Abstract: The public sector holds large amounts of data of
various areas such as social affairs, economy, or tourism. Various
initiatives such as Open Government Data or the EU Directive on
public sector information aim to make these data available for public
and private service providers. Requirements for the provision of
public sector data are defined by legal and organizational
frameworks. Surprisingly, the defined requirements hardly cover
security aspects such as integrity or authenticity.
In this paper we discuss the importance of these missing
requirements and present a concept to assure the integrity and
authenticity of provided data based on electronic signatures. We
show that our concept is perfectly suitable for the provisioning of
unaltered data. We also show that our concept can also be extended
to data that needs to be anonymized before provisioning by
incorporating redactable signatures. Our proposed concept enhances
trust and reliability of provided public sector data.
Abstract: Indian subcontinent has a plethora of traditional
medicine systems that provide promising solutions to lifestyle
disorders in an 'all natural way'. Spices and oilseeds hold
prominence in Indian cuisine hence the focus of the current study
was to evaluate the bioactive molecules from Linum usitatissinum
(LU), Lepidium sativum (LS), Nigella sativa (NS) and Guizotia
abyssinica (GA) seeds. The seeds were characterized for functional
lipids like omega-3 fatty acid, antioxidant capacity, phenolic
compounds, dietary fiber and anti-nutritional factors. Analysis of the
seeds revealed LU and LS to be a rich source of α-linolenic acid
(41.85 ± 0.33%, 26.71 ± 0.63%), an omega 3 fatty acid (using
GCMS). While studying antioxidant potential NS seeds demonstrated
highest antioxidant ability (61.68 ± 0.21 TEAC/ 100 gm DW) due to
the presence of phenolics and terpenes as assayed by the Mass
spectral analysis. When screened for anti-nutritional factor
cyanogenic glycoside, LS seeds showed content as high as 1674 ± 54
mg HCN / kg. GA is a probable good source of a stable vegetable oil
(SFA: PUFA 1:2.3). The seeds showed diversified bioactive profile
and hence further studies to use different bio molecules in tandem for
the development of a possible 'nutraceutical cocktail' have been
initiated..
Abstract: This paper describes the evolution of strategies to
evaluate ePortfolios in an online Master-s of Education (M.Ed.)
degree in Instructional Technology. The ePortfolios are required as a
culminating activity for students in the program. By using Web 2.0
tools to develop the ePortfolios, students are able to showcase their
technical skills, integrate national standards, demonstrate their
professional understandings, and reflect on their individual learning.
Faculty have created assessment strategies to evaluate student
achievement of these skills. To further develop ePortfolios as a tool
promoting authentic learning, faculty are moving toward integrating
transparency as part of the evaluation process.
Abstract: Adsorption of CS2 vapors has been studied on
different types of activated carbons obtained from different source
raw materials. The activated carbons have different surface areas and
are associated with varying amounts of the carbon-oxygen surface
groups. The adsorption of CS2 vapors is not directly related to surface
area, but is considerably influenced by the presence of carbonoxygen
surface groups. The adsorption decreases on increasing the
amount of carbon-oxygen surface groups on oxidation and increases
when these surface groups are eliminated on degassing. The
adsorption is maximum in case of the 950°-degassed carbon sample
which is almost completely free of any associated oxygen. The
kinetic data as analysed by Empirical diffusion model and Linear
driving force mass transfer model indicate that the adsorption does
not involve Fickian diffusion but may be considered as a pseudo first
order mass transfer process. The activation energy of adsorption and
isosteric enthalpies of adsorption indicate that the adsorption does not
involve interaction between CS2 and carbon-oxygen surface groups,
but hydrophobic interactions between CS2 and C-C atoms in the
carbon lattice.
Abstract: Consider a mass production of HDD arms where
hundreds of CNC machines are used to manufacturer the HDD arms.
According to an overwhelming number of machines and models of
arm, construction of separate control chart for monitoring each HDD
arm model by each machine is not feasible. This research proposed a
strategy to optimize the SPC management on shop floor. The
procedure started from identifying the clusters of the machine with
similar manufacturing performance using clustering technique. The
three way control chart ( I - MR - R ) is then applied to each
clustered group of machine. This proposed research has
advantageous to the manufacturer in terms of not only better
performance of the SPC but also the quality management paradigm.
Abstract: Today, design requirements are extending more and
more from electronic (analogue and digital) to multidiscipline design.
