Search results for: consumer responses

Authors: Xiaohui Zhao, Shahan Mafuz

Abstract:

Context-aware technologies provide system applications with the awareness of environmental conditions, customer behaviours, object movements, etc. Further, with such capability system applications can be smart to intelligently adapt their responses to the changing conditions. In regard to business operations, this promises businesses that their business processes can run more intelligently, adaptively and flexibly, and thereby either improve customer experience, enhance reliability of service delivery, or lower operational cost, to make the business more competitive and sustainable. Aiming at realising such context-aware business process management, this paper firstly explores its potential benefit, and then identifies some gaps between the current business process management support and the expected. In addition, some preliminary solutions are also discussed in regard to context definition, rule-based process execution, run-time process evolution, etc. A framework is also presented to give a conceptual architecture of context-aware business process management system to guide system implementation.

Keywords: Business process adaptation, business process evolution, business process modelling, and context awareness.

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Authors: Truong Quang Dang Khoa, Masahiro Nakagawa

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Brain Computer Interface (BCI) has been recently increased in research. Functional Near Infrared Spectroscope (fNIRs) is one the latest technologies which utilize light in the near-infrared range to determine brain activities. Because near infrared technology allows design of safe, portable, wearable, non-invasive and wireless qualities monitoring systems, fNIRs monitoring of brain hemodynamics can be value in helping to understand brain tasks. In this paper, we present results of fNIRs signal analysis indicating that there exist distinct patterns of hemodynamic responses which recognize brain tasks toward developing a BCI. We applied two different mathematics tools separately, Wavelets analysis for preprocessing as signal filters and feature extractions and Neural networks for cognition brain tasks as a classification module. We also discuss and compare with other methods while our proposals perform better with an average accuracy of 99.9% for classification.

Keywords: functional near infrared spectroscope (fNIRs), braincomputer interface (BCI), wavelets, neural networks, brain activity, neuroimaging.

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Authors: Hosein Falahaty, Hitoshi Gotoh, Abbas Khayyer

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Performance of a Hamiltonian based particle method in simulation of nonlinear structural dynamics is subjected to investigation in terms of stability and accuracy. The governing equation of motion is derived based on Hamilton's principle of least action, while the deformation gradient is obtained according to Weighted Least Square method. The hyper-elasticity models of Saint Venant-Kirchhoff and a compressible version similar to Mooney- Rivlin are engaged for the calculation of second Piola-Kirchhoff stress tensor, respectively. Stability along with accuracy of numerical model is verified by reproducing critical stress fields in static and dynamic responses. As the results, although performance of Hamiltonian based model is evaluated as being acceptable in dealing with intense extensional stress fields, however kinds of instabilities reveal in the case of violent collision which can be most likely attributed to zero energy singular modes.

Keywords: Hamilton's principle of least action, particle based method, hyper-elasticity, analysis of stability.

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Authors: G. Parmar, S. Mukherjee, R. Prasad

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The authors present an algorithm for order reduction of linear time invariant dynamic systems using the combined advantages of the eigen spectrum analysis and the error minimization by particle swarm optimization technique. Pole centroid and system stiffness of both original and reduced order systems remain same in this method to determine the poles, whereas zeros are synthesized by minimizing the integral square error in between the transient responses of original and reduced order models using particle swarm optimization technique, pertaining to a unit step input. It is shown that the algorithm has several advantages, e.g. the reduced order models retain the steady-state value and stability of the original system. The algorithm is illustrated with the help of two numerical examples and the results are compared with the other existing techniques.

Keywords: Eigen spectrum, Integral square error, Orderreduction, Particle swarm optimization, Stability.

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Authors: M. Shirinbayan, J. Fitoussi, N. Abbasnezhad, A. Lucas, A. Tcharkhtchi

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Sheet Molding Compounds (SMCs) with special microstructures are very attractive to use in automobile structures especially when they are accidentally subjected to collision type accidents because of their high energy absorption capacity. These are materials designated as standard SMC, Advanced Sheet Molding Compounds (A-SMC), Low-Density SMC (LD-SMC) and etc. In this study, testing methods have been performed to compare the mechanical responses and damage phenomena of SMC, LD-SMC, and A-SMC under quasi-static and high strain rate tensile tests. The paper also aims at investigating the effect of an initial pre-damage induced by fatigue on the tensile dynamic behavior of A-SMC. In the case of SMCs and A-SMCs, whatever the fibers orientation and applied strain rate are, the first observed phenomenon of damage corresponds to decohesion of the fiber-matrix interface which is followed by coalescence and multiplication of these micro-cracks and their propagations. For LD-SMCs, damage mechanisms depend on the presence of Hollow Glass Microspheres (HGM) and fibers orientation.

