Abstract: Traditional higher-education classrooms allow lecturers to observe students- behaviours and responses to a particular pedagogy during learning in a way that can influence changes to the pedagogical approach. Within current e-learning systems it is difficult to perform continuous analysis of the cohort-s behavioural tendency, making real-time pedagogical decisions difficult. This paper presents a Virtual Learning Process Environment (VLPE) based on the Business Process Management (BPM) conceptual framework. Within the VLPE, course designers can model various education pedagogies in the form of learning process workflows using an intuitive flow diagram interface. These diagrams are used to visually track the learning progresses of a cohort of students. This helps assess the effectiveness of the chosen pedagogy, providing the information required to improve course design. A case scenario of a cohort of students is presented and quantitative statistical analysis of their learning process performance is gathered and displayed in realtime using dashboards.
Abstract: This paper seeks to explore the actual classroom
setting, to examine its role for students- learning, and attitude in the
class. It presents a theoretical approach of the classroom as system to
be explored and examines the concrete reality of Greek secondary
education students, under the light of the above approach. Based on
the findings of a quantitative and qualitative research, authors
propose a rather ontological approach of the classroom and underline
what the key-elements for such approach should be. The paper
explores extensively the theoretical dimensions for the change of
paradigm required and addresses the new issues to be considered.
Abstract: There are several means to measure the oxidation of edible oils, such as the acid value, the peroxide value, and the anisidine value. However, these means require large quantities of reagents and are time-consuming tasks. Therefore, a more convenient and time-saving way to measure the oxidation of edible oils is required. In this report, an edible oil condition sensor was fabricated by using single-walled nanotubes (SWNT). In order to test the sensor, oxidized edible oils, each one at a different acid value, were prepared. The SWNT sensors were immersed into these oxidized oils and the resistance changes in the sensors were measured. It was found that the conductivity of the sensors decreased as the oxidation level of oil increased. This result suggests that a change of the oil components induced by the oxidation process in edible oils is related to the conductivity change in the SWNT sensor.
Abstract: Delamination between layers in composite materials is a major structural failure. The delamination resistance is quantified by the critical strain energy release rate (SERR). The present investigation deals with the strain energy release rate of two woven fabric composites. Materials used are made of two types of glass fiber (360 gsm and 600 gsm) of plain weave and epoxy as matrix. The fracture behavior is studied using the mode I, double cantilever beam test and the mode II, end notched flexure test, in order to determine the energy required for the initiation and growth of an artificial crack. The delamination energy of these two materials is compared in order to study the effect of weave and reinforcement on mechanical properties. The fracture mechanism is also analyzed by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It is observed that the plain weave fabric composite with lesser strand width has higher inter laminar fracture properties compared to the plain weave fabric composite with more strand width.
Abstract: Before performing polymerase chain reactions (PCR), a feasible primer set is required. Many primer design methods have been proposed for design a feasible primer set. However, the majority of these methods require a relatively long time to obtain an optimal solution since large quantities of template DNA need to be analyzed. Furthermore, the designed primer sets usually do not provide a specific PCR product. In recent years, evolutionary computation has been applied to PCR primer design and yielded promising results. In this paper, a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is proposed to solve primer design problems associated with providing a specific product for PCR experiments. A test set of the gene CYP1A1, associated with a heightened lung cancer risk was analyzed and the comparison of accuracy and running time with the genetic algorithm (GA) and memetic algorithm (MA) was performed. A comparison of results indicated that the proposed PSO method for primer design finds optimal or near-optimal primer sets and effective PCR products in a relatively short time.
Abstract: Rotational Smart Lighting Control System can supply
the quantity of lighting which is required to run plants by rotating few
LED and Fluorescent instead of that are used in the existing plant
factories.The initial installation of the existing plants factory is
expensive, so in order to solve the problem with smart lighting control
system was developed.
The beam required intensity for the growth of crops, Photosynthetic
Photon Flux Density(PPFD)is calculated; and the number of LED, are
installed on the blades, set; using the Lighting Simulation
Program.Relux, it is able to confirm that the difference of the beam
intensity between the center and the outer of lighting system when the
lighting device is rotating.
Abstract: An effective approach for realizing the binary tree structure, representing a combinational logic functionality with enhanced throughput, is discussed in this paper. The optimization in maximum operating frequency was achieved through delay minimization, which in turn was possible by means of reducing the depth of the binary network. The proposed synthesis methodology has been validated by experimentation with FPGA as the target technology. Though our proposal is technology independent, yet the heuristic enables better optimization in throughput even after technology mapping for such Boolean functionality; whose reduced CNF form is associated with a lesser literal cost than its reduced DNF form at the Boolean equation level. For cases otherwise, our method converges to similar results as that of [12]. The practical results obtained for a variety of case studies demonstrate an improvement in the maximum throughput rate for Spartan IIE (XC2S50E-7FT256) and Spartan 3 (XC3S50-4PQ144) FPGA logic families by 10.49% and 13.68% respectively. With respect to the LUTs and IOBUFs required for physical implementation of the requisite non-regenerative logic functionality, the proposed method enabled savings to the tune of 44.35% and 44.67% respectively, over the existing efficient method available in literature [12].
