Search results for: experimental and numerical modelling

Authors: Adesola O. Orimoloye, Edward Gobina

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Membrane separation technology is still considered as an emerging technology in the mining sector and does not yet have the widespread acceptance that it has in other industrial sectors. Underground Coal Gasification (UCG), wherein coal is converted to gas in-situ, is a safer alternative to mining method that retains all pollutants underground making the process environmentally friendly. In-situ combustion of coal for power generation allows access to more of the physical global coal resource than would be included in current economically recoverable reserve estimates. Where mining is no longer taking place, for economic or geological reasons, controlled gasification permits exploitation of the deposit (again a reaction of coal to form a synthesis gas) of coal seams in situ. The oxygen supply stage is one of the most expensive parts of any gasification project but the use of membranes is a potentially attractive approach for producing oxygen-enriched air. In this study, a variety of cost-effective membrane materials that gives an optimal amount of oxygen concentrations in the range of interest was designed and tested at diverse operating conditions. Oxygen-enriched atmosphere improves the combustion temperature but a decline is observed if oxygen concentration exceeds optimum. Experimental result also reveals the preparatory method, apparatus and performance of the fabricated membrane.

Keywords: membranes, oxygen-enrichment, gasification, coal

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Authors: Seda Yavuz, Anıl Çelebi, Aysun Taşyapı Çelebi, Oğuzhan Urhan

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Nowadays, demand for using real-time video transmission capable devices is ever-increasing. So, high resolution videos have made efficient video compression techniques an essential component for capturing and transmitting video data. Motion estimation has a critical role in encoding raw video. Hence, various motion estimation methods are introduced to efficiently compress the video. Low bit‑depth representation based motion estimation methods facilitate computation of matching criteria and thus, provide small hardware footprint. In this paper, a hardware implementation of a two-bit transformation based low-complexity motion estimation method using local binary pattern approach is proposed. Image frames are represented in two-bit depth instead of full-depth by making use of the local binary pattern as a binarization approach and the binarization part of the hardware architecture is explained in detail. Experimental results demonstrate the difference between the proposed hardware architecture and the architectures of well-known low-complexity motion estimation methods in terms of important aspects such as resource utilization, energy and power consumption.

Keywords: binarization, hardware architecture, local binary pattern, motion estimation, two-bit transform

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Authors: Chih-Jer Lin, Chun-Ying Lee, Ying Liu, Chiang-Ho Cheng

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The main objective of this article is to present the semi-active vibration control using an electro-rheological fluid embedded sandwich structure for a cantilever beam. ER fluid is a smart material, which cause the suspended particles polarize and connect each other to form chain. The stiffness and damping coefficients of the ER fluid can be changed in 10 micro seconds; therefore, ERF is suitable to become the material embedded in the tunable vibration absorber to become a smart absorber. For the ERF smart material embedded structure, the fuzzy control law depends on the experimental expert database and the proposed self-tuning strategy. The electric field is controlled by a CRIO embedded system to implement the real application. This study investigates the different performances using the Type-1 fuzzy and interval Type-2 fuzzy controllers. The Interval type-2 fuzzy control is used to improve the modeling uncertainties for this ERF embedded shock absorber. The self-tuning vibration controllers using Type-1 and Interval Type-2 fuzzy law are implemented to the shock absorber system. Based on the resulting performance, Internal Type-2 fuzzy is better than the traditional Type-1 fuzzy control for this vibration control system.

Keywords: electro-rheological fluid, semi-active vibration control, shock absorber, type 2 fuzzy control

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Authors: S. S. Dol, M. S. Chan, S. F. Wong, J. S. Lim

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Emulsion formation is unavoidable and can be detrimental to an oil field production. The presence of stable emulsions also reduces the quality of crude oil and causes more problems in the downstream refinery operations, such as corrosion and pipeline pressure drop. Hence, it is important to know the effects of emulsions in the pipeline. Light crude oil was used for the continuous phase in the W/O emulsions where the emulsions pass through a flow loop to test the pressure drop across the pipeline. The results obtained shows that pressure drop increases as water cut is increased until it peaks at the phase inversion of the W/O emulsion between 30% to 40% water cut. Emulsions produced by gradual constrictions show a lower stability as compared to sudden constrictions. Lower stability of emulsions in gradual constriction has the higher influence of pressure drop compared to a sudden sharp decrease in diameter in sudden constriction. Generally, sudden constriction experiences pressure drop of 0.013% to 0.067% higher than gradual constriction of the same ratio. Lower constriction ratio cases cause larger pressure drop ranging from 0.061% to 0.241%. Considering the higher profitability in lower emulsion stability and lower pressure drop at the developed flow region of different constrictions, an optimum design of constriction is found to be gradual constriction with a ratio of 0.5.

