Abstract: Certifications such as the Passive House Standard aim to reduce the final space heating energy demand of residential buildings. Space conditioning, notably heating, is responsible for nearly 70% of final residential energy consumption in Europe. There is therefore significant scope for the reduction of energy consumption through improvements to the energy efficiency of residential buildings. However, these certifications totally overlook the energy embodied in the building materials used to achieve this greater operational energy efficiency. The large amount of insulation and the triple-glazed high efficiency windows require a significant amount of energy to manufacture. While some previous studies have assessed the life cycle energy demand of passive houses, including their embodied energy, these rely on incomplete assessment techniques which greatly underestimate embodied energy and can lead to misleading conclusions. This paper analyses the embodied and operational energy demands of a case study passive house using a comprehensive hybrid analysis technique to quantify embodied energy. Results show that the embodied energy is much more significant than previously thought. Also, compared to a standard house with the same geometry, structure, finishes and number of people, a passive house can use more energy over 80 years, mainly due to the additional materials required. Current building energy efficiency certifications should widen their system boundaries to include embodied energy in order to reduce the life cycle energy demand of residential buildings.
Abstract: The paper proposes a new concept in developing
collaborative design system. The concept framework involves
applying simulation of supply chain management to collaborative
design called – 'SCM–Based Design Tool'. The system is developed
particularly to support design activities and to integrate all facilities
together. The system is aimed to increase design productivity and
creativity. Therefore, designers and customers can collaborate by the
system since conceptual design. JAG: Jewelry Art Generator based
on artificial intelligence techniques is integrated into the system.
Moreover, the proposed system can support users as decision tool
and data propagation. The system covers since raw material supply
until product delivery. Data management and sharing information are
visually supported to designers and customers via user interface. The
system is developed on Web–assisted product development
environment. The prototype system is presented for Thai jewelry
industry as a system prototype demonstration, but applicable for
other industry.
Abstract: RF performance of SOI CMOS device has attracted
significant amount of interest recently. In order to improve RF
parameters, Strained Si/Relaxed Si0.8Ge0.2 investigated as a
replacement for Si technology .Enhancement of carrier mobility
associated with strain engineering makes Strained Si a promising
candidate for improving RF performance of CMOS technology.
From the simulation, the cut-off frequency is estimated to be 224
GHZ, whereas in SOI at similar bias is about 188 GHZ. Therefore,
Strained Si exhibits 19% improvement in cut-off frequency over
similar Si counterpart. In this paper, Ion/Ioff ratio is studied as one of
the key parameters in logic and digital application. Strained Si/SiGe
demonstrates better Ion/Ioff characteristic than SOI, in similar channel
length of 100 nm.Another important key analog figures of merit such
as Early Voltage (VEA) ,transconductance vs drain current (gm /Ids)
are studied. They introduce the efficiency of the devices to convert
dc power into ac frequency.
Abstract: The modern telecommunication industry demands
higher capacity networks with high data rate. Orthogonal frequency
division multiplexing (OFDM) is a promising technique for high data
rate wireless communications at reasonable complexity in wireless
channels. OFDM has been adopted for many types of wireless
systems like wireless local area networks such as IEEE 802.11a, and
digital audio/video broadcasting (DAB/DVB). The proposed research
focuses on a concatenated coding scheme that improve the
performance of OFDM based wireless communications. It uses a
Redundant Residue Number System (RRNS) code as the outer code
and a convolutional code as the inner code. Here, a direct conversion
of analog signal to residue domain is done to reduce the conversion
complexity using sigma-delta based parallel analog-to-residue
converter. The bit error rate (BER) performances of the proposed
system under different channel conditions are investigated. These
include the effect of additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN),
multipath delay spread, peak power clipping and frame start
synchronization error. The simulation results show that the proposed
RRNS-Convolutional concatenated coding (RCCC) scheme provides
significant improvement in the system performance by exploiting the
inherent properties of RRNS.
