Search results for: standard of care

Authors: Fatma Belghith, Hassen Loukil, Nouri Masmoudi

Abstract:

This paper presents the hardware design of a unified architecture to compute the 4x4, 8x8 and 16x16 efficient twodimensional (2-D) transform for the HEVC standard. This architecture is based on fast integer transform algorithms. It is designed only with adders and shifts in order to reduce the hardware cost significantly. The goal is to ensure the maximum circuit reuse during the computing while saving 40% for the number of operations. The architecture is developed using FIFOs to compute the second dimension. The proposed hardware was implemented in VHDL. The VHDL RTL code works at 240 MHZ in an Altera Stratix III FPGA. The number of cycles in this architecture varies from 33 in 4-point- 2D-DCT to 172 when the 16-point-2D-DCT is computed. Results show frequency improvements reaching 96% when compared to an architecture described as the direct transcription of the algorithm.

Keywords: HEVC, Modified Integer Transform, FPGA.

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Authors: B. Siva Kumar Reddy, B. Lakshmi

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This paper addresses the reduction of peak to average power ratio (PAPR) for the OFDM in Mobile-WiMAX physical layer (PHY) standard. In the process, the best achievable PAPR of 0 dB is found for the OFDM spectrum using phase modulation technique which avoids the nonlinear distortion. The performance of the WiMAX PHY standard is handled by the software defined radio (SDR) prototype in which GNU Radio and USRP N210 employed as software and hardware platforms respectively. It is also found that BER performance is shown for different coding and different modulation schemes. To empathize wireless propagation in specific environments, a sliding correlator wireless channel sounding system is designed by using SDR testbed.

Keywords: BER, Channel sounding, GNU Radio, OFDM/OFDMA, USRP N210.

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Authors: Bhavneet Sidhu, Hardeep Singh, Amit Chhabra

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The world of wireless telecommunications is rapidly evolving. Technologies under research and development promise to deliver more services to more users in less time. This paper presents the emerging technologies helping wireless systems grow from where we are today into our visions of the future. This paper will cover the applications and characteristics of emerging wireless technologies: Wireless Local Area Networks (WiFi-802.11n), Wireless Personal Area Networks (ZigBee) and Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WiMAX). The purpose of this paper is to explain the impending 802.11n standard and how it will enable WLANs to support emerging media-rich applications. The paper will also detail how 802.11n compares with existing WLAN standards and offer strategies for users considering higher-bandwidth alternatives. The emerging IEEE 802.15.4 (ZigBee) standard aims to provide low data rate wireless communications with high-precision ranging and localization, by employing UWB technologies for a low-power and low cost solution. WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a standard for wireless data transmission covering a range similar to cellular phone towers. With high performance in both distance and throughput, WiMAX technology could be a boon to current Internet providers seeking to become the leader of next generation wireless Internet access. This paper also explores how these emerging technologies differ from one another.

Keywords: MIMO technology, WiFi, WiMAX, ZigBee.

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Authors: Osama Terra, Mariesa Nel, Hatem Hussein

Abstract:

Calibration of Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) has a crucial role for the accurate determination of fault locations and the accurate calculation of loss budget of long-haul optical fibre links during installation and repair. A comparison has been made between the Egyptian National Institute for Standards (NIS-Egypt) and the National Metrology institute of South Africa (NMISA-South Africa) for the calibration of an OTDR. The distance and the attenuation scales of a transfer OTDR have been calibrated by both institutes using their standards according to the standard IEC 61746-1 (2009). The results of this comparison have been compiled in this report.

Keywords: OTDR calibration, recirculating loop, concatenated method, standard fibre.

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Authors: Jongmin Kim, Tae-Ho Song

Abstract:

A measurement apparatus is designed and fabricated to measure the effective thermal conductivity (keff) of a VIP (vacuum insulation panel) core specimen under various vacuum states and external loads. The apparatus consists of part for measuring keff, and parts for controlling external load and vacuum condition. Uncertainty of the apparatus is validated by measuring the standard reference material and comparing with commercial devices with VIP samples. Assessed uncertainty is maximum 2.5 % in case of the standard reference material, 10 % in case of VIP samples. Using the apparatus, keff of glass paper under various vacuum levels is examined.

