Search results for: local resources

Authors: Haifeng Wang, Haili Zhang

Abstract:

Most movie recommendation systems have been developed for customers to find items of interest. This work introduces a predictive model usable by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who are in need of a data-based and analytical approach to stock proper movies for local audiences and retain more customers. We used classification models to extract features from thousands of customers’ demographic, behavioral and social information to predict their movie genre preference. In the implementation, a Gaussian kernel support vector machine (SVM) classification model and a logistic regression model were established to extract features from sample data and their test error-in-sample were compared. Comparison of error-out-sample was also made under different Vapnik–Chervonenkis (VC) dimensions in the machine learning algorithm to find and prevent overfitting. Gaussian kernel SVM prediction model can correctly predict movie genre preferences in 85% of positive cases. The accuracy of the algorithm increased to 93% with a smaller VC dimension and less overfitting. These findings advance our understanding of how to use machine learning approach to predict customers’ preferences with a small data set and design prediction tools for these enterprises.

Keywords: Computational social science, movie preference, machine learning, SVM.

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Authors: Areej Almalkawi, Sameer Hamadna, Parviz Soroushian, Nalin Darsana

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The work on indigenous binders in this paper focused on the following indigenous raw materials: red clay, red lava and pumice (as primary aluminosilicate precursors), wood ash and gypsum (as supplementary minerals), and sodium sulfate and lime (as alkali activators). The experimental methods used for evaluation of these indigenous raw materials included laser granulometry, x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy, and chemical reactivity. Formulations were devised for transforming these raw materials into alkali aluminosilicate-based hydraulic cements. These formulations were processed into hydraulic cements via simple heating and milling actions to render thermal activation, mechanochemical and size reduction effects. The resulting hydraulic cements were subjected to laser granulometry, heat of hydration and reactivity tests. These cements were also used to prepare mortar mixtures, which were evaluated via performance of compressive strength tests. The measured values of strength were correlated with the reactivity, size distribution and microstructural features of raw materials. Some of the indigenous hydraulic cements produced in this reporting period yielded viable levels of compressive strength. The correlation trends established in this work are being evaluated for development of simple and thorough methods of qualifying indigenous raw materials for use in production of indigenous hydraulic cements.

Keywords: One-part geopolymer cement, aluminosilicate precursors, thermal activation, mechanochemical.

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Authors: M. Ramezanifard, J. Dargahi, S. Najarian, N. Narayanan

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One of the major disadvantages of the minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is the lack of tactile feedback to the surgeon. In order to identify and avoid any damage to the grasped complex tissue by endoscopic graspers, it is important to measure the local softness of tissue during MIS. One way to display the measured softness to the surgeon is a graphical method. In this paper, a new tactile sensor has been reported. The tactile sensor consists of an array of four softness sensors, which are integrated into the jaws of a modified commercial endoscopic grasper. Each individual softness sensor consists of two piezoelectric polymer Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) films, which are positioned below a rigid and a compliant cylinder. The compliant cylinder is fabricated using a micro molding technique. The combination of output voltages from PVDF films is used to determine the softness of the grasped object. The theoretical analysis of the sensor is also presented. A method has been developed with the aim of reproducing the tactile softness to the surgeon by using a graphical method. In this approach, the proposed system, including the interfacing and the data acquisition card, receives signals from the array of softness sensors. After the signals are processed, the tactile information is displayed by means of a color coding method. It is shown that the degrees of softness of the grasped objects/tissues can be visually differentiated and displayed on a monitor.

Keywords: Minimally invasive surgery, Robotic surgery, Sensor, Softness, Tactile.

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Authors: Mat Isa, C. M., Mohd Saman, H., Mohd Nasir, S. R., Jaapar, A.

Abstract:

International market expansion involves a strategic process of market entry decision through which a firm expands its operation from domestic to the international domain. Hence, entry timing choices require the needs to balance the early entry risks and the problems in losing opportunities as a result of late entry into a new market. Questionnaire surveys administered to 115 Malaysian construction firms operating in 51 countries worldwide have resulted in 39.1 percent response rate. Factor analysis was used to determine the most significant factors affecting entry timing choices of the firms to penetrate the international market. A logistic regression analysis used to examine the firms’ entry timing choices, indicates that the model has correctly classified 89.5 per cent of cases as late movers. The findings reveal that the most significant factor influencing the construction firms’ choices as late movers was the firm factor related to the firm’s international experience, resources, competencies and financing capacity. The study also offers valuable information to construction firms with intention to internationalize their businesses.

Keywords: Factors, early movers, entry timing choices, late movers, Logistic Regression Model, Principal Axis Factorial Analysis, Malaysian construction firms.

