Search results for: high temperature deformation

Authors: Saba Gachpaz, Hamid Reza Heidari

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The sharp increase in population growth leads to more pressure on agricultural areas to satisfy the food supply. This necessitates increased resource consumption and underscores the importance of addressing sustainable agriculture development along with other environmental considerations. Land-use management is a crucial factor in obtaining optimum productivity. Machine learning is a widely used technique in the agricultural sector, from yield prediction to customer behavior. This method focuses on learning and provides patterns and correlations from our data set. In this study, nine physical control factors, namely, soil classification, electrical conductivity, normalized difference water index (NDWI), groundwater level, elevation, annual precipitation, pH of water, annual mean temperature, and slope in the alluvial plain in Khuzestan (an agricultural hotspot in Iran) are used to decide the best agricultural land use for both rainfed and irrigated agriculture for 10 different crops. For this purpose, each variable was imported into Arc GIS, and a raster layer was obtained. In the next level, by using training samples, all layers were imported into the python environment. A random forest model was applied, and the weight of each variable was specified. In the final step, results were visualized using a digital elevation model, and the importance of all factors for each one of the crops was obtained. Our results show that despite 62% of the study area being allocated to agricultural purposes, only 42.9% of these areas can be defined as a suitable class for cultivation purposes.

Keywords: Land suitability, machine learning, random forest, sustainable agriculture.

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Authors: F. O. Maphiri-Makananise

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This paper explores and provides substantiated evidence on the usage patterns of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) by female users at Vhembe District in Limpopo- Province, South Africa. The study presents a comprehensive picture on the usage of ICTs from female users’ perspective. The significance of this study stems from the need to assess the role, relevance and usage patterns of ICTs such as smartphones, computers, laptops, and iPods, the internet and social networking sites among females following the developments of new media technologies in society. The objective of the study is to investigate the usability and accessibility of ICTs to empower female users in South Africa. The study used quantitative and qualitative research methods to determine the major ideas, perceptions and usage patterns of ICTs by users. Data collection involved the use of structured selfadministered questionnaire from two groups of respondents who participated in this study. Thus, (n=50) female students at the University of Venda provided their ideas and perceptions about the usefulness and usage patterns of ICTs such as smartphones, the Internet and computers at the university level, whereas, the second group were (n=50) learners from Makhado Comprehensive School who provided their perceptions and ideas about the use of ICTs at the high school level. The researcher also noted that the findings of the study were useful as a guideline and model for ICT intervention that could work as an empowerment to women in South Africa. It was observed that the central purpose of ICTs among female users was to search for information regarding assignment writing, conducting research, dating, exchanging ideas and networking with friends and relatives. This was demonstrated by a high number of females who used ICTs for e-learning (62%) and social purposes (85%). Therefore, the study revealed that most females used ICTs for social purposes and accessing the internet rather than for entertainment, a gesture that provides an opportune space to empower rural women in South Africa.

Keywords: Female users, Information and Communication Technologies, Internet, Usage patterns.

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Authors: A. Soria-Verdugo, A. Morato-Godino, L. M. García-Gutiérrez, N. García-Hernando

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The evolution of the pyrolysis of sewage sludge in a fixed and a fluidized bed was analyzed using a novel measuring technique. This original measuring technique consists of installing the whole reactor over a precision scale, capable of measuring the mass of the complete reactor with enough precision to detect the mass released by the sewage sludge sample during its pyrolysis. The inert conditions required for the pyrolysis process were obtained supplying the bed with a nitrogen flowrate, and the bed temperature was adjusted to either 500 ºC or 600 ºC using a group of three electric resistors. The sewage sludge sample was supplied through the top of the bed in a batch of 10 g. The measurement of the mass released by the sewage sludge sample was employed to determine the evolution of the reaction rate during the pyrolysis, the total amount of volatile matter released, and the pyrolysis time. The pyrolysis tests of sewage sludge in the fluidized bed were conducted using two different bed materials of the same size but different densities: silica sand and sepiolite particles. The higher density of silica sand particles induces a flotsam behavior for the sewage sludge particles which move close to the bed surface. In contrast, the lower density of sepiolite produces a neutrally-buoyant behavior for the sewage sludge particles, which shows a proper circulation throughout the whole bed in this case. The analysis of the evolution of the pyrolysis process in both fluidized beds show that the pyrolysis is faster when buoyancy effects are negligible, i.e. in the bed conformed by sepiolite particles. Moreover, sepiolite was found to show an absorbent capability for the volatile matter released during the pyrolysis of sewage sludge.

