Search results for: field stresses

Authors: Sayed Obeidullah Abrar

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Nanosensor is the combination of two terms nanoparticles and sensors. These are chemical or physical sensor constructed using nanoscale components, usually microscopic or submicroscopic in size. These sensors are very sensitive and can detect single virus particle or even very low concentrations of substances that could be potentially harmful. Nanosensors have a large scope of research especially in the field of medical sciences, military applications, pharmaceuticals etc.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS, nanosensors, DNA, RNA

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Authors: Vivian A. Galindo, Maria C. Galvis, Jaime R. Obando, Alvaro Guarin

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In Colombia, most of the roads of the national tertiary road network are unpaved roads with granular rolling surface. These are very important ways of guaranteeing the mobility of people, products, and inputs from the agricultural sector from the most remote areas to urban centers; however, it has not paid much attention to the search for alternatives to avoid the occurrence of deteriorations that occur shortly after its commissioning. In recent years, geosynthetics have been used satisfactorily to reinforce unpaved roads on soft soils, with geotextiles and geogrids being the most widely used. The interaction of the geogrid and the aggregate minimizes the lateral movement of the aggregate particles and increases the load capacity of the material, which leads to a better distribution of the vertical stresses, consequently reducing the vertical deformations in the subgrade. Taking into account the above, the research aimed at the mechanical behavior of the granular material, used in unpaved roads with and without the presence of geogrids, from the development of laboratory tests through the loaded wheel tester (LWT). For comparison purposes, the reinforced conditions and traffic conditions to which this type of material can be accessed in practice were simulated. In total four types of geogrids, were tested with granular material; this means that five test sets, the reinforced material and the non-reinforced control sample were evaluated. The results of the numbers of load cycles and depth rutting supported by each test body showed the influence of the properties of the reinforcement on the mechanical behavior of the assembly and the significant increases in the number of load cycles of the reinforced specimens in relation to those without reinforcement.

Keywords: geosynthetics, load wheel tester LWT, tertiary roads, unpaved road, vertical deformation

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Authors: Buğra Sinmez

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In some countries, such as China, Turkey, andseveralEuropeanUnionnations, the therailwaypavementstructuralsystem has recently undergonerapid growth as a vital element of the transportation infrastructure, particularlyfortheuse of high-speed trains. It is vitaltoconsiderthe High-SpeedInfrastructureDemandwhendevelopingandconstructingtherailwaypavementstructure. HSRL can create more substantial ldifficultiestotheballastorbaselayer of regularlyusedballastedrailwaypavementsthanstandardrailwaytrains. The deterioration of the theballastorbaselayermayleadtosubstructuredegradation, which might lead to safety concerns and catastrophicincidents. As a result, the efficiency of railways will be impactedbylargecargoesorhigh-speed trains. A railwaypavement construction can be strengthened using geosyntheticmaterials in theballastorfoundationlayer as a countermeasure. However, there is still a need in the literature to quantifytheinfluence of geosynthetic materials, particularlygeogrid, on the mechanical responses of railwaypavementstructuresto HSRL loads which is essential knowledge in supporting the selection of appropriate material and geogridinstallationposition. As a result, the purpose of this research is to see how a geogridreinforcementlayermayaffectthekeyfeatures of a ballastedrailwaypavementstructure, with a particular focus on the materialtypeandgeogridplacementpositionthatmayassistreducethe rate of degradation of the therailwaypavementstructuresystem. Thisstudyusesnumericalmodeling in a genuinerailwaycontexttovalidatethebenefit of geogrid reinforcement. The usage of geogrids in the railway system has been thoroughly researched in the technical literature. Three distinct types of geogrid installed at two distinct positions (i.e.,withintheballastlayer, betweentheballastandthesub-ballast layer) within a railwaypavementconstructionwereevaluatedunder a variety of verticalwheelloadsusing a three-dimensional (3D) finite element model. As a result, fouralternativegeogridreinforcementsystemsweremodeledtoreflectdifferentconditions in the ballastedrailwaysystems (G0: no reinforcement; G1: reinforcedwithgeogridhavingthelowestdensityandYoung'smodulus; G2: reinforcedwithgeogridhavingtheintermediateYoung'smodulusanddensity; G3: reinforcedwithgeogridhavingthegreatestdensityandYoung'smodulus). Themechanicalreactions of the railway, such as verticalsurfacedeflection, maximumprimarystressandstrain, andmaximumshearstress, werestudiedandcomparedbetweenthefourgeogridreinforcementscenariosandfourverticalwheelloadlevels (i.e., 75, 100, 150, and 200 kN). Differences in the mechanical reactions of railwaypavementconstructionsowingtotheuse of differentgeogridmaterialsdemonstratethebenefits of suchgeosynthetics in ballast. In comparison to a non-reinforcedrailwaypavementconstruction, thereinforcedconstructionsfeaturedecreasedverticalsurfacedeflection, maximum shear stress at the sleeper-ballast contact, and maximum main stress at the bottom of the ballast layer. As a result, addinggeogridtotheballastlayerandbetweentheballastandsub-ballast layer in a ballastedrailwaypavementconstruction has beenfoundtolowercriticalshearand main stresses as well as verticalsurfacedeflection.

Keywords: geosynthetics, geogrid, railway, transportation

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Authors: Bismark Agbemble

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This paper talks about how project-based learning (PBL) is being infused or implemented in the educational sphere of Africa. The paper navigates through the liminal aspects of PBL as a pedagogical approach to bridge the divide between theoretical knowledge and its application within school curriculums. Given that contextualized learning can be embodied, the abstract vehemently discusses that PBL creates an opportunity for students to work on projects that are of academic relevance in their local settings. It presents PBL’s growth of critical thinking, problem-solving, cooperation, and communications, which is vital in getting young citizens to prepare for the 21st-century revolution. In addition, the abstract stresses the possibility that PBL could become a stimulus to creativity and innovation wherein learning becomes motivated from within by intrinsic motivations. The paper advocates for a holistic approach that is based on teacher’s professional development with the provision of adequate infrastructural facilities and resource allocation, thus ensuring the success and sustainability of PBLs in African education systems. In the end, the paper positions this as a transformative educational methodology that has great potential in helping to shape an African generation that is prepared for a great future.

