Search results for: agent based modeling and simulation

Authors: Sonia Alberti

Abstract:

The Regional Conference to Restructure Psychiatric Care in Latin America, convened by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in 1990, oriented the Brazilian Federal Act in 2001 that stipulated the psychiatric reform which requires deinstitutionalization and community-based treatment. Since then, the 15 years’ experience of different working teams in mental health led an academic working group – supervisors from personal practices, professors and researchers – to discuss certain clinical issues, as well as supervisions, and to organize colloquia in different cities as a methodology. These colloquia count on the participation of different working teams from the cities in which they are held, with team members with different levels of educational degrees and prior experiences, in order to increase dialogue right where it does not always appear to be possible. The principal aim of these colloquia is to gain interlocution between practitioners and academics. Working with the theory of case constructions, this methodology revealed itself helpful in unfolding new solutions. The paper also observes that there is not always harmony between what the psychiatric reform demands and clinical ethics.

Keywords: Mental health, supervision, clinical cases, Brazilian experience.

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Authors: Piedad Garrido, Fernando Repulles, Andy Bloor, Julio A. Sanguesa, Jesus Gallardo, Vicente Torres, Jesus Tramullas

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With the emergence and development of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs), Higher Education is experiencing rapid changes, not only in its teaching strategies but also in student’s learning skills. However, we have noticed that students often have difficulty when seeking innovative, useful, and interesting learning resources for their work. This is due to the lack of supervision in the selection of good query tools. This paper presents AINA, an Information Retrieval (IR) computer system aimed at providing motivating and stimulating content to both students and teachers working on different areas and at different educational levels. In particular, our proposal consists of an open virtual resource environment oriented to the vast universe of Disney comics and cartoons. Our test suite includes Disney’s long and shorts films, and we have performed some activities based on the Just In Time Teaching (JiTT) methodology. More specifically, it has been tested by groups of university and secondary school students.

Keywords: Information retrieval, animation, educational resources, JiTT.

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Authors: Mountassar Maamoun, Mehdi Neggazi, Abdelhamid Meraghni, Daoud Berkani

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This paper presents a VLSI design approach of a highspeed and real-time 2-D Discrete Wavelet Transform computing. The proposed architecture, based on new and fast convolution approach, reduces the hardware complexity in addition to reduce the critical path to the multiplier delay. Furthermore, an advanced twodimensional (2-D) discrete wavelet transform (DWT) implementation, with an efficient memory area, is designed to produce one output in every clock cycle. As a result, a very highspeed is attained. The system is verified, using JPEG2000 coefficients filters, on Xilinx Virtex-II Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) device without accessing any external memory. The resulting computing rate is up to 270 M samples/s and the (9,7) 2-D wavelet filter uses only 18 kb of memory (16 kb of first-in-first-out memory) with 256×256 image size. In this way, the developed design requests reduced memory and provide very high-speed processing as well as high PSNR quality.

Keywords: Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), Fast Convolution, FPGA, VLSI.

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Authors: V. Zamora, Z. Zhang, A. Meldrum

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The compatibility of optical resonators with microfluidic systems may be relevant for chemical and biological applications. Here, a fluorescent-core microcavity (FCM) is investigated as a refractometric sensor for heavy oils. A high-index film of silicon quantum dots (QDs) was formed inside the capillary, supporting cylindrical fluorescence whispering gallery modes (WGMs). A set of standard refractive index oils was injected into a capillary, causing a shift of the WGM resonances toward longer wavelengths. A maximum sensitivity of 240 nm/RIU (refractive index unit) was found for a nominal oil index of 1.74. As well, a sensitivity of 22 nm/RIU was obtained for a lower index of 1.48, more typical of fuel hydrocarbons. Furthermore, the observed spectra and sensitivities were compared to theoretical predictions and reproduced via FDTD simulations, showing in general an excellent agreement. This work demonstrates the potential use of FCMs for oil sensing applications and the more generally for detecting liquid solutions with a high refractive index or high viscosity.

Keywords: Oils, optical resonators, sensing applications, whispering gallery modes.

