Search results for: Average%20Delay

Authors: A. M. Ismaiel, Ali Hafez El-Far, Abou-Ganema I. I

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A thirty Rahmani weaned male lambs of average body weight (27.28±1.40 kg) were randomly allotted to three similar groups, ten lambs in each, to study the benefit of commercial feed additives Tonilisat (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and Roemin W2 (Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus thermophilus, Bifidobacterium and Lactose) as growth promoters on lambs performance, digestibility, rumen activity and some blood constituents. The experiment lasted about 107 days. Three experimental groups were allotted as control group: received the basal ration, T1 group: received the basal ration supplemented with Tonilisat as (0.5kg/ ton concentrate feed mixture) and T2 group: received the basal ration supplemented with Roemin W2 (1kg/ ton concentrate feed mixture). Our study revealed that addition of Tonilisat significantly increased digestion coefficient of crude protein than that of the control group, Furthermore, the supplementation of Tonilisat or Roemin W2 increased (p<0.05) crude fiber digestibility than control group. Total digestible nutrients and crude digestible protein were not significantly changed between treatments. Retained nitrogen was higher in treated lamb groups than untreated but the different was non significant. Rumen activity of different rations showed that volatile fatty acids concentrations for Tonilisat and Roemin W2 groups were higher than control group, but the differences were not significant. There are no significant changes between groups in tested blood parameters but in T1 group ALT and AST were decreased. Conclusion: Supplementation of the lamb's rations with probiotics had a non significant effect (p<0.05) on blood constituents. While, growth performance and economic efficiency revealed that Tonilisat supplemented lambs had the best average daily gain followed by Roemin W2 treated group in comparison with control group. The best economic efficiency was recorded for T1 which fed Tonilisat followed by control group at whole period.

Keywords: Rahmani sheep, Tonilisat, Roemin W2, Growth, Performance.

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Authors: A.H. Sajedipoor, N. Hedayat, M. Mashal

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Sedimentation is a hydraulic phenomenon that is emerging as a serious challenge in river engineering. When the flow reaches a certain state that gather potential energy, it shifts the sediment load along channel bed. The transport of such materials can be in the form of suspended and bed loads. The movement of these along the river course and channels and the ways in which this could influence the water intakes is considered as the major challenges for sustainable O&M of hydraulic structures. This could be very serious in arid and semi-arid regions like Iran, where inappropriate watershed management could lead to shifting a great deal of sediments into the reservoirs and irrigation systems. This paper aims to investigate sedimentation in the Western Canal of Dez Diversion Weir in Iran, identifying factors which influence the process and provide ways in which to mitigate its detrimental effects by using the SHARC Software. For the purpose of this paper, data from the Dezful water authority and Dezful Hydrometric Station pertinent to a river course of about 6 Km were used. Results estimated sand and silt bed loads concentrations to be 193 ppm and 827ppm respectively. Given the available data on average annual bed loads and average suspended sediment loads of 165ppm and 837ppm, there was a significant statistical difference (16%) between the sand grains, whereas no significant difference (1.2%) was find in the silt grain sizes. One explanation for such finding being that along the 6 Km river course there was considerable meandering effects which explains recent shift in the hydraulic behavior along the stream course under investigation. The sand concentration in downstream relative to present state of the canal showed a steep descending curve. Sediment trapping on the other hand indicated a steep ascending curve. These occurred because the diversion weir was not considered in the simulation model.

Keywords: SHARC model, sedimentation, Western canal, Dezdiversion weir

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Authors: Collins C. Chiemeke

