Search results for: BMLT (Beginning Movement Load Training)

Authors: Supanitayanon Lalita, Dechkunakorn Surachai, Anuwongnukroh Niwat, Srikhirin Toemsak, Roongrujimek Pitchaya, Tua-Ngam Peerapong

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Objective: To compare maximum load, percentage of elongation, physical characteristics of 4 types of dental floss: (1) Thai Silk Floss (silk, waxed), (2) Oral B® Essential Floss (nylon, waxed), (3) Experimental Floss Xu (nylon, unwaxed), (4) Experimental Floss Xw (nylon, waxed). Materials & method: Four types of floss were tested (n=30) with a Universal Testing Machine (Instron®). Each sample (30 cm long, 5 cm segment) was fixed, and pulled apart with load cell of 100 N and a test speed of 100 mm/min. Physical characteristics were investigated by digital microscope under 2.5×10 magnification, and scanning electron microscope under 1×100 and 5×100 magnification. The size of the filaments was measured in micron (μm) and the fineness were measured in Denier. Statistical analysis: For mechanical properties, the maximum load and the percentage of elongation were presented as mean ± SD. The distribution of the data was calculated by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. One-way ANOVA and multiple comparison (Tukey HSD) were used to analyze the differences among the groups with the level of a statistical difference at p < 0.05. Results: The maximum load of Floss Xu, Floss Xw, Oral B and Thai Silk were 47.39, 46.46, 25.38, and 23.70 N, respectively. The percentage of elongation of Oral B, Floss Xw, Floss Xu and Thai Silk were 72.43, 44.62, 31.25, and 16.44%, respectively. All 4 types of dental floss showed statistically differences in both the maximum load and percentage of elongation at p < 0.05, except for maximum load between Floss Xw and Floss Xu that showed no statistically significant difference. Physical characteristics of Thai silk revealed the most disintegrated, the smallest, and the least fine filaments. Conclusion: Floss Xu had the highest maximum load. Oral B had the highest percentage of elongation. Wax coating on Floss X increased the elongation but had no significant effect on the maximum load. The physical characteristics of Thai Silk resulted in the lowest mechanical properties values.

Keywords: dental floss, maximum load, mechanical property, percentage of elongation, physical property

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Authors: Charline David, Alexandre Blondin Massé, Arnaud Zinflou

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In 2016, Clements, Hurn, and Li proposed a multiple equation time series approach for the short-term load forecasting, reporting an average mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 1.36% on an 11-years dataset for the Queensland region in Australia. We present an adaptation of their model to the electrical power load consumption for the whole Quebec province in Canada. More precisely, we take into account two additional meteorological variables — cloudiness and wind speed — on top of temperature, as well as the use of multiple meteorological measurements taken at different locations on the territory. We also consider other minor improvements. Our final model shows an average MAPE score of 1:79% over an 8-years dataset.

Keywords: short-term load forecasting, special days, time series, multiple equations, parallelization, clustering

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Authors: Alexis Naranjo

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In the current global stage, a new sense and mix feelings against the globalization has started to take shape thanks to events such as Brexit and the 2016 US election. The perceptions towards the globalization have started to focus in a resistance movement called the 'anti-globalization movement'. This paper examines the current global stage vs. leadership decisions in a time when market integrations are not longer seeing as an opportunity for an economic growth buster. The biggest economy in the world the United States of America has started to face a new beginning of something called 'anti-globalization', in the current global stage starting with the United Kingdom to the United States a new strategy to help local economies has started to emerge. A new nationalist movement has started to focus on their local economies which now represents a direct threat to the globalization, trade agreements, wages and free markets. Business leaders of multinationals now in our days face a new dilemma, how to address the feeling that globalization and outsourcing destroy and take away jobs from local economies. The initial perception of the literature and data rebels that companies in Western countries like the US sees many risks associate with outsourcing, however, saving cost associated with outsourcing is greater than the firm’s local reputation. Starting with India as a good example of a supplier of IT developers, analysts and call centers we can start saying that India is an industrialized nation which has not yet secured its spot and title. India has emerged as a powerhouse in the outsource industry, which makes India hold the number one spot in the world to outsource IT services. Thanks to the globalization of economies and markets around the globe that new ideas to increase productivity at a lower cost has been existing for years and has started to offer new ideas and options to businesses in different industries. The economic growth of the information technology (IT) industry in India is an example of the power of the globalization which in the case of India has been tremendous and significant especially in the economic arena. This research paper concentrates in understand the behavior of business leaders: First, how multinational’s leaders will face the new challenges and what actions help them to lead in turbulent times. Second, if outsourcing or withdraw from a market is an option what are the consequences and how you communicate and negotiate from the business leader perspective. Finally, is the perception of leaders focusing on financial results or they have a different goal? To answer these questions, this study focuses on the most recent data available to outline and present the findings of the reason why outsourcing is and option and second, how and why those decisions are made. This research also explores the perception of the phenomenon of outsourcing in many ways and explores how the globalization has contributed to its own questioning.

