Search results for: practical problem

Authors: Rahm Sibylle

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The core element in most European teacher training concepts consists in practical periods where teacher students may review the chosen profession before going on to their theoretical studies. In Germany, teacher students learn in practical studies about everyday teaching and learning in schools. Teacher students appreciate opportunities to explore school practice and to feel responsible for students’ learning. In practical studies, teacher students often idealize their teacher mentors (and consequently tend to imitate their teaching style) or contrarily feel disappointed about school practice. Concepts of empowerment through practical experience in school-based academic teacher training have to be developed. Our Swiss-German research project COPRA (Coaching in practical periods; funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) and the German Research Foundation (DFG), aims at gaining resilient results about the effectiveness of (peer) coaching in practical school periods. To explore innovative ways of accompanying novice teachers in practical periods we consider different cultures of teacher training institutions. School cultures, including teachers’ beliefs and teaching traditions involve different training cultures as starting positions for our intervention study. In our qualitative study, we describe typologies of teacher training institutions by analyzing group discussions with teacher students, mentor teachers and university lecturers concerning participation, cooperation, and relationships. In our paper, we present the design of our intervention study, our coaching concept as well as typologies of teacher training cultures. We discuss opportunities for teacher students to learn through domain-specific (peer) coaching on the background of these typologies.

Keywords: teacher training (practical periods), teacher students' coaching, training cultures (typologies), COPRA (coaching in practical periods)

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Authors: Abraham Motlhabane

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In most practical-related science lessons, the focus is on completing the experimental procedure as directed by the teacher. However, the scientific discourse among learners themselves and teacher–learner discourse about scientific processes, scientific inquiry and the nature of science should play an important role in the teaching and learning of science. This means the incorporation of inquiry-based activities aimed at sparking debates about scientific concepts. This article analyses a science lesson presented by a teacher to his colleagues acting as learners. Six lessons were presented and transcribed. One of the lessons has been used for this study as the basis for the events as they unfolded during the lesson. Data was obtained through direct observations and the use of a predetermined observation schedule. Field notes were compiled during teacher preparations and the presentation of the lessons.

Keywords: discourse, inquiry, practical work, science, scientific

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Authors: Natanya Meyer, Johann Landsberg

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Unemployment among the youth is a significant problem in South Africa. Large corporations and the public sector simply cannot create enough jobs. Too many youths in South Africa currently do not consider entrepreneurship as an option in order to become independent. Unlike the youth of the Netherlands, South African youth prefer to find employment in the public or private sector. The Netherlands has a much lower unemployment rate than South Africa and the Dutch are generally very entrepreneurial. From early on entrepreneurship is considered a desirable career option in the Netherlands. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a difference in the perceptions of some Dutch and South African students in terms of unemployment and entrepreneurship. Questionnaires were distributed to students at the North West University's Vaal Triangle campus in Vanderbijlpark in Gauteng, South Africa and the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands. A descriptive statistical analysis approach was followed and the means for the independent questions were calculated. The results demonstrate that the Dutch students are not as concerned about unemployment after completion of their studies as this is not as significant a problem as it is in South Africa. Both groups had positive responses towards the posed questions, but the South African group felt more strongly about the issues. Both groups of students felt that there was a need for more practical entrepreneurship training. The South African education system should focus on practical entrepreneurship training from a young age.

Keywords: entrepreneurship development, entrepreneurship development programmes, entrepreneurship intention, Netherlands, South Africa, unemployment

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Authors: Keng Keh Lim, Zaleha Ismail, Yudariah Mohammad Yusof

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This paper aims to find out how students using convergent and divergent thinking in creative problem solving to solve mathematical problems creatively. Eight engineering undergraduates in a local university took part in this study. They were divided into two groups. They solved the mathematical problems with the use of creative problem solving skills. Their solutions were collected and analyzed to reveal all the processes of problem solving, namely: problem definition, ideas generation, ideas evaluation, ideas judgment, and solution implementation. The result showed that the students were able to solve the mathematical problem with the use of creative problem solving skills.

