Abstract: The drug discovery process starts with protein
identification because proteins are responsible for many functions
required for maintenance of life. Protein identification further needs
determination of protein function. Proposed method develops a
classifier for human protein function prediction. The model uses
decision tree for classification process. The protein function is
predicted on the basis of matched sequence derived features per each
protein function. The research work includes the development of a
tool which determines sequence derived features by analyzing
different parameters. The other sequence derived features are
determined using various web based tools.
Abstract: The Globally Asynchronous Locally Synchronous Network on Chip (GALS NoC) is the most efficient solution that provides low latency transfers and power efficient System on Chip (SoC) interconnect. This study presents a GALS and generic NoC architecture based on a configurable router. This router integrates a sophisticated dynamic arbiter, the wormhole routing technique and can be configured in a manner that allows it to be used in many possible NoC topologies such as Mesh 2-D, Tree and Polygon architectures. This makes it possible to improve the quality of service (QoS) required by the proposed NoC. A comparative performances study of the proposed NoC architecture, Tore architecture and of the most used Mesh 2D architecture is performed. This study shows that Spidergon architecture is characterised by the lower latency and the later saturation. It is also shown that no matter what the number of used links is raised; the Links×Diameter product permitted by the Spidergon architecture remains always the lower. The only limitation of this architecture comes from it-s over cost in term of silicon area.
Abstract: The objective of this paper is to support the application of Open Innovation practices in firms and organizations by the assessment and management of Intellectual Capital. Intellectual Capital constituents are analyzed in order to verify their capability of acting as key drivers of Open Innovation processes and, therefore, of creating value. A methodology is defined to settle a procedure which helps to select the most relevant Intellectual Capital value drivers and to provide Communities of Innovation with strategic and managerial guidelines in sustaining Open Innovation paradigm. An application of the methodology is developed within a specifically addressed project and its results are hereafter examined.
Abstract: Despite the internet, which is one of the mass media
that has become quite common in recent years, the relationship of
Advertisement with Television and Cinema, which have always
drawn attention of researchers as basic media and where visual use is
in the foreground, have also become the subject of various studies.
Based on the assumption that the known fundamental effects of
advertisements on consumers are closely related to the creative
process of advertisements as well as the nature and characteristics of
the medium where they are used, these basic mass media (Television
and Cinema) and the consumer motivations of the advertisements
they broadcast have become a focus of study.
Given that the viewers of the mass media in question have shifted
from a passive position to a more active one especially in recent years
and approach contents of advertisements, as they do all contents, in a
more critical and “pitiless" manner, it is possible to say that
individuals make more use of advertisements than in the past and
combine their individual goals with the goals of the advertisements.
This study, which aims at finding out what the goals of these new
individual advertisement use are, how they are shaped by the distinct
characteristics of Television and Cinema, where visuality takes
precedence as basic mass media, and what kind of places they occupy
in the minds of consumers, has determined consumers- motivations
as: “Entertainment", “Escapism", “Play", “Monitoring/Discovery",
“Opposite Sex" and “Aspirations and Role Models".
This study intends to reveal the differences or similarities among
the needs and hence the gratifications of viewers who consume
advertisements on Television or at the Cinema, which are two basic
media where visuality is prioritized.
Abstract: The present work is motivated by the idea that the
layer deformation in anisotropic elasticity can be estimated from the
theory of interfacial dislocations. In effect, this work which is an
extension of a previous approach given by one of the authors
determines the anisotropic displacement fields and the critical
thickness due to a complex biperiodic network of MDs lying just
below the free surface in view of the arrangement of dislocations.
The elastic fields of such arrangements observed along interfaces
play a crucial part in the improvement of the physical properties of
epitaxial systems. New results are proposed in anisotropic elasticity
for hexagonal networks of MDs which contain intrinsic and extrinsic
stacking faults. We developed, using a previous approach based on
the relative interfacial displacement and a Fourier series formulation
of the displacement fields, the expressions of elastic fields when
there is a possible dissociation of MDs. The numerical investigations
in the case of the observed system Si/(111)Si with low twist angles
show clearly the effect of the anisotropy and thickness when the
misfit networks are dissociated.
