Search results for: higher education certificates

Authors: Robin Lok-Wang

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The purpose of this paper is to investigate how engineering students’ motivation and interests are maintained through a project-based course in their lifelong learning journeys. In recent years, different pedagogies of teaching including entrepreneurship, experiential and lifelong learnings as well as dream builder, etc., have been widely used for education purpose. University advocates hands-on practice, learning by experiencing and experimenting throughout different courses. Students are not limited to gain knowledge via traditional lectures, laboratory demonstration, tutorial and so on. The capabilities to identify both complex problems and its corresponding solutions in daily lives are one of the criteria/skill sets required for graduates to obtain their careers at professional organizations and companies. A project-based course, namely Mechatronic Design and Prototyping, was developed for students to design and build a physical prototype for solving existing problems in their daily lives, thereby encouraging them as an entrepreneur to explore further possibilities to commercialize their designed prototypes and launch it to the market. Feedbacks from students show that they are keen to propose their own ideas freely with guidance from instructor instead of using either suggested or assigned topics. Proposed ideas of the prototypes reflect that if students’ interests are maintained, they acquire the knowledges and skills they need, including essential communication, logical thinking and more importantly problem solving for their lifelong learning journey.

Keywords: Problem solving, lifelong learning, entrepreneurship, mechanical engineering.

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Authors: Shrey Sharma, Gunjan Kumar Verma

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High density electrical prospecting has been widely used in groundwater investigation, civil engineering and environmental survey. For efficient inversion, the forward modeling routine, sensitivity calculation, and inversion algorithm must be efficient. This paper attempts to provide a brief summary of the past and ongoing developments of the method. It includes reviews of the procedures used for data acquisition, processing and inversion of electrical resistivity data based on compilation of academic literature. In recent times there had been a significant evolution in field survey designs and data inversion techniques for the resistivity method. In general 2-D inversion for resistivity data is carried out using the linearized least-square method with the local optimization technique .Multi-electrode and multi-channel systems have made it possible to conduct large 2-D, 3-D and even 4-D surveys efficiently to resolve complex geological structures that were not possible with traditional 1-D surveys. 3-D surveys play an increasingly important role in very complex areas where 2-D models suffer from artifacts due to off-line structures. Continued developments in computation technology, as well as fast data inversion techniques and software, have made it possible to use optimization techniques to obtain model parameters to a higher accuracy. A brief discussion on the limitations of the electrical resistivity method has also been presented.

Keywords: Resistivity, inversion, optimization.

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Authors: Anthony Bawa, Konstantinos Banitsas

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Rheumatism is a muscular disorder that affects the muscles of the upper and lower limbs. This condition could potentially progress to impair the movement of patients. This study aims to investigate the hip muscular imbalance in patients with chronic rheumatism. A clinical trial involving a total of 15 participants, made up of 10 patients and five control subjects, took place in KATH Hospital between August and September. Participants recruited for the study were of age 54 ± 8 years, weight 65 ± 8 kg, and height 176 ± 8 cm. Muscle signals were recorded from the rectus femoris, and vastus lateralis on the right and left hip of participants. The parameters used in determining the hip muscular imbalances were the maximum voluntary contraction (MVC%), the mean difference, and hip muscle fatigue levels. The mean signals were compared using a t-test, and the metrics for muscle fatigue assessment were based on the root mean square (RMS), mean absolute value (MAV) and mean frequency (MEF), which were computed between the hip muscles of participants. The results indicated that there were significant imbalances in the muscle coactivity between the right and left hip muscles of patients. The patients’ MVC values were observed to be above 10% when compared with control subjects. Furthermore, the mean difference was seen to be higher with p > 0.002 among patients, which indicated clear differences in the hip muscle contraction activities. The findings indicate significant hip muscular imbalances for patients with rheumatism compared with control subjects. Information about the imbalances among patients will be useful for clinicians in designing therapeutic muscle-strengthening exercises.

Keywords: Muscular, imbalances, rheumatism, hip.

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Authors: N. Muthukumaran, R. Ravi

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The Quad Tree Decomposition based performance analysis of compressed image data communication for lossy and lossless through wireless sensor network is presented. Images have considerably higher storage requirement than text. While transmitting a multimedia content there is chance of the packets being dropped due to noise and interference. At the receiver end the packets that carry valuable information might be damaged or lost due to noise, interference and congestion. In order to avoid the valuable information from being dropped various retransmission schemes have been proposed. In this proposed scheme QTD is used. QTD is an image segmentation method that divides the image into homogeneous areas. In this proposed scheme involves analysis of parameters such as compression ratio, peak signal to noise ratio, mean square error, bits per pixel in compressed image and analysis of difficulties during data packet communication in Wireless Sensor Networks. By considering the above, this paper is to use the QTD to improve the compression ratio as well as visual quality and the algorithm in MATLAB 7.1 and NS2 Simulator software tool.

