Search results for: Architectural higher education

Authors: J. Schmidt, O. Kornadt

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The major part of light weight timber constructions consists of insulation. Mineral wool is the most commonly used insulation due to its cost efficiency and easy handling. The fiber orientation and porosity of this insulation material enables flowthrough. The air flow resistance is low. If leakage occurs in the insulated bay section, the convective flow may cause energy losses and infiltration of the exterior wall with moisture and particles. In particular the infiltrated moisture may lead to thermal bridges and growth of health endangering mould and mildew. In order to prevent this problem, different numerical calculation models have been developed. All models developed so far have a potential for completion. The implementation of the flow-through properties of mineral wool insulation may help to improve the existing models. Assuming that the real pressure difference between interior and exterior surface is larger than the prescribed pressure difference in the standard test procedure for mineral wool ISO 9053 / EN 29053, measurements were performed using the measurement setup for research on convective moisture transfer “MSRCMT". These measurements show, that structural inhomogeneities of mineral wool effect the permeability only at higher pressure differences, as applied in MSRCMT. Additional microscopic investigations show, that the location of a leak within the construction has a crucial influence on the air flow-through and the infiltration rate. The results clearly indicate that the empirical values for the acoustic resistance of mineral wool should not be used for the calculation of convective transfer mechanisms.

Keywords: convection, convective transfer, infiltration, mineralwool, permeability, resistance, leakage

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Authors: Bua Srikos, Phusit Phukamchanoad, Suwaree Yordchim

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The purpose is to study the model and characteristic of participation of the suitable community to lead to develop permanent water marketing in Bang Noi Floating Market, Bangkonti District, Samutsongkhram Province. A total of 342 survey questionnaire was administered to potential respondents. The researchers interviewed the leader of the community. Appreciation Influence Control (AIC) was used to talk with 20 villagers on arena. The findings revealed that overall, most people had the middle level of the participation in developing the durable Bang Noi Floating Market, Bangkonti, Samutsongkhram Province and in aspects of gaining benefits from developing it with atmosphere and a beautiful view for tourism. For example, the landscape is beautiful with public utilities. The participation in preserving and developing Bang Noi Floating Market remains in the former way of life. The basic factor of person affects to the participation of people such as age, level of education, career, and income per month. Most participants are the original hosts that have houses and shops located in the marketing and neighbor. These people involve with the benefits and have the power to make a water marketing strategy, the major role to set the information database. It also found that the leader and the villagers play the important role in setting a five-physical database. Data include level of information such as position of village, territory of village, road, river, and premises. Information of culture consists of a two-level of information, interesting point, and Itinerary. The information occurs from presenting and practicing by the leader and villagers in the community.All of phases are presented for listening and investigating database together in both the leader and villagers in the process of participation.

Keywords: Community Participation, Sustainable Development, Encouragement Tourism.

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Authors: T. Sungkaworn, W. Triampo, P. Nalakarn, D. Triampo, I. M. Tang, Y. Lenbury, P. Picha

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Semiconductor nanomaterials like TiO2 nanoparticles (TiO2-NPs) approximately less than 100 nm in diameter have become a new generation of advanced materials due to their novel and interesting optical, dielectric, and photo-catalytic properties. With the increasing use of NPs in commerce, to date few studies have investigated the toxicological and environmental effects of NPs. Motivated by the importance of TiO2-NPs that may contribute to the cancer research field especially from the treatment prospective together with the fractal analysis technique, we have investigated the effect of TiO2-NPs on colony morphology in the dark condition using fractal dimension as a key morphological characterization parameter. The aim of this work is mainly to investigate the cytotoxic effects of TiO2-NPs in the dark on the growth of human cervical carcinoma (HeLa) cell colonies from morphological aspect. The in vitro studies were carried out together with the image processing technique and fractal analysis. It was found that, these colonies were abnormal in shape and size. Moreover, the size of the control colonies appeared to be larger than those of the treated group. The mean Df +/- SEM of the colonies in untreated cultures was 1.085±0.019, N= 25, while that of the cultures treated with TiO2-NPs was 1.287±0.045. It was found that the circularity of the control group (0.401±0.071) is higher than that of the treated group (0.103±0.042). The same tendency was found in the diameter parameters which are 1161.30±219.56 μm and 852.28±206.50 μm for the control and treated group respectively. Possible explanation of the results was discussed, though more works need to be done in terms of the for mechanism aspects. Finally, our results indicate that fractal dimension can serve as a useful feature, by itself or in conjunction with other shape features, in the classification of cancer colonies.

Keywords: Tumor growth, Cell colonies, TiO2, Nanoparticles, Fractal, Morphology, Aggregation.

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Authors: Hassan Masoumi, Rashed Alavi

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Wheat is one of the strategic crops in Iran, on which the household food basket is highly dependent. Although this crop is cultivated and produced in almost all provinces of the country, its production efficiency is lower than the global and regional averages due to the lack of optimal use of allocated resources. In this research, which was carried out with a documentary and library method, first, the total and partial productivity indices of irrigated wheat production were calculated in large, medium and small exploitation scales in different provinces of the country, and then the provinces were clustered in terms of these indices. The results showed that the total productivity of production factors had a direct correlation with the scale of exploitation, so that with the increase in the size of exploitations, the total productivity index increased. On the scale of small exploitations, North Khorasan, Zanjan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, on a medium scale, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province and on the scale of large exploitations, Zanjan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provinces, Kohkiloyeh and Boyer Ahmad and North Khorasan, with better use of production resources compared to other provinces, were placed in the best cluster in terms of total productivity index. The high total productivity index in Zanjan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province is related to the higher productivity of factors such as mechanization and land in these provinces. Finally, the methods of using these factors in productive provinces, along with technical and specialized regional guidelines, can facilitate the improvement of productivity in less productive provinces.

