Search results for: Diffractive quality factor

Authors: Frank Emmert-Streib, Matthias Dehmer

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Inferring the network structure from time series data is a hard problem, especially if the time series is short and noisy. DNA microarray is a technology allowing to monitor the mRNA concentration of thousands of genes simultaneously that produces data of these characteristics. In this study we try to investigate the influence of the experimental design on the quality of the result. More precisely, we investigate the influence of two different types of random single gene perturbations on the inference of genetic networks from time series data. To obtain an objective quality measure for this influence we simulate gene expression values with a biologically plausible model of a known network structure. Within this framework we study the influence of single gene knock-outs in opposite to linearly controlled expression for single genes on the quality of the infered network structure.

Keywords: Dynamic Bayesian networks, microarray data, structure learning, Markov chain Monte Carlo.

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Authors: Waluyo, Parouli M. Pakpahan, Suwarno, Maman A. Djauhari

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This paper presents the experimental results of leakage current waveforms which appears on porcelain insulator surface due to existence of artificial pollutants. The tests have been done using the chemical compounds of NaCl, Na2SiO3, H2SO4, CaO, Na2SO4, KCl, Al2SO4, MgSO4, FeCl3, and TiO2. The insulator surface was coated with those compounds and dried. Then, it was tested in the chamber where the high voltage was applied. Using correspondence analysis, the result indicated that the fundamental harmonic of leakage current was very close to the applied voltage and third harmonic leakage current was close to the yielded leakage current amplitude. The first harmonic power was correlated to first harmonic amplitude of leakage current, and third harmonic power was close to third harmonic one. The chemical compounds of H2SO4 and Na2SiO3 affected to the power factor of around 70%. Both are the most conductive, due to the power factor drastically increase among the chemical compounds.

Keywords: Chemical compound, harmonic, porcelain insulator, leakage current.

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Authors: Zenon Chaczko, Essam Rahali, Rizwan Tariq

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This paper introduces a process for the module level integration of computer based systems. It is based on the Six Sigma Process Improvement Model, where the goal of the process is to improve the overall quality of the system under development. We also present a conceptual framework that shows how this process can be implemented as an integration solution. Finally, we provide a partial implementation of key components in the conceptual framework.

Keywords: Software Quality, Six Sigma, System Integration, 3SI Process, 3SI Conceptual Framework.

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Authors: Mohammadreza Vafaei, Amirali Moradi, Sophia C. Alih

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The method selected for the design of structures not only can affect their seismic vulnerability but also can affect their construction cost. For the design of steel structures, two distinct methods have been introduced by existing codes, namely allowable stress design (ASD) and load resistant factor design (LRFD). This study investigates the effect of using the aforementioned design methods on the seismic vulnerability and construction cost of steel structures. Specifically, a 20-story building equipped with special moment resisting frame and an eccentrically braced system was selected for this study. The building was designed for three different intensities of peak ground acceleration including 0.2 g, 0.25 g, and 0.3 g using the ASD and LRFD methods. The required sizes of beams, columns, and braces were obtained using response spectrum analysis. Then, the designed frames were subjected to nine natural earthquake records which were scaled to the designed response spectrum. For each frame, the base shear, story shears, and inter-story drifts were calculated and then were compared. Results indicated that the LRFD method led to a more economical design for the frames. In addition, the LRFD method resulted in lower base shears and larger inter-story drifts when compared with the ASD method. It was concluded that the application of the LRFD method not only reduced the weights of structural elements but also provided a higher safety margin against seismic actions when compared with the ASD method.

Keywords: Allowable stress design, load resistant factor design, nonlinear time history analysis, seismic vulnerability, steel structures.

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Authors: Vijay Gajanan Neve, Pallavi V. Pullawar, G. M. Dhole

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Modern industrial processes are based on a large amount of electronic devices such as programmable logic controllers and adjustable speed drives. Unfortunately, electronic devices are sensitive to disturbances, and thus, industrial loads become less tolerant to power quality problems such as sags, swells, and harmonics. Voltage sags are an important power quality problem. In this paper proposed a new configuration of Static Var Compensator (SVC) considering three different conditions named as topologies and Booster transformer with fuzzy logic based controller, capable of compensating for power quality problems associated with voltage sags and maintaining a prescribed level of voltage profile. Fuzzy logic controller is designed to achieve the firing angles for SVC such that it maintains voltage profile. The online monitoring system for voltage sag mitigation in the laboratory using the hardware is used. The results are presented from the performance of each topology and Booster transformer considered in this paper.

