Fuzzy Voting in Internal Elections of Educational and Party Organizations

This article presents a method for elections between the members of a group that is founded by fuzzy logic. Linguistic variables are objects for decision on election cards and deduction is based on t-norms and s-norms. In this election-s method election cards are questionnaire. The questionnaires are comprised of some questions with some choices. The choices are words from natural language. Presented method is accompanied by center of gravity (COG) defuzzification added up to a computer program by MATLAB. Finally the method is illustrated by solving two examples; choose a head for a research group-s members and a representative for students.

Distributed Architecture of an Autonomous Four Rotor Mini-Rotorcraft based on Multi-Agent System

In this paper, we present the recently implemented approach allowing dynamics systems to plan its actions, taking into account the environment perception changes, and to control their execution when uncertainty and incomplete knowledge are the major characteristics of the situated environment [1],[2],[3],[4]. The control distributed architecture has three modules and the approach is related to hierarchical planning: the plan produced by the planner is further refined at the control layer that in turn supervises its execution by a functional level. We propose a new intelligent distributed architecture constituted by: Multi-Agent subsystem of the sensor, of the interpretation and representation of environment [9], of the dynamic localization and of the action. We tested this distributed architecture with dynamic system in the known environment. The autonomous for Rotor Mini Rotorcraft task is described by the primitive actions. The distributed controlbased on multi-agent system is in charge of achieving each task in the best possible way taking into account the context and sensory feedback.

Analytical Solution for the Zakharov-Kuznetsov Equations by Differential Transform Method

This paper presents the approximate analytical solution of a Zakharov-Kuznetsov ZK(m, n, k) equation with the help of the differential transform method (DTM). The DTM method is a powerful and efficient technique for finding solutions of nonlinear equations without the need of a linearization process. In this approach the solution is found in the form of a rapidly convergent series with easily computed components. The two special cases, ZK(2,2,2) and ZK(3,3,3), are chosen to illustrate the concrete scheme of the DTM method in ZK(m, n, k) equations. The results demonstrate reliability and efficiency of the proposed method.

Evaluating the Australian Defense Force Environmental Awareness Training at Shoalwater Bay Training Area, Queensland, Australia

This paper contributes to the field of Environmental Awareness Training (EAT) evaluation in terms of military activities. Environmental management of military activities is a growing concern for defence forces worldwide and the importance of EAT is becoming widely recognized. As one of Australia-s largest landowners, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) is extremely mindful of its duty as a joint environmental manager. It has an integrated Environmental Management System (EMS) to assist environmental management and EAT is an essential part of the ADF EMS model. This paper examines how EAT was conducted during the exercise Talisman Saber in 2009 (TS09) and evaluates its effectiveness, using Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA), one of the most significant military training areas and a significant protected area in Australia, as a case study. A questionnaire survey conducted showed, overall, that EAT was effective from the perspective of a sample of participants. Recommendations are made for the ADF to refine EAT for future exercises.

An Implementation of EURORADIO Protocol for ERTMS Systems

European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) is the European reference for interoperable and safer signaling systems to efficiently manage trains running. If implemented, it allows trains cross seamlessly intra-European national borders. ERTMS has defined a secure communication protocol, EURORADIO, based on open communication networks. Its RadioInfill function can improve the reaction of the signaling system to changes in line conditions, avoiding unnecessary braking: its advantages in terms of power saving and travel time has been analyzed. In this paper a software implementation of the EURORADIO protocol with RadioInfill for ERTMS Level 1 using GSM-R is illustrated as part of the SR-Secure Italian project. In this building-blocks architecture the EURORADIO layers communicates together through modular Application Programm Interfaces. Security coding rules and railway industry requirements specified by EN 50128 standard have been respected. The proposed implementation has successfully passed conformity tests and has been tested on a computer-based simulator.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s “Learn Wisely” Concept: An Application to Instructional Design

This study is about an application of King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s “Learn Wisely” (LW) concept in instructional design and management process at the Faculty of Education, Suan Sunahdha Rajabhat University. The concept suggests four strategies for true learning. Related literature and significant LW methods in teaching and learning are also reviewed and then applied in designing a pedagogy learning module. The design has been implemented in three classrooms with a total of 115 sophomore student teachers. After one consecutive semester of managing and adjusting the process by instructors and experts using collected data from minutes, assessment of learning management, satisfaction and learning achievement of the students, it is found that the effective SSRU model of LW instructional method comprises of five steps.

Nitrogen Effects on Ignition Delay Time in Supersonic Premixed and Diffusion Flames

Computational study of two dimensional supersonic reacting hydrogen-air flows is performed to investigate the nitrogen effects on ignition delay time for premixed and diffusion flames. Chemical reaction is treated using detail kinetics and the advection upstream splitting method is used to calculate the numerical inviscid fluxes. The results show that just in stoichiometric condition for both premixed and diffusion flames, there is monotone dependency of the ignition delay time to the nitrogen addition. In other situations, the optimal condition from ignition viewpoint should be found using numerical investigations.

