Abstract: In this investigation, types of commercial and special
polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers contain sodium 2-methyl-2-
acrylamidopropane sulfonate (SAMPS) and itaconic acid (IA)
comonomers were studied by fourier transform infrared (FT-IR)
spectroscopy. The study of FT-IR spectra of PAN fibers samples
with different comonomers shows that during stabilization of PAN
fibers, the peaks related to C≡N bonds and CH2 are reduced sharply.
These reductions are related to cyclization of nitrile groups and
stabilization procedure. This reduction in PAN fibers contain IA
comonomer is very intense in comparison with PAN fibers contain
SAMPS comonomer. This fact indicates the cycling and stabilization
for sample contain IA comonomer have been conducted more
completely. Therefore the carbon fibers produced from this material
have higher tensile strength due to suitable stabilization.
Abstract: This article discusses the customs and traditions in
Turkestan in the late XIXth and early XXth centuries. Having a long
history, Turkestan is well-known as the birthplace of many nations
and nationalities. The name of Turkestan is also given to it for a
reason - the land of the Turkic peoples who inhabited Central Asia
and united under together. Currently, nations and nationalities of the
Turkestan region formed their own sovereign states, and every year
they prove their country names in the world community. Political,
economic importance of Turkestan, which became the gold wire
between Asia and Europe was always very high. So systematically
various aggressive actions were made by several great powers. As a
result of expansionary policy of colonization of the Russian Empire -
the Turkestan has appeared.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present a new method
which can be used for progressive transmission of electrocardiogram
(ECG). The idea consists in transforming any ECG signal to an
image, containing one beat in each row. In the first step, the beats are
synchronized in order to reduce the high frequencies due to inter-beat
transitions. The obtained image is then transformed using a discrete
version of Radon Transform (DRT). Hence, transmitting the ECG,
leads to transmit the most significant energy of the transformed
image in Radon domain. For decoding purpose, the receptor needs to
use the inverse Radon Transform as well as the two synchronization
frames.
The presented protocol can be adapted for lossy to lossless
compression systems. In lossy mode we show that the compression
ratio can be multiplied by an average factor of 2 for an acceptable
quality of reconstructed signal. These results have been obtained on
real signals from MIT database.
Abstract: In present work, drying characteristics of fresh papaya (Carica papaya L.) was studied to understand the dehydration process and its behavior. Drying experiments were carried out by a laboratory scaled microwave-vacuum oven. The parameters affecting drying characteristics including operating modes (continuous, pulsed), microwave power (400 and 800 W), and vacuum pressure (20, 30, and 40 cmHg) were investigated. For pulsed mode, two levels of power-off time (60 and 120 s) were used while the power-on time was fixed at 60 s and the vacuum pressure was fixed at 40 cmHg. For both operating modes, the effects of drying conditions on drying time, drying rate, and effective diffusivity were investigated. The results showed high microwave power, high vacuum, and pulsed mode of 60 s-on/60 s-off favored drying rate as shown by the shorten drying time and increased effective diffusivity. The drying characteristics were then described by Page-s model, which showed a good agreement with experimental data.
Abstract: Computations with higher than the IEEE 754 standard double-precision (about 16 significant digits) are required recently. Although there are available software routines in Fortran and C for high-precision computation, users are required to implement such routines in their own computers with detailed knowledges about them. We have constructed an user-friendly online system for octupleprecision computation. In our Web system users with no knowledges about high-precision computation can easily perform octupleprecision computations, by choosing mathematical functions with argument(s) inputted, by writing simple mathematical expression(s) or by uploading C program(s). In this paper we enhance the Web system above by adding the facility of uploading Fortran programs, which have been widely used in scientific computing. To this end we construct converter routines in two stages.
Abstract: Environmental factors affect agriculture production
productivity and efficiency resulted in changing of profit efficiency.
