Search results for: Enhanced buffer
584 An Enhanced Fault-Tolerant Conference Key Agreement Protocol
Authors: Cheng-Chi Lee, Chun-Ta Li, Chia-Ying Wu, Shiow-Yuan Huang
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Establishing a secure communication of Internet conferences for participants is very important. Before starting the conference, all the participants establish a common conference key to encrypt/decrypt communicated messages. It enables participants to exchange the secure messages. Nevertheless, in the conference, if there are any malicious participants who may try to upset the key generation process causing other legal participants to obtain a different conference key. In this article, we propose an improved conference key agreement with fault-tolerant capability. The proposed scheme can filter malicious participants at the beginning of the conference to ensure that all participants obtain the same conference key. Compare with other schemes, our scheme is more secure and efficient than others.Keywords: Conference key, Diffie-Hellman protocol, key agreement, fault tolerance.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1342583 Building a Hierarchical, Granular Knowledge Cube
Authors: Alexander Denzler, Marcel Wehrle, Andreas Meier
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A knowledge base stores facts and rules about the world that applications can use for the purpose of reasoning. By applying the concept of granular computing to a knowledge base, several advantages emerge. These can be harnessed by applications to improve their capabilities and performance. In this paper, the concept behind such a construct, called a granular knowledge cube, is defined, and its intended use as an instrument that manages to cope with different data types and detect knowledge domains is elaborated. Furthermore, the underlying architecture, consisting of the three layers of the storing, representing, and structuring of knowledge, is described. Finally, benefits as well as challenges of deploying it are listed alongside application types that could profit from having such an enhanced knowledge base.Keywords: Granular computing, granular knowledge, hierarchical structuring, knowledge bases.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2377582 On Thermal Instabilities in a Viscoelastic Fluid Subject to Internal Heat Generation
Authors: Donna M. G. Comissiong, Tyrone D. Dass, Harold Ramkissoon, Alana R. Sankar
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The B'enard-Marangoni thermal instability problem for a viscoelastic Jeffreys- fluid layer with internal heat generation is investigated. The fluid layer is bounded above by a realistic free deformable surface and by a plane surface below. Our analysis shows that while the internal heat generation and the relaxation time both destabilize the fluid layer, its stability may be enhanced by an increased retardation time.Keywords: Viscoelastic fluid, Jeffreys' model, Maxwell model, internal heat generation, retardation time, relaxation time.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1656581 Satellite Rainfall Prediction Techniques - A State of the Art Review
Authors: S. Sarumathi, N. Shanthi, S. Vidhya
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In the present world, predicting rainfall is considered to be an essential and also a challenging task. Normally, the climate and rainfall are presumed to have non-linear as well as intricate phenomena. For predicting accurate rainfall, we necessitate advanced computer modeling and simulation. When there is an enhanced understanding of the spatial and temporal distribution of precipitation then it becomes enrichment to applications such as hydrologic, climatic and ecological. Conversely, there may be some kind of challenges occur in the community due to some application which results in the absence of consistent precipitation observation in remote and also emerging region. This survey paper provides a multifarious collection of methodologies which are epitomized by various researchers for predicting the rainfall. It also gives information about some technique to forecast rainfall, which is appropriate to all methods like numerical, traditional and statistical.
