Search results for: Domain Keys Identified Mail

Authors: Ayşe Onat, Ferruh Yildiz, Mesut Gündüz

Abstract:

In this study, an OCR system for segmentation, feature extraction and recognition of Ottoman Scripts has been developed using handwritten characters. Detection of handwritten characters written by humans is a difficult process. Segmentation and feature extraction stages are based on geometrical feature analysis, followed by the chain code transformation of the main strokes of each character. The output of segmentation is well-defined segments that can be fed into any classification approach. The classes of main strokes are identified through left-right Hidden Markov Model (HMM).

Keywords: Chain Code, HMM, Ottoman Script Recognition, OCR

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Authors: Xin Bai, Kresimir Sivoncik, Damla Turgut, Ladislau Bölöni

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Market based models are frequently used in the resource allocation on the computational grid. However, as the size of the grid grows, it becomes difficult for the customer to negotiate directly with all the providers. Middle agents are introduced to mediate between the providers and customers and facilitate the resource allocation process. The most frequently deployed middle agents are the matchmakers and the brokers. The matchmaking agent finds possible candidate providers who can satisfy the requirements of the consumers, after which the customer directly negotiates with the candidates. The broker agents are mediating the negotiation with the providers in real time. In this paper we present a new type of middle agent, the marketmaker. Its operation is based on two parallel operations - through the investment process the marketmaker is acquiring resources and resource reservations in large quantities, while through the resale process it sells them to the customers. The operation of the marketmaker is based on the fact that through its global view of the grid it can perform a more efficient resource allocation than the one possible in one-to-one negotiations between the customers and providers. We present the operation and algorithms governing the operation of the marketmaker agent, contrasting it with the matchmaker and broker agents. Through a series of simulations in the task oriented domain we compare the operation of the three agents types. We find that the use of marketmaker agent leads to a better performance in the allocation of large tasks and a significant reduction of the messaging overhead.

Keywords: grid computing, autonomous agents, market-basedgrid

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Authors: Vasiliki Vlachou, Christos Kontzinos, Ourania Markaki, Panagiotis Kokkinakos, Vagelis Karakolis, John Psarras

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Higher Education is resisting the pull of technology, especially as this concerns the issuance and verification of degrees and certificates. It is widely known that education certificates are largely produced in paper form making them vulnerable to damage while holders of such certificates are dependent on the universities and other issuing organisations. QualiChain is an EU Horizon 2020 (H2020) research project aiming to transform and revolutionise the domain of public education and its ties with the job market by leveraging blockchain, analytics and decision support to develop a platform for the verification and sharing of education certificates. Blockchain plays an integral part in the QualiChain solution in providing a trustworthy environment to store, share and manage such accreditations. Under the context of this paper, three prominent blockchain platforms (Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric, Hyperledger Iroha) were considered as a means of experimentation for creating a system with the basic functionalities that will be needed for trustworthy degree verification. The methodology and respective system developed and presented in this paper used Hyperledger Iroha and proved that this specific platform can be used to easily develop decentralize applications. Future papers will attempt to further experiment with other blockchain platforms and assess which has the best potential.

Keywords: Blockchain, degree verification, higher education certificates, Hyperledger Iroha.

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Authors: K. Jagannath, Akhilesh Kotian, S. S. Sharma, Achutha Kini U., P. R. Prabhu

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Boiling process is characterized by the rapid formation of vapour bubbles at the solid–liquid interface (nucleate boiling) with pre-existing vapour or gas pockets. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is an important tool to study bubble dynamics. In the present study, CFD simulation has been carried out to determine the bubble detachment diameter and its terminal velocity. Volume of fluid method is used to model the bubble and the surrounding by solving single set of momentum equations and tracking the volume fraction of each of the fluids throughout the domain. In the simulation, bubble is generated by allowing water-vapour to enter a cylinder filled with liquid water through an inlet at the bottom. After the bubble is fully formed, the bubble detaches from the surface and rises up during which the bubble accelerates due to the net balance between buoyancy force and viscous drag. Finally when these forces exactly balance each other, it attains a constant terminal velocity. The bubble detachment diameter and the terminal velocity of the bubble are captured by the monitor function provided in FLUENT. The detachment diameter and the terminal velocity obtained are compared with the established results based on the shape of the bubble. A good agreement is obtained between the results obtained from simulation and the equations in comparison with the established results.

