Abstract: The mobile systems are powered by batteries.
Reducing the system power consumption is a key to increase its
autonomy. It is known that mostly the systems are dealing with time
varying signals. Thus, we aim to achieve power efficiency by smartly
adapting the system processing activity in accordance with the input
signal local characteristics. It is done by completely rethinking the
processing chain, by adopting signal driven sampling and processing.
In this context, a signal driven filtering technique, based on the level
crossing sampling is devised. It adapts the sampling frequency and
the filter order by analysing the input signal local variations. Thus, it
correlates the processing activity with the signal variations. It leads
towards a drastic computational gain of the proposed technique
compared to the classical one.
Abstract: A new method identifies coupled fluid-structure system with a reduced set of state variables is presented. Assuming that the structural model is known a priori either from an analysis or a test and using linear transformations between structural and aeroelastic states, it is possible to deduce aerodynamic information from sampled time histories of the aeroelastic system. More specifically given a finite set of structural modes the method extracts generalized aerodynamic force matrix corresponding to these mode shapes. Once the aerodynamic forces are known, an aeroelastic reduced-order model can be constructed in discrete-time, state-space format by coupling the structural model and the aerodynamic system. The resulting reduced-order model is suitable for constant Mach, varying density analysis.
Abstract: Recently, there are significant improvements in the
capabilities of mobile devices; rendering large terrain is tedious
because of the constraint in resources of mobile devices. This
paper focuses on the implementation of terrain rendering on
mobile device to observe some issues and current constraints
occurred. Experiments are performed using two datasets with
results based on rendering speed and appearance to ascertain both
the issues and constraints. The result shows a downfall of frame
rate performance because of the increase of triangles. Since the
resolution between computer and mobile device is different, the
terrain surface on mobile device looks more unrealistic compared
to on a computer. Thus, more attention in the development of
terrain rendering on mobile devices is required. The problems
highlighted in this paper will be the focus of future research and
will be a great importance for 3D visualization on mobile device.
Abstract: This article presents a current-mode universal biquadratic filter. The proposed circuit can apparently provide standard functions of the biquad filter: low-pass, high-pass, bandpass, band-reject and all-pass functions. The circuit uses 4 current controlled transconductance amplifiers (CCTAs) and 2 grounded capacitors. In addition, the pole frequency and quality factor can be adjusted by electronic method by adjusting the bias currents of the CCTA. The proposed circuit uses only grounded capacitors without additional external resistors, the proposed circuit is considerably appropriate to further developing into an integrated circuit. The results of PSPICE simulation program are corresponding to the theoretical analysis.
Abstract: In this paper, we present a new method for solving quadratic programming problems, not strictly convex. Constraints of the problem are linear equalities and inequalities, with bounded variables. The suggested method combines the active-set strategies and support methods. The algorithm of the method and numerical experiments are presented, while comparing our approach with the active set method on randomly generated problems.
Abstract: Eight heavy metals (Cu, Cr, Zn, Hg, Pb, Cd, Ni and As) were analyzed in sediment samples in the dry and wet seasons from November 2009 to October 2010 in West Port of Peninsular Malaysia. The heavy metal concentrations (mg/kg dry weight) were ranged from 23.4 to 98.3 for Zn, 22.3 to 80 for Pb, 7.4 to 27.6 Cu, 0.244 to 3.53 for Cd, 7.2 to 22.2 for Ni, 20.2 to 162 for As, 0.11 to 0.409 for Hg and 11.5 to 61.5 for Cr. Metals concentrations in dry season were higher than the rainy season except in cupper and chromium. Analysis of variance with Statistical Analysis System (SAS) shows that the mean concentration of metals in the two seasons (α level=0.05) are not significantly different which shows that the metals were held firmly in the matrix of sediment. Also there are significant differences between control point station with other stations. According to the Interim Sediment Quality guidelines (ISQG), the metal concentrations are moderately polluted, except in arsenic which shows the highest level of pollution.
