Abstract: Topical photodynamic therapy (PDT) with
5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) is an alternative therapy for treating
superficial cancer, especially for skin or oral cancer. ALA, a precursor
of the photosensitizer protoporphyrin IX (PpIX), is present as
zwitterions and hydrophilic property which make the low permeability
through the cell membrane. Collagen is a traditional carrier; its
molecular composed various amino acids which bear positive charge
and negative charge. In order to utilize the ion-pairs with ALA and
collagen, the study employed various pH values adjusting the net
charge. The aim of this study was to compare a series collagen form,
including solution, gel and sponge to investigate the topical delivery
behavior of ALA. The in vivo confocal laser scanning microscopy
(CLSM) study demonstrated that PpIX generation ability was different
pattern after apply for 6 h. Gel type could generate high PpIX, and
archived more deep of skin depth.
Abstract: Methods to detect and localize time singularities of polynomial and quasi-polynomial ordinary differential equations are systematically presented and developed. They are applied to examples taken form different fields of applications and they are also compared to better known methods such as those based on the existence of linear first integrals or Lyapunov functions.
Abstract: Timetabling problems are often hard and timeconsuming
to solve. Most of the methods of solving them concern
only one problem instance or class. This paper describes a universal
method for solving large, highly constrained timetabling problems
from different domains. The solution is based on evolutionary
algorithm-s framework and operates on two levels – first-level
evolutionary algorithm tries to find a solution basing on given set of
operating parameters, second-level algorithm is used to establish
those parameters. Tabu search is employed to speed up the solution
finding process on first level. The method has been used to solve
three different timetabling problems with promising results.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose a new model of English-
Vietnamese bilingual Information Retrieval system. Although there
are so many CLIR systems had been researched and built, the accuracy of searching results in different languages that the CLIR
system supports still need to improve, especially in finding bilingual documents. The problems identified in this paper are the limitation of
machine translation-s result and the extra large collections of document to be found. So we try to establish a different model to overcome these problems.
Abstract: How to coordinate the behaviors of the agents through
learning is a challenging problem within multi-agent domains.
Because of its complexity, recent work has focused on how
coordinated strategies can be learned. Here we are interested in using
reinforcement learning techniques to learn the coordinated actions of a
group of agents, without requiring explicit communication among
them. However, traditional reinforcement learning methods are based
on the assumption that the environment can be modeled as Markov
Decision Process, which usually cannot be satisfied when multiple
agents coexist in the same environment. Moreover, to effectively
coordinate each agent-s behavior so as to achieve the goal, it-s
necessary to augment the state of each agent with the information
about other existing agents. Whereas, as the number of agents in a
multiagent environment increases, the state space of each agent grows
exponentially, which will cause the combinational explosion problem.
Profit sharing is one of the reinforcement learning methods that allow
agents to learn effective behaviors from their experiences even within
non-Markovian environments. In this paper, to remedy the drawback
of the original profit sharing approach that needs much memory to
store each state-action pair during the learning process, we firstly
address a kind of on-line rational profit sharing algorithm. Then, we
integrate the advantages of modular learning architecture with on-line
rational profit sharing algorithm, and propose a new modular
reinforcement learning model. The effectiveness of the technique is
demonstrated using the pursuit problem.
Abstract: Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a 4G wireless
broadband technology developed by the Third Generation
Partnership Project (3GPP) release 8, and it's represent the
competitiveness of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
(UMTS) for the next 10 years and beyond. The concepts for LTE
systems have been introduced in 3GPP release 8, with objective of
high-data-rate, low-latency and packet-optimized radio access
technology. In this paper, performance of different TCP variants
during LTE network investigated. The performance of TCP over
LTE is affected mostly by the links of the wired network and total
bandwidth available at the serving base station. This paper describes
an NS-2 based simulation analysis of TCP-Vegas, TCP-Tahoe, TCPReno,
TCP-Newreno, TCP-SACK, and TCP-FACK, with full
modeling of all traffics of LTE system. The Evaluation of the
network performance with all TCP variants is mainly based on
throughput, average delay and lost packet. The analysis of TCP
performance over LTE ensures that all TCP's have a similar
throughput and the best performance return to TCP-Vegas than other
variants.
Abstract: IT infrastructures are becoming more and more
difficult. Therefore, in the first industrial IT systems, the P2P
paradigm has replaced the traditional client server and methods of
self-organization are gaining more and more importance. From the
past it is known that especially regular structures like grids may
significantly improve the system behavior and performance. This
contribution introduces a new algorithm based on a biologic
analogue, which may provide the growth of several regular structures
on top of anarchic grown P2P- or social network structures.
Abstract: Banishing hunger from the face of earth has been
frequently expressed in various international, national and regional
level conferences since 1974. Providing food security has become
important issue across the world particularly in developing countries.