Abstract: The purposes of the study are to study and to
investigate the relationship among exposure, uses and gratifications
of television morning news among undergraduate students in
Bangkok. This study also compares differences in information
exposure, uses and gratifications of television morning news among
these students.
The research methodology employed a questionnaire as a
quantitative method. The respondents were undergraduate students at
public and private universities in Bangkok. Totally, 400 usable
questionnaires were received. Descriptive and inferential statistics
were used in data analysis.
The results indicated that information exposure of undergraduate
students in Bangkok was at a high level. Students’ uses and
gratifications were also at high level. Information exposure was
positively correlated with uses and gratifications. Uses of information
were positively correlated with satisfaction with information. The
results also showed that students with differences in sex and type of
university were not significantly different in information exposure,
and uses and gratifications.
Abstract: This paper proposes a novel architecture for developing decision support systems. Unlike conventional decision support systems, the proposed architecture endeavors to reveal the decision-making process such that humans' subjectivity can be incorporated into a computerized system and, at the same time, to preserve the capability of the computerized system in processing information objectively. A number of techniques used in developing the decision support system are elaborated to make the decisionmarking process transparent. These include procedures for high dimensional data visualization, pattern classification, prediction, and evolutionary computational search. An artificial data set is first employed to compare the proposed approach with other methods. A simulated handwritten data set and a real data set on liver disease diagnosis are then employed to evaluate the efficacy of the proposed approach. The results are analyzed and discussed. The potentials of the proposed architecture as a useful decision support system are demonstrated.
Abstract: Computer game industry has experienced exponential
growth in recent years. A game is a recreational activity involving
one or more players. Game input is information such as data,
commands, etc., which is passed to the game system at run time from
an external source. Conversely, game outputs are information which
are generated by the game system and passed to an external target,
but which is not used internally by the game. This paper identifies a
new classification scheme for game input and output, which is based
on player-s input and output. Using this, relationship table for game
input classifier and output classifier is developed.
Abstract: We present an explicit expression to estimate driving voltage attenuation through RC networks representation of an ultrahigh- speed image sensor. Elmore delay metric for a fundamental RC chain is employed as the first-order approximation. By application of dimensional analysis to SPICE simulation data, we found a simple expression that significantly improves the accuracy of the approximation. Estimation error of the resultant expression for uniform RC networks is less than 2%. Similarly, another simple closed-form model to estimate 50 % delay through fundamental RC networks is also derived with sufficient accuracy. The framework of this analysis can be extended to address delay or attenuation issues of other VLSI structures.
Abstract: Keystroke authentication is a new access control system
to identify legitimate users via their typing behavior. In this paper,
machine learning techniques are adapted for keystroke authentication.
Seven learning methods are used to build models to differentiate user
keystroke patterns. The selected classification methods are Decision
Tree, Naive Bayesian, Instance Based Learning, Decision Table, One
Rule, Random Tree and K-star. Among these methods, three of them
are studied in more details. The results show that machine learning
is a feasible alternative for keystroke authentication. Compared to
the conventional Nearest Neighbour method in the recent research,
learning methods especially Decision Tree can be more accurate. In
addition, the experiment results reveal that 3-Grams is more accurate
than 2-Grams and 4-Grams for feature extraction. Also, combination
of attributes tend to result higher accuracy.
Abstract: In this paper, the effect of bolt clamping force on the fatigue behavior of bolted single lap joints of aluminum alloy 2024- T3 have been studied using numerical finite element method. To do so, a three dimensional model according to the bolted single lap joint has been created and numerical analysis has been carried out using finite element based package. Then the stress distribution and also the slip amplitudes have been calculated in the critical regions and the outcome have been compared with the available experimental fatigue tests results. The numerical results show that in low applied clamping force, the fatigue failure of the specimens occur around the stress concentration location (the bolted hole edge) due to the tensile stresses and thus fatigue crack propagation, but with increase of the clamping force, the fatigue life increases and the cracks nucleate and propagate far from the hole edge because of fretting fatigue. In other words, with the further increase of clamping force value of the joint, the fatigue life reduces due to occurrence of the fretting fatigue in the critical location where the slip amplitude is within its critical occurs earlier.
