Search results for: extended multi-modulus divider (EMMD)
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 1166

Search results for: extended multi-modulus divider (EMMD)

1076 A Mathematical Model of Pulsatile Blood Flow through a Bifurcated Artery

Authors: D. Srinivasacharya, G. Madhava Rao

Abstract:

In this article, the pulsatile flow of blood flow in bifurcated artery with mild stenosis is investigated. Blood is treated to be a micropolar fluid with constant density. The arteries forming bifurcation are assumed to be symmetric about its axes and straight cylinders of restricted length. As the geometry of the stenosed bifurcated artery is irregular, it is changed to regular geometry utilizing the appropriate transformations. The numerical solutions, using the finite difference method, are computed for the flow rate, the shear stress, and the impedance. The influence of time, coupling number, half of the bifurcated angle and Womersley number on shear stress, flow rate and impedance (resistance to the flow) on both sides of the flow divider is shown graphically. It has been observed that the shear stress and flow rate are increasing with increase in the values of Womersley number and bifurcation angle on both sides of the apex. The shear stress is increasing along the inner wall and decreasing along the outer wall of the daughter artery with an increase in the value of coupling number. Further, it has been noticed that the shear stress, flow rate, and impedance are perturbed largely near to the apex in the parent artery due to the presence of backflow near the apex.

Keywords: micropolar fluid, bifurcated artery, stenosis, back flow, secondary flow, pulsatile flow, Womersley number

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1075 Indoor Localization by Pattern Matching Method Based on Extended Database

Authors: Gyumin Hwang, Jihong Lee

Abstract:

This paper studied the CSS-based indoor localization system which is easy to implement, inexpensive to compose the systems, additionally CSS-based indoor localization system covers larger area than other system. However, this system has problem which is affected by reflected distance data. This problem in localization is caused by the multi-path effect. Error caused by multi-path is difficult to be corrected because the indoor environment cannot be described. In this paper, in order to solve the problem by multi-path, we have supplemented the localization system by using pattern matching method based on extended database. Thereby, this method improves precision of estimated. Also this method is verified by experiments in gymnasium. Database was constructed by 1 m intervals, and 16 sample data were collected from random position inside the region of DB points. As a result, this paper shows higher accuracy than existing method through graph and table.

Keywords: chirp spread spectrum, indoor localization, pattern-matching, time of arrival, multi-path, mahalanobis distance, reception rate, simultaneous localization and mapping, laser range finder

Procedia PDF Downloads 217
1074 Real-Time Sensor Fusion for Mobile Robot Localization in an Oil and Gas Refinery

Authors: Adewole A. Ayoade, Marshall R. Sweatt, John P. H. Steele, Qi Han, Khaled Al-Wahedi, Hamad Karki, William A. Yearsley

Abstract:

Understanding the behavioral characteristics of sensors is a crucial step in fusing data from several sensors of different types. This paper introduces a practical, real-time approach to integrate heterogeneous sensor data to achieve higher accuracy than would be possible from any one individual sensor in localizing a mobile robot. We use this approach in both indoor and outdoor environments and it is especially appropriate for those environments like oil and gas refineries due to their sparse and featureless nature. We have studied the individual contribution of each sensor data to the overall combined accuracy achieved from the fusion process. A Sequential Update Extended Kalman Filter(EKF) using validation gates was used to integrate GPS data, Compass data, WiFi data, Inertial Measurement Unit(IMU) data, Vehicle Velocity, and pose estimates from Fiducial marker system. Results show that the approach can enable a mobile robot to navigate autonomously in any environment using a priori information.

Keywords: inspection mobile robot, navigation, sensor fusion, sequential update extended Kalman filter

Procedia PDF Downloads 438
1073 Website Evaluation of Travel Agencies Class A in Saudi Arabia and Egypt Using Extended Version of Internet Commerce Adoption Model: A Comparative Study

Authors: Tarek Abdel Azim Ahmed, Eman Sarhan Shaker

Abstract:

This research aims to explore how well the extended model of internet commerce adoption (eMICA) model is often used to determine the extent of internet commerce adoption in the travel agencies sector in both Egypt and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The web content analysis method was used to analyze the level of adoption of Egyptian travel agencies and Saudi travel agencies according to data immensely available on their websites. Therefore, each site was categorized according to the phases and levels proposed. In order to achieve this, 120 websites were evaluated by the two authors over a three-month period, from August to October 2020, and then categorized according to the phases and levels of (eMICA). The results show that there are deficiencies in the application of the eMICA model by both KSA and Egyptian travel agencies, generally, updating their websites, the absence of quality certification, offering secure online payment, virtual tours, and videos using Flash animation. In general, the Egyptian companies slightly outperformed the KSA ones in applying eMICA model.

Keywords: e-commerce, internet marketing, eMICA, travel agencies, websites

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1072 Exploiting SLMail Server with a Developed Buffer Overflow with Kali Linux

Authors: Senesh Wijayarathne

Abstract:

This study focuses on how someone could develop a Buffer Overflow and could use that to exploit the SLMail Server. This study uses a Kali Linux V2018.4 Virtual Machine and Windows 7 - Internet Explorer V8 Virtual Machine (IPv4 Address - 192.168.56.107). This study starts by sending continued bytes to the SLMail Server to find the crashing point range and creating a unique pattern of the length of the crashing point range to control the Extended Instruction Pointer (EIP). Then by sending all characters to SLMail Server, we could observe and find which characters are not rendered properly by the software, also known as Bad Characters. By finding the ‘Jump to the ESP register (JMP ESP) and with the help of ‘Mona Modules’, we could use msfvenom to create a non-stage windows reverse shell payload. By including all the details gathered previously on one script, we could get a system-level reverse shell of the Windows 7 PC. The end of this paper will discuss how to mitigate this vulnerability.