These current needs imply implementation of methodologies to make
the CAD product reliable in order to improve time to market, study
costs, reusability and reliability of the design process.
This paper proposes a high level design approach applied for the
characterization and the optimization of Switched-Current Sigma-
Delta Modulators. It uses the new hardware description language
VHDL-AMS to help the designers to optimize the characteristics of
the modulator at a high level with a considerably reduced CPU time
before passing to a transistor level characterization.
Abstract: In this study, the theoretical relationship between pressure and density was investigated on cylindrical hollow fuel briquettes produced of a mixture of fibrous biomass material using a screw press without any chemical binder. The fuel briquettes were made of biomass and other waste material such as spent coffee beans, mielie husks, saw dust and coal fines under pressures of 0.878-2.2 Mega Pascals (MPa). The material was densified into briquettes of outer diameter of 100mm, inner diameter of 35mm and 50mm long. It was observed that manual screw compression action produces briquettes of relatively low density as compared to the ones made using hydraulic compression action. The pressure and density relationship was obtained in the form of power law and compare well with other cylindrical solid briquettes made using hydraulic compression action. The produced briquettes have a dry density of 989 kg/m3 and contain 26.30% fixed carbon, 39.34% volatile matter, 10.9% moisture and 10.46% ash as per dry proximate analysis. The bomb calorimeter tests have shown the briquettes yielding a gross calorific value of 18.9MJ/kg.
Abstract: In this paper, three types of defected ground structure
(DGS) units which are triangular-head (TH), rectangular-head (RH)
and U-shape (US) are investigated. They are further used to low-pass
and band-pass filters designs (LPF and BPF) and the obtained
performances are examined. The LPF employing RH-DGS geometry
presents the advantages of compact size, low-insertion loss and wide
stopband compared to the other filters. It provides cutoff frequency of
2.5 GHz, largest rejection band width of 20 dB from 2.98 to 8.76
GHz, smallest transition region and smallest sharpness of the cutoff
frequency. The BPF based on RH-DGS has the highest bandwidth
(BW) of about 0.74 GHz and the lowest center frequency of 3.24
GHz, whereas the other BPFs have BWs less than 0.7 GHz.
Abstract: The performance of high-resolution schemes is investigated for unsteady, inviscid and compressible multiphase flows. An Eulerian diffuse interface approach has been chosen for the simulation of multicomponent flow problems. The reduced fiveequation and seven equation models are used with HLL and HLLC approximation. The authors demonstrated the advantages and disadvantages of both seven equations and five equations models studying their performance with HLL and HLLC algorithms on simple test case. The seven equation model is based on two pressure, two velocity concept of Baer–Nunziato [10], while five equation model is based on the mixture velocity and pressure. The numerical evaluations of two variants of Riemann solvers have been conducted for the classical one-dimensional air-water shock tube and compared with analytical solution for error analysis.
Abstract: The presented work is motivated by a French law
regarding nuclear waste management. A new conceptual Accelerator
Driven System (ADS) designed for the Minor Actinides (MA)
transmutation has been assessed by numerical simulation. The
MUltiple Spallation Target (MUST) ADS combines high thermal power (up to 1.4 GWth) and high specific power. A 30 mA and 1
GeV proton beam is divided into three secondary beams transmitted on three liquid lead-bismuth spallation targets. Neutron and thermalhydraulic
simulations have been performed with the code MURE, based on the Monte-Carlo transport code MCNPX. A methodology has been developed to define characteristic of the MUST ADS concept according to a specific transmutation scenario. The reference
scenario is based on a MA flux (neptunium, americium and curium)
providing from European Fast Reactor (EPR) and a plutonium multireprocessing
strategy is accounted for. The MUST ADS reference
concept is a sodium cooled fast reactor. The MA fuel at equilibrium is mixed with MgO inert matrix to limit the core reactivity and
improve the fuel thermal conductivity. The fuel is irradiated over five
years. Five years of cooling and two years for the fuel fabrication are
taken into account. The MUST ADS reference concept burns about 50% of the initial MA inventory during a complete cycle. In term of
mass, up to 570 kg/year are transmuted in one concept. The methodology to design the MUST ADS and to calculate fuel
composition at equilibrium is precisely described in the paper. A detailed fuel evolution analysis is performed and the reference scenario is compared to a scenario where only americium transmutation is performed.
