Search results for: level set method.

Authors: Anita, Sari Septiani Tangke, Rusdina Bte Ladju, Nasrum Massi

Abstract:

New diagnostic tools are urgently needed to interrupt the transmission of tuberculosis and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. The microscopic-observation drug-susceptibility (MODS) assay is a rapid, accurate and simple liquid culture method to detect multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). MODS were evaluated to determine a lower and same concentration of isoniazid and rifampin for detection of MDR-TB. Direct drug-susceptibility testing was performed with the use of the MODS assay. Drug-sensitive control strains were tested daily. The drug concentrations that used for both isoniazid and rifampin were at the same concentration: 0.16, 0.08 and 0.04μg per milliliter. We tested 56 M. tuberculosis clinical isolates and the control strains M. tuberculosis H37RV. All concentration showed same result. Of 53 M. tuberculosis clinical isolates, 14 were MDR-TB, 38 were susceptible with isoniazid and rifampin, 1 was resistant with isoniazid only. Drug-susceptibility testing was performed with the use of the proportion method using Mycobacteria Growth Indicator Tube (MGIT) system as reference. The result of MODS assay using lower concentration was significance (P<0.001) compare with the reference methods.

A lower and same concentration of isoniazid and rifampin can be used to detect MDR-TB. Operational cost and application can be more efficient and easier in resource-limited environments. However, additional studies evaluating the MODS using lower and same concentration of isoniazid and rifampin must be conducted with a larger number of clinical isolates.

Keywords: Isoniazid, MODS assay, MDR-TB, Rifampin.

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Authors: Zhichao Jiao, Craig Farnham, Jihui Yuan, Kazuo Emura

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It is common to use the outdoor design weather data to select the air-conditioning capacity in the building design stage. The meteorological elements of outdoor design weather data are usually selected based on their excess frequency separately while the dependency between the elements is not well considered. It means that the simultaneous occurrence probability of these elements is smaller than the original excess frequency which may cause an overestimation of selecting air-conditioning capacity. Therefore, the copula approach which can capture the dependency between multivariate data was used to model the joint distributions of the meteorological elements, like air temperature and global solar radiation. We suggest a method based on the specific simultaneous occurrence probability of these two elements of selecting more credible outdoor design conditions. The hourly weather data at 12 noon from 2001 to 2010 in Tokyo, Japan are used to analyze the dependency structure and joint distribution, the Gaussian copula represents the dependence of data best. According to calculating the air temperature and global solar radiation in specific simultaneous occurrence probability and the common exceeding, the results show that both the air temperature and global solar radiation based on simultaneous occurrence probability are lower than these based on the conventional method in the same probability.

Keywords: Copula approach, Design weather database, energy conservation, HVAC.

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Authors: D. B. L. Bong, K.C. Lai, A. Joseph

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The uses of road map in daily activities are numerous but it is a hassle to construct and update a road map whenever there are changes. In Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, research on Automatic Road Extraction (ARE) was explored to solve the difficulties in updating road map. The research started with using Satellite Image (SI), or in short, the ARE-SI project. A Hybrid Simple Colour Space Segmentation & Edge Detection (Hybrid SCSS-EDGE) algorithm was developed to extract roads automatically from satellite-taken images. In order to extract the road network accurately, the satellite image must be analyzed prior to the extraction process. The characteristics of these elements are analyzed and consequently the relationships among them are determined. In this study, the road regions are extracted based on colour space elements and edge details of roads. Besides, edge detection method is applied to further filter out the non-road regions. The extracted road regions are validated by using a segmentation method. These results are valuable for building road map and detecting the changes of the existing road database. The proposed Hybrid Simple Colour Space Segmentation and Edge Detection (Hybrid SCSS-EDGE) algorithm can perform the tasks fully automatic, where the user only needs to input a high-resolution satellite image and wait for the result. Moreover, this system can work on complex road network and generate the extraction result in seconds.

Keywords: Road Network Recognition, Colour Space, Edge Detection, Urban Planning.

