Search results for: total net present cost

Authors: Lenka Ševelová, Aleš Florian

Abstract:

To improve the efficiency of parametric studies or tests planning the method is proposed, that takes into account all input parameters, but only a few simulation runs are performed to assess the relative importance of each input parameter. For K input parameters with N input values the total number of possible combinations of input values equals NK. To limit the number of runs, only some (totally N) of possible combinations are taken into account. The sampling procedure Updated Latin Hypercube Sampling is used to choose the optimal combinations. To measure the relative importance of each input parameter, the Spearman rank correlation coefficient is proposed. The sensitivity and the influence of all parameters are analyzed within one procedure and the key parameters with the largest influence are immediately identified.

Keywords: Concrete, pavement, simulation, reliability, Latin Hypercube Sampling, parametric studies.

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Authors: Bongsu Choi, Tae-Ho Song

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Vacuum insulation panel (VIP) is a promising thermal insulator for buildings, refrigerator, LNG carrier and so on. In general, it has the thermal conductivity of 2~4 mW/m·K. However, this thermal conductivity is that measured at the center of VIP. The total effective thermal conductivity of VIP is larger than this value due to the edge conduction through the envelope. In this paper, the edge conduction of VIP is examined theoretically, numerically and experimentally. To confirm the existence of the edge conduction, numerical analysis is performed for simple two-dimensional VIP model and a theoretical model is proposed to calculate the edge conductivity. Also, the edge conductivity is measured using the vacuum guarded hot plate and the experiment is validated against numerical analysis. The results show that the edge conductivity is dependent on the width of panel and thickness of Al-foil. To reduce the edge conduction, it is recommended that the VIP should be made as big as possible or made of thin Al film envelope.

Keywords: Envelope, Edge conduction, Thermal conductivity, Vacuum insulation panel.

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Authors: Z. Haddad, C. Abid, O. Rahli, O. Margeat, W. Dachraoui, A. Mataoui

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The present study aims to measure the volumetric mass density of NiPd-heptane nanofluids synthesized using a one step method known as thermal decomposition of metal-surfactant complexes. The particle concentration is up to 7.55g/l and the temperature range of the experiment is from 20°C to 50°C. The measured values were compared with the mixture theory and good agreement between the theoretical equation and measurement were obtained. Moreover, the available nanofluids volumetric mass density data in the literature is reviewed.

Keywords: NiPd nanoparticles, nanofluids, volumetric mass density, stability.

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Authors: Eugene Kindler

Abstract:

2007 is a jubilee year: in 1967, programming language SIMULA 67 was presented, which contained all aspects of what was later called object-oriented programming. The present paper contains a description of the development unto the objectoriented programming, the role of simulation in this development and other tools that appeared in SIMULA 67 and that are nowadays called super-object-oriented programming.

Keywords: Simulation, super-object-oriented programming, object-oriented programming, SIMULA.

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Authors: Mustafa M. Donma, Orkide Donma, Murat Aydin, Muhammet Demirkol, Burcin Nalbantoglu, Aysin Nalbantoglu, Birol Topcu

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Childhood obesity is an ever increasing global health problem, affecting both developed and developing countries. Accurate evaluation of obesity in children requires difficult and detailed investigation. In our study, obesity in children was evaluated using new body fat ratios and indices. Assessment of anthropometric measurements, as well as some ratios, is important because of the evaluation of gender differences particularly during the late periods of obesity. A total of 239 children; 168 morbid obese (MO) (81 girls and 87 boys) and 71 normal weight (NW) (40 girls and 31 boys) children, participated in the study. Informed consent forms signed by the parents were obtained. Ethics Committee approved the study protocol. Mean ages (years)±SD calculated for MO group were 10.8±2.9 years in girls and 10.1±2.4 years in boys. The corresponding values for NW group were 9.0±2.0 years in girls and 9.2±2.1 years in boys. Mean body mass index (BMI)±SD values for MO group were 29.1±5.4 kg/m² and 27.2±3.9 kg/m² in girls and boys, respectively. These values for NW group were calculated as 15.5±1.0 kg/m² in girls and 15.9±1.1 kg/m² in boys. Groups were constituted based upon BMI percentiles for age-and-sex values recommended by WHO. Children with percentiles >99 were grouped as MO and children with percentiles between 85 and 15 were considered NW. The anthropometric measurements were recorded and evaluated along with the new ratios such as trunk-to-appendicular fat ratio, as well as indices such as Index-I and Index-II. The body fat percent values were obtained by bio-electrical impedance analysis. Data were entered into a database for analysis using SPSS/PASW 18 Statistics for Windows statistical software. Increased waist-to-hip circumference (C) ratios, decreased head-to-neck C, height ‘to’ ‘two’-‘to’-waist C and height ‘to’ ‘two’-‘to’-hip C ratios were observed in parallel with the development of obesity (p≤0.001). Reference value for height ‘to’ ‘two’-‘to’-hip ratio was detected as approximately 1.0. Index-II, based upon total body fat mass, showed much more significant differences between the groups than Index-I based upon weight. There was not any difference between trunk-to-appendicular fat ratios of NW girls and NW boys (p≥0.05). However, significantly increased values for MO girls in comparison with MO boys were observed (p≤0.05). This parameter showed no difference between NW and MO states in boys (p≥0.05). However, statistically significant increase was noted in MO girls compared to their NW states (p≤0.001). Trunk-to-appendicular fat ratio was the only fat-based parameter, which showed gender difference between NW and MO groups. This study has revealed that body ratios and formula based upon body fat tissue are more valuable parameters than those based on weight and height values for the evaluation of morbid obesity in children.

