Search results for: perception reaction time

Authors: Faisal Amin, Abdul Mueed, Xu Jiadong

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This paper describes the development of a fully automated measurement software for antenna radiation pattern measurements in a Compact Antenna Test Range (CATR). The CATR has a frequency range from 2-40 GHz and the measurement hardware includes a Network Analyzer for transmitting and Receiving the microwave signal and a Positioner controller to control the motion of the Styrofoam column. The measurement process includes Calibration of CATR with a Standard Gain Horn (SGH) antenna followed by Gain versus angle measurement of the Antenna under test (AUT). The software is designed to control a variety of microwave transmitter / receiver and two axis Positioner controllers through the standard General Purpose interface bus (GPIB) interface. Addition of new Network Analyzers is supported through a slight modification of hardware control module. Time-domain gating is implemented to remove the unwanted signals and get the isolated response of AUT. The gated response of the AUT is compared with the calibration data in the frequency domain to obtain the desired results. The data acquisition and processing is implemented in Agilent VEE and Matlab. A variety of experimental measurements with SGH antennas were performed to validate the accuracy of software. A comparison of results with existing commercial softwares is presented and the measured results are found to be within .2 dBm.

Keywords: Antenna measurement, calibration, time-domain gating, VNA, Positioner controller

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Authors: J. Gu, W.B. Lee, C.F. Cheung, E. Tsui, W.M. Wang

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Knowledge of an organization does not merely reside in structured form of information and data; it is also embedded in unstructured form. The discovery of such knowledge is particularly difficult as the characteristic is dynamic, scattered, massive and multiplying at high speed. Conventional methods of managing unstructured information are considered too resource demanding and time consuming to cope with the rapid information growth. In this paper, a Multi-faceted and Automatic Knowledge Elicitation System (MAKES) is introduced for the purpose of discovery and capture of organizational knowledge. A trial implementation has been conducted in a public organization to achieve the objective of decision capture and navigation from a number of meeting minutes which are autonomously organized, classified and presented in a multi-faceted taxonomy map in both document and content level. Key concepts such as critical decision made, key knowledge workers, knowledge flow and the relationship among them are elicited and displayed in predefined knowledge model and maps. Hence, the structured knowledge can be retained, shared and reused. Conducting Knowledge Management with MAKES reduces work in searching and retrieving the target decision, saves a great deal of time and manpower, and also enables an organization to keep pace with the knowledge life cycle. This is particularly important when the amount of unstructured information and data grows extremely quickly. This system approach of knowledge management can accelerate value extraction and creation cycles of organizations.

Keywords: Knowledge-Based System, Knowledge Elicitation, Knowledge Management, Taxonomy, Unstructured Information Management

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Authors: Mouna Hamed, Ammar B. Brahim

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The objective of this work was to develop a theoretical model to study the dynamic thermal behavior of a flat plate solar collector integrated with a phase change material (PCM). The PCM acted as a heat source for the solar system during low intensity solar radiation and night. The energy balance equations for the various components of the collector as well as for the PCM were formulated and numerically solved using Matlab computational program. The effect of natural convection on heat during the melting process was taken into account by using an effective thermal conductivity. The model was used to investigate the effect of inlet water temperature, water mass flow rate, and PCM thickness on the outlet water temperature and the melt fraction during charging and discharging modes. A comparison with a collector without PCM was made. Results showed that charging and discharging processes of PCM have six stages. The adding of PCM caused a decrease in temperature during charge and an increase during discharge. The rise was most enhanced for higher inlet water temperature, PCM thickness and for lower mass flow rate. Analysis indicated that the complete melting time was shorter than the solidification time due to the high heat transfer coefficient during melting. The increases in PCM height and mass flow rate were not linear with the melting and solidification times.

Keywords: Thermal energy storage, phase change material, melting, solidification.

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Authors: Mouna Hamed, Ammar B. Brahim

Abstract:

The objective of this work was to develop a theoretical model to study the dynamic thermal behavior of a flat plate solar collector integrated with a phase change material (PCM). The PCM acted as a heat source for the solar system during low intensity solar radiation and night. The energy balance equations for the various components of the collector as well as for the PCM were formulated and numerically solved using MATLAB computational program. The effect of natural convection on heat during the melting process was taken into account by using an effective thermal conductivity. The model was used to investigate the effect of inlet water temperature, water mass flow rate, and PCM thickness on the outlet water temperature and the melt fraction during charging and discharging modes. A comparison with a collector without PCM was made. Results showed that charging and discharging processes of PCM have six stages. The adding of PCM caused a decrease in temperature during charge and an increase during discharge. The rise was most enhanced for higher inlet water temperature, PCM thickness and for lower mass flow rate. Analysis indicated that the complete melting time was shorter than the solidification time due to the high heat transfer coefficient during melting. The increases in PCM height and mass flow rate were not linear with the melting and solidification times.

Keywords: Thermal energy storage, phase change material, melting, solidification.