Abstract: Data Warehouses (DWs) are repositories which contain the unified history of an enterprise for decision support. The data must be Extracted from information sources, Transformed and integrated to be Loaded (ETL) into the DW, using ETL tools. These tools focus on data movement, where the models are only used as a means to this aim. Under a conceptual viewpoint, the authors want to innovate the ETL process in two ways: 1) to make clear compatibility between models in a declarative fashion, using correspondence assertions and 2) to identify the instances of different sources that represent the same entity in the real-world. This paper presents the overview of the proposed framework to model the ETL process, which is based on the use of a reference model and perspective schemata. This approach provides the designer with a better understanding of the semantic associated with the ETL process.
Abstract: Finding the shortest path between two positions is a
fundamental problem in transportation, routing, and communications
applications. In robot motion planning, the robot should pass around
the obstacles touching none of them, i.e. the goal is to find a
collision-free path from a starting to a target position. This task has
many specific formulations depending on the shape of obstacles,
allowable directions of movements, knowledge of the scene, etc.
Research of path planning has yielded many fundamentally different
approaches to its solution, mainly based on various decomposition
and roadmap methods. In this paper, we show a possible use of
visibility graphs in point-to-point motion planning in the Euclidean
plane and an alternative approach using Voronoi diagrams that
decreases the probability of collisions with obstacles. The second
application area, investigated here, is focused on problems of finding
minimal networks connecting a set of given points in the plane using
either only straight connections between pairs of points (minimum
spanning tree) or allowing the addition of auxiliary points to the set
to obtain shorter spanning networks (minimum Steiner tree).
Abstract: The study of non-equilibrium systems has attracted
increasing interest in recent years, mainly due to the lack of
theoretical frameworks, unlike their equilibrium counterparts.
Studying the steady state and/or simple systems is thus one of the
main interests. Hence in this work we have focused our attention on
the driven lattice gas model (DLG model) consisting of interacting
particles subject to an external field E. The dynamics of the system
are given by hopping of particles to nearby empty sites with rates
biased for jumps in the direction of E. Having used small two
dimensional systems of DLG model, the stochastic properties at nonequilibrium
steady state were analytically studied. To understand the
non-equilibrium phenomena, we have applied the analytic approach
via master equation to calculate probability function and analyze
violation of detailed balance in term of the fluctuation-dissipation
theorem. Monte Carlo simulations have been performed to validate
the analytic results.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to research on thoughts transmitted from virtual fitting-room and to deduce discussion in an auxiliary narrative way. The research structure is based on 3D virtual fitting-room as the research subject. Initially, we will discuss the principles of narrate study, User Demand and so on by using a narrative design pattern to transmit their objective indications of “people-situation-reason-object", etc, and then to analyze the virtual fitting-room examples that are able to provide a new thinking for designers who engaged in clothing related industry – which comes in “story telling" and “user-centered design" forms. Clothing designs are not just to cover up the body to keep warm but to draw closer to people-s demand physiologically and psychologically through interactive designs so as to achieve cognition between people and environment. In the “outside" goal of clothing-s functional designs, we use tribal group-s behavior characteristics to “transform" the existing personal cultural stories, and “reform" them to design appropriate interactive products. Synthesizing the above matters, apart from being able to regard “narrate" as a kind of functional thinking process, we are also able to regard it as a kind of choice, arrangement and an activity of story expression, allowing interactive design-s spirit, product characteristics and experience ideas be transmitted to target tribal group in a visual image performance method. It is a far more confident and innovative attempt, and meanwhile, able to achieve entertainment, joyful and so forth fundamental interactive transmissions. Therefore, this study takes “user-centered design" thinking as a basis to establish a set of clothing designs with interactive experience patterns and to assist designers to examine the five sensual feeling of interactive demands in order to initiate a new value in textile industry.
