Search results for: road performance management
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 8276

Search results for: road performance management

6356 Data Mining for Cancer Management in Egypt Case Study: Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Authors: Nevine M. Labib, Michael N. Malek

Abstract:

Data Mining aims at discovering knowledge out of data and presenting it in a form that is easily comprehensible to humans. One of the useful applications in Egypt is the Cancer management, especially the management of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia or ALL, which is the most common type of cancer in children. This paper discusses the process of designing a prototype that can help in the management of childhood ALL, which has a great significance in the health care field. Besides, it has a social impact on decreasing the rate of infection in children in Egypt. It also provides valubale information about the distribution and segmentation of ALL in Egypt, which may be linked to the possible risk factors. Undirected Knowledge Discovery is used since, in the case of this research project, there is no target field as the data provided is mainly subjective. This is done in order to quantify the subjective variables. Therefore, the computer will be asked to identify significant patterns in the provided medical data about ALL. This may be achieved through collecting the data necessary for the system, determimng the data mining technique to be used for the system, and choosing the most suitable implementation tool for the domain. The research makes use of a data mining tool, Clementine, so as to apply Decision Trees technique. We feed it with data extracted from real-life cases taken from specialized Cancer Institutes. Relevant medical cases details such as patient medical history and diagnosis are analyzed, classified, and clustered in order to improve the disease management.

Keywords: Data Mining, Decision Trees, Knowledge Discovery, Leukemia.

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6355 A Comparative Case Study of the Impact of Square and Yurt-Shape Buildings on Energy Efficiency

Authors: Valeriya Tyo, Serikbolat Yessengabulov

Abstract:

Regions with extreme climate conditions such as Astana city require energy saving measures to increase energy performance of buildings which are responsible for more than 40% of total energy consumption. Identification of optimal building geometry is one of key factors to be considered. Architectural form of a building has impact on space heating and cooling energy use, however the interrelationship between the geometry and resultant energy use is not always readily apparent. This paper presents a comparative case study of two prototypical buildings with compact building shape to assess its impact on energy performance.

Keywords: Building geometry, energy efficiency, heat gain, heat loss.

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6354 Environmental Management in Arid Regions:The Question of Water

Authors: Yousef Bakhbakhi, Mourad Boumaza

Abstract:

Only recently have water ethics received focused interest in the international water community. Because water is metabolically basic to life, an ethical dimension persists in every decision related to water. Water ethics at once express human society-s approach to water and act as guidelines for behaviour. Ideas around water are often implicit and embedded as assumptions. They can be entrenched in behaviour and difficult to contest because they are difficult to “see". By explicitly revealing the ethical ideas underlying water-related decisions, human society-s relationship with water, and with natural systems of which water is part, can be contested and shifted or be accepted with conscious intention by human society. In recent decades, improved understanding of water-s importance for ecosystem functioning and ecological services for human survival is moving us beyond this growth-driven, supplyfocused management paradigm. Environmental ethics challenge this paradigm by extending the ethical sphere to the environment and thus water or water Resources management per se. An ethical approach is a legitimate, important, and often ignored approach to effect change in environmental decision making. This qualitative research explores principles of water ethics and examines the underlying ethical precepts of selected water policy examples. The constructed water ethic principles act as a set of criteria against which a policy comparison can be established. This study shows that water Resources management is a progressive issue by embracing full public participation and a new planning model, and knowledgegeneration initiatives.

Keywords: water resources, environmental management, publicparticipation.

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6353 Optimization of Human Comfort Reaction for Suspended Cabin Tractor Semitrailer Drivers

Authors: L.A.Kumaraswamidhas, P.Velmurugan, K.Sankaranarayanasamy

Abstract:

This work has been conducted to study on comfort level of drivers of suspended cabin tractor semitrailer. Some drivers suffer from low back pain caused by vibration. The practical significance of applying suspended cabin type of tractor semi trailer was tested at different road conditions, different speed as well as different load conditions for comfortable driver seat interface (x, y, z ) and the process parameters have been prioritized using Taguchi-s L27 orthogonal array. Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used to optimize the human comfort vibration of suspended cabin tractor semitrailer drivers. The practical significance of applying GA to human comfort to reaction of suspended cabin tractor semitrailer has been validated by means of computing the deviation between predicted and experimentally obtained human comfort to vibration. The optimized acceleration data indicate a little uncomfortable ride for suspended cabin tractor semitrailer.

