Abstract: We present the results of a case study aiming to assess the reflection of the tourism community in the Web and its usability to propose new ways to communicate visually. The wealth of information contained in the Web and the clear facilities to communicate personals points of view makes of the social web a new space of exploration. In this way, social web allow the sharing of information between communities with similar interests. However, the tourism community remains unexplored as is the case of the information covered in travel stories. Along the Web, we find multiples sites allowing the users to communicate their experiences and personal points of view of a particular place of the world. This cultural heritage is found in multiple documents, usually very little supplemented with photos, so they are difficult to explore due to the lack of visual information. This paper explores the possibility of analyzing travel stories to display them visually on maps and generate new knowledge such as patterns of travel routes. This way, travel narratives published in electronic formats can be very important especially to the tourism community because of the great amount of knowledge that can be extracted. Our approach is based on the use of a Geoparsing Web Service to extract geographic coordinates from travel narratives in order to draw the geo-positions and link the documents into a map image.
Abstract: The importance for manipulating an incorporated
scaffold and directing cell behaviors is well appreciated for tissue
engineering. Here, we developed newly nano-topographic oxidized
silicon nanosponges capable of being various chemical modifications
to provide much insight into the fundamental biology of how cells
interact with their surrounding environment in vitro. A wet etching
technique is exerted to allow us fabricated the silicon nanosponges in a
high-throughput manner. Furthermore, various organo-silane
chemicals enabled self-assembled on the surfaces by vapor deposition.
We have found that Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells displayed
certain distinguishable morphogenesis, adherent responses, and
biochemical properties while cultured on these chemical modified
nano-topographic structures in compared with the planar oxidized
silicon counterparts, indicating that cell behaviors can be influenced
by certain physical characteristic derived from nano-topography in
addition to the hydrophobicity of contact surfaces crucial for cell
adhesion and spreading. Of particular, there were predominant
nano-actin punches and slender protrusions formed while cells were
cultured on the nano-topographic structures. This study shed potential
applications of these nano-topographic biomaterials for controlling
cell development in tissue engineering or basic cell biology research.
Abstract: The present paper concerns with the influence of fiber
packing on the transverse plastic properties of metal matrix
composites. A micromechanical modeling procedure is used to
predict the effective mechanical properties of composite materials at
large tensile and compressive deformations. Microstructure is
represented by a repeating unit cell (RUC). Two fiber arrays are
considered including ideal square fiber packing and random fiber
packing defined by random sequential algorithm. The
micromechanical modeling procedure is implemented for
graphite/aluminum metal matrix composite in which the
reinforcement behaves as elastic, isotropic solids and the matrix is
modeled as an isotropic elastic-plastic solid following the von Mises
criterion with isotropic hardening and the Ramberg-Osgood
relationship between equivalent true stress and logarithmic strain.
The deformation is increased to a considerable value to evaluate both
elastic and plastic behaviors of metal matrix composites. The yields
strength and true elastic-plastic stress are determined for
graphite/aluminum composites.
Abstract: Post cracking behavior and load –bearing capacity of
the steel fiber reinforced high-strength concrete (SFRHSC) are
dependent on the number of fibers are crossing the weakest crack
(bridged the crack) and their orientation to the crack surface. Filling
the mould by SFRHSC, fibers are moving and rotating with the
concrete matrix flow till the motion stops in each internal point of the
concrete body. Filling the same mould from the different ends
SFRHSC samples with the different internal structures (and different
strength) can be obtained. Numerical flow simulations (using Newton
and Bingham flow models) were realized, as well as single fiber
planar motion and rotation numerical and experimental investigation
(in viscous flow) was performed. X-ray pictures for prismatic
samples were obtained and internal fiber positions and orientations
were analyzed. Similarly fiber positions and orientations in cracked
cross-section were recognized and were compared with numerically
simulated. Structural SFRHSC fracture model was created based on
single fiber pull-out laws, which were determined experimentally.
Model predictions were validated by 15x15x60cm prisms 4 point
bending tests.
Abstract: The effect of notch depth on the elastic new strainconcentration
factor (SNCF) of rectangular bars with single edge Unotch
under combined loading is studied here. The finite element
method (FEM) and super position technique are used in the current
study. This new SNCF under combined loading of static tension and
pure bending has been defined under triaxial stress state. The
employed specimens have constant gross thickness of 16.7 mm and
net section thickness varied to give net-to-gross thickness ratio ho/Ho
from 0.2 to 0.95. The results indicated that the elastic SNCF for
combined loading increases with increasing notch depth up to ho/Ho =
0.7 and sharply decreases with increasing notch depth. It is also
indicated that the elastic SNCF of combined loading is greater than
that of pure bending and less than that of the static tension for 0.2 ≤
ho/Ho ≤ 0.7. However, the elastic SNCF of combined loading is the
elastic SNCF for static tension and less than that of pure bending for
shallow notches (i.e. 0.8 ≤ ho/Ho ≤ 0.95).
