Abstract: Study of soil properties like field capacity (F.C.) and permanent wilting point (P.W.P.) play important roles in study of soil moisture retention curve. Although these parameters can be measured directly, their measurement is difficult and expensive. Pedotransfer functions (PTFs) provide an alternative by estimating soil parameters from more readily available soil data. In this investigation, 70 soil samples were collected from different horizons of 15 soil profiles located in the Ziaran region, Qazvin province, Iran. The data set was divided into two subsets for calibration (80%) and testing (20%) of the models and their normality were tested by Kolmogorov-Smirnov method. Both multivariate regression and artificial neural network (ANN) techniques were employed to develop the appropriate PTFs for predicting soil parameters using easily measurable characteristics of clay, silt, O.C, S.P, B.D and CaCO3. The performance of the multivariate regression and ANN models was evaluated using an independent test data set. In order to evaluate the models, root mean square error (RMSE) and R2 were used. The comparison of RSME for two mentioned models showed that the ANN model gives better estimates of F.C and P.W.P than the multivariate regression model. The value of RMSE and R2 derived by ANN model for F.C and P.W.P were (2.35, 0.77) and (2.83, 0.72), respectively. The corresponding values for multivariate regression model were (4.46, 0.68) and (5.21, 0.64), respectively. Results showed that ANN with five neurons in hidden layer had better performance in predicting soil properties than multivariate regression.
Abstract: This paper introduces an automatic voice classification
system for the diagnosis of individual constitution based on Sasang
Constitutional Medicine (SCM) in Traditional Korean Medicine
(TKM). For the developing of this algorithm, we used the voices of
309 female speakers and extracted a total of 134 speech features from
the voice data consisting of 5 sustained vowels and one sentence. The
classification system, based on a rule-based algorithm that is derived
from a non parametric statistical method, presents 3 types of decisions:
reserved, positive and negative decisions. In conclusion, 71.5% of the
voice data were diagnosed by this system, of which 47.7% were
correct positive decisions and 69.7% were correct negative decisions.
Abstract: As the new industrial revolution advances in the
nanotechnology have been followed with interest throughout the
world and also in Turkey. Media has an important role in conveying
these advances to public, rising public awareness and creating
attitudes related to nanotechnology. As well as representing how a
subject is treated, media frames determine how public think about
this subject. In literature definite frames related to nanoscience and
nanotechnology such as process, regulation, conflict and risks were
mentioned in studies focusing different countries. So how
nanotechnology news is treated by which frames and in which news
categories in Turkey as a one of developing countries? In this study
examining different variables about nanotechnology that affect
public attitudes such as category, frame, story tone, source in Turkish
media via framing analysis developed in agenda setting studies was
aimed. In the analysis data between 2005 and 2009 obtained from the
first five national newspapers with wide circulation in Turkey will be
used. In this study the direction of the media about nanotechnology,
in which frames nanotechnologic advances brought to agenda were
reported as news, and sectoral, legal, economic and social scenes
reflected by these frames to public related to nanotechnology in
Turkey were planned.
Abstract: This research examines possible effects of climatic
change focusing on global warming and its impacts on world
agricultural product markets, by using a world food model developed
to consider climate changes. GDP and population for each scenario
were constructed by IPCC and climate data for each scenario was
reported by the Hadley Center and are used in this research to consider
results in different contexts. Production and consumption of primary
agriculture crops of the world for each socio-economic scenario are
obtained and investigated by using the modified world food model.
Simulation results show that crop production in some countries or
regions will have different trends depending on the context. These
alternative contexts depend on the rate of GDP growth, population,
temperature, and rainfall. Results suggest that the development of
environment friendly technologies lead to more consumption of food
in many developing countries. Relationships among environmental
policy, clean energy development, and poverty elimination warrant
further investigation.
Abstract: Nowadays, people are going more and more mobile, both in terms of devices and associated applications. Moreover, services that these devices are offering are getting wider and much more complex. Even though actual handheld devices have considerable computing power, their contexts of utilization are different. These contexts are affected by the availability of connection, high latency of wireless networks, battery life, size of the screen, on-screen or hard keyboard, etc. Consequently, development of mobile applications and their associated mobile Web services, if any, should follow a concise methodology so they will provide a high Quality of Service. The aim of this paper is to highlight and discuss main issues to consider when developing mobile applications and mobile Web services and then propose a framework that leads developers through different steps and modules toward development of efficient and secure mobile applications. First, different challenges in developing such applications are elicited and deeply discussed. Second, a development framework is presented with different modules addressing each of these challenges. Third, the paper presents an example of a mobile application, Eivom Cinema Guide, which benefits from following our development framework.
