Abstract: The genre of fantasy depicts a world of imagine that triggers popular interest from a created view of world, and a fantasy is defined as a story that illustrates a world of imagine where scientific or horror elements are stand in its center. This study is not focused on the narrative of the fantasy, i.e. not on the adventurous story, but is concentrated on the image of the fantasy to work on its relationship with intended themes and differences among cultures due to meanings of materials. As for films, we have selected some films in the 2000's that are internationally recognized as expressing unique images of fantasy containing the theme of love in them. The selected films are 5 pieces including two European films, Amelie from Montmartre (2001) and The Science of Sleep (2005) and three Asian films, Citizen Dog from Thailand (2004), Memories of Matsuko from Japan (2006), and I'm a Cyborg, but That's OK from Korea (2006). These films share some common characteristics to the effect that they give tiny lessons and feelings for life with expressions of fantasy images as if they were fairy tales for adults and that they lead the audience to reflect on their days and revive forgotten dreams of childhood. We analyze the images of fantasy in each of the films on the basis of the elements of Mise-en-Scène (setting and props, costume, hair and make-up, facial expressions and body language, lighting and color, positioning of characters, and objects within a frame).
Abstract: In this paper, the transformers over-load problem of Shiraz substation in Fars Regional Electric Company (FREC) is investigated for a period of three years plan. So the suggestions for using phase shifting transformer (PST) and unified power flow controller (UPFC) in order to solve this problem are examined in details and finally, some economical and practical designs will be given in order to solve the related problems. Practical consideration and using the basic and fundamental concept of powers in transmission lines in order to find the economical design are the main advantages of this research. The simulation results of the integrated overall system with different designs compare them base on economical and practical aspects to solve the over-load and loss-reduction.
Abstract: After presenting the theory of calendar function of
Iran-s cross-vaults especially “Niasar" cross-vault in recent years,
there has been lots of doubts and uncertainty about this theory by
astrologists and archaeologists. According to this theory “Niasar
cross-vault and other cross-vaults of Iran has calendar function and
are constructed in a way that sunrise and sunset can be seen from one
of its openings in the beginning and middle of each season of year".
But, mentioning historical documentaries we conclude here that the
theory of calendar function of Iran-s cross-vaults does not have any
strong basis and individual cross-vaults had only religious function in
Iran.
Abstract: The environmental impact caused by industries is an issue that, in the last 20 years, has become very important in terms of society, economics and politics in Colombia. Particularly, the tannery process is extremely polluting because of uneffective treatments and regulations given to the dumping process and atmospheric emissions. Considering that, this investigation is intended to propose a management model based on the integration of Lean Supply Chain, Green Supply Chain, Cleaner Production and ISO 14001-2004, that prioritizes the strategic components of the organizations. As a result, a management model will be obtained and it will provide a strategic perspective through a systemic approach to the tanning process. This will be achieved through the use of Multicriteria Decision tools, along with Quality Function Deployment and Fuzzy Logic. The strategic approach that embraces the management model using the alignment of Lean Supply Chain, Green Supply Chain, Cleaner Production and ISO 14001-2004, is an integrated perspective that allows a gradual frame of the tactical and operative elements through the correct setting of the information flow, improving the decision making process. In that way, Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) could improve their productivity, competitiveness and as an added value, the minimization of the environmental impact. This improvement is expected to be controlled through a Dashboard that helps the Organization measure its performance along the implementation of the model in its productive process.
Abstract: The value of emission factor was calculated in the
older type of Diesel engine operating on an engine testing bench and
then compared with the parameters monitored under similar
conditions when the EnviroxTM additive was applied. It has been
found out that the additive based on CeO2 nanoparticles reduces
emission of NOx. The dependencies of NOx emissions on reduced
torque, engine power and revolutions have been observed as well.
Abstract: In present paper we proposed a simple and effective method to compress an image. Here we found success in size reduction of an image without much compromising with it-s quality. Here we used Haar Wavelet Transform to transform our original image and after quantization and thresholding of DWT coefficients Run length coding and Huffman coding schemes have been used to encode the image. DWT is base for quite populate JPEG 2000 technique.
Abstract: Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a very toxic gas that is produced in very large quantities in the oil and gas industry. It cannot be flared to the atmosphere and Claus process based gas plants are used to recover the sulfur and convert the hydrogen to water. In this paper, we present optical characterization of an atmospheric pressure microwave plasma torch for H2S dissociation into hydrogen and sulfur. The torch is operated at 2.45 GHz with power up to 2 kW. Three different gases can simultaneously be injected in the plasma torch. Visual imaging and optical emission spectroscopy are used to characterize the plasma for varying gas flow rates and microwave power. The plasma length, emission spectra and temperature are presented. The obtained experimental results validate our earlier published simulation results of plasma torch.
