Search results for: effective information exchange.

Authors: Isa Ahmadi, Ramin Khamedi

Abstract:

In this paper, the elasto-plastic and cyclic torsion of a shaft is studied using a finite element method. The Prager kinematic hardening theory of plasticity with the Ramberg and Osgood stress-strain equation is used to evaluate the cyclic loading behavior of the shaft under the torsional loading. The material of shaft is assumed to follow the non-linear strain hardening property based on the Prager model. The finite element method with C¹ continuity is developed and used for solution of the governing equations of the problem. The successive substitution iterative method is used to calculate the distribution of stresses and plastic strains in the shaft due to cyclic loads. The shear stress, effective stress, residual stress and elastic and plastic shear strain distribution are presented in the numerical results.

Keywords: Cyclic Loading, Finite Element Analysis, Prager Kinematic Hardening Model, Torsion of shaft.

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Authors: Soltani Amir, Wang Xuan

Abstract:

The advantage of using non-linear passive damping  system in vibration control of two adjacent structures is investigated  under their base excitation. The base excitation is El Centro  earthquake record acceleration. The damping system is considered as  an optimum and effective non-linear viscous damper that is  connected between two adjacent structures. A MATLAB program is  developed to produce the stiffness and damping matrices and to  determine a time history analysis of the dynamic motion of the  system. One structure is assumed to be flexible while the other has a  rule as laterally supporting structure with rigid frames. The response  of the structure has been calculated and the non-linear damping  coefficient is determined using optimum LQR algorithm in an  optimum vibration control system. The non-linear parameter of  damping system is estimated and it has shown a significant advantage  of application of this system device for vibration control of two  adjacent tall building.

Keywords: Structural Control, Active and passive damping, Vibration control, Seismic isolation.

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Authors: Lilac Al Safadi, Rana Abu Nafesa, Regina Garcia

Abstract:

Motivated by Microsoft Co. Academic Program initiative, the department of Information Technology in King Saud University has adopted Microsoft products in three courses. The initiative aimed at enhancing the abilities of the university graduates and equipping them with skills that would help them in the job market. A number of methods of collecting assessment data were used to evaluate the course adoption initiative. Assessment data indicated that the goal of the course adoption is being achieved and that the students were much better prepared to design applications and administrate networks.

Keywords: course adoption, assessment, programming, technologies

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Authors: Alexandre M. Brighenti

Abstract:

One of the most damaging species in sunflower crops in Brazil is the hairy beggarticks (Bidens pilosa L.). The large number of seeds, the various vegetative cycles during the year, the staggered germination and the scarcity of selective and effective herbicides to control this weed in sunflower are some of attributes that hinder the effectiveness in controlling hairy beggarticks populations. The experiment was carried out with the objectives of evaluating the control of hairy beggarticks plants in sunflower crops, and to assess sunflower tolerance to residual herbicides. The treatments were as follows: S-metolachlor (1,200 and 2,400 g ai ha^-1), flumioxazin (60 and 120 g ai ha^-1), sulfentrazone (150 and 300 g ai ha^-1) and two controls (weedy and weed-free check). Phytotoxicity on sunflower plants, percentage of control and density of hairy beggarticks plants, sunflower stand and plant height, head diameter, oil content and sunflower yield were evaluated. The herbicides flumioxazin and sulfentrazone were the most efficient in hairy beggarticks control. S-metolachlor provided acceptable control levels. S-metolachlor (1,200 g ha^-1), flumioxazin (60 g ha^-1) and sulfentrazone (150 g ha^-1) were the most selective doses for sunflower crop.

Keywords: Flumioxazin, Helianthus annuus, S-metolachlor, sulfentrazone, weeds.