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Authors: P. Pongsumpun, I.M. Tang

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Plasmodium vivax malaria differs from P. falciparum malaria in that a person suffering from P. vivax infection can suffer relapses of the disease. This is due the parasite being able to remain dormant in the liver of the patients where it is able to re-infect the patient after a passage of time. During this stage, the patient is classified as being in the dormant class. The model to describe the transmission of P. vivax malaria consists of a human population divided into four classes, the susceptible, the infected, the dormant and the recovered. The effect of a time delay on the transmission of this disease is studied. The time delay is the period in which the P. vivax parasite develops inside the mosquito (vector) before the vector becomes infectious (i.e., pass on the infection). We analyze our model by using standard dynamic modeling method. Two stable equilibrium states, a disease free state E0 and an endemic state E1, are found to be possible. It is found that the E0 state is stable when a newly defined basic reproduction number G is less than one. If G is greater than one the endemic state E1 is stable. The conditions for the endemic equilibrium state E1 to be a stable spiral node are established. For realistic values of the parameters in the model, it is found that solutions in phase space are trajectories spiraling into the endemic state. It is shown that the limit cycle and chaotic behaviors can only be achieved with unrealistic parameter values.

Keywords: Equilibrium states, Hopf bifurcation, limit cyclebehavior, local stability, Plasmodium Vivax, time delay.

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Authors: Ime R. Udotong, Ofonime U. M. John, Justina I. R. Udotong

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The microbiological and physicochemical characteristics of wetland soils in Eket Local Government Area were studied between May 2001 and June 2003. Total heterotrophic bacterial counts (THBC), total fungal counts (TFC), and total actinomycetes counts (TAC) were determined from soil samples taken from four locations at two depths in the wet and dry seasons. Microbial isolates were characterized and identified. Particle size and chemical parameters were also determined using standard methods. THBC ranged from 5.2 (+0.17) x106 to 1.7 (+0.18) x107 cfu/g and from 2.4 (+0.02) x106 to 1.4 (+0.04) x107cfu/g in the wet and dry seasons, respectively. TFC ranged from 1.8 (+0.03) x106 to 6.6 (+ 0.18) x106 cfu/g and from 1.0 (+0.04) x106 to 4.2 (+ 0.01) x106 cfu/g in the wet and dry seasons, respectively .TAC ranged from 1.2 (+0.53) x106 to 6.0 (+0.05) x106 cfu/g and from 0.6 (+0.01) x106 to 3.2 (+ 0.12) x106 cfu/g in the wet and dry season, respectively. Acinetobacter, Alcaligenes, Arthrobacter, Bacillus, Beijerinckja, Enterobacter, Micrococcus, Flavobacterium, Serratia, Enterococcus, and Pseudomonas species were predominant bacteria while Aspergillus, Fusarium, Mucor, Penicillium, and Rhizopus were the dominant fungal genera isolated. Streptomyces and Norcadia were the actinomycetes genera isolated. The particle size analysis showed high sand fraction but low silt and clay. The pH and % organic matter were generally acidic and low, respectively at all locations. Calcium dominated the exchangeable bases with low electrical conductivity and micronutrients. These results provide the baseline data of Eket wetland soils for its management for sustainable agriculture.

Keywords: Wetland soils, Microbial counts, physicochemicalcharacteristics, Sustainable agriculture.

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Authors: Mohammad A. N. M. Shafiqul Karim

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As a developing country, Bangladesh has to face numerous challenges. Self Independence in electricity, contributing to climate change by reducing carbon emission and bringing the backward population of society to the mainstream is more challenging for them. Therefore, it is essential to ensure recycled use of local products to the maximum level in every sector. Some private organizations have already worked alongside government to bring the backward population to the mainstream by developing their financial capacities. As rice husk is the largest single category of the total energy supply in Bangladesh. As part of this strategy, rice husk can play a great as a promising renewable energy source, which is readily available, has considerable environmental benefits and can produce electricity and ensure multiple uses of byproducts in construction technology. For the first time in Bangladesh, an experimental multidimensional project depending on Rice Husk Electricity and Rice Husk Ash (RHA) concrete brick/block under Green Eco-Tech Limited has already been started. Project analysis, opportunity, sustainability, the high monitoring component, limitations and finally evaluated data reflecting the viability of establishing more projects using rice husk are discussed in this paper. The by-product of rice husk from the production of green electricity, RHA, can be used for making, in particular, RHA concrete brick/block in Bangladeshi aspects is also discussed here.

Keywords: Project analysis, rice husk, rice husk ash concrete brick/block, compressive strength of rice husk ash concrete brick/block.

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Authors: Puntani Pongsumpun, I-Ming Tang

Abstract:

The most Malaria cases are occur along Thai-Mynmar border. Mathematical model for the transmission of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax malaria in a mixed population of Thais and migrant Burmese living along the Thai-Myanmar Border is studied. The population is separated into two groups, Thai and Burmese. Each population is divided into susceptible, infected, dormant and recovered subclasses. The loss of immunity by individuals in the infected class causes them to move back into the susceptible class. The person who is infected with Plasmodium vivax and is a member of the dormant class can relapse back into the infected class. A standard dynamical method is used to analyze the behaviors of the model. Two stable equilibrium states, a disease-free state and an epidemic state, are found to be possible in each population. A disease-free equilibrium state in the Thai population occurs when there are no infected Burmese entering the community. When infected Burmese enter the Thai community, an epidemic state can occur. It is found that the disease-free state is stable when the threshold number is less than one. The epidemic state is stable when a second threshold number is greater than one. Numerical simulations are used to confirm the results of our model.

