Search results for: block layout problem

Authors: V. S. S. Kumar, B. Vikram

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The development of effective decision support tools that adopted in the construction industry is vital in the world we live in today, since it can lead to substantial cost reduction and efficient resource consumption. Solving the time-cost trade off problems and its related variants is at the heart of scientific research for optimizing construction planning problems. In general, the classical optimization techniques have difficulties in dealing with TCT problems. One of the main reasons of their failure is that they can easily be entrapped in local minima. This paper presents an investigation on the application of meta-heuristic techniques to two particular variants of the time-cost trade of analysis, the time-cost trade off problem (TCT), and time-cost trade off optimization problem (TCO). In first problem, the total project cost should be minimized, and in the second problem, the total project cost and total project duration should be minimized simultaneously. Finally it is expected that, the optimization models developed in this paper will contribute significantly for efficient planning and management of construction project.

Keywords: fuzzy sets, uncertainty, optimization, time cost trade off problems

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Authors: Noawanit Songkram

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This paper is a report on the findings of a study conducted on e–learning system in virtual learning environment to develop problem solving ability and team learning for learners in higher education. The methodology of this study was R&D research. The subjects were 18 undergraduate students in Faculty of Education, Chulalongkorn University in the academic year of 2013. The research instruments were a problem solving ability assessment, a team learning evaluation form, and an attitude questionnaire. The data was statistically analyzed using mean, standard deviation, one way repeated measure ANOVA and t–test. The research findings discovered the e –learning system in virtual learning environment to develop problem solving ability and team learning for learners in higher education consisted of five components:(1) online collaborative tools, (2) active learning activities, (3) creative thinking, (4) knowledge sharing process, (5) evaluation and nine processes which were (1) preparing in group working, (2) identifying interested topic, (3) analysing interested topic, (4) collecting data, (5) concluding idea (6) proposing idea, (7) creating workings, (8) workings evaluation, (9) sharing knowledge from empirical experience.

Keywords: e-learning system, problem solving ability, team leaning, virtual learning environment

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Authors: Weiwei Shan, Wenjing Ding, Juan Ning, Chao He, Zijuan Wang

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Gravity circulation loop for the cryopumps of the space simulator is introduced, and two phase mathematic model of flow heat transfer is analyzed as well. Based on this model, the liquid nitrogen (LN₂) gravity circulation loop including its equipment and layout is designed and has served as LN₂ feeding system for cryopumps in one large space simulator. With the help of control software and human machine interface, this system can be operated flexibly, simply, and automatically under four conditions. When running this system, the results show that the cryopumps can be cooled down and maintained under the required temperature, 120 K.

Keywords: cryopumps, gravity circulation loop, liquid nitrogen, two-phase

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Authors: Boris Melnikov, Ye Zhang, Dmitrii Chaikovskii

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We continue to consider one of the cybernetic methods in computational biology related to the study of DNA chains. Namely, we are considering the problem of reconstructing the not fully filled distance matrix of DNA chains. When applied in a programming context, it is revealed that with a modern computer of average capabilities, creating even a small-sized distance matrix for mitochondrial DNA sequences is quite time-consuming with standard algorithms. As the size of the matrix grows larger, the computational effort required increases significantly, potentially spanning several weeks to months of non-stop computer processing. Hence, calculating the distance matrix on conventional computers is hardly feasible, and supercomputers are usually not available. Therefore, we started publishing our variants of the algorithms for calculating the distance between two DNA chains; then, we published algorithms for restoring partially filled matrices, i.e., the inverse problem of matrix processing. In this paper, we propose an algorithm for restoring the distance matrix for DNA chains, and the primary focus is on enhancing the algorithms that shape the greedy function within the branches and boundaries method framework.

