Abstract: Stochastic resonance (SR) is a phenomenon whereby
the signal transmission or signal processing through certain nonlinear
systems can be improved by adding noise. This paper discusses SR in
nonlinear signal detection by a simple test statistic, which can be
computed from multiple noisy data in a binary decision problem based
on a maximum a posteriori probability criterion. The performance of
detection is assessed by the probability of detection error Per . When
the input signal is subthreshold signal, we establish that benefit from
noise can be gained for different noises and confirm further that the
subthreshold SR exists in nonlinear signal detection. The efficacy of
SR is significantly improved and the minimum of Per can
dramatically approach to zero as the sample number increases. These
results show the robustness of SR in signal detection and extend the
applicability of SR in signal processing.
Abstract: E-tailing websites are often perceived to be static, impersonal and distant. However, with the movement of the World Wide Web to Web 2.0 in recent years, these online websites have been found to display personalities akin to 'humanistic' qualities and project impressions much like its retailing counterpart i.e. salespeople. This paper examines the personality of e-tailing websites and their impact on consumers- initial trust towards the sites. A total of 239 Internet users participated in this field experiment study which utilized 6 online book retailers- websites that the participants had not previously visited before. Analysis revealed that out of four website personalities (sincerity, competence, excitement and sophistication) only sincerity and competence are able to exert an influence in building consumers- trust upon their first visit to the website. The implications of the findings are further elaborated in this paper.
Abstract: In most of the popular implementation of Parallel GAs
the whole population is divided into a set of subpopulations, each
subpopulation executes GA independently and some individuals are
migrated at fixed intervals on a ring topology. In these studies,
the migrations usually occur 'synchronously' among subpopulations.
Therefore, CPUs are not used efficiently and the communication
do not occur efficiently either. A few studies tried asynchronous
migration but it is hard to implement and setting proper parameter
values is difficult.
The aim of our research is to develop a migration method which is
easy to implement, which is easy to set parameter values, and which
reduces communication traffic. In this paper, we propose a traffic
reduction method for the Asynchronous Parallel Distributed GA by
migration of elites only. This is a Server-Client model. Every client
executes GA on a subpopulation and sends an elite information to the
server. The server manages the elite information of each client and
the migrations occur according to the evolution of sub-population in
a client. This facilitates the reduction in communication traffic.
To evaluate our proposed model, we apply it to many function optimization
problems. We confirm that our proposed method performs
as well as current methods, the communication traffic is less, and
setting of the parameters are much easier.
Abstract: In the supply chain management customer is the most
significant component and mass customization is mostly related to
customers because it is the capability of any industry or organization
to deliver highly customized products and its services to the
respective customers with flexibility and integration, providing such
a variety of products that nearly everyone can find what they want.
Today all over the world many companies and markets are facing
varied situations that at one side customers are demanding that their
orders should be completed as quickly as possible while on other
hand it requires highly customized products and services. By
applying mass customization some companies face unwanted cost
and complexity. Now they are realizing that they should completely
examine what kind of customization would be best suited for their
companies. In this paper authors review some approaches and
principles which show effect in supply chain management that can be
adopted and used by companies for quickly meeting the customer
orders at reduced cost, with minimum amount of inventory and
maximum efficiency.
Abstract: Energy Efficiency Management is the heart of a
worldwide problem. The capability of a multi-agent system as a
technology to manage the micro-grid operation has already been
proved. This paper deals with the implementation of a decisional
pattern applied to a multi-agent system which provides intelligence to
a distributed local energy network considered at local consumer level.
Development of multi-agent application involves agent
specifications, analysis, design, and realization. Furthermore, it can
be implemented by following several decisional patterns. The
purpose of present article is to suggest a new approach for a
decisional pattern involving a multi-agent system to control a
distributed local energy network in a decentralized competitive
system. The proposed solution is the result of a dichotomous
approach based on environment observation. It uses an iterative
process to solve automatic learning problems and converges
monotonically very fast to system attracting operation point.
Abstract: This study investigated the relationships between the
active learning strategies (discussion, video clips, game show, role–
play, five minute paper, clarification pauses, and small group) and
academic achievement among a sample of 158 undergraduate
psychology students in The University of the West Indies (UWI),
Barbados. Results revealed statistically significant positive
correlations between active learning strategies and students’
academic achievement; so also the active learning strategies
contributed 22% (Rsq=0.222) to the variance being accounted for in
academic achievement and this was found to be statistically
significant (F(7,150) = 6.12, p < .05). Additionally, group work
emerged as the best active learning strategy and had the highest
correlation with the students’ academic achievement. These results
were discussed in the light of the importance of the active learning
strategies promoting academic achievement among the university
students.
