Search results for: Khaled Mohamed Al Akhali

Authors: Mohamed Haffar, Ramdane Djebarni, Russell Evans

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Despite a growth in literature on distributed leadership, the majority of studies are centred on large public organisations particularly within the health and education sectors. The purpose of this study is to fill the gap in the literature by exploring employee experiences of distributed leadership within two commercial consultancy SME businesses in the UK and USA. The aim of the study informed an exploratory method of research to gather qualitative data drawn from semi-structured interviews involving a sample of employees in each organisation. A series of broad, open questions were used to explore the employees’ experiences; evidence of distributed leadership; and extant barriers and practices in each organisation. Whilst some of our findings aligned with patterns and practices in the existing literature, it importantly discovered some emergent themes that have not previously been recognised in the previous studies. Our investigation identified that whilst distributed leadership was in evidence in both organisations, the interviewees’ experience reported that it was sporadic and inconsistent. Moreover, non-client focused projects were reported to be less important and distributed leadership was found to be inconsistent or non-existent.

Keywords: Consultancy, distributed leadership, owner-manager, SME, entrepreneur.

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Authors: Erdoğan Özbay, Hakan T. Türker, Müzeyyen Balçıkanlı, Mohamed Lachemi

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In this paper, the effects of fiber types and elevated temperatures on compressive strength, modulus of rapture and the bond characteristics of fiber reinforced concretes (FRC) are presented. By using the three different types of fibers (steel fiber-SF, polypropylene-PPF and polyvinyl alcohol-PVA), FRC specimens were produced and exposed to elevated temperatures up to 800 ºC for 1.5 hours. In addition, a plain concrete (without fiber) was produced and used as a control. Test results obtained showed that the steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) had the highest compressive strength, modulus of rapture and bond stress values at room temperatures, the residual bond, flexural and compressive strengths of both FRC and plain concrete dropped sharply after exposure to high temperatures. The results also indicated that the reduction of bond, flexural and compressive strengths with increasing the exposed temperature was relatively less for SFRC than for plain, and FRC with PPF and PVA.

Keywords: Bond stress, Compressive strength, Elevated temperatures, Fiber reinforced concrete, Modulus of rapture.

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Authors: Noureddine Seddari, Mohamed Belaoued, Salah Bougueroua

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The modeling of complex systems is generally based on the decomposition of their components into sub-systems easier to handle. This division has to be made in a methodical way. In this paper, we introduce an industrial control system modeling and simulation based on the Multi-Agent System (MAS) methodology AALAADIN and more particularly the underlying conceptual model Agent/Group/Role (AGR). Indeed, in this division using AGR model, the overall system is decomposed into sub-systems in order to improve the understanding of regulation and control systems, and to simplify the implementation of the obtained agents and their groups, which are implemented using the Multi-Agents Development KIT (MAD-KIT) platform. This approach appears to us to be the most appropriate for modeling of this type of systems because, due to the use of MAS, it is possible to model real systems in which very complex behaviors emerge from relatively simple and local interactions between many different individuals, therefore a MAS is well adapted to describe a system from the standpoint of the activity of its components, that is to say when the behavior of the individuals is complex (difficult to describe with equations). The main aim of this approach is the take advantage of the performance, the scalability and the robustness that are intuitively provided by MAS.

Keywords: Complex systems, modeling and simulation, industrial control system, MAS, AALAADIN, AGR, MAD-KIT.

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Authors: Nazedah Ain Ibrahim, Mohamed Mansor Manan

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Information regarding early onset neonatal sepsis (EONS) pathogens may vary between regions. Global perspectives showed Group B Streptococcal (GBS) as the most common causative pathogens, but the widespread use of intrapartum antibiotics has changed the pathogens pattern towards gram negative microorganisms, especially E. coli. Objective of this study is to describe the pathogens isolated, to assess current treatment and risk of EONS. Records of 899 neonates born in three General Hospitals between 2009 until 2012 were retrospectively reviewed. Proven was found in 22 (3%) neonates. The majority was isolated with gram positive organisms, 17 (2.3%). All grams positive and most gram negative organisms showed sensitivity to the tested antibiotics. Only two rare gram negative organisms showed total resistant. Male was possible risk of proven EONS. Although proven EONS remains uncommon in Malaysia, nonetheless, the effect of intrapartum antibiotics still required continuous surveillance.