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Authors: Keke, Reginald Chikere

Abstract:

This paper examined leadership failure consequent on endemic corruption as being the bane of good governance in Nigeria since independence in 1960 and the way forward. Nigeria is lavishly gifted by nature of abundance in human and material resources to be harnessed a strategic, resolute, ingenious, and inventive leadership. For leadership to drive sustainable growth in society, it must be rooted in the cultural values of the people. This, however, is contrary in Nigeria owing to unscrupulous leadership miscarriage, corruption, and bad governance. Using the eclectic approach, the paper scrutinizes the issues of leadership, corruption, and governance to clearly show how bad leadership and governance have destroyed the national fabric and the way out of Nigeria's development quack mire. Furthermore, this paper examined the perplexing nature of corruption in Nigeria that has made it the only lucrative endeavor for politicians and their cronies, leading Nigeria to be regarded as the world's poverty capital. This paper advocates that Nigerians and the international community must endeavor to enshrine effective leadership and good governance through strong institutions, laws, and individuals who have zero tolerance for corruption and mediocrity in the polity. It is only when this is done that Nigeria will be a better place for present and future generations.

Keywords: Corruption, leadership, governance, Nigeria.

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Authors: Sahilu Wendeson Sahilu, Wan Fatimah Wan Ahmad, Nazleeni Samiha Haron

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Mobile learning (M-learning) integrates mobile devices and wireless computing technology to enhance the current conventional learning system. However, there are constraints which are affecting the implementation of platform and device independent M-learning. The main aim of this research is to fulfill the following main objectives: to develop platform independent mobile learning tool (M-LT) for structured programming course, and evaluate its effectiveness and usability using ADDIE instructional design model (ISD) as M-LT life cycle. J2ME (Java 2 micro edition) and XML (Extensible Markup Language) were used to develop platform independent M-LT. It has two modules lecture materials and quizzes. This study used Quasi experimental design to measure effectiveness of the tool. Meanwhile, questionnaire is used to evaluate the usability of the tool. Finally, the results show that the system was effective and also usability evaluation was positive.

Keywords: ADDIE, Conventional learning, ISD, J2ME, Mlearning, Quasi Experiment, Wireless Technology, XML

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Authors: Anouar Ben Khalifa, Sami Gazzah, Najoua Essoukri BenAmara

Abstract:

Multimodal biometric systems integrate the data presented by multiple biometric sources, hence offering a better performance than the systems based on a single biometric modality. Although the coupling of biometric systems can be done at different levels, the fusion at the scores level is the most common since it has been proven effective than the rest of the fusion levels. However, the scores from different modalities are generally heterogeneous. A step of normalizing the scores is needed to transform these scores into a common domain before combining them. In this paper, we study the performance of several normalization techniques with various fusion methods in a context relating to the merger of three unimodal systems based on the face, the palmprint and the fingerprint. We also propose a new adaptive normalization method that takes into account the distribution of client scores and impostor scores. Experiments conducted on a database of 100 people show that the performances of a multimodal system depend on the choice of the normalization method and the fusion technique. The proposed normalization method has given the best results.

Keywords: Multibiometrics, Fusion, Score level, Score normalization, Adaptive normalization.

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Authors: R. Ramli

Abstract:

The impact of the information revolution is double edged. While it is applauded for its versatility and performance robustness and acclaimed for making life smooth and easy, on the other hand people are concerned about its dark side especially to younger generations. The education system should extend its educating role beyond the school to home. Parents should be included in forming the policies of Internet use as well as in the curriculum delivery. This paper discusses how curriculum can be instrumental in addressing social and ethical issues resulted from the Internet.

Keywords: Curriculum, Ethics, Internet Addiction, Social Issues

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Authors: Aber Salem Aboalgasm, Rupert Ward

Abstract:

Teaching art by digital means is a big challenge for the majority of teachers of art and design in primary schools, yet it allows relationships between art, technology and creativity to be clearly identified. The aim of this article is to present a modern way of teaching art, using digital tools in the art classroom to improve creative ability in pupils aged between nine and eleven years. It also presents a conceptual model for creativity based on digital art. The model could be useful for pupils interested in learning to draw by using an e-drawing package, and for teachers who are interested in teaching modern digital art in order to improve children’s creativity. By illustrating the strategy of teaching art through technology, this model may also help education providers to make suitable choices about which technological approaches are most effective in enhancing students’ creative ability, and which digital art tools can benefit children by developing their technical skills. It is also expected that use of this model will help to develop skills of social interaction, which may in turn improve intellectual ability.

Keywords: Digital tools, motivation, creative activity.

