Search results for: Statistical size effect

Authors: Son Tung Pham, William Prince

Abstract:

The objective of this work was to examine the changes in the microstructure and macro physical properties caused by the carbonation of normalised CEM II mortar. Samples were prepared and subjected to accelerated carbonation at 20°C, 65% relative humidity and 20% CO2 concentration. On the microstructure scale, the evolutions of the cumulative pore volume, pore size distribution, and specific surface area during carbonation were calculated from the adsorption desorption isotherms of nitrogen. We also examined the evolution of macro physical properties such as the porosity accessible to water, the gas permeability, and thermal conductivity. The conflict between the results of nitrogen porosity and water porosity indicated that the porous domains explored using these two techniques are different and help to complementarily evaluate the effects of carbonation. This is a multi-scale study where results on microstructural changes can help to explain the evolution of macro physical properties.

Keywords: Carbonation, cement mortar, microstructure, physical properties.

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Authors: Anirban Chowdhury, Sougata Karmakar, Swathi Matta Reddy, Sanjog J., Subrata Ghosh, Debkumar Chakrabarti

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Brand name plays a vital role for in-shop buying behavior of consumers and mutated brand name may affect the selling of leading branded products. In Indian market, there are many products with mutated brand names which are either orthographically or phonologically similar. Due to presence of such products, Indian consumers very often fall under confusion when buying some regularly used stuff. Authors of the present paper have attempted to demonstrate relationship between less attention and false recognition of mutated brand names during a product selection process. To achieve this goal, visual attention study was conducted on 15 male college students using eye-tracker against a mutated brand name and errors in recognition were noted using questionnaire. Statistical analysis of the acquired data revealed that there was more false recognition of mutated brand name when less attention was paid during selection of favorite product. Moreover, it was perceived that eye tracking is an effective tool for analyzing false recognition of brand name mutation.

Keywords: Brand Name Mutation, Consumer Behavior, Visual Attention, Orthography

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Authors: Ali Mohamadi Sani

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to determine the antimicrobial effect of Helichrysum arenarium L. essential oil in "in-vitro" condition on the growth of seven microbial species including Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Saccharomyces cereviciae, Candida albicans, Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus using micro-dilution method. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal or fungicidal concentration (MBC, MFC) were determined for the essential oil at ten concentrations. Finally, the sensitivity of tested microbes to essential oil of H. arenarium was investigated. Results showed that Bacillus subtilis (MIC=781.25 and MBC=6250 µg/ml) was more resistance than two other bacterial species. Among the tested yeasts, Saccharomyces cereviciae (MIC=97.65 and MFC=781.25 µg/ml) was more sensitive than Candida albicans while among the fungal species, growth of Aspergillus parasiticus inhibited at lower concentration of oil than the Aspergillus flavus. The extracted essential oil exhibited the same MIC value in the liquid medium against all fungal strains (48.82 µg/ml), while different activity against A. flavus and A. parasiticus was observed in this medium with MFC values of 6250 and 390.625µg/ml, respectively. The results of the present study indicated that Helichrysum arenarium L essential oil had significant (P<0.05) antimicrobial activity; therefore, it can be used as a natural preservation to increase the shelf life of food products.

 

Keywords: Helichrysum arenarium, Antimicrobial agent, Essential oil, MIC.

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Authors: P. Latha, L. Ganesan, N. Ramaraj, P. V. Hari Venkatesh

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Motion detection is a basic operation in the selection of significant segments of the video signals. For an effective Human Computer Intelligent Interaction, the computer needs to recognize the motion and track the moving object. Here an efficient neural network system is proposed for motion detection from the static background. This method mainly consists of four parts like Frame Separation, Rough Motion Detection, Network Formation and Training, Object Tracking. This paper can be used to verify real time detections in such a way that it can be used in defense applications, bio-medical applications and robotics. This can also be used for obtaining detection information related to the size, location and direction of motion of moving objects for assessment purposes. The time taken for video tracking by this Neural Network is only few seconds.

Keywords: Frame separation, Correlation Network, Neural network training, Radial Basis Function, object tracking, Motion Detection.

