Search results for: solid isotropic material with penalization method

Authors: Adeyemi, Samuel Olusegun

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Biometrics and dietary habit of Citharinus citharus in the lower Niger River area of kogi state were studied between October and December, 2010. A total of 120 fish sampled were used for the study. The total length, standard length and weight were taken for each fish sample for the estimations of length-weight relationship using the formula W = aLb and transformed to Log W = Log a + b Log L. Stomach contents were analyzed by frequency of occurrence method. The standard length of males, females and combined sexes ranged between 6.8 - 16.5, 7.3 – 14.3 cm, 6.8 – 74.2 (cm) respectively, with b – values of 3.0963, 3.174 and 3.1382. The condition factor ranged from 2.04 – 2.80, 1.88 – 2.86 and 1.88 – 2.86 respectively. The food and feeding habits shows that the fish feeds mainly sand grain (25.83%), mud (24.16%), plant parts (12.50%), insect part (2.50%), algae (12.50%) and unidentified items (5.00%). C. citharus in the lower Niger area of kogi state could be termed to an omnivore. River Niger could be said to be suitable for growth and survival of the fish species C. citharus.

Keywords: length-weight, sexes, stomach content, feeding habits, plant materials

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Authors: Chijindu Okpalaoka, Charles Chinedu Onuselogu

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COVID-19, humanity's coronavirus disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, was first detected in late 2019 in Wuhan, China. COVID-19 lacked an established conventional pharmaceutical therapy, and as a result, the outbreak quickly became an epidemic affecting the entire World. Only a qPCR assay is reliable for diagnosing COVID-19. Clustered, regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) technology is being researched for speedy and specific identification of COVID-19, among other therapeutic techniques. Apart from its therapeutic capabilities, the CRISPR technique is being evaluated to develop antiviral therapies; nevertheless, no CRISPR-based medication has been approved for human use to date. Prophylactic antiviral CRISPR in living being cells, a Cas 13-based approach against coronavirus, has been developed. While this method can be evolved into a treatment approach, it may face substantial obstacles in human clinical trials for licensure. This study discussed the potential applications of CRISPR-based techniques for developing a speedy and accurate feasible treatment alternative for the COVID-19 virus.

Keywords: COVID-19, CRISPR technique, Cas13, SARS-CoV-2, prophylactic antiviral

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Authors: Ratul Das

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The present experimental study insights the decontamination of instantaneous velocity fluctuations captured by Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) in gravel-bed streams to ascertain near-bed turbulence for low Reynolds number. The interference between incidental and reflected pulses produce spikes in the ADV data especially in the near-bed flow zone and therefore filtering the data are very essential. Nortek’s Vectrino four-receiver ADV probe was used to capture the instantaneous three-dimensional velocity fluctuations over a non-cohesive bed. A spike removal algorithm based on the acceleration threshold method was applied to note the bed roughness and its influence on velocity fluctuations and velocity power spectra in the carrier fluid. The velocity power spectra of despiked signals with a best combination of velocity threshold (VT) and acceleration threshold (AT) are proposed which ascertained velocity power spectra a satisfactory fit with the Kolmogorov “–5/3 scaling-law” in the inertial sub-range. Also, velocity distributions below the roughness crest level fairly follows a third-degree polynomial series.

Keywords: acoustic doppler velocimeter, gravel-bed, spike removal, reynolds shear stress, near-bed turbulence, velocity power spectra

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Authors: Foroozan Sadri, Mohammadmehdi Moulaii, Farkhondeh Vahdati

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Smart materials can create a great revolution in our built environment, as living systems do. In this research, the optimal structure of healthcare building envelopes is analyzed in terms of thickness according to the utility of the smart-nano materials as nontoxic substances in the region. The research method in this paper is based on library studies and simulation. Grasshopper program is employed to simulate thermal characteristics to achieve the optimum U-value in Semnan desert climate, according to Iranian national standards. The potential of healthcare envelope layouts in thermal properties development (primarily U-value) of these buildings is discussed due to the high thermal loads of healthcare buildings and also toxicity effects of conventional materials. As a result, envelope thicknesses are calculated, and the performance of the nano-PCM and gypsum wallboards are compared. A solution with comparable performance using smart-nano materials instead of conventional materials would determine a decrease in wall thickness.

