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 challenge in the case of image authentication is that in many cases images need to be subjected to non malicious operations like compression, so the authentication techniques need to be compression tolerant. In this paper we propose an image authentication system that is tolerant to JPEG lossy compression operations. A scheme for JPEG grey scale images is proposed based on a data embedding method that is based on a secret key and a secret mapping vector in the frequency domain. An encrypted feature vector extracted from the image DCT coefficients, is embedded redundantly, and invisibly in the marked image. On the receiver side, the feature vector from the received image is derived again and compared against the extracted watermark to verify the image authenticity. The proposed scheme is robust against JPEG compression up to a maximum compression of approximately 80%,, but sensitive to malicious attacks such as cutting and pasting.
Abstract: The enzyme alkaline protease production was determined under
solid state fermentation using the soil bacteria Serratia marcescens
sp7. The maximum production was obtained from wheat bran
medium than ground nut shell and chemically defined medium. The
physiological fermentation factors such as pH of the medium (pH 8),
Temperature (40oC) and incubation time (48 hrs) played a vital role
in alkaline protease production in all the above. 100Mm NaCl has
given better resolution during elution of the enzymes. The enzyme
production was found to be associated with growth of the bacterial
culture.
Abstract: We developed a new method based on quasimolecular
modeling to simulate the cavity flow in three cavity
shapes: rectangular, half-circular and bucket beer in cgs units. Each
quasi-molecule was a group of particles that interacted in a fashion
entirely analogous to classical Newtonian molecular interactions.
When a cavity flow was simulated, the instantaneous velocity vector
fields were obtained by using an inverse distance weighted
interpolation method. In all three cavity shapes, fluid motion was
rotated counter-clockwise. The velocity vector fields of the three
cavity shapes showed a primary vortex located near the upstream
corners at time t ~ 0.500 s, t ~ 0.450 s and t ~ 0.350 s, respectively.
The configurational kinetic energy of the cavities increased as time
increased until the kinetic energy reached a maximum at time t ~
0.02 s and, then, the kinetic energy decreased as time increased. The
rectangular cavity system showed the lowest kinetic energy, while
the half-circular cavity system showed the highest kinetic energy.
The kinetic energy of rectangular, beer bucket and half-circular
cavities fluctuated about stable average values 35.62 x 103, 38.04 x
103 and 40.80 x 103 ergs/particle, respectively. This indicated that the
half-circular shapes were the most suitable shape for a shrimp pond
because the water in shrimp pond flows best when we compared with
rectangular and beer bucket shape.
Abstract: For the past couple of decades Weak signal detection
is of crucial importance in various engineering and scientific
applications. It finds its application in areas like Wireless
communication, Radars, Aerospace engineering, Control systems and
many of those. Usually weak signal detection requires phase sensitive
detector and demodulation module to detect and analyze the signal.
This article gives you a preamble to intrusion detection system which
can effectively detect a weak signal from a multiplexed signal. By
carefully inspecting and analyzing the respective signal, this
system can successfully indicate any peripheral intrusion. Intrusion
detection system (IDS) is a comprehensive and easy approach
towards detecting and analyzing any signal that is weakened and
garbled due to low signal to noise ratio (SNR). This approach
finds significant importance in applications like peripheral security
systems.
Abstract: Due to the fact that in the new century customers tend
to express globally increasing demands, networks of interconnected
businesses have been established in societies and the management of
such networks seems to be a major key through gaining competitive
advantages. Supply chain management encompasses such managerial
activities. Within a supply chain, a critical role is played by quality.
QFD is a widely-utilized tool which serves the purpose of not only
bringing quality to the ultimate provision of products or service
packages required by the end customer or the retailer, but it can also
initiate us into a satisfactory relationship with our initial customer;
that is the wholesaler. However, the wholesalers- cooperation is
considerably based on the capabilities that are heavily dependent on
their locations and existing circumstances. Therefore, it is undeniable
that for all companies each wholesaler possesses a specific
importance ratio which can heavily influence the figures calculated in
the House of Quality in QFD. Moreover, due to the competitiveness
of the marketplace today, it-s been widely recognized that
consumers- expression of demands has been highly volatile in
periods of production. Apparently, such instability and proneness to
change has been very tangibly noticed and taking it into account
during the analysis of HOQ is widely influential and doubtlessly
required. For a more reliable outcome in such matters, this article
demonstrates the application viability of Analytic Network Process
for considering the wholesalers- reputation and simultaneously
introduces a mortality coefficient for the reliability and stability of
the consumers- expressed demands in course of time. Following to
this, the paper provides further elaboration on the relevant
contributory factors and approaches through the calculation of such
coefficients. In the end, the article concludes that an empirical
application is needed to achieve broader validity.
Abstract: With continuous rise of oil price, how to develop alternative energy source has become a hot topic around the world. This study discussed the dynamic characteristics of an island power system operating under random wind speed lower than nominal wind
speeds of wind turbines. The system primarily consists of three diesel engine power generation systems, three constant-speed variable-pitch wind turbines, a small hydraulic induction generation system, and lumped static loads. Detailed models based on Matlab/Simulink were developed to cater for the dynamic behavior of the system. The results suggested this island power system can operate stably in this operational mode. This study can serve as an important reference for planning, operation, and further expansion of island power systems.
