Search results for: Metallurgical grade silicon
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 489

Search results for: Metallurgical grade silicon

219 Gender Differences of Elementary Prospective Teachers in Mathematical Beliefs and Mathematics Teaching Anxiety

Authors: Ersen Yazıcı, Erhan Ertekin

Abstract:

In this study, any possible differences between mathematics beliefs and anxiety of prospective elementary mathematics teachers have been investigated according to their gender. In this purpose, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade students from a Government University in Turkey were selected as a sample. Mathematics Teaching Anxiety Scale (MATAS) and Beliefs About Mathematics Survey (BAMS) has been used as data collection tools. As a result of the study, it has been observed that prospective male teachers have more instrumentalist approach in learning mathematics than females according to their mathematical beliefs. On the other hand, females have more mathematics teaching anxiety than males especially, for subject knowledge in mathematics and selfconfidence.

Keywords: Mathematical beliefs, mathematics teaching anxiety, gender, prospective elementary mathematics teachers.

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218 Laser-Ultrasonic Method for Measuring the Local Elastic Moduli of Porous Isotropic Composite Materials

Authors: Alexander A. Karabutov, Natalia B. Podymova, Elena B. Cherepetskaya, Vladimir A. Makarov, Yulia G. Sokolovskaya

Abstract:

The laser-ultrasonic method is realized for quantifying the influence of porosity on the local Young’s modulus of isotropic composite materials. The method is based on a laser thermooptical method of ultrasound generation combined with measurement of the phase velocity of longitudinal and shear acoustic waves in samples. The main advantage of this method compared with traditional ultrasonic research methods is the efficient generation of short and powerful probing acoustic pulses required for reliable testing of ultrasound absorbing and scattering heterogeneous materials. Using as an example samples of a metal matrix composite with reinforcing microparticles of silicon carbide in various concentrations, it is shown that to provide an effective increase in Young’s modulus with increasing concentration of microparticles, the porosity of the final sample should not exceed 2%.

Keywords: Laser ultrasonic, longitudinal and shear ultrasonic waves, porosity, composite, local elastic moduli.

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217 Effect of Linear Thermal Gradient on Steady-State Creep Behavior of Isotropic Rotating Disc

Authors: Minto Rattan, Tania Bose, Neeraj Chamoli

Abstract:

The present paper investigates the effect of linear thermal gradient on the steady-state creep behavior of rotating isotropic disc using threshold stress based Sherby’s creep law. The composite discs made of aluminum matrix reinforced with silicon carbide particulate has been taken for analysis. The stress and strain rate distributions have been calculated for discs rotating at linear thermal gradation using von Mises’ yield criterion. The material parameters have been estimated by regression fit of the available experimental data. The results are displayed and compared graphically in designer friendly format for the above said temperature profile with the disc operating under uniform temperature profile. It is observed that radial and tangential stresses show minor variation and the strain rates vary significantly in the presence of thermal gradation as compared to disc having uniform temperature.

Keywords: Creep, isotropic, steady-state, thermal gradient.

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216 Improving Academic Performance Prediction using Voting Technique in Data Mining

Authors: Ikmal Hisyam Mohamad Paris, Lilly Suriani Affendey, Norwati Mustapha

Abstract:

In this paper we compare the accuracy of data mining methods to classifying students in order to predicting student-s class grade. These predictions are more useful for identifying weak students and assisting management to take remedial measures at early stages to produce excellent graduate that will graduate at least with second class upper. Firstly we examine single classifiers accuracy on our data set and choose the best one and then ensembles it with a weak classifier to produce simple voting method. We present results show that combining different classifiers outperformed other single classifiers for predicting student performance.

Keywords: Classification, Data Mining, Prediction, Combination of Multiple Classifiers.