Keywords: Basic reproduction number, Burmese, local stability, Plasmodium Vivax malaria.

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Authors: Ya Lv

Abstract:

This article presents the application of the semi-analytic method (SAM) in the thermal management solution (TMS) of the energy storage system (ESS). The TMS studied in this work is fluid cooling. In fluid cooling, both effective heat conduction and heat convection are indispensable due to the heat transfer from solid to fluid. Correspondingly, an efficient TMS requires a design investigation of the following parameters: fluid inlet temperature, ESS initial temperature, fluid flow rate, working c rate, continuous working time, and materials properties. Their variation induces a change of thermal performance in the battery module, which is usually evaluated by numerical simulation. Compared to complicated computation resources and long computation time in simulation, the SAM is developed in this article to predict the thermal influence within a few seconds. In SAM, a fast prediction model is reckoned by combining numerical simulation with theoretical/empirical equations. The SAM can explore the thermal effect of boundary parameters in both steady-state and transient heat transfer scenarios within a short time. Therefore, the SAM developed in this work can simplify the design cycle of TMS and inspire more possibilities in TMS design.

Keywords: Semi-analytic method, fast prediction model, thermal influence of boundary parameters, energy storage system.

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Authors: Zahid O. Alibrahim, Craig D. Williams, Clive L. Roberts

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The study area (Ecton mining area) is located in the southern part of the Peak District in Derbyshire, England. It is bounded by the River Manifold from the west. This area has been mined for a long period. As a result, huge amounts of potentially toxic metals were released into the surrounding area and are most likely to be a significant source of heavy metal contamination to the local soil, water and vegetation. In order to appraise the potential heavy metal pollution in this area, 37 topsoil samples (5-20 cm depth) were collected and analysed for their total content of Cu, Pb, Zn, Mn, Cr, Ni and V using ICP (Inductively Coupled Plasma) optical emission spectroscopy. Multivariate Geospatial analyses using the GIS technique were utilised to draw geochemical maps of the metals of interest over the study area. A few hotspot points, areas of elevated concentrations of metals, were specified, which are presumed to be the results of anthropogenic activities. In addition, the soil’s environmental quality was evaluated by calculating the Mullers’ Geoaccumulation index (I geo), which suggests that the degree of contamination of the investigated heavy metals has the following trend: Pb > Zn > Cu > Mn > Ni = Cr = V. Furthermore, the potential ecological risk, using the enrichment factor (EF), was also specified. On the basis of the calculated amount or the EF, the levels of pollution for the studied metals in the study area have the following order: Pb>Zn>Cu>Cr>V>Ni>Mn.

Keywords: Heavy metals, GIS, multivariate analysis, geoaccumulation index, enrichment factor.

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Authors: G. A. Adamu, M. S. Sallau, S. O. Idris, E. B. Agbaji

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Drinking water is supplied to Danbatta, Makoda and some parts of Minjibir local government areas of Kano State from the surface water of Thomas Reservoir. The present land use in the catchment area of the reservoir indicates high agricultural activities, fishing, as well as domestic and small scale industrial activities. To study and monitor the quality of surface and drinking water of the area, water samples were collected from the reservoir, treated water at the treatment plant and potable water at the consumer end in three seasons November - February (cold season), March - June (dry season) and July - September (rainy season). The samples were analyzed for physical and chemical parameters, pH, temperature, total dissolved solids (TDS), conductivity, turbidity, total hardness, suspended solids, total solids, colour, dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand (BOD), chloride ion (Cl^-) nitrite (NO₂^-), nitrate (NO₃^-), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and phosphate (PO₄^3-). The higher values obtained in some parameters with respect to the acceptable standard set by World Health Organization (WHO) and Nigerian Industrial Standards (NIS) indicate the pollution of both the surface and drinking water. These pollutants were observed to have a negative impact on water quality in terms of eutrophication, largely due to anthropogenic activities in the watershed.

Keywords: Surface water, drinking water, water quality, pollution, Thomas reservoir, Kano.

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Authors: Ghada Badr, Manar Hosny, Nuha Bintayyash, Eman Albilali, Souad Larabi Marie-Sainte

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The median problem is significantly applied to derive the most reasonable rearrangement phylogenetic tree for many species. More specifically, the problem is concerned with finding a permutation that minimizes the sum of distances between itself and a set of three signed permutations. Genomes with equal number of genes but different order can be represented as permutations. In this paper, an algorithm, namely BeamGA median, is proposed that combines a heuristic search approach (local beam) as an initialization step to generate a number of solutions, and then a Genetic Algorithm (GA) is applied in order to refine the solutions, aiming to achieve a better median with the smallest possible reversal distance from the three original permutations. In this approach, any genome rearrangement distance can be applied. In this paper, we use the reversal distance. To the best of our knowledge, the proposed approach was not applied before for solving the median problem. Our approach considers true biological evolution scenario by applying the concept of common intervals during the GA optimization process. This allows us to imitate a true biological behavior and enhance genetic approach time convergence. We were able to handle permutations with a large number of genes, within an acceptable time performance and with same or better accuracy as compared to existing algorithms.

