Search results for: infrastructure projects

Authors: Simon Bambey, Edward Lim, Kai Corley-Jory, Pooya Taheri

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The main goal of this paper is to propose a simple and low-cost microcontroller-based laser communication link. To demonstrate that laser communication is a viable and efficient means for transmitting data, a transceiver capable of transfer rates of approximately 0.7 kB/s is prototyped. The hardware used for the transceiver consists of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) lasers, photodiodes, and the Arduino Mega 2560 which is an open-source and easy-to-use microcontroller-based platform intended for making interactive projects. A graphic user interface utilizing the Meteor framework is developed to facilitate the communication between the user and transceiver. The developed transceiver prototype is capable of receiving and transmitting data at significant ranges with no loss of information. Furthermore, stable and secure communication is achieved through several mechanisms developed to manage simultaneous sending and receiving, in addition to detecting physical interruptions during transmission. The design setup is scalable and with further development can be transformed into a fiber-optic transmission system. Due to its nature, laser communication is very secure and can provide a safe and private communication link. Overall, this paper demonstrates how laser communication can be an economical, durable, and effective means of information transfer.

Keywords: Arduino microcontrollers, laser applications, user interfaces, wireless communication

Procedia PDF Downloads 270

Authors: Ronbanchob Apiratikul

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This research studied recycled waste by the Recyclable Material Bank Project of 4 universities in the central region of Thailand for the evaluation of reducing greenhouse gas emissions compared with landfilling activity during July 2012 to June 2013. The results showed that the projects collected total amount of recyclable wastes of about 911,984.80 kilograms. Office paper had the largest amount among these recycled wastes (50.68% of total recycled waste). Groups of recycled waste can be prioritized from high to low according to their amount as paper, plastic, glass, mixed recyclables, and metal, respectively. The project reduced greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to about 2814.969 metric tons of carbon dioxide. The most significant recycled waste that affects the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is office paper which is 70.16% of total reduced greenhouse gasses emission. According to amount of reduced greenhouse gasses emission, groups of recycled waste can be prioritized from high to low significances as paper, plastic, metals, mixed recyclables, and glass, respectively.

Keywords: recycling, garbage bank, waste management, recyclable wastes, greenhouse gases

Procedia PDF Downloads 400

Authors: Araba A. Z. Osei-Tutu, Ebenezer Odame, Joseph Bawa, Samuel Amponsah

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Education is recognized as a fundamental human right and a catalyst for development. Despite progress in the provision of higher education on the African continent, there persist challenges with the tripartite areas of access, equity and quality. Therefore, this systematic review aimed at providing a comprehensive overview of conversations and voices of scholars on these three concepts in HE in Africa. The systematic review employed a thematic analysis approach, synthesizing findings from 38 selected sources. After a critical analysis of the sources included in the systematic review, deficits in access, quality, and equity were outlined, focusing on infrastructure, regional disparities, and privatization challenges. The review also revealed the weak enforcement of quality assurance measures. Strategies for improvement, proffered by the study, include expanding public sector HE, deregulating the educational sector, promoting open and distance learning, implementing preferential admission policies, and enhancing financial aid. This research contributes valuable insights for policymakers, educators, and stakeholders, fostering a collaborative approach to address challenges and promote holistic development in African higher education.

Keywords: access, equity, quality, higher education, Africa, systematic review, strategies

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Authors: Vhuhwavho Gadisi, Rebecca Alowo, German Nkhonjera

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It has been noted that technical programming for handling groundwater resources is not accessible. The lack of these systems hinders groundwater management processes necessary for decision-making through monitoring and evaluation regarding the Jukskei River of the Crocodile River (West) Basin in Johannesburg, South Africa. Several challenges have been identified in South Africa's Jukskei Catchment concerning groundwater management. Some of those challenges will include the following: Gaps in data records; there is a need for training and equipping of monitoring staff; formal accreditation of monitoring capacities and equipment; there is no access to regulation terms (e.g., meters). Taking into consideration necessities and human requirements as per typical densities in various regions of South Africa, there is a need to construct several groundwater level monitoring stations in a particular segment; the available raw data on groundwater level should be converted into consumable products for example, short reports on delicate areas (e.g., Dolomite compartments, wetlands, aquifers, and sole source) and considering the increasing civil unrest there has been vandalism and theft of groundwater monitoring infrastructure. GIS was employed at the catchment level to plot the relationship between those identified groundwater parameters in the catchment area and the identified borehole. GIS-based maps were designed for groundwater monitoring to be pretested on one borehole in the Jukskei catchment. This data will be used to establish changes in the borehole compared to changes in the catchment area according to identified parameters.