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Authors: C. Ardil

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Aircraft have different capabilities and specifications according to the required strategic goals and objectives in operations. With various types on the market with different aircraft characteristics, it becomes difficult to select a suitable aircraft for certain operations and requirements. The entropy weighting method (EWM) is a useful, highly consistent, and reliable method for obtaining the weights of the criteria and is worth integrating with the decision uncertainty distance (DUD) method, which is more applicable and requires less computation than other methods. An illustrative example is presented to demonstrate the validity and usability of the proposed methodology. Comparing the ranking results matches the distance-based approach, which is the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method, which shows the robustness of the entropy DUD hybrid method. Validity analysis shows that the proposed hybrid multiple criteria decision-making analysis (MCDMA) methodology is quantitatively stable and reliable.

Keywords: aircraft selection, decision uncertainty distance (DUD), multiple criteria decision making analysis, MCDMA, TOPSIS

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Authors: Khalil Banan, Mohammad B.B. Sharifian, Jafar Mohammadi

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Due to the high percentage of induction motors in industrial market, there exist a large opportunity for energy savings. Replacement of working induction motors with more efficient ones can be an important resource for energy savings. A calculation of energy savings and payback periods, as a result of such a replacement, based on nameplate motor efficiency or manufacture-s data can lead to large errors [1]. Efficiency of induction motors (IMs) can be extracted using some procedures that use the no-load test results. In the cases that we must estimate the efficiency on-line, some of these procedures can-t be efficient. In some cases the efficiency estimates using the rating values of the motor, but these procedures can have errors due to the different working condition of the motor. In this paper the efficiency of an IM estimated by using the genetic algorithm. The results are compared with the measured values of the torque and power. The results show smaller errors for this procedure compared with the conventional classical procedures, hence the cost of the equipments is reduced and on-line estimation of the efficiency can be made.

Keywords: Genetic algorithm, induction motor, efficiency.

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Authors: Hirofumi Miyajima, Kazuya Kishida, Noritaka Shigei, Hiromi Miyajima

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Most of self-tuning fuzzy systems, which are automatically constructed from learning data, are based on the steepest descent method (SDM). However, this approach often requires a large convergence time and gets stuck into a shallow local minimum. One of its solutions is to use fuzzy rule modules with a small number of inputs such as DIRMs (Double-Input Rule Modules) and SIRMs (Single-Input Rule Modules). In this paper, we consider a (generalized) DIRMs model composed of double and single-input rule modules. Further, in order to reduce the redundant modules for the (generalized) DIRMs model, pruning and generative learning algorithms for the model are suggested. In order to show the effectiveness of them, numerical simulations for function approximation, Box-Jenkins and obstacle avoidance problems are performed.

Keywords: Box-Jenkins’s problem, Double-input rule module, Fuzzy inference model, Obstacle avoidance, Single-input rule module.

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Authors: Victoria Wolf, Renata Dobrucka, Robert Prezkop, Stephan Haubold

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The COVID-19 causes a worldwide crisis and has an impact in every dimension of the economy. Organizations with the ability to adapt to new developments and which innovate solutions for the disrupted world during and after the Corona crises have the opportunity to not only survive the crisis but rather to use new trends to implement new business models and gain advantage. In this context, startups seem to have better opportunities to manage the Corona crisis through their innovation-based nature. The main result of this paper is the understanding that by applying a startup orientated innovation (SOCI) strategy, established companies can be motivated to meet the challenge of COVID-19 in a similar way like startups. This result can be achieved by describing the role of innovation and a SOCI strategy as helpful methods for organizations to meet the coming challenges during and after the COVID-19 epidemics. In addition to this, this paper presents a practical application of SOCI through the PANDA approach of the Fresenius University of Applied Sciences in Germany and discuss it in the context of COVID-19 as an exemplary successful real-world implementation of SOCI strategy.

Keywords: COVID-19, innovation, open innovation, startup, SOCI framework.