Keywords: DNA chains, distance matrix, optimization problem, restoring algorithm, greedy algorithm, heuristics

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Authors: Chibuzo Okoye Daniels, Gillian Glegg, Lynda Rodwell

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Marine debris from fishing nets to medical equipment to food packaging that play major roles in boosting the economy and protecting human health is now more than an environmental problem that can be solved by legislation, law enforcement and technical solutions. It has also been identified as a cultural problem that can only be addressed by identifying instruments that can be used to change human attitudes and behaviors. This may be through management approaches, education and involvement of all sectors/interests, including the public. To contribute to the sustainable development of coastal Nigeria, two case study areas (Ikoyi and Victoria Islands of Lagos State) were used to evaluate the socio-economic impacts of marine debris problem in coastal Nigeria. The following methods were used: (1) semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and businesses on beaches, waterfronts and waterways within the study areas and (2) observational study of beaches, waterfronts and waterways within the study areas. The results of the study have shown that marine debris is a cultural and multi-sectoral problem that poses great threat not only to the environmental sustainability of the study areas but also to the wellbeing of its citizens and the economy of coastal Nigeria. Current solid waste and marine debris management practices are inefficient due to inadequate knowledge of how to tackle the problem. To ensure environmental sustainability in coastal Nigeria and avoid waste of scarce financial resources, adequate, appropriate and cost effective solutions to the marine debris problem need to be identified and effectively transferred for implementation in the study areas.

Keywords: sustainability, coastal Nigeria, study areas, aquaculture

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Authors: Shrikant Charhate, Gayatri Deshpande

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Permeable pavements have significant benefits like managing runoff, infiltration, and carrying traffic over conventional pavements in terms of sustainability and environmental impact. Some of the countries are using this technique, especially at locations where durability and other parameters are of importance in nature; however, sparse work has been done on this concept. In India, this is yet to be adopted. In this work, the progress in the characterization and development of Permeable Articulated Concrete Blocks (PACB) pavement design is described and discussed with reference to Indian conditions. The experimentation and in-depth analysis was carried out considering conditions like soil erosion, water logging, and dust which are significant challenges caused due to impermeability of pavement. Concrete blocks with size 16.5’’x 6.5’’x 7’’ consisting of arch shape (4’’) at beneath and ½” PVC holes for articulation were casted. These blocks were tested for flexural strength. The articulation process was done with nylon ropes forming series of concrete block system. The total spacing between the blocks was kept about 8 to 10% of total area. The hydraulic testing was carried out by placing the articulated blocks with the combination of layers of soil, geotextile, clean angular aggregate. This was done to see the percentage of seepage through the entire system. The experimental results showed that with the shape of concrete block the flexural strength achieved was beyond the permissible limit. Such blocks with the combination could be very useful innovation in Indian conditions and useful at various locations compared to the traditional blocks as an alternative for long term sustainability.

Keywords: connections, geotextile, permeable ACB, pavements, stone base

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Authors: Hongbin Yang, Mingxue Liao, Changwen Zheng, Mengyao Kong, Chaohui Liu

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Microfacet-based reflection models are widely used to model light reflections for rough surfaces. Microfacet models have become the standard surface material building block for describing specular components with varying roughness; and yet, while they possess many desirable properties as well as produce convincing results, their design ignores important sources of scattering, which can cause a significant loss of energy. Specifically, they only simulate the single scattering on the microfacets and ignore the subsequent interactions. As the roughness increases, the interaction will become more and more important. So a multiple-scattering microfacet model based on specular V-cavity is presented for this important open problem. However, it spends much unnecessary rendering time because of setting the same number of scatterings for different roughness surfaces. In this paper, we design a geometric attenuation term G to compute the BRDF (Bidirectional reflection distribution function) of multiple scattering of rough surfaces. Moreover, we consider determining the number of scattering by deterministic heuristics for different roughness surfaces. As a result, our model produces a similar appearance of the objects with the state of the art model with significantly improved rendering efficiency. Finally, we derive a multiple scattering BRDF based on the original microfacet framework.

Keywords: bidirectional reflection distribution function, BRDF, geometric attenuation term, multiple scattering, V-cavity model

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Authors: P. S. Akami, H. Nahunnaro, A. Zubainatu

