Abstract: The future of Higher Education Institutions (HEI) depend on their ability to attract and retain students, increase recognition and prestige. In order to respond to the 'customers' increasingly demanding, HEI need to identify the key factors that influence the satisfaction of a 'customers', thereby creating competitive advantages. These determinants of satisfaction are important elements that guide the strategy of an institution and allow the successful achievement of strategic plans, both teaching and administrative, to offer their ‘costumers’ services and products with higher quality. Following this way of thinking, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the satisfaction with the service quality of the School of Technology and Management of Bragança (ESTiG), of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, identifying, thus, the dimensions related to the quality of services that might influence students' satisfaction. The results showed that, in general, the students are satisfied with the performance of ESTiG.
Abstract: Climate change causes severe effects on natural
habitats, especially wetlands. These challenges require the adaptation
of their management to probable effects of climate change. A
compilation of necessary changes in land management was collected
in a Hungarian area being both national park and Natura 2000 SAC
and SCI site in favor of increasing the resilience and reducing
vulnerability. Several factors, such as ecological aspects, nature
conservation and climatic adaptation should be combined with social
and economic factors during the process of developing climate
change adapted management on vulnerable wetlands. Planning
adaptive management should be determined by a priority order of
conservation aims and evaluation of factors at the determined
planning unit. Mowing techniques, frequency and exact date should
be observed as well as grazing species and their breed, due to
different grazing, group forming and trampling habits. Integrating
landscape history and historical land development into the planning
process is essential.
Abstract: This study had two goals. First, it investigated marital
interaction variables as predictors of treatment outcome in panic
disorder with agoraphobia (PDA) in sixty-five couples with one
spouse suffering from PDA. Second, it analyzed the impact of PDA
improvement, following therapy, on marital interaction patterns of
both spouses. The partners were observed during a problem-solving
task, before and after treatment. Negative behaviors at the outset of
therapy, both in the PDA and the NPDA partners, predicted less
improvement at post-test. It also appears that improvement in some
PDA symptoms following therapy is linked to increase in the
dominant behavior of the NPDA spouse and to an improvement in
terms of his intrusiveness.
Abstract: Hollywood has produced various blockbusters on the
subject of disasters. Entering the 2000s, disaster films began to be
produced in the East Asian region as well, and as most of them were
successful, disaster films have settled as a popular genre in the region.
East Asian disaster films utilize a plot structure similar to Hollywood
films but, at the same time, represent East Asian people-s unique value
system. East Asian people-s social behavior pattern defined as
collectivism is a characteristic that distinguishes this region from other
cultural regions. In order to examine Confucian culture in disaster
films on the premise of the difference, the author conducts this
research as follows.This study first reviews the concepts disaster and
disaster film, and understands the genre through analyzing the
narrative structure and style. In addition, it discusses collectivism, a
characteristic of the East Asian region distinguished from the West,
and investigates Confucian culture in films and examines differences
among Korean, Chinese and Japanese Confucianism. Films selected
for this study are Tidal Wave (Korea, 2009), After Shock (China,
2006), and The Sinking of Japan (Japan, 2006). Using the characters in
these films, we analyze how Confucian thought is described and
reproduced.
Abstract: The growth of open networks created the interest to
commercialise it. The establishment of an electronic business
mechanism must be accompanied by a digital – electronic payment
system to transfer the value of transactions. Financial organizations
are requested to offer a secure e-payment synthesis with equivalent
level of security served in conventional paper-based payment
transactions. PKI, which is functioning as a chain of trust in security
architecture, can enable security services of cryptography to epayments,
in order to take advantage of the wider base either of
customer or of trading partners and the reduction of cost transaction
achieved by the use of Internet channels. The paper addresses the
possibilities and the implementation suggestions of PKI in relevance
to electronic payments by suggesting a framework that should be
followed.
