Abstract: This research aimed to develop plasma system used in air conditioners. This developed plasma system could be installed in the air conditioners - all split type. The quality of air could be improved to be equal to present plasma system. Development processes were as follows: 1) to study the plasma system used in the air conditioners, 2) to design a plasma generator, 3) to develop the plasma generator, and 4) to test its performance in many types of the air conditioners. This plasma system was developed by AC high voltage – 14 kv with a frequency of 50 kHz. Carbon was a conductor to generate arc in air purifier system. The research was tested by installing the plasma generator in the air conditioners - wall type. Whereas, there were 3 types of installations: air flow out, air flow in, and room center. The result of the plasma generator installed in the air conditioners, split type, revealed that the air flow out installation provided the highest average of o-zone at 223 mg/h. This type of installation provided the highest efficiency of air quality improvement. Moreover, the air flow in installation and the room center installation provided the average of the o-zone at 163 mg/h and 64 mg/h, respectively.
Abstract: The work presented in this study is related to an
energy system analysis based on passive cooling system for
dwellings. It consists to solar chimney energy performances
determination versus geometrical and environmental considerations
as the size and inlet width conditions of the chimney. Adrar site
located in the southern region of Algeria is chosen for this study
according to ambient temperature and solar irradiance technical data
availability. Obtained results are related to the glazing temperature
distributions, the chimney air flow and internal wall temperatures.
The air room change per hour (ACH) parameter, the outlet air
velocity and mass air flow rate are also determined. It is shown that
the chimney width has a significant effect on energy performances
compared to its entry size. A good agreement is observed between
these results and those obtained by others from the literature.
Abstract: The quality attributes and storage life of 'Jinhwang' mango fruit can be effectively maintained with 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) application and/or chitosan coating. 'Jinhwang' mango fruit was treated with 5 μl l-1 1-MCP for 12 h, dipped with 0.5 % chitosan, 5 μl l-1 1-MCP combine with 0.5 % chitosan and untreated (control) then stored at 10oC. Mango treated with 1-MCP maintained firmness, sucrose and starch content. Chitosan coating delayed firmness loss, sucrose content and the fruit decay when compare with control. Application of 1-MCP combine with chitosan also delayed firmness loss, sucrose content and starch content during storage. Furthermore, chitosan coating and combine treatment prolonged storage life of mango up to 29 days after storage while 1-MCP extended to 28 days after storage. Therefore, using all application of chitosan coating or 1-MCP combine with chitosan or 1-MCP in mango at 10oC is a feasible technology for maintains quality and prolongs storage life in order to expand marketability and export options.
Abstract: Lately there has been a significant boost of interest in
music digital libraries, which constitute an attractive area of research
and development due to their inherent interesting issues and
challenging technical problems, solutions to which will be highly
appreciated by enthusiastic end-users. We present here a DL that we
have developed to support users in their quest for classical music
pieces within a particular collection of 18,000+ audio recordings.
To cope with the early DL model limitations, we have used a refined
socio-semantic and contextual model that allows rich bibliographic
content description, along with semantic annotations, reviewing,
rating, knowledge sharing etc. The multi-layered service model
allows incorporation of local and distributed information,
construction of rich hypermedia documents, expressing the complex
relationships between various objects and multi-dimensional spaces,
agents, actors, services, communities, scenarios etc., and facilitates
collaborative activities to offer to individual users the needed
collections and services.
Abstract: This is a cross-cultural study that determines South
African multinational enterprises (MNEs) entry strategies as they
invest in Africa. An integrated theoretical framework comprising the
transaction cost theory, Uppsala model, eclectic paradigm and the
distance framework was adopted. A sample of 40 South African
MNEs with 415 existing FDI entries in Africa was drawn. Using an
ordered logistic regression model, the impact of culture on the choice
of degree of control by South African MNEs in Africa was
determined. Cultural distance was one of significant factors that
influenced South African MNEs- choice of degree of control.
Furthermore, South African MNEs are risk averse in all countries in
Africa but minimize the risks differently across sectors. Service
sectors chooses to own their subsidiaries 100% and avoid dealing
with the locals while manufacturing, resources and construction
choose to have a local partner to share the risk.
