Abstract: In this era of competitiveness, there is a growing need for supply chains also to become competitive enough to handle pressures like varying customer’s expectations, low cost high quality products to be delivered at the minimum time and the most important is throat cutting competition at world wide scale. In the recent years, supply chain competitiveness has been, therefore, accepted as one of the most important philosophies in the supply chain literature. Various researchers and practitioners have tried to identify and implement strategies in supply chains which can bring competitiveness in the supply chains i.e. supply chain competitiveness. The purpose of this paper is to suggest select strategies for supply chain competitiveness in the Indian manufacturing sector using an integrated approach of literature review and exploratory interviews with eminent professionals from the supply chain area in various industries, academia and research. The aim of the paper is to highlight the important area of competitiveness in the supply chain and to suggest recommendations to the industry and managers of manufacturing sector.
Abstract: In this paper, we have proposed a novel FinFET with
extended body under the poly gate, which is called EB-FinFET, and
its characteristic is demonstrated by using three-dimensional (3-D)
numerical simulation. We have analyzed and compared it with
conventional FinFET. The extended body height dependence on the
drain induced barrier lowering (DIBL) and subthreshold swing (S.S)
have been also investigated. According to the 3-D numerical
simulation, the proposed structure has a firm structure, an acceptable
short channel effect (SCE), a reduced series resistance, an increased
on state drain current (I
on) and a large normalized I
DS. Furthermore,
the structure can also improve corner effect and reduce self-heating
effect due to the extended body. Our results show that the EBFinFET
is excellent for nanoscale device.
Abstract: The ability to recognize humans and their activities by computer vision is a very important task, with many potential application. Study of human motion analysis is related to several research areas of computer vision such as the motion capture, detection, tracking and segmentation of people. In this paper, we describe a segmentation method for extracting human body contour in modified HLS color space. To estimate a background, the modified HLS color space is proposed, and the background features are estimated by using the HLS color components. Here, the large amount of human dataset, which was collected from DV cameras, is pre-processed. The human body and its contour is successfully extracted from the image sequences.
Abstract: In this paper we propose a new traffic simulation
package, TDMSim, which supports both macroscopic and
microscopic simulation on free-flowing and regulated traffic systems.
Both simulators are based on travel demands, which specify the
numbers of vehicles departing from origins to arrive at different
destinations. The microscopic simulator implements the carfollowing
model given the pre-defined routes of the vehicles but also
supports the rerouting of vehicles. We also propose a macroscopic
simulator which is built in integration with the microscopic simulator
to allow the simulation to be scaled for larger networks without
sacrificing the precision achievable through the microscopic
simulator. The macroscopic simulator also enables the reuse of
previous simulation results when simulating traffic on the same
networks at later time. Validations have been conducted to show the
correctness of both simulators.
Abstract: Linear stochastic estimation and quadratic stochastic
estimation techniques were applied to estimate the entire velocity
flow-field of an open cavity with a length to depth ratio of 2. The
estimations were done through the use of instantaneous velocity
magnitude as estimators. These measurements were obtained by
Particle Image Velocimetry. The predicted flow was compared
against the original flow-field in terms of the Reynolds stresses and
turbulent kinetic energy. Quadratic stochastic estimation proved to be
more superior than linear stochastic estimation in resolving the shear
layer flow. When the velocity fluctuations were scaled up in the
quadratic estimate, both the time-averaged quantities and the
instantaneous cavity flow can be predicted to a rather accurate extent.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to compare the
sensitometric properties of commonly used radiographic films
processed with chemical solutions in different workload hospitals.
The effect of different processing conditions on induced densities on
radiologic films was investigated. Two accessible double emulsions
Fuji and Kodak films were exposed with 11-step wedge and
processed with Champion and CPAC processing solutions. The
mentioned films provided in both workloads centers, high and low.
Our findings displays that the speed and contrast of Kodak filmscreen
in both work load (high and low) is higher than Fuji filmscreen
for both processing solutions. However there was significant
differences in films contrast for both workloads when CPAC solution
had been used (p=0.000 and 0.028). The results showed base plus
fog density for Kodak film was lower than Fuji. Generally Champion
processing solution caused more speed and contrast for investigated
films in different conditions and there was significant differences in
95% confidence level between two used processing solutions
(p=0.01). Low base plus fog density for Kodak films provide more
visibility and accuracy and higher contrast results in using lower
exposure factors to obtain better quality in resulting radiographs. In
this study we found an economic advantages since Champion
solution and Kodak film are used while it makes lower patient dose.
Thus, in a radiologic facility any change in film processor/processing
cycle or chemistry should be carefully investigated before
radiological procedures of patients are acquired.
Abstract: Two commercial proteases from Bacillus
licheniformis (Alcalase 2.4 L FG and Alcalase 2.5 L, Type DX) were
screened for the production of Z-Ala-Phe-NH2 in batch reaction.
