Abstract: OpenMP is an API for parallel programming model of shared memory multiprocessors. Novice OpenMP programmers often produce the code that compiler cannot find human errors. It was investigated how compiler coped with the common mistakes that can occur in OpenMP code. The latest version(4.4.3) of GCC is used for this research. It was found that GCC compiled the codes without any errors or warnings. In this paper the programming aid tool is presented for OpenMP programs. It can check 12 common mistakes that novice programmer can commit during the programming of OpenMP. It was demonstrated that the programming aid tool can detect the various common mistakes that GCC failed to detect.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine to what
extend classroom management efficacy, marital status, gender, and
teaching experience predict burnout among primary school teachers.
Participants of this study were 523 (345 female, 178 male) teachers
who completed inventories. The results of multiple regression
analysis indicated that three dimensions of teacher burnout
(Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization, Personal
Accomplishment) were affected differently from four predictor
variables. Findings indicated that for the emotional exhaustion,
classroom management efficacy, marital status and teaching
experience; for depersonalization dimension, classroom management
efficacy and marital status and finally for the personal
accomplishment dimension, classroom management efficacy, gender,
and teaching experience were significant predictors.
Abstract: The purpose of my research proposal is to
demonstrate that there is a relationship between EEG and
endometrial cancer.
The above relationship is based on an Aristotelian Syllogism;
since it is known that the 14-3-3 protein is related to the electrical
activity of the brain via control of the flow of Na+ and K+ ions and
since it is also known that many types of cancer are associated with
14-3-3 protein, it is possible that there is a relationship between EEG
and cancer. This research will be carried out by well-defined
diagnostic indicators, obtained via the EEG, using signal processing
procedures and pattern recognition tools such as neural networks in
order to recognize the endometrial cancer type. The current research
shall compare the findings from EEG and hysteroscopy performed on
women of a wide age range. Moreover, this practice could be
expanded to other types of cancer. The implementation of this
methodology will be completed with the creation of an ontology.
This ontology shall define the concepts existing in this research-s
domain and the relationships between them. It will represent the
types of relationships between hysteroscopy and EEG findings.
Abstract: In conventional seedling production, the seedlings are
being grown in the open field under natural conditions. Here they are
susceptible to sudden changes in climate were their quality and yield
is affected. Quality seedlings are essential for good growth and
performance of crops in main field; they serve as a foundation for the
economic returns to the farmer. Producing quality seedling demands
usage of hybrid seeds as they have the ability to result in better yield,
greater uniformity, improved color, disease resistance, and so forth.
Hybrid seed production poses major operational challenge and its
seed use efficiency plays an important role. Thus in order to
overcome the difficulties currently present in conventional seedling
production and to efficiently use hybrid seeds, ITC Limited Agri
Business Divisions - Sustainability Cell as conceptualized a novel
method of seedling production unit for farmers in West Godavari
District of Andhra Pradesh. The “Green House based Float Seedling"
methodology aims at a protected cultivation technique wherein the
micro climate surrounding the plant/seedling body is controlled
partially or fully as per the requirement of the species. This paper
reports on the techno economic evaluation of green house for
cultivation of float based seedling production with experimental
results that was attained from the pilot implementation in West
Godavari District, Rajahmundry region of India.
Abstract: Improving the performance of the QCL through block diagram as well as mathematical models is the main scope of this paper. In order to enhance the performance of the underlined device, the mathematical model parameters are used in a reliable manner in such a way that the optimum behavior was achieved. These parameters play the central role in specifying the optical characteristics of the considered laser source. Moreover, it is important to have a large amount of radiated power, where increasing the amount of radiated power represents the main hopping process that can be predicted from the behavior of quantum laser devices. It was found that there is a good agreement between the calculated values from our mathematical model and those obtained with VisSim and experimental results. These demonstrate the strength of mplementation of both mathematical and block diagram models.
Abstract: The Institute of Product Development is dealing
with the development, design and dimensioning of micro components
and systems as a member of the Collaborative Research
Centre 499 “Design, Production and Quality Assurance of
Molded micro components made of Metallic and Ceramic Materials".