Keywords: constriction, pressure drop, turbulence, water-in-oil emulsions

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Authors: Maedeh Rahimnejad, Bahman Vahidi, Bahman Ebrahimi Hoseinzadeh, Fatemeh Yazdian, Puria Motamed Fath, Roghieh Jamjah

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Introduction: The intensive labor and high cost of developing new vehicles for controlled drug delivery highlights the need for a change in their discovery process. Computational models can be used to accelerate experimental steps and control the high cost of experiments. Methods: In this work, to better understand the interaction of anti-cancer drug and the nanocarrier with the cell membrane, we have done molecular dynamics simulation using NAMD. We have chosen paclitaxel for the drug molecule and dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) as a natural phospholipid nanocarrier. Results: Next, center of mass (COM) between molecules and the van der Waals interaction energy close to the cell membrane has been analyzed. Furthermore, the simulation results of the paclitaxel interaction with the cell membrane and the interaction of DPPC as a nanocarrier loaded by the drug with the cell membrane have been compared. Discussion: Analysis by molecular dynamics (MD) showed that not only the energy between the nanocarrier and the cell membrane is low, but also the center of mass amount decreases in the nanocarrier and the cell membrane system during the interaction; therefore they show significantly better interaction in comparison to the individual drug with the cell membrane.

Keywords: anti-cancer drug, center of mass, interaction energy, molecular dynamics simulation, nanocarrier

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Authors: A.Velavan, C. G. Saravanan, M. Vikneswaran, E. James Gunasekaran

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In present investigation, experiments were carried out to compare the effect of the ceramic coated piston crown and uncoated piston on combustion, performance and emission characteristics of a port injected Spark Ignited engine. The piston crown was coated with aluminium alloy in the form ceramic oxide layer of thickness 500 µm using micro-arc oxidation technique. This ceramic coating will act as a thermal barrier which reduces in-cylinder heat rejection and increases the durability of the piston by withstanding high temperature and pressure produced during combustion. Flame visualization inside the combustion chamber was carried out using AVL Visioscope combustion analyzer to predict the type of combustion occurs at different load condition. Based on the experimental results, it was found that the coated piston shows an improved thermal efficiency when compared to uncoated piston. This is because more heat presents in the combustion chamber which helps efficient combustion of the fuel. The CO and HC emissions were found to be reduced due to better combustion of the fuel whereas NOx emission was increased due to increase in combustion temperature for ceramic coated piston.

Keywords: coated piston, micro-arc oxidation, thermal barrier, thermal efficiency, visioscope

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Authors: Muhammad Rizwan, Naveed Ahmad, Akhtar Naeem Khan

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Seismic behavior factors are evaluated for the performance assessment of low rise reinforced concrete RC frame structures based on experimental study of unidirectional dynamic shake table testing of two 1/3rd reduced scaled two storey frames, with a code confirming special moment resisting frame (SMRF) model and a noncompliant model of similar characteristics but built in low strength concrete .The models were subjected to a scaled accelerogram record of 1994 Northridge earthquake to deformed the test models to final collapse stage in order to obtain the structural response parameters. The fully compliant model was observed with more stable beam-sway response, experiencing beam flexure yielding and ground-storey column base yielding upon subjecting to 100% of the record. The response modification factor - R factor obtained for the code complaint and deficient prototype structures were 7.5 and 4.5 respectively, which is about 10% and 40% less than the UBC-97 specified value for special moment resisting reinforced concrete frame structures.

Keywords: Northridge 1994 earthquake, reinforced concrete frame, response modification factor, shake table testing

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Authors: A. M. Ashraful, H .H. Masjuki, M. A. Kalam

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Comparative investigations were performed on the particles matter emitted from a DI diesel engine utilizing palm biodiesel. In this experiment, palm biodiesel PB10 (90% diesel and 10% palm biodiesel), PB20 (80% diesel, 20% palm biodiesel) and diesel fuel samples exhaust were investigated at different working condition (25% and 50% load at 1500 rpm constant speed). Observation of this experiment it clearly seen that at low load condition particle matter concentration of palm biodiesel exhaust were de-creased than that of diesel fuel. At no load and 25% load condition PB10 biodiesel blend exhibited 2.2 times lower PM concentration than that of diesel fuel. On the other hand, elemental carbon (EC) and organic emission for PB10 showed decreases trend as varies 4.2% to 6.6% and 32 to 39% respectively, while elemental carbon percentage increased by 0.85 to 10% respectively. Similarly, metal composition of PB10 biodiesel blend increased by 4.8 to 26.5% respectively. SEM images for B10 and B20 demonstrated granular structure particulates with greater grain sizes compared with diesel fuel. Finally, the experimental outcomes showed that the blend composition and degree of unsaturation of the methyl ester present in biodiesel influence on the particulate matter formation.

