Abstract: Lipases are enzymes particularly amenable for
immobilization by entrapment methods, as they can work equally
well in aqueous or non-conventional media and long-time stability of
enzyme activity and enantioselectivity is needed to elaborate more
efficient bioprocesses. The improvement of Pseudomonas
fluorescens (Amano AK) lipase characteristics was investigated by
optimizing the immobilization procedure in hybrid organic-inorganic
matrices using ionic liquids as additives. Ionic liquids containing a
more hydrophobic alkyl group in the cationic moiety are beneficial
for the activity of immobilized lipase. Silanes with alkyl- or aryl
nonhydrolizable groups used as precursors in combination with
tetramethoxysilane could generate composites with higher
enantioselectivity compared to the native enzyme in acylation
reactions of secondary alcohols. The optimal effect on both activity
and enantioselectivity was achieved for the composite made from
octyltrimethoxysilane and tetramethoxysilane at 1:1 molar ratio (60%
increase of total activity following immobilization and enantiomeric
ratio of 30). Ionic liquids also demonstrated valuable properties as
reaction media for the studied reactions, comparable with the usual
organic solvent, hexane.
Abstract: The selection of parents and breeding strategies for
the successful maize hybrid production will be facilitated by
heterotic groupings of parental lines and determination of combining
abilities of them. Fourteen maize inbred lines, used in maize breeding
programs in Iran, were crossed in a diallel mating design. The 91 F1
hybrids and the 14 parental lines were studied during two years at
four locations of Iran for investigation of combining ability of
gentypes for grain yield and to determine heterotic patterns among
germplasm sources, using both, the Griffing-s method and the biplot
approach for diallel analysis. The graphical representation offered by
biplot analysis allowed a rapid and effective overview of general
combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA)
effects of the inbred lines, their performance in crosses, as well as
grouping patterns of similar genotypes. GCA and SCA effects were
significant for grain yield (GY). Based on significant positive GCA
effects, the lines derived from LSC could be used as parent in crosses
to increase GY. The maximum best- parent heterosis values and
highest SCA effects resulted from crosses B73 × MO17 and A679 ×
MO17 for GY. The best heterotic patterns were LSC × RYD, which
would be potentially useful in maize breeding programs to obtain
high-yielding hybrids in the same climate of Iran.
Abstract: An efficient architecture for low jitter All Digital
Phase Locked Loop (ADPLL) suitable for high speed SoC
applications is presented in this paper. The ADPLL is designed using
standard cells and described by Hardware Description Language
(HDL). The ADPLL implemented in a 90 nm CMOS process can
operate from 10 to 200 MHz and achieve worst case frequency
acquisition in 14 reference clock cycles. The simulation result shows
that PLL has cycle to cycle jitter of 164 ps and period jitter of 100 ps
at 100MHz. Since the digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) can
achieve both high resolution and wide frequency range, it can meet
the demands of system-level integration. The proposed ADPLL can
easily be ported to different processes in a short time. Thus, it can
reduce the design time and design complexity of the ADPLL, making
it very suitable for System-on-Chip (SoC) applications.
Abstract: Recurrent event data is a special type of multivariate
survival data. Dynamic and frailty models are one of the approaches
that dealt with this kind of data. A comparison between these two
models is studied using the empirical standard deviation of the
standardized martingale residual processes as a way of assessing the
fit of the two models based on the Aalen additive regression model.
Here we found both approaches took heterogeneity into account and
produce residual standard deviations close to each other both in the
simulation study and in the real data set.
Abstract: The study of tourist activities and the mapping of their routes in space and time has become an important issue in tourism management. Here we represent space-time paths for the tourism industry by visualizing individual tourist activities and the paths followed using a 3D Geographic Information System (GIS). Considerable attention has been devoted to the measurement of accessibility to shopping, eating, walking and other services at the tourist destination. I turns out that GIS is a useful tool for studying the spatial behaviors of tourists in the area. The value of GIS is especially advantageous for space-time potential path area measures, especially for the accurate visualization of possible paths through existing city road networks. This study seeks to apply space-time concepts with a detailed street network map obtained from Google Maps to measure tourist paths both spatially and temporally. These paths are further determined based on data obtained from map questionnaires regarding the trip activities of 40 individuals. The analysis of the data makes it possible to determining the locations of the more popular paths. The results can be visualized using 3D GIS to show the areas and potential activity opportunities accessible to tourists during their travel time.
Abstract: Dengue disease is an infectious vector-borne viral
disease that is commonly found in tropical and sub-tropical regions,
especially in urban and semi-urban areas, around the world and
including Malaysia. There is no currently available vaccine or
chemotherapy for the prevention or treatment of dengue disease.
Therefore prevention and treatment of the disease depend on vector
surveillance and control measures. Disease risk mapping has been
recognized as an important tool in the prevention and control
strategies for diseases. The choice of statistical model used for
relative risk estimation is important as a good model will
subsequently produce a good disease risk map. Therefore, the aim of
this study is to estimate the relative risk for dengue disease based
initially on the most common statistic used in disease mapping called
Standardized Morbidity Ratio (SMR) and one of the earliest
applications of Bayesian methodology called Poisson-gamma model.
