Search results for: Applied Science
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 3728

Search results for: Applied Science

3488 A Comparative Study between Displacement and Strain Based Formulated Finite Elements Applied to the Analysis of Thin Shell Structures

Authors: Djamal Hamadi, Oussama Temami, Abdallah Zatar, Sifeddine Abderrahmani

Abstract:

The analysis and design of thin shell structures is a topic of interest in a variety of engineering applications. In structural mechanics problems the analyst seeks to determine the distribution of stresses throughout the structure to be designed. It is also necessary to calculate the displacements of certain points of the structure to ensure that specified allowable values are not exceeded. In this paper a comparative study between displacement and strain based finite elements applied to the analysis of some thin shell structures is presented. The results obtained from some examples show the efficiency and the performance of the strain based approach compared to the well known displacement formulation.

Keywords: Displacement formulation, Finite elements, Strain based approach, Shell structures.

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3487 Directed Approach and Resolution of Practical Cases as a Motivation Tool for Self-Learning and Cooperation

Authors: B. Montero, M. Rico, A. Ares, R. Bouza

Abstract:

The development of competences and practical capacities of students is getting an important incidence into the guidelines of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The methodology applied in this work is based on the education through directed resolution of practical cases. All cases are related to professional tasks that the students will have to develop in their future career. The method is intended to form the necessary competences of students of the Marine Engineering and Maritime Transport Degree in the matter of “Physics". The experience was applied in the course of 2011/2012. Students were grouped, and a practical task was assigned to them, that should be developed and solved within the team. The aim was to realize students learning by three ways: their own knowledge, the contribution of their teammates and the teacher's direction. The results of the evaluation were compared with those obtained previously by the traditional teaching method.

Keywords: Cooperation, Marine Engineering, Self-learning skills.

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3486 Experimental Investigation of Heat Transfer on Vertical Two-Phased Closed Thermosyphon

Authors: M. Hadi Kusuma, Nandy Putra, Anhar Riza Antariksawan, Ficky Augusta Imawan

Abstract:

Heat pipe is considered to be applied as a passive system to remove residual heat that generated from reactor core when incident occur or from spent fuel storage pool. The objectives are to characterized the heat transfer phenomena, performance of heat pipe, and as a model for large heat pipe will be applied as passive cooling system on nuclear spent fuel pool storage. In this experimental wickless heat pipe or two-phase closed thermosyphon (TPCT) is used. Variation of heat flux are 611.24 Watt/m2 - 3291.29 Watt/m2. Variation of filling ratio are 45 - 70%. Variation of initial pressure are -62 to -74 cm Hg. Demineralized water is used as working fluid in the TPCT. The results showed that increasing of heat load leads to an increase of evaporation of the working fluid. The optimum filling ratio obtained for 60% of TPCT evaporator volume, and initial pressure variation gave different TPCT wall temperature characteristic. TPCT showed best performance with 60% filling ratio and can be consider to be applied as passive residual heat removal system or passive cooling system on spent fuel storage pool.

Keywords: Two-phase closed thermo syphon, heat pipe, passive cooling, spent fuel storage pool.

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3485 Slime Mould Optimization Algorithms for Optimal Distributed Generation Integration in Distribution Electrical Network

Authors: F. Fissou Amigue, S. Ndjakomo Essiane, S. Pérabi Ngoffé, G. Abessolo Ondoa, G. Mengata Mengounou, T. P. Nna Nna

Abstract:

This document proposes a method for determining the optimal point of integration of distributed generation (DG) in distribution grid. Slime mould optimization is applied to determine best node in case of one and two injection point. Problem has been modeled as an optimization problem where the objective is to minimize joule loses and main constraint is to regulate voltage in each point. The proposed method has been implemented in MATLAB and applied in IEEE network 33 and 69 nodes. Comparing results obtained with other algorithms showed that slime mould optimization algorithms (SMOA) have the best reduction of power losses and good amelioration of voltage profile.

Keywords: Optimization, distributed generation, integration, slime mould algorithm.

