Abstract: Physical urban form is recognized to be the media for
human transactions. It directly influences the travel demand of people
in a specific urban area and the amount of energy used for
transportation. Distorted, sprawling form often creates sustainability
problems in urban areas. It is declared in EU strategic planning
documents that compact urban form and mixed land use pattern must
be given the main focus to achieve better sustainability in urban
areas, but the methods to measure and compare these characteristics
are still not clear.
This paper presents the simple methods to measure the spatial
characteristics of urban form by analyzing the location and
distribution of objects in an urban environment. The extended CA
(cellular automata) model is used to simulate urban development
scenarios.
Abstract: Medical negligence disputes in Malaysia are mainly resolved through litigation by using the tort system. The tort system, being adversarial in nature has subjected parties to litigation hazards such as delay, excessive costs and uncertainty of outcome. The dissatisfaction of the tort system in compensating medically injured victims has created various alternatives to litigation. Amongst them is the implementation of a no-fault compensation system which would allow compensation to be given without the need of proving fault on the medical personnel. Instead, the community now bears the burden of compensating and at the end, promotes collective responsibility. For Malaysia, introducing a no-fault system would provide a tempting solution and may ultimately, achieve justice for the medical injured victims. Nevertheless, such drastic change requires a great deal of consideration to determine the suitability of the system and whether or not it will eventually cater for the needs of the Malaysian population
Abstract: This paper focuses on wormhole attacks detection in wireless sensor networks. The wormhole attack is particularly challenging to deal with since the adversary does not need to compromise any nodes and can use laptops or other wireless devices to send the packets on a low latency channel. This paper introduces an easy and effective method to detect and locate the wormholes: Since beacon nodes are assumed to know their coordinates, the straight line distance between each pair of them can be calculated and then compared with the corresponding hop distance, which in this paper equals hop counts × node-s transmission range R. Dramatic difference may emerge because of an existing wormhole. Our detection mechanism is based on this. The approximate location of the wormhole can also be derived in further steps based on this information. To the best of our knowledge, our method is much easier than other wormhole detecting schemes which also use beacon nodes, and to those have special requirements on each nodes (e.g., GPS receivers or tightly synchronized clocks or directional antennas), ours is more economical. Simulation results show that the algorithm is successful in detecting and locating wormholes when the density of beacon nodes reaches 0.008 per m2.
Abstract: This paper presents a system for discovering
association rules from collections of unstructured documents called
EART (Extract Association Rules from Text). The EART system
treats texts only not images or figures. EART discovers association
rules amongst keywords labeling the collection of textual documents.
The main characteristic of EART is that the system integrates XML
technology (to transform unstructured documents into structured
documents) with Information Retrieval scheme (TF-IDF) and Data
Mining technique for association rules extraction. EART depends on
word feature to extract association rules. It consists of four phases:
structure phase, index phase, text mining phase and visualization
phase. Our work depends on the analysis of the keywords in the
extracted association rules through the co-occurrence of the keywords
in one sentence in the original text and the existing of the keywords
in one sentence without co-occurrence. Experiments applied on a
collection of scientific documents selected from MEDLINE that are
related to the outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza virus.
Abstract: The Non-Rotating Adjustable Stabilizer / Directional
Solution (NAS/DS) is the imitation of a mechanical process or an
object by a directional drilling operation that causes a respond
mathematically and graphically to data and decision to choose the
best conditions compared to the previous mode.
The NAS/DS Auto Guide rotary steerable tool is undergoing final
field trials. The point-the-bit tool can use any bit, work at any
rotating speed, work with any MWD/LWD system, and there is no
pressure drop through the tool. It is a fully closed-loop system that
automatically maintains a specified curvature rate.
The Non–Rotating Adjustable stabilizer (NAS) can be controls
curvature rate by exactly positioning and run with the optimum bit,
use the most effective weight (WOB) and rotary speed (RPM) and
apply all of the available hydraulic energy to the bit. The directional
simulator allowed to specify the size of the curvature rate
performance errors of the NAS tool and the magnitude of the random
errors in the survey measurements called the Directional Solution
(DS).
The combination of these technologies (NAS/DS) will provide
smoother bore holes, reduced drilling time, reduced drilling cost and
incredible targeting precision. This simulator controls curvature rate
by precisely adjusting the radial extension of stabilizer blades on a
near bit Non-Rotating Stabilizer and control process corrects for the
secondary effects caused by formation characteristics, bit and tool
wear, and manufacturing tolerances.
