Search results for: smart software tools

Authors: Fuchun Li, Hong Xiao

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We propose a new early warning model for predicting financial stress events for a given future time. In this model, we examine whether credit conditions play an important role as a nonlinear propagator of shocks when predicting the likelihood of occurrence of financial stress events for a given future time. This propagation takes the form of a threshold regression in which a regime change occurs if credit conditions cross a critical threshold. Given the new early warning model for financial stress events, we evaluate the performance of this model and currently available alternatives, such as the model from signal extraction approach, and linear regression model. In-sample forecasting results indicate that the three types of models are useful tools for predicting financial stress events while none of them outperforms others across all criteria considered. The out-of-sample forecasting results suggest that the credit-regime switching model performs better than the two others across all criteria and all forecasting horizons considered.

Keywords: cut-off probability, early warning model, financial crisis, financial stress, regime-switching model, forecasting horizons

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Authors: Ahmed Bux Jamali

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The purpose of this study is to examine and evaluate the overall counterterrorism cooperation during Obama Administration towards Pakistan. It aims and focuses on the performances and measures taken by United States of America during President Obama in office in order to eradicate terrorism from Pakistan. Being a grave national security threat, terrorism played a disastrous role in the domestic peace and stability of both countries. For the sake of curbing this menace in South Asia in general and Pakistan in particular, the role of Obama Administration is viable and results-oriented despite major ups and downs in Pakistan U.S Relations during that period of time. Obama administration formulated policies when he comes to office in 2009 by looking at the already efforts done by Bush Administration to counterterrorism from Pakistan. Obama’s foreign policy was revolving around defense and diplomacy when it comes to dealing with Pakistan. The concept of smart power was indeed a core principle of Obama’s administration to gain the strategic objectives in Pakistan. Obama’s strategies in terms of providing military aid packages and various assistance programs, working on institutional building and strengthening the economy helped Pakistan in strengthening the military capabilities to go for militant operation in the safe havens area in the tribal areas of Pakistan. It further helped building institutional mechanism in the governmental policies to counter terrorism and militancy. The training of combat forces, artillery, and equipment provided by US proved fatal for the militant terrorist organizations seeking hideouts in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Resultantly, many top leaders of al Qaeda and many affiliated militant groups were captured and given to US as well. Despite many ups and downs in the bilateral relations on various domestic and international issues, both countries didn’t compromise the elimination of terrorist phenomena from Pakistan which was indeed a great success of the Obama administration’s counterterrorism and counterinsurgency strategies in the long run.

Keywords: counterterrorism cooperation, national security strategy, Obama administration, Pakistan-US relations

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Authors: Khoa Tan Nguyen, Tuan Anh Le, Kihak Lee

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This paper presents the flexural response of Reinforced Geopolymer Concrete (RGPC) beams. A commercial finite element (FE) software ABAQUS has been used to perform a structural behavior of RGPC beams. Using parameters such: stress, strain, Young’s modulus, and Poisson’s ratio obtained from experimental results, a beam model has been simulated in ABAQUS. The results from experimental tests and ABAQUS simulation were compared. Due to friction forces at the supports and loading rollers; slip occurring, the actual deflection of RGPC beam from experimental test results were slightly different from the results of ABAQUS. And there is good agreement between the crack patterns of fly ash-based geopolymer concrete generated by FE analysis using ABAQUS, and those in experimental data.

Keywords: geopolymer concrete beam, finite element mehod, stress strain relation, modulus elasticity

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Authors: Judit Nagy

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Many scientific studies claim that financial education should start as early as possible. Children are much more capable of and willing to absorb new concepts than adults. If we introduce children to financial knowledge early, their behaviour and attitudes to this subject will change, increasing later success in this area of life. However, poor financial decisions may entail severe consequences, not only to individuals but even to the wider society. Good financial decisions and economic attitudes may contribute to economic growth and well-being. Whilst in several countries, education about financial awareness and fundamentals is available, the understanding and acquisition of complex economic knowledge and the development of children’s independent problem-solving skills are still lacking. The results suggest that teaching economic and financial knowledge through accounting and making lectures interactive by using special tools of positive education is critical to stimulating children’s interest. Eighty percent of the students in the study liked the combined and interactive lecture. Introducing this kind of knowledge to individuals is a relevant objective, even at the societal level.

Keywords: positive psychology, education innovation, primary school, gender, economics, accounting, finance, personal finance, mathematics, economic growth, well-being, sustainability

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Authors: William Huang

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Retinal prostheses are currently limited to low resolution grayscale images that lack color and spatial information. This study develops a novel real-time image optimization framework and tools to encode maximum information to the prostheses which are constrained by the number of electrodes. One key idea is to localize main objects in images while reducing unnecessary background noise through region-contrast saliency maps. A novel color depth mapping technique was developed through MiniBatchKmeans clustering and color space selection. The resulting image was downsampled using bicubic interpolation to reduce image size while preserving color quality. In comparison to current schemes, the proposed framework demonstrated better visual quality in tested images. The use of the region-contrast saliency map showed improvements in efficacy up to 30%. Finally, the computational speed of this algorithm is less than 380 ms on tested cases, making real-time retinal prostheses feasible.

