Search results for: Environmental Kuznets Curve

Authors: Essam A. Al-Bahkali

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A three-dimensional finite element modeling for austenitic stainless steel AISI 304 annealed condition sheets of 1.0 mm thickness are developed using ABAQUS® software. This includes spot welded and weld bonded joints models. Both models undergo thermal heat caused by spot welding process and then are subjected to axial load up to the failure point. The properties of elastic and plastic regions, modulus of elasticity, fracture limit, nugget and heat affected zones are determined. Complete loaddisplacement curve for each joining model is obtained and compared with the experiment data and with the finite element models without including the effect of thermal process. In general, the results obtained for both spot welded and weld-bonded joints affected by thermal process showed an excellent agreement with the experimental data.

Keywords: Heat Affected Zone, Spot Welded, Thermal Process, Weld-Bonded.

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Authors: Fares Jnaid, Riyad Aboutaha

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In this paper, a nonlinear Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was carried out using ANSYS software to build a model able of predicting the behavior of Reinforced Concrete (RC) beams with unbonded reinforcement. The FEA model was compared to existing experimental data by other researchers. The existing experimental data consisted of 16 beams that varied from structurally sound beams to beams with unbonded reinforcement with different unbonded lengths and reinforcement ratios. The model was able to predict the ultimate flexural strength, load-deflection curve, and crack pattern of concrete beams with unbonded reinforcement. It was concluded that when the when the unbonded length is less than 45% of the span, there will be no decrease in the ultimate flexural strength due to the loss of bond between the steel reinforcement and the surrounding concrete regardless of the reinforcement ratio. Moreover, when the reinforcement ratio is relatively low, there will be no decrease in ultimate flexural strength regardless of the length of unbond.

Keywords: FEA, ANSYS, Unbond, Strain.

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Authors: Azadeh Rezafar, Sevkiye Sence Turk

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Rapid population growth in urban areas and extinction danger of natural resources in order to meet the food needs of these population, has revealed the need for sustainability. It did not last long that city planners realized the importance of an equal access to natural resources with protecting and managing them in cities, in accordance with the concept of sustainable development. Like in other countries The Turkish Government is aware of the importance of the sustainable development in their cities. The government issued new laws for protection of environmental assets and so that the preservation of natural ecology. The main objective of this article is to emphasis the importance of the sustainable development in the context of the developing world by giving special information about the method of the Turkish Government for protecting nature with approval of difference laws in this area.

Keywords: Population Growth, Sustainable Development, Turkey, Turkish Urban Environmental Laws.

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Authors: Afshin Jahangirzadeh, Shatirah Akib, Babak Kamali, Sadia Rahman

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Scarcity of water resources and huge costs of establishing new hydraulic installations necessitate optimal exploitation from existing reservoirs. Sustainable management and efficient exploitation from existing finite water resources are important factors in water resource management, particularly in the periods of water insufficiency and in dry regions, and on account of competitive allocations in the view of exploitation management. This study aims to minimize reservoir water release from a determined rate of demand. A numerical model for water optimal exploitation has been developed using GAMS introduced by the World Bank and applied to the case of Meijaran dam, northern Iran. The results indicate that this model can optimize the function of reservoir exploitation while required water for lower parts of the region will be supplied. Further, allocating optimal water from reservoir, the optimal rate of water allocated to any group of the users were specified to increase benefits in curve dam exploitation.

Keywords: Water resource management, water reservoirs, water allocation, GAMS, Meijaran dam

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Authors: J. Liu, Z. P. Yu, L. Xiong, Y. Feng, J. He

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According to the independence, accuracy and controllability of the driving/braking torque of the distributed drive electric vehicle, a control strategy of differential drive assisted steering was designed. Firstly, the assisted curve under different speed and steering wheel torque was developed and the differential torques were distributed to the right and left front wheels. Then the steering return ability assisted control algorithm was designed. At last, the joint simulation was conducted by CarSim/Simulink. The result indicated: the differential drive assisted steering algorithm could provide enough steering drive-assisted under low speed and improve the steering portability. Along with the increase of the speed, the provided steering drive-assisted decreased. With the control algorithm, the steering stiffness of the steering system increased along with the increase of the speed, which ensures the driver’s road feeling. The control algorithm of differential drive assisted steering could avoid the understeer under low speed effectively.

