Search results for: window data envelopment analysis

Authors: Somtop Keawchuer

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This research aims to study (1) the relationship between competency-based learning and learning efficiency of new media communication students at Suan Sunandha University (2) the demographic factor effect on learning efficiency of students at Suan Sunandha University. This research method will use quantitative research; data was collected by questionnaires distributed to students from new media communication in management science faculty of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University for 1340 sample by purposive sampling method. Data was analyzed by descriptive statistic including percentage, mean, standard deviation and inferential statistic including T-test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation for hypothesis testing. The results showed that the competency-based learning in term of ability to communicate, ability to think and solve the problem, life skills and ability to use technology has a significant relationship with learning efficiency in term of the cognitive domain, psychomotor domain and affective domain at the 0.05 level and which is in harmony with the research hypotheses.

Keywords: Competency-based learning, learning efficiency, new media communication students, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University.

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Authors: Jakob Renko, Deja Praprotnik, Kristina Martinovič, Igor Karnjuš

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Catheter-related bloodstream infections are a major burden for healthcare and patients. Although infections of this type cannot be completely avoided, they can be reduced by taking preventive measures. The aim of this study is to review and analyze the existing literature on preventive interventions to prevent central venous catheters (CVC) infections. A systematic literature review was carried out. The international databases CINAHL, Medline, PubMed, and Web of Science were searched using the search strategy: "catheter-related infections" AND "intensive care units" AND "prevention" AND "central venous catheter." Articles that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were included in the study. The literature search flow is illustrated by the PRISMA diagram. The descriptive research method was used to analyze the data. Out of 554 search results, 22 surveys were included in the final analysis. We identified seven relevant preventive measures to prevent CVC infections: washing the whole body with chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) solution, disinfecting the CVC entry site with CHG solution, use of CHG or silver dressings, alcohol protective caps, CVC care education, selecting appropriate catheter and multicomponent care bundles. Both single interventions and multicomponent care bundles have been shown to be currently effective measures to prevent CVC infections in adult patients in the ICU. None of the measures identified stood out in terms of their effectiveness. Prevention work to reduce CVC infections in the ICU is a complex process that requires the simultaneous consideration of several factors.

Keywords: Central venous access, critically ill patients, hospital-acquired complications, prevention.

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Authors: T. Wanyama, B. Far

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Automatic irrigation systems usually conveniently protect landscape investment. While conventional irrigation systems are known to be inefficient, automated ones have the potential to optimize water usage. In fact, there is a new generation of irrigation systems that are smart in the sense that they monitor the weather, soil conditions, evaporation and plant water use, and automatically adjust the irrigation schedule. In this paper, we present an agent based smart irrigation system. The agents are built using a mix of commercial off the shelf software, including MATLAB, Microsoft Excel and KEPServer Ex5 OPC server, and custom written code. The Irrigation Scheduler Agent uses fuzzy logic to integrate the information that affect the irrigation schedule. In addition, the Multi-Agent system uses Open Platform Connectivity (OPC) technology to share data. OPC technology enables the Irrigation Scheduler Agent to communicate over the Internet, making the system scalable to a municipal or regional agent based water monitoring, management, and optimization system. Finally, this paper presents simulation and pilot installation test result that show the operational effectiveness of our system.

Keywords: Community water usage, fuzzy logic, irrigation, multi-agent system.

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Authors: Hong Son Hoang, Remy Baraille

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This paper addresses the problem of how one can improve the performance of a non-optimal filter. First the theoretical question on dynamical representation for a given time correlated random process is studied. It will be demonstrated that for a wide class of random processes, having a canonical form, there exists a dynamical system equivalent in the sense that its output has the same covariance function. It is shown that the dynamical approach is more effective for simulating and estimating a Markov and non- Markovian random processes, computationally is less demanding, especially with increasing of the dimension of simulated processes. Numerical examples and estimation problems in low dimensional systems are given to illustrate the advantages of the approach. A very useful application of the proposed approach is shown for the problem of state estimation in very high dimensional systems. Here a modified filter for data assimilation in an oceanic numerical model is presented which is proved to be very efficient due to introducing a simple Markovian structure for the output prediction error process and adaptive tuning some parameters of the Markov equation.

