Abstract: Environment today is featured with aging population,
increasing prevalence of chronic disease and complex of medical
treatment. Safe use of pharmaceutics relied very much on the efforts
made by both the health- related organizations and as well as the
government agencies. As far as the specialization concern in providing
health services to the patients, the government actively issued and
implemented the divisions of medical treatment and pharmaceutical to
improve the quality of care and to reduce medication errors and ensure
public health. Pharmaceutical sub-sector policy has been implemented
for 13 years. This study attempts to explore the factors that affect the
patients- behavior intention of refilling a prescription from a NHIB
pharmacy. Samples were those patients refilling their prescriptions
with the case NHIB pharmacies. A self-administered questionnaire
was used to collect respondents- information while the patients or
family members visit the pharmacy for the refilling. 1,200
questionnaires were dispatched in 37 pharmacies that randomly
selected from Pingtung City, Dongkang, Chaozhou, Hengchun areas.
732 responses were gained with 604 valid samples for further analyses.
Results of data analyses indicated that respondents- attitude,
subjective norm, perceived behavior control and behavior intentions
toward refilling behavior varied from some demographic variables to
another. This research also suggested adding actual behavior, either by
a self-report or observed, into the research.
Abstract: The realization of current-mode quadrature oscillators
using current controlled current conveyor transconductance
amplifiers (CCCCTAs) and grounded capacitors is presented. The
proposed oscillators can provide 2 sinusoidal output currents with 90º
phase difference. It is enabled non-interactive dual-current control for
both the condition of oscillation and the frequency of oscillation.
High output impedances of the configurations enable the circuit to be
cascaded without additional current buffers. The use of only
grounded capacitors is ideal for integration. The circuit performances
are depicted through PSpice simulations, they show good agreement
to theoretical anticipation.
Abstract: Model Predictive Control (MPC) is an established control
technique in a wide range of process industries. The reason for
this success is its ability to handle multivariable systems and systems
having input, output or state constraints. Neverthless comparing to
PID controller, the implementation of the MPC in miniaturized
devices like Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) and microcontrollers
has historically been very small scale due to its complexity in
implementation and its computation time requirement. At the same
time, such embedded technologies have become an enabler for future
manufacturing enterprisers as well as a transformer of organizations
and markets. In this work, we take advantage of these recent advances
in this area in the deployment of one of the most studied and applied
control technique in the industrial engineering. In this paper, we
propose an efficient firmware for the implementation of constrained
MPC in the performed STM32 microcontroller using interior point
method. Indeed, performances study shows good execution speed
and low computational burden. These results encourage to develop
predictive control algorithms to be programmed in industrial standard
processes. The PID anti windup controller was also implemented in
the STM32 in order to make a performance comparison with the
MPC. The main features of the proposed constrained MPC framework
are illustrated through two examples.
Abstract: Tacit knowledge has been one of the most discussed
and contradictory concepts in the field of knowledge management
since the mid 1990s. The concept is used relatively vaguely to refer
to any type of information that is difficult to articulate, which has led
to discussions about the original meaning of the concept (adopted
from Polanyi-s philosophy) and the nature of tacit knowing. It is
proposed that the subject should be approached from the perspective
of cognitive science in order to connect tacit knowledge to
empirically studied cognitive phenomena. Some of the most
important examples of tacit knowing presented by Polanyi are
analyzed in order to trace the cognitive mechanisms of tacit knowing
and to promote better understanding of the nature of tacit knowledge.
The cognitive approach to Polanyi-s theory reveals that the
tacit/explicit typology of knowledge often presented in the
knowledge management literature is not only artificial but totally
opposite approach compared to Polanyi-s thinking.
Abstract: This paper presents the use of a newly created network
structure known as a Self-Delaying Dynamic Network (SDN) to
create a high resolution image from a set of time stepped input
frames. These SDNs are non-recurrent temporal neural networks
which can process time sampled data. SDNs can store input data
for a lifecycle and feature dynamic logic based connections between
layers. Several low resolution images and one high resolution image
of a scene were presented to the SDN during training by a Genetic
Algorithm. The SDN was trained to process the input frames in order
to recreate the high resolution image. The trained SDN was then used
to enhance a number of unseen noisy image sets. The quality of high
resolution images produced by the SDN is compared to that of high
resolution images generated using Bi-Cubic interpolation. The SDN
produced images are superior in several ways to the images produced
using Bi-Cubic interpolation.
