Search results for: on premise solution

Authors: Rowland R. Ogunrinde, Yusmadi Y. Jusoh, Noraini Che Pa, Wan Nurhayati W. Rahman, Azizol B. Abdullah

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Enterprise Applications (EAs) aid the organizations achieve operational excellence and competitive advantage. Over time, most Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which are known to be the major drivers of most thriving global economies, use the costly on-premise versions of these applications thereby making business difficult to competitively thrive in the same market environment with their large enterprise counterparts. The advent of cloud computing presents the SMEs an affordable offer and great opportunities as such EAs can be cloud-hosted and rented on a pay-per-use basis which does not require huge initial capital. However, as there are numerous Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) offering EAs as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), there is a challenge of choosing a suitable provider with Quality of Service (QoS) that meet the organizations’ customized requirements. The proposed model takes care of that and goes a step further to select the most affordable among a selected few of the CSPs. In the earlier stage, before developing the instrument and conducting the pilot test, the researchers conducted a structured interview with three experts to validate the proposed model. In conclusion, the validity and reliability of the instrument were tested through experts, typical respondents, and analyzed with SPSS 22. Results confirmed the validity of the proposed model and the validity and reliability of the instrument.

Keywords: cloud service provider, enterprise application, quality of service, selection criteria, small and medium enterprise

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Authors: Ahmed Usman

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This paper attempts to examine the relevance of an Electoral Commission in the democratic process of governance in Nigeria. However, democratic system and governance present a clear indication of responsive and responsible governments. The idea of a government being responsive and responsible is based on the premise of conventional principles of democracy such as freedom of political, economic and social rights of and individual. More so, upholding of the Rule of Law based on the ground of constitutionalism is a clear manifestation of the democratic governance. The burdens of ascertaining theses democratic ethos rely solely on the constituted election management body known as Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the case of Nigeria. This body is however, saddled with the responsibility of organizing and conducting periodic regular credible election known as free and fair election. The body also, is expected to be neutral, and independent to ensure fair treatment to all. It is on the basis of this fair treatment that credible leaders emerged. To this end, the paper examines the powers, functions and features of Independent National Electoral Commission. More so, the concepts of election and democracy have been operationalized. It is obvious that electoral process in Nigeria is marred with series of problems of which the paper identified and solutions were proffered towards credible, free and fair elections for sustainable democratic governance. In order to succinctly discuss and analyze the issues at stake, Structural Functional Analysis theory is adopted as a theoretical frame work for the paper.

Keywords: election, electoral commission, democracy, governance

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Authors: Malik Imran Afzal

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Cadmium supplied nanowires have unique electrical and optical properties and applications. To obtain cadmium supplied nanowires with regular and good aspect ratio, they can be synthesized by template synthesis method. Porous anodized aluminum oxide is the most promising template with regular hexagonal shapes. Their aspect ratio can be controlled by controlling the pores’ depth and diameter which greatly depend on anodization voltage and temperature of the electrolyte. In this research, high purity aluminium was used to prepare nanotemplates at 5-6°C in 1M phosphoric acid and cadmium supplied was deposited electrochemically using a co-solution of thiourea, cadmium acetate and ammonium acetate. pH was maintained at 11 in a heat bath at 75°C with the help of aqueous ammonia solution. Both porous anodized alumina and cadmium supplied nanowires were characterized suing SEM. A good quality Nanowires were obtained in bunches with reasonably high aspect ratio.

Keywords: bunches, electrodeposition, hexagonal, thiourea

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Authors: Andrey V. Timofeev, Dmitry Egorov

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This paper describes an effective solution to the task of a remote monitoring of super-extended objects (oil and gas pipeline, railways, national frontier). The suggested solution is based on the principle of simultaneously monitoring of seismoacoustic and optical/infrared physical fields. The principle of simultaneous monitoring of those fields is not new but in contrast to the known solutions the suggested approach allows to control super-extended objects with very limited operational costs. So-called C-OTDR (Coherent Optical Time Domain Reflectometer) systems are used to monitor the seismoacoustic field. Far-CCTV systems are used to monitor the optical/infrared field. A simultaneous data processing provided by both systems allows effectively detecting and classifying target activities, which appear in the monitored objects vicinity. The results of practical usage had shown high effectiveness of the suggested approach.