Keywords: Median problem, phylogenetic tree, permutation, genetic algorithm, beam search, genome rearrangement distance.

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Authors: M. Yadegari

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The thyroid gland is the largest classic endocrine organ that effects many organs of the body and plays a significant role in the process of Metabolism in animals. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of thyroid disorders diagnosed by ultrasound and microscopic Lesions of the thyroid during the slaughter of apparently healthy One Humped Camels (Camelus dromedarius) in Iran. Randomly, 520 male camels (With an age range of 4 to 8 years), were studied in 2012 to 2013. The Camels’ thyroid glands were evaluated by sonographic examination. In both longitudinal and transverse view and then tissue sections were provide and stained with H & E and finally examined by light microscopy. The results obtained indicated the following: hyperplastic goiter (21%), degenerative changes (12%), follicular cysts (8%), follicular atrophy (4%), nodular hyperplasia (3%), adenoma (1%), carcinoma (1%) and simple goiter colloid (1%). Ultrasound evaluation of thyroid gland in adenoma and carcinoma showed enlargement and irregular of the gland, decreased echogenicity, and the heterogeneous thyroid parenchyma. Also, in follicular cysts were observed in the enlarged gland with no echo structures of different sizes and decreased echogenicity as a local or general. In nodular hyperplasia, increase echogenicity and heterogeneous parenchymal were seen. These findings suggest the use of sonography and pathology as a screening test in the diagnosis of complications of thyroid disorders.

Keywords: One humped camel, pathology, sonography, thyroid gland.

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Authors: Fatima Z. Cherhabil, Mammar Sedrati, Sonia-Sabrina Bendib‎

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In order to support the continued growth, critical latency of ‎IoT ‎applications and ‎various obstacles of traditional data centers, ‎Mobile Edge ‎Computing (MEC) has ‎emerged as a promising solution that extends the cloud data-processing and decision-making to edge devices. ‎By adopting a MEC structure, IoT applications could be executed ‎locally, on ‎an edge server, different fog nodes or distant cloud ‎data centers. However, we are ‎often ‎faced with wanting to optimize conflicting criteria such as ‎minimizing energy ‎consumption of limited local capabilities (in terms of CPU, RAM, storage, bandwidth) of mobile edge ‎devices and trying to ‎keep ‎high performance (reducing ‎response time, increasing throughput and service availability) ‎at the same ‎time‎. Achieving one goal may affect the other making Task Offloading (TO), ‎Resource Allocation (RA) and Service Placement (SP) complex ‎processes. ‎It is a nontrivial multi-objective optimization ‎problem ‎to study the trade-off between conflicting criteria. ‎The paper provides a survey on different TO, SP and RA recent Multi-‎Objective Optimization (MOO) approaches used in edge computing environments, particularly Artificial Intelligent (AI) ones, to satisfy various objectives, constraints and dynamic conditions related to IoT applications‎.

Keywords: Mobile Edge Computing, Multi-Objective Optimization, Artificial Intelligence ‎Approaches, Task Offloading, Resource Allocation, Service Placement‎.

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Authors: Sara Jelodarian

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Organic agriculture is a kind of living and dynamic agriculture that was introduced in the early 20^th century. The fundamental basis for organic agriculture is in harmony with nature. This version of farming emphasizes removing growth hormones, chemical fertilizers, toxins, radiation, genetic manipulation and instead, integration of modern scientific techniques (such as biologic and microbial control) that leads to the production of healthy food and the preservation of the environment and use of agricultural products such as forage and manure. Supports from governments for the markets producing organic products and taking advantage of the experiences from other successful societies in this field can help progress the positive and effective aspects of this technology, especially in developing countries. This research proves that till 2030, 25% of the global agricultural lands would be covered by organic farming. Consequently Iran, due to its rich genetic resources and various climates, can be a pioneer in promoting organic products. In addition, for sustainable farming, blend of organic and other innovative systems is needed. Important limitations exist to accept these systems, also a diversity of policy instruments will be required to comfort their development and implementation. The paper was conducted to results of compilation of reports, issues, books, articles related to the subject with library studies and research. Likewise we combined experimental and survey to get data.

Keywords: Development, production markets, progress, strategic role, technology.