Abstract: For the communication between human and computer
in an interactive computing environment, the gesture recognition is
studied vigorously. Therefore, a lot of studies have proposed efficient
methods about the recognition algorithm using 2D camera captured
images. However, there is a limitation to these methods, such as the
extracted features cannot fully represent the object in real world.
Although many studies used 3D features instead of 2D features for
more accurate gesture recognition, the problem, such as the processing
time to generate 3D objects, is still unsolved in related researches.
Therefore we propose a method to extract the 3D features combined
with the 3D object reconstruction. This method uses the modified
GPU-based visual hull generation algorithm which disables unnecessary
processes, such as the texture calculation to generate three kinds
of 3D projection maps as the 3D feature: a nearest boundary, a farthest
boundary, and a thickness of the object projected on the base-plane. In
the section of experimental results, we present results of proposed
method on eight human postures: T shape, both hands up, right hand
up, left hand up, hands front, stand, sit and bend, and compare the
computational time of the proposed method with that of the previous
methods.
Abstract: This study examines appearances of brand placement
as an alternative communication strategy in television series by
focusing on Yalan Dünya which is one of the most popular television
series in Turkey. Consequently, this study has a descriptive research
design and quantitative content analysis method is used in order to
analyze frequency and time data of brand placement appearances in
first 3 seasons of Yalan Dünya with 16 episodes.
Analysis of brand placement practices in Yalan Dünya is dealt in
three categories: episode-based analysis, season-based analysis and
comparative analysis. At the end, brand placement practices in Yalan
Dünya are evaluated in terms of type, form, duration and legal
arrangements.
As a result of this study, it is seen that brand placement plays a
determinant role in Yalan Dünya content. Also, current legal
arrangements make brand placement closer to other traditional
communication strategies instead of differing brand placement from
them distinctly.
Abstract: Films of pure tin oxide SnO2 and in presence of
antimony atoms (SnO2-Sb) deposited onto glass substrates have
shown a sufficiently high energy gap to be transparent in the visible
region, a high electrical mobility and a carrier concentration which
displays a good electrical conductivity [1]. In this work, the effects of
polycrystalline silicon substrate on the optical properties of pure and
Sb doped tin oxide is investigated.
We used the APCVD (atmospheric pressure chemical vapour
deposition) technique, which is a low-cost and simple technique,
under nitrogen ambient, for growing this material. A series of SnO2
and SnO2-Sb have been deposited onto polycrystalline silicon
substrates with different contents of antimony atoms at the same
conditions of deposition (substrate temperature, flow oxygen,
duration and nitrogen atmosphere of the reactor). The effect of the
substrate in terms of morphology and nonlinear optical properties,
mainly the reflectance, was studied. The reflectance intensity of the
device, compared to the reflectance of tin oxide films deposited
directly on glass substrate, is clearly reduced on the overall
wavelength range. It is obvious that the roughness of the poly-c
silicon plays an important role by improving the reflectance and
hence the optical parameters.
A clear shift in the minimum of the reflectance upon doping level
is observed. This minimum corresponds to strong free carrier
absorption, resulting in different plasma frequency. This effect is
followed by an increase in the reflectance depending of the antimony
doping. Applying the extended Drude theory to the combining
optical and electrical obtained results these effects are discussed.
Abstract: This paper covers the present situation and problem of experimental teaching of mathematics specialty in recent years, puts
forward and demonstrates experimental teaching methods for different
education. From the aspects of content and experimental teaching
approach, uses as an example the course “Experiment for Program
Designing & Algorithmic Language" and discusses teaching practice
and laboratory course work. In addition a series of successful methods
and measures are introduced in experimental teaching.
