Search results for: Feature selection methods

Authors: G. Disciglio, F. Lops, A. Carlucci, G. Gatta, A. Tarantino, E. Tarantino

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Phelipanche ramosa is the most damaging obligate flowering parasitic weed on wide species of cultivated plants. The semi-arid regions of the world are considered the main centers of this parasitic plant that causes heavy infestation. This is due to its production of high numbers of seeds (up to 200,000) that remain viable for extended periods (up to 20 years). In this study, 13 treatments for the control of Phelipanche were carried out, which included agronomic, chemical, and biological treatments and the use of resistant plant methods. In 2014, a trial was performed at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Foggia (southern Italy), on processing tomato (cv ‘Docet’) grown in pots filled with soil taken from a field that was heavily infested by P. ramosa). The tomato seedlings were transplanted on May 8, 2014, into a sandy-clay soil (USDA). A randomized block design with 3 replicates (pots) was adopted. During the growing cycle of the tomato, at 70, 75, 81 and 88 days after transplantation, the number of P. ramosa shoots emerged in each pot was determined. The tomato fruit were harvested on August 8, 2014, and the quantitative and qualitative parameters were determined. All of the data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the JMP software (SAS Institute Inc. Cary, NC, USA), and for comparisons of means (Tukey's tests). The data show that each treatment studied did not provide complete control against P. ramosa. However, the virulence of the attacks was mitigated by some of the treatments tried: radicon biostimulant, compost activated with Fusarium, mineral fertilizer nitrogen, sulfur, enzone, and the resistant tomato genotype. It is assumed that these effects can be improved by combining some of these treatments with each other, especially for a gradual and continuing reduction of the “seed bank” of the parasite in the soil.

Keywords: Control methods, Phelipanche ramosa, tomato crop.

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Authors: Cheng-Hong Yang, Yu-Huei Cheng, Hsueh-Wei Chang, Li-Yeh Chuang

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Before performing polymerase chain reactions (PCR), a feasible primer set is required. Many primer design methods have been proposed for design a feasible primer set. However, the majority of these methods require a relatively long time to obtain an optimal solution since large quantities of template DNA need to be analyzed. Furthermore, the designed primer sets usually do not provide a specific PCR product. In recent years, evolutionary computation has been applied to PCR primer design and yielded promising results. In this paper, a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is proposed to solve primer design problems associated with providing a specific product for PCR experiments. A test set of the gene CYP1A1, associated with a heightened lung cancer risk was analyzed and the comparison of accuracy and running time with the genetic algorithm (GA) and memetic algorithm (MA) was performed. A comparison of results indicated that the proposed PSO method for primer design finds optimal or near-optimal primer sets and effective PCR products in a relatively short time.

Keywords: polymerase chain reaction (PCR), primer design, evolutionary computation, particle swarm optimization (PSO).

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Authors: Mohammad Reza Farzami Pour

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Determination of genetic variation is useful for plant breeding and hence production of more efficient plant species under different conditions, like drought stress. In this study a sample of 28 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) of wheat developed from the cross of Norstar and Zagross varieties, together with their parents, were evaluated for two years (2010-2012) under normal and water stress conditions using split plot design with three replications. Main plots included two irrigation treatments of 70 and 140 mm evaporation from Class A pan and sub-plots consisted of 30 genotypes. The effect of genotypes and interaction of genotypes with years and water regimes were significant for all characters. Significant genotypic effect implies the existence of genetic variation among the lines under study. Heritability estimates were high for 1000 grain weight (0.87). Biomass and grain yield showed the lowest heritability values (0.42 and 0.50, respectively). Highest genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variation (GCV and PCV) belonged to harvest index. Moderate genetic advance for most of the traits suggested the feasibility of selection among the RILs under investigation. Some RILs were higher yielding than either parent at both environments.

Keywords: Wheat, genetic gain, heritability, recombinant inbred lines.