Keywords: anti-globalization, globalization, leadership, outsourcing

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Authors: Rosa Alin Cristian

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As in any other sports branch, there is also a relationship of dependence between the motor qualities and the technical skills in the sports dance, in the sense that superior performances from a technical, artistic point of view can be obtained only on the basis of a certain level of motor qualities and of the morphological and functional indices of the organism. Starting from the premise that physical training is a basic component of the dancers' training process, determining the efficacy and efficiency of the athletes in training and competitions, its main objectives are to obtain an optimal functional capacity of the body, which is reached through a superior level of development and manifestation of the basic and specific motor qualities, through appropriate values of the morph-functional indices, all against the background of a perfect state of health. We propose in this paper to create an inventory of the motor qualities specific to the sports dance, of their forms of manifestation, to establish some methodical priorities for their development, in order to support the specialists in their attempt to approach the physical training in the most rigorous and efficient way, according to the characteristics of each age category.

Keywords: physical training, motor skills, sports dance, performance

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Authors: Hsin-Chieh Lee, Fen-Ling Kuo, Jui-Chi Lin

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Background: Upper extremity functional impairment that occurs after stroke includes hemiplegia, synergy movement, muscle hypertonicity, and somatosensory impairment, which result in inefficient and inaccurate movement. Robot-assisted rehabilitation is an intensive training approach that is effective in sensorimotor and hand function recovery. However, these systems mostly focused on the proximal part of the upper limb rather than the distal part. The device used in our study was Gloreha Sinfonia, which focuses on the distal part of the upper limb and uses a dynamic support system to facilitate the whole limb function. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of robot-assisted therapy (RT) with Gloreha device on sensorimotor, and ADLs in patients with stroke. Method: Patients with stroke (N=25) participated AB or BA (A = 12 RT sessions and B = 12 conventional therapy (CT) sessions) for 6 weeks (60 min at each session, twice a week), with 1-month break for washout period. The performance of the patients was assessed by a blinded assessor at 4 time points (pretest 1, posttest 1, pretest 2, posttest 2) which including the Fugl–Meyer Assessment-upper extremity (FMA-UE), box and block test, electromyography of the extensor digitorum communis (EDC) and brachioradialis, a grip dynamometer for motor evaluation; Semmes–Weinstein hand monofilament and Revision of the Nottingham Sensory Assessment for sensory evaluation; and the Modified Barthel Index (MBI) for assessing the ADL ability. Result: RT group significantly improved FMA-UE proximal scores (p = 0.038), FMA-UE total scores (p = 0.046), and MBI (p = 0.030). The EDC exhibited higher efficiency during the small block grasping task in the RT group than in the CT group (p = 0.050). Conclusions: RT with the Gloreha device might lead to beneficial effects on arm motor function, ADL ability, and EDC muscle recruitment efficacy in patients with subacute to chronic stroke.

Keywords: activities of daily living, hand function, robotic rehabilitation, stroke

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Authors: Xiaoying Guo, Xiangyun Wang, Chunhua Jia

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Web page has been one of the most important way of knowing the world. Humans catch a lot of information from it everyday. Thus, understanding where human looks when they surfing the web pages is rather important. In normal scenes, the down-top features and top-down tasks significantly affect humans’ eye movement. In this paper, we investigated if the conventional visual salience algorithm can properly predict humans’ visual attractive region when they viewing the web pages. First, we obtained the eye movement data when the participants viewing the web pages using an eye tracker. By the analysis of eye movement data, we studied the influence of visual saliency and thinking way on eye-movement pattern. The analysis result showed that thinking way affect human’ eye-movement pattern much more than visual saliency. Second, we compared the results of web page visual salience region extracted by Itti model and Spectral Residual (SR) model. The results showed that Spectral Residual (SR) model performs superior than Itti model by comparison with the heat map from eye movements. Considering the influence of mind habit on humans’ visual region of interest, we introduced one of the most important cue in mind habit-fixation position to improved the SR model. The result showed that the improved SR model can better predict the human visual region of interest in web pages.