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Authors: Mogeeb A. Ahmed, Mona F. Taher, Sayed M. Metwalli

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Shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators have found a wide range of applications due to their unique properties such as high force, small size, lightweight and silent operation. This paper presents the development of compact (SMA) actuator and cooling system in one unit. This actuator is developed for multi-fingered hand. It consists of nickel-titanium (Nitinol) SMA wires in compact forming. The new arrangement insulates SMA wires from the human body by housing it in a heat sink and uses a thermoelectric device for rejecting heat to improve the actuator performance. The study uses optimization methods for selecting the SMA wires geometrical parameters and the material of a heat sink. The experimental work implements the actuator prototype and measures its response.

Keywords: Optimization, Prosthetic hand, Shape memory alloy, Thermoelectric device, Actuator system

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Authors: N. Zerzouri, H. Labar, S. Kechida

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During recent years wind turbine technology has undergone rapid developments. Growth in size and the optimization of wind turbines has enabled wind energy to become increasingly competitive with conventional energy sources. As a result today-s wind turbines participate actively in the power production of several countries around the world. These developments raise a number of challenges to be dealt with now and in the future. The penetration of wind energy in the grid raises questions about the compatibility of the wind turbine power production with the grid. In particular, the contribution to grid stability, power quality and behavior during fault situations plays therefore as important a role as the reliability. In the present work, we addressed two fault situations that have shown their influence on the generator and the behavior of the wind over the defects which are briefly discussed based on simulation results.

Keywords: Doubly fed induction generator (DFIG), Wind energy, grid fault

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Authors: K. Ahmad, M. Suhaimi, Mohamad N. Azmi, K. Awang, Mohd A. Nafiah

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The conceptually construction of axially chiral indolostilbenesi.eN-(2-{(E)-2-[2'-(1-Acetyl-1H-indol-2-yl)-3'chloro-4,4',6,6'-tetramethoxy[1,1'-biphenyl]-2yl]ethenyl}phenyl)acetamide and N-(2-{(E)-2-[2'-(1-Acetyl-1H-indol-2-yl)-3'-chloro-2,4',6,6'-tetramethoxy[1,1'-biphenyl]-4-yl]ethenyl}phenyl) acetamide are described in this paper. These structure, were obtained by the tactical combination of palladium-catalyzed coupling which produced 10-acetamido-3,5-dimethoxystilbene, follow by FeCl₃-induced oxidative cyclization/dimerisation. All structures were unambiguously confirmed by 1D (¹H, ¹³C) and 2D NMR experiment, (COSY, HMQC, HMBC) and mass spectrometry.

Keywords: Indolostilbene, FeCl3-oxidative cyclization, Oligostilbenooids, Oxidative cyclization/dimerization.

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Authors: Chinnaiah Madduri, Raghu V. Prakash

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This paper presents the results of corrosion fatigue crack growth behaviour of a Ni-Cr-Mn steel commonly used in marine applications. The effect of mechanical variables such as frequency and load ratio on fatigue crack growth rate at various stages has been studied using compact tension (C(T)) specimens along the rolling direction of steel plate under 3.5% saturated NaCl aqueous environment. The significance of crack closure on corrosion fatigue, and the validity of Elber-s empirical linear crack closure model with the ASTM compliance offset method have been examined. Fatigue crack growth rate is higher and threshold stress intensities are lower in aqueous environment compared to the lab air conditions. It is also observed that the crack growth rate increases at lower frequencies. The higher stress ratio promotes the crack growth. The effect of oxidization and corrosion pit formation is very less as the stress ratio is increased. It is observed that as stress ratios are increased, the Elber-s crack closure model agrees well with the crack closure estimated by the ASTM compliance offset method for tests conducted at 5Hz frequency compared to tests conducted at 1Hz in corrosive environment.

Keywords: Corrosion fatigue, oxide induced crack closure, Elber's crack closure, ASTM compliance offset method.

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Authors: Yohei Saika, Hiroki Sakaematsu, Shota Akiyama

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We investigated statistical performance of Bayesian inference using maximum entropy and MAP estimation for several models which approximated wave-fronts in remote sensing using SAR interferometry. Using Monte Carlo simulation for a set of wave-fronts generated by assumed true prior, we found that the method of maximum entropy realized the optimal performance around the Bayes-optimal conditions by using model of the true prior and the likelihood representing optical measurement due to the interferometer. Also, we found that the MAP estimation regarded as a deterministic limit of maximum entropy almost achieved the same performance as the Bayes-optimal solution for the set of wave-fronts. Then, we clarified that the MAP estimation perfectly carried out phase unwrapping without using prior information, and also that the MAP estimation realized accurate phase unwrapping using conjugate gradient (CG) method, if we assumed the model of the true prior appropriately.

