Abstract: In recent years there has been a continuous increase of
axle loads, tonnage, train speed and train length which has increased
both the productivity in the rail sector and the risk of rail breaks and
derailments. On the other hand, the environmental requirements (e.g.
noise reduction) for railway operations will become tighter in the
future. In our research we developed a new composite material which
does not change braking properties, is capable of taking extremely
high pressure loads, reduces noise and is environmentally friendly.
Part of our research was also the development of technology which
will be able to apply this material to the rail. The result of our
research was the system which reduces the wear out significantly and
almost completely eliminates the squealing noise at the same time,
and by using only one special material.
Abstract: RFID system, in which we give identification number to each item and detect it with radio frequency, supports more variable service than barcode system can do. For example, a refrigerator with RFID reader and internet connection will automatically notify expiration of food validity to us. But, in spite of its convenience, RFID system has some security threats, because anybody can get ID information of item easily. One of most critical threats is privacy invasion. Existing privacy protection schemes or systems have been proposed, and these schemes or systems defend normal users from attempts that any attacker tries to get information using RFID tag value. But, these systems still have weakness that attacker can get information using analogous value instead of original tag value. In this paper, we mention this type of attack more precisely and suggest 'Tag Broker Model', which can defend it. Tag broker in this model translates original tag value to random value, and user can only get random value. Attacker can not use analogous tag value, because he/she is not able to know original one from it.
Abstract: Collaborative planning, forecasting and
replenishment (CPFR) coordinates the various supply chain
management activities including production and purchase planning,
demand forecasting and inventory replenishment between supply
chain trading partners. This study proposes a systematic way of
analyzing CPFR supporting factors using fuzzy cognitive map
(FCM) approach. FCMs have proven particularly useful for solving
problems in which a number of decision variables and
uncontrollable variables are causally interrelated. Hence the FCMs
of CPFR are created to show the relationships between the factors
that influence on effective implementation of CPFR in the supply
chain.
Abstract: Public procurement is one of the most
important areas in the public sector that introduces a possibility for a
corruption. Due to the volume of the funds that are
allocated through this institution (in the EU countries it is between 10
– 15% of GDP), it has very serious implications for the efficiency of
public expenditures and the overall economic efficiency as
well. Indicators that are usually used for the measurement of the
corruption (such as Corruption Perceptions Index - CPI) show that
the worst situation is in the post-communist countries
and Mediterranean countries.
The presented paper uses the Czech Republic as an example of a
post-communist country and analyses the factors which influence
the scope of corruption in public procurement. Moreover, the
paper discusses indicators that could point at the public procurement
market inefficiency. The presented results show that post-communist
states use the institute of public contracts significantly more than the
old member countries of the continental Europe. It has a very
important implication because it gives more space for corruption.
Furthermore, it appears that the inefficient functioning of public
procurement market is clearly manifested in the low number of bids,
low level of market transparency and an ineffective control
system. Some of the observed indicators are statistically significantly
correlated with the CPI.
Abstract: Identification of cancer genes that might anticipate
the clinical behaviors from different types of cancer disease is
challenging due to the huge number of genes and small number of
patients samples. The new method is being proposed based on
supervised learning of classification like support vector machines
(SVMs).A new solution is described by the introduction of the
Maximized Margin (MM) in the subset criterion, which permits to
get near the least generalization error rate. In class prediction
problem, gene selection is essential to improve the accuracy and to
identify genes for cancer disease. The performance of the new
method was evaluated with real-world data experiment. It can give
the better accuracy for classification.
Abstract: Total weighted tardiness is a measure of customer
satisfaction. Minimizing it represents satisfying the general
requirement of on-time delivery. In this research, we consider an ant
colony optimization (ACO) algorithm to solve the problem of
scheduling unrelated parallel machines to minimize total weighted
tardiness. The problem is NP-hard in the strong sense. Computational
results show that the proposed ACO algorithm is giving promising
results compared to other existing algorithms.