Keywords: Anthropometry, childhood obesity, gender, Morbid obesity.

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Authors: Alhusein Almahjoub, Dongyu Qiu

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This paper deals with the random access procedure in next-generation networks and presents the solution to reduce total service time (TST) which is one of the most important performance metrics in current and future internet of things (IoT) based networks. The proposed solution focuses on the calculation of optimal transmission probability which maximizes the success probability and reduces TST. It uses the information of several idle preambles in every time slot, and based on it, it estimates the number of backlogged IoT devices using Naïve Bayes estimation which is a type of supervised learning in the machine learning domain. The estimation of backlogged devices is necessary since optimal transmission probability depends on it and the eNodeB does not have information about it. The simulations are carried out in MATLAB which verify that the proposed solution gives excellent performance.

Keywords: Random access, LTE/LTE-A, 5G, machine learning, Naïve Bayes estimation.

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Authors: Najari Moghadam Sh., Qomi M., Raofie F., Khadiv J.

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In this study, a liquid phase microextraction by hollow fiber (HF-LPME) combined with high performance liquid chromatography-UV detector was applied to preconcentrate and determine trace levels of Cyproheptadine in human urine and plasma samples. Cyproheptadine was extracted from 10 mL alkaline aqueous solution (pH: 9.81) into an organic solvent (n-octnol) which was immobilized in the wall pores of a hollow fiber. Then was back-extracted into an acidified aqueous solution (pH: 2.59) located inside the lumen of the hollow fiber. This method is simple, efficient and cost-effective. It is based on pH gradient and differences between two aqueous phases. In order to optimize the HF-LPME some affecting parameters including the pH of donor and acceptor phases, the type of organic solvent, ionic strength, stirring rate, extraction time and temperature were studied and optimized. Under optimal conditions enrichment factor, limit of detection (LOD) and relative standard deviation (RSD(%), n=3) were up to 112, 15 μg.L⁻¹ and 2.7, respectively.

Keywords: Biological samples, Cyproheptadine, hollow fiber, liquid phase microextraction.

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Authors: Rajiv Kumar, Arthanariee A. M.

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Image segmentation is the process to segment a given image into several parts so that each of these parts present in the image can be further analyzed. There are numerous techniques of image segmentation available in literature. In this paper, authors have been analyzed the edge-based approach for image segmentation. They have been implemented the different edge operators like Prewitt, Sobel, LoG, and Canny on the basis of their threshold parameter. The results of these operators have been shown for various images.

Keywords: Edge Operator, Edge-based Segmentation, Image Segmentation, Matlab 10.4.

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Authors: K. M. Shahot. I. A. Ekhmaj

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The research study is carried out to determine the efficiency of the Biofilm sewage treatment plant which is located at the Engineering Complex-s. Wastewater analyses have been carried out at the Environmental Engineering laboratory to study the six parameters: Biochemical Oxygen Demand BOD, Chemical Oxygen Demand COD l, and Total Suspended Solids TSS, Ammoniac Nitrogen NH3-N and Phosphorous P which have been selected to determine the wastewater quality. The plant was designed to treat 750 Pe (population equivalent) at hydraulic retention time of 5 hours in the aerobic zone. The results show that Biofilm wastewater treatment plant was able to treat sewage successfully at different flow condition. The discharge has fulfilled the Malaysia Environmental of Standard A water quality. The achieved BOD removal is more than 85%, COD is more than 80%, TSS is more than 80%, NH3-N is more than 70%, and P was more than 70%. The Biofilm system provides a very efficient process for sewage treatment and it is compact in structure thus minimizes the required land area.

