Abstract: In this paper we present a new method for coin
identification. The proposed method adopts a hybrid scheme using
Eigenvalues of covariance matrix, Circular Hough Transform (CHT)
and Bresenham-s circle algorithm. The statistical and geometrical
properties of the small and large Eigenvalues of the covariance
matrix of a set of edge pixels over a connected region of support are
explored for the purpose of circular object detection. Sparse matrix
technique is used to perform CHT. Since sparse matrices squeeze
zero elements and contain only a small number of non-zero elements,
they provide an advantage of matrix storage space and computational
time. Neighborhood suppression scheme is used to find the valid
Hough peaks. The accurate position of the circumference pixels is
identified using Raster scan algorithm which uses geometrical
symmetry property. After finding circular objects, the proposed
method uses the texture on the surface of the coins called texton,
which are unique properties of coins, refers to the fundamental micro
structure in generic natural images. This method has been tested on
several real world images including coin and non-coin images. The
performance is also evaluated based on the noise withstanding
capability.
Abstract: Crystallization has been used for the separation of
chloronitrobenzene or CNBs, which are isomeric substances (o-, mand
p-CNB) and important intermediates in chemical productions. Effects of feed composition on the crystallization of m- and p-CNB was first studied. The results conform to the binary phase diagram of
m- and p-CNB. After that, effects of FAU zeolites (NaX, CaX, BaX, NaY and CaY) above the eutectic composition (63.5 and 65.0 wt% m-CNB in the feed) was also investigated. The results showed that
the FAU zeolites significantly affected the precipitates, the
composition of which was shifted from being rich in m-CNB to rich
in p-CNB. Effects of the number of FAU zeolites on the precipitate composition was then studied. The results revealed that the
precipitates from the lower number of the zeolites had higher p-CNB purity than those from the higher number of zeolite.
Abstract: In this paper in consideration of each available
techniques deficiencies for speech recognition, an advanced method
is presented that-s able to classify speech signals with the high
accuracy (98%) at the minimum time. In the presented method, first,
the recorded signal is preprocessed that this section includes
denoising with Mels Frequency Cepstral Analysis and feature
extraction using discrete wavelet transform (DWT) coefficients; Then
these features are fed to Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) network for
classification. Finally, after training of neural network effective
features are selected with UTA algorithm.
Abstract: This paper investigates experimental and numerical study of the airflow characteristics for vortex, round and square ceiling diffusers and its effect on the thermal comfort in a ventilated room. Three different thermal comfort criteria namely; Mean Age of the Air (MAA), ventilation effectiveness (E), and Effective Draft Temperature (EDT) have been used to predict the thermal comfort zone inside the room. In experimental work, a sub-scale room is set-up to measure the temperature field in the room. In numerical analysis, unstructured grids have been used to discretize the numerical domain. Conservation equations are solved using FLUENT commercial flow solver. The code is validated by comparing the numerical results obtained from three different turbulence models with the available experimental data. The comparison between the various numerical models shows that the standard k-ε turbulence model can be used to simulate these cases successfully. After validation of the code, effect of supply air velocity on the flow and thermal field could be investigated and hence the thermal comfort. The results show that the pressure coefficient created by the square diffuser is 1.5 times greater than that created by the vortex diffuser. The velocity decay coefficient is nearly the same for square and round diffusers and is 2.6 times greater than that for the vortex diffuser.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to explore the security issues
that significantly affect the performance of Mobile Adhoc Networks
(MANET)and limit the services provided to their intended users. The
MANETs are more vulnerable to Distributed Denial of Service
attacks (DDoS) because of their properties like shared medium,
dynamic topologies etc. A DDoS attack is a coordinated attempt
made by malicious users to flood the victim network with the large
amount of data such that the resources of the victim network are
exhausted resulting in the deterioration of the network performance.
This paper highlights the effects of different types of DDoS attacks
in MANETs and categorizes them according to their behavior.
Abstract: To investigate effect of salt stress on Chlorophyll
fluorescence four cultivars (fong,star,chamran and kharchia) of wheat
(Triticum aestivum) plants subjected to salinity levels ( control,8,12
and 16 dsm-1 ) from one week after emergence to the end of stem
elongation under greenhouse condition . results showed that quantum
yield of photosystem II from light adopted leaves (ΦPSII),
Photochemical quenching (qP) ,quantum yield of dark adopted leaves
(fv/fm) and non photochemical quenching (NPq) were affected by
salt stress . Salinity levels affected photosynthetic rate. Star and fong
cultivars showed minimum and maximum levels of photosynthetic
rate in respectively. Minimum photosynthetic rate differences
between levels of salinity were shown in Kharchia. Shoot dry matter
of all cultivars decreased by increasing salinity levels. Results
showed that non photochemical quenching by salinity levels attribute
to the decreases in shoot dry matter.
