Abstract: Facility location problem involves locating a facility
to optimize some performance measures. Location of a public facility
to serve the community, such as a fire station, significantly affects its
service quality. Main objective in locating a fire station is to
minimize the response time, which is the time duration between
receiving a call and reaching the place of incident. In metropolitan
areas, fire vehicles need to cross highways and other traffic obstacles
through some obstacle-overcoming points which delay the response
time. In this paper, fire station location problem is analyzed.
Simulation models are developed for the location problems which
involve obstacles. Particular case problems are analyzed and the
results are presented.
Abstract: Crosstalk is the major limiting issue in very high bit-rate digital subscriber line (VDSL) systems in terms of bit-rate or service coverage. At the central office side, joint signal processing accompanied by appropriate power allocation enables complex multiuser processors to provide near capacity rates. Unfortunately complexity grows with the square of the number of lines within a binder, so by taking into account that there are only a few dominant crosstalkers who contribute to main part of crosstalk power, the canceller structure can be simplified which resulted in a much lower run-time complexity. In this paper, a multiuser power control scheme, namely iterative waterfilling, is combined with previously proposed partial crosstalk cancellation approaches to demonstrate the best ever achieved performance which is verified by simulation results.
Abstract: This research attempts to study the feasibility of
augmenting an augmented reality (AR) image card on a Quick
Response (QR) code. The authors have developed a new visual tag,
which contains a QR code and an augmented AR image card. The new
visual tag has features of reading both of the revealed data of the QR
code and the instant data from the AR image card. Furthermore, a
handheld communicating device is used to read and decode the new
visual tag, and then the concealed data of the new visual tag can be
revealed and read through its visual display. In general, the QR code is
designed to store the corresponding data or, as a key, to access the
corresponding data from the server through internet. Those reveled
data from the QR code are represented in text. Normally, the AR
image card is designed to store the corresponding data in
3-Dimensional or animation/video forms. By using QR code's
property of high fault tolerant rate, the new visual tag can access those
two different types of data by using a handheld communicating device.
The new visual tag has an advantage of carrying much more data than
independent QR code or AR image card. The major findings of this
research are: 1) the most efficient area for the designed augmented AR
card augmenting on the QR code is 9% coverage area out of the total
new visual tag-s area, and 2) the best location for the augmented AR
image card augmenting on the QR code is located in the bottom-right
corner of the new visual tag.
Abstract: There is currently intensive debate in Alberta,
Canada, regarding rural to urban water reallocation. This paper
explores the demographic and attitudinal influences that are
associated with the acceptance of water reallocation policies and
whether such acceptance differs between urban and rural residents.
We investigate three policy orientations in regards to water policies:
i) government intervention; ii) environmental protection; and iii)
protecting irrigators- water rights. We find that urban dwellers are
more likely to favour government intervention while rural dwellers
are more likely to support policies that aim at protecting irrigators-
water rights. While urban dwellers are also more likely to favour
environmental protection, the difference is not statistically
significant. We also find that other factors have a significant impact
on policy choice irrespective of residence such as demographic and
socioeconomic factors as well as the values people hold toward water
and the environment.
Abstract: This paper proposes a new decision making structure
to determine the appropriate product delivery strategy for different products in a manufacturing system among make-to-stock, make-toorder,
and hybrid strategy. Given product delivery strategies for all products in the manufacturing system, the position of the Order
Penetrating Point (OPP) can be located regarding the delivery strategies among which location of OPP in hybrid strategy is a
cumbersome task. In this regard, we employ analytic network process, because there are varieties of interrelated driving factors
involved in choosing the right location. Moreover, the proposed structure is augmented with fuzzy sets theory in order to cope with
the uncertainty of judgments. Finally, applicability of the proposed structure is proven in practice through a real industrial case company.
The numerical results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed decision making structure in order partitioning and OPP location.
