Search results for: Mohamed Ali Rakrouki

Authors: Khaled Alenezi, Talal Alhajri, M. M. Tahir, Mohamed Ragaee K. Badr, S. O. Bamaga

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The population growth in the world requires an increase in demand of residential and housing construction. Using lightweight construction materials such as cold formed steel sections and ferrocement could be an alternate solution to foster the construction industry. In this study, a new composite column is introduced. It consists of cold formed steel section and ferrocement jacket. The ferrocement jacket was constructed using self-compacting mortar with two wire steel mesh of 550 MPa yield strength. Experimental push out tests was conducted to investigate the strength capacities and behavior of proposed shear connectors namely, bolt, bar-angle and self-drilling screw shear connectors. It was found that bolt connector showed the best behavior followed by bar-angle. Also, it was concluded that the ferrocement could be used to strength and improve the behavior of cold formed steel column.

Keywords: Cold formed steel, composite column, push out test, shear connector, ferrocement, strengthen method.

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Authors: Ahmed Hosny Abdel-Rahman, Mohamed Abdel-Moneim

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Reinforced earth structures are generally subjected to cyclic loading generated from earthquakes. This paper presents a summary of the results and analyses of a testing program carried out in a large-scale multi-function geosynthetic testing apparatus that accommodates soil samples up to 1.0 m³. This apparatus performs different shear and pullout tests under both static and cyclic loading. The testing program was carried out to investigate the controlling factors affecting soil/geogrid interaction under cyclic loading. The extensibility of the geogrids, the applied normal stresses, the characteristics of the cyclic loading (frequency, and amplitude), and initial static load within the geogrid sheet were considered in the testing program. Based on the findings of the testing program, the effect of these parameters on the pullout resistance of geogrids, as well as the displacement mobility under cyclic loading were evaluated. Conclusions and recommendations for the design of reinforced earth walls under cyclic loading are presented.

Keywords: Geogrid, Soil, Interface, Cyclic Loading, Pullout, and Large scale Testing.

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Authors: Mohamed Amine Belmiloud, Nord Eddine Sad Chemloul

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In this study, we investigated numerically heat transfer by mixed convection coupled to radiation in a square cavity; the upper horizontal wall is movable. The purpose of this study is to see the influence of the emissivity ε and the varying of the Richardson number Ri on the variation of average Nusselt number Nu. The vertical walls of the cavity are differentially heated, the left wall is maintained at a uniform temperature higher than the right wall, and the two horizontal walls are adiabatic. The finite volume method is used for solving the dimensionless Governing Equations. Emissivity values used in this study are ranged between 0 and 1, the Richardson number in the range 0.1 to 10. The Rayleigh number is fixed to Ra=104 and the Prandtl number is maintained constant Pr=0.71. Streamlines, isothermal lines and the average Nusselt number are presented according to the surface emissivity. The results of this study show that the Richardson number Ri and emissivity ε affect the average Nusselt number.

Keywords: Numerical study, mixed convection, square cavity, wall emissivity, lid-driven.

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Authors: Ali Lemouari, Mohamed Benmohamed

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Biological evolution has generated a rich variety of successful solutions; from nature, optimized strategies can be inspired. One interesting example is the ant colonies, which are able to exhibit a collective intelligence, still that their dynamic is simple. The emergence of different patterns depends on the pheromone trail, leaved by the foragers. It serves as positive feedback mechanism for sharing information. In this paper, we use the dynamic of TASEP as a model of interaction at a low level of the collective environment in the ant-s traffic flow. This work consists of modifying the movement rules of particles “ants" belonging to the TASEP model, so that it adopts with the natural movement of ants. Therefore, as to respect the constraints of having no more than one particle per a given site, and in order to avoid collision within a bidirectional circulation, we suggested two strategies: decease strategy and waiting strategy. As a third work stage, this is devoted to the study of these two proposed strategies- stability. As a final work stage, we applied the first strategy to the whole environment, in order to get to the emergence of traffic flow, which is a way of learning.

Keywords: Ants system, emergence, exclusion process, pheromone.

