Abstract: Numerical design optimization is a powerful tool that
can be used by engineers during any stage of the design process.
There are many different applications for structural optimization. A
specific application that will be discussed in the following paper is
experimental data matching. Data obtained through tests on a physical
structure will be matched with data from a numerical model of that
same structure. The data of interest will be the dynamic characteristics
of an antenna structure focusing on the mode shapes and modal
frequencies. The structure used was a scaled and simplified model of
the Karoo Array Telescope-7 (KAT-7) antenna structure.
This kind of data matching is a complex and difficult task. This
paper discusses how optimization can assist an engineer during the
process of correlating a finite element model with vibration test data.
Abstract: In this research, natural canthaxanthin as one of the
most important carotenoids was extracted from Dietzia
natronolimnaea HS-1. The changes of canthaxanthin enriched in oilin-
water emulsions with vegetable oil (5 mg/ 100 mL), Arabic gum (5
mg/100 mL), and potassium sorbate (0.5 g/100 mL) was investigated.
The effects of different pH (3, 5 and 7), as well as, time treatment (3,
18 and 33 days) in the environmental temperature (24°C) on the
degradation were studied by response surface methodology (RSM).
The Hunter values (L*, a*, and b*) and the concentration of
canthaxanthin (C, mg/L) illustrated more degradation of this pigment
at low pHs (pH≤ 4) by passing the time (days≥10) with R² 97.00%,
91.31%, 97.60%, and 99.54% for C, L*, a*, and b* respectively. The
predicted model were found to be significant (p
Abstract: Signalized intersections on high-volume arterials are
often congested during peak hours, causing a decrease in through
movement efficiency on the arterial. Much of the vehicle delay
incurred at conventional intersections is caused by high left-turn
demand. Unconventional intersection designs attempt to reduce
intersection delay and travel time by rerouting left-turns away from
the main intersection and replacing it with right-turn followed by Uturn.
The proposed new type of U-turn intersection is geometrically
designed with a raised island which provides a protected U-turn
movement. In this study several scenarios based on different
distances between U-turn and main intersection, traffic volume of
major/minor approaches and percentage of left-turn volumes were
simulated by use of AIMSUN, a type of traffic microsimulation
software. Subsequently some models are proposed in order to
compute travel time of each movement. Eventually by correlating
these equations to some in-field collected data of some implemented
U-turn facilities, the reliability of the proposed models are approved.
With these models it would be possible to calculate travel time of
each movement under any kind of geometric and traffic condition. By
comparing travel time of a conventional signalized intersection with
U-turn intersection travel time, it would be possible to decide on
converting signalized intersections into this new kind of U-turn
facility or not. However comparison of travel time is not part of the
scope of this research. In this paper only travel time of this innovative
U-turn facility would be predicted. According to some before and
after study about the traffic performance of some executed U-turn
facilities, it is found that commonly, this new type of U-turn facility
produces lower travel time. Thus, evaluation of using this type of
unconventional intersection should be seriously considered.
Abstract: The paper investigates the relationship between the foreign direct investment (FDI) and the corporate governance or transparency by investigating the country-level FDI flows, FDI inward performance, corporate governance and transparency variables. From the regression analysis with Newey-West estimator of 28 country panel data from 1990- 2002, we find strong positive relationships between corporate governance or transparency level of hosting countries and FDI inward performance within hosting countries. A strong positive relationship is found between anti-director rights level or number of analysts of hosting countries and FDI inward performance within hosting countries. Also, we find a positive relationship between the number of analysts of hosting countries and FDI inflows. The empirical results are consistent with stock market liberalizations and corporate governance explanations of reasons for FDI.
