Abstract: This paper suggests a rethinking of the existing
research about Genetically Modified (GM) food. Since the first batch
of GM food was commercialised in the UK market, GM food rapidly
received and lost media attention in the UK. Disagreement on GM
food policy between the US and the EU has also drawn scholarly
attention to this issue. Much research has been carried out intending to
understand people-s views about GM food and the shaping of these
views. This paper was based on the data collected in twenty-nine
semi-structured interviews, which were examined through Erving
Goffman-s idea of self-presentation in interactions to suggest that the
existing studies investigating “consumer attitudes" towards GM food
have only considered the “front stage" in the dramaturgic metaphor.
This paper suggests that the ways in which people choose to present
themselves when participating these studies should be taken into
account during the data analysis.
Abstract: In this paper, a simple active contour based visual
tracking algorithm is presented for outdoor AGV application which is
currently under development at the USM robotic research group
(URRG) lab. The presented algorithm is computationally low cost
and able to track road boundaries in an image sequence and can
easily be implemented on available low cost hardware. The proposed
algorithm used an active shape modeling using the B-spline
deformable template and recursive curve fitting method to track the
current orientation of the road.
Abstract: In this study the behavior of interlaminar fracture of
carbon-epoxy thermoplastic laminated composite is investigated
numerically and experimentally. Tests are performed with Arcan
specimens. Testing with Arcan specimen gives the opportunity of
utilizing just one kind of specimen for extracting fracture properties
for mode I, mode II and different mixed mode ratios of materials with
exerting load via different loading angles. Variation of loading angles
in range of 0-90° made possible to achieve different mixed mode
ratios. Correction factors for various conditions are obtained from
ABAQUS 2D finite element models which demonstrate the finite
shape of Arcan specimens used in this study. Finally, applying the
correction factors to critical loads obtained experimentally, critical
interlaminar fracture toughness of this type of carbon- epoxy
composite has been attained.
Abstract: This paper describes the shape optimization of impeller
blades for a anti-heeling bidirectional axial flow pump used in ships.
In general, a bidirectional axial pump has an efficiency much lower
than the classical unidirectional pump because of the symmetry of the
blade type. In this paper, by focusing on a pump impeller, the shape of
blades is redesigned to reach a higher efficiency in a bidirectional axial
pump. The commercial code employed in this simulation is CFX v.13.
CFD result of pump torque, head, and hydraulic efficiency was
compared. The orthogonal array (OA) and analysis of variance
(ANOVA) techniques and surrogate model based optimization using
orthogonal polynomial, are employed to determine the main effects
and their optimal design variables. According to the optimal design,
we confirm an effective design variable in impeller blades and explain
the optimal solution, the usefulness for satisfying the constraints of
pump torque and head.
Abstract: This paper presents Faults Forecasting System (FFS)
that utilizes statistical forecasting techniques in analyzing process
variables data in order to forecast faults occurrences. FFS is
proposing new idea in detecting faults. Current techniques used in
faults detection are based on analyzing the current status of the
system variables in order to check if the current status is fault or not.
FFS is using forecasting techniques to predict future timing for faults
before it happens. Proposed model is applying subset modeling
strategy and Bayesian approach in order to decrease dimensionality
of the process variables and improve faults forecasting accuracy. A
practical experiment, designed and implemented in Okayama
University, Japan, is implemented, and the comparison shows that
our proposed model is showing high forecasting accuracy and
BEFORE-TIME.
Abstract: In this paper first, Two buildings have been modeled
and then analyzed using nonlinear static analysis method under two
different conditions in Nonlinear SAP 2000 software. In the first
condition the interaction of soil adjacent to the walls of basement are
ignored while in the second case this interaction have been modeled
using Gap elements of nonlinear SAP2000 software. Finally,
comparing the results of two models, the effects of soil-structure on
period, target point displacement, internal forces, shape deformations
and base shears have been studied. According to the results, this
interaction has always increased the base shear of buildings,
decreased the period of structure and target point displacement, and
often decreased the internal forces and displacements.
Abstract: Real-time 3D applications have to guarantee
interactive rendering speed. There is a restriction for the number of
polygons which is rendered due to performance of a graphics hardware
or graphics algorithms. Generally, the rendering performance will be
drastically increased when handling only the dynamic 3d models,
which is much fewer than the static ones. Since shapes and colors of
the static objects don-t change when the viewing direction is fixed, the
information can be reused. We render huge amounts of polygon those
cannot handled by conventional rendering techniques in real-time by
using a static object image and merging it with rendering result of the
dynamic objects. The performance must be decreased as a
consequence of updating the static object image including removing
an static object that starts to move, re-rending the other static objects
being overlapped by the moving ones. Based on visibility of the object
beginning to move, we can skip the updating process. As a result, we
enhance rendering performance and reduce differences of rendering
speed between each frame. Proposed method renders total
200,000,000 polygons that consist of 500,000 dynamic polygons and
the rest are static polygons in about 100 frames per second.