Because of technological restrictions in the miniaturization
of conventional manufacturing techniques, shape and
material deviations cannot be scaled down in the same proportion
as the micro parts, rendering components with relatively
wide tolerance fields. Systems that include such components
should be designed with this particularity in mind, often requiring
large clearance. On the end, the output of such systems
results variable and prone to dynamical instability. To save
production time and resources, every study of these effects
should happen early in the product development process and
base on computer simulation to avoid costly prototypes. A
suitable method is proposed here and exemplary applied to a
micro technology demonstrator developed by the CRC499. It
consists of a one stage planetary gear train in a sun-planet-ring
configuration, with input through the sun gear and output
through the carrier. The simulation procedure relies on ordinary
Multi Body Simulation methods and subsequently adds
other techniques to further investigate details of the system-s
behavior and to predict its response. The selection of the relevant
parameters and output functions followed the engineering
standards for regular sized gear trains. The first step is to
quantify the variability and to reveal the most critical points of
the system, performed through a whole-mechanism Sensitivity
Analysis. Due to the lack of previous knowledge about the system-s
behavior, different DOE methods involving small and
large amount of experiments were selected to perform the SA.
In this particular case the parameter space can be divided into
two well defined groups, one of them containing the gear-s profile
information and the other the components- spatial location.
This has been exploited to explore the different DOE techniques
more promptly. A reduced set of parameters is derived for
further investigation and to feed the final optimization process,
whether as optimization parameters or as external perturbation
collective. The 10 most relevant perturbation factors and 4 to 6
prospective variable parameters are considered in a new, simplified
model. All of the parameters are affected by the mentioned
production variability. The objective functions of interest
are based on scalar output-s variability measures, so the
problem becomes an optimization under robustness and reliability constrains. The study shows an initial step on the development
path of a method to design and optimize complex micro
mechanisms composed of wide tolerated elements accounting
for the robustness and reliability of the systems- output.
Abstract: An IEC technique is described for a multi-objective
search of conceptual solutions. The survivability of solutions is
influenced by both model-based fitness and subjective human
preferences. The concepts- preferences are articulated via a hierarchy
of sub-concepts. The suggested method produces an objectivesubjective
front. Academic example is employed to demonstrate the
proposed approach.
Abstract: This paper aims to present a survey of object
recognition/classification methods based on image moments. We
review various types of moments (geometric moments, complex
moments) and moment-based invariants with respect to various
image degradations and distortions (rotation, scaling, affine
transform, image blurring, etc.) which can be used as shape
descriptors for classification. We explain a general theory how to
construct these invariants and show also a few of them in explicit
forms. We review efficient numerical algorithms that can be used
for moment computation and demonstrate practical examples of
using moment invariants in real applications.
Abstract: Many water supply systems in Australia are currently
undergoing significant reconfiguration due to reductions in long term
average rainfall and resulting low inflows to water supply reservoirs
since the second half of the 20th century. When water supply systems
undergo change, it is necessary to develop new operating rules,
which should consider climate, because the climate change is likely
to further reduce inflows. In addition, water resource systems are
increasingly intended to be operated to meet complex and multiple
objectives representing social, economic, environmental and
sustainability criteria. This is further complicated by conflicting
preferences on these objectives from diverse stakeholders. This paper
describes a methodology to develop optimum operating rules for
complex multi-reservoir systems undergoing significant change,
considering all of the above issues. The methodology is demonstrated
using the Grampians water supply system in northwest Victoria,
Australia. Initial work conducted on the project is also presented in
this paper.
Abstract: This paper provides a flexible way of controlling
Variable-Bit-Rate (VBR) of compressed digital video, applicable to
the new H264 video compression standard. The entire video
sequence is assessed in advance and the quantisation level is then set
such that bit rate (and thus the frame rate) remains within
predetermined limits compatible with the bandwidth of the
transmission system and the capabilities of the remote end, while at
the same time providing constant quality similar to VBR encoding.
