Abstract: The objective of this research was to study the themes
of alcoholic beverage advertisements in Thailand after the enactment
of the 2008 Alcoholic Beverage Control Act. Data was collected
through textual analysis of 35 television and cinema advertisements
for alcoholic beverage products broadcast in Thailand. Nine themes
were identified, seven of which were themes that had previously been
used before the new law (i.e. power, competition, friendship,
Thainess, success, romance and safety) and two of which were new
themes (volunteerism and conservation) that were introduced as a
form of adaptation and negotiation in response to the new law.
Abstract: The optical properties of InGaN/GaN laser diode based on quaternary alloys stopper and superlattice layers are numerically studied using ISE TCAD (Integrated System Engineering) simulation program. Improvements in laser optical performance have been achieved using quaternary alloy as superlattice layers in InGaN/GaN laser diodes. Lower threshold current of 18 mA and higher output power and slope efficiency of 22 mW and 1.6 W/A, respectively, at room temperature have been obtained. The laser structure with InAlGaN quaternary alloys as an electron blocking layer was found to provide better laser performance compared with the ternary AlxGa1-xN blocking layer.
Abstract: A linear feedback shift register (LFSR) is proposed which targets to reduce the power consumption from within. It reduces the power consumption during testing of a Circuit Under Test (CUT) at two stages. At first stage,
Control Logic (CL) makes the clocks of the switching units
of the register inactive for a time period when output from
them is going to be same as previous one and thus reducing
unnecessary switching of the flip-flops. And at second stage,
the LFSR reorders the test vectors by interchanging the bit
with its next and closest neighbor bit. It keeps fault coverage
capacity of the vectors unchanged but reduces the Total Hamming Distance (THD) so that there is reduction in power
while shifting operation.
Abstract: The steam cracking reactions are always accompanied with the formation of coke which deposits on the walls of the tubular reactors. The investigation has attempted to control catalytic coking by the applying aluminum, zinc and ceramic coating like aluminum-magnesium by thermal spray and pack cementation method. Rate of coke formation during steam cracking of naphtha has been investigated both for uncoated stainless steel (with different alloys) and metal coating constructed with thermal Spray and pack cementation method with metal powders of Aluminum, Aluminum-Magnesium, zinc, silicon, nickel and chromium. The results of the study show that passivating the surface of SS321 with a coating of Aluminum and Aluminum-Magnesium can significantly reduce the rate of coke deposition during naphtha pyrolysis. SEM and EDAX techniques (Philips XL Series) were used to examine the coke deposits formed by the metal-hydrocarbon reactions. Our objective was to separate the different stages by identifying the characteristic morphologies.
Abstract: Fast development of technologies, economic globalization and many other external circumstances stimulate company’s competitiveness. One of the major trends in today’s business is the shift to the exploitation of the Internet and electronic environment for entrepreneurial needs. Latest researches confirm that e-environment provides a range of possibilities and opportunities for companies, especially for micro-, small- and medium-sized companies, which have limited resources. The usage of e-tools raises the effectiveness and the profitability of an organization, as well as its competitiveness.
In the electronic market, as in the classic one, there are factors, such as globalization, development of new technology, price sensitive consumers, Internet, new distribution and communication channels that influence entrepreneurship. As a result of eenvironment development, e-commerce and e-marketing grow as well.
Objective of the paper: To describe and identify factors influencing company’s competitiveness in e-environment.
Research methodology: The authors employ well-established quantitative and qualitative methods of research: grouping, analysis, statistics method, factor analysis in SPSS 20 environment, etc. The theoretical and methodological background of the research is formed by using scientific researches and publications, such as that from mass media and professional literature; statistical information from legal institutions as well as information collected by the authors during the surveying process.
Research result: The authors detected and classified factors influencing competitiveness in e-environment.
In this paper, the authors presented their findings based on theoretical, scientific, and field research. Authors have conducted a research on e-environment utilization among Latvian enterprises.
Abstract: Total liquid ventilation can support gas exchange in animal models of lung injury. Clinical application awaits further technical improvements and performance verification. Our aim was to develop a liquid ventilator, able to deliver accurate tidal volumes, and a computerized system for measuring lung mechanics. The computer-assisted, piston-driven respirator controlled ventilatory parameters that were displayed and modified on a real-time basis. Pressure and temperature transducers along with a lineal displacement controller provided the necessary signals to calculate lung mechanics. Ten newborn lambs (
Abstract: In present work are considered the scheme of
evaluation the transition probability in quantum system. It is based on
path integral representation of transition probability amplitude and its
evaluation by means of a saddle point method, applied to the part of
integration variables. The whole integration process is reduced to
initial value problem solutions of Hamilton equations with a random
initial phase point. The scheme is related to the semiclassical initial
value representation approaches using great number of trajectories. In
contrast to them from total set of generated phase paths only one path
for each initial coordinate value is selected in Monte Karlo process.