Keywords: Differential assisted steering, control strategy, distributed drive electric vehicle.

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Authors: Yun-Yao Chi, Ya-Fen Lee

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In this paper, a study of slope failures along the Alishan Highway is carried out. An innovative empirical model is developed based on 15-year records of rainfall-induced slope failures. The statistical models are intended for assessing the volume of landslide for slope failure along the Alishan Highway in the future. The rainfall data considered in the proposed models include the effective cumulative rainfall and the critical rainfall intensity. The effective cumulative rainfall is defined at the point when the curve of cumulative rainfall goes from steep to flat. Then, the rainfall thresholds of landslide are established for assessing the volume of landslide and issuing warning and/or closure for the Alishan Highway during a future extreme rainfall. Slope failures during Typhoon Saola in 2012 demonstrate that the new empirical model is effective and applicable to other cases with similar rainfall conditions.

Keywords: Slope failure, landslide, volume, model, rainfall thresholds.

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Authors: O. A. Apampa, Y. A. Jimoh, K. A. Olonade

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The need to save time and cost of soil testing at the planning stage of road work has necessitated developing predictive models. This study proposes a model for predicting the dry density of lateritic soils stabilized with corn cob ash (CCA) and blended cement - CCA. Lateritic soil was first stabilized with CCA at 1.5, 3.0, 4.5 and 6% of the weight of soil and then stabilized with the same proportions as replacement for cement. Dry density, specific gravity, maximum degree of saturation and moisture content were determined for each stabilized soil specimen, following standard procedure. Polynomial equations containing alpha and beta parameters for CCA and blended CCA-cement were developed. Experimental values were correlated with the values predicted from the Matlab curve fitting tool, and the Solver function of Microsoft Excel 2010. The correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.86 was obtained indicating that the model could be accepted in predicting the maximum dry density of CCA stabilized soils to facilitate quick decision making in roadworks.

Keywords: Corn cob ash, lateritic soil, stabilization, maximum dry density, moisture content.

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Authors: Taweechai Nuntawisuttiwong, Natasha Dejdumrong

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Geometric modeling plays an important role in the constructions and manufacturing of curve, surface and solid modeling. Their algorithms are critically important not only in the automobile, ship and aircraft manufacturing business, but are also absolutely necessary in a wide variety of modern applications, e.g., robotics, optimization, computer vision, data analytics and visualization. The calculation and display of geometric objects can be accomplished by these six techniques: Polynomial basis, Recursive, Iterative, Coefficient matrix, Polar form approach and Pyramidal algorithms. In this research, the coefficient matrix (simply called monomial form approach) will be used to model polynomial rectangular patches, i.e., Said-Ball, Wang-Ball, DP, Dejdumrong and NB1 surfaces. Some examples of the monomial forms for these surface modeling are illustrated in many aspects, e.g., construction, derivatives, model transformation, degree elevation and degress reduction.

Keywords: Monomial form, rectangular surfaces, CAGD curves, monomial matrix applications.

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Authors: Chatchai Pesee

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This paper examines long-range dependence or longmemory of financial time series on the exchange rate data by the fractional Brownian motion (fBm). The principle of spectral density function in Section 2 is used to find the range of Hurst parameter (H) of the fBm. If 0< H <1/2, then it has a short-range dependence (SRD). It simulates long-memory or long-range dependence (LRD) if 1/2< H <1. The curve of exchange rate data is fBm because of the specific appearance of the Hurst parameter (H). Furthermore, some of the definitions of the fBm, long-range dependence and selfsimilarity are reviewed in Section II as well. Our results indicate that there exists a long-memory or a long-range dependence (LRD) for the exchange rate data in section III. Long-range dependence of the exchange rate data and estimation of the Hurst parameter (H) are discussed in Section IV, while a conclusion is discussed in Section V.

