Abstract: The present work represents an investigation of the
hydrolysis of hull-less pumpkin (Cucurbita Pepo L.) oil cake protein
isolate (PuOC PI) by pepsin. To examine the effectiveness and
suitability of pepsin towards PuOC PI the kinetic parameters for
pepsin on PuOC PI were determined and then, the hydrolysis process
was studied using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The
hydrolysis was carried out at temperature of 30°C and pH 3.00. Time
and initial enzyme/substrate ratio (E/S) at three levels were selected
as the independent parameters. The degree of hydrolysis, DH, was
mesuared after 20, 30 and 40 minutes, at initial E/S of 0.7, 1 and 1.3
mA/mg proteins. Since the proposed second-order polynomial model
showed good fit with the experimental data (R2 = 0.9822), the
obtained mathematical model could be used for monitoring the
hydrolysis of PuOC PI by pepsin, under studied experimental
conditions, varying the time and initial E/S. To achieve the highest
value of DH (39.13 %), the obtained optimum conditions for time
and initial E/S were 30 min and 1.024 mA/mg proteins.
Abstract: Intelligent Video-Surveillance (IVS) systems are
being more and more popular in security applications. The analysis
and recognition of abnormal behaviours in a video sequence has
gradually drawn the attention in the field of IVS, since it allows
filtering out a large number of useless information, which guarantees
the high efficiency in the security protection, and save a lot of human
and material resources. We present in this paper ADABeV, an
intelligent video-surveillance framework for event recognition in
crowded scene to detect the abnormal human behaviour. This
framework is attended to be able to achieve real-time alarming,
reducing the lags in traditional monitoring systems. This architecture
proposal addresses four main challenges: behaviour understanding in
crowded scenes, hard lighting conditions, multiple input kinds of
sensors and contextual-based adaptability to recognize the active
context of the scene.
Abstract: This paper describes a methodology for remote
performance monitoring of retail refrigeration systems. The proposed
framework starts with monitoring of the whole refrigeration circuit
which allows detecting deviations from expected behavior caused by
various faults and degradations. The subsequent diagnostics methods
drill down deeper in the equipment hierarchy to more specifically
determine root causes. An important feature of the proposed concept
is that it does not require any additional sensors, and thus, the
performance monitoring solution can be deployed at a low
installation cost. Moreover only a minimum of contextual
information is required, which also substantially reduces time and
cost of the deployment process.
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: In this paper, we study the oscillation of a class of second-order nonlinear neutral damped variable delay dynamic equations on time scales. By using a generalized Riccati transformation technique, we obtain some sufficient conditions for the oscillation of the equations. The results of this paper improve and extend some known results. We also illustrate our main results with some examples.
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: In this paper, we propose a new algorithm for joint time-delay and direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation, here called two-dimensional code acquisition, in an asynchronous directsequence code-division multiple-access (DS-CDMA) array system. This algorithm depends on eigenvector-eigenvalue decomposition of sample correlation matrix, and requires to know desired user-s training sequence. The performance of the algorithm is analyzed both analytically and numerically in uncorrelated and coherent multipath environment. Numerical examples show that the algorithm is robust with unknown number of coherent signals.
Abstract: This paper presents initiatives of Knowledge
Management (KM) applied to Forensic Sciences field, especially
developed at the Forensic Science Institute of the Brazilian Federal
Police. Successful projects, related to knowledge sharing, drugs
analysis and environmental crimes, are reported in the KM
perspective. The described results are related to: a) the importance of
having an information repository, like a digital library, in such a
multidisciplinary organization; b) the fight against drug dealing and
environmental crimes, enabling the possibility to map the evolution
of crimes, drug trafficking flows, and the advance of deforestation in
Amazon rain forest. Perspectives of new KM projects under
development and studies are also presented, tracing an evolution line
of the KM view at the Forensic Science Institute.
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: Response surface methodology (RSM) is a very
efficient tool to provide a good practical insight into developing new
process and optimizing them. This methodology could help
engineers to raise a mathematical model to represent the behavior of
system as a convincing function of process parameters.
Through this paper the sequential nature of the RSM surveyed for process
engineers and its relationship to design of experiments (DOE), regression
analysis and robust design reviewed. The proposed four-step procedure in
two different phases could help system analyst to resolve the parameter
design problem involving responses. In order to check accuracy of the
designed model, residual analysis and prediction error sum of squares
(PRESS) described.
It is believed that the proposed procedure in this study can resolve a
complex parameter design problem with one or more responses. It can be
applied to those areas where there are large data sets and a number of
responses are to be optimized simultaneously. In addition, the proposed
procedure is relatively simple and can be implemented easily by using
ready-made standard statistical packages.
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: Oxygen transfer, the process by which oxygen is
transferred from the gaseous to liquid phase, is a vital part of the
waste water treatment process. Because of low solubility of
oxygen and consequent low rate of oxygen transfer, sufficient
oxygen to meet the requirement of aerobic waste does not enter
through normal surface air water interface. Many theories have
come up in explaining the mechanism of gas transfer and
absorption of non-reacting gases in a liquid, of out of which, Two
film theory is important. An exiting mathematical model
determines approximate value of Overall Gas Transfer coefficient.
The Overall Gas Transfer coefficient, in case of Penetration theory,
is 1.13 time more than that obtained in case of Two film theory.
The difference is due to the difference in assumptions in the two
theories.
The paper aims at development of mathematical model which
determines the value of Overall Gas Transfer coefficient with
greater accuracy than the existing model.
Abstract: An experiment was conducted using two aeration
methods (water-into-air and air-into-water) and followed by filtration
processes using manganese greensand material. The properties of
groundwater such as pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and heavy metal
concentration (iron and manganese) will be assessed. The objectives
of this study are i) to determine the effective aeration method and ii)
to assess the effectiveness of manganese greensand as filter media in
removing iron and manganese concentration in groundwater. Results
showed that final pH for all samples after treatment are in range from
7.40 and 8.40. Both aeration methods increased the dissolved oxygen
content. Final turbidity for groundwater samples are between 3 NTU
to 29 NTU. Only three out of eight samples achieved iron
concentration of 0.3mg/L and less and all samples reach manganese
concentration of 0.1mg/L and less. Air-into-water aeration method
gives higher percentage of iron and manganese removal compare to
water-into-air method.
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: The precise form of tensorial transformations acting on a given collection of infinite matrices into another ; for such classical ideas connected with the summability field of double gai sequence spaces. In this paper the results are impose conditions on the tensor g so that it becomes a tensorial transformations from the metric space χ2 to the metric space C