Abstract: The paper provides biomasses characteristics by
proximate analysis (volatile matter, fixed carbon and ash) and
ultimate analysis (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen) for the
prediction of the heating value equations. The heating value
estimation of various biomasses can be used as an energy evaluation.
Thirteen types of biomass were studied. Proximate analysis was
investigated by mass loss method and infrared moisture analyzer.
Ultimate analysis was analyzed by CHNO analyzer. The heating
values varied from 15 to 22.4MJ kg-1. Correlations of the calculated
heating value with proximate and ultimate analyses were undertaken
using multiple regression analysis and summarized into three and two
equations, respectively. Correlations based on proximate analysis
illustrated that deviation of calculated heating values from
experimental heating values was higher than the correlations based
on ultimate analysis.
Abstract: In this paper, we discuss convergence of the extrapolated iterative methods for linear systems with the coefficient matrices are singular H-matrices. And we present the sufficient and necessary conditions for convergence of the extrapolated iterative methods. Moreover, we apply the results to the GMAOR methods. Finally, we give one numerical example.
Abstract: In this paper smooth trajectories are computed in the Lie group SO(2, 1) as a motion planning problem by assigning a Frenet frame to the rigid body system to optimize the cost function of the elastic energy which is spent to track a timelike curve in Minkowski space. A method is proposed to solve a motion planning problem that minimize the integral of the square norm of Darboux vector of a timelike curve. This method uses the coordinate free Maximum Principle of Optimal control and results in the theory of integrable Hamiltonian systems. The presence of several conversed quantities inherent in these Hamiltonian systems aids in the explicit computation of the rigid body motions.
Abstract: The main objective of our study is to collect data
about the profile of the asthmatic patients in Assam and thereby have
a comprehensive knowledge of the factors influencing the asthmatic
patients of the state and their medication pattern. We developed a
search strategy to find any publication about the community based
survey asthma related and used. These to search the MEDLINE
(1996 to current literature) CINAHL DOAJ pubmed databases using
the key phrases, Asthma, Respiratory disorders, Drug therapy of
Asthma, database decision support system and asthma. The
appropriate literature was printed out from the online source and
library (Journal) source. The study was conducted through a set of
structured and non-structured questionnaires targeted on the
asthmatic patients belonging to the rural and urban areas of Assam,
during the month of Dec 2006 to July 2007, 138 cases were studied
in Gauwathi Medical College & Hospital located in Bhangagarh,
Assam in India. The demographic characteristics a factor in 138
patients with asthma with allergic rhinitis (cases) gives the detail
profile of asthmatic patient-s distribution of Assam as classified on
the basis of age and sex. It is evident from the study that male
populations (66%) are more prone to asthma as compared to the
females (34%).Another striking features that emerged from this
survey is the maximum prevalence of asthma in the age group of 20-
30 years followed by infants belonging to the age group of 7 (0.05%)
0-10years among both male and female populations of Assam. The
high incidence of asthma in the age group of 20-30 years may
probably be due to the allergy arising out of sudden exposure to dust
and pollen which the children face while playing and going to the
school. The rural females in the age group of 30-40 years are more
prone to asthma than urban females in the same age group may be
due to sex differentiation among the tribal population of the state.
Pharmacists should educate the asthmatics how to use inhalers
considering growing menace of asthma in the state. Safer drugs
should be produced in the form of aerosol so that easy administration
by the asthmatic patients and physicians of the state is possible for
curing asthma. The health centers should be more equipped with the
medicines to cure asthma in the state like Assam.
Abstract: Due to important issues, such as deadlock, starvation,
communication, non-deterministic behavior and synchronization,
concurrent systems are very complex, sensitive, and error-prone.
Thus ensuring reliability and accuracy of these systems is very
essential. Therefore, there has been a big interest in the formal
specification of concurrent programs in recent years. Nevertheless,
some features of concurrent systems, such as dynamic process
creation, scheduling and starvation have not been specified formally
yet. Also, some other features have been specified partially and/or
have been described using a combination of several different
formalisms and methods whose integration needs too much effort. In
other words, a comprehensive and integrated specification that could
cover all aspects of concurrent systems has not been provided yet.
Thus, this paper makes two major contributions: firstly, it provides a
comprehensive formal framework to specify all well-known features
of concurrent systems. Secondly, it provides an integrated
specification of these features by using just a single formal notation,
i.e., the Z language.
