Abstract: The present study applies the inverse method and
three-dimensional CFD commercial software in conjunction with the
experimental temperature data to investigate the heat transfer and fluid
flow characteristics of the plate-fin heat sink in a rectangular closed
enclosure. The inverse method with the finite difference method and
the experimental temperature data is applied to determine the
approximate heat transfer coefficient. Later, based on the obtained
results, the zero-equation turbulence model is used to obtain the heat
transfer and fluid flow characteristics between two fins. T0 validate
the accuracy of the results obtained, the comparison of the heat transfer
coefficient is made. The obtained temperature at selected
measurement locations of the fin is also compared with experimental
data. The effect of the height of the rectangular enclosure on the
obtained results is discussed.
Abstract: Indonesia has experienced annual forest fires that have
rapidly destroyed and degraded its forests. Fires in the peat swamp
forests of Riau Province, have set the stage for problems to worsen,
this being the ecosystem most prone to fires (which are also the most
difficult, to extinguish). Despite various efforts to curb deforestation,
and forest degradation processes, severe forest fires are still
occurring. To find an effective solution, the basic causes of the
problems must be identified. It is therefore critical to have an indepth
understanding of the underlying causal factors that have
contributed to deforestation and forest degradation as a whole, in
order to attain reductions in their rates. An assessment of the drivers of deforestation and forest
degradation was carried out, in order to design and implement
measures that could slow these destructive processes. Research was
conducted in Giam Siak Kecil–Bukit Batu Biosphere Reserve
(GSKBB BR), in the Riau Province of Sumatera, Indonesia. A
biosphere reserve was selected as the study site because such reserves
aim to reconcile conservation with sustainable development. A
biosphere reserve should promote a range of local human activities,
together with development values that are in line spatially and
economically with the area conservation values, through use of a
zoning system. Moreover, GSKBB BR is an area with vast peatlands,
and is experiencing forest fires annually. Various factors were
analysed to assess the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation
in GSKBB BR; data were collected from focus group discussions
with stakeholders, key informant interviews with key stakeholders,
field observation and a literature review. Landsat satellite imagery was used to map forest-cover changes
for various periods. Analysis of landsat images, taken during the
period 2010-2014, revealed that within the non-protected area of core
zone, there was a trend towards decreasing peat swamp forest areas,
increasing land clearance, and increasing areas of community oilpalm
and rubber plantations. Fire was used for land clearing and most
of the forest fires occurred in the most populous area (the transition
area). The study found a relationship between the deforested/
degraded areas, and certain distance variables, i.e. distance from
roads, villages and the borders between the core area and the buffer
zone. The further the distance from the core area of the reserve, the
higher was the degree of deforestation and forest degradation. Research findings suggested that agricultural expansion may be
the direct cause of deforestation and forest degradation in the reserve,
whereas socio-economic factors were the underlying driver of forest
cover changes; such factors consisting of a combination of sociocultural,
infrastructural, technological, institutional (policy and governance), demographic (population pressure) and economic
(market demand) considerations. These findings indicated that local
factors/problems were the critical causes of deforestation and
degradation in GSKBB BR. This research therefore concluded that
reductions in deforestation and forest degradation in GSKBB BR
could be achieved through ‘local actor’-tailored approaches such as
community empowerment.
Abstract: Localization of nodes is one of the key issues of
Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) that gained a wide attention in
recent years. The existing localization techniques can be generally
categorized into two types: range-based and range-free. Compared
with rang-based schemes, the range-free schemes are more costeffective,
because no additional ranging devices are needed. As a
result, we focus our research on the range-free schemes. In this paper
we study three types of range-free location algorithms to compare the
localization error and energy consumption of each one. Centroid
algorithm requires a normal node has at least three neighbor anchors,
while DV-hop algorithm doesn’t have this requirement. The third
studied algorithm is the amorphous algorithm similar to DV-Hop
algorithm, and the idea is to calculate the hop distance between two
nodes instead of the linear distance between them. The simulation
results show that the localization accuracy of the amorphous
algorithm is higher than that of other algorithms and the energy
consumption does not increase too much.
Abstract: Effects of nicotine on pre-partum body weight and
preimplantation embryonic development has been reported
previously. Present study was conducted to determine the effects of
annatto (Bixa orellana)-derived delta-tocotrienol (TCT) (with
presence of 10% gamma-TCT isomer) on the nicotine-induced
reduction in body weight and 8-cell embryonic growth in mice.
