Abstract: Prickly pear juice has received renewed attention with regard to the effects of processing and preservation on its sensory qualities (colour, taste, flavour, aroma, astringency, visual browning and overall acceptability). Juice was prepared by homogenizing fruit and treating the pulp with pectinase (Aspergillus niger). Juice treatments applied were sugar addition, acidification, heat-treatment, refrigeration, and freezing and thawing. Prickly pear pulp and juice had unique properties (low pH 3.88, soluble solids 3.68 oBrix and high titratable acidity 0.47). Sensory profiling and descriptive analyses revealed that non-treated juice had a bitter taste with high astringency whereas treated prickly pear was significantly sweeter. All treated juices had a good sensory acceptance with values approximating or exceeding 7. Regression analysis of the consumer sensory attributes for non-treated prickly pear juice indicated an overwhelming rejection, while treated prickly pear juice received overall acceptability. Thus, educed favourable sensory responses and may have positive implications for consumer acceptability.
Abstract: CScheme, a concurrent programming paradigm based
on scheme concept enables concurrency schemes to be constructed
from smaller synchronization units through a GUI based composer
and latter be reused on other concurrency problems of a similar
nature. This paradigm is particularly important in the multi-core
environment prevalent nowadays. In this paper, we demonstrate
techniques to separate concurrency from functional code using the
CScheme paradigm. Then we illustrate how the CScheme
methodology can be used to solve some of the traditional
concurrency problems – critical section problem, and readers-writers
problem - using synchronization schemes such as Single Threaded
Execution Scheme, and Readers Writers Scheme.
Abstract: Towards the end of 19th century, the discovery of tin
and the growing importance of rubber, had led Malaya to once again
become the centre of attraction to western colonization, which later
on caused the region to be influxed by cheap labour from China and
India. One of the factors which attracted the alien communities was
the characteristics of social relation offered by the Malays. If one
analyzes the history of social relation of the Malays either among
themselves or their relation with alien communities, it is apparent that
the community places high regards to values such as tolerant,
cooperative, respectful and helpful with each other. In fact, all these
values are deeply rooted in the value of 'budi'. With the arrival of
Islam, the value of 'budi' had been well assimilated with Islamic
values thus giving birth to the value of 'budi-Islam'. Through 'budi-
Islam', the Malay conducted their dealings with British as well the
other communities during the time of peace or conflict. This value is
well nurtured due to the geographical circumstances like the fertile,
naturally rich land and bountiful marine life. Besides, a set of Malay
customs known as 'adat' custom contributed in enhancing the values
of budi.
Abstract: Fischer-Tropsch synthesis is one of the most
important catalytic reactions that convert the synthetic gas to light
and heavy hydrocarbons. One of the main issues is selecting the type
of reactor. The slurry bubble reactor is suitable choice for Fischer-
Tropsch synthesis because of its good qualification to transfer heat
and mass, high durability of catalyst, low cost maintenance and
repair. The more common catalysts for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis are
Iron-based and Cobalt-based catalysts, the advantage of these
catalysts on each other depends on which type of hydrocarbons we
desire to produce. In this study, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis is modeled
with Iron and Cobalt catalysts in a slurry bubble reactor considering
mass and momentum balance and the hydrodynamic relations effect
on the reactor behavior. Profiles of reactant conversion and reactant
concentration in gas and liquid phases were determined as the
functions of residence time in the reactor. The effects of temperature,
pressure, liquid velocity, reactor diameter, catalyst diameter, gasliquid
and liquid-solid mass transfer coefficients and kinetic
coefficients on the reactant conversion have been studied. With 5%
increase of liquid velocity (with Iron catalyst), H2 conversions
increase about 6% and CO conversion increase about 4%, With 8%
increase of liquid velocity (with Cobalt catalyst), H2 conversions
increase about 26% and CO conversion increase about 4%. With
20% increase of gas-liquid mass transfer coefficient (with Iron
catalyst), H2 conversions increase about 12% and CO conversion
increase about 10% and with Cobalt catalyst H2 conversions increase
about 10% and CO conversion increase about 6%. Results show that
the process is sensitive to gas-liquid mass transfer coefficient and
optimum condition operation occurs in maximum possible liquid
velocity. This velocity must be more than minimum fluidization
velocity and less than terminal velocity in such a way that avoid
catalysts particles from leaving the fluidized bed.
