Search results for: quality of accounting information.

Authors: H. Shareef, A. Mohamed, S. A. Khalid, Aziah Khamis

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This paper presents application artificial intelligent (AI) techniques, namely artificial neural network (ANN), adaptive neuro fuzzy interface system (ANFIS), to estimate the real power transfer between generators and loads. Since these AI techniques adopt supervised learning, it first uses modified nodal equation method (MNE) to determine real power contribution from each generator to loads. Then the results of MNE method and load flow information are utilized to estimate the power transfer using AI techniques. The 25-bus equivalent system of south Malaysia is utilized as a test system to illustrate the effectiveness of both AI methods compared to that of the MNE method. The mean squared error of the estimate of ANN and ANFIS power transfer allocation methods are 1.19E-05 and 2.97E-05, respectively. Furthermore, when compared to MNE method, ANN and ANFIS methods computes generator contribution to loads within 20.99 and 39.37msec respectively whereas the MNE method took 360msec for the calculation of same real power transfer allocation. 

Keywords: Artificial intelligence, Power tracing, Artificial neural network, ANFIS, Power system deregulation.

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Authors: S. E. Oraby, A.M. Alaskari

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The stochastic nature of tool life using conventional discrete-wear data from experimental tests usually exists due to many individual and interacting parameters. It is a common practice in batch production to continually use the same tool to machine different parts, using disparate machining parameters. In such an environment, the optimal points at which tools have to be changed, while achieving minimum production cost and maximum production rate within the surface roughness specifications, have not been adequately studied. In the current study, two relevant aspects are investigated using coated and uncoated inserts in turning operations: (i) the accuracy of using machinability information, from fixed parameters testing procedures, when variable parameters situations are emerged, and (ii) the credibility of tool life machinability data from prior discrete testing procedures in a non-stop machining. A novel technique is proposed and verified to normalize the conventional fixed parameters machinability data to suit the cases when parameters have to be changed for the same tool. Also, an experimental investigation has been established to evaluate the error in the tool life assessment when machinability from discrete testing procedures is employed in uninterrupted practical machining.

Keywords: Machinability, tool life, tool wear, wear variability

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Authors: Ashkan Shafee, Ahamd Fahimifar, Sajjad V. Maghvan

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Promotion of the Fiber Reinforced Concrete (FRC) as a construction material for civil engineering projects has invoked numerous researchers to investigate their mechanical behavior. Even though there is satisfactory information about the effects of fiber type and length, concrete mixture, casting type and other variables on the strength and deformability parameters of FRC, the numerical modeling of such materials still needs research attention. The focus of this study is to investigate the feasibility of Concrete Damaged Plasticity (CDP) model in prediction of Macro-synthetic FRC structures behavior. CDP model requires the tensile behavior of concrete to be well characterized. For this purpose, a series of uniaxial direct tension and four point bending tests were conducted on the notched specimens to define bilinear tension softening (post-peak tension stress-strain) behavior. With these parameters obtained, the flexural behavior of macro-synthetic FRC beams were modeled and the results showed a good agreement with the experimental measurements.

Keywords: Concrete damaged plasticity, fiber reinforced concrete, finite element modeling, macro-synthetic fibers, direct tensile test.

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Authors: Vinti Davar

Abstract:

Background: Worldwide, at least 2.8 million people die each year as a result of being overweight or obese, and 35.8 million (2.3%) of global DALYs are caused by overweight or obesity. Obesity is acknowledged as one of the burning public health problems reducing life expectancy and quality of life. The body composition analysis of the university population is essential in assessing the nutritional status, as well as the risk of developing diseases associated with abnormal body fat content so as to make nutritional recommendations. Objectives: The main aim was to determine the prevalence of obesity and overweight in University students using Anthropometric analysis and BIA methods. Material and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 283 university students participated. The body composition analysis was undertaken by using mainly: i) Anthropometric Measurement: Height, Weight, BMI, waist circumference, hip circumference and skin fold thickness, ii) Bio-electrical impedance was used for analysis of body fat mass, fat percent and visceral fat which was measured by Tanita SC-330P Professional Body Composition Analyzer. The data so collected were compiled in MS Excel and analyzed for males and females using SPSS 16. Results and Discussion: The mean age of the male (n= 153) studied subjects was 25.37 ±2.39 years and females (n=130) was 22.53 ±2.31. The data of BIA revealed very high mean fat per cent of the female subjects i.e. 30.3±6.5 per cent whereas mean fat per cent of the male subjects was 15.60±6.02 per cent indicating a normal body fat range. The findings showed high visceral fat of both males (12.92±3.02) and females (16.86±4.98). BMI, BF% and WHR were higher among females, and BMI was higher among males. The most evident correlation was verified between BF% and WHR for female students (r=0.902; p<0.001). The correlation of BFM and BF% with thickness of triceps, sub scapular and abdominal skin folds and BMI was significant (P<0.001). Conclusion: The studied data made it obvious that there is a need to initiate lifestyle changing strategies especially for adult females and encourage them to improve their dietary intake to prevent incidence of noncommunicable diseases due to obesity and high fat percentage.

