Abstract: The paper structures research approaches to the crisis
and its management. It focuses on approaches – psychological,
sociological, economic, ethical and technological. Furthermore, it
describes the basic features of models chosen according to those
approaches. By their comparison it shows how the crisis influences
organizations and individuals, and their mutual interaction.
Abstract: Scheduling algorithm is a key technology in satellite
switching system with input-buffer. In this paper, a new scheduling
algorithm and its realization are proposed. Based on Crossbar
switching fabric, the algorithm adopts serial scheduling strategy and
adjusts the output port arbitrating strategy for the better equity of every
port. Consequently, it increases the matching probability. The
algorithm can greatly reduce the scheduling delay and cell loss rate.
The analysis and simulation results by OPNET show that the proposed
algorithm has the better performance than others in average delay and
cell loss rate, and has the equivalent complexity. On the basis of these
results, the hardware realization and simulation based on FPGA are
completed, which validate the feasibility of the new scheduling
algorithm.
Abstract: Library management systems are commonly used in
all educational related institutes. Many commercial products are
available. However, many institutions may not be able to afford the
cost of using commercial products. Therefore, an alternative solution
in such situations would be open source software. This paper is
focusing on reviewing open source library management system
packages currently available. The review will focus on the abilities to
perform four basic components which are traditional services,
interlibrary load management, managing electronic materials and
basic common management system such as security, alert system and
statistical reports. In addition, environment, basic requirement and
supporting aspects of each open source package are also mentioned.
Abstract: The primary objective of this research is to improve the flexural capacity of FRP strengthened RC Beam structures with Aluminum and Titanium laminates. FRP rupture of flexural strengthened RC beams using FRP plates generally occurs at the interface between FRP plate and the beam. Therefore, in order to prevent brittle rupture and improve the ductility of the system, this research was performed by using Aluminum and Titanium materials between the two different structural systems. The research also aims to provide various strengthening/retrofitting methods for RC beam structures and to conduct a preliminary analysis of the demands on the structural systems. This was achieved by estimation using the experimental data from this research to identify a flexural capacity for the systems. Ultimately, the preliminary analysis of current study showed that the flexural capacity and system demand ductility was significantly improved by the systems inserted with Aluminum and Titanium anchor plates. Further verification of the experimental research is currently on its way to develop a new or reliable design guideline to retrofit/strengthen the concrete-FRP structural system can be evaluated.
Abstract: To improve the dynamics response of the vehicle
passive suspension, a two-terminal mass is suggested to connect in
parallel with the suspension strut. Three performance criteria, tire grip,
ride comfort and suspension deflection, are taken into consideration to
optimize the suspension parameters. However, the three criteria are
conflicting and non-commensurable. For this reason, the Chebyshev
goal programming method is applied to find the best tradeoff among
the three objectives. A simulation case is presented to describe the
multi-objective optimization procedure. For comparison, the
Chebyshev method is also employed to optimize the design of a
conventional passive suspension. The effectiveness of the proposed
design method has been clearly demonstrated by the result. It is also
shown that the suspension with a two-terminal mass in parallel has
better performance in terms of the three objectives.
Abstract: In this paper, the authors present architecture of a multi agent consultation system for obesity related problems, which hybrid the technology of an expert system (ES) and an intelligent agent (IA). The strength of the ES which is capable of pulling the expert knowledge is consulted and presented to the end user via the autonomous and friendly pushing environment of the intelligent agent.
Abstract: This paper presents a review of an 8-year study on radiation effects in commercial memory devices operating within the main on-board computer system OBC386 of the Algerian microsatellite Alsat-1. A statistical analysis of single-event upset (SEU) and multiple-bit upset (MBU) activity in these commercial memories shows that the typical SEU rate at alsat-1's orbit is 4.04 × 10-7 SEU/bit/day, where 98.6% of these SEUs cause single-bit errors, 1.22% cause double-byte errors, and the remaining SEUs result in multiple-bit and severe errors.
Abstract: The floating body effect is a serious problem for the
PDSOI MOSFET, and the H-gate layout is frequently used as the body contact to eliminate this effect. Unfortunately, most of the standard commercial SOI MOSFET model is for the device with finger gate, the
necessity of the new models for the H-gate device arises. A simulation
model for the H-gate PDSOI MOSFET is proposed based on the 0.35μm PDSOI process developed by the Institute of Microelectronics
of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMECAS), and then the model is well verified by the ring-oscillator.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to study the internal
stabilization of the Bernoulli-Euler equation numerically. For this,
we consider a square plate subjected to a feedback/damping force
distributed only in a subdomain. An algorithm for obtaining an
approximate solution to this problem was proposed and implemented.
