Abstract: The amount of urban artificial heat which affects the
urban temperature rise in urban meteorology was investigated in order
to clarify the relationships between urbanization and urban
meteorology in this study.
The results of calculation to identify how urban temperate was
increased through the establishment of a model for measuring the
amount of urban artificial heat and theoretical testing revealed that the
amount of urban artificial heat increased urban temperature by plus or
minus 0.23 ˚ C in 2007 compared with 1996, statistical methods
(correlation and regression analysis) to clarify the relationships
between urbanization and urban weather were as follows.
New design techniques and urban growth management are
necessary from urban growth management point of view suggested
from this research at city design phase to decrease urban temperature
rise and urban torrential rain which can produce urban disaster in terms
of urban meteorology by urbanization.
Abstract: Nowadays, power systems, energy generation by wind
has been very important. Noting that the production of electrical
energy by wind turbines on site to several factors (such as wind speed
and profile site for the turbines, especially off the wind input speed,
wind rated speed and wind output speed disconnect) is dependent. On
the other hand, several different types of turbines in the market there.
Therefore, selecting a turbine that its capacity could also answer the
need for electric consumers the efficiency is high something is
important and necessary. In this context, calculating the amount of
wind power to help optimize overall network, system operation, in
determining the parameters of wind power is very important.
In this article, to help calculate the amount of wind power plant,
connected to the national network in the region Manjil wind,
selecting the best type of turbine and power delivery profile
appropriate to the network using Monte Carlo method has been.
In this paper, wind speed data from the wind site in Manjil, as minute
and during the year has been. Necessary simulations based on
Random Numbers Simulation method and repeat, using the software
MATLAB and Excel has been done.
Abstract: Lean, which was initially developed by Toyota, is
widely implemented in other companies to improve competitiveness.
This research is an attempt to identify the adoption of lean in the
production system of Malaysian car manufacturer, Proton using case
study approach. To gain the in-depth information regarding lean
implementation, an activity on the assembly line called Set Parts
Supply (SPS) was studied. The result indicates that by using lean
principles, tools and techniques in the implementation of SPS enabled
to achieve the goals on safety, quality, cost, delivery and morale. The
implementation increased the size of the workspace, improved the
quality of assembly and the delivery of parts supply, reduced the
manpower, achieved cost savings on electricity and also increased the
motivation of manpower in respect of attendance at work. A
framework of SPS implementation is suggested as a contribution for
lean practices in production system.
Abstract: According to the governmental data, the cases of oral
cancers doubled in the past 10 years. This had brought heavy burden to
the patients- family, the society, and the country. The literature
generally evidenced the betel nut contained particular chemicals that
can cause oral cancers. Research in Taiwan had also proofed that 90
percent of oral cancer patients had experience of betel nut chewing. It
is thus important to educate the betel-nut hobbyists to cease such a
hazardous behavior. A program was then organized to establish
several training classes across different areas specific to help ceasing
this particular habit. Purpose of this research was to explore the
attitude and intention toward ceasing betel-nut chewing before and
after attending the training classes. 50 samples were taken from a
ceasing class with average age at 45 years old with high school
education (54%). 74% of the respondents were male in service or
agricultural industries. Experiences in betel-nut chewing were 5-20
years with a dose of 1-20 pieces per day. The data had shown that 60%
of the respondents had cigarette smoking habit, and 30% of the
respondents were concurrently alcoholic dependent. Research results
indicated that the attitude, intentions, and the knowledge on oral
cancers were found significant different between before and after
attendance. This provided evidence for the effectiveness of the training
class. However, we do not perform follow-up after the class.
Noteworthy is the test result also shown that participants who were
drivers as occupation, or habitual smokers or alcoholic dependents
would be less willing to quit the betel-nut chewing. The test results
indicated as well that the educational levels and the type of occupation
may have significant impacts on an individual-s decisions in taking
betel-nut or substance abuse.
