Abstract: Information of nodes’ locations is an important
criterion for lots of applications in Wireless Sensor Networks. In the
hop-based range-free localization methods, anchors transmit the
localization messages counting a hop count value to the whole
network. Each node receives this message and calculates its own
distance with anchor in hops and then approximates its own position.
However the estimative distances can provoke large error, and affect
the localization precision. To solve the problem, this paper proposes
an algorithm, which makes the unknown nodes fix the nearest anchor
as a reference and select two other anchors which are the most
accurate to achieve the estimated location. Compared to the DV-Hop
algorithm, experiment results illustrate that proposed algorithm has
less average localization error and is more effective.
Abstract: The vast amount of information hidden in huge
databases has created tremendous interests in the field of data
mining. This paper examines the possibility of using data clustering
techniques in oral medicine to identify functional relationships
between different attributes and classification of similar patient
examinations. Commonly used data clustering algorithms have been
reviewed and as a result several interesting results have been
gathered.
Abstract: The Continuously Adaptive Mean-Shift (CamShift)
algorithm, incorporating scene depth information is combined with
the l1-minimization sparse representation based method to form a
hybrid kernel and state space-based tracking algorithm. We take
advantage of the increased efficiency of the former with the
robustness to occlusion property of the latter. A simple interchange
scheme transfers control between algorithms based upon drift and
occlusion likelihood. It is quantified by the projection of target
candidates onto a depth map of the 2D scene obtained with a low cost
stereo vision webcam. Results are improved tracking in terms of drift
over each algorithm individually, in a challenging practical outdoor
multiple occlusion test case.
Abstract: This paper deals with automatic sentence modality
recognition in French. In this work, only prosodic features are
considered. The sentences are recognized according to the three
following modalities: declarative, interrogative and exclamatory
sentences. This information will be used to animate a talking head for
deaf and hearing-impaired children. We first statistically study a real
radio corpus in order to assess the feasibility of the automatic
modeling of sentence types. Then, we test two sets of prosodic
features as well as two different classifiers and their combination. We
further focus our attention on questions recognition, as this modality
is certainly the most important one for the target application.
Abstract: This study aimed at developing a forecasting model on the number of Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (DHF) incidence in Northern Thailand using time series analysis. We developed Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA) models on the data collected between 2003-2006 and then validated the models using the data collected between January-September 2007. The results showed that the regressive forecast curves were consistent with the pattern of actual values. The most suitable model was the SARIMA(2,0,1)(0,2,0)12 model with a Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) of 12.2931 and a Mean Absolute Percent Error (MAPE) of 8.91713. The SARIMA(2,0,1)(0,2,0)12 model fitting was adequate for the data with the Portmanteau statistic Q20 = 8.98644 ( x20,95= 27.5871, P>0.05). This indicated that there was no significant autocorrelation between residuals at different lag times in the SARIMA(2,0,1)(0,2,0)12 model.
Abstract: The present work deals with analyses of the effects
of bearing curvature and non-Newtonian characteristics on the load capacity of an exponential rectangular squeeze film bearing using
Bingham fluids as lubricants. Bingham fluids are characterized by an
yield value and hence the formation of a “rigid" core in the region
between the plates is justified. The flow is confined to the region
between the core and the plates. The shape of the core has been
identified through numerical means. Further, numerical solutions for
the pressure distribution and load carrying capacity of the bearing
for various values of Bingham number and curvature parameter have
been obtained. The effects of bearing curvature and non-Newtonian
characteristics of the lubricant on the bearing performances have been
discussed.
Abstract: In today-s highly globalised and competitive world
access to information plays key role in having an upper hand between
business rivals. Hence, proper protection of such crucial resource is
core to any modern business. Implementing a successful information
security system is basically centered around three pillars; technical
solution involving both software and hardware, information security
controls to translate the policies and procedure in the system and the
people to implement. This paper shows that a lot needs to be done for
countries adapting information technology to process, store and
distribute information to secure adequately such core resource.
Abstract: The aim of this study is to discover secondary school students’ perceptions related to information technologies and the connections between concepts in their cognitive structures. A word association test consisting of six concepts related to information technologies is used to collect data from 244 secondary school students. Concept maps that present students’ cognitive structures are drawn with the help of frequency data. Data are analyzed and interpreted according to the connections obtained as a result of the concept maps. It is determined students associate most with these concepts—computer, Internet, and communication of the given concepts, and associate least with these concepts—computer-assisted education and information technologies. These results show the concepts, Internet, communication, and computer, are an important part of students’ cognitive structures. In addition, students mostly answer computer, phone, game, Internet and Facebook as the key concepts. These answers show students regard information technologies as a means for entertainment and free time activity, not as a means for education.
