Search results for: diversity and business performance

Authors: Damanjit Kaur, Avani Bhatia

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Color constancy is significant for human vision since color is a pictorial cue that helps in solving different visions tasks such as tracking, object recognition, or categorization. Therefore, several computational methods have tried to simulate human color constancy abilities to stabilize machine color representations. Two different kinds of methods have been used, i.e., normalization and constancy. While color normalization creates a new representation of the image by canceling illuminant effects, color constancy directly estimates the color of the illuminant in order to map the image colors to a canonical version. Color constancy is the capability to determine colors of objects independent of the color of the light source. This research work studies the most of the well-known color constancy algorithms like white point and gray world.

Keywords: color constancy, gray world, white patch, modified white patch

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Authors: V. A. Vieira, M. P. Sforcini, V. Endo, G. C. Magioni, M. D. S. Oliveira

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The main goal of this paper was evaluate the effect of diets containing different levels of probiotic on performance and milk composition of lactating cows. Eight Holstein cows were distributed in two 4x4 Latin square. The diets were based on corn silage, concentrate and the treatment (0, 3, 6 or 9 grams of probiotic/animal/day). It was evaluated the dry matter intake of nutrients, milk yield and composition. The use of probiotics did not affect the nutrient intake (p>0.05) neither the daily milk production or corrected to 4% fat (p>0.05). However, it was observed that there was a significant fall in milk composition with higher levels of probiotics supplementation. These results emphasize the need of further studies with different experimental designs or improve the number of Latin square with longer periods of adaptation.

Keywords: dairy cow, milk composition, probiotics, daily milk production

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Authors: Do-Jin Jang, Sung-Ah Kim

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In designing a kinetic façade, it is hard for the designer to make digital models due to its complex geometry with motion. This paper aims to present a methodology of converting a point cloud of a physical model into a single digital model with a certain topology and motion. The method uses a Microsoft Kinect sensor, and color markers were defined and applied to three paper folding-inspired designs. Although the resulted digital model cannot represent the whole folding range of the physical model, the method supports the designer to conduct a performance-oriented design process with the rough physical model in the reduced folding range.

Keywords: design media, kinetic facades, tangible user interface, 3D scanning

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Authors: Suparman

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This paper addresses the problem of the signal segmentation within a Bayesian framework by using reversible jump MCMC algorithm. The signal is modelled by piecewise constant Moving-Average (MA) model where the numbers of segments, the position of change-point, the order and the coefficient of the MA model for each segment are unknown. The reversible jump MCMC algorithm is then used to generate samples distributed according to the joint posterior distribution of the unknown parameters. These samples allow calculating some interesting features of the posterior distribution. The performance of the methodology is illustrated via several simulation results.

Keywords: piecewise, moving-average model, reversible jump MCMC, signal segmentation

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Authors: Toshiyuki Miyazaki, Fumihiro Takahashi, Takashi Hosokawa

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Fishing nets and floating buoys used in fishing can be washed away by typhoons and storms. The spilled fishing nets become marine debris and hinder the navigation of ships. In this study, we report a method of attaching a retroreflective structure to afloat in order to discover fishing nets using SAR satellites. We prototyped an omnidirectional (all-around) corner reflector as a retroreflective structure that can be mounted on a float and analyzed its reflection characteristics. As a result, it was clarified that the reflection could be sufficiently larger than the backscattering of the sea surface. In order to further improve the performance, we worked on the design and trial production of the Luneberg lens.

Keywords: retroreflective structure, spherical corner reflector, Luneberg lens, SAR satellite, maritime floating buoy

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Authors: Takumi Ito, Kurumi Kurokawa, Dong Hang Wu, Takashi Nagumo, Haruhiko Hirata

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The structural system of wooden house by two-by-four method is widely adopted in any countries, and a various type of vibration control system for building structures has been developed on country with frequent earthquake. In this study, a vibration control device called “Scaling Frame” (SF) is suggested, and which is applied to wooden two-by-four method structures. This paper performs the experimental study to investigate the restoring force characteristics of two-by-four with SF device installed. The seismic resistant performance is estimated experimentally, and also the applicability and effectiveness are discussing.

