Abstract: Soil mechanics is a traditional course in any
university. Management of lab classes is one of the main issues to
deliver a proper outline. In Curtin University, different methods
applied to check the efficiency of these methods. One of them was
mainly rely on demonstration and the other one mainly on involving
students in running tests. Comparison between these delivery
methods also are outlined in summary section. The recommendation
also made that the more satisfaction is reachable while the students
engaged.
Abstract: Vinegar or sour wine is a product of alcoholic and
subsequent acetous fermentation of sugary precursors derived from
several fruits or starchy substrates. This delicious food additive and
supplement contains not less than 4 grams of acetic acid in 100 cubic
centimeters at 20°C. Among the large number of bacteria that are
able to produce acetic acid, only few genera are used in vinegar
industry most significant of which are Acetobacter and
Gluconobacter. In this research we isolated and identified an
Acetobacter strain from Iranian apricot, a very delicious and sensitive
summer fruit to decay, we gathered from fruit's stores in Isfahan,
Iran. The main culture media we used were Carr, GYC, Frateur and
an industrial medium for vinegar production. We isolated this strain
using a novel miniature fermentor we made at Pars Yeema
Biotechnologists Co., Isfahan Science and Technology Town (ISTT),
Isfahan, Iran. The microscopic examinations of isolated strain from
Iranian apricot showed gram negative rods to cocobacilli. Their
catalase reaction was positive and oxidase reaction was negative and
could ferment ethanol to acetic acid. Also it showed an acceptable
growth in 5%, 7% and 9% ethanol concentrations at 30°C using
modified Carr media after 24, 48 and 96 hours incubation
respectively. According to its tolerance against high concentrations of
ethanol after four days incubation and its high acetic acid production,
8.53%, after 144 hours, this strain could be considered as a suitable
industrial strain for a production of a new type of vinegar, apricot
vinegar, with a new and delicious taste. In conclusion this is the first
report of isolation and identification of an Acetobacter strain from
Iranian apricot with a very good tolerance against high ethanol
concentrations as well as high acetic acid productivity in an
acceptable incubation period of time industrially. This strain could be
used in vinegar industry to convert apricot spoilage to a beneficiary
product and mentioned characteristics have made it as an amenable
strain in food and agricultural biotechnology.
Abstract: While the explosive increase in information published
on the Web, researchers have to filter information when searching for
conference related information. To make it easier for users to search
related information, this paper uses Topic Maps and social information
to implement ontology since ontology can provide the formalisms and
knowledge structuring for comprehensive and transportable machine
understanding that digital information requires. Besides enhancing
information in Topic Maps, this paper proposes a method of
constructing research Topic Maps considering social information.
First, extract conference data from the web. Then extract conference
topics and the relationships between them through the proposed
method. Finally visualize it for users to search and browse. This paper
uses ontology, containing abundant of knowledge hierarchy structure,
to facilitate researchers getting useful search results. However, most
previous ontology construction methods didn-t take “people" into
account. So this paper also analyzes the social information which helps
researchers find the possibilities of cooperation/combination as well as
associations between research topics, and tries to offer better results.
Abstract: This paper presents an analytical framework for an
effective online personal knowledge management (PKM) of
knowledge workers. The development of this framework is prompted
by our qualitative research on the PKM processes and cognitive
enablers of knowledge workers in eight organisations selected from
three main industries in Malaysia. This multiple-case research
identifies the relationships between the effectiveness of four online
PKM processes: get/retrieve, understand/analyse, share, and connect.
It also establishes the importance of cognitive enablers that mediate
this relationship, namely, method, identify, decide and drive.
Qualitative analysis is presented as the findings, supported by the
preceded quantitative analysis on an exploratory questionnaire
survey.
Abstract: Newton-Raphson State Estimation method using bus
admittance matrix remains as an efficient and most popular method to
estimate the state variables. Elements of Jacobian matrix are computed
from standard expressions which lack physical significance. In this
paper, elements of the state estimation Jacobian matrix are obtained
considering the power flow measurements in the network elements.
These elements are processed one-by-one and the Jacobian matrix H is
updated suitably in a simple manner. The constructed Jacobian matrix
H is integrated with Weight Least Square method to estimate the state
variables. The suggested procedure is successfully tested on IEEE
standard systems.