Abstract: In this paper we study numerical methods for solving Sylvester matrix equations of the form AX +XBT +CDT = 0. A new projection method is proposed. The union of Krylov subspaces in A and its inverse and the union of Krylov subspaces in B and its inverse are used as the right and left projection subspaces, respectively. The Arnoldi-like process for constructing the orthonormal basis of the projection subspaces is outlined. We show that the approximate solution is an exact solution of a perturbed Sylvester matrix equation. Moreover, exact expression for the norm of residual is derived and results on finite termination and convergence are presented. Some numerical examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Abstract: In this paper, we validate crater detection in moon surface image using FLDA. This proposal assumes that it is applied to SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) project aiming at the pin-point landing to the moon surface. The point where the lander should land is judged by the position relations of the craters obtained via camera, so the real-time image processing becomes important element. Besides, in the SLIM project, 400kg-class lander is assumed, therefore, high-performance computers for image processing cannot be equipped. We are studying various crater detection methods such as Haar-Like features, LBP, and PCA. And we think these methods are appropriate to the project, however, to identify the unlearned images obtained by actual is insufficient. In this paper, we examine the crater detection using FLDA, and compare with the conventional methods.
Abstract: A new and cost effective RP-HPLC method was
developed and validated for simultaneous analysis of non steroidal
anti inflammatory dugs Diclofenac sodium (DFS), Flurbiprofen
(FLP) and an opioid analgesic Tramadol (TMD) in advanced drug
delivery systems (Liposome and Microcapsules), marketed brands
and human plasma. Isocratic system was employed for the flow of
mobile phase consisting of 10 mM sodium dihydrogen phosphate
buffer and acetonitrile in molar ratio of 67: 33 with adjusted pH of
3.2. The stationary phase was hypersil ODS column (C18, 250×4.6
mm i.d., 5 μm) with controlled temperature of 30 C°. DFS in
liposomes, microcapsules and marketed drug products was
determined in range of 99.76-99.84%. FLP and TMD in
microcapsules and brands formulation were 99.78 - 99.94 % and
99.80 - 99.82 %, respectively. Single step liquid-liquid extraction
procedure using combination of acetonitrile and trichloroacetic acid
(TCA) as protein precipitating agent was employed. The detection
limits (at S/N ratio 3) of quality control solutions and plasma samples
were 10, 20, and 20 ng/ml for DFS, FLP and TMD, respectively.
The Assay was acceptable in linear dynamic range. All other
validation parameters were found in limits of FDA and ICH method
validation guidelines. The proposed method is sensitive, accurate and
precise and could be applicable for routine analysis in
pharmaceutical industry as well as in human plasma samples for
bioequivalence and pharmacokinetics studies.
Abstract: This paper proposes an adaptive sliding mode
controller which combines adaptive control and sliding
mode control to control a nonlinear robotic manipulator
with uncertain parameters. We use an adaptive algorithm
based on the concept of sliding mode control to alleviate the
chattering phenomenon of control input. Adaptive laws are
developed to obtain the gain of switching input and the
boundary layer parameters. The stability and convergence
of the robotic manipulator control system are guaranteed
by applying the Lyapunov theorem. Simulation results
demonstrate that the chattering of control input can be
alleviated effectively. The proposed controller scheme can
assure robustness against a large class of uncertainties and
achieve good trajectory tracking performance.