Keywords: C-OTDR monitoring system, bimodal processing, LPboost, SVM

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Authors: Yana Posmitnaya, Galina Rudnitskaya, Tatyana Lukashenko, Anton Bukatin, Anatoly Evstrapov

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An important area of biological and medical research is the study of genetic mutations and polymorphisms that can alter gene function and cause inherited diseases and other diseases. The following methods to analyse DNA fragments are used: capillary electrophoresis and electrophoresis on microfluidic chip (MFC), mass spectrometry with electrophoresis on MFC, hybridization assay on microarray. Electrophoresis on MFC allows to analyse small volumes of samples with high speed and throughput. A soft lithography in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was chosen for operative fabrication of MFCs. A master-form from silicon and photoresist SU-8 2025 (MicroChem Corp.) was created for the formation of micro-sized structures in PDMS. A universal topology which combines T-injector and simple cross was selected for the electrophoretic separation of the sample. Glass K8 and PDMS Sylgard® 184 (Dow Corning Corp.) were used for fabrication of MFCs. Electroosmotic flow (EOF) plays an important role in the electrophoretic separation of the sample. Therefore, the estimate of the quantity of EOF and the ways of its regulation are of interest for the development of the new methods of the electrophoretic separation of biomolecules. The following methods of surface modification were chosen to change EOF: high-frequency (13.56 MHz) plasma treatment in oxygen and argon at low pressure (1 mbar); 1% aqueous solution of polyvinyl alcohol; 3% aqueous solution of Kolliphor® P 188 (Sigma-Aldrich Corp.). The electroosmotic mobility was evaluated by the method of Huang X. et al., wherein the borate buffer was used. The influence of physical and chemical methods of treatment on the wetting properties of the PDMS surface was controlled by the sessile drop method. The most effective way of surface modification of MFCs, from the standpoint of obtaining the smallest value of the contact angle and the smallest value of the EOF, was the processing with aqueous solution of Kolliphor® P 188. This method of modification has been selected for the treatment of channels of MFCs, which are used for the separation of mixture of oligonucleotides fluorescently labeled with the length of chain with 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 nucleotides. Electrophoresis was performed on the device MFAS-01 (IAI RAS, Russia) at the separation voltage of 1500 V. 6% solution of polydimethylacrylamide with the addition of 7M carbamide was used as the separation medium. The separation time of components of the mixture was determined from electropherograms. The time for untreated MFC was ~275 s, and for the ones treated with solution of Kolliphor® P 188 – ~ 220 s. Research of physical-chemical methods of surface modification of MFCs allowed to choose the most effective way for reducing EOF – the modification with aqueous solution of Kolliphor® P 188. In this case, the separation time of the mixture of oligonucleotides decreased about 20%. The further optimization of method of modification of channels of MFCs will allow decreasing the separation time of sample and increasing the throughput of analysis.

Keywords: electrophoresis, microfluidic chip, modification, nucleic acid, polydimethylsiloxane, soft lithography

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Authors: Khurshid Ahmad Sheikh

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This study describes tourism can be a ray of hope to overcome terrorism, especially in places having great tourism potential but could not successfully market their breathtaking beauty and enormous tourism potential because of terrorism threats. It is not so that the area is dangerous, but it does not look attractive. In Asia, regardless of a famous and most important tourist destination, the growth of tourism in Kashmir is stalled by terrorism in the valley. Kashmir has many seasonal tourist destinations like Walur Lake, Pahalgam, Sonamarg, Gulmarg, Dal Lake and other undiscovered virgin tourist destinations, which makes it the preferred tourist destination throughout the year. This research is based on the ideas of the local people who are suffering because of this social evil and have seen changes happen from prosperity to perish. Tourism can be the right adopted measure that brings back life to its virgin origin and makes it a heaven for the rest of the world. Tourism has the power to heal up all the wounds which have been created in this long gap of war and terrorism. In this paper, we will describe the influence of tourism is be the best solution for the harmony and fortune of Kashmir.

Keywords: Kashmir, tourism, solution to peace, culture

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Authors: Nadia Belu, Laurenţiu Mihai Ionescu, Agnieszka Misztal

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The automotive industry is one of the most important industries in the world that concerns not only the economy, but also the world culture. In the present financial and economic context, this field faces new challenges posed by the current crisis, companies must maintain product quality, deliver on time and at a competitive price in order to achieve customer satisfaction. Two of the most recommended techniques of quality management by specific standards of the automotive industry, in the product development, are Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Control Plan. FMEA is a methodology for risk management and quality improvement aimed at identifying potential causes of failure of products and processes, their quantification by risk assessment, ranking of the problems identified according to their importance, to the determination and implementation of corrective actions related. The companies use Control Plans realized using the results from FMEA to evaluate a process or product for strengths and weaknesses and to prevent problems before they occur. The Control Plans represent written descriptions of the systems used to control and minimize product and process variation. In addition Control Plans specify the process monitoring and control methods (for example Special Controls) used to control Special Characteristics. In this paper we propose a computer-aided solution with Genetic Algorithms in order to reduce the drafting of reports: FMEA analysis and Control Plan required in the manufacture of the product launch and improved knowledge development teams for future projects. The solution allows to the design team to introduce data entry required to FMEA. The actual analysis is performed using Genetic Algorithms to find optimum between RPN risk factor and cost of production. A feature of Genetic Algorithms is that they are used as a means of finding solutions for multi criteria optimization problems. In our case, along with three specific FMEA risk factors is considered and reduce production cost. Analysis tool will generate final reports for all FMEA processes. The data obtained in FMEA reports are automatically integrated with other entered parameters in Control Plan. Implementation of the solution is in the form of an application running in an intranet on two servers: one containing analysis and plan generation engine and the other containing the database where the initial parameters and results are stored. The results can then be used as starting solutions in the synthesis of other projects. The solution was applied to welding processes, laser cutting and bending to manufacture chassis for buses. Advantages of the solution are efficient elaboration of documents in the current project by automatically generating reports FMEA and Control Plan using multiple criteria optimization of production and build a solid knowledge base for future projects. The solution which we propose is a cheap alternative to other solutions on the market using Open Source tools in implementation.

