Search results for: Central venous access
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 1522

Search results for: Central venous access

562 A Value-Oriented Metamodel for Small and Medium Enterprises’ Decision Making

Authors: Romain Ben Taleb, Aurélie Montarnal, Matthieu Lauras, Mathieu Dahan, Romain Miclo

Abstract:

To be competitive and sustainable, any company has to maximize its value. However, unlike listed companies that can assess their values based on market shares, most Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which are non-listed cannot have direct and live access to this critical information. Traditional accounting reports only give limited insights to SME decision-makers about the real impact of their day-to-day decisions on the company’s performance and value. Most of the time, an SME’s financial valuation is made one time a year as the associated process is time and resource-consuming, requiring several months and external expertise to be completed. To solve this issue, we propose in this paper a value-oriented metamodel that enables real-time and dynamic assessment of the SME’s value based on the large definition of their assets. These assets cover a wider scope of resources of the company and better account for immaterial assets. The proposal, which is illustrated in a case study, discusses the benefits of incorporating assets in the SME valuation.

Keywords: SME, metamodel, decision support system, financial valuation.

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561 Blind Identification Channel Using Higher Order Cumulants with Application to Equalization for MC−CDMA System

Authors: Mohammed Zidane, Said Safi, Mohamed Sabri, Ahmed Boumezzough

Abstract:

In this paper we propose an algorithm based on higher order cumulants, for blind impulse response identification of frequency radio channels and downlink (MC−CDMA) system Equalization. In order to test its efficiency, we have compared with another algorithm proposed in the literature, for that we considered on theoretical channel as the Proakis’s ‘B’ channel and practical frequency selective fading channel, called Broadband Radio Access Network (BRAN C), normalized for (MC−CDMA) systems, excited by non-Gaussian sequences. In the part of (MC−CDMA), we use the Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) equalizer after the channel identification to correct the channel’s distortion. The simulation results, in noisy environment and for different signal to noise ratio (SNR), are presented to illustrate the accuracy of the proposed algorithm.

Keywords: Blind identification and equalization, Higher Order Cumulants, (MC−CDMA) system, MMSE equalizer.

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560 Semantic Indexing Approach of a Corpora Based On Ontology

Authors: Mohammed Erritali

Abstract:

The growth in the volume of text data such as books and articles in libraries for centuries has imposed to establish effective mechanisms to locate them. Early techniques such as abstraction, indexing and the use of classification categories have marked the birth of a new field of research called "Information Retrieval". Information Retrieval (IR) can be defined as the task of defining models and systems whose purpose is to facilitate access to a set of documents in electronic form (corpus) to allow a user to find the relevant ones for him, that is to say, the contents which matches with the information needs of the user. This paper presents a new semantic indexing approach of a documentary corpus. The indexing process starts first by a term weighting phase to determine the importance of these terms in the documents. Then the use of a thesaurus like Wordnet allows moving to the conceptual level. Each candidate concept is evaluated by determining its level of representation of the document, that is to say, the importance of the concept in relation to other concepts of the document. Finally, the semantic index is constructed by attaching to each concept of the ontology, the documents of the corpus in which these concepts are found.

Keywords: Semantic, indexing, corpora, WordNet, ontology.

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559 Incidence of Disasters and Coping Mechanism among Farming Households in South West Nigeria

Authors: Fawehinmi Olabisi Alaba, Adeniyi O. R.

Abstract:

Farming households faces lots of disaster which contribute to endemic poverty. Anticipated increases in extreme weather events will exacerbate this. Primary data was administered to farming household using multi-stage random sampling technique. The result of the analysis shows that majority of the respondents (69.9%) are male, have mean household size, years of formal education and age of 5±1.14, 6±3.41, and 51.06±10.43 respectively. The major (48.9%) type of disaster experienced is flooding. Major coping mechanism adopted is sourcing for support from family and friends. Age, education, experience, access to extension agent, and mitigation control method contribute significantly to vulnerability to disaster. The major adaptation method (62.3%) is construction of drainage.

The study revealed that the coping mechanisms employed may become less effective as increasingly fragile livelihood systems struggle to withstand disaster shocks. Thus there is need for training of the farmers on measures to adapt to mitigate the shock from disasters

Keywords: Adaptation, Disasters, Flooding, Vulnerability.