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Authors: Justinian Anatory, Ekael Stephen Manase

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In recent years, the adoption of mobile phones has been exceptionally rapid in many parts of the world, and Tanzania is not exceptional. We are witnessing a number of new mobile network operators being licensed from time to time by Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA). This makes competition in the telecommunications market very stiff. All mobile phone companies are struggling to earn more new customers into their networks. This trend courses a stiff competition. The various measures are being taken by different companies including, lowering tariff, and introducing free short messages within and out of their networks, and free calls during off-peak periods. This paper is aimed at investigating the influence of tariffs on students’ mobile customers in selecting their mobile network operators. About seventy seven students from high learning institutions in Dodoma Municipality, Tanzania, participated in responding to the prepared questionnaires. The sought information was aimed at determining if tariffs influenced students into selection of their current mobile operators. The results indicate that tariffs were the major driving factor in selection of mobile operators. However, female mobile customers were found to be more easily attracted into subscribing to a mobile operator due to low tariffs, a bigger number of free short messages or discounted call charges than their fellow male customers.

Keywords: Consumer Buying, mobile operators, tariff.

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Authors: Abdulkadir Abu Lawal

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The study was carried out to establish the probability density function of some selected building construction projects of similar complexity delivered using Bill of Quantities (BQ) and Lump Sum (LS) forms of contract, and to draw a reliability scenario for each form of contract. 30 of such delivered projects are analyzed for each of the contract forms using Weibull Analysis, and their Weibull functions (α, and β) are determined based on their completion times. For the BQ form of contract delivered projects, α is calculated as 1.6737E20 and β as + 0.0115 and for the LS form, α is found to be 5.6556E03 and β is determined as + 0.4535. Using these values, respective probability density functions are calculated and plotted, as handy tool for risk analysis of future projects of similar characteristics. By input of variables from other projects, decision making processes can be made for a whole project or its components using EVM Analysis in project evaluation and review techniques. This framework, as a quantitative approach, depends on the assumption of normality in projects completion time, it can help greatly in determining the completion time probability for veritable projects using any of the contract forms under consideration. Projects aspects that are not amenable to measurement, on the other hand, can be analyzed using fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic. This scenario can be drawn for different types of building construction projects, and using different suitable forms of contract in projects delivery.

Keywords: Building construction, Projects, Forms of contract, Probability density function, Reliability scenario.

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Authors: Saimir Heta, Ilma Robo, Vera Ostreni, Glorja Demika, Sonila Kapaj

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Suturing, as a procedure of joining the lips of the lembo or wound, is important at the beginning of the healing process. This procedure helps to pass the healing process from the procedure per secundam to the stages of healing per primam, thus logically reducing the healing time of the wound. The purpose of this article is to publish some data on the clinical characteristics of periodontal suturing, presenting the advantages and disadvantages of different types of suture threads. The article is a mini-review type of articles selected from the application of keywords on the PubMed page. The number of articles extracted from this article publication page is in accordance with the 10-year publication time limit. The element that remains in the individual selection of the dentist applying the suture is the selection of the suture material. At a moment when some types of sutures are offered for use, some elements should be considered in the selection of the suture depending on the constituent material, the cross-section of the suture elements, and whether it collects bacteria in the "pits" created by the material. The presence of bacteria is a source of infection and possible delay in the healing of the sutured wound. The marketing of suture types offers a variety of materials, from which the selection of the most suitable suture type for specific application cases is a personal indication of the dental surgeon based on professional experiences and knowledge in this field.

Keywords: Suture, suture material, types of sutures, clinical application.

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Authors: L. Al Ahmad, C. Latrille, D. Hainos, D. Blanc, M. Clausse

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A two-dimensional finite volume axisymmetric model is developed to predict the simultaneous heat and mass transfers during the drying of industrial sludge. The simulations were run using COMSOL-Multiphysics 3.5a. The input parameters of the numerical model were acquired from a preliminary experimental work. Results permit to establish correlations describing the evolution of the various parameters as a function of the drying temperature and the sludge water content. The selection and coupling of the equation are validated based on the drying kinetics acquired experimentally at a temperature range of 45-65 °C and absolute pressure range of 200-1000 mbar. The model, incorporating the heat and mass transfer mechanisms at different operating conditions, shows simulated values of temperature and water content. Simulated results are found concordant with the experimental values, only at the first and last drying stages where sludge shrinkage is insignificant. Simulated and experimental results show that sludge drying is favored at high temperatures and low pressure. As experimentally observed, the drying time is reduced by 68% for drying at 65 °C compared to 45 °C under 1 atm. At 65 °C, a 200-mbar absolute pressure vacuum leads to an additional reduction in drying time estimated by 61%. However, the drying rate is underestimated in the intermediate stage. This rate underestimation could be improved in the model by considering the shrinkage phenomena that occurs during sludge drying.

Keywords: Industrial sludge drying, heat transfer, mass transfer, mathematical modelling.

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Authors: Peter Križan, Juraj Beniak, Ľubomír Šooš, Miloš Matúš

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Biomass treatment through densification is very suitable and helpful technology before its effective energy recovery. Densification process of biomass is significantly influenced by various technological and material variables, which are ultimately reflected on the final solid biofuels quality. The paper deals with the experimental research of the relationship between technological and material variables during densification of fast-growing trees, roundly fast-growing willows. The main goal of presented experimental research is to determine the relationship between compression pressure and raw material particle size from a final briquettes density point of view. Experimental research was realized by single-axis densification. The impact of particle size with interaction of compression pressure and stabilization time on the quality properties of briquettes was determined. These variables interaction affects the final solid biofuels (briquettes) quality. From briquettes production point of view and from densification machines constructions point of view is very important to know about mutual interaction of these variables on final briquettes quality. The experimental findings presented here are showing the importance of mentioned variables during the densification process. 

