Abstract: The triumph of inductive neuro-stimulation since its rediscovery in the 1980s has been quite spectacular. In lots of branches ranging from clinical applications to basic research this system is absolutely indispensable. Nevertheless, the basic knowledge about the processes underlying the stimulation effect is still very rough and rarely refined in a quantitative way. This seems to be not only an inexcusable blank spot in biophysics and for stimulation prediction, but also a fundamental hindrance for technological progress. The already very sophisticated devices have reached a stage where further optimization requires better strategies than provided by simple linear membrane models of integrate-and-fire style. Addressing this problem for the first time, we suggest in the following text a way for virtual quantitative analysis of a stimulation system. Concomitantly, this ansatz seems to provide a route towards a better understanding by using nonlinear signal processing and taking the nerve as a filter that is adapted for neuronal magnetic stimulation. The model is compact and easy to adjust. The whole setup behaved very robustly during all performed tests. Exemplarily a recent innovative stimulator design known as cTMS is analyzed and dimensioned with this approach in the following. The results show hitherto unforeseen potentials.
Abstract: In this study, we have defined slant helix according to
Bishop frame in Euclidean 3-Space. Furthermore, we have given
some necassary and sufficient conditons for the slant helix.
Abstract: Some methodologies were compared in providing
erosion maps of surface, rill and gully and erosion features, in
research which took place in the Varamin sub-basin, north-east
Tehran, Iran. A photomorphic unit map was produced from
processed satellite images, and four other maps were prepared by the
integration of different data layers, including slope, plant cover,
geology, land use, rocks erodibility and land units. Comparison of
ground truth maps of erosion types and working unit maps indicated
that the integration of land use, land units and rocks erodibility layers
with satellite image photomorphic units maps provide the best
methods in producing erosion types maps.
Abstract: The objective of this study is to evaluate the
occurrence of fungi in aerobic and anoxic activated sludge from
membrane bioreactors (MBRs). Thirty-six samples of both aerobic
and anoxic activated sludge were taken from 2 MBR treating
domestic wastewater. Over a period of eight months 2 samples from
each plant were taken per month. The samples were prepared for
count and definition of fungi. The obtained data show that, sixty
species belonging to 27 genera were collected from activated sludge
samples under aerobic and anoxic conditions. Regarding to the fungi
definition, under aerobic condition the Geotrichum was found at
(8.8%) followed by Penicillium (75.0%), Yeasts (65.7%) and
Trichoderma (55.5%), while Yeasts (77.1%) Geotrichum
candidumand Penicillium (61.1%) species were the most prevalent in
anoxic activated sludge. The results indicate that activated sludge is
habitat for growth and sporulation of different groups of fungi, both
saprophytic and pathogenic.
Abstract: This paper is based on a study conducted in 2006 to assess the impact of computer usage on health of National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) staff. NIMR being a research Institute, most of its staff spend substantial part of their working time on computers. There was notion among NIMR staff on possible prolonged computer usage health hazards. Hence, a study was conducted to establish facts and possible mitigation measures. A total of 144 NIMR staff were involved in the study of whom 63.2% were males and 36.8% females aged between 20 and 59 years. All staff cadres were included in the sample. The functions performed by Institute staff using computers includes; data management, proposal development and report writing, research activities, secretarial duties, accounting and administrative duties, on-line information retrieval and online communication through e-mail services. The interviewed staff had been using computers for 1-8 hours a day and for a period ranging from 1 to 20 years. The study has indicated ergonomic hazards for a significant proportion of interviewees (63%) of various kinds ranging from backache to eyesight related problems. The authors highlighted major issues which are substantially applicable in preventing occurrences of computer related problems and they urged NIMR Management and/or the government of Tanzania opts to adapt their practicability.
Abstract: One-way functions are functions that are easy to
compute but hard to invert. Their existence is an open conjecture; it
would imply the existence of intractable problems (i.e. NP-problems
which are not in the P complexity class).
If true, the existence of one-way functions would have an impact
on the theoretical framework of physics, in particularly, quantum
mechanics. Such aspect of one-way functions has never been shown
before.
In the present work, we put forward the following.
We can calculate the microscopic state (say, the particle spin in the
z direction) of a macroscopic system (a measuring apparatus
registering the particle z-spin) by the system macroscopic state (the
apparatus output); let us call this association the function F. The
question is: can we compute the function F in the inverse direction?
In other words, can we compute the macroscopic state of the system
through its microscopic state (the preimage F -1)?
In the paper, we assume that the function F is a one-way function.
The assumption implies that at the macroscopic level the Schrödinger
equation becomes unfeasible to compute. This unfeasibility plays a
role of limit of the validity of the linear Schrödinger equation.
