Abstract: In the way of growing and developing firms especially
high-tech firms, on many occasions manager of firm is mainly involved in solving problems of his business and decision making about executive activities of the firm, while besides executive
measures, attention to planning of firm's success and growth way and
application of long experience and sagacity in designing business model are vital and necessary success in a business is achieved as a
result of different factors, one of the most important of them is designing and performing an optimal business model at the beginning
of the firm's work. This model is determining the limit of profitability
achieved by innovation and gained value added. Therefore, business
model is the process of connecting innovation environment and
technology with economic environment and business and is important
for succeeding modern businesses considering their traits.
Abstract: A rigorous two-dimensional model is developed for simulating the operation of a less-investigated type steam reformer having a considerably lower operating Reynolds number, higher tube diameter, and non-availability of extra steam in the feed compared with conventional steam reformers. Simulation results show that reasonable predictions can only be achieved when certain correlations for wall to fluid heat transfer equations are applied. Due to severe operating conditions, in all cases, strong radial temperature gradients inside the reformer tubes have been found. Furthermore, the results show how a certain catalyst loading profile will affect the operation of the reformer.
Abstract: Since 2005, an SRF module of CESR type serves as the
accelerating cavity at the Taiwan Light Source in the National
Synchrotron Radiation Research Center. A 500-MHz niobium cavity
is immersed in liquid helium inside this SRF module. To reduce heat
load, the liquid helium vessel is thermally shielded by
liquid-nitrogen-cooled copper layer, and the beam chambers are also
anchored with pipes of the liquid nitrogen flow in middle of the liquid
helium vessel and the vacuum vessel. A strong correlation of the
movement of the cavity-s frequency tuner with the temperature
variation of parts cooled with liquid nitrogen was observed. A
previous study on a spare SRF module with the niobium cavity cooled
by liquid nitrogen instead of liquid helium, satisfactory suppression of
the thermal oscillation was achieved by attaching a temporary buffer
tank for the vented shielding nitrogen flow from the SRF module. In
this study, a home-made buffer tank is designed and integrated to the
spare SRF module with cavity cooled by liquid helium. Design,
construction, integration, and preliminary test results of this buffer
tank are presented.
Abstract: In order to enhance the knowledge of certain
phytochemical Algerian plants that are widely used in traditional
medicine and to exploit their therapeutic potential in modern
medicine, we have done a specific extraction of terpenes and
alkaloids from the leaves of Euphorbia granulata to evaluate the
antioxidant and antibacterial activity of this extracts. After the
extraction it was found that the terpene extract gave the highest yield
59.72% compared with alkaloids extracts.
The disc diffusion method was used to determine the antibacterial
activity against different bacterial strains: Escherichia coli
(ATCC25922), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC27853) and
Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC25923). All extracts have shown
inhibition of growth bacteria. The different zones of inhibition have
varied from (7 -10 mm) according to the concentrations of extract
used.
Testing the antiradical activity on DPPH-TLC plates indicated the
presence of substances that have potent anti-free radical. As against,
the BC-TLC revealed that only terpenes extract which was reacted
positively. These results can validate the importance of Euphorbia
granulata in traditional medicine.
Abstract: Analyses carried out on examples of detected defects
echoes showed clearly that one can describe these detected forms according to a whole of characteristic parameters in order to be able to make discrimination between a planar defect and a volumic defect.
This work answers to a problem of ultrasonics NDT like Identification of the defects. The problems as well as the objective of
this realized work, are divided in three parts: Extractions of the parameters of wavelets from the ultrasonic echo of the detected defect - the second part is devoted to principal components analysis
(PCA) for optimization of the attributes vector. And finally to establish the algorithm of classification (SVM, Support Vector Machine) which allows discrimination between a plane defect and a
volumic defect. We have completed this work by a conclusion where we draw up a summary of the completed works, as well as the robustness of the
various algorithms proposed in this study.
Abstract: This paper suggests ranking alternatives under fuzzy
MCDM (multiple criteria decision making) via an centroid based
ranking approach, where criteria are classified to benefit qualitative,
benefit quantitative and cost quantitative ones. The ratings of
alternatives versus qualitative criteria and the importance weights of
all criteria are assessed in linguistic values represented by fuzzy
numbers. The membership function for the final fuzzy evaluation
value of each alternative can be developed through α-cuts and
interval arithmetic of fuzzy numbers. The distance between the
original point and the relative centroid is applied to defuzzify the
final fuzzy evaluation values in order to rank alternatives. Finally a
numerical example demonstrates the computation procedure of the
proposed model.