Keywords: Bubble growth, computational fluid dynamics, detachment diameter, terminal velocity.

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Authors: K. Chandra Sekaran

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This paper describes a paradigmatic approach to develop architecture of secure systems by describing the requirements from four different points of view: that of the owner, the administrator, the user, and the network. Deriving requirements and developing architecture implies the joint elicitation and describing the problem and the structure of the solution. The view points proposed in this paper are those we consider as requirements towards their contributions as major parties in the design, implementation, usage and maintenance of secure systems. The dramatic growth of the technology of Internet and the applications deployed in World Wide Web have lead to the situation where the security has become a very important concern in the development of secure systems. Many security approaches are currently being used in organizations. In spite of the widespread use of many different security solutions, the security remains a problem. It is argued that the approach that is described in this paper for the development of secure architecture is practical by all means. The models representing these multiple points of view are termed the requirements model (views of owner and administrator) and the operations model (views of user and network). In this paper, this multiple view paradigm is explained by first describing the specific requirements and or characteristics of secure systems (particularly in the domain of networks) and the secure architecture / system development methodology.

Keywords: Multiple view paradigms, requirements model, operations model, secure system, owner, administrator, user, network.

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Authors: Uma Thanganathan

Abstract:

The hybrid membranes containing inorganic materials in polymer matrix are identified as a remarkable family of proton conducting hybrid electrolytes. In this work, the proton conducting inorganic/organic hybrid membranes for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) were prepared using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), tetraethoxyorthosilane (TEOS) and heteropolyacid (HPA). The synthesized hybrid membranes were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Thermogravimetry analysis (TGA). The effects of heteropolyacid incorporation on membrane properties, including morphology and thermal stability were extensively investigated.

Keywords: PEMFC, Hybrid membrane, FTIR, TGA, Phosphomolybdic acid

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Authors: H. Al-Sholigom, Z. Al-Mostafa

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Many associations and experimental models have been developed to estimate solar radiation around the world. The duration of sunshine is the most commonly used parameter for estimating global solar radiation because it can be easily and reliably measured. To estimate the global monthly solar average on horizontal surfaces, we used 52 models with widely available data in Hutat Suder, Saudi Arabia. After testing the models, some were not suitable for use in this area, while others differed in performance. The best models have been identified.

Keywords: Earth, Global solar radiation, Hutat Suder, Saudi Arabia, sunshine, measured data.

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Authors: Ahmad T. Al-Taani

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In this paper, an efficient structural approach for recognizing on-line handwritten digits is proposed. After reading the digit from the user, the slope is estimated and normalized for adjacent nodes. Based on the changing of signs of the slope values, the primitives are identified and extracted. The names of these primitives are represented by strings, and then a finite state machine, which contains the grammars of the digits, is traced to identify the digit. Finally, if there is any ambiguity, it will be resolved. Experiments showed that this technique is flexible and can achieve high recognition accuracy for the shapes of the digits represented in this work.

Keywords: Digits Recognition, Pattern Recognition, FeatureExtraction, Structural Primitives, Document Processing, Handwritten Recognition, Primitives Selection.

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Authors: A. K. Pathak, K. Ojha

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Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas (GHG) after carbon dioxide. Amount of methane emission from energy sector is increasing day by day with various activities. In present work, various sources of methane emission from upstream, middle stream and downstream of oil & gas sectors are identified and categorised as per IPCC-2006 guidelines. Data were collected from various oil & gas sector like (i) exploration & production of oil & gas (ii) supply through pipelines (iii) refinery throughput & production (iv) storage & transportation (v) usage. Methane emission factors for various categories were determined applying Tier-II and Tier-I approach using the collected data. Total methane emission from Indian Oil & Gas sectors was thus estimated for the year 1990 to 2007.

Keywords: Carbon credit, Climate change, Methane emission, Oil & Gas production

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Authors: Esra İpekci, Murad Aydın Sanda

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The flora of Bozdağ (Konya) and its surroundings were investigated between 2003 and 2005 years; 700 herbarium specimens belonging to 482 taxa, 257 genera and 57 families were collected and identified from the area. The families which have the most taxa in research area are Asteraceae 67 (14.0%), Fabaceae 60 (12.6%), Lamiaceae 57 (11.9%), Brassicaceae 34 (7.1%), Poaceae 30 (6.3%), Rosaceae 24 (5.0%), Caryophyllaceae 23 (4.8%), Liliaceae 19 (4.0%), Boraginaceae 17 (3.6%), and Apiaceae 13 (2.7%). The research area is in the district of Konya and is in the B4 square according to the Grid System. The phytogeographic elements are represented in the study area as follows; Irano-Turanian 91 (18.9%), Mediterranean 72 (14.9%), Euro-Siberian 21 (4.3%). The phytogeographic regions of 273 (56.6%) taxa are either multi-regional or unknown. The number of endemic taxa is 79 (16.3%).

