Search results for: high temperature exposure

Authors: Christophe Gonçalves, Raquel P. F. Guiné, Daniela Teixeira, Fernando J. Gonçalves

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Blueberries are widely valued for their high content in phenolic compounds with antioxidant activity, and hence beneficial for the human health. In this way, a study was done to determine the phenolic composition (total phenols, anthocyanins and tannins) and antioxidant activity of blueberries from three cultivars (Duke, Bluecrop, and Ozarkblue) grown in two different Portuguese farms. Initially two successive extractions were done with methanol followed by two extractions with aqueous acetone solutions. These extracts obtained were then used to evaluate the amount of phenolic compounds and the antioxidant activity. The total phenols were observed to vary from 4.9 to 8.2 mg GAE/g fresh weight, with anthocyanin’s contents in the range 1.5-2.8 mg EMv3G/g and tannins contents in the range 1.5- 3.8 mg/g. The results for antioxidant activity ranged from 9.3 to 23.2 molTE/g and from 24.7 to 53.4molTE/g, when measured, respectively, by DPPH and ABTS methods. In conclusion it was observed that, in general, the cultivar had a visible effect on the phenols present, and furthermore, the geographical origin showed relevance either in the phenols contents or the antioxidant activity.

Keywords: Anthocyanins, antioxidant activity, blueberry cultivar, geographical origin, phenolic compounds.

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Authors: M. M. Seraj, M. S. Gadala

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This study presents a systematic analysis of wetted region due to cooling of aluminum plate by water spray impingement with respect to different water flow rates, spray nozzle heights, and subcooling. Unlike jet impingement, the wetting is not commenced upon spray impingement and there is a delay in wetness of hot test surface. After initiation, the wetting (black zone) progresses gradually to cover all test plate and provides efficient cooling in nucleate boiling regime. Generally, spray cooling is found function of spray flow rate, spray-to-surface distance and water subcooling. Wetting delay is decreasing by increasing of spray flow rate until spray impact area is not become bigger that test surface. Otherwise, higher spray flow rate is not practically accelerated start of wetting. Very fast wetting due to spray cooling can be obtained by dense spray (high floe rate) discharged from adjacent nozzle to the test surface. Highly subcooling water spray also triggers earlier wetting of hot aluminum plate.

Keywords: Water spray, wetting, aluminum plate, flow rate.

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Authors: Jeffrey L. Duffany

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Graph coloring is an important problem in computer science and many algorithms are known for obtaining reasonably good solutions in polynomial time. One method of comparing different algorithms is to test them on a set of standard graphs where the optimal solution is already known. This investigation analyzes a set of 50 well known graph coloring instances according to a set of complexity measures. These instances come from a variety of sources some representing actual applications of graph coloring (register allocation) and others (mycieleski and leighton graphs) that are theoretically designed to be difficult to solve. The size of the graphs ranged from ranged from a low of 11 variables to a high of 864 variables. The method used to solve the coloring problem was the square of the adjacency (i.e., correlation) matrix. The results show that the most difficult graphs to solve were the leighton and the queen graphs. Complexity measures such as density, mobility, deviation from uniform color class size and number of block diagonal zeros are calculated for each graph. The results showed that the most difficult problems have low mobility (in the range of .2-.5) and relatively little deviation from uniform color class size.

Keywords: graph coloring, complexity, algorithm.

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Authors: Constantin Pehoiu

Abstract:

School physical education, through its objectives and contents, efficiently valorizes the pupils- abilities, developing them, especially the coordinative skill component, which is the basis of movement learning, of the development of the daily motility and also of the special, refined motility required by the practice of certain sports. Medium school age offers the nervous and motor substratum needed for the acquisition of complex motor habits, a substratum that is essential for the coordinative skill. Individuals differ as to the level at which this function is performed, the extent to which this function turns an individual into a person that is adapted and adaptable to complex and various situations. Spatio-temporal orientation, together with movement combination and coupling, and with kinesthetic, balance, motor reaction, movement transformation and rhythm differentiation form the coordinative skills. From our viewpoint, these are characteristic features with high levels of manifestation in a complex psychomotor act - valorizing the quality of one-s talent - as well as indices pertaining to one-s psychomotor intelligence and creativity.

