Search results for: breast support conditions

Authors: Sheikh Shams Azam, Manoj Raju, Venkatesh Pagidimarri, Vamsi Kasivajjala

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Over the past decade, there has been a steep rise in the data-driven analysis in major areas of medicine, such as clinical decision support system, survival analysis, patient similarity analysis, image analytics etc. Most of the data in the field are well-structured and available in numerical or categorical formats which can be used for experiments directly. But on the opposite end of the spectrum, there exists a wide expanse of data that is intractable for direct analysis owing to its unstructured nature which can be found in the form of discharge summaries, clinical notes, procedural notes which are in human written narrative format and neither have any relational model nor any standard grammatical structure. An important step in the utilization of these texts for such studies is to transform and process the data to retrieve structured information from the haystack of irrelevant data using information retrieval and data mining techniques. To address this problem, the authors present Q-Map in this paper, which is a simple yet robust system that can sift through massive datasets with unregulated formats to retrieve structured information aggressively and efficiently. It is backed by an effective mining technique which is based on a string matching algorithm that is indexed on curated knowledge sources, that is both fast and configurable. The authors also briefly examine its comparative performance with MetaMap, one of the most reputed tools for medical concepts retrieval and present the advantages the former displays over the latter.

Keywords: Information retrieval (IR), unified medical language system (UMLS), Syntax Based Analysis, natural language processing (NLP), medical informatics.

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Authors: Salfarina A.G., Nor Malina M., Azrina H.

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The right to housing is a basic need while good quality and affordable housing is a reflection of a high quality of life. However, housing remains a major problem for most, especially for the bottom billions. Satisfaction on housing and neighbourhood conditions are one of the important indicators that reflect quality of life. These indicators are also important in the process of evaluating housing policy with the objective to increase the quality of housing and neighbourhood. The research method is purely based on a quantitative method, using a survey. The findings show that housing purchasing trend in urban Malaysia is determined by demographic profiles, mainly by education level, age, gender and income. The period of housing ownership also influenced the socio-cultural interactions and satisfaction of house owners with their neighbourhoods. The findings also show that the main concerns for house buyers in urban areas are price and location of the house. Respondents feel that houses in urban Malaysia is too expensive and beyond their affordability. Location of houses and distance from work place are also regarded as the main concern. However, respondents are fairly satisfied with religious and socio-cultural facilities in the housing areas and most importantly not many regard ethnicity as an issue in their decision-making, when buying a house.

Keywords: Housing, Urban Housing, Malaysia

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Authors: S. Zolghadri, H. Yousefnia, A. R. Jalilian

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Bone metastases are observed in a wide range of cancers leading to intolerable pain. While early detection can help the physicians in the decision of the type of treatment, various radiopharmaceuticals using phosphonates like ⁶⁸Ga-EDTMP have been developed. In this work, due to the importance of absorbed dose, human absorbed dose of this new agent was calculated for the first time based on biodistribution data in Wild-type rats. ⁶⁸Ga was obtained from ⁶⁸Ge/⁶⁸Ga generator with radionuclidic purity and radiochemical purity of higher than 99%. The radiolabeled complex was prepared in the optimized conditions. Radiochemical purity of the radiolabeled complex was checked by instant thin layer chromatography (ITLC) method using Whatman No. 2 paper and saline. The results indicated the radiochemical purity of higher than 99%. The radiolabelled complex was injected into the Wild-type rats and its biodistribution was studied up to 120 min. As expected, major accumulation was observed in the bone. Absorbed dose of each human organ was calculated based on biodistribution in the rats using RADAR method. Bone surface and bone marrow with 0.112 and 0.053 mSv/MBq, respectively, received the highest absorbed dose. According to these results, the radiolabeled complex is a suitable and safe option for PET bone imaging.

Keywords: Absorbed dose, EDTMP, 68Ga, rats.

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Authors: Senda Trabelsi, Sébastien Poncet, Michel Poirier

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Ice slurries are considered as a promising phase-changing secondary fluids for air-conditioning, packaging or cooling industrial processes. An experimental study has been here carried out to measure the rheological characteristics of ice slurries. Ice slurries consist in a solid phase (flake ice crystals) and a liquid phase. The later is composed of a mixture of liquid water and an additive being here either (1) Propylene-Glycol (PG) or (2) Ethylene-Glycol (EG) used to lower the freezing point of water. Concentrations of 5%, 14% and 24% of both additives are investigated with ice mass fractions ranging from 5% to 85%. The rheological measurements are carried out using a Discovery HR-2 vane-concentric cylinder with four full-length blades. The experimental results show that the behavior of ice slurries is generally non-Newtonian with shear-thinning or shear-thickening behaviors depending on the experimental conditions. In order to determine the consistency and the flow index, the Herschel-Bulkley model is used to describe the behavior of ice slurries. The present results are finally validated against an experimental database found in the literature and the predictions of an Artificial Neural Network model.