Keywords: Booster Transformer, Fuzzy logic, Static Var Compensator, Voltage sag.

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Authors: Chang, Chun-Lang, Liu, Chun-Kai

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This study, for its research subjects, uses patients who had undergone total knee replacement surgery from the database of the National Health Insurance Administration. Through the review of literatures and the interviews with physicians, important factors are selected after careful screening. Then using Cross Entropy Method, Genetic Algorithm Logistic Regression, and Particle Swarm Optimization, the weight of each factor is calculated and obtained. In the meantime, Excel VBA and Case Based Reasoning are combined and adopted to evaluate the system. Results show no significant difference found through Genetic Algorithm Logistic Regression and Particle Swarm Optimization with over 97% accuracy in both methods. Both ROC areas are above 0.87. This study can provide critical reference to medical personnel as clinical assessment to effectively enhance medical care quality and efficiency, prevent unnecessary waste, and provide practical advantages to resource allocation to medical institutes.

Keywords: Total knee replacement, Case Based Reasoning, Cross Entropy Method, Genetic Algorithm Logistic Regression, Particle Swarm Optimization.

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Authors: M. E. Silva, I. Brás

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The aim of this work was to study the viability of recycling the residual yeast and diatomaceous earth (RYDE) slurry generated by the beer brewing industry by composting with animal manures, as well as to evaluate the quality of the composts obtained. Two pilot composting trials were carried out with different mixes: cow manure/RYDE slurry (Pile CM) and sheep manure/RYDE slurry (Pile SM). For all piles, wood chips were applied as bulking agent. The process was monitored by evaluating standard physical and chemical parameters. The compost quality was assessed by the heavy metals content and phytotoxicity. Both piles reached a thermophilic phase in the first day, however having different trends. The pH showed a slight alkaline character. The C/N reached values lower than 19 at the end of composting process. Generally, all the piles exhibited absence of heavy metals. However, the pile SM exhibited phytotoxicity. This study showed that RYDE slurry can be valorized by composting with cow manure.

Keywords: Beer brewing wastes, compost; quality, valorization.

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Authors: Olugbade Damola, Adekomi Adebimbo, Sofowora Olaniyi Alaba

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One of the major problems facing education in Nigeria is the provision of quality Science and Technology education. Inadequate teaching facilities, non-usage of innovative teaching strategies, ineffective classroom management, lack of students’ motivation and poor integration of ICT has resulted in the increase in percentage of students who failed Basic Science and Technology in Junior Secondary Certification Examination for National Examination Council in Nigeria. To address these challenges, the Federal Government came up with a road map on education. This was with a view of enhancing quality education through integration of modern technology into teaching and learning, enhancing quality assurance through proper monitoring and introduction of innovative methods of teaching. This led the researcher to investigate how MOODLE LMS could be used to enhance students’ learning outcomes in BST. A sample of 120 students was purposively selected from four secondary schools in Ogbomoso. The experimental group was taught using MOODLE LMS, while the control group was taught using the conventional method. Data obtained were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and t-test. The result showed that MOODLE LMS was an effective learning platform in teaching BST in junior secondary schools (t=4.953, P<0.05). Students’ attitudes towards BST was also enhanced through MOODLE LMS (t=15.632, P<0.05). The use of MOODLE LMS significantly enhanced students’ retention (t=6.640, P<0.05). In conclusion, the Federal Government efforts at enhancing quality assurance through integration of modern technology and e-learning in Secondary schools proved to have yielded good result has students found MOODLE LMS to be motivating and interactive. Attendance was improved.

Keywords: MOODLE, learning management system, quality assurance, basic science and technology.

