Search results for: Food Portion Size

Authors: Harshit Mehrotra, Gaurav Agrawal, M.C. Srivastava

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Computerized lip reading has been one of the most actively researched areas of computer vision in recent past because of its crime fighting potential and invariance to acoustic environment. However, several factors like fast speech, bad pronunciation, poor illumination, movement of face, moustaches and beards make lip reading difficult. In present work, we propose a solution for automatic lip contour tracking and recognizing letters of English language spoken by speakers using the information available from lip movements. Level set method is used for tracking lip contour using a contour velocity model and a feature vector of lip movements is then obtained. Character recognition is performed using modified k nearest neighbor algorithm which assigns more weight to nearer neighbors. The proposed system has been found to have accuracy of 73.3% for character recognition with speaker lip movements as the only input and without using any speech recognition system in parallel. The approach used in this work is found to significantly solve the purpose of lip reading when size of database is small.

Keywords: Contour Velocity Model, Lip Contour Tracking, LipReading, Visual Character Recognition.

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Authors: Y. Rathiranee, D. M. Semasinghe

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This study attempts to identify the factors influencing on women empowerment of rural area in Sri Lanka through micro finance services. Data were collected from one hundred (100) rural women involving self-employment activities through a questionnaire using direct personal interviews. Judgment and Convenience Random sampling technique was used to select the sample size from three Divisional Secretariat divisions of Kandawalai, Poonakari and Karachchi in Kilinochchi District. The factor analysis was performed on fourteen (14) variables for screening and reducing the variables to identify the influencing factors on empowerment. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify the relationship between the three empowerment factors and the impact of micro finance on overall empowerment of rural women. The result of this study summarized the variables into three factors namely decision making, freedom to mobility and family support and which are positively associated with empowerment. In addition to this the value of adjusted R2 is 0.248 indicates that all the variables extracted can be explained 24.8% of the variation in the women empowerment through microfinance. Independent variables of these three factors have positive correlation with women empowerment as well as significant values at 5 percent level.

Keywords: Influencing factors, Micro finance, rural women and women empowerment.

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Authors: Y. R. Li, Y. Y. Wang

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After allowing direct flights from Mainland China to Taiwan, Chinese tourists increased according to Tourism Bureaustatistics. There are from 0.19 to 2 million tourists from 2008 to 2011. Mainland China has become the main source of Taiwan developing tourism industry. Taiwanese government should know more about comments from Chinese tourists to Taiwan in order toproperly market Taiwan tourism and enhance the overall quality of tourism. In order to understand Chinese visitors’ comments, this study adopts content analysis to analyze electronic word-of-mouth on Web. This study collects 375 blog articles of Chinese tourists from Ctrip.com as a database during 2009 to 2011. Through the qualitative data analysis the traveling destination imagesis divided into seven dimensions, such as senic spots, shopping, food and beverages, accommodations, transportation, festivals and recreation activities. Finally, this study proposes some practical managerial implication to know both positive and negative images of the seven dimensions from Chinese tourists, providing marketing strategies and suggestions to traveling agency industry.

Keywords: Destination Image, Content Analysis, Electronic Word-of-Mouth.

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Authors: M. Hamad Hassan, S.A.M. Gilani

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In this paper, a semi-fragile watermarking scheme is proposed for color image authentication. In this particular scheme, the color image is first transformed from RGB to YST color space, suitable for watermarking the color media. Each channel is divided into 4×4 non-overlapping blocks and its each 2×2 sub-block is selected. The embedding space is created by setting the two LSBs of selected sub-block to zero, which will hold the authentication and recovery information. For verification of work authentication and parity bits denoted by 'a' & 'p' are computed for each 2×2 subblock. For recovery, intensity mean of each 2×2 sub-block is computed and encoded upto six to eight bits depending upon the channel selection. The size of sub-block is important for correct localization and fast computation. For watermark distribution 2DTorus Automorphism is implemented using a private key to have a secure mapping of blocks. The perceptibility of watermarked image is quite reasonable both subjectively and objectively. Our scheme is oblivious, correctly localizes the tampering and able to recovery the original work with probability of near one.

Keywords: Image Authentication, YST Color Space, Intensity Mean, LSBs, PSNR.

