Search results for: Chemical and physical soil properties
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 5185

Search results for: Chemical and physical soil properties

1915 Phase Equilibrium of Volatile Organic Compounds in Polymeric Solvents Using Group Contribution Methods

Authors: E. Muzenda

Abstract:

Group contribution methods such as the UNIFAC are of major interest to researchers and engineers involved synthesis, feasibility studies, design and optimization of separation processes as well as other applications of industrial use. Reliable knowledge of the phase equilibrium behavior is crucial for the prediction of the fate of the chemical in the environment and other applications. The objective of this study was to predict the solubility of selected volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in glycol polymers and biodiesel. Measurements can be expensive and time consuming, hence the need for thermodynamic models. The results obtained in this study for the infinite dilution activity coefficients compare very well those published in literature obtained through measurements. It is suggested that in preliminary design or feasibility studies of absorption systems for the abatement of volatile organic compounds, prediction procedures should be implemented while accurate fluid phase equilibrium data should be obtained from experiment.

Keywords: Volatile organic compounds, Prediction, Phaseequilibrium, Environmental, Infinite dilution.

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1914 The Study of Game Interface Improvement due to the Game Operation Dilemma of Player in the Side-Scrolling Shooting Game

Authors: Shih-Chieh Liao, Cheng-Yan Shuai

Abstract:

The feature of a side-scrolling shooting game is facing the surrounding enemy and barraging in an entire screen. The player will be in trouble when they are trying to do complicated operations because of the physical and system limitations of the joystick in the games. This study designed the prototype of a type of arcade stick by focus group and assessed by the expert. We selected the most representative joystick prototype and built the control system for the joystick. We conducted two experimental tests using time and bullet consumption as objective indicators, aiming to demonstrate its efficiency in the game. Finally, the prototype of L-1 solves the dilemma of scroll shooting games when the player uses the arcade stick and improves the function of the arcade stick.

Keywords: Joystick, user interface, side-scrolling shooting game, improved user experience.

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1913 A Quantitative Study of the Evolution of Open Source Software Communities

Authors: M. R. Martinez-Torres, S. L. Toral, M. Olmedilla

Abstract:

Typically, virtual communities exhibit the well-known phenomenon of participation inequality, which means that only a small percentage of users is responsible of the majority of contributions. However, the sustainability of the community requires that the group of active users must be continuously nurtured with new users that gain expertise through a participation process. This paper analyzes the time evolution of Open Source Software (OSS) communities, considering users that join/abandon the community over time and several topological properties of the network when modeled as a social network. More specifically, the paper analyzes the role of those users rejoining the community and their influence in the global characteristics of the network.

Keywords: Open source communities, social network analysis, time series, virtual communities.

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1912 An Efficient Graph Query Algorithm Based on Important Vertices and Decision Features

Authors: Xiantong Li, Jianzhong Li

Abstract:

Graph has become increasingly important in modeling complicated structures and schemaless data such as proteins, chemical compounds, and XML documents. Given a graph query, it is desirable to retrieve graphs quickly from a large database via graph-based indices. Different from the existing methods, our approach, called VFM (Vertex to Frequent Feature Mapping), makes use of vertices and decision features as the basic indexing feature. VFM constructs two mappings between vertices and frequent features to answer graph queries. The VFM approach not only provides an elegant solution to the graph indexing problem, but also demonstrates how database indexing and query processing can benefit from data mining, especially frequent pattern mining. The results show that the proposed method not only avoids the enumeration method of getting subgraphs of query graph, but also effectively reduces the subgraph isomorphism tests between the query graph and graphs in candidate answer set in verification stage.

