Abstract: Due to growing environmental concerns of the cement
industry, alternative cement technologies have become an area of
increasing interest. It is now believed that new binders are
indispensable for enhanced environmental and durability
performance. Self-compacting Geopolymer concrete is an innovative
method and improved way of concreting operation that does not
require vibration for placing it and is produced by complete
elimination of ordinary Portland cement.
This paper documents the assessment of the compressive strength
and workability characteristics of low-calcium fly ash based selfcompacting
geopolymer concrete. The essential workability
properties of the freshly prepared Self-compacting Geopolymer
concrete such as filling ability, passing ability and segregation
resistance were evaluated by using Slump flow, V-funnel, L-box and
J-ring test methods. The fundamental requirements of high
flowability and segregation resistance as specified by guidelines on
Self Compacting Concrete by EFNARC were satisfied. In addition,
compressive strength was determined and the test results are included
here. This paper also reports the effect of extra water, curing time and
curing temperature on the compressive strength of self-compacting
geopolymer concrete. The test results show that extra water in the
concrete mix plays a significant role. Also, longer curing time and
curing the concrete specimens at higher temperatures will result in
higher compressive strength.
Abstract: The case study was conducted to show the effect of milking method in goat called half day milking on the milk production and the growth of kids. Data were collected by interviewing farmers and investigating goat production in the communal goat housing from June 2008 to May 2009. The interview was conducted to collect data about goat management. The observations were conducted on 10 goats, which were selected based on the uniformity of age, number of kid born/goat and the milking method in practice. The samples were divided into two groups; those were full 3 months nursing and half day milked goats (in this group the kids were separated from goat during the previous night milking and then the kids were allowed to suck the goat during the day). The result showed that the communal goat housing had 138 goats and 25% of the farmers milked the goat. The implementation of half day milking increased the milk production significantly (P
Abstract: this paper presents a multi-context recurrent network for time series analysis. While simple recurrent network (SRN) are very popular among recurrent neural networks, they still have some shortcomings in terms of learning speed and accuracy that need to be addressed. To solve these problems, we proposed a multi-context recurrent network (MCRN) with three different learning algorithms. The performance of this network is evaluated on some real-world application such as handwriting recognition and energy load forecasting. We study the performance of this network and we compared it to a very well established SRN. The experimental results showed that MCRN is very efficient and very well suited to time series analysis and its applications.
Abstract: Visually impaired people find it extremely difficult to
acquire basic and vital information necessary for their living.
Therefore, they are at a very high risk of being socially excluded as a
result of poor access to information. In recent years, several attempts
have been made in improving the communication methods for
visually impaired people which involve tactile sensation such as
finger Braille, manual alphabets and the print on palm method and
several other electronic devices. But, there are some problems which
arise in such methods such as lack of privacy and lack of
compatibility to computer environment. This paper describes a low
cost Braille hand glove for blind people using slot sensors and
vibration motors with the help of which they can read and write emails,
text messages and read e-books. This glove allows the person
to type characters based on different Braille combination using six
slot sensors. The vibration in six different positions of the glove
which matches to the Braille code allows them to read characters.
Abstract: A subcarrier - spectral amplitude coding optical code
division multiple access system using the Khazani-Syed code with
Complementary subtraction detection technique is proposed. The
proposed system has been analyzed by taking into account the effects
of phase-induced intensity noise, shot noise, thermal noise and intermodulation
distortion noise. The performance of the system has been
compared with the spectral amplitude coding optical code division
multiple access system using the Hadamard code and the Modified
Quadratic Congruence code. The analysis shows that the proposed
system can eliminate the multiple access interference using the
Complementary subtraction detection technique, and hence improve
the overall system performance.
