Search results for: comparison result

Authors: A.A.Rohani, A.Salehi, M.Tabrizi, S. A. Manafi, A. Fardafshari

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In this study, ZnO nano rods and ZnO ultrafine particles were synthesized by Gel-casting method. The synthesized ZnO powder has a hexagonal zincite structure. The ZnO aggregates with rod-like morphology are typically 1.4 μm in length and 120 nm in diameter, which consist of many small nanocrystals with diameters of 10 nm. Longer wires connected by many hexahedral ZnO nanocrystals were obtained after calcinations at the temperature over 600° C.The crystalline structures and morphologies of the powder have been characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD) and Scaning electron microscopy (SEM).The result shows that the different preparation conditions such as concentration H2O, calcinations time and calcinations temperature have a lot of influences upon the properties of nano ZnO powders, an increase in the temperature of the calcinations results in an increase of the grain size and also the increase of the calcinations time in high temperature makes the size of the grains bigger. The existences of extra watter prevent nano grains from improving like rod morphology. We have obtained the smallest grain size of ZnO powder by controlling the process conditions. Finally In a suitable condition, a novel nanostructure, namely bi-rod-like ZnO nano rods was found which is different from known ZnO nanostructures.

Keywords: morphology, nano particles, ZnO, gel-Casting method.

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Authors: H. Shamoradifar, B. Teimuri, P. Parvaresh, S. Mohammadi

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One of the main characteristics of Heavy Water Moderated Reactors is their high production of plutonium. This article demonstrates the possibility of reduction of plutonium and other actinides in Heavy Water Research Reactor. Among the many ways for reducing plutonium production in a heavy water reactor, in this research, changing the fuel from natural Uranium fuel to Thorium-Uranium mixed fuel was focused. The main fissile nucleus in Thorium-Uranium fuels is U-233 which would be produced after neutron absorption by Th-232, so the Thorium-Uranium fuels have some known advantages compared to the Uranium fuels. Due to this fact, four Thorium-Uranium fuels with different compositions ratios were chosen in our simulations; a) 10% UO₂-90% THO₂ (enriched= 20%); b) 15% UO₂-85% THO₂ (enriched= 10%); c) 30% UO₂-70% THO₂ (enriched= 5%); d) 35% UO₂-65% THO₂ (enriched= 3.7%). The natural Uranium Oxide (UO₂) is considered as the reference fuel, in other words all of the calculated data are compared with the related data from Uranium fuel. Neutronic parameters were calculated and used as the comparison parameters. All calculations were performed by Monte Carol (MCNPX2.6) steady state reaction rate calculation linked to a deterministic depletion calculation (CINDER90). The obtained computational data showed that Thorium-Uranium fuels with four different fissile compositions ratios can satisfy the safety and operating requirements for Heavy Water Research Reactor. Furthermore, Thorium-Uranium fuels have a very good proliferation resistance and consume less fissile material than uranium fuels at the same reactor operation time. Using mixed Thorium-Uranium fuels reduced the long-lived α emitter, high radiotoxic wastes and the radio toxicity level of spent fuel.

Keywords: Burn-up, heavy water reactor, minor actinides, Monte Carlo, proliferation resistance.

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Authors: Lan Wu

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China’s declared transformation towards a ‘new electricity system dominated by renewable energy’ requires a cleaner electricity consumption mix with high shares of renewable energy sourced-electricity (RES-E). Unfortunately, integration of RES-E into Chinese electricity markets remains a problem pending more robust legal support, evidenced by the curtailment of wind and solar power due to integration constraints. The upcoming Energy Law of the PRC (Energy Law) is expected to provide such long-awaiting support and coordinate the existing diverse sector-specific laws to deal with the weak implementation that dampening the delivery of their desired regulatory effects. However, in the shadow of the COVID-19 crisis, it remains uncertain how this new Energy Law brings synergies to RES-E integration, mindful of the significant impacts of the pandemic. Through the theoretical lens of the interplay between China’s electricity market reform and legislative development, this paper investigates whether there is a paradigm shift in Energy Law regarding renewable energy integration compared with the existing sector-specific energy laws. It examines the 2020 Draft for Comments on the Energy Law and analyses its relationship with sector-specific energy laws focusing on RES-E integration. The comparison is drawn upon five critical aspects of the RES-E integration issue, including the status of renewables, marketisation, incentive schemes, consumption mechanisms, access to power grids and dispatching. The analysis shows that it is reasonable to expect a more open and well-organised electricity market, enabling the absorption of high shares of RES-E. The present paper concludes that a period of prosperous development of RES-E in the post-COVID-19 era can be anticipated with the legal support by the upcoming Energy Law. It contributes to understanding the signals China is sending regarding the transition towards a cleaner energy future.