Abstract: The main goal of the study is to analyze all relevant
properties of the electro hydraulic systems and based on that to make
a proper choice of the control strategy that may be used for the
control of the servomechanism system. A combination of electronic
and hydraulic systems is widely used since it combines the
advantages of both. Hydraulic systems are widely spread because of
their properties as accuracy, flexibility, high horsepower-to-weight
ratio, fast starting, stopping and reversal with smoothness and
precision, and simplicity of operations. On the other hand, the
modern control of hydraulic systems is based on control of the circuit
fed to the inductive solenoid that controls the position of the
hydraulic valve. Since this circuit may be easily handled by PWM
(Pulse Width Modulation) signal with a proper frequency, the
combination of electrical and hydraulic systems became very fruitful
and usable in specific areas as airplane and military industry.
The study shows and discusses the experimental results obtained
by the control strategy (classical feedback (PID) & neural network)
using MATLAB and SIMULINK [1]. Finally, the special attention
was paid to the possibility of neuro-controller design and its
application to control of electro-hydraulic systems and to make
comparative with classical control.
Abstract: Study investigates the level and extent of voluntary disclosure practice in Croatia. The research was conducted on the sample of 130 medium and large companies. Findings indicate that two thirds of the companies analyzed disclose below-average number of additional information. The explanatory analyses has shown that firm size, listing status and industrial sector significantly and positively affect the level and extent of voluntary disclosure in the annual report of Croatian companies. On the other hand, profitability and ownership structure were found statistically insignificant. Unlike previous studies, this paper deals with level of voluntary disclosure of medium and large companies, as well as companies whose shares are not listed on the organized capital market, which can be found as our contribution. Also, the research makes contribution by providing the insights into voluntary disclosure practices in Croatia, as a case of macro-oriented accounting system economy, i.e. bank oriented economy with an emerging capital market.
Abstract: The objective of this paper is to characterize the spontaneous Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals of four different motor imagery tasks and to show hereby a possible solution for the present binary communication between the brain and a machine ora Brain-Computer Interface (BCI). The processing technique used in this paper was the fractal analysis evaluated by the Critical Exponent Method (CEM). The EEG signal was registered in 5 healthy subjects,sampling 15 measuring channels at 1024 Hz.Each channel was preprocessed by the Laplacian space ltering so as to reduce the space blur and therefore increase the spaceresolution. The EEG of each channel was segmented and its Fractaldimension (FD) calculated. The FD was evaluated in the time interval corresponding to the motor imagery and averaged out for all the subjects (each channel). In order to characterize the FD distribution,the linear regression curves of FD over the electrodes position were applied. The differences FD between the proposed mental tasks are quantied and evaluated for each experimental subject. The obtained results of the proposed method are a substantial fractal dimension in the EEG signal of motor imagery tasks and can be considerably utilized as the multiple-states BCI applications.
Abstract: Background: Blunt aortic trauma (BAT) includes
various morphological changes that occur during deceleration,
acceleration and/or body compression in traffic accidents. The
various forms of BAT, from limited laceration of the intima to
complete transection of the aorta, depends on the force acting on the
vessel wall and the tolerance of the aorta to injury. The force depends
on the change in velocity, the dynamics of the accident and of the
seating position in the car. Tolerance to aortic injury depends on the
anatomy, histological structure and pathomorphological alterations
due to aging or disease of the aortic wall.
An overview of the literature and medical documentation reveals
that different terms are used to describe certain forms of BAT, which
can lead to misinterpretation of findings or diagnoses. We therefore,
propose a classification that would enable uniform systematic
screening of all forms of BAT. We have classified BAT into three
morphologycal types: TYPE I (intramural), TYPE II (transmural) and
TYPE III (multiple) aortic ruptures with appropriate subtypes.
Methods: All car accident casualties examined at the Institute of
Forensic Medicine from 2001 to 2009 were included in this
retrospective study. Autopsy reports were used to determine the
occurrence of each morphological type of BAT in deceased drivers,
front seat passengers and other passengers in cars and to define the
morphology of BAT in relation to the accident dynamics and the age
of the fatalities.