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3484 Sorting Primitives and Genome Rearrangementin Bioinformatics: A Unified Perspective

Authors: Swapnoneel Roy, Minhazur Rahman, Ashok Kumar Thakur

Abstract:

Bioinformatics and computational biology involve the use of techniques including applied mathematics, informatics, statistics, computer science, artificial intelligence, chemistry, and biochemistry to solve biological problems usually on the molecular level. Research in computational biology often overlaps with systems biology. Major research efforts in the field include sequence alignment, gene finding, genome assembly, protein structure alignment, protein structure prediction, prediction of gene expression and proteinprotein interactions, and the modeling of evolution. Various global rearrangements of permutations, such as reversals and transpositions,have recently become of interest because of their applications in computational molecular biology. A reversal is an operation that reverses the order of a substring of a permutation. A transposition is an operation that swaps two adjacent substrings of a permutation. The problem of determining the smallest number of reversals required to transform a given permutation into the identity permutation is called sorting by reversals. Similar problems can be defined for transpositions and other global rearrangements. In this work we perform a study about some genome rearrangement primitives. We show how a genome is modelled by a permutation, introduce some of the existing primitives and the lower and upper bounds on them. We then provide a comparison of the introduced primitives.

Keywords: Sorting Primitives, Genome Rearrangements, Transpositions, Block Interchanges, Strip Exchanges.

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3483 Improved Wavelet Neural Networks for Early Cancer Diagnosis Using Clustering Algorithms

Authors: Zarita Zainuddin, Ong Pauline

Abstract:

Wavelet neural networks (WNNs) have emerged as a vital alternative to the vastly studied multilayer perceptrons (MLPs) since its first implementation. In this paper, we applied various clustering algorithms, namely, K-means (KM), Fuzzy C-means (FCM), symmetry-based K-means (SBKM), symmetry-based Fuzzy C-means (SBFCM) and modified point symmetry-based K-means (MPKM) clustering algorithms in choosing the translation parameter of a WNN. These modified WNNs are further applied to the heterogeneous cancer classification using benchmark microarray data and were compared against the conventional WNN with random initialization method. Experimental results showed that a WNN classifier with the MPKM algorithm is more precise than the conventional WNN as well as the WNNs with other clustering algorithms.

Keywords: Clustering, microarray, symmetry, wavelet neural networks.

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3482 Mechanical and Chemical Reliability Assessment of Silica Optical Fibres

Authors: Irina Severin, M. Caramihai, K. Chung, G. Tasca, T. Park

Abstract:

The current study has investigated the ageing phenomena of silica optical fibres in relation to water activity which might be accelerated when exposed to a supplementary energy, such as microwaves. A controlled stress by winding fibres onto accurate diameter mandrel was applied. Taking into account that normally a decrease in fibre strength is induced in time by chemical action of water, the effects of cumulative reagents such as: water, applied stress and supplementary energy (microwave) in some cases acted in the opposite manner. The microwave effect as a structural relaxation catalyst appears unexpected, even if the overall gain in fibre strength is not high, but the stress corrosion factor revealed significant increase in certain simulation conditions.

Keywords: optical fibres, mechanical testing, aging, microwave, structural relaxation.

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3481 BPNN Based Processing for End Effects of HHT

Authors: Chun-Yao Lee, Yao-chen Lee

Abstract:

This paper describes a method of signal process applied on an end effects of Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT) to provide an improvement in the reality of spectrum. The method is based on back-propagation network (BPN). To improve the effect, the end extension of the original signal is obtained by back-propagation network. A full waveform including origin and its extension is decomposed by using empirical mode decomposition (EMD) to obtain intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) of the waveform. Then, the Hilbert transform (HT) is applied to the IMFs to obtain the Hilbert spectrum of the waveform. As a result, the method is superiority of the processing of end effect of HHT to obtain the real frequency spectrum of signals.