Keywords: GIS, monitoring, Jukskei, catchment

Procedia PDF Downloads 72

Authors: H. Mahdavinezhad, M. Labbaf, H. R. Tavakoli

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In recent decades, the study and control of the destructive effects of explosive vibration in construction projects has received more attention, and several experimental equations in the field of vibration prediction as well as allowable vibration limit for various structures are presented. Researchers have developed a number of experimental equations to estimate the peak particle velocity (PPV), in which the experimental constants must be obtained at the site of the explosion by fitting the data from experimental explosions. In this study, the most important of these equations was evaluated for strong massive conglomerates around Dez Dam by collecting data on explosions, including 30 particle velocities, 27 displacements, 27 vibration frequencies and 27 acceleration of earth vibration at different distances; they were recorded in the form of two types of detonation systems, NUNEL and electric. Analysis showed that the data from the explosion had the best correlation with the cube root of the explosive, R2=0.8636, but overall the correlation coefficients are not much different. To estimate the vibration in this project, data regression was performed in the other formats, which resulted in the presentation of new equation with R2=0.904 correlation coefficient. Finally according to the importance of the studied structures in order to ensure maximum non damage to adjacent structures for each diagram, a range of application was defined so that for distances 0 to 70 meters from blast site, exponent n=0.33 and for distances more than 70 m, n =0.66 was suggested.

Keywords: blasting, blast-induced vibration, empirical equations, PPV, tunnel

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Authors: Mojtaba Valinejadshoubi, Azin Shakibabarough, Ashutosh Bagchi

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Facilities such as residential buildings, office buildings, and hospitals house large density of occupants. Therefore, a low-cost facility management program (FMP) should be used to provide a satisfactory built environment for these occupants. Facility management (FM) has been recently used in building projects as a critical task. It has been effective in reducing operation and maintenance cost of these facilities. Issues of information integration and visualization capabilities are critical for reducing the complexity and cost of FM. Building information modeling (BIM) can be used as a strong visual modeling tool and database in FM. The main objective of this study is to examine the applicability of BIM in the FM process during a building’s operational phase. For this purpose, a seven-storey office building is modeled Autodesk Revit software. Authors integrated the cloud-based environment using a visual programming tool, Dynamo, for the purpose of having a real-time cloud-based communication between the facility managers and the participants involved in the project. An appropriate and effective integrated data source and visual model such as BIM can reduce a building’s operational and maintenance costs by managing the building life cycle properly.

Keywords: building information modeling, facility management, operational phase, building life cycle

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Authors: Luís Antonio de Almeida Rodriguez, José Maria Parente de Oliveira, Ednelson Oliveira

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In the last two decades, the world’s aviation authorities have made several attempts to create consensus about a global and accepted approach for applying semantics to web services registry descriptions. This problem has led communities to face a fat and disorganized infrastructure to describe aeronautical web services. It is usual for developers to implement ad-hoc connections among consumers and providers and manually create non-standardized service compositions, which need some particular approach to compose and semantically discover a desired web service. Current practices are not precise and tend to focus on lightweight specifications of some parts of the OWL-S and embed them into syntactic descriptions (SOAP artifacts and OWL language). It is necessary to have the ability to manage the use of both technologies. This paper presents an implementation of the ontology OWL-S that describes a Brazilian Aeronautical Web Service Registry, which makes it able to publish, advertise, make multi-criteria semantic discovery aligned with the ideas of the System Wide Information Management (SWIM) Program, and invoke web services within the Air Traffic Management context. The proposal’s best finding is a generic approach to describe semantic web services. The paper also presents a set of functional requirements to guide the ontology development and to compare them to the results to validate the implementation of the OWL-S Ontology.

Keywords: aeronautical web services, OWL-S, semantic web services discovery, ontologies

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Authors: Harukuni Tokuda, Xu FengHao, Nobutaka Suzuki

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As part of an ongoing our projects to investigate the anti-tumor promoring properties (chemopreventive potency) of Gromwell seed, dry powder materials and its active compounds were carried out through useful test systems. Gromwell seed (Coix lachryma-jobi seed) (GS) is a grass crop that has long been used and played a role in traditional medicine as a nourishing food, and for the treatment of various aliments, paticularly cancer. The application of a new screening procedure which utilizes the synergistic effect of short-chain fatty acids and phorbol esters in enable rapid and easy detection of naturally occurring substances(anti-tumor promoters chemo-preventive agents) with inhibition of Epstein-Barr virus(EBV) activation, using human lymphblastoid cells. In addition, we have now extended these investigations to a new tumorigenesis model in which we initiated the tumors with DMBA intiation and promoted with 1.7 nmol of TPA in two-stage mouse skin test and other models. these results provide a basis for further development of these botanical supplements for human cancer chemoprevention and observations seem that this materials more extensively as one of the trials for the purpose of complementary and alternative medicine.