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The need to evaluate and understand the natural drainage pattern in a flood prone, and fast developing environment is of paramount importance. This information will go a long way to help the town planners to determine the drainage pattern, road networks and areas where prominent structures are to be located. This research work was carried out with the aim of studying the Bayelsa landscape topography using digitized topographic information, and to model the natural drainage flow pattern that will aid the understanding and constructions of workable drainages. To achieve this, digitize information of elevation and coordinate points were extracted from a global imagery map. The extracted information was modeled into 3D surfaces. The result revealed that the average elevation for Bayelsa State is 12 m above sea level. The highest elevation is 28 m, and the lowest elevation 0 m, along the coastline. In Yenagoa the capital city of Bayelsa were a detail survey was carried out showed that average elevation is 15 m, the highest elevation is 25 m and lowest is 3 m above the mean sea level. The regional elevation in Bayelsa, showed a gradation decrease from the North Eastern zone to the South Western Zone. Yenagoa showed an observed elevation lineament, were low depression is flanked by high elevation that runs from the North East to the South west. Hence, future drainages in Yenagoa should be directed from the high elevation, from South East toward the North West and from the North West toward South East, to the point of convergence which is at the center that flows from South East toward the North West. Bayelsa when considered on a regional Scale, the flow pattern is from the North East to the South West, and also North South. It is recommended that in the event of any large drainage construction at municipal scale, it should be directed from North East to the South West or from North to South. Secondly, detail survey should be carried out to ascertain the local topography and the drainage pattern before the design and construction of any drainage system in any part of Bayelsa.

Keywords: Bayelsa, Digitized Topographic Information, Drainage, Flood.

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Authors: Tajudeen Ojo Ibraheem

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In a world characterized by greed and the lust for power and its attendant trappings, abuse of legal power is nothing new to most of us. Legal abuses of power abound in all fields of human endeavour. Accounts of such abuses dominate the mass media and for the average individual, no single day goes by without his getting to hear about at least one such occurrence. This paper briefly looks at the meaning of legal power, what legal abuse is all about, its causes, and some of its manifestations in the society. Its consequences will also be discussed and some suggestions for reform will be made. In the course of the paper, references will be made to various jurisdictions around the world.

Keywords: Abuse, legal, power, society.

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Authors: Samuel P. Prahlow, Anthony Sciuva, Katherine Bombly, Emily Wilson, Shiv Dhiman, Savita Arya

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A prevalence cohort study of atherosclerotic lesions within cadavers was performed to better understand and characterize the prevalence of atherosclerosis among Georgia residents within body donors in the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) - Georgia body donor program. We procured specimens from cadavers used for medical student, physical therapy student, and biomedical science student cadaveric anatomical dissection at PCOM - South Georgia and PCOM - Georgia. Tissues were prepared using hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stain as histological slides by Colquitt Regional Medical Center Laboratory Services. One section from each of the following arteries was taken after cadaveric dissection at the site of most calcification palpated grossly (if present): left anterior descending coronary artery, left internal carotid artery, abdominal aorta, splenic artery, and hepatic artery. All specimens were graded and categorized according to the American Heart Association’s Modified and Conventional Standards for Atherosclerotic Lesions using x4, x10, x40 microscopic magnification. Our study cohort included 22 cadavers, with 16 females and 6 males. The average age was 72.54 and median age was 72, with a range of 52 to 90 years old. The cause of death determination listing vascular and/or cardiovascular causes were present on 6 of the 22 death certificates. 19 of 22 (86%) cadavers had at least a single artery grading > 5. Of the cadavers with at least a single artery graded at greater than 5, only 5 of 19 (26%) cadavers had a vascular or cardiovascular cause of death reported. Malignancy was listed as a cause of death on 7 (32%) of death certificates. The average atherosclerosis grading of the common hepatic, splenic and left internal carotid arteries (2.15, 3.05, and 3.36 respectively) were lower than the left anterior descending artery and the abdominal aorta (5.16 and 5.86 respectively). This prevalence study characterizes atherosclerosis found in five medium and large systemic arteries within cadavers from the state of Georgia.

Keywords: Atherosclerosis, cardiovascular, histology, pathology.

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Authors: Sumalee B., Sirinapa L., Jenjira T., Jr., Setasak S.

