Abstract: Due to the call of global warming effects, city planners aim at actions for reducing carbon emission. One of the approaches is to promote the usage of public transportation system toward the transit-oriented-development. For example, rapid transit system in Taipei city and Kaohsiung city are opening. However, until November 2008 the average daily patronage counted only 113,774 passengers at Kaohsiung MRT systems, much less than which was expected. Now the crucial questions: how the public transport competes with private transport? And more importantly, what factors would enhance the use of public transport? To give the answers to those questions, our study first applied regression to analyze the factors attracting people to use public transport around cities in the world. It is shown in our study that the number of MRT stations, city population, cost of living, transit fare, density, gasoline price, and scooter being a major mode of transport are the major factors. Subsequently, our study identified successful and unsuccessful cities in regard of the public transport usage based on the diagnosis of regression residuals. Finally, by comparing transportation strategies adopted by those successful cities, our conclusion stated that Kaohsiung City could apply strategies such as increasing parking fees, reducing parking spaces in downtown area, and reducing transfer time by providing more bus services and public bikes to promote the usage of public transport.
Abstract: In this paper we intend to ascertain the state of the art on multifingered end-effectors, also known as robotic hands or dexterous robot hands, and propose an experimental setup for an innovative task based design approach, involving cutting edge technologies in motion capture. After an initial description of the capabilities and complexity of a human hand when grasping objects, in order to point out the importance of replicating it, we analyze the mechanical and kinematical structure of some important works carried out all around the world in the last three decades and also review the actuators and sensing technologies used. Finally we describe a new design philosophy proposing an experimental setup for the first stage using recent developments in human body motion capture systems that might lead to lighter and always more dexterous robotic hands.
Abstract: The accuracy of estimated stability and control
derivatives of a light aircraft from flight test data were evaluated. The light aircraft, named ChangGong-91, is the first certified aircraft from
the Korean government. The output error method, which is a maximum likelihood estimation technique and considers measurement
noise only, was used to analyze the aircraft responses measures. The
multi-step control inputs were applied in order to excite the short period mode for the longitudinal and Dutch-roll mode for the lateral-directional motion. The estimated stability/control derivatives of Chan Gong-91 were analyzed for the assessment of handling
qualities comparing them with those of similar aircraft. The accuracy of the flight derivative estimates derived from flight test measurement
was examined in engineering judgment, scatter and Cramer-Rao bound, which turned out to be satisfactory with minor defects..
Abstract: Recently, the design is becoming important in product development. The technology which is a strong point of Japan is immediately caught up by the foreign countries, and the price competition begins. Therefore companies tend to plan differentiation of products by the design or a color. The purpose of my work was to consider the optimal color for using by product development. We needed to clarify the thing leading to color preference for this purpose. Two kinds of investigations were made. By the first investigation, we found out that a geographical factor difference existed in color preference. Then, investigation which regarded the difference as latitude was conducted. However, the result expected from the difference in latitude was not obtained. It seems that it is necessary to set up difference of latitude a little more greatly, or to reexamine by other geographical factors.
Abstract: Through 1980s, management accounting researchers
described the increasing irrelevance of traditional control and
performance measurement systems. The Balanced Scorecard (BSC)
is a critical business tool for a lot of organizations. It is a
performance measurement system which translates mission and
strategy into objectives. Strategy map approach is a development
variant of BSC in which some necessary causal relations must be
established. To recognize these relations, experts usually use
experience. It is also possible to utilize regression for the same
purpose. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), which is one of the
most powerful methods of multivariate data analysis, obtains more
appropriate results than traditional methods such as regression. In the
present paper, we propose SEM for the first time to identify the
relations between objectives in the strategy map, and a test to
measure the importance of relations. In SEM, factor analysis and test
of hypotheses are done in the same analysis. SEM is known to be
better than other techniques at supporting analysis and reporting. Our
approach provides a framework which permits the experts to design
the strategy map by applying a comprehensive and scientific method
together with their experience. Therefore this scheme is a more
reliable method in comparison with the previously established
methods.
Abstract: The objective of this work which is based on the
approach of simultaneous engineering is to contribute to the
development of a CIM tool for the synthesis of functional design
dimensions expressed by average values and tolerance intervals. In
this paper, the dispersions method known as the Δl method which
proved reliable in the simulation of manufacturing dimensions is
used to develop a methodology for the automation of the simulation.
This methodology is constructed around three procedures. The first
procedure executes the verification of the functional requirements by
automatically extracting the functional dimension chains in the
mechanical sub-assembly. Then a second procedure performs an
optimization of the dispersions on the basis of unknown variables.
