Search results for: time study

Authors: Sanjeev Gupta, Mayank Dave

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The issue of real-time and reliable report delivery is extremely important for taking effective decision in a real world mission critical Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) based application. The sensor data behaves differently in many ways from the data in traditional databases. WSNs need a mechanism to register, process queries, and disseminate data. In this paper we propose an architectural framework for data placement and management. We propose a reliable and real time approach for data placement and achieving data integrity using self organized sensor clusters. Instead of storing information in individual cluster heads as suggested in some protocols, in our architecture we suggest storing of information of all clusters within a cell in the corresponding base station. For data dissemination and action in the wireless sensor network we propose to use Action and Relay Stations (ARS). To reduce average energy dissipation of sensor nodes, the data is sent to the nearest ARS rather than base station. We have designed our architecture in such a way so as to achieve greater energy savings, enhanced availability and reliability.

Keywords: Cluster head, data reliability, real time communication, wireless sensor networks.

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Authors: Ipak Torkpour

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In order to convert natural rubber or related polymers to material with varying physical properties such as elastic modulus or durability, a chemical process named sulfur vulcanization is needed. This can be either done by heating sulfur or sulfur-containing compounds. The main goal of this process is to produce untreated natural rubber latex that can be the main source of manufacturing for several rubber producers. Temperature, pressure, and time are considered as three crucial factors in the tire vulcanization process. The present study is an attempt to optimize these crucial parameters, with the aim of achieving maximum tire modulus using Taguchi experimental design. The results revealed that the optimal parameter values are as follows: a temperature of 170 °C, a pressure of 110 bar, and a time duration of 230 seconds. Under these optimized conditions, the obtained tire modulus reached 8.8 kgf.

Keywords: Rubber vulcanization, experimental design, Taguchi, polymers.

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Authors: Thi Nguyen, Lee Gordon-Brown, Jim Peterson, Peter Wheeler

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An additive fuzzy system comprising m rules with n inputs and p outputs in each rule has at least t m(2n + 2 p + 1) parameters needing to be tuned. The system consists of a large number of if-then fuzzy rules and takes a long time to tune its parameters especially in the case of a large amount of training data samples. In this paper, a new learning strategy is investigated to cope with this obstacle. Parameters that tend toward constant values at the learning process are initially fixed and they are not tuned till the end of the learning time. Experiments based on applications of the additive fuzzy system in function approximation demonstrate that the proposed approach reduces the learning time and hence improves convergence speed considerably.

Keywords: Additive fuzzy system, improving convergence, parameter learning process, unsupervised learning.

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Authors: Nasser M. Amaitik, Mohammed J. El-Sahli

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Evaluation of educational portals is an important subject area that needs more attention from researchers. A university that has an educational portal which is difficult to use and interact by teachers or students or management staff can reduce the position and reputation of the university. Therefore, it is important to have the ability to make an evaluation of the quality of e-services the university provide to improve them over time. The present study evaluates the usability of the Information Technology Faculty portal at University of Benghazi. Two evaluation methods were used: a questionnaire-based method and an online automated tool-based method. The first method was used to measure the portal's external attributes of usability (Information, Content and Organization of the portal, Navigation, Links and Accessibility, Aesthetic and Visual Appeal, Performance and Effectiveness and educational purpose) from users' perspectives, while the second method was used to measure the portal's internal attributes of usability (number and size of HTML files, number and size of images, load time, HTML check errors, browsers compatibility problems, number of bad and broken links), which cannot be perceived by the users. The study showed that some of the usability aspects have been found at the acceptable level of performance and quality, and some others have been found otherwise. In general, it was concluded that the usability of IT faculty educational portal generally acceptable. Recommendations and suggestions to improve the weakness and quality of the portal usability are presented in this study.

Keywords: Automated tools-based evaluation, Educational portals, Evaluation criteria, Questionnaire-based evaluation, Usability evaluation.