Abstract: Intellectual capital measurement is a central aspect of knowledge management. The measurement and the evaluation of intangible assets play a key role in allowing an effective management of these assets as sources of competitiveness. For these reasons, managers and practitioners need conceptual and analytical tools taking into account the unique characteristics and economic significance of Intellectual Capital. Following this lead, we propose an efficiency and productivity analysis of Intellectual Capital, as a determinant factor of the company competitive advantage. The analysis is carried out by means of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI). These techniques identify Bests Practice companies that have accomplished competitive advantage implementing successful strategies of Intellectual Capital management, and offer to inefficient companies development paths by means of benchmarking. The proposed methodology is employed on the Biotechnology industry in the period 2007-2010.
Abstract: The study aimed to evaluated the reproductive performance response to short term oestrus synchronization during the transition period. One hundred and sixty-five indigenous multiparous non-lactating goats were subdivided into the following six treatment groups for oestrus synchronization: NT control Group (N= 30), Fe-21d, FGA vaginal sponge for 21days+eCG at 19thd; FPe- 11d, FGA 11d + PGF2α and eCG at 9th d; FPe-10d, FGA 10d+ PGF2α and eCG at 8th d; FPe-9d, FGA 9d +PGF2α and eCG at 7thd; PFe-5d, PGF2α at d0 + FGA 5d + eCG at 5thd. The goats were natural mated (1 male/6 females). Fecundity rates (n. births /n. females treated x 100) were statistically higher (P < 0.05) in short term FPe-9d (157.9%), FPe- 11d (115.4%), FPe-10d (111.1%) and PFe-5d (107.7%) groups compared to the NT control Group (66.7%).
Abstract: In this paper, an accurate theoretical analysis for the achievable average channel capacity (in the Shannon sense) per user of a hybrid cellular direct-sequence/fast frequency hopping code-division multiple-access (DS/FFH-CDMA) system operating in a Rayleigh fading environment is presented. The analysis covers the downlink operation and leads to the derivation of an exact mathematical expression between the normalized average channel capacity available to each system-s user, under simultaneous optimal power and rate adaptation and the system-s parameters, as the number of hops per bit, the processing gain applied, the number of users per cell and the received signal-tonoise power ratio over the signal bandwidth. Finally, numerical results are presented to illustrate the proposed mathematical analysis.
Abstract: In today's world where everything is rapidly changing
and information technology is high in development, many features of culture, society, politic and economy has changed. The advent of
information technology and electronic data transmission lead to easy communication and fields like e-learning and e-commerce, are
accessible for everyone easily. One of these technologies is virtual
training. The "quality" of such kind of education systems is critical. 131 questionnaires were prepared and distributed among university
student in Toba University. So the research has followed factors that affect the quality of learning from the perspective of staff, students, professors and this type of university. It is concluded that the important factors in virtual training are the quality of professors, the
quality of staff, and the quality of the university. These mentioned factors were the most prior factors in this education system and
necessary for improving virtual training.
Abstract: A learning management system (commonly
abbreviated as LMS) is a software application for the administration,
documentation, tracking, and reporting of training programs,
classroom and online events, e-learning programs, and training
content (Ellis 2009). (Hall 2003) defines an LMS as \"software that
automates the administration of training events. All Learning
Management Systems manage the log-in of registered users, manage
course catalogs, record data from learners, and provide reports to
management\". Evidence of the worldwide spread of e-learning in
recent years is easy to obtain. In April 2003, no fewer than 66,000
fully online courses and 1,200 complete online programs were listed
on the TeleCampus portal from TeleEducation (Paulsen 2003). In the
report \" The US market in the Self-paced eLearning Products and
Services:2010-2015 Forecast and Analysis\" The number of student
taken classes exclusively online will be nearly equal (1% less) to the
number taken classes exclusively in physical campuses. Number of
student taken online course will increase from 1.37 million in 2010 to
3.86 million in 2015 in USA. In another report by The Sloan
Consortium three-quarters of institutions report that the economic
downturn has increased demand for online courses and programs.