Keywords: convergent thinking, divergent thinking, creative problem solving, creativity

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Authors: G. Sirbiladze, B. Ghvaberidze, B. Matsaberidze

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A fuzzy vehicle routing problem is considered in the possibilistic environment. A new criterion, maximization of expectation of reliability for movement on closed routes is constructed. The objective of the research is to implement a two-stage scheme for solution of this problem. Based on the algorithm of preferences on the first stage, the sample of so-called “promising” routes will be selected. On the second stage, for the selected promising routes new bi-criteria problem will be solved - minimization of total traveled distance and maximization of reliability of routes. The problem will be stated as a fuzzy-partitioning problem. Two possible solutions of this scheme are considered.

Keywords: vehicle routing problem, fuzzy partitioning problem, multiple-criteria optimization, possibility theory

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Authors: Abdulsalam Abiodun Salman, Abdulmumin Isah

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The study investigated the motivational factors that could enhance the teaching and understanding of ICT-driven cataloguing and classification (Cat and Class) practical classes among students of library and information science (LIS) in Kwara State Library Schools, Nigeria. It deployed a positivist research paradigm using a quantitative method by deploying the use of questionnaires for data collection. The population of the study is one thousand, one hundred and twenty-five (1,125) which was obtained from the department of each respective library school (the University of Ilorin, Ilorin (Unilorin); Federal Polytechnic Offa, (Fedpoffa); and Kwara State University (KWASU). The sample size was determined using the research advisor table. Hence, the study sample of one hundred and ten (110) was used. The findings revealed that LIS students were averagely motivated toward ICT-driven Cataloguing and Classification practical classes. The study recommended that modern cataloguing and classification tools for practical classes should be made available in the laboratories as motivational incentives for students. It was also recommended that library schools should motivate the students beyond the provision of these ICT-driven tools but also extend the practical class periods. Availability and access to medical treatment in case of injuries during the practical classes should be made available. Technologists/Tutors of Cat and Class practical classes should also be exposed to further training in modern trends, especially emerging digital knowledge and skills in cataloguing and classification. This will keep both the tutors and students abreast of the new development in the technological arena.

Keywords: cataloguing and classification, motivational factors, ICT-driven practical classes, LIS students, Nigeria

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Authors: Abdullahi Garba

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The study investigated the effects of practical activities on performance among biology students in Zaria education zone, Kaduna State, Nigeria. The population consists of 18 public schools in the Zaria Education Zone with a total number of 4,763 students. A random sample of 115 students was selected from the population in the study area. The study design was quasi-experimental, which adopted the pre-test, post-test experimental, and control group design. The experimental group was exposed to practical activities, while the control group was taught with the lecture method. A validated instrument, a biology performance test (BPT) with a reliability coefficient of 0.82, was used to gather data which were analyzed using a t-test and paired sample t-test. Two research questions and hypotheses guided the study. The hypotheses were tested at p≤0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that: there was a significant difference in the academic performance of students exposed to practical activities compared to their counterparts; there was no significant difference in performance between male and female Biology students exposed to practical activities. The recommendation given was that practical activities should be encouraged in the teaching and learning of Biology for better understanding. The Federal and State Ministry of Education should sponsor biology teachers for training and retraining of teachers to improve the academic performance of students in the subject.

Keywords: biology, practical, activity, performance

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Authors: Terence Soule, Tami Al Ghamdi

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To study how the partial knowledge transfer may affect the Genetic Algorithm (GA) performance, we model the Transfer Learning (TL) process using GA as the model solver. The objective of the TL is to transfer the knowledge from one problem to another related problem. This process imitates how humans think in their daily life. In this paper, we proposed to study a case where the knowledge transferred from the S problem has less information than what the T problem needs. We sampled the transferred population using different strategies of TL. The results showed transfer part of the knowledge is helpful and speeds the GA process of finding a solution to the problem.

