Abstract: One of the difficulties of the vibration-based damage identification methods is the nonuniqueness of the results of damage identification. The different damage locations and severity may cause the identical response signal, which is even more severe for detection of the multiple damage. This paper proposes a new strategy for damage detection to avoid this nonuniqueness. This strategy firstly determines the approximates damage area based on the statistical pattern recognition method using the dynamic strain signal measured by the distributed fiber Bragg grating, and then accurately evaluates the damage information based on the Bayesian model updating method using the experimental modal data. The stochastic simulation method is then used to compute the high-dimensional integral in the Bayesian problem. Finally, an experiment of the plate structure, simulating one part of mechanical structure, is used to verify the effectiveness of this approach.
Abstract: In this paper, a new method of information fusion – DSmT (Dezert and Smarandache Theory) is introduced to apply to managing and dealing with the uncertain information from robot map building. Here we build grid map form sonar sensors and laser range finder (LRF). The uncertainty mainly comes from sonar sensors and LRF. Aiming to the uncertainty in static environment, we propose Classic DSm (DSmC) model for sonar sensors and laser range finder, and construct the general basic belief assignment function (gbbaf) respectively. Generally speaking, the evidence sources are unreliable in physical system, so we must consider the discounting theory before we apply DSmT. At last, Pioneer II mobile robot serves as a simulation experimental platform. We build 3D grid map of belief layout, then mainly compare the effect of building map using DSmT and DST. Through this simulation experiment, it proves that DSmT is very successful and valid, especially in dealing with highly conflicting information. In short, this study not only finds a new method for building map under static environment, but also supplies with a theory foundation for us to further apply Hybrid DSmT (DSmH) to dynamic unknown environment and multi-robots- building map together.
Abstract: Today's business environment requires that companies have access to highly relevant information in a matter of seconds.
Modern Business Intelligence tools rely on data structured mostly in traditional dimensional database schemas, typically represented by
star schemas. Dimensional modeling is already recognized as a
leading industry standard in the field of data warehousing although
several drawbacks and pitfalls were reported. This paper focuses on
the analysis of another data warehouse modeling technique - the
anchor modeling, and its characteristics in context with the standardized dimensional modeling technique from a query performance perspective. The results of the analysis show
information about performance of queries executed on database
schemas structured according to principles of each database modeling
technique.
Abstract: The paper deals with the analysis of triggering
conditions and evolution processes of piping phenomena, in relation
to both mechanical and hydraulic aspects. In particular, the aim of
the study is to predict slope instabilities triggered by piping,
analysing the conditions necessary for a flow failure to occur. Really,
the mechanical effect involved in the loads redistribution around the
pipe is coupled to the drainage process arising from higher
permeability of the pipe. If after the pipe formation, the drainage
goes prevented for pipe clogging, the porewater pressure increase can
lead to the failure or even the liquefaction, with a subsequent flow
slide. To simulate the piping evolution and to verify relevant stability
conditions, a iterative coupled modelling approach has been pointed
out. As example, the proposed tool has been applied to the Stava
Valley disaster (July, 1985), demonstrating that piping might be one
of triggering phenomena of the tailings dams collapse.
Abstract: Sports Sciences has been historically supported by the positivism idea of science, especially by the mechanistic/reductionist and becomes a field that views experimentation and measurement as the mayor research domains. The disposition to simplify nature and the world by parts has fragmented and reduced the idea of bodyathletes as machine. In this paper we intent to re-think this perception lined by Complexity Theory. We come with the idea of athletes as a reflexive and active being (corporeity-body). Therefore, the construction of a training that considers the cultural, biological, psychological elements regarding the experience of the human corporal movements in a circumspect and responsible way could bring better chances of accomplishment. In the end, we hope to help coaches understand the intrinsic complexity of the body they are training, how better deal with it, and, in the field of a deep globalization among the different types of knowledge, to respect and accepted the peculiarities of knowledge that comprise this area.
