Search results for: nonlinear time series analysis

Authors: Farzin Salmasi

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Energy dissipation in drops has been investigated by physical models. After determination of effective parameters on the phenomenon, three drops with different heights have been constructed from Plexiglas. They have been installed in two existing flumes in the hydraulic laboratory. Several runs of physical models have been undertaken to measured required parameters for determination of the energy dissipation. Results showed that the energy dissipation in drops depend on the drop height and discharge. Predicted relative energy dissipations varied from 10.0% to 94.3%. This work has also indicated that the energy loss at drop is mainly due to the mixing of the jet with the pool behind the jet that causes air bubble entrainment in the flow. Statistical model has been developed to predict the energy dissipation in vertical drops denotes nonlinear correlation between effective parameters. Further an artificial neural networks (ANNs) approach was used in this paper to develop an explicit procedure for calculating energy loss at drops using NeuroSolutions. Trained network was able to predict the response with R2 and RMSE 0.977 and 0.0085 respectively. The performance of ANN was found effective when compared to regression equations in predicting the energy loss.

Keywords: Air bubble, drop, energy loss, hydraulic jump, NeuroSolutions

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Authors: Youngjae Chun, Kyoungsu Oh

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Real-time 3D applications have to guarantee interactive rendering speed. There is a restriction for the number of polygons which is rendered due to performance of a graphics hardware or graphics algorithms. Generally, the rendering performance will be drastically increased when handling only the dynamic 3d models, which is much fewer than the static ones. Since shapes and colors of the static objects don-t change when the viewing direction is fixed, the information can be reused. We render huge amounts of polygon those cannot handled by conventional rendering techniques in real-time by using a static object image and merging it with rendering result of the dynamic objects. The performance must be decreased as a consequence of updating the static object image including removing an static object that starts to move, re-rending the other static objects being overlapped by the moving ones. Based on visibility of the object beginning to move, we can skip the updating process. As a result, we enhance rendering performance and reduce differences of rendering speed between each frame. Proposed method renders total 200,000,000 polygons that consist of 500,000 dynamic polygons and the rest are static polygons in about 100 frames per second.

Keywords: Occlusion query, Real-time rendering, Temporal coherence.

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Authors: Pradeep M., N. S. Mahesh, Raja Hussain

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Resistance spot welding (RSW) has been used widely to join sheet metals. It has been a challenge to get required weld quality in spot welding of dissimilar thickness materials. Weld parameters are not generally available in standards for thickness beyond 4mm. This paper presents the welding process design and parameter optimization of RSW used in joining of low carbon steel sheet of thickness 0.8 mm and metal strips of cross section 10 x 5mm for electrical motor applications. Taguchi quality design was adopted for weld current and time optimization using L9 orthogonal array. Optimum process parameters (current- 3.5kA and time- 10 cycles) were obtained from the Taguchi analysis and shear test results. Confirmation experiment result revealed that the weld quality was within acceptable interval. Further, numerical simulation of RSW process was carried out with selected weld parameters to quantify the temperature at faying surface and check for formation of appropriate nugget. The nugget geometry measured after peel test and predicted from numerical validation method were similar and in accordance with the standards.

Keywords: Resistance spot welding, dissimilar thickness, weld parameters, Taguchi method, numerical modeling.

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Authors: Adel Assiri, Ahmed Emam, Hmood Al-Dossari

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Sentiment analysis (SA) has received growing attention in Arabic language research. However, few studies have yet to directly apply SA to Arabic due to lack of a publicly available dataset for this language. This paper partially bridges this gap due to its focus on one of the Arabic dialects which is the Saudi dialect. This paper presents annotated data set of 4700 for Saudi dialect sentiment analysis with (K= 0.807). Our next work is to extend this corpus and creation a large-scale lexicon for Saudi dialect from the corpus.

Keywords: Arabic, Sentiment Analysis, Twitter, annotation.

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Authors: Chvalkovska, J., Jansky, P., Mejstrik, M.

