Abstract: The research objective of the project and article “The impact of Structural Funds on the growth of competitiveness of Polish agriculture" is to assess competitiveness of regions in Poland from the perspective of Polish agriculture by analysing the efficiency of the use of Structural Funds, the economic procedure of their distribution and the regulatory and organisational framework under the Rural Development Programme (RDP). It must be stressed that defining the scope of research in the above manner limits the analysis only to the part of Structural Funds directed to support Polish agriculture.
Abstract: We have devised a thermal carpet cloak theoretically
and implemented in silicon using layered metamaterial. The layered
metamaterial is composed of single crystalline silicon and its phononic
crystal. The design is based on a coordinate transformation. We
demonstrate the result with numerical simulation. Great cloaking
performance is achieved as a thermal insulator is well hidden under the
thermal carpet cloak. We also show that the thermal carpet cloak can
even the temperature on irregular surface. Using thermal carpet cloak
to manipulate the heat conduction is effective because of its low
complexity.
Abstract: In this paper effect of stator slots structure and
switching angle on a cylindrical single-phase brushless direct current
motor (BLDC) is analyzed. BLDC motor with three different
structures for stator slots is designed by using RMxprt software and
efficiency of BLDC motor for different structures in full-load
condition has been presented. Then the BLDC motor in different
conditions by using Maxwell 3D software is designed and with finite
element method is analyzed electromagnetically. At the end with the
use of MATLAB software influence of switching angle on motor
performance investigated and optimal angle has been determined.
The results indicate that with correct choosing of stator slots structure
and switching angle, maximum efficiency can be found.
Abstract: This paper introduces a tool that is being developed for the expression of information security policy controls that govern electronic healthcare records. By reference to published findings, the paper introduces the theory behind the use of knowledge management for automatic and consistent security policy assertion using the formalism called the Secutype; the development of the tool and functionality is discussed; some examples of Secutypes generated by the tool are provided; proposed integration with existing medical record systems is described. The paper is concluded with a section on further work and critique of the work achieved to date.
Abstract: In this paper we describe a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system for automated detection of pulmonary nodules in computed-tomography (CT) images. After extracting the pulmonary parenchyma using a combination of image processing techniques, a region growing method is applied to detect nodules based on 3D geometric features. We applied the CAD system to CT scans collected in a screening program for lung cancer detection. Each scan consists of a sequence of about 300 slices stored in DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) format. All malignant nodules were detected and a low false-positive detection rate was achieved.
Abstract: The biomarker for colorectal cancer (CRC) is CEACAM-6 antigen (C6AG). Therefore, this study aims to develop a novel, simple and low-cost CEACAM-6 antigen immumosensor (C6AG-IMS), based on electrical impedance measurement, for precise determination of C6AG. A low-cost screen-printed graphite electrode was constructed and used as the sensor, with CEACAM-6 antibody (C6AB) immobilized on it. The procedures of sensor fabrication and antibody immobilization are simple and low-cost. Measurement of the electrical impedance at a definite frequency ranges (0.43 – 1.26 MHz) showed that the C6AG-IMS has an excellent linear (r2>0.9) response range (8.125 – 65 pg/mL), covering the normal physiological and pathological ranges of blood C6AG levels. Also, the C6AG-IMS has excellent reliability and validity, with the intraclass correlation coefficient being 0.97. In conclusion, a novel, simple, low-cost and reliable C6AG-IMS was designed and developed, being able to accurately determine blood C6AG levels in the range of pathological and normal physiological regions. The C6AG-IMS can provide a point-of-care and immediate screening results to the user at home.
Abstract: The hydrogen peroxide treatment was able to
remediate chlorophenols, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, diesel
and transformer oil contaminated soil. Chemical treatment of
contaminants adsorbed in peat resulted in lower contaminants-
removal and required higher addition of chemicals than the treatment
of contaminants in sand. The hydrogen peroxide treatment was found
to be feasible for soil remediation at natural soil pH. Contaminants in
soil could degrade with the addition of hydrogen peroxide only
indicating the ability of transition metals ions and minerals of these
metals presented in soil to catalyse the reaction of hydrogen peroxide
decomposition.
