Abstract: In recent years with the rapid development of Internet and the Web, more and more web applications have been deployed in many fields and organizations such as finance, military, and government. Together with that, hackers have found more subtle ways to attack web applications. According to international statistics, SQL Injection is one of the most popular vulnerabilities of web applications. The consequences of this type of attacks are quite dangerous, such as sensitive information could be stolen or authentication systems might be by-passed. To mitigate the situation, several techniques have been adopted. In this research, a security solution is proposed using Artificial Neural Network to protect web applications against this type of attacks. The solution has been experimented on sample datasets and has given promising result. The solution has also been developed in a prototypic web application firewall called ANNbWAF.
Abstract: Ant Colony Algorithms have been applied to difficult
combinatorial optimization problems such as the travelling salesman
problem and the quadratic assignment problem. In this paper gridbased
and random-based ant colony algorithms are proposed for
automatic 3D hose routing and their pros and cons are discussed. The
algorithm uses the tessellated format for the obstacles and the
generated hoses in order to detect collisions. The representation of
obstacles and hoses in the tessellated format greatly helps the
algorithm towards handling free-form objects and speeds up
computation. The performance of algorithm has been tested on a
number of 3D models.
Abstract: The rapid pace of technological advancement and its
consequential widening digital divide has resulted in the
marginalization of the disabled especially the communication
challenged. The dearth of suitable technologies for the development
of assistive technologies has served to further marginalize the
communications challenged user population and widen this chasm
even further. Given the varying levels of disability there and its
associated requirement for customized solution based. This paper
explains the use of a Software Development Kits (SDK) for the
bridging of this communications divide through the use of industry
poplar communications SDKs towards identification of requirements
for communications challenged users as well as identification of
appropriate frameworks for future development initiatives.
Abstract: Many high-risk pathogens that cause disease in
humans are transmitted through various food items. Food-borne
disease constitutes a major public health problem. Assessment of the
quality and safety of foods is important in human health. Rapid and
easy detection of pathogenic organisms will facilitate precautionary
measures to maintain healthy food. The Polymerase Chain Reaction
(PCR) is a handy tool for rapid detection of low numbers of bacteria.
We have designed gene specific primers for most common food
borne pathogens such as Staphylococci, Salmonella and E.coli.
Bacteria were isolated from food samples of various food outlets and
identified using gene specific PCRs. We identified Staphylococci,
Salmonella and E.coli O157 using gene specific primers by rapid and
direct PCR technique in various food samples. This study helps us in
getting a complete picture of the various pathogens that threaten to
cause and spread food borne diseases and it would also enable
establishment of a routine procedure and methodology for rapid
identification of food borne bacteria using the rapid technique of
direct PCR. This study will also enable us to judge the efficiency of
present food safety steps taken by food manufacturers and exporters.
Abstract: Determination of nano particle size is substantial since
the nano particle size exerts a significant effect on various properties
of nano materials. Accordingly, proposing non-destructive, accurate
and rapid techniques for this aim is of high interest. There are some
conventional techniques to investigate the morphology and grain size
of nano particles such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM),
atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD).
Vibrational spectroscopy is utilized to characterize different
compounds and applied for evaluation of the average particle size
based on relationship between particle size and near infrared spectra
[1,4] , but it has never been applied in quantitative morphological
analysis of nano materials. So far, the potential application of nearinfrared
(NIR) spectroscopy with its ability in rapid analysis of
powdered materials with minimal sample preparation, has been
suggested for particle size determination of powdered
pharmaceuticals. The relationship between particle size and diffuse
reflectance (DR) spectra in near infrared region has been applied to
introduce a method for estimation of particle size. Back propagation
artificial neural network (BP-ANN) as a nonlinear model was applied
to estimate average particle size based on near infrared diffuse
reflectance spectra. Thirty five different nano TiO2 samples with
different particle size were analyzed by DR-FTNIR spectrometry and
the obtained data were processed by BP- ANN.
Abstract: As global industry developed rapidly, the energy
demand also rises simultaneously. In the production process, there’s a
lot of energy consumed in the process. Formally, the energy used in
generating the heat in the production process. In the total energy
consumption, 40% of the heat was used in process heat, mechanical
work, chemical energy and electricity. The remaining 50% were
released into the environment. It will cause energy waste and
environment pollution. There are many ways for recovering the waste
heat in factory. Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system can produce
electricity and reduce energy costs by recovering the waste of low
temperature heat in the factory. In addition, ORC is the technology
with the highest power generating efficiency in low-temperature heat
recycling. However, most of factories executives are still hesitated
because of the high implementation cost of the ORC system, even a lot
of heat are wasted. Therefore, this study constructs a nonlinear
mathematical model of waste heat recovery equipment configuration
to maximize profits. A particle swarm optimization algorithm is
developed to generate the optimal facility installation plan for the ORC
system.