Keywords: web page salience region, eye-tracker, spectral residual, visual salience

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Authors: A. Y. Mukhtar, J. B. Munyakazi, R. Ouifki

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Over the past few decades, the unprecedented increase in mobility has raised considerable concern about the relationship between mobility and vector-borne diseases and malaria in particular. Thus, one can claim that human mobility is one of the contributing factors to the resurgence of malaria. To assess human mobility on malaria burden among hosts, we formulate a movement-based model on a network of patches. We then extend human multi-group SEIAR deterministic epidemic models into a system of stochastic differential equations (SDEs). Our quantitative stochastic model which is expressed in terms of average rates of movement between compartments is fitted to time-series data (weekly malaria data of 2011 for each patch) using the maximum likelihood approach. Using the metapopulation (multi-group) model, we compute and analyze the basic reproduction number. The result shows that human movement is sufficient to preserve malaria disease firmness in the patches with the low transmission. With these results, we concluded that the sensitivity of malaria to the human mobility is turning to be greatly important over the implications of future malaria control in South Sudan.

Keywords: basic reproduction number, malaria, maximum likelihood, movement, stochastic model

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Authors: Alireza Alizadeh, Hossein Ghadimi, Oveis Abedinia, Noradin Ghadimi

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A Particle Swarm Optimization with Time Varying Acceleration Coefficients (PSO-TVAC) is proposed to determine optimal economic load dispatch (ELD) problem in this paper. The proposed methodology easily takes care of solving non-convex economic load dispatch problems along with different constraints like transmission losses, dynamic operation constraints and prohibited operating zones. The proposed approach has been implemented on the 3-machines 6-bus, IEEE 5-machines 14-bus, IEEE 6-machines 30-bus systems and 13 thermal units power system. The proposed technique is compared to solve the ELD problem with hybrid approach by using the valve-point effect. The comparison results prove the capability of the proposed method giving significant improvements in the generation cost for the economic load dispatch problem.

Keywords: PSO-TVAC, economic load dispatch, non-convex cost function, prohibited operating zone, transmission losses

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Authors: K. Yathish, K. G. Binu, B. S. Shenoy, D. S. Rao, R. Pai

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Load carrying capacity of an oil lubricated two-axial groove journal bearing is simulated by taking into account the viscosity variations in lubricant due to the addition of TiO2 nanoparticles as lubricant additive. Shear viscosities of TiO2 nanoparticle dispersions in oil are measured for various nanoparticle additive concentrations. The viscosity model derived from the experimental viscosities is employed in a modified Reynolds equation to obtain the pressure profiles and load carrying capacity of two-axial groove journal bearing. Results reveal an increase in load carrying capacity of bearings operating on nanoparticle dispersions as compared to plain oil

Keywords: journal bearing, TiO2 nanoparticles, viscosity model, Reynold's equation, load carrying capacity

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Authors: Fung Chiat Loo, Fung Ying Loo

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This paper discusses, suggests, and constructs a notation system to facilitate the learning and understanding of the two aspects of music and movement in a sports routine. This model serves to provide a simple and logical notation that does not require training in both music and choreography. Notation is an important medium in many art forms, particularly in music and dance, transmitting information that cannot easily be expressed using words or language. Another field that is closely associated with dance and music is sports routine, which equally requires choreography and music. However, from the perspective of music, it is common to observe many incongruencies appearing between the music used and the choreography that impede an optimal perception of the performance. The concept of the notation proceeds with a discussion and review of existing dance notations that could contribute to sports routines, along with rules and a code of points in selected sports routines. The author's involvement as an insider of numerous musical theatre productions also contributed to this study. The notation constructed includes time (tempo), significances of musical accents, direction, and phrasing, along with significances of movements (jump, punch, shape). It is believed that the level of congruence between music and movement will provide optimal visualization, and in that, the notation serves to provide adequate information on both entities for the understanding of athletes and coaches.

Keywords: notation, choreography, music learning, sports routines, congruence

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Authors: Banaeifar Abdolali, Rahmanimoghadam Neda, Sohyli Shahram

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Obesity is an increase in body fat , in addition it has been introduced as a risk factor for the progress of lipid disorders, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes (1,2). In recent years, Adipose tissue is now recognized as an endocrine organ that secretes many cytokines such as: interleukin 6, leptin, and visfatin (3). Visfatin is an adipocytokine that release from adiposities. It is unidentified whether training also influences concentrations of visfatin. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of 12 weeks of aerobic training on visfatin levels and lipid profile in obese women. Method: Thirty two obese women (age = 37.8 ± 13.2 years, body mass index = of 39.4 ± 6.4 kg/m2 .) volunteered to participate in a 12-wk exercise program. They were randomly assigned to either a training (n = 16) or control (n = 14) group. The training group exercised for 70 minutes per session, 3 days per week during the 12 week training program. The control group was asked to maintain their normal daily activities. Samples were obtained before and at the end of training program. We use t.paire and independent,test for data analyzes. Results: Exercise training resulted in a decrease in body weight (p < 0.05), percent body fat (% fat) and BMI (p < 0.05), fasting glucose level and visfatin concentration decreased but wasn’t significant (p > 0.05). Also the levels of triglyceride, total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol did not change significantly. Conclution: In conclusion, three month aerobic training program used in this study was very effective for producing significant benefits to body composition and HDL.c but didn’t significant chenging visfatin levels and lipid profile in these obese women.