Abstract: Bone growth factors, such as Bone Morphogenic
Protein-2 (BMP-2) have been approved by the FDA to replace grafting for some surgical interventions, but the high dose requirement limits its use in patients. Noggin, an extracellular protein, blocks the effect of BMP-2 by binding to BMP. Preventing
the BMP-2/noggin interaction will help increase the free
concentration of BMP-2 and therefore should enhance its efficacy to
induce bone formation. The work presented here involves
computational design of novel small molecule inhibitory agents of BMP-2/noggin interaction, based on our current understanding of
BMP-2, and its known putative ligands (receptors and antagonists). A
successful acquisition of such an inhibitory agent of BMP-2/noggin interaction would allow clinicians to reduce the dose required of
BMP-2 protein in clinical applications to promote osteogenesis. The
available crystal structures of the BMPs, its receptors, and the binding partner noggin were analyzed to identify the critical residues
involved in their interaction. In presenting this study, LUDI de novo design method was utilized to perform virtual screening of a large
number of compounds from a commercially available library against the binding sites of noggin to identify the lead chemical compounds
that could potentially block BMP-noggin interaction with a high specificity.
Abstract: Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a procedure tool of environmental management for identifying, predicting, evaluating and mitigating the adverse effects of development proposals. EIA reports usually analyze how the amounts or concentrations of pollutants obey the relevant standards. Actually, many analytical tools can deepen the analysis of environmental impacts in EIA reports, such as life cycle assessment (LCA) and environmental risk assessment (ERA). Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) is one of steps in LCA to introduce the causal relationships among environmental hazards and damage. Incorporating the LCIA concept into ERA as an integrated tool for EIA can extend the focus of the regulatory compliance of environmental impacts to determine of the significance of environmental impacts. Sometimes, when using integrated tools, it is necessary to consider fuzzy situations due to insufficient information; therefore, ERA should be generalized to fuzzy risk assessment (FRA). Finally, the use of the proposed methodology is demonstrated through the study case of the expansion plan of the world-s largest plastics processing factory.
Abstract: An attempt has been made several times to identify
and discuss the U.S. experience on the formation of political nation in
political science. The purpose of this research paper is to identify the
main aspects of the formation of civic identity in the United States
and Kazakhstan, through the identification of similarities and
differences that can get practical application in making decisions of
national policy issues in the context of globalization, as well as to
answer the questions “What should unite the citizens of Kazakhstan
to the nation?" and “What should be the dominant identity: civil or
ethnic (national) one?"
Can Kazakhstan being multiethnic country like America, adopt its
experience in the formation of a civic nation? Since it is believed that
the “multi-ethnic state of the population is a characteristic feature of
most modern countries in the world," it states that “inter-ethnic
integration is one of the most important aspects of the problem of
forming a new social community (metaetnic - Kazakh people,
Kazakh nation" [1].
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview on methodological aspects of the information technology outsourcing (ITO) surveys, in an attempt to improve the data quality and reporting in survey research. It is based on a review of thirty articles on ITO surveys and focuses on two commonly explored dimensions of ITO, namely what are outsourced and why should there be ITO. This study highlights weaknesses in ITO surveys including lack of a clear definition of population, lack of information regarding the sampling method used, not citing the response rate, no information pertaining to pilot testing of survey instrument and absence of information on internal validity in the use or reporting of surveys. This study represents an attempt with a limited scope to point to shortfalls in the use survey methodology in ITO, and thus raise awareness among researchers in enhancing the reliability of survey findings.
Abstract: Transition theory has been used to derive the elasticplastic
and transitional stresses. Results obtained have been discussed
numerically and depicted graphically. It is observed that the rotating
disk made of incompressible material with inclusion require higher
angular speed to yield at the internal surface as compared to disk
made of compressible material. It is seen that the radial and
circumferential stresses are maximum at the internal surface with and
without edge load (for flat disk). With the increase in thickness
parameter (k = 2, 4), the circumferential stress is maximum at the
external surface while the radial stress is maximum at the internal
surface. From the figures drawn the disk with exponentially varying
thickness (k = 2), high angular speed is required for initial yielding at
internal surface as compared to flat disk and exponentially varying
thickness for k = 4 onwards. It is concluded that the disk made of
isotropic compressible material is on the safer side of the design as
compared to disk made of isotropic incompressible material as it
requires higher percentage increase in an angular speed to become
fully plastic from its initial yielding.
Abstract: People from different cultures favor web pages
characterized by the values of their culture and, therefore, tend to
prefer different characteristics of a website according to their cultural
values in terms of navigation, security, product information, customer
service, shopping and design tools. For a company aiming to
globalize its market it is useful to implement country specific cultural
interfaces and different web sites for countries with different cultures.
This paper, following the conclusions proposed by two models of
Hall and Hofstede, and the studies of Marcus and Gould, defines,
through an empirical analysis, the guidelines of web design for both
the Scandinavian countries and Malaysia.