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558 Controller Design and Experimental Evaluation of a Motorized Assistance for a Patient Transfer Floor Lift

Authors: Donatien Callon, Ian Lalonde, Mathieu Nadeau, Alexandre Girard

Abstract:

Patient transfer is a challenging, critical task because it exposes caregivers to injury risks. Available transfer devices, like floor lifts, lead to improvements but are far from perfect. They do not eliminate the caregivers’ risk of musculoskeletal disorders, and they can be burdensome to use due to their poor maneuverability. This paper presents a motorized floor lift with a single central motorized wheel connected to an instrumented handle. Admittance controllers are designed to 1) improve the device maneuverability, 2) reduce the required caregiver effort, and 3) ensure the security and comfort of patients. Two controller designs, one with a linear admittance law and a non-linear admittance law with variable damping, were developed and implemented on a prototype. Tests were performed on seven participants to evaluate the performance of the assistance system and the controllers. The experimental results show that 1) the motorized assistance with the variable damping controller improves maneuverability by 28%, 2) reduces the amount of effort required to push the lift by 66% and 3) provides the same level of patient comfort compared to a standard unassisted floor lift.

Keywords: Floor lift, human robot interaction, admittance controller, variable admittance.

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557 Information Security in E-Learning through Identification of Humans

Authors: Hassan Haleh, Zohreh Nasiri, Parisa Farahpour

Abstract:

During recent years, the traditional learning approaches have undergone fundamental changes due to the emergence of new technologies such as multimedia, hypermedia and telecommunication. E-learning is a modern world phenomenon that has come into existence in the information age and in a knowledgebased society. E-learning has developed significantly within a short period of time. Thus it is of a great significant to secure information, allow a confident access and prevent unauthorized accesses. Making use of individuals- physiologic or behavioral (biometric) properties is a confident method to make the information secure. Among the biometrics, fingerprint is more acceptable and most countries use it as an efficient methods of identification. This article provides a new method to compare the fingerprint comparison by pattern recognition and image processing techniques. To verify fingerprint, the shortest distance method is used together with perceptronic multilayer neural network functioning based on minutiae. This method is highly accurate in the extraction of minutiae and it accelerates comparisons due to elimination of false minutiae and is more reliable compared with methods that merely use directional images.

Keywords: Fingerprint, minutiae, extraction of properties, multilayer neural network

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556 Collaboration in Palliative Care Networks in Urban and Rural Regions of Switzerland

Authors: R. Schweighoffer, N. Nagy, E. Reeves, B. Liebig

Abstract:

Due to aging populations, the need for seamless palliative care provision is of central interest for western societies. An essential aspect of palliative care delivery is the quality of collaboration amongst palliative care providers. Therefore, the current research is based on Bainbridge’s conceptual framework, which provides an outline for the evaluation of palliative care provision. This study is the first one to investigate the predictive validity of spatial distribution on the quantity of interaction amongst various palliative care providers. Furthermore, based on the familiarity principle, we examine whether the extent of collaboration influences the perceived quality of collaboration among palliative care providers in urban versus rural areas of Switzerland. Based on a population-representative survey of Swiss palliative care providers, the results of the current study show that professionals in densely populated areas report higher absolute numbers of interactions and are more satisfied with their collaborative practice. This indicates that palliative care providers who work in urban areas are better embedded into networks than their counterparts in more rural areas. The findings are especially important, considering that efficient collaboration is a prerequisite to achieve satisfactory patient outcomes. Conclusively, measures should be taken to foster collaboration in weakly interconnected palliative care networks.

Keywords: Collaboration, healthcare networks, palliative care, Switzerland.

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555 Bread Quality Improvement with Special Novel Additives

Authors: Mónika Bartalné-Berceli, Eszter Izsó, Szilveszter Gergely, András Salgó

Abstract:

Presently a significant portion of the Earth's population does not have access to healthy food. Either because they cannot afford it or because they do not know which one are they. The aim of the VII th Framework Chance project (Nr. 266331) supported by the European Union has been to develop relatively cheap food with favourable nutritional value and it should have acceptable quality for consumers. As one task of the project we manufactured bread products as a basic food. We examined the enrichment of bread products with four kinds of bran, with a special milling product of grain industry (aleurone-rich flour) and with a soy-based sprouted additive. The applied concentration of the six mentioned additives has been optimized and the physical properties of the bread products were monitored. The weight/density of the enriched breads increased a bit, however the volume and height decreased slightly compared to the corresponding data of the control bread. The optimized composition of the final product is favourably affected by these additives having highly preferred composition from nutritional point of view.

Keywords: Aleurone-rich flour, Brans, Bread products, Sprouted soybean, YASO.

