Search results for: main controlling factors

Authors: Chia-Ta Tsai, Wen-Lin Huang, Shinn-Jang Ho, Li-Sun Shu, Shinn-Ying Ho

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Prediction of bacterial virulent protein sequences can give assistance to identification and characterization of novel virulence-associated factors and discover drug/vaccine targets against proteins indispensable to pathogenicity. Gene Ontology (GO) annotation which describes functions of genes and gene products as a controlled vocabulary of terms has been shown effectively for a variety of tasks such as gene expression study, GO annotation prediction, protein subcellular localization, etc. In this study, we propose a sequence-based method Virulent-GO by mining informative GO terms as features for predicting bacterial virulent proteins. Each protein in the datasets used by the existing method VirulentPred is annotated by using BLAST to obtain its homologies with known accession numbers for retrieving GO terms. After investigating various popular classifiers using the same five-fold cross-validation scheme, Virulent-GO using the single kind of GO term features with an accuracy of 82.5% is slightly better than VirulentPred with 81.8% using five kinds of sequence-based features. For the evaluation of independent test, Virulent-GO also yields better results (82.0%) than VirulentPred (80.7%). When evaluating single kind of feature with SVM, the GO term feature performs much well, compared with each of the five kinds of features.

Keywords: Bacterial virulence factors, GO terms, prediction, protein sequence.

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Authors: Erika Ann Schaub, Christian J Darken

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Sociological models (e.g., social network analysis, small-group dynamic and gang models) have historically been used to predict the behavior of terrorist groups. However, they may not be the most appropriate method for understanding the behavior of terrorist organizations because the models were not initially intended to incorporate violent behavior of its subjects. Rather, models that incorporate life and death competition between subjects, i.e., models utilized by scientists to examine the behavior of wildlife populations, may provide a more accurate analysis. This paper suggests the use of biological models to attain a more robust method for understanding the behavior of terrorist organizations as compared to traditional methods. This study also describes how a biological population model incorporating predator-prey behavior factors can predict terrorist organizational recruitment behavior for the purpose of understanding the factors that govern the growth and decline of terrorist organizations. The Lotka-Volterra, a biological model that is based on a predator-prey relationship, is applied to a highly suggestive case study, that of the Irish Republican Army. This case study illuminates how a biological model can be utilized to understand the actions of a terrorist organization.

Keywords: Biological Models, Lotka-Volterra Predator-Prey Model, Terrorist Organizational Behavior, Terrorist Recruitment.

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Authors: Abolfazl Rashidi Asl, Siroos Mahfoozi, Mohammad Reza Bihamta

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Low temperature (LT) is one of the most abiotic stresses causing loss of yield in wheat (T. aestivum). Four major genes in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) with the dominant alleles designated Vrn–A1,Vrn–B1,Vrn–D1 and Vrn4, are known to have large effects on the vernalization response, but the effects on cold hardiness are ambiguous. Poor cold tolerance has restricted winter wheat production in regions of high winter stress [9]. It was known that nearly all wheat chromosomes [5] or at least 10 chromosomes of 21 chromosome pairs are important in winter hardiness [15]. The objective of present study was to clarify the role of each chromosome in cold tolerance. With this purpose we used 20 isogenic lines of wheat. In each one of these isogenic lines only a chromosome from ‘Bezostaya’ variety (a winter habit cultivar) was substituted to ‘Capple desprez’ variety. The plant materials were planted in controlled conditions with 20º C and 16 h day length in moderately cold areas of Iran at Karaj Agricultural Research Station in 2006-07 and the acclimation period was completed for about 4 weeks in a cold room with 4º C. The cold hardiness of these isogenic lines was measured by LT50 (the temperature in which 50% of the plants are killed by freezing stress).The experimental design was completely randomized block design (RCBD)with three replicates. The results showed that chromosome 5A had a major effect on freezing tolerance, and then chromosomes 1A and 4A had less effect on this trait. Further studies are essential to understanding the importance of each chromosome in controlling cold hardiness in wheat.

Keywords: Cold hardiness, isogenic lines, LT50 , Triticum.

