Abstract: User-Centered Design (UCD), Usability Engineering (UE) and Participatory Design (PD) are the common Human- Computer Interaction (HCI) approaches that are practiced in the software development process, focusing towards issues and matters concerning user involvement. It overlooks the organizational perspective of HCI integration within the software development organization. The Management Information Systems (MIS) perspective of HCI takes a managerial and organizational context to view the effectiveness of integrating HCI in the software development process. The Human-Centered Design (HCD) which encompasses all of the human aspects including aesthetic and ergonomic, is claimed as to provide a better approach in strengthening the HCI approaches to strengthen the software development process. In determining the effectiveness of HCD in the software development process, this paper presents the findings of a content analysis of HCI approaches by viewing those approaches as a technology which integrates user requirements, ranging from the top management to other stake holder in the software development process. The findings obtained show that HCD approach is a technology that emphasizes on human, tools and knowledge in strengthening the HCI approaches to strengthen the software development process in the quest to produce a sustainable, usable and useful software product.
Abstract: In many applications, it is a priori known that the
target function should satisfy certain constraints imposed by, for
example, economic theory or a human-decision maker. Here we
consider partially monotone problems, where the target variable
depends monotonically on some of the predictor variables but not all.
We propose an approach to build partially monotone models based
on the convolution of monotone neural networks and kernel
functions. The results from simulations and a real case study on
house pricing show that our approach has significantly better
performance than partially monotone linear models. Furthermore, the
incorporation of partial monotonicity constraints not only leads to
models that are in accordance with the decision maker's expertise,
but also reduces considerably the model variance in comparison to
standard neural networks with weight decay.
Abstract: From food consumption surveys has been found that potato consumption comparing to other European countries is one of the highest. Hence acrylamide (AA) intake coming from fried potatoes in population might be high as well. The aim of the research was to determine acrylamide content and estimate intake of acrylamide from roasted potatoes bred and cultivated in Latvia. Five common Latvian potato varieties were selected: Lenora, Brasla, Imanta, Zile, and Madara. A two-year research was conducted during two periods: just after harvesting and after six months of storage. Time and temperature (210 ± 5°C) was recorded during frying. AA was extracted from potatoes by solid phase extraction and AA content was determined by LC-MS/MS. estimated intake of acrylamide ranges from 0.012 to 0.496μgkg-1 BW per day.
Abstract: The effect of calcination temperature and MgO crystallite sizes on the structure and catalytic performance of TiO2 supported nano-MgO catalyst for the trans-esterification of soybean oil has been studied. The catalyst has been prepared by deposition precipitation method, characterised by XRD and FTIR and tested in an autoclave at 225oC. The soybean oil conversion after 15 minutes of the trans-esterification reaction increased when the calcination temperature was increased from 500 to 600oC and decreased with further increase in calcination temperature. Some glycerolysis activity was also detected on catalysts calcined at 600 and 700oC after 45 minutes of reaction. The trans-esterification reaction rate increased with the decrease in MgO crystallite size for the first 30 min.
Abstract: Various models have been derived by studying large number of completed software projects from various organizations and applications to explore how project sizes mapped into project effort. But, still there is a need to prediction accuracy of the models. As Neuro-fuzzy based system is able to approximate the non-linear function with more precision. So, Neuro-Fuzzy system is used as a soft computing approach to generate model by formulating the relationship based on its training. In this paper, Neuro-Fuzzy technique is used for software estimation modeling of on NASA software project data and performance of the developed models are compared with the Halstead, Walston-Felix, Bailey-Basili and Doty Models mentioned in the literature.
Abstract: The use of neural networks is popular in various
building applications such as prediction of heating load, ventilation
rate and indoor temperature. Significant is, that only few papers deal
with indoor carbon dioxide (CO2) prediction which is a very good
indicator of indoor air quality (IAQ). In this study, a data-driven
modelling method based on multilayer perceptron network for indoor
air carbon dioxide in an apartment building is developed.
Temperature and humidity measurements are used as input variables
to the network. Motivation for this study derives from the following
issues. First, measuring carbon dioxide is expensive and sensors
power consumptions is high and secondly, this leads to short
operating times of battery-powered sensors. The results show that
predicting CO2 concentration based on relative humidity and
temperature measurements, is difficult. Therefore, more additional
information is needed.
Abstract: Recently, the RFID (Radio Frequency
Identification) technology attracts the world market attention as
essential technology for ubiquitous environment. The RFID
market has focused on transponders and reader development.