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Authors: Mohamed Zellagui, Abdelaziz Chaghi

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This paper presents the impact study of apparent reactance injected by series Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) i.e. Thyristor Controlled Series Reactor (TCSR) on the measured impedance of a 400 kV single electrical transmission line in the presence of phase to earth fault with fault resistance. The study deals with an electrical transmission line of Eastern Algerian transmission networks at Group Sonelgaz (Algerian Company of Electrical and Gas) compensated by TCSR connected at midpoint of the line. This compensator used to inject active and reactive powers is controlled by three TCSR-s. The simulations results investigate the impacts of the TCSR on the parameters of short circuit calculation and parameters of measured impedance by distance relay in the presence of earth fault for three cases study.

Keywords: TCSR, Transmission line, Apparent reactance, Earth fault, Symmetrical components, Distance protection, Measured impedance.

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Authors: Mohamed K. Watfa, Khaled Abdel Naby, Chetan Govind Bhatia

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With the exponential rise in the number of multimedia applications available, the best-effort service provided by the Internet today is insufficient. Researchers have been working on new architectures like the Next Generation Network (NGN) which, by definition, will ensure Quality of Service (QoS) in an all-IP based network [1]. For this approach to become a reality, reservation of bandwidth is required per application per user. WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a wireless communication technology which has predefined levels of QoS which can be provided to the user [4]. IPv6 has been created as the successor for IPv4 and resolves issues like the availability of IP addresses and QoS. This paper provides a design to use the power of WiMAX as an NSP (Network Service Provider) for NGN using IPv6. The use of the Traffic Class (TC) field and the Flow Label (FL) field of IPv6 has been explained for making QoS requests and grants [6], [7]. Using these fields, the processing time is reduced and routing is simplified. Also, we define the functioning of the ASN gateway and the NGN gateway (NGNG) which are edge node interfaces in the NGNWiMAX design. These gateways ensure QoS management through built in functions and by certain physical resources and networking capabilities.

Keywords: WiMAX, NGN, QoS, IPv6, Flow Label, ASNGateway

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Authors: S. A. Mohamed, A. S. Zayed, O. A. Abolaeha

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A new Feed-Forward/Feedback Generalized Minimum Variance Pole-placement Controller to incorporate the robustness of classical pole-placement into the flexibility of generalized minimum variance self-tuning controller for Single-Input Single-Output (SISO) has been proposed in this paper. The design, which provides the user with an adaptive mechanism, which ensures that the closed loop poles are, located at their pre-specified positions. In addition, the controller design which has a feed-forward/feedback structure overcomes the certain limitations existing in similar poleplacement control designs whilst retaining the simplicity of adaptation mechanisms used in other designs. It tracks set-point changes with the desired speed of response, penalizes excessive control action, and can be applied to non-minimum phase systems. Besides, at steady state, the controller has the ability to regulate the constant load disturbance to zero. Example simulation results using both simulated and real plant models demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.

Keywords: Pole-placement, Minimum variance control, self-tuning control and feedforward control.

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Authors: Tahar Ezzedine, Mohamed Miladi, Ridha Bouallegue

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Because nodes are usually battery-powered, the energy presents a very scarce resource in wireless sensor networks. For this reason, the design of medium access control had to take energy efficiency as one of its hottest concerns. Accordingly, in order to improve the energy performance of MAC schemes in wireless sensor networks, several ways can be followed. In fact, some researchers try to limit idle listening while others focus on mitigating overhearing (i.e. a node can hear a packet which is destined to another node) or reducing the number of the used control packets. We, in this paper, propose a new hybrid MAC protocol termed ELE-MAC (i.e. Energy Latency Efficient MAC). The ELE-MAC major design goals are energy and latency efficiencies. It adopts less control packets than SMAC in order to preserve energy. We carried out ns- 2 simulations to evaluate the performance of the proposed protocol. Thus, our simulation-s results prove the ELE-MAC energy efficiency. Additionally, our solution performs statistically the same or better latency characteristic compared to adaptive SMAC.

Keywords: Control packet, energy efficiency, medium access control, wireless sensor networks.