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Authors: Ph. Fauquet-Alekhine

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Decision-making occurs several times an hour when working in high risk industry and an erroneous choice might have undesirable outcomes for people and the environment surrounding the industrial plant. Industrial decisions are very often made in a context of acute stress. Time pressure is a crucial stressor leading decision makers sometimes to boost up the decision-making process and if it is not possible then shift to the simplest strategy. We thus found it interesting to update the characterization of the stress factors impairing decision-making at Chinon Nuclear Power Plant (France) in order to optimize decision making contexts and/or associated processes. The investigation was based on the analysis of reports addressing safety events over the last 3 years. Among 93 reports, those explicitly addressing decision-making issues were identified. Characterization of each event was undertaken in terms of three criteria: stressors, biases impairing decision making and weaknesses of the decision-making process. The statistical analysis showed that biases were distributed over 10 possibilities among which the hypothesis confirmation bias was clearly salient. No significant correlation was found between criteria. The analysis indicated that the main stressor was time pressure and highlights an unexpected form of stressor: the trust asymmetry principle of the expert. The analysis led to the conclusion that this stressor impaired decision-making from a psychological angle rather than from a physiological angle: it induces defensive bias of self-esteem, self-protection associated with a bias of confirmation. This leads to the hypothesis that this stressor can intervene in some cases without being detected, and to the hypothesis that other stressors of the same kind might occur without being detected too. Further investigations addressing these hypotheses are considered. The analysis also led to the conclusion that dealing with these issues implied i) decision-making methods being well known to the workers and automated and ii) the decision-making tools being well known and strictly applied. Training was thus adjusted.

Keywords: Bias, expert, high risk industry, stress.

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Authors: Alexandru Epureanu, Virgil Teodor

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One of the main research directions in CAD/CAM machining area is the reducing of machining time. The feedrate scheduling is one of the advanced techniques that allows keeping constant the uncut chip area and as sequel to keep constant the main cutting force. They are two main ways for feedrate optimization. The first consists in the cutting force monitoring, which presumes to use complex equipment for the force measurement and after this, to set the feedrate regarding the cutting force variation. The second way is to optimize the feedrate by keeping constant the material removal rate regarding the cutting conditions. In this paper there is proposed a new approach using an extended database that replaces the system model. The feedrate scheduling is determined based on the identification of the reconfigurable machine tool, and the feed value determination regarding the uncut chip section area, the contact length between tool and blank and also regarding the geometrical roughness. The first stage consists in the blank and tool monitoring for the determination of actual profiles. The next stage is the determination of programmed tool path that allows obtaining the piece target profile. The graphic representation environment models the tool and blank regions and, after this, the tool model is positioned regarding the blank model according to the programmed tool path. For each of these positions the geometrical roughness value, the uncut chip area and the contact length between tool and blank are calculated. Each of these parameters are compared with the admissible values and according to the result the feed value is established. We can consider that this approach has the following advantages: in case of complex cutting processes the prediction of cutting force is possible; there is considered the real cutting profile which has deviations from the theoretical profile; the blank-tool contact length limitation is possible; it is possible to correct the programmed tool path so that the target profile can be obtained. Applying this method, there are obtained data sets which allow the feedrate scheduling so that the uncut chip area is constant and, as a result, the cutting force is constant, which allows to use more efficiently the machine tool and to obtain the reduction of machining time.

Keywords: Reconfigurable machine tool, system identification, uncut chip area, cutting conditions scheduling.

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Authors: S. Sieniutycz

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This paper unifies power optimization approaches in various energy converters, such as: thermal, solar, chemical, and electrochemical engines, in particular fuel cells. Thermodynamics leads to converter-s efficiency and limiting power. Efficiency equations serve to solve problems of upgrading and downgrading of resources. While optimization of steady systems applies the differential calculus and Lagrange multipliers, dynamic optimization involves variational calculus and dynamic programming. In reacting systems chemical affinity constitutes a prevailing component of an overall efficiency, thus the power is analyzed in terms of an active part of chemical affinity. The main novelty of the present paper in the energy yield context consists in showing that the generalized heat flux Q (involving the traditional heat flux q plus the product of temperature and the sum products of partial entropies and fluxes of species) plays in complex cases (solar, chemical and electrochemical) the same role as the traditional heat q in pure heat engines. The presented methodology is also applied to power limits in fuel cells as to systems which are electrochemical flow engines propelled by chemical reactions. The performance of fuel cells is determined by magnitudes and directions of participating streams and mechanism of electric current generation. Voltage lowering below the reversible voltage is a proper measure of cells imperfection. The voltage losses, called polarization, include the contributions of three main sources: activation, ohmic and concentration. Examples show power maxima in fuel cells and prove the relevance of the extension of the thermal machine theory to chemical and electrochemical systems. The main novelty of the present paper in the FC context consists in introducing an effective or reduced Gibbs free energy change between products p and reactants s which take into account the decrease of voltage and power caused by the incomplete conversion of the overall reaction.

Keywords: Power yield, entropy production, chemical engines, fuel cells, exergy.