Keywords: development, lesson, spatio-temporal orientation, physical education.

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Authors: Kawinphat Lertpongmanee

Abstract:

The problems of trafficking human beings were continuously violent in Thailand. The problems occurred from a variety of factors such as unemployment, agricultural workers’ urban immigration, sex tour, attitude of materialism society, divorced family, unsavourily effected law, and officers’ ignorance. The purposes of this study were to study the structure, connection, a number of trafficking human beings in Thailand. Qualitative and quantitative and results of previous research were used in this research. The previous procurers, interested persons, experienced people, human beings-aiding organization, and women-children rights organization were interviewed in depth. The field was used in a variety of regions. The findings showed that the structure and connection of trafficking human beings and their values are $8,750 million. There are 240,000 people in trafficked human beings. The trend of trafficking human beings grows continuously. It is changed according to economic circumstance, society and culture, and law. The state must be aware of its problem. The law is enacted by adding high penalty for serious fear.

Keywords: Human Trade, Prostitution trafficking, trafficking in women and children.

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Authors: Ong Sing Goh, C. Ardil, Wilson Wong, Chun Che Fung

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The evaluation of conversational agents or chatterbots question answering systems is a major research area that needs much attention. Before the rise of domain-oriented conversational agents based on natural language understanding and reasoning, evaluation is never a problem as information retrieval-based metrics are readily available for use. However, when chatterbots began to become more domain specific, evaluation becomes a real issue. This is especially true when understanding and reasoning is required to cater for a wider variety of questions and at the same time to achieve high quality responses. This paper discusses the inappropriateness of the existing measures for response quality evaluation and the call for new standard measures and related considerations are brought forward. As a short-term solution for evaluating response quality of conversational agents, and to demonstrate the challenges in evaluating systems of different nature, this research proposes a blackbox approach using observation, classification scheme and a scoring mechanism to assess and rank three example systems, AnswerBus, START and AINI.

Keywords: Evaluation, conversational agents, Response Quality, chatterbots

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Authors: Zhao Hui, Yan Huaxiao, Zhang Mengmeng, Qin Song

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The pyrolysis characteristics and kinetics of seven marine biomass, which are fixed Enteromorpha clathrata, floating Enteromorpha clathrata, Ulva lactuca L., Zosterae Marinae L., Thallus Laminariae, Asparagus schoberioides kunth and Undaria pinnatifida (Harv.), were studied with thermogravimetric analysis method. Simultaneously, cornstalk, which is a grass biomass, and sawdust, which is a lignocellulosic biomass, were references. The basic pyrolysis characteristics were studied by using TG- DTG-DTA curves. The results showed that there were three stages (dehydration, dramatic weight loss and slow weight loss) during the whole pyrolysis process of samples. The Tmax of marine biomass was significantly lower than two kinds of terrestrial biomass. Zosterae Marinae L. had a relatively high stability of pyrolysis, but floating Enteromorpha clathrata had lowest stability of pyrolysis and a good combustion characteristics. The corresponding activation energy E and frequency factor A were obtained by Coats-Redfern method. It was found that the pyrolysis reaction mechanism functions of three kinds of biomass are different.

Keywords: macroalgae biomass, pyrolysis, thermogravimetric analysis, thermolysis kinetics.

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Authors: Behzad Moeini Sam, Sara Mohammadi Avandi

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Ancient scribes usually wrote an Akkadian word in Akkadian, spelling it out syllable by syllable. Sometimes, however, they wrote down the equivalent word in Sumerian for the Akkadians held Sumerian culture, from which they had inherited the cuneiform script, in high esteem. ‘Syllabic’ vs. ‘Sumerographic’ are the two forms of cuneiform writing. The Assyrian language was a branch of the Akkadian one that used the script and language of Aramaic throughout the whole of the empire. It caused the Aramaic language to apply as an Interlingua until the following periods. This paper aims to compare Sumerograms in Akkadian texts and Arameograms in Middle Persian texts to find a continuous written system that continued to apply from Akkadian to the Middle Persian. It will firstly introduce Sumerograms which are the earliest Akkadian texts, and will finally explain the Aramaic language, which continues its use by the Parthians and Sasanians as Arameograms. Thus, the main conclusion to be drawn is that just as the Akkadians who applied Sumerograms, Parthian and Pahlavi (including the inscriptions and the Psalter), too, employed a large number of, and more or less faithfully rendered, Aramaic words, also called Arameograms.