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Cercospora leaf spot (Cercospora sesami. Zimm) has been identified as one of the most prevalent diseases, posing serious constraints to sesame production in producing areas. Two sets of experiments were carried out. The first and second experiments were conducted in the Modibbo Adama University of Technology Yola at the Crop Production and Horticulture and Plant Science Departments, respectively. The field experiment was carried out using a Randomized Complete Block Design and was replicated three times on a plot size of 4m x 5m with four sesame varieties and three Mancob-M fungicide levels (0g, 2g and 4g) to give a total of Twelve treatments. The laboratory experiment involved the isolation of the pathogens from diseased leaves with symptoms of Cercospora leaf spot, which was identified as Cercospora sesami. Data collected were subjected to analysis of variance for a randomized complete block design using SAS (1999) statistical package. The treatment means that are significantly different were separated using the Least Significant Difference at P=0.05. The result revealed that 4g Mancob M recorded the lowest mean value for disease incidence and severity at 8WAS, which was 90.30% and 35.60%, respectively, while the control (0g) recorded the highest mean value for disease incidence and severity at 90.30% and 59.80% respectively. Ex-Sudan recorded the lowest value of 720 kg/ha, while NCRIBEN 03 recorded the highest yield of 834 kg/ha-¹. For the concentrations, 2g recorded a higher yield of 843 kg/ha-¹ followed by 0g, which recorded 765 kg/ha-¹. Conclusively, Cercospora leaf spot of sesame was found to be prevalent. E8 has a higher resistance to the disease, while NCRIBEN 03 tends to be more susceptible. It is therefore recommended that further trials should be carried out using different varieties in different locations.

Keywords: disease, evaluation, prevalence, treatment, resistance

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Authors: William Chung

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This paper is to study the use of multiple subproblems in Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition of linear programming (DW-LP). Traditionally, the decomposed LP consists of one LP master problem and one LP subproblem. The master problem and the subproblem is solved alternatively by exchanging the dual prices of the master problem and the proposals of the subproblem until the LP is solved. It is well known that convergence is slow with a long tail of near-optimal solutions (asymptotic convergence). Hence, the performance of DW-LP highly depends upon the number of decomposition steps. If the decomposition steps can be greatly reduced, the performance of DW-LP can be improved significantly. To reduce the number of decomposition steps, one of the methods is to increase the number of proposals from the subproblem to the master problem. To do so, we propose to add a quadratic approximation function to the LP subproblem in order to develop a set of approximate-LP subproblems (multiple subproblems). Consequently, in each decomposition step, multiple subproblems are solved for providing multiple proposals to the master problem. The number of decomposition steps can be reduced greatly. Note that each approximate-LP subproblem is nonlinear programming, and solving the LP subproblem must faster than solving the nonlinear multiple subproblems. Hence, using multiple subproblems in DW-LP is the tradeoff between the number of approximate-LP subproblems being formed and the decomposition steps. In this paper, we derive the corresponding algorithms and provide some simple computational results. Some properties of the resulting algorithms are also given.

Keywords: approximate subproblem, Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition, large-scale models, multiple subproblems

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Authors: Yue Huang, Yiheng Feng

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Due to the global pressure on climate and energy, many countries are vigorously promoting electric vehicles and building charging (public) charging facilities. Faced with the supply-demand gap of existing electric vehicle charging stations and unreasonable space usage in China, this paper takes the central city of Nanjing as an example, establishes a site selection model through multivariate data integration, conducts multiple linear regression SPSS analysis, gives quantitative site selection results, and provides optimization models and suggestions for charging station layout planning.

Keywords: electric vehicle, charging station, allocation optimization, urban mobility, urban infrastructure, nanjing

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Authors: Z. Ulukan, E. Demircioğlu,

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Facility location is a complex real-world problem which needs a strategic management decision. This paper provides a general review on studies, efforts and developments in Facility Location Problems which are classical optimization problems having a wide-spread applications in various areas such as transportation, distribution, production, supply chain decisions and telecommunication. Our goal is not to review all variants of different studies in FLPs or to describe very detailed computational techniques and solution approaches, but rather to provide a broad overview of major location problems that have been studied, indicating how they are formulated and what are proposed by researchers to tackle the problem. A brief, elucidative table based on a grouping according to “General Problem Type” and “Methods Proposed” used in the studies is also presented at the end of the work.