Keywords: transfer learning, partial transfer, evolutionary computation, genetic algorithm

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Authors: El Miloudi Djelloul

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The computer network play an important position for practical implementations of the differently system. To implement a system into network above all is needed to know all the configurations, which is responsible to be a part of the system, and to give adequate information and solution in realtime. So if want to implement this system for example in the school or relevant institutions, the first step is to analyze the types of model which is needed to be configured and another important step is to organize the works in the context of devices, as a part of the general system. Often before configuration, as important point is descriptions and documentations from all the works into the respective process, and then to organize in the aspect of problem-solving. The computer network as critic infrastructure is very specific so the paper present the effectiveness solutions in the structured aspect viewed from one side, and another side is, than the paper reflect the positive aspect in the context of modeling and block schema presentations as an better alternative to solve the specific problem because of continually distortions of the system from the line of devices, programs and signals or packed collisions, which are in movement from one computer node to another nodes.

Keywords: local area networks, LANs, block schema presentations, computer network system, computer node, critical infrastructure packed collisions, structural control system representations, computer network, implementations, modeling structural representations, companies, computers, context, control systems, internet, software

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Authors: Abdulkerim Ilgun, Ahmad Javid Zia

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In developing countries, the urban populations are increasing rapidly and with this increment the residential areas are experiencing major problems. Construction of high-rise buildings in confined spaces is one of the most practical solutions for this problem. However, by living in high-rise buildings and sharing common residential areas, residents will face many problems. Irritating sound problem which is known as noise is one of the major problems mentioned above. The second most important problem is the weight of the high-rise buildings which makes the structure more vulnerable to earthquakes. To decrease earthquake loads it’s very important to decrease the weight of the buildings. To solve the problem of noise and keep the building weight at minimum level, experimentally designed soundproof gypsum partition wall which has optimum thickness has been used in high-rise story building and the results have been compared with ordinary brick partition walls. In this compression the effect of weights of soundproof gypsum walls and ordinary brick walls in accordance to structural engineering have been investigated.

Keywords: cellubor, gypsum board, gypsum partition walls, light partition walls, noise, sound

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Authors: Kenza Aida Amara, Bachir Djebbar

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We treat the two-dimensional bin packing problem which involves packing a given set of rectangles into a minimum number of larger identical rectangles called bins. This combinatorial problem is NP-hard. We propose a pretreatment for the oriented version of the problem that allows the valorization of the lost areas in the bins and the reduction of the size problem. A heuristic method based on the strategy first-fit adapted to this problem is presented. We present an approach of resolution by bee colony optimization. Computational results express a comparison of the number of bins used with and without pretreatment.

Keywords: bee colony optimization, bin packing, heuristic algorithm, pretreatment

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Authors: Hee Jin Kang

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Despite numerous studies on the reserves and availability of natural gas hydrates, the technology of transporting natural gas hydrates in large quantities to sea has not been put into practical use. Several natural gas hydrate transport technologies presented by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) are under preparation for commercialization. Among them, NGH tank container concept modularized transportation unit to prevent sintering effect during sea transportation. The natural gas hydrate can be vaporized in a certain part during the transportation. Unprocessed BOG increases the pressure inside the tank. Also, there is a risk of fire if you export the BOG out of the tank without proper handling. Therefore, in this study, we have studied the concept of technology to properly process BOG to modularize natural gas hydrate and to transport it to sea for long distance. The study is expected to contribute to the practical use of NGH tank container, which is a modular transport concept proposed to solve the sintering problem that occurs when transporting natural gas hydrate in the form of bulk cargo.