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215 Effect of Spray Stand-off on Elasticity Modulus of Thermally Sprayed Coatings

Authors: M.Jalali Azizpour, S.Norouzi, H.mohammadi Majd, M.M.Rabieh, D.Sajedipour, A. Jaderi

Abstract:

The mechanical and tribological properties in WC-Co coatings are strongly affected by hardness and elasticity specifications. The results revealed the effect of spraying distance on microhardness and elasticity modulus of coatings. The metallurgical studies have been made on coated samples using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

Keywords: Elasticity modulus, HVOF, Micro-indentation, Thermal spray, WC-Co

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214 Numerical Optimization of Trapezoidal Microchannel Heat Sinks

Authors: Yue-Tzu Yang, Shu-Ching Liao

Abstract:

This study presents the numerical simulation of three-dimensional incompressible steady and laminar fluid flow and conjugate heat transfer of a trapezoidal microchannel heat sink using water as a cooling fluid in a silicon substrate. Navier-Stokes equations with conjugate energy equation are discretized by finite-volume method. We perform numerical computations for a range of 50 ≦ Re ≦ 600, 0.05W ≦ P ≦ 0.8W, 20W/cm2 q"≦ 40W/cm2. The present study demonstrates the numerical optimization of a trapezoidal microchannel heat sink design using the response surface methodology (RSM) and the genetic algorithm method (GA). The results show that the average Nusselt number increases with an increase in the Reynolds number or pumping power, and the thermal resistance decreases as the pumping power increases. The thermal resistance of a trapezoidal microchannel is minimized for a constant heat flux and constant pumping power.

Keywords: Microchannel heat sinks, Conjugate heat transfer, Optimization, Genetic algorithm method.

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213 The use of ICT for Learning Guidance for Junior High School in Indonesia

Authors: Tri Prasetyaningrum, Suyoto

Abstract:

In this paper, we will be present Guidance and Councelling (GC) class action research. The research was done because a fact that some students are still learning ways such as in elementary school. The research objective is to enhance the value of “academic performance report" grade by using ICT as GC Learning Guidance services. The research method was carried out with two cycles. First cycle is applying Learning Guidance services indirectly and not programmed. Second cycle into two implementing Learning Guidance services indirectly, programmed and using ICTs primarily mobile phones and computer media applications i.e. “m-NingBK©: Learning Guidance" and “screen saver: Learning Guidance". A research subject is a class VII student who has the lowest value of “academic performance report". The result is by using an indirect GC services with ICT there were significant changes.

Keywords: ICT, Learning Guidance, action research and Guidance and Councelling

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212 Optimum Signal-to-noise Ratio Performance of Electron Multiplying Charge Coupled Devices

Authors: Wen W. Zhang, Qian Chen

Abstract:

Electron multiplying charge coupled devices (EMCCDs) have revolutionized the world of low light imaging by introducing on-chip multiplication gain based on the impact ionization effect in the silicon. They combine the sub-electron readout noise with high frame rates. Signal-to-noise Ratio (SNR) is an important performance parameter for low-light-level imaging systems. This work investigates the SNR performance of an EMCCD operated in Non-inverted Mode (NIMO) and Inverted Mode (IMO). The theory of noise characteristics and operation modes is presented. The results show that the SNR of is determined by dark current and clock induced charge at high gain level. The optimum SNR performance is provided by an EMCCD operated in NIMO in short exposure and strong cooling applications. In contrast, an IMO EMCCD is preferable.

Keywords: electron multiplying charge coupled devices, noise characteristics, operation modes, signal-to-noise ratioperformance

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211 Effect of Passive Modified Atmosphere in Different Packaging Materials on Fresh-Cut Mixed Fruit Salad Quality during Storage

Authors: I. Krasnova, L. Dukalska, D. Seglina, K. Juhnevica, E. Sne, D. Karklina

Abstract:

Experiments were carried out at the Latvia State Institute of Fruit-Growing in 2011. Fresh-cut minimally processed apple and pear mixed salad were packed by passive modified atmosphere (MAP) in PP containers, which were hermetically sealed by breathable conventional BOPP PropafreshTM P2GAF, and Amcor Agrifresh films. Biodegradable NatureFlexTM NVS INNOVIA Films and VC999 BioPack PLA films coated with a barrier of pure silicon oxide (SiOx) were used to compare the fresh-cut produce quality with this packed in conventional packaging films. Samples were cold stored at temperature +4.0±0.5 °C up to 10 days. The quality of salad was evaluated by physicochemical properties – weight losses, moisture, firmness, the effect of packaging modes on the colour, dynamics in headspace atmosphere concentration (CO2 and O2), titratable acidity values, as well as by microbiological contamination (yeasts, moulds and total bacteria count) of salads, analyzing before packaging and after 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 storage days.

