Search results for: clothing designs

Authors: Sajid Ali Khan, Karim Ullah, Usman Ghani

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Community participation is the collaboration of project beneficiaries; voluntarily or because of some incentives or persuasion agree to put effort and work with development projects. Sustainability of projects is the ability to maintain its services, operations, and other benefits during its anticipated time. This study investigated the dynamics of community participation and its contribution to the sustainability of projects. In multiple case-study designs with semi-structured questionnaires and interviews, this study analyzes community participation with the help of individual case analysis followed by cross-case analysis in the RAHA & CDLD developmental project. Finally, the study outcomes are linked with the specified literature in order to comprehend the phenomena. The findings of the study suggest an Analytical framework developed by the current study covering different barriers and enablers to community participation and its implications.

Keywords: community participation, enablers, barriers, project sustainability

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Authors: Bakr Gomaa, Hana Awad

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A stuffy room is one of the indicators of poor indoor air quality. Through working in an educational building in Alexandria, it is noticed that one of the rooms is smelly. A field study is conducted in a private university building in Alexandria to achieve indoor sustainable educational environment. Additionally, the indoor air quality is empirically assessed, and thermal comfort is identified in educational buildings, in studio halls specifically during lecture hours. The current research uses qualitative and quantitative methods in the form of literature review, investigation and test measurements. At a similar time that the teachers and students fill in a questionnaire regarding the concept of indoor climate, thermal comfort variables are determined. The indoor thermal conditions of the studio are assessed through three variables including Fanger’s comfort indicators (calculated using PMV, predicted mean vote and PPD, predicted percentage of dissatisfied people), the actual people clothing and metabolic rate. Actual measurements of air quality are obtained in a case study in an architectural building. Results have proved that indoor climatic conditions as air flow and temperature are inconvenient to inhabitants. Regarding questionnaire results, occupants appear to be uncomfortable in both seasons, with result percentages out of the acceptable range. Finally, further researches will center on how to preserve thermal comfort in school buildings since it has a vital influence on the student’s knowledge.

Keywords: educational buildings, Indoor air quality, productivity, thermal comfort

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Authors: Emad Khorshid, Habib Awada

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Newly developed Ergonomic speed control hump/Dip designs are conducted. The numerical simulation for the driver-vehicle-hump dynamic system will be performed using computer software. The design problem for which the speed hump or dip should provide: (1) discomfort feeling to the driver if speed is over the specified limit, and (2) normal/good comfort level to the driver (and or other passengers) if the speed is within the limit. For comparison reasons, different vehicles suspension systems (active, semi-active and non-active suspension) are used in the simulation. The measuring of the acceptable range of vibration will be referenced to the British standard BS6841, ISO 2631/1 and the new ISO 2631/5. All these standards are related to human health and comfort level in terms of acceptable range of whole body vibration exposure.

Keywords: speed hump, speed dip, ergonomic design, human health, vehicle modeling

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Authors: Mohammadsadegh Zanganehfar

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Since the introduction of fractal geometry in 1970, numerous efforts have been made by architects and researchers to transfer this area of mathematical knowledge in the discipline of architecture and postmodernist discourse. The discourse of complexity and architecture is one of the most significant ongoing discourses in the discipline of architecture from the '70s until today and has generated significant styles such as deconstructivism and parametrism in architecture. During these years, several projects were designed and presented by designers and architects using fractal geometry, but due to the lack of sufficient knowledge and appropriate comprehension of the features and characteristics of this nonlinear geometry, none of the fractal-based designs have been successful and satisfying. Fractal geometry as a geometric technology has a long presence in the history of architecture. The current research attempts to identify and discover the characteristics, features, potentials, and functionality of fractals despite their aesthetic aspect by examining case studies of pre-modern architecture in Asia and investigating the function of fractals.

