Abstract: Diabetes is one of the high prevalence diseases
worldwide with increased number of complications, with retinopathy
as one of the most common one. This paper describes how data
mining and case-based reasoning were integrated to predict
retinopathy prevalence among diabetes patients in Malaysia. The
knowledge base required was built after literature reviews and
interviews with medical experts. A total of 140 diabetes patients- data
were used to train the prediction system. A voting mechanism selects
the best prediction results from the two techniques used. It has been
successfully proven that both data mining and case-based reasoning
can be used for retinopathy prediction with an improved accuracy of
85%.
Abstract: This paper presents a systematic procedure for modelling and simulation of a power system installed with a power system stabilizer (PSS) and a flexible ac transmission system (FACTS)-based controller. For the design purpose, the model of example power system which is a single-machine infinite-bus power system installed with the proposed controllers is developed in MATLAB/SIMULINK. In the developed model synchronous generator is represented by model 1.1. which includes both the generator main field winding and the damper winding in q-axis so as to evaluate the impact of PSS and FACTS-based controller on power system stability. The model can be can be used for teaching the power system stability phenomena, and also for research works especially to develop generator controllers using advanced technologies. Further, to avoid adverse interactions, PSS and FACTS-based controller are simultaneously designed employing genetic algorithm (GA). The non-linear simulation results are presented for the example power system under various disturbance conditions to validate the effectiveness of the proposed modelling and simultaneous design approach.
Abstract: This article is investigating Boria which is a kind of common performance in Malaysia. Boria has been known as Boria and Borea and both are correct, but Boria is more common. Boria is a folk performance unique to Penang. This theatre style reached Penang in the mid-19th century and is believed to be derived from the Shia Islamic Passion play performed during the Muslim month of Muharram to commemorate the martyrs of Kerbela. These days in Malaysia (especially Penang) Boria mentions to a choral street performance performed annually by a number of groups composed mostly of Sunni Malaysian. Boria are performed for entertainment and often include an annual singing competition. The size, membership, themes and movements of each Boria troupe may vary from year to year. Similarly, the themes and contents of the Boria performed by the different troupes also changes each year and can have a comical, political or satirical notion. It is common to most groups during the first ten days of Muharram Boria generally is done.
Abstract: Emotion in speech is an issue that has been attracting
the interest of the speech community for many years, both in the
context of speech synthesis as well as in automatic speech
recognition (ASR). In spite of the remarkable recent progress in
Large Vocabulary Recognition (LVR), it is still far behind the
ultimate goal of recognising free conversational speech uttered by
any speaker in any environment. Current experimental tests prove
that using state of the art large vocabulary recognition systems the
error rate increases substantially when applied to
spontaneous/emotional speech. This paper shows that recognition
rate for emotionally coloured speech can be improved by using a
language model based on increased representation of emotional
utterances.
Abstract: For the characterization of the weld defect region in the radiographic image, looking for features which are invariant regarding the geometrical transformations (rotation, translation and scaling) proves to be necessary because the same defect can be seen from several angles according to the orientation and the distance from the welded framework to the radiation source. Thus, panoply of geometrical attributes satisfying the above conditions is proposed and which result from the calculation of the geometrical parameters (surface, perimeter, etc.) on the one hand and the calculation of the different order moments, on the other hand. Because the large range in values of the raw features and taking into account other considerations imposed by some classifiers, the scaling of these values to lie between 0 and 1 is indispensable. The principal component analysis technique is used in order to reduce the number of the attribute variables in the aim to give better performance to the further defect classification.
Abstract: In this paper, by employing a new Lyapunov functional
and an elementary inequality analysis technique, some sufficient
conditions are derived to ensure the existence and uniqueness of
periodic oscillatory solution for fuzzy bi-directional memory (BAM)
neural networks with time-varying delays, and all other solutions of
the fuzzy BAM neural networks converge the uniqueness periodic
solution. These criteria are presented in terms of system parameters
and have important leading significance in the design and applications
of neural networks. Moreover an example is given to illustrate the
effectiveness and feasible of results obtained.