Abstract: Ethanol is generally used as a therapeutic reagent against Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC or hepatoma) worldwide, as it can induce Hepatocellular carcinoma cell apoptosis at low concentration through a multifactorial process regulated by several unknown proteins. This paper provides a simple and available proteomic strategy for exploring differentially expressed proteins in the apoptotic pathway. The appropriate concentrations of ethanol required to induce HepG2 cell apoptosis were first assessed by MTT assay, Gisma and fluorescence staining. Next, the central proteins involved in the apoptosis pathway processs were determined using 2D-PAGE, SDS-PAGE, and bio-software analysis. Finally the downregulation of two proteins, AFP and survivin, were determined by immunocytochemistry and reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) technology. The simple, useful method demonstrated here provides a new approach to proteomic analysis in key bio-regulating process including proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, immunity and metastasis.
Abstract: We have measured the pressure drop and convective
heat transfer coefficient of water – based AL(25nm),AL2O3(30nm)
and CuO(50nm) Nanofluids flowing through a uniform heated
circular tube in the fully developed laminar flow regime. The
experimental results show that the data for Nanofluids friction factor
show a good agreement with analytical prediction from the Darcy's
equation for single-phase flow. After reducing the experimental
results to the form of Reynolds, Rayleigh and Nusselt numbers. The
results show the local Nusselt number and temperature have
distribution with the non-dimensional axial distance from the tube
entry. Study decided that thenNanofluid as Newtonian fluids through
the design of the linear relationship between shear stress and the rate
of stress has been the study of three chains of the Nanofluid with
different concentrations and where the AL, AL2O3 and CuO – water
ranging from (0.25 - 2.5 vol %). In addition to measuring the four
properties of the Nanofluid in practice so as to ensure the validity of
equations of properties developed by the researchers in this area and
these properties is viscosity, specific heat, and density and found that
the difference does not exceed 3.5% for the experimental equations
between them and the practical. The study also demonstrated that the
amount of the increase in heat transfer coefficient for three types of
Nano fluid is AL, AL2O3, and CuO – Water and these ratios are
respectively (45%, 32%, 25%) with insulation and without insulation
(36%, 23%, 19%), and the statement of any of the cases the best
increase in heat transfer has been proven that using insulation is
better than not using it. I have been using three types of Nano
particles and one metallic Nanoparticle and two oxide Nanoparticle
and a statement, whichever gives the best increase in heat transfer.
Abstract: The problem of robust stability and robust stabilization for a class of discrete-time uncertain systems with time delay is investigated. Based on Tchebychev inequality, by constructing a new augmented Lyapunov function, some improved sufficient conditions ensuring exponential stability and stabilization are established. These conditions are expressed in the forms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), whose feasibility can be easily checked by using Matlab LMI Toolbox. Compared with some previous results derived in the literature, the new obtained criteria have less conservatism. Two numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the improvement and effectiveness of the proposed method.
Abstract: Mathematical programming has been applied to various
problems. For many actual problems, the assumption that the parameters
involved are deterministic known data is often unjustified. In
such cases, these data contain uncertainty and are thus represented
as random variables, since they represent information about the
future. Decision-making under uncertainty involves potential risk.
Stochastic programming is a commonly used method for optimization
under uncertainty. A stochastic programming problem with recourse
is referred to as a two-stage stochastic problem. In this study, we
consider a stochastic programming problem with simple integer
recourse in which the value of the recourse variable is restricted to a
multiple of a nonnegative integer. The algorithm of a dynamic slope
scaling procedure for solving this problem is developed by using a
property of the expected recourse function. Numerical experiments
demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is quite efficient. The
stochastic programming model defined in this paper is quite useful
for a variety of design and operational problems.
Abstract: While many studies have conducted the achievement
gap between groups of students in school districts, few studies have
utilized resilience research to investigate achievement gaps within
classrooms. This paper aims to summarize and discuss some recent
studies Waxman, Padr├│n, and their colleagues conducted, in which
they examined learning environment differences between resilient
and nonresilient students in reading and mathematics classrooms.
The classes consist of predominantly Hispanic elementary school
students from low-income families. These studies all incorporated
learning environment questionnaires and systematic observation
methods. Significant differences were found between resilient and
nonresilient students on their classroom learning environments and
classroom behaviors. The observation results indicate that the amount
and quality of teacher and student academic interaction are two of the
most influential variables that promote student outcomes. This paper
concludes by suggesting the following teacher practices to promote
resiliency in schools: (a) using feedback from classroom observation
and learning environment measures, (b) employing explicit teaching
practices; and (c) understanding students on a social and personal
level.
