Search results for: performance characteristics.

Authors: M. Ahmadnezhad, M. Soltanpour

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Electrohydraulic servo system have been used in industry in a wide number of applications. Its dynamics are highly nonlinear and also have large extent of model uncertainties and external disturbances. In this paper, a robust back-stepping control (RBSC) scheme is proposed to overcome the problem of disturbances and system uncertainties effectively and to improve the tracking performance of EHS systems. In order to implement the proposed control scheme, the system uncertainties in EHS systems are considered as total leakage coefficient and effective oil volume. In addition, in order to obtain the virtual controls for stabilizing system, the update rule for the system uncertainty term is induced by the Lyapunov control function (LCF). To verify the performance and robustness of the proposed control system, computer simulation of the proposed control system using Matlab/Simulink Software is executed. From the computer simulation, it was found that the RBSC system produces the desired tracking performance and has robustness to the disturbances and system uncertainties of EHS systems.

Keywords: Electro hydraulic servo system, back-stepping control, robust back-stepping control, Lyapunov redesign.

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Authors: Aniela Pop, Ianina Birsan, Corina Orha, Rodica Pode, Florica Manea

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Carbon nanofiber-epoxy composite electrode has been investigated through voltammetric and amperometric techniques in order to detect parabens from aqueous solutions. The occurrence into environment as emerging pollutants of these preservative compounds has been extensively studied in the last decades, and consequently, a rapid and reliable method for their quantitative quantification is required. In this study, methylparaben (MP) and propylparaben (PP) were chosen as representatives for paraben class. The individual electrochemical detection of each paraben has been successfully performed. Their electrochemical oxidation occurred at the same potential value. Their simultaneous quantification should be assessed electrochemically only as general index of paraben class as a cumulative signal corresponding to both MP and PP from solution. The influence of pH on the electrochemical signal was studied. pH ranged between 1.3 and 9.0 allowed shifting the detection potential value to smaller value, which is very desired for the electroanalysis. Also, the signal is better-defined and higher sensitivity is achieved. Differential-pulsed voltammetry and square-wave voltammetry were exploited under the optimum pH conditions to improve the electroanalytical performance for the paraben detection. Also, the operation conditions were selected, i.e., the step potential, modulation amplitude and the frequency. Chronomaprometry application as the easiest electrochemical detection method led to worse sensitivity, probably due to a possible fouling effect of the electrode surface. The best electroanalytical performance was achieved by pulsed voltammetric technique but the selection of the electrochemical technique is related to the concrete practical application. A good reproducibility of the voltammetric-based method using carbon nanofiber-epoxy composite electrode was determined and no interference effect was found for the cation and anion species that are common in the water matrix. Besides these characteristics, the long life-time of the electrode give to carbon nanofiber-epoxy composite electrode a great potential for practical applications.

Keywords: Carbon nanofiber-epoxy composite electrode, electroanalysis, methylparaben, propylparaben.

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Authors: Chul Ho Han, Kyoung Hoon Kim

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This paper carries out a performance analysis based on the first and second laws of thermodynamics for heat recovery vapor generator (HRVG) of ammonia-water mixture when the heat source is low-temperature energy in the form of sensible heat. In the analysis, effects of the ammonia mass concentration and mass flow ratio of the binary mixture are investigated on the system performance including the effectiveness of heat transfer, entropy generation, and exergy efficiency. The results show that the ammonia concentration and the mass flow ratio of the mixture have significant effects on the system performance of HRVG.

Keywords: Entropy, exergy, ammonia-water mixture, heat exchanger.

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Authors: Raif Parlakkaya, Ahmet Diken, Erkan Kara

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This paper examines the relationship between corporate governance rating and stock prices of 26 Turkish firms listed in Turkish stock exchange (Borsa Istanbul) by using panel data analysis over five-year period. The paper also investigates the stock performance of firms with governance rating with regards to the market portfolio (i.e. BIST 100 Index) both prior and after governance scoring began. The empirical results show that there is no relation between corporate governance rating and stock prices when using panel data for annual variation in both rating score and stock prices. Further analysis indicates surprising results that while the selected firms outperform the market significantly prior to rating, the same performance does not continue afterwards.