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Authors: R. Sinthavalai, N. Memongkol, N. Patthanaprechawong, J. Viriyanantavong, C. Choosuk

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In Thailand, the practice of pre-hospital Emergency Medical Service (EMS) in each area reveals the different growth rates and effectiveness of the practices. Those can be found as the diverse quality and quantity. To shorten the learning curve prior to speed-up the practices in other areas, story telling and lessons learnt from the effective practices are valued as meaningful knowledge. To this paper, it was to ascertain the factors, lessons learnt and best practices that have impact as contributing to the success of prehospital EMS system. Those were formulized as model prior to speedup the practice in other areas. To develop the model, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA), which is widely recognized as a framework for organizational quality assessment and improvement, was chosen as the discussion framework. Remarkably, this study was based on the consideration of knowledge capture; however it was not to complete the loop of knowledge activities. Nevertheless, it was to highlight the recognition of knowledge capture, which is the initiation of knowledge management.

Keywords: Emergency Medical Service, Modeling, MBNQA, Thailand.

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Authors: A. Nabhan, Mohamed R. El-Sharkawy, A. Rashed

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The main aim of this paper is to dedicate the belt drive system faults like cogs missing, misalignment and belt worm using vibration analysis technique. Experimentally, the belt drive test-rig is equipped to measure vibrations signals under different operating conditions. Finite element 3D model of belt drive system is created and vibration response analyzed using commercial finite element software ABAQUS/CAE.  Root mean square (RMS) and Crest Factor will serve as indicators of average amplitude of envelope analysis signals. The vibration signals pattern obtained from the simulation model and experimental data have the same characteristics. It can be concluded that each case of the RMS is more effective in detecting the defect for acceleration response. While Crest Factor parameter has a response with the displacement and velocity of vibration signals. Also it can be noticed that the model has difficulty in completing the solution when the misalignment angle is higher than 1 degree.

Keywords: Simulation model, misalignment, cogs missing and vibration analysis.

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Authors: David Ruiz, Carlos Nava, Roberto Carbajal

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The psychological profile has become one of the most important sources of information when it comes to individual selection and the hiring process in any organization. Psychological instruments are used to collect data about variables that are considered critically important for performance in work. However, because of conceptual chaos in organizational psychology, most of the information provided by psychological testing is not directly useful for Mexican human resources professionals to take hiring decisions. The aims of this paper are 1) to underline the lack of conceptual precision in theoretical testing foundations in Mexico and 2) presenting a reliability and validity analysis of a frustration tolerance instrument created as an alternative to a heuristically conduct individual assessment in organizations. First, a description of assessment conditions in Mexico is made. Second, an instrument and a theoretical framework is presented as an alternative to the assessment practices in the country. A total of 65 Psychology Iztacala Superior Studies Faculty students were assessed. Cronbach´s alpha coefficient was calculated and an exploratory factor analysis was carried out to prove the scale unidimensionality. Reliability analysis revealed good internal consistency of the scale (Cronbach’s α = 0.825). Factor analysis produced 4 factors for the scale. However, factor loadings and explained variation give proof to the scale unidimensionality. It is concluded that the instrument has good psychometric properties that will allow human resources professionals to collect useful data. Different possibilities to conduct psychological assessment are suggested for future development.

Keywords: Psychological assessment, frustration tolerance, human resources, organizational psychology.

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Authors: Ana Cristina García-Luna Romero

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This document seeks to reflect on the urban project from its conceptual identity root. In the first instance, a proposal is made on how the city project is sustained from the conceptual root, from the logos: it opens a way to assimilate the imagination; what we imagine becomes a reality. In this way, firstly, the need to use language as a vehicle for transmitting the stories that sustain us as humanity can be deemed as an important social factor that enables us to social behavior. Secondly, the need to attend to the written language as a mechanism of power, as a means to consolidate a dominant ideology or a political position, is raised; as it served to carry out the modernization project, it is therefore addressed differences between the real and the literate city. Thus, the consolidated urban-architectural project is based on logos, the project, and planning. Considering the importance of materiality and its relation to subjective well-being contextualized from a socio-urban approach, we question ourselves into how we can look at something that is doubtful. From a philosophy perspective, the truth is considered to be nothing more than a matter of correspondence between the observer and the observed. To understand beyond the relative of the gaze, it is necessary to expose different perspectives since it depends on the understanding of what is observed and how it is critically analyzed. Therefore, the analysis of materiality, as a political field, takes a proposal based on this research in the principles in transgenesis: principle of communication, representativeness, security, health, malleability, availability of potentiality or development, conservation, sustainability, economy, harmony, stability, accessibility, justice, legibility, significance, consistency, joint responsibility, connectivity, beauty, among others. The (urban) human being acts because he wants to live in a certain way: in a community, in a fair way, with opportunity for development, with the possibility of managing the environment according to their needs, etc. In order to comply with this principle, it is necessary to design strategies from the principles in transgenesis, which must be named, defined, understood, and socialized by the urban being, the companies, and from themselves. In this way, the technical status of the city in the neoliberal present determines extraordinary conditions for reflecting on an almost emergency scenario created by the impact of cities that, far from being limited to resilient proposals, must aim at the reflection of the urban process that the present social model has generated. Therefore, can we rethink the paradigm of the perception of life quality in the current neoliberal model in the production of the character of public space related to the practices of being urban. What we are trying to do within this document is to build a framework to study under what logic the practices of the social system that make sense of the public space are developed, what the implications of the phenomena of the inscription of action and materialization (and its results over political action between the social and the technical system) are and finally, how we can improve the quality of life of individuals from the urban space.