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Authors: S. Grouni, R. Ibtiouen, M. Kidouche, O. Touhami

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Induction machine models used for steady-state and transient analysis require machine parameters that are usually considered design parameters or data. The knowledge of induction machine parameters is very important for Indirect Field Oriented Control (IFOC). A mismatched set of parameters will degrade the response of speed and torque control. This paper presents an improvement approach on rotor time constant adaptation in IFOC for Induction Machines (IM). Our approach tends to improve the estimation accuracy of the fundamental model for flux estimation. Based on the reduced order of the IM model, the rotor fluxes and rotor time constant are estimated using only the stator currents and voltages. This reduced order model offers many advantages for real time identification parameters of the IM.

Keywords: Indirect Field Oriented Control (IFOC), InductionMachine (IM), Rotor Time Constant, Parameters ApproachAdaptation. Optimum rotor flux.

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Authors: Romisaa Ali

Abstract:

The Policy Gradient approach is a subset of the Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) combines Deep Neural Networks (DNN) with Reinforcement Learning (RL). This approach finds the optimal policy of robot movement, based on the experience it gains from interaction with its environment. Unlike previous policy gradient algorithms, which were unable to handle the two types of error variance and bias introduced by the DNN model due to over- or underestimation, this algorithm is capable of handling both types of error variance and bias. This article will discuss the state-of-the-art SOTA policy gradient technique, trust region policy optimization (TRPO), by applying this method in various environments compared to another policy gradient method, the Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO), to explain their robust optimization, using this SOTA to gather experience data during various training phases after observing the impact of hyper-parameters on neural network performance.

Keywords: Deep neural networks, deep reinforcement learning, Proximal Policy Optimization, state-of-the-art, trust region policy optimization.

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Authors: Nuttanuch Munsakorn

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This questionnaire-based study, aimed to measure and compare the awareness of English reading strategies among EFL learners at Bangkok University (BU) classified by their gender, field of study, and English learning experience. Proportional stratified random sampling was employed to formulate a sample of 380 BU students. The data were statistically analyzed in terms of the mean and standard deviation. t-Test analysis was used to find differences in awareness of reading strategies between two groups (-male and female- /-science and social-science students). In addition, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare reading strategy awareness among BU students with different lengths of English learning experience. The results of this study indicated that the overall awareness of reading strategies of EFL learners at BU was at a high level (ðÑ = 3.60) and that there was no statistically significant difference between males and females, and among students who have different lengths of English learning experience at the significance level of 0.05. However, significant differences among students coming from different fields of study were found at the same level of significance.

Keywords: EFL learners, higher education, reading comprehension, reading strategies

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Authors: Siphiwe P. Mandina, Tinashe Shamuyashe

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Tourism has become a topical issue amongst academics and practitioners due to its potential to contribute significantly towards an economy’s GDP. The problem underpinning this research is the fact that the major attraction, Victoria Falls, is being marketed in neighboring countries like South Africa, Botswana and Zambia with tour operators providing just day trips to the Victoria Falls. This has deprived Zimbabwe of income from tourism with tourists making day trips and actually not spending nights in Zimbabwe. This therefore calls for cutting edge marketing strategies that are superior to or inimitable by competing nations such as South Africa and Zambia. This study proposes a shift towards an experience management paradigm in the tourism sector. A qualitative research was adopted for this study, and findings of this study were generalized across different tourism contexts, therefore making the survey based research design more appropriate. The target population for this study is tourists visiting Zimbabwe over the period 2016 and ZTA visitor database acquired from the Department of Immigration will form the sampling frame for the purposes of this study.

Keywords: Competitiveness, tourist arrivals, tourist experience, Zimbabwe.

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Authors: Francisca Grimón, Marylin Giugni, Josep Monguet F., Joaquín Fernández, Luis León G.

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In blended learning environments, the Internet can be combined with other technologies. The aim of this research was to design, introduce and validate a model to support synchronous and asynchronous activities by managing content domains in an Adaptive Hypermedia System (AHS). The application is based on information recovery techniques, clustering algorithms and adaptation rules to adjust the user's model to contents and objects of study. This system was applied to blended learning in higher education. The research strategy used was the case study method. Empirical studies were carried out on courses at two universities to validate the model. The results of this research show that the model had a positive effect on the learning process. The students indicated that the synchronous and asynchronous scenario is a good option, as it involves a combination of work with the lecturer and the AHS. In addition, they gave positive ratings to the system and stated that the contents were adapted to each user profile.