Keywords: two-by-four method, seismic vibration control, horizontally loading test, restoring force characteristics

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Authors: Christian Doppler, Gernot Hirschl, Gerhard Zsiga

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Starting from 2020, an EU-wide CO2-limitation of 95g/km is scheduled for the average of an OEMs passenger car fleet. Considering that, further measures of optimization on the diesel cycle will be necessary in order to reduce fuel consumption and emissions while keeping performance values adequate at the least. The present article deals with charge air cooling (CAC) on the basis of a diesel passenger car model in a 0D/1D-working process calculation environment. The considered engine is a 2.4 litre EURO VI diesel engine with variable geometry turbocharger (VGT) and low-pressure exhaust gas recirculation (LP EGR). The object of study was the impact of charge air cooling on the engine working process at constant boundary conditions which could have been conducted with an available and validated engine model in AVL BOOST. Part load was realized with constant power and NOx-emissions, whereas full load was accomplished with a lambda control in order to obtain maximum engine performance. The informative results were used to implement a simulation model in Matlab/Simulink which is further integrated into a full vehicle simulation environment via coupling with ICOS (Independent Co-Simulation Platform). Next, the dynamic engine behavior was validated and modified with load steps taken from the engine test bed. Due to the modular setup in the Co-Simulation, different CAC-models have been simulated quickly with their different influences on the working process. In doing so, a new cooler variation isn’t needed to be reproduced and implemented into the primary simulation model environment, but is implemented quickly and easily as an independent component into the simulation entity. By means of the association of the engine model, longitudinal dynamics vehicle model and different CAC models (air/air & water/air variants) in both steady state and transient operational modes, statements are gained regarding fuel consumption, NOx-emissions and power behavior. The fact that there is no more need of a complex engine model is very advantageous for the overall simulation volume. Beside of the simulation with the mentioned demonstrator engine, there have also been conducted several experimental investigations on the engine test bench. Here the comparison of a standard CAC with an intake-manifold-integrated CAC was executed in particular. Simulative as well as experimental tests showed benefits for the water/air CAC variant (on test bed especially the intake manifold integrated variant). The benefits are illustrated by a reduced pressure loss and a gain in air efficiency and CAC efficiency, those who all lead to minimized emission and fuel consumption for stationary and transient operation.

Keywords: air/water-charge air cooler, co-simulation, diesel working process, EURO VI fuel consumption

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Authors: Anita Burgund Isakov, Cristina Nunes, Nevenka Zegarac, Ana Antunes

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Contemporary societies are facing a noticeable shift in family realities, urging to need for the development of new policies, service, and practice orientation that has application across different sectors who serves families with children across the world. A challenge for the field of family support is diversity in conceptual assumptions and epistemological frameworks. Since many disciplines and professionals are working in the family support field, there is a need to map and gain a deeper insight into the skills for the workforce in this field. Under the umbrella of the COST action 'The Pan-European Family Support Research Network: A bottom-up, evidence-based and multidisciplinary approach', a review of the current state of knowledge published from the European studies on family support workforce skills standards is performed. Contributing to the aim of mapping and catalogization of skills standards, key stages of literature review were identified in order to extract and systematize the data. We have considered inclusion and exclusion criteria for this literature review. Inclusion criteria were: a) families living with their children and families using family support services; different methodological approaches were included: qualitative, quantitative, mix method, literature review and theoretical reflections various topic appeared in journals like working with families that are facing difficulties or culturally sensitive practice and relationship-based approaches; b) the dates ranged from 1995 to February 2020. Articles published prior to 1995 were excluded due to modernization of family support services across world; c) the sources and languages included peer-reviewed articles published in scientific journals in English. Six databases were searched and once we have extracted all the relevant papers (n=29), we searched the list of reference in each and we found 11 additional papers. In total 40 papers have been extracted from six data basis. Findings could be summarized in: 1) only five countries emerged with production in the specific topic, that is, workforce skills to family support (UK, USA, Canada, Australia, and Spain), 2) studies revealed that diverse skills support family topics were investigated, namely the professional support skills to help families of neglected/abused children or in care; the professional support skills to help families with children who suffer from behavioral problems and families with children with disabilities; and the professional support skills to help minority ethnic parents, 3) social workers were the main targeted professionals' studies albeit other child protection workers were studied too, 4) the workforce skills to family support were grouped in three topics: the qualities of the professionals (attitudes and attributes); technical skills, and specific knowledge. The framework of analyses, literature strategy and findings with study limitations will be further discussed. As an implication, this study contributes and advocates for the structuring of a common base for cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary qualification standards for the family support workforce.