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Authors: Yuan-Jye Tseng, Fang-Yu Yu, Feng-Yi Huang

Abstract:

A green design for assembly model is presented to integrate design evaluation and assembly and disassembly sequence planning by evaluating the three activities in one integrated model. For an assembled product, an assembly sequence planning model is required for assembling the product at the start of the product life cycle. A disassembly sequence planning model is needed for disassembling the product at the end. In a green product life cycle, it is important to plan how a product can be disassembled, reused, or recycled, before the product is actually assembled and produced. Given a product requirement, there may be several design alternative cases to design the same product. In the different design cases, the assembly and disassembly sequences for producing the product can be different. In this research, a new model is presented to concurrently evaluate the design and plan the assembly and disassembly sequences. First, the components are represented by using graph based models. Next, a particle swarm optimization (PSO) method with a new encoding scheme is developed. In the new PSO encoding scheme, a particle is represented by a position matrix defining an assembly sequence and a disassembly sequence. The assembly and disassembly sequences can be simultaneously planned with an objective of minimizing the total of assembly costs and disassembly costs. The test results show that the presented method is feasible and efficient for solving the integrated design evaluation and assembly and disassembly sequence planning problem. An example product is implemented and illustrated in this paper.

Keywords: green design, assembly and disassembly sequence planning, green design for assembly, particle swarm optimization.

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Authors: Dongwan Kang, Joohyung Oh, Chaetae Im

Abstract:

Advancement of communication technologies and smart devices in the recent times is leading to changes into the integrated wired and wireless communication environments. Since early days, businesses had started introducing environments for mobile device application to their operations in order to improve productivity (efficiency) and the closed corporate environment gradually shifted to an open structure. Recently, individual user's interest in working environment using mobile devices has increased and a new corporate working environment under the concept of BYOD is drawing attention. BYOD (bring your own device) is a concept where individuals bring in and use their own devices in business activities. Through BYOD, businesses can anticipate improved productivity (efficiency) and also a reduction in the cost of purchasing devices. However, as a result of security threats caused by frequent loss and theft of personal devices and corporate data leaks due to low security, companies are reluctant about adopting BYOD system. In addition, without considerations to diverse devices and connection environments, there are limitations in detecting abnormal behaviors, such as information leaks, using the existing network-based security equipment. This study suggests a method to detect abnormal behaviors according to individual behavioral patterns, rather than the existing signature-based malicious behavior detection, and discusses applications of this method in BYOD environment.

Keywords: BYOD, Security, Anomaly Behavior Detection.

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Authors: Sihem Chaibeddra, Fattoum Kharchi, Fahim Kahlouche, Youcef Benna

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In the recent years, a considerable level of interest has been developed on the use of earth in construction, led by its rediscovery as an environmentally building material. The Stabilized Earth Concrete (SEC) is a good alternative to the cement concrete, thanks to its thermal and moisture regulating features. Many parameters affect the behavior of stabilized earth concrete. This article presents research results related to the influence of the compacting nature on some SEC properties namely: The mechanical behavior, capillary absorption, shrinkage and sustainability to water erosion, and this, basing on two types of compacting: Manual and semi-automatic.

Keywords: Behavior, compacting, manual, SEC, semi-automatic.

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Authors: Deng Zengming, Wang Mingjiang

Abstract:

As 3D video is explored as a hot research topic in the last few decades, free-viewpoint TV (FTV) is no doubt a promising field for its better visual experience and incomparable interactivity. View synthesis is obviously a crucial technology for FTV; it enables to render images in unlimited numbers of virtual viewpoints with the information from limited numbers of reference view. In this paper, a novel hybrid synthesis framework is proposed and blending priority is explored. In contrast to the commonly used View Synthesis Reference Software (VSRS), the presented synthesis process is driven in consideration of the temporal correlation of image sequences. The temporal correlations will be exploited to produce fine synthesis results even near the foreground boundaries. As for the blending priority, this scheme proposed that one of the two reference views is selected to be the main reference view based on the distance between the reference views and virtual view, another view is chosen as the auxiliary viewpoint, just assist to fill the hole pixel with the help of background information. Significant improvement of the proposed approach over the state-of –the-art pixel-based virtual view synthesis method is presented, the results of the experiments show that subjective gains can be observed, and objective PSNR average gains range from 0.5 to 1.3 dB, while SSIM average gains range from 0.01 to 0.05.