Abstract: Cancer becomes one of the leading cause of death in
many countries over the world. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR)
spectra of human lung cancer cells (A549) treated with PMF (natural
product extracted from PM 701) for different time intervals were
examined. Second derivative and difference method were taken in
comparison studies. Cesium (Cs) and Rubidium (Rb) nanoparticles in
PMF were detected by Energy Dispersive X-ray attached to Scanning
Electron Microscope SEM-EDX. Characteristic changes in protein
secondary structure, lipid profile and changes in the intensities of
DNA bands were identified in treated A549 cells spectra. A
characteristic internucleosomal ladder of DNA fragmentation was
also observed after 30 min of treatment. Moreover, the pH values
were significantly increases upon treatment due to the presence of Cs
and Rb nanoparticles in the PMF fraction. These results support the
previous findings that PMF is selective anticancer agent and can
produce apoptosis to A549 cells.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore the complex
flow structure a novel active-type micromixer that based on concept of
Wankle-type rotor. The characteristics of this micromixer are two
folds; a rapid mixing of reagents in a limited space due to the
generation of multiple vortices and a graduate increment in dynamic
pressure as the mixed reagents is delivered to the output ports.
Present micro-mixer is consisted of a rotor with shape of triangle
column, a blending chamber and several inlet and outlet ports. The
geometry of blending chamber is designed to make the rotor can be
freely internal rotated with a constant eccentricity ratio. When the
shape of the blending chamber and the rotor are fixed, the effects of
rotating speed of rotor and the relative locations of ports on the mixing
efficiency are numerical studied. The governing equations are
unsteady, two-dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes equation
and the working fluid is the water. The species concentration equation
is also solved to reveal the mass transfer process of reagents in various
regions then to evaluate the mixing efficiency.
The dynamic mesh technique was implemented to model the
dynamic volume shrinkage and expansion of three individual
sub-regions of blending chamber when the rotor conducted a complete
rotating cycle. Six types of ports configuration on the mixing
efficiency are considered in a range of Reynolds number from 10 to
300. The rapid mixing process was accomplished with the multiple
vortex structures within a tiny space due to the equilibrium of shear
force, viscous force and inertial force. Results showed that the highest
mixing efficiency could be attained in the following conditions: two
inlet and two outlet ports configuration, that is an included angle of 60
degrees between two inlets and an included angle of 120 degrees
between inlet and outlet ports when Re=10.
Abstract: The selection of parents and breeding strategies for
the successful maize hybrid production will be facilitated by
heterotic groupings of parental lines and determination of combining
abilities of them. Fourteen maize inbred lines, used in maize breeding
programs in Iran, were crossed in a diallel mating design. The 91 F1
hybrids and the 14 parental lines were studied during two years at
four locations of Iran for investigation of combining ability of
gentypes for grain yield and to determine heterotic patterns among
germplasm sources, using both, the Griffing-s method and the biplot
approach for diallel analysis. The graphical representation offered by
biplot analysis allowed a rapid and effective overview of general
combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA)
effects of the inbred lines, their performance in crosses, as well as
grouping patterns of similar genotypes. GCA and SCA effects were
significant for grain yield (GY). Based on significant positive GCA
effects, the lines derived from LSC could be used as parent in crosses
to increase GY. The maximum best- parent heterosis values and
highest SCA effects resulted from crosses B73 × MO17 and A679 ×
MO17 for GY. The best heterotic patterns were LSC × RYD, which
would be potentially useful in maize breeding programs to obtain
high-yielding hybrids in the same climate of Iran.
Abstract: This paper presents a hybrid fuzzy-PD plus PID
(HFPP) controller and its application to steam distillation process for
essential oil extraction system. Steam temperature is one of the most
significant parameters that can influence the composition of essential
oil yield. Due to parameter variations and changes in operation
conditions during distillation, a robust steam temperature controller becomes nontrivial to avoid the degradation of essential oil quality.
Initially, the PRBS input is triggered to the system and output of steam temperature is modeled using ARX model structure. The
parameter estimation and tuning method is adopted by simulation
using HFPP controller scheme. The effectiveness and robustness of
proposed controller technique is validated by real time
implementation to the system. The performance of HFPP using 25 and 49 fuzzy rules is compared. The experimental result demonstrates the proposed HFPP using 49 fuzzy rules achieves a
better, consistent and robust controller compared to PID when considering the test on tracking the set point and the effects due to disturbance.