Abstract: Power transformer consists of components which are
under consistent thermal and electrical stresses. The major
component which degrades under these stresses is the paper
insulation of the power transformer. At site, lightning impulses and
cable faults may cause the winding deformation. In addition, the
winding may deform due to impact during transportation. A
deformed winding will excite more stress to its insulating paper thus
will degrade it. Insulation degradation will shorten the life-span of
the transformer. Currently there are two methods of detecting the
winding deformation which are Sweep Frequency Response
Analysis (SFRA) and Low Voltage Impulse Test (LVI). The latter
injects current pulses to the winding and capture the admittance
plot. In this paper, a transformer which experienced overheating and
arcing was identified, and both SFRA and LVI were performed.
Next, the transformer was brought to the factory for untanking. The
untanking results revealed that the LVI is more accurate than the
SFRA method for this case study.
Abstract: The soil moisture content is an important property of
the soil. The results of mean weekly gravimetric soil moisture
content, measured for the three soil layers within the A horizon,
showed that it was higher for the top 5 cm over the whole period of
monitoring (15/7/2004 up to 10/11/05) with the variation becoming
greater during winter time. This reflects the pattern of rainfall in
Ireland which is spread over the whole year and shows that light
rainfall events during summer time were compensated by loss
through evapotranspiration, but only in the top 5 cm of soil. This
layer had the highest porosity and highest moisture holding capacity
due to the high content of organic matter. The gravimetric soil
moisture contents of the top 5 cm and the underlying 5-15 and 15-25
cm layers show that bottom site of the Hill Field had higher soil
moisture content than the middle and top sites during the whole
period of monitoring.
Abstract: Above Elbow Prosthesis is one of the most commonly
amputated or missing limbs. The research is done for modelling
techniques of upper limb prosthesis and design of high torque, light
weight and compact in size elbow actuator. The purposed actuator
consists of a DC motor, planetary gear set and a harmonic drive. The
calculations show that the actuator is good enough to be used in real
life powered prosthetic upper limb or rehabilitation exoskeleton.
Abstract: This paper presents a compact thermoelectric power generator system based on temperature difference across the element. The system can transfer the burning heat energy to electric energy directly. The proposed system has a thermoelectric generator and a power control box. In the generator, there are 4 thermoelectric modules (TEMs), each of which uses 2 thermoelectric chips (TEs) and 2 cold sinks, 1 thermal absorber, and 1 thermal conduction flat board. In the power control box, there are 1 storing energy device, 1 converter, and 1 inverter. The total net generating power is about 11W. This system uses commercial portable gas stoves or burns timber or the coal as the heat source, which is easily obtained. It adopts solid-state thermoelectric chips as heat inverter parts. The system has the advantages of being light-weight, quite, and mobile, requiring no maintenance, and havng easily-supplied heat source. The system can be used a as long as burning is allowed. This system works well for highly-mobilized outdoors situations by providing a power for illumination, entertainment equipment or the wireless equipment at refuge. Under heavy storms such as typhoon, when the solar panels become ineffective and the wind-powered machines malfunction, the thermoelectric power generator can continue providing the vital power.
Abstract: This paper proposes a method, combining color and
layout features, for identifying documents captured from lowresolution
handheld devices. On one hand, the document image color
density surface is estimated and represented with an equivalent
ellipse and on the other hand, the document shallow layout structure
is computed and hierarchically represented. The combined color and
layout features are arranged in a symbolic file, which is unique for
each document and is called the document-s visual signature. Our
identification method first uses the color information in the
signatures in order to focus the search space on documents having a
similar color distribution, and finally selects the document having the
most similar layout structure in the remaining search space. Finally,
our experiment considers slide documents, which are often captured
using handheld devices.
Abstract: This paper reports a case study on how a conceptual
and analytical thinking approach was used in Art and Design Department at Multimedia University (Malaysia) in addressing the
issues of one nation and its impact in the society through artworks. The art project was designed for students to increase the know-how
and develop creative thinking in design and communication. Goals of the design project were: (1) to develop creative thinking in design
and communication, (2) to increase student understanding on the
process of problem solving for design work, and (3) to use design
elements and principles to generate interest, attention and emotional responses. An exhibition entitled "One Nation" was showcased to
local and international viewers consisting of the general public, professionals, academics, artists and students. Findings indicate that the project supported several visual art standards, as well as
generated awareness in the society. This project may be of interest to
current and future art educators and others interested in the potential
of utilizing global issues as content for art, community and environment studies for the purpose of educational art.
