Abstract: Although the usefulness of fuzzy databases has been
pointed out in several works, they are not fully developed in numerous
domains. A task that is mostly disregarded and which is the topic
of this paper is the determination of suitable inequalities for fuzzy
sets in fuzzy query languages. This paper examines which kinds
of fuzzy inequalities exist at all. Afterwards, different procedures
are presented that appear theoretically appropriate. By being applied
to various examples, their strengths and weaknesses are revealed.
Furthermore, an algorithm for an efficient computation of the selected
fuzzy inequality is shown.
Abstract: Appropriate ventilation in a classroom is helpful for
enhancing air exchange rate and student concentration. This study
focuses on the effects of fenestration in a four-story school building by
performing numerical simulation of a building when considering
indoor and outdoor environments simultaneously. The wind profile
function embedded in PHOENICS code was set as the inlet boundary
condition in a suburban environment. Sixteen fenestration
combinations were compared in a classroom containing thirty seats.
This study evaluates mean age of air (AGE) and airflow pattern of a
classroom on different floors. Considering both wind profile and
fenestration effects, the airflow on higher floors is channeled toward
the area near ceiling in a room and causes older mean age of air in the
breathing zone. The results in this study serve as a useful guide for
enhancing natural ventilation in a typical school building.
Abstract: The International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC), which belongs to the WHO Family of International Classifications (WHO-FIC), has a low granularity, which is convenient for describing general medical practice. However, its lack of specificity makes it useful to be used along with an interface terminology. An international survey has been performed, using a questionnaire sent by email to experts from 25 countries, in order to describe the terminologies interfacing with ICPC. Eleven interface terminologies have been identified, developed in Argentina, Australia, Belgium (2), Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, South Africa, and The Netherlands. Globally, these systems have been poorly assessed until now.
Abstract: The distinction among urban, periurban and rural areas represents a classical example of uncertainty in land classification. Satellite images, geostatistical analysis and all kinds of spatial data are very useful in urban sprawl studies, but it is important to define precise rules in combining great amounts of data to build complex knowledge about territory. Rough Set theory may be a useful method to employ in this field. It represents a different mathematical approach to uncertainty by capturing the indiscernibility. Two different phenomena can be indiscernible in some contexts and classified in the same way when combining available information about them. This approach has been applied in a case of study, comparing the results achieved with both Map Algebra technique and Spatial Rough Set. The study case area, Potenza Province, is particularly suitable for the application of this theory, because it includes 100 municipalities with different number of inhabitants and morphologic features.
Abstract: Self-organizing map (SOM) provides both clustering and visualization capabilities in mining data. Dynamic self-organizing maps such as Growing Self-organizing Map (GSOM) has been developed to overcome the problem of fixed structure in SOM to enable better representation of the discovered patterns. However, in mining large datasets or historical data the hierarchical structure of the data is also useful to view the cluster formation at different levels of abstraction. In this paper, we present a technique to generate concept trees from the GSOM. The formation of tree from different spread factor values of GSOM is also investigated and the quality of the trees analyzed. The results show that concept trees can be generated from GSOM, thus, eliminating the need for re-clustering of the data from scratch to obtain a hierarchical view of the data under study.
Abstract: Self-compacting concrete (SCC), a new kind of high
performance concrete (HPC) have been first developed in Japan in
1986. The development of SCC has made casting of dense
reinforcement and mass concrete convenient, has minimized noise.
Fresh self-compacting concrete (SCC) flows into formwork and
around obstructions under its own weight to fill it completely and
self-compact (without any need for vibration), without any
segregation and blocking. The elimination of the need for
compaction leads to better quality concrete and substantial
improvement of working conditions. SCC mixes generally have a
much higher content of fine fillers, including cement, and produce
excessively high compressive strength concrete, which restricts its
field of application to special concrete only. To use SCC mixes in
general concrete construction practice, requires low cost materials to
make inexpensive concrete.