Keywords: Corporate governance, stock price, performance, panel data analysis.

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Authors: H.A. Ashorynejad, M. Farhadi, K.Sedighi, A.Hasanpour

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We report the results of an lattice Boltzmann simulation of magnetohydrodynamic damping of sidewall convection in a rectangular enclosure filled with a porous medium. In particular we investigate the suppression of convection when a steady magnetic field is applied in the vertical direction. The left and right vertical walls of the cavity are kept at constant but different temperatures while both the top and bottom horizontal walls are insulated. The effects of the controlling parameters involved in the heat transfer and hydrodynamic characteristics are studied in detail. The heat and mass transfer mechanisms and the flow characteristics inside the enclosure depended strongly on the strength of the magnetic field and Darcy number. The average Nusselt number decreases with rising values of the Hartmann number while this increases with increasing values of the Darcy number.

Keywords: Lattice Boltzmann method , Natural convection , Magnetohydrodynamic , Porous medium

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Authors: Jean-Pierre Dubois, Jihad S. Daba, M. Nader, C. El Ferkh

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GSM has undoubtedly become the most widespread cellular technology and has established itself as one of the most promising technology in wireless communication. The next generation of mobile telephones had also become more powerful and innovative in a way that new services related to the user-s location will arise. Other than the 911 requirements for emergency location initiated by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) of the United States, GSM positioning can be highly integrated in cellular communication technology for commercial use. However, GSM positioning is facing many challenges. Issues like accuracy, availability, reliability and suitable cost render the development and implementation of GSM positioning a challenging task. In this paper, we investigate the optimal mobile position tracking means. We employ an innovative scheme by integrating the Kalman filter in the localization process especially that it has great tracking characteristics. When tracking in two dimensions, Kalman filter is very powerful due to its reliable performance as it supports estimation of past, present, and future states, even when performing in unknown environments. We show that enhanced position tracking results is achieved when implementing the Kalman filter for GSM tracking.

Keywords: Cellular communication, estimation, GSM, Kalman filter, positioning

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Authors: Abayomi H. T., Oresanya T. O., Opeifa A. O., Rasheed T. R.

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The study was conducted to evaluate the quality characteristics of cookies produced from sweet potato-fermented soybean flour. Cookies were subjected to proximate and sensory analysis to determine the acceptability of the product. Protein, fat and ash increased as the proportion of soybean flour increased, ranging from 13.8-21.7, 1.22-5.25 and 2.20-2.57 respectively. The crude fibre content was within the range of 3.08-4.83%. The moisture content of the cookies decreased with increase in soybean flour from 3.42- 2.13%. Cookies produced from whole sweet potato flour had the highest moisture content of 3.42% while 30% substitution had the lowest moisture content 2.13%. A nine point hedonic scale was used to evaluate the organoleptic characteristics of the cookies. The sensory analysis indicated that there was no significant difference between the cookies produced even when compared to the control 100% sweet potato cookies. The overall acceptance of the cookies was ranked to 20% soybean flour substitute.

Keywords: Cookies, Fermented Soybean, Overall Acceptability, Sweet Potatoes.

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Authors: Worachat Wannawong, Usa W. HumphriesPrungchan Wongwises, Suphat Vongvisessomjai

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The mathematical modeling of storm surge in sea and coastal regions such as the South China Sea (SCS) and the Gulf of Thailand (GoT) are important to study the typhoon characteristics. The storm surge causes an inundation at a lateral boundary exhibiting in the coastal zones particularly in the GoT and some part of the SCS. The model simulations in the three dimensional primitive equations with a high resolution model are important to protect local properties and human life from the typhoon surges. In the present study, the mathematical modeling is used to simulate the typhoon–induced surges in three case studies of Typhoon Linda 1997. The results of model simulations at the tide gauge stations can describe the characteristics of storm surges at the coastal zones.