Keywords: Blended Learning, System Adaptive, Model, Clustering Algorithms.

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Authors: Yousef Abu Nahleh, Alhasan Hakami, Arun Kumar, Fugen Daver

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This study considers the problem of calculating safety stocks in disaster situations inventory systems that face demand uncertainties. Safety stocks are essential to make the supply chain, which is controlled by forecasts of customer needs, in response to demand uncertainties and to reach predefined goal service levels. To solve the problem of uncertainties due to the disaster situations affecting the industry sector, the concept of Emergency Safety Stock (ESS) was proposed. While there exists a huge body of literature on determining safety stock levels, this literature does not address the problem arising due to the disaster and dealing with the situations. In this paper, the problem of improving the Order Quantity Model to deal with uncertainty of demand due to disasters is managed by incorporating a new idea called ESS which is based on the probability of disaster occurrence and uses probability matrix calculated from the historical data. 

Keywords: Emergency Safety Stocks, Safety stocks, Order Quantity Model, Supply chain.

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Authors: Stephan Rupp, Matthias Elter, Michael Breitung, Walter Zink, Christian Küblbeck

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Camera calibration is an indispensable step for augmented reality or image guided applications where quantitative information should be derived from the images. Usually, a camera calibration is obtained by taking images of a special calibration object and extracting the image coordinates of projected calibration marks enabling the calculation of the projection from the 3d world coordinates to the 2d image coordinates. Thus such a procedure exhibits typical steps, including feature point localization in the acquired images, camera model fitting, correction of distortion introduced by the optics and finally an optimization of the model-s parameters. In this paper we propose to extend this list by further step concerning the identification of the optimal subset of images yielding the smallest overall calibration error. For this, we present a Monte Carlo based algorithm along with a deterministic extension that automatically determines the images yielding an optimal calibration. Finally, we present results proving that the calibration can be significantly improved by automated image selection.

Keywords: Camera Calibration, Discrete Optimization, Monte Carlo Method.

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Authors: Indre Brazauskaite, Vilte Auruskeviciene

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The paper explores the Stage-Gate framework application for innovation maturity among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Innovation management becomes an essential business survival process for all sizes of organizations that can be evaluated and audited systemically. This research systemically defines and assesses the innovation process from the perspective of the company’s top management. Empirical research explores attitudes and existing practices of innovation management in SMEs in Baltic countries. It structurally investigates the current innovation management practices, level of standardization, and potential challenges in the area. Findings allow to structure of existing practices based on an institutionalized model and contribute to a more advanced understanding of the innovation process among SMEs. Practically, findings contribute to advanced decision-making and business planning in the process.

Keywords: innovation measure, innovation process, small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, stage-gate framework.

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Authors: Zia Abbas, Giuseppe Scotti, Mauro Olivieri

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Current mode circuits like current conveyors are getting significant attention in current analog ICs design due to their higher band-width, greater linearity, larger dynamic range, simpler circuitry, lower power consumption and less chip area. The second generation current controlled conveyor (CCCII) has the advantage of electronic adjustability over the CCII i.e. in CCCII; adjustment of the X-terminal intrinsic resistance via a bias current is possible. The presented approach is based on the CMOS implementation of second generation positive (CCCII+), negative (CCCII-) and dual Output Current Controlled Conveyor (DOCCCII) and its application as Universal filter. All the circuits have been designed and simulated using 65nm CMOS technology model parameters on Cadence Virtuoso / Spectre using 1V supply voltage. Various simulations have been carried out to verify the linearity between output and input ports, range of operation frequency, etc. The outcomes show good agreement between expected and experimental results.