In a developing country like India, where growth rate of population is
more than that of the food grains production, food security is a
question of great concern. According to the International Food Policy
Research Institute's Global Hunger Index, 2011, India ranks 67 of the
81 countries of the world with the worst food security status. After
Green Revolution, India became a food surplus country. Its
production has increased from 74.23 million tonnes in 1966-67 to
257.44 million tonnes in 2011-12. But after achieving selfsufficiency
in food during last three decades, the country is now
facing new challenges due to increasing population, climate change,
stagnation in farm productivity. Therefore, the main objective of the
present paper is to examine the food security situation at national
level in the country and further to explain the paradox of food
insecurity in a food surplus state of India i.e in Punjab at micro level.
In order to achieve the said objectives, secondary data collected from
the Ministry of Agriculture and the Agriculture department of Punjab
State was analyzed. The result of the study showed that despite
having surplus food production the country is still facing food
insecurity problem at micro level. Within the Kandi belt of Punjab
state, the area adjacent to plains is food secure while the area along
the hills falls in food insecure zone.
The present paper is divided into following three sections (i)
Introduction, (ii) Analysis of food security situation at national level
as well as micro level (Kandi belt of Punjab State) (iii) Concluding
Observations
Abstract: Gene expression profiling is rapidly evolving into a
powerful technique for investigating tumor malignancies. The
researchers are overwhelmed with the microarray-based platforms
and methods that confer them the freedom to conduct large-scale
gene expression profiling measurements. Simultaneously,
investigations into cross-platform integration methods have started
gaining momentum due to their underlying potential to help
comprehend a myriad of broad biological issues in tumor diagnosis,
prognosis, and therapy. However, comparing results from different
platforms remains to be a challenging task as various inherent
technical differences exist between the microarray platforms. In this
paper, we explain a simple ratio-transformation method, which can
provide some common ground for cDNA and Affymetrix platform
towards cross-platform integration. The method is based on the
characteristic data attributes of Affymetrix- and cDNA- platform. In
the work, we considered seven childhood leukemia patients and their
gene expression levels in either platform. With a dataset of 822
differentially expressed genes from both these platforms, we carried
out a specific ratio-treatment to Affymetrix data, which subsequently
showed an improvement in the relationship with the cDNA data.
Abstract: Boon Rawd Brewery is a beer company based in
Thailand that has an exemplary image, both as a good employer and a
well-managed company with a strong record of social responsibility.
The most famous of the company’s products is Singha beer. To study
the company’s marketing strategy, a case study analysis was
conducted together with qualitative research methods. The study
analyzed the marketing strategy of Boon Rawd Brewery before the
liberalization of the liquor market in 2000. The company’s marketing
strategies consisted of the following: product line strategy, product
development strategy, block channel strategy, media strategy, trade
strategy, and consumer incentive strategy. Additionally, the company
employed marketing mix strategy based on the 4Ps: product, price,
promotion and place (of distribution).
Abstract: Vibrations of circular cylindrical shells made of
layered composite materials are considered. The shells are weakened
by circumferential cracks. The influence of circumferential cracks
with constant depth on the vibration of the shell is prescribed with the
aid of a matrix of local flexibility coupled with the coefficient of the
stress intensity known in the linear elastic fracture mechanics.
Numerical results are presented for the case of the shell with one
circular crack.
Abstract: This paper concerns about the experimental and
numerical investigations of energy absorption and axial tearing
behaviour of aluminium 6060 circular thin walled tubes under static
axial compression. The tubes are received in T66 heat treatment
condition with fixed outer diameter of 42mm, thickness of 1.5mm
and length of 120mm. The primary variables are the conical die
angles (15°, 20° and 25°). Numerical simulations are carried on
ANSYS/LS-DYNA software tool, for investigating the effect of
friction between the tube and the die.
Abstract: It is well known that a linear dynamic system including
a delay will exhibit limit cycle oscillations when a bang-bang sensor
is used in the feedback loop of a PID controller. A similar behaviour
occurs when a delayed feedback signal is used to train a neural
network. This paper develops a method of predicting this behaviour
by linearizing the system, which can be shown to behave in a manner
similar to an integral controller. Using this procedure, it is possible
to predict the characteristics of the neural network driven limit cycle
to varying degrees of accuracy, depending on the information known
about the system. An application is also presented: the intelligent
control of a spark ignition engine.
Abstract: Perth will run out of available sustainable natural
water resources by 2015 if nothing is done to slow usage rates,
according to a Western Australian study [1]. Alternative water
technology options need to be considered for the long-term
guaranteed supply of water for agricultural, commercial, domestic
and industrial purposes. Seawater is an alternative source of water for
human consumption, because seawater can be desalinated and
supplied in large quantities to a very high quality.
While seawater desalination is a promising option, the technology
requires a large amount of energy which is typically generated from
fossil fuels. The combustion of fossil fuels emits greenhouse gases
(GHG) and, is implicated in climate change. In addition to
environmental emissions from electricity generation for desalination,
greenhouse gases are emitted in the production of chemicals and
membranes for water treatment. Since Australia is a signatory to the
Kyoto Protocol, it is important to quantify greenhouse gas emissions
from desalinated water production.