Keywords: Statistical simulation, canonical form, dynamical system, Markov and non-Markovian processes, data assimilation.

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Authors: Miyako Oulevey, Kaori Tsutsui, David Lavallee, Naohiko Kohtake

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The Japan Sports Agency has made efforts to unify several career support programs for Olympic athletes prior to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. One of the programs, the Japan Olympic Committee Career Academy (JCA) was established in 2008 for Olympic athletes at their retirement. Research focusing on the service content of sport career support programs can help athletes experience a more positive transition. This study was designed to investigate the service content of the JCA program in relation to athletes’ career transition needs, including any differences of the reasons for retirement between Summer/Winter and Male/Female Olympic athletes, and to suggest the directions of how to unify the career support programs in Japan after hosting the Olympic Games using sport career transition models. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed the JCA director who started and managed the program since its inception, and a total of 15 conceptual categories were generated by the analysis. Four conceptual categories were in the result of “JCA situation”, 4 conceptual categories were in the result of “Athletes using JCA”, and 7 conceptual categories were in the result of “JCA current difficulties”. Through the analysis it was revealed that: the JCA had occupational supports for both current and retired Olympic athletes; other supports such as psychological support were unclear due to the lack of psychological professionals in JCA and the difficulties collaborating with other sports organizations; and there are differences in tendencies of visiting JCA, financial situations, and career choices depending on Summer/Winter and Male/Female athletes.

Keywords: Career support programs, causes of career termination, Olympic athlete, Olympic committee.

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Authors: Saimir Heta, Ilma Robo, Rialda Xhizdari, Kers Kapaj

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The stability of an ideal disinfectant should be constant regardless of the change in the atmospheric conditions of the environment where it is kept. If the conditions such as temperature or humidity change, it is understood that it will also be necessary to approach possible changes in the holding materials such as plastic or glass bottles with the aim of protecting the disinfectant, for example, from the excessive lighting of the environment, which can also be translated as an increase in the temperature of disinfectant as a fluid. In this study, an attempt was made to find the most recent published data about the best possible combination of disinfectants indicated for use after dental procedures. This purpose of the study was realized by comparing the basic literature that is studied in the field of dentistry by students with the most published data in the literature of recent years about this topic. Each disinfectant is represented by a number called the disinfectant count, in which different factors can influence the increase or reduction of variables whose production remains a specific statistic for a specific disinfectant. The changes in the atmospheric conditions where the disinfectant is deposited and stored in the environment are known to affect the stability of the disinfectant as a fluid; this fact is known and even cited in the leaflets accompanying the manufactured boxes of disinfectants. It is these cares, in the form of advice, which are based not only on the preservation of the disinfectant but also on the application in order to have the desired clinical result. Aldehydes have the highest constant among the types of disinfectants, followed by acids. The lowest value of the constant belongs to the class of glycols, the predecessors of which were the halogens, in which class there are some representatives with disinfection applications. The class of phenols and acids have almost the same intervals of constants. If the goal were to find the ideal disinfectant among the large variety of disinfectants produced, a good starting point would be to find something unchanging or a fixed, unchanging element on the basis of which the comparison can be made properties of different disinfectants. Precisely based on the results of this study, the role of the specific constant according to the specific disinfectant is highlighted. Finding an ideal disinfectant, like finding a medication or the ideal antibiotic, is an ongoing but unattainable goal.

Keywords: Different disinfectants, phenols, aldehydes, specific constant, dental procedures.

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Authors: Azza A. Al-Ghamdi, Abir S. Abdel-Naby

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Cellulose acetate (CA) is a natural biodegradable polymer. It forms transparent films by the casting technique. CA suffers from high degree of water permeability as well as the low thermal stability at high temperatures. To adjust the CA polymeric films to the manufacture of food packaging, its thermal and mechanical properties should be improved. The modification of CA by grafting it with N-Amino phenyl maleimide (N-APhM) led to the construction of hydrophobic branches throughout the polymeric matrix which reduced its wettability as compared to the parent CA. The branches built onto the polymeric chains had been characterized by UV/Vis, ¹³C-NMR and ESEM. The improvement of the thermal properties was investigated and compared to the parent CA using thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), differential thermal analysis (DTA), contact angle and mechanical testing measurements. The results revealed that the water-uptake was reduced by increasing the graft percentage. The thermal and mechanical properties were also improved.