Keywords: Clustering, Irrigated wheat, Iran, total productivity.

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Authors: C. O’Brien, Chloe Reiss

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While South Africa has been the chosen host country for over 1,2 million asylum seekers/refugees it has at the same time, been struggling to address the needs of its own people who are still trapped in poverty with little prospects of employment. This limited exploratory, qualitative study was undertaken in Cape Town with a purposive sample of 21 key personnel from various NPOs providing a service to asylum seekers/refugees. Individual in-depth face to face interviews were carried out and the main findings were: Some of the officials at the Department of Home Affairs, health personnel, landlords, school principals, employers, bank officials and police officers were prejudicial in their practices towards asylum seekers/ refugees. The major constraints experienced by NPOs in this study were linked to a lack of funding and minimal government support, strained relationship with the Department of Home Affairs and difficulties in accessing refugees. And finally, the strategies adopted by these NPOs included networking with other service providers, engaging in advocacy, raising community awareness and liaising with government. Thus, more focused intervention strategies are needed to build social cohesion, address prejudices which fuels xenophobic attacks and raise awareness/educate various sectors about refugee rights. Given this burgeoning global problem, social work education and training should include curriculum content on migrant issues. Furthermore, larger studies using mixed methodology approaches would yield more nuanced data and provide for more strategic interventions.

Keywords: Refugees and asylum seekers, non-profit organisations, refugee challenges, constraints of service delivery.

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Authors: M. Johnson, R. Faggian, V. Sposito

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A participatory and engaged approach is key in connecting agricultural managers to sustainable agricultural systems to support and optimize production in Victoria’s food bowl. A sustainable intensification (SI) approach is well documented globally, but participation rates amongst Victorian farmers is fragmentary, and key outcomes and implementation strategies are poorly understood. Improvement in decision-support management tools and a greater understanding of the productivity gains available upon implementation of SI is necessary. This paper reviews the current understanding and uptake of SI practices amongst farmers in one of Victoria’s premier food producing regions, the Goulburn Broken; and it spatially analyses the potential for this region to adapt to climate change and optimize food production. A Geographical Information Systems (GIS) approach is taken to develop an interactive decision-support tool that can be accessible to on-ground agricultural managers. The tool encompasses multiple criteria analysis (MCA) that identifies factors during the construction phase of the tool, using expert witnesses and regional knowledge, framed within an Analytical Hierarchy Process. Given the complexities of the interrelations between each of the key outcomes, this participatory approach, in which local realities and factors inform the key outcomes and help to strategies for a particular region, results in a robust strategy for sustainably intensifying production in key food producing regions. The creation of an interactive, locally embedded, decision-support management and education tool can help to close the gap between farmer knowledge and production, increase on-farm adoption of sustainable farming strategies and techniques, and optimize farm productivity.

Keywords: Agriculture, decision-support management tools, GIS, sustainable intensification.

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Authors: Karanja Kibicho, Anthony Sayers

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Due to adverse pressure gradient along the diverging walls of wide-angled diffusers, the attached flow separates from one wall and remains attached permanently to the other wall in a process called stalling. Stalled diffusers render the whole fluid flow system, in which they are part of, very inefficient. There is then an engineering need to try to understand the whole process of diffuser stall if any meaningful attempts to improve on diffuser efficiency are to be made. In this regard, this paper provides a data bank contribution for the mean flow-field in wide-angled diffusers where the complete velocity and static pressure fields, and pressure recovery data for diffusers in the fully stalled flow regime are experimentally measured. The measurements were carried out at Reynolds numbers between 1.07×105 and 2.14×105 based on inlet hydraulic diameter and centreline velocity for diffusers whose divergence angles were between 30Ôùª and 50Ôùª. Variation of Reynolds number did not significantly affect the velocity and static pressure profiles. The wall static pressure recovery was found to be more sensitive to changes in the Reynolds number. By increasing the velocity from 10 m/s to 20 m/s, the wall static pressure recovery increased by 8.31%. However, as the divergence angle was increased, a similar increase in the Reynolds number resulted in a higher percentage increase in pressure recovery. Experimental results showed that regardless of the wall to which the flow was attached, both the velocity and pressure fields were replicated with discrepancies below 2%.

Keywords: Two-dimensional, wide-angled, diffuser, stall, separated flows, subsonic flows, diffuser flow regimes

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Authors: L. Mukosha, M. S. Onyango, A. Ochieng, H. Kasaini

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The remediation of water resources pollution in developing countries requires the application of alternative sustainable cheaper and efficient end-of-pipe wastewater treatment technologies. The feasibility of use of South African cheap and abundant pine tree (Pinus patula) sawdust for development of lowcost AC of comparable quality to expensive commercial ACs in the abatement of water pollution was investigated. AC was developed at optimized two-stage N2-superheated steam activation conditions in a fixed bed reactor, and characterized for proximate and ultimate properties, N2-BET surface area, pore size distribution, SEM, pHPZC and FTIR. The sawdust pyrolysis activation energy was evaluated by TGA. Results indicated that the chars prepared at 800oC and 2hrs were suitable for development of better quality AC at 800oC and 47% burn-off having BET surface area (1086m2/g), micropore volume (0.26cm3/g), and mesopore volume (0.43cm3/g) comparable to expensive commercial ACs, and suitable for water contaminants removal. The developed AC showed basic surface functionality at pHPZC at 10.3, and a phenol adsorption capacity that was higher than that of commercial Norit (RO 0.8) AC. Thus, it is feasible to develop better quality low-cost AC from (Pinus patula) sawdust using twostage N2-steam activation in fixed-bed reactor.