Keywords: aerobic training, visfatin, lipid profile, women

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Authors: Daniel Botero, Oscar Rubiano, Pedro P. Barragan, Jaime Baron, Leonardo Rodriguez Perdomo, Jaime Rodriguez

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In the last decade interval training (IT) has gained importance when is compare with strength training (ST). However, there are few studies analyzing the impact of these training over the autonomic nervous system (ANS). This work has aimed to compare the activity of the autonomic nervous system, when is expose to an IT or ST indoor cycling mode. After approval by the ethics committee, a cross-over clinical trial with 22 healthy participants (age 21 ± 3 years) was implemented. The selection of participants for the groups with sequence force-interval (F-I) and interval-force (I-F) was made randomly with assignation of 11 participants for each group. The temporal series of heart rate was obtained before and after each training using the POLAR TEAM® heart monitor. The evaluation of the ANS was performed with spectral analysis of the heart rate variability (HRV) using the fast Fourier transform (Kubios software). A training of 8 weeks in each sequence (4 weeks with each training) with an intermediate period of two weeks of washout was implemented for each group. The power parameter of the HRV in the low frequency band (LF = 0.04-0.15Hz related to the sympathetic nervous system), high frequency (HF = 0.15-0.4Hz, related to the parasympathetic) and LF/HF (with reference to a modulation of parasympathetic over the sympathetic), were calculated. Afterward, the difference between the parameters before and after was realized. Then, to evaluate statistical differences between each training was implemented the method of Wellek (Wellek and Blettner, 2012, Medicine, 109 (15), 276-81). To determine the difference of effect over parasympathetic when FT and IT are used, the T test is implemented obtaining a T value of 0.73 with p-value ≤ 0.1. For the sympathetic was obtained a T of 0.33 with p ≤ 0.1 and for LF/HF the T was 1.44 with a p ≥ 0.1. Then, the carry over effect was evaluated and was not present. Significant changes over autonomic activity with strength or interval training were not observed. However, a modulation of the parasympathetic over the sympathetic can be observed. Probably, these findings should be explained because the sample is little and/or the time of training was insufficient to generate changes.

Keywords: autonomic nervous, force training, indoor cycling, interval training

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Authors: Farshad Ghazalian, Laleh Hakemi, Lotfali Pourkazemi, Maryam Ameri, Seyed Hossein Alavi

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Background: The use of whole body vibration (WBV) as an exercise method has rapidly increased over the last decade. The aim of this study was to evaluate long term effects of different amplitudes of whole body vibration training with progressive frequencies on lipid profile of young healthy men. Materials and methods: Thirty three healthy male students were divided randomly in three groups: high amplitude vibration group (n=11), low amplitude vibration group (n=11), and control group (n=11). The vibration training consisted of 5 week whole-body vibration 3 times a week with amplitudes 4 and 2 mm and progressive frequencies from 25 Hz with increments of 5 Hz weekly. Concentrations TG, HDL, LDL, cholesterol, and VLDL before and after 5 weeks of training were measured in plasma samples. Statistical analysis was done using one way analysis of variance. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The most important result of the present study is finding no favorable changes of 5-week vibration training with different amplitudes on blood lipid profiles. Discussion and conclusions: It was emphasized that in vibration training there should be a relationship between intensity and volume of exercise and lipid responses in order to improve blood lipoprotein profiles.

Keywords: long term, body, vibration training, lipid

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Authors: Ali A. Al-Jazaairry, Tahsin T. Sabbagh

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One of the important concerns within the field of geotechnical engineering is the presence of cavities in soils. This present work is an attempt to understand the behaviour of strip footing subjected to inclined load and constructed on cavitied soil. The failure mechanism of strip footing located above such soils was studied analytically. The capability of analytical model to correctly expect the system behaviour is assessed by carrying out verification analysis on available studies. The study was prepared by finite element software (PLAXIS) in which an elastic-perfectly plastic soil model was used. It was indicated, from the results of the study, that the load carrying capacity of foundation constructed on cavity can be analysed well using such analysis. The research covered many foundation cases, and in each foundation case, there occurs a critical depth under which the presence of cavities has shown minimum impact on the foundation performance. When cavities are found above this critical depth, the load carrying capacity of the foundation differs with many influences, such as the location and size of the cavity and footing depth. Figures involving the load carrying capacity with the affecting factors studied are presented. These figures offer information beneficial for the design of strip footings rested on underground cavities. Moreover, the results might be used to design a shallow foundation constructed on cavitied soil, whereas the obtained failure mechanisms may be employed to improve numerical solutions for this kind of problems.