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554 Comparison of Anti-Shadoo Antibodies – Where is the Endogenous Shadoo protein?

Authors: Eszter Tóth, Ervin Welker

Abstract:

Shadoo protein (Sho) was described in 2003 as the newest member of Prion protein superfamily [1]. Sho has similar structural motifs like prion protein (PrP) that is known for its central role in transmissible spongiform enchephalopathies. Although a great number of functions have been proposed, the exact physiological function of PrP is not known yet. Investigation of the function and localization of Sho may help us to understand the function of the Prion protein superfamily. Analyzing the subcellular localization of YFP-tagged forms of Sho, we detected the protein in the plasma membrane and in the nucleus of various cell lines. To reveal the localization of the endogenous protein we generated antibodies against Shadoo as well as employed commercially available anti-Shadoo antibodies: i) EG62 anti-mouse Shadoo antibody generated by Eurogentec Ltd.; ii) S-12 anti-human Shadoo antibody by Santa Cruz Biotechnology Inc.; iii) R-12 anti-mouse Shadoo antibody by Santa Cruz Biotechnology Inc.; iv) SPRN antibody against human Shadoo by Abgent Inc. We carried out immunocytochemistry on non-transfected HeLa, Zpl 2-1, Zw 3-5, GT1-1, GT1-7 and SHSY5Y cells as well as on YFP-Sho, Sho-YFP, and YFP-GPI transfected HeLa cells. Their specificity (in antibody-peptide competition assay) and co-localization (with the YFP signal) were assessed.

Keywords: Shadoo, prion protein, immunocytochemistry, antibody-peptide competition assay, antibody.

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553 Hydrophobic Characteristics of EPDM Composite Insulators in Simulated Arid Desert Environment

Authors: Yasin Khan

Abstract:

Overhead electrical insulators form an important link in an electric power system. Along with the traditional insulators (i.e. glass and porcelain, etc) presently the polymeric insulators are also used world widely. These polymeric insulators are very sensitive to various environmental parameters such temperature, environmental pollution, UV-radiations, etc. which seriously effect their electrical, chemical and hydrophobic properties. The UV radiation level in the central region of Saudi Arabia is high as compared to the IEC standard for the accelerated aging of the composite insulators. Commonly used suspension type of composite EPDM (Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer) insulator was subjected to accelerated stress aging as per modified IEC standard simulating the inland arid deserts atmospheric condition and also as per IEC-61109 standard. The hydrophobic characteristics were studied by measuring the contact angle along the insulator surface before and after the accelerated aging of the samples. It was found that EPDM insulator loses it hydrophobic properties proportional to the intensity of UV irradiations and its rate of recovery is also very low as compared to Silicone Rubber insulator.KeywordsEPDM, composite insulators, accelerated aging, hydrophobicity, contact angle.

Keywords: EPDM, composite insulators, accelerated aging, hydrophobicity, contact angle.

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552 A Preliminary Study on Factors Determining the Success of High Conservation Value Area in Oil Palm Plantations

Authors: Yanto Santosa, Rozza Tri Kwatrina

Abstract:

High Conservation Value (HCV) is an area with conservation function within oil palm plantation. Despite the important role of HCV area in biodiversity conservation and various studies on HCV, there was a lack of research studying the factors determining its success. A preliminary study was conducted to identify the determinant factor of HCV that affected the diversity. Line transect method was used to calculate the species diversity of butterfly, birds, mammals, and herpetofauna species as well as their richness. Specifically for mammals, camera traps were also used. The research sites comprised of 12 HCV areas in 3 provinces of Indonesia (Central Kalimantan, Riau, and Palembang). The relationship between the HCV biophysical factor with the species number and species diversity for each wildlife class was identified using Chi-Square analysis with Cross tab (contingency table). Results of the study revealed that species diversity varied by research locations. Four factors determining the success of HCV area in relations to the number and diversity of wildlife species are land cover types for mammals, the width of area and distance to rivers for birds, and distance to settlements for butterflies.

Keywords: Ecological factors, high conservation value area, oil palm plantation, wildlife diversity.

