Abstract: The purpose of this article is to study the effects of
plants cover on overland flow and, therefore, its influences on the
amount of eroded and transported soil. In this investigation, all the
experiments were conducted in the LEGHYD laboratory using a
rainfall simulator and a soil tray. The experiments were conducted
using an experimental plot (soil tray) which is 2m long, 0.5 m wide
and 0.15 m deep. The soil used is an agricultural sandy soil (62,08%
coarse sand, 19,14% fine sand, 11,57% silt and 7,21% clay). Plastic
rods (4 mm in diameter) were used to simulate the plants at different
densities: 0 stem/m2 (bared soil), 126 stems/m², 203 stems/m², 461
stems/m² and 2500 stems/m²). The used rainfall intensity is 73mm/h
and the soil tray slope is fixed to 3°. The results have shown that the
overland flow velocities decreased with increasing stems density, and
the density cover has a great effect on sediment concentration.
Darcy–Weisbach and Manning friction coefficients of overland flow
increased when the stems density increased. Froude and Reynolds
numbers decreased with increasing stems density and, consequently,
the flow regime of all treatments was laminar and subcritical. From
these findings, we conclude that increasing the plants cover can
efficiently reduce soil loss and avoid denuding the roots plants.
Abstract: The evolution of silica optical fiber strength aged in cetyltrimethylammonium chloride solution (CTAC) has been investigated. If the solution containing surfactants presents appreciable changes in physical and chemical properties at the critical micelle concentration (CMC), a non negligible mechanical behavior fiber change is observed for silica fiber aged in cationic surfactants as CTAC which can lead to optical fiber reliability questioning. The purpose of this work is to study the mechanical behavior of silica coated and naked optical fibers in contact with CTAC solution at different concentrations. Result analysis proves that the immersion in CTAC drastically decreases the fiber strength and specially near the CMC point. Beyond CMC point, a small increase of fiber strength is analyzed and commented.
Abstract: The world of wireless telecommunications is rapidly evolving. Technologies under research and development promise to deliver more services to more users in less time. This paper presents the emerging technologies helping wireless systems grow from where we are today into our visions of the future. This paper will cover the applications and characteristics of emerging wireless technologies: Wireless Local Area Networks (WiFi-802.11n), Wireless Personal Area Networks (ZigBee) and Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WiMAX). The purpose of this paper is to explain the impending 802.11n standard and how it will enable WLANs to support emerging media-rich applications. The paper will also detail how 802.11n compares with existing WLAN standards and offer strategies for users considering higher-bandwidth alternatives. The emerging IEEE 802.15.4 (ZigBee) standard aims to provide low data rate wireless communications with high-precision ranging and localization, by employing UWB technologies for a low-power and low cost solution. WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a standard for wireless data transmission covering a range similar to cellular phone towers. With high performance in both distance and throughput, WiMAX technology could be a boon to current Internet providers seeking to become the leader of next generation wireless Internet access. This paper also explores how these emerging technologies differ from one another.
Abstract: This paper investigates the use of mobile phones and
tablets for learning purposes among university students in Saudi
Arabia. For this purpose, an extended Technology Acceptance Model
(TAM) is proposed to analyze the adoption of mobile devices and
smart phones by Saudi university students for accessing course
materials, searching the web for information related to their
discipline, sharing knowledge, conducting assignments etc.
Abstract: A product development for green logistics model using
the fuzzy analytic network process method is presented for evaluating
the relationships among the product design, the manufacturing
activities, and the green supply chain. In the product development
stage, there can be alternative ways to design the detailed components
to satisfy the design concept and product requirement. In different
design alternative cases, the manufacturing activities can be different.
In addition, the manufacturing activities can affect the green supply
chain of the components and product. In this research, a fuzzy analytic
network process evaluation model is presented for evaluating the
criteria in product design, manufacturing activities, and green supply
chain. The comparison matrices for evaluating the criteria among the
three groups are established. The total relational values between the
three groups represent the relationships and effects. In application, the
total relational values can be used to evaluate the design alternative
cases for decision-making to select a suitable design case and the green
supply chain. In this presentation, an example product is illustrated. It
shows that the model is useful for integrated evaluation of design and
manufacturing and green supply chain for the purpose of product
development for green logistics.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to design a portable virtual
piano. By utilizing optical fiber gloves and the virtual piano software
designed by this study, the user can play the piano anywhere at any
time. This virtual piano consists of three major parts: finger tapping
identification, hand movement and positioning identification, and
MIDI software sound effect simulation. To play the virtual piano, the
user wears optical fiber gloves and simulates piano key tapping
motions. The finger bending information detected by the optical fiber
gloves can tell when piano key tapping motions are made. Images
captured by a video camera are analyzed, hand locations and moving
directions are positioned, and the corresponding scales are found. The
system integrates finger tapping identification with information about
hand placement in relation to corresponding piano key positions, and
generates MIDI piano sound effects based on this data. This
experiment shows that the proposed method achieves an accuracy rate
of 95% for determining when a piano key is tapped.