Keywords: Briquettes density, densification, particle size, compression pressure, stabilization time.

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Authors: Yogesh C. Sharma, A. Seetharaman

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The decision-making process in humans is a complicated system influenced by a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Human decisions have a ripple effect on subsequent decisions. In this study, the scope of human decision making is limited to employees. In an organisation, a person makes a variety of decisions from the time they are hired to the time they retire. The goal of this research is to identify various elements that influence decision making. In addition, the environment in which a decision is made is a significant aspect of the decision-making process. Employees in today's workplace use artificial intelligence (AI) systems for automation and decision augmentation. The impact of AI systems on the decision-making process is examined in this study. This research is designed based on a systematic literature review. Based on gaps in the literature, limitations and the scope of future research have been identified. Based on these findings, a research framework has been designed to identify various factors affecting employee decision making. Employee decision making is influenced by technological advancement, data-driven culture, human trust, decision automation-augmentation and workplace motivation. Hybrid human-AI systems require development of new skill sets and organisational design. Employee psychological safety and supportive leadership influences overall job satisfaction.

Keywords: Employee decision making, artificial intelligence, environment, human trust, technology innovation, psychological safety.

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Authors: Sule Yucelbas, Gulay Tezel, Cuneyt Yucelbas, Seral Ozsen

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In this study, it was tried to identify some heart rhythm disorders by electrocardiography (ECG) data that is taken from MIT-BIH arrhythmia database by subtracting the required features, presenting to artificial neural networks (ANN), artificial immune systems (AIS), artificial neural network based on artificial immune system (AIS-ANN) and particle swarm optimization based artificial neural network (PSO-NN) classifier systems. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of hybrid AIS-ANN and PSO-ANN classifiers with regard to the ANN and AIS. For this purpose, the normal sinus rhythm (NSR), atrial premature contraction (APC), sinus arrhythmia (SA), ventricular trigeminy (VTI), ventricular tachycardia (VTK) and atrial fibrillation (AF) data for each of the RR intervals were found. Then these data in the form of pairs (NSR-APC, NSR-SA, NSR-VTI, NSR-VTK and NSR-AF) is created by combining discrete wavelet transform which is applied to each of these two groups of data and two different data sets with 9 and 27 features were obtained from each of them after data reduction. Afterwards, the data randomly was firstly mixed within themselves, and then 4-fold cross validation method was applied to create the training and testing data. The training and testing accuracy rates and training time are compared with each other.

As a result, performances of the hybrid classification systems, AIS-ANN and PSO-ANN were seen to be close to the performance of the ANN system. Also, the results of the hybrid systems were much better than AIS, too. However, ANN had much shorter period of training time than other systems. In terms of training times, ANN was followed by PSO-ANN, AIS-ANN and AIS systems respectively. Also, the features that extracted from the data affected the classification results significantly.

Keywords: AIS, ANN, ECG, hybrid classifiers, PSO.

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Authors: Sundara Subramanian Karuppasamy, Che Hua Yang

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In this work, the laser ultrasound technique has been used for analyzing and imaging the inner defects in metal blocks. To detect the defects in blocks, traditionally the researchers used piezoelectric transducers for the generation and reception of ultrasonic signals. These transducers can be configured into the sparse and phased array. But these two configurations have their drawbacks including the requirement of many transducers, time-consuming calculations, limited bandwidth, and provide confined image resolution. Here, we focus on the non-contact method for generating and receiving the ultrasound to examine the inner defects in aluminum blocks. A Q-switched pulsed laser has been used for the generation and the reception is done by using Laser Doppler Vibrometer (LDV). Based on the Doppler effect, LDV provides a rapid and high spatial resolution way for sensing ultrasonic waves. From the LDV, a series of scanning points are selected which serves as the phased array elements. The side-drilled hole of 10 mm diameter with a depth of 25 mm has been introduced and the defect is interrogated by the linear array of scanning points obtained from the LDV. With the aid of the Synthetic Aperture Focusing Technique (SAFT) algorithm, based on the time-shifting principle the inspected images are generated from the A-scan data acquired from the 1-D linear phased array elements. Thus the defect can be precisely detected with good resolution.

Keywords: Laser ultrasonics, linear phased array, nondestructive testing, synthetic aperture focusing technique, ultrasonic imaging.

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Authors: Aya Salama

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Digital Twin has emerged as a compelling research area, capturing the attention of scholars over the past decade. It finds applications across diverse fields, including smart manufacturing and healthcare, offering significant time and cost savings. Notably, it often intersects with other cutting-edge technologies such as Data Mining, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning. However, the concept of a Human Digital Twin (HDT) is still in its infancy and requires further demonstration of its practicality. HDT takes the notion of Digital Twin a step further by extending it to living entities, notably humans, who are vastly different from inanimate physical objects. The primary objective of this research was to create an HDT capable of automating real-time human responses by simulating human behavior. To achieve this, the study delved into various areas, including clustering, supervised classification, topic extraction, and sentiment analysis. The paper successfully demonstrated the feasibility of HDT for generating personalized responses in social messaging applications. Notably, the proposed approach achieved an overall accuracy of 63%, a highly promising result that could pave the way for further exploration of the HDT concept. The methodology employed Random Forest for clustering the question database and matching new questions, while K-nearest neighbor was utilized for sentiment analysis.

