Abstract: Biological treatment of secondary effluent wastewater
by two combined denitrification/oxic filtration systems packed with
Lock type(denitrification filter) and ceramic ball (oxic filter) has been
studied for 5months. Two phases of operating conditions were carried
out with an influent nitrate and ammonia concentrations varied from
5.8 to 11.7mg/L and 5.4 to 12.4mg/L,respectively.
Denitrification/oxic filter treatment system were operated under an
EBCT (Empty Bed Contact Time) of 4h at system recirculation ratio in
the range from 0 to 300% (Linear Velocity increased 19.5m/d to
78m/d). The system efficiency of denitrification , nitrification over
95% respectively. Total nitrogen and COD removal range from
54.6%(recirculation 0%) to 92.3%(recirculation 300%) and 10% to
62.5%, respectively.
Abstract: The application of Neural Network for disease
diagnosis has made great progress and is widely used by physicians.
An Electrocardiogram carries vital information about heart activity and physicians use this signal for cardiac disease diagnosis which
was the great motivation towards our study. In our work, tachycardia
features obtained are used for the training and testing of a Neural
Network. In this study we are using Fuzzy Probabilistic Neural
Networks as an automatic technique for ECG signal analysis. As
every real signal recorded by the equipment can have different
artifacts, we needed to do some preprocessing steps before feeding it
to our system. Wavelet transform is used for extracting the
morphological parameters of the ECG signal. The outcome of the
approach for the variety of arrhythmias shows the represented
approach is superior than prior presented algorithms with an average
accuracy of about %95 for more than 7 tachy arrhythmias.
Abstract: This study is to investigate the electroencephalogram (EEG) differences generated from a normal and Alzheimer-s disease (AD) sources. We also investigate the effects of brain tissue distortions due to AD on EEG. We develop a realistic head model from T1 weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using finite element method (FEM) for normal source (somatosensory cortex (SC) in parietal lobe) and AD sources (right amygdala (RA) and left amygdala (LA) in medial temporal lobe). Then, we compare the AD sourced EEGs to the SC sourced EEG for studying the nature of potential changes due to sources and 5% to 20% brain tissue distortions. We find an average of 0.15 magnification errors produced by AD sourced EEGs. Different brain tissue distortion models also generate the maximum 0.07 magnification. EEGs obtained from AD sources and different brain tissue distortion levels vary scalp potentials from normal source, and the electrodes residing in parietal and temporal lobes are more sensitive than other electrodes for AD sourced EEG.
Abstract: Variable ordering heuristics are used in constraint satisfaction algorithms. Different characteristics of various variable ordering heuristics are complementary. Therefore we have tried to get the advantages of all heuristics to improve search algorithms performance for solving constraint satisfaction problems. This paper considers combinations based on products and quotients, and then a newer form of combination based on weighted sums of ratings from a set of base heuristics, some of which result in definite improvements in performance.
Abstract: Advancements in the field of artificial intelligence
(AI) made during this decade have forever changed the way we look
at automating spacecraft subsystems including the electrical power
system. AI have been used to solve complicated practical problems
in various areas and are becoming more and more popular nowadays.
In this paper, a mathematical modeling and MATLAB–SIMULINK
model for the different components of the spacecraft power system is
presented. Also, a control system, which includes either the Neural
Network Controller (NNC) or the Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) is
developed for achieving the coordination between the components of
spacecraft power system as well as control the energy flows. The
performance of the spacecraft power system is evaluated by
comparing two control systems using the NNC and the FLC.
Abstract: In this paper, a fast motion compensation algorithm is
proposed that improves coding efficiency for video sequences with
brightness variations. We also propose a cross entropy measure
between histograms of two frames to detect brightness variations. The
framewise brightness variation parameters, a multiplier and an offset
field for image intensity, are estimated and compensated. Simulation
results show that the proposed method yields a higher peak signal to
noise ratio (PSNR) compared with the conventional method, with a
greatly reduced computational load, when the video scene contains
illumination changes.