Abstract: Sedimentation process resulting from soil erosion in
the water basin especially in arid and semi-arid where poor
vegetation cover in the slope of the mountains upstream could
contribute to sediment formation. The consequence of sedimentation
not only makes considerable change in the morphology of the river
and the hydraulic characteristics but would also have a major
challenge for the operation and maintenance of the canal network
which depend on water flow to meet the stakeholder-s requirements.
For this reason mathematical modeling can be used to simulate the
effective factors on scouring, sediment transport and their settling
along the waterways. This is particularly important behind the
reservoirs which enable the operators to estimate the useful life of
these hydraulic structures. The aim of this paper is to simulate the
sedimentation and erosion in the eastern and western water intake
structures of the Dez Diversion weir using GSTARS-3 software. This
is done to estimate the sedimentation and investigate the ways in
which to optimize the process and minimize the operational
problems. Results indicated that the at the furthest point upstream of
the diversion weir, the coarser sediment grains tended to settle. The
reason for this is the construction of the phantom bridge and the
outstanding rocks just upstream of the structure. The construction of
these along the river course has reduced the momentum energy
require to push the sediment loads and make it possible for them to
settle wherever the river regime allows it. Results further indicated a
trend for the sediment size in such a way that as the focus of study
shifts downstream the size of grains get smaller and vice versa. It
was also found that the finding of the GSTARS-3 had a close
proximity with the sets of the observed data. This suggests that the
software is a powerful analytical tool which can be applied in the
river engineering project with a minimum of costs and relatively
accurate results.
Abstract: In this paper a simple terrain evaluation method for
hexapod robot is introduced. This method is based on feet coordinate
evaluation when all are on the ground. Depending on the feet
coordinate differences the local terrain evaluation is possible. Terrain
evaluation is necessary for right gait selection and/or body position
correction. For terrain roughness evaluation three planes are plotted:
two of them as definition points use opposite feet coordinates, third
coincides with the robot body plane. The leaning angle of body plane
is evaluated measuring gravity force using three-axis accelerometer.
Terrain roughness evaluation method is based on angle estimation
between normal vectors of these planes. Aim of this work is to
present a simple method for embedded robot controller, allowing to
find the best further movement settings.
Abstract: This project aims to investigate the potential of
torrefaction to improve the properties of Malaysian palm kernel shell
(PKS) as a solid fuel. A study towards torrefaction of PKS was
performed under various temperature and residence time of 240, 260,
and 280oC and 30, 60, and 90 minutes respectively. The torrefied
PKS was characterized in terms of the mass yield, energy yield,
elemental composition analysis, calorific value analysis, moisture and
volatile matter contents, and ash and fixed carbon contents. The mass
and energy yield changes in the torrefied PKS were observed to
prove that the temperature has more effect compare to residence time
in the torrefaction process. The C content of PKS increases while H
and O contents decrease after torrefaction, which resulted in higher
heating value between 5 to 16%. Meanwhile, torrefaction caused the
ash and fixed carbon content of PKS to increase, and the moisture
and volatile matter to decrease.
Abstract: In the course of the present work, plain (nonencapsulated)
and microencapsulated polyphenols were produced
using olive mill wastewater (OMW) as raw material, in order to be
used for enrichment of yogurt and dairy products. The OMW was
first clarified by using membrane technology and subsequently the
contained poly-phenols were isolated by adsorption-desorption
technique using selective macro-porous resins and finally recovered
in dry form after been processed by RO membrane technique
followed by freeze drying. Moreover, the polyphenols were
encapsulated in modified starch by freeze drying in order to mask the
color and bitterness effect and improve their functionality. The two
products were used successfully as additives in yogurt preparations
and the produced products were acceptable by the consumers and
presented with certain advantage to the plain yogurt. For the herein
proposed production scheme a patent application was already
submitted.
Abstract: In this paper a comprehensive model of a fossil fueled
power plant (FFPP) is developed in order to evaluate the
performance of a newly designed turbine follower controller.
Considering the drawbacks of previous works, an overall model is
developed to minimize the error between each subsystem model
output and the experimental data obtained at the actual power plant.
The developed model is organized in two main subsystems namely;
Boiler and Turbine. Considering each FFPP subsystem
characteristics, different modeling approaches are developed. For
economizer, evaporator, superheater and reheater, first order models
are determined based on principles of mass and energy conservation.