Keywords: Cellulose acetate, food packaging, graft copolymerization.

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Authors: Akan C. Offong, E. J. Anthony, Vasilije Manovic

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A modified steady-state numerical model is developed for the electrochemical reduction of CO₂ to formic acid. The numerical model achieves a CD (current density) (~60 mA/cm²), FE-faradaic efficiency (~98%) and conversion (~80%) for CO₂ electro-reduction to formic acid in a microfluidic cell. The model integrates charge and species transport, mass conservation, and momentum with electrochemistry. Specifically, the influences of Bi-Sn based nanoparticle catalyst (on the cathode surface) at different mole fractions and 1-ethyl-3-methyl imidazolium tetra-fluoroborate ([EMIM][BF₄]) electrolyte, on CD, FE and CO₂ conversion to formic acid is studied. The reaction is carried out at a constant concentration of electrolyte (85% v/v., [EMIM][BF₄]). Based on the mass transfer characteristics analysis (concentration contours), mole ratio 0.5:0.5 Bi-Sn catalyst displays the highest CO₂ mole consumption in the cathode gas channel. After validating with experimental data (polarisation curves) from literature, extensive simulations reveal performance measure: CD, FE and CO₂ conversion. Increasing the negative cathode potential increases the current densities for both formic acid and H₂ formations. However, H₂ formations are minimal as a result of insufficient hydrogen ions in the ionic liquid electrolyte. Moreover, the limited hydrogen ions have a negative effect on formic acid CD. As CO₂ flow rate increases, CD, FE and CO₂ conversion increases.

Keywords: Carbon dioxide, electro-chemical reduction, microfluidics, ionic liquids, modelling.

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Authors: Mustafa Elfituri, Jonathan Cook

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Recently, graph-based computations have become more important in large-scale scientific computing as they can provide a methodology to model many types of relations between independent objects. They are being actively used in fields as varied as biology, social networks, cybersecurity, and computer networks. At the same time, graph problems have some properties such as irregularity and poor locality that make their performance different than regular applications performance. Therefore, parallelizing graph algorithms is a hard and challenging task. Initial evidence is that standard computer architectures do not perform very well on graph algorithms. Little is known exactly what causes this. The Graph500 benchmark is a representative application for parallel graph-based computations, which have highly irregular data access and are driven more by traversing connected data than by computation. In this paper, we present results from analyzing the performance of various example implementations of Graph500, including a shared memory (OpenMP) version, a distributed (MPI) version, and a hybrid version. We measured and analyzed all the factors that affect its performance in order to identify possible changes that would improve its performance. Results are discussed in relation to what factors contribute to performance degradation.

Keywords: Graph computation, Graph500 benchmark, parallel architectures, parallel programming, workload characterization.

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Authors: Khatesiree Sripoothon, Usanee Sengpanich, Rattana Sittioum

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The objective of this study is to examine the factors influencing consumer purchasing decisions about healthy food. This model consists of two latent variables: Consumer Perception relating to NCDs and Consumer Perceived Product Value. The study was conducted in the northern provinces of Thailand, which are popular with tourists and have received support from the government for health and wellness tourism. A survey was used as the data collection method, and the questionnaire was applied to 385 consumers. An accidental sampling method was used to identify the sample. The statistics of frequency, percentage, mean, and structural equation model were used to analyze the data obtained. Additionally, all factors had a significant positive influence on healthy food purchasing decisions (p<0.001) and were predictive of healthy food purchasing decisions at 46.20% (R2=0.462). Also, these findings seem to underline the supposition that consumer perceptions of NCDs and perceived product value are key variables that strengthen the competitive effects of healthy-friendly business entrepreneurs. Moreover, it reduces the countries' public health costs for treating patients with the disease of NCDs in Thailand.