Keywords: Decision Feature, Frequent Feature, Graph Dataset, Graph Query

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1911 Conducting Flow Measurement Laboratory Test Work

Authors: M. B. Kime

Abstract:

Mass flow measurement is the basis of most technoeconomic formulations in the chemical industry. This calls for reliable and accurate detection of mass flow. Flow measurement laboratory experiments were conducted using various instruments. These consisted of orifice plates, various sized rotameters, wet gas meter and soap bubble meter. This work was aimed at evaluating appropriate operating conditions and accuracy of the aforementioned devices. The experimental data collected were compared to theoretical predictions from Bernoulli’s equation and calibration curves supplied by the instrument’s manufacturers. The results obtained showed that rotameters were more reliable for measuring high and low flow rates; while soap-bubble meters and wet-gas meters were found to be suitable for measuring low flow rates. The laboratory procedures and findings of the actual work can assist engineering students and professionals in conducting their flow measurement laboratory test work.

Keywords: Flow measurement, orifice plates, rotameters, wet gas meter, soap bubble meter.

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1910 A Small-Scale Knowledge Management System for a Service-Oriented Department

Authors: Eliza Mazmee Mazlan, K.S. Savita, Amir Hamzah Zalfakhar

Abstract:

This paper demonstrates an effort of a serviceoriented engineering department in improving the sharing and transfer of knowledge. Although the department consist of only six employees, but it provides services in various chemical application in an oil and gas business. The services provided span across Asia Pacific region mainly Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Brunei, Thailand and Singapore. Currently there are no effective tools or integrated systems that support the sharing or transfer and maintenance of knowledge so the department has considered preserving this valuable knowledge by developing a Knowledge Management System (KMS). This paper presents the development of a KMS to support the sharing of knowledge in a service-oriented engineering department of an oil and gas company. The embedded features in the KMS like blog and forum will encourage iterative process of knowledge sharing among the employees in the department. The information and knowledge being shared, discussed and communicated will be then achieved for future re-use. The re-use of the knowledge allows the department to reduce redundant efforts in providing consistent, up-to-date and cost effective of the best solution to the its clients.

Keywords: Knowledge management, knowledge managementsystem, knowledge barrier, knowledge sharing.

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1909 Influence of Orientation in Complex Building Architecture in Various Climatic Regions in Winter

Authors: M. Alwetaishi, Giulia Sonetti

Abstract:

It is architecturally accepted that building form and design is considered as one of the most important aspects in affecting indoor temperature. The total area of building plan might be identical, but the design will have a major influence on the total area of external walls. This will have a clear impact on the amount of heat exchange with outdoor. Moreover, it will affect the position and area of glazing system. This has not received enough consideration in research by the specialists, since most of the publications are highlighting the impact of building envelope in terms of physical heat transfer in buildings. This research will investigate the impact of orientation of various building forms in various climatic regions. It will be concluded that orientation and glazing to wall ratio were recognized to be the most effective variables despite the shape of the building. However, linear ad radial forms were found more appropriate shapes almost across the continent.

Keywords: Architectural building design, building form, indoor air temperature, building design in different climate.

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1908 Dao Embodied – Embodying Dao: The Body as Locus of Personal Cultivation in Ancient Daoist and Confucian Philosophy

Authors: Geir Sigurðsson

Abstract:

This paper compares ancient Daoist and Confucian approaches to the human body as a locus for learning, edification or personal cultivation. While pointing out some major differences between ancient Chinese and mainstream Western visions of the body, it seeks at the same time inspiration in some seminal Western phenomenological and post-structuralist writings, in particular from Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Pierre Bourdieu. By clarifying the somewhat dissimilar scopes of foci found in Daoist and Confucian philosophies with regard to the role of and attitude to the body, the conclusion is nevertheless that their approaches are comparable, and that both traditions take the physical body to play a vital role in the cultivation of excellence. Lastly, it will be argued that cosmological underpinnings prevent the Confucian li from being rigid and invariable and that it rather emerges as a flexible learning device to train through active embodiment a refined sensibility for one’s cultural environment.

Keywords: Body, Confucianism, Daoism, li, phenomenology, ritual.

