Search results for: structural control

Authors: Adrien Pyskir, Manuel Collet, Zoran Dimitrijevic, Claude-Henri Lamarque

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During the last decades, great efforts have been made to reduce acoustic and vibrational disturbances in transportations, as it has become a key feature for comfort. Today, isolation and design have neutralized most of the troublesome vibrations, so that cars are quieter and more comfortable than ever. However, some problems remain unsolved, in particular concerning low-frequency isolation and the frequency-dependent stiffening of materials like rubber. To sum it up, a balance has to be found between a high static stiffness to sustain the vibration source’s mass, and low dynamic stiffness, as wideband as possible. Systems meeting these criteria are yet to be designed. We thus investigated solutions inspired by metamaterials to control efficiently low-frequency wave propagation. Structures exhibiting a negative Poisson ratio, also called auxetic structures, are known to influence the propagation of waves through beaming or damping. However, their stiffness can be quite peculiar as well, as they can present regions of zero stiffness on the stress-strain curve for compression. In addition, auxetic materials can be easily adapted in many ways, inducing great tuning potential. Using finite element software COMSOL Multiphysics, a resonant design has been tested through statics and dynamics simulations. These results are compared to experimental results. In particular, the bandgaps featured by these structures are analyzed as a function of design parameters. Great stiffness properties can be observed, including low-frequency dynamic stiffness loss and broadband transmission loss. Such features are very promising for practical isolation purpose, and we hope to adopt this kind of metamaterial into an effective industrial damper.

Keywords: auxetics, metamaterials, structural dynamics, vibration isolation

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Authors: Si Jack Chong, Chew Theng Yap, Wan Loong James Mok

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Introduction: Regional burn centres face the spectra of introduced multi-drug resistant organisms (MDRO) from transfer patients resident in MDRO endemic countries. MDRO can cause severe nosocomial infection, which in massive burn patients, will lead to greater morbidity and mortality and strain the institution financially. We aim to highlight 4 key measures that have effectively prevented transmission of imported MDRO. Methods: A case of Candida auris (C. auris) from a massive burn patient transferred from an MDRO endemic country is used to illustrate the measures. C. auris is a globally emerging multi-drug resistant fungal pathogen causing nosocomial transmission. Results: Infection control measures used to mitigate the risk of outbreak from transfer cases are: (1) Multidisciplinary team approach involving Infection Control and Infectious Disease specialists early to ensure appropriate antibiotics use and implementation of barrier measures, (2) aseptic procedures for dressing change with strict isolation and donning of personal protective equipment in the ward, (3) early screening of massive burn patient from MDRO endemic region, (4) hydrogen peroxide vaporization terminal cleaning for operating theatres and rooms. Conclusion: The prevalence of air travel and international transfer to regional burn centres will need effective infection control measures to reduce the risk of transmission from imported massive burn patients. In our centre, we have effectively implemented 4 measures which have reduced the risks of local contamination. We share a recent case report to illustrate successful management of a potential MDRO outbreak resulting from transfer of massive burn patient resident in an MDRO endemic area.

Keywords: burns, burn unit, cross infection, infection control

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Authors: Jin-Hui Lee, Myung-Min Oh

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The application of temporary abiotic stresses before crop harvest is a potential strategy to enhance phytochemical content. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of various UV-A LED lights on the growth and content of bioactive compounds in kale (Brassica oleracea var. acephala). Fourteen-day-old kale seedlings were cultivated in a plant factory with artificial lighting (air temperature of 20℃, relative humidity of 60%, photosynthesis photon flux density (PPFD) of 125 µmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹) for 3 weeks. Kale plants were irradiated by four types of UV-A LEDs (peak wavelength; 365, 375, 385, and 395 nm) with 30 W/m² for 7 days. As a result, image chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm) value of kale leaves was lower as the UV-A LEDs peak wavelength was shorter. Fresh and dry weights of shoots and roots of kale plants were significantly higher in the plants under UV-A than the control at 7 days of treatment. In particular, the growth was significantly increased with a longer peak wavelength of the UV-A LEDs. The results of leaf area and specific leaf weight showed a similar pattern with those of growth characteristics. Chlorophyll content was highest in kale leaves subjected to UV-A LEDs with the peak wavelength of 395 nm at 3 days of treatment compared with the control. Total phenolic contents of UV-A LEDs with the peak wavelength of 395 nm at 5 and 6 days of treatment were 44% and 47% higher than those of the control, respectively. Antioxidant capacity showed almost the same pattern as the results of total phenol content. The activity of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase was approximately 11% and 8% higher in the UV-A LEDs with the peak wavelength of 395 nm compared to the control at 5 and 6 days of treatment, respectively. Our results imply that the UV-A LEDs with relative longer peak wavelength were effective to improve growth as well as the content of bioactive compounds of kale plants.

Keywords: bioactive compounds, growth, Kale, UV-A LEDs

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Authors: Y. Johnson

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Study of multi-satellite formation flight systems has drawn wide attention recently due to so many potential advantages. The present work aims to model the relative motion dynamics in terms of change in classical orbital parameters between the two satellites-chief and deputy- under Earth’s oblateness effect. The required impulsive thrust control is calculated to minimize these orbital parameter changes. The formation configuration is initialized by selecting a set of orbital parameters for the chief and deputy satellites such that bounded motion is maintained for a long time in a J_2-invariant relative non-circular orbit between the satellites. The solution of J_2-modified Hill’s equations is also derived in this paper.