Alcalase 2.4 L FG was the most efficient enzyme for the C-terminal
amidation of Z-Ala-Phe-OMe using ammonium carbamate as
ammonium source. Immobilization of protease has been achieved by
the sol-gel method, using dimethyldimethoxysilane (DMDMOS) and
tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) as precursors (unpublished results). In
batch production, about 95% of Z-Ala-Phe-NH2 was obtained at
30°C after 24 hours of incubation. Reproducibility of different
batches of commercial Alcalase 2.4 L FG preparations was also
investigated by evaluating the amidation activity and the entrapment
yields in the case of immobilization. A packed-bed reactor (0.68 cm
ID, 15.0 cm long) was operated successfully for the continuous
synthesis of peptide amides. The immobilized enzyme retained the
initial activity over 10 cycles of repeated use in continuous reactor at
ambient temperature. At 0.75 mL/min flow rate of the substrate
mixture, the total conversion of Z-Ala-Phe-OMe was achieved after 5
hours of substrate recycling. The product contained about 90%
peptide amide and 10% hydrolysis byproduct.
Abstract: A boundary layer wind tunnel facility has been
adopted in order to conduct experimental measurements of the flow field around a model of the Panorama Giustinelli Building, Trieste
(Italy). Information on the main flow structures has been obtained by means of flow visualization techniques and has been compared to the
numerical predictions of the vortical structures spread on top of the roof, in order to investigate the optimal positioning for a vertical-axis
wind energy conversion system, registering a good agreement between experimental measurements and numerical predictions.
Abstract: The current study begins with an awareness that
today-s media environment is characterized by technological
development and a new way of reading caused by the introduction of
the Internet. The researcher conducted a meta analysis framed within
Technological Determinism to investigate the process of hypertext
reading, its differences from linear reading and the effects such
differences can have on people-s ways of mentally structuring their
world. The relationship between literacy and the comprehension
achieved by reading hypertexts is also investigated. The results show
hypertexts are not always user friendly. People experience hyperlinks
as interruptions that distract their attention generating comprehension
and disorientation. On one hand hypertextual jumping reading
generates interruptions that finally make people lose their
concentration. On the other hand hypertexts fascinate people who
would rather read a document in such a format even though the
outcome is often frustrating and affects their ability to elaborate and
retain information.
Abstract: Business scenario is an important technique that may be used at various stages of the enterprise architecture to derive its characteristics based on the high-level requirements of the business. In terms of wireless deployments, they are used to help identify and understand business needs involving wireless services, and thereby to derive the business requirements that the architecture development has to address by taking into account of various wireless challenges. This study assesses the deployment of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) solutions for several business scenarios in Asia Pacific region. This paper focuses on the overview of the business and technology environments, whereby examples of existing (or suggested) wireless solutions (to be) adopted in Asia Pacific region will be discussed. Interactions of several players, enabling technologies, and key processes in the wireless environments are studied. The analysis and discussions associated to this study are divided into two divisions: healthcare and education, where the merits of wireless solutions in improving living quality are highlighted.
Abstract: In this paper, the optimum weight and cost of a laminated composite plate is seeked, while it undergoes the heaviest load prior to a complete failure. Various failure criteria are defined for such structures in the literature. In this work, the Tsai-Hill theory is used as the failure criterion. The theory of analysis was based on the Classical Lamination Theory (CLT). A newly type of Genetic Algorithm (GA) as an optimization technique with a direct use of real variables was employed. Yet, since the optimization via GAs is a long process, and the major time is consumed through the analysis, Radial Basis Function Neural Networks (RBFNN) was employed in predicting the output from the analysis. Thus, the process of optimization will be carried out through a hybrid neuro-GA environment, and the procedure will be carried out until a predicted optimum solution is achieved.
Abstract: The background estimation approach using a small
window median filter is presented on the bases of analyzing IR point
target, noise and clutter model. After simplifying the two-dimensional
filter, a simple method of adopting one-dimensional median filter is
illustrated to make estimations of background according to the
characteristics of IR scanning system. The adaptive threshold is used
to segment canceled image in the background. Experimental results
show that the algorithm achieved good performance and satisfy the
requirement of big size image-s real-time processing.
Abstract: The principal objective of this study is to be able to
extract niobium oxide from columbite-tantalite concentrate of Thayet
Kon Area in Nay Phi Taw. It is recovered from columbite-tantalite
concentrate which contains 19.29 % Nb2O5.The recovery of niobium
oxide from columbite-tantalite concentrate can be divided into three
main sections, namely, digestion of the concentrate, recovery from
the leached solution and precipitation and calcinations. The
concentrate was digested with hydrofluoric acid and sulfuric acid. Of
the various parameters that effect acidity and time were studied. In
the recovery section solvent extraction process using methyl isobutyl
ketone was investigated. Ammonium hydroxide was used as a
precipitating agent and the precipitate was later calcined. The
percentage of niobium oxide is 74%.