Keywords: retinal implants, virtual processing unit, computer vision, saliency maps, color quantization

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Authors: Hamd Rezaeifar, Hamid Reza Sahriari

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Accidents are considered to be one of the challenges of modern life. Due to the fact that the victims of this problem and also internal transportations are getting increased day by day in Iran, studying effective factors of accidents and identifying suitable models and parameters about this issue are absolutely essential. The main purpose of this research has been studying the factors and spatial data affecting accidents of Mashhad during 2007- 2008. In this paper it has been attempted to – through matching spatial layers on each other and finally by elaborating them with the place of accident – at the first step by adding landmarks of the accident and through adding especial fields regarding the existence or non-existence of effective phenomenon on accident, existing information banks of the accidents be completed and in the next step by means of data mining tools and analyzing by neural network, the relationship between these data be evaluated and a logical model be designed for predicting accident-prone spots with minimum error. The model of this article has a very accurate prediction in low-accident spots; yet it has more errors in accident-prone regions due to lack of primary data.

Keywords: accident, data mining, neural network, GIS

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Authors: Emmanuel O. Ezim, Idowu A. Olayinka, Michael Oladunjoye, Izuchukwu I. Obiadi

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Monitoring of reservoir properties prior to well placements and production is a requirement for optimisation and efficient oil and gas production. This is usually done using well log analyses and 3-D seismic, which are often prone to errors. However, 4-D (Time-lapse) seismic, incorporating numerous 3-D seismic surveys of the same field with the same acquisition parameters, which portrays the transient changes in the reservoir due to production effects over time, could be utilised because it generates better resolution. There is, however dearth of information on the applicability of this approach in the Niger Delta. This study was therefore designed to apply 4-D seismic, well-log and geologic data in monitoring of reservoirs in the EK field of the Niger Delta. It aimed at locating bypassed accumulations and ensuring effective reservoir management. The Field (EK) covers an area of about 1200km2 belonging to the early (18ma) Miocene. Data covering two 4-D vintages acquired over a fifteen-year interval were obtained from oil companies operating in the field. The data were analysed to determine the seismic structures, horizons, Well-to-Seismic Tie (WST), and wavelets. Well, logs and production history data from fifteen selected wells were also collected from the Oil companies. Formation evaluation, petrophysical analysis and inversion alongside geological data were undertaken using Petrel, Shell-nDi, Techlog and Jason Software. Well-to-seismic tie, formation evaluation and saturation monitoring using petrophysical and geological data and software were used to find bypassed hydrocarbon prospects. The seismic vintages were interpreted, and the amounts of change in the reservoir were defined by the differences in Acoustic Impedance (AI) inversions of the base and the monitor seismic. AI rock properties were estimated from all the seismic amplitudes using controlled sparse-spike inversion. The estimated rock properties were used to produce AI maps. The structural analysis showed the dominance of NW-SE trending rollover collapsed-crest anticlines in EK with hydrocarbons trapped northwards. There were good ties in wells EK 27, 39. Analysed wavelets revealed consistent amplitude and phase for the WST; hence, a good match between the inverted impedance and the good data. Evidence of large pay thickness, ranging from 2875ms (11420 TVDSS-ft) to about 2965ms, were found around EK 39 well with good yield properties. The comparison between the base of the AI and the current monitor and the generated AI maps revealed zones of untapped hydrocarbons as well as assisted in determining fluids movement. The inverted sections through EK 27, 39 (within 3101 m - 3695 m), indicated depletion in the reservoirs. The extent of the present non-uniform gas-oil contact and oil-water contact movements were from 3554 to 3575 m. The 4-D seismic approach led to better reservoir characterization, well development and the location of deeper and bypassed hydrocarbon reservoirs.

Keywords: reservoir monitoring, 4-D seismic, well placements, petrophysical analysis, Niger delta basin

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Authors: Hyun Chul Koag, Hyun-Sik Ahn

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In this paper, we propose a design approach for the safety mechanism of an actuator used in a commercial vehicle’s EPS system. As the number of electric/electronic system in a vehicle increases, the importance of the functional safety has been receiving much attention. EPS(Electric Power Steering) systems for commercial vehicles require large power than passenger vehicles, and hence, dual motor can be applied to get more torque. We show how to formulate the development process for the design of hardware and software of an EPS system using dual motors. A lot of safety mechanisms for the processor, sensors, and memory have been suggested, however, those for actuators have not been fully researched. It is shown by metric analyses that the target ASIL(Automotive Safety Integrated Level) is satisfied in the point of view of hardware of EPS controller.

