Search results for: dual support methods

Authors: Yessine Hadj Kacem, Adel Mahfoudhi, Hedi Tmar, Mohamed Abid

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Unified Modeling Language (UML) extensions for real time embedded systems (RTES) co-design, are taking a growing interest by a great number of industrial and research communities. The extension mechanism is provided by UML profiles for RTES. It aims at improving an easily-understood method of system design for non-experts. On the other hand, one of the key items of the co- design methods is the Hardware/Software partitioning and scheduling tasks. Indeed, it is mandatory to define where and when tasks are implemented and run. Unfortunately the main goals of co-design are not included in the usual practice of UML profiles. So, there exists a need for mapping used models to an execution platform for both schedulability test and HW/SW partitioning. In the present work, test schedulability and design space exploration are performed at an early stage. The proposed approach adopts Model Driven Engineering MDE. It starts from UML specification annotated with the recent profile for the Modeling and Analysis of Real Time Embedded systems MARTE. Following refinement strategy, transformation rules allow to find a feasible schedule that satisfies timing constraints and to define where tasks will be implemented. The overall approach is experimented for the design of a football player robot application.

Keywords: MDE, UML profile, scheduling analysis, HW/SW partitioning.

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Authors: R. Green, T. Mazzuchi, S. Sarkani

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Through inward perceptions, we intuitively expect distributed software development to increase the risks associated with achieving cost, schedule, and quality goals. To compound this problem, agile software development (ASD) insists one of the main ingredients of its success is cohesive communication attributed to collocation of the development team. The following study identified the degree of communication richness needed to achieve comparable software quality (reduce pre-release defects) between distributed and collocated teams. This paper explores the relevancy of communication richness in various development phases and its impact on quality. Through examination of a large distributed agile development project, this investigation seeks to understand the levels of communication required within each ASD phase to produce comparable quality results achieved by collocated teams. Obviously, a multitude of factors affects the outcome of software projects. However, within distributed agile software development teams, the mode of communication is one of the critical components required to achieve team cohesiveness and effectiveness. As such, this study constructs a distributed agile communication model (DAC-M) for potential application to similar distributed agile development efforts using the measurement of the suitable level of communication. The results of the study show that less rich communication methods, in the appropriate phase, might be satisfactory to achieve equivalent quality in distributed ASD efforts.

Keywords: agile software development (ASD), distributedsoftware teams, media richness theory, software development.

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Authors: Mario Gómez, Won Ho Kim, Ángel Licona, José Carlos Rodríguez

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This article analyzes innovation activity in Mexico and South Korea. It develops an econometric model to test for structural breaks in the number of patent applications filed by residents and nonresidents in these countries during the period of 1965 to 2012. These changes may suggest that firms’ innovative capabilities have changed because of implementing different science, technology and innovation (STI) policies in Mexico and South Korea. Two important features characterize this research from others already developed by these authors. First, the theoretical research framework in this research is the debate between the assimilation view of growth and the accumulation view of growth. This characteristic suggests that trade liberalization should be accompanied by an adequate STI policy to boost competitiveness among indigenous firms. Second, the analysis in this research stresses the importance of key actors (e.g. governments) to successfully develop innovation capabilities among indigenous firms. Therefore, the question conducting this research is how STI policies in Mexico and South Korea contributed to develop firms’ innovation capabilities in these countries during last decades? The results from this research suggests that STI policy in South Korea was more suitable to boost innovation firms to compete in markets. Data to develop this research was released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Keywords: Econometric methods, innovation, Mexico, South Korea, STI Policy.

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Authors: Liubov A. Magerramova, Mikhail A. Petrov, Vladimir V. Isakov, Liana A. Shcherbinina, Suren G. Gukasyan, Daniil V. Povalyukhin, Olga G. Klimova-Korsmik, Darya V. Volosevich

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Aircraft engines are developing along the path of increasing resource, strength, reliability, and safety. The building of gas turbine engine body parts is a complex design and technological task. Particularly complex in the design and manufacturing are the casings of the input stages of helicopter gearboxes and central drives of aircraft engines. Traditional technologies, such as precision casting or isothermal forging, are characterized by significant limitations in parts production. For parts like housing, additive technologies guarantee spatial freedom and limitless or flexible design. This article presents the results of computational and experimental studies. These investigations justify the applicability of additive technologies (AT) to reduce the weight of aircraft housing gearbox parts by up to 32%. This is possible due to geometrical optimization compared to the classical, less flexible manufacturing methods and as-casted aircraft parts with over-insured values of safety factors. Using an example of the body of the input stage of an aircraft gearbox, visualization of the layer-by-layer manufacturing of a part based on thermal deformation was demonstrated.

Keywords: Additive technologies, gas turbine engines, geometric optimization, weight reduction.

