Abstract: Concrete pavement has superior durability and longer
structural life than asphalt pavement. Concrete pavement requires
less maintenance compared to asphalt pavement which requires maintenance and major rehabilitation. Use of the concrete pavement
has been grown over the past decade in developing countries. Fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) has been successfully used in design of concrete pavement in past decade. In this research, the effect of fibre
volume fraction in modulus of rupture, load-deflection, equivalent flexural strength (fe,3) and the equivalent flexural strength ratio (Re,3)
has been used in different fibre volume fraction. Crimped-type flat
steel fibre of size 50 x 2.0 x 0.6 mm was used with 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0% volume fraction. Beam specimens of size 500 x 100 x 100 mm were used for flexural as well as with JCI method for analysis flexural toughness, equivalent flexural strength. It was obtained as the 2% fibre volume fractions; reduce 45% of the concrete pavement
thickness.
Abstract: Background: Blunt aortic trauma (BAT) includes
various morphological changes that occur during deceleration,
acceleration and/or body compression in traffic accidents. The
various forms of BAT, from limited laceration of the intima to
complete transection of the aorta, depends on the force acting on the
vessel wall and the tolerance of the aorta to injury. The force depends
on the change in velocity, the dynamics of the accident and of the
seating position in the car. Tolerance to aortic injury depends on the
anatomy, histological structure and pathomorphological alterations
due to aging or disease of the aortic wall.
An overview of the literature and medical documentation reveals
that different terms are used to describe certain forms of BAT, which
can lead to misinterpretation of findings or diagnoses. We therefore,
propose a classification that would enable uniform systematic
screening of all forms of BAT. We have classified BAT into three
morphologycal types: TYPE I (intramural), TYPE II (transmural) and
TYPE III (multiple) aortic ruptures with appropriate subtypes.
Methods: All car accident casualties examined at the Institute of
Forensic Medicine from 2001 to 2009 were included in this
retrospective study. Autopsy reports were used to determine the
occurrence of each morphological type of BAT in deceased drivers,
front seat passengers and other passengers in cars and to define the
morphology of BAT in relation to the accident dynamics and the age
of the fatalities.
Results: A total of 391 fatalities in car accidents were included in
the study. TYPE I, TYPE II and TYPE III BAT were observed in
10,9%, 55,6% and 33,5%, respectively. The incidence of BAT in
drivers, front seat and other passengers was 36,7%, 43,1% and
28,6%, respectively. In frontal collisions, the incidence of BAT was
32,7%, in lateral collisions 54,2%, and in other traffic accidents
29,3%. The average age of fatalities with BAT was 42,8 years and of
those without BAT 39,1 years.
Conclusion: Identification and early recognition of the risk factors
of BAT following a traffic accident is crucial for successful treatment
of patients with BAT. Front seat passengers over 50 years of age who
have been injured in a lateral collision are the most at risk of BAT.
Abstract: In this study concept of experimental design is
successfully applied for the determination of optimum condition to
produce PP/SWCNT (Polypropylene/Single wall carbon nanotube)
nanocomposite. Central composite design as one of experimental
design techniques is employed for the optimization and statistical
determination of the significant factors influencing on the tensile
modulus and yield stress as mechanical properties of this
nanocomposite. The significant factors are SWCNT weight fraction
and acid treatment time for functionalizing the nanoparticles.
Optimum conditions are in 0.7 % of SWCNT weight fraction and 210
min as acid treatment time for 1112.75 ± 28 MPa as maximum tensile
modulus and in 216 min and 0.65 % as acid treatment time and
SWCNT weight fraction respectively for 40.26 ± 0.3 MPa as
maximum yield stress. Also after setting new experiments for test
these optimum conditions, found excelent agreement with predicted
values.
Abstract: Many Thai movies have been very popular
domestically and internationally. Some movies were box office hits
and receiving awards. However, there has not yet been research
about how Thai movies can sell in international markets
The objectives of the research were 1) To analyze the
characteristics of Thai movies that can sell to world audiences; 2) To
investigate the factors making Thai movies into foreign markets. Thai
film professionals were interviewed. Their ideas were analyzed to
find out what factors contributing to Thai movies widely seen in
worldwide markets. Nine foreign audiences were also interviewed to
reveal what characteristics of Thai movies would be well accepted by
the markets.
The results showed that major characteristics of Thai movies
proving successful worldwide were cultural and exotic Thai movies,
outstanding genres, well-known actors, music and songs. Factors
contributing to global market were marketing, qualities of Thai
movies, and financial support from the government.