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Authors: Mohamed Omar

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Superelastic Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) is accepted when it used as connection in steel structures. The seismic behaviour of steel frames with SMA is being assessed in this study. Three eightstorey steel frames with different SMA systems are suggested, the first one of which is braced with diagonal bracing system, the second one is braced with nee bracing system while the last one is which the SMA is used as connection at the plastic hinge regions of beams. Nonlinear time history analyses of steel frames with SMA subjected to two different ground motion records have been performed using Seismostruct software. To evaluate the efficiency of suggested systems, the dynamic responses of the frames were compared. From the comparison results, it can be concluded that using SMA element is an effective way to improve the dynamic response of structures subjected to earthquake excitations. Implementing the SMA braces can lead to a reduction in residual roof displacement. The shape memory alloy is effective in reducing the maximum displacement at the frame top and it provides a large elastic deformation range. SMA connections are very effective in dissipating energy and reducing the total input energy of the whole frame under severe seismic ground motion. Using of the SMA connection system is more effective in controlling the reaction forces at the base frame than other bracing systems. Using SMA as bracing is more effective in reducing the displacements. The efficiency of SMA is dependant on the input wave motions and the construction system as well.

Keywords: Finite element analysis, seismic response, shapesmemory alloy, steel frame, superelasticity

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Authors: Phutthiwat Waiyawuththanapoom

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This study has only one objective which is to identify the different in factors of choosing the distributor for food and non-food OTOP entrepreneur in Thailand. In this research, the types of OTOP product will be divided into two groups which are food and non-food. The sample for the food type OTOP product was the processed fruit and vegetable from Nakorn Pathom province and the sample for the non-food type OTOP product was the court doll from Ang Thong province. The research was divided into 3 parts which were a study of the distribution pattern and how to choose the distributor of the food type OTOP product, a study of the distribution pattern and how to choose the distributor of the non-food type OTOP product and a comparison between 2 types of products to find the differentiation in the factor of choosing distributor. The data and information was collected by using the interview. The populations in the research were 5 producers of the processed fruit and vegetable from Nakorn Pathom province and 5 producers of the court doll from Ang Thong province. The significant factor in choosing the distributor of the food type OTOP product is the material handling efficiency and on-time delivery but for the non-food type OTOP product is focused on the channel of distribution and cost of the distributor.

Keywords: Distributor, OTOP, Food and Non-Food, Selection.

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Authors: Tsietsi J. Pilusa, Tumisang G. Seodigeng

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This study evaluates the benefits of advanced waste management practices in unlocking waste-to-energy opportunities within the solid waste industry. The key drivers of sustainable waste management practices, specifically with respect to packaging waste-to-energy technology options are discussed. The success of a waste-to-energy system depends significantly on the appropriateness of available technologies, including those that are well established as well as those that are less so. There are hard and soft interventions to be considered when packaging an integrated waste treatment solution. Technology compatibility with variation in feedstock (waste) quality and quantities remains a key factor. These factors influence the technology reliability in terms of production efficiencies and product consistency, which in turn, drives the supply and demand network. Waste treatment technologies rely on the waste material as feedstock; the feedstock varies in quality and quantities depending on several factors; hence, the technology fails, as a result. It is critical to design an advanced waste treatment technology in an integrated approach to minimize the possibility of technology failure due to unpredictable feedstock quality, quantities, conversion efficiencies, and inconsistent product yield or quality. An integrated waste-to-energy approach offers a secure system design that considers sustainable waste management practices.

Keywords: Emerging markets, evaluation tool, interventions, waste treatment technologies.

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Authors: Krishnaiah Arkanti, Ramulu Malothu

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The experiments have been conducted to study the mechanical properties of commercially pure copper processing at room temperature by severe plastic deformation using equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) through a die of 90^oangle up to 3 passes by route B_C i.e. rotating the sample in the same direction by 90^o after each pass. ECAE is used to produce from existing coarse grains to ultra-fine, equiaxed grains structure with high angle grain boundaries in submicron level by introducing a large amount of shear strain in the presence of hydrostatic pressure into the material without changing billet shape or dimension. Mechanical testing plays an important role in evaluating fundamental properties of engineering materials as well as in developing new materials and in controlling the quality of materials for use in design and construction. Yield stress, ultimate tensile stress and ductility are structure sensitive properties and vary with the structure of the material. Microhardness and tensile tests were carried out to evaluate the hardness, strength and ductility of the ECAE processed materials. The results reveal that the strength and hardness of commercially pure copper samples improved significantly without losing much ductility after each pass.

Keywords: Equal Channel Angular Extrusion, Severe Plastic Deformation, Copper, Mechanical Properties.