Keywords: safety mechanism, functional safety, commercial vehicles, electric power steering

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Authors: Wisam H. Muragaa, Kamaruzzaman Seman, Mohd Fadzli Marhusin

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Software Defined Networking (SDN) is a paradigm designed to facilitate the way of controlling the network dynamically and with more agility. Network traffic is a set of flows, each of which contains a set of packets. In SDN, a matching process is performed on every packet coming to the network in the SDN switch. Only the headers of the new packets will be forwarded to the SDN controller. In terminology, the flow header fields are called tuples. Basically, these tuples are 5-tuple: the source and destination IP addresses, source and destination ports, and protocol number. This flow information is used to provide an overview of the network traffic. Our module is meant to extract this 5-tuple with the packets and flows numbers and show them as a list. Therefore, this list can be used as a first step in the way of detecting the DDoS attack. Thus, this module can be considered as the beginning stage of any flow-based DDoS detection method.

Keywords: matching, OpenFlow tables, POX controller, SDN, table-miss

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Authors: I. Grigoratos, R. Monteiro

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Regions with a significant percentage of non-seismically designed buildings and reduced urban planning are particularly vulnerable to natural hazards. In this context, the project ‘Improved Tools for Disaster Risk Mitigation in Algeria’ (ITERATE) aims at seismic risk mitigation in Algeria. Past earthquakes in North Algeria caused extensive damages, e.g. the El Asnam 1980 moment magnitude (Mw) 7.1 and Boumerdes 2003 Mw 6.8 earthquakes. This paper will address a number of proposed developments and considerations made towards a further improvement of the component of seismic hazard. In specific, an updated earthquake catalog (until year 2018) is compiled, and new conversion equations to moment magnitude are introduced. Furthermore, a network-based method for the estimation of the spatial and temporal distribution of the minimum magnitude of completeness is applied. We found relatively large values for M_c, due to the sparse network, and a nonlinear trend between M_w and body wave (m_b) or local magnitude (M_L), which are the most common scales reported in the region. Lastly, the resulting b-value of the Gutenberg-Richter distribution is sensitive to the declustering method.

Keywords: conversion equation, magnitude of completeness, seismic events, seismic hazard

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Authors: Imad Eddine Charif, Wafaa Benchouk, Sidi Mohamed Mekelleche

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The regioselectivity of a series of 16 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of nitrile oxides with 2(5H)-furanones has been analysed by means of global and local electrophilic and nucleophilic reactivity indices using density functional theory at the B3LYP level together with the 6-31G(d) basis set. The local electrophilicity and nucleophilicity indices, based on Fukui and Parr functions, have been calculated for the terminal sites, namely the C1 and O3 atoms of the 1,3-dipole and the C4 and C5 atoms of the dipolarophile. These local indices were calculated using both Mulliken and natural charges and spin densities. The results obtained show that the C5 atom of the 2(5H)-furanones is the most electrophilic site whereas the O3 atom of the nitrile oxides is the most nucleophilic centre. It turns out that the experimental regioselectivity is correctly reproduced, indicating that both Fukui- and Parr-based indices are efficient tools for the prediction of the regiochemistry of the studied reactions and could be used for the prediction of newly designed reactions of the same kind.

Keywords: 1, 3-dipolar cycloaddition, density functional theory, nitrile oxides, regioselectivity, reactivity indices

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Authors: A. T. Al-Isawi, P. E. F. Collins

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The behaviour of structures exposed to fire after an earthquake is not a new area of engineering research, but there remain a number of areas where further work is required. Such areas relate to the way in which seismic excitation is applied to a structure, taking into account the effect of soil-structure interaction (SSI) and the method of analysis, in addition to identifying the excitation load properties. The selection of earthquake data input for use in nonlinear analysis and the method of analysis are still challenging issues. Thus, realistic artificial ground motion input data must be developed to certify that site properties parameters adequately describe the effects of the nonlinear inelastic behaviour of the system and that the characteristics of these parameters are coherent with the characteristics of the target parameters. Conversely, ignoring the significance of some attributes, such as frequency content, soil site properties and earthquake parameters may lead to misleading results, due to the misinterpretation of required input data and the incorrect synthesise of analysis hypothesis. This paper presents a study of the post-earthquake fire (PEF) performance of a multi-storey steel-framed building resting on soft clay, taking into account the effects of the nonlinear inelastic behaviour of the structure and soil, and the soil-structure interaction (SSI). Structures subjected to an earthquake may experience various levels of damage; the geometrical damage, which indicates the change in the initial structure’s geometry due to the residual deformation as a result of plastic behaviour, and the mechanical damage which identifies the degradation of the mechanical properties of the structural elements involved in the plastic range of deformation. Consequently, the structure presumably experiences partial structural damage but is then exposed to fire under its new residual material properties, which may result in building failure caused by a decrease in fire resistance. This scenario would be more complicated if SSI was also considered. Indeed, most earthquake design codes ignore the probability of PEF as well as the effect that SSI has on the behaviour of structures, in order to simplify the analysis procedure. Therefore, the design of structures based on existing codes which neglect the importance of PEF and SSI can create a significant risk of structural failure. In order to examine the criteria for the behaviour of a structure under PEF conditions, a two-dimensional nonlinear elasto-plastic model is developed using ABAQUS software; the effects of SSI are included. Both geometrical and mechanical damages have been taken into account after the earthquake analysis step. For comparison, an identical model is also created, which does not include the effects of soil-structure interaction. It is shown that damage to structural elements is underestimated if SSI is not included in the analysis, and the maximum percentage reduction in fire resistance is detected in the case when SSI is included in the scenario. The results are validated using the literature.

