Abstract: Transportation is one of the most fundamental
challenges of urban development in contemporary world. On the
other hand, sustainable urban development has received tremendous
public attention in the last few years. This trend in addition to other
factors such as energy cost, environmental concerns, traffic
congestion and the feeling of lack of belonging have contributed to
the development of pedestrian areas. The purpose of this paper is to
study the role of walkable streets in sustainable development of
cities. Accordingly, a documentary research through valid sources
has been utilized to substantiate this study. The findings demonstrate
that walking can lead to sustainable urban development from
physical, social, environmental, cultural, economic and political
aspects. Also, pedestrian areas –which are the main context of
walking- act as focal points of development in cities and have a great
effect on modifying and stimulating of their adjacent urban spaces.
Abstract: This Paper presents an on-going research in the area of Model-Driven Engineering (MDE). The premise is that UML is too unwieldy to serve as the basis for model-driven engineering. We need a smaller, simpler notation with a cleaner semantics. We propose some ideas for a simpler notation with a clean semantics. The result is known as μML, or the Micro-Modelling Language.
Abstract: Due to its geographical location, Iran is considered one of the earthquake-prone areas where the best way to decrease earthquake effects is supposed to be strengthening the buildings. Even though, one idea suggests that the use of adobe in constructing buildings be prohibited for its weak function especially in earthquake-prone areas, however, regarding ecological considerations, sustainability and other local skills, another idea pays special attention to adobe as one of the construction technologies which is popular among people. From the architectural and technological point of view, as strong sustainable building construction materials, compressed adobe construction materials make most of the construction in urban or rural areas ranging from small to big industrial buildings used to replace common earth blocks in traditional systems and strengthen traditional adobe buildings especially against earthquake. Mentioning efficient construction using compressed adobe system as a reliable replacement for traditional soil construction materials , this article focuses on the experiences of India in the fields of sustainable development of compressed adobe systems in the form of system in which the compressed soil is combined with cement, load bearing building with brick/solid concrete block system, brick system using rat trap bond, metal system with adobe infill and finally emphasizes on the use of these systems in the earthquake-struck city of Bam in Iran.
Abstract: The frontal area in the brain is known to be involved in
behavioral judgement. Because a Kanji character can be discriminated
visually and linguistically from other characters, in Kanji character
discrimination, we hypothesized that frontal event-related potential
(ERP) waveforms reflect two discrimination processes in separate
time periods: one based on visual analysis and the other based
on lexcical access. To examine this hypothesis, we recorded ERPs
while performing a Kanji lexical decision task. In this task, either a
known Kanji character, an unknown Kanji character or a symbol was
presented and the subject had to report if the presented character was
a known Kanji character for the subject or not. The same response
was required for unknown Kanji trials and symbol trials. As a preprocessing
of signals, we examined the performance of a method
using independent component analysis for artifact rejection and found
it was effective. Therefore we used it. In the ERP results, there
were two time periods in which the frontal ERP wavefoms were
significantly different betweeen the unknown Kanji trials and the
symbol trials: around 170ms and around 300ms after stimulus onset.
This result supported our hypothesis. In addition, the result suggests
that Kanji character lexical access may be fully completed by around
260ms after stimulus onset.
Abstract: Kazakhstan attaches the great importance to
cooperation with European countries within the framework of
multilateral security organizations such as NATO. Cooperation of
Kazakhstan with the NATO is a prominent aspect of strengthening of
regional security of republic. It covers a wide spectrum of areas, such
as reform of sector of defense and security, military operative
compatibility of armed forces of NATO member-countries and
Kazakhstan, civil emergency planning and scientific cooperation. The
cooperation between Kazakhstan and NATO is based on the mutual
interests of neighboring republics in the region so that the existing
forms of cooperation between Kazakhstan and NATO will not be
negatively perceived both in Asia as well as among CIS countries.