Abstract: This paper presents a new optimization technique based on quantum computing principles to solve a security constrained power system economic dispatch problem (SCED). The proposed technique is a population-based algorithm, which uses some quantum computing elements in coding and evolving groups of potential solutions to reach the optimum following a partially directed random approach. The SCED problem is formulated as a constrained optimization problem in a way that insures a secure-economic system operation. Real Coded Quantum-Inspired Evolution Algorithm (RQIEA) is then applied to solve the constrained optimization formulation. Simulation results of the proposed approach are compared with those reported in literature. The outcome is very encouraging and proves that RQIEA is very applicable for solving security constrained power system economic dispatch problem (SCED).
Abstract: This paper presents a hand vein authentication system
using fast spatial correlation of hand vein patterns. In order to
evaluate the system performance, a prototype was designed and a
dataset of 50 persons of different ages above 16 and of different
gender, each has 10 images per person was acquired at different
intervals, 5 images for left hand and 5 images for right hand. In
verification testing analysis, we used 3 images to represent the
templates and 2 images for testing. Each of the 2 images is matched
with the existing 3 templates. FAR of 0.02% and FRR of 3.00 %
were reported at threshold 80. The system efficiency at this threshold
was found to be 99.95%. The system can operate at a 97% genuine
acceptance rate and 99.98 % genuine reject rate, at corresponding
threshold of 80. The EER was reported as 0.25 % at threshold 77. We
verified that no similarity exists between right and left hand vein
patterns for the same person over the acquired dataset sample.
Finally, this distinct 100 hand vein patterns dataset sample can be
accessed by researchers and students upon request for testing other
methods of hand veins matching.
Abstract: The widely used Total Variation de-noising algorithm can preserve sharp edge, while removing noise. However, since fixed regularization parameter over entire image, small details and textures are often lost in the process. In this paper, we propose a modified Total Variation algorithm to better preserve smaller-scaled features. This is done by allowing an adaptive regularization parameter to control the amount of de-noising in any region of image, according to relative information of local feature scale. Experimental results demonstrate the efficient of the proposed algorithm. Compared with standard Total Variation, our algorithm can better preserve smaller-scaled features and show better performance.
Abstract: This study aimed to present the mechanical
performance evaluation of the dynamic hip screw (DHS) for
trochanteric fracture by means of finite element method. The
analyses were performed based on stainless steel and titanium
implant material definitions at various stages of bone healing and
including implant removal. The assessment of the mechanical
performance used two parameters, von Mises stress to evaluate the
strength of bone and implant and elastic strain to evaluate fracture
stability. The results show several critical aspects of dynamic hip
screw for trochanteric fracture stabilization. In the initial stage of
bone healing process, partial weight bearing should be applied to
avoid the implant failure. In the late stage of bone healing, stainless
steel implant should be removed.
Abstract: In this paper, we present an experimental testing for
a new algorithm that determines an optimal controller-s coefficients
for output variance reduction related to Linear Time Invariant (LTI)
Systems. The algorithm features simplicity in calculation, generalization
to minimal and non-minimal phase systems, and could be
configured to achieve reference tracking as well as variance reduction
after compromising with the output variance. An experiment of DCmotor
velocity control demonstrates the application of this new
algorithm in designing the controller. The results show that the
controller achieves minimum variance and reference tracking for a
preset velocity reference relying on an identified model of the motor.
Abstract: The distribution, enrichment, accumulation, and potential ecological risk of copper (Cu) in the surface sediments of northern Kaohsiung Harbor, Taiwan were investigated. Sediment samples from 12 locations of northern Kaohsiung Harbor were collected and characterized for Cu, aluminum, water content, organic matter, total nitrogen, total phosphorous, total grease and grain size. Results showed that the Cu concentrations varied from 6.9–244 mg/kg with an average of 109±66 mg/kg. The spatial distribution of Cu reveals that the Cu concentration is relatively high in the river mouth region, and gradually diminishes toward the harbor entrance region. This indicates that upstream industrial and municipal wastewater discharges along the river bank are major sources of Cu pollution. Results from the enrichment factor and geo-accumulation index analyses imply that the sediments collected from the river mouth can be characterized between moderate and moderately severe degree enrichment and between none to medium and moderate accumulation of Cu, respectively. However, results of potential ecological risk index indicate that the sediment has low ecological potential risk.