The third procedure uses the optimized values of the dispersions to
compute the optimized average values and tolerances of the
functional dimensions in the chains. A statistical and cost based
approach is integrated in the methodology in order to take account of
the capabilities of the manufacturing processes and to distribute
optimal values among the individual components of the chains.
Abstract: In this paper, the performance of two adaptive
observers applied to interconnected systems is studied. The
nonlinearity of systems can be written in a fractional form. The first
adaptive observer is an adaptive sliding mode observer for a Lipchitz
nonlinear system and the second one is an adaptive sliding mode
observer having a filtered error as a sliding surface. After comparing
their performances throughout the inverted pendulum mounted on a
car system, it was shown that the second one is more robust to
estimate the state.
Abstract: A new blind gray-level watermarking scheme is described. In the proposed method, the host image is first divided into 4*4 non-overlapping blocks. For each block, two first AC coefficients of its Hadamard transform are then estimated using DC coefficients of its neighbor blocks. A gray-level watermark is then added into estimated values. Since embedding watermark does not change the DC coefficients, watermark extracting could be done by estimating AC coefficients and comparing them with their actual values. Several experiments are made and results suggest the robustness of the proposed algorithm.
Abstract: In order to compare the performance of the carbon dioxide and HFC-125 heat pumps for medium-and high-temperature heating, both heat pump cycles were optimized using a simulation method. To fairly compare the performance of the cycles by using different working fluids, each cycle was optimized from the viewpoint of heating COP by two design parameters. The first is the gas cooler exit temperature and the other is the ratio of the overall heat conductance of the gas cooler to the combined overall heat conductance of the gas cooler and the evaporator. The inlet and outlet temperatures of secondary fluid of the gas cooler were fixed at 40/90°C and 40/150°C.The results shows that the HFC-125 heat pump has 6% higher heating COP than carbon dioxide heat pump when the heat sink exit temperature is fixed at 90ºC, while the latter outperforms the former when the heat sink exit temperature is fixed at 150ºC under the simulation conditions considered in the present study.
Abstract: Atmospheric stability plays the most important role in
the transport and dispersion of air pollutants. Different methods are
used for stability determination with varying degrees of complexity.
Most of these methods are based on the relative magnitude of
convective and mechanical turbulence in atmospheric motions.
Richardson number, Monin-Obukhov length, Pasquill-Gifford
stability classification and Pasquill–Turner stability classification, are
the most common parameters and methods. The Pasquill–Turner
Method (PTM), which is employed in this study, makes use of
observations of wind speed, insolation and the time of day to classify
atmospheric stability with distinguishable indices. In this study, a
model is presented to determination of atmospheric stability
conditions using PTM. As a case study, meteorological data of
Mehrabad station in Tehran from 2000 to 2005 is applied to model.
Here, three different categories are considered to deduce the pattern
of stability conditions. First, the total pattern of stability classification
is obtained and results show that atmosphere is 38.77%, 27.26%,
33.97%, at stable, neutral and unstable condition, respectively. It is
also observed that days are mostly unstable (66.50%) while nights are
mostly stable (72.55%). Second, monthly and seasonal patterns are
derived and results indicate that relative frequency of stable
conditions decrease during January to June and increase during June
to December, while results for unstable conditions are exactly in
opposite manner. Autumn is the most stable season with relative
frequency of 50.69% for stable condition, whilst, it is 42.79%,
34.38% and 27.08% for winter, summer and spring, respectively.
Hourly stability pattern is the third category that points out that
unstable condition is dominant from approximately 03-15 GTM and
04-12 GTM for warm and cold seasons, respectively. Finally,
correlation between atmospheric stability and CO concentration is
achieved.
Abstract: In this paper we present a photo mosaic smartphone
application in client-server based large-scale image databases. Photo
mosaic is not a new concept, but there are very few smartphone
applications especially for a huge number of images in the
client-server environment. To support large-scale image databases,
we first propose an overall framework working as a client-server
model. We then present a concept of image-PAA features to efficiently
handle a huge number of images and discuss its lower bounding
property. We also present a best-match algorithm that exploits the
lower bounding property of image-PAA. We finally implement an
efficient Android-based application and demonstrate its feasibility.
Abstract: e-mail has become an important means of electronic
communication but the viability of its usage is marred by Unsolicited
Bulk e-mail (UBE) messages. UBE consists of many types
like pornographic, virus infected and 'cry-for-help' messages as well
as fake and fraudulent offers for jobs, winnings and medicines. UBE
poses technical and socio-economic challenges to usage of e-mails.