Keywords: Asian architecture, fractal geometry, fractal technique, geometric properties

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Authors: Amel Graa, Maachou Dani El Kebir

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This paper investigates the impulse buying behavior of Algerian consumer. In that purpose, we try to better understand processes underlying impulsive buying experiences by examining the theoretical framework and using Mehrabian and Russell’s structure. A model is then proposed and tested on a sample of 1500 shoppers who were recruited among customers of food stores. This model aims to explain the role of some situational variables, personal variables, variables linked to the product characteristics and emotional states on the impulse buying behavior. Following to this empirical study, it was possible to conclude that Algerian consumer has a weak tendency toward impulse buying of food products. The results indicate that seller guidance has a significant impact on the impulse buying, whereas the price of the product was negatively related. According to the results; perception of crowding was associated with scarcity and it was positively linked with impulse buying behavior. This study can help marketers determine the in-store factors that impact purely spontaneous purchases of items that otherwise would not end up in the shopping cart. Our research findings offer important information for benchmarking managerial expectations with regard to product selection and merchandising decisions. As futures perspectives, we propose new research areas related to the impulse buying behavior such as studying different types of stores (for example supermarket), or other types of product (clothing), or studying consumption of food products in religious month of Muslims (Ramadan).

Keywords: impulse buying, situational variables, personal variables, emotional states, PAD model of Merhabian and Russell, Algerian consumer

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Authors: N. M. M. Ammar, S. M. Mustaqim, N. M. Nadzir

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The most important problem occurs on oil spills in sea water is to reduce the oil spills size. This study deals with the development of high pressurized nozzle using dispersion method for oil leakage in offshore. 3D numerical simulation results were obtained using ANSYS Fluent 13.0 code and correlate with the experimental data for validation. This paper studies the contribution of the process on flow speed and pressure of the flow from two different geometrical designs of nozzles and to generate a spray pattern suitable for dispersant application. Factor of size distribution of droplets generated by the nozzle is calculated using pressures ranging from 2 to 6 bars. Results obtain from both analyses shows a significant spray pattern and flow distribution as well as distance. Results also show a significant contribution on the effect of oil leakage in terms of the diameter of the oil spills break up.

Keywords: arc nozzle, CFD simulation, droplets, oil spills

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Authors: Fátima R. Zan, Daniela C. Guimarães, Rosângela O. Soares, Suzana L. Russo

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The wine until it reaches the consumer has a long way to go, from planting the wine to the bottling and the placing on the market, bringing many years of experimentation, and through several generations to have recognition for quality and excellence. The winemaking grew dramatically and are today many brands, including the associated locations, demonstrating their origin and cultural order that is associated with their production. The production, circulation and marketing of wines and products of grape and wine in Brazil is regulated by Law 7.678/88, amended by Law 10970/04, and adjusting the legislation to Regulation Wine Mercosur. This study was based on a retrospective study, and aimed to identify and characterize the modalities of industrial property used in wine production in Brazil. The wineries were selected from the 2014 ranking list, drawn up by the World Association of Journalists and Writers of Wines and Spirits (WAWWJ). The results show that the registration with INPI, regarding Patents, Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications, is not used by the wineries analyzed.

Keywords: counterfeiting, industrial property, protection, wine production

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Authors: Panagiotis Svarnas, Polykarpos Papadopoulos

