Abstract: The term private equity usually refers to any type of
equity investment in an asset in which the equity is not freely
tradable on a public stock market. Some researchers believe that
private equity contributed to the extent of the crisis and increased
the pace of its spread over the world. We do not agree with this.
On the other hand, we argue that during the economic recession
private equity might become an important source of funds for firms
with special needs (e.g. for firms seeking buyout financing, venture
capital, expansion capital or distress debt financing). However,
over-regulation of private equity in both the European Union and
the US can slow down this specific funding channel to the
economy and deepen credit crunch during global crises.
Abstract: Baltic competitiveness is quite controversial. In a
situation with the rapid structural changes, economy develops in
balance very rarely - in different fields will always be more rapid
changes in another more stagnation.
Analyzing different economic indices developed by international
organizations the situation in three Baltic countries are described
from a different competitiveness positions highlighting strengths and
weaknesses of each country.
Exploring the openness of the economy, it is possible to observe
certain risks included in the reports describing situation of
competitiveness where government policies competing in the tax
system, the rates of labour market policies, investment environment,
etc. This is a very important factor resulting in competitive
advantage.
Baltic countries are still at a weak position from a technological
perspective, and need to borrow the knowledge and technology from
more developed countries.
Abstract: Within the domain of Systems Engineering the need
to perform property aggregation to understand, analyze and manage
complex systems is unequivocal. This can be seen in numerous
domains such as capability analysis, Mission Essential Competencies
(MEC) and Critical Design Features (CDF). Furthermore, the need
to consider uncertainty propagation as well as the sensitivity of
related properties within such analysis is equally as important when
determining a set of critical properties within such a system.
This paper describes this property breakdown in a number of
domains within Systems Engineering and, within the area of CDFs,
emphasizes the importance of uncertainty analysis. As part of this, a
section of the paper describes possible techniques which may be used
within uncertainty propagation and in conclusion an example is
described utilizing one of the techniques for property and uncertainty
aggregation within an aircraft system to aid the determination of
Critical Design Features.
Abstract: The world-s largest Pre-stressed Concrete Cylinder
Pipe (PCCP) water supply project had a series of pipe failures which
occurred between 1999 and 2001. This has led the Man-Made River
Authority (MMRA), the authority in charge of the implementation
and operation of the project, to setup a rehabilitation plan for the
conveyance system while maintaining the uninterrupted flow of
water to consumers. At the same time, MMRA recognized the need
for a long term management tool that would facilitate repair and
maintenance decisions and enable taking the appropriate preventive
measures through continuous monitoring and estimation of the
remaining life of each pipe. This management tool is known as the
Pipe Risk Management System (PRMS) and now in operation at
MMRA. Both the rehabilitation plan and the PRMS require the
availability of complete and accurate pipe construction and
manufacturing data
This paper describes a systematic approach of data collection,
analysis, evaluation and correction for the construction and
manufacturing data files of phase I pipes which are the platform for
the PRMS database and any other related decision support system.
Abstract: Whole genome duplication (WGD) increased the
number of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae chromosomes from 8 to
16. In spite of retention the number of chromosomes in the genome
of this organism after WGD to date, chromosomal rearrangement
events have caused an evolutionary distance between current genome
and its ancestor. Studies under evolutionary-based approaches on
eukaryotic genomes have shown that the rearrangement distance is an
approximable problem. In the case of S. cerevisiae, we describe that
rearrangement distance is accessible by using dedoubled adjacency
graph drawn for 55 large paired chromosomal regions originated
from WGD. Then, we provide a program extracted from a C program
database to draw a dedoubled genome adjacency graph for S.
cerevisiae. From a bioinformatical perspective, using the duplicated
blocks of current genome in S. cerevisiae, we infer that genomic
organization of eukaryotes has the potential to provide valuable
detailed information about their ancestrygenome.