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The paper describes ergonomics problems trend of student at B5101 classroom building 2, Suranaree University of Technology. The objective to survey ergonomics problems and effect from use chairs for sitting in class room. The result from survey method 100 student they use lecture chair for sitting in classroom more than 2 hours/ day by RULA[1]. and Body discomfort survey[2]. The result from Body discomfort survey contribute fatigue problems at neck, lower back, upper back and right shoulder 2.93, 2.91, 2.33, 1.75 respectively and result from RULA contribute fatigue problems at neck, body and right upper arm 4.00, 3.75 and 3.00 respectively are consistent. After that the researcher provide improvement plan for design new chair support student fatigue reduction by prepare data of sample anthropometry and design ergonomics chair prototype 3 unit. Then sample 100 student trial to use new chair and evaluate again by RULA, Body discomfort and satisfaction. The result from trial new chair after improvement by RULA present fatigue reduction average of head and neck from 4.00 to 2.25 , body and trunk from 3.75 to 2.00 and arm force from 1.00 to 0.25 respectively. The result from trial new chair after improvement by Body discomfort present fatigue reduction average of lower back from 2.91 to 0.87, neck from 2.93 to 1.24, upper back 2.33 to 0.84 and right upper arm from 1.75 to 0.74. That statistical of RULA and Body discomfort survey present fatigue reduction after improvement significance with a confidence level of 95% (p-value 0.05). When analyzing the relationship of fatigue as part of the body by Chi – square test during RULA and Body discomfort that before and after improvements were consistent with the significant level of confidence 95% (p-value 0.05) . Moreover the students satisfaction result from trial with a new chair for 30 minutes [3]. 72 percent very satisfied of the folding of the secondary writing simple 66% the width of the writing plate, 64% the suitability of the writing plate, 62% of soft seat cushion and 61% easy to seat the chair.

Keywords: Ergonomics, Work station design, ErgonomicsChair, Student, Fatigue

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Authors: Yi-Fan Lin, Peter P. Howley, Frank A. Tuyl

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Quality measurement and reporting systems are used in healthcare internationally. In Australia, the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards records and reports hundreds of clinical indicators (CIs) nationally across the healthcare system. These CIs are measures of performance in the clinical setting, and are used as a screening tool to help assess whether a standard of care is being met. Existing analysis and reporting of these CIs incorporate Bayesian methods to address sampling variation; however, such assessments are retrospective in nature, reporting upon the previous six or twelve months of data. The use of Bayesian methods within statistical process control for monitoring systems is an important pursuit to support more timely decision-making. Our research has developed and assessed a new graphical monitoring tool, similar to a control chart, based on the beta-binomial posterior predictive (BBPP) distribution to facilitate the real-time assessment of health care organizational performance via CIs. The BBPP charts have been compared with the traditional Bernoulli CUSUM (BC) chart by simulation. The more traditional “central” and “highest posterior density” (HPD) interval approaches were each considered to define the limits, and the multiple charts were compared via in-control and out-of-control average run lengths (ARLs), assuming that the parameter representing the underlying CI rate (proportion of cases with an event of interest) required estimation. Preliminary results have identified that the BBPP chart with HPD-based control limits provides better out-of-control run length performance than the central interval-based and BC charts. Further, the BC chart’s performance may be improved by using Bayesian parameter estimation of the underlying CI rate.

Keywords: Average run length, Bernoulli CUSUM chart, beta binomial posterior predictive distribution, clinical indicator, health care organization, highest posterior density interval.

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Authors: Saranya Chularee, Tawa Chularee

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Successful intelligence (SI) is the integrated set of the ability needed to attain success in life, within individual-s sociocultural context. People are successfully intelligent by recognizing their strengths and weaknesses. They will find ways to strengthen their weakness and maintain their strength or even improve it. SI people can shape, select, and adapt to the environments by using balance of higher-ordered thinking abilities including; critical, creative, and applicative. Aims: The purposes of this study were to; 1) develop curriculum that promotes SI for nursing students, and 2) study the effectiveness of the curriculum development. Method: Research and Development was a method used for this study. The design was divided into two phases; 1) the curriculum development which composed of three steps (needs assessment, curriculum development and curriculum field trail), and 2) the curriculum implementation. In this phase, a pre-experimental research design (one group pretest-posttest design) was conducted. The sample composed of 49 sophomore nursing students of Boromarajonani College of Nursing, Surin, Thailand who enrolled in Nursing care of Health problem course I in 2011 academic year. Data were carefully collected using 4 instruments; 1) Modified essay questions test (MEQ) 2) Nursing Care Plan evaluation form 3) Group processing observation form (α = 0.74) and 4) Satisfied evaluation form of learning (α = 0.82). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis. Results: The results revealed that the sample had post-test average score of SI higher than pre-test average score (mean difference was 5.03, S.D. = 2.84). Fifty seven percentages of the sample passed the MEQ posttest at the criteria of 60 percentages. Students demonstrated the strategies of how to develop nursing care plan. Overall, students- satisfaction on teaching performance was at high level (mean = 4.35, S.D. = 0.46). Conclusion: This curriculum can promote the attribute of characteristic of SI person and was highly required to be continued.