Twenty-four 6-8 weeks old (23-25g) female balb/c mice were
randomly divided into four groups (G1-G4; n=6). Those groups were
subjected to the following treatments for 7 consecutive days: G1
(control) were gavaged with 0.1 ml tocopherol stripped corn oil. G2
was subcutaneously (s.c.) injected with 3 mg/kg/day of nicotine. G3
received concurrent treatment of nicotine (3 mg/kg/day) and 60
mg/kg/day of δ-TCT mixture (contains 90% delta & 10% gamma
isomers) and G4 was given 60 mg/kg/day of δ-TCT mixture alone.
Body weights were recorded daily during the treatment. On Day 8,
females were superovulated with 5 IU Pregnant Mare’s Serum
Gonadotropin (PMSG) for 48 hours followed with 5 IU human
Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) before mated with males at the ratio
of 1:1. Females were sacrificed by cervical dislocation for embryo
collection 48 hours post-coitum. Collected embryos were cultured in
vitro. Results showed that throughout Day 1 to Day 7, the body
weight of nicotine treated group (G2) was significantly lower
(p
Abstract: The Northeast China (NEC) was the most important
agriculture areas and known as the Golden-Maize-Belt. Based on
observed crop data and crop model, we design four simulating
experiments and separate relative impacts and contribution under
climate change, planting date shift, and varieties change as well
change of varieties and planting date. Without planting date and
varieties change, maize yields had no significant change trend at
Hailun station located in the north of NEC, and presented significant
decrease by 0.2 - 0.4 t/10a at two stations, which located in the middle
and the south of NEC. With planting date change, yields showed a
significant increase by 0.09 - 0.47 t/10a. With varieties change, maize
yields had significant increase by 1.8~ 1.9 t/10a at Hailun and Huadian
stations, but a non-significant and low increase by 0.2t /10a at Benxi
located in the south of NEC. With change of varieties and planting
date, yields presented a significant increasing by 0.53- 2.0 t/10a. Their
contribution to yields was -25% ~ -55% for climate change, 15% ~
35% for planting date change, and 20% ~110% for varieties change as
well 30% ~135% for varieties with planting date shift. It found that
change in varieties and planting date were highest yields and were
responsible for significant increases in maize yields, varieties was
secondly, and planting date was thirdly. It found that adaptation in
varieties and planting date greatly improved maize yields, and
increased yields annual variability. The increase of contribution with
planting date and varieties change in 2000s was lower than in 1990s.
Yields with the varieties change and yields with planting date and
varieties change all showed a decreasing trend at Huadian and Benxi
since 2002 or so. It indicated that maize yields increasing trend
stagnated in the middle and south of NEC, and continued in the north
of NEC.
Abstract: The microstrip antennas area has seen some inventive
work in recent years and is now one of the most dynamic fields of
antenna theory. A novel and simple wideband monopole antenna is
presented printed on a single dielectric substrate which is fed by a 50
ohm microstrip line having a low-profile antenna structure with two
parallel s-shaped meandered line of same size. This antenna is fed by
a coaxial feeding tube. In this research, S–form microstrip patch antenna is designed from
measuring the prototypes of the proposed antenna one available
bands with 10db return loss bandwidths of about GPS application
(GPS L2 1490 MHz) and covering the 1400 to 1580 MHz frequency
band at 1.5 GHz, the simulated results for main parameters such as
return loss, impedance bandwidth, radiation patterns, and gains are
also discussed herein. The modeling study shows that such antennas,
in simplicity design and supply, can satisfy GPS application. Two
parallel slots are incorporated to disturb the surface flow path,
introducing local inductive effect. This antenna is fed by a coaxial
feeding tube.
Abstract: Geographical routing protocol requires node physical
location information to make forwarding decision. Geographical
routing uses location service or position service to obtain the position
of a node. The geographical information is a geographic coordinates
or can be obtained through reference points on some fixed coordinate
system. Link can be formed between two nodes. Link lifetime plays a
crucial role in MANET. Link lifetime represent how long the link is
stable without any failure between the nodes. Link failure may occur
due to mobility and because of link failure energy of nodes can be
drained. Thus this paper proposes survey about link lifetime
prediction using geographical information.
Abstract: Tool, Die and Mould-making (TDM) firms have been
known to play a pivotal role in the growth and development of the
manufacturing sectors in most economies. Their output contributes
significantly to the quality, cost and delivery speed of final
manufactured parts. Unfortunately, the South African Tool, Die and
Mould-making manufacturers have not been competing on the local
or global market in a significant way. This reality has hampered the
productivity and growth of the sector thus attracting intervention. The
paper explores the shortcomings South African toolmakers have to
overcome to restore their competitive position globally. Results from
a global benchmarking survey on the tooling sector are used to
establish a roadmap of what South African toolmakers can do to
become a productive, World Class force on the global market.