Keywords: Human Digital twin, sentiment analysis, topic extraction, supervised machine learning, unsupervised machine learning, classification and clustering.

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Authors: Ndidi F. Amulu, Godian O. Mbah, Maxwel I. Onyiah, Callistus N. Ude

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Analysis of the properties of coconut (Cocos nucifera) and its oil was evaluated in this work using standard analytical techniques. The analyses carried out include proximate composition of the fruit, extraction of oil from the fruit using different process parameters and physicochemical analysis of the extracted oil. The results showed the percentage (%) moisture, crude lipid, crude protein, ash and carbohydrate content of the coconut as 7.59, 55.15, 5.65, 7.35 and 19.51 respectively. The oil from the coconut fruit was odourless and yellowish liquid at room temperature (30oC). The treatment combinations used (leaching time, leaching temperature and solute: solvent ratio) showed significant differences (P<0.05) in the yield of oil from coconut flour. The oil yield ranged between 36.25%-49.83%. Lipid indices of the coconut oil indicated the acid value (AV) as 10.05Na0H/g of oil, free fatty acid (FFA) as 5.03%, saponification values (SV) as 183.26mgKOH-1g of oil, iodine value (IV) as 81.00 I2/g of oil, peroxide value (PV) as 5.00 ml/ g of oil and viscosity (V) as 0.002. A standard statistical package minitab version 16.0 program was used in the regression analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The statistical software mentioned above was also used to generate various plots such as single effect plot, interactions effect plot and contour plot. The response or yield of oil from the coconut flour was used to develop a mathematical model that correlates the yield to the process variables studied. The maximum conditions obtained that gave the highest yield of coconut oil were leaching time of 2hrs, leaching temperature of 50oC and solute/solvent ratio of 0.05g/ml.

Keywords: Coconut, oil-extraction, optimization, physicochemical, proximate.

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Authors: Sidney A. Lima, Hermann J. H. Kux, Elcio H. Shiguemori

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The Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) usually navigate through the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) associated with an Inertial Navigation System (INS). However, GNSS can have its accuracy degraded at any time or even turn off the signal of GNSS. In addition, there is the possibility of malicious interferences, known as jamming. Therefore, the image navigation system can solve the autonomy problem, because if the GNSS is disabled or degraded, the image navigation system would continue to provide coordinate information for the INS, allowing the autonomy of the system. This work aims to evaluate the accuracy of the positioning though photogrammetry concepts. The methodology uses orthophotos and Digital Surface Models (DSM) as a reference to represent the object space and photograph obtained during the flight to represent the image space. For the calculation of the coordinates of the perspective center and camera attitudes, it is necessary to know the coordinates of homologous points in the object space (orthophoto coordinates and DSM altitude) and image space (column and line of the photograph). So if it is possible to automatically identify in real time the homologous points the coordinates and attitudes can be calculated whit their respective accuracies. With the methodology applied in this work, it is possible to verify maximum errors in the order of 0.5 m in the positioning and 0.6º in the attitude of the camera, so the navigation through the image can reach values equal to or higher than the GNSS receivers without differential correction. Therefore, navigating through the image is a good alternative to enable autonomous navigation.

Keywords: Autonomy, navigation, security, photogrammetry, remote sensing, spatial resection, UAS.

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Authors: J. George, M. Al Mutairi, W. Aljuryyad, A. Alhussanan, A. Alkashan, T. Aldoghiri, Z. Alamari, A. Albakr

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Introduction: Students make plans for their career and are keen in exploring options of employment in those carriers. They make their employment choice based on their desires and preferences. This study aims to identify if students of King Saud Bin Abdulaziz for Health Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences after obtaining appropriate education prefer to work as clinicians, university faculty, or full-time researchers. There are limited studies in Saudi Arabia exploring the university student’s employment choices and preferences. This study would help employers to build the required job positions and prevent misleading employers from opening undesired positions in the job market. Methodology: The study included 394 students from third and fourth years both male and female among the eighth programs of college of applied medical sciences, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), Riyadh campus. A prospective quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted; data were collected by distributing a seven item questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS. Results: Among the participants, 358 (90.9%) of them chose one of the three listed career choices, 263 (66.8%) decided to work as hospital staff after their education, 75 students (19.0%) chose to work as a faculty member in a university after obtaining appropriate degree, 20 students (5.1%) preferred to work as full-time researcher after obtaining appropriate degree, the remaining 36 students (9.1%) had different career goals, such as obtaining a master degree after graduating, to obtain a bachelor of medicine and bachelor in surgery degree, and working in the private sector. The most recurrent reason behind the participants' choice was "career goal", where 276 (70.1%) chose it as a reason. Conclusion: The findings of the study showed that most student’s preferred to work in hospitals as clinicians, followed by choice of working as a faculty in a university, the least choice was to be working as full-time researchers.