Keywords: Effective thermal conductivity, guarded hot plate method, vacuum insulation panel

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Authors: Jiayue Zhao, Hongjuan Wu, Guiwen Liu

Abstract:

Old neighborhoods with a large elderly population depend on community-based elderly care facilities (community-based ECFs) for aging-in-place. Yet, due to scarce and scattered land, the facilities face inequitable distribution. This research uses spatial equity theory for measuring the spatial equity of community-based ECFs in old neighborhoods. Field surveys gather granular data and methods including coverage rate, Gini coefficient, Lorenz curve and G2SFCA. The findings showed that coverage is substantial but does not indicate supply is matching to demand, nor does it imply superior accessibility. The key contributions are that structuring spatial equity framework considering elderly residents’ travel behavior. This study dedicated to the international literature on spatial equity from the perspective of travel behavior and could provide valuable suggestions for the urban planning of old neighborhoods.

Keywords: Community-based ECFs, elderly residents’ travel behavior, old neighborhoods, spatial equity.

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Authors: M. A. Tayfun

Abstract:

Occurrences of spurious crests on the troughs of large, relatively steep second-order Stokes waves are anomalous and not an inherent characteristic of real waves. Here, the effects of such occurrences on the statistics described by the standard second-order stochastic model are examined theoretically and by way of simulations. Theoretical results and simulations indicate that when spurious occurrences are sufficiently large, the standard model leads to physically unrealistic surface features and inaccuracies in the statistics of various surface features, in particular, the troughs and thus zero-crossing heights of large waves. Whereas inaccuracies can be fairly noticeable for long-crested waves in both deep and shallower depths, they tend to become relatively insignificant in directional waves.

Keywords: Large waves, non-linear effects, simulation, spectra, spurious crests, Stokes waves, wave breaking, wave statistics.

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Authors: Maria Damian, Carmen G. Bonaci, Jiří Strouhal, Razvan V. Mustata, Dumitru Matis, Jiřina Bokšová

Abstract:

In the current context of globalization, a large number of companies sought to develop as a group in order to reach to other markets or meet the necessary criteria for listing on a stock exchange. The issue of consolidated financial statements prepared by a parent, an investor or a venture and the financial reporting standards guiding them therefore becomes even more important. The aim of our paper is to expose this issue in a consistent manner, first by summarizing the international accounting and financial reporting standards applicable before the 1st of January 2013 and considering the role of the crisis in shaping the standard setting process, and secondly by analyzing the newly issued/modified standards and main changes being brought

Keywords: Consolidated financial statements, control, IFRS 10, financial crisis.

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Authors: Ilyas Khan. Liliane Pintelon, Harry Martin, Michael Shömig

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The increasing costs of healthcare on one hand, and the rise in aging population and associated chronic disease, on the other hand, are putting increasing burden on the current health care system in many Western countries. For instance, chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a common disease and in Europe, the cost of renal replacement therapy (RRT) is very significant to the total health care cost. However, the recent advancement in healthcare technology, provide the opportunity to treat patients at home in their own comfort. It is evident that home healthcare offers numerous advantages apparently, low costs and high patients’ quality of life. Despite these advantages, the intake of home hemodialysis (HHD) therapy is still low in particular in Germany. Many factors are accounted for the low number of HHD intake. However, this paper is focusing on patients’ safety-related factors of current HHD practices in Germany. The aim of this paper is to analyze the current HHD practices in Germany and to identify risks related factors if any exist. A case study has been conducted in a dialysis center which consists of four dialysis centers in the south of Germany. In total, these dialysis centers have 350 chronic dialysis patients, of which, four patients are on HHD. The centers have 126 staff which includes six nephrologists and 120 other staff i.e. nurses and administration. The results of the study revealed several risk-related factors. Most importantly, these centers do not offer allied health services at the pre-dialysis stage, the HHD training did not have an established curriculum; however, they have just recently developed the first version. Only a soft copy of the machine manual is offered to patients. Surprisingly, the management was not aware of any standard available for home assessment and installation. The home assessment is done by a third party (i.e. the machines and equipment provider) and they may not consider the hygienic quality of the patient’s home. The type of machine provided to patients at home is similar to the one in the center. The model may not be suitable at home because of its size and complexity. Even though portable hemodialysis machines, which are specially designed for home use, are available in the market such as the NxStage series. Besides the type of machine, no assistance is offered for space management at home in particular for placing the machine. Moreover, the centers do not offer remote assistance to patients and their carer at home. However, telephonic assistance is available. Furthermore, no alternative is offered if a carer is not available. In addition, the centers are lacking medical staff including nephrologists and renal nurses.