Keywords: discrete location problems, exact methods, heuristic algorithms, single source capacitated facility location problems

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Authors: Gabriel Efomeh Omolaiye, Olatunji Seminu, Jimoh Ajadi, Yusuf Ayoola Jimoh

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The Nigerian part of the Chad Basin till date has been one of the few critically studied basins, with few published scholarly works, compared to other basins such as Niger Delta, Dahomey, etc. This work was undertaken by the integration of 3D seismic interpretations and the well data analysis of eight wells fairly distributed in block A, Baga/Lake sub-basin in Borno basin with the aim of determining the thickness of Chad, Kerri-Kerri, Fika, and Gongila Formations in the sub-basin. Da-1 well (type-well) used in this study was subdivided into stratigraphic units based on the regional stratigraphic subdivision of the Chad basin and was later correlated with other wells using similarity of observed log responses. The combined density and sonic logs were used to generate synthetic seismograms for seismic to well ties. Five horizons were mapped, representing the tops of the formations on the 3D seismic data covering the block; average velocity function with maximum error/residual of 0.48% was adopted in the time to depth conversion of all the generated maps. There is a general thickening of sediments from the west to the east, and the estimated thicknesses of the various formations in the Baga/Lake sub-basin are Chad Formation (400-750 m), Kerri-Kerri Formation (300-1200 m), Fika Formation (300-2200 m) and Gongila Formation (100-1300 m). The thickness of the Bima Formation could not be established because the deepest well (Da-1) terminates within the formation. This is a modification to the previous and widely referenced studies of over forty decades that based the estimation of formation thickness within the study area on the observed outcrops at different locations and the use of few well data.

Keywords: Baga/Lake sub-basin, Chad basin, formation thickness, seismic, velocity

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Authors: M. Babul Hasan

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Management sciences (MS), big group of companies and industries or government policies (GP) is affiliated with a huge number of decision ingredients and complicated restrictions. Every factor in MS, every product in Industries or decision in GP is not always bankable in practice. After formulating these models there arises large-scale mixed integer programming (MIP) problem. In this paper, we developed decomposition-based pricing procedure to filter the unnecessary decision ingredients from MIP where the variables in huge number will be abated and the complicacy of restrictions will be elementary. A real life numerical example has been illustrated to demonstrate the methods. We develop the computer techniques for these methods by using a mathematical programming language (AMPL).

Keywords: Lagrangian relaxation, decomposition, sub-problem, master-problem, pricing, mixed IP, AMPL

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Authors: Geeta Kumari, Prabu Vairakannu

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Coal is the largest fossil fuel. In India, around 37 % of coal resources found at a depth of more than 300 meters. In India, more than 70% of electricity production depends on coal. Coal on combustion produces greenhouse and pollutant gases such as CO₂, SOₓ, NOₓ, and H₂S etc. Underground coal gasification (UCG) technology is an efficient and an economic in-situ clean coal technology, which converts these unmineable coals into valuable calorific gases. The UCG syngas (mainly H₂, CO, CH₄ and some lighter hydrocarbons) which can utilized for the production of electricity and manufacturing of various useful chemical feedstock. It is an inherent clean coal technology as it avoids ash disposal, mining, transportation and storage problems. Gasification of underground coal using steam as a gasifying medium is not an easy process because sending superheated steam to deep underground coal leads to major transportation difficulties and cost effective. Therefore, for reducing this problem, we have used CO₂ as a gasifying medium, which is a major greenhouse gas. This paper focus laboratory scale underground coal gasification experiment on a coal block by using CO₂ as a gasifying medium. In the present experiment, first, we inject oxygen for combustion for 1 hour and when the temperature of the zones reached to more than 1000 ºC, and then we started supplying of CO₂ as a gasifying medium. The gasification experiment was performed at an atmospheric pressure of CO₂, and it was found that the amount of CO produced due to Boudouard reaction (C+CO₂  2CO) is around 35%. The experiment conducted to almost 5 hours. The maximum gas composition observed, 35% CO, 22 % H₂, and 11% CH4 with LHV 248.1 kJ/mol at CO₂/O₂ ratio 0.4 by volume.

Keywords: underground coal gasification, clean coal technology, calorific value, syngas

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Authors: Tomasz L. Nawrocki

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Due to the growing global interest of investment society in innovative enterprises, as the objective of this research was adopted to examine the investment efficiency in shares of companies with innovative characteristics in the risk-return layout. The research was carried out for companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange taking into various consideration time ranges of investment. Obtained results show that in shorter periods of time, investors buy expectations connected with innovative companies and therefore the efficiency of investment in their shares is relatively high, but in the longer term expectations are revised by companies financial results, which in turn negatively affects the efficiency of investment in their shares.