Keywords: Natural gas hydrate, tank container, marine transportation, boil-off gas

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Authors: Y. H. Hwang, J. Won, Y. S. Kang

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Since ionic liquids have a special interaction with gas specially CO2 and/or olefin, supported ionic liquids membrane (SILM) are fabricated for practical gas separation. However, SILM has a problem in practical application due to the low mechanical stability under high pressure for gas separation. In order to improve the mechanical strength of the selective ionic liquid layer, we prepared supported ion gel membrane by the formation of gel on the surface of Nylon support. The ion gel was prepared by the addition of poly(styrene-block-ethyleneoxide-block-styrene) triblock copolymer in four tricyanomethanide ionic liquids have different cation; 1-ethyl-3-methlyimidazolium tricyanomethanide, 1-butyl-3-methlyimidazolium tricyanomethanide, 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium tricyanomethanide, 1-butyl-4-methylpyridinium tricyanomethanide using methylenechloride as a solvent. The characters of ion gel with different cation were studied. Four different gases (CO2, N2, O2, and CH4) permeance were measured at room temperature by bubble flow meter and cation effect of tricyanomethanide ionic liquids investigated.

Keywords: membrane, ionic liquid, ion gel, nanostructure

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Authors: Sukhveer Singh, Sandeep Singh

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A bi-objective fuzzy transportation problem with the objectives to minimize the total fuzzy cost and fuzzy time of transportation without according priorities to them is considered. To the best of our knowledge, there is no method in the literature to find efficient solutions of the bi-objective transportation problem under uncertainty. In this paper, a bi-objective transportation problem in an uncertain environment has been formulated. An algorithm has been proposed to find efficient solutions of the bi-objective transportation problem under uncertainty. The proposed algorithm avoids the degeneracy and gives the optimal solution faster than other existing algorithms for the given uncertain transportation problem.

Keywords: uncertain transportation problem, efficient solution, ranking function, fuzzy transportation problem

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Authors: Peter Egri, Tamas Kis

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Scheduling problems have been studied by the algorithmic mechanism design research from the beginning. This paper is focusing on a practically important, but theoretically rather neglected field: the project scheduling problem where the jobs connected by precedence constraints compete for various nonrenewable resources, such as materials. Although the centralized problem can be solved in polynomial-time by applying the algorithm of Carlier and Rinnooy Kan from the Eighties, obtaining materials in a decentralized environment is usually far from optimal. It can be observed in practical production scheduling situations that project managers tend to cache the required materials as soon as possible in order to avoid later delays due to material shortages. This greedy practice usually leads both to excess stocks for some projects and materials, and simultaneously, to shortages for others. The aim of this study is to develop a model for the material allocation problem of a production plant, where a central decision maker—the inventory—should assign the resources arriving at different points in time to the jobs. Since the actual due dates are not known by the inventory, the mechanism design approach is applied with the projects as the self-interested agents. The goal of the mechanism is to elicit the required information and allocate the available materials such that it minimizes the maximal tardiness among the projects. It is assumed that except the due dates, the inventory is familiar with every other parameters of the problem. A further requirement is that due to practical considerations monetary transfer is not allowed. Therefore a mechanism without money is sought which excludes some widely applied solutions such as the Vickrey–Clarke–Groves scheme. In this work, a type of Serial Dictatorship Mechanism (SDM) is presented for the studied problem, including a polynomial-time algorithm for computing the material allocation. The resulted mechanism is both truthful and Pareto optimal. Thus the randomization over the possible priority orderings of the projects results in a universally truthful and Pareto optimal randomized mechanism. However, it is shown that in contrast to problems like the many-to-many matching market, not every Pareto optimal solution can be generated with an SDM. In addition, no performance guarantee can be given compared to the optimal solution, therefore this approximation characteristic is investigated with experimental study. All in all, the current work studies a practically relevant scheduling problem and presents a novel truthful material allocation mechanism which eliminates the potential benefit of the greedy behavior that negatively influences the outcome. The resulted allocation is also shown to be Pareto optimal, which is the most widely used criteria describing a necessary condition for a reasonable solution.

