Abstract: In this paper, perceptions of actors on changes in
crop productivity, quantity and quality of water, and determinants of
their perception are analyzed using descriptive statistics and ordered
logit model. Data collected from 297 Ethiopian farmers and 103
agricultural professionals from December 2009 to January 2010 are
employed. Results show that the majority of the farmers and
professionals recognized decline in water resources, reasoning
climate changes and soil erosion as some of the causes. However,
there is a variation in views on changes in productivity. The
household asset, education level, age and geographical positions are
found to affect farmers- perception on changes in crop productivity.
But, the study underlines that there is no evidence that farmers-
economic status, age, or education level affects recognition of
degradation of water resources. Thus, more focus shall be given on
providing them different coping mechanisms and alternative
resource conserving technologies than educating about the
problems.
Abstract: The current situation in the eurozone raises a number of topics for discussion and to help in finding an answer to the question of whether a common currency is a more suitable means of coping with the impact of the financial crisis or whether national currencies are better suited to this. The economic situation in the EU is now considerably volatile and, due to problems with the fulfilment of the Maastricht convergence criteria, it is now being considered whether, in their further development, new member states will decide to distance themselves from the euro or will, in an attempt to overcome the crisis, speed up the adoption of the euro. The Czech Republic is one country with little interest in adopting the euro, justified by the fact that a better alternative to dealing with this crisis is an independent monetary policy and its ability to respond flexibly to the economic situation not only in Europe, but around the world. One attribute of the crisis in the Czech Republic and its mitigation is the freely floating exchange rate of the national currency. It is not only the Czech Republic that is attempting to alleviate the impact of the crisis, but also new EU member countries facing fresh questions to which theory have yet to provide wholly satisfactory answers. These questions undoubtedly include the problem of inflation targeting and the choice of appropriate instruments for achieving financial stability. The difficulty lies in the fact that these objectives may be contradictory and may require more than one means of achieving them. In this respect we may assume that membership of the euro zone might not in itself mitigate the development of the recession or protect the nation from future crises. We are of the opinion that the decisive factor in the development of any economy will continue to be the domestic economic policy and the operability of market economic mechanisms. We attempt to document this fact using selected countries as examples, these being the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia.
Abstract: Pharmacology curriculum plays an integral role in
medical education. Learning pharmacology to choose and prescribe
drugs is a major challenge encountered by students. We developed
pharmacology applied learning activities for first year medical
students that included realistic clinical situations with escalating
complications which required the students to analyze the situation
and think critically to choose a safe drug. Tutor feedback was
provided at the end of session. Evaluation was done to assess the
students- level of interest and usefulness of the sessions in rational
selection of drugs. Majority (98 %) of the students agreed that the
session was an extremely useful learning exercise and agreed that
similar sessions would help in rational selection of drugs. Applied
learning sessions in the early years of medical program may promote
deep learning and bridge the gap between pharmacology theory and
clinical practice. Besides, it may also enhance safe prescribing skills.
Abstract: The rheological properties of light crude oil and its mixture with water were investigated experimentally. These rheological properties include steady flow behavior, yield stress, transient flow behavior, and viscoelastic behavior. A RheoStress RS600 rheometer was employed in all of the rheological examination tests. The light crude oil exhibits a Newtonian and for emulsion exhibits a non-Newtonian shear thinning behavior over the examined shear rate range of 0.1–120 s-1. In first time, a series of samples of crude oil from the Algerian Sahara has been tested and the results expressed in terms of τ=f(γ) have demonstrated their Newtonian character for the temperature included in [20°C, 70°C]. In second time and at T=20°C, the oil-water emulsions (30%, 50% and 70%) by volume of water), thermodynamically stable, have demonstrated a non-Newtonian rheological behavior that is to say, Herschel-Bulkley and Bingham types. For each type of crude oil-water emulsion, the rheological parameters are calculated by numerical treatment of results.
Abstract: Sensors possess several properties of physical
measures. Whether devices that convert a sensed signal into an
electrical signal, chemical sensors and biosensors, thus all these
sensors can be considered as an interface between the physical and
electrical equipment. The problem is the analysis of the multitudes of
saved settings as input variables. However, they do not all have the
same level of influence on the outputs. In order to identify the most
sensitive parameters, those that can guide users in gathering
information on the ground and in the process of model calibration
and sensitivity analysis for the effect of each change made.