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Authors: Bachir Chemani, Halima Chemani

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The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of adding coal to obtain insulating ceramic product. The preparation of mixtures is achieved with 04 types of different masse compositions, consisting of gray and yellow clay, and coal. Analyses are performed on local raw materials by adding coal as additive. The coal content varies from 5 to 20 % in weight by varying the size of coal particles ranging from 0.25mm to 1.60mm.

Initially, each natural moisture content of a raw material has been determined at the temperature of 105°C in a laboratory oven. The Influence of low-coal content on absorption, the apparent density, the contraction and the resistance during compression have been evaluated. The experimental results showed that the optimized composition could be obtained by adding 10% by weight of coal leading thus to insulating ceramic products with water absorption, a density and resistance to compression of 9.40 %, 1.88 g/cm³, 35.46 MPa, respectively. The results show that coal, when mixed with traditional raw materials, offers the conditions to be used as an additive in the production of lightweight ceramic products.

Keywords: Clay, coal, resistance to compression, insulating bricks.

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Authors: G. Tanapornraweekit, W. Kulsirikasem

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This research paper presents numerical studies of the characteristics of warhead fragmentation in terms of initial velocities, spray angles of fragments and fragment mass distribution of high explosive (HE) warhead. The behavior of warhead fragmentation depends on shape and size of warhead, thickness of casing, type of explosive, number and position of detonator, and etc. This paper focuses on the effects of material properties of warhead casing, i.e. failure strain, initial yield and ultimate strength on the characteristics of warhead fragmentation. It was found that initial yield and ultimate strength of casing has minimal effects on the initial velocities and spray angles of fragments. Moreover, a brittle warhead casing with low failure strain tends to produce higher number of fragments with less average fragment mass.

Keywords: Detonation, Material Properties, Natural Fragment, Warhead

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Authors: Aliza Lee, Mark Wilt, John Bonk, Scott Floyd, Bradley Hoffman, Karen Uchmanowicz

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Bipartite medial cuneiforms are relatively rare but may play a significant role in biomechanical and gait abnormalities. It is believed that a bipartite medial cuneiform may alter the available range of motion due to its larger morphological variant, thus limiting the metatarsal plantarflexion needed to achieve adequate hallux dorsiflexion for normal gait. Radiographic and clinical assessment were performed on two patients who reported with foot pain along the first ray. Both patients had visible bipartite medial cuneiforms on MRI. Using gait plate and Metascan ™ analysis, both were noted to have four measurements far beyond the expected range. Medial and lateral heel peak pressure, hallux peak pressure, and 1st metatarsal peak pressure were all noted to be increased. These measurements are believed to be increased due to the hindrance placed on the available ROM of the first ray by the increased size of the medial cuneiform. A larger patient population would be needed to fully understand this developmental anomaly.

Keywords: Bipartite medial cuneiforms, cuneiform, developmental anomaly, gait abnormality.

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Authors: S. M. Rifat, André L. Marchildon, Mark F. Tachie

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The effect of upstream surface roughness over a smooth forward facing step in an open channel was investigated using a particle image velocimetry technique. Three different upstream surface topographies consisting of hydraulically smooth wall, sandpaper 36 grit and sand grains were examined. Besides the wall roughness conditions, all other upstream flow characteristics were kept constant. It was also observed that upstream roughness decreased the approach velocity by 2% and 10% but increased the turbulence intensity by 14% and 35% at the wall-normal distance corresponding to the top plane of the step compared to smooth upstream. The results showed that roughness decreased the reattachment lengths by 14% and 30% compared to smooth upstream. Although the magnitudes of maximum positive and negative Reynolds shear stress in separated and reattached region were 0.02Ue for all the cases, the physical size of both the maximum and minimum contour levels were decreased by increasing upstream roughness.

Keywords: Forward facing step, open channel, separated and reattached turbulent flows, wall roughness.

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Authors: Imana Shahrin Tania, Mohammad Ali

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The present study reports the synthesis, characterization and application of nano-sized zinc-oxide (ZnO) particles on a cotton fabric surface. The aim of the investigations is to impart the antimicrobial activity on textile cloth. Nanoparticle is synthesized by wet chemical method from zinc sulphate and sodium hydroxide. SEM (scanning electron micrograph) images are taken to demonstrate the surface morphology of nanoparticles. XRD analysis is done to determine the crystal size of the nanoparticle. With the conformation of nanoformation, the cotton woven fabric is treated with ZnO nanoparticle by mechanical thermo-fixation (pad-dry-cure) technique. To increase the wash durability of nano treated fabric, an acrylic binder is used as a fixing agent. The treated fabric shows up to 90% bacterial reduction for S. aureus (Staphylococcus aureus) and 87% for E. coli (Escherichia coli) which is appreciable for bacteria protective clothing.