Keywords: material allocation, mechanism without money, polynomial-time mechanism, project scheduling

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Authors: Mohammad U. A. Khan, Md. D. Hossain

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Background: Department of Physiology finds difficulty in managing ‘subjects’ in practical procedure. To avoid this difficulty fellow examinees of other group may be used as subjects. Objective: To find out the merits and demerits of using fellow examinees as subjects in the practical procedure. Method: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in the Department of Physiology, Noakhali Medical College, Bangladesh during May-June’14. Forty-two 1st year undergraduate medical students from a selected public medical college of Bangladesh were enrolled for the study purposively. Consent of students and authority was taken. Eighteen of them were selected as subjects and designated as subject-examinees. Other fellow examinees (non-subject) examined their blood pressure and pulse as part of ‘observed structured practical examination’ (OSPE). The opinion of all examinees regarding the merits and demerits of using fellow examinee as subjects in the practical procedure was recorded. Result: Examinees stated that they could perform their practical procedure without nervousness (24/42, 57.14%), accurately and comfortably (14/42, 33.33%) and subjects were made available without wasting time (2/42, 4.76%). Nineteen students (45.24%) found no disadvantage and 2 (4.76%) felt embracing when the subject was of opposite sex. The subject-examinees narrated that they could learn from the errors done by their fellow examinee (11/18, 61.1%). 75% non-subject examinees expressed their willingness to be subject so that they can learn from their fellows’ error. Conclusion: Using fellow examinees as subjects is beneficial for both the non-subject and subject examinees. Funding sources: Navana, Beximco, Unihealth, Square & Acme Pharma, Bangladesh Ltd.

Keywords: physiology, teaching, practical, OSPE

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Authors: Ravneil Nand

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Cooperative coevolution uses problem decomposition methods to solve a larger problem. The problem decomposition deals with breaking down the larger problem into a number of smaller sub-problems depending on their method. Different problem decomposition methods have their own strengths and limitations depending on the neural network used and application problem. In this paper we are introducing a new problem decomposition method known as Hidden-Neuron Level Decomposition (HNL). The HNL method is competing with established problem decomposition method in time series prediction. The results show that the proposed approach has improved the results in some benchmark data sets when compared to the standalone method and has competitive results when compared to methods from literature.

Keywords: cooperative coevaluation, feed forward network, problem decomposition, neuron, synapse

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Authors: Siyathorn Khunon, Thanawit Buafai

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This paper aims to investigate management of beach safety with a focus on tourist drownings in Samui. The data collected in this investigation will then lead to the proposal of a practical management model suitable for use in Samui. Qualitative research was conducted in the following manner: nine stakeholders from local government organizations and tourism businesses were interviewed in-depth. Additionally, a best practice case study from Phuket was applied to analyze beach safety. Twelve foreign tourists were also interviewed. Then, a focus group comprised of 32 people was used to determine practical solutions for enhancing tourists’ safety on the beach in Samui. A steering committee to coordinate between public and private organizations was proposed to manage and enhance tourists’ safety. A practical model is proposed to increase the safety level of tourists in Samui

Keywords: beach safety, drowning, tourist, Samui

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Authors: Abdorreza Rabiee, Shahla Mohammad Hoseini Mirzaei

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The advantages of distributed generations (DGs) based on renewable energy sources (RESs) leads to high penetration level of DGs in distribution network. With incorporation of DGs in distribution systems, the system reliability and security, as well as voltage profile, is improved. However, the protection of such systems is still challenging. In this paper, at first, the related papers are reviewed and then a practical scheme is proposed for coordination of OCRs in distribution system with DGs. The coordination problem is formulated as a nonlinear programming (NLP) optimization problem with the object function of minimizing total operating time of OCRs. The proposed method is studied based on a simple test system. The optimization problem is solved by General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS) to calculate the optimal time dial setting (TDS) and also pickup current setting of OCRs. The results show the effectiveness of the proposed method and its applicability.