Abstract: This paper presents an approach for repairing word order errors in English text by reordering words in a sentence and choosing the version that maximizes the number of trigram hits according to a language model. A possible way for reordering the words is to use all the permutations. The problem is that for a sentence with length N words the number of all permutations is N!. The novelty of this method concerns the use of an efficient confusion matrix technique for reordering the words. The confusion matrix technique has been designed in order to reduce the search space among permuted sentences. The limitation of search space is succeeded using the statistical inference of N-grams. The results of this technique are very interesting and prove that the number of permuted sentences can be reduced by 98,16%. For experimental purposes a test set of TOEFL sentences was used and the results show that more than 95% can be repaired using the proposed method.
Abstract: This paper presents an alternate approach that uses
artificial neural network to simulate the flood level dynamics in a
river basin. The algorithm was developed in a decision support
system environment in order to enable users to process the data. The
decision support system is found to be useful due to its interactive
nature, flexibility in approach and evolving graphical feature and can
be adopted for any similar situation to predict the flood level. The
main data processing includes the gauging station selection, input
generation, lead-time selection/generation, and length of prediction.
This program enables users to process the flood level data, to
train/test the model using various inputs and to visualize results. The
program code consists of a set of files, which can as well be modified
to match other purposes. This program may also serve as a tool for
real-time flood monitoring and process control. The running results
indicate that the decision support system applied to the flood level
seems to have reached encouraging results for the river basin under
examination. The comparison of the model predictions with the
observed data was satisfactory, where the model is able to forecast
the flood level up to 5 hours in advance with reasonable prediction
accuracy. Finally, this program may also serve as a tool for real-time
flood monitoring and process control.
Abstract: An ethical mandate of the social work profession in the
United States is that BSW and MSW graduates are sufficiently
prepared to both understand diverse cultural values and beliefs and
offer services that are culturally sensitive and relevant to clients. This
skill set is particularly important for social workers in the 21st Century,
given the increasing globalization of the U.S. and world. The purpose
of this paper is to outline a pedagogical model for teaching cultural
competency that resulted in a significant increase in cultural
competency for MSW graduates at Western Kentucky University
(WKU). More specifically, this model is predicated on five specific
culturally sensitive principles and activities that were found to be
highly effective in conveying culturally relevant knowledge and skills
to MSW students at WKU. Future studies can assess the effectiveness
of these principles in other MSW programs across the U.S. and abroad.
Abstract: FlexRay, as a communication protocol for automotive
control systems, is developed to fulfill the increasing demand on the
electronic control units for implementing systems with higher safety
and more comfort. In this work, we study the impact of
radiation-induced soft errors on FlexRay-based steer-by-wire system.
We injected the soft errors into general purpose register set of FlexRay
nodes to identify the most critical registers, the failure modes of the
steer-by-wire system, and measure the probability distribution of
failure modes when an error occurs in the register file.
Abstract: This paper presents a new technique for generating sets of synthetic classifiers to evaluate abstract-level combination methods. The sets differ in terms of both recognition rates of the individual classifiers and degree of similarity. For this purpose, each abstract-level classifier is considered as a random variable producing one class label as the output for an input pattern. From the initial set of classifiers, new slightly different sets are generated by applying specific operators, which are defined at the purpose. Finally, the sets of synthetic classifiers have been used to estimate the performance of combination methods for abstract-level classifiers. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Abstract: The antioxidant compounds are needed for the food, beverages, and pharmaceuticals industry. For this purpose, an appropriate method is required to measure the antioxidant properties in various types of samples. Spectrophotometric method usually used has some weaknesses, including the high price, long sample preparation time, and less sensitivity. Among the alternative methods developed to overcome these weaknesses is antioxidant biosensor based on superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzyme. Therefore, this study was carried out to measure the SOD activity originating from Deinococcus radiodurans and to determine its kinetics properties. Carbon paste electrode modified with ferrocene and immobilized SOD exhibited anode and cathode current peak at potential of +400 and +300mv respectively, in both pure SOD and SOD of D. radiodurans. This indicated that the current generated was from superoxide catalytic dismutation reaction by SOD. Optimum conditions for SOD activity was at pH 9 and temperature of 27.50C for D. radiodurans SOD, and pH 11 and temperature of 200C for pure SOD. Dismutation reaction kinetics of superoxide catalyzed by SOD followed the Lineweaver-Burk kinetics with D. radiodurans SOD KMapp value was smaller than pure SOD. The result showed that D. radiodurans SOD had higher enzyme-substrate affinity and specificity than pure SOD. It concluded that D. radiodurans SOD had a great potential as biological recognition component for antioxidant biosensor.
Abstract: The supported Pd catalysts were analyzed by X-ray
diffraction and X-ray absorption spectroscopy in order to determine
their global and local structure. The average particle size of the
supported Pd catalysts was determined by X-ray diffraction method.
One of the main purposes of the present contribution is to focus on
understanding the specific role of the Pd particle size determined by
X-ray diffraction and that of the support oxide. Based on X-ray
absorption fine structure spectroscopy analysis we consider that the
whole local structure of the investigated samples are distorted
concerning the atomic number but the distances between atoms are
almost the same as for standard Pd sample. Due to the strong
modifications of the Pd cluster local structure, the metal-support
interface may influence the electronic properties of metal clusters
and thus their reactivity for absorption of the reactant molecules.