Abstract: Workflow scheduling is an important part of cloud
computing and based on different criteria it decides cost, execution
time, and performances. A cloud workflow system is a platform
service facilitating automation of distributed applications based on
new cloud infrastructure. An aspect which differentiates cloud
workflow system from others is market-oriented business model, an
innovation which challenges conventional workflow scheduling
strategies. Time and Cost optimization algorithm for scheduling
Hybrid Clouds (TCHC) algorithm decides which resource should be
chartered from public providers is combined with a new De-De
algorithm considering that every instance of single and multiple
workflows work without deadlocks. To offset this, two new concepts
- De-De Dodging Algorithm and Priority Based Decisive Algorithm -
combine with conventional deadlock avoidance issues by proposing
one algorithm that maximizes active (not just allocated) resource use
and reduces Makespan.
Abstract: Currently, green rating systems are mainly utilized for
correctly sizing mechanical and electrical systems, which have short
lifetime expectancies. In these systems, passive solar and bio-climatic
architecture, which have long lifetime expectancies, are neglected.
Urban rating systems consider buildings and services in addition to
neighborhoods and public transportation as integral parts of the built
environment. The main goal of this study was to develop a more
consistent point allocation system for urban building standards by
using six different lifetime shearing layers: Site, Structure, Skin,
Services, Space, and Stuff, each reflecting distinct environmental
damages. This shearing-layer concept was applied to internationally
well-known rating systems: Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design (LEED) for Neighborhood Development, BRE
Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) for Communities
and Comprehensive Assessment System for Building Environmental
Efficiency (CASBEE) for Urban Development. The results showed
that LEED for Neighborhood Development and BREEAM for
Communities focused on long-lifetime-expectancy building designs,
whereas CASBEE for Urban Development gave equal importance to
the Building and Service Layers. Moreover, although this rating
system was applied using a building-scale assessment, “Urban Area +
Buildings” focuses on a short-lifetime-expectancy system design,
neglecting to improve the architectural design by considering bioclimatic
and passive solar aspects.
Abstract: This paper presents the local mesh co-occurrence
patterns (LMCoP) using HSV color space for image retrieval system.
HSV color space is used in this method to utilize color, intensity and
brightness of images. Local mesh patterns are applied to define the
local information of image and gray level co-occurrence is used to
obtain the co-occurrence of LMeP pixels. Local mesh co-occurrence
pattern extracts the local directional information from local mesh
pattern and converts it into a well-mannered feature vector using gray
level co-occurrence matrix. The proposed method is tested on three
different databases called MIT VisTex, Corel, and STex. Also, this
algorithm is compared with existing methods, and results in terms of
precision and recall are shown in this paper.
Abstract: Based on application requirements, nodes are static or
mobile in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Mobility poses
challenges in protocol design, especially at the link layer requiring
mobility adaptation algorithms to localize mobile nodes and predict
link quality to be established with them. This study implements
XMAC and Berkeley Media Access Control (BMAC) routing
protocols to evaluate performance under WSN’s static and mobility
conditions. This paper gives a comparative study of mobility-aware
MAC protocols. Routing protocol performance, based on Average
End to End Delay, Average Packet Delivery Ratio, Average Number
of hops, and Jitter is evaluated.
Abstract: To tackle the air pollution issues, Plug-in Hybrid
Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) are proposed as an appropriate solution.
Charging a large amount of PHEV batteries, if not controlled, would
have negative impacts on the distribution system. The control process
of charging of these vehicles can be centralized in parking lots that
may provide a chance for better coordination than the individual
charging in houses. In this paper, an optimization-based approach is
proposed to determine the optimum PHEV parking capacities in
candidate nodes of the distribution system. In so doing, a profile for
charging and discharging of PHEVs is developed in order to flatten
the network load profile. Then, this profile is used in solving an
optimization problem to minimize the distribution system losses. The
outputs of the proposed method are the proper place for PHEV
parking lots and optimum capacity for each parking. The application
of the proposed method on the IEEE-34 node test feeder verifies the
effectiveness of the method.
Abstract: Sustainability is a very important and heavily
discussed subject, expanding through tourism as well. The study
proposition was to collect data and present it to the competent bodies
so they can mold their public policies to improve the conditions of
the site. It was hypothesized that the lack of data is currently
affecting the quality of life and the sustainable development of the
site and the tourism. The research was held in Mateiros, a city in the
state of Tocantins (TO)/Brasil near Palmas, its capital city. Because
of the concentration of tourists during the high season and several
tourist attractions being around, the research took place in Mateiros.
The methodological procedure had a script of theoretical construction
and investigation of the deductive scientific method parameters
through a case study in the Jalapão/TO/Brazil region, using it as a
tool for a questionnaire given to the competent bodies in an interview
system with the UN sustainability indexes as a base. In the three
sustainable development scope: environmental, social and economic,
the results indicated that the data presented by the interviewed were
scarce or nonexistent. It shows that more research is necessary,
providing the tools for the ones responsible to propose action plans to
improve the site, strengthening the tourism and making it even more
sustainable.