Simulations verify the accuracy of the developed models. Due to the
nonlinear characteristics of attemperator, a new model, based on a
genetic-fuzzy systems utilizing Pittsburgh approach is developed
showing a promising performance vis-à-vis those derived with other
methods like ANFIS. The optimization constraints are handled
utilizing penalty functions. The effect of increasing the number of
rules and membership functions on the performance of the proposed
model is also studied and evaluated. The turbine model is developed
based on the equation of adiabatic expansion. Parameters of all
evaluated models are tuned by means of evolutionary algorithms.
Based on the developed model a fuzzy PI controller is developed. It
is then successfully implemented in the turbine follower control
strategy of the plant. In this control strategy instead of keeping
control parameters constant, they are adjusted on-line with regard to
the error and the error rate. It is shown that the response of the
system improves significantly. It is also shown that fuel consumption
decreases considerably.
Abstract: The separation efficiency of a hydrocyclone has
extensively been considered on the rigid particle assumption. A
collection of experimental studies have demonstrated their
discrepancies from the modeling and simulation results. These
discrepancies caused by the actual particle elasticity have generally
led to a larger amount of energy consumption in the separation
process. In this paper, the influence of particle elasticity on the
separation efficiency of a hydrocyclone system was investigated
through the Finite Element (FE) simulations using crude oil droplets
as the elastic particles. A Reitema-s design hydrocyclone with a
diameter of 8 mm was employed to investigate the separation
mechanism of the crude oil droplets from water. The cut-size
diameter eter of the crude oil was 10 - Ðçm in order to fit with the
operating range of the adopted hydrocylone model. Typical
parameters influencing the performance of hydrocyclone were varied
with the feed pressure in the range of 0.3 - 0.6 MPa and feed
concentration between 0.05 – 0.1 w%. In the simulation, the Finite
Element scheme was applied to investigate the particle-flow
interaction occurred in the crude oil system during the process. The
interaction of a single oil droplet at the size of 10 - Ðçm to the flow
field was observed. The feed concentration fell in the dilute flow
regime so the particle-particle interaction was ignored in the study.
The results exhibited the higher power requirement for the separation
of the elastic particulate system when compared with the rigid
particulate system.
Abstract: The objective of this study is to propose a statistical
modeling method which enables simultaneous term structure
estimation of the risk-free interest rate, hazard and loss given default,
incorporating the characteristics of the bond issuing company such as
credit rating and financial information. A reduced form model is used
for this purpose. Statistical techniques such as spline estimation and
Bayesian information criterion are employed for parameter estimation
and model selection. An empirical analysis is conducted using the
information on the Japanese bond market data. Results of the
empirical analysis confirm the usefulness of the proposed method.
Abstract: In this paper the application of rule mining in order to
review the effective factors on supplier selection is reviewed in the
following three sections 1) criteria selecting and information
gathering 2) performing association rule mining 3) validation and
constituting rule base. Afterwards a few of applications of rule base
is explained. Then, a numerical example is presented and analyzed
by Clementine software. Some of extracted rules as well as the
results are presented at the end.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to test whether the Attention
Networks Test (ANT) showed temporal decrements in performance.
Vigilance tasks typically show such decrements, which may reflect
impairments in executive control resulting from cognitive fatigue.
The ANT assesses executive control, as well as alerting and
orienting. Thus, it was hypothesized that ANT executive control
would deteriorate over time. Manipulations including task condition
(trial composition) and masking were included in the experimental
design in an attempt to increase performance decrements. However,
results showed that there is no temporal decrement on the ANT. The
roles of task demands, cognitive fatigue and participant motivation in
producing this result are discussed. The ANT may not be an effective
tool for investigating temporal decrement in attention.
Abstract: Agropyron cristatum L. Gaertn. is a native grass of
semiarid region in Iran which is quit resistant to cool and drought
climate and withstand heavy grazing. This species has close
phylogenetic relationship with Triticum and Hordeum. In this
research, the effect of seven different concentrations of growth
regulator 2,4-D on callus production and somatic embryogenesis of
A. cristatum was investigated on Murashige and Skoog medium. The
results showed that the rate of callus, embryo and neomorph were
highest in 1 mg L-1 2,4-D. Callus production was increased in 1 mg
L-1 2,4-D but dramatically decreased at 5.5 and 9 mg L-1 2,4-D. The
somatic embryos were observed at 1 and 4 mg L-1 2,4-D but matured
embryos and plantlet were only occurred at 1 mg L-1 2,4-D. There
were significant differences between 1 mg L-1 2,4-D and other
treatments for producing globular and torpedo embryos, plantlet,
rooted callus and number of roots (p