Keywords: Ice slurry, propylene-glycol, ethylene-glycol, rheology, artificial neural network.

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Authors: Won Yeol Choi, Sangmo Kang

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The propulsion of a bacterial flagellum in a viscous fluid has attracted many interests in the field of biological hydrodynamics, but remains yet fully understood and thus still a challenging problem. In this study, therefore, we have numerically investigated the flow around a steadily rotating micro-sized spring to further understand such bacterial flagellum propulsion. Note that a bacterium gains thrust (propulsive force) by rotating the flagellum connected to the body through a bio motor to move forward. For the investigation, we convert the spring model from the micro scale to the macro scale using a similitude law (scale law) and perform simulations on the converted macro-scale model using a commercial software package, CFX v13 (ANSYS). To scrutinize the propulsion characteristics of the flagellum through the simulations, we make parameter studies by changing some flow parameters, such as the pitch, helical radius and rotational speed of the spring and the Reynolds number (or fluid viscosity), expected to affect the thrust force experienced by the rotating spring. Results show that the propulsion characteristics depend strongly on the parameters mentioned above. It is observed that the forward thrust increases in a linear fashion with either of the rotational speed or the fluid viscosity. In addition, the thrust is directly proportional to square of the helical radius and but the thrust force is increased and then decreased based on the peak value to the pitch. Finally, we also present the appropriate flow and pressure fields visualized to support the observations.

Keywords: Fluid viscosity, hydrodynamics, similitude, propulsive force.

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Authors: N. Manoj

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The aeroelastic behavior of engine nacelle strake when subjected to unsteady aerodynamic flows is investigated in this paper. Geometric nonlinear characteristics and modal parameters of nacelle strake are studied when it is under dynamic loading condition. Here, an N-S based Finite Volume solver is coupled with Finite Element (FE) based nonlinear structural solver to investigate the nonlinear characteristics of nacelle strake over a range of dynamic pressures at various phases of flight like takeoff, climb, and cruise conditions. The combination of high fidelity models for both aerodynamics and structural dynamics is used to predict the nonlinearities of strake (chine). The methodology adopted for present aeroelastic analysis is partitioned-based time domain coupled CFD and CSD solvers and it is validated by the consideration of experimental and numerical comparison of aeroelastic data for a cropped delta wing model which has a proven record. The present strake geometry is derived from theoretical formulation. The amplitude and frequency obtained from the coupled solver at various dynamic pressures is discussed, which gives a better understanding of its impact on aerodynamic design-sizing of strake.

Keywords: Aeroelasticity, finite volume, geometric nonlinearity, limit cycle oscillations, strake.

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Authors: K. Jahani, J. Razavi

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Nowadays, to decrease the number of downtimes in the industries such as metal mining, petroleum and chemical industries, predictive maintenance is crucial. In order to have efficient predictive maintenance, knowing the performance of critical equipment of production line such as pumps and hydro-cyclones under variable operating parameters, selecting best indicators of this equipment health situations, best locations for instrumentation, and also measuring of these indicators are very important. In this paper, computer aided engineering (CAE) tools are implemented to study some important elements of copper process line, namely slurry pumps and cyclone to predict the performance of these components under different working conditions. These modeling and simulations can be used in predicting, for example, the damage tolerance of the main shaft of the slurry pump or wear rate and location of cyclone wall or pump case and impeller. Also, the simulations can suggest best-measuring parameters, measuring intervals, and their locations.

Keywords: Computer aided engineering, predictive maintenance, fault detection, mining process line, slurry pump, hydrocyclone.

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Authors: Mei Shan Ngan, Chee Wei Tan

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Due to the non-linear characteristics of photovoltaic (PV) array, PV systems typically are equipped with the capability of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) feature. Moreover, in the case of PV array under partially shaded conditions, hotspot problem will occur which could damage the PV cells. Partial shading causes multiple peaks in the P-V characteristic curves. This paper presents a hybrid algorithm of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) MPPT algorithm for the detection of global peak among the multiple peaks in order to extract the true maximum energy from PV panel. The PV system consists of PV array, dc-dc boost converter controlled by the proposed MPPT algorithm and a resistive load. The system was simulated using MATLAB/Simulink package. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm performs well to detect the true global peak power. The results of the simulations are analyzed and discussed.