Keywords: Bayesian inference using maximum entropy, MAP estimation using conjugate gradient method, SAR interferometry.

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Authors: R. Nedunchezhian, K. Anbumani

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A big organization may have multiple branches spread across different locations. Processing of data from these branches becomes a huge task when innumerable transactions take place. Also, branches may be reluctant to forward their data for centralized processing but are ready to pass their association rules. Local mining may also generate a large amount of rules. Further, it is not practically possible for all local data sources to be of the same size. A model is proposed for discovering valid rules from different sized data sources where the valid rules are high weighted rules. These rules can be obtained from the high frequency rules generated from each of the data sources. A data source selection procedure is considered in order to efficiently synthesize rules. Support Equalization is another method proposed which focuses on eliminating low frequency rules at the local sites itself thus reducing the rules by a significant amount.

Keywords: Association rules, multiple data stores, synthesizing, valid rules.

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Authors: Parvinder S. Sandhu, Sunil Khullar, Satpreet Singh, Simranjit K. Bains, Manpreet Kaur, Gurvinder Singh

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Fault-proneness of a software module is the probability that the module contains faults. To predict faultproneness of modules different techniques have been proposed which includes statistical methods, machine learning techniques, neural network techniques and clustering techniques. The aim of proposed study is to explore whether metrics available in the early lifecycle (i.e. requirement metrics), metrics available in the late lifecycle (i.e. code metrics) and metrics available in the early lifecycle (i.e. requirement metrics) combined with metrics available in the late lifecycle (i.e. code metrics) can be used to identify fault prone modules using Genetic Algorithm technique. This approach has been tested with real time defect C Programming language datasets of NASA software projects. The results show that the fusion of requirement and code metric is the best prediction model for detecting the faults as compared with commonly used code based model.

Keywords: Genetic Algorithm, Fault Proneness, Software Faultand Software Quality.

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Authors: Rangoli Goyal, Rama Bhargava

Abstract:

The triple diffusive boundary layer flow of nanofluid under the action of constant magnetic field over a non-linear stretching sheet has been investigated numerically. The model includes the effect of Brownian motion, thermophoresis, and cross-diffusion; slip mechanisms which are primarily responsible for the enhancement of the convective features of nanofluid. The governing partial differential equations are transformed into a system of ordinary differential equations (by using group theory transformations) and solved numerically by using variational finite element method. The effects of various controlling parameters, such as the magnetic influence number, thermophoresis parameter, Brownian motion parameter, modified Dufour parameter, and Dufour solutal Lewis number, on the fluid flow as well as on heat and mass transfer coefficients (both of solute and nanofluid) are presented graphically and discussed quantitatively. The present study has industrial applications in aerodynamic extrusion of plastic sheets, coating and suspensions, melt spinning, hot rolling, wire drawing, glass-fibre production, and manufacture of polymer and rubber sheets, where the quality of the desired product depends on the stretching rate as well as external field including magnetic effects.

Keywords: FEM, Thermophoresis, Diffusiophoresis, Brownian motion.

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Authors: Igor Astrov, Andrus Pedai

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This paper focuses on a critical component of the situational awareness (SA), the neural control of depth flight of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). Constant depth flight is a challenging but important task for AUVs to achieve high level of autonomy under adverse conditions. With the SA strategy, we proposed a multirate neural control of an AUV trajectory for a nontrivial mid-small size AUV “r2D4" stochastic model. This control system has been demonstrated and evaluated by simulation of diving maneuvers using software package Simulink. From the simulation results it can be seen that the chosen AUV model is stable in the presence of noises, and also can be concluded that the proposed research technique will be useful for fast SA of similar AUV systems in real-time search-and-rescue operations.

Keywords: Autonomous underwater vehicles, multirate systems, neurocontrollers, situational awareness.

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Authors: M. Safa, S. Samarasinghe

Abstract:

An artificial neural network (ANN) approach was used to model the energy consumption of wheat production. This study was conducted over 35,300 hectares of irrigated and dry land wheat fields in Canterbury in the 2007-2008 harvest year.1 In this study several direct and indirect factors have been used to create an artificial neural networks model to predict energy use in wheat production. The final model can predict energy consumption by using farm condition (size of wheat area and number paddocks), farmers- social properties (education), and energy inputs (N and P use, fungicide consumption, seed consumption, and irrigation frequency), it can also predict energy use in Canterbury wheat farms with error margin of ±7% (± 1600 MJ/ha).