Keywords: Nanoparticle, zinc oxide, cotton fabric, antibacterial activity, binder.

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Authors: S. Kumchoo

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The result of suggestion for low energy diet (1,000-1,200 kcal) in obese women to the effect on body weight, waist circumference and body mass index (BMI) in this experiment. Quisi experimental research was used for this study and it is a One-group pretest-posttest designs measurement method. The aim of this study was body weight, waist circumference and body mass index (BMI) reduction by using low energy diet (1,000-1,200 kcal) in obese women, the result found that in 15 of obese women that contained their body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30, after they obtained low energy diet (1,000-1,200 kcal) within 2 weeks. The data were collected before and after of testing the results showed that the average of body weight decrease 3.4 kilogram, waist circumference value decrease 6.1 centimeter and the body mass index (BMI) decrease 1.3 kg.m² from their previous body weight, waist circumference and body mass index (BMI) before experiment started. After this study, the volunteers got healthy and they can choose or select some food for themselves. For this study, the research can be improved for data development for forward study in the future.

Keywords: Body weight, waist circumference, BMI, low energy diet.

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Authors: Summiya Moheuddin, Afzel Noore, Muhammad Choudhry

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This paper proposes a novel solution for optimizing the size and communication overhead of a distributed multiagent system without compromising the performance. The proposed approach addresses the challenges of scalability especially when the multiagent system is large. A modified spectral clustering technique is used to partition a large network into logically related clusters. Agents are assigned to monitor dedicated clusters rather than monitor each device or node. The proposed scalable multiagent system is implemented using JADE (Java Agent Development Environment) for a large power system. The performance of the proposed topologyindependent decentralized multiagent system and the scalable multiagent system is compared by comprehensively simulating different fault scenarios. The time taken for reconfiguration, the overall computational complexity, and the communication overhead incurred are computed. The results of these simulations show that the proposed scalable multiagent system uses fewer agents efficiently, makes faster decisions to reconfigure when a fault occurs, and incurs significantly less communication overhead.

Keywords: Multiagent system, scalable design, spectral clustering, reconfiguration.

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Authors: Ibrahim A. Akasha, Lydia Campbell, Stephen R. Euston

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Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) seeds are waste streams which are considered a major problem to the food industry. They contain potentially useful protein (10-15% of the whole date-s weight). Global production, industrialisation and utilisation of dates are increasing steadily. The worldwide production of date palm fruit has increased from 1.8 million tons in 1961 to 6.9 million tons in 2005, thus from the global production of dates are almost 800.000 tonnes of date palm seeds are not currently used [1]. The current study was carried out to convert the date palm seeds into useful protein powder. Compositional analysis showed that the seeds were rich in protein and fat 5.64 and 8.14% respectively. We used several laboratory scale methods to extract proteins from seed to produce a high protein powder. These methods included simple acid or alkali extraction, with or without ultrafiltration and phenol trichloroacetic acid with acetone precipitation (Ph/TCA method). The highest protein content powder (68%) was obtained by Ph/TCA method with yield of material (44%) whereas; the use of just alkali extraction gave the lowest protein content of 8%, and a yield of 32%.

Keywords: Date palm seed, Phoenix dactylifera L., extraction of date palm seed protein

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Authors: Aldan A. Sapargaliyev, Yerbol A. Sapargaliyev

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Since the invention, the electric machine (EM) can be defined as oEM – one-vector electric machine, as it works due to one-vector inductive coupling with use of one-vector electromagnet. The disadvantages of oEM are large size and limited efficiency at low and medium power applications. This paper describes multi-vector electric machine (mEM) based on multi-vector inductive coupling, which is characterized by the increased surface area of ​​the inductive coupling per EM volume, with a reduced share of inefficient and energy-consuming part of the winding, in comparison with oEM’s. Particularly, it is considered, calculated and compared the performance of three different electrical motors and their power at the same volumes and rotor frequencies. It is also presented the result of calculation of correlation between power density and volume for oEM and mEM. The method of multi-vector inductive coupling enables mEM to possess 1.5-4.0 greater density of power per volume and significantly higher efficiency, in comparison with today’s oEM, especially in low and medium power applications. mEM has distinct advantages, when used in transport vehicles such as electric cars and aircrafts.