Keywords: satellite, formation flight, j2 effect, control

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Authors: Jean Paul Hategekimana, Bampire Claudine, Niyonsenga Nadia, Irakoze Josiane

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Peas, soybeans and rice are crops which are grown in Rwanda and are available in rural and urban local markets and they give contribution in reduction of health problems especially in fighting malnutrition and food insecurity in Rwanda. Several research activities have been conducted on how cereals flour can be mixed with legumes flour for developing baked products which are rich in protein, fiber, minerals as they are found in legumes. However, such activity was not yet well studied in Rwanda. The aim of the present study was to develop bread and biscuit products from peas, soybeans and rice as functional ingredients combined with wheat flour and then analyze the nutritional content and consumer acceptability of new developed products. The malnutrition problem can be reduced by producing bread and biscuits which are rich in protein and are very accessible for every individual. The processing of bread and biscuit were made by taking peas flour, soybeans flour and rice flour mixed with wheat flour and other ingredients then a dough was made followed by baking. For bread, two kind of products were processed, for each product one control and three experimental samples in different three ratios of peas and rice were prepared. These ratios were 95:5, 90:10 and 80:20 for bread from peas and 85:5:10, 80:10:10 and 70:10:20 for bread from peas and rice. For biscuit, two kind of products were also processed, for each product one control sample and three experimental samples in three different ratios were prepared. These ratios are 90:5:5,80:10:10 and 70:10:20 for biscuit from peas and rice and 90:5:5,80:10:10 and 70:10:20 for biscuit from soybean and rice. All samples including the control sample were analyzed for the consumer acceptability (sensory attributes) and nutritional composition. For sensory analysis, bread from of peas and rice flour with wheat flour at ratio 85:5:10 and bread from peas only as functional ingredient with wheat flour at ratio 95:5 and biscuits made from a of soybeans and rice at a ratio 90:5:5 and biscuit made from peas and rice at ratio 90:5:5 were most acceptable compared to control sample and other samples in different ratio. The moisture, protein, fat, fiber and minerals (Sodium and iron.) content were analyzed where bread from peas in all ratios was found to be rich in protein and fiber compare to control sample and biscuit from soybean and rice in all ratios was found to be rich in protein and fiber compare to control sample.

Keywords: bakery products, peas and rice flour, wheat flour, sensory evaluation, proximate composition

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Authors: Sunyoung Park

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Context: Talent management is a strategic approach that has received considerable attention in recent years to improve employee competency and organizational performance in many organizations. The implementation of talent management involves identifying objectives and positions within the organization, developing a pool of high-potential employees, and establishing appropriate HR functions to promote high employee and organizational performance. This study aims to investigate the relationship between talent management, HR functions, employee competency, and organizational performance in the South Korean context. Research Aim: The main objective of this study is to investigate the structural relationships among talent management, human resources (HR) functions, employee competency, and organizational performance. Methodology: To achieve the research aim, this study used a quantitative research method. Specifically, a total of 1,478 responses were analyzed using structural equation modeling based on data obtained from the Human Capital Corporate Panel (HCCP) survey in South Korea. Findings: The study revealed that talent management has a positive influence on HR functions and employee competency. Additionally, HR functions directly affect employee competency and organizational performance. Employee competency was found to be related to organizational performance. Moreover, talent management and HR functions indirectly affect organizational performance through employee competency. Theoretical Importance: This study provides empirical evidence of the relationship between talent management, HR functions, employee competency, and organizational performance in the South Korean context. The findings suggest that organizations should focus on developing appropriate talent management and HR functions to improve employee competency, which, in turn, will lead to better organizational performance. Moreover, the study contributes to the existing literature by emphasizing the importance of the relationship between talent management and HR functions in improving organizational performance.

Keywords: employee competency, HR functions, organizational performance, talent management

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Authors: F. Berahmandpour, K. Bagheri

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Introduction: Spirulina is nutritious blue - green algae which are used as supplement or a preservative in many foods. The studies about the algae argue that the Spirulina can improve immune system, increase fat utilization, reduce oxidative stress and promote endurance at high-intensity exercise. The purpose of study is to assess the effects of Spirulina supplement on healthy weight control. Method: the study is a cross-sectional study which had 30 participants. The participants were men and women who referred to the nutrition and diet therapy clinic (in west of Tehran / Iran) for control weight. The sampling was a purposeful sampling. The participants were divided into three groups, and they were surveyed for 4 weeks. In the first group, 10 participants were used Spirulia supplement (dose: 500mg of Spiruvit Supplement as tablet / 3 times per day) without any special diet. The second group was 10 participants who received Spirulia supplement (dose 500mg of Spiruvit Supplement as tablet / 3 times per day) with a weight loss exercise program and without any special diet. The third group was 10 participants who used Spirulia supplement (dose 500mg of Spiruvit Supplement as tablet / 3 times per day) with an optimum weight loss diet. Results and Discussion: The results show that there were not any significant loss weights in first group. In while, the participants of second group argued that the Spirulina supplement had positive effects on their mud and physical body; however the clinical results showed that the loss weight had fixed tilt in this group. The significant results of study were related to the third group, because the participations could continuous loss weight during 4 weeks. However, the optimum weight loss diets were effective effects on weight loss in this group, but the researchers found that Spirulina supplement could improve loss weight with set of hormonal system (especially in women with menopause). Conclusion: The study is concluded that the Spirulina as a supplement (Spiruvit Supplement) can be an effective effect on healthy weight control, if it is used with a nutritious healthy weight loss diet. In fact, the effect of Spirulina can be related to powerful antioxidant effects and improvable hormonal system in the body.