Abstract: Power cables are vulnerable to failure due to aging or
defects that occur with the passage of time under continuous
operation and loading stresses. PD detection and characterization
provide information on the location, nature, form and extent of the
degradation. As a result, PD monitoring has become an important
part of condition based maintenance (CBM) program among power
utilities. Online partial discharge (PD) localization of defect sources
in power cable system is possible using the time of flight method.
The information regarding the time difference between the main and
reflected pulses and cable length can help in locating the partial
discharge source along the cable length. However, if the length of
the cable is not known and the defect source is located at the extreme
ends of the cable or in the middle of the cable, then double ended
measurement is required to indicate the location of PD source. Use of
multiple sensors can also help in discriminating the cable PD or local/
external PD. This paper presents the experience and results from
online partial discharge measurements conducted in the laboratory
and the challenges in partial discharge source localization.
Abstract: In this study, effects of premixed and equivalence
ratios on CO and HC emissions of a dual fuel HCCI engine are
investigated. Tests were conducted on a single-cylinder engine with
compression ratio of 17.5. Premixed gasoline is provided by a
carburetor connected to intake manifold and equipped with a screw
to adjust premixed air-fuel ratio, and diesel fuel is injected directly
into the cylinder through an injector at pressure of 250 bars. A heater
placed at inlet manifold is used to control the intake charge
temperature. Optimal intake charge temperature results in better
HCCI combustion due to formation of a homogeneous mixture,
therefore, all tests were carried out over the optimum intake
temperature of 110-115 ºC. Timing of diesel fuel injection has a great
effect on stratification of in-cylinder charge and plays an important
role in HCCI combustion phasing. Experiments indicated 35 BTDC
as the optimum injection timing. Varying the coolant temperature in
a range of 40 to 70 ºC, better HCCI combustion was achieved at 50
ºC. Therefore, coolant temperature was maintained 50 ºC during all
tests. Simultaneous investigation of effective parameters on HCCI
combustion was conducted to determine optimum parameters
resulting in fast transition to HCCI combustion. One of the
advantages of the method studied in this study is feasibility of easy
and fast transition of typical diesel engine to a dual fuel HCCI
engine. Results show that increasing premixed ratio, while keeping
EGR rate constant, increases unburned hydrocarbon (UHC)
emissions due to quenching phenomena and trapping of premixed
fuel in crevices, but CO emission decreases due to increase in CO to
CO2 reactions.
Abstract: Visually impaired people find it extremely difficult to
acquire basic and vital information necessary for their living.
Therefore, they are at a very high risk of being socially excluded as a
result of poor access to information. In recent years, several attempts
have been made in improving the communication methods for
visually impaired people which involve tactile sensation such as
finger Braille, manual alphabets and the print on palm method and
several other electronic devices. But, there are some problems which
arise in such methods such as lack of privacy and lack of
compatibility to computer environment. This paper describes a low
cost Braille hand glove for blind people using slot sensors and
vibration motors with the help of which they can read and write emails,
text messages and read e-books. This glove allows the person
to type characters based on different Braille combination using six
slot sensors. The vibration in six different positions of the glove
which matches to the Braille code allows them to read characters.
Abstract: This paper presents three models which enable the
customisation of Universal Description, Discovery and Integration
(UDDI) query results, based on some pre-defined and/or real-time
changing parameters. These proposed models detail the requirements,
design and techniques which make ranking of Web service discovery
results from a service registry possible. Our contribution is two fold:
First, we present an extension to the UDDI inquiry capabilities. This
enables a private UDDI registry owner to customise or rank the query
results, based on its business requirements. Second, our proposal
utilises existing technologies and standards which require minimal
changes to existing UDDI interfaces or its data structures. We believe
these models will serve as valuable reference for enhancing the
service discovery methods within a private UDDI registry
environment.