Abstract: We numerically study the three-dimensional
magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) stability of oscillatory natural
convection flow in a rectangular cavity, with free top surface, filled
with a liquid metal, having an aspect ratio equal to A=L/H=5, and
subjected to a transversal temperature gradient and a uniform
magnetic field oriented in x and z directions. The finite volume
method was used in order to solve the equations of continuity,
momentum, energy, and potential. The stability diagram obtained in
this study highlights the dependence of the critical value of the
Grashof number Grcrit , with the increase of the Hartmann number
Ha for two orientations of the magnetic field. This study confirms
the possibility of stabilization of a liquid metal flow in natural
convection by application of a magnetic field and shows that the
flow stability is more important when the direction of magnetic field
is longitudinal than when the direction is transversal.
Abstract: Recognizing behavioral patterns of financial markets
is essential for traders. Japanese candlestick chart is a common tool to
visualize and analyze such patterns in an economic time series. Since
the world was introduced to Japanese candlestick charting, traders
saw how combining this tool with intelligent technical approaches
creates a powerful formula for the savvy investors.
This paper propose a generalization to box counting method of
Grassberger-Procaccia, which is based on computing the correlation
dimension of Japanese candlesticks instead commonly used 'close'
points. The results of this method applied on several foreign
exchange rates vs. IRR (Iranian Rial). Satisfactorily show lower
chaotic dimension of Japanese candlesticks series than regular
Grassberger-Procaccia method applied merely on close points of
these same candles. This means there is some valuable information
inside candlesticks.
Abstract: Food and fibre production in arid and semi-arid regions has emerged as one of the major challenges for various socio-economic and political reasons such as the food security and self-sufficiency. Productive use of the renewable water resources has risen on top ofthe decision-making agenda. For this reason, efficient operation and maintenance of modern irrigation and drainage schemes become part and parcel and indispensible reality in agricultural policy making arena. The aim of this paper is to investigate the complexity of operating and maintaining such schemes, mainly focussing on challenges which enhance and opportunities that impedsustainable food and fibre production. The methodology involved using secondary data complemented byroutine observations and stakeholders views on issues that influence the O&M in the Dez command area. The SPSS program was used as an analytical framework for data analysis and interpretation.Results indicate poor application efficiency in most croplands, much of which is attributed to deficient operation of conveyance and distribution canals. These in turn, are reportedly linked to inadequate maintenance of the pumping stations and hydraulic structures like turnouts,flumes and other control systems particularly in the secondary and tertiary canals. Results show that the aforementioned deficiencies have been the major impediment to establishing regular flow toward the farm gates which subsequently undermine application efficiency and tillage operationsat farm level. Results further show that accumulative impact of such deficiencies has been the major causes of poorcrop yield and quality that deem production system in these croplands uneconomic. Results further show that the present state might undermine the sustainability of agricultural system in the command area. The overall conclusion being that present water management is unlikely to be responsive to challenges that the sector faces. And in the absence of coherent measures to shift the status quo situation in favour of more productive resource use, it would be hard to fulfil the objectives of the National Economic and Socio-cultural Development Plans.
Abstract: The development and application of wind power for
renewable energy has attracted growing interest in recent years. Renewable energy sources are attracting much alteration as they can
reduce both environmental damage and dependence on fossil fuels. With the growing need for sustainable energy supplies, a case is made
for decentralized, stand-alone power supplies (SAPS) as an alternative to power grids. In the era which traditional petroleum energy resource
decreasing and the green house affect significant increasing, the development and usage of regenerative resources is inevitable. Due to the contribution of the pioneers, the development of regenerative resources already has a remarkable achievement; however, in the view of economy and quantity, it is still a long road for regenerative energy
to replace traditional petroleum energy. In our prospective, in stead of
investigate larger regenerative energy equipment, it is much wiser to
think about the blind side and breakthrough of the current technique.
