Search results for: urban structural unit.

Authors: Suboohi Shervani, Jingjing Ling, Jiabin Liu, Tahir Husain

Abstract:

Offshore oil-spill has become the most emerging problem in the world. In the current paper, a graphene/ZnO/polymer nanocomposite thin film is coated on stainless steel mesh via layer by layer deposition method. The structural characterization of materials is determined by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) and separation efficiency have been measured via gas chromatography – flame ionization detector (GC-FID). TPHs are reduced to 2 ppm and separation efficiency of the nanocomposite coated mesh is reached ≥ 99% for the final sample. The nanocomposite coated mesh acts as a promising candidate for the separation of oil- water mixture.

Keywords: Oil-spill, graphene, oil-water separation, nanocomposite.

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Authors: H. Farkisch, A.I. Che-Ani, V. Ahmadi, M. Surat

Abstract:

The role of neighborhood center as semi public (the balance space) is disappeared in bonding between private and public in new urbanism. In this way, a hierarchical principle in the traditional neighborhood center appears to create or develop the conditions for residents` relationships and belonging. This paper evaluates significant of hierarchical principles of the neighborhood center in residents` territoriality and its factors. In this way Miandeh neighborhood center from Boshrooyeh city was determined as a case study area. Results indicated that a hierarchical principle is the best instrument to improve the territoriality as the subcomponent of place belonging in residents. The findings help the urban designer to revitalization the neighborhoods and proceedings in organization of physical space.

Keywords: Belonging, Neighborhood center, Revitalization, Territoriality

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Authors: Francesco Caputo, Giuseppe Lamanna, Alessandro Soprano

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This work is focused on the numerical prediction of the fracture resistance of a flat stiffened panel made of the aluminium alloy 2024 T3 under a monotonic traction condition. The performed numerical simulations have been based on the micromechanical Gurson-Tvergaard (GT) model for ductile damage. The applicability of the GT model to this kind of structural problems has been studied and assessed by comparing numerical results, obtained by using the WARP 3D finite element code, with experimental data available in literature. In the sequel a home-made procedure is presented, which aims to increase the residual strength of a cracked stiffened aluminum panel and which is based on the stochastic design improvement (SDI) technique; a whole application example is then given to illustrate the said technique.

Keywords: Residual strength, R-Curve, Gurson model, SDI.

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Authors: S. N. H. Azmi, B. Iqbal, J. K. Al Mamari, K. A. Al Hattali, W. N. Al Hadhrami

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A simple, accurate and precise direct spectrophotometric method has been developed for the determination of cefixime in tablets and capsules. The method is based on the reaction of cefixime with a mixture of potassium iodide and potassium iodate to form yellow coloured product in ethanol-distilled water medium at room temperature which absorbed maximally at 352 nm. The factors affecting the reaction product were carefully studied and optimized. The validation parameters based on International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH, USA) guidelines were followed. The effect of common excipients used as additives has been tested and the tolerance limit was calculated for the determination of cefixime. Beer’s law is obeyed in the concentration range of 4 – 24 ug mL-1 with apparent molar absorptivity of 1.52 × 104 L mol-1cm-1 and Sandell’s sensitivity of 0.033 ug/cm2/ 0.001 absorbance unit. The limits of detection and quantitation for the proposed method are 0.32 and 1.06 ug mL-1, respectively. The proposed method has been successfully applied for the determination of cefixime in pharmaceutical formulations. The results obtained by the proposed method were statistically compared with the reference method using t- and F- values and found no significant difference between the two methods. The proposed method can be used as an alternate method for routine quality control analysis of cefixime in pharmaceutical formulations.

Keywords: Spectrophotometry, cefixime, validation, pharmaceutical formulations.

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Authors: Vincent Fromentin

Abstract:

This paper examines whether or not immigration has a positive influence on the duration of unemployment, in a macroeconomic perspective. We analyse also whether the degree of labor market integration can influence migration. The integration of immigrants into the labor market is a recurrence theme in the work on the economic consequences of immigration. However, to our knowledge, no researchers have studied the impact of immigration on unemployment duration, and vice versa. With two methodology of research (panel estimations (OLS and 2SLS) and panel cointegration techniques), we show that migration seems to influence positively the short-term unemployment and negatively long-term unemployment, for 14 OECD destination countries. In addition, immigration seems to be conditioned by the structural and institutional characteristics of the labour market.

