Abstract: In this paper we present a new approach to detecting a
flaw in T.O.F.D (Time Of Flight Diffraction) type ultrasonic image
based on texture features. Texture is one of the most important
features used in recognizing patterns in an image. The paper
describes texture features based on 2D Gabor functions, i.e.,
Gaussian shaped band-pass filters, with dyadic treatment of the radial
spatial frequency range and multiple orientations, which represent an
appropriate choice for tasks requiring simultaneous measurement in
both space and frequency domains. The most relevant features are
used as input data on a Fuzzy c-mean clustering classifier. The
classes that exist are only two: 'defects' or 'no defects'. The proposed
approach is tested on the T.O.F.D image achieved at the laboratory
and on the industrial field.
Abstract: The PRAF family of proteins is a plant specific family of proteins with distinct domain architecture and various unique sequence/structure traits. We have carried out an extensive search of the Arabidopsis genome using an automated pipeline and manual methods to verify previously known and identify unknown instances of PRAF proteins, characterize their sequence and build 3D structures of their individual domains. Integrating the sequence, structure and whatever little known experimental details for each of these proteins and their domains, we present a comprehensive characterization of the different domains in these proteins and their variant properties.
Abstract: There are many issues that affect modeling and designing real-time databases. One of those issues is maintaining consistency between the actual state of the real-time object of the external environment and its images as reflected by all its replicas distributed over multiple nodes. The need to improve the scalability is another important issue. In this paper, we present a general framework to design a replicated real-time database for small to medium scale systems and maintain all timing constrains. In order to extend the idea for modeling a large scale database, we present a general outline that consider improving the scalability by using an existing static segmentation algorithm applied on the whole database, with the intent to lower the degree of replication, enables segments to have individual degrees of replication with the purpose of avoiding excessive resource usage, which all together contribute in solving the scalability problem for DRTDBS.
Abstract: Process-oriented software development is a new
software development paradigm in which software design is modeled
by a business process which is in turn translated into a process
execution language for execution. The building blocks of this
paradigm are software units that are composed together to work
according to the flow of the business process. This new paradigm
still exhibits the characteristic of the applications built with the
traditional software component technology. This paper discusses an
approach to apply a traditional technique for software component
fabrication to the design of process-oriented software units, called
process components. These process components result from
decomposing a business process of a particular application domain
into subprocesses, and these process components can be reused to
design the business processes of other application domains. The
decomposition considers five managerial goals, namely cost
effectiveness, ease of assembly, customization, reusability, and
maintainability. The paper presents how to design or decompose
process components from a business process model and measure
some technical features of the design that would affect the
managerial goals. A comparison between the measurement values
from different designs can tell which process component design is
more appropriate for the managerial goals that have been set. The
proposed approach can be applied in Web Services environment
which accommodates process-oriented software development.
Abstract: Applicability of tuning the controller gains for Stewart manipulator using genetic algorithm as an efficient search technique is investigated. Kinematics and dynamics models were introduced in detail for simulation purpose. A PD task space control scheme was used. For demonstrating technique feasibility, a Stewart manipulator numerical-model was built. A genetic algorithm was then employed to search for optimal controller gains. The controller was tested onsite a generic circular mission. The simulation results show that the technique is highly convergent with superior performance operating for different payloads.
Abstract: Understanding the cell's large-scale organization is an
interesting task in computational biology. Thus, protein-protein
interactions can reveal important organization and function of the
cell. Here, we investigated the correspondence between protein
interactions and function for the yeast. We obtained the correlations
among the set of proteins. Then these correlations are clustered using
both the hierarchical and biclustering methods. The detailed analyses
of proteins in each cluster were carried out by making use of their
functional annotations. As a result, we found that some functional
classes appear together in almost all biclusters. On the other hand, in
hierarchical clustering, the dominancy of one functional class is
observed. In brief, from interaction data to function, some correlated
results are noticed about the relationship between interaction and
function which might give clues about the organization of the
proteins.
Abstract: β-Glucosidase is an important enzyme for production
of ethanol from lignocellulose. With hydrolytic activity on
cellooligosaccharides, especially cellobiose, β-glucosidase removes
product inhibitory effect on cellulases and forms fermentable sugars.
