Abstract: This paper proposes a genetic algorithm based on a
new replacement strategy to solve the quadratic assignment problems,
which are NP-hard. The new replacement strategy aims to improve the
performance of the genetic algorithm through well balancing the
convergence of the searching process and the diversity of the
population. In order to test the performance of the algorithm, the
instances in QAPLIB, a quadratic assignment problem library, are
tried and the results are compared with those reported in the literature.
The performance of the genetic algorithm is promising. The
significance is that this genetic algorithm is generic. It does not rely on
problem-specific genetic operators, and may be easily applied to
various types of combinatorial problems.
Abstract: This paper presents the experimental results of salt fog ageing test of silicone rubber housing material for outdoor polymer insulator based on IEC 61109. Four types of HTV silicone rubber sheet with different amount of ATH were tested continuously 1000
Abstract: This paper explains how mobile learning assures sustainable e-education for multicultural group of students. This paper reports the impact of mobile learning on distance education in multicultural environment. The emergence of learning technologies through CD, internet, and mobile is increasingly adopted by distance institutes for quick delivery and cost-effective purposes. Their sustainability is conditioned by the structure of learners as well as the teaching community. The experimental study was conducted among the distant learners of Vinayaka Missions University located at Salem in India. Students were drawn from multicultural environment based on different languages, religions, class and communities. During the mobile learning sessions, the students, who are divided on language, religion, class and community, were dominated by play impulse rather than study anxiety or cultural inhibitions. This study confirmed that mobile learning improved the performance of the students despite their division based on region, language or culture. In other words, technology was able to transcend the relative deprivation in the multicultural groups. It also confirms sustainable e-education through mobile learning and cost-effective system of instruction. Mobile learning appropriates the self-motivation and play impulse of the young learners in providing sustainable e-education to multicultural social groups of students.
Abstract: Experiments have been carried out at the Latvia
University of Agriculture Department of Food Technology. The aim
of this work was to assess the effect of thermal treatment in flexible
retort pouch packaging on the quality of potatoes’ produce during the
storage time. Samples were evaluated immediately after retort
thermal treatment; and following 1; 2; 3 and 4 storage months at the
ambient temperature of +18±2ºC in vacuum packaging from
polyamide/polyethylene (PA/PE) and aluminum/polyethylene
(Al/PE) film pouches with barrier properties. Experimentally the
quality of the potatoes’ produce in dry butter and mushroom
dressings was characterized by measuring pH, hardness, color,
microbiological properties and sensory evaluation. The sterilization
was effective in protecting the produce from physical, chemical, and
microbial quality degradation. According to the study of obtained
data, it can be argued that the selected product processing technology
and packaging materials could be applied to provide the safety and
security during four-month storage period.
Abstract: In this paper we introduce a novel method for
the characterization of synchronziation and coupling effects
in multivariate time series that can be used for the analysis
of EEG or ECoG signals recorded during epileptic seizures.
The method allows to visualize the spatio-temporal evolution
of synchronization and coupling effects that are characteristic
for epileptic seizures. Similar to other methods proposed for
this purpose our method is based on a regression analysis.
However, a more general definition of the regression together
with an effective channel selection procedure allows to use the
method even for time series that are highly correlated, which
is commonly the case in EEG/ECoG recordings with large
numbers of electrodes. The method was experimentally tested
on ECoG recordings of epileptic seizures from patients with
temporal lobe epilepsies. A comparision with the results from
a independent visual inspection by clinical experts showed
an excellent agreement with the patterns obtained with the
proposed method.
Abstract: Vernonia divergens Benth., commonly known as
“Insulin Plant” (Fam: Asteraceae) is a potent sugar killer. Locally the
leaves of the plant, boiled in water are successfully administered to a
large number of diabetic patients. The present study evaluates the
putative anti-diabetic ingredients, isolated from the in vivo and in
vitro grown plantlets of V. divergens for their antimicrobial and
anticancer activities. Sterilized explants of nodal segments were
cultured on MS (Musashige and Skoog, 1962) medium in presence of
different combinations of hormones. Multiple shoots along with
bunch of roots were regenerated at 1mg l-1 BAP and 0.5 mg l-1 NAA.
