Abstract: Purpose: To explore the use of Curvelet transform to
extract texture features of pulmonary nodules in CT image and support
vector machine to establish prediction model of small solitary
pulmonary nodules in order to promote the ratio of detection and
diagnosis of early-stage lung cancer. Methods: 2461 benign or
malignant small solitary pulmonary nodules in CT image from 129
patients were collected. Fourteen Curvelet transform textural features
were as parameters to establish support vector machine prediction
model. Results: Compared with other methods, using 252 texture
features as parameters to establish prediction model is more proper.
And the classification consistency, sensitivity and specificity for the
model are 81.5%, 93.8% and 38.0% respectively. Conclusion: Based
on texture features extracted from Curvelet transform, support vector
machine prediction model is sensitive to lung cancer, which can
promote the rate of diagnosis for early-stage lung cancer to some
extent.
Abstract: The efficient knowledge management system (KMS)
is one of the important strategies to help firms to achieve sustainable
competitive advantages, but little research has been conducted to
understand what contributes to the KMS success. This study thus set
to investigate the determinants of KMS success in the context of Thai
banking industry. A questionnaire survey was conducted in four
major Thai Banks to test the proposed KMS Success model.
The result of this study shows that KMS use and user satisfaction
relate significantly to the success of KMS, and knowledge quality,
service quality and trust lead to system use, and knowledge quality,
system quality and trust lead to user satisfaction. However, this
research focuses only on system and user-related factors. Future
research thus can extend to study factors such as management support
and organization readiness.
Abstract: The growing outsourcing of logistics services
resulting from the ongoing current in firms of costs
reduction/increased efficiency means that it is becoming more and
more important for the companies doing the outsourcing to carry out
a proper evaluation.
The multiple definitions and measures of logistics service
performance found in research on the topic create a certain degree of
confusion and do not clear the way towards the proper measurement
of their performance. Do a model and a specific set of indicators exist
that can be considered appropriate for measuring the performance of
logistics services outsourcing in industrial environments? Are said
indicators in keeping with the objectives pursued by outsourcing? We
aim to answer these and other research questions in the study we have
initiated in the field within the framework of the international High
Performance Manufacturing (HPM) project of which this paper
forms part.
As the first stage of this research, this paper reviews articles
dealing with the topic published in the last 15 years with the aim of
detecting the models most used to make this measurement and
determining which performance indicators are proposed as part of
said models and which are most used. The first steps are also taken in
determining whether these indicators, financial and operational, cover
the aims that are being pursued when outsourcing logistics services.
The findings show there is a wide variety of both models and
indicators used. This would seem to testify to the need to continue
with our research in order to try to propose a model and a set of
indicators for measuring the performance of logistics services
outsourcing in industrial environments.
Abstract: This paper presents a simple approach for load
flow analysis of a radial distribution network. The proposed
approach utilizes forward and backward sweep algorithm
based on Kirchoff-s current law (KCL) and Kirchoff-s voltage
law (KVL) for evaluating the node voltages iteratively. In this
approach, computation of branch current depends only on the
current injected at the neighbouring node and the current in
the adjacent branch. This approach starts from the end nodes
of sub lateral line, lateral line and main line and moves
towards the root node during branch current computation. The
node voltage evaluation begins from the root node and moves
towards the nodes located at the far end of the main, lateral
and sub lateral lines. The proposed approach has been tested
using four radial distribution systems of different size and
configuration and found to be computationally efficient.
Abstract: Field experiments were conducted at Annamalai University Experimental Farm, Department of Agronomy; to device suitable weed control measures for direct seeded puddled rice and to study the effect of the weed control measures on the soil microbial population. The treatments comprised of incorporation of pressmud @ 6.25 t ha-1 and application of herbicide butachlor @1.5 kg a. i. ha- 1 with and without safener 4 days after sowing (DAS), 8 DAS alone and also in conjunction with hand weeding at 30 DAS. Hand weeding twice and a weedy check were also maintained. At maximum tillering stage, the population of bacteria was significantly reduced by butachlor application. The injury to microbes caused by herbicide disappeared with the advancement of crop's age and at flowering stage of crop, there was no significant difference among the treatments. The fungal and actinomycetes population remained unaltered by weed control treatments at both the stages of observation.
