Abstract: Quantitative analyses of whisker movements provide a
means to study functional recovery and regeneration of mouse facial
nerve after an injury. However, accurate tracking of the mouse whisker
movement is challenging. Most methods for whisker tracking require
manual intervention, e.g. fixing the head of the mouse during a study.
Here we describe a semi-automated image processing method, which
is applied to high-speed video recordings of free-moving mice to track
the whisker movements. We first track the head movement of a mouse
by delineating the lower head contour frame-by-frame that allows for
detection of the location and orientation of the head. Then, a region of
interest is identified for each frame; the subsequent application of a
mask and the Hough transform detects the selected whiskers on each
side of the head. Our approach is used to examine the functional
recovery of damaged facial nerves in mice over a course of 21 days.
Abstract: This paper examines the utilization of public-private
partnerships for the building and operation of wastewater treatment
plants. Our research focuses on risk allocation in this kind of projects.
Our analysis builds on more than hundred wastewater treatment
plants built and operated through PPP projects in Aragon (Spain).
The paper illustrates the consequences of an inadequate management
of construction risk and an unsuitable transfer of demand risk in
wastewater treatment plants. It also shows that the involvement of
many public bodies at local, regional and national level further
increases the complexity of this kind of projects and make time
delays more likely.
Abstract: All current experimental methods for determination of
stress intensity factors are based on the assumption that the state of
stress near the crack tip is plane stress. Therefore, these methods rely
on strain and displacement measurements made outside the near
crack tip region affected by the three-dimensional effects or by
process zone. In this paper, we develop and validate an experimental
procedure for the evaluation of stress intensity factors from the
measurements of the out-of-plane displacements in the surface area
controlled by 3D effects. The evaluation of stress intensity factors is
possible when the process zone is sufficiently small, and the
displacement field generated by the 3D effects is fully encapsulated
by K-dominance region.
Abstract: A simple adaptive voice activity detector (VAD) is
implemented using Gabor and gammatone atomic decomposition of
speech for high Gaussian noise environments. Matching pursuit is
used for atomic decomposition, and is shown to achieve optimal
speech detection capability at high data compression rates for low
signal to noise ratios. The most active dictionary elements found by
matching pursuit are used for the signal reconstruction so that the
algorithm adapts to the individual speakers dominant time-frequency
characteristics. Speech has a high peak to average ratio enabling
matching pursuit greedy heuristic of highest inner products to isolate
high energy speech components in high noise environments. Gabor
and gammatone atoms are both investigated with identical
logarithmically spaced center frequencies, and similar bandwidths.
The algorithm performs equally well for both Gabor and gammatone
atoms with no significant statistical differences. The algorithm
achieves 70% accuracy at a 0 dB SNR, 90% accuracy at a 5 dB SNR
and 98% accuracy at a 20dB SNR using 30d B SNR as a reference
for voice activity.
Abstract: In this work, we explore the capability of the mean
shift algorithm as a powerful preprocessing tool for improving the
quality of spatial data, acquired from airborne scanners, from densely
built urban areas. On one hand, high resolution image data corrupted
by noise caused by lossy compression techniques are appropriately
smoothed while at the same time preserving the optical edges and, on
the other, low resolution LiDAR data in the form of normalized
Digital Surface Map (nDSM) is upsampled through the joint mean
shift algorithm. Experiments on both the edge-preserving smoothing
and upsampling capabilities using synthetic RGB-z data show that the
mean shift algorithm is superior to bilateral filtering as well as to
other classical smoothing and upsampling algorithms. Application of
the proposed methodology for 3D reconstruction of buildings of a
pilot region of Athens, Greece results in a significant visual
improvement of the 3D building block model.
Abstract: Quick adoption of e-business and emerging influence
of “Electronic Word of Mouth e-WOM” communication on guests
made leading hotel brands successful examples of electronic guest
relationship management. Main reasons behind such success are well
established procedures in collection, analysis and usage of highly
valuable data available on the Internet, generated through some form
of e-GRM programme. E-GRM is more than just a technology
solution. It’s a system which balance respective guest demands, hotel
technological capabilities and organizational culture of employees,
discharging the universal approach in guest relations “same for all”.
The purpose of this research derives from the necessity of
determining the importance of monitoring and applying e-WOM
communication as one of the methods used in managing guest
relations. This paper analyses and compares different hotelier’s
opinions on e-WOM communication.
