Abstract: Interior brick-infill partitions are usually considered as
non-structural components and only their weight is accounted for in
practical structural design. In this study, their effect on the progressive
collapse resistance of an RC building subjected to sudden column loss
is investigated. Three notional column loss conditions with four
different brick-infill locations are considered. Column-loss response
analyses of the RC building with and without brick infills are carried
out. Analysis results indicate that the collapse resistance is only
slightly influenced by the brick infills due to their brittle failure
characteristic. Even so, they may help to reduce the inelastic
displacement response under column loss. For practical engineering, it
is reasonably conservative to only consider the weight of brick-infill
partitions in the structural analysis.
Abstract: The successful implementation of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is not confined to Information Technology systems and required changes of the whole enterprise. In order to adapt IT and business, the enterprise requires adequate and measurable methods. The adoption of SOA creates new problem with regard to measuring and analysis the performance. In fact the enterprise should investigate to what extent the development of services will increase the value of business. It is required for every business to measure the extent of SOA adaptation with the goals of enterprise. Moreover, precise performance metrics and their combination with the advanced evaluation methodologies as a solution should be defined. The aim of this paper is to present a systematic methodology for designing a measurement system at the technical and business levels, so that: (1) it will determine measurement metrics precisely (2) the results will be analysed by mapping identified metrics to the measurement tools.
Abstract: The wireless link can be unreliable in realistic wireless
sensor networks (WSNs). Energy efficient and reliable data
forwarding is important because each node has limited resources.
Therefore, we must suggest an optimal solution that considers using
the information of the node-s characteristics. Previous routing
protocols were unsuited to realistic asymmetric WSNs. In this paper,
we propose a Protocol that considers Both sides of Link-quality and
Energy (PBLE), an optimal routing protocol that balances modified
link-quality, distance and energy. Additionally, we propose a node
scheduling method. PBLE achieves a longer lifetime than previous
routing protocols and is more energy-efficient. PBLE uses energy,
local information and both sides of PRR in a 1-hop distance. We
explain how to send data packets to the destination node using the
node's information. Simulation shows PBLE improves delivery rate
and network lifetime compared to previous schemes. Moreover, we
show the improvement in various WSN environments.
Abstract: Japan is known to be a technological powerhouse, being noted for its automobiles, consumer electronics, laptop computers, portable gaming devices, and more recently healing animal robots. Japan is also noted for its popular culture; manga, anime, novels, films, character goods, game programs, cosplay cafes, karaoke and so on. It may be natural for people outside Japan to assume that e-learning in Japan must be well advanced and innovative. In reality, the application of technologies in education in Japan is far behind of other developed countries. Especially in higher education, apathy of students towards their study prevails and teachers continue ignoring such student attitudes. E-learning, which is supposed to revolutionalize the way people learn as it has potentials to enable more student-centered learning, has not been realized in Japan and mostly used to perpetuate the teachercentered teaching in a different format.
Abstract: Shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators have found a
wide range of applications due to their unique properties such as high
force, small size, lightweight and silent operation. This paper presents
the development of compact (SMA) actuator and cooling system in
one unit. This actuator is developed for multi-fingered hand. It
consists of nickel-titanium (Nitinol) SMA wires in compact forming.
The new arrangement insulates SMA wires from the human body by
housing it in a heat sink and uses a thermoelectric device for rejecting
heat to improve the actuator performance. The study uses
optimization methods for selecting the SMA wires geometrical
parameters and the material of a heat sink. The experimental work
implements the actuator prototype and measures its response.
Abstract: This study is concerned with the investigation of the
suitability of several empirical and semi-empirical drying models
available in the literature to define drying behavior of viscose yarn
bobbins. For this purpose, firstly, experimental drying behaviour of
viscose bobbins was determined on an experimental dryer setup
which was designed and manufactured based on hot-air bobbin
dryers used in textile industry. Afterwards, drying models considered
were fitted to the experimentally obtained moisture ratios. Drying
parameters were drying temperature and bobbin diameter. The fit
was performed by selecting the values for constants in the models in
such a way that these values make the sum of the squared differences
between the experimental and the model results for moisture ratio
minimum. Suitability of fitting was specified as comparing the
correlation coefficient, standard error and mean square deviation.
The results show that the most appropriate model in describing the
drying curves of viscose bobbins is the Page model.
Abstract: In general, small-scale vegetables farmers experience
problems in improving the safety and quality of vegetables supplied
to high-class consumers in modern retailers. They also lack of
information to access market. The farmers group and/or cooperative
(FGC) should be able to assist its members by providing training in
handling and packing vegetables and enhancing marketing
capabilities to sell commodities to the modern retailers. This study
proposes an agri-food supply chain (ASC) model that involves the
corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to cultivate the
capabilities of farmers to access market. Multi period ASC model is
formulated as Weighted Goal Programming (WGP) to analyze the
impacts of CSR programs to empower the FGCs in managing the
small-scale vegetables farmers. The results show that the proposed
model can be used to determine the priority of programs in order to
maximize the four goals to be achieved in the CSR programs.
