Abstract: The growing health hazardous impact of arsenic (As)
contamination in environment is the impetus of the present
investigation. Application of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) for the
removal of toxic and heavy metals from water has been reported.
This study was performed in order to isolate and characterize the Asresistant
LAB from mud and sludge samples for using as efficient As
uptaking probiotic. Isolation of As-resistant LAB colonies was
performed by spread plate technique using bromocresol purple
impregnated-MRS (BP-MRS) agar media provided with As @ 50
μg/ml. Isolated LAB were employed for probiotic characterization
process, acid and bile tolerance, lactic acid production, antibacterial
activity and antibiotic tolerance assays. After As-resistant and
removal characterizations, the LAB were identified using 16S rDNA
sequencing. A total of 103 isolates were identified as As-resistant
strains of LAB. The survival of 6 strains (As99-1, As100-2, As101-3,
As102-4, As105-7, and As112-9) was found after passing through the
sequential probiotic characterizations. Resistant pattern pronounced
hollow zones at As concentration >2000 μg/ml in As99-1, As100-2,
and As101-3 LAB strains, whereas it was found at ~1000 μg/ml in
rest 3 strains. Among 6 strains, the As uptake efficiency of As102-4
(0.006 μg/h/mg wet weight of cell) was higher (17 – 209%)
compared to remaining LAB. 16S rDNA sequencing data of 3 (As99-
1, As100-2, and As101-3) and 3 (As102-4, As105-7, and As112-9)
LAB strains clearly showed 97 to 99% (340 bp) homology to
Pediococcus dextrinicus and Pediococcus acidilactici, respectively.
Though, there was no correlation between the metal resistant and
removal efficiency of LAB examined but identified elevated As
removing LAB would probably be a potential As uptaking probiotic
agent. Since present experiment concerned with only As removal
from pure water, As removal and removal mechanism in natural
condition of intestinal milieu should be assessed in future studies.
Abstract: One of the most important parameters to develop and
manage urban areas is appropriate selection of land surface to
develop green spaces in these areas. In this study, in order to identify
the most appropriate sites and areas cultivated for ornamental species
in Jiroft, Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) images
due to extract the most important effective climatic and adaphic
parameters for growth ornamental species were used. After geometric
and atmospheric corrections applied, to enhance accuracy of multi
spectral (XS) bands, the fusion of Landsat XS bands by IRS-1D
panchromatic band (PAN) was performed. After field sampling to
evaluate the correlation between different factors in surface soil
sampling location and different bands digital number (DN) of ETM+
sensor on the same points, correlation tables formed using the best
computational model and the map of physical and chemical
parameters of soil was produced. Then the accuracy of them was
investigated by using kappa coefficient. Finally, according to
produced maps, the best areas for cultivation of recommended
species were introduced.
Abstract: Today automobile and aerospace industries realise Laser Beam Welding for a clean and non contact source of heating and fusion for joining of sheets. The welding performance is mainly based on by the laser welding parameters. Some concepts related to Artificial Neural Networks and how can be applied to model weld bead geometry and mechanical properties in terms of equipment parameters are reported in order to evaluate the accuracy and compare it with traditional modeling schemes. This review reveals the output features of Titanium and Aluminium weld bead geometry and mechanical properties such as ultimate tensile strength, yield strength, elongation and reduction of the area of the weld using Artificial Neural Network.
Abstract: This paper investigates the problem of tracking spa¬tiotemporal changes of a satellite image through the use of Knowledge Discovery in Database (KDD). The purpose of this study is to help a given user effectively discover interesting knowledge and then build prediction and decision models. Unfortunately, the KDD process for spatiotemporal data is always marked by several types of imperfections. In our paper, we take these imperfections into consideration in order to provide more accurate decisions. To achieve this objective, different KDD methods are used to discover knowledge in satellite image databases. Each method presents a different point of view of spatiotemporal evolution of a query model (which represents an extracted object from a satellite image). In order to combine these methods, we use the evidence fusion theory which considerably improves the spatiotemporal knowledge discovery process and increases our belief in the spatiotemporal model change. Experimental results of satellite images representing the region of Auckland in New Zealand depict the improvement in the overall change detection as compared to using classical methods.