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Authors: Sony P. Aquino, Helen F. Gavino, Victorino T. Taylan, Teresito G. Aguinaldo

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A simple mobile engine-driven pneumatic paddy collector made of locally available materials using local manufacturing technology was designed, fabricated, and tested for collecting and bagging of paddy dried on concrete pavement. The pneumatic paddy collector had the following major components: radial flat bladed type centrifugal fan, power transmission system, bagging area, frame and the conveyance system. Results showed significant differences on the collecting capacity, noise level, and fuel consumption when rotational speed of the air mover shaft was varied. Other parameters such as collecting efficiency, air velocity, augmented cracked grain percentage, and germination rate were not significantly affected by varying rotational speed of the air mover shaft. The pneumatic paddy collector had a collecting efficiency of 99.33 % with a collecting capacity of 2685.00 kg/h at maximum rotational speed of centrifugal fan shaft of about 4200 rpm. The machine entailed an investment cost of P 62,829.25. The break-even weight of paddy was 510,606.75 kg/yr at a collecting cost of 0.11 P/kg of paddy. Utilizing the machine for 400 hours per year generated an income of P 23,887.73. The projected time needed to recover cost of the machine based on 2685 kg/h collecting capacity was 2.63 year.

Keywords: Mobile engine-driven pneumatic paddy collector, collecting capacity and efficiency, simple cost analysis.

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Authors: Berna Eren Tokgoz, Mahdi Safa, Seokyon Hwang

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Power distribution systems are essential and crucial infrastructures for the development and maintenance of a sustainable society. These systems are extremely vulnerable to various types of natural and man-made disasters. The assessment of resilience focuses on preparedness and mitigation actions under pre-disaster conditions. It also concentrates on response and recovery actions under post-disaster situations. The aim of this study is to present a methodology to assess the resilience of electric power distribution poles against wind-related events. The proposed methodology can improve the accuracy and rapidity of the evaluation of the conditions and the assessment of the resilience of poles. The methodology provides a metric for the evaluation of the resilience of poles under pre-disaster and post-disaster conditions. The metric was developed using mathematical expressions for physical forces that involve various variables, such as physical dimensions of the pole, the inclination of the pole, and wind speed. A three-dimensional imaging technology (photogrammetry) was used to determine the inclination of poles. Based on expert opinion, the proposed metric was used to define zones to visualize resilience. Visual representation of resilience is helpful for decision makers to prioritize their resources before and after experiencing a wind-related disaster. Multiple electric poles in the City of Beaumont, TX were used in a case study to evaluate the proposed methodology.  

Keywords: Photogrammetry, power distribution systems, resilience metric, system resilience, wind-related disasters.

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Authors: Jelena Slugan, Ivica Ružić

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We are witnessing the rapid development of technologies that change the world around us. However, curriculums and teaching processes are often slow to adapt to the change; it takes time, money and expertise to implement technology in the classroom. Therefore, the University of Split, Croatia, partnered with local school Marko Marulić High School and created the project "Modern competence in modern high schools" as part of which five different curriculums for STEM areas were developed. One of the curriculums involves combining information technology with physics. The main idea was to teach students how to use different circuits and microcomputers to explore nature and physical phenomena. As a result, using electrical circuits, students are able to recreate in the classroom the phenomena that they observe every day in their environment. So far, high school students had very little opportunity to perform experiments independently, and especially, those physics experiment did not involve ICT. Therefore, this project has a great importance, because the students will finally get a chance to develop themselves in accordance to modern technologies. This paper presents some new methods of teaching physics that will help students to develop experimental skills through the study of deterministic nature of physical laws. Students will learn how to formulate hypotheses, model physical problems using the electronic circuits and evaluate their results. While doing that, they will also acquire useful problem solving skills.

Keywords: ICT in physics, curriculum, laboratory activities, STEM.

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Authors: Martin Hans Knahl

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The Internet is the global data communications infrastructure based on the interconnection of both public and private networks using protocols that implement Internetworking on a global scale. Hence the control of protocol and infrastructure development, resource allocation and network operation are crucial and interlinked aspects. Internet Governance is the hotly debated and contentious subject that refers to the global control and operation of key Internet infrastructure such as domain name servers and resources such as domain names. It is impossible to separate technical and political positions as they are interlinked. Furthermore the existence of a global market, transparency and competition impact upon Internet Governance and related topics such as network neutrality and security. Current trends and developments regarding Internet governance with a focus on the policy-making process, security and control have been observed to evaluate current and future implications on the Internet. The multi stakeholder approach to Internet Governance discussed in this paper presents a number of opportunities, issues and developments that will affect the future direction of the Internet. Internet operation, maintenance and advisory organisations such as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) or the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) are currently in the process of formulating policies for future Internet Governance. Given the controversial nature of the issues at stake and the current lack of agreement it is predicted that institutional as well as market governance will remain present for the network access and content.

