Abstract: A time-domain numerical model within the
framework of transmission line modeling (TLM) is developed to
simulate electromagnetic pulse propagation inside multiple
microcavities forming photonic crystal (PhC) structures. The model
developed is quite general and is capable of simulating complex
electromagnetic problems accurately. The field quantities can be
mapped onto a passive electrical circuit equivalent what ensures that
TLM is provably stable and conservative at a local level.
Furthermore, the circuit representation allows a high level of
hybridization of TLM with other techniques and lumped circuit
models of components and devices. A photonic crystal structure
formed by rods (or blocks) of high-permittivity dieletric material
embedded in a low-dielectric background medium is simulated as an
example. The model developed gives vital spatio-temporal
information about the signal, and also gives spectral information over
a wide frequency range in a single run. The model has wide
applications in microwave communication systems, optical
waveguides and electromagnetic materials simulations.
Abstract: Estimation time and cost of work completion in a
project and follow up them during execution are contributors to
success or fail of a project, and is very important for project
management team. Delivering on time and within budgeted cost
needs to well managing and controlling the projects. To dealing with
complex task of controlling and modifying the baseline project
schedule during execution, earned value management systems have
been set up and widely used to measure and communicate the real
physical progress of a project. But it often fails to predict the total
duration of the project. In this paper data mining techniques is used
predicting the total project duration in term of Time Estimate At
Completion-EAC (t). For this purpose, we have used a project with
90 activities, it has updated day by day. Then, it is used regular
indexes in literature and applied Earned Duration Method to
calculate time estimate at completion and set these as input data for
prediction and specifying the major parameters among them using
Clem software. By using data mining, the effective parameters on
EAC and the relationship between them could be extracted and it is
very useful to manage a project with minimum delay risks. As we
state, this could be a simple, safe and applicable method in prediction
the completion time of a project during execution.
Abstract: High Performance Work Systems (HPWS) generally give rise to positive impacts on employees by increasing their commitments in workplaces. While some argued this actually have considerable negative impacts on employees with increasing possibilities of imposing strains caused by stress and intensity of such work places. Do stressful workplaces hamper employee commitment? The author has tried to find the answer by exploring linkages between HPWS practices and its impact on employees in Japanese organizations. How negative outcomes like job intensity and workplaces and job stressors can influence different forms of employees- commitments which can be a hindrance to their performance. Design: A close ended questionnaire survey was conducted amongst 16 large, medium and small sized Japanese companies from diverse industries around Chiba, Saitama, and Ibaraki Prefectures and in Tokyo from the month of October 2008 to February 2009. Questionnaires were aimed to the non managerial employees- perceptions of HPWS practices, their behavior, working life experiences in their work places. A total of 227 samples are used for analysis in the study. Methods: Correlations, MANCOVA, SEM Path analysis using AMOS software are used for data analysis in this study. Findings: Average non-managerial perception of HPWS adoption is significantly but negatively correlated to both work place Stressors and Continuous commitment, but positively correlated to job Intensity, Affective, Occupational and Normative commitments in different workplaces at Japan. The path analysis by SEM shows significant indirect relationship between Stressors and employee Affective organizational commitment and Normative organizational commitments. Intensity also has a significant indirect effect on Occupational commitments. HPWS has an additive effect on all the outcomes variables. Limitations: The sample size in this study cannot be a representative to the entire population of non-managerial employees in Japan. There were no respondents from automobile, pharmaceuticals, finance industries. The duration of the survey coincided in a period when Japan as most of the other countries is under going recession. Biases could not be ruled out completely. We must take cautions in interpreting the results of studies as they cannot be generalized. And the path analysis cannot provide the complete causality of the inter linkages between the variables used in the study. Originality: There have been limited studies on linkages in HPWS adoptions and their impacts on employees- behaviors and commitments in Japanese workplaces. This study may provide some ingredients for further research in the fields of HRM policies and practices and their linkages on different forms of employees- commitments.
Abstract: This paper presents optimal based damping controllers of Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC) for improving the damping power system oscillations. The design problem of UPFC damping controller and system configurations is formulated as an optimization with time domain-based objective function by means of Adaptive Tabu Search (ATS) technique. The UPFC is installed in Single Machine Infinite Bus (SMIB) for the performance analysis of the power system and simulated using MATLAB-s simulink. The simulation results of these studies showed that designed controller has an tremendous capability in damping power system oscillations.