Keywords: Satellite Image, Segmentation, Feature Extraction, Classification, Clustering, Precipitation Estimation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3225580 Capacity Enhancement in Wireless Networks using Directional Antennas
Authors: Sedat Atmaca, Celal Ceken, Ismail Erturk
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One of the biggest drawbacks of the wireless environment is the limited bandwidth. However, the users sharing this limited bandwidth have been increasing considerably. SDMA technique which entails using directional antennas allows to increase the capacity of a wireless network by separating users in the medium. In this paper, it has been presented how the capacity can be enhanced while the mean delay is reduced by using directional antennas in wireless networks employing TDMA/FDD MAC. Computer modeling and simulation of the wireless system studied are realized using OPNET Modeler. Preliminary simulation results are presented and the performance of the model using directional antennas is evaluated and compared consistently with the one using omnidirectional antennas.Keywords: Directional Antenna, TDMA, SDMA,
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2284579 Prediction of a Human Facial Image by ANN using Image Data and its Content on Web Pages
Authors: Chutimon Thitipornvanid, Siripun Sanguansintukul
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Choosing the right metadata is a critical, as good information (metadata) attached to an image will facilitate its visibility from a pile of other images. The image-s value is enhanced not only by the quality of attached metadata but also by the technique of the search. This study proposes a technique that is simple but efficient to predict a single human image from a website using the basic image data and the embedded metadata of the image-s content appearing on web pages. The result is very encouraging with the prediction accuracy of 95%. This technique may become a great assist to librarians, researchers and many others for automatically and efficiently identifying a set of human images out of a greater set of images.Keywords: Metadata, Prediction, Multi-layer perceptron, Human facial image, Image mining.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1214578 Design and Development of Ferroelectric Material for Microstrip Patch Array Antenna
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This paper presents the utilizing of ferroelectric material on antenna application. There are two different ferroelectric had been used on the proposed antennas which include of Barium Strontium Titanate (BST) and Bismuth Titanate (BiT), suitable for Access Points operating in the WLAN IEEE 802.11 b/g and WiMAX IEEE 802.16 within the range of 2.3 GHz to 2.5 GHz application. BST, which had been tested to own a dielectric constant of εr = 15 while BiT has a dielectric constant that higher than BST which is εr = 21 and both materials are in rectangular shaped. The influence of various parameters on antenna characteristics were investigated extensively using commercial electromagnetic simulations software by Communication Simulation Technology (CST). From theoretical analysis and simulation results, it was demonstrated that ferroelectric material used have not only improved the directive emission but also enhanced the radiation efficiency.Keywords: Ferroelectric material, WLAN, WiMAX, dielectric constant
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2011577 Effective Sonar Target Classification via Parallel Structure of Minimal Resource Allocation Network
Authors: W.S. Lim, M.V.C. Rao
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In this paper, the processing of sonar signals has been carried out using Minimal Resource Allocation Network (MRAN) and a Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN) in differentiation of commonly encountered features in indoor environments. The stability-plasticity behaviors of both networks have been investigated. The experimental result shows that MRAN possesses lower network complexity but experiences higher plasticity than PNN. An enhanced version called parallel MRAN (pMRAN) is proposed to solve this problem and is proven to be stable in prediction and also outperformed the original MRAN.Keywords: Ultrasonic sensing, target classification, minimalresource allocation network (MRAN), probabilistic neural network(PNN), stability-plasticity dilemma.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1596576 Morphological and Syntactic Meaning: An Interactive Crossword Puzzle Approach
Authors: Ibrahim Garba
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This research involved the use of word distributions and morphological knowledge by speakers of Arabic learning English connected different allomorphs in order to realize how the morphology and syntax of English gives meaning through using interactive crossword puzzles (ICP). Fifteen chapters covered with a class of nine learners over an academic year of an intensive English program were reviewed using the ICP. Learners were questioned about how the use of this gaming element enhanced and motivated their learning of English. The findings were positive indicating a successful implementation of ICP both at creational and user levels. This indicated a positive role technology had when learning and teaching English through adopting an interactive gaming element for learning English.Keywords: Distribution, gaming, interactive-crossword-puzzle, morphology.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2390575 Plasmonic Absorption Enhancement in Au/CdS Nanocomposite
Authors: K. Easawi, M. Nabil, T. Abdallah, S. Negm, H. Talaat
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Composite nanostructures of metal core/semiconductor shell (Au/CdS) configuration were prepared using organometalic method. UV-Vis spectra for the Au/CdS colloids show initially two well separated bands, corresponding to surface plasmon of the Au core, and the exciton of CdS shell. The absorption of CdS shell is enhanced, while the Au plasmon band is suppressed as the shell thickness increases. The shell sizes were estimated from the optical spectra using the effective mass approximation model (EMA), and compared to the sizes of the Au core and CdS shell measured by high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM). The changes in the absorption features are discussed in terms of gradual increase in the coupling strength of the Au core surface plasmon and the exciton in the CdS. leading to charge transfer and modification of electron oscillation in Au core.Keywords: Nanocomposites, Plasmonics.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2459574 Enhanced Spectral Envelope Coding Based On NLMS for G.729.1
Authors: Keunseok Cho, Sangbae Jeong, Hyungwook Chang, Minsoo Hahn
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In this paper, a new encoding algorithm of spectral envelope based on NLMS in G.729.1 for VoIP is proposed. In the TDAC part of G.729.1, the spectral envelope and MDCT coefficients extracted in the weighted CELP coding error (lower-band) and the higher-band input signal are encoded. In order to reduce allocation bits for spectral envelope coding, a new quantization algorithm based on NLMS is proposed. Also, reduced bits are used to enhance sound quality. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated by sound quality and bit reduction rates in clean and frame loss conditions.