Mathematical models used for processing become very complex.
In this paper a fuzzy rule-based system is proposed as a solution
for this problem. The system collects the available signals
information from sensors. Moreover, the system allows the study of
the influence of the various factors that take part in the decision
system. Since its inception fuzzy set theory has been regarded as a
formalism suitable to deal with the imprecision intrinsic to many
problems. At the same time, fuzzy sets allow to use symbolic models.
In this study an example was applied for resolving variety of
physiological parameters that define human health state. The
application system was done for medical diagnosis help. The inputs
are the signals expressed the cardiovascular system parameters, blood
pressure, Respiratory system paramsystem was done, it will be able
to predict the state of patient according any input values.
Abstract: The blood ducts must be occluded to avoid loss of
blood from vessels in laparoscopic surgeries. This paper presents a
locking mechanism to be used in a ligation laparoscopic procedure
(LigLAP I), as an alternative solution for a stapling procedure.
Currently, stapling devices are being used to occlude vessels. Using
these devices may result in some problems, including injury of bile
duct, taking up a great deal of space behind the vessel, and bile leak.
In this new procedure, a two-layer suture occludes a vessel. A
locking mechanism is also required to hold the suture. Since there is
a limited space at the device tip, a Shape Memory Alloy (SMA)
actuator is used in this mechanism. Suitability for cleanroom
applications, small size, and silent performance are among the
advantages of SMA actuators in biomedical applications. An
experimental study is conducted to examine the function of the
locking mechanism. To set up the experiment, a prototype of a
locking mechanism is built using nitinol, which is a nickel-titanium
shape memory alloy. The locking mechanism successfully locks a
polymer suture for all runs of the experiment. In addition, the effects
of various surface materials on the applied pulling forces are studied.
Various materials are mounted at the mechanism tip to compare the
maximum pulling forces applied to the suture for each material. The
results show that the various surface materials on the device tip
provide large differences in the applied pulling forces.
Abstract: The effect of varying holding temperature on hatching success, occurrence of deformities and mortality rates were investigated for goldlined seabream eggs. Wild broodstock (600 g) were stocked at a 2:1 male-female ratio in a 2 m3 fiberglass tank supplied with filtered seawater (37 g L-1 salinity, temp. range 24±0.5 oC [day] and 22±1 oC [night], DO2 in excess of 5.0mg L-1). Females were injected with 200 IU kg-1 HCG between 08.00 and 10.00 h and returned to tanks to spawn following which eggs were collected by hand using a 100μm net. Fertilized eggs at the gastrulation stage (120 L-1) were randomly placed into one of 12 experimental 6 L aerated (DO2 5 mg L-1) plastic containers with water temperatures maintained at 24±0.5 oC (ambient), 26±0.5 oC, 28± 0.5 oC and 30±0.5 oC using thermostats. Each treatment was undertaken in triplicate using a 12:12 photophase:scotophase photoperiod. No differences were recorded between eggs reared at 24 and 26 oC with respect to viability, deformity, mortality or unhatched egg rates. Increasing temperature reduced the number of viable eggs with those at 30 oC returning poorest performance (P < 0.05). Mortality levels were lowest for eggs incubated at 24 and 26 oC. The greatest level of deformities recorded was that for eggs reared at 28 oC.
Abstract: In the present study, the effects of ultrasound as
emerging technology were investigated on germination stimulation,
amount of alpha-amylase activity on dry barley seeds before steeping
stage of malting process. All experiments were carried out at 20 KHz
on the ultrasonic generator in 3 different ultrasonic intensities (20, 60
and 100% setting from total power of device) and time (5, 10 and 15
min) at constant temperature (30C). For determining the effects of
these parameters on enzyme the Fuwa method assay based on the
decreased staining value of blue starch–iodine complexes employed
for measurement an activity. The results of these assays were
analyzed by Qualitek4 software using the Taguchi statistical method
to evaluate the factor-s effects on enzyme activity. It has been found
that when malting barley is irradiated with an ultrasonic power, a
stimulating effect occurs as to the enzyme activity.
