Abstract: Permanent rivers are the main sources of renewable
water supply for the croplands under the irrigation and drainage
schemes. They are also the major source of sediment loads transport
into the storage reservoirs of the hydro-electrical dams, diversion
weirs and regulating dams. Sedimentation process results from soil
erosion which is related to poor watershed management and human
intervention ion in the hydraulic regime of the rivers. These could
change the hydraulic behavior and as such, leads to riverbed and river
bank scouring, the consequences of which would be sediment load
transport into the dams and therefore reducing the flow discharge in
water intakes. The present paper investigate sedimentation process
by varying the Manning coefficient "n" by using the SHARC
software along the watercourse in the Dez River. Results indicated
that the optimum "n" within that river range is 0.0315 at which
quantity minimum sediment loads are transported into the Eastern
intake. Comparison of the model results with those obtained by those
from the SSIIM software within the same river reach showed a very
close proximity between them. This suggests a relative accuracy with
which the model can simulate the hydraulic flow characteristics and
therefore its suitability as a powerful analytical tool for project
feasibility studies and project implementation.
Abstract: In this paper multivariable predictive PID controller has
been implemented on a multi-inputs multi-outputs control problem
i.e., quadruple tank system, in comparison with a simple multiloop
PI controller. One of the salient feature of this system is an
adjustable transmission zero which can be adjust to operate in both
minimum and non-minimum phase configuration, through the flow
distribution to upper and lower tanks in quadruple tank system.
Stability and performance analysis has also been carried out for this
highly interactive two input two output system, both in minimum
and non-minimum phases. Simulations of control system revealed
that better performance are obtained in predictive PID design.
Abstract: This paper presents the study of parameters affecting
the environment protection in the printing industry. The paper has
also compared LCA studies performed within the printing industry in
order to identify common practices, limitations, areas for
improvement, and opportunities for standardization. This comparison
is focused on the data sources and methodologies used in the printing
pollutants register. The presented concepts, methodology and results
represent the contribution to the sustainable development
management. Furthermore, the paper analyzes the result of the
quantitative identification of hazardous substances emitted in printing
industry of Novi Sad.
Abstract: Radio-frequency identification has entered as a beneficial means with conforming GS1 standards to provide the best solutions in the manufacturing area. It competes with other automated identification technologies e.g. barcodes and smart cards with regard to high speed scanning, reliability and accuracy as well. The purpose of this study is to improve production line-s performance by implementing RFID system in the manufacturing area on the basis of radio-frequency identification (RFID) system by 3D modeling in the program Cinema 4D R13 which provides obvious graphical scenes for users to portray their applications. Finally, with regard to improving system performance, it shows how RFID appears as a well-suited technology in a comparison of the barcode scanner to handle different kinds of raw materials in the production line base on logical process.
Abstract: The speech signal conveys information about the
identity of the speaker. The area of speaker identification is
concerned with extracting the identity of the person speaking the
utterance. As speech interaction with computers becomes more
pervasive in activities such as the telephone, financial transactions
and information retrieval from speech databases, the utility of
automatically identifying a speaker is based solely on vocal
characteristic. This paper emphasizes on text dependent speaker
identification, which deals with detecting a particular speaker from a
known population. The system prompts the user to provide speech
utterance. System identifies the user by comparing the codebook of
speech utterance with those of the stored in the database and lists,
which contain the most likely speakers, could have given that speech
utterance. The speech signal is recorded for N speakers further the
features are extracted. Feature extraction is done by means of LPC
coefficients, calculating AMDF, and DFT. The neural network is
trained by applying these features as input parameters. The features
are stored in templates for further comparison. The features for the
speaker who has to be identified are extracted and compared with the
stored templates using Back Propogation Algorithm. Here, the
trained network corresponds to the output; the input is the extracted
features of the speaker to be identified. The network does the weight
adjustment and the best match is found to identify the speaker. The
number of epochs required to get the target decides the network
performance.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present a methodology in
three steps to forecast supply chain demand. In first step, various data
mining techniques are applied in order to prepare data for entering
into forecasting models. In second step, the modeling step, an
artificial neural network and support vector machine is presented
after defining Mean Absolute Percentage Error index for measuring
error. The structure of artificial neural network is selected based on
previous researchers' results and in this article the accuracy of
network is increased by using sensitivity analysis. The best forecast
for classical forecasting methods (Moving Average, Exponential
Smoothing, and Exponential Smoothing with Trend) is resulted based
on prepared data and this forecast is compared with result of support
vector machine and proposed artificial neural network. The results
show that artificial neural network can forecast more precisely in
comparison with other methods. Finally, forecasting methods'
stability is analyzed by using raw data and even the effectiveness of
clustering analysis is measured.