Keywords: Abaqus Software, Finite Element Analysis, post-earthquake fire, seismic analysis, soil-structure interaction

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Authors: C.Ardil

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Open Science translates the understanding and application of various theories and practices in open science philosophy, systems, paradigms and epistemology. Open Science originates with the premise that universal scientific knowledge is a product of a collective scholarly and social collaboration involving all stakeholders and knowledge belongs to the global society. Scientific outputs generated by public research are a public good that should be available to all at no cost and without barriers or restrictions. Open Science has the potential to increase the quality, impact and benefits of science and to accelerate advancement of knowledge by making it more reliable, more efficient and accurate, better understandable by society and responsive to societal challenges, and has the potential to enable growth and innovation through reuse of scientific results by all stakeholders at all levels of society, and ultimately contribute to growth and competitiveness of global society. Open Science is a global movement to improve accessibility to and reusability of research practices and outputs. In its broadest definition, it encompasses open access to publications, open research data and methods, open source, open educational resources, open evaluation, and citizen science. The implementation of open science provides an excellent opportunity to renegotiate the social roles and responsibilities of publicly funded research and to rethink the science system as a whole. Open Science is the practice of science in such a way that others can collaborate and contribute, where research data, lab notes and other research processes are freely available, under terms that enable reuse, redistribution and reproduction of the research and its underlying data and methods. Open Science represents a novel systematic approach to the scientific process, shifting from the standard practices of publishing research results in scientific publications towards sharing and using all available knowledge at an earlier stage in the research process, based on cooperative work and diffusing scholarly knowledge with no barriers and restrictions. Open Science refers to efforts to make the primary outputs of publicly funded research results (publications and the research data) publicly accessible in digital format with no limitations. Open Science is about extending the principles of openness to the whole research cycle, fostering, sharing and collaboration as early as possible, thus entailing a systemic change to the way science and research is done. Open Science is the ongoing transition in how open research is carried out, disseminated, deployed, and transformed to make scholarly research more open, global, collaborative, creative and closer to society. Open Science involves various movements aiming to remove the barriers for sharing any kind of output, resources, methods or tools, at any stage of the research process. Open Science embraces open access to publications, research data, source software, collaboration, peer review, notebooks, educational resources, monographs, citizen science, or research crowdfunding. The recognition and adoption of open science practices, including open science policies that increase open access to scientific literature and encourage data and code sharing, is increasing in the open science philosophy. Revolutionary open science policies are motivated by ethical, moral or utilitarian arguments, such as the right to access digital research literature for open source research or science data accumulation, research indicators, transparency in the field of academic practice, and reproducibility. Open science philosophy is adopted primarily to demonstrate the benefits of open science practices. Researchers use open science applications for their own advantage in order to get more offers, increase citations, attract media attention, potential collaborators, career opportunities, donations and funding opportunities. In open science philosophy, open data findings are evidence that open science practices provide significant benefits to researchers in scientific research creation, collaboration, communication, and evaluation according to more traditional closed science practices. Open science considers concerns such as the rigor of peer review, common research facts such as financing and career development, and the sacrifice of author rights. Therefore, researchers are recommended to implement open science research within the framework of existing academic evaluation and incentives. As a result, open science research issues are addressed in the areas of publishing, financing, collaboration, resource management and sharing, career development, discussion of open science questions and conclusions.

Keywords: Open Science, Open Science Philosophy, Open Science Research, Open Science Data

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Authors: Akbar Farahani, Afsaneh Hassani, Peyman M. Farkhondeh

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Human Resource Management as one of the core processes of the project-based companies, despite its key role in the success and competitive advantage, is relatively unknown. In the project-based companies, due to the accelerated movement of knowledge in the work activities and the temporary nature of the project, the need to develop mechanisms for achieving optimal management of this issues is very challenging. Approach to human resource management in these companies evolves with goals, strategies, and operational processes. Therefore, the need for appropriate tools to facilitate implementation of the optimized human resource management in the project is more than before,Which currently with the development of information technology and modern communication, appropriate to address the optimal approach for dynamic management of human resources in the project have been provided.This is done by using the referral system implemented in Mahab GCE that provides 1: the ability to use humans in projects without geographic limitation and 2:information on the activities and outcomes of referrals.Furthermore, by using this system, recording the lessons learned after any particular activity on projects,accessing quantitative information, procedures, documentation of learned practices that have been stored in the data base as well as using them in future projects is provided.

