Abstract: Portuguese diet has been gradually diverging from the basic principles of healthy eating, leading to an unbalanced dietary pattern which, associated with increasing sedentary lifestyle, has a negative impact on public health. The main objective of this work was to characterize the dietary habits of university students in Viseu, Portugal. The study consisted of a sample of 80 university students, aged between 18 and 28 years. Anthropometric data (weight (kg) and height (m)) were collected and Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated. The dietary habits were assessed through a three-day food record and the software Medpoint was used to convert food into energy and nutrients. The results showed that students present a normal body mass index. Female university students made a higher number of daily meals than male students, and these last skipped breakfast more frequently. The values of average daily intake of energy, macronutrients and calcium were higher in males. The food pattern was characterized by a predominant consumption of meat, cereal, fats and sugar. Dietary intake of dairy products, fruits, vegetables and legumes does not meet the recommendations, revealing inadequate food habits such as hypoglycemic, hyperprotein and hyperlipidemic diet. Our findings suggest that preventive interventions should be focus in promoting healthy eating habits and physical activity in adulthood.
Abstract: The use of solar control film on windows as one of
solar passive strategies for building have becoming important and is
gaining recognition. Malaysia located close to equator is having
warm humid climate with long sunshine hours and abundant solar
radiation throughout the year. Hence, befitting solar control on
windows is absolutely necessary to capture the daylight whilst
moderating thermal impact and eliminating glare problems. This is
one of the energy efficient strategies to achieve thermal and visual
comfort in buildings. Therefore, this study was carried out to
investigate the effect of window solar controls on thermal and visual
performance of naturally ventilated buildings. This was conducted via
field data monitoring using a test building facility. Four types of
window glazing systems were used with three types of solar control
films. Data were analysed for thermal and visual impact with
reference to thermal and optical characteristics of the films. Results
show that for each glazing system, the surface temperature of
windows are influenced by the Solar Energy Absorption property, the
indoor air temperature are influenced by the Solar Energy
Transmittance and Solar Energy Reflectance, and the daylighting by
Visible Light Transmission and Shading Coefficient. Further
investigations are underway to determine the mathematical relation
between thermal energy and visual performance with the thermal and
optical characteristics of solar control films.
Abstract: Measurements of radioactivity in the environment is of great importance to monitor and control the levels of radiation to which man is exposed directly or indirectly. It is necessary to show that regardless of working or being close to nuclear power plants, people are daily in contact with some amount of radiation from the actual environment and food that are ingested, contradicting the view of most of them. The aim of this study was to analyze the rate of natural and artificial radiation from radionuclides present in cement, soil and fertilizers used in Sergipe State – Brazil. The radionuclide activitiesmeasured all samples arebelow the Brazilian limit of the exclusion and exemption criteria from the requirement of radiation protection.It was detected Be-7 in organic fertilizers that means a short interval between the brewing processes for use in agriculture. It was also detected an unexpected Cs-137 in some samples; however its activities does not represent risk for the population. Th-231 was also found in samples of soil and cement in the state of Sergipe that is an unprecedented result.
Abstract: In this study, a classification-based video
super-resolution method using artificial neural network (ANN) is
proposed to enhance low-resolution (LR) to high-resolution (HR)
frames. The proposed method consists of four main steps:
classification, motion-trace volume collection, temporal adjustment,
and ANN prediction. A classifier is designed based on the edge
properties of a pixel in the LR frame to identify the spatial information.
To exploit the spatio-temporal information, a motion-trace volume is
collected using motion estimation, which can eliminate unfathomable
object motion in the LR frames. In addition, temporal lateral process is
employed for volume adjustment to reduce unnecessary temporal
features. Finally, ANN is applied to each class to learn the complicated
spatio-temporal relationship between LR and HR frames. Simulation
results show that the proposed method successfully improves both
peak signal-to-noise ratio and perceptual quality.