Keywords: View synthesis, Gaussian mixture model, hybrid framework, fusion method.

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Authors: Bagher Rahimpour Cami, Hamid Hassanpour, Hoda Mashayekhi

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Nowadays websites provide a vast number of resources for users. Recommender systems have been developed as an essential element of these websites to provide a personalized environment for users. They help users to retrieve interested resources from large sets of available resources. Due to the dynamic feature of user preference, constructing an appropriate model to estimate the user preference is the major task of recommender systems. Profile matching and latent factors are two main approaches to identify user preference. In this paper, we employed the latent factor and profile matching to cluster the user profile and identify user preference, respectively. The method uses the Distance Dependent Chines Restaurant Process as a Bayesian nonparametric framework to extract the latent factors from the user profile. These latent factors are mapped to user interests and a weighted distribution is used to identify user preferences. We evaluate the proposed method using a real-world data-set that contains news tweets of a news agency (BBC). The experimental results and comparisons show the superior recommendation accuracy of the proposed approach related to existing methods, and its ability to effectively evolve over time.

Keywords: Content-based recommender systems, dynamic user modeling, extracting user interests, predicting user preference.

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Authors: M.Yousefi, A.Vatanjou, F.Nazeri

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A fast settling multipath CMOS OTA for high speed switched capacitor applications is presented here. With the basic topology similar to folded-cascode, bandwidth and DC gain of the OTA are enhanced by adding extra paths for signal from input to output. Designed circuit is simulated with HSPICE using level 49 parameters (BSIM 3v3) in 0.35mm standard CMOS technology. DC gain achieved is 56.7dB and Unity Gain Bandwidth (UGB) obtained is 1.15GHz. These results confirm that adding extra paths for signal can improve DC gain and UGB of folded-cascode significantly.

Keywords: OTA (Operational Transconductance Amplifier), DC gain, Unity Gain Bandwidth (UGBW)

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Authors: Murray L. Ireland, Kevin J. Worrall, Rebecca Mackenzie, Thaleia Flessa, Euan McGookin, Douglas Thomson

Abstract:

Robotic rovers which are designed to work in extra-terrestrial environments present a unique challenge in terms of the reliability and availability of systems throughout the mission. Should some fault occur, with the nearest human potentially millions of kilometres away, detection and identification of the fault must be performed solely by the robot and its subsystems. Faults in the system sensors are relatively straightforward to detect, through the residuals produced by comparison of the system output with that of a simple model. However, faults in the input, that is, the actuators of the system, are harder to detect. A step change in the input signal, caused potentially by the loss of an actuator, can propagate through the system, resulting in complex residuals in multiple outputs. These residuals can be difficult to isolate or distinguish from residuals caused by environmental disturbances. While a more complex fault detection method or additional sensors could be used to solve these issues, an alternative is presented here. Using inverse simulation (InvSim), the inputs and outputs of the mathematical model of the rover system are reversed. Thus, for a desired trajectory, the corresponding actuator inputs are obtained. A step fault near the input then manifests itself as a step change in the residual between the system inputs and the input trajectory obtained through inverse simulation. This approach avoids the need for additional hardware on a mass- and power-critical system such as the rover. The InvSim fault detection method is applied to a simple four-wheeled rover in simulation. Additive system faults and an external disturbance force and are applied to the vehicle in turn, such that the dynamic response and sensor output of the rover are impacted. Basic model-based fault detection is then employed to provide output residuals which may be analysed to provide information on the fault/disturbance. InvSim-based fault detection is then employed, similarly providing input residuals which provide further information on the fault/disturbance. The input residuals are shown to provide clearer information on the location and magnitude of an input fault than the output residuals. Additionally, they can allow faults to be more clearly discriminated from environmental disturbances.

Keywords: Fault detection, inverse simulation, rover, ground robot.