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Authors: Magdi M. E. Zumrawi, Mohamed Awad

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Determination of Resilient Modulus (M_R) is quite important for characterizing materials in pavement design and evaluation. The main focus of this study is to develop a correlation that predict the resilient modulus of subgrade soils from simple and easy measured soil index properties. To achieve this objective, three subgrade soils representing typical Khartoum soils were selected and tested in the laboratory for measuring resilient modulus. Other basic laboratory tests were conducted on the soils to determine their physical properties. Several soil samples were prepared and compacted at different moisture contents and dry densities and then tested using resilient modulus testing machine. Based on experimental results, linear relationship of M_R with the consistency factor ‘F_c’ which is a combination of dry density, void ratio and consistency index had been developed. The results revealed that very good linear relationship found between the M_R and the consistency factor with a coefficient of linearity (R²) more than 0.9. The consistency factor could be used for the prediction of the M_R of compacted subgrade soils with precise and reliable results.

Keywords: Consistency factor, resilient modulus, subgrade soil, properties.

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Authors: S. Mohamed Rabeek, Mi Kyoung Park, M. Annamalai Arasu

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This paper presents a design of a wireless read out system for tracking the frequency shift of the polymer coated piezoelectric micro electromechanical resonator due to gas absorption. The measure of this frequency shift indicates the percentage of a particular gas the sensor is exposed to. It is measured using an oscillator and an FPGA based frequency counter by employing the resonator as a frequency determining element in the oscillator. This system consists of a Gas Sensing Wireless Readout (GSWR) and an USB Wireless Transceiver (UWT). GSWR consists of an oscillator based on a trans-impedance sustaining amplifier, an FPGA based frequency readout, a sub 1GHz wireless transceiver and a micro controller. UWT can be plugged into the computer via USB port and function as a wireless module to transfer gas sensor data from GSWR to the computer through its USB port. GUI program running on the computer periodically polls for sensor data through UWT - GSWR wireless link, the response from GSWR is logged in a file for post processing as well as displayed on screen.

Keywords: Gas sensor, GSWR, micro-mechanical system, UWT, volatile emissions.

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Authors: Ahmed Ashraf Khamis, Sherif A. Ibrahim, Mahmoud ElKhatieb, Mohamed A. Barakat

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Parametric design deemed to be one of icons of the modern architectural trends that facilitates taking complex design decisions counting on altering various design parameters. Double skin façades are one of the parametric applications that are used in parametric designs. This paper opts to enhance different daylight parameters of a selected case study office building in Cairo using a parametric double skin façade. First, the design and optimization process was executed utilizing Grasshopper parametric design software package, in which the daylighting performance of the base case building model was compared with the one used in the double façade showing an enhancement in task plane illuminance by 180%. Second, execution drawings are made for the optimized design using Revit software. Finally, computerized digital fabrication stages of the designed model with various scales are demonstrated to reach the final design decisions using Simplify 3D for mock-up digital fabrication.

Keywords: Parametric design, Double skin façades, Digital Fabrication, Grasshopper, Simplify 3D.

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Authors: Muhammad Nizam, Azah Mohamed, Majid Al-Dabbagh, Aini Hussain

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This paper presents dynamic voltage collapse prediction on an actual power system using support vector machines. Dynamic voltage collapse prediction is first determined based on the PTSI calculated from information in dynamic simulation output. Simulations were carried out on a practical 87 bus test system by considering load increase as the contingency. The data collected from the time domain simulation is then used as input to the SVM in which support vector regression is used as a predictor to determine the dynamic voltage collapse indices of the power system. To reduce training time and improve accuracy of the SVM, the Kernel function type and Kernel parameter are considered. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed SVM method, its performance is compared with the multi layer perceptron neural network (MLPNN). Studies show that the SVM gives faster and more accurate results for dynamic voltage collapse prediction compared with the MLPNN.

Keywords: Dynamic voltage collapse, prediction, artificial neural network, support vector machines

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Authors: Mohamed A. Tantawy, Nourelhoda A. Hussein, Moataz A. Mahrous

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New planning and city design theories are continuously debated and optimized for seeking efficiency and adequacy in economic and life quality aspects. Here, we examine the children-city relationship, to reflect on how modern and traditional cities affect the social climate. We adopt children as a proper caliber for urbanism, as for their very young age, they are independent and attached to family. Their fragility offers a chance to gauge how various urban settings directly affect their feeling of safety, containment, and their perception of belonging for home territory. The importance of street play for the child development process is discussed thoroughly. The authority they have on their play (when and what to play) pushes us to our conclusion. A mediocre built environment characterized by spontaneity and human-scale semi-private urban spaces, is irreplaceable by a perfectly designed far away playgrounds. Street play has a huge role in empowering children for a gradual engagement with grown-ups’ urban flow.