Keywords: Biodegradable packaging, conventional, fresh-cut fruit salad

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210 Orthogonal Regression for Nonparametric Estimation of Errors-in-Variables Models

Authors: Anastasiia Yu. Timofeeva

Abstract:

Two new algorithms for nonparametric estimation of errors-in-variables models are proposed. The first algorithm is based on penalized regression spline. The spline is represented as a piecewise-linear function and for each linear portion orthogonal regression is estimated. This algorithm is iterative. The second algorithm involves locally weighted regression estimation. When the independent variable is measured with error such estimation is a complex nonlinear optimization problem. The simulation results have shown the advantage of the second algorithm under the assumption that true smoothing parameters values are known. Nevertheless the use of some indexes of fit to smoothing parameters selection gives the similar results and has an oversmoothing effect.

Keywords: Grade point average, orthogonal regression, penalized regression spline, locally weighted regression.

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209 Effect of Welding Processes on Tensile Behavior of Aluminum Alloy Joints

Authors: Chaitanya Sharma, Vikas Upadhyay, A. Tripathi

Abstract:

Friction stir welding and tungsten inert gas welding techniques were employed to weld armor grade aluminum alloy to investigate the effect of welding processes on tensile behavior of weld joints. Tensile tests, Vicker microhardness tests and optical microscopy were performed on developed weld joints and base metal. Welding process influenced tensile behavior and microstructure of weld joints. Friction stir welded joints showed tensile behavior better than tungsten inert gas weld joints.

Keywords: Friction stir welding, microstructure, tensile properties and fracture locations.

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208 Effects of Polyvictimization in Suicidal Ideation among Children and Adolescents in Chile

Authors: Oscar E. Cariceo

Abstract:

In Chile, there is a lack of evidence about the impact of polyvictimization on the emergence of suicidal thoughts among children and young people. Thus, this study aims to explore the association between the episodes of polyvictimization suffered by Chilean children and young people and the manifestation of signs related to suicidal tendencies. To achieve this purpose, secondary data from the First Polyvictimization Survey on Children and Adolescents of 2017 were analyzed, and a binomial logistic regression model was applied to establish the probability that young people are experiencing suicidal ideation episodes. The main findings show that women between the ages of 13 and 15 years, who are in seventh grade and second in subsidized schools, are more likely to express suicidal ideas, which increases if they have suffered different types of victimization, particularly physical violence, psychological aggression, and sexual abuse.

Keywords: Chile, polyvictimization, suicidal ideation, youth.

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207 Development of a Porous Silica Film by Sol-gel Process

Authors: Binay K. Dutta, Tayseir M. Abd Ellateif, Saikat Maitra

Abstract:

In the present work homogeneous silica film on silicon was fabricated by colloidal silica sol. The silica sol precursor with uniformly granular particle was derived by the alkaline hydrolysis of tetraethoxyorthosilicate (TEOS) in presence of glycerol template. The film was prepared by dip coating process. The templated hetero-structured silica film was annealed at elevated temperatures to generate nano- and meso porosity in the film. The film was subsequently annealed at different temperatures to make it defect free and abrasion resistant. The sol and the film were characterized by the measurement of particle size distribution, scanning electron microscopy, XRD, FTIR spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, measurement of the refractive index, thermal conductivity and abrasion resistance. The porosity of the films decreased whereas refractive index and dielectric constant of it `increased with the increase in the annealing temperature. The thermal conductivity of the films increased with the increase in the film thickness. The developed porous silica film holds strong potential for use in different areas.

Keywords: Silica film, Nanoporous, Sol-gel, Templating, Dip coating.

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206 The Efficacy of Motivation Management Training for Students’ Academic Achievement and Self-Concept

Authors: Ramazan Hasanzadeh, Leyla Vatandoust

Abstract:

This study examined the efficacy of motivation management training for students’ academic achievement and self-concept. The pretest–posttest quasi-experimental study used a cluster random sampling method to select subjects for the experimental (20 subjects) and control (20 subjects) groups. posttest was conducted with both groups to determine the effect of the training. An academic achievement and academic self-concept questionnaire (grade point average requirement) was used for the pretest and posttest. The results showed that the motivation management training increased academic self-concept and academic achievement.

Keywords: Motivation management, academic self-concept, academic achievement, students.