Keywords: capital market, innovative company, investment strategies, risk and return analysis

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Authors: Salma El Hajjami, Jamal Malki, Alain Bouju, Mohammed Berrada

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With the expansion of machine learning and data mining in the context of Big Data analytics, the common problem that affects data is class imbalance. It refers to an imbalanced distribution of instances belonging to each class. This problem is present in many real world applications such as fraud detection, network intrusion detection, medical diagnostics, etc. In these cases, data instances labeled negatively are significantly more numerous than the instances labeled positively. When this difference is too large, the learning system may face difficulty when tackling this problem, since it is initially designed to work in relatively balanced class distribution scenarios. Another important problem, which usually accompanies these imbalanced data, is the overlapping instances between the two classes. It is commonly referred to as noise or overlapping data. In this article, we propose an approach called: One Side Behavioral Noise Reduction (OSBNR). This approach presents a way to deal with the problem of class imbalance in the presence of a high noise level. OSBNR is based on two steps. Firstly, a cluster analysis is applied to groups similar instances from the minority class into several behavior clusters. Secondly, we select and eliminate the instances of the majority class, considered as behavioral noise, which overlap with behavior clusters of the minority class. The results of experiments carried out on a representative public dataset confirm that the proposed approach is efficient for the treatment of class imbalances in the presence of noise.

Keywords: machine learning, imbalanced data, data mining, big data

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Authors: Sofia Ait Bouazza

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We consider the problem of finding a minimum identifying code in a graph. This problem was initially introduced in 1998 and has been since fundamentally connected to a wide range of applications (fault diagnosis, location detection …). Suppose we have a building into which we need to place fire alarms. Suppose each alarm is designed so that it can detect any fire that starts either in the room in which it is located or in any room that shares a doorway with the room. We want to detect any fire that may occur or use the alarms which are sounding to not only to not only detect any fire but be able to tell exactly where the fire is located in the building. For reasons of cost, we want to use as few alarms as necessary. The first problem involves finding a minimum domination set of a graph. If the alarms are three state alarms capable of distinguishing between a fire in the same room as the alarm and a fire in an adjacent room, we are trying to find a minimum locating domination set. If the alarms are two state alarms that can only sound if there is a fire somewhere nearby, we are looking for a differentiating domination set of a graph. These three areas are the subject of much active research; we primarily focus on the third problem. An identifying code of a graph G is a dominating set C such that every vertex x of G is distinguished from other vertices by the set of vertices in C that are at distance at most r≥1 from x. When only vertices out of the code are asked to be identified, we get the related concept of a locating dominating set. The problem of finding an identifying code (resp a locating dominating code) of minimum size is a NP-hard problem, even when the input graph belongs to a number of specific graph classes. Therefore, we study this problem in some restricted classes of undirected graphs like split graph, line graph and path in a directed graph. Then we present some results on the identifying code by giving an exact value of upper total locating domination and a total 2-identifying code in directed and undirected graph. Moreover we determine exact values of locating dominating code and edge identifying code of thin headless spider and locating dominating code of complete suns.

Keywords: identiying codes, locating dominating set, split graphs, thin headless spider

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Authors: Bhuyain Mobarok Hossain

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Image classification and localization research is currently an important strategy in the field of computer vision. The evolution and advancement of deep learning and convolutional neural networks (CNN) have greatly improved the capabilities of object detection and image-based classification. Target detection is important to research in the field of computer vision, especially in video surveillance systems. To solve this problem, we will be applying a convolutional neural network of multiple scales at multiple locations in the image in one sliding window. Most translation networks move away from the bounding box around the area of interest. In contrast to this architecture, we consider the problem to be a classification problem where each pixel of the image is a separate section. Image classification is the method of predicting an individual category or specifying by a shoal of data points. Image classification is a part of the classification problem, including any labels throughout the image. The image can be classified as a day or night shot. Or, likewise, images of cars and motorbikes will be automatically placed in their collection. The deep learning of image classification generally includes convolutional layers; the invention of it is referred to as a convolutional neural network (CNN).

