Abstract: Nowadays, quick technological changes force companies
to develop innovative products in an increasingly competitive
environment. Therefore, how to enhance the time of new product
development is very important. This design problem often lacks
the exact formula for getting it, and highly depends upon human
designers- past experiences. For these reasons, in this work, a Casebased
reasoning (CBR) system to assist in new product development
is proposed. When a case is recovered from the case base, the system
will take into account not only the attribute-s specific value and
how important it is. It will also take into account if the attribute
has a positive influence over the product development. Hence the
manufacturing time will be improved. This information will be
introduced as a new concept called “adaptability". An application to
this method for hearing instrument new design illustrates the proposed
approach.
Abstract: In this paper, a generalized self-consistent scheme, or “three phase model", is used to set up a micro-mechanics model for rough surface contact with randomly distributed asperities. The dimensionless average real pressure p is obtained as function of the ratio of the real contact area to the apparent contact area, 0 A / A r . Both elastic and plastic materials are considered, and the influence of the plasticity of material on p is discussed. Both two-dimensional and three-dimensional rough surface contact problems are considered.
Abstract: A comprehensive discussion of feasible strategies for sustainable energy supply is urgently needed to achieve a turnaround of the current energy situation. The necessary fundamentals required for the development of a long term energy vision are lacking to a great extent due to the absence of reasonable long term scenarios that fulfill the requirements of climate protection and sustainable energy use. The contribution of the study is based on a search for sustainable energy paths in the long run for Austria. The analysis makes use of secondary data predominantly. The measures developed to avoid CO2 emissions and other ecological risk factors vary to a great extent among all economic sectors. This is shown by the calculation of CO2 cost of abatement curves. In this study it is demonstrated that the most effective technical measures with the lowest CO2 abatement costs yield solutions to the current energy problems. Various scenarios are presented concerning the question how the technological and environmental options for a sustainable energy system for Austria could look like in the long run. It is shown how sustainable energy can be supplied even with today-s technological knowledge and options available. The scenarios developed include an evaluation of the economic costs and ecological impacts. The results are not only applicable to Austria but demonstrate feasible and cost efficient ways towards a sustainable future.
Abstract: Sediment loads transfer in hydraulic installations and their consequences for the O&M of modern canal systems is emerging as one of the most important considerations in hydraulic engineering projects apriticularly those which are inteded to feed the irrigation and draiange schemes of large command areas such as the Dez and Mogahn in Iran.. The aim of this paper is to investigate the applicability of the vortex tube as a viable means of extracting sediment loads entering the canal systems in general and the water inatke structures in particulars. The Western conveyance canal of the Dez Diversion weir which feeds the Karkheh Flood Plain in Sothwestern Dezful has been used as the case study using the data from the Dastmashan Hydrometric Station. The SHARC software has been used as an analytical framework to interprete the data. Results show that given the grain size D50 and the canal turbulence the adaption length from the beginning of the canal and after the diversion dam is estimated at 477 m, a point which is suitable for laying the vortex tube.
Abstract: To comply with the international human right
legislation concerning the freedom of movement, transport systems
are required to be made accessible in order that all citizens, regardless
of their physical condition, have equal possibilities to use them. In
Hungary, apparently there is a considerable default in the
improvement of accessible public transport. This study is aiming to
overview the current Hungarian situation and to reveal the reasons of
the deficiency. The result shows that in spite of the relatively
favourable juridical background linked to the accessibility needs and
to the rights of persons with disabilities there is a strong delay in
putting all in practice in the field of public transport. Its main reason
is the lack of financial resource and referring to this the lack of
creating mandatory regulations. In addition to this the proprietary
rights related to public transport are also variable, which also limits
the improvement possibilities. Consequently, first of all an accurate
and detailed regulatory procedure is expected to change the present
unfavourable situation and to create the conditions of the fast
realization, which is already behind time.
Abstract: Optical flow is a research topic of interest for many
years. It has, until recently, been largely inapplicable to real-time
applications due to its computationally expensive nature. This paper
presents a new reliable flow technique which is combined with a
motion detection algorithm, from stationary camera image streams,
to allow flow-based analyses of moving entities, such as rigidity, in
real-time. The combination of the optical flow analysis with motion
detection technique greatly reduces the expensive computation of
flow vectors as compared with standard approaches, rendering the
method to be applicable in real-time implementation. This paper
describes also the hardware implementation of a proposed pipelined
system to estimate the flow vectors from image sequences in real
time. This design can process 768 x 576 images at a very high frame
rate that reaches to 156 fps in a single low cost FPGA chip, which is
adequate for most real-time vision applications.
Abstract: The number of intrusions and attacks against critical
infrastructures and other information networks is increasing rapidly.