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551 Performance Analysis of an Adaptive Threshold Hybrid Double-Dwell System with Antenna Diversity for Acquisition in DS-CDMA Systems

Authors: H. Krouma, M. Barkat, K. Kemih, M. Benslama, Y. Yacine

Abstract:

In this paper, we consider the analysis of the acquisition process for a hybrid double-dwell system with antenna diversity for DS-CDMA (direct sequence-code division multiple access) using an adaptive threshold. Acquisition systems with a fixed threshold value are unable to adapt to fast varying mobile communications environments and may result in a high false alarm rate, and/or low detection probability. Therefore, we propose an adaptively varying threshold scheme through the use of a cellaveraging constant false alarm rate (CA-CFAR) algorithm, which is well known in the field of radar detection. We derive exact expressions for the probabilities of detection and false alarm in Rayleigh fading channels. The mean acquisition time of the system under consideration is also derived. The performance of the system is analyzed and compared to that of a hybrid single dwell system.

Keywords: Adaptive threshold, hybrid double-dwell system, CA-CFAR algorithm, DS-CDMA.

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550 Power of Doubling: Population Growth and Resource Consumption

Authors: Sarika Bahadure

Abstract:

Sustainability starts with conserving resources for future generations. Since human’s existence on this earth, he has been consuming natural resources. The resource consumption pace in the past was very slow, but industrialization in 18th century brought a change in the human lifestyle. New inventions and discoveries upgraded the human workforce to machines. The mass manufacture of goods provided easy access to products. In the last few decades, the globalization and change in technologies brought consumer oriented market. The consumption of resources has increased at a very high scale. This overconsumption pattern brought economic boom and provided multiple opportunities, but it also put stress on the natural resources. This paper tries to put forth the facts and figures of the population growth and consumption of resources with examples. This is explained with the help of the mathematical expression of doubling known as exponential growth. It compares the carrying capacity of the earth and resource consumption of humans’ i.e. ecological footprint and bio-capacity. Further, it presents the need to conserve natural resources and re-examine sustainable resource use approach for sustainability.

Keywords: Consumption, exponential growth, population, resources, sustainability.

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549 Dynamic Variation in Nano-Scale CMOS SRAM Cells Due to LF/RTS Noise and Threshold Voltage

Authors: M. Fadlallah, G. Ghibaudo, C. G. Theodorou

Abstract:

The dynamic variation in memory devices such as the Static Random Access Memory can give errors in read or write operations. In this paper, the effect of low-frequency and random telegraph noise on the dynamic variation of one SRAM cell is detailed. The effect on circuit noise, speed, and length of time of processing is examined, using the Supply Read Retention Voltage and the Read Static Noise Margin. New test run methods are also developed. The obtained results simulation shows the importance of noise caused by dynamic variation, and the impact of Random Telegraph noise on SRAM variability is examined by evaluating the statistical distributions of Random Telegraph noise amplitude in the pull-up, pull-down. The threshold voltage mismatch between neighboring cell transistors due to intrinsic fluctuations typically contributes to larger reductions in static noise margin. Also the contribution of each of the SRAM transistor to total dynamic variation has been identified.

Keywords: Low-frequency noise, Random Telegraph Noise, Dynamic Variation, SRRV.

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548 Security Enhanced RFID Middleware System

Authors: Jieun Song, Taesung Kim, Sokjoon Lee, Howon Kim

Abstract:

Recently, the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology attracts the world market attention as essential technology for ubiquitous environment. The RFID market has focused on transponders and reader development. But that concern has shifted to RFID software like as high-valued e-business applications, RFID middleware and related development tools. However, due to the high sensitivity of data and service transaction within the RFID network, security consideration must be addressed. In order to guarantee trusted e-business based on RFID technology, we propose a security enhanced RFID middleware system. Our proposal is compliant with EPCglobal ALE (Application Level Events), which is standard interface for middleware and its clients. We show how to provide strengthened security and trust by protecting transported data between middleware and its client, and stored data in middleware. Moreover, we achieve the identification and service access control against illegal service abuse. Our system enables secure RFID middleware service and trusted e-business service.

Keywords: RFID Middleware, ALE (Application Level Events), Security.

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547 Effects of Different Sowing Dates on Oil Yield of Castor (Ricinus communis L.)

Authors: Ö. Öztürk, G. P. Gerem, A. Yenici, B. Haspolat

Abstract:

Castor (Ricinus communis L.) is one of the important non-edible oilseed crops having immense industrial and medicinal value. Oil yield per unit area is the ultimate target in growing oilseed plants and sowing date is one of the important factors which have a clear role on production of active substances particularly in oilseeds. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of sowing date on the seed and oil yield of castor in Central Anatolia of Turkey in 2011. The field experiment was set up in a completely randomized block design with three replications. Black Diamond-2 castor cultivar was used as plant material. The treatment was four sowing dates of May 10, May 25, June 10, June 25. In this research; seed yield, oil content and oil yield were investigated. Results showed that the effect of different sowing dates were significant on all of characteristics. In general; delayed sowing dates, resulted in decreased seed yield, oil content and oil yield. The highest value of seed yield, oil content and oil yield (respectively, 2523.7 kg ha-1, 51.18% and 1292.2 kg ha-1) were obtained from the first sowing date (May 10) while the lowest seed yield, oil content and oil yield (respectively, 1550 kg ha-1, 43.67%, 677.3 kg ha-1) were recorded from the latest sowing date (June 25). Therefore, it can be concluded that early May could be recommended as an appropriate sowing date in the studied location and similar climates for achieved high oil yield of castor.