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Authors: Kenny Raharjo, Ramon Lawrence

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Game designers have the challenging task of building games that engage players to spend their time and money on the game. There are an infinite number of game variations and design choices, and it is hard to systematically determine game design choices that will have positive experiences for players. In this work, we demonstrate how multi-arm bandits can be used to automatically explore game design variations to achieve improved player metrics. The advantage of multi-arm bandits is that they allow for continuous experimentation and variation, intrinsically converge to the best solution, and require no special infrastructure to use beyond allowing minor game variations to be deployed to users for evaluation. A user study confirms that applying multi-arm bandits was successful in determining the preferred game variation with highest play time metrics and can be a useful technique in a game designer's toolkit.

Keywords: Game design, multi-arm bandit, design exploration and data mining, player metric optimization and analytics.

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Authors: Vineet Srivastava, Pulak M. Pandey

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Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is well established machining technique mainly used to machine complex geometries on difficult-to-machine materials and high strength temperature resistant alloys. In the present research, the objective is to study the shape of the electrode and establish the application of liquid nitrogen in reducing distortion of the electrode during electrical discharge machining of M2 grade high speed steel using copper electrodes. Study of roundness was performed on the electrode to observe the shape of the electrode for both conventional EDM and EDM with cryogenically cooled electrode. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) has been used to study the shape of electrode tip. The effect of various parameters such as discharge current and pulse on time has been studied to understand the behavior of distortion of electrode. It has been concluded that the shape retention is better in case of liquid nitrogen cooled electrode.

Keywords: cryogenic cooling, EDM, electrode shape, out of roundness.

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Authors: Zixin Liu, Shu Lü, Shouming Zhong, Mao Ye

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The problem of exponential stability and periodicity for a class of cellular neural networks (DCNNs) with time-varying delays is investigated. By dividing the network state variables into subgroups according to the characters of the neural networks, some sufficient conditions for exponential stability and periodicity are derived via the methods of variation parameters and inequality techniques. These conditions are represented by some blocks of the interconnection matrices. Compared with some previous methods, the method used in this paper does not resort to any Lyapunov function, and the results derived in this paper improve and generalize some earlier criteria established in the literature cited therein. Two examples are discussed to illustrate the main results.

Keywords: Cellular neural networks, exponential stability, time varying delays, partitioned matrices, periodic solution.

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Authors: F. Sarabchi, M. E. Kalantari

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In this paper, Optimum adaptive loading algorithms are applied to multicarrier system with Space-Time Block Coding (STBC) scheme associated with space-time processing based on singular-value decomposition (SVD) of the channel matrix over Rayleigh fading channels. SVD method has been employed in MIMO-OFDM system in order to overcome subchannel interference. Chaw-s and Compello-s algorithms have been implemented to obtain a bit and power allocation for each subcarrier assuming instantaneous channel knowledge. The adaptive loaded SVD-STBC scheme is capable of providing both full-rate and full-diversity for any number of transmit antennas. The effectiveness of these techniques has demonstrated through the simulation of an Adaptive loaded SVDSTBC system, and the comparison shown that the proposed algorithms ensure better performance in the case of MIMO.

Keywords: OFDM, MIMO, SVD, STBC, Adaptive Loading.

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Authors: Iman Atighi, Jalal Soleimannejad, Reza Pourjafarabadi, Saeid Moradpour

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In the past, we could increase profit by increasing product prices. But in the new decade, a competitive market does not let us to increase profit with increased prices. Therefore, the only way to increase profit will be to reduce costs. A significant percentage of production costs are the maintenance costs, and analysis of these costs could achieve more profit. Most maintenance strategies such as RCM (Reliability-Center-Maintenance), TPM (Total Productivity Maintenance), PM (Preventive Maintenance) and etc., are trying to reduce maintenance costs. In this paper, decreasing the maintenance costs of Concentration Plant of Golgohar Iron Ore Mining & Industrial Company (GeG) was examined by using of MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) and MTTR (Mean Time To Repair) analyses. These analyses showed that instead of buying new machines and increasing costs in order to promote capacity, the improving of MTBF and MTTR indexes would solve capacity problems in the best way and decrease costs.

Keywords: GeG Company, maintainability, maintenance costs, reliability-center-maintenance.

