Abstract: This paper proposes, for the first time, how the
challenges facing the guard-band designs including the margin
assist-circuits scheme for the screening-test in the coming process
generations should be addressed. The increased screening error
impacts are discussed based on the proposed statistical analysis
models. It has been shown that the yield-loss caused by the
misjudgment on the screening test would become 5-orders of
magnitude larger than that for the conventional one when the
amplitude of random telegraph noise (RTN) caused variations
approaches to that of random dopant fluctuation. Three fitting methods
to approximate the RTN caused complex Gamma mixtures
distributions by the simple Gaussian mixtures model (GMM) are
proposed and compared. It has been verified that the proposed
methods can reduce the error of the fail-bit predictions by 4-orders of
magnitude.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to summarize the
following protection of scouring countermeasures by using
Bentonite-Enhanced Sand (BES) mixtures. The concept of
underground improvement is being used in this study to reduce the
void of the sand. The sand bentonite mixture was used to bond the
ground soil conditions surrounding the pile of integral bridge. The
right composition of sand bentonite mixture was proposed based on
previous findings. The swelling effect of bentonite also was
investigated to ensure there is no adverse impact to the structure of
the integral bridge. ScourScour, another name for severe erosion,
occurs when the erosive capacity of water resulting from natural and
manmade events exceeds the ability of earth materials to resist its
effects. According to AASHTO LRFD Specifications (Section
C3.7.5), scour is the most common reason for the collapse of
highway bridges in the United States
Abstract: This research uses computational linguistics, an area of study that employs a computer to process natural language, and aims at discerning the patterns that exist in declarative sentences used in technical texts. The approach is mathematical, and the focus is on instructional texts found on web pages. The technique developed by the author and named the MAYA Semantic Technique is used here and organized into four stages. In the first stage, the parts of speech in each sentence are identified. In the second stage, the subject of the sentence is determined. In the third stage, MAYA performs a frequency analysis on the remaining words to determine the verb and its object. In the fourth stage, MAYA does statistical analysis to determine the content of the web page. The advantage of the MAYA Semantic Technique lies in its use of mathematical principles to represent grammatical operations which assist processing and accuracy if performed on unambiguous text. The MAYA Semantic Technique is part of a proposed architecture for an entire web-based intelligent tutoring system. On a sample set of sentences, partial semantics derived using the MAYA Semantic Technique were approximately 80% accurate. The system currently processes technical text in one domain, namely Cµ programming. In this domain all the keywords and programming concepts are known and understood.
Abstract: Banana is one of the most consumed fruits in the tropics and subtropics. Brazil accounts for about 9% of the world banana production. However, the production losses are as high as 30 to 40% and even much higher in some developing countries. The green banana flour is a complex carbohydrate source, including a high total starch (73.4%), resistant starch (17.5%) with functional properties. Gamma irradiation is considered to be an alternative method for food preservation. It has been performed due to the need of extending the shelf - life of foods, whilst maintaining their safety and avoiding one of the main concerns: the nutrient loss. In this work data about on the effects of ionizing radiation on the physicochemical analysis (carbohydrate, proteins, lipids, alimentary fiber, moistures and ashes) of Brazilian functional products (biscuits and bread) of the green banana pulp are presented. The caloric value was calculated. No significant difference was observed between the samples of irradiated and non – irradiated green banana biscuits with the following determinations: carbohydrates, proteins, alimentary fiber and ashes. Only a small significant difference was found in lipids (macronutrients). The results of physical chemical analysis of the irradiated and non- irradiated green banana bread non- irradiated showed no significant difference with the following determinations: carbohydrates, lipids (macronutrients), moisture, ashes and caloric value. A small difference was found in proteins (macronutrients). Irradiation of functional products (biscuits and bread) with doses of 1 and 3kGy maintained their original macronutrients content, showing good radioresistance.
Abstract: Two completely different approaches for a Gigabit
Ethernet compliant stream transmission over 50m of 1mm PMMA SI-POF have been experimentally demonstrated and are compared in this paper. The first solution is based on a commercial RC-LED
transmission and a careful optimization of the physical layer architecture, realized during the POF-PLUS EU Project. The second solution exploits the performance of an edge-emitting laser at the
transmitter side in order to avoid any sort of electrical equalization at the receiver side.
