Performance improvement of SAC-OCDMA system using modified double weight (MDW) code for optical access network
February 2012
In this paper, we have extensively analyzed the SAC-OCDMA system performance using Modified Double Weight (MDW) code with NAND detection technique as newly developed by the authors. In theoretical analysis, various noises and Multiple-Access Interference (MAI) effect were taken into account. The system performance was characterized by the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the Bit-Error-Rate (BER). The analysis...
Effect of water absorption on the wear behavior of sol-gel processed epoxy/silica hybrids
February 2012
The aim of this study is to investigate the wear behavior of epoxy-silica hybrids. These hybrids were obtained through the addition of sol-gel prepared silica nanoparticles to epoxy resin. In this study, the effect of nanosilica content on the mechanical properties and wear behavior of epoxy-silica hybrid materials was investigated. Tensile strength, impact strength, hardness, water absorption and wear tests...
Random-valued impulse noise reduction in digital image using efficient nonparametric switching median filter
February 2012
Visual information plays an important role in modern applications as the usage of multimedia becomes more widespread from day to day. However, impulse noise is ubiquitous in real life and often distorts an image. This paper presents a new noise-filtering algorithm called efficient nonparametric switching median (ENPSM) filter, which is capable of reducing the effect of low level random-valued impulse noise up to 30% of...
Pareto analysis of on-site productivity constraints and improvement techniques in construction industry
February 2012
Productivity represents efficient and effective utilisation of scarce resources to achieve set objectives. Based on Pareto principle, this study aims to identify the nature of and improvement measures for the 20% of the factors causing 80% of the on-site productivity problems in the New Zealand construction industry. Qualitative data collected using pilot interviews formed the basis for questionnaire surveys...
Sustainability and water transmission system in the Bagh-Shahr of Isfahan
February 2012
In this paper, firstly, we seek to explain the urbanization and sustainability principles in the Isfahan and compare them, present overlaps of the sustainable designing principles and the urbanization principles. However, it describes the role of the natural and garden-building elements based on the historical references in the Isfahan and the ways to change a city located in a hot and dry climate to a...
Sustainability and water transmission system in the Bagh-Shahr of Isfahan
February 2012
In this paper, firstly, we seek to explain the urbanization and sustainability principles in the Isfahan and compare them, present overlaps of the sustainable designing principles and the urbanization principles. However, it describes the role of the natural and garden-building elements based on the historical references in the Isfahan and the ways to change a city located in a hot and dry climate to a...
The antiviral effect of fullerene-liposome complex against influenza virus (H1N1) in vivo
February 2012
Influenza viruses are important pathogens for humans and the discovery of novel anti-influenza drugs with low toxicity deserves great efforts. Fullerenes have attracted considerable attention in different fields of sciences including antiviral activity. We synthesized a fullerene-liposome incorporated compound and investigated its antiviral activity on influenza virus infection in a mouse model. The results...
Ablation of left posterior fascicular ventricular tachycardia during sinus rhythm under guidance of non-contact balloon mapping
February 2012
This paper evaluated the effectiveness and safety of patchy ablation for treating left posterior fascicular ventricular tachycardia (LPFVT) using rapid mapping of diastolic potentials and Purkinje potentials during sinus rhythm under the guidance of the Ensite3000 system. Twelve patients suffering from left posterior fascicular ventricular tachycardia were treated at our center. A three-dimensional...
Fault tolerant control of induction motor through observer techniques II
February 2012
In the design of the control law due to sensor and actuator faults, it is very important to implement the fault tolerant control system. Unknown Input Observers (UIO) can be used in model based fault detection and isolation (FDI) schemes to reduce or almost eliminate the effect of unknown disturbances on the MIMO plant/system. Furthermore, they can be used to generate residuals that are insensitive to unknown...
Effects of different bamboo densities on understory species diversity and trees regeneration in an Abies faxoniana forest, Southwest China
February 2012
Effects of dwarf bamboo, Fargesia nitida, on micro-environments, species diversity and regeneration on the floor were investigated at three conditions, high density (HB), low density (LB) and without F. nitida (UB) in a subalpine Abies faxoniana forest, southwest China. Relative photon flux density (RPFD) on the floor became unfavorable, and physical and chemical features of soil...