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The objective of this article is to discuss the potential of economic analysis as a tool for identification and evaluation of corruption in legislative acts. We propose that corruption be perceived as a risk variable within the legislative process. Therefore we find it appropriate to employ risk analysis methods, used in various fields of economics, for the evaluation of corruption in legislation. Furthermore we propose the incorporation of these methods into the so called corruption impact assessment (CIA), the general framework for detection of corruption in legislative acts. The applications of the risk analysis methods are demonstrated on examples of implementation of proposed CIA in the Czech Republic.

Keywords: corruption; corruption impact assessment (CIA); legislative; legislative process; risk analysis; Czech Republic

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Authors: Abdulwahab Kammon, Tan Sheau Wei, Abdul Rahman Omar, Abdunaser Dayhum, Ibrahim Eldghayes, Monier Sharif

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Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is a very dynamic and evolving virus, causing major economic losses to the global poultry industry. Recently, the Libyan poultry industry faced severe outbreak of respiratory distress associated with high mortality and dramatic drop in egg production. Tracheal and cloacal swabs were analyzed for several poultry viruses. IBV was detected using SYBR Green I real-time PCR detection based on the nucleocapsid (N) gene. Sequence analysis of the partial N gene indicated high similarity (~ 94%) to IBV strain 3382/06 that was isolated from Taiwan. Even though the IBV strain 3382/06 is more similar to that of the Mass type H120, the isolate has been implicated associated with intertypic recombinant of 3 putative parental IBV strains namely H120, Taiwan strain 1171/92 and China strain CK/CH/LDL/97I. Complete sequencing and antigenicity studies of the Libya IBV strains are currently underway to determine the evolution of the virus and its importance in vaccine induced immunity. In this paper we documented for the first time the presence of possibly variant IBV strain from Libya which required dramatic change in vaccination program.

Keywords: Libya, Infectious bronchitis, Molecular characterization.

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Authors: R. Testoni, R. Levizzari, M. De Salve

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Radioactive waste management is fundamental to safeguard population and environment by radiological risks. Environmental assessment of a site, where nuclear activities are located, allows understanding the hydro geological system and the radionuclides transport in groundwater and subsoil. Use of dedicated software is the basis of transport phenomena investigation and for dynamic scenarios prediction; this permits to understand the evolution of accidental contamination events, but at the same time the potentiality of the software itself can be verified. The aim of this paper is to perform a numerical analysis by means of HYDRUS 1D code, so as to evaluate radionuclides transport in a nuclear site in Piedmont region (Italy). In particular, the behavior in vadose zone was investigated. An iterative assessment process was performed for risk assessment of radioactive contamination. The analysis therein developed considers the following aspects: i) hydro geological site characterization; ii) individuation of the main intrinsic and external site factors influencing water flow and radionuclides transport phenomena; iii) software potential for radionuclides leakage simulation purposes.

Keywords: HYDRUS 1D, radionuclides transport phenomena, site characterization.

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Authors: Changjin Xu, Qianhong Zhang

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In this paper, the existence of periodic solutions of a delayed competitive system with the effect of toxic substances is investigated by using the Gaines and Mawhin,s continuation theorem of coincidence degree theory on time scales. New sufficient conditions are obtained for the existence of periodic solutions. The approach is unified to provide the existence of the desired solutions for the continuous differential equations and discrete difference equations. Moreover, The approach has been widely applied to study existence of periodic solutions in differential equations and difference equations.

Keywords: Time scales, competitive system, periodic solution, coincidence degree, topological degree.