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Atmospheric-pressure cold plasmas continue to gain increasing interest for various applications due to their unique properties, like cost-efficient production, high chemical reactivity, low gas temperature, adaptability, etc. Numerous designs have been proposed for these plasmas production in terms of electrode configuration, driving voltage waveform and working gas(es). However, in order to exploit most of the advantages of these systems, the majority of the designs are based on dielectric-barrier discharges (DBDs) either in filamentary or glow regimes. A special category of the DBD-based atmospheric-pressure cold plasmas refers to the so-called plasma jets, where a carrier noble gas is guided by the dielectric barrier (usually a hollow cylinder) and left to flow up to the atmospheric air where a complicated hydrodynamic interplay takes place. Although it is now well established that these plasmas are generated due to ionizing waves reminding in many ways streamer propagation, they exhibit discrete characteristics which are better mirrored on the terms 'guided streamers' or 'plasma bullets'. These 'bullets' travel with supersonic velocities both inside the dielectric barrier and the channel formed by the noble gas during its penetration into the air. The present work is devoted to the interpretation of the electro-hydrodynamic effects that take place downstream of the dielectric barrier opening, i.e., in the noble gas-air mixing area where plasma bullet propagate under the influence of local electric fields in regions of variable noble gas concentration. Herein, we focus on the role of the local space charge and the residual ionic charge left behind after the bullet propagation in the gas flow field modification. The study communicates both experimental and numerical results, coupled in a comprehensive manner. The plasma bullets are here produced by a custom device having a quartz tube as a dielectric barrier and two external ring-type electrodes driven by sinusoidal high voltage at 10 kHz. Helium gas is fed to the tube and schlieren photography is employed for mapping the flow field downstream of the tube orifice. Mixture mass conservation equation, momentum conservation equation, energy conservation equation in terms of temperature and helium transfer equation are simultaneously solved, leading to the physical mechanisms that govern the experimental results. Namely, we deal with electro-hydrodynamic effects mainly due to momentum transfer from atomic ions to neutrals. The atomic ions are left behind as residual charge after the bullet propagation and gain energy from the locally created electric field. The electro-hydrodynamic force is eventually evaluated.

Keywords: atmospheric-pressure plasmas, dielectric-barrier discharges, schlieren photography, electro-hydrodynamic force

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Authors: Pei-Chun Lee, Sheng-Shih Wang

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This paper presents a route guidance system for car owners to find their cars in parking garages. The presents system comprises a positioning-assisting subsystem and a car-finding mobile app. The positioning-assisting subsystem mainly uses the iBeacon technology for indoor positioning. The car-finding mobile app guides car owners to their cars based on a non-map navigation strategy. This study also designs a virtual coordinate system to support identifying the locations of parking spaces and iBeacon devices. We use Arduino and Android as the platforms to implement the proposed positioning-assisting subsystem and car-finding mobile app, respectively. We have also deployed the system in a parking garage in our campus for testing. Experimental results verify that our system can efficiently and correctly guide car owners to the parking spaces of their cars.

Keywords: guidance, iBeacon, mobile app, navigation

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Authors: Sheng-Shih Wang, Wei-Ting Wang

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This paper designs an intelligent guidance system, based on wireless sensor networks, for efficient parking in parking lots. The proposed system consists of a parking space allocation subsystem, a parking space monitoring subsystem, a driving guidance subsystem, and a vehicle detection subsystem. In the system, we propose a novel and effective virtual coordinate system for sensing and displaying devices to determine the proper vacant parking space and provide the precise guidance to the driver. This study constructs a ZigBee-based wireless sensor network on Arduino platform and implements the prototype of the proposed system using Arduino-based complements. Experimental results confirm that the proposed prototype can not only work well, but also provide drivers the correct parking information.

Keywords: Arduino, parking guidance, wireless sensor network, ZigBee

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Authors: A. Oliveira-Brochado, R. Silva, C. Paulino

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The aim of this paper is to use an experiential view of wine tourism to develop a battery of items that can potentially capture the overall Douro Valley experience from the tourist’s perspective. The Douro Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage region located in Portugal, was the target of this study. The research took a mixed approach using both qualitative and quantitative designs. Firstly, we combine the literature review on service quality scales with a content analysis of five in-depth interviews with winery managers and a focus group with wine tourists to identify the main dimensions of the overall tourism experience and to develop a battery of items for each dimension. Eight dimensions of the overall wine tourism experience came out, as follows: winery service and staff, winery facilities, winery service, wine product, wine region environment, wine region accessibilities, wine region´s offerings, and the wine region and winery reputation.