Keywords: diet, healthy weight control, spirulina, spiruvit supplement

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Authors: Mine Tanaç Zeren

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The traditional architectural style or the vernacular architecture can be considered modern and permanent in terms of reflecting the community’s lifestyle, reasonable interpretation of the material and the structure, and the building and the environment relationship’s integrity. When vernacular architecture is examined, it is seen that sustainable building design approaches are achieved at the very beginning by adapting to climate conditions. The aim of the sustainable design approach is to maintain to adapt to the characteristics of the topography of the land and to the climatic conditions, minimizing the energy use by the building material and structural elements. Traditional Turkish House, as one of the representatives of the traditional and vernacular architecture in Anatolia, has a sustainable building design approach as well, which can be read both from the space organization, the section, the volume, and the building components and building details. The only effective factor that human beings cannot change and have to adapt their constructions and settlements to is climate. The vernacular settlements of vernacular architecture in Anatolia, “Traditional Turkish Houses,” are generally formed as concentric settlements in desert conditions and climates or separate and dependently formations according to the wind and the sun in moist areas. They obtain the sustainable building design criteria. This paper aims to put forward the sustainable building design approaches of vernacular architecture in Anatolia. There are four main different climatic conditions depending on the regional differentiations in Anatolia. Taking these different climatic and topographic conditions into account, it has been seen that the vernacular housing features shape and differentiate from each other due to the changing conditions. What is differentiating is the space organization, design of the shelter of the building, material, and structural system used. In this paper, the sustainable building design approaches of Anatolian vernacular architecture will be examined within these four different vernacular settlements located in Aegean Region, Marmara Region, Black Sea Region, and Eastern Region. These differentiated features and how these features differentiate in order to maintain the sustainability criteria will be the main discussion part of the paper. The methodology of this paper will briefly define these differentiations and the sustainable design criteria. The sustainable design approaches and these differentiated items will be read through the design criteria of the shelter of the building and the material selection criteria according to climatic conditions. The methods of preventing energy loss will be examined. At the end of this research, it is going to be seen that the houses located in different parts of Anatolia, depending on climate and topographic conditions to be able to adapt to the environment and maintain sustainability, differ from each other in terms of space organization, structural system, and material use, design of the shelter of the building

Keywords: sustainability of vernacular architecture, sustainable design criteria of traditional Turkish houses, Turkish houses, vernacular architecture

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Authors: Masaki Ohno, Cervinia Manalo, Tetsuji Okuda, Satoshi Nakai, Wataru Nishijima

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Reverse osmosis (RO) membranes have been widely used for desalination to purify water for drinking and other purposes. Although at present most RO membranes have no resistance to chlorine, chlorine-resistant membranes are being developed. Therefore, direct chlorine treatment or chlorine washing will be an option in preventing biofouling on chlorine-resistant membranes. Furthermore, if particle accumulation control is possible by using chlorine washing, expensive pretreatment for particle removal can be removed or simplified. The objective of this study was to determine the effective hypochlorite washing condition required for controlling biofilm formation and inorganic particle accumulation on RO membrane in a continuous flow channel with RO membrane and spacer. In this study, direct chlorine washing was done by soaking fouled RO membranes in hypochlorite solution and fluorescence intensity was used to quantify biofilm on the membrane surface. After 48 h of soaking the membranes in high fouling potential waters, the fluorescence intensity decreased to 0 from 470 using the following washing conditions: 10 mg/L chlorine concentration, 2 times/d washing interval, and 30 min washing time. The chlorine concentration required to control biofilm formation decreased as the chlorine concentration (0.5–10 mg/L), the washing interval (1–4 times/d), or the washing time (1–30 min) increased. For the sample solutions used in the study, 10 mg/L chlorine concentration with 2 times/d interval, and 5 min washing time was required for biofilm control. The optimum chlorine washing conditions obtained from soaking experiments proved to be applicable also in controlling biofilm formation in continuous flow experiments. Moreover, chlorine washing employed in controlling biofilm with suspended particles resulted in lower amounts of organic (0.03 mg/cm²) and inorganic (0.14 mg/cm²) deposits on the membrane than that for sample water without chlorine washing (0.14 mg/cm² and 0.33 mg/cm², respectively). The amount of biofilm formed was 79% controlled by continuous washing with 10 mg/L of free chlorine concentration, and the inorganic accumulation amount decreased by 58% to levels similar to that of pure water with kaolin (0.17 mg/cm²) as feed water. These results confirmed the acceleration of particle accumulation due to biofilm formation, and that the inhibition of biofilm growth can almost completely reduce further particle accumulation. In addition, effective hypochlorite washing condition which can control both biofilm formation and particle accumulation could be achieved.

Keywords: reverse osmosis, washing condition optimization, hypochlorous acid, biofouling control

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Authors: Bin-Wen Lan, Ying-Xin Chen, Hsueh-Cheng Yang

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Liquefied petroleum gas is a fuel that has high octane number and low carbon number. This paper uses MSC-51 controller to investigate the effect of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) on exhaust emissions for different engine speeds in a single cylinder, four-stroke and spark ignition engine. The results indicate that CO, CO2 and NOX exhaust emissions are lower with the use of LPG compared to the use of unleaded gasoline by using the developed controller. The open-loop in the LPG injection system was controlled by MCS-51 single chip. The results show that if a SI engine is operated with LPG fuel rather than gasoline fuel under the same conditions, significant reduction in exhaust emissions can be achieved. In summary, LPG has positive effects on main exhaust emissions such as CO, CO2 and NOX.

