Abstract: In this study, some physical and mechanical properties
of jujube fruits, were measured and compared at constant moisture
content of 15.5% w.b. The results showed that the mean length, width
and thickness of jujube fruits were 18.88, 16.79 and 15.9 mm,
respectively. The mean projected areas of jujube perpendicular to
length, width, and thickness were 147.01, 224.08 and 274.60 mm2,
respectively. The mean mass and volume were 1.51 g and 2672.80
mm3, respectively. The arithmetic mean diameter, geometric mean
diameter and equivalent diameter varied from 14.53 to 20 mm, 14.5
to 19.94 mm, and 14.52 to 19.97 mm, respectively. The sphericity,
aspect ratio and surface area of jujube fruits were 0.91, 0.89 and
926.28 mm2, respectively. Whole fruit density, bulk density and
porosity of jujube fruits were measured and found to be 1.52 g/cm3,
0.3 g/cm3 and 79.3%, respectively. The angle of repose of jujube fruit
was 14.66° (±0.58°). The static coefficient of friction on galvanized
iron steel was higher than that on plywood and lower than that on
glass surface. The values of rupture force, deformation, hardness and
energy absorbed were found to be between 11.13-19.91N, 2.53-
4.82mm, 3.06-5.81N mm and 20.13-39.08 N/mm, respectively.
Abstract: In this paper, a new proposed system for Persian
printed numeral characters recognition with emphasis on
representation and recognition stages is introduced. For the first time,
in Persian optical character recognition, geometrical central moments
as character image descriptor and fuzzy min-max neural network for
Persian numeral character recognition has been used. Set of different
experiments on binary images of regular, translated, rotated and
scaled Persian numeral characters has been done and variety of
results has been presented. The best result was 99.16% correct
recognition demonstrating geometrical central moments and fuzzy
min-max neural network are adequate for Persian printed numeral
character recognition.
Abstract: Energy dissipation in drops has been investigated by
physical models. After determination of effective parameters on the
phenomenon, three drops with different heights have been
constructed from Plexiglas. They have been installed in two existing
flumes in the hydraulic laboratory. Several runs of physical models
have been undertaken to measured required parameters for
determination of the energy dissipation. Results showed that the
energy dissipation in drops depend on the drop height and discharge.
Predicted relative energy dissipations varied from 10.0% to 94.3%.
This work has also indicated that the energy loss at drop is mainly
due to the mixing of the jet with the pool behind the jet that causes
air bubble entrainment in the flow. Statistical model has been
developed to predict the energy dissipation in vertical drops denotes
nonlinear correlation between effective parameters. Further an
artificial neural networks (ANNs) approach was used in this paper to
develop an explicit procedure for calculating energy loss at drops
using NeuroSolutions. Trained network was able to predict the
response with R2 and RMSE 0.977 and 0.0085 respectively. The
performance of ANN was found effective when compared to
regression equations in predicting the energy loss.
Abstract: In a none-super-competitive environment the concepts
of closed system, management control remains to be the dominant
guiding concept to management. The merits of closed loop have been
the sources of most of the management literature and culture for
many decades. It is a useful exercise to investigate and poke into the
dynamics of the control loop phenomenon and draws some lessons to
use for refining the practice of management. This paper examines the
multitude of lessons abstracted from the behavior of the Input /output
/feedback control loop model, which is the core of control theory.
There are numerous lessons that can be learned from the insights this
model would provide and how it parallels the management dynamics
of the organization. It is assumed that an organization is basically a
living system that interacts with the internal and external variables. A
viable control loop is the one that reacts to the variation in the
environment and provide or exert a corrective action. In managing
organizations this is reflected in organizational structure and
management control practices. This paper will report findings that
were a result of examining several abstract scenarios that are
exhibited in the design, operation, and dynamics of the control loop
and how they are projected on the functioning of the organization.
Valuable lessons are drawn in trying to find parallels and new
paradigms, and how the control theory science is reflected in the
design of the organizational structure and management practices. The
paper is structured in a logical and perceptive format. Further
research is needed to extend these findings.
Abstract: Electrochemical-oxidation of Reactive Black-5 (RB- 5) was conducted for degradation using DSA type Ti/RuO2-SnO2- Sb2O5 electrode. In the study, for electro-oxidation, electrode was indigenously fabricated in laboratory using titanium as substrate. This substrate was coated using different metal oxides RuO2, Sb2O5 and SnO2 by thermal decomposition method. Laboratory scale batch reactor was used for degradation and decolorization studies at pH 2, 7 and 11. Current density (50mA/cm2) and distance between electrodes (8mm) were kept constant for all experiments. Under identical conditions, removal of color, COD and TOC at initial pH 2 was 99.40%, 55% and 37% respectively for initial concentration of 100 mg/L RB-5. Surface morphology and composition of the fabricated electrode coatings were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) respectively. Coating microstructure was analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Results of this study further revealed that almost 90% of oxidation occurred within 5-10 minutes.
