Abstract: This paper deals with the application of a fuzzy set in
measuring teachers- beliefs about mathematics. The vagueness of
beliefs was transformed into standard mathematical values using a
fuzzy preferences model. The study employed a fuzzy approach
questionnaire which consists of six attributes for measuring
mathematics teachers- beliefs about mathematics. The fuzzy conjoint
analysis approach based on fuzzy set theory was used to analyze the
data from twenty three mathematics teachers from four secondary
schools in Terengganu, Malaysia. Teachers- beliefs were recorded in
form of degrees of similarity and its levels of agreement. The
attribute 'Drills and practice is one of the best ways of learning
mathematics' scored the highest degree of similarity at 0. 79860 with
level of 'strongly agree'. The results showed that the teachers- beliefs
about mathematics were varied. This is shown by different levels of
agreement and degrees of similarity of the measured attributes.
Abstract: Several numerical schemes utilizing central difference
approximations have been developed to solve the Goursat problem.
However, in a recent years compact discretization methods which
leads to high-order finite difference schemes have been used since it
is capable of achieving better accuracy as well as preserving certain
features of the equation e.g. linearity. The basic idea of the new
scheme is to find the compact approximations to the derivative terms
by differentiating centrally the governing equations. Our primary
interest is to study the performance of the new scheme when applied
to two Goursat partial differential equations against the traditional
finite difference scheme.
Abstract: Independent component analysis can estimate unknown
source signals from their mixtures under the assumption that the
source signals are statistically independent. However, in a real environment,
the separation performance is often deteriorated because
the number of the source signals is different from that of the sensors.
In this paper, we propose an estimation method for the number of
the sources based on the joint distribution of the observed signals
under two-sensor configuration. From several simulation results, it
is found that the number of the sources is coincident to that of
peaks in the histogram of the distribution. The proposed method can
estimate the number of the sources even if it is larger than that of
the observed signals. The proposed methods have been verified by
several experiments.
Abstract: In this paper we apply an Adaptive Network-Based
Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) with one input, the dependent
variable with one lag, for the forecasting of four macroeconomic
variables of US economy, the Gross Domestic Product, the inflation
rate, six monthly treasury bills interest rates and unemployment rate.
We compare the forecasting performance of ANFIS with those of the
widely used linear autoregressive and nonlinear smoothing transition
autoregressive (STAR) models. The results are greatly in favour of
ANFIS indicating that is an effective tool for macroeconomic
forecasting used in academic research and in research and application
by the governmental and other institutions
Abstract: The gustatory system allows animals to distinguish
varieties of food and affects greatly the consumption of food, hence
the health and growth of animals. In the current study, we
investigated the histogenesis of vallate papillae (VLP) in the rabbit
tongue using light and scanning electron microscopy. Samples were
obtained from rabbit embryos at the embryonic days 16-30 (E16-30),
and from newborns until maturity; 6 months. At E16, the first
primordia of vallate papillae were observed as small pits on the
surface epithelium of the tongue-s root. At E18, the caudal part was
prominent with loose mesenchymal tissue core; meanwhile the rostral
part of the papilla was remained as a thick mass of epithelial cells. At
E20-24, the side epithelium formed the primitive annular groove. At
E26, the primitive taste buds appeared only at the papillary surface
and reached their maturity by E28. The annular groove started to
appear at E26 became more defined at E28. The definitive vallate
papillae with substantial number of apparently mature taste buds
were observed by the end of the second week. We conclude that the
vallate papillae develop early and mature during the early postnatal
life.
Abstract: A novel and versatile numerical technique to solve a self-stress equilibrium state is adopted herein as a form-finding procedure for an irregular tensegrity structure. The numerical form-finding scheme of a tensegrity structure uses only the connectivity matrix and prototype tension coefficient vector as the initial guess solution. Any information on the symmetrical geometry or other predefined initial structural conditions is not necessary to get the solution in the form-finding process. An eight-node initial condition example is presented to demonstrate the efficiency and robustness of the proposed method in the form-finding of an irregular tensegrity structure. Based on the conception from the form-finding of an eight-node irregular tensegrity structure, a monumental object is designed by considering the real world situation such as self-weight, wind and earthquake loadings.
