Abstract: The electrolyte stirring method of anodization etching
process for manufacturing porous silicon (PS) is reported in this work.
Two experimental setups of nature air stirring (PS-ASM) and
electrolyte stirring (PS-ESM) are employed to clarify the influence of
stirring mechanisms on electrochemical etching process. Compared to
traditional fabrication without any stirring apparatus (PS-TM), a large
plateau region of PS surface structure is obtained from samples with
both stirring methods by the 3D-profiler measurement. Moreover, the
light emission response is also improved by both proposed electrolyte
stirring methods due to the cycling force in electrolyte could
effectively enhance etch-carrier distribution while the electrochemical
etching process is made. According to the analysis of statistical
calculation of photoluminescence (PL) intensity, lower standard
deviations are obtained from PS-samples with studied stirring methods,
i.e. the uniformity of PL-intensity is effectively improved. The
calculated deviations of PL-intensity are 93.2, 74.5 and 64,
respectively, for PS-TM, PS-ASM and PS-ESM.
Abstract: Since polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been
invented, it has emerged as a powerful tool in genetic analysis. The
PCR products are closely linked with thermal cycles. Therefore, to
reduce the reaction time and make temperature distribution uniform in
the reaction chamber, a novel oscillatory thermal cycler is designed.
The sample is placed in a fixed chamber, and three constant isothermal
zones are established and lined in the system. The sample is oscillated
and contacted with three different isothermal zones to complete
thermal cycles. This study presents the design of the geometric
characteristics of the chamber. The commercial software
CFD-ACE+TM is utilized to investigate the influences of various
materials, heating times, chamber volumes, and moving speed of the
chamber on the temperature distributions inside the chamber. The
chamber moves at a specific velocity and the boundary conditions
with time variations are related to the moving speed. Whereas the
chamber moves, the boundary is specified at the conditions of the
convection or the uniform temperature. The user subroutines compiled
by the FORTRAN language are used to make the numerical results
realistically. Results show that the reaction chamber with a rectangular
prism is heated on six faces; the effects of various moving speeds of
the chamber on the temperature distributions are examined. Regarding
to the temperature profiles and the standard deviation of the
temperature at the Y-cut cross section, the non-uniform temperature
inside chamber is found as the moving speed is larger than 0.01 m/s.
By reducing the heating faces to four, the standard deviation of the
temperature of the reaction chamber is under 1.4×10-3K with the range
of velocities between 0.0001 m/s and 1 m/s. The nature convective
boundary conditions are set at all boundaries while the chamber moves
between two heaters, the effects of various moving velocities of the
chamber on the temperature distributions are negligible at the assigned
time duration.
Abstract: Supplementation of palm vitamin E has been reported
to prevent loss of bone density in ovariectomised female rats. The
mechanism by which palm vitamin E exerts these effects is still
unknown. We hypothesized that palm vitamin E may act by
preventing the protein expression changes. Two dimensional poly
acyrilamide gel electrophoresis (2-D PAGE) and PD Quest software
genomic solutions Investigator (proteomics) was used to analyze the
differential protein expression profile in femoral and humeri bones
harvested from three groups of rats; sham-operated rats (SO),
ovariectomised rats (Ovx) and ovariectomised rats supplemented for
2 months with palm vitamin E. The results showed that there were
over 300 valued spot on each of the groups PVE and OVX as
compared to about 200 in SO. Comparison between the differential
protein expression between OVX and PVE groups showed that ten
spots were down –regulated in OVX but up-regulated in PVE. The
ten differential spots were separately named P1-P10. The
identification and understanding of the pathway of the differential
protein expression among the groups is ongoing and may account for
the molecular mechanism through which palm vitamin E exert its
anti-osteoporotic effect.
Abstract: Serial Analysis of Gene Expression is a powerful
quantification technique for generating cell or tissue gene expression
data. The profile of the gene expression of cell or tissue in several
different states is difficult for biologists to analyze because of the large
number of genes typically involved. However, feature selection in
machine learning can successfully reduce this problem. The method
allows reducing the features (genes) in specific SAGE data, and
determines only relevant genes. In this study, we used a genetic
algorithm to implement feature selection, and evaluate the
classification accuracy of the selected features with the K-nearest
neighbor method. In order to validate the proposed method, we used
two SAGE data sets for testing. The results of this study conclusively
prove that the number of features of the original SAGE data set can be
significantly reduced and higher classification accuracy can be
achieved.