Keywords: student centered pedagogy, constructivist learning theory, self-directed learning, active exploration, real world challenges, STEM, 21st century skills, curriculum design, classroom management, project base learning curriculum, global intelligence, social and communication skills, transferable skills, critical thinking, investigatable learning, life skills

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Authors: F. A. Hassona, M. M. Abu-Heleika, M. A. Hassan, A. E. Sidhom

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Application of electrical measurements to evaluate engineering properties of soils has gained a wide, promising field of research in recent years. So, understanding of the relation between in-situ electrical resistivity of clay soil, and their mechanical and physical properties consider a promising field of research. This would assist in introducing a new technique for the determination of soil properties based on electrical resistivity. In this work soil physical and mechanical properties of clayey soil have been determined by experimental tests and correlated with the in-situ electrical resistivity. The research program was conducted through measuring fifteen vertical electrical sounding stations along with fifteen selected boreholes. These samples were analyzed and subjected to experimental tests such as physical tests namely bulk density, water content, specific gravity, and grain size distribution, and Attereberg limits tests. Mechanical test was also conducted such as direct shear test. The electrical resistivity data were interpreted and correlated with each one of the measured experimental parameters. Based on this study mathematical relations were extracted and discussed. These results exhibit an excellent match with the results reported in the literature. This study demonstrates the utility of the developed methodology for determining the mechanical properties of soils easily and rapidly depending on their electrical resistivity measurements.

Keywords: electrical resistivity, clayey soil, physical properties, shear properties

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Authors: Mohammad Hossein Bayati Chaleshtari, Hadi Khoramishad

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Minimizing the stress concentration around triangular cutout in infinite perforated plates subjected to a uniform heat flux induces thermal stresses is an important consideration in engineering design. Furthermore, understanding the effective parameters on stress concentration and proper selection of these parameters enables the designer to achieve a reliable design. In the analysis of thermal stress, the effective parameters on stress distribution around cutout include fiber angle, flux angle, bluntness and rotation angle of the cutout for orthotropic materials. This paper was tried to examine effect of these parameters on thermal stress analysis of infinite perforated plates with central triangular cutout. In order to achieve the least amount of thermal stress around a triangular cutout using a novel swarm intelligence optimization technique called dragonfly optimizer that inspired by the life method and hunting behavior of dragonfly in nature. In this study, using the two-dimensional thermoelastic theory and based on the Likhnitskiiʼ complex variable technique, the stress analysis of orthotropic infinite plate with a circular cutout under a uniform heat flux was developed to the plate containing a quasi-triangular cutout in thermal steady state condition. To achieve this goal, a conformal mapping function was used to map an infinite plate containing a quasi- triangular cutout into the outside of a unit circle. The plate is under uniform heat flux at infinity and Neumann boundary conditions and thermal-insulated condition at the edge of the cutout were considered.

Keywords: infinite perforated plate, complex variable method, thermal stress, optimization method

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Authors: Natia Gavardashvili

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From April through June of 2017, the field-scientific studies to ensure the safety of the population of Tbilisi were accomplished in the water catch basin of the river Vere, in the water catch basin of the river Jakhana dry gully. 5 sensitive sites were identified, and areas, 20x20 m each, were marked around them, with their locations fixed with GPS coordinates. The gained areas were plotted on a digital map, and the state of the surface was explored by considering the evaluation of erosive processes. Aiming at evaluating the soils and grounds of the sensitive areas, the ground samples were taken, and average diameter was identified, with its value changing to D0 = 4,67-15,48 mm, and integral curves of the grain size were drafted. By using the obtained data, the transporting capability of mudflow can be identified at the next stage to use to calculate mudflow peak discharges of different provisions in developing the new designs of mudflow-protection structures with the goal of ensuring the safety of Tbilisi population. The studies were accomplished under the financing of Young Scientists’ Grant of Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation 'The study of erosive-mudflow processes in the water catch basin in the river Vere to ensure the safety of the population of Tbilisi and their consideration in developing new environmental protection plans' (YS15_2.1.5_8)

Keywords: water catch basin, mudflow-protection structures, erosive-mudflow processes, safety

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Authors: A. Rifa’i, Y. Takeshita, M. Komatsu

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The post-rain puddles problem that occurs in the first yard of Prambanan Temple are often disturbing visitor activity. A poodle layer and a drainage system has ever built to avoid such a problem, but puddles still didn’t stop appearing after rain. Permeability parameter needs to be determined by using more simple procedure to find exact method of solution. The instrument modelling were proposed according to the development of field permeability testing instrument. This experiment used proposed Constant Discharge method. Constant Discharge method used a tube poured with constant water flow. The procedure were carried out from unsaturated until saturated soil condition. Volumetric water content (θ) were being monitored by soil moisture measurement device. The results were relationship between k and θ which drawn by numerical approach Van Genutchen model. Parameters θr optimum value obtained from the test was at very dry soil. Coefficient of permeability with a density of 19.8 kN/m3 for unsaturated conditions was in range of 3 x 10-6 cm/sec (Sr= 68 %) until 9.98 x 10-4 cm/sec (Sr= 82 %). The equipment and testing procedure developed in this research was quite effective, simple and easy to be implemented on determining field soil permeability coefficient value of sandy soil. Using constant discharge method in proposed permeability test, value of permeability coefficient under unsaturated condition can be obtained without establish soil water characteristic curve.