Keywords: Bubbling fluidized bed, pyrolysis time, segregation effects, sewage sludge.

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Authors: Yasir M. Alyazichi, Brian G. Jones, Errol McLean, Hamd N. Altalyan, Ali K. M. Al-Nasrawi

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The main purpose of this study is to assess the sediment quality and potential ecological risk in marine sediments in Gymea Bay located in south Sydney, Australia. A total of 32 surface sediment samples were collected from the bay. Current track trajectories and velocities have also been measured in the bay. The resultant trace elements were compared with the adverse biological effect values Effect Range Low (ERL) and Effect Range Median (ERM) classifications. The results indicate that the average values of chromium, arsenic, copper, zinc, and lead in surface sediments all reveal low pollution levels and are below ERL and ERM values. The highest concentrations of trace elements were found close to discharge points and in the inner bay, and were linked with high percentages of clay minerals, pyrite and organic matter, which can play a significant role in trapping and accumulating these elements. The lowest concentrations of trace elements were found to be on the shoreline of the bay, which contained high percentages of sand fractions. It is postulated that the fine particles and trace elements are disturbed by currents and tides, then transported and deposited in deeper areas. The current track velocities recorded in Gymea Bay had the capability to transport fine particles and trace element pollution within the bay. As a result, hydrodynamic measurements were able to provide useful information and to help explain the distribution of sedimentary particles and geochemical properties. This may lead to knowledge transfer to other bay systems, including those in remote areas. These activities can be conducted at a low cost, and are therefore also transferrable to developing countries. The advent of portable instruments to measure trace elements in the field has also contributed to the development of these lower cost and easily applied methodologies available for use in remote locations and low-cost economies.

Keywords: Current track velocities, Gymea Bay, surface sediments, trace elements.

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Authors: R. Pääkkönen, L. Korpinen

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We tried statistically to determine the biggest risks for accidents and injuries in Finland compared to other countries. We have a very high incidence of domestic falls and accidental poisoning compared to other European countries. On the other side, we have a relatively low number of accidents in traffic or at work globally, and in European scale, because we have worked hard to diminish these forms of accidents. In Finland, there is work to be done to improve attitudes and actions against domestic accidents.

Keywords: Injuries, accident, comparison, Finland.

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Authors: R. S. Chandan, M. Vasudevan, Deecaraman, B. M. Gurupadayya

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In Pharmaceutical industries, it is very important to remove drug residues from the equipment and areas used. The cleaning procedure must be validated, so special attention must be devoted to the methods used for analysis of trace amounts of drugs. A rapid, sensitive and specific reverse phase ultra performance liquid chromatographic (UPLC) method was developed for the quantitative determination of Albendazole in cleaning validation swab samples. The method was validated using an ACQUITY HSS C₁₈, 50 x 2.1mm, 1.8μ column with a isocratic mobile phase containing a mixture of 1.36g of Potassium dihydrogenphosphate in 1000mL MilliQ water, 2mL of triethylamine and pH adjusted to 2.3 ± 0.05 with ortho-phosphoric acid, Acetonitrile and Methanol (50:40:10 v/v). The flow rate of the mobile phase was 0.5 mL min^-1 with a column temperature of 35⁰C and detection wavelength at 254nm using PDA detector. The injection volume was 2µl. Cotton swabs, moisten with acetonitrile were used to remove any residue of drug from stainless steel, teflon, rubber and silicon plates which mimic the production equipment surface and the mean extraction-recovery was found to be 91.8. The selected chromatographic condition was found to effectively elute Albendazole with retention time of 0.67min. The proposed method was found to be linear over the range of 0.2 to 150µg/mL and correlation coefficient obtained is 0.9992. The proposed method was found to be accurate, precise, reproducible and specific and it can also be used for routine quality control analysis of these drugs in biological samples either alone or in combined pharmaceutical dosage forms.

Keywords: Cleaning validation, Albendazole, residues, swab analysis, UPLC.