Abstract: Multi-energy systems will enhance the system
reliability and power quality. This paper presents an integrated
approach for the design and operation of distributed energy resources
(DER) systems, based on energy hub modeling. A multi-objective
optimization model is developed by considering an integrated view of
electricity and natural gas network to analyze the optimal design and
operating condition of DER systems, by considering two conflicting
objectives, namely, minimization of total cost and the minimization
of environmental impact which is assessed in terms of CO2
emissions. The mathematical model considers energy demands of the
site, local climate data, and utility tariff structure, as well as technical
and financial characteristics of the candidate DER technologies. To
provide energy demands, energy systems including photovoltaic, and
co-generation systems, boiler, central power grid are considered. As
an illustrative example, a hotel in Iran demonstrates potential
applications of the proposed method. The results prove that
increasing the satisfaction degree of environmental objective leads to
increased total cost.
Abstract: The crystalline quality of the AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) structure grown on a 200 mm silicon substrate has been investigated using UV-visible micro- Raman scattering and photoluminescence (PL). The visible Raman scattering probes the whole nitride stack with the Si substrate and shows the presence of a small component of residual in-plane stress in the thick GaN buffer resulting from a wafer bowing, while the UV micro-Raman indicates a tensile interfacial stress induced at the top GaN/AlGaN/AlN layers. PL shows a good crystal quality GaN channel where the yellow band intensity is very low compared to that of the near-band-edge transition. The uniformity of this sample is shown by measurements from several points across the epiwafer.
Abstract: A review of the literature found that Domestic
violence and child maltreatment co-occur in many families, the
purpose of this study attempts to emphasize the factors relating to
intra-family relationships (order point of view) on violence against
the children, For this purpose a survey technique on the sample size
amounted 200 students of governmental guidance schools of city of
Gilanegharb in country of Iran were considered. For measurement of
violence against the children (VAC) the CTS scaled has been used
.The results showed that children have experienced the violence more
than once during the last year. degree of order in family is high.
Explanation result indicated that the order variables in family
including collective thinking, empathy, communal co-circumstance
have significant effects on VAC.
Abstract: In this manuscript, a wavelet-based blind
watermarking scheme has been proposed as a means to provide
security to authenticity of a fingerprint. The information used for
identification or verification of a fingerprint mainly lies in its
minutiae. By robust watermarking of the minutiae in the fingerprint
image itself, the useful information can be extracted accurately even
if the fingerprint is severely degraded. The minutiae are converted in
a binary watermark and embedding these watermarks in the detail
regions increases the robustness of watermarking, at little to no
additional impact on image quality. It has been experimentally shown
that when the minutiae is embedded into wavelet detail coefficients
of a fingerprint image in spread spectrum fashion using a
pseudorandom sequence, the robustness is observed to have a
proportional response while perceptual invisibility has an inversely
proportional response to amplification factor “K". The DWT-based
technique has been found to be very robust against noises,
geometrical distortions filtering and JPEG compression attacks and is
also found to give remarkably better performance than DCT-based
technique in terms of correlation coefficient and number of erroneous
minutiae.
Abstract: The research object was apple-black currant
marmalade candies. Experiments were carried out at the Faculty of
Food Technology of the Latvia University of Agriculture. An active
packaging in combination with modified atmosphere (MAP, CO2
100%) was examined and compared with traditional packaging in air
ambiance. Polymer Multibarrier 60 and paper bags were used.
Influence of iron based oxygen absorber in sachets of 500 cc
obtained from Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Europe Ageless® was tested
on the quality during the shelf of marmalade. Samples of 80±5 g
were packaged in polymer pouches (110 mm x 110 mm),
hermetically sealed by MULTIVAC C300 vacuum chamber machine,
and stored in room temperature +20.0±1.0 °C. The physiochemical
properties – weight losses, moisture content, hardness, aw, pH, colour,
changes of atmosphere content (CO2 and O2) in headspace of packs,
and microbial conditions were analysed before packaging and in the
1st, 3rd , 5th, 8th, 11th and 15th weeks of storage.