Keywords: chemoprevention, medicinal plant, mouse, carcinogenesis systems

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Authors: Musa Mayanja Lwanga, Annet Adong

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This study provides a micro perspective on the impact of mobile money services on individual’s saving behavior using the 2013 Uganda FinScope data. Results show that although saving through the mobile phone is not a common practice in Uganda, being a registered mobile money user increases the likelihood to save with mobile money. Saving using mobile is more prevalent in urban areas and in Kampala and Central region compared to other regions. This can be explained by: first, rural dwellers tend on average to have lower incomes and thus have lower to saving compared to the urban counterpart. Similarly, residents of Kampala tend to have higher incomes and thus high savings compared to residents of other regions. Secondly, poor infrastructure in rural areas in terms of lack of electricity and poor telecommunication network coverage may limit the use of mobile phones and consequently the use of mobile money as a saving mechanism. Overall, the use of mobile money as a saving mechanism is still very low and this could be partly explained by limitations in the legislation that does not incorporate mobile finance services into mobile money. The absence of interest payments on mobile money savings may act as a disincentive to save through this mechanism. Given the emerging mobile banking services, there is a need to create more awareness and the need for enhanced synergies between telecom companies and commercial banks.

Keywords: financial inclusion, mobile money, savings, Uganda

Procedia PDF Downloads 266

Authors: Dhawal Ladani

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Shell and tube type heat exchangers are predominantly used in heat exchange between two fluids and other applications. This paper projects the optimal design of the pipe used in the heat exchanger in such a way to minimize the vibration occurring in the pipe. Paper also consists of the comparison of the different design of the pipe to get the maximize the heat transfer rate by converting laminar flow into the turbulent flow. By the updated design the vibration in the pipe due to the flow is also decreased. Computational Fluid Dynamics and Thermal Heat Transfer analysis are done to justifying the result. Currently, the straight pipe is used in the shell and tube type of heat exchanger where as per the paper the pipe consists of the curvature along with the pipe. Hence, the heat transfer area is also increased and result in the increasing in heat transfer rate. Curvature type design is useful to create turbulence and minimizing the vibration, also. The result will give the output comparison of the effect of laminar flow and the turbulent flow in the heat exchange mechanism, as well as, inverse effect of the boundary layer in heat exchanger is also justified.

Keywords: heat exchanger, heat transfer rate, laminar and turbulent effect, shell and tube

Procedia PDF Downloads 284

Authors: Lo Kar Yin

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In view of the increasing speed and quantity of the housing supply, building, and civil engineering infrastructure works triggered by the pandemic across the globe, contractors, professional services providers (PSP), including consultants (e.g., architect, project manager, civil/geotechnical/structural engineer, building services engineer, quantity surveyor/cost manager, etc.) and suppliers have faced tremendous challenges of the fierce market, limited manpower, and resources under contract prices fluctuation and competitive fee and price. With qualitative analysis, this paper is to review the available information from the industry stakeholders with a view to finding solutions for enhancing efficiency, safety, and quality of construction value chain services for public and private organizations/companies’ sustainable growth, not limited to checking the deliverables and data transfer from multi-disciplinary parties. Technology, contracts, and people are the key requirements for shaping the construction industry. With the integration of a modern engineering contract (e.g., NEC) collaborative approach, practical workflows are designed to address loopholes together with different levels of people employment/retention and technology adoption to achieve the best value for money.

Keywords: efficiency, safety, quality, technology, contract, people, sustainable solutions, construction, services, integration

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Authors: Abass Braimah, Maha Hussein Abdallah

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The global ascendancy of terrorist attacks on building infrastructure with economic and heritage significance has increased awareness of the possibility of terrorism in Canada. Many structures in Canada that are at risk of terrorist attacks include government buildings, built many years ago of historic stone masonry construction. Although many researchers are investigating ways to retrofit masonry stone buildings to mitigate the effect of blast loadings, lack of knowledge on the dynamic behavior of historic stone masonry structures under blast loads makes it difficult to ascertain the effectiveness of the retrofitting techniques. This paper presents a review of open-source literature for the experimental and numerical stone masonry structures under blast loads. This review yielded very little information of the response of the historic stone masonry structures under blast loads. Thus, a comprehensive study is needed to understand the blast load effects on historic stone masonry buildings. The out-of-plane response of historic masonry structures to blast loads is investigated by using single-degree-of-freedom analysis. This approach presents equations that can be used effectively in the analysis of historic masonry walls to out-of-plane blast loading.

