Search results for: spatial condition

Authors: Olusegun Oguntoke, Aramide Y. Tijani, Olayide R. Adetunji

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Environmental noise has become a major threat to the quality of human life, and it is generally more severe in cities. This study assessed the level of environmental noise, mapped the spatial pattern at different times of the day and examined the association with morbidity of auditory ailments in Abeokuta metropolis. The entire metropolis was divided into 80 cells (areas) of 1000 m by 1000 m; out of which 33 were randomly selected for noise levels assessment. Portable noise meter (AR824) was used to measure noise level, and Global Positioning System (Garmin GPS-72H) was employed to take the coordinates of the sample sites for mapping. Risk map of the noise levels was produced using Kriging interpolation techniques based on the spatial spread of measured noise values across the study area. Data on cases of hearing impairments were collected from four major hospitals in the city. Data collected from field measurements and medical records were subjected to descriptive (frequency and percentage) and inferential (mean, ANOVA and correlation) statistics using SPSS (version 20.0). ArcMap 10.1 was employed for spatial analysis and mapping. Results showed mean noise levels range at morning (42.4 ± 4.14 – 88.2 ± 15.1 dBA), afternoon (45.0 ± 6.72– 86.4 ± 12.5 dBA) and evening (51.0 ± 6.55–84.4 ± 5.19 dBA) across the study area. The interpolated maps identified Kuto, Okelowo, Isale-Igbein, and Sapon as high noise risk areas. These are the central business district and nucleus of Abeokuta metropolis where commercial activities, high traffic volume, and clustered buildings exist. The monitored noise levels varied significantly among the sampled areas in the morning, afternoon and evening (p < 0.05). A significant correlation was found between diagnosed cases of auditory ailments and noise levels measured in the morning (r=0.39 at p < 0.05). Common auditory ailments found across the metropolis included impaired hearing (25.8%), tinnitus (16.4%) and otitis (15.0%). The most affected age groups were between 11-30 years while the male gender had more cases of hearing impairments (51.2%) than the females. The study revealed that environmental noise levels exceeded the recommended standards in the morning, afternoon and evening in 60.6%, 61% and 72.7% of the sampled areas respectively. Summarily, environmental noise in the study area is high and contributes to the morbidity of auditory ailments. Areas identified as hot spots of noise pollution should be avoided in the location of noise sensitive activities while environmental noise monitoring should be included as part of the mandate of the regulatory agencies in Nigeria.

Keywords: noise pollution, associative analysis, auditory impairment, urban, human exposure

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Authors: Rabia Munsaf Khan, Eshrat Fatima

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The analysis of the spatial extent and temporal change of vegetation cover using remotely sensed data is of critical importance to agricultural sciences. Pakistan, being an agricultural country depends on this resource as it makes 70% of the GDP. The case study is of Lal Suhanra National Park, which is not only the biggest forest reserve of Pakistan but also of Asia. The study is performed using different temporal images of Landsat. Also, the results of Landsat are cross-checked by using Sentinel-2 imagery as it has both higher spectral and spatial resolution. Vegetation can easily be detected using NDVI which is a common and widely used index. It is an important vegetation index, widely applied in research on global environmental and climatic change. The images are then classified to observe the change occurred over 15 years. Vegetation cover maps of 2000 and 2016 are used to generate the map of vegetation change detection for the respective years and to find out the changing pattern of vegetation cover. Also, the NDVI values aided in the detection of percentage decrease in vegetation cover. The study reveals that vegetation cover of the area has decreased significantly during the year 2000 and 2016.

Keywords: Landsat, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), sentinel 2, Greenland monitoring

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Authors: Safwat Mohamed, Rasha Metawi, Hadeel Khalil, Hussein Kamal