Keywords: distributed generation, DG, distribution network, over current relay, OCR, protection coordination, pickup current, time dial setting, TDS

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Authors: Doris Lacej, Eni Bushi

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Cleaning and disinfection procedures are essential for maintaining the cleanliness status of the pharmaceutical manufacturing environment particularly of the cleanrooms and sterile unit area. The Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Annex 1 recommendation highly requires the implementation of the standard and validated cleaning and disinfection protocols. However, environmental monitoring has shown that even a validated cleaning method with certified agents may result in the presence of atypical microorganisms’ colony that exceeds GMP limits for a specific cleanroom area. In response to this issue, this case study aims to arrive at the root cause of the microbial contamination observed in the sterile production environment in Profarma pharmaceutical industry in Albania through applying a problem-solving practical approach that ensures the appropriate sterility grade. The guidelines and literature emphasize the importance of several factors in the prevention of possible microbial contamination occurring in cleanrooms, grade A and C. These factors are integrated into a practical framework, to identify the root cause of the presence of Aspergillus Niger colony in the sterile production environment in Profarma pharmaceutical industry in Albania. In addition, the application of a semi-automatic disinfecting system such as H2O2 FOG into sterile grade A and grade C cleanrooms has been an effective solution in eliminating the atypical colony of Aspergillus Niger. Selecting the appropriate detergents and disinfectants at the right concentration, frequency, and combination; the presence of updated and standardized guidelines for cleaning and disinfection as well as continuous training of operators on these practices in accordance with the updated GMP guidelines are some of the identified factors that influence the success of achieving sterility grade. However, to ensure environmental sustainability it is important to be prepared for identifying the source of contamination and making the appropriate decision. The proposed case-based practical approach may help pharmaceutical companies to achieve sterile production and cleanliness environmental sustainability in challenging situations. Apart from the integration of valid agents and standardized cleaning and disinfection protocols according to GMP Annex 1, pharmaceutical companies must be careful and investigate the source and all the steps that can influence the results of an abnormal situation. Subsequently apart from identifying the root cause it is important to solve the problem with a successful alternative approach.

Keywords: cleanrooms, disinfectants, environmental monitoring, GMP Annex 1

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Authors: Linyu Wang, Jiahui Ma, Jianhong Xiang, Hanyu Jiang

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the traditional greedy compressed sensing algorithm needs to know the signal sparsity when recovering the signal, but the signal sparsity in the practical application can not be obtained as a priori information, and the recovery accuracy is low, which does not meet the needs of practical application. To solve this problem, this paper puts forward Piecewise adaptive backtracking orthogonal least squares algorithm. The algorithm is divided into two stages. In the first stage, the sparsity pre-estimation strategy is adopted, which can quickly approach the real sparsity and reduce time consumption. In the second stage iteration, the correction strategy and adaptive step size are used to accurately estimate the sparsity, and the backtracking idea is introduced to improve the accuracy of signal recovery. Through experimental simulation, the algorithm can accurately recover the estimated signal with fewer iterations when the sparsity is unknown.

Keywords: compressed sensing, greedy algorithm, least square method, adaptive reconstruction

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Authors: Mrinal Jana, Geetanjali Panda

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In this paper a methodology is developed to solve a nonlinear fractional programming problem in which the coefficients of the objective function and constraints are interval parameters. This model is transformed into a general optimization problem and relation between the original problem and the transformed problem is established. Finally the proposed methodology is illustrated through a numerical example.

