Abstract: Arenga pinnata is an abundantly natural fiber that can be used for sound proof material. However, the scientific data of acoustics properties of Arenga pinnata was not available yet. In this study the sound absorption of pure arenga pinnata was measured. The thickness of Arenga pinnata was varied in 10 mm, 20 mm, 30mm, and 40mm. This work was carried out to investigate the potential of using Arenga pinnata fiber as raw material for sound absorbing material. Impedance Tube Method was used to measure sound absorption coefficient (α). The Measurements was done in accordance with ASTM E1050-98, that is the standard test method for impedance and absorption of acoustical materials using a tube, two microphones and a digital frequency analysis system . The results showed that sound absorption coefficients of Arenga pinnata were good from 2000 Hz to 5000 Hz within the range of 0.75 – 0.90. The optimum sound absorption coefficient was obtained from the thickness of 40 mm. These results indicated that Arenga pinnata fiber is promising to be used as raw material of sound absorbing material with low cost, light, and biodegradable.
Abstract: This study aims to investigate how much both son and
daughter trust their father and what are the underlying reasons they
trust their father. The results revealed five main reasons why
Malaysian adolescents trust their father. Those reasons are related to
the role of father, father-child relationship, father-s characteristics,
father-s nurturing nature and father-s attitude and behavior. A total of
1022 students (males = 241, females = 781) from one of public
university in Sabah, Malaysia participated in the study. The
participants completed open-ended questionnaires developed by Kim
(2008), asking how much the adolescents trust their father, and the
reasons why they trust their father. The data was analysed by using
the indigenous psychology method proposed by [1] Findings of this
study revealed the pattern of trust towards father for both Malaysian
male and female adolescents. The results contributed new
information about Malaysian adolescents- trust towards their father
form the indigenous context. The implications of finding will be
discussed.
Abstract: Bootstrapping has gained popularity in different tests of hypotheses as an alternative in using asymptotic distribution if one is not sure of the distribution of the test statistic under a null hypothesis. This method, in general, has two variants – the parametric and the nonparametric approaches. However, issues on reliability of this method always arise in many applications. This paper addresses the issue on reliability by establishing a reliability measure in terms of quantiles with respect to asymptotic distribution, when this is approximately correct. The test of hypotheses used is Ftest. The simulated results show that using nonparametric bootstrapping in F-test gives better reliability than parametric bootstrapping with relatively higher degrees of freedom.
Abstract: Let G be a Hamiltonian graph. A factor F of G is called
a Hamiltonian factor if F contains a Hamiltonian cycle. In this paper,
two sufficient conditions are given, which are two neighborhood
conditions for a Hamiltonian graph G to have a Hamiltonian factor.
Abstract: The counter flow solar air heaters, with four
transverse fins and wire mesh layers are constructed and investigated
experimentally for thermal efficiency at a geographic location of
Cyprus in the city of Famagusta. The absorber plate is replaced by
sixteen steel wire mesh layers, 0.18 x 0.18cm in cross section
opening and a 0.02cm in diameter. The wire mesh layers arranged in
three groups, first and second include 6 layers, while the third include
4 layers. All layers fixed in the duct parallel to the glazing and each
group separated from the others by wood frame thickness of 0.5cm to
reduce the pressure drop. The transverse fins arranged in a way to
force the air to flow through the bed like eight letter path with flow
depth 3cm. The proposed design has increased the heat transfer rate,
but on other hand causes a high pressure drop. The obtained results
show that, for air mass flow rate range between 0.011-0.036kg/s, the
thermal efficiency increases with increasing the air mass flow. The
maximum efficiency obtained is 65.6% for the mass flow rate of
0.036kg/s. Moreover, the temperature difference between the outlet
flow and the ambient temperature, ΔT, reduces as the air mass flow
rate increase. The maximum difference between the outlet and
ambient temperature obtained was 43°C for double pass for minimum
mass flow rate of 0.011kg/s. Comparison with a conventional solar
air heater collector shows a significantly development in the thermal
efficiency.
Abstract: The fault current levels through the electric devices
have a significant impact on failure probability. New fault current
results in exceeding the rated capacity of circuit breaker and switching
equipments and changes operation characteristic of overcurrent relay.
In order to solve these problems, SFCL (Superconducting Fault
Current Limiter) has rising as one of new alternatives so as to improve
these problems. A fault current reduction differs depending on
installed location. Therefore, a location of SFCL is very important.
Also, SFCL decreases the fault current, and it prevents surrounding
protective devices to be exposed to fault current, it then will bring a
change of reliability. In this paper, we propose method which
determines the optimal location when SFCL is installed in power
system. In addition, the reliability about the power system which
SFCL was installed is evaluated. The efficiency and effectiveness of
this method are also shown by numerical examples and the reliability
indices are evaluated in this study at each load points. These results
show a reliability change of a system when SFCL was installed.
Abstract: Tasks of the work were study the possible E.coli
contamination in red deer meat, identify pathogenic strains from
isolated E.coli, determine their incidence in red deer meat and
determine the presence of VT1, VT2 and eaeA genes for the
pathogenic E.coli. 8 (10%) samples were randomly selected from 80
analysed isolates of E.coli and PCR reaction was performed on them.