Abstract: In this paper, we present an analytical analysis of the
representation of images as the magnitudes of their transform with
the discrete wavelets. Such a representation plays as a model for
complex cells in the early stage of visual processing and of high
technical usefulness for image understanding, because it makes the
representation insensitive to small local shifts. We found that if the
signals are band limited and of zero mean, then reconstruction from
the magnitudes is unique up to the sign for almost all signals. We
also present an iterative reconstruction algorithm which yields very
good reconstruction up to the sign minor numerical errors in the very
low frequencies.
Abstract: The crossed cube is one of the most notable variations of hypercube, but some properties of the former are superior to those of the latter. For example, the diameter of the crossed cube is almost the half of that of the hypercube. In this paper, we focus on the problem embedding a Hamiltonian cycle through an arbitrary given edge in the crossed cube. We give necessary and sufficient condition for determining whether a given permutation with n elements over Zn generates a Hamiltonian cycle pattern of the crossed cube. Moreover, we obtain a lower bound for the number of different Hamiltonian cycles passing through a given edge in an n-dimensional crossed cube. Our work extends some recently obtained results.
Abstract: In this paper we present a soft timing phase estimation (STPE) method for wireless mobile receivers operating in low signal to noise ratios (SNRs). Discrete Polyphase Matched (DPM) filters, a Log-maximum a posterior probability (MAP) and/or a Soft-output Viterbi algorithm (SOVA) are combined to derive a new timing recovery (TR) scheme. We apply this scheme to wireless cellular communication system model that comprises of a raised cosine filter (RCF), a bit-interleaved turbo-coded multi-level modulation (BITMM) scheme and the channel is assumed to be memory-less. Furthermore, no clock signals are transmitted to the receiver contrary to the classical data aided (DA) models. This new model ensures that both the bandwidth and power of the communication system is conserved. However, the computational complexity of ideal turbo synchronization is increased by 50%. Several simulation tests on bit error rate (BER) and block error rate (BLER) versus low SNR reveal that the proposed iterative soft timing recovery (ISTR) scheme outperforms the conventional schemes.
Abstract: Happening of Ferroresonance phenomenon is one of the reasons of consuming and ruining transformers, so recognition of Ferroresonance phenomenon has a special importance. A novel method for classification of Ferroresonance presented in this paper. Using this method Ferroresonance can be discriminate from other transients such as capacitor switching, load switching, transformer switching. Wavelet transform is used for decomposition of signals and Competitive Neural Network used for classification. Ferroresonance data and other transients was obtained by simulation using EMTP program. Using Daubechies wavelet transform signals has been decomposed till six levels. The energy of six detailed signals that obtained by wavelet transform are used for training and trailing Competitive Neural Network. Results show that the proposed procedure is efficient in identifying Ferroresonance from other events.
Abstract: We consider the topological entropy of maps that in
general, cannot be described by one-dimensional dynamics. In particular,
we show that for a multivalued map F generated by singlevalued
maps, the topological entropy of any of the single-value map bounds the topological entropy of F from below.
Abstract: Endemic Artemia franciscana populations can be found throughout the American continent and also as an introduced specie in several country all over the world, such as in the Mediterranean region where Artemia franciscana was identified as an invasive specie replacing native Artemia parthenogenetica and Artemia salina. In the present study, the characterization of the new invasive Artemia franciscana reported from Sabkhet Halk El-Menzel (Tunisia) was done based on the cysts biometry, nauplii instar-I length, Adult sexual dimorphism and fatty acid profile. The mean value of the diameter of non-decapsulated and decapsulated cysts, chorion thickness and naupliar length is 235.8, 226.3, 4.75 and 426.8 μm, respectively. Sexual dimorphism for adults specimen showed that maximal distance between compound eyes, diameter for compound eyes, length of first antenna and the abdomen length compared to the total body length ratio, are the most important variables for males and females discrimination with a total contribution of 62.39 %. The analysis of fatty acid methyl esters profile of decapsulated cysts resulted in low levels of linolenic acid (LLA, C18:3n-3) and high levels of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, C20:5n-3) with 3.11 and 11.10 %, respectively. Low quantity of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3) was also observed with 0.17 mg.g-1 dry weight.