Keywords: Cities, nature, society, urban quality of life.

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Authors: C. Chitra, P. Subbaraj

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The shortest path routing problem is a multiobjective nonlinear optimization problem with constraints. This problem has been addressed by considering Quality of service parameters, delay and cost objectives separately or as a weighted sum of both objectives. Multiobjective evolutionary algorithms can find multiple pareto-optimal solutions in one single run and this ability makes them attractive for solving problems with multiple and conflicting objectives. This paper uses an elitist multiobjective evolutionary algorithm based on the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA), for solving the dynamic shortest path routing problem in computer networks. A priority-based encoding scheme is proposed for population initialization. Elitism ensures that the best solution does not deteriorate in the next generations. Results for a sample test network have been presented to demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed approach to generate well-distributed pareto-optimal solutions of dynamic routing problem in one single run. The results obtained by NSGA are compared with single objective weighting factor method for which Genetic Algorithm (GA) was applied.

Keywords: Multiobjective optimization, Non-dominated SortingGenetic Algorithm, Routing, Weighted sum.

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Authors: Ahd Aljarf, Saad Amin

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Images are important source of information used as evidence during any investigation process. Their clarity and accuracy is essential and of the utmost importance for any investigation. Images are vulnerable to losing blocks and having noise added to them either after alteration or when the image was taken initially, therefore, having a high performance image processing system and it is implementation is very important in a forensic point of view. This paper focuses on improving the quality of the forensic images. For different reasons packets that store data can be affected, harmed or even lost because of noise. For example, sending the image through a wireless channel can cause loss of bits. These types of errors might give difficulties generally for the visual display quality of the forensic images. Two of the images problems: noise and losing blocks are covered. However, information which gets transmitted through any way of communication may suffer alteration from its original state or even lose important data due to the channel noise. Therefore, a developed system is introduced to improve the quality and clarity of the forensic images.

Keywords: Image Filtering, Image Reconstruction, Image Processing, Forensic Images.

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Authors: Funmilayo L. Amao

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As a result of the high cost of housing, the increasing population is forced to live in substandard housing and unhealthy conditions giving rise to poor residential neighborhoods. The paper examines the causes and characteristics of poor residential neighborhood. The paper finds the problems that have influence poor neighborhoods to; poverty, growth of informal sector and housing shortage. The paper asserts that poor residential neighborhoods have adverse effects on the people.

The secondary data was obtained from books, journals and seminar papers while primary data relating to building and environmental quality from structured questionnaire administered on sample of 500 household heads, from sampling frame of 5000 housing units.

The study reveals that majority of the respondents are poor and employed in informal sector. The paper suggests urban renewal and slum upgrading programs as methods in dealing with the situation and an improvement in the socio-economic circumstances of the inhabitants.

Keywords: Environmental Degeneration, Housing, Poverty, Quality of life, Urban Upgrading.