Keywords: Artificial neural network, Canterbury, energy consumption, modelling, New Zealand, wheat.

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Authors: K. Muthukannan, P. Latha

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In addition to environmental parameters like rain, temperature diseases on crop is a major factor which affects production quality & quantity of crop yield. Hence disease management is a key issue in agriculture. For the management of disease, it needs to be detected at early stage. So, treat it properly & control spread of the disease. Now a day, it is possible to use the images of diseased leaf to detect the type of disease by using image processing techniques. This can be achieved by extracting features from the images which can be further used with classification algorithms or content based image retrieval systems. In this paper, color image is used to extract the features such as mean and standard deviation after the process of region cropping. The selected features are taken from the cropped image with different image size samples. Then, the extracted features are taken in to the account for classification using Fuzzy Inference System (FIS).

Keywords: Image Cropping, Classification, Color, Fuzzy Rule, Feature Extraction.

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Authors: Manpreet Singh, Parvinder Singh, Suman

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The data is available in abundance in any business organization. It includes the records for finance, maintenance, inventory, progress reports etc. As the time progresses, the data keep on accumulating and the challenge is to extract the information from this data bank. Knowledge discovery from these large and complex databases is the key problem of this era. Data mining and machine learning techniques are needed which can scale to the size of the problems and can be customized to the application of business. For the development of accurate and required information for particular problem, business analyst needs to develop multidimensional models which give the reliable information so that they can take right decision for particular problem. If the multidimensional model does not possess the advance features, the accuracy cannot be expected. The present work involves the development of a Multidimensional data model incorporating advance features. The criterion of computation is based on the data precision and to include slowly change time dimension. The final results are displayed in graphical form.

Keywords: Multidimensional, data precision.

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Authors: Méryl Brothier, Dominique Moulinier, Christophe Bertaux

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The gel-supported precipitation (GSP) process can be used to make spherical particles (spherules) of nuclear fuel, particularly for very high temperature reactors (VHTR) and even for implementing the process called SPHEREPAC. In these different cases, the main characteristics are the sphericity of the particles to be manufactured and the control over their grain size. Nonetheless, depending on the specifications defined for these spherical particles, the GSP process has intrinsic limits, particularly when fabricating very small particles. This paper describes the use of secondary fragmentation (water, water/PVA and uranyl nitrate) on solid surfaces under varying temperature and vibration conditions to assess the relevance of using this new technique to manufacture very small spherical particles by means of a modified GSP process. The fragmentation mechanisms are monitored and analysed, before the trends for its subsequent optimised application are described.

Keywords: Microsphere elaboration, nuclear fuel, droplet impact , gel-supported precipitation process.

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Authors: Hui Fang Huang Su, Leanne Lai, Pei-Fen Li, Mei-Hwei Ho, Yu-Wen Chiu

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This study aimed to provide a practical, systematic, and comprehensive intervention for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). A pilot study of quasi-experimental pre-post intervention with control group design was conducted to evaluate if the mathematical intervention (Project MIND - Math Is Not Difficult) increases the math comprehension of children with ASD Children with ASD in the primary grades (K-1, 2) participated in math interventions to enhance their math comprehension and cognitive ability. The Bracken basic concept scale was used to evaluate subjects’ language skills, cognitive development, and school readiness. The study found that our systemic interventions of Project MIND significantly improved the mathematical and cognitive abilities in children with autism. The results of this study may lead to a major change in effective and adequate health care services for children with ASD and their families. All statistical analyses were performed with the IBM SPSS Statistics Version 25 for Windows. The significant level was set at 0.05 P-value.

Keywords: Young Children, Autism, Mathematics, Curriculum, teaching and learning, children with special needs, Project MIND.