Keywords: lateral boundary, mathematical modeling, numericalsimulations, three dimensional primitive equations, storm surge.

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Authors: M. Zerikat, S. Chekroun

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This paper proposes an effective adaptation learning algorithm based on artificial neural networks for speed control of an induction motor assumed to operate in a high-performance drives environment. The structure scheme consists of a neural network controller and an algorithm for changing the NN weights in order that the motor speed can accurately track of the reference command. This paper also makes uses a very realistic and practical scheme to estimate and adaptively learn the noise content in the speed load torque characteristic of the motor. The availability of the proposed controller is verified by through a laboratory implementation and under computation simulations with Matlab-software. The process is also tested for the tracking property using different types of reference signals. The performance and robustness of the proposed control scheme have evaluated under a variety of operating conditions of the induction motor drives. The obtained results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme system performances, both in steady state error in speed and dynamic conditions, was found to be excellent and those is not overshoot.

Keywords: Electric drive, Induction motor, speed control, Adaptive control, neural network, High Performance.

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Authors: Seung-Kyung Kye, Sang-Seung Lee, Dooyong Cho, Sun-Kyu Park

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Although many studies on the assembly technology of the bridge construction have dealt mostly with on the pier, girder or the deck of the bridge, studies on the prefabricated barrier have rarely been performed. For understanding structural characteristics and application of the concrete barrier in the modular bridge, which is an assembly of structure members, static loading test was performed. Structural performances as a road barrier of the three methods, conventional cast-in-place(ST), vertical bolt connection(BVC) and horizontal bolt connection(BHC) were evaluated and compared through the analyses of load-displacement curves, strain curves of the steel, concrete strain curves and the visual appearances of crack patterns. The vertical bolt connection(BVC) method demonstrated comparable performance as an alternative to conventional cast-in-place(ST) while providing all the advantages of prefabricated technology. Necessities for the future improvement in nuts enforcement as well as legal standard and regulation are also addressed.

Keywords: Modular Bridge, Concrete Barrier, Bolt Connection

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Authors: Ifeyinwa E. Achumba, Djamel Azzi, Rinat Khusainov

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There are three approaches to complete Bayesian Network (BN) model construction: total expert-centred, total datacentred, and semi data-centred. These three approaches constitute the basis of the empirical investigation undertaken and reported in this paper. The objective is to determine, amongst these three approaches, which is the optimal approach for the construction of a BN-based model for the performance assessment of students- laboratory work in a virtual electronic laboratory environment. BN models were constructed using all three approaches, with respect to the focus domain, and compared using a set of optimality criteria. In addition, the impact of the size and source of the training, on the performance of total data-centred and semi data-centred models was investigated. The results of the investigation provide additional insight for BN model constructors and contribute to literature providing supportive evidence for the conceptual feasibility and efficiency of structure and parameter learning from data. In addition, the results highlight other interesting themes.

Keywords: Bayesian networks, model construction, parameterlearning, structure learning, performance index, model comparison.

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Authors: Kemkanit Sanyanunthana