Keywords: SMC, LD-SMC, A-SMC, HGM, damage.

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Authors: Ayodeji Adesina, Derek Molloy

Abstract:

Traditional higher-education classrooms allow lecturers to observe students- behaviours and responses to a particular pedagogy during learning in a way that can influence changes to the pedagogical approach. Within current e-learning systems it is difficult to perform continuous analysis of the cohort-s behavioural tendency, making real-time pedagogical decisions difficult. This paper presents a Virtual Learning Process Environment (VLPE) based on the Business Process Management (BPM) conceptual framework. Within the VLPE, course designers can model various education pedagogies in the form of learning process workflows using an intuitive flow diagram interface. These diagrams are used to visually track the learning progresses of a cohort of students. This helps assess the effectiveness of the chosen pedagogy, providing the information required to improve course design. A case scenario of a cohort of students is presented and quantitative statistical analysis of their learning process performance is gathered and displayed in realtime using dashboards.

Keywords: Business process management, cohort analytics, learning processes, virtual learning environment.

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Authors: Sandro Mourão, Karla Okada

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The necessity of accurate and timely field data is shared among organizations engaged in fundamentally different activities, public services or commercial operations. Basically, there are three major components in the process of the qualitative research: data collection, interpretation and organization of data, and analytic process. Representative technological advancements in terms of innovation have been made in mobile devices (mobile phone, PDA-s, tablets, laptops, etc). Resources that can be potentially applied on the data collection activity for field researches in order to improve this process. This paper presents and discuss the main features of a mobile phone based solution for field data collection, composed of basically three modules: a survey editor, a server web application and a client mobile application. The data gathering process begins with the survey creation module, which enables the production of tailored questionnaires. The field workforce receives the questionnaire(s) on their mobile phones to collect the interviews responses and sending them back to a server for immediate analysis.

Keywords: Data Gathering, Field Research, Mobile Phone, Survey.

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Authors: Bu Seog Ju, Woo Young Jung

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A multi-panel PMC infilled system, using polymer matrix composite (PMC) material, was introduced as new conceptual design for seismic retrofitting. A proposed multi panel PMC infilled system was composed of two basic structural components: inner PMC sandwich infills and outer FRP damping panels. The PMC material had high stiffness-to-weight and strength-to-weight ratios. Therefore, the addition of PMC infill panels into existing structures would not significantly alter the weight of the structure, while providing substantial structural enhancement.

In this study, an equivalent linearized dynamic analysis for a proposed multi-panel PMC infilled frame was performed, in order to assess their effectiveness and their responses under the simulated earthquake loading. Upon comparing undamped (without PMC panel) and damped (with PMC panel) structures, numerical results showed that structural damping with passive interface damping layer could significantly enhance the seismic response.

Keywords: Polymer Matrix Composite (PMC), Panel, Piece-wise linear, Earthquake, FRP.

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Authors: Mary L. G. S. Senna, Afonso R. Aquino

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The development of tourism causes negative impacts on the environment. It is in this context, through the Ecological Footprint (EF) method that this study aimed to characterize the impacts of ecotourism on the community of Mateiros, Jalapão, Brazil. The EF, which consisted in its original a method to construct a land use matrix, considering some major categories of human consumption such as food, housing, transportation, consumer goods and services, and six other categories from the main land use which are divided into the topics: land use, degraded environment, gardens, fertile land, pasture and forests protected by the government. The main objective of this index is to calculate the land area required for the production and maintenance of goods and services consumed by a community. The field research was conducted throughout the year of 2014 until July 2015. After the calculations of each category, these components were added according to the presented method in order to determine the annual EF of the tourism sector in Mateiros. The results show that the EF resulting from tourism in Mateiros is 2,194.22 hectares of land required for tourism activities in the region. The EF of tourism was considered high, nevertheless, if it is added the total of hectares needed annually for tourism activities, the result found would be 2,194.22 hectares needed to absorb the CO₂ emissions generated in the region directly from the tourism sector.