Abstract: In the last decade digital watermarking procedures have
become increasingly applied to implement the copyright protection
of multimedia digital contents distributed on the Internet. To this
end, it is worth noting that a lot of watermarking procedures
for images and videos proposed in literature are based on spread
spectrum techniques. However, some scepticism about the robustness
and security of such watermarking procedures has arisen because
of some documented attacks which claim to render the inserted
watermarks undetectable. On the other hand, web content providers
wish to exploit watermarking procedures characterized by flexible and
efficient implementations and which can be easily integrated in their
existing web services frameworks or platforms. This paper presents
how a simple spread spectrum watermarking procedure for MPEG-2
videos can be modified to be exploited in web contexts. To this end,
the proposed procedure has been made secure and robust against some
well-known and dangerous attacks. Furthermore, its basic scheme
has been optimized by making the insertion procedure adaptive with
respect to the terminals used to open the videos and the network transactions
carried out to deliver them to buyers. Finally, two different
implementations of the procedure have been developed: the former
is a high performance parallel implementation, whereas the latter is
a portable Java and XML based implementation. Thus, the paper
demonstrates that a simple spread spectrum watermarking procedure,
with limited and appropriate modifications to the embedding scheme,
can still represent a valid alternative to many other well-known and
more recent watermarking procedures proposed in literature.
Abstract: Today, the central role of industrial robots in automation in general and in material handling in particular is crystal clear. Based on the current status of Photovoltaics and by focusing on lightweight material handling, PV industry has turned into a potential candidate for introducing a fresh “pick and place" robot technology. Thus, to examine the industry needs in this regard, firstly the best suited applications for such robotic automation,and then the essential prerequisites in PV industry should be identified. The objective of this paper is to present holistic views on the industry trends, general automation status and existing challenges facing lightweight robotic material handling in PV Silicon Wafer and Thin Film technologies. The results of this study show that currently no uniform pick and place solution prevails among PV Silicon Wafer manufacturers and the industry calls for a new robot solution to satisfy its needs in new directions.
Abstract: Microbial oil was produced by soil isolated
oleaginous yeast YU5/2 in flask-batch fermentation. The yeast was
identified by molecular genetics technique based on sequence
analysis of the variable D1/D2 domain of the large subunit (26S)
ribosomal DNA and it was identified as Torulaspora globosa. T.
globosa YU5/2 supported maximum values of 0.520 g/L/d, 0.472 g
lipid/g cells, 4.16 g/L, and 0.156 g/L/d for volumetric lipid
production rate, and specific yield of lipid, lipid concentration, and
specific rate of lipid production respectively, when culture was
performed in nitrogen-limiting medium supplemented with 80g/L
glucose. Among the carbon sources tested, maximum cell yield
coefficient (YX/S, g/L), maximum specific yield of lipid (YP/X, g
lipid/g cells) and volumetric lipid production rate (QP, g/L/d) were
found of 0.728, 0.237, and 0.619, respectively, using sweet potato
tubers hydrolysates as carbon source.
Abstract: Aim of this work was to compare the efficacy of two
loading methods of proteins onto polymeric nanocarriers: adsorption
and encapsulation methods. Preliminary studies of protein loading
were done using Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) as model protein.
Nanocarriers were prepared starting from polylactic co-glycolic acid
(PLGA) polymer; production methods used are two different variants
of emulsion evaporation method. Nanoparticles obtained were
analyzed in terms of dimensions by Dynamic Light Scattering and
Loading Efficiency of BSA by Bradford Assay. Loaded
nanoparticles were then submitted to in-vitro protein dissolution test
in order to study the effect of the delivery system on the release rate
of the protein.
Abstract: The scattering effect of light in fog improves the
difficulty in visibility thus introducing disturbances in transport
facilities in urban or industrial areas causing fatal accidents or public
harassments, therefore, developing an enhanced fog vision system
with radio wave to improvise the way outs of these severe problems
is really a big challenge for researchers. Series of experimental
studies already been done and more are in progress to know the
weather effect on radio frequencies for different ranges. According to
Rayleigh scattering Law, the propagating wavelength should be
greater than the diameter of the particle present in the penetrating
medium. Direct wave RF signal thus have high chance of failure to
work in such weather for detection of any object. Therefore an
extensive study was required to find suitable region in the RF band
that can help us in detecting objects with proper shape. This paper
produces some results on object detection using 912 MHz band with
successful detection of the persistence of any object coming under the
trajectory of a vehicle navigating in indoor and outdoor environment.
The developed images are finally transformed to video signal to
enable continuous monitoring.