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Authors: Anna Maria Di Sciullo

Abstract:

Discourse pronominal anaphora resolution must be part of any efficient information processing systems, since the reference of a pronoun is dependent on an antecedent located in the discourse. Contrary to knowledge-poor approaches, this paper shows that syntax-semantic relations are basic in pronominal anaphora resolution. The identification of quantified expressions to which pronouns can be anaphorically related provides further evidence that pronominal anaphora is based on domains of interpretation where asymmetric agreement holds.

Keywords: asymmetric agreement, pronominal anaphora, quantifiers and indefinite expressions.

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Authors: Chiung-Ju Huang

Abstract:

This study utilizes the quantile regression analysis to examine the impact of governance (including democratic quality and technical quality) on happiness in 101 countries worldwide, classified as “developed countries” and “developing countries”. The empirical results show that the impact of democratic quality and technical quality on happiness is significantly positive for “developed countries”, while is insignificant for “developing countries”. The results suggest that the authorities in developed countries can enhance the level of individual happiness by means of improving the democracy quality and technical quality. However, for developing countries, promoting the quality of governance in order to enhance the level of happiness may not be effective. Policy makers in developed countries may pay more attention on increasing real GDP per capita instead of promoting the quality of governance to enhance individual happiness.

Keywords: Governance, happiness, multiple regression, quantile regression.

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Authors: Narasimham Challa, Jayaram Pradhan

Abstract:

Cryptographic algorithms play a crucial role in the information society by providing protection from unauthorized access to sensitive data. It is clear that information technology will become increasingly pervasive, Hence we can expect the emergence of ubiquitous or pervasive computing, ambient intelligence. These new environments and applications will present new security challenges, and there is no doubt that cryptographic algorithms and protocols will form a part of the solution. The efficiency of a public key cryptosystem is mainly measured in computational overheads, key size and bandwidth. In particular the RSA algorithm is used in many applications for providing the security. Although the security of RSA is beyond doubt, the evolution in computing power has caused a growth in the necessary key length. The fact that most chips on smart cards can-t process key extending 1024 bit shows that there is need for alternative. NTRU is such an alternative and it is a collection of mathematical algorithm based on manipulating lists of very small integers and polynomials. This allows NTRU to high speeds with the use of minimal computing power. NTRU (Nth degree Truncated Polynomial Ring Unit) is the first secure public key cryptosystem not based on factorization or discrete logarithm problem. This means that given sufficient computational resources and time, an adversary, should not be able to break the key. The multi-party communication and requirement of optimal resource utilization necessitated the need for the present day demand of applications that need security enforcement technique .and can be enhanced with high-end computing. This has promoted us to develop high-performance NTRU schemes using approaches such as the use of high-end computing hardware. Peer-to-peer (P2P) or enterprise grids are proven as one of the approaches for developing high-end computing systems. By utilizing them one can improve the performance of NTRU through parallel execution. In this paper we propose and develop an application for NTRU using enterprise grid middleware called Alchemi. An analysis and comparison of its performance for various text files is presented.

Keywords: Alchemi, GridNtru, Ntru, PKCS.

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Authors: Sae-Rom Pak, Seung Hwan Park, Jeong Ho Cho, Daewoong An, Cheong-Sool Park, Jun Seok Kim, Jun-Geol Baek

Abstract:

It is important to predict yield in semiconductor test process in order to increase yield. In this study, yield prediction means finding out defective die, wafer or lot effectively. Semiconductor test process consists of some test steps and each test includes various test items. In other world, test data has a big and complicated characteristic. It also is disproportionably distributed as the number of data belonging to FAIL class is extremely low. For yield prediction, general data mining techniques have a limitation without any data preprocessing due to eigen properties of test data. Therefore, this study proposes an under-sampling method using support vector machine (SVM) to eliminate an imbalanced characteristic. For evaluating a performance, randomly under-sampling method is compared with the proposed method using actual semiconductor test data. As a result, sampling method using SVM is effective in generating robust model for yield prediction.