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Authors: Rafia Hassan, Ali Rizwan, Sadaf Farhan, Bushra Sabir

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The purpose of this study is to compare the conventional crop monitoring system with the satellite based crop monitoring system in Pakistan. This study is conducted for SUPARCO (Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission). The study focused on the wheat crop, as it is the main cash crop of Pakistan and province of Punjab. This study will answer the following: Which system is better in terms of cost, time and man power? The man power calculated for Punjab CRS is: 1,418 personnel and for SUPARCO: 26 personnel. The total cost calculated for SUPARCO is almost 13.35 million and CRS is 47.705 million. The man hours calculated for CRS (Crop Reporting Service) are 1,543,200 hrs (136 days) and man hours for SUPARCO are 8, 320hrs (40 days). It means that SUPARCO workers finish their work 96 days earlier than CRS workers. The results show that the satellite based crop monitoring system is efficient in terms of manpower, cost and time as compared to the conventional system, and also generates early crop forecasts and estimations. The research instruments used included: Interviews, physical visits, group discussions, questionnaires, study of reports and work flows. A total of 93 employees were selected using Yamane’s formula for data collection, which is done with the help questionnaires and interviews. Comparative graphing is used for the analysis of data to formulate the results of the research. The research findings also demonstrate that although conventional methods have a strong impact still in Pakistan (for crop monitoring) but it is the time to bring a change through technology, so that our agriculture will also be developed along modern lines.

Keywords: Crop reporting service, SRS/GIS, satellite remote sensing/geographic information system, area frame, sample frame.

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Authors: Omar B. Yaakob, Yasser M. Ahmed, Ahmad F. Said

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There is an essential need for obtaining the mathematical representation of fish body undulations, which can be used for designing and building new innovative types of marine propulsion systems with less environmental impact. This research work presents a case study to derive the mathematical model for fish body movement. Observation and capturing image methods were used in this study in order to obtain a mathematical representation of Clariasbatrachus fish (catfish). An experiment was conducted by using an aquarium with dimension 0.609 m x 0.304 m x 0.304 m, and a 0.5 m ruler was attached at the base of the aquarium. Progressive Scan Monochrome Camera was positioned at 1.8 m above the base of the aquarium to provide swimming sequences. Seven points were marked on the fish body using white marker to indicate the fish movement and measuring the amplitude of undulation. Images from video recordings (20 frames/s) were analyzed frame by frame using local coordinate system, with time interval 0.05 s. The amplitudes of undulations were obtained for image analysis from each point that has been marked on fish body. A graph of amplitude of undulations versus time was plotted by using computer to derive a mathematical fit. The function for the graph is polynomial with nine orders.

Keywords: Fish locomotion, body undulation, steady and unsteady swimming modes.

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Authors: Heroe Wijanto, Sugihartono, Suhartono Tjondronegoro, Kuspriyanto

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The use of High Order Statistics (HOS) analysis is expected to provide so many candidates of features that can be selected for pattern recognition. More candidates of the feature can be extracted using simple manipulation through a specific mathematical function prior to the HOS analysis. Feature extraction method using HOS analysis combined with Difference to the Nth-Power manipulation has been examined in application for Automatic Modulation Recognition (AMR) to perform scheme recognition of three digital modulation signal, i.e. QPSK-16QAM-64QAM in the AWGN transmission channel. The simulation results is reported when the analysis of HOS up to order-12 and the manipulation of Difference to the Nth-Power up to N = 4. The obtained accuracy rate of AMR using the method of Simple Decision obtained 90% in SNR > 10 dB in its classifier, while using the method of Voted Decision is 96% in SNR > 2 dB.

Keywords: modulation, automatic modulation recognition, feature analysis, feature manipulation.

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Authors: S. Suyadi

Abstract:

Sexual behavior and semen charactertistics were evaluated in young male Boer goats in tropical condition during time period of September to November 2009. The animal was let to have adaptation for five months after importation from Australian climate. A total of 20 bucks were observed for sexual behavior and ability of semen production. Out of this number, 4 faild to libido and 3 produced poor semen. The remaing 13 animals were divided into three groups according to the ages (11-13, 15-16 and 18-25 months). Sexual behavior consisting response time to female teaser, ejaculation time, fixing strenght to female and erection status were normaly observer in 13 bucks, and there was no significant difference between age groups. Semen characteristics from 13 bucks were in normal quality in the volume, sperm mass motility, individual motility, percentage of live- and abnormal sperm. We concluded that is possible to collect semen of Boer goats during the period of September to November under tropical condition. Collection during other time period should be analyzed.