Abstract: Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) are an emerging
technology for last-mile broadband access. In WMNs, similar to ad
hoc networks, each user node operates not only as a host but also as a
router. User packets are forwarded to and from an Internet-connected
gateway in multi-hop fashion. The WMNs can be integrated with
other networking technologies i.e. ad hoc networks, to implement a
smooth network extension. The meshed topology provides good
reliability and scalability, as well as low upfront investments. Despite
the recent start-up surge in WMNs, much research remains to be
done in standardizing the functional parameters of WMNs to fully
exploit their full potential. An edifice of the security concerns of
these networks is authentication of a new client joining an integrated
ad hoc network and such a scenario will require execution of a multihop
authentication technique. Our endeavor in this paper is to
introduce a secure authentication technique, with light over-heads
that can be conveniently implemented for the ad-hoc nodes forming
clients of an integrated WMN, thus facilitating their inter-operability.
Abstract: This paper presents the development of an MODAPTS based cost estimating system to help designers in estimating the manufacturing cost of a assembly products which is belonged from the workers in working fields. Competitiveness of manufacturing cost is getting harder because of the development of Information and telecommunication, but also globalization. Therefore, the accuracy of the assembly cost estimation is getting important. DFA and MODAPTS is useful method for measuring the working hour. But these two methods are used just as a timetable. Therefore, in this paper, we suggest the process of measuring the working hours by MODAPTS which includes the working field-s accurate information. In addition, we adduce the estimation method of accuracy assembly cost with the real information. This research could be useful for designers that can estimate the assembly cost more accurately, and also effective for the companies that which are concerned to reduce the product cost.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to trace the effects of growth environment on the behaviour of fattening pigs in the farm and outside it. Behavioral manifestations of pigs reared in pens with enriched environment (A lot, n: 22) were different from those of pigs reared in pens with arid environment (B lot, n: 17) in shelter and when the movement to be loaded. Pigs of B lot spent more time on the move (31%) compared to group A pigs (13%), and manifested more aggressive behavior when they were loaded. Salivary cortisol levels also showed high values for pigs in B lot after being removed from their growth environment, as compared to its concentration for A lot pigs. The enriched environment for pigs may determine different responses of behavior. Pigs raised in arid environment, were easier to loaded than pigs reared in enriched environment, but they responded to mixing and loading stress, through increases in cortisol concentrations and impaired behavioral manifestations.
Abstract: The Beshar River is one aquatic ecosystem,which is
affected by pollutants. This study was conducted to evaluate the
effects of human activities on the water quality of the Beshar river.
This river is approximately 190 km in length and situated at the
geographical positions of 51° 20' to 51° 48' E and 30° 18' to 30° 52'
N it is one of the most important aquatic ecosystems of Kohkiloye
and Boyerahmad province next to the city of Yasuj in southern Iran.
The Beshar river has been contaminated by industrial, agricultural
and other activities in this region such as factories, hospitals,
agricultural farms, urban surface runoff and effluent of wastewater
treatment plants. In order to evaluate the effects of these pollutants
on the quality of the Beshar river, five monitoring stations were
selected along its course. The first station is located upstream of
Yasuj near the Dehnow village; stations 2 to 4 are located east, south
and west of city; and the 5th station is located downstream of Yasuj.
Several water quality parameters were sampled. These include pH,
dissolved oxygen, biological oxygen demand (BOD), temperature,
conductivity, turbidity, total dissolved solids and discharge or flow
measurements. Water samples from the five stations were collected
and analysed to determine the following physicochemical
parameters: EC, pH, T.D.S, T.H, No2, DO, BOD5, COD during 2008
to 2009. The study shows that the BOD5 value of station 1 is at a
minimum (1.5 ppm) and increases downstream from stations 2 to 4 to
a maximum (7.2 ppm), and then decreases at station 5. The DO
values of station 1 is a maximum (9.55 ppm), decreases downstream
to stations 2 - 4 which are at a minimum (3.4 ppm), before increasing
at station 5. The amount of BOD and TDS are highest at the 4th
station and the amount of DO is lowest at this station, marking the
4th station as more highly polluted than the other stations. The
physicochemical parameters improve at the 5th station due to
pollutant degradation and dilution. Finally the point and nonpoint
pollutant sources of Beshar river were determined and compared to
the monitoring results.
Abstract: This paper proposes an analytical method for the
dynamics of generating firms- alliance networks along with business
phases. Dynamics in network developments have previously been
discussed in the research areas of organizational strategy rather than in
the areas of regional cluster, where the static properties of the
networks are often discussed. The analytical method introduces the
concept of business phases into innovation processes and uses
relationships called prior experiences; this idea was developed in
organizational strategy to investigate the state of networks from the
viewpoints of tradeoffs between link stabilization and node
exploration. This paper also discusses the results of the analytical
method using five cases of the network developments of firms. The
idea of Embeddedness helps interpret the backgrounds of the
analytical results. The analytical method is useful for policymakers of
regional clusters to establish concrete evaluation targets and a
viewpoint for comparisons of policy programs.