Abstract: This paper proposes different methods for estimation
of the harmonic currents of the single-phase diode bridge rectifier. Both simple and advanced methods are compared and the models are
put into a context of practical use for calculating the harmonic distortion in a typical application. Finally, the different models are
compared to measurements of a real application and convincing results are achieved.
Abstract: Combining energy efficiency with renewable energy
sources constitutes a key strategy for a sustainable future. The wind
power sector stands out as a fundamental element for the
achievement of the European renewable objectives and Portugal is no
exception to the increase of the wind energy for the electricity
generation. This work proposes an optimization model for the long
range electricity power planning in a system similar to the
Portuguese one, where the expected impacts of the increasing
installed wind power on the operating performance of thermal power
plants are taken into account. The main results indicate that the
increasing penetration of wind power in the electricity system will
have significant effects on the combined cycle gas power plants
operation and on the theoretically expected cost reduction and
environmental gains. This research demonstrated the need to address
the impact that energy sources with variable output may have, not
only on the short-term operational planning, but especially on the
medium to long range planning activities, in order to meet the
strategic objectives for the energy sector.
Abstract: In this paper, we introduce a robust state feedback controller design using Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMIs) and guaranteed cost approach for Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy systems. The purpose on this work is to establish a systematic method to design controllers for a class of uncertain linear and non linear systems. Our approach utilizes a certain type of fuzzy systems that are based on Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy models to approximate nonlinear systems. We use a robust control methodology to design controllers. This method not only guarantees stability, but also minimizes an upper bound on a linear quadratic performance measure. A simulation example is presented to show the effectiveness of this method.
Abstract: The recommendation of the committee on corporate
governance for public companies in Nigeria, that the position of the
CEO be separated from board chair has generated serious debate
among scholars and practitioners. They have questioned the
appropriateness of implementing corporate governance model that is
based on Anglo-Saxon agency problem characterized by dispersed
ownership structure; where markets for corporate control, legal
regulation, and contractual incentives are the key governance
mechanisms. This paper strives to resolve the argument by adopting
an institutional perspective in testing the agency theory on board
duality. The study developed a theoretical and empirical model to
better understand how ownership structure influences agency conflict
and how such affects firm performance. Hence, the study examines
the relationship between CEO duality and firm performance using
two institutional ownership structures – dispersed ownership and
concentrated ownership structures. The empirical results show that
CEO duality is negatively correlated with firm performance in
Nigeria irrespective of the firm-s ownership structure. The findings
give credence to the recommendation of the Peterside Commission
on the need to separate the position of CEO from board chair.
Abstract: This study investigated possible ways to improve the
efficiency of the platinum precipitation process using ammonium
chloride by reducing the platinum content reporting to the effluent.
The ore treated consist of five platinum group metals namely,
ruthenium, rhodium, iridium, platinum, palladium and a precious
metal gold. Gold, ruthenium, rhodium and iridium were extracted
prior the platinum precipitation process. Temperature, reducing
agent, flow rate and potential difference were the variables controlled
to determine the operation conditions for optimum platinum
precipitation efficiency. Hydrogen peroxide was added as the
oxidizing agent at the temperature of 85-90oC and potential
difference of 700-850mV was the variable used to check the
oxidizing state of platinum. The platinum was further purified at
temperature between 60-65oC, potential difference above 700 mV,
ammonium chloride of 200 l, and at these conditions the platinum
content reporting to the effluent was reduced to less than 300ppm,
resulting in optimum platinum precipitation efficiency and purity of
99.9%.
Abstract: This paper proposes a dual tree complex wavelet transform (DT-CWT) based directional interpolation scheme for noisy images. The problems of denoising and interpolation are modelled as to estimate the noiseless and missing samples under the same framework of optimal estimation. Initially, DT-CWT is used to decompose an input low-resolution noisy image into low and high frequency subbands. The high-frequency subband images are interpolated by linear minimum mean square estimation (LMMSE) based interpolation, which preserves the edges of the interpolated images. For each noisy LR image sample, we compute multiple estimates of it along different directions and then fuse those directional estimates for a more accurate denoised LR image. The estimation parameters calculated in the denoising processing can be readily used to interpolate the missing samples. The inverse DT-CWT is applied on the denoised input and interpolated high frequency subband images to obtain the high resolution image. Compared with the conventional schemes that perform denoising and interpolation in tandem, the proposed DT-CWT based noisy image interpolation method can reduce many noise-caused interpolation artifacts and preserve well the image edge structures. The visual and quantitative results show that the proposed technique outperforms many of the existing denoising and interpolation methods.