Comparison of Pore Space Features by Thin Sections and X-Ray Microtomography

Microtomographic images and thin section (TS) images were analyzed and compared against some parameters of geological interest such as porosity and its distribution along the samples. The results show that microtomography (CT) analysis, although limited by its resolution, have some interesting information about the distribution of porosity (homogeneous or not) and can also quantify the connected and non-connected pores, i.e., total porosity. TS have no limitations concerning resolution, but are limited by the experimental data available in regards to a few glass sheets for analysis and also can give only information about the connected pores, i.e., effective porosity. Those two methods have their own virtues and flaws but when paired together they are able to complement one another, making for a more reliable and complete analysis.

Identifying Blind Spots in a Stereo View for Early Decisions in SI for Fusion based DMVC

In DMVC, we have more than one options of sources available for construction of side information. The newer techniques make use of both the techniques simultaneously by constructing a bitmask that determines the source of every block or pixel of the side information. A lot of computation is done to determine each bit in the bitmask. In this paper, we have tried to define areas that can only be well predicted by temporal interpolation and not by multiview interpolation or synthesis. We predict that all such areas that are not covered by two cameras cannot be appropriately predicted by multiview synthesis and if we can identify such areas in the first place, we don-t need to go through the script of computations for all the pixels that lie in those areas. Moreover, this paper also defines a technique based on KLT to mark the above mentioned areas before any other processing is done on the side view.

Climate Change Finger Prints in Mountainous Upper Euphrates Basin

Climate change leading to global warming affects the earth through many different ways such as weather (temperature, precipitation, humidity and the other parameters of weather), snow coverage and ice melting, sea level rise, hydrological cycles, quality of water, agriculture, forests, ecosystems and health. One of the most affected areas by climate change is hydrology and water resources. Regions where majority of runoff consists of snow melt are more sensitive to climate change. The first step of climate change studies is to establish trends of significant climate variables including precipitation, temperature and flow data to detect any potential climate change impacts already happened. Two popular non-parametric trend analysis methods, Mann-Kendal and Spearman-s Rho were applied to Upper Euphrates Basin (Turkey) to detect trends of precipitation, temperatures (maximum, minimum and average) and streamflow.

Osteogenesis by Dextran Coating on and among Fibers of a Polyvinyl Formal Sponge

A scaffold is necessary for tooth regeneration because of its three-dimensional geometry. For restoration of defect, it is necessary for the scaffold to be prepared in the shape of the defect. Sponges made from polyvinyl alcohol with formalin cross-linking (PVF sponge) have been used for scaffolds for bone formation in vivo. To induce osteogenesis within the sponge, methods of growing rat bone marrow cells (rBMCs) among the fiber structures in the sponge might be considered. Storage of rBMCs among the fibers in the sponge coated with dextran (10 kDa) was tried. After seeding of rBMCs to PVF sponge immersed in dextran solution at 2 g/dl concentration, osteogenesis was recognized in subcutaneously implanted PVF sponge as a scaffold in vivo. The level of osteocalcin was 25.28±5.71 ng/scaffold and that of Ca was 129.20±19.69 µg/scaffold. These values were significantly higher than those in sponges without dextran coating (p

Robust FACTS Controller Design Employing Modern Heuristic Optimization Techniques

Recently, Genetic Algorithms (GA) and Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm technique have attracted considerable attention among various modern heuristic optimization techniques. Since the two approaches are supposed to find a solution to a given objective function but employ different strategies and computational effort, it is appropriate to compare their performance. This paper presents the application and performance comparison of DE and GA optimization techniques, for flexible ac transmission system (FACTS)-based controller design. The design objective is to enhance the power system stability. The design problem of the FACTS-based controller is formulated as an optimization problem and both the PSO and GA optimization techniques are employed to search for optimal controller parameters. The performance of both optimization techniques has been compared. Further, the optimized controllers are tested on a weekly connected power system subjected to different disturbances, and their performance is compared with the conventional power system stabilizer (CPSS). The eigenvalue analysis and non-linear simulation results are presented and compared to show the effectiveness of both the techniques in designing a FACTS-based controller, to enhance power system stability.

Traceable Watermarking System using SoC for Digital Cinema Delivery

As the development of digital technology is increasing, Digital cinema is getting more spread. However, content copy and attack against the digital cinema becomes a serious problem. To solve the above security problem, we propose “Additional Watermarking" for digital cinema delivery system. With this proposed “Additional watermarking" method, we protect content copyrights at encoder and user side information at decoder. It realizes the traceability of the watermark embedded at encoder. The watermark is embedded into the random-selected frames using Hash function. Using it, the embedding position is distributed by Hash Function so that third parties do not break off the watermarking algorithm. Finally, our experimental results show that proposed method is much better than the convenient watermarking techniques in terms of robustness, image quality and its simple but unbreakable algorithm.