Abstract: This article proposes a novel Pareto-based multiobjective
meta-heuristic algorithm named non-dominated ranking
genetic algorithm (NRGA) to solve multi-facility location-allocation
problem. In NRGA, a fitness value representing rank is assigned to
each individual of the population. Moreover, two features ranked
based roulette wheel selection including select the fronts and choose
solutions from the fronts, are utilized. The proposed solving
methodology is validated using several examples taken from the
specialized literature. The performance of our approach shows that
NRGA algorithm is able to generate true and well distributed Pareto
optimal solutions.
Abstract: The problem of agricultural-soil pollution is closely
linked to the production of ecologically pure foodstuffs and to human health. An important task, therefore, is to rehabilitate agricultural
soils with the help of state-of-the-art biotechnologies, based on the use of metal-accumulating plants. In this work, on the basis of
literature data and the results of prior research from this laboratory, plants were selected for which the growing technology is well
developed and which are widespread locally: sugar sorghum (Sorghum saccharatum), sudangrass (Sorghum sudanense (Piper.)
Stapf.), and sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.). I report on laboratory
experiments designed to study the influence of synthetic indole-3-
acetic acid and the extracellular indole-3-acetic acid released by the
plant-growth-promoting rhizobacterium Azospirillum brasilense Sp245 on growth of and arsenic accumulation by these plants.
Abstract: The present study aimed to investigate whether
chlorophyll meter readings (SPAD) can be used as criterion of singleplant
selection in maize breeding. Experimentation was performed at
the ultra-low density of 0.74 plants/m2 in order the potential yield per
plant to be fully expressed. R-31 honeycomb experiments were
conducted in three different areas in Greece (Thessaloniki, Giannitsa
and Florina) using 30 inbred lines at well-watered and water-stressed
conditions during the 2012 growing season. The chlorophyll meter
readings had higher rates at dry conditions, except location of
Giannitsa where differences were not significant. Genotypes of
highest chlorophyll meter readings were consistent across areas,
emphasizing on the character’s stability. A positive correlation
between the chlorophyll meter readings and grain yield was
strengthening over time and culminated at the physiological maturity
stage. There was a clear sign that the chlorophyll meter readings has
the potential to be used for the selection of stress-adaptive genotypes
and may permit modern maize to be grown at wider range of
environments addressing the climate change scenarios.
Abstract: Sampling and analysis of leachate from Bhalaswa
landfill and groundwater samples from nearby locations, clearly
indicated the likely contamination of groundwater due to landfill
leachate. The results of simulation studies carried out for the
migration of Chloride from landfill shows that the simulation results
are in consonance with the observed concentration of Chloride in the
vicinity of landfill facility. The solid waste disposal system presently
being practiced in Delhi consists of mere dumping of wastes
generated, at three locations Bhalaswa, Ghazipur, and Okhla without
any regard to proper care for the protection of surrounding
environment. Bhalaswa landfill site in Delhi, which is being operated
as a dump site, is expected to become cause of serious groundwater
pollution in its vicinity. The leachate from Bhalaswa landfill was
found to be having a high concentration of chlorides, as well as DOC,
COD. The present study was undertaken to determine the likely
concentrations of principle contaminants in the groundwater over a
period of time due to the discharge of such contaminants from
landfill leachates to the underlying groundwater. The observed
concentration of chlorides in the groundwater within 75m of the
radius of landfill facility was found to be in consonance with the
simulated concentration of chloride in groundwater considering one
dimensional transport model, with finite mass of contaminant source.
Governing equation of contaminant transport involving advection and
diffusion-dispersion was solved in matlab7.0 using finite difference
method.