Abstract: The statistical distributions are modeled in explaining
nature of various types of data sets. Although these distributions are
mostly uni-modal, it is quite common to see multiple modes in the
observed distribution of the underlying variables, which make the
precise modeling unrealistic. The observed data do not exhibit
smoothness not necessarily due to randomness, but could also be due
to non-randomness resulting in zigzag curves, oscillations, humps
etc. The present paper argues that trigonometric functions, which
have not been used in probability functions of distributions so far,
have the potential to take care of this, if incorporated in the
distribution appropriately. A simple distribution (named as, Sinoform
Distribution), involving trigonometric functions, is illustrated in the
paper with a data set. The importance of trigonometric functions is
demonstrated in the paper, which have the characteristics to make
statistical distributions exotic. It is possible to have multiple modes,
oscillations and zigzag curves in the density, which could be suitable
to explain the underlying nature of select data set.
Abstract: Dynamic Causal Modeling (DCM) functional
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is a promising technique to
study the connectivity among brain regions and effects of stimuli
through modeling neuronal interactions from time-series
neuroimaging. The aim of this study is to study characteristics of a
mirror neuron system (MNS) in elderly group (age: 60-70 years old).
Twenty volunteers were MRI scanned with visual stimuli to study a
functional brain network. DCM was employed to determine the
mechanism of mirror neuron effects. The results revealed major
activated areas including precentral gyrus, inferior parietal lobule,
inferior occipital gyrus, and supplementary motor area. When visual
stimuli were presented, the feed-forward connectivity from visual
area to conjunction area was increased and forwarded to motor area.
Moreover, the connectivity from the conjunction areas to premotor
area was also increased. Such findings can be useful for future
diagnostic process for elderly with diseases such as Parkinson-s and
Alzheimer-s.
Abstract: fifteen cultivars of Strawberries (Queen Eliza, Sequia,
Paros, Mcdonance, Selva, Chandler, Mrak, Ten beauty, Aliso, Pajero,
Kordestan, Camarosa, Blackmore, Gaviota and Fresno) were
investigated in 2011, under hydroponic system condition. Yield and
fruit Firmness was determinate. Chemical analyses of soluble solids
content (SSC), titratable acidity (TA), ascorbic acid (AA) and pH
were done. 4 cultivars (Aliso, Selva, Paros and Gaviota) yielded more
than 250 g/plant, while cultivar Black more, Fresno and Kordestan
produced less than 100g/plant. The amounts of fruit firmness
indicated that 'Camarosa' fruit was firmer than others cultivars.
Cultivar 'Fresno' had the highest pH (3.27). Ttitratable acidity varied
from 1.03g/l00g for cultivar 'Sequia' and 'Gaviota' to 1.48g/l00g for
cultivar 'Chandler'. Fresno, Kordestan, Aliso and Chandler showed
the highest soluble solid concentration. Ascorbic acid averaged for
most cultivars between 30.26 and 79.73 mg/100gf.w. Present results
showed that different cultivars of strawberry contain highly variable
in fruit quality.
Abstract: Natural ventilation is an important means to improve indoor thermal comfort and reduce the energy consumption. A solar chimney system is an enhancing natural draft device, which uses solar radiation to heat the air inside the chimney, thereby converting the thermal energy into kinetic energy. The present study considered some parameters such as chimney width and solar intensity, which were believed to have a significant effect on space ventilation. Fluent CFD software was used to predict buoyant air flow and flow rates in the cavities. The results were compared with available published experimental and theoretical data from the literature. There was an acceptable trend match between the present results and the published data for the room air change per hour, ACH. Further, it was noticed that the solar intensity has a more significant effect on ACH.
Abstract: In recent years application of natural antimicrobials
instead of conventional ones, due to their hazardous effects on health,
has got serious attentions. On the basis of the results of different
studies, chitosan, a natural bio-degradable and non-toxic
biopolysaccharide derived from chitin, has potential to be used as a
natural antimicrobial. Chitosan has exhibited high antimicrobial
activity against a wide variety of pathogenic and spoilage
microorganisms, including fungi, and Gram-positive and Gramnegative
bacteria. The antimicrobial action is influenced by intrinsic
factors such as the type of chitosan, the degree of chitosan
polymerization and extrinsic factors such as the microbial organism,
the environmental conditions and presence of the other components.
The use of chitosan in food systems should be based on sufficient
knowledge of the complex mechanisms of its antimicrobial mode of
action. In this article we review a number of studies on the
investigation of chitosan antimicrobial properties and application of
them in culture and food mediums.