Keywords: Sustainable tourism, tourism ecological footprint, Jalapão/TO/Brazil.

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Authors: Lara F. Horani, Shurong Tong

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Identification of customer requirements and their preferences are the starting points in the process of product design. Most of design methodologies focus on traditional requirements. But in the previous decade, the green products and the environment requirements have increasingly attracted the attention with the constant increase in the level of consumer awareness towards environmental problems (such as green-house effect, global warming, pollution and energy crisis, and waste management). Determining the importance weights for the customer requirements is an essential and crucial process. This paper used the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach to evaluate and rate the customer requirements for green products. With respect to the ultimate goal of customer satisfaction, surveys are conducted using a five-point scale analysis. With the help of this scale, one can derive the weight vectors. This approach can improve the imprecise ranking of customer requirements inherited from studies based on the conventional AHP. Furthermore, the AHP with extent analysis is simple and easy to implement to prioritize customer requirements. The research is based on collected data through a questionnaire survey conducted over a sample of 160 people belonging to different age, marital status, education and income groups in order to identify the customer preferences for green product requirements.

Keywords: Analytic hierarchy process, green product, customer requirements for green design, importance weights for the customer requirements.

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Authors: Swadhin Ku. Mishra, Sidhartha Panda, Simanchala Padhy, C. Ardil

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In this paper, real-coded genetic algorithm (RCGA) optimization technique has been applied for large-scale linear dynamic multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) system. The method is based on error minimization technique where the integral square error between the transient responses of original and reduced order models has been minimized by RCGA. The reduction procedure is simple computer oriented and the approach is comparable in quality with the other well-known reduction techniques. Also, the proposed method guarantees stability of the reduced model if the original high-order MIMO system is stable. The proposed approach of MIMO system order reduction is illustrated with the help of an example and the results are compared with the recently published other well-known reduction techniques to show its superiority.

Keywords: Multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) system.Modelorder reduction. Integral squared error (ISE). Real-coded geneticalgorithm

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Authors: Budhi Primasari, Shaliza Ibrahim, M Suffian M Annuar, Lim Xung Ian Remmie

Abstract:

This study is aimed to investigate feasibility of the aerobic biological process to treat oily wastewater from palm oil food industry. Effect of aeration and sludge concentrations are studied. Raw sludge and raw wastewater was mixed and acclimatized for five days in a stirred tank reactor. The aeration rate (no aeration, low; 1.5L/min and high rate; 2L/min) and sludge concentration (3675, 7350, and 11025mg/L of VSS) were varied. Responses of process were pH, COD, oil and grease, VSS, and PHB content. It was found that the treatment can remove 85.1 to 97.1 % of COD and remove 12.9 to 54.8% of oil & grease. The PHB yield was found to be within 0.15% to 2.4% as PHB/VSS ratio and 0.01% to 0.12% as PHB/COD removed. The higher aeration results a high COD removal and oil & grease removal, while experiment without aeration gives better PHB yield. Higher sludge concentrations (11025mg/L VSS) give higher removal of oil & grease while moderate sludge concentration (7350mg/L VSS) give better result in COD removal. Higher PHB yield is obtained in low sludge concentration (3675mg/L).

Keywords: oily wastewater, COD, PHB, oil and grease

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Authors: Aaron Aboshio, Jianqioa Ye

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In this study, static and dynamic responses of a typical reinforced concrete solid slab, designed to British Standard (BS 8110: 1997) and under self and live loadings for dance halls are reported. Linear perturbation analysis using finite element method was employed for modal, impulse loading and frequency response analyses of the slab under the aforementioned loading condition. Results from the static and dynamic analyses, comprising of the slab fundamental frequencies and mode shapes, dynamic amplification factor, maximum deflection, stress distributions among other valuable outcomes are presented and discussed. These were gauged with the limiting provisions in the design code with a view of justifying valid optimization objective function for the structure that can ensure both adequate strength and economical section for large clear span slabs. This is necessary owing to the continued increase in cost of erecting building structures and the squeeze on public finance globally.

Keywords: Economical design, Finite element method, Modal dynamics, Reinforced concrete, Slab.