Keywords: Anthropometry, bioelectrical impedance, body fat percentage, obesity.

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Authors: P. Uthansakul, K. Attakitmongkol, N. Promsuvana, M. Uthansakul

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It is well known that the channel capacity of Multiple- Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) system increases as the number of antenna pairs between transmitter and receiver increases but it suffers from multiple expensive RF chains. To reduce the cost of RF chains, Antenna Selection (AS) method can offer a good tradeoff between expense and performance. In a transmitting AS system, Channel State Information (CSI) feedback is necessarily required to choose the best subset of antennas in which the effects of delays and errors occurred in feedback channels are the most dominant factors degrading the performance of the AS method. This paper presents the concept of AS method using CSI from channel reciprocity instead of feedback method. Reciprocity technique can easily archive CSI by utilizing a reverse channel where the forward and reverse channels are symmetrically considered in time, frequency and location. In this work, the capacity performance of MIMO system when using AS method at transmitter with reciprocity channels is investigated by own developing Testbed. The obtained results show that reciprocity technique offers capacity close to a system with a perfect CSI and gains a higher capacity than a system without AS method from 0.9 to 2.2 bps/Hz at SNR 10 dB.

Keywords: Antenna Selection, Capacity, Channel, Measurement, MIMO, Reciprocity.

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Authors: A. Shukla, A. Tarsauliya, R. Tiwari, S. Sharma

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Cancer classification to their corresponding cohorts has been key area of research in bioinformatics aiming better prognosis of the disease. High dimensionality of gene data has been makes it a complex task and requires significance data identification technique in order to reducing the dimensionality and identification of significant information. In this paper, we have proposed a novel approach for classification of oral cancer into metastasis positive and negative patients. We have used significance analysis of microarrays (SAM) for identifying significant genes which constitutes gene signature. 3 different gene signatures were identified using SAM from 3 different combination of training datasets and their classification accuracy was calculated on corresponding testing datasets using k-Nearest Neighbour (kNN), Fuzzy C-Means Clustering (FCM), Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Backpropagation Neural Network (BPNN). A final gene signature of only 9 genes was obtained from above 3 individual gene signatures. 9 gene signature-s classification capability was compared using same classifiers on same testing datasets. Results obtained from experimentation shows that 9 gene signature classified all samples in testing dataset accurately while individual genes could not classify all accurately.

Keywords: Cancer, Gene Signature, SAM, Classification.

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Authors: S. N. S. Thein, H. L. Yang, Z. B. Liu

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There are many modes of transport. Among them, maritime transport is a major transportation mode of international trade. In the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (Burma), water transportation served as one of the most important modes of transport for country's exports and imports. Getting the accurate information and data-gathering activity are the most important aspects for any study field. Therefore, in this research, a historical review of the development of ports in Myanmar and how they have changed had been carried out. All the relevant literature and documents have also been reviewed, studied, and organized. The sources of collected data are from reports, journals, internet, as well as from the publications of authorized organizations and international associations. To get better understanding about real situation of maritime transport and logistics in Myanmar; current condition of existing ports, expansion and on-going projects, and future port development plans are described successively. Hence, the main purpose of this study is to build up a comprehensive picture of maritime transport and logistics, in addition to border trade within ASEAN and Myanmar. It will help for academic researchers, decision makers, and stakeholders for national planning as well as for the local and foreign investors to recognize current situation of maritime transport and logistics in Myanmar.

Keywords: ASEAN, border trade, logistics, maritime transport, ports of Myanmar.

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Authors: Pudji Astuti, C. P. C. Putro, C. M. Airin, L. Sjahfirdi, S. Widiyanto, H. Maheshwari