Keywords: sexsual behavior, semen characteristics, Boer goats, tropical condition.

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Authors: H. Krouma, M. Barkat, K. Kemih, M. Benslama, Y. Yacine

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In this paper, we consider the analysis of the acquisition process for a hybrid double-dwell system with antenna diversity for DS-CDMA (direct sequence-code division multiple access) using an adaptive threshold. Acquisition systems with a fixed threshold value are unable to adapt to fast varying mobile communications environments and may result in a high false alarm rate, and/or low detection probability. Therefore, we propose an adaptively varying threshold scheme through the use of a cellaveraging constant false alarm rate (CA-CFAR) algorithm, which is well known in the field of radar detection. We derive exact expressions for the probabilities of detection and false alarm in Rayleigh fading channels. The mean acquisition time of the system under consideration is also derived. The performance of the system is analyzed and compared to that of a hybrid single dwell system.

Keywords: Adaptive threshold, hybrid double-dwell system, CA-CFAR algorithm, DS-CDMA.

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Authors: Omid A. Zargar

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In this paper, some common gearboxes vibration analysis methods and condition monitoring systems are explained. In addition, an experimental gearbox vibration analysis is discussed through a critical case history for a mixer gearbox related to Iran oil industry. The case history also consists of gear manufacturing (machining) recommendations, lubrication condition of gearbox and machinery maintenance activities that caused reduction in noise and vibration of the gearbox. Besides some of the recent patents and innovations in gearboxes, lubrication and vibration monitoring systems explained. Finally micro pitting and surface fatigue in pinion and bevel of mentioned horizontal to vertical gearbox discussed in details.

Keywords: Gear box, condition monitoring, time wave form (TWF), fast Fourier transform (FFT), gear mesh frequency (GMF), Shock Pulse measurement (SPM), bearing condition unit (BCU), pinion, bevel gear, micro pitting, surface fatigue.

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Authors: A. Farshidianfar, P. Oliazadeh

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In this paper the vibration behaviors of a structure equipped with a tuned liquid column damper (TLCD) under a harmonic type of earthquake loading are studied. However, due to inherent nonlinear liquid damping, it is no doubt that a great deal of computational effort is required to search the optimum parameters of the TLCD, numerically. Therefore by linearization the equation of motion of the single degree of freedom structure equipped with the TLCD, the closed form solutions of the TLCD-structure system are derived. To find the reliability of the analytical method, the results have been compared with other researcher and have good agreement. Further, the effects of optimal design parameters such as length ratio and mass ratio on the performance of the TLCD for controlling the responses of a structure are investigated by using the harmonic type of earthquake excitation. Finally, the Citicorp Center which has a very flexible structure is used as an example to illustrate the design procedure for the TLCD under the earthquake excitation.

Keywords: Closed form solution, Earthquake excitation, TLCD.

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Authors: Elie H. Karam, Antoine B. Abche

Abstract:

It is known that the heart interacts with and adapts to its venous and arterial loading conditions. Various experimental studies and modeling approaches have been developed to investigate the underlying mechanisms. This paper presents a model of the left ventricle derived based on nonlinear stress-length myocardial characteristics integrated over truncated ellipsoidal geometry, and second-order dynamic mechanism for the excitation-contraction coupling system. The results of the model presented here describe the effects of the viscoelastic damping element of the electromechanical coupling system on the hemodynamic response. Different heart rates are considered to study the pacing effects on the performance of the left-ventricle against constant preload and afterload conditions under various damping conditions. The results indicate that the pacing process of the left ventricle has to take into account, among other things, the viscoelastic damping conditions of the myofilament excitation-contraction process.