Abstract: For stricter drinking water regulations in the future, reducing the humic acid and disinfection byproducts in raw water, namely, trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) is worthy for research. To investigate the removal of waterborne organic material using a lab-scale of bio-activated carbon filter under different EBCT, the concentrations of humic acid prepared were 0.01, 0.03, 0.06, 0.12, 0.17, 0.23, and 0.29 mg/L. Then we conducted experiments using a pilot plant with in-field of the serially connected bio-activated carbon filters and hollow fiber membrane processes employed in traditional water purification plants. Results showed under low TOC conditions of humic acid in influent (0.69 to 1.03 mg TOC/L) with an EBCT of 30 min, 40 min, and 50 min, TOC removal rates increases with greater EBCT, attaining about 39 % removal rate. The removal rate of THMs and HAAs by BACF was 54.8 % and 89.0 %, respectively.
Abstract: Earth reinforcing techniques have become useful and economical to solve problems related to difficult grounds and provide satisfactory foundation performance. In this context, this paper uses radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) for predicting the bearing pressure of strip footing on reinforced granular bed overlying weak soil. The inputs for the neural network models included plate width, thickness of granular bed and number of layers of reinforcements, settlement ratio, water content, dry density, cohesion and angle of friction. The results indicated that RBFNN model exhibited more than 84 % prediction accuracy, thereby demonstrating its application in a geotechnical problem.
Abstract: This paper presents a text clustering system developed based on a k-means type subspace clustering algorithm to cluster large, high dimensional and sparse text data. In this algorithm, a new step is added in the k-means clustering process to automatically calculate the weights of keywords in each cluster so that the important words of a cluster can be identified by the weight values. For understanding and interpretation of clustering results, a few keywords that can best represent the semantic topic are extracted from each cluster. Two methods are used to extract the representative words. The candidate words are first selected according to their weights calculated by our new algorithm. Then, the candidates are fed to the WordNet to identify the set of noun words and consolidate the synonymy and hyponymy words. Experimental results have shown that the clustering algorithm is superior to the other subspace clustering algorithms, such as PROCLUS and HARP and kmeans type algorithm, e.g., Bisecting-KMeans. Furthermore, the word extraction method is effective in selection of the words to represent the topics of the clusters.
Abstract: Segmentation and quantification of stenosis is an
important task in assessing coronary artery disease. One of the main
challenges is measuring the real diameter of curved vessels.
Moreover, uncertainty in segmentation of different tissues in the
narrow vessel is an important issue that affects accuracy. This paper
proposes an algorithm to extract coronary arteries and measure the
degree of stenosis. Markovian fuzzy clustering method is applied to
model uncertainty arises from partial volume effect problem. The
algorithm employs: segmentation, centreline extraction, estimation of
orthogonal plane to centreline, measurement of the degree of
stenosis. To evaluate the accuracy and reproducibility, the approach
has been applied to a vascular phantom and the results are compared
with real diameter. The results of 10 patient datasets have been
visually judged by a qualified radiologist. The results reveal the
superiority of the proposed method compared to the Conventional
thresholding Method (CTM) on both datasets.
Abstract: An attempt was made for availability of wastewater reuse/reclamation for irrigation purposes using phytoremediation “the low cost and less technology", using six local aquatic macrophytes “e.g. T. angustifolia, B. maritimus, Ph. australis, A. donax, A. plantago-aquatica and M. longifolia (Linn)" as biological waste purifiers. Outdoor experiments/designs were conducted from May 03, 2007 till October 15, 2008, close to one of the main sewage channels of Sulaimani City/Iraq*. All processes were mainly based on conventional wastewater treatment processes, besides two further modifications were tested, the first was sand filtration pots, implanted by individual species of experimental macrophytes and the second was constructed wetlands implanted by experimental macrophytes all together. Untreated and treated wastewater samples were analyzed for their key physico-chemical properties (only heavy metals Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu with particular reference to removal efficiency by experimental macrophytes are highlighted in this paper). On the other hand, vertical contents of heavy metals were also evaluated from both pots and the cells of constructed wetland. After 135 days, macrophytes were harvested and heavy metals were analyzed in their biomass (roots/shoots) for removal efficiency assessment (i.e. uptake/ bioaccumulation rate). Results showed that; removal efficiency of all studied heavy metals was much higher in T. angustifolia followed by Ph. Australis, B. maritimus and A. donax in triple experiment sand pots. Constructed wetland experiments have revealed that; the more replicated constructed wetland cells the highest heavy metal removal efficiency was indicated.