Keywords: automotive industry, FMEA, control plan, automotive technology

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Authors: Kavish Kejriwal, Richa Grover

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Consumer awareness and pending legislation have pushed environmental issues into the spotlight, making it imperative for organizations to have a plan of action for “going green.” This is the reason why Green Supply Chain Management has become the integral part of many organization with a goal to reduce cost, increase efficiency and be environmental friendly. Implementation of GSCM involves many factors which act as barriers, making it a tedious task. These barriers have different relationship among themselves creating different impact on implementation Green Supply Chain Management. This work focuses on determining those barriers which have essentially to be removed in the initial stages of GSCM adoption. In this work, the author has taken the case of a petroleum industry in order to come up with a solution. A DEMATEL approach is used to reach the solution.

Keywords: barriers, environment, green supply chain management, impact, interpretive structural modeling

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Authors: Su Jeong Lee, Tae Il Lee, Jung Han Kim, Chul-Hong Kim, Gee Sung Chae, Jae-Min Myoung

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The contact resistance between source/drain electrodes and semiconductor layer is an important parameter affecting electron transporting performance in the thin film transistor (TFT). In this work, we introduced a transparent and the solution prossable single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT)/Al-doped ZnO nano particle (AZO NP) bilayer electrodes showing low contact resistance with indium-oxide (In2O3) sol gel thin film. By inserting low work function AZO NPs into the interface between the SWCNTs and the In2O3 which has a high energy barrier, we could obtain an electrical Ohmic contact between them. Finally, with the SWCNT-AZO NP bilayer electrodes, we successfully fabricated a TFT showing a field effect mobility of 5.38 cm2/V∙s at 250 °C.

Keywords: single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT), Al-doped ZnO (AZO) nanoparticle, contact resistance, thin-film transistor (TFT)

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Authors: P. Gomathi Priya, M. E. Thenmozhi

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Iron nanoparticles were used to cleanup effluents. This paper involves synthesis of iron nanoparticles chemically by sodium borohydride reduction of ammonium ferrous sulfate solution (FAS). Iron oxide nanoparticles have lesser efficiency of adsorption than Zero Valent Iron nanoparticles (nZVI). Glucosamine acts as a stabilizing agent and chelating agent to prevent Iron nanoparticles from oxidation. nZVI particles were characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Thus, the synthesized nZVI was subjected to entrapment in biopolymer, viz. barium (Ba)-alginate beads. The beads were characterized using SEM. Batch dye degradation studies were conducted using Reactive black Water soluble Nontoxic Natural substances (WNN) dye which is one of the most hazardous dyes used in textile industries. Effect of contact time, effect of pH, initial dye concentration, adsorbent dosage, isotherm and kinetic studies were carried out.

Keywords: ammonium ferrous sulfate solution, barium, alginate beads, reactive black WNN dye, zero valent iron nanoparticles

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Authors: Doaa Wael, Naswa Abdelbaky

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Malware is malicious software that is built to cause destructive actions and damage information systems and networks. Malware infections increase rapidly, and types of malware have become more sophisticated, which makes the malware detection process more difficult. On the other side, the Internet of Things IoT technology is vulnerable to malware attacks. These IoT devices are always connected to the internet and lack security. This makes them easy for hackers to access. These malware attacks are becoming the go-to attack for hackers. Thus, in order to deal with this challenge, new malware detection techniques are needed. Currently, building a blockchain solution that allows IoT devices to download any file from the internet and to verify/approve whether it is malicious or not is the need of the hour. In recent years, blockchain technology has stood as a solution to everything due to its features like decentralization, persistence, and anonymity. Moreover, using blockchain technology overcomes some difficulties in malware detection and improves the malware detection ratio over-than the techniques that do not utilize blockchain technology. In this paper, we study malware detection models which are based on blockchain technology. Furthermore, we elaborate on the effect of blockchain technology in malware detection, especially in the android environment.

