Abstract: The aim of current study was to investigate the
changes in the quality parameters of Holstein bull semen during the
heat stress and the effect of feeding a source of omega-3 fatty acids
in this period. Samples were obtained from 19 Holstein bulls during
the expected time of heat stress in Iran (June to September 2009).
Control group (n=10) were fed a standard concentrate feed while
treatment group (n=9) had this feed top dressed with 100 g of an
omega-3 enriched nutriceutical. Semen quality was assessed on
ejaculates collected after 1, 5, 9 and 12 weeks of supplementation.
Computer-assisted assessment of sperm motility, viability (eosinnigrosin)
and hypo-osmotic swelling test (HOST) were conducted.
Heat stress affected sperm quality parameters by week 5 and 9
(p
Abstract: In this paper, we propose a Perceptually Optimized Embedded ZeroTree Image Coder (POEZIC) that introduces a perceptual weighting to wavelet transform coefficients prior to control SPIHT encoding algorithm in order to reach a targeted bit rate with a perceptual quality improvement with respect to the coding quality obtained using the SPIHT algorithm only. The paper also, introduces a new objective quality metric based on a Psychovisual model that integrates the properties of the HVS that plays an important role in our POEZIC quality assessment. Our POEZIC coder is based on a vision model that incorporates various masking effects of human visual system HVS perception. Thus, our coder weights the wavelet coefficients based on that model and attempts to increase the perceptual quality for a given bit rate and observation distance. The perceptual weights for all wavelet subbands are computed based on 1) luminance masking and Contrast masking, 2) the contrast sensitivity function CSF to achieve the perceptual decomposition weighting, 3) the Wavelet Error Sensitivity WES used to reduce the perceptual quantization errors. The new perceptually optimized codec has the same complexity as the original SPIHT techniques. However, the experiments results show that our coder demonstrates very good performance in terms of quality measurement.
Abstract: A large quantity of world-s oil reserves exists in
carbonate reservoirs. Carbonate reservoirs are very sensitive to
chemical enhanced oil recovery process because of containing large
amount of calcite, dolomite and calcium sulfate minerals. These
minerals cause major obstacles during alkali-surfactant-polymer
(ASP) flooding. Alkali reacts with these minerals and form undesired
precipitations which plug effective porous openings, reduce
permeability and cause scale occurrence at the wellbore. In this
paper, a new chemical combination consists of acrylic acid and alkali
was used to minimize precipitation problem during ASP flooding. A
series of fluid-fluid compatibility tests were performed using acrylic
acid and different concentrations of alkaline. Two types of alkalis
namely; sodium carbonate and sodium metaborate were screened. As
a result, the combination of acrylic acid and sodium carbonate was
not effective in preventing calcium and magnesium precipitations.
However, acrylic acid and sodium metaborate showed promising
results for keeping all solutions without any precipitations. The ratio
of acrylic acid to sodium metaborate of 0.7:1.0 was found to be
optimum for achieving a compatible solution for 30 days at 80oC.
Abstract: An iterative definition of any n variable mean function is given in this article, which iteratively uses the two-variable form of the corresponding two-variable mean function. This extension method omits recursivity which is an important improvement compared with certain recursive formulas given before by Ando-Li-Mathias, Petz- Temesi. Furthermore it is conjectured here that this iterative algorithm coincides with the solution of the Riemann centroid minimization problem. Certain simulations are given here to compare the convergence rate of the different algorithms given in the literature. These algorithms will be the gradient and the Newton mehod for the Riemann centroid computation.
Abstract: Bones are dynamic and responsive organs, they
regulate their strength and mass according to the loads which they are subjected. Because, the Wnt/β-catenin pathway has profound
effects on the regulation of bone mass, we hypothesized that mechanical loading of bone cells stimulates Wnt/β-catenin signaling, which results in the generation of new bone mass.