Keywords: Image compression, Compression Ratio, Quad tree decomposition, Wireless sensor networks, NS2 simulator.

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Authors: Melvin Chan, Chew Lee Teo

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There has been a growing emphasis in elevating the teachers’ proficiency and competencies through continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities. In this era of a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous (VUCA) world, teachers are expected to be collaborative designers, critical thinkers and creative builders. However, many of the CPD structures are still revolving in the model of transmission, which stands in contradiction to the cultivation of future-ready teachers for the innovative world of emerging technologies. This article puts forward the framing of CPD through a Principle-Based, Technological-Driven Knowledge Building Approach grounded in the essence of andragogy and progressive learning theories where growth is best exemplified through an authentic immersion in a social/community experience-based setting. Putting this Knowledge Building Professional Development Model (KBPDM) in operation via a Professional Learning Team (PLT) situated in a Secondary School in Singapore, research findings reveal that the intervention has led to a fundamental change in the learning paradigm of the teachers, henceforth equipping and empowering them successfully in their pedagogical design and practices for a 21^st century classroom experience. This article concludes with the possibility in leveraging the Learning Analytics to deepen the CPD experiences for educators.

Keywords: Continual professional development, knowledge building, learning paradigm, andragogy.

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Authors: Siqing S. Chen

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Landscape connectivity combines a description of the physical structure of the landscape with special species- response to that structure, which forms the theoretical background of applying landscape connectivity principles in the practices of landscape planning and design. In this study, a residential development project in the southern United States was used to explore the meaning of landscape connectivity and its application in town planning. The vast rural landscape in the southern United States is conspicuously characterized by the hedgerow trees or groves. The patchwork landscape of fields surrounded by high hedgerows is a traditional and familiar feature of the American countryside. Hedgerows are in effect linear strips of trees, groves, or woodlands, which are often critical habitats for wildlife and important for the visual quality of the landscape. Based on geographic information system (GIS) and statistical analysis (FRAGSTAT), this study attempts to quantify the landscape connectivity characterized by hedgerows in south Alabama where substantial areas of authentic hedgerow landscape are being urbanized due to the ever expanding real estate industry and high demand for new residential development. The results of this study shed lights on how to balance the needs of new urban development and biodiversity conservation by maintaining a higher level of landscape connectivity, thus will inform the design intervention.

Keywords: Biodiversity, Connectivity, Landscape planning, GIS

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Authors: Vakhtang Geladze, Nana Bolashvili, Tamazi Karalashvili, Nino Machavariani, Vajha Neidze, Nana Kvirkvelia, Tamar Chichinadze

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Deficiency of fresh water is a vital global problem today. It must be taken into consideration that in the nearest future fresh water crisis will become even more acute owing to the global climate warming and fast desertification processes in the world. Georgia has signed the association agreement with Euro Union last year where the priority spheres of cooperation are the management of water resources, development of trans-boundary approach to the problem and active participation in the “Euro Union water initiative” component of “the East Europe, Caucasus and the Central Asia”. Fresh water resources are the main natural wealth of Georgia. According to the average water layer height, Georgia is behind such European countries only as Norway, Switzerland and Austria. The annual average water provision of Georgia is 4-8 times higher than in its neighbor countries Armenia and Azerbaijan. Despite abundant water resources in Georgia, there is considerable discrepancy between their volume and use in some regions because of the uneven territorial distribution. In the East Georgia, water supply of the territory and population is four times less than in the West Georgia.

Keywords: GIS, sociological survey, water consumption, water resources.

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Authors: K. Saravanan

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An electrical power system has some negative aspects such as flickering and deviations of voltage/power. This can be eliminated using energy storage devices that will provide a backup energy at the time of voltage/power deviations. Energy-storage devices get charging when system voltage/power is higher than reference value and discharging when system voltage/power is lower than reference value, it is acting as catalysts to provide energy boost. In this paper, a dynamic control of Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC) integrated with superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) is developed to improve the power quality, power oscillation damping, and dynamic voltage stability through the transmission line. UPFC inter-connected to SMES through an interface with DC-DC chopper. This inter-connected system is capable of injecting (absorbing) the real and reactive power into (from) the system at the beginning of stability problems. In this paper, the simulation results of UPFC integrated with SMES and UPFC integrated with fuel cells (FCs) are compared using MATLAB/Simulink software package.