Keywords: energy saving, exterior envelope, smart-nano materials, thermal performance, U-value

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Authors: Patarawan Sangnawakij, Sa-Aat Niwitpong

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In this paper, we proposed two new confidence intervals for the difference of coefficients of variation, CIw and CIs, in two independent gamma distributions. These proposed confidence intervals using the close form method of variance estimation which was presented by Donner and Zou (2010) based on concept of Wald and Score confidence interval, respectively. Monte Carlo simulation study is used to evaluate the performance, coverage probability and expected length, of these confidence intervals. The results indicate that values of coverage probabilities of the new confidence interval based on Wald and Score are satisfied the nominal coverage and close to nominal level 0.95 in various situations, particularly, the former proposed confidence interval is better when sample sizes are small. Moreover, the expected lengths of the proposed confidence intervals are nearly difference when sample sizes are moderate to large. Therefore, in this study, the confidence interval for the difference of coefficients of variation which based on Wald is preferable than the other one confidence interval.

Keywords: confidence interval, score’s interval, wald’s interval, coefficient of variation, gamma distribution, simulation study

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Authors: Sumaira Taj

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Blended learning is emerged as a prerequisite approach for teaching in all schools after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, how much public elementary and secondary schools in Pakistan are ready for adapting this approach and what should be done to prepare schools and students for blended learning are the questions that this paper attempts to answer. Mixed-method research methodology was used to collect data from 40 teachers, 500 students, and 10 mothers. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze quantitative data. As for as readiness is concerned, schools lack resources for blended/ virtual/ online classes from infra-structure to skills, parents’ literacy level hindered students’ learning process and teachers’ skills presented challenges in a smooth and swift shift of the schools from face-to-face learning to blended learning. It is recommended to establish a conducive environment in schools by providing all required resources and skills. Special trainings should be organized for low literacy level parents. Multiple ways should be adopted to benefit all students.

Keywords: blended learning, challenges in online classes, education in covid-19, public schools in pakistan

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Authors: Selin Guney, Andres Riquelme

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Among the main purposes of optimal and efficient forecasts of agricultural commodity prices is to guide the firms to advance the economic decision making process such as planning business operations and marketing decisions. Governments are also the beneficiaries and suppliers of agricultural price forecasts. They use this information to establish a proper agricultural policy, and hence, the forecasts affect social welfare and systematic errors in forecasts could lead to a misallocation of scarce resources. Various empirical approaches have been applied to forecast commodity prices that have used different methodologies. Most commonly-used approaches to forecast commodity sectors depend on classical time series models that assume values of the response variables are precise which is quite often not true in reality. Recently, this literature has mostly evolved to a consideration of fuzzy time series models that provide more flexibility in terms of the classical time series models assumptions such as stationarity, and large sample size requirement. Besides, fuzzy modeling approach allows decision making with estimated values under incomplete information or uncertainty. A number of fuzzy time series models have been developed and implemented over the last decades; however, most of them are not appropriate for forecasting repeated and nonconsecutive transitions in the data. The modeling scheme used in this paper eliminates this problem by introducing Markov modeling approach that takes into account both the repeated and nonconsecutive transitions. Also, the determination of length of interval is crucial in terms of the accuracy of forecasts. The problem of determining the length of interval arbitrarily is overcome and a methodology to determine the proper length of interval based on the distribution or mean of the first differences of series to improve forecast accuracy is proposed. The specific purpose of this paper is to propose and investigate the potential of a new forecasting model that integrates methodologies for determining the proper length of interval based on the distribution or mean of the first differences of series and Fuzzy Time Series- Markov Chain model. Moreover, the accuracy of the forecasting performance of proposed integrated model is compared to different univariate time series models and the superiority of proposed method over competing methods in respect of modelling and forecasting on the basis of forecast evaluation criteria is demonstrated. The application is to daily corn and soybean prices observed at three commercially important North Carolina markets; Candor, Cofield and Roaring River for corn and Fayetteville, Cofield and Greenville City for soybeans respectively. One main conclusion from this paper is that using fuzzy logic improves the forecast performance and accuracy; the effectiveness and potential benefits of the proposed model is confirmed with small selection criteria value such MAPE. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of integrating fuzzy logic and nonarbitrary determination of length of interval for the reliability and accuracy of price forecasts. The empirical results represent a significant contribution to our understanding of the applicability of fuzzy modeling in commodity price forecasts.

Keywords: commodity, forecast, fuzzy, Markov

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Authors: F. Atheer, Al-Saoudi, Robin Kalfat, Riadh Al-Mahaidi

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Over the last two decades, externally bonded fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites bonded to concrete substrates has become a popular method for strengthening reinforced concrete (RC) highway and railway bridges. Such structures are exposed to severe cyclic loading throughout their lifetime often resulting in fatigue damage to structural components and a reduction in the service life of the structure. Since experimental and numerical results on the fatigue performance of FRP-to-concrete joints are still limited, the current research focuses on assessing the fatigue performance of externally bonded FRP-to-concrete joints using a direct shear test. Some early results indicate that the stress ratio and the applied cyclic stress level have a direct influence on the fatigue life of the externally bonded FRP. In addition, a calibrated finite element model is developed to provide further insight into the influence of certain parameters such as: concrete strength, FRP thickness, number of cycles, frequency and stiffness on the fatigue life of the FRP-to-concrete joints.