Keywords: human resource management, project base company, ERP, referrals system

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Authors: Shaik Jilani Basha, Inavolu Avinash, Alla Venu Sai Reddy, Bitragunta Taraka Ramu

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We can use the neural style transfer technique to build a picture with the same "content" as the beginning image but the "style" of the picture we've chosen. Neural style transfer is a technique for merging the style of one image into another while retaining its original information. The only change is how the image is formatted to give it an additional artistic sense. The content image depicts the plan or drawing, as well as the colors of the drawing or paintings used to portray the style. It is a computer vision programme that learns and processes images through deep convolutional neural networks. To implement software, we used to train deep learning models with the train data, and whenever a user takes an image and a styled image, the output will be as the style gets transferred to the original image, and it will be shown as the output.

Keywords: neural networks, computer vision, deep learning, convolutional neural networks

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Authors: S. Ben Brahim, T. H. Vuong, J. David, R. Bouallegue, M. Pietrzak-David

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Electrical machine monitoring is important to protect motor from unexpected problems. Today, using wireless communication for electrical machines is interesting for both real time monitoring and diagnostic purposes. In this paper, we propose a system based on wireless communication IEEE 802.11 to control electrical machine. IEEE 802.11 standard is recommended for this type of applications because it provides a faster connection, better range from the base station, and better security. Therefore, our contribution is to study a new technique to control and monitor the rotating electrical machines (motors, generators) using wireless communication. The reliability of radio channel inside rotating electrical machine is also discussed. Then, the communication protocol, software and hardware design used for the proposed system are presented in detail and the experimental results of our system are illustrated.

Keywords: control, DFIM machine, electromagnetic field, EMC, IEEE 802.11, monitoring, rotating electrical machines, wireless communication

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Authors: Ali Khwaldeh, Nimer Adwan

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In this paper, a method for constructing a controlled balanced Boolean function satisfying the criterion of a Strictly Avalanche Criteria (SAC) effect is proposed. The proposed method is based on the use of three orthogonal nonlinear components which is unlike the high-order SAC functions. So, the generator synthesized by the proposed method has separate sets of control and information inputs. The proposed method proves its simplicity and the implementation ability. The proposed method allows synthesizing a SAC function generator with fixed control and information inputs. This ensures greater efficiency of the built-in oscillator compared to high-order SAC functions that can be used as a generator. Accordingly, the method is completely formalized and implemented as a software product.

Keywords: boolean function, controlled balanced boolean function, strictly avalanche criteria, orthogonal nonlinear

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Authors: Rouighi Mustapha, Bouzid Laghaa Souad, Rouighi Tahar

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Due to rain Shortage and the increase of population in the last years, wells excavation and groundwater use for different purposes had been increased without any planning. This is a great challenge for our country. Moreover, this scarcity of water resources in this region is unfortunately combined with rapid fresh water resources quality deterioration, due to salinity and contamination processes. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct the studies about groundwater quality in Algeria. In this work consists in the identification of the factors which influence the water quality parameters in Laghouat region by using statistical analysis Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) and geographic information system (GIS) in an attempt to discriminate the sources of the variation of water quality variations. The results of PCA technique indicate that variables responsible for water quality composition are mainly related to soluble salts variables; natural processes and the nature of the rock which modifies significantly the water chemistry. Inferred from the positive correlation between K+ and NO3-, NO3- is believed to be human induced rather than naturally originated. In this study, the multivariate statistical analysis and GIS allows the hydrogeologist to have supplementary tools in the characterization and evaluating of aquifers.

Keywords: cluster, analysis, GIS, groundwater, laghouat, quality

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Authors: Arwa Khannoussi, Alexandru-Liviu Olteanu, Pritesh Narayan, Catherine Dezan, Jean-Philippe Diguet, Patrick Meyer, Jacques Petit-Frere

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Due to the nature of autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) missions, it is important that the decisions of a UAV stay consistent with the priorities of an operator, while at the same time allowing them to be easily audited and explained. We propose a multi-layer decision engine that integrates the operator (human) preferences by using the Multi-Criteria Decision Aiding (MCDA) methods. A software implementation of a UAV simulator and of the decision engine is presented to highlight the advantage of using such techniques on high-level decisions. We demonstrate that, with such a preference-based decision engine, the decisions of the UAV are compatible with the priorities of the operator, which in turn increases her/his confidence in its autonomous behavior.

