Abstract: The technological concepts such as wireless hospital
and portable cardiac telemetry system require the development of
physiological signal acquisition devices to be easily integrated into
the hospital database. In this paper we present the low cost, portable
wireless ECG acquisition hardware that transmits ECG signals to a
dedicated computer.The front end of the system obtains and
processes incoming signals, which are then transmitted via a
microcontroller and wireless Bluetooth module. A monitoring
purpose Bluetooth based end user application integrated with patient
database management module is developed for the computers. The
system will act as a continuous event recorder, which can be used to
follow up patients who have been resuscitatedfrom cardiac arrest,
ventricular tachycardia but also for diagnostic purposes for patients
with arrhythmia symptoms. In addition, cardiac information can be
saved into the patient-s database of the hospital.
Abstract: We review a knowledge extractor model in
constructing 3G Killer Applications. The success of 3G is essential
for Government as it became part of Telecommunications National
Strategy. The 3G wireless technologies may reach larger area and
increase country-s ICT penetration. In order to understand future
customers needs, the operators require proper information
(knowledge) lying inside. Our work approached future customers as
complex system where the complex knowledge may expose regular
behavior. The hidden information from 3G future customers is
revealed by using fractal-based questionnaires. Afterward, further
statistical analysis is used to match the results with operator-s
strategic plan. The developments of 3G applications also consider its
saturation time and further improvement of the application.
Abstract: Poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) molecules attached to surfaces have shown high potential as a protein repellent due to their flexibility and highly water solubility. A quartz crystal microbalance recording frequency and dissipation changes (QCM-D) has been used to study the adsorption from aqueous solutions, of lysozyme and α-lactalbumin proteins (the last with and without calcium) onto modified stainless steel surfaces. Surfaces were coated with poly(ethylene imine) (PEI) and silicate before grafting on PEG molecules. Protein adsorption was also performed on the bare stainless steel surface as a control. All adsorptions were conducted at 23°C and pH 7.2. The results showed that the presence of PEG molecules significantly reduced the adsorption of lysozyme and α- lactalbumin (with calcium) onto the stainless steel surface. By contrast, and unexpected, PEG molecules enhanced the adsorption of α-lactalbumin (without calcium). It is suggested that the PEG -α- lactalbumin hydrophobic interaction plays a dominant role which leads to protein aggregation at the surface for this latter observation. The findings also lead to the general conclusion that PEG molecules are not a universal protein repellent. PEG-on-PEI surfaces were better at inhibiting the adsorption of lysozyme and α-lactalbumin (with calcium) than with PEG-on-silicate surfaces.
Abstract: In this study, aeroelastic response and performance
analyses have been conducted for a 5MW-Class composite wind
turbine blade model. Advanced coupled numerical method based on
computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and computational flexible
multi-body dynamics (CFMBD) has been developed in order to
investigate aeroelastic responses and performance characteristics of
the rotating composite blade. Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes
(RANS) equations with k-ω SST turbulence model were solved for
unsteady flow problems on the rotating turbine blade model. Also,
structural analyses considering rotating effect have been conducted
using the general nonlinear finite element method. A fully implicit
time marching scheme based on the Newmark direct integration
method is applied to solve the coupled aeroelastic governing equations
of the 3D turbine blade for fluid-structure interaction (FSI) problems.
Detailed dynamic responses and instantaneous velocity contour on the
blade surfaces which considering flow-separation effects were
presented to show the multi-physical phenomenon of the huge rotating
wind- turbine blade model.
Abstract: Discovering new biological knowledge from the highthroughput biological data is a major challenge to bioinformatics today. To address this challenge, we developed a new approach for protein classification. Proteins that are evolutionarily- and thereby functionally- related are said to belong to the same classification. Identifying protein classification is of fundamental importance to document the diversity of the known protein universe. It also provides a means to determine the functional roles of newly discovered protein sequences. Our goal is to predict the functional classification of novel protein sequences based on a set of features extracted from each protein sequence. The proposed technique used datasets extracted from the Structural Classification of Proteins (SCOP) database. A set of spectral domain features based on Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is used. The proposed classifier uses multilayer back propagation (MLBP) neural network for protein classification. The maximum classification accuracy is about 91% when applying the classifier to the full four levels of the SCOP database. However, it reaches a maximum of 96% when limiting the classification to the family level. The classification results reveal that spectral domain contains information that can be used for classification with high accuracy. In addition, the results emphasize that sequence similarity measures are of great importance especially at the family level.