Keywords: Fractional Brownian motion, long-rangedependence, memory, short-range dependence.

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Authors: Rebecca Angeles

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Radio frequency identification (RFID) has been recognized as a key enabler of efficient and effective supply chains. Recently, with increasing concern for environmental sustainability, researchers and practitioners have been exploring the role of RFID in supporting “green supply chains.” This qualitative study uses the technology-organization-environment framework of Tornatzky and Fleischer, and Zuboff’s concepts of automating-informating-transformating in analyzing two case studies involving RFID use: the recycling of Hewlett Packard inkjet printers and the garbage and recycling program of the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Keywords: Environmental sustainability, green supply chain management, radio frequency identification, technology-organization-environment framework, Zuboff’automate-informate-transformate concepts.

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Authors: Majid Saaly, Shahriar Tavousi Tafreshi, Mehdi Nazari Afshar

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The sandwich composite walls (SCSSC) have more ductility and energy dissipation than conventional reinforced concrete shear walls. SCSSCs have acceptable compressive, shear, in-plane bending, and out-of-plane bending capacities. The use of sandwich-composite walls with J-hook connectors has a significant effect on energy dissipation and reduction of dynamic responses of mid-rise and high-rise structural models. In this paper, incremental dynamic analyses for 10- and 15-story steel structures were performed under seven far-faults by OpenSees. The demand values of 10- and 15-story models are reduced by up to 32% and 45%, respectively, while the structural system change from shear walls (SW) to SCSSC.

Keywords: Sandwich composite wall, SCSSC, fling step, fragility curve, IDA, inter story drift ratio.

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Authors: Linjun Wu, Shihua Zhu, Xingle Feng

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In Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems, the peak to average power ratio (PAR) is much high. The clipping signal scheme is a useful method to reduce PAR. Clipping the OFDM signal, however, increases the overall noise level by introducing clipping noise. It is necessary to recover the figure of the original signal at receiver in order to reduce the clipping noise. Considering the continuity of the signal and the figure of the peak, we obtain a certain conic function curve to replace the clipped signal module within the clipping time. The results of simulation show that the proposed scheme can reduce the systems? BER (bit-error rate) 10 times when signal-to-interference-and noise-ratio (SINR) equals to 12dB. And the BER performance of the proposed scheme is superior to that of kim's scheme, too.

Keywords: Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, Peak-to-Average Power Ratio, clipping time, conic function.

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Authors: Nasim Daemi, Gholam Hossein Majzoobi

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In this work, bending fatigue life of notched specimens with various notch geometries and dimensions is investigated by experiment and Manson-Caffin theoretical method. In this theoretical method, fatigue life of notched specimens is calculated using the fatigue life obtained from the experiments for plain specimens (without notch). Three notch geometries including ∪-shape, ∨-shape and C -shape notches are considered in this investigation. The experiments are conducted on a rotary bending Moore machine. The specimens are made of a low carbon steel alloy, which has wide application in industry. The stress- life curves are captured for all notched specimen by experiment. The results indicate that Manson-Caffin analytical method cannot adequately predict the fatigue life of notched specimen. However, it seems that the difference between the experiments and Manson-Caffin predictions can be compensated by a proportional factor.

Keywords: fatigue life, Mason-Caffin method, notchedspecimen, stress-life curve.