Keywords: Castor bean, Ricinus communis L., sowing date, seed yield, oil content.

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546 Research on IBR-Driven Distributed Collaborative Visualization System

Authors: Yin Runmin, Song Changfeng

Abstract:

Image-based Rendering(IBR) techniques recently reached in broad fields which leads to a critical challenge to build up IBR-Driven visualization platform where meets requirement of high performance, large bounds of distributed visualization resource aggregation and concentration, multiple operators deploying and CSCW design employing. This paper presents an unique IBR-based visualization dataflow model refer to specific characters of IBR techniques and then discusses prominent feature of IBR-Driven distributed collaborative visualization (DCV) system before finally proposing an novel prototype. The prototype provides a well-defined three level modules especially work as Central Visualization Server, Local Proxy Server and Visualization Aid Environment, by which data and control for collaboration move through them followed the previous dataflow model. With aid of this triple hierarchy architecture of that, IBR oriented application construction turns to be easy. The employed augmented collaboration strategy not only achieve convenient multiple users synchronous control and stable processing management, but also is extendable and scalable.

Keywords: Image-Based Rendering, Distributed CollaborativeVisualization, Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Model andSimulation, Modular Visualization Environment.

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545 Statistical Optimization of Process Variables for Direct Fermentation of 226 White Rose Tapioca Stem to Ethanol by Fusarium oxysporum

Authors: A. Magesh, B. Preetha, T. Viruthagiri

Abstract:

Direct fermentation of 226 white rose tapioca stem to ethanol by Fusarium oxysporum was studied in a batch reactor. Fermentation of ethanol can be achieved by sequential pretreatment using dilute acid and dilute alkali solutions using 100 mesh tapioca stem particles. The quantitative effects of substrate concentration, pH and temperature on ethanol concentration were optimized using a full factorial central composite design experiment. The optimum process conditions were then obtained using response surface methodology. The quadratic model indicated that substrate concentration of 33g/l, pH 5.52 and a temperature of 30.13oC were found to be optimum for maximum ethanol concentration of 8.64g/l. The predicted optimum process conditions obtained using response surface methodology was verified through confirmatory experiments. Leudeking-piret model was used to study the product formation kinetics for the production of ethanol and the model parameters were evaluated using experimental data.

Keywords: Fusarium oxysporum, Lignocellulosic biomass, Product formation kinetics, Statistical experimental design

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544 NGN and WiMAX: Putting the Pieces Together

Authors: Mohamed K. Watfa, Khaled Abdel Naby, Chetan Govind Bhatia

Abstract:

With the exponential rise in the number of multimedia applications available, the best-effort service provided by the Internet today is insufficient. Researchers have been working on new architectures like the Next Generation Network (NGN) which, by definition, will ensure Quality of Service (QoS) in an all-IP based network [1]. For this approach to become a reality, reservation of bandwidth is required per application per user. WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a wireless communication technology which has predefined levels of QoS which can be provided to the user [4]. IPv6 has been created as the successor for IPv4 and resolves issues like the availability of IP addresses and QoS. This paper provides a design to use the power of WiMAX as an NSP (Network Service Provider) for NGN using IPv6. The use of the Traffic Class (TC) field and the Flow Label (FL) field of IPv6 has been explained for making QoS requests and grants [6], [7]. Using these fields, the processing time is reduced and routing is simplified. Also, we define the functioning of the ASN gateway and the NGN gateway (NGNG) which are edge node interfaces in the NGNWiMAX design. These gateways ensure QoS management through built in functions and by certain physical resources and networking capabilities.