Keywords: Sewage, Bio film, Cosmo-Ball, Activated sludge

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Authors: Maohai Li, Bingrong Hong, Zesu Cai, Ronghua Luo

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This paper presents the novel Rao-Blackwellised particle filter (RBPF) for mobile robot simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) using monocular vision. The particle filter is combined with unscented Kalman filter (UKF) to extending the path posterior by sampling new poses that integrate the current observation which drastically reduces the uncertainty about the robot pose. The landmark position estimation and update is also implemented through UKF. Furthermore, the number of resampling steps is determined adaptively, which seriously reduces the particle depletion problem, and introducing the evolution strategies (ES) for avoiding particle impoverishment. The 3D natural point landmarks are structured with matching Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) feature pairs. The matching for multi-dimension SIFT features is implemented with a KD-Tree in the time cost of O(log2 N). Experiment results on real robot in our indoor environment show the advantages of our methods over previous approaches.

Keywords: Mobile robot, simultaneous localization and mapping, Rao-Blackwellised particle filter, evolution strategies, scale invariant feature transform.

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Authors: Rajesh Mehra, Bharti Thakur

Abstract:

In this paper, an Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) filter has been designed and simulated on an Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA). The implementation is based on Multiply Add and Accumulate (MAC) algorithm which uses multiply operations for design implementation. Parallel Pipelined structure is used to implement the proposed IIR Filter taking optimal advantage of the look up table of target device. The designed filter has been synthesized on Digital Signal Processor (DSP) slice based FPGA to perform multiplier function of MAC unit. The DSP slices are useful to enhance the speed performance. The proposed design is simulated with Matlab, synthesized with Xilinx Synthesis Tool, and implemented on FPGA devices. The Virtex 5 FPGA based design can operate at an estimated frequency of 81.5 MHz as compared to 40.5 MHz in case of Spartan 3 ADSP based design. The Virtex 5 based implementation also consumes less slices and slice flip flops of target FPGA in comparison to Spartan 3 ADSP based implementation to provide cost effective solution for signal processing applications.

Keywords: Butterworth, DSP, IIR, MAC, FPGA.

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Authors: Ming-Ta Yang, Jyh-Cherng Gu, Chun-Wei Huang, Jin-Lung Guan

Abstract:

Time base maintenance (TBM) is conventionally applied by the power utilities to maintain circuit breakers (CBs), transformers, bus bars and cables, which may result in under maintenance or over maintenance. As information and communication technology (ICT) industry develops, the maintenance policies of many power utilities have gradually changed from TBM to condition base maintenance (CBM) to improve system operating efficiency, operation cost and power supply reliability. This paper discusses the feasibility of using intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) to construct a CB CBM management platform. CBs in power substations can be monitored using IEDs with additional logic configuration and wire connections. The CB monitoring data can be sent through intranet to a control center and be analyzed and integrated by the Elipse Power Studio software. Finally, a human-machine interface (HMI) of supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system can be designed to construct a CBM management platform to provide maintenance decision information for the maintenance personnel, management personnel and CB manufacturers.

Keywords: Circuit breaker, Condition base maintenance, Intelligent electronic device, Time base maintenance, SCADA.

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Authors: Lei Wang, Sizong Guo

Abstract:

In this paper, we study the numerical method for solving second-order fuzzy differential equations using Adomian method under strongly generalized differentiability. And, we present an example with initial condition having four different solutions to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed method under strongly generalized differentiability.

Keywords: Fuzzy-valued function, fuzzy initial value problem, strongly generalized differentiability, adomian decomposition method.

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Authors: Mahdieh Allahviranloo

Abstract:

This paper introduces a mixed integer programming model to find the optimum development plan for port Anzali. The model minimizes total system costs taking into account both port infrastructure costs and shipping costs. Due to the multipurpose function of the port, the model consists of 1020 decision variables and 2490 constraints. Results of the model determine the optimum number of berths that should be constructed in each period and for each type of cargo. In addition to, the results of sensitivity analysis on port operation quantity provide useful information for managers to choose the best scenario for port planning with the lowest investment risks. Despite all limitations-due to data availability-the model offers a straightforward decision tools to port planners aspiring to achieve optimum port planning steps.