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Authors: Nur Sarma, Paul M. Tuohy, Siniša Djurović

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This paper presents an in-depth investigation of the effects of several grid supply harmonic voltages on the stator currents of an example wound rotor induction machine. The observed effects of higher order grid supply harmonics are identified using a finite element time stepping transient model, as well as a time-stepping electromagnetic model. In addition, a number of analytical equations to calculate the spectral content of the stator currents are presented in the paper. The presented equations are validated through comparison with the obtained spectra predicted using the finite element and electromagnetic models. The presented study provides a better understanding of the origin of supply harmonic effects identified in the stator currents of the example wound rotor induction machine. Furthermore, the study helps to understand the effects of higher order supply harmonics on the harmonic emissions of the wound rotor induction machine.  

Keywords: Wound rotor induction machine, supply harmonics, current spectrum, power spectrum, power quality, harmonic emissions, finite element analysis.

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Authors: Anmari H. Viljamaa, Elina M. Varamäki

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In this study, we compare the profiles of transitory hybrid entrepreneurs and persistent hybrid entrepreneurs to determine how they differ. Hybrid entrepreneurs (HEs) represent a significant share of entrepreneurial activity yet little is known about them. We define HEs as individuals who are active as entrepreneurs but do no support themselves primarily by their enterprise. Persistent HEs (PHEs) are not planning to transition to fulltime entrepreneurship whereas transitory HEs (THEs) consider it probable. Our results show that THEs and PHEs are quite similar in background. THEs are more interested in increasing their turnover than PHEs, as expected, but also emphasize self-fulfillment as a motive for entrepreneurship more than PHEs. The clearest differences between THEs and PHEs are found in their views on how well their immediate circle supports full-time entrepreneurship, and their views of their own entrepreneurial abilities and the market potential of their firm. Our results support earlier arguments that hybrids should be considered separately in research on entrepreneurial entry and self-employment.

Keywords: Hybrid entrepreneurship, part-time entrepreneurship, self-employment, Theory of Planned Behavior.

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Authors: Ali Al-Zughaibi, Huw Davies

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The purpose of this paper is to present a modeling and control of a quarter-car active suspension system with unknown mass, unknown time-delay and road disturbance. The objective of designing the controller is to derive a control law to achieve stability of the system and convergence that can considerably improve ride comfort and road disturbance handling. This is accomplished by using Routh-Hurwitz criterion based on defined parameters. Mathematical proof is given to show the ability of the designed controller to ensure the target of design, implementation with the active suspension system and enhancement dispersion oscillation of the system despite these problems. Simulations were also performed to control quarter car suspension, where the results obtained from these simulations verify the validity of the proposed design.

Keywords: Active suspension system, disturbance rejection, dynamic uncertainty, time-delay.

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Authors: M. A. Nozari, R. Ziaie Moayed

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Electro-osmosis in clayey soils and sediments, for purposes of clay consolidation, dewatering, or cleanup, and electro injection in porous media is widespread recent decades. It is experimentally found that the chemical properties of porous media especially PH change the characteristics of media. Electro-osmotic conductivity is a function of soil and grout material chemistry, altering with time. Many numerical approaches exist to simulate the of electro kinetic flow rate considering chemical changes. This paper presents a simplified analytical solution for constant flow rate based on varying electro osmotic conductivity and time dependent viscosity for injection of colloidal silica.

Keywords: Colloidal silica, electro-osmosis, pH, viscosity, zeta potential.

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Authors: Liu Dan, Wang Xue, Wang Guiqin, Qian Zhihong

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The burst noise is a kind of noises that are destructive and frequently found in semiconductor devices and ICs, yet detecting and removing the noise has proved challenging for IC designers or users. According to the properties of burst noise, a methodological approach is presented (proposed) in the paper, by which the burst noise can be analysed and detected in time domain. In this paper, principles and properties of burst noise are expounded first, Afterwards, feasibility (viable) of burst noise detection by means of wavelet transform in the time domain is corroborated in the paper, and the multi-resolution characters of Gaussian noise, burst noise and blurred burst noise are discussed in details by computer emulation. Furthermore, the practical method to decide parameters of wavelet transform is acquired through a great deal of experiment and data statistics. The methodology may yield an expectation in a wide variety of applications.