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1907 Self-Organization of Radiation Defects: Temporal Dissipative Structures

Authors: Pavlo Selyshchev

Abstract:

A theoretical approach to radiation damage evolution is developed. Stable temporal behavior taking place in solids under irradiation are examined as phenomena of self-organization in nonequilibrium systems. Experimental effects of temporal self-organization in solids under irradiation are reviewed. Their essential common properties and features are highlighted and analyzed. Dynamical model to describe development of self-oscillation of density of point defects under stationary irradiation is proposed. The emphasis is the nonlinear couplings between rate of annealing and density of defects that determine the kind and parameters of an arising self-oscillation. The field of parameters (defect generation rate and environment temperature) at which self-oscillations develop is found. Bifurcation curve and self-oscillation period near it is obtained.

Keywords: Irradiation, Point Defects, Solids, Temporal Selforganization.

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1906 Dynamic Analysis of Porous Media Using Finite Element Method

Authors: M. Pasbani Khiavi, A. R. M. Gharabaghi, K. Abedi

Abstract:

The mechanical behavior of porous media is governed by the interaction between its solid skeleton and the fluid existing inside its pores. The interaction occurs through the interface of gains and fluid. The traditional analysis methods of porous media, based on the effective stress and Darcy's law, are unable to account for these interactions. For an accurate analysis, the porous media is represented in a fluid-filled porous solid on the basis of the Biot theory of wave propagation in poroelastic media. In Biot formulation, the equations of motion of the soil mixture are coupled with the global mass balance equations to describe the realistic behavior of porous media. Because of irregular geometry, the domain is generally treated as an assemblage of fmite elements. In this investigation, the numerical formulation for the field equations governing the dynamic response of fluid-saturated porous media is analyzed and employed for the study of transient wave motion. A finite element model is developed and implemented into a computer code called DYNAPM for dynamic analysis of porous media. The weighted residual method with 8-node elements is used for developing of a finite element model and the analysis is carried out in the time domain considering the dynamic excitation and gravity loading. Newmark time integration scheme is developed to solve the time-discretized equations which are an unconditionally stable implicit method Finally, some numerical examples are presented to show the accuracy and capability of developed model for a wide variety of behaviors of porous media.

Keywords: Dynamic analysis, Interaction, Porous media, time domain

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1905 Study of Icons in Enterprise Application Software Context

Authors: Shiva Subhedar, Abhishek Jain, Shivin Mittal

Abstract:

Icons are not merely decorative elements in enterprise applications but very often used because of their many advantages such as compactness, visual appeal, etc. Despite these potential advantages, icons often cause usability problems when they are designed without consideration for their many potential downsides. The aim of the current study was to examine the effect of articulatory distance – the distance between the physical appearance of an interface element and what it actually means. In other words, will the subject find the association of the function and its appearance on the interface natural or is the icon difficult for them to associate with its function. We have calculated response time and quality of identification by varying icon concreteness, the context of usage and subject experience in the enterprise context. The subjects were asked to associate icons (prepared for study purpose) with given function options in context and out of context mode. Response time and their selection were recorded for analysis.

Keywords: Icons, icon concreteness, icon recognition, HCI.

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1904 Using the OWA Operator in the Minkowski Distance

Authors: José M. Merigó, Anna M. Gil-Lafuente

Abstract:

We study different types of aggregation operators such as the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operator and the generalized OWA (GOWA) operator. We analyze the use of OWA operators in the Minkowski distance. We will call these new distance aggregation operator the Minkowski ordered weighted averaging distance (MOWAD) operator. We give a general overview of this type of generalization and study some of their main properties. We also analyze a wide range of particular cases found in this generalization such as the ordered weighted averaging distance (OWAD) operator, the Euclidean ordered weighted averaging distance (EOWAD) operator, the normalized Minkowski distance, etc. Finally, we give an illustrative example of the new approach where we can see the different results obtained by using different aggregation operators.

Keywords: Aggregation operators, Minkowski distance, OWA operators, Selection of strategies.