Keywords: College of Applied Medical Sciences, employment ambitions, graduating students, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences.

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Authors: Hoa Pham

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The literature on language teaching and second language acquisition has been largely driven by monolingual ideology with a common assumption that a second language (L2) is best taught and learned in the L2 only. The current study challenges this assumption by reporting learners' positive perceptions of tertiary level teachers' code switching practices in Vietnam. The findings of this study contribute to our understanding of code switching practices in language classrooms from a learners' perspective. Data were collected from student participants who were working towards a Bachelor degree in English within the English for Business Communication stream through the use of focus group interviews. The literature has documented that this method of interviewing has a number of distinct advantages over individual student interviews. For instance, group interactions generated by focus groups create a more natural environment than that of an individual interview because they include a range of communicative processes in which each individual may influence or be influenced by others - as they are in their real life. The process of interaction provides the opportunity to obtain the meanings and answers to a problem that are "socially constructed rather than individually created" leading to the capture of real-life data. The distinct feature of group interaction offered by this technique makes it a powerful means of obtaining deeper and richer data than those from individual interviews. The data generated through this study were analysed using a constant comparative approach. Overall, the students expressed positive views of this practice indicating that it is a useful teaching strategy. Teacher code switching was seen as a learning resource and a source supporting language output. This practice was perceived to promote student comprehension and to aid the learning of content and target language knowledge. This practice was also believed to scaffold the students' language production in different contexts. However, the students indicated their preference for teacher code switching to be constrained, as extensive use was believed to negatively impact on their L2 learning and trigger cognitive reliance on the L1 for L2 learning. The students also perceived that when the L1 was used to a great extent, their ability to develop as autonomous learners was negatively impacted. This study found that teacher code switching was supported in certain contexts by learners, thus suggesting that there is a need for the widespread assumption about the monolingual teaching approach to be re-considered.

Keywords: Code switching, L1 use, L2 teaching, Learners’ perception.

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Authors: Seema Chopra, R. Mitra, Vijay Kumar

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A neurofuzzy approach for a given set of input-output training data is proposed in two phases. Firstly, the data set is partitioned automatically into a set of clusters. Then a fuzzy if-then rule is extracted from each cluster to form a fuzzy rule base. Secondly, a fuzzy neural network is constructed accordingly and parameters are tuned to increase the precision of the fuzzy rule base. This network is able to learn and optimize the rule base of a Sugeno like Fuzzy inference system using Hybrid learning algorithm, which combines gradient descent, and least mean square algorithm. This proposed neurofuzzy system has the advantage of determining the number of rules automatically and also reduce the number of rules, decrease computational time, learns faster and consumes less memory. The authors also investigate that how neurofuzzy techniques can be applied in the area of control theory to design a fuzzy controller for linear and nonlinear dynamic systems modelling from a set of input/output data. The simulation analysis on a wide range of processes, to identify nonlinear components on-linely in a control system and a benchmark problem involving the prediction of a chaotic time series is carried out. Furthermore, the well-known examples of linear and nonlinear systems are also simulated under the Matlab/Simulink environment. The above combination is also illustrated in modeling the relationship between automobile trips and demographic factors.

Keywords: Fuzzy control, neuro-fuzzy techniques, fuzzy subtractive clustering, extraction of rules, and optimization of membership functions.

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Authors: Zety Shakila Binti Mohd Yusof, Muhammad Adib Bin Ishak, Hajah Fatimah Binti Hussein

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The international shipping business is related to numerous controls or regulations of export and import shipments. It is costly and time consuming, and when something goes wrong or when the buyer or seller fails to comply with the regulations, it can result in penalties, delays, and unexpected costs etc. For the focus of this study, the researchers have selected a local forwarder that provides forwarding and clearance services, Nexus Zone Logistics. It was identified that this company currently has many extra costs to be paid including local and detention charges, which negatively impacts the flow of income and reduces overall stability. Two variables have been identified as factors of extra charges; loaded containers entering the port by exceeded closing time and late delivery of empty containers to the container yard. This study is a qualitative in nature and the secondary data collected was analyzed using self-administered observation. The findings of this study were covered by one selected case for each export and import shipment between July and December 2014. The data were analyzed using frequency analysis based on tables and graphs. The researcher recommends Nexus Zone Logistics impose a 1% deposit payment per container for each shipment (export and import) to its customers.

Keywords: International shipping, export and import, detention charges, container shipment.

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Authors: DaeWon Lee, HeonChang Yu

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Next generation wireless/mobile networks will be IP based cellular networks integrating the internet with cellular networks. In this paper, we propose a new architecture for a high speed transport system and a mobile management protocol for mobile internet users in a transport system. Existing mobility management protocols (MIPv6, HMIPv6) do not consider real world fast moving wireless hosts (e.g. passengers in a train). For this reason, we define a virtual organization (VO) and proposed the VO architecture for the transport system. We also classify mobility as VO mobility (intra VO) and macro mobility (inter VO). Handoffs in VO are locally managed and transparent to the CH while macro mobility is managed with Mobile IPv6. And, from the features of the transport system, such as fixed route and steady speed, we deduce the movement route and the handoff disruption time of each handoff. To reduce packet loss during handoff disruption time, we propose pre-registration scheme using pre-registration. Moreover, the proposed protocol can eliminate unnecessary binding updates resulting from sequence movement at high speed. The performance evaluations demonstrate our proposed protocol has a good performance at transport system environment. Our proposed protocol can be applied to the usage of wireless internet on the train, subway, and high speed train.