An analysis of super-linear speedup for master-slave model
February 2012
Recently, large-scale computations have been used in many real application areas. At the same time, there exists more parallel computing technique on cluster in order to meet these demands. In this paper, a speedup analysis of Master-Slave application on heterogeneous cluster is investigated. A task allocation model is set up and its theoretical analysis of execution time is developed. A more accurate upper...
Numerical simulation of dynamic pore water pressure using wave theory concept
February 2012
The seismic force on structure causes instability and could overturn or create unacceptable differential settlement. This paper presents and discusses experimental, theoretical and numerical methods for the study and evaluation of interaction between sandy saturated subsoil and embankment in presence of confined sandy dense column. It is very important predicting structure differential settlement due to...
Effect of network hierarchy in a typical campus area network (CAN) of a university
February 2012
This paper presents the results of a practical implementation of the hierarchical network design. The aim of this paper is to briefly show the effect of hierarchy in a campus network by taking the case study of a University network that has no hierarchy implemented. We simulated the original network and subjected the network to run for a period of 30 min with all the deployed services fully running to obtain...
Antioxidant activities of Solenostemon monostachyus leaf extract using in vitro methods
February 2012
Solenostemon monostachyus is an important herb that is native to West and Central Africa. The leaves have been traditionally used for various medicinal purposes however the scientific basis for these effects is scarce. The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro antioxidant and free radical scavenging abilities of S. monostachyus extract by assessing its hydrogen peroxide...
Rainwater harvesting practices: A key concept of energy-water linkage for sustainable development
February 2012
Water shortage is a big problem in Ethiopia. The main challenge is to develop an appropriate and affordable innovation that can help to bridge the gap between demand and supply of water. Mostly, water supply plants are installed at a plain region, and Jimma zone of Ethiopia is a high land. Thus, water transportation, operation and maintenance of supply system consumes a big chunk of energy supply. The...
Heavy metals distribution in the soils of Peshawar valley, Northern-Pakistan
February 2012
Information about metals concentrations in soil profiles of Peshawar-Pakistan in relation to their parent material is in scarcity. The study was aimed to identify the source of metals in soils and to determine the level of depletion and enrichment. Twenty two soil profiles derived from alluvium, piedmont alluvium, loess and re-deposits loess underlain by quaternary sediments with their respective parent...
Life cycle assessment of biological-mechanical treatment in solid waste management
February 2012
Mechanical-biological waste treatment process commonly produce an organic rich fraction containing nutrients and organic matter which have the potential to improve physical, chemical and biological health of soil. Based on recommended BMT-based integrated MSW management system, life cycle assessment is employed to compare the environmental impact potential (EIP) of two BMT-based waste treatment strategies...
ESU-GOO: The join order algorithm for optimizing small join queries
February 2012
The near exhaustive search algorithm named ESU-GOO was proposed to optimize small join queries. It optimizes the join query time which consists of both the time to generate join query results and the time to search the join order solution, whereas methods such as exhaustive search and greedy algorithm optimizes only one of them. The ESU-GOO integrates Greedy Operator Ordering (GOO) to Exhaustive...
Effect of shock vibrations due to speed control humps to the health of city bus drivers
February 2012
Speed Control Humps (SCH) are used to slow down the vehicles and improve traffic safety. While passing over the humps, the drivers of public transport buses are exposed to shock vibrations. An analysis of the effects of shock vibrations to the health of a city bus driver, while passing over three types of SCHs, is made by simulation, using an original oscillatory model with five degrees of freedom (DOF). The...
Super-resolution image reconstruction using sparse parameter dictionary framework
February 2012
Super-resolution (SR) image reconstruction is the signal processing technique of fusing many low resolution images into a single higher resolution image. A sparse parameter dictionary framework for super-resolution image reconstruction is proposed, which amalgamates the feature patches of high-resolution and low-resolution images using sparse parameter dictionary coding. This technique fabricates a sparse...