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Authors: Emine Demiray, Şensu Curabay

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Distance education program is a dimension of contemporary and new education technologies. Concepts and applications in this field are the results of a series of educational demands and developments in various communication and education technologies. Distance education applications have some conceptual bases. These are creating new education opportunities, realizing work-education unity, getting democratic in education, lifelong education, tendency to individual matters, effective use of institutions, integration of technology and education, tendency to individual and social needs, taking three dimensional integration as the main principle (publishing, printed materials and face to face education), reaching maximum mass, individual and mass education integrity and education demand and financial matters balance. Economics, Business Administration and Open Education faculties, which have been giving education within Anadolu University since 1982 in Turkey, are carrying on education with nearly 1.000.000 students. The aim of this study is to determine organizational commitment levels of students who have been studying at Anadolu University Economics, Business Administration and Open Education faculties in the scope of affective, continuance and nominative commitment in Allen&Meyer model. In the study, organizational commitment of the Economics, Business Administration and Open Education faculty students, who are receiving education by means of distance education, to their faculties is dealt after introducing Anadolu University Distance Education system which gives higher education via distance education method in Turkey. In order to increase the success level of faculties it is required for students to have high level of organizational commitment to their faculties. A questionnaire has been applied by using “Organizational Commitment Scale", developed by Meyer&Allen to determine organizational commitments of Economics, Business Administration and Open Education students. Organizational commitment is dealt with as affective, continuance and nominative commitment. The questionnaire was applied face to face to randomly chosen 500 students living in Eskişehir and the data was downloaded to the computer by using SPSS program and the results were analyzed in terms of demographic features (gender, age, marital status, years of study, work and income level) of students by using frequency test, ttest and ANOVA test. As a result of these analyses, when the comments of Open Education Faculty students on levels of affective, continuance and nominative commitment to their faculties were examined, it has been revealed that continuance commitment level has the highest rate. Among the female participants; continuance commitment is high in the age range of 30-40, for normative commitment it is 17-22. However no dominant age range was defined for affective commitment. Regarding the marital status; continuance commitment average is higher among married participants; but nominative affective commitment average is higher among single participants. As to the years of study, affective and continuance commitment is higher among senior students while normative commitment is higher among junior students. Moreover; in terms of continuance, affective and normative commitment, those who do not work and have low income have higher level of all there commitment types than those who work and have relatively high income.

Keywords: Open education, Organizational commitment, Distance education.

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Authors: S. Farag, A. Kupeman

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In this paper, design of solid-state battery/supercapacitor emulator based on dc-dc boost converter is described. The emulator mimics charging behavior of any storage device based on a predefined behavior set by the user. The device is operated by a two-level control structure: high-level emulating controller and low- level input voltage controller. Simulation and experimental results are shown to demonstrate the emulator operation.

Keywords: Battery, Charger, Energy, Storage, Supercapacitor.

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Authors: Sh. Edrisi, A. Farahbakhsh

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An experiment was conducted under controlled conditions to study the effect of water extract of leaves, shoots and roots of either Sisymbrium irio L. =SISIR and/or Descurainia sophia (L.) Schur =DESSO on the germination and primary growth of wheat. A split-split plot experiment in CRD with three replications was used. The main plots were the type of weed: i.e. SISIR and DESSO and the sub-plots were type of organ: i.e. leaf, stem and root and, the sub-sub plots were concentration of the water extract of each organ of the weeds: i.e. 0, 2, 4 and 8 % w/v. The plant materials were cut in 2-3 cm pieces and then were ground in a blender. The crushed materials were weighed according to experimental protocol and the final volume was reached to 100 ml in distilled water in dark bottles. All bottles were put on a shaker for 24 hours. The solutions were filtered by muslin cloth. Whatman paper, 9 cm in diameter, were put in petri dishes and twenty seeds of wheat were put on it and 5 ml distilled water or water extract of weeds were added to each petri dish. All petri dishes were put in constant temperature of 15 0C incubator. The results showed that the SISIR water extract had a greater inhibitory effects on germination and primary growth of wheat than those of DESSO water extract. The water extracts of the leaves of both weeds had the greatest inhibitory effects on germination and primary growth of wheat, compared to those of stems and roots. Increasing the concentration of water extract of leaves, stems and roots of both weeds up to 8 % caused the greatest inhibitory effects to wheat and reduced the germination rate and primary growth of it linearly.

Keywords: Allelopathy, DESSO, SISIR, wheat

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Authors: Maysam Mard-Soltani, Mohamad Javad Rasaee, Saeed Khalili, Abdol Karim Sheikhi, Mehdi Hedayati