Abstract: In the past decade, the development of microstrip
sensor application has evolved tremendously. Although cut and trial
method was adopted to develop microstrip sensing applications in the
past, Computer-Aided-Design (CAD) is a more effective as it ensures
less time is consumed and cost saving is achieved in developing
microstrip sensing applications. Therefore microstrip sensing
applications has gained popularity as an effective tool adopted in
continuous sensing of moisture content particularly in products that is
administered mainly by liquid content. In this research, the Cole-Cole
representation of reactive relaxation is applied to assess the
performance of the microstrip sensor devices. The microstrip sensor
application is an effective tool suitable for sensing the moisture
content of dielectric material. Analogous to dielectric relaxation
consideration of Cole-Cole diagrams as applied to dielectric
materials, a “reactive relaxation concept” concept is introduced to
represent the frequency-dependent and moisture content
characteristics of microstrip sensor devices.
Abstract: In this paper, delay-dependent stability analysis for
neutral type neural networks with uncertain paramters and
time-varying delay is studied. By constructing new
Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional and dividing the delay interval into
multiple segments, a novel sufficient condition is established to
guarantee the globally asymptotically stability of the considered
system. Finally, a numerical example is provided to illustrate the
usefulness of the proposed main results.
Abstract: Insect pests are the major source of crop
damage, yield and quality reduction in Pakistan and else
where in the world. Cotton crop is the most hit crop in
Pakistan followed by rice and the second most important
foreign exchange earning crop. A wide variety of staple,
horticultural and cash crops grown, reflect serious problems of
many types of insect pests. To overcome the insect pest
problem, pesticide use in Pakistan has increased substantially
which has now been further intensified. Pesticides worth more
than billions of rupees are imported every year. This paper
reviews the over all pesticide use in Pakistan in relation to
pesticide prices, support price of cotton and rice, pesticide use
in different provinces of Pakistan on different crops and their
impact on crop productivity. The environmental pollution
caused by the use of pesticides, contamination of soil and
water resources and the danger associated with the disposal of
their empty containers is also discussed in detail.
Abstract: In this paper parametric analytical studies have been carried out to examine the intrinsic flow physics pertaining to the liftoff time of solid propellant rockets. Idealized inert simulators of solid rockets are selected for numerical studies to examining the preignition chamber dynamics. Detailed diagnostic investigations have been carried out using an unsteady two-dimensional k-omega turbulence model. We conjectured from the numerical results that the altered variations of the igniter jet impingement angle, turbulence level, time and location of the first ignition, flame spread characteristics, the overall chamber dynamics including the boundary layer growth history are having bearing on the time for nozzle flow chocking for establishing the required thrust for the rocket liftoff. We concluded that the altered flow choking time of strap-on motors with the pre-determined identical ignition time at the lift off phase will lead to the malfunctioning of the rocket. We also concluded that, in the light of the space debris, an error in predicting the liftoff time can lead to an unfavorable launch window amounts the satellite injection errors and/or the mission failures.
Abstract: Longitudinal data typically have the characteristics of
changes over time, nonlinear growth patterns, between-subjects
variability, and the within errors exhibiting heteroscedasticity and
dependence. The data exploration is more complicated than that of
cross-sectional data. The purpose of this paper is to organize/integrate
of various visual-graphical techniques to explore longitudinal data.
From the application of the proposed methods, investigators can
answer the research questions include characterizing or describing the
growth patterns at both group and individual level, identifying the time
points where important changes occur and unusual subjects, selecting
suitable statistical models, and suggesting possible within-error
variance.