Keywords: Genetic Algorithm, Ride Comfort, Taguchi Method, Tractor Semitrailer

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6352 Changes in Subjective and Objective Measures of Performance in Ramadan

Authors: H. Alabed, K. Abuzayan, J. Waterhouse

Abstract:

The Muslim faith requires individuals to fast between the hours of sunrise and sunset during the month of Ramadan. Our recent work has concentrated on some of the changes that take place during the daytime when fasting. A questionnaire was developed to assess subjective estimates of physical, mental and social activities, and fatigue. Four days were studied: in the weeks before and after Ramadan (control days) and during the first and last weeks of Ramadan (experimental days). On each of these four days, this questionnaire was given several times during the daytime and once after the fast had been broken and just before individuals retired at night. During Ramadan, daytime mental, physical and social activities all decreased below control values but then increased to abovecontrol values in the evening. The desires to perform physical and mental activities showed very similar patterns. That is, individuals tried to conserve energy during the daytime in preparation for the evenings when they ate and drank, often with friends. During Ramadan also, individuals were more fatigued in the daytime and napped more often than on control days. This extra fatigue probably reflected decreased sleep, individuals often having risen earlier (before sunrise, to prepare for fasting) and retired later (to enable recovery from the fast). Some physiological measures and objective measures of performance (including the response to a bout of exercise) have also been investigated. Urine osmolality fell during the daytime on control days as subjects drank, but rose in Ramadan to reach values at sunset indicative of dehydration. Exercise performance was also compromised, particularly late in the afternoon when the fast had lasted several hours. Self-chosen exercise work-rates fell and a set amount of exercise felt more arduous. There were also changes in heart rate and lactate accumulation in the blood, indicative of greater cardiovascular and metabolic stress caused by the exercise in subjects who had been fasting. Daytime fasting in Ramadan produces widespread effects which probably reflect combined effects of sleep loss and restrictions to intakes of water and food.

Keywords: Drinking, Eating, Mental Performance, Physical Performance, Social Activity, Sleepiness.

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6351 Performance Enhancement of Motion Estimation Using SSE2 Technology

Authors: Trung Hieu Tran, Hyo-Moon Cho, Sang-Bock Cho

Abstract:

Motion estimation is the most computationally intensive part in video processing. Many fast motion estimation algorithms have been proposed to decrease the computational complexity by reducing the number of candidate motion vectors. However, these studies are for fast search algorithms themselves while almost image and video compressions are operated with software based. Therefore, the timing constraints for running these motion estimation algorithms not only challenge for the video codec but also overwhelm for some of processors. In this paper, the performance of motion estimation is enhanced by using Intel's Streaming SIMD Extension 2 (SSE2) technology with Intel Pentium 4 processor.

Keywords: Motion Estimation, Full Search, Three StepSearch, MMX/SSE/SSE2 Technologies, SIMD.

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6350 Task Planning for Service Robots with Limited Feedback

Authors: Chung-Woon Park, Jungwoo Lee, Jong-Tae Lim

Abstract:

In this paper, we propose a novel limited feedback scheme for task planning with service robots. Instead of sending the full service robot state information for the task planning, the proposed scheme send the best-M indices of service robots with a indicator. With the indicator, the proposed scheme significantly reduces the communication overhead for task planning as well as mitigates the system performance degradation in terms of the utility. In addition, we analyze the system performance of the proposed scheme and compare the proposed scheme with the other schemes.

Keywords: Task Planning, Service Robots, Limited Feedback, Scheduling

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6349 Seismic Rehabilitation of R/C Buildings Designed with Earlier Technical Standards

Authors: Stefano Sorace, Gloria Terenzi

Abstract:

The seismic rehabilitation designs of two reinforced concrete school buildings, representative of a wide stock of similar edifices designed under earlier editions of the Italian Technical Standards, are presented in this paper. The mutual retrofit solution elaborated for the two buildings consists in the incorporation of a dissipative bracing system including pressurized fluid viscous springdampers as passive protective devices. The mechanical parameters, layouts and locations selected for the constituting elements of the system; the architectural renovation projects developed to properly incorporate the structural interventions and improve the appearance of the buildings; highlights of the installation works already completed in one of the two structures; and a synthesis of the performance assessment analyses carried out in original and rehabilitated conditions, are illustrated. The results of the analyses show a remarkable enhancement of the seismic response capacities of both structures. This allows reaching the high performance objectives postulated in the retrofit designs with much lower costs and architectural intrusion as compared to traditional rehabilitation interventions designed for the same objectives.