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Authors: K. Benhabib, X. Pierens, V-D Nguyen, G. Mimanne

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The main hypothesis of the dynamics of solid phase microextraction (SPME) is that steady-state mass transfer is respected throughout the SPME extraction process. It considers steady-state diffusion is established in the two phases and fast exchange of the analyte at the solid phase film/water interface. An improved model is proposed in this paper to handle with the situation when the analyte (atrazine) is in contact with colloid suspensions (carboxylate latex in aqueous solution). A mathematical solution is obtained by substituting the diffusion coefficient by the mean of diffusion coefficient between analyte and carboxylate latex, and also thickness layer by the mean thickness in aqueous solution. This solution provides an equation relating the extracted amount of the analyte to the extraction a little more complicated than previous models. It also gives a better description of experimental observations. Moreover, the rate constant of analyte obtained is in satisfactory agreement with that obtained from the initial curve fitting.

Keywords: Pesticide, SPME methods, polyacrylate, steady state.

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Authors: N. Gigauri, A. Surmava

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According to observational data, experimental measurements and numerical modelling, the pollution of one of the industrial centers of Georgia, Rustavi City’s atmosphere with micro aerosols are assessed. Monthly, daily and hourly changes of the concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 in the city atmosphere are analyzed. It is accepted that PM2.5 concentrations are always lower than PM10 concentrations, but their change curve is the same. In addition, it has been noted that the maximum concentrations of particles in the atmosphere of Rustavi city will be reached at any part of the day, which is determined by the total impact of the traffic flow and industrial facilities. Through numerical modelling, the influence of background western light air, gentle and fresh breeze on the distribution of particulate matter in the atmosphere was calculated. Calculations showed that background light air and gentle breeze lead to an increase the concentrations of microaerosols in the city's atmosphere, while fresh breeze contributes to the dispersion of dusty clouds. As a result, the level of dust in the city is decreasing, but the distribution area is expanding.

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

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Authors: B. Bagheri Nakhjavanlo, T. S. Ellis, P.Raoofi, Sh.ziari

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This paper presents an application of level sets for the segmentation of abdominal and thoracic aortic aneurysms in CTA datasets. An important challenge in reliably detecting aortic is the need to overcome problems associated with intensity inhomogeneities. Level sets are part of an important class of methods that utilize partial differential equations (PDEs) and have been extensively applied in image segmentation. A kernel function in the level set formulation aids the suppression of noise in the extracted regions of interest and then guides the motion of the evolving contour for the detection of weak boundaries. The speed of curve evolution has been significantly improved with a resulting decrease in segmentation time compared with previous implementations of level sets, and are shown to be more effective than other approaches in coping with intensity inhomogeneities. We have applied the Courant Friedrichs Levy (CFL) condition as stability criterion for our algorithm.

Keywords: Image segmentation, Level-sets, Local fitting binary, Thoracic aorta.

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Authors: R. Bremananth

Abstract:

Biometric authentication is an essential task for any kind of real-life applications. In this paper, we contribute two primary paradigms to Iris recognition such as Robust Eyelash Detection (RED) using pathway kernels and hair curve fitting synthesized model. Based on these two paradigms, rotation invariant iris recognition is enhanced. In addition, the presented framework is tested with real-life iris data to provide the authentication for LRC (Learning Resource Center) users. Recognition performance is significantly improved based on the contributed schemes by evaluating real-life irises. Furthermore, the framework has been implemented using Java programming language. Experiments are performed based on 1250 diverse subjects in different angles of variations on the authentication process. The results revealed that the methodology can deploy in the process on LRC management system and other security required applications.

Keywords: Authentication, biometric, eye lashes detection, iris scanning, LRC security, secure access.

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Authors: Prasopchoke Mongsawad

Abstract:

The Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy, bestowed by His Majesty the King Bhumibol Adulyadej to the people of Thailand, highlights a balanced way of living. Three principles of moderation reasonableness, and immunity, along with the conditions for morality and knowledge, can be applied to any level of the society–from an individual to the nation. The Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy helps address the current development challenges, which are issues on institutions, environmental sustainability, human well-being, and the role of the government.

