Abstract: Telemedicine is brought to life by contemporary changes of our world and summarizes the entire range of services that are at the crossroad of traditional healthcare and information technology. It is believed that eHealth can help in solving critical issues of rising costs, care for ageing and housebound population, staff shortage. It is a feasible tool to provide routine as well as specialized health service as it has the potential to improve both the access to and the standard of care. eHealth is no more an optional choice. It has already made quite a way but it still remains a fantastic challenge for the future requiring cooperation and coordination at all possible levels. The strategic objectives of this paper are: 1. To start with an attempt to clarify the mass of terms used nowadays; 2. To answer the question “Who needs eHealth"; 3. To focus on the necessity of bridging telemedicine and medical (health) informatics as well as on the dual relationship between them; as well as 4. To underline the need of networking in understanding, developing and implementing eHealth.
Abstract: Human skull is shown to exhibit numerous sexually dimorphic traits. Estimation of sex is a challenging task especially when a part of skull is brought for medicolegal investigation. The present research was planned to evaluate the sexing potential of the dimensions of foramen magnum in forensic identification by craniometric analysis. Length and breadth of the foramen magnum was measured using Vernier calipers and the area of foramen magnum was calculated. The length, breadth, and area of foramen magnum were found to be larger in males than females. Sexual dimorphism index was calculated to estimate the sexing potential of each variable. The study observations are suggestive of the limited utility of the craniometric analysis of foramen magnum during the examination of skull and its parts in estimation of sex.
Abstract: This paper presents a generalized form of the
mechanistic deconvolution technique (GMD) to modeling image sensors applicable in various pan–tilt planes of view. The mechanistic deconvolution technique (UMD) is modified with the
given angles of a pan–tilt plane of view to formulate constraint parameters and characterize distortion effects, and thereby, determine
the corrected image data. This, as a result, does not require experimental setup or calibration. Due to the mechanistic nature of
the sensor model, the necessity for the sensor image plane to be
orthogonal to its z-axis is eliminated, and it reduces the dependency on image data. An experiment was constructed to evaluate the
accuracy of a model created by GMD and its insensitivity to changes in sensor properties and in pan and tilt angles. This was compared
with a pre-calibrated model and a model created by UMD using two sensors with different specifications. It achieved similar accuracy
with one-seventh the number of iterations and attained lower mean error by a factor of 2.4 when compared to the pre-calibrated and
UMD model respectively. The model has also shown itself to be robust and, in comparison to pre-calibrated and UMD model, improved the accuracy significantly.
Abstract: A laboratory study on the influence of compactive
effort on expansive black cotton specimens treated with up to 8%
ordinary Portland cement (OPC) admixed with up to 8% bagasse ash
(BA) by dry weight of soil and compacted using the energies of the
standard Proctor (SP), West African Standard (WAS) or
“intermediate” and modified Proctor (MP) were undertaken. The
expansive black cotton soil was classified as A-7-6 (16) or CL using
the American Association of Highway and Transportation Officials
(AASHTO) and Unified Soil Classification System (USCS),
respectively. The 7day unconfined compressive strength (UCS)
values of the natural soil for SP, WAS and MP compactive efforts are
286, 401 and 515kN/m2 respectively, while peak values of 1019,
1328 and 1420kN/m2 recorded at 8% OPC/ 6% BA, 8% OPC/ 2% BA
and 6% OPC/ 4% BA treatments, respectively were less than the
UCS value of 1710kN/m2 conventionally used as criterion for
adequate cement stabilization. The soaked California bearing ratio
(CBR) values of the OPC/BA stabilized soil increased with higher
energy level from 2, 4 and 10% for the natural soil to Peak values of
55, 18 and 8% were recorded at 8% OPC/4% BA 8% OPC/2% BA
and 8% OPC/4% BA, treatments when SP, WAS and MP compactive
effort were used, respectively. The durability of specimens was
determined by immersion in water. Soils treatment at 8% OPC/ 4%
BA blend gave a value of 50% resistance to loss in strength value
which is acceptable because of the harsh test condition of 7 days
soaking period specimens were subjected instead of the 4 days
soaking period that specified a minimum resistance to loss in strength
of 80%. Finally An optimal blend of is 8% OPC/ 4% BA is
recommended for treatment of expansive black cotton soil for use as
a sub-base material.