Abstract: In order to accommodate various multimedia
services, next generation wireless networks are characterized
by very high transmission bit rates. Thus, in such systems and
networks, the received signal is not only limited by noise but -
especially with increasing symbols rate often more
significantly by the intersymbol interference (ISI) caused by
the time dispersive radio channels such as those are used in
this work. This paper deals with the study of the performance
of detector for high bit rate transmission on some worst case
models of frequency selective fading channels for outdoor
mobile radio environments. This paper deals with a number of
different wireless channels with different power profiles and
different number of resolvable paths. All the radio channels
generated in this paper are for outdoor vehicular environments
with Doppler spread of 100 Hz. A carrier frequency of 1800
MHz is used and all the channels used in this work are such
that they are useful for next generation wireless systems.
Schemes for mitigation of ISI with adaptive equalizers of
different types have been investigated and their performances
have been investigated in terms of BER measured as a function
of SNR.
Abstract: There is a growing interest in the food industry and in preventive health care for the development and evaluation of natural antioxidants from medicinal plant materials. In the present work, extracts of three medicinal plants (Tilia argentea, Crataegi folium leaves and Polygonum bistorta roots) used in Turkish phytotheraphy were screened for their phenolic profiles and antioxidant properties. Crude extracts were obtained from different parts of plants, by solidliquid extraction with pure water, 70% acetone and 70% methanol aqueous solvents. The antioxidant activity of the extracts was determined by ABTS.+ radical cation scavenging activity. The Folin Ciocalteu procedure was used to assess the total phenolic concentrations of the extracts as gallic acid equivalents. A modified liquid chromatography-electro spray ionization-mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS) was used to obtain chromatographic profiles of the phenolic compounds in the medicinal plants. The predominant phenolic compounds detected in different extracts of the plants were catechin, protocatechuic and chlorogenic acids. The highest phenolic contents were obtained by using 70% acetone as aqueous solvent, whereas the lowest phenolic contents were obtained by water extraction due to Folin Ciocalteu results. The results indicate that acetone extracts of Tilia argentea had the highest antioxidant capacity as free ABTS radical scavengers. The lowest phenolic contents and antioxidant capacities were obtained from Polygonum bistorta root extracts.
Abstract: In this contribution an innovative platform is being
presented that integrates intelligent agents and evolutionary
computation techniques in legacy e-learning environments. It
introduces the design and development of a scalable and
interoperable integration platform supporting:
I) various assessment agents for e-learning environments,
II) a specific resource retrieval agent for the provision of
additional information from Internet sources matching the
needs and profile of the specific user and
III) a genetic algorithm designed to extract efficient information
(classifying rules) based on the students- answering input
data.
The agents are implemented in order to provide intelligent
assessment services based on computational intelligence techniques
such as Bayesian Networks and Genetic Algorithms.
The proposed Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used in order to extract
efficient information (classifying rules) based on the students-
answering input data. The idea of using a GA in order to fulfil this
difficult task came from the fact that GAs have been widely used in
applications including classification of unknown data.
The utilization of new and emerging technologies like web
services allows integrating the provided services to any web based
legacy e-learning environment.
Abstract: In this paper, the effects of radiation, chemical
reaction and double dispersion on mixed convection heat and mass
transfer along a semi vertical plate are considered. The plate is
embedded in a Newtonian fluid saturated non - Darcy (Forchheimer
flow model) porous medium. The Forchheimer extension and first
order chemical reaction are considered in the flow equations. The
governing sets of partial differential equations are nondimensionalized
and reduced to a set of ordinary differential
equations which are then solved numerically by Fourth order Runge–
Kutta method. Numerical results for the detail of the velocity,
temperature, and concentration profiles as well as heat transfer rates
(Nusselt number) and mass transfer rates (Sherwood number) against
various parameters are presented in graphs. The obtained results are
checked against previously published work for special cases of the
problem and are found to be in good agreement.
Abstract: Many real-world optimization problems involve multiple conflicting objectives and the use of evolutionary algorithms to solve the problems has attracted much attention recently. This paper investigates the application of multi-objective optimization technique for the design of a Thyristor Controlled Series Compensator (TCSC)-based controller to enhance the performance of a power system. The design objective is to improve both rotor angle stability and system voltage profile. A Genetic Algorithm (GA) based solution technique is applied to generate a Pareto set of global optimal solutions to the given multi-objective optimisation problem. Further, a fuzzy-based membership value assignment method is employed to choose the best compromise solution from the obtained Pareto solution set. Simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed approach.