Abstract: The prediction of transmembrane helical segments
(TMHs) in membrane proteins is an important field in the
bioinformatics research. In this paper, a new method based on discrete
wavelet transform (DWT) has been developed to predict the number
and location of TMHs in membrane proteins. PDB coded as 1KQG
was chosen as an example to describe the prediction of the number and
location of TMHs in membrane proteins by using this method. To
access the effect of the method, 80 proteins with known 3D-structure
from Mptopo database are chosen at random as the test objects
(including 325 TMHs), 308 of which can be predicted accurately, the
average predicted accuracy is 96.3%. In addition, the above 80
membrane proteins are divided into 13 groups according to their
function and type. In particular, the results of the prediction of TMHs
of the 13 groups are satisfying.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to determine in what
ways elementary education prospective teachers are being informed
about innovations and to explain the role of social influence in the
usage process of a technological innovation in terms of genders. The
study group consisted of 300 prospective teachers, including 234
females and 66 males. Data have been collected by a questionnaire
developed by the researchers. The result of the study showed that,
while prospective teachers are being informed about innovations
most frequently by mass media, they rarely seek to take expert
advice. In addition, analysis of results showed that the social
influence on females were significantly higher than males in usage
process of a technological innovation.
Abstract: In this paper after reviewing some previous studies, in
order to optimize the above knee prosthesis, beside the inertial
properties a new controlling parameter is informed. This controlling
parameter makes the prosthesis able to act as a multi behavior system
when the amputee is opposing to different environments. This active
prosthesis with the new controlling parameter can simplify the
control of prosthesis and reduce the rate of energy consumption in
comparison to recently presented similar prosthesis “Agonistantagonist
active knee prosthesis".
In this paper three models are generated, a passive, an active, and
an optimized active prosthesis. Second order Taylor series is the
numerical method in solution of the models equations and the
optimization procedure is genetic algorithm.
Modeling the prosthesis which comprises this new controlling
parameter (SEP) during the swing phase represents acceptable results
in comparison to natural behavior of shank. Reported results in this
paper represent 3.3 degrees as the maximum deviation of models
shank angle from the natural pattern. The natural gait pattern belongs
to walking at the speed of 81 m/min.
Abstract: The measurements of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K using
gamma spectrometry and radon concentration and exhalation rates
measurements using solid state nuclear track (LR-115, Type-II
plastic) detectors are used to asses a first order exposure risk for the
persons residing in Fatehbad and Hissar districts of Western Haryana,
India. The concentration of Radium, Thorium and Potassium in the
soil samples varies from 13.37 Bq m-3 to 24.67 Bq m-3, 34.67 Bq m-3
to 67.34 Bq m-3 and 298.78 Bq m-3 to 405.67 Bq m-3 respectively
with average values of 18.78, 47.35 and 361.57 Bq m-3 respectively.
The radium equivalent activity (Raeq) calculated for the same soil
samples varies from 92.72 Bq m-3 to 140.6 Bq m-3 with an average
value of 111.80 Bq m-3. The values of absorbed dose and annual
effective dose (indoors and outdoors) are found to vary from 44.18
nGy h-1 to 65.23 nGy h-1, 0.22 mSv y-1 to 0.32 mSv y-1 and 0.05 mSv
y-1 to 0.08 mSv y-1 respectively. The radon concentration and
exhalation rates have also been reported. The radium equivalent
activities in all the soil samples were found to be lower than the limit
(370 Bq kg-1) set in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) report and the value of Hex in all the samples
is less than unity.
Abstract: Adaptive echo cancellers with two-path algorithm are
applied to avoid the false adaptation during the double-talk situation.
In the two-path algorithm, several transfer logic solutions have been
proposed to control the filter update. This paper presents an improved
transfer logic solution. It improves the convergence speed of the
two-path algorithm, and allows the reduction of the memory elements
and computational complexity. Results of simulations show the
improved performance of the proposed solution.
Abstract: Recent years have witnessed the rapid development of
the Internet and telecommunication techniques. Information security
is becoming more and more important. Applications such as covert
communication, copyright protection, etc, stimulate the research of
information hiding techniques. Traditionally, encryption is used to
realize the communication security. However, important information
is not protected once decoded. Steganography is the art and science
of communicating in a way which hides the existence of the communication.