To meet this challenge and combat this menace, we need to
understand UBE. Towards this end, the current paper presents a
content-based textual analysis of more than 2700 body enhancement
medicinal UBE. Technically, this is an application of Text Parsing
and Tokenization for an un-structured textual document and we
approach it using Bag Of Words (BOW) and Vector Space Document
Model techniques. We have attempted to identify the most
frequently occurring lexis in the UBE documents that advertise
various products for body enhancement. The analysis of such top
100 lexis is also presented. We exhibit the relationship between
occurrence of a word from the identified lexis-set in the given UBE
and the probability that the given UBE will be the one advertising for
fake medicinal product. To the best of our knowledge and survey of
related literature, this is the first formal attempt for identification of
most frequently occurring lexis in such UBE by its textual analysis.
Finally, this is a sincere attempt to bring about alertness against and
mitigate the threat of such luring but fake UBE.
Abstract: This paper includes two novel techniques for skew
estimation of binary document images. These algorithms are based on
connected component analysis and Hough transform. Both these
methods focus on reducing the amount of input data provided to
Hough transform. In the first method, referred as word centroid
approach, the centroids of selected words are used for skew detection.
In the second method, referred as dilate & thin approach, the selected
characters are blocked and dilated to get word blocks and later
thinning is applied. The final image fed to Hough transform has the
thinned coordinates of word blocks in the image. The methods have
been successful in reducing the computational complexity of Hough
transform based skew estimation algorithms. Promising experimental
results are also provided to prove the effectiveness of the proposed
methods.
Abstract: This paper presents an effective traffic lights detection
method at the night-time. First, candidate blobs of traffic lights are
extracted from RGB color image. Input image is represented on the
dominant color domain by using color transform proposed by Ruta,
then red and green color dominant regions are selected as candidates.
After candidate blob selection, we carry out shape filter for noise
reduction using information of blobs such as length, area, area of
boundary box, etc. A multi-class classifier based on SVM (Support
Vector Machine) applies into the candidates. Three kinds of features
are used. We use basic features such as blob width, height, center
coordinate, area, area of blob. Bright based stochastic features are also
used. In particular, geometric based moment-s values between
candidate region and adjacent region are proposed and used to improve
the detection performance. The proposed system is implemented on
Intel Core CPU with 2.80 GHz and 4 GB RAM and tested with the
urban and rural road videos. Through the test, we show that the
proposed method using PF, BMF, and GMF reaches up to 93 % of
detection rate with computation time of in average 15 ms/frame.
Abstract: Today, the central role of industrial robots in automation in general and in material handling in particular is crystal clear. Based on the current status of Photovoltaics and by focusing on lightweight material handling, PV industry has turned into a potential candidate for introducing a fresh “pick and place" robot technology. Thus, to examine the industry needs in this regard, firstly the best suited applications for such robotic automation,and then the essential prerequisites in PV industry should be identified. The objective of this paper is to present holistic views on the industry trends, general automation status and existing challenges facing lightweight robotic material handling in PV Silicon Wafer and Thin Film technologies. The results of this study show that currently no uniform pick and place solution prevails among PV Silicon Wafer manufacturers and the industry calls for a new robot solution to satisfy its needs in new directions.
Abstract: Twenty four New Zealand white rabbits (12 does and
12 bucks) and twenty four Flanders (12 does and 12 bucks) rabbits,
allotted into two feeding regime (6 for each breed, 3 males and 3
females) first one fed commercial ration and second one fed
commercial diet plus sodium butyrate (300 g/ton). The obtained
results showed that at end of 8th week experimental period New
Zealand white rabbits were heavier body weight than Flanders rabbits
(1934.55+39.05 vs. 1802.5+30.99 g); significantly high body weight
gain during experimental period especially during 8th week
(136.1+3.5 vs. 126.8+1.8 g/week); better feed conversion ratio during
all weeks of experiment from first week (3.07+0.16 vs. 3.12+0.10)
till the 8th week of experiment (5.54+0.16 vs. 5.76+0.07) with
significantly high dressing percentages (0.54+0.01 vs. 0.52+0.01).
Also all carcass cuts were significantly high in New Zealand white
rabbits than Flanders. Females rabbits (at the same age) were lower
body weight than males from start of experiment (941.1+39.8
vs.972.1+33.5 g) till the end of experiment (1833.64+37.69 vs.
1903.41+36.93 g); gained less during all weeks of experiment except
during 8th week (132.1+2.3 vs. 130.9+3.4 g/week), with lower
dressing percentage (0.52+0.01 vs. 0.53+0.01) and lighter carcass
cuts than males, however, they had better feed conversion ratio
during 1st week, 7th week and 8th week of experiment. Addition of
300g sodium butyrate/ton of rabbit increased the body weight of
rabbits at the end of experimental period (1882.71+26.45 vs.
1851.5+49.82 g); improve body weight gain at 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and
7th week of experiment and significantly improve feed conversion
ratio during all weeks of the experiment from 1st week (2.85+0.07
vs. 3.30+0.15) till the 8th week of the experiment (5.51+0.12 vs.