Keywords: axial load, cavity, inclined load, strip footing

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Authors: Eyob Hundessa Gose

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Nowadays, it is obviously known that the construction of different infrastructures is one measurement of the development of a country; infrastructures like buildings, bridges, roads, and railways are among them. In the capital city of Ethiopia, the so-called Addis Ababa, the Light Rail Train (LRT), was built Four years ago to satisfy the demand for transportation among the people in the city. The lane of the Train and vehicle separation Media was built with a curb and rail guard installation system to show the right-of-way and for protection of vehicles entering the Train Lane, but this Rail guard fails easily when impacted by vehicles and found that the impact load response of the Rail guard is weak and the Rail guard cannot withstand impact load. This study investigates the effect of variation of parameters such as vehicle speed and different mass effects and assesses the failure mode FRP and Steel reinforcement bar rail guards of deflection and damage state.

Keywords: impact load, fiber reinforced polymer, rail guard, LS-DYNA

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Authors: Zahir Bakiri, Saci Nacefa

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In this paper a comparison in made between two models, with and without dispersion term, and focused on the characterization of the movement of the sludge blanket in the secondary sedimentation tank using the solid flux theory and the velocity settling. This allowed us develop a one-dimensional models, with and without dispersion based on a thorough experimental study carried out in situ and the application of online data which are the mass load flow, transfer concentration, and influent characteristic. On the other hand, in the proposed model, the new settling velocity law (double-exponential function) used is based on the Vesilind function.

Keywords: wastewater, activated sludge, sedimentation, settling velocity, settling models

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Authors: Hung-Yu Lin

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Background: Parts of researchers assert that external hyperactivity behaviors of ADHD children interfere with their abilities to perform internal cognitive tasks; however, there are still other researchers hold the opposite viewpoint, the external high level of activity may serve as the role of improving internal executive function.Objectives: Thisstudy explored the effects of external motor behavior of ADHD on internal visual attentional performance. Methods: A randomized, two-period crossover design was used in this study, a total of 80 children (aged 6-12) were recruited in this study. 40participants have received ADHD diagnosis, and others are children with typically developing. These children were measured through the visual edition of TOVA (The Test of Variables of Attention) when they wore actigraphy, their testing behavior and movement data werecollected through closely observation and the actigraphies under different research conditions. Result: According to the research result, the author found (1) Higherfrequencyof movement under attentional testing condition was found in children with ADHD, comparing to children with typically developing, and (2) Higher frequency of foot movement showed better attentional performance of the visual attentional test in children with ADHD. However, these results were not showed in children with typically developing. Conclusions: The findings support the functional working memory model, which advocated that a positive relation between gross motor activity and attentional performance within the context of attentive behavior in children with ADHD.

Keywords: ADHD, movement, visual attention, children

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Authors: Javad Shamsi Soosahab, Reza Ziaie Moayed

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The compressive and tensile bearing capacity of helical piles in sand is investigated by means of numerical modeling. The analyses are carried out using two-dimensional finite-element software, Optum G2. The load–displacement behavior under compression and tension is compared in different relative densities for constant and various elastic modulus. The criterion used to find the ultimate axial load is the load corresponding to 5% of the helical diameter. The results show that relative density of sand plays an essential role in the response of ultimate capacities towards various condition. Increase in elastic modulus with depth is found to play a relatively more significant role to the increase in ultimate compressive load capacities, however tension bearing capacity decreases.

Keywords: helical piles, Optum G2, relative density, constant and various elastic modulus

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Authors: Youji Miyake

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In aircraft assembly, a large number of preparatory holes are required for screw and rivet joints. Currently, many holes are drilled manually because it is difficult to machine the holes using conventional computerized numerical control(CNC) machines. The application of industrial robots to drill the hole has been considered as an alternative to the CNC machines. However, the rigidity of robot arms is so low that vibration is likely to occur during drilling. In this study, it is proposed constant-load feed machining as a method to perform high-precision drilling while minimizing the thrust force, which is considered to be the cause of vibration. In this method, the drill feed is realized by a constant load applied onto the tool so that the thrust force is theoretically kept below the applied load. The performance of the proposed method was experimentally examined through the deep hole drilling of plastic and simultaneous drilling of metal/plastic stack plates. It was confirmed that the deep hole drilling and simultaneous drilling could be performed without generating vibration by controlling the tool feed rate in the appropriate range.