Keywords: Electric machine, electric motor, electromagnet, efficiency of electric motor.

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Authors: AlNPhannee Saengkaew, Armin Dadgar, Juergen Blaesing, Thomas Hempel, Sakuntam Sanorpim, Chanchana Thanachayanont, Visittapong Yordsri, Watcharee Rattanasakulthong, Alois Krost

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Group-III nitride material as particularly AlxGa1-xN is one of promising optoelectronic materials to require for shortwavelength devices. To achieve the high-quality AlxGa1-xN films for a high performance of such devices, AlN-nucleation layers are the important factor. To improve the AlN-nucleation layers with a variation of Ga-addition, XRD measurements were conducted to analyze the crystalline quality of the subsequent Al0.1Ga0.9N with the minimum ω-FWHMs of (0002) and (10-10) reflections of 425 arcsec and 750 arcsec, respectively. SEM and AFM measurements were performed to observe the surface morphology and TEM measurements to identify the microstructures and orientations. Results showed that the optimized Ga-atoms in the Al(Ga)Nnucleation layers improved the surface diffusion to form moreuniform crystallites in structure and size, better alignment of each crystallite, and better homogeneity of island distribution. This, hence, improves the orientation of epilayers on the Si-surface and finally improves the crystalline quality and reduces the residual strain of subsequent Al0.1Ga0.9N layers.

Keywords: AlGaN, UV-LEDs, seed layers, AFM, TEM

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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: Eric Filiol, Edouard Franc, Alessandro Gubbioli, Benoit Moquet, Guillaume Roblot

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Worm propagation profiles have significantly changed since 2003-2004: sudden world outbreaks like Blaster or Slammer have progressively disappeared and slower but stealthier worms appeared since, most of them for botnets dissemination. Decreased worm virulence results in more difficult detection. In this paper, we describe a stealth worm propagation model which has been extensively simulated and analysed on a huge virtual network. The main features of this model is its ability to infect any Internet-like network in a few seconds, whatever may be its size while greatly limiting the reinfection attempt overhead of already infected hosts. The main simulation results shows that the combinatorial topology of routing may have a huge impact on the worm propagation and thus some servers play a more essential and significant role than others. The real-time capability to identify them may be essential to greatly hinder worm propagation.

Keywords: Combinatorial worm, worm spreading, worm virulence, stealth worm, spreading simulation, vertex cover, networktopology, WAST simulator, SuWAST simulator.

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Authors: Mehdi Shami Zanjani, Shohreh Mehrasa, Mandana Modiri

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In the current economy of increasing global competition, many organizations are attempting to use knowledge as one of the means to gain sustainable competitive advantage. Besides large organizations, the success of SMEs can be linked to how well they manage their knowledge. Despite the profusion of research about knowledge management within large organizations, fewer studies tried to analyze KM in SMEs. This research proposes a new framework showing the determinant role of organizational dimensions onto KM approaches. The paper and its propositions are based on a literature review and analysis. In this research, personalization versus codification, individualization versus institutionalization and IT-based versus non IT-based are highlighted as three distinct dimensions of knowledge management approaches. The study contributes to research by providing a more nuanced classification of KM approaches and provides guidance to managers about the types of KM approaches that should be adopted based on the size, geographical dispersion and task nature of SMEs. To the author-s knowledge, the paper is the first of its kind to examine if there are suitable configurations of KM approaches for SMEs with different dimensions. It gives valuable information, which hopefully will help SME sector to accomplish KM.

Keywords: Knowledge Management, Knowledge Management Approach, SME, Organizational Dimension.

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Authors: Veruska C. Dutra, Mary L. G. S. Senna, Felipe S. Spindler

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The State Park Jalapão - PEJ proved to be one of the protected areas that has attracted tourists from all over the world with its unique scenic landscapes. Although the region already has a considerable tourist flow, to our knowledge there is a lack of continuity of studies in the region capable of drawing a plan of activities, such as the profile of the tourist and analysis of their experiences in the region, carried out from 2006-2007. Therefore, this study was proposed to know the profile and experiences of tourists visiting the park today, making a connection with the earlier study, in order to generate subsidies to trace improvement actions. We conducted interviews with tourists in the main tourism season 2015. The results show that after eight years of carrying out the first study, there were no changes, highlighting the lack of a tourism plan for the park.