Abstract: Genetic algorithms (GAs) have been widely used for
global optimization problems. The GA performance depends highly
on the choice of the search space for each parameter to be optimized.
Often, this choice is a problem-based experience. The search space
being a set of potential solutions may contain the global optimum
and/or other local optimums. A bad choice of this search space
results in poor solutions. In this paper, our approach consists in
extending the search space boundaries during the GA optimization,
only when it is required. This leads to more diversification of GA
population by new solutions that were not available with fixed search
space boundaries. So, these dynamic search spaces can improve the
GA optimization performances. The proposed approach is applied to
power system stabilizer optimization for multimachine power system
(16-generator and 68-bus). The obtained results are evaluated and
compared with those obtained by ordinary GAs. Eigenvalue analysis
and nonlinear system simulation results show the effectiveness of the
proposed approach to damp out the electromechanical oscillation and
enhance the global system stability.
Abstract: A novel algorithm for construct a seamless video mosaic of the entire panorama continuously by automatically analyzing and managing feature points, including management of quantity and quality, from the sequence is presented. Since a video contains significant redundancy, so that not all consecutive video images are required to create a mosaic. Only some key images need to be selected. Meanwhile, feature-based methods for mosaicing rely on correction of feature points? correspondence deeply, and if the key images have large frame interval, the mosaic will often be interrupted by the scarcity of corresponding feature points. A unique character of the method is its ability to handle all the problems above in video mosaicing. Experiments have been performed under various conditions, the results show that our method could achieve fast and accurate video mosaic construction. Keywords?video mosaic, feature points management, homography estimation.
Abstract: In determining the electromagnetic properties of
magnetic materials, hysteresis modeling is of high importance. Many
models are available to investigate those characteristics but they tend
to be complex and difficult to implement. In this paper a new
qualitative hysteresis model for ferromagnetic core is presented,
based on the function approximation capabilities of adaptive neuro
fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). The proposed ANFIS model
combined the neural network adaptive capabilities and the fuzzy
logic qualitative approach can restored the hysteresis curve with a
little RMS error. The model accuracy is good and can be easily
adapted to the requirements of the application by extending or
reducing the network training set and thus the required amount of
measurement data.
Abstract: Electronic nose (array of chemical sensors) are widely
used in food industry and pollution control. Also it could be used to
locate or detect the direction of the source of emission odors. Usually
this task is performed by electronic nose (ENose) cooperated with
mobile vehicles, but when a source is instantaneous or surrounding is
hard for vehicles to reach, problem occurs. Thus a method for
stationary ENose to detect the direction of the source and locate the
source will be required. A novel method which uses the ratio between
the responses of different sensors as a discriminant to determine the
direction of source in natural wind surroundings is presented in this
paper. The result shows that the method is accurate and easily to be
implemented. This method could be also used in movably, as an
optimized algorithm for robot tracking source location.
Abstract: Robust nonlinear integrated navigation of GPS and
low cost MEMS is a hot topic of research these days. A robust filter
is required to cope up with the problem of unpredictable
discontinuities and colored noises associated with low cost sensors.
H∞ filter is previously used in Extended Kalman filter and Unscented
Kalman filter frame. Unscented Kalman filter has a problem of
Cholesky matrix factorization at each step which is a very unstable
operation. To avoid this problem in this research H∞ filter is
designed in Square root Unscented filter framework and found 50%
more robust towards increased level of colored noises.
Abstract: This paper proposes a solution to the motion planning
and control problem of car-like mobile robots which is required to
move safely to a designated target in a priori known workspace
cluttered with swarm of boids exhibiting collective emergent
behaviors. A generalized algorithm for target convergence and
swarm avoidance is proposed that will work for any number of
swarms. The control laws proposed in this paper also ensures
practical stability of the system. The effectiveness of the proposed
control laws are demonstrated via computer simulations of an
emergent behavior.
Abstract: Subdivision surfaces were applied to the entire
meshes in order to produce smooth surfaces refinement from coarse
mesh. Several schemes had been introduced in this area to provide a
set of rules to converge smooth surfaces. However, to compute and
render all the vertices are really inconvenient in terms of memory
consumption and runtime during the subdivision process. It will lead
to a heavy computational load especially at a higher level of
subdivision. Adaptive subdivision is a method that subdivides only at
certain areas of the meshes while the rest were maintained less
polygons. Although adaptive subdivision occurs at the selected areas,
the quality of produced surfaces which is their smoothness can be
preserved similar as well as regular subdivision. Nevertheless,
adaptive subdivision process burdened from two causes; calculations
need to be done to define areas that are required to be subdivided and
to remove cracks created from the subdivision depth difference
between the selected and unselected areas. Unfortunately, the result
of adaptive subdivision when it reaches to the higher level of
subdivision, it still brings the problem with memory consumption.