Mechanical loading triggers the secretion of the Wnt molecule, which after binding to transmembrane proteins, causes GSK-3β (Glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta) to cease the phosphorylation of β-catenin. β-catenin accumulation in the cytoplasm, followed by its
transport into the nucleus, binding to transcription factors (TCF/LEF)
that initiate transcription of genes related to bone formation. To test this hypothesis, we used TOPGAL (Tcf Optimal Promoter
β-galactosidase) mice in an experiment in which cyclic loads were
applied to the forearm. TOPGAL mice are reporters for cells effected
by the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. TOPGAL mice are genetically engineered mice in which transcriptional activation of β-
catenin, results in the production of an enzyme, β-galactosidase. The
presence of this enzyme allows us to localize transcriptional
activation of β-catenin to individual cells, thereby, allowing us to quantify the effects that mechanical loading has on the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and new bone formation. The ulnae of loaded TOPGAL
mice were excised and transverse slices along different parts of the
ulnar shaft were assayed for the presence of β-galactosidase.
Our results indicate that loading increases β-catenin transcriptional
activity in regions where this pathway is already primed (i.e. where basal activity is already higher) in a load magnitude dependent
manner. Further experiments are needed to determine the temporal and spatial activation of this signaling in relation to bone formation.
Abstract: Fatigue cracking continues to be the main challenges in
improving the performance of bituminous mixture pavements. The
purpose of this paper is to look at some aspects of the effects of fine
aggregate properties on the fatigue behaviour of hot mixture asphalt.
Two types of sand (quarry and mining sand) with two conventional
bitumen (PEN 50/60 & PEN 80/100) and four polymers modified
bitumen PMB (PM1_82, PM1_76, PM2_82 and PM2_76) were used.
Physical, chemical and mechanical tests were performed on the sands
to determine their effect when incorporated with a bituminous
mixture. According to the beam fatigue results, quarry sand that has
more angularity, rougher, higher shear strength and a higher
percentage of Aluminium oxide presented higher resistance to
fatigue. Also a PMB mixture gives better fatigue results than
conventional mixtures, this is due to the PMB having better viscosity
property than that of the conventional bitumen.
Abstract: In this study, a longitudinal joint connection was
proposed for the short-span slab-type modular bridges with rapid
construction. The slab-type modular bridge consists of a number of
precast slab modules and has the joint connection between the
modules in the longitudinal direction of the bridge. A finite element
based parameter analysis was conducted to design the shape and the
dimensions of the longitudinal joint connection. Numbers of shear
keys within the joint, height and depth of the shear key, tooth angle,
and the spacing were considered as the design parameters. Using the
local cracking load at the corner of the shear key and the
cross-sectional area of the joint, an efficiency factor was proposed to
evaluate the effectiveness of the longitudinal joint connection. The
dimensions of shear key were determined by comparing the cracking
loads and the efficiency factors obtained from the finite element
analysis.
Abstract: Many foreign and Lithuanian scientists, analyzing the
evaluation of the tax system in respect of the burden of taxation,
agree that the latter, in principle, depends on how many individuals
and what units of the residents constitute a household. Therefore, the
aim of scientific research is to substantiate or to deny the significance
of a household, but not a resident, as a statistical unit, during the
evaluation of tax system, to be precise, determination of the value of
the burden of taxation. A performed scientific research revealed that
evaluation of the tax system in respect of a household, but not a
resident, as a statistical unit, allows not only to evaluate the
efficiency of the tax system more objectively, but also to forecast
practicably existing poverty line, burden of taxation, and to
capacitate the initiation of efficient decisions in social and tax fields
creating the environment of existence.
Abstract: The possibility of using cassava residue containing
49.66% starch, 21.47% cellulose, 12.97% hemicellulose, and 21.86%
lignin as a raw material to produce glucose using enzymatic
hydrolysis was investigated. In the experiment, each reactor
contained the cassava residue, bacteria cells, and production medium.
The effects of particles size (40 mesh and 60 mesh) and strains of
bacteria (A002 and M015) isolated from Thai higher termites,
Microcerotermes sp., on the glucose concentration at 37°C were
focused. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a
refractive index detector was used to determine the quantity of
glucose. The maximum glucose concentration obtained at 37°C using
strain A002 and 60 mesh of the cassava residue was 1.51 g/L at 10 h.