Keywords: international migration, unemployment duration, OECD countries, panel data

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Authors: Ma Ya-li, Tang Fu-jun, Xue Yu-xiong, Chen Yi-feng, Gao Xin, Wang Yi, Tian Kai, Yan Ze-dong

Abstract:

Plasma plume will be produced and arrive at spacecraft when the electric thruster operates on orbit. It-s important to characterize the thruster plasma parameters because the plume has significant effects or hazards on spacecraft sub-systems and parts. Through the ground test data of the desired parameters, the major characteristics of the thruster plume will be achieved. Also it is very important for optimizing design of Ion thruster. Retarding Potential Analyzer (RPA) is an effective instrument for plasma ion energy per unit charge distribution measurement. Special RPA should be designed according to certain plume plasma parameters range and feature. In this paper, major principles usable for good RPA design are discussed carefully. Conform to these principles, a four-grid planar electrostatic energy analyzer RPA was designed to avoid false data, and details were discussed including construction, materials, aperture diameter and so on. At the same time, it was designed more suitable for credible and long-duration measurements in the laboratory. In the end, RPA measurement results in the laboratory were given and discussed.

Keywords: Thruster plume ion energy distributions, retarding potential analyzer, ground test.

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Authors: A. Sedky, E. El-Suheel

Abstract:

We report here structural, mechanical and I-V characteristics of Zn1-xMxO ceramic samples with various x and M. It is found that the considered dopants does not influence the wellknown peaks related to wurtzite structure of ZnO ceramics, while the shape and size of grains are clearly affected. Average crystalline diameters, deduced from XRD are between 42 nm and 54 nm, which are 70 times lower than those obtained from SEM micrographs. Interestingly, the potential barrier could be formed by adding Cu up to 0.20, and it is completely deformed by 0.025 Ni additions. The breakdown field could be enhanced up to 4138 V/cm by 0.025 Cu additions, followed by a decrease with further increase of Cu . On the other hand a gradual decrease in VHN is reported for both dopants and their values are higher in Ni samples as compared to Cu samples. The electrical conductivity is generally improved by Ni, while addition of Cu improved it only in the over doped region (≥ 0.10). These results are discussed in terms of the difference of valency and ferromagnetic ordering for both dopants as compared to undoped sample.

Keywords: Semiconductors, Chemical Synthesis, Impurities and Electronic Transport

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Authors: H. A. Lopez-Aguilar, E. A. Huerta-Reynoso, J. A. Gomez, J. A. Duarte-Moller, A. Perez-Hernandez

Abstract:

Environmental performance of artisanal brick manufacture was studied by Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) methodology and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis in Mexico. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the environmental impact during artisanal brick manufacture. LCA cradle-to-gate approach was complemented with CFD analysis to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The lifecycle includes the stages of extraction, baking and transportation to the gate. The functional unit of this study was the production of a single brick in Chihuahua, Mexico and the impact categories studied were carcinogens, respiratory organics and inorganics, climate change radiation, ozone layer depletion, ecotoxicity, acidification/ eutrophication, land use, mineral use and fossil fuels. Laboratory techniques for fuel characterization, gas measurements in situ, and AP42 emission factors were employed in order to calculate gas emissions for inventory data. The results revealed that the categories with greater impacts are ecotoxicity and carcinogens. The CFD analysis is helpful in predicting the thermal diffusion and contaminants from a defined source. LCA-CFD synergy complemented the EIA and allowed us to identify the problem of thermal efficiency within the system.

Keywords: LCA, CFD, brick, artisanal.