Abstract: This study investigated the behavior of improved soft soils through the vibro replacement technique by considering their settlements and consolidation rates and the applicability of this technique in various types of soils and settlement and bearing capacity calculations.
Abstract: In this work, two fermentations at different
temperatures (25 and 30ºC), with cell recycling, were accomplished
to produce ethanol, using a mix of commercial substrates, xylose
(70%) and glucose (30%), as organic source for Scheffersomyces
stipitis. Five consecutive fermentations of 80 g L-1 (1º, 2º and 3º
recycles), 96 g L-1 (4º recycle) and 120 g L-1 (5º recycle)reduced
sugars led to a final maximum ethanol concentration of 17.2 and 34.5
g L-1, at 25 and 30ºC, respectively. Glucose was the preferred
substrate; moreover xylose startup degradation was initiated after a
remaining glucose presence in the medium. Results showed that yeast
acid treatment, performed before each cycle, provided improvements
on cell viability, accompanied by ethanol productivity of 2.16 g L-1 h-
1 at 30ºC. A maximum 36% of xylose was retained in the
fermentation medium and after five-cycle fermentation an ethanol
yield of 0.43 g ethanol/g sugars was observed. S. stipitis fermentation
capacity and tolerance showed better results at 30ºC with 83.4% of
theoretical yield referenced on initial biomass.
Abstract: An efficient remanufacturing network lead to an
efficient design of sustainable manufacturing enterprise. In
remanufacturing network, products are collected from the customer
zone, disassembled and remanufactured at a suitable remanufacturing
facility. In this respect, another issue to consider is how the returned
product to be remanufactured, in other words, what is the best layout
for such facility. In order to achieve a sustainable manufacturing
system, Cellular Manufacturing System (CMS) designs are highly
recommended, CMSs combine high throughput rates of line layouts
with the flexibility offered by functional layouts (job shop).
Introducing the CMS while designing a remanufacturing network will
benefit the utilization of such a network. This paper presents and
analyzes a comprehensive mathematical model for the design of
Dynamic Cellular Remanufacturing Systems (DCRSs). In this paper,
the proposed model is the first one to date that considers CMS and
remanufacturing system simultaneously. The proposed DCRS model
considers several manufacturing attributes such as multi period
production planning, dynamic system reconfiguration, duplicate
machines, machine capacity, available time for workers, worker
assignments, and machine procurement, where the demand is totally
satisfied from a returned product. A numerical example is presented
to illustrate the proposed model.
Abstract: Hypersonic flows around spatial vehicles during their reentry phase in planetary atmospheres are characterized by intense aerothermodynamics phenomena. The aim of this work is to analyze high temperature flows around an axisymmetric blunt body taking into account chemical and vibrational non-equilibrium for air mixture species and the no slip condition at the wall. For this purpose, the Navier-Stokes equations system is resolved by the finite volume methodology to determine the flow parameters around the axisymmetric blunt body especially at the stagnation point and in the boundary layer along the wall of the blunt body. The code allows the capture of shock wave before a blunt body placed in hypersonic free stream. The numerical technique uses the Flux Vector Splitting method of Van Leer. CFL coefficient and mesh size level are selected to ensure the numerical convergence.
Abstract: This paper presents the development of a robot car
that can track the motion of an object by detecting its color through
an Android device. The employed computer vision algorithm uses the
OpenCV library, which is embedded into an Android application of a
smartphone, for manipulating the captured image of the object. The
captured image of the object is subjected to color conversion and is
transformed to a binary image for further processing after color
filtering. The desired object is clearly determined after removing
pixel noise by applying image morphology operations and contour
definition. Finally, the area and the center of the object are
determined so that object’s motion to be tracked. The smartphone
application has been placed on a robot car and transmits by Bluetooth
to an Arduino assembly the motion directives so that to follow
objects of a specified color. The experimental evaluation of the
proposed algorithm shows reliable color detection and smooth
tracking characteristics.
Abstract: This paper adopts a two-stage data envelopment
analysis to explore the impacts of financial development and bank
operating scale on bank efficiencies. The sample comprises
unbalanced panel data of 32 Taiwanese listed domestic commercial
banks over the period 1998 to 2013. Empirical results show that pure
technical efficiency is positively related to financial development,
whereas the effect of financial development on scale efficiency is
insignificant. Enlargement of bank operating scale improves bank
efficiencies, but the efficiency gains are decreased gradually when the
scale increases. Increases in capital adequacy ratio and market power
of loans lead into a growth of bank efficiencies.