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Authors: G. Sevilla, S. Zapata, F. Giraldo, E. Torres, C. Collazos

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This work describes a framework for teaching of global software engineering (GSE) in university undergraduate programs. This framework proposes a method of teaching that incorporates adequate techniques of software requirements elicitation and validated tools of communication, critical aspects to global software development scenarios. The use of proposed framework allows teachers to simulate small software development companies formed by Latin American students, which build information systems. Students from three Latin American universities played the roles of engineers by applying an iterative development of a requirements specification in a global software project. The proposed framework involves the use of a specific purpose Wiki for asynchronous communication between the participants of the process. It is also a practice to improve the quality of software requirements that are formulated by the students. The additional motivation of students to participate in these practices, in conjunction with peers from other countries, is a significant additional factor that positively contributes to the learning process. The framework promotes skills for communication, negotiation, and other complementary competencies that are useful for working on GSE scenarios.

Keywords: Requirements analysis, distributed requirements engineering, practical experiences, collaborative support.

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Authors: S. Pullteap, M. Pathomsuriyaporn

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In this article, a study of employee’s opinion to the factors that affect to the flood preventive and the corrective action plan in an electronic industry at the Sharp Manufacturing (Thailand) Co., Ltd. has been investigated. The surveys data of 175 workers and supervisors have, however, been selected for data analysis. The results is shown that the employees emphasize about the needs in a subsidy at the time of disaster at high levels of 77.8%, as the plan focusing on flood prevention of the rehabilitation equipment is valued at the intermediate level, which is 79.8%. Demonstration of the hypothesis has found that the different education levels has thus been affected to the needs factor at the flood disaster time. Moreover, most respondents give priority to flood disaster risk management factor. Consequently, we found that the flood prevention plan is valued at high level, especially on information monitoring, which is 93.4% for the supervisor item. The respondents largely assume that the flood will have impacts on the industry, up to 80%, thus to focus on flood management plans is enormous.

Keywords: Flood prevention plan, flood event, electronic industrial plant, disaster, risk management.

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Authors: G. Cannistraro, L. Ponterio

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In this paper is reported an analysis about the outdoor air pollution of the urban centre of the city of Messina. The variations of the most critical pollutants concentrations (PM10, O3, CO, C6H6) and their trends respect of climatic parameters and vehicular traffic have been studied. Linear regressions have been effectuated for representing the relations among the pollutants; the differences between pollutants concentrations on weekend/weekday were also analyzed. In order to evaluate air pollution and its effects on human health, a method for calculating a pollution index was implemented and applied in the urban centre of the city. This index is based on the weighted mean of the most detrimental air pollutants concentrations respect of their limit values for protection of human health. The analyzed data of the polluting substances were collected by the Assessorship of the Environment of the Regional Province of Messina in the year 2004. A statistical analysis of the air quality index trends is also reported.

Keywords: Environmental pollution, Pollutants levels, Linearregression, Air Quality Index, Statistical analysis.

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Authors: Renu Rahel, A. S. Chauhan, K. Srinivasulu, R. Ravi, V. B. Kudachikar

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The effect of calcium salts on the storage stability and on the quality attributes of both fresh and processed product (guava powder) of white flesh guavas (var ‘Allahabad safeda’) was studied. The pulp behavioral studies of fully ripened guava fruits indicated that fruits pretreated with 3% and 4.5% calcium chloride had the least viscosity. The guava pulp powder using spray drying technique was developed and its storage stability and the moisture sorption studies were carried out for product quality evaluation at normal storage condition (27°C; 65%RH). Results revealed that powder obtained from 3% calcium chloride pretreated guavas was found to be at par with the powder obtained from control guavas after 90 days of normal storage. Studies on microbiological quality of guava pulp powder indicated that among the treatments powder obtained from guava fruit pretreated with 3% calcium chloride to be the most effective through restricting microbial counts of total plate count, yeast, mold, Staphylococcus and E. coli below their permissible limit. Moisture sorption studies of guava powder revealed that foil laminate 12μm PET/9 μm foil/38-40 μm is the most suitable packaging material recommended.

Keywords: White flesh guava, calcium salts, spray drying, powder, storage stability.

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

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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: Ehrenstorfer Barbara, Peherstorfer Tanja, Nový Jan

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Urbanization and regionalization are two different approaches when it comes to economical structures and development, infrastructure and mobility, quality of life and living, education, social cohesion and many other topics. At first glance, the structures associated with urbanization and regionalization seems to be contradicting. This paper discusses possibilities of transfer and cooperation between rural and urban structures. An empirical investigation contributed to reveal scenarios of supposable forms of exchange and cooperation of remote rural areas and big cities.