Abstract: The provision of urban public transport in Indonesia is not free of problems. Some of the problems include: an overall lack of capacity, lack of quality and choice, severe traffic congestions and insufficient fund to renew and repair vehicles. Generally, the comfort and quality of the city bus is poor, and many of the vehicles are dilapidated and dirty. Surveys were carried out in the city of Yogyakarta, by counting city bus vehicles and occupancies, interviewing the bus passengers, drivers and institutional staffs, who involve in public transport management. This paper will then analyze the possible plan to develop the public transport system to become more attractive and to improve the public transport management. The short, medium and long term plans are analyzed, to find the best solutions. Some constraints such as social impacts and financial impact are also taken into accounts.
Abstract: The growing interest in the issue of intangible assets not only in the scientific community but also in some professional bodies internationally can be explained by several points of view. From the business perspective, enterprises are increasingly motivated by external and internal forces to measure and proactively manage their intangibles. With respect to the issue of intangibles, goodwill has been debated in many countries throughout the world. Despite the numerous efforts and the existence of international accounting standards there is not yet a common accepted accounting treatment for goodwill. This study attempts on the one hand to impress the accounting treatment of goodwill internationally, on the other hand analyses the major subjects in relation to the accounting treatment of goodwill in Greece, since 2005, year where the international accounting standards have been in use for the Greek listed companies. The results indicate that the accounting treatment for the goodwill in Greece, despite the effort for accounting harmonization in Europe from 2005, sustains many differences especially for the no listed companies.
Abstract: This paper focuses on issues of engagement by staff in professional development related to the delivery of e-learning. The paper reports on findings drawn from a New Zealand research project which is producing a sector-wide framework for professional development in tertiary e-learning. The research findings indicate that staff engaged in e-learning in tertiary institutions is not making the most effective use of the professional development opportunities available to them; rather they seem to gain their knowledge and support from a variety of informal means. This is despite an emphasis on the provision of professional development opportunities by both Government Policies and Institutions themselves. The conclusion drawn from the findings is that institutional approaches to professional development for e-learning do not yet fully reflect the demands and constraints that working in a digital context impose.
Abstract: This paper describes a practical approach to design
and develop a hybrid learning with acceleration feedback control
(HLC) scheme for input tracking and end-point vibration suppression
of flexible manipulator systems. Initially, a collocated proportionalderivative
(PD) control scheme using hub-angle and hub-velocity
feedback is developed for control of rigid-body motion of the system.
This is then extended to incorporate a further hybrid control scheme
of the collocated PD control and iterative learning control with
acceleration feedback using genetic algorithms (GAs) to optimize the
learning parameters. Experimental results of the response of the
manipulator with the control schemes are presented in the time and
frequency domains. The performance of the HLC is assessed in terms
of input tracking, level of vibration reduction at resonance modes and
robustness with various payloads.
Abstract: The innovation performance of nations has been
repeatedly measured in the literature. We argue that while the
literature offers many suggestions, their theoretical foundation is
often weak and the underlying assumptions are rarely discussed. In
this paper, we systematize various mechanisms by which spatial units
influence nation and firms' innovation activities. On the basis of this,
common innovation performance measures and analyses are
discussed and evaluated. It is concluded that there is no general best
way of measuring the innovation performance of spatial units. In
fact, the most interesting insights can be obtained using a multitude
of different approaches at the same time.