Keywords: Jalapão, profile tourist, level of satisfaction.

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Authors: Amin Almasi

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Design and evaluation of reciprocating compressors should include a pulsation study. The object is to ensure that predicted pulsation levels meet guidelines to limit vibration, shaking forces, noise, associated pressure drops, horsepower losses and fabrication cost and time to acceptable levels. This paper explains procedures and recommendations to select and size pulsation suppression devices to obtain optimum arrangement in terms of pulsation, vibration, shaking forces, performance, reliability, safety, operation, maintenance and commercial conditions. Model and advanced formulations for pulsation study are presented. The effect of the full fluid dynamic model on the prediction of pulsation waves and resulting frequency spectrum distributions are discussed. Advanced and optimum methods of controlling pulsations are highlighted. Useful recommendations and guidelines for pulsation control, piping pulsation analysis, pulsation vessel design, shaking forces, low pressure drop orifices, pulsation study report and devices to mitigate pulsation and shaking problems are discussed.

Keywords: Pulsation, Reciprocating Compressor.

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Authors: Rumman Md Raihanuzzaman, Lee Chang Chuan, Zonghan Xie, Reza Ghomashchi

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Cemented carbides, owing to their excellent mechanical properties, have been of immense interest in the field of hard materials for the past few decades. A number of processing techniques have been developed to obtain high quality carbide tools, with a wide range of grain size depending on the application and requirements. Microwave sintering is one of the heating processes, which has been used to prepare a wide range of materials including ceramics. A deep understanding of microwave sintering and its contribution towards control of grain growth and on deformation of the resulting carbide materials requires further studies and attention. In addition, the effect of binder materials and their behavior during microwave sintering is another area that requires clear understanding. This review aims to focus on microwave sintering, providing information of how the process works and what type of materials it is best suited for. In addition, a closer look at some microwave sintered Tungsten Carbide-Cobalt samples will be taken and discussed, highlighting some of the key issues and challenges faced in this research area.

Keywords: Cemented carbides, consolidation, microwave sintering, mechanical properties.

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Authors: Bita Bayatsarmadi, Shi-Zhang Qiao

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Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR) performance of iron and nitrogen co-doped porous carbon nanoparticles (Fe-NPC) with various physical and (electro) chemical properties have been investigated. Fe-NPC nanoparticles are synthesized via a facile soft-templating procedure by using Iron (III) chloride hexa-hydrate as iron precursor and aminophenol-formaldehyde resin as both carbon and nitrogen precursor. Fe-NPC nanoparticles shows high surface area (443.83 m2g-1), high pore volume (0.52 m3g-1), narrow mesopore size distribution (ca. 3.8 nm), high conductivity (IG/ID=1.04), high kinetic limiting current (11.71 mAcm-2) and more positive onset potential (-0.106 V) compared to metal-free NPC nanoparticles (-0.295V) which make it high efficient ORR metal-free catalysts in alkaline solution. This study may pave the way of feasibly designing iron and nitrogen containing carbon materials (Fe-N-C) for highly efficient oxygen reduction electro-catalysis.

Keywords: Electro-catalyst, mesopore structure, oxygen reduction reaction, soft-template.

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Authors: Hamid Abdi, Abolfazl Salami, Abolfazl Ahmadi

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Programmable logic controllers are the main controllers in the today's industries; they are used for several applications in industrial control systems and there are lots of examples exist from the PLC applications in industries especially in big companies and plants such as refineries, power plants, petrochemical companies, steel companies, and food and production companies. In the PLCs there are some functions in the function library in software that can be used in PLC programs as basic program elements. The aim of this project are introducing and implementing a new function block of a neural network to the function library of PLC. This block can be applied for some control applications or nonlinear functions calculations after it has been trained for these applications. The implemented neural network is a Perceptron neural network with three layers, three input nodes and one output node. The block can be used in manual or automatic mode. In this paper the structure of the implemented function block, the parameters and the training method of the network are presented by considering the especial method of PLC programming and its complexities. Finally the application of the new block is compared with a classic simulated block and the results are presented.