Abstract: In recent years, environment regulation forcing
manufactures to consider recovery activity of end-of- life products
and/or return products for refurbishing, recycling,
remanufacturing/repair and disposal in supply chain management. In
this paper, a mathematical model is formulated for single product
production-inventory system considering remanufacturing/reuse of
return products and rate of return products follows a demand like
function, dependent on purchasing price and acceptance quality level.
It is useful in decision making to determine whether to go for
remanufacturing or disposal of returned products along with newly
produced products to satisfy a stationary demand. In addition, a
modified genetic algorithm approach is proposed, inspired by particle
swarm optimization method. Numerical analysis of the case study is
carried out to validate the model.
Abstract: The study describes chitosan membrane platform
modified with nanostructure pattern which using nanotechnology to
fabricate. The cell-substrate interaction between neuro-2a neuroblasts
cell lines and chitosan membrane (flat, nanostructure and
nanostructure pattern types) was investigated. The adhered
morphology of neuro-2a cells depends on the topography of chitosan
surface. We have found that neuro-2a showed different morphogenesis
when cells adhered on flat and nanostructure chitosan membrane. The
cell projected area of neuro-2a on flat chitosan membrane is larger
than on nanostructure chitosan membrane. In addition, neuro-2a cells
preferred to adhere on flat chitosan surface region than on
nanostructure chitosan membrane to immobilize and differentiation.
The experiment suggests surface topography can be used as a critical
mechanism to isolate group of neuro-2a to a particular rectangle area
on chitosan membrane. Our finding will provide a platform to take
patch clamp to record electrophysiological behavior about neurons in
vitro in the future.
Abstract: Standard packaging and interconnection technologies
of power devices have difficulties meeting the increasing thermal
demands of new application fields of power electronics devices.
Main restrictions are the decreasing reliability of bond-wires and
solder layers with increasing junction temperature. In the last few
years intensive efforts have been invested in developing new
packaging and interconnection solutions which may open a path to
future application of power devices. In this paper, the main failure
mechanisms of power devices are described and principle of new
packaging and interconnection concepts and their power cycling
reliability are presented.
Abstract: In this paper we present two novel 1-bit full adder
cells in dynamic logic style. NP-CMOS (Zipper) and Multi-Output
structures are used to design the adder blocks. Characteristic of
dynamic logic leads to higher speeds than the other standard static
full adder cells. Using HSpice and 0.18┬Ám CMOS technology
exhibits a significant decrease in the cell delay which can result in a
considerable reduction in the power-delay product (PDP). The PDP
of Multi-Output design at 1.8v power supply is around 0.15 femto
joule that is 5% lower than conventional dynamic full adder cell and
at least 21% lower than other static full adders.
Abstract: Fermented beverages have high expression in the
market for beverages in general, is increasingly valued in situations
where the characteristic aroma and flavor of the material that gave
rise to them are kept after processing. This study aimed to develop a
distilled beverage from passion fruit, and assess, by sensory tests and
chromatographic profile, the influence of different treatments (FM1-
spirit with pulp addiction and FM2 – spirit with bigger ratio of pulp
in must) in the setting of volatiles in the fruit drink, and performing
chemical characterization taking into account the main parameters of
quality established by the legislation. The chromatograms and the
first sensorial tests had indicated that sample FM1 possess better
characteristics of aroma, as much of how much quantitative the
qualitative point of view. However, it analyzes it sensorial end
(preference test) disclosed the biggest preference of the cloth provers
for sample FM2-2 (note 7.93), being the attributes of decisive color
and flavor in this reply, confirmed for the observed values lowest of
fixed and total acidity in the samples of treatment FM2.
Abstract: This paper identifies five key design characteristics of
production scheduling software systems in printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing. The authors consider that, in addition to an effective scheduling engine, a scheduling system should be able to
process a preventative maintenance calendar, to give the user the
flexibility to handle data using a variety of electronic sources, to run
simulations to support decision-making, and to have simple and
customisable graphical user interfaces. These design considerations
were the result of a review of academic literature, the evaluation of
commercial applications and a compilation of requirements of a PCB manufacturer. It was found that, from those systems that were evaluated, those that effectively addressed all five characteristics
outlined in this paper were the most robust of all and could be used in
PCB manufacturing.
Abstract: We consider the development of an eight order Adam-s
type method, with A-stability property discussed by expressing them
as a one-step method in higher dimension. This makes it suitable
for solving variety of initial-value problems. The main method and
additional methods are obtained from the same continuous scheme
derived via interpolation and collocation procedures. The methods
are then applied in block form as simultaneous numerical integrators
over non-overlapping intervals. Numerical results obtained using the
proposed block form reveals that it is highly competitive with existing
methods in the literature.