Keywords: wine tourism, Douro region, survey, wineries, experience

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Authors: Antonio D. Lee, Steven X. Jiang

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A variety of techniques and methods are available to evaluate cognitive performance in Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) applications. However, traditional cognitive performance evaluation techniques typically incorporate either the conscious or systematic aspect, failing to take into consideration the subconscious or intuitive aspect. This leads to incomplete measures and produces ineffective designs. In order to fill the gaps in past research, this study developed a theoretical framework to facilitate the integration of situation awareness (SA) and intuitive pattern recognition (IPR) to enhance the cognitive performance representation in USAR applications. This framework provides guidance to integrate both SA and IPR in order to evaluate the cognitive performance of the USAR responders. The application of this framework will help improve the system design.

Keywords: cognitive performance, intuitive pattern recognition, situation awareness, urban search and rescue

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Authors: Soad Abokhamis Mousavi

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The Trombe wall is an ancient technique that continues to serve as an effective feature of a passive solar system. However, in practice, architects and their clients are not opting for the Trombe wall because of the view of the Trombe wall on the facades of the buildings. Therefore, this study has two main goals, and one of the goals is to find out why the Trombe wall is not considered in the buildings in the Mediterranean region. And the second goal is to find a solution to facilitate the societal acceptance of the Trombe walls in buildings. To cover the goals, the present work attempts to develop and design a different Trombe Wall with different Materials and views in the facades of the buildings. A qualitative data method was used in this article. The qualitative method was developed based on observation and questionnaires with different clients and expert architects in the selected region. Results indicate that the view of the Trombe wall in the facade of buildings can be used with different designs in order to not affect the beauty of the buildings.

Keywords: trombe wall, societal acceptance, building, energy efficacy

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Authors: G. Schuh, S. Woelk, D. Schraknepper, A. Such

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The systematic evaluation of manufacturing technologies with regard to the potential for product designing constitutes a major challenge. Until now, conventional evaluation methods primarily consider the costs of manufacturing technologies. Thus, the potential of manufacturing technologies for achieving additional product design features is not completely captured. To compensate this deficit, final evaluations of new technologies are mainly intuitive in practice. Therefore, an additional evaluation dimension is needed which takes the potential of manufacturing technologies for specific realizable product designs into account. In this paper, we present the approach of an evaluation method for selecting manufacturing technologies with regard to their potential for product designing. This research is done within the Fraunhofer innovation cluster »AdaM« (Adaptive Manufacturing) which targets the development of resource efficient and adaptive manufacturing technology processes for complex turbo machinery components.

Keywords: manufacturing, product design, production, technology assessment, technology management

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Authors: Caroline M. B. De Araujo, Helenise A. Do Nascimento, Claudia J. Da S. Cavalcanti, Mauricio A. Da Motta Sobrinho, Maria F. Pimentel

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Oil production is often followed by the joint production of water and gas. During the journey up to the surface, due to severe conditions of temperature and pressure, the mixing between these three components normally occurs. Thus, the three phases separation process must be one of the first steps to be performed after crude oil extraction, where the water-oil separation is the most complex and important step, since the presence of water into the process line can increase corrosion and hydrates formation. A wide range of methods can be applied in order to proceed with oil-water separation, being more commonly used: flotation, hydrocyclones, as well as the three phase separator vessels. Facing what has been presented so far, it is the aim of this paper to study a system consisting of a three-phase separator, evaluating the influence of three variables: temperature, working pressure and separator type, for two types of oil (light and heavy), by performing two factorial design plans 23, in order to find the best operating condition. In this case, the purpose is to obtain the greatest oil flow rate in the product stream (m3/h) as well as the lowest percentage of water in the oil stream. The simulation of the three-phase separator was performed using Aspen Hysys®2006 simulation software in stationary mode, and the evaluation of the factorial experimental designs was performed using the software Statistica®. From the general analysis of the four normal probability plots of effects obtained, it was observed that interaction effects of two and three factors did not show statistical significance at 95% confidence, since all the values were very close to zero. Similarly, the main effect "separator type" did not show significant statistical influence in any situation. As in this case, it has been assumed that the volumetric flow of water, oil and gas were equal in the inlet stream, the effect separator type, in fact, may not be significant for the proposed system. Nevertheless, the main effect “temperature” was significant for both responses (oil flow rate and mass fraction of water in the oil stream), considering both light and heavy oil, so that the best operation condition occurs with the temperature at its lowest level (30oC), since the higher the temperature, the liquid oil components pass into the vapor phase, going to the gas stream. Furthermore, the higher the temperature, the higher the formation water vapor, so that ends up going into the lighter stream (oil stream), making the separation process more difficult. Regarding the “working pressure”, this effect showed to be significant only for the oil flow rate, so that the best operation condition occurs with the pressure at its highest level (9bar), since a higher operating pressure, in this case, indicated a lower pressure drop inside the vessel, generating lower level of turbulence inside the separator. In conclusion, the best-operating condition obtained for the proposed system, at the studied range, occurs for temperature is at its lowest level and the working pressure is at its highest level.