Abstract: Introduction: Obesity is a major health risk issue in
the present day of life for one and all globally. Obesity is one of the
major concerns for public health according to recent increasing trends
in obesity-related diseases such as Type 2 diabetes. ( Kazuya,
1994).and hyperlipidemia, (Sakata,1990) .which are more prevalent
in Japanese adults with body mass index (BMI) values Z25 kg/m2.(
Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare,1997). The purpose of the
study was to assess the effect of twelve weeks of brisk walking on
blood pressure and body mass index, anthropometric measurements
of obese males. Method: Thirty obese (BMI= above 30) males, aged
18 to 22 years, were selected from King Fahd University of
Petroleum & Minerals, Saudi Arabia. The subject-s height (cm) was
measured using a stadiometer and body mass (kg) was measured with
a electronic weighing machine. BMI was subsequently calculated
(kg/m2). The blood pressure was measured with standardized
sphygmomanometer in mm of Hg. All the measurements were taken
twice before and twice after the experimental period. The pre and
post anthropometric measurements of waist and hip circumference
were measured with the steel tape in cm. The subjects underwent
walking schedule two times in a week for 12 weeks. The 45 minute
sessions of brisk walking were undertaken at an average intensity of
65% to 85% of maximum HR (HRmax; calculated as 220-age).
Results & Discussion: Statistical findings revealed significant
changes from pre test to post test in case of both systolic blood
pressure and diastolic blood pressure in the walking group. Results
also showed significant decrease in their body mass index and
anthropometric measurements i.e. (waist & hip circumference).
Conclusion: It was concluded that twelve weeks brisk walking is
beneficial for lowering of blood pressure, body mass index, and
anthropometric circumference of obese males.
Abstract: Any rotation of a 3-dimensional object can be performed by three consecutive rotations over Euler angles. Intrinsic rotations produce the same result as extrinsic rotations in transformation. Euler rotations are the movement obtained by changing one of the Euler angles while leaving the other two constant. These Euler rotations are applied in a simple two-axis gimbals set mounted on an automotives. The values of Euler angles are [π/4, π/4, π/4] radians inside the angles ranges for a given coordinate system and these actual orientations can be directly measured from these gimbals set of moving automotives but it can occur the gimbals lock in application at [π/2.24, 0, 0] radians. In order to avoid gimbals lock, the values of quaternion must be [π/4.8, π/8.2, 0, π/4.8] radians. The four-gimbals set can eliminate gimbals lock.
Abstract: Physical urban form is recognized to be the media for
human transactions. It directly influences the travel demand of people
in a specific urban area and the amount of energy used for
transportation. Distorted, sprawling form often creates sustainability
problems in urban areas. It is declared in EU strategic planning
documents that compact urban form and mixed land use pattern must
be given the main focus to achieve better sustainability in urban
areas, but the methods to measure and compare these characteristics
are still not clear.
This paper presents the simple methods to measure the spatial
characteristics of urban form by analyzing the location and
distribution of objects in an urban environment. The extended CA
(cellular automata) model is used to simulate urban development
scenarios.
Abstract: Medical negligence disputes in Malaysia are mainly resolved through litigation by using the tort system. The tort system, being adversarial in nature has subjected parties to litigation hazards such as delay, excessive costs and uncertainty of outcome. The dissatisfaction of the tort system in compensating medically injured victims has created various alternatives to litigation. Amongst them is the implementation of a no-fault compensation system which would allow compensation to be given without the need of proving fault on the medical personnel. Instead, the community now bears the burden of compensating and at the end, promotes collective responsibility. For Malaysia, introducing a no-fault system would provide a tempting solution and may ultimately, achieve justice for the medical injured victims. Nevertheless, such drastic change requires a great deal of consideration to determine the suitability of the system and whether or not it will eventually cater for the needs of the Malaysian population
Abstract: This paper focuses on wormhole attacks detection in wireless sensor networks. The wormhole attack is particularly challenging to deal with since the adversary does not need to compromise any nodes and can use laptops or other wireless devices to send the packets on a low latency channel. This paper introduces an easy and effective method to detect and locate the wormholes: Since beacon nodes are assumed to know their coordinates, the straight line distance between each pair of them can be calculated and then compared with the corresponding hop distance, which in this paper equals hop counts × node-s transmission range R. Dramatic difference may emerge because of an existing wormhole. Our detection mechanism is based on this. The approximate location of the wormhole can also be derived in further steps based on this information. To the best of our knowledge, our method is much easier than other wormhole detecting schemes which also use beacon nodes, and to those have special requirements on each nodes (e.g., GPS receivers or tightly synchronized clocks or directional antennas), ours is more economical. Simulation results show that the algorithm is successful in detecting and locating wormholes when the density of beacon nodes reaches 0.008 per m2.