Keywords: G.729.1, MDCT coefficient, NLMS, spectral envelope.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1667573 Understanding and Predicting Foam in Anaerobic Digester
Authors: I. R. Kanu, T. J. Aspray, A. J. Adeloye
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As a result of the ambiguity and complexity surrounding anaerobic digester foaming, efforts have been made by various researchers to understand the process of anaerobic digester foaming so as to proffer a solution that can be universally applied rather than site specific. All attempts ranging from experimental analysis to comparative review of other process has not fully explained the conditions and process of foaming in anaerobic digester. Studying the current available knowledge on foam formation and relating it to anaerobic digester process and operating condition, this piece of work presents a succinct and enhanced understanding of foaming in anaerobic digesters as well as introducing a simple method to identify the onset of anaerobic digester foaming based on analysis of historical data from a field scale system.
Keywords: Anaerobic digester, foam, biogas, surfactants, wastewater sludge.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2969572 Model Reference Adaptive Control and LQR Control for Quadrotor with Parametric Uncertainties
Authors: Alia Abdul Ghaffar, Tom Richardson
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A model reference adaptive control and a fixed gain LQR control were implemented in the height controller of a quadrotor that has parametric uncertainties due to the act of picking up an object of unknown dimension and mass. It is shown that an adaptive controller, unlike the fixed gain controller, is capable of ensuring a stable tracking performance under such condition, although adaptive control suffers from several limitations. The combination of both adaptive and fixed gain control in the controller architecture can result in an enhanced tracking performance in the presence parametric uncertainties.
Keywords: UAV, quadrotor, model reference adaptive control, LQR control.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5561571 Assessment of Multiscale Information for Short Physiological Time Series
Authors: Young-Seok Choi
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This paper presents a multiscale information measure of Electroencephalogram (EEG) for analysis with a short data length. A multiscale extension of permutation entropy (MPE) is capable of fully reflecting the dynamical characteristics of EEG across different temporal scales. However, MPE yields an imprecise estimation due to coarse-grained procedure at large scales. We present an improved MPE measure to estimate entropy more accurately with a short time series. By computing entropies of all coarse-grained time series and averaging those at each scale, it leads to the modified MPE (MMPE) which provides an enhanced accuracy as compared to MPE. Simulation and experimental studies confirmed that MMPE has proved its capability over MPE in terms of accuracy.Keywords: Multiscale entropy, permutation entropy, EEG, seizure.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1478570 Dyeing Properties of Natural Dyes on Silk Treated with ß-Cyclodextrin
Authors: Samera Salimpour Abkenar
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In this work, silk yarns were treated using ß-cyclodextrin (ß-CD) and cross-linked with citric acid (CA) via pad-dry-cure method. Elemental and FESEM analyses confirmed the presence of ß-CD on the treated silk samples even after five washing cycles. Then, the treated samples were dyed using natural dyes (carrot, orange and tomato). Results showed that the color strength (K/S) of the treated samples had been markedly enhanced compared with the control sample (after treatment with metal mordant). Finally, the color strength (K/S value) and color fastness (fading, staining and light fastness) of the treated samples with ß-CD were investigated and compared.