Keywords: Programmable Logic Controller, PLC Programming, Neural Networks, Perception Network, Intelligent Control.

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Authors: D.Venkatesan, K.Kannan, S. Raja Balachandar

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In this paper a new Genetic Algorithm based on a heuristic operator and Centre of Mass selection operator (CMGA) is designed for the unbounded knapsack problem(UKP), which is NP-Hard combinatorial optimization problem. The proposed genetic algorithm is based on a heuristic operator, which utilizes problem specific knowledge. This center of mass operator when combined with other Genetic Operators forms a competitive algorithm to the existing ones. Computational results show that the proposed algorithm is capable of obtaining high quality solutions for problems of standard randomly generated knapsack instances. Comparative study of CMGA with simple GA in terms of results for unbounded knapsack instances of size up to 200 show the superiority of CMGA. Thus CMGA is an efficient tool of solving UKP and this algorithm is competitive with other Genetic Algorithms also.

Keywords: Genetic Algorithm, Unbounded Knapsack Problem, Combinatorial Optimization, Meta-Heuristic, Center of Mass

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Authors: Yujin Jeong, Youkyung Son, Myounghwan Choi, Sanghyub Lee, Sangyeol Lee, Changho Hwang, Kyo-in Koo

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Dysphasia is difficulty in swallowing food because of oral cavity impairments induced by stroke, muscle damage, tumor. Intermittent oro-esophageal (IOE) tube feeding is one of the well-known feeding methods for the dysphasia patients. However, it is hard to insert at the proper position in esophagus. In this study, we design and fabricate the IOE tube guide using 3-dimensional (3D) printer. The printed IOE tube is tested in a mannequin (Airway Management Trainer, Co., Ltd., Copenhagen, Denmark) mimicking human’s esophagus. The gag reflex point is measured as the design point in the mannequin. To avoid the gag reflex, we design various shapes of IOE tube guide. One structure is separated into three parts; biting part, part through oral cavity, connecting part to oro-esophageal. We designed 6 types of IOE tube guide adjusting length and angle of these three parts. To evaluate the IOE tube guide, it is inserted in the mannequin, and through the inserted guide, an endoscopic camera successfully arrived at the oro-esophageal. We had planned to apply this mannequin-based design experience to patients in near future.

Keywords: Dysphagia, feeding method, IOE tube guide, 3-D printer.

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Authors: Sidhartha Panda, N.P.Padhy

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Wind power is among the most actively developing distributed generation (DG) technology. Majority of the wind power based DG technologies employ wind turbine induction generators (WTIG) instead of synchronous generators, for the technical advantages like: reduced size, increased robustness, lower cost, and increased electromechanical damping. However, dynamic changes of wind speed make the amount of active/reactive power injected/drawn to a WTIG embedded distribution network highly variable. This paper analyzes the effect of wind speed changes on the active and reactive power penetration to the wind energy embedded distribution network. Four types of wind speed changes namely; constant, linear change, gust change and random change of wind speed are considered in the analysis. The study is carried out by three-phase, non-linear, dynamic simulation of distribution system component models. Results obtained from the investigation are presented and discussed.

Keywords: Wind turbine induction generator, distribution network, active and reactive power, wind speed.

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Authors: Farid Amidi-Fazli, Neda Amidi-Fazli

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Replacement of plastics used in the food industry seems to be a serious issue to overcome mainly the environmental problems in recent years. This study investigates the hydrophilicity and permeability properties of starch biopolymer which ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) (0-10%) and nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) (1-15%) were used to enhance its properties. Starch -EVOH nanocomposites were prepared by casting method in different formulations. NCC production by acid hydrolysis was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. Solubility, water vapor permeability, water vapor transmission rate and moisture absorbance were measured on each of the nanocomposites. The results were analyzed by SAS software. The lowest moisture absorbance was measured in pure starch nanocomposite containing 8% NCC. The lowest permeability to water vapor belongs to starch nanocomposite containing 8% NCC and the sample containing 7.8% EVOH and 13% NCC. Also the lowest solubility was observed in the composite contains the highest amount of EVOH. Applied Process resulted in production of bio films which have good resistance to water vapor permeability and solubility in water. The use of NCC and EVOH leads to reduced moisture absorbance property of the biofilms.

Keywords: Starch, EVOH, nanocrystalline cellulose, Hydrophilicity.