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Authors: Kitda Praraththajariya

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The main purpose of this research was to study how to communicate the identity of the Mueang district, SamutSongkram province for ecotourism. The qualitative data was collected through studying related materials, exploring the area, in-depth interviews with three groups of people: three directly responsible officers who were key informants of the district, twenty foreign tourists and five Thai tourist guides. A content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. The two main findings of the study were as follows: 1. The identity of Amphur (District) Mueang, SamutSongkram province. This establishment was near the Mouth of Maekong River for normal people and tourists, consisting of rest accommodations. There are restaurants where food and drinks are served, rich mangrove forests, Hoy Lod (Razor Clam) and mangrove trees. Don Hoy Lod, is characterized by muddy beaches, is a coastal wetland for Ramsar Site. It is at 1099th ranging where the greatest number of Hoy Lod (Razor Clam) can be seen from March to May each year. 2. The communication of the identity of AmphurMueang, SamutSongkram province which the researcher could find and design to present in English materials can be summed up in 4 items: 1) The history of AmphurMueang, SamutSongkram province 2) WatPhetSamutWorrawihan 3) The Learning source of Ecotourism: Don Hoy Lod and Mangrove forest 4) How to keep AmphurMueang, SamutSongkram province for ecotourism.

Keywords: Foreigner tourists, signified, semiotics, ecotourism.

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Authors: Mohammed A. Al-Manie, Mohammed I. Alkanhal

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In this paper, acoustic techniques are used to detect hidden insect infestations of date palm tress (Phoenix dactylifera L.). In particular, we use an acoustic instrument for early discovery of the presence of a destructive insect pest commonly known as the Red Date Palm Weevil (RDPW) and scientifically as Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier). This type of insect attacks date palm tress and causes irreversible damages at late stages. As a result, the infected trees must be destroyed. Therefore, early presence detection is a major part in controlling the spread and economic damage caused by this type of infestation. Furthermore monitoring and early detection of the disease can asses in taking appropriate measures such as isolating or treating the infected trees. The acoustic system is evaluated in terms of its ability for early discovery of hidden bests inside the tested tree. When signal acquisitions is completed for a number of date palms, a signal processing technique known as time-frequency analysis is evaluated in terms of providing an estimate that can be visually used to recognize the acoustic signature of the RDPW. The testing instrument was tested in the laboratory first then; it was used on suspected or infested tress in the field. The final results indicate that the acoustic monitoring approach along with signal processing techniques are very promising for the early detection of presence of the larva as well as the adult pest in the date palms.

Keywords: Acoustic emissions, acoustic sensors, nondestructivetests, Red Date Palm Weevil, signal processing..

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Authors: Dmitry Yu. Korulkin, Raissa A. Muzychkina

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In review the generalized data about different methods of synthesis of biological activity acylatedhydrohyanthraquinones is presented. The basic regularity of a synthesis is analyzed. Action of temperature, pH, solubility, catalysts and other factors on a reaction product yield is revealed.

Keywords: Aminoacidic acylation, hydroxyanthraquinones, nucleophilic exchange, physiologically active substances.

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Authors: Dmitriy Yu. Korulkin, Raissa A. Muzychkina

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In review the generalized data about different methods of synthesis of biological activity halogenated di-, tri- and tetrahydroxyanthraquinones is presented. The basic regularity of a synthesis is analyzed. Action of temperature, pH, solubility, catalysts and other factors on a reaction product yield is revealed.

Keywords: Electrophilic substitution, halogenation, hydroxyanthraquinones, physiologically active substances.

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Authors: Mohammad Rohani, Gholamali Shafabakhsh, Abdolhosein Haddad, Ehsan Asnaashari

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Visual simulation has emerged as a key planning tool in built environment because it enables architects, engineers and project managers to visualize construction process evolution before the project actual commences. This provides an efficient technology for reducing time and cost through planning and controlling resources, machines and materials. With the development of infrastructure projects and the massive civil constructions such as bridges, urban tunnels and highways as well as sensitivity of their construction operations, it is very necessary to apply proper planning methods. Implementation of visual techniques into management of construction projects can provide a fundamental foundation for projects with massive activities and duplicate items. So, the purpose of this paper is to develop visual simulation management techniques for infrastructure projects such as highways bridges by the use of Four-Dimensional Computer-Aided design Models. This project simulates operational assembly-line for Box-Girder Concrete Bridges which it would be able to optimize the sequence and interaction of project activities and on the other hand, it would minimize any unintended conflicts prior to project start. In this paper, after introducing the various planning methods by building information model and concrete bridges in highways, an executive case study is demonstrated and then a visual technique (4D CAD) will be applied for the case. In the final step, the user feedback for interacting by this system evaluated according to six criteria.

Keywords: 4D application area, Box-Girder concrete bridges, CAD model, visual planning.