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Authors: Randeep Kaur, Jyoti Ohri

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This paper proposes a new technique to design a fixed-structure robust loop shaping controller for the pneumatic servosystem. In this paper, a new method based on a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm for tuning the weighting function parameters to design an H∞ controller is presented. The PSO algorithm is used to minimize the infinity norm of the transfer function of the nominal closed loop system to obtain the optimal parameters of the weighting functions. The optimal stability margin is used as an objective in PSO for selecting the optimal weighting parameters; it is shown that the proposed method can simplify the design procedure of H∞ control to obtain optimal robust controller for pneumatic servosystem. In addition, the order of the proposed controller is much lower than that of the conventional robust loop shaping controller, making it easy to implement in practical works. Also two-degree-of-freedom (2DOF) control design procedure is proposed to improve tracking performance in the face of noise and disturbance. Result of simulations demonstrates the advantages of the proposed controller in terms of simple structure and robustness against plant perturbations and disturbances.

Keywords: Robust control, Pneumatic Servosystem, PSO, H∞ control, 2DOF.

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Authors: Solyman Sharifi, Naghdali Choupani

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Adhesively bonded joints are preferred over the conventional methods of joining such as riveting, welding, bolting and soldering. Some of the main advantages of adhesive joints compared to conventional joints are the ability to join dissimilar materials and damage-sensitive materials, better stress distribution, weight reduction, fabrication of complicated shapes, excellent thermal and insulation properties, vibration response and enhanced damping control, smoother aerodynamic surfaces and an improvement in corrosion and fatigue resistance. This paper presents the behavior of adhesively bonded joints subjected to combined thermal loadings, using the numerical methods. The joint configuration considers aluminum as central adherend with six different outer adherends including aluminum, steel, titanium, boronepoxy, unidirectional graphite-epoxy and cross-ply graphite-epoxy and epoxy-based adhesives. Free expansion of the joint in x direction was permitted and stresses in adhesive layer and interfaces calculated for different adherends.

Keywords: Thermal stress, patch repair, Adhesive joint, Finiteelement analysis.

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Authors: Talar Agopian

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Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) is a common practice in many Lebanese schools. However, ESL teaching is done in traditional ways. Methods such as constructivism are seldom used, especially in villages. Here lies the significance of this research which joins constructivism and Piaget’s theory of cognitive development in ESL classes in Lebanese villages. The purpose of the present study is to explore the effects of applying constructivist student-centered strategies in teaching grammar, reading comprehension, and poetry on students in elementary ESL classes in two villages in Lebanon, Zefta in South Lebanon and Boqaata in Mount Lebanon. 20 English teachers participated in a training titled “Teaching English with Fun”, which focused on strategies that create a student-centered class where active learning takes place and there is increased learner engagement and autonomy. The training covered three main areas in teaching English: grammar, reading comprehension, and poetry. After participating in the training, the teachers applied the new strategies and methods in their ESL classes. The methodology comprised two phases: in phase one, practice-based research was conducted as the teachers attended the training and applied the constructivist strategies in their respective ESL classes. Phase two included the reflections of the teachers on the effects of the application of constructivist strategies. The results revealed the educational benefits of constructivist student-centered strategies; the students of teachers who applied these strategies showed improved engagement, positive attitudes towards poetry, increased motivation, and a better sense of autonomy. Future research is required in applying constructivist methods in the areas of writing, spelling, and vocabulary in ESL classrooms of Lebanese villages.

Keywords: Active learning, constructivism, learner engagement, student-centered strategies.

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Authors: Danae Venieri, Christos Theodoropoulos, Maria Lagkadinou, Joan Iliopoulou-Georgudaki

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Changes in the sensory, chemical and microbiological quality of the Mediterranean hake during post-catch handling and distribution were investigated. 115 fish samples were seasonally received during three stages of the transfer route from the sea to the consumer and two storage methods were recorded, seawater and ice storage. Microbiological evaluation revealed higher status for the ice stored samples regarding heterotrophic bacteria (2.68 log cfu/g and 1.92 log cfu/g at 22oC and 37°C respectively) and psychrotrophic counts (3.20 log cfu/g), with statistically significant differences among storage methods. Sensory evaluation also revealed higher status for the ice stored samples with a mean quality index of 0.17 and a spoilage time estimated at 30 hours, in contrast to seawater storage, which varied from 0.28 to 0.3, and a 14-hour estimated spoilage. Detected pathogens were identified mainly in the seawater stored samples, posing questions on the quality of the product reaching the seafood markets.

Keywords: Merluccius merluccius, Microbiological quality, Psychrotrophic bacteria, Sensory evaluation.