Keywords: UPFC, SMES, power system stability, flexible ac transmission systems, fuel cells, chopper.

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Authors: Sihao Lin, Bo Shen, Xuexiang Dai, Xuyan Xu, Zhenyi Wu, Xianzhe Zeng

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Infrared Thermography (IRT) has been little documented in the objective measurement of ergonomic exposure. We aimed to examine the association between different ergonomic exposures and low back skin temperature measured by IRT. A total of 114 subjects among sedentary students, sports students and cleaning workers were selected as different ergonomic exposure levels. Low back skin temperature was measured by IRT before and post ergonomic exposure. Ergonomic exposure was assessed by Quick Exposure Check (QEC) and quantitative scores were calculated on the low back. Multiple regressions were constructed to examine the possible associations between ergonomic risk exposures and the skin temperature over the low back. Compared to the two student groups, clean workers had significantly higher ergonomic exposure scores on the low back. The low back temperature variations were different among the three groups. The temperature decreased significantly among students with ergonomic exposure (P < 0.01), while it increased among cleaning workers. With adjustment of confounding, the post-exposure temperature and the temperature changes after exposure showed a significantly negative association with ergonomic exposure scores. For maximum temperature, one increasing ergonomic score decreased -0.23 °C (95% CI -0.37, -0.10) of temperature after ergonomic exposure over the low back. There was a significant association between ergonomic exposures and infrared thermal temperature over low back. IRT could be used as an objective assessment of ergonomic exposure on the low back.

Keywords: Ergonomic exposure, infrared thermography, musculoskeletal disorders, skin temperature, low back.

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Authors: Joel S. Mtebe, Aron Kondoro, Mussa M. Kissaka, Elia Kibga

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Sub-Saharan Africa is described as the second fastest growing in mobile phone penetration in the world more than in the United States or the European Union. Mobile phones have been used to provide a lot of opportunities to improve people’s lives in the region such as in banking, marketing, entertainment, and paying for various bills such as water, TV, and electricity. However, the potential of mobile phones to enhance teaching and learning has not been explored. This study presents an experience of developing and delivering SMS based quiz questions used to assess mastery of subject content knowledge of science and mathematics secondary school teachers in Tanzania. The SMS quizzes were used as a follow up support mechanism to 500 teachers who participated in a project to upgrade subject content knowledge of teachers in science and mathematics subjects in Tanzania. Quizzes of 10-15 questions were sent to teachers each week for 8 weeks and the results were analyzed using SPSS. Results show that teachers who participated in chemistry and biology subjects have better performance compared to those who participated in mathematics and physics subjects. Teachers reported some challenges that led to poor performance, This research has several practical implications for those who are implementing or planning to use mobile phones in teaching and learning especially in rural secondary schools in sub-Saharan Africa.

Keywords: Mobile learning, e-learning, educational technologies, SMS, secondary education, assessment.

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Authors: Q. Zafar, R. Akram, Kh.S. Karimov, T.A. Khan, M. Farooq, M.M. Tahir

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In this study we present the effect of elevated temperatures from 300K to 400K on the electrical properties of copper Phthalocyanine (CuPc) based organic field effect transistors (OFET). Thin films of organic semiconductor CuPc (40nm) and semitransparent Al (20nm) were deposited in sequence, by vacuum evaporation on a glass substrate with previously deposited Ag source and drain electrodes with a gap of 40 μm. Under resistive mode of operation, where gate was suspended it was observed that drain current of this organic field effect transistor (OFET) show an increase with temperature. While in grounded gate condition metal (aluminum) – semiconductor (Copper Phthalocyanine) Schottky junction dominated the output characteristics and device showed switching effect from low to high conduction states like Zener diode at higher bias voltages. This threshold voltage for switching effect has been found to be inversely proportional to temperature and shows an abrupt decrease after knee temperature of 360K. Change in dynamic resistance (Rd = dV/dI) with respect to temperature was observed to be -1%/K.