Keywords: Early onset neonatal sepsis, neonates, pathogens, gram positive, gram negative.

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Authors: A. J. Al-Shareef, E. A. Mohamed, E. Al-Judaibi

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Load forecasting has become in recent years one of the major areas of research in electrical engineering. Most traditional forecasting models and artificial intelligence neural network techniques have been tried out in this task. Artificial neural networks (ANN) have lately received much attention, and a great number of papers have reported successful experiments and practical tests. This article presents the development of an ANN-based short-term load forecasting model with improved generalization technique for the Regional Power Control Center of Saudi Electricity Company, Western Operation Area (SEC-WOA). The proposed ANN is trained with weather-related data and historical electric load-related data using the data from the calendar years 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004 for training. The model tested for one week at five different seasons, typically, winter, spring, summer, Ramadan and fall seasons, and the mean absolute average error for one hour-ahead load forecasting found 1.12%.

Keywords: Artificial neural networks, short-term load forecasting, back propagation.

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Authors: Raziah Bi Mohamed Sadique, Jamal Roudaki, Murray B. Clark, Norhayati Alias

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Economic crime (i.e. corporate fraud) has a significant impact on business. This study analyzes the fraud cases reported by the Malaysian Securities Commission. Frauds involving market manipulation and/or illegal share trading are the most common types of fraud reported over the 6 years analyzed. The highest number of frauds reported involved investment and fund holding companies. Alarmingly the results indicate quite a high number of frauds cases are committed by management. The higher number of Chinese perpetrators may be due to fact that they are the dominant group in Malaysian business. The result also shows that more than half of companies involved with fraud are privately held companies in the investment/fund/finance sector. The results of this study highlight general characteristic of perpetrators (person and company) that commit fraud which could help the regulators in their monitoring and enforcement activities. To investors, this would help in analyzing their business investment or portfolio risk.

Keywords: Corporate fraud, economic crime, fraudcharacteristic, perpetrators

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Authors: Sihem Mostefai, Abdelaziz Bouras, Mohamed Batouche

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To achieve competitive advantage nowadays, most of the industrial companies are considering that success is sustained to great product development. That is to manage the product throughout its entire lifetime ranging from design, manufacture, operation and destruction. Achieving this goal requires a tight collaboration between partners from a wide variety of domains, resulting in various product data types and formats, as well as different software tools. So far, the lack of a meaningful unified representation for product data semantics has slowed down efficient product development. This paper proposes an ontology based approach to enable such semantic interoperability. Generic and extendible product ontology is described, gathering main concepts pertaining to the mechanical field and the relations that hold among them. The ontology is not exhaustive; nevertheless, it shows that such a unified representation is possible and easily exploitable. This is illustrated thru a case study with an example product and some semantic requests to which the ontology responds quite easily. The study proves the efficiency of ontologies as a support to product data exchange and information sharing, especially in product development environments where collaboration is not just a choice but a mandatory prerequisite.

Keywords: Information exchange, product lifecyclemanagement, product ontology, semantic interoperability.

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Authors: Mohamed Hafez, Georg Hausner

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The full length mitochondrial small subunit ribosomal (mt-rns) gene has been characterized for Ophiostoma novo-ulmi subspecies americana. The gene was also characterized for Ophiostoma ulmi and a group II intron was noted in the mt-rns gene of O. ulmi. The insertion in the mt-rns gene is at position S952 and it is a group IIB1 intron that encodes a double motif LAGLIDADG homing endonuclease from an open reading frame located within a loop of domain III. Secondary structure models for the mt-rns RNA of O. novo-ulmi subsp. americana and O. ulmi were generated to place the intron within the context of the ribosomal RNA. The in vivo splicing of the O.ul-mS952 group II intron was confirmed with reverse transcription-PCR. A survey of 182 strains of Dutch Elm Diseases causing agents showed that the mS952 intron was absent in what is considered to be the more aggressive species O. novo-ulmi but present in strains of the less aggressive O. ulmi. This observation suggests that the O.ul-mS952 intron can be used as a PCR-based molecular marker to discriminate between O. ulmi and O. novo-ulmi subsp. americana.