Keywords: healthy food, perceived product value, perception of noncommunicable diseases, purchasing decisions

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Authors: Kevin Fong-Rey Liu, Cheng-Wu Chen, Ken Yeh, Han-Hsi Liang

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Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a procedure tool of environmental management for identifying, predicting, evaluating and mitigating the adverse effects of development proposals. EIA reports usually analyze how the amounts or concentrations of pollutants obey the relevant standards. Actually, many analytical tools can deepen the analysis of environmental impacts in EIA reports, such as life cycle assessment (LCA) and environmental risk assessment (ERA). Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) is one of steps in LCA to introduce the causal relationships among environmental hazards and damage. Incorporating the LCIA concept into ERA as an integrated tool for EIA can extend the focus of the regulatory compliance of environmental impacts to determine of the significance of environmental impacts. Sometimes, when using integrated tools, it is necessary to consider fuzzy situations due to insufficient information; therefore, ERA should be generalized to fuzzy risk assessment (FRA). Finally, the use of the proposed methodology is demonstrated through the study case of the expansion plan of the world-s largest plastics processing factory.

Keywords: Fuzzy risk analysis, life cycle impact assessment, fuzzy logic, environmental impact assessment

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Authors: Sunita Jahirabadkar, Parag Kulkarni

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Many real-world data sets consist of a very high dimensional feature space. Most clustering techniques use the distance or similarity between objects as a measure to build clusters. But in high dimensional spaces, distances between points become relatively uniform. In such cases, density based approaches may give better results. Subspace Clustering algorithms automatically identify lower dimensional subspaces of the higher dimensional feature space in which clusters exist. In this paper, we propose a new clustering algorithm, ISC – Intelligent Subspace Clustering, which tries to overcome three major limitations of the existing state-of-art techniques. ISC determines the input parameter such as є – distance at various levels of Subspace Clustering which helps in finding meaningful clusters. The uniform parameters approach is not suitable for different kind of databases. ISC implements dynamic and adaptive determination of Meaningful clustering parameters based on hierarchical filtering approach. Third and most important feature of ISC is the ability of incremental learning and dynamic inclusion and exclusions of subspaces which lead to better cluster formation.

Keywords: Density based clustering, high dimensional data, subspace clustering, dynamic parameter setting.

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Authors: A. Kablan

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The prediction of financial time series is a very complicated process. If the efficient market hypothesis holds, then the predictability of most financial time series would be a rather controversial issue, due to the fact that the current price contains already all available information in the market. This paper extends the Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System for High Frequency Trading which is an expert system that is capable of using fuzzy reasoning combined with the pattern recognition capability of neural networks to be used in financial forecasting and trading in high frequency. However, in order to eliminate unnecessary input in the training phase a new event based volatility model was proposed. Taking volatility and the scaling laws of financial time series into consideration has brought about the development of the Intraday Seasonality Observation Model. This new model allows the observation of specific events and seasonalities in data and subsequently removes any unnecessary data. This new event based volatility model provides the ANFIS system with more accurate input and has increased the overall performance of the system.

Keywords: Adaptive Neuro-fuzzy Inference system, High Frequency Trading, Intraday Seasonality Observation Model.

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Authors: Zhepeng Rui, Zhenyu Gu, Caitilin de Bérigny

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In the current study, we designed an interactive meditation and brain painting application to cultivate users’ creativity, promote meditation, reduce stress, and improve cognition while attempting to learn a foreign language. User tests and data analyses were conducted on 42 male and 42 female participants to better understand sex-associated psychological and aesthetic differences. Our method utilized brain-computer interfaces to import meditation and attention data to create artwork in meditation-based applications. Female participants showed statistically significantly different language learning outcomes following three meditation paradigms. The art style of brain painting helped females with language memory. Our results suggest that the most ideal methods for promoting memory attention were meditation methods and brain painting exercises contributing to language learning, memory concentration promotion, and foreign word memorization. We conclude that a short period of meditation practice can help in learning a foreign language. These findings provide insights into meditation, creative language education, brain-computer interface, and human-computer interactions.