Keywords: image classification, object detection, localization, particle filter

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Authors: Babalola Sunday Oyetayo, Igbinomwanhia Uyi Osamwonyi, Idowu T. O., Herbert Tata

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This paper explores the potential benefits of adopting blockchain technology in Nigeria's land administration systems while also addressing the challenges and implications of its implementation in the country's unique context. Through a comprehensive literature review and analysis of existing research, the paper delves into the key attributes of blockchain that can revolutionize land administration practices, with a particular focus on simplifying land registration procedures, expediting land title issuance, and enhancing data transparency and security. The decentralized and immutable nature of blockchain offers unique advantages, instilling trust and confidence in land transactions, which are especially crucial in Nigeria's land governance landscape. However, integrating blockchain in Nigeria's land administration ecosystem presents specific challenges, necessitating a critical evaluation of technical, socio-economic, and infrastructural barriers. These challenges encompass data privacy concerns, scalability, interoperability with outdated systems, and gaining acceptance from various stakeholders. By synthesizing these insights, the paper proposes strategies tailored to Nigeria's context to optimize the benefits of blockchain adoption while addressing the identified challenges. The research findings contribute significantly to the ongoing discourse on blockchain technology in Nigeria's land governance, offering evidence-based recommendations to policymakers, land administrators, and stakeholders. Ultimately, the paper aims to promote the effective utilization of blockchain, fostering efficiency, transparency, and trust in Nigeria's land administration systems to drive sustainable development and societal progress.

Keywords: block-chain, technology, stakeholders, land registration

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Authors: Raed Alnajjar, Mohd Zakree, Ahmad Nazri

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In this study, we apply Discrete Group Search Optimizer (DGSO) for solving Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). The DGSO is a nature inspired optimization algorithm that imitates the animal behavior, especially animal searching behavior. The proposed DGSO uses a vector representation and some discrete operators, such as destruction, construction, differential evolution, swap and insert. The TSP is a well-known hard combinatorial optimization problem, which seeks to find the shortest path among numbers of cities. The performance of the proposed DGSO is evaluated and tested on benchmark instances which listed in LIBTSP dataset. The experimental results show that the performance of the proposed DGSO is comparable with the other methods in the state of the art for some instances. The results show that DGSO outperform Ant Colony System (ACS) in some instances whilst outperform other metaheuristic in most instances. In addition to that, the new results obtained a number of optimal solutions and some best known results. DGSO was able to obtain feasible and good quality solution across all dataset.

Keywords: discrete group search optimizer (DGSO); Travelling salesman problem (TSP); Variable neighborhood search(VNS)

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Authors: Cristina Lavilla, Andreas Heise

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The synthesis of sequence-controlled polymers has received increasing attention in the last years. Well-defined polyacrylates, polyacrylamides and styrene-maleimide copolymers have been synthesized by sequential or kinetic addition of comonomers. However this approach has not yet been introduced to the synthesis of polypeptides, which are in fact polymers developed by nature in a sequence-controlled way. Polypeptides are natural materials that possess the ability to self-assemble into complex and highly ordered structures. Their folding and properties arise from precisely controlled sequences and compositions in their constituent amino acid monomers. So far, solid-phase peptide synthesis is the only technique that allows preparing short peptide sequences with excellent sequence control, but also requires extensive protection/deprotection steps and it is a difficult technique to scale-up. A new strategy towards sequence control in the synthesis of polypeptides is introduced, based on the sequential addition of α-amino acid-N-carboxyanhydrides (NCAs). The living ring-opening process is conducted to full conversion and no purification or deprotection is needed before addition of a new amino acid. The length of every block is predefined by the NCA:initiator ratio in every step. This method yields polypeptides with a specific sequence and controlled molecular weights. A series of polypeptides with varying block sequences have been synthesized with the aim to identify structure-property relationships. All of them are able to adopt secondary structures similar to natural polypeptides, and display properties in the solid state and in solution that are characteristic of the primary structure. By design the prepared polypeptides allow selective modification of individual block sequences, which has been exploited to introduce functionalities in defined positions along the polypeptide chain. Poly(ethylene glycol)(PEG) was the functionality chosen, as it is known to favor hydrophilicity and also yield thermoresponsive materials. After PEGylation, hydrophilicity of the polypeptides is enhanced, and their thermal response in H2O has been studied. Noteworthy differences in the behavior of the polypeptides having different sequences have been found. Circular dichroism measurements confirmed that the α-helical conformation is stable over the examined temperature range (5-90 °C). It is concluded that PEG units are the main responsible of the changes in H-bonding interactions with H2O upon variation of temperature, and the position of these functional units along the backbone is a factor of utmost importance in the resulting properties of the α-helical polypeptides.