Keywords: ß-cyclodextrin, dyeing, natural dyes, silk yarn.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 622569 A Numerical Study on Thermal Dissociation of H2S
Authors: M. Moghiman, S. M. Javadi, A. R. Moghiman, S. Baghdar Hosseini
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The main issue in sweetening natural gas is H2S dissociation. The present study is concerned with simulating thermal dissociation of H2S in industrial natural gas carbon black furnace. The comparison of calculated results against experimental measurements shows good agreement. The results show that sulfur derived from H2S thermal dissociation peaked at φ=0.95. H2S thermal dissociation is enhanced in equivalence ratio upper than 1 and H2S oxidization is increased in equivalence ratio lower than 1. H2 concentration of H2S thermal dissociation is increased with increase of equivalence ratio up to 1. Also, H2S concentration decreased in outlet as equivalence ratio increases. H2S thermal dissociation to hydrogen and Sulfur reduces its toxic characteristics and make economical benefits.Keywords: Equivalence ratio, H2S, natural gas furnace, thermaldissociation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2433568 Chemical Characterization of Submicron Aerosol in Kanpur Region: a Source Apportionment Study
Authors: A. Chakraborty, T. Gupta
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Several studies have shown the association between ambient particulate matter (PM) and adverse health effects and climate change, thus highlighting the need to limit the anthropogenic sources of PM. PM Exposure is commonly monitored as mass concentration of PM10 (particle aerodynamic diameter < 10μm) or PM2.5 (particle aerodynamic diameter < 2.5μm), although increasing toxicity with decreasing aerodynamic diameter has been reported due to increased surface area and enhanced chemical reactivity with other species. Additionally, the light scattering properties of PM increases with decreasing size. Hence, it is important to study the chemical characterization of finer fraction of the particulate matter and to identify their sources so that they can be controlled appropriately to a large extent at the sources before reaching to the receptors.Keywords: PM1, PCA, source apportionment.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1651567 Convergence of ICT and Education
Authors: Raju Kumar
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Information and communication technology (ICT) has become, within a very short time, one of the basic building blocks of modern society. Many countries now understanding the importance of ICT and mastering the basic skills and concepts of it as part of the core of education. Organizations, experts and practitioners in the education sector increasingly recognizing the importance of ICT in supporting educational improvement and reform. This paper addresses the convergence of ICT and education. When two technologies are converging to each other, together they will generate some great opportunities and challenges. This paper focuses on these issues. In introduction section, it explains the ICT, education, and ICT-enhanced education. In next section it describes need of ICT in education, relationship between ICT skills and education, and stages of teaching learning process. The next two sections describe opportunities and challenges in integrating ICT in education. Finally the concluding section summaries the idea and its usefulness.Keywords: Education, Information and CommunicationTechnology, Learning, Teaching.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3597566 An Integrated Mixed-Integer Programming Model to Address Concurrent Project Scheduling and Material Ordering
Authors: Babak H. Tabrizi, Seyed Farid Ghaderi
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Concurrent planning of project scheduling and material ordering can provide more flexibility to the project scheduling problem, as the project execution costs can be enhanced. Hence, the issue has been taken into account in this paper. To do so, a mixed-integer mathematical model is developed which considers the aforementioned flexibility, in addition to the materials quantity discount and space availability restrictions. Moreover, the activities duration has been treated as decision variables. Finally, the efficiency of the proposed model is tested by different instances. Additionally, the influence of the aforementioned parameters is investigated on the model performance.Keywords: Material ordering, project scheduling, quantity discount, space availability.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2381565 Differences in Enhancing Enrollment System between Web Application and Mobile Application for Rangsit University, Thailand
Authors: Thossaporn Thossansin, Auttapon Pomsathit
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This paper presents a comparison between using a desktop web application and a mobile application for students enrolling in courses at Rangsit University, Thailand. In addition, Rangsit University has enhanced the enrollment process by leveraging its information systems, which allows students to choose to enroll in courses online. In order to use the system, students must provide their identification and personal documents for registration. The reason to have a mobile application is to support students’ ability to access the system at anytime, anywhere and anyplace. The objective of this paper was to: 1. Evaluate the success of developing a user friendly mobile device system and 2. Measure user interest in future mobile development.