Abstract: This study investigates the possibility providing gully
erosion map by the supervised classification of satellite images
(ETM+) in two mountainous and plain land types. These land types
were the part of Varamin plain, Tehran province, and Roodbar subbasin,
Guilan province, as plain and mountain land types,
respectively. The position of 652 and 124 ground control points were
recorded by GPS respectively in mountain and plain land types. Soil
gully erosion, land uses or plant covers were investigated in these
points. Regarding ground control points and auxiliary points, training
points of gully erosion and other surface features were introduced to
software (Ilwis 3.3 Academic). The supervised classified map of
gully erosion was prepared by maximum likelihood method and then,
overall accuracy of this map was computed. Results showed that the
possibility supervised classification of gully erosion isn-t possible,
although it need more studies for results generalization to other
mountainous regions. Also, with increasing land uses and other
surface features in plain physiography, it decreases the classification
of accuracy.
Abstract: Seaweed farming is emerging as a viable alternative
activity in the Indonesian fisheries sector. This paper aims to
investigate people-s perceptions of seaweed farming, to analyze its
social and economic impacts and to identify the problems and
obstacles hindering its continued development. Structured and
semi-structured questionnaires were prepared to obtain qualitative
data, and interviews were conducted with fishermen who also plant
seaweed. The findings showed that fishermen in the Laikang Bay were
enthusiastic about cultivating seaweeds and that seaweed plays a major
role in supporting the household economy of fishermen. However,
current seaweed drying technologies cannot support increased
seaweed production on a farm or plot, especially in the rainy season.
Additionally, variable monsoon seasons and long marketing channels
are still major constraints on the development of the industry. Finally,
capture fisheries, the primary economic livelihood of fishermen of
older generations, is being slowly replaced by seaweed farming.
Abstract: Protective relays are components of a protection system
in a power system domain that provides decision making element for
correct protection and fault clearing operations. Failure of the
protection devices may reduce the integrity and reliability of the power
system protection that will impact the overall performance of the
power system. Hence it is imperative for power utilities to assess the
reliability of protective relays to assure it will perform its intended
function without failure. This paper will discuss the application of
reliability analysis using statistical method called Life Data Analysis
in Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), a government linked power utility
company in Malaysia, namely Transmission Division, to assess and
evaluate the reliability of numerical overcurrent protective relays from
two different manufacturers.
Abstract: Integration of process planning and scheduling
functions is necessary to achieve superior overall system
performance. This paper proposes a methodology for integration of
process planning and scheduling for prismatic component that can be
implemented in a company with existing departments. The developed
model considers technological constraints whereas available time for
machining in shop floor is the limiting factor to produce multiple
process plan (MPP). It takes advantage of MPP while guarantied the
fulfillment of the due dates via using overtime. This study has been
proposed to determinate machining parameters, tools, machine and
amount of over time within the minimum cost objective while
overtime is considered for this. At last the illustration shows that the
system performance is improved by as measured by cost and
compatible with due date.
Abstract: In this paper we discuss the behaviour of the longitudinal modes of a magnetized non collisional plasma subjected to an external electromagnetic field. We apply a semiclassical formalism, with the electrons being studied in a quantum mechanical viewpoint whereas the electromagnetic field in the classical context. We calculate the dielectric function in order to obtains the modes and found that, unlike the Bernstein modes, the presence of radiation induces oscillations around the cyclotron harmonics, which are smoothed as the energy stored in the radiation field becomes small compared to the thermal energy of the electrons. We analyze the influence of the number of photon involved in the electronic transitions between the Landau levels and how the parameters such as the external fields strength, plasma density and temperature affect the dispersion relation
Abstract: Bio-chips are used for experiments on genes and
contain various information such as genes, samples and so on. The
two-dimensional bio-chips, in which one axis represent genes and the
other represent samples, are widely being used these days. Instead of
experimenting with real genes which cost lots of money and much
time to get the results, bio-chips are being used for biological
experiments. And extracting data from the bio-chips with high
accuracy and finding out the patterns or useful information from such
data is very important. Bio-chip analysis systems extract data from
various kinds of bio-chips and mine the data in order to get useful
information. One of the commonly used methods to mine the data is
classification. The algorithm that is used to classify the data can be
various depending on the data types or number characteristics and so
on. Considering that bio-chip data is extremely large, an algorithm that
imitates the ecosystem such as the ant algorithm is suitable to use as an
algorithm for classification. This paper focuses on finding the
classification rules from the bio-chip data using the Ant Colony
algorithm which imitates the ecosystem. The developed system takes
in consideration the accuracy of the discovered rules when it applies it
to the bio-chip data in order to predict the classes.