Abstract: Spherical shaped magnetite (Fe3O4) and Au@Fe3O4
nanoparticles were successfully synthesized from Fe electrodes
immersed in water with CTAB surfactant and HAuCl4 solution using
simple method-pulsed plasma in liquid, without the use of dopants or
special conditions for stabilization. Vibrating sample magnetometer
indicated ferromagnetic behavior of particles at room temperature with
coercivity and saturation magnetization of (Hc=105 Oe, Ms=6.83
emu/g) for Fe3O4 and (Hc=175, Ms=3.56emu/g) for Au@Fe3O4
nanoparticles. Structure and morphology of nanoparticles were
characterized by X-ray Diffraction analysis and HR-TEM
measurements. The cytotoxicity of nanoparticles was indicated using a
XTT assay to be very low (cell viability: 98-89% with Fe3O4 and
99-91% for Au@Fe3O4 NPs).
Abstract: Physical and mechanical properties of Russian olive
fruits were measured at moisture content of 14.43% w.b. The results
revealed that the mean length, width and thickness of Russian olive
fruits were 20.72, 15.73 and 14.69mm, respectively. Mean mass and
volume of Russian olive fruits were measured as 1.45 g and 2.55 cm3,
respectively. The sphericity, aspect ratio and surface area were
calculated as 0.81, 0.72 and 8.96 cm2, respectively, while arithmetic
mean diameter, geometric mean diameter and equivalent diameter of
Russian olive fruits were 17.05, 16.83 and 16.84 mm, respectively.
Whole fruit density, bulk density and porosity of jujube fruits were
measured and found to be 1.01 g/cm3, 0.29 g/cm3 and 69.5%,
respectively. The values of static coefficient of friction on three
surfaces of glass, galvanized iron and plywood were 0.35, 0.36 and
0.43, respectively. The skin color (L*, a*, b*) varied from 9.92 to
16.08; 2.04 to 3.91 and 1.12 to 3.83, respectively. The values of
rupture force, deformation, energy absorbed and hardness were found
to be between 12.14-16.85 N, 2.16-4.25 mm, 3.42-6.99 N mm and
17.1-23.85 N/mm.
Abstract: This paper presents an approach for an unequal error
protection of facial features of personal ID images coding. We
consider unequal error protection (UEP) strategies for the efficient
progressive transmission of embedded image codes over noisy
channels. This new method is based on the progressive image
compression embedded zerotree wavelet (EZW) algorithm and UEP
technique with defined region of interest (ROI). In this case is ROI
equal facial features within personal ID image. ROI technique is
important in applications with different parts of importance. In ROI
coding, a chosen ROI is encoded with higher quality than the
background (BG). Unequal error protection of image is provided by
different coding techniques and encoding LL band separately. In our
proposed method, image is divided into two parts (ROI, BG) that
consist of more important bytes (MIB) and less important bytes
(LIB). The proposed unequal error protection of image transmission
has shown to be more appropriate to low bit rate applications,
producing better quality output for ROI of the compresses image.
The experimental results verify effectiveness of the design. The
results of our method demonstrate the comparison of the UEP of
image transmission with defined ROI with facial features and the
equal error protection (EEP) over additive white gaussian noise
(AWGN) channel.
Abstract: Water is the key of national development. Wherever a spring has been dried out or a river has changed its course, the area-s people have migrated and have been scattered and the area-s civilization has lost its brilliance. Today, air pollution, global warming and ozone layer damage are as the problems of countries, but certainly in the next decade the shortage and pollution of waters will be important issues of the world. The polluted waters are more dangerous in when they are used in agriculture. Because they infect plants and these plants are used in human and livestock consumption in food chain. With the increasing population growth and after that, the increase need to facilities and raw materials, human beings has started to do haste actions and wanted or unwanted destroyed his life basin. They try to overuse and capture his environment extremely, instead of having futurism approach in sustainable use of nature. This process includes Zayanderood recession, and caused its pollution after the transition from industrial and urban areas. Zayandehrood River in Isfahan is a vital artery of a living ecosystem. Now is the location of disposal waste water of many cities, villages and existing industries. The central area of the province is an important industrial place, and its environmental situation has reached a critical stage. Not only a large number of pollution-generating industries are active in the city limits, but outside of the city and adjacent districts Zayandehrood River, heavy industries like steel, Mobarakeh Steel and other tens great units pollute wild life. This article tries to study contaminant sources of Zayanderood and their severity, and determine and discuss the share of each of these resources by major industrial centers located in areas. At the end, we represent suitable strategy.