Keywords: MILP, Multipurpose Terminal, Port Operation Optimization, Port Anzali.

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Authors: Yuan L. Lai, Jui P. Hung, Jian H. Chen

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This paper was aimed at developing a computer aided design and manufacturing system for spatial cylindrical cams. In the proposed system, a milling tool with a diameter smaller than that of the roller, instead of the standard cutter for traditional machining process, was used to generate the tool path for spatial cams. To verify the feasibility of the proposed method, a multi-axis machining simulation software was further used to simulate the practical milling operation of spatial cams. It was observed from computer simulation that the tool path of small-sized cutter were within the motion range of a standard cutter, no occurrence of overcutting. Examination of a finished cam component clearly verifies the accuracy of the tool path generated for small-sized milling tool. It is believed that the use of small-sized cutter for the machining of the spatial cylindrical cams can generate a better surface morphology with higher accuracy. The improvement in efficiency and cost for the manufacturing of the spatial cylindrical cam can be expected through the proposed method.

Keywords: Cylindrical cams, Computer-aided manufacturing, Tool path.

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Authors: Hadi Taghvafard

Abstract:

We present a new quadrature rule based on the spline interpolation along with the error analysis. Moreover, some error estimates for the reminder when the integrand is either a Lipschitzian function, a function of bounded variation or a function whose derivative belongs to Lp are given. We also give some examples to show that, practically, the spline rule is better than the trapezoidal rule.

Keywords: Quadrature, Spline interpolation, Trapezoidal rule, Numericalintegration, Error analysis.

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Authors: Hamdon A. Abdelrhman

Abstract:

The purpose of the analysis is estimation of viability and profitability of kenaf plant farming in Kelantan State. The monetary information was gathered through interviewing kenaf growers as well group discussion. In addition, the production statistics were collected from Kenaf factory administrative group. The monetary data were analyzed using the Precision financial Calculator. For kenaf production per hectare three scenarios of productivity were adopted, they were 15, 12 and ten; the research results exposed that, when kenaf productivity was 15 ton and the agronomist received financial supports from kenaf administration, the margin profit reached up to 37% which is almost dual profitability that is expected without government support. The financial analysis explains that, the adopted scenarios of the productivity are feasible when Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) was used as financial indicator. Nonetheless, the kenaf productivity of 15 ton is the superlative viable among the others and payback period is 5 years which equals to middle period time to return the invested amount back. The study concluded that for the farmer to increase the productivity of kenaf per hectare the well farming practices as well as continuously farmers financial support are highly needed.

Keywords: Margin profit, farming practices, financial analysis, kenaf cultivation.

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Authors: Lokendra K. Balyan

Abstract:

In this paper, we present an algorithm for computing a Schur factorization of a real nonsymmetric matrix with ordered diagonal blocks such that upper left blocks contains the largest magnitude eigenvalues. Especially in case of multiple eigenvalues, when matrix is non diagonalizable, we construct an invariant subspaces with few additional tricks which are heuristic and numerical results shows the stability and accuracy of the algorithm.

Keywords: Schur Factorization, Eigenvalues of nonsymmetric matrix, Orthoganal matrix.

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Authors: M. Mahdavi, M. Ismail, K. Jumari, Z. M. Hanapi

Abstract:

For the sensor network to operate successfully, the active nodes should maintain both sensing coverage and network connectivity. Furthermore, scheduling sleep intervals plays critical role for energy efficiency of wireless sensor networks. Traditional methods for sensor scheduling use either sensing coverage or network connectivity, but rarely both. In this paper, we use random scheduling for sensing coverage and then turn on extra sensor nodes, if necessary, for network connectivity. Simulation results have demonstrated that the number of extra nodes that is on with upper bound of around 9%, is small compared to the total number of deployed sensor nodes. Thus energy consumption for switching on extra sensor node is small.

Keywords: Wireless sensor networks, energy efficient network, performance analysis, network coverage.

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Authors: Vladimir Veremey

Abstract:

The paper describes the design and simulation of dual-polarization antennas that use the resonance and radiating properties of the H₀₀ mode of metal open waveguides. The proposed antennas are formed by two orthogonal slots in a finite conducting ground plane. The slots are backed by metal screens connected to the ground plane forming open waveguides. It has been shown that the antenna designs can be efficiently used in mm-wave bands. The antenna single mode operational bandwidth is higher than 10%. The antenna designs are very simple and low-cost. They allow flush installation and can be efficiently used in various communication and remote sensing devices on fast moving carriers. Mutual coupling between antennas of the proposed design is very low. Thus, multiple antenna structures with proposed antennas can be efficiently employed in multi-band and in multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) systems.