Keywords: Internet Governance, ICANN, Democracy, Security

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Authors: Kostas Siozios, Dimitrios Soudris, Antonios Thanailakis

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Modern applications realized onto FPGAs exhibit high connectivity demands. Throughout this paper we study the routing constraints of Virtex devices and we propose a systematic methodology for designing a novel general-purpose interconnection network targeting to reconfigurable architectures. This network consists of multiple segment wires and SB patterns, appropriately selected and assigned across the device. The goal of our proposed methodology is to maximize the hardware utilization of fabricated routing resources. The derived interconnection scheme is integrated on a Virtex style FPGA. This device is characterized both for its high-performance, as well as for its low-energy requirements. Due to this, the design criterion that guides our architecture selections was the minimal Energy×Delay Product (EDP). The methodology is fully-supported by three new software tools, which belong to MEANDER Design Framework. Using a typical set of MCNC benchmarks, extensive comparison study in terms of several critical parameters proves the effectiveness of the derived interconnection network. More specifically, we achieve average Energy×Delay Product reduction by 63%, performance increase by 26%, reduction in leakage power by 21%, reduction in total energy consumption by 11%, at the expense of increase of channel width by 20%.

Keywords: Design Methodology, FPGA, Interconnection, Low-Energy, High-Performance, CAD tool.

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Authors: A. Das, L. Hitihamillage, S. Moridpour

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Natural disasters are inevitable to the biodiversity. Disasters such as flood, tsunami and tornadoes could be brutal, harsh and devastating. In Australia, flooding is a major issue experienced by different parts of the country. In such crisis, delays in evacuation could decide the life and death of the people living in those regions. Congestion management could become a mammoth task if there are no steps taken before such situations. In the past to manage congestion in such circumstances, many strategies were utilised such as converting the road shoulders to extra lanes or changing the road geometry by adding more lanes. However, expansion of road to resolving congestion problems is not considered a viable option nowadays. The authorities avoid this option due to many reasons, such as lack of financial support and land space. They tend to focus their attention on optimising the current resources they possess and use traffic signals to overcome congestion problems. Traffic Signal Management strategy was considered a viable option, to alleviate congestion problems in the City of Geelong, Victoria. Arterial road with signalised intersections considered in this paper and the traffic data required for modelling collected from VicRoads. Traffic signalling software SIDRA used to model the roads, and the information gathered from VicRoads. In this paper, various signal parameters utilised to assess and improve the corridor performance to achieve the best possible Level of Services (LOS) for the arterial road.

Keywords: Congestion, constraints, management, LOS.

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Authors: Jong-Moon Chung, Hyung-Weon Cho, Ki-Yong Jin, Min-Hee Cho

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In this paper, we present an analytical framework for the evaluation of the uplink performance of multihop cellular networks based on dynamic time division duplex (TDD). New wireless broadband protocols, such as WiMAX, WiBro, and 3G-LTE apply TDD, and mobile communication protocols under standardization (e.g., IEEE802.16j) are investigating mobile multihop relay (MMR) as a future technology. In this paper a novel MMR TDD scheme is presented, where the dynamic range of the frame is shared to traffic resources of asymmetric nature and multihop relaying. The mobile communication channel interference model comprises of inner and co-channel interference (CCI). The performance analysis focuses on the uplink due to the fact that the effects of dynamic resource allocation show significant performance degradation only in the uplink compared to time division multiple access (TDMA) schemes due to CCI [1-3], where the downlink results to be the same or better.The analysis was based on the signal to interference power ratio (SIR) outage probability of dynamic TDD (D-TDD) and TDMA systems,which are the most widespread mobile communication multi-user control techniques. This paper presents the uplink SIR outage probability with multihop results and shows that the dynamic TDD scheme applying MMR can provide a performance improvement compared to single hop applications if executed properly.

Keywords: Co-Channel Interference, Dynamic TDD, MobileMultihop Reply, Cellular Network, Time Division Multiple Access.

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Authors: Turki M. Habeebullah, Said Munir, Karl Ropkins, Essam A. Morsy, Atef M. F. Mohammed, Abdulaziz R. Seroji

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In this paper air quality conditions in Makkah and Leeds are compared. These two cities have totally different climatic conditions. Makkah climate is characterised as hot and dry (arid) whereas that of Leeds is characterised as cold and wet (temperate). This study uses air quality data from 2012 collected in Makkah, Saudi Arabia and Leeds, UK. The concentrations of all pollutants, except NO are higher in Makkah. Most notable, the concentrations of PM10 are much higher in Makkah than in Leeds. This is probably due to the arid nature of climatic conditions in Makkah and not solely due to anthropogenic emission sources, otherwise like PM10 some of the other pollutants, such as CO, NO, and SO2 would have shown much greater difference between Leeds and Makkah. Correlation analysis is performed between different pollutants at the same site and the same pollutants at different sites. In Leeds the correlation between PM10 and other pollutants is significantly stronger than in Makkah. Weaker correlation in Makkah is probably due to the fact that in Makkah most of the gaseous pollutants are emitted by combustion processes, whereas most of the PM10 is generated by other sources, such as windblown dust, re-suspension, and construction activities. This is in contrast to Leeds where all pollutants including PM10 are predominantly emitted by combustions, such as road traffic. Furthermore, in Leeds frequent rains wash out most of the atmospheric particulate matter and suppress re-suspension of dust. Temporal trends of various pollutants are compared and discussed. This study emphasises the role of climatic conditions in managing air quality, and hence the need for region-specific controlling strategies according to the local climatic and meteorological conditions.

