Abstract: The hydro-mechanical model for unsaturated soils has
been presented based on the effective stress principle taking into
account effects of drying-wetting process. The elasto-plastic
constitutive equations for stress-strain relations of the soil skeleton
have been established. A plasticity model is modified from modified
Cam-Clay model. The hardening rule has been established by
considering the isotropic consolidation paths. The effect of dryingwetting
process is introduced through the ¤ç parameter. All model
coefficients are identified in terms of measurable parameters. The
simulations from the proposed model are compared with the
experimental results. The model calibration was performed to extract
the model parameter from the experimental results. Good agreement
between the results predicted using proposed model and the
experimental results was obtained.
Abstract: In this paper, the processing of sonar signals has been
carried out using Minimal Resource Allocation Network (MRAN)
and a Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN) in differentiation of
commonly encountered features in indoor environments. The
stability-plasticity behaviors of both networks have been
investigated. The experimental result shows that MRAN possesses
lower network complexity but experiences higher plasticity than
PNN. An enhanced version called parallel MRAN (pMRAN) is
proposed to solve this problem and is proven to be stable in
prediction and also outperformed the original MRAN.
Abstract: Unlike general-purpose processors, digital signal
processors (DSP processors) are strongly application-dependent. To
meet the needs for diverse applications, a wide variety of DSP
processors based on different architectures ranging from the
traditional to VLIW have been introduced to the market over the
years. The functionality, performance, and cost of these processors
vary over a wide range. In order to select a processor that meets the
design criteria for an application, processor performance is usually
the major concern for digital signal processing (DSP) application
developers. Performance data are also essential for the designers of
DSP processors to improve their design. Consequently, several DSP
performance benchmarks have been proposed over the past decade or
so. However, none of these benchmarks seem to have included recent
new DSP applications.
In this paper, we use a new benchmark that we recently developed
to compare the performance of popular DSP processors from Texas
Instruments and StarCore. The new benchmark is based on the
Selectable Mode Vocoder (SMV), a speech-coding program from the
recent third generation (3G) wireless voice applications. All
benchmark kernels are compiled by the compilers of the respective
DSP processors and run on their simulators. Weighted arithmetic
mean of clock cycles and arithmetic mean of code size are used to
compare the performance of five DSP processors.
In addition, we studied how the performance of a processor is
affected by code structure, features of processor architecture and
optimization of compiler. The extensive experimental data gathered,
analyzed, and presented in this paper should be helpful for DSP
processor and compiler designers to meet their specific design goals.
Abstract: Based on the standard finite element method, a new
finite element method which is known as nonlocal finite element
method (NL-FEM) is numerically implemented in this article to
study the nonlocal effects for solving 1D nonlocal elastic problem.
An Eringen-type nonlocal elastic model is considered. In this model,
the constitutive stress-strain law is expressed interms of integral
equation which governs the nonlocal material behavior. The new
NL-FEM is adopted in such a way that the postulated nonlocal elastic
behavior of material is captured by a finite element endowed with a
set of (cross-stiffness) element itself by the other elements in mesh.
An example with their analytical solutions and the relevant numerical
findings for various load and boundary conditions are presented and
discussed in details. It is observed from the numerical solutions that
the torsional deformation angle decreases with increasing nonlocal
nanoscale parameter. It is also noted that the analytical solution fails
to capture the nonlocal effect in some cases where numerical
solutions handle those situation effectively which prove the
reliability and effectiveness of numerical techniques.
Abstract: Artemia is one of the most conspicuous invertebrates
associated with aquaculture. It can be considered as a model
organism, offering numerous advantages for comprehensive and
multidisciplinary studies using morphologic or molecular methods.
Since DNA extraction is an important step of any molecular
experiment, a new and a rapid method of DNA extraction from adult
Artemia was described in this study. Besides, the efficiency of this
technique was compared with two widely used alternative techniques,
namely Chelex® 100 resin and SDS-chloroform methods. Data
analysis revealed that the new method is the easiest and the most cost
effective method among the other methods which allows a quick and
efficient extraction of DNA from the adult animal.
Abstract: This paper is devoted to a delayed periodic predatorprey system with non-monotonic numerical response on time scales. With the help of a continuation theorem based on coincidence degree theory, we establish easily verifiable criteria for the existence of multiple periodic solutions. As corollaries, some applications are listed. In particular, our results improve and generalize some known ones.