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Authors: Laila Seada, Hanan Oreiby, Fawaz Al Rashid, Ashraf Negm

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Background and Objective: In most areas of the world, the incidence of thyroid cancer has been increasing over the last decade, mostly due to a combination of early detection of the neoplasm resulting from sensitive procedures and increased population exposure to radiation and unrecognized carcinogens. Methods: Cases of thyroid cancer have been retrieved from the cancer registry at King Khalid Hospital during the period from August 2012 to April 2016. Age, gender and histopathologic types have been recorded. Results: Thyroid carcinoma ranked as the second most common malignancy in females (25%) after breast cancer (31%). It constituted 20.8% of all newly diagnosed cancer cases. As for males, it ranked the 4^th type of malignancy after gastrointestinal cancer, lymphomas and soft tissue sarcomas. Mean age for females and males was 38.7 +/- 13.2 and 60.25 +/- 11.5 years, respectively, and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p value = 0.0001). Fifty-five (82%) were papillary carcinomas including 10 follicular variant of papillary (FVPC), and eight papillary micro carcinomas (PMC) and two tall cell/oncocytic variants. Follicular carcinomas constituted two (3.1%), while two (3.1%) were anaplastic, and two (3.1%) were medullary. Conclusion: Thyroid cancer incidence in Hail is ranking as the 2^nd most common female malignancy similar to other regions in the Kingdom. However, this high incidence contrasts with much lower rates worldwide.

Keywords: Thyroid, Hail, papillary, micro carcinoma.

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Authors: A. Esra İdemen, Sinan M. Şener, Emrah Acar

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The technological paradigm of the disaster management field, especially in the case of governmental intervention strategies, is generally based on rapid and flexible accommodation solutions. From various technical solution patterns used to address the immediate housing needs of disaster victims, the adaptive re-use of existing buildings can be considered to be both low-cost and practical. However, there is a scarcity of analytical methods to screen, select and adapt buildings to help decision makers in cases of emergency. Following an extensive literature review, this paper aims to highlight key points and problem areas associated with the adaptive re-use of buildings within the disaster management context. In other disciplines such as real estate management, the adaptive re-use potential (ARP) of existing buildings is typically based on the prioritization of a set of technical and non-technical criteria which are then weighted to arrive at an economically viable investment decision. After a disaster, however, the assessment of the ARP of buildings requires consideration of different/additional layers of analysis which stem from general disaster management principles and the peculiarities of different types of disasters, as well as of their victims. In this paper, a discussion of the development of an adaptive re-use potential (ARP) assessment model is presented. It is thought that governmental and non-governmental decision makers who are required to take quick decisions to accommodate displaced masses following disasters are likely to benefit from the implementation of such a model.

Keywords: Adaptive re-use of buildings, assessment model, disaster management, temporary housing.

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Authors: Reza Ziaie Moayed, Ehsan Azini

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Jet grouting (JG) is one of the methods of improving and increasing the strength and bearing of soil in which the high pressure water or grout is injected through the nozzles into the soil. During this process, a part of the soil and grout particles comes out of the drill borehole, and the other part is mixed up with the grout in place, as a result of this process, a mass of modified soil is created. The purpose of this method is to change the soil into a mixture of soil and cement, commonly known as "soil-cement". In this paper, first, the principles of high pressure injection and then the effective parameters in the JG method are described. Then, the tests on the samples taken from the columns formed from the excavation around the soil-cement columns, as well as the static loading test on the created column, are discussed. In the other part of this paper, the soil behavior models for numerical modeling in PLAXIS software are mentioned. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the results of numerical modeling based on in-situ static loading tests. The results indicate an acceptable agreement between the results of the tests mentioned and the modeling results. Also, modeling with this software as an appropriate option for technical feasibility can be used to soil improvement using JG.

Keywords: Jet grouting column, Soil improvement, Numerical modeling, In-situ loading test.

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Authors: Aghamusa Azizov

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This study investigates the correlation between solar activity and sentiment in news media coverage, using a large-scale dataset of solar activity since 1750 and over 15 million articles from "The New York Times" dating from 1851 onwards. Employing Pearson's correlation coefficient and multiple Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools—TextBlob, Vader, and DistillBERT—the research examines the extent to which fluctuations in solar phenomena are reflected in the sentiment of historical news narratives. The findings reveal that the correlation between solar activity and media sentiment is generally negligible, suggesting a weak influence of solar patterns on the portrayal of events in news media. Notably, a moderate positive correlation was observed between the sentiments derived from TextBlob and Vader, indicating consistency across NLP tools. The analysis provides insights into the historical impact of solar activity on human affairs and highlights the importance of using multiple analytical methods to understand complex relationships in large datasets. The study contributes to the broader understanding of how extraterrestrial factors may intersect with media-reported events and underlines the intricate nature of interdisciplinary research in the data science and historical domains.

Keywords: Solar Activity Correlation, Media Sentiment Analysis, Natural Language Processing, NLP, Historical Event Patterns.