Abstract: An interesting method to produce calcium carbonate is based in a gas-liquid reaction between carbon dioxide and aqueous solutions of calcium hydroxide. The design parameters for gas-liquid phase are flow regime, individual mass transfer, gas-liquid specific interfacial area. Most studies on gas-liquid phase were devoted to the experimental determination of some of these parameters, and more specifically, of the mass transfer coefficient, kLa which depends fundamentally on the superficial gas velocity and on the physical properties of absorption phase. The principle investigation was directed to study the effect of the vibration on the mass transfer coefficient kLa in gas-liquid phase during absorption of CO2 in the in aqueous solution of calcium hydroxide. The vibration with a higher frequency increase the mass transfer coefficient kLa, but vibration with lower frequency didn-t improve it, the mass transfer coefficient kLa increase with increase the superficial gas velocity.
Abstract: Studies on Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation (SSF) of corn flour, a major agricultural product as the substrate using starch digesting glucoamylase enzyme derived from Aspergillus niger and non starch digesting and sugar fermenting Saccharomyces cerevisiae in a batch fermentation. Experiments based on Central Composite Design (CCD) were conducted to study the effect of substrate concentration, pH, temperature, enzyme concentration on Ethanol Concentration and the above parameters were optimized using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The optimum values of substrate concentration, pH, temperature and enzyme concentration were found to be 160 g/l, 5.5, 30°C and 50 IU respectively. The effect of inoculums age on ethanol concentration was also investigated. The corn flour solution equivalent to 16% initial starch concentration gave the highest ethanol concentration of 63.04 g/l after 48 h of fermentation at optimum conditions of pH and temperature. Monod model and Logistic model were used for growth kinetics and Leudeking – Piret model was used for product formation kinetics.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to express the input-output
matrix as a linear ordering problem which is classified as an NP-hard
problem. We then use a Tabu search algorithm to find the best
permutation among sectors in the input-output matrix that will give
an optimal solution. This optimal permutation can be useful in
designing policies and strategies for economists and government in
their goal of maximizing the gross domestic product.
Abstract: In this paper, a one-dimensional numerical approach is
used to study the effect of applying electrohydrodynamics on the
temperature and species mass fraction profiles along the microcombustor.
Premixed mixture is H2-Air with a multi-step chemistry
(9 species and 19 reactions). In the micro-scale combustion because
of the increasing ratio of area-to-volume, thermal and radical
quenching mechanisms are important. Also, there is a significant heat
loss from the combustor walls. By inserting a number of electrodes
into micro-combustor and applying high voltage to them corona
discharge occurs. This leads in moving of induced ions toward
natural molecules and colliding with them. So this phenomenon
causes the movement of the molecules and reattaches the flow to the
walls. It increases the velocity near the walls that reduces the wall
boundary layer. Consequently, applying electrohydrodynamics
mechanism can enhance the temperature profile in the microcombustor.
Ultimately, it prevents the flame quenching in microcombustor.
Abstract: The data exchanged on the Web are of different nature
from those treated by the classical database management systems;
these data are called semi-structured data since they do not have a
regular and static structure like data found in a relational database;
their schema is dynamic and may contain missing data or types.
Therefore, the needs for developing further techniques and
algorithms to exploit and integrate such data, and extract relevant
information for the user have been raised. In this paper we present
the system OSIX (Osiris based System for Integration of XML
Sources). This system has a Data Warehouse model designed for the
integration of semi-structured data and more precisely for the
integration of XML documents. The architecture of OSIX relies on
the Osiris system, a DL-based model designed for the representation
and management of databases and knowledge bases. Osiris is a viewbased
data model whose indexing system supports semantic query
optimization. We show that the problem of query processing on a
XML source is optimized by the indexing approach proposed by
Osiris.
Abstract: The study of tourist activities and the mapping of their routes in space and time has become an important issue in tourism management. Here we represent space-time paths for the tourism industry by visualizing individual tourist activities and the paths followed using a 3D Geographic Information System (GIS). Considerable attention has been devoted to the measurement of accessibility to shopping, eating, walking and other services at the tourist destination. I turns out that GIS is a useful tool for studying the spatial behaviors of tourists in the area. The value of GIS is especially advantageous for space-time potential path area measures, especially for the accurate visualization of possible paths through existing city road networks. This study seeks to apply space-time concepts with a detailed street network map obtained from Google Maps to measure tourist paths both spatially and temporally. These paths are further determined based on data obtained from map questionnaires regarding the trip activities of 40 individuals. The analysis of the data makes it possible to determining the locations of the more popular paths. The results can be visualized using 3D GIS to show the areas and potential activity opportunities accessible to tourists during their travel time.