Keywords: LPG, control circuit, emission, MCS-51

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Authors: Sinan Alsaadi, Mustafa Merdan

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Communication and access systems can be made with many methods in today’s world. These systems are such standards as Wifi, Wimax, Bluetooth, GPS and GPRS. Devices which use these standards also use system resources excessively in direct proportion to their transmission speed. However, large-scale data communication is not always needed. In such cases, a technology which will use system resources as little as possible and support smart network topologies has been needed in order to enable the transmissions of such small packet data and provide the control for this kind of devices. IEEE issued 802.15.4 standard upon this necessity and enabled the production of Zigbee protocol which takes these standards as its basis and devices which support this protocol. In our project, this communication protocol was preferred. The aim of this study is to provide the immediate data transmission of our robot from the field within the scope of the project. In addition, making the communication with the robot through Zigbee Protocol has also been aimed. While sitting on the computer, obtaining the desired data from the region where the robot is located has been taken as the basis. Arduino Uno R3 microcontroller which provides the control mechanism, 1298 shield as the motor driver.

Keywords: ZigBee, wireless network, remote monitoring, smart home, agricultural industry

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Authors: Mustafa M. Donma, Erkut Karasu, Burcu Ozdilek, Burhan Turgut, Birol Topcu, Burcin Nalbantoglu, Orkide Donma

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The mechanisms underlying the association between obesity and asthma may be related to a decreased immunological tolerance induced by a defective function of regulatory T cells (Tregs). The aim of this study is to establish the potential link between these diseases and CD4+, CD25+ FoxP3+ Tregs as well as T helper cells (Ths) in children. This is a prospective case control study. Obese (n:40), asthmatic (n:40), asthmatic obese (n:40), and healthy children (n:40), who don't have any acute or chronic diseases, were included in this study. Obese children were evaluated according to WHO criteria. Asthmatic patients were chosen based on GINA criteria. Parents were asked to fill up the questionnaire. Informed consent forms were taken. Blood samples were marked with CD4+, CD25+ and FoxP3+ in order to determine Tregs and Ths by flow cytometric method. Statistical analyses were performed. p≤0.05 was chosen as meaningful threshold. Tregs exhibiting anti-inflammatory nature were significantly lower in obese (0,16%; p≤0,001), asthmatic (0,25%; p≤0,01) and asthmatic obese (0,29%; p≤0,05) groups than the control group (0,38%). Ths were counted higher in asthma group than the control (p≤0,01) and obese (p≤0,001)) groups. T cell immunity plays important roles in obesity and asthma pathogeneses. Decreased numbers of Tregs found in obese, asthmatic and asthmatic obese children may help to elucidate some questions in pathophysiology of these diseases. For HOMA-IR levels, any significant difference was not noted between control and obese groups, but statistically higher values were found for obese asthmatics. The values obtained in all groups were found to be below the critical cut off points. This finding has made the statistically significant difference observed between Tregs of obese, asthmatic, obese asthmatic, and control groups much more valuable. These findings will be useful in diagnosis and treatment of these disorders and future studies are needed. The production and propagation of Tregs may be promising in alternative asthma and obesity treatments.

Keywords: asthma, flow cytometry, pediatric obesity, T cells

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Authors: Nam Kyu Kim, Hee Jun Cha, Jae Jin Seo, Dong Jun Won

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Output power of a photovoltaic (PV) generator depends on incident solar irradiance. If the clouds pass or the climate condition is bad, the PV output fluctuates frequently. When PV generator is connected to the grid, these fluctuations adversely affect power quality. Thus, ramp rate control with battery energy storage system (BESS) is needed to reduce PV output fluctuations. At the same time, for effective BESS operation and sizing the optimal BESS capacity, managing state of charge (SOC) is the most important part. In addition, managing SOC helps to avoid violating the SOC operating range of BESS when performing renewable integration (RI) continuously. As PV and BESS increase, the SOC management of BESS will become more important in the future. This paper presents the SOC management algorithm which helps to operate effectively BESS, and has focused on method to manage SOC while reducing PV output fluctuations. A simulation model is developed in PSCAD/EMTDC software. The simulation results show that the SOC is maintained within the operating range by adjusting the output distribution according to the SOC of the BESS.

Keywords: battery energy storage system, ramp rate control, renewable integration, SOC management

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Authors: Sujay Bisht

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The purpose of the study was to evaluate and find out the effect of Hill interval training on VO₂ MAX among field Hockey players. Thirty male field hockey players were selected from LNIPE, Guwahati who were studied in B.P.Ed course. The selected subjects were aged between 18 to 23 years. The VO₂ MAX was calculated and they were divided into two group. One group (N=15) considered as control group that did not participated in any special training apart from regular scheduled/curriculum and another group (N=15) considered as an experimental group which underwent four week Hill Training program. The selected criterion variable such VO₂ Max was measured by the cooper 12min/run/walk test and scores was recorded in ml/kg/min. The subjects were tested on selected criterion variable such as VO₂ Max prior and immediately after the training program. The pretest and posttest data were evaluate by the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) to find out the significance difference if any between the experimental and control group on selected criterion variable. The level of significance was set at 0.05 level of confidence. After applied ANCOVA it was revealed that there was a significant different among the experimental and control group on VO₂ Max. Finally it was concluded that 4 week of Hill interval training effect the VO₂ max performance of field hockey players.