Keywords: factorial experimental design, oil production, simulation, three-phase separator

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Authors: Zeynep Aytaç, Nuri Yücel

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Today, as the need for high efficiency and fuel-efficient engines have increased, centrifugal compressor designs are expected to be high-efficient and have high-pressure ratios than ever. The present study represents a design methodology of centrifugal compressor placed in a mini jet engine for the design and off-design points with the utilization of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and compares the performance characteristics at the mentioned two points. Although the compressor is expected to provide the required specifications at the design point, it is known that it is important for the design to deliver the required parameters at the off-design point also as it will not operate at the design point always. It was observed that the obtained mass flow rate, pressure ratio, and efficiency values are within the limits of the design specifications for the design and off-design points. Despite having different design inputs for the mentioned two points, they reveal similar flow characteristics in the general frame.

Keywords: centrifugal compressor, computational fluid dynamics, design point, off-design point

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Authors: Mahdiar Hosseighadiry, Farnaz Fotovatikhah, Razali Ismail, Mohsen Khaledian, Mehdi Saeidemanesh

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In this paper, a new low-power high-performance full adder is presented based on a new design method. The proposed method relies on pass gate design and provides full-swing circuits with minimum number of transistors. The method has been applied on SUM, COUT and XOR-XNOR modules resulting on rail-to-rail intermediate and output signals with no feedback transistors. The presented full adder cell has been simulated in 45 and 32 nm CMOS technologies using HSPICE considering parasitic capacitance and compared to several well-known designs from literature. In addition, the proposed cell has been extensively evaluated with different output loads, supply voltages, temperatures, threshold voltages, and operating frequencies. Results show that it functions properly under all mentioned conditions and exhibits less PDP compared to other design styles.

Keywords: full adders, low-power, high-performance, VLSI design

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Authors: Alden Boby, Dane Brown, James Connan

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Character recognition is a well-researched topic across disciplines. Regardless, creating a solution that can cater to multiple situations is still challenging. Vehicle licence plates lack an international standard, meaning that different countries and regions have their own licence plate format. A problem that arises from this is that the typefaces and designs from different regions make it difficult to create a solution that can cater to a wide range of licence plates. The main issue concerning detection is the character recognition stage. This paper aims to create an object detection-based character recognition model trained on a custom dataset that consists of typefaces of licence plates from various regions. Given that characters have featured consistently maintained across an array of fonts, YOLO can be trained to recognise characters based on these features, which may provide better performance than OCR methods such as Tesseract OCR.

Keywords: computer vision, character recognition, licence plate recognition, object detection

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Authors: Shrutisingh Tomar, Madhu Sharan

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It has been an undisputed fact that the culture of a nation has always been reflected in its practice, visual content and in forms of its oral traditions. Regional and communal costumes in India since ancient times have worked as a strong repository for its people to comprehend not only the locality but also the community of the wearer. Such a strong visual language apparently was ordained to communicate basic details about the person such as age, marital status, and socio-cultural status. Most of the fragments of this visual vocabulary have been intensively investigated, recorded, diversified and revived, while a limited range of these has died a slow death. Some of the rare existent kinds of such threads have survived as a mainstream article of clothing: simpler, apparent and a product for daily life yet unique in their own kind. The paper intends to consider and elaborate the investigated repository pertinent to the Pacchedi weaving tradition of Gujarat. The research involved field surveys across seven districts of the two states of India namely Gujarat and Rajasthan. Ethnographic interviews, observations, recording of oral histories and archival research was conducted through multi-timed and multi-cited studies between from the year 2012 to 2015. The results include varied forms of Pacchedi based on the sartorial expressions in the male costume. The characteristic features of these textiles were accorded by the sumptuous use of brocaded cross borders and weft heavy ends along with the details on the languishing fabrication procedure.