Keywords: Yield Prediction, Semiconductor Test Process, Support Vector Machine, Under Sampling

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Authors: Li-Yeh Chuang, Yu-Jen Hou, Jr., Cheng-Hong Yang

Abstract:

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) hold much promise as a basis for disease-gene association. However, research is limited by the cost of genotyping the tremendous number of SNPs. Therefore, it is important to identify a small subset of informative SNPs, the so-called tag SNPs. This subset consists of selected SNPs of the genotypes, and accurately represents the rest of the SNPs. Furthermore, an effective evaluation method is needed to evaluate prediction accuracy of a set of tag SNPs. In this paper, a genetic algorithm (GA) is applied to tag SNP problems, and the K-nearest neighbor (K-NN) serves as a prediction method of tag SNP selection. The experimental data used was taken from the HapMap project; it consists of genotype data rather than haplotype data. The proposed method consistently identified tag SNPs with considerably better prediction accuracy than methods from the literature. At the same time, the number of tag SNPs identified was smaller than the number of tag SNPs in the other methods. The run time of the proposed method was much shorter than the run time of the SVM/STSA method when the same accuracy was reached.

Keywords: Genetic Algorithm (GA), Genotype, Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), tag SNPs.

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Authors: K. Singh, T. P. Sharma

Abstract:

In wireless sensor network (WSN) the use of mobile sink has been attracting more attention in recent times. Mobile sinks are more effective means of balancing load, reducing hotspot problem and elongating network lifetime. The sensor nodes in WSN have limited power supply, computational capability and storage and therefore for continuous data delivery reliability becomes high priority in these networks. In this paper, we propose a Reliable Energy-efficient Data Dissemination (REDD) scheme for WSNs with multiple mobile sinks. In this strategy, sink first determines the location of source and then directly communicates with the source using geographical forwarding. Every forwarding node (FN) creates a local zone comprising some sensor nodes that can act as representative of FN when it fails. Analytical and simulation study reveals significant improvement in energy conservation and reliable data delivery in comparison to existing schemes.

Keywords: Energy Efficient, REED, Sink Mobility, WSN.

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Authors: Y. Sangsen, K. Likhitwitayawuid, B. Sritularak, K. Wiwattanawongsa, R. Wiwattanapatapee

Abstract:

Novel solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) were developed to improve oral bioavailability of oxyresveratrol (OXY). The SLNs were prepared by a high speed homogenization technique, at an effective speed and time, using Compritol^® 888 ATO (5% w/w) as the solid lipid. The appropriate weight proportions (0.3% w/w) of OXY affected the physicochemical properties of blank SLNs. The effects of surfactant types on the properties of the formulations such as particle size and entrapment efficacy were also investigated. Conclusively, Tween 80 combined with soy lecithin was the most appropriate surfactant to stabilize OXY-loaded SLNs. The mean particle size of the optimized formulation was 134.40 ± 0.57 nm. In vitro drug release study, the selected S2 formulation showed a retarded release profile for OXY with no initial burst release compared to OXY suspension in the simulated gastrointestinal fluids. Therefore, these SLNs could provide a suitable system to develop for the oral OXY delivery.

Keywords: Solid lipid nanoparticles, Physicochemical properties, in vitro drug release, Oxyresveratrol.

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Authors: Emad Askar, Eldesoky Elsoaly, Mohamed Kamel, Hisham Kamel

Abstract:

The objective of this article is to improve the passive vibration damping of solar array (SA) used in space structures, by the effective application of numerical optimization. A case study of a SA is used for demonstration. A finite element (FE) model was created and verified by experimental testing. Optimization was then conducted by implementing the FE model with the genetic algorithm, to find the optimal placement of aluminum circular patches, to suppress the first two bending mode shapes. The results were verified using experimental testing. Finally, a parametric study was conducted using the FE model where patch locations, material type, and shape were varied one at a time, and the results were compared with the optimal ones. The results clearly show that through the proper application of FE modeling and numerical optimization, passive vibration damping of space structures has been successfully achieved.

Keywords: Damping optimization, genetic algorithm optimization, passive vibration damping, solar array vibration damping.

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Authors: Marco Actis Grande, Somlak Wannarumon

Abstract:

This paper proposes the numerical simulation of the investment casting of gold jewelry. It aims to study the behavior of fluid flow during mould filling and solidification and to optimize the process parameters, which lead to predict and control casting defects such as gas porosity and shrinkage porosity. A finite difference method, computer simulation software FLOW-3D was used to simulate the jewelry casting process. The simplified model was designed for both numerical simulation and real casting production. A set of sensor acquisitions were allocated on the different positions of the wax tree of the model to detect filling times, while a set of thermocouples were allocated to detect the temperature during casting and cooling. Those detected data were applied to validate the results of the numerical simulation to the results of the real casting. The resulting comparisons signify that the numerical simulation can be used as an effective tool in investment-casting-process optimization and casting-defect prediction.