Keywords: constant discharge method, in situ permeability test, sandy soil, unsaturated conditions

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Authors: Abir Soltani, Moez Amri, Jouda Mediouni Ben Jemâa

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In North Africa, the chickpea leafminer Liriomyza cicerina (Rondani) (Diptera: Agromizidae) is one of the major damaging pests affecting both spring and winter-planted chickpea. Damage is caused by the larvae which feed in the leaf mesophyll tissue, resulting in desiccation and premature leaf fall that can cause severe yield losses. In the present work, the distribution and the seasonal phenology of L. cicerina were studied on two chickpea varieties; a winter variety Beja 1 which is the most cultivated variety in Tunisia and a spring-sown variety Amdoun 1. The experiment was conducted during the cropping season 2015-2016. In the experimental research station Oued Beja, in the Beja region (36°44’N; 9°13’E). To determine the distribution and seasonal phenology of L. cicerina in both studied varieties Beja 1 and Amdoun 1, respectively 100 leave samples (50 from the top and 50 from the base) were collected from 10 chickpea plants randomly chosen from each field. The sampling was done during three development stages (i) 20-25 days before flowering (BFL), (ii) at flowering (FL) and (ii) at pod setting stage (PS). For each plant, leaves were checked from the base till the upper ones for the insect infestation progress into the plant in correlation with chickpea growth Stages. Fly adult populations were monitored using 8 yellow sticky traps together with weekly leaves sampling in each field. The traps were placed 70 cm above ground. Trap catches were collected once a week over the cropping season period. Results showed that L. cicerina distribution varied among both studied chickpea varieties and crop development stage all with seasonal phenology. For the winter chickpea variety Beja 1, infestation levels of 2%, 10.3% and 20.3% were recorded on the bases plant part for BFL, FL and PS stages respectively against 0%, 8.1% and 45.8% recorded for the upper plant part leaves for the same stages respectively. For the spring-sown variety Amdoun 1 the infestation level reached 71.5% during flowering stage. Population dynamic study revealed that for Beja 1 variety, L. cicerina accomplished three annual generations over the cropping season period with the third one being the most important with a capture level of 85 adult/trap by mid-May against a capture level of 139 adult/trap at the end May recorded for cv. Amdoun 1. Also, results showed that L. cicerina field infestation dispersal depends on the field part and on the crop growth stage. The border areas plants were more infested than the plants placed inside the plots. For cv. Beja 1, border areas infestations were 11%, 28% and 91.2% for BFL, FL and PS stages respectively, against 2%, 10.73% and 69.2% recorded on the on the inside plot plants during the for the same growth stages respectively. For the cv. Amdoun1 infestation level of 90% was observed on the border plants at FL and PS stages against an infestation level less than 65% recorded inside the plot.

Keywords: leaf miner, liriomyza cicerina, chickpea, distribution, seasonal phenology, Tunisia

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Authors: Khaled Al-Badani, James Ren, Lisa Li, David Allanson

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Droplet formation is an important process in many engineering systems and manufacturing procedures, which includes welding, biotechnologies, 3D printing, biochemical, biomedical fields and many more. The volume and the characteristics of droplet formation are generally depended on various material properties, microfluidics and fluid mechanics considerations. Hence, a detailed investigation of this process, with the aid of numerical computational tools, are essential for future design optimization and process controls of many engineering systems. This will also improve the understanding of changes in the properties and the structures of materials, during the formation of the droplet, which is important for new material developments to achieve different functions, pending the requirements of the application. For example, the shape of the formed droplet is critical for the function of some final products, such as the welding nugget during Capacitor Discharge Welding process, or PLA 3D printing, etc. Although, most academic journals on droplet formation, focused on issued with material transfer rate, surface tension and residual stresses, the general emphasis on the characteristics of droplet shape has been overlooked. The proposed work for this project will examine theoretical methodologies, experimental techniques, and numerical modelling, using ANSYS FLUENT, to critically analyse and highlight optimization methods regarding the formation of pendant droplet. The project will also compare results from published data with experimental and numerical work, concerning the effects of key material parameters on the droplet shape. These effects include changes in heating/cooling rates, solidification/melting progression and separation/break-up times. From these tests, a set of objectives is prepared, with an intention of improving quality, stability and productivity in modelling metal welding and 3D printing.

Keywords: computer modelling, droplet formation, material distortion, materials forming, welding

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Authors: Ayuko Itsuki, Sachiyo Aburatani

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The seasonal (January, April, July and October) and monthly soil respiration rate and the monthly litter fall amounts were examined in the laurel-leaved (B_B-1) and Cryptomeria japonica (B_B-2 and PW) forests in the Kasugayama Hill Primeval Forest (Nara, Japan). The change of the seasonal soil respiration rate corresponded to that of the soil temperature. The soil respiration rate was higher in October when fresh organic matter was supplied in the forest floor than in April in spite of the same temperature. The seasonal soil respiration rate of B_B-1 was higher than that of B_B-2, which corresponded to more numbers of bacteria and fungi counted by the dilution plate method and by the direct count method by microscopy in B_B-1 than that of B_B-2. The seasonal soil respiration rate of B_B-2 was higher than that of PW, which corresponded to more microbial biomass by the direct count method by microscopy in B_B-2 than that of PW. The correlation coefficient with the seasonal soil respiration and the soil temperature was higher than that of the monthly soil respiration. The soil respiration carbon was more than the litter fall carbon. It was suggested that the soil respiration included in the carbon dioxide which was emitted by the plant root and soil animal, or that the litter fall supplied to the forest floor included in animal and plant litter.