Keywords: handloom weaving, material culture, sartorial expressions and vernacular textile craft

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Authors: Abdel Hadi N. Ebraheim, Eman Azomi, Nefisa A. Fahmy

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This paper designs and implements a computer-aided system (CAS) to help detect and diagnose liver cirrhosis in patients with Chronic Hepatitis C. Our system reduces the required features (tests) the patient is asked to do to tests to their minimal best most informative subset of tests, with a diagnostic accuracy above 99%, and hence saving both time and costs. We use the Support Vector Machine (SVM) with cross-validation, a Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network (MLP), and a Generalized Regression Neural Network (GRNN) that employs a base of radial functions for functional approximation, as classifiers. Our system is tested on 199 subjects, of them 99 Chronic Hepatitis C.The subjects were selected from among the outpatient clinic in National Herpetology and Tropical Medicine Research Institute (NHTMRI).

Keywords: liver cirrhosis, artificial neural network, support vector machine, multi-layer perceptron, classification, accuracy

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Authors: Watcharet Kongwarakom, Tosaphol Ratniyomchai, Thanatchai Kulworawanichpong

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This paper presents a design and analysis of wireless charging lane system (WCLS) for light rail transit (LRT) by considering the performance of wireless charging, traffic conditions and energy consumption drawn by the LRT system. The dynamic of the vehicle movement in terms of the vehicle speed profile during running on the WCLS, a dwell time during stopping at the station for taking the WCLS and the capacity of the WCLS in each section are taken into account to alignment design of the WCLS. This paper proposes a case study of the design of the WCLS into 2 sub-cases including continuous and discontinuous WCLS with the same distance of WCLS in total. The energy consumption by the LRT through the WCLS with the different designs of the WCLS is compared to find out the better configuration of those two cases by considering the best performance of the power transfer between the LRT and the WCLS.

Keywords: Light rail transit, Wireless charging lane, Energy consumption, Power transfer

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Authors: B. Manikandan, A. Vijayaprabhu

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The conservative reversible gates are used to designed reversible sequential circuits. The sequential circuits are flip-flops and latches. The conservative logic gates are Feynman, Toffoli, and Fredkin. The design of two vectors testable sequential circuits based on conservative logic gates. All sequential circuit based on conservative logic gates can be tested for classical unidirectional stuck-at faults using only two test vectors. The two test vectors are all 1s, and all 0s. The designs of two vectors testable latches, master-slave flip-flops and double edge triggered (DET) flip-flops are presented. We also showed the application of the proposed approach toward 100% fault coverage for single missing/additional cell defect in the quantum- dot cellular automata (QCA) layout of the Fredkin gate. The conservative logic gates are in terms of complexity, speed, and area.

Keywords: DET, QCA, reversible logic gates, POS, SOP, latches, flip flops

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Authors: B. Medjahed, M. A. Didi, B. Guezzen

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This work concerns with the experimental study of the adsorption of the Ni(II) on bentonite. The effects of various parameters such as contact time, stirring rate, initial concentration of Ni(II), masse of clay, initial pH of aqueous solution and temperature on the adsorption yield, were carried out. The study of the effect of the ionic strength on the yield of adsorption was examined by the identification and the quantification of the present chemical species in the aqueous phase containing the metallic ion Ni(II). The adsorbed species were investigated by a calculation program using CHEAQS V. L20.1 in order to determine the relation between the percentages of the adsorbed species and the adsorption yield. The optimization process was carried out using 2³ factorial designs. The individual and combined effects of three process parameters, i.e. initial Ni(II) concentration in aqueous solution (2.10⁻³ and 5.10⁻³ mol/L), initial pH of the solution (2 and 6.5), and mass of bentonite (0.03 and 0.3 g) on Ni(II) adsorption, were studied.