Keywords: FRP, concrete bond, control, fatigue, finite element model

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Authors: Priya Arora, Jaspreet K. Rajput

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Superparamagnetism has accelerated the research and use of more economical and ecological magnetically separable catalysts due to their more efficient isolation by response to an applied magnetic field. Magnetite nanomaterials coated by SiO2 shell have received a great deal of focus in the last decades as it provides high stability and also easy further surface functionalization depending upon the application. In this protocol, Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles have been synthesized by co-precipitation combined with sonication method. Further, Fe3O4 superparamagnetic nanoparticles have been functionalized by various moieties to serve as efficient catalysts for multicomponent reactions. The functionalized nanoparticles were characterized by techniques like Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analysis. The as prepared nanocatalysts can be reused for several times without any significant loss in its activity. The utilization of magnetic nanoparticles as catalysts for this reaction is one approach i.e. green, inexpensive, facile and widely applicable.

Keywords: functionalized, magnetite, multicomponent reactions, superparamagnetic

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Authors: Aref Maalej, Marwa Fakhfakh, Wael Ben Amira

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We present in this work a numerical investigation of fluid-structure interaction to study the elastic behavior of flexible rotors. The principal aim is to provide the effect of the aero/hydrodynamic parameters on the bending deformation of flexible rotors. This study is accomplished using the strong two-way fluid-structure interaction (FSI) developed by the ANSYS Workbench software. This method is used for coupling the fluid solver to the transient structural solver to study the elastic behavior of flexible rotors in water. In this study, we use a moderately flexible rotor modeled by a single blade with simplified rectangular geometry. In this work, we focus on the effect of the rotational frequency on the flapwise bending deformation. It is demonstrated that the blade deforms in the downstream direction, and the amplitude of these deformations increases with the rotational frequencies. Also, from a critical frequency, the blade begins to deform in the upstream direction.

Keywords: numerical simulation, flexible blade, fluid-structure interaction, ANSYS workbench, flapwise deformation

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Authors: Mohamed Khallaf, Hossein M Rizeei

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Simulating wind pattern behavior over proposed urban features is critical in the early stage of the conceptual design of both architectural and urban disciplines. However, it is typically not possible for designers to explore the impact of wind flow profiles across new urban developments due to a lack of real data and inaccurate estimation of building parameters. Modeling the details of existing and proposed urban features and testing them against wind flows is the missing part of the conceptual design puzzle where architectural and urban discipline can focus. This research aims to develop a spatial decision-support design method utilizing LiDAR, GIS, and performance-based wind simulation technology to mitigate wind-related hazards on a design by simulating alternative design scenarios at the pedestrian level prior to its implementation in Sydney, Australia. The result of the experiment demonstrates the capability of the proposed framework to improve pedestrian comfort in relation to wind profile.

Keywords: spatial decision-support design, performance-based wind simulation, LiDAR, GIS

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Authors: Halina Veloso e Zarate, Manuela Triggianese

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The urban challenges posed by rapid population growth, climate adaptation, and sustainable living have compelled Dutch cities to reimagine their built environment and transportation systems. As a pivotal contributor to CO₂ emissions, the transportation sector in the Netherlands demands innovative solutions for transitioning to low-carbon mobility. This study investigates the potential of transit oriented development (TOD) as a strategy for achieving carbon reduction and sustainable urban transformation. Focusing on the Lombardijen station area in Rotterdam, which is targeted for significant densification, this paper presents a design-oriented exploration of a low-carbon transport node. By employing a research-by-design methodology, this study delves into multifaceted factors and scales, aiming to propose future scenarios for Lombardijen. Drawing from a synthesis of existing literature, applied research, and practical insights, a robust design framework emerges. To inform this framework, governmental data concerning the built environment and material embodied carbon are harnessed. However, the restricted access to crucial datasets, such as property ownership information from the cadastre and embodied carbon data from De Nationale Milieudatabase, underscores the need for improved data accessibility, especially during the concept design phase. The findings of this research contribute fundamental insights not only to the Lombardijen case but also to TOD studies across Rotterdam's 13 nodes and similar global contexts. Spatial data related to property ownership facilitated the identification of potential densification sites, underscoring its importance for informed urban design decisions. Additionally, the paper highlights the disparity between the essential role of embodied carbon data in environmental assessments for building permits and its limited accessibility due to proprietary barriers. Although this study lays the groundwork for sustainable urbanization through TOD-based design, it acknowledges an area of future research worthy of exploration: the socio-economic dimension. Given the complex socio-economic challenges inherent in the Lombardijen area, extending beyond spatial constraints, a comprehensive approach demands integration of mobility infrastructure expansion, land-use diversification, programmatic enhancements, and climate adaptation. While the paper adopts a TOD lens, it refrains from an in-depth examination of issues concerning equity and inclusivity, opening doors for subsequent research to address these aspects crucial for holistic urban development.