Keywords: Dutch Elm Disease, group II introns, mtDNA, species identification

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Authors: Safa Boudhaouia, Mohamed Amen Gahbiche, Eliane Giraud, Wacef Ben Salem, Philippe Dal Santo

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Multi-point forming (MPF) and asymmetric incremental forming (ISF) are two flexible processes for sheet metal manufacturing. To take advantages of these two techniques, a hybrid process has been developed: The Multipoint Incremental Forming (MPIF). This process accumulates at once the advantages of each of these last mentioned forming techniques, which makes it a very interesting and particularly an efficient process for single, small, and medium series production. In this paper, an experimental and a numerical investigation of this technique are presented. To highlight the flexibility of this process and its capacity to manufacture standard and complex shapes, several pieces were produced by using MPIF. The forming experiments are performed on a 3-axis CNC machine. Moreover, a numerical model of the MPIF process has been implemented in ABAQUS and the analysis showed a good agreement with experimental results in terms of deformed shape. Furthermore, the use of an elastomeric interpolator allows avoiding classical local defaults like dimples, which are generally caused by the asymmetric contact and also improves the distribution of residual strain. Future works will apply this approach to other alloys used in aeronautic or automotive applications.

Keywords: Incremental forming, numerical simulation, MPIF, multipoint forming.

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Authors: Mohd Anuar Awang Idris, Muhammad Nubli Abdul Wahab, Nora Yusma Mohamed Yusoff

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Wudu’ (Ablution) and Zikr are amongst some of the spiritual tools which may help an individual control his mind, emotion and attitude. These tools are deemed to be able to deliver a positive impact on an individual’s psychophysiology. The main objective of this research is to determine the effects of Wudu’ (Ablution) and Zikr therapy using the biofeedback emWave application and technology. For this research, 13 students were selected as samples from the students’ representative body at the University Tenaga National, Malaysia. The DASS (Depression Anxiety Stress Scale) questionnaire was used to help with the assessment and measurement of each student’s ability in controlling his or her emotions before and after the therapies. The biofeedback emWave technology was utilized to monitor the student’s psychophysiology level. In addition, the data obtained from the Heart rate variability (HRV) test have also been used to affirm that Wudu’ and Zikr had had significant impacts on the student’s success in controlling his or her emotional pressure.

Keywords: Biofeedback emWave, emotion, psychophysiology, wudu’, zikr.

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Authors: Mohamed Haffar, Muhammad Abdul Aziz, Ahmad Ghoneim

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The importance of having a good organizational culture that supports employee job satisfaction has fascinated both the business and academic world because of a tantalizing promise: culture can be fundamental to the enhancement of financial performance. This promise has led to growing interest for both researchers and practitioners in attempting to understand the influence of organizational culture on employees’ satisfaction and organizational performance. Even though the relationship between organizational culture and employee job satisfaction have gained attention in the literature, the majority of studies have been conducted within manufacturing organizations and tend to oversee the impact of culture on employee job satisfaction in a service-based environment. Thus, the main driving force of this study was to explore the role of organizational culture types in facilitating employee job satisfaction at Emerald Publishing Group. Interviews qualitative data analysis indicated that Emerald’s culture dominated by adhocracy and clan culture values. In addition, the findings provided evidence, which demonstrated that group and adhocracy organizational culture types play key roles in facilitating employee job satisfaction in a service-based environment.

Keywords: Employee satisfaction, organizational culture, performance, service based environment.