Abstract: Mathematical models can be used to describe the
dynamics of the spread of infectious disease between susceptibles
and infectious populations. Dengue fever is a re-emerging disease in
the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Its incidence has
increased fourfold since 1970 and outbreaks are now reported quite
frequently from many parts of the world. In dengue endemic regions,
more cases of dengue infection in pregnancy and infancy are being
found due to the increasing incidence. It has been reported that
dengue infection was vertically transmitted to the infants. Primary
dengue infection is associated with mild to high fever, headache,
muscle pain and skin rash. Immune response includes IgM antibodies
produced by the 5th day of symptoms and persist for 30-60 days. IgG
antibodies appear on the 14th day and persist for life. Secondary
infections often result in high fever and in many cases with
hemorrhagic events and circulatory failure. In the present paper, a
mathematical model is proposed to simulate the succession of dengue
disease transmission in pregnancy and infancy. Stability analysis of
the equilibrium points is carried out and a simulation is given for the
different sets of parameter. Moreover, the bifurcation diagrams of our
model are discussed. The controlling of this disease in infant cases is
introduced in the term of the threshold condition.
Abstract: Feature-based registration is an effective technique for clinical use, because it can greatly reduce computational costs. However, this technique, which estimates the transformation by using feature points extracted from two images, may cause misalignments. To handle with this limitation, we propose to extract the salient edges and extracted control points (CP) of medical images by using efficiency of multiresolution representation of data nonsubsampled contourlet transform (NSCT) that finds the best feature points. The MR images were first decomposed using the NSCT, and then Edge and CP were extracted from bandpass directional subband of NSCT coefficients and some proposed rules. After edge and CP extraction, mutual information was adopted for the registration of feature points and translation parameters are calculated by using particle swarm optimization (PSO). The experimental results showed that the proposed method produces totally accurate performance for registration medical CT-MR images.
Abstract: Addis Ababa is a seat of African Union (AU), United
Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN-ECA) and hundreds of
embassies and consular representatives. Addis Ababa is one of the
highest capitals in the world with an average 2400 meters above sea
level. It is dichotomous city with a blend of modern high-rise and
deteriorating slum quarters. Water supply and sanitation, waste
management and housing are continuing to be serious problems.
Forest wood based domestic energy use as well as uncontrolled
emissions from mobile and fixed sources has endangered the state of
the urban environment. Analysis based on satellite imagery has
revealed the deteriorating urban environment within the last three
decades. The recently restructured city administration has brought
improvements in the condition of the urban environment. However,
the overwhelming size of the challenges faced by the city dwarfed
their fairly good results.
Abstract: With the tremendous growth of World Wide Web
(WWW) data, there is an emerging need for effective information
retrieval at the document level. Several query languages such as
XML-QL, XPath, XQL, Quilt and XQuery are proposed in recent
years to provide faster way of querying XML data, but they still lack of
generality and efficiency. Our approach towards evolving a framework
for querying semistructured documents is based on formal query
algebra. Two elements are introduced in the proposed framework:
first, a generic and flexible data model for logical representation of
semistructured data and second, a set of operators for the manipulation
of objects defined in the data model. In additional to accommodating
several peculiarities of semistructured data, our model offers novel
features such as bidirectional paths for navigational querying and
partitions for data transformation that are not available in other
proposals.
Abstract: There are various solutions for improving existing overhead line systems with the general purpose of increasing their limited capacity. The capacity reserve of the existing overhead lines is an important problem that must be considered from different aspects. The paper contains a comparative analysis of the mechanical and thermal limitations of an existing overhead line based on certain calculation conditions characterizing the examined variants. The methodology of the proposed estimation of the permissible conductor temperature and maximum load current is described in detail. The transmission line model consists of specific information of an existing overhead line of the Latvian power network. The main purpose of the simulation tasks is to find an additional capacity reserve by using accurate mathematical models. The results of the obtained data are presented.
Abstract: This work concerns the measurements of a Bulk
Acoustic Waves (BAW) emission filter S parameters and compare
with prototypes simulated types. Thanks to HP-ADS, a co-simulation
of filters- characteristics in a digital radio-communication chain is
performed. Four cases of modulation schemes are studied in order to
illustrate the impact of the spectral occupation of the modulated
signal. Results of simulations and co-simulation are given in terms of
Error Vector Measurements to be useful for a general sensibility
analysis of 4th/3rd Generation (G.) emitters (wideband QAM and
OFDM signals)
Abstract: A pilot plant for continuous flow microwave-assisted
chemical reaction combined with microreactors was developed and
water heating tests were conducted for evaluation of the developed
plant. We developed a microwave apparatus having a single
microwave generator that can heat reaction solutions in four reaction
fields simultaneously in order to increase throughput. We also
designed a four-branch waveguide using electromagnetic simulation,
and found that the transmission efficiency at 99%. Finally, we
developed the pilot plant using the developed microwave apparatus
and conducted water heating tests. The temperatures in the respective
reaction fields were controlled within ±1.1 K at 353.2 K. Moreover,
the energy absorption rates by the water were about 90% in the
respective reaction fields, whereas the energy absorption rate was
about 40% when 100 cm3 of water was heated by a commercially
available multimode microwave chemical reactor.