While there is no identified evidence that terrorist organizations are
currently planning a coordinated attack against the vulnerabilities of
computer systems and network connected to critical infrastructure,
and origins of the indiscriminate cyber attacks that infect computers
on network remain largely unknown. The growing trend toward the
use of more automated and menacing attack tools has also
overwhelmed some of the current methodologies used for tracking
cyber attacks. There is an ample possibility that this kind of cyber
attacks can be transform to cyberterrorism caused by illegal purposes.
Cyberterrorism is a matter of vital importance to national welfare.
Therefore, each countries and organizations have to take a proper
measure to meet the situation and consider effective legislation about
cyberterrorism.
Abstract: In this paper a new approach to face recognition is presented that achieves double dimension reduction making the system computationally efficient with better recognition results. In pattern recognition techniques, discriminative information of image increases with increase in resolution to a certain extent, consequently face recognition results improve with increase in face image resolution and levels off when arriving at a certain resolution level. In the proposed model of face recognition, first image decimation algorithm is applied on face image for dimension reduction to a certain resolution level which provides best recognition results. Due to better computational speed and feature extraction potential of Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) it is applied on face image. A subset of coefficients of DCT from low to mid frequencies that represent the face adequately and provides best recognition results is retained. A trade of between decimation factor, number of DCT coefficients retained and recognition rate with minimum computation is obtained. Preprocessing of the image is carried out to increase its robustness against variations in poses and illumination level. This new model has been tested on different databases which include ORL database, Yale database and a color database. The proposed technique has performed much better compared to other techniques. The significance of the model is two fold: (1) dimension reduction up to an effective and suitable face image resolution (2) appropriate DCT coefficients are retained to achieve best recognition results with varying image poses, intensity and illumination level.
Abstract: Previous research has demonstrated that negative
attitudes towards people with physical disabilities and obesity are
predicted by a component of perceived vulnerability to disease; germ
aversion. These findings have been suggested as illustrations of an
evolved but over-active mechanism which promotes the avoidance of
pathogen-carrying individuals. To date, this interpretation of attitude
formation has not been explored with regard to people with
intellectual disability, and no attempts have been made to examine
possible mediating factors. This study examined attitudes in 333
adults and demonstrated that the moderate positive relationship
between germ aversion and negative attitudes toward people with
intellectual disability is fully mediated by social dominance
orientation, a general preference for hierarchies and inequalities
among social groups. These findings have implications for the
design of programs which attempt to promote community acceptance
and inclusion of people with disabilities.
Abstract: To achieve accurate and precise results of finite
element analysis (FEA) of bones, it is important to represent the
load/boundary conditions as identical as possible to the human body
such as the bone properties, the type and force of the muscles, the
contact force of the joints, and the location of the muscle attachment.
In this study, the difference in the Von-Mises stress and the total
deformation was compared by classifying them into Case 1, which
shows the actual anatomical form of the muscle attached to the femur
when the same muscle force was applied, and Case 2, which gives a
simplified representation of the attached location. An inverse
dynamical musculoskeletal model was simulated using data from an
actual walking experiment to complement the accuracy of the
muscular force, the input value of FEA. The FEA method using the
results of the muscular force that were calculated through the
simulation showed that the maximum Von-Mises stress and the
maximum total deformation in Case 2 were underestimated by 8.42%
and 6.29%, respectively, compared to Case 1. The torsion energy and
bending moment at each location of the femur occurred via the stress
ingredient. Due to the geometrical/morphological feature of the femur
of having a long bone shape when the stress distribution is wide, as
shown in Case 1, a greater Von-Mises stress and total deformation are
expected from the sum of the stress ingredients. More accurate results
can be achieved only when the muscular strength and the attachment
location in the FEA of the bones and the attachment form are the same
as those in the actual anatomical condition under the various moving
conditions of the human body.
Abstract: The frequency dependence of the phase field
model(PFM) is studied. A simple PFM is proposed, and is tested in a
laminar boundary layer. The Blasius-s laminar boundary layer
solution on a flat plate is used for the flow pattern, and several
frequencies are imposed on the PFM, and the decay times of the
interfaces are obtained. The computations were conducted for three
cases: 1) no-flow, and 2) a half ball on the laminar boundary layer, 3) a
line of mass sources in the laminar boundary layer. The computations
show the decay time becomes shorter as the frequency goes larger, and
also show that it is sensitive to both background disturbances and
surface tension parameters. It is concluded that the proposed simple
PFM can describe the properties of decay process, and could give the
fundamentals for the decay of the interface in turbulent flows.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to explore the impacts of
computer games on the mathematics instruction. First, the research
designed and implemented the web-based games according to the
content of existing textbook. And the researcher collected and
analyzed the information related to the mathematics instruction
integrating the computer games. In this study, the researcher focused
on the learning motivation of mathematics, mathematics achievement,
and pupil-teacher interactions in classroom. The results showed that
students under instruction integrating computer games significantly
improved in motivation and achievement. The teacher tended to use
less direct teaching and provide more time for student-s active
learning.