Abstract: Flows over a harmonically oscillating NACA 0012
airfoil are simulated here using a two-dimensional, unsteady,
incompressibleNavier-Stokes solver.Both pure-plunging and
pitching-plunging combined oscillations are considered at a Reynolds
number of 5000. Special attention is paid to the vortex shedding and
interaction mechanism of the motions. For all the simulations
presented here, the reduced frequency (k) is fixed at a value of 2.5
and plunging amplitude (h) is selected to be in the range of 0.2-0.5.
The simulation results show that the interaction mechanism between
the leading and trailing edge vortices has a decisive effect on the
values of the resulting thrust and propulsive efficiency.
Abstract: Sickness absence represents a major economic and
social issue. Analysis of sick leave data is a recurrent challenge to analysts because of the complexity of the data structure which is
often time dependent, highly skewed and clumped at zero. Ignoring these features to make statistical inference is likely to be inefficient
and misguided. Traditional approaches do not address these problems. In this study, we discuss model methodologies in terms of statistical techniques for addressing the difficulties with sick leave data. We also introduce and demonstrate a new method by performing a longitudinal assessment of long-term absenteeism using
a large registration dataset as a working example available from the Helsinki Health Study for municipal employees from Finland during the period of 1990-1999. We present a comparative study on model
selection and a critical analysis of the temporal trends, the occurrence
and degree of long-term sickness absences among municipal employees. The strengths of this working example include the large
sample size over a long follow-up period providing strong evidence in supporting of the new model. Our main goal is to propose a way to
select an appropriate model and to introduce a new methodology for analysing sickness absence data as well as to demonstrate model
applicability to complicated longitudinal data.
Abstract: Text categorization (the assignment of texts in natural language into predefined categories) is an important and extensively studied problem in Machine Learning. Currently, popular techniques developed to deal with this task include many preprocessing and learning algorithms, many of which in turn require tuning nontrivial internal parameters. Although partial studies are available, many authors fail to report values of the parameters they use in their experiments, or reasons why these values were used instead of others. The goal of this work then is to create a more thorough comparison of preprocessing parameters and their mutual influence, and report interesting observations and results.
Abstract: This paper describes a computer-aided design for
design of the concave globoidal cam with cylindrical rollers and
swinging follower. Four models with different modeling methods are
made from the same input data. The input data are angular input and
output displacements of the cam and the follower and some other
geometrical parameters of the globoidal cam mechanism. The best
cam model is the cam which has no interference with the rollers
when their motions are simulated in assembly conditions. The
angular output displacement of the follower for the best cam is also
compared with that of in the input data to check errors. In this study,
Pro/ENGINEER® Wildfire 2.0 is used for modeling the cam,
simulating motions and checking interference and errors of the
system.
Abstract: the research was conducted using the self report of
shoplifters who apprehended in the supermarket while stealing. 943
shoplifters in three years were interviewed right after the stealing act
and before calling the police. The aim of the study is to know the
shoplifting characteristics in Saudi Arabia, including the trait of
shoplifters and the situation of the supermarkets where the stealing
takes place. The analysis based on the written information about each
thief as the documentary research method. Descriptive statistics as
well as some inferential statistics were employed. The result shows
that there are differences between genders, age groups, occupations,
time of the day, days of the week, months, way of stealing, individual
or group of thieves and other supermarket situations in the type of
items stolen, total price and the count of items. The result and the
recommendation will serve as a guide for retailers where, when and
who to look at to prevent shoplifting.
Abstract: In this paper, by utilizing the coincidence degree theorem a predator-prey model with modified Leslie-Gower Hollingtype II schemes and a deviating argument is studied. Some sufficient conditions are obtained for the existence of positive periodic solutions of the model.
Abstract: This paper proposes a smart design strategy for a sequential detector to reliably detect the primary user-s signal, especially in fast fading environments. We study the computation of the log-likelihood ratio for coping with a fast changing received signal and noise sample variances, which are considered random variables. First, we analyze the detectability of the conventional generalized log-likelihood ratio (GLLR) scheme when considering fast changing statistics of unknown parameters caused by fast fading effects. Secondly, we propose an efficient sensing algorithm for performing the sequential probability ratio test in a robust and efficient manner when the channel statistics are unknown. Finally, the proposed scheme is compared to the conventional method with simulation results with respect to the average number of samples required to reach a detection decision.