Abstract: Eco-driving allows the driver to optimize his/her behaviour in order to achieve several types of benefits: reducing pollution emissions, increasing road safety, and fuel saving. One of the main rules for adopting eco-driving is to anticipate the traffic events by avoiding strong acceleration or braking and maintaining a steady speed when possible. Therefore, drivers have to comply with speed limits and time headway. The present study explored the role of three types of motivation and social norms in predicting French drivers- intentions to comply with speed limits and time headway as eco-driving practices as well as examine the variations according to gender and age. 1234 drivers with ages between 18 and 75 years old filled in a questionnaire which was presented as part of an online survey aiming to better understand the drivers- road habits. It included items assessing: a) behavioural intentions to comply with speed limits and time headway according to three types of motivation: reducing pollution emissions, increasing road safety, and fuel saving, b) subjective and descriptive social norms regarding the intention to comply with speed limits and time headway, and c) sociodemographical variables. Drivers expressed their intention to frequently comply with speed limits and time headway in the following 6 months; however, they showed more intention to comply with speed limits as compared to time headway regardless of the type of motivation. The subjective injunctive norms were significantly more important in predicting drivers- intentions to comply with speed limits and time headway as compared to the descriptive norms. In addition, the most frequently reported type of motivation for complying with speed limits and time headway was increasing road safety followed by fuel saving and reducing pollution emissions, hence underlining a low motivation to practice eco-driving. Practical implications of the results are discussed.
Abstract: Modern manufacturing facilities are large scale,
highly complex, and operate with large number of variables under
closed loop control. Early and accurate fault detection and diagnosis
for these plants can minimise down time, increase the safety of plant
operations, and reduce manufacturing costs. Fault detection and
isolation is more complex particularly in the case of the faulty analog
control systems. Analog control systems are not equipped with
monitoring function where the process parameters are continually
visualised. In this situation, It is very difficult to find the relationship
between the fault importance and its consequences on the product
failure. We consider in this paper an approach to fault detection and
analysis of its effect on the production quality using an adaptive
centring and scaling in the pickling process in cold rolling. The fault
appeared on one of the power unit driving a rotary machine, this
machine can not track a reference speed given by another machine.
The length of metal loop is then in continuous oscillation, this affects
the product quality. Using a computerised data acquisition system,
the main machine parameters have been monitored. The fault has
been detected and isolated on basis of analysis of monitored data.
Normal and faulty situation have been obtained by an artificial neural
network (ANN) model which is implemented to simulate the normal
and faulty status of rotary machine. Correlation between the product
quality defined by an index and the residual is used to quality
classification.
Abstract: Having a very many number of pipelines all over the
country, Iran is one of the countries consists of various ecosystems
with variable degrees of fragility and robusticity as well as
geographical conditions. This study presents a state-of-the-art method
to estimate environmental risks of pipelines by recommending
rational equations including FES, URAS, SRS, RRS, DRS, LURS
and IRS as well as FRS to calculate the risks. This study was carried
out by a relative semi-quantitative approach based on land uses and
HVAs (High-Value Areas). GIS as a tool was used to create proper
maps regarding the environmental risks, land uses and distances. The
main logic for using the formulas was the distance-based approaches
and ESI as well as intersections. Summarizing the results of the
study, a risk geographical map based on the ESIs and final risk score
(FRS) was created. The study results showed that the most sensitive
and so of high risk area would be an area comprising of mangrove
forests located in the pipeline neighborhood. Also, salty lands were
the most robust land use units in the case of pipeline failure
circumstances. Besides, using a state-of-the-art method, it showed
that mapping the risks of pipelines out with the applied method is of
more reliability and convenience as well as relative
comprehensiveness in comparison to present non-holistic methods for
assessing the environmental risks of pipelines. The focus of the
present study is “assessment" than that of “management". It is
suggested that new policies are to be implemented to reduce the
negative effects of the pipeline that has not yet been constructed
completely
Abstract: The people are differed by their capabilities, skills and mental agilities. The evolution of human from childhood when they are completely dependent up to adultness the time they gradually set the dependency free is too complicated, by considering they have all started from almost one point but some become cleverer and some less. The main control command of a cybernetic hand should be posted by remaining healthy organs of disabled Person. These commands can be from several channels, which their recording and detecting are different and need complicated study. In this research, we suppose that, this stage has been done or in the other words, the command has been already sent and detected. So the main goal is to control a long hand, upper elbow hand missing, by an interest angle define by disabled. It means that, the system input is the position desired by disables and the output is the elbow-joint angle variation. Therefore the goal is a suitable control design based on neural network theory in order to meet the given mapping.