Keywords: fractional programming, interval valued function, interval inequalities, partial order relation

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Authors: Romeo A. Botes, Imelda Smit

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The demands of an ever changing and complex higher education environment, along with the profile of modern learners challenge current approaches to assessment and feedback. More learners enter the education system every year. The younger generation expects immediate feedback. At the same time, feedback should be meaningful. The assessment of practical activities in programming poses a particular problem, since both lecturers and learners in the information and computer science discipline acknowledge that paper-based assessment for programming subjects lacks meaningful real-life testing. At the same time, feedback lacks promptness, consistency, comprehensiveness and individualisation. Most of these aspects may be addressed by modern, technology-assisted assessment. The focus of this paper is the continuous development of an artefact that is used to assist the lecturer in the assessment and feedback of practical programming activities in a senior database programming class. The artefact was developed using three Design Science Research cycles. The first implementation allowed one programming activity submission per assessment intervention. This pilot provided valuable insight into the obstacles regarding the implementation of this type of assessment tool. A second implementation improved the initial version to allow multiple programming activity submissions per assessment. The focus of this version is on providing scaffold feedback to the learner – allowing improvement with each subsequent submission. It also has a built-in capability to provide the lecturer with information regarding the key problem areas of each assessment intervention.

Keywords: programming, computer-aided assessment, technology-assisted assessment, programming assessment software, design science research, mixed-method

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Authors: Akpokiere Ugbede Roseline

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Chemistry is an activity oriented subject in which many students achievement over the years are not encouraging. Among the reasons found to be responsible for student’s poor performance in chemistry are ineffective teaching strategies. This study, therefore, sought to determine the effect of guided inquiry, guided inquiry with demonstration, and demonstration with conventional approach on pre-service teachers’ cognitive attainment and practical skills acquisition on stoichiometry and chemical reactions in practical chemistry, Two research questions and hypotheses were each answered and tested respectively. The study was a quasi-experimental research involving 50 students in each of the experimental groups and 50 students in the control group. Out of the five instruments used for the study, three were on stimulus and two on response (Test of Cognitive Attainment and Test of Practical Skills in Chemistry) instruments administered, and dataobtained were analyzed with t-test and Analysis of Variance. Findings revealed, among others, that there was a significant effect of treatments on students' cognitive attainment and on practical skills acquisition. Students exposed to guided inquiry (with/without demonstration) strategies achieved better than those exposed to demonstration with conventional strategy. It is therefore recommended, among others, that Lecturers in Colleges of Education should utilize the guided inquiry strategy for teaching concepts in chemistry.

Keywords: instructional strategy, practical chemistry, learning outcomes, pre-service teachers

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Authors: Md. Ahsan Ayub, Kazi A. Kalpoma, Humaira Tasnim Proma, Syed Mehrab Kabir, Rakib Ibna Hamid Chowdhury

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Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP) is observed in various applications, i.e., scheduling problems, timetabling problems, assignment problems, etc. Researchers adopt a CSP technique to tackle a certain problem; however, each technique follows different approaches and ways to solve a problem network. In our exhaustive study, it has been possible to visualize the processes of essential CSP algorithms from a very concrete constraint satisfaction example, NQueens Problem, in order to possess a deep understanding about how a particular constraint satisfaction problem will be dealt with by our studied and implemented techniques. Besides, benchmark results - time vs. value of N in N-Queens - have been generated from our implemented approaches, which help understand at what factor each algorithm produces solutions; especially, in N-Queens puzzle. Thus, extended decisions can be made to instantiate a real life problem within CSP’s framework.

Keywords: arc consistency (AC), backjumping algorithm (BJ), backtracking algorithm (BT), constraint satisfaction problem (CSP), forward checking (FC), least constrained values (LCV), maintaining arc consistency (MAC), minimum remaining values (MRV), N-Queens problem

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Authors: Daljinder Singh, J.S.Dhillon, Balraj Singh

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According to no free lunch theorem, a single search technique cannot perform best in all conditions. Optimization method can be attractive choice to solve optimization problem that may have exclusive advantages like robust and reliable performance, global search capability, little information requirement, ease of implementation, parallelism, no requirement of differentiable and continuous objective function. In order to synergize between exploration and exploitation and to further enhance the performance of Bat algorithm, the paper proposed a modified bat algorithm that adds additional search procedure based on bat’s previous experience. The proposed algorithm is used for solving the economic load dispatch (ELD) problem. The practical constraint such valve-point loading along with power balance constraints and generator limit are undertaken. To take care of power demand constraint variable elimination method is exploited. The proposed algorithm is tested on various ELD problems. The results obtained show that the proposed algorithm is capable of performing better in majority of ELD problems considered and is at par with existing algorithms for some of problems.