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Authors: Cristina S. Decano, Vitaliana U. Malamug, Melissa E. Agulto, Helen F. Gavino

Abstract:

This study aimed to introduce new natural fiber to be used in the production of geotextile net for mitigation of soil erosion. Fiber extraction from the stalks was the main challenge faced during the processing of stalks to ropes. Thus, an investigation on the extraction procedures of corn (Zea mays L.) stalk under biological and chemical retting was undertaken. Results indicated significant differences among percent fiber yield as affected by the retting methods used with values of 15.07%, 12.97%, 11.60%, and 9.01%, for dew, water, chemical (1 day after harvest and15 days after harvest), respectively, with the corresponding average extracting duration of 70, 82, 89, and 94 minutes. Physical characterization of the developed corn stalk geotextile net resulted to average mass per unit area of 806.25 g/m² and 241% water absorbing capacity. The effect of corn stalk geotextile net in mitigating soil erosion was evaluated in a laboratory experiment for 30^o and 60^o inclinations with three treatments: bare soil (A₁), corn stalk geotextile net (A₂) and combined cornstalk geotextile net and vegetation cover (A₃). Results revealed that treatment A₂ and A₃ significantly decreased sediment yield and an increase in terms of soil loss reduction efficiency. The cost of corn stalk geotextile net is Php 62.41 per square meter.

Keywords: Corn stalk, natural geotextile, retting, soil erosion.

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Authors: S. V. Yendiyarov

Abstract:

Pattern discovery from time series is of fundamental importance. Particularly, when information about the structure of a pattern is not complete, an algorithm to discover specific patterns or shapes automatically from the time series data is necessary. The dynamic time warping is a technique that allows local flexibility in aligning time series. Because of this, it is widely used in many fields such as science, medicine, industry, finance and others. However, a major problem of the dynamic time warping is that it is not able to work with structural changes of a pattern. This problem arises when the structure is influenced by noise, which is a common thing in practice for almost every application. This paper addresses this problem by means of developing a novel technique called adaptive dynamic time warping.

Keywords: Pattern recognition, optimal control, quadratic programming, dynamic programming, dynamic time warping, sintering control.

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Authors: Yi-Ping Lo, Shi-Yao Wei, Chih-Chun Ma

Abstract:

Since Google launched Google Glass in 2012, numbers of commercial wearable devices were released, such as smart belt, smart band, smart shoes, smart clothes ... etc. However, most of these devices perform as sensors to show the readings of measurements and few of them provide the interactive feedback to the user. Furthermore, these devices are single task devices which are not able to communicate with each other. In this paper a new health promotion system, Ubiquitous Life People Informatics Engine (U-Life PIE), will be presented. This engine consists of People Informatics Engine (PIE) and the interactive user interface. PIE collects all the data from the compatible devices, analyzes this data comprehensively and communicates between devices via various application programming interfaces. All the data and informations are stored on the PIE unit, therefore, the user is able to view the instant and historical data on their mobile devices any time. It also provides the real-time hands-free feedback and instructions through the user interface visually, acoustically and tactilely. These feedback and instructions suggest the user to adjust their posture or habits in order to avoid the physical injuries and prevent illness.

Keywords: Machine learning, user interface, user experience, Internet of things, health promotion.

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

Abstract:

This paper presented a new approach for centralized monitoring and self-protected against fiber fault in fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) access network by using Smart Access Network Testing, Analyzing and Database (SANTAD). SANTAD will be installed with optical line terminal (OLT) at central office (CO) for in-service transmission surveillance and fiber fault localization within FTTH with point-to-multipoint (P2MP) configuration downwardly from CO towards customer residential locations based on the graphical user interface (GUI) processing capabilities of MATLAB software. SANTAD is able to detect any fiber fault as well as identify the failure location in the network system. SANTAD enable the status of each optical network unit (ONU) connected line is displayed onto one screen with capability to configure the attenuation and detect the failure simultaneously. The analysis results and information will be delivered to the field engineer for promptly actions, meanwhile the failure line will be diverted to protection line to ensure the traffic flow continuously. This approach has a bright prospect to improve the survivability and reliability as well as increase the efficiency and monitoring capabilities in FTTH.

Keywords: Fiber fault, FTTH, SANTAD, transmission surveillance, MATLAB.

