Abstract: Amphawa is the most popular weekend destination for
both domestic and international tourists in Thailand. More than 112
homestays and resorts have been developed along the water
resources. This research aims to initiate appropriate environmental
management system for riverside tourist accommodations in
Amphawa by investigating current environmental characteristics.
Eighty-eight riverside tourist accommodations were survey from
specific questionnaire, GPS data were also gathered for spatial
analysis. The results revealed that the accommodations are welled
manage in regards to some environmental aspects. In order to reduce
economic costs, energy efficiency equipment is utilized. A substantial
number of tourist accommodations encouraged waste separation,
followed by transfer to local administration organization. Grease
traps also utilized in order to decrease chemical discharged, grease
and oil from canteen and restaurants on natural environment. The
most notable mitigation is to initiate environmental friendly cleansers
for tourist accommodation along the riverside in tourism destinations.
Abstract: A new data fusion method called joint probability density matrix (JPDM) is proposed, which can associate and fuse measurements from spatially distributed heterogeneous sensors to identify the real target in a surveillance region. Using the probabilistic grids representation, we numerically combine the uncertainty regions of all the measurements in a general framework. The NP-hard multisensor data fusion problem has been converted to a peak picking problem in the grids map. Unlike most of the existing data fusion method, the JPDM method dose not need association processing, and will not lead to combinatorial explosion. Its convergence to the CRLB with a diminishing grid size has been proved. Simulation results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique.
Abstract: The flow filed around a flatted-roof compound has
been investigated by means of 2D and 3D numerical simulations. A
constant wind velocity profile, based both on the maximum reference
wind speed in the building site (peak gust speed worked out for a 50-
year return period) and on the local roughness coefficient, has been
simulated in order to determine the wind-induced loads on top of the
roof. After determining the influence of the incoming wind directions
on the induced roof loads, a 2D analysis of the most severe load
condition has been performed, achieving a numerical quantification
of the expected wind-induced forces on the PV panels on top of the
roof.
Abstract: Professional development is the focus of this study. It
reports on questionnaire data that examined the perceived
effectiveness of the Train the Trainer model of technology
professional development for elementary teachers. Eighty-three
selected teachers called Information Technology Coaches received
four half-day and one after-school in-service sessions. Subsequently,
coaches shared the information and skills acquired during training
with colleagues. Results indicated that participants felt comfortable
as Information Technology Coaches and felt well prepared because
of their technological professional development. Overall, participants
perceived the Train the Trainer model to be effective. The outcomes
of this study suggest that the use of the Train the Trainer model, a
known professional development model, can be an integral and
interdependent component of the newer more comprehensive
learning community professional development model.
Abstract: Recent changes in food retailing structure have led to the development of large supercenters in suburban areas of the United States. These changes have led some authors to suggest that there are food deserts in some urban areas, where food is difficult to access, especially for disadvantaged consumers. This study tests the food desert hypothesis by comparing the distance from food retailers to food secure and food insecure households in one urban, Midwest neighborhood. This study utilizes GIS to compare household survey respondent locations against the location of various types of area food retailers. Results of this study indicate no apparent difference between food secure and insecure households in the reported importance of distance on the decision to shop at various retailers. However, there were differences in the spatial relationship between households and retailers. Food insecure households tended to be located slightly farther from large food retailers and slightly closer to convenience stores. Furthermore, food insecure households reported traveling slightly farther to their primary food retailer. The differences between the two groups was, however, relatively small.
Abstract: Functioning of a biometric system in large part
depends on the performance of the similarity measure function.
Frequently a generalized similarity distance measure function such as
Euclidian distance or Mahalanobis distance is applied to the task of
matching biometric feature vectors. However, often accuracy of a
biometric system can be greatly improved by designing a customized
matching algorithm optimized for a particular biometric application.
In this paper we propose a tailored similarity measure function for
behavioral biometric systems based on the expert knowledge of the
feature level data in the domain. We compare performance of a
proposed matching algorithm to that of other well known similarity
distance functions and demonstrate its superiority with respect to the
chosen domain.
Abstract: Linear induction motors are used in various industries
but they have some specific phenomena which are the causes for
some problems. The most important phenomenon is called end effect.
End effect decreases efficiency, power factor and output force and
unbalances the phase currents. This phenomenon is more important
in medium and high speeds machines. In this paper a factor, EEF , is
obtained by an accurate equivalent circuit model, to determine the
end effect intensity. In this way, all of effective design parameters on
end effect is described. Accuracy of this equivalent circuit model is
evaluated by two dimensional finite-element analysis using ANSYS.
The results show the accuracy of the equivalent circuit model.