Keywords: Rotterdam zuid, transport oriented development, carbon emissions, low-carbon design, cross-scale design, data-supported design

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Authors: Latifah Putti Tiananda, Sasti Khoirunnisa, Taniadiana Yapwito, Jessica Noviena

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Innovations are often met with two responses, acceptance or rejection. In the past few years, Indonesia is experiencing a revolution of transportation service, which utilizes online platform for its operation. Such improvement is welcomed by consumers and challenged by conventional or ‘non-online’ transportation providers simultaneously. Conflicts arise as the existence of this online transportation mode results in declining income of non-online transportation workers. Physical confrontations and demonstrations demand policing from central authority. However, the obscurity of legal measures from the government persists the social instability. Bandung, a city in West Java with the highest rate of online transportation usage, has recently issued a recommendation withholding the operation of online transportation services to maintain peace and order. Thus, this paper seeks to elaborate the social unrest between the two contesting transportation actors in Bandung and explore community-based approaches to solve this problem. Using qualitative research method, this paper will also feature in-depth interviews with directly involved sources from Bandung.

Keywords: Bandung, market competition, online transportation services, social unrest

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Authors: G. M. Komaki, S. Mobin, E. Teymourian, S. Sheikh

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This paper addresses minimizing the makespan of the distributed permutation flow shop scheduling problem. In this problem, there are several parallel identical factories or flowshops each with series of similar machines. Each job should be allocated to one of the factories and all of the operations of the jobs should be performed in the allocated factory. This problem has recently gained attention and due to NP-Hard nature of the problem, metaheuristic algorithms have been proposed to tackle it. Majority of the proposed algorithms require large computational time which is the main drawback. In this study, a general variable neighborhood search algorithm (GVNS) is proposed where several time-saving schemes have been incorporated into it. Also, the GVNS uses the sophisticated method to change the shaking procedure or perturbation depending on the progress of the incumbent solution to prevent stagnation of the search. The performance of the proposed algorithm is compared to the state-of-the-art algorithms based on standard benchmark instances.

Keywords: distributed permutation flow shop, scheduling, makespan, general variable neighborhood search algorithm

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Authors: Weena Siangphro, Orawon Chailapakul, Kriangsak Songsrirote

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A simple, rapid, sensitive, and economical method based on colorimetry for the determination of paraquat, a widely used herbicide, was developed. Citrate-coated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized as colorimetric probe. The mechanism of the assay is related to aggregation of negatively charged AgNPs induced by positively-charged paraquat resulting from coulombic attraction which causes the color change from deep greenish yellow to pale yellow upon the concentrations of paraquat. Silica gel was exploited as paraquat adsorbent for purification and pre-concentration prior to the direct determination with negatively charged AgNPs without elution step required. The validity of the proposed approach was evaluated by spiking standard paraquat in water and plant samples. Recoveries of paraquat in water samples were 93.6-95.4%, while those in plant samples were 86.6-89.5% by using the optimized extraction procedure. The absorbance of AgNPs at 400 nm was linearly related to the concentration of paraquat over the range of 0.05-50 mg/L with detection limits of 0.05 ppm for water samples, and 0.10 ppm for plant samples.

Keywords: colorimetric assay, paraquat, silica gel, silver nanoparticles

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Authors: Jaehyun Choi, Hyunjung Kim, Namho Kim

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Earthwork is one of the critical civil construction operations that require large-quantities of resources due to its intensive dependency upon construction equipment. Therefore, efficient construction equipment management can highly contribute to productivity improvements and cost savings. Earthwork operation utilizes various combinations of construction equipment in order to meet project requirements such as time and cost. Identification of site condition and construction methods should be performed in advance in order to develop a proper execution plan. The factors to be considered include capacity of equipment assigned, the method of construction, the size of the site, and the surrounding condition. In addition, optimal combination of various construction equipment should be selected. However, in real world practice, equipment utilization plan is performed based on experience and intuition of management. The researchers evaluated the efficiency of various alternatives of construction equipment combinations by utilizing the process simulation model, validated the model from a case study project, and presented a methodology to find optimized plan among alternatives.