Abstract: In this paper, the concepts of dichotomous logistic
regression (DLR) with leave-one-out (L-O-O) were discussed. To
illustrate this, the L-O-O was run to determine the importance of the
simulation conditions for robust test of spread procedures with good
Type I error rates. The resultant model was then evaluated. The
discussions included 1) assessment of the accuracy of the model, and
2) parameter estimates. These were presented and illustrated by
modeling the relationship between the dichotomous dependent
variable (Type I error rates) with a set of independent variables (the
simulation conditions). The base SAS software containing PROC
LOGISTIC and DATA step functions can be making used to do the
DLR analysis.
Abstract: Higher education institutions are increasingly opting to outsourcing methods in order to sustain themselves and this creates a gap of literature in terms of how they perceive the relationship. This research paper attempts to identify the behavioral and psychological factors that exist in the engagement thus providing valuable information to practicing and potential clients, and vendors. The determinants were gathered from previous literatures and analyzed to formulate the factors. This study adopts the case study and survey approaches in which interviews and questionnaires are deployed on employees of IT-related department in a Malaysian higher education institution.
Abstract: A new approach for the improvement of coding gain
in channel coding using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and
Maximum A Posteriori (MAP) algorithm is proposed. This new
approach uses the avalanche effect of block cipher algorithm AES
and soft output values of MAP decoding algorithm. The performance
of proposed approach is evaluated in the presence of Additive White
Gaussian Noise (AWGN). For the verification of proposed approach,
computer simulation results are included.
Abstract: In the territories where high-intensity
earthquakes are frequent is paid attention to the solving of the
seismic problems. In the paper are described two
computational model variants based on finite element method
of the construction with different subsoil simulation (rigid or
elastic subsoil) is used. For simulation and calculations
program system based on method final elements ANSYS was
used. Seismic responses calculations of residential building
structure were effected on loading characterized by
accelerogram for comparing with the responses spectra
method.
Abstract: Transition prediction of boundary layers has always
been an important problem in fluid mechanics both theoretically and
practically, yet notwithstanding the great effort made by many
investigators, there is no satisfactory answer to this problem. The most
popular method available is so-called e-N method which is heavily
dependent on experiments and experience. The author has proposed
improvements to the e-N method, so to reduce its dependence on
experiments and experience to a certain extent. One of the key
assumptions is that transition would occur whenever the velocity
amplitude of disturbance reaches 1-2% of the free stream velocity.
However, the reliability of this assumption needs to be verified. In this
paper, transition prediction on a flat plate is investigated by using both
the improved e-N method and the parabolized stability equations (PSE)
methods. The results show that the transition locations predicted by
both methods agree reasonably well with each other, under the above
assumption. For the supersonic case, the critical velocity amplitude in
the improved e-N method should be taken as 0.013, whereas in the
subsonic case, it should be 0.018, both are within the range 1-2%.
Abstract: Selective harmonic elimination-pulse width modulation techniques offer a tight control of the harmonic spectrum of a given voltage waveform generated by a power electronic converter along with a low number of switching transitions. Traditional optimization methods suffer from various drawbacks, such as prolonged and tedious computational steps and convergence to local optima; thus, the more the number of harmonics to be eliminated, the larger the computational complexity and time. This paper presents a novel method for output voltage harmonic elimination and voltage control of PWM AC/AC voltage converters using the principle of hybrid Real-Coded Genetic Algorithm-Pattern Search (RGA-PS) method. RGA is the primary optimizer exploiting its global search capabilities, PS is then employed to fine tune the best solution provided by RGA in each evolution. The proposed method enables linear control of the fundamental component of the output voltage and complete elimination of its harmonic contents up to a specified order. Theoretical studies have been carried out to show the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method of selective harmonic elimination. Theoretical results are validated through simulation studies using PSIM software package.
Abstract: Nowadays, HPC, Grid and Cloud systems are evolving
very rapidly. However, the development of infrastructure solutions
related to HPC is lagging behind. While the existing infrastructure is
sufficient for simple cases, many computational problems have more
complex requirements.Such computational experiments use different
resources simultaneously to start a large number of computational
jobs.These resources are heterogeneous. They have different
purposes, architectures, performance and used software.Users need a
convenient tool that allows to describe and to run complex
computational experiments under conditions of HPC environment.
This paper introduces a modularworkflow system called SEGL
which makes it possible to run complex computational experiments
under conditions of a real HPC organization. The system can be used
in a great number of organizations, which provide HPC power.