Keywords: malware analysis, blockchain, malware attacks, malware detection approaches

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Authors: Stojan Kravanja, Andrej Ivanič, Tomaž Žula

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This contribution focuses on structural optimization in civil engineering using mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP). MINLP is characterized as a versatile method that can handle both continuous and discrete optimization variables simultaneously. Continuous variables are used to optimize parameters such as dimensions, stresses, masses, or costs, while discrete variables represent binary decisions to determine the presence or absence of structural elements within a structure while also calculating discrete materials and standard sections. The optimization process is divided into three main steps. First, a mechanical superstructure with a variety of different topology-, material- and dimensional alternatives. Next, a MINLP model is formulated to encapsulate the optimization problem. Finally, an optimal solution is searched in the direction of the defined objective function while respecting the structural constraints. The economic or mass objective function of the material and labor costs of a structure is subjected to the constraints known from structural analysis. These constraints include equations for the calculation of internal forces and deflections, as well as equations for the dimensioning of structural components (in accordance with the Eurocode standards). Given the complex, non-convex and highly non-linear nature of optimization problems in civil engineering, the Modified Outer-Approximation/Equality-Relaxation (OA/ER) algorithm is applied. This algorithm alternately solves subproblems of non-linear programming (NLP) and main problems of mixed-integer linear programming (MILP), in this way gradually refines the solution space up to the optimal solution. The NLP corresponds to the continuous optimization of parameters (with fixed topology, discrete materials and standard dimensions, all determined in the previous MILP), while the MILP involves a global approximation to the superstructure of alternatives, where a new topology, materials, standard dimensions are determined. The optimization of a convex problem is stopped when the MILP solution becomes better than the best NLP solution. Otherwise, it is terminated when the NLP solution can no longer be improved. While the OA/ER algorithm, like all other algorithms, does not guarantee global optimality due to the presence of non-convex functions, various modifications, including convexity tests, are implemented in OA/ER to mitigate these difficulties. The effectiveness of the proposed MINLP approach is demonstrated by its application to various structural optimization tasks, such as mass optimization of steel buildings, cost optimization of timber halls, composite floor systems, etc. Special optimization models have been developed for the optimization of these structures. The MINLP optimizations, facilitated by the user-friendly software package MIPSYN, provide insights into a mass or cost-optimal solutions, optimal structural topologies, optimal material and standard cross-section choices, confirming MINLP as a valuable method for the optimization of structures in civil engineering.

Keywords: MINLP, mixed-integer non-linear programming, optimization, structures

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Authors: Muna Shafiq

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Growth in international immigration is a reflection of increased migration patterns in Canada and in other parts of the world. Canada continues to promote itself as a bilingual country, yet the bilingual French and English population numbers do not reflect this platform. Each province’s integration policies focus only on second language learning of either English or French. Moreover, since English Canadians outnumber French Canadians, maintaining, much less increasing, English-French bilingualism appears unrealistic. One solution to increasing Canadian bilingualism requires creating intercultural communication initiatives between youth in Quebec and the rest of Canada. Specifically, the focus is on active, experiential learning, where intercultural competencies develop outside traditional classroom settings. The target groups are Generation Y Millennials and Generation Z Linksters, the next generations in the career and parenthood lines. Today, Canada’s education system, like many others, must continually renegotiate lines between programs it offers its immigrant and native communities. While some purists or right-wing nationalists would disagree, the survival of bilingualism in Canada has little to do with reducing immigration. Children and youth immigrants play a valuable role in increasing Canada’s French and English speaking communities. For instance, a focus on more immersion, over core French education programs for immigrant children and youth would not only increase bilingual rates; it would develop meaningful intercultural attachments between Canadians. Moreover, a vigilant increase of funding in French immersion programs is critical, as are new initiatives that focus on experiential language learning for students in French and English language programs. A favorable argument supports the premise that other than French-speaking students in Québec and elsewhere in Canada, second and third generation immigrant students are excellent ambassadors to promote bilingualism in Canada. Most already speak another language at home and understand the value of speaking more than one language in their adopted communities. Their dialogue and participation in experiential language exchange workshops are necessary. If the proposed exchanges take place inter-provincially, the momentum to increase collective regional voices increases. This regional collectivity can unite Canadians differently than nation-targeted initiatives. The results from an experiential youth exchange organized in 2017 between students at the crossroads of Generation Y and Generation Z in Vancouver and Quebec City respectively offer a promising starting point in assessing the strength of bringing together different regional voices to promote bilingualism. Code-switching between standard, international French Vancouver students, learn in the classroom versus more regional forms of Quebec French spoken locally created regional connectivity between students. The exchange was equally rewarding for both groups. Increasing their appreciation for each other’s regional differences allowed them to contribute actively to their social and emotional development. Within a sociolinguistic frame, this proposed model of experiential learning does not focus on hands-on work experience. However, the benefits of such exchanges are as valuable as work experience initiatives developed in experiential education. Students who actively code switch between French and English in real, not simulated contexts appreciate bilingualism more meaningfully and experience its value in concrete terms.