Abstract: Design of Converter transformer insulation is a major
challenge. The insulation of these transformers is stressed by both
AC and DC voltages. Particle contamination is one of the major
problems in insulation structures, as they generate partial discharges
leading it to major failure of insulation. Similarly corona discharges
occur in transformer insulation. This partial discharge due to particle
movement / corona formation in insulation structure under different
voltage wave shapes, are different. In the present study, UHF
technique is adopted to understand the discharge activity and could
be realized that the characteristics of UHF signal generated under
low and high fields are different. In the case of corona generated
signal, the frequency content of the UHF sensor output lies in the
range 0.3-1.2 GHz and is not much varied except for its increase in
magnitude of discharge with the increase in applied voltage. It is
realized that the current signal injected due to partial
discharges/corona is about 4ns duration measured for first one half
cycle. Wavelet technique is adopted in the present study. It allows
one to identify the frequency content present in the signal at different
instant of time. The STD-MRA analysis helps one to identify the
frequency band in which the energy content of the UHF signal is
maximum.
Abstract: Detection and recognition of the Human Body Composition and extraction their measures (width and length of human body) in images are a major issue in detecting objects and the important field in Image, Signal and Vision Computing in recent years. Finding people and extraction their features in Images are particularly important problem of object recognition, because people can have high variability in the appearance. This variability may be due to the configuration of a person (e.g., standing vs. sitting vs. jogging), the pose (e.g. frontal vs. lateral view), clothing, and variations in illumination. In this study, first, Human Body is being recognized in image then the measures of Human Body extract from the image.
Abstract: The efficacy of the separate mixing of four tropical spicy and medicinal plant products: Dennettia tripetala Baker (pepper fruit), Eugenia aromatica Hook (clove), Piper guineense (Schum and Thonn) (black pepper) and Monodora myristica (Dunal) (African nut-meg) with a household vegetable oil was evaluated under tropical storage conditions for the control and reproductive performance of Dermestes maculatus (De Geer) (hide beetle) and Necroba rufipes (De Geer) (copra beetle) on African catfish, Clarias gariepinus (Burchell). Each of the plant materials was pulverized into powder and applied as a mix of 1ml of oil and plant powder at 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0g per 100g of dried fish, and allowed to dry for 6h. Each of the four oil-mixed powder treatments evoked significant (P < 05) mortalities of the two insects compared with the control (oil only) at 1, 3 and 7 days post treatment. The oil-powder mixture dosages did not prevent insect egg hatchability but while the emergent larvae on the treated samples died, the emergent larvae in the control survived into adults. The application of oil-mixed powders effectively suppressed the emergence of the larvae of the beetles. Similarly, each of the oil-powder mixtures significantly reduced weight loss in smoked fish that were exposed to D. maculatus and N. rufipes when compared to the control (P < 05). The results of this study suggest that the plant powders rather than the domestic oil demonstrated protective ability against the fish beetles and confirm the efficacy of the plant products as pest control agents.
Abstract: The Taiwan government has invested approximately
21 billion NT dollars in the construction of bicycle paths since
bicycling has gained huge popularity as a healthy leisure and
recreational activity. This study focuses on the behavior of
recreational bicyclists in Danshuei and Bali, northern Taiwan. Data
were collected from a field investigation carried out along the
Danshuei bicycle path and Bali left-bank bicycle path. A total of 578
questionnaires were gathered for data analysis. Descriptive statistics
and Chi-Square tests were used to assess bicyclists- behaviors. The
frequency shows that, in these areas, Danshuei and Bali, most
bicyclists rented bicycles, rode the bicycle path in the afternoon for
about 2 hours. The used the bicycle path one time per week. For most,
it was the first time to ride these bicycle paths. There were significant
differences in distribution of bicycle ownership, time of day, duration
of ride, ride frequency, and whether riding occurred on weekdays or
weekends. Results indicated that most bicyclists in Danshuei and Bali
were infrequent users.
Abstract: This paper deals with the analysis of active constrained layer damping (ACLD) of doubly curved laminated composite shells using active fiber composite (AFC) materials. The constraining layer of the ACLD treatment has been considered to be made of the AFC materials. A three dimensional energy based finite element model of the smart doubly curved laminated composite shell integrated with a patch of such ACLD treatment has been developed to demonstrate the performance of the patch on enhancing the damping characteristics of the doubly curved laminated composite shells. Particular emphasis has been placed on studying the effect of variation of piezoelectric fiber orientation angle in the constraining AFC layer on the control authority of the ACLD patch.
Abstract: Solar sunspot rotation, latitudinal bands are studied based on intelligent computation methods. A combination of image fusion method with together tree decomposition is used to obtain quantitative values about the latitudes of trajectories on sun surface that sunspots rotate around them. Daily solar images taken with SOlar and Heliospheric (SOHO) satellite are fused for each month separately .The result of fused image is decomposed with Quad Tree decomposition method in order to achieve the precise information about latitudes of sunspot trajectories. Such analysis is useful for gathering information about the regions on sun surface and coordinates in space that is more expose to solar geomagnetic storms, tremendous flares and hot plasma gases permeate interplanetary space and help human to serve their technical systems. Here sunspot images in September, November and October in 2001 are used for studying the magnetic behavior of sun.