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Authors: Vahid Rostami, Saeed Ebrahimijam, P.khajehpoor, P.Mirzaei, Mahdi Yousefiazar

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This paper introduces our first efforts of developing a new team for RoboCup Middle Size Competition. In our robots we have applied omni directional based mobile system with omnidirectional vision system and fuzzy control algorithm to navigate robots. The control architecture of MRL middle-size robots is a three layered architecture, Planning, Sequencing, and Executing. It also uses Blackboard system to achieve coordination among agents. Moreover, the architecture should have minimum dependency on low level structure and have a uniform protocol to interact with real robot.

Keywords: Robocup, Soccer robots, Fuzzy controller, Multi agent.

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Authors: Celso L. Fernando, Toshio Yoshii, Takahiro Tsubota

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Understanding the causes of a road accident and predicting their occurrence is key to prevent deaths and serious injuries from road accident events. Traditional statistical methods such as the Poisson and the Logistics regressions have been used to find the association of the traffic environmental factors with the accident occurred; recently, an artificial neural network, ANN, a computational technique that learns from historical data to make a more accurate prediction, has emerged. Although the ability to make accurate predictions, the ANN has difficulty dealing with highly unbalanced attribute patterns distribution in the training dataset; in such circumstances, the ANN treats the minority group as noise. However, in the real world data, the minority group is often the group of interest; e.g., in the road traffic accident data, the events of the accident are the group of interest. This study proposes a combination of the k-means with the ANN to improve the predictive ability of the neural network model by alleviating the effect of the unbalanced distribution of the attribute patterns in the training dataset. The results show that the proposed method improves the ability of the neural network to make a prediction on a highly unbalanced distributed attribute patterns dataset; however, on an even distributed attribute patterns dataset, the proposed method performs almost like a standard neural network. 

Keywords: Accident risks estimation, artificial neural network, deep learning, K-mean, road safety.

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Authors: Satien Janpla, Kunyanuth Kularbphettong

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This paper aims to present the development of a web‑based system to serve the need of selling OTOP products in Samut Songkhram, Thailand. This system was designed to promote and sell OTOP products on Web site. We describe the design approaches and functional components of this system. The system was developed by PHP and JavaScript and MySQL database System. To evaluate the system performance, questionnaires were used to measure user satisfaction with system usability by specialists and users. The results were satisfactory as followed: Means for specialists and users were 4.05 and 3.97, and standard deviation for specialists and users were 0.563 and 0.644 respectively. Further analysis showed that the quality of One Tambon One Product (OTOP) Website was also at a good level as well.

Keywords: Web-based system, OTOP, product.

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Authors: M. Örvös, T. Balázs, K. F. Both

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From environmental aspect purification of ammonia containing wastewater is expected. High efficiency ammonia desorption can be done from the water by air on proper temperature. After the desorption process, ammonia can be recovered and used in another technology. The calculation method described below give some methods to find either the minimum column height or ammonia rich solution of the effluent.

Keywords: Absorber, desorber, packed column.

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Authors: J. T. Manhire

Abstract:

A tax authority wants to take actions it knows will foster the greatest degree of voluntary taxpayer compliance to reduce the “tax gap.” This paper suggests that even if a tax authority could attain a state of complete knowledge, there are constraints on whether and to what extent such actions would result in reducing the macro-level tax gap. These limits are not merely a consequence of finite agency resources. They are inherent in the system itself. To show that this is one possible interpretation of the tax gap data, the paper formulates known results in a different way by analyzing tax compliance as a population with a single covariate. This leads to a standard use of the logistic map to analyze the dynamics of non-compliance growth or decay over a sequence of periods. This formulation gives the same results as the tax gap studies performed over the past fifty years in the U.S. given the published margins of error. Limitations and recommendations for future work are discussed, along with some implications for tax policy.

Keywords: Tax law, tax compliance, tax gap, income tax.

