Abstract: The influence of copper and zinc supplements on milk
production performances and health indicators was tested in a 20-
week feeding trial, with 40 Holstein-Friesian lactating cows, devided
in four groups (copper, zinc, copper-zinc and control). Correlations of
the Cu and Zn plasma values with some animal performance criteria
of health (body condition score and somatic cell counts) and
production (milk yield, peak milk yield, fat and crude protein
content) were done. During the 140 days of the experiment, the two
added minerals caused a statistically significant increase (p < 0.05) of
their plasma values after the peak of the cows’ lactations. It was also
observed that subjects that have received copper and zinc
supplements had the lowest number of somatic cell counts in milk.
The Pearson correlation test showed a positive corellation (p = 0.007,
r = + 0.851) between the plasma Zn and the milk production. The
improvement of the nutritional status improved the milk production
performances of the cows as well as their health performances.
Abstract: This paper explains a novel approach to human interactive e-learning systems using head posture images. Students- face and hair information are used to identify a human presence and estimate the gaze direction. We then define the human-computer interaction level and test the definition using ten students and seventy different posture images. The experimental results show that head posture images provide adequate information for increasing human-computer interaction in e-learning systems.
Abstract: A reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) is an
advanced system designed at the outset for rapid changes in its hardware
and software components in order to quickly adjust its production
capacity and functionally. Among various operational decisions, this
study considers the scheduling problem that determines the input
sequence and schedule at the same time for a given set of parts. In
particular, we consider the practical constraints that the numbers of
pallets/fixtures are limited and hence a part can be released into the
system only when the fixture required for the part is available. To
solve the integrated input sequencing and scheduling problems, we
suggest a priority rule based approach in which the two sub-problems
are solved using a combination of priority rules. To show the effectiveness
of various rule combinations, a simulation experiment was
done on the data for a real RMS, and the test results are reported.
Abstract: Digital libraries become more and more necessary in
order to support users with powerful and easy-to-use tools for
searching, browsing and retrieving media information. The starting
point for these tasks is the segmentation of video content into shots.
To segment MPEG video streams into shots, a fully automatic
procedure to detect both abrupt and gradual transitions (dissolve and
fade-groups) with minimal decoding in real time is developed in this
study. Each was explored through two phases: macro-block type's
analysis in B-frames, and on-demand intensity information analysis.
The experimental results show remarkable performance in
detecting gradual transitions of some kinds of input data and
comparable results of the rest of the examined video streams. Almost
all abrupt transitions could be detected with very few false positive
alarms.
Abstract: In order to Study the efficacy application of green
manure as chickpea pre plant, field experiments were carried out in
2007 and 2008 growing seasons. In this research the effects of
different strategies for soil fertilization were investigated on grain
yield and yield component, minerals, organic compounds and
cooking time of chickpea. Experimental units were arranged in splitsplit
plots based on randomized complete blocks with three
replications. Main plots consisted of (G1): establishing a mixed
vegetation of Vicia panunica and Hordeum vulgare and (G2):
control, as green manure levels. Also, five strategies for obtaining the
base fertilizer requirement including (N1): 20 t.ha-1 farmyard manure;
(N2): 10 t.ha-1 compost; (N3): 75 kg.ha-1 triple super phosphate;
(N4): 10 t.ha-1 farmyard manure + 5 t.ha-1 compost and (N5): 10 t.ha-1
farmyard manure + 5 t.ha-1 compost + 50 kg.ha-1 triple super
phosphate were considered in sub plots. Furthermoree four levels of
biofertilizers consisted of (B1): Bacillus lentus + Pseudomonas
putida; (B2): Trichoderma harzianum; (B3): Bacillus lentus +
Pseudomonas putida + Trichoderma harzianum; and (B4): control
(without biofertilizers) were arranged in sub-sub plots. Results
showed that integrating biofertilizers (B3) and green manure (G1)
produced the highest grain yield. The highest amounts of yield were
obtained in G1×N5 interaction. Comparison of all 2-way and 3-way
interactions showed that G1N5B3 was determined as the superior
treatment. Significant increasing of N, P2O5, K2O, Fe and Mg content
in leaves and grains emphasized on superiority of mentioned
treatment because each one of these nutrients has an approved role in
chlorophyll synthesis and photosynthesis abilities of the crops. The
combined application of compost, farmyard manure and chemical
phosphorus (N5) in addition to having the highest yield, had the best
grain quality due to high protein, starch and total sugar contents, low
crude fiber and reduced cooking time.