Keywords: α-amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides, multiblock copolymers, poly(ethylene glycol), polypeptides, ring-opening polymerization, sequence control

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Authors: Loghman Ansarian, Teoh Mei Lin

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In an attempt to increase oral proficiency of Iranian EFL learners, the researchers compared the effect of problem-based mobile-assisted language learning with the conventional language learning approach (Communicative Language Teaching) in Iran. The experimental group (n=37) went through PBL instruction and the control group (n=33) went through conventional instruction. The results of quantitative data analysis after 26 sessions of treatment revealed that PBL could positively affect participants' knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, spoken fluency, and pronunciation; however, in terms of task achievement, no significant effect was found. This study can have pedagogical implications for language teachers, and material developers.

Keywords: problem-based learning, spoken intelligibility, Iranian EFL context, cognitive learning

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Authors: Shan Zhou, Wenju Li, Kehui Chai

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Along with economic globalization, marketization and regional development, strengthen planning and construction of the New Town, which is always the main way to optimize the structure and function of metropolitan spatial configuration. But, the new town is often of high-intensity development, bringing a series of natural, ecological and environmental issues, so it is difficult to achieve sustainable development. In this paper, taking the administrative center of Jiangping in Dongxing as an example. It is analyzed from the following three aspects：Vertical design of road traffic，Space layout of mountain buildings，and the design of landscape. The purpose is to elaborate the hillside design methods guided by low-intensity damage, and explore the guiding significance of sustainable development of the hillside construction in the future.

Keywords: low-intensity damage, new town construction，hillside，sustainable development, natural, ecology

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Authors: Jirayut Phetchuen, Jongkol Srithorn

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The study examines the unloading and repacking process of Read With Me Group Company Limited. The research aims to improve the old work process and build a new efficient process with the Lean Technique and new machines for faster delivery without increasing the number of employees. Currently, two employees work based on five days on and off. However, workplace injuries have delayed the delivery time, especially the delivery to the neighboring countries. After the process improvement, the working space increased by 25%, the Process Lead Time decreased by 40%, the work efficiency increased by 175.82%, and the work injuries rate was reduced to zero.

Keywords: lean technique, plant layout design, U-shaped disassembly line, value stream mapping

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Authors: Belete Abebaw, Mulugeta Atinafu, Awoke Shishigu

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The study aimed to examine students’ problem-solving skills through mixed instruction (variation theory based Geogerba assisted problem-solving instructional approaches). A total of 125 students divided into 4 intact groups participated in the study. The study employed a quasi-experimental research design. Three intact groups were randomly assigned as a treatment group, while one group was taken as a comparison group. Each of the groups took a specific instructional approach, while the comparison group proceeded as usual without any changes to the instructional process for all sessions. Both pre and post problem-solving tests were administered to all groups. To analyze the data and examine the differences (if any) in each group, ANCOVA and Paired samples t-tests were employed. There was a significant mean difference between students pre-test and post-test in their conceptual understanding of each treatment group. Furthermore, the mixed treatment had a large mean difference. It was recommended that teachers give attention to using variation theory-based geometry problem-solving approaches for students’ better understanding. Administrators should emphasize launching Geogebra software through IT labs in schools, and government officials should appreciate the implementation of technology in schools.

Keywords: conceptual understanding, Geogebra, learning geometry, problem solving approaches, variation theory

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Authors: Sevde D. Karayel, Ediz Atmaca

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Supplier selection subject is vital because of development competitiveness and performance of firms which have right, rapid and with low cost procurement. Considering the fact that competition between firms is no longer on their supply chains, hence it is very clear that performance of the firms’ not only depend on their own success but also success of all departments in supply chain. For this purpose, firms want to work with suppliers which are cost effective, flexible in terms of demand and high quality level for customer satisfaction. However, diversification and redundancy of their expectations from suppliers, supplier selection problems need to be solved as a hard problem. In this study, supplier selection problem is discussed for critical piece, which is using almost all production of products in and has troubles with lead time from supplier, in a firm that produces medical devices. Analyzing policy in the current situation of the firm in the supplier selection indicates that supplier selection is made based on the purchasing department experience and other authorized persons’ general judgments. Because selection do not make based on the analytical methods, it is caused disruptions in production, lateness and extra cost. To solve the problem, AHP and TOPSIS which are multi-criteria decision making techniques, which are effective, easy to implement and can analyze many criteria simultaneously, are used to make a selection among alternative suppliers.