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Authors: Oluwatosin A. Ijabadeniyi

Abstract:

The fact that traditional food safety system in the absence of food safety culture is inadequate has recently become a cause of concern for food safety professionals and other stakeholders. Focusing on implementation of traditional food safety system i.e HACCP prerequisite program and HACCP without the presence of food safety culture in the food industry has led to the processing, marketing and distribution of contaminated foods. The results of this are regular out breaks of food borne illnesses and recalls of foods from retail outlets with serious consequences to the consumers and manufacturers alike. This article will consider the importance of food safety culture, the cases of outbreaks and recalls that occurred when companies did not make food safety culture a priority. Most importantly, the food safety cultures of some food industries in South Africa were assessed from responses to questionnaires from food safety/food industry professionals in Durban South Africa. The article was concluded by recommending that both food industry employees and employers alike take food safety culture seriously.

Keywords: Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), food borne illnesses, food safety culture, food safety system, HACCP.

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Authors: Nikolaos Georgantzis, Efi Vasileiou

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We present results from experimental price-setting oligopolies in which green firms undertake different levels of energy-saving investments motivated by public subsidies and demand-side advantages. We find that consumers reveal higher willingness to pay for greener sellers’ products. This observation in conjunction to the fact that greener sellers set higher prices is compatible with the use and interpretation of energy-saving behaviour as a differentiation strategy. However, sellers do not exploit the resulting advantage through sufficiently high price-cost margins, because they seem trapped into “run to stay still” competition. Regarding the use of public subsidies to energy-saving sellers we uncover an undesirable crowding-out effect of consumers’ intrinsic tendency to support green manufacturers. Namely, consumers may be less willing to support a green seller whose energy-saving strategy entails a direct financial benefit. Finally, we disentangle two alternative motivations for consumer’s attractions to pro-social firms; first, the self-interested recognition of the firm’s contribution to the public and private welfare and, second, the need to compensate a firm for the cost entailed in each pro-social action. Our results show the prevalence of the former over the latter.

Keywords: Corporate social responsibility, energy savings, public good, experiments, vertical differentiation, altruism.

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Authors: Jung-hoon Lee, Eung Tai Kim, Byung-hee Chang, In-hee Hwang, Dae-sung Lee

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The accuracy of estimated stability and control derivatives of a light aircraft from flight test data were evaluated. The light aircraft, named ChangGong-91, is the first certified aircraft from the Korean government. The output error method, which is a maximum likelihood estimation technique and considers measurement noise only, was used to analyze the aircraft responses measures. The multi-step control inputs were applied in order to excite the short period mode for the longitudinal and Dutch-roll mode for the lateral-directional motion. The estimated stability/control derivatives of Chan Gong-91 were analyzed for the assessment of handling qualities comparing them with those of similar aircraft. The accuracy of the flight derivative estimates derived from flight test measurement was examined in engineering judgment, scatter and Cramer-Rao bound, which turned out to be satisfactory with minor defects..

Keywords: Light Aircraft, Flight Test, Accuracy, Engineering Judgment, Scatter, Cramer-Rao Bound

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Authors: Artur Saraiva, Moritz von Schwedler, Emília Fernandes

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In recent years, the organic sector has increased significantly. However, with the ‘conventionalization’ of these products, it has been questioned whether these products have been losing their original vision. Accordingly, this research based on 31 phenomenological interviews with committed organic consumers in urban and rural areas of Portugal, aims to analyse how ethical motivations and ecological awareness are related to organic food consumption. The content thematic analysis highlights aspects related to society and environmental concerns. On an individual level, the importance of internal coherence, peace of mind and balance that these consumers find in the consumption of local organic products was stressed. For these consumers, local organic products consumption made for significant changes in their lives, aiding in the establishment of a green identity, and involves a certain philosophy of life. This vision of an organic lifestyle is grounded in a political and ecological perspective, beyond the usual organic definition, as a ‘post-organic era’. The paper contributes to better understand how an ideological environmental discourse allows highlighting the relationship between consumers’ environmental concerns and the politics of food, resulting in a possible transition to new sustainable consumption practices.

Keywords: Organic consumption, localism, content thematic analysis, pro-environmental discourse, political consumption, Portugal.