Keywords: Activated carbon, phenol adsorption, sawdust integrated utilization, economical wastewater treatment.

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Authors: Peifei Zhu, Zisheng Li, Yasuki Kakishita, Mayumi Suzuki, Tomoaki Chono

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Segmentation of left ventricle (LV) from cardiac ultrasound images provides a quantitative functional analysis of the heart to diagnose disease. Active Shape Model (ASM) is widely used for LV segmentation, but it suffers from the drawback that initialization of the shape model is not sufficiently close to the target, especially when dealing with abnormal shapes in disease. In this work, a two-step framework is improved to achieve a fast and efficient LV segmentation. First, a robust and efficient detection based on Hough forest localizes cardiac feature points. Such feature points are used to predict the initial fitting of the LV shape model. Second, ASM is applied to further fit the LV shape model to the cardiac ultrasound image. With the robust initialization, ASM is able to achieve more accurate segmentation. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated on a dataset of 810 cardiac ultrasound images that are mostly abnormal shapes. This proposed method is compared with several combinations of ASM and existing initialization methods. Our experiment results demonstrate that accuracy of the proposed method for feature point detection for initialization was 40% higher than the existing methods. Moreover, the proposed method significantly reduces the number of necessary ASM fitting loops and thus speeds up the whole segmentation process. Therefore, the proposed method is able to achieve more accurate and efficient segmentation results and is applicable to unusual shapes of heart with cardiac diseases, such as left atrial enlargement.

Keywords: Hough forest, active shape model, segmentation, cardiac left ventricle.

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Authors: N. Boontian

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Biological conversion of biomass to methane has received increasing attention in recent years. Grasses have been explored for their potential anaerobic digestion to methane. In this review, extensive literature data have been tabulated and classified. The influences of several parameters on the potential of these feedstocks to produce methane are presented. Lignocellulosic biomass represents a mostly unused source for biogas and ethanol production. Many factors, including lignin content, crystallinity of cellulose, and particle size, limit the digestibility of the hemicellulose and cellulose present in the lignocellulosic biomass. Pretreatments have used to improve the digestibility of the lignocellulosic biomass. Each pretreatment has its own effects on cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, the three main components of lignocellulosic biomass. Solidstate anaerobic digestion (SS-AD) generally occurs at solid concentrations higher than 15%. In contrast, liquid anaerobic digestion (AD) handles feedstocks with solid concentrations between 0.5% and 15%. Animal manure, sewage sludge, and food waste are generally treated by liquid AD, while organic fractions of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) and lignocellulosic biomass such as crop residues and energy crops can be processed through SS-AD. An increase in operating temperature can improve both the biogas yield and the production efficiency, other practices such as using AD digestate or leachate as an inoculant or decreasing the solid content may increase biogas yield but have negative impact on production efficiency. Focus is placed on substrate pretreatment in anaerobic digestion (AD) as a means of increasing biogas yields using today’s diversified substrate sources.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion, Lignocellulosic biomass, Methane production, Optimization, Pretreatment.

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Authors: E. Al-Essa, R. Bello-Mendoza, D. G. Wareham

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Anaerobic batch experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of magnetite-supplementation (7 mM) on methane production from digested sludge undergoing two different microbial growth phases, namely fresh sludge (exponential growth phase) and degassed sludge (endogenous decay phase). Three different particle sizes were assessed: small (50 - 150 nm), medium (168 – 490 nm) and large (800 nm - 4.5 µm) particles. Results show that, in the case of the fresh sludge, magnetite significantly enhanced the methane production rate (up to 32%) and reduced the lag phase (by 15% - 41%) as compared to the control, regardless of the particle size used. However, the cumulative methane produced at the end of the incubation was comparable in all treatment and control bottles. In the case of the degassed sludge, only the medium-sized magnetite particles increased significantly the methane production rate (12% higher) as compared to the control. Small and large particles had little effect on the methane production rate but did result in an extended lag phase which led to significantly lower cumulative methane production at the end of the incubation period. These results suggest that magnetite produces a clear and positive effect on methane production only when an active and balanced microbial community is present in the anaerobic digester. It is concluded that, (i) the effect of magnetite particle size on increasing the methane production rate and reducing lag phase duration is strongly influenced by the initial metabolic state of the microbial consortium, and (ii) the particle size would positively affect the methane production if it is provided within the nanometer size range.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion, iron oxide (Fe3O4), methanogenesis, nanoparticle.