Keywords: particulate matter, elemental carbon, organic carbon, biodiesel

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Authors: M. Mohemmed Sha Mohamed Kunju, Abdalla A. Al-Ameen Abdurahman, T. Manesh Thankappan, A. Mohamed Mustaq Ahmed Hameed

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Web service composition is an effective approach to complete the web based tasks with desired quality. A single web service with limited functionality is inadequate to execute a specific task with series of action. So, it is very much required to combine multiple web services with different functionalities to reach the target. Also, it will become more and more challenging, when these services are from different providers with identical functionalities and varying QoS, so while composing the web services, the overall QoS is considered to be the major factor. Also, it is not true that the expected QoS is always attained when the task is completed. A single web service in the composed chain may affect the overall performance of the task. So care should be taken in different aspects such as functionality of the service, while composition. Dynamic and automatic service composition is one of the main option available. But to achieve the actual functionality of the task, quality of the individual web services are also important. Normally the QoS of the individual service can be evaluated by using the non-functional parameters such as response time, throughput, reliability, availability, etc. At the same time, the QoS is not needed to be at the same level for all the composed services. So this paper proposes a framework that allows composing the services in terms of QoS by setting the appropriate weight to the non-functional parameters of each individual web service involved in the task. Experimental results show that the importance given to the non-functional parameter while composition will definitely improve the performance of the web services.

Keywords: composition, non-functional parameters, quality of service, web service

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Authors: Eman Alzahrani

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Date palm trees are abundant and cheap natural resources in Saudi Arabia. In this study, an activated carbon was prepared from palm trunks by chemical processes. The chemical activation was performed by impregnation of the raw materials after grinding with H3PO4 solution (63%), followed by placing of the sample solution on a muffle furnace at 400ºC for 30 min, and then at 800ºC for 10 min. The morphology of the fabricated material was checked using scanning electron microscopy that showed the rough surfaces on the carbon samples. The use of fabricated activated carbon for removal of eosin dye from aqueous solutions at different contact time, initial dye concentration, pH and adsorbent doses was investigated. The experimental results show that the adsorption process attains equilibrium within 20 min. The adsorption isotherm equilibrium was studied by means of the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms, and it was found that the data fit the Langmuir isotherm equation with maximum monolayer adsorption capacity of 126.58 mg g-1. The results indicated that the home made activated carbon prepared from palm trunks has the ability to remove eosin dye from aqueous solution and it will be a promising adsorbent for the removal of harmful dyes from waste water.

Keywords: activated carbon, date palm trunks, H3PO4 activation, adsorption, dye removal, eosin dye, isotherm

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Authors: Pushpendra S. Bharti, S. Maheshwari

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Electric discharge machining (EDM) is one of the most widely used non-conventional manufacturing process to shape difficult-to-cut materials. The process yield, in terms of material removal rate, surface roughness and tool wear rate, of EDM may considerably be improved by selecting the optimal combination(s) of process parameters. This paper employs Multi-response signal-to-noise (MRSN) ratio technique to find the optimal combination(s) of the process parameters during EDM of Inconel 718. Three cases v.i.z. high cutting efficiency, high surface finish, and normal machining have been taken and the optimal combinations of input parameters have been obtained for each case. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) has been employed to find the dominant parameter(s) in all three cases. The experimental verification of the obtained results has also been made. MRSN ratio technique found to be a simple and effective multi-objective optimization technique.

Keywords: electric discharge machining, material removal rate, surface roughness, too wear rate, multi-response signal-to-noise ratio, multi response signal-to-noise ratio, optimization

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Authors: Abdulsamee Halahla, Emad Allout

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The purpose of this research is to study the behavior of exterior beam-column joints (BCJs) strengthened with ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC), in terms of the shear strength and maximum displacement using pushover analysis at the tip of the beam. A finite element (F.E) analysis was performed to study three main parameters – the level of the axial load in the column (N), the beam shear reinforcement (Av/s)B, and the effect of using UHPC. The normal concrete at the studied joint region was replaced by UHPC. The model was verified by using experimental results taken from the literature. The results showed that the UHPC contributed to the transference of the plastic hinge from the joint to the beam-column interface. In addition, the strength of the UHPC-strengthened joints was enhanced dramatically from 8% to 38% for the joints subjected to 12.8MPa and zero axial loads, respectively. Moreover, the UHPC contributed in improving the maximum deflection. This improvement amounted to 1% and 176% for the joints subjected to zero and 12.8MPa axial load, respectively.