Keywords: Sumerogram, Mesopotamian, Akkadian. Aramaic, Middle Persian.

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Authors: R. Ziaie Moayed, H. Keshavarz Hedayati

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Over recent years, due to increased population and increased waste production, groundwater protection has become more important, therefore, designing engineered barrier systems such as landfill liners to prevent the entry of leachate into groundwater should be done with greater accuracy. These measures generally involve the application of low permeability soils such as clays. Bentonite is a natural clay with low permeability which makes it a suitable soil for using in liners. Also zeolite with high cation exchange capacity can help to reduce of hazardous materials risk. Bentonite expands when wet, absorbing as much as several times its dry mass in water. This property may effect on some structural properties of soil such as shear strength. In present study, shear strength parameters are determined by both leachates polluted and not polluted bentonite-amended zeolite soil with mixing rates (B/Z) of 5%-10% and 20% with unconfined compression test to obtain the differences. It is shown that leachate presence causes reduction in resistance in general.

Keywords: Bentonite, zeolite, leachate, shear strength parameters, unconfined compression tests.

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Authors: I. Moraitopoulos, Z. Ioannou, J. Simitzis

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The present study examines the adsorption of phenol, 3-nitrophenol and dyes (methylene blue, alizarine yellow), from aqueous solutions onto a commercial activated carbon. Two different operations, semi-batch and continuous with reflux, were applied. The commercial activated carbon exhibits high adsorption abilities for phenol, 3-nitrophenol and dyes (methylene blue and alizarin yellow) from their aqueous solutions. The adsorption of all adsorbates after 1 h is higher by the continuous operation with reflux than by the semibatch operation. The adsorption of phenol is higher than that of 3-nitrophenol for both operations. Similarly, the adsorption of alizarin yellow is higher than that of methylene blue for both operations. The regenerated commercial activated carbon regains its adsorption ability due to the removal of the adsorbate from its pores during the regeneration.

Keywords: Activated carbon, adsorption, phenols, dyes.

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Authors: Gomaa N. Abdel-Rahman, Nadia R. A. Nassar, Yehia A. Heikal, Mahmoud A. M. Abou-Donia, Mohamed M. Naguib, Mohamed Fadel

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Cane molasses is used as a raw material for the production of baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) in Egypt. The high levels of heavy metals in molasses cause a critical problem during fermentation and cause various kinds of technological difficulties (yield and quality of yeast become lower). The aim of the present study was to determine heavy metal concentrations (cadmium, nickel, lead, and copper) in crude and treated molasses obtained from the storage tanks of the baker’s yeast factory through four seasons. Also, the effect of crude molasses treatment by different methods (at laboratory scale) on heavy metals reduction and its comparison with factory treated molasses were conducted. The molasses samples obtained at autumn season had the highest values of all the studied heavy metals. The molasses treated by cation exchange resin then sulfuric acid had the lowest concentrations of heavy metals compared with other treatments.

Keywords: Molasses, baker’s yeast, heavy metals, treatment.