Keywords: Sufficiency Economy, Development Theory, Sustainable Development, Environmental Sustainability, Social Capital, Human Well-Being,

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Authors: Asma Rabaoui, Zied Lachiri, Noureddine Ellouze

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Discrimination between different classes of environmental sounds is the goal of our work. The use of a sound recognition system can offer concrete potentialities for surveillance and security applications. The first paper contribution to this research field is represented by a thorough investigation of the applicability of state-of-the-art audio features in the domain of environmental sound recognition. Additionally, a set of novel features obtained by combining the basic parameters is introduced. The quality of the features investigated is evaluated by a HMM-based classifier to which a great interest was done. In fact, we propose to use a Multi-Style training system based on HMMs: one recognizer is trained on a database including different levels of background noises and is used as a universal recognizer for every environment. In order to enhance the system robustness by reducing the environmental variability, we explore different adaptation algorithms including Maximum Likelihood Linear Regression (MLLR), Maximum A Posteriori (MAP) and the MAP/MLLR algorithm that combines MAP and MLLR. Experimental evaluation shows that a rather good recognition rate can be reached, even under important noise degradation conditions when the system is fed by the convenient set of features.

Keywords: Sounds recognition, HMM classifier, Multi-style training, Environmental Adaptation, Feature combinations.

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Authors: M. Alauddin, T. Tsujimoto

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Dynamicity of stream channels along with environmental concern is the key issue to address in lowland rivers like Jamuna in Bangladesh. The groins are important structures in attaining the improved river environment, but their effective functioning is not evident yet with the present design. Considering the present demands, an approach through modification of groin configurations is planned to function more natural way in dynamic lowland rivers. Four different configurations including the conventional one are considered in the study, and the changes in hydro- and morpho-dynamics affected by various structures are investigated in the laboratory. Results show that the modified combined groin favors gradual deceleration of flow towards the channel side and minimizes local scour noticeably. This favors stable regular channel and improve environmental functions.

Keywords: Lowland river, dynamicity, river environment, groin configuration, local scour.

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Authors: Mauro Giacomini, Stefania Bertone, Federico Caneva Soumetz, Carmelina Ruggiero

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Environmental micro-organisms include a large number of taxa and some species that are generally considered nonpathogenic, but can represent a risk in certain conditions, especially for elderly people and immunocompromised individuals. Chemotaxonomic identification techniques are powerful tools for environmental micro-organisms, and cellular fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) content is a powerful fingerprinting identification technique. A system based on an unsupervised artificial neural network (ANN) was set up using the fatty acid profiles of standard bacterial strains, obtained by gas-chromatography, used as learning data. We analysed 45 certified strains belonging to Acinetobacter, Aeromonas, Alcaligenes, Aquaspirillum, Arthrobacter, Bacillus, Brevundimonas, Enterobacter, Flavobacterium, Micrococcus, Pseudomonas, Serratia, Shewanella and Vibrio genera. A set of 79 bacteria isolated from a drinking water line (AMGA, the major water supply system in Genoa) were used as an example for identification compared to standard MIDI method. The resulting ANN output map was found to be a very powerful tool to identify these fresh isolates.

Keywords: Cellular fatty acid methyl esters, environmental bacteria, gas-chromatography, unsupervised ANN.

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Authors: Maatoug Hassine, Mourad Hrizi

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In this paper, we consider a geometric inverse source problem for the heat equation with Dirichlet and Neumann boundary data. We will reconstruct the exact form of the unknown source term from additional boundary conditions. Our motivation is to detect the location, the size and the shape of source support. We present a one-shot algorithm based on the Kohn-Vogelius formulation and the topological gradient method. The geometric inverse source problem is formulated as a topology optimization one. A topological sensitivity analysis is derived from a source function. Then, we present a non-iterative numerical method for the geometric reconstruction of the source term with unknown support using a level curve of the topological gradient. Finally, we give several examples to show the viability of our presented method.

Keywords: Geometric inverse source problem, heat equation, topological sensitivity, topological optimization, Kohn-Vogelius formulation.

