Search results for: linear multistep methods

Authors: Yang Yiting

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This paper employs CiteSpace to conduct a visualiazation analysis of literature on college English writing teaching researches published in core journals from the CNKI database and CSSCI journals between 2002 and 2022. It aims to explore the characteristics of researches and future directions on college English writing teaching. The present study yielded the following major findings: the field primarily focuses on innovative writing teaching models and methods, the integration of traditional classroom teaching and information technology, and instructional strategies to enhance students' writing skills. The future research is anticipated to involve a hybrid writing teaching approach combining online and offline teaching methods, leveraging the "Internet+" digital platform, aiming to elevate students' writing proficiency. This paper also presents a prospective outlook for college English writing teaching research in China.

Keywords: citespace, college English, writing teaching, visualization analysis

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Authors: Cecilia Sosa, Fernanda Figueroa, Leonardo Calzada

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Biosphere reserves (BR) are considered as the main strategy for biodiversity and ecosystems conservation. Mexican BR are mainly inhabited by rural communities who strongly depend on forests and their resources. Even though the dual objective of conservation and development has been sought in BR, land cover change is a common process in these areas, while most rural communities are highly marginalized, partly as a result of restrictions imposed by conservation to the access and use of resources. Achieving ecosystems conservation and social development face serious challenges. Factors such as financial support for development projects (public/private), environmental conditions, infrastructure and regional economic conditions might influence both land use change and wellbeing. Examining the temporal trends of conservation and development in BR is central for the evaluation of outcomes for these conservation strategies. In this study, we analyzed changes in primary vegetation cover (as a proxy for conservation) and the index of marginalization (as a proxy for development) in Mexican BR (2000-2015); we also explore the influence of various factors affecting these trends, such as conservation-development projects financial support (public or private), geographical distribution in ecoregions (as a proxy for shared environmental conditions) and in economic zones (as a proxy for regional economic conditions). We developed a spatial analysis at the municipal scale (2,458 municipalities nationwide) in ArcGIS, to obtain road densities, geographical distribution in ecoregions and economic zones, the financial support received, and the percent of municipality area under protection by protected areas and, particularly, by BR. Those municipalities with less than 25% of area under protection were regarded as part of the protected area. We obtained marginalization indexes for all municipalities and, using MODIS in Google Earth Engine, the number of pixels covered by primary vegetation. We used a linear mixed model in RStudio for the analysis. We found a positive correlation between the marginalization index and the percent of primary vegetation cover per year (r=0.49-0.5); i.e., municipalities with higher marginalization also show higher percent of primary vegetation cover. Also, those municipalities with higher area under protection have more development projects (r=0.46) and some environmental conditions were relevant for percent of vegetation cover. Time, economic zones and marginalization index were all important. Time was particularly, in 2005, when both marginalization and deforestation decreased. Road densities and financial support for conservation-development projects were irrelevant as factors in the general correlation. Marginalization is still being affected by the conservation strategies applied in BR, even though that this management category considers both conservation and development of local communities as its objectives. Our results suggest that roads densities and support for conservation-development projects have not been a factor of poverty alleviation. As better conservation is being attained in the most impoverished areas, we face the dilemma of how to improve wellbeing in rural communities under conservation, since current strategies have not been able to leave behind the conservation-development contraposition.

Keywords: deforestation, local development, marginalization, protected areas

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Authors: Manoj Reghu, Prabhu Rajagopal, C. V. Krishnamurthy, Krishnan Balasubramaniam

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A thorough understanding of guided ultrasonic wave behavior in structures is essential for the application of existing Non Destructive Evaluation (NDE) technologies, as well as for the development of new methods. However, the analysis of guided wave phenomena is challenging because of their complex dispersive and multimodal nature. Although numerical solution procedures have proven to be very useful in this regard, the increasing complexity of features and defects to be considered, as well as the desire to improve the accuracy of inspection often imposes a large computational cost. Hybrid models that combine numerical solutions for wave scattering with faster alternative methods for wave propagation have long been considered as a solution to this problem. However usually such models require modification of the base code of the solution procedure. Here we aim to develop Generic Hybrid models that can be directly applied to any two different solution procedures. With this goal in mind, a Numerical Hybrid model and an Analytical-Numerical Hybrid model has been developed. The concept and implementation of these Hybrid models are discussed in this paper.