Abstract: For a spatiotemporal database management system,
I/O cost of queries and other operations is an important performance
criterion. In order to optimize this cost, an intense research on
designing robust index structures has been done in the past decade.
With these major considerations, there are still other design issues
that deserve addressing due to their direct impact on the I/O cost.
Having said this, an efficient buffer management strategy plays a key
role on reducing redundant disk access. In this paper, we proposed an
efficient buffer strategy for a spatiotemporal database index
structure, specifically indexing objects moving over a network of
roads. The proposed strategy, namely MONPAR, is based on the data
type (i.e. spatiotemporal data) and the structure of the index
structure. For the purpose of an experimental evaluation, we set up a
simulation environment that counts the number of disk accesses
while executing a number of spatiotemporal range-queries over the
index. We reiterated simulations with query sets with different
distributions, such as uniform query distribution and skewed query
distribution. Based on the comparison of our strategy with wellknown
page-replacement techniques, like LRU-based and Prioritybased
buffers, we conclude that MONPAR behaves better than its
competitors for small and medium size buffers under all used query-distributions.
Abstract: In this paper, we use Generalized Hamiltonian systems approach to synchronize a modified sixth-order Chua's circuit, which generates hyperchaotic dynamics. Synchronization is obtained between the master and slave dynamics with the slave being given by an observer. We apply this approach to transmit private information (analog and binary), while the encoding remains potentially secure.
Abstract: One of the factors to maintain system survivability is
the adequate reactive power support to the system. Lack of reactive
power support may cause undesirable voltage decay leading to total
system instability. Thus, appropriate reactive power support scheme
should be arranged in order to maintain system stability. The strength
of a system capacity is normally denoted as system loadability. This
paper presents the enhancement of system loadability through
optimal reactive power planning technique using a newly developed
optimization technique, termed as Multiagent Immune Evolutionary
Programming (MAIEP). The concept of MAIEP is developed based
on the combination of Multiagent System (MAS), Artificial Immune
System (AIS) and Evolutionary Programming (EP). In realizing the
effectiveness of the proposed technique, validation is conducted on
the IEEE-26-Bus Reliability Test System. The results obtained from
pre-optimization and post-optimization process were compared
which eventually revealed the merit of MAIEP.
Abstract: The Zung self-depression scale and Beck Anxiety Inventory were used both to study the depression and anxiety levels of Armenian Crohn’s disease patients, and to reveal the relation between emotional status and placebo effect of these patients. On the other hand, the blood cell analyses and gut bacteria investigations were used to assess the placebo effect on ESR, and haemoglobin-s and leukocyte-s levels as well as gut commensal E. coli quantities of these patients. Despite of registered high levels of depression and anxiety, the high placebo effect on psychoemotional status for investigated patients during the investigations was described. On the other hand, no positive effect of placebo on measurements of ESP and hemoglobin-s levels of Crohn’s disease patients was revealed. The importance of use of psychotherapies for optimal outcomes during treatments of Crohn’s disease is discussed.
Abstract: Nowadays the market for industrial companies is becoming more and more globalized and highly competitive, forcing them to shorten the duration of the manufacturing system development time in order to reduce the time to market. In order to achieve this target, the hierarchical systems used in previous manufacturing systems are not enough because they cannot deal effectively with unexpected situations. To achieve flexibility in manufacturing systems, the concept of an Autonomous Decentralized Flexible Manufacturing System (AD-FMS) is useful. In this paper, we introduce a hypothetical reasoning based algorithm called the Algorithm for Future Anticipative Reasoning (AFAR) which is able to decide on a conceivable next action of an Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) that works autonomously in the AD-FMS.