Abstract: Hyperglycaemia is a key factor that contributes to the
development of diabetes-related microvascular disease and a major
risk factor for endothelial dysfunction. In the current study, we have
explored glucose-induced abnormal intracellular calcium (Ca2+
i)
homeostasis in mouse microvessel endothelial cells (MMECs) in
high glucose (HG) (40mmol/L) versus control (low glucose, LG) (11
mmol/L). We demonstrated that the exposure of MMECs to HG for 3
days did not change basal Ca2+
i, however, there was a significant
increase of acetylcholine-induced Ca2+ entry. Western blots
illustrated that exposure to HG also increased STIM1 (Stromal
Interaction Molecule 1), but not Orai1 (the pore forming subunit),
protein expression levels. Although the link between HG-induced
changes in STIM1 expression, enhanced Ca2+ entry and endothelial
dysfunction requires further study, the current data are suggestive
that targeting these pathways may reduce the impact of HG on
endothelial function.
Abstract: IEEE 802.15.4a impulse radio-time hopping ultra wide
band (IR-TH UWB) physical layer, due to small duty cycle and very
short pulse widths is robust against multipath propagation. However,
scattering and reflections with the large number of obstacles in indoor
channel environments, give rise to dense multipath fading. It imposes
serious problem to optimum Rake receiver architectures, for which
very large number of fingers are needed. Presence of strong noise
also affects the reception of fine pulses having extremely low power
spectral density. A robust SRake receiver for IEEE 802.15.4a IRTH
UWB in dense multipath and additive white Gaussian noise
(AWGN) is proposed to efficiently recover the weak signals with
much reduced complexity. It adaptively increases the signal to noise
(SNR) by decreasing noise through a recursive least square (RLS)
algorithm. For simulation, dense multipath environment of IEEE
802.15.4a industrial non line of sight (NLOS) is employed. The power
delay profile (PDF) and the cumulative distribution function (CDF)
for the respective channel environment are found. Moreover, the error
performance of the proposed architecture is evaluated in comparison
with conventional SRake and AWGN correlation receivers. The
simulation results indicate a substantial performance improvement
with very less number of Rake fingers.
Abstract: Various solar energy technologies exist and they have
different application techniques in the generation of electrical power.
The widespread use of photovoltaic (PV) modules in such
technologies has been limited by relatively high costs and low
efficiencies. The efficiency of PV panels decreases as the operating
temperatures increase. This is due to the affect of solar intensity and
ambient temperature. In this work, Computational Fluid Dynamics
(CFD) was used to model the heat transfer from a standard PV panel
and thus determine the rate of dissipation of heat. To accurately
model the specific climatic conditions of the United Arab Emirates
(UAE), a case study of a new build green building in Dubai was
used. A finned heat pipe arrangement is proposed and analyzed to
determine the improved heat dissipation and thus improved
performance efficiency of the PV panel. A prototype of the
arrangement is built for experimental testing to validate the CFD
modeling and proof of concept.
Abstract: Bootstrapping has gained popularity in different tests of hypotheses as an alternative in using asymptotic distribution if one is not sure of the distribution of the test statistic under a null hypothesis. This method, in general, has two variants – the parametric and the nonparametric approaches. However, issues on reliability of this method always arise in many applications. This paper addresses the issue on reliability by establishing a reliability measure in terms of quantiles with respect to asymptotic distribution, when this is approximately correct. The test of hypotheses used is Ftest. The simulated results show that using nonparametric bootstrapping in F-test gives better reliability than parametric bootstrapping with relatively higher degrees of freedom.
Abstract: Mega urban transport projects (MUTPs) are
increasingly being used in urban environments to ameliorate the
problem of congestion. However, a number of problems with regard
to mega projects have been identified. In particular the seemingly
institutionalised over estimation of economic benefits and persistent
cost over runs, could mean that the wrong projects are selected, and
that the projects that are selected cost more than they should. Studies
to date have produced a number of solutions to these problems,
perhaps most notably, the various methods for the inclusion of the
private sector in project provision. However the problems have
shown significant intractability in the face of these solutions. This
paper provides a detailed examination of some of the problems
facing mega projects and then examines Foucault-s theory of
'governmentality' as a possible frame of analysis which might shed
light on the intractability of the problems that have been identified,
through an identification of the art of government in which MUTPs
occur.