Keywords: guided ultrasonic waves, Finite Element Method (FEM), Hybrid model

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Authors: Hamza A. Al-Sewadi, Akram N. A. Aldakari

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Copyright protection and ownership proof of digital multimedia are achieved nowadays by digital watermarking techniques. A text watermarking algorithm for protecting the property rights and ownership judgment of color images is proposed in this paper. Embedding is achieved by inserting texts elements randomly into the color image as noise. The YIQ image processing model is found to be faster than other image processing methods, and hence, it is adopted for the embedding process. An optional choice of encrypting the text watermark before embedding is also suggested (in case required by some applications), where, the text can is encrypted using any enciphering technique adding more difficulty to hackers. Experiments resulted in embedding speed improvement of more than double the speed of other considered systems (such as least significant bit method, and separate color code methods), and a fairly acceptable level of peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) with low mean square error values for watermarking purposes.

Keywords: steganography, watermarking, time complexity measurements, private keys

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Authors: Mehrdad Azimzadeh, Seyed Mohammadreza Jabbari, Mohammadreza Hosseinzadeh Alherd

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This paper includes experimental results and analytical studies about increasing resistance of single-span reinforced concreted frames against impact factor and their modeling according to optimization methods and optimizing the behavior of these frames under impact loads. During this study, about 30 designs for different frames were modeled and made using specialized software like ANSYS and Sap and their behavior were examined under variable impacts. Then suitable strategies were offered for frames in terms of concrete mixing in order to optimize frame modeling. To reduce the weight of the frames, we had to use fine-grained stones. After designing about eight types of frames for each type of frames, three samples were designed with the aim of controlling the impact strength parameters, and a good shape of the frame was created for the impact resistance, which was a solid frame with muscular legs, and as a bond away from each other as much as possible with a 3 degree gradient in the upper part of the beam.

Keywords: optimization, reinforced concrete, optimization methods, impact load, earthquake

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Authors: R. Asmeda, A. Noorlaila, M. H. Norziah

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This research work was conducted to investigate the effects of different grinding techniques during the milling process of rice grains on physicochemical characteristics of rice flour produced. Dry grinding, semi-wet grinding, and wet grinding were employed to produce the rice flour. The results indicated that different grinding methods significantly (p ≤ 0.05) affected physicochemical and functional properties of starch except for the carbohydrate content, x-ray diffraction pattern and breakdown viscosity. Dry grinding technique caused highest percentage of starch damage compared to semi-wet and wet grinding. Protein, fat and ash content were highest in rice flour obtained by dry grinding. It was found that wet grinding produce flour with smallest average particle size (8.52 µm), resulting in highest process yield (73.14%). Pasting profiles revealed that dry grinding produce rice flour with significantly lowest pasting temperature and highest setback viscosity.

Keywords: average particle size, grinding techniques, physicochemical characteristics, rice flour

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Authors: Rashad Al-Hindi

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The study aimed at investigating and screening of some contaminants in some honey-based products. Sixty-nine 'honey paste' samples marketed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, were subjected to physicochemical studies and screening of aflatoxins and pesticide residues. The physicochemical parameters studied were mainly: moisture content, total sugars, total ash, total nitrogen, fibres, total acidity as citric acid and pH. These parameters were investigated using standard methods of analysis. Mycotoxins (aflatoxins) and pesticide residues were by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) according to official methods. Results revealed that mean values of the examined criteria were: 15.44±0.36%; 74±4.30%; 0.40±0.062%; 0.22±0.05%; 6.93±1.30%; 2.53±0.161 mmol/kg; 4.10±0.158, respectively. Overall results proved that all tested honey pastes samples were free from mycotoxins (aflatoxins) and pesticide residues. Therefore, we conclude that 'honey pastes' marketed in Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia were safe for human consumption.

Keywords: aflatoxins, honey mixtures, pesticide residues, physicochemical

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Authors: Khalid Mujaljal, Hassan Alhajhoj

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This paper empirically investigates the influence of oil price fluctuations on the key macroeconomic variables of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia using unrestricted VAR methodology. Two analytical tools- Granger-causality and variance decomposition are used. The Granger-causality test reveals that almost all specifications of oil price shocks significantly Granger-cause GDP and demonstrates evidence of causality between oil price changes and money supply (M3) and consumer price index percent (CPIPC) in the case of positive oil price shocks. Surprisingly, almost all specifications of oil price shocks do not Granger-cause government expenditure. The outcomes from variance decomposition analysis suggest that positive oil shocks contribute about 25 percent in causing inflation in the country. Also, contribution of symmetric linear oil price shocks and asymmetric positive oil price shocks is significant and persistent with 25 percent explaining variation in world consumer price index till end of the period.