Kazakhstan tailors its participation in the PfP programme through an
annual Individual Partnership Programme, selecting those activities
that will help achieve the goals it has set in the IPAP. Level of
cooperation within the limits of PfP essentially differs on each
republic. Cooperation with Kazakhstan progressed most of all since
has been signed IPAP from the NATO
Abstract: This study endeavors to evaluate the effects of farmers’ training program on the adoption of improved farming practices, the output of rice farming, and the income as well as the profit from rice farming by employing an ex-post non-experimental data in Sierra Leone. It was established that participating in farmers’ training program increased the possibility of adoption of the improved farming activities that were implemented in the study area. Through the training program also, the proceeds from rice production was also established to have increased considerably. These results were in line with the assumption that one of the main constraints on the growth in agricultural output particularly rice cultivation in most African states is the lack of efficient extension programs.
Abstract: Iran is one of the greatest producers of date in the
world. However due to lack of information about its viscoelastic
properties, much of the production downgraded during harvesting
and postharvesting processes. In this study the effect of temperature
and moisture content of product were investigated on stress
relaxation characteristics. Therefore, the freshly harvested date
(kabkab) at tamar stage were put in controlled environment chamber
to obtain different temperature levels (25, 35, 45, and 55 0C) and
moisture contents (8.5, 8.7, 9.2, 15.3, 20, 32.2 %d.b.). A texture
analyzer TAXT2 (Stable Microsystems, UK) was used to apply
uniaxial compression tests. A chamber capable to control temperature
was designed and fabricated around the plunger of texture analyzer to
control the temperature during the experiment. As a new approach a
CCD camera (A4tech, 30 fps) was mounted on a cylindrical glass
probe to scan and record contact area between date and disk.
Afterwards, pictures were analyzed using image processing toolbox
of Matlab software. Individual date fruit was uniaxially compressed
at speed of 1 mm/s. The constant strain of 30% of thickness of date
was applied to the horizontally oriented fruit. To select a suitable
model for describing stress relaxation of date, experimental data were
fitted with three famous stress relaxation models including the
generalized Maxwell, Nussinovitch, and Pelege. The constant in
mentioned model were determined and correlated with temperature
and moisture content of product using non-linear regression analysis.
It was found that Generalized Maxwell and Nussinovitch models
appropriately describe viscoelastic characteristics of date fruits as
compared to Peleg mode.
Abstract: Radio propagation from point-to-point is affected by
the physical channel in many ways. A signal arriving at a destination
travels through a number of different paths which are referred to as
multi-paths. Research in this area of wireless communications has
progressed well over the years with the research taking different
angles of focus. By this is meant that some researchers focus on
ways of reducing or eluding Multipath effects whilst others focus on
ways of mitigating the effects of Multipath through compensation
schemes. Baseband processing is seen as one field of signal
processing that is cardinal to the advancement of software defined
radio technology. This has led to wide research into the carrying out
certain algorithms at baseband. This paper considers compensating
for Multipath for Frequency Modulated signals. The compensation
process is carried out at Radio frequency (RF) and at Quadrature
baseband (QBB) and the results are compared. Simulations are
carried out using MatLab so as to show the benefits of working at
lower QBB frequencies than at RF.
Abstract: Human amniotic membrane (HAM) is a useful
biological material for the reconstruction of damaged ocular surface.
The processing and preservation of HAM is critical to prevent the
patients undergoing amniotic membrane transplant (AMT) from cross
infections. For HAM preparation human placenta is obtained after an
elective cesarean delivery. Before collection, the donor is screened
for seronegativity of HCV, Hbs Ag, HIV and Syphilis. After
collection, placenta is washed in balanced salt solution (BSS) in
sterile environment. Amniotic membrane is then separated from the
placenta as well as chorion while keeping the preparation in BSS.
Scrapping of HAM is then carried out manually until all the debris is
removed and clear transparent membrane is acquired. Nitrocellulose
membrane filters are then placed on the stromal side of HAM, cut
around the edges with little membrane folded towards other side
making it easy to separate during surgery. HAM is finally stored in
solution of glycerine and Dulbecco-s Modified Eagle Medium
(DMEM) in 1:1 ratio containing antibiotics. The capped borosil vials
containing HAM are kept at -80°C until use. This vial is thawed to
room temperature and opened under sterile operation theatre
conditions at the time of surgery.