Abstract: This paper presents the experimental results of the
investigation of various properties related to the durability and longterm
performance of mortars made of Fly Ash blended cement, FA
and Ordinary Portland cement, OPC. The properties that were
investigated in an experimental program include; equilibration of
specimen in different relative humidity, determination of total
porosity, compressive strength, chloride permeability index, and
electrical resistivity. Fly Ash blended cement mortar specimens
exhibited 10% to 15% lower porosity when measured at equilibrium
conditions in different relative humidities as compared to the
specimens made of OPC mortar, which resulted in 6% to 8% higher
compressive strength of FA blended cement mortar specimens. The
effects of ambient relative humidity during sample equilibration on
porosity and strength development were also studied. For specimens
equilibrated in higher relative humidity conditions, such as 75%, the
total porosity of different mortar specimens was between 35% to 50%
less than the porosity of samples equilibrated in 12% relative
humidity, consequently leading to higher compressive strengths of
these specimens.A valid statistical correlation between values of
compressive strength, porosity and the degree of saturation was
obtained. Measured values of chloride permeability index of fly ash
blended cement mortar were obtained as one fourth to one sixth of
those measured for OPC mortar specimens, which indicates high
resistance against chloride ion penetration in FA blended cement
specimens, hence resulting in a highly durable mortar.
Abstract: In this paper we use the property of co-occurrence
matrix in finding parallel lines in binary pictures for fingerprint
identification. In our proposed algorithm, we reduce the noise by
filtering the fingerprint images and then transfer the fingerprint
images to binary images using a proper threshold. Next, we divide
the binary images into some regions having parallel lines in the same
direction. The lines in each region have a specific angle that can be
used for comparison. This method is simple, performs the
comparison step quickly and has a good resistance in the presence of
the noise.
Abstract: Intrusion detection is a mechanism used to protect a
system and analyse and predict the behaviours of system users. An
ideal intrusion detection system is hard to achieve due to
nonlinearity, and irrelevant or redundant features. This study
introduces a new anomaly-based intrusion detection model. The
suggested model is based on particle swarm optimisation and
nonlinear, multi-class and multi-kernel support vector machines.
Particle swarm optimisation is used for feature selection by applying
a new formula to update the position and the velocity of a particle;
the support vector machine is used as a classifier. The proposed
model is tested and compared with the other methods using the KDD
CUP 1999 dataset. The results indicate that this new method achieves
better accuracy rates than previous methods.
Abstract: Calcium [Ca2+] is an important second messenger
which plays an important role in signal transduction. There are
several parameters that affect its concentration profile like buffer
source etc. The effect of stationary immobile buffer on Ca2+
concentration has been incorporated which is a very important
parameter needed to be taken into account in order to make the
model more realistic. Interdependence of all the important parameters
like diffusion coefficient and influx over [Ca2+] profile has been
studied. Model is developed in the form of advection diffusion
equation together with buffer concentration. A program has been
developed using finite volume method for the entire problem and
simulated on an AMD-Turion 32-bit machine to compute the
numerical results.
Abstract: User satisfaction is one of the most used success
indicators in the research of information system (IS). Literature
shows user expectations have great influence on user satisfaction.
Both expectation and satisfaction of users are important for Hospital
Information Systems (HIS). Education, IS experience, age, attitude
towards change, business title, sex and working unit of the hospital,
are examined as the potential determinant of the medical users’
expectations. Data about medical user expectations are collected by
the “Expectation Questionnaire” developed for this study.
Expectation data are used for calculating the Expectation Meeting
Ratio (EMR) with the evaluation framework also developed for this
study. The internal consistencies of the answers to the questionnaire
are measured by Cronbach´s Alpha coefficient. The multivariate
analysis of medical user’s EMRs of HIS is performed by forward
stepwise binary logistic regression analysis. Education and business
title is appeared to be the determinants of expectations from HIS.