Significant requirements to this system are high efficiency and
interoperability with the existing HPC infrastructure of the
organization without any changes.
Abstract: Stocking density is considered one of the important
factors affecting fish growth. But, information related to impact of
stocking density on growth performance of monosex tilapia population
under the ecological conditions of Gangetic plains in West Bengal,
India is limited. The aim of our study was to compare the growth
potential of monosex tilapia at various stocking densities and to
determine an ideal stocking density for culture of all-male monosex
fish. The males were isolated by examination of genital papilla region
and were stocked separately in 0.01 ha earthen ponds at different
stocking densities (5000, 10000, 15000, 20000, 25000 and 30000
fingerlings/ha). It was found that the highest weight, length, daily
weight gain, growth rate and protein content were observed for the
20000 fish/ha density class. Thus, culture of monosex tilapia at a
density of 20000 fish/ha can be considered ideal for augmented
production of the fish under Indian context.
Abstract: In this study, the effect of greywater irrigation on airwater interfacial area is investigated. Several soil column experiments were conducted for different greywater irrigation to develop the pressure-saturation curves. Surface tension was measured for different greywater concentration and fitted for Gibbs adsorption equation. Pressure-saturation curves show that the reduction of capillary rise stops when it reaches its critical micelle concentration (CMC). A simple theory is derived from pressure-saturation curves for calculating air-water interfacial area in porous medium during greywater irrigation by introducing a term 'hydraulic radius' for the pores. This term diminishes any effect of pore shapes on the air-water interfacial area. The air-water interfacial area was calculated using the pressure-saturation curves and found that it decreases with increasing moisture content. But no significant effect was observed on air-water interfacial area for different greywater irrigation. A maximum of 10% variation in interfacial area was observed at the residual saturation zone.
Abstract: The process of laser absorption in the skin during
laser irradiation was a critical point in medical application
treatments. Delivery the correct amount of laser light is a critical
element in photodynamic therapy (PDT). More amounts of laser
light able to affect tissues in the skin and small amount not able to
enhance PDT procedure in skin. The knowledge of the skin tone
laser dependent distribution of 635 nm radiation and its penetration
depth in skin is a very important precondition for the investigation of
advantage laser induced effect in (PDT) in epidermis diseases
(psoriasis). The aim of this work was to estimate an optimum effect
of diode laser (635 nm) on the treatment of epidermis diseases in
different color skin. Furthermore, it is to improve safety of laser in
PDT in epidermis diseases treatment. Advanced system analytical
program (ASAP) which is a new approach in investigating the PDT,
dependent on optical properties of different skin color was used in
present work. A two layered Realistic Skin Model (RSM); stratum
corneum and epidermal with red laser (635 nm, 10 mW) were used
for irradiative transfer to study fluence and absorbance in different
penetration for various human skin colors. Several skin tones very
fair, fair, light, medium and dark are used to irradiative transfer. This
investigation involved the principles of laser tissue interaction when
the skin optically injected by a red laser diode. The results
demonstrated that the power characteristic of a laser diode (635 nm)
can affect the treatment of epidermal disease in various color skins.
Power absorption of the various human skins were recorded and
analyzed in order to find the influence of the melanin in PDT
treatment in epidermal disease. A two layered RSM show that the
change in penetration depth in epidermal layer of the color skin has a
larger effect on the distribution of absorbed laser in the skin; this is
due to the variation of the melanin concentration for each color.
Abstract: Array signal processing involves signal enumeration and source localization. Array signal processing is centered on the ability to fuse temporal and spatial information captured via sampling signals emitted from a number of sources at the sensors of an array in order to carry out a specific estimation task: source characteristics (mainly localization of the sources) and/or array characteristics (mainly array geometry) estimation. Array signal processing is a part of signal processing that uses sensors organized in patterns or arrays, to detect signals and to determine information about them. Beamforming is a general signal processing technique used to control the directionality of the reception or transmission of a signal. Using Beamforming we can direct the majority of signal energy we receive from a group of array. Multiple signal classification (MUSIC) is a highly popular eigenstructure-based estimation method of direction of arrival (DOA) with high resolution. This Paper enumerates the effect of missing sensors in DOA estimation. The accuracy of the MUSIC-based DOA estimation is degraded significantly both by the effects of the missing sensors among the receiving array elements and the unequal channel gain and phase errors of the receiver.