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Authors: Houda Najeh, Stéphane Ploix, Mahendra Pratap Singh, Karim Chabir, Mohamed Naceur Abdelkrim

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Building systems are highly vulnerable to different kinds of faults and failures. In fact, various faults, failures and human behaviors could affect the building performance. This paper tackles the detection of unreliable sensors in buildings. Different literature surveys on diagnosis techniques for sensor grids in buildings have been published but all of them treat only bias and outliers. Occurences of data gaps have also not been given an adequate span of attention in the academia. The proposed methodology comprises the automatic thresholding for data gap detection for a set of heterogeneous sensors in instrumented buildings. Sensor measurements are considered to be regular time series. However, in reality, sensor values are not uniformly sampled. So, the issue to solve is from which delay each sensor become faulty? The use of time series is required for detection of abnormalities on the delays. The efficiency of the method is evaluated on measurements obtained from a real power plant: an office at Grenoble Institute of technology equipped by 30 sensors.

Keywords: Building system, time series, diagnosis, outliers, delay, data gap.

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Authors: Nouri Sabrina, Benzeghiba Mohamed, Ghezal Abderrahmane

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Numerical parametric study is conducted to study the effects of ampoule rotation on the flows and the dopant segregation in vertical bridgman (vb) crystal growth. Calculations were performed in unsteady state. The extended darcy model, which includes the time derivative and coriolis terms, has been employed in the momentum equation. It’s found that the convection, and dopant segregation can be affected significantly by ampoule rotation, and the effect is similar to that by an axial magnetic field. Ampoule rotation decreases the intensity of convection and stretches the flow cell axially. When the convection is weak, the flow can be suppressed almost completely by moderate ampoule rotation and the dopant segregation becomes diffusion-controlled. For stronger convection, the elongated flow cell by ampoule rotation may bring dopant mixing into the bulk melt reducing axial segregation at the early stage of the growth. However, if the cellular flow cannot be suppressed completely, ampoule rotation may induce larger radial segregation due to poor mixing.

Keywords: Numerical Simulation, Heat and mass transfer, vertical solidification, chemical segregation.

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Authors: Siti Nor Hafizah binti Mohd Zaid, Mohamed Abdel-Maguid, Abdel-Hamid Soliman

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Because road traffic accidents are a major source of death worldwide, attempts have been made to create Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) able to detect vehicle, driver and environmental conditions that are cues for possible potential accidents. This paper presents continued work on a novel Nonintrusive Intelligent Driver Assistance and Safety System (Ni-DASS) for assessing driver attention and hazard awareness. It uses two onboard CCD cameras – one observing the road and the other observing the driver-s face. The windscreen is divided into cells and analysis of the driver-s eye-gaze patterns allows Ni-DASS to determine the windscreen cell the driver is focusing on using eye-gesture templates. Intersecting the driver-s field of view through the observed windscreen cell with subsections of the camera-s field of view containing a potential hazard allows Ni-DASS to estimate the probability that the driver has actually observed the hazard. Results have shown that the proposed technique is an accurate enough measure of driver observation to be useful in ADAS systems.

Keywords: Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), Driver Hazard Awareness, Driver Vigilance, Eye Tracking

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Authors: Patrick Nwabueze Okechukwu, Ima Nirwana Soelaiman, Gabriele Anisah Ruth Froemming, Mohd Yusri Idorus, Norazlina Mohamed

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Supplementation of palm vitamin E has been reported to prevent loss of bone density in ovariectomised female rats. The mechanism by which palm vitamin E exerts these effects is still unknown. We hypothesized that palm vitamin E may act by preventing the protein expression changes. Two dimensional poly acyrilamide gel electrophoresis (2-D PAGE) and PD Quest software genomic solutions Investigator (proteomics) was used to analyze the differential protein expression profile in femoral and humeri bones harvested from three groups of rats; sham-operated rats (SO), ovariectomised rats (Ovx) and ovariectomised rats supplemented for 2 months with palm vitamin E. The results showed that there were over 300 valued spot on each of the groups PVE and OVX as compared to about 200 in SO. Comparison between the differential protein expression between OVX and PVE groups showed that ten spots were down –regulated in OVX but up-regulated in PVE. The ten differential spots were separately named P1-P10. The identification and understanding of the pathway of the differential protein expression among the groups is ongoing and may account for the molecular mechanism through which palm vitamin E exert its anti-osteoporotic effect.