Abstract: In the current study, we have conducted an experimental investigation on the utilization of electronic arc furnace (EAF) reducing slag for the absorption of CO2 via wet grinding method. It was carried out by various grinding conditions. The slag was ground in the vibrating ball mill in the presence of CO2 and pure water under ambient temperature. The reaction behavior was monitored with constant pressure method, and the changes of experimental systems volume as a function of grinding time were measured. It was found that the CO2 absorption occurred as soon as the grinding started. The CO2 absorption was significantly increased in the case of wet grinding compare to the dry grinding. Generally, the amount of CO2 absorption increased as the amount of water, weight of slag and initial pressure increased. However, it was decreased when the amount of water exceeds 200ml and when smaller balls were used. The absorption of CO2 occurred simultaneously with the start of the grinding and it stopped when the grinding was stopped. According to this research, the CO2 reacted with the CaO inside the slag, forming CaCO3.
Abstract: The (sub)-optimal soolution of linear filtering problem
with correlated noises is considered. The special recursive form of
the class of filters and criteria for selecting the best estimator are
the essential elements of the design method. The properties of the
proposed filter are studied. In particular, for Markovian observation
noise, the approximate filter becomes an optimal Gevers-Kailath filter
subject to a special choice of the parameter in the class of given linear
recursive filters.
Abstract: Although water only takes a little percentage in the total mass of soil, it indeed plays an important role to the strength of structure. Moisture transfer can be carried out by many different mechanisms which may involve heat and mass transfer, thermodynamic phase change, and the interplay of various forces such as viscous, buoyancy, and capillary forces. The continuum models are not well suited for describing those phenomena in which the connectivity of the pore space or the fracture network, or that of a fluid phase, plays a major role. However, Lattice Boltzmann methods (LBMs) are especially well suited to simulate flows around complex geometries. Lattice Boltzmann methods were initially invented for solving fluid flows. Recently, fluid with multicomponent and phase change is also included in the equations. By comparing the numerical result with experimental result, the Lattice Boltzmann methods with phase change will be optimized.
Abstract: Adsorption of methanol and ethanol over mesoporous
siliceous material are studied in the current paper. The pure
mesoporous silica is prepared using tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) as
silica source and dodecylamine as template at low pH. The prepared
material was characterized using nitrogen adsorption,nX-ray
diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The
adsorption kinetics of methanol and ethanol from aqueous solution
were studied over the prepared mesoporous silica material. The
percent removal of alcohol was calculated per unit mass of adsorbent
used. The 1st order model is found to be in agreement with both
adsorbates while the 2nd order model fit the adsorption of methanol
only.
Abstract: Software maintenance, which involves making enhancements, modifications and corrections to existing software systems, consumes more than half of developer time. Specification comprehensibility plays an important role in software maintenance as it permits the understanding of the system properties more easily and quickly. The use of formal notation such as B increases a specification-s precision and consistency. However, the notation is regarded as being difficult to comprehend. Semi-formal notation such as the Unified Modelling Language (UML) is perceived as more accessible but it lacks formality. Perhaps by combining both notations could produce a specification that is not only accurate and consistent but also accessible to users. This paper presents an experiment conducted on a model that integrates the use of both UML and B notations, namely UML-B, versus a B model alone. The objective of the experiment was to evaluate the comprehensibility of a UML-B model compared to a traditional B model. The measurement used in the experiment focused on the efficiency in performing the comprehension tasks. The experiment employed a cross-over design and was conducted on forty-one subjects, including undergraduate and masters students. The results show that the notation used in the UML-B model is more comprehensible than the B model.
Abstract: In this study, the dispersion of heavy particles line in
an isotropic and incompressible three-dimensional turbulent flow has
been studied using the Kinematic Simulation techniques to find out
the evolution of the line fractal dimension. The fractal dimension of
the line is found in the case of different particle gravity (in practice,
different values of particle drift velocity) in the presence of small
particle inertia with a comparison with that obtained in the diffusion
case of material line at the same Reynolds number. It can be
concluded for the dispersion of heavy particles line in turbulent flow
that the particle gravity affect the fractal dimension of the line for
different particle gravity velocities in the range 0.2 < W < 2. With
the increase of the particle drift velocity, the fractal dimension of the
line decreases which may be explained as the particles pass many
scales in their journey in the direction of the gravity and the particles
trajectories do not affect by these scales at high particle drift
velocities.
Abstract: Data hiding into text documents itself involves pretty
complexities due to the nature of text documents. A robust text
watermarking scheme targeting an object based environment is
presented in this research. The heart of the proposed solution
describes the concept of watermarking an object based text document
where each and every text string is entertained as a separate object
having its own set of properties. Taking advantage of the z-ordering
of objects watermark is applied with the z-axis letting zero fidelity
disturbances to the text. Watermark sequence of bits generated
against user key is hashed with selected properties of given
document, to determine the bit sequence to embed. Bits are
embedded along z-axis and the document has no fidelity issues when
printed, scanned or photocopied.