Abstract: Effect of temperature and light was investigated on a
thin film of organic semiconductor formyl-TIPPCu(II) deposited on a
glass substrate with preliminary evaporated gold electrodes. The
electrical capacitance and resistance of the fabricated device were
evaluated under the effect of temperature and light. The relative
capacitance of the fabricated sensor increased by 4.3 times by rising
temperature from 27 to 1870C, while under illumination up to 25000
lx, the capacitance of the Au/formyl-TIPPCu(II)/Au photo capacitive
sensor increased continuously by 13.2 times as compared to dark
conditions.
Abstract: In this paper, a novel method for a biometric system based on the ECG signal is proposed, using spectral coefficients computed through linear predictive coding (LPC). ECG biometric systems have traditionally incorporated characteristics of fiducial points of the ECG signal as the feature set. These systems have been shown to contain loopholes and thus a non-fiducial system allows for tighter security. In the proposed system, incorporating non-fiducial features from the LPC spectrum produced a segment and subject recognition rate of 99.52% and 100% respectively. The recognition rates outperformed the biometric system that is based on the wavelet packet decomposition (WPD) algorithm in terms of recognition rates and computation time. This allows for LPC to be used in a practical ECG biometric system that requires fast, stringent and accurate recognition.
Abstract: Unsteady natural convection and heat transfer in a square cavity partially filled with porous media using a thermal
non-equilibrium model is studied in this paper. The left vertical wall is
maintained at a constant hot temperature Th and the right vertical wall
is maintained at a constant cold temperature Tc, while the horizontal
walls are adiabatic. The governing equations are obtained by applying
the Darcy model and Boussinesq approximation. COMSOL’s finite
element method is used to solve the non-dimensional governing
equations together with specified boundary conditions. The governing
parameters of this study are the Rayleigh number (Ra = 10^5, and Ra = 10^6 ), Darcy namber (Da = 10^−2, and Da = 10^−3),
the modified thermal conductivity ratio (10^−1 ≤ γ ≤ 10^4), the inter-phase heat transfer coefficien (10^−1 ≤ H ≤ 10^3) and the
time dependent (0.001 ≤ τ ≤ 0.2). The results presented for
values of the governing parameters in terms of streamlines in both
fluid/porous-layer, isotherms of fluid in fluid/porous-layer, isotherms
of solid in porous layer, and average Nusselt number.
Abstract: A new approach to determine the machine layout in flexible manufacturing cell, and to find the feasible robot configuration of the robot to achieve minimum cycle time is presented in this paper. The location of the input/output location and the optimal robot configuration is obtained for all sequences of work tasks of the robot within a specified period of time. A more realistic approach has been presented to model the problem using the robot joint space. The problem is formulated as a nonlinear optimization problem and solved using Sequential Quadratic Programming algorithm.
Abstract: A new and cost effective robotic device was designed
for remote tele surgery using dual tone multi frequency technology
(DTMF). Tele system with Dual Tone Multiple Frequency has a large
capability in sending and receiving of data in hardware and software.
The robot consists of DC motors for arm movements and it is
controlled manually through a mobile phone through DTMF
Technology. The system enables the surgeon from base station to
send commands through mobile phone to the patient’s robotic system
which includes two robotic arms that translate the input into actual
instrument manipulation. A mobile phone attached to the
microcontroller 8051 which can activate robot through relays. The
Remote robot-assisted tele surgery eliminates geographic constraints
for getting surgical expertise where it is needed and allows an expert
surgeon to teach or proctor the performance of surgical technique by
real-time intervention.