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Authors: Darwina Arshad, Paul Hughes

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Recent environmental turbulence including financial crisis, intensified competitive forces, rapid technological change and high market turbulence have dramatically changed the current business climate. The managers firms have to plan and decide what the best approaches that best fit their firms in order to pursue superior performance. This research aims to examine the influence of strategic reasoning and top level managers- individual characteristics on the effectiveness of organizational improvisation and firm performance. Given the lack of studies on these relationships in the previous literature, there is significant contribution to the body of knowledge as well as for managerial practices. 128 responses from top management of technology-based companies in Malaysia were used as a sample. Three hypotheses were examined and the findings confirm that (a) there is no relationship between intuitive reasoning and organizational improvisation but there is a link between rational reasoning and organizational improvisation, (b) top level managers- individual characteristics as a whole affect organizational improvisation; and (c) organizational improvisation positively affects firm performance. The theoretical and managerial implications were discussed in the conclusions.

Keywords: Organizational improvisation, strategic reasoning, firm performance.

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Authors: Abbas Al-Refaie

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This paper aims at improving the performance of the tableting process using statistical quality control and fuzzy goal programming. The tableting process was studied. Statistical control tools were used to characterize the existing process for three critical responses including the averages of a tablet’s weight, hardness, and thickness. At initial process factor settings, the estimated process capability index values for the tablet’s averages of weight, hardness, and thickness were 0.58, 3.36, and 0.88, respectively. The L₉ array was utilized to provide experimentation design. Fuzzy goal programming was then employed to find the combination of optimal factor settings. Optimization results showed that the process capability index values for a tablet’s averages of weight, hardness, and thickness were improved to 1.03, 4.42, and 1.42, respectively. Such improvements resulted in significant savings in quality and production costs.

Keywords: Fuzzy goal programming, control charts, process capability, tablet optimization.

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Authors: Gwanghee Heo, Geonhyeok Bang, Chunggil Kim, Chinok Lee

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This paper attempts to develop a wireless feedback control system as a primary step eventually toward a bio-inspired structure system where inanimate structure behaves like a life form autonomously. It is a standalone wireless control system which is supposed to measure externally caused structural responses, analyze structural state from acquired data, and take its own action on the basis of the analysis with an embedded logic. For an experimental examination of its effectiveness, we applied it on a model of two-span bridge and performed a wireless control test. Experimental tests have been conducted for comparison on both the wireless and the wired system under the conditions of Un-control, Passive-off, Passive-on, and Lyapunov control algorithm. By proving the congruence of the test result of the wireless feedback control system with the wired control system, its control performance was proven to be effective. Besides, it was found to be economical in energy consumption and also autonomous by means of a command algorithm embedded into it, which proves its basic capacity as a bio-inspired system.

Keywords: Structural vibration control, wireless system, MR damper, feedback control, embedded system.

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Authors: Devdutt

Abstract:

In this paper, vibration control response of passenger seat in quarter car model having three degrees of freedom is studied. Three different control strategies are taken into account using Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) controller. In first case, ANFIS controller is applied in main suspension of active quarter car model. In second case, passenger seat suspension is assembled with ANFIS controller. Finally, both main and passenger seat suspensions are integrated with ANFIS controller. Simulation work under random road excitations is performed using passive and controlled quarter car models for performance comparison of passenger ride comfort. Ride comfort analysis is also compared as per ISO 2631-1 criterion. The obtained simulation responses are compared taking passenger seat acceleration and displacement response in time and frequency domain for the selection of best control strategy in designed quarter car model.

Keywords: Active suspension system, ANFIS controller, passenger ride comfort, quarter car model.

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Authors: Ong Sing Goh, C. Ardil, Wilson Wong, Chun Che Fung

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The evaluation of conversational agents or chatterbots question answering systems is a major research area that needs much attention. Before the rise of domain-oriented conversational agents based on natural language understanding and reasoning, evaluation is never a problem as information retrieval-based metrics are readily available for use. However, when chatterbots began to become more domain specific, evaluation becomes a real issue. This is especially true when understanding and reasoning is required to cater for a wider variety of questions and at the same time to achieve high quality responses. This paper discusses the inappropriateness of the existing measures for response quality evaluation and the call for new standard measures and related considerations are brought forward. As a short-term solution for evaluating response quality of conversational agents, and to demonstrate the challenges in evaluating systems of different nature, this research proposes a blackbox approach using observation, classification scheme and a scoring mechanism to assess and rank three example systems, AnswerBus, START and AINI.