Abstract: Prickly pear fruit (Opuntia ficus indica L. Miller) belongs to the Cactaceae family. This species is very sensitive to low storage temperatures (< 5°C) which cause damages. The fruits can be peeled, suitably packaged and successfully commercialized as a ready-to-eat product. The main limit to the extension of the shelf life is the production of off-flavors due to different factors, the growth of microorganisms and the action of endogenous enzymes. Lipoxygenase (LOX) and Pectinesterase (PE) are involved in fruit degradation. In particular, LOX pathway is directly responsible for lipid oxidation, and the subsequent production of off-flavours, while PE causes the softening of fruit during maturation. They act on the texture and shelf-life of post-harvest, packaged fruits, as a function of the the grown of microorganisms and packaging technologies used. The aim of this work is to compare the effect of different packaging technologies on the shelf life extension of ready-to-eat prickly pear fruits with regards for the enzymes activities.
Abstract: In the present work, we have developed a symmetric electrochemical capacitor based on the nanostructured iron oxide (Fe3O4)-activated carbon (AC) nanocomposite materials. The physical properties of the nanocomposites were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis. The electrochemical performances of the composite electrode in 1.0 M Na2SO3 and 1.0 M Na2SO4 aqueous solutions were evaluated using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The composite electrode with 4 wt% of iron oxide nanomaterials exhibits the highest capacitance of 86 F/g. The experimental results clearly indicate that the incorporation of iron oxide nanomaterials at low concentration to the composite can improve the capacitive performance, mainly attributed to the contribution of the pseudocapacitance charge storage mechanism and the enhancement on the effective surface area of the electrode. Nevertheless, there is an optimum threshold on the amount of iron oxide that needs to be incorporated into the composite system. When this optimum threshold is exceeded, the capacitive performance of the electrode starts to deteriorate, as a result of the undesired particle aggregation, which is clearly indicated in the SEM analysis. The electrochemical performance of the composite electrode is found to be superior when Na2SO3 is used as the electrolyte, if compared to the Na2SO4 solution. It is believed that Fe3O4 nanoparticles can provide favourable surface adsorption sites for sulphite (SO3 2-) anions which act as catalysts for subsequent redox and intercalation reactions.
Abstract: In this study, a 3D combustion chamber was simulated
using FLUENT 6.32. Aim to obtain detailed information on
combustion characteristics and _ nitrogen oxides in the furnace and
the effect of oxygen enrichment in a combustion process. Oxygenenriched
combustion is an effective way to reduce emissions. This
paper analyzes NO emission, including thermal NO and prompt NO.
Flow rate ratio of air to fuel is varied as 1.3, 3.2 and 5.1 and the
oxygen enriched flow rates are 28, 54 and 68 lit/min. The 3D
Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) equations with standard
k-ε turbulence model are solved together by Fluent 6.32 software.
First order upwind scheme is used to model governing equations and
the SIMPLE algorithm is used as pressure velocity coupling. Results
show that for AF=1.3, increase the oxygen flow rate of oxygen
reduction in NO emissions is Lance. Moreover, in a fixed oxygen
enrichment condition, increasing the air to fuel ratio will increase the
temperature peak, but not the NO emission rate. As a result, oxygen
enrichment can reduce the NO emission at this kind of furnace in low
air to fuel rates.
Abstract: The architecture of Safavid Dynasty can be considered the epitome of Iranian architectural beauty. Safavid dynasty (1501- 1722 AC) along with Ottoman in Turkey and Mughal Empire in India were the three great Islamic nations of their time (1500 AC) often known as the last Islamic countries with international authority up to the 20th Century. This era approximately coincide with Renaissance in Europe. In this era, large European countries begin amassing power thanks to significant scientific, cultural and religious revolutions of that time and colonizing nations such as England, Spain and Portugal began to influence international trends with in an increasing while other non-industrial nations diminished. The main objective of this paper is to give a typological overview of the development of decoration and ornament in the architecture of Safafid Dynasty in Iran. It is expected that it can start a wider discussion to enrich this nation-s heritage and contribute to the development of Islamic ornament in general.
Abstract: The paper presents a new system for the automat
control of the aircrafts- flight in lateral plane using the cinematic
model and the dynamic inversion. Starting from the equations of the
aircrafts- lateral movement, the authors use two axes systems and
obtained a control law that cancels the lateral deviation of the flying
objects from the runway line. This system makes the aircrafts-
direction angle to follow the direction angle of the runway line.
Simulations in Matlab/Simulink have been done for different
aircraft-s initial points and direction angles. The inconvenience of
this system is the long duration of the “transient regime". That is why
this system can be used independently, but the results are not very
good; thus, it can be a part (subsystem) of other systems. The main
system that cancels the lateral deviation from the runway line is
based on dynamic inversion and uses, as subsystem, the control
system for the lateral movement using the cinematic model. Using
complex Matlab/Simulink models, the authors obtained the time
evolution of the direction angle and the time evolution of the aircraft
lateral deviation with respect to the runway line, for different values
of the initial direction angle and for different wind types. The system
has a very good behavior for all initial direction angles and wind
types.