Keywords: Curriculum Development, Nursing Education, Successful Intelligence, Thinking ability.

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Authors: M. Jalali Azizpour, H. Mohammadi Majd

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High velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) spray technique is one of the leading technologies that have been proposed as an alternative to the replacement of electrolytic hard chromium plating in a number of engineering applications. In this study, WC-Co powder was coated on AISI1045 steel using high velocity oxy fuel (HVOF) method. The sin²ψ method was used to evaluate the through thickness residual stress by means of XRD after mechanical layer removal process (only grinding). The average of through thickness residual stress using X-Ray diffraction was -400 MPa.

Keywords: Grinding, HVOF, Thermal spray, WC-Co.

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Authors: H. El-Madbouly

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In this paper, genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed for the design of an optimization algorithm to achieve the bandwidth allocation of ATM network. In Broadband ISDN, the ATM is a highbandwidth; fast packet switching and multiplexing technique. Using ATM it can be flexibly reconfigure the network and reassign the bandwidth to meet the requirements of all types of services. By dynamically routing the traffic and adjusting the bandwidth assignment, the average packet delay of the whole network can be reduced to a minimum. M/M/1 model can be used to analyze the performance.

Keywords: Bandwidth allocation, Genetic algorithm, ATMNetwork, packet delay.

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Authors: Omer Farooq, Salman Ahmed Khan, Sadaf Khalid

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Modern day stock markets have almost entirely became automated. Even though it means increased profits for the investors by algorithms acting upon the slightest price change in order of microseconds, it also has given birth to many ethical dilemmas in the sense that slightest mistake can cause people to lose all of their livelihoods. This paper reviews one such event that happened on May 06, 2010 in which $1 trillion dollars disappeared from the Dow Jones Industrial Average. We are going to discuss its various aspects and the ethical dilemmas that have arisen due to it.

Keywords: Flash Crash, Market Crash, Stock Market, Stock Market Crash.

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Authors: U. Pangnakorn, S. Chuenchooklin

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Acute and chronic effects of biopesticide from entomopathogenic nematode (Steinernema thailandensis n. sp.), bacteria ISR (Pseudomonas fluorescens), wood vinegar and fermented organic substances from plants: (neem Azadirachta indica + citronella grass Cymbopogon nardus Rendle + bitter bush Chromolaena odorata L.) were tested on culantro (Eryngium foetidum L.). The biopesticide was investigated for infestation reduction of the major insect pest whitefly (Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius)). The experimental plots were located at a farm in Nakhon Sawan Province, Thailand. This study was undertaken during the drought season (late November to May). Effectiveness of the treatment was evaluated in terms of acute and chronic effect. The populations of whitefly were observed and recorded every hour up to 3 hours with insect nets and yellow sticky traps after the treatments were applied for the acute effect. The results showed that bacteria ISR had the highest effectiveness for controlling whitefly infestation on culantro; the whitefly numbers on insect nets were 12.5, 10.0 and 7.5 after 1 hr, 2 hr, and 3 hr, respectively while the whitefly on yellow sticky traps showed 15.0, 10.0 and 10.0 after 1 hr, 2 hr, and 3 hr, respectively. For chronic effect, the whitefly was continuously collected and recorded at weekly intervals; the result showed that treatment of bacteria ISR found the average whitefly numbers only 8.06 and 11.0 on insect nets and sticky traps respectively, followed by treatment of nematode where the average whitefly was 9.87 and 11.43 on the insect nets and sticky traps, respectively. In addition, the minor insect pests were also observed and collected. The biopesticide influenced the reduction number of minor insect pests (red spider mites, beet armyworm, short-horned grasshopper, pygmy locusts, etc.) with only a few found on the culantro cultivation.

Keywords: Whitefly (Bemisia tabaci Gennadius), Culantro (Eryngium foetidum L.), Entomopathogenic nematode (Steinernema thailandensis n. sp.), Bacteria ISR (Pseudomonas fluorescens), wood vinegar, fermented organic substances.

