Abstract: The wisest economic decision of United States in the
20th century was establishing the favorable international monetary
system, and capturing the leadership position in it. This decision gave
economic hegemony to the US for the next more than 7 decades. The
continuation of this hegemony till the next decade seems difficult as
the US economy is under continuous streams of recessions since
2007. On the other hand, Chinese economy is progressing with a
very fast speed and is estimated to pass the US economy till 2025, in
various aspects. Will the US be able to continue its leadership in the
IMS? Will China replace US in the international monetary system?
The answers to these questions have been explored by comparing the
economic competitiveness of US and China, with respect to each
other. The paper concludes that the change in global economic
environment will compel US to share the leadership of international
monetary system with China. This sharing will solve most problems
of the current IMS, but will also birth some new problems.
Abstract: The latest Geographic Information System (GIS)
technology makes it possible to administer the spatial components of
daily “business object," in the corporate database, and apply suitable
geographic analysis efficiently in a desktop-focused application. We
can use wireless internet technology for transfer process in spatial
data from server to client or vice versa. However, the problem in
wireless Internet is system bottlenecks that can make the process of
transferring data not efficient. The reason is large amount of spatial
data. Optimization in the process of transferring and retrieving data,
however, is an essential issue that must be considered. Appropriate
decision to choose between R-tree and Quadtree spatial data indexing
method can optimize the process. With the rapid proliferation of
these databases in the past decade, extensive research has been
conducted on the design of efficient data structures to enable fast
spatial searching. Commercial database vendors like Oracle have also
started implementing these spatial indexing to cater to the large and
diverse GIS. This paper focuses on the decisions to choose R-tree
and quadtree spatial indexing using Oracle spatial database in mobile
GIS application. From our research condition, the result of using
Quadtree and R-tree spatial data indexing method in one single
spatial database can save the time until 42.5%.
Abstract: Electric vehicle (EV) is one of the effective solutions to
control emission of greenhouses gases in the world. It is of interest
for future transportation due to its sustainability and efficiency by
automotive manufacturers. Various electrical motors have been used
for propulsion system of electric vehicles in last decades. In this
paper brushed DC motor, Induction motor (IM), switched reluctance
motor (SRM) and brushless DC motor (BLDC) are simulated and
compared. BLDC motor is recommended for high performance
electric vehicles. PWM switching technique is implemented for speed
control of BLDC motor. Behavior of different modes of PWM speed
controller of BLDC motor are simulated in MATLAB/SIMULINK.
BLDC motor characteristics are compared and discussed for various
PWM switching modes under normal and inverter fault conditions.
Comparisons and discussions are verified through simulation results.
Abstract: Presently and in line with the United Nations (EPA),
human thinking system has shifted towards clean fuels so as to
maintain a cleaner environment and to save our planet earth.
One of the most successful studies in order to achieve new
energies includes the use of animal wastes and their organic residues,
and the result of these researches has been represented in the form of
very simple and cheap methods called biogas technology. Biogas
technology has developed a lot in the recent decades; its reason is the
high cost of fossil fuels and the greater attention of countries to the
environmental pollutions due to the consumption of this kind of
fuels.
IRAN is ready for the optimized application of renewable
energies, having much enriched resources of this kind of energies; so
a special place could be considered for it when making programs.
The purpose of biogas technology is the recovery of energy and
finally the protection of the environment, which is much appropriate
for the third world farmers with respect to their technical abilities and
economic potentials. Studies show that the production and
consumption of biogas is appropriate and economic in IRAN,
because of the high amount of waste in the agriculture sector, the
significant amount of animal and human excrement production, the
great volume of garbage produced and the most important the
specific social, climatic and agricultural conditions in IRAN, in order
to proceed towards the reduction of pollution due to the use of fossil
fuels.
Abstract: Vertical Double Gate (DG) Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) is believed to suppress various short channel effect problems. The gate to channel coupling in vertical DG-MOSFET are doubled, thus resulting in higher current density. By having two gates, both gates are able to control the channel from both sides and possess better electrostatic control over the channel. In order to ensure that the transistor possess a superb turn-off characteristic, the subs-threshold swing (SS) must be kept at minimum value (60-90mV/dec). By utilizing SILVACO TCAD software, an n-channel vertical DG-MOSFET was successfully designed while keeping the sub-threshold swing (SS) value as minimum as possible. From the observation made, the value of sub-threshold swing (SS) was able to be varied by adjusting the height of the silicon pillar. The minimum value of sub-threshold swing (SS) was found to be 64.7mV/dec with threshold voltage (VTH) of 0.895V. The ideal height of the vertical DG-MOSFET pillar was found to be at 0.265 µm.