Abstract: The work presented in this paper focus on Knowledge Management services enabling CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) applications to provide an appropriate adaptation to the user and the situation in which the user is working. In this paper, we explain how a knowledge management system can be designed to support users in different situations exploiting contextual data, users' preferences, and profiles of involved artifacts (e.g., documents, multimedia files, mockups...). The presented work roots in the experience we had in the MILK project and early steps made in the MAIS project.
Abstract: The goal of Gene Expression Analysis is to understand the processes that underlie the regulatory networks and pathways controlling inter-cellular and intra-cellular activities. In recent times microarray datasets are extensively used for this purpose. The scope of such analysis has broadened in recent times towards reconstruction of gene networks and other holistic approaches of Systems Biology. Evolutionary methods are proving to be successful in such problems and a number of such methods have been proposed. However all these methods are based on processing of genotypic information. Towards this end, there is a need to develop evolutionary methods that address phenotypic interactions together with genotypic interactions. We present a novel evolutionary approach, called Phenomic algorithm, wherein the focus is on phenotypic interaction. We use the expression profiles of genes to model the interactions between them at the phenotypic level. We apply this algorithm to the yeast sporulation dataset and show that the algorithm can identify gene networks with relative ease.
Abstract: COPD is characterized by loss of elastic fibers from
small airways and alveolar walls, with the decrease in elastin
increasing with disease severity. It is unclear why there is a lack of
repair of elastic fibers. We have examined fibroblasts cultured from
lung tissue from normal and COPD subjects to determine if the
secretory profile explains lack of tissue repair. In this study,
fibroblasts were cultured from lung parenchyma of bronchial
carcinoma patients with varying degrees of COPD; controls
(non-COPD, n=5), mild COPD (GOLD 1, n=5) and moderate-severe
COPD (GOLD 2-3, n=12). Measurements were made of proliferation,
senescence-associated beta-galactosidase-1, mRNA expression of
IL-6, IL-8, MMP-1, tropoelastin and versican, and protein levels for
IL-6, IL-8, PGE2, tropoelastin, insoluble elastin, and versican. It was
found that GOLD 2-3 fibroblasts proliferated more slowly (p
Abstract: Breast skin-line estimation and breast segmentation is an important pre-process in mammogram image processing and computer-aided diagnosis of breast cancer. Limiting the area to be processed into a specific target region in an image would increase the accuracy and efficiency of processing algorithms. In this paper we are presenting a new algorithm for estimating skin-line and breast segmentation using fast marching algorithm. Fast marching is a partial-differential equation based numerical technique to track evolution of interfaces. We have introduced some modifications to the traditional fast marching method, specifically to improve the accuracy of skin-line estimation and breast tissue segmentation. Proposed modifications ensure that the evolving front stops near the desired boundary. We have evaluated the performance of the algorithm by using 100 mammogram images taken from mini-MIAS database. The results obtained from the experimental evaluation indicate that this algorithm explains 98.6% of the ground truth breast region and accuracy of the segmentation is 99.1%. Also this algorithm is capable of partially-extracting nipple when it is available in the profile.
Abstract: In blended learning environments, the Internet can be combined with other technologies. The aim of this research was to design, introduce and validate a model to support synchronous and asynchronous activities by managing content domains in an Adaptive Hypermedia System (AHS). The application is based on information recovery techniques, clustering algorithms and adaptation rules to adjust the user's model to contents and objects of study. This system was applied to blended learning in higher education. The research strategy used was the case study method. Empirical studies were carried out on courses at two universities to validate the model. The results of this research show that the model had a positive effect on the learning process. The students indicated that the synchronous and asynchronous scenario is a good option, as it involves a combination of work with the lecturer and the AHS. In addition, they gave positive ratings to the system and stated that the contents were adapted to each user profile.