Keywords: AHP-TOPSIS methods, multi-criteria decision making, supplier selection problem, supply chain management

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Authors: Ashkan Golgoon, Souhayl Sadik, Arash Yavari

Abstract:

Eigenstrains in nonlinear solids are created due to anelastic effects such as non-uniform temperature distributions, growth, remodeling, and defects. Eigenstrains understanding is indispensable, as they can generate residual stresses and strongly affect the overall response of solids. Here, we study the residual stress and deformation fields of an incompressible isotropic infinite wedge with a circumferentially-symmetric distribution of finite eigenstrains. We construct a material manifold, whose Riemannian metric explicitly depends on the eigenstrain distribution, thereby we turn the problem into a classical nonlinear elasticity problem, where we find an embedding of the Riemannian material manifold into the ambient Euclidean space. In particular, we find exact solutions for the residual stress and deformation fields of a neo-Hookean wedge having a symmetric inclusion with finite radial and circumferential eigenstrains. Moreover, we numerically solve a similar problem when a symmetric Mooney-Rivlin inhomogeneity with finite eigenstrains is placed in a neo-Hookean wedge. Generalization of the eigenstrain problem to other geometries are also discussed.

Keywords: finite eigenstrains, geometric mechanics, inclusion, inhomogeneity, nonlinear elasticity

Procedia PDF Downloads 255

Authors: Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Phillip C. Y. Sheu, Ryo Fujita, Shigeo Tsujii

Abstract:

In this paper, the secure BioSemantic Scheme is presented to bridge biological/biomedical research problems and computational solutions via semantic computing. Due to the diversity of problems in various research fields, the semantic capability description language (SCDL) plays and important role as a common language and generic form for problem formalization. SCDL is expected the essential for future semantic and logical computing in Biosemantic field. We show several example to Biomedical problems in this paper. Moreover, in the coming age of cloud computing, the security problem is considered to be crucial issue and we presented a practical scheme to cope with this problem.

Keywords: biomedical applications, private information retrieval (PIR), semantic capability description language (SCDL), semantic computing

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Authors: Prawal Sinha, Peeyush Singh, Pravir Dutt

Abstract:

Problems in elastohydrodynamic lubrication have attracted a lot of attention in the last few decades. Solving a two-dimensional problem has always been a big challenge. In this paper, a new discontinuous finite volume method (DVM) for two-dimensional point contact Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication (EHL) problem has been developed and analyzed. A complete algorithm has been presented for solving such a problem. The method presented is robust and easily parallelized in MPI architecture. GMRES technique is implemented to solve the matrix obtained after the formulation. A new approach is followed in which discontinuous piecewise polynomials are used for the trail functions. It is natural to assume that the advantages of using discontinuous functions in finite element methods should also apply to finite volume methods. The nature of the discontinuity of the trail function is such that the elements in the corresponding dual partition have the smallest support as compared with the Classical finite volume methods. Film thickness calculation is done using singular quadrature approach. Results obtained have been presented graphically and discussed. This method is well suited for solving EHL point contact problem and can probably be used as commercial software.

Keywords: elastohydrodynamic, lubrication, discontinuous finite volume method, GMRES technique

Procedia PDF Downloads 257

Authors: Jialin Wu, Zhiwei Lian, Jieyu Tang, Jingyun Shen

Abstract:

Tornado is a serious and unpredictable natural disaster, which has an important impact on people's production and life. The probability of being hit by tornadoes in China was analyzed considering the principles of tornado formation. Then some suggestions on layout and shapes for newly-built buildings were provided combined with the characteristics of tornado wind fields. Fuzzy clustering and inverse closeness methods were used to evaluate the probability levels of tornado risks in various provinces based on classification and ranking. GIS was adopted to display the results. Finally, wind field single-vortex tornado was studied to discuss the optimized design of rural low-rise houses in Yancheng, Jiangsu as an example. This paper may provide enough data to support building and urban design in some specific regions.

Keywords: tornado probability, computational fluid dynamics, fuzzy mathematics, optimal design

Procedia PDF Downloads 136