Keywords: family support, skill standards, systemic review, workforce

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Authors: Xiaoyan Dai, Hsieh Yisan

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Barcode processing of captured images is a huge challenge, as different shooting conditions can result in different barcode appearances. This paper proposes a deep learning-based barcode detection using synthetic-to-real data augmentation. We first augment barcodes themselves; we then augment images containing the barcodes to generate a large variety of data that is close to the actual shooting environments. Comparisons with previous works and evaluations with our original data show that this approach achieves state-of-the-art performance in various real images. In addition, the system uses hybrid resolution for barcode “scan” and is applicable to real-time applications.

Keywords: barcode detection, data augmentation, deep learning, image-based processing

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Authors: Anam Gopi

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The undesired torque and flux ripple may occur in conventional direct torque control (DTC) induction motor drive. DTC can improve the system performance at low speeds by continuously tuning the regulator by adjusting the Kp, Ki values. In this Teaching Learning Based Optimization (TLBO) is proposed to adjust the parameters (Kp, Ki) of the speed controller in order to minimize torque ripple, flux ripple, and stator current distortion. The TLBO based PI controller has resulted is maintaining a constant speed of the motor irrespective of the load torque fluctuations.

Keywords: teaching learning based optimization, direct torque control, PI controller

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Authors: Yiwei Li, Mingyu Gao

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Integrating hybrid memories with heterogeneous processors could leverage heterogeneity in both compute and memory domains for better system efficiency. To ensure performance isolation, we introduce Hydrogen, a hardware architecture to optimize the allocation of hybrid memory resources to heterogeneous CPU-GPU systems. Hydrogen supports efficient capacity and bandwidth partitioning between CPUs and GPUs in both memory tiers. We propose decoupled memory channel mapping and token-based data migration throttling to enable flexible partitioning. We also support epoch-based online search for optimized configurations and lightweight reconfiguration with reduced data movements. Hydrogen significantly outperforms existing designs by 1.21x on average and up to 1.31x.

Keywords: hybrid memory, heterogeneous systems, dram cache, graphics processing units

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Authors: Sahani Rathnasiri, Pritee Ray, Sardar M. N. Isalm, Carlos A. Vega-Mejia

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This study develops a cooperative game theory-based cost-sharing contract model for a business to consumer (B2C) e-commerce supply chain to minimize the overall supply chain costs and the individual costs within an information asymmetry scenario. The objective of this study is to address the issues of strategic interactions among the key players of the e-commerce supply chain operation, which impedes the optimal operational outcomes. Game theory has been included in the field of supply chain management to resolve strategic decision-making issues; however, most of the studies are limited only to two-echelons of the supply chains. Multi-echelon supply chain optimizations based on game-theoretic models are less explored in the previous literature. This study adopts a cooperative game model to focus on the common payoff of operations and addresses the issues of information asymmetry and coordination of a three-echelon e-commerce supply chain. The cost-sharing contract model integrates operational features such as production, inventory management and distribution with the contract related constraints. The outcomes of the model highlight the importance of maintaining lower operational costs by all players to obtain benefits from the cost-sharing contract. Further, the cost-sharing contract ensures true cost revelation, and hence eliminates the information asymmetry issues among the players. Comparing the results of the contract model with the de-centralized e-commerce supply chain operation further emphasizes that the cost-sharing contract derives Pareto-improved outcomes and minimizes the costs of overall e-commerce supply chain operation.

Keywords: cooperative game theory, cost-sharing contract, e-commerce supply chain, information asymmetry

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Authors: Jonghoon Chun, Insung Kim, Jonghyun Lim, Gun Ro

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We believe that it is possible to provide a solution to reduce patient safety accidents by displaying correct medical records and prescription information through interactive patient identification. Our system is based on the use of smart bands worn by patients and these bands communicate with the hybrid gateways which understand both BLE and Wifi communication protocols. Through the convergence of low-power Bluetooth (BLE) and hybrid gateway technology, which is one of short-range wireless communication technologies, we implement ‘Intelligent Patient Identification and Location Tracking System’ to prevent medical malfunction frequently occurring in medical institutions. Based on big data and IOT technology using MongoDB, smart band (BLE, NFC function) and hybrid gateway, we develop a system to enable two-way communication between medical staff and hospitalized patients as well as to store locational information of the patients in minutes. Based on the precise information provided using big data systems, such as location tracking and movement of in-hospital patients wearing smart bands, our findings include the fact that a patient-specific location tracking algorithm can more efficiently operate HIS (Hospital Information System) and other related systems. Through the system, we can always correctly identify patients using identification tags. In addition, the system automatically determines whether the patient is a scheduled for medical service by the system in use at the medical institution, and displays the appropriateness of the medical treatment and the medical information (medical record and prescription information) on the screen and voice. This work was supported in part by the Korea Technology and Information Promotion Agency for SMEs (TIPA) grant funded by the Korean Small and Medium Business Administration (No. S2410390).