Keywords: Burst noise, detection, wavelet transform

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Authors: Norliza Mohamad Fadzil, Kerry Fitzmaurice, Linda Malesic

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Provision of optical devices without proper instruction and training may cause frustration resulting in rejection or incorrect use of the magnifiers. However training in the use of magnifiers increases the cost of providing these devices. This study compared the efficacy of providing instruction alone and instruction plus training in the use of magnifiers. 24 participants randomly assigned to two groups. 15 received instruction and training and 9 received instruction only. Repeated measures of print size and reading speed were performed at pre, post training and follow up. Print size decreased in both groups between pre and post training maintained at follow up. Reading speed increased in both groups over time with the training group demonstrating more rapid improvement. Whilst overall outcomes were similar, training decreased the time required to increase reading speed supporting the use of training for increased efficiency. A cost effective form of training is suggested.

Keywords: Low vision, magnification, training, reading.

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Authors: Haroon Altarawneh, Sattam Allahawiah

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This paper has two main ideas. Firstly, it describes Evans and Wurster-s concepts “the trade-off between reach and richness", and relates them to the impact of technology on the virtual markets. Authors Evans and Wurster see the transfer of information as a 'trade'off between richness and reach-. Reach refers to the number of people who share particular information, with Richness ['Rich'] being a more complex concept combining: bandwidth, customization, interactivity, reliability, security and currency. Traditional shopping limits the number of shops the shopper is able to visit due to time and other cost constraints; the time spent traveling consequently leaves the shopper with less time to evaluate the product. The paper concludes that although the Web provides Reach, offering Richness and the sense of community required for creating and sustaining relationships with potential clients could be difficult.

Keywords: Internet, Web sites, Richness and Reach, Ecommerce, virtual markets.

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Authors: Muhammad Sheikh Sadi, D. G. Myers, Cesar Ortega Sanchez

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This paper proposes the use of metrics in design space exploration that highlight where in the structure of the model and at what point in the behaviour, prevention is needed against transient faults. Previous approaches to tackle transient faults focused on recovery after detection. Almost no research has been directed towards preventive measures. But in real-time systems, hard deadlines are performance requirements that absolutely must be met and a missed deadline constitutes an erroneous action and a possible system failure. This paper proposes the use of metrics to assess the system design to flag where transient faults may have significant impact. These tools then allow the design to be changed to minimize that impact, and they also flag where particular design techniques – such as coding of communications or memories – need to be applied in later stages of design.

Keywords: Criticality, Metrics, Real-Time Systems, Transient Faults.

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Authors: Seyoung Kim, Jeongmin Kim, Kwang Ryel Ryu

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A database that records average traffic speeds measured at five-minute intervals for all the links in the traffic network of a metropolitan city. While learning from this data the models that can predict future traffic speed would be beneficial for the applications such as the car navigation system, building predictive models for every link becomes a nontrivial job if the number of links in a given network is huge. An advantage of adopting k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) as predictive models is that it does not require any explicit model building. Instead, k-NN takes a long time to make a prediction because it needs to search for the k-nearest neighbors in the database at prediction time. In this paper, we investigate how much we can speed up k-NN in making traffic speed predictions by reducing the amount of data to be searched for without a significant sacrifice of prediction accuracy. The rationale behind this is that we had a better look at only the recent data because the traffic patterns not only repeat daily or weekly but also change over time. In our experiments, we build several different k-NN models employing different sets of features which are the current and past traffic speeds of the target link and the neighbor links in its up/down-stream. The performances of these models are compared by measuring the average prediction accuracy and the average time taken to make a prediction using various amounts of data.

Keywords: Big data, k-NN, machine learning, traffic speed prediction.

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Authors: Popoola M. O., Abiola S. O., Adeniji W. A.

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This study investigates the causes, effects and remedies of traffic congestion which has become a common sight in most highways in Nigeria; Mowe/Ibafo section of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway was used as the case-study. 300 Structured questionnaires were distributed among the road users comprising drivers (Private and Commercial), passengers, pedestrians, traffic officers, church congregations, community leaders, Mowe/Ibafo residents, and other users of the road.