Keywords: earthwork operation, construction equipment, process simulation, optimization

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Authors: Napat Hataivichian

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The effect of transition metal doping on Pt/Al2O3 catalyst used in propane dehydrogenation reaction at 500˚C was studied. The preparation methods investigated were sequential impregnation (Pt followed by the 2nd metal or the 2nd metal followed by Pt) and co-impregnation. The metal contents of these catalysts were fixed as the weight ratio of Pt per the 2nd metal of around 0.075. These catalysts were characterized by N2-physisorption, TPR, CO-chemisorption and NH3-TPD. It was found that the impregnated 2nd metal had an effect upon reducibility of Pt due to its interaction with transition metal-containing structure. This was in agreement with the CO-chemisorption result that the presence of Pt metal, which is a result from Pt species reduction, was decreased. The total acidity of bimetallic catalysts is decreased but the strong acidity is slightly increased. It was found that the stability of bimetallic catalysts prepared by co-impregnation and sequential impregnation where the 2nd metal was impregnated before Pt were better than that of monometallic catalyst (undoped Pt one) due to the forming of Pt sites located on the transition metal-oxide modified surface. Among all preparation methods, the sequential impregnation method- having Pt impregnated before the 2nd metal gave the worst stability because this catalyst lacked the modified Pt sites and some fraction of Pt sites was covered by the 2nd metal.

Keywords: alumina, dehydrogenation, platinum, transition metal

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Authors: Zilin Zhang

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Agent-based simulation has become a popular method of exploring the behavior of all kinds of urban systems. The city clearly is viewed as such a system. Many urban evolution processes, such as the development or the transaction of a piece of land, can be modeled with a set of rules. Such modeling approaches can be used to gain insight into urban-development and land market transactions in the real world. Our work contributes to such type of research by modeling the transactions of lands in a city and its surrounding suburbs. By replicating the demand and supply needs in the land market, we are able to demonstrate the different transaction patterns in three types of residential areas - downtown, city-suburban, and further suburban areas. In addition, we are also able to compare the vital roles of different activation conditions play in generating the various transaction patterns of the land market at the macro level. We use this simulation to loosely test our hypotheses about the nature of activation regimes by the replication of the Zi traders’ model. In the end, we hope our analytical results can be useful for city planners and policymakers to develop rational city plans and policies for shaping sustainable urban development.

Keywords: simulation, agent-based modeling, housing market, city

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Authors: Asma Ben Rhouma, Mahmoud Hamouda

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The delta inverter is considered as the reduced three-phase dc/ac converter topology. It contains only three two-quadrant power switches compared to six in the conventional one. This reduced power conversion topology is widely considered in many industrial applications, such as electric traction and large photovoltaic systems. This paper is focused on a new sinusoidal pulse width modulation algorithm (SPWM) developed for the delta inverter. As an unconventional inverter’s structure, irregular modulating functions waveforms of the SPWM switching technique are generated. The performances of the proposed SPWM technique was proven through computer simulations carried out on a delta inverter feeding a three-phase RL load. Digital Signal Processor (DSP) implementation of the novel SPWM algorithm have been realized on a laboratory prototype of the delta inverter feeding an RL load and a squirrel cage induction motor. Experimental results have highlighted its high performances under the proposed SPWM method.

Keywords: delta inverter, SPWM, simulation, DSP implementation

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Authors: Federico Herrera, Valle Gomez García de Soria, Itxaso Portero Sainz, Carlos Fernández Arandojo, Mercedes Royg, Ana Marcos Jimenez, Anna Kreutzman, Cecilia MuñozCalleja