Abstract: In rapidly changing market environment, firms are investing a lot of time and resources into new product development (NPD) projects to make profit and to obtain competitive advantage. However, failure rate of NPD projects is becoming high due to various internal and external risks which hinder successful NPD projects. To reduce the failure rate, it is critical that risks have to be managed effectively and efficiently through good strategy, and treated by optimal responses to minimize risk cost. Four strategies are adopted to handle the risks in this study. The optimal responses are characterized by high reduction of risk costs with high efficiency. This study suggests a framework to decide the optimal responses considering the core risks, risk costs, response efficiency and response costs for successful NPD projects. Both binary particles warm optimization (BPSO) and multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) methods are mainly used in the framework. Although several limitations exist in use for real industries, the frame work shows good strength for handling the risks with highly scientific ways through an example.
Abstract: A hybrid Photovoltaic/Thermal (PV/T) solar system integrates photovoltaic and solar thermal technologies into one single solar energy device, with dual generation of electricity and heat energy. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the potential for introduction of the PV/T technology into Northern China. For this purpose, outdoor experiments were conducted on a prototype of a PV/T water-heating system. The annual thermal and electrical performances were investigated under the climatic conditions of Beijing. An economic analysis of the system was then carried out, followed by a sensitivity study. The analysis revealed that the hybrid system is not economically attractive with the current market and energy prices. However, considering the continuous commitment of the Chinese government towards policy development in the renewable energy sector, and technological improvements like the increasing cost-effectiveness of PV cells, PV/Thermal technology may become economically viable in the near future.
Abstract: Turkey has 72 % of total world boron reserves on the
basis of B2O3.Borates that is a refined form of boron minerals have a
wide range of applications. Zinc borates can be used as multifunctional
synergistic additives. The most important properties are
low solubility in water and high dehydration temperature. Zinc
borates dehydrate above 290°C and anhydrous zinc borate has
thermal resistance about 400°C. Zinc borates can be synthesized
using several methods such as hydrothermal and solid-state
processes. In this study, the solid-state method was applied between
500 and 800°C using the starting materials of ZnO and H3BO3 with
1:4 mole ratio. The reaction time was determined as 4 hours after
some preliminary experiments. After the synthesis, the crystal
structure and the morphology of the products were examined by XRay
Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy
(FT-IR) and Raman Spectrometer. As a result the form of ZnB4O7
was synthesized with the highest crystal score at 800°C.
Abstract: The broadcast problem including the plan design is
considered. The data are inserted and numbered at predefined order
into customized size relations. The server ability to create a full,
regular Broadcast Plan (RBP) with single and multiple channels after
some data transformations is examined. The Regular Geometric
Algorithm (RGA) prepares a RBP and enables the users to catch their
items avoiding energy waste of their devices. Moreover, the
Grouping Dimensioning Algorithm (GDA) based on integrated
relations can guarantee the discrimination of services with a
minimum number of channels. This last property among the selfmonitoring,
self-organizing, can be offered by servers today
providing also channel availability and less energy consumption by
using smaller number of channels. Simulation results are provided.
Abstract: This paper introduces a framework based on the collaboration of multi agent and hyper-heuristics to find a solution of the real single machine production problem. There are many techniques used to solve this problem. Each of it has its own advantages and disadvantages. By the collaboration of multi agent system and hyper-heuristics, we can get more optimal solution. The hyper-heuristics approach operates on a search space of heuristics rather than directly on a search space of solutions. The proposed framework consists of some agents, i.e. problem agent, trainer agent, algorithm agent (GPHH, GAHH, and SAHH), optimizer agent, and solver agent. Some low level heuristics used in this paper are MRT, SPT, LPT, EDD, LDD, and MON