Keywords: experiential learning, intercultural communication, social and emotional learning, sociolinguistic code-switching

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Authors: A. Baloglu, A. Çınar

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Different tools and technologies were implemented for Crisis Response and Management (CRM) which is generally using available network infrastructure for information exchange. Depending on type of disaster or crisis, network infrastructure could be affected and it could not be able to provide reliable connectivity. Thus any tool or technology that depends on the connectivity could not be able to fulfill its functionalities. As a solution, a new message exchange framework has been developed. Framework provides offline/online information exchange platform for CRM Information Systems (CRMIS) and it uses XML compression and packet prioritization algorithms and is based on open source web technologies. By introducing offline capabilities to the web technologies, framework will be able to perform message exchange on unreliable networks. The experiments done on the simulation environment provide promising results on low bandwidth networks (56kbps and 28.8 kbps) with up to 50% packet loss and the solution is to successfully transfer all the information on these low quality networks where the traditional 2 and 3 tier applications failed.

Keywords: crisis response and management, XML messaging, web services, XML compression, mining

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Authors: Naureen Akhtar

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The stability of the protein in detergent-containing solution is the key for its successful crystallisation. Fluorescence-detection size-exclusion chromatography (FSEC) is a potential approach for screening monodispersity as well as the stability of protein in a detergent-containing-solution. In this present study, covalently linked Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) to bacterial nitrate transporter, NarU from Escherichia coli was studied for pre-crystallisation trials by FSEC. Immobilised metal ion affinity chromatography (IMAC) and gel filtration were employed for their purification. The main objectives of this study were over-expression, detergent screening and crystallisation of nitrate transporter proteins. This study could not produce enough proteins that could realistically be taken forward to achieve the objectives set for this particular research. In future work, different combinations of variables like vectors, tags, creation of mutant proteins, host cells, position of GFP (N- or C-terminal) and/or membrane proteins would be tried to determine the best combination as the principle of technique is still promising.

Keywords: transporters, detergents, over-expression, crystallography

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Authors: A. Cerrato Casado, C. Guigou, P. Jean

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In this investigation, the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is used to perform the inversion of the dispersion curves in the spectral analysis of surface waves (SASW) method. This inverse problem usually presents complicated solution spaces with many local minima that make difficult the convergence to the correct solution. PSO is a metaheuristic method that was originally designed to simulate social behavior but has demonstrated powerful capabilities to solve inverse problems with complex space solution and a high number of variables. The dispersion curve of the synthetic soils is constructed by the vertical flexibility coefficient method, which is especially convenient for soils where the stiffness does not increase gradually with depth. The reason is that these types of soil profiles are not normally dispersive since the dominant mode of Rayleigh waves is usually not coincident with the fundamental mode. Multiple synthetic soil profiles have been tested to show the characteristics of the convergence process and assess the accuracy of the final soil profile. In addition, the inversion procedure is applied to multiple real soils and the final profile compared with the available information. The combination of the vertical flexibility coefficient method to obtain the dispersion curve and the PSO algorithm to carry out the inversion process proves to be a robust procedure that is able to provide good solutions for complex soil profiles even with scarce prior information.

Keywords: dispersion, inverse problem, particle swarm optimization, SASW, soil profile

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Authors: Natalia D. Vaysfel’d, Zinaida Y. Zhuravlova

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The loaded plane elastic semistrip, the lateral boundaries of which are fixed, is considered. The integral transformations are applied directly to Lame’s equations. It leads to one dimensional boundary value problem in the transformations’ domain which is formulated as a vector one. With the help of the matrix differential calculation’s apparatus and apparatus of Green matrix function the exact solution of a vector problem is constructed. After the satisfying the boundary condition at the semi strip’s edge the problem is reduced to the solving of the integral singular equation with regard of the unknown stress at the semis trip’s edge. The equation is solved with the orthogonal polynomials method that takes into consideration the real singularities of the solution at the ends of integration interval. The normal stress at the edge of the semis trip were calculated and analyzed.

Keywords: semi strip, Green's Matrix, fourier transformation, orthogonal polynomials method

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Authors: A. Rong, P. B. Luh, R. Lahdelma

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High penetration of intermittent renewable energy sources (RES) such as solar power and wind power into the energy system has caused temporal and spatial imbalance between electric power supply and demand for some countries and regions. This brings about the critical need for coordinating power production and power exchange for different regions. As compared with the power-only systems, the combined heat and power (CHP) systems can provide additional flexibility of utilizing RES by exploiting the interdependence of power and heat production in the CHP plant. In the CHP system, power production can be influenced by adjusting heat production level and electric power can be used to satisfy heat demand by electric boiler or heat pump in conjunction with heat storage, which is much cheaper than electric storage. This paper addresses multi-site CHP systems without considering RES, which lay foundation for handling penetration of RES. The problem under study is the unit commitment (UC) of the transmission-constrained multi-site CHP systems. We solve the problem by combining linear relaxation of ON/OFF states and sequential dynamic programming (DP) techniques, where relaxed states are used to reduce the dimension of the UC problem and DP for improving the solution quality. Numerical results for daily scheduling with realistic models and data show that DP-based algorithm is from a few to a few hundred times faster than CPLEX (standard commercial optimization software) with good solution accuracy (less than 1% relative gap from the optimal solution on the average).