Abstract: The cost of damage to the non-structural systems in
critical facilities like nuclear power plants and hospitals can exceed
80% of the total cost of damage during an earthquake. The failure of
nonstructural components, especially, piping systems led to leakage of
water and subsequent shut-down of hospitals immediately after the
event. Consequently, the evaluation of performance of these types of
structural configurations has become necessary to mitigate the risk and
to achieve reliable designs.
This paper focuses on a methodology to evaluate the static and
dynamic characteristics of complex actual piping system based on
NFPA-13 and SMACNA guidelines. The result of this study revealed
that current piping system subjected to design lateral force and design
spectrum based on UBC-97 was failed in both cases and mode shapes
between piping system and building structure were very different
Abstract: Rockfall is a kind of irregular geological disaster. Its
destruction time, space and movements are highly random. The impact
force is determined by the way and velocity rocks move. The
movement velocity of a rockfall depends on slope gradient of its
moving paths, height, slope surface roughness and rock shapes. For
effectively mitigate and prevent disasters brought by rockfalls, it is
required to precisely calculate the moving paths of a rockfall so as to
provide the best protective design. This paper applies Colorado
Rockfall Simulation Program (CRSP) as our study tool to discuss the
impact of slope shape and surface roughness on the moving paths of a
single rockfall. The analytical results showed that the slope, m=1:1,
acted as the threshold for rockfall bounce height on a monoclinal slight
slope. When JRC ´╝£ 1.2, movement velocity reduced and bounce
height increased as JCR increased. If slope fixed and JRC increased,
the bounce height of rocks increased gradually with reducing
movement velocity. Therefore, the analysis on the moving paths of
rockfalls with CRSP could simulate bouncing of falling rocks. By
analyzing moving paths, velocity, and bounce height of falling rocks,
we could effectively locate impact points of falling rocks on a slope.
Such analysis can be served as a reference for future disaster
prevention and control.
Abstract: In this paper we will develop further the sequential life test approach presented in a previous article by [1] using an underlying two parameter Inverse Weibull sampling distribution. The location parameter or minimum life will be considered equal to zero. Once again we will provide rules for making one of the three possible decisions as each observation becomes available; that is: accept the null hypothesis H0; reject the null hypothesis H0; or obtain additional information by making another observation. The product being analyzed is a new electronic component. There is little information available about the possible values the parameters of the corresponding Inverse Weibull underlying sampling distribution could have.To estimate the shape and the scale parameters of the underlying Inverse Weibull model we will use a maximum likelihood approach for censored failure data. A new example will further develop the proposed sequential life testing approach.
Abstract: This paper proposes view-point insensitive human
pose recognition system using neural network. Recognition system
consists of silhouette image capturing module, data driven database,
and neural network. The advantages of our system are first, it is
possible to capture multiple view-point silhouette images of 3D human
model automatically. This automatic capture module is helpful to
reduce time consuming task of database construction. Second, we
develop huge feature database to offer view-point insensitivity at pose
recognition. Third, we use neural network to recognize human pose
from multiple-view because every pose from each model have similar
feature patterns, even though each model has different appearance and
view-point. To construct database, we need to create 3D human model
using 3D manipulate tools. Contour shape is used to convert silhouette
image to feature vector of 12 degree. This extraction task is processed
semi-automatically, which benefits in that capturing images and
converting to silhouette images from the real capturing environment is
needless. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach with
experiments on virtual environment.
Abstract: The modified Arcan fixture was used in order to
investigate the mixed mode fracture properties of high strength steel
butt weld through experimental and numerical analysis. The fixture
consisted of a central section with "butterfly-shaped" specimen that
had central crack. The specimens were under pure mode I (opening),
pure mode II (shearing) and all in plane mixed mode loading angles
starting from 0 to 90 degrees. The geometric calibration factors were
calculated with the aid of finite element analysis for various loading
mode and different crack length (0.45≤ a/w ≤0.55) and the critical
fracture loads obtained experimentally. The critical fracture
toughness (KIC & KIIC) estimated with experimental and numerical
analysis under mixed mode loading conditions.
Abstract: Optical emission based on excitonic scattering processes becomes important in dense exciton systems in which the average distance between excitons is of the order of a few Bohr radii but still below the exciton screening threshold. The phenomena due to interactions among excited states play significant role in the emission near band edge of the material. The theory of two-exciton collisions for GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well systems is a mild attempt to understand the physics associated with the optical spectra due to excitonic scattering processes in these novel systems. The four typical processes considered give different spectral shape, peak position and temperature dependence of the emission spectra. We have used the theory of scattering together with the second order perturbation theory to derive the radiative power spontaneously emitted at an energy ħω by these processes. The results arrived at are purely qualitative in nature. The intensity of emitted light in quantum well systems varies inversely to the square of temperature, whereas in case of bulk materials it simply decreases with the temperature.
Abstract: In this study, an optimization of supersonic air-to-air ejector is carried out by a recently developed single-objective genetic algorithm based on adaption of sequence of individuals. Adaptation of sequence is based on Shape-based distance of individuals and embedded micro-genetic algorithm. The optimal sequence found defines the succession of CFD-aimed objective calculation within each generation of regular micro-genetic algorithm. A spring-based deformation mutates the computational grid starting the initial individualvia adapted population in the optimized sequence. Selection of a generation initial individual is knowledge-based. A direct comparison of the newly defined and standard micro-genetic algorithm is carried out for supersonic air-to-air ejector. The only objective is to minimize the loose of total stagnation pressure in the ejector. The result is that sequence-adopted micro-genetic algorithm can provide comparative results to standard algorithm but in significantly lower number of overall CFD iteration steps.