Sensitivity of direct smear microscopy for the diagnosis of TB in high HIV prevalent population
February 2012
Diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) amongst HIV patients is a great challenge due to the low density of Acid Fast bacilli (AFB) in their sputum. The study was conducted to determine the sensitivity of direct smear microscopy (DSM) for TB diagnosis in HIV endemic setting using culture as a gold standard. During the period of study, 549 TB suspects were screened, and they comprised of 396(72%) HIV-positive...
A surrogate modelling to predict surface roughness and surface texture when grinding AISI 1042 carbon steel
February 2012
The quality of the surface produced during carbon steel is important as it influences the performance of the ï¬nished part to a great extent. This paper discusses the optimization of cylindrical grinding when grinding carbon steel (AISI 1042) and effect of three variables (work speed, diameter of workpiece and depth of cut) towards surface roughness with aluminium oxide as grinding wheel. Surrogate...
Effects of farmers’ cultural practices on the weedy rice infestation and rice production
February 2012
An on-farm trial was conducted at the Muda Agricultural Development Authority rice fields, Kedah, Peninsular Malaysia from November, 2003 to July, 2006 to study the impacts of farmers’ cultural practices on the weedy rice infestation and rice production. Five sample farmers (A, B, C, D and E) from five different sampling sites were selected on the basis of severity of weedy rice infestation on their...
Face- central incisor form matching in selected south Asian population
February 2012
This research intended to examine the morphometric relationship between the face and inverted maxillary central incisor in Malays and Chinese. 120 volunteers who met defined criteria participated in the study. Measurements were made directly and on digital images of each subject’s frontal facial view and the corresponding stone cast of the maxillary teeth. An image analyzer was used to divide the image of the face...
A novel extrapolation method for value prediction applications
January 2012
This paper presents a simple extrapolation method for value prediction applications. Classical statistical analysis methods are not used for the proposed method instead some basic mathematical and constitutional properties of the system responses are used, and relationships between the samples are modeled. Detailed mathematical description of the proposed method is given and obtained results are justified using...
Response of selected wheat genotypes to ethylmethanesulphonate concentration, treatment temperature and duration
January 2012
Ethylmethanesulphonate (EMS) is the most useful chemical mutagen to induce genetic variation in plant breeding programs. Key factors in inducing mutations with EMS include dose, genotype, temperature and duration of treatment. This study was conducted to determine the optimum EMS concentration, treatment temperature and duration for effective mutagenesis in selected wheat varieties. Seeds of four varieties (B936, B966,...
Temperature compensation of hot wire mass air flow sensor by using fuzzy temperature compensation scheme
January 2012
Mass air flow sensors are increasingly used in the automotive industry to measure the mass air flow intake into the internal combustion engine. A problem occurred with the basic circuit for bridge type mass air flow sensor is the measurement accuracy of the sensor is affected by the temperature variation in the air. This paper presents the development of an open loop Fuzzy Temperature Compensation Scheme (FTCS) for hot...
Amelioration of aluminium induced toxicity by Allium sativum
January 2012
Garlic (Allium sativum L., Liliaceae) is a nature’s boon to mankind, which has played an important dietary and therapeutic medicinal role throughout the history of mankind. Aluminum (Al) is a potent neurotoxin and has been associated with Alzheimer's disease causality for decades. The study aims to demonstrate the ameliorative effect of garlic extract against aluminium-induced toxicity in rat model....
Optimal homotopy asymptotic approach to nonlinear oscillators with discontinuities
January 2012
In this paper a version of the optimal homotopy asymptotic method (OHAM) has been proposed and applied to nonlinear oscillators with discontinuities. The main objective was to obtain highly accurate analytical solutions for a particularantisymmetric constant force oscillator using this new procedure. The proposed procedure proved to be very effective and accurate and did not require linearization or small...
Traditional knowledge and usage of edible plants among the Semai community of Kampung Batu 16, Tapah, Perak, Malaysia
January 2012
A study was carried out on the traditional knowledge and usage of edible plants among the Semai community at a village in the state of Perak, Malaysia. Information was obtained through verbal communication with adults guided by a predetermined set of questions, and also by observing and participating in their activities during each visit using the method of ethnobotanical enquiry. A total of 66 species was...