Keywords: Neural network, back-propagation network, Hilbert-Huang transform

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3480 Regional Role of Higher Education Institutions in Croatia

Authors: Mirjana Jeleč Raguž, Barbara Pisker

Abstract:

Development of knowledge based society carries multiple challenges to the higher education system. Some of the challenges laid before the higher education sector of countries which aspire to become knowledge based societies are: the entrepreneurial leadership of the higher education institutions, finding new sources of financing in order to minimize dependence on public resources, creating connections with the labor market, commercial utilization of R&D results, promotion of innovations as well as the overall promotion of science excellence relevant to the economic sector. Within a framework of this paper and its main subject of research, the challenge which is being put before the higher education institutions is an effort of establishing regional mission of higher education through the open collaboration with regional key factors, both private and public. Development of the mentioned collaboration and its contribution to the overall regional development in Croatia is the main subject of empirical research in this paper.

Keywords: Croatia, Higher Education Institutions, Regional Role, Science-Industry Interaction

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3479 Magneto-Thermo-Mechanical Analysis of Electromagnetic Devices Using the Finite Element Method

Authors: Michael G. Pantelyat

Abstract:

Fundamental basics of pure and applied research in the area of magneto-thermo-mechanical numerical analysis and design of innovative electromagnetic devices (modern induction heaters, novel thermoelastic actuators, rotating electrical machines, induction cookers, electrophysical devices) are elaborated. Thus, mathematical models of magneto-thermo-mechanical processes in electromagnetic devices taking into account main interactions of interrelated phenomena are developed. In addition, graphical representation of coupled (multiphysics) phenomena under consideration is proposed. Besides, numerical techniques for nonlinear problems solution are developed. On this base, effective numerical algorithms for solution of actual problems of practical interest are proposed, validated and implemented in applied 2D and 3D computer codes developed. Many applied problems of practical interest regarding modern electrical engineering devices are numerically solved. Investigations of the influences of various interrelated physical phenomena (temperature dependences of material properties, thermal radiation, conditions of convective heat transfer, contact phenomena, etc.) on the accuracy of the electromagnetic, thermal and structural analyses are conducted. Important practical recommendations on the choice of rational structures, materials and operation modes of electromagnetic devices under consideration are proposed and implemented in industry.

Keywords: Electromagnetic devices, multiphysics, numerical analysis, simulation and design.

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3478 Digital Learning Environments for Joint Master in Science Programmes in Building and Construction in Europe: Experimenting with Tools and Technologies

Authors: E. Dado, R. Beheshti

Abstract:

Recent developments in information and communication technologies (ICT) have created excellent conditions for profoundly enhancing the traditional learning and teaching practices. New modes of teaching in higher education subjects can profoundly enhance ones ability to proactively constructing his or her personal learning universe. These developments have contributed to digital learning environments becoming widely available and accessible. In addition, there is a trend towards enlargement and specialization in higher education in Europe. With as a result that existing Master of Science (MSc) programmes are merged or new programmes have been established that are offered as joint MSc programmes to students. In these joint MSc programmes, the need for (common) digital learning environments capable of surmounting the barriers of time and location has become evident. This paper discusses the past and ongoing efforts to establish such common digital learning environments in two joint MSc programmes in Europe and discusses the way technology-based learning environments affect the traditional way of learning.

Keywords: education, engineering, learning environments, ICT.

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3477 MIMO Performances in Tunnel Environment: Interpretation from the Channel Characteristics

Authors: C. Sanchis-Borras, J. M. Molina-Garcia-Pardo, P. Degauque, M. Lienard

Abstract:

The objective of this contribution is to study the performances in terms of bit error rate, of space-time code algorithms applied to MIMO communication in tunnels. Indeed, the channel characteristics in a tunnel are quite different than those of urban or indoor environment, due to the guiding effect of the tunnel. Therefore, MIMO channel matrices have been measured in a straight tunnel, in a frequency band around 3GHz. Correlation between array elements and properties of the MIMO matrices are first studied as a function of the distance between the transmitter and the receiver. Then, owing to a software tool simulating the link, predicted values of bit error rate are given for VLAST, OSTBC and QSTBC algorithms applied to a MIMO configuration with 2 or 4 array elements. Results are interpreted from the analysis of the channel properties.

Keywords: MIMO, propagation channel, space-time algorithms, tunnel.