Keywords: CCCII+, CCCII-, DOCCCII, Electronic tunability, Universal filter

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Authors: Radim Farana, Bogdan Walek, Michal Janosek, Jaroslav Zacek

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This paper presents the advantages of fuzzy control use in technological processes control. The paper presents a real application of the Linguistic Fuzzy-Logic Control, developed at the University of Ostrava for the control of physical models in the Intelligent Systems Laboratory. The paper presents an example of a sensitive non-linear model, such as a magnetic levitation model and obtained results which show how modern information technologies can help to solve actual technical problems. A special method based on the LFLC controller with partial components is presented in this paper followed by the method of automatic context change, which is very helpful to achieve more accurate control results. The main advantage of the used system is its robustness in changing conditions demonstrated by comparing with conventional PID controller. This technology and real models are also used as a background for problem-oriented teaching, realized at the department for master students and their collaborative as well as individual final projects.

Keywords: Control, fuzzy logic, sensitive system, technological proves.

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Authors: Amir Gandomkar

Abstract:

Kish Islands in South of Iran is located in coastal water near Hormozgan Province. Based on the wind 3-hour statistics in Kish station, the mean annual windspeed in this Island is 8.6 knot (4.3 m/s). The maximum windspeed recorded in this stations 47 knot (23.5 m/s). In 45.7 percent of recorded times, windspeed has been Zero or less than 8 knot which is not suitable to use the wind energy. But in 54.3 percent of recorded times, windspeed has been more than 8 knot and suitable to use wind energy to run turbines. In 40.2 percent of recorded times, windspeed has been between 8 to 16 knot, in 13 percent of times between 16 to 24 knot and in 1 percent of times it has been higher than 24 knot. In this station, the direction of winds higher than 8 is west and wind direction in Kish station is stable in most times of the year.With regard to high – speed and stable direction winds during the year and also shallow coasts near this is land, it is possible to build offshore wind farms near Kish Island and utilize wind energy produce the electricity required in this Island during most of the year.

Keywords: Kish Island, Wind energy, Offshore wind farm, Windspeed, Wind direction

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Authors: M. Celeska, K. Najdenkoski, V. Dimchev, V. Stoilkov

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Accurate determination of wind turbine performance is necessary for economic operation of a wind farm. At present, the procedure to carry out the power performance verification of wind turbines is based on a standard of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). In this paper, nonparametric statistical inference is applied to designing a simple, inexpensive method of verifying the power performance of a wind turbine. A statistical test is explained, examined, and the adequacy is tested over real data. The methods use the information that is collected by the SCADA system (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) from the sensors embedded in the wind turbines in order to carry out the power performance verification of a wind farm. The study has used data on the monthly output of wind farm in the Republic of Macedonia, and the time measuring interval was from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2016. At the end, it is concluded whether the power performance of a wind turbine differed significantly from what would be expected. The results of the implementation of the proposed methods showed that the power performance of the specific wind farm under assessment was acceptable.

Keywords: Canonical correlation analysis, power curve, power performance, wind energy.

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Authors: A. Iqbal, N. Khalid, S. Rafiq

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The interrelationship between international stock markets has been a key study area among the financial market researchers for international portfolio management and risk measurement. The characteristics of security returns and their dynamics play a vital role in the financial market theory. This study is an attempt to find out the dynamic linkages among the equity market of USA and emerging markets of Pakistan and India using daily data covering the period of January 2003–December 2009. The study utilizes Johansen (Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 12, 1988) and Johansen and Juselius (Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 52, 1990) cointegration procedure for long run relationship and Granger-causality tests based on Toda and Yamamoto (Journal of Econometrics, 66, 1995) methodology. No cointegration was found among stock markets of USA, Pakistan and India, while Granger-causality test showed the evidence of unidirectional causality running from New York stock exchange to Bombay and Karachi stock exchanges.

Keywords: Causality, Cointegration, India, Pakistan, Stock Markets, US.

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Authors: Mitja Dečman

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The ever-increasing presence and use of information and communication technology (ICT) influences the different social relationships of today's society. Gender differences are especially important from the viewpoint of modern society since ICT can either deepen the existing inequalities or diminish them. In a developed Western world, gender equality has been a well-focused area for decades in many parts of society including education, employment or politics and has led to a decrease in the inequality of women and men in these and other areas. The area of digital equality, or inequality for that matter, is one of the areas where gender differences still exist in many countries of the world. The research presented in this paper focuses on Slovenia, one of the smallest EU member states, being an average achiever in the area of e-society according to the many different European benchmarking indexes. On the other hand, Slovenia is working in an alignment with many European gender equality guidelines and showing good results. The results of our research are based on the analysis of survey data from 2014 to 2017 dealing with Slovenian citizens and their households and the use of ICT. Considering gender issues, the synthesis showed that cultural differences influence some measured ICT indicators but on the other hand the differences are low and only sometimes statistically significant.