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Production of specific antibody responses against hTSH is a cumbersome process due to the high identity between the hTSH and the other members of the glycoprotein hormone family (FSH, LH and HCG) and the high identity between the human hTSH and host animals for antibody production. Therefore, two polyclonal antibodies were purified against two recombinant proteins. Four possible ELISA tests were designed based on these antibodies. These ELISA tests were checked against hTSH and other glycoprotein hormones, and their sensitivity and specificity were assessed. Bioinformatics tools were used to analyze the immunological properties. After the immunogen region selection from hTSH protein, c terminal of B hTSH was selected and applied. Two recombinant genes, with these cut pieces (first: two repeats of C terminal of B hTSH, second: tetanous toxin+B hTSH C terminal), were designed and sub-cloned into the pET32a expression vector. Standard methods were used for protein expression, purification, and verification. Thereafter, immunizations of the white New Zealand rabbits were performed and the serums of them were used for antibody titration, purification and characterization. Then, four ELISA tests based on two antibodies were employed to assess the hTSH and other glycoprotein hormones. The results of these assessments were compared with standard amounts. The obtained results indicated that the desired antigens were successfully designed, sub-cloned, expressed, confirmed and used for in vivo immunization. The raised antibodies were capable of specific and sensitive hTSH detection, while the cross reactivity with the other members of the glycoprotein hormone family was minimum. Among the four designed tests, the test in which the antibody against first protein was used as capture antibody, and the antibody against second protein was used as detector antibody did not show any hook effect up to 50 miu/l. Both proteins have the ability to induce highly sensitive and specific antibody responses against the hTSH. One of the antibody combinations of these antibodies has the highest sensitivity and specificity in hTSH detection.

Keywords: hTSH, bioinformatics, protein expression, cross reactivity.

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Authors: J. Mohan, S. Maheshwari

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A new circuit topology realizing a first-order currentmode all-pass filter is proposed using two dual-output second generation current conveyor and two passive components. The circuit possesses low-input and high-output impedance, which makes it ideal for current-mode systems. The proposed circuit is verified through PSPICE simulation results.

Keywords: active filter, all-pass filter, current-mode, current conveyor.

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Authors: A. Udayakumar, M. Rizvan Basha, M. Stalin, V.V Bhanu Prasad

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Three dimensional non-Interlaced carbon fibre reinforced silicon carbide (3-D-Cf/SiC) composites with pyrocarbon interphase were fabricated using isothermal chemical vapor infiltration (ICVI) combined with polymer impregnation pyrolysis (PIP) process. Polysilazane (PSZ) is used as a preceramic polymer to obtain silicon carbide matrix. Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), Infrared spectroscopic analysis (IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis were carried out on PSZ pyrolysed at different temperatures to understand the pyrolysis and obtaining the optimum pyrolysing condition to yield β-SiC phase. The density of the composites was 1.94 g cm-3 after the 3-D carbon preform was SiC infiltrated for 280 h with one intermediate polysilazane pre-ceramic PIP process. Mechanical properties of the composite materials were investigated under tensile, flexural, shear and impact loading. The values of tensile strength were 200 MPa at room temperature (RT) and 195 MPa at 500°C in air. The average RT flexural strength was 243 MPa. The lower flexural strength of these composites is because of the porosity. The fracture toughness obtained from single edge notched beam (SENB) technique was 39 MPa.m1/2. The work of fracture obtained from the load-displacement curve of SENB test was 22.8 kJ.m-2. The composites exhibited excellent impact resistance and the dynamic fracture toughness of 44.8 kJ.m-2 is achieved as determined from instrumented Charpy impact test. The shear strength of the composite was 93 MPa, which is significantly higher compared 2-D Cf/SiC composites. Microstructure evaluation of fracture surfaces revealed the signatures of fracture processes and showed good support for the higher toughness obtained.

Keywords: 3-D-Cf/SiC, charpy impact test, composites, dynamic fracture toughness, polysilazane, pyrocarbon, Interphase.

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Authors: Miguel A. Gómez , Enrique Hilario , Francisco J. Alvarez , Elena Gastiasoro , Antonia Alvarez, Juan L. Larrabe

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Total liquid ventilation can support gas exchange in animal models of lung injury. Clinical application awaits further technical improvements and performance verification. Our aim was to develop a liquid ventilator, able to deliver accurate tidal volumes, and a computerized system for measuring lung mechanics. The computer-assisted, piston-driven respirator controlled ventilatory parameters that were displayed and modified on a real-time basis. Pressure and temperature transducers along with a lineal displacement controller provided the necessary signals to calculate lung mechanics. Ten newborn lambs (<6 days old) with respiratory failure induced by lung lavage, were monitored using the system. Electromechanical, hydraulic and data acquisition/analysis components of the ventilator were developed and tested in animals with respiratory failure. All pulmonary signals were collected synchronized in time, displayed in real-time, and archived on digital media. The total mean error (due to transducers, A/D conversion, amplifiers, etc.) was less than 5% compared to calibrated signals. Improvements in gas exchange and lung mechanics were observed during liquid ventilation, without impairment of cardiovascular profiles. The total liquid ventilator maintained accurate control of tidal volumes and the sequencing of inspiration/expiration. The computerized system demonstrated its ability to monitor in vivo lung mechanics, providing valuable data for early decision-making.