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205 An Application-Driven Procedure for Optimal Signal Digitization of Automotive-Grade Ultrasonic Sensors

Authors: Mohamed Shawki Elamir, Heinrich Gotzig, Raoul Zoellner, Patrick Maeder

Abstract:

In this work, a methodology is presented for identifying the optimal digitization parameters for the analog signal of ultrasonic sensors. These digitization parameters are the resolution of the analog to digital conversion and the sampling rate. This is accomplished though the derivation of characteristic curves based on Fano inequality and the calculation of the mutual information content over a given dataset. The mutual information is calculated between the examples in the dataset and the corresponding variation in the feature that needs to be estimated. The optimal parameters are identified in a manner that ensures optimal estimation performance while preventing inefficiency in using unnecessarily powerful analog to digital converters.

Keywords: Analog to digital conversion, digitization, sampling rate, ultrasonic sensors.

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204 Faster FPGA Routing Solution using DNA Computing

Authors: Manpreet Singh, Parvinder Singh Sandhu, Manjinder Singh Kahlon

Abstract:

There are many classical algorithms for finding routing in FPGA. But Using DNA computing we can solve the routes efficiently and fast. The run time complexity of DNA algorithms is much less than other classical algorithms which are used for solving routing in FPGA. The research in DNA computing is in a primary level. High information density of DNA molecules and massive parallelism involved in the DNA reactions make DNA computing a powerful tool. It has been proved by many research accomplishments that any procedure that can be programmed in a silicon computer can be realized as a DNA computing procedure. In this paper we have proposed two tier approaches for the FPGA routing solution. First, geometric FPGA detailed routing task is solved by transforming it into a Boolean satisfiability equation with the property that any assignment of input variables that satisfies the equation specifies a valid routing. Satisfying assignment for particular route will result in a valid routing and absence of a satisfying assignment implies that the layout is un-routable. In second step, DNA search algorithm is applied on this Boolean equation for solving routing alternatives utilizing the properties of DNA computation. The simulated results are satisfactory and give the indication of applicability of DNA computing for solving the FPGA Routing problem.

Keywords: FPGA, Routing, DNA Computing.

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203 Sintering Atmosphere Effects on the Densification of Al-SiC Compacts

Authors: Tadeusz Pieczonka, Jan Kazior

Abstract:

The influence of SiC powder addition on densification of Al-SiC compacts during sintering in different atmospheres was investigated. It was performed in a dilatometer in flowing nitrogen, nitrogen/hydrogen (95/5 by volume) and argon. Fine, F500 grade of SiC powder was used. Mixtures containing 10 and 30 vol.% of SiC reinforcement were prepared in a Turbula mixer. Green compacts of about 82% of theoretical density were made of each mixture. For comparison, compacts made of pure aluminum powder were also investigated. It was shown that nitrogen is the best sintering atmosphere because only in this atmosphere did shrinkage take place. Its amount is lowered by ceramic powder addition, i.e. the more SiC the less densification occurs. Additionally, the formation of clusters, enhanced in compacts containing 30 vol.% SiC, is also responsible for limiting the shrinkage. Microstructural examinations of sintered composites revealed that sintering of compacts occurs in the presence of the liquid phase exclusively in nitrogen.

Keywords: Al-SiC composites, densification, sintering atmosphere.

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202 Evaluating the Tool Wear Rate in Ultrasonic Machining of Titanium using Design of Experiments Approach

Authors: Jatinder Kumar, Vinod Kumar

Abstract:

Ultrasonic machining (USM) is a non-traditional machining process being widely used for commercial machining of brittle and fragile materials such as glass, ceramics and semiconductor materials. However, USM could be a viable alternative for machining a tough material such as titanium; and this aspect needs to be explored through experimental research. This investigation is focused on exploring the use of ultrasonic machining for commercial machining of pure titanium (ASTM Grade-I) and evaluation of tool wear rate (TWR) under controlled experimental conditions. The optimal settings of parameters are determined through experiments planned, conducted and analyzed using Taguchi method. In all, the paper focuses on parametric optimization of ultrasonic machining of pure titanium metal with TWR as response, and validation of the optimized value of TWR by conducting confirmatory experiments.