Keywords: Binding update, HMIPv6, packet loss, transport system, virtual organization.

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Authors: Amira, A. Goma, U. E. Mahrous

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Welfare may be considered to be a subjective experience; it has a biological function that is related to the fitness and survival of the animal accordingly, researches have suggested that welfare is compromised when the animal's evolutionary fitness is reduced. This study was carried out to explain the effect of some managerial stressors as handling and restraint on behavioral patterns and biochemical parameters of rats. A total of 24 (12 males & 12 females) Sprague-Dawley rats (12 months & 150-180g) were allotted into 3 groups, handled group (4 male & 4 female), restrained group (4 male & 4 female) and control group (4 males & 4 females). The obtained results revealed that time spent feeding, drinking, movement and cage exploration frequencies increased significantly in handled rats than other groups, while lying time and licking increased significantly in restrained rats than handled and controls. Moreover, social behavior decreased in both stressed groups than control. Triglycerides were significantly increased in handled rats than other groups, while total lipid, total protein and globulin significantly increased in both treated groups than control. Corticosterone increased in restrained and handled rats than control ones. Moreover, there was an increment in packed cell volume significantly in restrained rats than others. These deducted that if we want to study the effect of stress on animal welfare it is necessary to study the effect of such stressors on animal’s behavior and physiological responses.

Keywords: Behavior, handling, restraint, rat, welfare.

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Authors: Nazira Kakulia

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The analysis of transformation of institutional changes outlines two important characteristics. These are: the speed of the changes and their sequence. Successful transformation must be carried out in three different stages; On the first stage, macroeconomic stabilization must be achieved with the help of fiscal and monetary tools. Two-tier banking system should be established and the active functions of central bank should be replaced by the passive ones (reserve requirements and refinancing rate), together with the involvement growth of private sector. Fiscal policy by itself here means the creation of tax system which must replace previously existing direct state revenues; the share of subsidies in the state expenses must be reduced also. The second stage begins after reaching the macroeconomic stabilization at a time of change of formal institutes which must stimulate the private business. Corporate legislation creates a competitive environment at the market and the privatization of state companies takes place. Bankruptcy and contract law is created. he third stage is the most extended one, which means the formation of all state structures that is necessary for the further proper functioning of a market economy. These three stages about the cycle period of political and social transformation and the hierarchy of changes can also be grouped by the different methodology: on the first and the most short-term stage the transfer of power takes place. On the second stage institutions corresponding to new goal are created. The last phase of transformation is extended in time and it includes the infrastructural, socio-cultural and socio-structural changes. The main goal of this research is to explore and identify the features of such kind of models.

Keywords: Competitive, environment, fiscal policy, macro-economic stabilization.

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Authors: Chrysoula Karathanasi, Senad Karavdic, Angela Odero, Michèle Baumann

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It is not only the economic determinants that impact on life conditions, but maintaining a good level of life satisfaction (LS) may also be an important challenge currently. In Luxembourg, university students receive financial aid from the government. They are then registered at the Centre for Documentation and Information on Higher Education (CEDIES). Luxembourg is built on migration with almost half its population consisting of foreigners. It is upon this basis that our research aims to analyze the associations with mental health factors (health satisfaction, psychological quality of life, worry), perceived financial situation, career attitudes (adaptability, optimism, knowledge, planning) and LS, for non-Luxembourgish and native postgraduate students. Between 2012 and 2013, postgraduates registered at CEDIES were contacted by post and asked to participate in an online survey with either the option of English or French. The study population comprised of 644 respondents. Our statistical analysis excluded: those born abroad who had Luxembourgish citizenship, or those born in Luxembourg who did not have citizenship. Two groups were formed one consisting 147 non-Luxembourgish and the other 284 natives. A single item measured LS (1=not at all satisfied to 10=very satisfied). Bivariate tests, correlations and multiple linear regression models were used in which only significant relationships (p<0.05) were integrated. Among the two groups no differences were found between LS indicators (7.8/10 non-Luxembourgish; 8.0/10 natives) as both were higher than the European indicator of 7.2/10 (for 25-34 years). In the case of non-Luxembourgish students, they were older than natives (29.3 years vs. 26.3 years) perceived their financial situation as more difficult, and a higher percentage of their parents had an education level higher than a Bachelor's degree (father 59.2% vs 44.6% for natives; mother 51.4% vs 33.7% for natives). In addition, the father’s education was related to the LS of postgraduates and the higher was the score, the greater was the contribution to LS. Whereas for native students, when their scores of health satisfaction and career optimism were higher, their LS’ score was higher. For both groups their LS was linked to mental health-related factors, perception of their financial situation, career optimism, adaptability and planning. The higher the psychological quality of life score was, the greater the LS of postgraduates’ was. Good health and positive attitudes related to the job market enhanced their LS indicator.