Keywords: slmail server, extended instruction pointer, jump to the esp register, bad characters, virtual machine, windows 7, kali Linux, buffer overflow, Seattle lab, vulnerability

Procedia PDF Downloads 125
1071 Improving the Performance of DBE Structure in Pressure Flushing Using Submerged Vanes

Authors: Sepideh Beiramipour, Hadi Haghjouei, Kourosh Qaderi, Majid Rahimpour, Mohammad M. Ahmadi, Sameh A. Kantoush

Abstract:

Reservoir sedimentation is one of the main challenges by which the reservoir behind the dam is filled with sediments transferred through the river flow. Pressure flushing method is an effective way to drain the deposited sediments of the reservoirs through the bottom outlet. So far, several structural methods have been proposed to increase the efficiency of pressure flushing. The aim of this study is to increase the performance of Dendritic Bottomless Extended (DBE) structure on the efficiency of pressurized sediment flushing using submerged vanes. For this purpose, the physical model of the dam reservoir with dimensions of 7.5 m in length, 3.5 m in width, and 1.8 m in height in the hydraulic and water structures research laboratory of Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman was used. In order to investigate the influence of submerged vanes on the performance of DBE structure in pressure flushing, the best arrangement and geometric parameters of the vanes were selected and combined with the DBE structure. The results showed that the submerged vanes significantly increased the performance of the DBE structure so that the volume of the sediment flushing cone with the combination of two structures increased by 3.7 times compared to the DBE structure test.

Keywords: dendritic bottomless extended structure, flushing efficiency, sedimentation, sediment flushing

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1070 A Study on Inverse Determination of Impact Force on a Honeycomb Composite Panel

Authors: Hamed Kalhori, Lin Ye

Abstract:

In this study, an inverse method was developed to reconstruct the magnitude and duration of impact forces exerted to a rectangular carbon fibre-epoxy composite honeycomb sandwich panel. The dynamic signals captured by Piezoelectric (PZT) sensors installed on the panel remotely from the impact locations were utilized to reconstruct the impact force generated by an instrumented hammer through an extended deconvolution approach. Two discretized forms of convolution integral are considered; the traditional one with an explicit transfer function and the modified one without an explicit transfer function. Deconvolution, usually applied to reconstruct the time history (e.g. magnitude) of a stochastic force at a defined location, is extended to identify both the location and magnitude of the impact force among a number of potential impact locations. It is assumed that a number of impact forces are simultaneously exerted to all potential locations, but the magnitude of all forces except one is zero, implicating that the impact occurs only at one location. The extended deconvolution is then applied to determine the magnitude as well as location (among the potential ones), incorporating the linear superposition of responses resulted from impact at each potential location. The problem can be categorized into under-determined (the number of sensors is less than that of impact locations), even-determined (the number of sensors equals that of impact locations), or over-determined (the number of sensors is greater than that of impact locations) cases. For an under-determined case, it comprises three potential impact locations and one PZT sensor for the rectangular carbon fibre-epoxy composite honeycomb sandwich panel. Assessments are conducted to evaluate the factors affecting the precision of the reconstructed force. Truncated Singular Value Decomposition (TSVD) and the Tikhonov regularization are independently chosen to regularize the problem to find the most suitable method for this system. The selection of optimal value of the regularization parameter is investigated through L-curve and Generalized Cross Validation (GCV) methods. In addition, the effect of different width of signal windows on the reconstructed force is examined. It is observed that the impact force generated by the instrumented impact hammer is sensitive to the impact locations of the structure, having a shape from a simple half-sine to a complicated one. The accuracy of the reconstructed impact force is evaluated using the correlation co-efficient between the reconstructed force and the actual one. Based on this criterion, it is concluded that the forces reconstructed by using the extended deconvolution without an explicit transfer function together with Tikhonov regularization match well with the actual forces in terms of magnitude and duration.

Keywords: honeycomb composite panel, deconvolution, impact localization, force reconstruction

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1069 Upgrading along Value Chains: Strategies for Thailand's Functional Milk Industry

Authors: Panisa Harnpathananun

Abstract:

This paper is 'Practical Experience Analysis' which aims to analyze critical obstacles hampering the growth of the functional milk industry and suggest recommendations to overcome those obstacles. Using the Sectoral Innovation System (SIS) along value chain analysis, it is found that restriction in regulation of milk disinfection process, difficulty of dairy entrepreneurs for health claim approval of functional food and beverage and lack of intermediary between entrepreneurs and certified units for certification of functional foods and milk are major causes that needed to be resolved. Consequently, policy recommendations are proposed to tackle the problems occurring throughout the value chain. For the upstream, a collaborative platform using the quadruple helix model is proposed in a pattern of effective dairy cooperatives. For the midstream, regulation issues of new process, extended shelf life (ESL) milk, or prolonged milk are necessary, which can be extended the global market opportunity. For the downstream, mechanism of intermediary between entrepreneurs and certified units can be assisted in certified process of functional milk, especially a process of 'health claim' approval.