Keywords: Home hemodialysis, home hemodialysis practices, patients’ related risks in the current home hemodialysis practices, patient safety in home hemodialysis.

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Authors: Jakub Havlicek, Jiri Cajthaml

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The article describes the effect of the replacement of the used reference coordinate system in the georeferencing of an old map of Europe. The map was georeferenced into three types of projection – the equal-area conic (original cartographic projection), cylindrical Plate Carrée and cylindrical Mercator map projection. The map was georeferenced by means of the affine and the second-order polynomial transformation. The resulting georeferenced raster datasets from the Plate Carrée and Mercator projection were projected into the equal-area conic projection by means of projection equations. The output is the comparison of drawn graphics, the magnitude of standard deviations for individual projections and types of transformation.

Keywords: Georeferencing, reference coordinate system, transformation, standard deviation.

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Authors: Laurent Thiry, Michel Hassenforder

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This paper presents a general approach to implement efficient queries’ interpreters in a functional programming language. Indeed, most of the standard tools actually available use an imperative and/or object-oriented language for the implementation (e.g. Java for Jena-Fuseki) but other paradigms are possible with, maybe, better performances. To proceed, the paper first explains how to model data structures and queries in a functional point of view. Then, it proposes a general methodology to get performances (i.e. number of computation steps to answer a query) then it explains how to integrate some optimization techniques (short-cut fusion and, more important, data transformations). It then compares the functional server proposed to a standard tool (Fuseki) demonstrating that the first one can be twice to ten times faster to answer queries.

Keywords: Data transformation, functional programming, information server, optimization.

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Authors: Nursyarizal Mohd Nor, Ramiah Jegatheesan, Perumal Nallagownden

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Newton-Raphson State Estimation method using bus admittance matrix remains as an efficient and most popular method to estimate the state variables. Elements of Jacobian matrix are computed from standard expressions which lack physical significance. In this paper, elements of the state estimation Jacobian matrix are obtained considering the power flow measurements in the network elements. These elements are processed one-by-one and the Jacobian matrix H is updated suitably in a simple manner. The constructed Jacobian matrix H is integrated with Weight Least Square method to estimate the state variables. The suggested procedure is successfully tested on IEEE standard systems.

Keywords: State Estimation (SE), Weight Least Square (WLS), Newton-Raphson State Estimation (NRSE), Jacobian matrix H.

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Authors: Chiara Mansanta, Daniela Sani

Abstract:

This paper studies the concept of intrapreneurship discovery for innovation and technology development related to the manufacturing industries set up in the center of Italy, in Marche Region. The study underlined the key drivers of the innovation process and the main factors that influence innovation. Starting from a literature study on open innovation, this paper examines the role of human capital to support company’s development. The empirical part of the study is based on a survey to 151 manufacturing companies that represent the 34% of that universe at the regional level. The survey underlined the main KPI’s that influence companies in their decision processes; then tools for these decision processes are presented.

Keywords: Business model, decision making, intrapreneurship discovery, open innovation, standard methodology.

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Authors: C. Ardil

Abstract:

The selection of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) involves complex decision-making due to the evaluation of numerous alternatives and criteria simultaneously. This process necessitates the consideration of various factors such as payload capacity, maximum speed, endurance, altitude, avionics systems, price, economic life, and maximum range. This study aims to determine the most suitable UAV by taking these criteria into account. To achieve this, the standard fuzzy set methodology is employed, enabling decision-makers to define linguistic terms as references. A practical numerical example is provided to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach. Through a successful application, a comparison of different UAVs is conducted, culminating in the selection of the most appropriate vehicle during the final stage.