In this study, β-glucosidase encoding gene (BGL1) from traditional
starter yeast Saccharomycosis fibuligera BMQ908 was cloned and
expressed in Pichia pastoris. BGL1 of S. fibuligera BMQ 908 shared
98% nucleotide homology with the closest GenBank sequence
(M22475) but identity in amino-acid sequences of catalytic domains.
Recombinant plasmid pPICZαA/BGL1 containing the sequence
encoding BGL1 mature protein and α-factor secretion signal was
constructed and transformed into methylotrophic yeast P. pastoris by
electroporation. The recombinant strain produced single extracellular
protein with molecular weight of 120 kDa and cellobiase activity of
60 IU/ml. The optimum pH of the recombinant β-glucosidase was 5.0
and the optimum temperature was 50°C.
Abstract: This study deals with Computational Fluid Dynamics
(CFD) studies of the interactions between the air flow and louvered
fins which equipped the automotive heat exchangers. 3D numerical
simulation results are obtained by using the ANSYS Fluent 13.0 code
and compared to experimental data. The paper studies the effect of
louver angle and louver pitch geometrical parameters, on overall
thermal hydraulic performances of louvered fins.
The comparison between CFD simulations and experimental data
show that established 3-D CFD model gives a good agreement. The
validation agrees, with about 7% of deviation respectively of friction
and Colburn factors to experimental results. As first, it is found that
the louver angle has a strong influence on the heat transfer rate. Then,
louver angle and louver pitch variation of the louvers and their effects
on thermal hydraulic performances are studied. In addition to this
study, it is shown that the second half of the fin takes has a
significant contribution on pressure drop increase without any
increase in heat transfer.
Abstract: This paper deals with the helical flow of a Newtonian
fluid in an infinite circular cylinder, due to both longitudinal and
rotational shear stress. The velocity field and the resulting shear
stress are determined by means of the Laplace and finite Hankel
transforms and satisfy all imposed initial and boundary conditions.
For large times, these solutions reduce to the well-known steady-state
solutions.
Abstract: Knowledge discovery from text and ontology learning
are relatively new fields. However their usage is extended in many
fields like Information Retrieval (IR) and its related domains. Human
Plausible Reasoning based (HPR) IR systems for example need a
knowledge base as their underlying system which is currently made
by hand. In this paper we propose an architecture based on ontology
learning methods to automatically generate the needed HPR
knowledge base.
Abstract: In this work, grinding or microcutting tools in the form of pellets were manufactured using a bounded alumina abrasive grains. The bound used is a vitreous material containing quartz feldspars, kaolinite and a quantity of hematite. The pellets were used in glass grinding process to replace the free abrasive grains lapping process. The study of the elaborated pellets were done to define their effectiveness in the grinding process and to optimize the influence of the pellets elaboration parameters. The obtained results show the existence of an optimal combination of the pellets elaboration parameters for each glass grinding phase (coarse to fine grinding). The final roughness (rms) reached by the elaborated pellets on a BK7 glass surface was about 0.392 μm.
Abstract: Requirements are critical to system validation as they guide all subsequent stages of systems development. Inadequately specified requirements generate systems that require major revisions or cause system failure entirely. Use Cases have become the main vehicle for requirements capture in many current Object Oriented (OO) development methodologies, and a means for developers to communicate with different stakeholders. In this paper we present the results of a laboratory experiment that explored whether different types of use case format are equally effective in facilitating high knowledge user-s understanding. Results showed that the provision of diagrams along with the textual use case descriptions significantly improved user comprehension of system requirements in both familiar and unfamiliar application domains. However, when comparing groups that received models of textual description accompanied with diagrams of different level of details (simple and detailed) we found no significant difference in performance.