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Authors: M. M. Qasaymeh, M. A. Khodeir

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Subspace channel estimation methods have been studied widely, where the subspace of the covariance matrix is decomposed to separate the signal subspace from noise subspace. The decomposition is normally done by using either the eigenvalue decomposition (EVD) or the singular value decomposition (SVD) of the auto-correlation matrix (ACM). However, the subspace decomposition process is computationally expensive. This paper considers the estimation of the multipath slow frequency hopping (FH) channel using noise space based method. In particular, an efficient method is proposed to estimate the multipath time delays by applying multiple signal classification (MUSIC) algorithm which is based on the null space extracted by the rank revealing LU (RRLU) factorization. As a result, precise information is provided by the RRLU about the numerical null space and the rank, (i.e., important tool in linear algebra). The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed novel method by approximately decreasing the computational complexity to the half as compared with RRQR methods keeping the same performance.

Keywords: Time Delay Estimation, RRLU, RRQR, MUSIC, LS-ESPRIT, LS-ESPRIT, Frequency Hopping.

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Authors: Ameur Abdelkader, Abed Bouarfa Hafida

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Since its inception, predictive analysis has revolutionized the IT industry through its robustness and decision-making facilities. It involves the application of a set of data processing techniques and algorithms in order to create predictive models. Its principle is based on finding relationships between explanatory variables and the predicted variables. Past occurrences are exploited to predict and to derive the unknown outcome. With the advent of big data, many studies have suggested the use of predictive analytics in order to process and analyze big data. Nevertheless, they have been curbed by the limits of classical methods of predictive analysis in case of a large amount of data. In fact, because of their volumes, their nature (semi or unstructured) and their variety, it is impossible to analyze efficiently big data via classical methods of predictive analysis. The authors attribute this weakness to the fact that predictive analysis algorithms do not allow the parallelization and distribution of calculation. In this paper, we propose to extend the predictive analysis algorithm, Classification And Regression Trees (CART), in order to adapt it for big data analysis. The major changes of this algorithm are presented and then a version of the extended algorithm is defined in order to make it applicable for a huge quantity of data.

Keywords: Predictive analysis, big data, predictive analysis algorithms. CART algorithm.

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Authors: Tahseen Al-Shaikhli, Halim Ceylan, Jonathan Weaver, Osman Nuri Çelik, Onur Gungor Sahin

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A concept of uniform delay offset dependent mathematical optimization problem is derived as the main objective for this study using a differential evolution algorithm. Furthermore, the objectives are to control the coordination problem which mainly depends on offset selection, and to estimate the uniform delay based on the offset choice at each signalized intersection. The assumption is the periodic sinusoidal function for arrival and departure patterns. The cycle time is optimized at the entry links and the optimized value is used in the non-entry links as a common cycle time. The offset optimization algorithm is used to calculate the uniform delay at each link. The results are illustrated by using a case study and compared with the canonical uniform delay model derived by Webster and the highway capacity manual’s model. The findings show that the derived model minimizes the total uniform delay to almost half compared to conventional models; the mathematical objective function is robust; the algorithm convergence time is fast.

Keywords: Area traffic control, differential evolution, offset variable, sinusoidal periodic function, traffic flow, uniform delay.

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Authors: K.Manimala, Dr.K.Selvi, R.Ahila

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods are increasingly being used for problem solving. This paper concerns using AI-type learning machines for power quality problem, which is a problem of general interest to power system to provide quality power to all appliances. Electrical power of good quality is essential for proper operation of electronic equipments such as computers and PLCs. Malfunction of such equipment may lead to loss of production or disruption of critical services resulting in huge financial and other losses. It is therefore necessary that critical loads be supplied with electricity of acceptable quality. Recognition of the presence of any disturbance and classifying any existing disturbance into a particular type is the first step in combating the problem. In this work two classes of AI methods for Power quality data mining are studied: Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) and Support Vector Machines (SVMs). We show that SVMs are superior to ANNs in two critical respects: SVMs train and run an order of magnitude faster; and SVMs give higher classification accuracy.