Abstract: This paper proposes a technique to protect against
email bombing. The technique employs a statistical approach, Naïve
Bayes (NB), and Neural Networks to show that it is possible to
differentiate between good and bad traffic to protect against email
bombing attacks. Neural networks and Naïve Bayes can be trained
by utilizing many email messages that include both input and output
data for legitimate and non-legitimate emails. The input to the model
includes the contents of the body of the messages, the subject, and
the headers. This information will be used to determine if the email
is normal or an attack email. Preliminary tests suggest that Naïve
Bayes can be trained to produce an accurate response to confirm
which email represents an attack.
Abstract: Many medical devices are driven by motor pumps. Some researchers reported that the vibration mainly affected medical devices using a motor pump. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of stiffness and damping coefficient in a 3-dimensional (3D) model of a motor pump and spring. In the present paper, experimental and mathematical tests for the moments of inertia of the 3D model and the material properties were investigated by an INSTRON machine. The response surfaces could be generated by using 3D multi-body analysis and the design of experiment method. It showed that differences in contours of the response surface were clearly found for the particular area. Displacement of the center of the motor pump was decreased at K≈2000 N/M, C≈12.5 N-sec/M. However, the frequency was increased at K≈2000 N/M, C≈15 N-sec/M. In this study, this study suggested experimental technique for vibration reduction for a motor pump in medical device. The combined method suggested in this study will greatly contribute to design of medical devices concerning vibration and noise intervention.
Abstract: Nowadays over-consumption of fossil energy in
buildings especially in residential buildings and also considering the
increase in populations, the crisis of energy shortage in a near future
is predictable. The recent performance of developed countries in
construction with the aim of decreasing fossil energies shows that
these countries have understood the incoming crisis and has taken
reasonable and basic actions in this regard. However, Iranian
architecture, with several thousands years of history, has acquired
and executed invaluable experiences in designing, adapting and
coordinating with the nature.
Architectural studies during the recent decades show that imitating
modern western architecture results in high energy wastage beside
the fact that it not reasonably adaptable and corresponded with the
habits and customs of people unlike the architecture in the past which
was compatible and adaptable with the climatic conditions and this
necessitates optimal using of renewable energies more than ever. This
paper studies problems of design, execution and living in today's
houses and reviews the characteristics of climatic elements paying
special attention to the performance of trombe wall and solar
greenhouse in traditional houses and offers some suggestions for
combining these two elements and a climatic strategy.
Abstract: The present paper considers the steady free
convection boundary layer flow of a viscoelastics fluid with constant
temperature in the presence of heat generation. The boundary layer
equations are an order higher than those for the Newtonian (viscous)
fluid and the adherence boundary conditions are insufficient to
determine the solution of these equations completely. The governing
boundary layer equations are first transformed into non-dimensional
form by using special dimensionless group. Computations are
performed numerically by using Keller-box method by augmenting
an extra boundary condition at infinity and the results are displayed
graphically to illustrate the influence of viscoelastic K, heat
generation γ , and Prandtl Number, Pr parameters on the velocity
and temperature profiles. The results of the surface shear stress in
terms of the local skin friction and the surface rate of heat transfer in
terms of the local Nusselt number for a selection of the heat
generation parameterγ (=0.0, 0.2, 0.5, 0.8, 1.0) are obtained and
presented in both tabular and graphical formats. Without effect of the
internal heat generation inside the fluid domain for which we take
γ = 0.0, the present numerical results show an excellent agreement
with previous publication.
Abstract: An adaptive Helmholtz resonator was designed and
adapted to hydraulics. The resonator was controlled by open- and
closed-loop controls so that 20 dB attenuation of the peak-to-peak
value of the pulsating pressure was maintained. The closed-loop
control was noted to be better, albeit it was slower because of its low
pressure and temperature variation, which caused variation in the
effective bulk modulus of the hydraulic system. Low-pressure
hydraulics contains air, which affects the stiffness of the hydraulics,
and temperature variation changes the viscosity of the oil. Thus, an
open-loop control loses its efficiency if a condition such as
temperature or the amount of air changes after calibration. The
instability of the low-pressure hydraulic system reduced the
operational frequency range of the Helmholtz resonator when
compared with the results of an analytical model.