Keywords: Photovoltaic (PV), Partial Shading, Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN)

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Authors: Nor Hafizah Anuar, M. Gul Akdeniz

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This paper attempted on emphasize on the station buildings façade elements. Station buildings were essential part of the transportation that reflected the technology. Comparative analysis on architectural styles will also be made between the railway station buildings of Malaysia and any railway station buildings which have similarities. The Malay Peninsula which is strategically situated between the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea makes it an ideal location for trade. Malacca became an important trading port whereby merchants from around the world stopover to exchange various products. The Portuguese ruled Malacca for 130 years (1511–1641) and for the next century and a half (1641–1824), the Dutch endeavoured to maintain an economic monopoly along the coasts of Malaya. Malacca came permanently under British rule under the Anglo-Dutch Treaty, 1824. Up to Malaysian independence in 1957, Malaya saw a great influx of Chinese and Indian migrants as workers to support its growing industrial needs facilitated by the British. The growing tin ore mining and rubber industry resulted as the reason of the development of the railways as urgency to transport it from one place to another. The existence of railway transportation becomes more significant when the city started to bloom and the British started to build grandeur buildings that have different functions; administrative buildings, town and city halls, railway stations, public works department, courts, and post offices.

Keywords: Malaysia, railway station, architectural design, façade elements.

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Authors: M. R. Akshaya, Veena Rao

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Pet population in India is increasing phenomenally owing to the changes in urban lifestyle with increasing number of single professionals, single parents, delayed parenthood etc. The animal companionship as a means of reducing stress levels, deriving emotional support, and unconditional love provided by dogs are a few reasons attributed for increasing pet ownership. The consequence is the booming of the pet care products and dog care centers catering to the different requirements of rearing the pets. Dog care centers quite popular in tier 1 metros of India cater to the requirement of the dog owners providing space for the dogs in absence of the owner. However, it is often reported that the absence of the owner leads to destructive and exploratory behavior issues; the main being the anxiety disorders. In the above context, it becomes imperative for a designer to design dog boarding centers that help in reducing the separation anxiety in dogs keeping in mind the different interior design parameters. An exploratory research with focus group discussion is employed involving a group of dog owners, behaviorists, proprietors of day care as well as boarding centers, and veterinarians to understand their perception on the significance of different interior parameters of color, texture, ventilation, aroma therapy and acoustics as a means of reducing the stress levels in dogs sent to the boarding centers. The data collected is organized as thematic networks thus enabling the listing of the interior design parameters that needs to be considered in designing dog boarding centers. 

Keywords: Behavioral response, design parameters, dog boarding centers, interior environment.

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Authors: Rajib Ul Alam Uzzal, Ion Stiharu, Waiz Ahmed

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This paper presents the modeling of a MEMS based accelerometer in order to detect the presence of a wheel flat in the railway vehicle. A haversine wheel flat is assigned to one wheel of a 5 DOF pitch plane vehicle model, which is coupled to a 3 layer track model. Based on the simulated acceleration response obtained from the vehicle-track model, an accelerometer is designed that meets all the requirements to detect the presence of a wheel flat. The proposed accelerometer can survive in a dynamic shocking environment with acceleration up to ±150g. The parameters of the accelerometer are calculated in order to achieve the required specifications using lumped element approximation and the results are used for initial design layout. A finite element analysis code (COMSOL) is used to perform simulations of the accelerometer under various operating conditions and to determine the optimum configuration. The simulated results are found within about 2% of the calculated values, which indicates the validity of lumped element approach. The stability of the accelerometer is also determined in the desired range of operation including the condition under shock.

Keywords: MEMS accelerometer, Pitch plane vehicle, wheel flat.

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Authors: Tang Mui Joo, Chan Eang Teng

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The use of social media has become more defined. It has been widely used for the purpose of business. More marketers are now using social media as tools to enhance their businesses. Whereas on the other hand, there are more and more people spending their time through mobile apps to be engaged in the social media sites like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and others. Social media has even become common in Public Relations (PR). It has become number one platform for creating and sharing content. In view to this, social media has changed the rules in PR where it brings new challenges and opportunities to the profession. Although corporate websites, chat-rooms, email customer response facilities and electronic news release distribution are now viewed as standard aspects of PR practice, many PR practitioners are still struggling with the impact of new media though the implementation of social media is potentially reducing the cost of communication. It is to the point that PR practitioners are not fully embracing new media, they are ill-equipped to do so and they have a fear of the technology. Somehow that social media has become a new style of communication that is characterized by conversation and community. It has become a platform that allows individuals to interact with one another and build relationship among each other. Therefore, in the use of business world, consumers are able to interact with those companies that have joined any social media. Based on their experiences with social networking site interactions, they are also exposed to personal interaction while communicating. This paper is to study the impact of social media to PR. This paper discovers the potential changes of PR practices in a developing country like Malaysia. Eventually the study reflects on how PR practitioners are actually using social media in the country. This paper is based on two theories in its development of this research foundation. Media Ecology Theory is to support the impact and changes to PR. Social Penetration Theory is to reflect on how the use of social media is among PRs. This research is using survey with PR practitioners in its data collection. The results have shown that PR professionals value social media more than they actually use it and the way of organizations communicate had been changed due to the transformation of social media.