Abstract: Most of the image watermarking methods, using the properties of the human visual system (HVS), have been proposed in literature. The component of the visual threshold is usually related to either the spatial contrast sensitivity function (CSF) or the visual masking. Especially on the contrast masking, most methods have not mention to the effect near to the edge region. Since the HVS is sensitive what happens on the edge area. This paper proposes ultrasound image watermarking using the visual threshold corresponding to the HVS in which the coefficients in a DCT-block have been classified based on the texture, edge, and plain area. This classification method enables not only useful for imperceptibility when the watermark is insert into an image but also achievable a robustness of watermark detection. A comparison of the proposed method with other methods has been carried out which shown that the proposed method robusts to blockwise memoryless manipulations, and also robust against noise addition.
Abstract: This paper presents a system for discovering
association rules from collections of unstructured documents called
EART (Extract Association Rules from Text). The EART system
treats texts only not images or figures. EART discovers association
rules amongst keywords labeling the collection of textual documents.
The main characteristic of EART is that the system integrates XML
technology (to transform unstructured documents into structured
documents) with Information Retrieval scheme (TF-IDF) and Data
Mining technique for association rules extraction. EART depends on
word feature to extract association rules. It consists of four phases:
structure phase, index phase, text mining phase and visualization
phase. Our work depends on the analysis of the keywords in the
extracted association rules through the co-occurrence of the keywords
in one sentence in the original text and the existing of the keywords
in one sentence without co-occurrence. Experiments applied on a
collection of scientific documents selected from MEDLINE that are
related to the outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza virus.
Abstract: This paper presents three models which enable the
customisation of Universal Description, Discovery and Integration
(UDDI) query results, based on some pre-defined and/or real-time
changing parameters. These proposed models detail the requirements,
design and techniques which make ranking of Web service discovery
results from a service registry possible. Our contribution is two fold:
First, we present an extension to the UDDI inquiry capabilities. This
enables a private UDDI registry owner to customise or rank the query
results, based on its business requirements. Second, our proposal
utilises existing technologies and standards which require minimal
changes to existing UDDI interfaces or its data structures. We believe
these models will serve as valuable reference for enhancing the
service discovery methods within a private UDDI registry
environment.
Abstract: In this paper a new control strategy based on Brain
Emotional Learning (BEL) model has been introduced. A modified
BEL model has been proposed to increase the degree of freedom,
controlling capability, reliability and robustness, which can be
implemented in real engineering systems.
The performance of the proposed BEL controller has been
illustrated by applying it on different nonlinear uncertain systems,
showing very good adaptability and robustness, while maintaining
stability.
Abstract: Mobile learning (m-learning) is a new method in teaching and learning process which combines technology of mobile device with learning materials. It can enhance student's engagement in learning activities and facilitate them to access the learning materials at anytime and anywhere. In Kolej Poly-Tech Mara (KPTM), this method is seen as an important effort in teaching practice and to improve student learning performance. The aim of this paper is to discuss the development of m-learning application called Mobile EEF Learning System (MEEFLS) to be implemented for Electric and Electronic Fundamentals course using Flash, XML (Extensible Markup Language) and J2ME (Java 2 micro edition). System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) was used as an application development approach. It has three modules in this application such as notes or course material, exercises and video. MEELFS development is seen as a tool or a pilot test for m-learning in KPTM.