Keywords: Computer fluid dynamic, Investment casting, Jewelry, Mould filling, Simulation.

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Authors: J. Chelladurai, G. Saravana Ilango, C. Nagamani, S. Senthil Kumar

Abstract:

Pulse width modulation (PWM) techniques have been the subject of intensive research for different industrial and power sector applications. A large variety of methods, different in concept and performance, have been newly developed and described. This paper analyzes the comparative merits of Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM) and Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation (SVPWM) techniques and the suitability of these techniques in a Shunt Active Filter (SAF). The objective is to select the scheme that offers effective utilization of DC bus voltage and also harmonic reduction at the input side. The effectiveness of the PWM techniques is tested in the SAF configuration with a non linear load. The performance of the SAF with the SPWM and (SVPWM) techniques are compared with respect to the THD in source current. The study reveals that in the context of closed loop SAF control with the SVPWM technique there is only a minor improvement in THD. The utilization of the DC bus with SVPWM is also not significant compared to that with SPWM because of the non sinusoidal modulating signal from the controller in SAF configuration.

Keywords: Voltage source inverter, Shunt active filter, SPWM, SVPWM, Matlab/SIMULINK.

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Authors: Houda Bdiri Gabbouj, Néjib Hassen, Kamel Besbes

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This paper presents a low-voltage low-power differential linear transconductor with near rail-to-rail input swing. Based on the current-mirror OTA topology, the proposed transconductor combines the Flipped Voltage Follower (FVF) technique to linearize the transconductor behavior that leads to class- AB linear operation and the virtual transistor technique to lower the effective threshold voltages of the transistors which offers an advantage in terms of low supply requirement. Design of the OTA has been discussed. It operates at supply voltages of about ±0.8V. Simulation results for 0.18μm TSMC CMOS technology show a good input range of 1Vpp with a high DC gain of 81.53dB and a total harmonic distortion of -40dB at 1MHz for an input of 1Vpp. The main aim of this paper is to present and compare new OTA design with high transconductance, which has a potential to be used in low voltage applications.

Keywords: Amplifier class AB, current mirror, flipped voltage follower, low voltage.

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Authors: J. Georgiou, K. Dimitropoulos, A. Manitsaris

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Simulations play a major role in education not only because they provide realistic models with which students can interact to acquire real world experiences, but also because they constitute safe environments in which students can repeat processes without any risk in order to perceive easier concepts and theories. Virtual reality is widely recognized as a significant technological advance that can facilitate learning process through the development of highly realistic 3D simulations supporting immersive and interactive features. The objective of this paper is to analyze the influence of virtual reality-s use in chemistry instruction as well as to present an integrated web-based learning environment for the simulation of chemical experiments. The proposed application constitutes a cost-effective solution for both schools and universities without appropriate infrastructure and a valuable tool for distance learning and life-long education in chemistry. Its educational objectives are the familiarization of students with the equipment of a real chemical laboratory and the execution of virtual volumetric analysis experiments with the active participation of students.

Keywords: Chemistry, simulations, experiments, virtual reality.

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Authors: S. Sarumathi, M. Vaishnavi, S. Geetha, P. Ranjetha

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Machine learning is a new and exciting area of artificial intelligence nowadays. Machine learning is the most valuable, time, supervised, and cost-effective approach. It is not a narrow learning approach; it also includes a wide range of methods and techniques that can be applied to a wide range of complex realworld problems and time domains. Biological image classification, adaptive testing, computer vision, natural language processing, object detection, cancer detection, face recognition, handwriting recognition, speech recognition, and many other applications of machine learning are widely used in research, industry, and government. Every day, more data are generated, and conventional machine learning techniques are becoming obsolete as users move to distributed and real-time operations. By providing fundamental knowledge of machine learning tools and research opportunities in the field, the aim of this article is to serve as both a comprehensive overview and a guide. A diverse set of machine learning resources is demonstrated and contrasted with the key features in this survey.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, machine learning algorithms, machine learning tools.