Abstract: A talking head system (THS) is presented to animate
the face of a speaking 3D avatar in such a way that it realistically
pronounces the given Korean text. The proposed system consists of
SAPI compliant text-to-speech (TTS) engine and MPEG-4 compliant
face animation generator. The input to the THS is a unicode text that is
to be spoken with synchronized lip shape. The TTS engine generates a
phoneme sequence with their duration and audio data. The TTS
applies the coarticulation rules to the phoneme sequence and sends a
mouth animation sequence to the face modeler. The proposed THS can
make more natural lip sync and facial expression by using the face
animation generator than those using the conventional visemes only.
The experimental results show that our system has great potential for
the implementation of talking head for Korean text.
Abstract: The PH curve can be constructed by given parameters, but the shape of the curve is not so easy to image from the value of the parameters. On the contract, Bézier curve can be constructed by the control polygon, and from the control polygon, we can image the figure of the curve. In this paper, we want to use the hodograph of Bézier curve to construct PH curve by selecting part of the control vectors, and produce other control vectors, so the property of PH curve exists.
Abstract: A spanning tree of a connected graph is a tree which
consists the set of vertices and some or perhaps all of the edges from
the connected graph. In this paper, a model for spanning tree
transformation of connected graphs into single-row networks, namely
Spanning Tree of Connected Graph Modeling (STCGM) will be
introduced. Path-Growing Tree-Forming algorithm applied with
Vertex-Prioritized is contained in the model to produce the spanning
tree from the connected graph. Paths are produced by Path-Growing
and they are combined into a spanning tree by Tree-Forming. The
spanning tree that is produced from the connected graph is then
transformed into single-row network using Tree Sequence Modeling
(TSM). Finally, the single-row routing problem is solved using a
method called Enhanced Simulated Annealing for Single-Row
Routing (ESSR).
Abstract: Methanol-to-olefins (MTO) coupled with
transformation of coal or natural gas to methanol gives an interesting
and promising way to produce ethylene and propylene. To investigate
solid concentration in gas-solid fluidized bed for methanol-to-olefins
process catalyzed by SAPO-34, a cold model experiment system is
established in this paper. The system comprises a gas distributor in a
300mm internal diameter and 5000mm height acrylic column, the
fiber optic probe system and series of cyclones. The experiments are
carried out at ambient conditions and under different superficial gas
velocity ranging from 0.3930m/s to 0.7860m/s and different initial bed
height ranging from 600mm to 1200mm. The effects of radial
distance, axial distance, superficial gas velocity, initial bed height on
solid concentration in the bed are discussed. The effects of distributor
shape and porosity on solid concentration are also discussed. The
time-averaged solid concentration profiles under different conditions
are obtained.
Abstract: In this research, the authors analyze network stability
using agent-based simulation. Firstly, the authors focus on analyzing
large networks (eight agents) by connecting different two stable small
social networks (A small stable network is consisted on four agents.).
Secondly, the authors analyze the network (eight agents) shape which
is added one agent to a stable network (seven agents). Thirdly, the
authors analyze interpersonal comparison of utility. The “star-network
"was not found on the result of interaction among stable two small
networks. On the other hand, “decentralized network" was formed
from several combination. In case of added one agent to a stable
network (seven agents), if the value of “c"(maintenance cost of per
a link) was larger, the number of patterns of stable network was
also larger. In this case, the authors identified the characteristics of a
large stable network. The authors discovered the cases of decreasing
personal utility under condition increasing total utility.
Abstract: From past many decades human beings are suffering
from plethora of natural disasters. Occurrence of disasters is a
frequent process; it changes conceptual myths as more and more
advancement are made. Although we are living in technological era
but in developing countries like Pakistan disasters are shaped by
socially constructed roles. The need is to understand the most
vulnerable group of society i.e. females; their issues are complex in
nature because of undermined gender status in the society. There is a
need to identify maximum issues regarding females and to enhance
the achievement of millennium development goals (MDGs). Gender
issues are of great concern all around the globe including Pakistan.
Here female visibility in society is low, and also during disasters, the
failure to understand the reality that concentrates on double burden
including productive and reproductive care. Women have to
contribute a lot in society so we need to make them more disaster
resilient. For this non-structural measures like awareness, trainings
and education must be carried out. In rural and in urban settings in
any disaster like earthquake or flood, elements like gender
perspective, their age, physical health, demographic issues contribute
towards vulnerability. In Pakistan the gender issues in disasters were
of less concern before 2005 earthquake and 2010 floods. Significant
achievements are made after 2010 floods when gender and child cell
was created to provide all facilities to women and girls. The aim of
the study is to highlight all necessary facilities in a disaster to build
coping mechanism in females from basic rights till advance level
including education.