Abstract: The choice of finite element to use in order to predict
nonlinear static or dynamic response of complex structures becomes
an important factor. Then, the main goal of this research work is to
focus a study on the effect of the in-plane rotational degrees of
freedom in linear and geometrically non linear static and dynamic
analysis of thin shell structures by flat shell finite elements. In this
purpose: First, simple triangular and quadrilateral flat shell finite
elements are implemented in an incremental formulation based on the
updated lagrangian corotational description for geometrically
nonlinear analysis. The triangular element is a combination of DKT
and CST elements, while the quadrilateral is a combination of DKQ
and the bilinear quadrilateral membrane element. In both elements,
the sixth degree of freedom is handled via introducing fictitious
stiffness. Secondly, in the same code, the sixth degrees of freedom in
these elements is handled differently where the in-plane rotational
d.o.f is considered as an effective d.o.f in the in-plane filed
interpolation. Our goal is to compare resulting shell elements. Third,
the analysis is enlarged to dynamic linear analysis by direct
integration using Newmark-s implicit method. Finally, the linear
dynamic analysis is extended to geometrically nonlinear dynamic
analysis where Newmark-s method is used to integrate equations of
motion and the Newton-Raphson method is employed for iterating
within each time step increment until equilibrium is achieved. The
obtained results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the
interpolation of the in-plane rotational d.o.f. and present deficiencies
of using fictitious stiffness in dynamic linear and nonlinear analysis.
Abstract: In this paper, the typical exponential method, diamond difference and modified time discrete scheme is researched for self adaptive time step. The second-order time evolution scheme is applied to time-dependent spherical neutron transport equation by discrete ordinates method. The numerical results show that second-order time evolution scheme associated exponential method has some good properties. The time differential curve about neutron current is more smooth than that of exponential method and diamond difference and modified time discrete scheme.
Abstract: In this study, a low temperature sensor highly selective to CO in presence of methane is fabricated by using 4 nm SnO2 quantum dots (QDs) prepared by sonication assisted precipitation. SnCl4 aqueous solution was precipitated by ammonia under sonication, which continued for 2 h. A part of the sample was then dried and calcined at 400°C for 1.5 h and characterized by XRD and BET. The average particle size and the specific surface area of the SnO2 QDs as well as their sensing properties were compared with the SnO2 nano-particles which were prepared by conventional sol-gel method. The BET surface area of sonochemically as-prepared product and the one calcined at 400°C after 1.5 hr are 257 m2/gr and 212 m2/gr respectively while the specific surface area for SnO2 nanoparticles prepared by conventional sol-gel method is about 80m2/gr. XRD spectra revealed pure crystalline phase of SnO2 is formed for both as-prepared and calcined samples of SnO2 QDs. However, for the sample prepared by sol-gel method and calcined at 400°C SnO crystals are detected along with those of SnO2. Quantum dots of SnO2 show exceedingly high sensitivity to CO with different concentrations of 100, 300 and 1000 ppm in whole range of temperature (25- 350°C). At 50°C a sensitivity of 27 was obtained for 1000 ppm CO, which increases to a maximum of 147 when the temperature rises to 225°C and then drops off while the maximum sensitivity for the SnO2 sample prepared by the sol-gel method was obtained at 300°C with the amount of 47.2. At the same time no sensitivity to methane is observed in whole range of temperatures for SnO2 QDs. The response and recovery times of the sensor sharply decreases with temperature, while the high selectivity to CO does not deteriorate.
Abstract: In this paper, a Smart Home Service Robot, McBot II,
which performs mess-cleanup function etc. in house, is designed much
more optimally than other service robots. It is newly developed in
much more practical system than McBot I which we had developed
two years ago. One characteristic attribute of mobile platforms
equipped with a set of dependent wheels is their omni- directionality
and the ability to realize complex translational and rotational
trajectories for agile navigation in door. An accurate coordination of
steering angle and spinning rate of each wheel is necessary for a
consistent motion. This paper develops trajectory controller of
3-wheels omni-directional mobile robot using fuzzy azimuth estimator.
A specialized anthropomorphic robot manipulator which can be
attached to the housemaid robot McBot II, is developed in this paper.