This paper attempts to estimate the impacts of environmental factors
to profitability of rice farmers in the Red River Delta of Vietnam. The
dataset was extracted from 349 rice farmers using personal
interviews. Both OLS and MLE trans-log profit functions were used
in this study. Five production inputs and four environmental factors
were included in these functions. The estimation of the stochastic
profit frontier with a two-stage approach was used to measure
profitability. The results showed that the profit efficiency was about
75% on the average and environmental factors change profit
efficiency significantly beside farm specific characteristics. Plant
disease, soil fertility, irrigation apply and water pollution were the
four environmental factors cause profit loss in rice production. The
result indicated that farmers should reduce household size, farm
plots, apply row seeding technique and improve environmental
factors to obtain high profit efficiency with special consideration is
given for irrigation water quality improvement.
Abstract: A mobile agent is a software which performs an
action autonomously and independently as a person or an
organizations assistance. Mobile agents are used for searching
information, retrieval information, filtering, intruder recognition in
networks, and so on. One of the important issues of mobile agent is
their security. It must consider different security issues in effective
and secured usage of mobile agent. One of those issues is the
integrity-s protection of mobile agents.
In this paper, the advantages and disadvantages of each method,
after reviewing the existing methods, is examined. Regarding to this
matter that each method has its own advantage or disadvantage, it
seems that by combining these methods, one can reach to a better
method for protecting the integrity of mobile agents. Therefore, this
method is provided in this paper and then is evaluated in terms of
existing method. Finally, this method is simulated and its results are
the sign of improving the possibility of integrity-s protection of
mobile agents.
Abstract: Based on the feature of model disturbances and uncertainty being compensated dynamically in auto – disturbances-rejection-controller (ADRC), a new method using ADRC is proposed for the decoupling control of dispenser longitudinal movement in big flight envelope. Developed from nonlinear model directly, ADRC is especially suitable for dynamic model that has big disturbances. Furthermore, without changing the structure and parameters of the controller in big flight envelope, this scheme can simplify the design of flight control system. The simulation results in big flight envelope show that the system achieves high dynamic performance, steady state performance and the controller has strong robustness.
Abstract: Fuel and oxidant gas delivery plate, or fuel cell
plate, is a key component of a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM)
fuel cell. To manufacture low-cost and high performance fuel cell
plates, advanced computer modeling and finite element structure
analysis are used as virtual prototyping tools for the optimization
of the plates at the early design stage. The present study examines
thermal stress analysis of the fuel cell plates that are produced
using a patented, low-cost fuel cell plate production technique
based on screen-printing. Design optimization is applied to
minimize the maximum stress within the plate, subject to strain
constraint with both geometry and material parameters as design
variables. The study reveals the characteristics of the printed
plates, and provides guidelines for the structure and material design
of the fuel cell plate.
Abstract: All practical real-time scheduling algorithms in multiprocessor systems present a trade-off between their computational complexity and performance. In real-time systems, tasks have to be performed correctly and timely. Finding minimal schedule in multiprocessor systems with real-time constraints is shown to be NP-hard. Although some optimal algorithms have been employed in uni-processor systems, they fail when they are applied in multiprocessor systems. The practical scheduling algorithms in real-time systems have not deterministic response time. Deterministic timing behavior is an important parameter for system robustness analysis. The intrinsic uncertainty in dynamic real-time systems increases the difficulties of scheduling problem. To alleviate these difficulties, we have proposed a fuzzy scheduling approach to arrange real-time periodic and non-periodic tasks in multiprocessor systems. Static and dynamic optimal scheduling algorithms fail with non-critical overload. In contrast, our approach balances task loads of the processors successfully while consider starvation prevention and fairness which cause higher priority tasks have higher running probability. A simulation is conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed approach. Experimental results have shown that the proposed fuzzy scheduler creates feasible schedules for homogeneous and heterogeneous tasks. It also and considers tasks priorities which cause higher system utilization and lowers deadline miss time. According to the results, it performs very close to optimal schedule of uni-processor systems.
Abstract: Biometric techniques are gaining importance for
personal authentication and identification as compared to the
traditional authentication methods. Biometric templates are
vulnerable to variety of attacks due to their inherent nature. When a
person-s biometric is compromised his identity is lost. In contrast to
password, biometric is not revocable. Therefore, providing security
to the stored biometric template is very crucial. Crypto biometric
systems are authentication systems, which blends the idea of
cryptography and biometrics. Fuzzy vault is a proven crypto
biometric construct which is used to secure the biometric templates.