Abstract: This paper presents probabilistic horizontal seismic
hazard assessment of Naghan, Iran. It displays the probabilistic
estimate of Peak Ground Horizontal Acceleration (PGHA) for the
return period of 475, 950 and 2475 years. The output of the
probabilistic seismic hazard analysis is based on peak ground
acceleration (PGA), which is the most common criterion in designing
of buildings. A catalogue of seismic events that includes both
historical and instrumental events was developed and covers the
period from 840 to 2009. The seismic sources that affect the hazard
in Naghan were identified within the radius of 200 km and the
recurrence relationships of these sources were generated by Kijko
and Sellevoll. Finally Peak Ground Horizontal Acceleration (PGHA)
has been prepared to indicate the earthquake hazard of Naghan for
different hazard levels by using SEISRISK III software.
Abstract: The Detour matrix (DD) of a graph has for its ( i , j)
entry the length of the longest path between vertices i and j. The
DD-eigenvalues of a connected graph G are the eigenvalues for its
detour matrix, and they form the DD-spectrum of G. The DD-energy
EDD of the graph G is the sum of the absolute values of its DDeigenvalues.
Two connected graphs are said to be DD- equienergetic
if they have equal DD-energies. In this paper, the DD- spectra of a
variety of graphs and their DD-energies are calculated.
Abstract: This study applied the Theory of Planned Behavior
model in predicting dietary behavior among Type 2 diabetics in a
Kenyan environment. The study was conducted for three months
within the diabetic clinic at Kisii Hospital in Nyanza Province in
Kenya and adopted sequential mixed methods design combing both
qualitative and quantitative phases. Qualitative data was analyzed
using grounded theory analysis method. Structural equation modeling
using maximum likelihood was used to analyze quantitative data.
The results based on the common fit indices revealed that the theory
of planned behavior fitted the data acceptably well among the Type 2
diabetes and within dietary behavior {χ2 = 223.3, df = 77, p = .02,
χ2/df = 2.9, n=237; TLI = .93; CFI =.91; RMSEA (90CI) = .090(.039,
.146)}. This implies that the Theory of Planned Behavior holds and
forms a framework for promoting dietary practice among Type 2
diabetics.
Abstract: Parallel Prefix addition is a technique for improving
the speed of binary addition. Due to continuing integrating intensity
and the growing needs of portable devices, low-power and highperformance
designs are of prime importance. The classical parallel
prefix adder structures presented in the literature over the years
optimize for logic depth, area, fan-out and interconnect count of logic
circuits. In this paper, a new architecture for performing 8-bit, 16-bit
and 32-bit Parallel Prefix addition is proposed. The proposed prefix
adder structures is compared with several classical adders of same
bit width in terms of power, delay and number of computational
nodes. The results reveal that the proposed structures have the least
power delay product when compared with its peer existing Prefix
adder structures. Tanner EDA tool was used for simulating the adder
designs in the TSMC 180 nm and TSMC 130 nm technologies.
Abstract: This paper describes an experimental investigation of
the drying behavior and conditions of rosehip in a convective
cyclone-type dryer. Drying experiments were conducted at air inlet
temperatures of 50, 60 and 70 o C and air velocities of 0.5, 1 and 1.5
ms–1. The parametric values obtained from the experiments were
fitted to the Newton mathematical models. Consequently, the drying
model developed by Newton model showed good agreement with the
data obtained from the experiments. Concluding, it was obtained that;
(i) the temperature is the major effect on the drying process, (ii) air
velocity has low effect on the drying of rosehip, (iii) the C-vitamin is
observed to change according to the temperature, moisture, drying
time and flow types. The changing ratio is found to be in the range of
0.70-0.74.
Abstract: Though nonlinear dynamic analysis using a specialized
hydro-code such as AUTODYN is accurate and useful tool for
progressive collapse assessment of a multi-story building subjected to
blast load, it takes too much time to be applied to a practical simulation
of progressive collapse of a tall building. In this paper, blast analysis of
a RC frame structure using a simplified model with Reinforcement
Contact technique provided in Ansys Workbench was introduced and
investigated on its accuracy. Even though the simplified model has a
fraction of elements of the detailed model, the simplified model with
this modeling technique shows similar structural behavior under the
blast load to the detailed model. The proposed modeling method can
be effectively applied to blast loading progressive collapse analysis of
a RC frame structure.
Abstract: Nowadays, web-based technologies influence in
people-s daily life such as in education, business and others.