Keywords: Digital divide, e-society, gender inequality, Slovenia.

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Authors: Mário A. R. Talaia

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As it is known, buoyancy and drag forces rule bubble's rise velocity in a liquid column. These forces are strongly dependent on fluid properties, gravity as well as equivalent's diameter. This study reports a set of bubble rising velocity experiments in a liquid column using water or glycerol. Several records of terminal velocity were obtained. The results show that bubble's rise terminal velocity is strongly dependent on dynamic viscosity effect. The data set allowed to have some terminal velocities data interval of 8.0 ? 32.9 cm/s with Reynolds number interval 1.3 -7490. The bubble's movement was recorded with a video camera. The main goal is to present an original set data and results that will be discussed based on two-phase flow's theory. It will also discussed, the prediction of terminal velocity of a single bubble in liquid, as well as the range of its applicability. In conclusion, this study presents general expressions for the determination of the terminal velocity of isolated gas bubbles of a Reynolds number range, when the fluid proprieties are known.

Keywords: Bubbles, terminal velocity, two phase-flow, vertical column.

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Authors: Amandeep Singh, Mandeep Kaur

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Error correcting codes are used for detection and correction of errors in digital communication system. Error correcting coding is based on appending of redundancy to the information message according to a prescribed algorithm. Reed Solomon codes are part of channel coding and withstand the effect of noise, interference and fading. Galois field arithmetic is used for encoding and decoding reed Solomon codes. Galois field multipliers and linear feedback shift registers are used for encoding the information data block. The design of Reed Solomon encoder is complex because of use of LFSR and Galois field arithmetic. The purpose of this paper is to design and implement Reed Solomon (255, 239) encoder with optimized and lesser number of Galois Field multipliers. Symmetric generator polynomial is used to reduce the number of GF multipliers. To increase the capability toward error correction, convolution interleaving will be used with RS encoder. The Design will be implemented on Xilinx FPGA Spartan II.

Keywords: Galois Field, Generator polynomial, LFSR, Reed Solomon.

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Authors: Orhan Feyzioğlu, Gülçin Büyüközkan

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As a vital activity for companies, new product development (NPD) is also a very risky process due to the high uncertainty degree encountered at every development stage and the inevitable dependence on how previous steps are successfully accomplished. Hence, there is an apparent need to evaluate new product initiatives systematically and make accurate decisions under uncertainty. Another major concern is the time pressure to launch a significant number of new products to preserve and increase the competitive power of the company. In this work, we propose an integrated decision-making framework based on neural networks and fuzzy logic to make appropriate decisions and accelerate the evaluation process. We are especially interested in the two initial stages where new product ideas are selected (go/no go decision) and the implementation order of the corresponding projects are determined. We show that this two-staged intelligent approach allows practitioners to roughly and quickly separate good and bad product ideas by making use of previous experiences, and then, analyze a more shortened list rigorously.

Keywords: Decision Making, Neural Networks, Fuzzy Theory and Systems, Choquet Integral, New Product Development.

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Authors: Rachel Bardy Prado, Vinícius de Melo Benites, José Carlos Polidoro, Carlos Eduardo Gonçalves, Alexey Naumov

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Most agricultural crops cultivated in Brazil are highly nutrient demanding. Brazilian soils are generally acidic with low base saturation and available nutrients. Demand for fertilizer application has increased because the national agricultural sector expansion. To improve productivity without environmental impact, there is the need for the utilization of novel procedures and techniques to optimize fertilizer application. This includes the digital soil mapping and GIS application applied to mapping in different scales. This paper is based on research, realized during 2005 to 2010 by Brazilian Corporation for Agricultural Research (EMBRAPA) and its partners. The purpose was to map soil fertility in national and regional scales. A soil profile data set in national scale (1:5,000,000) was constructed from the soil archives of Embrapa Soils, Rio de Janeiro and in the regional scale (1:250,000) from COMIGO Cooperative soil data set, Rio Verde, Brazil. The mapping was doing using ArcGIS 9.1 tools from ESRI.