Abstract: To investigate the correspondence of theory and
practice, a successfully implemented Knowledge Management
System (KMS) is explored through the lens of Alavi and Leidner-s
proposed KMS framework for the analysis of an information system
in knowledge management (Framework-AISKM). The applied KMS
system was designed to manage curricular knowledge in a distributed
university environment. The motivation for the KMS is discussed
along with the types of knowledge necessary in an academic setting.
Elements of the KMS involved in all phases of capturing and
disseminating knowledge are described. As the KMS matures the
resulting data stores form the precursor to and the potential for
knowledge mining. The findings from this exploratory study indicate
substantial correspondence between the successful KMS and the
theory-based framework providing provisional confirmation for the
framework while suggesting factors that contributed to the system-s
success. Avenues for future work are described.
Abstract: Many exist studies always use Markov decision
processes (MDPs) in modeling optimal route choice in
stochastic, time-varying networks. However, taking many
variable traffic data and transforming them into optimal route
decision is a computational challenge by employing MDPs in
real transportation networks. In this paper we model finite
horizon MDPs using directed hypergraphs. It is shown that the
problem of route choice in stochastic, time-varying networks
can be formulated as a minimum cost hyperpath problem, and
it also can be solved in linear time. We finally demonstrate the
significant computational advantages of the introduced
methods.
Abstract: In this paper, we have proposed two novel plasmonic demultiplexing structures based on metal-insulator-metal surfaces which, beside their compact size, have a very good transmission spectrum. The impact of the key internal parameters on the transmission spectrum is numerically analyzed by using the twodimensional (2D) finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. The proposed structures could be used to develop ultra-compact photonic wavelength demultiplexing devices for large-scale photonic integration.
Abstract: Physical education (PE) is still neglected in schools
despite its academic, social, psychological, and health benefits.
Based on the assumption that Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs) can contribute to the development of PE in
schools, this study aims to design a model of the factors affecting the
adoption of ICTs for PE in schools. The proposed model is based on
a sound theoretical framework. It was designed following a literature
review of technology adoption theories and of ICT adoption factors
for physical education. The technology adoption model that fitted to
the best all ICT adoption factors was then chosen as the basis for the
proposed model. It was found that the Unified Theory of Acceptance
and Use of Technology (UTAUT) is the most adequate theoretical
framework for the modeling of ICT adoption factors for physical
education.
Abstract: Injection molding is a very complicated process to
monitor and control. With its high complexity and many process
parameters, the optimization of these systems is a very challenging
problem. To meet the requirements and costs demanded by the
market, there has been an intense development and research with the
aim to maintain the process under control. This paper outlines the
latest advances in necessary algorithms for plastic injection process
and monitoring, and also a flexible data acquisition system that
allows rapid implementation of complex algorithms to assess their
correct performance and can be integrated in the quality control
process. This is the main topic of this paper. Finally, to demonstrate
the performance achieved by this combination, a real case of use is
presented.
Abstract: A novel PDE solver using the multidimensional wave
digital filtering (MDWDF) technique to achieve the solution of a 2D
seismic wave system is presented. In essence, the continuous physical
system served by a linear Kirchhoff circuit is transformed to an
equivalent discrete dynamic system implemented by a MD wave
digital filtering (MDWDF) circuit. This amounts to numerically
approximating the differential equations used to describe elements of a
MD passive electronic circuit by a grid-based difference equations
implemented by the so-called state quantities within the passive
MDWDF circuit. So the digital model can track the wave field on a
dense 3D grid of points. Details about how to transform the continuous
system into a desired discrete passive system are addressed. In
addition, initial and boundary conditions are properly embedded into
the MDWDF circuit in terms of state quantities. Graphic results have
clearly demonstrated some physical effects of seismic wave (P-wave
and S–wave) propagation including radiation, reflection, and
refraction from and across the hard boundaries. Comparison between
the MDWDF technique and the finite difference time domain (FDTD)
approach is also made in terms of the computational efficiency.
Abstract: Long term rainfall analysis and prediction is a
challenging task especially in the modern world where the impact of
global warming is creating complications in environmental issues.