Abstract: Due to the dynamic nature of the Cloud, continuous monitoring of QoS requirements is necessary to manage the Cloud computing environment. The process of QoS monitoring and SLA violation detection consists of: collecting low and high level information pertinent to the service, analyzing the collected information, and taking corrective actions when SLA violations are detected. In this paper, we detail the architecture and the implementation of the first step of this process. More specifically, we propose an event-based approach to obtain run time information of services developed as BPEL processes. By catching particular events (i.e., the low level information), our approach recognizes the run-time execution path of a monitored service and uses the BPEL execution patterns to compute QoS of the composite service (i.e., the high level information).
Abstract: The main goal of data mining is to extract accurate, comprehensible and interesting knowledge from databases that may be considered as large search spaces. In this paper, a new, efficient type of Genetic Algorithm (GA) called uniform two-level GA is proposed as a search strategy to discover truly interesting, high-level prediction rules, a difficult problem and relatively little researched, rather than discovering classification knowledge as usual in the literatures. The proposed method uses the advantage of uniform population method and addresses the task of generalized rule induction that can be regarded as a generalization of the task of classification. Although the task of generalized rule induction requires a lot of computations, which is usually not satisfied with the normal algorithms, it was demonstrated that this method increased the performance of GAs and rapidly found interesting rules.
Abstract: The Canadian aerospace industry faces many
challenges. One of them is the difficulty in estimating costs. In
particular, the design effort required in a project impacts resource
requirements and lead-time, and consequently the final cost. This
paper presents the findings of a case study conducted for recognized
global leader in the design and manufacturing of aircraft engines. The
study models parametric cost estimation relationships to estimate the
design effort of integrated blade-rotor low-pressure compressor fans.
Several effort drivers are selected to model the relationship.
Comparative analyses of three types of models are conducted. The
model with the best accuracy and significance in design estimation is
retained.
Abstract: The focal spot of a high intensity focused ultrasound
transducer is small. To heat a large target volume, multiple treatment spots are required. If the power of each treatment spot is fixed, it could
results in insufficient heating of initial spots and over-heating of later ones, which is caused by the thermal diffusion. Hence, to produce a
uniform heated volume, the delivered energy of each treatment spot
should be properly adjusted. In this study, we proposed an iterative, extrapolation technique to adjust the required ultrasound energy of
each treatment spot. Three different scanning pathways were used to evaluate the performance of this technique. Results indicate that by using the proposed technique, uniform heating volume could be obtained.
Abstract: Impaired fertility may be the result of indirect
consumption of anti-fertility agents through food. Monosodium
glutamate (MSG) has been widely used as food additive, flavour
enhancer and included in vaccines. This study focuses in determining
the gonadotoxic and cytotoxic effect of MSG on selected sperm
parameters such as sperm viability, sperm membrane integrity and
testes cytoarchitecture of male mice via histological examination to
determine its effect on spermatogenesis. Twenty-four Mus musculus
were randomly divided into 4 groups and given intraperitoneal
injections (IP) daily for 14 days of different MSG concentrations at
250, 500 and 1000mg/kg MSG to body weight to induce obesity.
Saline was given to control group. Mice were sacrificed and analysis
revealed abnormalities in values for sperm parameters and damages
to testes cytoarchitecture of male mice. The results recorded
decreased viability (p0.05) with degenerative structures in seminiferous tubule of
testes. The results indicated various implications of MSG on male
mice reproductive system which has consequences in fertility
potential.
Abstract: Computer technology and the Internet have made a
breakthrough in the existence of data communication. This has
opened a whole new way of implementing steganography to ensure
secure data transfer. Steganography is the fine art of hiding the
information. Hiding the message in the carrier file enables the
deniability of the existence of any message at all. This paper designs
a stego machine to develop a steganographic application to hide data
containing text in a computer video file and to retrieve the hidden
information. This can be designed by embedding text file in a video
file in such away that the video does not loose its functionality using
Least Significant Bit (LSB) modification method. This method
applies imperceptible modifications. This proposed method strives
for high security to an eavesdropper-s inability to detect hidden
information.
Abstract: The article reviews the current state of large-scale
studies about the impact of electromagnetic field on natural
environment. The scenario of investigations – simulation of natural
conditions at the workplace, taking into consideration the influence
both low and high frequency electromagnetic fields is shown.The
biological effects of low and high frequency electromagnetic fields
are below presented. Results of investigation with animals are shown.
The norms and regulations concerning the levels of electromagnetic
field intensity are reviewed.