Keywords: BLE, hybrid gateway, patient identification, IoT, safety management, smart band

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Authors: K. Menad, A. Faddeg

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Zeolites are a family of mineral compounds. With special properties that have led to several important industrial applications. Ion exchange has enabled the first industrial application in the field of water treatment. The exchange by aqueous pathway is the method most used in the case of such microporous materials and this technique will be used in this work. The objective of this work is to find performance materials for the recovery of heavy metals such as cadmium. The study is to compare the properties of different ion exchange zeolite Na-X, Na-A, their physical mixture and the composite A (LTA) / X (FAU). After the synthesis of various zeolites X and A, it was designed a model Core-Shell to form a composite zeolite A on zeolite X. Finally, ion exchange studies were performed on these zeolite materials. The cation is exclusively tested for cadmium, a toxic element and is harmful to health and the environment.

Keywords: zeolite A, zeolite X, ion exchange, water treatment

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Authors: M. Jebali, M. Jemni

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This work is the part of vision based hand gesture recognition system for Natural Human Computer Interface. Hand tracking and segmentation are the primary steps for any hand gesture recognition system. The aim of this paper is to develop robust and efficient hand segmentation algorithm such as an input to another system which attempt to bring the HCI performance nearby the human-human interaction, by modeling an intelligent sign language recognition system based on prediction in the context of dialogue between the system (avatar) and the interlocutor. For the purpose of hand segmentation, an overcoming occlusion approach has been proposed for superior results for detection of hand from an image.

Keywords: HCI, sign language recognition, object tracking, hand segmentation

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Authors: Ramanpreet Kaur, Upasana Sharma

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The purpose of this paper is to address the challenges faced by MLDB system at the piston foundry plant due to interruption in supply of water. For the MLDB system to work in Model, two sub-units must be connected to the robotic main unit. The system cannot function without robotics and water supply by the fan (WSF). Insufficient water supply is the cause of system failure. The system operates at top performance using two sub-units. If one sub-unit fails, the system capacity is reduced. Priority of repair is given to the main unit i.e. Robotic and WSF. To solve the problem, semi-Markov process and regenerative point technique are used. Relevant graphs are also included to particular case.

Keywords: MLDB system, robotic, semi-Markov process, regenerative point technique

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Authors: Ararat Khachatryan, Davit Mirzoyan

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In sub micrometer technology, the aging phenomenon starts to have a significant impact on the reliability of integrated circuits by bringing performance degradation. For that reason, it is important to have a capability to evaluate the aging effects accurately. This paper presents an accurate aging measurement approach based on phase-locked loop (PLL) and voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) circuit. The architecture is rejecting the circuit self-aging effect from the characteristics of PLL, which is generating the frequency without any aging phenomena affects. The aging monitor is implemented in low power 32 nm CMOS technology, and occupies a pretty small area. Aging simulation results show that the proposed aging measurement circuit improves accuracy by about 2.8% at high temperature and 19.6% at high voltage.

Keywords: aging effect, HCI, NBTI, nanoscale

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Authors: Sharad Kumar Kulshreshtha