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Authors: Jihad S. Daba, J. P. Dubois

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Fading noise degrades the performance of cellular communication, most notably in femto- and pico-cells in 3G and 4G systems. When the wireless channel consists of a small number of scattering paths, the statistics of fading noise is not analytically tractable and poses a serious challenge to developing closed canonical forms that can be analysed and used in the design of efficient and optimal receivers. In this context, noise is multiplicative and is referred to as stochastically local fading. In many analytical investigation of multiplicative noise, the exponential or Gamma statistics are invoked. More recent advances by the author of this paper utilized a Poisson modulated-weighted generalized Laguerre polynomials with controlling parameters and uncorrelated noise assumptions. In this paper, we investigate the statistics of multidiversity stochastically local area fading channel when the channel consists of randomly distributed Rayleigh and Rician scattering centers with a coherent Nakagami-distributed line of sight component and an underlying doubly stochastic Poisson process driven by a lognormal intensity. These combined statistics form a unifying triply stochastic filtered marked Poisson point process model.

Keywords: Cellular communication, femto- and pico-cells, stochastically local area fading channel, triply stochastic filtered marked Poisson point process.

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Authors: Won-Pil Park, Seung-Kwan Cho, Jai-Young Ko, Anders Kristensson, S.T.S. Al-Hassani, Han-Sung Kim, Dohyung Lim

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A number of previous studies were rarely considered the effects of transient non-uniform balloon expansion on evaluation of the properties and behaviors of stents during stent expansion, nor did they determine parameters to maximize the performances driven by mechanical characteristics. Therefore, in order to fully understand the mechanical characteristics and behaviors of stent, it is necessary to consider a realistic modeling of transient non-uniform balloon-stent expansion. The aim of the study is to propose design parameters capable of improving the ability of vascular stent through a comparative study of seven commercial stents using finite element analyses of a realistic transient non-uniform balloon-stent expansion process. In this study, seven representative commercialized stents were evaluated by finite element (FE) analysis in terms of the criteria based on the itemized list of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Standards (prEN). The results indicate that using stents composed of opened unit cells connected by bend-shaped link structures and controlling the geometrical and morphological features of the unit cell strut or the link structure at the distal ends of stent may improve mechanical characteristics of stent. This study provides a better method at the realistic transient non-uniform balloon-stent expansion by investigating the characteristics, behaviors, and parameters capable of improving the ability of vascular stent.

Keywords: Finite Element Analysis, Mechanical Characteristic, Transient Non-uniform Balloon-Stent Expansion, Vascular Stent.

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Authors: Berceste Gülçin Özdemir

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The representation of women characters in cinema has been discussed for centuries. In cinema where dominant narrative codes prevail and scopophilic views exist over women characters, passive stereotypes of women are observed in the representation of women characters. In films shot from a woman’s point of view in Turkish Cinema and even in the films outside the main stream in which the stories of women characters are told, the fact that women characters are discussed on the basis of feminist film theories triggers the question: ‘Are feminist films produced in Turkish Cinema?’ The spaces that are used in the representation of women characters are observed to be used as spaces that convert characters into passive subjects on the basis of the space factor in the narrative. The representation of women characters in the possible surveillance spaces integrates the characters and compresses them in these spaces. In this study, narrative analysis was used to investigate women characters representation in the surveillance spaces. For the study framework, firstly a case study films are selected, and in the second level, women characters representations in surveillance spaces are argued by narrative analysis using feminist film theories. Two questions are argued with feminist film theories: ‘Why do especially women directors represent their female characters to viewers by representing them in surveillance spaces?’ and ‘Can this type of presentation contribute to the feminist film practice and become important with regard to feminist film theories?’ The representation of women characters in a passive and observed way in surveillance spaces of the narrative reveals the questioning of also the discourses of films outside of the main stream. As films that produce alternative discourses and reveal different cinematic languages, those outside the main stream are expected to bring other points of view also to the representation of women characters in spaces. These questionings are selected as the baseline and Turkish films such as Watch Tower and Mustang, directed by women, were examined. This examination paves the way for discussions regarding the women characters in surveillance spaces. Outcomes can be argued from the viewpoint of representation in the genre by feminist film theories. In the context of feminist film theories and feminist film practice, alternatives should be found that can corporally reveal the existence of women in both the representation of women characters in spaces and in the usage of the space factor.

Keywords: Feminist film theory, representation, space, women filmmaker, women characters.

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Authors: Minsoo Lee, Yun-mi Kim, Yearn Jeong Kim, Yoon-kyung Lee, Hyejung Yoon

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Biological data has several characteristics that strongly differentiate it from typical business data. It is much more complex, usually large in size, and continuously changes. Until recently business data has been the main target for discovering trends, patterns or future expectations. However, with the recent rise in biotechnology, the powerful technology that was used for analyzing business data is now being applied to biological data. With the advanced technology at hand, the main trend in biological research is rapidly changing from structural DNA analysis to understanding cellular functions of the DNA sequences. DNA chips are now being used to perform experiments and DNA analysis processes are being used by researchers. Clustering is one of the important processes used for grouping together similar entities. There are many clustering algorithms such as hierarchical clustering, self-organizing maps, K-means clustering and so on. In this paper, we propose a clustering algorithm that imitates the ecosystem taking into account the features of biological data. We implemented the system using an Ant-Colony clustering algorithm. The system decides the number of clusters automatically. The system processes the input biological data, runs the Ant-Colony algorithm, draws the Topic Map, assigns clusters to the genes and displays the output. We tested the algorithm with a test data of 100 to1000 genes and 24 samples and show promising results for applying this algorithm to clustering DNA chip data.