Abstract: Dengue, a disease found in most tropical and
subtropical areas of the world. It has become the most common
arboviral disease of humans. This disease is caused by any of four
serotypes of dengue virus (DEN1-DEN4). In many endemic
countries, the average age of getting dengue infection is shifting
upwards, dengue in pregnancy and infancy are likely to be
encountered more frequently. The dynamics of the disease is studied
by a compartmental model involving ordinary differential equations
for the pregnant, infant human and the vector populations. The
stability of each equilibrium point is given. The epidemic dynamic is
discussed. Moreover, the numerical results are shown for difference
values of dengue antibody.
Abstract: Calcium is very important for communication among
the neurons. It is vital in a number of cell processes such as secretion,
cell movement, cell differentiation. To reduce the system of reactiondiffusion
equations of [Ca2+] into a single equation, two theories
have been proposed one is excess buffer approximation (EBA) other
is rapid buffer approximation (RBA). The RBA is more realistic than
the EBA as it considers both the mobile and stationary endogenous
buffers. It is valid near the mouth of the channel. In this work we have
studied the effects of different types of buffers on calcium diffusion
under RBA. The novel thing studied is the effect of sodium ions on
calcium diffusion. The model has been made realistic by considering
factors such as variable [Ca2+], [Na+] sources, sodium-calcium
exchange protein(NCX), Sarcolemmal Calcium ATPase pump. The
proposed mathematical leads to a system of partial differential equations
which has been solved numerically to study the relationships
between different parameters such as buffer concentration, buffer
disassociation rate, calcium permeability. We have used Forward
Time Centred Space (FTCS) approach to solve the system of partial
differential equations.
Abstract: The present research was focused to investigate the
role of investment in the course of economic growth with reference to
Pakistan. The study analyzed the role of the public and private
investment and impact of the political and macroeconomic
uncertainty on economic growth of Pakistan by using the vector
autoregressive approach (VAR). In long-run both public and private
investment showed a positive impact on economic growth but the
growth was largely driven by private investment as compared to
public investment. Government consumption expenditure, economic
uncertainty and political instability hampered the economic growth of
Pakistan. In short-run the private investment positively influences the
growth but there was negative and insignificant effect of the public
investment and government consumption expenditure on the growth.
There was a positive relationship found between economic
uncertainty (proxy for inflation) and GDP in short run.
Abstract: A feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effect
of periodically use of garlic on performance and carcass
characteristics in broiler chickens. 240 1-day-old Ross broiler chicks
randomly allocated into the 10 dietary treatments (A, B, C, D, E, F,
G, H, I and J) for 6 wk. Treatment A or control group, received basal
diet (based on standards of Ross management guidelines) without
supplementation of garlic powder while B, C and D dietary
treatments were basal diet supplemented with 0.5, 1 and 3% garlic
powder, respectively for the whole time of experiment (6 weeks).
Birds in group E, F and G were fed control diet supplemented with
0.5, 1 and 3% garlic powder, respectively just in their starter diet (0-
21d). Birds in three other treatments (H, I and J) received control diet
for the first 21 days and 0.5, 1 and 3% of garlic powder was added to
their finisher diets, respectively. 1 and 3% supplemented groups in
finisher period had better performance as compared with other
groups. Since present study conducted in optimum and antiseptic
conditions, it seems that better or more responses could be expected
in performance if the raising conditions would not be healthy.
Abstract: Geographic Profiling has successfully assisted investigations for serial crimes. Considering the multi-cluster feature of serial criminal spots, we propose a Multi-point Centrography model as a natural extension of Single-point Centrography for geographic profiling. K-means clustering is first performed on the data samples and then Single-point Centrography is adopted to derive a probability distribution on each cluster. Finally, a weighted combinations of each distribution is formed to make next-crime spot prediction. Experimental study on real cases demonstrates the effectiveness of our proposed model.