Abstract: In this paper, we were introduces a skin detection
method using a histogram approximation based on the mean shift
algorithm. The proposed method applies the mean shift procedure to a
histogram of a skin map of the input image, generated by comparison
with standard skin colors in the CbCr color space, and divides the
background from the skin region by selecting the maximum value
according to brightness level. The proposed method detects the skin
region using the mean shift procedure to determine a maximum value
that becomes the dividing point, rather than using a manually selected
threshold value, as in existing techniques. Even when skin color is
contaminated by illumination, the procedure can accurately segment
the skin region and the background region. The proposed method may
be useful in detecting facial regions as a pretreatment for face
recognition in various types of illumination.
Abstract: Film, as an art form playing a vital role and is a powerful tool in documenting, influencing and shaping the society. Films are the collective creation of a large number of separate individuals, each contributing with creative input, unique talents, and technical expertise to the project. Recently, the Malaysian Independent (or “Indie") filmmakers have made their presence felt by winning awards at various international film festivals. Working in the digital video (DV) format, a number of independent filmmakers really hit their stride with a range of remarkably strong titles and international recognition has been quick in coming and their works are now regularly in exhibition or in competition, winning many top prizes at prestigious festivals around the world. The interaction factors among crewmembers are emphasized as imperative for group success. An in-depth interview is conducted to analyze the social interactions and exchanges between filmmakers through Social Exchanges Theory (SET). Certainly the new millennium that was marked as the digital technology revolution has changed the face of filmmaking in Malaysia. There is a clear need to study the Malaysian independent cinema especially from the perspective of understanding what causes the independent filmmakers to work so well given all of the difficulties and constraints.
Abstract: Future astronomical projects on large space x-ray
imaging telescopes require novel substrates and technologies for the
construction of their reflecting mirrors. The mirrors must be
lightweight and precisely shaped to achieve large collecting area with
high angular resolution. The new materials and technologies must be
cost-effective. Currently, the most promising materials are glass or
silicon foils. We focused on precise shaping these foils by thermal
forming process. We studied free and forced slumping in the
temperature region of hot plastic deformation and compared the
shapes obtained by the different slumping processes. We measured
the shapes and the surface quality of the foils. In the experiments, we
varied both heat-treatment temperature and time following our
experiment design. The obtained data and relations we can use for
modeling and optimizing the thermal forming procedure.
Abstract: This article presents a method for elections between the members of a group that is founded by fuzzy logic. Linguistic variables are objects for decision on election cards and deduction is based on t-norms and s-norms. In this election-s method election cards are questionnaire. The questionnaires are comprised of some questions with some choices. The choices are words from natural language. Presented method is accompanied by center of gravity (COG) defuzzification added up to a computer program by MATLAB. Finally the method is illustrated by solving two examples; choose a head for a research group-s members and a representative for students.
Abstract: In this paper, an extended study is performed on the
effect of different factors on the quality of vector data based on a
previous study. In the noise factor, one kind of noise that appears in
document images namely Gaussian noise is studied while the previous
study involved only salt-and-pepper noise. High and low levels of
noise are studied. For the noise cleaning methods, algorithms that were
not covered in the previous study are used namely Median filters and
its variants. For the vectorization factor, one of the best available
commercial raster to vector software namely VPstudio is used to
convert raster images into vector format. The performance of line
detection will be judged based on objective performance evaluation
method. The output of the performance evaluation is then analyzed
statistically to highlight the factors that affect vector quality.