Keywords: ultra high performance concrete, ductility, reinforced concrete joints, finite element modeling, nonlinear behavior; pushover analysis

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Authors: Niloufar Khoshbakht, Peggi L. Clouston, Sanjay R. Arwade, Alexander C. Schreyer

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Laminated veneer bamboo (LVB) is a structural engineered composite made from glued layers of bamboo. A relatively new building product, LVB is currently employed in similar sizes and applications as dimensional lumber. This study describes the results of a 3D elastic Finite Element model for halfhole specimens when loaded in compression parallel-to-grain per ASTM 5764. The model simulates LVB fracture initiation due to shear stresses in the dowel joint and predicts displacement at failure validated through comparison with experimental results. The material fails at 1mm displacement due to in-plane shear stresses. The paper clarifies the complex interactive state of in-plane shear, tension perpendicular-to-grain, and compression parallel-to-grain stresses that form different distributions in the critical zone beneath the bolt hole for half-hole specimens. These findings are instrumental in understanding key factors and fundamental failure mechanisms that occur in LVB dowel connections to help devise safe standards and further LVB product adoption and design.

Keywords: composite, dowel connection, embedment strength, failure behavior, finite element analysis, Moso bamboo

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Authors: Supriya, J. K. Basu, S. Sengupta

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Silver nanoparticles have caught a lot of attention because of its unique physical and chemical properties. Silver nanoparticles embedded in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA/Ag) free-standing film have been prepared by microwave irradiation in few minutes. PVA performed as a reducing agent, stabilizing agents as well as support for silver nanoparticles. UV-Vis spectrometry, scanning transmission electron (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques affirmed the reduction of silver ion to silver nanoparticles in the polymer matrix. Effect of irradiation time, the concentration of PVA and concentration of silver precursor on the synthesis of silver nanoparticle has been studied. Particles size of silver nanoparticles decreases with increase in irradiation time. Concentration of silver nanoparticles increases with increase in concentration of silver precursor. Good dispersion of silver nanoparticles in the film has been confirmed by TEM analysis. Particle size of silver nanoparticle has been found to be in the range of 2-10nm. Catalytic property of prepared silver nanoparticles as a heterogeneous catalyst has been studied in the reduction of p-Nitrophenol (a water pollutant) with >98% conversion. From the experimental results, it can be concluded that PVA encapsulated Ag nanoparticles film as a catalyst shows better efficiency and reusability in the reduction of p-Nitrophenol.

Keywords: biopolymer, microwave irradiation, silver nanoparticles, water pollutant

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Authors: Carolina Gouveia, José Vieira, Pedro Pinho

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The cardiopulmonary signal monitoring, without the usage of contact electrodes or any type of in-body sensors, has several applications such as sleeping monitoring and continuous monitoring of vital signals in bedridden patients. This system has also applications in the vehicular environment to monitor the driver, in order to avoid any possible accident in case of cardiac failure. Thus, the bio-radar system proposed in this paper, can measure vital signals accurately by using the Doppler effect principle that relates the received signal properties with the distance change between the radar antennas and the person’s chest-wall. Once the bio-radar aim is to monitor subjects in real-time and during long periods of time, it is impossible to guarantee the patient immobilization, hence their random motion will interfere in the acquired signals. In this paper, a mathematical model of the bio-radar is presented, as well as its simulation in MATLAB. The used algorithm for breath rate extraction is explained and a method for DC offsets removal based in a motion detection system is proposed. Furthermore, experimental tests were conducted with a view to prove that the unavoidable random motion can be used to estimate the DC offsets accurately and thus remove them successfully.

Keywords: bio-signals, DC component, Doppler effect, ellipse fitting, radar, SDR

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Authors: Mouad Ouafi, Lahoucine Atourki, Larbi Laanab, Erika Vega, Miguel Mollar, Bernabe Marib, Boujemaa Jaber

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Despite the astonishing emergence of the methylammonium lead triiodide perovskite as a promising light harvester for solar cells, their physical properties in solution-processed MAPbI₃ are still crucial and need to be improved. The objective of this work is to investigate the hot airflow effect during the growth of MAPbI₃ films using the spin-coating process on their structural, optical and morphological proprieties. The experimental results show that many physical proprieties of the perovskite strongly depend on the air flow temperature and the optimization which has a beneficial effect on the perovskite quality. In fact, a clear improvement of the crystallinity and the crystallite size of MAPbI₃ perovskite is demonstrated by the XRD analyses, when the airflow temperature is increased up to 100°C. Alternatively, as far as the surface morphology is concerned, SEM micrographs show that significant homogenous nucleation, uniform surface distribution and pin holes free with highest surface coverture of 98% are achieved when the airflow temperature reaches 100°C. At this temperature, the improvement is also observed when considering the optical properties of the films. By contrast, a remarkable degradation of the MAPbI₃ perovskites associated to the PbI₂ phase formation is noticed, when the hot airflow temperature is higher than 100°C, especially 300°C.