Keywords: back propagation network, power quality, probabilistic neural network, radial basis function support vector machine

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Authors: Nino Paresashvili, Nino Abesadze

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The modern world faces huge challenges. Globalization changed the socio-economic conditions of many countries. The current processes in the global environment have a different impact on countries with different cultures. However, an alleviation of poverty and improvement of living conditions is still the basic challenge for the majority of countries, because much of the population still lives under the official threshold of poverty. It is very important to stimulate youth employment. In order to prepare young people for the labour market, it is essential to provide them with the appropriate professional skills and knowledge. It is necessary to plan efficient activities for decreasing an unemployment rate and for developing the perfect mechanisms for regulation of a labour market. Such planning requires thorough study and analysis of existing reality, as well as development of corresponding mechanisms. Statistical analysis of unemployment is one of the main platforms for regulation of the labour market key mechanisms. The corresponding statistical methods should be used in the study process. Such methods are observation, gathering, grouping, and calculation of the generalized indicators. Unemployment is one of the most severe socioeconomic problems in Georgia. According to the past as well as the current statistics, unemployment rates always have been the most problematic issue to resolve for policy makers. Analytical works towards to the above-mentioned problem will be the basis for the next sustainable steps to solve the main problem. The results of the study showed that the choice of young people is not often due to their inclinations, their interests and the labour market demand. That is why the wrong professional orientation of young people in most cases leads to their unemployment. At the same time, it was shown that there are a number of professions in the labour market with a high demand because of the deficit the appropriate specialties. To achieve healthy competitiveness in youth employment, it is necessary to formulate regional employment programs with taking into account the regional infrastructure specifications.

Keywords: Unemployment. analysis, methods, tendencies, regulation mechanisms.

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Authors: F. Havas Beigi, E. Mohammadi, M.Vafaee Yeganeh

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Curriculum is one of the most important inputs in higher education system and for knowing the strong and weak spots of it we need evaluation. The main purpose of this study was to survey of the curriculum quality of Insurance Management field. Case: University of Allameh Taba Tabaee(according to view point of students,alumni,employer and faculty members).Descriptive statistics (mean, tables, percentages, frequency distribution) and inferential statistics (CHI SQUARE) were used to analyze the data. Six criterions considered for the Quality of curriculum: objectives, content, teaching and learning methods, space and facilities, Time, assessment of learning. objectives, teaching and learning methods criterions was desirable level, content criteria was undesirable level, space and facilities, time and assessment of learning were rather desirable level. The quality of curriculum of insurance management field was relatively desirable level.

Keywords: Quality, curriculum, insurance management, higher education.

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Authors: Sirimanee Banjong

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This study aimed to 1) develop pre-service teachers’ leadership skills through camp-based learning, and 2) develop preservice teachers’ teamwork skills through camp-based learning. An applied research methodology was used. The target group was derived from a purposive selection. It involved 32 fourth-year students in Early Childhood Education Program enrolling a course entitled Seminar in Early Childhood Education provided during second semester of academic year 2013. The treatment was camp-based learning activities which applied a PDCA process including four stages: 1) plan, 2) do, 3) check, and 4) act. Research instruments were a learning camp program, a camp-based learning management plan, a 5-level assessment form for leadership skills and a 5-level assessment form for assessing teamwork skills. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results were: 1) pre-service teachers’ leadership skills yielded the before treatment average score at x= 3.4, S.D.=0.6 2and the after-treatment average score at x 4.29 , S.D.=0.66 pre-service teachers’ teamwork skills yielded the before-treatment average score at x=3.31, S.D.=0.60 and the after-treatment average score at x=4.42, S.D.=0.66 Both differences were statistically significant at the .05 level. Thus, the pre-service teachers’ leadership and teamwork skills were significantly improved through the camp-based learning approach.

Keywords: Learning camp, leadership skills, teamwork skills.

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Authors: S. Jarernprasert, E. Bazan-Zurita, P. C. Rizzo

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Currently, seismic probabilistic risk assessments (SPRA) for nuclear facilities use In-Structure Response Spectra (ISRS) in the calculation of fragilities for systems and components. ISRS are calculated via dynamic analyses of the host building subjected to two orthogonal components of horizontal ground motion. Each component is defined as the median motion in any horizontal direction. Structural engineers applied the components along selected X and Y Cartesian axes. The ISRS at different locations in the building are also calculated in the X and Y directions. The choice of the directions of X and Y are not specified by the ground motion model with respect to geographic coordinates, and are rather arbitrarily selected by the structural engineer. Normally, X and Y coincide with the “principal” axes of the building, in the understanding that this practice is generally conservative. For SPRA purposes, however, it is desirable to remove any conservatism in the estimates of median ISRS. This paper examines the effects of the direction of horizontal seismic motion on the ISRS on typical nuclear structure. We also evaluate the variability of ISRS calculated along different horizontal directions. Our results indicate that some central measures of the ISRS provide robust estimates that are practically independent of the selection of the directions of the horizontal Cartesian axes.