Keywords: Brain-computer interface, creative thinking, meditation, mental health.

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Authors: Kuen-Ming Shu, Jyun-Wei Chen

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Encapsulated O-rings are specifically designed to address the problem of sealing the most hostile chemicals and extreme temperature applications. Ultrasonic vibration hot embossing and ultrasonic welding techniques provide a fast and reliable method to fabricate encapsulated O-ring. This paper performs the design and analysis method of the acoustic horns with double extrusion to process tube double side flange simultaneously. The paper deals with study through Finite Element Method (FEM) of ultrasonic stepped horn used to process a capsulated O-ring, the theoretical dimensions of horns, and their natural frequencies and amplitudes are obtained through the simulations of COMOSOL software. Furthermore, real horns were fabricated, tested and verified to proof the practical utility of these horns. 

Keywords: Encapsulated O-rings, ultrasonic vibration hot embossing, flange making, acoustic horn, finite element analysis.

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Authors: L. Nouri Taiba, Y. Bouhamidi, F. Kaouah, Z. Bendjama, M. Trari

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In the present study, an ecofriendly biocomposite namely calcium alginate immobilized Ammi Visnaga (Khella) extraction waste (SWAV/CA) was prepared by electrostatic extrusion method and used on the cadmium biosorption from aqueous phase with and without the assistance of ultrasound in batch conditions. The influence of low frequency ultrasound (37 and 80 KHz) on the cadmium biosorption kinetics was studied. The obtained results show that the ultrasonic irradiation significantly enhances and improves the efficiency of the cadmium removal. The Pseudo first order, Pseudo-second-order, Intraparticle diffusion, and Elovich models were evaluated using the non-linear curve fitting analysis method. Modeling of kinetic results shows that biosorption process is best described by the pseudo-second order and Elovich, in both the absence and presence of ultrasound.

Keywords: Biocomposite, biosorption, cadmium, non-linear analysis, ultrasound.

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Authors: Farzin Salmasi

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The design of a gravity dam is performed through an interactive process involving a preliminary layout of the structure followed by a stability and stress analysis. This study presents a method to define the optimal top width of gravity dam with genetic algorithm. To solve the optimization task (minimize the cost of the dam), an optimization routine based on genetic algorithms (GAs) was implemented into an Excel spreadsheet. It was found to perform well and GA parameters were optimized in a parametric study. Using the parameters found in the parametric study, the top width of gravity dam optimization was performed and compared to a gradient-based optimization method (classic method). The accuracy of the results was within close proximity. In optimum dam cross section, the ratio of is dam base to dam height is almost equal to 0.85, and ratio of dam top width to dam height is almost equal to 0.13. The computerized methodology may provide the help for computation of the optimal top width for a wide range of height of a gravity dam.

Keywords: Chromosomes, dam, genetic algorithm, globaloptimum, preliminary layout, stress analysis, theoretical profile.

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Authors: Teresa Caswell

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Throughout the United States and within a myriad of demographic contexts, students of color experience the results of systemic inequities as an academic outcome. These disparities continue despite the increased resources provided to students and ongoing instruction-focused professional learning received by teachers. We postulated that lower levels of educator cultural competency are an underlying factor of why resource and instructional interventions are less effective than desired. Before implementing any type of intervention, however, cultural competency needed to be confirmed as a factor in schools demonstrating academic disparities between racial subgroups. A needs assessment was designed to measure levels of individual beliefs, including cultural competency, in both principals and teachers at three neighboring schools verified to have academic disparities. The resulting mixed method study utilized the Optimal Theory Applied to Identity Development (OTAID) model to measure cultural competency quantitatively, through self-identity inventory survey items, with teachers and qualitatively, through one-on-one interviews, with each school’s principal. A joint display was utilized to see combined data within and across school contexts. Each school was confirmed to have misalignments between principal and teacher levels of cultural competency beliefs while also indicating that a number of participants in the self-identity inventory survey may have intentionally skipped items referencing the term oppression. Additional use of the OTAID model and self-identity inventory in future research and across contexts is needed to determine transferability and dependability as cultural competency measures.