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The purpose of this research is to study the management system of information technology which supports the education of five private universities in Thailand, according to the case studies which have been developing their qualities and standards of management and education by service provision of information technology to support the excellence performance. The concept to connect information technology with a suitable system has been created by information technology administrators for development, as a system that can be used throughout the organizations to help reach the utmost benefits of using all resources. Hence, the researcher as a person who has been performing these duties within higher education is interested to do this research by selecting the Control Objective for Information and Related Technology 5 (COBIT 5) for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) of America, or the National Award which applies the concept of Total Quality Management (TQM) to the organization evaluation. Such evaluation is called the Education Criteria for Performance Excellence (EdPEx) focuses on studying and comparing education quality development for excellent performance using COBIT 5 in terms of information technology to study the problems and obstacles of the investigation process for an information technology system, which is considered as an instrument to drive all organizations to reach the excellence performance of the information technology, and to be the model of evaluation and analysis of the process to be in accordance with the strategic plans of the information technology in the universities. This research is conducted in the form of descriptive and survey research according to the case studies. The data collection were carried out by using questionnaires through the administrators working related to the information technology field, and the research documents related to the change management as the main study. The research can be concluded that the performance based on the APO domain process (ALIGN, PLAN AND ORGANISE) of the COBIT 5 standard frame, which emphasizes concordant governance and management of strategic plans for the organizations, could reach only 95%. This might be because of some restrictions such as organizational cultures; therefore, the researcher has studied and analyzed the management of information technology in universities as a whole, under the organizational structures, to reach the performance in accordance with the overall APO domain which would affect the determined strategic plans to be able to develop based on the excellence performance of information technology, and to apply the risk management system at the organizational level into every performance process which would develop the work effectiveness for the resources management of information technology to reach the utmost benefits. 

Keywords: COBIT 5, APO, EdPEx Criteria, MBNQA.

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Authors: Nor-Edine Abriak, Mahfoud Benzerzour, Mouhamadou Amar, Abdeljalil Zri

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In this work, firstly we have studied the potential of raw sediments and sediments treated with lime or cement for use in a foundation layer and the base layer of a roadway. Secondly, we have examined mineral changes caused by the addition of lime or cement in order to explain the mechanical performance of stabilized sediments. After determining the amount of lime and cement required stabilizing the sediments, the compaction characteristics and Immediate Bearing Capacity (IBI) were studied using the Modified Proctor method. Then, the evolution of the three parameters, which are optimum water content, maximum dry density and IBI, were determined. Mechanical performances can be evaluated through resistance to compression, resistance under traction and the elasticity modulus. The resistances of the formulations treated with ROLAC®645 increase with the amount of ROLAC®645. Traction resistance and the elastic modulus were used to evaluate the potential of the formulations as road construction materials using the classification diagram. The results show that all the other formulations with ROLAC®645 can be used in subgrades and foundation layers for roads.

Keywords: Sediment, lime, cement, roadway.

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Authors: Metehan Makinacı

Abstract:

The objective of this paper, is to apply support vector machine (SVM) approach for the classification of cancerous and normal regions of prostate images. Three kinds of textural features are extracted and used for the analysis: parameters of the Gauss- Markov random field (GMRF), correlation function and relative entropy. Prostate images are acquired by the system consisting of a microscope, video camera and a digitizing board. Cross-validated classification over a database of 46 images is implemented to evaluate the performance. In SVM classification, sensitivity and specificity of 96.2% and 97.0% are achieved for the 32x32 pixel block sized data, respectively, with an overall accuracy of 96.6%. Classification performance is compared with artificial neural network and k-nearest neighbor classifiers. Experimental results demonstrate that the SVM approach gives the best performance.

Keywords: Computer-aided diagnosis, support vector machines, Gauss-Markov random fields, texture classification.

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Authors: İsmail Hakkı Kalyoncu, Nilda Ersoy, Ayşe Yalcın Elidemir, Cansu Dolek

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Some physico-chemical characteristics and mineral composition of 'Karayemis' (Prunus laurocerasus L.) fruits which grown naturally in Norteast Turkey was studied. 28 minerals ( Al, Mg, B, Mn, Co, Na, Ca, Ni, Cd, P, Cr, Pb, Cu, S, Fe, Zn, K, Sr, Li, As, V, Ag, Ba, Br, Ga, In, Se, Ti) were analyzed and 19 minerals were present at ascertainable levels. Karayemis fruit was richest in potassium (7938.711 ppm), magnesium (1242.186 ppm) and calcium (1158.853 ppm). And some physico-chemical characteristics of Karayemis fruit was investigated. Fruit length, fruit width, fruit thickness, fruit weight, total soluble solids, colour, protein, crude ash, crude fiber, crude oil values were determined as 2.334 cm, 1.884 cm, 2.112 cm, 5.35 g, 20.1 %, S99M99Y99, 0.29 %, 0.22 %, 6.63 % and 0.001 %, respectively. The seed of fruit mean weight, length, width and thickness were found to be 0.41 g, 1.303 cm, 0.921 cm and 0.803, respectively.