Abstract: One part of the total employee’s reward is apart from basic wages or salary, employee’s benefits and intangible remuneration also so called contingent (variable) pay. Contingent pay is connected to performance, contribution, cap competency or skills of individual employees, and to team’s or company-wide performance or to combination of few of the mentioned possibilities. Sometimes among the contingent pay is also incorporated the remuneration based on length of employment, when the financial reward is not connected to performance or skills, but to length of continuous employment either on one working position or in one level of remuneration scale. Main aim of this article is to define, based on available information, contingent pay, describe individual forms, its advantages and disadvantages and possibilities to utilization in practice; but also bring information not only about its extent and level of utilization of contingent pay by companies in one of the Czech Republic’s regions, but also mention their practical experience with this type of remuneration.
Abstract: The lack of inclusive housing in Australia contributes
to the marginalization and exclusion of people with disability and
older people from family and community life. The Australian
government has handed over the responsibility of increasing the
supply of inclusive housing to the housing industry through an agreed
national access standard and a voluntary strategy. Voluntary
strategies have not been successful in other constituencies and little is
known about what would work in Australia today. Findings from a
research project into the voluntariness of the housing industry
indicate that a reliable and consistent supply is unlikely without an
equivalent increase in demand. The strategy has, however, an
important role to play in the task of changing housing industry
practices towards building more inclusive communities.
Abstract: This paper examines the interplay of policy options
and cost-effective technology in providing sustainable distance
education. A case study has been conducted among the learners and
teachers. The emergence of learning technologies through CD,
internet, and mobile is increasingly adopted by distance institutes for
quick delivery and cost-effective factors. Their sustainability is
conditioned by the structure of learners and well as the teaching
community. The structure of learners in terms of rural and urban
background revealed similarity in adoption and utilization of mobile
learning. In other words, the technology transcended the rural-urban
dichotomy. The teaching community was divided into two groups on
policy issues. This study revealed both cost-effective as well as
sustainability impacts on different learners groups divided by rural
and urban location.
Abstract: Product customization is an essential requirement for
manufacturing firms to achieve higher customers- satisfaction and
fulfill business target. In order to achieve these objectives, firms need
to handle both external varieties such as customer preference,
government regulations, cultural considerations etc and internal
varieties such as functional requirements of product, production
efficiency, quality etc. Both of the varieties need to be accumulated
and integrated together for the purpose of producing customized
product. These varieties are presented and discussed in this paper
along with the perspectives of modular product design and
development process. Other development strategies such as
modularity, component commonality, product family design and
product platform are presented with a view to achieve product variety
quickly and economically. A case example both for the concept of
modular design and platform based product development process is
also presented with the help of design structure matrix (DSM) tool.
This paper is concluded with several managerial implications and
future research direction.
Abstract: The need for multilingual communication in Japan has
increased due to an increase in the number of foreigners in the
country. When people communicate in their nonnative language,
the differences in language prevent mutual understanding among
the communicating individuals. In the medical field, communication
between the hospital staff and patients is a serious problem. Currently,
medical translators accompany patients to medical care facilities, and
the demand for medical translators is increasing. However, medical
translators cannot necessarily provide support, especially in cases in
which round-the-clock support is required or in case of emergencies.
The medical field has high expectations from information technology.
Hence, a system that supports accurate multilingual communication is
required. Despite recent advances in machine translation technology,
it is very difficult to obtain highly accurate translations. We have
developed a support system called M3 for multilingual medical
reception. M3 provides support functions that aid foreign patients in
the following respects: conversation, questionnaires, reception procedures,
and hospital navigation; it also has a Q&A function. Users
can operate M3 using a touch screen and receive text-based support.
In addition, M3 uses accurate translation tools called parallel texts
to facilitate reliable communication through conversations between
the hospital staff and the patients. However, if there is no parallel
text that expresses what users want to communicate, the users cannot
communicate. In this study, we have developed a circulating support
environment for multilingual medical communication using parallel
texts. The proposed environment can circulate necessary parallel texts
through the following procedure: (1) a user provides feedback about
the necessary parallel texts, following which (2) these parallel texts
are created and evaluated.