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This paper discusses and reveals the manufacturing techniques of the leather scale armour of Tutankhamun. This armour was in critical condition and went under many conservation procedures as it suffered from some serious deterioration aspects including fragmentation. In addition, its original shape was lost, the leather scales were found scattered in the box and separated from the linen basis, and hence its outlines were blurred and incomprehensible. In view of this, the leather scale armour of Tutankhamun was desperate for urgent conservation and reconstruction interventions. Documentation measures were done before conservation. Several re-treatable conservation procedures were applied seeking for stabilizing the armour and reaching sustainable condition. The conservation treatments included many investigations and analyses that helped in revealing materials and techniques of making the armour. The leather scale armour of Tutankhamun consisted of leather scales attached to a linen support. This linen support consisted of several layers. Howard Carter assumed that the linen support consisted of 6 layers. The undertaken conservation treatments helped in revealing the actual number of layers of the linen support as well as in reaching the most sustainable condition. This paper views the importance of the conservation procedures, which were recently carried out on Tutankhamun’s leather scale armour, in identifying and revealing all materials and techniques used in its manufacturing. The collected data about manufacturing techniques were used in making a replica of the leather scale armour with the same methods and materials.

Keywords: leather scales armours, conservation, manufacturing techniques, Tutankhamun, producing a replica

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Authors: Tomoaki Hashimoto

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Model predictive control is a kind of optimal feedback control in which control performance over a finite future is optimized with a performance index that has a moving initial time and a moving terminal time. This paper examines the stability of model predictive control for linear discrete-time systems with additive stochastic disturbances. A sufficient condition for the stability of the closed-loop system with model predictive control is derived by means of a linear matrix inequality. The objective of this paper is to show the results of computational simulations in order to verify the validity of the obtained stability condition.

Keywords: computational simulations, optimal control, predictive control, stochastic systems, discrete-time systems

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Authors: Heny Pratiwi, Niken Silmi Surjandari, Noegroho Djarwanti

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This study was conducted to determine the potential for landslides as a result of monthly rainfall in a watershed. Rainfall data that will be used is rainfall from years 2007-2011. Research methods created by modeling the slope on some variation of angle in a row 30◦, 45◦, and 60◦ with a homogeneous layer of soil. Slope Stability Analysis using Method Fellenius. The results of the slope stability analysis without rain on slope 30◦, 45◦, and 60◦ respectively 1.3846, 1.0115, and 0.7284. Results in the absence of rain showed that the slope on the slope 45◦ are in critical condition and on a slope with a slope 60◦ already avalanche with safety factor value <1. The results in the rainy conditions shows slopes 30◦ are in critical condition with a value factor <1 due to the intensity of monthly rainfall> 250 mm/month.

Keywords: slope stability, monthly rainfall, infiltration, safety factor, Fellenius method

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Authors: Yingchen Yang

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In the present work, development of a new vertical-axis unidirectional wave rotor is reported. The wave rotor is a key component of a wave energy converter (WEC), which harvests energy from ocean waves. Differing from the huge majority of WEC designs that perform reciprocating motions (heaving up and down, swaying back and forth, etc.), our wave rotor performs unidirectional rotation about a vertical axis when directly exposed in waves. The unidirectional feature of the rotor makes the rotor respond well in a wide range of the wave frequency. The vertical axis arrangement of the rotor makes the rotor insensitive to the wave propagation direction. The rotor employs blades with a cross-section in an airfoil shape and a span curled into a semi-oval shape. Two sets of blades, with one nested inside the other, constitute the rotor. In waves, water particles perform an omnidirectional motion that constantly changes in both spatial and temporal domains. The blade nesting permits a compact rotor configuration that ‘sees’ a relatively uniform local flow in the spatial domain. The rotor was experimentally tested in simulated waves in a wave flume under various conditions. The testing results show a promising unidirectional rotor that is capable of extracting energy from waves at a capture width ratio of 0.08 to 0.15, depending on detailed wave conditions.

Keywords: unidirectional, vertical axis, wave energy converter, wave rotor

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Authors: Hatim Laalej, Salvador Sumohano-Verdeja, Thomas McLeay