Abstract: The main purpose of this paper is to investigate thelong-run equilibrium and short-run dynamics of international housing prices when macroeconomic variables change. We apply the Pedroni’s, panel cointegration, using the unbalanced panel data analysis of 33 countries over the period from 1980Q1 to 2013Q1, to examine the relationships among house prices and macroeconomic variables. Our empirical results of panel data cointegration tests support the existence of a cointegration among these macroeconomic variables and house prices. Besides, the empirical results of panel DOLS further present that a 1% increase in economic activity, long-term interest rates, and construction costs cause house prices to respectively change 2.16%, -0.04%, and 0.22% in the long run.Furthermore, the increasing economic activity and the construction cost would cause strongerimpacts on the house prices for lower income countries than higher income countries.The results lead to the conclusion that policy of house prices growth can be regarded as economic growth for lower income countries. Finally, in America region, the coefficient of economic activity is the highest, which displays that increasing economic activity causes a faster rise in house prices there than in other regions. There are some special cases whereby the coefficients of interest rates are significantly positive in America and Asia regions.
Abstract: Fuzzy random variables have been introduced as an imprecise concept of numeric values for characterizing the imprecise knowledge. The descriptive parameters can be used to describe the primary features of a set of fuzzy random observations. In fuzzy environments, the expected values are usually represented as fuzzy-valued, interval-valued or numeric-valued descriptive parameters using various metrics. Instead of the concept of area metric that is usually adopted in the relevant studies, the numeric expected value is proposed by the concept of distance metric in this study based on two characters (fuzziness and randomness) of FRVs. Comparing with the existing measures, although the results show that the proposed numeric expected value is same with those using the different metric, if only triangular membership functions are used. However, the proposed approach has the advantages of intuitiveness and computational efficiency, when the membership functions are not triangular types. An example with three datasets is provided for verifying the proposed approach.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine to what
extend classroom management efficacy, marital status, gender, and
teaching experience predict burnout among primary school teachers.
Participants of this study were 523 (345 female, 178 male) teachers
who completed inventories. The results of multiple regression
analysis indicated that three dimensions of teacher burnout
(Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization, Personal
Accomplishment) were affected differently from four predictor
variables. Findings indicated that for the emotional exhaustion,
classroom management efficacy, marital status and teaching
experience; for depersonalization dimension, classroom management
efficacy and marital status and finally for the personal
accomplishment dimension, classroom management efficacy, gender,
and teaching experience were significant predictors.
Abstract: The purpose of my research proposal is to
demonstrate that there is a relationship between EEG and
endometrial cancer.
The above relationship is based on an Aristotelian Syllogism;
since it is known that the 14-3-3 protein is related to the electrical
activity of the brain via control of the flow of Na+ and K+ ions and
since it is also known that many types of cancer are associated with
14-3-3 protein, it is possible that there is a relationship between EEG
and cancer. This research will be carried out by well-defined
diagnostic indicators, obtained via the EEG, using signal processing
procedures and pattern recognition tools such as neural networks in
order to recognize the endometrial cancer type. The current research
shall compare the findings from EEG and hysteroscopy performed on
women of a wide age range. Moreover, this practice could be
expanded to other types of cancer. The implementation of this
methodology will be completed with the creation of an ontology.
This ontology shall define the concepts existing in this research-s
domain and the relationships between them. It will represent the
types of relationships between hysteroscopy and EEG findings.
Abstract: Predictions of flow and heat transfer characteristics and shape optimization in internally finned circular tubes have been performed on three-dimensional periodically fully developed turbulent flow and thermal fields. For a trapezoidal fin profile, the effects of fin height h, upper fin widths d1, lower fin widths d2, and helix angle of fin ? on transport phenomena are investigated for the condition of fin number of N = 30. The CFD and mathematical optimization technique are coupled in order to optimize the shape of internally finned tube. The optimal solutions of the design variables (i.e., upper and lower fin widths, fin height and helix angle) are numerically obtained by minimizing the pressure loss and maximizing the heat transfer rate, simultaneously, for the limiting conditions of d1 = 0.5~1.5 mm, d2 = 0.5~1.5 mm, h= 0.5~1.5mm, ? = 10~30 degrees. The fully developed flow and thermal fields are predicted using the finite volume method and the optimization is carried out by means of the multi-objective genetic algorithm that is widely used in the constrained nonlinear optimization problem.