The numerical method used was the Finite Difference Method.
Numerical simulations were performed and showed the behavior of
the solution, confirming the theoretical results that have already been
proved in the literature. In addition, we studied the validation of the
numerical scheme proposed, followed by an analysis of the numerical
error; and we conducted a study on the decay of the energy associated.
Abstract: The Ni/α-Al2O3 catalysts with different amounts of La
as promoter from 0 to 4 wt % were prepared, characterized and their
catalytic activity was investigated in syngas methanation reaction.
Effects of reaction temperature and lanthanum loading on carbon
oxides conversion and methane selectivity were also studied. Adding
certain amount of lanthanum to 10Ni /α-Al2O3 catalysts can decrease
the average NiO crystallite diameter which leads to higher activity and
stability while excessive addition would cause deactivation quickly.
Stability on stream towards deactivation was observed up to 800 min
at 500 °C, 0.1MPa and 600000 mL·g-1·h-1.
Abstract: Mobile WiMAX is a broadband wireless solution that
enables convergence of mobile and fixed broadband networks
through a common wide area broadband radio access technology and
flexible network architecture. It adopts Orthogonal Frequency
Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) for improved multi-path
performance in Non-Line-Of-Sight (NLOS) environments. Scalable
OFDMA (SOFDMA) is introduced in the IEEE 802e[1]. WIMAX
system uses one of different types of channel coding but The
mandatory channel coding scheme is based on binary nonrecursive
Convolutional Coding (CC). There are other several optional channel
coding schemes such as block turbo codes, convolutional turbo
codes, and low density parity check (LDPC).
In this paper a comparison between the performance of WIMAX
using turbo code and using convolutional product code (CPC) [2] is
made. Also a combination between them had been done. The CPC
gives good results at different SNR values compared to both the
turbo system, and the combination between them. For example, at
BER equal to 10-2 for 128 subcarriers, the amount of improvement
in SNR equals approximately 3 dB higher than turbo code and equals
approximately 2dB higher than the combination respectively. Several
results are obtained at different modulating schemes (16QAM and
64QAM) and different numbers of sub-carriers (128 and 512).
Abstract: The objective of this study is to evaluate the threshold
stress of the clay with sand subgrade soil. Threshold stress can be
defined as the stress level above which cyclic loading leads to
excessive deformation and eventual failure. The thickness
determination of highways formations using the threshold stress
approach is a more realistic assessment of the soil behaviour because
it is subjected to repeated loadings from moving vehicles. Threshold
stress can be evaluated by plastic strain criterion, which is based on
the accumulated plastic strain behaviour during cyclic loadings [1].
Several conditions of the all-round pressure the subgrade soil namely,
zero confinement, low all-round pressure and high all-round pressure
are investigated. The threshold stresses of various soil conditions are
determined. Threshold stress of the soil are 60%, 31% and 38.6% for
unconfined partially saturated sample, low effective stress saturated
sample, high effective stress saturated sample respectively.
Abstract: Region covariance (RC) descriptor is an effective
and efficient feature for visual tracking. Current RC-based tracking
algorithms use the whole RC matrix to track the target in video
directly. However, there exist some issues for these whole RCbased
algorithms. If some features are contaminated, the whole RC
will become unreliable, which results in lost object-tracking. In
addition, if some features are very discriminative to the
background, other features are still processed and thus reduce the
efficiency. In this paper a new robust tracking method is proposed,
in which the whole RC matrix is decomposed into several low rank
matrices. Those matrices are dynamically chosen and processed so
as to achieve a good tradeoff between discriminability and
complexity. Experimental results have shown that our method is
more robust to complex environment changes, especially either
when occlusion happens or when the background is similar to the
target compared to other RC-based methods.
Abstract: Steganography, derived from Greek, literally means
“covered writing". It includes a vast array of secret communications
methods that conceal the message-s very existence. These methods
include invisible inks, microdots, character arrangement, digital
signatures, covert channels, and spread spectrum communications.