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1903 Kinetic Parameter Estimation from Thermogravimetry and Microscale Combustion Calorimetry

Authors: Rhoda Afriyie Mensah, Lin Jiang, Solomon Asante-Okyere, Xu Qiang, Cong Jin

Abstract:

Flammability analysis of extruded polystyrene (XPS) has become crucial due to its utilization as insulation material for energy efficient buildings. Using the Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa methods, the degradation kinetics of two pure XPS from the local market, red and grey ones, were obtained from the results of thermogravity analysis (TG) and microscale combustion calorimetry (MCC) experiments performed under the same heating rates. From the experiments, it was discovered that red XPS released more heat than grey XPS and both materials showed two mass loss stages. Consequently, the kinetic parameters for red XPS were higher than grey XPS. A comparative evaluation of activation energies from MCC and TG showed an insignificant degree of deviation signifying an equivalent apparent activation energy from both methods. However, different activation energy profiles as a result of the different chemical pathways were presented when the dependencies of the activation energies on extent of conversion for TG and MCC were compared.

Keywords: Flammability, microscale combustion calorimetry, thermogravity analysis, thermal degradation, kinetic analysis.

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1902 Social Entrepreneurship: The Role of Intangible Resources in the Resource Scarce Environment

Authors: Seham Ghalwash, Ayman Ismail

Abstract:

Resources are crucial to the development and sustainability of social ventures. Thus, resources and resources scarcity are central concepts to study and understand the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship specially in developing countries where resources are very limited. Social entrepreneurs in developing countries face bigger challenges because financial resources are scarce. The empirical findings in this paper suggest that social enterprises in poor resources environments survive and grow because of the existence of social and human capitals in which they serve as prerequisites for the physical resources required for sustainability. This research paper explores how governments and policymakers might take nativities to support and foster social entrepreneurial activities in a resource-constraints environment reflecting on the experiences of Egypt-based social enterprises.

Keywords: Social ventures, financial constraints, intangible resources, scarce resources, legitimacy, developing countries, Egypt.

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1901 Phenolic-Based Chemical Production from Catalytic Depolymerization of Alkaline Lignin over Fumed Silica Catalyst

Authors: S. Totong, P. Daorattanachai, N. Laosiripojana

Abstract:

Lignin depolymerization into phenolic-based chemicals is an interesting process for utilizing and upgrading a benefit and value of lignin. In this study, the depolymerization reaction was performed to convert alkaline lignin into smaller molecule compounds. Fumed SiO₂ was used as a catalyst to improve catalytic activity in lignin decomposition. The important parameters in depolymerization process (i.e., reaction temperature, reaction time, etc.) were also investigated. In addition, gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC-MS), flame-ironized detector (GC-FID), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were used to analyze and characterize the lignin products. It was found that fumed SiO₂ catalyst led the good catalytic activity in lignin depolymerization. The main products from catalytic depolymerization were guaiacol, syringol, vanillin, and phenols. Additionally, metal supported on fumed SiO₂ such as Cu/SiO₂ and Ni/SiO₂ increased the catalyst activity in terms of phenolic products yield.

Keywords: Alkaline lignin, catalytic, depolymerization, fumed SiO2, phenolic-based chemicals.

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1900 High-rate Wastewater Treatment by a Shaft-type Activated Sludge Reactor

Authors: Subrata Hait, Debabrata Mazumder

Abstract:

A shaft-type activated sludge reactor has been developed in order to study the feasibility of high-rate wastewater treatment. The reactor having volume of about 14.5 L was operated with the acclimated mixed activated sludge under batch and continuous mode using a synthetic wastewater as feed. The batch study was performed with varying chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentrations of 1000–3500 mg·L-1 for a batch period up to 9 h. The kinetic coefficients: Ks, k, Y and kd were obtained as 2040.2 mg·L-1 and 0.105 h-1, 0.878 and 0.0025 h-1 respectively from Monod-s approach. The continuous study showed a stable and steady state operation for a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 8 h and influent COD of about 1000 mg·L-1. A maximum COD removal efficiency of about 80% was attained at a COD loading rate and food-tomicroorganism (F/M) ratio (COD basis) of 3.42 kg·m-3d-1 and 1.0 kg·kg-1d-1 respectively under a HRT of 8 h. The reactor was also found to handle COD loading rate and F/M ratio of 10.8 kg·m-3d-1 and 2.20 kg·kg-1d-1 respectively showing a COD removal efficiency of about 46%.