Keywords: autonomous UAV, multi-criteria decision aiding, multi-layers decision engine, operator's preferences, traceable decisions, UAV simulation

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Authors: Meltem Haktaniyan, Eda Cagli, Irem Erel Goktepe

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Polymers that change their properties in response to different stimuli (e.g. light, temperature, pH, ionic strength or magnetic field) are called ‘smart’ or ‘stimuli-responsive polymers’. These polymers have been widely used in biomedical applications such as sensors, gene delivery, drug delivery or tissue engineering. Temperature-responsive polymers have been studied extensively for controlled drug delivery applications. As regard of pseudo-peptides, poly (2-alky-2-oxazoline)s are considered as good candidates for delivery systems due to their stealth behavior and nontoxicity. In order to build responsive multilayer films for controlled drug release applications from surface, Layer by layer technique (LBL) is a powerful technique with an advantage of nanometer scale control over spatial architecture and morphology. Multilayers can be constructed on surface where non-covalent interactions including electrostatic interactions, hydrogen bonding, and charge-transfer or hydrophobic-hydrophobic interactions. In the present study, hydrogen bounded multilayer films of poly (2-alky-2-oxazoline) s with tannic acid were prepared in order to use as a platform to release Doxorubicin (DOX) from surface with pH and thermal triggers. For this purpose, poly (2-isopropyl-2-oxazoline) (PIPOX) and poly (2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) (PETOX) were synthesized via cationic ring opening polymerization (CROP) with hydroxyl end groups. Two polymeric multilayer systems ((PETOX)/(DOX)-(TA) complexes and (PIPOX)/(DOX)-(TA) complexes) were designed to investigate of controlled release of Doxorubicin (DOX) from surface with pH and thermal triggers. The drug release profiles from the multilayer thin films with alterations of pH and temperature will been examined with UV-Vis Spectroscopy and Fluorescence Spectroscopy.

Keywords: temperature responsive polymers, h-bonded multilayer films, drug release, polyoxazoline

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Authors: Smko Zangana, Ergun Ercelebi

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The alternating current is the main power in all industries and other aspects especially for the short and mid distances, but as far as long a distance which exceeds 500 KMs, using the alternating current technically will face many difficulties and more costs because it's difficult to control the current and also other restrictions. Therefore, recently those reasons led to building transmission lines HVDC to transmit power for long distances. This document presents technical comparison and assessments for power transmission system among distances either ways and studying the stability of the system regarding the proportion of losses in the actual power sent and received between both sides in different systems and also categorizing filters used in the HVDC system and its impact and effect on reducing Harmonic in the power transmission. MATLAB /Simulink simulation software is used to simulate both HVAC & HVDC power transmission system topologies.

Keywords: HVAC power system, HVDC power system, power system simulation (MATLAB), the alternating current, voltage stability

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Authors: Somkiat Korbuakaew, Winai Mankhatitham, Anchan Chongcharoen, Wichar Kunkum

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This research’s objective is to evaluate the online broadcasting of Suan Dusit Rajabhat Univeristy by CIPP model. The evaluation was separated into 4 parts: context factor, input factor, process factor and product factor. Sample group in this research were 399 participants who were university’s executive, staff and students. Questionnaires and interview were the research tools. Data were analyzed by computer program. Statistics used here were percentage, mean, and standard deviation. Findings are as follows: 1. Context factor: The context factor here in this research was university’s executives, staff and students. The study shows that they would like to use online broadcasting to be the educational tool and IT development. 2. Input factor: The input factor was the modern IT equipment to create interesting teaching materials and develop education in general. 3. Process factor: The process factor in this study was the publication of the program that it should be promoted more among students and should be more objective. 4. Product factor: The product factor in this study was the purpose of the program that it expands the educational channel for students.

Keywords: evaluation, project, internet, online broadcasting

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Authors: Bangaly Kaba

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In the global information society, the importance of the Internet cannot be overemphasized. Africa needs access to the powerful information and communication tools of the Internet in order to obtain the resources and efficiency essential for sustainable development. Unfortunately, in 2013, the data from Internetworldstats showed only 15% of African populations have access to Internet. This relative low Internet penetration rate signals a problem that may threaten the economic development, governmental efficiency, and ultimately the global competitiveness of African countries. Many initiatives were undertaken to bring the benefits of the global information revolution to the people of Africa, through connection to the Internet and other Global Information Infrastructure technologies. The purpose is to understand differences between socio-economically advantaged and disadvantaged internet users. From that, we will determine what prevents disadvantaged groups from benefiting from Internet usage. Data were collected through a survey from Internet users in Ivory Coast. The results reveal that Personal network exposure, Self-efficacy and Availability are the key drivers of continued use intention for the socio-economically disadvantaged group. The theoretical and practical implications are also described.