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Authors: Gang Li, Ghulam Mubashar Hassan, Arcady Dyskin, Cara MacNish

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Digital image correlation (DIC) is a contactless fullfield displacement and strain reconstruction technique commonly used in the field of experimental mechanics. Comparing with physical measuring devices, such as strain gauges, which only provide very restricted coverage and are expensive to deploy widely, the DIC technique provides the result with full-field coverage and relative high accuracy using an inexpensive and simple experimental setup. It is very important to study the natural patterns effect on the DIC technique because the preparation of the artificial patterns is time consuming and hectic process. The objective of this research is to study the effect of using images having natural pattern on the performance of DIC. A systematical simulation method is used to build simulated deformed images used in DIC. A parameter (subset size) used in DIC can have an effect on the processing and accuracy of DIC and even cause DIC to failure. Regarding to the picture parameters (correlation coefficient), the higher similarity of two subset can lead the DIC process to fail and make the result more inaccurate. The pictures with good and bad quality for DIC methods have been presented and more importantly, it is a systematic way to evaluate the quality of the picture with natural patterns before they install the measurement devices.

Keywords: Digital image correlation (DIC), Deformation simulation, Natural pattern, Subset size.

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Authors: Mansoor Ahsan, Khalid Rafique, Farrukh Mazhar

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Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have gained tremendous importance, in both Military and Civil, during first decade of this century. In a UAV, onboard computer (autopilot) autonomously controls the flight and navigation of the aircraft. Based on the aircraft role and flight envelope, basic to complex and sophisticated controllers are used to stabilize the aircraft flight parameters. These controllers constitute the autopilot system for UAVs. The autopilot systems, most commonly, provide lateral and longitudinal control through Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controllers or Phase-lead or Lag Compensators. Various techniques are commonly used to ‘tune’ gains of these controllers. Some techniques used are, in-flight step-by-step tuning, software-in-loop or hardware-in-loop tuning methods. Subsequently, numerous in-flight tests are required to actually ‘fine-tune’ these gains. However, an optimization-based tuning of these PID controllers or compensators, as presented in this paper, can greatly minimize the requirement of in-flight ‘tuning’ and substantially reduce the risks and cost involved in flight-testing.

Keywords: Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), autopilot, autonomous controls, PID controler gains tuning, optimization.

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Authors: A. L. Ho, N. Ab. Aziz, F. S. Taip, M. N. Ibrahim

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The study of the fouling deposition of pink guava juice (PGJ) is relatively new research compared to milk fouling deposit. In this work, a new experimental set-up was developed to imitate the fouling formation in heat exchanger, namely a continuous flow experimental set-up heat exchanger. The new experimental setup was operated under industrial pasteurization temperature of PGJ, which was at 93°C. While the flow rate and pasteurization period were based on the experimental capacity, which were 0.5 and 1 liter/min for the flow rate and the pasteurization period was set for 1 hour. Characterization of the fouling deposit was determined by using various methods. Microstructure of the deposits was carried out using ESEM. Proximate analyses were performed to determine the composition of moisture, fat, protein, fiber, ash and carbohydrate content. A study on the hardness and stickiness of the fouling deposit was done using a texture analyzer. The presence of seedstone in pink guava juice was also analyzed using a particle analyzer. The findings shown that seedstone from pink guava juice ranging from 168 to 200μm and carbohydrate was found to be a major composition (47.7% of fouling deposit consists of carbohydrate). Comparison between the hardness and stickiness of the deposits at two different flow rates showed that fouling deposits were harder and denser at higher flow rate. Findings from this work provide basis knowledge for further study on fouling and cleaning of PGJ.

Keywords: Pink guava juice, fouling deposit, heat exchanger.

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Authors: Paola Gattinoni, Laura Scesi, Elena Cerino Adbin, Daniele Cremonesi

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The interaction of tunneling or mining with groundwater has become a very relevant problem not only due to the need to guarantee the safety of workers and to assure the efficiency of the tunnel drainage systems, but also to safeguard water resources from impoverishment and pollution risk. Therefore it is very important to forecast the drainage processes (i.e., the evaluation of drained discharge and drawdown caused by the excavation). The aim of this study was to know better the system and to quantify the flow drained from the Fontane mines, located in Val Germanasca (Turin, Italy). This allowed to understand the hydrogeological local changes in time. The work has therefore been structured as follows: the reconstruction of the conceptual model with the geological, hydrogeological and geological-structural study; the calculation of the tunnel inflows (through the use of structural methods) and the comparison with the measured flow rates; the water balance at the basin scale. In this way it was possible to understand what are the relationships between rainfall, groundwater level variations and the effect of the presence of tunnels as a means of draining water. Subsequently, it the effects produced by the excavation of the mining tunnels was quantified, through numerical modeling. In particular, the modeling made it possible to observe the drawdown variation as a function of number, excavation depth and different mines linings.