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Authors: N. K. Srivastava, M. K. Jha, I. D. Mall, Davinder Singh

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The treatment of the industrial wastewater can be particularly difficult in the presence of toxic compounds. Excessive concentration of Chromium in soluble form is toxic to a wide variety of living organisms. Biological removal of heavy metals using natural and genetically engineered microorganisms has aroused great interest because of its lower impact on the environment. Ralston metallidurans, formerly known as Alcaligenes eutrophus is a LProteobacterium colonizing industrial wastewater with a high content of heavy metals. Tris-buffered mineral salt medium was used for growing Alcaligenes eutrophus AE104 (pEBZ141). The cells were cultivated for 18 h at 30 oC in Tris-buffered mineral salt medium containing 3 mM disodium sulphate and 46 mM sodium gluconate as the carbon source. The cells were harvested by centrifugation, washed, and suspended in 10 mM Tris HCl, pH 7.0, containing 46 mM sodium gluconate, and 5 mM Chromium. Interaction among induction of chr resistance determinant, and chromate reduction have been demonstrated. Results of this study show that the above bacteria can be very useful for bioremediation of chromium from industrial wastewater.

Keywords: Chromium, Genetic Engineering, IndustrialWastewater, Plasmid

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Authors: Khalil Banan, Mohammad B.B. Sharifian, Jafar Mohammadi

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Due to the high percentage of induction motors in industrial market, there exist a large opportunity for energy savings. Replacement of working induction motors with more efficient ones can be an important resource for energy savings. A calculation of energy savings and payback periods, as a result of such a replacement, based on nameplate motor efficiency or manufacture-s data can lead to large errors [1]. Efficiency of induction motors (IMs) can be extracted using some procedures that use the no-load test results. In the cases that we must estimate the efficiency on-line, some of these procedures can-t be efficient. In some cases the efficiency estimates using the rating values of the motor, but these procedures can have errors due to the different working condition of the motor. In this paper the efficiency of an IM estimated by using the genetic algorithm. The results are compared with the measured values of the torque and power. The results show smaller errors for this procedure compared with the conventional classical procedures, hence the cost of the equipments is reduced and on-line estimation of the efficiency can be made.

Keywords: Genetic algorithm, induction motor, efficiency.

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Authors: Ji-Hye Kim, Sung-Gaun Kim

Abstract:

Electro-hydraulic power steering (EHPS) system for the fuel rate reduction and steering feel improvement is comprised of ECU including the logic which controls the steering system and BL DC motor and produces the best suited cornering force, BLDC motor, high pressure pump integrated module and basic oil-hydraulic circuit of the commercial HPS system. Electro-hydraulic system can be studied in two ways such as experimental and computer simulation. To get accurate results in experimental study of EHPS system, the real boundary management is necessary which is difficult task. And the accuracy of the experimental results depends on the preparation of the experimental setup and accuracy of the data collection. The computer simulation gives accurate and reliable results if the simulation is carried out considering proper boundary conditions. So, in this paper, each component of EHPS was modeled, and the model-based analysis and control logic was designed by using AMESim

Keywords: Power steering system, Electro-Hydraulic power steering (EHPS) system, Modeling of EHPS system, Analysis modeling.

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Authors: Phumelele P. Kubheka, Pius A. Owolawi, Gbolahan Aiyetoro

Abstract:

Twitter is one of the most popular social media platforms where users share their opinions on different subjects. Twitter can be considered a great source for mining text due to the high volumes of data generated through the platform daily. Many industries such as telecommunication companies can leverage the availability of Twitter data to better understand their markets and make an appropriate business decision. This study performs topic modeling on Twitter data using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA). The obtained results are benchmarked with another topic modeling technique, Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI). The study aims to retrieve topics on a Twitter dataset containing user tweets on South African Telcos. Results from this study show that LSI is much faster than LDA. However, LDA yields better results with higher topic coherence by 8% for the best-performing model in this experiment. A higher topic coherence score indicates better performance of the model.

Keywords: Big data, latent Dirichlet allocation, latent semantic indexing, Telco, topic modeling, Twitter.