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Authors: Laurenţiu Militeanu, Cristina Gena Dascâlu, D. Cristea

Abstract:

The human head representations usually are based on the morphological – structural components of a real model. Over the time became more and more necessary to achieve full virtual models that comply very rigorous with the specifications of the human anatomy. Still, making and using a model perfectly fitted with the real anatomy is a difficult task, because it requires large hardware resources and significant times for processing. That is why it is necessary to choose the best compromise solution, which keeps the right balance between the details perfection and the resources consumption, in order to obtain facial animations with real-time rendering. We will present here the way in which we achieved such a 3D system that we intend to use as a base point in order to create facial animations with real-time rendering, used in medicine to find and to identify different types of pathologies.

Keywords: 3D models, virtual reality.

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Authors: Dimitris Georgoutsos, Petros M. Migiakis

Abstract:

The concurrent era is characterised by strengthened interactions among financial markets and increased capital mobility globally. In this frames we examine the effects the international financial integration process has on the European bond markets. We perform a comparative study of the interactions of the European and international bond markets and exploit Cointegration analysis results on the elimination of stochastic trends and the decomposition of the underlying long run equilibria and short run causal relations. Our investigation provides evidence on the relation between the European integration process and that of globalisation, viewed through the bond markets- sector. Additionally the structural formulation applied, offers significant implications of the findings. All in all our analysis offers a number of answers on crucial queries towards the European bond markets integration process.

Keywords: financial integration, bond markets, cointegration

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Authors: D. I. Ekine, C. C. Akpanibah

Abstract:

This paper analyses the productivity of median scale battery cage and deep litter chicken egg producers in Rivers State, Nigeria. 90 battery cage and 90 deep litter farmers giving a total of 180 farmers were sampled through a multistage sampling procedure. Mean productivity was higher for the battery cage than the deep litter farmers at 2.65 and 2.33 respectively. Productivity of battery cage farmers were positively influenced by age, extension contacts, experience and feed quantity while the productivity of deep litter farmers was positively influenced by age, extension contacts, household size, experience and labour. The major constraints identified by both categories are high cost of feed, high price of day-old chick, inadequate finance, lack of credit and high cost of drug/vaccination. Furthermore, the work recommends that government should assist chicken egg farmers through subsidies of input resources and put policies to make financial institutions give out loans at low interest rate to the farmers. The farmers should abide by the recommended number of birds per unit area while stocking.

Keywords: Productivity, battery cage, deep litter, median scale, egg production.

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Authors: Elise Stephanie Mvodo Meyo, Dapeng Liang

Abstract:

Recently, Cassava has been the driving force of many developing countries- economic progress. To attain this level, prerequisites were put in place enabling cassava sector to become an industrial and a highly competitive crop. Cameroon can achieve the same results. Moreover, it can upgrade the living conditions of both rural and urban dwellers and stimulate the development of the whole economy. Achieving this outcome calls for agricultural policy reforms. The adoption and implementation of adequate policies go along with efficient strategies. To choose effective strategies, an indepth investigation of the sector-s problems is highly recommended. This paper uses gap analysis method to evaluate cassava sector in Cameroon. It studies the present situation (where it is now), interrogates the future (where it should be) and finally proposes solutions to fill the gap.

Keywords: Cameroon, cassava sector, drivers of agricultural growth, gap analysis.

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Authors: M. K. Jindal, G. S. Lehal, R. K. Sharma

Abstract:

Character segmentation is an important preprocessing step for text recognition. In degraded documents, existence of touching characters decreases recognition rate drastically, for any optical character recognition (OCR) system. In this paper a study of touching Gurmukhi characters is carried out and these characters have been divided into various categories after a careful analysis.Structural properties of the Gurmukhi characters are used for defining the categories. New algorithms have been proposed to segment the touching characters in middle zone. These algorithms have shown a reasonable improvement in segmenting the touching characters in degraded Gurmukhi script. The algorithms proposed in this paper are applicable only to machine printed text.

Keywords: Character Segmentation, Middle Zone, Touching Characters.