This paper proposes a new improved version of Least Significant Bit
(LSB) method. The approach proposed is simple for implementation
when compared to Pixel value Differencing (PVD) method and yet
achieves a High embedding capacity and imperceptibility. The
proposed method can also be applied to 24 bit color images and
achieve embedding capacity much higher than PVD.
Abstract: In this paper we study the resource allocation problem
for an OFDMA based cooperative two-way relaying (TWR) network.
We focus on amplify and forward (AF) analog network coding
(ANC) protocol. An optimization problem for two basic resources
namely, sub-carrier and power is formulated for multi-user TWR
networks. A joint optimal optimization problem is investigated and
two-step low complexity sub-optimal resource allocation algorithm is
proposed for multi-user TWR networks with ANC protocol. The
proposed algorithm has been evaluated in term of total achievable
system sum-rate and achievable individual sum-rate for each userpair.
The good tradeoff between system sum-rate and fairness is
observed in the two-step proportional resource allocation scheme.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose a novel fast search algorithm for short MPEG video clips from video database. This algorithm is based on the adjacent pixel intensity difference quantization (APIDQ) algorithm, which had been reliably applied to human face recognition previously. An APIDQ histogram is utilized as the feature vector of the frame image. Instead of fully decompressed video frames, partially decoded data, namely DC images are utilized. Combined with active search [4], a temporal pruning algorithm, fast and robust video search can be realized. The proposed search algorithm has been evaluated by 6 hours of video to search for given 200 MPEG video clips which each length is 15 seconds. Experimental results show the proposed algorithm can detect the similar video clip in merely 80ms, and Equal Error Rate (ERR) of 3 % is achieved, which is more accurately and robust than conventional fast video search algorithm.
Abstract: In this paper the effect of faults in the elements and
parts of discrete event systems is investigated. In the occurrence of
faults, some states of the system must be changed and some of them
must be forbidden. For this goal, different states of these elements are
examined and a model for fail-safe behavior of each state is
introduced. Replacing new models of the target elements in the
preliminary model by a systematic method, leads to a fail-safe
discrete event system.
Abstract: Biogas, a clean renewable energy, is attracting a growing
concern of researchers and professionals in many fields. Based
on the natural and climatic conditions in semi-arid regions of northwestern
China, the present study introduces a specifically-designed
family-size biogas plant (with a digester of 10m3) with manure
and urine of animals and humanity as raw materials. The biogas
plant is applicable to areas with altitudes of more than 2000 meters
in northwestern China. In addition to the installation cost, a little
operational expenditure, structure, characteristics, benefits of this
small-scale biogas plant, this article introduces a wide range of
specific popularization methods such as training, financial support,
guided tour to the biogas plant, community-based group study and
delivery of operational manuals. The feasibility of the biogas plant is
explored on the basis of the availability of the raw materials. Simple
operations contained in the current work increase the possibility of
the wide use of this small-scale biogas plant in similar regions of the
world.
Abstract: The characteristic bending strength (MOR) and mean
modulus of elasticity (MOE) of tropical hardwood red seraya (Shorea
spp.) plywood were determined using European Standard EN310 and
EN789. The thickness of the test specimen was 4.0mm, 7.0mm,
9.0mm, 12.0mm and 15.0mm. The experiment found that the MOR
of red seraya plywood in EN310 is about 12% to 20% and 7% to
24% higher than EN789 whereas MOE were about 28% to 41% and
30% to 36% lower than those obtained from EN 789 for test
specimens parallel and perpendicular to the grain direction. The
linear regression shows that MOR and MOE for EN789 is about 0.8
times less and 1.5 times more than EN310. The experiment also
found that the MOR and MOE of EN310 and EN789 also depend on
the wood species that used in the experiment.
Abstract: Motion control of flexible arms is more difficult than
that of rigid arms, however utilizing its dynamics enables improved
performance such as a fast motion in short operation time. This paper
investigates a ball throwing robot with one rigid link and one flexible
link. This robot throws a ball at a set speed with a proper control torque.
A mathematical model of this ball throwing robot is derived through
Hamilton’s principle. Several patterns of torque input are designed and
tested through the proposed simulation models. The parameters of
each torque input pattern is optimized and determined by chaos
embedded vector evaluated particle swarm optimization (CEVEPSO).
Then, the residual vibration of the manipulator after throwing is
suppressed with input shaping technique. Finally, a real experiment is
set up for the model checking.