Keywords: Standard fuzzy sets (SFSs), Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) selection, multiple criteria decision making, MCDM

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Authors: Sophia Hayes, Kenny L. Liang, Sahil Sharma, Austin Shema, Mahmoud Bader, Mohamed Elbarkouky

Abstract:

Despite being one of the most significant economic contributors of the country, Canada’s construction industry is lagging behind other sectors when it comes to labor productivity improvements. The construction industry is very collaborative as a general contractor, will hire trade contractors to perform most of a project’s work; meaning low productivity from one contractor can have a domino effect on the shared success of a project. To address this issue and encourage trade contractors to improve their productivity tracking methods, an investigative study was done on the productivity views and tracking methods of various trade contractors. Additionally, an in-depth review was done on four standard tracking methods used in the construction industry: cost codes, benchmarking, the job productivity measurement (JPM) standard, and WorkFace Planning (WFP). The four tracking methods were used as a baseline in comparing the trade contractors’ responses, determining gaps within their current tracking methods, and for making improvement recommendations. 15 interviews were conducted with different trades to analyze how contractors value productivity. The results of these analyses indicated that there seem to be gaps within the construction industry when it comes to an understanding of the purpose and value in productivity tracking. The trade contractors also shared their current productivity tracking systems; which were then compared to the four standard tracking methods used in the construction industry. Gaps were identified in their various tracking methods and using a framework; recommendations were made based on the type of trade on how to improve how they track productivity.

Keywords: Trade contractors’ productivity, productivity tracking, cost codes, benchmarking, job productivity measurement, JPM, workface planning WFP.

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Authors: Ademuyiwa, M. O., Sanni, S. A.

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The importance of maternal nutritional practices during pregnancy cannot be overemphasized. This paper assessed the consumption pattern and dietary practices of 50 pregnant women selected using purposive sampling technique from three health care centres (Primary Health Care Centre, Obantoko; Primary Health Care Centre Alabata; and the General Hospital, Odeda) in Odeda Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria. Structured questionnaire was used to elicit information on socioeconomic status, consumption pattern and dietary practices. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, 17). The results indicated that about 58% of the pregnant women were below the age of 30 while 42% were ages 28-40 years. Only 16% had tertiary education while (38%) had secondary education, 52% earn income through petty trading. On food intake, 52% got their energy source from rice on a daily basis, followed by pap (38%) and eko (34%). For protein intake, 36% consumed bean cake on a daily basis while 66% consumed moinmoin 2-3 times a week. Orange (48%) and Green Leafy vegetable (40%) accounted for the mostly consumed fruit and vegetable on daily basis. In terms of animal origin, fish (76%), meat (58%) and eggs (30%) were consumed daily, while chicken and snail were consumed occasionally by 54% and 42%, respectively. Forty-six percent (46%) of the pregnant women eat more than three times daily; while 60% of the women eat outside their homes with 42% respondents eat out lunch and only two percent least eaten out dinner. It is important to increase in awareness campaign to sensitize the pregnant women on the importance of good nutrition especially fruits, vegetables and dairy products. 

Keywords: Consumption Pattern, Dietary Practices, Pregnant, Women, Nigeria.

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Authors: Chih-Chun Lai, Jun-Yu Wang

Abstract:

Keyboard is the most important equipment for computer tasks. However, improper design of keyboard would cause some symptoms like ulnar and/or radial deviations. The research goal of this study was to investigate the optimal size(s) of keycaps to increase efficiency. As shown in the questionnaire pre-study with 49 participants aged from 20 to 44, the most commonly used keyboards were 101-key standard keyboards. Most of the keycap sizes (W×L) were 1.3×1.5 cm and 1.5×1.5 cm. The fingertip breadths of most participants were 1.2 cm. Therefore, in the main study with 18 participants, a standard keyboard with each set of the 3-sized (1.2×1.4 cm, 1.3×1.5 cm, and 1.5×1.5 cm) keycaps were used to investigate their typing efficiency, respectively. The results revealed that the differences between the operating times for using 1.3×1.5 cm and 1.2×1.4 cm keycaps was insignificant while operating times for using 1.5×1.5cm keycaps were significantly longer than for using 1.2×1.4 cm or 1.3×1.5 cm, respectively. As for typing error rate, there was no significant difference.