However fuzzy vault suffer from certain limitations like nonrevocability,
cross matching. Security of the fuzzy vault is affected
by the non-uniform nature of the biometric data. Fuzzy vault when
hardened with password overcomes these limitations. Password
provides an additional layer of security and enhances user privacy.
Retina has certain advantages over other biometric traits. Retinal
scans are used in high-end security applications like access control to
areas or rooms in military installations, power plants, and other high
risk security areas. This work applies the idea of fuzzy vault for
retinal biometric template. Multimodal biometric system
performance is well compared to single modal biometric systems.
The proposed multi modal biometric fuzzy vault includes combined
feature points from retina and fingerprint. The combined vault is
hardened with user password for achieving high level of security.
The security of the combined vault is measured using min-entropy.
The proposed password hardened multi biometric fuzzy vault is
robust towards stored biometric template attacks.
Abstract: Heat powered solid sorption is a feasible alternative to
electrical vapor compression refrigeration systems. In this paper,
activated carbon (powder type Maxsorb and fiber type ACF-A10)-
CO2 based adsorption cooling cycles are studied using the pressuretemperature-
concentration (P-T-W) diagram. The specific cooling
effect (SCE) and the coefficient of performance (COP) of these two
cooling systems are simulated for the driving heat source
temperatures ranging from 30 ºC to 90 ºC in terms of different
cooling load temperatures with a cooling source temperature of 25
ºC. It is found from the present analysis that Maxsorb-CO2 couple
shows higher cooling capacity and COP. The maximum COPs of
Maxsorb-CO2 and ACF(A10)-CO2 based cooling systems are found
to be 0.15 and 0.083, respectively. The main innovative feature of
this cooling cycle is the ability to utilize low temperature waste heat
or solar energy using CO2 as the refrigerant, which is one of the best
alternative for applications where flammability and toxicity are not
allowed.
Abstract: The wind resource in the Italian site of Lendinara
(RO) is analyzed through a systematic anemometric campaign
performed on the top of the bell tower, at an altitude of over 100 m
above the ground. Both the average wind speed and the Weibull
distribution are computed. The resulting average wind velocity is in
accordance with the numerical predictions of the Italian Wind Atlas,
confirming the accuracy of the extrapolation of wind data adopted for
the evaluation of wind potential at higher altitudes with respect to the
commonly placed measurement stations.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate and
compare new indices based on the discrete wavelet transform
with another spectral parameters proposed in the literature as
mean average voltage, median frequency and ratios between
spectral moments applied to estimate acute exercise-induced
changes in power output, i.e., to assess peripheral muscle
fatigue during a dynamic fatiguing protocol. 15 trained
subjects performed 5 sets consisting of 10 leg press, with 2
minutes rest between sets. Surface electromyography was
recorded from vastus medialis (VM) muscle. Several surface
electromyographic parameters were compared to detect
peripheral muscle fatigue. These were: mean average voltage
(MAV), median spectral frequency (Fmed), Dimitrov spectral
index of muscle fatigue (FInsm5), as well as other five
parameters obtained from the discrete wavelet transform
(DWT) as ratios between different scales. The new wavelet
indices achieved the best results in Pearson correlation
coefficients with power output changes during acute dynamic
contractions. Their regressions were significantly different
from MAV and Fmed. On the other hand, they showed the
highest robustness in presence of additive white gaussian
noise for different signal to noise ratios (SNRs). Therefore,
peripheral impairments assessed by sEMG wavelet indices
may be a relevant factor involved in the loss of power output
after dynamic high-loading fatiguing task.