Keywords: Granger causality, oil prices changes, Saudi Arabian economy, variance decomposition

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Authors: Abderrhamane Jarou, Dominique Sauter, Christophe Aubrun

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Over the past decade, the growing demand for energy efficiency in buildings has attracted the attention of the control community. Failures in HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) systems in buildings can have a significant impact on the desired and expected energy performance of buildings and on the user's comfort as well. FTC is a recent technology area that studies the adaptation of control algorithms to faulty operating conditions of a system. The application of Fault-Tolerant Control (FTC) in HVAC systems has gained attention in the last two decades. The objective is to maintain the variations in system performance due to faults within an acceptable range with respect to the desired nominal behavior. This paper considers the so-called active approach, which is based on fault and identification scheme combined with a control reconfiguration algorithm that consists in determining a new set of control parameters so that the reconfigured performance is "as close as possible, "in some sense, to the nominal performance. Thermal models of buildings and their HVAC systems are described by non-linear (usually bi-linear) equations. Most of the works carried out so far in FDI (fault diagnosis and isolation) or FTC consider a linearized model of the studied system. However, this model is only valid in a reduced range of variation. This study presents a new fault diagnosis (FD) algorithm based on a bilinear observer for the detection and accurate estimation of the magnitude of the HVAC system failure. The main contribution of the proposed FD algorithm is that instead of using specific linearized models, the algorithm inherits the structure of the actual bilinear model of the building thermal dynamics. As an immediate consequence, the algorithm is applicable to a wide range of unpredictable operating conditions, i.e., weather dynamics, outdoor air temperature, zone occupancy profile. A bilinear fault detection observer is proposed for a bilinear system with unknown inputs. The residual vector in the observer design is decoupled from the unknown inputs and, under certain conditions, is made sensitive to all faults. Sufficient conditions are given for the existence of the observer and results are given for the explicit computation of observer design matrices. Dedicated observer schemes (DOS) are considered for sensor FDI while unknown input bilinear observers are considered for actuator or system components FDI. The proposed strategy for FTC works as follows: At a first level, FDI algorithms are implemented, making it also possible to estimate the magnitude of the fault. Once the fault is detected, the fault estimation is then used to feed the second level and reconfigure the control low so that that expected performances are recovered. This paper is organized as follows. A general structure for fault-tolerant control of buildings is first presented and the building model under consideration is introduced. Then, the observer-based design for Fault Diagnosis of bilinear systems is studied. The FTC approach is developed in Section IV. Finally, a simulation example is given in Section V to illustrate the proposed method.

Keywords: bilinear systems, fault diagnosis, fault-tolerant control, multi-zones building

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Authors: Antonis Constantinides, Christos Yiallouras, Christakis Damianou

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The application of today's semiconductor transistors in high power UHF DVB-T linear amplifiers has evolved significantly by utilizing LDMOS technology. This fact provides engineers with the option to design a single transistor signal amplifier which enables output power and linearity that was unobtainable previously using bipolar junction transistors or later type first generation MOSFETS. The quiescent current stability in terms of thermal variations of the LDMOS guarantees a robust operation in any topology of DVB-T signal amplifiers. Otherwise, progressively uncontrolled heat dissipation enhancement on the LDMOS case can degrade the amplifier’s crucial parameters in regards to the gain, linearity, and RF stability, resulting in dysfunctional operation or a total destruction of the unit. This paper presents one more sophisticated approach from the traditional biasing circuits used so far in LDMOS DVB-T amplifiers. It utilizes a microprocessor control technology, providing stability in topologies where IDQ must be perfectly accurate.

Keywords: LDMOS, amplifier, back-off, bias circuit

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Authors: Francisco A. Ribeiro Da Costa

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Who is responsible for teaching architecture; consider various ways to participate in learning, manipulating various pedagogical tools to streamline the creative process. The Architectural Design Studio (ADS) should become a holistic, systemic process responding to the complexity of our world. This essay corresponds to a deep reflection developed by the author on the teaching of architecture. The outcomes achieved are the corollary of experimentation; discussion and application of pedagogical methods that allowed consolidate the creativity applied by students. The purpose is to show the conjectures that have been considered effective in creating an intellectual environment that nurtures the subject of Architectural Design Studio (ADS), as an operational synthesis in the final stage of the degree. These assumptions, which are part of the proposed model, displaying theories and teaching methodologies that try to respect the learning process based on student learning styles Kolb, ensuring their latent specificities and formulating the structure of the ASD discipline. In addition, the assessing methods are proposed, which consider the architectural Design Studio as an operational synthesis in the teaching of architecture.