Board Members' Financial Education and Firms' Performance: Empirical Evidence for Bucharest Stock Exchange Companies

After the accounting scandals and the financial crisis, regulators have stressed the need for more financial experts on boards. Several studies conducted in countries with developed capital markets report positive effects of board financial competencies. As each country offers a different context and specific institutional factors this paper addresses the subject in the context of Romania. The Romanian capital market offers an interesting research field because of the heterogeneity of listed firms. After analyzing board members education based on public information posted on listed companies websites and their annual reports we found a positive association between the proportion of board members holding a postgraduate degree in financial fields and market based performance measured by Tobin q. We found also that the proportion of Board members holding degrees in financial fields is higher in bigger firms and firms with more concentrated ownership.

Evaluation of the Magnesium Wastes with Boron Oxide in Magnesium Borate Synthesis

Magnesium wastes and scraps, one of the metal wastes, are produced by many industrial activities, all over the world. Their growing size is becoming a future problem for the world. In this study, the use of magnesium wastes as a raw material in the production of the magnesium borate hydrates are aimed. The method used in the experiments is hydrothermal synthesis. The conditions are set to, waste magnesium to B2O3, 1:3 as a molar ratio. Four different reaction times are studied which are 30, 60, 120 and 240 minutes. For the identification analyses X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Raman spectroscopy techniques are used. As a result at all the reaction times magnesium borate hydrates are synthesized and the most crystalline forms are obtained at a reaction time of 120 minutes. The overall yields of the production are found between the values of 65-80 %.

Framework of Malaysian Knowledge Society: Results from Dual Data Approach

This paper outlines the research conducted to propose na framework of 'Knowledge Society' (KS) in the Malaysian context. It is important to highlight that the emergence of KS is a result of the rapid growth in knowledge and information. However, the discussion of KS should not only be limited to the importance of knowledge, but a holistic KS is also determined by other imperative dimensions. This article discusses the results of a study conducted previously in Malaysia in order to identify the essential dimensions of KS, and consequently propose a KS framework in the Malaysian context. Two methods were employed, namely the Delphi technique and semi-structured interviews. The modified Delphi involved five rounds with ten experts, while the interviews were conducted with two prominent figures in Malaysia. The results support the proposed framework which contains seven major dimensions in order for Malaysia to become a KS in the future. The dimensions which are crucial for a holistic Malaysian KS are human capital, spirituality, economy, social, institutional, sustainability, and driven by the ICT.

Real Time Force Sensing Mat for Human Gait Analysis

This paper presents a real time force sensing instrument that is designed for human gait analysis purposes. This instrument mainly consists of three main elements: the force sensing mat, signal conditioning and switching circuit and data acquisition device. In order to control and to process the incoming signals from the force sensing mat, Force-Logger and Force-Reloader program are developed using Labview 8.0. This paper describes the architecture of the force sensing mat, signal conditioning and switching circuit and the real time streaming of the incoming data from the force sensing mat.

Analysis of Effect of Pre-Logic Factoring on Cell Based Combinatorial Logic Synthesis

In this paper, an analysis is presented, which demonstrates the effect pre-logic factoring could have on an automated combinational logic synthesis process succeeding it. The impact of pre-logic factoring for some arbitrary combinatorial circuits synthesized within a FPGA based logic design environment has been analyzed previously. This paper explores a similar effect, but with the non-regenerative logic synthesized using elements of a commercial standard cell library. On an overall basis, the results obtained pertaining to the analysis on a variety of MCNC/IWLS combinational logic benchmark circuits indicate that pre-logic factoring has the potential to facilitate simultaneous power, delay and area optimized synthesis solutions in many cases.

Effect of Uneven Surface on Magnetic Properties of Fe-Based Amorphous Transformer

This study reports the preparation of soft magnetic ribbons of Fe-based amorphous alloys using the single-roller melt-spinning technique. Ribbon width varied from 142 mm to 213 mm and, with a thickness of approximately 22 μm 2 μm. The microstructure and magnetic properties of the ribbons were characterized by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and electrical resistivity measurements (ERM). The amorphous material properties dependence of the cooling rate and nozzle pressure have uneven surface in ribbon thicknesses are investigated. Magnetic measurement results indicate that some region of the ribbon exhibits good magnetic properties, higher saturation induction and lower coercivity. However, due to the uneven surface of 213 mm wide ribbon, the magnetic responses are not uniformly distributed. To understand the transformer magnetic performances, this study analyzes the measurements of a three-phase 2 MVA amorphous-cored transformer. Experimental results confirm that the transformer with a ribbon width of 142 mm has better magnetic properties in terms of lower core loss, exciting power, and audible noise. 

Research of Dynamics Picking Mechanism of Sulzer Projectile Loom

One of the main and responsible units of Sulzer projectile loom is picking mechanism. It is specifically designed to accelerate projectile to speed of 25 m / s. Initial speed projectile of Sulzer projectile loom is independent of speed loom and determined the potential energy torsion rod. This paper investigates the dynamics picking mechanism of Sulzer projectile loom during its discharge. A result of calculation model, we obtain the law of motion lever of picking mechanism during its discharge. Construction of dynamic model the picking mechanism of Sulzer projectile loom on software complex SimulationX can make calculations for different thickness of torsion rods taking into account the backlashes in the connections, the dissipative forces and resistance forces