Keywords: energy law, energy transition, electricity market reform, renewable energy integration

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Authors: S. Krustev, V. Angelova, P. Zaprjanova

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Selenium (Se) is an essential micro-nutrient for human and animals but it is highly toxic. Its organic compounds play an important role in biochemistry and nutrition of the cells. Concentration levels of this element in the different regions of the world vary considerably. This study aimed to compare the availability and levels of the Se in some rural areas of the Balkan Peninsula and relationship with the concentrations of other trace elements. For this purpose soil samples and wheat grains from different regions of Bulgaria, Serbia, Nord Macedonia, Romania, and Greece situated far from large industrial centers have been analyzed. The main methods for their determination were the atomic spectral techniques – atomic absorption and plasma atomic emission. As a result of this study, data on microelements levels from the main grain-producing regions of the Balkan Peninsula were determined and systematized. The presented results confirm the low levels of Se in this region: 0.222– 0.962 mg.kg^-1 in soils and 0.001 - 0.005 mg.kg^-1 in wheat grains and require measures to offset the effect of this deficiency.

Keywords: Agricultural soils, Balkan Peninsula, rural areas, selenium.

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Authors: S. Wechmongkhonkon, N.Poomtong, S. Areerachakul

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Water quality is a subject of ongoing concern. Deterioration of water quality has initiated serious management efforts in many countries. This study endeavors to automatically classify water quality. The water quality classes are evaluated using 6 factor indices. These factors are pH value (pH), Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Nitrate Nitrogen (NO3N), Ammonia Nitrogen (NH3N) and Total Coliform (TColiform). The methodology involves applying data mining techniques using multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network models. The data consisted of 11 sites of canals in Dusit district in Bangkok, Thailand. The data is obtained from the Department of Drainage and Sewerage Bangkok Metropolitan Administration during 2007-2011. The results of multilayer perceptron neural network exhibit a high accuracy multilayer perception rate at 96.52% in classifying the water quality of Dusit district canal in Bangkok Subsequently, this encouraging result could be applied with plan and management source of water quality.

Keywords: artificial neural network, classification, surface water quality

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Authors: E. Moroydor Derun, A. S. Kipcak, A. Kaplan, S. Piskin

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Magnesium wastes are produced by many industrial activities. This waste problem is becoming a future problem for the world. Magnesium borates have many advantages such as; high corrosion resistance, heat resistance, high coefficient of elasticity and can also be used in the production of material against radiation. Addition, magnesium borates have great potential in sectors including ceramic and detergents industry and superconducting materials. In this study, using the starting materials of waste magnesium and H3BO3 the hydrothermal method was applied at a moderate temperature of 70oC. Several mole ratios of waste magnesium to H3BO3 are selected as; 1:2, 1:4, 1:6, 1:8, 1:10. Reaction time was determined as 1 hour. After the synthesis, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) techniques are applied to products. As a result the forms of mcallisterite “Mg2(B6O7(OH)6)2.9(H2O)”, admontite “MgO(B2O3)3.7(H2O)” and magnesium boron hydrate (MgO(B2O3)3.6(H2O)” are obtained. 

Keywords: Hydrothermal synthesis, magnesium borates, waste magnesium.