Keywords: field soil respiration rate, forest soil, litter fall, mineralization rate

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Authors: S. K. Jain, M. K. Mishra

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Oblique propagation of ion-acoustic solitons in magnetized electron-positron-ion (EPI) plasma with warm adiabatic ions and isothermal electrons has been studied. Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation using reductive perturbation method has been derived for the system, which admits an obliquely propagating soliton solution. It is found that for the selected set of parameter values, the system supports only compressive solitons. Investigations reveal that an increase in positron concentration diminishes the amplitude as well as the width of the soliton. It is also found that the temperature ratio of electron to positron (γ) affects the amplitude of the solitary wave. An external magnetic field do not affect the amplitude of ion-acoustic solitons, but obliqueness angle (θ), the angle between wave vector and magnetic field affects the amplitude. The amplitude of the ion-acoustic solitons increases with increase in angle of obliqueness. Magnetization and obliqueness drastically affect the width of the soliton. An increase in ionic temperature decreases the amplitude and width. For the fixed set of parameters, profiles have been drawn to study the combined effect with variation of two parameters on the characteristics of the ion-acoustic solitons (i.e., amplitude and width). The result may be applicable to plasma in the laboratory as well as in the magnetospheric region of the earth.

Keywords: ion-acoustic solitons, Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation, magnetized electron-positron-ion (EPI) plasma, reductive perturbation method

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Authors: Shuang Chen, Zongqian Shi, Jiajia Sun, Mingjia Li

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Microfluidics is a technology that small amounts of fluids are manipulated using channels with dimensions of tens to hundreds of micrometers. At present, this significant technology is required for several applications in some fields, including disease diagnostics, genetic engineering, and environmental monitoring, etc. Among these fields, manipulation of microparticles and cells in microfluidic device, especially separation, have aroused general concern. In magnetic field, the separation methods include positive and negative magnetophoresis. By comparison, negative magnetophoresis is a label-free technology. It has many advantages, e.g., easy operation, low cost, and simple design. Before the separation of particles or cells, focusing them into a single tight stream is usually a necessary upstream operation. In this work, the focusing of diamagnetic particles in ferrofluid microflows with a single set of overhead permanent magnets is investigated numerically. The geometric model of the simulation is based on the configuration of previous experiments. The straight microchannel is 24mm long and has a rectangular cross-section of 100μm in width and 50μm in depth. The spherical diamagnetic particles of 10μm in diameter are suspended into ferrofluid. The initial concentration of the ferrofluid c₀ is 0.096%, and the flow rate of the ferrofluid is 1.8mL/h. The magnetic field is induced by five identical rectangular neodymium−iron− boron permanent magnets (1/8 × 1/8 × 1/8 in.), and it is calculated by equivalent charge source (ECS) method. The flow of the ferrofluid is governed by the Navier–Stokes equations. The trajectories of particles are solved by the discrete phase model (DPM) in the ANSYS FLUENT program. The positions of diamagnetic particles are recorded by transient simulation. Compared with the results of the mentioned experiments, our simulation shows consistent results that diamagnetic particles are gradually focused in ferrofluid under magnetic field. Besides, the diamagnetic particle focusing is studied by varying the flow rate of the ferrofluid. It is in agreement with the experiment that the diamagnetic particle focusing is better with the increase of the flow rate. Furthermore, it is investigated that the diamagnetic particle focusing is affected by other factors, e.g., the width and depth of the microchannel, the concentration of the ferrofluid and the diameter of diamagnetic particles.

Keywords: diamagnetic particle, focusing, microfluidics, permanent magnet

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Authors: Abdulfattah A. Q .Alwah, Wen Li, Mohammed A. Q. Alwah, Duc Thien Tran, Bing Xi Liu

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The historical cities in the third world suffer from many environmental problems; one of them is the spread of visual pollution manifestations. These phenomena increase with low levels of public awareness and low per capita income. The historical city of Ibb is suffering from a variety of visual pollution of the urban environment, so it has been chosen as a case study. This study aims to identify the difficulty and complexity of dealing with visual pollutions manifestations in the historical city of Ibb, and to provide appropriate solutions, which suit with the complex and contradictory circumstances. The study relies on an inductive approach to achieve its aims through two methods; the first is a visual survey of the visual pollution phenomenon based on images and researcher notes. The Second method is the analyses of the opinions and impressions of the city's residents and visitors through interviews, in addition to interviews with the officials in the competent authorities, and some specialists in the field of urban environment. Through the results of the field study and discussion of the interview results, this study presents an analysis of the phenomenon of visual distortion of the historical city of Ibb regarding the appearances and the reasons. Furthermore, this study provides appropriate solutions, which suitable with the complex and contradictory circumstances. These solutions take two paths: the first one is to stop the spread of visual distortions, and the second path is to address the current visual pollutions.

Keywords: visual pollution, visual image, urban environment, difficulty, complexity, historical cities, the historical city of Ibb

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Authors: Pikria Vardosanidze

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This presentation entitled ”Higher Education Quality Culture – Case Study: Georgia”is concerned with an urgent and crucial issue. Located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, Georgia is a transnational, post-soviet country. And it is conditioned the peculiarity of our education system. Higher education in Georgia has an extensive history and a challenging period of development consisting of several phases, especially noteworthy of which are 1918 and 1991, marking there storation of Georgia’s independence. Georgia joined the Bologna Process in 2005. Given its geopolitical location, Georgian culture has developed, and still pursues the path of development against the background of the Western and Eastern cultures. Furthermore, socio-politically and culturally, it represents part of Europe. It is of particular interest how post-Soviet states develop in terms of education. What is the path to the European integration for Georgia as a post-Soviet country? How developed is the higher education quality culture in Georgia? And, what should be done in the future? It is important to answer these questions. The research carried out in the field of education is characterized by a certain specificity as does the post-colonial research. The field of education contributes to the development of democratic society as well as to the European integration, the Eastern Partnership and so on. What is crucial for the educational system, apart from transparency and democratization, is the improvement of the quality of education which is one of the most powerful tools dictating the need for a doctoral research as such. As for the research method, the comparative method of research, and the qualitative research are applied.