Keywords: New media, social media, PR.

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Authors: Ezgi Dündar-Tekkaya, Nilgün Karatepe

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Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with their high mechanical, electrical, thermal and chemical properties are regarded as promising materials for many different potential applications. Having unique properties they can be used in a wide range of fields such as electronic devices, electrodes, drug delivery systems, hydrogen storage, textile etc. Catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) is a common method for CNT production especially for mass production. Catalysts impregnated on a suitable substrate are important for production with chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. Iron catalyst and MgO substrate is one of most common catalyst-substrate combination used for CNT. In this study, CNTs were produced by CCVD of acetylene (C2H2) on magnesium oxide (MgO) powder substrate impregnated by iron nitrate (Fe(NO3)3•9H2O) solution. The CNT synthesis conditions were as follows: at synthesis temperatures of 500 and 800°C multiwall and single wall CNTs were produced respectively. Iron (Fe) catalysts were prepared by with Fe:MgO ratio of 1:100, 5:100 and 10:100. The duration of syntheses were 30 and 60 minutes for all temperatures and catalyst percentages. The synthesized materials were characterized by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Raman spectroscopy.

Keywords: Carbon nanotube, catalyst, catalytic chemical vapordeposition, iron

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Authors: Seyhan Karaçavuş, Bülent Yılmaz, Ömer Kayaaltı, Semra İçer, Arzu Taşdemir, Oğuzhan Ayyıldız, Kübra Eset, Eser Kaya

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In this study, our goal was to perform tumor staging and subtype determination automatically using different texture analysis approaches for a very common cancer type, i.e., non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). Especially, we introduced a texture analysis approach, called Law’s texture filter, to be used in this context for the first time. The 18F-FDG PET images of 42 patients with NSCLC were evaluated. The number of patients for each tumor stage, i.e., I-II, III or IV, was 14. The patients had ~45% adenocarcinoma (ADC) and ~55% squamous cell carcinoma (SqCCs). MATLAB technical computing language was employed in the extraction of 51 features by using first order statistics (FOS), gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM), gray-level run-length matrix (GLRLM), and Laws’ texture filters. The feature selection method employed was the sequential forward selection (SFS). Selected textural features were used in the automatic classification by k-nearest neighbors (k-NN) and support vector machines (SVM). In the automatic classification of tumor stage, the accuracy was approximately 59.5% with k-NN classifier (k=3) and 69% with SVM (with one versus one paradigm), using 5 features. In the automatic classification of tumor subtype, the accuracy was around 92.7% with SVM one vs. one. Texture analysis of FDG-PET images might be used, in addition to metabolic parameters as an objective tool to assess tumor histopathological characteristics and in automatic classification of tumor stage and subtype.

Keywords: Cancer stage, cancer cell type, non-small cell lung carcinoma, PET, texture analysis.

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Authors: Sam Moshaver

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Reasonably priced and well-constructed housing must be an integral and element supporting a healthy society. The absence of housing everyone in society can afford negatively affects the people's health, education, ability to get jobs, develop their community. Without access to decent housing, economic development, integration of immigrants and inclusiveness, the society is negatively impacted. Canada has a sterling record in creating housing compared to many other nations around the globe. Canadian housing gets support from a mature and responsive mortgage network and a top-quality construction industry as well as safe and excellent quality building materials that are readily available. Yet 1.7 million Canadian households occupy substandard abodes. During the past hundred years, Canada's government has made a wide variety of attempts to provide decent residential facilities every Canadian can afford. Despite these laudable efforts, today Canada is left with housing that is inadequate for many Canadians. People who own their housing are given all kinds of privileges and perks, while people with relatively low incomes who rent their apartments or houses are discriminated against. To help solve these problems, zoning that is based on an "inclusionary" philosophy is tool developed to help provide people the affordable residences that they need. No, thirty years after its introduction, this type of zoning has been shown effective in helping build and provide Canadians with a houses or apartments they can afford to pay for. Using this form of zoning can have different results +depending on where and how it is used. After examining Canadian affordable housing and four American cases where this type of zoning was enforced in the USA, this makes various recommendations for expanding Canadians' access to housing they can afford.

Keywords: Affordable Housing, Inclusionary Zoning Low- Income Housing, Toronto Housing.