Important information is firstly hidden in a host data, such
as digital image, video or audio, etc, and then transmitted secretly
to the receiver.In this paper a data hiding model with high security
features combining both cryptography using finite state sequential
machine and image based steganography technique for communicating
information more securely between two locations is proposed.
The authors incorporated the idea of secret key for authentication
at both ends in order to achieve high level of security. Before the
embedding operation the secret information has been encrypted with
the help of finite-state sequential machine and segmented in different
parts. The cover image is also segmented in different objects through
normalized cut.Each part of the encoded secret information has been
embedded with the help of a novel image steganographic method
(PMM) on different cuts of the cover image to form different stego
objects. Finally stego image is formed by combining different stego
objects and transmit to the receiver side. At the receiving end different
opposite processes should run to get the back the original secret
message.
Abstract: A stack with a small critical temperature gradient is
desirable for a standing wave thermoacoustic engine to obtain a low
onset temperature difference (the minimum temperature difference to
start engine-s self-oscillation). The viscous and heat relaxation loss in
the stack determines the critical temperature gradient. In this work, a
dimensionless critical temperature gradient factor is obtained based
on the linear thermoacoustic theory. It is indicated that the
impedance determines the proportion between the viscous loss, heat
relaxation losses and the power production from the heat energy. It
reveals the effects of the channel dimensions, geometrical
configuration and the local acoustic impedance on the critical
temperature gradient in stacks. The numerical analysis shows that
there exists a possible optimum combination of these parameters
which leads to the lowest critical temperature gradient. Furthermore,
several different geometries have been tested and compared
numerically.
Abstract: Ultrasonic machining (USM) is a non-traditional
machining process being widely used for commercial machining of
brittle and fragile materials such as glass, ceramics and
semiconductor materials. However, USM could be a viable
alternative for machining a tough material such as titanium; and this
aspect needs to be explored through experimental research. This
investigation is focused on exploring the use of ultrasonic machining
for commercial machining of pure titanium (ASTM Grade-I) and
evaluation of tool wear rate (TWR) under controlled experimental
conditions. The optimal settings of parameters are determined
through experiments planned, conducted and analyzed using Taguchi
method. In all, the paper focuses on parametric optimization of
ultrasonic machining of pure titanium metal with TWR as response,
and validation of the optimized value of TWR by conducting
confirmatory experiments.
Abstract: Our aim in this piece of work is to demonstrate the
power of the Laplace Adomian decomposition method (LADM) in
approximating the solutions of nonlinear differential equations
governing the two-dimensional viscous flow induced by a shrinking
sheet.
Abstract: The aim of the article is to describe modern
contemporary systems of employees' remuneration used in
organizations, to give a general overview of these questions based on
the questionnaire survey made by the authors, as well as to assess
possible effects of economic crisis in this area. It is necessary to be
aware of the fact that firm's success in the contemporary business
environment depends not only on the technical equipment, financial
resources, availability of raw materials and information and effective
management, but one of the crucial factors of firm's success is its
human potential. The article emphasizes that the well working
remuneration system has a very important position in the
organization in the broadest sense. The paper also aims to the current
situation in the area of employees' remuneration in one of Czech
Republic regions, in the Moravian-Silesian Region.
Abstract: An integrated vehicle dynamics control system is developed in this paper by a combination of active front steering (AFS) and direct yaw-moment control (DYC) based on fuzzy logic control. The control system has a hierarchical structure consisting of two layers. A fuzzy logic controller is used in the upper layer (yaw rate controller) to keep the yaw rate in its desired value. The yaw rate error and its rate of change are applied to the upper controlling layer as inputs, where the direct yaw moment control signal and the steering angle correction of the front wheels are the outputs. In the lower layer (fuzzy integrator), a fuzzy logic controller is designed based on the working region of the lateral tire forces. Depending on the directions of the lateral forces at the front wheels, a switching function is activated to adjust the scaling factor of the fuzzy logic controller. Using a nonlinear seven degrees of freedom vehicle model, the simulation results illustrate considerable improvements which are achieved in vehicle handling through the integrated AFS/DYC control system in comparison with the individual AFS or DYC controllers.
