Abstract: The article is devoted to the problem of political
discourse and its reflection on mass cognition. This article is
dedicated to describe the myth as one of the main features of political
discourse. The dominance of an expressional and emotional
component in the myth is shown. Precedent phenomenon plays an
important role in distinguishing the myth from the linguistic point of
view. Precedent phenomena show the linguistic cognition, which is
characterized by their fame and recognition. Four types of myths
such as master myths, a foundation myth, sustaining myth,
eschatological myths are observed. The myths about the national idea
are characterized by national specificity. The main aim of the
political discourse with the help of myths is to influence on the mass
consciousness in order to motivate the addressee to certain actions so
that the target purpose is reached owing to unity of forces.
Abstract: This research proposes a novel reconstruction protocol
for restoring missing surfaces and low-quality edges and shapes in
photos of artifacts at historical sites. The protocol starts with the
extraction of a cloud of points. This extraction process is based on
four subordinate algorithms, which differ in the robustness and
amount of resultant. Moreover, they use different -but
complementary- accuracy to some related features and to the way
they build a quality mesh. The performance of our proposed protocol
is compared with other state-of-the-art algorithms and toolkits. The
statistical analysis shows that our algorithm significantly outperforms
its rivals in the resultant quality of its object files used to reconstruct
the desired model.
Abstract: Color Histogram is considered as the oldest method
used by CBIR systems for indexing images. In turn, the global
histograms do not include the spatial information; this is why the
other techniques coming later have attempted to encounter this
limitation by involving the segmentation task as a preprocessing step.
The weak segmentation is employed by the local histograms while
other methods as CCV (Color Coherent Vector) are based on strong
segmentation. The indexation based on local histograms consists of
splitting the image into N overlapping blocks or sub-regions, and
then the histogram of each block is computed. The dissimilarity
between two images is reduced, as consequence, to compute the
distance between the N local histograms of the both images resulting
then in N*N values; generally, the lowest value is taken into account
to rank images, that means that the lowest value is that which helps to
designate which sub-region utilized to index images of the collection
being asked. In this paper, we make under light the local histogram
indexation method in the hope to compare the results obtained against
those given by the global histogram. We address also another
noteworthy issue when Relying on local histograms namely which
value, among N*N values, to trust on when comparing images, in
other words, which sub-region among the N*N sub-regions on which
we base to index images. Based on the results achieved here, it seems
that relying on the local histograms, which needs to pose an extra
overhead on the system by involving another preprocessing step
naming segmentation, does not necessary mean that it produces better
results. In addition to that, we have proposed here some ideas to
select the local histogram on which we rely on to encode the image
rather than relying on the local histogram having lowest distance with
the query histograms.
Abstract: Frequent pattern mining is the process of finding a
pattern (a set of items, subsequences, substructures, etc.) that occurs
frequently in a data set. It was proposed in the context of frequent
itemsets and association rule mining. Frequent pattern mining is used
to find inherent regularities in data. What products were often
purchased together? Its applications include basket data analysis,
cross-marketing, catalog design, sale campaign analysis, Web log
(click stream) analysis, and DNA sequence analysis. However, one of
the bottlenecks of frequent itemset mining is that as the data increase
the amount of time and resources required to mining the data
increases at an exponential rate. In this investigation a new algorithm
is proposed which can be uses as a pre-processor for frequent itemset
mining. FASTER (FeAture SelecTion using Entropy and Rough sets)
is a hybrid pre-processor algorithm which utilizes entropy and roughsets
to carry out record reduction and feature (attribute) selection
respectively. FASTER for frequent itemset mining can produce a
speed up of 3.1 times when compared to original algorithm while
maintaining an accuracy of 71%.
Abstract: This paper presents a 3D guidance scheme for
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The proposed guidance scheme
is based on the sliding mode approach using nonlinear sliding
manifolds. Generalized 3D kinematic equations are considered
here during the design process to cater for the coupling between
longitudinal and lateral motions. Sliding mode based guidance
scheme is then derived for the multiple-input multiple-output
(MIMO) system using the proposed nonlinear manifolds. Instead of
traditional sliding surfaces, nonlinear sliding surfaces are proposed
here for performance and stability in all flight conditions. In the
reaching phase control inputs, the bang-bang terms with signum
functions are accompanied with proportional terms in order to reduce
the chattering amplitudes. The Proposed 3D guidance scheme is
implemented on a 6-degrees-of-freedom (6-dof) simulation of a UAV
and simulation results are presented here for different 3D trajectories
with and without disturbances.