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Stress of slaughter animals starting long before until at the time of process of slaughtering which cause misery and decrease of meat quality. Meanwhile, determination of animal stress using hormonal such as cortisol is expensive and less practical so that portable stress indicator for cows based on Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) must be provided. The aims of this research are to find out the comparison process of slaughter between Rope Casting Local (RCL) and Restraining Box Method (RBM) by measuring of cortisol and wavelength in FTIR methods. Thirty two of male Ongole crossbred cattle were used in this experiment. Blood sampling was taken from jugular vein when they were rested and repeated when slaughtered. All of blood samples were centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 20 minutes to get serum, and then divided into two parts for cortisol assayed using ELISA and for measuring the wavelength using FTIR. The serum then measured at the wavelength between 4000-400 cm-1 using MB3000 FTIR. Band data absorption in wavelength of FTIR is analyzed descriptively by using FTIR Horizon MBTM. For RCL, average of serum cortisol when the animals rested were 11.47 ± 4.88 ng/mL, when the time of slaughter were 23.27 ± 7.84 ng/mL. For RBM, level of cortisol when rested animals were 13.67 ± 3.41 ng/mL and 53.47 ± 20.25 ng/mL during the slaughter. Based on student t-Test, there were significantly different between RBM and RCL methods when beef cattle were slaughtered (P<0.05), but no significantly different when animals were rested (P>0.05). Result of FTIR with the various of wavelength such as methyl group (=CH3 ) 2986cm-1, methylene (=CH2 ) 2827 cm-1, hydroxyl (- OH) 3371 cm-1, carbonyl (ketones) (C=O) 1636 cm-1, carboxyl (COO-1) 1408 cm-1, glucosa 1057 cm-1, urea 1011 cm-1have been obtained. It can be concluded that the RCL slaughtered method is better than the RBM method based on the increase of cortisol as an indicator of stress in beef cattle (P<0.05). FTIR is really possible to be used as stub of stress tool due to differentiate of resting and slaughter condition by recognizing the increase of absorption and the separation of component group at the wavelength.  

Keywords: Cows, cortisol, FTIR, RBM, RCL, stress indicator.

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Authors: J. Siame, H. Kasaini

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The proof of concept experiments were conducted to determine the feasibility of using small amounts of Dissolved Sulphur (DS) from the gaseous phase to precipitate platinum ions in chloride media. Two sets of precipitation experiments were performed in which the source of sulphur atoms was either a thiosulphate solution (Na2S2O3) or a sulphur dioxide gas (SO2). In liquid-liquid (L-L) system, complete precipitation of Pt was achieved at small dosages of Na2S2O3 (0.01 – 1.0 M) in a time interval of 3-5 minutes. On the basis of this result, gas absorption tests were carried out mainly to achieve sulphur solubility equivalent to 0.018 M. The idea that huge amounts of precious metals could be recovered selectively from their dilute solutions by utilizing the waste SO2 streams at low pressure seemed attractive from the economic and environmental point of views. Therefore, mass transfer characteristics of SO2 gas associated with reactive absorption across the gas-liquid (G-L) interface were evaluated under different conditions of pressure (0.5 – 2 bar), solution temperature ranges from 20 – 50 oC and acid strength (1 – 4 M, HCl). This paper concludes with information about selective precipitation of Pt in the presence of cations (Fe2+, Co2+, and Cr3+) in a CSTR and recommendation to scale up laboratory data to industrial pilot scale operations.

Keywords: CSTR, diffusivity, platinum, selective precipitation, sulphur dioxide, thiosulphate.

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Authors: Harri Jalonen

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Faced with social and health system capacity constraints and rising and changing demand for welfare services, governments and welfare providers are increasingly relying on innovation to help support and enhance services. However, the evidence reported by several studies indicates that the realization of that potential is not an easy task. Innovations can be deemed inherently complex to implement and operate, because many of them involve a combination of technological and organizational renewal within an environment featuring a diversity of stakeholders. Many public welfare service innovations are markedly systemic in their nature, which means that they emerge from, and must address, the complex interplay between political, administrative, technological, institutional and legal issues. This paper suggests that stakeholders dealing with systemic innovation in welfare services must deal with ambiguous and incomplete information in circumstances of uncertainty. Employing a literature review methodology and case study, this paper identifies, categorizes and discusses different aspects of the uncertainty of systemic innovation in public welfare services, and argues that uncertainty can be classified into eight categories: technological uncertainty, market uncertainty, regulatory/institutional uncertainty, social/political uncertainty, acceptance/legitimacy uncertainty, managerial uncertainty, timing uncertainty and consequence uncertainty.

Keywords: Systemic innovation, uncertainty, welfare services

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Authors: Dasimah Bt Omar, Faizul Abdullah, Fatimah Yusof, Hazlina Hamdan, Naasah Nasrudin, Ishak Che Abullah

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The impacts of near-campus student housing, or offcampus students accommodation cannot be ignored by the universities and as well as the community officials. Numerous scholarly studies, have highlighted the substantial economic impacts either; direct, indirect or induced, and cumulatively the roles of the universities have significantly contributed to the local economies. The issue of the impacts of off-campus student rental housing on neighbourhoods is one that has been of long-standing but increasing concern in Malaysia. Statistically, in Malaysia, there was approximately a total of 1.2 - 1.5 million students in 2009. By the year 2015, it is expected that 50 per cent of 18 to 30 year olds active population should gain access to university education, amounting to 120,000 yearly. The objectives of the research are to assess the impacts off-campus students on the local neighbourhood and specifically to obtain information on the living and learning conditions of off-campus students of Universiti Teknologi MARA Shah Alam, Malaysia. It is also to isolate those factors that may impede the successful learning so that priority can be given to them in subsequent policy implementations and actions by government and the higher education institutions.