Abstract: Application of neural networks in execution of
programmed pulse width modulation (PPWM) of a voltage source
inverter (VSI) is studied in this paper. Using the proposed method it is
possible to cancel out the desired harmonics in output of VSI in
addition to control the magnitude of fundamental harmonic,
contineously. By checking the non-trained values and a performance
index, the most appropriate neural network is proposed. It is shown
that neural networks may solve the custom difficulties of practical
utilization of PPWM such as large size of memory, complex digital
circuits and controlling the magnitude of output voltage in a discrete
manner.
Abstract: The number of users supported in a DS-CDMA
cellular system is typically less than spreading factor (N), and the
system is said to be underloaded. Overloading is a technique to
accommodate more number of users than the spreading factor N. In
O/O overloading scheme, the first set is assigned to the N
synchronous users and the second set is assigned to the additional
synchronous users. An iterative multistage soft decision interference
cancellation (SDIC) receiver is used to remove high level of
interference between the two sets. Performance is evaluated in terms
of the maximum number acceptable users so that the system
performance is degraded slightly compared to the single user
performance at a specified BER. In this paper, the capacity of CDMA
based O/O overloading scheme is evaluated with SDIC receiver. It is
observed that O/O scheme using orthogonal Gold codes provides
25% channel overloading (N=64) for synchronous DS-CDMA
system on an AWGN channel in the uplink at a BER of 1e-5.For a
Rayleigh faded channel, the critical capacity is 40% at a BER of 5e-5
assuming synchronous users. But in practical systems, perfect chip
timing is very difficult to maintain in the uplink.. We have shown that
the overloading performance reduces to 11% for a timing
synchronization error of 0.02Tc for a BER of 1e-5.
Abstract: An effective approach for unbalanced three-phase
distribution power flow solutions is proposed in this paper. The
special topological characteristics of distribution networks have been
fully utilized to make the direct solution possible. Two matrices–the
bus-injection to branch-current matrix and the branch-current to busvoltage
matrix– and a simple matrix multiplication are used to
obtain power flow solutions. Due to the distinctive solution
techniques of the proposed method, the time-consuming LU
decomposition and forward/backward substitution of the Jacobian
matrix or admittance matrix required in the traditional power flow
methods are no longer necessary. Therefore, the proposed method is
robust and time-efficient. Test results demonstrate the validity of the
proposed method. The proposed method shows great potential to be
used in distribution automation applications.
Abstract: Ratio and regression type estimators have been used by previous authors to estimate a population mean for the principal variable from samples in which both auxiliary x and principal y variable data are available. However, missing data are a common problem in statistical analyses with real data. Ratio and regression type estimators have also been used for imputing values of missing y data. In this paper, six new ratio and regression type estimators are proposed for imputing values for any missing y data and estimating a population mean for y from samples with missing x and/or y data. A simulation study has been conducted to compare the six ratio and regression type estimators with a previous estimator of Rueda. Two population sizes N = 1,000 and 5,000 have been considered with sample sizes of 10% and 30% and with correlation coefficients between population variables X and Y of 0.5 and 0.8. In the simulations, 10 and 40 percent of sample y values and 10 and 40 percent of sample x values were randomly designated as missing. The new ratio and regression type estimators give similar mean absolute percentage errors that are smaller than the Rueda estimator for all cases. The new estimators give a large reduction in errors for the case of 40% missing y values and sampling fraction of 30%.
Abstract: A feature weighting and selection method is proposed
which uses the structure of a weightless neuron and exploits the
principles that govern the operation of Genetic Algorithms and
Evolution. Features are coded onto chromosomes in a novel way
which allows weighting information regarding the features to be
directly inferred from the gene values. The proposed method is
significant in that it addresses several problems concerned with
algorithms for feature selection and weighting as well as providing
significant advantages such as speed, simplicity and suitability for
real-time systems.