Keywords: Seismic rehabilitation, R/C structures, performance analysis, dissipative braces, fluid viscous dampers.

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6348 Simulation Data Management Approach for Developing Adaptronic Systems – The W-Model Methodology

Authors: Roland S. Nattermann, Reiner Anderl

Abstract:

Existing proceeding-models for the development of mechatronic systems provide a largely parallel action in the detailed development. This parallel approach is to take place also largely independent of one another in the various disciplines involved. An approach for a new proceeding-model provides a further development of existing models to use for the development of Adaptronic Systems. This approach is based on an intermediate integration and an abstract modeling of the adaptronic system. Based on this system-model a simulation of the global system behavior, due to external and internal factors or Forces is developed. For the intermediate integration a special data management system is used. According to the presented approach this data management system has a number of functions that are not part of the "normal" PDM functionality. Therefore a concept for a new data management system for the development of Adaptive system is presented in this paper. This concept divides the functions into six layers. In the first layer a system model is created, which divides the adaptronic system based on its components and the various technical disciplines. Moreover, the parameters and properties of the system are modeled and linked together with the requirements and the system model. The modeled parameters and properties result in a network which is analyzed in the second layer. From this analysis necessary adjustments to individual components for specific manipulation of the system behavior can be determined. The third layer contains an automatic abstract simulation of the system behavior. This simulation is a precursor for network analysis and serves as a filter. By the network analysis and simulation changes to system components are examined and necessary adjustments to other components are calculated. The other layers of the concept treat the automatic calculation of system reliability, the "normal" PDM-functionality and the integration of discipline-specific data into the system model. A prototypical implementation of an appropriate data management with the addition of an automatic system development is being implemented using the data management system ENOVIA SmarTeam V5 and the simulation system MATLAB.

Keywords: Adaptronic, Data-Management, LOEWE-CentreAdRIA

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6347 Power Performance Improvement of 500W Vertical Axis Wind Turbine with Salient Design Parameters

Authors: Young-Tae Lee, Hee-Chang Lim

Abstract:

This paper presents the performance characteristics of Darrieus-type vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) with NACA airfoil blades. The performance of Darrieus-type VAWT can be characterized by torque and power. There are various parameters affecting the performance such as chord length, helical angle, pitch angle and rotor diameter. To estimate the optimum shape of Darrieustype wind turbine in accordance with various design parameters, we examined aerodynamic characteristics and separated flow occurring in the vicinity of blade, interaction between flow and blade, and torque and power characteristics derived from it. For flow analysis, flow variations were investigated based on the unsteady RANS (Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes) equation. Sliding mesh algorithm was employed in order to consider rotational effect of blade. To obtain more realistic results we conducted experiment and numerical analysis at the same time for three-dimensional shape. In addition, several parameters (chord length, rotor diameter, pitch angle, and helical angle) were considered to find out optimum shape design and characteristics of interaction with ambient flow. Since the NACA airfoil used in this study showed significant changes in magnitude of lift and drag depending on an angle of attack, the rotor with low drag, long cord length and short diameter shows high power coefficient in low tip speed ratio (TSR) range. On the contrary, in high TSR range, drag becomes high. Hence, the short-chord and long-diameter rotor produces high power coefficient. When a pitch angle at which airfoil directs toward inside equals to -2° and helical angle equals to 0°, Darrieus-type VAWT generates maximum power.

Keywords: Darrieus wind turbine, VAWT, NACA airfoil, performance.