Keywords: Myocardial sarcomere, cardiac pump, excitationcontraction coupling, viscoelasicity

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Authors: Ji-il Park, Min Kyu Yu, Jong-woo Lee, Sam-hyeon Yoo

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The purpose of this research is to analyze the gait strategy between the normal and loaded gait. To this end, five male participants satisfied two conditions: the normal and loaded gait (backpack load 25.2 kg). As expected, results showed that additional loads elicited not a proportional increase in vertical and shear ground reaction force (GRF) parameters but also increase of the impulse, momentum and mechanical work. However, in case of the loaded gait, the time duration of the double support phase was increased unexpectedly. It is because the double support phase which is more stable than the single support phase can reduce instability of the loaded gait. Also, the directions of the pre-collision and after-collision were moved upward and downward compared to the normal gait. As a result, regardless of the additional backpack load, the impulse-momentum diagram during the step-to-step transition was maintained such as the normal gait. It means that human walk efficiently to keep stability and minimize total net works in case of the loaded gait.

Keywords: Normal gait, loaded gait, impulse, collision, gait analysis, mechanical work, backpack load.

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Authors: X. Z. Gao, S. J. Ovaska, X. Wang

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Prediction of sinusoidal signals with time-varying frequencies has been an important research topic in power electronics systems. To solve this problem, we propose a new fuzzy predictive filtering scheme, which is based on a Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter bank. Fuzzy logic is introduced here to provide appropriate interpolation of individual filter outputs. Therefore, instead of regular 'hard' switching, our method has the advantageous 'soft' switching among different filters. Simulation comparisons between the fuzzy predictive filtering and conventional filter bank-based approach are made to demonstrate that the new scheme can achieve an enhanced prediction performance for slowly changing sinusoidal input signals.

Keywords: Predictive filtering, fuzzy logic, sinusoidal signals, time-varying frequencies.

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Authors: S. Chuenchooklin, S. Taweepong, U. Pangnakorn

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This research was conducted in the Mae Sot Watershed where located in the Moei River Basin at the Upper Salween River Basin in Tak Province, Thailand. The Mae Sot Municipality is the largest urban area in Tak Province and situated in the midstream of the Mae Sot Watershed. It usually faces flash flood problem after heavy rain due to poor flood management has been reported since economic rapidly bloom up in recent years. Its catchment can be classified as ungauged basin with lack of rainfall data and no any stream gaging station was reported. It was attached by most severely flood events in 2013 as the worst studied case for all those communities in this municipality. Moreover, other problems are also faced in this watershed, such shortage water supply for domestic consumption and agriculture utilizations including a deterioration of water quality and landslide as well. The research aimed to increase capability building and strengthening the participation of those local community leaders and related agencies to conduct better water management in urban area was started by mean of the data collection and illustration of the appropriated application of some short period rainfall forecasting model as they aim for better flood relief plan and management through the hydrologic model system and river analysis system programs. The authors intended to apply the global rainfall data via the integrated data viewer (IDV) program from the Unidata with the aim for rainfall forecasting in a short period of 7-10 days in advance during rainy season instead of real time record. The IDV product can be present in an advance period of rainfall with time step of 3-6 hours was introduced to the communities. The result can be used as input data to the hydrologic modeling system model (HEC-HMS) for synthesizing flood hydrographs and use for flood forecasting as well. The authors applied the river analysis system model (HEC-RAS) to present flood flow behaviors in the reach of the Mae Sot stream via the downtown of the Mae Sot City as flood extents as the water surface level at every cross-sectional profiles of the stream. Both models of HMS and RAS were tested in 2013 with observed rainfall and inflow-outflow data from the Mae Sot Dam. The result of HMS showed fit to the observed data at the dam and applied at upstream boundary discharge to RAS in order to simulate flood extents and tested in the field, and the result found satisfying. The product of rainfall from IDV was fair while compared with observed data. However, it is an appropriate tool to use in the ungauged catchment to use with flood hydrograph and river analysis models for future efficient flood relief plan and management.

Keywords: Global rainfall, flood forecasting, hydrologic modeling system, river analysis system.

