Abstract: In Thailand, both the 1997 and the current 2007 Thai Constitutions have mentioned the establishment of independent organizations as a new mechanism to play a key role in proposing policy recommendations to national decision-makers in the interest of collective consumers. Over the last ten years, no independent organizations have yet been set up. Evidently, nobody could point out who should be key players in establishing provincial independent consumer bodies. The purpose of this study was to find definitive stakeholders in establishing and developing independent consumer bodies in a Thai context. This was a cross-sectional study between August and September 2007, using a postal questionnaire with telephone follow-up. The questionnaire was designed and used to obtain multiple stakeholder assessment of three key attributes (power, interest and influence). Study population was 153 stakeholders associated with policy decision-making, formulation and implementation processes of civil-based consumer protection in pilot provinces. The population covered key representatives from five sectors (academics, government officers, business traders, mass media and consumer networks) who participated in the deliberative forums at 10 provinces. A 49.7% response rate was achieved. Data were analyzed, comparing means of three stakeholder attributes and classification of stakeholder typology. The results showed that the provincial health officers were the definitive stakeholders as they had legal power, influence and interest in establishing and sustaining the independent consumer bodies. However, only a few key representatives of the provincial health officers expressed their own paradigm on the civil-based consumer protection. Most provincial health officers put their own standpoint of building civic participation at only a plan-implementation level. For effective policy implementation by the independent consumer bodies, the Thai government should provide budgetary support for the operation of the provincial health officers with their paradigm shift as well as their own clarified standpoint on corporate governance.
Abstract: Copper based composites reinforced with WC and Ti
particles were prepared using planetary ball-mill. The experiment
was designed by using Taguchi technique and milling was carried out
in an air for several hours. The powder was characterized before and
after milling using the SEM, TEM and X-ray for microstructure and
for possible new phases. Microstructures show that milled particles
size and reduction in particle size depend on many parameters. The
distance d between planes of atoms estimated from X-ray powder
diffraction data and TEM image. X-ray diffraction patterns of the
milled powder did not show clearly any new peak or energy shift, but
the TEM images show a significant change in crystalline structure of
corporate on titanium in the composites.
Abstract: Robot manipulators are highly coupled nonlinear
systems, therefore real system and mathematical model of dynamics
used for control system design are not same. Hence, fine-tuning of
controller is always needed. For better tuning fast simulation speed
is desired. Since, Matlab incorporates LAPACK to increase the speed
and complexity of matrix computation, dynamics, forward and
inverse kinematics of PUMA 560 is modeled on Matlab/Simulink in
such a way that all operations are matrix based which give very less
simulation time. This paper compares PID parameter tuning using
Genetic Algorithm, Simulated Annealing, Generalized Pattern Search
(GPS) and Hybrid Search techniques. Controller performances for all
these methods are compared in terms of joint space ITSE and
cartesian space ISE for tracking circular and butterfly trajectories.
Disturbance signal is added to check robustness of controller. GAGPS
hybrid search technique is showing best results for tuning PID
controller parameters in terms of ITSE and robustness.
Abstract: The incorporation of renewable energy sources for the sustainable electricity production is undertaking a more prominent role in electric power systems. Thus, it will be an indispensable incident that the characteristics of future power networks, their prospective stability for instance, get influenced by the imposed features of sustainable energy sources. One of the distinctive attributes of the sustainable energy sources is exhibiting the stochastic behavior. This paper investigates the impacts of this stochastic behavior on the small disturbance rotor angle stability in the upcoming electric power networks. Considering the various types of renewable energy sources and the vast variety of system configurations, the sensitivity analysis can be an efficient breakthrough towards generalizing the effects of new energy sources on the concept of stability. In this paper, the definition of small disturbance angle stability for future power systems and the iterative-stochastic way of its analysis are presented. Also, the effects of system parameters on this type of stability are described by performing a sensitivity analysis for an electric power test system.
Abstract: Today-s Wi Fi generation utilize the latest technology in their daily lives. Instructors at National University, the second largest non profit private institution of higher learning in California, are incorporating these new tools to modify their Online class formats to better accommodate these new skills in their distance education delivery modes. The University provides accelerated learning in a one-course per month format both Onsite and Online. Since there has been such a significant increase in Online classes over the past three years, and it is expected to grow even more over the over the next five years, Instructors cannot afford to maintain the status quo and not take advantage of these new options. It is at the discretion of the instructors which accessory they use and how comfortable and familiar they are with the technology. This paper explores the effects and summarizes students- comments of some of these new technological options which have been recently provided in order to make students- online learning experience more exciting and meaningful.