Abstract: In this study, to accurately predict cavitation of a
centrifugal pump, numerical analysis was compared with experimental
results modeled on a small industrial centrifugal pump. In this study,
numerical analysis was compared with experimental results modeled
on a small industrial centrifugal pump for reliable prediction on
cavitation of a centrifugal pump. To improve validity of the numerical
analysis, transient analysis was conducted on the calculated domain of
full-type geometry, such as an experimental apparatus. The numerical
analysis from the results was considered to be a reliable prediction of
cavitaion.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate whether
magnetite nanoparticles affect the viability of Bradyrhizobium
japanicum cells residing on the surface of soybean seeds during
desiccation. Different concentrations of nanoparticles suspended in
liquid medium, mixed with and adhering to Bradyrhizobium
japanicum, were investigated at two temperatures, using both
soybean seeds and glass beads as surrogates. Statistical design was a
complete randomized block (CRB) in a factorial 6×2×2×6
experimental arrangement with four replications. The most important
variable was the viability of Bradyrhizobium on the surface of the
seeds. The nanoparticles increased Bradyrhizobium viability and
inoculated seeds stored at low temperature had greater viability when
nanoparticles had been added. At the optimum nanoparticle
concentration, 50% bacterium viability on the seeds was retained
after 5 days at 4ºC. Possible explanations for the observed effects are
proposed.
Abstract: A fault detection and identification (FDI) technique is
presented to create a fault tolerant control system (FTC). The fault
detection is achieved by monitoring the position of the light source
using an array of light sensors. When a decision is made about the
presence of a fault an identification process is initiated to locate the
faulty component and reconfigure the controller signals. The signals
provided by the sensors are predictable; therefore the existence of a
fault is easily identified. Identification of the faulty sensor is based on
the dynamics of the frame. The technique is not restricted to a
particular type of controllers and the results show consistency.
Abstract: In this work, we address theoretically the influence of red and white Gaussian noise for electronic energies and eigenstates of cylindrically shaped quantum dots. The stochastic effect can be imagined as resulting from crystal-growth statistical fluctuations in the quantum-dot material composition. In particular we obtain analytical expressions for the eigenvalue shifts and electronic envelope functions in the k . p formalism due to stochastic variations in the confining band-edge potential. It is shown that white noise in the band-edge potential leaves electronic properties almost unaffected while red noise may lead to changes in state energies and envelopefunction amplitudes of several percentages. In the latter case, the ensemble-averaged envelope function decays as a function of distance. It is also shown that, in a stochastic system, constant ensembleaveraged envelope functions are the only bounded solutions for the infinite quantum-wire problem and the energy spectrum is completely discrete. In other words, the infinite stochastic quantum wire behaves, ensemble-averaged, as an atom.
Abstract: Wind catchers are traditional natural ventilation
systems attached to buildings in order to ventilate the indoor air. The
most common type of wind catcher is four sided one which is
capable to catch wind in all directions. CFD simulation is the perfect
way to evaluate the wind catcher performance. The accuracy of CFD
results is the issue of concern, so sensitivity analyses is crucial to
find out the effect of different settings of CFD on results. This paper
presents a series of 3D steady RANS simulations for a generic
isolated four-sided wind catcher attached to a room subjected to wind
direction ranging from 0º to 180º with an interval of 45º. The CFD
simulations are validated with detailed wind tunnel experiments. The
influence of an extensive range of computational parameters is
explored in this paper, including the resolution of the computational
grid, the size of the computational domain and the turbulence model.
This study found that CFD simulation is a reliable method for wind
catcher study, but it is less accurate in prediction of models with non
perpendicular wind directions.
Abstract: In this paper, a novel method for a biometric system based on the ECG signal is proposed, using spectral coefficients computed through linear predictive coding (LPC). ECG biometric systems have traditionally incorporated characteristics of fiducial points of the ECG signal as the feature set. These systems have been shown to contain loopholes and thus a non-fiducial system allows for tighter security. In the proposed system, incorporating non-fiducial features from the LPC spectrum produced a segment and subject recognition rate of 99.52% and 100% respectively. The recognition rates outperformed the biometric system that is based on the wavelet packet decomposition (WPD) algorithm in terms of recognition rates and computation time. This allows for LPC to be used in a practical ECG biometric system that requires fast, stringent and accurate recognition.