Abstract: We present a preliminary x-ray study on human-hair
microstructures for a health-state indicator, in particular a cancer
case. As an uncomplicated and low-cost method of x-ray technique,
the human-hair microstructure was analyzed by wide-angle x-ray
diffractions (XRD) and small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS). The
XRD measurements exhibited the simply reflections at the d-spacing
of 28 Å, 9.4 Å and 4.4 Å representing to the periodic distance of the
protein matrix of the human-hair macrofibrous and the diameter and
the repeated spacing of the polypeptide alpha helixes of the
photofibrils of the human-hair microfibrous, respectively. When
compared to the normal cases, the unhealthy cases including to the
breast- and ovarian-cancer cases obtained higher normalized ratios of
the x-ray diffracting peaks of 9.4 Å and 4.4 Å. This likely resulted
from the varied distributions of microstructures by a molecular
alteration. As an elemental analysis by x-ray fluorescence (XRF), the
normalized quantitative ratios of zinc(Zn)/calcium(Ca) and
iron(Fe)/calcium(Ca) were determined. Analogously, both Zn/Ca and
Fe/Ca ratios of the unhealthy cases were obtained higher than both of
the normal cases were. Combining the structural analysis by XRD
measurements and the elemental analysis by XRF measurements
exhibited that the modified fibrous microstructures of hair samples
were in relation to their altered elemental compositions. Therefore,
these microstructural and elemental analyses of hair samples will be
benefit to associate with a diagnosis of cancer and genetic diseases.
This functional method would lower a risk of such diseases by the
early diagnosis. However, the high-intensity x-ray source, the highresolution
x-ray detector, and more hair samples are necessarily
desired to develop this x-ray technique and the efficiency would be
enhanced by including the skin and fingernail samples with the
human-hair analysis.
Abstract: Pure phase gallosilicate nitrite sodalite has been synthesized in a single step by low temperature (373 oK) hydrothermal technique. The product obtained was characterized using a combination of techniques including X-ray powder diffraction, IR, Raman spectroscopy, SEM, MAS NMR spectroscopy as well as thermogravimetry. Sodalite with an ideal composition was obtained after synthesis at 3730K and seven days duration using alkaline medium. The structural features of the Na8[GaSiO4]6(NO2)2 sodalite were investigated by IR, MAS NMR spectroscopy of 29Si and 23Na nuclei and by Reitveld refinement of X-ray powder diffraction data. The crystal structure of this sodalite has been refined in the space group P 4 3n; with a cell parameter 8.98386Å, V= 726.9 Å, (Rwp= 0.077 and Rp=0.0537) and Si-O-Ga angle is found to be 132.920 . MAS NMR study confirms complete ordering of Si and Ga in the gallosilicate framework. The surface area of single entity with stoichiometry Na8[GaSiO4]6(NO2)2 was found to be 8.083 x10-15 cm2/g.
Abstract: This paper presents a resonant-based read-out circuit for capacitive pressure sensors. The proposed read-out circuit consists of an LC oscillator and a counter. The circuit detects the capacitance changes of a capacitive pressure sensor by means of frequency shifts from its nominal operation frequency. The proposed circuit is designed in 0.18 m CMOS with an estimated power consumption of 43.1mW. Simulation results show that the circuit has a capacitive resolution of 8.06kHz/fF, which enables it for high resolution pressure detection.
Abstract: This paper develops a pedometer with a three-axis acceleration sensor that can be placed with any angle. The proposed pedometer measures the number of steps while users walk, jog or run. It can be worn on users’ waistband or placed within pocket or backpack. The work address to improve on the general pedometers, which can only be used in a single direction or can only count of steps without the continuous exercise judgment mechanism. Finally, experimental results confirm the superior performance of the proposed pedometer.
Abstract: In this study we present the effect of elevated
temperatures from 300K to 400K on the electrical properties of
copper Phthalocyanine (CuPc) based organic field effect transistors
(OFET). Thin films of organic semiconductor CuPc (40nm) and
semitransparent Al (20nm) were deposited in sequence, by vacuum
evaporation on a glass substrate with previously deposited Ag source
and drain electrodes with a gap of 40 μm. Under resistive mode of
operation, where gate was suspended it was observed that drain
current of this organic field effect transistor (OFET) show an
increase with temperature. While in grounded gate condition metal
(aluminum) – semiconductor (Copper Phthalocyanine) Schottky
junction dominated the output characteristics and device showed
switching effect from low to high conduction states like Zener diode
at higher bias voltages. This threshold voltage for switching effect
has been found to be inversely proportional to temperature and shows
an abrupt decrease after knee temperature of 360K. Change in
dynamic resistance (Rd = dV/dI) with respect to temperature was
observed to be -1%/K.