Abstract: This study assesses the vulnerability of Bulgarian
agriculture to drought using the WINISAREG model and seasonal
standard precipitation index SPI(2) for the period 1951-2004. This
model was previously validated for maize on soils of different water
holding capacity (TAW) in various locations. Simulations are
performed for Plovdiv, Stara Zagora and Sofia. Results relative to
Plovdiv show that in soils of large TAW (180 mm m-1) net irrigation
requirements (NIRs) range 0-40 mm in wet years and 350-380 mm in
dry years. In soils of small TAW (116 mm m-1), NIRs reach 440 mm
in the very dry year. NIRs in Sofia are about 80 mm smaller. Rainfed
maize is associated with great yield variability (29%
Abstract: The Chiu-s method which generates a Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Inference System (FIS) is a method of fuzzy rules extraction. The rules output is a linear function of inputs. In addition, these rules are not explicit for the expert. In this paper, we develop a method which generates Mamdani FIS, where the rules output is fuzzy. The method proceeds in two steps: first, it uses the subtractive clustering principle to estimate both the number of clusters and the initial locations of a cluster centers. Each obtained cluster corresponds to a Mamdani fuzzy rule. Then, it optimizes the fuzzy model parameters by applying a genetic algorithm. This method is illustrated on a traffic network management application. We suggest also a Mamdani fuzzy rules generation method, where the expert wants to classify the output variables in some fuzzy predefined classes.
Abstract: Throughout the world, the Islamic way of banking and
financing is increasing. The same trend is also visible in Pakistan, where the Islamic banking sector is increasing in size and volume
each year. The question immediately arises as why the Pakistanis patronize the Islamic banking system? This study was carried out to
find whether following the Islamic rules in finance is the main factor for such selection or whether other factors such as customer service,
location, banking hour, physical facilities of the bank etc also have
importance. The study was carried by distributing questionnaire and
200 responses were collected from the clients of Islamic banks. The result showed that the service quality and other factors are as
important as following the Islamic rules for finance to retain old ustomers and catch new customers. The result is important and
Islamic banks can take actions accordingly to look after both the factors
Abstract: Multi-agent communication of Semantic Web
information cannot be realized without the need to reason with
ontology and agent locations. This is because for an agent to be able to
reason with an external semantic web ontology, it must know where
and how to access to that ontology. Similarly, for an agent to be able to
communicate with another agent, it must know where and how to send
a message to that agent. In this paper we propose a framework of an
agent which can reason with ontology and agent locations in order to
perform reasoning with multiple distributed ontologies and perform
communication with other agents on the semantic web. The agent
framework and its communication mechanism are formulated entirely
in meta-logic.
Abstract: The special constraints of sensor networks impose a
number of technical challenges for employing them. In this review,
we study the issues and existing protocols in three areas: coverage
and routing. We present two types of coverage problems: to
determine the minimum number of sensor nodes that need to perform
active sensing in order to monitor a certain area; and to decide the
quality of service that can be provided by a given sensor network.
While most routing protocols in sensor networks are data-centric,
there are other types of routing protocols as well, such as
hierarchical, location-based, and QoS-aware. We describe and
compare several protocols in each group. We present several multipath
routing protocols and single-path with local repair routing
protocols, which are proposed for recovering from sensor node
crashes. We also discuss some transport layer schemes for reliable
data transmission in lossy wireless channels.
Abstract: Recommender systems are usually regarded as an
important marketing tool in the e-commerce. They use important
information about users to facilitate accurate recommendation. The
information includes user context such as location, time and interest
for personalization of mobile users. We can easily collect information
about location and time because mobile devices communicate with the
base station of the service provider. However, information about user
interest can-t be easily collected because user interest can not be
captured automatically without user-s approval process. User interest
usually represented as a need. In this study, we classify needs into two
types according to prior research. This study investigates the
usefulness of data mining techniques for classifying user need type for
recommendation systems. We employ several data mining techniques
including artificial neural networks, decision trees, case-based
reasoning, and multivariate discriminant analysis. Experimental
results show that CHAID algorithm outperforms other models for
classifying user need type. This study performs McNemar test to
examine the statistical significance of the differences of classification
results. The results of McNemar test also show that CHAID performs
better than the other models with statistical significance.