Abstract: Frequent, continuous speech training has proven to be
a necessary part of a successful speech therapy process, but
constraints of traveling time and employment dispensation become
key obstacles especially for individuals living in remote areas or for
dependent children who have working parents. In order to ameliorate
speech difficulties with ample guidance from speech therapists, a
website has been developed that supports speech therapy and training
for people with articulation disorders in the standard Thai language.
This web-based program has the ability to record speech training
exercises for each speech trainee. The records will be stored in a
database for the speech therapist to investigate, evaluate, compare
and keep track of all trainees’ progress in detail. Speech trainees can
request live discussions via video conference call when needed.
Communication through this web-based program facilitates and
reduces training time in comparison to walk-in training or
appointments. This type of training also allows people with
articulation disorders to practice speech lessons whenever or
wherever is convenient for them, which can lead to a more regular
training processes.
Abstract: The article presents the trends in Georgian wine
market development and evaluates the competitive advantages of
Georgia to enter the wine market based on its customs, traditions and
historical practices combined with modern technologies.
In order to analyze the supply of wine, dynamics of vineyard land
area and grape varieties are discussed, trends in wine production are
presented, trends in export and import are evaluated, local wine
market, its micro and macro environments are studied and analyzed
based on the interviews with experts and analysis of initial recording
materials.
For strengthening its position on the international market, the level
of competitiveness of Georgian wine is defined, which is evaluated
by “ex-ante” and “ex-post” methods, as well as by four basic and two
additional factors of the Porter’s diamond method; potential
advantages and disadvantages of Georgian wine are revealed.
Conclusions are made by identifying the factors that hinder the
development of Georgian wine market. Based on the conclusions,
relevant recommendations are developed.
Abstract: The paper discusses economic policy of Georgia
aiming to increase national competitiveness as well as the tools and
means which will help to improve the competitiveness of the country.
The sectors of the economy, in which the country can achieve the
competitive advantage, are studied. It is noted that the country’s
economic policy plays an important role in obtaining and maintaining
the competitive advantage - authority should take measures to ensure
high level of education; scientific and research activities should be
funded by the state; foreign direct investments should be attracted
mainly in science-intensive industries; adaptation with the latest
scientific achievements of the modern world and deepening of
scientific and technical cooperation. Stable business environment and
export oriented strategy is the basis for the country’s economic
growth.
As the outcome of the research, the paper suggests the strategy for
improving competitiveness in Georgia; recommendations are
provided based on relevant conclusions.
Abstract: Boron-gypsum is a waste which occurs in the boric
acid production process. In this study, the boron content of this waste
is evaluated for the use in synthesis of magnesium borates and such
evaluation of this kind of waste is useful more than storage or
disposal. Magnesium borates, which are a sub-class of boron
minerals, are useful additive materials for the industries due to their
remarkable thermal and mechanical properties. Magnesium borates
were obtained hydrothermally at different temperatures. Novelty of
this study is the search of the solution density effects to magnesium
borate synthesis process for the increasing the possibility of borongypsum
usage as a raw material. After the synthesis process, products
are subjected to XRD and FT-IR to identify and characterize their
crystal structure, respectively.
Abstract: Fly ash is an important waste, produced in thermal
power plants which causes very important environmental pollutions.
For this reason the usage and evaluation the fly ash in various areas
are very important. Nearly, 15 million tons/year of fly ash is
produced in Turkey. In this study, usage of fly ash with diatomite and
molasses for heavy metal (Cd) adsorption from wastewater is
investigated. The samples of Seyitomer region fly ash were analyzed
by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Scanning Electron Microscope
(SEM) then diatomite (0 and 1% in terms of fly ash, w/w) and
molasses (0-0.75 mL) were pelletized under 30 MPa of pressure for
the usage of cadmium (Cd) adsorption in wastewater. After the
adsorption process, samples of Seyitomer were analyzed using
Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES). As a result, it is seen that
the usage of Seyitomer fly ash is proper for cadmium (Cd) adsorption
and an optimum adsorption yield with 52% is found at a compound
with Seyitomer fly ash (10 g), diatomite (0.5 g) and molasses (0.75
mL) at 2.5 h of reaction time, pH:4, 20ºC of reaction temperature and
300 rpm of stirring rate.