Abstract: Logic based methods for learning from structured data
is limited w.r.t. handling large search spaces, preventing large-sized
substructures from being considered by the resulting classifiers. A
novel approach to learning from structured data is introduced that
employs a structure transformation method, called finger printing, for
addressing these limitations. The method, which generates features
corresponding to arbitrarily complex substructures, is implemented in
a system, called DIFFER. The method is demonstrated to perform
comparably to an existing state-of-art method on some benchmark
data sets without requiring restrictions on the search space.
Furthermore, learning from the union of features generated by finger
printing and the previous method outperforms learning from each
individual set of features on all benchmark data sets, demonstrating
the benefit of developing complementary, rather than competing,
methods for structure classification.
Abstract: The typical coupled-tanks process that is TITO
plant has the difficulty in controller design because changing
of system dynamics and interacting of process. This paper
presents design methodology of auto-adjustable PI controller
using MRAC technique. The proposed method can adjust the
controller parameters in response to changes in plant and
disturbance real time by referring to the reference model that
specifies properties of the desired control system.
Abstract: The distillation process in the general sense is a
relatively simple technique from the standpoints of its principles.
When dedicating distillation to water treatment and specifically
producing fresh water from sea, ocean and/ briny waters it is
interesting to notice that distillation has no limitations or domains of
applicability regarding the nature or the type of the feedstock water.
This is not the case however for other techniques that are
technologically quite complex, necessitate bigger capital investments
and are limited in their usability. In a previous paper we have
explored some of the effects of temperature on yield. In this paper,
we continue building onto that knowledge base and focus on the
effects of several additional engineering and design variables on
productivity.
Abstract: A generic and extendible Multi-Agent Data Mining
(MADM) framework, MADMF (the Multi-Agent Data Mining
Framework) is described. The central feature of the framework is that
it avoids the use of agreed meta-language formats by supporting a
framework of wrappers.
The advantage offered is that the framework is easily extendible,
so that further data agents and mining agents can simply be added to
the framework. A demonstration MADMF framework is currently
available. The paper includes details of the MADMF architecture and
the wrapper principle incorporated into it. A full description and
evaluation of the framework-s operation is provided by considering
two MADM scenarios.
Abstract: Climate change and environmental pressures are
major international issues nowadays. It is time when governments,
businesses and consumers have to respond through more
environmentally friendly and aware practices, products and policies.
This is the prime time to develop alternative sustainable construction
materials, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save energy, look to
renewable energy sources and recycled materials, and reduce waste.
The utilization of waste materials (slag, fly ash, glass beads, plastic
and so on) in concrete manufacturing is significant due to its
engineering, financial, environmental and ecological benefits. Thus,
utilization of waste materials in concrete production is very much
helpful to reach the goal of the sustainable construction. Therefore,
this study intends to use glass beads in concrete production.
The paper reports on the performance of 9 different concrete
mixes containing different ratios of glass crushed to 5 mm - 20 mm
maximum size and glass marble of 20 mm size as coarse aggregate.
Ordinary Portland cement type 1 and fine sand less than 0.5 mm were
used to produce standard concrete cylinders. Compressive strength
tests were carried out on concrete specimens at various ages. Test
results indicated that the mix having the balanced ratio of glass beads
and round marbles possess maximum compressive strength which is
3889 psi, as glass beads perform better in bond formation but have
lower strength, on the other hand marbles are strong in themselves
but not good in bonding. These mixes were prepared following a
specific W/C and aggregate ratio; more strength can be expected to
achieve from different W/C, aggregate ratios, adding admixtures like
strength increasing agents, ASR inhibitor agents etc.
Abstract: Desert regions around the Nile valley in Upper Egypt
contain great extent of swelling soil. Many different comment
procedures of treatment of the swelling soils for construction such as
pre-swelling, load balance OR soil replacement. One of the measure
factors which affect the level of the aggressiveness of the swelling
soil is the direction of the infiltration water directions within the
swelling soils. In this paper a physical model was installed to
measure the effect of water on the swelling soil with replacement
using fatty acid distillation residuals (FADR) mixed with sand as
thick sand-FADR mixture to prevent the water pathway arrive to the
swelling soil. Testing program have been conducted on different
artificial samples with different sand to FADR contents ratios (4%,
6%, and 9%) to get the optimum value fulfilling the impermeable
replacement. The tests show that a FADR content of 9% is sufficient
to produce impermeable replacement.
Abstract: The roll center is one of the key parameters for designing a suspension. Several driving characteristics are affected significantly by the migration of the roll center during the suspension-s motion. The strut/SLA (strut/short-long-arm) suspension, which is widely used in production cars, combines the space-saving characteristics of a MacPherson strut suspension with some of the preferred handling characteristics of an SLA suspension. In this study, a front strut/SLA suspension is modeled by ADAMS/Car software. Kinematic roll analysis is then employed to investigate how the rolling characteristics change under the wheel travel and steering input. The related parameters, including the roll center height, roll camber gain, toe change, scrub radius and wheel track width change, are analyzed and discussed. It is found that the strut/SLA suspension clearly has a higher roll center than strut and SLA suspensions do. The variations in the roll center height under roll analysis are very different as the wheel travel displacement and steering angle are added. The results of the roll camber gain, scrub radius and wheel track width change are considered satisfactory. However, the toe change is too large and needs fine-tuning through a sensitivity analysis.
