Abstract: This work presents a low-cost and eco-friendly
building material named Agrostone panel. Africa-s urban population
is growing at an annual rate of 2.8% and 62% of its population will
live in urban areas by 2050. As a consequence, many of the least
urbanized and least developed African countries- will face serious
challenges in providing affordable housing to the urban dwellers.
Since the cost of building materials accounts for the largest
proportion of the overall construction cost, innovating low-cost
building material is vital. Agrostone panel is used in housing projects
in Ethiopia. It uses raw materials of agricultural/industrial wastes
and/or natural minerals as a filler, magnesium-based chemicals as a
binder and fiberglass as reinforcement. Agrostone panel reduces the
cost of wall construction by 50% compared with the conventional
building materials. The pros and cons of Agrostone panel as well as
the use of other waste materials as a raw material to make the panel
more sustainable, low-cost and better properties are discussed.
Abstract: An autonomous environmental monitoring system
(Smart Landfill) has been constructed for the quantitative
measurement of the components of landfill gas found at borehole
wells at the perimeter of landfill sites. The main components of
landfill gas are the greenhouse gases, methane and carbon dioxide
and have been monitored in the range 0-5 % volume. This monitoring
system has not only been tested in the laboratory but has been
deployed in multiple field trials and the data collected successfully
compared with on-site monitors. This success shows the potential of
this system for application in environments where reliable gas
monitoring is crucial.
Abstract: Amazing development of the information technology,
communications and internet expansion as well as the requirements
of the city managers to new ideas to run the city and higher
participation of the citizens encourage us to complete the electronic
city as soon as possible. The foundations of this electronic city are in
information technology. People-s participation in metropolitan
management is a crucial topic. Information technology does not
impede this matter. It can ameliorate populace-s participation and
better interactions between the citizens and the city managers.
Citizens can proffer their ideas, beliefs and votes through digital
mass media based upon the internet and computerization plexuses on
the topical matters to receive appropriate replies and services. They
can participate in urban projects by becoming cognizant of the city
views. The most significant challenges are as follows: information
and communicative management, altering citizens- views, as well as
legal and office documents
Electronic city obstacles have been identified in this research. The
required data were forgathered through questionnaires to identify the
barriers from a statistical community comprising specialists and
practitioners of the ministry of information technology and
communication, the municipality information technology
organization.
The conclusions demonstrate that the prioritized electronic city
application barriers in Iran are as follows:
The support quandaries (non-financial ones), behavioral, cultural
and educational plights, the security, legal and license predicaments,
the hardware, orismological and infrastructural curbs, the software
and fiscal problems.
Abstract: An optical fault monitoring in FTTH-PON using ACS
is demonstrated. This device can achieve real-time fault monitoring
for protection feeder fiber. In addition, the ACS can distinguish
optical fiber fault from the transmission services to other customers
in the FTTH-PON. It is essential to use a wavelength different from
the triple-play services operating wavelengths for failure detection.
ACS is using the operating wavelength 1625 nm for monitoring and
failure detection control. Our solution works on a standard local area
network (LAN) using a specially designed hardware interfaced with a
microcontroller integrated Ethernet.
Abstract: Since the pioneering work of Zadeh, fuzzy set theory has been applied to a myriad of areas. Song and Chissom introduced the concept of fuzzy time series and applied some methods to the enrollments of the University of Alabama. In recent years, a number of techniques have been proposed for forecasting based on fuzzy set theory methods. These methods have either used enrollment numbers or differences of enrollments as the universe of discourse. We propose using the year to year percentage change as the universe of discourse. In this communication, the approach of Jilani, Burney, and Ardil is modified by using the year to year percentage change as the universe of discourse. We use enrollment figures for the University of Alabama to illustrate our proposed method. The proposed method results in better forecasting accuracy than existing models.
Abstract: This paper proposes a power-controlled scheduling scheme for devices using a directional antenna in smart home. In the case of the home network using directional antenna, devices can concurrently transmit data in the same frequency band. Accordingly, the throughput increases compared to that of devices using omni-directional antenna in proportional to the number of concurrent transmissions. Also, the number of concurrent transmissions depends on the beamwidth of antenna, the number of devices operating in the network , transmission power, interference and so on. In particular, the less transmission power is used, the more concurrent transmissions occur due to small transmission range. In this paper, we considered sub-optimal scheduling scheme for throughput maximization and power consumption minimization. In the scheme, each device is equipped with a directional antenna. Various beamwidths, path loss components, and antenna radiation efficiencies are considered. Numerical results show that the proposed schemes outperform the scheduling scheme using directional antennas without power control.