Keywords: Activated sludge process, shaft-type reactor, highrate treatment, carbonaceous wastewater.

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1899 Metallographic Analysis of Laser and Mechanically Formed HSLA Steel

Authors: L.C. Kgomari, R.K.K.Mbaya

Abstract:

This research was conducted to develop a correlation between microstructure of HSLA steel and the mechanical properties that occur as a result of both laser and mechanical forming processes of the metal. The technique of forming flat metals by applying laser beams is a relatively new concept in the manufacturing industry. However, the effects of laser energy on the stability of metal alloy phases have not yet been elucidated in terms of phase transformations and microhardness. In this work, CO2 laser source was used to irradiate the surface of a flat metal then the microstructure and microhardness of the metal were studied on the formed specimen. The extent to which the microstructure changed depended on the heat inputs of up to 1000 J/cm2 with cooling rates of about 4.8E+02 K/s. Experimental results revealed that the irradiated surface of a HSLA steel had transformed to austenitic structure during the heating process.

Keywords: Laser, Forming, Microstructure

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1898 Numerical Evaluation of Nusselt Number on the Hot Wall in Square Enclosure Filled with Nanofluid

Authors: A. Ghafouri, A. Falavand Jozaei, M. Salari

Abstract:

In this paper, effects of using Alumina-water nanofluid on the rate of heat transfer have been investigated numerically. Physical model is a square enclosure with insulated top and bottom horizontal walls, while the vertical walls are kept at different constant temperatures. Two appropriate models are used to evaluate the viscosity and thermal conductivity of nanofluid. The governing stream-vorticity equations are solved using a second order central finite difference scheme, coupled to the conservation of mass and energy. The study has been carried out for the Richardson number 0.1 to 10 and the solid volume fraction 0 to 0.04. Results are presented by isotherms lines, average Nusselt number and normalized Nusselt number in different range of φ and Ri for forced, combined and natural convection dominated regime. It is found that higher heat transfer rate is predicted when the effects of nanoparticle is taken into account.

Keywords: Nanofluid, Heat Transfer Enhancement, Square Enclosure, Nusselt number.

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1897 Synthesis and Simulation of Enhanced Buffer Router vs. Virtual Channel Router in NOC ON Cadence

Authors: Bhavana Prakash Shrivastava, Kavita Khare

Abstract:

This paper presents a synthesis and simulation of proposed enhanced buffer. The design provides advantages of both buffer and bufferless network for that two cross bar switches are used. The concept of virtual channel (VC) is eliminated from the previous design by using an efficient flow-control scheme that uses the storage already present in pipelined channels in place of explicit input VCBs. This can be addressed by providing enhanced buffers on the bufferless link and creating two virtual networks. With this approach, VCBs act as distributed FIFO buffers. Without VCBs or VCs, deadlock prevention is achieved by duplicating physical channels. An enhanced buffer provides a function of hand shaking by providing a ready valid handshake signal and two bit storage. Through this design the power is reduced to 15.65% and delay is reduced to 97.88% with respect to virtual channel router.

Keywords: Enhanced buffer, Gate delay, NOC, VCs, VCB.

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1896 Watermarking Scheme for Color Images using Wavelet Transform based Texture Properties and Secret Sharing

Authors: Nagaraj V. Dharwadkar, B.B.Amberker

Abstract:

In this paper, a new secure watermarking scheme for color image is proposed. It splits the watermark into two shares using (2, 2)- threshold Visual Cryptography Scheme (V CS) with Adaptive Order Dithering technique and embeds one share into high textured subband of Luminance channel of the color image. The other share is used as the key and is available only with the super-user or the author of the image. In this scheme only the super-user can reveal the original watermark. The proposed scheme is dynamic in the sense that to maintain the perceptual similarity between the original and the watermarked image the selected subband coefficients are modified by varying the watermark scaling factor. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. Further, the proposed scheme is able to resist all common attacks even with strong amplitude.