Abstract: While the problem based learning (PBL) approach promotes unsupervised self-directed learning (SDL), many students experience difficulty juggling the role of being an information recipient and information seeker. Logbooks have been used to assess trainee doctors but not in other areas. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of logbook for assessing SDL during PBL sessions in first year medical students. The log book included a learning checklist and knowledge and skills components. Comparisons with the baseline assessment of student performance in PBL and that at semester end after logbook intervention showed significant improvements in student performance (31.5 ± 8 vs. 17.7 ± 4.4; p
Abstract: Modeling of a heterogeneous industrial fixed bed
reactor for selective dehydrogenation of heavy paraffin with Pt-Sn-
Al2O3 catalyst has been the subject of current study. By applying
mass balance, momentum balance for appropriate element of reactor
and using pressure drop, rate and deactivation equations, a detailed
model of the reactor has been obtained. Mass balance equations have
been written for five different components. In order to estimate
reactor production by the passage of time, the reactor model which is
a set of partial differential equations, ordinary differential equations
and algebraic equations has been solved numerically.
Paraffins, olefins, dienes, aromatics and hydrogen mole percent as
a function of time and reactor radius have been found by numerical
solution of the model. Results of model have been compared with
industrial reactor data at different operation times. The comparison
successfully confirms validity of proposed model.
Abstract: NFκB activation plays a crucial role in anti-apoptotic responses in response to the apoptotic signaling during tumor necrosis factor (TNFa) stimulation in Multiple Myeloma (MM). Although several drugs have been found effective for the treatment of MM by mainly inhibiting NFκB pathway, there are no any quantitative or qualitative results of comparison assessment on inhibition effect between different single drugs or drug combinations. Computational modeling is becoming increasingly indispensable for applied biological research mainly because it can provide strong quantitative predicting power. In this study, a novel computational pathway modeling approach is employed to comparably assess the inhibition effects of specific single drugs and drug combinations on the NFκB pathway in MM, especially the prediction of synergistic drug combinations.
Abstract: This paper presents two simplified models to
determine nodal voltages in power distribution networks. These
models allow estimating the impact of the installation of reactive
power compensations equipments like fixed or switched capacitor
banks. The procedure used to develop the models is similar to the
procedure used to develop linear power flow models of transmission
lines, which have been widely used in optimization problems of
operation planning and system expansion. The steady state non-linear
load flow equations are approximated by linear equations relating the
voltage amplitude and currents. The approximations of the linear
equations are based on the high relationship between line resistance
and line reactance (ratio R/X), which is valid for power distribution
networks. The performance and accuracy of the models are evaluated
through comparisons with the exact results obtained from the
solution of the load flow using two test networks: a hypothetical
network with 23 nodes and a real network with 217 nodes.
Abstract: Background: Dialign is a DNA/Protein alignment tool
for performing pairwise and multiple pairwise alignments through the
comparison of gap-free segments (fragments) between sequence
pairs. An alignment of two sequences is a chain of fragments, i.e
local gap-free pairwise alignments, with the highest total score.
METHOD: A new approach is defined in this article which relies on
the concept of using three-dimensional fragments – i.e. local threeway
alignments -- in the alignment process instead of twodimensional
ones. These three-dimensional fragments are gap-free
alignments constituting of equal-length segments belonging to three
distinct sequences. RESULTS: The obtained results showed good
improvments over the performance of DIALIGN.
Abstract: In the current research, neuro-fuzzy model and regression model was developed to predict Material Removal Rate in Electrical Discharge Machining process for AISI D2 tool steel with copper electrode. Extensive experiments were conducted with various levels of discharge current, pulse duration and duty cycle. The experimental data are split into two sets, one for training and the other for validation of the model. The training data were used to develop the above models and the test data, which was not used earlier to develop these models were used for validation the models. Subsequently, the models are compared. It was found that the predicted and experimental results were in good agreement and the coefficients of correlation were found to be 0.999 and 0.974 for neuro fuzzy and regression model respectively
Abstract: The overall penumbra is usually defined as the
distance, p20–80, separating the 20% and 80% of the dose on the beam axis at the depth of interest. This overall penumbra accounts
also for the fact that some photons emitted by the distal parts of the source are only partially attenuated by the collimator. Medulloblastoma is the most common type of childhood brain tumor
and often spreads to the spine. Current guidelines call for surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible, followed by radiation of the brain and spinal cord, and finally treatment with chemotherapy.
The purpose of this paper was to present results on an Uniformity of dose distribution in radiation fields surrounding the spine using film
dosimetry and comparison with 3D treatment planning software.
Abstract: The major objective of this paper is to introduce a new method to select genes from DNA microarray data. As criterion to select genes we suggest to measure the local changes in the correlation graph of each gene and to select those genes whose local changes are largest. More precisely, we calculate the correlation networks from DNA microarray data of cervical cancer whereas each network represents a tissue of a certain tumor stage and each node in the network represents a gene. From these networks we extract one tree for each gene by a local decomposition of the correlation network. The interpretation of a tree is that it represents the n-nearest neighbor genes on the n-th level of a tree, measured by the Dijkstra distance, and, hence, gives the local embedding of a gene within the correlation network. For the obtained trees we measure the pairwise similarity between trees rooted by the same gene from normal to cancerous tissues. This evaluates the modification of the tree topology due to tumor progression. Finally, we rank the obtained similarity values from all tissue comparisons and select the top ranked genes. For these genes the local neighborhood in the correlation networks changes most between normal and cancerous tissues. As a result we find that the top ranked genes are candidates suspected to be involved in tumor growth. This indicates that our method captures essential information from the underlying DNA microarray data of cervical cancer.