Keywords: Prunus laurocerasus L., physico-chemical properties, nutritional properties.

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Authors: Changho Han, Jaemin Lee, Li Hua, Seokkwon Jeong

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Design of membership function ranges in fuzzy logic control (FLC) is presented for robust control of a variable speed refrigeration system (VSRS). The criterion values of the membership function ranges can be carried out from the static experimental data, and two different values are offered to compare control performance. Some simulations and real experiments for the VSRS were conducted to verify the validity of the designed membership functions. The experimental results showed good agreement with the simulation results, and the error change rate and its sampling time strongly affected the control performance at transient state of the VSRS.

Keywords: Variable speed refrigeration system, Fuzzy logic control, membership function range, control performance.

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Authors: Houda Abadlia, Nadia Smairi, Khaled Ghedira

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Multiobjective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO) has shown an effective performance for solving test functions and real-world optimization problems. However, this method has a premature convergence problem, which may lead to lack of diversity. In order to improve its performance, this paper presents a hybrid approach which embedded the MOPSO into the island model and integrated a local search technique, Variable Neighborhood Search, to enhance the diversity into the swarm. Experiments on two series of test functions have shown the effectiveness of the proposed approach. A comparison with other evolutionary algorithms shows that the proposed approach presented a good performance in solving multiobjective optimization problems.

Keywords: Particle swarm optimization, migration, variable neighborhood search, multiobjective optimization.

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Authors: Chee Peng Lim, Wei Yee Goh

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In this paper, the application of multiple Elman neural networks to time series data regression problems is studied. An ensemble of Elman networks is formed by boosting to enhance the performance of the individual networks. A modified version of the AdaBoost algorithm is employed to integrate the predictions from multiple networks. Two benchmark time series data sets, i.e., the Sunspot and Box-Jenkins gas furnace problems, are used to assess the effectiveness of the proposed system. The simulation results reveal that an ensemble of boosted Elman networks can achieve a higher degree of generalization as well as performance than that of the individual networks. The results are compared with those from other learning systems, and implications of the performance are discussed.

Keywords: AdaBoost, Elman network, neural network ensemble, time series regression.

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Authors: S. S. Sharma, Jagannath K, P. R. Prabhu

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Metal matrix composites consists of a metallic matrix combined with dispersed particulate phase as reinforcement. Aluminum alloys have been the primary material of choice for structural components of aircraft since about 1930. Well known performance characteristics, known fabrication costs, design experience, and established manufacturing methods and facilities, are just a few of the reasons for the continued confidence in 7XXX Al alloys that will ensure their use in significant quantities for the time to come. Particulate MMCs are of special interest owing to the low cost of their raw materials (primarily natural river sand here) and their ease of fabrication, making them suitable for applications requiring relatively high volume production. 7XXX Al alloys are precipitation hardenable and therefore amenable for thermomechanical treatment. Al–Zn alloys reinforced with particulate materials are used in aerospace industries in spite of the drawbacks of susceptibility to stress corrosion, poor wettability, poor weldability and poor fatigue resistance. The resistance offered by these particulates for the moving dislocations impart secondary hardening in turn contributes strain hardening. Cold deformation increases lattice defects, which in turn improves the properties of solution treated alloy. In view of this, six different Al–Zn–Mg alloy composites reinforced with silica (3 wt. % and 5 wt. %) are prepared by conventional semisolid synthesizing process. The cast alloys are solution treated and aged. The solution treated alloys are further severely cold rolled to enhance the properties. The hardness and strength values are analyzed and compared with silica free Al – Zn-Mg alloys. Precipitation hardening phenomena is accelerated due to the increased number of potential sites for precipitation. Higher peak hardness and lesser aging time are the characteristics of thermo mechanically treated samples. For obtaining maximum hardness, optimum number and volume of precipitate particles are required. The Al-5Zn-1Mg with 5% SiO₂ alloy composite shows better result.