Abstract: The need to evaluate and understand the natural
drainage pattern in a flood prone, and fast developing environment is
of paramount importance. This information will go a long way to
help the town planners to determine the drainage pattern, road
networks and areas where prominent structures are to be located. This
research work was carried out with the aim of studying the Bayelsa
landscape topography using digitized topographic information, and to
model the natural drainage flow pattern that will aid the
understanding and constructions of workable drainages. To achieve
this, digitize information of elevation and coordinate points were
extracted from a global imagery map. The extracted information was
modeled into 3D surfaces. The result revealed that the average
elevation for Bayelsa State is 12 m above sea level. The highest
elevation is 28 m, and the lowest elevation 0 m, along the coastline.
In Yenagoa the capital city of Bayelsa were a detail survey was
carried out showed that average elevation is 15 m, the highest
elevation is 25 m and lowest is 3 m above the mean sea level. The
regional elevation in Bayelsa, showed a gradation decrease from the
North Eastern zone to the South Western Zone. Yenagoa showed an
observed elevation lineament, were low depression is flanked by high
elevation that runs from the North East to the South west. Hence,
future drainages in Yenagoa should be directed from the high
elevation, from South East toward the North West and from the
North West toward South East, to the point of convergence which is
at the center that flows from South East toward the North West.
Bayelsa when considered on a regional Scale, the flow pattern is from
the North East to the South West, and also North South. It is
recommended that in the event of any large drainage construction at
municipal scale, it should be directed from North East to the South
West or from North to South. Secondly, detail survey should be
carried out to ascertain the local topography and the drainage pattern
before the design and construction of any drainage system in any part
of Bayelsa.
Abstract: The dramatic increasing of sea-freight container
transportations and the developing trends for using containers in the
multimodal handling systems through the sea, rail, road and land in
nowadays market cause general managers of container terminals to
face challenges such as increasing demand, competitive situation,
new investments and expansion of new activities and need to use new
methods to fulfil effective operations both along quayside and within
the yard. Among these issues, minimizing the turnaround time of
vessels is considered to be the first aim of every container port
system. Regarding the complex structure of container ports, this
paper presents a simulation model that calculates the number of
trucks needed in the Iranian Shahid Rajaee Container Port for
handling containers between the berth and the yard. In this research,
some important criteria such as vessel turnaround time, gantry crane
utilization and truck utilization have been considered. By analyzing
the results of the model, it has been shown that increasing the number
of trucks to 66 units has a significant effect on the performance
indices of the port and can increase the capacity of loading and
unloading up to 10.8%.
Abstract: The world's population continues to grow at a quarter of a million people per day, increasing the consumption of energy. This has made the world to face the problem of energy crisis now days. In response to the energy crisis, the principles of renewable energy gained popularity. There are much advancement made in developing the wind and solar energy farms across the world. These energy farms are not enough to meet the energy requirement of world. This has attracted investors to procure new sources of energy to be substituted. Among these sources, extraction of energy from the waves is considered as best option. The world oceans contain enough energy to meet the requirement of world. Significant advancements in design and technology are being made to make waves as a continuous source of energy. One major hurdle in launching wave energy devices in a developing country like Pakistan is the initial cost. A simple, reliable and cost effective wave energy converter (WEC) is required to meet the nation-s energy need. This paper will present a novel design proposed by team SAS for harnessing wave energy. This paper has three major sections. The first section will give a brief and concise view of ocean wave creation, propagation and the energy carried by them. The second section will explain the designing of SAS-2. A gear chain mechanism is used for transferring the energy from the buoy to a rotary generator. The third section will explain the manufacturing of scaled down model for SAS-2 .Many modifications are made in the trouble shooting stage. The design of SAS-2 is simple and very less maintenance is required. SAS-2 is producing electricity at Clifton. The initial cost of SAS-2 is very low. This has proved SAS- 2 as one of the cost effective and reliable source of harnessing wave energy for developing countries.
Abstract: Today with the rapid growth of telecommunications equipment, electronic and developing more and more networks of power, influence of electromagnetic waves on one another has become hot topic discussions. So in this article, this issue and appropriate mechanisms for EMC operations have been presented. First, impact of high voltage lines on the surrounding environment especially on the control room has been investigated, then to reduce electromagnetic radiation, various methods of shielding are provided and shielding effectiveness of them has been compared. It should be expressed that simulations have been done by the finite element method (FEM).
Abstract: Developing countries are facing a problem of slums and there appears to be no fool proof solution to eradicate them. For improving the quality of life there are three approaches of slum development and In-situ up-gradation approach is found to be the best one, while the relocation approach has proved to be failure. Factors responsible for failure of relocation projects are needed to be assessed, which is the basic aim of the paper. Factors responsible for failure of relocation projects are loss of livelihood, security of tenure and inefficiency of the Government. These factors are traced out & mapped from the examples of Western & Indian cities. National habitat, Resettlement policy emphasized relationship between shelter and work place. SRA has identified 55 slums for relocation due reservation of land uses, security of tenure and non- notified status of slums. The policy guidelines have been suggested for successful relocation projects. KeywordsLivelihood, Relocation, Slums, Urban poor.