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Authors: B.Tavakoly Sany, A. Salleh, A.H .Sulaiman, A. Mehdinia, GH. Monazami

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One year (November 2009-October 2010) sediment monitoring was used to evaluate pollution status, concentration and distribution of heavy metals (As, Cu, Cd, Cr, Hg, Ni, Pb and Zn) in West Port of Malaysia. Sediment sample were collected from nine stations every four months. Geo-accumulation factor and Pollution Load Index (PLI) were estimated to better understand the pollution level in study area. The heavy metal concentration (Mg/g dry weight) were ranged from 20.2 to 162 for As, 7.4 to 27.6 for Cu, 0.244 to 3.53 for Cd, 11.5 to 61.5 for Cr, 0.11 to 0.409 for Hg, 7.2 to 22.2 for Ni, 22.3 to 80 for Pb and 23 to 98.3 for Zn. In general, concentration some metals (As,Cd, Hg and Pb) was higher than background values that are considered as serious concern for aquatic life and the human health.

Keywords: Heavy metals, Sediment Quality, geo-accumulationindex, Pollution Load Index

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Authors: Sasitorn Chetanont

Abstract:

The objectives of this study are to study Chinese tourist’s Behaviors towards travel and shopping in Bangkok. The research methodology was a quantitative research. The sample of this research was 400 Chinese tourists in Bangkok chosen by the accidental sampling and the purposive sampling. Inferential Statistics Analysis by using the Chi-square statistics. As for the results of this study the researcher found that differences between personal, social and cultural information, i.e., gender, age, place of residence, educational level, occupation, income, family, and main objectives of tourism with behaviors of Chinese tourists in Bangkok towards travel and shopping in Bangkok.

Keywords: Tourists’ behavior, Chinese tourists, travelling, expenses in travels.

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Authors: A. T. Eswara

Abstract:

This paper analyses the unsteady, two-dimensional stagnation point flow of an incompressible viscous fluid over a flat sheet when the flow is started impulsively from rest and at the same time, the sheet is suddenly stretched in its own plane with a velocity proportional to the distance from the stagnation point. The partial differential equations governing the laminar boundary layer forced convection flow are non-dimensionalised using semi-similar transformations and then solved numerically using an implicit finitedifference scheme known as the Keller-box method. Results pertaining to the flow and heat transfer characteristics are computed for all dimensionless time, uniformly valid in the whole spatial region without any numerical difficulties. Analytical solutions are also obtained for both small and large times, respectively representing the initial unsteady and final steady state flow and heat transfer. Numerical results indicate that the velocity ratio parameter is found to have a significant effect on skin friction and heat transfer rate at the surface. Furthermore, it is exposed that there is a smooth transition from the initial unsteady state flow (small time solution) to the final steady state (large time solution).

Keywords: Forced flow, Keller-box method, Stagnation point, Stretching flat sheet, Unsteady laminar boundary layer, Velocity ratio parameter.

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Authors: Nidhal Jamia, Sami El-Borgi

Abstract:

In this paper, the problem of a mixed-Mode crack embedded in an infinite medium made of a functionally graded piezoelectric material (FGPM) with crack surfaces subjected to electro-mechanical loadings is investigated. Eringen’s non-local theory of elasticity is adopted to formulate the governing electro-elastic equations. The properties of the piezoelectric material are assumed to vary exponentially along a perpendicular plane to the crack. Using Fourier transform, three integral equations are obtained in which the unknown variables are the jumps of mechanical displacements and electric potentials across the crack surfaces. To solve the integral equations, the unknowns are directly expanded as a series of Jacobi polynomials, and the resulting equations solved using the Schmidt method. In contrast to the classical solutions based on the local theory, it is found that no mechanical stress and electric displacement singularities are present at the crack tips when nonlocal theory is employed to investigate the problem. A direct benefit is the ability to use the calculated maximum stress as a fracture criterion. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the effects of crack length, material gradient parameter describing FGPMs, and lattice parameter on the mechanical stress and electric displacement field near crack tips.

Keywords: Functionally graded piezoelectric material, mixed-mode crack, non-local theory, Schmidt method.

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Authors: Geon-Woo Kim, Do-Woo Kim, Jun-Ho Lee, Jin-Beon Hwang, Jong-Wook Han

Abstract:

As various mobile sensing technologies, remote control and ubiquitous infrastructure are developing and expectations on quality of life are increasing, a lot of researches and developments on home network technologies and services are actively on going, Until now, we have focused on how to provide users with high-level home network services, while not many researches on home network security for guaranteeing safety are progressing. So, in this paper, we propose an access control model specific to home network that provides various kinds of users with home network services up one-s characteristics and features, and protects home network systems from illegal/unnecessary accesses or intrusions.