This built-in type manipulator consists of both arms with 3 DOF
(Degree of Freedom) each and both hands with 3 DOF each. The
robotic arm is optimally designed to satisfy both the minimum
mechanical size and the maximum workspace. Minimum mass and
length are required for the built-in cooperated-arms system. But that
makes the workspace so small. This paper proposes optimal design
method to overcome the problem by using neck joint to move the arms
horizontally forward/backward and waist joint to move them
vertically up/down. The robotic hand, which has two fingers and a
thumb, is also optimally designed in task-based concept. Finally, the
good performance of the developed McBot II is confirmed through
live tests of the mess-cleanup task.
Abstract: The great challenge of the agricultural sector is to
produce more crop from less water, which can be achieved by
increasing crop water productivity. The modernization of the
irrigation systems offers a number of possibilities to expand the
economic productivity of water and improve the virtual water status.
The objective of the present study is to assess the global water
productivity (GWP) within the major irrigation command areas of
I.R. Iran. For this purpose, fourteen irrigation command areas where
located in different areas of Iran were selected. In order to calculate
the global water productivity of irrigation command areas, all data on
the delivered water to cropping pattern, cultivated area, crops water
requirement, and yield production rate during 2002-2006 were
gathered. In each of the command areas it seems that the cultivated
crops have a higher amount of virtual water and thus can be replaced
by crops with less virtual water. This is merely suggested due to crop
water consumption and at the time of replacing crops, economic
value as well as cultural and political factors must be considered. The
results indicated that the lowest GWP belongs to Mahyar and
Borkhar irrigation areas, 0.24 kg m-3, and the highest is that of the
Dez irrigation area, 0.81 kg m-3. The findings demonstrated that
water management in the two irrigation areas is just efficient. The
difference in the GWP of irrigation areas is due to variations in the
cropping pattern, amount of crop productions, in addition to the
effective factors in the water use efficiency in the irrigation areas.
Abstract: Transmission network expansion planning (TNEP) is an important component of power system planning that its task is to minimize the network construction and operational cost while satisfying the demand increasing, imposed technical and economic conditions. Up till now, various methods have been presented to solve the static transmission network expansion planning (STNEP) problem. But in all of these methods, the lines adequacy rate has not been studied after the planning horizon, i.e. when the expanded network misses its adequacy and needs to be expanded again. In this paper, in order to take transmission lines condition after expansion in to account from the line loading view point, the adequacy of transmission network is considered for solution of STNEP problem. To obtain optimal network arrangement, a decimal codification genetic algorithm (DCGA) is being used for minimizing the network construction and operational cost. The effectiveness of the proposed idea is tested on the Garver's six-bus network. The results evaluation reveals that the annual worth of network adequacy has a considerable effect on the network arrangement. In addition, the obtained network, based on the DCGA, has lower investment cost and higher adequacy rate. Thus, the network satisfies the requirements of delivering electric power more safely and reliably to load centers.
Abstract: In this paper we used data mining techniques to
identify outlier patients who are using large amount of drugs over a
long period of time. Any healthcare or health insurance system
should deal with the quantities of drugs utilized by chronic diseases
patients. In Kingdom of Bahrain, about 20% of health budget is spent
on medications. For the managers of healthcare systems, there is no
enough information about the ways of drug utilization by chronic
diseases patients, is there any misuse or is there outliers patients. In
this work, which has been done in cooperation with information
department in the Bahrain Defence Force hospital; we select the data
for Cardiac patients in the period starting from 1/1/2008 to
December 31/12/2008 to be the data for the model in this paper. We
used three techniques for finding the drug utilization for cardiac
patients. First we applied a clustering technique, followed by
measuring of clustering validity, and finally we applied a decision
tree as classification algorithm. The clustering results is divided into
three clusters according to the drug utilization, for 1603 patients, who
received 15,806 prescriptions during this period can be partitioned
into three groups, where 23 patients (2.59%) who received 1316
prescriptions (8.32%) are classified to be outliers. The classification
algorithm shows that the use of average drug utilization and the age,
and the gender of the patient can be considered to be the main
predictive factors in the induced model.