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Authors: Amir Azizi, Amir Yazid B. Ali, Loh Wei Ping

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Throughput is an important measure of performance of production system. Analyzing and modeling of production throughput is complex in today-s dynamic production systems due to uncertainties of production system. The main reasons are that uncertainties are materialized when the production line faces changes in setup time, machinery break down, lead time of manufacturing, and scraps. Besides, demand changes are fluctuating from time to time for each product type. These uncertainties affect the production performance. This paper proposes Bayesian inference for throughput modeling under five production uncertainties. Bayesian model utilized prior distributions related to previous information about the uncertainties where likelihood distributions are associated to the observed data. Gibbs sampling algorithm as the robust procedure of Monte Carlo Markov chain was employed for sampling unknown parameters and estimating the posterior mean of uncertainties. The Bayesian model was validated with respect to convergence and efficiency of its outputs. The results presented that the proposed Bayesian models were capable to predict the production throughput with accuracy of 98.3%.

Keywords: Bayesian inference, Uncertainty modeling, Monte Carlo Markov chain, Gibbs sampling, Production throughput

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Authors: Kyoung-Jae Kim, Hyunchul Ahn

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This study proposes novel hybrid social network analysis and collaborative filtering approach to enhance the performance of recommender systems. The proposed model selects subgroups of users in Internet community through social network analysis (SNA), and then performs clustering analysis using the information about subgroups. Finally, it makes recommendations using cluster-indexing CF based on the clustering results. This study tries to use the cores in subgroups as an initial seed for a conventional clustering algorithm. This model chooses five cores which have the highest value of degree centrality from SNA, and then performs clustering analysis by using the cores as initial centroids (cluster centers). Then, the model amplifies the impact of friends in social network in the process of cluster-indexing CF.

Keywords: Social network analysis, Recommender systems, Collaborative filtering, Customer relationship management

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Authors: C. Bruni, F. Delli Priscoli, G. Koch, I. Marchetti

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The Connection Admission Control (CAC) problem is formulated in this paper as a discrete time optimal control problem. The control variables account for the acceptance/ rejection of new connections and forced dropping of in-progress connections. These variables are constrained to meet suitable conditions which account for the QoS requirements (Link Availability, Blocking Probability, Dropping Probability). The performance index evaluates the total throughput. At each discrete time, the problem is solved as an integer-valued linear programming one. The proposed procedure was successfully tested against suitably simulated data.

Keywords: Connection Admission Control, Optimal Control, Integer valued Linear Programming, Quality of Service Requirements, Robust Control.

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Authors: Ren-Jy Ben, Jo-Chi Jao, Chiu-Ya Liao, Ya-Ru Tsai, Lain-Chyr Hwang, Po-Chou Chen

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Cancer is still one of the serious diseases threatening the lives of human beings. How to have an early diagnosis and effective treatment for tumors is a very important issue. The animal carcinoma model can provide a simulation tool for the studies of pathogenesis, biological characteristics, and therapeutic effects. Recently, drug delivery systems have been rapidly developed to effectively improve the therapeutic effects. Liposome plays an increasingly important role in clinical diagnosis and therapy for delivering a pharmaceutic or contrast agent to the targeted sites. Liposome can be absorbed and excreted by the human body, and is well known that no harm to the human body. This study aimed to compare the therapeutic effects between encapsulated (doxorubicin liposomal, Lipodox) and un-encapsulated (doxorubicin, Dox) anti-tumor drugs using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Twenty-four New Zealand rabbits implanted with VX2 carcinoma at left thighs were classified into three groups: control group (untreated), Dox-treated group, and LipoDox-treated group, 8 rabbits for each group. MRI scans were performed three days after tumor implantation. A 1.5T GE Signa HDxt whole body MRI scanner with a high resolution knee coil was used in this study. After a 3-plane localizer scan was performed, three-dimensional (3D) fast spin echo (FSE) T2-weighted Images (T2WI) was used for tumor volumetric quantification. Afterwards, two-dimensional (2D) spoiled gradient recalled echo (SPGR) dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI was used for tumor perfusion evaluation. DCE-MRI was designed to acquire four baseline images, followed by contrast agent Gd-DOTA injection through the ear vein of rabbit. A series of 32 images were acquired to observe the signals change over time in the tumor and muscle. The MRI scanning was scheduled on a weekly basis for a period of four weeks to observe the tumor progression longitudinally. The Dox and LipoDox treatments were prescribed 3 times in the first week immediately after the first MRI scan; i.e. 3 days after VX2 tumor implantation. ImageJ was used to quantitate tumor volume and time course signal enhancement on DCE images. The changes of tumor size showed that the growth of VX2 tumors was effectively inhibited for both LipoDox-treated and Dox-treated groups. Furthermore, the tumor volume of LipoDox-treated group was significantly lower than that of Dox-treated group, which implies that LipoDox has better therapeutic effect than Dox. The signal intensity of LipoDox-treated group is significantly lower than that of the other two groups, which implies that targeted therapeutic drug remained in the tumor tissue. This study provides a radiation-free and non-invasive MRI method for therapeutic monitoring of targeted liposome on an animal tumor model.