Keywords: blast loads, historical buildings, masonry structure, single-degree-of-freedom analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 149

Authors: M. T. Becerra-Traver, M. Montanero, R. Alejo, A. Antúnez, P. Cañamero, M. J. Fernández, M. Gómez, A. L. Medialdea, J. D. Martínez, A. M. Piquer-Píriz, M. J. Rabazo

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The introduction of new subjects at university level, brought about with the implementation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), has meant changes for students and lecturers that, in the case of the latter, have also revealed a need for further training. In our context, one of the main changes has been the introduction of Undergraduate Thesis Projects (UTPs) in the degrees taught in our faculty: Pre-Primary and Primary Education. The aim of this paper is to analyze UTPs and to provide some suggestions that can help both students and lecturers in the process. UTPs complete the university training cycle of the Degree Studies and entail the elaboration of a written piece of work, supervised by a professor and presented to a panel in order to ensure that students acquire the required competences of these Degrees to develop an autonomous, responsible and comprehensive activity. In addition, UTPs develop students’ abilities for oral presentations and to defend and argue their own ideas. One of the first difficulties in the supervision of UTPs is that most of the students do not know how to write an academic text. To solve this problem, we propose a three-phase model based on planning, textualization and review. The implementation of this model has enabled us to see a successful evolution in the correct development of the academic dissertations that students submit at the end their degrees.

Keywords: academic task, student, tutoring, university

Procedia PDF Downloads 246

Authors: Sumaya Ismail, Aijaz Ahmad Reshi

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The advances in sensor and embedded technologies have led to rapid developments in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Presently researchers focus on the integration of WSNs to the Internet for their pervasive availability to access these network resources as the interoperable subsystems. The recent computing technologies like cloud computing has made resource sharing as a converged infrastructure with required service interfaces for the shared resources over the Internet. This paper presents application architecture for wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks (WSANS) following web of things, which allows easy integration of each node to the Internet in order to provide them with web accessibility. The architecture enables the sensors and actuator nodes accessed and controlled using cloud interface on WWW. The application architecture was implemented using existing web and its emerging technologies. In particular, the Representational State Transfer protocol (REST) was extended for the specific requirements of the application. The Cloud computing environment has been used as a development platform for the application to assess the possibility of integrating the WSAN nodes to Cloud services. The mushroom farm environment monitoring and control using WSANs has been taken as a research use case.

Keywords: WSAN, REST, web of things, ZigBee, cloud interface, PaaS, sensor gateway

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Authors: Naci Büyükkaracığan, Hasan Uzun

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Flood is the event which damage to the surrounding lands, residential places, infrastructure and vibrant, because of the streams overflow events from its bed for several reasons. Flood is a natural formation which develops due to its region's climatic conditions, technical and topographical characteristics. However, factors causing floods with global warming caused by human activity are events such as uncontrolled urbanization. Floods in Turkey are natural disasters which cause huge economic losses after the earthquake. At the same time, the flood disaster is one of the most observed hydrometeorological disasters, compared to 30%, in Turkey. Every year, there are around 200 flood-flood disasters and the disaster as a result of financial losses of $ 100 million per year are reported to occur in public institutions. The amount allocated for carrying out investment-project activities for reducing and controlling of flood damage control are around US $ 30 million per year. The existence of a linear increase in the number of flood disasters is noteworthy due to various reasons in the last 50 years of observation. In this study, first of all, big events of the flood in Turkey and their reasons were examined. And then, the information about the work to be done in order to prevent flooding by government was given with examples. Meteorological early warning systems, flood risk maps and regulation of urban development studies are described for this purpose. As a result, recommendations regarding in the event of the occurrence of floods disaster management were issues raised.

Keywords: flood, disaster, disaster management, Türkiye

Procedia PDF Downloads 300

Authors: Isalyne Gennaro

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The lack of access to basic sanitation services and improper water infrastructure pollute the environment and expose people to water-borne diseases. In 2014, to address these concerns, the central government of India launched five-years urban development and sanitation programs. The national vision seemed to encourage the use of technologies which recycle and reuse wastewater for achieving open defecation free cities. As we approach 2019, it is time to reflect on these objectives. This research critically looked at the actual scope and limitations of policies and regulations to promote resource-recovery sanitation systems. This study was based on the case of the fast-growing city of Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The analysis examined the actions and priorities, financial and institutional arrangements and technologies promoted at the national, sub-national and local levels. The research work concluded that a paradigm shift is required, from providing infrastructures in a supply-driven manner to creating inclusive planning framework which focuses on local challenges and generates a demand-responsiveness from the potential users targeted.