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India is a great land of cultural and traditional diversity. Its spectrums create a unique ambiance in all over the country. Specially, fairs and festivals are ancient phenomena in Indian culture. In India, there are thousands of such religious, spiritual, cultural fairs organized on auspicious occasions. These fairs reflect the effective and efficient role of social governance and responsibility of Indian society. In this context a mega event known as ‘Kumbha Mela’ literally mean ‘Kumbha Fair’ which is organize after every twelve years at (Prayaag) Allahabad an ancient city of India, now is in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Kumbh Mela is one of the largest human congregations on the Earth. The Kumbha Mela that is held here is considered to be the largest and holiest city among the four cities where Kubha fair organize. According to the Hindu religious scripture a dip for possessing the holy confluence, known as Triveni Sangam, which is a meeting point of the three sacred rivers of India i.e., –Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati (mythical). During the Kumbha fair the River Ganges is believed to turn to nectar, bringing great blessing to everyone who bathes in it. Other activities include religious discussions, devotional singings and mass feedings pilgrims and poor. The venue for Kumbh Mela (fair) depends on the position Sun, Moon, and Jupiter which holds in that period in different zodiac signs. More than 120 Millions (12 Crore) people visited in the Kumbha Fair-2013 in Allahabad. A temporary tented city was set up for the pilgrims over an area of 2 hectares of the land along the river of Ganges. As many as 5 power substations, temporary police stations, hospitals, bus terminals, stalls were set up for providing various facilities to the visitors and thousands of volunteers participated for assistance of this event. All efforts made by fair administration to provide facility to visitors, such security and sanitation, medical care and frequent water and power supply. The efficient and timely arrangement at the Kumbha Mela attracted the attention of many government and institutions. The Harvard University of USA conducted research to find out how it was made possible. This paper will focuses on effective and efficient planning and preparation of Kumbha Fair which includes facilitation process, role of various coordinating agencies. risk management crisis management strategies Prevention, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery (PPRR Approach), emergency response plan (ERP), safety and security issues, various environmental aspects along with health hazards and hygiene crowd management, evacuation, monitoring, control and evaluation.

Keywords: event planning and facility arrangement, risk management, crowd management, India

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Authors: Laura Micheli, Majd Hijazi, Mahmoud Faytarouni

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The damage reported by oil and gas industrial facilities revealed the utmost vulnerability of steel liquid storage tanks to seismic events. The failure of steel storage tanks may yield devastating and long-lasting consequences on built and natural environments, including the release of hazardous substances, uncontrolled fires, and soil contamination with hazardous materials. It is, therefore, fundamental to reliably predict the damage that steel liquid storage tanks will likely experience under future seismic hazard events. The seismic performance of steel liquid storage tanks is usually assessed using vulnerability curves obtained from the numerical simulation of a tank under different hazard scenarios. However, the computational demand of high-fidelity numerical simulation models, such as finite element models, makes the vulnerability assessment of liquid storage tanks time-consuming and often impractical. As a solution, this paper presents a surrogate model-based strategy for predicting seismic-induced damage in steel liquid storage tanks. In the proposed strategy, the surrogate model is leveraged to reduce the computational demand of time-consuming numerical simulations. To create the data set for training the surrogate model, field damage data from past earthquakes reconnaissance surveys and reports are collected. Features representative of steel liquid storage tank characteristics (e.g., diameter, height, liquid level, yielding stress) and seismic excitation parameters (e.g., peak ground acceleration, magnitude) are extracted from the field damage data. The collected data are then utilized to train a surrogate model that maps the relationship between tank characteristics, seismic hazard parameters, and seismic-induced damage via a data-driven surrogate model. Different types of surrogate algorithms, including naïve Bayes, k-nearest neighbors, decision tree, and random forest, are investigated, and results in terms of accuracy are reported. The model that yields the most accurate predictions is employed to predict future damage as a function of tank characteristics and seismic hazard intensity level. Results show that the proposed approach can be used to estimate the extent of damage in steel liquid storage tanks, where the use of data-driven surrogates represents a viable alternative to computationally expensive numerical simulation models.

Keywords: damage prediction , data-driven model, seismic performance, steel liquid storage tanks, surrogate model

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Authors: Selma Bouasria, Mahi Abdelkader, Abbès Azzi, Herouz Keltoum

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This paper reports concept was used into the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code cfx through user-defined functions to assess ventilation efficiency inside (forced-ventilation local). CFX is a simulation tool which uses powerful computer and applied mathematics, to model fluid flow situations for the prediction of heat, mass and momentum transfer and optimal design in various heat transfer and fluid flow processes to evaluate thermal comfort in a room ventilated (highly-glazed). The quality of the solutions obtained from CFD simulations is an effective tool for predicting the behavior and performance indoor thermo-aéraulique comfort.