Abstract: Occurrence of a multiple-points fault in machine operations could result in exhibiting complex fault signatures, which could result in lowering fault diagnosis accuracy. In this study, a multiple-points defect model (MPDM) is proposed which can simulate fault signature-s dynamics for n-points bearing faults. Furthermore, this study identifies that in case of multiple-points fault in the rotary machine, the location of the dominant component of defect frequency shifts depending upon the relative location of the fault points which could mislead the fault diagnostic model to inaccurate detections. Analytical and experimental results are presented to characterize and validate the variation in the dominant component of defect frequency. Based on envelop detection analysis, a modification is recommended in the existing fault diagnostic models to consider the multiples of defect frequency rather than only considering the frequency spectrum at the defect frequency in order to incorporate the impact of multiple points fault.
Abstract: The evolution of logic circuits, which falls under the heading of evolvable hardware, is carried out by evolutionary algorithms. These algorithms are able to automatically configure reconfigurable devices. One of main difficulties in developing evolvable hardware with the ability to design functional electrical circuits is to choose the most favourable EA features such as fitness function, chromosome representations, population size, genetic operators and individual selection. Until now several researchers from the evolvable hardware community have used and tuned these parameters and various rules on how to select the value of a particular parameter have been proposed. However, to date, no one has presented a study regarding the size of the chromosome representation (circuit layout) to be used as a platform for the evolution in order to increase the evolvability, reduce the number of generations and optimize the digital logic circuits through reducing the number of logic gates. In this paper this topic has been thoroughly investigated and the optimal parameters for these EA features have been proposed. The evolution of logic circuits has been carried out by an extrinsic evolvable hardware system which uses (1+λ) evolution strategy as the core of the evolution.
Abstract: The motion planning procedure described in this paper has been developed in order to eliminate or reduce the residual vibrations of electromechanical positioning systems, without augmenting the motion time (usually imposed by production requirements), nor introducing overtime for vibration damping. The proposed technique is based on a suitable choice of the motion law assigned to the servomotor that drives the mechanism. The reference profile is defined by a Bezier curve, whose shape can be easily changed by modifying some numerical parameters. By means of an optimization technique these parameters can be modified without altering the continuity conditions imposed on the displacement and on its time derivatives at the initial and final time instants.
Abstract: We study different types of aggregation operators such
as the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operator and the
generalized OWA (GOWA) operator. We analyze the use of OWA
operators in the Minkowski distance. We will call these new distance
aggregation operator the Minkowski ordered weighted averaging
distance (MOWAD) operator. We give a general overview of this
type of generalization and study some of their main properties. We
also analyze a wide range of particular cases found in this
generalization such as the ordered weighted averaging distance
(OWAD) operator, the Euclidean ordered weighted averaging
distance (EOWAD) operator, the normalized Minkowski distance,
etc. Finally, we give an illustrative example of the new approach
where we can see the different results obtained by using different
aggregation operators.
Abstract: We present a method for the selection of students
in interdisciplinary studies based on the hybrid averaging
operator. We assume that the available information given in
the problem is uncertain so it is necessary to use interval
numbers. Therefore, we suggest a new type of hybrid
aggregation called uncertain induced generalized hybrid
averaging (UIGHA) operator. It is an aggregation operator
that considers the weighted average (WA) and the ordered
weighted averaging (OWA) operator in the same formulation.
Therefore, we are able to consider the degree of optimism of
the decision maker and grades of importance in the same
approach. By using interval numbers, we are able to represent
the information considering the best and worst possible results
so the decision maker gets a more complete view of the
decision problem. We develop an illustrative example of the
proposed scheme in the selection of students in
interdisciplinary studies. We see that with the use of the
UIGHA operator we get a more complete representation of the
selection problem. Then, the decision maker is able to
consider a wide range of alternatives depending on his
interests. We also show other potential applications that could
be used by using the UIGHA operator in educational problems
about selection of different types of resources such as
students, professors, etc.
Abstract: A bond graph model of a two degrees of freedom
PUMA is described. System inversion gives the system input
required to generate a given system output. In order to get the system
inversion of the PUMA manipulator, a linearization of the nonlinear
bond graph is obtained. Hence, the bicausality of the linearized bond
graph of the PUMA manipulator is applied. Thus, the bicausal bond
graph provides a systematic way of generating the equations of the
system inversion. Simulation results to verify the calculated input for
a given output are shown.