Abstract: The problem of agricultural-soil pollution is closely
linked to the production of ecologically pure foodstuffs and to human health. An important task, therefore, is to rehabilitate agricultural
soils with the help of state-of-the-art biotechnologies, based on the use of metal-accumulating plants. In this work, on the basis of
literature data and the results of prior research from this laboratory, plants were selected for which the growing technology is well
developed and which are widespread locally: sugar sorghum (Sorghum saccharatum), sudangrass (Sorghum sudanense (Piper.)
Stapf.), and sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.). I report on laboratory
experiments designed to study the influence of synthetic indole-3-
acetic acid and the extracellular indole-3-acetic acid released by the
plant-growth-promoting rhizobacterium Azospirillum brasilense Sp245 on growth of and arsenic accumulation by these plants.
Abstract: The present study aimed to investigate whether
chlorophyll meter readings (SPAD) can be used as criterion of singleplant
selection in maize breeding. Experimentation was performed at
the ultra-low density of 0.74 plants/m2 in order the potential yield per
plant to be fully expressed. R-31 honeycomb experiments were
conducted in three different areas in Greece (Thessaloniki, Giannitsa
and Florina) using 30 inbred lines at well-watered and water-stressed
conditions during the 2012 growing season. The chlorophyll meter
readings had higher rates at dry conditions, except location of
Giannitsa where differences were not significant. Genotypes of
highest chlorophyll meter readings were consistent across areas,
emphasizing on the character’s stability. A positive correlation
between the chlorophyll meter readings and grain yield was
strengthening over time and culminated at the physiological maturity
stage. There was a clear sign that the chlorophyll meter readings has
the potential to be used for the selection of stress-adaptive genotypes
and may permit modern maize to be grown at wider range of
environments addressing the climate change scenarios.
Abstract: Power system stability enhancement by simultaneous tuning of a Power System Stabilizer (PSS) and a Static Var Compensator (SVC)-based controller is thoroughly investigated in this paper. The coordination among the proposed damping stabilizers and the SVC internal voltage regulators has also been taken into consideration. The design problem is formulated as an optimization problem with a time-domain simulation-based objective function and Real-Coded Genetic Algorithm (RCGA) is employed to search for optimal controller parameters. The proposed stabilizers are tested on a weakly connected power system with different disturbances and loading conditions. The nonlinear simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed control schemes over a wide range of loading conditions and disturbances. Further, the proposed design approach is found to be robust and improves stability effectively even under small disturbance and unbalanced fault conditions.
Abstract: The main purpose of this research was to study how to communicate the identity of the Bangpoo, Samu tPrakan province for ecotourism. The qualitative data was collected through studying related materials, exploring the area, in-depth interviews with three groups of people: three directly responsible officers who were key informants of the district, twenty foreign tourists and five Thai tourist guides. A content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. The two main findings of the study were as follows:
The identity of Bangpoo, Samut Prakan province. This establishment was near the Mouth of the Gulf of Thailand for normal people and tourists, consisting of rest accommodations. There are restaurants where food and drinks are served, rich mangrove forests, Banpoo seaside resort and mangrove trees. Bangpoo seaside resort is characterized by muddy beacheswhere the greatest number of seagulls can be seen from March to May each year.
The communication of the identity of Bangpoo, Samut Prakan province which the researcher could find and design to present in English materials can be summed up in 3 items: 1) The history of Bangpoo, Samut Prakan province 2) The Learning center of Ecotourism: Seagulls and Mangrove forest 3) How to keep Banpoo, Samut Prakran province for ecotourism.
Abstract: Surface roughness (Ra) is one of the most important requirements in machining process. In order to obtain better surface roughness, the proper setting of cutting parameters is crucial before the process take place. This research presents the development of mathematical model for surface roughness prediction before milling process in order to evaluate the fitness of machining parameters; spindle speed, feed rate and depth of cut. 84 samples were run in this study by using FANUC CNC Milling α-Τ14ιE. Those samples were randomly divided into two data sets- the training sets (m=60) and testing sets(m=24). ANOVA analysis showed that at least one of the population regression coefficients was not zero. Multiple Regression Method was used to determine the correlation between a criterion variable and a combination of predictor variables. It was established that the surface roughness is most influenced by the feed rate. By using Multiple Regression Method equation, the average percentage deviation of the testing set was 9.8% and 9.7% for training data set. This showed that the statistical model could predict the surface roughness with about 90.2% accuracy of the testing data set and 90.3% accuracy of the training data set.