Abstract: Sports Sciences has been historically supported by the positivism idea of science, especially by the mechanistic/reductionist and becomes a field that views experimentation and measurement as the mayor research domains. The disposition to simplify nature and the world by parts has fragmented and reduced the idea of bodyathletes as machine. In this paper we intent to re-think this perception lined by Complexity Theory. We come with the idea of athletes as a reflexive and active being (corporeity-body). Therefore, the construction of a training that considers the cultural, biological, psychological elements regarding the experience of the human corporal movements in a circumspect and responsible way could bring better chances of accomplishment. In the end, we hope to help coaches understand the intrinsic complexity of the body they are training, how better deal with it, and, in the field of a deep globalization among the different types of knowledge, to respect and accepted the peculiarities of knowledge that comprise this area.
Abstract: According to FDA (Food and Drug Administration of the United States), vinegar is definedas a sour liquid containing at least 4 grams acetic acid in 100 cubic centimeter (4% solution of acetic acid) of solution that is produced from sugary materials by alcoholic fermentation. In the base of microbial starters, vinegars could be contained of more than 50 types of volatile and aromatic substances that responsible for their sweet taste and smelling. Recently the vinegar industry has a great proportion in agriculture, food and microbial biotechnology. The acetic acid bacteria are from the family Acetobacteraceae. Regarding to the latest version of Bergy-s Mannual of Systematic Bacteriology that has categorized bacteria in the base of their 16s RNA differences, the most important acetic acid genera are included Acetobacter (genus I), Gluconacetobacter (genus VIII) and Gluconobacter (genus IX). The genus Acetobacter that is primarily used in vinegar manufacturing plants is a gram negative, obligate aerobe coccus or rod shaped bacterium with the size 0.6 - 0.8 X 1.0 - 4.0 μm, nonmotile or motile with peritrichous flagella and catalase positive – oxidase negative biochemically. Some strains are overoxidizer that could convert acetic acid to carbon dioxide and water.In this research one Acetobacter native strain with high acetic acid productivity was isolated from Iranian white – red cherry. We used two specific culture media include Carr medium [yeast extract, 3%; ethanol, 2% (v/v); bromocresol green, 0.002%; agar, 2% and distilled water, 1000 ml], Frateur medium [yeast extract, 10 g/l; CaCO3, 20 g/l; ethanol, 20 g/l; agar, 20 g/l and distilled water, 1000 ml] and an industrial culture medium. In addition to high acetic acid production and high growth rate, this strain had a good tolerance against ethanol concentration that was examined using modified Carr media with 5%, 7% and 9% ethanol concentrations. While the industrial strains of acetic acid bacteria grow in the thermal range of 28 – 30 °C, this strain was adapted for growth in 34 – 36 °C after 96 hours incubation period. These dramatic characteristics suggest a potential biotechnological strain in production of cherry vinegar with a sweet smell and different nutritional properties in comparison to recent vinegar types. The lack of growth after 24, 48 and 72 hours incubation at 34 – 36 °C and the growth after 96 hours indicates a good and fast thermal flexibility of this strain as a significant characteristic of biotechnological and industrial strains.
Abstract: Laser Profiler (LP) data from aerial laser surveys have
been increasingly used as topographical inputs to numerical
simulations of flooding and inundation in river basins. LP data has
great potential for reproducing topography, but its effective usage has
not yet been fully established. In this study, flooding and inundation
are simulated numerically using LP data for the Jobaru River basin of
Japan’s Saga Plain. The analysis shows that the topography is
reproduced satisfactorily in the computational domain with urban and
agricultural areas requiring different grid sizes. A 2-D numerical
simulation shows that flood flow behavior changes as grid size is
varied.
Abstract: Prediction of bacterial virulent protein sequences can
give assistance to identification and characterization of novel
virulence-associated factors and discover drug/vaccine targets against
proteins indispensable to pathogenicity. Gene Ontology (GO)
annotation which describes functions of genes and gene products as a
controlled vocabulary of terms has been shown effectively for a
variety of tasks such as gene expression study, GO annotation
prediction, protein subcellular localization, etc. In this study, we
propose a sequence-based method Virulent-GO by mining informative
GO terms as features for predicting bacterial virulent proteins.
Each protein in the datasets used by the existing method
VirulentPred is annotated by using BLAST to obtain its homologies
with known accession numbers for retrieving GO terms. After
investigating various popular classifiers using the same five-fold
cross-validation scheme, Virulent-GO using the single kind of GO
term features with an accuracy of 82.5% is slightly better than
VirulentPred with 81.8% using five kinds of sequence-based features.