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Authors: M. Bittencourt, E. K. Yanful, D. Velasquez, A. E. Jungles

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The CMLP building was developed to be a model for sustainability with strategies to reduce water, energy and pollution, and to provide a healthy environment for the building occupants. The aim of this paper is to investigate the environmental effects of energy used by this building. A LCA (life cycle analysis) was led to measure the real environmental effects produced by the use of energy. The impact categories most affected by the energy use were found to be the human health effects, as well as ecotoxicity. Natural gas extraction, uranium milling for nuclear energy production, and the blasting for mining and infrastructure construction are the processes contributing the most to emissions in the human health effect. Data comparing LCA results of CMLP building with a conventional building results showed that energy used by the CMLP building has less damage for the environment and human health than a conventional building.

Keywords: Environmental Impacts, Green buildings, Life CycleAnalysis, Sustainability

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Authors: Jailan Mohamed El Demerdash

Abstract:

Millennials are a distinctive and dominant consumer group whose behavior, preferences and purchase decisions are broadly explored but not fully understood yet. Making up the largest market segment in the world, and in Egypt, they have the power to reinvent the hospitality industry and contribute to forming prospective demand for green hotels by showing willingness to adopting their environmental-friendly practices. The current study aims to enhance better understanding of Millennials' perception about sustainable initiatives and to increase the prediction power of their intentions regarding green hotel practices in Egypt. In doing so, the study is exploring the relation among different factors; Millennials' environmental awareness, their acceptance of green practices and their willingness to pay more for them. Millennials' profile, their preferences and environmental decision-making process are brought under light to stimulate actions of hospitality decision-makers and hoteliers. Bearing in mind that responsible consumerism is depending on understanding the different influences on consumption. The study questionnaire was composed of four sections and it was distributed to random Egyptian travelers' blogs and Facebook groups, with approximately 8000 members. Analysis of variance test (ANOVA) was used to examine the study variables. The findings indicated that Millennials' environmental awareness will not be a significant factor in their acceptance of hotel green practices, as well as, their willingness to pay more for them. However, Millennials' acceptance of the level of hotel green practices will have an impact on their willingness to pay more. Millennials were found to have a noticeable level of environmental awareness but lack commitment to tolerating hotel green practices and their associated high prices.

Keywords: Millennials, environment, awareness, green practices, paying more, Egypt.

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Authors: Ying-jie Zhang, Li-ling Ge

Abstract:

This paper presents an improved image segmentation model with edge preserving regularization based on the piecewise-smooth Mumford-Shah functional. A level set formulation is considered for the Mumford-Shah functional minimization in segmentation, and the corresponding partial difference equations are solved by the backward Euler discretization. Aiming at encouraging edge preserving regularization, a new edge indicator function is introduced at level set frame. In which all the grid points which is used to locate the level set curve are considered to avoid blurring the edges and a nonlinear smooth constraint function as regularization term is applied to smooth the image in the isophote direction instead of the gradient direction. In implementation, some strategies such as a new scheme for extension of u+ and u- computation of the grid points and speedup of the convergence are studied to improve the efficacy of the algorithm. The resulting algorithm has been implemented and compared with the previous methods, and has been proved efficiently by several cases.

Keywords: Energy minimization, image segmentation, level sets, edge regularization.

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Authors: R. Sinthavalai, N. Memongkol, N. Patthanaprechawong, J. Viriyanantavong, C. Choosuk

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In Thailand, the practice of pre-hospital Emergency Medical Service (EMS) in each area reveals the different growth rates and effectiveness of the practices. Those can be found as the diverse quality and quantity. To shorten the learning curve prior to speed-up the practices in other areas, story telling and lessons learnt from the effective practices are valued as meaningful knowledge. To this paper, it was to ascertain the factors, lessons learnt and best practices that have impact as contributing to the success of prehospital EMS system. Those were formulized as model prior to speedup the practice in other areas. To develop the model, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA), which is widely recognized as a framework for organizational quality assessment and improvement, was chosen as the discussion framework. Remarkably, this study was based on the consideration of knowledge capture; however it was not to complete the loop of knowledge activities. Nevertheless, it was to highlight the recognition of knowledge capture, which is the initiation of knowledge management.