A cultural algorithm based particle swarm optimization approach to linear brushless DC motor PID controller
January 2012
This paper presents a new hybrid Cultural Algorithm (CA) based particle swarm optimization (PSO) that converges to a significantly more accurate solution then existing particle swarm optimization and which has also been applied to the linear brushless DC motor PID controller design. The utility of hybrid CA based PSO is demonstrated by determining the optimal proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller parameters...
Organic facies of the Beydağları carbonate platform (Mesozoic), Western Taurus, Antalya, Turkey
January 2012
Mesozoic carbonates are widespread in the Antalya region of south-west Turkey and have been studied in the outcrop. Mesozoic units include a Jurrasic/Cretaceous sequence that comprises, from bottom to top, the following stratigraphic sequence: BeydaÄŸları Formation (Jurrasic-Cretaceous) and ÇiÄŸdemtepe Formation (Senonian). Detailed data from thick Mesozoic carbonates (BeydaÄŸları and ÇiÄŸdemtepe...
Towards an analytical information system of traffic accidents in the function of traffic safety monitoring
January 2012
Quality monitoring, analysis and evaluation of traffic safety situation is the first and most important strategic step in establishing a traffic safety protection system. With the goal of establishing the protection system and traffic safety management system, it is necessary to use quality data from traffic accident databases. Apart from quality, with respect to different quality criteria, it is also...
Application of exogenous glycine betaine on some growth traits of soybean (Glycine max L.) cv. DPX in drought stress conditions
January 2012
Glycine betaine is an osmoprotectant quaternary ammonium compound that accumulates in response to stress in plants. In order to evaluation stress tolerance, determination of yield amount and vegetative characteristic of Glycine max L. cv. DPX, an experiment was performed under potting conditions in factorial randomized complete block design with 4 replications in natural environmental conditions. Treatments...
Kinematic GNSS-PPP results from various software packages and raw data configurations
January 2012
In this study, kinematic precise point positioning (PPP) was tested. The raw data were taken from permanent stations, two airplane trajectories, a car trajectory and a walking trajectory. International GNSS Service (IGS) final products were used in the post-processing phase. The observations were processed using four different on-line software packages: the Canadian Spatial Reference System On-line Global GPS Processing...
Menstrual health: the unmet needs of adolescent girls’ in Sokoto, Nigeria
January 2012
The perception and appropriate hygiene practices of girls towards menstruation is closely linked with their level of knowledge and beliefs. This study aimed to assess the level of knowledge on menstruation and hygienic practices among adolescent school girls in an urban city, Nigeria. The study was a cross sectional survey and a total 122 girls from 4 out of the 9 schools’ were recruited using a multistage...
Development of regional gravimetric geoid model and comparison with EGM2008 gravity-field model over Korea
January 2012
We constructed a regional geoid model and compared it with the EGM2008 global gravity-field model to evaluate the performance of EGM2008 for Korea. By using the Remove–Compute–Restore (RCR) technique, we developed an improved gravimetric geoid model JNUGEOID2010 on a 1 × 1′ grid by combining the EIGEN-GL04C global geopotential model (GGM), 8316 land-gravity data, an altimetry-derived marine...
CFD modeling of the melt spinning of poly (ethylene terepthalate) at low take-up velocities
January 2012
In this study, a model was formulated to describe the melt spinning of Poly (ethylene terepthalate) (PET) at different quench air speeds and temperatures, mass throughputs and a low range of take-up velocities. The constitutive equations of the Newtonian model were used for modeling, which assumed the flow of polymer was viscous. To simulate the influence of the process parameters on the melt spinning process, a fiber...
A new deterioration model for electrolytic capacitors in direct current to direct current (DC-DC) converters
January 2012
The output filter aluminum electrolytic capacitor is one of the key components that determine the life of direct current to direct current (DC-DC) converters, and so, establishing a deterioration model for the electrolytic capacitor is the basis for analyzing the impact on the converters’ performances. Generally, the main parasitic parameters that indicate the electrolytic capacitor deterioration such as...