Keywords: off-campus students, neighbourhood, impacts, living and learning conditions

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Authors: Shafiq Alam, Mirza Hossain, Hesam Hassan Nejad

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Impurity metals such as manganese and cadmium from high-tenor cobalt electrolyte solution were selectively removed by solvent extraction method using Co-D2EHPA after converting the functional group of D2EHPA with Co2+ ions. The process parameters such as pH, organic concentration, O/A ratio, kinetics etc. were investigated and the experiments were conducted by batch tests in the laboratory bench scale. Results showed that a significant amount of manganese and cadmium can be extracted using Co-D2EHPA for the optimum processing of cobalt electrolyte solution at equilibrium pH about 3.5. The McCabe-Thiele diagram, constructed from the extraction studies showed that 100% impurities can be extracted through four stages for manganese and three stages for cadmium using O/A ratio of 0.65 and 1.0, respectively. From the stripping study, it was found that 100% manganese and cadmium can be stripped from the loaded organic using 0.4 M H2SO4 in a single contact. The loading capacity of Co-D2EHPA by manganese and cadmium were also investigated with different O/A ratio as well as with number of stages of contact of aqueous and organic phases. Valuable information was obtained for the designing of an impurities removal process for the production of pure cobalt with less trouble in the electrowinning circuit.

Keywords: Manganese, Cadmium, Cobalt, D2EHPA, Solvent extraction.

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Authors: Padmanabhan Balasubramanian, C. Hari Narayanan

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This paper discusses a new, systematic approach to the synthesis of a NP-hard class of non-regenerative Boolean networks, described by FON[FOFF]={mi}[{Mi}], where for every mj[Mj]∈{mi}[{Mi}], there exists another mk[Mk]∈{mi}[{Mi}], such that their Hamming distance HD(mj, mk)=HD(Mj, Mk)=O(n), (where 'n' represents the number of distinct primary inputs). The method automatically ensures exact minimization for certain important selfdual functions with 2n-1 points in its one-set. The elements meant for grouping are determined from a newly proposed weighted incidence matrix. Then the binary value corresponding to the candidate pair is correlated with the proposed binary value matrix to enable direct synthesis. We recommend algebraic factorization operations as a post processing step to enable reduction in literal count. The algorithm can be implemented in any high level language and achieves best cost optimization for the problem dealt with, irrespective of the number of inputs. For other cases, the method is iterated to subsequently reduce it to a problem of O(n-1), O(n-2),.... and then solved. In addition, it leads to optimal results for problems exhibiting higher degree of adjacency, with a different interpretation of the heuristic, and the results are comparable with other methods. In terms of literal cost, at the technology independent stage, the circuits synthesized using our algorithm enabled net savings over AOI (AND-OR-Invert) logic, AND-EXOR logic (EXOR Sum-of- Products or ESOP forms) and AND-OR-EXOR logic by 45.57%, 41.78% and 41.78% respectively for the various problems. Circuit level simulations were performed for a wide variety of case studies at 3.3V and 2.5V supply to validate the performance of the proposed method and the quality of the resulting synthesized circuits at two different voltage corners. Power estimation was carried out for a 0.35micron TSMC CMOS process technology. In comparison with AOI logic, the proposed method enabled mean savings in power by 42.46%. With respect to AND-EXOR logic, the proposed method yielded power savings to the tune of 31.88%, while in comparison with AND-OR-EXOR level networks; average power savings of 33.23% was obtained.

Keywords: AOI logic, ESOP, AND-OR-EXOR, Incidencematrix, Hamming distance.

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Authors: Zulkefli bin Ibrahim, Ainin Sulaiman, Tengku M. Faziharudean

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Malaysia is aggressive in promoting the usage of ICT to its mass population through the support by the government policies and programs targeting the general population. However, with the uneven distribution of the basic telecommunication infrastructure between the urban and rural area, cost for being “interconnected" that is considered high among the poorer rural population and the lack of local contents that suit the rural population needs or lifestyles, it is still a challenge for Malaysia to achieve its Vision 2020 Agenda moving the nation towards an information society by the year 2020. Among the existing programs that have been carried out by the government to encourage the usage of ICT by the rural population is “Kedaikom", a community telecenter with the general aim is to engage the community to get exposed and to use the ICT, encouraging the diffusion of the ICT technology to the rural population. The research investigated by using a questionnaire survey of how Kedaikom, as a community telecenter could play a role in encouraging the rural or underserved community to use the ICT. The result from the survey has proven that the community telecenter could bridge the digital divide between the underserved rural population and the well-accessed urban population in Malaysia. More of the rural population, especially from the younger generation and those with higher educational background are using the community telecenter to be connected to the ICT.

Keywords: Digital divide, ICT, telecenters.