Keywords: teaching-learning, architectural design studio, architecture, education

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Authors: Abdulaziz Alageel, Martino Luis, Shuya Zhong

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The main focus of this research study is on the challenges faced in decision-making in a supply chain network regarding the facility location while considering carbon emissions. The study aims (i) to locate facilities (i.e., distribution centeres) in a continuous space considering limitations of capacity and the costs associated with opening and (ii) to reduce the cost of carbon emissions by selecting the mode of transportation. The problem is formulated as mixed-integer linear programming. This study hybridised a greedy randomised adaptive search (GRASP) and variable neighborhood search (VNS) to deal with the problem. Well-known datasets from the literature (Brimberg et al. 2001) are used and adapted in order to assess the performance of the proposed method. The proposed hybrid method produces encouraging results based on computational analysis. The study also highlights some research avenues for future recommendations.

Keywords: supply chain, facility location, weber problem, sustainability

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Authors: Alaa Alshehri

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It has been thought that kinship in modernization is moving in a linear Western model; however, the literature shows that different cultures adjust to modernization by preserving its norms and values. Saudi Arabia is a young country experiencing rapid expansion from oil discovery until economic diversification. By conducting 10 interviews from different provinces of the country from the age of 27-47, these anthropological studies suggest that Saudi people adapted to modernization and globalization through unique interactions with extended families by asking the participants to give detailed descriptions of their interactions with their kinship. With almost all the participants noticing the changes within the last few years, this interaction is rooted in their religious beliefs, which they stressed, even with the free choice of life opportunities. They tried to find a balance between individuality and collectivity and connect the gap between the older and younger generations. This study adds to the anthropological debate on kinship definition and ties in modernization and provides a perspective on the social reality of one of the major Middle Eastern countries, Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: collectivity, economic diversification, kinship, modernization theory, individuality

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Authors: Chastiti Mediafira Wulolo

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Our Eyes is a cooperation pact in the field of intelligence information exchanges initiated by the Indonesian Ministry of Defense, which has been signed by Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Thailand, and Singapore. This cooperation mostly engages the military acts as a central role, but this pact still requires the involvement of various parties such as police and other linear institution. This paper will use a qualitative content analysis method by doing some deep analyzing the pattern of cooperation itself. As the implementation of translantic counter-terrorism cooperation, this research will address how the role of Our Eyes can be optimized as a form of government’s response towards the contemporary threat in the Dynamics of Strategic Environmental Security in the Asia Pacific Region. Optimizing the role of this cooperation will also acquire from the previous counter-terrorism cooperation in ASEAN region, so it expects that Our Eyes collaboration can be the most effective cooperation in overcoming terrorism issues in ASEAN, eventually in Asia Pacific.

Keywords: our eyes, Defense Ministry of Indonesia, ASEAN, counter-terrorism

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Authors: Marco Sewald

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WWSE School Development (Wahrnehmungs- und wertorientierte Schulentwicklung) contains surveys on pupils, teachers and parents and enables schools to align the development to the requirements mentioned by these three stakeholders. WWSE includes a derivative set of questions for Christian schools, meeting their specific needs. The conducted research on WWSE is reflecting contemporary questions on school development, questioning the quality of the implementation of the results of past surveys, delivered by WWSE School Development in Christian schools in Germany. The research focused on questions connected to organizational development, including leadership and change management. This is done contoured to the two other areas of WWSE: human resources development and development of school teaching methods. The chosen research methods are: (1) A quantitative triangulation on three sets of data. Data from a past evaluation taken in 2011, data from a second evaluation covering the same school conducted in 2014 and a structured survey among the teachers, headmasters and members of the school board taken within the research. (2) Interviews with teachers and headmasters have been conducted during the research as a second stage to fortify the result of the quantitative first stage. Results: WWSE is supporting modern school development. While organizational development, leadership, and change management are proofed to be important for modern school development, these areas are widespread underestimated by teachers and headmasters. Especially in comparison to the field of human resource development and to an even bigger extent in comparison to the area of development of school teaching methods. The research concluded, that additional efforts in the area of organizational development are necessary to meet modern demands and the research also shows which areas are the most important ones.