Keywords: constant load feed machining, robotic drilling, deep hole, simultaneous drilling

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Authors: Junyu Chen, Peng Xu

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In the context of global efforts to enhance building energy efficiency, accurate thermal load forecasting is crucial for both device sizing and predictive control. Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) systems are widely used in buildings around the world, yet VRF zonal load prediction has received limited attention. Due to differences between VRF zones in building-level prediction methods, zone-level load forecasting could significantly enhance accuracy. Given that modern VRF systems generate high-quality data, this paper introduces transfer learning to leverage this data and further improve prediction performance. This framework also addresses the challenge of predicting load for building zones with no historical data, offering greater accuracy and usability compared to pure white-box models. The study first establishes an initial variable set of VRF zonal building loads and generates a foundational white-box database using EnergyPlus. Key variables for VRF zonal loads are identified using methods including SRRC, PRCC, and Random Forest. XGBoost and LSTM are employed to generate pre-trained black-box models based on the white-box database. Finally, real-world data is incorporated into the pre-trained model using transfer learning to enhance its performance in operational buildings. In this paper, zone-level load prediction was integrated with transfer learning, and a framework was proposed to improve the accuracy and applicability of VRF zonal load prediction.

Keywords: zonal load prediction, variable refrigerant flow (VRF) system, transfer learning, energyplus

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Authors: Fujio Takata

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When governments levy taxes on labor income on the basis of a balanced budget rule, two steady states in an economy exist, of which one can cause two movement patterns, namely, indeterminacy paths and a saddle path. However, in this paper, we assume an economy with divisible labor, in which labor adjustment is made by an intensive margin. We demonstrate that there indeed exist the two paths in the economy and that there exists a critical condition dividing them. This is proved by establishing the relationship between a finite elasticity of labor with regard to real wages and the share of capital in output. Consequently, we deduce the existence of an upper limit in the share of capital in output for indeterminacy to occur. The largest possible value of that share is less than 0.5698.

Keywords: balanced budget rule, divisible labor, labor income taxation, two movement patterns

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Authors: Chukwuka Justus Iwegbu, Monye Christopher Prayer

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Propeller aircraft engines, and more generally engines with a large rotating part (turboprops, high bypass ratio turbojets, etc.) are widely used in the industry and are subject to numerous developments in order to reduce their fuel consumption. In this context, unconventional architectures such as open rotors or distributed propulsion appear, and it is necessary to consider the influence of these systems on the aircraft's stability in flight. Indeed, the tendency to lengthen the blades and wings on which these propulsion devices are fixed increases their flexibility and accentuates the risk of whirl flutter. This phenomenon of aeroelastic instability is due to the precession movement of the axis of rotation of the propeller, which changes the angle of attack of the flow on the blades and creates unsteady aerodynamic forces and moments that can amplify the motion and make it unstable. The whirl flutter instability can ultimately lead to the destruction of the engine. We note the existence of a critical speed of the incident flow. If the flow velocity is lower than this value, the motion is damped and the system is stable, whereas beyond this value, the flow provides energy to the system (negative damping) and the motion becomes unstable. A simple model of whirl flutter is based on the work of Houbolt & Reed who proposed an analytical expression of the aerodynamic load on a rigid blade propeller whose axis orientation suffers small perturbations. Their work considered a propeller subjected to pitch and yaw movements, a flow undisturbed by the blades and a propeller not generating any thrust in the absence of precession. The unsteady aerodynamic forces were then obtained using the thin airfoil theory and the strip theory. In the present study, the unsteady aerodynamic loads are expressed for a general movement of the propeller (not only pitch and yaw). The acceleration and rotation of the flow by the propeller are modeled using a Blade Element Momentum Theory (BEMT) approach, which also enable to take into account the thrust generated by the blades. It appears that the thrust has a stabilizing effect. The aerodynamic model is further developed using Theodorsen theory. A reduced order model of the aerodynamic load is finally constructed in order to perform linear stability analysis.

Keywords: advancing, entrepreneurial, knowledge, industralization

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Authors: M. Khoukhi

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Accurate prediction of the cooling/heating load and consequently, the sizing of the heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning equipment require precise calculation of the heat transfer mainly by conduction through envelope components of a building. The thermal resistance of most thermal insulation materials depends on the operating temperature. The temperature to which the insulation materials are exposed varies, depending on the thermal resistance of the materials, the location of the insulation layer within the assembly system, and the effective temperature which depends on the amount of solar radiation received on the surface of the assembly. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the change of the thermal conductivity of polystyrene insulation material in terms of the temperature at the mid-thickness of the material and its effect on the cooling load required by the building.