Keywords: adsorption, bentonite, factorial design, Nickel(II)

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Authors: Nargis Ali

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Since the modest fashion market is growing in the UK, there is still little understanding and more concerns found among researchers and marketers about Muslim consumers. Therefore, the present study is designed to explore critical factors influencing Muslim women’s intention to purchase clothing and to identify the differences in the purchase intention of ethnic minority groups in the UK. The conceptual framework is designed using the theory of planned behavior and social identity theory. In order to satisfy the research objectives, a structured online questionnaire was published on Facebook from 20 November to 21 March. As a result, 1087 usable questionnaires were received and used to assess the proposed model fit through structural equation modeling. Results revealed that social media does influence the purchase intention of Muslim women. Muslim women search for stylish clothes that provide comfort during summer while they prefer soft and subdued colors. Furthermore, religious knowledge and religious practice, and fashion uniqueness strongly influence their purchase intention, while hybrid identity is negatively related to the purchase intention of Muslim women. This research contributes to the literature linked to Muslim consumers at a time when the UK's large retailers were seeking to attract Muslim consumers through modestly designed outfits. Besides, it will be helpful to formulate or revise product and marketing strategies according to UK’s Muslim women’s tastes and needs.

Keywords: fashion uniqueness, hybrid identity, religiosity, social media, social identity theory, structural equation modeling, theory of planned behavior

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Authors: Ziba Talaeizadeh, Taghi Ebadi

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Hospitals and medical centers generate a wide array of infectious waste on a daily basis, leading to pressing environmental concerns associated with proper disposal. Disposable plastic items and spun-bond clothing, commonly made from polypropylene, pose a significant risk of disease transmission, necessitating specialized waste management strategies. Incorporating these materials into bituminous asphalt production offers a potential solution, as it can modify asphalt mixtures and reduce susceptibility to cracking. This study aims to assess the crack resistance of asphalt mixtures modified with hospital spun-bond waste. Asphalt mixtures were prepared using the Marshall method, with spun-bond waste added in varying proportions (5% to 20%). The Semi-Circular Bending (SCB) test was conducted to evaluate asphalt fracture behavior under Mode I loading at controlled speeds of 5, 20, and 50 millimeters per minute and an average temperature of 25°C. Parameters such as fracture energy (FE) and Crack Resistance Index (CRI) were quantified. The results indicate that the addition of 10% to 15% spun-bond polypropylene polymer enhances the performance of the modified mixture, resulting in an 18% increase in fracture energy and an 11% reduction in cracking stiffness compared to the control sample. Further investigations involving factors like compaction level, bitumen type, and aggregate grading are recommended to address medical waste management and mitigate asphalt pavement cracking issues.

Keywords: asphalt cracking, hospital waste, semi-circular bending test, spun-bond

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Authors: Jonas Pedro Fabris, Alberth Almeida Amorim Souza, Maria Emilia Camargo, Suzana Leitão Russo

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With the law Nº. 9279, of May 14, 1996, the Brazilian government regulates rights and obligations relating to industrial property considering the economic development of the country as granting patents, trademark registration, registration of industrial designs and other forms of protection copyright. In this study, we show the application of the methodology of Box and Jenkins in the series of deposits of industrial design at the National Institute of Industrial Property for the period from May 1996 to April 2013. First, a graphical analysis of the data was done by observing the behavior of the data and the autocorrelation function. The best model found, based on the analysis of charts and statistical tests suggested by Box and Jenkins methodology, it was possible to determine the model number for the deposit of industrial design, SARIMA (2,1,0)(2,0,0), with an equal to 9.88% MAPE.