Keywords: VO₂ max, hill interval training, ANCOVA, experimental group

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Authors: Suliman Al Balawi

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Food waste is a significant problem in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). About SR13 billion worth of food is wasted per year in the KSA. From moral, social, and economic perspectives, it is essential to reduce the wastage of food. Although studies have identified the amount of food waste in the KSA, there is a lack of research on why people in the KSA waste food; thus, it is difficult to design efficient intervention programs to reduce food waste. This research investigates the key factors that influence the food waste behavior of the people of the KSA. A food waste behavior model is proposed in this study that has moral disengagement at the center of the model. Following a literature survey, it is hypothesised that religiosity, hedonic value, frugality, and trait cynicism are the antecedents of moral disengagement that are likely to impact the food waste behavior of the people of the KSA. The study further posits that an intervention strategy in the form of a social marketing campaign that focuses on lowering the level of moral disengagement could reduce the food waste behavior of the people of the KSA. This study will apply a pre-test/post-test experimental design (control group). A random sampling method will be used to select participants from the (employees of a chosen firm) in the KSA. The social marketing campaign will be run for six months through the Corporate Social Responsibility Department of the Company, and to analyse the experimental data, structural equation modeling (SEM) will be used. The outcomes of the study will demonstrate the effectiveness of a social marketing campaign for improving the food waste behavior of the people of the KSA and will ultimately lay the foundation for designing efficient intervention programs in the future. This study will contribute to the knowledge on food waste behavior by testing a newly proposed food waste behavior model in the KSA.

Keywords: food waste, social marketing, Saudi Arabia, moral disengagement

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Authors: Hassan Parandvar, Mehrdad Farid

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In this paper, a finite element modeling is presented for large amplitude vibration of functionally graded material (FGM) plates subjected to combined random pressure and thermal load. The material properties of the plates are assumed to vary continuously in the thickness direction by a simple power law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents. The material properties depend on the temperature whose distribution along the thickness can be expressed explicitly. The von Karman large deflection strain displacement and extended Hamilton's principle are used to obtain the governing system of equations of motion in structural node degrees of freedom (DOF) using finite element method. Three-node triangular Mindlin plate element with shear correction factor is used. The nonlinear equations of motion in structural degrees of freedom are reduced by using modal reduction method. The reduced equations of motion are solved numerically by 4th order Runge-Kutta scheme. In this study, the random pressure is generated using Monte Carlo method. The modeling is verified and the nonlinear dynamic response of FGM plates is studied for various values of volume fraction and sound pressure level under different thermal loads. Snap-through type behavior of FGM plates is studied too.

Keywords: nonlinear vibration, finite element method, functionally graded material (FGM) plates, snap-through, random vibration, thermal effect

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Authors: Farhan Beg, Raymond Moberly

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The Indian subcontinent is facing a massive challenge with regards to energy security in member countries, to provide reliable electricity to facilitate development across various sectors of the economy and consequently achieve the developmental targets. The instability of the current precarious situation is observable in the frequent system failures and blackouts. The deployment of interconnected electricity ‘Supergrid’ designed to carry huge quanta of power across the Indian sub-continent is proposed in this paper. Besides enabling energy security in the subcontinent, it will also provide a platform for Renewable Energy Sources (RES) integration. This paper assesses the need and conditions for a Supergrid deployment and consequently proposes a meshed topology based on Voltage Source High Voltage Direct Current (VSC-HVDC) converters for the Supergrid modeling. Various control schemes for the control of voltage and power are utilized for the regulation of the network parameters. A 3 terminal Multi Terminal Direct Current (MTDC) network is used for the simulations.

Keywords: super grid, wind and solar energy, high voltage direct current, electricity management, load flow analysis

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Authors: Sie Long Kek, Wah June Leong, Kok Lay Teo

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Linear quadratic Gaussian model is a standard mathematical model for the stochastic optimal control problem. The combination of the linear quadratic estimation and the linear quadratic regulator allows the state estimation and the optimal control policy to be designed separately. This is known as the separation principle. In this paper, an efficient computational method is proposed to solve the linear quadratic Gaussian problem. In our approach, the Hamiltonian function is defined, and the necessary conditions are derived. In addition to this, the output error is defined and the least-square optimization problem is introduced. By determining the first-order necessary condition, the gradient of the sum squares of output error is established. On this point of view, the stochastic approximation approach is employed such that the optimal control policy is updated. Within a given tolerance, the iteration procedure would be stopped and the optimal solution of the linear-quadratic Gaussian problem is obtained. For illustration, an example of the linear-quadratic Gaussian problem is studied. The result shows the efficiency of the approach proposed. In conclusion, the applicability of the approach proposed for solving the linear quadratic Gaussian problem is highly demonstrated.