This research brings to iterative process of adaptive subdivision to
improve the previous adaptive method that will reduce memory
consumption applied on triangular mesh. The result of this iterative
process was acceptable better in memory and appearance in order to
produce fewer polygons while it preserves smooth surfaces.
Abstract: In this paper, with the purpose of further reducing the
complexity of the system, while keeping its temporal and spatial
focusing performance, we investigate the possibility of using optimal
one bit time reversal (TR) system for impulse radio ultra wideband
multi-user wireless communications. The results show that, by optimally
selecting the number of used taps in the pre-filter the optimal
one bit TR system can outperform the full one bit TR system. In
some cases, the temporal and spatial focusing performance of the
optimal one bit TR system appears to be compatible with that of the
original TR system. This is a significant result as the overhead cost
is much lower than it is required in the original TR system.
Abstract: According to the density of the chips, designers are
trying to put so any facilities of computational and storage on single
chips. Along with the complexity of computational and storage
circuits, the designing, testing and debugging become more and more
complex and expensive. So, hardware design will be built by using
very high speed hardware description language, which is more
efficient and cost effective. This paper will focus on the
implementation of 32-bit ALU design based on Verilog hardware
description language. Adder and subtracter operate correctly on both
unsigned and positive numbers. In ALU, addition takes most of the
time if it uses the ripple-carry adder. The general strategy for
designing fast adders is to reduce the time required to form carry
signals. Adders that use this principle are called carry look- ahead
adder. The carry look-ahead adder is to be designed with combination
of 4-bit adders. The syntax of Verilog HDL is similar to the C
programming language. This paper proposes a unified approach to
ALU design in which both simulation and formal verification can
co-exist.
Abstract: Noise contamination in a magnetic resonance (MR)
image could occur during acquisition, storage, and transmission in
which effective filtering is required to avoid repeating the MR
procedure. In this paper, an iterative asymmetrical triangle fuzzy
filter with moving average center (ATMAVi filter) is used to reduce
different levels of salt and pepper noise in a brain MR image. Besides
visual inspection on filtered images, the mean squared error (MSE) is
used as an objective measurement. When compared with the median
filter, simulation results indicate that the ATMAVi filter is effective
especially for filtering a higher level noise (such as noise density =
0.45) using a smaller window size (such as 3x3) when operated
iteratively or using a larger window size (such as 5x5) when operated
non-iteratively.
Abstract: Photonic Crystal (PhC) based devices are being
increasingly used in multifunctional, compact devices in integrated
optical communication systems. They provide excellent
controllability of light, yet maintaining the small size required for
miniaturization. In this paper, the band gap properties of PhCs and
their typical applications in optical waveguiding are considered.
Novel PhC based applications such as nonlinear switching and
tapers are considered and simulation results are shown using the
accurate time-domain numerical method based on Finite Difference
Time Domain (FDTD) scheme. The suitability of these devices for
novel applications is discussed and evaluated.
Abstract: The purposes of this study are 1) to study the over 20-year attempt of Mahakan fort community to negotiate with Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) to remain in their residential area belonging to the state, and 2) to apply the new social and cultural dimension between the state and the community as an alternative for local participation in keeping their residential area. This is a qualitative research, and the findings reveal that the community claimed their ancestors’ right as owners of this piece of land for over 200 years. The community, therefore, requested to take part in the preservation of land, culture and local intellect and the area management in terms of being a learning resource on the cultural road in Rattanakosin Island. However, BMA imposed the law concerning the community area relocation in Rattanakosin Island. The result of law enforcement led to the failure of the area relocation, and the hard hit on physical structure of the area including the overall deterioration of the cultural road renovated in the year 1982, the 200 years’ celebration of Bangkok. The enforcement of law by the state required the move of the community, and the landscape improvement based on the capital city plan. However, this enforcement resulted in the unending conflicts between the community and the state, and the solution of this problem was unclear. At the same time the community has spent a long time opposing the state’s action, and preparing themselves by administrating the community behind Mahakan fortress with community administrative committee under the suggestion of external organization by registering all community members, providing funds for community administration. At the meantime the state lacked the continuation of the enforcement due to political problem and BMA’s administration problem. It is, therefore, suggested that an alternative solution to this problem lie at the negotiation between the state and the community with the purpose of the collaboration between the two to develop the area under the protective law of each side.
Abstract: There is need to explore emerging technologies based on carbon nanotube electronics as the MOS technology is approaching its limits. As MOS devices scale to the nano ranges, increased short channel effects and process variations considerably effect device and circuit designs. As a promising new transistor, the Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistor(CNTFET) avoids most of the fundamental limitations of the Traditional MOSFET devices. In this paper we present the analysis and comparision of a Carbon Nanotube FET(CNTFET) based 10(A current mirror with MOSFET for 32nm technology node. The comparision shows the superiority of the former in terms of 97% increase in output resistance,24% decrease in power dissipation and 40% decrease in minimum voltage required for constant saturation current. Furthermore the effect on performance of current mirror due to change in chirality vector of CNT has also been investigated. The circuit simulations are carried out using HSPICE model.