Abstract: This paper focuses on the 3D reconstruction of
the architectural design of Darul Ridzuan Museum. It has
concentrated on designing exterior part of the building according
to colored digital photo of the real museum. Besides viewing the
architecture, walkthroughs are generated for the user to control
it in an easier way. User can travel through the museum to get
the feel of the environment and to explore the design of the
museum as a whole; both exterior and interior. The result has
shown positive result in terms of realism, navigation, collision
detection, suitability, usability and user-s acceptance. In brief,
the 3D virtual museum has provided an alternative to present a
real museum.
Abstract: There has been a growing interest in the field of
bio-mimetic robots that resemble the shape of an insect or an aquatic
animal, among many others. One bio-mimetic robot serves the
purpose of exploring pipelines, spotting any troubled areas or
malfunctions and reporting its data. Moreover, the robot is able to
prepare for and react to any abnormal routes in the pipeline. In order
to move effectively inside a pipeline, the robot-s movement will
resemble that of a lizard. When situated in massive pipelines with
complex routes, the robot places fixed sensors in several important
spots in order to complete its monitoring. This monitoring task is to
prevent a major system failure by preemptively recognizing any minor
or partial malfunctions. Areas uncovered by fixed sensors are usually
impossible to provide real-time observation and examination, and thus
are dependant on periodical offline monitoring. This paper provides
the Monitoring System that is able to monitor the entire area of
pipelines–with and without fixed sensors–by using the bio-mimetic
robot.
Abstract: Application of wood in rural construction is diffused
all around the world since remote times. However, its inclusion in
structural design deserves strong support from broad knowledge of
material properties. The pertinent literature reveals the application of
optical methods in determining the complete field displacement on
bodies exhibiting regular as well as irregular surfaces. The use of
moiré techniques in experimental mechanics consists in analyzing the
patterns generated on the body surface before and after deformation.
The objective of this research work is to study the qualitative
deformation behavior of wooden testing specimens under specific
loading situations. The experiment setup follows the literature
description of shadow moiré methods. Results indicate strong
anisotropy influence of the generated displacement field. Important
qualitative as well as quantitative stress and strain distribution were
obtained wooden members which are applicable to rural
constructions.
Abstract: The spin (ms) and orbital (mo) magnetic moment of
the antiferromagnetic NiO and MnO have been studied in the local
spin density approximation (LSDA+U) within full potential linear
muffin-tin orbital (FP-LMTO method with in the coulomb interaction
U varying from 0 to 10eV, exchange interaction J, from 0 to 1.0eV,
and volume compression VC in range of 0 to 80%. Our calculated
results shown that the spin magnetic moments and the orbital
magnetic moments increase linearly with increasing U and J. While
the interesting behaviour appears when volume compression is
greater than 70% for NiO and 50% for MnO at which ms collapses.
Further increase of volume compression to be at 80% leads to the
disappearance of both magnetic moments.
Abstract: De novo genome assembly is always fragmented. Assembly fragmentation is more serious using the popular next generation sequencing (NGS) data because NGS sequences are shorter than the traditional Sanger sequences. As the data throughput of NGS is high, the fragmentations in assemblies are usually not the result of missing data. On the contrary, the assembled sequences, called contigs, are often connected to more than one other contigs in a complicated manner, leading to the fragmentations. False connections in such complicated connections between contigs, named a contig graph, are inevitable because of repeats and sequencing/assembly errors. Simplifying a contig graph by removing false connections directly improves genome assembly. In this work, we have developed a tool, SIMGraph, to resolve ambiguous connections between contigs using NGS data. Applying SIMGraph to the assembly of a fungus and a fish genome, we resolved 27.6% and 60.3% ambiguous contig connections, respectively. These results can reduce the experimental efforts in resolving contig connections.
Abstract: Construction of tunnels is connected with high
uncertainty in the field of costs, construction period, safety and
impact on surroundings. Risk management became therefore a
common part of tunnel projects, especially after a set of fatal
collapses occurred in 1990's. Such collapses are caused usually by
combination of factors that can be divided into three main groups, i.e.
unfavourable geological conditions, failures in the design and
planning or failures in the execution.
This paper suggests a procedure enabling quantification of the
excavation risk related to extraordinary accidents using FTA and
ETA tools. It will elaborate on a common process of risk analysis and
enable the transfer of information and experience between particular
tunnel construction projects. Further, it gives a guide for designers,
management and other participants, how to deal with risk of such
accidents and how to make qualified decisions based on a
probabilistic approach.
Abstract: This paper presents a semi-supervised learning algorithm called Iterative-Cross Training (ICT) to solve the Web pages classification problems. We apply Inductive logic programming (ILP) as a strong learner in ICT. The objective of this research is to evaluate the potential of the strong learner in order to boost the performance of the weak learner of ICT. We compare the result with the supervised Naive Bayes, which is the well-known algorithm for the text classification problem. The performance of our learning algorithm is also compare with other semi-supervised learning algorithms which are Co-Training and EM. The experimental results show that ICT algorithm outperforms those algorithms and the performance of the weak learner can be enhanced by ILP system.