Different dampers for hydraulics are presented. Then analytical
models of a hydraulic pipe and a hydraulic pipe with a Helmholtz
resonator are presented. The analytical models are based on the wave
equation of sound pressure. Finally, control methods and the results
of experiments are presented.
Abstract: This current research focused on development of degradable starch based packaging film with enhanced mechanical properties. A series of low density polyethylene (LDPE)/tapioca starch compounds with various tapioca starch contents were prepared by twin screw extrusion with the addition of maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene as compatibilizer. Palm cooking oil was used as processing aid to ease the blown film process, thus, degradable film can be processed via conventional blown film machine. Studies on their characteristics, mechanical properties and biodegradation were carried out by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and optical properties, tensile test and exposure to fungi environment respectively. The presence of high starch contents had an adverse effect on the tensile properties of LDPE/tapioca starch blends. However, the addition of compatibilizer to the blends improved the interfacial adhesion between the two materials, hence, improved the tensile properties of the films. High content of starch amount also was found to increase the rate of biodegradability of LDPE/tapioca starch films. It can be proved by exposure of the film to fungi environment. A growth of microbes colony can be seen on the surface of LDPE/tapioca starch film indicates that the granular starch present on the surface of the polymer film is attacked by microorganisms, until most of it is assimilated as a carbon source.
Abstract: Electrical resistivity is a fundamental parameter of metals or electrical conductors. Since resistivity is a function of temperature, in order to completely understand the behavior of metals, a temperature dependent theoretical model is needed. A model based on physics principles has recently been developed to obtain an equation that relates electrical resistivity to temperature. This equation is dependent upon a parameter associated with the electron travel time before being scattered, and a parameter that relates the energy of the atoms and their separation distance. Analysis of the energy parameter reveals that the equation is optimized if the proportionality term in the equation is not constant but varies over the temperature range. Additional analysis reveals that the theoretical equation can be used to determine the mean free path of conduction electrons, the number of defects in the atomic lattice, and the ‘equivalent’ charge associated with the metallic bonding of the atoms. All of this analysis provides validation for the theoretical model and provides insight into the behavior of metals where performance is affected by temperatures (e.g., integrated circuits and temperature sensors).
Abstract: Sorghum flour was supplemented with 15 and 30%
chickpea flour. Sorghum flour and the supplement were fermented at
35 oC for 0, 8, 16, and 24 h. Changes in pH, titrable acidity, total
soluble solids, protein content, in vitro protein digestibility and
amino acid composition were investigated during fermentation and/or
after supplementation of sorghum flour with chickpea. The pH of the
fermenting material decreased sharply with a concomitant increase in
the titrable acidity. The total soluble solids remained unchanged with
progressive fermentation time. The protein content of sorghum
cultivar was found to be 9.27 and that of chickpea was 22.47%. The
protein content of sorghum cultivar after supplementation with15 and
30% chickpea was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) increased to 11.78 and
14.55%, respectively. The protein digestibility also increased after
fermentation from 13.35 to 30.59 and 40.56% for the supplements,
respectively. Further increment in protein content and digestibility
was observed when supplemented and unsupplemented samples were
fermented for different periods of time. Cooking of fermented
samples was found to increase the protein content slightly and
decreased digestibility for both supplements. Amino acid content of
fermented and fermented and cooked supplements was determined.
Supplementation was found to increase the lysine and therionine
content. Cooking following fermentation decreased lysine,
isoleucine, valine and sulfur containg amino acids.
Abstract: The Beijing road traffic system, as a typical huge
urban traffic system, provides a platform for analyzing the complex
characteristics and the evolving mechanisms of urban traffic systems.
Based on dynamic network theory, we construct the dynamic model
of the Beijing road traffic system in which the dynamical properties
are described completely. Furthermore, we come into the conclusion
that urban traffic systems can be viewed as static networks, stochastic
networks and complex networks at different system phases by
analyzing the structural randomness. As well as, we demonstrate the
evolving process of the Beijing road traffic network based on real
traffic data, validate the stochastic characteristics and the scale-free
property of the network at different phases
Abstract: Prolonged immobilization leads to significant
weakness and atrophy of the skeletal muscle and can also impair the
recovery of muscle strength following injury. Therefore, it is
important to minimize the period under immobilization and accelerate
the return to normal activity. This study examined the effects of heat
treatment and rest-inserted exercise on the muscle activity of the lower
limb during knee flexion/extension. Twelve healthy subjects were
assigned to 4 groups that included: (1) heat treatment + rest-inserted
exercise; (2) heat + continuous exercise; (3) no heat + rest-inserted
exercise; and (4) no heat + continuous exercise. Heat treatment was
applied for 15 mins prior to exercise. Continuous exercise groups
performed knee flexion/extension at 0.5 Hz for 300 cycles without rest
whereas rest-inserted exercise groups performed the same exercise but
with 2 mins rest inserted every 60 cycles of continuous exercise.