This paper begins by providing a review of the SMR method, which
we then apply to dengue data of Perak, Malaysia. We then fit an
extension of the SMR method, which is the Poisson-gamma model.
Both results are displayed and compared using graph, tables and
maps. Results of the analysis shows that the latter method gives a
better relative risk estimates compared with using the SMR. The
Poisson-gamma model has been demonstrated can overcome the
problem of SMR when there is no observed dengue cases in certain
regions. However, covariate adjustment in this model is difficult and
there is no possibility for allowing spatial correlation between risks in
adjacent areas. The drawbacks of this model have motivated many
researchers to propose other alternative methods for estimating the
risk.
Abstract: This paper presents a numerical analysis of the
performance of a five-bladed Darrieus vertical-axis water turbine,
based on the NACA 0025 blade profile, for both bare and shrouded
configurations. A complete campaign of 2-D simulations, performed
for several values of tip speed ratio and based on RANS unsteady
calculations, has been performed to obtain the rotor torque and power
curves. Also the effect of a NACA-shaped central hydrofoil has been
investigated, with the aim of evaluating the impact of a solid
blockage on the performance of the shrouded rotor configuration.
The beneficial effect of the shroud on rotor overall performances
has clearly been evidenced, while the adoption of the central
hydrofoil has proved to be detrimental, being the resulting flow slow
down (due to the presence of the obstacle) much higher with respect
to the flow acceleration (due to the solid blockage effect).
Abstract: Performance of a cobalt doped sol-gel derived silica (Co/SiO2) catalyst for Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) in slurryphase reactor was studied using paraffin wax as initial liquid media. The reactive mixed gas, hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO) in a molar ratio of 2:1, was flowed at 50 ml/min. Braunauer-Emmett- Teller (BET) surface area and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques were employed to characterize both the specific surface area and crystallinity of the catalyst, respectively. The reduction behavior of Co/SiO2 catalyst was investigated using the Temperature Programmmed Reduction (TPR) method. Operating temperatures were varied from 493 to 533K to find the optimum conditions to maximize liquid fuels production, gasoline and diesel.
Abstract: This paper is motivated by the aspect of uncertainty in
financial decision making, and how artificial intelligence and soft
computing, with its uncertainty reducing aspects can be used for
algorithmic trading applications that trade in high frequency.
This paper presents an optimized high frequency trading system that
has been combined with various moving averages to produce a hybrid
system that outperforms trading systems that rely solely on moving
averages. The paper optimizes an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference
system that takes both the price and its moving average as input,
learns to predict price movements from training data consisting of
intraday data, dynamically switches between the best performing
moving averages, and performs decision making of when to buy or
sell a certain currency in high frequency.
Abstract: The e-government emerging concept transforms the
way in which the citizens are dealing with their governments. Thus,
the citizens can execute the intended services online anytime and
anywhere. This results in great benefits for both the governments
(reduces the number of officers) and the citizens (more flexibility and
time saving). Therefore, building a maturity model to assess the egovernment
portals becomes desired to help in the improvement
process of such portals. This paper aims at proposing an egovernment
maturity model based on the measurement of the best
practices’ presence. The main benefit of such maturity model is to
provide a way to rank an e-government portal based on the used best
practices, and also giving a set of recommendations to go to the
higher stage in the maturity model.
Abstract: A numerical simulation of micro Poiseuille flow has
performed for rarefied and compressible flow at slip flow regimes.
The wall roughness is simulated in two cases with triangular
microelements and random micro peaks distributed on wall surfaces
to study the effects of roughness shape and distribution on flow field.
Two values of Mach and Knudsen numbers have used to investigate
the effects of rarefaction as well as compressibility. The numerical
results have also checked with available theoretical and experimental
relations and good agreements has achieved. High influence of
roughness shape can be seen for both compressible and
incompressible rarefied flows. In addition it is found that rarefaction
has more significant effect on flow field in microchannels with
higher relative roughness. It is also found that compressibility has
more significant effects on Poiseuille number when relative
roughness increases.
Abstract: The complex hybrid and nonlinear nature of many processes that are met in practice causes problems with both structure modelling and parameter identification; therefore, obtaining a model that is suitable for MPC is often a difficult task. The basic idea of this paper is to present an identification method for a piecewise affine (PWA) model based on a fuzzy clustering algorithm. First we introduce the PWA model. Next, we tackle the identification method. We treat the fuzzy clustering algorithm, deal with the projections of the fuzzy clusters into the input space of the PWA model and explain the estimation of the parameters of the PWA model by means of a modified least-squares method. Furthermore, we verify the usability of the proposed identification approach on a hybrid nonlinear batch reactor example. The result suggest that the batch reactor can be efficiently identified and thus formulated as a PWA model, which can eventually be used for model predictive control purposes.