Keywords: internationalization, higher education, policies, Georgia

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Authors: Arman Ovla, Satyaki Roy, Shatrupa T. Roy

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India is known for the richness of its tradition and cultural heritage. The practice of crafts like pottery and terracotta has a long-standing history. Some of the oldest specimens of fine pottery were excavated from the ancient sites of Indus-valley settlements dating back to 4000 years. There are so many techniques and styles which have developed through time. Pottery with red clay and low firing is one of the oldest branches of ceramic which is still being made in India in large quantities. This study is based on field research carried out in two large pottery clusters. The traditional potters of Pahari in Rajasthan and Nizamabad in Uttar Pradesh are baking pots with the help of saggar containers and creating products quite different from others. The potters of Prajapati community residing in both places have been engaged in the art of making pottery for ages. The knowledge of pottery and associated skills are passed on from one generation to the next. They use only the local material available in their vicinity and adapt the design and decorations to create an identity that is deeply rooted in their origins. For the purpose of this research, pure qualitative research methodology was followed with field visits and data collection from Pahari and Nizamabad. Observations and notes made from non-intrusive techniques and direct interview methods of existing potters residing in the region. This paper on Saggar pottery describes the tools and techniques, methods and materials, the firing process, and indigenous stylistic attributes.

Keywords: Saggar, smoke firing, black pottery, Nizamabad, Pahari

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Authors: Marat Kozhomberdiev

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The research will investigate the modern corporate finance management technologies currently used in the era of digitalization of the global economy and the degree to which financial institutions are utilizing these new technologies in the field of corporate finance management in Kyrgyzstan. The main purpose of the research is to reveal the role of financial management technologies as joint service centers, intercompany banks, specialized payment centers in the third-world country. Particularly, the analysis of the implacability of automated corporate finance management systems such as enterprise resource planning system (ERP) and treasury management system (TMS) will be carried out. Moreover, the research will investigate the role of cloud accounting systems in corporate finance management in Kyrgyz banks and whether it has any impact on the field of improving corporate finance management. The study will utilize a data collection process via surveying 3 banks in Kyrgyzstan, namely Mol-Bulak, RSK, and KICB. The banks were chosen based on their ownerships, such as state banks, private banks with local authorized capital, and private bank with international capital. The regression analysis will be utilized to reveal the correlation between the ownership of the bank and the use of new financial management technologies. The research will provide policy recommendations to both private and state banks on developing strategies for switching and utilizing modern corporate finance management technologies in their daily operations.

Keywords: digital economy, corporate finance, digital environment, digital technologies, cloud technologies, financial management

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Authors: Nader Mohamed

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The Late Cretaceous deposits are well developed through-out Egypt. This is due to a ‎transgression phase associated with the subsidence caused by the neo-Tethyan rift event that ‎took place across the northern margin of Africa, resulting in a period of dominantly marine ‎deposits in the Gulf of Suez. The Late Cretaceous Nezzazat Group represents the Cenomanian, ‎Turonian and clastic sediments of the Lower Senonian. The Nezzazat Group has been divided ‎into four formations namely, from base to top, the Raha Formation, the Abu Qada Formation, ‎the Wata Formation and the Matulla Formation. The Cenomanian Raha and the Lower Senonian ‎Matulla formations are the most important clastic sequence in the Nezzazat Group because they ‎provide the highest net reservoir thickness and the highest net/gross ratio. This study emphasis ‎on Matulla formation located in the eastern part of the Gulf of Suez. The three stratigraphic ‎surface sections (Wadi Sudr, Wadi Matulla and Gabal Nezzazat) which represent the exposed ‎Coniacian-Santonian sediments in Sinai are used for correlating Matulla sediments of Ras ‎Budran field. Cutting description, petrographic examination, log behaviors, biostratigraphy with ‎outcrops are used to identify the reservoir characteristics, lithology, facies environment logs and ‎subdivide the Matulla formation into three units. The lower unit is believed to be the main ‎reservoir where it consists mainly of sands with shale and sandy carbonates, while the other ‎units are mainly carbonate with some streaks of shale and sand. Reservoir modeling is an ‎effective technique that assists in reservoir management as decisions concerning development ‎and depletion of hydrocarbon reserves, So It was essential to model the Matulla reservoir as ‎accurately as possible in order to better evaluate, calculate the reserves and to determine the ‎most effective way of recovering as much of the petroleum economically as possible. All ‎available data on Matulla formation are used to build the reservoir structure model, lithofacies, ‎porosity, permeability and water saturation models which are the main parameters that describe ‎the reservoirs and provide information on effective evaluation of the need to develop the oil ‎potentiality of the reservoir. This study has shown the effectiveness of; 1) the integration of ‎geological data to evaluate and subdivide Matulla formation into three units. 2) Lithology and ‎facies environment interpretation which helped in defining the nature of deposition of Matulla ‎formation. 3) The 3D reservoir modeling technology as a tool for adequate understanding of the ‎spatial distribution of property and in addition evaluating the unlocked new reservoir areas of ‎Matulla formation which have to be drilled to investigate and exploit the un-drained oil. 4) This ‎study led to adding a new room of production and additional reserves to Ras Budran field. ‎

Keywords: geology, oil and gas, geoscience, sequence stratigraphy

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Authors: Sri E. Wati, D. Roswidyatmoko, N. Maslahatun, Gunawan, Andhika B. Taji