Abstract: Failure of typical seismic frames has been found by
plastic hinge occurring on beams section near column faces. On the
other hand, the seismic capacity of the frames can be enhanced if the
plastic hinges of the beams are shifted away from the column faces.
This paper presents detailing of reinforcements in the interior beam–
column connections aiming to relocate the plastic hinge of reinforced
concrete and precast concrete frames. Four specimens were tested
under quasi-static cyclic load including two monolithic specimens
and two precast specimens. For one monolithic specimen, typical
seismic reinforcement was provided and considered as a reference
specimen named M1. The other reinforced concrete frame M2
contained additional intermediate steel in the connection area
compared with the specimen M1. For the precast specimens,
embedded T-section steels in joint were provided, with and without
diagonal bars in the connection area for specimen P1 and P2,
respectively. The test results indicated the ductile failure with beam
flexural failure in monolithic specimen M1 and the intermediate steel
increased strength and improved joint performance of specimen M2.
For the precast specimens, cracks generated at the end of the steel
inserts. However, slipping of reinforcing steel lapped in top of the
beams was seen before yielding of the main bars leading to the brittle
failure. The diagonal bars in precast specimens P2 improved the
connection stiffness and the energy dissipation capacity.
Abstract: An unconventional composite inorganic ceramic
membrane capable of enhancing carbon dioxide emission decline was
fabricated and tested at laboratory scale in conformism to various
environmental guidelines and also to mitigate the effect of global
warming. A review of the existing membrane technologies for carbon
capture including the relevant gas transport mechanisms is presented.
Single gas permeation experiments using silica modified ceramic
membrane with internal diameter 20mm, outside diameter 25mm and
length of 368mm deposited on a macro porous support was carried
out to investigate individual gas permeation behaviours at different
pressures at room temperature. Membrane fabrication was achieved
using after a dip coating method. Nitrogen, Carbon dioxide, Argon,
Oxygen and Methane pure gases were used to investigate their
individual permeation rates at various pressures. Results show that
the gas flow rate increases with pressure drop. However above a
pressure of 3bar, CO2 permeability ratio to that of the other gases
indicated control of a more selective surface adsorptive transport
mechanism.
Abstract: This study investigates the use of a time-series of
MODIS NDVI data to identify agricultural land cover change on an
annual time step (2007 - 2012) and characterize the trend. Following
an ISODATA classification of the MODIS imagery to selectively
mask areas not agriculture or semi-natural, NDVI signatures were
created to identify areas cereals and vineyards with the aid of
ancillary, pictometry and field sample data for 2010. The NDVI
signature curve and training samples were used to create a decision
tree model in WEKA 3.6.9 using decision tree classifier (J48)
algorithm; Model 1 including ISODATA classification and Model 2
not. These two models were then used to classify all data for the
study area for 2010, producing land cover maps with classification
accuracies of 77% and 80% for Model 1 and 2 respectively. Model 2
was subsequently used to create land cover classification and change
detection maps for all other years. Subtle changes and areas of
consistency (unchanged) were observed in the agricultural classes
and crop practices. Over the years as predicted by the land cover
classification. Forty one percent of the catchment comprised of
cereals with 35% possibly following a crop rotation system.
Vineyards largely remained constant with only one percent
conversion to vineyard from other land cover classes.
Abstract: Agro-industry is one of major industries that have
strong impacts on national economic incomes, growth, stability, and
sustainable development. Moreover, this industry also has strong
influences on social, cultural and political issues. Furthermore, this
industry, as producing primary and secondary products, is facing
challenges from such diverse factors such as demand inconsistency,
intense international competition, technological advancements and
new competitors. In order to maintain and to improve industry’s
competitiveness in both domestics and international markets, science
and technology are key factors. Besides hard sciences and
technologies, modern industrial engineering concepts such as Just in
Time (JIT) Total Quality Management (TQM), Quick Response
(QR), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Lean can be very
effective to support to increase efficiency and effectiveness of these
agricultural products on world stage. Onion is one of Thailand’s
major export products which bring back national incomes. But, it is
also facing challenges in many ways. This paper focused its interests
in onion packing process and its related activities such as storage and
shipment from one of major packing plant and storage in Mae Wang
District, Chiang Mai, Thailand, by applying Toyota Production
System (TPS) or Lean concepts, to improve process capability
throughout the entire packing and distribution process which will be
profitable for the whole onion supply chain. And it will be beneficial
to other related agricultural products in Thailand and other ASEAN
countries.