Abstract: Content-based music retrieval generally involves analyzing, searching and retrieving music based on low or high level features of a song which normally used to represent artists, songs or music genre. Identifying them would normally involve feature extraction and classification tasks. Theoretically the greater features analyzed, the better the classification accuracy can be achieved but with longer execution time. Technique to select significant features is important as it will reduce dimensions of feature used in classification and contributes to the accuracy. Artificial Immune System (AIS) approach will be investigated and applied in the classification task. Bio-inspired audio content-based retrieval framework (B-ACRF) is proposed at the end of this paper where it embraces issues that need further consideration in music retrieval performances.
Abstract: The paper deals with the analysis of triggering
conditions and evolution processes of piping phenomena, in relation
to both mechanical and hydraulic aspects. In particular, the aim of
the study is to predict slope instabilities triggered by piping,
analysing the conditions necessary for a flow failure to occur. Really,
the mechanical effect involved in the loads redistribution around the
pipe is coupled to the drainage process arising from higher
permeability of the pipe. If after the pipe formation, the drainage
goes prevented for pipe clogging, the porewater pressure increase can
lead to the failure or even the liquefaction, with a subsequent flow
slide. To simulate the piping evolution and to verify relevant stability
conditions, a iterative coupled modelling approach has been pointed
out. As example, the proposed tool has been applied to the Stava
Valley disaster (July, 1985), demonstrating that piping might be one
of triggering phenomena of the tailings dams collapse.
Abstract: Spherical shaped magnetite (Fe3O4) and Au@Fe3O4
nanoparticles were successfully synthesized from Fe electrodes
immersed in water with CTAB surfactant and HAuCl4 solution using
simple method-pulsed plasma in liquid, without the use of dopants or
special conditions for stabilization. Vibrating sample magnetometer
indicated ferromagnetic behavior of particles at room temperature with
coercivity and saturation magnetization of (Hc=105 Oe, Ms=6.83
emu/g) for Fe3O4 and (Hc=175, Ms=3.56emu/g) for Au@Fe3O4
nanoparticles. Structure and morphology of nanoparticles were
characterized by X-ray Diffraction analysis and HR-TEM
measurements. The cytotoxicity of nanoparticles was indicated using a
XTT assay to be very low (cell viability: 98-89% with Fe3O4 and
99-91% for Au@Fe3O4 NPs).
Abstract: Product customization is an essential requirement for
manufacturing firms to achieve higher customers- satisfaction and
fulfill business target. In order to achieve these objectives, firms need
to handle both external varieties such as customer preference,
government regulations, cultural considerations etc and internal
varieties such as functional requirements of product, production
efficiency, quality etc. Both of the varieties need to be accumulated
and integrated together for the purpose of producing customized
product. These varieties are presented and discussed in this paper
along with the perspectives of modular product design and
development process. Other development strategies such as
modularity, component commonality, product family design and
product platform are presented with a view to achieve product variety
quickly and economically. A case example both for the concept of
modular design and platform based product development process is
also presented with the help of design structure matrix (DSM) tool.
This paper is concluded with several managerial implications and
future research direction.
Abstract: In this paper, we have presented the effect of varying
time-delays on performance and stability in the single-channel multirate
sampled-data system in hard real-time (RT-Linux) environment.
The sampling task require response time that might exceed the
capacity of RT-Linux. So a straight implementation with RT-Linux is
not feasible, because of the latency of the systems and hence,
sampling period should be less to handle this task. The best sampling
rate is chosen for the sampled-data system, which is the slowest rate
meets all performance requirements. RT-Linux is consistent with its
specifications and the resolution of the real-time is considered 0.01
seconds to achieve an efficient result. The test results of our
laboratory experiment shows that the multi-rate control technique in
hard real-time operating system (RTOS) can improve the stability
problem caused by the random access delays and asynchronization.