Keywords: school as a social organization, school development, school leadership, WWSE, Wahrnehmungs- und wertorientierte Schulentwicklung

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Authors: Alibakhsh Kasaeian, Mohammad Sameti, Zahra Noori, Mona Rastgoo Bahambari

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Nowadays, the parabolic trough solar collector technology has become the most promising large-scale technology among various solar thermal generations. In this paper, a detailed numerical heat transfer model for a parabolic trough collector with nanofluid is presented based on the finite difference approach for which a MATLAB code was developed. The model was used to simulate the performance of a parabolic trough solar collector’s linear receiver, called a heat collector element (HCE). In this model, the heat collector element of the receiver was discretized into several segments in axial directions and energy balances were used for each control volume. All the heat transfer correlations, the thermodynamic equations and the optical properties were considered in details and the set of algebraic equations were solved simultaneously using iterative numerical solutions. The modeling assumptions and limitations are also discussed, along with recommendations for model improvement.

Keywords: heat transfer, nanofluid, numerical analysis, trough

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Authors: Mara Gabrielli, Jordi Pamies Rovira

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From a theoretical and interdisciplinary approach to visual ethnography and visual anthropology, this small scale, in-depth study explores the potential of photography as a participatory ethnographic method for a deep-understanding of the socio-educational integration of young refugees and asylum-seekers in the host society as regards their daily experiences, their needs, desires, expectations, and future goals. Qualitative data is collected by the author by observing 12 young participants in the age group 12-24 years per week for 12 months. The data consists of field notes, participatory observation, in-depth interviews with professionals, and the use of visual participatory ethnographic methods. Therefore, the young participants build their stories through the implementation of two participatory photographic methods - the 'photo-diary' and the 'photo-elicitation' - that permit them to analyse and narrate their social and educational experiences from their perspectives, thus collaborating in the construction of knowledge during the different stages of the research. Preliminary findings show the high resilience and social adaptability of young refugees and asylum-seekers to achieve their goals and overcome structural and socio-cultural barriers. However, the uncertainty of their administrative situation during the asylum submission and the lack of specific resources might impact negatively on their educational pathways and the transition to the labour market. Finally, this study also highlights the benefits of participatory photographic methods in ethnographic research, which impacts positively the well-being of these young people, helps them to develop critical thinking, and it also allows them to access information more respectfully when narrating painful experiences.

Keywords: photo-diary, photo-elicitation, resilience, strategies, visual methodologies, young refugees and asylum seekers

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Authors: Mostafa ‘Neo’ Mohsenvand, Mohammad Rasool Izadi, Pattie Maes

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EEG-based biometrics (user identification) has been explored on small datasets of no more than 157 subjects. Here we show that the accuracy of modern supervised methods falls rapidly as the number of users increases to a few thousand. Moreover, supervised methods require a large amount of labeled data for training which limits their applications in real-world scenarios where acquiring data for training should not take more than a few minutes. We show that using contrastive learning for pre-training, it is possible to maintain high accuracy on a dataset of 2130 subjects while only using a fraction of labels. We compare 5 different self-supervised tasks for pre-training of the encoder where our proposed method achieves the accuracy of 96.4%, improving the baseline supervised models by 22.75% and the competing self-supervised model by 3.93%. We also study the effects of the length of the signal and the number of channels on the accuracy of the user-identification models. Our results reveal that signals from temporal and frontal channels contain more identifying features compared to other channels.

Keywords: brainprint, contrastive learning, electroencephalo-gram, self-supervised learning, user identification

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Authors: Maham Malik, Amjad Ali, Muhammad Asif

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Current study aims to examine the relationship of emotional labor strategies - deep acting and surface acting - with employees' job satisfaction, organizational commitment and intentions to quit. The study also examines the mediating role of job satisfaction and organizational commitment for relationship of emotional labor strategies with intentions to quit. Data were conveniently collected from 307 nurses by using self-administered questionnaire. Linear regression test was applied to find the relationship between the variables. Mediation was checked through Baron and Kenny Model and Sobel test. Results prove the existence of partial mediation of job satisfaction between the emotional labor strategies and quitting intentions. The study recommends that deep acting should be promoted because it is positively associated with quality of work life, work engagement and organizational citizenship behavior of employees.