A process for avoiding buffer starvation by selectively eliminating
frames from the encoded output at times when the frame rate is slow
(large number of bits per frame) will be also described. Finally, the
problem of buffer overflow will be solved by selectively eliminating
frames from the received input to the decoder. The decoder detects
the omission of the frames and resynchronizes the transmission by
monitoring time stamps and repeating frames if necessary.
Abstract: Modeling and vibration of a flexible link manipulator
with tow flexible links and rigid joints are investigated which can
include an arbitrary number of flexible links. Hamilton principle and
finite element approach is proposed to model the dynamics of
flexible manipulators. The links are assumed to be deflection due to
bending. The association between elastic displacements of links is
investigated, took into account the coupling effects of elastic motion
and rigid motion. Flexible links are treated as Euler-Bernoulli beams
and the shear deformation is thus abandoned. The dynamic behavior
due to flexibility of links is well demonstrated through numerical
simulation. The rigid-body motion and elastic deformations are
separated by linearizing the equations of motion around the rigid
body reference path. Simulation results are shown on for both
position and force trajectory tracking tasks in the presence of varying
parameters and unknown dynamics remarkably well. The proposed
method can be used in both dynamic simulation and controller
design.
Abstract: To increase precision and reliability of automatic control systems, we have to take into account of random factors affecting the control system. Thus, operational matrix technique is used for statistical analysis of first order plus time delay system with uniform random parameter. Examples with deterministic and stochastic disturbance are considered to demonstrate the validity of the method. Comparison with Monte Carlo method is made to show the computational effectiveness of the method.
Abstract: Bacterial cellulose, a biopolysaccharide, is produced by the bacterium, Gluconacetobacter xylinus. Static batch fermentation for bacterial cellulose production was studied in sucrose and date syrup solutions (Bx. 10%) at 28 °C using G. xylinus (PTCC, 1734). Results showed that the maximum yields of bacterial cellulose (BC) were 4.35 and 1.69 g/l00 ml for date syrup and sucrose medium after 336 hours fermentation period, respectively. Comparison of FTIR spectrum of cellulose with BC indicated appropriate coincidence which proved that the component produced by G. xylinus was cellulose. Determination of the area under X-ray diffractometry patterns demonstrated that the crystallinity amount of cellulose (83.61%) was more than that for the BC (60.73%). The scanning electron microscopy imaging of BC and cellulose were carried out in two magnifications of 1 and 6K. Results showed that the diameter ratio of BC to cellulose was approximately 1/30 which indicated more delicacy of BC fibers relative to cellulose.
Abstract: Markov games are a generalization of Markov
decision process to a multi-agent setting. Two-player zero-sum
Markov game framework offers an effective platform for designing
robust controllers. This paper presents two novel controller design
algorithms that use ideas from game-theory literature to produce
reliable controllers that are able to maintain performance in presence
of noise and parameter variations. A more widely used approach for
controller design is the H∞ optimal control, which suffers from high
computational demand and at times, may be infeasible. Our approach
generates an optimal control policy for the agent (controller) via a
simple Linear Program enabling the controller to learn about the
unknown environment. The controller is facing an unknown
environment, and in our formulation this environment corresponds to
the behavior rules of the noise modeled as the opponent. Proposed
controller architectures attempt to improve controller reliability by a
gradual mixing of algorithmic approaches drawn from the game
theory literature and the Minimax-Q Markov game solution
approach, in a reinforcement-learning framework. We test the
proposed algorithms on a simulated Inverted Pendulum Swing-up
task and compare its performance against standard Q learning.