Keywords: digital inequality, internet, integrative model, socio-economically advantaged and disadvantaged, use continuance, Africa

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Authors: Vivek Anand, Rainer Naegele

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Industry 4.0 envisages 'smart' manufacturing and services, taking the automation of the 3rd Industrial Revolution to the autonomy of the 4th Industrial Revolution. Powered by innovations in technology and business models, this disruptive transformation is revitalising industry by integrating silos across and beyond value chains. Motivated by the challenges faced by SMEs and Startups in understanding and adopting Industry 4.0, this paper aims to analyse the concept of Growth Poles and evaluate the possibility of its application to Innovation Clusters that strive to propel Industry 4.0 adoption and capacity building. The proposed paper applies qualitative research methodologies including focus groups and survey questionnaires to identify the various factors that affect formation and development of Innovation Clusters. Employing content analysis, the interaction between SMEs and other ecosystem players in such clusters is studied. A strong collaborative culture is a key driver of digital transformation and technology adoption across sectors, value chains and supply chains; and will position these cluster-based growth poles at the forefront of industrial renaissance. Motivated by this argument, and based on the results of the qualitative research, a roadmap will be proposed to position Innovation Clusters as Growth Poles and effective ecosystems to support Industry 4.0 adoption in a region in the medium to long term. This paper will contribute to the current understanding of the role of Innovation Clusters in capacity building. Relevant management and policy implications stem from the analysis. Furthermore, the findings will be helpful for academicians and policymakers alike, who can leverage an ‘innovation cluster policy’ to enable Industry 4.0 Growth Poles in their regions.

Keywords: digital transformation, fourth industrial revolution, growth poles, industry 4.0, innovation clusters, innovation policy, SMEs and startups

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Authors: Vera Lúcia Raposo

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Medical devices are products used for medical purposes and aimed to operate in the human body, sometimes even inside the human body. Therefore, they can become particularly risky products, and some of the injuries caused by medical devices can have serious effects on the person’s health or body, even leading to death. Because they fit in the category of 'products' as described in Article 2 of Council Directive 85/374/EEC of 25 July 1985, concerning liability for defective products, the liability of the manufacturer of medical devices follows the rules of strict liability as long as one of the defects covered by the directive is at stake. The directive is not concerned with the product’s efficiency, but instead with the product’s safety, although in what regards medical devices (the same being valid for drugs) the two concepts frequently go together, and a lack of efficiency can result in a lack of safety. In the particular case of medical devices, the most debatable defects are the ones related with erroneous or non-existing information and the so-called development defects. This paper analyses how directive 85/374/EEC applies to medical devices, which defects are covered by its regulation, and which criteria can be used to evaluate the product’s safety. Some issues are still to be clarified, even though the decisions from the European Court of Justice and from national courts are valuable tools to understand the scope of directive 85/374/EEC in what regards medical devices.

Keywords: medical devices, producer’s liability, product safety, strict liability

Procedia PDF Downloads 316

Authors: Somayeh Lotfi, Manuel Eggimann, Eckhard Wagner, Radosław Mróz, Jan Deja

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One of the main environmental challenges in the construction industry is a strong social force to decrease the bulk transport of the building materials in urban environments. Considering this fact, applying more in-situ recycling technologies for Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) is an urgent need. The European C2CA project develops a novel concrete recycling technology that can be performed purely mechanically and in situ. The technology consists of a combination of smart demolition, gentle grinding of the crushed concrete in an autogenous mill, and a novel dry classification technology called ADR to remove the fines. The feasibility of this recycling process was examined in demonstration projects involving in total 20,000 tons of End of Life (EOL) concrete from two office towers in Groningen, The Netherlands. This paper concentrates on the second demonstration project of C2CA, where EOL concrete was recycled on an industrial site. After recycling, the properties of the produced Recycled Aggregate (RA) were investigated, and results are presented. An experimental study was carried out on mechanical and durability properties of produced Recycled Aggregate Concrete (RAC) compared to those of the Natural Aggregate Concrete (NAC). The aim was to understand the importance of RA substitution, w/c ratio and type of cement to the properties of RAC. In this regard, two series of reference concrete with strength classes of C25/30 and C45/55 were produced using natural coarse aggregates (rounded and crushed) and natural sand. The RAC series were created by replacing parts of the natural aggregate, resulting in series of concrete with 0%, 20%, 50% and 100% of RA. Results show that the concrete mix design and type of cement have a decisive effect on the properties of RAC. On the other hand, the substitution of RA even at a high percentage replacement level has a minor and manageable impact on the performance of RAC. This result is a good indication towards the feasibility of using RA in structural concrete by modifying the mix design and using a proper type of cement.