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Authors: Tuba Tekin, Nurcan Baglam, Emine Dincer

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This study aimed to examine the effects of nutrition education received by university students on sustainable healthy eating behaviors and adherence to the Mediterranean diet. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th-grade university students studying at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Nutrition and Dietetics, Midwifery, Nursing, Physical Therapy, and Rehabilitation departments of universities in Turkey were included in the study. Students' adherence to the Mediterranean diet was evaluated using the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Scale, and their sustainable and healthy eating behaviors were evaluated using the Sustainable and Healthy Eating Behaviors Scale. In addition, the body weight and height of the students were measured by the researchers, and the Body Mass Index (BMI) value was calculated. A total of 181 students, 85 of whom were studying in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics and 96 of whom were educated in other departments, were included in the study; 75.7% of the students in the sample are female, while 24.3% are male. The average body weight of the students was 61.17 ± 10.87 kg, and the average BMI was 22.04 ± 3.40 kg/m2. While the mean score of the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Scale was 6.72 ± 1.84, in the evaluation of adherence to the Mediterranean diet, it was determined that 25.4% of the students had poor adherence and 66.9% needed improvement. When the adherence scores of students who received and did not receive nutrition education were compared, it was discovered that the students who received nutrition education had a higher score (p < 0.05). Students who received nutrition education had a higher total score on the Sustainable and Healthy Eating Behaviors scale (p < 0.05). A moderately positive correlation was found between the Sustainable and Healthy Eating Behaviors scale total score and the Mediterranean Diet Adherence scores (p < 0.05). As a result of the linear regression analysis, it was revealed that a 1-unit increase in the Mediterranean diet adherence score would result in a 1.3-point increase in the total score of the Sustainable and Healthy Eating Behaviors scale. Sustainable and healthy diets are important for improving and developing health and the prevention of diseases. The Mediterranean diet is defined as a sustainable diet model. The findings revealed the relationship between the Mediterranean diet and sustainable nutrition and showed that nutrition education increased knowledge and awareness about sustainable nutrition and increased adherence to the Mediterranean diet. For this reason, courses or seminars on sustainable nutrition can be organized during educational periods.

Keywords: Healthy eating, Mediterranean diet, nutrition education, sustainable nutrition.

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Authors: Zeynep Orhan, Zeynep Altan

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This paper summarizes the results of some experiments for finding the effective features for disambiguation of Turkish verbs. Word sense disambiguation is a current area of investigation in which verbs have the dominant role. Generally verbs have more senses than the other types of words in the average and detecting these features for verbs may lead to some improvements for other word types. In this paper we have considered only the syntactical features that can be obtained from the corpus and tested by using some famous machine learning algorithms.

Keywords: Word sense disambiguation, feature selection.

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Authors: Masamitsu Chikaraishi, Mutsuto Kawahara

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This paper focuses on a technique for identifying the geological boundary of the ground strata in front of a tunnel excavation site using the first order adjoint method based on the optimal control theory. The geological boundary is defined as the boundary which is different layers of elastic modulus. At tunnel excavations, it is important to presume the ground situation ahead of the cutting face beforehand. Excavating into weak strata or fault fracture zones may cause extension of the construction work and human suffering. A theory for determining the geological boundary of the ground in a numerical manner is investigated, employing excavating blasts and its vibration waves as the observation references. According to the optimal control theory, the performance function described by the square sum of the residuals between computed and observed velocities is minimized. The boundary layer is determined by minimizing the performance function. The elastic analysis governed by the Navier equation is carried out, assuming the ground as an elastic body with linear viscous damping. To identify the boundary, the gradient of the performance function with respect to the geological boundary can be calculated using the adjoint equation. The weighed gradient method is effectively applied to the minimization algorithm. To solve the governing and adjoint equations, the Galerkin finite element method and the average acceleration method are employed for the spatial and temporal discretizations, respectively. Based on the method presented in this paper, the different boundary of three strata can be identified. For the numerical studies, the Suemune tunnel excavation site is employed. At first, the blasting force is identified in order to perform the accuracy improvement of analysis. We identify the geological boundary after the estimation of blasting force. With this identification procedure, the numerical analysis results which almost correspond with the observation data were provided.