Abstract: In this paper, a design methodology to implement low-power and high-speed 2nd order recursive digital Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) filter has been proposed. Since IIR filters suffer from a large number of constant multiplications, the proposed method replaces the constant multiplications by using addition/subtraction and shift operations. The proposed new 6T adder cell is used as the Carry-Save Adder (CSA) to implement addition/subtraction operations in the design of recursive section IIR filter to reduce the propagation delay. Furthermore, high-level algorithms designed for the optimization of the number of CSA blocks are used to reduce the complexity of the IIR filter. The DSCH3 tool is used to generate the schematic of the proposed 6T CSA based shift-adds architecture design and it is analyzed by using Microwind CAD tool to synthesize low-complexity and high-speed IIR filters. The proposed design outperforms in terms of power, propagation delay, area and throughput when compared with MUX-12T, MCIT-7T based CSA adder filter design. It is observed from the experimental results that the proposed 6T based design method can find better IIR filter designs in terms of power and delay than those obtained by using efficient general multipliers.
Abstract: The main objectives of this paper are to measure
pollutants concentrations in the oil refinery area in Kuwait over three
periods during one year, obtain recent emission inventory for the
three refineries of Kuwait, use AERMOD and the emission inventory
to predict pollutants concentrations and distribution, compare model
predictions against measured data, and perform numerical
experiments to determine conditions at which emission rates and the
resulting pollutant dispersion is below maximum allowable limits.
Abstract: The 'wind-rain' house has a courtyard with glazed
roof, which allows more direct sunlight to come into indoor spaces
during the winter. The glazed roof can be partially opened or closed
and automatically controlled to provide natural ventilation in order to
adjust for indoor thermal conditions and the roof area can be shaded
by reflective insulation materials during the summer. Two field
studies for evaluating indoor thermal conditions of the two 'windrain'
houses have been carried out by author in 2009 and 2010.
Indoor and outdoor air temperature and relative humidity adjacent to
floor and ceiling of the two sample houses were continuously tested
at 15-minute intervals, 24 hours a day during the winter months.
Based on field study data, this study investigates relationships
between building design and indoor thermal condition of the 'windrain'
house to improve the future house design for building thermal
comfort and energy efficiency
Abstract: The purpose of the present study is the calculation of Gutenber-Richter parameters (a, b) and analyze the mean annual rate of exceedance of earthquake magnitude (Om ) of southern segment of the Sagaing fault and its associate components. The study area is situated about 200 km radius centered at Yangon. Earthquake data file is using from 1975 to 2006 August 31. The bounded Gutenberg- Richter recurrence law for 0 M is 4.0 and max M is 7.5.
Abstract: Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) combined
with the Confocal Microscopy, as a noninvasive method, permits the
determinations of materials defects in the ceramic layers depth. For
this study 256 anterior and posterior metal and integral ceramic fixed
partial dentures were used, made with Empress (Ivoclar), Wollceram
and CAD/CAM (Wieland) technology. For each investigate area 350
slices were obtain and a 3D reconstruction was perform from each
stuck. The Optical Coherent Tomography, as a noninvasive method,
can be used as a control technique in integral ceramic technology,
before placing those fixed partial dentures in the oral cavity. The
purpose of this study is to evaluate the capability of En face Optical
Coherence Tomography (OCT) combined with a fluorescent method
in detection and analysis of possible material defects in metalceramic
and integral ceramic fixed partial dentures. As a conclusion,
it is important to have a non invasive method to investigate fixed
partial prostheses before their insertion in the oral cavity in order to
satisfy the high stress requirements and the esthetic function.
Abstract: Corrugated wire mesh laminates (CWML) are a class
of engineered open cell structures that have potential for applications
in many areas including aerospace and biomedical engineering. Two
different methods of fabricating corrugated wire mesh laminates from
stainless steel, one using a high temperature Lithobraze alloy and the
other using a low temperature Eutectic solder for joining the
corrugated wire meshes are described herein. Their implementation is
demonstrated by manufacturing CWML samples of 304 and 316
stainless steel (SST). It is seen that due to the facility of employing
wire meshes of different densities and wire diameters, it is possible to
create CWML laminates with a wide range of effective densities. The
fabricated laminates are tested under uniaxial compression. The
variation of the compressive yield strength with relative density of the
CWML is compared to the theory developed by Gibson and Ashby for
open cell structures [22]. It is shown that the compressive strength of
the corrugated wire mesh laminates can be described using the same
equations by using an appropriate value for the linear coefficient in the
Gibson-Ashby model.
