Abstract: This article presents a current-mode universal biquadratic filter. The proposed circuit can apparently provide standard functions of the biquad filter: low-pass, high-pass, bandpass, band-reject and all-pass functions. The circuit uses 4 current controlled transconductance amplifiers (CCTAs) and 2 grounded capacitors. In addition, the pole frequency and quality factor can be adjusted by electronic method by adjusting the bias currents of the CCTA. The proposed circuit uses only grounded capacitors without additional external resistors, the proposed circuit is considerably appropriate to further developing into an integrated circuit. The results of PSPICE simulation program are corresponding to the theoretical analysis.
Abstract: Software metric is a measure of some property of a
piece of software or its specification. The aim of this paper is to
present an application of evolutionary decision trees in software
engineering in order to classify the software modules that have or
have not one or more reported defects. For this some metrics are used
for detecting the class of modules with defects or without defects.
Abstract: This study aims to conduct a preliminary investigation to determine the topic to be focused in developing Virtual Laboratory For Biology (VLab-Bio). Samples involved in answering the questionnaire are form five students (equivalent to A-Level) and biology teachers. Time and economical resources for the setting up and construction of scientific laboratories can be solved with the adaptation of virtual laboratories as an educational tool. Thus, it is hoped that the proposed virtual laboratory will help students to learn the abstract concepts in biology. Findings show that the difficult topic chosen is Cell Division and the learning objective to be focused in developing the virtual lab is “Describe the application of knowledge on mitosis in cloning".
Abstract: Avoidable unscheduled maintenance events and unnecessary
spare parts deliveries are mostly caused by an incorrect choice
of the underlying maintenance strategy. For a faster and more efficient
supply of spare parts for aircrafts of an airline we examine options for
improving the underlying logistics network integrated in an existing
aviation industry network. This paper presents a dynamic prediction
model as decision support for maintenance method selection considering
requirements of an entire flight network. The objective is
to guarantee a high supply of spare parts by an optimal interaction
of various network levels and thus to reduce unscheduled maintenance
events and minimize total costs. By using a prognostics-based
preventive maintenance strategy unscheduled component failures are
avoided for an increase in availability and reliability of the entire
system. The model is intended for use in an aviation company that
utilizes a structured planning process based on collected failures data
of components.
Abstract: Bond Graph as a unified multidisciplinary tool is widely
used not only for dynamic modelling but also for Fault Detection and
Isolation because of its structural and causal proprieties. A binary
Fault Signature Matrix is systematically generated but to make the
final binary decision is not always feasible because of the problems
revealed by such method. The purpose of this paper is introducing a
methodology for the improvement of the classical binary method of
decision-making, so that the unknown and identical failure signatures
can be treated to improve the robustness. This approach consists of
associating the evaluated residuals and the components reliability data
to build a Hybrid Bayesian Network. This network is used in two
distinct inference procedures: one for the continuous part and the
other for the discrete part. The continuous nodes of the network are
the prior probabilities of the components failures, which are used by
the inference procedure on the discrete part to compute the posterior
probabilities of the failures. The developed methodology is applied
to a real steam generator pilot process.
Abstract: Eight heavy metals (Cu, Cr, Zn, Hg, Pb, Cd, Ni and As) were analyzed in sediment samples in the dry and wet seasons from November 2009 to October 2010 in West Port of Peninsular Malaysia. The heavy metal concentrations (mg/kg dry weight) were ranged from 23.4 to 98.3 for Zn, 22.3 to 80 for Pb, 7.4 to 27.6 Cu, 0.244 to 3.53 for Cd, 7.2 to 22.2 for Ni, 20.2 to 162 for As, 0.11 to 0.409 for Hg and 11.5 to 61.5 for Cr. Metals concentrations in dry season were higher than the rainy season except in cupper and chromium. Analysis of variance with Statistical Analysis System (SAS) shows that the mean concentration of metals in the two seasons (α level=0.05) are not significantly different which shows that the metals were held firmly in the matrix of sediment. Also there are significant differences between control point station with other stations. According to the Interim Sediment Quality guidelines (ISQG), the metal concentrations are moderately polluted, except in arsenic which shows the highest level of pollution.