Abstract: The globalization of the Indian economy has thrown a great challenge to the Indian industries in respect of productivity, quality, cost, delivery etc. Achieving success• the global market has required fundamental shift in the way business is conducted and has dramatically affected virtually every aspect of process industry. The internal manufacturing process and supporting infrastructure should be such that it can compete successfully in global markets with better flexibility and delivery. The paper deals with a case study of a reputed process industry, some changes in the process has been suggested, which leads to reduction in labor cost and production cost.
Abstract: This work presents a study on the abrasive water jet
(AWJ) machining. An explicit finite element analysis (FEA) of
single abrasive particle impact on stainless steel 1.4304 (AISI 304) is
conducted. The abrasive water jet machining is modeled by FEA
software ABAQUS/CAE. Shapes of craters in FEM simulation
results were used and compared with the previous experimental and
FEM works by means of crater sphericity. The influence of impact
angle and particle velocity was observed. Adaptive mesh domain is
used to model the impact zone. Results are in good agreement with
those obtained from the experimental and FEM simulation. The
crater-s depth is also obtained for different impact angle and abrasive
particle velocities.
Abstract: In this paper, novel statistical sampling based equalization techniques and CNN based detection are proposed to increase the spectral efficiency of multiuser communication systems over fading channels. Multiuser communication combined with selective fading can result in interferences which severely deteriorate the quality of service in wireless data transmission (e.g. CDMA in mobile communication). The paper introduces new equalization methods to combat interferences by minimizing the Bit Error Rate (BER) as a function of the equalizer coefficients. This provides higher performance than the traditional Minimum Mean Square Error equalization. Since the calculation of BER as a function of the equalizer coefficients is of exponential complexity, statistical sampling methods are proposed to approximate the gradient which yields fast equalization and superior performance to the traditional algorithms. Efficient estimation of the gradient is achieved by using stratified sampling and the Li-Silvester bounds. A simple mechanism is derived to identify the dominant samples in real-time, for the sake of efficient estimation. The equalizer weights are adapted recursively by minimizing the estimated BER. The near-optimal performance of the new algorithms is also demonstrated by extensive simulations. The paper has also developed a (Cellular Neural Network) CNN based approach to detection. In this case fast quadratic optimization has been carried out by t, whereas the task of equalizer is to ensure the required template structure (sparseness) for the CNN. The performance of the method has also been analyzed by simulations.
Abstract: The treatment of the industrial wastewater can be
particularly difficult in the presence of toxic compounds. Excessive
concentration of Chromium in soluble form is toxic to a wide variety
of living organisms. Biological removal of heavy metals using natural
and genetically engineered microorganisms has aroused great interest
because of its lower impact on the environment. Ralston
metallidurans, formerly known as Alcaligenes eutrophus is a LProteobacterium
colonizing industrial wastewater with a high content
of heavy metals. Tris-buffered mineral salt medium was used for
growing Alcaligenes eutrophus AE104 (pEBZ141). The cells were
cultivated for 18 h at 30 oC in Tris-buffered mineral salt medium
containing 3 mM disodium sulphate and 46 mM sodium gluconate as
the carbon source. The cells were harvested by centrifugation,
washed, and suspended in 10 mM Tris HCl, pH 7.0, containing 46
mM sodium gluconate, and 5 mM Chromium. Interaction among
induction of chr resistance determinant, and chromate reduction have
been demonstrated. Results of this study show that the above bacteria
can be very useful for bioremediation of chromium from industrial
wastewater.
Abstract: Protein subchloroplast locations are correlated with its
functions. In contrast to the large amount of available protein
sequences, the information of their locations and functions is less
known. The experiment works for identification of protein locations
and functions are costly and time consuming. The accurate prediction
of protein subchloroplast locations can accelerate the study of
functions of proteins in chloroplast. This study proposes a Random
Forest based method, ChloroRF, to predict protein subchloroplast
locations using interpretable physicochemical properties. In addition
to high prediction accuracy, the ChloroRF is able to select important
physicochemical properties. The important physicochemical
properties are also analyzed to provide insights into the underlying
mechanism.