Keywords: emotional labor strategies, intentions to quit, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, nursing

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Authors: Chanyuan Gu, Shouming Zhong

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Synchronization is a fundamental phenomenon that enables coherent behavior in networks as a result of interactions. The purpose of this research had been to investigate the problem of anti-phase synchronization for complex delayed dynamical networks with output coupling. The coupling configuration is general, with the coupling matrix not assumed to be symmetric or irreducible. The amount of the coupling variables between two connected nodes is flexible, the nodes in the drive and response systems need not to be identical and there is not any extra constraint on the coupling matrix. Some pinning controllers are designed to make the drive-response system achieve the anti-phase synchronization. For the convenience of description, we applied the matrix Kronecker product. Some new criteria are proposed based on the Lyapunov stability theory, linear matrix inequalities (LMI) and Schur complement. Lastly, some simulation examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of our proposed conditions.

Keywords: anti-phase synchronization, complex networks, output coupling, pinning control

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Authors: Muhammad Ilyas, Awais Khan, Syed Ali Raza Shah

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DC motors are widely used in industries to provide mechanical power in speed and torque. The position and speed control of DC motors is getting the interest of the scientific community in robotics, especially in the robotic arm, a flexible joint manipulator. The current research work is based on position control of DC motors using experimental investigations in LabVIEW. The linear control strategy is applied to track the position and speed of the DC motor with comparative analysis in the LabVIEW platform and simulation analysis in MATLAB. The tracking error in hardware setup based on LabVIEW programming is slightly greater than simulation analysis in MATLAB due to the inertial load of the motor during steady-state conditions. The controller output shows the input voltage applied to the dc motor varies between 0-8V to ensure minimal steady error while tracking the position and speed of the DC motor.

Keywords: DC motor, labview, proportional integral derivative control, position tracking, speed tracking

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Authors: Rasha Waheeb, Bjorn Andersen, Rafa Shakir

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Purpose The purpose of this study is to avoid delays that occur in emergency reconstruction projects especially in post disaster circumstances whether if they were natural or manmade due to their particular national and humanitarian importance. We presented a theoretical and practical concepts for projects management in the field of construction industry that deal with a range of global and local trails. This study aimed to identify the factors of effective delay in construction projects in Iraq that affect the time and the specific quality cost, and find the best solutions to address delays and solve the problem by setting parameters to restore balance in this study. 30 projects were selected in different areas of construction were selected as a sample for this study. Design/methodology/approach This study discusses the reconstruction strategies and delay in time and cost caused by different delay factors in some selected projects in Iraq (Baghdad as a case study).A case study approach was adopted, with thirty construction projects selected from the Baghdad region, of different types and sizes. Project participants from the case projects provided data about the projects through a data collection instrument distributed through a survey. Mixed approach and methods were applied in this study. Mathematical data analysis was used to construct models to predict delay in time and cost of projects before they started. The artificial neural networks analysis was selected as a mathematical approach. These models were mainly to help decision makers in construction project to find solutions to these delays before they cause any inefficiency in the project being implemented and to strike the obstacles thoroughly to develop this industry in Iraq. This approach was practiced using the data collected through survey and questionnaire data collection as information form. Findings The most important delay factors identified leading to schedule overruns were contractor failure, redesigning of designs/plans and change orders, security issues, selection of low-price bids, weather factors, and owner failures. Some of these are quite in line with findings from similar studies in other countries/regions, but some are unique to the Iraqi project sample, such as security issues and low-price bid selection. Originality/value we selected ANN’s analysis first because ANN’s was rarely used in project management , and never been used in Iraq to finding solutions for problems in construction industry. Also, this methodology can be used in complicated problems when there is no interpretation or solution for a problem. In some cases statistical analysis was conducted and in some cases the problem is not following a linear equation or there was a weak correlation, thus we suggested using the ANN’s because it is used for nonlinear problems to find the relationship between input and output data and that was really supportive.

Keywords: construction projects, delay factors, emergency reconstruction, innovation ANN, post disasters, project management

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Authors: Seyed Sajjad Habibi

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The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of global financial crises and corporate financial crisis on tax evasion of companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. For this purpose, panel data in the periods of financial crisis period (2007 to 2012) and without a financial crisis (2004, 2005, 2006, 2013, 2014, and 2015) was analyzed using multivariate linear regression. The results indicate a significant relationship between the corporate financial crisis (bankruptcy risk) and tax evasion in the global financial crisis period. The results also showed a significant relationship between the corporate bankruptcy risk and tax evasion in the period with no global financial crisis. A significant difference was found between the bankruptcy risk and tax evasion in the period of the global financial crisis and that with no financial crisis so that tax evasion increased in the financial crisis period.