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Authors: M. M. Shahidul Hassan, Omiya Hassan

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Bangladesh has set its goal to reach upper middle-income country status by 2024. To attain this status, the country must satisfy the World Bank requirement of achieving minimum Gross National Income (GNI). Number of youth job seekers in the country is increasing. University graduates are looking for decent jobs. So, the vital issue of this country is to understand how the GNI and jobs can be increased. The objective of this paper is to address these issues and find ways to create more job opportunities for youths at home and abroad which will increase the country’s GNI. The paper studies proportion of different goods Bangladesh exported, and also the percentage of employment in different sectors. The data used here for the purpose of analysis have been collected from the available literature. These data are then plotted and analyzed. Through these studies, it is concluded that growth in sectors like agricultural, ready-made garments (RMG), jute industries and fisheries are declining and the business community is not interested in setting up capital-intensive industries. Under this situation, the country needs to explore other business opportunities for a higher economic growth rate. Knowledge can substitute the physical resource. Since the country consists of the large youth population, higher education will play a key role in economic development. It now needs graduates with higher-order skills with innovative quality. Such dispositions demand changes in a university’s curriculum, teaching and assessment method which will function young generations as active learners and creators. By bringing these changes in higher education, a knowledge-based society can be created. The application of such knowledge and creativity will then become the commodity of Bangladesh which will help to reach its goal as an upper middle-income country.

Keywords: Bangladesh, economic sectors, economic growth, higher education, knowledge-based economy, massifcation of higher education, teaching and learning, universities’ role in society.

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Authors: W. Thongwat, B. Terakulsatit

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The study area is Kham Sakaesaeng District in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, the south section of Northeastern Thailand, located in the Lower Khorat-Ubol Basin. This region is the one of saline soil area, located in a dry plateau and regularly experience standing with periods of floods and alternating with periods of drought. Especially, the drought in the summer season causes the major saline soil and saline water problems of this region. The general cause of dry land salting resulted from salting on irrigated land, and an excess of water leading to the rising water table in the aquifer. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship of physical and chemical properties between the soil and groundwater. The soil and groundwater samples were collected in both rainy and summer seasons. The content of pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), chloride and salinity were investigated. The experimental result of soil and groundwater samples show the slightly pH less than 7, EC (186 to 8,156 us/cm and 960 to 10,712 us/cm), TDS (93 to 3,940 ppm and 480 to 5,356 ppm), chloride content (45.58 to 4,177,015 mg/l and 227.90 to 9,216,736 mg/l), and salinity (0.07 to 4.82 ppt and 0.24 to 14.46 ppt) in the rainy and summer seasons, respectively. The distribution of chloride content and salinity content were interpolated and displayed as a map by using ArcMap 10.3 program, according to the season. The result of saline soil and brined groundwater in the study area were related to the low-lying topography, drought area, and salt-source exposure. Especially, the Rock Salt Member of Maha Sarakham Formation was exposed or lies near the ground surface in this study area. During the rainy season, salt was eroded or weathered from the salt-source rock formation and transported by surface flow or leached into the groundwater. In the dry season, the ground surface is dry enough resulting salt precipitates from the brined surface water or rises from the brined groundwater influencing the increasing content of chloride and salinity in the ground surface and groundwater.

Keywords: Environmental geology, soil salinity, geochemistry, groundwater hydrology.

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Authors: H. N. Mehmanparast, J.M. Mac-Thiong., Y. Petit

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Transpedicular screw fixation in spinal fractures, degenerative changes, or deformities is a well-established procedure. However, important rate of fixation failure due to screw bending, loosening, or pullout are still reported particularly in weak bone stock in osteoporosis. To overcome the problem, mechanism of failure has to be fully investigated in vitro. Post-mortem human subjects are less accessible and animal cadavers comprise limitations due to different geometry and mechanical properties. Therefore, the development of a synthetic model mimicking the realistic human vertebra is highly demanded. A bone surrogate, composed of Polyurethane (PU) foam analogous to cancellous bone porous structure, was tested for 3 different densities in this study. The mechanical properties were investigated under uniaxial compression test by minimizing the end artifacts on specimens. The results indicated that PU foam of 0.32 g.cm-3 density has comparable mechanical properties to human cancellous bone in terms of young-s modulus and yield strength. Therefore, the obtained information can be considered as primary step for developing a realistic cancellous bone of human vertebral body. Further evaluations are also recommended for other density groups.