Keywords: Dislocation, hardness, matrix, thermomechanical, precipitation hardening, reinforcement.

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Authors: K. P. Vishwanath, A. Kandasamy

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The present work deals with analyses of the effects of bearing curvature and non-Newtonian characteristics on the load capacity of an exponential rectangular squeeze film bearing using Bingham fluids as lubricants. Bingham fluids are characterized by an yield value and hence the formation of a “rigid" core in the region between the plates is justified. The flow is confined to the region between the core and the plates. The shape of the core has been identified through numerical means. Further, numerical solutions for the pressure distribution and load carrying capacity of the bearing for various values of Bingham number and curvature parameter have been obtained. The effects of bearing curvature and non-Newtonian characteristics of the lubricant on the bearing performances have been discussed.

Keywords: rheodynamic lubrication, yield stress, non-Newtonianfluid, Bingham fluid, exponential squeeze film.

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Authors: Young Kwon Yang, In Sung Kang, Jung Ha Hwang, Jin Chul Park

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The present study is a foundational study for performance improvements on isolation wards to prevent proliferation of secondary infection of infectious diseases such as SARS, H1N1, and MERS inside hospitals. Accordingly, the present study conducted an analysis of the effect of sealing mechanisms and filling of openings on ensuring air tightness performance in isolation wards as well as simulation on air currents in improved isolation wards. The study method is as follows. First, previous studies on aerial infection type and mechanism were reviewed, and the review results were utilized as basic data of analysis on simulation of air current. Second, national and international legislations and regulations in relation to isolation wards as well as case studies on developed nations were investigated in order to identify the problems in isolation wards in Korea and improvement plans. Third, construction and facility plans were compared and analyzed between general and isolation wards focusing on large general hospitals in Korea, thereby conducting comparison and analysis on the performance and effects of air-tightness of general and isolation wards through CFD simulations. The study results showed that isolation wards had better air-tightness performance than that of general wards.

Keywords: AII Room, air-borne infection, CFD, computational fluid dynamics.

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Authors: A. Bouabid, B. Bielenberg, S. Ainane, N. Pasha

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In this paper, a team of faculty members of the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi, UAE representing six different courses across General Engineering (ENGR), Communication (COMM), and Design (STPS) worked together to establish a clear developmental progression of learning outcomes and performance indicators for targeted knowledge, areas of competency, and skills for the first three semesters of the Bachelor of Sciences in Engineering curriculum. The sequences of courses studied in this project were ENGR/COMM, COMM/STPS, and ENGR/STPS. For each course’s nine areas of knowledge, competency, and skills, the research team reviewed the existing learning outcomes and related performance indicators with a focus on identifying linkages across disciplines as well as within the courses of a discipline. The team reviewed existing performance indicators for developmental progression from semester to semester for same discipline related courses (vertical alignment) and for different discipline courses within the same semester (horizontal alignment). The results of this work have led to recommendations for modifications of the initial indicators when incoherence was identified, and/or for new indicators based on best practices (identified through literature searches) when gaps were identified. It also led to recommendations for modifications of the level of emphasis within each course to ensure developmental progression. The exercise has led to a revised Sequence Performance Indicator Mapping for the knowledge, skills, and competencies across the six core courses.

Keywords: Curriculum alignment, horizontal and vertical progression, performance indicators, skill level.

