Mechanical Characteristics of Spaghetti Enriched with Whole Soy Flour

The influence of full-fat soy flour (FFSF) and extrusion conditions on the mechanical characteristics of dry spaghetti were evaluated. Process was performed with screw speed of 10-40rpm and water circulating temperature of 35-70°C. Data analysis using mixture design showed that this enrichment resulted in significant differences in mechanical strength.

Geometry Design Supported by Minimizing and Visualizing Collision in Dynamic Packing

This paper presents a method to support dynamic packing in cases when no collision-free path can be found. The method, which is primarily based on path planning and shrinking of geometries, suggests a minimal geometry design change that results in a collision-free assembly path. A supplementing approach to optimize geometry design change with respect to redesign cost is described. Supporting this dynamic packing method, a new method to shrink geometry based on vertex translation, interweaved with retriangulation, is suggested. The shrinking method requires neither tetrahedralization nor calculation of medial axis and it preserves the topology of the geometry, i.e. holes are neither lost nor introduced. The proposed methods are successfully applied on industrial geometries.

Derivative Spectrophotometry Applied to the Determination of Triprolidine Hydrochloride and Pseudoephedrine Hydrochloride in Tablets and Dissolution Testing

A spectrophotometric method was developed for simultaneous quantification of pseudoephedrine hydrochloride (PSE) triprolidine hydrochloride (TRI) using second derivative method (zero-crossing technique). The second derivative amplitudes of PSE and TRI were measured at 271 and 321 nm, respectively. The calibration curves were linear in the range of 200 to 1,000 g/ml for PSE and 10 to 50 g/ml for TRI. The method was validated for specificity, accuracy, precision, limit of detection and limit of quantitation. The proposed method was applied to the assaying and dissolution of PSE and TRI in commercial tablets without any chemical separation. The results were compared with those obtained by the official USP31 method and statistical tests showed that there is no significant between the methods at 95% confidence level. The proposed method is simple, rapid and suitable for the routine quality control application. KeywordsTriprolidine, Pseudoephedrine, Derivative spectrophotometry, Dissolution testing.

Modeling and Optimization of Aggregate Production Planning - A Genetic Algorithm Approach

The Aggregate Production Plan (APP) is a schedule of the organization-s overall operations over a planning horizon to satisfy demand while minimizing costs. It is the baseline for any further planning and formulating the master production scheduling, resources, capacity and raw material planning. This paper presents a methodology to model the Aggregate Production Planning problem, which is combinatorial in nature, when optimized with Genetic Algorithms. This is done considering a multitude of constraints of contradictory nature and the optimization criterion – overall cost, made up of costs with production, work force, inventory, and subcontracting. A case study of substantial size, used to develop the model, is presented, along with the genetic operators.

String Matching using Inverted Lists

This paper proposes a new solution to string matching problem. This solution constructs an inverted list representing a  string pattern to be searched for. It then uses a new algorithm to process an input string in a single pass. The preprocessing phase  takes 1) time complexity O(m) 2) space complexity O(1) where m is  the length of pattern. The searching phase time complexity takes 1)  O(m+α ) in average case 2) O(n/m) in the best case and 3) O(n) in  the worst case, where α is the number of comparing leading to  mismatch and n is the length of input text.

Intellectual Capital and Competitive Advantage: An Analysis of the Biotechnology Industry

Intellectual capital measurement is a central aspect of knowledge management. The measurement and the evaluation of intangible assets play a key role in allowing an effective management of these assets as sources of competitiveness. For these reasons, managers and practitioners need conceptual and analytical tools taking into account the unique characteristics and economic significance of Intellectual Capital. Following this lead, we propose an efficiency and productivity analysis of Intellectual Capital, as a determinant factor of the company competitive advantage. The analysis is carried out by means of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI). These techniques identify Bests Practice companies that have accomplished competitive advantage implementing successful strategies of Intellectual Capital management, and offer to inefficient companies development paths by means of benchmarking. The proposed methodology is employed on the Biotechnology industry in the period 2007-2010.