Abstract: This paper describes the design and modeling
procedure of a novel 5-phase segment type switched reluctance motor
(ST-SRM) under simultaneous two-phase (bipolar) excitation of
windings. The rotor cores of ST-SRM are embedded in an aluminum
block as well as to improve the performance characteristics. The
magnetic circuit of the produced ST-SRM is constructed so that the
magnetic flux paths are short and exclusive to each phase, thereby
minimizing the commutation switching and eddy current losses in the
laminations. The design and simulation principles presented apply
primarily to conventional SRM and ST-SRM. It is proved that the
novel 5-phase switched reluctance motor under two-phase excitation
is superior among the criteria used in comparison. The purposed
model is particularly well suited for high torque and weight
constrained applications such as automobiles, aerospace and military
applications.
Abstract: The main purpose of this research aimed to create tactile texture designed media for the blind used for extra learning outside classrooms in order to enhance imagination of the blind about Himmapan creatures, furthermore, the main objective of the research focused on improving the visual disabled perception to be equal to normal people. The target group of the research is blinded students studying in The Bangkok school for the blind between grade 4-6 in the second semester of 2011 who are able to read the braille language. The research methodology consisted of the field study and the documentary study related to the blind, tactile texture designed media and Himmapan creatures. 10 pictures of tactile texture designed media were created in the designing process which began after the analysis had conducted based the primary and secondary data. The works had presented to experts in the visual disabled field who evaluated the works. After approval, the works used as prototype to teach the blind. KeywordsBlind, Himmapan Creatures, Tactile Texture.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the influence of
resistance characteristic on the high conductive concrete considering
the various voltage and environment. The four-electrode method is
applied to the tailor-made high conductive concrete with appropriate
proportion. The curve of resistivity with the changes of voltage and
environment is plotted and the changes of resistivity are explored. The
result based on the methods reveals that resistivity is less affected by
the temperature factor, and the four-electrode method would be an
applicable measurement method on a site inspection.
Abstract: In this study we focus on improvement performance
of a cue based Motor Imagery Brain Computer Interface (BCI). For
this purpose, data fusion approach is used on results of different
classifiers to make the best decision. At first step Distinction
Sensitive Learning Vector Quantization method is used as a feature
selection method to determine most informative frequencies in
recorded signals and its performance is evaluated by frequency
search method. Then informative features are extracted by packet
wavelet transform. In next step 5 different types of classification
methods are applied. The methodologies are tested on BCI
Competition II dataset III, the best obtained accuracy is 85% and the
best kappa value is 0.8. At final step ordered weighted averaging
(OWA) method is used to provide a proper aggregation classifiers
outputs. Using OWA enhanced system accuracy to 95% and kappa
value to 0.9. Applying OWA just uses 50 milliseconds for
performing calculation.
Abstract: In this study, a high accuracy protein-protein interaction
prediction method is developed. The importance of the proposed
method is that it only uses sequence information of proteins while
predicting interaction. The method extracts phylogenetic profiles of
proteins by using their sequence information. Combining the phylogenetic
profiles of two proteins by checking existence of homologs
in different species and fitting this combined profile into a statistical
model, it is possible to make predictions about the interaction status
of two proteins.
For this purpose, we apply a collection of pattern recognition
techniques on the dataset of combined phylogenetic profiles of protein
pairs. Support Vector Machines, Feature Extraction using ReliefF,
Naive Bayes Classification, K-Nearest Neighborhood Classification,
Decision Trees, and Random Forest Classification are the methods
we applied for finding the classification method that best predicts
the interaction status of protein pairs. Random Forest Classification
outperformed all other methods with a prediction accuracy of 76.93%
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship
between the customers- issues in company corporate governance and
the financial performance. At the beginning theoretical background
consisting stakeholder theory and corporate governance is presented.
On this theoretical background, the empirical research is built,
collecting data of 60 Czech joint stock companies- boards
considering their relationships with customers. Correlation analysis
and multivariate regression analysis were employed to test the sample
on two hypotheses. The weak positive correlation between
stakeholder approach and the company size was identified. But both
hypotheses were not supported, because there was no significant
relation of independent variables to financial performance.
Abstract: Most agricultural crops cultivated in Brazil are highly
nutrient demanding. Brazilian soils are generally acidic with low base
saturation and available nutrients. Demand for fertilizer application
has increased because the national agricultural sector expansion. To
improve productivity without environmental impact, there is the need
for the utilization of novel procedures and techniques to optimize
fertilizer application. This includes the digital soil mapping and GIS
application applied to mapping in different scales. This paper is
based on research, realized during 2005 to 2010 by Brazilian
Corporation for Agricultural Research (EMBRAPA) and its partners.
The purpose was to map soil fertility in national and regional scales.
A soil profile data set in national scale (1:5,000,000) was constructed
from the soil archives of Embrapa Soils, Rio de Janeiro and in the
regional scale (1:250,000) from COMIGO Cooperative soil data set,
Rio Verde, Brazil. The mapping was doing using ArcGIS 9.1 tools
from ESRI.