Changes in the rectus femoris and hamstring muscle activities were
assessed at 0, 1, and 2 weeks of treatment by measuring the
electromyography signals of isokinetic maximum voluntary
contraction. Significant increases in both the rectus femoris and
hamstring muscles were observed after 2 weeks of treatment only
when both heat treatment and rest-inserted exercise were performed.
These results suggest that combination of various treatment techniques,
such as heat treatment and rest-inserted exercise, may expedite the
recovery of muscle strength following immobilization.
Abstract: CFD simulations are carried out in arterial stenoses
with 48 % areal occlusion. Non-newtonian fluid model is selected for
the blood flow as the same problem has been solved before with
Newtonian fluid model. Studies on flow resistance with the presence
of surface irregularities are carried out. Investigations are also
performed on the pressure drop at various Reynolds numbers. The
present study revealed that the pressure drop across a stenosed artery
is practically unaffected by surface irregularities at low Reynolds
numbers, while flow features are observed and discussed at higher
Reynolds numbers.
Abstract: Efficient utilization of existing water is a pressing
need for Pakistan. Due to rising population, reduction in present
storage capacity and poor delivery efficiency of 30 to 40% from
canal. A study to evaluate an irrigation system in the cotton-wheat
zone of Pakistan, after the watercourse lining was conducted. The
study is made on the basis of cropping pattern and salinity to evaluate
the system. This study employed an index-based approach of using
Geographic information system with field data. The satellite images
of different years were use to examine the effective area. Several
combinations of the ratio of signals received in different spectral
bands were used for development of this index. Near Infrared and
Thermal IR spectral bands proved to be most effective as this
combination helped easy detection of salt affected area and cropping
pattern of the study area. Result showed that 9.97% area under
salinity in 1992, 9.17% in 2000 and it left 2.29% in year 2005.
Similarly in 1992, 45% area is under vegetation it improves to 56%
and 65% in 2000 and 2005 respectively. On the basis of these results
evaluation is done 30% performance is increase after the watercourse
improvement.
Abstract: The control of sprayer boom undesired vibrations pose a great challenge to investigators due to various disturbances and conditions. Sprayer boom movements lead to reduce of spread efficiency and crop yield. This paper describes the design of a novel control method for an active suspension system applying proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller with an active force control (AFC) scheme integration of an iterative learning algorithm employed to a sprayer boom. The iterative learning as an intelligent method is principally used as a method to calculate the best value of the estimated inertia of the sprayer boom needed for the AFC loop. Results show that the proposed AFC-based scheme performs much better than the standard PID control technique. Also, this shows that the system is more robust and accurate.
Abstract: Transportation is of great importance in the current
life of human beings. The transportation system plays many roles,
from economical development to after-catastrophe aids such as
rescue operation in the first hours and days after an earthquake. In
after earthquakes response phase, transportation system acts as a
basis for ground operations including rescue and relief operation,
food providing for victims and etc. It is obvious that partial or
complete obstruction of this system results in the stop of these
operations. Bridges are one of the most important elements of
transportation network. Failure of a bridge, in the most optimistic
case, cuts the relation between two regions and in more developed
countries, cuts the relation of numerous regions. In this paper, to
evaluate the vulnerability and estimate the damage level of Tehran
bridges, HAZUS method, developed by Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) with the aid of National Institute of
Building Science (NIBS), is used for the first time in Iran. In this
method, to evaluate the collapse probability, fragility curves are
used. Iran is located on seismic belt and thus, it is vulnerable to
earthquakes. Thus, the study of the probability of bridge collapses, as
an important part of transportation system, during earthquakes is of
great importance. The purpose of this study is to provide fragility
curves for Gisha Bridge, one of the longest steel bridges in Tehran,
as an important lifeline element. Besides, the damage probability for
this bridge during a specific earthquake, introduced as scenario
earthquakes, is calculated. The fragility curves show that for the
considered scenario, the probability of occurrence of complete
collapse for the bridge is 8.6%.