Abstract: In this paper, an extreme learning machine with an automatic segmentation algorithm is applied to heart disorder classification by heart sound signals. From continuous heart sound signals, the starting points of the first (S1) and the second heart pulses (S2) are extracted and corrected by utilizing an inter-pulse histogram. From the corrected pulse positions, a single period of heart sound signals is extracted and converted to a feature vector including the mel-scaled filter bank energy coefficients and the envelope coefficients of uniform-sized sub-segments. An extreme learning machine is used to classify the feature vector. In our cardiac disorder classification and detection experiments with 9 cardiac disorder categories, the proposed method shows significantly better performance than multi-layer perceptron, support vector machine, and hidden Markov model; it achieves the classification accuracy of 81.6% and the detection accuracy of 96.9%.
Abstract: The mathematical equation for Separation of the
binary aqueous solution is developed by using the Spiegler- Kedem
theory. The characteristics of a B-9 hollow fibre module of Du Pont
are determined by using these equations and their results are
compared with the experimental results of Ohya et al. The agreement
between these results is found to be excellent.
Abstract: The benefits of eco-roofs is quite well known, however there remains very little research conducted for the implementation of eco-roofs in subtropical climates such as Australia. There are many challenges facing Australia as it moves into the future, climate change is proving to be one of the leading challenges. In order to move forward with the mitigation of climate change, the impacts of rapid urbanization need to be offset. Eco-roofs are one way to achieve this; this study presents the energy savings and environmental benefits of the implementation of eco-roofs in subtropical climates. An experimental set-up was installed at Rockhampton campus of Central Queensland University, where two shipping containers were converted into small offices, one with an eco-roof and one without. These were used for temperature, humidity and energy consumption data collection. In addition, a computational model was developed using Design Builder software (state-of-the-art building energy simulation software) for simulating energy consumption of shipping containers and environmental parameters, this was done to allow comparison between simulated and real world data. This study found that eco-roofs are very effective in subtropical climates and provide energy saving of about 13% which agrees well with simulated results.
Abstract: Utilizing echoic intension and distribution from different organs and local details of human body, ultrasonic image can catch important medical pathological changes, which unfortunately may be affected by ultrasonic speckle noise. A feature preserving ultrasonic image denoising and edge enhancement scheme is put forth, which includes two terms: anisotropic diffusion and edge enhancement, controlled by the optimum smoothing time. In this scheme, the anisotropic diffusion is governed by the local coordinate transformation and the first and the second order normal derivatives of the image, while the edge enhancement is done by the hyperbolic tangent function. Experiments on real ultrasonic images indicate effective preservation of edges, local details and ultrasonic echoic bright strips on denoising by our scheme.
Abstract: An accurate prediction of the minimum fluidization
velocity is a crucial hydrodynamic aspect of the design of fluidized
bed reactors. Common approaches for the prediction of the minimum
fluidization velocities of binary-solid fluidized beds are first
discussed here. The data of our own careful experimental
investigation involving a binary-solid pair fluidized with water is
presented. The effect of the relative composition of the two solid
species comprising the fluidized bed on the bed void fraction at the
incipient fluidization condition is reported and its influence on the
minimum fluidization velocity is discussed. In this connection, the
capability of packing models to predict the bed void fraction is also
examined.
Abstract: In this paper we propose a new classification method for automatic sleep scoring using an artificial neural network based decision tree. It attempts to treat sleep scoring progress as a series of two-class problems and solves them with a decision tree made up of a group of neural network classifiers, each of which uses a special feature set and is aimed at only one specific sleep stage in order to maximize the classification effect. A single electroencephalogram (EEG) signal is used for our analysis rather than depending on multiple biological signals, which makes greatly simplifies the data acquisition process. Experimental results demonstrate that the average epoch by epoch agreement between the visual and the proposed method in separating 30s wakefulness+S1, REM, S2 and SWS epochs was 88.83%. This study shows that the proposed method performed well in all the four stages, and can effectively limit error propagation at the same time. It could, therefore, be an efficient method for automatic sleep scoring. Additionally, since it requires only a small volume of data it could be suited to pervasive applications.