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Authors: Georgi I. Petkov, Ivan I. Vankov, Yolina A. Petrova

Abstract:

A structure-based model of category learning and categorization at different levels of abstraction is presented. The model compares different structures and expresses their similarity implicitly in the forms of mappings. Based on this similarity, the model can categorize different targets either as members of categories that it already has or creates new categories. The model is novel using two threshold parameters to evaluate the structural correspondence. If the similarity between two structures exceeds the higher threshold, a new sub-ordinate category is created. Vice versa, if the similarity does not exceed the higher threshold but does the lower one, the model creates a new category on higher level of abstraction.

Keywords: Analogy-making, categorization, learning of categories, abstraction, hierarchical structure.

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Authors: Mana Tarjoman, Shaghayegh Zarei

Abstract:

Using efficient classification methods is necessary for automatic fingerprint recognition system. This paper introduces a new structural approach to fingerprint classification by using the directional image of fingerprints to increase the number of subclasses. In this method, the directional image of fingerprints is segmented into regions consisting of pixels with the same direction. Afterwards the relational graph to the segmented image is constructed and according to it, the super graph including prominent information of this graph is formed. Ultimately we apply a matching technique to compare obtained graph with the model graphs in order to classify fingerprints by using cost function. Increasing the number of subclasses with acceptable accuracy in classification and faster processing in fingerprints recognition, makes this system superior.

Keywords: Classification, Directional image, Fingerprint, Graph, Super graph.

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Authors: W. Paraguassu, S. Guerini, C. M. R. Remédios, P. T. C. Freire

Abstract:

High Pressure Raman scattering measurements of KDP:Mn were performed at room temperatures. The X-ray powder diffraction patterns taken at room temperature by Rietveld refinement showed that doped samples of KDP-Mn have the same tetragonal structure of a pure KDP crystal, but with a contraction of the crystalline cell. The behavior of the Raman spectra, in particular the emergence of a new modes at 330 cm-1, indicates that KDP:Mn undergoes a structural phase transition with onset at around 4 GP. First principle density-functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that tetrahedral rotation with pressure is predominantly around the c crystalline direction. Theoretical results indicates that pressure induced tetrahedral rotations leads to change tetrahedral neighborhood, activating librations/bending modes observed for high pressure phase of KDP:Mn with stronger Raman activity.

Keywords: Dipotassium molybdate, High pressure, Raman scattering, Phase transition, ab initio

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Authors: F. Hafdhi, T. Khir, A. Ben Yahia, A. Ben Brahim

Abstract:

An Energetic and exergetic analysis is conducted on a Steam Turbine Power Plant of an existing Phosphoric Acid Factory. The heat recovery systems used in different parts of the plant are also considered in the analysis. Mass, thermal and exergy balances are established on the main compounds of the factory. A numerical code is established using EES software to perform the calculations required for the thermal and exergy plant analysis. The effects of the key operating parameters such as steam pressure and temperature, mass flow rate as well as seawater temperature, on the cycle performances are investigated. A maximum Exergy Loss Rate of about 72% is obtained for the melters, followed by the condensers, heat exchangers and the pumps. The heat exchangers used in the phosphoric acid unit present exergetic efficiencies around 33% while 60% to 72% are obtained for steam turbines and blower. For the explored ranges of HP steam temperature and pressure, the exergy efficiencies of steam turbine generators STGI and STGII increase of about 2.5% and 5.4% respectively. In the same way optimum HP steam flow rate values, leading to the maximum exergy efficiencies are defined.

Keywords: Steam turbine generator, energy efficiency, exergy efficiency, phosphoric acid plant.

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Authors: Kahil Amar, Nekmouche Aghiles, Titouche Billal, Hamizi Mohand, Hannachi Naceur Eddine

Abstract:

The ductility is an important parameter in the nonlinear behavior of portal structures reinforced concrete. It may be explained by the ability of the structure to deform in the plastic range, or the geometric characteristics in the map may influence the overall ductility. Our study is based on the influence of geometric slenderness (Lx / Ly) on the overall ductility of these structures, a study is made on a structure has 05 floors with varying the column section of 900 cm², 1600 cm² and 1225 cm². A slight variation in global ductility is noticed as (Lx/Ly) varies; however, column sections can control satisfactorily the plastic behavior of buildings.