PCR was done both on initial materials – samples of red deer meat -
and for already isolated liqueurs. Two of analysed venison samples
contain verotoxin-producing strains of E. coli. It means that this meat
is not safe to consumer. It was proven by the sequestration reaction of
E. coli and by comparison of the obtained results with the database of
microorganism genome available on the internet that the isolated
culture corresponds to region 16S rDNS of E. coli thus presenting
correctness of the microbiological methods.
Abstract: Recordings from recent earthquakes have provided evidence that ground motions in the near field of a rupturing fault differ from ordinary ground motions, as they can contain a large energy, or “directivity" pulse. This pulse can cause considerable damage during an earthquake, especially to structures with natural periods close to those of the pulse. Failures of modern engineered structures observed within the near-fault region in recent earthquakes have revealed the vulnerability of existing RC buildings against pulse-type ground motions. This may be due to the fact that these modern structures had been designed primarily using the design spectra of available standards, which have been developed using stochastic processes with relatively long duration that characterizes more distant ground motions. Many recently designed and constructed buildings may therefore require strengthening in order to perform well when subjected to near-fault ground motions. Fiber Reinforced Polymers are considered to be a viable alternative, due to their relatively easy and quick installation, low life cycle costs and zero maintenance requirements. The objective of this paper is to investigate the adequacy of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) to determine the three dimensional dynamic response of FRP strengthened RC buildings under the near-fault ground motions. For this purpose, one ANN model is proposed to estimate the base shear force, base bending moments and roof displacement of buildings in two directions. A training set of 168 and a validation set of 21 buildings are produced from FEA analysis results of the dynamic response of RC buildings under the near-fault earthquakes. It is demonstrated that the neural network based approach is highly successful in determining the response.
Abstract: This paper presents an iterative algorithm to find a
inverse kinematic solution of 5-DOF robot. The algorithm is to
minimize the iteration number. Since the 5-DOF robot cannot give full
orientation of tool. Only z-direction of tool is satisfied while rotation
of tool is determined by kinematic constraint. This work therefore
described how to specify the tool direction and let the tool rotation free.
The simulation results show that this algorithm effectively worked.
Using the proposed iteration algorithm, error due to inverse kinematics
converged to zero rapidly in 5 iterations. This algorithm was applied in
real welding robot and verified through various practical works.
Abstract: Decision Support System (DSS) are interactive
software systems that are built to assist the management of an
organization in the decision making process when faced with nonroutine
problems in a specific application domain. Non-functional
requirements (NFRs) for a DSS deal with the desirable qualities and
restrictions that the DSS functionalities must satisfy. Unlike the
functional requirements, which are tangible functionalities provided
by the DSS, NFRs are often hidden and transparent to DSS users but
affect the quality of the provided functionalities. NFRs are often
overlooked or added later to the system in an ad hoc manner, leading
to a poor overall quality of the system. In this paper, we discuss the
development of NFRs as part of the requirements engineering phase
of the system development life cycle of DSSs. To help eliciting
NFRs, we provide a comprehensive taxonomy of NFRs for DSSs.
Abstract: The focus of this paper is to construct daily time series
exchange rate forecast models of Samoan Tala/USD and Tala/AUD
during the year 2008 to 2012 with neural network The performance
of the models was measured by using varies error functions such as
Root Square mean error (RSME), Mean absolute error (MAE), and
Mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). Our empirical findings
suggest that AR (1) model is an effective tool to forecast the
Tala/USD and Tala/AUD.
Abstract: Microwave energy can be used for drying purpose. It is unique process. It is distinctly different from conventional drying process. It is advantageous over conventional drying / heating processes. When microwave energy is used for drying purpose, the process can be accelerated with a better control to achieve uniform heating, more conversion efficiency, selective drying and ultimately improved product quality of the output. Also, less floor space and compact system are the added advantages. Existing low power microwave drying system is to be modified with suitable applicator. Appropriate sensors are to be used to measure parameters like moisture, temperature, weight of sample. Suitable high tech controller is to be used to control microwave power continuously from minimum to maximum. Phase - controller, cycle - controller and PWM - controller are some of the advanced power control techniques. It has been proposed to work on turmeric using high-tech phase controller to control the microwave power conveniently. The drying of turmeric with microwave energy employing phase controller gives better results as formulated in this paper and hence new approach of processing turmeric will open future doors of profit making to allied industries and the farmers.
Abstract: an intelligent BRT system is necessary when
communities looking for new ways to use high capacity rapid transit
at a reduced cost.This paper will describe the intelligent control
system that works with Datacenter. With the help of GPS system, the
data center can monitor the situation of each bus and bus station.
Through RFID technology, bus station and traffic light can transfer
data with bus and by Wimax communication technology all of parts
can talk together; data center learns all information about the location
of bus, the arrival of bus in each station and the number of passengers
in station and bus.Finally, the paper presents the case study of those
theories in Tehran BRT.