Keywords: Career attitudes, fathers’ education level, life satisfaction, mental health.

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Authors: S. A. Nta

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Application of health risk assessment methods is important in order to comprehend the risk of human exposure to heavy metals and other dangerous pollutants. Four soil samples were collected at distances of 10, 20, 30 m and the control 100 m away from the dump site at depths of 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 m. The collected soil samples were examined for Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd and Ni using standard methods. The health risks via the main pathways of human exposure to heavy metal were detected using relevant standard equations. Hazard quotient was calculated to determine non-carcinogenic health risk for each individual heavy metal. Life time cancer risk was calculated to determine the cumulative life cancer rating for each exposure pathway. The estimated health risk values for adults and children were generally lower than the reference dose. The calculated hazard quotient for the ingestion, inhalation and dermal contact pathways were less than unity. This means that there is no detrimental concern to the health on human exposure to heavy metals in contaminated soil. The life time cancer risk 5.4 × 10^-2 was higher than the acceptable threshold value of 1 × 10^-4 which is reflected to have significant health effects on human exposure to heavy metals in contaminated soil. Good hygienic practices are recommended to ease the potential risk to children and adult who are exposed to contaminated soils. Also, the local authorities should be made aware of such health risks for the purpose of planning the management strategy accordingly.

Keywords: Health risk assessment, pollution, heavy metals, soil.

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Authors: Zhipeng Chen, Peng Zhang, Qingyun Liu, Li Guo

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With the Internet becoming the dominant channel for business and life, many IPs are increasingly masked using web proxies for illegal purposes such as propagating malware, impersonate phishing pages to steal sensitive data or redirect victims to other malicious targets. Moreover, as Internet traffic continues to grow in size and complexity, it has become an increasingly challenging task to detect the proxy service due to their dynamic update and high anonymity. In this paper, we present an approach based on behavioral graph analysis to study the behavior similarity of web proxy users. Specifically, we use bipartite graphs to model host communications from network traffic and build one-mode projections of bipartite graphs for discovering social-behavior similarity of web proxy users. Based on the similarity matrices of end-users from the derived one-mode projection graphs, we apply a simple yet effective spectral clustering algorithm to discover the inherent web proxy users behavior clusters. The web proxy URL may vary from time to time. Still, the inherent interest would not. So, based on the intuition, by dint of our private tools implemented by WebDriver, we examine whether the top URLs visited by the web proxy users are web proxies. Our experiment results based on real datasets show that the behavior clusters not only reduce the number of URLs analysis but also provide an effective way to detect the web proxies, especially for the unknown web proxies.

Keywords: Bipartite graph, clustering, one-mode projection, web proxy detection.

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Authors: Mohammad B. HabibiNajafi, Saeideh Sadat Fatemizadeh, Maryam Tavakoli

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In recent years, the consumption of functional foods, including foods containing probiotic bacteria, has come to notice. Milk proteins have been identified as a source of angiotensin-I-converting enzyme )ACE( inhibitory peptides and are currently the best-known class of bioactive peptides. In this study, the effects of adding prebiotic ingredients (inulin and wheat fiber) and fat percentage (0%, 2% and 3.5%) in yogurt containing probiotic Lactobacillus casei on physicochemical properties, degree of proteolysis, antioxidant and ACE-inhibitory activity within 21 days of storage at 5 ± 1 °C were evaluated. The results of statistical analysis showed that the application of prebiotic compounds led to a significant increase in water holding capacity, proteolysis and ACE-inhibitory of samples. The degree of proteolysis in yogurt increases as storage time elapses (P < 0.05) but when proteolysis exceeds a certain threshold, this trend begins to decline. Also, during storage time, water holding capacity reduced initially but increased thereafter. Moreover, based on our findings, the survival of Lactobacillus casei in samples treated with inulin and wheat fiber increased significantly in comparison to the control sample (P < 0.05) whereas the effect of fat percentage on the survival of probiotic bacteria was not significant (P = 0.095). Furthermore, the effect of prebiotic ingredients and the presence of probiotic cultures on the antioxidant activity of samples was significant (P < 0.05).

Keywords: Yogurt, proteolysis, ACE-inhibitory, antioxidant activity.

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Authors: A. Sayadi, A. Khodadadi D., S. Partani

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Today Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is known as one of the most important tools for decision makers in the construction of civil and industrial projects towards sustainable development. In the past, projects were evaluated based on cost and benefit analysis regardless of the physical and biological environmental effects and its socio-economical impacts. According to the Department of Environment (DOE) of Iran's regulations, the construction of hydroelectric dams is an activity that requires an EIA report. In this paper the environmental impact assessment of the Gotvand hydro-electrical dam has been evaluated in the three environment elements, biological, Physical-chemical and cultural units. This dam is one of the largest dams in Iran with a volume of 4500 MCM and is going to be the last dam on the Karoon River in the south of Iran. In this paper the ICOLD (International Commission on Large Dams) technique was employed for the environmental impact assessment of the dam. The research includes all socio economical and environmental effects of the dam during the construction and operation of the hydro electric dam and Environmental management, monitoring and mitigation of negative impacts were analyzed. In this project the results led to using some techniques to protect the destructive impacts on biological aspects beside the effective long time period impacts on the biological aspects. The impacts on physical aspects are temporary and negative commonly that could be restored and rehabilitated in natural process in the long time in operation period.