Keywords: Child's psychology, social activity, street play, urban fabric.

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Authors: Mohamed Adel Serhani, Abdelghani Benharref, Rachida Dssouli, Rabeb Mizouni

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Nowadays, people are going more and more mobile, both in terms of devices and associated applications. Moreover, services that these devices are offering are getting wider and much more complex. Even though actual handheld devices have considerable computing power, their contexts of utilization are different. These contexts are affected by the availability of connection, high latency of wireless networks, battery life, size of the screen, on-screen or hard keyboard, etc. Consequently, development of mobile applications and their associated mobile Web services, if any, should follow a concise methodology so they will provide a high Quality of Service. The aim of this paper is to highlight and discuss main issues to consider when developing mobile applications and mobile Web services and then propose a framework that leads developers through different steps and modules toward development of efficient and secure mobile applications. First, different challenges in developing such applications are elicited and deeply discussed. Second, a development framework is presented with different modules addressing each of these challenges. Third, the paper presents an example of a mobile application, Eivom Cinema Guide, which benefits from following our development framework.

Keywords: Mobile applications, development of mobile applications, efficient mobile application, secure mobile application.

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Authors: Mohamed M. M. Elnasharty, Azhar M. Elwan

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Irradiation deposits energy through ionisation changing the bio-system’s net dipole, allowing the use of dielectric parameters and thermodynamic state functions related to these parameters as biophysical detectors to electrical inhomogeneity within the biosystem. This part is concerned with the effect of Moringa leaves extract, natural supplement, on the response of the biosystem to two different dose rates of irradiation. Having Hb molecule as a representative to the biosystem to be least invasive to the biosystem, dielectric measurements were used to extract the relaxation time of certain process found in the Hb spectrum within the indicated frequency window and the interrelated thermodynamic state functions were calculated from the deduced relaxation time. The results showed that relaxation time was decreased for both dose rates indicating a strong influence of Moringa on the response of biosystem and consequently Hb molecule. This influence was presented in the relaxation time and other parameters as well.

Keywords: Activation energy, DC conductivity, dielectric relaxation, enthalpy change, moringa leaves extract, relaxation time.

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Authors: Ahmed H. El-Masry, Mohamed A. Dabaon, Tarek F. El-Shafiey, Abd El-Hakim A. Khalil

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An experimental study was performed to investigate the behavior and strength of proposed technique to connect reinforced concrete (RC) beam to steel or composite columns. This approach can practically be used in several types of building construction. In this technique, the main beam of the frame consists of a transfer part (part of beam; Tr.P) and a common reinforcement concrete beam. The transfer part of the beam is connected to the column, whereas the rest of the beam is connected to the transfer part from each side. Four full-scale beam-column connections were tested under static loading. The test parameters were the length of the transfer part and the column properties. The test results show that using of the transfer part technique leads to modify the deformation capabilities for the RC beam and hence it increases its resistance against failure. Increase in length of the transfer part did not necessarily indicate an enhanced behavior. The test results contribute to the characterization of the connection behavior between RC beam - steel column and can be used to calibrate numerical models for the simulation of this type of connection.

Keywords: Composite column, reinforced concrete beam, Steel Column, Transfer Part.

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Authors: Ibrahim Shaker, Amr El Hossany, Moustafa Osman, Mohamed El Raey

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This paper will explore integration model between GIS–SCADA system and enclosure quantification model to approach the impact of failure-safe event. There are real demands to identify spatial objects and improve control system performance. Nevertheless, the employed methodology is predicting electro-mechanic operations and corresponding time to environmental incident variations. Open processing, as object systems technology, is presented for integration enclosure database with minimal memory size and computation time via connectivity drivers such as ODBC:JDBC during main stages of GIS–SCADA connection. The function of Geographic Information System is manipulating power distribution in contrast to developing issues. In other ward, GIS-SCADA systems integration will require numerical objects of process to enable system model calibration and estimation demands, determine of past events for analysis and prediction of emergency situations for response training.

Keywords: Air dispersion model, integration power system, SCADA systems, GIS system, environmental management.