Keywords: Cultural competency, identity development, mixed method analysis, needs assessment.

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Authors: Somdech Rungsrisawas

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The objectives of this study are to examine the relationship between the competitive advantage of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and their overall performance. A mixed method has been applied to identify the effect of determinants toward competitive advantage. The sample is composed of SMEs in product and service businesses. The study has been tested at an organizational level with samples of SME entrepreneurs, business successors, and board of directors or management team. Quantitative analysis has been conducted through multiple regression analysis with 400 samples. The findings illustrate that each aspect of competitive advantage needs a different set of driving factors to explain either the direct or the indirect effect on firm performance. Interestingly, technological capability is a perfect mediator and interorganizational cooperation toward competitive advantage. In addition, differentiation is difficult to be perceived by customers, as well as difficult to manage; however, it is considered important to develop an SMEs product or service for firm sustainably.

Keywords: Competitive advantage, firm performance, technological capability, small and medium enterprise, SMEs.

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Authors: S. Jursová, P. Pustějovská, S. Brožová, J. Bilík

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The paper deals with possibilities of interpretation of iron ore reducibility tests. It presents a mathematical model developed at Centre ENET, VŠB – Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic for an evaluation of metallurgical material of blast furnace feedstock such as iron ore, sinter or pellets. According to the data from the test, the model predicts its usage in blast furnace technology and its effects on production parameters of shaft aggregate. At the beginning, the paper sums up the general concept and experience in mathematical modelling of iron ore reduction. It presents basic equation for the calculation and the main parts of the developed model. In the experimental part, there is an example of usage of the mathematical model. The paper describes the usage of data for some predictive calculation. There are presented material, method of carried test of iron ore reducibility. Then there are graphically interpreted effects of used material on carbon consumption, rate of direct reduction and the whole reduction process.

Keywords: Blast furnace technology, iron ore reduction, mathematical model, prediction of iron ore reduction.

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Authors: Nuralam Sam, Irawan Yusuf, Irfan Idris, Endi Adnan

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Frozen shoulder (FS) is an insidious, painful condition caused by an inflammatory condition that causes fibrosis of the glenohumeral joint capsule, which causes progressive stiffness and restriction of the active and passive range of motion (ROM) of the shoulder. The studies of FS are still limited. This single-blinded randomized controlled trial involved participants with FS. The study participants were divided into two groups. The Prolotherapy group was the study group, and the Normal Saline (NS) group was the control group. Both groups were given injections at weeks 0, 2, 4, and 6. Matrix Metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) and Tissue Inhibitor Metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) were measured at week six and week 12 after the last injection. The Disabilities of The Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) Score and ROM were measured at weeks 0, 2, 4, and 6 before and after injection and week 12. Comparative analysis was performed using repeated measures Paired T-Test, and data processing to assess correlation was using ANOVA. The result showed a significant decrease in The Disability of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) score in prolotherapy injection patients in each measurement week (p < 0.05). While the measurement of ROM, each direction of shoulder motion showed a significant difference in average each week, from week 0 to week 6 (p < 0.05). Dextrose prolotherapy injection results significantly improved the functional outcome of the shoulder joint and ROM. They did not show significant results in assessing the specific biomarker, MMP-1, and TIMP-1, in tissue repair. This study suggests an alternative to injection prolotherapy in FS patients; it has minimal adverse effects and is efficient in time and cost.

Keywords: Frozen Shoulder, ROM, DASH Score, prolotherapy, MMP-1, TIMP-1.

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Authors: Yang Luo, Beibei Wang

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In this paper, we present a design methodology of lightweight register transfer level (RTL) hardware threat implemented based on a MAX II FPGA platform. The dynamic power consumed by the toggling of the various bit of registers as well as the dynamic power consumed per unit of logic circuits were analyzed. The hardware threat was designed taking advantage of the differences in dynamic power consumed per unit of logic circuits to hide the transfer information. The experiment result shows that the register hardware threat was successfully implemented by using different dynamic power consumed per unit of logic circuits to hide the key information of DES encryption module. It needs more than 100000 sample curves to reduce the background noise by comparing the sample space when it completely meets the time alignment requirement. In additional, an external trigger signal is playing a very important role to detect the hardware threat in this experiment.