Micro-plantlets were separated and sub-cultured on the double
strength (2X) of the above combination of hormones leading to
increased length of roots and shoots. These plantlets were
successfully transferred to soil and survived well in nature. The
ethanol extract of plantlets from both in vivo & in vitro sources were
prepared in soxhlet extractor and then concentrated to dryness under
reduced pressure in rotary evaporator. Thus obtainedconcentrated
extracts showed significant inhibitory activity against gram
negative bacteria like Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas
aeruginosa but no inhibition was found against gram positive
bacteria. Further, these ethanol extracts were screened for in vitro
percentage cytotoxicity at different time periods (24 h, 48 h and 72 h)
of different dilutions. The in vivo plant extract inhibited the growth of
EAC mouse cell lines in the range of 65, 66, 78, and 88% at 100, 50,
25 & 12.5μg mL-1 but at 72 h of treatment. In case of the extract of in
vitro origin, the inhibition was found against EAC cell lines even at
48h. During spectrophotometric scanning, the extracts exhibited
different maxima (ʎ) - four peaks in in vitro extracts as against single
in in vivo preparation suggesting the possible change in the nature of
ingredients during micropropagation through tissue culture
techniques.
Abstract: In this paper, a fiber based Fabry-Perot interferometer
is proposed and demonstrated for a non-contact displacement
measurement. A piece of micro-prism which attached to the
mechanical vibrator is served as the target reflector. Interference
signal is generated from the superposition between the sensing beam
and the reference beam within the sensing arm of the fiber sensor.
This signal is then converted to the displacement value by using a
developed program written in visual Cµ programming with a
resolution of λ/8. A classical function generator is operated for
controlling the vibrator. By fixing an excitation frequency of 100 Hz
and varying the excitation amplitude range of 0.1 – 3 Volts, the
output displacements measured by the fiber sensor are obtained from
1.55 μm to 30.225 μm. A reference displacement sensor with a
sensitivity of ~0.4 μm is also employed for comparing the
displacement errors between both sensors. We found that over the
entire displacement range, a maximum and average measurement
error are obtained of 0.977% and 0.44% respectively.
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: This work presents an approach for the construction of a hybrid color-texture space by using mutual information. Feature extraction is done by the Laws filter with SVM (Support Vectors Machine) as a classifier. The classification is applied on the VisTex database and a SPOT HRV (XS) image representing two forest areas in the region of Rabat in Morocco. The result of classification obtained in the hybrid space is compared with the one obtained in the RGB color space.
Abstract: With optimized bandwidth and latency discrepancy ratios, Node Gain Scores (NGSs) are determined and used as a basis for shaping the max-heap overlay. The NGSs - determined as the respective bandwidth-latency-products - govern the construction of max-heap-form overlays. Each NGS is earned as a synergy of discrepancy ratio of the bandwidth requested with respect to the estimated available bandwidth, and latency discrepancy ratio between the nodes and the source node. The tree leads to enhanceddelivery overlay multicasting – increasing packet delivery which could, otherwise, be hindered by induced packet loss occurring in other schemes not considering the synergy of these parameters on placing the nodes on the overlays. The NGS is a function of four main parameters – estimated available bandwidth, Ba; individual node's requested bandwidth, Br; proposed node latency to its prospective parent (Lp); and suggested best latency as advised by source node (Lb). Bandwidth discrepancy ratio (BDR) and latency discrepancy ratio (LDR) carry weights of α and (1,000 - α ) , respectively, with arbitrary chosen α ranging between 0 and 1,000 to ensure that the NGS values, used as node IDs, maintain a good possibility of uniqueness and balance between the most critical factor between the BDR and the LDR. A max-heap-form tree is constructed with assumption that all nodes possess NGS less than the source node. To maintain a sense of load balance, children of each level's siblings are evenly distributed such that a node can not accept a second child, and so on, until all its siblings able to do so, have already acquired the same number of children. That is so logically done from left to right in a conceptual overlay tree. The records of the pair-wise approximate available bandwidths as measured by a pathChirp scheme at individual nodes are maintained. Evaluation measures as compared to other schemes – Bandwidth Aware multicaSt architecturE (BASE), Tree Building Control Protocol (TBCP), and Host Multicast Tree Protocol (HMTP) - have been conducted. This new scheme generally performs better in terms of trade-off between packet delivery ratio; link stress; control overhead; and end-to-end delays.