Keywords: Learning Regions, Quality of Life and Living, Regional and Rural Development, Social Innovation.

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Authors: N. D. Osman, M. S. Salikin, M. I. Saripan

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CT assessment of postoperative spine is challenging in the presence of metal streak artifacts that could deteriorate the quality of CT images. In this paper, we studied the influence of different acquisition parameters on the magnitude of metal streaking. A water-bath phantom was constructed with metal insertion similar with postoperative spine assessment. The phantom was scanned with different acquisition settings and acquired data were reconstructed using various reconstruction settings. Standardized ROIs were defined within streaking region for image analysis. The result shows increased kVp and mAs enhanced SNR values by reducing image noise. Sharper kernel enhanced image quality compared to smooth kernel, but produced more noise in the images with higher CT fluctuation. The noise between both kernels were significantly different (P <0.05) with increment of noise in the bone kernel images (mean difference = 54.78). The technical settings should be selected appropriately to attain the acceptable image quality with the best diagnostic value.

Keywords: Computed tomography, metal streak, noise, CT fluctuation.

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Authors: Sri Hartati, 1Agus Harjoko, Brad G. Nickerson

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A prototype of an anomaly detection system was developed to automate process of recognizing an anomaly of roentgen image by utilizing fuzzy histogram hyperbolization image enhancement and back propagation artificial neural network. The system consists of image acquisition, pre-processor, feature extractor, response selector and output. Fuzzy Histogram Hyperbolization is chosen to improve the quality of the roentgen image. The fuzzy histogram hyperbolization steps consist of fuzzyfication, modification of values of membership functions and defuzzyfication. Image features are extracted after the the quality of the image is improved. The extracted image features are input to the artificial neural network for detecting anomaly. The number of nodes in the proposed ANN layers was made small. Experimental results indicate that the fuzzy histogram hyperbolization method can be used to improve the quality of the image. The system is capable to detect the anomaly in the roentgen image.

Keywords: Image processing, artificial neural network, anomaly detection.

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Authors: V. Pérez-Herranz, C. González-Buch, E. M. Ortega, S. Mestre

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In this work new macroporous Ni electrodes modified with Au nanoparticles for hydrogen production have been developed. The supporting macroporous Ni electrodes have been obtained by means of the electrodeposition at high current densities. Then, the Au nanoparticles were synthesized and added to the electrode surface. The electrocatalytic behaviour of the developed electrocatalysts was studied by means of pseudo-steady-state polarization curves, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and hydrogen discharge curves. The size of the Au synthetized nanoparticles shows a monomodal distribution, with a very sharp band between 10 and 50 nm. The characteristic parameters d10, d50 and d90 were 14, 20 and 31 nm respectively. From Tafel polarization data has been concluded that the Au nanoparticles improve the catalytic activity of the developed electrodes towards the HER respect to the macroporous Ni electrodes. EIS permits to obtain the electrochemically active area by means of the roughness factor value. All the developed electrodes show roughness factor values in the same order of magnitude. From the activation energy results it can be concluded that the Au nanoparticles improve the intrinsic catalytic activity of the macroporous Ni electrodes.

Keywords: Au nanoparticles, hydrogen evolution reaction, porous Ni electrodes.

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Authors: Azadeh Golshan, Craig Evans, Phillip Geary, Abigail Morrow, Zoe Rogers, Marcel Maeder

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22 physicochemical variables have been determined in water samples collected weekly from January to December in 2013 from three sampling stations located within a major drinking water reservoir. Classical Multivariate Curve Resolution Alternating Least Squares (MCR-ALS) analysis was used to investigate the environmental factors associated with the physico-chemical variability of the water samples at each of the sampling stations. Matrix augmentation MCR-ALS (MA-MCR-ALS) was also applied, and the two sets of results were compared for interpretative clarity. Links between these factors, reservoir inflows and catchment land-uses were investigated and interpreted in relation to chemical composition of the water and their resolved geographical distribution profiles. The results suggested that the major factors affecting reservoir water quality were those associated with agricultural runoff, with evidence of influence on algal photosynthesis within the water column. Water quality variability within the reservoir was also found to be strongly linked to physical parameters such as water temperature and the occurrence of thermal stratification. The two methods applied (MCR-ALS and MA-MCR-ALS) led to similar conclusions; however, MA-MCR-ALS appeared to provide results more amenable to interpretation of temporal and geological variation than those obtained through classical MCR-ALS.