Keywords: Home network security, RBAC, access control, authentication.

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Authors: Nina V. Zaitseva, Pavel Z. Shur, Nina G. Atiskova

Abstract:

Nowadays harmonization of sanitary and hygienic standards of environmental quality with international standards is crucial part of integration of Russia into the international community. Harmonization of Russian and international ambient air quality standards may be realized by risk-based standards development. In this paper approaches to risk-based standards development and examples of these approaches implementation are presented.

Keywords: Harmonization, health risk assessment, evolutionary modelling, benchmark level, nickel, manganese.

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Authors: Zunaira Asif, Zhi Chen

Abstract:

The sustainable measures on air quality management are recognized as one of the most serious environmental concerns in the mining region. The mining operations emit various types of pollutants which have significant impacts on the environment. This study presents a stochastic control strategy by developing the air pollution control model to achieve a cost-effective solution. The optimization method is formulated to predict the cost of treatment using linear programming with an objective function and multi-constraints. The constraints mainly focus on two factors which are: production of metal should not exceed the available resources, and air quality should meet the standard criteria of the pollutant. The applicability of this model is explored through a case study of an open pit metal mine, Utah, USA. This method simultaneously uses meteorological data as a dispersion transfer function to support the practical local conditions. The probabilistic analysis and the uncertainties in the meteorological conditions are accomplished by Monte Carlo simulation. Reasonable results have been obtained to select the optimized treatment technology for PM_2.5, PM₁₀, NO_x, and SO₂. Additional comparison analysis shows that baghouse is the least cost option as compared to electrostatic precipitator and wet scrubbers for particulate matter, whereas non-selective catalytical reduction and dry-flue gas desulfurization are suitable for NO_x and SO₂ reduction respectively. Thus, this model can aid planners to reduce these pollutants at a marginal cost by suggesting control pollution devices, while accounting for dynamic meteorological conditions and mining activities.

Keywords: Air pollution, linear programming, mining, optimization, treatment technologies.

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Authors: F-E. Ouboutaib, A. Aitheda, S. Mekkaoui

Abstract:

Marketing research is starting to focus on authenticity to position an offer, especially terroir products. However, with internet its usage remains more problematic. This paper investigates how digitalization impacts the satisfaction of the quest for authenticity. On the theoretical level, it explains authenticity in the online and offline context in the postmodernism era. Then, an exploratory qualitative study tries to understand the contribution of the digitization to the satisfaction of the search of authenticity. Therefore, cooperatives selling terroir product on the internet are advised to keep also direct contact which tends to show traditional manner of production, in order to enhance customers’ perception of terroir product authenticity.

Keywords: Authenticity, online authenticity, postmodernism, terroir products.

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Authors: E. Nemes-Nagy, E. Fogarasi, M. Croitoru, A. Nyárádi, K. Komlódi, S. Pál, A. Kovács, O. Kopácsy, R. Tripon, Z. Fazakas, C. Uzun, Z. Simon-Szabó, V. Balogh-Sămărghițan, E. Ernő Nagy, M. Szabó, M. Tilinca

Abstract:

Intense oxidative stress, increased glycated hemoglobin and mineral imbalance represent risk factors for complications in diabetic patients. Cardiovascular complications are most common in these patients, including nephropathy. This study was conducted in 2015 at the Procardia Laboratory in Tîrgu Mureș, Romania on 40 type 2 diabetic adults. Routine biochemical tests were performed on the Konleab 20XTi analyzer (serum glucose, total cholesterol, LDL and HDL cholesterol, triglyceride, creatinine, urea). We also measured serum uric acid, magnesium and calcium concentration by photometric procedures, potassium, sodium and chloride by ion selective electrode, and chromium by atomic absorption spectrometry in a group of patients. Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) dosage was made by reflectometry. Urine analysis was performed using the HandUReader equipment. The level of oxidative stress was measured by serum malondialdehyde dosage using the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances method. MDRD (Modification of Diet in Renal Disease) formula was applied for calculation of creatinine-derived glomerular filtration rate. GraphPad InStat software was used for statistical analysis of the data. The diabetic subject included in the study presented high MDA concentrations, showing intense oxidative stress. Calcium was deficient in 5% of the patients, chromium deficiency was present in 28%. The atherogenic cholesterol fraction was elevated in 13% of the patients. Positive correlation was found between creatinine and MDRD-creatinine values (p<0.0001), 68% of the patients presented increased creatinine values. The majority of the diabetic patients had good control of their diabetes, having optimal HbA1c values, 35% of them presented fasting serum glucose over 120 mg/dl and 18% had glucosuria. Intense oxidative stress and mineral deficiencies can increase the risk of cardiovascular complications in diabetic patients in spite of their good metabolic balance. More than two third of the patients present biochemical signs of nephropathy, cystatin C dosage and microalbuminuria could reveal better the kidney disorder, but glomerular filtration rate calculation formulas are also useful for evaluation of renal function.

Keywords: Cardiovascular risk, malondialdehyde, metabolic balance, minerals, type 2 diabetes.

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Authors: Chin-Yin Chen, Chi-Cheng Cheng

Abstract:

This paper aims at to develop a robust optimization methodology for the mechatronic modules of machine tools by considering all important characteristics from all structural and control domains in one single process. The relationship between these two domains is strongly coupled. In order to reduce the disturbance caused by parameters in either one, the mechanical and controller design domains need to be integrated. Therefore, the concurrent integrated design method Design For Control (DFC), will be employed in this paper. In this connect, it is not only applied to achieve minimal power consumption but also enhance structural performance and system response at same time. To investigate the method for integrated optimization, a mechatronic feed drive system of the machine tools is used as a design platform. Pro/Engineer and AnSys are first used to build the 3D model to analyze and design structure parameters such as elastic deformation, nature frequency and component size, based on their effects and sensitivities to the structure. In addition, the robust controller,based on Quantitative Feedback Theory (QFT), will be applied to determine proper control parameters for the controller. Therefore, overall physical properties of the machine tool will be obtained in the initial stage. Finally, the technology of design for control will be carried out to modify the structural and control parameters to achieve overall system performance. Hence, the corresponding productivity is expected to be greatly improved.

Keywords: Machine tools, integrated structure and control design, design for control, multilevel decomposition, quantitative feedback theory.

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Authors: Burak Yildirim, Muhsin Tunay Gençoğlu

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A microgrid (MG) is a small power grid composed of localized medium or low level power generation, storage systems, and loads. In this paper, the effects of a MG on power systems voltage stability are shown. The MG model, designed to demonstrate the effects of the MG, was applied to the IEEE 14 bus power system which is widely used in power system stability studies. Eigenvalue and modal analysis methods were used in simulation studies. In the study results, it is seen that MGs affect system voltage stability positively by increasing system voltage instability limit value for buses of a power system in which MG are placed.

Keywords: Eigenvalue analysis, microgrid, modal analysis, voltage stability.

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Authors: Alia Alghosoun, Nabil El Moçayd, Mohammed Seaid

Abstract:

Modeling dam-break flows over non-flat beds requires an accurate representation of the topography which is the main source of uncertainty in the model. Therefore, developing robust and accurate techniques for reconstructing topography in this class of problems would reduce the uncertainty in the flow system. In many hydraulic applications, experimental techniques have been widely used to measure the bed topography. In practice, experimental work in hydraulics may be very demanding in both time and cost. Meanwhile, computational hydraulics have served as an alternative for laboratory and field experiments. Unlike the forward problem, the inverse problem is used to identify the bed parameters from the given experimental data. In this case, the shallow water equations used for modeling the hydraulics need to be rearranged in a way that the model parameters can be evaluated from measured data. However, this approach is not always possible and it suffers from stability restrictions. In the present work, we propose an adaptive optimal control technique to numerically identify the underlying bed topography from a given set of free-surface observation data. In this approach, a minimization function is defined to iteratively determine the model parameters. The proposed technique can be interpreted as a fractional-stage scheme. In the first stage, the forward problem is solved to determine the measurable parameters from known data. In the second stage, the adaptive control Ensemble Kalman Filter is implemented to combine the optimality of observation data in order to obtain the accurate estimation of the topography. The main features of this method are on one hand, the ability to solve for different complex geometries with no need for any rearrangements in the original model to rewrite it in an explicit form. On the other hand, its achievement of strong stability for simulations of flows in different regimes containing shocks or discontinuities over any geometry. Numerical results are presented for a dam-break flow problem over non-flat bed using different solvers for the shallow water equations. The robustness of the proposed method is investigated using different numbers of loops, sensitivity parameters, initial samples and location of observations. The obtained results demonstrate high reliability and accuracy of the proposed techniques.