Keywords: Palm vitamin E, ovariectomised, osteoporosis protein expression, 2-d-page.

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Authors: Mohamed S. El-Mahallawy, Attalah Hashad, Hazem Hassan Ali, Heba Sami Zaky

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This paper presents an evaluation for a wavelet-based digital watermarking technique used in estimating the quality of video sequences transmitted over Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) channel in terms of a classical objective metric, such as Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) without the need of the original video. In this method, a watermark is embedded into the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) domain of the original video frames using a quantization method. The degradation of the extracted watermark can be used to estimate the video quality in terms of PSNR with good accuracy. We calculated PSNR for video frames contaminated with AWGN and compared the values with those estimated using the Watermarking-DWT based approach. It is found that the calculated and estimated quality measures of the video frames are highly correlated, suggesting that this method can provide a good quality measure for video frames transmitted over AWGN channel without the need of the original video.

Keywords: AWGN, DWT, PSNR, Watermarking, VideoQuality.

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Authors: Mohamed Saad Ahmed Hussien

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This paper discusses the risk management in Islamic banks and aims to determine the difference in the practices and methods of risk management in those banks compared to the conventional banks, and to make a case study of the biggest Islamic bank in Egypt (Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt) to identify the most important financial risks faced and how to manage those risks. It was found that Islamic banks face two types of risks. The first type is similar to the risks in conventional banks; the second type is the additional risks which facing the Islamic banks only as a result of some Islamic modes of financing. With regard to the risk management, Islamic banks such as conventional banks applied the regulatory rules issued by the Central Banks and the Basel Committee; Islamic banks also applied the instructions and procedures issued by the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB). Also, Islamic banks are similar to the conventional banks in the practices and methods which they use to manage the risks. And there are some factors that may affect the risk management in Islamic banks, such as the size of the bank and the efficiency of the administration and the staff of the bank.

Keywords: Conventional banks, Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt, Islamic banks, risk management.

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Authors: Fahd Sabry Esmail, M. Badr Senousy, Mohamed Ragaie

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In recent years, there has been an explosion in the rate of using technology that help discovering the diseases. For example, DNA microarrays allow us for the first time to obtain a "global" view of the cell. It has great potential to provide accurate medical diagnosis, to help in finding the right treatment and cure for many diseases. Various classification algorithms can be applied on such micro-array datasets to devise methods that can predict the occurrence of Leukemia disease. In this study, we compared the classification accuracy and response time among eleven decision tree methods and six rule classifier methods using five performance criteria. The experiment results show that the performance of Random Tree is producing better result. Also it takes lowest time to build model in tree classifier. The classification rules algorithms such as nearest- neighbor-like algorithm (NNge) is the best algorithm due to the high accuracy and it takes lowest time to build model in classification.

Keywords: Data mining, classification techniques, decision tree, classification rule, leukemia diseases, microarray data.

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Authors: Mohamed Eldessouki, Ebraheem Shady, Yasser Gowayed

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Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are known for having high elastic properties with high surface area that promote them as good candidates for reinforcing polymeric matrices. In composite materials, CNTs lack chemical bonding with the surrounding matrix which decreases the possibility of better stress transfer between the components. In this work, a chemical treatment for activating the surface of the multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) was applied and the effect of this functionalization on the elastic properties of the epoxy nanocomposites was studied. Functional amino-groups were added to the surface of the CNTs and it was evaluated to be about 34% of the total weight of the CNTs. Elastic modulus was found to increase by about 40% of the neat epoxy resin at CNTs’ weight fraction of 0.5%. The elastic modulus was found to decrease after reaching a certain concentration of CNTs which was found to be 1% wt. The scanning electron microscopic pictures showed the effect of the CNTs on the crack propagation through the sample by forming stress concentrated spots at the nanocomposite samples.

Keywords: Carbon nanotubes functionalization, crack propagation, elastic modulus, epoxy nanocomposites.