A life cycle assessment (LCA) has been carried out to determine
the greenhouse gas emissions from the production of 1 gigalitre (GL)
of water from the new plant. In this LCA analysis, a new desalination
plant that will be installed in Bunbury, Western Australia, and known
as Southern Seawater Desalinization Plant (SSDP), was taken as a
case study. The system boundary of the LCA mainly consists of three
stages: seawater extraction, treatment and delivery. The analysis
found that the equivalent of 3,890 tonnes of CO2 could be emitted
from the production of 1 GL of desalinated water. This LCA analysis
has also identified that the reverse osmosis process would cause the
most significant greenhouse emissions as a result of the electricity
used if this is generated from fossil fuels
Abstract: Term Extraction, a key data preparation step in Text
Mining, extracts the terms, i.e. relevant collocation of words,
attached to specific concepts (e.g. genetic-algorithms and decisiontrees
are terms associated to the concept “Machine Learning" ). In
this paper, the task of extracting interesting collocations is achieved
through a supervised learning algorithm, exploiting a few
collocations manually labelled as interesting/not interesting. From
these examples, the ROGER algorithm learns a numerical function,
inducing some ranking on the collocations. This ranking is optimized
using genetic algorithms, maximizing the trade-off between the false
positive and true positive rates (Area Under the ROC curve). This
approach uses a particular representation for the word collocations,
namely the vector of values corresponding to the standard statistical
interestingness measures attached to this collocation. As this
representation is general (over corpora and natural languages),
generality tests were performed by experimenting the ranking
function learned from an English corpus in Biology, onto a French
corpus of Curriculum Vitae, and vice versa, showing a good
robustness of the approaches compared to the state-of-the-art Support
Vector Machine (SVM).
Abstract: The permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) is
very useful in many applications. Vector control of PMSM is popular
kind of its control. In this paper, at first an optimal vector control for
PMSM is designed and then results are compared with conventional
vector control. Then, it is assumed that the measurements are noisy
and linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) methodology is used to filter
the noises. The results of noisy optimal vector control and filtered
optimal vector control are compared to each other. Nonlinearity of
PMSM and existence of inverter in its control circuit caused that the
system is nonlinear and time-variant. With deriving average model,
the system is changed to nonlinear time-invariant and then the
nonlinear system is converted to linear system by linearization of
model around average values. This model is used to optimize vector
control then two optimal vector controls are compared to each other.
Simulation results show that the performance and robustness to noise
of the control system has been highly improved.
Abstract: Network management techniques have long been of
interest to the networking research community. The queue size plays
a critical role for the network performance. The adequate size of the
queue maintains Quality of Service (QoS) requirements within
limited network capacity for as many users as possible. The
appropriate estimation of the queuing model parameters is crucial for
both initial size estimation and during the process of resource
allocation. The accurate resource allocation model for the
management system increases the network utilization. The present
paper demonstrates the results of empirical observation of memory
allocation for packet-based services.
Abstract: The computer, among the most important inventions of the twentieth century, has become an increasingly important component in our everyday lives. Computer games also have become increasingly popular among people day-by-day, owing to their features based on realistic virtual environments, audio and visual features, and the roles they offer players. In the present study, the metaphors students have for computer games are investigated, as well as an effort to fill the gap in the literature. Students were asked to complete the sentence—‘Computer game is like/similar to….because….’— to determine the middle school students’ metaphorical images of the concept for ‘computer game’. The metaphors created by the students were grouped in six categories, based on the source of the metaphor. These categories were ordered as ‘computer game as a means of entertainment’, ‘computer game as a beneficial means’, ‘computer game as a basic need’, ‘computer game as a source of evil’, ‘computer game as a means of withdrawal’, and ‘computer game as a source of addiction’, according to the number of metaphors they included.
Abstract: In 2002 an amendment to SOLAS opened for
lightweight material constructions in vessels if the same fire safety as
in steel constructions could be obtained. FISPAT (FIreSPread
Analysis Tool) is a computer application that simulates fire spread
and fault injection in cruise vessels and identifies fire sensitive areas.
It was developed to analyze cruise vessel designs and provides a
method to evaluate network layout and safety of cruise vessels. It
allows fast, reliable and deterministic exhaustive simulations and
presents the result in a graphical vessel model. By performing the
analysis iteratively while altering the cruise vessel design it can be
used along with fire chamber experiments to show that the
lightweight design can be as safe as a steel construction and that
SOLAS regulations are fulfilled.
Abstract: Domineering is a classic two-player combinatorial
game usually played on a rectangular board. Three-player Domineering
is the three-player version of Domineering played on a three
dimensional board. Experimental results are presented for x×y ×z
boards with x + y + z < 10 and x, y, z ≥ 2. Also, some theoretical
results are shown for 2 × 2 × n board with n even and n ≥ 4.