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Authors: Gizem Arslan Özgen, Kutay Yücetürk, Metin Tanoğlu, Engin Aktaş

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Power transmitted from the engine to the final drive where useful work is applied through a system consisting of a gearbox, clutch, drive shaft and a differential in the rear-wheel-drive automobiles. It is well-known that the steel drive shaft is usually manufactured in two pieces to increase the fundamental bending natural frequency to ensure safe operation conditions. In this work, hybrid one-piece propeller shafts composed of carbon/epoxy and glass/epoxy composites have been designed for a rear wheel drive automobile satisfying three design specifications, such as static torque transmission capability, torsional buckling and the fundamental natural bending frequency. Hybridization of carbon and glass fibers is being studied to optimize the cost/performance requirements. Composites shaft materials with various fiber orientation angles and stacking sequences are being fabricated and analyzed using finite element analysis (FEA).

Keywords: Composite propeller shaft, hybridization, epoxy matrix, static torque transmission capability, torsional buckling strength, fundamental natural bending frequency.

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Authors: Stefano Sorace, Gloria Terenzi

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The seismic rehabilitation designs of two reinforced concrete school buildings, representative of a wide stock of similar edifices designed under earlier editions of the Italian Technical Standards, are presented in this paper. The mutual retrofit solution elaborated for the two buildings consists in the incorporation of a dissipative bracing system including pressurized fluid viscous springdampers as passive protective devices. The mechanical parameters, layouts and locations selected for the constituting elements of the system; the architectural renovation projects developed to properly incorporate the structural interventions and improve the appearance of the buildings; highlights of the installation works already completed in one of the two structures; and a synthesis of the performance assessment analyses carried out in original and rehabilitated conditions, are illustrated. The results of the analyses show a remarkable enhancement of the seismic response capacities of both structures. This allows reaching the high performance objectives postulated in the retrofit designs with much lower costs and architectural intrusion as compared to traditional rehabilitation interventions designed for the same objectives.

Keywords: Seismic rehabilitation, R/C structures, performance analysis, dissipative braces, fluid viscous dampers.

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Authors: Kohtaroh Miyamoto

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As enterprise computing becomes more and more complex, the costs and technical challenges of IT system maintenance and support are increasing rapidly. One popular approach to managing IT system maintenance is to prepare and use a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) system to manage and reuse systems knowledge. Such a FAQ system can help reduce the resolution time for each service incident ticket. However, there is a major problem where over time the knowledge in such FAQs tends to become outdated. Much of the knowledge captured in the FAQ requires periodic updates in response to new insights or new trends in the problems addressed in order to maintain its usefulness for problem resolution. These updates require a systematic approach to define the exact portion of the FAQ and its content. Therefore, we are working on a novel method to hierarchically structure the FAQ and automate the updates of its structure and content. We use structured information and the unstructured text information with the timelines of the information in the service incident tickets. We cluster the tickets by structured category information, by keywords, and by keyword modifiers for the unstructured text information. We also calculate an urgency score based on trends, resolution times, and priorities. We carefully studied the tickets of one of our projects over a 2.5-year time period. After the first 6 months we started to create FAQs and confirmed they improved the resolution times. We continued observing over the next 2 years to assess the ongoing effectiveness of our method for the automatic FAQ updates. We improved the ratio of tickets covered by the FAQ from 32.3% to 68.9% during this time. Also, the average time reduction of ticket resolution was between 31.6% and 43.9%. Subjective analysis showed more than 75% reported that the FAQ system was useful in reducing ticket resolution times.

Keywords: FAQ System, Resolution Time, Service Incident Tickets, IT System Maintenance.

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Authors: Mohamed A. G. H. Abdalsadig, Amir Nourian, G. G. Nasr, Meisam Babaie

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Gas lift optimization is becoming more important now a day in petroleum industry. A proper lift optimization can reduce the operating cost, increase the net present value (NPV) and maximize the recovery from the asset. A widely accepted definition of gas lift optimization is to obtain the maximum output under specified operating conditions. In addition, gas lift, a costly and indispensable means to recover oil from high depth reservoir entails solving the gas lift optimization problems. Gas lift optimization is a continuous process; there are two levels of production optimization. The total field optimization involves optimizing the surface facilities and the injection rate that can be achieved by standard tools softwares. Well level optimization can be achieved by optimizing the well parameters such as point of injection, injection rate, and injection pressure. All these aspects have been investigated and presented in this study by using experimental data and PROSPER simulation program. The results show that the well head pressure has a large influence on the gas lift performance and also proved that smart gas lift valve can be used to improve gas lift performance by controlling gas injection from down hole. Obtaining the optimum gas injection rate is important because excessive gas injection reduces production rate and consequently increases the operation cost.

Keywords: Optimization, production rate, reservoir pressure effect, gas injection rate effect, gas injection pressure.