Keywords: ventilation, thermal comfort, CFD, indoor environment, solar air heater

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Authors: Alberto Mora-Vazquez, Nelly Paulina Trejo Guzmán

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This study examines the learning trajectories of twelve language teachers who were former students of a BA in applied linguistics at a Mexican state university. In particular, the study compares the social, academic and professional trajectories of two groups of teachers, six locally raised and educated ones and six repatriated ones from the U.S. Our interest in undertaking this research lies in the wide variety of students’ backgrounds we as professors in the BA program have witnessed throughout the years it has been around. Ever since the academic program started back in 2006, the student population has been made up of students whose backgrounds are highly diverse in terms of English language proficiency level, professional orientations and degree of cross-cultural awareness. Such diversity is further evidenced by the ongoing incorporation of some transnational students who have lived and studied in the United States for a significant period of time before their enrolment in the BA program. This, however, is not an isolated event as other researchers have reported this phenomenon in other TESOL-related programs of Mexican universities in the literature. Therefore, this suggests that their social and educational experiences are quite different from those of their Mexican born and educated counterparts. In addition, an informal comparison of the participation in formal teaching activities of the two groups at the beginning of their careers also suggested that significant differences in teacher training and development needs could also be identified. This issue raised questions about the need to examine the life and learning trajectories of these two groups of student teachers so as to develop an intervention plan aimed at supporting and encouraging their academic and professional advancement based on their particular needs. To achieve this goal, the study makes use of a combination of retrospective life-history research and the analysis of academic documents. The first approach uses interviews for data-collection. Through the use of a narrative life-history interview protocol, teachers were asked about their childhood home context, their language learning and teaching experiences, their stories of studying applied linguistics, and self-description. For the analysis of participants’ educational outcomes, a wide range of academic records, including reports of language proficiency exams results and language teacher training certificates, were used. The analysis revealed marked differences between the two groups of teachers in terms of academic and professional orientations. The locally educated teachers tended to graduate first, to look for further educational opportunities after graduation, to enter the language teaching profession earlier, and to expand their professional development options more than their peers. It is argued that these differences can be explained by their identities, which are made up of the interplay of influences such as their home context, their previous educational experiences and their cultural background. Implications for language teacher trainers and applied linguistics academic program administrators are provided.

Keywords: beginning language teachers, life-history research, Mexican context, transnational students

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Authors: Jingyu Hou

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This paper proposes a new teaching and learning approach-project and Module Based Teaching and Learning (PMBTL). The PMBTL approach incorporates the merits of project/problem based and module based learning methods, and overcomes the limitations of these methods. The correlation between teaching, learning, practice, and assessment is emphasized in this approach, and new methods have been proposed accordingly. The distinct features of these new methods differentiate the PMBTL approach from conventional teaching approaches. Evaluation of this approach on practical teaching and learning activities demonstrates the effectiveness and stability of the approach in improving the performance and quality of teaching and learning. The approach proposed in this paper is also intuitive to the design of other teaching units.

Keywords: computer science education, project and module based, software engineering, module based teaching and learning

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Authors: Kunyaporn Pipithsangchan, Alongkorn Korntong, Assanee Songserm, Phatchara Piriyavinit, Saowanee Dechakampoo

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The Kingdom of Thailand is one of the South East Asian countries. From its area of 514,000 square kilometers (51 million ha), at least 18,000 plant species (8% of the world total) have been estimated to be found in the country. As a result, the conservation of plant genetic diversity, particularly food crops, is becoming important and is an assurance for the national food security. Department of Agriculture Genebank or DOA Genebank, Thailand is responsible for the conservation of plant germplasm by participating and accomplishing several collaborative projects both at national and international levels. Integrated Management System of Plant Genetic Resources or IMPGR is one of the most outstandingly successful cooperation. It is a multilateral project under the Asian Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (AFACI) supported by the Rural Development Administration (RDA) of South Korea. The member countries under the project consist of 11 nations namely Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos PDR, Mongolia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and South Korea. The project enabled the members to jointly address the global issues in plant genetic resource (PGR) conservation and strengthen their network in this aspect. The 1st phase of IMPGR project, entitled 'Collection, Conservation, Regeneration and Characterization of Cucurbitaceae and Solanaceae 2012-2014', comprises three main objectives that are: 1) To improve management in storage facilities, collection, and regeneration, 2) To improve linkage between Genebank and material sources (for regeneration), and 3) To improve linkage between Genebank and other field crop or/and horticultural research centers. The project was done for three years from 2012 to 2014. The activities of the project can be described as following details: In the 1st year, there were 9 target provinces for completing plant genetic resource survey and collection. 108 accessions of PGR were collected. In the 2nd year, PGR were continuously surveyed and collected from 9 provinces. The total number of collection was 140 accessions. In addition, the process of regeneration of 237 accessions collected from 1st and 2nd year was started at several sites namely Biotechnology Research and Development Office, Sukothai Horticultural Research Center, Tak Research, and Development Center and Nakhon Ratchasima Research and Development Center. In the 3rd year, besides survey and collection of 115 accessions from 9 target provinces, PGR characterization and evaluation were done for 206 accessions. Moreover, safety duplication of 253 PGR at the World Seed Vault, RDA, was also done according to Standard Agreement on Germplasm Safety Duplication between Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, the Kingdom of Thailand and the National Agrobiodiversity Center, Rural Development Administration of the Republic of Korea. The success of the 1st phase project led to the second phase which entitled 'Collection and Characterization for Effective Conservation of Local Capsicum spp., Solanum spp. and Lycopersicon spp. in Thailand 2015-2017'.