Keywords: dynamic programming, multi-site combined heat and power system, relaxed states, transmission-constrained generation unit commitment

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Authors: Philippe Larvet

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This paper presents the concept of an object-based programming language where tests (if... then... else) and control structures (while, repeat, for...) disappear and are replaced by conditions on data. According to the object paradigm, by using this concept, data are still embedded inside objects, as variable-value couples, but object methods are expressed into the form of logical propositions (‘conditions on data’ or COD).For instance : variable1 = value1 AND variable2 > value2 => variable3 = value3. Implementing this approach, a central inference engine turns and examines objects one after another, collecting all CODs of each object. CODs are considered as rules in a rule-based system: the left part of each proposition (left side of the ‘=>‘ sign) is the premise and the right part is the conclusion. So, premises are evaluated and conclusions are fired. Conclusions modify the variable-value couples of the object and the engine goes to examine the next object. The paper develops the principles of writing CODs instead of complex algorithms. Through samples, the paper also presents several hints for implementing a simple mechanism able to process this ‘COD language’. The proposed approach can be used within the context of simulation, process control, industrial systems validation, etc. By writing simple and rigorous conditions on data, instead of using classical and long-to-learn languages, engineers and specialists can easily simulate and validate the functioning of complex systems.

Keywords: conditions on data, logical proposition, programming without code, object-oriented programming, system simulation, system validation

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Authors: Shveta Puri, Shiv Jyoti Pandey, G. M. Bhat, Neha Raina

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TheJammu and Kashmir region of the Northwest Himalaya had witnessed many devastating earthquakes in the recent past and has remained unexplored for any kind of seismic investigations except scanty records of the earthquakes that occurred in this region in the past. In this study, we have used local seismic data of year 2013 that was recorded by the network of Broadband Seismographs in J&K. During this period, our seismic stations recorded about 207 earthquakes including two moderate events of Mw 5.7 on 1st May, 2013 and Mw 5.1 of 2nd August, 2013.We analyzed the events of Mw 3-4.6 and the main events only (for minimizing the error) for source parameters, b value and sense of movement through waveform modeling for understanding seismotectonic and seismic hazard of the region. It has been observed that most of the events are bounded between 32.9° N – 33.3° N latitude and 75.4° E – 76.1° E longitudes, Moment Magnitude (Mw) ranges from Mw 3 to 5.7, Source radius (r), from 0.21 to 3.5 km, stress drop, from 1.90 bars to 71.1 bars and Corner frequency, from 0.39 – 6.06 Hz. The b-value for this region was found to be 0.83±0 from these events which are lower than the normal value (b=1), indicating the area is under high stress. The travel time inversion and waveform inversion method suggest focal depth up to 10 km probably above the detachment depth of the Himalayan region. Moment tensor solution of the (Mw 5.1, 02:32:47 UTC) main event of 2ndAugust suggested that the source fault is striking at 295° with dip of 33° and rake value of 85°. It was found that these events form intense clustering of small to moderate events within a narrow zone between Panjal Thrust and Kishtwar Window. Moment tensor solution of the main events and their aftershocks indicating thrust type of movement is occurring in this region.

Keywords: b-value, moment tensor, seismotectonics, source parameters

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Authors: David C. Ni

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In the previous efforts, we constructed N-Body Systems by an extended Blaschke product (EBP), which represents a non-temporal and nonlinear extension of Lorentz transformation. In this construction, we rely only on two parameters, nonlinear degree, and relative momentum to characterize the systems. We further explored root computation via iteration with an algorithm extended from Jenkins-Traub method. The solution sets demonstrate a form of σ+ i [-t, t], where σ and t are the real numbers, and the [-t, t] shows various canonical distributions. In this paper, we correlate the convergent sets in the original domain with solution sets, which demonstrating large-deviation distributions in the codomain. We proceed to compare our approach with the formula or principles, such as Donsker-Varadhan and Wentzell-Freidlin theories. The deterministic model based on this construction allows us to explore applications in the areas of finance and statistical mechanics.

Keywords: nonlinear Lorentz transformation, Blaschke equation, iteration solutions, root computation, large deviation distribution, deterministic model

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Authors: S. O. Oyamakin, A. U. Chukwu

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Richard's growth equation being a generalized logistic growth equation was improved upon by introducing an allometric parameter using the hyperbolic sine function. The integral solution to this was called hyperbolic Richard's growth model having transformed the solution from deterministic to a stochastic growth model. Its ability in model prediction was compared with the classical Richard's growth model an approach which mimicked the natural variability of heights/diameter increment with respect to age and therefore provides a more realistic height/diameter predictions using the coefficient of determination (R2), Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Mean Square Error (MSE) results. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and Shapiro-Wilk test was also used to test the behavior of the error term for possible violations. The mean function of top height/Dbh over age using the two models under study predicted closely the observed values of top height/Dbh in the hyperbolic Richard's nonlinear growth models better than the classical Richard's growth model.