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6346 Gas Lift Optimization to Improve Well Performance

Authors: Mohamed A. G. H. Abdalsadig, Amir Nourian, G. G. Nasr, Meisam Babaie

Abstract:

Gas lift optimization is becoming more important now a day in petroleum industry. A proper lift optimization can reduce the operating cost, increase the net present value (NPV) and maximize the recovery from the asset. A widely accepted definition of gas lift optimization is to obtain the maximum output under specified operating conditions. In addition, gas lift, a costly and indispensable means to recover oil from high depth reservoir entails solving the gas lift optimization problems. Gas lift optimization is a continuous process; there are two levels of production optimization. The total field optimization involves optimizing the surface facilities and the injection rate that can be achieved by standard tools softwares. Well level optimization can be achieved by optimizing the well parameters such as point of injection, injection rate, and injection pressure. All these aspects have been investigated and presented in this study by using experimental data and PROSPER simulation program. The results show that the well head pressure has a large influence on the gas lift performance and also proved that smart gas lift valve can be used to improve gas lift performance by controlling gas injection from down hole. Obtaining the optimum gas injection rate is important because excessive gas injection reduces production rate and consequently increases the operation cost.

Keywords: Optimization, production rate, reservoir pressure effect, gas injection rate effect, gas injection pressure.

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6345 Performance Analysis of New Types of Reference Targets Based on Spaceborne and Airborne SAR Data

Authors: Y. S. Zhou, C. R. Li, L. L. Tang, C. X. Gao, D. J. Wang, Y. Y. Guo

Abstract:

Triangular trihedral corner reflector (CR) has been widely used as point target for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) calibration and image quality assessment. The additional “tip” of the triangular plate does not contribute to the reflector’s theoretical RCS and if it interacts with a perfectly reflecting ground plane, it will yield an increase of RCS at the radar bore-sight and decrease the accuracy of SAR calibration and image quality assessment. Regarding this problem, two types of CRs were manufactured. One was the hexagonal trihedral CR. It is a self-illuminating CR with relatively small plate edge length, while large edge length usually introduces unexpected edge diffraction error. The other was the triangular trihedral CR with extended bottom plate which considers the effect of ‘tip’ into the total RCS. In order to assess the performance of the two types of new CRs, flight campaign over the National Calibration and Validation Site for High Resolution Remote Sensors was carried out. Six hexagonal trihedral CRs and two bottom-extended trihedral CRs, as well as several traditional triangular trihedral CRs, were deployed. KOMPSAT-5 X-band SAR image was acquired for the performance analysis of the hexagonal trihedral CRs. C-band airborne SAR images were acquired for the performance analysis of the bottom-extended trihedral CRs. The analysis results showed that the impulse response function of both the hexagonal trihedral CRs and bottom-extended trihedral CRs were much closer to the ideal sinc-function than the traditional triangular trihedral CRs. The flight campaign results validated the advantages of new types of CRs and they might be useful in the future SAR calibration mission.

Keywords: Synthetic Aperture Radar, calibration, corner reflector, KOMPSAT-5.

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6344 Using the Students-as-Customers Concept in Technology Disciplines: Students- Perspectives

Authors: Boonlert Watjatrakul

Abstract:

Educational institutions increasingly adopt the students-as-customers concept to satisfy their students. Understanding students- perspectives on the use of this business concept in educational institutions is necessary for the institutions to effectively align these perspectives with their management practice. The study investigates whether students in technology and business disciplines have significantly different attitudes toward using the students-as-customers concept in educational institutions and explores the impact of treating students as customers in technology disciplines under students- perspectives. The results from quantitative and qualitative data analyses show that technology students, in contrast to business students, fairly disagree with educational institutions to treat students as customers. Treating students as customers in technology disciplines will have a negative influence on teaching performance, instructor-student relationships and educational institutions- aim, but a positive influence on service quality in educational institutions. The paper discusses the findings and concludes with implications and limitations of the study.

Keywords: Education, information technology, students-ascustomers, technology disciplines.

