Abstract: Thermal-driven refrigeration systems have attracted increasing research and development interest in recent years. These systems do not cause ozone depletion and can reduce demand on electricity. The main objective of this work is to perform theoretical analyses of a thermal-driven refrigeration system using a new sorbent-sorptive pair as the working pair. The active component of sorbent is sodium thiocyanate (NaSCN). Ammonia (NH3) is chosen as sorptive. Based on the thermodynamic properties of the working solution, a mathematical model is introduced to analyze the system characteristics and performance. The results are used to compare with other thermal-driven refrigeration systems. It is shown that the advantages provided by this system over other absorption units include lower generator and evaporator temperatures, a higher coefficient of performance (COP). The COP is about 10 percent higher than the ones for the NH3-H2O system working at the same conditions.
Abstract: This paper proposes different methods for estimation
of the harmonic currents of the single-phase diode bridge rectifier. Both simple and advanced methods are compared and the models are
put into a context of practical use for calculating the harmonic distortion in a typical application. Finally, the different models are
compared to measurements of a real application and convincing results are achieved.
Abstract: The double difference sequence space I2 (M, of fuzzy numbers for both 1 < p < oo and 0 < p < 1, is introduced. Some general properties of this sequence space are studied. Some inclusion relations involving this sequence space are obtained.
Abstract: Horizontal wells are proven to be better producers
because they can be extended for a long distance in the pay zone.
Engineers have the technical means to forecast the well productivity
for a given horizontal length. However, experiences have shown that
the actual production rate is often significantly less than that of
forecasted. It is a difficult task, if not impossible to identify the real
reason why a horizontal well is not producing what was forecasted.
Often the source of problem lies in the drilling of horizontal section
such as permeability reduction in the pay zone due to mud invasion
or snaky well patterns created during drilling. Although drillers aim
to drill a constant inclination hole in the pay zone, the more frequent
outcome is a sinusoidal wellbore trajectory. The two factors, which
play an important role in wellbore tortuosity, are the inclination and
side force at bit. A constant inclination horizontal well can only be
drilled if the bit face is maintained perpendicular to longitudinal axis
of bottom hole assembly (BHA) while keeping the side force nil at
the bit. This approach assumes that there exists no formation force at
bit. Hence, an appropriate BHA can be designed if bit side force and
bit tilt are determined accurately. The Artificial Neural Network
(ANN) is superior to existing analytical techniques. In this study, the
neural networks have been employed as a general approximation tool
for estimation of the bit side forces. A number of samples are
analyzed with ANN for parameters of bit side force and the results
are compared with exact analysis. Back Propagation Neural network
(BPN) is used to approximation of bit side forces. Resultant low
relative error value of the test indicates the usability of the BPN in
this area.
Abstract: Building inspection is one of the key components of building maintenance. The primary purpose of performing a building inspection is to evaluate the building-s condition. Without inspection, it is difficult to determine a built asset-s current condition, so failure to inspect can contribute to the asset-s future failure. Traditionally, a longhand survey description has been widely used for property condition reports. Surveys that employ ratings instead of descriptions are gaining wide acceptance in the industry because they cater to the need for numerical analysis output. These kinds of surveys are also in keeping with the new RICS HomeBuyer Report 2009. In this paper, we propose a new assessment method, derived from the current rating systems, for assessing the specifically smart school building-s condition and rating the seriousness of each defect identified. These two assessment criteria are then multiplied to find the building-s score, which we called the Condition Survey Protocol (CSP) 1 Matrix. Instead of a longhand description of a building-s defects, this matrix requires concise explanations about the defects identified, thus saving on-site time during a smart school building inspection. The full score is used to give the building an overall rating: Good, Fair or Dilapidated.
Abstract: This paper proposes a novel approach that combines statistical models and support vector machines. A hybrid scheme which appropriately incorporates the advantages of both the generative and discriminant model paradigms is described and evaluated. Support vector machines (SVMs) are trained to divide the whole speakers' space into small subsets of speakers within a hierarchical tree structure. During testing a speech token is assigned to its corresponding group and evaluation using gaussian mixture models (GMMs) is then processed. Experimental results show that the proposed method can significantly improve the performance of text independent speaker identification task. We report improvements of up to 50% reduction in identification error rate compared to the baseline statistical model.
Abstract: In this paper, an approach to reduce the computation steps required by fast neural networksfor the searching process is presented. The principle ofdivide and conquer strategy is applied through imagedecomposition. Each image is divided into small in sizesub-images and then each one is tested separately usinga fast neural network. The operation of fast neuralnetworks based on applying cross correlation in thefrequency domain between the input image and theweights of the hidden neurons. Compared toconventional and fast neural networks, experimentalresults show that a speed up ratio is achieved whenapplying this technique to locate human facesautomatically in cluttered scenes. Furthermore, fasterface detection is obtained by using parallel processingtechniques to test the resulting sub-images at the sametime using the same number of fast neural networks. Incontrast to using only fast neural networks, the speed upratio is increased with the size of the input image whenusing fast neural networks and image decomposition.