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Monitoring of tool wear in milling operations is essential for achieving the desired dimensional accuracy and surface finish of a machined workpiece. Although there are numerous statistical models and artificial intelligence techniques available for monitoring the wear of cutting tools, these techniques cannot pin point which cutting edge of the tool, or which insert in the case of indexable tooling, is worn or broken. Currently, the task of monitoring the wear on the tool cutting edges is carried out by the operator who performs a manual inspection, causing undesirable stoppages of machine tools and consequently resulting in costs incurred from lost productivity. The present study is concerned with the development of a flute tracking system to segment signals related to each physical flute of a cutter with three flutes used in an end milling operation. The purpose of the system is to monitor the cutting condition for individual flutes separately in order to determine their progressive wear rates and to predict imminent tool failure. The results of this study clearly show that signals associated with each flute can be effectively segmented using the proposed flute tracking system. Furthermore, the results illustrate that by segmenting the sensor signal by flutes it is possible to investigate the wear in each physical cutting edge of the cutting tool. These findings are significant in that they facilitate the online condition monitoring of a cutting tool for each specific flute without the need for operators/engineers to perform manual inspections of the tool.

Keywords: machining, milling operation, tool condition monitoring, tool wear prediction

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Authors: María de los Ángeles Cerda González, Itzel Arriaga Hurtado, Pascacio José Martínez Pichardo

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In México, the recognition of refugee condition is a fundamental right which, as host State, has the obligation of respect, protect, and fulfill to the foreigners – where we can find the figure of immigrants in irregular situation-, that cannot return to their country of origin for humanitarian reasons. The recognition of the refugee condition as a fundamental right in the Mexican law system proceeds under these situations: 1. The immigrant applies for the refugee condition, even without the necessary proving elements to accredit the humanitarian character of his departure from his country of origin. 2. The immigrant does not apply for the recognition of refugee because he does not know he has the right to, even if he has the profile to apply for. 3. The immigrant who applies fulfills the requirements of the administrative procedure and has access to the refugee recognition. Of the three situations above, only the last one is contemplated for the national indexes of the status refugee; and the first two prove the inefficiency of the governmental system viewed from its lack of sensibility consequence of the no education in human rights matter and which results in the legal vulnerability of the immigrants in irregular situation because they do not have access to the procuration and administration of justice. In the aim of determining the causes and consequences of the no recognition of the refugee status, this investigation was structured from a systemic analysis which objective is to show the advances in Central American humanitarian emergency investigation, the Mexican States actions to protect, respect and fulfil the fundamental right of refugee of immigrants in irregular situation and the social and legal vulnerabilities suffered by Central Americans in Mexico. Therefore, to achieve the deduction of the legal nature of the humanitarian emergency from the Human Rights as a branch of the International Public Law, a conceptual framework is structured using the inductive deductive method. The problem statement is made from a legal framework to approach a theoretical scheme under the theory of social systems, from the analysis of the lack of communication of the governmental and normative subsystems of the Mexican legal system relative to the process undertaken by the Central American immigrants to achieve the recognition of the refugee status as a human right. Accordingly, is determined that fulfilling the obligations of the State referent to grant the right of the recognition of the refugee condition, would mean a guideline for a new stage in Mexican Law, because it would enlarge the constitutional benefits to everyone whose right to the recognition of refugee has been denied an as consequence, a great advance in human rights matter would be achieved.

Keywords: central American immigrants in irregular situation, humanitarian emergency, human rights, refugee

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Authors: Mahdi Fakoor, Seyed Mohammad Navid Ghoreishi

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Initiation and propagation of cracks may cause catastrophic failures in rotating disks, and hence determination of fracture parameter in rotating disks under the different working condition is very important issue. In this paper, a comprehensive study of stress intensity factors in rotating disks containing 3D semi-elliptical cracks under the different working condition is investigated. In this regard, after verification of modeling and analytical procedure, the effects of mechanical properties, rotational velocity, and orientation of cracks on Stress Intensity Factors (SIF) in rotating disks under centrifugal loading are investigated. Also, the effects of using composite patch in reduction of SIF in rotating disks are studied. By that way, the effects of patching design variables like mechanical properties, thickness, and ply angle are investigated individually.

Keywords: stress intensity factor, semi-elliptical crack, rotating disk, finite element analysis (FEA)

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Authors: Hitesh Tahbildar

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The cost of test data generation for a program is computationally very high. In general case, no algorithm to generate test data for all types of algorithms has been found. The cost of generating test data for different types of algorithm is different. Till date, people are emphasizing the need to generate test data for different types of programming constructs rather than different types of algorithms. The test data generation methods have been implemented to find heuristics for different types of algorithms. Some algorithms that includes divide and conquer, backtracking, greedy approach, dynamic programming to find the minimum cost of test data generation have been tested. Our experimental results say that some of these types of algorithm can be used as a necessary condition for selecting heuristics and programming constructs are sufficient condition for selecting our heuristics. Finally we recommend the different heuristics for test data generation to be selected for different types of algorithms.