Keywords: Ultrasonic machining, titanium, tool wear rate

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201 Effect of Tube Materials and Special Coating on Coke Deposition in the Steam Cracking of Hydrocarbons

Authors: A. Niaei, D. Salari , N. Daneshvar, A. Chamandeh, R. Nabavi

Abstract:

The steam cracking reactions are always accompanied with the formation of coke which deposits on the walls of the tubular reactors. The investigation has attempted to control catalytic coking by the applying aluminum, zinc and ceramic coating like aluminum-magnesium by thermal spray and pack cementation method. Rate of coke formation during steam cracking of naphtha has been investigated both for uncoated stainless steel (with different alloys) and metal coating constructed with thermal Spray and pack cementation method with metal powders of Aluminum, Aluminum-Magnesium, zinc, silicon, nickel and chromium. The results of the study show that passivating the surface of SS321 with a coating of Aluminum and Aluminum-Magnesium can significantly reduce the rate of coke deposition during naphtha pyrolysis. SEM and EDAX techniques (Philips XL Series) were used to examine the coke deposits formed by the metal-hydrocarbon reactions. Our objective was to separate the different stages by identifying the characteristic morphologies.

Keywords: Steam Cracking, Pyrolysis, Coke deposition, thermalspray, Pack Cementation.

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200 Thermal Resistance Analysis of Flexible Composites Based on Al2O3 Aerogels

Authors: Jianzheng Wei, Duo Zhen, Zhihan Yang, Huifeng Tan

Abstract:

The deployable descent technology is a lightweight entry method using an inflatable heat shield. The heatshield consists of a pressurized core which is covered by different layers of thermal insulation and flexible ablative materials in order to protect against the thermal loads. In this paper, both aluminum and silicon-aluminum aerogels were prepared by freeze-drying method. The latter material has bigger specific surface area and nano-scale pores. Mullite fibers are used as the reinforcing fibers to prepare the aerogel matrix to improve composite flexibility. The flexible composite materials were performed as an insulation layer to an underlying aramid fabric by a thermal shock test at a heat flux density of 120 kW/m2 and uniaxial tensile test. These results show that the aramid fabric with untreated mullite fibers as the thermal protective layer is completely carbonized at the heat of about 60 s. The aramid fabric as a thermal resistance layer of the composite material still has good mechanical properties at the same heat condition.

Keywords: Aerogel, aramid fabric, flexibility, thermal resistance.

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199 Thermodynamic Analysis of Ammonia-Water Based Regenerative Rankine Cycle with Partial Evaporation

Authors: Kyoung Hoon Kim

Abstract:

A thermodynamic analysis of a partial evaporating Rankine cycle with regeneration using zeotropic ammonia-water mixture as a working fluid is presented in this paper. The thermodynamic laws were applied to evaluate the system performance. Based on the thermodynamic model, the effects of the vapor quality and the ammonia mass fraction on the system performance were extensively investigated. The results showed that thermal efficiency has a peak value with respect to the vapor quality as well as the ammonia mass fraction. The partial evaporating ammonia based Rankine cycle has a potential to improve recovery of low-grade finite heat source.

Keywords: Ammonia-water, Rankine cycle, partial evaporating, thermodynamic performance.

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198 Leaching of Flotation Concentrate of Oxide Copper Ore from Sepon Mine, Lao PDR

Authors: C. Rattanakawin, S. Vasailor

Abstract:

Acid leaching of flotation concentrate of oxide copper ore containing mainly of malachite was performed in a standard agitation tank with various parameters. The effects of solid to liquid ratio, sulfuric acid concentration, agitation speed, leaching temperature and time were examined to get proper conditions. The best conditions are 1:8 solid to liquid ratio, 10% concentration by weight, 250 rev/min, 30 oC and 5-min leaching time in respect. About 20% Cu grade assayed by atomic absorption technique with 98% copper recovery was obtained from these combined optimum conditions. Dissolution kinetics of the concentrate was approximated as a logarithmic function. As a result, the first-order reaction rate is suggested from this leaching study.

Keywords: Agitation leaching, dissolution kinetics, flotation concentrate, oxide copper ore, sulfuric acid.

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197 Correlation between Meaning in Life and Academic Performance in Japanese College Students

Authors: Jihyun Park

Abstract:

This research suggests that meaning in life or Ikigai can be associated with better academic performances in Japanese college students. To measure meaning in life in Japanese college students, the Ikigai questionnaire and the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ) are both used, and the survey was collected using Microsoft Teams Forms for a total of 80 Japanese college students. The data revealed that students who have a higher than a 3.0 grade point average (GPA) showed the highest score in both the Ikigai and MLQ. The participants with between a 2.0 and a 3.0 GPA reported lower scores in both MLQ and Ikigai than the previous participants. The group of students who have lower than a 2.0 GPA had the lowest scores for MLQ and Ikigai. This result can indicate that implementing meaning in life or Ikigai to early college students can bring about better academic performance, which also can improve students’ college life better as well.