Abstract: The identification and classification of weeds are of
major technical and economical importance in the agricultural
industry. To automate these activities, like in shape, color and
texture, weed control system is feasible. The goal of this paper is to
build a real-time, machine vision weed control system that can detect
weed locations. In order to accomplish this objective, a real-time
robotic system is developed to identify and locate outdoor plants
using machine vision technology and pattern recognition. The
algorithm is developed to classify images into broad and narrow class
for real-time selective herbicide application. The developed
algorithm has been tested on weeds at various locations, which have
shown that the algorithm to be very effectiveness in weed
identification. Further the results show a very reliable performance
on weeds under varying field conditions. The analysis of the results
shows over 90 percent classification accuracy over 140 sample
images (broad and narrow) with 70 samples from each category of
weeds.
Abstract: This paper presents a microstrip meandered open
circuited stub with bandstop characteristic. The proposed structure is
designed on a high frequency laminate with dielectric constant of 4.0
and board thickness of 0.508 millimeters. The scattering parameters
and electromagnetic field distributions at various frequencies are
investigated by modeling the structure with three dimensional
electromagnetic simulation tool. In order to describe the resonant
and bandstop characteristic of the meandered open circuited stub, a
Smith chart as well as electric field at various frequencies and phases
is illustrated accordingly. The structure can be an alternative method
in suppressing the harmonic response of a bandpass filter.
Abstract: This paper investigates the performance of Multiple- Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) feedback system combined with Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM). Two types of codebook based channel feedback techniques are used in this work. The first feedback technique uses a combination of both the long-term and short-term channel state information (CSI) at the transmitter, whereas the second technique uses only the short term CSI. The long-term and short-term CSI at the transmitter is used for efficient channel utilization. OFDM is a powerful technique employed in communication systems suffering from frequency selectivity. Combined with multiple antennas at the transmitter and receiver, OFDM proves to be robust against delay spread. Moreover, it leads to significant data rates with improved bit error performance over links having only a single antenna at both the transmitter and receiver. The effectiveness of these techniques has been demonstrated through the simulation of a MIMO-OFDM feedback system. The results have been evaluated for 4x4 MIMO channels. Simulation results indicate the benefits of the MIMO-OFDM channel feedback system over the one without incorporating OFDM. Performance gain of about 3 dB is observed for MIMO-OFDM feedback system as compared to the one without employing OFDM. Hence MIMO-OFDM becomes an attractive approach for future high speed wireless communication systems.
Abstract: This paper presents an analysis of the localization accuracy of indoor positioning systems using Cramer-s rule via IEEE 802.15.4 wireless sensor networks. The objective is to study the impact of the methods used to convert the received signal strength into the distance that is used to compute the object location in the wireless indoor positioning system. Various methods were tested and the localization accuracy was analyzed. The experimental results show that the method based on the empirical data measured in the non line-of-sight (NLOS) environment yield the highest localization accuracy; with the minimum error distance less than 3 m.
Abstract: Information sharing and gathering are important in the rapid advancement era of technology. The existence of WWW has caused rapid growth of information explosion. Readers are overloaded with too many lengthy text documents in which they are more interested in shorter versions. Oil and gas industry could not escape from this predicament. In this paper, we develop an Automated Text Summarization System known as AutoTextSumm to extract the salient points of oil and gas drilling articles by incorporating statistical approach, keywords identification, synonym words and sentence-s position. In this study, we have conducted interviews with Petroleum Engineering experts and English Language experts to identify the list of most commonly used keywords in the oil and gas drilling domain. The system performance of AutoTextSumm is evaluated using the formulae of precision, recall and F-score. Based on the experimental results, AutoTextSumm has produced satisfactory performance with F-score of 0.81.
Abstract: Groundwater is one of the most important water resources in Fars province. Based on this study, 95 percent of the total annual water consumption in Fars is used for agriculture, whereas the percentages for domestic and industrial uses are 4 and 1 percent, respectively. Population growth, urban and industrial growth, and agricultural development in Fars have created a condition of water stress. In this province, farmers and other users are pumping groundwater faster than its natural replenishment rate, causing a continuous drop in groundwater tables and depletion of this resource. In this research variation of groundwater level , their effects and ways to help control groundwater levels in some plains of Fars were evaluated .Excessive exploitation of groundwater in Darab, Jahrom, Estahban, Arsanjan, Khir and Niriz plains of Fars caused the groundwater levels fall too fast or to unacceptable levels. The average drawdown of the water table in Arsanjan, Khir. Estahban and Niriz plain plains were 12,8, 9 and 6 meters during 16,11,11 and 13 years ago respectively. This not only reduces available water resources and well yields but also can saline water intrusion, reductions in river flow and in wetland areas , drying springs, and ground subsidence, considerable increase in pumping costs and a significant decline in crop yields as a result of the increasing salinity. Finally based on situation and condition of the aquifer some suggestions are recommended.