Abstract: The role of neighborhood center as semi public (the
balance space) is disappeared in bonding between private and public
in new urbanism. In this way, a hierarchical principle in the
traditional neighborhood center appears to create or develop the
conditions for residents` relationships and belonging. This paper
evaluates significant of hierarchical principles of the neighborhood
center in residents` territoriality and its factors. In this way Miandeh
neighborhood center from Boshrooyeh city was determined as a case
study area. Results indicated that a hierarchical principle is the best
instrument to improve the territoriality as the subcomponent of place
belonging in residents. The findings help the urban designer to
revitalization the neighborhoods and proceedings in organization of
physical space.
Abstract: Self-compacting concrete (SCC), a new kind of high
performance concrete (HPC) have been first developed in Japan in
1986. The development of SCC has made casting of dense
reinforcement and mass concrete convenient, has minimized noise.
Fresh self-compacting concrete (SCC) flows into formwork and
around obstructions under its own weight to fill it completely and
self-compact (without any need for vibration), without any
segregation and blocking. The elimination of the need for
compaction leads to better quality concrete and substantial
improvement of working conditions. SCC mixes generally have a
much higher content of fine fillers, including cement, and produce
excessively high compressive strength concrete, which restricts its
field of application to special concrete only. To use SCC mixes in
general concrete construction practice, requires low cost materials to
make inexpensive concrete.
Rice husk ash (RHA) has been used as a highly reactive
pozzolanic material to improve the microstructure of the interfacial
transition zone (ITZ) between the cement paste and the aggregate in
self compacting concrete. Mechanical experiments of RHA blended
Portland cement concretes revealed that in addition to the pozzolanic
reactivity of RHA (chemical aspect), the particle grading (physical
aspect) of cement and RHA mixtures also exerted significant
influences on the blending efficiency.
The scope of this research was to determine the usefulness of Rice
husk ash (RHA) in the development of economical self compacting
concrete (SCC). The cost of materials will be decreased by reducing
the cement content by using waste material like rice husk ash instead
of.
This paper presents a study on the development of Mechanical
properties up to 180 days of self compacting and ordinary concretes
with rice-husk ash (RHA), from a rice paddy milling industry in
Rasht (Iran). Two different replacement percentages of cement by
RHA, 10%, and 20%, and two different water/cementicious material
ratios (0.40 and 0.35), were used for both of self compacting and
normal concrete specimens. The results are compared with those of
the self compacting concrete without RHA, with compressive,
flexural strength and modulus of elasticity. It is concluded that RHA
provides a positive effect on the Mechanical properties at age after
60 days.
Base of the result self compacting concrete specimens have higher
value than normal concrete specimens in all test except modulus of
elasticity. Also specimens with 20% replacement of cement by RHA
have the best performance.
Abstract: This paper focuses on robust design and optimization
of industrial production wastes. Past literatures were reviewed to case
study Clamason Industries Limited (CIL) - a leading ladder-tops
manufacturer. A painstaking study of the firm-s practices at the shop
floor revealed that Over-production, Waiting time, Excess inventory,
and Defects are the major wastes that are impeding their progress and
profitability. Design expert8 software was used to apply Taguchi
robust design and response surface methodology in order to model,
analyse and optimise the wastes cost in CIL. Waiting time and overproduction
rank first and second in contributing to the costs of wastes
in CIL. For minimal wastes cost the control factors of overproduction,
waiting-time, defects and excess-inventory must be set at
0.30, 390.70, 4 and 55.70 respectively for CIL. The optimal value of
cost of wastes for the months studied was 22.3679. Finally, a
recommendation was made that for the company to enhance their
profitability and customer satisfaction, they must adopt the Shingeo
Shingo-s Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED), which will
immediately tackle the waste of waiting by drastically reducing their
setup time.
Abstract: This study examines causal link between energy use and economic growth for five South Asian countries over period 1971-2006. Panel cointegration, ECM and FMOLS are applied for short and long run estimates. In short run unidirectional causality from per capita GDP to per capita energy consumption is found, but not vice versa. In long run one percent increase in per capita energy consumption tend to decrease 0.13 percent per capita GDP. i.e. Energy use discourage economic growth. This short and long run relationship indicate energy shortage crisis in South Asia due to increased energy use coupled with insufficient energy supply. Beside this long run estimated coefficient of error term suggest that short term adjustment to equilibrium are driven by adjustment back to long run equilibrium. Moreover, per capita energy consumption is responsive to adjustment back to equilibrium and it takes 59 years approximately. It specifies long run feedback between both variables.