Rice husk ash (RHA) has been used as a highly reactive
pozzolanic material to improve the microstructure of the interfacial
transition zone (ITZ) between the cement paste and the aggregate in
self compacting concrete. Mechanical experiments of RHA blended
Portland cement concretes revealed that in addition to the pozzolanic
reactivity of RHA (chemical aspect), the particle grading (physical
aspect) of cement and RHA mixtures also exerted significant
influences on the blending efficiency.
The scope of this research was to determine the usefulness of Rice
husk ash (RHA) in the development of economical self compacting
concrete (SCC). The cost of materials will be decreased by reducing
the cement content by using waste material like rice husk ash instead
of.
This paper presents a study on the development of Mechanical
properties up to 180 days of self compacting and ordinary concretes
with rice-husk ash (RHA), from a rice paddy milling industry in
Rasht (Iran). Two different replacement percentages of cement by
RHA, 10%, and 20%, and two different water/cementicious material
ratios (0.40 and 0.35), were used for both of self compacting and
normal concrete specimens. The results are compared with those of
the self compacting concrete without RHA, with compressive,
flexural strength and modulus of elasticity. It is concluded that RHA
provides a positive effect on the Mechanical properties at age after
60 days.
Base of the result self compacting concrete specimens have higher
value than normal concrete specimens in all test except modulus of
elasticity. Also specimens with 20% replacement of cement by RHA
have the best performance.
Abstract: Dextran is a D-glucose polymer which is produced by
Leuconostoc mesenteroides grown in a sucrose-rich media. The
organism was obtained from the Persian Type Culture Collection
(PTCC) and was transferred in MRS broth medium at 30°C and pH
6.8 for 24 h. After preparation of inoculums, organisms were
inoculated into five liquid fermentation media containing either
molasses or cheese whey or different combinations of cheese whey
and molasses. After certain fermentation period, the produced
dextran was separated and dried. Dextran yield was calculated and
significant differences in different media were observed.
Furthermore, FT-IR analysis was performed and the results showed
that there were no significant differences in the produced dextran
structures.
Abstract: Studies on residential satisfaction have been actively
discussed under family house setting. However, limited studies have
been conducted on student residential satisfaction. This study is an
attempt to fill the research gap. It focuses on the influence of socioeconomic
on students- satisfaction with the universities- student
housing facilities. The students who stayed at the on-campus student
housing were the respondents. This study employed two-stage cluster
sampling method in classifying the respondents. Self-administered
questionnaires were distributed face-to-face to the students. In
general, it is confirmed that students- socio-economic backgrounds
have influence on the students- satisfaction with their housing
facilities. The main influential factors were the students- economic
status, sense of sharing, and ethnicity of their roommates.
Furthermore, this study could also provide a useful feedback for the
universities in order to improve their student housing facilities.
Abstract: Although there are many theories and discussion of leadership, the necessity of having a new leadership paradigm was emphasized. The existing leadership characteristic of instruction and control revealed its limitations. Market competition becomes fierce and economic recession never ends worldwide. Of the leadership theories, servant leadership was introduced recently and is in line with the environmental changes of the organization. Servant leadership is a combination of two words, 'servant' and 'leader' and can be defined as the role of the leader who focuses on doing voluntary work for others with altruistic ethics, makes members, customers, and local communities a priority, and makes a commitment to satisfying their needs. This leadership received attention as one field of leadership in the late 1990s and secured its legitimacy. This study discusses the existing research trends of leadership, the concept, behavior characteristics, and lower dimensions of servant leadership, compares servant leadership with the existing leadership researches and diagnoses if servant leadership is a useful concept for further leadership researches. Finally, this study criticizes the limitations in the existing researches on servant leadership.