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Authors: Anish H. Gandhi, Harit K. Raval

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Carbon steel is used in boilers, pressure vessels, heat exchangers, piping, structural elements and other moderatetemperature service systems in which good strength and ductility are desired. ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section II Part A (2004) provides specifications of ferrous materials for construction of pressure equipment, covering wide range of mechanical properties including high strength materials for power plants application. However, increased level of springback is one of the major problems in fabricating components of high strength steel using bending. Presented work discuss the springback simulations for five different steels (i.e. SA-36, SA-299, SA-515 grade 70, SA-612 and SA-724 grade B) using finite element analysis of air V-bending. Analytical springback simulations of hypothetical layered materials are presented. Result shows that; (i) combination of the material property parameters controls the springback, (ii) layer of the high ductility steel on the high strength steel greatly suppresses the springback.

Keywords: Carbon steel, Finite element analysis, Layeredmaterial, Springback

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Authors: Yongsei Lee, Hyunsu Park, Youngseob Yu, Heechan Yoo, Sungin Yoo

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A horizontal anaerobic digester was developed and tested in pilot scale for Korean food waste with high water contents (>80%). The hydrogen sulfide in the biogas was removed by a biological desulfurization equipment integrated in the horizontal digester. A mixer of the horizontal digester was designed to easily remove the sediment in the bottom and scum layers on surface in the digester. Experimental result for 120 days of operation of the pilot plant showed a high removal efficiency of 81.2% for organic substance and high stability during the whole operation period were acquired. Also food waste was treated at high organic loading rates over 4 kg•VS/m3∙day and a methane gas production rate of 0.62 m3/kg•VSremoved was accomplished. The biological desulfurization equipment inside the horizontal digester was proven to be an economic and effective method to reduce the biogas desulfurization cost by removing hydrogen sulfide more than 90% without external desulfurization equipments.

Keywords: Biogas, Biological desulfurization, Horizontal anaerobic digester, Korean food waste

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Authors: Olumuyiwa A. Lasode, Tajudeen O. Popoola, B. V. S. S. S. Prasad

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Fluid flow in cylinders of elliptic cross-section was investigated. Fluid used is Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). LPG found in Nigeria contains majorly butane with percentages of propane. Commercial available code FLUENT which uses finite volume method was used to solve fluid flow governing equations. There has been little attention paid to fluid flow in cylindrical elliptic pipes. The present work aims to predict the LPG gas flow in cylindrical pipes of elliptic cross-section. Results of flow parameters of velocity and pressure distributions are presented. Results show that the pressure drop in elliptic pipes is higher than circular pipe of the same cross-sectional area. This is an important result as the pressure drop is related to the pump power needed to drive the flow. Results show that the velocity increases towards centre of the pipe as the flow moves downstream, and also increases towards the outlet of the pipe.

Keywords: Elliptic Pipes, Liquefied Petroleum Gas, Numerical Study, Pressure Drop.

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Authors: E. Harrer, M. Mauerhofer, T. Werginz

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As a result of intensive competition, the building sector is suffering from a high degree of rivalry. Furthermore, there can be observed an unbalanced distribution of project risks. Clients are aimed to shift their own risks into the sphere of the constructors or planners. The consequence of this is that the number of conflicts between the involved parties is inordinately high or even increasing; an alternative approach to counter on that developments are cooperative project forms in the construction sector. This research compares conventional contract models and models with partnering agreements to examine the influence on project risks by an early integration of the involved parties. The goal is to show up deviations in different project stages from the design phase to the project transfer phase. These deviations are evaluated by a survey of experts from the three spheres: clients, contractors and planners. By rating the influence of the participants on specific risk factors it is possible to identify factors which are relevant for a smooth project execution.

Keywords: Collaborative work, construction industry, contract-models, influence, partnering, project management, risk.

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Authors: Saleeza. S.N.R., Norma-Rashid Y, M. Sofian–Azirun

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Larval survey was carried out in 6 localities in the urban areas (Putrajaya) and suburban areas (Kuala Selangor) from January until December 2010. A total of 520 representative households in 6 localities were selected. Breeding habitats were sampled outdoors in the surroundings of housing areas. The study indicated that the most predominant species found in both areas was Aedes albopictus with the gardening utensil as a preferred breeding microhabitat for Putrajaya, in contrast to the artificial containers for Kuala Selangor. From a total of 1083 mosquito larvae species, 984 were Aedes albopictus larvae, 67 positive larvae of Aedes aegypti and 32 of Culex larvae. Aedes Index and Container Index were elevated in Putrajaya with 13% and 11% respectively which is higher than the standard given by the Ministry of Health, Malaysia. This results implicating dengue-sensitive skewed to the urban areas. Breteau Index result also above the standard in both study locations.