Abstract: In order to be able to automatically differentiate
between two modes of permanent flow of a liquid simulating blood,
it was imperative to put together a data bank. Thus, the acquisition of
the various amplitude spectra of the Doppler signal of this liquid in
laminar flow and other spectra in turbulent flow enabled us to
establish an automatic difference between the two modes. According
to the number of parameters and their nature, a comparative study
allowed us to choose the best classifier.
Abstract: Concurrency and synchronization are becoming big
issues as every new PC comes with multi-core processors. A major
reason for Object-Oriented Programming originally was to enable
easier reuse: encode your algorithm into a class and thoroughly
debug it, then you can reuse the class again and again. However,
when we get to concurrency and synchronization, this is often not
possible. Thread-safety issues means that synchronization constructs
need to be entangled into every class involved. We contributed a
detailed literature review of issues and challenges in concurrent
programming and present a methodology that uses the Aspect-
Oriented paradigm to address this problem. Aspects will allow us to
extract the synchronization concerns as schemes to be “weaved in"
later into the main code. This allows the aspects to be separately
tested and verified. Hence, the functional components can be weaved
with reusable synchronization schemes that are robust and scalable.
Abstract: Due to rapid economic growth, Indonesia's energy needs is rapidly increasing. Indonesia-s primary energy consumption has doubled in 2007 compared to 2003. Indonesia's status change from oil net-exporter to oil net-importer country recently has increased Indonesia's concern over energy security. Due to this, oil import becomes center of attention in the dynamics of Indonesia's energy security. Conventional studies addressing Indonesia's energy security have focused on energy production sector. This study explores Indonesia-s energy security considering energy import sector by modeling and simulating Indonesia-s energy-related policies using system dynamics. Simulation result of Indonesia's energy security in 2020 in Business-As-Usual scenario shows that in term of supply demand ratio, energy security will be very high, but also it poses high dependence on energy import. The Alternative scenario result shows lower energy security in term of supply demand ratio and much lower dependence on energy import. It is also found that the Alternative scenario produce lower GDP growth.
Abstract: This paper presents data annotation models at
five levels of granularity (database, relation, column, tuple, and cell) of relational data to address the problem of unsuitability of most relational databases to express annotations. These models
do not require any structural and schematic changes to the
underlying database. These models are also flexible, extensible,
customizable, database-neutral, and platform-independent. This paper also presents an SQL-like query language, named Annotation Query Language (AnQL), to query annotation documents. AnQL is simple to understand and exploits the already-existent wide knowledge and skill set of SQL.
Abstract: In this paper, a direct torque control - space vector
modulation (DTC-SVM) scheme is presented for a six-phase speed
and voltage sensorless induction motor (IM) drive. The decoupled
torque and stator flux control is achieved based on IM stator flux field orientation. The rotor speed is detected by on-line estimating of
the rotor angular slip speed and stator vector flux speed. In addition, a simple method is introduced to estimate the stator resistance.
Moreover in this control scheme the voltage sensors are eliminated
and actual motor phase voltages are approximated by using PWM
inverter switching times and the dc link voltage. Finally, some simulation and experimental results are presented to verify the
effectiveness and capability of the proposed control scheme.
Abstract: The use of 3D computer-aided design (CAD) models
to support construction project planning has been increasing in the
previous year. 3D CAD models reveal more planning ideas by
visually showing the construction site environment in different stages
of the construction process. Using 3D CAD models together with
scheduling software to prepare construction plan can identify errors
in process sequence and spatial arrangement, which is vital to the
success of a construction project. A number of 4D (3D plus time)
CAD tools has been developed and utilized in different construction
projects due to the awareness of their importance. Virtual prototyping
extends the idea of 4D CAD by integrating more features for
simulating real construction process. Virtual prototyping originates
from the manufacturing industry where production of products such
as cars and airplanes are virtually simulated in computer before they
are built in the factory. Virtual prototyping integrates 3D CAD,
simulation engine, analysis tools (like structural analysis and
collision detection), and knowledgebase to streamline the whole
product design and production process. In this paper, we present the
application of a virtual prototyping software which has been used in
a few construction projects in Hong Kong to support construction
project planning. Specifically, the paper presents an implementation
of virtual prototyping in a residential building project in Hong Kong.
The applicability, difficulties and benefits of construction virtual
prototyping are examined based on this project.