Keywords: Evaluation, conversational agents, Response Quality, chatterbots

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Authors: Vita Sterna, Sanita Zute, Inga Jansone, Linda Brunava, Inara Kantane

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Grains, including oats (Avena sativa L.), have been recognized functional foods, because provide beneficial effect on the health of the consumer and decrease the risk of various diseases. Oats are good source of soluble fibre, essential amino acids, unsaturated fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. Oat breeders have developed oat varieties and improved yielding ability potential of oat varieties. Therefore, the aim of investigation was to analyze the composition of perspective oat varieties and breeding lines grains grown in different conditions and evaluate functional properties. In the studied samples content of protein, starch, β-glucans, total dietetic fibre, composition of amino acids and vitamin E were determined. The results of analysis showed that protein content depending of varieties ranged 9.70% to 17.30% total dietary fibre 13.66 g100g-1 to 30.17 g100g-1, content of β-glucans 2.7 g100g-1 to 3.5 g100g-1, amount of vitamin E (α-tocopherol) determined from 4 mgkg-1 to 9.9 mgkg-1. The sums of essential amino acids in oat grain samples were determined from 31.63 gkg-1 to 54.90 gkg-1. It is concluded that amino acids composition of husked and naked oats grown in organic or conventional conditions is close to optimal for human health.

Keywords: Amino acids, β-glucans, dietetic fibre, nutrition value.

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Authors: Agung Budi Muljono, I Made Ginarsa, I Made Ari Nrartha

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A large-scale power system (LSPS) consists of two or more sub-systems connected by inter-connecting transmission. Loading pattern on an LSPS always changes from time to time and varies depend on consumer need. The serious instability problem is appeared in an LSPS due to load fluctuation in all of the bus. Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS)-based power system stabilizer (PSS) is presented to cover the stability problem and to enhance the stability of an LSPS. The ANFIS control is presented because the ANFIS control is more effective than Mamdani fuzzy control in the computation aspect. Simulation results show that the presented PSS is able to maintain the stability by decreasing peak overshoot to the value of −2.56 × 10−5 pu for rotor speed deviation Δω2−3. The presented PSS also makes the settling time to achieve at 3.78 s on local mode oscillation. Furthermore, the presented PSS is able to improve the peak overshoot and settling time of Δω3−9 to the value of −0.868 × 10−5 pu and at the time of 3.50 s for inter-area oscillation.

Keywords: ANFIS, large-scale, power system, PSS, stability enhancement.

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Authors: Seyed Ahmad Hosseini, Makan Cheraghpour, Saeed Shirali, Roya Rafie, Matin Ghanavati, Arezoo Amjadi, Meysam Alipour

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Background: There is a mutual relationship between sleep duration and obesity. We studied the relationship between sleep duration with obesity and dietary Intake. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 444 male students in Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Science. Dietary intake was analyzed by food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Anthropometric indices were analyzed. Participants were being asked about their sleep duration and they were categorized into three groups according to their responses (less than six hours, between six and eight hours, and more than eight hours). Results: Macronutrient, micronutrient, and antioxidant intake did not show significant difference between three groups. Moreover, we did not observe any significant difference between anthropometric indices (weight, body mass index, waist circumference, and percentage body fat). Conclusions: Our study results show no significant relationship between sleep duration, nutrition pattern, and obesity. Further study is recommended.

Keywords: Sleep duration, obesity, dietary intake, cross-sectional.

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Authors: Ahmed Arkoazi, Hussein Znad, Ranjeet Utikar

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The synergistic impact and optimization of gas flow rate, concentration of CO₂, and light intensity on CO₂ biofixation rate were investigated using wastewater as a medium to cultivate Chlorella vulgaris under different conditions (gas flow rate 1-8 L/min), CO₂ concentration (0.03-7%), and light intensity (150-400 µmol/m².s)). Response Surface Methodology and Box-Behnken experimental Design were applied to find optimum values for gas flow rate, CO₂ concentration, and light intensity. The optimum values of the three independent variables (gas flow rate, concentration of CO₂, and light intensity) and desirability were 7.5 L/min, 3.5%, and 400 µmol/m².s, and 0.904, respectively. The highest amount of biomass produced and CO₂ biofixation rate at optimum conditions were 5.7 g/L, 1.23 gL^-1d^-1, respectively. The synergistic effect between gas flow rate and concentration of CO₂, and between gas flow rate and light intensity was significant on the three responses, while the effect between CO₂ concentration and light intensity was less significant on CO₂ biofixation rate. The results of this study could be highly helpful when using microalgae for CO₂ biofixation in wastewater treatment.