Keywords: Copper Phthalocyanine, Metal-Semiconductor Schottky Junction, Organic Field Effect Transistor, Switching effect, Temperature Sensor

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Authors: Behrooz Movahedi

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Fe-based amorphous feedstock powders are used as the matrix into which various ratios of hard B4C nanoparticles (0, 5, 10, 15, 20 vol.%) as reinforcing agents were prepared using a planetary high-energy mechanical milling. The ball-milled nanocomposite feedstock powders were also sprayed by means of high-velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) technique. The characteristics of the powder particles and the prepared coating depending on their microstructures and nanohardness were examined in detail using nanoindentation tester. The results showed that the formation of the Fe-based amorphous phase was noticed over the course of high-energy ball milling. It is interesting to note that the nanocomposite coating is divided into two regions, namely, a full amorphous phase region and homogeneous dispersion of B4C nanoparticles with a scale of 10–50 nm in a residual amorphous matrix. As the B4C content increases, the nanohardness of the composite coatings increases, but the fracture toughness begins to decrease at the B4C content higher than 20 vol.%. The optimal mechanical properties are obtained with 15 vol.% B4C due to the suitable content and uniform distribution of nanoparticles. Consequently, the changes in mechanical properties of the coatings were attributed to the changes in the brittle to ductile transition by adding B4C nanoparticles.

Keywords: Fe-based amorphous, B4C nanoparticles, nanocomposite coating, HVOF.

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Authors: Mai Thanh Truc, Masao Yoshida

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Global temperature had increased by about 0.5oC over the past century, increasing temperature leads to a loss or a decrease of soil organic matter (SOM). Whereas soil organic matter in many tropical soils is less stable than that of temperate soils, and it will be easily affected by climate change. Therefore, conservation of soil organic matter is urgent issue nowadays. This paper presents the effect of different doses (5%, 15%) of Ca-type zeolite in conjunction with organic manure, applied to soil samples from Philippines, Paraguay and Japan, on the decomposition resistance of soil organic matter under high temperature. Results showed that a remain or slightly increase the C/N ratio of soil. There are an increase in percent of humic acid (PQ) that extracted with Na4P2O7. A decrease of percent of free humus (fH) after incubation was determined. A larger the relative color intensity (RF) value and a lower the color coefficient (6logK) value following increasing zeolite rates leading to a higher degrees of humification. The increase in the aromatic condensation of humic acid (HA) after incubation, as indicates by the decrease of H/C and O/C ratios of HA. This finding indicates that the use of zeolite could be beneficial with respect to SOM conservation under global warming condition.

Keywords: Global warming, Humic substances, Soil organicmatter, Zeolite.

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Authors: O. E. Okafor, L. U. S. Ezeanyika, C. G. Nkwonta, C. J. Okonkwo

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The effect of processing on plasma lipid profile and atherogenic indices of rats fed Artocarpus heterophyllus seed diets at different concentrations were investigated. Fifty five rats were used for this study, they were divided into eleven groups of five rats each (one control group and ten test groups), the test groups were fed raw, boiled, roasted, fermented and soaked diets at 10% and 40% concentrations. The study lasted for thirty five days. The diets led to significant decrease (p<0.05) in plasma cholesterol and triacylglycerol of rats fed 10% and 40% concentrations of the diets, and a significant increase (p<0.05) in high density lipoprotein (HDL) levels at 40% concentrations of the test diets. The diets also produced decrease in low density lipoprotein (LDL), very low density lipoprotein (VLDL), cardiac risk ratio (CRR), atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) and atherogenic coefficient (AC) at 40% concentrations except the soaked group that showed slight elevation of LDL, CRR, AC and AIP at 40% concentration. Artocarpus heterophyllus seeds could be beneficial to health because of its ability to increase plasma HDL and reduce plasma LDL, VLDL, cholesterol, triglycerides and atherogenic indices at higher diet concentration.

Keywords: Artocarpus heterophyllus, atherogenic indices, concentrations, lipid profile.

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Authors: M. Mohammadi

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In order to evaluate the effect of phosphate and Zn bio-fertilizers on the yield, phytic acid (PA), Zn concentration and PA/Zn molar ratio in bean, a field experiment was carried out for two years. The treatments included two cultivars of bean (Talash and Sadri), four levels of P (P₀, P₁: 100 kg ha^-1 triple super phosphate (TSP), P2: 50 kg ha^-1 TSP + phosphate bio-fertilizer, P₃: phosphate bio-fertilizer), three levels of Zn (Zn₀, Zn₁: 50 kg ha^-1 ZnSO4, Zn₂: Zn bio-fertilizer). Phosphate bio-fertilizer consisted of inoculum of mycorrhizal fungus and Azotobacter and Zn bio-fertilizer consisted of Pseudomonas bacteria. The results revealed that there was significant difference between yield and Zn concentration between years. The effect of cultivar was significant on studied parameters. The lowest content of PA and PA/Zn were obtained from Talash. P treatment caused to significant difference on parameters in which P₂ caused to increase yield, P and Zn concentration, and decrease PA and PA/Zn by 21.8%, 38.2%, 33.4%, 17.4% and 38.6% respectively. Zn treatment caused to significant difference on studied parameters. The maximum number of parameters were obtained from Zn₁ and Zn₂. The higher Zn concentration led to lower content of PA and PA/Zn. Using of P and Zn bio–fertilizers were caused to increasing nutrient uptake, improving growth condition and reducing PA and PA/Zn molar ratio.