Keywords: Aedes albopictus, Aedes aegypti, Aedes Index (AI), Container Index (CI), Breteau Index (BI)

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Authors: Arii Bowo Yudhaprasetya, Ario Guritno, Agus Setiawan, Recky Tehupuring, Cosmas Supriatna

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The offshore facilities condition of Pertamina Hulu Energi Offshore North West Java (PHE ONWJ) varies greatly from place to place, depending on the characteristics of the presently installed facilities. In some locations, such as ESA platform, gas trap is mainly caused by the occurrence of flash gas phenomenon which is known as mechanical-physical separation process of multiphase flow. Consequently, the presence of gas trap at main oil line would accumulate on certain areas result in a reduced oil stream throughout the pipeline. Any presence of discrete gaseous along continuous oil flow represents a unique flow condition under certain specific volume fraction and velocity field. From gas lift source, a benefit line is used as a motive flow for ejector which is designed to generate a syphon effect to minimize the gas trap phenomenon. Therefore, the ejector’s exhaust stream will flow to the designated point without interfering other systems.

Keywords: Ejector, diffuser, multiphase flow, syphon effects.

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Authors: M. Bahgat, H. A. Hanafy, S. Lakdawala

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Clustering phenomenon of pellets was observed frequently in shaft processes operating at higher temperatures. Clustering is a result of the growth of fibrous iron precipitates (iron whiskers) that become hooked to each other and finally become crystallized during the initial stages of metallization. If the pellet clustering is pronounced, sometimes leads to blocking inside the furnace and forced shutdown takes place. This work clarifies further the relation between metallic iron whisker growth and iron ore mineralogy. Various pellet sizes (6 – 12.0 & +12.0 mm) from three different ores (A, B & C) were (completely and partially) reduced at 985 ^oC with H₂/CO gas mixture using thermos-gravimetric technique. It was found that reducibility increases by decreasing the iron ore pellet’s size. Ore (A) has the highest reducibility than ore (B) and ore (C). Increasing the iron ore pellet’s size leads to increase the probability of metallic iron whisker formation. Ore (A) has the highest tendency for metallic iron whisker formation than ore (B) and ore (C). The reduction reactions for all iron ores A, B and C are mainly controlled by diffusion reaction mechanism.

Keywords: Shaft furnace, cluster, metallic iron whisker, mineralogy, ferrous metallurgy.

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Authors: Barnabas M. Suleiman, Ifeanyi P. Onyeonoru, Egharevba E. Matthew

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This article interrogates the question of leadership in the context of the antidemocratic tendencies of Africa’s political leaders. The African continent has continued to struggle behind other continents of the world as a result of the failure of leadership to address the political and socio-economic challenges of the continent. Thus, bedevilled with the challenges of development, the African continent is in need of people-centred leadership. However, as the continent struggles to overcome its political and development predicaments, it is stuck in the dystopia of demagoguery that promises nothing but apocalyptic future for its teeming population. Thus, despite the enormous resources available in Africa, leadership failures have made progress difficult to achieve. At the centre of this leadership failure are demagogues: a set of leaders who have influence over a large number of people but take advantage of that influence to undermine democracy and good governance. Citing various examples across Africa, the article describes how demagogues, especially in democratic countries, have become the problem of the African continent in its quest to achieve democratic progress, development and peaceful progress.

Keywords: Africa, demagogue, good governance, democracy, leadership.