Keywords: College students’ academic performance, Ikigai, meaning in life, purpose of life.

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196 Photoimpedance Spectroscopy Analysis of Planar and Nano-Textured Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells

Authors: P. Kumar, D. Eisenhauer, M. M. K. Yousef, Q. Shi, A. S. G. Khalil, M. R. Saber, C. Becker, T. Pullerits, K. J. Karki

Abstract:

In impedance spectroscopy (IS) the response of a photo-active device is analysed as a function of ac bias. It is widely applied in a broad class of material systems and devices. It gives access to fundamental mechanisms of operation of solar cells. We have implemented a method of IS where we modulate the light instead of the bias. This scheme allows us to analyze not only carrier dynamics but also impedance of device locally. Here, using this scheme, we have measured the frequency-dependent photocurrent response of the thin-film planar and nano-textured Si solar cells using this method. Photocurrent response is measured in range of 50 Hz to 50 kHz. Bode and Nyquist plots are used to determine characteristic lifetime of both the cells. Interestingly, the carrier lifetime of both planar and nano-textured solar cells depend on back and front contact positions. This is due to either heterogeneity of device or contacts are not optimized. The estimated average lifetime is found to be shorter for the nano-textured cell, which could be due to the influence of the textured interface on the carrier relaxation dynamics.

Keywords: Carrier lifetime, Impedance, nano-textured, and photocurrent.

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195 Linguistic Competence Analysis and the Development of Speaking Instructional Material

Authors: Felipa M. Rico

Abstract:

Linguistic oral competence plays a vital role in attaining effective communication. Since the English language is considered as universally used language and has a high demand skill needed in the work-place, mastery is the expected output from learners. To achieve this, learners should be given integrated differentiated tasks which help them develop and strengthen the expected skills. This study aimed to develop speaking instructional supplementary material to enhance the English linguistic competence of Grade 9 students in areas of pronunciation, intonation and stress, voice projection, diction and fluency. A descriptive analysis was utilized to analyze the speaking level of performance of the students in order to employ appropriate strategies. There were two sets of respondents: 178 Grade 9 students selected through a stratified sampling and chosen at random. The other set comprised English teachers who evaluated the usefulness of the devised teaching materials. A teacher conducted a speaking test and activities were employed to analyze the speaking needs of students. Observation and recordings were also used to evaluate the students’ performance. The findings revealed that the English pronunciation of the students was slightly unclear at times, but generally fair. There were lapses but generally they rated moderate in intonation and stress, because of other language interference. In terms of voice projection, students have erratic high volume pitch. For diction, the students’ ability to produce comprehensible language is limited, and as to fluency, the choice of vocabulary and use of structure were severely limited. Based on the students’ speaking needs analyses, the supplementary material devised was based on Nunan’s IM model, incorporating context of daily life and global work settings, considering the principle that language is best learned in the actual meaningful situation. To widen the mastery of skill, a rich learning environment, filled with a variety instructional material tends to foster faster acquisition of the requisite skills for sustained learning and development. The role of IM is to encourage information to stick in the learners’ mind, as what is seen is understood more than what is heard. Teachers say they found the IM “very useful.” This implied that English teachers could adopt the materials to improve the speaking skills of students. Further, teachers should provide varied opportunities for students to get involved in real life situations where they could take turns in asking and answering questions and share information related to the activities. This would minimize anxiety among students in the use of the English language.

Keywords: Fluency, intonation, instructional materials, linguistic competence, pronunciation.

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194 Using Teager Energy Cepstrum and HMM distancesin Automatic Speech Recognition and Analysis of Unvoiced Speech

Authors: Panikos Heracleous

Abstract:

In this study, the use of silicon NAM (Non-Audible Murmur) microphone in automatic speech recognition is presented. NAM microphones are special acoustic sensors, which are attached behind the talker-s ear and can capture not only normal (audible) speech, but also very quietly uttered speech (non-audible murmur). As a result, NAM microphones can be applied in automatic speech recognition systems when privacy is desired in human-machine communication. Moreover, NAM microphones show robustness against noise and they might be used in special systems (speech recognition, speech conversion etc.) for sound-impaired people. Using a small amount of training data and adaptation approaches, 93.9% word accuracy was achieved for a 20k Japanese vocabulary dictation task. Non-audible murmur recognition in noisy environments is also investigated. In this study, further analysis of the NAM speech has been made using distance measures between hidden Markov model (HMM) pairs. It has been shown the reduced spectral space of NAM speech using a metric distance, however the location of the different phonemes of NAM are similar to the location of the phonemes of normal speech, and the NAM sounds are well discriminated. Promising results in using nonlinear features are also introduced, especially under noisy conditions.