Abstract: Nanostructured materials have attracted many
researchers due to their outstanding mechanical and physical
properties. For example, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) or carbon
nanofibres (CNFs) are considered to be attractive reinforcement
materials for light weight and high strength metal matrix composites.
These composites are being projected for use in structural
applications for their high specific strength as well as functional
materials for their exciting thermal and electrical characteristics. The
critical issues of CNT-reinforced MMCs include processing
techniques, nanotube dispersion, interface, strengthening mechanisms
and mechanical properties. One of the major obstacles to the effective
use of carbon nanotubes as reinforcements in metal matrix
composites is their agglomeration and poor distribution/dispersion
within the metallic matrix. In order to tap into the advantages of the
properties of CNTs (or CNFs) in composites, the high dispersion of
CNTs (or CNFs) and strong interfacial bonding are the key issues
which are still challenging. Processing techniques used for synthesis
of the composites have been studied with an objective to achieve
homogeneous distribution of carbon nanotubes in the matrix.
Modified mechanical alloying (ball milling) techniques have emerged
as promising routes for the fabrication of carbon nanotube (CNT)
reinforced metal matrix composites. In order to obtain a
homogeneous product, good control of the milling process, in
particular control of the ball movement, is essential. The control of
the ball motion during the milling leads to a reduction in grinding
energy and a more homogeneous product. Also, the critical inner
diameter of the milling container at a particular rotational speed can
be calculated. In the present work, we use conventional and modified
mechanical alloying to generate a homogenous distribution of 2 wt.
% CNT within Al powders. 99% purity Aluminium powder (Acros,
200mesh) was used along with two different types of multiwall
carbon nanotube (MWCNTs) having different aspect ratios to
produce Al-CNT composites. The composite powders were processed
into bulk material by compaction, and sintering using a cylindrical
compaction and tube furnace. Field Emission Scanning electron
microscopy (FESEM), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Raman
spectroscopy and Vickers macro hardness tester were used to
evaluate CNT dispersion, powder morphology, CNT damage, phase
analysis, mechanical properties and crystal size determination.
Despite the success of ball milling in dispersing CNTs in Al powder,
it is often accompanied with considerable strain hardening of the Al
powder, which may have implications on the final properties of the
composite. The results show that particle size and morphology vary
with milling time. Also, by using the mixing process and sonication
before mechanical alloying and modified ball mill, dispersion of the
CNTs in Al matrix improves.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to investigate a process of modernization of the People-s Republic of China. The theme of scientific research is interesting, first, because the Chinese model of development is recognized as successful and most dynamically developing. They are obliged by these successes of the modernization spent in the country. Economy modernization as the basic motive power of progress of the country is a priority direction of development in the Republic of Kazakhstan. So the example of successful development modernization processes in China can be rather useful to use in working out of the Kazakhstan national reforms.
Abstract: Throughout this paper, a relatively new technique, the Tabu search variable selection model, is elaborated showing how it can be efficiently applied within the financial world whenever researchers come across the selection of a subset of variables from a whole set of descriptive variables under analysis. In the field of financial prediction, researchers often have to select a subset of variables from a larger set to solve different type of problems such as corporate bankruptcy prediction, personal bankruptcy prediction, mortgage, credit scoring and the Arbitrage Pricing Model (APM). Consequently, to demonstrate how the method operates and to illustrate its usefulness as well as its superiority compared to other commonly used methods, the Tabu search algorithm for variable selection is compared to two main alternative search procedures namely, the stepwise regression and the maximum R 2 improvement method. The Tabu search is then implemented in finance; where it attempts to predict corporate bankruptcy by selecting the most appropriate financial ratios and thus creating its own prediction score equation. In comparison to other methods, mostly the Altman Z-Score model, the Tabu search model produces a higher success rate in predicting correctly the failure of firms or the continuous running of existing entities.
Abstract: Li1.5Al0.5Ti1.5 (PO4)3(LATP) has received much
attention as a solid electrolyte for lithium batteries. In this study, the
LATP solid electrolyte is prepared by the co-precipitation method
using Li3PO4 as a Li source. The LATP is successfully prepared and
the Li ion conductivities of bulk (inner crystal) and total (inner crystal
and grain boundary) are 1.1 × 10-3 and 1.1 × 10-4 S cm-1, respectively.
These values are comparable to the reported values, in which Li2C2O4
is used as the Li source. It is conclude that the LATP solid electrolyte
can be prepared by the co-precipitation method using Li3PO4 as the Li
source and this procedure has an advantage in mass production over
previous procedure using Li2C2O4 because Li3PO4 is lower price
reagent compared with Li2C2O4.