Abstract: Lately, an interest has grown greatly in the usages of
RFID in an un-presidential applications. It is shown in the adaptation
of major software companies such as Microsoft, IBM, and Oracle
the RFID capabilities in their major software products. For example
Microsoft SharePoints 2010 workflow is now fully compatible with
RFID platform. In addition, Microsoft BizTalk server is also capable
of all RFID sensors data acquisition. This will lead to applications
that required high bit rate, long range and a multimedia content in
nature. Higher frequencies of operation have been designated for
RFID tags, among them are the 2.45 and 5.8 GHz. The higher the
frequency means higher range, and higher bit rate, but the drawback
is the greater cost. In this paper we present a single layer, low
profile patch antenna operates at 5.8 GHz with pure resistive input
impedance of 50 and close to directive radiation. Also, we propose
a modification to the design in order to improve the operation band
width from 8.7 to 13.8
Abstract: Simulation of the flow and sedimentation process in
the reservoir dams can be made by two methods of physical and mathematical modeling. The study area was within a region which
ranged from the Jelogir hydrometric station to the Karkheh reservoir
dam aimed at investigating the effects of stream tubes on the
GSTARS-3 model behavior. The methodologies was to run the model based on 5 stream tubes in order to observe the influence of
each scenario on longitudinal profiles, cross-section, flow velocity and bed load sediment size. Results further suggest that the use of
two stream tubes or more which result in the semi-two-dimensional
model will yield relatively closer results to the observational data
than a singular stream tube modeling. Moreover, the results of
modeling with three stream tubes shown to yield a relatively close
results with the observational data. The overall conclusion of the paper is with applying various stream tubes; it would be possible to yield a significant influence on the modeling behavior Vis-a Vis the bed load sediment size.
Abstract: Reliability assessment and risk analysis of rotating
machine rotors in various overload and malfunction situations
present challenge to engineers and operators. In this paper a new
analytical method for evaluation of rotor under large deformation is
addressed. Model is presented in general form to include also
composite rotors. Presented simulation procedure is based on
variational work method and has capability to account for geometric
nonlinearity, large displacement, nonlinear support effect and rotor
contacting other machine components. New shape functions are
presented which capable to predict accurate nonlinear profile of
rotor. The closed form solutions for various operating and
malfunction situations are expressed. Analytical simulation results
are discussed
Abstract: Building Sector is the major electricity consumer and
it is costly to building owners. Therefore the application of thermal
energy storage (TES) has gained attractive to reduce energy cost.
Many attractive tariff packages are being offered by the electricity
provider to promote TES. The tariff packages offered higher cost of
electricity during peak period and lower cost of electricity during off
peak period. This paper presented the return of initial investment by
implementing a centralized air-conditioning plant integrated with
thermal energy storage with partially operation strategies. Building
load profile will be calculated hourly according to building
specification and building usage trend. TES operation conditions will
be designed according to building load demand profile, storage
capacity, tariff packages and peak/off peak period. The Payback
Period analysis method was used to evaluate economic analysis. The
investment is considered a good investment where by the initial cost
is recovered less than ten than seven years.
Abstract: Structured phospholipids from commercial soybean
lecithin with oil enriched omega-3 fatty acid form by product of tuna
canning is alternative procedure to provides the stability of omega-3
fatty acid structure and increase these bioactive function in
metabolism. Best treatment condition was obtain in 18 hours
acidolysis reaction with 30% enzyme concentration, which EPADHA
incorporation level was 127,47 mg/g and incorporation
percentage of EPA-DHA was 51,04% at phospholipids structure.
This structured phospolipids could reduce atherosclerosis risk in
male Sprague dawley rat. Provision of structured phospholipids has
significant effect (α = 0.05) on changes in lipid profile, intima-media
thickness of aorta rats (male Sprague dawley) fed atherogenic diet.
Structured phospholipids intake can lower total cholesterol 78.36
mg/dL, total triglycerides 94,57 mg/dL, LDL levels 87.08 mg/dL and
increased HDL level as much as 12,64 mg/dL in 10 weeks cares.
Structured phospholipids intake also can prevent the thickening of
the intima-media layer of the aorta.
Abstract: This paper proposes a new methodology for the
optimal allocation and sizing of Embedded Generation (EG)
employing Real Coded Genetic Algorithm (RCGA) to minimize the
total power losses and to improve voltage profiles in the radial
distribution networks. RCGA is a method that uses continuous
floating numbers as representation which is different from
conventional binary numbers. The RCGA is used as solution tool,
which can determine the optimal location and size of EG in radial
system simultaneously. This method is developed in MATLAB. The
effect of EG units- installation and their sizing to the distribution
networks are demonstrated using 24 bus system.