Keywords: Doxorubicin, dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI, lipodox, magnetic resonance imaging, VX2 tumor model.

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Authors: A. Karsenty, A. Chelly

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Ultrathin (UTD) and Nanoscale (NSD) SOI-MOSFET devices, sharing a similar W/L but with a channel thickness of 46nm and 1.6nm respectively, were fabricated using a selective “gate recessed” process on the same silicon wafer. The electrical transport characterization at room temperature has shown a large difference between the two kinds of devices and has been interpreted in terms of a huge unexpected series resistance. Electrical characteristics of the Nanoscale device, taken in the linear region, can be analytically derived from the ultrathin device ones. A comparison of the structure and composition of the layers, using advanced techniques such as Focused Ion Beam (FIB) and High Resolution TEM (HRTEM) coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), contributes an explanation as to the difference of transport between the devices.

Keywords: Nanoscale Devices, SOI MOSFET, Analytical Model, Electron Transport.

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Authors: L. B. Jayasinghe, D. P. Thambiratnam, N. Perera, J. H. A. R. Jayasooriya

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Due to increased number of terrorist attacks in recent years, loads induced by explosions need to be incorporated in building designs. For safer performance of a structure, its foundation should have sufficient strength and stability. Therefore, prior to any reconstruction or rehabilitation of a building subjected to blast, it is important to examine adverse effects on the foundation caused by blast induced ground shocks. This paper evaluates the effects of a buried explosion on a pile foundation. It treats the dynamic response of the pile in saturated sand, using explicit dynamic nonlinear finite element software LS-DYNA. The blast induced wave propagation in the soil and the horizontal deformation of pile are presented and the results are discussed. Further, a parametric study is carried out to evaluate the effect of varying the explosive shape on the pile response. This information can be used to evaluate the vulnerability of piled foundations to credible blast events as well as develop guidance for their design.

Keywords: Underground explosion, numerical simulation, pilefoundation, saturated soil.

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Authors: Paul B. Stone, Subhashini Ganapathy, Mary E. Fendley, Layla Akilan

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As notifications become more common through mobile devices, it is important to understand the impact of wearable devices for improved user experience of man-machine interfaces. This study examined the use of a wearable device for a real-time system using a computer simulated petrochemical system. The key research question was to determine how using information provided by the wearable device can improve human performance through measures of situational awareness and decision making. Results indicate that there was a reduction in response time when using the watch and there was no difference in situational awareness. Perception of using the watch was positive, with 83% of users finding value in using the watch and receiving haptic feedback.