Keywords: Mobile Application, Web Application and Enrollment System.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2284564 Enhanced Parallel-Connected Comb Filter Method for Multiple Pitch Estimation
Authors: Taro Matsuno, Yuta Otani, Ryo Tanaka, Kaori Ikezaki, Hitoshi Yamamoto, Masaru Fujieda, Yoshihisa Ishida
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This paper presents an improvement method of the multiple pitch estimation algorithm using comb filters. Conventionally the pitch was estimated by using parallel -connected comb filters method (PCF). However, PCF has problems which often fail in the pitch estimation when there is the fundamental frequency of higher tone near harmonics of lower tone. Therefore the estimation is assigned to a wrong note when shared frequencies happen. This issue often occurs in estimating octave 3 or more. Proposed method, for solving the problem, estimates the pitch with every harmonic instead of every octave. As a result, our method reaches the accuracy of more than 80%.Keywords: music transcription, pitch estimation, comb filter, fractional delay
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1411563 Prospective Mathematics Teachers' Views about Using Flash Animations in Mathematics Lessons
Authors: Esra Bukova-Güzel, Berna Cantürk-Günhan
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The purpose of the study is to determine secondary prospective mathematics teachers- views related to using flash animations in mathematics lessons and to reveal how the sample presentations towards different mathematical concepts altered their views. This is a case study involving three secondary prospective mathematics teachers from a state university in Turkey. The data gathered from two semi-structural interviews. Findings revealed that these animations help understand mathematics meaningfully, relate mathematics and real world, visualization, and comprehend the importance of mathematics. The analysis of the data indicated that the sample presentations enhanced participants- views about using flash animations in mathematics lessons.
Keywords: Instructional technology, animations, prospective mathematics teachers.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2343562 On Phase Based Stereo Matching and Its Related Issues
Authors: Andr´as R¨ovid, Takeshi Hashimoto
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The paper focuses on the problem of the point correspondence matching in stereo images. The proposed matching algorithm is based on the combination of simpler methods such as normalized sum of squared differences (NSSD) and a more complex phase correlation based approach, by considering the noise and other factors, as well. The speed of NSSD and the preciseness of the phase correlation together yield an efficient approach to find the best candidate point with sub-pixel accuracy in stereo image pairs. The task of the NSSD in this case is to approach the candidate pixel roughly. Afterwards the location of the candidate is refined by an enhanced phase correlation based method which in contrast to the NSSD has to run only once for each selected pixel.
Keywords: Stereo matching, Sub-pixel accuracy, phase correlation, SVD, NSSD.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1863561 Performance Evaluation of TCP Vegas versus Different TCP Variants in Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Wired Networks
Authors: B. S. Yew, B. L. Ong, R. B. Ahmad
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A study on the performance of TCP Vegas versus different TCP variants in homogeneous and heterogeneous wired networks are performed via simulation experiment using network simulator (ns-2). This performance evaluation prepared a comparison medium for the performance evaluation of enhanced-TCP Vegas in wired network and for wireless network. In homogeneous network, the performance of TCP Tahoe, TCP Reno, TCP NewReno, TCP Vegas and TCP SACK are analyzed. In heterogeneous network, the performances of TCP Vegas against TCP variants are analyzed. TCP Vegas outperforms other TCP variants in homogeneous wired network. However, TCP Vegas achieves unfair throughput in heterogeneous wired network.Keywords: TCP Vegas, Homogeneous, Heterogeneous, WiredNetwork.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1717560 A Review on Enhanced Dynamic Clustering in WSN
Authors: M. Sangeetha, A. Sabari, K. Elakkiya
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Recent advancement in wireless internetworking has presented a number of dynamic routing protocols based on sensor networks. At present, a number of revisions are made based on their energy efficiency, lifetime and mobility. However, to the best of our knowledge no extensive survey of this special type has been prepared. At present, review is needed in this area where cluster-based structures for dynamic wireless networks are to be discussed. In this paper, we examine and compare several aspects and characteristics of some extensively explored hierarchical dynamic clustering protocols in wireless sensor networks. This document also presents a discussion on the future research topics and the challenges of dynamic hierarchical clustering in wireless sensor networks.Keywords: Dynamic cluster, Hierarchical clustering, Wireless sensor networks.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1376559 Viability of Bradyrhizobium japanicum on Soybean Seeds Enhanced by Magnetite Nanoparticles during Desiccation
Authors: M. R. Ghalamboran, J. J. Ramsden