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Authors: Ahmad Yame, Ahad Ali, Badih Jawad, Daw Al-Werfalli Mohamed Nasser, Sabah Abro

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Industries in general have a lot of waste. Wool textile company, Baniwalid, Libya has many complex problems that led to enormous waste generated due to the lack of lean strategies, expertise, technical support and commitment. To successfully address waste at wool textile company, this study will attempt to develop a methodical approach that integrates lean manufacturing tools to optimize performance characteristics such as lead time and delivery. This methodology will utilize Value Stream Mapping (VSM) techniques to identify the process variables that affect production. Once these variables are identified, Design of Experiments (DOE) Methodology will be used to determine the significantly influential process variables, these variables are then controlled and set at their optimal to achieve optimal levels of productivity, quality, agility, efficiency and delivery to analyze the outputs of the simulation model for different lean configurations. The goal of this research is to investigate how the tools of lean manufacturing can be adapted from the discrete to the continuous manufacturing environment and to evaluate their benefits at a specific industrial.

Keywords: Lean manufacturing, DOE, value stream mapping, textiles.

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Authors: Ahmed M. Farag, Wael F. Mohamed, Atef A. Ata, Burhamy M. Burhamy

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The main objective of the present paper is to derive an easy numerical technique for the analysis of the free vibration through the stepped regions of plates. Based on the utilities of the step by step integration initial values IV and Finite differences FD methods, the present improved Initial Value Finite Differences (IVFD) technique is achieved. The first initial conditions are formulated in convenient forms for the step by step integrations while the upper and lower edge conditions are expressed in finite difference modes. Also compatibility conditions are created due to the sudden variation of plate thickness. The present method (IVFD) is applied to solve the fourth order partial differential equation of motion for stepped plate across two different panels under the sudden step compatibility in addition to different types of end conditions. The obtained results are examined and the validity of the present method is proved showing excellent efficiency and rapid convergence.

Keywords: Vibrations, Step by Step Integration, Stepped plate, Boundary.

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Authors: Mamoun Sqali, Mohamed Wassim Trojet

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The requirements analysis, modeling, and simulation have consistently been one of the main challenges during the development of complex systems. The scenarios and the state machines are two successful models to describe the behavior of an interactive system. The scenarios represent examples of system execution in the form of sequences of messages exchanged between objects and are a partial view of the system. In contrast, state machines can represent the overall system behavior. The automation of processing scenarios in the state machines provide some answers to various problems such as system behavior validation and scenarios consistency checking. In this paper, we propose a method for translating scenarios in state machines represented by Discreet EVent Specification and procedure to detect implied scenarios. Each induced DEVS model represents the behavior of an object of the system. The global system behavior is described by coupling the atomic DEVS models and validated through simulation. We improve the validation process with integrating formal methods to eliminate logical inconsistencies in the global model. For that end, we use the Z notation.

Keywords: Scenarios, DEVS, synthesis, validation and verification, simulation, formal verification, z notation.

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Authors: Nader H. Ghareeb, Mohamed S. Gaith, Sayed M. Soleimani

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In modern engineering, weight optimization has a priority during the design of structures. However, optimizing the weight can result in lower stiffness and less internal damping, causing the structure to become excessively prone to vibration. To overcome this problem, active or smart materials are implemented. The coupled electromechanical properties of smart materials, used in the form of piezoelectric ceramics in this work, make these materials well-suited for being implemented as distributed sensors and actuators to control the structural response. The smart structure proposed in this paper is composed of a cantilevered steel beam, an adhesive or bonding layer, and a piezoelectric actuator. The static deflection of the structure is derived as function of the piezoelectric voltage, and the outcome is compared to theoretical and experimental results from literature. The relation between the voltage and the piezoelectric moment at both ends of the actuator is also investigated and a reduced finite element model of the smart structure is created and verified. Finally, a linear controller is implemented and its ability to attenuate the vibration due to the first natural frequency is demonstrated.

Keywords: Active linear control, Lyapunov stability theorem, piezoelectricity, smart structure, static deflection.