Abstract: This paper discusses the performance modeling and availability analysis of Yarn Dyeing System of a Textile Industry. The Textile Industry is a complex and repairable engineering system. Yarn Dyeing System of Textile Industry consists of five subsystems arranged in series configuration. For performance modeling and analysis of availability, a performance evaluating model has been developed with the help of mathematical formulation based on Markov-Birth-Death Process. The differential equations have been developed on the basis of Probabilistic Approach using a Transition Diagram. These equations have further been solved using normalizing condition in order to develop the steady state availability, a performance measure of the system concerned. The system performance has been further analyzed with the help of decision matrices. These matrices provide various availability levels for different combinations of failure and repair rates for various subsystems. The findings of this paper are therefore, considered to be useful for the analysis of availability and determination of the best possible maintenance strategies which can be implemented in future to enhance the system performance.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to understand how
consumers react to a company's promotional offers with mobile
applications (APP) as premiums. This paper presents the results of an
experimental study where five features of APP were involved: the
cost (free/discounted) for earning APP, the relationship between APP
and the promoted product, the perceived usefulness, the perceived
ease of use, and the perceived playfulness of APP in the context of
light foods purchase. The results support that the above features,
except perceived ease of use, have substantial influences on
consumers' intention to adopt the APP. Among the five features, the
cost for earning APP has the most impact on the adopting intention
of APP. The study also found a positive influence of adopting
intention of APP on the consumer's purchase intention of the
promoted product. Thus, APP-based premiums may enhance the
consumer's purchase intention of a company's promoted products.
Abstract: Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) consist of number
of tiny, low cost and low power sensor nodes to monitor some physical phenomenon. The major limitation in these networks is the use of non-rechargeable battery having limited power supply. The
main cause of energy consumption in such networks is
communication subsystem. This paper presents an energy efficient
Cluster Cooperative Caching at Sensor (C3S) based upon grid type clustering. Sensor nodes belonging to the same cluster/grid form a
cooperative cache system for the node since the cost for
communication with them is low both in terms of energy
consumption and message exchanges. The proposed scheme uses
cache admission control and utility based data replacement policy to
ensure that more useful data is retained in the local cache of a node.
Simulation results demonstrate that C3S scheme performs better in
various performance metrics than NICoCa which is existing
cooperative caching protocol for WSNs.
Abstract: The intent of this essay is to evaluate the effectiveness
of surge suppressor aimed at power supply used for automation
devices in power distribution system which is consist of MOV and
T type low-pass filter. Books, journal articles and e-sources related
to surge protection of power supply used for automation devices in
power distribution system were consulted, and the useful information
was organized, analyzed and developed into five parts: characteristics
of surge wave, protection against surge wave, impedance characteristics
of target, using Matlab to simulate circuit response after
5kV,1.2/50s surge wave and suggestions for surge protection. The
results indicate that various types of load situation have great impact
on the effectiveness of surge protective device. Therefore, type and
parameters of surge protective device need to be carefully selected,
and load matching is also vital to be concerned.
Abstract: In this research we show that the dynamics of an action potential in a cell can be modeled with a linear combination of the dynamics of the gating state variables. It is shown that the modeling error is negligible. Our findings can be used for simplifying cell models and reduction of computational burden i.e. it is useful for simulating action potential propagation in large scale computations like tissue modeling. We have verified our finding with the use of several cell models.
Abstract: Ranong province has the best kaolin, and it is the most
useful of all the clay types used in ceramic making. Until recently,
there has been only one community business making ceramics in
Ranong province. And this business could not build the mix of body
and glaze from their raw material without assistance. Considering
these problems, this research is aimed to test the composition of
ceramic body and glaze which suit. Kaolin from Ranong is the raw
material which these search focuses on. All other raw materials use in
the investigation will come from southern Thailand, kaolin and
limestone from Ranong province, ball clay from Surat Thani
province, white sand from Songkhla province, and feldspar from
Nakhon Si Thammarat province. Results can be used to develop the
efficiency of industrial production which in return will enhance the
business process.
Abstract: In this paper a new method is suggested for
distributed data-mining by the probability patterns. These patterns
use decision trees and decision graphs. The patterns are cared to be
valid, novel, useful, and understandable. Considering a set of
functions, the system reaches to a good pattern or better objectives.