Keywords: Seismic, Directionality, In-Structure Response Spectra, Probabilistic Risk Assessment.

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Authors: Hakan Işık, Esra Saraçoğlu

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In this study, a comparison of two control methods, Proportional Control (PC) and Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC), which have been used to develop an ideal thermoelectric renal hypothermia system in order to use in renal surgery, has been carried out. Since the most important issues in long-lasting parenchymatous renal surgery are to provide an operation medium free of blood and to prevent renal dysfunction in the postoperative period, control of the temperature has become very important in renal surgery. The final product is seriously affected from the changes in temperature, therefore, it is necessary to reach some desired temperature points quickly and avoid large overshoot. PIC16F877 microcontroller has been used as controller for both of these two methods. Each control method can simply ensure extra renal hypothermia in the targeted way. But investigation of advantages and disadvantages of every control method to each other is aimed and carried out by the experimental implementations. Shortly, investigation of the most appropriate method to use for development of system and that can be applied to people safely in the future, has been performed. In this sense, experimental results show that fuzzy logic control gives out more reliable responses and efficient performance.

Keywords: renal hypothermia, renal cooling, temperature control, proportional control fuzzy logic control

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Authors: Anirudh Sunil Warrier, Saba Al-Rubaye, Dimitrios Panagiotakopoulos, Gokhan Inalhan, Antonios Tsourdos

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The demand for increased data transfer rate and network traffic capacity has given rise to the concept of heterogeneous networks. Heterogeneous networks are wireless networks, consisting of devices using different underlying radio access technologies (RAT). For Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) this enhanced data rate and network capacity are even more critical especially in their applications of medicine, delivery missions and military. In an urban heterogeneous network environment, the UAVs must be able switch seamlessly from one base station (BS) to another for maintaining a reliable link. Therefore, seamless handover in such urban environments has become a major challenge. In this paper, a scheme to achieve seamless handover is developed, an algorithm based on Received Signal Strength (RSS) criterion for network selection is used and Entropy Weighted Method (EWM) is implemented for decision making. Seamless handover using EWM decision-making is demonstrated successfully for a UAV moving across fifth generation (5G) and long-term evolution (LTE) networks via a simulation level analysis. Thus, a solution for UAV-5G communication, specifically the mobility challenge in heterogeneous networks is solved and this work could act as step forward in making UAV-5G architecture integration a possibility.

Keywords: Air to ground, A2G, fifth generation, 5G, handover, mobility, unmanned aerial vehicle, UAV, urban environments.

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Authors: C. Ardil

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In this research, a multidimensional  compromise optimization method is proposed for multidimensional decision making analysis in the development ranking of the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries and Turkey. The proposed approach presents ranking solutions resulting from different multicriteria decision analyses, which yield different ranking orders for the same ranking problem, consisting of a set of alternatives in terms of numerous competing criteria when they are applied with the same numerical data. The multiobjective optimization decision making problem is considered in three sequential steps. In the first step, five different criteria related to the development ranking are gathered from the research field. In the second step, identified evaluation criteria are, objectively, weighted using standard deviation procedure. In the third step, a country selection problem is illustrated with a numerical example as an application of the proposed multidimensional  compromise optimization model. Finally, multidimensional  compromise optimization approach is applied to rank the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries and Turkey. 

Keywords: Standard deviation, performance evaluation, multicriteria decision making, multidimensional compromise optimization, vector normalization, multicriteria decision making, multicriteria analysis, multidimensional decision analysis.

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Authors: Tea Poklepović, Zdravka Aljinović, Branka Marasović

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Due to the importance of yield curve and its estimation it is inevitable to have valid methods for yield curve forecasting in cases when there are scarce issues of securities and/or week trade on a secondary market. Therefore in this paper, after the estimation of weekly yield curves on Croatian financial market from October 2011 to August 2012 using Nelson-Siegel and Svensson models, yield curves are forecasted using Vector autoregressive model and Neural networks. In general, it can be concluded that both forecasting methods have good prediction abilities where forecasting of yield curves based on Nelson Siegel estimation model give better results in sense of lower Mean Squared Error than forecasting based on Svensson model Also, in this case Neural networks provide slightly better results. Finally, it can be concluded that most appropriate way of yield curve prediction is Neural networks using Nelson-Siegel estimation of yield curves.