Keywords: ongest path, saturation point, lmax, kL, kS

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Authors: Jung–Min Yang

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Solvability of the model matching problem for input/output switched asynchronous sequential machines is discussed in this paper. The control objective is to determine the existence condition and design algorithm for a corrective controller that can match the stable-state behavior of the closed-loop system to that of a reference model. Switching operations and correction procedures are incorporated using output feedback so that the controlled switched machine can show the desired input/output behavior. A matrix expression is presented to address reachability of switched asynchronous sequential machines with output equivalence with respect to a model. The presented reachability condition for the controller design is validated in a simple example.

Keywords: asynchronous sequential machines, corrective control, model matching, input/output control

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Authors: O. O. Olawusi-Peters, O. E. Aguda, F. O. Okoye

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Investigations on the accumulation of heavy metals in water and sediments of River Ogbese were carried out between December 2010 and February 2011 using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. Etheria elliptica a sessile organism was also used to determine the concentration of heavy metal in the aquatic environmental. In water, Cu had the highest concentration (0.55–0.13 mg/l ±0.1) while in sediments, the highest value obtained was in Fe (1.46-3.89mg/l±0.27). The minimum concentrations recorded were in Pb; which was below detectable level. The result also revealed that the shell accumulated more heavy metals than the flesh of the mussel with Cu in the shell exhibiting a negative correlation with all the metals in the flesh. However, the condition factor (K) value is 6.44, an indication of good health. The length-weight relationship is expressed as W=-0.48xL 1.94 (r2=0.29) showing the growth pattern to be negatively allometric.

Keywords: condition factor, Etheria elliptica, heavy metals, River Ogbese

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Authors: Ayman M. Mansour

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In this paper, we propose a multi-agent intelligent system that is used for monitoring the health conditions of elderly people. Monitoring the health condition of elderly people is a complex problem that involves different medical units and requires continuous monitoring. Such expert system is highly needed in rural areas because of inadequate number of available specialized physicians or nurses. Such monitoring must have autonomous interactions between these medical units in order to be effective. A multi-agent system is formed by a community of agents that exchange information and proactively help one another to achieve the goal of elderly monitoring. The agents in the developed system are equipped with intelligent decision maker that arms them with the rule-based reasoning capability that can assist the physicians in making decisions regarding the medical condition of elderly people.

Keywords: fuzzy logic, inference system, monitoring system, multi-agent system

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Authors: Nodi Islam

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This paper critically reads Richard Powers’ novel The Echo Maker to read and understand the personal traumas of the characters in the novel depending on the various situations they face throughout the story. Also, the paper attempts to read different traumas and disorders due to their different situations. With a focus on the individual experiences, this paper addresses the core issues of trauma, which triggers their reactions and reads the novel through theories of Freud, Caruth, and other critics in this field. While transcending the boundary of personal and collective trauma, this paper suggests that traumas not only arise from the core mental issues, from both past or present memories; it also depends on places too which can be called, according to Yi-Fu Tuan, topophobia. Intimate places such as home provoke not only attachment and expectation but also produce fear in a person. Failure in identifying with such places means losing a central piece of identity of the individual. In order to analyse the traumas in the novel, the characters’ association with homes and places has been provided. This paper attempts to suggest that people are not traumatised because of what Freud explained as unpleasant memories of the past but also intimacy and lost identities related to a place can trigger trauma.