Abstract: This research aims to study value-creation process of
producing monk-s bowls, Thai traditional handicrafts, which is facing problems in adapting to the changing society. It also aims to identify
problems and obstacles to value creation. This research is based on a case study of monk-s bowl manufactures from Ban-Baat Village,
Bangkok. The conceptual framework is based on the model of value
chain to analyze the process.
The research methodology is qualitative. This research found that the value-creation process of monk-s bowls consists of eight
activities contributing to adding value to the products and increasing
profits to the producers in return. Five major problems and obstacles
are found.
The research suggests that these problems and obstacles limit the manufacturers- potential for creating more valued product and lead to business stagnation. These problems should be addressed and solved with collaboration among the government, the private sector and the
manufacturers.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the influence
of reaction temperature and wheat straw moisture content on the
pyrolysis product yields, in the temperature range of 475-575 °C.
Samples of straw with moisture contents from 1.5 wt % to 15.0 wt %
were fed to a bench scale Pyrolysis Centrifuge Reactor (PCR). The
experimental results show that the changes in straw moisture content
have no significant effect on the distribution of pyrolysis product
yields. The maximum bio-oil yields approximately 60 (wt %, on dry
ash free feedstock basis) was observed around 525 °C - 550 °C for all
straw moisture levels. The water content in the wet straw bio-oil was
the highest. The heating value of bio-oil and solid char were
measured and the percentages of its energy distribution were
calculated. The energy distributions of bio-oil, char and gas were 56-
69 % 24-33 %, and 2-19 %, respectively.
Abstract: Mitochondria are dynamic organelles, capable to
interact with each other. While the number of mitochondria in a cell
varies, their quality and functionality depends on the operation of
fusion, fission, motility and mitophagy. Nowadays, several
researches declare as an important factor in neurogenerative diseases
the disruptions in the regulation of mitochondrial dynamics. In this
paper a stochastic model in BioAmbients calculus is presented,
concerning mitochondrial fusion and its distribution in the renewal of
mitochondrial population in a cell. This model describes the
successive and dependent stages of protein synthesis, protein-s
activation and merging of two independent mitochondria.
Abstract: An automated wood recognition system is designed to
classify tropical wood species.The wood features are extracted based
on two feature extractors: Basic Grey Level Aura Matrix (BGLAM)
technique and statistical properties of pores distribution (SPPD)
technique. Due to the nonlinearity of the tropical wood species
separation boundaries, a pre classification stage is proposed which
consists ofKmeans clusteringand kernel discriminant analysis (KDA).
Finally, Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) classifier and KNearest
Neighbour (KNN) are implemented for comparison purposes.
The study involves comparison of the system with and without pre
classification using KNN classifier and LDA classifier.The results
show that the inclusion of the pre classification stage has improved
the accuracy of both the LDA and KNN classifiers by more than
12%.
Abstract: The main objective of this study was to determine the effects
of vermicompost and amino acids on the qualitative and quantitative yield of
chamomile. The experiment was conducted during the growing season of
2010 at the Alborz Medical Research Center. The Treatment groups consisted
of vermicompost (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 tons/ha) and the sprays of amino acids
(budding stag, flowering stage, and budding + flowering stage). The
experimental design was a factorial experiment based on Randomized
Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The present results
have shown that the highest plant height, flower head diameter, fresh and dry
flower yield and significant essential oil content were obtained by using 20-
ton vermicompost per hectare. Effects of amino acids were similar to those
seen in vermicompost treatment and all measured traits were seen to be
significant after the spray of amino acids at the budding + flowering stage).