Keywords: Keyboard, Keycap size, Typing efficiency.

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Authors: A. B. Adehor, P. R. Burrell

Abstract:

The Integrated Management of Child illnesses (IMCI) and the surveillance Health Information Systems (HIS) are related strategies that are designed to manage child illnesses and community practices of diseases. However, both strategies do not function well together because of classification incompatibilities and, as such, are difficult to use by health care personnel in rural areas where a majority of people lack the basic knowledge of interpreting disease classification from these methods. This paper discusses a single approach on how a stand-alone expert system can be used as a prompt diagnostic tool for all cases of illnesses presented. The system combines the action-oriented IMCI and the disease-oriented HIS approaches to diagnose malaria and typhoid fever in the rural areas of the Niger-delta region.

Keywords: Differential diagnosis, Health Information System(HIS), Integrated Management of Child Illnesses (IMCI), Malaria andTyphoid fever.

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Authors: Padmanabhan Balasubramanian, Bashetty Raghavendra

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In this paper, an analysis is presented, which demonstrates the effect pre-logic factoring could have on an automated combinational logic synthesis process succeeding it. The impact of pre-logic factoring for some arbitrary combinatorial circuits synthesized within a FPGA based logic design environment has been analyzed previously. This paper explores a similar effect, but with the non-regenerative logic synthesized using elements of a commercial standard cell library. On an overall basis, the results obtained pertaining to the analysis on a variety of MCNC/IWLS combinational logic benchmark circuits indicate that pre-logic factoring has the potential to facilitate simultaneous power, delay and area optimized synthesis solutions in many cases.

Keywords: Algebraic factoring, Combinational logic synthesis, Standard cells, Low power, Delay optimization, Area reduction.

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Authors: Emhimed Saffor, Abdelkader Salama

Abstract:

In this paper problem of edge detection in digital images is considered. Edge detection based on morphological operators was applied on two sets (brain & chest) ct images. Three methods of edge detection by applying line morphological filters with multi structures in different directions have been used. 3x3 filter for first method, 5x5 filter for second method, and 7x7 filter for third method. We had applied this algorithm on (13 images) under MATLAB program environment. In order to evaluate the performance of the above mentioned edge detection algorithms, standard deviation (SD) and peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) were used for justification for all different ct images. The objective method and the comparison of different methods of edge detection,  shows that high values of both standard deviation and PSNR values of edge detection images were obtained. 

Keywords: Medical images, Matlab, Edge detection.

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Authors: Fuad M. Alkoot

Abstract:

DNA data have been used in forensics for decades. However, current research looks at using the DNA as a biometric identity verification modality. The goal is to improve the speed of identification. We aim at using gene data that was initially used for autism detection to find if and how accurate is this data for identification applications. Mainly our goal is to find if our data preprocessing technique yields data useful as a biometric identification tool. We experiment with using the nearest neighbor classifier to identify subjects. Results show that optimal classification rate is achieved when the test set is corrupted by normally distributed noise with zero mean and standard deviation of 1. The classification rate is close to optimal at higher noise standard deviation reaching 3. This shows that the data can be used for identity verification with high accuracy using a simple classifier such as the k-nearest neighbor (k-NN). 

Keywords: Biometrics, identity verification, genetic data, k-nearest neighbor.

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Authors: Tan K. B., Norhashidah Hj. M. Ali

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In this article, we aim to discuss the formulation of two explicit group iterative finite difference methods for time-dependent two dimensional Burger-s problem on a variable mesh. For the non-linear problems, the discretization leads to a non-linear system whose Jacobian is a tridiagonal matrix. We discuss the Newton-s explicit group iterative methods for a general Burger-s equation. The proposed explicit group methods are derived from the standard point and rotated point Crank-Nicolson finite difference schemes. Their computational complexity analysis is discussed. Numerical results are given to justify the feasibility of these two proposed iterative methods.