Keywords: Nelson-Siegel model, Neural networks, Svensson model, Vector autoregressive model, Yield curve.

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Authors: Harish Krishnamurthy, Anna Lafontant, Ren Yi

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Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) have been an interesting topic for most enthusiasts and hence people all over the United States report such findings online at the National UFO Report Center (NUFORC). Some of these reports are a hoax and among those that seem legitimate, our task is not to establish that these events confirm that they indeed are events related to flying objects from aliens in outer space. Rather, we intend to identify if the report was a hoax as was identified by the UFO database team with their existing curation criterion. However, the database provides a wealth of information that can be exploited to provide various analyses and insights such as social reporting, identifying real-time spatial events and much more. We perform analysis to localize these time-series geospatial events and correlate with known real-time events. This paper does not confirm any legitimacy of alien activity, but rather attempts to gather information from likely legitimate reports of UFOs by studying the online reports. These events happen in geospatial clusters and also are time-based. We look at cluster density and data visualization to search the space of various cluster realizations to decide best probable clusters that provide us information about the proximity of such activity. A random forest classifier is also presented that is used to identify true events and hoax events, using the best possible features available such as region, week, time-period and duration. Lastly, we show the performance of the scheme on various days and correlate with real-time events where one of the UFO reports strongly correlates to a missile test conducted in the United States.

Keywords: Time-series clustering, feature extraction, hoax prediction, geospatial events.

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Authors: T. Sungkaworn, W. Triampo, P. Nalakarn, D. Triampo, I. M. Tang, Y. Lenbury, P. Picha

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Semiconductor nanomaterials like TiO2 nanoparticles (TiO2-NPs) approximately less than 100 nm in diameter have become a new generation of advanced materials due to their novel and interesting optical, dielectric, and photo-catalytic properties. With the increasing use of NPs in commerce, to date few studies have investigated the toxicological and environmental effects of NPs. Motivated by the importance of TiO2-NPs that may contribute to the cancer research field especially from the treatment prospective together with the fractal analysis technique, we have investigated the effect of TiO2-NPs on colony morphology in the dark condition using fractal dimension as a key morphological characterization parameter. The aim of this work is mainly to investigate the cytotoxic effects of TiO2-NPs in the dark on the growth of human cervical carcinoma (HeLa) cell colonies from morphological aspect. The in vitro studies were carried out together with the image processing technique and fractal analysis. It was found that, these colonies were abnormal in shape and size. Moreover, the size of the control colonies appeared to be larger than those of the treated group. The mean Df +/- SEM of the colonies in untreated cultures was 1.085±0.019, N= 25, while that of the cultures treated with TiO2-NPs was 1.287±0.045. It was found that the circularity of the control group (0.401±0.071) is higher than that of the treated group (0.103±0.042). The same tendency was found in the diameter parameters which are 1161.30±219.56 μm and 852.28±206.50 μm for the control and treated group respectively. Possible explanation of the results was discussed, though more works need to be done in terms of the for mechanism aspects. Finally, our results indicate that fractal dimension can serve as a useful feature, by itself or in conjunction with other shape features, in the classification of cancer colonies.

Keywords: Tumor growth, Cell colonies, TiO2, Nanoparticles, Fractal, Morphology, Aggregation.

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Authors: Madhuri Bhavsar, Anupam K Singh, Shrikant Pradhan

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Long term rainfall analysis and prediction is a challenging task especially in the modern world where the impact of global warming is creating complications in environmental issues. These factors which are data intensive require high performance computational modeling for accurate prediction. This research paper describes a prototype which is designed and developed on grid environment using a number of coupled software infrastructural building blocks. This grid enabled system provides the demanding computational power, efficiency, resources, user-friendly interface, secured job submission and high throughput. The results obtained using sequential execution and grid enabled execution shows that computational performance has enhanced among 36% to 75%, for decade of climate parameters. Large variation in performance can be attributed to varying degree of computational resources available for job execution. Grid Computing enables the dynamic runtime selection, sharing and aggregation of distributed and autonomous resources which plays an important role not only in business, but also in scientific implications and social surroundings. This research paper attempts to explore the grid enabled computing capabilities on weather indices from HOAPS data for climate impact modeling and change detection.