Abstract: This paper proposes a method for speckle reduction in
medical ultrasound imaging while preserving the edges with the
added advantages of adaptive noise filtering and speed. A nonlinear
image diffusion method that incorporates local image parameter,
namely, scatterer density in addition to gradient, to weight the
nonlinear diffusion process, is proposed. The method was tested for
the isotropic case with a contrast detail phantom and varieties of
clinical ultrasound images, and then compared to linear and some
other diffusion enhancement methods. Different diffusion parameters
were tested and tuned to best reduce speckle noise and preserve
edges. The method showed superior performance measured both
quantitatively and qualitatively when incorporating scatterer density
into the diffusivity function. The proposed filter can be used as a
preprocessing step for ultrasound image enhancement before
applying automatic segmentation, automatic volumetric calculations,
or 3D ultrasound volume rendering.
Abstract: The incidence of oral cancer in Taiwan increased year
by year. It replaced the nasopharyngeal as the top incurrence among
head and neck cancers since 1994. Early examination and earlier
identification for earlier treatment is the most effective medical
treatment for these cancers. Although the government fully subsidized
the expenses with tremendous promotion program for oral cancer
screening, the citizen-s participation remained low. Purpose of this
study is to understand the factors affecting the citizens- behavior
intensions of taking an oral cancer screening. Based on the Theory of
Planned Behavior, this study adopted four distinctive variables in
explaining the captioned behavior intentions.700 questionnaires were
dispatched with 500 valid responses or 71.4% returned by the citizens
with an age 30 or above from the eastern counties of Taiwan. Test
results has shown that attitude toward, subjective norms of, and
perceived behavioral control over the oral cancer screening varied
from some demographic factors to another. The study proofed that
attitude toward, subjective norms of, and perceived behavioral control
over the oral cancer screening had positive impacts on the
corresponding behavior intention. The test concluded that the theory
of planned behavior was appropriate as a theoretical framework in
explaining the influencing factors of intentions of taking oral cancer
screening. This study suggested the healthcare professional should
provide high accessibility of screening services other than just
delivering knowledge on oral cancer to promote the citizens-
intentions of taking the captioned screening. This research also
provided a practical implication to the healthcare professionals when
formulating and implementing promotion instruments for lifting the
screening rate of oral cancer.
Abstract: Kombucha Tea Ferment (KT), was given to male
albino rats, (1ml/Kg of body weight), via gavages, during 2 weeks
before intraperitoneal administration of 3.5 mg/Kg body weight
CdCl2 and/or whole body γ-irradiation with 4Gy, and during 4 weeks
after each treatment. Hepatic and nephritic pathological changes
included significant increases of serum alanine transaminase (ALT),
aspartate transaminase (AST), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP)
activities, and creatinine and urea contents with significant decrease
in serum total antioxidant capacity (TAC). Increase in oxidative
stress markers in liver and kidney tissues expressed by significant
increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO) contents
associated to significant depletion in superoxide dismutase (SOD)
and catalase (CAT) activities, and reduced glutathione (GSH) content
were recorded. KT administration results in recovery of all the
pathological changes. It could be concluded that KT might protect
liver and kidney from oxidative damage induced by exposure to
cadmium and/ or γ-irradiation.
Abstract: Construction cost in India is increasing at around 50
per cent over the average inflation levels. It have registered increase
of up to 15 per cent every year, primarily due to cost of basic
building materials such as steel, cement, bricks, timber and other
inputs as well as cost of labour. As a result, the cost of construction
using conventional building materials and construction is becoming
beyond the affordable limits particularly for low-income groups of
population as well as a large cross section of the middle - income
groups. Therefore, there is a need to adopt cost-effective construction
methods either by up-gradation of traditional technologies using local
resources or applying modern construction materials and techniques
with efficient inputs leading to economic solutions. This has become
the most relevant aspect in the context of the large volume of housing
to be constructed in both rural and urban areas and the consideration
of limitations in the availability of resources such as building
materials and finance. This paper makes an overview of the housing
status in India and adoption of appropriate and cost effective
technologies in the country.
Abstract: This paper evaluates the dividend payments for general
claim size distributions in the presence of a dividend barrier. The
surplus of a company is modeled using the classical risk process
perturbed by diffusion, and in addition, it is assumed to accrue interest
at a constant rate. After presenting the integro-differential equation
with initial conditions that dividend payments satisfies, the paper
derives a useful expression of the dividend payments by employing
the theory of Volterra equation. Furthermore, the optimal value of
dividend barrier is found. Finally, numerical examples illustrate the
optimality of optimal dividend barrier and the effects of parameters
on dividend payments.