Abstract: Streamribbon is used to visualize the rotation of the
fluid flow. The rotation of flow is useful in fluid mechanics,
engineering and geophysics. This paper introduces the construction
technique of streamribbon using the streamline which is generated
based on the law of mass conservation. The accuracy of constructed
streamribbons is shown through two examples.
Abstract: In this paper, an artificial neural network simulator is
employed to carry out diagnosis and prognosis on electric motor as
rotating machinery based on predictive maintenance. Vibration data
of the primary failed motor including unbalance, misalignment and
bearing fault were collected for training the neural network. Neural
network training was performed for a variety of inputs and the motor
condition was used as the expert training information. The main
purpose of applying the neural network as an expert system was to
detect the type of failure and applying preventive maintenance. The
advantage of this study is for machinery Industries by providing
appropriate maintenance that has an essential activity to keep the
production process going at all processes in the machinery industry.
Proper maintenance is pivotal in order to prevent the possible failures
in operating system and increase the availability and effectiveness of
a system by analyzing vibration monitoring and developing expert
system.
Abstract: Some theoretical and experimental aspects related to
the conceptual analyses concerning the direct correspondence
identification between the shape, area and orientation of plantar
pressure and obtaining adequate corrective insoles by rapid
prototyping are presented in this paper. In the first part of the paper
there is the theoretical-correlative concept, which is the fundament of
correspondence deduction between plantar surface characteristics and
respectively corrective insoles. In the second part of the paper the
experimental equipment used to analyze and perform the
correspondence stages and then the integral ones between the
analyzed foot shapes and the ones with corrective insoles is
presented. In the final parte the results used to adapt the insoles
obtained by rapid prototyping but also some specific aspects and
conclusions of the conceptual analysis of direct and rapid
correspondence are shown.
Abstract: There are extensive applications of lithium
bromide-water absorption chillers in industry, but the heat exchangers
corrosion and refrigerating capacity loss are very difficult to be solved.
In this paper, an experiment was conducted by using plastic heat
transfer tubes instead of copper tubes. As an example, for a lithium
bromide-water absorption chiller of refrigerating capacity of 35kW,
the correlative performance of the lithium bromide-water absorption
chiller using plastic heat transfer tubes was compared with the
traditional lithium bromide-water absorption chiller. And then the
following three aspects, i.e., heat transfer area, pipe resistance, and
safety strength, are analyzed. The results show that plastic heat
transfer tubes can be used on lithium bromide-water absorption
chillers, and its prospect is very optimistic.
Abstract: In this research, the researchers have managed to
design a model to investigate the current trend of stock price of the
"IRAN KHODRO corporation" at Tehran Stock Exchange by
utilizing an Adaptive Neuro - Fuzzy Inference system. For the Longterm
Period, a Neuro-Fuzzy with two Triangular membership
functions and four independent Variables including trade volume,
Dividend Per Share (DPS), Price to Earning Ratio (P/E), and also
closing Price and Stock Price fluctuation as an dependent variable are
selected as an optimal model. For the short-term Period, a neureo –
fuzzy model with two triangular membership functions for the first
quarter of a year, two trapezoidal membership functions for the
Second quarter of a year, two Gaussian combination membership
functions for the third quarter of a year and two trapezoidal
membership functions for the fourth quarter of a year were selected
as an optimal model for the stock price forecasting. In addition, three
independent variables including trade volume, price to earning ratio,
closing Stock Price and a dependent variable of stock price
fluctuation were selected as an optimal model. The findings of the
research demonstrate that the trend of stock price could be forecasted
with the lower level of error.