Keywords: Side-channel analysis, hardware threat, register transfer level, dynamic power.

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Authors: V. S. Meenakshi, G. Padmavathi

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Biometric techniques are gaining importance for personal authentication and identification as compared to the traditional authentication methods. Biometric templates are vulnerable to variety of attacks due to their inherent nature. When a person-s biometric is compromised his identity is lost. In contrast to password, biometric is not revocable. Therefore, providing security to the stored biometric template is very crucial. Crypto biometric systems are authentication systems, which blends the idea of cryptography and biometrics. Fuzzy vault is a proven crypto biometric construct which is used to secure the biometric templates. However fuzzy vault suffer from certain limitations like nonrevocability, cross matching. Security of the fuzzy vault is affected by the non-uniform nature of the biometric data. Fuzzy vault when hardened with password overcomes these limitations. Password provides an additional layer of security and enhances user privacy. Retina has certain advantages over other biometric traits. Retinal scans are used in high-end security applications like access control to areas or rooms in military installations, power plants, and other high risk security areas. This work applies the idea of fuzzy vault for retinal biometric template. Multimodal biometric system performance is well compared to single modal biometric systems. The proposed multi modal biometric fuzzy vault includes combined feature points from retina and fingerprint. The combined vault is hardened with user password for achieving high level of security. The security of the combined vault is measured using min-entropy. The proposed password hardened multi biometric fuzzy vault is robust towards stored biometric template attacks.

Keywords: Biometric Template Security, Crypto Biometric Systems, Hardening Fuzzy Vault, Min-Entropy.

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Authors: Shaoyan Sun, Liwei Zhang, Chonghui Guo

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As the use of registration packages spreads, the number of the aligned image pairs in image databases (either by manual or automatic methods) increases dramatically. These image pairs can serve as a set of training data. Correspondingly, the images that are to be registered serve as testing data. In this paper, a novel medical image registration method is proposed which is based on the a priori knowledge of the expected joint intensity distribution estimated from pre-aligned training images. The goal of the registration is to find the optimal transformation such that the distance between the observed joint intensity distribution obtained from the testing image pair and the expected joint intensity distribution obtained from the corresponding training image pair is minimized. The distance is measured using the divergence measure based on Tsallis entropy. Experimental results show that, compared with the widely-used Shannon mutual information as well as Tsallis mutual information, the proposed method is computationally more efficient without sacrificing registration accuracy.

Keywords: Multimodality images, image registration, Shannonentropy, Tsallis entropy, mutual information, Powell optimization.

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Authors: Isa Ahmadi, Ramin Khamedi

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

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

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Authors: G. Mattia, A. Di Leo, L. Principato

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The purchase impulsiveness is preceded by a lack of self-control: consequently, it is legitimate to believe that a consumer with a low level of self-control can result in a higher probability of cognitive dissonance. Moreover, the process of purchase is influenced by the pre-existing affective state in a considerable way. With reference to on-line purchases, digital behavior cannot be merely ascribed to the rational sphere, given the speed and ease of transactions and the hedonistic dimension of purchases. To our knowledge, this research is among the first cases of verification of the effect of moderation exerted by the positive affective state in the on-line impulse purchase of products with a high expressive value such as a smartphone on the occurrence of cognitive dissonance. To this aim, a moderation analysis was conducted on a sample of 212 impulsive millennials buyers. Three scales were adopted to measure the constructs of interest: IBTS for impulsivity, PANAS for the affective state, Sweeney for cognitive dissonance. The analysis revealed that positive affective state does not affect the onset of cognitive dissonance.

Keywords: Cognitive dissonance, impulsive buying, online shopping, online consumer behavior.