But that concern has shifted to RFID software like as
high-valued e-business applications, RFID middleware and
related development tools. However, due to the high sensitivity
of data and service transaction within the RFID network,
security consideration must be addressed. In order to guarantee
trusted e-business based on RFID technology, we propose a
security enhanced RFID middleware system. Our proposal is
compliant with EPCglobal ALE (Application Level Events),
which is standard interface for middleware and its clients. We
show how to provide strengthened security and trust by
protecting transported data between middleware and its client,
and stored data in middleware. Moreover, we achieve the
identification and service access control against illegal service
abuse. Our system enables secure RFID middleware service
and trusted e-business service.
Abstract: The problem of frequent itemset mining is considered in this paper. One new technique proposed to generate frequent patterns in large databases without time-consuming candidate generation. This technique is based on focusing on transaction instead of concentrating on itemset. This algorithm based on take intersection between one transaction and others transaction and the maximum shared items between transactions computed instead of creating itemset and computing their frequency. With applying real life transactions and some consumption is taken from real life data, the significant efficiency acquire from databases in generation association rules mining.
Abstract: As embedded and portable systems were emerged power consumption of circuits had been major challenge. On the other hand latency as determines frequency of circuits is also vital task. Therefore, trade off between both of them will be desirable. Modulo 2n+1 adders are important part of the residue number system (RNS) based arithmetic units with the interesting moduli set (2n-1,2n, 2n+1). In this manuscript we have introduced novel binary representation to the design of modulo 2n+1 adder. VLSI realization of proposed architecture under 180 nm full static CMOS technology reveals its superiority in terms of area, power consumption and power-delay product (PDP) against several peer existing structures.
Abstract: In this paper, a generalized self-consistent scheme, or “three phase model", is used to set up a micro-mechanics model for rough surface contact with randomly distributed asperities. The dimensionless average real pressure p is obtained as function of the ratio of the real contact area to the apparent contact area, 0 A / A r . Both elastic and plastic materials are considered, and the influence of the plasticity of material on p is discussed. Both two-dimensional and three-dimensional rough surface contact problems are considered.
Abstract: Transpedicular screw fixation in spinal fractures,
degenerative changes, or deformities is a well-established procedure.
However, important rate of fixation failure due to screw bending,
loosening, or pullout are still reported particularly in weak bone stock
in osteoporosis. To overcome the problem, mechanism of failure has
to be fully investigated in vitro. Post-mortem human subjects are less
accessible and animal cadavers comprise limitations due to different
geometry and mechanical properties. Therefore, the development of a
synthetic model mimicking the realistic human vertebra is highly
demanded. A bone surrogate, composed of Polyurethane (PU) foam
analogous to cancellous bone porous structure, was tested for 3
different densities in this study. The mechanical properties were
investigated under uniaxial compression test by minimizing the end
artifacts on specimens. The results indicated that PU foam of 0.32
g.cm-3 density has comparable mechanical properties to human
cancellous bone in terms of young-s modulus and yield strength.
Therefore, the obtained information can be considered as primary
step for developing a realistic cancellous bone of human vertebral
body. Further evaluations are also recommended for other density
groups.
Abstract: Sediment loads transfer in hydraulic installations and their consequences for the O&M of modern canal systems is emerging as one of the most important considerations in hydraulic engineering projects apriticularly those which are inteded to feed the irrigation and draiange schemes of large command areas such as the Dez and Mogahn in Iran.. The aim of this paper is to investigate the applicability of the vortex tube as a viable means of extracting sediment loads entering the canal systems in general and the water inatke structures in particulars. The Western conveyance canal of the Dez Diversion weir which feeds the Karkheh Flood Plain in Sothwestern Dezful has been used as the case study using the data from the Dastmashan Hydrometric Station. The SHARC software has been used as an analytical framework to interprete the data. Results show that given the grain size D50 and the canal turbulence the adaption length from the beginning of the canal and after the diversion dam is estimated at 477 m, a point which is suitable for laying the vortex tube.
Abstract: To comply with the international human right
legislation concerning the freedom of movement, transport systems
are required to be made accessible in order that all citizens, regardless
of their physical condition, have equal possibilities to use them. In
Hungary, apparently there is a considerable default in the
improvement of accessible public transport. This study is aiming to
overview the current Hungarian situation and to reveal the reasons of
the deficiency. The result shows that in spite of the relatively
favourable juridical background linked to the accessibility needs and
to the rights of persons with disabilities there is a strong delay in
putting all in practice in the field of public transport. Its main reason
is the lack of financial resource and referring to this the lack of
creating mandatory regulations. In addition to this the proprietary
rights related to public transport are also variable, which also limits
the improvement possibilities. Consequently, first of all an accurate
and detailed regulatory procedure is expected to change the present
unfavourable situation and to create the conditions of the fast
realization, which is already behind time.