Abstract: The present paper considers the steady free convection
boundary layer flow of a viscoelastic fluid on solid sphere with
Newtonian heating. 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. Thus, the augmentation an extra
boundary condition is needed to perform the numerical
computational. The governing boundary layer equations are first
transformed into non-dimensional form by using special
dimensionless group and then solved by using an implicit finite
difference scheme. The results are displayed graphically to illustrate
the influence of viscoelastic K and Prandtl Number Pr parameters on
skin friction, heat transfer, velocity profiles and temperature profiles.
Present results are compared with the published papers and are found
to concur very well.
Abstract: This paper presents an effective traffic lights
recognition method at the daytime. First, Potential Traffic Lights
Detector (PTLD) use whole color source of YCbCr channel image and
make each binary image of green and red traffic lights. After PTLD
step, Shape Filter (SF) use to remove noise such as traffic sign, street
tree, vehicle, and building. At this time, noise removal properties
consist of information of blobs of binary image; length, area, area of
boundary box, etc. Finally, after an intermediate association step witch
goal is to define relevant candidates region from the previously
detected traffic lights, Adaptive Multi-class Classifier (AMC) is
executed. The classification method uses Haar-like feature and
Adaboost algorithm. For simulation, we are implemented through Intel
Core CPU with 2.80 GHz and 4 GB RAM and tested in the urban and
rural roads. Through the test, we are compared with our method and
standard object-recognition learning processes and proved that it
reached up to 94 % of detection rate which is better than the results
achieved with cascade classifiers. Computation time of our proposed
method is 15 ms.
Abstract: The objective of this study is to propose an observer design for nonlinear systems by using an augmented linear system derived by application of a formal linearization method. A given nonlinear differential equation is linearized by the formal linearization method which is based on Taylor expansion considering up to the higher order terms, and a measurement equation is transformed into an augmented linear one. To this augmented dimensional linear system, a linear estimation theory is applied and a nonlinear observer is derived. As an application of this method, an estimation problem of transient state of electric power systems is studied, and its numerical experiments indicate that this observer design shows remarkable performances for nonlinear systems.
Abstract: Cameron Highlands is a mountainous area subjected
to torrential tropical showers. It extracts 5.8 million liters of water
per day for drinking supply from its rivers at several intake points.
The water quality of rivers in Cameron Highlands, however, has
deteriorated significantly due to land clearing for agriculture,
excessive usage of pesticides and fertilizers as well as construction
activities in rapidly developing urban areas. On the other hand, these
pollution sources known as non-point pollution sources are diverse
and hard to identify and therefore they are difficult to estimate.
Hence, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) was used to provide
an extensive approach to evaluate landuse and other mapping
characteristics to explain the spatial distribution of non-point sources
of contamination in Cameron Highlands. The method to assess
pollution sources has been developed by using Cameron Highlands
Master Plan (2006-2010) for integrating GIS, databases, as well as
pollution loads in the area of study. The results show highest annual
runoff is created by forest, 3.56 × 108 m3/yr followed by urban
development, 1.46 × 108 m3/yr. Furthermore, urban development
causes highest BOD load (1.31 × 106 kgBOD/yr) while agricultural
activities and forest contribute the highest annual loads for
phosphorus (6.91 × 104 kgP/yr) and nitrogen (2.50 × 105 kgN/yr),
respectively. Therefore, best management practices (BMPs) are
suggested to be applied to reduce pollution level in the area.
Abstract: The vehicle routing problem (VRP) is a famous combinatorial optimization problem. Because of its well-known difficulty, metaheuristics are the most appropriate methods to tackle large and realistic instances. The goal of this paper is to highlight the key ideas for designing VRP metaheuristics according to the following criteria: efficiency, speed, robustness, and ability to take advantage of the problem structure. Such elements can obviously be used to build solution methods for other combinatorial optimization problems, at least in the deterministic field.