Keywords: immature lamb, perfluorocarbon, pressure-limited, total liquid ventilation, ventilator; volume-controlled

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Authors: Viktor R. Stoynov, Zlatka V. Valkova-Jarvis

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The intelligent management and optimisation of radio resource technologies will lead to a considerable improvement in the overall performance in Next Generation Networks (NGNs). Carrier Aggregation (CA) technology, also known as Spectrum Aggregation, enables more efficient use of the available spectrum by combining multiple Component Carriers (CCs) in a virtual wideband channel. LTE-A (Long Term Evolution–Advanced) CA technology can combine multiple adjacent or separate CCs in the same band or in different bands. In this way, increased data rates and dynamic load balancing can be achieved, resulting in a more reliable and efficient operation of mobile networks and the enabling of high bandwidth mobile services. In this paper, several distinct CA deployment strategies for the utilisation of spectrum bands are compared in indoor-outdoor scenarios, simulated via the recently-developed Realistic Indoor Environment Generator (RIEG). We analyse the performance of the User Equipment (UE) by integrating the average throughput, the level of fairness of radio resource allocation, and other parameters, into one summative assessment termed a Comparative Factor (CF). In addition, comparison of non-CA and CA indoor mobile networks is carried out under different load conditions: varying numbers and positions of UEs. The experimental results demonstrate that the CA technology can improve network performance, especially in the case of indoor scenarios. Additionally, we show that an increase of carrier frequency does not necessarily lead to improved CF values, due to high wall-penetration losses. The performance of users under bad-channel conditions, often located in the periphery of the cells, can be improved by intelligent CA location. Furthermore, a combination of such a deployment and effective radio resource allocation management with respect to user-fairness plays a crucial role in improving the performance of LTE-A networks.

Keywords: Comparative factor, carrier aggregation, indoor mobile network, resource allocation.

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Authors: Ridha Salhi, Mondher Labidi, Fethi Choubani

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Metamaterials have attracted much attention in recent years because of their electromagnetic exquisite proprieties. We will present, in this paper, the modeling of three metamaterial structures by equivalent circuit model. We begin by modeling the SRR (Split Ring Resonator), then we model the HIS (High Impedance Surfaces), and finally, we present the model of the CPW (Coplanar Wave Guide). In order to validate models, we compare the results obtained by an equivalent circuit models with numerical simulation.

Keywords: Metamaterials, SRR, HIS, CPW, IDC.

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Authors: K. A. Laptinskiy, S. A. Burikov, A. M. Vervald, S. A. Dolenko, T. A. Dolenko

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The article presents the results of the application of artificial neural networks to separate the fluorescent contribution of nanodiamonds used as biomarkers, adsorbents and carriers of drugs in biomedicine, from a fluorescent background of own biological fluorophores. The principal possibility of solving this problem is shown. Use of neural network architecture let to detect fluorescence of nanodiamonds against the background autofluorescence of egg white with high accuracy - better than 3 ug/ml.

Keywords: Artificial neural networks, fluorescence, data aggregation.

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Authors: Belkacem Meziane

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The original 3D Lorenz-Haken equations -which describe laser dynamics- are converted into 2-second-order differential equations out of which the so far missing mathematics is extracted. Leaning on high-order trigonometry, important outcomes are pulled out: A fundamental result attributes chaos to forbidden periodic solutions, inside some precisely delimited region of the control parameter space that governs self-pulsing.

Keywords: chaos, Lorenz-Haken equations, laser dynamics, nonlinearities

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Authors: Won-Ho Kim

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In this paper, a design of H.263 based wireless video transceiver is presented for wireless camera system. It uses standard WIFI transceiver and the covering area is up to 100m. Furthermore the standard H.263 video encoding technique is used for video compression since wireless video transmitter is unable to transmit high capacity raw data in real time and the implemented system is capable of streaming at speed of less than 1Mbps using NTSC 720x480 video.

Keywords: Digital signal processing, H.263 video encoder, surveillance camera, wireless video transceiver.