Keywords: Catchment management, drinking water reservoir, multivariate curve resolution alternating least squares, thermal stratification, water quality.

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Authors: K. Kalaiselvan, K. Sekar, S. Elavarasi

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The use of laser beam welding for joining titanium and aluminum offers more advantages compared with conventional joining processes. Dissimilar metal combination is very much needed for aircraft structural industries and research activities. The quality of a weld joint is directly influenced by the welding input parameters. The common problem that is faced by the manufactures is the control of the process parameters to obtain a good weld joint with minimal detrimental. To overcome this issue, various parameters can be preferred to obtain quality of weld joint. In this present study an overall literature review on processing parameters such as offset distance, welding speed, laser power, shielding gas and filler metals are discussed with the effects on quality weldment. Additionally, mechanical properties of welds joint are discussed. The aim of the report is to review the recent progress in the welding of dissimilar titanium (Ti) and aluminum (Al) alloys to provide a basis for follow up research.

Keywords: Laser beam welding, titanium, aluminum, process parameters.

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Authors: Fekkak Bouazza, Menaa Mohamed, Loukriz Abdelhamid, Krim Mohamed L.

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This paper presents modeling and control strategy for the grid connected wind turbine system based on Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator (PMSG). The considered system is based on back-to-back converter topology. The Grid Side Converter (GSC) achieves the DC bus voltage control and unity power factor. The Machine Side Converter (MSC) assures the PMSG speed control. The PMSG is used as a variable speed generator and connected directly to the turbine without gearbox. The pitch angle control is not either considered in this study. Further, Optimal Tip Speed Ratio (OTSR) based MPPT control strategy is used to ensure the most energy efficiency whatever the wind speed variations. A filter (L) is put between the GSC and the grid to reduce current ripple and to improve the injected power quality. The proposed grid connected wind system is built under MATLAB/Simulink environment. The simulation results show the feasibility of the proposed topology and performance of its control strategies.

Keywords: Wind, grid, PMSG, MPPT, OTSR.

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Authors: Kamaldeep Joshi, Rajkumar Yadav, Ashok Kumar Yadav

Abstract:

Digital Watermarking is a procedure to prevent the unauthorized access and modification of personal data. It assures that the communication between two parties remains secure and their communication should be undetected. This paper investigates the consequence of the watermark strength of the grayscale image using a Discrete Wavelet Transformation (DWT) additive technique. In this method, the gray scale host image is divided into four sub bands: LL (Low-Low), HL (High-Low), LH (Low-High), HH (High-High) and the watermark is inserted in an LL sub band using DWT technique. As the image is divided into four sub bands, a watermark of equal size of the LL sub band has been inserted and the results are discussed. LL represents the average component of the host image which contains the maximum information of the image. Two kinds of experiments are performed. In the first, the same watermark is embedded in different images and in the later on the strength of the watermark varies by a factor of s i.e. (s=10, 20, 30, 40, 50) and it is inserted in the same image.

Keywords: Watermarking, discrete wavelet transform, scaling factor, steganography.

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Authors: Z. Nemec, R. Matousek

Abstract:

The paper describes the evaluation of quality of control for cases of controlled non-minimal phase plants. Control circuits containing non-minimal phase plants have different properties, they manifest reversed reaction at the beginning of unit step response. For these types of plants are developed special criterion of quality of control, which considers the difference and can be helpful for synthesis of optimal controller tuning. All results are clearly presented using Matlab/Simulink models.

Keywords: control design, non-minimal phase system, optimalcriteria, power plant, heating plant, water turbine, Matlab, Simulink.

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Authors: Dimitar Taskovski, Sofija Bogdanova, Momcilo Bogdanov

Abstract:

We present a low frequency watermarking method adaptive to image content. The image content is analyzed and properties of HVS are exploited to generate a visual mask of the same size as the approximation image. Using this mask we embed the watermark in the approximation image without degrading the image quality. Watermark detection is performed without using the original image. Experimental results show that the proposed watermarking method is robust against most common image processing operations, which can be easily implemented and usually do not degrade the image quality.

Keywords: Blind, digital watermarking, low frequency, visualmask.

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