Keywords: Climate model, Computational Grid, GridApplication, Heterogeneous Grid

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Authors: Karuppasamy Pandian. M, Krishna Raj. K, Sabarinath. K, Sandeep. G, Sanal Kumar. V.R.

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Numerical studies have been carried out using a two dimensional code to examine the influence of pressure / thrust transient of solid propellant rockets at liftoff. This code solves unsteady Reynolds-averaged thin-layer Navier–Stokes equations by an implicit LU-factorization time-integration method. The results from the parametric study indicate that when the port is narrow there is a possibility of increase in pressure / thrust-rise rate due to relatively high flame spread rate. Parametric studies further reveal that flame spread rate can be altered by altering the propellant properties, igniter jet characteristics and nozzle closure burst pressure without altering the grain configuration and/or the mission demanding thrust transient. We observed that when the igniter turbulent intensity is relatively low the vehicle could liftoff early due to the early flow choking of the rocket nozzle. We concluded that the high pressurization-rate has structural implications at liftoff in addition to transient burning effect. Therefore prudent selection of the port geometry and the igniter, for meeting the mission requirements, within the given envelop are meaningful objectives for any designer for the smooth liftoff of solid propellant rockets.

Keywords: Igniter Characteristics, Solid Propellant Rocket, SRM Liftoff, Starting Thrust Transient.

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Authors: M. M. Toufigh, A. R. Ahangarasr, A. Ouria

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Among many different methods that are used for optimizing different engineering problems mathematical (numerical) optimization techniques are very important because they can easily be used and are consistent with most of engineering problems. Many studies and researches are done on stability analysis of three dimensional (3D) slopes and the relating probable slip surfaces and determination of factors of safety, but in most of them force equilibrium equations, as in simplified 2D methods, are considered only in two directions. In other words for decreasing mathematical calculations and also for simplifying purposes the force equilibrium equation in 3rd direction is omitted. This point is considered in just a few numbers of previous studies and most of them have only given a factor of safety and they haven-t made enough effort to find the most probable slip surface. In this study shapes of the slip surfaces are modeled, and safety factors are calculated considering the force equilibrium equations in all three directions, and also the moment equilibrium equation is satisfied in the slip direction, and using nonlinear programming techniques the shape of the most probable slip surface is determined. The model which is used in this study is a 3D model that is composed of three upper surfaces which can cover all defined and probable slip surfaces. In this research the meshing process is done in a way that all elements are prismatic with quadrilateral cross sections, and the safety factor is defined on this quadrilateral surface in the base of the element which is a part of the whole slip surface. The method that is used in this study to find the most probable slip surface is the non-linear programming method in which the objective function that must get optimized is the factor of safety that is a function of the soil properties and the coordinates of the nodes on the probable slip surface. The main reason for using non-linear programming method in this research is its quick convergence to the desired responses. The final results show a good compatibility with the previously used classical and 2D methods and also show a reasonable convergence speed.

Keywords: Non-linear programming, numerical optimization, slope stability, 3D analysis.

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Authors: M. T. Sichani, B. J. Pedersen, S. R. K. Nielsen

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Turbulence of the incoming wind field is of paramount importance to the dynamic response of civil engineering structures. Hence reliable stochastic models of the turbulence should be available from which time series can be generated for dynamic response and structural safety analysis. In the paper an empirical cross spectral density function for the along-wind turbulence component over the wind field area is taken as the starting point. The spectrum is spatially discretized in terms of a Hermitian cross-spectral density matrix for the turbulence state vector which turns out not to be positive definite. Since the succeeding state space and ARMA modelling of the turbulence rely on the positive definiteness of the cross-spectral density matrix, the problem with the non-positive definiteness of such matrices is at first addressed and suitable treatments regarding it are proposed. From the adjusted positive definite cross-spectral density matrix a frequency response matrix is constructed which determines the turbulence vector as a linear filtration of Gaussian white noise. Finally, an accurate state space modelling method is proposed which allows selection of an appropriate model order, and estimation of a state space model for the vector turbulence process incorporating its phase spectrum in one stage, and its results are compared with a conventional ARMA modelling method.

Keywords: Turbulence, wind turbine, complex coherence, state space modelling, ARMA modelling.