Keywords: Ductility, nonlinear behavior, pushover analysis, geometric slenderness, structural behavior.

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Authors: Sandipan Chakroborty, Goutam Saha

Abstract:

A state of the art Speaker Identification (SI) system requires a robust feature extraction unit followed by a speaker modeling scheme for generalized representation of these features. Over the years, Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) modeled on the human auditory system has been used as a standard acoustic feature set for speech related applications. On a recent contribution by authors, it has been shown that the Inverted Mel- Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (IMFCC) is useful feature set for SI, which contains complementary information present in high frequency region. This paper introduces the Gaussian shaped filter (GF) while calculating MFCC and IMFCC in place of typical triangular shaped bins. The objective is to introduce a higher amount of correlation between subband outputs. The performances of both MFCC & IMFCC improve with GF over conventional triangular filter (TF) based implementation, individually as well as in combination. With GMM as speaker modeling paradigm, the performances of proposed GF based MFCC and IMFCC in individual and fused mode have been verified in two standard databases YOHO, (Microphone Speech) and POLYCOST (Telephone Speech) each of which has more than 130 speakers.

Keywords: Gaussian Filter, Triangular Filter, Subbands, Correlation, MFCC, IMFCC, GMM.

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Authors: S.H. Khoon, G.I. Issabayeva, L.W. Lee

Abstract:

Air quality in Setapak district of Kuala Lumpur was studied by analysing the rainwater chemical composition using ion chromatography method. Twelve sampling sites were selected and 120 rainwater samples were collected in the period of 10 weeks. The results of this study were compared to the earlier published data and the evaluation showed that the NO3 - ion concentration increased from 0.41 to 3.32 ppm, while SO4 2- ion concentration increased from 0.39 to 3.26 ppm over the past two decades that is mostly due to rapid urban development of the city. However, it was found that the chemical composition for both residential and industrial areas does not have significant difference. Most of the rainwater samples showed alkaline pH (pH > 5.6). The possible factors for such alkaline pH in rainwater samples are assumed to be the marine sources, biomass burning and alkaline character of soil particles.

Keywords: acid deposition; atmospheric pollution; deposition fluxes; trajectories

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Authors: Tawee Chimsuk, Surapong Auwatanamongkol

Abstract:

Machine Translation (MT) between the Thai and English languages has been a challenging research topic in natural language processing. Most research has been done on English to Thai machine translation, but not the other way around. This paper presents a Thai to English Machine Translation System that translates a Thai sentence into interlingua of a Thai LFG tree using LFG grammar and a bottom up parser. The Thai LFG tree is then transformed into the corresponding English LFG tree by pattern matching and node transformation. Finally, an equivalent English sentence is created using structural information prescribed by the English LFG tree. Based on results of experiments designed to evaluate the performance of the proposed system, it can be stated that the system has been proven to be effective in providing a useful translation from Thai to English.

Keywords: Interlingua, LFG grammar, Machine translation, Pattern matching.

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Authors: Sandipan Chakroborty, Anindya Roy, Goutam Saha

Abstract:

A state of the art Speaker Identification (SI) system requires a robust feature extraction unit followed by a speaker modeling scheme for generalized representation of these features. Over the years, Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) modeled on the human auditory system has been used as a standard acoustic feature set for SI applications. However, due to the structure of its filter bank, it captures vocal tract characteristics more effectively in the lower frequency regions. This paper proposes a new set of features using a complementary filter bank structure which improves distinguishability of speaker specific cues present in the higher frequency zone. Unlike high level features that are difficult to extract, the proposed feature set involves little computational burden during the extraction process. When combined with MFCC via a parallel implementation of speaker models, the proposed feature set outperforms baseline MFCC significantly. This proposition is validated by experiments conducted on two different kinds of public databases namely YOHO (microphone speech) and POLYCOST (telephone speech) with Gaussian Mixture Models (GMM) as a Classifier for various model orders.