Abstract: Application of Expert System in the area of agriculture would take the form of Integrated Crop Management decision aids and would encompass water management, fertilizer management, crop protection systems and identification of implements. In order to remain competitive, the modern farmer often relies on agricultural specialists and advisors to provide information for decision-making. An expert system normally composed of a knowledge base (information, heuristics, etc.), inference engine (analyzes knowledge base), and end user interface (accepting inputs, generating outputs). Software named 'CROP-9-DSS' incorporating all modern features like, graphics, photos, video clippings etc. has been developed. This package will aid as a decision support system for identification of pest and diseases with control measures, fertilizer recommendation system, water management system and identification of farm implements for leading crops of Kerala (India) namely Coconut, Rice, Cashew, Pepper, Banana, four vegetables like Amaranthus, Bhindi, Brinjal and Cucurbits. 'CROP-9-DSS' will act as an expert system to agricultural officers, scientists in the field of agriculture and extension workers for decision-making and help them in suggesting suitable recommendations.
Abstract: In this study, we sought to investigate the mercury
removal efficiency of manganese oxides from natural gas. The
fundamental studies on mercury removal with manganese oxides
sorbents were carried out in a laboratory scale fixed bed reactor at 30
°C with a mixture of methane (20%) and nitrogen gas laden with 4.8
ppb of elemental mercury. Manganese oxides with varying surface
area and crystalline phase were prepared by conventional precipitation
method in this study. The effects of surface area, crystallinity and
other metal oxides on mercury removal efficiency were investigated.
Effect of Ag impregnation on mercury removal efficiency was also
investigated. Ag supported on metal oxide such titania and zirconia as
reference materials were also used in this study for comparison. The
characteristics of mercury removal reaction with manganese oxide
was investigated using a temperature programmed desorption (TPD)
technique.
Manganese oxides showed very high Hg removal activity (about
73-93% Hg removal) for first time use. Surface area of the manganese
oxide samples decreased after heat-treatment and resulted in complete
loss of Hg removal ability for repeated use after Hg desorption in the
case of amorphous MnO2, and 75% loss of the initial Hg removal
activity for the crystalline MnO2. Mercury desorption efficiency of
crystalline MnO2 was very low (37%) for first time use and high (98%)
after second time use. Residual potassium content in MnO2 may have
some effect on the thermal stability of the adsorbed Hg species.
Desorption of Hg from manganese oxides occurs at much higher
temperatures (with a peak at 400 °C) than Ag/TiO2 or Ag/ZrO2.
Mercury may be captured on manganese oxides in the form of mercury
manganese oxide.
Abstract: Visual attention allows user to select the most relevant
information to ongoing behaviour. This paper presents a study on; i)
the performance of people measurements, ii) accurateness of people
measurement of the peaks that correspond to chemical quantities
from the Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) graphs and iii)
affects of people measurements to the algorithm-based diagnosis.
Participant-s eye-movement was recorded using eye-tracker tool
(Eyelink II). This experiment involves three participants for
examining 20 MRS graphs to estimate the peaks of chemical
quantities which indicate the abnormalities associated with
Cerebellar Tumours (CT). The status of each MRS is verified by
using decision algorithm. Analysis involves determination of
humans-s eye movement pattern in measuring the peak of
spectrograms, scan path and determining the relationship of
distributions of fixation durations with the accuracy of measurement.
In particular, the eye-tracking data revealed which aspects of the
spectrogram received more visual attention and in what order they
were viewed. This preliminary investigation provides a proof of
concept for use of the eye tracking technology as the basis for
expanded CT diagnosis.