Abstract: Legionella pneumophila is involved in more than 95%
cases of severe atypical pneumonia. Infection is mainly by
inhalation the indoor aerosols through the water-coolant systems.
Because some Legionella strains may be viable but not culturable,
therefore, Taq polymerase, DNA amplification and semi-nested-PCR
were carried out to detect Legionella-specific 16S-rDNA sequence.
For this purpose, 1.5 litter of water samples from 77 water-coolant
system were collected from four different hospitals, two nursing
homes and one student hostel in Kerman city of Iran, each in a brand
new plastic bottle during summer season of 2006 (from April to
August). The samples were filtered in the sterile condition through
the Millipore Membrane Filter. DNA was extracted from membrane
and used for PCR to detect Legionella spp. The PCR product was
then subjected to semi-nested PCR for detection of L. pneumophila.
Out of 77 water samples that were tested by PCR, 30 (39%) were
positive for most species of Legionella. However, L. pneumophila
was detected from 14 (18.2%) water samples by semi-nested PCR.
From the above results it can be concluded that water coolant
systems of different hospitals and nursing homes in Kerman city of
Iran are highly contaminated with L. pneumophila spp. and pose
serious concern. So, we recommend avoiding such type of coolant
system in the hospitals and nursing homes.
Abstract: Cantilever L-shaped walls are known to be relatively economical as retaining solution. The design starts by proportioning the wall dimensions for which the stability is checked for. A ratio between the lengths of the base and the stem, falling between 0.5 to 0.7 ensure in most case the stability requirements, however, the displacement pattern of the wall in terms of rotations and translations, and the lateral pressure profile, do not have the same figure for all wall’s proportioning, as it is usually assumed. In the present work the results of a numerical analysis are presented, different wall geometries were considered. The results show that the proportioning governs the equilibrium between the instantaneous rotation and the translation of the wall-toe, also, the lateral pressure estimation based on the average value between the at-rest and the active pressure, recommended by most design standards, is found to be not applicable for all walls.
Abstract: Fuzzy Load forecasting plays a paramount role in the operation and management of power systems. Accurate estimation of future power demands for various lead times facilitates the task of generating power reliably and economically. The forecasting of future loads for a relatively large lead time (months to few years) is studied here (long term load forecasting). Among the various techniques used in forecasting load, artificial intelligence techniques provide greater accuracy to the forecasts as compared to conventional techniques. Fuzzy Logic, a very robust artificial intelligent technique, is described in this paper to forecast load on long term basis. The paper gives a general algorithm to forecast long term load. The algorithm is an Extension of Short term load forecasting method to Long term load forecasting and concentrates not only on the forecast values of load but also on the errors incorporated into the forecast. Hence, by correcting the errors in the forecast, forecasts with very high accuracy have been achieved. The algorithm, in the paper, is demonstrated with the help of data collected for residential sector (LT2 (a) type load: Domestic consumers). Load, is determined for three consecutive years (from April-06 to March-09) in order to demonstrate the efficiency of the algorithm and to forecast for the next two years (from April-09 to March-11).
Abstract: The article touches upon questions of information security in Russian Economy. It covers theoretical bases of information security and causes of its development. The theory is proved by the analysis of business activities and the main tendencies of information security development. Perm region has been chosen as the bases for the analysis, being the fastestdeveloping region that uses methods of information security in managing it economy. As a result of the study the authors of the given article have formulated their own vision of the problem of information security in various branches of economy and stated prospects of information security development and its growing role in Russian economy
Abstract: The paper investigates the feasibility of constructing a software multi-agent based monitoring and classification system and utilizing it to provide an automated and accurate classification of end users developing applications in the spreadsheet domain. The agents function autonomously to provide continuous and periodic monitoring of excels spreadsheet workbooks. Resulting in, the development of the MultiAgent classification System (MACS) that is in compliance with the specifications of the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA). However, different technologies have been brought together to build MACS. The strength of the system is the integration of the agent technology with the FIPA specifications together with other technologies that are Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) services, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), and Oracle Data Mining (ODM). The Microsoft's .NET widows service based agents were utilized to develop the monitoring agents of MACS, the .NET WCF services together with SOA approach allowed the distribution and communication between agents over the WWW that is in order to satisfy the monitoring and classification of the multiple developer aspect. ODM was used to automate the classification phase of MACS.