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Authors: Mohamed M. El-Gendy, Ibrahim A. El-Arabi, Rafik W. Abdel-Missih, Omar A. Kandil

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In the present research, a finite element model is presented to study the geometrical and material nonlinear behavior of reinforced concrete plane frames considering soil-structure interaction. The nonlinear behaviors of concrete and reinforcing steel are considered both in compression and tension up to failure. The model takes account also for the number, diameter, and distribution of rebar along every cross section. Soil behavior is taken into consideration using four different models; namely: linear-, nonlinear Winkler's model, and linear-, nonlinear continuum model. A computer program (NARC) is specially developed in order to perform the analysis. The results achieved by the present model show good agreement with both theoretical and experimental published literature. The nonlinear behavior of a rectangular frame resting on soft soil up to failure using the proposed model is introduced for demonstration.

Keywords: Nonlinear analysis, Geometric nonlinearity, Material nonlinearity, Reinforced concrete, Finite element method, Soilstructure interaction, Winkler's soil model, Continuum soil model

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Authors: Imen Mejri, Ahmed Mahmoudi, Mohamed A. Abbassi, Ahmed Omri

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This paper examines the natural convection in a square enclosure filled with a water-Al₂O₃ nanofluid and is subjected to a magnetic field. The side walls of the cavity have spatially varying sinusoidal temperature distributions. The horizontal walls are adiabatic. Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is applied to solve the coupled equations of flow and temperature fields. This study has been carried out for the pertinent parameters in the following ranges: Rayleigh number of the base fluid, Ra=10³ to 10⁶, Hartmann number varied from Ha=0 to 90, phase deviation (γ=0, π/4, π/2, 3π/4 and π) and the solid volume fraction of the nanoparticles between Ø = 0 and 6%. The results show that the heat transfer rate increases with an increase of the Rayleigh number but it decreases with an increase of the Hartmann number. For γ=π/2 and Ra=10⁵ the magnetic field augments the effect of nanoparticles. At Ha=0, the greatest effects of nanoparticles are obtained at γ = 0 and π/4 for Ra=10⁴ and 10⁵ respectively.

 

Keywords: Lattice Boltzmann Method, magnetic field, Natural convection, nanofluid, Sinusoidal temperature distribution.

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Authors: Meriem Benzarti, Mohamed Ben Tkaya, Cyril Pailler Mattei, Hassan Zahouani

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Hair is a non homogenous complex material which can be associated with a polymer. It is made up 95% of Keratin. Hair has a great social significance for human beings. In the High Middle Ages, for example, long hairs have been reserved for kings and nobles. Most common interest in hair is focused on hair growth, hair types and hair care, but hair is also an important biomaterial which can vary depending on ethnic origin or on age, hair colour for example can be a sign of ethnic ancestry or age (dark hair for Asiatic, blond hair for Caucasian and white hair for old people in general). In this context, different approaches have been conducted to determine the differences in mechanical properties and characterize the fracture topography at the surface of hair depending on its type and its age. A tensile testing machine was especially designed to achieve tensile tests on hair. This device is composed of a microdisplacement system and a force sensor whose peak load is limited to 3N. The curves and the values extracted from each experiment, allow us to compare the evolution of the mechanical properties from one hair to another. Observations with a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and with an interferometer were made on different hairs. Thus, it is possible to access the cuticle state and the fracture topography for each category.

Keywords: Hair, relaxation test, SEM, interferometer, mechanical properties.