Keywords: Parameter identification, finite element method, average acceleration method, first order adjoint equation method, weighted gradient method, geological boundary, navier equation, optimal control theory.

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Authors: L. Tayebi, S. Sobhanardakani, A. Farmany, M. Cheraghi

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In this research the level of mercury is analyzed in muscle tissue of Otolithes ruber retailed in Hamedan, Iran were determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry after wet digestion. Analysis of mercury was carried out by spectrophotometrically. The average concentration of Hg in muscle tissue of Otolithes ruber was 0.030±0.026 -g/g so lower than to compare with the Maximum Allowable Concentration determined by FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission.

Keywords: mercury, Otolithes ruber, edible part, Hamedan

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Authors: Kar Foo Chong, Andreas Lee Astuti, Pradeep K. Gopalakrishnan, T. Hui Teo

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This paper describes design of a digital feedback loop for a low switching frequency dc-dc switching converters. Low switching frequencies were selected in this design. A look up table for the digital PID (proportional integrator differentiator) compensator was implemented using Altera Stratix II with built-in ADC (analog-to-digital converter) to achieve this hardware realization. Design guidelines are given for the PID compensator, high frequency DPWM (digital pulse width modulator) and moving average filter.

Keywords: dc-dc converter, FPGA, PID, power management, .

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Authors: Zhizhong Jiang, Peter Naudé, Craig Comstock

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Software development has experienced remarkable progress in the past decade. However, due to the rising complexity and magnitude of the project the development productivity has not been consistently improved. By analyzing the latest ISBSG data repository with 4106 projects, we discovered that software development productivity has actually undergone irregular variations between the years 1995 and 2005. Considering the factors significant to the productivity, we found its variations are primarily caused by the variations of average team size and the unbalanced uses of the less productive language 3GL.

Keywords: Productivity, Programming Languages, SoftwareEngineering, Team Size.

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Authors: Mohamed Akrout, Douglas Tweed

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The great success of deep learning relies on efficient optimizers, which are the algorithms that decide how to adjust network weights and biases based on gradient information. One of the most effective and widely used optimizers in recent years has been the method of adaptive moments, or Adam, but the mathematical reasons behind its effectiveness are still unclear. Attempts to analyse its behaviour have remained incomplete, in part because they hinge on a conjecture which has never been proven, regarding ratios of powers of the first and second moments of the gradient. Here we show that this conjecture is in fact false, but that a modified version of it is true, and can take its place in analyses of Adam.

Keywords: Adam optimizer, Bock’s conjecture, stochastic optimization, average regret.

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Authors: M. R. Bhuiyan, S. M. M. Hossain, M. Z. Islam

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Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is the fastest growing serious developmental disorder characterized by social deficits, communicative difficulties, and repetitive behaviors. ASD is an emerging public health issue globally which is associated with huge financial burden to the family, community and the nation. The aim of this study was to assess the financial burden of family for the children with Autism spectrum Disorder. This cross-sectional study was carried out from July 2015 to June 2016 among 154 children with ASD to assess the financial burden of family. Data were collected by face-to-face interview with semi-structured questionnaire following systematic random sampling technique. Majority (73.4%) children were male and mean (±SD) age was 6.66 ± 2.97 years. Most (88.8%) of the children were from urban areas with average monthly family income Tk. 41785.71±23936.45. Average monthly direct cost of the children was Tk.17656.49 ± 9984.35, while indirect cost was Tk. 13462.90 ± 9713.54 and total treatment cost was Tk. 23076.62 ± 15341.09. Special education cost (Tk. 4871.00), cost of therapy (Tk. 4124.07) and travel cost (Tk. 3988.31) were the major types of direct cost, while loss of income (Tk.14570.18) was the chief indirect cost incurred by the families. The study found that majority (59.8%) of the children attended special schools were incurred Tk.20001-78700 as total treatment cost, which were statistically significant (p<0.001). Again, families with higher monthly family income incurred higher treatment cost (r=0.526, p<0.05). Difference between mean direct and indirect cost was found significant (t=4.190, df=61, p<0.001). According to the analysis of variance, mean difference of father’s educational status among direct cost (F=10.337, p<0.001) and total treatment cost (F=7.841, p<0.001), which were statistically significant. The study revealed that maximum children with ASD were under five years, three-fourth were male. According to monthly family income, maximum family were in middle class. The study recommends cost effective interventions and financial safety-net measures to reduce the financial burden of families for the children with ASD.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder, financial burden, direct cost, indirect cost, Special education.