Keywords: Bozdağ, Flora, Konya, Sızma, Turkey.

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Authors: Min Kook Choi, Hyun Gyu Lee, Ryan You, Byeong-Seok Shin, Sang-Chul Lee

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Wireless capsule Endoscopy (WCE) has rapidly shown its wide applications in medical domain last ten years thanks to its noninvasiveness for patients and support for thorough inspection through a patient-s entire digestive system including small intestine. However, one of the main barriers to efficient clinical inspection procedure is that it requires large amount of effort for clinicians to inspect huge data collected during the examination, i.e., over 55,000 frames in video. In this paper, we propose a method to compute meaningful motion changes of WCE by analyzing the obtained video frames based on regional optical flow estimations. The computed motion vectors are used to remove duplicate video frames caused by WCE-s imaging nature, such as repetitive forward-backward motions from peristaltic movements. The motion vectors are derived by calculating directional component vectors in four local regions. Our experiments are performed on small intestine area, which is of main interest to clinical experts when using WCEs, and our experimental results show significant frame reductions comparing with a simple frame-to-frame similarity-based image reduction method.

Keywords: Wireless capsule endoscopy, optical flow, duplicated image, duplicated frame.

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Authors: Mahdad M’hamed, Belaidi Idir

Abstract:

This paper develops a meshless approach, called Element Free Galerkin (EFG) method, which is based on the weak form Moving Least Squares (MLS) of the partial differential governing equations and employs the interpolation to construct the meshless shape functions. The variation weak form is used in the EFG where the trial and test functions are approximated bye the MLS approximation. Since the shape functions constructed by this discretization have the weight function property based on the randomly distributed points, the essential boundary conditions can be implemented easily. The local weak form of the partial differential governing equations is obtained by the weighted residual method within the simple local quadrature domain. The spline function with high continuity is used as the weight function. The presently developed EFG method is a truly meshless method, as it does not require the mesh, either for the construction of the shape functions, or for the integration of the local weak form. Several numerical examples of two-dimensional static structural analysis are presented to illustrate the performance of the present EFG method. They show that the EFG method is highly efficient for the implementation and highly accurate for the computation. The present method is used to analyze the static deflection of beams and plate hole

Keywords: Numerical computation, element-free Galerkin, moving least squares, meshless methods.

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Authors: Shameemraj M. Nadaf, Sipra Behera, Hemant K. Rath, Garima Mishra, Raja Mukhopadhyay, Sumanta Patro

Abstract:

Microservices architecture has been widely embraced for rapid, frequent, and reliable delivery of complex applications. It enables organizations to evolve their technology stack in various domains. Today, the networking domain is flooded with plethora of devices and software solutions which address different functionalities ranging from elementary operations, viz., switching, routing, firewall etc., to complex analytics and insights based intelligent services. In this paper, we attempt to bring in the microservices based approach for agile and adaptive delivery of network services for any underlying networking technology. We discuss the life cycle management of each individual microservice and a distributed control approach with emphasis for dynamic provisioning, management, and orchestration in an automated fashion which can provide seamless operations in large scale networks. We have conducted validations of the system in lab testbed comprising of Traditional/Legacy and Software Defined Wireless Local Area networks.

Keywords: Microservices architecture, software defined wireless networks, traditional wireless networks, automation, orchestration, intelligent networks, network analytics, seamless management, single pane control, fine-grain control.