Abstract: Researches and concerns in power quality gained
significant momentum in the field of power electronics systems over
the last two decades globally. This sudden increase in the number of
concerns over power quality problems is a result of the huge increase
in the use of non-linear loads. In this paper, power quality evaluation
of some distribution networks at Misurata - Libya has been done
using a power quality and energy analyzer (Fluke 437 Series II). The
results of this evaluation are used to minimize the problems of power
quality. The analysis shows the main power quality problems that
exist and the level of awareness of power quality issues with the aim
of generating a start point which can be used as guidelines for
researchers and end users in the field of power systems.
Abstract: Recent perceived climate variability raises concerns
with unprecedented hydrological phenomena and extremes.
Distribution and circulation of the waters of the Earth become
increasingly difficult to determine because of additional uncertainty
related to anthropogenic emissions. The world wide observed
changes in the large-scale hydrological cycle have been related to an
increase in the observed temperature over several decades. Although
the effect of change in climate on hydrology provides a general
picture of possible hydrological global change, new tools and
frameworks for modelling hydrological series with nonstationary
characteristics at finer scales, are required for assessing climate
change impacts. Of the downscaling techniques, dynamic
downscaling is usually based on the use of Regional Climate Models
(RCMs), which generate finer resolution output based on atmospheric
physics over a region using General Circulation Model (GCM) fields
as boundary conditions. However, RCMs are not expected to capture
the observed spatial precipitation extremes at a fine cell scale or at a
basin scale. Statistical downscaling derives a statistical or empirical
relationship between the variables simulated by the GCMs, called
predictors, and station-scale hydrologic variables, called predictands.
The main focus of the paper is on the need for using statistical
downscaling techniques for projection of local hydrometeorological
variables under climate change scenarios. The projections can be then
served as a means of input source to various hydrologic models to
obtain streamflow, evapotranspiration, soil moisture and other
hydrological variables of interest.
Abstract: A generalized vortex lattice method for complex
lifting surfaces with flap and aileron deflection is formulated. The
method is not restricted by the linearized theory assumption and
accounts for all standard geometric lifting surface parameters:
camber, taper, sweep, washout, dihedral, in addition to flap and
aileron deflection. Thickness is not accounted for since the physical
lifting body is replaced by a lattice of panels located on the mean
camber surface. This panel lattice setup and the treatment of different
wake geometries is what distinguish the present work form the
overwhelming majority of previous solutions based on the vortex
lattice method. A MATLAB code implementing the proposed
formulation is developed and validated by comparing our results to
existing experimental and numerical ones and good agreement is
demonstrated. It is then used to study the accuracy of the widely used
classical vortex-lattice method. It is shown that the classical approach
gives good agreement in the clean configuration but is off by as much
as 30% when a flap or aileron deflection of 30° is imposed. This
discrepancy is mainly due the linearized theory assumption
associated with the conventional method. A comparison of the effect
of four different wake geometries on the values of aerodynamic
coefficients was also carried out and it is found that the choice of the
wake shape had very little effect on the results.
Abstract: This paper clarifies the role of ICT capital in economic
growth. Albeit ICT remarkably contributes to economic growth, there
are few studies on ICT capital in ICT sector from theoretical point of
view. In this paper, production function of ICT which is used as input
of intermediate good in final good and ICT sectors is incorporated
into our model. In this setting, we analyze the role of ICT on balance
growth path and show the possibility of general equilibrium solutions
for this model. Through the simulation of the equilibrium solutions,
we find that when ICT impacts on economy and economic growth
increases, it is necessary that increases of efficiency at ICT sector and
of accumulation of non-ICT and ICT capitals occur simultaneously.
Abstract: Sudoku is a logic-based combinatorial puzzle game
which people in different ages enjoy playing it. The challenging and
addictive nature of this game has made it a ubiquitous game. Most
magazines, newspapers, puzzle books, etc. publish lots of Sudoku
puzzles every day. These puzzles often come in different levels of
difficulty so that all people, from beginner to expert, can play the
game and enjoy it. Generating puzzles with different levels of
difficulty is a major concern of Sudoku designers. There are several
works in the literature which propose ways of generating puzzles
having a desirable level of difficulty. In this paper, we propose a
method based on constraint satisfaction problems to evaluate the
difficulty of the Sudoku puzzles. Then we propose a hill climbing
method to generate puzzles with different levels of difficulty.
Whereas other methods are usually capable of generating puzzles
with only few number of difficulty levels, our method can be used to
generate puzzles with arbitrary number of different difficulty levels.