Keywords: spatial trauma, traumatic stress disorder, identity and place, core mental issues

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Authors: Syed Khurram Mahmud, Athar Naveed, Shoaib Arif

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Beamforming is a signal processing technique extensively utilized in wireless communications and radars for desired signal intensification and interference signal minimization through spatial selectivity. In this paper, we present a method for calculation of optimal weight vectors for smart antenna array, to achieve a directive pattern during transmission and selective reception in interference prone environment. In proposed scheme, Mutual Information (MI) extrema are evaluated through an energy constrained objective function, which is based on a-priori information of interference source and desired array factor. Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR) performance is evaluated for both transmission and reception. In our scheme, MI is presented as an index to identify trade-off between information gain, SINR, illumination time and spatial selectivity in an energy constrained optimization problem. The employed method yields lesser computational complexity, which is presented through comparative analysis with conventional methods in vogue. MI based beamforming offers enhancement of signal integrity in degraded environment while reducing computational intricacy and correlating key performance indicators.

Keywords: beamforming, interference, mutual information, wireless communications

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Authors: Priti Saha, Biswajit Paul

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Rapid urbanization and industrialization have increased the demand of groundwater. However, the present era has evident an enormous level of groundwater pollution. Therefore, water quality assessment is paramount importance to evaluate its suitability for drinking, irrigation and industrial use. This study focus to evaluate the groundwater quality of an industrial city in eastern India through interdisciplinary techniques. The multi-purpose Water Quality Index (WQI) assess the suitability for drinking as well as irrigation of forty sampling locations, where 2.5% and 15% of sampling locations have excellent water quality (WQI:0-25) as well as 15% and 40% have good quality (WQI:25-50), which represents its suitability for drinking and irrigation respectively. However, the industrial water quality was assessed through Ryznar Stability Index (LSI), which affirmed that only 2.5% of sampling locations have neither corrosive nor scale forming properties (RSI: 6.2-6.8). These techniques with the integration of geographical information system (GIS) for spatial assessment indorsed its effectiveness to identify the regions where the water bodies are suitable to use for drinking, irrigation as well as industrial activities. Further, the sources of these contaminants were identified through factor analysis (FA), which revealed that both the geogenic as well as anthropogenic sources were responsible for groundwater pollution. This research demonstrates the effectiveness of statistical and GIS techniques for the analysis of environmental contaminants.

Keywords: groundwater, water quality analysis, water quality index, WQI, factor analysis, FA, spatial assessment

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Authors: M. Z. Ramli, A. Adnan, Chee Wei Tan

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To gain a better understanding of earthquake forces on reinforced concrete bridge piers with different bearing condition, a series of experiments was conducted on a realistic, 1:4 scale reinforced concrete bridge pier. The normal practices of laminated seismic isolation bearing is compared with the new design spring seismic isolation bearing where invented by Engineering Seismology and Earthquake Engineering Research (e-SEER), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The nonlinear behavior of piers is modeled using the fibre beam theory to verify the experimental works. The hysteresis of bridge pier with different bearing condition was illustrated under different Peak Ground Acceleration (PGAs). The average slope of the hysteresis respectively to the global stiffness was also investigated.

Keywords: bridge, laminated seismic isolation, spring seismic isolation, Peak Ground Acceleration, stiffness

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Authors: Cheng-Lin Liu, Fei Liu

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For the multi-agent systems with agent's dynamics described by high-order integrator, and usual consensus algorithm composed of the state coordination control parts is proposed. Under communication delay, consensus algorithm in asynchronously-coupled form just can make the agents achieve a stationary consensus, and sufficient consensus condition is obtained based on frequency-domain analysis. To recover the original consensus state of the high-order agents without communication delay, besides, a predictor-based consensus algorithm is constructed via multiplying the delayed neighboring agents' states by a delay-related compensation part, and sufficient consensus condition is also obtained. Simulation illustrates the correctness of the results.

Keywords: high-order dynamic agents, communication delay, consensus, predictor-based algorithm

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Authors: Arun Das

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Indian agriculture is acclaimed from the dates of Indus civilization (2500 BC). Since this time until the day, there were tremendous expansion in terms of space and technology has taken place. Abrupt growth in technology took place past one and half century. Consequent to this development, the land which was brought under agriculture in the initial stages of introducing agriculture for the first time, that land is not possessing the same physical condition. Either it has lost the productive capacity or modified into semi agriculture land. On the grounds of its capacity and interwoven characteristics seven phases of agriculture scenario has been identified. Most of the land is on the march of desertification. Identifying the stages and the phase of the agriculture scenario is most relevant from the point of view of food security at regional, national and at global level. Secondly decisive measure can put back the degenerating environmental condition into arrest. GIS and Remote sensing applications have been used to identify the phases of agriculture.