Keywords: WiMAX, NGN, QoS, IPv6, Flow Label, ASNGateway

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543 Design and Operation of a Multicarrier Energy System Based On Multi Objective Optimization Approach

Authors: Azadeh Maroufmashat, Sourena Sattari Khavas, Halle Bakhteeyar

Abstract:

Multi-energy systems will enhance the system reliability and power quality. This paper presents an integrated approach for the design and operation of distributed energy resources (DER) systems, based on energy hub modeling. A multi-objective optimization model is developed by considering an integrated view of electricity and natural gas network to analyze the optimal design and operating condition of DER systems, by considering two conflicting objectives, namely, minimization of total cost and the minimization of environmental impact which is assessed in terms of CO2 emissions. The mathematical model considers energy demands of the site, local climate data, and utility tariff structure, as well as technical and financial characteristics of the candidate DER technologies. To provide energy demands, energy systems including photovoltaic, and co-generation systems, boiler, central power grid are considered. As an illustrative example, a hotel in Iran demonstrates potential applications of the proposed method. The results prove that increasing the satisfaction degree of environmental objective leads to increased total cost.

Keywords: Multi objective optimization, DER systems, Energy hub, Cost, CO2 emission.

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542 Variable Rate Superorthogonal Turbo Code with the OVSF Code Tree

Authors: Insah Bhurtah, P. Clarel Catherine, K. M. Sunjiv Soyjaudah

Abstract:

When using modern Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) in mobile communications, the user must be able to vary the transmission rate of users to allocate bandwidth efficiently. In this work, Orthogonal Variable Spreading Factor (OVSF) codes are used with the same principles applied in a low-rate superorthogonal turbo code due to their variable-length properties. The introduced system is the Variable Rate Superorthogonal Turbo Code (VRSTC) where puncturing is not performed on the encoder’s final output but rather before selecting the output to achieve higher rates. Due to bandwidth expansion, the codes outperform an ordinary turbo code in the AWGN channel. Simulations results show decreased performance compared to those obtained with the employment of Walsh-Hadamard codes. However, with OVSF codes, the VRSTC system keeps the orthogonality of codewords whilst producing variable rate codes contrary to Walsh-Hadamard codes where puncturing is usually performed on the final output.

Keywords: CDMA, MAP Decoding, OVSF, Superorthogonal Turbo Code.

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541 3D Network-on-Chip with on-Chip DRAM: An Empirical Analysis for Future Chip Multiprocessor

Authors: Thomas Canhao Xu, Bo Yang, Alexander Wei Yin, Pasi Liljeberg, Hannu Tenhunen

Abstract:

With the increasing number of on-chip components and the critical requirement for processing power, Chip Multiprocessor (CMP) has gained wide acceptance in both academia and industry during the last decade. However, the conventional bus-based onchip communication schemes suffer from very high communication delay and low scalability in large scale systems. Network-on-Chip (NoC) has been proposed to solve the bottleneck of parallel onchip communications by applying different network topologies which separate the communication phase from the computation phase. Observing that the memory bandwidth of the communication between on-chip components and off-chip memory has become a critical problem even in NoC based systems, in this paper, we propose a novel 3D NoC with on-chip Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) in which different layers are dedicated to different functionalities such as processors, cache or memory. Results show that, by using our proposed architecture, average link utilization has reduced by 10.25% for SPLASH-2 workloads. Our proposed design costs 1.12% less execution cycles than the traditional design on average.

Keywords: 3D integration, network-on-chip, memory-on-chip, DRAM, chip multiprocessor.

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540 Effects of Pressure and Temperature on the Extraction of Benzyl Isothiocyanate by Supercritical Fluids from Tropaeolum majus L. Leaves

Authors: Espinoza S. Clara, Gamarra Q. Flor, Marianela F. Ramos Quispe S. Miguel, Flores R. Omar

Abstract:

Tropaeolum majus L. is a native plant to South and Central America, used since ancient times by our ancestors to combat different diseases. Glucotropaeolonin is one of its main components, which when hydrolyzed, forms benzyl isothiocyanate (BIT) that promotes cellular apoptosis (programmed cell death in cancer cells). Therefore, the present research aims to evaluate the effect of the pressure and temperature of BIT extraction by supercritical CO2 from Tropaeolum majus L. The extraction was carried out in a supercritical fluid extractor equipment Speed SFE BASIC Brand: Poly science, the leaves of Tropaeolum majus L. were ground for one hour and lyophilized until obtaining a humidity of 6%. The extraction with supercritical CO2 was carried out with pressures of 200 bar and 300 bar, temperatures of 50°C, 60°C and 70°C, obtained by the conjugation of these six treatments. BIT was identified by thin layer chromatography using 98% BIT as the standard, and as the mobile phase hexane: dichloromethane (4:2). Subsequently, BIT quantification was performed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The highest yield of oleoresin by supercritical CO2 extraction was obtained pressure 300 bar and temperature at 60°C; and the higher content of BIT at pressure 200 bar and 70°C for 30 minutes to obtain 113.615 ± 0.03 mg BIT/100 g dry matter was obtained.