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6343 An Approach for Reducing the Computational Complexity of LAMSTAR Intrusion Detection System using Principal Component Analysis

Authors: V. Venkatachalam, S. Selvan

Abstract:

The security of computer networks plays a strategic role in modern computer systems. Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) act as the 'second line of defense' placed inside a protected network, looking for known or potential threats in network traffic and/or audit data recorded by hosts. We developed an Intrusion Detection System using LAMSTAR neural network to learn patterns of normal and intrusive activities, to classify observed system activities and compared the performance of LAMSTAR IDS with other classification techniques using 5 classes of KDDCup99 data. LAMSAR IDS gives better performance at the cost of high Computational complexity, Training time and Testing time, when compared to other classification techniques (Binary Tree classifier, RBF classifier, Gaussian Mixture classifier). we further reduced the Computational Complexity of LAMSTAR IDS by reducing the dimension of the data using principal component analysis which in turn reduces the training and testing time with almost the same performance.

Keywords: Binary Tree Classifier, Gaussian Mixture, IntrusionDetection System, LAMSTAR, Radial Basis Function.

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6342 Effects of School Facilities’ Mechanical and Plumbing Characteristics and Conditions on Student Attendance, Academic Performance and Health

Authors: Erica Cochran Hameen, Bobuchi Ken-Opurum, Shalini Priyadarshini, Berangere Lartigue, Sadhana Anath-Pisipati

Abstract:

School districts throughout the United States are constantly seeking measures to improve test scores, reduce school absenteeism and improve indoor environmental quality. It is imperative to identify key building investments which will provide the largest benefits to schools in terms of improving the aforementioned factors. This study uses Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) tests to statistically evaluate the impact of a school building’s mechanical and plumbing characteristics on a child’s educational performance. The educational performance is measured via three indicators, i.e. test scores, suspensions, and absenteeism. The study investigated 125 New York City school facilities to determine the potential correlations between 50 mechanical and plumbing variables and the performance indicators. Key findings from the tests revealed that elementary schools with pneumatic systems in “good” condition have 48.8% lower percentages of students scoring at the minimum English Language Arts (ELA) competency level compared with those with no pneumatic system. Additionally, elementary schools with “unit heaters/cabinet heaters” in “good to fair” conditions have 1.1% higher attendance rates compared to schools with no “unit heaters/cabinet heaters” or those in inferior condition. Furthermore, elementary schools with air conditioning have 0.6% higher attendance rates compared to schools with no air conditioning, and those with interior floor drains in “good” condition have 1.8% higher attendance rates compared to schools with interior drains in inferior condition.

Keywords: Academic attendance and performance, mechanical and plumbing systems, schools, student health.

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6341 Accurate Control of a Pneumatic System using an Innovative Fuzzy Gain-Scheduling Pattern

Authors: M. G. Papoutsidakis, G. Chamilothoris, F. Dailami, N. Larsen, A Pipe

Abstract:

Due to their high power-to-weight ratio and low cost, pneumatic actuators are attractive for robotics and automation applications; however, achieving fast and accurate control of their position have been known as a complex control problem. A methodology for obtaining high position accuracy with a linear pneumatic actuator is presented. During experimentation with a number of PID classical control approaches over many operations of the pneumatic system, the need for frequent manual re-tuning of the controller could not be eliminated. The reason for this problem is thermal and energy losses inside the cylinder body due to the complex friction forces developed by the piston displacements. Although PD controllers performed very well over short periods, it was necessary in our research project to introduce some form of automatic gain-scheduling to achieve good long-term performance. We chose a fuzzy logic system to do this, which proved to be an easily designed and robust approach. Since the PD approach showed very good behaviour in terms of position accuracy and settling time, it was incorporated into a modified form of the 1st order Tagaki- Sugeno fuzzy method to build an overall controller. This fuzzy gainscheduler uses an input variable which automatically changes the PD gain values of the controller according to the frequency of repeated system operations. Performance of the new controller was significantly improved and the need for manual re-tuning was eliminated without a decrease in performance. The performance of the controller operating with the above method is going to be tested through a high-speed web network (GRID) for research purposes.

Keywords: Fuzzy logic, gain scheduling, leaky integrator, pneumatic actuator.

