selection. Informative genes are identified based on the T-Statistics,
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) and F-Test values. The initial candidate
solutions of GA are obtained from top-m informative genes. The
classification accuracy of k-Nearest Neighbor (kNN) method is used
as the fitness function for GA. In this work, kNN and Support Vector
Machine (SVM) are used as the classifiers. The experimental results
show that the proposed work is suitable for effective feature
selection. With the help of the selected genes, GA-kNN method
achieves 100% accuracy in 4 datasets and GA-SVM method
achieves in 5 out of 10 datasets. The GA with kNN and SVM
methods are demonstrated to be an accurate method for microarray
based tumor classification.
Abstract: In the modern construction practices, industrial wastes
or by-products are largely used as raw materials in cement and
concrete. These impart many benefits to the environment and bringabout
an economic impact because the cost of waste disposal is
constantly increasing due to strict environmental regulations. It was
reported in literature that the leakage of oil onto concrete element in
older cement grinding unit resulted in concrete with greater resistance
to freezing and thawing. This effect was thought to be similar to
adding an air-entraining chemical admixture to concrete. This paper
presents an investigation on the load deflection behaviour and crack
patterns of reinforced concrete (RC) beams subjected to four point
loading. Ten 120x260x1900 mm beams were cast with 100%
ordinary Portland cement (OPC) concrete, 20% fly ash (FA) and 20%
rice husk ash (RHA) blended cement concrete. 0.15% dosage of
admixtures (used engine oil, new engine oil, and superplasticizer)
was used throughout the experiment. Results show that OPC and
OPC/RHA RC beams containing used engine oil and superplasticizer
exhibit higher capacity, 18-26% than their corresponding control
mix.
Abstract: The inhibition effect of brazilin to human bladder
tumor cell line T24 in vitro and in vivo was studied. The results of the
in vitro experiments showed that brazilin has strong inhibition activity
on the target cells. The inhibition ratio of 100 μg/mL brazilin and 100
μg/mL mitomycin to the target cells was 90.90 % and 63.24 %
respectively, which showed that brazilin has higher inhibition activity
than mitomycin under the same concentration. Brazilin could induce
cell apoptosis in T24 cells. Significant antitumor activity of brazilin
was also showed in the animals experiments. The life extention rate of
200 mg/mL, 300 mg/kg, and 400 mg/kg brazilin intraperitoneally
injected into Balb/c-nu-nu nude mice that with human bladder cancer
were 51.50 %, 56.90 %, and 58.42 %（P