Results: A total of 391 fatalities in car accidents were included in
the study. TYPE I, TYPE II and TYPE III BAT were observed in
10,9%, 55,6% and 33,5%, respectively. The incidence of BAT in
drivers, front seat and other passengers was 36,7%, 43,1% and
28,6%, respectively. In frontal collisions, the incidence of BAT was
32,7%, in lateral collisions 54,2%, and in other traffic accidents
29,3%. The average age of fatalities with BAT was 42,8 years and of
those without BAT 39,1 years.
Conclusion: Identification and early recognition of the risk factors
of BAT following a traffic accident is crucial for successful treatment
of patients with BAT. Front seat passengers over 50 years of age who
have been injured in a lateral collision are the most at risk of BAT.
Abstract: One of the most important applications of
wireless sensor networks is data collection. This paper
proposes as efficient approach for data collection in wireless
sensor networks by introducing Member Forward List. This list
includes the nodes with highest priority for forwarding the data.
When a node fails or dies, this list is used to select the next node
with higher priority. The benefit of this node is that it prevents
the algorithm from repeating when a node fails or dies. The
results show that Member Forward List decreases power
consumption and latency in wireless sensor networks.
Abstract: This paper presented a novel combined cycle of air separation and natural gas liquefaction. The idea is that natural gas can be liquefied, meanwhile gaseous or liquid nitrogen and oxygen are produced in one combined cryogenic system. Cycle simulation and exergy analysis were performed to evaluate the process and thereby reveal the influence of the crucial parameter, i.e., flow rate ratio through two stages expanders β on heat transfer temperature difference, its distribution and consequent exergy loss. Composite curves for the combined hot streams (feeding natural gas and recycled nitrogen) and the cold stream showed the degree of optimization available in this process if appropriate β was designed. The results indicated that increasing β reduces temperature difference and exergy loss in heat exchange process. However, the maximum limit value of β should be confined in terms of minimum temperature difference proposed in heat exchanger design standard and heat exchanger size. The optimal βopt under different operation conditions corresponding to the required minimum temperature differences was investigated.
Abstract: Real-time hand tracking is a challenging task in many
computer vision applications such as gesture recognition. This paper
proposes a robust method for hand tracking in a complex environment
using Mean-shift analysis and Kalman filter in conjunction with 3D
depth map. The depth information solve the overlapping problem
between hands and face, which is obtained by passive stereo measuring
based on cross correlation and the known calibration data of
the cameras. Mean-shift analysis uses the gradient of Bhattacharyya
coefficient as a similarity function to derive the candidate of the hand
that is most similar to a given hand target model. And then, Kalman
filter is used to estimate the position of the hand target. The results
of hand tracking, tested on various video sequences, are robust to
changes in shape as well as partial occlusion.
Abstract: Waste lubricating oil re-refining adsorption process by
different adsorbent materials was investigated. Adsorbent materials
such as oil adsorbent, egg shale powder, date palm kernel powder,
and acid activated date palm kernel powder were used. The
adsorption process over fixed amount of adsorbent at ambient
conditions was investigated. The adsorption/extraction process was
able to deposit the asphaltenic and metallic contaminants from the
waste oil to lower values. It was found that the date palm kernel
powder with contact time of 4 h was able to give the best conditions
for treating the waste oil. The recovered solvent could be also reused.
It was also found that the activated bentonite gave the best
physical properties followed by the date palm kernel powder.
Abstract: These Nowadays the explosion of bombs or explosive
materials such as gas and oil near or inside the buildings cause some
losses in installations and building components. This has made the
engineers to make the buildings and their components resistance
against the effects of explosion. These activities lead to provide
regulations and different methods. The above regulations are mostly
focused on the explosion effects resulting from the vehicles around
the buildings. Therefore, the explosion resulting from the vehicles
outside the buildings will be studied in this research.
In the present study, the main goals are to investigate the
explosion load effects on the structures located on the piles with the
specific quantity of plasticity and observing the permissible response
of these structures. The concentrated mass system and the spring with
two degree of freedom will be used to study the structural system.