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Authors: Tansuriyavong Suriyon, Endo Takanobu, Boonmee Choompol

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Using the animations video of teaching materials is an effective learning method. However, we thought that more effective learning method is to produce the teaching video by learners themselves. The learners who act as the producer must learn and understand well to produce and present video of teaching materials to others. The purpose of this study is to propose the project based learning (PBL) technique by co-producing video of IT (information technology) teaching materials. We used the T2V player to produce the video based on TVML a TV program description language. By proposed method, we have assigned the learners to produce the animations video for “National Examination for Information Processing Technicians (IPA examination)" in Japan, in order to get them learns various knowledge and skill on IT field. Experimental result showed that learning effect has occurred at the video production process that useful for IT personnel resources development.

Keywords: TVML , T2V Player, The animation made as learning materials, National Examination for Information Processing Technicians, IT Education, Problem Based Learning

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Authors: Yasar Bicer, Serif Yilmaz

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In present study, two kinds of thermal power plant ashes; one the fly ash and the other waste ash are mixed with adhesive tragacanth and cement to produce new composite materials. 48 new samples are produced by varying the percentages of the fly ash, waste ash, cement and tragacanth. The new samples are subjected to some tests to find out their properties such as thermal conductivity, compressive strength, tensile strength and sucking capability of water. It is found that; the thermal conductivity decreases with increasing amount of tragacanth in the mixture. The compressive, tensile strength increases when the rate of tragacanth is up to 1%, whilst as the amount of tragacanth increases up to 1.5%, the compressive, tensile strength decreases slightly. The rate of water absorption of samples was more than 30%. From this result, it is concluded that these materials can not be used as external plaster or internal plaster material that faces to water. They can be used in internal plaster unless touching water and they can be used as cover plaster under roof and riprap material in sandwich panels. It is also found that, these materials can be cut with saw, drilled with screw and painted with any kind of paint.

Keywords: Fly ash, tragacanth, cement, composite material.

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Authors: Aziah Khamis, H. Shareef

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The purpose of planned islanding is to construct a power island during system disturbances which are commonly formed for maintenance purpose. However, in most of the cases island mode operation is not allowed. Therefore distributed generators (DGs) must sense the unplanned disconnection from the main grid. Passive technique is the most commonly used method for this purpose. However, it needs improvement in order to identify the islanding condition. In this paper an effective method for identification of islanding condition based on phase space and neural network techniques has been developed. The captured voltage waveforms at the coupling points of DGs are processed to extract the required features. For this purposed a method known as the phase space techniques is used. Based on extracted features, two neural network configuration namely radial basis function and probabilistic neural networks are trained to recognize the waveform class. According to the test result, the investigated technique can provide satisfactory identification of the islanding condition in the distribution system.

Keywords: Classification, Islanding detection, Neural network, Phase space.

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Authors: Niaz Gharavi, Hexin Zhang, Yanjun Xie

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The timber beam end effect in the torsion test is evaluated using binocular stereo vision system. It is recommended by BS EN 408:2010+A1:2012 to exclude a distance of two to three times of cross-sectional thickness (b) from ends to avoid the end effect; whereas, this study indicates that this distance is not sufficiently far enough to remove this effect in slender cross-sections. The shear modulus of six timber beams with different aspect ratios is determined at the various angles and cross-sections. The result of this experiment shows that the end affected span of each specimen varies depending on their aspect ratios. It is concluded that by increasing the aspect ratio this span will increase. However, by increasing the distance from the ends to the values greater than 6b, the shear modulus trend becomes constant and end effect will be negligible. Moreover, it is concluded that end affected span is preferred to be depth-dependent rather than thickness-dependant.

Keywords: End effect, structural-size torsion test, shear properties, timber engineering, binocular stereo vision.

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Authors: N. Gigauri, V. Kukhalashvili, V. Sesadze, A. Surmava, L. Intskirveli

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Pollution of the Tbilisi atmospheric air with PM2.5 and PM10 in usual and pandemic situations by using the data of 5 stationary observation points is investigated. The values of the statistical characteristic parameters of PM in the atmosphere of Tbilisi are analyzed and trend graphs are constructed. By means of analysis of pollution levels in the quarantine and usual periods the proportion of vehicle traffic in pollution of city is estimated. Experimental measurements of PM2.5, PM10 in the atmosphere have been carried out in different districts of the city and map of the distribution of their concentrations were constructed. It is shown that maximum pollution values are recorded in the city center and along major motorways. It is shown that the average monthly concentrations vary in the range of 0.6-1.6 Maximum Permissible Concentration (MPC). Average daily values of concentration vary at 2-4 days intervals. The distribution of PM10 generated as a result of traffic is numerical modeled. The modeling results are compared with the observation data.