Keywords: computer applications, haptic feedback, petrochemical systems, situational awareness, wearable technology

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Authors: O. M. Olanrewaju, F. O. Echobu, A. G. Adesoji, E. D. Ajik, J. N. Ndabula, S. Luka

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Nutrients are required for any soil with which plants thrive to improve efficient growth and productivity. Amongst these nutrients required for proper plant productivity are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK). Due to factors like leaching, nutrient uptake by plants, soil erosion and evaporation, these elements tend to be in low quantity and the need to replenish them arises. However, this replenishment of soil nutrients cannot be done without a timely soil test to enable farmers to know the amount of each element in short quantity and evaluate the amount required to be added. Though wet soil analysis is good, it comes with a lot of challenges ranging from soil test gargets availability to the technical knowledge of how to conduct such soil tests by the common farmer. The Internet of Things test kit was developed to fill in the gaps created by wet soil analysis, as it can test for NPK, soil temperature and soil moisture in a given soil at the time of test. In this implementation, a sample test was carried out within 0.2 hectares of land divided into smaller plots. The kits performed adequately well, as the range of values obtained across the segments was within a very close range.

Keywords: Internet of things, soil nutrients, test kit, soil temperature.

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Authors: Miguel A. Gómez, Enrique Hilario, Francisco J. Alvarez, Elena Gastiasoro, Antonia Alvarez, Jose A. Casla, Jorge Arguinchona, Juan L. Larrabe

Abstract:

Total liquid ventilation can support gas exchange in animal models of lung injury. Clinical application awaits further technical improvements and performance verification. Our aim was to develop a liquid ventilator, able to deliver accurate tidal volumes, and a computerized system for measuring lung mechanics. The computer-assisted, piston-driven respirator controlled ventilatory parameters that were displayed and modified on a real-time basis. Pressure and temperature transducers along with a lineal displacement controller provided the necessary signals to calculate lung mechanics. Ten newborn lambs (<6 days old) with respiratory failure induced by lung lavage, were monitored using the system. Electromechanical, hydraulic and data acquisition/analysis components of the ventilator were developed and tested in animals with respiratory failure. All pulmonary signals were collected synchronized in time, displayed in real-time, and archived on digital media. The total mean error (due to transducers, A/D conversion, amplifiers, etc.) was less than 5% compared to calibrated signals. Improvements in gas exchange and lung mechanics were observed during liquid ventilation, without impairment of cardiovascular profiles. The total liquid ventilator maintained accurate control of tidal volumes and the sequencing of inspiration/expiration. The computerized system demonstrated its ability to monitor in vivo lung mechanics, providing valuable data for early decision-making.

Keywords: Immature lamb, perfluorocarbon, pressure-limited, total liquid ventilation, ventilator, volume-controlled.

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Authors: Sujit K. Basak

Abstract:

This paper presents a comparison of the reference management software between Zotero and Mendeley and the results were drawn by comparing the two software’s. The novelty of this paper is the comparative analysis of the software and it has shown that Mendeley can import more information from the Google Scholar for the researchers. This finding can help to know researchers to use the reference management software.

Keywords: Analysis, comparative analysis, zotero, researchers, Mendeley.

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Authors: Kumara Jayapathma J. H. M. S. S., Dampegama S. D. P. J.

Abstract:

Lands are valuable & limited resource which constantly changes with the growth of the population. An efficient and good land management system is essential to avoid conflicts associated with lands. This paper aims to design the prototype model of a Mobile GIS Land use and Land Information System in real-time. Homagama Divisional Secretariat Division situated in the western province of Sri Lanka was selected as the study area. The prototype model was developed after reviewing related literature. The methodology was consisted of designing and modeling the prototype model into an application running on a mobile platform. The system architecture mainly consists of a Google mapping app for real-time updates with firebase support tools. Thereby, the method of implementation consists of front-end and back-end components. Software tools used in designing applications are Android Studio with JAVA based on GeoJSON File structure. Android Studio with JAVA in GeoJSON File Synchronize to Firebase was found to be the perfect mobile solution for continuously updating Land use and Land Information System (LIS) in real-time in the present scenario. The mobile-based land use and LIS developed in this study are multiple user applications catering to different hierarchy levels such as basic users, supervisory managers, and database administrators. The benefits of this mobile mapping application will help public sector field officers with non-GIS expertise to overcome the land use planning challenges with land use updated in real-time.

Keywords: Android, Firebase, GeoJSON, GIS, JAVA, JSON, LIS, mobile GIS, real-time, REST API.

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