We test our method by generating puzzles with different levels of
difficulty and having a group of 15 people solve all the puzzles and
recording the time they spend for each puzzle.
Abstract: An analysis of the Australian Diabetes Screening
Study estimated undiagnosed diabetes mellitus [DM] prevalence in a
high risk general practice based cohort. DM prevalence varied from
9.4% to 18.1% depending upon the diagnostic criteria utilised with
age being a highly significant risk factor. Utilising the gold standard
oral glucose tolerance test, the prevalence of DM was 22-23% in
those aged >= 70 years and
Abstract: This paper presents a new meta-heuristic bio-inspired
optimization algorithm which is called Cuttlefish Algorithm (CFA).
The algorithm mimics the mechanism of color changing behavior of
the cuttlefish to solve numerical global optimization problems. The
colors and patterns of the cuttlefish are produced by reflected light
from three different layers of cells. The proposed algorithm considers
mainly two processes: reflection and visibility. Reflection process
simulates light reflection mechanism used by these layers, while
visibility process simulates visibility of matching patterns of the
cuttlefish. To show the effectiveness of the algorithm, it is tested with
some other popular bio-inspired optimization algorithms such as
Genetic Algorithms (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and
Bees Algorithm (BA) that have been previously proposed in the
literature. Simulations and obtained results indicate that the proposed
CFA is superior when compared with these algorithms.
Abstract: Three dimensional non-Interlaced carbon fibre
reinforced silicon carbide (3-D-Cf/SiC) composites with pyrocarbon
interphase were fabricated using isothermal chemical vapor
infiltration (ICVI) combined with polymer impregnation pyrolysis
(PIP) process. Polysilazane (PSZ) is used as a preceramic polymer to
obtain silicon carbide matrix. Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA),
Infrared spectroscopic analysis (IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD)
analysis were carried out on PSZ pyrolysed at different temperatures
to understand the pyrolysis and obtaining the optimum pyrolysing
condition to yield β-SiC phase. The density of the composites was
1.94 g cm-3 after the 3-D carbon preform was SiC infiltrated for 280 h
with one intermediate polysilazane pre-ceramic PIP process.
Mechanical properties of the composite materials were investigated
under tensile, flexural, shear and impact loading. The values of
tensile strength were 200 MPa at room temperature (RT) and 195
MPa at 500°C in air. The average RT flexural strength was 243 MPa.
The lower flexural strength of these composites is because of the
porosity. The fracture toughness obtained from single edge notched
beam (SENB) technique was 39 MPa.m1/2. The work of fracture
obtained from the load-displacement curve of SENB test was 22.8
kJ.m-2. The composites exhibited excellent impact resistance and the
dynamic fracture toughness of 44.8 kJ.m-2 is achieved as determined
from instrumented Charpy impact test. The shear strength of the
composite was 93 MPa, which is significantly higher compared 2-D
Cf/SiC composites. Microstructure evaluation of fracture surfaces
revealed the signatures of fracture processes and showed good
support for the higher toughness obtained.
Abstract: Web search engines are designed to retrieve and
extract the information in the web databases and to return dynamic
web pages. The Semantic Web is an extension of the current web in
which it includes semantic content in web pages. The main goal of
semantic web is to promote the quality of the current web by
changing its contents into machine understandable form. Therefore,
the milestone of semantic web is to have semantic level information
in the web. Nowadays, people use different keyword- based search
engines to find the relevant information they need from the web.
But many of the words are polysemous. When these words are
used to query a search engine, it displays the Search Result Records
(SRRs) with different meanings. The SRRs with similar meanings are
grouped together based on Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD). In
addition to that semantic annotation is also performed to improve the
efficiency of search result records. Semantic Annotation is the
process of adding the semantic metadata to web resources. Thus the
grouped SRRs are annotated and generate a summary which
describes the information in SRRs. But the automatic semantic
annotation is a significant challenge in the semantic web. Here
ontology and knowledge based representation are used to annotate
the web pages.
Abstract: As currently various portable devices were launched,
smart business conducted using them became common. Since smart
business can use company-internal resources in an exlternal remote
place, user authentication that can identify authentic users is an
important factor. Commonly used user authentication is a method of
using user ID and Password. In the user authentication using ID and
Password, the user should see and enter authentication information
him or her. In this user authentication system depending on the user’s
vision, there is the threat of password leaks through snooping in the
process which the user enters his or her authentication information.
This study designed and produced a user authentication module
using an actuator to respond to the snooping threat.