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Authors: Wahyu Widowati, Hana Ratnawati, Tjandrawati Mozefis, Dwiyati Pujimulyani, Yelliantty Yelliantty

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Background: Atherosclerosis is the main cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD) with complex and multifactorial process including atherogenic lipoprotein, oxidized low density lipoprotein (LDL), endothelial dysfunction, plaque stability, vascular inflammation, thrombotic and fibrinolytic disorder, exercises and genetic factor Epidemiological studies have shown tea consumption inversely associated with the development and progression of atherosclerosis. The research objectives: to elucidate hypolipidemic, antioxidant effects, as well as ability to improve coronary artery’s histopathologyof black tea extract (BTE) and quercetin in atherosclerotic rats. Methods: The antioxidant activity was determined by using Superoxide Dismutase activity (SOD) of serum and lipid peroxidation product (Malondialdehyde) of plasma and lipid profile including cholesterol total, LDL, triglyceride (TG), High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) of atherosclerotic rats. Inducing atherosclerotic, rats were given cholesterol and cholic acid in feed during ten weeks until rats indicated atherosclerotic symptom with narrowed artery and foamy cells in the artery’s wall. After rats suffered atherosclerotic, the high cholesterol feed and cholic acid were stopped and rats were given BTE 450; 300; 150 mg/kg body weight (BW) daily, quercetin 15; 10; 5 mg/kg BW daily, compared to rats were given vitamin E 60 mg/kg/BW; simvastatin 2.7 mg/kg BW, probucol 30 mg/kg BW daily for 21 days (first treatment) and 42 days (second treatment), negative control (normal feed), positive control (atherosclerotic rats). Results: BTE and quercetin could lower cholesterol total, triglyceride, LDL MDA and increase HDL, SOD were comparable with simvastatin, probucol both for 21 days and 42 days treatment, as well to improve coronary arteries histopathology. Conclusions: BTE andquercetin have hypolipidemic and antioxidant effects, as well as improve coronary arteries histopathology in atherosclerotic rats.

Keywords: Black tea, quercetin, atherosclerosis, antioxidant, hypolipidemic, cardiovascular disease.

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Authors: Fiona Curran-Cournane

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Soil quality monitoring is a science-based soil management tool that assesses soil ecosystem health. A soil monitoring program in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city extends from 1995 to the present. The objective of this study was to firstly determine changes in soil parameters (basic soil properties and heavy metals) that were assessed from rural land in 1995-2000 and repeated in 2008-2012. The second objective was to determine differences in soil parameters across various land uses including native bush, rural (horticulture, pasture and plantation forestry) and urban land uses using soil data collected in more recent years (2009- 2013). Across rural land, mean concentrations of Olsen P had significantly increased in the second sampling period and was identified as the indicator of most concern, followed by soil macroporosity, particularly for horticultural and pastoral land. Mean concentrations of Cd were also greatest for pastoral and horticultural land and a positive correlation existed between these two parameters, which highlights the importance of analysing basic soil parameters in conjunction with heavy metals. In contrast, mean concentrations of As, Cr, Pb, Ni and Zn were greatest for urban sites. Native bush sites had the lowest concentrations of heavy metals and were used to calculate a ‘pollution index’ (PI). The mean PI was classified as high (PI > 3) for Cd and Ni and moderate for Pb, Zn, Cr, Cu, As and Hg, indicating high levels of heavy metal pollution across both rural and urban soils. From a land use perspective, the mean ‘integrated pollution index’ was highest for urban sites at 2.9 followed by pasture, horticulture and plantation forests at 2.7, 2.6 and 0.9, respectively. It is recommended that soil sampling continues over time because a longer spanning record will allow further identification of where soil problems exist and where resources need to be targeted in the future. Findings from this study will also inform policy and science direction in regional councils.

Keywords: Heavy metals, Pollution Index, Rural and Urban land use.

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Authors: Nasim Abuali Galehdari, Venkat Mani, Ajit D. Kelkar

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Space Radiation has become one of the major factors in successful long duration space exploration. Exposure to space radiation not only can affect the health of astronauts but also can disrupt or damage materials and electronics. Hazards to materials include degradation of properties, such as, modulus, strength, or glass transition temperature. Electronics may experience single event effects, gate rupture, burnout of field effect transistors and noise. Presently aluminum is the major component in most of the space structures due to its lightweight and good structural properties. However, aluminum is ineffective at blocking space radiation. Therefore, most of the past research involved studying at polymers which contain large amounts of hydrogen. Again, these materials are not structural materials and would require large amounts of material to achieve the structural properties needed. One of the materials to alleviate this problem is polymeric composite materials, which has good structural properties and use polymers that contained large amounts of hydrogen. This paper presents steps involved in fabrication of multi-functional hybrid sandwich panels that can provide beneficial radiation shielding as well as structural strength. Multifunctional hybrid sandwich panels were manufactured using vacuum assisted resin transfer molding process and were subjected to radiation treatment. Study indicates that various nanoparticles including Boron Nano powder, Boron Carbide and Gadolinium nanoparticles can be successfully used to block the space radiation without sacrificing the structural integrity.