Abstract: Shippers are concentrating on the core competency to
stay competitive and outsourcing the logistic activities to the third
party who is expert in this field. This third party logistics (3PL) is
drawing the due attention at government, industrial, academicians
and practitioner-s levels. If the logistics cost in India can be brought
down from the current level of 13% of GDP to 9% (level in the U.S.),
the savings would be around Rs 3 lakh crore approximately per
annum. But the problem with the shippers is to select the suitable
3PL provider. Various criteria for selection of 3PL have been listed
in the literature which are discussed in the present literature review.
Every shipper will select the criteria suitable to its own requirement
which have to be dynamically reviewed time to time so as to fit in the
ever changing environment.
Abstract: During last decades, worldwide researchers dedicated
efforts to develop machine-based seismic Early Warning systems,
aiming at reducing the huge human losses and economic damages.
The elaboration time of seismic waveforms is to be reduced in order
to increase the time interval available for the activation of safety
measures. This paper suggests a Data Mining model able to correctly
and quickly estimate dangerousness of the running seismic event.
Several thousand seismic recordings of Japanese and Italian
earthquakes were analyzed and a model was obtained by means of a
Bayesian Network (BN), which was tested just over the first
recordings of seismic events in order to reduce the decision time and
the test results were very satisfactory.
The model was integrated within an Early Warning System
prototype able to collect and elaborate data from a seismic sensor
network, estimate the dangerousness of the running earthquake and
take the decision of activating the warning promptly.
Abstract: In this paper we compare the accuracy of data mining
methods to classifying students in order to predicting student-s class
grade. These predictions are more useful for identifying weak
students and assisting management to take remedial measures at early
stages to produce excellent graduate that will graduate at least with
second class upper. Firstly we examine single classifiers accuracy on
our data set and choose the best one and then ensembles it with a
weak classifier to produce simple voting method. We present results
show that combining different classifiers outperformed other single
classifiers for predicting student performance.
Abstract: A typical definition of the Computer Aided Diagnosis
(CAD), found in literature, can be: A diagnosis made by a radiologist
using the output of a computerized scheme for automated image
analysis as a diagnostic aid. Often it is possible to find the expression
Computer Aided Detection (CAD or CADe): this definition
emphasizes the intent of CAD to support rather than substitute the
human observer in the analysis of radiographic images. In this article
we will illustrate the application of CAD systems and the aim of
these definitions.
Commercially available CAD systems use computerized
algorithms for identifying suspicious regions of interest. In this paper
are described the general CAD systems as an expert system
constituted of the following components: segmentation / detection,
feature extraction, and classification / decision making.
As example, in this work is shown the realization of a Computer-
Aided Detection system that is able to assist the radiologist in
identifying types of mammary tumor lesions. Furthermore this
prototype of station uses a GRID configuration to work on a large
distributed database of digitized mammographic images.
Abstract: Cashew nut shells were converted into activated carbon powders using KOH activation plus CO2 gasification at 1027 K. The increase both of impregnation ratio and activation time, there was swiftly the development of mesoporous structure with increasing of mesopore volume ratio from 20-28% and 27-45% for activated carbon with ratio of KOH per char equal to 1 and 4, respectively. Activated carbon derived from KOH/char ratio equal to 1 and CO2 gasification time from 20 to 150 minutes were exhibited the BET surface area increasing from 222 to 627 m2.g-1. And those were derived from KOH/char ratio of 4 with activation time from 20 to 150 minutes exhibited high BET surface area from 682 to 1026 m2.g-1. The adsorption of Lead(II) and Cadmium(II) ion was investigated. This adsorbent exhibited excellent adsorption for Lead(II) and Cadmium(II) ion. Maximum adsorption presented at 99.61% at pH 6.5 and 98.87% at optimum conditions. The experimental data was calculated from Freundlich isotherm and Langmuir isotherm model. The maximum capacity of Pb2+ and Cd2+ ions was found to be 28.90 m2.g-1 and 14.29 m2.g-1, respectively.