Keywords: Speech recognition, unvoiced speech, nonlinear features, HMM distance measures

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193 The Influence of Interest, Beliefs, and Identity with Mathematics on Achievement

Authors: Asma Alzahrani, Elizabeth Stojanovski

Abstract:

This study investigated factors that influence mathematics achievement based on a sample of ninth-grade students (N  =  21,444) from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS09). Key aspects studied included efficacy in mathematics, interest and enjoyment of mathematics, identity with mathematics and future utility beliefs and how these influence mathematics achievement. The predictability of mathematics achievement based on these factors was assessed using correlation coefficients and multiple linear regression. Spearman rank correlations and multiple regression analyses indicated positive and statistically significant relationships between the explanatory variables: mathematics efficacy, identity with mathematics, interest in and future utility beliefs with the response variable, achievement in mathematics.

Keywords: Mathematics achievement, math efficacy, mathematics interest, identity.

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192 GGE-Biplot Analysis of Nano-Titanium Dioxide and Nano-Silica Effects on Sunflower

Authors: Naser Sabaghnia, Mohsen Janmohammadi, Mehdi Mohebodini

Abstract:

Present investigation is performed to evaluate the effects of foliar application of salicylic acid, glycine betaine, ascorbic acid, nano-silica, and nano-titanium dioxide on sunflower. Results showed that the first two principal components were sufficient to create a two-dimensional treatment by trait biplot, and such biplot accounted percentages of 49% and 19%, respectively of the interaction between traits and treatments. The vertex treatments of polygon were ascorbic acid, glycine betaine, nano-TiO2, and control indicated that high performance in some important traits consists of number of days to seed maturity, number of seeds per head, number heads per single plant, hundred seed weight, seed length, seed yield performance, and oil content. Treatments suitable for obtaining the high seed yield were identified in the vector-view function of biplot and displayed nano-silica and nano titanium dioxide as the best treatments suitable for obtaining of high seed yield.

Keywords: Drought stress, nano-silicon dioxide, oil content, TiO2 nanoparticles.

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191 Modeling of Steady State Creep in Thick-Walled Cylinders under Internal Pressure

Authors: Tejeet Singh, Ishavneet Singh

Abstract:

The present study focused on carrying out the creep analysis in an isotropic thick-walled composite cylindrical pressure vessel composed of aluminum matrix reinforced with silicon-carbide in particulate form. The creep behavior of the composite material has been described by the threshold stress based creep law. The values of stress exponent appearing in the creep law were selected as 3, 5 and 8. The constitutive equations were developed using well known von-Mises yield criteria. Models were developed to find out the distributions of creep stress and strain rate in thick-walled composite cylindrical pressure vessels under internal pressure. In order to obtain the stress distributions in the cylinder, the equilibrium equation of the continuum mechanics and the constitutive equations are solved together. It was observed that the radial stress, tangential stress and axial stress increases along with the radial distance. The cross-over was also obtained almost at the middle region of cylindrical vessel for tangential and axial stress for different values of stress exponent. The strain rates were also decreasing in nature along the entire radius.

Keywords: Steady state creep, composite, cylinder, pressure.

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190 Optimal Design of Substation Grounding Grid Based on Genetic Algorithm Technique

Authors: Ahmed Z. Gabr, Ahmed A. Helal, Hussein E. Said

Abstract:

With the incessant increase of power systems capacity and voltage grade, the safety of grounding grid becomes more and more prominent. In this paper, the designing substation grounding grid is presented by means of genetic algorithm (GA). This approach purposes to control the grounding cost of the power system with the aid of controlling grounding rod number and conductor lengths under the same safety limitations. The proposed technique is used for the design of the substation grounding grid in Khalda Petroleum Company “El-Qasr” power plant and the design was simulated by using CYMGRD software for results verification. The result of the design is highly complying with IEEE 80-2000 standard requirements.

Keywords: Genetic algorithm, optimum grounding grid design, power system analysis, power system protection, single layer model, substation.

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