Groundwater quality of the shallow alluvial aquifer of Wadi Jazan (Southwest Saudi Arabia) and its suitability for domestic and irrigation purpose
January 2012
The groundwater quality of wadi Jazan (southwest Saudi Arabia) experienced degradation due to rapid urbanization and industrialization. On the basis of the groundwater chemistry, an evaluation of groundwater for domestic and irrigation uses is established. Thirty one groundwater samples were collected in February 2011 from wadi Jazan, southwest Saudi Arabia to study the chemical parameters such as hydrogen ion...
BKK-Type bound on the zeros of spline functions
January 2012
It was shown by Bernstein that the number of roots in of a polynomial system depended only on the Newton polytopes of the system for almost all specializations of the coefficients. This result henceforth is referred to as the BKK bound and it gives an upper bound on the number of roots of a polynomial system. But this bound is only applicable to the systems of polynomials. In this paper, the BBK bound was...
Inhibition of DPP IV is a suggested mechanism of the immunomodulatory effects of sparfloxacin
January 2012
Sparfloxacin is the first marketed amino difluoroquinolone. It is currently marketed in many countries in the world and used widely for the management of urinary tract or respiratory tract infections. Fluoroquinolones could modulate both cellular and humoral immunity. The results of this study showed that Sparfloxacin could significantly suppress the proliferation of both stimulated Balb/c splenocytes and stimulated...
Cloning and expression analysis of a nitrate reductase gene related to somatic embryogenesis in Gossypium hirsutum
January 2012
Nitrate reductase is a key enzyme in the overall process of nitrate assimilation by plants. A nitrate reductase (NR) gene related to somatic embryogenesis was firstly cloned from Gossypium hirsutum. Sequence alignment shows that the GhNR is closest with Tilia platyphyllos NR gene. The expression of GhNR was investigated using semi-quantitative RT-PCR in nonembryogenic calli, embryogenic calli and somatic...
Water supply crisis in Ankara: Review and comparison of the “1995 master plan report on Ankara water supply projectâ€
January 2012
The purpose of this study was to compare technical recommendations for water supply projects for the city of Ankara, Turkey with institutional decisions that led to a water supply crisis during a drought in August, 2007. The authors provide an evaluation of government institutions responsible for planning and provision of Ankara’s water supply and treatment, and an analysis and comparison of the “1995 Master...
Process and impact evaluation of the Odi youth centre regarding behavioural change towards HIV/AIDS
January 2012
The objective of HIV prevention interventions is that young people would not only have a potential to protect them from being infected but also to shape their lives in a positive way, hence we evaluated the process and impact of a youth centre regarding behavioural change towards HIV/AIDS. This is an evaluative descriptive study using a qualitative research method. For process evaluation, in-depth, interviews were...
Effect of phosphorus and potassium nutrition on growth and yield of soybean in relay strip intercropping system
January 2012
A field experiment was conducted to determine the effect of Phosphorus (P) application (0, 8.5, 17.0 and 25.5 kg ha-1) and Potassium (K) application (0, 37.5, 75.0 and 112.5 kg ha-1) on growth and yield of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) in relay strip intercropping system. The plant height, stem diameter, branch number and leaf area increased at first and then decreased with the increment of P application,...
Experimental analyses of bending angle by a pulsed Nd:YAG laser in sheet metal forming process
January 2012
The process of laser bending requires numerous experiments to pinpoint parameters that produce the highest bending angle of sheet metals. The effects of laser power, beam diameter, scan velocity, pass number, pulse duration, sheet metal thickness and proposed parameter for material properties on bending angle were investigated. The Taguchi method and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were applied to find out significant...
Trivial nomenclature of gluco-hexose in Portuguese language and other Latin based languages
January 2012
Portuguese is ranked seventh among the world's languages in number of native speakers (over 200 million) and the universe of all Latin “daughter languages” is over 700 million people (e.g. Spanish, French, Italian and Romanian). There is confusion in Portuguese language and other Latin based languages about the use of the trivial nomenclature of gluco-hexose that sometimes is written as...
Support vector regression and rule based classifier comparison for power quality diagnosis
January 2012
This paper presents a comparative study for performing automated power quality diagnosis using rule base classifier (RBC) and support vector regression (SVR) to identify the causes of short duration voltage disturbances such as voltage sag and swell. In the proposed power quality diagnosis method, a time frequency analysis technique called the S-transform was used to analyse and extract features of voltage disturbances...
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