Abstract: LDPC codes could be used in magnetic storage devices because of their better decoding performance compared to other error correction codes. However, their hardware implementation results in large and complex decoders. This one of the main obstacles the decoders to be incorporated in magnetic storage devices. We construct small high girth and rate 2 columnweight codes from cage graphs. Though these codes have low performance compared to higher column weight codes, they are easier to implement. The ease of implementation makes them more suitable for applications such as magnetic recording. Cages are the smallest known regular distance graphs, which give us the smallest known column-weight 2 codes given the size, girth and rate of the code.
Abstract: A major challenge in camel productivity is the high
mortality rate of camel calves in the early stage due to the lack of
colostrums. This study investigates the time required for the calves to
obtain the optimum amount of the immunoglobulin (IgG). Eleven
pregnant female camels (Camelus Dromedarus) were selected
randomly and variant in age and gestation. After delivery, 7 calves
were obtained and used for this investigation. Colostrum samples
were collected from mothers immediately after parturition. Blood
samples were obtained from the calves as follow: 0 day (before
suckling), 24, 48, 72, 96, 120 and 144 hours, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th weeks
post suckling. Blood serum and colostrums whey were separated and
used to determine IgG concentration, total protein and concentration
of Cortisol and Thyroxin. The results showed high levels of IgG in
camel colostrums (328.8 ± 4.5 mg / ml). The IgG concentration in
serum of calves was the highest within 1st 24 h after suckling (140.75
mg /ml), and then declined gradually reached lower level at 144 h
(41.97 mg / ml). The average turnover rate (t 1/2) of serum IgG in
the all cases was 3.22 days. The turnover of ranged from 2.56 days
for calves have values of IgG more than average and 7.7 days for
those with values below average. In spite of very high levels of
thyroxin in sera of new born the results showed no correlation
between cortisol and thyroxin with IgG levels.
Abstract: The heuristic decision rules used for project
scheduling will vary depending upon the project-s size, complexity,
duration, personnel, and owner requirements. The concept of project
complexity has received little detailed attention. The need to
differentiate between easy and hard problem instances and the
interest in isolating the fundamental factors that determine the
computing effort required by these procedures inspired a number of
researchers to develop various complexity measures.
In this study, the most common measures of project complexity are
presented. A new measure of project complexity is developed. The
main privilege of the proposed measure is that, it considers size,
shape and logic characteristics, time characteristics, resource
demands and availability characteristics as well as number of critical
activities and critical paths. The degree of sensitivity of the proposed
measure for complexity of project networks has been tested and
evaluated against the other measures of complexity of the considered
fifty project networks under consideration in the current study. The
developed measure showed more sensitivity to the changes in the
network data and gives accurate quantified results when comparing
the complexities of networks.
Abstract: Self-Excited Induction Generator (SEIG) builds up voltage while it enters in its magnetic saturation region. Due to non-linear magnetic characteristics, the performance analysis of SEIG involves cumbersome mathematical computations. The dependence of air-gap voltage on saturated magnetizing reactance can only be established at rated frequency by conducting a laboratory test commonly known as synchronous run test. But, there is no laboratory method to determine saturated magnetizing reactance and air-gap voltage of SEIG at varying speed, terminal capacitance and other loading conditions. For overall analysis of SEIG, prior information of magnetizing reactance, generated frequency and air-gap voltage is essentially required. Thus, analytical methods are the only alternative to determine these variables. Non-existence of direct mathematical relationship of these variables for different terminal conditions has forced the researchers to evolve new computational techniques. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are very useful for solution of such complex problems, as they do not require any a priori information about the system. In this paper, an attempt is made to use cascaded neural networks to first determine the generated frequency and magnetizing reactance with varying terminal conditions and then air-gap voltage of SEIG. The results obtained from the ANN model are used to evaluate the overall performance of SEIG and are found to be in good agreement with experimental results. Hence, it is concluded that analysis of SEIG can be carried out effectively using ANNs.