Abstract: Mechanical buckling analysis of rectangular plates
with central circular cutout is performed in this paper. The finiteelement
method is used to study the effects of plate-support
conditions, aspect ratio, and hole size on the mechanical buckling
strength of the perforated plates subjected to linearly varying loading.
Results show that increasing the hole size does not necessarily reduce
the mechanical buckling strength of the perforated plates. It is also
concluded that the clamped boundary condition increases the
mechanical buckling strength of the perforated plates more than the
simply-supported boundary condition and the free boundary
conditions enhance the mechanical buckling strength of the
perforated plates more effectively than the fixed boundary conditions.
Furthermore, for the bending cases, the critical buckling load of
perforated plates with free edges is less than perforated plates with
fixed edges.
Abstract: The purpose of this report is to suggest a new
methodology for the assessment of the comparative efficiency of the
reforms made in different countries by an integral index. We have
highlighted the reforms made in post-crisis period in 21 former
socialist countries.
The integral index describes the social-economic development
level. The integral index contains of six indexes: The Global
Competitiveness Index, Doing Business, The Corruption Perception,
The Index of Economic Freedom, The Human Development, and
The Democracy Index, which are reported by different international
organizations. With the help of our methodology we first summarized
the above-mentioned 6 indexes and attained 1 general index, besides,
our new method enables us to assess the comparative efficiency of the
reforms made in different countries by analyzing them.
The purpose is to reveal the opportunities and threats of socialeconomic
reforms in different directions.
Abstract: Artificial Neural Network (ANN)s are best suited for
prediction and optimization problems. Trained ANNs have found
wide spread acceptance in several antenna design systems. Four
parameters namely antenna radiation resistance, loss resistance, efficiency,
and inductance can be used to design an antenna layout though
there are several other parameters available. An ANN can be trained
to provide the best and worst case precisions of an antenna design
problem defined by these four parameters. This work describes the
use of an ANN to generate the four mentioned parameters for a loop
antenna for the specified frequency range. It also provides insights
to the prediction of best and worst-case design problems observed
in applications and thereby formulate a model for physical layout
design of a loop antenna.
Abstract: In current global economics the application of Business Continuity Management is the prerequisite for sustainable competitive advantage in an organization. Business Continuity Management is a managerial which identifies the potential impact of losses in an organization. The aim of this paper is to identify and critically evaluate the relative advantages and disadvantages of deploying Business Continuity Management in an organization on the basis of seven criteria. The strongest advantage of Business Continuity Management is in its capacity to identify a crisis situation and help the organization to flexibly and also to keep the critical knowledge within the organization. By contrast the main disadvantage is that establishing Business Continuity Management in an organization is time-consuming and its implementation as an integral part of the organizational culture present significant difficulties.
Abstract: A Negotiation Support is required on a value-based decision to enable each stakeholder to evaluate and rank the solution alternatives before engaging into negotiation with the other stakeholders. This study demonstrates a process of negotiation support model for selection of a building system from value-based design perspective. The perspective is based on comparison of function and cost of a building system. Multi criteria decision techniques were applied to determine the relative value of the alternative solutions for performing the function. A satisfying option game theory are applied to the criteria of value-based decision which are LCC (life cycle cost) and function based FAST. The results demonstrate a negotiation process to select priorities of a building system. The support model can be extended to an automated negotiation by combining value based decision method, group decision and negotiation support.
Abstract: As the air traffic increases at a hub airport, some
flights cannot land or depart at their preferred target time. This event
happens because the airport runways become occupied to near their
capacity. It results in extra costs for both passengers and airlines
because of the loss of connecting flights or more waiting, more fuel
consumption, rescheduling crew members, etc. Hence, devising an
appropriate scheduling method that determines a suitable runway and
time for each flight in order to efficiently use the hub capacity and
minimize the related costs is of great importance. In this paper, we
present a mixed-integer zero-one model for scheduling a set of mixed
landing and departing flights (despite of most previous studies
considered only landings). According to the fact that the flight cost is
strongly affected by the level of airline, we consider different airline
categories in our model. This model presents a single objective
minimizing the total sum of three terms, namely 1) the weighted
deviation from targets, 2) the scheduled time of the last flight (i.e.,
makespan), and 3) the unbalancing the workload on runways. We
solve 10 simulated instances of different sizes up to 30 flights and 4
runways. Optimal solutions are obtained in a reasonable time, which
are satisfactory in comparison with the traditional rule, namely First-
Come-First-Serve (FCFS) that is far apart from optimality in most
cases.