Keywords: Thailand, functional milk, supply chain, quadruple helix, intermediary, functional food

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1068 Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Based on Ignatian Discernment Process

Authors: Pathinathan Theresanathan, Ajay Minj

Abstract:

Ignatian Discernment Process (IDP) is an intense decision-making tool to decide on life-issues. Decisions are influenced by various factors outside of the decision maker and inclination within. This paper develops IDP in the context of Fuzzy Multi-criteria Decision Making (FMCDM) process. Extended VIKOR method is a decision-making method which encompasses even conflict situations and accommodates weightage to various issues. Various aspects of IDP, namely three ways of decision making and tactics of inner desires, are observed, analyzed and articulated within the frame work of fuzzy rules. The decision-making situations are broadly categorized into two types. The issues outside of the decision maker influence the person. The inner feeling also plays vital role in coming to a conclusion. IDP integrates both the categories using Extended VIKOR method. Case studies are carried out and analyzed with FMCDM process. Finally, IDP is verified with an illustrative case study and results are interpreted. A confused person who could not come to a conclusion is able to take decision on a concrete way of life through IDP. The proposed IDP model recommends an integrated and committed approach to value-based decision making.

Keywords: AHP, FMCDM, IDP, ignatian discernment, MCDM, VIKOR

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1067 The Effects of Nanoemulsions Based on Commercial Oils: Sunflower, Canola, Corn, Olive, Soybean, and Hazelnut Oils for the Quality of Farmed Sea Bass at 2±2°C

Authors: Yesim Ozogul, Mustafa Durmuş, Fatih Ozogul, Esmeray Kuley Boğa, Yılmaz Uçar, Hatice Yazgan

Abstract:

The effects of oil-in-water nanoemulsions on the sensory, chemical (total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), thiobarbituric acid (TBA), peroxide value (PV) and free fatty acids (FFA), and microbiological qualities (total viable count (TVC), total psychrophilic bacteria, and total Enterbactericaea bacteria) of sea bream fillets stored at 2 ± 2°C were investigated. Physical properties of emulsions (viscosity, the particle size of droplet, thermodynamic stability, refractive index and surface tension) were determined. The results showed that the use of nanoemulsion extended the shelf life of fish 2 days when compared with the control. Treatment with nanoemulsions significantly (p<0.05) decreased the values of biochemical parameters during storage period. Bacterial growth was inhibited by the use of nanoemulsions. Based on the results, it can be concluded that nanoemulsions based on commercial oils extended the shelf life and improved the quality of sea bass fillets during storage period.

Keywords: lipid oxidation, nanoemulsion, sea bass, quality parameters

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1066 Localized Dynamic Lensing with Extended Depth of Field via Enhanced Light Sound Interaction

Authors: Hamid R. Chabok, Demetrios N. Christodoulides, Mercedeh Khajavikhan

Abstract:

In recent years, acousto-optic (AO) lenses with tunable foci have emerged as a powerful tool for optical beam shaping, imaging, and particle manipulation. In most current AO lenses, the incident light that propagates orthogonally to a standing ultrasonic wave converts to a Bessel-like beam pattern due to the Raman-Nath effect, thus forming annular fringes that result in compromised focus response. Here, we report a new class of AO dynamic lensing based on generating a 3D-variable refractive index profile via a z-axis-scan ultrasound transducer. By utilizing the co- /counter propagation of light and acoustic waves that interact over a longer distance, the laser beam can be strongly focused in a fully controllable manner. Using this approach, we demonstrate AO lenses with instantaneous extended depth of field (DoF) and laterally localized dynamic focusing. This new light-sound interaction scheme may pave the way towards applications that require remote focusing, 3D micromanipulation, and deep tissue therapy/imaging.

Keywords: acousto-optic, optical beam shaping, dynamic lensing, ultrasound

Procedia PDF Downloads 60
1065 Contemplating Charge Transport by Modeling of DNA Nucleobases Based Nano Structures

Authors: Rajan Vohra, Ravinder Singh Sawhney, Kunwar Partap Singh

Abstract:

Electrical charge transport through two basic strands thymine and adenine of DNA have been investigated and analyzed using the jellium model approach. The FFT-2D computations have been performed for semi-empirical Extended Huckel Theory using atomistic tool kit to contemplate the charge transport metrics like current and conductance. The envisaged data is further evaluated in terms of transmission spectrum, HOMO-LUMO Gap and number of electrons. We have scrutinized the behavior of the devices in the range of -2V to 2V for a step size of 0.2V. We observe that both thymine and adenine can act as molecular devices when sandwiched between two gold probes. A prominent observation is a drop in HLGs of adenine and thymine when working as a device as compared to their intrinsic values and this is comparative more visible in case of adenine. The current in the thymine based device exhibit linear increase with voltage in spite of having low conductance. Further, the broader transmission peaks represent the strong coupling of electrodes to the scattering molecule (thymine). Moreover, the observed current in case of thymine is almost 3-4 times than that of observed for adenine. The NDR effect has been perceived in case of adenine based device for higher bias voltages and can be utilized in various future electronics applications.

Keywords: adenine, DNA, extended Huckel, thymine, transmission spectra

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1064 Formulating Rough Approximations in Information Tables with Possibilistic Information

Authors: Michinori Nakata, Hiroshi Sakai

Abstract:

A rough set, which consists of lower and upper approximations, is formulated in information tables containing possibilistic information. First, lower and upper approximations on the basis of possible world semantics in the same way as Lipski did in the field of incomplete databases are shown in order to clarify fundamentals of rough sets under possibilistic information. Possibility and necessity measures are used, as is done in possibilistic databases. As a result, each object has certain and possible membership degrees to lower and upper approximations, which degrees are the lower and upper bounds. Therefore, the degree that the object belongs to lower and upper approximations is expressed by an interval value. And the complementary property linked with the lower and upper approximations holds, as is valid under complete information. Second, the approach based on indiscernibility relations, which is proposed by Dubois and Prade, are extended in three cases. The first case is that objects used to approximate a set of objects are characterized by possibilistic information. The second case is that objects used to approximate a set of objects with possibilistic information are characterized by complete information. The third case is that objects that are characterized by possibilistic information approximate a set of objects with possibilistic information. The extended approach create the same results as the approach based on possible world semantics. This justifies our extension.