Keywords: Standard point Crank-Nicolson (CN), Rotated point Crank-Nicolson (RCN), Explicit Group (EG), Explicit Decoupled Group (EDG).

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Authors: Mehdi Basikhasteh, Mohamad A. Movafaghpour

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This paper explores university course timetabling problem. There are several characteristics that make scheduling and timetabling problems particularly difficult to solve: they have huge search spaces, they are often highly constrained, they require sophisticated solution representation schemes, and they usually require very time-consuming fitness evaluation routines. Thus standard evolutionary algorithms lack of efficiency to deal with them. In this paper we have proposed a memetic algorithm that incorporates the problem specific knowledge such that most of chromosomes generated are decoded into feasible solutions. Generating vast amount of feasible chromosomes makes the progress of search process possible in a time efficient manner. Experimental results exhibit the advantages of the developed Hybrid Genetic Algorithm than the standard Genetic Algorithm.

Keywords: University Course Timetabling, Memetic Algorithm, Biased Chance Assignment, Optimization.

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Authors: Abimbola Motunrayo Folami, Ibironke Titilayo Enitan, Feroz Mohomed Swalaha

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Water is a vital resource that is important in ensuring the growth and development of any country. To sustain the basic human needs and the demands for agriculture, industry, conservational and ecosystem, enough quality and quantity water is needed. Contamination of water resources is now a global and public health concern. Hence, this study assessed the water quality of Ndawuse River by measuring the physicochemical parameters and heavy metals concentrations of the river using standard methods. In total, 16 surface water samples were obtained from five locations along the river, from upstream to downstream as well as samples from the dumpsite. The results obtained were compared with the standard limits set by both the World Health Organization and the Federal Environmental Protection Agency for domestic purposes. The results of the measured parameters indicated that biological oxygen demand (85.88 mg/L), turbidity (44.51 NTU), Iron (0.014 - 3.511 mg /L) and chromium (0.078 - 0.14 mg /L) were all above the standard limits. The results further showed that the quality of surface water is being significantly affected by human activities around the Ndawuse River which could pose an adverse health risk to several communities that rely on this river as their primary source of water. Therefore, there is a need for strict enforcement of environmental laws to protect the aquatic ecosystem and to avoid long term cumulative exposure risk that heavy metals may pose on human health.

Keywords: Abuja, contaminants, heavy metals, Ndawuse River, Nigeria, surface water.

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Authors: Faezzan Madli, Zamri Noranai, Md. Norrizam Mohamad Jaat, Hamidon Salleh, Mohammad Zainal Md Yusof

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Current air conditioning system is using refrigerant as the cooling medium. The main purpose of this study is to develop an air conditioning system using chill water as the cooling medium. In this system, chill water used to replace refrigerant as the cooling medium. This study is focus on the split type unit air conditioning system only. It will be involving some renovation on the indoor unit and freezer. The cooling capability of this system was validate by few series of testing, which conducted at standard 36m3 office room. Result of the testing found that 0.1 m3 of chill water is able to maintain the room temperature within standard up to 4 ~ 8 hours. It expected able to maintain room temperature up to 10 hour with some improvement.

Keywords: Chill water, air-condition, office room.

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Authors: Shinji Oouchi, Hajime Nomura, Kung-Da Wu, Yong-Run Chen, Jui-Pin Hung

Abstract:

This paper presents the variation of the dynamic characteristics of a spindle with the change of bearing preload. The correlations between the variation of bearing preload and fundamental modal parameters were first examined by conducting vibration tests on physical spindle units. Experimental measurements show that the dynamic compliance and damping ratio associated with the dominating modes were affected to vary with variation of the bearing preload. When the bearing preload was slightly deviated from a standard value, the modal frequency and damping ability also vary to different extent, which further enable the spindle to perform with different compliance. For the spindle used in this study, a standard preload value set on bearings would enable the spindle to behave a higher stiffness as compared with others with a preload variation. This characteristic can be served as a reference to examine the variation of bearing preload of spindle in assemblage or operation.