Keywords: agriculture phases, desertification, deforestation, foods security, transmigration

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Authors: R. Karami, A. Gharaei

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The aim of this study was to investigate ecotourism status in Chabahar coastal zone using swot analysis and strategic planning. Firstly, the current status of region was studied by literature review, field survey and statistical analysis. Then strengths and weaknesses (internal factors) were identified as well as opportunities and threats (external factors) using Delphi Method. Based on the obtained results, the total score of 2.46 in IFE matrix and 2.33 in the EFE matrix represents poor condition related to the internal and external factors respectively. This condition means both external and internal factors have not been utilized properly and the zone needs defensive plan; thus appropriate planning and organizational management practices are required to deal with these factors. Furthermore strategic goals, objectives and action plans in short, medium and long term schedule were formulated in attention to swot analysis.

Keywords: tourism, SWOT analysis, strategic planning, Chabahar

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Authors: Jason Clarke, Michaela Porubanova, Angela Mazzoli, Gulsah Kut

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What accounts for our perception that time inexorably passes in one direction, from the past to the future, the so-called arrow of time, given that the laws of physics permit motion in one temporal direction to also happen in the reverse temporal direction? Modern physics says that the reason for time’s unidirectional physical arrow is the relationship between time and entropy, the degree of disorder in the universe, which is evolving from low entropy (high order; thermal disequilibrium) toward high entropy (high disorder; thermal equilibrium), the second law of thermodynamics. Accordingly, our perception of the direction of time, from past to future, is believed to emanate as a result of the natural evolution of entropy from low to high, with low entropy defining our notion of ‘before’ and high entropy defining our notion of ‘after’. Here we explored this proposed relationship between entropy and the perception of time’s arrow. We predicted that if the brain has some mechanism for detecting entropy, whose output feeds into processes involved in constructing our perception of the direction of time, presentation of violations to the expectation that low entropy defines ‘before’ and high entropy defines ‘after’ would alert this mechanism, leading to measurable behavioral effects, namely a disruption in duration perception. To test this hypothesis, participants were shown briefly-presented (1000 ms or 500 ms) computer-generated visual dynamic events: novel 3D shapes that were seen either to evolve from whole figures into parts (low to high entropy condition) or were seen in the reverse direction: parts that coalesced into whole figures (high to low entropy condition). On each trial, participants were instructed to reproduce the duration of their visual experience of the stimulus by pressing and releasing the space bar. To ensure that attention was being deployed to the stimuli, a secondary task was to report the direction of the visual event (forward or reverse motion). Participants completed 60 trials. As predicted, we found that duration reproduction was significantly longer for the high to low entropy condition compared to the low to high entropy condition (p=.03). This preliminary data suggests the presence of a neural mechanism that detects entropy, which is used by other processes to construct our perception of the direction of time or time’s arrow.

Keywords: time perception, entropy, temporal illusions, duration perception

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Authors: András Szekrényes

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Delamination is one of the major failure modes in laminated composite structures. Delamination tips are mostly captured by spatial numerical models in order to predict crack growth. This paper presents some mechanical models of delaminated composite shells based on shallow shell theories. The mechanical fields are based on a third-order displacement field in terms of the through-thickness coordinate of the laminated shell. The undelaminated and delaminated parts are captured by separate models and the continuity and boundary conditions are also formulated in a general way providing a large size boundary value problem. The system of differential equations is solved by the state space method for an elliptic delaminated shell having simply supported edges. The comparison of the proposed and a numerical model indicates that the primary indicator of the model is the deflection, the secondary is the widthwise distribution of the energy release rate. The model is promising and suitable to determine accurately the J-integral distribution along the delamination front. Based on the proposed model it is also possible to develop finite elements which are able to replace the computationally expensive spatial models of delaminated structures.