Keywords: Synergistic impact, optimization, CO2 biofixation, airlift reactor.

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Authors: Adrienne Kline, Jaydip Desai

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Electroencephalogram (EEG) is a noninvasive technique that registers signals originating from the firing of neurons in the brain. The Emotiv EEG Neuroheadset is a consumer product comprised of 14 EEG channels and was used to record the reactions of the neurons within the brain to two forms of stimuli in 10 participants. These stimuli consisted of auditory and visual formats that provided directions of ‘right’ or ‘left.’ Participants were instructed to raise their right or left arm in accordance with the instruction given. A scenario in OpenViBE was generated to both stimulate the participants while recording their data. In OpenViBE, the Graz Motor BCI Stimulator algorithm was configured to govern the duration and number of visual stimuli. Utilizing EEGLAB under the cross platform MATLAB®, the electrodes most stimulated during the study were defined. Data outputs from EEGLAB were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics® Version 20. This aided in determining the electrodes to use in the development of a brain-machine interface (BMI) using real-time EEG signals from the Emotiv EEG Neuroheadset. Signal processing and feature extraction were accomplished via the Simulink® signal processing toolbox. An Arduino™ Duemilanove microcontroller was used to link the Emotiv EEG Neuroheadset and the right and left Mecha TE™ Hands.

Keywords: Brain-machine interface, EEGLAB, emotiv EEG neuroheadset, openViBE, simulink.

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Authors: A. Kurşun, M. Tunay Çetin, E. Çetin, H. Aykul

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In this investigation an elastic stress analysis is carried out a woven steel fiber reinforced thermoplastic cantilever beam loaded uniformly at the upper surface. The composite beam material consists of low density polyethylene as a thermoplastic (LDFE, f.2.12) and woven steel fibers. Granules of the polyethylene are put into the moulds and they are heated up to 160°C by using electrical resistance. Subsequently, the material is held for 5min under 2.5 MPa at this temperature. The temperature is decreased to 30°C under 15 MPa pressure in 3min. Closed form solution is found satisfying both the governing differential equation and boundary conditions. We investigated orientation angle effect on stress distribution of composite cantilever beams. The results show that orientation angle play an important role in determining the responses of a woven steel fiber reinforced thermoplastic cantilever beams and an optimal design of these structures.

Keywords: Cantilever beam, elastic stress analysis, orientation angle, thermoplastic.

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Authors: Khaled M. EL-Naggar

Abstract:

Synchronizing and damping torque coefficients of a synchronous machine can give a quite clear picture for machine behavior during transients. These coefficients are used as a power system transient stability measurement. In this paper, a crow search optimization algorithm is presented and implemented to study the power system stability during transients. The algorithm makes use of the machine responses to perform the stability study in time domain. The problem is formulated as a dynamic estimation problem. An objective function that minimizes the error square in the estimated coefficients is designed. The method is tested using practical system with different study cases. Results are reported and a thorough discussion is presented. The study illustrates that the proposed method can estimate the stability coefficients for the critical stable cases where other methods may fail. The tests proved that the proposed tool is an accurate and reliable tool for estimating the machine coefficients for assessment of power system stability.

Keywords: Optimization, estimation, synchronous, machine, crow search.

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Authors: S. A. Hashemi, A. Khoshraftar

Abstract:

This paper presents the influence of the vertical seismic component on the non-linear dynamics analysis of three different structures. The subject structures were analyzed and designed according to recent codes. This paper considers three types of buildings: 5-, 10-, and 15-story buildings. The non-linear dynamics analysis of the structures with assuming elastic-perfectlyplastic behavior was performed using RAM PERFORM-3D software; the horizontal component was taken into consideration with and without the incorporation of the corresponding vertical component. Dynamic responses obtained for the horizontal component acting alone were compared with those obtained from the simultaneous application of both seismic components. The results show that the effect of the vertical component of ground motion may increase the axial load significantly in the interior columns and, consequently, the stories. The plastic mechanisms would be changed. The P-Delta effect is expected to increase. The punching base plate shear of the columns should be considered. Moreover, the vertical component increases the input energy when the structures exhibit inelastic behavior and are taller.

Keywords: Inelastic behavior, non-linear dynamic analysis, steel structure, vertical component.

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