Abstract: We demonstrate a way to count the number of Young
tableau u of shape λ = (k, k,L, k) with | λ |= lk by expanding
Schur function. This result gives an answer to the question that was put
out by Jenny Buontempo and Brian Hopkins.
Abstract: This paper proposes an innovative methodology for
Acceptance Sampling by Variables, which is a particular category of
Statistical Quality Control dealing with the assurance of products
quality. Our contribution lies in the exploitation of machine learning
techniques to address the complexity and remedy the drawbacks of
existing approaches. More specifically, the proposed methodology
exploits Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) to aid decision making
about the acceptance or rejection of an inspected sample. For any
type of inspection, ANNs are trained by data from corresponding
tables of a standard-s sampling plan schemes. Once trained, ANNs
can give closed-form solutions for any acceptance quality level and
sample size, thus leading to an automation of the reading of the
sampling plan tables, without any need of compromise with the
values of the specific standard chosen each time. The proposed
methodology provides enough flexibility to quality control engineers
during the inspection of their samples, allowing the consideration of
specific needs, while it also reduces the time and the cost required for
these inspections. Its applicability and advantages are demonstrated
through two numerical examples.
Abstract: Resource-constrained project scheduling is an NPhard
optimisation problem. There are many different heuristic
strategies how to shift activities in time when resource requirements
exceed their available amounts. These strategies are frequently based
on priorities of activities. In this paper, we assume that a suitable
heuristic has been chosen to decide which activities should be
performed immediately and which should be postponed and
investigate the resource-constrained project scheduling problem
(RCPSP) from the implementation point of view. We propose an
efficient routine that, instead of shifting the activities, extends their
duration. It makes it possible to break down their duration into active
and sleeping subintervals. Then we can apply the classical Critical
Path Method that needs only polynomial running time. This
algorithm can simply be adapted for multiproject scheduling with
limited resources.
Abstract: The need to increase the efficiency of health care
systems is becoming an obligation, and one of area of improvement
is the discharge process. The objective of this work is to minimize
the patients discharge time (for insured patients) to be less than 50
minutes by using six sigma approach, this improvement will also:
lead to an increase in customer satisfaction, increase the number of
admissions and turnover on the rooms, increase hospital
profitability.Three different departments were considered in this
study: Female, Male, and Paediatrics. Six Sigma approach coupled
with simulation has been applied to reduce the patients discharge
time for pediatrics, female, and male departments at hospital. Upon
applying these recommendations at hospital: 60%, 80%, and 22% of
insured female, male, and pediatrics patients respectively will have
discharge time less than the upper specification time i.e. 50 min.
Abstract: Ontologies are broadly used in the context of networked home environments. With ontologies it is possible to define and store context information, as well as to model different kinds of physical environments. Ontologies are central to networked home environments as they carry the meaning. However, ontologies and the OWL language is complex. Several ontology visualization approaches have been developed to enhance the understanding of ontologies. The domain of networked home environments sets some special requirements for the ontology visualization approach. The visualization tool presented here, visualizes ontologies in a domain-specific way. It represents effectively the physical structures and spatial relationships of networked home environments. In addition, it provides extensive interaction possibilities for editing and manipulating the visualization. The tool shortens the gap from beginner to intermediate OWL ontology reader by visualizing instances in their actual locations and making OWL ontologies more interesting and concrete, and above all easier to comprehend.
Abstract: This paper presents the DC voltage control design of D-STATCOM when the D-STATCOM is used for load voltage regulation. Although, the DC voltage can be controlled by active current of the D-STATCOM, reactive current still affects the DC voltage. To eliminate this effect, the control strategy with elimination effect of the reactive current is proposed and the results of the control with and without the elimination the effect of the reactive current are compared. For obtaining the proportional and integral gains of the PI controllers, the symmetrical optimum and genetic algorithms methods are applied. The stability margin of these methods are obtained and discussed in detail. In addition, the performance of the DC voltage control based on symmetrical optimum and genetic algorithms methods are compared. Effectiveness of the controllers designed was verified through computer simulation performed by using Power System Tool Block (PSB) in SIMULINK/MATLAB. The simulation results demonstrated that the DC voltage control proposed is effective in regulating DC voltage when the DSTATCOM is used for load voltage regulation.