Keywords: Mycorrhizae, phosphorus, pseudomonas, zinc.

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Authors: S. Jani, M. Mahmoodi, M. Amini

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Magnetohydrodynamic free convection fluid flow and heat transfer in a square cavity filled with an electric conductive fluid with Prandtl number of 0.7 has been investigated numerically. The horizontal bottom wall of the cavity was kept at Th while the side and the top walls of the cavity were maintained at a constant temperature Tc with Th>Tc. The governing equations written in terms of the primitive variables were solved numerically using the finite volume method while the SIMPLER algorithm was used to couple the velocity and pressure fields. Using the developed code, a parametric study was performed, and the effects of the Rayleigh number and the Hartman number on the fluid flow and heat transfer inside the cavity were investigated. The obtained results showed that temperature distribution and flow pattern inside the cavity depended on both strength of the magnetic field and Rayleigh number. For all cases two counter rotating eddies were formed inside the cavity. The magnetic field decreased the intensity of free convection and flow velocity. Also it was found that for higher Rayleigh numbers a relatively stronger magnetic field was needed to decrease the heat transfer through free convection.

Keywords: Free Convection, Magnetic Field, Square Cavity, Numerical Simulation.

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Authors: Jun Wang, Tingcun Wei

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The digital pulse width modulator (DPWM) is the crucial building block for digitally-controlled DC-DC switching converter, which converts the digital duty ratio signal into its analog counterpart to control the power MOSFET transistors on or off. With the increase of switching frequency of digitally-controlled DC-DC converter, the DPWM with higher time resolution is required. In this paper, a 15-bits DPWM with three-level hybrid structure is presented; the first level is composed of a7-bits counter and a comparator, the second one is a 5-bits delay line, and the third one is a 3-bits digital dither. The presented DPWM is designed and implemented using the PLL megafunction of FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), and the required frequency of clock signal is 128 times of switching frequency. The simulation results show that, for the switching frequency of 2 MHz, a DPWM which has the time resolution of 15 ps is achieved using a maximum clock frequency of 256MHz. The designed DPWM in this paper is especially useful for high-frequency digitally-controlled DC-DC switching converters.

Keywords: DPWM, PLL megafunction, FPGA, time resolution, digitally-controlled DC-DC switching converter.

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Authors: Selma Sbit, Mohamed Bechir Dadi, Belgacem Chibani Rhaimi

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Incorporating Home eNodeB (HeNB) in cellular networks, e.g. Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A), is beneficial for extending coverage and enhancing capacity at low price especially within the non-line-of sight (NLOS) environments such as homes. HeNB or femtocell is a small low powered base station which provides radio coverage to the mobile users in an indoor environment. This deployment results in a heterogeneous network where the available spectrum becomes shared between two layers. Therefore, a problem of Inter Cell Interference (ICI) appears. This issue is the main challenge in LTE-A. To deal with this challenge, various techniques based on frequency, time and power control are proposed. This paper deals with the impact of carrier aggregation and higher order MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) schemes on the LTE-Advanced performance. Simulation results show the advantages of these schemes on the system capacity (4.10⁹ b/s/Hz when bandwidth B=100 MHz and when applying MIMO 8x8 for SINR=30 dB), maximum theoretical peak data rate (more than 4 Gbps for B=100 MHz and when MIMO 8x8 is used) and spectral efficiency (15 b/s/Hz and 30b/s/Hz when MIMO 4x4 and MIMO 8x8 are applying respectively for SINR=30 dB).

Keywords: LTE-Advanced, carrier aggregation, MIMO, capacity, peak data rate, spectral efficiency.