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Authors: Fatemeh Karimi, Morteza Fathipour, Hamdam Ghanatian, Vala Fathipour

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In this paper we investigate the electrical characteristics of a new structure of gate all around strained silicon nanowire field effect transistors (FETs) with dual dielectrics by changing the radius (RSiGe) of silicon-germanium (SiGe) wire and gate dielectric. Indeed the effect of high-κ dielectric on Field Induced Barrier Lowering (FIBL) has been studied. Due to the higher electron mobility in tensile strained silicon, the n-type FETs with strained silicon channel have better drain current compare with the pure Si one. In this structure gate dielectric divided in two parts, we have used high-κ dielectric near the source and low-κ dielectric near the drain to reduce the short channel effects. By this structure short channel effects such as FIBL will be reduced indeed by increasing the RSiGe, ID-VD characteristics will be improved. The leakage current and transfer characteristics, the threshold-voltage (Vt), the drain induced barrier height lowering (DIBL), are estimated with respect to, gate bias (VG), RSiGe and different gate dielectrics. For short channel effects, such as DIBL, gate all around strained silicon nanowire FET have similar characteristics with the pure Si one while dual dielectrics can improve short channel effects in this structure.

Keywords: SNWT (silicon nanowire transistor), Tensile Strain, high-κ dielectric, Field Induced Barrier Lowering (FIBL), cylindricalnano wire (CW), drain induced barrier lowering (DIBL).

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Authors: Tao Zhang, Nan Yan

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In recent years, the Chaoshan area, a special place located in the southeast of Guangdong province in China, actively protects religious heritage and is developing religious tourism, which is attracting many expatriate Chinese who are coming back for travel and to worship. This paper discussed three questions. Firstly, what is the current situation about the different social background of tourists’ motivation, satisfaction and behavioral intention? Secondly, is there a relationship between the motivation, satisfaction and behavioral intention and the different social backgrounds of tourists? Thirdly, what is the relationship between religious tourists’ motivation, satisfaction and behavioral intention? The research methods use a combination of qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis. Qualitative analysis uses the method of observation and interviews. Convenient sampling technique was used for quantitative analysis. The study showed that the different social backgrounds of tourists’ forms diverse cognition and experiences about religious tourism, and their motivations, satisfaction and behavioral intention as tourists vary. Tourists’ motivation and satisfaction has a positive phase relation. Tourists’ motivation with satisfaction as the intervening variable also has a positive phase effect on tourists’ behavior intention. The result shows that religious tourists’ motivations include experiencing a religious atmosphere, and having a rest and recreation. The result also shows that religious tourists want to travel with their family members and friends. While traveling, religious tourists like to talk with Buddhist monks or nuns. Compared to other tourism types, religious tourists have higher expectations about temple environment, traveling experience, peripheral service and temple management.

Keywords: Behavioral intension, motivation, religious tourism, satisfaction.

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Authors: Antonella Hadzich, Santiago Flores

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Alkyds have become essential raw materials in the coating and paint industry, due to their low cost, good application properties and lower environmental impact in comparison with petroleum-based polymers. The properties of these oil-modified materials depend on the type of polyunsaturated vegetable oil used for its manufacturing, since a higher degree of unsaturation provides a better crosslinking of the cured paint. Linum usitatissimum L. (flax) oil is widely used to develop alkyd resins due to its high degree of unsaturation. Although it is intended to find non-traditional sources and increase their commercial value, to authors’ best knowledge a natural source that can replace flaxseed oil has not yet been found. However, Plukenetia volubilis L. oil, of Peruvian origin, contains a similar fatty acid polyunsaturated content to the one reported for Linum usitatissimum L. oil. In this perspective, medium alkyd resins were prepared with a mixture of 50% of Linum usitatissimum L. oil and 50% of Plukenetia volubilis L. oil. Pure Linum usitatissimum L. oil was also used for comparison purposes. Three different resins were obtained by varying the amount of glycerol and pentaerythritol. The synthesized alkyd resins were characterized by FT-IR, and physicochemical properties like acid value, colour, viscosity, density and drying time were evaluated by standard methods. The pencil hardness and chemical resistance behaviour of the cured resins were also studied. Overall, it can be concluded that medium alkyd resins containing Plukenetia volubilis L. oil have an equivalent behaviour compared to those prepared purely with Linum usitatissimum L. oil. Both Plukenetia volubilis L. oil and pentaerythritol have a remarkable influence on certain physicochemical properties of medium alkyd resins.

Keywords: Alkyd resins, flaxseed oil, pentaerythritol, Plukenetia volubilis L. oil, protective coating.

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Authors: Ichiro Mukai

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The purpose of this study is to investigate whether firms applying International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), provide high-quality and comparable earnings information that is useful for decision making of information users relative to firms applying local Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Focus is placed on the earnings quality of listed firms in several developed countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US). Except for Japan and the US, the adoption of IFRS is mandatory for listed firms in these countries. In Japan, the application of IFRS is allowed for specific listed firms. In the US, the foreign firms listed on the US securities market are permitted to apply IFRS but the listed domestic firms are prohibited from doing so. In this paper, the differences in earnings quality are compared between firms applying local GAAP and those applying IFRS in each country and industry category, and the reasons of differences in earnings quality are analyzed using various factors. The results show that, although the earnings quality of firms applying IFRS is higher than that of firms applying local GAAP, this varies with country and industry category. Thus, even if a single set of global accounting standards is used for all listed firms worldwide, it is difficult to establish comparability of financial information among global firms. These findings imply that various circumstances surrounding firms, industries, and countries etc. influence business operations and affect the differences in earnings quality.