Abstract: Photo-crosslinked rice starch-based biodegradable
films were prepared by casting film-solution on leveled trays and
ultra violet (UV) irradiation was applied for 10 minute. The effect of
the content (3%, 6% and 9 wt. %)of photosensitiser (sodium
benzoate) on mechanical properties, water vapor permeability (WVP)
and structural properties of rice starch films were investigated. The
tensile strength increased while elongation at break and water
resistance properties of rice starch films decreased with addition and
increasing content of photosensitiser. The % crystallinity of rice
starch films were decreased when the content of photosensitiser
increased and UV were applied. The results showed that the
carboxylate group band of sodium benzoate was found in the FTIR
spectrum of rice starch films and found that incorporation of 6% of
photosensitiser into the films showed a higher absorption band of
resulted films. This result pointed out the highest interaction between
starch molecules was occurred.
Abstract: In this work, we consider a deterministic model for
the transmission of leptospirosis which is currently spreading in the
Thai population. The SIR model which incorporates the features of
this disease is applied to the epidemiological data in Thailand. It is
seen that the numerical solutions of the SIR equations are in good
agreement with real empirical data. Further improvements are
discussed.
Abstract: There has been a strong link between computermediated education and constructivism learning and teaching theory.. Acknowledging how well the constructivism doctrine would work online, it has been established that constructivist views of learning would agreeably correlate with the philosophy of open and distance learning. Asynchronous and synchronous communications have placed online learning on the right track of a constructive learning path. This paper is written based on the social constructivist framework, where knowledge is constructed from social communication and interaction. The study explores the possibility of practicing this theory through incorporating online discussion in the syllabus and the ways it can be implemented to contribute to young people-s personality and social development by addressing some aspects that may contribute to the social problem such as prejudice, ignorance and intolerance.
Abstract: This paper shows how we can integrate
communication modeling into the design modeling at early stages of
the design flow. We consider effect of incorporating noise such as
impulsive noise on system stability. We show that with change of the
system model and investigate the system performance under the
different communication effects. We modeled a unmanned aerial
vehicle (UAV) as a demonstration using SystemC methodology.
Moreover the system is modeled by joining the capabilities of UML
and SystemC to operate at system level.
Abstract: Field Association (FA) terms are a limited set of discriminating terms that give us the knowledge to identify document fields which are effective in document classification, similar file retrieval and passage retrieval. But the problem lies in the lack of an effective method to extract automatically relevant Arabic FA Terms to build a comprehensive dictionary. Moreover, all previous studies are based on FA terms in English and Japanese, and the extension of FA terms to other language such Arabic could be definitely strengthen further researches. This paper presents a new method to extract, Arabic FA Terms from domain-specific corpora using part-of-speech (POS) pattern rules and corpora comparison. Experimental evaluation is carried out for 14 different fields using 251 MB of domain-specific corpora obtained from Arabic Wikipedia dumps and Alhyah news selected average of 2,825 FA Terms (single and compound) per field. From the experimental results, recall and precision are 84% and 79% respectively. Therefore, this method selects higher number of relevant Arabic FA Terms at high precision and recall.
Abstract: The fundamental aim of extended expansion concept is
to achieve higher work done which in turn leads to higher thermal
efficiency. This concept is compatible with the application of
turbocharger and LHR engine. The Low Heat Rejection engine was
developed by coating the piston crown, cylinder head inside with
valves and cylinder liner with partially stabilized zirconia coating of
0.5 mm thickness. Extended expansion in diesel engines is termed as
Miller cycle in which the expansion ratio is increased by reducing the
compression ratio by modifying the inlet cam for late inlet valve
closing. The specific fuel consumption reduces to an appreciable level
and the thermal efficiency of the extended expansion turbocharged
LHR engine is improved.