Abstract: Natural frequencies and dynamic response of a spur
gear sector are investigated using a two dimensional finite element
model that offers significant advantages for dynamic gear analyses.
The gear teeth are analyzed for different operating speeds. A primary
feature of this modeling is determination of mesh forces using a
detailed contact analysis for each time step as the gears roll through
the mesh. ANSYS software has been used on the proposed model to
find the natural frequencies by Block Lanczos technique and
displacements and dynamic stresses by transient mode super position
method. The effect of rotational speed of the gear on the dynamic
response of gear tooth has been studied and design limits have been
discussed.
Abstract: The objective of this research is to study the technical
and economic performance of wind/diesel/battery (W/D/B) system
supplying a remote small gathering of six families using HOMER
software package. The electrical energy is to cater for the basic needs
for which the daily load pattern is estimated. Net Present Cost (NPC)
and Cost of Energy (COE) are used as economic criteria, while the measure of performance is % of power shortage. Technical and
economic parameters are defined to estimate the feasibility of the
system under study. Optimum system configurations are estimated for two sites. Using HOMER software, the simulation results showed that W/D/B systems are economical for the assumed community sites
as the price of generated electricity is about 0.308 $/kWh, without
taking external benefits into considerations. W/D/B systems are more
economical than W/B or diesel alone systems, as the COE is 0.86 $/kWh for W/B and 0.357 $/kWh for diesel alone.
Abstract: Shoots, with three leaves, of Paphiopedilum 'Delrosi'
were used as explants for multiple shoot induction. Modified
Hyponex medium was supplemented with thidiazuron (TDZ), N6-
benzyladenine (BA) or kinetin (Kn) alone and in combinations with
2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). All explants were cultured
for 15 weeks. It was found that TDZ alone at the concentration of
0.45μM or in combination with 4.52μM 2,4-D and 8.88μM BA in
combination with 13.56μM 2,4-D promoted multiple shoots. The
highest shoot sprouting efficiencies (80.0, 90.0 and 80.0%) and new
shoot numbers (1.5, 1.3 and 1.1) were obtained, respectively. Fresh
weight, height, numbers of leaf and root of new shoots and initial
explants were discussed.
Abstract: The optimization problem using time scales is studied.
Time scale is a model of time. The language of time scales seems to
be an ideal tool to unify the continuous-time and the discrete-time
theories. In this work we present necessary conditions for a solution
of an optimization problem on time scales. To obtain that result we
use properties and results of the partial diamond-alpha derivatives for
continuous-multivariable functions. These results are also presented
here.
Abstract: The deviation between the target state variable and the
practical state variable should be used to form the state tending factor
of complex systems, which can reflect the process for the complex
system to tend rationalization. Relating to the system of basic
equations of complete factor synergetics consisting of twenty
nonlinear stochastic differential equations, the two new models are
considered to set, which should be called respectively the
rationalizing tendency model and the non- rationalizing tendency
model. Therefore we can extend the theory of programming with the
objective function & constraint condition suitable only for the realm
of man-s activities into the new analysis with the tendency function &
constraint condition suitable for all the field of complex system.
Abstract: A novel nanofinishing process using improved ball
end magnetorheological (MR) finishing tool was developed for finishing of flat as well as 3D surfaces of ferromagnetic and non ferromagnetic workpieces. In this process a magnetically controlled
ball end of smart MR polishing fluid is generated at the tip surface of
the tool which is used as a finishing medium and it is guided to
follow the surface to be finished through computer controlled 3-axes
motion controller. The experiments were performed on ferromagnetic
workpiece surface in the developed MR finishing setup to study the effect of finishing time on final surface roughness. The performance
of present finishing process on final finished surface roughness was studied. The surface morphology was observed under scanning
electron microscopy and atomic force microscope. The final surface finish was obtained as low as 19.7 nm from the initial surface
roughness of 142.9 nm. The outcome of newly developed finishing process can be found useful in its applications in aerospace,
automotive, dies and molds manufacturing industries, semiconductor and optics machining etc.