Abstract: Copolymerization of ethylene with 1-hexene was
carried out using two ansa-fluorenyl titanium derivative complexes.
The substituent effect on the catalytic activity, monomer reactivity
ratio and polymer property was investigated. It was found that the
presence of t-Bu groups on fluorenyl ring exhibited remarkable
catalytic activity and produced polymer with high molecular weight.
However, these catalysts produce polymer with narrow molecular
weight distribution, indicating the characteristic of single-site
metallocene catalyst. Based on 13C NMR, we can observe that
monomer reactivity ratio was affected by catalyst structure. The rH
values of complex 2 were lower than that of complex 1 which might
be result from the higher steric hindrance leading to a reduction of 1-
hexene insertion step.
Abstract: In this longitudinal study, we examined the moderating role of personality in the relationship between communication behaviors and long-term dyadic adjustment. A sample of 82 couples completed the NEO Five-Factor Inventory and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. These couples were also videotaped during a 15-minute problem-solving discussion. Approximately 2.5 years later, these couples completed again the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Results show that personality of both men and women moderates the relationship between communication behaviors of the partner and long-term dyadic adjustment of the individual. Women-s openness and men-s extraversion moderate the relationship between some communication behaviors and long-term dyadic adjustment
Abstract: This paper presents the methodology from machine
learning approaches for short-term rain forecasting system. Decision
Tree, Artificial Neural Network (ANN), and Support Vector Machine
(SVM) were applied to develop classification and prediction models
for rainfall forecasts. The goals of this presentation are to
demonstrate (1) how feature selection can be used to identify the
relationships between rainfall occurrences and other weather
conditions and (2) what models can be developed and deployed for
predicting the accurate rainfall estimates to support the decisions to
launch the cloud seeding operations in the northeastern part of
Thailand. Datasets collected during 2004-2006 from the
Chalermprakiat Royal Rain Making Research Center at Hua Hin,
Prachuap Khiri khan, the Chalermprakiat Royal Rain Making
Research Center at Pimai, Nakhon Ratchasima and Thai
Meteorological Department (TMD). A total of 179 records with 57
features was merged and matched by unique date. There are three
main parts in this work. Firstly, a decision tree induction algorithm
(C4.5) was used to classify the rain status into either rain or no-rain.
The overall accuracy of classification tree achieves 94.41% with the
five-fold cross validation. The C4.5 algorithm was also used to
classify the rain amount into three classes as no-rain (0-0.1 mm.),
few-rain (0.1- 10 mm.), and moderate-rain (>10 mm.) and the overall
accuracy of classification tree achieves 62.57%. Secondly, an ANN
was applied to predict the rainfall amount and the root mean square
error (RMSE) were used to measure the training and testing errors of
the ANN. It is found that the ANN yields a lower RMSE at 0.171 for
daily rainfall estimates, when compared to next-day and next-2-day
estimation. Thirdly, the ANN and SVM techniques were also used to
classify the rain amount into three classes as no-rain, few-rain, and
moderate-rain as above. The results achieved in 68.15% and 69.10%
of overall accuracy of same-day prediction for the ANN and SVM
models, respectively. The obtained results illustrated the comparison
of the predictive power of different methods for rainfall estimation.
Abstract: The paper represents a reflection on how to select proper indicators to assess the progress of regional contexts towards a knowledge-based society. Taking the first research methodologies elaborated at an international level (World Bank, OECD, etc.) as a reference point, this work intends to identify a set of indicators of the knowledge economy suitable to adequately understand in which manner and to which extent the territorial development dynamics are correlated with the knowledge-base of the considered local society. After a critical survey of the variables utilized within other approaches adopted by international or national organizations, this paper seeks to elaborate a framework of variables, named Regional Knowledge Economy Indicators (ReKEI), necessary to describe the knowledge-based relations of subnational socio-economic contexts. The realization of this framework has a double purpose: an analytical one consisting in highlighting the regional differences in the governance of knowledge based processes, and an operative one consisting in providing some reference parameters for contributing to increasing the effectiveness of those economic policies aiming at enlarging the knowledge bases of local societies.