Abstract: Tanzania is a developing country, which significantly lags behind the rest of the world in information communications technology (ICT), especially for the Internet. Internet connectivity to the rest of the world is via expensive satellite links, thus leaving the majority of the population unable to access the Internet due to the high cost. This paper introduces the concept of an optical WDM network for Internet infrastructure in Tanzania, so as to reduce Internet connection costs, and provide Internet access to the majority of people who live in both urban and rural areas. We also present a proposed optical WDM network, which mitigates the effects of system impairments, and provide simulation results to show that the data is successfully transmitted over a longer distance using a WDM network.
Abstract: In this work, we present for the first time in our
perception an efficient digital watermarking scheme for mpeg audio
layer 3 files that operates directly in the compressed data domain,
while manipulating the time and subband/channel domain. In
addition, it does not need the original signal to detect the watermark.
Our scheme was implemented taking special care for the efficient
usage of the two limited resources of computer systems: time and
space. It offers to the industrial user the capability of watermark
embedding and detection in time immediately comparable to the real
music time of the original audio file that depends on the mpeg
compression, while the end user/audience does not face any artifacts
or delays hearing the watermarked audio file. Furthermore, it
overcomes the disadvantage of algorithms operating in the PCMData
domain to be vulnerable to compression/recompression attacks,
as it places the watermark in the scale factors domain and not in the
digitized sound audio data. The strength of our scheme, that allows it
to be used with success in both authentication and copyright
protection, relies on the fact that it gives to the users the enhanced
capability their ownership of the audio file not to be accomplished
simply by detecting the bit pattern that comprises the watermark
itself, but by showing that the legal owner knows a hard to compute
property of the watermark.
Abstract: The analysis is mainly concentrating on the knowledge
management literatures productivity trend which subjects as
“knowledge management" in SSCI database. The purpose what the
analysis will propose is to summarize the trend information for
knowledge management researchers since core knowledge will be
concentrated in core categories. The result indicated that the literature
productivity which topic as “knowledge management" is still
increasing extremely and will demonstrate the trend by different
categories including author, country/territory, institution name,
document type, language, publication year, and subject area. Focus on
the right categories, you will catch the core research information. This
implies that the phenomenon "success breeds success" is more
common in higher quality publications.
Abstract: The objectives of this research were to compare the success of SME registered in Nakorn Pathom Province divided in personal data also to study the relations between the innovation knowledge and capability and the success of SME registered in Nakorn Pathom Province and to study the relations between the work efficiency and the success of SME registered in Nakorn Pathom Province. A questionnaire was utilized as a tool to collect data. Statistics utilized in this research included frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and multiple regression analysis. Data were analyzed by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences.The findings revealed that the majority of respondents were male with the age between 25-34 years old, hold undergraduate degree, married and stay together. The average income of respondents was between 10,001-20,000 baht. It also found that in terms of innovation knowledge and capability, there were two variables had an influence on the amount of innovation knowledge and capability, innovation evaluation which were physical characteristic and innovation process.
Abstract: This research documents a qualitative study of
selected Native Americans who have successfully graduated from
mainstream higher education institutions. The research framework
explored the Bicultural Identity Formation Model as a means of
understanding the expressions of the students' adaptations to
mainstream education. This approach lead to an awareness of how
the participants in the study used specific cultural and social
strategies to enhance their educational success and also to an
awareness of how they coped with cultural dissonance to achieve a
new academic identity. Research implications impact a larger
audience of bicultural, foreign, or international students experiencing
cultural dissonance.
Abstract: We successfully developed and tested a new
separation layer solving problems with unmanageable deposits inside the boilers of Zluticka Heating Plant. The deposits are mainly created
by glass-forming melts. We plotted straw ash compositions in K2OCaO-
SiO2 phase diagram and illustrated that they are in the area of low-melting eutectic points. To prevent the melting of ash and the
formation of deposits, we modified ash compositions by injecting additives into biomass fuel, and thus effectively suppressed deposits in a burner.
Abstract: The modern world is experiencing fundamental and dynamic changes. The transformation of international relations; the end of confrontation and successive overcoming of the Cold War consequences have expanded possible international cooperation. The global nuclear conflict threat has been minimized, while a tendency to establish a unipolar world structure with the U.S. economic and power domination is growing. The current world system of international relations, apparently is secular. However, the religious beliefs of one or another nations play a certain (sometimes a key) role, both in the domestic affairs of the individual countries and in the development of bilateral ties. Political situation in Central Asia has been characterized by new factors such as international terrorism; religious extremism and radicalism; narcotrafficking and illicit arms trade of a global character immediately threaten to peace and political stability in Central Asia. The role and influence of Islamic fundamentalism is increasing; political ethnocentrism and the associated aggravation of inter-ethnic relations, the ambiguity of national interests and objectives of major geo-political groups in the Central Asian region regarding the division the political influence, emerge. This article approaches the following issues: the role of Islam in Central Asia; destabilizing factors in Central Asia; Islamic movements in Central Asia, Western Europe and the United States; the United States, Western Europe and Central Asia: religion, politics, ideology, and the US-Central Asia antiterrorism and religious extremism cooperation.