Abstract: For micro-gyroscopes, the angular rate detection components have to oscillate forwards and backwards alternatively. An innovative design of micro-electromagnetic drive module is proposed to make a Π-type disc reciprocally and efficiently rotate within a certain of angular interval. Twelve Electromagnetic poles enclosing the thin disc are designed to provide the magnetic drive power. Isotropic etching technique is employed to fabricate the high-aspect-ratio trench, so that the contact angle of wire against trench can be increased and the potential defect of cavities and pores within the wire can be prevented. On the other hand, a Π-type thin disc is designed to conduct the pitch motion as an angular excitation, in addition to spinning, is exerted on the gyroscope. The efficacy of the micro-magnetic drive module is verified by the commercial software, Ansoft Maxewll. In comparison with the conventional planar windings in micro-scale systems, the magnetic drive force is increased by 150%.
Abstract: Rice husk is a lignocellulosic source that can be
converted to ethanol. Three hundreds grams of rice husk was mixed
with 1 L of 0.18 N sulfuric acid solutions then was heated in an
autoclave. The reaction was expected to be at constant temperature
(isothermal), but before that temperature was achieved, reaction has
occurred. The first liquid sample was taken at temperature of 140 0C
and repeated every 5 minute interval. So the data obtained are in the
regions of non-isothermal and isothermal. It was observed that the
degradation has significant effects on the ethanol production. The
kinetic constants can be expressed by Arrhenius equation with the
frequency factors for hydrolysis and sugar degradation of 1.58 x 105
min-1 and 2.29 x 108 L/mole-min, respectively, while the activation
energies are 64,350 J/mole and 76,571 J/mole. The highest ethanol
concentration from fermentation is 1.13% v/v, attained at 220 0C.
Abstract: This paper is an exploration of the conceptual
confusion between E-learning and M-learning particularly in Africa.
Section I provides a background to the development of E-learning
and M-learning. Section II focuses on the conceptual analysis as it
applies to Africa. It is with an investigative and expansive mind that
this paper is elaborated to respond to a profound question of the
suitability of the concepts in a particular era in Africa. The aim of this
paper is therefore to shed light on which concept best suits the unique
situation of Africa in the era of cloud computing.
Abstract: The paper describes the carbonate microfacies identified in the Sinjar Formation (Late Paleocene–Early Eocene) cropping out in Qara Dagh Mountain, near Sulekan Village approximately 20km south–west of Sulaimani (Iraq). One section (62m thick) has been measured in the field and closely sampled to undertake detailed microfaciesal and micropalaeontological studies to determine the formation-s age and environment of deposition. A samples were collected illustrating all the lithological changes along the section. The limestone in the studied area is hard and extremely rich in large foraminifers (soritids, rotaliids, nummulites, miliolids) and green algae (dasycladales). The investigation of the thin sections allowed us to identify the carbonate microfacies (18 types and subtypes) and the micropaleontological association (foraminifers and green algae), to determine the age of formation and to reconstruct the paleoenvironment of deposition (fore-reef, reef, back-reef). Based on the field observations and the studied thin sections, we determined three Units of a carbonate platform (I, II and III) from the base to the top of the section: Unit I with coralgal associations, Unit II is dominated by larger foraminifers and haracterized by the absence of coralgal associations, while Unit III is dominated by small foraminifers (mostly miliolids), peloids and green algae. It is partially dolomitized.
Abstract: Sustainable development is a concept which was
originated in Burtland commission in 1978. Although this concept
was born with environmental aspects, it is penetrated in all areas
rapidly, turning into a dominate view of planning. Concentrating on
future generation issue, especially when talking about heritage has a
long story. Each approach with all of its characteristics illustrates
differences in planning, hence planning always reflects the dominate
idea of its age. This paper studies sustainable development in
planning for historical cities with the aim of finding ways to deal
with heritage in planning for historical cities in Iran. Through this, it
will be illustrated how challenges between sustainable concept and
heritage could be concluded in planning.
Consequently, the paper will emphasize on:
Sustainable development in city planning
Trends regarding heritage
Challenges due to planning for historical cities in Iran
For the first two issues, documentary method regarding the
sustainable development and heritage literature is considered. As the
next step focusing on Iranian historical cities require considering the
urban planning and management structure and identifying the main
challenges related to heritage, so analyzing challenges regarding
heritage is considered. As the result it would be illustrated that key
issue in such planning is active conservation to improve and use the
potential of heritage while it's continues conservation is guaranteed.
By emphasizing on the planning system in Iran it will be obvious that
some reforms are needed in this system and its way of relating with
heritage. The main weakness in planning for historical cities in Iran
is the lack of independent city management. Without this factor
achieving active conservation as the main factor of sustainable
development would not be possible.
Abstract: This paper presents three new methodologies for the
basic operations, which aim at finding new ways of computing union
(maximum) and intersection (minimum) membership values by
taking into effect the entire membership values in a fuzzy set. The
new methodologies are conceptually simple and easy from the
application point of view and are illustrated with a variety of
problems such as Cartesian product of two fuzzy sets, max –min
composition of two fuzzy sets in different product spaces and an
application of an inverted pendulum to determine the impact of the
new methodologies. The results clearly indicate a difference based on
the nature of the fuzzy sets under consideration and hence will be
highly useful in quite a few applications where different values have
significant impact on the behavior of the system.