Abstract: Optical flow is a research topic of interest for many
years. It has, until recently, been largely inapplicable to real-time
applications due to its computationally expensive nature. This paper
presents a new reliable flow technique which is combined with a
motion detection algorithm, from stationary camera image streams,
to allow flow-based analyses of moving entities, such as rigidity, in
real-time. The combination of the optical flow analysis with motion
detection technique greatly reduces the expensive computation of
flow vectors as compared with standard approaches, rendering the
method to be applicable in real-time implementation. This paper
describes also the hardware implementation of a proposed pipelined
system to estimate the flow vectors from image sequences in real
time. This design can process 768 x 576 images at a very high frame
rate that reaches to 156 fps in a single low cost FPGA chip, which is
adequate for most real-time vision applications.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose an adaptation of the Patricia-Tree for sparse datasets to generate non redundant rule associations. Using this adaptation, we can generate frequent closed itemsets that are more compact than frequent itemsets used in Apriori approach. This adaptation has been experimented on a set of datasets benchmarks.
Abstract: The number of intrusions and attacks against critical
infrastructures and other information networks is increasing rapidly.
While there is no identified evidence that terrorist organizations are
currently planning a coordinated attack against the vulnerabilities of
computer systems and network connected to critical infrastructure,
and origins of the indiscriminate cyber attacks that infect computers
on network remain largely unknown. The growing trend toward the
use of more automated and menacing attack tools has also
overwhelmed some of the current methodologies used for tracking
cyber attacks. There is an ample possibility that this kind of cyber
attacks can be transform to cyberterrorism caused by illegal purposes.
Cyberterrorism is a matter of vital importance to national welfare.
Therefore, each countries and organizations have to take a proper
measure to meet the situation and consider effective legislation about
cyberterrorism.
Abstract: Previous research has demonstrated that negative
attitudes towards people with physical disabilities and obesity are
predicted by a component of perceived vulnerability to disease; germ
aversion. These findings have been suggested as illustrations of an
evolved but over-active mechanism which promotes the avoidance of
pathogen-carrying individuals. To date, this interpretation of attitude
formation has not been explored with regard to people with
intellectual disability, and no attempts have been made to examine
possible mediating factors. This study examined attitudes in 333
adults and demonstrated that the moderate positive relationship
between germ aversion and negative attitudes toward people with
intellectual disability is fully mediated by social dominance
orientation, a general preference for hierarchies and inequalities
among social groups. These findings have implications for the
design of programs which attempt to promote community acceptance
and inclusion of people with disabilities.
Abstract: The frequency dependence of the phase field
model(PFM) is studied. A simple PFM is proposed, and is tested in a
laminar boundary layer. The Blasius-s laminar boundary layer
solution on a flat plate is used for the flow pattern, and several
frequencies are imposed on the PFM, and the decay times of the
interfaces are obtained. The computations were conducted for three
cases: 1) no-flow, and 2) a half ball on the laminar boundary layer, 3) a
line of mass sources in the laminar boundary layer. The computations
show the decay time becomes shorter as the frequency goes larger, and
also show that it is sensitive to both background disturbances and
surface tension parameters. It is concluded that the proposed simple
PFM can describe the properties of decay process, and could give the
fundamentals for the decay of the interface in turbulent flows.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to explore the impacts of
computer games on the mathematics instruction. First, the research
designed and implemented the web-based games according to the
content of existing textbook. And the researcher collected and
analyzed the information related to the mathematics instruction
integrating the computer games. In this study, the researcher focused
on the learning motivation of mathematics, mathematics achievement,
and pupil-teacher interactions in classroom. The results showed that
students under instruction integrating computer games significantly
improved in motivation and achievement. The teacher tended to use
less direct teaching and provide more time for student-s active
learning.
Abstract: The rapid development of manufacturing and information systems has caused significant changes in manufacturing environments in recent decades. Mass production has given way to flexible manufacturing systems, in which an important characteristic is customized or "on demand" production. In this scenario, the seamless and without gaps information flow becomes a key factor for success of enterprises. In this paper we present a framework to support the mapping of features into machining workingsteps compliant with the ISO 14649 standard (known as STEP-NC). The system determines how the features can be made with the available manufacturing resources. Examples of the mapping method are presented for features such as a pocket with a general surface.