Keywords: Tropaeolum majus L., supercritical fluids, benzyl isothiocyanate.

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539 3-D Transient Heat Transfer Analysis of Slab Heating Characteristics in a Reheating Furnace in Hot Strip Mills

Authors: J. Y. Jang, Y. W. Lee, C. N. Lin, C. H. Wang

Abstract:

The reheating furnace is used to reheat the steel slabs before the hot-rolling process. The supported system includes the stationary/moving beams, and the skid buttons which block some thermal radiation transmitted to the bottom of the slabs. Therefore, it is important to analyze the steel slab temperature distribution during the heating period. A three-dimensional mathematical transient heat transfer model for the prediction of temperature distribution within the slab has been developed. The effects of different skid button height (H=60mm, 90mm, and 120mm) and different gap distance between two slabs (S=50mm, 75mm, and 100mm) on the slab skid mark formation and temperature profiles are investigated. Comparison with the in-situ experimental data from Steel Company in Taiwan shows that the present heat transfer model works well for the prediction of thermal behavior of the slab in the reheating furnace. It is found that the skid mark severity decreases with an increase in the skid button height. The effect of gap distance is important only for the slab edge planes, while it is insignificant for the slab central planes.

Keywords: 3-D, slab, transient heat conduction, reheating furnace, thermal radiation.

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538 Order Statistics-based “Anti-Bayesian“ Parametric Classification for Asymmetric Distributions in the Exponential Family

Authors: A. Thomas, B. John Oommen

Abstract:

Although the field of parametric Pattern Recognition (PR) has been thoroughly studied for over five decades, the use of the Order Statistics (OS) of the distributions to achieve this has not been reported. The pioneering work on using OS for classification was presented in [1] for the Uniform distribution, where it was shown that optimal PR can be achieved in a counter-intuitive manner, diametrically opposed to the Bayesian paradigm, i.e., by comparing the testing sample to a few samples distant from the mean. This must be contrasted with the Bayesian paradigm in which, if we are allowed to compare the testing sample with only a single point in the feature space from each class, the optimal strategy would be to achieve this based on the (Mahalanobis) distance from the corresponding central points, for example, the means. In [2], we showed that the results could be extended for a few symmetric distributions within the exponential family. In this paper, we attempt to extend these results significantly by considering asymmetric distributions within the exponential family, for some of which even the closed form expressions of the cumulative distribution functions are not available. These distributions include the Rayleigh, Gamma and certain Beta distributions. As in [1] and [2], the new scheme, referred to as Classification by Moments of Order Statistics (CMOS), attains an accuracy very close to the optimal Bayes’ bound, as has been shown both theoretically and by rigorous experimental testing.

Keywords: Classification using Order Statistics (OS), Exponential family, Moments of OS

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537 The Prostitute’s Body in Diasporic Space: Sexualized China and Chineseness in Yu Dafu’s Sinking and Yan Geling’s The Lost Daughter of Happiness

Authors: Haizhi Wu

Abstract:

Sexualization brings together the interdependent experiences of prostitution and diaspora, establishing a masculine structure where a female’s body mediates the hegemony and sexuality of men from different races. Between eroticism and homesickness, writers of the Chinese diaspora develop sensual approaches to reflect on the diasporic experience and sexual frustration. Noticeably, Yu Dafu in Sinking and Yan Geling in The Lost Daughter of Happiness both take an interest in sexual encounters between an immature teen client and an erotically powerful prostitute in Japan or America, both countries considered colonizers in Chinese history. Both are utilizing the metaphor of body-space interplay to hint at the out-of-text transnational interactions, two writers, however, present distinct understandings of their bond with history and memory of the semi-colonial, semi-feudal China. Examining prostitutes’ bodies in multi-layer diasporic spaces, the central analysis of this paper works on the sexual, colonial, and historical representations of this bodily symbol and the prostitution’s engagement in negotiating with diaspora and “Chineseness”.

Keywords: Chineseness, Diasporic spaces, Prostitutes’s bodies, Sexualization.