Keywords: rough sets, possibilistic information, possible world semantics, indiscernibility relations, lower approximations, upper approximations

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1063 Analysis of Translational Ship Oscillations in a Realistic Environment

Authors: Chen Zhang, Bernhard Schwarz-Röhr, Alexander Härting

Abstract:

To acquire accurate ship motions at the center of gravity, a single low-cost inertial sensor is utilized and applied on board to measure ship oscillating motions. As observations, the three axes accelerations and three axes rotational rates provided by the sensor are used. The mathematical model of processing the observation data includes determination of the distance vector between the sensor and the center of gravity in x, y, and z directions. After setting up the transfer matrix from sensor’s own coordinate system to the ship’s body frame, an extended Kalman filter is applied to deal with nonlinearities between the ship motion in the body frame and the observation information in the sensor’s frame. As a side effect, the method eliminates sensor noise and other unwanted errors. Results are not only roll and pitch, but also linear motions, in particular heave and surge at the center of gravity. For testing, we resort to measurements recorded on a small vessel in a well-defined sea state. With response amplitude operators computed numerically by a commercial software (Seaway), motion characteristics are estimated. These agree well with the measurements after processing with the suggested method.

Keywords: extended Kalman filter, nonlinear estimation, sea trial, ship motion estimation

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1062 Utilization of an Object Oriented Tool to Perform Model-Based Safety Analysis According to Extended Failure System Models

Authors: Royia Soliman, Salma ElAnsary, Akram Amin Abdellatif, Florian Holzapfel

Abstract:

Model-Based Safety Analysis (MBSA) is an approach in which the system and safety engineers share a common system model created using a model-based development process. The model can also be extended by the failure modes of the system components. There are two famous approaches for the addition of fault behaviors to system models. The first one is to enclose the failure into the system design directly. The second approach is to develop a fault model separately from the system model, thus combining both independent models for safety analysis. This paper introduces a hybrid approach of MBSA. The approach tries to use informal abstracted models to investigate failure behaviors. The approach will combine various concepts such as directed graph traversal, event lists and Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSP). The approach is implemented using an Object Oriented programming language. The components are abstracted to its failure logic and relationships of connected components. The implemented approach is tested on various flight control systems, including electrical and multi-domain examples. The various tests are analyzed, and a comparison to different approaches is represented.

Keywords: flight control systems, model based safety analysis, safety assessment analysis, system modelling

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1061 Surface Characteristics of Bacillus megaterium and Its Adsorption Behavior onto Dolomite

Authors: Mohsen Farahat, Tsuyoshi Hirajima

Abstract:

Surface characteristics of Bacillus megaterium strain were investigated; zeta potential, FTIR and contact angle were measured. Surface energy components including Lifshitz-van der Waals, Hamaker constant, and acid/base components (Lewis acid/Lewis base) were calculated from the contact angle data. The results showed that the microbial cells were negatively charged over all pH regions with high values at alkaline region. A hydrophilic nature for the strain was confirmed by contact angle and free energy of adhesion between microbial cells. Adsorption affinity of the strain toward dolomite was studied at different pH values. The results showed that the cells had a high affinity to dolomite at acid pH comparing to neutral and alkaline pH. Extended DLVO theory was applied to calculate interaction energy between B. megaterium cells and dolomite particles. The adsorption results were in agreement with the results of Extended DLVO approach. Surface changes occurred on dolomite surface after the bio-treatment were monitored; contact angle decreased from 69° to 38° and the mineral’s floatability decreased from 95% to 25% after the treatment.

Keywords: Bacillus megaterium, surface modification, flotation, dolomite, adhesion energy

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1060 Effect of Tube Thickness on the Face Bending for Blind-Bolted Connection to Concrete Filled Tubular Structures

Authors: Mohammed Mahmood, Walid Tizani, Carlo Sansour

Abstract:

In this paper, experimental testing and numerical analysis were used to investigate the effect of tube thickness on the face bending for concrete filled hollow sections connected to other structural members using Extended Hollobolts. Six samples were tested experimentally by applying pull-out load on the bolts. These samples were designed to fail by column face bending. The main variable in all tests is the column face thickness. Finite element analyses were also performed using ABAQUS 6.11 to extend the experimental results and to quantify the effect of column face thickness. Results show that, the column face thickness has a clear impact on the connection strength and stiffness. However, the amount of improvement in the connection stiffness by changing the column face thickness from 5 mm to 6.3 mm seems to be higher than that when increasing it from 6.3 mm to 8 mm. The displacement at which the bolts start pulling-out from their holes increased with the use of thinner column face due to the high flexibility of the section. At the ultimate strength, the yielding of the column face propagated to the column corner and there was no yielding in its walls. After the ultimate resistance is reached, the propagation of the yielding was mainly in the column face with a miner yielding in the walls.