Abstract: The objective of this work was to examine the changes
in non destructive properties caused by carbonation of CEM II
mortar. Samples of CEM II mortar were prepared and subjected to
accelerated carbonation at 20°C, 65% relative humidity and 20% CO2
concentration. We examined the evolutions of the gas permeability,
the thermal conductivity, the thermal diffusivity, the volume of the
solid phase by helium pycnometry, the longitudinal and transverse
ultrasonic velocities. The principal contribution of this work is that,
apart of the gas permeability, changes in other non destructive
properties have never been studied during the carbonation of cement
materials. These properties are important in predicting/measuring the
durability of reinforced concrete in CO2 environment. The
carbonation depth and the porosity accessible to water were also
reported in order to explain comprehensively the changes in non
destructive parameters.
Abstract: Real options theory suggests that managerial flexibility embedded within irreversible investments can account for a significant value in project valuation. Although the argument has become the dominant focus of capital investment theory over decades, yet recent survey literature in capital budgeting indicates that corporate practitioners still do not explicitly apply real options in investment decisions. In this paper, we explore how real options decision criteria can be transformed into equivalent capital budgeting criteria under the consideration of uncertainty, assuming that underlying stochastic process follows a geometric Brownian motion (GBM), a mixed diffusion-jump (MX), or a mean-reverting process (MR). These equivalent valuation techniques can be readily decomposed into conventional investment rules and “option impacts", the latter of which describe the impacts on optimal investment rules with the option value considered. Based on numerical analysis and Monte Carlo simulation, three major findings are derived. First, it is shown that real options could be successfully integrated into the mindset of conventional capital budgeting. Second, the inclusion of option impacts tends to delay investment. It is indicated that the delay effect is the most significant under a GBM process and the least significant under a MR process. Third, it is optimal to adopt the new capital budgeting criteria in investment decision-making and adopting a suboptimal investment rule without considering real options could lead to a substantial loss in value.
Abstract: This paper presents an environmental and technoeconomic
evaluation of light duty vehicles in Iran. A comprehensive
well-to-wheel (WTW) analysis is applied to compare different
automotive fuel chains, conventional internal combustion engines and
innovative vehicle powertrains. The study examines the
competitiveness of 15 various pathways in terms of energy
efficiencies, GHG emissions, and levelized cost of different energy
carriers. The results indicate that electric vehicles including battery
electric vehicles (BEV), fuel cell vehicles (FCV) and plug-in hybrid
electric vehicles (PHEV) increase the WTW energy efficiency by
54%, 51% and 46%, respectively, compared to common internal
combustion engines powered by gasoline. On the other hand,
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per kilometer of FCV and BEV
would be 48% lower than that of gasoline engines. It is concluded
that BEV has the lowest total cost of energy consumption and
external cost of emission, followed by internal combustion engines
(ICE) fueled by CNG. Conventional internal combustion engines
fueled by gasoline, on the other hand, would have the highest costs.
Abstract: Eye localization is necessary for face recognition and
related application areas. Most of eye localization algorithms reported
so far still need to be improved about precision and computational
time for successful applications. In this paper, we propose an eye
location method based on multi-scale Gabor feature vectors, which is
more robust with respect to initial points. The eye localization based
on Gabor feature vectors first needs to constructs an Eye Model Bunch
for each eye (left or right eye) which consists of n Gabor jets and
average eye coordinates of each eyes obtained from n model face
images, and then tries to localize eyes in an incoming face image by
utilizing the fact that the true eye coordinates is most likely to be very
close to the position where the Gabor jet will have the best Gabor jet
similarity matching with a Gabor jet in the Eye Model Bunch. Similar
ideas have been already proposed in such as EBGM (Elastic Bunch
Graph Matching). However, the method used in EBGM is known to be
not robust with respect to initial values and may need extensive search
range for achieving the required performance, but extensive search
ranges will cause much more computational burden. In this paper, we
propose a multi-scale approach with a little increased computational
burden where one first tries to localize eyes based on Gabor feature
vectors in a coarse face image obtained from down sampling of the
original face image, and then localize eyes based on Gabor feature
vectors in the original resolution face image by using the eye
coordinates localized in the coarse scaled image as initial points.
Several experiments and comparisons with other eye localization
methods reported in the other papers show the efficiency of our
proposed method.