In this work, a thermodynamic model was formulated and
developed to simulate the LHR based extended expansion
turbocharged direct injection diesel engine. It includes a gas flow
model, a heat transfer model, and a two zone combustion model. Gas
exchange model is modified by incorporating the Miller cycle, by
delaying inlet valve closing timing which had resulted in considerable
improvement in thermal efficiency of turbocharged LHR engines. The
heat transfer model, calculates the convective and radiative heat
transfer between the gas and wall by taking into account of the
combustion chamber surface temperature swings. Using the two-zone
combustion model, the combustion parameters and the chemical
equilibrium compositions were determined. The chemical equilibrium
compositions were used to calculate the Nitric oxide formation rate by
assuming a modified Zeldovich mechanism. The accuracy of this
model is scrutinized against actual test results from the engine. The
factors which affect thermal efficiency and exhaust emissions were
deduced and their influences were discussed. In the final analysis it is
seen that there is an excellent agreement in all of these evaluations.
Abstract: In this paper challenges associated with a new
generation of Computer Science students are examined. The mode of
education in tertiary institutes has progressed slowly while the needs
of students have changed rapidly in an increasingly technological
world. The major learning paradigms and learning theories within
these paradigms are studied to find a suitable strategy for educating
modern students. These paradigms include Behaviourism,
Constructivism, Humanism and Cogntivism. Social Learning theory
and Elaboration theory are two theories that are further examined and
a survey is done to determine how these strategies will be received by
students. The results and findings are evaluated and indicate that
students are fairly receptive to a method that incorporates both Social
Learning theory and Elaboration theory, but that some aspects of all
paradigms need to be implemented to create a balanced and effective
strategy with technology as foundation.
Abstract: Calcium [Ca2+] is an important second messenger
which plays an important role in signal transduction. There are
several parameters that affect its concentration profile like buffer
source etc. The effect of stationary immobile buffer on Ca2+
concentration has been incorporated which is a very important
parameter needed to be taken into account in order to make the
model more realistic. Interdependence of all the important parameters
like diffusion coefficient and influx over [Ca2+] profile has been
studied. Model is developed in the form of advection diffusion
equation together with buffer concentration. A program has been
developed using finite volume method for the entire problem and
simulated on an AMD-Turion 32-bit machine to compute the
numerical results.
Abstract: Application of Expert System in the area of agriculture would take the form of Integrated Crop Management decision aids and would encompass water management, fertilizer management, crop protection systems and identification of implements. In order to remain competitive, the modern farmer often relies on agricultural specialists and advisors to provide information for decision-making. An expert system normally composed of a knowledge base (information, heuristics, etc.), inference engine (analyzes knowledge base), and end user interface (accepting inputs, generating outputs). Software named 'CROP-9-DSS' incorporating all modern features like, graphics, photos, video clippings etc. has been developed. This package will aid as a decision support system for identification of pest and diseases with control measures, fertilizer recommendation system, water management system and identification of farm implements for leading crops of Kerala (India) namely Coconut, Rice, Cashew, Pepper, Banana, four vegetables like Amaranthus, Bhindi, Brinjal and Cucurbits. 'CROP-9-DSS' will act as an expert system to agricultural officers, scientists in the field of agriculture and extension workers for decision-making and help them in suggesting suitable recommendations.
Abstract: Markov games can be effectively used to design
controllers for nonlinear systems. The paper presents two novel
controller design algorithms by incorporating ideas from gametheory
literature that address safety and consistency issues of the
'learned' control strategy. A more widely used approach for
controller design is the H∞ optimal control, which suffers from high
computational demand and at times, may be infeasible. We generate
an optimal control policy for the agent (controller) via a simple
Linear Program enabling the controller to learn about the unknown
environment. The controller is facing an unknown environment and
in our formulation this environment corresponds to the behavior rules
of the noise modeled as the opponent. Proposed approaches aim to
achieve 'safe-consistent' and 'safe-universally consistent' controller
behavior by hybridizing 'min-max', 'fictitious play' and 'cautious
fictitious play' approaches drawn from game theory. We empirically
evaluate the approaches on a simulated Inverted Pendulum swing-up
task and compare its performance against standard Q learning.
Abstract: In this paper, a novel adaptive fuzzy sliding mode
control method is proposed for the robust tracking control of robotic
manipulators. The proposed controller possesses the advantages of
adaptive control, fuzzy control, and sliding mode control. First, system
stability and robustness are guaranteed based on the sliding mode
control. Further, fuzzy rules are developed incorporating with
adaptation law to alleviate the input chattering effectively. Stability of
the control system is proven by using the Lyapunov method. An
application to a three-degree-of-freedom robotic manipulator is
carried out. Accurate trajectory tracking as well as robustness is
achieved. Input chattering is greatly eliminated.