Abstract: Rule Discovery is an important technique for mining knowledge from large databases. Use of objective measures for discovering interesting rules lead to another data mining problem, although of reduced complexity. Data mining researchers have studied subjective measures of interestingness to reduce the volume of discovered rules to ultimately improve the overall efficiency of KDD process. In this paper we study novelty of the discovered rules as a subjective measure of interestingness. We propose a hybrid approach that uses objective and subjective measures to quantify novelty of the discovered rules in terms of their deviations from the known rules. We analyze the types of deviation that can arise between two rules and categorize the discovered rules according to the user specified threshold. We implement the proposed framework and experiment with some public datasets. The experimental results are quite promising.
Abstract: It has been shown that the solution of water shortage problem in Central Asia closely connected with inclusion of atmosphere water vapour into the system of response and water resources management. Some methods of water extraction from atmosphere have been discussed.
Abstract: An advanced Monte Carlo simulation method, called Subset Simulation (SS) for the time-dependent reliability prediction for underground pipelines has been presented in this paper. The SS can provide better resolution for low failure probability level with efficient investigating of rare failure events which are commonly encountered in pipeline engineering applications. In SS method, random samples leading to progressive failure are generated efficiently and used for computing probabilistic performance by statistical variables. SS gains its efficiency as small probability event as a product of a sequence of intermediate events with larger conditional probabilities. The efficiency of SS has been demonstrated by numerical studies and attention in this work is devoted to scrutinise the robustness of the SS application in pipe reliability assessment. It is hoped that the development work can promote the use of SS tools for uncertainty propagation in the decision-making process of underground pipelines network reliability prediction.
Abstract: Color Image quantization (CQ) is an important
problem in computer graphics, image and processing. The aim of
quantization is to reduce colors in an image with minimum distortion.
Clustering is a widely used technique for color quantization; all
colors in an image are grouped to small clusters. In this paper, we
proposed a new hybrid approach for color quantization using firefly
algorithm (FA) and K-means algorithm. Firefly algorithm is a swarmbased
algorithm that can be used for solving optimization problems.
The proposed method can overcome the drawbacks of both
algorithms such as the local optima converge problem in K-means
and the early converge of firefly algorithm. Experiments on three
commonly used images and the comparison results shows that the
proposed algorithm surpasses both the base-line technique k-means
clustering and original firefly algorithm.
Abstract: Transesterification of candlenut (aleurites moluccana)
oil with methanol using potassium hydroxide as catalyst was
studied. The objective of the present investigation was to produce
the methyl ester for use as biodiesel. The operation variables
employed were methanol to oil molar ratio (3:1 – 9:1), catalyst
concentration (0.50 – 1.5 %) and temperature (303 – 343K). Oil
volume of 150 mL, reaction time of 75 min were fixed as common
parameters in all the experiments. The concentration of methyl ester
was evaluated by mass balance of free glycerol formed which was
analyzed by using periodic acid. The optimal triglyceride conversion
was attained by using methanol to oil ratio of 6:1, potassium
hydroxide as catalyst was of 1%, at room temperature. Methyl ester
formed was characterized by its density, viscosity, cloud and pour
points. The biodiesel properties had properties similar to those of
diesel oil, except for the viscosity that was higher.
Abstract: In the present study, fracture behavior of woven
fabric-reinforced glass/epoxy composite laminates under mode III
crack growth was experimentally investigated and numerically
modeled. Two methods were used for the calculation of the strain
energy release rate: the experimental compliance calibration (CC)
method and the Virtual Crack Closure Technique (VCCT). To
achieve this aim ECT (Edge Crack Torsion) was used to evaluate
fracture toughness in mode III loading (out of plane-shear) at
different crack lengths. Load–displacement and associated energy
release rates were obtained for various case of interest. To
calculate fracture toughness JIII, two criteria were considered
including non-linearity and maximum points in load-displacement
curve and it is observed that JIII increases with the crack length
increase. Both the experimental compliance method and the virtual
crack closure technique proved applicable for the interpretation of the
fracture mechanics data of woven glass/epoxy laminates in mode III.