Keywords: Air pollution, climatic conditions, particulate matter, Makkah, Leeds.

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Authors: Hicham Gourgue, Ahmed Aharoune, Ahmed Ihlal

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We present in this work our model of road traffic emissions (line sources) and dispersion of these emissions, named DISPOLSPEM (Dispersion of Poly Sources and Pollutants Emission Model). In its emission part, this model was designed to keep the consistent bottom-up and top-down approaches. It also allows to generate emission inventories from reduced input parameters being adapted to existing conditions in Morocco and in the other developing countries. While several simplifications are made, all the performance of the model results are kept. A further important advantage of the model is that it allows the uncertainty calculation and emission rate uncertainty according to each of the input parameters. In the dispersion part of the model, an improved line source model has been developed, implemented and tested against a reference solution. It provides improvement in accuracy over previous formulas of line source Gaussian plume model, without being too demanding in terms of computational resources. In the case study presented here, the biggest errors were associated with the ends of line source sections; these errors will be canceled by adjacent sections of line sources during the simulation of a road network. In cases where the wind is parallel to the source line, the use of the combination discretized source and analytical line source formulas minimizes remarkably the error. Because this combination is applied only for a small number of wind directions, it should not excessively increase the calculation time.

Keywords: Air pollution, dispersion, emissions, line sources, road traffic, urban transport.

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Authors: E. Ramaraj, A. Padmapriya

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In large Internet backbones, Service Providers typically have to explicitly manage the traffic flows in order to optimize the use of network resources. This process is often referred to as Traffic Engineering (TE). Common objectives of traffic engineering include balance traffic distribution across the network and avoiding congestion hot spots. Raj P H and SVK Raja designed the Bayesian network approach to identify congestion hors pots in MPLS. In this approach for every node in the network the Conditional Probability Distribution (CPD) is specified. Based on the CPD the congestion hot spots are identified. Then the traffic can be distributed so that no link in the network is either over utilized or under utilized. Although the Bayesian network approach has been implemented in operational networks, it has a number of well known scaling issues. This paper proposes a new approach, which we call the Pragati (means Progress) Node Popularity (PNP) approach to identify the congestion hot spots with the network topology alone. In the new Pragati Node Popularity approach, IP routing runs natively over the physical topology rather than depending on the CPD of each node as in Bayesian network. We first illustrate our approach with a simple network, then present a formal analysis of the Pragati Node Popularity approach. Our PNP approach shows that for any given network of Bayesian approach, it exactly identifies the same result with minimum efforts. We further extend the result to a more generic one: for any network topology and even though the network is loopy. A theoretical insight of our result is that the optimal routing is always shortest path routing with respect to some considerations of hot spots in the networks.

Keywords: Conditional Probability Distribution, Congestion hotspots, Operational Networks, Traffic Engineering.

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Authors: Indrijuli Magsari Putri, Dicky R. Munaf

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The purpose of this paper is to guide the effort in improving the economic added value of Indonesian fisheries product through post fishing program, which is cold storage program. Indonesia's fisheries potential has been acknowledged by the world. FAO (2009) stated that Indonesia is one of the tenth highest producers of fishery products in the world. Based on BPS (Statistics Indonesia data), the national fisheries production in 2011 reached 5.714 million tons, which 93.55% came from marine fisheries and 6.45% from open waters. Indonesian territory consist of 2/3 of Indonesian waters, has given enormous benefits for Indonesia, especially fishermen. To improve the economic level of fishermen requires efforts to develop fisheries business unit. On of the efforts is by improving the quality of products which are marketed in the regional and international levels. It is certainly need the support of the existence of various fishery facilities (infrastructure to superstructure), one of which is cold storage. Given the many benefits of cold storage as a means of processing of fishery resources, Indonesia Maritime Security Coordinating Board (IMSCB) as one of the maritime institutions for maritime security and safety, has a program to empower the coastal community through encourages the development of cold storage in the middle and lower fishery business unit. The development of cold storage facilities which able to run its maximum role requires synergistic efforts of various parties.

Keywords: Cold Storage, Fish, Regulation.