Abstract: If price and quantity are the fundamental building
blocks of any theory of market interactions, the importance of trading
volume in understanding the behavior of financial markets is clear.
However, while many economic models of financial markets have
been developed to explain the behavior of prices -predictability,
variability, and information content- far less attention has been
devoted to explaining the behavior of trading volume. In this article,
we hope to expand our understanding of trading volume by
developing a new measure of herding behavior based on a cross
sectional dispersion of volumes betas. We apply our measure to the
Toronto stock exchange using monthly data from January 2000 to
December 2002. Our findings show that the herd phenomenon
consists of three essential components: stationary herding, intentional
herding and the feedback herding.
Abstract: This paper proposes a “soft systems" approach to
domain-driven design of computer-based information systems. We
propose a systemic framework combining techniques from Soft
Systems Methodology (SSM), the Unified Modelling Language
(UML), and an implementation pattern known as “Naked Objects".
We have used this framework in action research projects that have
involved the investigation and modelling of business processes using
object-oriented domain models and the implementation of software
systems based on those domain models. Within the proposed
framework, Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) is used as a guiding
methodology to explore the problem situation and to generate a
ubiquitous language (soft language) which can be used as the basis
for developing an object-oriented domain model. The domain model
is further developed using techniques based on the UML and is
implemented in software following the “Naked Objects"
implementation pattern. We argue that there are advantages from
combining and using techniques from different methodologies in this
way.
The proposed systemic framework is overviewed and justified as
multimethodologyusing Mingers multimethodology ideas.
This multimethodology approach is being evaluated through a
series of action research projects based on real-world case studies. A
Peer-Tutoring case study is presented here as a sample of the
framework evaluation process
Abstract: With Power system movement toward restructuring along with factors such as life environment pollution, problems of transmission expansion and with advancement in construction technology of small generation units, it is expected that small units like wind turbines, fuel cells, photovoltaic, ... that most of the time connect to the distribution networks play a very essential role in electric power industry. With increase in developing usage of small generation units, management of distribution networks should be reviewed. The target of this paper is to present a new method for optimal management of active and reactive power in distribution networks with regard to costs pertaining to various types of dispersed generations, capacitors and cost of electric energy achieved from network. In other words, in this method it-s endeavored to select optimal sources of active and reactive power generation and controlling equipments such as dispersed generations, capacitors, under load tapchanger transformers and substations in a way that firstly costs in relation to them are minimized and secondly technical and physical constraints are regarded. Because the optimal management of distribution networks is an optimization problem with continuous and discrete variables, the new evolutionary method based on Ant Colony Algorithm has been applied. The simulation results of the method tested on two cases containing 23 and 34 buses exist and will be shown at later sections.
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to identify the practical strategies of R&D (research and development) entities for developing converging technology in organizational context. Based on the multi-assignation technological domains of patents derived from entire government-supported R&D projects for 13 years, we find that technology convergence is likely to occur when a university solely develops technology or when university develops technology as one of the collaborators. These results reflect the important role of universities in developing converging technology
Abstract: The production of ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE) was
simulated through Aspen Plus. The objective of this work was to use
the simulation results to be an alternative platform for ETBE
production from naphtha cracking wastes for the industry to develop.
ETBE is produced from isobutylene which is one of the wastes in
naphtha cracking process. The content of isobutylene in the waste is
less than 30% weight. The main part of this work was to propose a
process to save the environment and to increase the product value by
converting a great majority of the wastes into ETBE. Various
processes were considered to determine the optimal production of
ETBE. The proposed process increased ETBE production yield by
100% from conventional process with the purity of 96% weight. The
results showed a great promise for developing this proposed process
in an industrial scale.
Abstract: The quest of providing more secure identification
system has led to a rise in developing biometric systems. Dorsal
hand vein pattern is an emerging biometric which has attracted the
attention of many researchers, of late. Different approaches have
been used to extract the vein pattern and match them. In this work,
Principle Component Analysis (PCA) which is a method that has
been successfully applied on human faces and hand geometry is
applied on the dorsal hand vein pattern. PCA has been used to obtain
eigenveins which is a low dimensional representation of vein pattern
features. Low cost CCD cameras were used to obtain the vein
images. The extraction of the vein pattern was obtained by applying
morphology. We have applied noise reduction filters to enhance the
vein patterns. The system has been successfully tested on a database
of 200 images using a threshold value of 0.9. The results obtained are
encouraging.