Abstract: In this article we explore how computer assisted exercises may allow for bridging the traditional gap between theory and practice in professional education. To educate officers able to master the complexity of the battlefield the Norwegian Military Academy needs to develop a learning environment that allows for creating viable connections between the educational environment and the field of practice. In response to this challenge we explore the conditions necessary to make computer assisted training systems (CATS) a useful tool to create structural similarities between an educational context and the field of military practice. Although, CATS may facilitate work procedures close to real life situations, this case do demonstrate how professional competence also must build on viable learning theories and environments. This paper explores the conditions that allow for using simulators to facilitate professional competence from within an educational setting. We develop a generic didactic model that ascribes learning to participation in iterative cycles of action and reflection. The development of this model is motivated by the need to develop an interdisciplinary professional education rooted in the pattern of military practice.
Abstract: Yeast cells live in a constantly changing environment that requires the continuous adaptation of their genomic program in order to sustain their homeostasis, survive and proliferate. Due to the advancement of high throughput technologies, there is currently a large amount of data such as gene expression, gene deletion and protein-protein interactions for S. Cerevisiae under various environmental conditions. Mining these datasets requires efficient computational methods capable of integrating different types of data, identifying inter-relations between different components and inferring functional groups or 'modules' that shape intracellular processes. This study uses computational methods to delineate some of the mechanisms used by yeast cells to respond to environmental changes. The GRAM algorithm is first used to integrate gene expression data and ChIP-chip data in order to find modules of coexpressed and co-regulated genes as well as the transcription factors (TFs) that regulate these modules. Since transcription factors are themselves transcriptionally regulated, a three-layer regulatory cascade consisting of the TF-regulators, the TFs and the regulated modules is subsequently considered. This three-layer cascade is then modeled quantitatively using artificial neural networks (ANNs) where the input layer corresponds to the expression of the up-stream transcription factors (TF-regulators) and the output layer corresponds to the expression of genes within each module. This work shows that (a) the expression of at least 33 genes over time and for different stress conditions is well predicted by the expression of the top layer transcription factors, including cases in which the effect of up-stream regulators is shifted in time and (b) identifies at least 6 novel regulatory interactions that were not previously associated with stress-induced changes in gene expression. These findings suggest that the combination of gene expression and protein-DNA interaction data with artificial neural networks can successfully model biological pathways and capture quantitative dependencies between distant regulators and downstream genes.
Abstract: Starting from a biologically inspired framework, Gabor filters were built up from retinal filters via LMSE algorithms. Asubset of retinal filter kernels was chosen to form a particular Gabor filter by using a weighted sum. One-dimensional optimization approaches were shown to be inappropriate for the problem. All model parameters were fixed with biological or image processing constraints. Detailed analysis of the optimization procedure led to the introduction of a minimization constraint. Finally, quantization of weighting factors was investigated. This resulted in an optimized cascaded structure of a Gabor filter bank implementation with lower computational cost.
Abstract: Efforts to secure supervisory control and data acquisition
(SCADA) systems must be supported under the guidance of
sound security policies and mechanisms to enforce them. Critical
elements of the policy must be systematically translated into a format
that can be used by policy enforcement components. Ideally, the
goal is to ensure that the enforced policy is a close reflection of
the specified policy. However, security controls commonly used to
enforce policies in the IT environment were not designed to satisfy
the specific needs of the SCADA environment. This paper presents
a language, based on the well-known XACML framework, for the
expression of authorization policies for SCADA systems.
Abstract: Concrete pavement has superior durability and longer
structural life than asphalt pavement. Concrete pavement requires
less maintenance compared to asphalt pavement which requires maintenance and major rehabilitation. Use of the concrete pavement
has been grown over the past decade in developing countries. Fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) has been successfully used in design of concrete pavement in past decade. In this research, the effect of fibre
volume fraction in modulus of rupture, load-deflection, equivalent flexural strength (fe,3) and the equivalent flexural strength ratio (Re,3)
has been used in different fibre volume fraction. Crimped-type flat
steel fibre of size 50 x 2.0 x 0.6 mm was used with 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0% volume fraction. Beam specimens of size 500 x 100 x 100 mm were used for flexural as well as with JCI method for analysis flexural toughness, equivalent flexural strength. It was obtained as the 2% fibre volume fractions; reduce 45% of the concrete pavement
thickness.