Biometric Authentication Using Fast Correlation of Near Infrared Hand Vein Patterns

This paper presents a hand vein authentication system using fast spatial correlation of hand vein patterns. In order to evaluate the system performance, a prototype was designed and a dataset of 50 persons of different ages above 16 and of different gender, each has 10 images per person was acquired at different intervals, 5 images for left hand and 5 images for right hand. In verification testing analysis, we used 3 images to represent the templates and 2 images for testing. Each of the 2 images is matched with the existing 3 templates. FAR of 0.02% and FRR of 3.00 % were reported at threshold 80. The system efficiency at this threshold was found to be 99.95%. The system can operate at a 97% genuine acceptance rate and 99.98 % genuine reject rate, at corresponding threshold of 80. The EER was reported as 0.25 % at threshold 77. We verified that no similarity exists between right and left hand vein patterns for the same person over the acquired dataset sample. Finally, this distinct 100 hand vein patterns dataset sample can be accessed by researchers and students upon request for testing other methods of hand veins matching.

Regular Data Broadcasting Plan with Grouping in Wireless Mobile Environment

The broadcast problem including the plan design is considered. The data are inserted and numbered at predefined order into customized size relations. The server ability to create a full, regular Broadcast Plan (RBP) with single and multiple channels after some data transformations is examined. The Regular Geometric Algorithm (RGA) prepares a RBP and enables the users to catch their items avoiding energy waste of their devices. Moreover, the Grouping Dimensioning Algorithm (GDA) based on integrated relations can guarantee the discrimination of services with a minimum number of channels. This last property among the selfmonitoring, self-organizing, can be offered by servers today providing also channel availability and less energy consumption by using smaller number of channels. Simulation results are provided.

Collaboration of Multi-Agent and Hyper-Heuristics Systems for Production Scheduling Problem

This paper introduces a framework based on the collaboration of multi agent and hyper-heuristics to find a solution of the real single machine production problem. There are many techniques used to solve this problem. Each of it has its own advantages and disadvantages. By the collaboration of multi agent system and hyper-heuristics, we can get more optimal solution. The hyper-heuristics approach operates on a search space of heuristics rather than directly on a search space of solutions. The proposed framework consists of some agents, i.e. problem agent, trainer agent, algorithm agent (GPHH, GAHH, and SAHH), optimizer agent, and solver agent. Some low level heuristics used in this paper are MRT, SPT, LPT, EDD, LDD, and MON

Integrating Hedgerow into Town Planning: A Framework for Sustainable Residential Development

The vast rural landscape in the southern United States is conspicuously characterized by the hedgerow trees or groves. The patchwork landscape of fields surrounded by high hedgerows is a traditional and familiar feature of the American countryside. Hedgerows are in effect linear strips of trees, groves, or woodlands, which are often critical habitats for wildlife and important for the visual quality of the landscape. As landscape interfaces, hedgerows define the spaces in the landscape, give the landscape life and meaning, and enrich ecologies and cultural heritages of the American countryside. Although hedgerows were originally intended as fences and to mark property and townland boundaries, they are not merely the natural or man-made additions to the landscape--they have gradually become “naturalized" into the landscape, deeply rooted in the rural culture, and now formed an important component of the southern American rural environment. However, due to the ever expanding real estate industry and high demand for new residential development, substantial areas of authentic hedgerow landscape in the southern United States are being urbanized. Using Hudson Farm as an example, this study illustrated guidelines of how hedgerows can be integrated into town planning as green infrastructure and landscape interface to innovate and direct sustainable land use, and suggest ways in which such vernacular landscapes can be preserved and integrated into new development without losing their contextual inspiration.