Keywords: anchored bolted connection, Extended Hollobolt, column faces bending, concrete filled hollow sections

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1059 Wide Dissemination of CTX-M-Type Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamases in Korean Swine Farms

Authors: Young Ah Kim, Hyunsoo Kim, Eun-Jeong Yoon, Young Hee Seo, Kyungwon Lee

Abstract:

Extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli from food animals are considered as a reservoir for transmission of ESBL genes to human. The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence and molecular epidemiology of ESBL-producing E. coli colonization in pigs, farm workers, and farm environments to elucidate the transmission of multidrug-resistant clones from animal to human. Nineteen pig farms were enrolled across the country in Korea from August to December 2017. ESBL-producing E. coli isolates were detected in 190 pigs, 38 farm workers, and 112 sites of farm environments using ChromID ESBL (bioMerieux, Marcy l'Etoile, France), directly (stool or perirectal swab) or after enrichment (sewage). Antimicrobial susceptibility tests were done with disk diffusion methods and blaTEM, blaSHV, and blaCTX-M were detected with PCR and sequencing. The genomes of the four CTX-M-55-producing E. coli isolates from various sources in one farm were entirely sequenced to assess the relatedness of the strains. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) was performed with PacBio RS II system (Pacific Biosciences, Menlo Park, CA, USA). ESBL genotypes were 85 CTX-M-1 group (one CTX-M-3, 23 CTX-M-15, one CTX-M-28, 59 CTX-M-55, one CTX-M-69) and 60 CTX-M-9 group (41 CTX-M-14, one CTX-M-17, one CTX-M-27, 13 CTX-M-65, 4 CTX-M-102) in total 145 isolates. The rectal colonization rates were 53.2% (101/190) in pigs and 39.5% (15/38) in farm workers. In WGS, sequence types (STs) were determined as ST69 (E. coli PJFH115 isolate from a human carrier), ST457 (two E. coli isolates PJFE101 recovered from a fence and PJFA1104 from a pig) and ST5899 (E. coli PJFA173 isolate from the other pig). The four plasmids encoding CTX-M-55 (88,456 to 149, 674 base pair), whether it belonged to IncFIB or IncFIC-IncFIB type, shared IncF backbone furnishing the conjugal elements, suggesting of genes originated from same ancestor. In conclusion, the prevalence of ESBL-producing E. coli in swine farms was surprisingly high, and many of them shared common ESBL genotypes of clinical isolates such as CTX-M-14, 15, and 55 in Korea. It could spread by horizontal transfer between isolates from different reservoirs (human-animal-environment).

Keywords: Escherichia coli, extended-spectrum β-lactamase, prevalence, whole genome sequencing

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1058 Numerical Analysis of Shear Crack Propagation in a Concrete Beam without Transverse Reinforcement

Authors: G. A. Rombach, A. Faron

Abstract:

Crack formation and growth in reinforced concrete members are, in many cases, the cause of the collapse of technical structures. Such serious failures impair structural behavior and can also damage property and persons. An intensive investigation of the crack propagation is indispensable. Numerical methods are being developed to analyze crack growth in an element and to detect fracture failure at an early stage. For reinforced concrete components, however, further research and action are required in the analysis of shear cracks. This paper presents numerical simulations and continuum mechanical modeling of bending shear crack propagation in a three-dimensional reinforced concrete beam without transverse reinforcement. The analysis will provide a further understanding of crack growth and redistribution of inner forces in concrete members. As a numerical method to map discrete cracks, the extended finite element method (XFEM) is applied. The crack propagation is compared with the smeared crack approach using concrete damage plasticity. For validation, the crack patterns of real experiments are compared with the results of the different finite element models. The evaluation is based on single span beams under bending. With the analysis, it is possible to predict the fracture behavior of concrete members.

Keywords: concrete damage plasticity, crack propagation, extended finite element method, fracture mechanics

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1057 Comparison of Extended Kalman Filter and Unscented Kalman Filter for Autonomous Orbit Determination of Lagrangian Navigation Constellation

Authors: Youtao Gao, Bingyu Jin, Tanran Zhao, Bo Xu

Abstract:

The history of satellite navigation can be dated back to the 1960s. From the U.S. Transit system and the Russian Tsikada system to the modern Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Globalnaya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (GLONASS), performance of satellite navigation has been greatly improved. Nowadays, the navigation accuracy and coverage of these existing systems have already fully fulfilled the requirement of near-Earth users, but these systems are still beyond the reach of deep space targets. Due to the renewed interest in space exploration, a novel high-precision satellite navigation system is becoming even more important. The increasing demand for such a deep space navigation system has contributed to the emergence of a variety of new constellation architectures, such as the Lunar Global Positioning System. Apart from a Walker constellation which is similar to the one adopted by GPS on Earth, a novel constellation architecture which consists of libration point satellites in the Earth-Moon system is also available to construct the lunar navigation system, which can be called accordingly, the libration point satellite navigation system. The concept of using Earth-Moon libration point satellites for lunar navigation was first proposed by Farquhar and then followed by many other researchers. Moreover, due to the special characteristics of Libration point orbits, an autonomous orbit determination technique, which is called ‘Liaison navigation’, can be adopted by the libration point satellites. Using only scalar satellite-to-satellite tracking data, both the orbits of the user and libration point satellites can be determined autonomously. In this way, the extensive Earth-based tracking measurement can be eliminated, and an autonomous satellite navigation system can be developed for future space exploration missions. The method of state estimate is an unnegligible factor which impacts on the orbit determination accuracy besides type of orbit, initial state accuracy and measurement accuracy. We apply the extended Kalman filter(EKF) and the unscented Kalman filter(UKF) to determinate the orbits of Lagrangian navigation satellites. The autonomous orbit determination errors are compared. The simulation results illustrate that UKF can improve the accuracy and z-axis convergence to some extent.