By using the suggested method we will be able to extract the useful
information from massive and multi-relational data bases.
Abstract: In this paper we present a new approach to deal with
image segmentation. The fact that a single segmentation result do not
generally allow a higher level process to take into account all the
elements included in the image has motivated the consideration of
image segmentation as a multiobjective optimization problem. The
proposed algorithm adopts a split/merge strategy that uses the result
of the k-means algorithm as input for a quantum evolutionary
algorithm to establish a set of non-dominated solutions. The
evaluation is made simultaneously according to two distinct features:
intra-region homogeneity and inter-region heterogeneity. The
experimentation of the new approach on natural images has proved
its efficiency and usefulness.
Abstract: Motor imagery classification provides an important basis for designing Brain Machine Interfaces [BMI]. A BMI captures and decodes brain EEG signals and transforms human thought into actions. The ability of an individual to control his EEG through imaginary mental tasks enables him to control devices through the BMI. This paper presents a method to design a four state BMI using EEG signals recorded from the C3 and C4 locations. Principle features extracted through principle component analysis of the segmented EEG are analyzed using two novel classification algorithms using Elman recurrent neural network and functional link neural network. Performance of both classifiers is evaluated using a particle swarm optimization training algorithm; results are also compared with the conventional back propagation training algorithm. EEG motor imagery recorded from two subjects is used in the offline analysis. From overall classification performance it is observed that the BP algorithm has higher average classification of 93.5%, while the PSO algorithm has better training time and maximum classification. The proposed methods promises to provide a useful alternative general procedure for motor imagery classification
Abstract: The quality of Ribbed Smoked Sheets
(RSS) primarily based on color, dryness, and the presence or
absence of fungus and bubbles. This quality is strongly
influenced by the drying and fumigation process namely
smoking process. Smoking that is held in high temperature
long time will result scorched dark brown sheets, whereas if
the temperature is too low or slow drying rate would resulted
in less mature sheets and growth of fungus. Therefore need to
find the time and temperature for optimum quality of sheets.
Enhance, unmonitored heat and mass transfer during smoking
process lead to high losses of energy balance. This research
aims to generate simple empirical mathematical model
describing the effect of smoking time and temperature to RSS
quality of color, water content, fungus and bubbles. The
second goal of study was to analyze energy balance during
smoking process. Experimental study was conducted by
measuring temperature, residence time and quality parameters
of 16 sheets sample in smoking rooms. Data for energy
consumption balance such as mass of fuel wood, mass of
sheets being smoked, construction temperature, ambient
temperature and relative humidity were taken directly along
the smoking process. It was found that mathematical model
correlating smoking temperature and time with color is Color
= -169 - 0.184 T4 - 0.193 T3 - 0.160 0.405 T1 + T2 + 0.388 t1
+3.11 t2 + 3.92t3 + 0.215 t4 with R square 50.8% and with
moisture is Moisture = -1.40-0.00123 T4 + 0.00032 T3 +
0.00260 T2 - 0.00292 T1 - 0.0105 t1 + 0.0290 t2 + 0.0452 t3
+ 0.00061 t4 with R square of 49.9%. Smoking room energy
analysis found useful energy was 27.8%. The energy stored in
the material construction 7.3%. Lost of energy in conversion
of wood combustion, ventilation and others were 16.6%. The
energy flowed out through the contact of material construction
with the ambient air was found to be the highest contribution
to energy losses, it reached 48.3%.
Abstract: The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI)
and normalized difference moisture index (NDMI) derived from the
moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) have been
widely used to identify spatial information of drought condition. The
relationship between NDVI and NDMI has been analyzed using
Pearson correlation analysis and showed strong positive relationship.
The drought indices have detected drought conditions and identified
spatial extents of drought. A comparison between normal year and
drought year demonstrates that the amplitude analysis considered both
vegetation and moisture condition is an effective method to identify
drought condition. We proposed the amplitude analysis is useful for
quick spatial assessment of drought information at a regional scale.