Abstract: Several embryonic cellular mechanism including cell
cycle, growth and apoptosis are regulated by phosphatidylinositol-3-
kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling pathway. The goal of present study is to
determine the effects of annatto (Bixa orellana)-derived δ-tocotrienol
(δ-TCT) on the regulations of PI3K/Akt genes in murine morula.
Twenty four 6-8 week old (23-25g) female balb/c mice were
randomly divided into four groups (G1-G4; n=6). Those groups were
subjected to the following treatments for 7 consecutive days: G1
(control) received tocopherol stripped corn oil, G2 was given 60
mg/kg/day of δ-TCT mixture (contains 90% delta & 10% gamma
isomers), G3 was given 60 mg/kg/day of pure δ-TCT (>98% purity)
and G4 received 60 mg/kg/day α-TOC. On Day 8, females were
superovulated with 5 IU Pregnant Mare’s Serum Gonadotropin
(PMSG) for 48 hours followed with 5 IU human Chorionic
Gonadotropin (hCG) before mated with males at the ratio of 1:1.
Females were sacrificed by cervical dislocation for embryo collection
48 hours post-coitum. About fifty morulas from each group were
used in the gene expression analyses using Affymetrix QuantiGene
Plex 2.0 Assay. Present data showed a significant increase (p
Abstract: In this paper, we present a new segmentation approach
for liver lesions in regions of interest within MRI (Magnetic
Resonance Imaging). This approach, based on a two-cluster Fuzzy CMeans
methodology, considers the parameter variable compactness
to handle uncertainty. Fine boundaries are detected by a local
recursive merging of ambiguous pixels with a sequential forward
floating selection with Zernike moments. The method has been tested
on both synthetic and real images. When applied on synthetic images,
the proposed approach provides good performance, segmentations
obtained are accurate, their shape is consistent with the ground truth,
and the extracted information is reliable. The results obtained on MR
images confirm such observations. Our approach allows, even for
difficult cases of MR images, to extract a segmentation with good
performance in terms of accuracy and shape, which implies that the
geometry of the tumor is preserved for further clinical activities (such
as automatic extraction of pharmaco-kinetics properties, lesion
characterization, etc.).
Abstract: The effects of flame-holder position, the ratio of flame
holder diameter to combustion chamber diameter and injection angle
on fuel propulsive droplets sizing and effective mass fraction have
been studied by a cold flow. We named the mass of fuel vapor inside
the flammability limit as the effective mass fraction. An empty
cylinder as well as a flame-holder which are a simulator for duct
combustion has been considered. The airflow comes into the cylinder
from one side and injection operation will be done by four nozzles
which are located on the entrance of cylinder. To fulfill the
calculations a modified version of KIVA-3V code which is a
transient, three-dimensional, multiphase, multi component code for
the analysis of chemically reacting flows with sprays, is used.
Abstract: The efficient and economic allocation of resources is
one main goal in the field of production planning and control.
Nowadays, a new variable gains in importance throughout the
planning process: Energy. Energy-efficiency has already been widely
discussed in literature, but with a strong focus on reducing the overall
amount of energy used in production. This paper provides a brief
systematic approach, how energy-supply-orientation can be used for
an energy-cost-efficient production planning and thus combining the
idea of energy-efficiency and energy-flexibility.
Abstract: Artificial neural networks have gained a lot of interest
as empirical models for their powerful representational capacity,
multi input and output mapping characteristics. In fact, most feedforward
networks with nonlinear nodal functions have been proved to
be universal approximates. In this paper, we propose a new
supervised method for color image classification based on selforganizing
feature maps (SOFM). This algorithm is based on
competitive learning. The method partitions the input space using
self-organizing feature maps to introduce the concept of local
neighborhoods. Our image classification system entered into RGB
image. Experiments with simulated data showed that separability of
classes increased when increasing training time. In additional, the
result shows proposed algorithms are effective for color image
classification.
Abstract: This paper presents a state-of-the-art survey of the
operations research models developed for internal audit planning.
Two alternative approaches have been followed in the literature for
audit planning: (1) identifying the optimal audit frequency; and (2)
determining the optimal audit resource allocation. The first approach
identifies the elapsed time between two successive audits, which can
be presented as the optimal number of audits in a given planning
horizon, or the optimal number of transactions after which an audit
should be performed. It also includes the optimal audit schedule. The
second approach determines the optimal allocation of audit frequency
among all auditable units in the firm. In our review, we discuss both
the deterministic and probabilistic models developed for audit
planning. In addition, game theory models are reviewed to find the
optimal auditing strategy based on the interactions between the
auditors and the clients.