Abstract: Signal processing applications which are iterative in
nature are best represented by data flow graphs (DFG). In these
applications, the maximum sampling frequency is dependent on the
topology of the DFG, the cyclic dependencies in particular. The
determination of the iteration bound, which is the reciprocal of the
maximum sampling frequency, is critical in the process of hardware
implementation of signal processing applications. In this paper, a
novel technique to compute the iteration bound is proposed. This
technique is different from all previously proposed techniques, in the
sense that it is based on the natural flow of tokens into the DFG
rather than the topology of the graph. The proposed algorithm has
lower run-time complexity than all known algorithms. The
performance of the proposed algorithm is illustrated through
analytical analysis of the time complexity, as well as through
simulation of some benchmark problems.
Abstract: Thai and Vietnamese music had been influenced and inspired by the traditional Chinese music. Whereby the differences of the tuning systems as well as the music modes are obviously known . The research examined the character of musical instruments, songs and culture between Thai and Vietnamese. An analyzing of songs and modes and the study of tone vibration as well as timbre had been done accurately. This qualitative research is based on documentary and songs analysis, field study, interviews and focus group discussion of Thai and Vietnamese masters. The research aims are to examine the musical instruments and songs of both Thai and Vietnamese as well as the comparison of the sounding system between Thailand and Vietnam. The finding of the research has revealed that there are similarities in certain kinds of instruments but differences in the sound systems regarding songs and scale of Thailand and Vietnam. Both cultural musical instruments are diverse and synthetic combining native and foreign inspiring. An integral part of Vietnam has been highly impacted by Chinese musical convention. Korea, Mongolia and Japan music have also play an active and effectively influenced as their geographical related. Whereas Thailand has been influenced by Chinese and Indian traditional music. Both Thai and Vietnamese musical instruments can be divided into four groups: plucked strings, bowed strings, winds and percussion. Songs from both countries have their own characteristics. They are playing a role in touching people heart in ceremonies, social functions and an essential element of the native performing arts. The Vietnamese music melodies have been influenced by Chinese music and taken the same character as Chinese songs. Thai song has specific identity and variety showed in its unique melody. Pentatonic scales have effectively been used in composing Thai and Vietnamese songs, but in different implementing concept.
Abstract: Paper deals with the topic of questions as important
components of information behavior in the school. By analyzing the
Corpus Schola2010, the state of contemporary education in terms of
questioning is proven unsatisfactory: 80% of the questions are asked
by teachers; most of teacher-s questions are asked at the beginning of
the first grade, than their number decreases and is settling down on
80±10 questions per lesson. The average number of questions within
one lesson per one pupil is generally less than one whole question.
The highest values are achieved in the first, sixth, eighth and tenth
grade,, i.e. in the transition years in which pupils are moving into
higher levels of education and every following year it declines. We
can state Czech school do not support questioning and question skill
of their pupils, thereby typical Czech schools are neglecting the
development of thinking, reasoning and cooperation of their pupils.
Abstract: To calculate the temperature distribution of the slab in
a hot rolled reheating furnace a mathematical model has been
developed by considering the thermal radiation in the furnace and
transient conduction in the slab. The furnace is modeled as radiating
medium with spatially varying temperature. Radiative heat flux within
the furnace including the effect of furnace walls, combustion gases,
skid beams and buttons is calculated using the FVM and is applied as
the boundary condition of the transient conduction equation of the
slab. After determining the slab emissivity by comparison between
simulation and experimental work, variation of heating characteristics
in the slab is investigated in the case of changing furnace temperature
with various time and the slab residence time is optimized with this
evaluation.
Abstract: In this work, propagation of uncertainty during calibration
process of TRANUS, an integrated land use and transport model
(ILUTM), has been investigated. It has also been examined, through a
sensitivity analysis, which input parameters affect the variation of the
outputs the most. Moreover, a probabilistic verification methodology
of calibration process, which equates the observed and calculated
production, has been proposed. The model chosen as an application is
the model of the city of Grenoble, France. For sensitivity analysis and
uncertainty propagation, Monte Carlo method was employed, and a
statistical hypothesis test was used for verification. The parameters of
the induced demand function in TRANUS, were assumed as uncertain
in the present case. It was found that, if during calibration, TRANUS
converges, then with a high probability the calibration process is
verified. Moreover, a weak correlation was found between the inputs
and the outputs of the calibration process. The total effect of the
inputs on outputs was investigated, and the output variation was found
to be dictated by only a few input parameters.