Abstract: This paper presents a modified version of the
maximum urgency first scheduling algorithm. The maximum
urgency algorithm combines the advantages of fixed and dynamic
scheduling to provide the dynamically changing systems with
flexible scheduling. This algorithm, however, has a major
shortcoming due to its scheduling mechanism which may cause a
critical task to fail. The modified maximum urgency first scheduling
algorithm resolves the mentioned problem. In this paper, we propose
two possible implementations for this algorithm by using either
earliest deadline first or modified least laxity first algorithms for
calculating the dynamic priorities. These two approaches are
compared together by simulating the two algorithms. The earliest
deadline first algorithm as the preferred implementation is then
recommended. Afterwards, we make a comparison between our
proposed algorithm and maximum urgency first algorithm using
simulation and results are presented. It is shown that modified
maximum urgency first is superior to maximum urgency first, since it
usually has less task preemption and hence, less related overhead. It
also leads to less failed non-critical tasks in overloaded situations.
Abstract: Infrared focal plane arrays (IRFPA) sensors, due to
their high sensitivity, high frame frequency and simple structure, have
become the most prominently used detectors in military applications.
However, they suffer from a common problem called the fixed pattern
noise (FPN), which severely degrades image quality and limits the
infrared imaging applications. Therefore, it is necessary to perform
non-uniformity correction (NUC) on IR image. The algorithms of
non-uniformity correction are classified into two main categories, the
calibration-based and scene-based algorithms. There exist some
shortcomings in both algorithms, hence a novel non-uniformity
correction algorithm based on non-linear fit is proposed, which
combines the advantages of the two algorithms. Experimental results
show that the proposed algorithm acquires a good effect of NUC with
a lower non-uniformity ratio.
Abstract: After a strong earthquake occurs, a secondary disaster due to strong aftershocks, flood, landslide or heavy snow can possible to occur and the secondary disaster due to resident-s action also can possible to happen. However, until now seldom researchers have paid attention at it. This paper focused on the Inhabitant-s action after the strong earthquake occurs when a terrible even becomes calm. An inappropriate behavior of people with disadvantaged climate after the worse earthquake can bring a tragedy to their life.
Abstract: Grazing and pastoral overloading through human factors result in significant land desertification. Failure to take into account the phenomenon of desertification as a serious problem can lead to an environmental disaster because of the damages caused by land encroachment. Therefore, soil on residential and urban areas is affected because of the deterioration of vegetation. Overgrazing or grazing in open and irregular lands is practiced in these areas almost throughout the year, especially during the growth cycle of edible plants, thereby leading to their disappearance. In addition, the large number of livestock in these areas exceeds the capacity of these pastures because of pastoral land overloading, which results in deterioration and desertification in the region. In addition, rare plants, the extinction of some edible plants in the region, and the emergence of plants unsuitable for grazing, must be taken into consideration, as along with the emergence of dust and sand storms during the dry seasons (summer to autumn) due to the degradation of vegetation. These results show that strategic plans and regulations that protect the environment from desertification must be developed. Therefore, increased pastoral load is a key human factor in the deterioration of vegetation cover, leading to land desertification in this region.
Abstract: Eigenvector methods are gaining increasing acceptance in the area of spectrum estimation. This paper presents a successful attempt at testing and evaluating the performance of two of the most popular types of subspace techniques in determining the parameters of multiexponential signals with real decay constants buried in noise. In particular, MUSIC (Multiple Signal Classification) and minimum-norm techniques are examined. It is shown that these methods perform almost equally well on multiexponential signals with MUSIC displaying better defined peaks.
Abstract: The talks about technological convergence had been
around for almost twenty years. Today Internet made it possible. And
this is not only technical evolution. The way it changed our lives
reflected in variety of applications, services and technologies used in
day-to-day life. Such benefits imposed even more requirements on
heterogeneous and unreliable IP networks.
Current paper outlines QoS management system developed in the
NetQoS [1] project. It describes an overall architecture of
management system for heterogeneous networks and proposes
automated multi-layer QoS management. Paper focuses on the
structure of the most crucial modules of the system that enable
autonomous and multi-layer provisioning and dynamic adaptation.
Abstract: Meshing is the process of discretizing problem
domain into many sub domains before the numerical calculation can
be performed. One of the most popular meshes among many types of meshes is tetrahedral mesh, due to their flexibility to fit into almost
any domain shape. In both 2D and 3D domains, triangular and tetrahedral meshes can be generated by using Delaunay triangulation.
The quality of mesh is an important factor in performing any Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations as the results is
highly affected by the mesh quality. Many efforts had been done in
order to improve the quality of the mesh. The paper describes a mesh
generation routine which has been developed capable of generating
high quality tetrahedral cells in arbitrary complex geometry. A few
test cases in CFD problems are used for testing the mesh generator.
The result of the mesh is compared with the one generated by a
commercial software. The results show that no sliver exists for the
meshes generated, and the overall quality is acceptable since the percentage of the bad tetrahedral is relatively small. The boundary
recovery was also successfully done where all the missing faces are
rebuilt.