Abstract: The present work is concerned with the effect of turning process parameters (cutting speed, feed rate, and depth of cut) and distance from the center of work piece as input variables on the chip micro-hardness as response or output. Three experiments were conducted; they were used to investigate the chip micro-hardness behavior at diameter of work piece for 30[mm], 40[mm], and 50[mm]. Response surface methodology (R.S.M) is used to determine and present the cause and effect of the relationship between true mean response and input control variables influencing the response as a two or three dimensional hyper surface. R.S.M has been used for designing a three factor with five level central composite rotatable factors design in order to construct statistical models capable of accurate prediction of responses. The results obtained showed that the application of R.S.M can predict the effect of machining parameters on chip micro-hardness. The five level factorial designs can be employed easily for developing statistical models to predict chip micro-hardness by controllable machining parameters. Results obtained showed that the combined effect of cutting speed at it?s lower level, feed rate and depth of cut at their higher values, and larger work piece diameter can result increasing chi micro-hardness.
Abstract: Due to the emergence of “Humanized Healthcare"
introduced by Professor Dr. Prawase Wasi in 2003[1], the
development of this paradigm tends to be widely implemented. The
organizations included Healthcare Accreditation Institute (public
organization), National Health Foundation, Mahidol University in
cooperation with Thai Health Promotion Foundation, and National
Health Security Office (Thailand) have selected the hospitals or
infirmaries that are qualified for humanized healthcare since 2008-
2010 and 35 of them are chosen to be the outstandingly navigating
organizations for the development of humanized healthcare,
humanized healthcare award [2].
The research aims to study the current issue, characteristics and
patterns of hospital administration contributing to humanized
healthcare system in Thailand. The selected case studies are from
four hospitals including Dansai Crown Prince Hospital, Leoi;
Ubolrattana Hospital, Khon Kaen; Kapho Hospital, Pattani; and
Prathai Hospital, Nakhonrachasima. The methodology is in-depth
interviewing with 10 staffs working as hospital executive directors,
and representatives from leader groups including directors,
multidisciplinary hospital committees, personnel development
committees, physicians and nurses in each hospital. (Total=40) In
addition, focus group discussions between hospital staffs and general
people (including patients and their relatives, the community leader,
and other people) are held by means of setting 4 groups including 8
people within each group. (Total=128) The observation on the
working in each hospital is also implemented. The findings of the
study reveal that there are five important aspects found in each
hospital including (1) the quality improvement under the mental and
spiritual development policy from the chief executives and lead
teams, leaders as Role model and they have visionary leadership; (2)
the participation hospital administration system focusing on learning
process and stakeholder- needs, spiritual human resource
management and development; (3) the relationship among people
especially staffs, team work skills, mutual understanding, effective
communication and personal inner-development; (4) organization
culture relevant to the awareness of patients- rights as well as the
participation policy including spiritual growth achieving to the same
goals, sharing vision, developing public mind, and caring; and (5)
healing structures or environment providing warmth and convenience
for hospital staffs, patients and their relatives and visitors.
Abstract: After allowing direct flights from Mainland China to
Taiwan, Chinese tourists increased according to Tourism
Bureaustatistics. There are from 0.19 to 2 million tourists from 2008 to
2011. Mainland China has become the main source of Taiwan
developing tourism industry. Taiwanese government should know
more about comments from Chinese tourists to Taiwan in order
toproperly market Taiwan tourism and enhance the overall quality of
tourism. In order to understand Chinese visitors’ comments, this study
adopts content analysis to analyze electronic word-of-mouth on Web.
This study collects 375 blog articles of Chinese tourists from
Ctrip.com as a database during 2009 to 2011. Through the qualitative
data analysis the traveling destination imagesis divided into seven
dimensions, such as senic spots, shopping, food and beverages,
accommodations, transportation, festivals and recreation activities.
Finally, this study proposes some practical managerial implication to
know both positive and negative images of the seven dimensions from
Chinese tourists, providing marketing strategies and suggestions to
traveling agency industry.
Abstract: This study extends research on the relationship
between marketing strategy and market segmentation by
investigating on market segments in the cement industry.
Competitive strength and rivals distance from the factory were used
as business environment. A three segment (positive, neutral or
indifferent and zero zones) were identified as strategic segments. For
each segment a marketing strategy (aggressive, defensive and
decline) were developed. This study employed data from cement
industry to fulfill two objectives, the first is to give a framework to
the segmentation of cement industry and the second is developing
marketing strategy with varying competitive strength. Fifty six
questionnaires containing close-and open-ended questions were
collected and analyzed. Results supported the theory that segments
tend to be more aggressive than defensive when competitive strength
increases. It is concluded that high strength segments follow total
market coverage, concentric diversification and frontal attack to their
competitors. With decreased competitive strength, Business tends to
follow multi-market strategy, product modification/improvement and
flank attack to direct competitors for this kind of segments. Segments
with weak competitive strength followed focus strategy and decline
strategy.