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Authors: Vikas Pandey, T. L. Joshy, Vyshak Vijayan, N. Babu

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A new and cost effective robotic device was designed for remote tele surgery using dual tone multi frequency technology (DTMF). Tele system with Dual Tone Multiple Frequency has a large capability in sending and receiving of data in hardware and software. The robot consists of DC motors for arm movements and it is controlled manually through a mobile phone through DTMF Technology. The system enables the surgeon from base station to send commands through mobile phone to the patient’s robotic system which includes two robotic arms that translate the input into actual instrument manipulation. A mobile phone attached to the microcontroller 8051 which can activate robot through relays. The Remote robot-assisted tele surgery eliminates geographic constraints for getting surgical expertise where it is needed and allows an expert surgeon to teach or proctor the performance of surgical technique by real-time intervention.

Keywords: Robot, Microcontroller, DTMF, Tele surgery.

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Authors: Ishak, L., McHenry, M. T., Brown, P. H.

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Organic farming systems still depend on intensive, mechanical soil tillage. Frequent passes by machinery traffic cause substantial soil compaction that threatens soil health. Adopting practices as reduced tillage and organic matter retention on the soil surface are considered effective ways to control soil compaction. In tropical regions, however, the acceleration of soil organic matter decomposition and soil carbon turnover on the topsoil layer is influenced more rapidly by the oscillation process of drying and wetting. It is hypothesized therefore, that rapid reduction in soil organic matter hastens the potential for compaction to occur in organic farming systems. Compaction changes soil physical properties and as a consequence it has been implicated as a causal agent in the inhibition of natural disease suppression in soils. Here we describe relationships between soil management in organic vegetable systems, soil compaction, and declining soil capacity to suppress pathogenic microorganisms.

Keywords: Organic farming systems, soil compaction, soil disease suppression, tropical regions.

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Authors: V. Karamzadeh, J. Adhvaryu, A. Chandrasekaran, M. Packirisamy

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In Bulk Acoustic Wave (BAW) microfluidics, the throughput of particle sorting is dependent on the complex interplay between the geometric configuration of the channel, the size of the particles, and the properties of the fluid medium, which therefore calls for a detailed modeling and understanding of the fluid-particle interaction dynamics under an acoustic field, prior to designing the system. In this work, we propose a simplified Bulk acoustophoretic system that can be used for size dependent particle sorting. A Finite Element Method (FEM) based analytical model has been developed to study the dependence of particle sizes on channel parameters, and the sorting efficiency in a given fluid medium. Based on the results, the microfluidic system has been designed to take into account all the variables involved with the underlying physics, and has been fabricated using an additive manufacturing technique employing a commercial 3D printer, to generate a simple, cost-effective system that can be used for size sensitive particle sorting.

Keywords: 3D printing, 3D microfluidic chip, acoustophoresis, cell separation, MEMS, microfluidics.

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Authors: Changyeop Lee, Sewon Kim

Abstract:

Reburning is a useful technology in reducing nitric oxide through injection of a secondary hydrocarbon fuel. In this paper, an experimental study has been conducted to evaluate the effect of fuel lean reburning on NOx/CO reduction in LNG flame. Experiments were performed in flames stabilized by a co-flow swirl burner, which was mounted at the bottom of the furnace. Tests were conducted using LNG gas as the reburn fuel as well as the main fuel. The effects of reburn fuel fraction and injection manner of the reburn fuel were studied when the fuel lean reburning system was applied. The paper reports data on flue gas emissions and temperature distribution in the furnace for a wide range of experimental conditions. At steady state, temperature distribution and emission formation in the furnace have been measured and compared. This paper makes clear that in order to decrease both NOx and CO concentrations in the exhaust when the pulsated fuel lean reburning system was adapted, it is important that the control of some factors such as frequency and duty ratio. Also it shows the fuel lean reburning is also effective method to reduce NOx as much as reburning.

Keywords: Fuel lean reburn, NOx, CO, LNG flame.