Abstract: This study was conducted to investigate the efficacy
of five herbicides on narrow leaved weeds and growth and yield of
wheat. An experiment was conducted at Agronomic Research
Farm, University of Agriculture Faisalabad. The experiment was
laid out in randomized complete block designee (RCBD) with three
replications. Treatments studied were clodinafop (Topic-15 WG) at
37 g a.i. ha-1, clodinafop (Topaz-15 WG) at 45 g a.i. ha-1,
fenoxaprop-p-ethyl (Puma Super-75 EW) at 45 g a.i. ha-1,
fenoxaprop-p-ethyl (Gramicide-6.9 EW) at 85 g a.i. ha-1,
fenoxaprop-p-ethyl (Chinlima-6.9 EW) at 85 g a.i. ha-1 and weedy
check. Plots treated with fenoxaprop-p-ethyl (Puma Super-75 EW)
at 45 g a.i. ha-1 produced relatively less weed biomass, more plant
height, number of spike bearing tillers, number of grains per spike,
1000-grain weight and grain yield (4.20 t ha-1).
Abstract: An image texture analysis and target recognition approach of using an improved image texture feature coding method (TFCM) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) for target detection is presented. With our proposed target detection framework, targets of interest can be detected accurately. Cascade-Sliding-Window technique was also developed for automated target localization. Application to mammogram showed that over 88% of normal mammograms and 80% of abnormal mammograms can be correctly identified. The approach was also successfully applied to Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) images for target detection.
Abstract: In this paper, we present an improved fast and robust
search algorithm for copy detection using histogram-based features for
short MPEG video clips from large video database. There are two
types of histogram features used to generate more robust features. The
first one is based on the adjacent pixel intensity difference quantization
(APIDQ) algorithm, which had been reliably applied to human face
recognition previously. An APIDQ histogram is utilized as the feature
vector of the frame image. Another one is ordinal histogram feature
which is robust to color distortion. Furthermore, by Combining with a
temporal division method, the spatial and temporal features of the
video sequence are integrated to realize fast and robust video search
for copy detection. Experimental results show the proposed algorithm
can detect the similar video clip more accurately and robust than
conventional fast video search algorithm.
Abstract: This paper provides an exergy analysis of the multistage refrigeration cycle used for C2+ recovery plant. The behavior of an industrial refrigeration cycle with refrigerant propane has been investigated by the exergy method. A computational model based on the exergy analysis is presented for the investigation of the effects of the valves on the exergy losses, the second law of efficiency, and the coefficient of performance (COP) of a vapor compression refrigeration cycle. The equations of exergy destruction and exergetic efficiency for the main cycle components such as evaporators, condensers, compressors, and expansion valves are developed. The relations for the total exergy destruction in the cycle and the cycle exergetic efficiency are obtained. An ethane recovery unit with its refrigeration cycle has been simulated to prepare the exergy analysis. Using a typical actual work input value; the exergetic efficiency of the refrigeration cycle is determined to be 39.90% indicating a great potential for improvements. The simulation results reveal that the exergetic efficiencies of the heat exchanger and expansion sections get the lowest rank among the other compartments of refrigeration cycle. Refrigeration calculations have been carried out through the analysis of T–S and P–H diagrams where coefficient of performance (COP) was obtained as 1.85. The novelty of this article includes the effect and sensitivity analysis of molar flow, pressure drops and temperature on the exergy efficiency and coefficient of performance of the cycle.
Abstract: The whole work is based on possibility to use Lego Mindstorms robotics systems to reduce costs. Lego Mindstorms consists of a wide variety of hardware components necessary to simulate, programme and test of robotics systems in practice. To programme algorithm, which simulates space using the ultrasonic sensor, was used development environment supplied with kit. Software Matlab was used to render values afterwards they were measured by ultrasonic sensor. The algorithm created for this paper uses theoretical knowledge from area of signal processing. Data being processed by algorithm are collected by ultrasonic sensor that scans 2D space in front of it. Ultrasonic sensor is placed on moving arm of robot which provides horizontal moving of sensor. Vertical movement of sensor is provided by wheel drive. The robot follows map in order to get correct positioning of measured data. Based on discovered facts it is possible to consider Lego Mindstorm for low-cost and capable kit for real-time modelling.
Abstract: A complex valued neural network is a neural network, which consists of complex valued input and/or weights and/or thresholds and/or activation functions. Complex-valued neural networks have been widening the scope of applications not only in electronics and informatics, but also in social systems. One of the most important applications of the complex valued neural network is in image and vision processing. In Neural networks, radial basis functions are often used for interpolation in multidimensional space. A Radial Basis function is a function, which has built into it a distance criterion with respect to a centre. Radial basis functions have often been applied in the area of neural networks where they may be used as a replacement for the sigmoid hidden layer transfer characteristic in multi-layer perceptron. This paper aims to present exhaustive results of using RBF units in a complex-valued neural network model that uses the back-propagation algorithm (called 'Complex-BP') for learning. Our experiments results demonstrate the effectiveness of a Radial basis function in a complex valued neural network in image recognition over a real valued neural network. We have studied and stated various observations like effect of learning rates, ranges of the initial weights randomly selected, error functions used and number of iterations for the convergence of error on a neural network model with RBF units. Some inherent properties of this complex back propagation algorithm are also studied and discussed.