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Introduction: Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) still remains the major complication associated with allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT). The pathogenesis involves migration of donor naïve T-cells into recipient secondary lymphoid organs. Two molecules are important in this process: CD62L and CCR7, which are characteristically expressed in naïve/central memory T-cells. With this background, we aimed to study the influence of CCR7 and CD62L on donor lymphocytes in the development and severity of GVHD. Material and methods: This single center study included 98 donor-recipient pairs. Samples were collected prospectively from the apheresis product and phenotyped by flow cytometry. CCR7 and CD62L expression in CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells were compared between patients who developed acute (n=40) or chronic GVHD (n=33) and those who did not (n=38). Results: The patients who developed acute GVHD were transplanted with a higher percentage of CCR7+CD4+ T-cells (p = 0.05) compared to the no GVHD group. These results were confirmed when these patients were divided in degrees according to the severity of the disease; the more severe disease, the higher percentage of CCR7+CD4+ T-cells. Conversely, chronic GVHD patients received a higher percentage of CCR7+CD8+ T-cells (p=0.02) in comparison to those who did not develop the complication. These data were also confirmed when patients were subdivided in degrees of the disease severity. A multivariable analysis confirmed that percentage of CCR7+CD4+ T-cells is a predictive factor of acute GVHD whereas the percentage of CCR7+CD8+ T-cells is a predictive factor of chronic GVHD. In vitro functional assays (migration and activation assays) supported the idea of CCR7+ T-cells were involved in the development of GVHD. As low levels of CD62L expression were detected in all apheresis products, we tested the hypothesis that CD62L was shed during apheresis procedure. Comparing CD62L surface levels in T-cells from the same donor immediately before collecting the apheresis product, and the final apheresis product we found that this process down-regulated CD62L in both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells (p=0.008). Interestingly, when CD62L levels were analysed in days 30 or 60 after engraftment, they recovered to baseline (p=0.008). However, to investigate the relation between CD62L expression and the development of GVHD in the recipient samples after the engraftment, no differences were observed comparing patients with GVHD to those who did not develop the disease. Discussion: Our prospective study indicates that the CCR7+ T-cells from the donor, which include naïve and central memory T-cells, contain the alloreactive cells with a high ability to mediate GVHD (in the case of both migration and activation). Therefore we suggest that the proportion and functional properties of CCR7+CD4+ and CCR7+CD8+ T-cells in the apheresis could act as a predictive biomarker to both acute and chronic GVHD respectively. Importantly, our study precludes that CD62L is lost in the apheresis and therefore it is not a reliable biomarker for the development of GVHD.

Keywords: CCR7, CD62L, GVHD, SCT

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Authors: Ruslin, R. E. Kartasasmita, M. S. Wibowo, S. Ibrahim

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An aphrodisiac is a substance contained in food or drug that can arouse sexual instinct and increase pleasure while working, these substances derived from plants, animals, and minerals. When consuming substances that have aphrodisiac activity and duration can improve the sexual instinct. The natural aphrodisiac effect can be obtained through plants, animals, and minerals. Leonurine compound has aphrodisiac activity, these compounds can be isolated from plants of Leonurus Sp, Sundanese people is known as deundereman, this plant is empirical has aphrodisiac activity and based on the isolation of active compounds from plants known to contain compounds leonurine, so that the compound is expected to have activity aphrodisiac. Leonurine compound can be isolated from plants or synthesized chemically with material dasa siringat acid. Leonurine compound can be obtained commercial and derivatives of these compounds can be synthesized in an effort to increase its activity. This study aims to obtain derivatives leonurine better aphrodisiac activity compared with the parent compound, modified the structure of the compounds in the form leonurin guanidino butyl ester group with butyl amin and bromoetanol. ArgusLab program version 4.0.1 is used to determine the binding energy, hydrogen bonds and amino acids involved in the interaction of the compound PDE5 receptor. The in vivo test leonurine compounds and derivatives as an aphrodisiac ingredients and hormone testosterone levels using 27 male rats Wistar strain and 9 female mice of the same species, ages ranged from 12 weeks rats weighing + 200 g / tail. The test animal is divided into 9 groups according to the type of compounds and the dose given. Each treatment group was orally administered 2 ml per day for 5 days. On the sixth day was observed male rat sexual behavior and taking blood from the heart to measure testosterone levels using ELISA technique. Statistical analysis was performed in this study is the ANOVA test Least Square Differences (LSD) using the program Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS). Aphrodisiac efficacy of the leonurine compound and its derivatives have proven in silico and in vivo test, the in silico testing leonurine derivatives have smaller binding energy derivatives leonurine so that activity better than leonurine compounds. Testing in vivo using rats of wistar strain that better leonurine derivative of this compound shows leonurine that in silico studies in parallel with in vivo tests. Modification of the structure in the form of guanidine butyl ester group with butyl amin and bromoethanol increase compared leonurine compound for aphrodisiac activity, testosterone derivatives of compounds leonurine experienced a significant improvement especial is 1RD compounds especially at doses of 100 and 150 mg/bb. The results showed that the compound leonurine and its compounds contain aphrodisiac activity and increase the amount of testosterone in the blood. The compound test used in this study acts as a steroid precursor resulting in increased testosterone.

Keywords: aphrodisiac dysfunction erectile leonurine 1-RD 2-RD, dysfunction, erectile leonurine, 1-RD 2-RD

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Authors: Shiksha Jain, Ramesh Mishra

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One of the most widely used complex signals processing operation is filtering. The most important FIR digital filter are widely used in DSP for filtering to alter the spectrum according to some given specifications. Power consumption and Area complexity in the algorithm of Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter is mainly caused by multipliers. So we present a multiplier less technique (DA technique). In this technique, precomputed value of inner product is stored in LUT. Which are further added and shifted with number of iterations equal to the precision of input sample. But the exponential growth of LUT with the order of FIR filter, in this basic structure, makes it prohibitive for many applications. The significant area and power reduction over traditional Distributed Arithmetic (DA) structure is presented in this paper, by the use of slicing of LUT to the desired length. An architecture of 16 tap FIR filter is presented, with different length of slice of LUT. The result of FIR Filter implementation on Xilinx ISE synthesis tool (XST) vertex-4 FPGA Tool by using proposed method shows the increase of the maximum frequency, the decrease of the resources as usage saving in area with more number of slices and the reduction dynamic power.