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6340 Environmental Potentials within the Production of Asphalt Mixtures

Authors: Florian Gschösser, Walter Purrer

Abstract:

The paper shows examples for the (environmental) optimization of production processes for asphalt mixtures applied for typical road pavements in Austria and Switzerland. The conducted “from-cradle-to-gate” LCA firstly analyzes the production one cubic meter of asphalt and secondly all material production processes for exemplary highway pavements applied in Austria and Switzerland. It is shown that environmental impacts can be reduced by the application of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) and by the optimization of specific production characteristics, e.g. the reduction of the initial moisture of the mineral aggregate and the reduction of the mixing temperature by the application of low-viscosity and foam bitumen. The results of the LCA study demonstrate reduction potentials per cubic meter asphalt of up to 57 % (Global Warming Potential–GWP) and 77 % (Ozone depletion–ODP). The analysis per square meter of asphalt pavement determined environmental potentials of up to 40 % (GWP) and 56 % (ODP).

Keywords: Asphalt mixtures, environmental potentials, life cycle assessment, material production.

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6339 Educational Data Mining: The Case of Department of Mathematics and Computing in the Period 2009-2018

Authors: M. Sitoe, O. Zacarias

Abstract:

University education is influenced by several factors that range from the adoption of strategies to strengthen the whole process to the academic performance improvement of the students themselves. This work uses data mining techniques to develop a predictive model to identify students with a tendency to evasion and retention. To this end, a database of real students’ data from the Department of University Admission (DAU) and the Department of Mathematics and Informatics (DMI) was used. The data comprised 388 undergraduate students admitted in the years 2009 to 2014. The Weka tool was used for model building, using three different techniques, namely: K-nearest neighbor, random forest, and logistic regression. To allow for training on multiple train-test splits, a cross-validation approach was employed with a varying number of folds. To reduce bias variance and improve the performance of the models, ensemble methods of Bagging and Stacking were used. After comparing the results obtained by the three classifiers, Logistic Regression using Bagging with seven folds obtained the best performance, showing results above 90% in all evaluated metrics: accuracy, rate of true positives, and precision. Retention is the most common tendency.

Keywords: Evasion and retention, cross validation, bagging, stacking.

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6338 Firm Performance of Thai Cuisines in Bangkok, Thailand: Contribution to the Tourism Industry

Authors: Prateep Wajeetongratana

Abstract:

This study is a descriptive-normative research. It attempted to investigate the restaurants’ firm performance in terms of the customers and restaurant personnel’s degree of satisfaction. A total of 12 restaurants in Bangkok, Thailand that offer Thai cuisine were included in this study. It involved 24 stockholders/managers, 120 subordinates and 360 customers. General Managers and restaurants’ stockholders, 10 staffs, and 30 costumers for each restaurant were chosen for random sampling. This study found that respondents are slightly satisfied with their work environment but are generally satisfied with the accessibility to transportation, to malls, convenience, safety, recreation, noise-free, and attraction; customers find the Quality of Food in most Thai Cuisines like services, prices of food, sales promotion, and capital and length of service satisfactory. Therefore, both stockholder-related and personnel-related factors which are influenced by restaurant, personnel, and customer-related factors are partially accepted whereas; customer-related factors which are influenced by restaurant, personnel and customer-related factors are rejected.

Keywords: Firm performance, Thai Cuisine, Tourism industry.

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6337 Investigation of Hydraulic and Thermal Performances of Fin Array at Different Shield Positions without By-Pass

Authors: Ramy H. Mohammed

Abstract:

In heat sinks, the flow within the core exhibits separation and hence does not lend itself to simple analytical boundary layer or duct flow analysis of the wall friction. In this paper, we present some findings from an experimental and numerical study aimed to obtain physical insight into the influence of the presence of the shield and its position on the hydraulic and thermal performance of square pin fin heat sink without top by-pass. The variations of the Nusselt number and friction factor are obtained under varied parameters, such as the Reynolds number and the shield position. The numerical code is validated by comparing the numerical results with the available experimental data. It is shown that, there is a good agreement between the temperature predictions based on the model and the experimental data. Results show that, as the presence of the shield, the heat transfer of fin array is enhanced and the flow resistance increased. The surface temperature distribution of the heat sink base is more uniform when the dimensionless shield position equals to 1/3 or 2/3. The comprehensive performance evaluation approach based on identical pumping power criteria is adopted and shows that the optimum shield position is at x/l=0.43.

Keywords: Shield, Fin array, Performance evaluation, Heat transfer, Validation.