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Natural resource is the main sources to fulfill human needs. Its utilization must consider not only human prosperity but also sustainability. Balance of natural resources is a tool to manage natural wealth and to control land use change. This tool is needed to organize land use planning as stated on spatial plan in a certain region. Balance of natural resources can be calculated by comparing two-series of natural resource data obtained at different year. In this case, four years data period of land and forest were used (2010 and 2014). Land use data were acquired through satellite image interpretation and field checking. By means of GIS analysis, its result was then assessed with land use plan. It is intended to evaluate whether existing land use is suitable with land use plan. If it is improper, what kind of efforts and policies must be done to overcome the situation. Subosukawonosraten is rapid developed areas in Central Java Province. This region consists of seven regencies/cities which are Sukoharjo Regency, Boyolali Regency, Surakarta City, Karanganyar Regency, Wonogiri Regency, Sragen Regency, and Klaten Regency. This region is regarding to several former areas under Karasidenan Surakarta and their location is adjacent to Surakarta. Balance of forest resources show that width of forest area is not significantly changed. Some land uses within the area are slightly changed. Some rice field areas are converted into settlement (0.03%) whereas water bodies become vacant areas (0.09%). On the other hand, balance of land resources state that there are many land use changes in this region. Width area of rice field decreases 428 hectares and more than 50% of them have been transformed into settlement area and 11.21% is converted into buildings such as factories, hotels, and other infrastructures. It occurs mostly in Sragen, Sukoharjo, and Karanganyar Regency. The results illustrate that land use change in this region is mostly influenced by increasing of population number. Some agricultural lands have been converted into built-up area since demand of settlement, industrial area, and other infrastructures also increases. Unfortunately, recent utilization of more than a half of total area is not appropriate with land use plan declared in spatial planning document. It means, local government shall develop a strict regulation and law enforcement related to any violation in land use management.

Keywords: balance, forest, land, spatial plan

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Authors: Khaled Suleiman Mohammed Al-Mashrafi

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A compositional plume is a fluid flow in a directional channel of finite width in another fluid of different material composition. The study of the dynamics of compositional plumes plays an essential role in many real-life applications like industrial applications (e.g., iron casting), environmental applications (e.g., salt fingers and sea ice), and geophysical applications (e.g., solidification at the inner core boundary (ICB) of the Earth, and mantle plumes). The dynamics of compositional plumes have been investigated experimentally and theoretically. The experimental works observed that the plume flow seems to be stable, although some experiments showed that it can be unstable. At the same time, the theoretical investigations showed that the plume flow is unstable. This is found to be true even if the plume is subject to rotation or/and in the presence of a magnetic field and even if another plume of different composition is also present. It is noticeable that all the theoretical studies on the dynamics of compositional plumes are conducted in unbounded domains. The present work is to investigate theoretically the influence of vertical walls (boundaries) on the dynamics of compositional plumes in the absence/presence of a rotation field. The mathematical model of the dynamics of compositional plumes used the equations of continuity, motion, heat, concentration of light material, and state. It is found that the presence of boundaries has a strong influence on the basic state solution as well as the stability of the plume, particularly when the plume is close to the boundary, but the compositional plume remains unstable.

Keywords: compositional plumes, stability, bounded domain, vertical boundaries

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Authors: Nithin Krisshna Gunasekaran, Prathima Prabhu Tumkur, Nicole Nazario Bayon, Krishnan Prabhakaran, Joseph C. Hall, Govindarajan T. Ramesh

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Cerium oxide and turmeric have antioxidant properties, which have gained interest among researchers to study their applications in the field of biomedicine, such asanti-inflammatory, anticancer, and antimicrobial applications. In this study, the turmeric extract was prepared and mixed with cerium nitrate hexahydrate, stirred continuously to obtain a homogeneous solution and then heated on a hot plate to get the supernatant evaporated, then calcinated at 600°C to obtain the cerium oxide nanoparticles. Characterization of synthesized cerium oxide nanoparticles through Scanning Electron Microscopy determined the particle size to be in the range of 70 nm to 250 nm. Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy determined the elemental composition of cerium and oxygen. Individual particles were identified through the characterization of cerium oxide nanoparticles using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy, in which the particles were determined to be spherical and in the size of around 70 nm. The presence of cerium oxide was assured by analyzing the spectrum obtained through the characterization of cerium oxide nanoparticles by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. The crystal structure of cerium oxide nanoparticles was determined to be face-centered cubic by analyzing the peaks obtained through theX-Ray Diffraction method. The crystal size of cerium oxide nanoparticles was determined to be around 13 nm by using the Debye Scherer equation. This study confirmed the synthesis of cerium oxide nanoparticles using turmeric extract.

Keywords: antioxidant, characterization, cerium oxide, synthesis, turmeric

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Authors: Hossam E. Emam

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The functional textiles development history in the military field could be ascribed as a uniquely interesting research topic. Soldiers are like a high-performance athletes, where monitoring their physical and physiological capabilities is a vital requirement. Functional clothes represent a “second skin” that has a close, “intimate” relationship with the human body. For the application of textiles in military purposes, which is normally required in difficult weather and environmental conditions, several functions are required. The requirements for designing functional military textiles for soldier's protection can be categorized into three categories; i) battle field (protection from chemical warfare agents, flames, and thermal radiation), ii) environmental (water proof, air permeable, UV-protection, antibacterial), iii) physiological (minimize heat stress, low weight, insulative, durability). All of these requirements are important, but the means to fulfill these requirements are not simple and straight forward. Additionally, the combination of more than one function is reported to be very expensive and requires many complicated steps, and the final product is found to be low durability. Not only do all of these requirements are overlapping, but they are also contradicting each other at various levels. Thus, we plan to produce multi-functional textiles (e.g., anti-microbial, UV-protection, fire retardant, photoluminescent) to be applied in military clothes. The current project aims to use quite a simple and applicable technique through the modification of textiles with different coordination polymers and functionalized coordination polymers.