Abstract: The Learning Management Systems present learning
environment which offers a collection of e-learning tools in a
package that allows a common interface and information sharing
among the tools. South East European University initial experience
in LMS was with the usage of the commercial LMS-ANGEL. After a
three year experience on ANGEL usage because of expenses that
were very high it was decided to develop our own software. As part
of the research project team for the in-house design and development
of the new LMS, we primarily had to select the features that would
cover our needs and also comply with the actual trends in the area of
software development, and then design and develop the system. In
this paper we present the process of LMS in-house development for
South East European University, its architecture, conception and
strengths with a special accent on the process of migration and
integration with other enterprise applications.
Abstract: Evaluation of contact pressure, surface and
subsurface contact stresses are essential to know the functional
response of surface coatings and the contact behavior mainly depends
on surface roughness, material property, thickness of layer and the
manner of loading. Contact parameter evaluation of real rough
surface contacts mostly relies on statistical single asperity contact
approaches. In this work, a three dimensional layered solid rough
surface in contact with a rigid flat is modeled and analyzed using
finite element method. The rough surface of layered solid is
generated by FFT approach. The generated rough surface is exported
to a finite element method based ANSYS package through which the
bottom up solid modeling is employed to create a deformable solid
model with a layered solid rough surface on top. The discretization
and contact analysis are carried by using the same ANSYS package.
The elastic, elastoplastic and plastic deformations are continuous in
the present finite element method unlike many other contact models.
The Young-s modulus to yield strength ratio of layer is varied in the
present work to observe the contact parameters effect while keeping
the surface roughness and substrate material properties as constant.
The contacting asperities attain elastic, elastoplastic and plastic states
with their continuity and asperity interaction phenomena is inherently
included. The resultant contact parameters show that neighboring
asperity interaction and the Young-s modulus to yield strength ratio
of layer influence the bulk deformation consequently affect the
interface strength.
Abstract: This article describes the aspects of the formation of
the national idea and national identity through the prism of gender
control and its contradistinction to the obsolete, Soviet component.
The role of females in ethnic and national projects is considered from
the point of view of Dr. Nira Yuval-Davis: as biological reproducers
of the ethnic communities- members; as reproducers of the boarders
of ethnic/national groups; as central participants in the ideological
reproduction of community and transducers of its culture; as symbols
in ideology, reproduction and transformation of ethnic/national
categories; and as participants of national, economical, political and
military combats. The society of the transitional type uses the
symbolic resources of the formation of gender component in the
national project. The gender patterns act like cultural codes,
executing the important ideological function in formation of the
national female- image, i.e. the discussion on hijab - it-s not just the
discussion on control over the female body, it-s the discussion on the
metaphor of social order.
Abstract: Attachment of the circulating monocytes to the
endothelium is the earliest detectable events during formation of
atherosclerosis. The adhesion molecules, chemokines and matrix
proteases genes were identified to be expressed in atherogenesis.
Expressions of these genes may influence structural integrity of the
luminal endothelium. The aim of this study is to relate changes in the
ultrastructural morphology of the aortic luminal surface and gene
expressions of the endothelial surface, chemokine and MMP-12 in
normal and hypercholesterolemic rabbits. Luminal endothelial
surface from rabbit aortic tissue was examined by scanning electron
microscopy (SEM) using low vacuum mode to ascertain
ultrastructural changes in development of atherosclerotic lesion. Gene
expression of adhesion molecules, MCP-1 and MMP-12 were studied
by Real-time PCR. Ultrastructural observations of the aortic luminal
surface exhibited changes from normal regular smooth intact
endothelium to irregular luminal surface including marked globular
appearance and ruptures of the membrane layer. Real-time PCR
demonstrated differentially expressed of studied genes in
atherosclerotic tissues. The appearance of ultrastructural changes in
aortic tissue of hypercholesterolemic rabbits is suggested to have
relation with underlying changes of endothelial surface molecules,
chemokine and MMP-12 gene expressions.
Abstract: The presence of cold air with the convergent
topography of the Lut valley over the valley-s sloping terrain can
generate Low Level Jets (LLJ). Moreover, the valley-parallel
pressure gradients and northerly LLJ are produced as a result of the
large-scale processes. In the numerical study the regional MM5
model was run leading to achieve an appropriate dynamical analysis
of flows in the region for summer and winter. The results of this
study show the presence of summer synoptical systems cause the
formation of north-south pressure gradients in the valley which could
be led to the blowing of winds with the velocity more than 14 ms-1
and vulnerable dust and wind storms lasting more than 120 days.
Whereas the presence of cold air masses in the region in winter,
cause the average speed of LLJs decrease. In this time downslope
flows are noticeable in creating the night LLJs.
Abstract: In this paper we illuminate a frequency domain based
classification method for video scenes. Videos from certain topical
areas often contain activities with repeating movements. Sports
videos, home improvement videos, or videos showing mechanical
motion are some example areas. Assessing main and side frequencies
of each repeating movement gives rise to the motion type. We
obtain the frequency domain by transforming spatio-temporal motion
trajectories. Further on we explain how to compute frequency features
for video clips and how to use them for classifying. The focus of
the experimental phase is on transforms utilized for our system.
By comparing various transforms, experiments show the optimal
transform for a motion frequency based approach.