Keywords: Emergency Medical Service, Modeling, MBNQA, Thailand.

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Authors: L. Nouri Taiba, Y. Bouhamidi, F. Kaouah, Z. Bendjama, M. Trari

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In the present study, an ecofriendly biocomposite namely calcium alginate immobilized Ammi Visnaga (Khella) extraction waste (SWAV/CA) was prepared by electrostatic extrusion method and used on the cadmium biosorption from aqueous phase with and without the assistance of ultrasound in batch conditions. The influence of low frequency ultrasound (37 and 80 KHz) on the cadmium biosorption kinetics was studied. The obtained results show that the ultrasonic irradiation significantly enhances and improves the efficiency of the cadmium removal. The Pseudo first order, Pseudo-second-order, Intraparticle diffusion, and Elovich models were evaluated using the non-linear curve fitting analysis method. Modeling of kinetic results shows that biosorption process is best described by the pseudo-second order and Elovich, in both the absence and presence of ultrasound.

Keywords: Biocomposite, biosorption, cadmium, non-linear analysis, ultrasound.

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Authors: Maisarah Makmor, Zulhabri Ismail, Rugayah Hashim, Nasyairi Mat Nasir

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Developing a nation geared by the principle of sustainable development has been one of the piers in moulding a greater nation for Malaysia since its independence. This is seen by the act of joining the United Nations in 1957, just a month after gaining their independence. The United Nations is an international organization that aims to unite the nations worldwide based on justice, human dignity and human well-being. Malaysia has established a local body called the United Nations Malaysia which collaborates with the government to accomplish the aim of supporting sustainable development in Malaysia. Agenda 21 is an international document produced from the Earth Summit providing guidelines of implementing sustainable development globally, nationally and locally. Initiatives of applying Agenda 21 in Malaysia have been taken by the government and non-profit organizations to expose issues regarding sustainable development and providing environmental education to the community to increase awareness towards environmental protection.

Keywords: Agenda 21, Environmental Protection, Malaysia, Sustainable Development, United Nations.

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Authors: P.Cordero, R.Poler, R.Sanchis

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The environmental impacts caused by the current production and consumption models, together with the impact that the current economic crisis, bring necessary changes in the European industry toward new business models based on sustainability issues that could allow them to innovate and improve their competitiveness. This paper analyzes the key environmental issues and the current and future market trends in one of the most important industrial sectors in Spain, the furniture sector. It also proposes new decision support tools -diagnostic kit, roadmap and guidelines- to guide companies to implement sustainability criteria into their organizations, including eco-design strategies and other economical and social strategies in accordance with the sustainability definition, and other available tools such as eco-labels, environmental management systems, etc., and to use and combine them to obtain the results the company expects to help improve its competitiveness.

Keywords: Furniture sector, eco-design, sustainability, economical crisis, market trends, roadmap

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Authors: Sedigheh Mirzaei S., Debasis Sengupta

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Parametric models have been quite popular for studying human growth, particularly in relation to biological parameters such as peak size velocity and age at peak size velocity. Longitudinal data are generally considered to be vital for fittinga parametric model to individual-specific data, and for studying the distribution of these biological parameters in a human population. However, cross-sectional data are easier to obtain than longitudinal data. In this paper, we present a method of combining longitudinal and cross-sectional data for the purpose of estimating the distribution of the biological parameters. We demonstrate, through simulations in the special case ofthePreece Baines model, how estimates based on longitudinal data can be improved upon by harnessing the information contained in cross-sectional data.We study the extent of improvement for different mixes of the two types of data, and finally illustrate the use of the method through data collected by the Indian Statistical Institute.

Keywords: Preece-Baines growth model, MCMC method, Mixed effect model

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