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Authors: George C. Yao, Chao-Yu Tu, Wei-Chung Chen, Fung-Wen Kuo, Yu-Shan Chang

Abstract:

Building structures are subjected to both horizontal and vertical ground motions during earthquakes, but only the horizontal ground motion has been extensively studied and considered in design. Most of the prevailing seismic codes assume the vertical component to be 1/2 to 2/3 of the horizontal one. In order to understand the building responses from vertical ground motions, many earthquakes records are studied in this paper. System identification methods (ARX Model) are used to analyze the strong motions and to find out the characteristics of the vertical amplification factors and the natural frequencies of buildings. Analysis results show that the vertical amplification factors for high-rise buildings and low-rise building are 1.78 and 2.52 respectively, and the average vertical amplification factor of all buildings is about 2. The relationship between the vertical natural frequency and building height was regressed to a suggested formula in this study. The result points out an important message; the taller the building is, the greater chance of resonance of vertical vibration on the building will be.

Keywords: Vertical ground motion, vertical amplification factor, natural frequency, component.

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Authors: A. Shooshtari, A. R. Masoodi, S. Heyrani Moghaddam

Abstract:

Free vibration analysis of a gabled frame with elastic support and semi-rigid connections is performed by using a program in OpenSees software. Natural frequencies and mode shape details of frame are obtained for two states, which are semi-rigid connections and elastic supports, separately. The members of this structure are analyzed as a prismatic nonlinear beam-column element in software. The mass of structure is considered as two equal lumped masses at the head of two columns in horizontal and vertical directions. Note that the degree of freedom, allocated to all nodes, is equal to three. Furthermore, the mode shapes of frame are achieved. Conclusively, the effects of connections and supports flexibility on the natural frequencies and mode shapes of structure are investigated.  

Keywords: Natural frequency, mode shape, gabled frame, semi-rigid connection, elastic support, OpenSees software.

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Authors: AlMatrouk H. S., Juszczak M. D.

Abstract:

Research and development R&D work involves enormous amount of work that has to do with data measurement and collection. This process evolves as new information is fed, new technologies are utilized, and eventually new knowledge is created by the stakeholders i.e., researchers, clients, and end-users. When new knowledge is created, procedures of R&D work should evolve and produce better results within improved research skills and improved methods of data measurements and collection. This measurement improvement should then be benchmarked against a metric that should be developed at the organization. In this paper, we are suggesting a conceptual metric for R&D work performance improvement (PI) at the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR). This PI is to be measured against a set of variables in the suggested metric, which are more closely correlated to organizational output, as opposed to organizational norms. The paper also mentions and discusses knowledge creation and management as an addedvalue to R&D work and measurement improvement. The research methodology followed in this work is qualitative in nature, based on a survey that was distributed to researchers and interviews held with senior researchers at KISR. Research and analyses in this paper also include looking at and analyzing KISR-s literature.

Keywords: Knowledge Creation, Performance Improvement (PI), Conceptual Metric, Knowledge Management (KM) addedvalue.

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Authors: Jane O. Munonye

Abstract:

Climate change has both negative and positive effects in agricultural production. For agriculture to be sustainable in adverse climate change condition, some natural measures are needed. The issue is to produce more food with available natural resources and reduce the contribution of agriculture to climate change. The study reviewed climate change and sustainable agriculture in southeast Nigeria. Data from the study were from secondary sources. Ten scientific papers were consulted and data for the review were collected from three. The objectives of the paper were as follows: to review the effect of climate change on one major arable crop in southeast Nigeria (yam; Dioscorea rotundata); evident of climate change impact and methods for sustainable agricultural production in adverse weather condition. Some climatic parameter as sunshine, relative humidity and rainfall have negative relationship with yam production and significant at 10% probability. Crop production was predicted to decline by 25% per hectare by 2060 while livestock production has increased the incidence of diseases and pathogens as the major effect to agriculture. Methods for sustainable agriculture and damage of natural resources by climate change were highlighted. Agriculture needs to be transformed as climate changes to enable the sector to be sustainable. There should be a policy in place to facilitate the integration of sustainability in Nigeria agriculture.

Keywords: Agriculture, climate change, sustainability, yam.

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