Abstract: The main purpose of the research is to address the role of psychological harassment behaviors (mobbing) to which employees are exposed and personality characteristics over work alienation. Research population was composed of the employees of Provincial Special Administration. A survey with four sections was created to measure variables and reach out the basic goals of the research. Correlation and step-wise regression analyses were performed to investigate the separate and overall effects of sub-dimensions of psychological harassment behaviors and personality characteristic on work alienation of employees. Correlation analysis revealed significant but weak relationships between work alienation and psychological harassment and personality characteristics. Step-wise regression analysis revealed also significant relationships between work alienation variable and assault to personality, direct negative behaviors (sub dimensions of mobbing) and openness (sub-dimension of personality characteristics). Each variable was introduced into the model step by step to investigate the effects of significant variables in explaining the variations in work alienation. While the explanation ratio of the first model was 13%, the last model including three variables had an explanation ratio of 24%.
Abstract: Let T and S be a subspace of Cn and Cm, respectively.
Then for A ∈ Cm×n satisfied AT ⊕ S = Cm, the generalized
inverse A(2)
T,S is given by A(2)
T,S = (PS⊥APT )†. In this paper, a
finite formulae is presented to compute generalized inverse A(2)
T,S
under the concept of restricted inner product, which defined as <
A,B >T,S=< PS⊥APT,B > for the A,B ∈ Cm×n. By this
iterative method, when taken the initial matrix X0 = PTA∗PS⊥, the
generalized inverse A(2)
T,S can be obtained within at most mn iteration
steps in absence of roundoff errors. Finally given numerical example
is shown that the iterative formulae is quite efficient.
Abstract: Location-aware computing is a type of pervasive
computing that utilizes user-s location as a dominant factor for
providing urban services and application-related usages. One of the
important urban services is navigation instruction for wayfinders in a
city especially when the user is a tourist. The services which are
presented to the tourists should provide adapted location aware
instructions. In order to achieve this goal, the main challenge is to
find spatial relevant objects and location-dependent information. The
aim of this paper is the development of a reusable location-aware
model to handle spatial relevancy parameters in urban location-aware
systems. In this way we utilized ontology as an approach which could
manage spatial relevancy by defining a generic model. Our
contribution is the introduction of an ontological model based on the
directed interval algebra principles. Indeed, it is assumed that the
basic elements of our ontology are the spatial intervals for the user
and his/her related contexts. The relationships between them would
model the spatial relevancy parameters. The implementation language
for the model is OWLs, a web ontology language. The achieved
results show that our proposed location-aware model and the
application adaptation strategies provide appropriate services for the
user.
Abstract: In order to accelerate the similarity search in highdimensional database, we propose a new hierarchical indexing method. It is composed of offline and online phases. Our contribution concerns both phases. In the offline phase, after gathering the whole of the data in clusters and constructing a hierarchical index, the main originality of our contribution consists to develop a method to construct bounding forms of clusters to avoid overlapping. For the online phase, our idea improves considerably performances of similarity search. However, for this second phase, we have also developed an adapted search algorithm. Our method baptized NOHIS (Non-Overlapping Hierarchical Index Structure) use the Principal Direction Divisive Partitioning (PDDP) as algorithm of clustering. The principle of the PDDP is to divide data recursively into two sub-clusters; division is done by using the hyper-plane orthogonal to the principal direction derived from the covariance matrix and passing through the centroid of the cluster to divide. Data of each two sub-clusters obtained are including by a minimum bounding rectangle (MBR). The two MBRs are directed according to the principal direction. Consequently, the nonoverlapping between the two forms is assured. Experiments use databases containing image descriptors. Results show that the proposed method outperforms sequential scan and SRtree in processing k-nearest neighbors.
Abstract: The thermal expansion behaviour of silicon carbide
(SCS-2) fibre reinforced 6061 aluminium matrix composite subjected
to the influenced thermal mechanical cycling (TMC) process were
investigated. The thermal stress has important effect on the
longitudinal thermal expansion coefficient of the composites. The
present paper used experimental data of the thermal expansion
behaviour of a SiC/Al composite for temperatures up to 370°C, in
which their data was used for carrying out modelling of theoretical
predictions.