Keywords: agricultural sustainability, fertilizer optimization, GIS, soil attributes.

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Authors: Frantisek Bozek, Pavel Budinsky, Ignac Hoza, Alexandr Bozek, Magdalena Naplavova

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A cleaner production project was implemented in a bakery. The project is based on the substitution of the best available technique for an obsolete leaven production technology. The new technology enables production of durable, high-quality leavens. Moreover, 25% of flour as the original raw material can be replaced by pastry from the previous day production which has not been sold. That pastry was previously disposed in a waste incineration plant. Besides the environmental benefits resulting from less waste, lower consumption of energy, reduction of sewage waters quantity and floury dustiness there are also significant economic benefits. Payback period of investment was calculated with help of static method of financial analysis about 2.6 years, using dynamic method 3.5 years and an internal rate of return more than 29%. The supposed annual average profit after taxationin the second year of operation was incompliance with the real profit.

Keywords: Bakery, best available technology, cleaner production, costs, economic benefit, efficiency, energy, environmental benefit, investment, savings.

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Authors: Glenda A. Gunter

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Current research has explored the impact of instructional immediacy, defined as those behaviors that help build close relationships or feelings of closeness, both on cognition and motivation in the traditional classroom and online classroom; however, online courses continue to suffer from higher dropout rates. Based on Albert Bandura-s Social Cognitive Theory, four primary relationships or interactions in an online course will be explored in light of how they can provide immediacy thereby reducing student attrition and improving cognitive learning. The four relationships are teacher-student, student-student, and student-content, and studentcomputer. Results of a study conducted with inservice teachers completing a 14-week online professional development technology course will be examined to demonstrate immediacy strategies that improve cognitive learning and reduce student attrition. Results of the study reveal that students can be motivated through various interactions and instructional immediacy behaviors which lead to higher completion rates, improved self-efficacy, and cognitive learning.

Keywords: Distance Learning, Self-Efficacy, Instructional immediacy, Student achievement.

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Authors: Rawad Asfour, Salam Khamas, Edward A. Ball

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This paper is focused on the design of an mm-wave phased array. To date, linear polarization is adapted in the reported designs of phased arrays. However, linear polarization faces several well-known challenges. As such, an advanced design for phased array antennas is required that offers circularly polarized (CP) radiation. A feasible solution for achieving CP phased array antennas is proposed using open-circular loop antennas. To this end, a 3-element circular loop phased array antenna is designed to operate at 28 GHz. In addition, the array ability to control the direction of the main lobe is investigated. The results show that the highest achievable field of view (FOV) is 100°, i.e. 50° to the left and 50° to the right-hand side directions. The results are achieved with a CP bandwidth of 15%. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that a high broadside gain of circa 11 dBi can be achieved for the steered beam. Besides, radiation efficiency of 97% can also be achieved based on the proposed design.

Keywords: loop antenna, phased array, beam steering, wide bandwidth, circular polarization, CST

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Authors: XianYu Zhao, JinXu Guo

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Recently, low-dose computed tomography (CT) has become highly desirable due to increasing attention to the potential risks of excessive radiation. For low-dose CT imaging, ensuring image quality while reducing radiation dose is a major challenge. To facilitate low-dose CT imaging, we propose an improved statistical iterative reconstruction scheme based on the Penalized Weighted Least Squares (PWLS) standard combined with total variation (TV) minimization and sparse dictionary learning (DL) to improve reconstruction performance. We call this method "PWLS-TV-DL". In order to evaluate the PWLS-TV-DL method, we performed experiments on digital phantoms and physical phantoms, respectively. The experimental results show that our method is in image quality and calculation. The efficiency is superior to other methods, which confirms the potential of its low-dose CT imaging.

Keywords: Low dose computed tomography, penalized weighted least squares, total variation, dictionary learning.

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