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Authors: Jan Busch, Maurice Schmidt, Peter Nyhuis

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The change of conditions for production companies in high-wage countries is characterized by the globalization of competition and the transition of a supplier´s to a buyer´s market. The companies need to face the challenges of reacting flexibly to these changes. Due to the significant and increasing degree of automation, assembly has become the most expensive production process. Regarding the reduction of production cost, assembly consequently offers a considerable rationalizing potential. Therefore, an aerodynamic feeding system has been developed at the Institute of Production Systems and Logistics (IFA), Leibniz Universitaet Hannover. This system has been enabled to adjust itself by using a genetic algorithm. The longer this genetic algorithm is executed the better is the feeding quality. In this paper, the relation between the system´s setting time and the feeding quality is observed and a function which enables the user to achieve the minimum of the total feeding time is presented.

Keywords: Aerodynamic feeding system, batch size, optimisation, setting time.

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Authors: T. S. Chou, K. K. Yen, J. Luo

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The network traffic data provided for the design of intrusion detection always are large with ineffective information and enclose limited and ambiguous information about users- activities. We study the problems and propose a two phases approach in our intrusion detection design. In the first phase, we develop a correlation-based feature selection algorithm to remove the worthless information from the original high dimensional database. Next, we design an intrusion detection method to solve the problems of uncertainty caused by limited and ambiguous information. In the experiments, we choose six UCI databases and DARPA KDD99 intrusion detection data set as our evaluation tools. Empirical studies indicate that our feature selection algorithm is capable of reducing the size of data set. Our intrusion detection method achieves a better performance than those of participating intrusion detectors.

Keywords: Intrusion detection, feature selection, k-nearest neighbors, fuzzy clustering, Dempster-Shafer theory

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Authors: Alec Wells, Aminu Bello Usman, Justin McKeown

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The growing usage of smart speakers raises many privacy and trust concerns compared to other technologies such as smart phones and computers. In this study, a proxy measure of trust is used to gauge users’ opinions on three different technologies based on an empirical study, and to understand which technology most people are most likely to trust. The collected data were analysed using the Kruskal-Wallis H test to determine the statistical differences between the users’ trust level of the three technologies: smart speaker, computer and smart phone. The findings of the study revealed that despite the wide acceptance, ease of use and reputation of smart speakers, people find it difficult to trust smart speakers with their sensitive information via the Direct Voice Input (DVI) and would prefer to use a keyboard or touchscreen offered by computers and smart phones. Findings from this study can inform future work on users’ trust in technology based on perceived ease of use, reputation, perceived credibility and risk of using technologies via DVI.

Keywords: Direct voice input, risk, security, technology and trust.

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Authors: Eryati Darwin, Eka Fithra Elfi, Indria Hafizah

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Background: Physical exercise induces a pattern of hormonal and immunological responses that prevent endothelial dysfunction by maintaining the availability of nitric oxide (NO). Regular and moderate exercise stimulates NO release, that can be considered as protective factor of cardiovascular diseases, while strenuous exercise induces increased levels in a number of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines. Pro-inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) triggers endothelial activation which results in an increased vascular permeability. Nuclear gene factor kappa B (NF-κB) activates biological effect of TNF-α. Aim of Study: To determine the effect of physical exercise on the endothelial and skeletal muscle, we measured the level of NF-κB on rats’ serum, macrophages, and myocytes after strenuous physical exercise. Methods: 30 male Rattus norvegicus in the age of eight weeks were randomly divided into five groups (each containing six), and there were treated groups (T) and control group (C). The treated groups obtain strenuous physical exercise by ran on treadmill at 32 m/minutes for 1 hour or until exhaustion. Blood samples, myocytes of gastrocnemius muscle, and intraperitoneal macrophages were collected sequentially. There were investigated immediately, 2 hours, 6 hours, and 24 hours (T1, T2, T3, and T4) after sacrifice. The levels of NF-κB were measured by ELISA methods. Results: From our study, we found that the levels of NF-κB on myocytes in treated group from which its specimen was taken immediately (T1), 2 hours after treadmill (T2), and 6 hours after treadmill (T3) were significantly higher than control group (p<0.05), while the group from which its specimen was taken 24 hours after treadmill, was no significantly different (p>0.05). Also on macrophages, NF-κB in treated groups T1, T2, and T3 was significantly higher than control group (p<0.05), but there was no difference between T4 and control group (p>0.05). The level of serum NF-κB was not significantly different between treatment group as well as compared to control group (p>0.05). Serum NF-κB was significantly higher than the level on macrophages and myocytes (p<0.05). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that strenuous physical exercise stimulates the activation of NF-κB that plays a role in vascular inflammation and muscular damage, and may be recovered after resting period.