Keywords: multiplier less technique, linear phase symmetric FIR filter, FPGA tool, look up table

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Authors: Saeb Ahmadi, Mohsen Vafaie Sefti, Mohammad Mahdi Shadman, Ebrahim Tangestani

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Carbon nanotube has shown great potential for the removal of various inorganic and organic components due to properties such as large surface area and high adsorption capacity. Central composite design is widely used method for determining optimal conditions. Also due to the economic reasons and wide application, the rare earth elements are important components. The analyses of cerium (Ce(III)) adsorption as one of the Rare Earth Elements (REEs) adsorption on Multiwall Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs) have been studied. The optimization process was performed using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The optimum amount conditions were pH of 4.5, initial Ce (III) concentration of 90 mg/l and MWCNTs dosage of 80 mg. Under this condition, the optimum adsorption percentage of Ce (III) was obtained about 96%. Next, at the obtained optimum conditions the kinetic and isotherm studied and result showed the pseudo-second order and Langmuir isotherm are more fitted with experimental data than other models.

Keywords: cerium, rare earth element, MWCNTs, adsorption, optimization

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Authors: Abdulkadir Adamu Shehu

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Company’s reputation is an elusive asset. The reputation gained by companies must be preserved for sustainability of the company. However, the construction project is still suffering from declination of character due to the factors that affect their reputation. The problem led to the loss of projects, abandoning of the projects and many more. This contributed to negative impact on the contractors in the construction industry. As for today, previous studies have not investigated in this regards yet. For that reason, this paper examines the factors which could promote contractor’s reputation in the construction industry in Nigeria. To achieve this aim, 140 questionnaires were distributed to the Nigerian contractors. Based on the 67% response rate, descriptive analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were the tools applied for the data obtained to be analysed. The result shows that, good communication system and improve quality of output of products are the most significant variables that can promote contractor’s reputation. The homogenous analyses indicate that there are significant different perceptions of respondents in term of the significant effects. The research concluded that contractor’s reputation in construction industry must be maintained and further research was suggested to focus on the qualitative method to have in-depth knowledge on contractor’s reputation in the construction industry.

Keywords: construction industry, contractor’s reputation, effects of delay, Nigeria

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Authors: Widayat Widayat

Abstract:

Nowday, in the modern investment era, household behavior on investment is a topic that is quite warm. The development of the modern investment, indicated by the emergence of a variety of investment instruments, such as stocks, bonds and various forms of derivatives, affected on the complexity of choosing an investment, especially for traditional societies. Various studies show that there is more than one factor acting as a behavioral antesenden decide to choose an investment instrument. One of the factors, which contribute in determining the investment option is ethnic. Society with a particular sub-culture tend to prefer investing their particular instrument. This is because they have the values, norms and different social environmental. This article is designed to test the impact of sub-cultures between Osing-Java as moderator, in investing. The study was conducted in Banyuwangi, East Java Province of Indonesia. Data were collected using questionnaires, which is given to the head of the household respondents were selected as samples. Sample of households selected by multistage sampling method. The data have been collected processed using SmartPLS software and testing moderating effects using grouped sample test. The result showed that sub-ethnic and has a significant role in determining the investment.

Keywords: investment behaviour, household, moderating, sub ethnic

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Authors: Mohamad Reza Khodabakhsh

Abstract:

Violence against women is a historical phenomenon; although its form and type are common in various societies and cultures, this type of violence occurs in terms of physical, psychological, financial, and sexual dimensions. This is the cause of many social deviations and endangers the center of the family as the most important institution. This research seeks to investigate the relationship between personality characteristics and the tendency to addiction to domestic violence. One hundred fifty women and one hundred fifty men were selected by the available sampling method. One hundred fifty men were admitted to drug addiction camps, and women included domestic violence cases. A questionnaire on addiction tendency, Five Personality Traits (NEO), and attitudes toward violence against women was used. Data were analyzed in descriptive and inferential statistics. The data were analyzed at the level of descriptive mean, mean, and standard deviation and analyzed using SPSS 20 software using correlation and analysis of variance at the level of inferential level. And the data were analyzed at the p≤0.05 significance level. The results showed that there is a significant relationship between personality traits and a tendency to addiction and domestic violence.