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Authors: Ł. Kiedrowski, H. Gierszal, W. Hołubowicz

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This paper presents the H-ARQ techniques comparison for OFDM systems with a new family of non-binary LDPC codes which has been developed within the EU FP7 DAVINCI project. The punctured NB-LDPC codes have been used in a simulated model of the transmission system. The link level performance has been evaluated in terms of spectral efficiency, codeword error rate and average number of retransmissions. The NB-LDPC codes can be easily and effective implemented with different methods of the retransmission needed if correct decoding of a codeword failed. Here the Optimal Symbol Selection method is proposed as a Chase Combining technique.

Keywords: H-ARQ, LDPC, Non-Binary, Punctured Codes.

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Authors: M. D. Prokhorov, V. I. Ponomarenko, A. S. Karavaev, A. R. Kiselev, V. I. Gridnev

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Synchronization between the slow oscillations of heart rate and blood pressure having in humans a basic frequency close to 0.1 Hz is investigated. A method is proposed for quantitative estimation of synchronization between these oscillating processes based on calculation of relative time of phase synchronization of oscillations. It is shown that healthy subjects exhibit in average substantially longer epochs of synchronization between the slow oscillations in heart rate and blood pressure than patients after acute myocardial infarction

Keywords: Cardiovascular system, slow oscillating processes, synchronization.

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Authors: Bello Abdullahi, Yahaya M. Ibrahim, Ahmed D. Ibrahim, Kabir Bala

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Public sector tendering has traditionally been conducted using manual paper-based processes which are known to be inefficient, less transparent and more prone to manipulations and errors. The advent of the Internet and the World Wide Web has led to the development of numerous e-Tendering systems that addressed some of the problems associated with the manual paper-based tendering system. However, most of these systems rarely support the evaluation of tenders and where they do it is mostly based on the single decision maker which is not suitable in public sector tendering, where for the sake of objectivity, transparency, and fairness, it is required that the evaluation is conducted through a tender evaluation committee. Currently, in Nigeria, the public tendering process in general and the evaluation of tenders, in particular, are largely conducted using manual paper-based processes. Automating these manual-based processes to digital-based processes can help in enhancing the proficiency of public sector tendering in Nigeria. This paper is part of a larger study to develop an electronic tendering system that supports the whole tendering lifecycle based on Nigerian procurement law. Specifically, this paper presents the design and implementation of part of the system that supports group evaluation of tenders based on a technique called fuzzy multi-attributes group decision making. The system was developed using Object-Oriented methodologies and Unified Modelling Language and hypothetically applied in the evaluation of technical and financial proposals submitted by bidders. The system was validated by professionals with extensive experiences in public sector procurement. The results of the validation showed that the system called NPS-eTender has an average rating of 74% with respect to correct and accurate modelling of the existing manual tendering domain and an average rating of 67.6% with respect to its potential to enhance the proficiency of public sector tendering in Nigeria. Thus, based on the results of the validation, the automation of the evaluation process to support tender evaluation committee is achievable and can lead to a more proficient public sector tendering system.

Keywords: e-Tendering, e-Procurement, public tendering, tender evaluation, tender evaluation committee, web-based group decision support system.

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Authors: Ashraf A. Eltholth, Adel R. Mikhail, A. Elshirbini, Moawad I. Moawad, A. I. Abdelfattah

Abstract:

In this paper we proposed the use of Huffman coding to reduce the PAR of an OFDM system as a distortionless scrambling technique, and we utilize the amount saved in the total bit rate by the Huffman coding to send the encoding table for accurate decoding at the receiver without reducing the effective throughput. We found that the use of Huffman coding reduces the PAR by about 6 dB. Also we have investigated the effect of PAR reduction due to Huffman coding through testing the spectral spreading and the inband distortion due to HPA with different IBO values. We found a complete match of our expectation from the proposed solution with the obtained simulation results.