Keywords: Accruals, earnings quality, IFRS, information comparability.

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Authors: Junya Takenami, Md. Azhar Uddin, Eiji Sasaoka, Yasushi Shioya, Tsuneyoshi Takase

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In this study, we sought to investigate the mercury removal efficiency of manganese oxides from natural gas. The fundamental studies on mercury removal with manganese oxides sorbents were carried out in a laboratory scale fixed bed reactor at 30 °C with a mixture of methane (20%) and nitrogen gas laden with 4.8 ppb of elemental mercury. Manganese oxides with varying surface area and crystalline phase were prepared by conventional precipitation method in this study. The effects of surface area, crystallinity and other metal oxides on mercury removal efficiency were investigated. Effect of Ag impregnation on mercury removal efficiency was also investigated. Ag supported on metal oxide such titania and zirconia as reference materials were also used in this study for comparison. The characteristics of mercury removal reaction with manganese oxide was investigated using a temperature programmed desorption (TPD) technique. Manganese oxides showed very high Hg removal activity (about 73-93% Hg removal) for first time use. Surface area of the manganese oxide samples decreased after heat-treatment and resulted in complete loss of Hg removal ability for repeated use after Hg desorption in the case of amorphous MnO2, and 75% loss of the initial Hg removal activity for the crystalline MnO2. Mercury desorption efficiency of crystalline MnO2 was very low (37%) for first time use and high (98%) after second time use. Residual potassium content in MnO2 may have some effect on the thermal stability of the adsorbed Hg species. Desorption of Hg from manganese oxides occurs at much higher temperatures (with a peak at 400 °C) than Ag/TiO2 or Ag/ZrO2. Mercury may be captured on manganese oxides in the form of mercury manganese oxide.

Keywords: Mercury removal, Metal and metal oxide sorbents, Methane, Natural gas.

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Authors: V. Manush Nandan, K. Lokdeep, R. Vimal, K. Hari Hara Subramanyan, C. Aswin, V. Logeswaran

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Natural fibers have attained the potential market in the composite industry because of the huge environmental impact caused by synthetic fibers. Among the natural fibers, jute fibers are the most abundant plant fibers which are manufactured mainly in countries like India. Even though there is a good motive to utilize the natural supplement, the strength of the natural fiber composites is still a topic of discussion. In recent days, many researchers are showing interest in the chemical modification of the natural fibers to increase various mechanical and thermal properties. In the present study, jute fibers have been modified chemically using glutaric anhydride at different concentrations of 5%, 10%, 20%, and 30%. The glutaric anhydride solution is prepared by dissolving the different quantity of glutaric anhydride in benzene and dimethyl-sulfoxide using sodium formate catalyst. The jute fiber mats have been treated by the method of retting at various time intervals of 3, 6, 12, 24, and 36 hours. The modification structure of the treated fibers has been confirmed with infrared spectroscopy. The degree of modification increases with an increase in retention time, but higher retention time has damaged the fiber structure. The unmodified fibers and glutarylated fibers at different retention times are reinforced with epoxy matrix under room temperature. The tensile strength and flexural strength of the composites are analyzed in detail. Among these, the composite made with glutarylated fiber has shown good mechanical properties when compared to those made of unmodified fiber.

Keywords: Flexural properties, glutarylation, glutaric anhydride, tensile properties.

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Authors: P. Thepnarintra, S. Nikorn

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Agricultural machinery industry plays an important role in the industrial development especially the production industry of the country. There has been continuing development responding to the higher demand of the production. However, the problem in agricultural machinery production still exists. Thus, the purpose of this research is to investigate problems on fundamental factors of industry based on the entrepreneurs’ point of view. The focus was on the small and medium size industry receiving factory license type number 0660 from the Department of Industrial Works. The investigation was on the comparison between the management of the small and medium size agricultural industry in 3 provinces in the central region of Thailand. Population in this study consisted of 189 company managers or managing directors, of which 101 were from the small size and 88 were from the medium size industry. The data were analyzed to find percentage, arithmetic mean, and standard deviation with independent sample T-test at the statistical significance .05. The results showed that the small and medium size agricultural machinery manufacturers in the central region of Thailand reported high problems in every aspect. When compared the problems on basic factors in running the business, it was found that there was no statistically difference at .05 in managing of the small and medium size agricultural machinery manufacturers. However, there was a statistically significant difference between the small and medium size agricultural machinery manufacturers on the aspect of policy and services of the government. The problems reported by the small and medium size agricultural machinery manufacturers were the services on public tap water and the problem on politic and stability of the country.

Keywords: Agricultural machinery, manufacturers, problems, on running the business.

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Authors: H. W. Xiao, F. H. Lee

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Cement stabilization has been widely used for improving the strength and stiffness of soft clayey soils. Cement treated soil specimens used to investigate the stress-strain behaviour in the laboratory study are usually cured for 7 days. This paper examines the effects of curing time on the strength and stress strain behaviour of cement treated marine clay under triaxial loading condition. Laboratory-prepared cement treated Singapore marine clay with different mix proportion S-C-W (soil solid-cement solid-water) and curing time (7 days to 180 days) was investigated through conducting unconfined compressive strength test and triaxial test. The results show that the curing time has a significant effect on the unconfined compressive strength u q , isotropic compression behaviour and stress strain behaviour. Although the primary yield loci of the cement treated soil specimens with the same mix proportion expand with curing time, they are very narrowly banded and have nearly the same shape after being normalized by isotropic compression primary stress ' py p . The isotropic compression primary yield stress ' py p was shown to be linearly related to unconfined compressive strength u q for specimens with different curing time and mix proportion. The effect of curing time on the hardening behaviour will diminish with consolidation stress higher than isotropic compression primary yield stress but its damping rate is dependent on the cement content.