Keywords: hot air flow, crystallinity, surface coverage, perovskite morphology

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Authors: Adisorn Bansong, Walai Isarankura Na Ayudhaya, Aumporn Makanong

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A Development of an Instructional Model for Health Education was the aim to develop and study the effectiveness of an instructional model for health education to enhance self-regulation and learning achievement of lower secondary school students. It was the Quasi-Experimental Designs, used a Single-group Interrupted Time-series Designs, conducted by 2 phases: 1. To develop an instructional model based on Social Cognitive Theory and Strategic Life Planning. 2. To trial and evaluate effectiveness of an instructional model. The results as the following: i. An Instructional Model for Health Education consists of five main components: a) Attention b) Forethought c) Tactic Planning d) Execution and e) Reflection. ii. After an Instructional Model for Health Education has used for a semester trial, found the 4.07 percent of sample’s Self-Regulation higher and learning achievement on post-test were significantly higher than pre-test at .05 levels (p = .033, .000).

Keywords: social cognitive theory, strategic life planning, self-regulation, learning achievement

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Authors: Alemu Tadesse Feroche

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In this study, some 2, 3 distributed quinazoline -4 (3H) - one derivative were synthesized using a three-step synthetic route. They were obtained in a good yield (59.5-85%) by applying different chemical reactions like cyclization and condensation reactions. The chemical structure of the final compounds was also verified by spectroscopic methods (IR, ¹HNMR) and elemental microanalysis. The in vivo antimalarial activity of these compounds on P. berghei infected mice was found to be moderate to high at an oral dose of 0.04846 mmol/kg /day. This is equal to 25 mg/kg of chloroquine phosphate, which causes 100% inhibition of the parasite. It is worth mentioning that most active compounds (E) -3 Phenyl -2- [2- (pyridine -4- yl) vinyl] -4 (3H) -quinazolinone IVa (64.02%, (E)-2-[2-(4 - Hydroxy-3 - methoxystyryl) - vinyl) -3 - phenyl -4 (3H ) - quinazolinone IVc (77.25%) and (E)-2 –[2 –(Pyridin -4-yl) –vinyl] -3 phenenylamine -4(3H) quinazolinone IVe (73.54%) showed a dose-dependent increase in present suppression in antimalarial activities. Furthermore, the synthesized compounds were screened for their in vitro antileishmanial activity against L. aethiopica isolate (CL/039/09). All tested compounds (IVa (0.03766 ug/ml), IVb (0.00538 ug/ml, IVc (0.00412 ug/ml, IVd (0.00110 ug/ml), IVe (0.03017 ug/ml) and IVf (0.03894 ug/ml)) showed excellent potency that is much better than amphotericin B (IC50 = 0,04359 ug/ml). The results of acute toxicity indicated that all test compounds (IVa –IVf) proved to be nontoxic and well tolerated by the experimental animals up to 300 mg/kg in oral and 140 mg/kg in parental studies.

Keywords: 4(3H)-quinazolinone, in vivo antimalarial activity, in vitro antileishmanial activity, acute toxicity

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Authors: Omer Abdalla Ishag, Magdi Baker Amien

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Physicians used the stethoscope for listening patient heart sounds in order to make a diagnosis. However, the determination of heart conditions by acoustic stethoscope is a difficult task so it requires special training of medical staff. This study developed an accurate model for analyzing the phonocardiograph signal based on PC and DSP processor. The system has been realized into two phases; offline and real time phase. In offline phase, 30 cases of heart sounds files were collected from medical students and doctor's world website. For experimental phase (real time), an electronic stethoscope has been designed, implemented and recorded signals from 30 volunteers, 17 were normal cases and 13 were various pathologies cases, these acquired 30 signals were preprocessed using an adaptive filter to remove lung sounds. The background noise has been removed from both offline and real data, using wavelet transform, then graphical and statistics features vector elements were extracted, finally a look-up table was used for classification heart sounds cases. The obtained results of the implemented system showed accuracy of 90%, 80% and sensitivity of 87.5%, 82.4% for offline data, and real data respectively. The whole system has been designed on TMS320VC5509a DSP Platform.