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The aim of this study was to investigate whether magnetite nanoparticles affect the viability of Bradyrhizobium japanicum cells residing on the surface of soybean seeds during desiccation. Different concentrations of nanoparticles suspended in liquid medium, mixed with and adhering to Bradyrhizobium japanicum, were investigated at two temperatures, using both soybean seeds and glass beads as surrogates. Statistical design was a complete randomized block (CRB) in a factorial 6×2×2×6 experimental arrangement with four replications. The most important variable was the viability of Bradyrhizobium on the surface of the seeds. The nanoparticles increased Bradyrhizobium viability and inoculated seeds stored at low temperature had greater viability when nanoparticles had been added. At the optimum nanoparticle concentration, 50% bacterium viability on the seeds was retained after 5 days at 4ºC. Possible explanations for the observed effects are proposed.Keywords: Bradyrhizobium japanicum, magnetitenanoparticles, soybean seed, viability.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1290558 The Effect of Self-Efficacy on Emotional Intelligence and Well-Being among Tour Guides
Authors: Jennifer Chen-Hua Min
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The concept of self-efficacy refers to people’s beliefs in their ability to perform certain behaviors and cope with environmental demands. As such, self-efficacy plays a key role in linking ability to performance. Therefore, this study examines the relationships of self-efficacy, emotional intelligence (EI), and well-being among tour guides, who act as intermediaries between tourists and an unfamiliar environment and significantly influence tourists’ impressions of a destination. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to identify the relationships between these factors. The results found that self-efficacy is positively associated with EI and well-being, and a positive link was seen between EI and well-being. This study has practical implications, as the results can facilitate the development of interventions for enhancing tour guides’ EI and self-efficacy competencies, which will benefit them in terms of both enhanced achievements and improved psychological happiness and well-being.
Keywords: Self-efficacy, tour guides, tourism, emotional intelligence.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1472557 Study of Ether Species Effects on Physicochemical Properties of Palm Oil Ether Monoesters as Novel Biodiesels
Authors: Hejun Guo, Shenghua Liu
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Five palm oil ether monoesters utilized as novel biodiesels were synthesized and structurally identified in the paper. The investigation was made on the effect of ether species on physicochemical properties of the palm oil ether monoesters. The results showed that density, kinematic viscosity, smoke point, and solidifying point increase linearly with their –CH2 group number in certain relationships. Cetane number is enhanced whereas heat value decreases linearly with –CH2 group number. In addition, the influencing regularities of the volumetric content of the palm oil ether monoesters on the fuel properties were also studied when the ether monoesters are used as diesel fuel additives.
Keywords: Biodiesel, palm oil ether monoester, ether species, physicochemical property.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1540556 Educational Values of Virtual Reality: The Case of Spatial Ability
Authors: Elinda Ai-Lim Lee, Kok Wai Wong, Chun Che Fung
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The use of Virtual Reality (VR) in schools and higher education is proliferating. Due to its interactive and animated features, it is regarded as a promising technology to increase students- spatial ability. Spatial ability is assumed to have a prominent role in science and engineering domains. However, research concerning individual differences such as spatial ability in the context of VR is still at its infancy. Moreover, empirical studies that focus on the features of VR to improve spatial ability are to date rare. Thus, this paper explores the possible educational values of VR in relation to spatial ability to call for more research concerning spatial ability in the context of VR based on studies in computerbased learning. It is believed that the incorporation of state-of-the-art VR technology for educational purposes should be justified by the enhanced benefits for the target learners.
Keywords: Ability-as-compensator, ability-as-enhancer, spatialability, virtual reality.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2198555 Framework of TAZ_OPT Model for Ambulance Location and Allocation Problem
Authors: Adibah Shuib, Zati Aqmar Zaharudin
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Our study is concerned with the development of an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) ambulance location and allocation model called the Time-based Ambulance Zoning Optimization Model (TAZ_OPT). This paper presents the framework of the study. The model is formulated using the goal programming (GP), where the goals are to determine the satellite locations of ambulances and the number of ambulances to be allocated at these locations. The model aims at maximizing the expected demand coverage based on probability of reaching the emergency location within targetted time, and minimizing the ambulance busyness likelihood value. Among the benefits of the model is the increased accessibility and availability of ambulances, thus, enhanced quality of the EMS ambulance services.
Keywords: Optimization, Ambulance Location, Location facilities.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2173