Keywords: India, public policy, resource-recovery, urban sanitation

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Authors: Dina Dahood Dabash

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Palestine Refugee Camps have never been settings that can be overlooked; they even became (as physical settings) a cornerstone topic of negotiations whenever Palestinian matters are on the table (specifically in Jordan). Consequently, maintaining the familiar face of the camp with its dilapidated shelters and narrow streets that rarely allowed its residents to extinguish a fire or evacuate a building safely has become a fundamental method to protect the “right of the return” from the perspective of various stakeholders. When the Infrastructure and Camp Improvement Programme (ICIP) was established in 2007 as an additional UNRWA program, some concerns were raised around the newly established section, mainly due to its direct impact on the “image” of the camp through a provision of a relatively nonconventional service that differs from what the Agency used to provide in the past seventy years. By presenting the Urban Improvement Project in Jerash camp (UIP) -Jordan, this paper aims to contribute to the ongoing discussion around enduring the improvement of Palestine refugee camps “programmatically” in UNRWA or not. The UIP as a co-product by UNRWA and the camp’s community within one of the most vulnerable refugee camps in Jordan offers a remarkable opportunity to excerpt lessons that can contribute to the strategic shaping of the ICIP. The paper concludes with five mine uptakes mainly related to community engagement, power structures and UNRWA's role in camps.

Keywords: camp improvement program, Jerash camp, Palestine refugee camps, UNRWA.

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Authors: Jameson McFarlane, Thorne J. McFarlane, Leon Bernard

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Social network sites (SNS) is an emerging phenomenon that is here to stay. The popularity and the ubiquity of the SNS technology are undeniable. Because most SNS are free and easy to use people from all walks of life and from almost any age are attracted to that technology. College age students are by far the largest segment of the population using SNS. Since most SNS have been adapted for mobile devices, not only do you find students using this technology in their study, while working on labs or on projects, a substantial number of students have been found to use SNS even while listening to lectures. This study found that SNS use has a significant negative impact on the grade point average of college students particularly in the first semester. However, this negative impact is greatly diminished by the end of the third semester partly because the students have adjusted satisfactorily to the challenges of college or because they have learned how to adequately manage their time. It was established that the kinds of activities the students are engaged in during the SNS use are the leading factor affecting academic performance. Of those activities, using SNS during a lecture or while studying is the foremost contributing factor to lower academic performance. This is due to “cognitive” or “information” bottleneck, a condition in which the students find it very difficult to multitask or to switch between resources leading to inefficiency in information retention and thus, educational performance.

Keywords: social network sites, social network analysis, regression coefficient, psychological engagement

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Authors: Tamanda Kamwendo

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The concept of benefit sharing has been a prominent global debate in the world, gaining traction in human research ethics. Despite its prevalence, the concept of benefit sharing is not without controversy over its meaning and justification. This is due to the fact that it lacks a broadly accepted definition and many proponents discuss benefit sharing by arguing for its necessity rather than engaging in critical intellectual engagement with technical issues such as what it implies. What is clear in the literature is that the underlying premise of benefit-sharing is that research involving underprivileged and marginalized people is currently unjust and inequitable because these people are denied access to these gains; thus, benefit-sharing arrangements are required for these research projects to be just and equitable. This paper, therefore, investigates the discourses and justifications behind the concept of benefit sharing to human participants, particularly when dealing with human genomics research. Furthermore, considering that benefit sharing is generally viewed as a transaction between research organizations and research participants, it raises ethical concerns concerning the commodification of human material and undermines the sanctity of the human genome. This is predicated on the idea that research sponsors would be compelled to deliver a minimum set of possible benefits to research participants and communities in exchange for their involvement in the study. There is, therefore, need to protect benefit-sharing practices in international health research by developing a governance legal framework. A legal framework of benefit sharing will also dispel the issue of commodification of human material where human genomic research is done.

Keywords: benefit sharing, human participants, human genomic research, ethical concerns

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Authors: Abdullah Al Mamoon, Ataur Rahman

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Due to climate change, future rainfall will change at many locations on earth; however, the spatial and temporal patterns of this change are not easy to predict. One approach of predicting such future changes is to examine the trends in the historical rainfall data at a given region and use the identified trends to make future prediction. For this, a statistical trend test is commonly applied to the historical data. This paper examines the trends of daily extreme rainfall events from 30 rain gauges located in the State of Qatar. Rainfall data covering from 1962 to 2011 were used in the analysis. A combination of four non-parametric and parametric tests was applied to identify trends at 10%, 5%, and 1% significance levels. These tests are Mann-Kendall (MK), Spearman’s Rho (SR), Linear Regression (LR) and CUSUM tests. These tests showed both positive and negative trends throughout the country. Only eight stations showed positive (upward) trend, which were however not statistically significant. In contrast, significant negative (downward) trends were found at the 5% and 10% levels of significance in six stations. The MK, SR and LR tests exhibited very similar results. This finding has important implications in the derivation/upgrade of design rainfall for Qatar, which will affect design and operation of future urban drainage infrastructure in Qatar.