Keywords: iteration procedure, least squares solution, linear quadratic Gaussian, output error, stochastic approximation

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Authors: Jessica Pinheiro Silva, Brenda Rabello De Camargo, Daniel Gusmao De Morais, Eliane Ferreira Noronha

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The utilization of lignocellulosic biomass as source of polysaccharides for industrial applications requires an arsenal of enzymes with different mode of action able to hydrolyze its complex and recalcitrant structure. Clostridium thermocellum is gram-positive, thermophilic bacterium producing lignocellulosic hydrolyzing enzymes in the form of multi-enzyme complex, termed celulossomes. This complex has several hydrolytic enzymes attached to a large and enzymically inactive protein known as Cellulosome-integrating protein (CipA), which serves as a scaffolding protein for the complex produced. This attachment occurs through specific interactions between cohesin modules of CipA and dockerin modules in enzymes. The present work aims to construct celulosomes in vitro with the structural protein CipA, a xylanase called Xyn10D and a cellulose called CelJ from C.thermocellum. A mini-scafoldin was constructed from modules derived from CipA containing two cohesion modules. This was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The other two genes were cloned under the control of the alcohol oxidase 1 promoter (AOX1) in the vector pPIC9 and integrated into the genome of the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris GS115. Purification of each protein is being carried out. Further studies regarding enzymatic activity of the cellulosome is going to be evaluated. The cellulosome built in vitro and composed of mini-CipA, CelJ and Xyn10D, can be very interesting for application in industrial processes involving the degradation of plant biomass.

Keywords: cellulosome, CipA, Clostridium thermocellum, cohesin, dockerin, yeast

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Authors: Ganesh K. Maurya, Reema Chaudhary, Neha Pandey, Hari S. Misra

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PprA, a pleiotropic protein participating in radioresistance, has been reported for its roles in DNA replication initiation, genome segregation, cell division and DNA repair in polyextremophile Deinococcus radiodurans. Interestingly, expression of deinococcal PprA in E. coli suppresses its growth by reducing the number of colony forming units and provides better resistance against γ-radiation than control. We employed different biochemical and cell biology studies using PprA and its DNA binding/polymerization mutants (K133E & W183R) in E. coli. Cells expressing wild type PprA or its K133E mutant showed reduction in the amount of genomic DNA as well as chromosome copy number in comparison to W183R mutant of PprA and control cells, which suggests the role of PprA protein in regulation of DNA replication initiation in E. coli. Further, E. coli cells expressing PprA or its mutants exhibited different impact on cell morphology than control. Expression of PprA or K133E mutant displayed a significant increase in cell length upto 5 folds while W183R mutant showed cell length similar to uninduced control cells. We checked the interaction of deinococcal PprA and its mutants with E. coli DnaA using Bacterial two-hybrid system and co-immunoprecipitation. We observed a functional interaction of EcDnaA with PprA and K133E mutant but not with W183R mutant of PprA. Further, PprA or K133E mutant has suppressed the ATPase activity of EcDnaA but W183R mutant of PprA failed to do so. These observations suggested that PprA protein regulates DNA replication initiation and cell morphology of surrogate E. coli.

Keywords: DNA replication, radioresistance, protein-protein interaction, cell morphology, ATPase activity

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Authors: E. Menga, S. Hernandez

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Finite Element Models (FEMs) are widely used in order to study and predict the dynamic properties of structures and usually, the prediction can be obtained with much more accuracy in the case of a single component than in the case of assemblies. Especially for structural dynamics studies, in the low and middle frequency range, most complex FEMs can be seen as assemblies made by linear components joined together at interfaces. From a modelling and computational point of view, these types of joints can be seen as localized sources of stiffness and damping and can be modelled as lumped spring/damper elements, most of time, characterized by nonlinear constitutive laws. On the other side, most of FE programs are able to run nonlinear analysis in time-domain. They treat the whole structure as nonlinear, even if there is one nonlinear degree of freedom (DOF) out of thousands of linear ones, making the analysis unnecessarily expensive from a computational point of view. In this work, a methodology in order to obtain the nonlinear frequency response of structures, whose nonlinearities can be considered as localized sources, is presented. The work extends the well-known Structural Dynamic Modification Method (SDMM) to a nonlinear set of modifications, and allows getting the Nonlinear Frequency Response Functions (NLFRFs), through an ‘updating’ process of the Linear Frequency Response Functions (LFRFs). A brief summary of the analytical concepts is given, starting from the linear formulation and understanding what the implications of the nonlinear one, are. The response of the system is formulated in both: time and frequency domain. First the Modal Database is extracted and the linear response is calculated. Secondly the nonlinear response is obtained thru the NL SDMM, by updating the underlying linear behavior of the system. The methodology, implemented in MATLAB, has been successfully applied to estimate the nonlinear frequency response of two systems. The first one is a two DOFs spring-mass-damper system, and the second example takes into account a full aircraft FE Model. In spite of the different levels of complexity, both examples show the reliability and effectiveness of the method. The results highlight a feasible and robust procedure, which allows a quick estimation of the effect of localized nonlinearities on the dynamic behavior. The method is particularly powerful when most of the FE Model can be considered as acting linearly and the nonlinear behavior is restricted to few degrees of freedom. The procedure is very attractive from a computational point of view because the FEM needs to be run just once, which allows faster nonlinear sensitivity analysis and easier implementation of optimization procedures for the calibration of nonlinear models.