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Authors: Mohamed R. Mhereeg

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The paper investigates the feasibility of constructing a software multi-agent based monitoring and classification system and utilizing it to provide an automated and accurate classification of end users developing applications in the spreadsheet domain. The agents function autonomously to provide continuous and periodic monitoring of excels spreadsheet workbooks. Resulting in, the development of the MultiAgent classification System (MACS) that is in compliance with the specifications of the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA). However, different technologies have been brought together to build MACS. The strength of the system is the integration of the agent technology with the FIPA specifications together with other technologies that are Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) services, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), and Oracle Data Mining (ODM). The Microsoft's .NET widows service based agents were utilized to develop the monitoring agents of MACS, the .NET WCF services together with SOA approach allowed the distribution and communication between agents over the WWW that is in order to satisfy the monitoring and classification of the multiple developer aspect. ODM was used to automate the classification phase of MACS.

Keywords: Autonomous, Classification, MACS, Multi-Agent, SOA, WCF.

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Authors: Noor Elaiza Abdul Khalid, Noorhayati Mohamed Noor, Zamalia Mahmud, Saadiah Yahya, and Norharyati Md Ariff

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Glaucoma diagnosis involves extracting three features of the fundus image; optic cup, optic disc and vernacular. Present manual diagnosis is expensive, tedious and time consuming. A number of researches have been conducted to automate this process. However, the variability between the diagnostic capability of an automated system and ophthalmologist has yet to be established. This paper discusses the efficiency and variability between ophthalmologist opinion and digital technique; threshold. The efficiency and variability measures are based on image quality grading; poor, satisfactory or good. The images are separated into four channels; gray, red, green and blue. A scientific investigation was conducted on three ophthalmologists who graded the images based on the image quality. The images are threshold using multithresholding and graded as done by the ophthalmologist. A comparison of grade from the ophthalmologist and threshold is made. The results show there is a small variability between result of ophthalmologists and digital threshold.

Keywords: Digital Fundus Image, Glaucoma Detection, Multithresholding, Segmentation.

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Authors: Firas A. Al Laban, Mohamed Chabi, Sammani Danwawu Abdullahi

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There are real needs to integrate types of Open Educational Resources (OER) with an intelligent system to extract information and knowledge in the semantic searching level. The needs came because most of current learning standard adopted web based learning and the e-learning systems do not always serve all educational goals. Semantic Web systems provide educators, students, and researchers with intelligent queries based on a semantic knowledge management learning system. An ontology-based learning system is an advanced system, where ontology plays the core of the semantic web in a smart learning environment. The objective of this paper is to discuss the potentials of ontologies and mapping different kinds of ontologies; heterogeneous or homogenous to manage and control different types of Open Educational Resources. The important contribution of this research is that it uses logical rules and conceptual relations to map between ontologies of different educational resources. We expect from this methodology to establish an intelligent educational system supporting student tutoring, self and lifelong learning system.

Keywords: Knowledge Management Systems, Ontologies, Semantic Web, Open Educational Resources.

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Authors: Imen Mejri, Ahmed Mahmoudi, Mohamed A. Abbassi, Ahmed Omri

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Thermal radiation plays a very important role in the heat transfer combination through the various components of the SOFC fuel cell operating at high temperatures. Lattice Boltzmann method is used for treating conduction-radiation heat transfer in the electrolyte. The thermal radiation heat transfer is coupled to the overall energy conservation equations through the divergence of the local radiative flux. The equation of energy in one dimension is numerically resolved by using the Lattice Boltzmann method. A computing program (FORTRAN) is developed locally for this purpose in order to obtain fields of temperature in every element of the cell. The parameters investigated are: functioning temperature, cell voltages and electrolyte thickness. The results show that the radiation effect increases with increasing the electrolyte thickness, also increases with increasing the functioning temperature and decreases with the increase of the voltage of the cell.

Keywords: SOFC, lattice Boltzmann method, conduction, radiation, planar medium.

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Authors: Mimi N. A. Mohamed

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The complexity of teaching English in higher institutions by non-native speakers within a second/foreign language setting has created continuous discussions and research about teaching approaches and teaching practises, professional identities and challenges. In addition, there is a growing awareness that teaching English within discipline-specific contexts adds up to the existing complexity. This awareness leads to reassessments, discussions and suggestions on course design and content and teaching approaches and techniques. In meeting expectations teaching at a university specified in a particular discipline such as engineering, English language educators are not only required to teach students to be able to communicate in English effectively but also to teach soft skills such as problem solving skills. This paper is part of a research conducted to investigate how English language educators negotiate with the complexities of teaching problem solving skills through English language teaching at a technical university. This paper reports the way an English language educator identified himself and the way he approached his teaching in this institutional context.