Keywords: operating temperature, polystyrene insulation, thermal conductivity, cooling load

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Authors: Mohd Fitri Mansor, Noor Hidayah Abu, Hussen Nasir

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Human capital is one of valuable assets to the organization in order to sustain organization performance and to achieve both employees and employer objectives. The aim of the study is to examine the powerful of both Human Resource practices (i.e. Training & Development and Compensation & Rewards) towards sustaining SME’s performance. The objectives of the current study are to examine the relationship between training and development as well as compensation and rewards in sustaining Malaysian SME’s performance. Finally, is to identify the strongest variable contribute to the sustainability of SMEs performance. The result from 80 Malaysian SME’s owners found that both variables training & development and compensation & rewards significantly contributes to the sustainability of SME,s performance. Meanwhile, the strongest variable contributes to the sustainability of SMEs performance was training and development. The study contributes to the knowledge and awareness to the SME’s owners an important or the powerful of human resource practices in sustaining their organization performance.

Keywords: training and development, compensation and rewards, sustainability, SME’s performance

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Authors: A. H. Elkholy, A. H. Falah

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A new approach has been developed to estimate the load share and stress distribution of worm gear sets. The approach is based upon considering the instantaneous tooth meshing stiffness where the worm gear drive was modelled as a series of spur gear slices, and each slice was analyzed separately using the well established formulae of spur gears. By combining the results obtained for all slices, the entire envolute worm gear set loading and stressing was obtained. The geometric modelling method presented, allows tooth elastic deformation and tooth root stresses of worm gear drives under different load conditions to be investigated. On the basis of the method introduced in this study, the instantaneous meshing stiffness and load share were obtained. In comparison with existing methods, this approach has both good analysis accuracy and less computing time.

Keywords: gear, load/stress distribution, worm, wheel, tooth stiffness, contact line

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Authors: Jae-Yong Park, Yeo-Kyeong Lee, Hee-Sun Kim

Abstract:

Purpose: This study aims at investigating the mechanical behaviors of mastication, according to various teeth movement. There are three masticatory cases which are general case and 2 cases of teeth movement. General case includes the common arrange of all teeth and 2 cases of teeth movement are that one is the half movement location case of molar teeth in no. 14 tooth seat after extraction of no. 14 tooth and the other is no. 14 tooth seat location case of molar teeth after extraction in the same case before. Materials and Methods: In order to analyze these cases, 3 dimensional finite element (FE) model of the skull were generated based on computed tomography images, 964 dicom files of 38 year old male having normal occlusion status. An FE model in general occlusal case was used to develop CAE procedure. This procedure was applied to FE models in other occlusal cases. The displacement controls according to loading condition were applied effectively to simulate occlusal behaviors in all cases. From the FE analyses, von Mises stress distribution of skull and teeth was observed. The von Mises stress, effective stress, had been widely used to determine the absolute stress value, regardless of stress direction and yield characteristics of materials. Results: High stress was distributed over the periodontal area of mandible under molar teeth when the mandible was transmitted to the coronal-apical direction in the general occlusal case. According to the stress propagation from teeth to cranium, stress distribution decreased as the distribution propagated from molar teeth to infratemporal crest of the greater wing of the sphenoid bone and lateral pterygoid plate in general case. In 2 cases of teeth movement, there were observed that high stresses were distributed over the periodontal area of mandible under teeth where they are located under the moved molar teeth in cranium. Conclusion: The predictions of the mechanical behaviors of general case and 2 cases of teeth movement during the masticatory process were investigated including qualitative validation. The displacement controls as the loading condition were applied effectively to simulate occlusal behaviors in 2 cases of teeth movement of molar teeth.

Keywords: cranium, finite element analysis, mandible, masticatory action, occlusal force

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Authors: Nur Rafeeda Daut

Abstract:

The significance of this paper is to provide an insight on the role of social movement in building stronger ethnic relations in Malaysia. In particular, it focuses on how the BERSIH movement have been able to bring together the different ethnic groups in Malaysia to resist the present political administration that is seen to manipulate the electoral process and oppress the basic freedom of expression of Malaysians. Attention is given on how and why this group emerged and its mobilisation strategies. Malaysia which is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society gained its independence from the British in 1957. Like many other new nations, it faces the challenges of nation building and governance. From economic issues to racial and religious tension, Malaysia is experiencing high level of corruption and income disparity among the different ethnic groups. The political parties in Malaysia are also divided along ethnic lines. BERSIH which is translated as ‘clean’ is a movement which seeks to reform the current electoral system in Malaysia to ensure equality, justice, free and fair elections. It was originally formed in 2007 as a joint committee that comprised leaders from political parties, civil society groups and NGOs. In April 2010, the coalition developed as an entirely civil society movement unaffiliated to any political party. BERSIH claimed that the electoral roll in Malaysia has been marred by fraud and other irregularities. In 2015, the BERSIH movement organised its biggest rally in Malaysia which also includes 38 other rallies held internationally. Supporters of BERSIH that participated in the demonstration were comprised of all the different ethnic groups in Malaysia. In this paper, two social movement theories are used: resource mobilization theory and political opportunity structure to explain the emergence and mobilization of the BERSIH movement in Malaysia. Based on these two theories, corruption which is believed to have contributed to the income disparity among Malaysians has generated the development of this movement. The rise of re-islamisation values propagated by certain groups in Malaysia and the shift in political leadership has also created political opportunities for this movement to emerge. In line with the political opportunity structure theory, the BERSIH movement will continue to create more opportunities for the empowerment of civil society and the unity of ethnic relations in Malaysia. Comparison is made on the degree of ethnic unity in the country before and after BERSIH was formed. This would include analysing the level of re-islamisation values and also the level of corruption in relation to economic income under the premiership of the former Prime Minister Mahathir and the present Prime Minister Najib Razak. The country has never seen such uprisings like BERSIH where ethnic groups which over the years have been divided by ethnic based political parties and economic disparity joined together with a common goal for equality and fair elections. As such, the BERSIH movement is a unique case where it illustrates the change of political landscape, ethnic relations and civil society in Malaysia.