Abstract: In order to enhance the contrast in the regions where the pixels have similar intensities, this paper presents a new histogram equalization scheme. Conventional global equalization schemes over-equalizes these regions so that too bright or dark pixels are resulted and local equalization schemes produce unexpected discontinuities at the boundaries of the blocks. The proposed algorithm segments the original histogram into sub-histograms with reference to brightness level and equalizes each sub-histogram with the limited extents of equalization considering its mean and variance. The final image is determined as the weighted sum of the equalized images obtained by using the sub-histogram equalizations. By limiting the maximum and minimum ranges of equalization operations on individual sub-histograms, the over-equalization effect is eliminated. Also the result image does not miss feature information in low density histogram region since the remaining these area is applied separating equalization. This paper includes how to determine the segmentation points in the histogram. The proposed algorithm has been tested with more than 100 images having various contrasts in the images and the results are compared to the conventional approaches to show its superiority.
Abstract: Some Chromium (III) complexes were synthesized
with three amino acids: L Glutamic Acid, Glycine, and L-cysteine as
the ligands, in order to provide a new supplement containing Cr(III)
for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The complexes have been
prepared by refluxing a mixture of Chromium(III) chloride in
aqueous solution with L-glutamic acid, Glycine, and L-cysteine after
pH adjustment by sodium hydroxide. These complexes were
characterized by Infrared and Uv-Vis spectrophotometer and
Elemental analyzer. The product yields of four products were 87.50
and 56.76% for Cr-Glu complexes, 46.70% for Cr-Gly complex and
40.08% for Cr-Cys complex respectively. The predicted structure of
the complexes are [Cr(glu)2(H2O)2].xH2O, Cr(gly)3..xH2O and
Cr(cys)3.xH2O., respectively.
Abstract: Iron in groundwater is one of the problems that render the water unsuitable for drinking. The concentration above 0.3 mg/L is common in groundwater. The conventional method of removal is by precipitation under oxic condition. In this study, iron removal under anaerobic conditions was examined by batch experiment as a main purpose. The process involved by purging of groundwater samples with H2S to form iron sulfide. Removal up to 83% for 1 mg/L iron solution was achieved. The removal efficiency dropped to 82% and 75% for the higher initial iron concentrations 3.55 and 5.01 mg/L, respectively. The average residual sulfide concentration in water after the process was 25*g/L. The Eh level during the process was -272 mV. The removal process was found to follow the first order reaction with average rate constant of 4.52 x 10-3. The half-life for the concentrations to reduce from initial values was 157 minutes.
Abstract: This paper features the modeling and design of a
Robust Decentralized Fast Output Sampling (RDFOS) Feedback
control technique for the active vibration control of a smart flexible
multimodel Euler-Bernoulli cantilever beams for a multivariable
(MIMO) case by retaining the first 6 vibratory modes. The beam
structure is modeled in state space form using the concept of
piezoelectric theory, the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory and the Finite
Element Method (FEM) technique by dividing the beam into 4 finite
elements and placing the piezoelectric sensor / actuator at two finite
element locations (positions 2 and 4) as collocated pairs, i.e., as
surface mounted sensor / actuator, thus giving rise to a multivariable
model of the smart structure plant with two inputs and two outputs.
Five such multivariable models are obtained by varying the
dimensions (aspect ratios) of the aluminium beam. Using model
order reduction technique, the reduced order model of the higher
order system is obtained based on dominant Eigen value retention
and the Davison technique. RDFOS feedback controllers are
designed for the above 5 multivariable-multimodel plant. The closed
loop responses with the RDFOS feedback gain and the magnitudes of
the control input are obtained and the performance of the proposed
multimodel smart structure system is evaluated for vibration control.