Keywords: Cancellous bone, Pedicle screw, Polyurethane foam, Synthetic bone

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Authors: Frank Emmert Streib

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The classification of the protein structure is commonly not performed for the whole protein but for structural domains, i.e., compact functional units preserved during evolution. Hence, a first step to a protein structure classification is the separation of the protein into its domains. We approach the problem of protein domain identification by proposing a novel graph theoretical algorithm. We represent the protein structure as an undirected, unweighted and unlabeled graph which nodes correspond the secondary structure elements of the protein. This graph is call the protein graph. The domains are then identified as partitions of the graph corresponding to vertices sets obtained by the maximization of an objective function, which mutually maximizes the cycle distributions found in the partitions of the graph. Our algorithm does not utilize any other kind of information besides the cycle-distribution to find the partitions. If a partition is found, the algorithm is iteratively applied to each of the resulting subgraphs. As stop criterion, we calculate numerically a significance level which indicates the stability of the predicted partition against a random rewiring of the protein graph. Hence, our algorithm terminates automatically its iterative application. We present results for one and two domain proteins and compare our results with the manually assigned domains by the SCOP database and differences are discussed.

Keywords: Graph partitioning, unweighted graph, protein domains.

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Authors: Andre Slonopas, Warren Thompson, Zona Kostic

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Obfuscation is one of the most useful tools to prevent network compromise. Previous research focused on the obfuscation of the network communications between external-facing edge devices. This work proposes the use of two edge devices, external and internal facing, which communicates via private IPv4 addresses in a software-defined pseudo-random IP hopping. This methodology does not require additional IP addresses and/or resources to implement. Statistical analyses demonstrate that the hopping surface must be at least 1e3 IP addresses in size with a broad standard deviation to minimize the possibility of coincidence of monitored and communication IPs. The probability of breaking the hopping algorithm requires a collection of at least 1e6 samples, which for large hopping surfaces will take years to collect. The probability of dropped packets is controlled via memory buffers and the frequency of hops and can be reduced to levels acceptable for video streaming. This methodology provides an impenetrable layer of security ideal for information and supervisory control and data acquisition systems.

Keywords: Moving Target Defense, cybersecurity, network security, hopping randomization, software defined network, network security theory.

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Authors: Abdelhalim. N. Mohammed, Mohammed. Y. Esmail

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In the course of recent decades, medical imaging has been dominated by the use of costly film media for review and archival of medical investigation, however due to developments in networks technologies and common acceptance of a standard digital imaging and communication in medicine (DICOM) another approach in light of World Wide Web was produced. Web technologies successfully used in telemedicine applications, the combination of web technologies together with DICOM used to design a web-based and open source DICOM viewer. The Web server allowance to inquiry and recovery of images and the images viewed/manipulated inside a Web browser without need for any preinstalling software. The dynamic site page for medical images visualization and processing created by using JavaScript and HTML5 advancements. The XAMPP ‘apache server’ is used to create a local web server for testing and deployment of the dynamic site. The web-based viewer connected to multiples devices through local area network (LAN) to distribute the images inside healthcare facilities. The system offers a few focal points over ordinary picture archiving and communication systems (PACS): easy to introduce, maintain and independently platforms that allow images to display and manipulated efficiently, the system also user-friendly and easy to integrate with an existing system that have already been making use of web technologies. The wavelet-based image compression technique on which 2-D discrete wavelet transform used to decompose the image then wavelet coefficients are transmitted by entropy encoding after threshold to decrease transmission time, stockpiling cost and capacity. The performance of compression was estimated by using images quality metrics such as mean square error ‘MSE’, peak signal to noise ratio ‘PSNR’ and compression ratio ‘CR’ that achieved (83.86%) when ‘coif3’ wavelet filter is used.

Keywords: DICOM, discrete wavelet transform, PACS, HIS, LAN.

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Authors: Tanya N. Beran, Michelle A. Drefs, Ghazwan Altabbaa, Nouf Al Harbi, Noof Al Baz, Elizabeth Oddone Paolucci

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Although interprofessional practice is a collaborative approach for problem solving among health professionals, its implementation can present challenges to its team members. In particular, they may feel pressured to agree with or conform to other members who share information that is contrary to their own understanding. Obtaining evidence of this phenomenon is challenging, as team members may underreport their conformity behaviors due to reasons such as social desirability. In this paper, a series of studies are reviewed in which several approaches to assessing conformity in the health care professions are tested. Simulations, questionnaires, and behavior checklists can be used to measure conformity behaviors. Insights from these studies show that a significant proportion of people conform either in the presence or absence of others, express a variety of verbal and nonverbal behaviors when considering whether to conform to others, may shift between conforming and moments later not conforming (and vice versa), and may not accurately report whether they conformed. A method of measuring conformity using the implicit bias test is also discussed. People at all levels in the healthcare system are encouraged to develop both formal and informal strategies to manage the conformity pressures that people face.

Keywords: Conformity, decision-making, interprofessional teams, medical simulation.