Abstract: EPC Class-1 Generation-2 UHF tags, one of Radio
frequency identification or RFID tag types, is expected that most
companies are planning to use it in the supply chain in the short term
and in consumer packaging in the long term due to its inexpensive
cost. Because of the very cost, however, its resources are extremely
scarce and it is hard to have any valuable security algorithms in it. It
causes security vulnerabilities, in particular cloning the tags for
counterfeits. In this paper, we propose a product authentication
solution for anti-counterfeiting at application level in the supply chain
and mobile RFID environment. It aims to become aware of
distribution of spurious products with fake RFID tags and to provide a
product authentication service to general consumers with mobile
RFID devices like mobile phone or PDA which has a mobile RFID
reader. We will discuss anti-counterfeiting mechanisms which are
required to our proposed solution and address requirements that the
mechanisms should have.
Abstract: Contractor selection in Saudi Arabia is very important due to the large construction boom and the contractor role to get over construction risks. The need for investigating contractor selection is due to the following reasons; large number of defaulted or failed projects (18%), large number of disputes attributed to contractor during the project execution stage (almost twofold), the extension of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) into construction industry, and finally the few number of researches. The selection strategy is not perfect and considered as the reason behind irresponsible contractors. As a response, this research was conducted to review the contractor selection strategies as an integral part of a long advanced research to develop a good selection model. Many techniques can be used to form a selection strategy; multi criteria for optimizing decision, prequalification to discover contractor-s responsibility, bidding process for competition, third party guarantee to enhance the selection, and fuzzy techniques for ambiguities and incomplete information.
Abstract: When a high DC voltage is applied to a capacitor with
strongly asymmetrical electrodes, it generates a mechanical force that
affects the whole capacitor. This phenomenon is most likely to be
caused by the motion of ions generated around the smaller of the two
electrodes and their subsequent interaction with the surrounding
medium. A method to measure this force has been devised and used.
A formula describing the force has also been derived. After
comparing the data gained through experiments with those acquired
using the theoretical formula, a difference was found above a certain
value of current. This paper also gives reasons for this difference.
Abstract: Korea Train eXpress (KTX) is now being operated,
which allows Korea being one of the countries that operates the
high-speed rail system. The high-speed rail has its advantage of short
time transportation of population and materials, which lead to many
researches performed in this matter. In the case of high speed classical
trackbed system, the maintenance and usability of gravel ballast
system is costly. Recently, the concrete trackbed structure has been
introduced as a replacement of classical trackbed system. In this case,
the sleeper plays a critical role. Current study investigated to develop
the track sleepers readily applicable to the top of the asphalt trackbed,
as part of the trcakbed study utilizing the asphalt material. Among
many possible shapes and design of sleepers, current study proposed
two types of wide-sleepers according to the shear-key installation
method. The structural behavior analysis and safety evaluation on each
case was conducted using Korean design standard.
Abstract: In recent years in Kazakhstan, as well as in all countries, we have been talking not only about the professional stress, but also professional Burnout Syndrome of employees. Burnout is essentially a response to chronic emotional stress – manifests itself in the form of chronic fatigue, despondency, unmotivated aggression, anger, and others. This condition is due to mental fatigue among teachers as a sort of payment for overstrain when professional commitments include the impact of “heat your soul", emotional investment. The emergence of professional Burnout among teachers is due to the system of interrelated and mutually reinforcing factors relating to the various levels of the personality: individually-psychological level is psychodynamic special subject characteristics of valuemotivational sphere and formation of skills and habits of selfregulation; the socio-psychological level includes especially the Organization and interpersonal interaction of a teacher. Signs of the Burnout were observed in 15 testees, and virtually a symptom could be observed in every teacher. As a result of the diagnosis 48% of teachers had the signs of stress (phase syndrome), resulting in a sense of anxiety, mood, heightened emotional susceptibility. The following results have also been got:-the fall of General energy potential – 14 pers. -Psychosomatic and psycho vegetative syndrome – 26 pers. -emotional deficit-34 pers. -emotional Burnout Syndrome-6 pers. The problem of professional Burnout of teachers in the current conditions should become not only meaningful, but particularly relevant. The quality of education of the younger generation depends on professional development; teachers- training level, and how “healthy" teachers are. That is why the systematic maintenance of pedagogic-professional development for teachers (including disclosure of professional Burnout Syndrome factors) takes on a special meaning.