Keywords: global financial crisis, corporate financial crisis, bankruptcy risk, tax evasion risk, emerging markets

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Authors: Fati̇h Apaydin

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Education technology is an area which constantly changes and creates innovations. As an inevitable part of the changing circumstances, the societies who have a tendency to the improvements keep up with these innovations by using the methods and strategies which have been designed for education technology. At this point, education technology has taken the responsibility to help the individuals improve themselves and teach the effective teaching methods by filling the airs in theoretical information, information security and the practice. The technology which comes to the core of our lives by raising the importance of it day by day and it enforced its position in computer- based environments. As a result, ‘being ready for technological innovations, improvement on computer-based talent, information, ability and attitude’ doctrines have to be given. However, it is today quite hard to deal with the security and reinforcement of this information. The information which is got illegally gives harm to society from every aspect, especially education. This study includes how and to what extent to use these innovative appliances such as computers and the factor of information security of these appliances in computer-based education. As the use of computer is constantly becoming prevalent in our country, both education and computer will never become out of date, so how computer-based education affects our lives and the study of information security for this type of education are important topics.

Keywords: computer, information security, education, technology, development

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Authors: S. Njoumi, L. Ben Haj Said, M. J. Amiot, S. Bellagha

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The main objective of this research was to establish the kinetics of variation of total polyphenol content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) in Tunisian Corchorus olitorius powder and in a traditional home cooked-meal (Molokheiya) when using stewing and stir-frying as cooking methods, but also to compare the effect of these two common cooking practices on water content, TPC, TFC and color. The L*, a* and b* coordinates values of the Molokheiya varied from 24.955±0.039 to 21.301±0.036, from -1.556±0.048 to 0.23±0.026 and from 5.675±0.052 to 6.313±0.103 when using stewing and from 21.328±0.025 to 20.56±0.021, from -1.093± 0.011to 0.121±0.007 and from 5.708±0.020 to 6.263±0.007 when using stir-frying, respectively. TPC and TFC increased during cooking. TPC of Molokheiya varied from 29.852±0.866 mg GAE/100 g to 220.416±0.519 mg GAE/100 g after 150 min of stewing and from 25.257±0.259 mg GAE/100 g to 208.897 ±0.173 mg GAE/100 g using stir-frying method during 150 min. TFC of Molokheiya varied from 48.229±1.47 mg QE/100 g to 843.802±1.841 mg QE/100 g when using stewing and from 37.031± 0.368 mg QE/100 g to 775.312±0.736 mg QE/100 g when using stir-frying. Kinetics followed similar curves in all cases but resulted in different final TPC and TFC. The shape of the kinetics curves suggests zero-order kinetics. The mathematical relations and the numerical approach used to model the kinetics of polyphenol and flavonoid contents in Molokheiya are described.

Keywords: Corchorus olitorius, Molokheiya, phenolic compounds, kinetic

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Authors: Steven Arcidiacono, Robert Stote, Erin Anderson, Molly Richards

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There are numerous standard test methods for antimicrobial textiles that measure activity against specific microorganisms. However, many times these results do not translate to the performance of treated textiles when worn by individuals. Standard test methods apply a single target organism grown under optimal conditions to a textile, then recover the organism to quantitate and determine activity; this does not reflect the actual performance environment that consists of polymicrobial communities in less than optimal conditions or interaction of the textile with the skin substrate. Here we propose the development of in vitro skin model method to bridge the gap between lab testing and wear studies. The model will consist of a defined polymicrobial community of 5-7 commensal microbes simulating the skin microbiome, seeded onto a solid tissue platform to represent the skin. The protocol would entail adding a non-commensal test organism of interest to the defined community and applying a textile sample to the solid substrate. Following incubation, the textile would be removed and the organisms recovered, which would then be quantitated to determine antimicrobial activity. Important parameters to consider include identification and assembly of the defined polymicrobial community, growth conditions to allow the establishment of a stable community, and choice of skin surrogate. This model could answer the following questions: 1) is the treated textile effective against the target organism? 2) How is the defined community affected? And 3) does the textile cause unwanted effects toward the skin simulant? The proposed model would determine activity under conditions comparable to the intended application and provide expanded knowledge relative to current test methods.