Determination of Chemical Oxygen Demand in Spent Caustic by Potentiometric Determination

Measurement of the COD of a spent caustic solution involves firstly digestion of a test sample with dichromate solution and secondly measurement of dichromate remained by titration by ferrous ammonium sulfate [FAS] to an end point. In this paper we study by a potentiometric end point with Ag/AgCl reference electrode and gold rode electrode. The potentiometric end point is sharp and easily identified especially for the samples with high turbidity and color that other methods such as colorimetric in this type of sample do not result in high precision. Because interim of titration responds quickly to potential changes within the [Cr+6/Cr+3& Fe+2/Fe+3] solution producing stable readings that is lead to accurate COD measurement. Finally results are compared with data determined using colorimetric method for standard samples. It is shown that the potentiometric end point titration with gold rode electrode can be used with equal or better facility

Geochemistry of Cenozoic Basaltic Rocksaround Liuhe National Geopark, Jiangsu Province, Eastern China: Petrogenesis and Mantle Source

Cenozoic basalts found in Jiangsu province of eastern China include tholeiites and alkali basalts. The present paper analyzed the major, trace elements, rare earth elements of these Cenozoic basalts and combined with Sr-Nd isotopic compositions proposed by Chen et al. (1990)[1] in the literatures to discuss the petrogenesis of these basalts and the geochemical characteristics of the source mantle. Based on major, trace elements and fractional crystallization model established by Brooks and Nielsen (1982)[2] we suggest that the basaltic magma has experienced olivine + clinopyroxene fractionation during its evolution. The chemical compositions of basaltic rocks from Jiangsu province indicate that these basalts may belong to the same magmatic system. Spidergrams reveal that Cenozoic basalts from Jiangsu province have geochemical characteristics similar to those of ocean island basalts(OIB). The slight positive Nb and Ti anomalies found in basaltic rocks of this study suggest the presence of Ti-bearing minerals in the mantle source and these Ti-bearing minerals had contributed to basaltic magma during partial melting, indicating a metasomatic event might have occurred before the partial melting. Based on the Sr vs. Nd isotopic ratio plots, we suggest that Jiangsu basalts may be derived from partial melting of mantle source which may represent two-end members mixing of DMM and EM-I. Some Jiangsu basaltic magma may be derived from partial melting of EM-I heated by the upwelling asthenospheric mantle or asthenospheric diapirism.

The Suitability of Potato Cultivars in Production of Chips and Sticks by Using Microwave-Vacuum Drier

The aim of present experiment was to evaluate the influence of cultivar to quality parameters of dried potato chips and sticks produced in microwave-vacuum drier. The potatoes before drying were blanched in oil and water at 180ºC and at 85ºC respectively. The moisture content, crispiness, the colour (CIE L*a*b*), the content of ascorbic acid, total carotenoids and total fat content of dried potato chips and sticks was determined The highest ascorbic acid content, high content of carotenoids, low total fat content, low acrylamide content and good crispiness (low breaking force) especially for sticks was determined in the samples of Gundega cultivar.

Enhanced Efficacy of Kinetic Power Transform for High-Speed Wind Field

The three-time-scale plant model of a wind power generator, including a wind turbine, a flexible vertical shaft, a Variable Inertia Flywheel (VIF) module, an Active Magnetic Bearing (AMB) unit and the applied wind sequence, is constructed. In order to make the wind power generator be still able to operate as the spindle speed exceeds its rated speed, the VIF is equipped so that the spindle speed can be appropriately slowed down once any stronger wind field is exerted. To prevent any potential damage due to collision by shaft against conventional bearings, the AMB unit is proposed to regulate the shaft position deviation. By singular perturbation order-reduction technique, a lower-order plant model can be established for the synthesis of feedback controller. Two major system parameter uncertainties, an additive uncertainty and a multiplicative uncertainty, are constituted by the wind turbine and the VIF respectively. Frequency Shaping Sliding Mode Control (FSSMC) loop is proposed to account for these uncertainties and suppress the unmodeled higher-order plant dynamics. At last, the efficacy of the FSSMC is verified by intensive computer and experimental simulations for regulation on position deviation of the shaft and counter-balance of unpredictable wind disturbance.

Neural Network Based Approach for Face Detection cum Face Recognition

Automatic face detection is a complex problem in image processing. Many methods exist to solve this problem such as template matching, Fisher Linear Discriminate, Neural Networks, SVM, and MRC. Success has been achieved with each method to varying degrees and complexities. In proposed algorithm we used upright, frontal faces for single gray scale images with decent resolution and under good lighting condition. In the field of face recognition technique the single face is matched with single face from the training dataset. The author proposed a neural network based face detection algorithm from the photographs as well as if any test data appears it check from the online scanned training dataset. Experimental result shows that the algorithm detected up to 95% accuracy for any image.