Therefore, many web developers are too eager to develop their web
applications with fully animation graphics and forgetting its
accessibility to its users. Their purpose is to make their web
applications look impressive. Thus, this paper would highlight on the
usability and accessibility of a voice recognition browser as a tool to
facilitate the visually impaired and blind learners in accessing virtual
learning environment. More specifically, the objectives of the study
are (i) to explore the challenges faced by the visually impaired
learners in accessing virtual learning environment (ii) to determine
the suitable guidelines for developing a voice recognition browser
that is accessible to the visually impaired. Furthermore, this study
was prepared based on an observation conducted with the Malaysian
visually impaired learners. Finally, the result of this study would
underline on the development of an accessible voice recognition
browser for the visually impaired.
Abstract: A new distance-adjusted approach is proposed in
which static square contours are defined around an estimated
symbol in a QAM constellation, which create regions that
correspond to fixed step sizes and weighting factors. As a
result, the equalizer tap adjustment consists of a linearly
weighted sum of adaptation criteria that is scaled by a variable
step size. This approach is the basis of two new algorithms: the
Variable step size Square Contour Algorithm (VSCA) and the
Variable step size Square Contour Decision-Directed
Algorithm (VSDA). The proposed schemes are compared with
existing blind equalization algorithms in the SCA family in
terms of convergence speed, constellation eye opening and
residual ISI suppression. Simulation results for 64-QAM
signaling over empirically derived microwave radio channels
confirm the efficacy of the proposed algorithms. An RTL
implementation of the blind adaptive equalizer based on the
proposed schemes is presented and the system is configured to
operate in VSCA error signal mode, for square QAM signals
up to 64-QAM.
Abstract: Fractional-order controller was proven to perform better than the integer-order controller. However, the absence of a pole at origin produced marginal error in fractional-order control system. This study demonstrated the enhancement of the fractionalorder PI over the integer-order PI in a steam temperature control. The fractional-order controller was cascaded with an error compensator comprised of a very small zero and a pole at origin to produce a zero steady-state error for the closed-loop system. Some modification on the error compensator was suggested for different order fractional integrator that can improve the overall phase margin.
Abstract: Advertising is one of the important marketing
strategies and the choice of media is an important aspect of
effectiveness of advertising media. The two most popular advertising
media, TV and web media are highly effective in creating successful
advertisements as they influence the purchase decision of the
viewers. Although TV and web are electronic media, they are unique
in their features and traits of advertising. Hence, the present study
attempts to analyze the influence of these two media towards buying
behavior of the viewers. The two media are analyzed separately to
determine its level of influence towards buying behavior and finally a
comparative analysis of these media is attempted to find the
difference in their level of influence.
Abstract: In order to monitor the water table depth on soil profile
salinity buildup, a field study was carried out during 2006-07. Wheat
(Rabi) and Sorghum (Kharif) fodder were sown in with three
treatments. The results showed that watertable depth lowered from
1.15m to 2.89 m depth at the end of experiment. With lower of
watertable depth, pH, ECe and SAR decreased under crops both
without and with gypsum and increased in fallowing. Soil moisture
depletion was directly proportional to lowering of watertable. With the
application of irrigation water (58cm) pH, ECe and SAR were reduced
in cropped plots, reduction was higher in gypsum applied plots than
non-gypsum plots. In case of fallowing, there was increase in pH, EC,
while slight reduction occurred in SAR values. However, soil salinity
showed an increasing upward trend under fallowing and its value in
0-30 cm soil layer was the highest amongst the treatments.
Abstract: We propose a new fiber lens structure for large distance
measurement in which a polymer layer is added to a conventional
fiber lens. The proposed fiber lens can adjust the working distance by
properly choosing the refractive index and thickness of the polymer
layer. In our numerical analysis for the fiber lens radius of 120 μm,
the working distance of the proposed fiber lens is about 10 mm
which is about 30 times larger than conventional fiber lens.
Abstract: Electrophysiological signals were recorded from primary cultures of dissociated rat cortical neurons coupled to Micro-Electrode Arrays (MEAs). The neuronal discharge patterns may change under varying physiological and pathological conditions. For this reason, we developed a new burst detection method able to identify bursts with peculiar features in different experimental conditions (i.e. spontaneous activity and under the effect of specific drugs). The main feature of our algorithm (i.e. Burst On Hurst), based on the auto-similarity or fractal property of the recorded signal, is the independence from the chosen spike detection method since it works directly on the raw data.
Abstract: One of the most importance of intelligence in-car and
roadside systems is the cooperative vehicle-infrastructure system. In
Thailand, ITS technologies are rapidly growing and real-time vehicle
information is considerably needed for ITS applications; for example,
vehicle fleet tracking and control and road traffic monitoring
systems. This paper defines the communication protocols and
software design for middleware components of B-VIS (Burapha
Vehicle-Infrastructure System). The proposed B-VIS middleware architecture serves the needs of a distributed RFID sensor network and simplifies some intricate details of several communication standards.