Keywords: trends, extreme rainfall, daily rainfall, Mann-Kendall test, climate change, Qatar

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Authors: Umedov Mekhroz, Griaznova Svetlana

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The quality of life and well-being of patients, staff and visitors are central to the delivery of health care. Architecture and design are becoming an integral part of the healing and recovery approach. The most significant point that can be implemented in hospital buildings is the therapeutic value of the artificial environment, the design and integration of plants to bring the natural world into the healthcare environment. The hospital environment should feel like home comfort. The techniques that therapeutic architecture uses are very cheap, but provide real benefit to patients, staff and visitors, demonstrating that the difference is not in cost but in design quality. The best environment is not necessarily more expensive - it is about special use of light and color, rational use of materials and flexibility of premises. All this forms innovative concepts in modern hospital architecture, in new construction, renovation or expansion projects. The aim of the study is to identify the methods and principles of therapeutic architecture. The research methodology consists in studying and summarizing international experience in scientific research, literature, standards, methodological manuals and project materials on the research topic. The result of the research is the development of graphic-analytical tables based on the system analysis of the processed information; 3d visualization of hospital interiors based on processed information.

Keywords: therapeutic architecture, healthcare interiors, sustainable design, materials, color scheme, lighting, environment.

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Authors: Amir Ahmad Dehghani, Morteza Nabizadeh

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This paper presents the application of an Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) to flood hydrograph modeling of Shahid Rajaee reservoir dam located in Iran. This was carried out using 11 flood hydrographs recorded in Tajan river gauging station. From this dataset, 9 flood hydrographs were chosen to train the model and 2 flood hydrographs to test the model. The different architectures of neuro-fuzzy model according to the membership function and learning algorithm were designed and trained with different epochs. The results were evaluated in comparison with the observed hydrographs and the best structure of model was chosen according the least RMSE in each performance. To evaluate the efficiency of neuro-fuzzy model, various statistical indices such as Nash-Sutcliff and flood peak discharge error criteria were calculated. In this simulation, the coordinates of a flood hydrograph including peak discharge were estimated using the discharge values occurred in the earlier time steps as input values to the neuro-fuzzy model. These results indicate the satisfactory efficiency of neuro-fuzzy model for flood simulating. This performance of the model demonstrates the suitability of the implemented approach to flood management projects.

Keywords: adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system, flood hydrograph, hybrid learning algorithm, Shahid Rajaee reservoir dam

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Authors: Hussein Moselhy, Islam Salam

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There have been some challenges and problems which hinder the implementation of the e-marketing systems such as the high cost of information systems infrastructure and maintenance as well as their unavailability within the institution. Also, there is no system which supports all programming languages and different platforms. Another problem is the lack of integration between these systems on one hand and the operating systems and different web browsers on the other hand. No system for customer relationship management is established which recognizes their desires and puts them in consideration while performing e-marketing functions is available. Therefore, the service-oriented architecture emerged as one of the most important techniques and methodologies to build systems that integrate with various operating systems and different platforms and other technologies. This technology allows realizing the data exchange among different applications. The service-oriented architecture represents distributed computing concepts to demonstrate its success in achieving the requirements of systems through web services. It also reflects the appropriate design for the services to use different web services in supporting the requirements of business processes and software users. In a service-oriented environment, web services are deployed on the web in the form of independent services to be accessed without knowledge of the nature of the programs and systems with in. This Paper presents a proposal for a new model which contributes to the application of methods and means of e-marketing with the integration of marketing mix elements to improve marketing efficiency (E-MSOA). And apply it in the educational city of one of the Egyptian sector.

Keywords: service-oriented architecture, electronic commerce, virtual retailing, unified modeling language

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Authors: Amarjit Singh, Tripatdeep Singh Dua, Vikas Attri

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Mobile Ad-hoc Network is a combination of several nodes that create dynamically a specific network without using any base infrastructure. In this study all the mobile nodes can depended upon each other to send any data. Mobile host can pick up data and forwarding to their destination path. Basically MANET depend upon their Quality of Service which is highly constraints to the user. To give better services we need to improve the QOS. In these days MANET QOS requirement to use soft computing techniques. These techniques depend upon their specific requirement and which exists using MANET concepts. Using a soft computing techniques various protocol and algorithms may be considered. In this paper, we provide comparative study review of existing work done in MANET using various kind of soft computing techniques. Our review research is based on their specific protocol or algorithm which provide concern solution of QOS need. We discuss about various protocol through which routing in MANET. In Second section we clear the concepts of Soft Computing and their types. In third section we review the MANET using different kind of soft computing techniques work done before. In forth section we need to understand the concept of QoS requirement which exists in MANET and we done comparative study on different protocol used before and last we conclude the purpose of using MANET with soft computing techniques metrics.