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6336 Urban Water Management at the Time of Natural Disaster

Authors: H. Shahabi

Abstract:

since in natural accidents, facilities that relate to this vita element are underground so, it is difficult to find quickly some right, exact and definite information about water utilities. There fore, this article has done operationally in Boukan city in Western Azarbaijan of Iran and it tries to represent operation and capabilities of Geographical Information system (GIS) in urban water management at the time of natural accidents. Structure of this article is that firstly it has established a comprehensive data base related to water utilities by collecting, entering, saving and data management, then by modeling water utilities we have practically considered its operational aspects related to water utility problems in urban regions.

Keywords: Natural Disaster, Geographical Information system (GIS), Modeling and network analysis, Boukan city in Western Azerbaijan, Iran

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6335 Reproduction Performance of Etawah Cross Bred Goats in Estrus Synchronization by Controlled Internal Drug Release Implant and Pgf2α Continued by Artificial Insemination

Authors: Diah Tri Widayati, Aris Junaidi, Kresno Suharto, Amelia Oktaviani, Wahyuningsih

Abstract:

The estrus female Etawah cross bred goats were synchronized estrus by controlled internal drug release (CIDR) implants for 10 days combined with PGF2α injection, and continued by artificial insemination (AI) within the hours of 24 period. Vaginal epithelium was taken to determine estrus cycle of the goats without estrus synchronization. The estrus responds (the puffy of vulva and vaginal pH) and percentage of pregnancy were investigated. The data were analyzed descriptively and Independent Sample T-Test. The results showed that the puffy of vulva and vaginal pH were significantly different in synchronized estrus goats and control goats (2.18 ± 0.33 cm vs. 1.20 ± 0.16 cm and 8.55 ± 0.63 vs. 8.22 ± 0.22). Percentage of pregnancy was higher in synchronized estrus goats (73.33%) than in control (53.3%). Estrus synchronization by using CIDR implants and PGF2, continued by AI was effective to improve reproduction performance of Etawah cross bred goats.

Keywords: Artificial insemination, Estrus synchronization, Etawah cross bred goat, Reproduction performance.

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6334 A Graph Theoretic Approach for Quantitative Evaluation of NAAC Accreditation Criteria for the Indian University

Authors: Nameesh Miglani, Rajeev Saha, R. S. Parihar

Abstract:

Estimation of the quality regarding higher education within a university is practically long drawn process besides being difficult to measure primarily due to lack of a standard scale. National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) evolved a methodology of assessment which involves self-appraisal by each university/college and an assessment of performance by an expert committee. The attributes involved in assessing a university may not be totally independent from each other thereby necessitating the consideration of interdependencies. The present study focuses on evaluation of assessment criteria using graph theoretic approach and fuzzy treatment of data collected from the students. The technique will provide a suitable platform to university management team to cross check assessment of education quality by considering interdependencies of the attributes using graph theory.

Keywords: Graph theory, NAAC accreditation criteria, Indian University accreditation process.

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6333 A Framework for the Evaluation of Infrastructures’ Serviceability

Authors: Kyonghoon Kim, Wonyoung Park, Taeil Park

Abstract:

Aging infrastructures became a serious social problem. This brought out the increased need for the legislation of a new strict guideline for infrastructure management. Although existing guidelines provided basics of how to evaluate and manage the condition of infrastructures, they needed improvements for their evaluation procedures. Most guidelines mainly focused on the structural condition of infrastructures and did not properly reflect service aspects of infrastructures such as performance, public demand, capacity, etc., which were significantly valuable to public. Regardless of the importance, these factors were often neglected in infrastructure evaluations, because they were quite subjective and difficult to quantify in rational manner. Thus, this study proposed a framework to properly identify and evaluate the service indicators. This study showed that service indicators could be grouped into two categories and properly evaluated using AHP and Fuzzy. Overall, proposed framework is expected to assist governmental agency in establishing effective investment strategies for infrastructure improvements.

Keywords: Infrastructure, evaluation, serviceability, fuzzy.

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6332 Practical Aspects of Face Recognition

Authors: S. Vural, H. Yamauchi

Abstract:

Current systems for face recognition techniques often use either SVM or Adaboost techniques for face detection part and use PCA for face recognition part. In this paper, we offer a novel method for not only a powerful face detection system based on Six-segment-filters (SSR) and Adaboost learning algorithms but also for a face recognition system. A new exclusive face detection algorithm has been developed and connected with the recognition algorithm. As a result of it, we obtained an overall high-system performance compared with current systems. The proposed algorithm was tested on CMU, FERET, UNIBE, MIT face databases and significant performance has obtained.