Abstract: Normally business changes are made in order to
change a level of activity in some way, whether it is sales, cash flow,
productivity, or product portfolio. When attempts are made to make
such changes, too often the business reverts to the old levels of
activity as soon as management attention is diverted. Risk
management is a field of growing interest to project managers as well
as in general business and organizational management. There are
several approaches used to manage risk in projects and this paper is a
brief outline of some that you might encounter, with an indication of
their strengths and weaknesses.
Abstract: There is wide range of scientific workflow systems
today, each one designed to resolve problems at a specific level. In
large collaborative projects, it is often necessary to recognize the
heterogeneous workflow systems already in use by various partners
and any potential collaboration between these systems requires
workflow interoperability. Publish/Subscribe Scientific Workflow
Interoperability Framework (PS-SWIF) approach was proposed to
achieve workflow interoperability among workflow systems. This
paper evaluates the PS-SWIF approach and its system to achieve
workflow interoperability using Web Services with asynchronous
notification messages represented by WS-Eventing standard. This
experiment covers different types of communication models provided
by Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC). These models are:
Chained processes, Nested synchronous sub-processes, Event
synchronous sub-processes, and Nested sub-processes
(Polling/Deferred Synchronous). Also, this experiment shows the
flexibility and simplicity of the PS-SWIF approach when applied to a
variety of workflow systems (Triana, Taverna, Kepler) in local and
remote environments.
Abstract: This paper describes analysis of low velocity transverse impact on fully backed sandwich beams with composite faces from Eglass/epoxy and cores from Polyurethane or PVC. Indentation on sandwich beams has been analyzed with the existing theories and modeled with the FE code ABAQUS, also loadings have been done experimentally to verify theoretical results. Impact on fully backed has been modeled in two cases of impactor energy with SDOF model (single-degree-of-freedom) and indentation stiffness: lower energy for elastic indentation of sandwich beams and higher energy for plastic area in indentation. Impacts have been modeled by ABAQUS. Impact results can describe response of beam in terms of core and faces thicknesses, core material, indentor energy and energy absorbed. The foam core is modeled using the crushable foam material model and response of the foam core is experimentally characterized in uniaxial compression with higher velocity loading to define quasi impact behaviour.
Abstract: This study is a descriptive-normative research. It
attempted to investigate the restaurants’ firm performance in terms of
the customers and restaurant personnel’s degree of satisfaction. A
total of 12 restaurants in Bangkok, Thailand that offer Thai cuisine
were included in this study. It involved 24 stockholders/managers,
120 subordinates and 360 customers. General Managers and
restaurants’ stockholders, 10 staffs, and 30 costumers for each
restaurant were chosen for random sampling. This study found that
respondents are slightly satisfied with their work environment but are
generally satisfied with the accessibility to transportation, to malls,
convenience, safety, recreation, noise-free, and attraction; customers
find the Quality of Food in most Thai Cuisines like services, prices of
food, sales promotion, and capital and length of service satisfactory.
Therefore, both stockholder-related and personnel-related factors
which are influenced by restaurant, personnel, and customer-related
factors are partially accepted whereas; customer-related factors which
are influenced by restaurant, personnel and customer-related factors
are rejected.
Abstract: In large datasets, identifying exceptional or rare cases
with respect to a group of similar cases is considered very significant
problem. The traditional problem (Outlier Mining) is to find
exception or rare cases in a dataset irrespective of the class label of
these cases, they are considered rare events with respect to the whole
dataset. In this research, we pose the problem that is Class Outliers
Mining and a method to find out those outliers. The general
definition of this problem is “given a set of observations with class
labels, find those that arouse suspicions, taking into account the
class labels". We introduce a novel definition of Outlier that is Class
Outlier, and propose the Class Outlier Factor (COF) which measures
the degree of being a Class Outlier for a data object. Our work
includes a proposal of a new algorithm towards mining of the Class
Outliers, presenting experimental results applied on various domains
of real world datasets and finally a comparison study with other
related methods is performed.