Keywords: extended Kalman filter, autonomous orbit determination, unscented Kalman filter, navigation constellation

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1056 Adolf Portmann: A Thinker of Self-Expressive Life

Authors: Filip Jaroš

Abstract:

The Swiss scholar Adolf Portmann (1897-1982) was an outstanding figure in the history of biology and the philosophy of the life sciences. Portmann’s biological theory is primarily focused on the problem of animal form (Gestalt), and it poses a significant counterpart to neo-Darwinian theories about the explanatory primacy of a genetic level over the outer appearance of animals. Besides that, Portmann’s morphological studies related to species-specific ontogeny and the influence of environmental surroundings can be classified as the antecedents of contemporary synthetic approaches such as “eco-evo-devo, “extended synthesis or biosemiotics. The most influential of Portmann’s concepts up to the present is his thesis of a social womb (Soziale Mutterschos): human children are born physiologically premature in comparison with other primates, and they find a second womb in a social environment nurturing their healthy development. It is during the first year of extra-uterine life when a specific human nature is formed, characterized by the strong tie between an individual and a broader historical, cultural whole. In my paper, I will closely analyze: a) the historical coordinates of Portmann’s philosophy of the life sciences (e.g., the philosophical anthropology of A. Gehlen, H. Plessner, and their concept of humans as beings “open to the world”), b) the relation of Portmann’s concept of the social womb to contemporary theories of infant birth evolution.

Keywords: adolf portmann, extended synthesis, philosophical anthropology, social womb

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1055 Research on Steam Injection Technology of Extended Range Engine Cylinder for Waste Heat Recovery

Authors: Zhiyuan Jia, Xiuxiu Sun, Yong Chen, Liu Hai, Shuangqing Li

Abstract:

The engine cooling water and exhaust gas contain a large amount of available energy. In order to improve energy efficiency, a steam injection technology based on waste heat recovery is proposed. The models of cooling water waste heat utilization, exhaust gas waste heat utilization, and exhaust gas-cooling water waste heat utilization were constructed, and the effects of the three modes on the performance of steam injection were analyzed, and then the feasibility of in-cylinder water injection steam technology based on waste heat recovery was verified. The research results show that when the injection water flow rate is 0.10 kg/s and the temperature is 298 K, at a cooling water temperature of 363 K, the maximum temperature of the injection water heated by the cooling water can reach 314.5 K; at an exhaust gas temperature of 973 K and an exhaust gas flow rate of 0.12 kg/s, the maximum temperature of the injection water heated by the exhaust gas can reach 430 K; Under the condition of cooling water temperature of 363 K, exhaust gas temperature of 973 K and exhaust gas flow rate of 0.12 kg/s, after cooling water and exhaust gas heating, the maximum temperature of the injection water can reach 463 K. When the engine is 1200 rpm, the water injection volume is 30 mg, and the water injection time is 36°CA, the engine power increases by 2% and the fuel consumption is reduced by 2.6%.

Keywords: cooling water, exhaust gas, extended range engine, steam injection, waste heat recovery

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1054 Evaluation of the Effect of Learning Disabilities and Accommodations on the Prediction of the Exam Performance: Ordinal Decision-Tree Algorithm

Authors: G. Singer, M. Golan

Abstract:

Providing students with learning disabilities (LD) with extra time to grant them equal access to the exam is a necessary but insufficient condition to compensate for their LD; there should also be a clear indication that the additional time was actually used. For example, if students with LD use more time than students without LD and yet receive lower grades, this may indicate that a different accommodation is required. If they achieve higher grades but use the same amount of time, then the effectiveness of the accommodation has not been demonstrated. The main goal of this study is to evaluate the effect of including parameters related to LD and extended exam time, along with other commonly-used characteristics (e.g., student background and ability measures such as high-school grades), on the ability of ordinal decision-tree algorithms to predict exam performance. We use naturally-occurring data collected from hundreds of undergraduate engineering students. The sub-goals are i) to examine the improvement in prediction accuracy when the indicator of exam performance includes 'actual time used' in addition to the conventional indicator (exam grade) employed in most research; ii) to explore the effectiveness of extended exam time on exam performance for different courses and for LD students with different profiles (i.e., sets of characteristics). This is achieved by using the patterns (i.e., subgroups) generated by the algorithms to identify pairs of subgroups that differ in just one characteristic (e.g., course or type of LD) but have different outcomes in terms of exam performance (grade and time used). Since grade and time used to exhibit an ordering form, we propose a method based on ordinal decision-trees, which applies a weighted information-gain ratio (WIGR) measure for selecting the classifying attributes. Unlike other known ordinal algorithms, our method does not assume monotonicity in the data. The proposed WIGR is an extension of an information-theoretic measure, in the sense that it adjusts to the case of an ordinal target and takes into account the error severity between two different target classes. Specifically, we use ordinal C4.5, random-forest, and AdaBoost algorithms, as well as an ensemble technique composed of ordinal and non-ordinal classifiers. Firstly, we find that the inclusion of LD and extended exam-time parameters improves prediction of exam performance (compared to specifications of the algorithms that do not include these variables). Secondly, when the indicator of exam performance includes 'actual time used' together with grade (as opposed to grade only), the prediction accuracy improves. Thirdly, our subgroup analyses show clear differences in the effect of extended exam time on exam performance among different courses and different student profiles. From a methodological perspective, we find that the ordinal decision-tree based algorithms outperform their conventional, non-ordinal counterparts. Further, we demonstrate that the ensemble-based approach leverages the strengths of each type of classifier (ordinal and non-ordinal) and yields better performance than each classifier individually.