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Authors: Cheng-Suan Lee, Khong Neng Choong, So Gean Koh, Chee Onn Chow, Mazlan Abbas

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Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) application or commonly known as softphone has been developing an increasingly large market in today-s telecommunication world and the trend is expected to continue with the enhancement of additional features. This includes leveraging on the existing presence services, location and contextual information to enable more ubiquitous and seamless communications. In this paper, we discuss the concept of seamless session transfer for real-time application such as VoIP and IPTV, and our prototype implementation of such concept on a selected open source VoIP application. The first part of this paper is about conducting performance evaluation and assessments across some commonly found open source VoIP applications that are Ekiga, Kphone, Linphone and Twinkle so as to identify one of them for implementing our design of seamless session transfer. Subjective testing has been carried out to evaluate the audio performance on these VoIP applications and rank them according to their Mean Opinion Score (MOS) results. The second part of this paper is to discuss on the performance evaluations of our prototype implementation of session transfer using Linphone.

Keywords: audio codec, softphone, session transfer.

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Authors: K. Saravanan, R. Anita

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Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) is granting a new group of advanced power electronic devices emerging for enhancement of the power system performance. Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC) is a recent version of FACTS devices for power system applications. The back-up energy supply system incorporated with UPFC is providing a complete control of real and reactive power at the same time and hence is competent to improve the performance of an electrical power system. In this article, backup energy supply unit such as superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) is integrated with UPFC. In addition, comparative exploration of UPFC–battery, UPFC–UC and UPFC–SMES performance is evaluated through the vibrant simulation by using MATLAB/Simulink software.

Keywords: Power system, FACTS, UPFC, DC-DC chopper, battery, UC, SMES.

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Authors: M. Ovinis, D. Kerr, K. Bouazza-Marouf, M. Vloeberghs

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The use of anatomical landmarks as a basis for image to patient registration is appealing because the registration may be performed retrospectively. We have previously proposed the use of two anatomical soft tissue landmarks of the head, the canthus (corner of the eye) and the tragus (a small, pointed, cartilaginous flap of the ear), as a registration basis for an automated CT image to patient registration system, and described their localization in patient space using close range photogrammetry. In this paper, the automatic localization of these landmarks in CT images, based on their curvature saliency and using a rule based system that incorporates prior knowledge of their characteristics, is described. Existing approaches to landmark localization in CT images are predominantly semi-automatic and primarily for localizing internal landmarks. To validate our approach, the positions of the landmarks localized automatically and manually in near isotropic CT images of 102 patients were compared. The average difference was 1.2mm (std = 0.9mm, max = 4.5mm) for the medial canthus and 0.8mm (std = 0.6mm, max = 2.6mm) for the tragus. The medial canthus and tragus can be automatically localized in CT images, with performance comparable to manual localization, based on the approach presented.

Keywords: Anatomical Landmarks, CT, Localization.

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Authors: Wen-Pai Wang

Abstract:

The growing influence of service industries has prompted greater attention being paid to service operations management. However, service managers often have difficulty articulating the veritable effects of their service innovation. Especially, the performance evaluation process of service innovation problems generally involves uncertain and imprecise data. This paper presents a 2-tuple fuzzy linguistic computing approach to dealing with heterogeneous information and information loss problems while the processes of subjective evaluation integration. The proposed method based on group decision-making scenario to assist business managers in measuring performance of service innovation manipulates the heterogeneity integration processes and avoids the information loss effectively.

Keywords: Group decision-making, Heterogeneity, Linguisticcomputing, Multi-criteria, Service innovation

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Authors: Milan Paudel, Fook Fah Yap, Anil K. Bastola

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The difficulties in riding small wheel bicycles and their lesser stability have been perceived for a long time. Although small wheel bicycles are designed using the similar approach and guidelines that have worked well for big wheel bicycles, the performance of the big wheelers and the smaller wheelers are markedly different. Since both the big wheelers and small wheelers have same fundamental geometry, most blame the small wheel for this discrepancy in the performance. This paper reviews existing guidelines for bicycle design, especially the front steering geometry for the bicycle, and provides a systematic and quantitative analysis of different wheel sized bicycles. A validated mathematical model has been used as a tool to assess the dynamic performance of the bicycles in term of their self-stability. The results obtained were found to corroborate the subjective perception of cyclists for small wheel bicycles. The current approach for small wheel bicycle design requires higher speed to be self-stable. However, it was found that increasing the headtube angle and selecting a proper trail could improve the dynamic performance of small wheel bicycles. A range of parameters for front steering geometry has been identified for small wheel bicycles that have comparable stability as big wheel bicycles. Interestingly, most of the identified geometries are found to be beyond the ISO recommended range and seem to counter the current approach of small wheel bicycle design. Therefore, it was successfully shown that the guidelines for big wheelers do not translate directly to small wheelers, but careful selection of the front geometry could make small wheel bicycles as stable as big wheel bicycles.