Abstract: MinC plays an important role in bacterial cell division
system by inhibiting FtsZ assembly. However, the molecular
mechanism of the action is poorly understood. E. coli MinC Nterminus
domain was purified and crystallized using 1.4 M sodium
citrate pH 6.5 as a precipitant. X-ray diffraction data was collected
and processed to 2.3 Å from a native crystal. The crystal belonged to
space group P212121, with the unit cell parameters a = 52.7, b = 54.0,
c = 64.7 Å. Assuming the presence of two molecules in the
asymmetric unit, the Matthews coefficient value is 1.94 Å3 Da-1,
which corresponds to a solvent content of 36.5%. The overall
structure of MinCN is observed as a dimer form through anti-parallel
ß-strand interaction.
Abstract: In this paper, we proposed a new routing protocol for
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that equipped with directional
antenna. We named this protocol Directional Optimized Link State
Routing Protocol (DOLSR). This protocol is based on the well
known protocol that is called Optimized Link State Routing Protocol
(OLSR). We focused in our protocol on the multipoint relay (MPR)
concept which is the most important feature of this protocol. We
developed a heuristic that allows DOLSR protocol to minimize
the number of the multipoint relays. With this new protocol the
number of overhead packets will be reduced and the End-to-End
delay of the network will also be minimized. We showed through
simulation that our protocol outperformed Optimized Link State
Routing Protocol, Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) protocol and Ad-
Hoc On demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing protocol in
reducing the End-to-End delay and enhancing the overall
throughput. Our evaluation of the previous protocols was based
on the OPNET network simulation tool.
Abstract: Off-grid Photovoltaic (PV) systems are empowering
technology in underdeveloped countries like Ethiopia where many
people live far away from the modern world. Where there is
relatively low energy consumption, providing energy from grid
systems is not commercially cost-effective. As a result, significant
people groups worldwide stay without access to electricity. One
remote village in northern Ethiopia was selected by the United
Nations for a pilot project to improve its living conditions. As part of
this comprehensive project, an intelligent charge controller circuit for
Off-grid PV systems was designed for the clinic in that village. In
this paper, design aspects of an intelligent charge controller unit and
its load driver circuits are discussed for an efficient utilization of PVbased
supply systems.
Abstract: Information is a critical asset and an important source for gaining competitive advantage in firms. The effective maintenance of IT becomes an important task. In order to better understand the determinants of IT effectiveness, this study employs the Industrial Organization (I/O) and Resource Based View (RBV) theories and investigates the industry effect and several major firmspecific factors in relation to their impact on firms- IT effectiveness. The data consist of a panel data of ten-year observations of firms whose IT excellence had been recognized by the CIO Magazine. The non-profit organizations were deliberately excluded, as explained later. The results showed that the effectiveness of IT management varied significantly across industries. Industry also moderated the effects of firm demographic factors such as size and age on IT effectiveness. Surprisingly, R & D investment intensity had negative correlation to IT effectiveness. For managers and practitioners, this study offers some insights for evaluation criteria and expectation for IT project success. Finally, the empirical results indicate that the sustainability of IT effectiveness appears to be short in duration.
Abstract: The research on the effectiveness of environmental
assessment (EA) is a milestone effort to evaluate the state of the field,
including many contributors related with a lot of countries since more
than two decades. In the 1960s, there was a surge of interest between
modern industrialized countries over unexpected opposite effects of
technical invention. The interest led to choice of approaches for
assessing and prediction the impressions of technology and
advancement for social and economic, state health and safety, solidity
and the circumstances. These are consisting of risk assessment,
technology assessment, environmental impact assessment and costbenefit
analysis. In this research contribution, the authors have
described the research status for environmental assessment in
cumulative environmental system. This article discusses the methods
for cumulative effect assessment (CEA).
Abstract: Acid rain occurs when sulphur dioxide (SO2) and
nitrogen oxides (Nox) gases react in the atmosphere with water,
oxygen, and other chemicals to form various acidic compounds. The
result is a mild solution of sulfuric acid and nitric acid. Soil has a
greater buffering capacity than aquatic systems. However excessive
amount of acids introduced by acid rains may disturb the entire soil
chemistry. Acidity and harmful action of toxic elements damage
vegetation while susceptible microbial species are eliminated. In
present study, the effects of simulated sulphuric acid and nitric acid
rains were investigated on crop Glycine max. The effect of acid rain
on change in soil fertility was detected in which pH of control sample
was 6.5 and pH of 1%H2SO4 and 1%HNO3 were 3.5. Nitrogen nitrate
in soil was high in 1% HNO3 treated soil & Control sample.