Keywords: English Language Teaching, Teacher Agency, Problem Solving Skills, Professional Identities.

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Authors: Ammal M. Metwally, Lobna A. El Etreby, Rehan M. Saleh, Ghada Abdrabou, Somia I. Salama, Amira Orabi, Mohamed Abdelrahman

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Hepatitis C virus infection is a public health threat in Egypt. To control infection, efforts should be spent to encourage healthy behavior. This study aimed to assess the level of behavioral development in order to create a positive environment for the adoption of the recommended behaviors. The study was conducted over one year from Jan. 2011 till Jan. 2012.Knowledge, attitude and behavior of 540 HCV patients and 102 of their contacts were assessed and the level of behavioral development was determined. The study revealed that the majority of patients and contacts knew that HCV infection is dangerous with perceived concern for early diagnosis and treatment. More than 75% knew the correct modes of transmission. The assessment showed positive attitudes towards the recommended practices with intention to adopt those practices. Strategies of creating opportunities to continue the recommended behaviors should be adopted together with the reinforcement of social support.

Keywords: Hepatitis C virus, Level of behavioral development, recommended behaviors.

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Authors: Corina M Mateescu, Edison Muzenda, Mohamed Belaid, Saka Abdulkareem, Ayo S Afolabi

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This work considered the thermodynamic feasibility of scrubbing volatile organic compounds into biodiesel in view of designing a gas treatment process with this absorbent. A detailed vapour – liquid equilibrium investigation was performed using the original UNIFAC group contribution method. The four biodiesels studied in this work are methyl oleate, methyl palmitate, methyl linolenate and ethyl stearate. The original UNIFAC procedure was used to estimate the infinite dilution activity coefficients of 13 selected volatile organic compounds in the biodiesels. The calculations were done at the VOC mole fraction of 9.213x10-8. Ethyl stearate gave the most favourable phase equilibrium. A close agreement was found between the infinite dilution activity coefficient of toluene found in this work and those reported in literature. Thermodynamic models can efficiently be used to calculate vast amount of phase equilibrium behaviour using limited number of experimental data.

Keywords: Biodiesel, Equilibrium, Gas treatment, Infinitedilution, Thermodynamic

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Authors: Mohamed Sanad, Noha Hassan

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A low wind-load light-weight broad-band multi-beam base station antenna has been developed. It can generate any required number of beams with the required beamwidths. It can have horizontal and vertical sectorization at the same time. Vertical sectorization doubles the overall number of beams. It will be very valuable in LTE-A and 5G. It can be used to serve vertically split inner and outer cells, which improves system performance. The intersection between the beams of the proposed multi-beam antenna can be controlled by optimizing the design parameters of the antenna. The gain at the points of intersection between the beams, the null filling and the overlap between the beams can all be modified. The proposed multi-beam base station antenna can cover an unlimited number of wireless applications, regardless of their frequency bands. It can simultaneously cover all, current and future, wireless technology generations such as 2G, 3G, 4G (LTE), --- etc. For example, in LTE, it covers the bands 450-470 MHz, 690-960 MHz, 1.4-2.7 GHz and 3.3-3.8 GHz. It has at least 2 ports for each band in each beam for ±45° polarizations. It can include up to 72 ports or even more, which could facilitate any further needed capacity expansions.

Keywords: Base station antenna, multi-beam antenna, smart antenna, vertical sectorization.

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Authors: A. A. K. Abou-Arab, M. A. Abou Donia, Sherif R. Mohamed, A. K. Enab

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Lead being a toxic heavy metal that mankind is exposed to the highest levels of this metal. There are different sources of environmental pollution with lead as lead alkyl additives in petrol and manufacturing processes. The contaminated atmosphere in urban and industrial areas by lead in Egypt may lead to the contamination of foods beside the other different sources. The present investigation studied the risk assessment of lead in some Egyptian edible vegetables and fruits collected from different environments in Greater Cairo Governorate, i.e. industrial, heavy traffic and rural areas. A total of 325 leafy and fruity vegetables and fruits samples belonging to 11, 6 and 4 different species, respectively were randomly collected from markets of the three main models. Data indicated the variation of lead levels in different three areas. The highest levels of lead were detected in the samples collected from industrial and traffic areas. However, the lowest levels were found in the rural areas. It could be concluded that determination of lead levels in foods from different localities and environments at regularly is very important.