Keywords: Optimal control, ensemble Kalman Filter, topography reconstruction, data assimilation, shallow water equations.

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Authors: Assem M. F. Sallam, Ah. El-S. Makled

Abstract:

In this paper, there is an implementation, verification, and graphical demonstration of a software application, which can be used swiftly over different preliminary orbit determination methods. A passive orbit determination method is used in this study to determine the location of a satellite or a flying body. It is named a passive orbit determination because it depends on observation without the use of any aids (radio and laser) installed on satellite. In order to understand how these methods work and how their output is accurate when compared with available verification data, the built models help in knowing the different inputs used with each method. Output from the different orbit determination methods (Gibbs, Lambert, and Gauss) will be compared with each other and verified by the data obtained from Satellite Tool Kit (STK) application. A modified model including all of the orbit determination methods using the same input will be introduced to investigate different models output (orbital parameters) for the same input (azimuth, elevation, and time). Simulation software is implemented using MATLAB. A Graphical User Interface (GUI) application named OrDet is produced using the GUI of MATLAB. It includes all the available used inputs and it outputs the current Classical Orbital Elements (COE) of satellite under observation. Produced COE are then used to propagate for a complete revolution and plotted on a 3-D view. Modified model which uses an adapter to allow same input parameters, passes these parameters to the preliminary orbit determination methods under study. Result from all orbit determination methods yield exactly the same COE output, which shows the equality of concept in determination of satellite’s location, but with different numerical methods.

Keywords: Orbit determination, STK, MATLAB-GUI, satellite tracking.

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Authors: Ruhugül Özge Gemici

Abstract:

The need for open space, which is an important problem especially since the 19th century, has become more important in today's conditions. The most important factor in increasing the livability of cities is the open and green areas. Parks are the most important of the urban open and green space elements that provide the most benefit to users. In this context, the user satisfaction of the Japanese Kyoto Park, which is the subject of the research, was evaluated in the light of the questionnaires. With this analysis, the satisfaction level of the user using the park was determined. Suggestions have been developed for the park to be handled and regulated according to the user requests and requirements changing over time.

Keywords: Japanese park, landscape, landscape design, open and green areas.

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Authors: Xiaoshu Lu, Päivi Leino-Arjas, Kustaa Piha, Akseli Aittomäki, Peppiina Saastamoinen, Ossi Rahkonen, Eero Lahelma

Abstract:

Sickness absence represents a major economic and social issue. Analysis of sick leave data is a recurrent challenge to analysts because of the complexity of the data structure which is often time dependent, highly skewed and clumped at zero. Ignoring these features to make statistical inference is likely to be inefficient and misguided. Traditional approaches do not address these problems. In this study, we discuss model methodologies in terms of statistical techniques for addressing the difficulties with sick leave data. We also introduce and demonstrate a new method by performing a longitudinal assessment of long-term absenteeism using a large registration dataset as a working example available from the Helsinki Health Study for municipal employees from Finland during the period of 1990-1999. We present a comparative study on model selection and a critical analysis of the temporal trends, the occurrence and degree of long-term sickness absences among municipal employees. The strengths of this working example include the large sample size over a long follow-up period providing strong evidence in supporting of the new model. Our main goal is to propose a way to select an appropriate model and to introduce a new methodology for analysing sickness absence data as well as to demonstrate model applicability to complicated longitudinal data.

Keywords: Sickness absence, longitudinal data, methodologies, mix-distribution model.

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