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Authors: N. Bolong, J. Makinda, I. Saad

Abstract:

Laboratory activities have produced benefits in student learning. With current drives of new technology resources and evolving era of education methods, renewal status of learning and teaching in laboratory methods are in progress, for both learners and the educators. To enhance learning outcomes in laboratory works particularly in engineering practices and testing, learning via handson by instruction may not sufficient. This paper describes and compares techniques and implementation of traditional (expository) with open-ended laboratory (problem-based) for two consecutive cohorts studying environmental laboratory course in civil engineering program. The transition of traditional to problem-based findings and effect were investigated in terms of course assessment student feedback survey, course outcome learning measurement and student performance grades. It was proved that students have demonstrated better performance in their grades and 12% increase in the course outcome (CO) in problem-based open-ended laboratory style than traditional method; although in perception, students has responded less favorable in their feedback.

Keywords: Engineering education, open-ended laboratory, environmental engineering lab.

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

Abstract:

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

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

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Authors: Md Omar Faruq Howlader, Tariq Pervez Sattar, Sandra Dudley

Abstract:

This paper describes the design process of a 200 MHz Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and a battery powered concrete vertical concrete surface climbing mobile robot. The key design feature is a miniaturized 200 MHz dipole antenna using additional radiating arms and procedure records a reduction of 40% in length compared to a conventional antenna. The antenna set is mounted in front of the robot using a servo mechanism for folding and unfolding purposes. The robot’s adhesion mechanism to climb the reinforced concrete wall is based on neodymium permanent magnets arranged in a unique combination to concentrate and maximize the magnetic flux to provide sufficient adhesion force for GPR installation. The experiments demonstrated the robot’s capability of climbing reinforced concrete wall carrying the attached prototype GPR system and perform floor-to-wall transition and vice versa. The developed GPR’s performance is validated by its capability of detecting and localizing an aluminium sheet and a reinforcement bar (rebar) of 12 mm diameter buried under a test rig built of wood to mimic the concrete structure environment. The present robotic GPR system proves the concept of feasibility of undertaking inspection procedure on large concrete structures in hazardous environments that may not be accessible to human inspectors.

Keywords: Climbing robot, dipole antenna, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), mobile robots, robotic GPR.

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Authors: Robin Lok-Wang

Abstract:

The center/unit for industry engagement and collaboration, as well as Internship, plays a significant role at a university. In general, the Center serves as the official interface between industry and the school or department to cultivate students’ early exposure to professional experience. The missions of the Center are not limited to provide a communication channel and collaborative platform for the industries and the university but also to assist students to build their career paths early while still at the university. In recent years, a cooperative education experience (commonly known as a co-op) has been strongly advocated for students to make the school-to-work transition. The nature of the co-op program is not only consistent with the internships/final year design projects, but it is also more industrial-oriented with academic support from faculty at the university. The purpose of this paper is to describe an approach to how cooperative education experience can be integrated into the engineering curriculum. It provides a mutual understanding and exchange of ideas for the approach between the university and industry. A suggested format in terms of timeline, duration, selection of candidates, students, and companies’ expectations for the co-op program is described. Also, feedback from employers/industries shows that a longer-term co-op program is well suited for students compared with a short-term internship. To this end, it provides an insight into collaboration and/or partnership between the university and the industries to prepare professional work-ready graduates.

Keywords: Cooperative education, internship, industry collaboration, engineering curriculum.

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Authors: D. Abdelrazek, M. NaguibAly, A. A. Badawi, Asmaa G. Abo Elnour, A. A. El-Kafas

Abstract:

This work is developed within IAEA Coordinated Research Program 1496, “Innovative methods in research reactor analysis: Benchmark against experimental data on neutronics and thermal-hydraulic computational methods and tools for operation and safety analysis of research reactors”.

The study investigates the capability of Code RELAP5/Mod3.4 to solve complex geometry complexity. Its results are compared to the results of PARET, a common code in thermal hydraulic analysis for research reactors, belonging to MTR-PC groups.

The WWR-SM reactor at the Institute of Nuclear Physics (INP) in the Republic of Uzbekistan is simulated using both PARET and RELAP5 at steady state. Results from the two codes are compared.

REALP5 code succeeded in solving the complex fuel geometry. The PARET code needed some calculations to obtain the final result. Although the final results from the PARET are more accurate, the small differences in both results makes using RELAP5 code recommended in case of complex fuel assemblies. 

Keywords: Complex fuel geometry, PARET, RELAP5, WWR-SM reactor.

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