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Authors: Lu Si, Jie Yu, Shasha Li, Jun Ma, Lei Luo, Qingbo Wu, Yongqi Ma, Zhengji Liu

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Instance selection (IS) technique is used to reduce the data size to improve the performance of data mining methods. Recently, to process very large data set, several proposed methods divide the training set into some disjoint subsets and apply IS algorithms independently to each subset. In this paper, we analyze the limitation of these methods and give our viewpoint about how to divide and conquer in IS procedure. Then, based on fast condensed nearest neighbor (FCNN) rule, we propose a large data sets instance selection method with MapReduce framework. Besides ensuring the prediction accuracy and reduction rate, it has two desirable properties: First, it reduces the work load in the aggregation node; Second and most important, it produces the same result with the sequential version, which other parallel methods cannot achieve. We evaluate the performance of FCNN-MR on one small data set and two large data sets. The experimental results show that it is effective and practical.

Keywords: Instance selection, data reduction, MapReduce, kNN.

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Authors: Lu Yang, Meiyang Song, Xiang Yu, Wenhao Zhou, Chuntao Feng

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To address the problem that the FM continuous-wave (FMCW) radar extracts human vital sign signals which are susceptible to noise interference and low reconstruction accuracy, a detection scheme for the sign signals is proposed. Firstly, an improved complete ensemble empirical modal decomposition with adaptive noise (ICEEMDAN) algorithm is applied to decompose the radar-extracted thoracic signals to obtain several intrinsic modal functions (IMF) with different spatial scales, and then the IMF components are optimized by a backpropagation (BP) neural network improved by immune genetic algorithm (IGA). The simulation results show that this scheme can effectively separate the noise, accurately extract the respiratory and heartbeat signals and improve the reconstruction accuracy and signal to-noise ratio of the sign signals.

Keywords: Frequency modulated continuous wave radar, ICEEMDAN, BP Neural Network, vital signs signal.

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Authors: K. Soya, N. Mihara, D. Kuchar, M. Kubota, H. Matsuda, T. Fukuta

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The present work is concerned with sulfidation of Cu, Zn and Ni containing plating wastewater with CaS. The sulfidation experiments were carried out at a room temperature by adding solid CaS to simulated metal solution containing either single-metal of Ni, Zn and Cu, or Ni-Zn-Cu mixture. At first, the experiments were conducted without pH adjustment and it was found that the complete sulfidation of Zn and Ni was achieved at an equimolar ratio of CaS to a particular metal. However, in the case of Cu, a complete copper sulfidation was achieved at CaS to Cu molar ratio of about 2. In the case of the selective sulfidation, a simulated plating solution containing Cu, Zn and Ni at the concentration of 100 mg/dm3 was treated with CaS under various pH conditions. As a result, selective precipitation of metal sulfides was achieved by a sulfidation treatment at different pH values. Further, the precipitation agents of NaOH, Na2S and CaS were compared in terms of the average specific filtration resistance and compressibility coefficients of metal sulfide slurry. Consequently, based on the lowest filtration parameters of the produced metal sulfides, it was concluded that CaS was the most effective precipitation agent for separation and recovery of Cu, Zn and Ni.

Keywords: Calcium sulfide, Plating Wastewater, Filtrationcharacteristics, Heavy metals, Sulfidation.

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Authors: Shweta Singh, Dipali Bansal, Rashima Mahajan

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Psychoacoustics has become a potential area of research due to the growing interest of both laypersons and medical and mental health professionals. Non invasive brain computer interface like Electroencephalography (EEG) is widely being used in this field. An attempt has been made in this paper to examine the response of EEG signals to acoustic stimuli further analyzing the brain electrical activity. The real time EEG is acquired for 6 participants using a cost effective and portable EMOTIV EEG neuro headset. EEG data analysis is further done using EMOTIV test bench, EDF browser and EEGLAB (MATLAB Tool) application software platforms. Spectral analysis of acquired neural signals (AF3 channel) using these software platforms are clearly indicative of increased brain activity in various bands. The inferences drawn from such an analysis have significant correlation with subject’s subjective reporting of the experiences. The results suggest that the methodology adopted can further be used to assist patients with sleeping and depressive disorders.

Keywords: OM’ chant, Spectral analysis, EDF Browser, EEGLAB, EMOTIV, Real time Acquisition.

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