Keywords: Big wheel bicycle, design approach, ISO requirements, small wheel bicycle, stability and performance.

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Authors: M. Ben Slimene, M.-S. Ouali

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Asset management of urban infrastructures faces a multitude of challenges that need to be overcome to obtain a reliable measurement of performances. Predicting the performance of slowly aging systems is one of those challenges, which helps the asset manager to investigate specific failure modes and to undertake the appropriate maintenance and rehabilitation interventions to avoid catastrophic failures as well as to optimize the maintenance costs. This article presents a methodology for modeling the deterioration of slowly degrading assets based on an operating history. It consists of extracting degradation profiles by grouping together assets that exhibit similar degradation sequences using an unsupervised classification technique derived from artificial intelligence. The obtained clusters are used to build the performance prediction models. This methodology is applied to a sample of a stormwater drainage culvert dataset.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence, clustering, culvert, regression model, slow degradation.

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Authors: Mahmoud Miri, Soliman Maramaee

Abstract:

Because of architectural condition and structure application, sometimes mass source and stiffness source are not coincidence, and the structure is irregular. The structure is also might be asymmetric as an asymmetric bracing in plan which leads to unbalance distribution of stiffness or because of unbalance distribution of the mass. Both condition lead to eccentricity and torsion in the structure. The deficiency of ordinary code to evaluate the performance of steel structures against earthquake has been caused designing based on performance level or capacity spectrum be used. By using the mentioned methods it is possible to design a structure that its behavior against different earthquakes be predictive. In this article 5- story buildings with different percentage of asymmetric which is because of stiffness changes and kind of bracing (x and chevron bracing) have been designed. The static and dynamic nonlinear analysis under three acceleration recording has been done. Finally performance level of the structure has been evaluated.

Keywords: Asymmetric, irregular, seismic analysis, torsion.

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Authors: Ahmed A. Hassan, Hassan I. Ali, Abdallah A. Salum, Asia M. Kassim, Yussuf N. Elmoge, Ali A. Amour

Abstract:

The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of chemistry in Zanzibar Secondary Schools. It was conducted in all regions of Zanzibar in public and private secondary schools and Ministry of Education officials. The objective of the study included finding out causes of poor performance in chemistry. Views, opinions, and suggestions of teachers and students to improve performance of chemistry and a descriptive survey was adopted for the study. 45 teachers and 200 students were randomly sampled from 15 secondary schools in Zanzibar and ten Ministry of Education officials were purposively sampled for the study. Questionnaires and open-ended interview schedules were the main instruments used in obtaining relevant data from respondents. Data collected from the field was analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Qualitative analysis involved content analysis of the responses obtained through interviews and quantitative analysis involved generation of tables, frequencies and percentages. The results revealed that there were shortages of trained teachers, lack of proficiency in the language of instruction (English) and major facilities like laboratories and books. These led to poor delivery of subject matter and consequently resulting in poor performance. Based on the findings, this study recommends that provision of trained, competent, and effective teachers as vital aspects to be considered. Government through Ministry of Education should put effort to stalk libraries and equip laboratories with modern books and instruments. In addition, the ministry should strengthen teachers’ training and encourage use of instructional media in class and make conducive learning environment to both teachers and students.

Keywords: Zanzibar, secondary schools, chemistry, science, performance and factors.

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