Abstract: The consumption of lactose in acid cheese whey
anaerobic fermentation process under fed-batch conditions was
studied. During fermentation for 100 hours the biogas production
(CO2 and CH4) was analyzed online. Among the standard analyses
FT-IR spectroscopy was used to follow the consumption of lactose by
bacteria. The absorption bands at 990, 894 and 787 cm-1 in the 2nd
derivative spectra were shown to be characteristic for lactose and
were used to follow the lactose conversion. It was shown that acid
cheese whey lactose was converted by bacteria in first 7 hours. In the
spectra of 17, 18 and 95 hour fermentation samples lactose was not
identified and these results correlated with the HPLC data.
Abstract: The crossed cube is one of the most notable variations of hypercube, but some properties of the former are superior to those of the latter. For example, the diameter of the crossed cube is almost the half of that of the hypercube. In this paper, we focus on the problem embedding a Hamiltonian cycle through an arbitrary given edge in the crossed cube. We give necessary and sufficient condition for determining whether a given permutation with n elements over Zn generates a Hamiltonian cycle pattern of the crossed cube. Moreover, we obtain a lower bound for the number of different Hamiltonian cycles passing through a given edge in an n-dimensional crossed cube. Our work extends some recently obtained results.
Abstract: The Non-Rotating Adjustable Stabilizer / Directional
Solution (NAS/DS) is the imitation of a mechanical process or an
object by a directional drilling operation that causes a respond
mathematically and graphically to data and decision to choose the
best conditions compared to the previous mode.
The NAS/DS Auto Guide rotary steerable tool is undergoing final
field trials. The point-the-bit tool can use any bit, work at any
rotating speed, work with any MWD/LWD system, and there is no
pressure drop through the tool. It is a fully closed-loop system that
automatically maintains a specified curvature rate.
The Non–Rotating Adjustable stabilizer (NAS) can be controls
curvature rate by exactly positioning and run with the optimum bit,
use the most effective weight (WOB) and rotary speed (RPM) and
apply all of the available hydraulic energy to the bit. The directional
simulator allowed to specify the size of the curvature rate
performance errors of the NAS tool and the magnitude of the random
errors in the survey measurements called the Directional Solution
(DS).
The combination of these technologies (NAS/DS) will provide
smoother bore holes, reduced drilling time, reduced drilling cost and
incredible targeting precision. This simulator controls curvature rate
by precisely adjusting the radial extension of stabilizer blades on a
near bit Non-Rotating Stabilizer and control process corrects for the
secondary effects caused by formation characteristics, bit and tool
wear, and manufacturing tolerances.
Abstract: This paper discusses the theory behind the existence of an idealistic model for business network governance and uses a clarifying case-study, containing governance structures and processes within a business network framework. The case study from a German pharmaceutical industry company complements existing literature by providing a comprehensive explanation of the relations between supply chains and business networks, and also between supply chain management and business network governance. Supply chains and supply chain management are only one side of the interorganizational relationships and ensure short-term performance, while real-world governance structures are needed for ensuring the long-term existence of a supply chain. Within this context, a comprehensive model for business governance is presented. An interesting finding from the case study is that multiple business network governance systems co-exist within the evaluated supply chain.
Abstract: Seaweed farming is emerging as a viable alternative
activity in the Indonesian fisheries sector. This paper aims to
investigate people-s perceptions of seaweed farming, to analyze its
social and economic impacts and to identify the problems and
obstacles hindering its continued development. Structured and
semi-structured questionnaires were prepared to obtain qualitative
data, and interviews were conducted with fishermen who also plant
seaweed. The findings showed that fishermen in the Laikang Bay were
enthusiastic about cultivating seaweeds and that seaweed plays a major
role in supporting the household economy of fishermen. However,
current seaweed drying technologies cannot support increased
seaweed production on a farm or plot, especially in the rainy season.
Additionally, variable monsoon seasons and long marketing channels
are still major constraints on the development of the industry. Finally,
capture fisheries, the primary economic livelihood of fishermen of
older generations, is being slowly replaced by seaweed farming.