Abstract: Wheat germ has a balanced amino acid composition of the protein, which is well digested by enzymes in the gastrointestinal tract of humans, a high content of vitamins, minerals and unsaturated acids. Introduction components grain food products will enrich their biologically important substances, giving these products a number of valuable properties and reducing their caloric.
A complex natural system of substances in foods will help replenish the body's need of essential nutrients, increasing its resistance to the harmful effects of the environment, prolong life. In this regard, there was a need for the development of production technology of protein complexes from wheat germ and then applying them in food, particularly in the dairy industry. Experimental studies were conducted to determine the number of herbal supplements on the sensory characteristics of the product. Studies have been conducted to determine the optimal process parameters of water activity and moisture content of the investigational product.
Abstract: The recommendation of the committee on corporate
governance for public companies in Nigeria, that the position of the
CEO be separated from board chair has generated serious debate
among scholars and practitioners. They have questioned the
appropriateness of implementing corporate governance model that is
based on Anglo-Saxon agency problem characterized by dispersed
ownership structure; where markets for corporate control, legal
regulation, and contractual incentives are the key governance
mechanisms. This paper strives to resolve the argument by adopting
an institutional perspective in testing the agency theory on board
duality. The study developed a theoretical and empirical model to
better understand how ownership structure influences agency conflict
and how such affects firm performance. Hence, the study examines
the relationship between CEO duality and firm performance using
two institutional ownership structures – dispersed ownership and
concentrated ownership structures. The empirical results show that
CEO duality is negatively correlated with firm performance in
Nigeria irrespective of the firm-s ownership structure. The findings
give credence to the recommendation of the Peterside Commission
on the need to separate the position of CEO from board chair.
Abstract: This paper proposes a dual tree complex wavelet transform (DT-CWT) based directional interpolation scheme for noisy images. The problems of denoising and interpolation are modelled as to estimate the noiseless and missing samples under the same framework of optimal estimation. Initially, DT-CWT is used to decompose an input low-resolution noisy image into low and high frequency subbands. The high-frequency subband images are interpolated by linear minimum mean square estimation (LMMSE) based interpolation, which preserves the edges of the interpolated images. For each noisy LR image sample, we compute multiple estimates of it along different directions and then fuse those directional estimates for a more accurate denoised LR image. The estimation parameters calculated in the denoising processing can be readily used to interpolate the missing samples. The inverse DT-CWT is applied on the denoised input and interpolated high frequency subband images to obtain the high resolution image. Compared with the conventional schemes that perform denoising and interpolation in tandem, the proposed DT-CWT based noisy image interpolation method can reduce many noise-caused interpolation artifacts and preserve well the image edge structures. The visual and quantitative results show that the proposed technique outperforms many of the existing denoising and interpolation methods.
Abstract: In this paper, Exp-function method is used for some exact solitary solutions of the generalized Pochhammer-Chree equation. It has been shown that the Exp-function method, with the help of symbolic computation, provides a very effective and powerful mathematical tool for solving nonlinear partial differential equations. As a result, some exact solitary solutions are obtained. It is shown that the Exp-function method is direct, effective, succinct and can be used for many other nonlinear partial differential equations.
Abstract: The two agro-ecological zones became the focus of
the study because of violent nature of the incessant conflict in the
zones. The available register of farmers association was the sampling
frame work where ten percent (61) farmers per state were randomly
sampled. Data were collected and analysed using z-test. The research
findings revealed tree crops and grains production enterprises ranked
higher in Osun (rain fed zones) and Taraba states (savannah zones)
respectively. Osun state entrepreneur felt the effect of the conflict on
their enterprises more than Tarba state. The reasons adduced for
severity of the conflict on enterprises are majority (77.0%) migrated
and (75.5%) of them were not allowed to enter their farms during and
when conflict deescalated unlike situation in Taraba state. The
different in enterprises production level between the two agroecological
zone was statistically significant at p
Abstract: Two group of kids (“Safflower cake" and “Control") were fed ad libitum with pelleted total mixed rations. After a 7-days adaptation period, the diet of the “Safflower cake" group were supplemented with 20% of safflower cake. The kids were slaughtered at 96 days of age. Dietary safflower cake did not affect the growth traits of kids. In addition, kids fed experimental diet showed a lower feed intake and consequently a better feed conversion ratio in comparison to the “Control" group. The use of safflower decreased the level of SFA and increased the level of MUFA in kid meat. The level of PUFA was higher in lipid extracted from animals feeding “Control“ diet even if the UFA level was lower. Furthermore, lipid extracted from animals feeding control diet contained more ω6 fatty acids in comparison to kids feeding experimental diet while the opposite trend was observed for the level of ω3 fatty acids. The ω6 to ω3 ratio was significantly affected by diet and in particular this ratio decreased in meat of kids fed experimental diet. Our results indicate that intramuscular fatty acid composition of kid meat can be improved from a human health perspective by inclusion of safflower cake in the diet.