Abstract: Radio frequency identification (RFID) applications have grown rapidly in many industries, especially in indoor location identification. The advantage of using received signal strength indicator (RSSI) values as an indoor location measurement method is a cost-effective approach without installing extra hardware. Because the accuracy of many positioning schemes using RSSI values is limited by interference factors and the environment, thus it is challenging to use RFID location techniques based on integrating positioning algorithm design. This study proposes the location estimation approach and analyzes a scheme relying on RSSI values to minimize location errors. In addition, this paper examines different factors that affect location accuracy by integrating the backpropagation neural network (BPN) with the LANDMARC algorithm in a training phase and an online phase. First, the training phase computes coordinates obtained from the LANDMARC algorithm, which uses RSSI values and the real coordinates of reference tags as training data for constructing an appropriate BPN architecture and training length. Second, in the online phase, the LANDMARC algorithm calculates the coordinates of tracking tags, which are then used as BPN inputs to obtain location estimates. The results show that the proposed scheme can estimate locations more accurately compared to LANDMARC without extra devices.
Abstract: Attempts to add fibre and polyphenols (PPs) into
popular beverages present challenges related to the properties of
finished products such as smoothies. Consumer acceptability,
viscosity and phenolic composition of smoothies containing high
levels of fruit fibre (2.5-7.5 g per 300 mL serve) and PPs (250-750
mg per 300 mL serve) were examined. The changes in total
extractable PP, vitamin C content, and colour of selected smoothies
over a storage stability trial (4°C, 14 days) were compared. A set of
acidic aqueous model beverages were prepared to further examine
the effect of two different heat treatments on the stability and
extractability of PPs. Results show that overall consumer
acceptability of high fibre and PP smoothies was low, with average
hedonic scores ranging from 3.9 to 6.4 (on a 1-9 scale). Flavour,
texture and overall acceptability decreased as fibre and polyphenol
contents increased, with fibre content exerting a stronger effect.
Higher fibre content resulted in greater viscosity, with an elevated PP
content increasing viscosity only slightly. The presence of fibre also
aided the stability and extractability of PPs after heating. A reduction
of extractable PPs, vitamin C content and colour intensity of
smoothies was observed after a 14-day storage period at 4°C. Two
heat treatments (75°C for 45 min or 85°C for 1 min) that are
normally used for beverage production, did not cause significant
reduction of total extracted PPs. It is clear that high levels of added
fibre and PPs greatly influence the consumer appeal of smoothies,
suggesting the need to develop novel formulation and processing
methods if a satisfactory functional beverage is to be developed
incorporating these ingredients.
Abstract: World population growth drives food demand, promotes intensification of agriculture, development of new production technologies and varieties more suitable for regional nature conditions. Climate change can affect the length of growing period, biomass and carbon accumulation in winter wheat. The increasing mean air temperature resulting from climate change can reduce the length of growth period of cereals, and without adequate adjustments in growing technologies or varieties, can reduce biomass and carbon accumulation. Deeper understanding and effective measures for monitoring and management of cereal growth process are needed for adaptation to changing climate and technological conditions.
Abstract: Wikis are considered to be part of Web 2.0
technologies that potentially support collaborative learning and
writing. Wikis provide opportunities for multiple users to work on
the same document simultaneously. Most wikis have also a page for
written group discussion. Nevertheless, wikis may be used in
different ways depending on the pedagogy being used, and the
constraints imposed by the course design. This work explores
students- uses of wiki in teacher education. The analysis is based on a
taxonomy for classifying students- activities and actions carried out
on the wiki. The article also discusses the implications for using
wikis as collaborative writing tools in teacher education.
Abstract: Nowadays Multilevel inverters are widely using in various applications. Modulation strategy at fundamental switching frequency like, SHEPWM is prominent technique to eliminate lower order of harmonics with less switching losses and better harmonic profile. The equations which are formed by SHE are highly nonlinear transcendental in nature, there may exist single, multiple or even no solutions for a particular MI. However, some loads such as electrical drives, it is required to operate in whole range of MI. In order to solve SHE equations for whole range of MI, intelligent techniques are well suited to solve equations so as to produce lest %THDV. Hence, this paper uses Continuous genetic algorithm for minimising harmonics. This paper also presents wavelet based analysis of harmonics. The developed algorithm is simulated and %THD from FFT analysis and Wavelet analysis are compared. MATLAB programming environment and SIMULINK models are used whenever necessary.