Abstract: The structures obtained with the use of sandwich
technologies combine low weight with high energy absorbing
capacity and load carrying capacity. Hence, there is a growing and
markedly interest in the use of sandwiches with aluminum foam core
because of very good properties such as flexural rigidity and energy
absorption capability. In the current investigation, the static threepoint
bending tests were carried out on the sandwiches with
aluminum foam core and glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP)
skins at different values of support span distances aiming the analyses
of their flexural performance. The influence of the core thickness and
the GFRP skin type was reported in terms of peak load and energy
absorption capacity. For this purpose, the skins with two different
types of fabrics which have same thickness value and the aluminum
foam core with two different thicknesses were bonded with a
commercial polyurethane based flexible adhesive in order to combine
the composite sandwich panels. The main results of the bending tests
are: force-displacement curves, peak force values, absorbed energy,
collapse mechanisms and the effect of the support span length and
core thickness. The results of the experimental study showed that the
sandwich with the skins made of S-Glass Woven fabrics and with the
thicker foam core presented higher mechanical values such as load
carrying and energy absorption capacities. The increment of the
support span distance generated the decrease of the mechanical
values for each type of panels, as expected, because of the inverse
proportion between the force and span length. The most common
failure types of the sandwiches are debonding of the lower skin and
the core shear. The obtained results have particular importance for
applications that require lightweight structures with a high capacity
of energy dissipation, such as the transport industry (automotive,
aerospace, shipbuilding and marine industry), where the problems of
collision and crash have increased in the last years.
Abstract: This paper investigates the benefits of deliberately
unbalancing both operation time means (MTs) and unreliability
(failure and repair rates) for non-automated production lines. The
lines were simulated with various line lengths, buffer capacities,
degrees of imbalance and patterns of MT and unreliability imbalance.
Data on two performance measures, namely throughput (TR) and
average buffer level (ABL) were gathered, analyzed and compared to
a balanced line counterpart. A number of conclusions were made
with respect to the ranking of configurations, as well as to the
relationships among the independent design parameters and the
dependent variables. It was found that the best configurations are a
balanced line arrangement and a monotone decreasing MT order,
coupled with either a decreasing or a bowl unreliability configuration,
with the first generally resulting in a reduced TR and the second
leading to a lower ABL than those of a balanced line.
Abstract: The strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo L.) is a small tree
or shrub from botanical Ericaceae family that grows spontaneously
nearby the Mediterranean basin and produce edible red fruits. A
traditional processed fruit application, in Mediterranean countries, is
the production of a spirit (known as aguardente de medronho, in
Portugal) obtained from the fermented fruit. The main objective of
our study was to contribute to the knowledge about the influence of
the degree of maturation of fruits in the volatile composition and
quality of arbutus spirit. The major volatiles in the three distillates
fractions (head, heart and tail) obtained from fermentation of two
different fruit maturation levels were quantified by GC-FID analysis
and ANOVA one-way was performed. Additionally, the total
antioxidant capacity and total phenolic compounds of both arbutus
fruit spirits were determined, by ABTS and Folin-Ciocalteau method,
respectively. The methanol concentration is higher (1022.39 g/hL
a.a.) in the spirit made from fruits with highest total soluble solids,
which is a value above the legal limit (1000 g/hL a.a.). Overall, our
study emphasizes, for the first time, the influence of maturation
degree of arbutus fruits in the spirit volatile composition and quality.
Abstract: Present study is carried out on six lane divided urban
arterial road in Patna and Pune city of India. Both the road having
distinct differences in terms of the vehicle composition and the road
side parking. Arterial road in Patan city has 33% of non-motorized
mode, whereas Pune arterial road dominated by 65% of Two wheeler.
Also road side parking is observed in Patna city. The field studies
using videography techniques are carried out for traffic data
collection. Data are extracted for one minute duration for vehicle
composition, speed variation and flow rate on selected arterial road of
the two cities. Speed flow relationship is developed and capacity is
determine. Equivalency factor in terms of dynamic car unit is
determine to represent the vehicle is single unit. The variation in the
capacity due to side friction, presence of non motorized traffic and
effective utilization of lane width is compared at concluding remarks.