Keywords: characterization, conservation, DOA genebank, plant genetic resources

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Authors: Melissa Chavez Portillo, Mauricio Pacio Castillo, Hector Juarez Santiesteban, Oscar Portillo Moreno

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Chemical bath deposited PbS:Bi3+ as an electron collection layer is introduced between the silicon wafer and the Ag electrode the performance of the PbS heterojunction thin film solar thin film solar cells with 1 cm2 active area. We employed Bi-doping to transform it into an n-type semiconductor. The experimental results reveal that the cell response parameters depend critically on the deposition procedures in terms of bath temperature, deposition time. The device achieves an open-circuit voltage of 0.4 V. The simple and low-cost deposition method of PbS:Bi3+ films is promising for the fabrication.

Keywords: Bi doping, PbS, thin films, solar cell

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Authors: Yavuz Yardim

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FRP systems have been largely used to improve the performance of structural members, due to their high strength to weight ratio and corrosion resistance. Application of this strengthening procedure in circular columns has resulted quite beneficial in increasing their seismic and axial capacity. Whereas in the rectangular ones, strength enhancement was considerably less due to stress concentration in the corner. In this work three anchorage configurations are tested for their efficiency in increasing the uniformity of confinement pressure in the CFRP strengthened non-circular sections. There is a slight increase in the axial strength of specimens as a general trend. More specifically fan anchorage reached an increase of 17.5% compared to the unanchored specimens. The study shows that uniformity of confining pressure has increased by adding anchorage.

Keywords: rectangular columns, FRP, confinement, anchorage

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Authors: P. Krachodnok

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In this paper, the design of a multiple U-slotted microstrip patch antenna with frequency selective surface (FSS) as a superstrate for WLAN and WiMAX applications is presented. The proposed antenna is designed by using substrate FR4 having permittivity of 4.4 and air substrate. The characteristics of the antenna are designed and evaluated the performance of modelled antenna using CST Microwave studio. The proposed antenna dual resonant frequency has been achieved in the band of 2.37-2.55 GHz and 3.4-3.6 GHz. Because of the impact of FSS superstrate, it is found that the bandwidths have been improved from 6.12% to 7.35 % and 3.7% to 5.7% at resonant frequencies 2.45 GHz and 3.5 GHz, respectively. The maximum gain at the resonant frequency of 2.45 and 3.5 GHz are 9.3 and 11.33 dBi, respectively.

Keywords: multi-slotted antenna, microstrip patch antenna, frequency selective surface, artificial magnetic conduction

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Authors: M. Regis, E. Marin, S. Fusi, M. Pressacco, L. Fedrizzi

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Electron Beam Melting (EBM) process was used to prepare porous scaffolds with controlled porosity to ensure optimal levels of osteointegration for different trabeculae sizes. Morphological characterization by means of SEM analyses was carried out to assess pore dimensions; tensile, compression and adhesion tests have been carried out to determine the mechanical behavior. The results indicate that EBM process allows the creation of regular and repeatable porous scaffolds. Mechanical properties greatly depend on pore dimension and on bulk-pore ratio. Adhesion resistance meets the normative requirements, and the overall performance of the produced structures is compatible with potential orthopaedic applications.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, orthopaedic implants, osteointegration, trabecular structures

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Authors: Bi-Huei Tsai

Abstract:

This work explores the inter-region investment behaviors of integrated circuit (IC) design industry from Taiwan to China using the amount of foreign direct investment (FDI). According to the mutual dependence among different IC design industrial locations, Lotka-Volterra model is utilized to explore the FDI interactions between South and East China. Effects of inter-regional collaborations on FDI flows into China are considered. Evolutions of FDIs into South China for IC design industry significantly inspire the subsequent FDIs into East China, while FDIs into East China for Taiwan’s IC design industry significantly hinder the subsequent FDIs into South China. The supply chain along IC industry includes IC design, manufacturing, packing and testing enterprises. I C manufacturing, packaging and testing industries depend on IC design industry to gain advanced business benefits. The FDI amount from Taiwan’s IC design industry into East China is the greatest among the four regions: North, East, Mid-West and South China. The FDI amount from Taiwan’s IC design industry into South China is the second largest. If IC design houses buy more equipment and bring more capitals in South China, those in East China will have pressure to undertake more FDIs into East China to maintain the leading position advantages of the supply chain in East China. On the other hand, as the FDIs in East China rise, the FDIs in South China will successively decline since capitals have concentrated in East China. Prediction of Lotka-Volterra model in FDI trends is accurate because the industrial interactions between the two regions are included. Finally, this work confirms that the FDI flows cannot reach a stable equilibrium point, so the FDI inflows into East and South China will expand in the future.

Keywords: Lotka-Volterra model, foreign direct investment, competitive, Equilibrium analysis

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Authors: Nayeli Camacho, Fernanda Lara-Perez, Carolina Ortega-Portilla, Diego G. Espinosa-Arbelaez, Juan M. Alvarado-Orozco, Guillermo C. Mondragon-Rodriguez

Abstract:

Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) has been the gold standard material for total knee replacements for almost five decades. Wear damage to UHMWPE articulating surface is inevitable due to the natural sliding and rolling movements of the knee. This generates a considerable amount of wear debris, which results in mechanical instability of the joint, reduces joint mobility, increases pain with detrimental biologic responses, and causes component loosening. The presence of wear particles has been closely related to adverse reactions in the knee joint surrounding tissue, especially for particles in the range of 0.3 to 2 μm. Carbon-based materials possess excellent mechanical properties and have shown great promise in tribological applications. In this study, diamond-like carbon coatings (DLC) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were used to decrease the wear rate of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene. A titanium doped DLC (Ti-DLC) was deposited by magnetron sputtering on stainless steel precision spheres while CNTs were used as a second phase reinforcement in UHMWPE at a concentration of 1.25 wt.%. A comparative tribological analysis of the wear of UHMWPE and UHMWPE-CNTs with a stainless steel counterpart with and without Ti-DLC coating is presented. The experimental wear testing was performed on a pin-on-disc tribometer under dry conditions, using a reciprocating movement with a load of 1 N at a frequency of 2 Hz for 100,000 and 200,000 cycles. The wear tracks were analyzed with high-resolution scanning electron microscopy to determine wear modes and observe the size and shape of the wear debris. Furthermore, profilometry was used to study the depth of the wear tracks and to map the wear of the articulating surface. The wear tracks at 100,000 and 200,000 cycles on all samples were relatively shallow, and they were in the range of average roughness. It was observed that the Ti-DLC coating decreases the mass loss in the UHMWPE and the depth of the wear track. The combination of both carbon-based materials decreased the material loss compared to the system of stainless steel and UHMWPE. Burnishing of the surface was the predominant wear mode observed with all the systems, more subtle for the systems with Ti-DLC coatings. Meanwhile, in the system composed of stainless steel-UHMWPE, the intrinsic surface roughness of the material was completely replaced by the wear tracks.

Keywords: CNT reinforcement, self-lubricating materials, Ti-DLC, UHMWPE tribological performance

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Authors: Emmanuel Barrantes Chaves, Ernesto Rivera Alvarado

Abstract:

This paper presents a method to enable agents for the Terraria game to evaluate algorithms commonly used in general video game artificial intelligence competitions. The usage of the ‘You Only Look Once’ model in the first layer of the process obtains information from the screen, translating this information into a video game description language known as “Video Game Description Language”; the agents take that as input to make decisions. For this, the state-of-the-art algorithms were tested and compared; Monte Carlo Tree Search and Rolling Horizon Evolutionary; in this case, Rolling Horizon Evolutionary shows a better performance. This approach’s main advantage is that a VGDL beforehand is unnecessary. It will be built on the fly and opens the road for using more games as a framework for AI.

Keywords: AI, MCTS, RHEA, Terraria, VGDL, YOLOv5

Procedia PDF Downloads 97