Keywords: Antenna, antenna arrays, multiple-input-multiple-output, MIMO, millimeter wave bands, slot antenna, flush installation, directivity, open waveguide, conformal antennas.

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Authors: Daomao Yang, Qizhi Wang

Abstract:

Monoterpenoids are mainly found in plant essential oils and they are ideal substrates for biotransformation into oxygen-containing derivatives with important commercial value due to their low price and simple structure. In this paper, eleven strains of endophytic fungi from Praxelis clematidea were used as test strains to conduct the whole cell biotransformation of the monoterpenoids: (+)-limonene, (-)-limonene and myrcene. The fungi were inoculated in 50 ml Sabouraud medium and incubated at 30 ℃ with the agitation of 150 r/min for 6 d, and then 0.5% (v/v) substrates were added into the medium and biotransformed for further 3 d. Afterwards the cultures were filtered, and extracted using equal volume of ethyl acetate. The metabolites were analyzed by GC-MS technique with NIST database. The Total Ion Chromatogram of the extractions from the eleven strains showed that the main product of (+)- and (-)-limonene biotransformation was limonene-1,2-diol, while it is limonene and linalool oxide for biotransformation of myrcene. This work will help screen the microorganisms to biotransform the monoterpenes.

Keywords: Endophytic fungi, (+)–limonene, (-)–limonene, myrcene.

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Authors: Ilze Gramatina, Jelena Zagorska, Evita Straumite, Svetlana Sarvi

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In the meat processing industry the substitution of meat with non-meat ingredients is considered an important strategy for reducing overall production costs. The main purpose of the current research was to evaluate differences in physical-chemical composition of cooked sausage with different legumes additions. Peas (Pisum sativum), beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) and lentil (Lens culinaris) were used in preparation of sausages. The legumes at proportion of 20% of the total weight of meat were added in sausages. The whole ingredients were mixed, filled into casing, compressed, cooked and cooled. After storage the samples were sensory evaluated. The sensory evaluation was carried out using the nine point hedonic scale and line scale. Sausages without legumes flour was used as control sample. The main conclusion of the current research the legumes flour can be successfully used for cooked sausages production.

Keywords: Legumes, cooked sausages.

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Authors: El Harbi Sana, Ben Afia Neila

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In this paper, we study the relationship between the military effort and pollution. A distinction is drawn between the direct and indirect impact of the military effort (military expenditure and military personnel) on pollution, which operates through the impact of military effort on per capita income and the resultant impact of income on pollution. Using the data of 121 countries covering the period 1980–2011, both the direct and indirect impacts of military effort on air pollution emissions are estimated. Our results show that the military effort is estimated to have a positive direct impact on per capita emissions. Indirect effects are found to be positive, the total effect of military effort on emissions is positive for all countries.

Keywords: Military expenditure, military personnel, income, emissions of CO2 and panel data.

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Authors: B. A. Gobin, R. K. Subramanian

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This paper gives an overview of how an OWL ontology has been created to represent template knowledge models defined in CML that are provided by CommonKADS. CommonKADS is a mature knowledge engineering methodology which proposes the use of template knowledge model for knowledge modelling. The aim of developing this ontology is to present the template knowledge model in a knowledge representation language that can be easily understood and shared in the knowledge engineering community. Hence OWL is used as it has become a standard for ontology and also it already has user friendly tools for viewing and editing.

Keywords: Ontology, OWL, Template Knowledge Models, CommonKADS

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Authors: Durvesh Kumar Verma, P. N. Agrawal

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In the present paper, we consider the generalized form of Baskakov Durrmeyer operators to study the rate of convergence, in simultaneous approximation for functions having derivatives of bounded variation.

Keywords: Bounded variation, Baskakov-Durrmeyer operators, simultaneous approximation, rate of convergence.