Abstract: Arbitrarily shaped video objects are an important
concept in modern video coding methods. The techniques presently
used are not based on image elements but rather video objects having
an arbitrary shape. In this paper, spatial shape error concealment
techniques to be used for object-based image in error-prone
environments are proposed. We consider a geometric shape
representation consisting of the object boundary, which can be
extracted from the α-plane. Three different approaches are used to
replace a missing boundary segment: Bézier interpolation, Bézier
approximation and NURBS approximation. Experimental results on
object shape with different concealment difficulty demonstrate the
performance of the proposed methods. Comparisons with proposed
methods are also presented.
Abstract: In this paper, the least-squares design of variable fractional-delay (VFD) finite impulse response (FIR) digital differentiators is proposed. The used transfer function is formulated so that Farrow structure can be applied to realize the designed system. Also, the symmetric characteristics of filter coefficients are derived, which leads to the complexity reduction by saving almost a half of the number of coefficients. Moreover, all the elements of related vectors or matrices for the optimal process can be represented in closed forms, which make the design easier. Design example is also presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Abstract: It is essential to have a uniform and calm flow field
for a settling tank to have high performance. In general, the
recirculation zones always occurred in sedimentation tanks. The
presence of these regions may have different effects. The nonuniformity
of the velocity field, the short-circuiting at the surface and
the motion of the jet at the bed of the tank that occurs because of the
recirculation in the sedimentation layer, are affected by the geometry
of the tank. There are some ways to decrease the size of these dead
zones, which would increase the performance. One of the ways is to
use a suitable baffle configuration. In this study, the presence of
baffle with different position has been investigated by a finite volume
method, with VOF (Volume of Fluid) model. Besides, the k-ε
turbulence model is used in the numerical calculations. The results
indicate that the best position of the baffle is obtained when the
volume of the recirculation region is minimized or is divided to
smaller part and the flow field trend to be uniform in the settling
zone.
Abstract: Vermicomposting is the conversion of organic waste
into bio-fertilizers through the action of earthworm. This technology
is widely used for organic solid waste management. Waste corn pulp
blended with cow dung manure was vermicomposted over 30 days
using Eisenia fetida earthworms species. pH, temperature, moisture
content, and electrical conductivity were daily monitored. The
feedstock, vermicompost and vermiwash were analyzed for nutrient
composition. The average temperature and moisture content in the
vermi-reactor was 22.5°C and 42.5% respectively. The vermicompost
and vermiwash had an almost neutral pH whilst the electrical
conductivity was 21% higher in the vermicompost. The nitrogen and
potassium content was 57% and 79.6% richer in the vermicompost
respectively compared to the vermiwash. However, the vermiwash
was 84% richer in phosphorous as compared to vermicompost.
Furthermore, the vermiwash was 89.1% and 97.6% richer in Ca and
Mg respectively and was 97.8% richer in Na salts compared to the
vermicompost. The vermiwash also indicated a significantly higher
amount of micronutrients. Both bio-fertilizers were rich in nutrients
specification for fertilizers.
Abstract: Scouring around a bridge pier is a complex
phenomenon. More laboratory experiments are required to
understand the scour mechanism. This paper focused on time
development of local scour around piers and piles in semi integral
bridges. Laboratory data collected at Hydraulics Laboratory,
University of Malaya was analyzed for this purpose. Tests were
performed with two different uniform sediment sizes and five ranges
of flow velocities. Fine and coarse sediments were tested in the
flume. Results showed that scour depths for both pier and piles
increased with time up to certain levels and after that they became
almost constant. It had been found that scour depths increased when
discharges increased. Coarser sediment also produced lesser scouring
at the piers and combined piles.
Abstract: The forest stand consisted of four layers. The species
composition between the third and the bottom layers was almost
similar, whereas it was almost exclusive between the top and the lower
three layers. The values of Shannon-s index H' and Pielou-s index
J ' tended to increase from the bottom layer upward, except for
H' -value of the top layer. The values of H' and J ' were 4.21 bit
and 0.73, respectively, for the total stand. High woody species
diversity of the forest depended on large trees in the upper layers,
which trend was different from a subtropical evergreen broadleaf
forest grown in silicate habitat in the northern part of Okinawa Island.
The spatial distribution of trees was overlapped between the third and
the bottom layers, whereas it was independent or slightly exclusive
between the top and the lower three layers. Mean tree weight of each
layer decreased from the top toward the bottom layer, whereas the
corresponding tree density increased from the top downward. This
relationship was analogous to the process of self-thinning plant
populations.
Abstract: In this article the authors are researching cultural
differences between rural and urban characters in case of
contemporary Kazakh cinema.Two motion pictures are analyzed:
“Strizh" (2007) by AbaiKulbai and “Seker" (2009) by
SabitKurmanbekov.According to the authors- opinion ateenage girl
characters in these two films reflect two cultures (urban and rural) of
Kazakh society, which displays complicated socio-cultural processes
of modern Kazakhstan.
Abstract: A novel method using bearing-only SLAM to estimate node positions of a localization network is proposed. A group of simple robots are used to estimate the position of each node. Each node has a unique ID, which it can communicate to a robot close by. Initially the node IDs and positions are unknown. A case example using RFID technology in the localization network is introduced.