Abstract: Heterogeneous repolarization causes dispersion of the T-wave and has been linked to arrhythmogenesis. Such heterogeneities appear due to differential expression of ionic currents in different regions of the heart, both in healthy and diseased animals and humans. Mice are important animals for the study of heart diseases because of the ability to create transgenic animals. We used our previously reported model of mouse ventricular myocytes to develop 2D mouse ventricular tissue model consisting of 14,000 cells (apical or septal ventricular myocytes) and to study the stability of action potential propagation and Ca2+ dynamics. The 2D tissue model was implemented as a FORTRAN program code for highperformance multiprocessor computers that runs on 36 processors. Our tissue model is able to simulate heterogeneities not only in action potential repolarization, but also heterogeneities in intracellular Ca2+ transients. The multicellular model reproduced experimentally observed velocities of action potential propagation and demonstrated the importance of incorporation of realistic Ca2+ dynamics for action potential propagation. The simulations show that relatively sharp gradients of repolarization are predicted to exist in 2D mouse tissue models, and they are primarily determined by the cellular properties of ventricular myocytes. Abrupt local gradients of channel expression can cause alternans at longer pacing basic cycle lengths than gradual changes, and development of alternans depends on the site of stimulation.
Abstract: Research on the boron (B) toxicity problems had recently considerable relation, especially in the dry regions of the world. Development of resistant varieties to B toxicity is a high priority on these regions, where the soils have high levels of B. Thus, this study aimed to assessment the resistance of wheat genotypes to B toxicity using the agronomic and physiologic parameters. For this aim, a pot experiment, based on a completely randomized design with three replications, was conducted using the soil of calcareous usthochrepts. In the study, twenty different wheat genotypes of T. aestivum and T. Durum were used. Boron fertilizer at the levels of 0 (-B), 30 mg B kg-1 (+B) as H3BO3 was applied to the pots. After harvest, plant dry matter yield was recorded, and total B concentrations in tops of wheat plants were determined. The results have revealed the existence of a large genotypic variation among wheat genotypes to their physiologic and agronomic susceptibility to B toxicity.
Abstract: The objective of this study was to determine the
effects of garlic oil (Allium sativa), turmeric powder (Curcuma longa
Linn) and Monensin on Total apparent digestibility of nutrients in
Baloochi lambs. The experiment was designed as a 4 x 4 Latin square
using 4 ruminally baloochi lambs with 4 treatments in four 28-d
periods. Treatments were control (no additive), garlic oil (0. 4 g/d),
monensin (0. 2 g/d) and turmeric powder (20 g/d). Total apparent
digestibility's (% of intake) of organic matter (OM), dry matter (DM),
crud protein (CP), ether extract(EE), non fiber carbohydrate (NFC),
acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) in the
total tract were not influenced by addition of either additives.
Abstract: In recent years fuel cell vehicles are rapidly appearing
all over the globe. In less than 10 years, fuel cell vehicles have gone
from mere research novelties to operating prototypes and demonstration
models. At the same time, government and industry in development
countries have teamed up to invest billions of dollars in partnerships
intended to commercialize fuel cell vehicles within the early
years of the 21st century.
The purpose of this study is evaluation of model and performance
of fuel cell hybrid electric vehicle in different drive cycles. A fuel
cell system model developed in this work is a semi-experimental
model that allows users to use the theory and experimental relationships
in a fuel cell system. The model can be used as part of a complex
fuel cell vehicle model in advanced vehicle simulator (ADVISOR).
This work reveals that the fuel consumption and energy efficiency
vary in different drive cycles. Arising acceleration and speed in a
drive cycle leads to Fuel consumption increase. In addition, energy
losses in drive cycle relates to fuel cell system power request. Parasitic
power in different parts of fuel cell system will increase when
power request increases. Finally, most of energy losses in drive cycle
occur in fuel cell system because of producing a lot of energy by fuel
cell stack.
Abstract: This contribution was developed from a research
within the doctoral thesis. Its object was to create multimedia
materials for sport gymnastics. Consequently we surveyed the
influence of its practical application on the efficiency of schooling at
a university. We verified the prescribed hypothesis of the efficiency
of the teaching process using the method of single-factor experiment,
where the entrance independent variable was the change of system of
tuition and the outgoing dependent variable was the change of level
of acquired motor skills. The results confirmed the positive impact of
using multimedia materials on the efficiency of the teaching process.
Further, with the aid of questionnaires, we evaluated how the tested
subjects perceive the innovative methods in sport gymnastics. The
responses showed that the students rate the application of multimedia
materials very positively.