Keywords: "Gotvand Hydro Electric Dam", "EIA", "ICOLD and Leopold matrices"

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Authors: Benjamin Bressolette, S´ebastien Denjean, Vincent Roussarie, Mitsuko Aramaki, Sølvi Ystad, Richard Kronland-Martinet

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New sensors and technologies – such as microphones, touchscreens or infrared sensors – are currently making their appearance in the automotive sector, introducing new kinds of Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs). The interactions with such tools might be cognitively expensive, thus unsuitable for driving tasks. It could for instance be dangerous to use touchscreens with a visual feedback while driving, as it distracts the driver’s visual attention away from the road. Furthermore, new technologies in car cockpits modify the interactions of the users with the central system. In particular, touchscreens are preferred to arrays of buttons for space improvement and design purposes. However, the buttons’ tactile feedback is no more available to the driver, which makes such interfaces more difficult to manipulate while driving. Gestures combined with an auditory feedback might therefore constitute an interesting alternative to interact with the HMI. Indeed, gestures can be performed without vision, which means that the driver’s visual attention can be totally dedicated to the driving task. In fact, the auditory feedback can both inform the driver with respect to the task performed on the interface and on the performed gesture, which might constitute a possible solution to the lack of tactile information. As audition is a relatively unused sense in automotive contexts, gesture sonification can contribute to reducing the cognitive load thanks to the proposed multisensory exploitation. Our approach consists in using a virtual object (VO) to sonify the consequences of the gesture rather than the gesture itself. This approach is motivated by an ecological point of view: Gestures do not make sound, but their consequences do. In this experiment, the aim was to identify efficient sound strategies, to transmit dynamic information of VOs to users through sound. The swipe gesture was chosen for this purpose, as it is commonly used in current and new interfaces. We chose two VO parameters to sonify, the hand-VO distance and the VO velocity. Two kinds of sound parameters can be chosen to sonify the VO behavior: Spectral or temporal parameters. Pitch and brightness were tested as spectral parameters, and amplitude modulation as a temporal parameter. Performances showed a positive effect of sound compared to a no-sound situation, revealing the usefulness of sounds to accomplish the task.

Keywords: Auditory feedback, gesture, sonification, sound perception, virtual object.

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Authors: J. R. Mudakavi, K. Puttanna

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Chromium in the environment is considered as one of the most toxic elements probably next only to mercury and arsenic. It is acutely toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic in the environment. Chromium contamination of soil and underground water due to industrial activities is a very serious problem in several parts of India covering Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh etc. Functionally modified Activated Carbon Fabrics (ACF) offer targeted chromium removal from drinking water and industrial effluents. Activated carbon fabric is a light weight adsorbing material with high surface area and low resistance to fluid flow. We have investigated surface modification of ACF using various acids in the laboratory through batch as well as through continuous flow column experiments with a view to develop the optimum conditions for chromium removal. Among the various acids investigated, phosphoric acid modified ACF gave best results with a removal efficiency of 95% under optimum conditions. Optimum pH was around 2 – 4 with 2 hours contact time. Continuous column experiments with an effective bed contact time (EBCT) of 5 minutes indicated that breakthrough occurred after 300 bed volumes. Adsorption data followed a Freundlich isotherm pattern. Nickel adsorbs preferentially and sulphate reduces chromium adsorption by 50%. The ACF could be regenerated up to 52.3% using 3 M NaOH under optimal conditions. The process is simple, economical, energy efficient and applicable to industrial effluents and drinking water.

Keywords: Activated carbon fabric, adsorption, drinking water, hexavalent chromium.

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Authors: A. Gandomkar, R. Dehghani

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Climate change is a phenomenon has been based on the available evidence from a very long time ago and now its existence is very probable. The speed and nature of climate parameters changes at the middle of twentieth century has been different and its quickness more than the before and its trend changed to some extent comparing to the past. Climate change issue now regarded as not only one of the most common scientific topic but also a social political one, is not a new issue. Climate change is a complicated atmospheric oceanic phenomenon on a global scale and long-term. Precipitation pattern change, fast decrease of snowcovered resources and its rapid melting, increased evaporation, the occurrence of destroying floods, water shortage crisis, severe reduction at the rate of harvesting agricultural products and, so on are all the significant of climate change. To cope with this phenomenon, its consequences and events in which public instruction is the most important but it may be climate that no significant cant and effective action has been done so far. The present article is included a part of one surrey about climate change in Fars. The study area having annually mean temperature 14 and precipitation 320 mm .23 stations inside the basin with a common 37 year statistical period have been applied to the meteorology data (1974-2010). Man-kendal and change factor methods are two statistical methods, applying them, the trend of changes and the annual mean average temperature and the annual minimum mean temperature were studied by using them. Based on time series for each parameter, the annual mean average temperature and the mean of annual maximum temperature have a rising trend so that this trend is clearer to the mean of annual maximum temperature.

Keywords: Climate change, Coefficient Variation, Fars province, Man-Kendal method.

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