Abstract: Optimum communication and performance in
Wireless Sensor Networks, constitute multi-facet challenges due to
the specific networking characteristics as well as the scarce resource
availability. Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly apparent that
isolated layer based approaches often do not meet the demands posed
by WSNs applications due to omission of critical inter-layer
interactions and dependencies. As a counterpart, cross-layer is
receiving high interest aiming to exploit these interactions and
increase network performance. However, in order to clearly identify
existing dependencies, comprehensive performance studies are
required evaluating the effect of different critical network parameters
on system level performance and behavior.This paper-s main
objective is to address the need for multi-parametric performance
evaluations considering critical network parameters using a well
known network simulator, offering useful and practical conclusions
and guidelines. The results reveal strong dependencies among
considered parameters which can be utilized by and drive future
research efforts, towards designing and implementing highly efficient
protocols and architectures.
Abstract: This paper proposes a low-voltage and low-power
fully integrated digitally tuned continuous-time channel selection
filter for WiMAX applications. A 5th-order elliptic low-pass filter is
realized in a Gm-C topology. The bandwidth of the fully differential
filter is reconfigurable from 2.5MHz to 20MHz (8x) for different
requirements in WiMAX applications. The filter is simulated in a
standard 90nm CMOS process. Simulation results show the THD
(@Vout =100mVpp) is less than -66dB. The in-band ripple of the
filter is about 0.15dB. The filter consumes 1.5mW from a supply
voltage of 0.9V.
Abstract: Occurrences of spurious crests on the troughs of large,
relatively steep second-order Stokes waves are anomalous and not an
inherent characteristic of real waves. Here, the effects of such
occurrences on the statistics described by the standard second-order
stochastic model are examined theoretically and by way of
simulations. Theoretical results and simulations indicate that when
spurious occurrences are sufficiently large, the standard model leads
to physically unrealistic surface features and inaccuracies in the
statistics of various surface features, in particular, the troughs and
thus zero-crossing heights of large waves. Whereas inaccuracies can
be fairly noticeable for long-crested waves in both deep and
shallower depths, they tend to become relatively insignificant in
directional waves.
Abstract: Countries in recession, among them Croatia, have
lower tax revenues as a result of unfavorable economic situation,
which is decrease of the economic activities and unemployment. The
global tax base has decreased. In order to create larger state revenues,
states use the institute of tax authorities. By controlling transfer
pricing in the international companies and using certain techniques,
tax authorities can create greater tax obligations for the companies in
a short period of time.
Abstract: XML is a markup language which is becoming the
standard format for information representation and data exchange. A
major purpose of XML is the explicit representation of the logical
structure of a document. Much research has been performed to
exploit logical structure of documents in information retrieval in
order to precisely extract user information need from large
collections of XML documents. In this paper, we describe an XML
information retrieval weighting scheme that tries to find the most
relevant elements in XML documents in response to a user query.
We present this weighting model for information retrieval systems
that utilize plausible inferences to infer the relevance of elements in
XML documents. We also add to this model the Dempster-Shafer
theory of evidence to express the uncertainty in plausible inferences
and Dempster-Shafer rule of combination to combine evidences
derived from different inferences.
Abstract: In this paper, a new model order reduction
phenomenon is introduced at the design stage of linear phase digital
IIR filter. The complexity of a system can be reduced by adopting the
model order reduction method in their design. In this paper a mixed
method of model order reduction is proposed for linear IIR filter. The
proposed method employs the advantages of factor division technique
to derive the reduced order denominator polynomial and the reduced
order numerator is obtained based on the resultant denominator
polynomial. The order reduction technique is used to reduce the delay
units at the design stage of IIR filter. The validity of the proposed
method is illustrated with design example in frequency domain and
stability is also examined with help of nyquist plot.
Abstract: Ranking of fuzzy numbers play an important role in
decision making, optimization, forecasting etc. Fuzzy numbers must
be ranked before an action is taken by a decision maker. In this
paper, with the help of several counter examples it is proved that
ranking method proposed by Chen and Chen (Expert Systems with
Applications 36 (2009) 6833-6842) is incorrect. The main aim of this
paper is to propose a new approach for the ranking of generalized
trapezoidal fuzzy numbers. The main advantage of the proposed
approach is that the proposed approach provide the correct ordering
of generalized and normal trapezoidal fuzzy numbers and also the
proposed approach is very simple and easy to apply in the real life
problems. It is shown that proposed ranking function satisfies all
the reasonable properties of fuzzy quantities proposed by Wang and
Kerre (Fuzzy Sets and Systems 118 (2001) 375-385).