Keywords: Multi-functional, polymer composites, radiation shielding, sandwich composites.

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Authors: Flur R. Ismagilov, Vyacheslav E. Vavilov, Denis V. Gusakov

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This paper is devoted to solve the problem of increasing the electrification of aircraft engines by installing a synchronous generator at high pressure shaft. Technical solution of this problem by various research centers is discussed. A design solution of the problem was proposed. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed cooling system, thermal analysis was carried out in ANSYS software.

Keywords: Flur R. Ismagilov, Vyacheslav E. Vavilov, Denis V. Gusakov

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Authors: S. El-Gamal, P. Hossam, A. Abd El Aziz, R. Mahmoud, A. Hassan, D. Hilal, E. Ayman, H. Haytham, O. Khamis

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Several concerns fall upon the supply chain especially in cold supply chains. These concerns are mainly in the distribution and storage phases. This research focuses on the storage area, which contains several activities such as the picking activity that faces a lot of obstacles and challenges. The implementation of IoT solutions enables businesses to monitor the temperature of food items, which is perhaps the most critical parameter in cold chains. Therefore, the research at hand proposes a practical solution that would help in eliminating the problems related to ineffective picking for products especially fish and seafood products by using IoT technology, most notably LiFi technology; thus, guaranteeing sufficient picking, reducing waste, and consequently lowering costs. A prototype was specially designed and examined. This research is a single case study research. Two methods of data collection were used; observation and semi-structured interviews. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers and a decision maker at one of the biggest retail stores Carrefour, Alexandria, Egypt to validate the problem and the proposed practical solution using IoT and LiFi technology. A total of three interviews were conducted. As a result, a SWOT analysis was achieved in order to highlight all the strengths and weaknesses of using the recommended LiFi solution in the picking process. According to the investigations, it was found that, the use of IoT and LiFi technology is cost effective, efficient, and reduces human errors, minimizes the percentage of product waste and thus saves money and cost. Therefore, increasing customer satisfaction and profits could be achieved.

Keywords: Cold supply chain, IoT, LiFi, warehousing operation, picking process.

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Authors: Yuji Kageyama, Shin Nagata, Tatsuya Takino, Izuru Nomura, Hiroyuki Kamata

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In previous study, technique to estimate a self-location by using a lunar image is proposed.We consider the improvement of the conventional method in consideration of FPGA implementationin this paper. Specifically, we introduce Artificial Bee Colony algorithm for reduction of search time.In addition, we use fixed point arithmetic to enable high-speed operation on FPGA.

Keywords: SLIM, Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm, Location Estimate.

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Authors: Şaban Çetin, Özgür Demir

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In this study, Fuzzy PID Control scheme is designed for an active suspension system. The main goal of an active suspension system for using in a vehicle model is reducing body deflections and handling high comfort for a passenger car. The present system was modelled as a two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) nonlinear vehicle model.

Keywords: Active suspension system, Fuzzy PID controller, a nonlinear quarter car model.

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Authors: Ali Eryılmaz

Abstract:

In this study, how affects the narrative of Positive Psychothreapy which is named “The Three Small Gold Statues "the adloescent-s perception is investigated The sample included 90 adolescents who were high school students. Firstly the narrative was read. Then three questions which were about the narrative were asked. The questions were: What kind of things did you recall what kind of results did you conculde, and also how could you use this narrative in your real life problems. Responds were analyzed by content analysis method. According to research findings the narrative had a great effect for adolescent perceptions, and also the tale could be used at school counselling programs.