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Authors: S. Qaedi, S. Seyedtabaii

Abstract:

Non-Destructive evaluation of in-service power transformer condition is necessary for avoiding catastrophic failures. Dissolved Gas Analysis (DGA) is one of the important methods. Traditional, statistical and intelligent DGA approaches have been adopted for accurate classification of incipient fault sources. Unfortunately, there are not often enough faulty patterns required for sufficient training of intelligent systems. By bootstrapping the shortcoming is expected to be alleviated and algorithms with better classification success rates to be obtained. In this paper the performance of an artificial neural network, K-Nearest Neighbour and support vector machine methods using bootstrapped data are detailed and shown that while the success rate of the ANN algorithms improves remarkably, the outcome of the others do not benefit so much from the provided enlarged data space. For assessment, two databases are employed: IEC TC10 and a dataset collected from reported data in papers. High average test success rate well exhibits the remarkable outcome.

Keywords: Dissolved gas analysis, Transformer incipient fault, Artificial Neural Network, Support Vector Machine (SVM), KNearest Neighbor (KNN)

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Authors: Claudia L. Zuñiga, Andres F. Millan, Jose L. Abadia, Monica Lora, Andres Navarro, Juan C. Burguillo, Pedro S. Rodriguez

Abstract:

The increasing popularity of wireless technologies and mobile computing devices has enabled new application areas and research. One of these new areas is pervasive systems in urban environments, because urban environments are characterized by high concentration of these technologies and devices. In this paper we will show the process of pervasive system design in urban environments, using as use case a local zoo in Cali, Colombia. Based on an ethnographic studio, we present the design of a pervasive system for urban computing based on service oriented architecture to controlled environment of Cali Zoo. In this paper, the reader will find a methodological approach for the design of similar systems, using data collection methods, conceptual frameworks for urban environments and considerations of analysis and design of service oriented systems.

Keywords: Service Oriented Architecture, Urban Computing, Design of pervasive systems for urban environments, PSP Design Framework (Public Social Private), Cali Zoo.

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Authors: Clemens Pizzinini, Philipp Rosner, David Ziegler, Markus Lienkamp

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Transportation is a constitutional part of most supply and value chains in modern economies. Smallholder farmers in rural Ethiopia face severe challenges along their supply and value chains. In particular, suitable, affordable, and available transport services are in high demand. To develop context-specific technical solutions, a problem-to-solution methodology based on the interaction with technology is developed. With this approach, we fill the gap between proven transportation assessment frameworks and general user-centered techniques. Central to our approach is an electric test vehicle that is implemented in rural supply and value chains for research, development, and testing. Based on our objective and the derived methodological requirements, a set of existing methods is  selected. Local partners are integrated in an organizational framework that executes major parts of this research endeavour in Arsi Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia.

Keywords: Agricultural value chain, participatory methods, agile methods, sub-Saharan Africa, Ethiopia, electric vehicle, transport service.

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Authors: Isaura Esther Solano Núñez, David Suarez

Abstract:

The main purpose of this research is to discover what causes death in children of the Wayuu community, and deeply analyze those results in order to take corrective measures to properly control infant mortality. We consider important to determine the reasons that are producing early death in this specific type of population, since they are the most vulnerable to high risk environmental conditions. In this way, the government, through competent authorities, may develop prevention policies and the right measures to avoid an increase of this tragic fact. The methodology used to develop this investigation is data mining, which consists in gaining and examining large amounts of data to produce new and valuable information. Through this technique it has been possible to determine that the child population is dying mostly from malnutrition. In short, this technique has been very useful to develop this study; it has allowed us to transform large amounts of information into a conclusive and important statement, which has made it easier to take appropriate steps to resolve a particular situation.

Keywords: Malnutrition, datamining, analytical, descriptive, population, wayuu, indigenous.

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Authors: Rumman Md Raihanuzzaman, Lee Chang Chuan, Zonghan Xie, Reza Ghomashchi

Abstract:

Cemented carbides, owing to their excellent mechanical properties, have been of immense interest in the field of hard materials for the past few decades. A number of processing techniques have been developed to obtain high quality carbide tools, with a wide range of grain size depending on the application and requirements. Microwave sintering is one of the heating processes, which has been used to prepare a wide range of materials including ceramics. A deep understanding of microwave sintering and its contribution towards control of grain growth and on deformation of the resulting carbide materials requires further studies and attention. In addition, the effect of binder materials and their behavior during microwave sintering is another area that requires clear understanding. This review aims to focus on microwave sintering, providing information of how the process works and what type of materials it is best suited for. In addition, a closer look at some microwave sintered Tungsten Carbide-Cobalt samples will be taken and discussed, highlighting some of the key issues and challenges faced in this research area.