Abstract: The rapid development of manufacturing and information systems has caused significant changes in manufacturing environments in recent decades. Mass production has given way to flexible manufacturing systems, in which an important characteristic is customized or "on demand" production. In this scenario, the seamless and without gaps information flow becomes a key factor for success of enterprises. In this paper we present a framework to support the mapping of features into machining workingsteps compliant with the ISO 14649 standard (known as STEP-NC). The system determines how the features can be made with the available manufacturing resources. Examples of the mapping method are presented for features such as a pocket with a general surface.
Abstract: The tracing methods determine the contribution the
power system sources have in their supplying. The methods can be used
to assess the transmission prices, but also to recover the transmission
fixed cost. In this paper is presented the influence of the modification of
commons structure has on the specific price of transfer. The operator
must make use of a few basic principles about allocation. Most
tracing methods are based on the proportional sharing principle. In this
paper Kirschen method is used. In order to illustrate this method, the 25-
bus test system is used, elaborated within the Electrical Power
Engineering Department, from Timisoara, Romania.
Abstract: The human friendly interaction is the key function of a human-centered system. Over the years, it has received much attention to develop the convenient interaction through intention recognition. Intention recognition processes multimodal inputs including speech, face images, and body gestures. In this paper, we suggest a novel approach of intention recognition using a graph representation called Intention Graph. A concept of valid intention is proposed, as a target of intention recognition. Our approach has two phases: goal recognition phase and intention recognition phase. In the goal recognition phase, we generate an action graph based on the observed actions, and then the candidate goals and their plans are recognized. In the intention recognition phase, the intention is recognized with relevant goals and user profile. We show that the algorithm has polynomial time complexity. The intention graph is applied to a simple briefcase domain to test our model.
Abstract: Human perceives color in categories, which may be
identified using color name such as red, blue, etc. The categorization
is unique for each human being. However despite the individual
differences, the categorization is shared among members in society.
This allows communication among them, especially when using
color name. Sociable robot, to live coexist with human and become
part of human society, must also have the shared color
categorization, which can be achieved through learning. Many
works have been done to enable computer, as brain of robot, to learn
color categorization. Most of them rely on modeling of human color
perception and mathematical complexities. Differently, in this work,
the computer learns color categorization through interaction with
humans. This work aims at developing the innate ability of the
computer to learn the human-like color categorization. It focuses on
the representation of color categorization and how it is built and
developed without much mathematical complexity.
Abstract: The paper presents an analytical solution for dispersion
of a solute in the peristaltic motion of a couple stress fluid
through a porous medium with slip condition in the presence of both
homogeneous and heterogeneous chemical reactions. The average
effective dispersion coefficient has been found using Taylor-s limiting
condition and long wavelength approximation. The effects of various
relevant parameters on the average coefficient of dispersion have been
studied. The average effective dispersion coefficient tends to increase
with permeability parameter but tends to decrease with homogeneous
chemical reaction rate parameter, couple stress parameter, slip parameter
and heterogeneous reaction rate parameter.
Abstract: This work offers a study of new simple compact model
of dual-drain Magnetic Field Effect Transistor (MAGFET) including
geometrical effects and biasing dependency. An explanation of the
sensitivity is investigated, involving carrier deflection as the dominant
operating principle. Finally, model verification with simulation results
is introduced to ensure that acceptable error of 2% is achieved.
Abstract: Planar systems of electrodes arranged on both sides of dielectric piezoelectric layer are applied in numerous transducers. They are capable of electronic beam-steering of generated wave both in azimuth and elevation. The wave-beam control is achieved by addressable driving of two-dimensional transducer through proper voltage supply of electrodes on opposite surfaces of the layer. In this paper a semi-analytical method of analysis of the considered transducer is proposed, which is a generalization of the well-known BIS-expansion method. It was earlier exploited with great success in the theory of interdigital transducers of surface acoustic waves, theory of elastic wave scattering by cracks and certain advanced electrostatic problems. The corresponding nontrivial electrostatic problem is formulated and solved numerically.
Abstract: This paper describes a segmentation algorithm based
on the cooperation of an optical flow estimation method with edge
detection and region growing procedures.
The proposed method has been developed as a pre-processing
stage to be used in methodologies and tools for video/image indexing
and retrieval by content. The addressed problem consists in
extracting whole objects from background for producing images of
single complete objects from videos or photos. The extracted images
are used for calculating the object visual features necessary for both
indexing and retrieval processes.
The first task of the algorithm exploits the cues from motion
analysis for moving area detection. Objects and background are then
refined using respectively edge detection and region growing
procedures. These tasks are iteratively performed until objects and
background are completely resolved.
The developed method has been applied to a variety of indoor and
outdoor scenes where objects of different type and shape are
represented on variously textured background.