Abstract: We analyze the effectivity of different pseudo noise (PN) and orthogonal sequences for encrypting speech signals in terms of perceptual intelligence. Speech signal can be viewed as sequence of correlated samples and each sample as sequence of bits. The residual intelligibility of the speech signal can be reduced by removing the correlation among the speech samples. PN sequences have random like properties that help in reducing the correlation among speech samples. The mean square aperiodic auto-correlation (MSAAC) and the mean square aperiodic cross-correlation (MSACC) measures are used to test the randomness of the PN sequences. Results of the investigation show the effectivity of large Kasami sequences for this purpose among many PN sequences.
Abstract: Inventory decisional environment of short life-cycle
products is full of uncertainties arising from randomness and
fuzziness of input parameters like customer demand requiring
modeling under hybrid uncertainty. Prior inventory models
incorporating fuzzy demand have unfortunately ignored stochastic
variation of demand. This paper determines an unambiguous optimal
order quantity from a set of n fuzzy observations in a newsvendor
inventory setting in presence of fuzzy random variable demand
capturing both fuzzy perception and randomness of customer
demand. The stress of this paper is in providing solution procedure
that attains optimality in two steps with demand information
availability in linguistic phrases leading to fuzziness along with
stochastic variation. The first step of solution procedure identifies
and prefers one best fuzzy opinion out of all expert opinions and the
second step determines optimal order quantity from the selected
event that maximizes profit. The model and solution procedure is
illustrated with a numerical example.
Abstract: In the context of computer numerical control (CNC) and computer aided manufacturing (CAM), the capabilities of programming languages such as symbolic and intuitive programming, program portability and geometrical portfolio have special importance. They allow to save time and to avoid errors during part programming and permit code re-usage. Our updated literature review indicates that the current state of art presents voids in parametric programming, program portability and programming flexibility. In response to this situation, this article presents a compiler implementation for EGCL (Extended G-code Language), a new, enriched CNC programming language which allows the use of descriptive variable names, geometrical functions and flow-control statements (if-then-else, while). Our compiler produces low-level generic, elementary ISO-compliant Gcode, thus allowing for flexibility in the choice of the executing CNC machine and in portability. Our results show that readable variable names and flow control statements allow a simplified and intuitive part programming and permit re-usage of the programs. Future work includes allowing the programmer to define own functions in terms of EGCL, in contrast to the current status of having them as library built-in functions.
Abstract: Understanding of how and where NOx formation
occurs in industrial burner is very important for efficient and clean
operation of utility burners. Also the importance of this problem is
mainly due to its relation to the pollutants produced by more burners
used widely of gas turbine in thermal power plants and glass and steel
industry.
In this article, a numerical model of an industrial burner operating
in MILD combustion is validated with experimental data.. Then
influence of air flow rate and air temperature on combustor
temperature profiles and NOX product are investigated. In order to
modification this study reports on the effects of fuel and air dilution
(with inert gases H2O, CO2, N2), and also influence of lean-premixed
of fuel, on the temperature profiles and NOX emission.
Conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy, and
transport equations of species concentrations, turbulence, combustion
and radiation modeling in addition to NO modeling equations were
solved together to present temperature and NO distribution inside the
burner.
The results shows that dilution, cause to a reduction in value of
temperature and NOX emission, and suppresses any flame
propagation inside the furnace and made the flame inside the furnace
invisible. Dilution with H2O rather than N2 and CO2 decreases further
the value of the NOX. Also with raise of lean-premix level, local
temperature of burner and the value of NOX product are decreases
because of premixing prevents local “hot spots" within the combustor
volume that can lead to significant NOx formation. Also leanpremixing
of fuel with air cause to amount of air in reaction zone is
reach more than amount that supplied as is actually needed to burn
the fuel and this act lead to limiting NOx formation
Abstract: Thailand-s health system is challenged by the rising
number of patients and decreasing ratio of medical
practitioners/patients, especially in rural areas. This may tempt
inexperienced GPs to rush through the process of anamnesis with the
risk of incorrect diagnosis. Patients have to travel far to the hospital
and wait for a long time presenting their case. Many patients try to
cure themselves with traditional Thai medicine. Many countries are
making use of the Internet for medical information gathering,
distribution and storage. Telemedicine applications are a relatively
new field of study in Thailand; the infrastructure of ICT had
hampered widespread use of the Internet for using medical
information. With recent improvements made health and technology
professionals can work out novel applications and systems to help
advance telemedicine for the benefit of the people. Here we explore
the use of telemedicine for people with health problems in rural areas
in Thailand and present a Telemedicine Diagnosis System for Rural
Thailand (TEDIST) for diagnosing certain conditions that people
with Internet access can use to establish contact with Community
Health Centers, e.g. by mobile phone. The system uses a Web-based
input method for individual patients- symptoms, which are taken by
an expert system for the analysis of conditions and appropriate
diseases. The analysis harnesses a knowledge base and a backward
chaining component to find out, which health professionals should be
presented with the case. Doctors have the opportunity to exchange
emails or chat with the patients they are responsible for or other
specialists. Patients- data are then stored in a Personal Health Record.