Abstract: In this study, a longitudinal joint connection was
proposed for the short-span slab-type modular bridges with rapid
construction. The slab-type modular bridge consists of a number of
precast slab modules and has the joint connection between the
modules in the longitudinal direction of the bridge. A finite element
based parameter analysis was conducted to design the shape and the
dimensions of the longitudinal joint connection. Numbers of shear
keys within the joint, height and depth of the shear key, tooth angle,
and the spacing were considered as the design parameters. Using the
local cracking load at the corner of the shear key and the
cross-sectional area of the joint, an efficiency factor was proposed to
evaluate the effectiveness of the longitudinal joint connection. The
dimensions of shear key were determined by comparing the cracking
loads and the efficiency factors obtained from the finite element
analysis.
Abstract: With the rapid development in the field of life
sciences and the flooding of genomic information, the need for faster
and scalable searching methods has become urgent. One of the
approaches that were investigated is indexing. The indexing methods
have been categorized into three categories which are the lengthbased
index algorithms, transformation-based algorithms and mixed
techniques-based algorithms. In this research, we focused on the
transformation based methods. We embedded the N-gram method
into the transformation-based method to build an inverted index
table. We then applied the parallel methods to speed up the index
building time and to reduce the overall retrieval time when querying
the genomic database. Our experiments show that the use of N-Gram
transformation algorithm is an economical solution; it saves time and
space too. The result shows that the size of the index is smaller than
the size of the dataset when the size of N-Gram is 5 and 6. The
parallel N-Gram transformation algorithm-s results indicate that the
uses of parallel programming with large dataset are promising which
can be improved further.
Abstract: Cameron Highlands is a mountainous area subjected
to torrential tropical showers. It extracts 5.8 million liters of water
per day for drinking supply from its rivers at several intake points.
The water quality of rivers in Cameron Highlands, however, has
deteriorated significantly due to land clearing for agriculture,
excessive usage of pesticides and fertilizers as well as construction
activities in rapidly developing urban areas. On the other hand, these
pollution sources known as non-point pollution sources are diverse
and hard to identify and therefore they are difficult to estimate.
Hence, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) was used to provide
an extensive approach to evaluate landuse and other mapping
characteristics to explain the spatial distribution of non-point sources
of contamination in Cameron Highlands. The method to assess
pollution sources has been developed by using Cameron Highlands
Master Plan (2006-2010) for integrating GIS, databases, as well as
pollution loads in the area of study. The results show highest annual
runoff is created by forest, 3.56 × 108 m3/yr followed by urban
development, 1.46 × 108 m3/yr. Furthermore, urban development
causes highest BOD load (1.31 × 106 kgBOD/yr) while agricultural
activities and forest contribute the highest annual loads for
phosphorus (6.91 × 104 kgP/yr) and nitrogen (2.50 × 105 kgN/yr),
respectively. Therefore, best management practices (BMPs) are
suggested to be applied to reduce pollution level in the area.
Abstract: The study was conducted to investigate the profile of
hepatitis in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and to determine which age
group hepatitis viruses most commonly infect. The epidemiology of
viral hepatitis in Saudi Arabia has undergone major changes,
concurrent with major socioeconomic developments over the last two
to three decades. This disease represents a major public health
problem in Saudi Arabia resulting in the need for considerable
healthcare resources. A retrospective cross sectional analysis of the
reported cases of viral hepatitis was conducted based on the reports
of The Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia about Hepatitis A, B and C
infections in all regions from the period of January 2006 to December
2010. The study demonstrated that incidence of viral Hepatitis is
decreasing, except for Hepatitis B that showed minimal increase. Of
hepatitis A, B, and C, Hepatitis B virus (HBV) was the most
predominant type, accounting for (53%) of the cases, followed by
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) (30%) and HAV (17%). HAV infection
predominates in children (5–14 years) with 60% of viral hepatitis
cases, HBV in young adults (15–44 years) with 69% of viral hepatitis
cases, and HCV in older adults (>45 years) with 59% of viral
hepatitis cases. Despite significant changes in the prevalence of viral
hepatitis A, B and C, it remains a major public health problem in
Saudi Arabia; however, it showed a significant decline in the last two
decades that could be attributed to the vaccination programs and the
improved health facilities. Further researches are needed to identify
the risk factors making a specific age group or a specific region in
Saudi Arabia targeted for a specific type of hepatitis viruses.
Abstract: Numerical analysis for the aerodynamic characteristics
of the WIG (wing-in ground effect) craft with highly cambered and
aspect ratio of one is performed to predict the ground effect for the
case of with- and without- lower-extension endplate. The analysis is
included varying angles of attack from 0 to10 deg. and ground
clearances from 5% of chord to 50%. Due to the ground effect, the lift
by rising in pressure on the lower surface is increased and the
influence of wing-tip vortices is decreased. These two significant
effects improve the lift-drag ratio. On the other hand, the endplate
prevents the high-pressure air escaping from the air cushion at the
wing tip and causes to increase the lift and lift-drag ratio further. It is
found from the visualization of computation results that two wing-tip
vortices are generated from each surface of the wing tip and their
strength are weak and diminished rapidly. Irodov-s criteria are also
evaluated to investigate the static height stability. The comparison of
Irodov-s criteria shows that the endplate improves the deviation of the
static height stability with respect to pitch angles and heights. As the
results, the endplate can improve the aerodynamic characteristics and
static height stability of wings in ground effect, simultaneously.