Keywords: code composer studio, heart sounds, phonocardiograph, wavelet transform

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Authors: M. Al-Saedi, A. Chegenizadeh, H. Nikraz

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Experimental investigations are conducted to assess a layered structure of glass (G) - rock (R) blends under the impact of repeated loading. Laboratory tests included sieve analyses, modified compaction test and repeated load triaxial test (RLTT) is conducted on different structures of stratified GR samples to reach the objectives of this study. Waste materials are such essential components in the climate system, and also commonly used in minimising the need for natural materials in many countries. Glass is one of the most widely used groups of waste materials which have been extensively using in road applications. Full range particle size and colours of glass are collected and mixed at different ratios with natural rock material trying to use the blends in pavement layers. Whole subsurface specimen sequentially consists of a single layer of R and a layer of G-R blend. 12G/88R and 45G/55R mix ratios are employed in this research, the thickness of G-R layer was changed, and the results were compared between the pure rock and the layered specimens. The relations between resilient module (Mr) and permanent deformation with sequence number are presented. During the earlier stages of RLTT, the results indicated that the 45G/55R specimen shows higher moduli than R specimen.

Keywords: Rock base course, Layered Structure, Glass, Resilient Modulus

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Authors: Tomilola J. Ajayi, Moses Ollengo, Lukas le Roux, Michael N. Pillay, Richard J. Staples, Shannon M. Biros Werner E. van Zyl

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The formation, characterization, and dye-sensitized solar cell application of nickel(II), zinc(II) and cadmium(II) ferrocenyl dithiophosphonate complexes were investigated. The multidentate monoanionic ligand [S₂PFc(OH)]¯ (L1) was synthesized from the reaction between ferrocenyl Lawesson’s reagent, [FcP(=S)μ-S]₂ (FcLR), (Fc = ferrocenyl) and water. Ligand L1 could potentially coordinate to metal centers through the S, S’ and O donor atoms. The reaction between metal salt precursors and L1 produced a Ni(II) complex of the type [Ni{S₂P(Fc)(OH)}₂] (1) (molar ratio 1:2), a tetranickel (II) complex of the type [Ni₂{S₂OP(Fc)}₂]₂ (2) (molar ratio (1:1), as well as a Zn(II) complex [Zn{S₂P(Fc)(OH)}₂]₂ (3), and a Cd(II) complex [Cd{S₂P(Fc)(OH)}₂]₂ (4). Complexes 1-4 were characterized by 1H and 31P NMR and FT-IR, and complexes 1 and 2 were additionally analysed by X-Ray crystallography. After co-sensitization, the DSSCs were characterized using UV-Vis, cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and photovoltaic measurements (I-V curves). Overall finding shows that co-sensitization of our compounds with ruthenium dye N719 resulted in a better overall solar conversion efficiency than only pure N719 dye under the same experimental conditions. In conclusion, we report the first examples of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) co-sensitized with ferrocenyl dithiophosphonate complexes.

Keywords: dithiophosphonate, dye sensitized solar cell, co-sensitization, solar efficiency

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Authors: Nisha Nandlal Sharma, Julaluk Carmai, Saiprasit Koetniyom, Bernd Markert

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Whiplash Injuries are mostly experienced in car accidents. Symptoms of whiplash are commonly reported in studies, neck pain and headaches are two most common symptoms observed. The whiplash Injury mechanism is poorly understood. In present study, hybrid neck muscle model were developed with a combination of solid tetrahedral elements and 1D beam elements. Solid tetrahedral elements represents passive part of the muscle whereas, 1D beam elements represents active part. To simulate the active behavior of the muscle, Hill-type muscle model was applied to beam elements. To simulate non-linear passive properties of muscle, solid elements were modeled with rubber/foam material model. Some important muscles were then inserted into THUMS (Total Human Model for Safety) THUMS was given a boundary conditions similar to experimental tests. The model was exposed to 4g and 7g rear impacts as these load impacts are close to low speed impacts causing whiplash. The effect of muscle activation level on occupant kinematics during whiplash was analyzed.

Keywords: finite element model, muscle activation, THUMS, whiplash injury mechanism

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Authors: Rafal Sochaczewski, Grzegorz Baranski, Adam Majczak

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This paper presents the bench research results on a CNG injector at steady state. The quantities measured included voltage and current in a solenoid, pressure of gas behind an injector and injector’s flow rate. Accordingly, injector’s operation parameters were determined according to needle’s lift and injection pressure. The discrepancies between the theoretical (electric) and actual time of injection were defined to specify injector’s opening and closing lag times and the uniqueness of these values in successive cycles of gas injection. It has been demonstrated that needle’s lift has got a stronger impact on injector’s operating parameters than injection pressure. With increasing injection pressure, the force increases and closes an injection valve, which adversely affects uniqueness of injector’s operation. The paper also describes the concept of an injector dedicated to direct CNG injection into a combustion chamber in a dual-fuel engine. The injector’s design enables us to replace 80% of diesel fuel in a dual-fuel engine with a maximum power of 85 kW. Minimum injection pressure is 1,4 MPa then. Simultaneously, injector’s characteristics for varied needle’s lifts and injector’s nonlinear operating points were developed. Acknowledgement: This work has been financed by the Polish National Centre for Research and Development, under Grant Agreement No. PBS1/A6/4/2012.