Keywords: personality, addiction, domestic violence, family

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Authors: Niloofar Alipoormazandarani

Abstract:

The rift environmental, efficiency and being environmental-friendly of these innovative food packaging in edible films made them as an alternative to synthetic packages. This issue has been widely studied in this experiment. Some of the greatest advances in food packaging industry is associated with nanotechnology. Recently, a polysaccharide extracted from the cell wall of soybean cotyledons: A soluble soybean polysaccharide (SSPS), a pectin-like structure. In this study, the addition (0%, 1%, 3%, and 5%) of nano silica dioxide (SiO2) film is examined SSPS in different features. The research aims to investigate the effect of nano-SiO2 on the physicochemical and electromagnetic properties of the SSPS films were sonicated and then heated to the melting point, besides the addition of plasticizer. After that, it has been cooled into the room temperature and were dried with Casting method. In final examinations,improvement in Moisture Content and Water Absorption was observed with a significant decrease.Also, in Color measurements there were some obvious differences. These reports indicate that the incorporation of nano-SiO2 and SSPS has the power to be extensively used in pharmaceutical and food packaging industry as well.

Keywords: SSPS, NanoSiO2, food packaging, renewable films

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Authors: A. Goodarzian, A. Ghasemipanah, R. Ziaie Moayed, H. Niroumand

Abstract:

The problem of soil stabilization has been one of the important issues in geotechnical engineering. Nowadays, nanomaterials have revolutionized many industries. In this research, improvement of the Kerman fine-grained soil by nanozeolite and nanobentonite additives separately has been investigated using Atterberg Limits and unconfined compression test. In unconfined compression test, the samples were prepared with 3, 5 and 7% nano additives, with 1, 7 and 28 days curing time with strain control method. Finally, the effect of different percentages of nanozeolite and nanobentonite on the geotechnical behavior and characteristics of Kerman fine-grained soil was investigated. The results showed that with increasing the amount of nanozeolite and also nanobentonite to fine-grained soil, the soil exhibits more compression strength. So that by adding 7% nanozeolite and nanobentonite with 1 day curing, the unconfined compression strength is 1.18 and 2.1 times higher than the unstabilized soil. In addition, the failure strain decreases in samples containing nanozeolite, whereas it increases in the presence of nanobentonite. Increasing the percentage of nanozeolite and nanobentonite also increased the elasticity modulus of soil.

Keywords: nanoparticles, soil improvement, clayey soil, unconfined compression stress

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Authors: Justin Zhengjie Tan, Yang Zhao

Abstract:

Adiabatic Rapid Passage, a popular method of achieving population inversion, is studied in a Rabi dimer model in the presence of noise which acts as a dissipative environment. The integration of the multi-Davydov D2 Ansatz into the time-dependent variational framework enables us to model the intricate quantum system accurately. By influencing the system with a driving field strength resonant with the energy spacing, the probability of adiabatic rapid passage, which is modelled after the Landau Zener model, can be derived along with several other observables, such as the photon population. The effects of a dissipative environment can be reproduced by coupling the system to a common phonon mode. By manipulating the strength and frequency of the driving field, along with the coupling strength of the phonon mode to the qubits, we are able to control the qubits and photon dynamics and subsequently increase the probability of Adiabatic Rapid Passage happening.

Keywords: quantum electrodynamics, adiabatic rapid passage, Landau-Zener transitions, dissipative environment

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Authors: E. D. Paul, O. F. Paul, J. E. Toryila, A. J. Salifu, C. E. Gimba

Abstract:

Adsorption of Cd2+ ions from aqueous solution by Chitosan, a natural polymer, obtained from a mixture of the exoskeletons of Littorina littorea (Periwinkle) and Achatinoidea (Snail) was studied at varying adsorbent dose, contact time, metal ion concentrations, temperature and pH using batch adsorption method. The equilibrium adsorption isotherms were determined between 298 K and 345 K. The adsorption data were adjusted to Langmuir, Freundlich and the pseudo second order kinetic models. It was found that the Langmuir isotherm model most fitted the experimental data, with a maximum monolayer adsorption of 35.1 mgkg⁻¹ at 308 K. The entropy and enthalpy of adsorption were -0.1121 kJmol⁻¹K⁻¹ and -11.43 kJmol⁻¹ respectively. The Freundlich adsorption model, gave Kf and n values consistent with good adsorption. The pseudo-second order reaction model gave a straight line plot with rate constant of 1.291x 10⁻³ kgmg⁻¹ min⁻¹. The qe value was 21.98 mgkg⁻¹, indicating that the adsorption of Cadmium ion by the chitosan composite followed the pseudo-second order kinetic model.

Keywords: adsorption, chitosan, littorina littorea, achatinoidea, natural polymer

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