Keywords: Air pollution, numerical modeling, PM2.5, PM10.

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Authors: Zulaiha Ali Othman, Helmi Md Rais, Abdul Razak Hamdan

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Ants are fascinating creatures that demonstrate the ability to find food and bring it back to their nest. Their ability as a colony, to find paths to food sources has inspired the development of algorithms known as Ant Colony Systems (ACS). The principle of cooperation forms the backbone of such algorithms, commonly used to find solutions to problems such as the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). Ants communicate to each other through chemical substances called pheromones. Modeling individual ants- ability to manipulate this substance can help an ACS find the best solution. This paper introduces a Dynamic Ant Colony System with threelevel updates (DACS3) that enhance an existing ACS. Experiments were conducted to observe single ant behavior in a colony of Malaysian House Red Ants. Such behavior was incorporated into the DACS3 algorithm. We benchmark the performance of DACS3 versus DACS on TSP instances ranging from 14 to 100 cities. The result shows that the DACS3 algorithm can achieve shorter distance in most cases and also performs considerably faster than DACS.

Keywords: Dynamic Ant Colony System (DACS), TravelingSalesmen Problem (TSP), Optimization, Swarm Intelligent.

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Authors: C. Papapicco

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Motherhood is an existential human relationship that lasts for the whole life and is always interwoven with subjectivity and culture. As a result of the brain drain, the motherhood becomes motherhood at distance. Starting from the hypothesis that re-signification of the mother at distance practices is culturally relevant; the research aims to understand the experience of mother at a distance in order to extrapolate the strategies of management of the empty nest. Specifically, the research aims to evaluate the experience of a brain drain’s mother, who created a blog that intends to take care of other parents at a distance. Actually, the blog is the only artifact symbol of the Italian culture of motherhood at distance. In the research, a Netnographic Analysis of the blog mammedicervelliinfuga.com is offered with the aim of understanding if the online world becomes an opportunity to manage the role of mother at a distance. A narrative interview with the blog creator was conducted and then the texts were analyzed by means of a Diatextual Analysis approach. It emerged that the migration projects of talented children take on different meanings and representations for parents. Thus, it is shown that the blog becomes a new form of understanding and practicing motherhood at a distance.

Keywords: Brain drain, diatextual analysis, distance motherhood blog, online and offline narrations.

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Authors: Jianguo Tang, Kun She, William Zhu

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Covering-based rough sets is an extension of rough sets and it is based on a covering instead of a partition of the universe. Therefore it is more powerful in describing some practical problems than rough sets. However, by extending the rough sets, covering-based rough sets can increase the roughness of each model in recognizing objects. How to obtain better approximations from the models of a covering-based rough sets is an important issue. In this paper, two concepts, determinate elements and indeterminate elements in a universe, are proposed and given precise definitions respectively. This research makes a reasonable refinement of the covering-element from a new viewpoint. And the refinement may generate better approximations of covering-based rough sets models. To prove the theory above, it is applied to eight major coveringbased rough sets models which are adapted from other literature. The result is, in all these models, the lower approximation increases effectively. Correspondingly, in all models, the upper approximation decreases with exceptions of two models in some special situations. Therefore, the roughness of recognizing objects is reduced. This research provides a new approach to the study and application of covering-based rough sets.

Keywords: Determinate element, indeterminate element, refinementof covering-element, refinement of covering, covering-basedrough sets.