For the evaluation of independent test, Virulent-GO also yields better
results (82.0%) than VirulentPred (80.7%). When evaluating single
kind of feature with SVM, the GO term feature performs much well,
compared with each of the five kinds of features.
Abstract: Traditionally, Yemini Sidr honey has been reported to
cure liver problems, stomach ulcers, and respiratory disorders. In this
experiment, we evaluated Yemeni Sidr honey for its ability to protect
inflammations caused by acetic acid and formalin -induced writhing,
carrageenan and histamine-induced paw oedema in experimental rat
model. Hyperpyrexia, membrane stabilizing activity, and
phytochemical screening of the honey was also examined. Yemini
Sidr Honey at (100, 200 and 500 mg/kg) exhibited a concentration
dependant inhibition of acetic acid induced and formalin induced
writhing, paw oedema induced by carrageenan & histamine, and
hyperpyrexia induced by brewer's yeast, it also inhibited membrane
stabilizing activity. Phytochemical screenings of the honey reveal the
presence of flavonoids, steroid, alkaloids, saponins and tannins. This
study suggested that Yemeni Sidr honey possess very strong antiinflammatory,
analgesic and antipyretic effects and these effects
would be a result of the phytochemicals present.
Abstract: Estimation of stormwater pollutants is a pre-requisite
for the protection and improvement of the aquatic environment and
for appropriate management options. The usual practice for the
stormwater quality prediction is performed through water quality
modeling. However, the accuracy of the prediction by the models
depends on the proper estimation of model parameters. This paper
presents the estimation of model parameters for a catchment water
quality model developed for the continuous simulation of stormwater
pollutants from a catchment to the catchment outlet. The model is
capable of simulating the accumulation and transportation of the
stormwater pollutants; suspended solids (SS), total nitrogen (TN) and
total phosphorus (TP) from a particular catchment. Rainfall and water
quality data were collected for the Hotham Creek Catchment (HTCC),
Gold Coast, Australia. Runoff calculations from the developed model
were compared with the calculated discharges from the widely used
hydrological models, WBNM and DRAINS. Based on the measured
water quality data, model water quality parameters were calibrated
for the above-mentioned catchment. The calibrated parameters are
expected to be helpful for the best management practices (BMPs)
of the region. Sensitivity analyses of the estimated parameters were
performed to assess the impacts of the model parameters on overall
model estimations of runoff water quality.
Abstract: This paper presents an environmental and technoeconomic
evaluation of light duty vehicles in Iran. A comprehensive
well-to-wheel (WTW) analysis is applied to compare different
automotive fuel chains, conventional internal combustion engines and
innovative vehicle powertrains. The study examines the
competitiveness of 15 various pathways in terms of energy
efficiencies, GHG emissions, and levelized cost of different energy
carriers. The results indicate that electric vehicles including battery
electric vehicles (BEV), fuel cell vehicles (FCV) and plug-in hybrid
electric vehicles (PHEV) increase the WTW energy efficiency by
54%, 51% and 46%, respectively, compared to common internal
combustion engines powered by gasoline. On the other hand,
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per kilometer of FCV and BEV
would be 48% lower than that of gasoline engines. It is concluded
that BEV has the lowest total cost of energy consumption and
external cost of emission, followed by internal combustion engines
(ICE) fueled by CNG. Conventional internal combustion engines
fueled by gasoline, on the other hand, would have the highest costs.
Abstract: The integral form of equations of motion of composite
beams subjected to varying time loads are discretized using a
developed finite element model. The model consists of a straight five
node twenty-two degrees of freedom beam element. The stability
analysis of the beams is studied by solving the matrix form
characteristic equations of the system. The principle of virtual work
and the first order shear deformation theory are employed to analyze
the beams with large deformation and small strains. The regions of
dynamic instability of the beam are determined by solving the
obtained Mathieu form of differential equations. The effects of nonconservative
loads, shear stiffness, and damping parameters on
stability and response of the beams are examined. Several numerical
calculations are presented to compare the results with data reported
by other researchers.