Keywords: mobile ad-hoc network, fuzzy improved genetic approach, neural network, routing protocol, wireless mesh network

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Authors: Katawut Kaewbanjong

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We analyzed a volume of data and found significant user satisfaction in software project factors. A statistical significance analysis (logistic regression) and collinearity analysis determined the significance factors from a group of 71 pre-defined factors from 191 software projects in ISBSG Release 12. The eight prediction models used for testing the prediction potential of these factors were Neural network, k-NN, Naïve Bayes, Random forest, Decision tree, Gradient boosted tree, linear regression and logistic regression prediction model. Fifteen pre-defined factors were truly significant in predicting user satisfaction, and they provided 82.71% prediction accuracy when used with a neural network prediction model. These factors were client-server, personnel changes, total defects delivered, project inactive time, industry sector, application type, development type, how methodology was acquired, development techniques, decision making process, intended market, size estimate approach, size estimate method, cost recording method, and effort estimate method. These findings may benefit software development managers considerably.

Keywords: prediction model, statistical analysis, software project, user satisfaction factor

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Authors: Huang Yueh Chen, Sheng Ang Shen

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Purpose: Sexual assault has always been a highly anticipated crime in Taiwan. People assume that the career of sexual offenders tends to be highly specialized. This study hopes to analyze the crime career and risk factors of offenders by means of another classification. Methods: A total of 145 sexual offenders were sentenced on the parole or expiration date from 2009 to 2011, through analysis of official existing documents such as ‘Re-infringement risk assessment report’ and ‘case assessment report’. Results: The section ‘Various Types of Crimes ‘ of criminal career is analyzed. The highest number of ‘ versatile sexual offender’ followed by ‘adult sexual offender’ is about 2.5, representing more than 1.5 kinds of non-sex crimes besides sexual crimes. Different specialized sexual offenders have had extensive experience in the ‘Sexual Assault Experiences in Children and School’, ‘Static 99 Levels’, ‘Pre-Commuted Substance Use’, ‘Excited Deviant Sexual Behavior’, ‘Various Types of Crimes,’ and ‘Sexual Crime in Forerunner’ , ‘Type of Index Crime’ and other projects to achieve significant differences. Conclusions: Resources continue to be devoted to specialized offenders, the character of first-time sexual offender depends on further research and makes the public aware of the different assumptions of diversified offenders from traditional professional offenses that reduce unnecessary panic in society.

Keywords: versatile sexual offender, specialized sexual offender, criminal career, risk factor

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Authors: Fateme Afkhami, Mohsen Ehsanpour, Majid Afkhami, Maryam Ehsanpour

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Normal reference ranges of biochemical parameters are considered important for assessing and monitoring the health status of sea turtles. For this means, serum biochemistry determinations were analyzed in normal adult nesting and foraging hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata). Blood samples were collected in March–April during nesting season and December-November in the foraging season. Plasma biochemistry values, except for creatinine and lipase were significant between the two periods. FBS, cholesterol, triglycerides, ALP (alkaline phosphatase), AST (aspartate aminotransferase), bilirubin, total protein, LDH (lactate dehydrogenase), CK (creatine kinase) and amylase were significantly higher in nesting season than foraging season (P<0.05). On the other hand urea, ALT (alanine aminotransferase) and albumin in the nesting season were significantly lower than foraging season (P<0.05). It was concluded that the nesting E. imbricata showed significant variation in their biochemical profile due to reproductive output. This study has produced working reference intervals useful for hawksbill turtles for future conservation and rehabilitation projects in the Persian Gulf and may be of assistance in similar programs worldwide.