Keywords: Groundwater, Italy, numerical model, tunneling.

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Authors: Sirirat Taneerananon

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This paper presents the results of a study of the ultra-poor in the south of Thailand, revisited after 10 years since the original study in 2000. The original study was conducted in four provinces. The first two namely Phatthalung and Nakorn were chosen to represent the Thai Buddhists and the others, Satun and Pattani were chosen to represent the Thai Muslims. For this study, only the results from the three provinces except Pattani are reported as it was difficult and dangerous to conduct fieldwork in Pattani due to the continued unrest in the area since 2005.

The objectives of the study are to find out the changes of the poverty situation after 10 years and to see the impacts of the poverty reduction projects implemented by the government on the poor. The research methodology used both quantitative and qualitative methods. The same villages in the four provinces studied in 1999 were again chosen. In each village, five ultra-poor people and heads of the villages were interviewed. The results show that the poverty situation of the ultra-poor groups has not changed much since they lacked the basic key factor to get themselves out of poverty: The ownership of land. Their chronic poverty situation has been passed on from the last generation. In the province of Phatthalung, the ultra-poor have improved in terms of economic situation because of the big increase in the price of rubber. However, the same could not be said for other provinces. Even though the government’s projects have not reduced the poverty directly, the projects have significantly contributed to the improvement of the quality of life of the poor and the people in the areas. 

Keywords: Poverty, Southern Thailand, Ultra-poor.

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Authors: I. Parkova, A. Vališevskis, A. Viļumsone

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Nocturnal enuresis or bed-wetting is intermittent incontinence during sleep of children after age 5 that may precipitate wide range of behavioral and developmental problems. One of the non-pharmacological treatment methods is the use of a bed-wetting alarm system. In order to improve comfort conditions of nocturnal enuresis alarm system, modular moisture sensor should be replaced by a textile sensor. In this study behavior and moisture detection speed of woven and sewn sensors were compared by analyzing change in electrical resistance after solution (salt water) was dripped on sensor samples. Material of samples has different structure and yarn location, which affects solution detection rate. Sensor system circuit was designed and two sensor tests were performed: system activation test and false alarm test to determine the sensitivity of the system and activation threshold. Sewn sensor had better result in system’s activation test – faster reaction, but woven sensor had better result in system’s false alarm test – it was less sensitive to perspiration simulation. After experiments it was found that the optimum switching threshold is 3V in case of 5V input voltage, which provides protection against false alarms, for example – during intensive sweating.

Keywords: Conductive yarns, moisture textile sensor.

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Authors: Ryota Sugino, Satoshi Mizoguchi, Koji Kimita, Keiichi Muramatsu, Tatsunori Matsui, Yoshiki Shimomura

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Improving added value and productivity of services entails improving both value-in-exchange and value-in-use. Value-in-use is realized by value co-creation, where providers and receivers create value together. In higher education services, value-in-use comes from learners achieving learning outcomes (e.g., knowledge and skills) that are consistent with their learning goals. To enhance the learning outcomes of a learner, it is necessary to enhance and utilize the abilities of the teacher along with the abilities of the learner. To do this, however, the learner and the teacher need to build a consensus about their respective roles. Teachers need to provide effective learning content; learners need to choose the appropriate learning strategies by using the learning content through consensus building. This makes consensus building an important factor in value co-creation. However, methods to build a consensus about their respective roles may not be clearly established, making such consensus difficult. In this paper, we propose some strategies for consensus building between a teacher and a learner in value co-creation. We focus on a teacher and learner co-design and propose an analysis method to clarify a collaborative design process to realize value co-creation. We then analyze some counseling data obtained from a university class. This counseling aimed to build a consensus for value-in-use, learning outcomes, and learning strategies between the teacher and the learner.

Keywords: Consensus building, value co-creation, higher education, learning service.

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Authors: Ivanova B. Natalia, Djambova Т. Svetlana, Hristev S. Ivailo

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The acoustic properties of recycled felt panels have been investigated using various methods. Experimentally, the sound insulation of the panels has been evaluated for frequencies in the range of 600 Hz to 4000 Hz, utilizing a small-sized acoustic chamber. Additionally, the sound absorption coefficient for the frequency range of 63 Hz to 4000 Hz was measured according to the EN ISO 354 standard in a laboratory reverberation room. This research was deemed necessary after conducting reverberation time measurements of a university classroom following the EN ISO 3382-2 standard. The measurements indicated values of 2.86 s at 500 Hz, 3.23 s at 1000 Hz, and 2.53 s at 2000 Hz, which significantly exceeded the requirements set by the national regulatory framework (0.6 s) for such premises. For this reason, recycled felt panels have been investigated in the laboratory, showing very good acoustic properties at high frequencies. To enhance performance in the low frequencies, the influence of the distance of the panel spacing was examined. Furthermore, the sound insulation of the panels was studied to expand the possibilities of their application, both for the acoustic treatment of educational and multifunctional halls and for sound insulation purposes (e.g., a suspended ceiling with an air gap passing from room to room). As a conclusion, a theoretical acoustic design of the classroom has been carried out with suggestions for improvements to achieve the necessary acoustic and aesthetic parameters for such rooms.