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Authors: A. Malakahmad, S.M. Zain, N.E. Ahmad Basri, S. R. Mohamed Kutty, M. H. Isa

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Anaerobic digestion process is one of the alternative methods to convert organic waste into methane gas which is a fuel and energy source. Activities of various kinds of microorganisms are the main factor for anaerobic digestion which produces methane gas. Therefore, in this study a modified Anaerobic Baffled Reactor (ABR) with working volume of 50 liters was designed to identify the microorganisms through biogas production. The mixture of 75% kitchen waste and 25% sewage sludge was used as substrate. Observations on microorganisms in the ABR showed that there exists a small amount of protozoa (5%) and fungi (2%) in the system, but almost 93% of the microorganism population consists of bacteria. It is definitely clear that bacteria are responsible for anaerobic biodegradation of kitchen waste. Results show that in the acidification zone of the ABR (front compartments of reactor) fast growing bacteria capable of growth at high substrate levels and reduced pH was dominant. A shift to slower growing scavenging bacteria that grow better at higher pH was occurring towards the end of the reactor. Due to the ability of activity in acetate environment the percentages of Methanococcus, Methanosarcina and Methanotrix were higher than other kinds of methane former in the system.

Keywords: Anaerobic microorganism identification, Kitchenwaste, Biogas.

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Authors: Ganiyu Amuda Yusuf, Sarajul Fikri Mohamed

Abstract:

The procurement and cost management approach adopted for mechanical and electrical (M&E) services in Malaysian construction industry have been criticized for its inefficiency. The study examined early cost estimating practices adopted for mechanical and electrical services (M&E) in Malaysia so as to understand the level of compliance of the current techniques with best practices. The methodology adopted for the study is a review of bidding documents used on both completed and on – going building projects awarded between 2008 – 2010 under 9th Malaysian Plan. The analysis revealed that, M&E services cost cannot be reliably estimated at pre-contract stage; the bidding techniques adopted for M&E services failed to provide uniform basis for contractors to submit tender; detailed measurement of items were not made which could complicate post contract cost control and financial management. The paper concluded that, there is need to follow a structured approach in determining the pre-contract cost estimate for M&E services which will serve as a virile tool for post contract cost control.

Keywords: Cost Management, Mechanical and Electrical Services, Procurement, Standard Method of Measurement

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Authors: Mehaiguene Madjid, Touhari Fadhila, Meddi Mohamed

Abstract:

The Cheliff basin offers a good hydrological example for the possibility of studying the problem which elucidated in the future, because of the unclearity in several aspects and hydraulic installation. Thus, our study of the Cheliff basin is divided into two principal parts: The spatial evaluation of the precipitation: also, the understanding of the modes of the reconstitution of the resource in water supposes a good knowledge of the structuring of the precipitation fields in the studied space. In the goal of a good knowledge of revitalizes them in water and their management integrated one judged necessary to establish a precipitation card of the Cheliff basin for a good understanding of the evolution of the resource in water in the basin and that goes will serve as basis for all study of hydraulic planning in the Cheliff basin. Then, the establishment of the precipitation card of the Cheliff basin answered a direct need of setting to the disposition of the researchers for the region and a document of reference that will be completed therefore and actualized. The hydrological study, based on the statistical hydrometric data processing will lead us to specify the hydrological terms of the assessment hydrological and to clarify the fundamental aspects of the annual flow, seasonal, extreme and thus of their variability and resources surface water.

Keywords: Hydrological assessment, surface water resources, Cheliff, Algeria.

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Authors: H. Shareef, A. Mohamed, S. A. Khalid, Aziah Khamis

Abstract:

This paper presents application artificial intelligent (AI) techniques, namely artificial neural network (ANN), adaptive neuro fuzzy interface system (ANFIS), to estimate the real power transfer between generators and loads. Since these AI techniques adopt supervised learning, it first uses modified nodal equation method (MNE) to determine real power contribution from each generator to loads. Then the results of MNE method and load flow information are utilized to estimate the power transfer using AI techniques. The 25-bus equivalent system of south Malaysia is utilized as a test system to illustrate the effectiveness of both AI methods compared to that of the MNE method. The mean squared error of the estimate of ANN and ANFIS power transfer allocation methods are 1.19E-05 and 2.97E-05, respectively. Furthermore, when compared to MNE method, ANN and ANFIS methods computes generator contribution to loads within 20.99 and 39.37msec respectively whereas the MNE method took 360msec for the calculation of same real power transfer allocation. 

Keywords: Artificial intelligence, Power tracing, Artificial neural network, ANFIS, Power system deregulation.

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