Keywords: VCS, Dithering, HVS, DWT.

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1895 Qualitative Modelling for Ferromagnetic Hysteresis Cycle

Authors: M. Mordjaoui, B. Boudjema, M. Chabane, R. Daira

Abstract:

In determining the electromagnetic properties of magnetic materials, hysteresis modeling is of high importance. Many models are available to investigate those characteristics but they tend to be complex and difficult to implement. In this paper a new qualitative hysteresis model for ferromagnetic core is presented, based on the function approximation capabilities of adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). The proposed ANFIS model combined the neural network adaptive capabilities and the fuzzy logic qualitative approach can restored the hysteresis curve with a little RMS error. The model accuracy is good and can be easily adapted to the requirements of the application by extending or reducing the network training set and thus the required amount of measurement data.

Keywords: ANFIS modeling technique, magnetic hysteresis, Jiles-Atherton model, ferromagnetic core.

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1894 The Anti-Noise and Anti-Wear Systems for Railways

Authors: Brigita Altenbaher

Abstract:

In recent years there has been a continuous increase of axle loads, tonnage, train speed and train length which has increased both the productivity in the rail sector and the risk of rail breaks and derailments. On the other hand, the environmental requirements (e.g. noise reduction) for railway operations will become tighter in the future. In our research we developed a new composite material which does not change braking properties, is capable of taking extremely high pressure loads, reduces noise and is environmentally friendly. Part of our research was also the development of technology which will be able to apply this material to the rail. The result of our research was the system which reduces the wear out significantly and almost completely eliminates the squealing noise at the same time, and by using only one special material.

Keywords: Active protection, composite material, lubrication, noise reduction, reduction at source, railway.

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1893 The Effectiveness of Therapeutic Exercise on Motor Skills and Attention of Male Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Authors: Masoume Pourmohamadreza-Tajrishi, Parviz Azadfallah

Abstract:

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) involve myriad aberrant perceptual, cognitive, linguistic, and social behaviors. The term spectrum emphasizes that the disabilities associated with ASD fall on a continuum from relatively mild to severe. People with ASD may display stereotyped behaviors such as twirling, spinning objects, flapping the hands, and rocking. The individuals with ASD exhibit communication problems due to repetitive/restricted behaviors. Children with ASD who lack the motivation to learn, who do not enjoy physical challenges, or whose sensory perception results in confusing or unpleasant feedback from movement may not become sufficiently motivated to practice motor activities. As a result, they may show both a delay in developing certain motor skills. Additionally, attention is an important component of learning. As far as children with ASD have problems in joint attention, many education-based programs are needed to consider some aspects of attention and motor activities development for students with ASD. These programs focus on the basic movement skills that are crucial for the future development of the more complex skills needed in games, dance, sports, gymnastics, active play, and recreational physical activities. The purpose of the present research was to determine the effectiveness of therapeutic exercise on motor skills and attention of male students with ASD. This was an experimental study with a control group. The population consisted of 8-10 year-old male students with ASD and 30 subjects were selected randomly from an available center suitable for the children with ASD. They were evaluated by the Basic Motor Ability Test (BMAT) and Persian version of computerized Stroop color-word test and randomly assigned to an experimental and control group (15 students in per group). The experimental group participated in 16 therapeutic exercise sessions and received therapeutic exercise program (twice a week; each lasting for 45 minutes) designed based on the Spark motor program while the control group did not. All subjects were evaluated by BMAT and Stroop color-word test after the last session again. The collected data were analyzed by using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). The results of MANCOVA showed that experimental and control groups had a significant difference in motor skills and at least one of the components of attention (correct responses, incorrect responses, no responses, the reaction time of congruent words and reaction time of incongruent words in the Stroop test). The findings showed that the therapeutic exercise had a significant effect on motor skills and all components of attention in students with ASD. We can conclude that the therapeutic exercise led to promote the motor skills and attention of students with ASD, so it is necessary to design or plan such programs for ASD students to prevent their communication or academic problems.