Keywords: frequency response, nonlinear dynamics, structural dynamic modification, softening effect, rubber

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Authors: Yi-Hsiang Pan, Ching-Hsiang Chen, Wei-Ting Hsu

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The purpose of this study was to compare the learning effects of the sports education model (SEM) to those of the traditional teaching model (TTM) in physical education classes in terms of students learning motivation, action control, learning strategies, and learning performance. A quasi-experimental design was utilized in this study, and participants included two physical educators and four classes with a total of 94 students in grades 5 and 6 of elementary schools. Two classes implemented the SEM (n=47, male=24, female=23; age=11.89, SD=0.78) and two classes implemented the TTM (n=47, male=25, female=22, age=11.77; SD=0.66). Data were collected from these participants using a self-report questionnaire (including a learning motivation scale, action control scale, and learning strategy scale) and a game performance assessment instrument, and multivariate analysis of covariance was used to conduct statistical analysis. The findings of the study revealed that the SEM was significantly better than the TTM in promoting students learning motivation, action control, learning strategies, and game performance. It was concluded that the SEM could promote the mechanics of students self-regulated learning process, and thereby improve students movement performance.

Keywords: self-regulated learning theory, learning process, curriculum model, physical education

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Authors: Allaeddine Athmani, Abdelhacine Gouasmia, Tiago Ferreira, Romeu Vicente

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Seismic vulnerability assessment of masonry buildings is a fundamental issue even for moderate to low seismic hazard regions. This fact is even more important when dealing with old structures such as those located in Annaba city (Algeria), which the majority of dates back to the French colonial era from 1830. This category of buildings is in high risk due to their highly degradation state, heterogeneous materials and intrusive modifications to structural and non-structural elements. Furthermore, they are usually shelter a dense population, which is exposed to such risk. In order to undertake a suitable seismic risk mitigation strategies and reinforcement process for such structures, it is essential to estimate their seismic resistance capacity at a large scale. In this sense, two seismic vulnerability index methods and damage estimation have been adapted and applied to a pilot-scale building area located in the moderate seismic hazard region of Annaba city: The first one based on the EMS-98 building typologies, and the second one derived from the Italian GNDT approach. To perform this task, the authors took the advantage of an existing data survey previously performed for other purposes. The results obtained from the application of the two methods were integrated and compared using a geographic information system tool (GIS), with the ultimate goal of supporting the city council of Annaba for the implementation of risk mitigation and emergency planning strategies.

Keywords: Annaba city, EMS98 concept, GNDT method, old city center, seismic vulnerability index, unreinforced masonry buildings

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Authors: Leila Anjomshoa, Firooz Sadighi

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This study investigated the effects of three types of pre-reading activities (vocabulary definitions, text summary and pre-passage questions) on EFL learners’ English reading comprehension. On the basis of the results of a placement test administered to two hundred and thirty English students at Kerman Azad University, 200 subjects (one hundred intermediate and one hundred advanced) were selected.Four texts, two of them at intermediate level and two of them at advanced level were chosen. The data gathered was subjected to the statistical procedures of ANOVA. A close examination of the results through Tukey’s HSD showed the fact that the experimental groups performed better than the control group, highlighting the effect of the treatment on them. Also, the experimental group C (text summary), performed remarkably better than the other three groups (both experimental & control). Group B subjects, vocabulary definitions, performed better than groups A and D. The pre-passage questions group’s (D) performance showed higher scores than the control condition.

Keywords: pre-reading activities, text summary, vocabulary definition, and pre-passage questions, reading comprehension

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Authors: Ahlem Nefzi, Rania Aydi Ben Abdallah, Hayfa Jabnoun-Khiareddine, Nawaim Ammar, Sined Medimagh-Saidana, Mejda Daami-Remadi

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In the present study, leaf, stem, and fruit aqueous extracts of native wild Solanum linnaeanum L. were screened for their ability to suppress Fusarium Crown and Root Rot disease and to enhance tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) growth under greenhouse conditions. Leaf extract used at 30% w/v was the most effective in reducing leaf and root damage index by 92.3% and the extent of vascular discoloration by 97.56% compared to Fusarium oxyxporum f. sp radicis lycopersici -inoculated and untreated control. A significant promotion of growth parameters (root length, shoot height, root and shoot biomass and stem diameter) was recorded on tomato cv. Rio Grande seedlings by 40.3-94.1% as compared to FORL inoculated control and by 9.6-88.8% over pathogen-free control. All S. linnaeanum aqueous extracts tested significantly stimulated the germination by 10.2 to 80.1% relative to the untreated control. FORL mycelial growth, assessed using the poisoned food technique, varied depending on plant organs, extracts, and concentrations used. Butanolic extracts were the most active, leading to 60.81% decrease in FORL mycelial growth. HPLC analysis of butanolic extract revealed the presence of thirteen phenolic compounds. Thus, S. linnaeanum can be explored as a potential natural source of antifungal and biofertilizing compounds.

Keywords: antifungal activity, HPLC-MS analysis, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. radicis-lycopersici, tomato growth

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Authors: S. Thomas, D. Ho, A. Kerroux, L. Lixi, N. Rackham, S. Rosenfeld

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In this first paper, the different concepts and designs to build a single-wing MAV are discussed. Six scratch-building prototypes using three different designs have been tested regarding sufficient lift and weight distribution, of which various configurations were explored. Samare prototypes achieved wireless control over the motor and flap whilst obtaining data from the IMU, though obtaining an increase in lift was the key issue due to insufficient thrust. The final prototype was able to demonstrate an improvement in weight distribution.