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3476 Objective Evaluation of Mathematical Morphology Edge Detection on Computed Tomography (CT) Images

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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3475 The Experiences of South-African High-School Girls in a Fab Lab Environment

Authors: Nomusa Dlodlo, Ronald Noel Beyers

Abstract:

This paper reports on an effort to address the issue of inequality in girls- and women-s access to science, engineering and technology (SET) education and careers through raising awareness on SET among secondary school girls in South Africa. Girls participated in hands-on high-tech rapid prototyping environment of a fabrication laboratory that was aimed at stimulating creativity and innovation as part of a Fab Kids initiative. The Fab Kids intervention is about creating a SET pipeline as part of the Young Engineers and Scientists of Africa Initiative.The methodology was based on a real world situation and a hands-on approach. In the process, participants acquired a number of skills including computer-aided design, research skills, communication skills, teamwork skills, technical drawing skills, writing skills and problem-solving skills. Exposure to technology enhanced the girls- confidence in being able to handle technology-related tasks.

Keywords: Girls, design engineering, gender, science, women.

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3474 Confidence Intervals for the Coefficients of Variation with Bounded Parameters

Authors: Jeerapa Sappakitkamjorn, Sa-aat Niwitpong

Abstract:

In many practical applications in various areas, such as engineering, science and social science, it is known that there exist bounds on the values of unknown parameters. For example, values of some measurements for controlling machines in an industrial process, weight or height of subjects, blood pressures of patients and retirement ages of public servants. When interval estimation is considered in a situation where the parameter to be estimated is bounded, it has been argued that the classical Neyman procedure for setting confidence intervals is unsatisfactory. This is due to the fact that the information regarding the restriction is simply ignored. It is, therefore, of significant interest to construct confidence intervals for the parameters that include the additional information on parameter values being bounded to enhance the accuracy of the interval estimation. Therefore in this paper, we propose a new confidence interval for the coefficient of variance where the population mean and standard deviation are bounded. The proposed interval is evaluated in terms of coverage probability and expected length via Monte Carlo simulation.  

Keywords: Bounded parameters, coefficient of variation, confidence interval, Monte Carlo simulation.

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3473 Symbiotic Organism Search (SOS) for Solving the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem

Authors: Ruskartina Eki, Vincent F. Yu, Santosa Budi, A. A. N. Perwira Redi

Abstract:

This paper introduces symbiotic organism search (SOS) for solving capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP). SOS is a new approach in metaheuristics fields and never been used to solve discrete problems. A sophisticated decoding method to deal with a discrete problem setting in CVRP is applied using the basic symbiotic organism search (SOS) framework. The performance of the algorithm was evaluated on a set of benchmark instances and compared results with best known solution. The computational results show that the proposed algorithm can produce good solution as a preliminary testing. These results indicated that the proposed SOS can be applied as an alternative to solve the capacitated vehicle routing problem.

Keywords: Symbiotic organism search, vehicle routing problem, metaheuristics, Solution Representation.

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3472 Integrating Microcontroller-Based Projects in a Human-Computer Interaction Course

Authors: Miguel Angel Garcia-Ruiz, Pedro Cesar Santana-Mancilla, Laura Sanely Gaytan-Lugo

Abstract:

This paper describes the design and application of a short in-class project conducted in Algoma University’s Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) course taught at the Bachelor of Computer Science. The project was based on the Maker Movement (people using and reusing electronic components and everyday materials to tinker with technology and make interactive applications), where students applied low-cost and easy-to-use electronic components, the Arduino Uno microcontroller board, software tools, and everyday objects. Students collaborated in small teams by completing hands-on activities with them, making an interactive walking cane for blind people. At the end of the course, students filled out a Technology Acceptance Model version 2 (TAM2) questionnaire where they evaluated microcontroller boards’ applications in HCI classes. We also asked them about applying the Maker Movement in HCI classes. Results showed overall students’ positive opinions and response about using microcontroller boards in HCI classes. We strongly suggest that every HCI course should include practical activities related to tinkering with technology such as applying microcontroller boards, where students actively and constructively participate in teams for achieving learning objectives.

Keywords: Maker movement, microcontrollers, learning, projects, course, technology acceptance.