Abstract: We here propose improved version of elastic graph matching (EGM) as a face detector, called the multi-scale EGM (MS-EGM). In this improvement, Gabor wavelet-based pyramid reduces computational complexity for the feature representation often used in the conventional EGM, but preserving a critical amount of information about an image. The MS-EGM gives us higher detection performance than Viola-Jones object detection algorithm of the AdaBoost Haar-like feature cascade. We also show rapid detection speeds of the MS-EGM, comparable to the Viola-Jones method. We find fruitful benefits in the MS-EGM, in terms of topological feature representation for a face.
Abstract: In process control applications, above 90% of the
controllers are of PID type. This paper proposed a robust PI
controller with fractional-order integrator. The PI parameters were
obtained using classical Ziegler-Nichols rules but enhanced with the
application of error filter cascaded to the fractional-order PI. The
controller was applied on steam temperature process that was
described by FOPDT transfer function. The process can be classified
as lag dominating process with very small relative dead-time. The
proposed control scheme was compared with other PI controller
tuned using Ziegler-Nichols and AMIGO rules. Other PI controller
with fractional-order integrator known as F-MIGO was also
considered. All the controllers were subjected to set point change and
load disturbance tests. The performance was measured using Integral
of Squared Error (ISE) and Integral of Control Signal (ICO). The
proposed controller produced best performance for all the tests with
the least ISE index.
Abstract: Movable power sources of proton exchange
membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) are the important research done in the
current fuel cells (FC) field. The PEMFC system control influences
the cell performance greatly and it is a control system for industrial
complex problems, due to the imprecision, uncertainty and partial
truth and intrinsic nonlinear characteristics of PEMFCs. In this paper
an adaptive PI control strategy using neural network adaptive Morlet
wavelet for control is proposed. It is based on a single layer feed
forward neural networks with hidden nodes of adaptive morlet
wavelet functions controller and an infinite impulse response (IIR)
recurrent structure. The IIR is combined by cascading to the network
to provide double local structure resulting in improving speed of
learning. The proposed method is applied to a typical 1 KW PEMFC
system and the results show the proposed method has more accuracy
against to MLP (Multi Layer Perceptron) method.
Abstract: This research documents a qualitative study of
selected Native Americans who have successfully graduated from
mainstream higher education institutions. The research framework
explored the Bicultural Identity Formation Model as a means of
understanding the expressions of the students' adaptations to
mainstream education. This approach lead to an awareness of how
the participants in the study used specific cultural and social
strategies to enhance their educational success and also to an
awareness of how they coped with cultural dissonance to achieve a
new academic identity. Research implications impact a larger
audience of bicultural, foreign, or international students experiencing
cultural dissonance.
Abstract: During the last decade ultrafine grained (UFG) and nano-structured (NS) materials have experienced a rapid development. In this research work finite element analysis has been carried out to investigate the plastic strain distribution in equal channel angular process (ECAP). The magnitudes of Standard deviation (S. D.) and inhomogeneity index (Ci) were compared for different ECAP passes. Verification of a three-dimensional finite element model was performed with experimental tests. Finally the mechanical property including impact energy of ultrafine grained pure commercially pure Aluminum produced by severe plastic deformation method has been examined. For this aim, equal channel angular pressing die with the channel angle, outer corner angle and channel diameter of 90°, 20° and 20mm had been designed and manufactured. Commercial pure Aluminum billets were ECAPed up to four passes by route BC at the ambient temperature. The results indicated that there is a great improvement at the hardness measurement, yield strength and ultimate tensile strength after ECAP process. It is found that the magnitudes of HV reach 67HV from 21HV after the final stage of process. Also, about 330% and 285% enhancement at the YS and UTS values have been obtained after the fourth pass as compared to the as-received conditions, respectively. On the other hand, the elongation to failure and impact energy have been reduced by 23% and 50% after imposing four passes of ECAP process, respectively.