Keywords: SAMARE, micro aerial vehicle (MAV), unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), mono-copter, single-wing, mono-wing, flight control, aerofoil, lift

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Authors: H. E. Keshta, A. A. Ali

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Three phase grid-tied inverters are widely employed in micro-grids (MGs) as interphase between DC and AC systems. These inverters are usually controlled through standard decoupled d–q vector control strategy based on proportional integral (PI) controllers. Recently, advanced meta-heuristic optimization techniques have been used instead of deterministic methods to obtain optimum PI controller parameters. This paper provides a comparative study between the performance of the global Porcellio Scaber algorithm (GPSA) based PI controller and Manta Ray foraging optimization (MRFO) based PI controller.

Keywords: micro-grids, optimization techniques, grid-tied inverter control, PI controller

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Authors: S. Gokul Prassad, S. Aakash, K. Malar Mohan

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In the process to cope with the challenges faced by the automobile industry in providing ride comfort, the electronics and control systems play a vital role. The control systems in an automobile monitor various parameters, controls the performances of the systems, thereby providing better handling characteristics. The automobile suspension system is one of the main systems that ensure the safety, stability and comfort of the passengers. The system is solely responsible for the isolation of the entire automobile from harmful road vibrations. Thus, integration of the control systems in the automobile suspension system would enhance its performance. The diverse road conditions of India demand the need of an efficient suspension system which can provide optimum ride comfort in all road conditions. For any passenger vehicle, the design of the suspension system plays a very important role in assuring the ride comfort and handling characteristics. In recent years, the air suspension system is preferred over the conventional suspension systems to ensure ride comfort. In this article, the ride comfort of the adaptive suspension system is compared with that of the passive suspension system. The schema is created in MATLAB/Simulink environment. The system is controlled by a proportional integral differential controller. Tuning of the controller was done with the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm, since it suited the problem best. Ziegler-Nichols and Modified Ziegler-Nichols tuning methods were also tried and compared. Both the static responses and dynamic responses of the systems were calculated. Various random road profiles as per ISO 8608 standard are modelled in the MATLAB environment and their responses plotted. Open-loop and closed loop responses of the random roads, various bumps and pot holes are also plotted. The simulation results of the proposed design are compared with the available passive suspension system. The obtained results show that the proposed adaptive suspension system is efficient in controlling the maximum over shoot and the settling time of the system is reduced enormously.

Keywords: automobile suspension, MATLAB, control system, PID, PSO

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Authors: Ganesh K. Maurya, Reema Chaudhary, Neha Pandey, Hari S. Misra

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PprA, a pleiotropic protein participating in radioresistance, has been reported for its roles in DNA replication initiation, genome segregation, cell division and DNA repair in polyextremophile Deinococcus radiodurans. Interestingly, expression of deinococcal PprA in E. coli suppresses its growth by reducing the number of colony forming units and provide better resistance against γ-radiation than control. We employed different biochemical and cell biology studies using PprA and its DNA binding/polymerization mutants (K133E & W183R) in E. coli. Cells expressing wild type PprA or its K133E mutant showed reduction in the amount of genomic DNA as well as chromosome copy number in comparison to W183R mutant of PprA and control cells, which suggests the role of PprA protein in regulation of DNA replication initiation in E. coli. Further, E. coli cells expressing PprA or its mutants exhibited different impact on cell morphology than control. Expression of PprA or K133E mutant displayed a significant increase in cell length upto 5 folds while W183R mutant showed cell length similar to uninduced control cells. We checked the interaction of deinococcal PprA and its mutants with E. coli DnaA using Bacterial two-hybrid system and co-immunoprecipitation. We observed a functional interaction of EcDnaA with PprA and K133E mutant but not with W183R mutant of PprA. Further, PprA or K133E mutant has suppressed the ATPase activity of EcDnaA but W183R mutant of PprA failed to do so. These observations suggested that PprA protein regulates DNA replication initiation and cell morphology of surrogate E. coli.

Keywords: DNA replication, radioresistance, protein-protein interaction, cell morphology, ATPase activity

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Authors: Farzam Chakherlouy, Amirmehdi Dokhanchi

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Nowadays organizations have to identify, evaluate and manage intangible assets which enable them to provide maximum requirements to achieve their goals and strategies. Organizations also have to try to promote and improve these kinds of assets continuously. It seems necessary to implement developed strategies in today’s competitive world where all the organizations and companies spend great amounts of expenses for developing their own strategies. In fact, after determining strategies to be implemented, the management process is not completed and it will not have any effect on the success and existence of the organization until these strategies are implemented. The objective of this article is to define the intellectual capital and it components and studying the impact of intellectual capital on the implementation of strategy based upon the Bozbura model. Three dimensions of human capital, relational capital, and the structural capital. According to the test’s results, the correlation between the intellectual capital and three components of strategic implementation (leadership, human resource management, and culture) has not been approved yet. According to results of Friedman’s test in relation with the intellectual capital, the maximum inadequacy of this company is in the field of human capital (with an average of 3.59) and the minimum inadequacy is in the field of the relational capital (customer) with an average of 2.83. Besides, according to Friedman test in relation with implementation of the strategy, the maximum inadequacy relates to the culture of the organization and the corporate control with averages of 2.60 and 3.45 respectively. In addition, they demonstrate a good performance in scopes of human resources management and financial resources management strategies.

Keywords: Bozbura model, intellectual capital, strategic management, implementation of strategy, Modiran Ideh Pardaz company

Procedia PDF Downloads 421