Abstract: While service quality is acceptably most valued in the tourism industry, the issue of safety and security plays a key role in sustaining the industry success. Such an issue has been part of Thailand-s tourism development and promotion for several years. Evidently, the Tourist Police Department was set up for this purpose. Its main responsibility is to deal with international tourists- safety and confidence in travelling within Thai territory. However, to strengthen the tourism safety of the country, it is important to better understand international tourists- safety concerns about Thailand. This article seeks to compare international tourists- safety needs and Thai tourist polices- perception towards the tourists- safety concern to determine what measure should be taken to assure the tourist of Thailand-s secure environment. Through the employment of quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches, the tourism safety need of international tourists from Europe, North America and Asia was excavated, how Thai tourist polices and local polices perceived the international tourist-s safety concern was investigated, and opinion and experiences about how the police deal with international tourists- problems in eight touristic areas were also explored. A comparative result reveals a certain degrees of differences in international tourists- safety needs and Thai polices- perception towards their needs. The tourism safety prevention and protection measure and practice are also suggested.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to compare the effects
of an altitude training camp on heart rate variability and
performance in elite triathletes. Ten athletes completed 20 days of live-high, train-low training at 1650m. Athletes
underwent pre and post 800-m swim time trials at sea-level, and two heart rate variability tests at 1650m on the first and
last day of the training camp. Based on their time trial results,
athletes were divided into responders and non-responders. Relative to the non-responders, the responders sympathetic-toparasympathetic
ratio decreased substantially after 20 days of altitude training (-0.68 ± 1.08 and -1.2 ± 0.96, mean ± 90%
confidence interval for supine and standing respectively). In
addition, sympathetic activity while standing was also
substantially lower post-altitude in the responders compared to the non-responders (-1869 ± 4764 ms2). Results indicate that
responders demonstrated a change to more vagal
predominance compared to non-responders.
Abstract: Roadways in Amman city face many problems consequent upon poor drainage systems. Evaluation tools are necessary to identify those roads needing improvement in their drainage system, and those needing regular maintenance. This work aims at evaluating drainage conditions in selected roadways in Amman city with the intent of identifying the problems encountered in their drainage systems. Three sites in the vicinity of Amman city have been selected and then inspected via several field visits to determine the state of their existing drainage systems and define the major problems encountered in these systems. The evaluation tool used in this study is based on visual inspection supported by photographs that depicted the defined problems. Following the field assessment, the drainage system in each road was rated as excellent, fair, good, or poor. The study reveals that more than 60% of the roadways in the selected sites were in poor drainage conditions, which lead to tremendous environmental problems. This assessment serves as a guide for local decision makers to help plan for the maintenance of Amman city roadways drainage systems, and propose ways of managing the associated problems.
Abstract: Telemedicine is brought to life by contemporary changes of our world and summarizes the entire range of services that are at the crossroad of traditional healthcare and information technology. It is believed that eHealth can help in solving critical issues of rising costs, care for ageing and housebound population, staff shortage. It is a feasible tool to provide routine as well as specialized health service as it has the potential to improve both the access to and the standard of care. eHealth is no more an optional choice. It has already made quite a way but it still remains a fantastic challenge for the future requiring cooperation and coordination at all possible levels. The strategic objectives of this paper are: 1. To start with an attempt to clarify the mass of terms used nowadays; 2. To answer the question “Who needs eHealth"; 3. To focus on the necessity of bridging telemedicine and medical (health) informatics as well as on the dual relationship between them; as well as 4. To underline the need of networking in understanding, developing and implementing eHealth.