These factors which are data intensive require high performance
computational modeling for accurate prediction. This research paper
describes a prototype which is designed and developed on grid
environment using a number of coupled software infrastructural
building blocks. This grid enabled system provides the demanding
computational power, efficiency, resources, user-friendly interface,
secured job submission and high throughput. The results obtained
using sequential execution and grid enabled execution shows that
computational performance has enhanced among 36% to 75%, for
decade of climate parameters. Large variation in performance can be
attributed to varying degree of computational resources available for
job execution.
Grid Computing enables the dynamic runtime selection, sharing
and aggregation of distributed and autonomous resources which plays
an important role not only in business, but also in scientific
implications and social surroundings. This research paper attempts to
explore the grid enabled computing capabilities on weather indices
from HOAPS data for climate impact modeling and change
detection.
Abstract: Enzymatic saccharification of biomass for reducing
sugar production is one of the crucial processes in biofuel production
through biochemical conversion. In this study, enzymatic
saccharification of dilute potassium hydroxide (KOH) pre-treated
Tetraselmis suecica biomass was carried out by using cellulase
enzyme obtained from Trichoderma longibrachiatum. Initially, the
pre-treatment conditions were optimised by changing alkali reagent
concentration, retention time for reaction, and temperature. The T.
suecica biomass after pre-treatment was also characterized using
Fourier Transform Infrared Spectra and Scanning Electron
Microscope. These analyses revealed that the functional group such
as acetyl and hydroxyl groups, structure and surface of T. suecica
biomass were changed through pre-treatment, which is favourable for
enzymatic saccharification process. Comparison of enzymatic
saccharification of untreated and pre-treated microalgal biomass
indicated that higher level of reducing sugar can be obtained from
pre-treated T. suecica. Enzymatic saccharification of pre-treated T.
suecica biomass was optimised by changing temperature, pH, and
enzyme concentration to solid ratio ([E]/[S]). Highest conversion of
carbohydrate into reducing sugar of 95% amounted to reducing sugar
yield of 20 (wt%) from pre-treated T. suecica was obtained from
saccharification, at temperature: 40°C, pH: 4.5 and [E]/[S] of 0.1
after 72 h of incubation. Hydrolysate obtained from enzymatic
saccharification of pretreated T. suecica biomass was further
fermented into biobutanol using Clostridium saccharoperbutyliticum
as biocatalyst. The results from this study demonstrate a positive
prospect of application of dilute alkaline pre-treatment to enhance
enzymatic saccharification and biobutanol production from
microalgal biomass.
Abstract: The Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) is a collection of self-configuring and rapidly deployed mobile nodes (routers) without any central infrastructure. Routing is one of the potential issues. Many routing protocols are reported but it is difficult to decide which one is best in all scenarios. In this paper on demand routing protocols DSR and DYMO based on IEEE 802.11 DCF MAC protocol are examined and characteristic summary of these routing protocols is presented. Their performance is analyzed and compared on performance measuring metrics throughput, dropped packets due to non availability of routes, duplicate RREQ generated for route discovery and normalized routing load by varying CBR data traffic load using QualNet 5.0.2 network simulator.
Abstract: This paper studies the mean square exponential synchronization problem of a class of stochastic neutral type chaotic neural networks with mixed delay. On the Basis of Lyapunov stability theory, some sufficient conditions ensuring the mean square exponential synchronization of two identical chaotic neural networks are obtained by using stochastic analysis and inequality technique. These conditions are expressed in the form of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), whose feasibility can be easily checked by using Matlab LMI Toolbox. The feedback controller used in this paper is more general than those used in previous literatures. One simulation example is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the derived results.
Abstract: Every organization is continually subject to new damages and threats which can be resulted from their operations or their goal accomplishment. Methods of providing the security of space and applied tools have been widely changed with increasing application and development of information technology (IT). From this viewpoint, information security management systems were evolved to construct and prevent reiterating the experienced methods. In general, the correct response in information security management systems requires correct decision making, which in turn requires the comprehensive effort of managers and everyone involved in each plan or decision making. Obviously, all aspects of work or decision are not defined in all decision making conditions; therefore, the possible or certain risks should be considered when making decisions. This is the subject of risk management and it can influence the decisions. Investigation of different approaches in the field of risk management demonstrates their progress from quantitative to qualitative methods with a process approach.