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Authors: Abbas Maleki, Maryam Pournajaf, Rahim Naseri, Reza Rashnavadi

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In order to study the effects of supplemental irrigation, different levels of nitrogen chemical fertilizer and inoculation with rhizobium bacteria on the grain yield of chickpea, an experiment was carried out using split plot arrangement in randomize complete block design with three replication in agricultural researches station of Zanjan, Iran during 2009-2010 cropping season. The factors of experiment consisted of irritation (without irrigation (I1), irrigation at flowering stage (I2), irrigation at flowering and grain filling stages (I3) and full irrigation (I4)) and different levels of nitrogen fertilizer (without using of nitrogen fertilizer (N0), 75 kg.ha^-1 (N75), 150 kg.ha^-1 (N150) and inoculation with rhizobium bacteria (N4). The results of the analysis of variance showed that the effects of irrigation, nitrogen fertilizer levels and bacterial inoculation, were significant affect on number of pods per plant, number grains per plant, grain weight, grain yield, biological yield and harvest index at 1% probability level. Also Results showed that the grain yield in full irrigation treatment and inoculated with rhizobium bacteria was significantly higher than the other treatments.

Keywords: Chickpea, Nitrogen, Supplemental irrigation.

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Authors: M. Al-Saedi, A. Chegenizadeh, H. Nikraz

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Experimental investigations are conducted to assess a layered structure of glass (G) - rock (R) blends under the impact of repeated loading. Laboratory tests included sieve analyses, modified compaction test and repeated load triaxial test (RLTT) is conducted on different structures of stratified GR samples to reach the objectives of this study. Waste materials are such essential components in the climate system, and also commonly used in minimising the need for natural materials in many countries. Glass is one of the most widely used groups of waste materials which have been extensively using in road applications. Full range particle size and colours of glass are collected and mixed at different ratios with natural rock material trying to use the blends in pavement layers. Whole subsurface specimen sequentially consists of a single layer of R and a layer of G-R blend. 12G/88R and 45G/55R mix ratios are employed in this research, the thickness of G-R layer was changed, and the results were compared between the pure rock and the layered specimens. The relations between resilient module (Mr) and permanent deformation with sequence number are presented. During the earlier stages of RLTT, the results indicated that the 45G/55R specimen shows higher moduli than R specimen.

Keywords: Rock base course, layered structure, glass, resilient modulus.

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Authors: Kittiwann Nimkerdphol, Masahiro Nakagawa

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Biological reactions of individuals of a testing animal to toxic substance are unique and can be used as an indication of the existing of toxic substance. However, to distinguish such phenomenon need a very complicate system and even more complicate to analyze data in 3 dimensional. In this paper, a system to evaluate in vitro biological activities to acute toxicity of stochastic self-affine non-stationary signal of 3D goldfish swimming by using fractal analysis is introduced. Regular digital camcorders are utilized by proposed algorithm 3DCCPC to effectively capture and construct 3D movements of the fish. A Critical Exponent Method (CEM) has been adopted as a fractal estimator. The hypothesis was that the swimming of goldfish to acute toxic would show the fractal property which related to the toxic concentration. The experimental results supported the hypothesis by showing that the swimming of goldfish under the different toxic concentration has fractal properties. It also shows that the fractal dimension of the swimming related to the pH value of FD Ôëê 0.26pH + 0.05. With the proposed system, the fish is allowed to swim freely in all direction to react to the toxic. In addition, the trajectories are precisely evaluated by fractal analysis with critical exponent method and hence the results exhibit with much higher degree of confidence.

Keywords: 3D locomotion, bioassay, critical exponent method, CEM, fractal analysis, goldfish.

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Authors: I. M. Sujaul, M. A. Sobahan, A. A. Edriyana, F. M. Yahaya, R. M. Yunus

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This study was carried out to investigate the adverse effect of industrial wastewater on surface water quality in Gebeng industrial estate, Pahang, Malaysia. Surface water was collected from six sampling stations. Physicochemical parameters were characterized based on in-situ and ex-situ analysis according to standard methods by American Public Health Association (APHA). Selected heavy metals were determined by using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP MS). The results revealed that the concentration of heavy metals such as Pb, Cu, Cd, Cr and Hg were high in samples. The results also showed that the value of Pb and Hg were higher in the wet season in comparison to dry season. According to Malaysia National Water Quality Standard (NWQS) and Water Quality Index (WQI) all the sampling station were categorized as class IV (highly polluted). The present study revealed that the adverse effects of careless disposal of wastes and directly discharge of effluents affected on surface water quality. Therefore, the authorities should implement the laws to ensure the proper practices of wastewater management for environmental sustainability around the study area.

Keywords: Gebeng, heavy metals, waste water, water quality index.