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Authors: Bashir M. Suleiman

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Thermal load calculations have been performed for multi-layered walls that are composed of three different parts; a common (sand and cement) plaster, and two types of locally produced soft and hard bricks. The masonry construction of these layered walls was based on concrete-backed stone masonry made of limestone bricks joined by mortar. These multilayered walls are forming the outer walls of the building envelope of a typical Libyan house. Based on the periodic seasonal weather conditions, within the Libyan cost region during summer and winter, measured thermal conductivity values were used to implement such seasonal variation of heat flow and the temperature variations through the walls. The experimental measured thermal conductivity values were obtained using the Hot Disk technique. The estimation of the thermal resistance of the wall layers ( R-values) is based on measurements and calculations. The numerical calculations were done using a simplified analytical model that considers two different wall constructions which are characteristics of such houses. According to the obtained results, the R-values were quite low and therefore, several suggestions have been proposed to improve the thermal loading performance that will lead to a reasonable human comfort and reduce energy consumption.

Keywords: Thermal loading, multilayered walls, Libyan bricks, thermal resistance

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Authors: Pascal Constantin, Gîlcă Ioan, Radu Rusu Răzvan, Nacu Gherasim

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In the Northern hemisphere, sheep reproduction is seasonal (September-November). Among several natural factors influencing the reproduction status of rams, we studied the daylight length and temperature. Rams from different breeds were studied: Merinos de Palas (half-precocious), Karakul de Botosani (halfbelated) and Turcana (belated breed, low reproductive plasticity). In Merinos de Palas, ejaculate volume during sexual repose is 51.3% from normal quantity. When autumn climate was experimentally induced, ejaculate volume reached 98.45% (Merinos), 94.97% (Karakul) and 97.59% (Turcana). Semen density increased from 1.031-1.033 till 1.035 after exposition to artificial light and temperature conditions. Spermatozoids mobility and sperm pH improved, passing over 82% and 6.75, values identical to those in the natural reproduction season. Behaviour analysis after photoperiodicity indicated that over 83.3% Merinos and Karakul males and all Turcana rams exteriorised normal and intense sexual reflexes. Certain effort and reduced expenses brought rams in good condition, producing higher quantity and quality sperm.

Keywords: natural factors, photoperiodicity, sexual behaviour, Romanian sheep.

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Authors: Dina Tamazin, Nicoleta Tipi, Sahar Validi

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The oil refining industry plays vital role in the world economy. Oil refining companies operate in a more complex and dynamic environment than ever before. In addition, oil refining companies and the public are becoming more conscious of crude oil scarcity and climate changes. Hence, sustainability in the oil refining industry is becoming increasingly critical to the industry's long-term viability and to the environmental sustainability. Mainly, it is relevant to the measurement and evaluation of the company's sustainable performance to support the company in understanding their performance and its implication more objectively and establishing sustainability development plans. Consequently, the oil refining companies attempt to re-engineer their supply chain to meet the sustainable goals and standards. On the other hand, this research realized that previous research in oil refining sustainable supply chain performance measurements reveals that there is a lack of studies that consider the integration of sustainability in the supply chain performance measurement practices in the oil refining industry. Therefore, there is a need for research that provides performance guidance, which can be used to measure sustainability and assist in setting sustainable goals for oil refining supply chains. Accordingly, this paper aims to present a comprehensive oil refining sustainable supply chain performance measurement theoretical framework. In development of this theoretical framework, the main characteristics of oil refining industry have been identified. For this purpose, a thorough review of relevant literature on performance measurement models and sustainable supply chain performance measurement models has been conducted. The comprehensive oil refining sustainable supply chain performance measurement theoretical framework introduced in this paper aims to assist oil refining companies in measuring and evaluating their performance from a sustainability aspect to achieve sustainable operational excellence.

Keywords: Oil refining industry, oil refining sustainable supply chain performance measurements, performance measurements, sustainability.

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Authors: A. Yazdanpanah Goharrizi

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An improved topology of a voltage-fed quasi-resonant soft switching LCrCdc series-parallel half bridge inverter with a constant-frequency for electronic ballast applications is proposed in this paper. This new topology introduces a low-cost solution to reduce switching losses and circuit rating to achieve high-efficiency ballast. Switching losses effect on ballast efficiency is discussed through experimental point of view. In this discussion, an improved topology in which accomplishes soft switching operation over a wide power regulation range is proposed. The proposed structure uses reverse recovery diode to provide better operation for the ballast system. A symmetrical pulse wide modulation (PWM) control scheme is implemented to regulate a wide range of out-put power. Simulation results are kindly verified with the experimental measurements obtained by ballast-lamp laboratory prototype. Different load conditions are provided in order to clarify the performance of the proposed converter.