Keywords: Heavy metals, Lead, Vegetables, Fruits, Environments.

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Authors: Ines Hamdi, Mohamed Ben Ahmed

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The understanding of the system level of biological behavior and phenomenon variously needs some elements such as gene sequence, protein structure, gene functions and metabolic pathways. Challenging problems are representing, learning and reasoning about these biochemical reactions, gene and protein structure, genotype and relation between the phenotype, and expression system on those interactions. The goal of our work is to understand the behaviors of the interactions networks and to model their evolution in time and in space. We propose in this study an ontological meta-model for the knowledge representation of the genetic regulatory networks. Ontology in artificial intelligence means the fundamental categories and relations that provide a framework for knowledge models. Domain ontology's are now commonly used to enable heterogeneous information resources, such as knowledge-based systems, to communicate with each other. The interest of our model is to represent the spatial, temporal and spatio-temporal knowledge. We validated our propositions in the genetic regulatory network of the Aarbidosis thaliana flower

Keywords: Ontological model, spatio-temporal modeling, Genetic Regulatory Networks (GRNs), knowledge representation.

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Authors: Ling Ai Wong, Hussain Shareef, Azah Mohamed, Ahmad Asrul Ibrahim

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The installation of photovoltaic based distributed generation (PVDG) in active distribution system can lead to voltage fluctuation due to the intermittent and unpredictable PVDG output power. This paper presented a method in mitigating the voltage rise by optimally locating and sizing the battery energy storage system (BESS) in PVDG integrated distribution network. The improved firefly algorithm is used to perform optimal placement and sizing. Three objective functions are presented considering the voltage deviation and BESS off-time with state of charge as the constraint. The performance of the proposed method is compared with another optimization method such as the original firefly algorithm and gravitational search algorithm. Simulation results show that the proposed optimum BESS location and size improve the voltage stability.

Keywords: BESS, PVDG, firefly algorithm, voltage fluctuation.

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Authors: Mohamed Abdallah, Mostafa Warith, Roberto Narbaitz, Emil Petriu, Kevin Kennedy

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Heterogeneity of solid waste characteristics as well as the complex processes taking place within the landfill ecosystem motivated the implementation of soft computing methodologies such as artificial neural networks (ANN), fuzzy logic (FL), and their combination. The present work uses a hybrid ANN-FL model that employs knowledge-based FL to describe the process qualitatively and implements the learning algorithm of ANN to optimize model parameters. The model was developed to simulate and predict the landfill gas production at a given time based on operational parameters. The experimental data used were compiled from lab-scale experiment that involved various operating scenarios. The developed model was validated and statistically analyzed using F-test, linear regression between actual and predicted data, and mean squared error measures. Overall, the simulated landfill gas production rates demonstrated reasonable agreement with actual data. The discussion focused on the effect of the size of training datasets and number of training epochs.

Keywords: Adaptive neural fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), gas production, landfill

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Authors: Aly Mohamed El Husseiny, Azza Ezz Abdelkader

Abstract:

There is a critical thin line between freedom of choice and randomness. The distance between imagination and perception and between perception and execution varies depending on numerous factors. While in developed areas residents have the opportunity and abilities to build flexible homes, residents in developing areas create their own dwellings in informal settlements, even though none of them is comfortable at home in the long run. This paper explores three factors: What residents really need, what they do with limited flexibility, and what they do when there are no limits, as in the case of informal settlements. This paper studies alteration to residential buildings and how they connect to the changes in people’s lifecycle in all past cases. This study also examines all approaches to flexibility, focusing on a social approach. The results of this study are based on three practical studies: Interviews with residents in an informal settlement (Eshash Mahfouz in Minya in Egypt), a civil study of buildings in a middle-class district, and a survey of residents from many countries, including Egypt, and interviews with a number of them to determine residents’ needs and the extent of renovations they made or would like to make to their homes.

Keywords: Flexibility, housing, freedom of choice, social, changes, residents.

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