Keywords: bat algorithm, economic load dispatch, penalty method, variable elimination method

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Authors: Jacob Msughter Gwa, Rhys Williams

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It is widely known that food security is a major concern in Sub-Saharan Africa. In many regions, including Nigeria, this is due to an agriculture-old problem of soil erosion beyond replacement levels. It seems that the use of fertilizer would be an immediate solution as it can boost agricultural productivity, and low agricultural productivity is attributed to the low use of fertilizers in Nigeria. The Government of Nigeria has been addressing the challenges of food shortage but with limited success. The utilisation of a practical and efficient subsidy programme in addressing this issue seems to be needed. However, the problem of procurement and distribution changes from one stage of subsidy to another. This paper looks at the difference between the ideal and the actual implementation of agricultural fertilizer policies in Nigeria, as it currently runs the risk of meeting required standards on paper but missing the desired real outcomes, and recognises the need to close the gap between the paper work and the realities on the ground.

Keywords: agricultural productivity, fertilizer distribution, fertilizer procurement, Nigeria

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Authors: Jair Servín-Aguilar, Yu Tang

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We address the problem of robust attitude tracking for agile satellites under unknown bounded torque disturbances using a double-gimbal variable-speed control-moment gyro (DGVSCMG) driven by a cluster of three permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs). Uniform practical asymptotic stability is achieved at the torque control level first. The desired speed of gimbals and the acceleration of the spin wheel to produce the required torque are then calculated by a velocity-based steering law and tracked at the PMSM speed-control level by designing a speed-tracking controller with compensation for the vibration caused by eccentricity and imbalance due to mechanical imperfection in the DGVSCMG. Uniform practical asymptotic stability of the overall system is ensured by loan relying on the analysis of the resulting cascaded system. Numerical simulations are included to show the performance improvement of the proposed controller.

Keywords: agile satellites, vibration compensation, internal model, stability

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Authors: Mohammad Farid

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In this paper, we introduce and study an explicit iterative method based on hybrid extragradient method to approximate a common solution of generalized mixed equilibrium problem and fixed point problem for a nonexpansive semigroup in Hilbert space. Further, we prove that the sequence generated by the proposed iterative scheme converge strongly to the common solution of generalized mixed equilibrium problem and fixed point problem for a nonexpansive semigroup. This common solution is the unique solution of a variational inequality problem and is the optimality condition for a minimization problem. The results presented in this paper are the supplement, extension and generalization of the previously known results in this area.

Keywords: generalized mixed equilibrium problem, fixed-point problem, nonexpansive semigroup, variational inequality problem, iterative algorithms, hybrid extragradient method

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Authors: Vijay Kumar Kukreja, Ravneet Kaur

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In this paper, one dimensional advection diffusion model is analyzed using finite difference method based on Crank-Nicolson scheme. A practical problem of filter cake washing of chemical engineering is analyzed. The model is converted into dimensionless form. For the grid Ω × ω = [0, 1] × [0, T], the Crank-Nicolson spatial derivative scheme is used in space domain and forward difference scheme is used in time domain. The scheme is found to be unconditionally convergent, stable, first order accurate in time and second order accurate in space domain. For a test problem, numerical results are compared with the analytical ones for different values of parameter.

Keywords: Crank-Nicolson scheme, Lax-Richtmyer theorem, stability, consistency, Peclet number, Greschgorin circle

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