Keywords: ethnic relations, Malaysia, political opportunity structure, resource mobilization theory and social movement

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Authors: Kathryn Norgang, Sarah Howrath, Auni Idi Muhire, Pacifique Umubyeyi

Abstract:

Description : A group of nurses address the shortage of trained staff to respond to critical patients at Rwanda Military Hospital (RMH) by developing a training program and a resuscitation response team. Members of the group who received the training when it first launched are now trainer of trainers; all components of the training program are organized and delivered by RMH staff-the clinical mentor only provides adjunct support. This two day training is held quarterly at RMH; basic life support and exposure to interventions for advanced care are included in the test and skills sign off. Seventy staff members have received the training this year alone. An increased number of admission/transfer to ICU due to successful resuscitation attempts is noted. Lessons learned: -Number of staff trained 2012-2014 (to be verified). -Staff who train together practice with greater collaboration during actual resuscitation events. -Staff more likely to initiate BLS if peer support is present-more staff trained equals more support. -More access to Advanced Cardiac Life Support training is necessary now that the cadre of BLS trained staff is growing. Conclusions: Increased access to training, peer support, and collaborative practice are effective strategies to strengthening resuscitation capacity within a hospital.

Keywords: resuscitation, basic life support, capacity building, resuscitation response teams, nurse trainer of trainers

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Authors: R. Ziaie Moayed, E. Ghanbari Alamouty

Abstract:

Deep soil mixing is one of the improvement methods in geotechnical engineering which is widely used in soft soils. This article investigates the consolidation behavior of a soft clay soil which is improved by soil-cement column (SCC) by numerical modeling using Plaxis2D program. This behavior is simulated under vertical static and cyclic load which is applied on the soil surface. The static load problem is the simulation of a physical model test in an axisymmetric condition which uses a single SCC in the model center. The results of numerical modeling consist of settlement of soft soil composite, stress on soft soil and column, and excessive pore water pressure in the soil show a good correspondence with the test results. The response of soft soil composite to the cyclic load in vertical direction also compared with the static results. Also the effects of two variables namely the cement content used in a SCC and the area ratio (the ratio of the diameter of SCC to the diameter of composite soil model, a) is investigated. The results show that the stress on the column with the higher value of a, is lesser compared with the stress on other columns. Different rate of consolidation and excessive pore pressure distribution is observed in cyclic load problem. Also comparing the results of settlement of soil shows higher compressibility in the cyclic load problem.

Keywords: area ratio, consolidation behavior, cyclic load, numerical modeling, soil-cement column

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Authors: Festus M. Epetimehin

Abstract:

This study was conducted to identify the effect of National Directorate of Employment (NDE) training on the profit of Agricultural-Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and to evaluate the factors that influenced farmers' participation in NDE training, as well as the type and frequency of training farmers and other agro-allied entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Using a multi-stage sampling procedure, a total of 384 respondents were sampled, including 192 beneficiaries and 192 non-beneficiaries in Oyo and Lagos States, respectively. Data were analysed using Binary Logit regression and Propensity Score Matching techniques. According to the binary logit analysis, respondents’ gender, availability to extension services, and the location of respondent’s operation were determinant factors influencing NDE training enrolment. All identified factors are related to the probability of respondents’ involvement in a positive way. Propensity score matching revealed that Agricultural-SMEs who participated in the NDE program boosted their profit by N341,072.18. The positive outcome of the effect implies that NDE training enhances Agri-SME performance in Nigeria. The study concluded that greater funding should be provided for the NDE for performance-enhancing training of the Agri-SMEs.

Keywords: PSM, binary logit model, Agri-SME

Procedia PDF Downloads 96