Keywords: Dynamic compliance, Bearing preload, Modal damping.

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Authors: Zeeshan Hamid, Asher Ramish

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to focus on security and safety issues facing by pharmaceutical industry globally when counterfeit drugs are in question. Hence, there is an intense need to secure and authenticate pharmaceutical products in the emerging counterfeit product market. This paper will elaborate the application of radio frequency identification (RFID) in pharmaceutical industry and to identify its key benefits for patient’s care. The benefits are: help to co-ordinate the stream of supplies, accuracy in chains of supplies, maintaining trustworthy information, to manage the operations in appropriate and timely manners and finally deliver the genuine drug to patient. It is discussed that how RFID supported supply chain information sharing (SCIS) helps to combat against counterfeit drugs. And a solution how to tag pharmaceutical products; since, some products prevent RFID implementation in this industry. In this paper, a proposed model for pharma industry distribution suggested to combat against the counterfeit drugs when they are in supply chain.

Keywords: Supply chain, RFID, pharmaceutical industry, counterfeit drugs, patients care.

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Authors: Seokbeen Lim, KyeongSeok Sim, DaKyeong Shin, Gilwon Yoon

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Event-related potential (ERP) is one of the useful tools for investigating cognitive reactions. In this study, the potential of ERP components detected after auditory and visual stimuli was examined. Subjects were asked to respond upon stimuli that were of three categories; Target, Non-Target and Standard stimuli. The ERP after stimulus was measured. In the experiment of visual evoked potentials (VEPs), the subjects were asked to gaze at a center point on the monitor screen where the stimuli were provided by the reversal pattern of the checkerboard. In consequence of the VEP experiments, we observed consistent reactions. Each peak voltage could be measured when the ensemble average was applied. Visual stimuli had smaller amplitude and a longer latency compared to that of auditory stimuli. The amplitude was the highest with Target and the smallest with Standard in both stimuli.

Keywords: Auditory stimulus, EEG, event related potential, oddball task, visual stimulus.

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Authors: Vanchai Laemlaksakul

Abstract:

This research was to evaluate a technical feasibility of making single-layer experimental particleboard panels from bamboo waste (Dendrocalamus asper Backer) by converting bamboo into strips, which are used to make laminated bamboo furniture. Variable factors were density (600, 700 and 800 kg/m3) and temperature of condition (25, 40 and 55 °C). The experimental panels were tested for their physical and mechanical properties including modulus of elasticity (MOE), modulus of rupture (MOR), internal bonding strength (IB), screw holding strength (SH) and thickness swelling values according to the procedures defined by Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS). The test result of mechanical properties showed that the MOR, MOE and IB values were not in the set criteria, except the MOR values at the density of 700 kg/m3 at 25 °C and at the density of 800 kg/m3 at 25 and 40 °C, the IB values at the density of 600 kg/m3, at 40 °C, and at the density of 800 kg/m3 at 55 °C. The SH values had the test result according to the set standard, except with the density of 600 kg/m3, at 40 and 55 °C. Conclusively, a valuable renewable biomass, bamboo waste could be used to manufacture boards.

Keywords: Particleboard, Urea Formaldehyde Resin, BambooWaste

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Authors: Rui Antunes

Abstract:

This article presents a simple way to perform programmed voice commands for the interface with commercial Digital and Analogue Input/Output PCI cards, used in Robotics and Automation applications. Robots and Automation equipment can "listen" to voice commands and perform several different tasks, approaching to the human behavior, and improving the human- machine interfaces for the Automation Industry. Since most PCI Digital and Analogue Input/Output cards are sold with several DLLs included (for use with different programming languages), it is possible to add speech recognition capability, using a standard speech recognition engine, compatible with the programming languages used. It was created in this work a Visual Basic 6 (the world's most popular language) application, that listens to several voice commands, and is capable to communicate directly with several standard 128 Digital I/O PCI Cards, used to control complete Automation Systems, with up to (number of boards used) x 128 Sensors and/or Actuators.

Keywords: Speech Recognition, Automation, Robotics.

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