Keywords: Cemented carbides, consolidation, microwave sintering, mechanical properties.

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Authors: Mandla T. Nene, Edgar.Jembere, Matthew O. Adigun, Themba Shezi, Siyabonga S. Cebekhulu

Abstract:

The drastic increase in the usage of SMS technology has led service providers to seek for a solution that enable users of mobile devices to access services through SMSs. This has resulted in the proposal of solutions towards SMS-based service invocation in service oriented environments. However, the dynamic nature of service-oriented environments coupled with sudden load peaks generated by service request, poses performance challenges to infrastructures for supporting SMS-based service invocation. To address this problem we adopt load balancing techniques. A load balancing model with adaptive load balancing and load monitoring mechanisms as its key constructs is proposed. The load balancing model then led to realization of Least Loaded Load Balancing Framework (LLLBF). Evaluation of LLLBF benchmarked with round robin (RR) scheme on the queuing approach showed LLLBF outperformed RR in terms of response time and throughput. However, LLLBF achieved better result in the cost of high processing power.

Keywords: SMS (Short Message Service), LLLBF (Least Loaded Load Balancing Framework), Service Oriented Computing (SOC).

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Authors: Nuttanuch Munsakorn

Abstract:

This questionnaire-based study, aimed to measure and compare the awareness of English reading strategies among EFL learners at Bangkok University (BU) classified by their gender, field of study, and English learning experience. Proportional stratified random sampling was employed to formulate a sample of 380 BU students. The data were statistically analyzed in terms of the mean and standard deviation. t-Test analysis was used to find differences in awareness of reading strategies between two groups (-male and female- /-science and social-science students). In addition, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare reading strategy awareness among BU students with different lengths of English learning experience. The results of this study indicated that the overall awareness of reading strategies of EFL learners at BU was at a high level (ðÑ = 3.60) and that there was no statistically significant difference between males and females, and among students who have different lengths of English learning experience at the significance level of 0.05. However, significant differences among students coming from different fields of study were found at the same level of significance.

Keywords: EFL learners, higher education, reading comprehension, reading strategies

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Authors: Chit Su Htwe, Win Htay

Abstract:

The iris recognition technology is the most accurate, fast and less invasive one compared to other biometric techniques using for example fingerprints, face, retina, hand geometry, voice or signature patterns. The system developed in this study has the potential to play a key role in areas of high-risk security and can enable organizations with means allowing only to the authorized personnel a fast and secure way to gain access to such areas. The paper aim is to perform the iris region detection and iris inner and outer boundaries localization. The system was implemented on windows platform using Visual C# programming language. It is easy and efficient tool for image processing to get great performance accuracy. In particular, the system includes two main parts. The first is to preprocess the iris images by using Canny edge detection methods, segments the iris region from the rest of the image and determine the location of the iris boundaries by applying Hough transform. The proposed system tested on 756 iris images from 60 eyes of CASIA iris database images.

Keywords: Canny, C#, hough transform, image preprocessing.

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Authors: D.Venkatesan, K.Kannan, S. Raja Balachandar

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In this paper a new Genetic Algorithm based on a heuristic operator and Centre of Mass selection operator (CMGA) is designed for the unbounded knapsack problem(UKP), which is NP-Hard combinatorial optimization problem. The proposed genetic algorithm is based on a heuristic operator, which utilizes problem specific knowledge. This center of mass operator when combined with other Genetic Operators forms a competitive algorithm to the existing ones. Computational results show that the proposed algorithm is capable of obtaining high quality solutions for problems of standard randomly generated knapsack instances. Comparative study of CMGA with simple GA in terms of results for unbounded knapsack instances of size up to 200 show the superiority of CMGA. Thus CMGA is an efficient tool of solving UKP and this algorithm is competitive with other Genetic Algorithms also.