Keywords: Endothelial function, inflammation, NF-κB, physical exercise.

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Authors: A. Udomsakdigool, S. Bangsaranthip

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This paper presents an algorithm which combining ant colony optimization in the dynamic programming for solving a dynamic facility layout problem. The problem is separated into 2 phases, static and dynamic phase. In static phase, ant colony optimization is used to find the best ranked of layouts for each period. Then the dynamic programming (DP) procedure is performed in the dynamic phase to evaluate the layout set during multi-period planning horizon. The proposed algorithm is tested over many problems with size ranging from 9 to 49 departments, 2 and 4 periods. The experimental results show that the proposed method is an alternative way for the plant layout designer to determine the layouts during multi-period planning horizon.

Keywords: Ant colony optimization, Dynamicprogramming, Dynamic facility layout planning, Metaheuristic

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Authors: S.M.Hosseinalipour, H.Aghakhani

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Considering the numerous applications of the study of the flow due to leakage in a buried pipe in unsaturated porous media, finding a proper model to explain the influence of the effective factors is of great importance.There are various important factors involved in this type of flow such as: pipe leakage size and location, burial depth, the degree of the saturation of the surrounding porous medium, characteristics of the porous medium, fluid type and pressure of the upstream.In this study, the flow through unsaturated porous media due to leakage of a buried pipe for up and down leakage location is studied experimentally and numerically and their results are compared. Study results show that Darcy equation together with BCM method (for calculating the relative permeability) have suitable ability for predicting the flow due to leakage of buried pipes in unsaturated porous media.

Keywords: Buried, Leaking pipe, Porous media, Unsaturated

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Authors: A.H.Javadi, Sh.Mirdamadi, M.A.Faghisani, S.Shakhesi

Abstract:

Nanostructured materials have attracted many researchers due to their outstanding mechanical and physical properties. For example, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) or carbon nanofibres (CNFs) are considered to be attractive reinforcement materials for light weight and high strength metal matrix composites. These composites are being projected for use in structural applications for their high specific strength as well as functional materials for their exciting thermal and electrical characteristics. The critical issues of CNT-reinforced MMCs include processing techniques, nanotube dispersion, interface, strengthening mechanisms and mechanical properties. One of the major obstacles to the effective use of carbon nanotubes as reinforcements in metal matrix composites is their agglomeration and poor distribution/dispersion within the metallic matrix. In order to tap into the advantages of the properties of CNTs (or CNFs) in composites, the high dispersion of CNTs (or CNFs) and strong interfacial bonding are the key issues which are still challenging. Processing techniques used for synthesis of the composites have been studied with an objective to achieve homogeneous distribution of carbon nanotubes in the matrix. Modified mechanical alloying (ball milling) techniques have emerged as promising routes for the fabrication of carbon nanotube (CNT) reinforced metal matrix composites. In order to obtain a homogeneous product, good control of the milling process, in particular control of the ball movement, is essential. The control of the ball motion during the milling leads to a reduction in grinding energy and a more homogeneous product. Also, the critical inner diameter of the milling container at a particular rotational speed can be calculated. In the present work, we use conventional and modified mechanical alloying to generate a homogenous distribution of 2 wt. % CNT within Al powders. 99% purity Aluminium powder (Acros, 200mesh) was used along with two different types of multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNTs) having different aspect ratios to produce Al-CNT composites. The composite powders were processed into bulk material by compaction, and sintering using a cylindrical compaction and tube furnace. Field Emission Scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and Vickers macro hardness tester were used to evaluate CNT dispersion, powder morphology, CNT damage, phase analysis, mechanical properties and crystal size determination. Despite the success of ball milling in dispersing CNTs in Al powder, it is often accompanied with considerable strain hardening of the Al powder, which may have implications on the final properties of the composite. The results show that particle size and morphology vary with milling time. Also, by using the mixing process and sonication before mechanical alloying and modified ball mill, dispersion of the CNTs in Al matrix improves.

Keywords: multiwall carbon nanotube, Aluminum matrixcomposite, dispersion, mechanical alloying, sintering

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Authors: Seongsoo Lee

Abstract:

Motion estimation occupies the heaviest computation in HEVC (high efficiency video coding). Many fast algorithms such as TZS (test zone search) have been proposed to reduce the computation. Still the huge computation of the motion estimation is a critical issue in the implementation of HEVC video codec. In this paper, motion estimator architecture with optimized number of PEs (processing element) is presented by exploiting early termination. It also reduces hardware size by exploiting parallel processing. The presented motion estimator architecture has 8 PEs, and it can efficiently perform TZS with very high utilization of PEs.