Abstract: Recent scientific investigations indicate that
multimodal biometrics overcome the technical limitations of
unimodal biometrics, making them ideally suited for everyday life
applications that require a reliable authentication system. However,
for a successful adoption of multimodal biometrics, such systems
would require large heterogeneous datasets with complex multimodal
fusion and privacy schemes spanning various distributed
environments. From experimental investigations of current
multimodal systems, this paper reports the various issues related to
speed, error-recovery and privacy that impede the diffusion of such
systems in real-life. This calls for a robust mechanism that caters to
the desired real-time performance, robust fusion schemes,
interoperability and adaptable privacy policies.
The main objective of this paper is to present a framework that
addresses the abovementioned issues by leveraging on the
heterogeneous resource sharing capacities of Grid services and the
efficient machine learning capabilities of artificial neural networks
(ANN). Hence, this paper proposes a Grid-based neural network
framework for adopting multimodal biometrics with the view of
overcoming the barriers of performance, privacy and risk issues that
are associated with shared heterogeneous multimodal data centres.
The framework combines the concept of Grid services for reliable
brokering and privacy policy management of shared biometric
resources along with a momentum back propagation ANN (MBPANN)
model of machine learning for efficient multimodal fusion and
authentication schemes. Real-life applications would be able to adopt
the proposed framework to cater to the varying business requirements
and user privacies for a successful diffusion of multimodal
biometrics in various day-to-day transactions.
Abstract: Face authentication for access control is a face
membership authentication which passes the person of the incoming
face if he turns out to be one of an enrolled person based on face
recognition or rejects if not. Face membership authentication belongs
to the two class classification problem where SVM(Support Vector
Machine) has been successfully applied and shows better performance
compared to the conventional threshold-based classification. However,
most of previous SVMs have been trained using image feature vectors
extracted from face images of each class member(enrolled
class/unenrolled class) so that they are not robust to variations in
illuminations, poses, and facial expressions and much affected by
changes in member configuration of the enrolled class
In this paper, we propose an effective face membership
authentication method based on SVM using class discriminating
features which represent an incoming face image-s associability with
each class distinctively. These class discriminating features are weakly
related with image features so that they are less affected by variations
in illuminations, poses and facial expression.
Through experiments, it is shown that the proposed face
membership authentication method performs better than the threshold
rule-based or the conventional SVM-based authentication methods and
is relatively less affected by changes in member size and membership.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to propose an integrated
consumer health informatics utilization framework that can be used
to gauge the online health information needs and usage patterns
among Malaysian women. The proposed framework was developed
based on four different theories/models: Use and Gratification
Theory, Technology Acceptance 3 Model, Health Belief Model, and
Multi-level Model of Information Seeking. The relevant constructs
and research hypotheses are also presented in this paper. The
framework will be tested in order for it to be used successfully to
identify Malaysian women-s preferences of online health information
resources and health information seeking activities.
Abstract: This paper presents findings from the evaluation study carried out to review the UAE national ID card software. The paper consults the relevant literature to explain many of the concepts and frameworks explained herein. The findings of the evaluation work that was primarily based on the ISO 9126 standard for system quality measurement highlighted many practical areas that if taken into account is argued to more likely increase the success chances of similar system implementation projects.
Abstract: In this study, a classification-based video
super-resolution method using artificial neural network (ANN) is
proposed to enhance low-resolution (LR) to high-resolution (HR)
frames. The proposed method consists of four main steps:
classification, motion-trace volume collection, temporal adjustment,
and ANN prediction. A classifier is designed based on the edge
properties of a pixel in the LR frame to identify the spatial information.
To exploit the spatio-temporal information, a motion-trace volume is
collected using motion estimation, which can eliminate unfathomable
object motion in the LR frames. In addition, temporal lateral process is
employed for volume adjustment to reduce unnecessary temporal
features. Finally, ANN is applied to each class to learn the complicated
spatio-temporal relationship between LR and HR frames. Simulation
results show that the proposed method successfully improves both
peak signal-to-noise ratio and perceptual quality.