Keywords: functional textiles, military clothes, coordination polymers, antimicrobial, fire retardant, photolumenscent

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Authors: Y. Hajjam, I. T. Alami, S. M. Udupa, S. Cherkaoui

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Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is an important food legume crop in Morocco. It is mainly used as human food and feed for animals. Faba bean also plays an important role in cereal-based cropping systems, when rotated with cereals it improves soil fertility by fixing N2 in root nodules mediated by Rhizobium. Both faba bean and its biological nitrogen fixation symbiotic bacterium Rhizobium are affected by different stresses such as: salinity, drought, pH, heavy metal, and the uptake of inorganic phosphate compounds. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the phenotypic diversity among the faba bean rhizobial isolates and to select the tolerant strains that can fix N2 under environmental constraints for inoculation particularly for affected soils, in order to enhance the productivity of faba bean and to improve soil fertility. Result have shown that 62% of isolates were fast growing with the ability of producing acids compounds , while 38% of isolates are slow growing with production of alkalins. Moreover, 42.5% of these isolates were able to solubilize inorganic phosphate Ca3(PO4)2 and the index of solubilization was ranged from 2.1 to 3.0. The resistance to extreme pH, temperature, water stress heavy metals and antibiotics lead us to classify rhizobial isolates into different clusters. Finally, the authentication test under greenhouse conditions showed that 55% of the rhizobial isolates could induce nodule formation on faba bean (Vicia faba L.) under greenhouse experiment. This phenotypic characterization may contribute to improve legumes and non legumes crops especially in affected soils and also to increase agronomic yield in the dry areas.

Keywords: rhizobia, vicia faba, phenotypic characterization, nodule formation, environmental constraints

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Authors: Vladimir Mantsevich, Natalya Maslova, Petr Arseyev

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We investigated the tunneling current peculiarities in the system of two coupled by means of the external field quantum dots (QDs) weakly connected to the electrodes in the presence of Coulomb correlations between localized electrons by means of Heisenberg equations for pseudo operators with constraint. Special role of multi-electronic states was demonstrated. Various single-electron levels location relative to the sample Fermi level and to the applied bias value in symmetric tunneling contact were investigated. Rabi frequency tuning results in the single-electron energy levels spacing. We revealed the appearance of negative tunneling conductivity and demonstrated multiple switching "on" and "off" of the tunneling current depending on the Coulomb correlations value, Rabi frequency amplitude and energy levels spacing. We proved that Coulomb correlations strongly influence the system behavior. We demonstrated the presence of multi-stability in the coupled QDs with Coulomb correlations when single value of the tunneling current amplitude corresponds to the two values of Rabi frequency in the case when both single-electron energy levels are located slightly above eV and are close to each other. This effect disappears when the single-electron energy levels spacing increases.

Keywords: Coulomb correlations, negative tunneling conductivity, quantum dots, rabi frequency

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Authors: Nuraddeen Usman, Khiruddin Abdullah, Mohd Nawawi, Amin Khalil Ismail

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A magnetic survey is carried out in order to locate the remains of construction items, specifically concrete pillars. The conventional Euler deconvolution technique can perform the task but it requires the use of fixed structural index (SI) and the construction items are made of materials with different shapes which require different SI (unknown). A Euler deconvolution technique that estimate background, horizontal coordinate (xo and yo), depth and structural index (SI) simultaneously is prepared and used for this task. The synthetic model study carried indicated the new methodology can give a good estimate of location and does not depend on magnetic latitude. For field data, both the total magnetic field and gradiometer reading had been collected simultaneously. The computed vertical derivatives and gradiometer readings are compared and they have shown good correlation signifying the effectiveness of the method. The filtering is carried out using automated procedure, analytic signal and other traditional techniques. The clustered depth solutions coincided with the high amplitude/values of analytic signal and these are the possible target positions of the concrete pillars being sought. The targets under investigation are interpreted to be located at the depth between 2.8 to 9.4 meters. More follow up survey is recommended as this mark the preliminary stage of the work.

Keywords: concrete pillar, magnetic survey, geotechnical investigation, Euler Deconvolution

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Authors: Mahua Banerjee, Debtanu Maiti

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Zero-tillage cultivation is a farming practice that reduces costs while maintaining harvests and protecting the environment. Innovative partnerships among researchers, farmers, and other actors in the agricultural value chain have enabled the adoption of zero-tillage to sow rice in the Indo-Gangetic Plains, increasing farmers' incomes, fostering more sustainable use of soil and water, and providing a platform for cropping diversification and the introduction of other resource-conserving practices. A field experiment was conducted in the farmer’s field of Ausgram I Block, Burdwan, West Bengal, India under sandy loam soil with soil pH of 5.2, which is low in Nitrogen, medium in Phosphorus and Potassium. There were three techniques of tillage-T1: Zero tillage in Rice, T2: conventional tillage in Rice, T3: Rice grown with Drum seeder and three varieties namely V1: MTU 7029 V2-MTU 1010, V3: Pratikha thus making nine treatment combinations which were replicated thrice and the experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomised Block Design. Among the three varieties, rice variety MTU 7029 gave higher yield in all the tillage techniques. The highest yield was obtained under Zero tillage followed by conventional tillage. From economic analysis it was revealed that the benefit:cost ratio was higher in Zero tillage and rice cultivation by drum seeder. Zero-till is increasingly being adopted because it gives more yield at less cost, saves labour and farmer time. Farmers will be interested in this technology once they overcome their tillage biases.

