Abstract: This paper proposes the concept of aerocapture with
aerodynamic-environment-adaptive variable geometry flexible
aeroshell that vehicle deploys. The flexible membrane is composed
of thin-layer film or textile as its aeroshell in order to solve some
problems obstructing realization of aerocapture technique.
Multi-objective optimization study is conducted to investigate
solutions and derive design guidelines. As a result, solutions which
can avoid aerodynamic heating and enlarge the corridor width up
to 10% are obtained successfully, so that the effectiveness of this
concept can be demonstrated. The deformation-use optimum
solution changes its drag coefficient from 1.6 to 1.1, along with the
change in dynamic pressure. Moreover, optimization results show
that deformation-use solution requires the membrane for which
upper temperature limit and strain limit are more than 700 K and
120%, respectively, and elasticity (Young-s modulus) is of order of
106 Pa.
Abstract: A free-trade agreement is found to increase Thailand-s
agricultural imports from New Zealand, despite the short span of
time for which the agreement has been operational. The finding is
described by autoregressive estimates that correct for possible unit
roots in the data. The agreement-s effect upon imports is also
estimated while considering an error-correction model of imports
against gross domestic product.
Abstract: A manufacturing inventory model with shortages with
carrying cost, shortage cost, setup cost and demand quantity as
imprecise numbers, instead of real numbers, namely interval number
is considered here. First, a brief survey of the existing works on
comparing and ranking any two interval numbers on the real line
is presented. A common algorithm for the optimum production
quantity (Economic lot-size) per cycle of a single product (so as
to minimize the total average cost) is developed which works well
on interval number optimization under consideration. Finally, the
designed algorithm is illustrated with numerical example.
Abstract: A large quantity of world-s oil reserves exists in
carbonate reservoirs. Carbonate reservoirs are very sensitive to
chemical enhanced oil recovery process because of containing large
amount of calcite, dolomite and calcium sulfate minerals. These
minerals cause major obstacles during alkali-surfactant-polymer
(ASP) flooding. Alkali reacts with these minerals and form undesired
precipitations which plug effective porous openings, reduce
permeability and cause scale occurrence at the wellbore. In this
paper, a new chemical combination consists of acrylic acid and alkali
was used to minimize precipitation problem during ASP flooding. A
series of fluid-fluid compatibility tests were performed using acrylic
acid and different concentrations of alkaline. Two types of alkalis
namely; sodium carbonate and sodium metaborate were screened. As
a result, the combination of acrylic acid and sodium carbonate was
not effective in preventing calcium and magnesium precipitations.
However, acrylic acid and sodium metaborate showed promising
results for keeping all solutions without any precipitations. The ratio
of acrylic acid to sodium metaborate of 0.7:1.0 was found to be
optimum for achieving a compatible solution for 30 days at 80oC.
Abstract: In this study, a longitudinal joint connection was
proposed for the short-span slab-type modular bridges with rapid
construction. The slab-type modular bridge consists of a number of
precast slab modules and has the joint connection between the
modules in the longitudinal direction of the bridge. A finite element
based parameter analysis was conducted to design the shape and the
dimensions of the longitudinal joint connection. Numbers of shear
keys within the joint, height and depth of the shear key, tooth angle,
and the spacing were considered as the design parameters. Using the
local cracking load at the corner of the shear key and the
cross-sectional area of the joint, an efficiency factor was proposed to
evaluate the effectiveness of the longitudinal joint connection. The
dimensions of shear key were determined by comparing the cracking
loads and the efficiency factors obtained from the finite element
analysis.
Abstract: Tool Tracker is a client-server based application. It is essentially a catalogue of various network monitoring and management tools that are available online. There is a database maintained on the server side that contains the information about various tools. Several clients can access this information simultaneously and utilize this information. The various categories of tools considered are packet sniffers, port mappers, port scanners, encryption tools, and vulnerability scanners etc for the development of this application. This application provides a front end through which the user can invoke any tool from a central repository for the purpose of packet sniffing, port scanning, network analysis etc. Apart from the tool, its description and the help files associated with it would also be stored in the central repository. This facility will enable the user to view the documentation pertaining to the tool without having to download and install the tool. The application would update the central repository with the latest versions of the tools. The application would inform the user about the availability of a newer version of the tool currently being used and give the choice of installing the newer version to the user. Thus ToolTracker provides any network administrator that much needed abstraction and ease-ofuse with respect to the tools that he can use to efficiently monitor a network.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to express the input-output
matrix as a linear ordering problem which is classified as an NP-hard
problem. We then use a Tabu search algorithm to find the best
permutation among sectors in the input-output matrix that will give
an optimal solution. This optimal permutation can be useful in
designing policies and strategies for economists and government in
their goal of maximizing the gross domestic product.
Abstract: In this paper, a new technique of signal detection has been proposed for detecting the orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signal in the presence of nonlinear distortion.There are several advantages of OFDM communications system.However, one of the existing problems is remain considered as the nonlinear distortion generated by high-power-amplifier at the transmitter end due to the large dynamic range of an OFDM signal. The proposed method is the maximum likelihood detection with the symbol estimation. When the training data are available, the neural network has been used to learn the characteristic of received signal and to estimate the new positions of the transmitted symbol which are provided to the maximum likelihood detector. Resulting in the system performance, the nonlinear distortions of a traveling wave tube amplifier with OFDM signal are considered in this paper.Simulation results of the bit-error-rate performance are obtained with 16-QAM OFDM systems.