Abstract: In the present study, a heterogeneous and
homogeneous gas flow dispersion model for simulation and
optimisation of a large-scale catalytic slurry reactor for the direct
synthesis of dimethyl ether (DME) from syngas and CO2, using a
churn-turbulent regime was developed. In the heterogeneous gas flow
model the gas phase was distributed into two bubble phases: small
and large, however in the homogeneous one, the gas phase was
distributed into only one large bubble phase. The results indicated
that the heterogeneous gas flow model was in more agreement with
experimental pilot plant data than the homogeneous one.
Abstract: Although in sustainable development field, innovative
solutions have been sought worldwide by environmental groups,
academia, governments and companies for many years, recently,
citizens and communities have emerged as a new group and taken
more and more active role in this field. Many scholars call for more
research on the role of community and community innovation in
sustainable development. This paper is to respond to the calls. In
this paper, we first summarize a comprehensive set of innovation
principles. Then, we do a qualitative cross case study by comparing
three community innovation cases in three different areas of sustainable
development according to the innovation principles. Finally,
we summarize the case comparison and discuss the implications
to sustainable development. A unified role model and innovation
distribution map of community innovation are developed to better
understand community innovation in sustainable development..
Abstract: Measurement of competitiveness between countries or regions is an important topic of many economic analysis and scientific papers. In European Union (EU), there is no mainstream approach of competitiveness evaluation and measuring. There are many opinions and methods of measurement and evaluation of competitiveness between states or regions at national and European level. The methods differ in structure of using the indicators of competitiveness and ways of their processing. The aim of the paper is to analyze main sources of competitive potential of the EU Member States with the help of Factor analysis (FA) and to classify the EU Member States to homogeneous units (clusters) according to the similarity of selected indicators of competitiveness factors by Cluster analysis (CA) in reference years 2000 and 2011. The theoretical part of the paper is devoted to the fundamental bases of competitiveness and the methodology of FA and CA methods. The empirical part of the paper deals with the evaluation of competitiveness factors in the EU Member States and cluster comparison of evaluated countries by cluster analysis.
Abstract: The main objective of this paper is applying a
comparison between the Wolf Pack Search (WPS) as a newly
introduced intelligent algorithm with several other known algorithms
including Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Shuffled Frog
Leaping (SFL), Binary and Continues Genetic algorithms. All
algorithms are applied on two benchmark cost functions. The aim is
to identify the best algorithm in terms of more speed and accuracy in
finding the solution, where speed is measured in terms of function
evaluations. The simulation results show that the SFL algorithm with
less function evaluations becomes first if the simulation time is
important, while if accuracy is the significant issue, WPS and PSO
would have a better performance.
Abstract: Results are presented from a combined experimental
and modeling study undertaken to understand the effect of fuel spray
angle on soot production in turbulent liquid spray flames. The
experimental work was conducted in a cylindrical laboratory furnace
at fuel spray cone angle of 30º, 45º and 60º. Soot concentrations
inside the combustor are measured by filter paper technique. The soot
concentration is modeled by using the soot particle number density
and the mass density based acetylene concentrations. Soot oxidation
occurred by both hydroxide radicals and oxygen molecules. The
comparison of calculated results against experimental measurements
shows good agreement. Both the numerical and experimental results
show that the peak value of soot and its location in the furnace
depend on fuel spray cone angle. An increase in spray angle enhances
the evaporating rate and peak temperature near the nozzle. Although
peak soot concentration increase with enhance of fuel spray angle but
soot emission from the furnace decreases.
Abstract: In image processing and visualization, comparing two
bitmapped images needs to be compared from their pixels by matching
pixel-by-pixel. Consequently, it takes a lot of computational time
while the comparison of two vector-based images is significantly
faster. Sometimes these raster graphics images can be approximately
converted into the vector-based images by various techniques. After
conversion, the problem of comparing two raster graphics images
can be reduced to the problem of comparing vector graphics images.
Hence, the problem of comparing pixel-by-pixel can be reduced to
the problem of polynomial comparisons. In computer aided geometric
design (CAGD), the vector graphics images are the composition of
curves and surfaces. Curves are defined by a sequence of control
points and their polynomials. In this paper, the control points will be
considerably used to compare curves. The same curves after relocated
or rotated are treated to be equivalent while two curves after different
scaled are considered to be similar curves. This paper proposed an
algorithm for comparing the polynomial curves by using the control
points for equivalence and similarity. In addition, the geometric
object-oriented database used to keep the curve information has also
been defined in XML format for further used in curve comparisons.