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3471 Generic Data Warehousing for Consumer Electronics Retail Industry

Authors: S. Habte, K. Ouazzane, P. Patel, S. Patel

Abstract:

The dynamic and highly competitive nature of the consumer electronics retail industry means that businesses in this industry are experiencing different decision making challenges in relation to pricing, inventory control, consumer satisfaction and product offerings. To overcome the challenges facing retailers and create opportunities, we propose a generic data warehousing solution which can be applied to a wide range of consumer electronics retailers with a minimum configuration. The solution includes a dimensional data model, a template SQL script, a high level architectural descriptions, ETL tool developed using C#, a set of APIs, and data access tools. It has been successfully applied by ASK Outlets Ltd UK resulting in improved productivity and enhanced sales growth.

Keywords: Consumer electronics retail, dimensional data model, data analysis, generic data warehousing, reporting.

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3470 Solutions of Fuzzy Transportation Problem Using Best Candidates Method and Different Ranking Techniques

Authors: M. S. Annie Christi

Abstract:

Transportation Problem (TP) is based on supply and demand of commodities transported from one source to the different destinations. Usual methods for finding solution of TPs are North-West Corner Rule, Least Cost Method Vogel’s Approximation Method etc. The transportation costs tend to vary at each time. We can use fuzzy numbers which would give solution according to this situation. In this study the Best Candidate Method (BCM) is applied. For ranking Centroid Ranking Technique (CRT) and Robust Ranking Technique have been adopted to transform the fuzzy TP and the above methods are applied to EDWARDS Vacuum Company, Crawley, in West Sussex in the United Kingdom. A Comparative study is also given. We see that the transportation cost can be minimized by the application of CRT under BCM.

Keywords: Best candidates method, centroid ranking technique, robust ranking technique, transportation problem, fuzzy transportation problem.

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3469 Quantitative Study for Exchange of Gases from Open Sewer Channel to Atmosphere

Authors: Asif Mansoor, Nasiruddin Khan, Noreen Jamil

Abstract:

In this communication a quantitative modeling approach is applied to construct model for the exchange of gases from open sewer channel to the atmosphere. The data for the exchange of gases of the open sewer channel for the year January 1979 to December 2006 is utilized for the construction of the model. The study reveals that stream flow of the open sewer channel exchanges the toxic gases continuously with time varying scale. We find that the quantitative modeling approach is more parsimonious model for these exchanges. The usual diagnostic tests are applied for the model adequacy. This model is beneficial for planner and managerial bodies for the improvement of implemented policies to overcome future environmental problems.

Keywords: Open sewer channel, Industrial waste, Municipalwaste, Gases exchange, Atmosphere, Stochastic models, Diagnosticschecks.

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3468 Implementation of an Undergraduate Integrated Biology and Chemistry Course

Authors: Jayson G. Balansag

Abstract:

An integrated biology and chemistry (iBC) course for freshmen college students was developed in University of Delaware. This course will prepare students to (1) become interdisciplinary thinkers in the field of biology and (2) collaboratively work with others from multiple disciplines in the future. This paper documents and describes the implementation of the course. The information gathered from reading literature, classroom observations, and interviews were used to carry out the purpose of this paper. The major goal of the iBC course is to align the concepts between Biology and Chemistry, so that students can draw science concepts from both disciplines which they can apply in their interdisciplinary researches. This course is offered every fall and spring semesters of each school year. Students enrolled in Biology are also enrolled in Chemistry during the same semester. The iBC is composed of lectures, laboratories, studio sessions, and workshops and is taught by the faculty from the biology and chemistry departments. In addition, the preceptors, graduate teaching assistants, and studio fellows facilitate the laboratory and studio sessions. These roles are interdependent with each other. The iBC can be used as a model for higher education institutions who wish to implement an integrated biology course.

Keywords: Integrated biology and chemistry, integration, interdisciplinary research, new biology, undergraduate science education.