Ammonium nitrogen in soil was low in 1% HNO3 & H2SO4 treated
soil. Ammonium nitrogen was medium in control and other samples.
The effect of acid rain on seed germination on 3rd day of germination
control sample growth was 7 cm, 0.1% HNO3 was 8cm, and 0.001%
HNO3 & 0.001% H2SO4 was 6cm each. On 10th day fungal growth
was observed in 1% and 0.1%H2SO4 concentrations, when all plants
were dead. The effect of acid rain on crop productivity was
investigated on 3rd day roots were developed in plants. On12th day
Glycine max showed more growth in 0.1% HNO3, 0.001% HNO3 and
0.001% H2SO4 treated plants growth were same as compare to control
plants. On 20th day development of discoloration of plant pigments
were observed on acid treated plants leaves. On 38th day, 0.1, 0.001%
HNO3 and 0.1, 0.001% H2SO4 treated plants and control plants were
showing flower growth. On 42th day, acid treated Glycine max variety
and control plants were showed seeds on plants. In Glycine max
variety 0.1, 0.001% H2SO4, 0.1, 0.001% HNO3 treated plants were
dead on 46th day and fungal growth was observed. The toxicological
study was carried out on Glycine max plants exposed to 1% HNO3
cells were damaged more than 1% H2SO4. Leaf sections exposed to
0.001% HNO3 & H2SO4 showed less damaged of cells and
pigmentation observed in entire slide when compare with control
plant. The soil analysis was done to find microorganisms in HNO3 &
H2SO4 treated Glycine max and control plants. No microorganism
growth was observed in 1% HNO3 & H2SO4 but control plant showed
microbial growth.
Abstract: The importance of happiness understanding research is caused by cardinal changes experiences in system of people values in the post-Soviet countries territory. «The time of changes», which characterized with destruction of old values and not creativeness of new, stimulating experiences by the person of existential vacuum. The given research is actual not only in connection with sense formation, but also in connection with necessity creatively to adapt in integrative space. According to numerous works [1,2,3], we define happiness as the peak experience connected with satisfaction correlated system of needs, dependent on style of subject's coping behavior.
Abstract: The development of Web has affected different aspects of our lives, such as communication, sharing knowledge, searching for jobs, social activities, etc. The web portal as a gateway in the World Wide Web is a starting point for people who are connecting to the Internet. The web portal as the type of knowledge management system provides a rich space to share and search information as well as communication services like free email or content provision for the users. This research aims to discover the university needs to the web portal as a necessary tool for students in the universities to help them in getting the required information. A survey was conducted to gather students' requirements which can be incorporated in to portal to be developed.
Abstract: Transportation is one of the main activities related to
creating value for the tourists. Transport management in tourism
mainly focuses on managing transfer points and vehicle capacity.
However, transport service level must also be ensured as it now
relates to tourist-s experiences. This paper emphasizes on the
responsiveness as one of key service performance measures. An
evaluation framework is developed and illustarted by using the case
of small bus service in Pattaya city. It can be seen as a great potential
for the city to utilize the small bus transportation in order to meet the
needs of more diverse group of passengers and to support the
expansion of tourist areas. The framework integrates with service
operations management, logistics, and tourism behavior perspectives.
The findings from the investigation of existing small bus service are
presented and preliminarily validate the usability of the framework.
Abstract: A neuron can emit spikes in an irregular time basis and by averaging over a certain time window one would ignore a lot of information. It is known that in the context of fast information processing there is no sufficient time to sample an average firing rate of the spiking neurons. The present work shows that the spiking neurons are capable of computing the radial basis functions by storing the relevant information in the neurons' delays. One of the fundamental findings of the this research also is that when using overlapping receptive fields to encode the data patterns it increases the network-s clustering capacity. The clustering algorithm that is discussed here is interesting from computer science and neuroscience point of view as well as from a perspective.