Abstract: The paper presents an on-line recognition machine
(RM) for continuous/isolated, dynamic and static gestures that arise
in Flight Deck Officer (FDO) training. RM is based on generic pattern
recognition framework. Gestures are represented as templates using
summary statistics. The proposed recognition algorithm exploits temporal
and spatial characteristics of gestures via dynamic programming
and Markovian process. The algorithm predicts corresponding index
of incremental input data in the templates in an on-line mode.
Accumulated consistency in the sequence of prediction provides a
similarity measurement (Score) between input data and the templates.
The algorithm provides an intuitive mechanism for automatic detection
of start/end frames of continuous gestures. In the present paper,
we consider isolated gestures. The performance of RM is evaluated
using four datasets - artificial (W TTest), hand motion (Yang) and
FDO (tracker, vision-based ). RM achieves comparable results which
are in agreement with other on-line and off-line algorithms such as
hidden Markov model (HMM) and dynamic time warping (DTW).
The proposed algorithm has the additional advantage of providing
timely feedback for training purposes.
Abstract: The presence of a vertical edge-crack within a web
plate subjected to pure bending induces local compressive stresses
about the crack which may cause tension buckling. Approximate
theoretical expressions were derived for the critical far-field tensile
stress and bending moment capacity of an edge-cracked web plate
associated with tension buckling. These expressions were validated
with finite element analyses and used to investigate the possibility of
tension buckling in web-cracked trial girders. It was found that
tension buckling is an unlikely occurrence unless the web is relatively
thin or the crack is very long.
Abstract: A novel application of neural network approach to
fault classification and fault location of Medium voltage cables is
demonstrated in this paper. Different faults on a protected cable
should be classified and located correctly. This paper presents the use
of neural networks as a pattern classifier algorithm to perform these
tasks. The proposed scheme is insensitive to variation of different
parameters such as fault type, fault resistance, and fault inception
angle. Studies show that the proposed technique is able to offer high
accuracy in both of the fault classification and fault location tasks.
Abstract: The radius-of-curvature (ROC) defines the degree of
curvature along the centerline of a roadway whereby a travelling
vehicle must follow. Roadway designs must encompass ROC in
mitigating the cost of earthwork associated with construction while
also allowing vehicles to travel at maximum allowable design speeds.
Thus, a road will tend to follow natural topography where possible,
but curvature must also be optimized to permit fast, but safe vehicle
speeds. The more severe the curvature of the road, the slower the
permissible vehicle speed. For route planning, whether for urban
settings, emergency operations, or even parcel delivery, ROC is a
necessary attribute of road arcs for computing travel time.
It is extremely rare for a geo-spatial database to contain ROC. This
paper will present a procedure and mathematical algorithm to
calculate and assign ROC to a segment pair and/or polyline.
Abstract: In this paper, an magnetorheological (MR) mount with
fuzzy sliding mode controller (FSMC) is studied for vibration
suppression when the system is subject to base excitations. In recent
years, magnetorheological fluids are becoming a popular material in
the field of the semi-active control. However, the dynamic equation of
an MR mount is highly nonlinear and it is difficult to identify. FSMC
provides a simple method to achieve vibration attenuation of the
nonlinear system with uncertain disturbances. This method is capable
of handling the chattering problem of sliding mode control effectively
and the fuzzy control rules are obtained by using the Lyapunov
stability theory. The numerical simulations using one-dimension and
two-dimension FSMC show effectiveness of the proposed controller
for vibration suppression. Further, the well-known skyhook control
scheme and an adaptive sliding mode controller are also included in
the simulation for comparison with the proposed FSMC.