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3467 FCA-based Conceptual Knowledge Discovery in Folksonomy

Authors: Yu-Kyung Kang, Suk-Hyung Hwang, Kyoung-Mo Yang

Abstract:

The tagging data of (users, tags and resources) constitutes a folksonomy that is the user-driven and bottom-up approach to organizing and classifying information on the Web. Tagging data stored in the folksonomy include a lot of very useful information and knowledge. However, appropriate approach for analyzing tagging data and discovering hidden knowledge from them still remains one of the main problems on the folksonomy mining researches. In this paper, we have proposed a folksonomy data mining approach based on FCA for discovering hidden knowledge easily from folksonomy. Also we have demonstrated how our proposed approach can be applied in the collaborative tagging system through our experiment. Our proposed approach can be applied to some interesting areas such as social network analysis, semantic web mining and so on.

Keywords: Folksonomy data mining, formal concept analysis, collaborative tagging, conceptual knowledge discovery, classification.

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3466 Curriculum and Sex-specific Differences in Academic Stress Arising from Perceived Expectations

Authors: Glenn M. Calaguas

Abstract:

With the aim of knowing whether curriculum and sex differences exist in academic stress arising from perceived expectations, high school students were asked to respond to the Academic Expectations Stress Inventory (AESI). AESI is a nine-item inventory with two domains, namely: expectations of teachers/parents and expectations of self. Out of the 504 officially enrolled high school students in a state college, 469 responded to the inventory. Responses were analyzed using independent samples ttest. Significant differences were found between the mean scores of the respondents coming from the Science and the Vocational curriculum. The respondents from the Science curriculum consistently registered higher mean scores. Likewise, significant differences were found between the male and the female respondents. The female respondents consistently registered higher mean scores.

Keywords: academic stress, curriculum and sex differences, high school students, perceived expectations

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3465 Access to Higher Education in Nigeria: The University of Calabar Pre-Degree Program Experience

Authors: Eni I. Eni, James Okon, Ashang J. Ashang

Abstract:

The pre-degree program of the University of Calabar was introduced to help increase access to tertiary Education in science related courses. Its main objective was to provide access to candidates from educationally less developed states (ELDS) and states within its catchment area. An impact evaluation of the program was conducted, from where the aspect of providing access to University Education was reported here. Two research questions were formulated; expost-facto research design and purposive sampling technique were adopted for the study. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics in terms of frequencies and percentages. The result of data analysis showed that the pre-degree program of the University of Calabar has provided educational access to Nigerians especially those from educationally less developed states in science related courses. It was therefore recommended that the program be sustained and further be improved upon to facilitate its continued provision of access to University Education in Nigeria.

Keywords: Educationally Less Developed States, Higher Education, Pre-Degree program, University of Calabar,

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3464 Low Complexity Hybrid Scheme for PAPR Reduction in OFDM Systems Based on SLM and Clipping

Authors: V. Sudha, D. Sriram Kumar

Abstract:

In this paper, we present a low complexity hybrid scheme using conventional selective mapping (C-SLM) and clipping algorithms to reduce the high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal. In the proposed scheme, the input data sequence (X) is divided into two sub-blocks, then clipping algorithm is applied to the first sub-block, whereas C-SLM algorithm is applied to the second sub-block in order to reduce both computational complexity and PAPR. The resultant time domain OFDM signal is obtained by combining the output of two sub-blocks. The simulation results show that the proposed hybrid scheme provides 0.45 dB PAPR reduction gain at CCDF value of 10-2 and 52% of computational complexity reduction when compared to C-SLM scheme at the expense of slight degradation in bit error rate (BER) performance.

Keywords: CCDF, Clipping, OFDM, PAPR, SLM.

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3463 Development and Assessment of the Competence Creativity Applied to Technical Drawing

Authors: Maria J. Garcia-Garcia, Concepcion Gonzalez-Garcia, Gabriel A. Dorado, Luis J. Fernandez

Abstract:

The results obtained after incorporating the competence “creativity" to the subject Technical Drawing of the first course of the Degree in Forestry, Technical University of Madrid, are presented in this study.At first, learning activities which could serve two functions at the same time -developing students- creativity and developing other specific competences of the subject- were considered. Besides, changes in the assessment procedure were made and a method which analyzes two aspects of the assessment of the competence creativity was established. On the one hand, the products are evaluated by analyzing the outcomes obtained by students in the essays suggested and by establishing a parameter to assess the creativity expressed in those essays. On the other, an assessment of the student is directly carried out through a psychometric test which has been previously chosen by the team.Moreover, these results can be applied to similar or could be of general application.