Keywords: Complementary Information, Filter Bank, GMM, IMFCC, MFCC, Speaker Identification, Speaker Recognition.

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Authors: Seong-Pil Kang, Ho-Jung Ryu, Yongwon Seo

Abstract:

Hydrate phase equilibria for the binary CO2+water and CH4+water mixtures in silica gel pore of nominal diameters 6, 30, and 100 nm were measured and compared with the calculated results based on van der Waals and Platteeuw model. At a specific temperature, three-phase hydrate-water-vapor (HLV) equilibrium curves for pore hydrates were shifted to the higher-pressure condition depending on pore sizes when compared with those of bulk hydrates. Notably, hydrate phase equilibria for the case of 100 nominal nm pore size were nearly identical with those of bulk hydrates. The activities of water in porous silica gels were modified to account for capillary effect, and the calculation results were generally in good agreement with the experimental data. The structural characteristics of gas hydrates in silica gel pores were investigated through NMR spectroscopy.

Keywords: CO2, CH4, gas hydrate, equilibria.

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Authors: Yi-Pin Hsu, Shin-Yu Lin

Abstract:

An efficient parallel form in digital signal processor can improve the algorithm performance. The butterfly structure is an important role in fast Fourier transform (FFT), because its symmetry form is suitable for hardware implementation. Although it can perform a symmetric structure, the performance will be reduced under the data-dependent flow characteristic. Even though recent research which call as novel memory reference reduction methods (NMRRM) for FFT focus on reduce memory reference in twiddle factor, the data-dependent property still exists. In this paper, we propose a parallel-computing approach for FFT implementation on digital signal processor (DSP) which is based on data-independent property and still hold the property of low-memory reference. The proposed method combines final two steps in NMRRM FFT to perform a novel data-independent structure, besides it is very suitable for multi-operation-unit digital signal processor and dual-core system. We have applied the proposed method of radix-2 FFT algorithm in low memory reference on TI TMSC320C64x DSP. Experimental results show the method can reduce 33.8% clock cycles comparing with the NMRRM FFT implementation and keep the low-memory reference property.

Keywords: Parallel-computing, FFT, low-memory reference, TIDSP.

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Authors: Tetsuya Yabuki, Yasunori Arizumi, Tetsuhiro Shimozato, Samy Guezouli, Hiroaki Matsusita, Masayuki Tai

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The main object of this paper is to present the research results of the development of a hybrid stainless steel girder system for bridge construction undertaken at University of Ryukyu. In order to prevent the corrosion damage and reduce the fabrication costs, a hybrid stainless steel girder in bridge construction is developed, the stainless steel girder of which is stiffened and braced by structural carbon steel materials. It is verified analytically and experimentally that the ultimate strength of the hybrid stainless steel girder is equal to or greater than that of conventional carbon steel girder. The benefit of the life-cycle cost of the hybrid stainless steel girder is also shown.

Keywords: Smart structure, hybrid stainless steel members, ultimate strength, steel bridge, corrosion prevention.

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Authors: Young Geun Kim, Tae Woo Lee, Changmin Yeo, Jung min Yoo, Yeo Jin Kang, Tack-Joong Kim, Byungjo Jung, Ji Hun Cha, Chan Hoi Hur, Dong-Sup Kim, Ki Jung Park, Han Sung Kim

Abstract:

The intention of this lessons is to assess the probability of optical coherence tomography (OCT) for biometric recognition. The OCT is the foundation on an optical signal acquisition and processing method and has the micrometer-resolution. In this study, we used the porcine skin for verifying the abovementioned means. The porcine tissue was sound acknowledged for structural and immunohistochemical similarity with human skin, so it could be suitable for pre-clinical trial as investigational specimen. For this reason, it was tattooed by the tattoo machine with the tattoo-pigment. We detected the pattern of the tattooed skin by the OCT according to needle speed. The result was consistent with the histology images. This result showed that the OCT was effective to examine the tattooed skin section noninvasively. It might be available to identify morphological changes inside the skin.

Keywords: mechanical skin damage, optical coherence tomography, tattooed skin

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