Keywords: Ant colony system, biological data, clustering, DNA chip.

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Authors: Bi-Huei Tsai

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Previous studies on financial distress prediction choose the conventional failing and non-failing dichotomy; however, the distressed extent differs substantially among different financial distress events. To solve the problem, “non-distressed”, “slightlydistressed” and “reorganization and bankruptcy” are used in our article to approximate the continuum of corporate financial health. This paper explains different financial distress events using the two-stage method. First, this investigation adopts firm-specific financial ratios, corporate governance and market factors to measure the probability of various financial distress events based on multinomial logit models. Specifically, the bootstrapping simulation is performed to examine the difference of estimated misclassifying cost (EMC). Second, this work further applies macroeconomic factors to establish the credit cycle index and determines the distressed cut-off indicator of the two-stage models using such index. Two different models, one-stage and two-stage prediction models are developed to forecast financial distress, and the results acquired from different models are compared with each other, and with the collected data. The findings show that the one-stage model has the lower misclassification error rate than the two-stage model. The one-stage model is more accurate than the two-stage model.

Keywords: Multinomial logit model, corporate governance, company failure, reorganization, bankruptcy.

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Authors: Mary L. G. S. Senna, Afonso R. Aquino

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The development of tourism causes negative impacts on the environment. It is in this context, through the Ecological Footprint (EF) method that this study aimed to characterize the impacts of ecotourism on the community of Mateiros, Jalapão, Brazil. The EF, which consisted in its original a method to construct a land use matrix, considering some major categories of human consumption such as food, housing, transportation, consumer goods and services, and six other categories from the main land use which are divided into the topics: land use, degraded environment, gardens, fertile land, pasture and forests protected by the government. The main objective of this index is to calculate the land area required for the production and maintenance of goods and services consumed by a community. The field research was conducted throughout the year of 2014 until July 2015. After the calculations of each category, these components were added according to the presented method in order to determine the annual EF of the tourism sector in Mateiros. The results show that the EF resulting from tourism in Mateiros is 2,194.22 hectares of land required for tourism activities in the region. The EF of tourism was considered high, nevertheless, if it is added the total of hectares needed annually for tourism activities, the result found would be 2,194.22 hectares needed to absorb the CO₂ emissions generated in the region directly from the tourism sector.

Keywords: Sustainable tourism, tourism ecological footprint, Jalapão/TO/Brazil.

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Authors: Jack R. McKenzie, Peter A. Appleby, Thomas House, Neil Walton

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Cold-start is a notoriously difficult problem which can occur in recommendation systems, and arises when there is insufficient information to draw inferences for users or items. To address this challenge, a contextual bandit algorithm – the Fast Approximate Bayesian Contextual Cold Start Learning algorithm (FAB-COST) – is proposed, which is designed to provide improved accuracy compared to the traditionally used Laplace approximation in the logistic contextual bandit, while controlling both algorithmic complexity and computational cost. To this end, FAB-COST uses a combination of two moment projection variational methods: Expectation Propagation (EP), which performs well at the cold start, but becomes slow as the amount of data increases; and Assumed Density Filtering (ADF), which has slower growth of computational cost with data size but requires more data to obtain an acceptable level of accuracy. By switching from EP to ADF when the dataset becomes large, it is able to exploit their complementary strengths. The empirical justification for FAB-COST is presented, and systematically compared to other approaches on simulated data. In a benchmark against the Laplace approximation on real data consisting of over 670, 000 impressions from autotrader.co.uk, FAB-COST demonstrates at one point increase of over 16% in user clicks. On the basis of these results, it is argued that FAB-COST is likely to be an attractive approach to cold-start recommendation systems in a variety of contexts.

Keywords: Cold-start, expectation propagation, multi-armed bandits, Thompson sampling, variational inference.