Keywords: Motion estimation, test zone search, high efficiency video coding, processing element, optimization.

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Authors: Mohamed Shahin, Ahmed Badawi, Mohamed Kamel

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This paper presents a hand vein authentication system using fast spatial correlation of hand vein patterns. In order to evaluate the system performance, a prototype was designed and a dataset of 50 persons of different ages above 16 and of different gender, each has 10 images per person was acquired at different intervals, 5 images for left hand and 5 images for right hand. In verification testing analysis, we used 3 images to represent the templates and 2 images for testing. Each of the 2 images is matched with the existing 3 templates. FAR of 0.02% and FRR of 3.00 % were reported at threshold 80. The system efficiency at this threshold was found to be 99.95%. The system can operate at a 97% genuine acceptance rate and 99.98 % genuine reject rate, at corresponding threshold of 80. The EER was reported as 0.25 % at threshold 77. We verified that no similarity exists between right and left hand vein patterns for the same person over the acquired dataset sample. Finally, this distinct 100 hand vein patterns dataset sample can be accessed by researchers and students upon request for testing other methods of hand veins matching.

Keywords: Biometrics, Verification, Hand Veins, PatternsSimilarity, Statistical Performance.

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Authors: Muhammad Marsudi, Hani Shafeek

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The purpose of this paper is to simulate the production process of a metal stamping industry and to evaluate the utilization of the production line by using ARENA simulation software. The process time and the standard time for each process of the production line is obtained from data given by the company management. Other data are collected through direct observation of the line. There are three work stations performing ten different types of processes in order to produce a single product type. Arena simulation model is then developed based on the collected data. Verification and validation are done to the Arena model, and finally the result of Arena simulation can be analyzed. It is found that utilization at each workstation will increase if batch size is increased although throughput rate remains/is kept constant. This study is very useful for the company because the company needs to improve the efficiency and utilization of its production lines.

Keywords: Arena software, case study, production line, utilization.

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Authors: Rossi A. Hassad

Abstract:

There is widespread emphasis on reform in the teaching of introductory statistics at the college level. Underpinning this reform is a consensus among educators and practitioners that traditional curricular materials and pedagogical strategies have not been effective in promoting statistical literacy, a competency that is becoming increasingly necessary for effective decision-making and evidence-based practice. This paper explains the historical context of, and rationale for reform-oriented teaching of introductory statistics (at the college level) in the health, social and behavioral sciences (evidence-based disciplines). A firm understanding and appreciation of the basis for change in pedagogical approach is important, in order to facilitate commitment to reform, consensus building on appropriate strategies, and adoption and maintenance of best practices. In essence, reform-oriented pedagogy, in this context, is a function of the interaction among content, pedagogy, technology, and assessment. The challenge is to create an appropriate balance among these domains.

Keywords: Reform-oriented, reform, introductory statistics, health, behavioral sciences, evidence-based, psychology, teaching, learning.

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Authors: A. Schirru, A. Irimescu, S. Merola, A. d’Adamo, S. Fontanesi

Abstract:

One of the aspects that are usually neglected during the design phase of an engine is the effect of the spark plug on the flow field inside the combustion chamber. Because of the difficulties in the experimental investigation of the mutual interaction between flow alteration and early flame kernel convection effect inside the engine combustion chamber, CFD-3D simulation is usually exploited in such cases. Experimentally speaking, a particular type of engine has to be used in order to directly observe the flame propagation process. In this study, a double electrode spark plug was fitted into an optically accessible engine and a high-speed camera was used to capture the initial stages of the combustion process. Both the arc and the kernel phases were observed. Then, a morphologic analysis was carried out and the position of the center of mass of the flame, relative to the spark plug position, was calculated. The crossflow orientation was chosen for the spark plug and the kernel growth process was observed for different air-fuel ratios. It was observed that during a normal cycle the flow field between the electrodes tends to transport the arc deforming it. Because of that, the kernel growth phase takes place away from the electrodes and the flame propagates with a preferential direction dictated by the flow field.

Keywords: Combustion, Kernel growth, optically accessible engine, spark-ignition engine, spark plug orientation.

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