Abstract: Crawling movement as a motive mode seen in nature
of some animals such as snakes possesses a specific syntactic and
dynamic analysis. Serpentine robot designed by inspiration from
nature and snake-s crawling motion, is regarded as a crawling robot.
In this paper, a serpentine robot with spiral motion model will be
analyzed. The purpose of this analysis is to calculate the vertical and
tangential forces along snake-s body and to determine the parameters
affecting on these forces. Two types of serpentine robots have been
designed in order to examine the achieved relations explained below.
Abstract: This work aims to explore the factors that have an incidence in reading comprehension process, with different type of texts. In a recent study with 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade children, it was observed that reading comprehension of narrative texts was better than comprehension of expository texts. Nevertheless it seems that not only the type of text but also other textual factors would account for comprehension depending on the cognitive processing demands posed by the text. In order to explore this assumption, three narrative and three expository texts were elaborated with different degree of complexity. A group of 40 fourth grade Spanish-speaking children took part in the study. Children were asked to read the texts and answer orally three literal and three inferential questions for each text. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of children responses showed that children had difficulties in both, narrative and expository texts. The problem was to answer those questions that involved establishing complex relationships among information units that were present in the text or that should be activated from children’s previous knowledge to make an inference. Considering the data analysis, it could be concluded that there is some interaction between the type of text and the cognitive processing load of a specific text.
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 hybridization of artificial immune system with
cellular automata (CA-AIS) is a novel method. In this hybrid model,
the cellular automaton within each cell deploys the artificial immune
system algorithm under optimization context in order to increase its
fitness by using its neighbor-s efforts. The hybrid model CA-AIS is
introduced to fix the standard artificial immune system-s weaknesses.
The credibility of the proposed approach is evaluated by simulations
and it shows that the proposed approach achieves better results
compared to standard artificial immune system.
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: Propagation of solitons in single-mode birefringent fibers is considered under the presence of third-order dispersion (TOD). The behavior of two neighboring solitons and their interaction is investigated under the presence of third-order dispersion with different group velocity dispersion (GVD) parameters. It is found that third-order dispersion makes the resultant soliton to deviate from its ideal position and increases the interaction between adjacent soliton pulses. It is also observed that this deviation due to third-order dispersion is considerably small when the optical pulse propagates at wavelengths relatively far from the zerodispersion. Modified coupled nonlinear Schrödinger-s equations (CNLSE) representing the propagation of optical pulse in single mode fiber with TOD are solved using split-step Fourier algorithm. The results presented in this paper reveal that the third-order dispersion can substantially increase the interaction between the solitons, but large group velocity dispersion reduces the interaction between neighboring solitons.
Abstract: It has been shown that in most accidents the driver is responsible due to being distracted or misjudging the situation. In order to solve such problems research has been dedicated to developing driver assistance systems that are able to monitor the traffic situation around the vehicle. This paper presents methods for recognizing several circumstances on a road. The methods use both the in-vehicle warning systems and the roadside infrastructure. Preliminary evaluation results for fog and ice-on-road detection are presented. The ice detection results are based on data recorded in a test track dedicated to tyre friction testing. The achieved results anticipate that ice detection could work at a performance of 70% detection with the right setup, which is a good foundation for implementation. However, the full benefit of the presented cooperative system is achieved by fusing the outputs of multiple data sources, which is the key point of discussion behind this publication.
Abstract: Pearson-s correlation coefficient and sequential path
analysis has been used for determining the interrelationship among
yield, yield components, soil minerals and aroma of Khao Dawk Mali
(KDML) 105 rice grown in the area of Tungkularonghai in Roi-Et
province, located in the northeast of Thailand. Pearson-s correlation
coefficient in this study showed that the number of panicles was the
only factor that had positive significant (0.790**) effect on grain
yield. Sequential path analysis revealed that the number of panicles
followed by the number of fertile spikelets and 100-grain weight
were the first-order factors which had positive direct effects on grain
yield. Whereas, other factors analyzed had indirect effects
influencing grain yield. This study also indicated that no significant
relationship was found between the aroma level and any of the
factors analyzed.
Abstract: In this paper, an automatic guided mobile robot using a new magnetic position meter is described. In order to measure the lateral position of a mobile robot, a new magnetic position meter is developed. The magnetic position meter can detect the position of a magnetic wire on the center of road. A mobile robot in designed with a sensing system, a steering system and a driving system. The designed mobile robot is tested to verify the performance of automatic guidance.