Abstract: The conventional assessment of human semen is a
highly subjective assessment, with considerable intra- and interlaboratory
variability. Computer-Assisted Sperm Analysis (CASA)
systems provide a rapid and automated assessment of the sperm
characteristics, together with improved standardization and quality
control. However, the outcome of CASA systems is sensitive to the
method of experimentation. While conventional CASA systems use
digital microscopes with phase-contrast accessories, producing
higher contrast images, we have used raw semen samples (no
staining materials) and a regular light microscope, with a digital
camera directly attached to its eyepiece, to insure cost benefits and
simple assembling of the system. However, since the accurate finding
of sperms in the semen image is the first step in the examination and
analysis of the semen, any error in this step can affect the outcome of
the analysis. This article introduces and explains an algorithm for
finding sperms in low contrast images: First, an image enhancement
algorithm is applied to remove extra particles from the image. Then,
the foreground particles (including sperms and round cells) are
segmented form the background. Finally, based on certain features
and criteria, sperms are separated from other cells.
Abstract: Grasslands of Iran are encountered with a vast
desertification and destruction. Some legumes are plants of forage
importance with high palatability. Studied legumes in this project are
Onobrychis, Medicago sativa (alfalfa) and Trifolium repens. Seeds
were cultivated in research field of Kaboutarabad (33 km East of
Isfahan, Iran) with an average 80 mm. annual rainfall. Plants were
cultivated in a split plot design with 3 replicate and two water
treatments (weekly irrigation, and under stress with same amount per
15 days interval). Water entrance to each plots were measured by
Partial flow. This project lasted 20 weeks. Destructive samplings
(1m2 each time) were done weekly. At each sampling plants were
gathered and weighed separately for each vegetative parts. An Area
Meter (Vista) was used to measure root surface and leaf area. Total
shoot and root fresh and dry weight, leaf area index and soil coverage
were evaluated too. Dry weight was achieved in 750c oven after 24
hours. Statgraphic and Harvard Graphic software were used to
formulate and demonstrate the parameters curves due to time. Our
results show that Trifolium repens has affected 60 % and Medicago
sativa 18% by water stress. Onobrychis total fresh weight was
reduced 45%. Dry weight or Biomass in alfalfa is not so affected by
water shortage. This means that in alfalfa fields we can decrease the
irrigation amount and have some how same amount of Biomass.
Onobrychis show a drastic decrease in Biomass. The increases in
total dry matter due to time in studied plants are formulated. For
Trifolium repens if removal or cattle entrance to meadows do not
occurred at perfect time, it will decrease the palatability and water
content of the shoots. Water stress in a short period could develop the
root system in Trifolium repens, but if it last more than this other
ecological and soil factors will affect the growth of this plant. Low
level of soil water is not so important for studied legume forges. But
water shortage affect palatability and water content of aerial parts.
Leaf area due to time in studied legumes is formulated. In fact leaf
area is decreased by shortage in available water. Higher leaf area
means higher forage and biomass production. Medicago and
Onobrychis reach to the maximum leaf area sooner than Trifolium
and are able to produce an optimum soil cover and inhibit the
transpiration of soil water of meadows. Correlation of root surface to
Total biomass in studied plants is formulated. Medicago under water
stress show a 40% decrease in crown cover while at optimum
condition this amount reach to 100%. In order to produce forage in
areas without soil erosion Medicago is the best choice even with a
shortage in water resources. It is tried to represent the growth
simulation of three famous Forage Legumes. By growth simulation
farmers and range managers could better decide to choose best plant
adapted to water availability without designing different time and
labor consuming field experiments.
Abstract: The paper deals with the development of portable aerosol concentrator and its application for the determination of nitrites and nitrates. The device enables the continuous trapping of pollutants in the air. An extensive literature search has been elaborated which aims at the development of samplers and the possibilities of their application in the continuous determination of volatile organic compounds. The practical part of the paper is focused on the development of the portable aerosol concentrator. The device using the Aerosol Enrichment Unit has been experimentally verified and subsequently realized. It operates on the principle of equilibrium accumulation of pollutants from the gaseous phase using absorption liquid polydisperse aerosol. The device has been applied for monitoring nitrites and nitrates in the air. The chemiluminescence detector was used for detection; the achieved detection limit for nitrites was 28 ng/m3 and for nitrates 78 ng/m3.
Abstract: In this paper we introduce an effective ECG compression algorithm based on two dimensional multiwavelet transform. Multiwavelets offer simultaneous orthogonality, symmetry and short support, which is not possible with scalar two-channel wavelet systems. These features are known to be important in signal processing. Thus multiwavelet offers the possibility of superior performance for image processing applications. The SPIHT algorithm has achieved notable success in still image coding. We suggested applying SPIHT algorithm to 2-D multiwavelet transform of2-D arranged ECG signals. Experiments on selected records of ECG from MIT-BIH arrhythmia database revealed that the proposed algorithm is significantly more efficient in comparison with previously proposed ECG compression schemes.