Keywords: J-integral, levy method, third-order shell theory, state space solution

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Authors: K. I. M. Guerra, L. A. P. Silva, J. C. Leal

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This study aims to understand with more amplitude and clarity the behavior of a porous medium where a pressure wave travels, translated into relative displacements inside the material, using mathematical tools derived from topology and symplectic geometry. The paper starts with a given partial differential equation based on the continuity and conservation theorems to describe the traveling wave through the porous body. A solution for this equation is proposed after all boundary, and initial conditions are fixed, and it’s accepted that the solution lies in a manifold U of purely spatial dimensions and that is embedded in the Real n-dimensional manifold, with spatial and kinetic dimensions. It’s shown that the U manifold of lower dimensions than IRna, where it is embedded, inherits properties of the vector spaces existing inside the topology it lies on. Then, a second manifold (U*), embedded in another space called IRnb of stress dimensions, is proposed and there’s a non-degenerative function that maps it into the U manifold. This relation is proved as a transformation in between two corresponding admissible solutions of the differential equation in distinct dimensions and properties, leading to a more visual and intuitive understanding of the whole dynamic process of a stress wave through a porous medium and also highlighting the dimensional invariance of Terzaghi’s theory for any coordinate system.

Keywords: poremechanics, soil dynamics, symplectic geometry, wave propagation

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Authors: Ayantika Biswas

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Hypertension still remains one of the most important preventable contributors to adult mortality and morbidity and a major public health challenge worldwide. Studying regional and rural-urban differences in prevalence and assessment of the contributions of different indicators is essential in determining the drivers of this condition. The 2015-16 National Family Health Survey data has been used for the study. Bivariate analysis, multinomial regression analysis, concentration indices and decomposition of concentration indices assessing contribution of factors has been undertaken in the present study. An overall concentration index of 0.003 has been found for hypertensive population, which shows its concentration among the richer wealth quintiles. The contribution of factors like age 45 to 49 years, years of schooling between 5 to 9 years are factors that are important contributors to inequality in hypertension occurrence. Studies should be conducted to find approaches to prevent or delay the onset of the condition.

Keywords: hypertension, decomposition, inequalities, India

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Authors: Manish Kumar

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Reinforced cement concrete is getting extensively used for construction of different type of structures for the last one century. During this period, we have constructed many structures like buildings, bridges, industrial structures, pavement, water tanks etc. using this construction material. These structures have been created with huge investment of resources. It is essential to maintain those structures in functional condition. Since deterioration in RCC Structures is a common and natural phenomenon it is required to have a detailed plan, methodology for structural repair and rehabilitation shall be in place for dealing such issues. It is important to know exact reason of distress, type of distress and correct method of repair concrete structures. The different methods of repair are described in paper according to distress category which can be refereed for repair. Major finding of the study is that to protect our structure we need to have maintenance frequency and correct material to be chosen for repair. Also workmanship during repair needs to be taken utmost care for quality repair.

Keywords: deterioration, functional condition, reinforced cement concrete, resources

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Authors: Atilla Bayram

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This paper presents the trajectory tracking control of a spatial redundant hybrid manipulator. This manipulator consists of two parallel manipulators which are a variable geometry truss (VGT) module. In fact, each VGT module with 3-degress of freedom (DOF) is a planar parallel manipulator and their operational planes of these VGT modules are arranged to be orthogonal to each other. Also, the manipulator contains a twist motion part attached to the top of the second VGT module to supply the missing orientation of the endeffector. These three modules constitute totally 7-DOF hybrid (parallel-parallel) redundant spatial manipulator. The forward kinematics equations of this manipulator are obtained, then, according to these equations, the inverse kinematics is solved based on an optimization with the joint limit avoidance. The dynamic equations are formed by using virtual work method. In order to test the performance of the redundant manipulator and the controllers presented, two different desired trajectories are followed by using the computed force control method and a switching control method. The switching control method is combined with the computed force control method and genetic algorithm. In the switching control method, the genetic algorithm is only used for fine tuning in the compensation of the trajectory tracking errors.