Keywords: Electronic ballast, Pulse wide modulation (PWM) Reverse recovery diode, Soft switching.

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Authors: Negar Banan, Mohd Talib Latif

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This study investigated the relationship between urban and rural ozone concentrations and quantified the extent to which ambient rural conditions and the concentrations of other pollutants can be used to predict urban ozone concentrations. The study describes the variations of ozone in weekday and weekends as well as the daily maximum recorded at selected monitoring stations. The results showed that Putrajaya station had the highest concentrations of O3 on weekend due the titration of NO during the weekday. Additionally, Jerantut had the lowest average concentration with a reading value high on Wednesdays. The comparisons of average and maximum concentrations of ozone for the three stations showed that the strongest significant correlation is recorded in Jerantut station with the value R2= 0.769. Ozone concentrations originating from a neighbouring urban site form a better predictor to the urban ozone concentrations than widespread rural ozone at some levels of temporal averaging. It is found that in urban and rural of Malaysian peninsular, the concentration of ozone depends on the concentration of NOx and seasonal meteorological factors. The HYSPLIT Model (the northeast monsoon) showed that the wind direction can also influence the concentration of ozone in the atmosphere in the studied areas.

Keywords: Ozone, Hysplit model, Weekend effect, Daily Average and Daily maximum, Malaysia

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Authors: K.Ting, K. T. Chen, Y. L. Su, C. J. Chang

Abstract:

In medical therapy, laser has been widely used to conduct cosmetic, tumor and other treatments. During the process of laser irradiation, there may be thermal damage caused by excessive laser exposure. Thus, the establishment of a complete thermal analysis model is clinically helpful to physicians in reference data. In this study, porcine liver in place of tissue was subjected to laser irradiation to set up the experimental data considering the explored impact on surface thermal field and thermal damage region under different conditions of power, laser irradiation time, and distance between laser and porcine liver. In the experimental process, the surface temperature distribution of the porcine lever was measured by the infrared thermal imager. In the part of simulation, the bio heat transfer Pennes-s equation was solved by software SYSWELD applying in welding process. The double ellipsoid function as a laser source term is firstly considered in the prediction for surface thermal field and internal tissue damage. The simulation results are compared with the experimental data to validate the mathematical model established here in.

Keywords: laser infrared thermal imager, bio-heat transfer, double ellipsoid function.

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Authors: Jens Friedrich, Matthias A. Gebele, Armin Lechler, Alexander Verl

Abstract:

Chatter vibrations and process instabilities are the most important factors limiting the productivity of the milling process. Chatter can leads to damage of the tool, the part or the machine tool. Therefore, the estimation and prediction of the process stability is very important. The process stability depends on the spindle speed, the depth of cut and the width of cut. In milling, the process conditions are defined in the NC-program. While the spindle speed is directly coded in the NC-program, the depth and width of cut are unknown. This paper presents a new simulation based approach for the prediction of the depth and width of cut of a milling process. The prediction is based on a material removal simulation with an analytically represented tool shape and a multi-dexel approach for the workpiece. The new calculation method allows the direct estimation of the depth and width of cut, which are the influencing parameters of the process stability, instead of the removed volume as existing approaches do. The knowledge can be used to predict the stability of new, unknown parts. Moreover with an additional vibration sensor, the stability lobe diagram of a milling process can be estimated and improved based on the estimated depth and width of cut.

Keywords: Dexel, process stability, material removal, milling.

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Authors: M. Aghili, S. Tabarestani, C. Freytes, M. Shojaie, M. Cabrerizo, A. Barreto, N. Rishe, R. E. Curiel, D. Loewenstein, R. Duara, M. Adjouadi

Abstract:

A major challenge in medical studies, especially those that are longitudinal, is the problem of missing measurements which hinders the effective application of many machine learning algorithms. Furthermore, recent Alzheimer's Disease studies have focused on the delineation of Early Mild Cognitive Impairment (EMCI) and Late Mild Cognitive Impairment (LMCI) from cognitively normal controls (CN) which is essential for developing effective and early treatment methods. To address the aforementioned challenges, this paper explores the potential of using the eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) algorithm in handling missing values in multiclass classification. We seek a generalized classification scheme where all prodromal stages of the disease are considered simultaneously in the classification and decision-making processes. Given the large number of subjects (1631) included in this study and in the presence of almost 28% missing values, we investigated the performance of XGBoost on the classification of the four classes of AD, NC, EMCI, and LMCI. Using 10-fold cross validation technique, XGBoost is shown to outperform other state-of-the-art classification algorithms by 3% in terms of accuracy and F-score. Our model achieved an accuracy of 80.52%, a precision of 80.62% and recall of 80.51%, supporting the more natural and promising multiclass classification.