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Authors: F. Demir

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Innovation is highly critical for every company, especially for technology-based organizations looking to sustain their competitive advantage. However, this is not an easy task. Regardless of the size of the enterprise, market and location, all organizations face numerous challenges. Even though huge barriers to innovation exist in different countries, firm- and industry-specific challenges can be distinguished. This paper examines innovation strategies and obstacles to innovation in research and technology organizations (RTO) of Turkey. From the most important to the least, nine different challenges are ranked according the results of this survey. The findings reveal that to take the lead in innovation, financial constraint is the biggest challenge, which is consistent with the related literature. It ranked number one in this study. Beyond that, based on a sample of 40 RTOs, regional challenges such as underdeveloped regional innovation ecosystem plays a significant role in hampering innovation. Most of the organizations (55%) embrace an incremental approach to innovation, while only few pursue radical shifts. About 40% of the RTOs focus on product innovation, and 27.5% of them concentrate on technological innovation, while a very limited number aim for operational excellence and customer engagement as the focus of their strategic innovation efforts.

Keywords: Innovation strategies, innovation challenges, emerging economies, research and technology organizations.

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Authors: V. Georgiev

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Catalytic oxidation of benzene assisted by ozone, on alumina, silica, and boehmite-supported Ni/Pd catalysts was investigated at 353 K to assess the influence of the support on the reaction. Three bimetallic Ni/Pd nanosized samples with loading 4.7% of Ni and 0.17% of Pd supported on SiO₂, AlOOH and Al₂O₃ were synthesized by the extractive-pyrolytic method. The phase composition was characterized by means of XRD and the surface area and pore size were estimated using Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and Barrett–Joyner–Halenda (BJH) methods. At the beginning of the reaction, catalysts were significantly deactivated due to the accumulation of intermediates on the catalyst surface and after 60 minutes it turned stable. Ni/Pd/AlOOH catalyst showed the highest steady-state activity in comparison with the Ni/Pd/SiO₂ and Ni/Pd/Al₂O₃ catalysts. Their activity depends on the ozone decomposition potential of the catalysts because of generating oxidizing active species. The sample with the highest ozone decomposition ability which correlated to the surface area of the support oxidizes benzene to the highest extent.

Keywords: Ozone, catalysts, oxidation, Volatile organic compounds, VOCs.

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Authors: Chun-Ying Lee, Mei-Wen Wu, Van Cuong Nguyen, Hung-Wei Chuang

Abstract:

In this study, a nickel film with nano-crystalline grains, high hardness and smooth surface was electrodeposited using a post supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) mixed Watts electrolyte. Although the hardness was not as high as its Sc-CO2 counterpart, the thin coating contained significantly less number of nano-sized pinholes. By measuring the escape concentration of the dissolved CO2 in post Sc-CO2 mixed electrolyte with the elapsed time, it was believed that the residue of dissolved CO2 bubbles should closely relate to the improvement in hardness and surface roughness over its conventional plating counterpart. Therefore, shortening the duration of electroplating with the raise of current density up to 0.5 A/cm2 could effectively retain more post Sc-CO2 mixing effect. This study not only confirms the roles of dissolved CO2 bubbles in electrolyte but also provides a potential process to overcome most issues associated with the cost in building high-pressure chamber for large size products and continuous plating using supercritical method.

Keywords: Additive-free electrolyte, electroplating, nickel, supercritical CO2.

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Authors: Himanshu Patel, R. T. Vashi

Abstract:

Adsorption of Toluidine blue dye from aqueous solutions onto Neem Leaf Powder (NLP) has been investigated. The surface characterization of this natural material was examined by Particle size analysis, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). The effects of process parameters such as initial concentration, pH, temperature and contact duration on the adsorption capacities have been evaluated, in which pH has been found to be most effective parameter among all. The data were analyzed using the Langmuir and Freundlich for explaining the equilibrium characteristics of adsorption. And kinetic models like pseudo first- order, second-order model and Elovich equation were utilized to describe the kinetic data. The experimental data were well fitted with Langmuir adsorption isotherm model and pseudo second order kinetic model. The thermodynamic parameters, such as Free energy of adsorption (AG"), enthalpy change (AH') and entropy change (AS°) were also determined and evaluated.

Keywords: Adsorption, isotherm models, kinetic models, temperature, toluidine blue dye, surface chemistry.

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