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Authors: Mohammed B. Abohedma, Milad M. Alshebani

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Recent trends in building constructions in Libya are more toward tall (high-rise) building projects. As a consequence, a better estimation of the lateral loading in the design process is becoming the focal of a safe and cost effective building industry. Byin- large, Libya is not considered a potential earthquake prone zone, making wind is the dominant design lateral loads. Current design practice in the country estimates wind speeds on a mere random bases by considering certain factor of safety to the chosen wind speed. Therefore, a need for a more accurate estimation of wind speeds in Libya was the motivation behind this study. Records of wind speed data were collected from 22 metrological stations in Libya, and were statistically analysed. The analysis of more than four decades of wind speed records suggests that the country can be divided into four zones of distinct wind speeds. A computer “survey" program was manipulated to draw design wind speeds contour map for the state of Libya. The paper presents the statistical analysis of Libya-s recorded wind speed data and proposes design wind speed values for a 50-year return period that covers the entire country.

Keywords: Ccontour map, return period, wind speed, and zone.

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Authors: M. A. U. Baradi, F. B. Bulao, N. D. Ganotisi, M. Jose C. Regalado, F. P. Bongat, S. B. Manglinong, M. L. O. Quigao, N. G. T. Martinez, R. G. Ancheta, M. P. Ortal

Abstract:

The effects of varying air temperature (full, ¾ full, ½ full aircon adjustment, no aircon) in polishing component of Single-Pass Mill on the quality of Philippine inbred rice variety, was investigated. Parameters measured were milling recovery (MR), headrice recovery (HR), and percentage with bran streaks. Cooling method (with aircon) increased MR, HR, and percentage with bran streaks of milled rice. Highest MR and HR (67.62%; 47.33%) were obtained from ¾ full adjustment whereas no aircon were lowest (66.27%; 39.76%). Temperature in polishing component at ¾ full adjustment was 33^oC whereas no aircon was 45^oC. There was increase of 1.35% in MR and 7.57% in HR. Additional cost of milling per kg due to aircon cooling was P0.04 at 300 tons/yr volume, with 0.15 yr payback period. Net income was estimated at ₱98,100.00. Percentage of kernels with bran streaks increased from 5%–14%, indicating more nutrients of milled rice.

Keywords: Aircon, air temperature, polishing component, quality, Single-Pass Mill.

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Authors: Josip Visković, Ana Rimac Smiljanić, Ines Ivić

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Housing loans play an important role in CEE countries’ economies. This fact is based on their share in total loans to households and their importance for economic activity and growth in CEE countries. Therefore, it is important to find out key determinants of housing loans demand in these countries. The aim of this study is to research and analyze the determinants of the demand for housing loans in Croatia. In this regard, the effect of economic activity, loan terms and real estate prices were analyzed. Also, the aim of this study is to find out what motivates people to take housing loans. Therefore, primarily empirical study was conducted among the Croatian residents. The results show that demand for housing loans is positively affected by economic growth, higher personal income and flexible loan terms, while it is negatively affected by interest rate rise.

Keywords: CEE countries, Croatia, demand determinants, housing loans.

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Authors: Raluca-Ioana Horea-Şerban, Marinela Istrate

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The first part of the paper analyzes the dynamics of the total fertility rate both at the national and regional level, pointing out the regional disparities in the distribution of this indicator. At the same time, we also focus on the collapse of the number of live births, on the changes in the fertility rate by birth rank, as well as on the failure of acquiring the desired number of children. The second part of the study centres upon a survey applied to urban families with 3 and more than 3 offspring. The preliminary analysis highlights the fact that an increased fertility (more than 3rd rank) is triggered by the parents’ above the average material condition and superior education. The current situation of Romania, which is still passing through a period of relatively rapid demographic changes, marked by numerous convulsions, requires a new approach, in compliance with the recent interpretations appropriate to a new post-transitional demographic regime.

Keywords: Family size intention, fertility rate, regional disparities, third birth rank.

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Authors: Mohammadi K., Ghalavand A., Aghaalikhani M., Eskandari M.

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In order to increase in chickpea quality and agroecosystem sustainability, field experiments were carried out in 2007 and 2008 growing seasons. In this research the effects of different organic, chemical and biological fertilizers were investigated on grain yield and quality of chickpea. Experimental units were arranged in split-split plots based on randomized complete blocks with three replications. The highest amounts of yield and yield components were obtained in G1×N5 interaction. Significant increasing of N, P, K, Fe and Mg content in leaves and grains emphasized on superiority of mentioned treatment because each one of these nutrients has an approved role in chlorophyll synthesis and photosynthesis ability of the crop. The combined application of compost, farmyard manure and chemical phosphorus (N5) had the best grain quality due to high protein, starch and total sugar contents, low crude fiber and reduced cooking time.

Keywords: Agroecosystem, sustainability, chickpea, naturalresources.

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