Abstract: The purposes of this paper are to (1) promote
excellence in computer science by suggesting a cohesive innovative
approach to fill well documented deficiencies in current computer
science education, (2) justify (using the authors- and others anecdotal
evidence from both the classroom and the real world) why this
approach holds great potential to successfully eliminate the
deficiencies, (3) invite other professionals to join the authors in proof
of concept research. The authors- experiences, though anecdotal,
strongly suggest that a new approach involving visual modeling
technologies should allow computer science programs to retain a
greater percentage of prospective and declared majors as students
become more engaged learners, more successful problem-solvers,
and better prepared as programmers. In addition, the graduates of
such computer science programs will make greater contributions to
the profession as skilled problem-solvers. Instead of wearily
rememorizing code as they move to the next course, students will
have the problem-solving skills to think and work in more
sophisticated and creative ways.
Abstract: In the domain of machine vision, the
measurement of length is done using cameras where the
accuracy is directly proportional to the resolution of the
camera and inversely to the size of the object. Since most of
the pixels are wasted imaging the entire body as opposed to
just imaging the edges in a conventional system, a double
aperture system is constructed to focus on the edges to
measure at higher resolution. The paper discusses the
complexities and how they are mitigated to realize a practical
machine vision system.
Abstract: In this study, we are interested in the economic lot
scheduling problem (ELSP) that considers manufacturing of the
serviceable products and remanufacturing of the reworked products. In
this paper, we formulate a mathematical model for the ELSP with
reworks using the basic period approach. In order to solve this
problem, we propose a search algorithm to find the cyclic multiplier ki
of each product that can be cyclically produced for every ki basic
periods. This research also uses two heuristics to search for the optimal
production sequence of all lots and the optimal time length of the basic
period so as to minimize the average total cost. This research uses a
numerical example to show the effectiveness of our approach.
Abstract: Environmental accounting is a recent phenomenon in the modern jurisprudence. It may reflect the corporate governance mechanisms in line with the natural resources and environmental sound management and administration systems in any country of the world. It may be a corporate focused on the improving of the environmental quality. But it is often identified that it is ignored due to some reasons such as unconsciousness, lack of ethical education etc. At present, the world community is very much concerned about the state of the environmental accounting and auditing systems as it bears sustainability on the mother earth for our generations. It is one of the important tools for understanding on the role played by the natural environment in the economy. It provides adequate data which is highlighted both in the contribution of natural resources to economic well-being as well as the costs imposed by pollution or resource degradation. It can play a critical role as on be a part of the many international environmental organizations such as IUCN, WWF, PADELIA, WRI etc.; as they have been taking many initiatives for ensuring the environmental accouting for our competent survivals. The global state actors have already taken some greening accounting initiatives under the forum of the United Nations Division for Sustainable Dedevolpment, the United Nations Statistical Division, the United Nations Conference on Environment and development known as Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg Conference 2002 etc. This study will provide an overview of the environmental accounting education consisting of 25 respondents based on the primary and secondary sources.
Abstract: The groundwater is one of the main sources for
sustainability in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Intensive
developments in Al-Ain area lead to increase water demand, which
consequently reduced the overall groundwater quantity in major
aquifers. However, in certain residential areas within Al-Ain, it has
been noticed that the groundwater level is rising, for example in
Sha-ab Al Askher area. The reasons for the groundwater rising
phenomenon are yet to be investigated. In this work, twenty four
seismic refraction profiles have been carried out along the study
pilot area; as well as field measurement of the groundwater level in
a number of available water wells in the area. The processed
seismic data indicated the deepest and shallowest groundwater
levels are 15m and 2.3 meters respectively. This result is greatly
consistent with the proper field measurement of the groundwater
level. The minimum detected value may be referred to perched
subsurface water which may be associated to the infiltration from
the surrounding water bodies such as lakes, and elevated farms. The
maximum values indicate the accurate groundwater level within the
study area. The findings of this work may be considered as a
preliminary help to the decision makers.