Keywords: height, Dbh, forest, Pinus caribaea, hyperbolic, Richard's, stochastic

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Authors: Inemesit Akpan Umoren, Aniekan James Akpan

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Media practitioners and information managers have often erroneously operated on the premise that media messages are received as disseminated to the extent that audiences of whatever background assimilate the content uniformly. This does not subsist since media audiences are often segmented in terms of educational level, social category, place of residence, gender, among others. While those who are highly educated, live in urban areas and are of highest standing are more likely to have direct access to the media, those in the rural areas and of low education and standing, may not have direct or easy access. These, therefore, informed the study to establish the consumption patterns of mass media products by residents of rural communities in south-south, Nigeria. The study, which was anchored on the multi-step flow and social categories theories, adopted a survey research design and a sample of 383 using Mayer’s 1979 guide drawn from nine rural communities in the south-south, Nigeria states of Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Edo. Findings among others showed that while a negligible percentage is highly exposed to media messages of all types, a greater member depend on opinion leaders, social groups, drinking joints, among other such for filtered content. It was concluded that since rural or community media organizations are very vital in ensuring media content get to all audience without necessarily being passing through intermediaries. Among the recommendations was that information managers and media organizations should always have in mind the ruralites while packaging their contents even in the mainstream media.

Keywords: consumption, media, media product, pattern

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Authors: Parag Bhalchandra, S. D. Khamitkar

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Searching trees is a most interesting application of Artificial Intelligence. Over the period of time, many innovative methods have been evolved to better search trees with respect to computational complexities. Tree searches are difficult to understand due to the exponential growth of possibilities when increasing the number of nodes or levels in the tree. Usually it is understood when we traverse down in the tree, traverse down to greater depth, in the search of a solution or a goal. However, this does not happen in reality as explicit enumeration is not a very efficient method and there are many algorithmic speedups that will find the optimal solution without the burden of evaluating all possible trees. It was a common question before all researchers where they often wonder what algorithms will yield the best and fastest result The intention of this paper is two folds, one to review selected tree search algorithms and search strategies that can be applied to a problem space and the second objective is to stimulate to implement recent developments in the complexity behavior of search strategies. The algorithms discussed here apply in general to both brute force and heuristic searches.

Keywords: trees search, asymptotic complexity, brute force, heuristics algorithms

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Authors: Nasreen Basoudan, Andrea Tales, Frederic Boy

Abstract:

Non-clinical anxiety may be comprised of state anxiety - temporarily experienced anxiety related to a specific situation, and trait anxiety - a longer lasting response or a general disposition to anxiety. While temporary and occasional anxiety whether as a mood state or personality dimension is normal, nonclinical anxiety may influence many more components of information processing than previously recognized. In ageing and dementia-related research, disease characterization now involves attempts to understand a much wider range of brain function such as loss of inhibitory control, as against the more common focus on memory and cognition. However, in many studies, the tendency has been to include individuals with clinical anxiety disorders while excluding persons with lower levels of state or trait anxiety. Loss of inhibitory cognitive control can lead to behaviors such as aggression, reduced sensitivity to others, sociopathic thoughts and actions. Anxiety has also been linked to inhibitory control, with research suggesting that people with anxiety are less capable of inhibiting their emotions than the average person. This study investigates the relationship between anxiety and loss of inhibitory control in younger and older adults, using a variety of questionnaires and computers-based tests. Based on the premise that irrespective of classification, anxiety is associated with a wide range of physical, affective, and cognitive responses, this study explores evidence indicative of the potential influence anxiety per se on loss of inhibitory control, in order to contribute to discussion and appropriate consideration of anxiety-related factors in methodological practice.

Keywords: anxiety, ageing, dementia, inhibitory control

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Authors: Dina Magdy Abdo, Ayat N. El-Shazly, E. A. Abdel-Aal

Abstract:

Forward osmosis (FO) is one of the important processes during the wastewater treatment system for environmental remediation and fresh water regeneration. Both Egypt and China are troubled by over millions of tons of wastewater every year, including domestic and industrial wastewater. However, the traditional FO process in wastewater treatment usually suffers low efficiency and high energy consumption because of the continuously diluted draw solution. An additional concentration process is necessary to keep running of FO separation, causing energy waste. Based on the previous study on photothermal membrane, a sun-driven evaporation process is integrated into the draw solution side of FO system. During the sun-driven evaporation, not only the draw solution can be concentrated to maintain a stable and sustainable FO system, but fresh water can be directly separated for regeneration. Solar energy is the ultimate energy source of everything we have on Earth and is, without any doubt, the most renewable and sustainable energy source available to us. Additionally, the FO membrane process is rationally designed to limit the concentration polarization and fouling. The FO membrane’s structure and surface property will be further optimized by the adjustment of doping ratio of controllable nano-materials, membrane formation conditions, and selection of functional groups. A novel kind of nano-composite functional separation membrane with bi-interception layers and high hydrophilicity will be developed for the application in wastewater treatment. So, herein we aim to design a new wastewater treatment system include forward osmosis with high-efficiency energy recovery via the integration of photothermal membrane.