Abstract: In this article, we present a web server based solution
for implementing a system for intelligent navigation. In this solution
we use real time collected data and traffic history to establish the best
route for navigation. This is a low cost solution that is easily to
implement and extend. There is no need any infrastructure at road
network level except only a device that collect data about traffic in
key road crossing. The presented solution creates a strong base for
traffic pursuit and offers an infrastructure for navigation applications.
Abstract: Unsatisfactory effectiveness of software systems
development and enhancement projects is one of the main reasons
why in software engineering there are attempts being made to use
experiences coming from other engineering disciplines. In spite of
specificity of software product and process a belief had come out that
the execution of software could be more effective if these objects
were subject to measurement – as it is true in other engineering
disciplines for which measurement is an immanent feature. Thus
objective and reliable approaches to the measurement of software
processes and products have been sought in software engineering for
several dozens of years already. This may be proved, among others,
by the current version of CMMI for Development model. This paper
is aimed at analyzing the approach to the software processes and
products measurement proposed in the latest version of this very
model, indicating growing acceptance for this issue in software
engineering.
Abstract: Electronics Products that achieve high levels of integrated communications, computing and entertainment, multimedia features in small, stylish and robust new form factors are winning in the market place. Due to the high costs that an industry may undergo and how a high yield is directly proportional to high profits, IC (Integrated Circuit) manufacturers struggle to maximize yield, but today-s customers demand miniaturization, low costs, high performance and excellent reliability making the yield maximization a never ending research of an enhanced assembly process. With factors such as minimum tolerances, tighter parameter variations a systematic approach is needed in order to predict the assembly process. In order to evaluate the quality of upcoming circuits, yield models are used which not only predict manufacturing costs but also provide vital information in order to ease the process of correction when the yields fall below expectations. For an IC manufacturer to obtain higher assembly yields all factors such as boards, placement, components, the material from which the components are made of and processes must be taken into consideration. Effective placement yield depends heavily on machine accuracy and the vision of the system which needs the ability to recognize the features on the board and component to place the device accurately on the pads and bumps of the PCB. There are currently two methods for accurate positioning, using the edge of the package and using solder ball locations also called footprints. The only assumption that a yield model makes is that all boards and devices are completely functional. This paper will focus on the Monte Carlo method which consists in a class of computational algorithms (information processed algorithms) which depends on repeated random samplings in order to compute the results. This method utilized in order to recreate the simulation of placement and assembly processes within a production line.
Abstract: Colored Petri Nets (CPN) are very known kind of
high level Petri nets. With sound and complete semantics, rewriting
logic is one of very powerful logics in description and verification of
non-deterministic concurrent systems. Recently, CPN semantics are
defined in terms of rewriting logic, allowing us to built models by
formal reasoning. In this paper, we propose an automatic translation
of CPN to the rewriting logic language Maude. This tool allows
graphical editing and simulating CPN. The tool allows the user
drawing a CPN graphically and automatic translating the graphical
representation of the drawn CPN to Maude specification. Then,
Maude language is used to perform the simulation of the resulted
Maude specification. It is the first rewriting logic based environment
for this category of Petri Nets.