Abstract: Both prognostic and diagnostic modes of a 3D baroclinic
model in hydrodynamic and sediment transport models of
the Princeton Ocean Model (POM) were conducted to separate
prognose and diagnose effects of different hydrodynamic factors on
transport of suspended sediment discharged from the rivers to the
Gulf of Thailand (GoT). Both transport modes of suspended sediment
distribution in the GoT were numerically simulated. It could be
concluded that the suspended sediment discharged from the rivers
around the GoT. Most of sediments in estuaries and coastal areas are
deposited outside the GoT under the condition of wind-driven current,
and very small amount of the sediments of them are transported
faraway. On the basis of wind forcing, sediments from the lower
GoT to the upper GoT are mainly transported south-northwestward
and also continuously moved north-southwestward. An obvious 3D
characteristic of suspended sediment transport is produced in the
wind-driven current residual circulation condition. In this study, the
transport patterns at the third layer are generally consistent with
the typhoon-induced strong currents in two case studies of Typhoon
Linda 1997. The case studies presented the prognostic and diagnostic
modes during 00UTC28OCT1997 to 12UTC06NOV1997 in a short
period with the current condition for pre-operation of the suspended
sediment transport model in estuaries and coastal areas.
Abstract: We studied the selection of nest sites by Persian
ground Jay (Podoces pleskei), in a semi -desert central Iran. Habitat
variables such as plant species number, height of plant species,
vegetation percent and distance to water sources of nest sites were
compared with randomly selected non- used sites. The results showed that the most important factors influencing nesting site selection were total vegetation percent and number of shrubs
(Zgophyllum eurypterum and Atraphaxis spinosa). The mean vegetation percent of 20 area selected by Persian Ground Jay was
(4.41+ 0.17), which was significantly larger than that of the non –
selected area (2.08 + 0.06). The number of Zygophyllum eurypterum (1.13+ 0.01) and Atraphaxis spinosa (1.36+ 0.10) were also significantly higher compared with the control area (0.43+ 0.07)
and (0.58+ 0.9) respectively.
Abstract: Writer identification is one of the areas in pattern
recognition that attract many researchers to work in, particularly in
forensic and biometric application, where the writing style can be
used as biometric features for authenticating an identity. The
challenging task in writer identification is the extraction of unique
features, in which the individualistic of such handwriting styles
can be adopted into bio-inspired generalized global shape for
writer identification. In this paper, the feasibility of generalized
global shape concept of complimentary binding in Artificial
Immune System (AIS) for writer identification is explored. An
experiment based on the proposed framework has been conducted
to proof the validity and feasibility of the proposed approach for
off-line writer identification.
Abstract: This paper represents an investigation on how exploiting multiple transmit antennas by OFDM based wireless LAN subscribers can mitigate physical layer error rate. Then by comparing the Wireless LANs that utilize spatial diversity techniques with the conventional ones it will reveal how PHY and TCP throughputs behaviors are ameliorated. In the next step it will assess the same issues based on a cellular context operation which is mainly introduced as an innovated solution that beside a multi cell operation scenario benefits spatio-temporal signaling schemes as well. Presented simulations will shed light on the improved performance of the wide range and high quality wireless LAN services provided by the proposed approach.
Abstract: In this research the Preparation of Land use map of
scanner LISS III satellite data, belonging to the IRS in the Aghche
region in Isfahan province, is studied carefully. For this purpose, the
IRS satellite images of August 2008 and various land preparation
uses in region including rangelands, irrigation farming, dry farming,
gardens and urban areas were separated and identified. Therefore, the
GPS and Erdas Imaging software were used and three methods of
Maximum Likelihood, Mahalanobis Distance and Minimum Distance
were analyzed. In each of these methods, matrix error and Kappa
index were calculated and accuracy of each method, based on
percentages: 53.13, 56.64 and 48.44, were obtained respectively.
Considering the low accuracy of these methods in separation of land
preparation use, the visual interpretation of the map was used.
Finally, regional visits of 150 points were noted at random and no
error was observed. It shows that the map prepared by visual
interpretation is in high accuracy. Although the probable errors due
to visual interpretation and geometric correction might happen but
the desired accuracy of the map which is more than 85 percent is
reliable.