Keywords: eXtreme Gradient Boosting, missing data, Alzheimer disease, early mild cognitive impairment, late mild cognitive impairment, multiclass classification, ADNI, support vector machine, random forest.

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Authors: Aziz, Nur Mardhiyah, Salleh, Hafez

Abstract:

Implementing Information Technology/ Information System (IT/IS) is critical for every industry as its potential benefits have been to motivate many industries including the Malaysian construction industry to invest in it. To successfully implement IT/IS has become the major concern for every organisation. Identifying the critical success factors (CSFs) has become the main agenda for researchers, academicians and practitioners due to the wide number of failures reported. This research paper seeks to identify the CSFs that influence the successful implementation of IT/IS in construction industry in Malaysia. Limited factors relating to people issue will be highlighted here to showcase some as it becomes one of the major contributing factors to the failure. Three (3) organisations have participated in this study. Semi-structured interviews are employed as they offer sufficient flexibility to ensure that all relevant factors are covered. Several key issues contributing to successful implementations of IT/IS are identified. The results of this study reveal that top management support, communication, user involvement, IT staff roles and responsibility, training/skills, leader/ IT Leader, organisation culture, knowledge/ experience, motivation, awareness, focus and ambition, satisfaction, teamwork/ collaboration, willingness to change, attitude, commitment, management style, interest in IT, employee behaviour towards collaborative environment, trust, interpersonal relationship, personal characteristic and competencies are significantly associated with the successful implementations of IT/IS. It is anticipated that this study will create awareness and contribute to a better understanding amongst construction industry players and will assist them to successfully implement IT/IS.

Keywords: critical success factors, construction industry , IT/IS, people

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Authors: Ernesto A. Lagarda-Leyva, Manuel A. Valenzuela L., José G. Oshima C., Arnulfo A. Naranjo-Flores

Abstract:

From August to December of 2016, a diagnostic and strategic planning study was carried out on the supply chain of the company Agropecuaria GABO S.A. de C.V. The final product of the study was the development of the strategic plan and a project portfolio to meet the demands of the three links in the supply chain of the Roma tomato exported annually to the United States of America. In this project, the strategic objective of ensuring the proper handling of the product was selected and one of the goals associated with this was the employment of quantitative methods to support decision making. Considering the antecedents, the objective of this case study was to develop a model to analyze the behavioral dynamics in the distribution chain, from the logistics of storage and shipment of Roma tomato in 81-case pallets (11.5 kg per case), to the two pre-cooling rooms and eventual loading onto transports, seeking to reduce the bottleneck and the associated costs by means of a dynamic interface. The methodology used was that of system dynamics, considering four phases that were adapted to the purpose of the study: 1) the conceptualization phase; 2) the formulation phase; 3) the evaluation phase; and 4) the communication phase. The main practical conclusions lead to the possibility of reducing both the bottlenecks in the cooling rooms and the costs by simulating scenarios and modifying certain policies. Furthermore, the creation of the dynamic interface between the model and the stakeholders was achieved by generating interaction with buttons and simple instructions that allow making modifications and observing diverse behaviors.

Keywords: Agrilogistics, distribution, scenarios, system dynamics.

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Authors: Aseel Hatif Jassam, Hadeel Hatif Jassam

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The paper discusses the phallocentric discourse that is challenged by women in general and women of color in particular in spite of the simultaneity of oppression due to race, class, and gender in the diaspora. Therefore, the paper gives a brief account of women's experience in the light of postcolonial feminist theory. The paper also casts light on the theories of Luce Irigaray and Helen Cixous, two feminist theorists who support and advise women to have their own discourse to challenge the infectious patriarchal sentence advocated by Sigmund Freud and Harold Bloom's model of literary history. Black women authors like Buchi Emecheta as well as her alter ego Adah, a Nigerian-born girl and the protagonist of her semi-autobiographical novel, Second Class Citizen, suffer from this phallocentric and oppressive sentence and displacement as they migrate from Nigeria, a former British colony where they feel marginalized, to North London with the hope of realizing their dreams. Yet in the British diaspora, they get culturally shocked and continue to suffer from further marginalization due to class and race and are insulted and inferiorized ironically by their patriarchal husbands who try to put an end to their dreams of authorship. With the phallocentric belief that women are not capable of self-representation in the background of their mindsets, the violent Sylvester Onwordi and Francis Obi, the husbands of both Emecheta and Adah respectively have practiced oppression on them by burning their own authoritative voices, represented by the novels they write while they are struggling with their economically atrocious living experiences in the British diaspora.

Keywords: Authorship, British diaspora, discourse, phallocentric, patriarchy.

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