An Effective Hybrid Genetic Algorithm for Job Shop Scheduling Problem

The job shop scheduling problem (JSSP) is well known as one of the most difficult combinatorial optimization problems. This paper presents a hybrid genetic algorithm for the JSSP with the objective of minimizing makespan. The efficiency of the genetic algorithm is enhanced by integrating it with a local search method. The chromosome representation of the problem is based on operations. Schedules are constructed using a procedure that generates full active schedules. In each generation, a local search heuristic based on Nowicki and Smutnicki-s neighborhood is applied to improve the solutions. The approach is tested on a set of standard instances taken from the literature and compared with other approaches. The computation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

The Impact of an Air-Supply Guide Vane on the Indoor Air Distribution

Indoor air distribution has great impact on people-s thermal sensation. Therefore, how to remove the indoor excess heat becomes an important issue to create a thermally comfortable indoor environment. To expel the extra indoor heat effectively, this paper used a dynamic CFD approach to study the effect of an air-supply guide vane swinging periodically on the indoor air distribution within a model room. The numerical results revealed that the indoor heat transfer performance caused by the swing guide vane had close relation with the number of vortices developing under the inlet cold jet. At larger swing amplitude, two smaller vortices continued to shed outward under the cold jet and remove the indoor heat load more effectively. As a result, it can be found that the average Nusselt number on the floor increased with the increase of the swing amplitude of the guide vane.

Effects of Injection Velocity and Entrance Airflow Velocity on Droplets Sizing in a Duct

This paper addresses one important aspect of combustion system analysis, the spray evaporation and dispersion modeling. In this study we assume an empty cylinder which is as a simulator for a ramjet engine and the cylinder has been studied by cold flow. Four nozzles have the duties of injection which are located in the entrance of cylinder. The air flow comes into the cylinder from one side and injection operation will be done. By changing injection velocity and entrance air flow velocity, we have studied droplet sizing and efficient mass fraction of fuel vapor near and at the exit area. We named the mass of fuel vapor inside the flammability limit as the efficient mass fraction. Further, we decreased the initial temperature of fuel droplets and we have repeated the investigating again. To fulfill the calculation we used a modified version of KIVA-3V.

An Efficient Mobile Payment System Based On NFC Technology

The work we have accomplished in implementing a Mobile Payment mechanism that enables customers to pay bills for groceries and other purchased items in a store through the means of a mobile phone, specifically a Smartphone. The mode of transaction, as far as communication between the customer-s handset and the merchant-s POS is concerned, we have decided upon NFC (Near Field Communication). This is due to the fact that for the most part, Pakistani Smartphone users have handsets that have Android mobile OS, which supports the aforementioned platform, IOS, on the other hand does not.

Investigating the Precipitation and Temperature Change Procedure in Zayanderood Watershed

Global warming and continental changes have been one of the people's issues in the recent years and its consequences have appeared in the most parts of the earth planet or will appear in the future. Temperature and Precipitation are two main parameters in climatology. Any changes in these two parameters in this region cause widespread changes in the ecosystem and its natural and humanistic structure. One of the important consequences of this procedure is change in surface and underground water resources. Zayanderood watershed basin which is the main central river in Iran has faced water shortage in the recent years and also it has resulted in drought in Gavkhuni swamp and the river itself. Managers and experts in provinces which are the Zayanderood water consumers believe that global warming; raining decrease and continental changes are the main reason of water decrease. By statistical investigation of annual Precipitation and 46 years temperature of internal and external areas of Zayanderood watershed basin's stations and by using Kendal-man method, Precipitation and temperature procedure changes have been analyzed in this basin. According to obtained results, there was not any noticeable decrease or increase procedure in Precipitation and annual temperature in the basin during this period. However, regarding to Precipitation, a noticeable decrease and increase have been observed in small part of western and some parts of eastern and southern basin, respectively. Furthermore, the investigation of annual temperature procedure has shown that a noticeable increase has been observed in some parts of western and eastern basin, and also a noticeable increasing procedure of temperature in the central parts of metropolitan Esfahan can be observed.