Abstract: In built-up structures, one of the effective ways of
dissipating unwanted vibration is to exploit the occurrence of slip at
the interfaces of structural laminates. The present work focuses on
the dynamic analysis of welded structures. A mathematical
formulation has been developed for the mechanism of slip damping
in layered and welded mild steel beams with unequal thickness
subjected to both periodic and non-periodic forces. It is observed that
a number of vital parameters such as; thickness ratio, pressure
distribution characteristics, relative slip and kinematic co-efficient of
friction at the interfaces, nature of exciting forces, length and
thickness of the beam specimen govern the damping characteristics of
these structures. Experimental verification has been carried out to
validate the analysis and study the effect of these parameters. The
developed damping model for the structure is found to be in fairly
good agreement with the measured data. Finally, the results of the
analysis are discussed and rationalized.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to research on thoughts transmitted from virtual fitting-room and to deduce discussion in an auxiliary narrative way. The research structure is based on 3D virtual fitting-room as the research subject. Initially, we will discuss the principles of narrate study, User Demand and so on by using a narrative design pattern to transmit their objective indications of “people-situation-reason-object", etc, and then to analyze the virtual fitting-room examples that are able to provide a new thinking for designers who engaged in clothing related industry – which comes in “story telling" and “user-centered design" forms. Clothing designs are not just to cover up the body to keep warm but to draw closer to people-s demand physiologically and psychologically through interactive designs so as to achieve cognition between people and environment. In the “outside" goal of clothing-s functional designs, we use tribal group-s behavior characteristics to “transform" the existing personal cultural stories, and “reform" them to design appropriate interactive products. Synthesizing the above matters, apart from being able to regard “narrate" as a kind of functional thinking process, we are also able to regard it as a kind of choice, arrangement and an activity of story expression, allowing interactive design-s spirit, product characteristics and experience ideas be transmitted to target tribal group in a visual image performance method. It is a far more confident and innovative attempt, and meanwhile, able to achieve entertainment, joyful and so forth fundamental interactive transmissions. Therefore, this study takes “user-centered design" thinking as a basis to establish a set of clothing designs with interactive experience patterns and to assist designers to examine the five sensual feeling of interactive demands in order to initiate a new value in textile industry.
Abstract: In this paper, we proposed a new framework to incorporate an intelligent agent software robot into a crisis communication portal (CCNet) in order to send alert news to subscribed users via email and other mobile services such as Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) and General Packet Radio Services (GPRS). The content on the mobile services can be delivered either through mobile phone or Personal Digital Assistance (PDA). This research has shown that with our proposed framework, the embodied conversation agents system can handle questions intelligently with our multilayer architecture. At the same time, the extended framework can take care of delivery content through a more humanoid interface on mobile devices.
Abstract: In the last decade digital watermarking procedures have
become increasingly applied to implement the copyright protection
of multimedia digital contents distributed on the Internet. To this
end, it is worth noting that a lot of watermarking procedures
for images and videos proposed in literature are based on spread
spectrum techniques. However, some scepticism about the robustness
and security of such watermarking procedures has arisen because
of some documented attacks which claim to render the inserted
watermarks undetectable. On the other hand, web content providers
wish to exploit watermarking procedures characterized by flexible and
efficient implementations and which can be easily integrated in their
existing web services frameworks or platforms. This paper presents
how a simple spread spectrum watermarking procedure for MPEG-2
videos can be modified to be exploited in web contexts. To this end,
the proposed procedure has been made secure and robust against some
well-known and dangerous attacks. Furthermore, its basic scheme
has been optimized by making the insertion procedure adaptive with
respect to the terminals used to open the videos and the network transactions
carried out to deliver them to buyers. Finally, two different
implementations of the procedure have been developed: the former
is a high performance parallel implementation, whereas the latter is
a portable Java and XML based implementation. Thus, the paper
demonstrates that a simple spread spectrum watermarking procedure,
with limited and appropriate modifications to the embedding scheme,
can still represent a valid alternative to many other well-known and
more recent watermarking procedures proposed in literature.