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536 Nonlinear Analysis of Postural Sway in Multiple Sclerosis

Authors: Hua Cao, Laurent Peyrodie, Olivier Agnani, Cécile Donzé

Abstract:

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a disease which affects the central nervous system and causes balance problem. In clinical, this disorder is usually evaluated using static posturography. Some linear or nonlinear measures, extracted from the posturographic data (i.e. center of pressure, COP) recorded during a balance test, has been used to analyze postural control of MS patients. In this study, the trend (TREND) and the sample entropy (SampEn), two nonlinear parameters were chosen to investigate their relationships with the expanded disability status scale (EDSS) score. 40 volunteers with different EDSS scores participated in our experiments with eyes open (EO) and closed (EC). TREND and 2 types of SampEn (SampEn1 and SampEn2) were calculated for each combined COP’s position signal. The results have shown that TREND had a weak negative correlation to EDSS while SampEn2 had a strong positive correlation to EDSS. Compared to TREND and SampEn1, SampEn2 showed a better significant correlation to EDSS and an ability to discriminate the MS patients in the EC case. In addition, the outcome of the study suggests that the multi-dimensional nonlinear analysis could provide some information about the impact of disability progression in MS on dynamics of the COP data.

Keywords: Balance, multiple sclerosis, nonlinear analysis, postural sway.

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535 Barriers to the Use of Factoring Accounts Receivables: The Ghanaian Contractor’s Perception

Authors: E. Kissi, V. K. Acheamfour, J. J. Gyimah, T. Adjei-Kumi

Abstract:

Factoring accounts receivable is widely accepted as an alternative financing source and utilized in almost every industry that sells business-to-business or business-to-government. However, its patronage in the construction industry is very limited as some barriers hinder its application in the construction industry. This study aims at assessing the barriers to the use of factoring accounts receivables in the Ghanaian construction industry. The study adopted the sequential exploratory research method where structured and unstructured questionnaires were conveniently distributed to D1K1 and D2K2 construction firms in Ghana. Using the one-sample t-test and Kendall’s Coefficient of concordance data were analyzed. The most severe challenge concluded is the high cost of factoring patronage. Other critical challenges identified were low knowledge on factoring processes, inadequate access to information on factoring, and high risks involved in factoring. Hence, it is recommended that contractors should be made aware of the prospects of factoring of accounts receivables in the construction industry. This study serves as basis for further rigorous research into factoring of accounts receivables in the industry.

Keywords: Barriers, contractors, factoring accounts receivables, Ghanaian, perception.

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534 Adomian Decomposition Method Associated with Boole-s Integration Rule for Goursat Problem

Authors: Mohd Agos Salim Nasir, Ros Fadilah Deraman, Siti Salmah Yasiran

Abstract:

The Goursat partial differential equation arises in linear and non linear partial differential equations with mixed derivatives. This equation is a second order hyperbolic partial differential equation which occurs in various fields of study such as in engineering, physics, and applied mathematics. There are many approaches that have been suggested to approximate the solution of the Goursat partial differential equation. However, all of the suggested methods traditionally focused on numerical differentiation approaches including forward and central differences in deriving the scheme. An innovation has been done in deriving the Goursat partial differential equation scheme which involves numerical integration techniques. In this paper we have developed a new scheme to solve the Goursat partial differential equation based on the Adomian decomposition (ADM) and associated with Boole-s integration rule to approximate the integration terms. The new scheme can easily be applied to many linear and non linear Goursat partial differential equations and is capable to reduce the size of computational work. The accuracy of the results reveals the advantage of this new scheme over existing numerical method.

Keywords: Goursat problem, partial differential equation, Adomian decomposition method, Boole's integration rule.

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533 Data Rate Based Grouping Scheme for Cooperative Communications in Wireless LANs

Authors: Sunmyeng Kim

Abstract:

IEEE 802.11a/b/g standards provide multiple transmission rates, which can be changed dynamically according to the channel condition. Cooperative communications were introduced to improve the overall performance of wireless LANs with the help of relay nodes with higher transmission rates. The cooperative communications are based on the fact that the transmission is much faster when sending data packets to a destination node through a relay node with higher transmission rate, rather than sending data directly to the destination node at low transmission rate. To apply the cooperative communications in wireless LAN, several MAC protocols have been proposed. Some of them can result in collisions among relay nodes in a dense network. In order to solve this problem, we propose a new protocol. Relay nodes are grouped based on their transmission rates. And then, relay nodes only in the highest group try to get channel access. Performance evaluation is conducted using simulation, and shows that the proposed protocol significantly outperforms the previous protocol in terms of throughput and collision probability.

Keywords: Cooperative communications, MAC protocol, relay node, WLAN.

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