300 questionnaires were given out; the average of 276 well completed returned questionnaires formed the basis of the study and was analyzed by the Relative Importance Index (R.I.I.). The result from the study showed the causes of traffic congestion as inadequate road capacity, poor road pavement, poor traffic management, poor drainage system poor driving habit, poor parking habit, poor design junctions/round-about, presence of heavy trucks, lack of pedestrian facilities, lack of road furniture, lack of parking facilities and others. Effects of road congestion from the study are waste of time, delay movement, stress, accident, inability to forecast travel of time, fuel consumption, road rage, relocation, night driving, and environmental pollution. To drastically reduce these negative effects; there must be provision for adequate parking space, construction of proper drainage, enlarging the width of the road, rehabilitate all roads needing attention, public enlightenment, traffic education, hack down all illegal buildings/shops built on the right of way (ROW), create a separate/alternative root for trucks and heavy vehicles, provision of pedestrian facilities, In-depth training of transport/traffic personnel, ban all form of road trading/hawking, and reduce the number of bus-stop where necessary. It is hoped that this study will become the foundation of further research in the area of improve road traffic management on our major highway.

Keywords: Highways, Congestion, Traffic, Traffic congestion, traffic management, Nigeria.

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Authors: Candido Alcaide, Manuel Dıaz, Luis Llopis, Antonio Marquez, Bartolome Rubio, Enrique Soler

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The increasing complexity of software development based on peer to peer networks makes necessary the creation of new frameworks in order to simplify the developer-s task. Additionally, some applications, e.g. fire detection or security alarms may require real-time constraints and the high level definition of these features eases the application development. In this paper, a service model based on a component model with real-time features is proposed. The high-level model will abstract developers from implementation tasks, such as discovery, communication, security or real-time requirements. The model is oriented to deploy services on small mobile devices, such as sensors, mobile phones and PDAs, where the computation is light-weight. Services can be composed among them by means of the port concept to form complex ad-hoc systems and their implementation is carried out using a component language called UM-RTCOM. In order to apply our proposals a fire detection application is described.

Keywords: Peer-to-peer, mobile systems, real-time, service-oriented architecture.

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Authors: Hilal A. Abdelwali, Elsayed E.M. Ellaimony, Ahmad E.M. Murad, Jasem M.S. Al-Rajhi

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Due to the excess of a vehicle operation through its life, some elements may face failure and deteriorate with time. This leads us to carry out maintenance, repair, tune up or full overhaul. After a certain period, the vehicle elements deteriorations increase with time which causes a very high increase of doing the maintenance operations and their costs. However, the logic decision at this point is to replace the current vehicle by a new one with minimum failure and maximum income. The importance of studying vehicle replacement problems come from the increase of stopping days due to many deteriorations in the vehicle parts. These deteriorations increase year after year causing an increase of operating costs and decrease the vehicle income. Vehicle replacement aims to determine the optimum time to keep, maintain, overhaul, renew and replace vehicles. This leads to an improvement in vehicle income, total operating costs, maintenance cost, fuel and oil costs, ton-kilometers, vehicle and engine performance, vehicle noise, vibration, and pollution. The aim of this paper is to find the optimum replacement policies of Kuwait Passenger Transport Company (KPTCP) fleet of busses. The objective of these policies is to maximize the busses pure profits. The dynamic programming (D.P.) technique is used to generate the busses optimal replacement policies

Keywords: Replacement Problem, Automotive Replacement, Dynamic Programming, Equipment Replacement, K.P.T.C.

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Authors: Soungwan Kim

Abstract:

This study identifies factors underlying the digital divide that is faced by the disabled. The results of its analysis showed that the digital divide in PC use is affected by age, number of years of education, employment status, and household income of more than KRW 3 million. The digital divide in smart device use is affected by sex, age, number of years of education, time when disability struck, and household income of more than KRW 3 million. Based on these results, this study proposes methods for bridging the digital divide faced by the disabled.

Keywords: Digital divide, digital divide for the disabled, information accessibility for pcs and smart devices.

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Authors: Siddhartha Chauhan, Kumar S. Pandey, Prateek Chandra

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One of the key research issues in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is how to efficiently deploy sensors to cover an area. In this paper, we present a Fishnet Based Dispatch Scheme (FiBDS) with energy aware mobility and interest based sensing angle. We propose two algorithms, one is FiBDS centralized algorithm and another is FiBDS distributed algorithm. The centralized algorithm is designed specifically for the non-time critical applications, commonly known as non real-time applications while the distributed algorithm is designed specifically for the time critical applications, commonly known as real-time applications. The proposed dispatch scheme works in a phase-selection manner. In this in each phase a specific constraint is dealt with according to the specified priority and then moved onto the next phase and at the end of each only the best suited nodes for the phase are chosen. Simulation results are presented to verify their effectiveness. 