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Authors: Eiichi Sasaki, Shin-ichi Takehiro, Michio Yamada

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We study bifurcation structure of the zonal jet flow the streamfunction of which is expressed by a single spherical harmonics on a rotating sphere. In the non-rotating case, we find that a steady traveling wave solution arises from the zonal jet flow through Hopf bifurcation. As the Reynolds number increases, several traveling solutions arise only through the pitchfork bifurcations and at high Reynolds number the bifurcating solutions become Hopf unstable. In the rotating case, on the other hand, under the stabilizing effect of rotation, as the absolute value of rotation rate increases, the number of the bifurcating solutions arising from the zonal jet flow decreases monotonically. We also carry out time integration to study unsteady solutions at high Reynolds number and find that in the non-rotating case the unsteady solutions are chaotic, while not in the rotating cases calculated. This result reflects the general tendency that the rotation stabilizes nonlinear solutions of Navier-Stokes equations.

Keywords: rotating sphere, two-dimensional flow, bifurcationstructure

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Authors: Suppara Charoenpoom

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The objectives of this research was to design and develop a quality management of the school buildings and environment. A quantitative and qualitative mixed research methodology was used. The population sample included 14 directors of primary schools. Two research tools were used. The first research tool included an in-depth interview and questionnaire. The second research tool included the Quality Business Process and Quality Work Procedure, and a Key Performance Indicator of each activity. The statistics included mean and standard deviation. The findings for the development of a quality management process of buildings and environment administration of the basic schools consisted of one quality business process (QBP) and seven quality work processes (QWP). The result from the experts’ evaluation revealed that the process and implementation of quality management of the school buildings and environment has passed the inspection process with consensus. This implies that the process of quality management of the school buildings and environment is suitable for implementation. Moreover, the level of agreement in the feasibility of the implementation of this plan had the mean in the range of 0.64-1.00 which suggests the design of the new plan is acceptable.

Keywords: Process, Building, Environment.

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Authors: J.-P. Skön, M. Johansson, O. Kauhanen, M. Raatikainen, K. Leiviskä, M. Kolehmainen

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The building sector is the largest energy consumer and CO2 emitter in the European Union (EU) and therefore the active reduction of energy consumption and elimination of energy wastage are among the main goals in it. Healthy housing and energy efficiency are affected by many factors which set challenges to monitoring, control and research of indoor air quality (IAQ) and energy consumption, especially in old buildings. These challenges include measurement and equipment costs, for example. Additionally, the measurement results are difficult to interpret and their usage in the ventilation control is also limited when taking into account the energy efficiency of housing at the same time. The main goal of this study is to develop a cost-effective building monitoring and control system especially for old buildings. The starting point or keyword of the development process is a wireless system; otherwise the installation costs become too high. As the main result, this paper describes an idea of a wireless building monitoring and control system. The first prototype of the system has been installed in 10 residential buildings and in 10 school buildings located in the City of Kuopio, Finland.

Keywords: Energy efficiency, Indoor air quality, Monitoring system, Building automation

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Authors: R. Nadlene, H. Esah, S. Norliana, M.A. Mohd Irwan

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The objective of this project is to study the corrosion behaviour and hardness based on the presence of martensite in dual phase steel. This study was conducted on six samples of dual phase steel which have different percentage of martensite. A total of 9 specimens were prepared by intercritical annealing process to study the effect of temperature to the formation of martensite. The low carbon steels specimens were heated for 25 minutes in a specified temperature ranging from 7250C to 8250C followed by rapid cooling in water. The measurement of corrosion rate was done by using extrapolation tafel method, while potentiostat was used to control and measured the current produced. This measurement is performed through a system named CMS105. The result shows that a specimen with higher percentage of martensite is likely to corrode faster. Hardness test for each specimen was conducted to compare its hardness with low carbon steel. The results obtained indicate that the specimen hardness is proportional to the amount of martensite in dual phase steel.