Keywords: ARIMA models, autocorrelation, Box and Jenkins Models, industrial design, MAPE, time series

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Authors: Kazuko Sakamoto

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It is difficult to explain the factor of design preference only in culture or a geographical environment. It is necessary to turn one's eyes also to the factor in an individual. The purpose of this research is to clarify design potential which is inherent in consumers. Design potential is the consciousness and interpretation to an individual design. That is, it catches quantitatively the preparatory state which faces design. For example, a mobile phone differs in designs, such as a color and a form, by the country or the area. It is considered because a regional consumer taste exists. The root is design potential. This consists of design participation, design knowledge, and design sensitivity. Having focused this time is by design sensitivity, and international comparison of the Netherlands, Bangladesh, China, and Japan was performed. As a result, very interesting finding has been derived. For example, although Bangladesh caught the similarity of goods by the color, other three nations were caught in the form. Moreover, although the Netherlands, Bangladesh, and China liked symmetry, only Japan liked asymmetry. This shows that history and a cultural background have had big influence to the design.

Keywords: design-potential, cultural difference, form characteristic, product development

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Authors: Qingyu Zhang, Helin Ma, Lili Weng, Mei Cao

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Green supply chain management has been an important organizational strategy to reduce environmental risks and improve financial performance. Firms have to adopt green supply chain practices to meet the official regulations and reduce peer pressure in China. This paper exhibits an empirical study of the drivers of green supply chain management practices and the environmental and economic performance of green supply chain management implementation in Chinese firms. While China is the fastest-growing emerging economy, it has paid a high ecological price. It is reported that China hosts 7 of the world’s 10 most polluted cities. The continued environmental deterioration and the resultant heightened regulatory control and public scrutiny have posed new operating challenges to firms conducting business in China. These challenges make the country an ideal setting to conduct the present study. A research questionnaire was developed to gather data in China. The questionnaire targeted managers and employees in Chinese companies. The data were collected in the last quarter of 2015, involving industries such as electronic & communicational equipment, textile & clothing, pharmaceutical & healthcare, and so on. This study confirms and validates that (1) both internal and external drivers play a significant role in the implementation of green supply chain management practices; (2) green purchase and investment recovery have a significant impact on firms’ environmental and economic performance; (3) with the improvement of the firms’ environmental performance, their economic performance will improve.

Keywords: economic performance, environmental performance, external driver, green supply chain management

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Authors: N. Webb, A. Buchanan

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Digital and virtual heritage is often associated with the recreation of lost artefacts and architecture; however, we can also investigate works that were not completed, using digital tools and techniques. Here we explore physical evidence of a fourteenth-century Gothic vault located in the north transept of St Mary’s church in Nantwich, Cheshire, using existing springer stones that are built into the walls as a starting point. Digital surveying tools are used to document the architecture, followed by an analysis process to hypothesise and simulate possible design solutions, had the vault been completed. A number of options, both two-dimensionally and three-dimensionally, are discussed based on comparison with examples of other contemporary vaults, thus adding another specimen to the corpus of vault designs. Dissemination methods such as digital models and 3D prints are also explored as possible resources for demonstrating what the finished vault might have looked like for heritage interpretation and other purposes.

Keywords: digital simulation, heritage interpretation, medieval vaults, virtual heritage, 3d scanning

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Authors: Robert K. Hillyard, Jonathan Thomas, Brett A. Story

Abstract:

Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks (CSEB) are masonry units that combine soil, sand, stabilizer, and water under pressure to form an earth block. These CSEB’s offer a cost-effective building solution for remote construction, using local resources and labor to minimize transportation and material costs. However, CSEB’s, and earthen construction generally have not been widely adopted as standardized construction materials. One shortcoming is the difficulty in standardizing strength values of CSEB units and systems due to the inherent variations in mix design, including production compression. This research presents findings on compressive strengths of full-scale CSEB’s from 60 different mix designs as a function of the amount of cement, sand, soil, and water added to the mixture. The full-scale results are compared with CSEB cylinder cores.

Keywords: CSEB, compressive strength, earth construction, mix design

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