Keywords: plasma biochemistry, nesting, foraging, hawksbill turtles, Persian Gulf

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Authors: Hao-Hsi Tseng, Hsin-Yun Lee

Abstract:

In the process of building design, the designers have to complete the spatial design and consider the evacuation performance at the same time. It is usually difficult to combine the two planning processes and it results in the gap between spatial design and evacuation performance. Then the designers cannot complete an integrated optimal design solution. In addition, the evacuation routing models proposed by previous researchers is different from the practical evacuation decisions in the real field. On the other hand, more and more building design projects are executed by Building Information Modeling (BIM) in which the design content is formed by the object-oriented framework. Thus, the integration of BIM and evacuation simulation can make a significant contribution for designers. Therefore, this research plan will establish a model that integrates spatial design and evacuation planning. The proposed model will provide the support for the spatial design modifications and optimize the evacuation planning. The designers can complete the integrated design solution in BIM. Besides, this research plan improves the evacuation routing method to make the simulation results more practical. The proposed model will be applied in a building design project for evaluation and validation when it will provide the near-optimal design suggestion. By applying the proposed model, the integration and efficiency of the design process are improved and the evacuation plan is more useful. The quality of building spatial design will be better.

Keywords: building information modeling, evacuation, design, floor plan

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Authors: Norma Kok, Diemo Masuko, Thandokazi Dlongwana, Komala Pillay

Abstract:

CONTEXT: While many school principals have been outstanding teachers and have inherent leadership potential, many have not had access to the quality of leadership development or support that empowers them to produce high-quality education outcomes in extremely challenging circumstances. Further, school leaders in under-served communities face formidable challenges arising from insufficient infrastructure, overcrowded classrooms, socio-economic challenges within the community, and insufficient parental involvement, all of which put a strain on principals’ ability to lead their schools effectively. In addition few school leaders have access to other supportive networks, and many do not know how to build and leverage social capital to create opportunities for their schools and learners. Moreover, we know that fostering parental involvement in their children’s learning improves a child’s morale, attitude, and academic achievement across all subject areas, and promotes better behaviour and social adjustment. Citizen Leader Lab facilitates the Partners for Possibility (PfP) programme to provide leadership development and support to school leaders serving under-resourced communities in South Africa to create effective environments of learning. This is done by creating partnerships between school leaders and private-sector business leaders over a 12-month period. (185) OBJECTIVES: To explore school leaders’ perceptions of their leadership capacities and changes at their schools after being exposed to a year-long leadership development training programme. METHODS: School leaders gained new leadership capacities e.g. resilience, improved confidence, communication and conflict resolution skills - catalysing into improved cultures of collaborative decision-making and environments for enhanced teaching and learningprogramme based on the 70:20:10 model whereby: 10% of learning comes from workshops, 20% of learning takes place through peer learning and 70% of learning occurs through experiential learning as partnerships work together to identify and tackle challenges in targeted schools. Participants completed a post-programme questionnaire consisting of structured and unstructured questions and semi-structured interviews were conducted with them and their business leader. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and thematic content analysis was undertaken. The analysis was inductive and emerging themes were identified. A code list was generated after coding was undertaken using computer software (Dedoose). Quantitative data gathered from surveys was aggregated and analysed. RESULTS: School leadership found the programme interesting and rewarding. They gained new leadership capacities such as resilience, improved confidence, communication and conflict resolution skills - catalyzing into improved cultures of collaborative decision-making and environments for enhanced teaching and learning. New networks resulted in tangible outcomes such as upgrades to school infrastructure, water and sanitation, vegetable gardens at schools resulting in nutrition for learners and/or intangible outcomes such as skills for members of school management teams (SMTs). Collaborative leadership led to SMTs being more aligned, efficient, and cohesive; and teachers being more engaged and motivated. Notable positive changes at the school inspired parents and community members to become more actively involved in the school and in their children’s education. CONCLUSION: The PfP programme leads to improved leadership capacities and improved school culture which leads to improved teaching and learning and new resources for schools.

Keywords: collaborative decision-making, collaborative leadership, community involvement, confidence

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Authors: Marzieh Khaleghi Baygi, Maryam Khaleghy Baygy

Abstract:

The main aim of this project was designing and making sustainable architectural wearable dress inspired by reconstruction project of Bam’s Bazar in Iran. To achieve the goals of this project, Bam Bazar became the architectural reference. A mixed research method (including applied, qualitative and case studies methods) was used. After research, data gathering and considering related intellectual, mental and cultural background, the garment was modeled by using 3ds Max's modeling tools and Marvelous. After making the pattern, the wearable architecture was built and an architectural and historical building converted to a clothing. The implementation of sustainable architectural clothing, took seventeen months. The result of this project was a cloth in a new form that had been worn on its architect body. The comparison between present project and previous research were focusing on the same subjects (architectural clothing) shows some dramatic differentiations, including, the architect, designer and executive of this project was the same person who was the main researcher. Also, in this research, special attention was paid to the sustainability, volume and forms. Most projects in this subject (especially pervious related Iranian research) relied on painting and not on the volumes and forms. The sustainable immovable architecture had worn on its architect, became a cloth on a human's body that was moving.

Keywords: wearable architecture, clothing, bam bazar, space, sustainability

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