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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: Mohammadreza Ashouri, Majid Bayatian

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Analysis of fire data is a way for the implementation of any plan to improve the level of safety in cities. Such an analysis is able to reveal signs of changes in a given period and can be used as a measure of safety. The information of about 66,341 fires (from 2002 to 2012) released by Tehran Safety Services and Fire-Fighting Organization and data on the population and the number of households provided by Tehran Municipality and the Statistical Yearbook of Iran were extracted. Using the data, the fire changes, the rate of injuries, and mortality rate were determined and analyzed. The rate of injuries and mortality rate of fires per one million population of Tehran were 59.58% and 86.12%, respectively. During the study period, the number of fires and fire stations increased by 104.38% and 102.63%, respectively. Most fires (9.21%) happened in the 4th District of Tehran. The results showed that the recorded fire data have not been systematically planned for fire prevention since one of the ways to reduce injuries caused by fires is to develop a systematic plan for necessary actions in emergency situations. To determine a reliable source for fire prevention, the stages, definitions of working processes and the cause and effect chains should be considered. Therefore, a comprehensive statistical system should be developed for reported and recorded fire data.

Keywords: Fire statistics, fire analysis, accident prevention, Tehran.

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Authors: Ivana Bulog

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Decision making is a vital part of the business world and any other field of human endeavor. Which way a business organization will take, and where that way will lead it, depends on broad range of decisions made by managers in the managerial structure. Strategic decisions are of the greatest importance for organizational success. Although much empirical research has been done trying to describe and explain its nature and effectiveness, knowledge about strategic decision making is still incomplete. This paper explores the nature of strategic decision making in particular setting - in Croatian companies. The main focus of this research is on the style that decision makers on strategic management level are following when making decisions of life importance for their companies. Two main decision making style that explain the way decision maker collects and processes available information and performs all the activities in strategic decision making process were empirical tested: rational and intuitive one. Besides analyzing their existence on strategic management level in Croatian companies, their effectiveness is analyzed as well. Results showed that decision makers at strategic management level are following both styles somewhat equally in order to function effectively, and that intuitive style is more effective when considering decisions outcomes.

Keywords: Decision making style, decision making effectiveness, strategic decisions.

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Authors: Nives Mikelic Preradovic, Damir Boras, Tomislava Lauc

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The paper presents the service learning project titled DicDucFac (idea-leadership-product), that was planned and conducted by the team of information sciences students. It was planned as a workshop dealing with the application of modern social media (Facebook, YouTube, Gmail) for the purposes of selfpromotion, free advertising via social networks and marketing own ideas and/or products in the virtual world. The workshop was organized for highly-skilled computer literate unemployed youth. These youth, as final beneficiaries, will be able to apply what they learned in this workshop to “the real world“, increasing their chances for employment and self-employment. The results of the project reveal that the basic, active-learning principles embodied in our teaching approach allow students to learn more effectively and gain essential life skills (from computer applications to teamwork) that can only be learned by doing. It also shows that our students received the essentials of professional ethics and citizenship through direct, personal engagement in professional activities and the life of the community.

Keywords: Service Learning, Innovation, Engaged Citizenship, Leadership, Social Networks, Marketing.

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Authors: M. Ismail, Cao Yihua, Zhao Ming

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Heavy rainfall greatly affects the aerodynamic performance of the aircraft. There are many accidents of aircraft caused by aerodynamic efficiency degradation by heavy rain. In this Paper we have studied the heavy rain effects on the aerodynamic efficiency of NACA 64-210 & NACA 0012 airfoils. For our analysis, CFD method and preprocessing grid generator are used as our main analytical tools, and the simulation of rain is accomplished via two phase flow approach-s Discrete Phase Model (DPM). Raindrops are assumed to be non-interacting, non-deforming, non-evaporating and non-spinning spheres. Both airfoil sections exhibited significant reduction in lift and increase in drag for a given lift condition in simulated rain. The most significant difference between these two airfoils was the sensitivity of the NACA 64-210 to liquid water content (LWC), while NACA 0012 performance losses in the rain environment is not a function of LWC . It is expected that the quantitative information gained in this paper will be useful to the operational airline industry and greater effort such as small scale and full scale flight tests should put in this direction to further improve aviation safety.

Keywords: airfoil, discrete phase modeling, heavy rain, Reynolds number

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Authors: Jafar Ahmadi, Alireza Pour-Aboughadareh

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Wheat is the first and the most important grain of the world and its bakery property is due to glutenin and gliadin qualities. Wheat seed proteins were divided into four groups according to solubility including albumin, globulin, glutenin and prolamin or gliadin. Gliadins are major components of the storage proteins in wheat endosperm. It seems that little information is available about gliadin genes in Iranian wild relatives of wheat. Thus, the aim of this study was the evaluation of the wheat wild relatives collected from different origins of Zagros Mountains in Iran, in terms of coding gliadin genes using specific primers. For this, forty accessions of Triticum boeoticum and Triticum urartu were selected for this study. For each accession, genomic DNA was extracted and PCRs were performed in total volumes of 15 μl. The amplification products were separated on 1.5% agarose gels. In results, for Gli-2A locus three allelic variants were detected by Gli-2As primer pairs. The sizes of PCR products for these alleles were 210, 490 and 700 bp. Only five (13%) and two accessions (5%) produced 700 and 490 bp fragments when their DNA was amplified with the Gli.As.2 primer pairs. However, 93% of the accessions carried allele 210 bp, and only 8% did not any product for this marker. Therefore, these germplasm could be used as rich gene pool to broaden the genetic base of bread wheat.