Keywords: Attention, autism spectrum disorder, motor skills, therapeutic exercise.

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1892 CuO Thin Films Deposition by Spray Pyrolysis: Influence of Precursor Solution Properties

Authors: M. Lamri Zeggar, F. Bourfaa, A. Adjimi, F. Boutbakh, M. S. Aida, N. Attaf

Abstract:

CuO thin films were deposited by spray ultrasonic pyrolysis with different precursor solution. Two staring solution slats were used namely: copper acetate and copper chloride. The influence of these solutions on CuO thin films proprieties of is instigated. The X rays diffraction (XDR) analysis indicated that the films deposed with copper acetate are amorphous however the films elaborated with copper chloride have monoclinic structure. UV- Visible transmission spectra showed a strong absorbance of the deposited CuO thin films in the visible region. Electrical characterization has shown that CuO thin films prepared with copper acetate have a higher electrical conductivity.

Keywords: Thin films, cuprous oxide, spray pyrolysis, precursor solution.

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1891 Propylene Self-Metathesis to Ethylene and Butene over WOx/SiO2, Effect of Nano-Sized Extra Supports (SiO2 and TiO2)

Authors: A.Guntida, K. Suriye, S. Kunjara Na Ayudhya, J. Panpranot, P. Praserthdam

Abstract:

Propylene self-metathesis to ethylene and butene was studied over WOx/SiO2 catalysts at 450oC and atmospheric pressure. The WOx/SiO2 catalysts were prepared by incipient wetness impregnation of ammonium metatungstate aqueous solution. It was found that, adding nano-sized extra supports (SiO2 and TiO2) by physical mixing with the WOx/SiO2 enhanced propylene conversion. The UV-Vis and FT-Raman results revealed that WOx could migrate from the original silica support to the extra support, leading to a better dispersion of WOx. The ICP-OES results also indicate that WOx existed on the extra support. Coke formation was investigated on the catalysts after 10 h time-on-stream by TPO. However, adding nano-sized extra supports led to higher coke formation which may be related to acidity as characterized by NH3-TPD.

Keywords: Extra support, nanomaterial, propylene self-metathesis, tungsten oxide.

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1890 Optimization of Cutting Parameters during Machining of Fine Grained Cemented Carbides

Authors: Josef Brychta, Jiri Kratochvil, Marek Pagac

Abstract:

The group of progressive cutting materials can include non-traditional, emerging and less-used materials that can be an efficient use of cutting their lead to a quantum leap in the field of machining. This is essentially a “superhard” materials (STM) based on polycrystalline diamond (PCD) and polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN) cutting performance ceramics and development is constantly "perfecting" fine coated cemented carbides. The latter cutting materials are broken down by two parameters, toughness and hardness. A variation of alloying elements is always possible to improve only one of each parameter. Reducing the size of the core on the other hand doing achieves "contradictory" properties, namely to increase both hardness and toughness.

Keywords: Grained cutting materials difficult to machine materials, optimum utilization.

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1889 Experimental Investigation of the Maximum Axial Force in the Folding Process of Aluminum Square Columns

Authors: A. Niknejad, G. H. Liaghat, A. H. Behravesh, H. Moslemi Naeini

Abstract:

In this paper, a semi empirical formula is presented based on the experimental results to predict the first pick (maximum force) value in the instantaneous folding force- axial distance diagram of a square column. To achieve this purpose, the maximum value of the folding force was assumed to be a function of the average folding force. Using the experimental results, the maximum value of the force necessary to initiate the first fold in a square column was obtained with respect to the geometrical quantities and material properties. Finally, the results obtained from the semi empirical relation in this paper, were compared to the experimental results which showed a good correlation.

Keywords: Honeycomb, folding force, square column, aluminum, axial loading.