Keywords: HPA, Huffman coding, OFDM, PAR

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Authors: N. Scheidegger, A. Mueller

Abstract:

Job preferences are a well-developed research field. Many studies analyze the preferences using simple ratings with a sample of university graduates. The current study analyzes the preferences with a mixed method approach of a qualitative preliminary study and adaptive conjoint-analysis. Preconditions of accepting job offers are clarified for professionals in the industrial sector. It could be shown that, e.g. wages above the average are critical and that career opportunities must be seen broader than merely a focus on formal personnel development programs. The results suggest that, to be effective with their recruitment efforts, employers must take into account key desirable job attributes of their target group.

Keywords: Conjoint analysis, employer attractiveness, job preferences, personnel marketing.

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Authors: Anmin Zhao, Weiyong Yingı , Haitao Zhang, Hongfang Ma, Dingye Fang

Abstract:

The Ni/α-Al2O3 catalysts with different amounts of La as promoter from 0 to 4 wt % were prepared, characterized and their catalytic activity was investigated in syngas methanation reaction. Effects of reaction temperature and lanthanum loading on carbon oxides conversion and methane selectivity were also studied. Adding certain amount of lanthanum to 10Ni /α-Al2O3 catalysts can decrease the average NiO crystallite diameter which leads to higher activity and stability while excessive addition would cause deactivation quickly. Stability on stream towards deactivation was observed up to 800 min at 500 °C, 0.1MPa and 600000 mL·g-1·h-1.

Keywords: Methanation; Nickel catalysts; Syngas methanation

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Authors: S. Manjunatha, M. S. Dharmaprakash

Abstract:

Well-defined 2D Eu⁺³ co-doped ZrO₂: Gd⁺³ nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by microwave assisted solution combustion technique for luminescent applications. The present investigation reports the rapid and effective method for the synthesis of the Eu⁺³ co-doped ZrO₂:Gd⁺³ nanoparticles and study of the luminescence behavior of Eu⁺³ ion in ZrO₂:Gd⁺³ nanostructures. The optical properties of the prepared nanostructures were investigated by using UV-visible spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectra. The phase formation and the morphology of the nanoplatelets were studied by XRD, FESEM and HRTEM. The average grain size was found to be 45-50 nm. The presence of Gd³⁺ ion increases the crystallinity of the material and hence acts as a good nucleating agent. The ZrO₂:Gd³⁺ co-doped with Eu⁺³ nanoplatelets gives an emission at 607 nm, a strong red emission under the excitation wavelength of 255 nm.

Keywords: Nanoparticles, XRD, TEM, photoluminescence.

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Authors: Manoranjan Das, Benudhar Sahu, Urmila Bhanja

Abstract:

Co-channel interference is one of the major problems in wireless systems. The effects of co-channel interference in a Nakagami fading channel on the ABER (Average Bit Error Rate) with static nodes are well analyzed. In this paper, we derive the ABER with the presence of mobile nodes. ABER is also derived for mobile systems in the presence of co-channel interference.

Keywords: ABER, co-channel interference, Nakagami fading.

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Authors: Zhizhong Jiang, Craig Comstock

Abstract:

The past decade has seen enormous growth in the amount of software produced. However, given the ever increasing complexity of the software being developed and the concomitant rise in the typical project size, managers are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of issues that influence the productivity levels of the project teams involved. By analyzing the latest release of ISBSG data repository, we report on the factors found to significantly influence the productivity among which average team size and language type are the two most essential ones. Building on this we present an original model for evaluating the potential productivity during the project planning stage.

Keywords: ISBSG, Linear Model, Productivity, SoftwareEngineering.

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Authors: Xu Jianguo

Abstract:

In this paper, a generalized self-consistent scheme, or “three phase model", is used to set up a micro-mechanics model for rough surface contact with randomly distributed asperities. The dimensionless average real pressure p is obtained as function of the ratio of the real contact area to the apparent contact area, 0 A / A r . Both elastic and plastic materials are considered, and the influence of the plasticity of material on p is discussed. Both two-dimensional and three-dimensional rough surface contact problems are considered.

Keywords: Contact mechanics, plastic deformation, self-consistent scheme.

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