Abstract: The genetic algorithm (GA) based solution techniques
are found suitable for optimization because of their ability of
simultaneous multidimensional search. Many GA-variants have been
tried in the past to solve optimal power flow (OPF), one of the
nonlinear problems of electric power system. The issues like
convergence speed and accuracy of the optimal solution obtained
after number of generations using GA techniques and handling
system constraints in OPF are subjects of discussion. The results
obtained for GA-Fuzzy OPF on various power systems have shown
faster convergence and lesser generation costs as compared to other
approaches. This paper presents an enhanced GA-Fuzzy OPF (EGAOPF)
using penalty factors to handle line flow constraints and load
bus voltage limits for both normal network and contingency case
with congestion. In addition to crossover and mutation rate
adaptation scheme that adapts crossover and mutation probabilities
for each generation based on fitness values of previous generations, a
block swap operator is also incorporated in proposed EGA-OPF. The
line flow limits and load bus voltage magnitude limits are handled by
incorporating line overflow and load voltage penalty factors
respectively in each chromosome fitness function. The effects of
different penalty factors settings are also analyzed under contingent
state.
Abstract: A multilayer self organizing neural neural network
(MLSONN) architecture for binary object extraction, guided by a beta
activation function and characterized by backpropagation of errors
estimated from the linear indices of fuzziness of the network output
states, is discussed. Since the MLSONN architecture is designed to
operate in a single point fixed/uniform thresholding scenario, it does
not take into cognizance the heterogeneity of image information in
the extraction process. The performance of the MLSONN architecture
with representative values of the threshold parameters of the beta
activation function employed is also studied. A three layer bidirectional
self organizing neural network (BDSONN) architecture
comprising fully connected neurons, for the extraction of objects from
a noisy background and capable of incorporating the underlying image
context heterogeneity through variable and adaptive thresholding,
is proposed in this article. The input layer of the network architecture
represents the fuzzy membership information of the image scene to
be extracted. The second layer (the intermediate layer) and the final
layer (the output layer) of the network architecture deal with the self
supervised object extraction task by bi-directional propagation of the
network states. Each layer except the output layer is connected to the
next layer following a neighborhood based topology. The output layer
neurons are in turn, connected to the intermediate layer following
similar topology, thus forming a counter-propagating architecture
with the intermediate layer. The novelty of the proposed architecture
is that the assignment/updating of the inter-layer connection weights
are done using the relative fuzzy membership values at the constituent
neurons in the different network layers. Another interesting feature
of the network lies in the fact that the processing capabilities of
the intermediate and the output layer neurons are guided by a beta
activation function, which uses image context sensitive adaptive
thresholding arising out of the fuzzy cardinality estimates of the
different network neighborhood fuzzy subsets, rather than resorting to
fixed and single point thresholding. An application of the proposed
architecture for object extraction is demonstrated using a synthetic
and a real life image. The extraction efficiency of the proposed
network architecture is evaluated by a proposed system transfer index
characteristic of the network.
Abstract: The Reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) simulation is applied in the study of an aqueous electrolyte LiCl6H2O. On the basis of the available experimental neutron scattering data, RMC computes pair radial distribution functions in order to explore the structural features of the system. The obtained results include some unrealistic features. To overcome this problem, we use the Hybrid Reverse Monte Carlo (HRMC), incorporating an energy constraint in addition to the commonly used constraints derived from experimental data. Our results show a good agreement between experimental and computed partial distribution functions (PDFs) as well as a significant improvement in pair partial distribution curves. This kind of study can be considered as a useful test for a defined interaction model for conventional simulation techniques.
Abstract: We present a new algorithm for nonlinear dimensionality reduction that consistently uses global information, and that enables understanding the intrinsic geometry of non-convex manifolds. Compared to methods that consider only local information, our method appears to be more robust to noise. Unlike most methods that incorporate global information, the proposed approach automatically handles non-convexity of the data manifold. We demonstrate the performance of our algorithm and compare it to state-of-the-art methods on synthetic as well as real data.