Abstract: Next generation networks with the idea of convergence of service and control layer in existing networks (fixed, mobile and data) and with the intention of providing services in an integrated network, has opened new horizon for telecom operators. On the other hand, economic problems have caused operators to look for new source of income including consider new services, subscription of more users and their promotion in using morenetwork resources and easy participation of service providers or 3rd party operators in utilizing networks. With this requirement, an architecture based on next generation objectives for service layer is necessary. In this paper, a new architecture based on IMS model explains participation of 3rd party operators in creation and implementation of services on an integrated telecom network.
Abstract: The advances in wireless communication have opened unlimited horizons but there are some challenges as well. The Nature derived air medium between MS (Mobile Station) and BS (Base Station) is beyond human control and produces channel impairment. The impact of the natural conditions at the air medium is the biggest issue in wireless communication. Natural conditions make reliability more cumbersome; here reliability refers to the efficient recovery of the lost or erroneous data. The SR-ARQ (Selective Repeat-Automatic Repeat Request) protocol is a de facto standard for any wireless technology at the air interface with its standard reliability features. Our focus in this research is on the reliability of the control or feedback signal of the SR-ARQ protocol. The proposed mechanism, RSR-ARQ (Reliable SR-ARQ) is an enhancement of the SR-ARQ protocol that has ensured the reliability of the control signals through channel impairment sensitive mechanism. We have modeled the system under two-state discrete time Markov Channel. The simulation results demonstrate the better recovery of the lost or erroneous data that will increase the overall system performance.
Abstract: Apart from geometry, functionality is one of the most
significant hallmarks of a product. The functionality of a product can
be considered as the fundamental justification for a product
existence. Therefore a functional analysis including a complete and
reliable descriptor has a high potential to improve product
development process in various fields especially in knowledge-based
design. One of the important applications of the functional analysis
and indexing is in retrieval and design reuse concept. More than 75%
of design activity for a new product development contains reusing
earlier and existing design know-how. Thus, analysis and
categorization of product functions concluded by functional
indexing, influences directly in design optimization. This paper
elucidates and evaluates major classes for functional analysis by
discussing their major methods. Moreover it is finalized by
presenting a noble hybrid approach for functional analysis.
Abstract: Today-s manufacturing companies are facing multiple and dynamic customer-supplier-relationships embedded in nonhierarchical production networks. This complex environment leads to problems with delivery reliability and wasteful turbulences throughout the entire network. This paper describes an operational model based on a theoretical framework which improves delivery reliability of each individual customer-supplier-relationship within non-hierarchical production networks of the European machinery and equipment industry. By developing a non-centralized coordination mechanism based on determining the value of delivery reliability and derivation of an incentive system for suppliers the number of in time deliveries can be increased and thus the turbulences in the production network smoothened. Comparable to an electronic stock exchange the coordination mechanism will transform the manual and nontransparent process of determining penalties for delivery delays into an automated and transparent market mechanism creating delivery reliability.
Abstract: In this paper spatial variability of some chemical and
physical soil properties were investigated in mountain rangelands of
Nesho, Mazandaran province, Iran. 110 soil samples from 0-30 cm
depth were taken with systematic method on grid 30×30 m2 in
regions with different vegetation cover and transported to laboratory.
Then soil chemical and physical parameters including Acidity (pH),
Electrical conductivity, Caco3, Bulk density, Particle density, total
phosphorus, total Nitrogen, available potassium, Organic matter,
Saturation moisture, Soil texture (percentage of sand, silt and clay),
Sodium, Calcium, magnesium were measured in laboratory. Data
normalization was performed then was done statistical analysis for
description of soil properties and geostatistical analysis for indication
spatial correlation between these properties and were perpetrated
maps of spatial distribution of soil properties using Kriging method.
Results indicated that in the study area Saturation moisture and
percentage of Sand had highest and lowest spatial correlation
respectively.