Abstract: The new idea of analyze of power system failure with
use of artificial neural network is proposed. An analysis of the
possibility of simulating phenomena accompanying system faults and
restitution is described. It was indicated that the universal model for
the simulation of phenomena in whole analyzed range does not exist.
The main classic method of search of optimal structure and
parameter identification are described shortly. The example with
results of calculation is shown.
Abstract: In this work, several ASP solutions were flooded into
fractured models initially saturated with heavy oil at a constant flow
rate and different geometrical characteristics of fracture. The ASP
solutions are constituted from 2 polymers i.e. a synthetic polymer,
hydrolyzed polyacrylamide as well as a biopolymer, a surfactant and
2types of alkaline. The results showed that using synthetic
hydrolyzed polyacrylamide polymer increases ultimate oil recovery;
however, type of alkaline does not play a significant rule on oil
recovery. In addition, position of the injection well respect to the
fracture system has remarkable effects on ASP flooding. For instance
increasing angle of fractures with mean flow direction causes more
oil recovery and delays breakthrough time. This work can be
accounted as a comprehensive survey on ASP flooding which
considers most of effective factors in this chemical EOR method.
Abstract: The amounts of radioactivity in the igneous rocks
have been investigated; samples were collected from the total of eight
basalt rock types in the northeastern of Kurdistan region/Iraq. The
activity concentration of 226Ra (238U) series, 228Ac (232Th) series, 40K
and 137Cs were measured using Planar HPGe and NaI(Tl) detectors.
Along the study area the radium equivalent activities Raeq in Bq/Kg
of samples under investigation were found in the range of 22.16 to
77.31 Bq/Kg with an average value of 44.8 Bq/Kg, this value is much
below the internationally accepted value of 370 Bq/Kg. To estimate
the health effects of this natural radioactive composition, the average
values of absorbed gamma dose rate D (55 nGyh-1), Indoor and
outdoor annual effective dose rates Eied (0.11 mSvy-1) . and Eoed
(0.03 mSvy-1), External hazard index Hex (0.138) and internal hazard
index Hin(0.154), and representative level index Iγr (0.386) have been
calculated and found to be lower than the worldwide average values.
Abstract: The increasing usage of antibiotics in the animal
farming industry is an emerging worldwide problem contributing to
the development of antibiotic resistance. The purpose of this work was
to investigate the prevalence and antibiotic resistance profile of
bacterial isolates collected from aquatic environments and meats in a
peri-urban community in Daejeon, Korea. In an antibacterial
susceptibility test, the bacterial isolates showed a high incidence of
resistance (~ 26.04 %) to cefazolin, tetracycline, gentamycin,
norfloxacin, erythromycin and vancomycin. The results from a test for
multiple antibiotic resistance indicated that the isolates were
displaying an approximately 5-fold increase in the incidence of
multiple antibiotic resistance to combinations of two different
antibiotics compared to combinations of three or more antibiotics.
Most of the isolates showed multi-antibiotic resistance, and the
resistance patterns were similar among the sampling groups.
Sequencing data analysis of 16S rRNA showed that most of the
resistant isolates appeared to be dominated by the classes
Betaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria in the phylum
Proteobacteria.
Abstract: Nowadays, there is little information, concerning the
heat shield systems, and this information is not completely reliable to
use in so many cases. for example, the precise calculation cannot be
done for various materials. In addition, the real scale test has two
disadvantages: high cost and low flexibility, and for each case we
must perform a new test. Hence, using numerical modeling program
that calculates the surface recession rate and interior temperature
distribution is necessary. Also, numerical solution of governing
equation for non-charring material ablation is presented in order to
anticipate the recession rate and the heat response of non-charring
heat shields. the governing equation is nonlinear and the Newton-
Rafson method along with TDMA algorithm is used to solve this
nonlinear equation system. Using Newton- Rafson method for
solving the governing equation is one of the advantages of the
solving method because this method is simple and it can be easily
generalized to more difficult problems. The obtained results
compared with reliable sources in order to examine the accuracy of
compiling code.