Abstract: The study of the interaction between humans and
computers has been emerging during the last few years. This
interaction will be more powerful if computers are able to perceive
and respond to human nonverbal communication such as emotions. In
this study, we present the image-based approach to emotion
classification through lower facial expression. We employ a set of
feature points in the lower face image according to the particular face
model used and consider their motion across each emotive expression
of images. The vector of displacements of all feature points input to
the Adaptive Support Vector Machines (A-SVMs) classifier that
classify it into seven basic emotions scheme, namely neutral, angry,
disgust, fear, happy, sad and surprise. The system was tested on the
Japanese Female Facial Expression (JAFFE) dataset of frontal view
facial expressions [7]. Our experiments on emotion classification
through lower facial expressions demonstrate the robustness of
Adaptive SVM classifier and verify the high efficiency of our
approach.
Abstract: This paper investigates the relationship between state and business in the context of structural and institutional transformations in Indonesia following the collapse of the New Order regime in 1998. Since 1998, Indonesia has embarked on a shift from an authoritarian to democratic polity and from a centralised to a decentralised system of governance, transforming the country into the third largest democracy and one of the most decentralised states in the world. This paper examines whether the transformation of the Indonesian state has altered the pattern of state and business relations with focus on clientism and corruption as the key dependent variable, and probes how/to what extent this has changed as a result of the transformation and the ensuring shifts in business and state relations. Based on interviews with key government and business actors as well as prominent scholars in Indonesia, it is found that since the demise of the New Order, business associations in Indonesia have become more independent of state control and more influential in public decision-making whereas the government has become more responsive of business concerns and more committed to combat corruption and clientism. However, these changes have not necessarily rendered business people completely leave individualclientelistic relationship with the government, and simply pursue wider sectoral and business-wide collectivism as an alternative way of channelling their aspirations, which is expected to help reduce corruption and clientism in Indonesia. This paper concludes that democratisation and a more open politics may have helped reduce corruption and clientism in Indonesia through changes in government. However, it is still difficult to imply that such political transformation has fostered business collective action and a broader, more encompassing pattern of business lobbying and activism, which is expected to help reduce corruption and clientism.
Abstract: A property-s selling price is described as the result of
sequential bargaining between a buyer and a seller in an environment
of asymmetric information. Hedonic housing prices are estimated
based upon 17,333 records of New Zealand residential properties
sold during the years 2006 and 2007.
Abstract: It can be said that the business sector is faced with a range of challenges–a rapidly changing business environment, an increase and diversification of customers- demands and the consequent need for quick response–for having in place flexible management and production info systems. As a matter of fact, many manufacturers have adopted production info management systems such as MES and ERP. Nevertheless, managers are having difficulties obtaining ever-changing production process information in real time, or responding quickly to any change in production related needs on the basis of such information. This is because they rely on poor production info systems which are not capable of providing real-time factory settings. If the manufacturer doesn-t have a capacity for collecting or digitalizing the 4 Ms (Man, Machine, Material, Method), which are resources for production, on a real time basis, it might to difficult to effectively maintain the information on production process. In this regard, this paper will introduce some new alternatives to the existing methods of collecting the 4 Ms in real time, which are currently comprise the production field.
Abstract: The nonlinear chaotic non-autonomous fourth order
system is algebraically simple but can generate complex chaotic
attractors. In this paper, non-autonomous fourth order chaotic
oscillator circuits were designed and simulated. Also chaotic nonautonomous
Attractor is addressed suitable for chaotic masking
communication circuits using Matlab® and MultiSIM® programs.
We have demonstrated in simulations that chaos can be synchronized
and applied to signal masking communications. We suggest that this
phenomenon of chaos synchronism may serve as the basis for little
known chaotic non-autonomous Attractor to achieve signal masking
communication applications. Simulation results are used to visualize
and illustrate the effectiveness of non-autonomous chaotic system in
signal masking. All simulations results performed on nonautonomous
chaotic system are verify the applicable of secure
communication.
Abstract: The double exponential model (DEM), or Laplace
distribution, is used in various disciplines. However, there are issues
related to the construction of confidence intervals (CI), when using
the distribution.In this paper, the properties of DEM are considered
with intention of constructing CI based on simulated data. The
analysis of pivotal equations for the models here in comparisons with
pivotal equations for normal distribution are performed, and the
results obtained from simulation data are presented.