Abstract: Many methods exist for either measuring or estimating
evaporation from free water surfaces. Evaporation pans provide one
of the simplest, inexpensive, and most widely used methods of
estimating evaporative losses. In this study, the rate of evaporation
starting from a water surface was calculated by modeling with
application to dams in wet, arid and semi arid areas in Algeria.
We calculate the evaporation rate from the pan using the energy
budget equation, which offers the advantage of an ease of use, but
our results do not agree completely with the measurements taken by
the National Agency of areas carried out using dams located in areas
of different climates. For that, we develop a mathematical model to
simulate evaporation. This simulation uses an energy budget on the
level of a vat of measurement and a Computational Fluid Dynamics
(Fluent). Our calculation of evaporation rate is compared then by the
two methods and with the measures of areas in situ.
Abstract: The acidity of different raw Jordanian clays
containing zeolite, bentonite, red and white kaolinite and diatomite
was characterized by means of temperature programmed desorption
(TPD) of ammonia, conversion of 2-methyl-3-butyn-2-ol (MBOH),
FTIR and BET-measurements. FTIR spectra proved presence of
silanol and bridged hydroxyls on the clay surface. The number of
acidic sites was calculated from experimental TPD-profiles. We
observed the decrease of surface acidity correlates with the decrease
of Si/Al ratio except for diatomite. On the TPD-plot for zeolite two
maxima were registered due to different strength of surface acidic
sites. Values of MBOH conversion, product yields and selectivity
were calculated for the catalysis on Jordanian clays. We obtained that
all clay samples are able to convert MBOH into a major product
which is 3-methyl-3-buten-1-yne (MBYNE) catalyzed by acid
surface sites with the selectivity close to 70%. There was found a
correlation between MBOH conversion and acidity of clays
determined by TPD-NH3, i.e. the higher the acidity the higher the
conversion of MBOH. However, diatomite provided the lowest
conversion of MBOH as result of poor polarization of silanol groups.
Comparison of surface areas and conversions revealed the highest
density of active sites for red kaolinite and the lowest for zeolite and
diatomite.
Abstract: The problem of frequent pattern discovery is defined
as the process of searching for patterns such as sets of features or items that appear in data frequently. Finding such frequent patterns
has become an important data mining task because it reveals associations, correlations, and many other interesting relationships
hidden in a database. Most of the proposed frequent pattern mining
algorithms have been implemented with imperative programming
languages. Such paradigm is inefficient when set of patterns is large
and the frequent pattern is long. We suggest a high-level declarative
style of programming apply to the problem of frequent pattern
discovery. We consider two languages: Haskell and Prolog. Our
intuitive idea is that the problem of finding frequent patterns should
be efficiently and concisely implemented via a declarative paradigm
since pattern matching is a fundamental feature supported by most
functional languages and Prolog. Our frequent pattern mining
implementation using the Haskell and Prolog languages confirms our
hypothesis about conciseness of the program. The comparative
performance studies on line-of-code, speed and memory usage of
declarative versus imperative programming have been reported in the
paper.
Abstract: The feasibility of applying a simple and cost effective sliding friction testing apparatus to study the friction behaviour of a clutch facing material, effected by the variation of temperature and contact pressure, was investigated. It was found that the method used in this work was able to give a convenient and cost effective measurement of friction coefficients and their transitions of a clutch facing material. The obtained results will be useful for the development process of new facing materials.
Abstract: We present design, fabrication, and characterization of
a small (12 mm × 12 mm × 8 mm) movable railway vehicle for sensor
carrying. The miniature railway vehicle (MRV) was mainly composed
of a vibrational structure and three legs. A railway was designed and
fabricated to power and guide the MRV. It also transmits the sensed
data from the MRV to the signal processing unit. The MRV with legs
on the railway was moving due to its high-frequency vibration. A
model was derived to describe the motion. Besides, FEM simulations
were performed to design the legs. Then, the MRV and the railway
were fabricated by precision machining. Finally, an infrared sensor
was carried and tested. The result shows that the MRV without loading
was moving along the railway and its maximum speed was 12.2 mm/s.
Moreover, the testing signal was sensed by the MRV.
Abstract: The cable tower of Liede Bridge is a double-column curved-lever arched-beam portal framed structure. Being novel and unique in structure, its cable tower differs in complexity from traditional ones. This paper analyzes the ultimate load capacity of cable tower by adopting the finite element calculations and model tests which indicate that constitutive relations applied here give a better simulation of actual failure process of prestressed reinforced concrete. In vertical load, horizontal load and overloading tests, the stepped loading of the tower model is of linear relationship, and the test data has good repeatability. All suggests that the cable tower has good bearing capacity, rational design and high emergency capacity.
Abstract: The mathematical framework for studying of a fuzzy approximate reasoning is presented in this paper. Two important defuzzification methods (Area defuzzification and Height defuzzification) besides the center of gravity method which is the best well known defuzzification method are described. The continuity of the defuzzification methods and its application to a fuzzy feedback control are discussed.