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Authors: Syerina Azlin Md Nasir, Nor Laila Md Noor, Suriyati Razali

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The growing interest on national heritage preservation has led to intensive efforts on digital documentation of cultural heritage knowledge. Encapsulated within this effort is the focus on ontology development that will help facilitate the organization and retrieval of the knowledge. Ontologies surrounding cultural heritage domain are related to archives, museum and library information such as archaeology, artifacts, paintings, etc. The growth in number and size of ontologies indicates the well acceptance of its semantic enrichment in many emerging applications. Nowadays, there are many heritage information systems available for access. Among others is community-based e-museum designed to support the digital cultural heritage preservation. This work extends previous effort of developing the Traditional Malay Textile (TMT) Knowledge Model where the model is designed with the intention of auxiliary mapping with CIDOC CRM. Due to its internal constraints, the model needs to be transformed in advance. This paper addresses the issue by reviewing the previous harmonization works with CIDOC CRM as exemplars in refining the facets in the model particularly involving TMT-Artifact class. The result is an extensible model which could lead to a common view for automated mapping with CIDOC CRM. Hence, it promotes integration and exchange of textile information especially batik-related between communities in e-museum applications.

Keywords: automated mapping, cultural heritage, knowledgemodel, textile practice

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Authors: Mohammad Syuhaimi Ab-Rahman, Boonchuan Ng, Kasmiran Jumari

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This paper presented a MATLAB-based system named Smart Access Network Testing, Analyzing and Database (SANTAD), purposely for in-service transmission surveillance and self restoration against fiber fault in fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) access network. The developed program will be installed with optical line terminal (OLT) at central office (CO) to monitor the status and detect any fiber fault that occurs in FTTH downwardly from CO towards residential customer locations. SANTAD is interfaced with optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) to accumulate every network testing result to be displayed on a single computer screen for further analysis. This program will identify and present the parameters of each optical fiber line such as the line's status either in working or nonworking condition, magnitude of decreasing at each point, failure location, and other details as shown in the OTDR's screen. The failure status will be delivered to field engineers for promptly actions, meanwhile the failure line will be diverted to protection line to ensure the traffic flow continuously. This approach has a bright prospect to improve the survivability and reliability as well as increase the efficiency and monitoring capabilities in FTTH.

Keywords: MATLAB, SANTAD, in-service transmission surveillance, self restoration, fiber fault, FTTH

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Authors: Dawei Wang, Rujing Wang, Ying Li, Baozi Wei

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FAQ system can make user find answer to the problem that puzzles them. But now the research on Chinese FAQ system is still on the theoretical stage. This paper presents an approach to semantic inference for FAQ mining. To enhance the efficiency, a small pool of the candidate question-answering pairs retrieved from the system for the follow-up work according to the concept of the agriculture domain extracted from user input .Input queries or questions are converted into four parts, the question word segment (QWS), the verb segment (VS), the concept of agricultural areas segment (CS), the auxiliary segment (AS). A semantic matching method is presented to estimate the similarity between the semantic segments of the query and the questions in the pool of the candidate. A thesaurus constructed from the HowNet, a Chinese knowledge base, is adopted for word similarity measure in the matcher. The questions are classified into eleven intension categories using predefined question stemming keywords. For FAQ mining, given a query, the question part and answer part in an FAQ question-answer pair is matched with the input query, respectively. Finally, the probabilities estimated from these two parts are integrated and used to choose the most likely answer for the input query. These approaches are experimented on an agriculture FAQ system. Experimental results indicate that the proposed approach outperformed the FAQ-Finder system in agriculture FAQ retrieval.

Keywords: FAQ, Semantic Inference, Ontology.

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Authors: Penn P. Wu, Jeannie Jo

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Blockchain technology has rapidly gained popularity in industry. This paper attempts to assist academia to answer four questions. First, should community colleges begin offering education to nurture blockchain-literate students for the job market? Second, what are the appropriate topical areas to cover? Third, should it be an individual course? And forth, should it be a technical or management course? This paper starts with identifying the knowledge domains of blockchain technology and the topical areas each domain has, and continues with placing them in appropriate academic territories (Computer Sciences vs. Business) and subjects (programming, management, marketing, and laws), and then develops an evaluation model to determine the appropriate topical area for community colleges to teach. The evaluation is based on seven factors: maturity of technology, impacts on management, real-world applications, subject classification, knowledge prerequisites, textbook readiness, and recommended pedagogies. The evaluation results point to an interesting direction that offering an introductory course is an ideal option to guide students through the learning journey of what blockchain is and how it applies to business. Such an introductory course does not need to engage students in the discussions of mathematics and sciences that make blockchain technologies possible. While it is inevitable to brief technical topics to help students build a solid knowledge foundation of blockchain technologies, community colleges should avoid offering students a course centered on the discussion of developing blockchain applications.