Keywords: Dispatch Scheme, Energy Aware Mobility, Interest based Sensing, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs).

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Authors: Atul K. Desai, Hemal J. Shah

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The tall windmill towers are designed as monopole tower or lattice tower. In the present research, a 125-meter high hybrid tower which is a combination of lattice and monopole type is proposed. The response of hybrid tower is compared with conventional monopole tower. The towers were analyzed in finite element method software considering nonlinear seismic time history load. The synthetic seismic time history for different soil is derived using the SeismoARTIF software. From the present research, it is concluded that, in the hybrid tower, we are not getting resonance condition. The base shear is less in hybrid tower compared to monopole tower for different soil conditions.

Keywords: Dynamic analysis, hybrid wind mill tower, resonance condition, synthetic time history.

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Authors: Alaaddin Cerit, Suheyla Kocaman, Ulku Soydal

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During the past two decades, photoinitiated polymerization has been attracting a great interest in terms of scientific and industrial activity. The wide recognition of UV treatment in the polymer industry results not only from its many practical applications but also from its advantage for low-cost processes. Unlike most thermal curing systems, radiation-curable systems can polymerize at room temperature without additional heat, and the curing is completed in a very short time. The advantage of cationic UV technology is that post-cure can continue in the ‘dark’ after radiation. In this study, bio-based acrylated epoxidized soybean oil (AESO) was cured with UV radiation using radicalic photoinitiator Irgacure 184. Triarylsulphonium hexafluoroantimonate was used as cationic photoinitiator for curing of 3,4-epoxycyclohexylmethyl-3,4-epoxycyclohexanecarboxylate. The effect of curing time and the amount of initiators on the curing degree and thermal properties were investigated. The thermal properties of the coating were analyzed after crosslinking UV irradiation. The level of crosslinking in the coating was evaluated by FTIR analysis. Cationic UV-cured coatings demonstrated excellent adhesion and corrosion resistance properties. Therefore, our study holds a great potential with its simple and low-cost applications.

Keywords: Acrylated epoxidized soybean oil, epoxy carboxylate, thermal properties, UV-curing.

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Authors: Deng Liao, Dongyu Qiu, Ahmed K. Elhakeem

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A new code synchronization algorithm is proposed in this paper for the secondary cell-search stage in wideband CDMA systems. Rather than using the Cyclically Permutable (CP) code in the Secondary Synchronization Channel (S-SCH) to simultaneously determine the frame boundary and scrambling code group, the new synchronization algorithm implements the same function with less system complexity and less Mean Acquisition Time (MAT). The Secondary Synchronization Code (SSC) is redesigned by splitting into two sub-sequences. We treat the information of scrambling code group as data bits and use simple time diversity BCH coding for further reliability. It avoids involved and time-costly Reed-Solomon (RS) code computations and comparisons. Analysis and simulation results show that the Synchronization Error Rate (SER) yielded by the new algorithm in Rayleigh fading channels is close to that of the conventional algorithm in the standard. This new synchronization algorithm reduces system complexities, shortens the average cell-search time and can be implemented in the slot-based cell-search pipeline. By taking antenna diversity and pipelining correlation processes, the new algorithm also shows its flexible application in multiple antenna systems.

Keywords: WCDMA cell-search, synchronization algorithm, secondary synchronization channel, antenna diversity.