Keywords: Cement treated soil, curing time effect, hardening behaviour, isotropic compression primary yield stress, unconfined compressive strength.

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Authors: Chaiwat Tantarangsee

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The purposes of this study are 1) to study the effects of participatory error correction process and 2) to find out the students’ satisfaction of such error correction process. This study is a Quasi Experimental Research with single group, in which data is collected 5 times preceding and following 4 experimental studies of participatory error correction process including providing coded indirect corrective feedback in the students’ texts with error treatment activities. Samples include 52 2nd year English Major students, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. Tool for experimental study includes the lesson plan of the course; Reading and Writing English for Academic Purposes II, and tools for data collection include 5 writing tests of short texts and a questionnaire. Based on formative evaluation of the students’ writing ability prior to and after each of the 4 experiments, the research findings disclose the students’ higher scores with statistical difference at 0.00. Moreover, in terms of the effect size of such process, it is found that for mean of the students’ scores prior to and after the 4 experiments; d equals 0.6801, 0.5093, 0.5071, and 0.5296 respectively. It can be concluded that participatory error correction process enables all of the students to learn equally well and there is improvement in their ability to write short texts. Finally the students’ overall satisfaction of the participatory error correction process is in high level (Mean = 4.39, S.D. = 0.76).

Keywords: Coded indirect corrective feedback, participatory error correction process, error treatment.

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Authors: Eun Mi Ryu, Ah Young An, Ji Yeon Kang, Yeong Soo Shin, Hee Sun Kim

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When high strength reinforced concrete is exposed to high temperature due to a fire, deteriorations occur such as loss in strength and elastic modulus, cracking and spalling of the concrete. Therefore, it is important to understand risk of structural safety in building structures by studying structural behaviors and rehabilitation of fire damaged high strength concrete structures. This paper aims at investigating rehabilitation effect on fire damaged high strength concrete beams using experimental and analytical methods. In the experiments, flexural specimens with high strength concrete are exposed to high temperatures according to ISO 834 standard time temperature curve. From four-point loading test, results show that maximum loads of the rehabilitated beams are similar to or higher than those of the non-fire damaged RC beam. In addition, structural analyses are performed using ABAQUS 6.10-3 with same conditions as experiments to provide accurate predictions on structural and mechanical behaviors of rehabilitated RC beams. The parameters are the fire cover thickness and strengths of repairing mortar. Analytical results show good rehabilitation effects, when the results predicted from the rehabilitated models are compared to structural behaviors of the non-damaged RC beams. In this study, fire damaged high strength concrete beams are rehabilitated using polymeric cement mortar. The predictions from the finite element (FE) models show good agreements with the experimental results and the modeling approaches can be used to investigate applicability of various rehabilitation methods for further study.

Keywords: Fire, High strength concrete, Rehabilitation, Reinforced concrete beam.

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Authors: Ashraf S. Hakim, Randa M. Alarousy

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The consumption of food contaminated with molds (microscopic filamentous fungi) and their toxic metabolites results in the development of food-borne mycotoxicosis. The spores of molds are ubiquitously spread in the environment and can be detected everywhere. Ochratoxin A is a toxic and potentially carcinogenic fungal toxin found in a variety of food commodities. In this study, the mycological quality of various ready-to-eat local and imported pork meat and meat byproducts sold in Egyptian markets were assessed and the presence of various molds was determined in pork used as a raw material, edible organs as liver and kidney as well as in fermented raw meat by-products. The study assessed the mycological quality of pork raw meat and their by-products sold in commercial shops in Cairo, Egypt. Mycological analysis was conducted on (n=110) samples which included pig’s livers and kidneys from Egyptian Bassatin slaughter house; local and imported processed pork meat by-products from Egyptian pork markets. The isolates were identified using traditional mycological and biochemical tests. All kidney and liver samples were positive to molds growth while all byproducts were negative. Ochratoxin A levels were quantitatively analyzed using the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and the highest results were present in kidney 7.51 part per billion (ppb) followed by minced meat 6.19 ppb generally the local samples showed higher levels than the imported ones. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on mycotoxins detection and quantification from pork by-products in Egypt.

Keywords: Egypt, imported pork by-products, local, mycotoxins.

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Authors: Rafsan Al Mamun, Md. Motaharul Islam, Rabana Tajrin, Nabiha Noor, Shafinaz Qader

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In an attempt to enrich the lives of billions of people by providing proper information, security and a way of communicating with others, the need for efficient and improved satellites is constantly growing. Thus, there is an increasing demand for better error detection and correction (EDAC) schemes, which are capable of protecting the data onboard the satellites. The paper is aimed towards detecting and correcting such errors using a special algorithm called the Hamming Code, which uses the concept of parity and parity bits to prevent single-bit errors onboard a satellite in Low Earth Orbit. This paper focuses on the study of Low Earth Orbit satellites and the process of generating the Hamming Code matrix to be used for EDAC using computer programs. The most effective version of Hamming Code generated was the Hamming (16, 11, 4) version using MATLAB, and the paper compares this particular scheme with other EDAC mechanisms, including other versions of Hamming Codes and Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC), and the limitations of this scheme. This particular version of the Hamming Code guarantees single-bit error corrections as well as double-bit error detections. Furthermore, this version of Hamming Code has proved to be fast with a checking time of 5.669 nanoseconds, that has a relatively higher code rate and lower bit overhead compared to the other versions and can detect a greater percentage of errors per length of code than other EDAC schemes with similar capabilities. In conclusion, with the proper implementation of the system, it is quite possible to ensure a relatively uncorrupted satellite storage system.