Keywords: Blockchain, pedagogies, blockchain technologies, blockchain course, blockchain pedagogies.

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Authors: Merve Ermis, Murat Yılmaz, Nihal Eratlı, Mehmet H. Omurtag

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The static and dynamic analyses of hyperboloidal helix having the closed and the open square box sections are investigated via the mixed finite element formulation based on Timoshenko beam theory. Frenet triad is considered as local coordinate systems for helix geometry. Helix domain is discretized with a two-noded curved element and linear shape functions are used. Each node of the curved element has 12 degrees of freedom, namely, three translations, three rotations, two shear forces, one axial force, two bending moments and one torque. Finite element matrices are derived by using exact nodal values of curvatures and arc length and it is interpolated linearly throughout the element axial length. The torsional moments of inertia for close and open square box sections are obtained by finite element solution of St. Venant torsion formulation. With the proposed method, the torsional rigidity of simply and multiply connected cross-sections can be also calculated in same manner. The influence of the close and the open square box cross-sections on the static and dynamic analyses of hyperboloidal helix is investigated. The benchmark problems are represented for the literature.

Keywords: Hyperboloidal helix, squared cross section, thin walled cross section, torsional rigidity.

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Authors: Hyun-Koo Kim, Young-Nam Shin, Sa-gong Kuk, Ju H. Park, Ho-Youl Jung

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This paper presents an effective traffic lights detection method at the night-time. First, candidate blobs of traffic lights are extracted from RGB color image. Input image is represented on the dominant color domain by using color transform proposed by Ruta, then red and green color dominant regions are selected as candidates. After candidate blob selection, we carry out shape filter for noise reduction using information of blobs such as length, area, area of boundary box, etc. A multi-class classifier based on SVM (Support Vector Machine) applies into the candidates. Three kinds of features are used. We use basic features such as blob width, height, center coordinate, area, area of blob. Bright based stochastic features are also used. In particular, geometric based moment-s values between candidate region and adjacent region are proposed and used to improve the detection performance. The proposed system is implemented on Intel Core CPU with 2.80 GHz and 4 GB RAM and tested with the urban and rural road videos. Through the test, we show that the proposed method using PF, BMF, and GMF reaches up to 93 % of detection rate with computation time of in average 15 ms/frame.

Keywords: Night-time traffic light detection, multi-class classification, driving assistance system.

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Authors: Pei-Shan Wei, Szu-Ying Lee, Hsi-Peng Lu, Jen-Chuen Tzou, Chien-I Weng

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Mobile social games recently become extremely popular, spawning a whole new entertainment culture. However, mobile game players are fickle, quickly and easily picking up and abandoning games. This pilot study seeks to identify factors that influence users to discontinuing playing mobile social games. We identified three sacrifices which can prompt users to abandon games: monetary sacrifice, time sacrifice and privacy sacrifice. The results showed that monetary sacrifice has a greater impact than the other two factors in causing players to discontinue usage intention.

Keywords: Abandon, Mobile devices, Mobile social games, Perceived sacrifice.

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Authors: Xiaochuan Chen, Jianguo Yang, Beizhi Li

Abstract:

Design for cost (DFC) is a method that reduces life cycle cost (LCC) from the angle of designers. Multiple domain features mapping (MDFM) methodology was given in DFC. Using MDFM, we can use design features to estimate the LCC. From the angle of DFC, the design features of family cars were obtained, such as all dimensions, engine power and emission volume. At the conceptual design stage, cars- LCC were estimated using back propagation (BP) artificial neural networks (ANN) method and case-based reasoning (CBR). Hamming space was used to measure the similarity among cases in CBR method. Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) algorithm and genetic algorithm (GA) were used in ANN. The differences of LCC estimation model between CBR and artificial neural networks (ANN) were provided. ANN and CBR separately each method has its shortcomings. By combining ANN and CBR improved results accuracy was obtained. Firstly, using ANN selected some design features that affect LCC. Then using LCC estimation results of ANN could raise the accuracy of LCC estimation in CBR method. Thirdly, using ANN estimate LCC errors and correct errors in CBR-s estimation results if the accuracy is not enough accurate. Finally, economically family cars and sport utility vehicle (SUV) was given as LCC estimation cases using this hybrid approach combining ANN and CBR.