Abstract: Rapid urbanization, industrialization and population
growth have led to an increase in number of automobiles that cause
air pollution. It is estimated that road traffic contributes 60% of air
pollution in urban areas. A case by case assessment is required to
predict the air quality in urban situations, so as to evolve certain
traffic management measures to maintain the air quality levels with
in the tolerable limits. Calicut city in the state of Kerala, India has
been chosen as the study area. Carbon Monoxide (CO) concentration
was monitored at 15 links in Calicut city and air quality performance
was evaluated over each link. The CO pollutant concentration values
were compared with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards
(NAAQS), and the CO values were predicted by using CALINE4 and
IITLS and Linear regression models. The study has revealed that
linear regression model performs better than the CALINE4 and
IITLS models. The possible association between CO pollutant
concentration and traffic parameters like traffic flow, type of vehicle,
and traffic stream speed was also evaluated.
Abstract: The objective of this research is to study of microbial lipid production by locally photosynthetic microalgae and oleaginous yeast via integrated cultivation technique using CO2 emissions from yeast fermentation. A maximum specific growth rate of Chlorella sp. KKU-S2 of 0.284 (1/d) was obtained under an integrated cultivation and a maximum lipid yield of 1.339g/L was found after cultivation for 5 days, while 0.969g/L of lipid yield was obtained after day 6 of cultivation time by using CO2 from air. A high value of volumetric lipid production rate (QP, 0.223 g/L/d), specific product yield (YP/X, 0.194), volumetric cell mass production rate (QX, 1.153 g/L/d) were found by using ambient air CO2 coupled with CO2 emissions from yeast fermentation. Overall lipid yield of 8.33 g/L was obtained (1.339 g/L of Chlorella sp. KKU-S2 and 7.06g/L of T. maleeae Y30) while low lipid yield of 0.969g/L was found using non-integrated cultivation technique. To our knowledge this is the unique report about the lipid production from locally microalgae Chlorella sp. KKU-S2 and yeast T. maleeae Y30 in an integrated technique to improve the biomass and lipid yield by using CO2 emissions from yeast fermentation.
Abstract: In the Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) method, use of Carbon dioxide flooding whereby CO2 is injected into an oil reservoir to increase output when extracting oil resulted significant recovery worldwide. The carbon dioxide function as a pressurizing agent when mixed into the underground crude oil will reduce its viscosity and will enable a rapid oil flow. Despite the CO2’s advantage in the oil recovery, it may result to asphaltene precipitation a problem that will cause the reduction of oil produced from oil wells. In severe cases, asphaltene precipitation can cause costly blockages in oil pipes and machinery. This paper presents reviews of several studies done on mathematical modeling of asphaltene precipitation. The synthesized result from several researches done on this topic can be used as guide in order to better understand asphaltene precipitation. Likewise, this can be used as initial reference for students, and new researchers doing study on asphaltene precipitation.
Abstract: Deep and radical social reforms of the last century-s
nineties in many Eastern European countries caused changes in
Information Technology-s (IT) field. Inefficient information
technologies were rapidly replaced with forefront IT solutions, e.g.,
in Eastern European countries there is a high level penetration of
qualitative high-speed Internet. The authors have taken part in the
introduction of those changes in Latvia-s leading IT research
institute. Grounding on their experience authors in this paper offer an
IT services based model for analysis the mentioned changes- and
development processes in the higher education and research fields,
i.e., for research e-infrastructure-s development. Compare to the
international practice such services were developed in Eastern Europe
in an untraditional way, which provided swift and positive
technological changes.
Abstract: Recently, the advanced technologies that offer high
precision product, relative easy, economical process and also rapid
production are needed to realize the high demand of ultra precision
micro part. In our research, micromanufacturing based on soft
lithography and nanopowder injection molding was investigated. The
silicone metal pattern with ultra thick and high aspect ratio succeeds to
fabricate Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) micro mold. The process
followed by nanopowder injection molding (PIM) by a simple vacuum
hot press. The 17-4ph nanopowder with diameter of 100 nm, succeed
to be injected and it forms green sample microbearing with thickness,
microchannel and aspect ratio is 700μm, 60μm and 12, respectively.
Sintering process was done in 1200 C for 2 hours and heating rate
0.83oC/min. Since low powder load (45% PL) was applied to achieve
green sample fabrication, ~15% shrinkage happen in the 86% relative
density. Several improvements should be done to produce high
accuracy and full density sintered part.