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Authors: Mohd Sukri Hassan, Ahlam Inayatullah Badrul Munir, M. Husaini A. Rahman

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Halal authentication and verification in supplement capsules are highly required as the gelatine available in the market can be from halal or non-halal sources. It is an obligation for Muslim to consume and use the halal consumer goods. At present, real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is the most common technique being used for the detection of porcine and bovine DNA in gelatine due to high sensitivity of the technique and higher stability of DNA compared to protein. In this study, twenty samples of supplements capsules from different products with different Halal logos were analyzed for porcine and bovine DNA using RT-PCR. Standard bovine and porcine gelatine from eurofins at a range of concentration from 10^-1 to 10^-5 ng/µl were used to determine the linearity range, limit of detection and specificity on RT-PCR (SYBR Green method). RT-PCR detected porcine (two samples), bovine (four samples) and mixture of porcine and bovine (six samples). The samples were also tested using FT-IR technique where normalized peak of IR spectra were pre-processed using Savitsky Golay method before Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was performed on the database. Scores plot of PCA shows three clusters of samples; bovine, porcine and mixture (bovine and porcine). The RT-PCR and FT-IR with chemometrics technique were found to give same results for porcine gelatine samples which can be used for Halal authentication.

Keywords: Halal, real-time PCR, gelatin, FTIR and chemometrics.

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Authors: Zhijun Ren, Zhang Lin, Zhao Ye, Zuo Xiangyu, Mei Dongxing

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As a pretreatment process of ballast water treatment, the performance of high gradient magnetic separation (HGMS) technology for the removal of particulates and microorganisms was studied. The results showed that HGMS process could effectively remove suspended particles larger than 5 µm and had ability to resist impact load. Microorganism could also be effectively removed by HGMS process, and the removal effect increased with increasing magnetic field strength. The maximum removal rates for Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) were 4016.1% and 9675.3% higher, respectively, than without the magnetic field. In addition, the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity of the microbes decreased by 32.2% when the magnetic field strength was 15.4 mT for 72 min. The microstructure of the stainless steel wool was investigated, and the results showed that particle removal by HGMS has common function by the magnetic force of the high-strength, high-gradient magnetic field on weakly magnetic particles in the water, and on the stainless steel wool.

Keywords: HGMS, particulates, superoxide dismutase activity, steel wool magnetic medium.

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Authors: N. Basanta Singh, Sanjoy Deb, G. P Mishra, Subir Kumar Sarkar

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Carrier mobility has become the most important characteristic of high speed low dimensional devices. Due to development of very fast switching semiconductor devices, speed of computer and communication equipment has been increasing day by day and will continue to do so in future. As the response of any device depends on the carrier motion within the devices, extensive studies of carrier mobility in the devices has been established essential for the growth in the field of low dimensional devices. Small-signal ac transport of degenerate two-dimensional hot electrons in GaAs quantum wells is studied here incorporating deformation potential acoustic, polar optic and ionized impurity scattering in the framework of heated drifted Fermi-Dirac carrier distribution. Delta doping is considered in the calculations to investigate the effects of double delta doping on millimeter and submillimeter wave response of two dimensional hot electrons in GaAs nanostructures. The inclusion of delta doping is found to enhance considerably the two dimensional electron density which in turn improves the carrier mobility (both ac and dc) values in the GaAs quantum wells thereby providing scope of getting higher speed devices in future.

Keywords: Carrier mobility, Delta doping, Hot carriers, Quantum wells.

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Authors: Chaiwat Tantarangsee

Abstract:

The purposes of this study are 1) to study the frequent English writing errors of students registering the course: Reading and Writing English for Academic Purposes II, and 2) to find out the results of writing error correction by using coded indirect corrective feedback and writing error treatments. Samples include 28 2nd year English Major students, Faculty of Education, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. Tool for experimental study includes the lesson plan of the course; Reading and Writing English for Academic Purposes II, and tool for data collection includes 4 writing tests of short texts. The research findings disclose that frequent English writing errors found in this course comprise 7 types of grammatical errors, namely Fragment sentence, Subject-verb agreement, Wrong form of verb tense, Singular or plural noun endings, Run-ons sentence, Wrong form of verb pattern and Lack of parallel structure. Moreover, it is found that the results of writing error correction by using coded indirect corrective feedback and error treatment reveal the overall reduction of the frequent English writing errors and the increase of students’ achievement in the writing of short texts with the significance at .05.

Keywords: Coded indirect corrective feedback, error correction, and error treatment.