Keywords: case-based reasoning, life cycle cost (LCC), artificialneural networks (ANN), family cars

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Authors: Ahmet Ay, Hakan Acet, Ceyhun Can Özcan

Abstract:

Economic freedoms, most emphasized issue in the recent years, are considered to affect economic growth and performance via institutional structure. In this context, a model that includes Turkey and Middle East Countries, and where the effects of economic freedom on growth are examined, was formed. For the groups of countries determined, in the study carried out by using the dataset belonging the period of 2004 - 2009, between economic freedoms and growth, a negative relationship was observed as group. In the sense of individual effects, it was identified that there was a positive relationship in terms of some Middle East Countries and Turkey.

Keywords: Economic Freedoms, Economic Growth, Freedoms.

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Authors: Katharina Buttenberg

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Customer and brand-oriented capabilities have been identified as key influencing capabilities for business performance. Especially in the early years of the firm, it is crucial to develop and consciously manage these capabilities. In this paper, the results of a quantitative analysis, investigating the causal relationship between customer- and brand-oriented (marketing) capabilities and business performance will be presented. The research displays the dependencies between the constructs and will provide practical implications for young firms in the acquisition and management of these capabilities.

Keywords: Brand-oriented capabilities, customer-oriented capabilities, entrepreneurship, resource-based theory, young firms.

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Authors: M. Sedighizadeh, A. Rezazadeh

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This paper presents an interval-based multi-attribute decision making (MADM) approach in support of the decision process with imprecise information. The proposed decision methodology is based on the model of linear additive utility function but extends the problem formulation with the measure of composite utility variance. A sample study concerning with the evaluation of electric generation expansion strategies is provided showing how the imprecise data may affect the choice toward the best solution and how a set of alternatives, acceptable to the decision maker (DM), may be identified with certain confidence.

Keywords: Decision Making, Power Generation, ElectricUtilities, Resource Planning.

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Authors: M. Hoxha, V. Capra, C. Buccellati, A. Sala, C. Cena, R. Fruttero, M. Bertinaria, G. E. Rovati

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Today COXIBs are used in the treatment of arthritis and many other painful conditions in selected patients with high gastrointestinal risk and low cardiovascular (CV) risk. Previously, we have identified an unexpected mechanism of action of a traditional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) (diclofenac) and a specific inhibitor of cyclooxygenase-2 (COXIB) (lumiracoxib) demonstrating that they possess weak competitive antagonism at the thromboxane receptor (TP). We hypothesize that modifying the structure of a known COXIB so that it becomes also a more potent TP antagonist will preserve the anti-inflammatory and gastrointestinal safety typical of COXIBs and prevent the CV risk associated with long term therapy.

Keywords: Cyclooxygenase, inflammation, lumiracoxib, thromboxane A2.

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Authors: Irina-Ana Drobot

Abstract:

Teaching English to Engineers is part of English for Specific Purposes, a domain which is under the attention of English students especially under the current conditions of finding jobs and establishing partnerships outside Romania. The paper will analyse the existing textbooks together with the teaching strategies they adopt. Teaching English to Engineering students can intersect with domains such as psychology and cultural studies in order to teach them efficiently. Textbooks for students of ESP, ranging from those at the Faculty of Economics to those at the Faculty of Engineers, have shifted away from using specialized vocabulary, drills for grammar and reading comprehension questions and toward communicative methods and the practical use of language. At present, in Romania, grammar is neglected in favour of communicative methods. The current interest in translation studies may indicate a return to this type of method, since only translation specialists can distinguish among specialized terms and determine which are most suitable in a translation. Engineers are currently encouraged to learn English in order to do their own translations in their own field. This paper will analyse the issue of the extent to which it is useful to teach Engineering students to do translations in their field using cognitive psychology applied to language teaching, including issues such as motivation and social psychology. Teaching general English to engineering students can result in lack of interest, but they can be motivated by practical aspects which will help them in their field. This is why this paper needs to take into account an interdisciplinary approach to teaching English to Engineers.

Keywords: Cognition, ESP, motivation, psychology.