Keywords: Genetic Algorithm, Unbounded Knapsack Problem, Combinatorial Optimization, Meta-Heuristic, Center of Mass

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Authors: Amir Gandomkar

Abstract:

Kish Islands in South of Iran is located in coastal water near Hormozgan Province. Based on the wind 3-hour statistics in Kish station, the mean annual windspeed in this Island is 8.6 knot (4.3 m/s). The maximum windspeed recorded in this stations 47 knot (23.5 m/s). In 45.7 percent of recorded times, windspeed has been Zero or less than 8 knot which is not suitable to use the wind energy. But in 54.3 percent of recorded times, windspeed has been more than 8 knot and suitable to use wind energy to run turbines. In 40.2 percent of recorded times, windspeed has been between 8 to 16 knot, in 13 percent of times between 16 to 24 knot and in 1 percent of times it has been higher than 24 knot. In this station, the direction of winds higher than 8 is west and wind direction in Kish station is stable in most times of the year.With regard to high – speed and stable direction winds during the year and also shallow coasts near this is land, it is possible to build offshore wind farms near Kish Island and utilize wind energy produce the electricity required in this Island during most of the year.

Keywords: Kish Island, Wind energy, Offshore wind farm, Windspeed, Wind direction

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Authors: A. Al Drees, A. Alahmari, R. Almuwayshir

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The advanced information technology is becoming an important factor in the development of financial services industry, especially the banking industry. It has introduced new ways of delivering banking to the customer, such as Internet Banking. Banks began to look at electronic banking (e-banking) as a means to replace some of their traditional branch functions using the Internet as a new distribution channel. Some consumers have at least more than one account, and across banks, and access these accounts using e-banking services. To look at the current net worth position, customers have to login to each of their accounts and get the details and work on consolidation. This not only takes ample time but it is a repetitive activity at a specified frequency. To address this point, an account aggregation concept is added as a solution. E-banking account aggregation, as one of the e-banking types, appeared to build a stronger relationship with customers. Account Aggregation Service generally refers to a service that allows customers to manage their bank accounts maintained in different institutions through a common Internet banking operating a platform, with a high concern to security and privacy. This paper presents an overview of an e-banking account aggregation approach as a new service in the e-banking field.

Keywords: E-banking, security, account aggregation, enterprise application development.

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Authors: Bharat Raj Singh, Onkar Singh

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This paper deals with new concept of using compressed atmospheric air as a zero pollution power source for running motorbikes. The motorbike is equipped with an air turbine in place of an internal combustion engine, and transforms the energy of the compressed air into shaft work. The mathematical modeling and performance evaluation of a small capacity compressed air driven vaned type novel air turbine is presented in this paper. The effect of isobaric admission and adiabatic expansion of high pressure air for different rotor to casing diameter ratios with respect to different vane angles (number of vanes) have been considered and analyzed. It is found that the shaft work output is optimum for some typical values of rotor / casing diameter ratios at a particular value of vane angle (no. of vanes). In this study, the maximum power is obtained as 4.5kW - 5.3kW (5.5-6.25 HP) when casing diameter is taken 100 mm, and rotor to casing diameter ratios are kept from 0.65 to 0.55. This value of output is sufficient to run motorbike.

Keywords: zero pollution, compressed air, air turbine, vane angle, rotor / casing diameter ratio

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Authors: Z. Nurzaireena, K. Azalea, T. Azirawaty, S. Jameela, G. Muralitharan

Abstract:

The aim of this study is the review of the management practices of sickle cell disease patients during pregnancy, as well as the maternal and neonatal outcome at Ampang Hospital, Selangor. The study consisted of a review of pregnant patients with sickle cell disease under follow up at the Hematology Clinic, Ampang Hospital over the last seven years to assess their management and maternal-fetal outcome. The results of the review show that Ampang Hospital is considered the public hematology centre for sickle cell disease and had successfully managed three pregnancies throughout the last seven years. Patients’ presentations, managements and maternal-fetal outcome were compared and reviewed for academic improvements. All three patients were seen very early in their pregnancy and had been given a regime of folic acid, antibiotics and thrombo-prophylactic drugs. Close monitoring of maternal and fetal well being was done by the hematologists and obstetricians. Among the patients, there were multiple admissions during the pregnancy for either a painful sickle cell bone crisis, haemolysis following an infection and anemia requiring phenotype- matched blood and exchange transfusions. Broad spectrum antibiotics coverage during and infection, hydration, pain management and venous-thrombolism prophylaxis were mandatory. The pregnancies managed to reach near term in the third trimester but all required emergency caesarean section for obstetric indications. All pregnancies resulted in live births with good fetal outcome. During post partum all were nursed closely in the high dependency units for further complications and were discharged well. Post partum follow up and contraception counseling was comprehensively given for future pregnancies. Sickle cell disease is uncommonly seen in the East, especially in the South East Asian region, yet more cases are seen in the current decade due to improved medical expertise and advance medical laboratory technologies. Pregnancy itself is a risk factor for sickle cell patients as increased thrombosis event and risk of infections can lead to multiple crisis, haemolysis, anemia and vaso-occlusive complications including eclampsia, cerebrovasular accidents and acute bone pain. Patients mostly require multiple blood product transfusions thus phenotype-matched blood is required to reduce the risk of alloimmunozation. Emphasizing the risks and complications in preconception counseling and establishing an ultimate pregnancy plan would probably reduce the risk of morbidity and mortality to the mother and unborn child. Early management for risk of infection, thromboembolic events and adequate hydration is mandatory. A holistic approach involving multidisciplinary team care between the hematologist, obstetricians, anesthetist, neonatologist and close nursing care for both mother and baby would ensure the best outcome. In conclusion, sickle cell disease by itself is a high risk medical condition and pregnancy would further amplify the risk. Thus, close monitoring with combine multidisciplinary care, counseling and educating the patients are crucial in achieving the safe outcome.

Keywords: Anemia, haemoglobinopathies, pregnancy, sickle cell disease.

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Authors: A. Abou El-Azm Aly, F. Nicolleau, T. M. Michelitsch, A. F. Nowakowski

Abstract:

In this study, the dispersion of heavy particles line in an isotropic and incompressible three-dimensional turbulent flow has been studied using the Kinematic Simulation techniques to find out the evolution of the line fractal dimension. The fractal dimension of the line is found in the case of different particle gravity (in practice, different values of particle drift velocity) in the presence of small particle inertia with a comparison with that obtained in the diffusion case of material line at the same Reynolds number. It can be concluded for the dispersion of heavy particles line in turbulent flow that the particle gravity affect the fractal dimension of the line for different particle gravity velocities in the range 0.2 < W < 2. With the increase of the particle drift velocity, the fractal dimension of the line decreases which may be explained as the particles pass many scales in their journey in the direction of the gravity and the particles trajectories do not affect by these scales at high particle drift velocities.

Keywords: Heavy particles, two-phase flow, Kinematic Simulation, Fractal dimension.

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Authors: Orhan Feyzioğlu, Gülçin Büyüközkan

Abstract:

As a vital activity for companies, new product development (NPD) is also a very risky process due to the high uncertainty degree encountered at every development stage and the inevitable dependence on how previous steps are successfully accomplished. Hence, there is an apparent need to evaluate new product initiatives systematically and make accurate decisions under uncertainty. Another major concern is the time pressure to launch a significant number of new products to preserve and increase the competitive power of the company. In this work, we propose an integrated decision-making framework based on neural networks and fuzzy logic to make appropriate decisions and accelerate the evaluation process. We are especially interested in the two initial stages where new product ideas are selected (go/no go decision) and the implementation order of the corresponding projects are determined. We show that this two-staged intelligent approach allows practitioners to roughly and quickly separate good and bad product ideas by making use of previous experiences, and then, analyze a more shortened list rigorously.

Keywords: Decision Making, Neural Networks, Fuzzy Theory and Systems, Choquet Integral, New Product Development.

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