Abstract: Paddy being cultivated since about 10,000 years B.C in Ganga Valley in India, its production reached up to 99 million tons in the year 2012. BGA are of much ecological importance for maintaining the soil fertility and reclaiming the alkalinity. In present investigation attempts were made to identify the local cyanobacterial genera from the paddy fields, BGA application for green farming enabling the paddy to utilize more amount of nitrogen released and to examine its impact along with Urea upon growth and yield responses of the Paddy crop. It was observed that combined treatment of BGA with Urea proved better response in almost all growth parameters and yield attributes except number of tillers/ Plant and grains/ panicle as compared to application of either Urea or BGA alone. The Paddy growers should be encouraged to adopt BGA along with Urea as source of Nitrogen for Paddy cultivation.
Abstract: In a field experiment, growth parameters of soybean
cultivars in different weeding regimes was investigated. The trial was
split plot in a randomized complete block design. The four cultivars
and two lines of soybean (Glycine max L.) including: Sahar, Hill,
Sari, Telar, 032 and 033 in main plot and weeding regime consist of
no weeding (control), one weeding (35 days after planting) and two
weeding (35+20 days after planting) were randomized in sub plot.
The results showed that during the growth season 033 had the highest
dry matter in two weeding. In two weeding regime the dry matter
decreased. ). In all weeding regimes 033 had the highest CGR (Figs.
3a, 3b and 3c), which cleared this cultivar ability compare to the
others. This cultivar by increasing its leaf area could do more
photosynthesis, so, have a higher CGR.
Abstract: Experiments were carried out on the survival and growth of Rasbora daniconius, Puntius ticto and Puntius conchonius. The motivation of the study was to obtain information for growing the fish on a commercial scale for their use as biological control agents against mosquito larvae. The effects of temperature, total hardness, DO, pH and feed on the growth of fish were also investigated. Excessive value of total hardness was found because very rich calcium ion is present in Chitrakoot area. There was significant increases in growth rates of fish as temperature was increased from 280C to 300C. Further increases in temperature up to 320C, did not further affect growth. The positive and highly significant correlations 0.991488, 0.9581 and 0.9935 were found between length and weight of P. ticto, P. conchonius and R. daniconius respectively. The regression was significant at 5% level of probability.
Abstract: This paper applies the homotopy analysis method method to a nonlinear differential-difference equation arising in nanotechnology. Continuum hypothesis on nanoscales is invalid, and a differential-difference model is considered as an alternative approach to describing discontinued problems. Comparison of the approximate solution with the exact one reveals that the method is very effective.
Abstract: Feature-based registration is an effective technique for clinical use, because it can greatly reduce computational costs. However, this technique, which estimates the transformation by using feature points extracted from two images, may cause misalignments. To handle with this limitation, we propose to extract the salient edges and extracted control points (CP) of medical images by using efficiency of multiresolution representation of data nonsubsampled contourlet transform (NSCT) that finds the best feature points. The MR images were first decomposed using the NSCT, and then Edge and CP were extracted from bandpass directional subband of NSCT coefficients and some proposed rules. After edge and CP extraction, mutual information was adopted for the registration of feature points and translation parameters are calculated by using particle swarm optimization (PSO). The experimental results showed that the proposed method produces totally accurate performance for registration medical CT-MR images.
Abstract: An experiment was conducted under controlled
conditions to study the effect of water extract of leaves, shoots and
roots of either Sisymbrium irio L. =SISIR and or Descurainia
sophia (L.) Schur =DESSO on the germination and primary growth
of barley. A split-split plot experiment in CRD with three
replications was used. The main plots were the type of weed: i.e.
SISIR and DESSO and the sub-plots were type of organ: i.e. leaf,
stem and root and, the sub-sub plots were concentration of the
water extract of each organ of the weeds: i.e. 0, 2, 4 and 8 % w/v.
The results showed that the SISIR water extracts had a greater
inhibitory effects on the germination and primary growth of barley
than those of DESSO water extracts. The water extracts of the
leaves of both weeds had the greatest inhibitory effects on the
germination and primary growth of barley, compared to those of
stems and roots. Increasing the concentration of water extracts of
leaves, stems and roots of both weeds up to 8 % caused the greatest
inhibitory effects to barley and reduced the germination rate and
primary growth of it linearly.
Abstract: Moral decisions are considered as an intuitive process,
while conscious reasoning is mostly used only to justify those
intuitions. This problem is described in few different dual-process
theories of mind, that are being developed e.g. by Frederick and
Kahneman, Stanovich and Evans. Those theories recently evolved
into tri-process theories with a proposed process that makes ultimate
decision or allows to paraformal processing with focal bias..
Presented experiment compares the decision patterns to the
implications of those models.
In presented study participants (n=179) considered different
aspects of trolley dilemma or its footbridge version and decided after
that.
Results show that in the control group 70% of people decided to
use the lever to change tracks for the running trolley, and 20% chose
to push the fat man down the tracks. In contrast, after experimental
manipulation almost no one decided to act. Also the decision time
difference between dilemmas disappeared after experimental
manipulation.
The result supports the idea of three co-working processes:
intuitive (TASS), paraformal (reflective mind) and algorithmic
process.