Keywords: forward osmosis, membrane, solar, water treatement

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Authors: Shahul Hamid Khan, S. Santhosh, Abhinav Kumar Sharma

Abstract:

Environmental performance along with social performance is becoming vital factors for industries to achieve global standards. With a good environmental policy global industries are differentiating them from their competitors. This paper concentrates on multi stage, multi product and multi period manufacturing network. Bi-objective mathematical models for total cost and total emission for the entire forward supply chain are considered. Here five different problems are considered by varying the number of suppliers, manufacturers, and environmental levels, for illustrating the taken mathematical model. GA, and Random search are used for finding the optimal solution. The input parameters of the optimal solution are used to find the tradeoff between the initial investment by the industry and the long term benefit of the environment.

Keywords: closed loop supply chain, genetic algorithm, random search, green supply chain

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Authors: Fadilah Fadilah, Sperisa Distantina, Santi T. Wijayanti, Rahmawati Andayani

Abstract:

Chemical modification process on glucomannan from porang via carboxymethylation have been conducted. The process was done in two stages, the alkalization, and the carboxymethylation. The alkalization was done by adding NaOH solution into the medium which was contained glucomannan and then stirred it in ambient temperature for thirty minutes. The carboxymethylation process was done by adding sodium mono chloroacetate solution into the alkalization product. The carboxymethylation process was conducted for a certain time, and the product was then analyzed for determining the degree of substitution. In this research, the influence of medium to the degree of substitution was studied. Three different medium were used, namely water, 70% ethanol, and 90% ethanol. The results show that 70% ethanol was a better medium than two others because give a higher degree of substitution. Using 70% ethanol as a medium, the experiments for studying the influence of temperature on the carboxymethylation stages were conducted. The results show that the degree of substitution at 65°C is higher than at 45°C.

Keywords: carboxymethylation, degree of substitution, ethanol medium, glucomannan

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Authors: Kumaresh Selvakumar, Man Young Kim

Abstract:

Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) converts the nitrogen oxides with the aid of a catalyst by adding aqueous urea into the exhaust stream. In this work, the urea water droplets are sprayed over the exhaust gases by treating with Lagrangian particle tracking. The evaporation of ammonia from a single droplet of urea water solution is investigated computationally by convection-diffusion controlled model. The conversion to ammonia due to thermolysis of urea water droplets is measured downstream at different sections using finite rate/eddy dissipation model. In this paper, the mixer installed at the upstream enhances the distribution of ammonia over the entire domain which is calculated for different time steps. Calculations are made within the respective duration such that the complete decomposition of urea is possible at a much shorter residence time.

Keywords: convection-diffusion controlled model, lagrangian particle tracking, selective catalytic reduction, thermolysis

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Authors: Mandlenkosi George Robert Mahlobo, Tumelo Seadira, Major Melusi Mabuza, Peter Apata Olubambi

Abstract:

Cathodic protection (CP) has been widely considered a suitable technique for mitigating corrosion of buried metal structures. Plenty of efforts have been made in developing techniques, in particular non-destructive techniques, for monitoring and quantifying the effectiveness of CP to ensure the sustainability and performance of buried steel structures. The aim of this study was to investigate the evolution of the electrochemical processes at the steel/soil interface during the application of CP on steel in simulated soil. Carbon steel was subjected to electrochemical tests with NS4 solution used as simulated soil conditions for 4 days before applying CP for a further 11 days. A previously modified non-destructive voltammetry technique was applied before and after the application of CP to measure the corrosion rate. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), in combination with mathematical modeling through equivalent electric circuits, was applied to determine the electrochemical behavior at the steel/soil interface. The measured corrosion rate was found to have decreased from 410 µm/yr to 8 µm/yr between days 5 and 14 because of the applied CP. Equivalent electrical circuits were successfully constructed and used to adequately model the EIS results. The modeling of the obtained EIS results revealed the formation of corrosion products via a mixed activation-diffusion mechanism during the first 4 days, while the activation mechanism prevailed in the presence of CP, resulting in a protective film. The x-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the presence of corrosion products and the predominant protective film corresponding to the calcareous deposit.

Keywords: carbon steel, cathodic protection, NS4 solution, voltammetry, EIS

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