Keywords: dual phase steel, corrosion behaviour, hardness, intercritical annealing, martensite

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Authors: Bernardo C. P. Albuquerque, Darym J. F. Campos

Abstract:

Increasing our ability to solve complex engineering problems is directly related to the processing capacity of computers. By means of such equipments, one is able to fast and accurately run numerical algorithms. Besides the increasing interest in numerical simulations, probabilistic approaches are also of great importance. This way, statistical tools have shown their relevance to the modelling of practical engineering problems. In general, statistical approaches to such problems consider that the random variables involved follow a normal distribution. This assumption tends to provide incorrect results when skew data is present since normal distributions are symmetric about their means. Thus, in order to visualize and quantify this aspect, 9 statistical distributions (symmetric and skew) have been considered to model a hypothetical slope stability problem. The data modeled is the friction angle of a superficial soil in Brasilia, Brazil. Despite the apparent universality, the normal distribution did not qualify as the best fit. In the present effort, data obtained in consolidated-drained triaxial tests and saturated direct shear tests have been modeled and used to analytically derive the probability density function (PDF) of the safety factor of a hypothetical slope based on Mohr-Coulomb rupture criterion. Therefore, based on this analysis, it is possible to explicitly derive the failure probability considering the friction angle as a random variable. Furthermore, it is possible to compare the stability analysis when the friction angle is modelled as a Dagum distribution (distribution that presented the best fit to the histogram) and as a Normal distribution. This comparison leads to relevant differences when analyzed in light of the risk management.

Keywords: Statistical slope stability analysis, Skew distributions, Probability of failure, Functions of random variables.

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Authors: Ashwani K. Rana, Narottam Chand, Vinod Kapoor

Abstract:

In this paper, gate leakage current has been mitigated by the use of novel nanoscale MOSFET with Source/Drain-to-Gate Non-overlapped and high-k spacer structure for the first time. A compact analytical model has been developed to study the gate leakage behaviour of proposed MOSFET structure. The result obtained has found good agreement with the Sentaurus Simulation. Fringing gate electric field through the dielectric spacer induces inversion layer in the non-overlap region to act as extended S/D region. It is found that optimal Source/Drain-to-Gate Non-overlapped and high-k spacer structure has reduced the gate leakage current to great extent as compared to those of an overlapped structure. Further, the proposed structure had improved off current, subthreshold slope and DIBL characteristic. It is concluded that this structure solves the problem of high leakage current without introducing the extra series resistance.

Keywords: Gate tunneling current, analytical model, spacer dielectrics, DIBL, subthreshold slope.

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Authors: T. Basitah

Abstract:

This study was to explore and utilize the fresh rind of mangosteen Index Colour 5 as an upcoming raw material for the production of natural dyes. Rind from the fresh mangosteen Index Colour 5 was utilized to extract the dyes. The established extracts were experimented on silk fabrics via three types of mordanting and dyeing procedures; pre-mordanting, simultaneous mordanting and post-mordanting. As a result, the applications of the freeze-drying methodology and mechanizable equipment have helped to produce excellent range of natural colours. Silk fabric treated simultaneously with mordanting and dyeing with extract dye Index Colour 5 produced a brilliant shade of the red colour and the colour from this index is also discovered sensitive to light and washing during the fastness tests. The preliminary evaluation and instrumentation analysis allowed us to examine whether the application of different mordanting and dyeing procedures with the same extract samples and concentrations affected the colours and shades of the fabric samples.

Keywords: Natural dye, Freeze-drying, Garcinia mangostana Linn, Mordanting.

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Authors: Adeolu O. Dairo

Abstract:

Getting the consumer marketing strategy right is a crucial and complex task for firms with a large customer base such as mobile operators in a competitive mobile market. While empirical studies have made efforts to identify key constructs, no geospatial model has been developed to comprehensively assess the viability and interdependency of ground realities regarding the customer, competition, channel and the network quality of mobile operators. With this research, a geo-analytic framework is proposed for strategy formulation and allocation for mobile operators. Firstly, a fuzzy analytic network using a self-organizing feature map clustering technique based on inputs from managers and literature, which depicts the interrelationships amongst ground realities is developed. The model is tested with a mobile operator in the Nigeria mobile market. As a result, a customer-centric geospatial and visualization solution is developed. This provides a consolidated and integrated insight that serves as a transparent, logical and practical guide for strategic, tactical and operational decision making.

Keywords: Geospatial, geo-analytics, self-organizing map, customer-centric.

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