Keywords: Bit-flips, Hamming code, low earth orbit, parity bits, satellite, single error upset.

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Authors: S. Gharbi, S. Labidi, M. Mars, M. Chelli, F. Ladeb

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The purpose of this study is to reduce radiation dose for chest CT examination by including Tube Current Modulation (TCM) to a standard CT protocol. A scan of an anthropomorphic male Alderson phantom was performed on a 128-slice scanner. The estimation of effective dose (ED) in both scans with and without mAs modulation was done via multiplication of Dose Length Product (DLP) to a conversion factor. Results were compared to those measured with a CT-Expo software. The size specific dose estimation (SSDE) values were obtained by multiplication of the volume CT dose index (CTDIvol) with a conversion size factor related to the phantom’s effective diameter. Objective assessment of image quality was performed with Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) measurements in phantom. SPSS software was used for data analysis. Results showed including CARE Dose 4D; ED was lowered by 48.35% and 51.51% using DLP and CT-expo, respectively. In addition, ED ranges between 7.01 mSv and 6.6 mSv in case of standard protocol, while it ranges between 3.62 mSv and 3.2 mSv with TCM. Similar results are found for SSDE; dose was higher without TCM of 16.25 mGy and was lower by 48.8% including TCM. The SNR values calculated were significantly different (p=0.03<0.05). The highest one is measured on images acquired with TCM and reconstructed with Filtered back projection (FBP). In conclusion, this study proves the potential of TCM technique in SSDE and ED reduction and in conserving image quality with high diagnostic reference level for thoracic CT examinations.

Keywords: Anthropomorphic phantom, computed tomography, CT-expo, radiation dose.

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

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Aggressive scaling of MOS devices requires use of ultra-thin gate oxides to maintain a reasonable short channel effect and to take the advantage of higher density, high speed, lower cost etc. Such thin oxides give rise to high electric fields, resulting in considerable gate tunneling current through gate oxide in nano regime. Consequently, accurate analysis of gate tunneling current is very important especially in context of low power application. In this paper, a simple and efficient analytical model has been developed for channel and source/drain overlap region gate tunneling current through ultra thin gate oxide n-channel MOSFET with inevitable deep submicron effect (DSME).The results obtained have been verified with simulated and reported experimental results for the purpose of validation. It is shown that the calculated tunnel current is well fitted to the measured one over the entire oxide thickness range. The proposed model is suitable enough to be used in circuit simulator due to its simplicity. It is observed that neglecting deep sub-micron effect may lead to large error in the calculated gate tunneling current. It is found that temperature has almost negligible effect on gate tunneling current. It is also reported that gate tunneling current reduces with the increase of gate oxide thickness. The impact of source/drain overlap length is also assessed on gate tunneling current.

Keywords: Gate tunneling current, analytical model, gate dielectrics, non uniform poly gate doping, MOSFET, fringing field effect and image charges.

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Authors: Mohamed Amine Ben Henni, Taher Hassaine Daouadji, Boussad Abbes, Yu Ming Li, Fazilay Abbes

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The reinforcement and repair of concrete structures by bonding composite materials have become relatively common operations. Different types of composite materials can be used: carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP), glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) as well as functionally graded material (FGM). The development of analytical and numerical models describing the mechanical behavior of structures in civil engineering reinforced by composite materials is necessary. These models will enable engineers to select, design, and size adequate reinforcements for the various types of damaged structures. This study focuses on the free vibration behavior of orthotropic laminated composite plates using a refined shear deformation theory. In these models, the distribution of transverse shear stresses is considered as parabolic satisfying the zero-shear stress condition on the top and bottom surfaces of the plates without using shear correction factors. In this analysis, the equation of motion for simply supported thick laminated rectangular plates is obtained by using the Hamilton’s principle. The accuracy of the developed model is demonstrated by comparing our results with solutions derived from other higher order models and with data found in the literature. Besides, a finite-element analysis is used to calculate the natural frequencies of laminated composite plates and is compared with those obtained by the analytical approach.

Keywords: Composites materials, laminated composite plate, shear deformation theory of plates, finite element analysis, free vibration.