Keywords: Diploied wheat, gliadin, Triticum boeoticum, Triticum urartu.

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Authors: Hritwik Ghosh, Irfan Sadiq Rahat, Sachi Nandan Mohanty, J. V. R. Ravindra, Abdus Sobur

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In the rapidly evolving landscape of medical diagnostics, the early detection and accurate classification of skin cancer remain paramount for effective treatment outcomes. This research delves into the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI), specifically deep learning (DL), as a tool for discerning and categorizing various skin conditions. Utilizing a diverse dataset of 3,000 images, representing nine distinct skin conditions, we confront the inherent challenge of class imbalance. This imbalance, where conditions like melanomas are over-represented, is addressed by incorporating class weights during the model training phase, ensuring an equitable representation of all conditions in the learning process. Our approach presents a hybrid model, amalgamating the strengths of two renowned convolutional neural networks (CNNs), VGG16 and ResNet50. These networks, pre-trained on the ImageNet dataset, are adept at extracting intricate features from images. By synergizing these models, our research aims to capture a holistic set of features, thereby bolstering classification performance. Preliminary findings underscore the hybrid model's superiority over individual models, showcasing its prowess in feature extraction and classification. Moreover, the research emphasizes the significance of rigorous data pre-processing, including image resizing, color normalization, and segmentation, in ensuring data quality and model reliability. In essence, this study illuminates the promising role of AI and DL in revolutionizing skin cancer diagnostics, offering insights into its potential applications in broader medical domains.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, skin cancer, dermatology, convolutional neural networks, image classification, computer vision, healthcare technology, cancer detection, medical imaging.

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Authors: Yukinori Taniguchi, Kazuyoshi Kurita, Kohei Mizuta, Keigo Nishitani, Ryuichi Fukuda

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Tungsten carbide is widely used as a tool material in metal manufacturing process. Since tungsten is typical rare metal, establishment of recycle process of tungsten carbide tools and restore into cemented carbide material bring great impact to metal manufacturing industry. Recently, recycle process of tungsten carbide has been developed and established gradually. However, the demands for quality of cemented carbide tool are quite severe because hardness, toughness, anti-wear ability, heat resistance, fatigue strength and so on should be guaranteed for precision machining and tool life. Currently, it is hard to restore the recycled tungsten carbide powder entirely as raw material for new processed cemented carbide tool. In this study, to suggest positive use of recycled tungsten carbide powder, we have tried to fabricate a carbon based sintered steel which shows reinforced mechanical properties with recycled tungsten carbide powder. We have made set of newly designed sintered steels. Compression test of sintered specimen in density ratio of 0.85 (which means 15% porosity inside) has been conducted. As results, at least 1.7 times higher in nominal strength in the amount of 7.0 wt.% was shown in recycled WC powder. The strength reached to over 600 MPa for the Fe-WC-Co-Cu sintered alloy. Wear test has been conducted by using ball-on-disk type friction tester using 5 mm diameter ball with normal force of 2 N in the dry conditions. Wear amount after 1,000 m running distance shows that about 1.5 times longer life was shown in designed sintered alloy. Since results of tensile test showed that same tendency in previous testing, it is concluded that designed sintered alloy can be used for several mechanical parts with special strength and anti-wear ability in relatively low cost due to recycled tungsten carbide powder.

Keywords: Tungsten carbide, recycle process, compression test, powder metallurgy, anti-wear ability.

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Authors: Mahshid Hatamzad, Geanette Polanco

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Improving the performance of Winter Road Maintenance (WRM) can increase the traffic safety and reduce the cost as well as environmental impacts. This study evaluates the efficiency of WRM technique, named salting, in the Arctic area by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which is a non-parametric linear method to measure the efficiencies of decision-making units (DMUs) based on handling multiple inputs and multiple outputs at the same time that their associated weights are not known. Here, roads are considered as DMUs for which the efficiency must be determined. The three input variables considered are traffic flow, road area and WRM cost. In addition, the two output variables included are level of safety in the roads and environment impacts resulted from WRM, which is also considered as an uncontrollable factor in the second scenario. The results show the performance of DMUs from the most efficient WRM to the inefficient/least efficient one and this information provides decision makers with technical support and the required suggested improvements for inefficient WRM, in order to achieve a cost-effective WRM and a safe road transportation during wintertime in the Arctic areas.

Keywords: DEA, environmental impacts, risk and safety, WRM.

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