Keywords: antimicrobial textiles, defined polymicrobial community, in vitro skin model, skin microbiome

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Authors: W. S. Lawal, T. A. Akande

Abstract:

Four (4) different methods were employed to detoxified jatropha caucas, they are physical method (if include soaking and drying) chemical method (use of methylated spirit, hexane and methene) biological method,(use of Aspergillus niger and Sunday for 7 days and then baccillus lichifarming) and finally combined method (combination of all these methods). Phobol esther andysis was carried out after the detoxification and was found that combined method is better off (P>0.05). 100 broiler birds was used to further test the effect of detoxified Jatropha by combined method, 50 birds for Jatropha made feed at 10 birds per treatment and was replicated five times, this was also repeated for another 50 birds fed conventional feed, Jatropha made feed was compranded at 8% inclusion level. At the end of the 8th weeks, 8 birds were sacrificed each from each treatment and one bird each was fry, roast, boil and grilled from both conventional and Jatropha fed birds and panelist were served for evaluation. It was found that feeding Jatropha to poultry birds has no effect on the taste of the meat.

Keywords: phobol esther, inclusion level, tolerance level, Jatropha carcass

Procedia PDF Downloads 424

Authors: Angelis P. Barlampas

Abstract:

The aim of this work is to denote that during an emergency state, an examination study may not be accomplished by state-of-the-art of imaging and, therefore, cannot obviously reveal all the existing findings. But, such a situation may have disastrous consequences for the patient. When interpreting radiological images, one must try to be as meticulous as possible, especially if the patient has alerting clinical symptoms. A case may be missed because its findings are not so obvious in rapid uncompleted radiological imaging. A thirty-seven years old female patient visited the emergency department because of a headache and hemiparesis of her left leg. Firstly, a CT examination without contrast was done, and mild serpentinous hyperintensities were depicted at the right parietal lobe. In addition to that, there was a linear, mildly hyperattenuating structure resembling a vessel in the nearby middle line. At first, an AVM was suspected, so an MRI examination with i.v. Gd was prescribed. The patient returned a few days later, not having done the MRI and complaining of persisting symptomatology. A new CT examination without and with i.v.c administration was done that showed no hyperintensities but a type-enhancing vessel in the posterior interhemispheric fissure. The latest findings are consistent with a venous malformation with previous bleeding.

Keywords: bleeding, brain, CNS, hemorrhage, CT, venous malformation

Procedia PDF Downloads 122

Authors: Alhadi Bustaman, Soeganda Formalidin, Titin Siswantining

Abstract:

DNA microarray technology is used to analyze thousand gene expression data simultaneously and a very important task for drug development and test, function annotation, and cancer diagnosis. Various clustering methods have been used for analyzing gene expression data. However, when analyzing very large and heterogeneous collections of gene expression data, conventional clustering methods often cannot produce a satisfactory solution. Biclustering algorithm has been used as an alternative approach to identifying structures from gene expression data. In this paper, we introduce a transform technique based on singular value decomposition to identify normalized matrix of gene expression data followed by Mixed-Clustering algorithm and the Lift algorithm, inspired in the node-deletion and node-addition phases proposed by Cheng and Church based on Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering (AHC). Experimental study on standard datasets demonstrated the effectiveness of the algorithm in gene expression data.

Keywords: agglomerative hierarchical clustering (AHC), biclustering, gene expression data, lymphoma, singular value decomposition (SVD)

Procedia PDF Downloads 278

Authors: Alak Kumar Patra, Nilanjan Mitra

Abstract:

Interface fracture toughness of glass-epoxy (G/E) PVC core sandwich composite with and without MWCNT has been investigated through experimental methods. Results demonstrate an improvement in interface fracture toughness values (GC) of samples with a certain percentages of MWCNT. In addition, dispersion of MWCNT in epoxy resin through sonication followed by mixing of hardener and vacuum assisted resin transfer method (VARTM) used in this study is an easy and cost effective methodology in comparison to previously adopted other methods limited to laminated composites. The study also identifies the optimum weight percentage of MWCNT addition in the resin system for maximum performance gain in interfacial fracture toughness. The results are supported by high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) analysis and fracture micrograph of field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) investigation.

Keywords: carbon nanotube, foam, glass-epoxy, interfacial fracture, sandwich composite

Procedia PDF Downloads 431