Abstract: Although many studies on the assembly technology of
the bridge construction have dealt mostly with on the pier, girder or the
deck of the bridge, studies on the prefabricated barrier have rarely been
performed. For understanding structural characteristics and
application of the concrete barrier in the modular bridge, which is an
assembly of structure members, static loading test was performed.
Structural performances as a road barrier of the three methods,
conventional cast-in-place(ST), vertical bolt connection(BVC) and
horizontal bolt connection(BHC) were evaluated and compared
through the analyses of load-displacement curves, strain curves of the
steel, concrete strain curves and the visual appearances of crack
patterns. The vertical bolt connection(BVC) method demonstrated
comparable performance as an alternative to conventional
cast-in-place(ST) while providing all the advantages of prefabricated
technology. Necessities for the future improvement in nuts
enforcement as well as legal standard and regulation are also
addressed.
Abstract: To compare Healing Effects of an
Ayurvedic Preparation and Silver Sulfadiazine on burn wounds in
Albino Rats.
Methods: Albino rats– 30 male / female rats weighing between
150-200 g were used in the study. They were individually housed and
maintained on normal diet and water ad libitum. Partial thickness
burn wounds were inflicted, on overnight-starved animals under
pentobarbitone (30mg/kg, i.p.) anaesthesia, by pouring hot molten
wax at 80oC into a plastic cylinder of 300 mm2 circular openings
placed on the shaven back of the animal. Apart from the drugs under
investigation no local/ systemic chemotherapeutic cover will be
provided to animals. All the animals were assessed for the percentage
of wound contraction, signs of infection, scab formation and
histopathological examination.
Results: Percentage of wound healing was significantly better in
the test ointment group compared to the standard. Signs of infection
were observed in more animals in the test ointment group compared
to the standard. Scab formation also took place earlier in the test
ointment group compared to standard. Epithelial regeneration and
healing profile was better in the test ointment compared to the
standard. Moreover the test ointment group did not show any raised
margins in the wound or blackish discoloration as was observed in
silver sulfadiazine group.
Conclusion: The burn wound healing effect of the ayurvedic
ointment under study is better in comparison to standard therapy of
silver sulfadiazine. The problem of infection encountered with the
test ointment can be overcome by changing the concentrations and
proportions of the ingredients in the test ointment which constitutes
the further plan of the study.
Abstract: This paper presents an effective traffic lights
recognition method at the daytime. First, Potential Traffic Lights
Detector (PTLD) use whole color source of YCbCr channel image and
make each binary image of green and red traffic lights. After PTLD
step, Shape Filter (SF) use to remove noise such as traffic sign, street
tree, vehicle, and building. At this time, noise removal properties
consist of information of blobs of binary image; length, area, area of
boundary box, etc. Finally, after an intermediate association step witch
goal is to define relevant candidates region from the previously
detected traffic lights, Adaptive Multi-class Classifier (AMC) is
executed. The classification method uses Haar-like feature and
Adaboost algorithm. For simulation, we are implemented through Intel
Core CPU with 2.80 GHz and 4 GB RAM and tested in the urban and
rural roads. Through the test, we are compared with our method and
standard object-recognition learning processes and proved that it
reached up to 94 % of detection rate which is better than the results
achieved with cascade classifiers. Computation time of our proposed
method is 15 ms.
Abstract: This article presents a current-mode quadrature
oscillator using differential different current conveyor (DDCC) and
voltage differencing transconductance amplifier (VDTA) as active
elements. The proposed circuit is realized fro m a non-inverting
lossless integrator and an inverting second order low-pass filter. The
oscillation condition and oscillation frequency can be
electronically/orthogonally controlled via input bias currents. The
circuit description is very simple, consisting of merely 1 DDCC, 1
VDTA, 1 grounded resistor and 3 grounded capacitors. Using only
grounded elements, the proposed circuit is then suitable for IC
architecture. The proposed oscillator has high output impedance
which is easy to cascade or dive the external load without the buffer
devices. The PSPICE simulation results are depicted, and the given
results agree well with the theoretical anticipation. The power
consumption is approximately 1.76mW at ±1.25V supply voltages.
Abstract: Heart failure is the most common reason of death
nowadays, but if the medical help is given directly, the patient-s life
may be saved in many cases. Numerous heart diseases can be
detected by means of analyzing electrocardiograms (ECG). Artificial
Neural Networks (ANN) are computer-based expert systems that
have proved to be useful in pattern recognition tasks. ANN can be
used in different phases of the decision-making process, from
classification to diagnostic procedures. This work concentrates on a
review followed by a novel method.