Abstract: A new, rapidly convergent, numerical procedure for
internal loading distribution computation in statically loaded, singlerow,
angular-contact ball bearings, subjected to a known combined
radial and thrust load, which must be applied so that to avoid tilting
between inner and outer rings, is used to find the load distribution
differences between a loaded unfitted bearing at room temperature,
and the same loaded bearing with interference fits that might
experience radial temperature gradients between inner and outer
rings. For each step of the procedure it is required the iterative
solution of Z + 2 simultaneous nonlinear equations – where Z is the
number of the balls – to yield exact solution for axial and radial
deflections, and contact angles.
Abstract: Current OCR technology does not allow to
accurately recognizing small text images, such as those found
in web images. Our goal is to investigate new approaches to
recognize very low resolution text images containing antialiased
character shapes.
This paper presents a preliminary study on the variability of
such characters and the feasibility to discriminate them by
using geometrical features. In a first stage we analyze the
distribution of these features. In a second stage we present a
study on the discriminative power for recognizing isolated
characters, using various rendering methods and font
properties. Finally we present interesting results of our
evaluation tests leading to our conclusion and future focus.
Abstract: The ability of the brain to organize information and generate the functional structures we use to act, think and communicate, is a common and easily observable natural phenomenon. In object-oriented analysis, these structures are represented by objects. Objects have been extensively studied and documented, but the process that creates them is not understood. In this work, a new class of discrete, deterministic, dissipative, host-guest dynamical systems is introduced. The new systems have extraordinary self-organizing properties. They can host information representing other physical systems and generate the same functional structures as the brain does. A simple mathematical model is proposed. The new systems are easy to simulate by computer, and measurements needed to confirm the assumptions are abundant and readily available. Experimental results presented here confirm the findings. Applications are many, but among the most immediate are object-oriented engineering, image and voice recognition, search engines, and Neuroscience.
Abstract: Five crystal modifications of water insoluble
artesunate were generated by recrystallizing it from various solvents
with improved physicochemical properties. These generated crystal
forms were characterized to select the most potent and soluble form.
SEM of all the forms showed changes in external shape leading them
to be different morphologically. DSC thermograms of Form III and
Form V showed broad endotherm peaks at 83.04oC and 76.96oC prior
to melting fusion of drug respectively. Calculated weight loss in TGA
revealed that Form III and Form V are methanol and acetone solvates
respectively. However, few additional peaks were appeared in XRPD
pattern in these two solvate forms. All forms exhibit exothermic
behavior in buffer and two solvates display maximum ease of
molecular release from the lattice. Methanol and acetone solvates
were found to be most soluble forms and exhibited higher
antimalarial efficacy showing higher survival rate (83.3%) after 30
days.
Abstract: Food safety is an important concern for holiday
makers in foreign and unfamiliar tourist destinations. In fact, risk
from food in these tourist destinations has an influence on tourist
perception. This risk can potentially affect physical health and lead to
an inability to pursue planned activities. The objective of this paper
was to compare foreign tourists- demographics including gender, age
and education level, with the level of perceived risk towards food
safety. A total of 222 foreign tourists during their stay at Khao San
Road in Bangkok were used as the sample. Independent- samples ttest,
analysis of variance, and Least Significant Difference or LSD
post hoc test were utilized. The findings revealed that there were few
demographic differences in level of perceived risk among the foreign
tourists. The post hoc test indicated a significant difference among
the old and the young tourists, and between the higher and lower
level of education. Ranks of tourists- perceived risk towards food
safety unveiled some interesting results. Tourists- perceived risk of
food safety in established restaurants can be ranked as i) cleanliness
of dining utensils, ii) sanitation of food preparation area, and iii)
cleanliness of food seasoning and ingredients. Whereas, the tourists-
perceived risk of food safety in street food and drink can be ranked
as i) cleanliness of stalls and pushcarts, ii) cleanliness of food sold,
and iii) personal hygiene of street food hawkers or vendors.
Abstract: As a simple to method estimate the plant heating energy
capacity of an apartment complex, a new load calculation method has
been proposed. The method which can be called as unit building
method, predicts the heating load of the entire complex instead of
summing up that of each apartment belonging to complex.
Comparison of the unit heating load for various floor sizes between the
present method and conventional approach shows a close agreement
with dynamic load calculation code. Some additional calculations are
performed to demonstrate it-s application examples.
Abstract: The study was performed to evaluate the effect of Sgirdling,
fruit thinning plus bagging with 2,4-D application, fruit
thinning plus bagging on growth and quality of wax apple fruit.