Abstract: The quantum mechanics simulation was applied for
calculating the interaction force between 2 molecules based on atomic level. For the simple extractive distillation system, it is ternary
components consisting of 2 closed boiling point components (A,lower boiling point and B, higher boiling point) and solvent (S). The
quantum mechanics simulation was used to calculate the intermolecular force (interaction force) between the closed boiling
point components and solvents consisting of intermolecular between
A-S and B-S.
The requirement of the promising solvent for extractive distillation
is that solvent (S) has to form stronger intermolecular force with only
one component than the other component (A or B). In this study, the
systems of aromatic-aromatic, aromatic-cycloparaffin, and paraffindiolefin
systems were selected as the demonstration for solvent
selection. This study defined new term using for screening the solvents called relative interaction force which is calculated from the
quantum mechanics simulation. The results showed that relative
interaction force gave the good agreement with the literature data
(relative volatilities from the experiment). The reasons are discussed. Finally, this study suggests that quantum mechanics results can improve the relative volatility estimation for screening the solvents leading to reduce time and money consuming
Abstract: This study focuses on an evaluation of Hokkaido which
is the northernmost and largest prefecture by surface area in Japan and
particularly on two points: the rivalry between all kinds of land use
such as urban land and agricultural and forestry land in various cities
and their surrounding areas and the possibilities for forestry biomass in
areas other than those mentioned above and grasps which areas require
examination of the nature of land use control and guidance through
conducting land use analysis at the district level using GIS
(Geographic Information Systems). The results of analysis in this
study demonstrated that it is essential to divide the whole of Hokkaido
into two areas: those within delineated city planning areas and those
outside of delineated city planning areas and to conduct an evaluation
of each land use control.
In delineated urban areas, particularly urban areas, it is essential to
re-examine land use from the point of view of compact cities or smart
cities along with conducting an evaluation of land use control that
focuses on issues of rivalry between all kinds of land use such as urban
land and agricultural and forestry land. In areas outside of delineated
urban areas, it is desirable to aim to build a specific community
recycling range based on forest biomass utilization by conducting an
evaluation of land use control concerning the possibilities for forest
biomass focusing particularly on forests within and outside of city
planning areas.
Abstract: In this paper, a model for an information retrieval
system is proposed which takes into account that knowledge about
documents and information need of users are dynamic. Two
methods are combined, one qualitative or symbolic and the other
quantitative or numeric, which are deemed suitable for many
clustering contexts, data analysis, concept exploring and
knowledge discovery. These two methods may be classified as
inductive learning techniques. In this model, they are introduced to
build “long term" knowledge about past queries and concepts in a
collection of documents. The “long term" knowledge can guide
and assist the user to formulate an initial query and can be
exploited in the process of retrieving relevant information. The
different kinds of knowledge are organized in different points of
view. This may be considered an enrichment of the exploration
level which is coherent with the concept of document/query
structure.
Abstract: Hybridization refers to the crossing breeding of two
plants. Coefficient of Parentage (COP) is used by the plant breeders
to determine the genetic diversity across various varieties so as to
incorporate the useful characters of the two varieties to develop a
new crop variety with particular useful characters. Genetic Diversity
is the prerequisite for any cultivar development program. Genetic
Diversity depends upon the pedigree information of the varieties
based on particular levels. Pedigree refers to the parents of a
particular variety at various levels. This paper discusses the searching
and analyses of different possible pairs of varieties selected on the
basis of morphological characters, Climatic conditions and Nutrients
so as to obtain the most optimal pair that can produce the required
crossbreed variety. An algorithm was developed to determine the
coefficient of parentage (COP) between the selected wheat varieties.
Dummy values were used wherever actual data was not available.
Abstract: Today, the central role of industrial robots in automation in general and in material handling in particular is crystal clear. Based on the current status of Photovoltaics and by focusing on lightweight material handling, PV industry has turned into a potential candidate for introducing a fresh “pick and place" robot technology. Thus, to examine the industry needs in this regard, firstly the best suited applications for such robotic automation,and then the essential prerequisites in PV industry should be identified. The objective of this paper is to present holistic views on the industry trends, general automation status and existing challenges facing lightweight robotic material handling in PV Silicon Wafer and Thin Film technologies. The results of this study show that currently no uniform pick and place solution prevails among PV Silicon Wafer manufacturers and the industry calls for a new robot solution to satisfy its needs in new directions.