Abstract: The primary objective of this research is to improve the flexural capacity of FRP strengthened RC Beam structures with Aluminum and Titanium laminates. FRP rupture of flexural strengthened RC beams using FRP plates generally occurs at the interface between FRP plate and the beam. Therefore, in order to prevent brittle rupture and improve the ductility of the system, this research was performed by using Aluminum and Titanium materials between the two different structural systems. The research also aims to provide various strengthening/retrofitting methods for RC beam structures and to conduct a preliminary analysis of the demands on the structural systems. This was achieved by estimation using the experimental data from this research to identify a flexural capacity for the systems. Ultimately, the preliminary analysis of current study showed that the flexural capacity and system demand ductility was significantly improved by the systems inserted with Aluminum and Titanium anchor plates. Further verification of the experimental research is currently on its way to develop a new or reliable design guideline to retrofit/strengthen the concrete-FRP structural system can be evaluated.
Abstract: This paper presents a model for analysis the induced voltage of transmission lines (energized) acting on neighboring distribution lines (de-energized). From environmental restrictions, 22 kV distribution lines need to be installed under 115 kV transmission lines. With the installation of the two parallel circuits like this, they make the induced voltage which can cause harm to operators. This work was performed with the ATP-EMTP modeling to analyze such phenomenon before field testing. Simulation results are used to find solutions to prevent danger to operators who are on the pole.
Abstract: Evolvable Hardware (EHW) has been regarded as adaptive system acquired by wide application market. Consumer market of any good requires diversity to satisfy consumers- preferences. Adaptation of EHW is a key technology that could provide individual approach to every particular user. This situation raises a question: how to set target for evolutionary algorithm? The existing techniques do not allow consumer to influence evolutionary process. Only designer at the moment is capable to influence the evolution. The proposed consumer-triggered evolution overcomes this problem by introducing new features to EHW that help adaptive system to obtain targets during consumer stage. Classification of EHW is given according to responsiveness, imitation of human behavior and target circuit response. Home intelligent water heating system is considered as an example.
Abstract: Mobile WiMAX is a broadband wireless solution that
enables convergence of mobile and fixed broadband networks
through a common wide area broadband radio access technology and
flexible network architecture. It adopts Orthogonal Frequency
Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) for improved multi-path
performance in Non-Line-Of-Sight (NLOS) environments. Scalable
OFDMA (SOFDMA) is introduced in the IEEE 802e[1]. WIMAX
system uses one of different types of channel coding but The
mandatory channel coding scheme is based on binary nonrecursive
Convolutional Coding (CC). There are other several optional channel
coding schemes such as block turbo codes, convolutional turbo
codes, and low density parity check (LDPC).
In this paper a comparison between the performance of WIMAX
using turbo code and using convolutional product code (CPC) [2] is
made. Also a combination between them had been done. The CPC
gives good results at different SNR values compared to both the
turbo system, and the combination between them. For example, at
BER equal to 10-2 for 128 subcarriers, the amount of improvement
in SNR equals approximately 3 dB higher than turbo code and equals
approximately 2dB higher than the combination respectively. Several
results are obtained at different modulating schemes (16QAM and
64QAM) and different numbers of sub-carriers (128 and 512).
Abstract: In this paper DJess is presented, a novel distributed production system that provides an infrastructure for factual and procedural knowledge sharing. DJess is a Java package that provides programmers with a lightweight middleware by which inference systems implemented in Jess and running on different nodes of a network can communicate. Communication and coordination among inference systems (agents) is achieved through the ability of each agent to transparently and asynchronously reason on inferred knowledge (facts) that might be collected and asserted by other agents on the basis of inference code (rules) that might be either local or transmitted by any node to any other node.
Abstract: Region covariance (RC) descriptor is an effective
and efficient feature for visual tracking. Current RC-based tracking
algorithms use the whole RC matrix to track the target in video
directly. However, there exist some issues for these whole RCbased
algorithms. If some features are contaminated, the whole RC
will become unreliable, which results in lost object-tracking. In
addition, if some features are very discriminative to the
background, other features are still processed and thus reduce the
efficiency. In this paper a new robust tracking method is proposed,
in which the whole RC matrix is decomposed into several low rank
matrices. Those matrices are dynamically chosen and processed so
as to achieve a good tradeoff between discriminability and
complexity. Experimental results have shown that our method is
more robust to complex environment changes, especially either
when occlusion happens or when the background is similar to the
target compared to other RC-based methods.
Abstract: The early diagnostic decision making in industrial processes is absolutely necessary to produce high quality final products. It helps to provide early warning for a special event in a process, and finding its assignable cause can be obtained. This work presents a hybrid diagnostic schmes for batch processes. Nonlinear representation of raw process data is combined with classification tree techniques. The nonlinear kernel-based dimension reduction is executed for nonlinear classification decision boundaries for fault classes. In order to enhance diagnosis performance for batch processes, filtering of the data is performed to get rid of the irrelevant information of the process data. For the diagnosis performance of several representation, filtering, and future observation estimation methods, four diagnostic schemes are evaluated. In this work, the performance of the presented diagnosis schemes is demonstrated using batch process data.