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Authors: Bernard Kumi-Boateng, Issaka Yakubu

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Forest fire, which is, an uncontrolled fire occurring in nature has become a major concern for the Forestry Commission of Ghana (FCG). The forest fires in Ghana usually result in massive destruction and take a long time for the firefighting crews to gain control over the situation. In order to assess the effect of forest fire at local scale, it is important to consider the role fire plays in vegetation composition, biodiversity, soil erosion, and the hydrological cycle. The occurrence, frequency and behaviour of forest fires vary over time and space, primarily as a result of the complicated influences of changes in land use, vegetation composition, fire suppression efforts, and other indigenous factors. One of the forest zones in Ghana with a high level of vegetation stress is the Goaso forest area. The area has experienced changes in its traditional land use such as hunting, charcoal production, inefficient logging practices and rural abandonment patterns. These factors which were identified as major causes of forest fire, have recently modified the incidence of fire in the Goaso area. In spite of the incidence of forest fires in the Goaso forest area, most of the forest services do not provide a cartographic representation of the burned areas. This has resulted in significant amount of information being required by the firefighting unit of the FCG to understand fire risk factors and its spatial effects. This study uses Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System techniques to develop a fire risk hazard model using the Goaso Forest Area (GFA) as a case study. From the results of the study, natural forest, agricultural lands and plantation cover types were identified as the major fuel contributing loads. However, water bodies, roads and settlements were identified as minor fuel contributing loads. Based on the major and minor fuel contributing loads, a forest fire risk hazard model with a reasonable accuracy has been developed for the GFA to assist decision making.

Keywords: Forest risk, GIS, remote sensing, Goaso.

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Authors: Ahmad Sharif Ahmadi, Yoshitaka Kajita

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With massive population expansion and fast economic development in last decade, urban land has increasingly expanded and formed high informal development territory in Kabul city. This paper investigates integrated urbanization trends in Kabul city since the formation of the basic structure of the present city using GIS and remote sensing. This study explores the spatial and temporal difference of urban land expansion and land use categories among different time intervals, 1964-1978 and 1978-2008 from 1964 to 2008 in Kabul city. Furthermore, the goal of this paper is to understand the extent of urban land expansion and the factors driving urban land expansion in Kabul city. Many factors like population expansion, the return of refugees from neighboring countries and significant economic growth of the city affected urban land expansion. Across all the study area urban land expansion rate, population expansion rate and economic growth rate have been compared to analyze the relationship of driving forces with urban land expansion. Based on urban land change data detected by interpreting land use maps, it was found that in the entire study area the urban territory has been expanded by 14 times between 1964 and 2008.

Keywords: GIS, Kabul city, land use, urban land expansion, urbanization.

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Authors: Mehrdad Arabi, Ehsan Beheshtitabar, Bahador Ghadirifaraz, Behrooz Forjanizadeh

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Interaction between human, location and activity defines space. In the framework of these relations, space is a container for current specifications in relations of the 3 mentioned elements. The change of land utility considered with average performance range, urban regulations, society requirements etc. will provide welfare and comfort for citizens. From an engineering view it is fundamental that choosing a proper location for a specific civil activity requires evaluation of locations from different perspectives. The debate of desirable establishment of municipal service elements in urban regions is one of the most important issues related to urban planning. In this paper, the research type is applicable based on goal, and is descriptive and analytical based on nature. Initially existing terminals in Esfahan are surveyed and then new locations are presented based on evaluated criteria. In order to evaluate terminals based on the considered factors, an AHP model is used at first to estimate weight of different factors and then existing and suggested locations are evaluated using Arc GIS software and AHP model results. The results show that existing bus terminals are located in fairly proper locations. Further results of this study suggest new locations to establish terminals based on urban criteria.

Keywords: Arc GIS, Esfahan city, Optimum locations, Terminals.

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Authors: Dmitry Yu. Korulkin, Raissa A. Muzychkina

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In review the generalized data about different methods of synthesis of biological activity aminated hydroxyanthraquinones is presented. The basic regularity of a synthesis is analyzed. Action of temperature, pH, solubility, catalysts and other factors on a reaction product yield is revealed.

Keywords: Amination, hydroxyanthraquinones, nucleophilic exchange, physiologically active substances.

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Authors: Omar M. Elmabrouk., Roaa Y. Taha., Najat M. Ebrahim, Sabbreen A. Mohammed

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Power transformers are the most crucial part of power electrical system, distribution and transmission grid. This part is maintained using predictive or condition-based maintenance approach. The diagnosis of power transformer condition is performed based on Dissolved Gas Analysis (DGA). There are five main methods utilized for analyzing these gases. These methods are International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) gas ratio, Key Gas, Roger gas ratio, Doernenburg, and Duval Triangle. Moreover, due to the importance of the transformers, there is a need for an accurate technique to diagnose and hence predict the transformer condition. The main objective of this technique is to avoid the transformer faults and hence to maintain the power electrical system, distribution and transmission grid. In this paper, the DGA was utilized based on the data collected from the transformer records available in the General Electricity Company of Libya (GECOL) which is located in Benghazi-Libya. The Fuzzy Logic (FL) technique was implemented as a diagnostic approach based on IEC gas ratio method. The FL technique gave better results and approved to be used as an accurate prediction technique for power transformer faults. Also, this technique is approved to be a quite interesting for the readers and the concern researchers in the area of FL mathematics and power transformer.