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Authors: Marek Halenár, Eva Tvrdá, Tomáš Slanina, Ľubomír Ondruška, Eduard Kolesár, Peter Massányi, Adriana Kolesárová

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The present in vitro study was designed to reveal whether amygdalin (AMG) is able to cause changes to the motility, viability and mitochondrial activity of rabbit spermatozoa. New Zealand White rabbits (n = 10) aged four months were used in the study. Semen samples were collected from each animal and used for the in vitro incubation. The samples were divided into five equal parts and diluted with saline supplemented with 0, 0.5, 1, 2.5 and 5 mg/mL AMG. At times 0h, 3h and 5h spermatozoa motion parameters were assessed using the SpermVision™ computer-aided sperm analysis (CASA) system, cell viability was examined with the metabolic activity (MTT) assay, and the eosin-nigrosin staining technique was used to evaluate the viability of rabbit spermatozoa. All AMG concentrations exhibited stimulating effects on the spermatozoa activity, as shown by a significant preservation of the motility (P<0.05 with respect to 0.5 mg/mL and 1 mg/mL AMG; Time 5 h) and mitochondrial activity (P< 0.05 in case of 0.5 mg/mL AMG; P< 0.01 in case of 1 mg/mL AMG; P < 0.001 with respect to 2.5 mg/mL and 5 mg/mL AMG; Time 5 h). None of the AMG doses supplemented had any significant impact of the spermatozoa viability. In conclusion, the data revealed that short-term co-incubation of spermatozoa with AMG may result in a higher preservation of the sperm structural integrity and functional activity.

Keywords: Amygdalin, CASA, mitochondrial activity, motility, rabbits, spermatozoa, viability.

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Authors: Elizabeth Stojanovski

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Associations between life events and various forms of cancers have been identified. The purpose of a recent random-effects meta-analysis was to identify studies that examined the association between adverse events associated with changes to financial status including decreased income and breast cancer risk. The same association was studied in four separate studies which displayed traits that were not consistent between studies such as the study design, location, and time frame. It was of interest to pool information from various studies to help identify characteristics that differentiated study results. Two random-effects Bayesian meta-analysis models are proposed to combine the reported estimates of the described studies. The proposed models allow major sources of variation to be taken into account, including study level characteristics, between study variance and within study variance, and illustrate the ease with which uncertainty can be incorporated using a hierarchical Bayesian modelling approach.

Keywords: Random-effects, meta-analysis, Bayesian, variation.

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Authors: Narong Kulnides

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This research involved fingerprints on ballistics after shooting. Two objectives of research were as follow; (1) to study the duration of the existence of latent fingerprints on .38, .45, 9 mm and .223 cartridge case after shooting, and (2) to compare the effectiveness of the detection of latent fingerprints by Black Powder, Super Glue, Perma Blue and Gun Bluing. The latent fingerprint appearance were studied on .38, .45, 9 mm. and .223 cartridge cases before and after shooting with Black Powder, Super Glue, Perma Blue and Gun Bluing. The detection times were 3 minute, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 54, 60, 66, 72, 78 and 84 hours respectively. As a result of the study, it can be conclude that

1. Before shooting, the detection of latent fingerprints on 38, .45, and 9 mm. and .223 cartridge cases with Black Powder, Super Glue, Perma Blue and Gun Bluing can detect the fingerprints at all detection times.
2. After shooting, the detection of latent fingerprints on .38, .45, 9 mm. and .223 cartridge cases with Black Powder, Super Glue did not appear. The detection of latent fingerprints on .38, .45, 9 mm. cartridge cases with Perma Blue and Gun Bluing were found 100% of the time and the detection of latent fingerprints on .223 cartridge cases with Perma Blue and Gun Bluing were found 40% and 46.67% of the time, respectively.

Keywords: Ballistic, Fingerprint, Shooting.

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Authors: M. Tria, M. Benidir, E. Chaumette

Abstract:

In Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR) systems, it is more difficult to locate and recognise aircrafts in the neighbourhood of civil airports since aerial traffic becomes greater. Here, we propose to apply a recent Blind Source Separation (BSS) algorithm based on Time-Frequency Analysis, in order to separate messages sent by different aircrafts and falling in the same radar beam in reception. The above source separation method involves joint-diagonalization of a set of smoothed version of spatial Wigner-Ville distributions. The technique makes use of the difference in the t-f signatures of the nonstationary sources to be separated. Consequently, as the SSR sources emit different messages at different frequencies, the above fitted to this new application. We applied the technique in simulation to separate SSR replies. Results are provided at the end of the paper.

Keywords: Blind Source Separation, Time-Frequency Analysis, Secondary Radar

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