Keywords: computed force method, genetic algorithm, hybrid manipulator, inverse kinematics of redundant manipulators, variable geometry truss

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Authors: T. A. Adesiyan, J. A. Adekoya A. Akinlua, N. Torto

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One hundred and eighty six in situ soil samples of the B–horizon were collected around Gbongan–Odeyinka-Orileowu area, southwestern Nigeria, delineated by longitude 4°15l and 4°30l and latitude 7°14l and 7°31 for a reconnaissance geochemical soil survey. The objective was to determine the distribution pattern of some trace metals in the area with a view to discovering any indication of metallic mineralization. The samples were air–dried and sieved to obtain the minus 230 µ fractions which were used for pH determinations and subjected to hot aqua regia acid digestion. The solutions obtained were analyzed for Ag, As, Au, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sn, and Zn using atomic absorption spectrometric methods. The resulting data were subjected to simple statistical treatment and used in preparing distribution maps of the elements. With these, the spatial distributions of the elements in the area were discussed. The pH of the soils range from 4.70 to 7.59 and this reflects the geochemical distribution patterns of trace metals in the area. The spatial distribution maps of the elements showed similarity in the distributions of Co, Cr, Fe, Ni, Mn and Pb. This suggests close associations between these elements none of which showed any significant anomaly in the study. The associations might be due to the scavenging actions of Fe–Mn oxides on the elements. Only Ag, Au and Sn on one hand and Zn on the other hand showed significant anomalies, which are thought to be due to mineralization and anthropogenic activities respectively.

Keywords: distribution, metals, Gbongan, Nigeria, mineralization anthropogenic

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Authors: M. Baghdasaryan, A. Sukiasyan

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An algorithm for estimating the stable operation conditions of the synchronous motor of the ore mill electric drive is proposed. The stable operation conditions of the synchronous motor are revealed, taking into account the estimation of the q angle change and the technological factors. The stability condition obtained allows to ensure the stable operation of the motor in the synchronous mode, taking into account the nonlinear character of the mill loading. The developed algorithm gives an opportunity to present the undesirable phenomena, arising in the electric drive system. The obtained stability condition can be successfully applied for the optimal control of the electromechanical system of the mill.

Keywords: electric drive, synchronous motor, ore mill, stability, technological factors

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Authors: Krzysztof Malczewski

Abstract:

PET is widely applied scanning procedure in medical imaging based research. It delivers measurements of functioning in distinct areas of the human brain while the patient is comfortable, conscious and alert. This article presents the new compression sensing based super-resolution algorithm for improving the image resolution in clinical Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanners. The issue of motion artifacts is well known in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) studies as its side effect. The PET images are being acquired over a limited period of time. As the patients cannot hold breath during the PET data gathering, spatial blurring and motion artefacts are the usual result. These may lead to wrong diagnosis. It is shown that the presented approach improves PET spatial resolution in cases when Compressed Sensing (CS) sequences are used. Compressed Sensing (CS) aims at signal and images reconstructing from significantly fewer measurements than were traditionally thought necessary. The application of CS to PET has the potential for significant scan time reductions, with visible benefits for patients and health care economics. In this study the goal is to combine super-resolution image enhancement algorithm with CS framework to achieve high resolution PET output. Both methods emphasize on maximizing image sparsity on known sparse transform domain and minimizing fidelity.

Keywords: PET, super-resolution, image reconstruction, pattern recognition

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Authors: Sarah M. Oteifa, Lobna A. Sherif, Yasser M. Mostafa

Abstract:

Visually impaired people, in their daily lives, face struggles and spatial barriers because the built environment is often designed with an extreme focus on the visual element, causing what is called architectural visual bias or ocularcentrism. The aim of the study is to holistically understand the world of the visually impaired as an attempt to extract the qualities of space that accommodate their needs, and to show the importance of multi-sensory, holistic designs for the blind. Within the framework of existential phenomenology, common themes are reached through "intersubjectivity": experience descriptions by blind people and blind architects, observation of how blind children learn to perceive their surrounding environment, and a personal lived blind-folded experience are analyzed. The extracted themes show how visually impaired people filter out and prioritize tactile (active, passive and dynamic touch), acoustic and olfactory spatial qualities respectively, and how this happened during the personal lived blind folded experience. The themes clarify that haptic and aural inclusive designs are essential to create environments suitable for the visually impaired to empower them towards an independent, safe and efficient life.

Keywords: architecture, architectural ocularcentrism, multi-sensory design, visually impaired

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