Keywords: C2CA, ADR, concrete recycling, recycled aggregate, durability

Procedia PDF Downloads 385

Authors: Musa Njabulo Shongwe

Abstract:

The multilateral trading system is facing a great danger of fragmentation. Its modus operandi, multilateralism, is increasingly becoming clogged by trade barriers created by the proliferation of preferential regional trading blocs. The paper explores the fragmentation of the multilateral trade regulation system (WTO law) by analysing whether and to what extent Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) have conflicted with the Multilateral Trading System. The paper examines the effects of RTA dominance in view of the WTO's quest for trade liberalization. This is an important inquiry because the proliferation of RTAs implies the erosion of the WTO law’s core principle of non-discrimination. The paper further explores how the proliferation of RTAs has endangered the coherence of the multilateral trading system. The study is carried out with the initial assumption that RTAs could be complementary and coherent with WTO law, and thus facilitate international trade and enhance development prospects. There is evidence that is tested by this study which suggests that RTAs can be divergent and hence undermine the WTO multilateral rules of regulating international trade. The paper finally recommends legal tools of regulating and managing the WTO-RTA interface, as well as other legal means of ensuring a harmonious existence between the WTO and regional trade arrangements.

Keywords: fragmentation of international trade law, regionalism, regional trade agreements, WTO law

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Authors: Chetan Gupta, Ramesh Gupta

Abstract:

Unmanned aerial vehicles, of all sizes, are prime targets of the wing morphing concept as their lightweight structures demand high aerodynamic stability while traversing unsteady atmospheric conditions. In this research study, a hybrid morphing technology is developed to aid the trailing edge of the aircraft wing to alter its camber as a monolithic element rather than functioning as conventional appendages like flaps. Kinematic tailoring, actuation techniques involving shape memory alloys (SMA), piezoelectrics – individually fall short of providing a simplistic solution to the conundrum of morphing aircraft wings. On the other hand, the feature of negligible hysteresis while actuating using compliant mechanisms has shown higher levels of applicability and deliverability in morphing wings of even large aircrafts. This research paper delves into designing a wing section model with a periodic, multi-stable compliant structure requiring lower orders of topological optimization. The design is sub-divided into three smaller domains with external hyperelastic connections to achieve deflections ranging from -15° to +15° at the trailing edge of the wing. To facilitate this functioning, a hybrid actuation system by combining the larger bandwidth feature of piezoelectric macro-fibre composites and relatively higher work densities of shape memory alloy wires are used. Finite element analysis is applied to optimize piezoelectric actuation of the internal compliant structure. A coupled fluid-surface interaction analysis is conducted on the wing section during morphing to study the development of the velocity boundary layer at low Reynold’s numbers of airflow.

Keywords: compliant mechanism, hybrid morphing, piezoelectrics, shape memory alloys

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Authors: Hui-Ling Huang, Tamara Vasylenko, Phasit Charoenkwan, Shih-Hsiang Chiu, Shinn-Ying Ho

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The knowledge of the human transporters is still limited due to technically demanding procedure of crystallization for the structural characterization of transporters by spectroscopic methods. It is desirable to develop bioinformatics tools for effective analysis of available sequences in order to identify human transmembrane transporter proteins (HMTPs). This study proposes a scoring card method (SCM) based method for predicting HMTPs. We estimated a set of propensity scores of dipeptides to be HMTPs using SCM from the training dataset (HTS732) consisting of 366 HMTPs and 366 non-HMTPs. SCM using the estimated propensity scores of 20 amino acids and 400 dipeptides -as HMTPs, has a training accuracy of 87.63% and a test accuracy of 66.46%. The five top-ranked dipeptides include LD, NV, LI, KY, and MN with scores 996, 992, 989, 987, and 985, respectively. Five amino acids with the highest propensity scores are Ile, Phe, Met, Gly, and Leu, that hydrophobic residues are mostly highly-scored. Furthermore, obtained propensity scores were used to analyze physicochemical properties of human transporters.

Keywords: dipeptide composition, physicochemical property, human transmembrane transporter proteins, human transmembrane transporters binding propensity, scoring card method

Procedia PDF Downloads 365

Authors: A. M. Naraghi, V. Gonzalez, M. O'Sullivan, C. G. Walker, M. Poshdar, F. Ying, M. Abdelmegid

Abstract:

Discrete Event Simulation (DES) and Agent Based Simulation (ABS) are two simulation approaches that have been proposed to support decision-making in the construction industry. Despite the wide use of these simulation approaches in the construction field, their applications for production and material planning is still limited. This is largely due to the dynamic and complex nature of construction material supply chain systems. Moreover, managing the flow of construction material is not well integrated with site logistics in traditional construction planning methods. This paper presents a hybrid of DES and ABS to simulate on-site and off-site material supply processes. DES is applied to determine the best production scenarios with information of on-site production systems, while ABS is used to optimize the supply chain network. A case study of a construction piling project in New Zealand is presented illustrating the potential benefits of using the proposed hybrid simulation model in construction material flow planning. The hybrid model presented can be used to evaluate the impact of different decisions on construction supply chain management.

Keywords: construction supply-chain management, simulation modeling, decision-support tools, hybrid simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 199