Abstract: A new secure knapsack cryptosystem based on the
Merkle-Hellman public key cryptosystem will be proposed in this
paper. Although it is common sense that when the density is low, the
knapsack cryptosystem turns vulnerable to the low-density attack. The
density d of a secure knapsack cryptosystem must be larger than
0.9408 to avoid low-density attack. In this paper, we investigate a
new Permutation Combination Algorithm. By exploiting this
algorithm, we shall propose a novel knapsack public-key cryptosystem.
Our proposed scheme can enjoy a high density to avoid the
low-density attack. The density d can also exceed 0.9408 to avoid
the low-density attack.
Abstract: This study carried out to determine the effect of plant
densities on some agronomic characteristics of four safflower cultivars in spring planting. The experiment was conducted at Yazd,
Iran- using a factorial in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Cultivars were including Arak, IL, Asteria and Local and plant densities were 10, 13.3, 20 and 40 plant/m2. Number
of seeds/head, number of heads/plant, HI, 1000-seed weight and seed yield significantly decreased as planting density increased. With increasing planting density, LAI, plant height, first branch height and
biological yield increased. The highest seed yield was obtained in 13.3 plant/m2 (2167 kg/ha). There were significant differences
between cultivars. Local cv. had higher seed yield than the other cultivars mainly due to higher heads/plant and seeds/head.
Abstract: Hydrogen is regarded to play an important role in
future energy systems because it can be produced from abundant
resources and its combustion only generates water. The disposal of
waste tyres is a major problem in environmental management
throughout the world. The use of waste materials as a source of
hydrogen is particularly of interest in that it would also solve a waste
treatment problem. There is much interest in the use of alternative
feedstocks for the production of hydrogen since more than 95% of
current production is from fossil fuels. The pyrolysis of waste tyres
for the production of liquid fuels, activated carbons and gases has
been extensively researched. However, combining pyrolysis with
gasification is a novel process that can gasify the gaseous products
from pyrolysis. In this paper, an experimental investigation into the
production of hydrogen and other gases from the bench scale
pyrolysis-gasification of tyres has been investigated. Experiments
were carried using a two stage system consisting of pyrolysis of the
waste tyres followed by catalytic steam gasification of the evolved
gases and vapours in a second reactor. Experiments were conducted
at a pyrolysis temperature of 500 °C using Ni/Al2O3 as a catalyst. The
results showed that there was a dramatic increase in gas yield and the
potential H2 production when the gasification temperature was
increased from 600 to 900 oC. Overall, the process showed that high
yields of hydrogen can be produced from waste tyres.
Abstract: Many recent electrophysiological studies have
revealed the importance of investigating meditation state in order to
achieve an increased understanding of autonomous control of
cardiovascular functions. In this paper, we characterize heart rate
variability (HRV) time series acquired during meditation using
nonlinear dynamical parameters. We have computed minimum
embedding dimension (MED), correlation dimension (CD), largest
Lyapunov exponent (LLE), and nonlinearity scores (NLS) from HRV
time series of eight Chi and four Kundalini meditation practitioners.
The pre-meditation state has been used as a baseline (control) state to
compare the estimated parameters. The chaotic nature of HRV during
both pre-meditation and meditation is confirmed by MED. The
meditation state showed a significant decrease in the value of CD and
increase in the value of LLE of HRV, in comparison with premeditation
state, indicating a less complex and less predictable nature
of HRV. In addition, it was shown that the HRV of meditation state
is having highest NLS than pre-meditation state. The study indicated
highly nonlinear dynamic nature of cardiac states as revealed by
HRV during meditation state, rather considering it as a quiescent
state.
Abstract: Arrack is one of the forms of alcoholic beverage or
liquor which is produced from palm or date juice and commonly
consumed by the lower social class of all religious/ethnic
communities in the north-western villages of Bangladesh. The
purpose of the study was to compare arrack drinking patterns
associated with socio-demographic status among the Muslim, Hindu,
Santal, and Oraon communities in the Rasulpur union of Bangladesh.