Keywords: CNG injector, diesel engine, direct injection, dual fuel

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Authors: Ezzeldin M. T. Ali

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Arguably viewers hardly benefit from screen subtitles due to the inconsistency between scenarios and their subtitles. Research in this area will provide an understanding of the association between these scenarios and subtitles via context. It attempts to eliminate the inconsistency existing between contexts and screen subtitles providing insights into the problem. Specifically, the study aims at examining the extent to which the understanding of screen subtitles largely depends on the force of linguistic and situational contexts. This is because the context is assumed to have a powerful effect on the interpretation of the source text. Both descriptive and experimental methods were adopted for data collection. These included a test and paper-pencil-questionnaires where participants provided their impressions about the role of context in eliminating interpretation problems of screen subtitles. Participants developed a good background about screen subtitles watching films. Results showed that context forms a powerful element in understanding screen subtitles. Results also revealed that communicative translation fits well screen translation boosting the contextual meaning. The association of context and communicative translation makes subtitles globally more economical and intelligible. Context forms a central element for film language to be intelligible.

Keywords: communicative translation, context, scenario, powerful, intellgible

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Authors: Wizna, Helmi Muis, Hafil Abbas

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An experiment was conducted to improve the nutrient value of sago pith (Metroxylon sago Rottb) supplemented with Zn, Sulfur and urea through fermentation by using cellulolytic bacteria (Bacillus amyloliquefaciens) as inoculums. The experiment was determination of the optimum dose combination (dosage of Zn, S and urea) for sago pith fermentation based on nutrient quality and quantity of these fermented products. The study was conducted in experimental method, using the completely randomized design in factorial with 3 treatments consist of: factor A (Dose of urea: A1 = 2.0%, A2 = 3.0%), factor B (Dose of S: B1 = 0.2%, B2 = 0.4%) and factor C (Dose of Zn: C1 = 0.0025%, C2 = 0.005%). Results of study showed that optimum condition for fermentation process of sago pith with B. amyloliquefaciens caused a change of nutrient content was obtained at urea (3%), S (0,2%), and Zn (0,0025%). This fermentation process was able to increase amino acid average, reduce crude fiber content by 67% and increase crude protein by 433%, which made the nutritional value of the product based on dry matter was 18.22% crude protein, 12.42% crude fiber, 2525 Kcal/kg metabolic energy and 65.73% nitrogen retention.

Keywords: fermentation, sago pith, sulfur, Zn, urea, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens

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Authors: Anand Malik

Abstract:

The Himalayas with high tectonic activities poses a great threat to human life and property. Climate change is another reason which triggering extreme events multiple fold effect on high mountain glacial environment, rock falls, landslides, debris flows, flash flood and snow avalanches. One such extreme event of cloud burst along with breach of moraine dammed Chorabri Lake occurred from June 14 to June 17, 2013, triggered flooding of Saraswati and Mandakini rivers in the Kedarnath Valley of Rudraprayag district of Uttrakhand state of India. As a result, huge volume of water with its high velocity created a catastrophe of the century, which resulted into loss of large number of human/animals, pilgrimage, tourism, agriculture and property. Thus a comprehensive assessment of debris flow hazards requires GIS-based modeling using numerical methods. The aim of present study is to focus on analysis and mapping of debris flow movements using geospatial data with flow-r (developed by team at IGAR, University of Lausanne). The model is based on combined probabilistic and energetic algorithms for the assessment of spreading of flow with maximum run out distances. Aster Digital Elevation Model (DEM) with 30m x 30m cell size (resolution) is used as main geospatial data for preparing the run out assessment, while Landsat data is used to analyze land use land cover change in the study area. The results of the study area show that model can be applied with great accuracy as the model is very useful in determining debris flow areas. The results are compared with existing available landslides/debris flow maps. ArcGIS software is used in preparing run out susceptibility maps which can be used in debris flow mitigation and future land use planning.

Keywords: debris flow, geospatial data, GIS based modeling, flow-R

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Authors: Nazym Alykpashova

Abstract:

This article is based on the results of the action research at Nazarbayev Intellectual School in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan. The participants of this research were high school students who study Global Perspectives and Project Work course. Intellectual schools are designed to become an experimental site that develops, monitors, studies, analyzes, approves, implements modern models of educational programs. Subjects in NIS aimed to develop skills that will be useful for students in their life. Students learn how to do projects, research credible information, solve different issues. Many subjects cover complex topics, and most teachers feel that they often have to deliver a lot of information within one hour. Many educators recognize Conceptual Teaching, as well as Conceptual Learning, has a lot of benefits for students in terms of developing their perception of the subject topics. This qualitative paper presents findings of two research questions which explored high school students’ perception of conceptual teaching and its impact on their academic performance. Individual semi-structured interviews and observations were conducted with Global Perspectives teachers and students. The results of this action research assist teachers reflect on their professional practice.