Abstract: In this work, we study the impact of dynamically
changing link slowdowns on the stability properties of packetswitched
networks under the Adversarial Queueing Theory
framework. Especially, we consider the Adversarial, Quasi-Static
Slowdown Queueing Theory model, where each link slowdown may
take on values in the two-valued set of integers {1, D} with D > 1
which remain fixed for a long time, under a (w, ¤ü)-adversary. In this
framework, we present an innovative systematic construction for the
estimation of adversarial injection rate lower bounds, which, if
exceeded, cause instability in networks that use the LIS (Longest-in-
System) protocol for contention-resolution. In addition, we show that
a network that uses the LIS protocol for contention-resolution may
result in dropping its instability bound at injection rates ¤ü > 0 when
the network size and the high slowdown D take large values. This is
the best ever known instability lower bound for LIS networks.
Abstract: The private theme parks are gradually surpassing
public-owned scenic areas after many years of development and have
become a mainstream choice for domestic tourists. Previous studies
show that visitors from different backgrounds differ in consumer
behavior and satisfaction factors. An understanding of visitor
satisfaction is therefore of extreme importance to operators of
privately-owned theme parks. Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA)
is used to measure consumer's potential satisfaction with services and
has become a widely used management tool for strength and weakness
analysis for brands, products, services and point of sales. As IPA has
so far not been used to evaluate the visitor satisfaction with
privately-owned theme parks, in this study the IPA method is used to
analyze visitor satisfaction with Janfusun Fancyworld (one of the most
popular private theme parks in Taiwan) and to rank visitor focus and
satisfaction on/in theme park facilities and services. Results of the
analysis provide private theme park operators with an understanding
of user or consumer demands as well as an assessment of the quality of
services currently offered.
Abstract: In this document, we have proposed a robust
conceptual strategy, in order to improve the robustness against the manufacturing defects and thus the reliability of logic CMOS circuits. However, in order to enable the use of future CMOS
technology nodes this strategy combines various types of design:
DFR (Design for Reliability), techniques of tolerance: hardware
redundancy TMR (Triple Modular Redundancy) for hard error
tolerance, the DFT (Design for Testability. The Results on largest ISCAS and ITC benchmark circuits show that our approach improves
considerably the reliability, by reducing the key factors, the area costs and fault tolerance probability.
Abstract: Computer aided design accounts with the support of
parametric software in the design of machine components as well as
of any other pieces of interest. The complexities of the element under
study sometimes offer certain difficulties to computer design, or ever
might generate mistakes in the final body conception. Reverse
engineering techniques are based on the transformation of already
conceived body images into a matrix of points which can be
visualized by the design software. The literature exhibits several
techniques to obtain machine components dimensional fields, as
contact instrument (MMC), calipers and optical methods as laser
scanner, holograms as well as moiré methods. The objective of this
research work was to analyze the moiré technique as instrument of
reverse engineering, applied to bodies of nom complex geometry as
simple solid figures, creating matrices of points. These matrices were
forwarded to a parametric software named SolidWorks to generate
the virtual object. Volume data obtained by mechanical means, i.e.,
by caliper, the volume obtained through the moiré method and the
volume generated by the SolidWorks software were compared and
found to be in close agreement. This research work suggests the
application of phase shifting moiré methods as instrument of reverse
engineering, serving also to support farm machinery element designs.
Abstract: The paper reports on the results of experimental and
numerical study of nonstationary swirling flow in an isothermal
model of vortex burner. It has been identified that main source of the
instability is related to a precessing vortex core (PVC) phenomenon.
The PVC induced flow pulsation characteristics such as precession
frequency and its variation as a function of flowrate and swirl number
have been explored making use of acoustic probes. Additionally
pressure transducers were used to measure the pressure drops on the
working chamber and across the vortex flow. The experiments have
been included also the mean velocity measurements making use of a
laser-Doppler anemometry. The features of instantaneous flowfield
generated by the PVC were analyzed employing a commercial CFD
code (Star-CCM+) based on Detached Eddy Simulation (DES)
approach. Validity of the numerical code has been checked by
comparison calculated flowfield data with the obtained experimental
results. It has been confirmed particularly that the CFD code applied
correctly reproduces the flow features.