Keywords: Acoustic panels, recycled felt, sound absorption, sound insulation, classroom acoustics.

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Authors: A. M. Qahtani, G. B. Wills, A. M. Gravell

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Communicating and managing customers’ requirements in software development projects play a vital role in the software development process. While it is difficult to do so locally, it is even more difficult to communicate these requirements over distributed boundaries and to convey them to multiple distribution customers. This paper discusses the communication of multiple distribution customers’ requirements in the context of customised software products. The main purpose is to understand the challenges of communicating and managing customisation requirements across distributed boundaries. We propose a model for Communicating Customisation Requirements of Multi-Clients in a Distributed Domain (CCRD). Thereafter, we evaluate that model by presenting the findings of a case study conducted with a company with customisation projects for 18 distributed customers. Then, we compare the outputs of the real case process and the outputs of the CCRD model using simulation methods. Our conjecture is that the CCRD model can reduce the challenge of communication requirements over distributed organisational boundaries, and the delay in decision making and in the entire customisation process time.

Keywords: Customisation Software Products, Global Software Engineering, Local Decision Making, Requirement Engineering, Simulation Model.

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Authors: Hekmatpanah, M.

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Since the beginning of human history, human activities have caused many changes in the environment. Today, a particular attention should be paid to gaining knowledge about water quality of wetlands which are pristine natural environments rich in genetic reserves. If qualitative conditions of industrial areas (in terms of both physicochemical and biological conditions) are not addressed properly, they could cause disruption in natural ecosystems, especially in rivers. With regards to the quality of water resources, determination of pollutant sources plays a pivotal role in engineering projects as well as designing water quality control systems. Thus, using different methods such as flow duration curves, dischargepollution load model and frequency analysis by HYFA software package, risk of various industrial pollutants in international and ecologically important Gavkhoni wetland is analyzed. In this study, a station located at Varzaneh City is used as the last station on Zayanderud River, from where the river water is discharged into the wetland. Results showed that elements- concentrations often exceeded the allowed level and river water can endanger regional ecosystem. In addition, if the river discharge is managed on Q25 basis, this basis can lower concentrations of elements, keeping them within the normal level.

Keywords: Pollutants Risk, Industry, Flow Discharge, Management, Gavkhoni Wetland

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Authors: Sangamesh G. Sakri, Akash N. Patil, Sadashivappa M. Kotli

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Agro based industries in India are considered as the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME). In India, MSMEs contribute approximately 8 percent of the country’s GDP, 42 percent of the manufacturing output and 40 percent of exports. The toor dal (scientific name Cajanus cajan, commonly known as yellow gram, pigeon pea) is the second largest pulse crop in India accounting for about 20% of total pulse production. The toor dal milling industry in India is one of the major agro-processing industries in the country. Most of the dal mills are concentrated in pulse producing areas, which are spread all over the country. In Karnataka state, Gulbarga is a district, where toor dal is the main crop and is grown extensively. There are more than 500 dal mills in and around the Gulbarga district to process dal. However, the majority of these dal milling units use traditional methods of processing which are energy and capital intensive. There exists a huge energy saving potential in these mills. An energy audit is conducted on a dal mill in Gulbarga to understand the energy consumption pattern to assess the energy saving potential, and an economic analysis is conducted to identify energy conservation opportunities.

Keywords: Conservation, demand side management, load curve, toor dal.

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Authors: Rudolf Egger

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This paper explores the relationships between the basic learning processes of leading trade union workers and their methods for coping with the changes in the life-courses of societies today. It will discuss the fragile discourse on lifelong learning in trade unions and the “production of self-techniques” to get in touch with the new economic forms. On the basis of an empirical project, different processes of the socialization of leading trade union workers will be analysed to discover the consequences of the lifelong learning discourse. The results show what competences they need to develop for the “wider benefits of negotiations”. The main challenge remains to make visible how deeply intertwined trade union learning and education are with development in an ongoing dynamic economic process, rather than a quick-fix injection of skills and information. There is a complex relationship existing between the three ‘partners’, work, learning and society forming. The author suggests that contemporary trade unions could be trendsetters who make their own learning agendas by drawing less on formal education and more on informal and non-formal learning contexts. This is in parallel with growing political and scientific consciousness of the need to arrive at new educational/vocational policies and practices.

Keywords: Lifelong learning, Trade unions, Non-formal learning, Educational/vocational policies.