5.77+0.12). Also the dressing percentage was higher in Sodium
butyrate fed groups than control one (0.53+0.01 vs. 0.52+0.01) and
the most important results of feeding sodium butyrate is the reducing
of the mortality percentage in rabbits during 8 week experiment to
zero percentage as compared with 16% in control group.
Abstract: In recent years Operational Transconductance Amplifier based high frequency integrated circuits, filters and systems have been widely investigated. The usefulness of OTAs over conventional OP-Amps in the design of both first order and second order active filters are well documented. This paper discusses some of the tunability issues using the Matlab/Simulink® software which are previously unreported for any commercial OTA. Using the simulation results two first order voltage controlled all pass filters with phase tuning capability are proposed.
Abstract: Organizations face challenges supporting knowledge
workers due to their particular requirements for an environment
supportive of their self-guided learning activities which are important
to increase their productivity and to develop creative solutions to
non-routine problems. Face-to-face knowledge sharing remains
crucial in spite of a large number of knowledge management
instruments that aim at supporting a more impersonal transfer of
knowledge. This paper first describes the main criteria for a
conceptual and technical solution targeted at flexible management of
office space that aims at assigning those knowledge workers to the
same room that are most likely to thrive when being brought together
thus enhancing their knowledge work productivity. The paper
reflects on lessons learned from the implementation and operation of
such a solution in a project-focused organization and derives several
implications for future extensions that target to foster problem
solving, informal learning and personal development.
Abstract: The Institute of Product Development is dealing
with the development, design and dimensioning of micro components
and systems as a member of the Collaborative Research
Centre 499 “Design, Production and Quality Assurance of
Molded micro components made of Metallic and Ceramic Materials".
Because of technological restrictions in the miniaturization
of conventional manufacturing techniques, shape and
material deviations cannot be scaled down in the same proportion
as the micro parts, rendering components with relatively
wide tolerance fields. Systems that include such components
should be designed with this particularity in mind, often requiring
large clearance. On the end, the output of such systems
results variable and prone to dynamical instability. To save
production time and resources, every study of these effects
should happen early in the product development process and
base on computer simulation to avoid costly prototypes. A
suitable method is proposed here and exemplary applied to a
micro technology demonstrator developed by the CRC499. It
consists of a one stage planetary gear train in a sun-planet-ring
configuration, with input through the sun gear and output
through the carrier. The simulation procedure relies on ordinary
Multi Body Simulation methods and subsequently adds
other techniques to further investigate details of the system-s
behavior and to predict its response. The selection of the relevant
parameters and output functions followed the engineering
standards for regular sized gear trains. The first step is to
quantify the variability and to reveal the most critical points of
the system, performed through a whole-mechanism Sensitivity
Analysis. Due to the lack of previous knowledge about the system-s
behavior, different DOE methods involving small and
large amount of experiments were selected to perform the SA.
In this particular case the parameter space can be divided into
two well defined groups, one of them containing the gear-s profile
information and the other the components- spatial location.
This has been exploited to explore the different DOE techniques
more promptly. A reduced set of parameters is derived for
further investigation and to feed the final optimization process,
whether as optimization parameters or as external perturbation
collective. The 10 most relevant perturbation factors and 4 to 6
prospective variable parameters are considered in a new, simplified
model. All of the parameters are affected by the mentioned
production variability. The objective functions of interest
are based on scalar output-s variability measures, so the
problem becomes an optimization under robustness and reliability constrains. The study shows an initial step on the development
path of a method to design and optimize complex micro
mechanisms composed of wide tolerated elements accounting
for the robustness and reliability of the systems- output.
Abstract: The effect of phosphorus supplementation of ammoniated rice straw was studied. The in vitro experiment was carried out following the first stage of Tilley and Terry method. The treatments consisting of four diets were A = 50% ammoniated rice straw + 50% concentrate (control), B = A + 0.2% Phosphor (P) supplement, C = A + 0.4% Phosphor (P) supplement, and D = A + 0.6% Phosphor (P) supplement of dry matter. Completely randomized design was used as the experimental design with differences among treatment means were examined using Duncan multiple range test. Variables measured were total bacterial and cellulolytic bacterial population, cellulolytic enzyme activity, ammonia (NH3) and volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations, as fermentability indicators and synthesized microbial protein, as well as degradability indicators including dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF) and cellulose. The results indicated that fermentability and degradability of diets consisting ammoniated rice straw with P supplementation were significantly higher than the control diet (P< 0.05). It is concluded that P supplementation is important to improve fermentability and degradability of rations containing ammoniated RS and concentrate. In terms of the most effective level of P supplementation occurred at a supplementation rate of 0.4% of dry matter.