Abstract: Since the 1940s, many promising telepresence
research results have been obtained. However, telepresence
technology still has not reached industrial usage. As human
intelligence is necessary for successful execution of most manual
assembly tasks, the ability of the human is hindered in some cases,
such as the assembly of heavy parts of small/medium lots or
prototypes. In such a case of manual assembly, the help of industrial
robots is mandatory. The telepresence technology can be considered
as a solution for performing assembly tasks, where the human
intelligence and haptic sense are needed to identify and minimize the
errors during an assembly process and a robot is needed to carry
heavy parts. In this paper, preliminary steps to integrate the
telepresence technology into industrial robot systems are introduced.
The system described here combines both, the human haptic sense
and the industrial robot capability to perform a manual assembly task
remotely using a force feedback joystick. Mapping between the
joystick-s Degrees of Freedom (DOF) and the robot-s ones are
introduced. Simulation and experimental results are shown and future
work is discussed.
Abstract: The anomalous generation of plasma blocks by
interaction of petawatt-picosecond laser pulses permits side-on
ignition of uncompressed solid fusion fuel following an improved
application of the hydrodynamic Chu-model for deuterium-tritium.
The new possibility of side-on laser ignition depends on accelerated
ions and produced ions beams of high energy particles by the
nonlinear ponderomotive force of the laser pulse in the plasma block,
a re-evaluation of the early hydrodynamic analysis for ignition of
inertial fusion by including inhibition factor, collective effect of
stopping power of alpha particles and the energy loss rate
reabsorption to plasma by the protons of plasma blocks being
reduced by about a factor 40.
Abstract: The effect of shearing date on behaviors and performances of 20 pregnant Rahmani ewes was evaluated in four groups (5each). Ewes were shorn at 70, 100 and 130 days of pregnancy in the first three groups respectively, while the fourth group was maintained unshorn as a control. Some behavioral and physiological data related to ewes in addition, blood cortisol level were recorded. Results revealed a significant increase in the frequencies of comfort and eating behaviors, respiratory rate, pulse rate, lamb birth weight and blood cortisol level in early and mid pregnancy shorn ewes. Also, a slight increase in pregnancy period was observed for those ewes. On the other hand, social behaviors, and core temperature were not affected by shearing. These results conclude that prenatal shearing (early and mid-pregnancy) of ewes increases the frequencies of comfort and eating behaviors, and improves the survival rates of lambs by increasing their birth weights.
Abstract: This paper considers the problem of scheduling maintenance actions for identical aircraft gas turbine engines. Each one of the turbines consists of parts which frequently require replacement. A finite inventory of spare parts is available and all parts are ready for replacement at any time. The inventory consists of both new and refurbished parts. Hence, these parts have different field lives. The goal is to find a replacement part sequencing that maximizes the time that the aircraft will keep functioning before the inventory is replenished. The problem is formulated as an identical parallel machine scheduling problem where the minimum completion time has to be maximized. Two models have been developed. The first one is an optimization model which is based on a 0-1 linear programming formulation, while the second one is an approximate procedure which consists in decomposing the problem into several two-machine subproblems. Each subproblem is optimally solved using the first model. Both models have been implemented using Lingo and have been tested on two sets of randomly generated data with up to 150 parts and 10 turbines. Experimental results show that the optimization model is able to solve only instances with no more than 4 turbines, while the decomposition procedure often provides near-optimal solutions within a maximum CPU time of 3 seconds.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect
of combining Real Experimentation (RE) With Virtual
Experimentation (VE) on students- conceptual understanding of
photo electric effect. To achieve this, a pre–post comparison study
design was used that involved 46 undergraduate students. Two
groups were set up for this study. Participants in the control group
used RE to learn photo electric effect, whereas, participants in the
experimental group used RE in the first part of the curriculum and
VE in another part. Achievement test was given to the groups
before and after the application as pre-test and post test. The
independent samples t- test, one way Anova and Tukey HSD test
were used for testing the data obtained from the study.
According to the results of analyzes, the experimental group
was found more successful than the control group.