Abstract: A heuristic conceptual model for to develop the
Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM), especially in preventive
strategy, has been explored during this paper. In most real cases
which complicity of system obligates high degree of reliability, this
model proposes a more appropriate reliability function between life
time distribution based and another which is based on relevant
Extreme Value (EV) distribution. A statistical and mathematical
approach is used to estimate and verify these two distribution
functions. Then best one is chosen just among them, whichever is
more reliable. A numeric Industrial case study will be reviewed to
represent the concepts of this paper, more clearly.
Abstract: Endemic Artemia franciscana populations can be found throughout the American continent and also as an introduced specie in several country all over the world, such as in the Mediterranean region where Artemia franciscana was identified as an invasive specie replacing native Artemia parthenogenetica and Artemia salina. In the present study, the characterization of the new invasive Artemia franciscana reported from Sabkhet Halk El-Menzel (Tunisia) was done based on the cysts biometry, nauplii instar-I length, Adult sexual dimorphism and fatty acid profile. The mean value of the diameter of non-decapsulated and decapsulated cysts, chorion thickness and naupliar length is 235.8, 226.3, 4.75 and 426.8 μm, respectively. Sexual dimorphism for adults specimen showed that maximal distance between compound eyes, diameter for compound eyes, length of first antenna and the abdomen length compared to the total body length ratio, are the most important variables for males and females discrimination with a total contribution of 62.39 %. The analysis of fatty acid methyl esters profile of decapsulated cysts resulted in low levels of linolenic acid (LLA, C18:3n-3) and high levels of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, C20:5n-3) with 3.11 and 11.10 %, respectively. Low quantity of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3) was also observed with 0.17 mg.g-1 dry weight.
Abstract: Piezoelectric transformers are electronic devices made
from piezoelectric materials. The piezoelectric transformers as the
name implied are used for changing voltage signals from one level to another. Electrical energy carried with signals is transferred by means of mechanical vibration. Characterizing in both electrical and
mechanical properties leads to extensively use and efficiency enhancement of piezoelectric transformers in various applications. In
this paper, study and analysis of electrical and mechanical properties of multi-layer piezoelectric transformers in forms of potential and
displacement distribution throughout the volume, respectively. This
paper proposes a set of quasi-static mathematical model of electromechanical
coupling for piezoelectric transformer by using a set of
partial differential equations. Computer-based simulation utilizing the three-dimensional finite element method (3-D FEM) is exploited
as a tool for visualizing potentials and displacements distribution
within the multi-layer piezoelectric transformer. This simulation was
conducted by varying a number of layers. In this paper 3, 5 and 7 of
the circular ring type were used. The computer simulation based on
the use of the FEM has been developed in MATLAB programming environment.
Abstract: This paper discusses EM algorithm and Bootstrap
approach combination applied for the improvement of the satellite
image fusion process. This novel satellite image fusion method based
on estimation theory EM algorithm and reinforced by Bootstrap
approach was successfully implemented and tested. The sensor
images are firstly split by a Bayesian segmentation method to
determine a joint region map for the fused image. Then, we use the
EM algorithm in conjunction with the Bootstrap approach to develop
the bootstrap EM fusion algorithm, hence producing the fused
targeted image. We proposed in this research to estimate the
statistical parameters from some iterative equations of the EM
algorithm relying on a reference of representative Bootstrap samples
of images. Sizes of those samples are determined from a new
criterion called 'hybrid criterion'. Consequently, the obtained results
of our work show that using the Bootstrap EM (BEM) in image
fusion improve performances of estimated parameters which involve
amelioration of the fused image quality; and reduce the computing
time during the fusion process.
Abstract: Abstract— The paper presents a preliminary study on modeling and estimation of basic wind speed ( extreme wind gusts ) for the consideration of vulnerability and design of building in Ayeyarwady Region. The establishment of appropriate design wind speeds is a critical step towards the calculation of design wind loads for structures. In this paper the extreme value analysis of this prediction work is based on the anemometer data (1970-2009) maintained by the department of meteorology and hydrology of Pathein. Statistical and probabilistic approaches are used to derive formulas for estimating 3-second gusts from recorded data (10-minute sustained mean wind speeds).