Keywords: actual exam time usage, ensemble learning, learning disabilities, ordinal classification, time extension

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1053 Effect of Naameh Landfill (Lebanon) on Groundwater Quality of the Surrounding Area

Authors: Rana Sawaya, Jalal Halwani, Isam Bashour, Nada Nehme

Abstract:

Mismanagement of municipal solid wastes in Lebanon might lead to serious environmental problems, especially that a big portion of mixed wastes including putrescible is transferred to Naameh landfill. One of the consequences of municipal solid waste deposition is the production of landfill leachate, which if unproperly treated will threaten the main crucial matrices such as soil, water, and air. The main aim of this one of a kind study is to assess the risk posed to groundwater as a result of leachate infiltration on off-site wells especially after stoppage of Naameh landfill's operation end of the year 2016 and initiation of the capping process which is still ongoing and will be finalized in December 2019. For this purpose, nine representative points around the landfill were selected to undergo physicochemical and microbial analysis on a seasonal basis (every three months). The study extended from the year 2014 until the end of the year 2016 (closure of Naameh landfill). The preliminary data obtained are statistically analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and was found in conformity with international and Lebanese norms. Thus, the study will be extended an additional year, especially after the finalization of capping and the results obtained, will enable us to propose new techniques and tools (treatment systems) in water resources management depending on the direction of its usage (domestic, irrigation, drinking).

Keywords: contamination, groundwater, leachate, Lebanon, solid waste

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1052 Majority through the Eyes of Minority: The Role of Social Norms in the Link between Intergroup Contact and Attitudes of the Roma toward Majority Society

Authors: Roman Koky, Sylvie Graf

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The relationship between the Roma and members of the majority is tense across Europe due to the fact that the Roma people are the most stigmatized minorities. Studies show that Roma is discriminated against on all levels of society. Improving intergroup relations between the Roma and members of the majority (i.e., non-Roma) is thus one of the most pressing issues of social psychological research. Intergroup contact theory is one of the most effective strategies for improving intergroup relations. However, current research has some limitations, such as the fact that most researchers focus primarily on the perspective of the majority, while the perspective of minorities (e.g., the Roma) is largely missing. Due to the persisting segregation of Roma, and thus the lack of opportunities for direct intergroup contact between the Roma and the majority, using direct intergroup contact as an intervention to reduce prejudice is difficult. In this research, we, therefore, focused on the effect of indirect forms of intergroup contact, particularly extended contact (i.e., experiences with outgroup members shared by fellow ingroup members such as friends or family). Extended contact functions as a descriptive social norm that informs about the actual amount of contact in one’s environment. In a group of Czech Roma (N = 226), the descriptive social norm was associated with ingroup injunctive social norm (e.g., the perceived support of intergroup contact with non-Roma by fellow ingroup members) and lower amount of prejudice toward the non-Roma. We discuss the findings with respect to possibilities to improve the relations between Roma and members of the majority across Europe.

Keywords: intergroup contact, prejudice, majority, minority, social norms

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1051 Use of Extended Conversation to Boost Vocabulary Knowledge and Soft Skills in English for Employment Classes

Authors: James G. Matthew, Seonmin Huh, Frank X. Bennett

Abstract:

English for Specific Purposes, ESP, aims to equip learners with necessary English language skills. Many ESP programs address language skills for job performance, including reading job related documents and oral proficiency. Within ESP is English for occupational purposes, EOP, which centers around developing communicative competence for the globalized workplace. Many ESP and EOP courses lack the content needed to assist students to progress at work, resulting in the need to create lexical compilation for different professions. It is important to teach communicative competence and soft skills for real job-related problem situations and address the complexities of the real world to help students to be successful in their professions. ESP and EOP research is therefore trying to balance both profession-specific educational contents as well as international multi-disciplinary language skills for the globalized workforce. The current study will build upon the existing discussion by developing pedagogy to assist students in their career through developing a strong practical command of relevant English vocabulary. Our research question focuses on the pedagogy two professors incorporated in their English for employment courses. The current study is a qualitative case study on the modes of teaching delivery for EOP in South Korea. Two foreign professors teaching at two different universities in South Korea volunteered for the study to explore their teaching practices. Both professors’ curriculums included the components of employment-related concept vocabulary, business presentations, CV/resume and cover letter preparation, and job interview preparation. All the pre-made recorded video lectures, live online class sessions with students, teachers’ lesson plans, teachers’ class materials, students’ assignments, and midterm and finals video conferences were collected for data analysis. The study then focused on unpacking representative patterns in their teaching methods. The professors used their strengths as native speakers to extend the class discussion from narrow and restricted conversations to giving students broader opportunities to practice authentic English conversation. The methods of teaching utilized three main steps to extend the conversation. Firstly, students were taught concept vocabulary. Secondly, the vocabulary was then combined in speaking activities where students had to solve scenarios, and the students were required to expand on the given forms of words and language expressions. Lastly, the students had conversations in English, using the language learnt. The conversations observed in both classes were those of authentic, expanded English communication and this way of expanding concept vocabulary lessons into extended conversation is one representative pedagogical approach that both professors took. Extended English conversation, therefore, is crucial for EOP education.

Keywords: concept vocabulary, english as a foreign language, english for employment, extended conversation

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1050 Flashsonar or Echolocation Education: Expanding the Function of Hearing and Changing the Meaning of Blindness

Authors: Thomas, Daniel Tajo, Kish

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Sight is primarily associated with the function of gathering and processing near and extended spatial information which is largely used to support self-determined interaction with the environment through self-directed movement and navigation. By contrast, hearing is primarily associated with the function of gathering and processing sequential information which may typically be used to support self-determined communication through the self-directed use of music and language. Blindness or the lack of vision is traditionally characterized by a lack of capacity to access spatial information which, in turn, is presumed to result in a lack of capacity for self-determined interaction with the environment due to limitations in self-directed movement and navigation. However, through a specific protocol of FlashSonar education developed by World Access for the Blind, the function of hearing can be expanded in blind people to carry out some of the functions normally associated with sight, that is to access and process near and extended spatial information to construct three-dimensional acoustic images of the environment. This perceptual education protocol results in a significant restoration in blind people of self-determined environmental interaction, movement, and navigational capacities normally attributed to vision - a new way to see. Thus, by expanding the function of hearing to process spatial information to restore self-determined movement, we are not only changing the meaning of blindness, and what it means to be blind, but we are also recasting the meaning of vision and what it is to see.