Keywords: economics, Indo-Gangetic plain, rice, zero tillage, yield

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Authors: Mohamed ElMasry, Ahmad Ragheb, Tareq AbdelAziz, Mohamed Ghazy

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Choosing the suitable infrastructure system is becoming more challenging with the increase in demand for heavier structures contemporarily. This is the case where piled raft foundations have been widely used around the world to support heavy structures without extensive settlement. In the latter system, piles are rigidly connected to the raft, and most of the load goes to the soil layer on which the piles are bearing. In spite of that, when soil profiles contain thicker soft clay layers near the surface, or at relatively shallow depths, it is unfavorable to use the rigid piled raft foundation system. Consequently, the disconnected piled raft system was introduced as an alternative approach for the rigidly connected system. In this system, piles are disconnected from the raft using a cushion of soil, mostly of a granular interlayer. The cushion is used to redistribute the stresses among the piles and the subsoil. Piles are also used to stiffen the subsoil, and by this way reduce the settlement without being rigidly connected to the raft. However, the seismic loading effect on such disconnected foundation systems remains a problem, since the soil profiles may include thick clay layers which raise risks of amplification of the dynamic earthquake loads. In this paper, the effects of seismic behavior on the connected and disconnected piled raft systems are studied through a numerical model using Midas GTS NX Software. The study concerns the soil-structure interaction and the expected behavior of the systems. Advantages and disadvantages of each foundation approach are studied, and a comparison between the results are presented to show the effects of using disconnected piled raft systems in highly seismic zones. This was done by showing the excitation amplification in each of the foundation systems.

Keywords: soil-structure interaction, disconnected piled-raft, risks, seismic zones

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Authors: Saumya R. Jha, Krishanu Biswas, Nilesh P. Gurao

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Several recent investigations have revealed medium entropy alloys exhibiting better mechanical properties than their high entropy counterparts. This clearly establishes that although a higher entropy plays a vital role in stabilization of particular phase over complex intermetallic phases, configurational entropy is not the primary factor responsible for the high inherent strengthening in these systems. Above and beyond a high contribution from friction stresses and solid solution strengthening, strain hardening is an important contributor to the strengthening in these systems. In this regard, researchers have developed severe plastic deformation (SPD) techniques like High Pressure Torsion (HPT) to incorporate very high shear strain in the material, thereby leading to ultrafine grained (UFG) microstructures, which cause manifold increase in the strength. The presented work demonstrates a meticulous study of the variation in mechanical properties at different radial displacements from the center of HPT tested equiatomic ternary FeMnNi synthesized by casting route, which is a low stacking fault energy FCC alloy that shows significantly higher toughness than its high entropy counterparts like Cantor alloy. The gradient in grain sizes along the radial direction of these specimens has been modeled using microstructure entropy for predicting the mechanical properties, which has also been validated by indentation tests. The dislocation density is computed by FEM simulations for varying strains and validated by analyzing synchrotron diffraction data. Thus, the proposed model can be utilized to predict the strengthening behavior of similar systems deformed by HPT subjected to varying loading conditions.

Keywords: high pressure torsion, severe plastic deformation, configurational entropy, dislocation density, FEM simulation

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Authors: Misbah Javaid, Vladimir Estivill-Castro, Rene Hexel

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The field of robotics is advancing rapidly to the point where robots have become an integral part of the modern society. These robots collaborate and contribute productively with humans and compensate some shortcomings from human abilities and complement them with their skills. Effective teamwork of humans and robots demands to investigate the critical issue of trust. The field of human-computer interaction (HCI) has already examined trust humans place in technical systems mostly on issues like reliability and accuracy of performance. Early work in the area of expert systems suggested that automatic generation of explanations improved trust and acceptability of these systems. In this work, we augmented a robot with the user-invoked explanation generation proficiency. To measure explanations effect on human’s level of trust, we collected subjective survey measures and behavioral data in a human-robot team task into an interactive, adversarial and partial information environment. The results showed that with the explanation capability humans not only understand and recognize robot as an expert team partner. But, it was also observed that human's learning and human-robot team performance also significantly improved because of the meaningful interaction with the robot in the human-robot team. Moreover, by observing distinctive outcomes, we expect our research outcomes will also provide insights into further improvement of human-robot trustworthy relationships.

Keywords: explanation interface, adversaries, partial observability, trust building

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Authors: Olayinka Adeniyi, Melissa Omino

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The field of data privacy and data protection in Africa is still an evolving area, with many African countries yet to enact legislation on the subject. While African Governments are bringing their legislation to speed in this field, how patriarchy pervades every sector of African thought and manifests in society needs to be considered. Moreover, the laws enacted ought to be inclusive, especially towards women. This, in a nutshell, is the essence of data feminism. Data feminism is a new way of thinking about data science and data ethics that is informed by the ideas of intersectional feminism. Feminising data privacy and protection will involve thinking women, considering women in the issues of data privacy and protection, particularly in legislation, as is the case in this paper. The line of thought of women inclusion is not uncommon when even international and regional human rights specific for women only came long after the general human rights. The consideration is that these should have been inserted or rather included in the original general instruments in the first instance. Since legislation on data privacy is coming in this century, having seen the rights and shortcomings of earlier instruments, then the cue should be taken to ensure inclusive wholistic legislation for data privacy and protection in the first instance. Data feminism is arguably an area that has been scantily researched, albeit a needful one. With the spate of increase in the violence against women spiraling in the cyber world, compounding the issue of COVID-19 and the needful response of governments, and the effect of these on women and their rights, fast forward, the research on the feminism of data privacy and protection in Africa becomes inevitable. This paper seeks to answer the questions, what is data feminism in the African context, why is it important in the issue of data privacy and protection legislation; what are the laws, if any, existing on data privacy and protection in Africa, are they women inclusive, if not, why; what are the measures put in place for the privacy and protection of women in Africa, and how can this be made possible. The paper aims to investigate the issue of data privacy and protection in Africa, the legal framework, and the protection or provision that it has for women if any. It further aims to research the importance and necessity of feminizing data privacy and protection, the effect of lack of it, the challenges or bottlenecks in attaining this feat and the possibilities of accessing data privacy and protection for African women. The paper also researches the emerging practices of data privacy and protection of women in other jurisprudences. It approaches the research through the methodology of review of papers, analysis of laws, and reports. It seeks to contribute to the existing literature in the field and is explorative in its suggestion. It suggests a draft of some clauses to make any data privacy and protection legislation women inclusive. It would be useful for policymaking, academic, and public enlightenment.

Keywords: feminism, women, law, data, Africa

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