Keywords: Narrative, Positive Psychotherapy, SchoolCounselling Programs

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Authors: Rabeb Triki, Hassene Djemel, Mounir Baccar

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Surface scraping is a passive heat transfer enhancement technique that is directly used in scraped surface heat exchanger (SSHE). The scraping action prevents the accumulation of the product on the inner wall, which intensifies the heat transfer and avoids the formation of dead zones. SSHEs are widely used in industry for several applications such as crystallization, sterilization, freezing, gelatinization, and many other continuous processes. They are designed to deal with products that are viscous, sticky or that contain particulate matter. This research work presents a three-dimensional numerical simulation of the coupled thermal and hydrodynamic behavior within a SSHE which includes Archimedes’ screw instead of scraper blades. The finite volume Fluent 15.0 was used to solve continuity, momentum and energy equations using multiple reference frame formulation. The process fluid investigated under this study is the pure glycerin. Different geometrical parameters were studied in the case of steady, non-isothermal, laminar flow. In particular, attention is focused on the effect of the conicity of the rotor and the pitch of Archimedes’ screw on temperature and velocity distribution and heat transfer rate. Numerical investigations show that the increase of the number of turns in the screw from five to seven turns leads to amelioration of heat transfer coefficient, and the increase of the conicity of the rotor from 0.1 to 0.15 leads to an increase in the rate of heat transfer. Further studies should investigate the effect of different operating parameters (axial and rotational Reynolds number) on the hydrodynamic and thermal behavior of the SSHE.

Keywords: ANSYS-Fluent, hydrodynamic behavior, SSHE, thermal behavior.

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Authors: M. Ishak, K. Yamasaki, K. Maekawa

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Magnesium alloys have gained increased attention in recent years in automotive, electronics, and medical industry. This because of magnesium alloys have better properties than aluminum alloys and steels in respects of their low density and high strength to weight ratio. However, the main problems of magnesium alloy welding are the crack formation and the appearance of porosity during the solidification. This paper proposes a unique technique to weld two thin sheets of AZ31B magnesium alloy using a paste containing Ag nanoparticles. The paste containing Ag nanoparticles of 5 nm in average diameter and an organic solvent was used to coat the surface of AZ31B thin sheet. The coated sheet was heated at 100 °C for 60 s to evaporate the solvent. The dried sheet was set as a lower AZ31B sheet on the jig, and then lap fillet welding was carried out by using a pulsed Nd:YAG laser in a closed box filled with argon gas. The characteristics of the microstructure and the corrosion behavior of the joints were analyzed by opticalmicroscopy (OM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), electron probe micro-analyzer (EPMA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and immersion corrosion test. The experimental results show that the wrought AZ31B magnesium alloy can be joined successfully using Ag nanoparticles. Ag nanoparticles insert promote grain refinement, narrower the HAZ width and wider bond width compared to weld without and insert. Corrosion rate of welded AZ31B with Ag nanoparticles reduced up to 44 % compared to base metal. The improvement of corrosion resistance of welded AZ31B with Ag nanoparticles due to finer grains and large grain boundaries area which consist of high Al content. β-phase Mg17Al12 could serve as effective barrier and suppressed further propagation of corrosion. Furthermore, Ag distribution in fusion zone provide much more finer grains and may stabilize the magnesium solid solution making it less soluble or less anodic in aqueous

Keywords: Laser welding, magnesium alloys, nanoparticles, mechanical property

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Authors: M. O’Driscoll, M. Anwar, M. G. Rasul

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The benefits of eco-roofs is quite well known, however there remains very little research conducted for the implementation of eco-roofs in subtropical climates such as Australia. There are many challenges facing Australia as it moves into the future, climate change is proving to be one of the leading challenges. In order to move forward with the mitigation of climate change, the impacts of rapid urbanization need to be offset. Eco-roofs are one way to achieve this; this study presents the energy savings and environmental benefits of the implementation of eco-roofs in subtropical climates. An experimental set-up was installed at Rockhampton campus of Central Queensland University, where two shipping containers were converted into small offices, one with an eco-roof and one without. These were used for temperature, humidity and energy consumption data collection. In addition, a computational model was developed using Design Builder software (state-of-the-art building energy simulation software) for simulating energy consumption of shipping containers and environmental parameters, this was done to allow comparison between simulated and real world data. This study found that eco-roofs are very effective in subtropical climates and provide energy saving of about 13% which agrees well with simulated results. 

Keywords: Climate Change, Eco/Green roof, Energy savings, Subtropical climate.

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Authors: J. Bobek, M. Seidl, P. Lenfeld, L. Behálek, A. Ausperger

Abstract:

Conventional materials like glass, wood or metals replacement with polymer materials is still continuing. More simple thus cheaper production is the main reason. However due to high energy and petrochemical prices are polymer prices increasing too. That´s why various kinds of fillers are used to make polymers cheaper. Of course target is to maintain or improve properties of these compounds. In this paper are solved rheology issues of polymers compounded with vegetal origin fibers.

Keywords: Vegetal, fibers, polymer, rheology

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