Abstract: Markov games can be effectively used to design
controllers for nonlinear systems. The paper presents two novel
controller design algorithms by incorporating ideas from gametheory
literature that address safety and consistency issues of the
'learned' control strategy. A more widely used approach for
controller design is the H∞ optimal control, which suffers from high
computational demand and at times, may be infeasible. We generate
an optimal control policy for the agent (controller) via a simple
Linear Program enabling the controller to learn about the unknown
environment. The controller is facing an unknown environment and
in our formulation this environment corresponds to the behavior rules
of the noise modeled as the opponent. Proposed approaches aim to
achieve 'safe-consistent' and 'safe-universally consistent' controller
behavior by hybridizing 'min-max', 'fictitious play' and 'cautious
fictitious play' approaches drawn from game theory. We empirically
evaluate the approaches on a simulated Inverted Pendulum swing-up
task and compare its performance against standard Q learning.
Abstract: Waste problem is becoming a future problem all over the world. Magnesium wastes which can be used in recycling processes are produced by many industrial activities. Magnesium borates which have useful properties such as; high heat resistance, corrosion resistance, supermechanical strength, superinsulation, light weight, high coefficient of elasticity and so on. Addition, magnesium borates have great potential in the development of ceramic and detergents industry, whisker-reinforced composites, antiwear, and reducing friction additives.
In this study, using the starting materials of waste magnesium and H3BO3 the hydrothermal method was applied at a moderate temperature of 70oC with different reaction times. Several reaction times of waste magnesium to H3BO3 were selected as; 30, 60, 120, 240 minutes. After the synthesis, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) techniques were applied to products. As a result, the forms of Admontite [MgO(B2O3)3.7(H2O)] and Mcallisterite [Mg2(B6O7(OH)6)2.9(H2O)] were synthesized.
Abstract: Tea is a widely consumed beverage that contains many components. Caffeine belongs to this group of components called alkaloids contain nitrogen. In this study caffeine contents of three types of Turkish teas are determined by using extraction method. After condensation process, residue of caffeine and oil are obtained with evaporation. The oil which is in the residue is removed by hot water. Extraction process performed by using chloroform and the crude caffeine is obtained. From the results of experiments, caffeine contents are found in black tea, green tea and earl grey tea as 3.57±0.43%, 3.11±0.02%, 4.29±0.27%, respectively. Caffeine contents which are found in 1, 5 and 10 cups of tea are calculated. Furthermore, the daily intake of caffeine from black teas that affects human health is investigated.
Abstract: Variational methods for optical flow estimation are
known for their excellent performance. The method proposed by Brox
et al. [5] exemplifies the strength of that framework. It combines
several concepts into single energy functional that is then minimized
according to clear numerical procedure. In this paper we propose
a modification of that algorithm starting from the spatiotemporal
gradient constancy assumption. The numerical scheme allows to
establish the connection between our model and the CLG(H) method
introduced in [18]. Experimental evaluation carried out on synthetic
sequences shows the significant superiority of the spatial variant of
the proposed method. The comparison between methods for the realworld
sequence is also enclosed.
Abstract: A parametric study of a mixed-compression
supersonic inlet is performed and reported. The effects of inlet Mach
Numbers, varying from 4 to 10, and angle of attack, varying from 0
to 10, are reported for a constant inlet dynamic pressure. The paper
looked at the variations of mass flow rates through the inlet, gain in
entropy through the inlet, and the angles of the external oblique
shocks. The mass flow rates were found to decrease monotonically
with Mach numbers and increase with angle of attacks. On the other
hand the entropy gain through the inlet increased with increasing
Mach number and angle of attack. The variation in static pressure
was found to be identical from the inlet throat to the exit for Mach
number values higher than 6.
Abstract: The way music is interpreted by the human brain is a very interesting topic, but also an intricate one. Although this domain has been studied for over a century, many gray areas remain in the understanding of music. Recent advances have enabled us to perform accurate measurements of the time taken by the human brain to interpret and assimilate a sound. Cognitive computing provides tools and development environments that facilitate human cognition simulation. ACT-R is a cognitive architecture which offers an environment for implementing human cognitive tasks. This project combines our understanding of the music interpretation by a human listener and the ACT-R cognitive architecture to build SINGER, a computerized simulation for listening and recalling songs. The results are similar to human experimental data. Simulation results also show how it is easier to remember short melodies than long melodies which require more trials to be recalled correctly.