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Authors: M. Vogiatzis, K. Perakis

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Spatial-explicit and up-to-date land use/land cover information is fundamental for spatial planning, land management, sustainable development, and sound decision-making. In the last decade, many satellite-derived land cover products at different spatial, spectral, and temporal resolutions have been developed, such as the European Copernicus Land Cover product. However, more efficient and detailed information for land use/land cover is required at the regional or local scale. A typical Mediterranean basin with a complex landscape comprised of various forest types, crops, artificial surfaces, and wetlands was selected to test and develop our approach. In this study, we investigate the improvement of Copernicus Land Cover product (CLC2018) using Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 pixel-based classification based on all available existing geospatial data (Forest Maps, LPIS, Natura2000 habitats, cadastral parcels, etc.). We examined and compared the performance of the Random Forest classifier for land use/land cover mapping. In total, 10 land use/land cover categories were recognized in Landsat 8 and 11 in Sentinel-2A. A comparison of the overall classification accuracies for 2018 shows that Landsat 8 classification accuracy was slightly higher than Sentinel-2A (82,99% vs. 80,30%). We concluded that the main land use/land cover types of CLC2018, even within a heterogeneous area, can be successfully mapped and updated according to CLC nomenclature. Future research should be oriented toward integrating spatiotemporal information from seasonal bands and spectral indexes in the classification process.

Keywords: land use/land cover, random forest, Landsat-8 OLI, Sentinel-2A MSI, Corine land cover

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Authors: Richard C.M. Yam, William Lo, Esther P.Y. Tang, Antonio, K.W. Lau

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Technological innovation capability (TIC) is defined as a comprehensive set of characteristics of a firm that facilities and supports its technological innovation strategies. An audit to evaluate the TICs of a firm may trigger improvement in its future practices. Such an audit can be used by the firm for self assessment or third-party independent assessment to identify problems of its capability status. This paper attempts to develop such an auditing framework that can help to determine the subtle links between innovation capabilities and business performance; and to enable the auditor to determine whether good practice is in place. The seven TICs in this study include learning, R&D, resources allocation, manufacturing, marketing, organization and strategic planning capabilities. Empirical data was acquired through a survey study of 200 manufacturing firms in the Hong Kong/Pearl River Delta (HK/PRD) region. Structural equation modelling was employed to examine the relationships among TICs and various performance indicators: sales performance, innovation performance, product performance, and sales growth. The results revealed that different TICs have different impacts on different performance measures. Organization capability was found to have the most influential impact. Hong Kong manufacturers are now facing the challenge of high-mix-low-volume customer orders. In order to cope with this change, good capability in organizing different activities among various departments is critical to the success of a company.

Keywords: Hong Kong/Pearl River Delta, Innovationaudit, Manufacturing, Technological innovation capability

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Authors: Aldrin R. Logdat

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Like mostly Filipinos, Mangyans have to face various ecological conundrums and sicknesses in order to survive. In these challenging times, it is the fear of life that grasps so alarmingly that even indigenous communities are not excused. Given this reality, this paper deals with the local cultural knowledge and customs of Mangyans, the indigenous people in the island of Mindoro, Philippines, that let them face calamities and crises with great resolve. For the Mangyans, their collective wisdom and tradition of resilience make them survive the stiffest challenges that come in their lives. The Mangyans believe in the existence of one Supreme Being, Ambuwaw, who created them and the world and who is continually sustaining their existence. The presence of the divine is experienced in terms of his omnipotence, pervading their everyday life, and manifesting himself in physically observable phenomena such as deliverance from calamities or sicknesses, blessing of the harvest, and other forms. They believe that there are bad spirits roaming the land called Bukaw in the spirit-world. Ecological catastrophes are regarded as being caused by these bad spirits. To drive away these, Mangyans perform a ritual called Tawtaw. Knowing how Mangyans steadfastly confront challenges in life and how they prosper despite having meager means and being significantly less equipped for and dependent on contemporary technologies is enlightening. Their worldview (pananaw) which shapes and informs their customs and traditions (kaugalian) is what they refer to as their indigenous survival wisdom and it is actualized through unique communal behaviors (kinagawian).

Keywords: Indigenous survival wisdom, Mangyans, resilience, tradition and customs.

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Authors: Shervin Khazaeli, Shahab Haj-zamani

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Recently, advanced geotechnical engineering problems related to soil movement, particle loss, and modeling of local failure (i.e. discontinua) as well as modeling the in-contact structures (i.e. continua) are of the great interest among researchers. The aim of this research is to meet the requirements with respect to the modeling of the above-mentioned two different domains simultaneously. To this end, a coupled numerical method is introduced based on Discrete Element Method (DEM) and eXtended-Finite Element Method (X-FEM). In the coupled procedure, DEM is employed to capture the interactions and relative movements of soil particles as discontinua, while X-FEM is utilized to model in-contact structures as continua, which may consist of different types of discontinuities. For verification purposes, the new coupled approach is utilized to examine benchmark problems including different contacts between/within continua and discontinua. Results are validated by comparison with those of existing analytical and numerical solutions. This study proves that extended-finite-discrete element method can be used to robustly analyze not only contact problems, but also other types of discontinuities in continua such as (i) crack formations and propagations, (ii) voids and bimaterial interfaces, and (iii) combination of previous cases. In essence, the proposed method can be used vastly in advanced soil-structure interaction problems to investigate the micro and macro behaviour of the surrounding soil and the response of the embedded structure that contains discontinuities.

Keywords: Contact problems, discrete element method, extended-finite element method, soil-structure interaction.

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