The purpose of the review is to assess the evidence of healthcare
benefits involving the application of artificial neural networks to the
clinical functions of diagnosis, prognosis and survival analysis, in
ECG signals. The developed method is based on a compound neural
network (CNN), to classify ECGs as normal or carrying an
AtrioVentricular heart Block (AVB). This method uses three
different feed forward multilayer neural networks. A single output
unit encodes the probability of AVB occurrences. A value between 0
and 0.1 is the desired output for a normal ECG; a value between 0.1
and 1 would infer an occurrence of an AVB. The results show that
this compound network has a good performance in detecting AVBs,
with a sensitivity of 90.7% and a specificity of 86.05%. The accuracy
value is 87.9%.
Abstract: In this study, we propose a network architecture for
providing secure access to information resources of enterprise
network from remote locations in a wireless fashion. Our proposed
architecture offers a very promising solution for organizations which
are in need of a secure, flexible and cost-effective remote access
methodology. Security of the proposed architecture is based on
Virtual Private Network technology and a special role based access
control mechanism with location and time constraints. The flexibility
mainly comes from the use of Internet as the communication medium
and cost-effectiveness is due to the possibility of in-house
implementation of the proposed architecture.
Abstract: Performance of a cobalt doped sol-gel derived silica (Co/SiO2) catalyst for Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) in slurryphase reactor was studied using paraffin wax as initial liquid media. The reactive mixed gas, hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO) in a molar ratio of 2:1, was flowed at 50 ml/min. Braunauer-Emmett- Teller (BET) surface area and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques were employed to characterize both the specific surface area and crystallinity of the catalyst, respectively. The reduction behavior of Co/SiO2 catalyst was investigated using the Temperature Programmmed Reduction (TPR) method. Operating temperatures were varied from 493 to 533K to find the optimum conditions to maximize liquid fuels production, gasoline and diesel.
Abstract: This paper describes an algorithm to estimate realtime vehicle velocity using image processing technique from the known camera calibration parameters. The presented algorithm involves several main steps. First, the moving object is extracted by utilizing frame differencing technique. Second, the object tracking method is applied and the speed is estimated based on the displacement of the object-s centroid. Several assumptions are listed to simplify the transformation of 2D images from 3D real-world images. The results obtained from the experiment have been compared to the estimated ground truth. From this experiment, it exhibits that the proposed algorithm has achieved the velocity accuracy estimation of about ± 1.7 km/h.
Abstract: The ability of UML to handle the modeling process of complex industrial software applications has increased its popularity to the extent of becoming the de-facto language in serving the design purpose. Although, its rich graphical notation naturally oriented towards the object-oriented concept, facilitates the understandability, it hardly successes to report all domainspecific aspects in a satisfactory way. OCL, as the standard language for expressing additional constraints on UML models, has great potential to help improve expressiveness. Unfortunately, it suffers from a weak formalism due to its poor semantic resulting in many obstacles towards the build of tools support and thus its application in the industry field. For this reason, many researches were established to formalize OCL expressions using a more rigorous approach. Our contribution join this work in a complementary way since it focuses specifically on OCL predefined properties which constitute an important part in the construction of OCL expressions. Using formal methods, we mainly succeed in expressing rigorously OCL predefined functions.
Abstract: There are three approaches to complete Bayesian
Network (BN) model construction: total expert-centred, total datacentred,
and semi data-centred. These three approaches constitute the
basis of the empirical investigation undertaken and reported in this
paper. The objective is to determine, amongst these three
approaches, which is the optimal approach for the construction of a
BN-based model for the performance assessment of students-
laboratory work in a virtual electronic laboratory environment. BN
models were constructed using all three approaches, with respect to
the focus domain, and compared using a set of optimality criteria. In
addition, the impact of the size and source of the training, on the
performance of total data-centred and semi data-centred models was
investigated. The results of the investigation provide additional
insight for BN model constructors and contribute to literature
providing supportive evidence for the conceptual feasibility and
efficiency of structure and parameter learning from data. In addition,
the results highlight other interesting themes.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine the self and
decision making levels of students receiving education in schools of
physical training and sports. The population of the study consisted
258 students, among which 152 were male and 106 were female
( X age=19,3713 + 1,6968), that received education in the schools of
physical education and sports of Selcuk University, Inonu University,
Gazi University and Karamanoglu Mehmetbey University. In order to
achieve the purpose of the study, the Melbourne Decision Making
Questionnary developed by Mann et al. (1998) [1] and adapted to
Turkish by Deniz (2004) [2] and the Self-Esteem Scale developed by
Aricak (1999) [3] was utilized. For analyzing and interpreting data
Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, t-test and one way anova test were used,
while for determining the difference between the groups Tukey test
and Multiple Linear Regression test were employed and significance
was accepted at P
Abstract: The e-government emerging concept transforms the
way in which the citizens are dealing with their governments. Thus,
the citizens can execute the intended services online anytime and
anywhere. This results in great benefits for both the governments
(reduces the number of officers) and the citizens (more flexibility and
time saving). Therefore, building a maturity model to assess the egovernment
portals becomes desired to help in the improvement
process of such portals. This paper aims at proposing an egovernment
maturity model based on the measurement of the best
practices’ presence. The main benefit of such maturity model is to
provide a way to rank an e-government portal based on the used best
practices, and also giving a set of recommendations to go to the
higher stage in the maturity model.