Abstract: Travelling salesman problem (TSP) is a combinational
optimization problem and solution approaches have been applied
many real world problems. Pure TSP assumes the cities to visit are
fixed in time and thus solutions are created to find shortest path
according to these point. But some of the points are canceled to visit
in time. If the problem is not time crucial it is not important to
determine new routing plan but if the points are changing rapidly and
time is necessary do decide a new route plan a new approach should
be applied in such cases. We developed a route plan transfer method
based on transfer learning and we achieved high performance against
determining a new model from scratch in every change.
Abstract: The seismic rehabilitation designs of two reinforced
concrete school buildings, representative of a wide stock of similar
edifices designed under earlier editions of the Italian Technical
Standards, are presented in this paper. The mutual retrofit solution
elaborated for the two buildings consists in the incorporation of a
dissipative bracing system including pressurized fluid viscous springdampers
as passive protective devices. The mechanical parameters,
layouts and locations selected for the constituting elements of the
system; the architectural renovation projects developed to properly
incorporate the structural interventions and improve the appearance
of the buildings; highlights of the installation works already
completed in one of the two structures; and a synthesis of the
performance assessment analyses carried out in original and
rehabilitated conditions, are illustrated. The results of the analyses
show a remarkable enhancement of the seismic response capacities of
both structures. This allows reaching the high performance objectives
postulated in the retrofit designs with much lower costs and
architectural intrusion as compared to traditional rehabilitation
interventions designed for the same objectives.
Abstract: Flat double-layer grid is from category of space structures that are formed from two flat layers connected together with diagonal members. Increased stiffness and better seismic resistance in relation to other space structures are advantages of flat double layer space structures. The objective of this study is assessment and calculation of Behavior factor of flat double layer space structures. With regarding that these structures are used widely but Behavior factor used to design these structures against seismic force is not determined and exact, the necessity of study is obvious. This study is theoretical. In this study we used structures with span length of 16m and 20 m. All connections are pivotal. ANSYS software is used to non-linear analysis of structures.
Abstract: The X-ray technology has been used in non-destructive evaluation in the Power System, in which a visual non-destructive inspection method for the electrical equipment is provided. However, lots of noise is existed in the images that are got from the X-ray digital images equipment. Therefore, the auto defect detection which based on these images will be very difficult to proceed. A theory on X-ray image de-noising algorithm based on wavelet transform is proposed in this paper. Then the edge detection algorithm is used so that the defect can be pushed out. The result of experiment shows that the method which utilized by this paper is very useful for de-noising on the X-ray images.
Abstract: This research intends to introduce a new usage of Artificial Intelligent (AI) approaches in Stepping Stone Detection (SSD) fields of research. By using Self-Organizing Map (SOM) approaches as the engine, through the experiment, it is shown that SOM has the capability to detect the number of connection chains that involved in a stepping stones. Realizing that by counting the number of connection chain is one of the important steps of stepping stone detection and it become the research focus currently, this research has chosen SOM as the AI techniques because of its capabilities. Through the experiment, it is shown that SOM can detect the number of involved connection chains in Network-based Stepping Stone Detection (NSSD).
Abstract: Based on the component approach, three kinds of
dynamic load models, including a single –motor model, a two-motor
model and composite load model have been developed for the
stability studies of Khuzestan power system. The study results are
presented in this paper. Voltage instability is a dynamic phenomenon
and therefore requires dynamic representation of the power system
components. Industrial loads contain a large fraction of induction
machines. Several models of different complexity are available for
the description investigations. This study evaluates the dynamic
performances of several dynamic load models in combination with
the dynamics of a load changing transformer. Case study is steel
industrial substation in Khuzestan power systems.