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Authors: S. Stankov, H. Fidan, N. Petkova, M. Stoyanova, Tz. Radoukova, A. Stoyanova

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The aim of this study was to evaluate the chemical composition of ripe Juniperus excelsa M. Bieb. galbuli (female cones) collected from "Izgoraloto Gyune" Reserve in Krichim, Bulgaria. The moisture (36.88%), abs. weight 693.96 g/1000 pcs., and the ash content (10.57%) of ripe galbuli were determined. Lipid fraction (9.12%), cellulose (13.54%), protein (13.64%), and total carbohydrates (31.20%) were evaluated in the ripe galbuli. It was found that the ripe galbuli contained glucose (4.00%) and fructose (4.25%), but disaccharide sucrose was not identified. The main macro elements presented in the sample were K (8390.00 mg/kg), Ca (4596.00 g/kg), Mg (837.72 mg/kg), followed by Na (7.69 mg/kg); while the detected microelements consisted of Zn (8.51 mg/kg), Cu (4.66 mg/kg), Mn (3.65 mg/kg), Fe (3.26 mg/kg), Cr (3.00 mg/kg), Cd (< 0.1 mg/kg), and Pb (0.01 mg/kg).

Keywords: Chemical composition, Juniperus excelsa M. Bieb, minerals, ripe galbuli.

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Authors: Abilio Avila, Orestis Terzidis

Abstract:

A fundamental principle of Grounded Theory (GT) is to prevent the formation of preconceived theories. This implies the need to start a research study with an open mind and to avoid being absorbed by the existing literature. However, to start a new study without an understanding of the research domain and its context can be extremely challenging. This paper presents a research approach that simultaneously supports a researcher to identify and to focus on critical areas of a research project and prevent the formation of prejudiced concepts by the current body of literature. This approach comprises of four stages: Selection of secondary case studies, analysis of secondary case studies, development of an initial conceptual framework, development of an initial interview guide. The analysis of secondary case studies as a starting point for a research project allows a researcher to create a first understanding of a research area based on real-world cases without being influenced by the existing body of theory. It enables a researcher to develop through a structured course of actions a firm guide that establishes a solid starting point for further investigations. Thus, the described approach may have significant implications for GT researchers who aim to start a study within a given research area.

Keywords: Grounded theory, qualitative research, secondary case studies, secondary data analysis, interview guide.

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Authors: Amr R. El-Gamal, Ashraf Essa, Ayman Ismail

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The tension leg platform (TLP) is a vertically moored structure with excess buoyancy. The TLP is regarded as moored structure in horizontal plan, while inherit stiffness of fixed platform in vertical plane. In this paper, a numerical study using modified Morison equation was carried out in the time domain to investigate the influence of nonlinearities due to hydrodynamic forces and the coupling effect between surge, sway, heave, roll, pitch and yaw degrees of freedom on the dynamic behavior of TLP's. The stiffness of the TLP was derived from a combination of hydrostatic restoring forces and restoring forces due to cables and the nonlinear equations of motion were solved utilizing Newmark’s beta integration scheme. The effect of tethers length and wave characteristics such as wave period and wave height on the response of TLP's was evaluated.

Only uni-directional waves in the surge direction was considered in the analysis. It was found that for short wave periods (i.e. 10 sec.), the surge response consisted of small amplitude oscillations about a displaced position that is significantly dependent on tether length, wave height; whereas for longer wave periods, the surge response showed high amplitude oscillations about that is significantly dependent on tether length.

Keywords: Hydrodynamic wave forces, tension leg platforms, tethers length, wave characteristic.

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Authors: Worachat Wannawong, Usa W. Humphries, Prungchan Wongwises, Suphat Vongvisessomjai

Abstract:

The three steps of the standard one-way nested grid for a regional scale of the third generation WAve Model Cycle 4 (WAMC4) is scrutinized. The model application is enabled to solve the energy balance equation on a coarse resolution grid in order to produce boundary conditions for a smaller area by the nested grid technique. In the present study, the model takes a full advantage of the fine resolution of wind fields in space and time produced by the available U.S. Navy Global Atmospheric Prediction System (NOGAPS) model with 1 degree resolution. The nested grid application of the model is developed in order to gradually increase the resolution from the open ocean towards the South China Sea (SCS) and the Gulf of Thailand (GoT) respectively. The model results were compared with buoy observations at Ko Chang, Rayong and Huahin locations which were obtained from the Seawatch project. In addition, the results were also compared with Satun based weather station which was provided from Department of Meteorology, Thailand. The data collected from this station presented the significant wave height (Hs) reached 12.85 m. The results indicated that the tendency of the Hs from the model in the spherical coordinate propagation with deep water condition in the fine grid domain agreed well with the Hs from the observations.

Keywords: energy balance equation, Gulf of Thailand, nested gridapplication, South China Sea, wave model.

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