Abstract: The Beijing road traffic system, as a typical huge
urban traffic system, provides a platform for analyzing the complex
characteristics and the evolving mechanisms of urban traffic systems.
Based on dynamic network theory, we construct the dynamic model
of the Beijing road traffic system in which the dynamical properties
are described completely. Furthermore, we come into the conclusion
that urban traffic systems can be viewed as static networks, stochastic
networks and complex networks at different system phases by
analyzing the structural randomness. As well as, we demonstrate the
evolving process of the Beijing road traffic network based on real
traffic data, validate the stochastic characteristics and the scale-free
property of the network at different phases
Abstract: The study of the variability of the postural strategies
in low back pain patients, as a criterion in evaluation of the
adaptability of this system to the environmental demands is the
purpose of this study. A cross-sectional case-control study was
performed on 21 recurrent non-specific low back pain patients and 21
healthy volunteers. The electromyography activity of Deltoid,
External Oblique (EO), Transverse Abdominis/Internal Oblique
(TrA/IO) and Erector Spine (ES) muscles of each person was
recorded in 75 rapid arm flexion with maximum acceleration.
Standard deviation of trunk muscles onset relative to deltoid muscle
onset were statistically analyzed by MANOVA . The results show
that chronic low back pain patients exhibit less variability in their
anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs) in comparison with the
control group. There is a decrease in variability of postural control
system of recurrent non-specific low back pain patients that can
result in the persistence of pain and chronicity by decreasing the
adaptability to environmental demands.
Abstract: Shipping comb is mounted on Head Stack Assembly
(HSA) to prevent collision of the heads, maintain the gap between
suspensions and protect HSA tips from unintentional contact
damaged in the manufacturing process. Failure analysis of shipping
comb in hard disk drive production processes is proposed .Field
observations were performed to determine the fatal areas on shipping
comb and their failure fraction. Root cause failure analysis (RCFA) is
applied to specify the failure causes subjected to various loading
conditions. For reliability improvement, failure mode and effects
analysis (FMEA) procedure to evaluate the risk priority is performed.
Consequently, the more suitable information design criterions were
obtained.
Abstract: In this paper, genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed for
the design of an optimization algorithm to achieve the bandwidth
allocation of ATM network. In Broadband ISDN, the ATM is a highbandwidth;
fast packet switching and multiplexing technique. Using
ATM it can be flexibly reconfigure the network and reassign the
bandwidth to meet the requirements of all types of services. By
dynamically routing the traffic and adjusting the bandwidth
assignment, the average packet delay of the whole network can be
reduced to a minimum. M/M/1 model can be used to analyze the
performance.
Abstract: Nowadays, the rapid development of multimedia
and internet allows for wide distribution of digital media data.
It becomes much easier to edit, modify and duplicate digital
information Besides that, digital documents are also easy to
copy and distribute, therefore it will be faced by many
threatens. It-s a big security and privacy issue with the large
flood of information and the development of the digital
format, it become necessary to find appropriate protection
because of the significance, accuracy and sensitivity of the
information. Nowadays protection system classified with more
specific as hiding information, encryption information, and
combination between hiding and encryption to increase information
security, the strength of the information hiding science is due to the
non-existence of standard algorithms to be used in hiding secret
messages. Also there is randomness in hiding methods such as
combining several media (covers) with different methods to pass a
secret message. In addition, there are no formal methods to be
followed to discover the hidden data. For this reason, the task of this
research becomes difficult. In this paper, a new system of information
hiding is presented. The proposed system aim to hidden information
(data file) in any execution file (EXE) and to detect the hidden file
and we will see implementation of steganography system which
embeds information in an execution file. (EXE) files have been
investigated. The system tries to find a solution to the size of the
cover file and making it undetectable by anti-virus software. The
system includes two main functions; first is the hiding of the
information in a Portable Executable File (EXE), through the
execution of four process (specify the cover file, specify the
information file, encryption of the information, and hiding the
information) and the second function is the extraction of the hiding
information through three process (specify the steno file, extract the
information, and decryption of the information). The system has
achieved the main goals, such as make the relation of the size of the
cover file and the size of information independent and the result file
does not make any conflict with anti-virus software.