Keywords: concept-based teaching, students’ research skills, teacher’s professional development, kazakhstan

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Authors: Mehrdad Abkenari, Orod Zarrinkafsh, Mohsen Ramezan Shirazi

Abstract:

Construction projects initiate in complicated dynamic environments and, due to the close relationships between project parameters and the unknown outer environment, they are faced with several uncertainties and risks. Success in time, cost and quality in large scale construction projects is uncertain in consequence of technological constraints, large number of stakeholders, too much time required, great capital requirements and poor definition of the extent and scope of the project. Projects that are faced with such environments and uncertainties can be well managed through utilization of the concept of risk management in project’s life cycle. Although the concept of risk is dependent on the opinion and idea of management, it suggests the risks of not achieving the project objectives as well. Furthermore, project’s risk analysis discusses the risks of development of inappropriate reactions. Since evaluation and prioritization of construction projects has been a difficult task, the network structure is considered to be an appropriate approach to analyze complex systems; therefore, we have used this structure for analyzing and modeling the issue. On the other hand, we face inadequacy of data in deterministic circumstances, and additionally the expert’s opinions are usually mathematically vague and are introduced in the form of linguistic variables instead of numerical expression. Owing to the fact that fuzzy logic is used for expressing the vagueness and uncertainty, formulation of expert’s opinion in the form of fuzzy numbers can be an appropriate approach. In other words, the evaluation and prioritization of construction projects on the basis of risk factors in real world is a complicated issue with lots of ambiguous qualitative characteristics. In this study, evaluated and prioritization the risk parameters and factors with fuzzy logy method by combination of three method DEMATEL (Decision Making Trial and Evaluation), ANP (Analytic Network Process) and TOPSIS (Technique for Order-Preference by Similarity Ideal Solution) on Construction Management.

Keywords: fuzzy logy, risk, prioritization, assessment

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Authors: Mortez Alijani, Anas Osman

Abstract:

Recently, the popularity of Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has skyrocketed amidst the unprecedented events and the global pandemic, as they play a key role in both the security and health sectors, through surveillance, taking test samples, transportation of crucial goods and spreading awareness among civilians. However, the process of designing and producing such aerial robots is suppressed by the internal and external constraints that pose serious challenges. Landing is one of the key operations during flight, especially, the autonomous landing of UAVs on a moving platform is a scientifically complex engineering problem. Typically having a successful automatic landing of UAV on a moving platform requires accurate localization of landing, fast trajectory planning, and robust control planning. To achieve these goals, the information about the autonomous landing process such as the intersection point, the position of platform/UAV and inclination angle are more necessary. In this study, the mathematical approach to this problem in the X-Y axis based on the inclination angle and position of UAV in the landing process have been presented. The experimental results depict the accurate position of the UAV, intersection between UAV and moving platform and inclination angle in the landing process, allowing prediction of the intersection point.

Keywords: autonomous landing, inclination angle, unmanned aerial vehicles, moving platform, X-Y axis, intersection point

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Authors: Silvana Caglieri

Abstract:

Theoretical study of acetylation of p-methylaniline catalyzed by Cu2+ ions from the analysis of intermediate of the reaction was carried out. The study of acetylation of amines is of great interest by the utility of its products of reaction and is one of the most frequently used transformations in organic synthesis as it provides an efficient and inexpensive means for protecting amino groups in a multistep synthetic process. Acetylation of amine is a nucleophilic substitution reaction. This reaction can be catalyzed by Lewis acid, metallic ion. In reaction mechanism, the metallic ion formed a complex with the oxygen of the acetic anhydride carbonyl, facilitating the polarization of the same and the successive addition of amine at the position to form a tetrahedral intermediate, determining step of the rate of the reaction. Experimental work agreed that this reaction takes place with the formation of a tetrahedral intermediate. In the present theoretical work were investigated the structure and energy of the tetrahedral intermediate of the reaction catalyzed by Cu2+ ions. Geometries of all species involved in the acetylation were made and identified. All of the geometry optimizations were performed by the method at the DFT/B3LYP level of theory and the method MP2. Were adopted the 6-31+G* basis sets. Energies were calculated using the Mechanics-UFF method. Following the same procedure it was identified the geometric parameters and energy of reaction intermediate. The calculations show 61.35 kcal/mol of energy for the tetrahedral intermediate and the energy of activation for the reaction was 15.55 kcal/mol.

Keywords: amides, amines, DFT, MP2

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