Abstract: Austenite and Martensite indicate the phases of solids undergoing phase transformation which we usually associate with materials and not with living organisms. This article provides an overview of bacterial proteins and structures that are undergoing phase transformation and suggests its probable effect on mechanical behavior. The context is mainly within the role of phase transformations occurring in the flagellum of bacteria. The current knowledge of molecular mechanism leading to phase variation in living organisms is reviewed. Since in bacteria, each flagellum is driven by a separate motor, similarity to a Differential drive in case of four-wheeled vehicles is suggested. It also suggests the application of the mechanism in which bacteria changes its direction of movement to facilitate single point turning of a multi-wheeled vehicle. Finally, examples are presented to illustrate that the motion due to phase transformation of flagella in bacteria can start a whole new research on motion mechanisms.
Abstract: This paper adopts a notion of expectation-perception
gap of systems users as information systems (IS) failure. Problems
leading to the expectation-perception gap are identified and modelled
as five interrelated discrepancies or gaps throughout the process of
information systems development (ISD). It describes an empirical
study on how systems developers and users perceive the size of each
gap and the extent to which each problematic issue contributes to the
gap. The key to achieving success in ISD is to keep the expectationperception
gap closed by closing all 5 pertaining gaps. The gap model
suggests that most factors in IS failure are related to organizational,
cognitive and social aspects of information systems design.
Organization requirement analysis, being the weakest link of IS
development, is particularly worthy of investigation.
Abstract: Among the chemicals used for ammunition production, TNT (Trinitrotoluene) play a significant role since World War I and II. Various types of military weapon utilize TNT in casting process. However, the TNT casting process for warhead is difficult to control the cooling rate of the liquid TNT. This problem occurs because the casting process lacks the equipment to detect the temperature during the casting procedure This study presents the temperature detected by infrared camera to illustrate the cooling rate and cooling zone of curing, and demonstrates the optimization of TNT condition to reduce the risk of air gap occurred in the warhead which can result in the destruction afterward. Premature initiation of explosive-filled projectiles in response to set-back forces during gunfiring cause by casting defects. Finally the study can help improving the process of the TNT casting. The operators can control the curing of TNT inside the case by rising up the heating rod at the proper time. Consequently this can reduce tremendous time of rework if the air gaps occur and increase strength to lower elastic modulus. Therefore, it can be clearly concluded that the use of Infrared Cameras in this process is another method to improve the casting procedure.
Abstract: In this paper we propose a robust environmental sound classification approach, based on spectrograms features driven from log-Gabor filters. This approach includes two methods. In the first methods, the spectrograms are passed through an appropriate log-Gabor filter banks and the outputs are averaged and underwent an optimal feature selection procedure based on a mutual information criteria. The second method uses the same steps but applied only to three patches extracted from each spectrogram.
To investigate the accuracy of the proposed methods, we conduct experiments using a large database containing 10 environmental sound classes. The classification results based on Multiclass Support Vector Machines show that the second method is the most efficient with an average classification accuracy of 89.62 %.
Abstract: The objective of this article is to discuss the potential
of economic analysis as a tool for identification and evaluation of
corruption in legislative acts. We propose that corruption be
perceived as a risk variable within the legislative process. Therefore
we find it appropriate to employ risk analysis methods, used in
various fields of economics, for the evaluation of corruption in
legislation. Furthermore we propose the incorporation of these
methods into the so called corruption impact assessment (CIA), the
general framework for detection of corruption in legislative acts. The
applications of the risk analysis methods are demonstrated on
examples of implementation of proposed CIA in the Czech Republic.
Abstract: The performance of time-reversal MUSIC algorithm will be dramatically degrades in presence of strong noise and multiple scattering (i.e. when scatterers are close to each other). This is due to error in determining the number of scatterers. The present paper provides a new approach to alleviate such a problem using an information theoretic criterion referred as minimum description length (MDL). The merits of the novel approach are confirmed by the numerical examples. The results indicate the time-reversal MUSIC yields accurate estimate of the target locations with considerable noise and multiple scattering in the received signals.
Abstract: In this paper a controller for the pitch angle of an
aircraft regarding to the elevator deflection angle is designed.
The way how the elevator angle affects pitching motion of the
aircraft is pointed out, as well as, how a pitch controller can be
applied for the aircraft to reach certain pitch angle. In this digital
optimal system, the elevator deflection angle and pitching angle
of the plane are considered to be input and output respectively.
A single input single output (SISO) system is presented. A
digital pitch aircraft control is demonstrated. A simulation for
the whole system has been performed. The optimal control
weighting vectors, Q and R have been determined.
Abstract: The objective of the research was focused on the
design, development and evaluation of a sustainable web based
network system to be used as an interoperable environment for
University process workflow and document management. In this
manner the most of the process workflows in Universities can be
entirely realized electronically and promote integrated University.