Keywords: Adaboost, Face Detection, Face recognition, SVM, Gabor filters, PCA-ICA.

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6331 Annual Power Load Forecasting Using Support Vector Regression Machines: A Study on Guangdong Province of China 1985-2008

Authors: Zhiyong Li, Zhigang Chen, Chao Fu, Shipeng Zhang

Abstract:

Load forecasting has always been the essential part of an efficient power system operation and planning. A novel approach based on support vector machines is proposed in this paper for annual power load forecasting. Different kernel functions are selected to construct a combinatorial algorithm. The performance of the new model is evaluated with a real-world dataset, and compared with two neural networks and some traditional forecasting techniques. The results show that the proposed method exhibits superior performance.

Keywords: combinatorial algorithm, data mining, load forecasting, support vector machines

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6330 A Performance Evaluation of Oscillation Based Test in Continuous Time Filters

Authors: Eduardo Romero, Marcelo Costamagna, Gabriela Peretti, Carlos Marqués

Abstract:

This work evaluates the ability of OBT for detecting parametric faults in continuous-time filters. To this end, we adopt two filters with quite different topologies as cases of study and a previously reported statistical fault model. In addition, we explore the behavior of the test schemes when a particular test condition is changed. The new data reported here, obtained from a fault simulation process, reveal a lower performance of OBT not observed in previous work using single-deviation faults, even under the change in the test condition.

Keywords: Testing, analog fault simulation, analog filter test, oscillation based test.

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6329 Electric Load Forecasting Using Genetic Based Algorithm, Optimal Filter Estimator and Least Error Squares Technique: Comparative Study

Authors: Khaled M. EL-Naggar, Khaled A. AL-Rumaih

Abstract:

This paper presents performance comparison of three estimation techniques used for peak load forecasting in power systems. The three optimum estimation techniques are, genetic algorithms (GA), least error squares (LS) and, least absolute value filtering (LAVF). The problem is formulated as an estimation problem. Different forecasting models are considered. Actual recorded data is used to perform the study. The performance of the above three optimal estimation techniques is examined. Advantages of each algorithms are reported and discussed.

Keywords: Forecasting, Least error squares, Least absolute Value, Genetic algorithms

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6328 Research on Control Strategy of Differential Drive Assisted Steering of Distributed Drive Electric Vehicle

Authors: J. Liu, Z. P. Yu, L. Xiong, Y. Feng, J. He

Abstract:

According to the independence, accuracy and controllability of the driving/braking torque of the distributed drive electric vehicle, a control strategy of differential drive assisted steering was designed. Firstly, the assisted curve under different speed and steering wheel torque was developed and the differential torques were distributed to the right and left front wheels. Then the steering return ability assisted control algorithm was designed. At last, the joint simulation was conducted by CarSim/Simulink. The result indicated: the differential drive assisted steering algorithm could provide enough steering drive-assisted under low speed and improve the steering portability. Along with the increase of the speed, the provided steering drive-assisted decreased. With the control algorithm, the steering stiffness of the steering system increased along with the increase of the speed, which ensures the driver’s road feeling. The control algorithm of differential drive assisted steering could avoid the understeer under low speed effectively.

Keywords: Differential assisted steering, control strategy, distributed drive electric vehicle.

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6327 Performance Enhancement Employing Vertical Beamforming for FFR Technique

Authors: P. Chaipanya, P. Uthansakul, M. Uthansakul

Abstract:

This paper proposes a vertical beamforming concept to a cellular network employing Fractional Frequency Reuse technique including with cell sectorization. Two different beams are utilized in cell-center and cell-edge, separately. The proposed concept is validated through computer simulation in term of SINR and channel capacity. Also, comparison when utilizing horizontal and vertical beam formation is in focus. The obtained results indicate that the proposed concept can improve the performance of the cellular networks comparing with the one using horizontal beamforming.

Keywords: Beamforming, Fractional Frequency Reuse, Inter- Cell Interference, cell sectorization.

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