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Authors: Anshu Manik, William G. Buttlar, Kasthurirangan Gopalakrishnan

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Over the years, there is a growing trend towards quality-based specifications in highway construction. In many Quality Control/Quality Assurance (QC/QA) specifications, the contractor is primarily responsible for quality control of the process, whereas the highway agency is responsible for testing the acceptance of the product. A cooperative investigation was conducted in Illinois over several years to develop a prototype End-Result Specification (ERS) for asphalt pavement construction. The final characteristics of the product are stipulated in the ERS and the contractor is given considerable freedom in achieving those characteristics. The risk for the contractor or agency depends on how the acceptance limits and processes are specified. Stochastic simulation models are very useful in estimating and analyzing payment risk in ERS systems and these form an integral part of the Illinois-s prototype ERS system. This paper describes the development of an innovative methodology to estimate the variability components in in-situ density, air voids and asphalt content data from ERS projects. The information gained from this would be crucial in simulating these ERS projects for estimation and analysis of payment risks associated with asphalt pavement construction. However, these methods require at least two parties to conduct tests on all the split samples obtained according to the sampling scheme prescribed in present ERS implemented in Illinois.

Keywords: Asphalt Pavement, Risk Analysis, StochasticSimulation, QC/QA.

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Authors: O. M. Bamigbola, A. A. Ibrahim

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Analysis of real life problems often results in linear systems of equations for which solutions are sought. The method to employ depends, to some extent, on the properties of the coefficient matrix. It is not always feasible to solve linear systems of equations by direct methods, as such the need to use an iterative method becomes imperative. Before an iterative method can be employed to solve a linear system of equations there must be a guaranty that the process of solution will converge. This guaranty, which must be determined apriori, involve the use of some criterion expressible in terms of the entries of the coefficient matrix. It is, therefore, logical that the convergence criterion should depend implicitly on the algebraic structure of such a method. However, in deference to this view is the practice of conducting convergence analysis for Gauss- Seidel iteration on a criterion formulated based on the algebraic structure of Jacobi iteration. To remedy this anomaly, the Gauss- Seidel iteration was studied for its algebraic structure and contrary to the usual assumption, it was discovered that some property of the iteration matrix of Gauss-Seidel method is only diagonally dominant in its first row while the other rows do not satisfy diagonal dominance. With the aid of this structure we herein fashion out an improved version of Gauss-Seidel iteration with the prospect of enhancing convergence and robustness of the method. A numerical section is included to demonstrate the validity of the theoretical results obtained for the improved Gauss-Seidel method.

Keywords: Linear system of equations, Gauss-Seidel iteration, algebraic structure, convergence.

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Authors: Reihaneh Ahmadzadeh Ghavidel, Mehdi Ghiafeh Davoodi

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Dehydration process was carried out for tomato slices of var. Avinash after giving different pre-treatments such as calcium chloride (CaCl2), potassium metabisulphite (KMS), calcium chloride and potassium metabisulphite (CaCl2 +KMS), and sodium chloride (NaCl). Untreated samples served as control. Solar drier and continuous conveyor (tunnel) drier were used for dehydration. Quality characteristics of tomato slices viz. moisture content, sugar, titratable acidity, lycopene content, dehydration ratio, rehydration ratio and non-enzymatic browning as affected by dehydration process were studied. Storage study was also carried out for a period of six months for tomato powder packed into different types of packaging materials viz. metalized polyester (MP) film and low density poly ethylene (LDPE). Changes in lycopene content and non-enzymatic browning (NEB) were estimated during storage at room temperature. Pretreatment of 5 mm thickness of tomato slices with calcium chloride in combination with potassium metabisulphite and drying using a tunnel drier with subsequent storage of product in metalized polyester bags was selected as the best process.

Keywords: Drying pretreatments, Solar drying, Tomato powder, Tunnel drying

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Authors: Levente Varga, Dávid Deritei, Mária Ercsey-Ravasz, Răzvan Florian, Zsolt I. Lázár, István Papp, Ferenc Járai-Szabó

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One of the major shortcomings of widely used scientometric indicators is that different disciplines cannot be compared with each other. The issue of cross-disciplinary normalization has been long discussed, but even the classification of publications into scientific domains poses problems. Structural properties of citation networks offer new possibilities, however, the large size and constant growth of these networks asks for precaution. Here we present a new tool that in order to perform cross-field normalization of scientometric indicators of individual publications relays on the structural properties of citation networks. Due to the large size of the networks, a systematic procedure for identifying scientific domains based on a local community detection algorithm is proposed. The algorithm is tested with different benchmark and real-world networks. Then, by the use of this algorithm, the mechanism of the scientometric indicator normalization process is shown for a few indicators like the citation number, P-index and a local version of the PageRank indicator. The fat-tail trend of the article indicator distribution enables us to successfully perform the indicator normalization process.

Keywords: Citation networks, scientometric indicator, cross-field normalization, local cluster detection.