Abstract: The incidences of dengue hemorrhagic disease (DHF)
over the long term exhibit a seasonal behavior. It has been
hypothesized that these behaviors are due to the seasonal climate
changes which in turn induce a seasonal variation in the incubation
period of the virus while it is developing the mosquito. The standard
dynamic analysis is applied for analysis the Susceptible-Exposed-
Infectious-Recovered (SEIR) model which includes an annual
variation in the length of the extrinsic incubation period (EIP). The
presence of both asymptomatic and symptomatic infections is
allowed in the present model. We found that dynamic behavior of the
endemic state changes as the influence of the seasonal variation of
the EIP becomes stronger. As the influence is further increased, the
trajectory exhibits sustained oscillations when it leaves the chaotic
region.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to highlight the
importance of the concept of competitiveness in the supply chain and
to present a conceptual framework for Supply Chain Competitiveness
(SCC). The framework is based on supply chain activities, which are
inputs, necessary for SCC and the benefits which are the outputs of
SCC. A literature review is conducted on key supply chain
competitiveness issues, its determinants, its various dimensions
followed by exploration for SCC. Based on the insights gained, a
conceptual framework for SCC is presented based on activities for
SCC, SCC environment and outcomes of SCC. The information flow
in the conceptual framework is bi-directional at all levels and the
activities are interrelated in a global competitive environment. The
activities include the activities of suppliers, manufacturers and
distributors, giving more emphasis on manufacturers- activities.
Further, implications of various factors such as economic, politicolegal,
technical, socio-cultural, competition, demographic etc. are
also highlighted. The SCC framework is an attempt to cover the
relatively less explored area of supply chain competitiveness. It is
expected that this work will further motivate researchers,
academicians and practitioners to work in this area and offers
conceptual help in providing a directions for supply chain
competitiveness which leads to improvement in the supply chain and
supply chain performance.
Abstract: Although there are many theories and discussion of leadership, the necessity of having a new leadership paradigm was emphasized. The existing leadership characteristic of instruction and control revealed its limitations. Market competition becomes fierce and economic recession never ends worldwide. Of the leadership theories, servant leadership was introduced recently and is in line with the environmental changes of the organization. Servant leadership is a combination of two words, 'servant' and 'leader' and can be defined as the role of the leader who focuses on doing voluntary work for others with altruistic ethics, makes members, customers, and local communities a priority, and makes a commitment to satisfying their needs. This leadership received attention as one field of leadership in the late 1990s and secured its legitimacy. This study discusses the existing research trends of leadership, the concept, behavior characteristics, and lower dimensions of servant leadership, compares servant leadership with the existing leadership researches and diagnoses if servant leadership is a useful concept for further leadership researches. Finally, this study criticizes the limitations in the existing researches on servant leadership.
Abstract: The subject of the paper is comparative analysis of the hotel guest-s contractual liability for breaching the obligation for non-payment of hotel services in the hotel-keeper-s contract. The paper is methodologically conceived of six chapters (1. introduction, 2. comparative law sources of the hotel-keeper-s contract, 3. the guest-s obligation for payment of hotel services, 4. hotel guest's liability for non-payment, 5. the hotel-keeper-s rights due to nonpayment and 6. conclusion), which analyzes the guest-s liability for non-payment of hotel services through the international law, European law, euro-continental national laws (France, Germany, Italy, Croatia) and Anglo-American national laws (UK, USA). The paper-s results are the synthesis of answers to the set hypothesis and comparative review of hotel guest-s contractual liability for nonpayment of hotel services provided. In conclusion, it is necessary to adopt an international convention on the hotel-keeper-s contract, which would unify the institute of the hotel guest-s contractual liability for non-payment of hotel services at the international level.
Abstract: In this paper a novel scheme for watermarking digital
audio during its compression to MPEG-1 Layer III format is
proposed. For this purpose we slightly modify some of the selected
MDCT coefficients, which are used during MPEG audio
compression procedure. Due to the possibility of modifying different
MDCT coefficients, there will be different choices for embedding the
watermark into audio data, considering robustness and transparency
factors. Our proposed method uses a genetic algorithm to select the
best coefficients to embed the watermark. This genetic selection is
done according to the parameters that are extracted from the
perceptual content of the audio to optimize the robustness and
transparency of the watermark. On the other hand the watermark
security is increased due to the random nature of the genetic
selection. The information of the selected MDCT coefficients that
carry the watermark bits, are saves in a database for future extraction
of the watermark. The proposed method is suitable for online MP3
stores to pursue illegal copies of musical artworks. Experimental
results show that the detection ratio of the watermarks at the bitrate
of 128kbps remains above 90% while the inaudibility of the
watermark is preserved.