Keywords: assessment competence, assessment creativity, creativity, generic competences

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3462 Liver Tumor Detection by Classification through FD Enhancement of CT Image

Authors: N. Ghatwary, A. Ahmed, H. Jalab

Abstract:

In this paper, an approach for the liver tumor detection in computed tomography (CT) images is represented. The detection process is based on classifying the features of target liver cell to either tumor or non-tumor. Fractional differential (FD) is applied for enhancement of Liver CT images, with the aim of enhancing texture and edge features. Later on, a fusion method is applied to merge between the various enhanced images and produce a variety of feature improvement, which will increase the accuracy of classification. Each image is divided into NxN non-overlapping blocks, to extract the desired features. Support vector machines (SVM) classifier is trained later on a supplied dataset different from the tested one. Finally, the block cells are identified whether they are classified as tumor or not. Our approach is validated on a group of patients’ CT liver tumor datasets. The experiment results demonstrated the efficiency of detection in the proposed technique.

Keywords: Fractional differential (FD), Computed Tomography (CT), fusion.

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3461 A Variable Incremental Conductance MPPT Algorithm Applied to Photovoltaic Water Pumping System

Authors: S. Abdourraziq, R. El Bachtiri

Abstract:

The use of solar energy as a source for pumping water is one of the promising areas in the photovoltaic (PV) application. The energy of photovoltaic pumping systems (PVPS) can be widely improved by employing an MPPT algorithm. This will lead consequently to maximize the electrical motor speed of the system. This paper presents a modified incremental conductance (IncCond) MPPT algorithm with direct control method applied to a standalone PV pumping system. The influence of the algorithm parameters on system behavior is investigated and compared with the traditional (INC) method. The studied system consists of a PV panel, a DC-DC boost converter, and a PMDC motor-pump. The simulation of the system by MATLAB-SIMULINK is carried out. Simulation results found are satisfactory.

Keywords: Photovoltaic pumping system (PVPS), incremental conductance (INC), MPPT algorithm, boost converter.

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3460 The Resource Description Framework (RDF) as a Modern Structure for Medical Data

Authors: Gabriela Lindemann, Danilo Schmidt, Thomas Schrader, Dietmar Keune

Abstract:

The amount and heterogeneity of data in biomedical research, notably in interdisciplinary fields, requires new methods for the collection, presentation and analysis of information. Important data from laboratory experiments as well as patient trials are available but come out of distributed resources. The Charité - University Hospital Berlin has established together with the German Research Foundation (DFG) a new information service centre for kidney diseases and transplantation (Open European Nephrology Science Centre - OpEN.SC). Beside a collaborative aspect to create new research groups every single partner or institution of this science information centre making his own data available is allowed to search the whole data pool of the various involved centres. A core task is the implementation of a non-restricting open data structure for the various different data sources. We decided to use a modern RDF model and in a first phase transformed original data coming from the web-based Electronic Patient Record database TBase©.

Keywords: Medical databases, Resource Description Framework (RDF), metadata repository.

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3459 Occupational Safety Need Analysis for Turkey and Europe

Authors: Ismail Muratoglu, Ahmet Meyveci, Abdurrahman Tuncer, Erkan Demirci

Abstract:

This study is dedicated to the analysis of the problems of occupational safety in Turkey, Italy and Poland. The need analysis was applied to three different countries which are Turkey; 4, Poland; 1, Italy; 1 state. The number of the subjects is 891 in Turkey. The number of the subjects is 26 in Italy and the number of the subjects is 19 in Poland. The total number of samples of study is 936. Four different forms (Job Security Experts Form, Student Form, Teacher Form and Company Form) were applied. Results of experts of job security forms are rate of 7.1%. Then, the students’ forms are rate of 34.3%, teacher or instructor forms are rate of 9.9%. The last corporation forms are rate of 48.7%.

Keywords: Europe, need analysis, occupational safety, Turkey, vocational education.

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