Definition of the most used University process workflows enabled
creating electronic workflows and their execution on standard
workflow execution engines. Definition or reengineering of
workflows provided increased work efficiency and helped in having
standardized process through different faculties. The concept and the
process definition as well as the solution applied as Case study are
evaluated and findings are reported.
Abstract: The information revealed by derivatives can help to
better characterize digital near-end crosstalk signatures with the
ultimate goal of identifying the specific aggressor signal.
Unfortunately, derivatives tend to be very sensitive to even low
levels of noise. In this work we approximated the derivatives of both
quiet and noisy digital signals using a wavelet-based technique. The
results are presented for Gaussian digital edges, IBIS Model digital
edges, and digital edges in oscilloscope data captured from an actual
printed circuit board. Tradeoffs between accuracy and noise
immunity are presented. The results show that the wavelet technique
can produce first derivative approximations that are accurate to
within 5% or better, even under noisy conditions. The wavelet
technique can be used to calculate the derivative of a digital signal
edge when conventional methods fail.
Abstract: The breakdown strength characteristic of Low Density
Polyethylene films (LDPE) under DC voltage application and the
effect of water absorption have been studied. Mainly, our experiment
was investigated under two conditions; dry and heavy water
absorption. Under DC ramp voltage, the result found that the
breakdown strength under heavy water absorption has a lower value
than dry condition. In order to clarify the effect, the temperature rise of
film was observed using non contact thermograph until the occurrence
of the electrical breakdown and the conduction current of the sample
was also measured in correlation with the thermograph measurement.
From the observations, it was shown that under the heavy water
absorption, the hot spot in the samples appeared at lower voltage. At
the same voltage the temperature of the hot spot and conduction
current was higher than that under the dry condition. The measurement
result has a good correlation between the existence of a critical field
for conduction current and thermograph observation. In case of the
heavy water absorption, the occurrence of the threshold field was
earlier than the dry condition as result lead to higher of conduction
current and the temperature rise appears after threshold field was
significantly increased in increasing of field. The higher temperature
rise was caused by the higher current conduction as the result the
insulation leads to breakdown to the lower field application.
Abstract: The purpose of the experiments described in this article was the comparison of integrated fixed film activated sludge (IFAS) and activated sludge (AS) system. The IFAS applied system consists of the cigarette filter rods (wasted filter in tobacco factories) as a biofilm carrier. The comparison with activated sludge was performed by two parallel treatment lines. Organic substance, ammonia and TP removal was investigated over four month period. Synthetic wastewater was prepared with ordinary tap water and glucose as the main sources of carbon and energy, plus balanced macro and micro nutrients. COD removal percentages of 94.55%, and 81.62% were achieved for IFAS and activated sludge system, respectively. Also, ammonia concentration significantly decreased by increasing the HRT in both systems. The average ammonia removal of 97.40 % and 96.34% were achieved for IFAS and activated sludge system, respectively. The removal efficiency of total phosphorus (TP-P) was 60.64%, higher than AS process by 56.63% respectively.
Abstract: In this paper, we apply the PQ theory with shunt active power filter in an unbalanced and distorted power system voltage to compensate the perturbations generated by non linear load. The power factor is also improved in the current source. The PLL system is used to extract the fundamental component of the even sequence under conditions mentioned of the power system voltage.
Abstract: Biological data has several characteristics that strongly differentiate it from typical business data. It is much more complex, usually large in size, and continuously changes. Until recently business data has been the main target for discovering trends, patterns or future expectations. However, with the recent rise in biotechnology, the powerful technology that was used for analyzing business data is now being applied to biological data. With the advanced technology at hand, the main trend in biological research is rapidly changing from structural DNA analysis to understanding cellular functions of the DNA sequences. DNA chips are now being used to perform experiments and DNA analysis processes are being used by researchers. Clustering is one of the important processes used for grouping together similar entities. There are many clustering algorithms such as hierarchical clustering, self-organizing maps, K-means clustering and so on. In this paper, we propose a clustering algorithm that imitates the ecosystem taking into account the features of biological data. We implemented the system using an Ant-Colony clustering algorithm. The system decides the number of clusters automatically. The system processes the input biological data, runs the Ant-Colony algorithm, draws the Topic Map, assigns clusters to the genes and displays the output. We tested the algorithm with a test data of 100 to1000 genes and 24 samples and show promising results for applying this algorithm to clustering DNA chip data.
Abstract: This paper presents an innovative approach within the area of Group Decision Support System (GDSS) by using tools based on intelligent agents. It introduces iGDSS, a software platform for decision support and collaboration and an application of this platform - eCollaborative Decisions - for academic environment, all these developed within a framework of a research project.