Keywords: Fuzzy logic, dissolved gas-in-oil analysis, DGA, prediction, power transformer.

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Authors: Juliana Panova

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Severe symptoms, such as dissociation, depersonalization, self-mutilation, suicidal ideations and gestures, are the main reasons for a person to be diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and admitted to an inpatient Psychiatric Hospital. However, these symptoms are also indicators of a severe traumatic history as indicated by the extensive research on the topic. Unfortunately patients with such clinical presentation often are treated repeatedly only for their symptomatic behavior, while the main cause for their suffering, the trauma itself, is usually left unaddressed therapeutically. All of the highly structured, replicable, and manualized treatments lack the recognition of the uniqueness of the person and fail to respect his/her rights to experience and react in an idiosyncratic manner. Thus the communicative and adaptive meaning of such symptomatic behavior is missed. Only its pathological side is recognized and subjected to correction and stigmatization, and the message that the person is damaged goods that needs fixing is conveyed once again. However, this time the message would be even more convincing for the victim, because it is sent by mental health providers, who have the credibility to make such a judgment. The result is a revolving door of very expensive hospitalizations for only a temporary and patchy fix. In this way the patients, once victims of abuse and hardship are left invalidated and thus their re-victimization is perpetuated in their search for understanding and help. Keywordsborderline personality disorder (BPD), complex PTSD, integrative treatment of trauma, re-victimization of trauma victims.

Keywords: borderline personality disorder (BPD), complex PTSD, integrative treatment of trauma, re-victimization of trauma victims.

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Authors: Hsin-Chang Yang, Chung-Hong Lee, Kuo-Lung Ke

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The self-organizing map (SOM) model is a well-known neural network model with wide spread of applications. The main characteristics of SOM are two-fold, namely dimension reduction and topology preservation. Using SOM, a high-dimensional data space will be mapped to some low-dimensional space. Meanwhile, the topological relations among data will be preserved. With such characteristics, the SOM was usually applied on data clustering and visualization tasks. However, the SOM has main disadvantage of the need to know the number and structure of neurons prior to training, which are difficult to be determined. Several schemes have been proposed to tackle such deficiency. Examples are growing/expandable SOM, hierarchical SOM, and growing hierarchical SOM. These schemes could dynamically expand the map, even generate hierarchical maps, during training. Encouraging results were reported. Basically, these schemes adapt the size and structure of the map according to the distribution of training data. That is, they are data-driven or dataoriented SOM schemes. In this work, a topic-oriented SOM scheme which is suitable for document clustering and organization will be developed. The proposed SOM will automatically adapt the number as well as the structure of the map according to identified topics. Unlike other data-oriented SOMs, our approach expands the map and generates the hierarchies both according to the topics and their characteristics of the neurons. The preliminary experiments give promising result and demonstrate the plausibility of the method.

Keywords: Self-organizing map, topic identification, learning algorithm, text clustering.

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Authors: Abdoelmoniem A. Attaelmanan, Ahmed A. H. Siddig

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This study was conducted in light of continual global climate changes that projected increasing aridity, changes in soil fertility, and pollution. Plant growth and development largely depend on the combination of availing water and nutrients in the soil. Changes in the climate and atmospheric chemistry can cause serious effects on these growth factors. Plant carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and hydrogen (H) play a fundamental role in the maintenance of ecosystem structure and function. Hashab (Acacia senegal), which produces gum Arabic, supports dryland ecosystems in tropical zones by its potentiality to restore degraded soils; hence, it is ecologically and economically important for the dry areas of sub-Saharan Africa. The study aims at investigating the effects of water stress (simulated drought) and poor soil type on Acacia senegal C, N, and H contents. Seven-day-old seedlings were assigned to the treatments in split-plot design for four weeks. The main plot is irrigation interval (well-watered and water-stressed), and the subplot is soil types (silt and sandy soils). Seedling's C%, N%, and H% were measured using CHNS-O Analyzer and applying Standard Test Method. Irrigation intervals and soil types had no effects on seedlings and leaves C%, N%, and H%, irrigation interval had affected stem C% and H%, both irrigation intervals and soil types had affected root N% and interaction effect of water and soil was found on leaves and root's N%. Application of well-watered irrigation with soil that is rich in N and other nutrients would result in the greatest seedling C, N, and H content which will enhance growth and biomass accumulation and can play a crucial role in ecosystem productivity and services in the dryland regions.

Keywords: Acacia senegal, Africa, climate change, drylands, nutrients biomass, Sub-Sahara, Sudan.

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