Abstract: A numbers of important developments have led to an
increasing attractiveness for very high speed electrical machines
(either motor or generator). Specifically the increasing switching
speed of power electronics, high energy magnets, high strength
retaining materials, better high speed bearings and improvements in
design analysis are the primary drivers in a move to higher speed. The
design challenges come in the mechanical design both in terms of
strength and resonant modes and in the electromagnetic design
particularly in respect of iron losses and ac losses in the various
conducting parts including the rotor. This paper describes detailed
design work which has been done on a 50,000 rpm, 50kW permanent
magnet( PM) synchronous machine. It describes work on
electromagnetic and rotor eddy current losses using a variety of
methods including both 2D finite element analysis
Abstract: Turbulence studies were made in the wake of a rotating
circular cylinder in a uniform free stream. The interest was to
examine the turbulence properties at the suppression of periodicity in
vortex formation process. An experimental study of the turbulent near
wake of a rotating circular cylinder was made at a Reynolds number
of 9000 for velocity ratios, λ between 0 and 2.7. Hot-wire
anemometry and particle image velocimetry results indicate that the
rotation of the cylinder causes significant changes in the vortical
activities. The turbulence quantities are getting smaller as λ increases
due to suppression of coherent vortex structures.
Abstract: Liposomal magnetofection is a simple, highly efficient
technology for cell transfection, demonstrating better outcome than a
number of other common gene delivery methods. However,
aggregate complexes distribution over the cell surface is non-uniform
due to the gradient of the permanent magnetic field. The aim of this
study was to estimate the efficiency of liposomal magnetofection for
prostate carcinoma PC3 cell line using newly designed device,
“DynaFECTOR", ensuring magnetofection in a dynamic gradient
magnetic field. Liposomal magnetofection in a dynamic gradient
magnetic field demonstrated the highest transfection efficiency for
PC3 cells – it increased for 21% in comparison with liposomal
magnetofection and for 42% in comparison with lipofection alone.
The optimal incubation time under dynamic magnetic field for PC3
cell line was 5 minutes and the optimal rotation frequency of
magnets – 5 rpm. The new approach also revealed lower cytotoxic
effect to cells than liposomal magnetofection.
Abstract: E-learning is not restricted to the use of new technologies for the online content, but also induces the adoption of new approaches to improve the quality of education. This quality depends on the ability of these approaches (technical and pedagogical) to provide an adaptive learning environment. Thus, the environment should include features that convey intentions and meeting the educational needs of learners by providing a customized learning path to acquiring a competency concerned In our proposal, we believe that an individualized learning path requires knowledge of the learner. Therefore, it must pass through a personalization of diagnosis to identify precisely the competency gaps to fill, and reduce the cognitive load To personalize the diagnosis and pertinently measure the competency gap, we suggest implementing the formative assessment in the e-learning environment and we propose the introduction of a pre-regulation process in the area of formative assessment, involving its individualization and implementation in e-learning.
Abstract: In CMOS integrated circuit design there is a trade-off between static power consumption and technology scaling. Recently, the power density has increased due to combination of higher clock speeds, greater functional integration, and smaller process geometries. As a result static power consumption is becoming more dominant. This is a challenge for the circuit designers. However, the designers do have a few methods which they can use to reduce this static power consumption. But all of these methods have some drawbacks. In order to achieve lower static power consumption, one has to sacrifice design area and circuit performance. In this paper, we propose a new method to reduce static power in the CMOS VLSI circuit using Variable Body Biasing technique without being penalized in area requirement and circuit performance.
Abstract: Determination of wellbore problems during a
production/injection process might be evaluated thorough
temperature log analysis. Other applications of this kind of log
analysis may also include evaluation of fluid distribution analysis
along the wellbore and identification of anomalies encountered
during production/injection process. While the accuracy of such
prediction is paramount, the common method of determination of a
wellbore temperature log includes use of steady-state energy balance
equations, which hardly describe the real conditions as observed in
typical oil and gas flowing wells during production operation; and
thus increase level of uncertainties. In this study, a practical method
has been proposed through development of a simplified semianalytical
model to apply for predicting temperature profile along the
wellbore. The developed model includes an overall heat transfer
coefficient accounting all modes of heat transferring mechanism,
which has been focused on the prediction of a temperature profile as
a function of depth for the injection/production wells. The model has
been validated with the results obtained from numerical simulation.