Girdling was applied three week before flowering. The 2,4-D was
sprayed at the small bud and petal fall stage. The effect of all
treatments on fruit growth was measured weekly. The physical and
biochemical quality characteristics of the fruits were recorded. The
results showed that no significant effect on number of bud among
treatments. S-girdling, 2,4-D application produced the lowest bud
drop, fruit drop compared to untreated control. Moreover, S-girdling
enhanced faster fruit growth producing the best final fruit length and
diameter than the control treatment. It was also observed that Sgirdling
greatly increased fruit set, fruit weight as well as total
soluble solid, reduced fruit crack, and titratable acidity. In
conclusion, S-girdling had a distinctive and significant effect on most
of the fruit quality characteristics assessed. Application 2,4-D was
also recommended as the industry norm to increase fruit set, and fruit
quality in wax apple.
Abstract: Support vector regression (SVR) has been regarded
as a state-of-the-art method for approximation and regression. The
importance of kernel function, which is so-called admissible support
vector kernel (SV kernel) in SVR, has motivated many studies
on its composition. The Gaussian kernel (RBF) is regarded as a
“best" choice of SV kernel used by non-expert in SVR, whereas
there is no evidence, except for its superior performance on some
practical applications, to prove the statement. Its well-known that
reproducing kernel (R.K) is also a SV kernel which possesses many
important properties, e.g. positive definiteness, reproducing property
and composing complex R.K by simpler ones. However, there are a
limited number of R.Ks with explicit forms and consequently few
quantitative comparison studies in practice. In this paper, two R.Ks,
i.e. SV kernels, composed by the sum and product of a translation
invariant kernel in a Sobolev space are proposed. An exploratory
study on the performance of SVR based general R.K is presented
through a systematic comparison to that of RBF using multiple
criteria and synthetic problems. The results show that the R.K is
an equivalent or even better SV kernel than RBF for the problems
with more input variables (more than 5, especially more than 10) and
higher nonlinearity.
Abstract: This paper focuses on developing an integrated
reliable and sophisticated model for ultra large wind turbines And to
study the performance and analysis of vector control on large wind
turbines. With the advance of power electronics technology, direct
driven multi-pole radial flux PMSG (Permanent Magnet Synchronous
Generator) has proven to be a good choice for wind turbines
manufacturers. To study the wind energy conversion systems, it is
important to develop a wind turbine simulator that is able to produce
realistic and validated conditions that occur in real ultra MW wind
turbines. Three different packages are used to simulate this model,
namely, Turbsim, FAST and Simulink. Turbsim is a Full field wind
simulator developed by National Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL). The wind turbine mechanical parts are modeled by FAST
(Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structures and Turbulence) code which is
also developed by NREL. Simulink is used to model the PMSG, full
scale back to back IGBT converters, and the grid.
Abstract: WebGL is typically used with web browsers. In this
paper, we represent a standalone WebGL execution environment,
where the original WebGL source codes show the same result to those
of WebGL-capable web browsers. This standalone environment
enables us to run WebGL programs without web browsers and/or
internet connections. Our implementation shows the same rendering
results with typical web browser outputs. This standalone environment
is suitable for low-tier devices and/or debugging purposes.
Abstract: Current research on semantic web aims at making intelligent web pages meaningful for machines. In this way, ontology plays a primary role. We believe that logic can help ontology languages (such as OWL) to be more fluent and efficient. In this paper we try to combine logic with OWL to reduce some disadvantages of this language. Therefore we extend OWL by logic and also show how logic can satisfy our future expectations of an ontology language.
Abstract: The objective of this research was to find the diffusion properties of vehicles on the road by using the V-Sphere Code. The diffusion coefficient and the size of the height of the wake were estimated with the LES option and the third order MUSCL scheme. We evaluated the code with the changes in the moments of Reynolds Stress along the mean streamline. The results show that at the leading part of a bluff body the LES has some advantages over the RNS since the changes in the strain rates are larger for the leading part. We estimated that the diffusion coefficient with the computed Reynolds stress (non-dimensional) was about 0.96 times the mean velocity.
Abstract: As in today's semiconductor industries test costs can make up to 50 percent of the total production costs, an efficient test error detection becomes more and more important. In this paper, we present a new machine learning approach to test error detection that should provide a faster recognition of test system faults as well as an improved test error recall. The key idea is to learn a classifier ensemble, detecting typical test error patterns in wafer test results immediately after finishing these tests. Since test error detection has not yet been discussed in the machine learning community, we define central problem-relevant terms and provide an analysis of important domain properties. Finally, we present comparative studies reflecting the failure detection performance of three individual classifiers and three ensemble methods based upon them. As base classifiers we chose a decision tree learner, a support vector machine and a Bayesian network, while the compared ensemble methods were simple and weighted majority vote as well as stacking. For the evaluation, we used cross validation and a specially designed practical simulation. By implementing our approach in a semiconductor test department for the observation of two products, we proofed its practical applicability.