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Authors: Jakub Elbl, Lukas Plošek, Antonín Kintl, Jaroslav Záhora, Jitka Přichystalová, Jaroslav Hynšt

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Application of compost in agriculture is very desirable worldwide. In the Czech Republic, compost is the most often used to improve soil structure and increase the content of soil organic matter, but the effects of compost addition on the fate of mineral nitrogen are only scarcely described. This paper deals with possibility of using combined application of compost, mineral and organic fertilizers to reduce the leaching of mineral nitrogen from arable land. To demonstrate the effect of compost addition on leaching of mineral nitrogen, we performed the pot experiment. As a model crop, Lactuca sativa L. was used and cultivated for 35 days in climate chamber in thoroughly homogenized arable soil. Ten variants of the experiment were prepared; two control variants (pure arable soil and arable soil with added compost), four variants with different doses of mineral and organic fertilizers and four variants of the same doses of mineral and organic fertilizers with the addition of compos. The highest decrease of mineral nitrogen leaching was observed by the simultaneous applications of soluble humic substances and compost to soil samples, about 417% in comparison with the control variant. Application of these organic compounds also supported microbial activity and nitrogen immobilization documented by the highest soil respiration and by the highest value of the index of nitrogen availability. The production of plant biomass after this application was not the highest due to microbial competition for the nutrients in soil, but was 24% higher in comparison with the control variant. To support these promising results the experiment should be repeated in field conditions.

Keywords: Nitrogen, Compost, Salad, Arable land.

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Authors: Dabyltayeva R. Y., Smatova K.B., Кabekenov G., Toleshova U., Shagyrbayeva M.

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In recent years in Kazakhstan, as well as in all countries, we have been talking not only about the professional stress, but also professional Burnout Syndrome of employees. Burnout is essentially a response to chronic emotional stress – manifests itself in the form of chronic fatigue, despondency, unmotivated aggression, anger, and others. This condition is due to mental fatigue among teachers as a sort of payment for overstrain when professional commitments include the impact of “heat your soul", emotional investment. The emergence of professional Burnout among teachers is due to the system of interrelated and mutually reinforcing factors relating to the various levels of the personality: individually-psychological level is psychodynamic special subject characteristics of valuemotivational sphere and formation of skills and habits of selfregulation; the socio-psychological level includes especially the Organization and interpersonal interaction of a teacher. Signs of the Burnout were observed in 15 testees, and virtually a symptom could be observed in every teacher. As a result of the diagnosis 48% of teachers had the signs of stress (phase syndrome), resulting in a sense of anxiety, mood, heightened emotional susceptibility. The following results have also been got:-the fall of General energy potential – 14 pers. -Psychosomatic and psycho vegetative syndrome – 26 pers. -emotional deficit-34 pers. -emotional Burnout Syndrome-6 pers. The problem of professional Burnout of teachers in the current conditions should become not only meaningful, but particularly relevant. The quality of education of the younger generation depends on professional development; teachers- training level, and how “healthy" teachers are. That is why the systematic maintenance of pedagogic-professional development for teachers (including disclosure of professional Burnout Syndrome factors) takes on a special meaning.

Keywords: Professional burnout syndrome, adaptive syndrome, stage of depletion syndrome, symptoms and characteristics of burnout, prophylactic of professional destruction techniques.

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Authors: Changju Lee, Seungmo Ku, Sondo Kim, Woojin Chang

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How to detecting financial bubble? Addressing this simple question has been the focus of a vast amount of empirical research spanning almost half a century. However, financial bubble is hard to observe and varying over the time; there needs to be more research on this area. In this paper, we used abnormal difference between common stocks price and those preferred stocks price to explain financial bubble. First, we proposed the ‘W-index’ which indicates spread between common stocks and those preferred stocks in stock market. Second, to prove that this ‘W-index’ is valid for measuring financial bubble, we showed that there is an inverse relationship between this ‘W-index’ and S&P500 rate of return. Specifically, our hypothesis is that when ‘W-index’ is comparably higher than other periods, financial bubbles are added up in stock market and vice versa; according to our hypothesis, if investors made long term investments when ‘W-index’ is high, they would have negative rate of return; however, if investors made long term investments when ‘W-index’ is low, they would have positive rate of return. By comparing correlation values and adjusted R-squared values of between W-index and S&P500 return, VIX index and S&P500 return, and TED index and S&P500 return, we showed only W-index has significant relationship between S&P500 rate of return. In addition, we figured out how long investors should hold their investment position regard the effect of financial bubble. Using this W-index, investors could measure financial bubble in the market and invest with low risk.

Keywords: Financial bubbles, detection, preferred stocks, pairs trading, future return, forecast.

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Authors: Wichai Pattanapol, Sarah J. Wakes, Michael J. Hilton, Katharine J.M. Dickinson

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Turbulence modeling of large-scale flow over a vegetated surface is complex. Such problems involve large scale computational domains, while the characteristics of flow near the surface are also involved. In modeling large scale flow, surface roughness including vegetation is generally taken into account by mean of roughness parameters in the modified law of the wall. However, the turbulence structure within the canopy region cannot be captured with this method, another method which applies source/sink terms to model plant drag can be used. These models have been developed and tested intensively but with a simple surface geometry. This paper aims to compare the use of roughness parameter, and additional source/sink terms in modeling the effect of plant drag on wind flow over a complex vegetated surface. The RNG k-ε turbulence model with the non-equilibrium wall function was tested with both cases. In addition, the k-ω turbulence model, which is claimed to be computationally stable, was also investigated with the source/sink terms. All numerical results were compared to the experimental results obtained at the study site Mason Bay, Stewart Island, New Zealand. In the near-surface region, it is found that the results obtained by using the source/sink term are more accurate than those using roughness parameters. The k-ω turbulence model with source/sink term is more appropriate as it is more accurate and more computationally stable than the RNG k-ε turbulence model. At higher region, there is no significant difference amongst the results obtained from all simulations.

Keywords: CFD, canopy flow, surface roughness, turbulence models.

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