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Authors: P. Konvalina, I. Capouchová, Z. Stehno

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The organic farmers use wider range of crop varieties than the conventional farming. Bread wheat is the most favorite and the most common food crop. The organic bread wheat is usually of worse technological quality. Therefore, it is supposed to be an attractive alternative to the hulled wheat species (einkorn, emmer wheat and spelt). Twenty-five hulled bread wheat varieties and control bread wheat ones were grown on the certified organic parcel in České Budějovice (the Czech Republic) between 2009 and 2012. Their baking quality was measured and evaluated with standard methods, and in accordance with ICC. The results have shown that the grain of hulled wheat varieties contain a lot of proteins in grains (up to 18 percent); even the organic hulled bread wheat varieties are characterized by such good baking quality. Einkorn and emmer wheat are of worse technological quality of proteins (low values of gluten index and Zeleny test), which is a disadvantage of these two wheat species. On the other hand, spelt wheat is of better technological quality and is similar to the control bread wheat varieties. Mixtures consisting of bread wheat, among others, are considered good alternatives; they may contribute to wider range of use of the hulled wheat species. It is one of the possibilities which may increase the proportion of proteins in bread wheat grains; the nutrition-rich hulled wheat grains may be also used in such way at the same time.

Keywords: Baking quality, organic farming, einkorn, emmer wheat, spelt.

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Authors: Ceren Ince, Berkay Z. Erdem, Shahram Derogar, Nabi Yuzer

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Fibre cement plates, often used in construction, generally are made using quartz as an inert material, cement as a binder and cellulose as a fibre. This paper, first of all, investigates the mechanical properties and durability of fibre cement plates when quartz is both partly and fully replaced with diatomite. Diatomite does not only have lower density compared to quartz but also has high pozzolanic activity. The main objective of this paper is the investigation of the effects of supplementary cementing materials (SCMs) on the short and long term mechanical properties and durability characteristics of fibre cement plates prepared using diatomite. Supplementary cementing materials such as ground granulated blast furnace slug (GGBS) and fly ash (FA) are used in this study. Volume proportions of 10, 20, 30 and 40% of GGBS and FA are used as partial replacement materials to cement. Short and long term mechanical properties such as compressive and flexural strengths as well as sorptivity characteristics and mass were investigated. Consistency and setting time at each replacement levels of SCMs were also recorded. The effects of using supplementary cementing materials on the carbonation and sulphate resistance of fibre cement plates were then experimented. The results, first of all, show that the use of diatomite as a full or partial replacement to quartz resulted in a systematic decrease in total mass of the fibre cement plates. The reduction of mass was largely due to the lower density and finer particle size of diatomite compared to quartz. The use of diatomite did not only reduce the mass of these plates but also increased the compressive strength significantly as a result of its high pozzolanic activity. The replacement levels of both GGBS and FA resulted in a systematic decrease in short term compressive strength with increasing replacement levels. This was essentially expected as the total rate of hydration is much lower in GGBS and FA than that of cement. Long term results however, indicated that the compressive strength of fibre cement plates prepared using both GGBS and FA increases with time and hence the compressive strength of plates prepared using SCMs is either equivalent or more than the compressive strength of plates prepared using cement alone. Durability characteristics of fibre cement plates prepared using SCMs were enhanced significantly. Measurements of sopritivty characteristics were also indicated that the plates prepared using SCMs has much lower water absorption capacities compared to plates prepared cement alone. Much higher resistance to carbonation and sulphate attach were observed with plates prepared using SCMs. The results presented in this paper show that the use of SCMs does not only support the production of more sustainable construction materials but also enhances the mechanical properties and durability characteristics of fibre cement plates.

Keywords: Diatomite, fibre, strength, supplementary cementing materials.

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Authors: Hersh C. Waxman, Yolanda N. Padrón, Jee-Young Shin, Héctor H. Rivera

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While many studies have conducted the achievement gap between groups of students in school districts, few studies have utilized resilience research to investigate achievement gaps within classrooms. This paper aims to summarize and discuss some recent studies Waxman, Padr├│n, and their colleagues conducted, in which they examined learning environment differences between resilient and nonresilient students in reading and mathematics classrooms. The classes consist of predominantly Hispanic elementary school students from low-income families. These studies all incorporated learning environment questionnaires and systematic observation methods. Significant differences were found between resilient and nonresilient students on their classroom learning environments and classroom behaviors. The observation results indicate that the amount and quality of teacher and student academic interaction are two of the most influential variables that promote student outcomes. This paper concludes by suggesting the following teacher practices to promote resiliency in schools: (a) using feedback from classroom observation and learning environment measures, (b) employing explicit teaching practices; and (c) understanding students on a social and personal level.