Keywords: echolocation, changing, sensory, function

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1049 The Characteristics of Transformation of Institutional Changes and Georgia

Authors: Nazira Kakulia

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The analysis of transformation of institutional changes outlines two important characteristics. These are: the speed of the changes and their sequence. Successful transformation must be carried out in three different stages; On the first stage, macroeconomic stabilization must be achieved with the help of fiscal and monetary tools. Two-tier banking system should be established and the active functions of central bank should be replaced by the passive ones (reserve requirements and refinancing rate), together with the involvement growth of private sector. Fiscal policy by itself here means the creation of tax system which must replace previously existing direct state revenues; the share of subsidies in the state expenses must be reduced also. The second stage begins after reaching the macroeconomic stabilization at a time of change of formal institutes which must stimulate the private business. Corporate legislation creates a competitive environment at the market and the privatization of state companies takes place. Bankruptcy and contract law is created. he third stage is the most extended one, which means the formation of all state structures that is necessary for the further proper functioning of a market economy. These three stages about the cycle period of political and social transformation and the hierarchy of changes can also be grouped by the different methodology: on the first and the most short-term stage the transfer of power takes place. On the second stage institutions corresponding to new goal are created. The last phase of transformation is extended in time and it includes the infrastructural, socio-cultural and socio-structural changes. The main goal of this research is to explore and identify the features of such kind of models.

Keywords: competitive environment, fiscal policy, macroeconomic stabilization, tax system

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1048 Investigation of Flexural – Torsion Instability of Struts Using Modified Newmark Method

Authors: Seyed Amin Vakili, Sahar Sadat Vakili, Seyed Ehsan Vakili, Nader Abdoli Yazdi

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Differential equations are of fundamental importance in engineering and applied mathematics, since many physical laws and relations appear mathematically in the form of such equations. The equilibrium state of structures consisting of one-dimensional elements can be described by an ordinary differential equation. The response of these kinds of structures under the loading, namely relationship between the displacement field and loading field, can be predicted by the solution of these differential equations and on satisfying the given boundary conditions. When the effect of change of geometry under loading is taken into account in modeling of equilibrium state, then these differential equations are partially integrable in quartered. They also exhibit instability characteristics when the structures are loaded compressively. The purpose of this paper is to represent the ability of the Modified Newmark Method in analyzing flexural-torsional instability of struts for both bifurcation and non-bifurcation structural systems. The results are shown to be very accurate with only a small number of iterations. The method is easily programmed, and has the advantages of simplicity and speeds of convergence and easily is extended to treat material and geometric nonlinearity including no prismatic members and linear and nonlinear spring restraints that would be encountered in frames. In this paper, these abilities of the method will be extended to the system of linear differential equations that govern strut flexural torsional stability.

Keywords: instability, torsion, flexural, buckling, modified newmark method stability

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1047 Proposed Design of an Optimized Transient Cavity Picosecond Ultraviolet Laser

Authors: Marilou Cadatal-Raduban, Minh Hong Pham, Duong Van Pham, Tu Nguyen Xuan, Mui Viet Luong, Kohei Yamanoi, Toshihiko Shimizu, Nobuhiko Sarukura, Hung Dai Nguyen

Abstract:

There is a great deal of interest in developing all-solid-state tunable ultrashort pulsed lasers emitting in the ultraviolet (UV) region for applications such as micromachining, investigation of charge carrier relaxation in conductors, and probing of ultrafast chemical processes. However, direct short-pulse generation is not as straight forward in solid-state gain media as it is for near-IR tunable solid-state lasers such as Ti:sapphire due to the difficulty of obtaining continuous wave laser operation, which is required for Kerr lens mode-locking schemes utilizing spatial or temporal Kerr type nonlinearity. In this work, the transient cavity method, which was reported to generate ultrashort laser pulses in dye lasers, is extended to a solid-state gain medium. Ce:LiCAF was chosen among the rare-earth-doped fluoride laser crystals emitting in the UV region because of its broad tunability (from 280 to 325 nm) and enough bandwidth to generate 3-fs pulses, sufficiently large effective gain cross section (6.0 x10⁻¹⁸ cm²) favorable for oscillators, and a high saturation fluence (115 mJ/cm²). Numerical simulations are performed to investigate the spectro-temporal evolution of the broadband UV laser emission from Ce:LiCAF, represented as a system of two homogeneous broadened singlet states, by solving the rate equations extended to multiple wavelengths. The goal is to find the appropriate cavity length and Q-factor to achieve the optimal photon cavity decay time and pumping energy for resonator transients that will lead to ps UV laser emission from a Ce:LiCAF crystal pumped by the fourth harmonics (266nm) of a Nd:YAG laser. Results show that a single ps pulse can be generated from a 1-mm, 1 mol% Ce³⁺-doped LiCAF crystal using an output coupler with 10% reflectivity (low-Q) and an oscillator cavity that is 2-mm long (short cavity). This technique can be extended to other fluoride-based solid-state laser gain media.

Keywords: rare-earth-doped fluoride gain medium, transient cavity, ultrashort laser, ultraviolet laser

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