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Authors: Peter Jurči, Jana Ptačinová, Mária Hudáková, Mária Dománková, Martin Kusý, Martin Sahul

Abstract:

The strength, hardness, and toughness (ductility) are in strong conflict for the metallic materials. The only possibility how to make their simultaneous improvement is to provide the microstructural refinement, by cold deformation, and subsequent recrystallization. However, application of this kind of treatment is impossible for high-carbon high-alloyed ledeburitic tool steels. Alternatively, it has been demonstrated over the last few years that sub-zero treatment induces some microstructural changes in these materials, which might favourably influence their complex of mechanical properties. Commercially available PM ledeburitic steel Vanadis 6 has been used for the current investigations. The paper demonstrates that sub-zero treatment induces clear refinement of the martensite, reduces the amount of retained austenite, enhances the population density of fine carbides, and makes alterations in microstructural development that take place during tempering. As a consequence, the steel manifests improved wear resistance at higher toughness and fracture toughness. Based on the obtained results, the key question “can the wear performance be improved by sub-zero treatment simultaneously with toughness” can be answered by “definitely yes”.

Keywords: Ledeburitic tool steels, microstructure, sub-zero treatment, mechanical properties.

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Authors: Ali M. Babalghaith, Hamad A. Alsoliman, Abdulrahman S. Al-Suhaibani

Abstract:

Flexible pavement made with neat asphalt binder is not enough to resist heavy traffic loads as well as harsh environmental condition found in Riyadh region. Therefore, there is a need to modify asphalt binder with polymers to satisfy such conditions. There are several types of polymers that are used to modify asphalt binder. The objective of this paper is to compare the rheological properties of six polymer modified asphalt binders (Lucolast7010, Anglomak2144, Paveflex140, SBS KTR401, EE-2 and Crumb rubber) obtained from asphalt manufacturer plants. The rheological properties of polymer modified asphalt binders were tested using conventional tests such as penetration, softening point and viscosity; and SHRP tests such as dynamic shear rheometer and bending beam rheometer. The results have indicated that the polymer modified asphalt binders have lower penetration and higher softening point than neat asphalt indicating an improvement in stiffness of asphalt binder, and as a result, more resistant to rutting. Moreover, the dynamic shear rheometer results have shown that all modifiers used in this study improved the binder properties and satisfied the Superpave specifications except SBS KTR401 which failed to satisfy the rutting parameter (G*/sinδ).

Keywords: Polymer modified asphalt, rheological properties, SBS, crumb rubber, EE-2.

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Authors: Sandu L., Topală F., Porojan S.

Abstract:

Cast metal inlays can be used on molars requiring a class II restoration instead amalgam and offer a durable alternative. Because it is known that class II inlays may increase the susceptibility to fracture, it is important to ensure optimal performance in selection of the adequate preparation design to reduce stresses in teeth structures and also in the restorations. The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of preparation design on stress distribution in molars with different class II preparations and in cast metal inlays. The first step of the study was to achieve 3D models in order to analyze teeth and cast metal class II inlays. The geometry of the intact tooth was obtained by 3D scanning using a manufactured device. With a NURBS modeling program the preparations and the appropriately inlays were designed. 3D models of first upper molars of the same shape and size were created. Inlay cavities designs were created using literature data. The geometrical model was exported and the mesh structure of the solid 3D model was created for structural simulations. Stresses were located around the occlusal contact areas. For the studied cases, the stress values were not significant influenced by the taper of the preparation. it was demonstrated stresses are higher in the cast metal restorations and therefore the strength of the teeth is not affected.

Keywords: cast metal inlays, class II restoration, molars, 3D models, structural simulations.

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Authors: Markus Kaiser, Johannes Buchmann

Abstract:

In this article, a formal specification and verification of the Rabin public-key scheme in a formal proof system is presented. The idea is to use the two views of cryptographic verification: the computational approach relying on the vocabulary of probability theory and complexity theory and the formal approach based on ideas and techniques from logic and programming languages. A major objective of this article is the presentation of the first computer-proved implementation of the Rabin public-key scheme in Isabelle/HOL. Moreover, we explicate a (computer-proven) formalization of correctness as well as a computer verification of security properties using a straight-forward computation model in Isabelle/HOL. The analysis uses a given database to prove formal properties of our implemented functions with computer support. The main task in designing a practical formalization of correctness as well as efficient computer proofs of security properties is to cope with the complexity of cryptographic proving. We reduce this complexity by exploring a light-weight formalization that enables both appropriate formal definitions as well as efficient formal proofs. Consequently, we get reliable proofs with a minimal error rate augmenting the used database, what provides a formal basis for more computer proof constructions in this area.

Keywords: public-key encryption, Rabin public-key scheme, formalproof system, higher-order logic, formal verification.

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