Abstract: The coalescer process is one of the methods for oily water treatment by increasing the oil droplet size in order to enhance the separating velocity and thus effective separation. However, the presence of surfactants in an oily emulsion can limit the obtained mechanisms due to the small oil size related with stabilized emulsion. In this regard, the purpose of this research is to improve the efficiency of the coalescer process for treating the stabilized emulsion. The effects of bed types, bed height, liquid flow rate and stage coalescer (step-bed) on the treatment efficiencies in term of COD values were studied. Note that the treatment efficiency obtained experimentally was estimated by using the COD values and oil droplet size distribution. The study has shown that the plastic media has more effective to attach with oil particles than the stainless one due to their hydrophobic properties. Furthermore, the suitable bed height (3.5 cm) and step bed (3.5 cm with 2 steps) were necessary in order to well obtain the coalescer performance. The application of step bed coalescer process in reactor has provided the higher treatment efficiencies in term of COD removal than those obtained with classical process. The proposed model for predicting the area under curve and thus treatment efficiency, based on the single collector efficiency (ηT) and the attachment efficiency (α), provides relatively a good coincidence between the experimental and predicted values of treatment efficiencies in this study.
Abstract: In this article, a method has been offered to classify
normal and defective tiles using wavelet transform and artificial
neural networks. The proposed algorithm calculates max and min
medians as well as the standard deviation and average of detail
images obtained from wavelet filters, then comes by feature vectors
and attempts to classify the given tile using a Perceptron neural
network with a single hidden layer. In this study along with the
proposal of using median of optimum points as the basic feature and
its comparison with the rest of the statistical features in the wavelet
field, the relational advantages of Haar wavelet is investigated. This
method has been experimented on a number of various tile designs
and in average, it has been valid for over 90% of the cases. Amongst
the other advantages, high speed and low calculating load are
prominent.
Abstract: In this research, the diabetes conditions of people (healthy, prediabete and diabete) were tried to be identified with noninvasive palm perspiration measurements. Data clusters gathered from 200 subjects were used (1.Individual Attributes Cluster and 2. Palm Perspiration Attributes Cluster). To decrase the dimensions of these data clusters, Principal Component Analysis Method was used. Data clusters, prepared in that way, were classified with Support Vector Machines. Classifications with highest success were 82% for Glucose parameters and 84% for HbA1c parametres.
Abstract: This study investigated the number of Aedes larvae,
the key breeding sites of Aedes sp., and the relationship between
climatic factors and the incidence of DHF in Samui Islands. We
conducted our questionnaire and larval surveys from randomly
selected 105 households in Samui Islands in July-September 2006.
Pearson-s correlation coefficient was used to explore the primary
association between the DHF incidence and all climatic factors.
Multiple stepwise regression technique was then used to fit the
statistical model. The results showed that the positive indoor
containers were small jars, cement tanks, and plastic tanks. The
positive outdoor containers were small jars, cement tanks, plastic
tanks, used cans, tires, plastic bottles, discarded objects, pot saucers,
plant pots, and areca husks. All Ae. albopictus larval indices (i.e., CI,
HI, and BI) were higher than Ae. aegypti larval indices in this area.
These larval indices were higher than WHO standard. This indicated
a high risk of DHF transmission at Samui Islands. The multiple
stepwise regression model was y = –288.80 + 11.024xmean temp. The
mean temperature was positively associated with the DHF incidence
in this area.
Abstract: This paper discusses the issues and challenge that
academia faced in knowledge sharing at a research university in
Malaysia. The partial results of interview are presented from the
actual study. The main issues in knowledge sharing practices are
university structure and designation and title. The academia
awareness in sharing knowledge is also influenced by culture. Our
investigation highlight that the concept of reciprocal relationship of
sharing knowledge may hinder knowledge sharing awareness among
academia. Hence, we concluded that further investigation could be
carried out on the social interaction and trust culture among academia
in sharing knowledge within research/ranking university
environment.
Abstract: Researchers of drug-drug interaction alert systems
have often suggested that there were high overridden rate for alerts and
also too false alerts. However, research about decreasing false alerts is
scant. Therefore, the aim of this article attempts to proactive
identification of false alert for drug-drug interaction and provide
solution to decrease false alerts. This research involved retrospective
analysis prescribing database and calculated false alert rate by using
MYSQL and JAVA. Results of this study showed 17% of false alerts
and the false alert rate in the hospitals (37%) was more than in the
clinics. To conclude, this study described the importance that
drug-drug interaction alert system should not only detect drug name
but also detect frequency or route, as well as in providing solution to
decrease false alerts.