Abstract: This paper presents kinematic and dynamic analysis of a novel 8-DOF hybrid robot manipulator. The hybrid robot manipulator under consideration consists of a parallel robot which
is followed by a serial mechanism. The parallel mechanism has three translational DOF, and the serial mechanism has five DOF so that the overall degree of freedom is eight. The introduced
manipulator has a wide workspace and a high capability to reduce
the actuating energy. The inverse and forward kinematic solutions are described in closed form. The theoretical results are verified by
a numerical example. Inverse dynamic analysis of the robot is presented by utilizing the Iterative Newton-Euler and Lagrange dynamic formulation methods. Finally, for performing a multi-step
arc welding process, results have indicated that the introduced manipulator is highly capable of reducing the actuating energy.
Abstract: This paper presents the use of anti-sway angle control
approaches for a two-dimensional gantry crane with disturbances
effect in the dynamic system. Delayed feedback signal (DFS) and
proportional-derivative (PD)-type fuzzy logic controller are the
techniques used in this investigation to actively control the sway
angle of the rope of gantry crane system. A nonlinear overhead
gantry crane system is considered and the dynamic model of the
system is derived using the Euler-Lagrange formulation. A complete
analysis of simulation results for each technique is presented in time
domain and frequency domain respectively. Performances of both
controllers are examined in terms of sway angle suppression and
disturbances cancellation. Finally, a comparative assessment of the
impact of each controller on the system performance is presented and
discussed.
Abstract: Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopic imaging
is an emerging technique that provides both chemically and
spatially resolved information. The rich chemical content of data
may be utilized for computer-aided determinations of structure and
pathologic state (cancer diagnosis) in histological tissue sections for
prostate cancer. FT-IR spectroscopic imaging of prostate tissue has
shown that tissue type (histological) classification can be performed to
a high degree of accuracy [1] and cancer diagnosis can be performed
with an accuracy of about 80% [2] on a microscopic (≈ 6μm)
length scale. In performing these analyses, it has been observed
that there is large variability (more than 60%) between spectra from
different points on tissue that is expected to consist of the same
essential chemical constituents. Spectra at the edges of tissues are
characteristically and consistently different from chemically similar
tissue in the middle of the same sample. Here, we explain these
differences using a rigorous electromagnetic model for light-sample
interaction. Spectra from FT-IR spectroscopic imaging of chemically
heterogeneous samples are different from bulk spectra of individual
chemical constituents of the sample. This is because spectra not
only depend on chemistry, but also on the shape of the sample.
Using coupled wave analysis, we characterize and quantify the nature
of spectral distortions at the edges of tissues. Furthermore, we
present a method of performing histological classification of tissue
samples. Since the mid-infrared spectrum is typically assumed to
be a quantitative measure of chemical composition, classification
results can vary widely due to spectral distortions. However, we
demonstrate that the selection of localized metrics based on chemical
information can make our data robust to the spectral distortions
caused by scattering at the tissue boundary.
Abstract: Since injection engines have a considerable portion, in
consumption of energy and environmental pollution, using an
alternative source of energy with lower pollutant effects in this
regard is necessary.
Biodiesel fuel is a suitable alternative for gasoline in diesel
engines.
In this research the property of biodiesel, the function and the
pollution effects of diesel engine, when using 100% biodiesel, using
100% gasoline and mixing ratio of both fuels for comparing them,
have been investigated.
The researches have shown, using biodiesel fuel in prevalent
diesel engine, will reduce the pollutants such as Co, half burned
carbohydrate and suspended particles and a little increase in
oxidation will achieve while power consumption, particularly fuel
and thermal efficiency of diesel fuel has the same.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the adjust-
ment of solar shading devices in office buildings in two different
seasons by occupants, and its influence on the lighting control and
indoor illuminance levels. The results show that occupants take
inappropriate measures both in reducing solar radiation in summer
and in admitting solar gains in winter, resulting in an increase in
lighting energy and a reduction in indoor illuminance. Therefore,
movable shading devices, controlled automatically, are suitable for
building applications to reduce energy consumption.
Abstract: In this paper, we present a comparative study between two computer vision systems for objects recognition and tracking, these algorithms describe two different approach based on regions constituted by a set of pixels which parameterized objects in shot sequences. For the image segmentation and objects detection, the FCM technique is used, the overlapping between cluster's distribution is minimized by the use of suitable color space (other that the RGB one). The first technique takes into account a priori probabilities governing the computation of various clusters to track objects. A Parzen kernel method is described and allows identifying the players in each frame, we also show the importance of standard deviation value research of the Gaussian probability density function. Region matching is carried out by an algorithm that operates on the Mahalanobis distance between region descriptors in two subsequent frames and uses singular value decomposition to compute a set of correspondences satisfying both the principle of proximity and the principle of exclusion.
Abstract: Supersonic hydrogen-air cylindrical mixing layer is
numerically analyzed to investigate the effect of inlet swirl on
ignition time delay in scramjets. Combustion is treated using detail
chemical kinetics. One-equation turbulence model of Spalart and
Allmaras is chosen to study the problem and advection upstream
splitting method is used as computational scheme. The results show
that swirling both fuel and oxidizer streams may drastically decrease
the ignition distance in supersonic combustion, unlike using the swirl
just in fuel stream which has no helpful effect.