Keywords: achievement gap, classroom learning environments, educational resilience, systematic classroom observation

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Authors: R. F. B. Gonçalves, E. N. Iwama, J. A. F. F. Rocco, K. Iha

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Propellants based on Hydroxyl Terminated Polybutadiene/Ammonium Perchlorate (HTPB/AP) are the most commonly used in most of the rocket engines used by the Brazilian Armed Forces. This work aimed at the possibility of extending its useful life (currently in 10 years) by performing kinetic-chemical analyzes of its energetic material via Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and also performing computer simulation of aging process using the software Large-scale Atomic/Molecular Massively Parallel Simulator (LAMMPS). Thermal analysis via DSC was performed in triplicates and in three heating ratios (5 ºC, 10 ºC, and 15 ºC) of rocket motor with 11 years shelf-life, using the Arrhenius equation to obtain its activation energy, using Ozawa and Kissinger kinetic methods, allowing comparison with manufacturing period data (standard motor). In addition, the kinetic parameters of internal pressure of the combustion chamber in 08 rocket engines with 11 years of shelf-life were also acquired, for comparison purposes with the engine start-up data.

Keywords: Shelf-life, thermal analysis, Ozawa method, Kissinger method, LAMMPS software, thrust.

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Authors: Derek Wardle, Tarik Al-Shemmeri, Neil Packer

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This paper presents a small tube/wire type electrostatic precipitator (ESP). In the ESPs present form, particle charging and collecting voltages and airflow rates were individually varied throughout 200 ambient temperature test runs ranging from 10 to 30 kV in increments on 5 kV and 0.5 m/s to 1.5 m/s, respectively. It was repeatedly observed that, at input air velocities of between 0.5 and 0.9 m/s and voltage settings of 20 kV to 30 kV, the collection efficiency remained above 95%. The outcomes of preliminary tests at combustion flue temperatures are, at present, inconclusive although indications are that there is little or no drop in comparable performance during ideal test conditions. A limited set of similar tests was carried out during which the collecting electrode was grounded, having been disconnected from the static generator. The collecting efficiency fell significantly, and for that reason, this approach was not pursued further. The collecting efficiencies during ambient temperature tests were determined by mass balance between incoming and outgoing dry PM. The efficiencies of combustion temperature runs are determined by analysing the difference in opacity of the flue gas at inlet and outlet compared to a reference light source. In addition, an array of Leit tabs (carbon coated, electrically conductive adhesive discs) was placed at inlet and outlet for a number of four-day continuous ambient temperature runs. Analysis of the discs’ contamination was carried out using scanning electron microscopy and ImageJ computer software that confirmed collection efficiencies of over 99% which gave unequivocal support to all the previous tests. The average efficiency for these runs was 99.409%. Emissions collected from a woody biomass combustion unit, classified to a diameter of 100 µm, were used in all ambient temperature trials test runs apart from two which collected airborne dust from within the laboratory. Sawdust and wood pellets were chosen for laboratory and field combustion trials. Video recordings were made of three ambient temperature test runs in which the smoke from a wood smoke generator was drawn through the precipitator. Although these runs were visual indicators only, with no objective other than to display, they provided a strong argument for the device’s claimed efficiency, as no emissions were visible at exit when energised.  The theoretical performance of ESPs, when applied to the geometry and configuration of the tested model, was compared to the actual performance and was shown to be in good agreement with it.

Keywords: Electrostatic precipitators, air quality, particulates emissions, electron microscopy, ImageJ.

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Authors: Bahdja Guerfi, N. Hadhoum, I. Azouz, M. Bendoumia, S. Bouafia, F. Z. Hadjadj Aoul

Abstract:

Background: 'Penicillin V' is a narrow, bactericidal antibiotic of the beta-lactam family of the naturally occurring penicillin group. It is limited to infections due to the germs defined as sensitive. The objective of this work was to identify and to characterize Penicillin V acid and its related compounds by High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Methods: Firstly phenoxymethylpenicillin was identified by an infrared absorption. The organoleptic characteristics, pH, and determination of water content were also studied. The dosage of Penicillin V acid active substance and the determination of its related compounds were carried on waters HPLC, equipped with a UV detector at 254 nm and Discovery HS C18 column (250 mm X 4.6 mm X 5 µm) which is maintained at room temperature. The flow rate was about 1 ml per min. A mixture of water, acetonitrile and acetic acid (65:35:01) was used as mobile phase for phenoxyacetic acid ‘impurity B' and a mixture of water, acetonitrile and acetic acid (650:150:5.75) for the assay and 4-hydroxypenicillin V 'impurity D'. Results: The identification of Penicillin V acid active substance and the evaluation of its chemical quality showed conformity with USP 35th edition. The Penicillin V acid content in the raw material is equal to 1692.22 UI/mg. The percentage content of phenoxyacetic acid and 4-hydroxypenicillin V was respectively: 0.035% and 0.323%. Conclusion: Through these results, we can conclude that the Penicillin V acid active substance tested is of good physicochemical quality.

Keywords: Penicillin V acid, characterization, related substances, HPLC.

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