Abstract: There are few studies on eggshell of leatherback turtle
which is endangered species in Thailand. This study was focusing on
the ultrastructure and elemental composition of leatherback turtle
eggshells collected from Andaman Sea Shore, Thailand during the
nesting season using scanning electron microscope (SEM). Three
eggshell layers of leatherback turtle; the outer cuticle layer or
calcareous layer, the middle layer or middle multistrata layer and the
inner fibrous layer were recognized. The outer calcareous layer was
thick and porosity which consisted of loose nodular units of various
crystal shapes and sizes. The loose attachment between these units
resulted in numerous spaces and openings. The middle layer was
compact thick with several multistrata and contained numerous
openings connecting to both outer cuticle layer and inner fibrous
layer. The inner fibrous layer was compact and thin, and composed of
numerous reticular fibers. Energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis
detector revealed energy spectrum of X-rays character emitted from
all elements on each layer. The percentages of all elements were
found in the following order: carbon (C) > oxygen (O) > calcium
(Ca) > sulfur (S) > potassium (K) > aluminum (Al) > iodine (I) >
silicon (Si) > chlorine (Cl) > sodium (Na) > fluorine (F) >
phosphorus (P) > magnesium (Mg). Each layer consisted of high
percentage of CaCO3 (approximately 98%) implying that it was
essential for turtle embryonic development. A significant difference
was found in the percentages of Ca and Mo in the 3layers. Moreover,
transition metal, metal and toxic non-metal contaminations were
found in leatherback turtle eggshell samples. These were palladium
(Pd), molybdenum (Mo), copper (Cu), aluminum (Al), lead (Pb), and
bromine (Br). The contamination elements were seen in the outer
layers except for Mo. All elements were readily observed and
mapped using Smiling program. X-ray images which mapped the
location of all elements were showed. Calcium containing in the
eggshell appeared in high contents and was widely distributing in
clusters of the outer cuticle layer to form CaCO3 structure. Moreover,
the accumulation of Na and Cl was observed to form NaCl which was
widely distributing in 3 eggshell layers. The results from this study
would be valuable on assessing the emergent success in this
endangered species.
Abstract: In this paper, collocation based cubic B-spline and
extended cubic uniform B-spline method are considered for
solving one-dimensional heat equation with a nonlocal initial
condition. Finite difference and θ-weighted scheme is used for
time and space discretization respectively. The stability of the
method is analyzed by the Von Neumann method. Accuracy of
the methods is illustrated with an example. The numerical results
are obtained and compared with the analytical solutions.
Abstract: This paper presents the identification of the impact
force acting on a simply supported beam. The force identification is
an inverse problem in which the measured response of the structure is
used to determine the applied force. The identification problem is
formulated as an optimization problem and the genetic algorithm is
utilized to solve the optimization problem. The objective function is
calculated on the difference between analytical and measured
responses and the decision variables are the location and magnitude
of the applied force. The results from simulation show the
effectiveness of the approach and its robustness vs. the measurement
noise and sensor location.
Abstract: This paper presents a method to detect multiple cracks
based on frequency information. When a structure is subjected to
dynamic or static loads, cracks may develop and the modal
frequencies of the cracked structure may change. To detect cracks in a
structure, we construct a high precision wavelet finite element (EF)
model of a certain structure using the B-spline wavelet on the interval
(BSWI). Cracks can be modeled by rotational springs and added to the
FE model. The crack detection database will be obtained by solving
that model. Then the crack locations and depths can be determined
based on the frequency information from the database. The
performance of the proposed method has been numerically verified by
a rotor example.
Abstract: In distributed resource allocation a set of agents must assign their resources to a set of tasks. This problem arises in many real-world domains such as distributed sensor networks, disaster rescue, hospital scheduling and others. Despite the variety of approaches proposed for distributed resource allocation, a systematic formalization of the problem, explaining the different sources of difficulties, and a formal explanation of the strengths and limitations of key approaches is missing. We take a step towards this goal by using a formalization of distributed resource allocation that represents both dynamic and distributed aspects of the problem. In this paper we present a new idea for target tracking in sensor networks and compare it with previous approaches. The central contribution of the paper is a generalized mapping from distributed resource allocation to DDCSP. This mapping is proven to correctly perform resource allocation problems of specific difficulty. This theoretical result is verified in practice by a simulation on a realworld distributed sensor network.