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1888 Representation of Coloured Petri Net in Abductive Logic Programming (CPN-LP) and Its Application in Modeling an Intelligent Agent

Authors: T. H. Fung

Abstract:

Coloured Petri net (CPN) has been widely adopted in various areas in Computer Science, including protocol specification, performance evaluation, distributed systems and coordination in multi-agent systems. It provides a graphical representation of a system and has a strong mathematical foundation for proving various properties. This paper proposes a novel representation of a coloured Petri net using an extension of logic programming called abductive logic programming (ALP), which is purely based on classical logic. Under such a representation, an implementation of a CPN could be directly obtained, in which every inference step could be treated as a kind of equivalence preserved transformation. We would describe how to implement a CPN under such a representation using common meta-programming techniques in Prolog. We call our framework CPN-LP and illustrate its applications in modeling an intelligent agent.

Keywords: Abduction, coloured petri net, intelligent agent, logic programming.

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1887 Role of Fish Hepatic Aldehyde Oxidase in Oxidative in vitro Metabolism of Phenanthridine Heterocyclic Aromatic Compound

Authors: Khaled S. Al Salhen

Abstract:

Aldehyde oxidase is molybdo-flavoenzyme involved in the oxidation of hundreds of endogenous and exogenous and N-heterocyclic compounds and environmental pollutants. Uncharged N-heterocyclic aromatic compounds such phenanthridine are commonly distributed pollutants in soil, air, sediments, surface water and groundwater, and in animal and plant tissues. Phenanthridine as uncharged N-heterocyclic aromatic compound was incubated with partially purified aldehyde oxidase from rainbow trout fish liver. Reversed-phase HLPC method was used to separate the oxidation products from phenanthridine and the metabolite was identified. The 6(5H)-phenanthridinone was identified the major metabolite by partially purified aldehyde oxidase from fish liver. Kinetic constant for the oxidation reactions were determined spectrophotometrically and showed that this substrate has a good affinity (Km = 78 ± 7.6µM) for hepatic aldehyde oxidase, will be a significant pathway. This study confirms that partially purified aldehyde oxidase from fish liver is indeed the enzyme responsible for the in vitro production 6(5H)-phenanthridinone metabolite as it is a major metabolite by mammalian aldehyde oxidase, coupled with a relatively high oxidation rate (0.77± 0.03 nmol/min/mg protein). In addition, the kinetic parameters of hepatic fish aldehyde oxidase towards the phenanthridine substrate indicate that in vitro biotransformation by hepatic fish aldehyde oxidase will be a significant pathway. This study confirms that partially purified aldehyde oxidase from fish liver is indeed the enzyme responsible for the in vitro production 6(5H)-phenanthridinone metabolite as it is a major metabolite by mammalian aldehyde oxidase.

Keywords: Aldehyde oxidase, Fish, Phenanthridine, Specificity.

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1886 Determination of Cyclic Citrullinated Peptide Antibodies on Quartz Crystal Microbalance Based Nanosensors

Authors: Y. Saylan, F. Yılmaz, A. Denizli

Abstract:

In this study, we have focused our attention on combining of molecular imprinting into nanofilms and QCM nanosensor approaches and producing QCM nanosensor for anti- CCP, chosen as model protein, using anti-CCP imprinted nanofilms. The nonimprinted nanosensor was also prepared to evaluate the selectivity of the imprinted nanosensor. Anti-CCP imprinted QCM nanosensor was tested for real time detection of anti-CCP from aqueous solution. The kinetic and affinity studies were determined by using anti-CCP solutions with different concentrations. The responses related with mass shifts (%m) and frequency shifts (%f) were used to evaluate adsorption properties. To show the selectivity of the anti-CCP imprinted QCM nanosensor, competitive adsorption of anti-CCP and IgM was investigated. The results indicate that anti- CCP imprinted QCM nanosensor has higher adsorption capabilities for anti-CCP than for IgM, due to selective cavities in the polymer structure.

Keywords: Anti-CCP, molecular imprinting, QCM nanosensor, rheumatoid arthritis.

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