A total of 391 respondents (Muslim n-109, Hindu n-103, Santal n-89,
Oraon n-90) selected by cluster random sampling were interviewed
by ADP (Arrack Drinking Pattern) questionnaire. The results of
Pearson Chi-Squire test revealed that arrack drinking patterns were
significantly differed among the Muslim, Hindu, Santal, and Oraon
communities- drinkers. In addition, the results of Spearman-s
bivariate correlation coefficients also revealed that sociodemographic
characteristics of the communities- drinkers were the
significantly positive and negative associations with the arrack
drinking patterns in the Rasulpur union, Bangladesh. The study
suggests that further cross-cultural researches should be conducted
on the consequences of arrack drinking patterns on the communities-
drinkers.
Abstract: The functional response of an infective is the relationship
between an infected individual-s infection rate and the abundance
of the number of susceptibles that one can potentially be infected.
In this paper, we consider defensive attitudes for HIV prevention
(primary prevention) while at the same time emphasizing on offensive
attitudes that reduce infection for those infected (secondary prevention).
We look at how defenses can protect an uninfected individual
in the case where high risk groups such as commercial sex workers
and those who deliberately go out to look for partners. We propose
an infection cycle that begins with a search, then an encounter,
a proposal and contact. The infection cycle illustrates the various
steps an infected individual goes through to successfully infect a
susceptible. For heterogeneous transmission of HIV, there will be no
infection unless there is contact. The ability to avoid an encounter,
detection, proposal and contact constitute defense.
Abstract: The recognition of handwritten numeral is an
important area of research for its applications in post office, banks
and other organizations. This paper presents automatic recognition of
handwritten Kannada numerals based on structural features. Five
different types of features, namely, profile based 10-segment string,
water reservoir; vertical and horizontal strokes, end points and
average boundary length from the minimal bounding box are used in
the recognition of numeral. The effect of each feature and their
combination in the numeral classification is analyzed using nearest
neighbor classifiers. It is common to combine multiple categories of
features into a single feature vector for the classification. Instead,
separate classifiers can be used to classify based on each visual
feature individually and the final classification can be obtained based
on the combination of separate base classification results. One
popular approach is to combine the classifier results into a feature
vector and leaving the decision to next level classifier. This method
is extended to extract a better information, possibility distribution,
from the base classifiers in resolving the conflicts among the
classification results. Here, we use fuzzy k Nearest Neighbor (fuzzy
k-NN) as base classifier for individual feature sets, the results of
which together forms the feature vector for the final k Nearest
Neighbor (k-NN) classifier. Testing is done, using different features,
individually and in combination, on a database containing 1600
samples of different numerals and the results are compared with the
results of different existing methods.
Abstract: The deterministic quantum transfer-matrix (QTM)
technique and its mathematical background are presented. This
important tool in computational physics can be applied to a class of
the real physical low-dimensional magnetic systems described by the
Heisenberg hamiltonian which includes the macroscopic molecularbased
spin chains, small size magnetic clusters embedded in some
supramolecules and other interesting compounds. Using QTM, the
spin degrees of freedom are accurately taken into account, yielding
the thermodynamical functions at finite temperatures.
In order to test the application for the susceptibility calculations to
run in the parallel environment, the speed-up and efficiency of
parallelization are analyzed on our platform SGI Origin 3800 with
p = 128 processor units. Using Message Parallel Interface (MPI)
system libraries we find the efficiency of the code of 94% for
p = 128 that makes our application highly scalable.
Abstract: High strength concrete (HSC) provides high strength
but lower ductility than normal strength concrete. This low ductility
limits the benefit of using HSC in building safe structures. On the
other hand, when designing reinforced concrete beams, designers
have to limit the amount of tensile reinforcement to prevent the
brittle failure of concrete. Therefore the full potential of the use of
steel reinforcement can not be achieved. This paper presents the idea
of confining concrete in the compression zone so that the HSC will
be in a state of triaxial compression, which leads to improvements in
strength and ductility. Five beams made of HSC were cast and tested.
The cross section of the beams was 200×300 mm, with a length of 4
m and a clear span of 3.6 m subjected to four-point loading, with
emphasis placed on the midspan deflection. The first beam served as
a reference beam. The remaining beams had different tensile
reinforcement and the confinement shapes were changed to gauge
their effectiveness in improving the strength and ductility of the
beams. The compressive strength of the concrete was 85 MPa and the
tensile strength of the steel was 500 MPa and for the stirrups and
helixes was 250 MPa. Results of testing the five beams proved that
placing helixes with different diameters as a variable parameter in the
compression zone of reinforced concrete beams improve their
strength and ductility.