Search results for: Physical Structure of Nikšić

Authors: M. Azadbakht, E. Ghajarjazi, E. Amiri, F. Abdigaol

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In this research the effect of moisture at three levels (47, 57, and 67 w.b.%) on the physical properties of the Pofaki pea variety including, dimensions, geometric mean diameter, volume, sphericity index and the surface area was determined. The influence of different moisture levels (47, 57 and 67 w.b.%), in two loading orientation (longitudinal and transverse) and three loading speed (4,6 and 8 mm min-1) on the mechanical properties of pea such as maximum deformation, rupture force, rupture energy, toughness and the power to break the pea was investigated. It was observed in the physical properties that moisture changes were affective at 1% on, dimensions, geometric mean diameter, volume, sphericity index and the surface area. It was observed in the mechanical properties that moisture changes were effective at 1% on, maximum deformation, rupture force, rupture energy, toughness and the power to break. Loading speed was effective on maximum deformation, rupture force, rupture energy at 1% and it was effective on toughness at 5%. Loading orientation was effective on maximum deformation, rupture force, rupture energy, toughness at 1% and it was effective on power at 5%. The mutual effect of speed and orientation were effective on rupture energy at 1% and were effective on toughness at 5% probability. The mutual effect of moisture and speed were effective on rupture force and rupture energy at 1% and were effective on toughness 5% probability. The mutual effect of orientation and moisture on rupture energy and toughness were effective at 1%.

Keywords: Mechanical properties, Pea, Physical properties.

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Authors: Nouby Ghazaly, Gamal Fouad, Ali Abd-El-Tawwab, K. A. Abd El-Gwwad

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The purpose of this paper is to examine the piston stress distribution using several thicknesses of the coating materials to achieve higher gasoline engine performance. First of all, finite element structure analysis is used to uncoated petrol piston made of aluminum alloy. Then, steel and cast-iron piston materials are conducted and compared with the aluminum piston. After that, investigation of four coating materials namely, yttria-stabilized zirconia, magnesia-stabilized zirconia, alumina, and mullite are studied for each piston materials. Next, influence of various thickness coating layers on the structure stresses of the top surfaces is examined. Comparison between simulated results for aluminum, steel, and cast-iron materials is reported. Moreover, the influences of different coating thickness on the Von Mises stresses of four coating materials are investigated. From the simulation results, it can report that the maximum Von Mises stresses and deformations for the piston materials are decreasing with increasing the coating thickness for magnesia-stabilized zirconia, yttria-stabilized zirconia, mullite and alumina coated materials.

Keywords: Structure analysis, aluminum piston, MgZrO3, YTZ, mullite and alumina.

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Authors: M. Z. Bin Mohd Ghazali, N. C. Wilson, A. F. Bin Ahmad Fuad, M. A. H. B. Musa, M. U. Mohamad Sani, F. Zulkifli, M. S. Zainal Abidin

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Physical activity levels are low in Malaysia and this study was undertaken to determine if a four week work-based intervention program would be effective in changing physical activity levels. The study was conducted in a Malaysian Government Department and had three stages: baseline data collection, four-week intervention and two-month post intervention data collection. During the intervention and two-month post intervention phases, physical activity levels (determined by a pedometer) and basic health profiles (BMI, abdominal obesity, blood pressure) were measured. Staff (58 males, 47 females) with an average age of 33 years completed baseline data collection. Pedometer steps averaged 7,102 steps/day at baseline, although male step counts were significantly higher than females (7,861 vs. 6114). Health profiles were poor: over 50% were overweight/obese (males 66%, females 40%); hypertension (males 23%, females 6%); excess waist circumference (males 52%, females 17%). While 86 staff participated in the intervention, only 49 regularly reported their steps. There was a significant increase (17%) in average daily steps from 8,965 (week 1) to 10,436 (week 4). Unfortunately, participation in the intervention program was avoided by the less healthy staff. Two months after the intervention there was no significant difference in average steps/day, despite the fact that 89% of staff reporting they planned to make long-term changes to their lifestyle. An unexpected average increase of 2kg in body weight occurred in participants, although this was less than the 5.6kg in non-participants. A number of recommendations are made for future interventions, including the conclusion that pedometers were a useful tool and popular with participants.

Keywords: Pedometers, walking, health, intervention.

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Authors: Wei Sun, Ruilin Zheng, Xuyuan Chen

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Micro power sources are required to be used in autonomous microelectromechanical system (MEMS). In this paper,  we designed and fabricated a three dimensional (3D) MEMS supercapacitor, which is consisting of conformal silicon  dioxide/titanium/polypyrrole (PPy) layers on silicon substrate. At first, ''through-structure'' was fabricated on the silicon substrate by high-aspect-ratio deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) method, which enlarges the available surface area significantly. Then the SiO2/Ti/PPy layers grew sequentially on the ³through-structure´. Finally, the supercapacitor was investigated by electrochemical methods.

Keywords: MEMS, Supercapacitor, DRIE, 3D.

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Authors: Kuo-Lung Lor, Chi-Hsuan Tsou, Yeun-Chung Chang, Chung-Ming Chen

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For evaluating the severity of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), one is interested in inspecting the airway wall thickening due to inflammation. Although airway segmentations have being well developed to reconstruct in high order, airway wall segmentation remains a challenge task. While tackling such problem as a multi-surface segmentation, the interrelation within surfaces needs to be considered. We propose a new method for three-dimensional airway wall segmentation using spring structural active contour model. The method incorporates the gravitational field of the image and repelling force field of the inner lumen as the soft constraint and the geometric spring structure of active contour as the hard constraint to approximate a three-dimensional coupled surface readily for thickness measurements. The results show the preservation of topology constraints of coupled surfaces. In conclusion, our springy, soft-tissue-like structure ensures the globally optimal solution and waives the shortness following by the inevitable improper inner surface constraint.

Keywords: active contour model, airway wall, COPD, geometric spring structure

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Authors: Anamaria Bechir, Rodica Sirbu, Minodora Leca, Maria Maris, Dan Artenie Maris, Emilia Mihaela Cadar, Marius Maris

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This paper aims at presenting the biotechnology used to obtain collagen-based gels from shark (Squalus acanthias) and brill skin, marine fish growing in the Black Sea. Due to the structure of its micro-fibres, collagen can be considered a nanomaterial; in order to use collagen-based matrixes as biomaterial, rheological studies must be performed first, to state whether they are stable or not. For the triple-helix structure to remain stable within these gels at room or human body temperature, they must be stabilized by reticulation.

Keywords: Collagen, biotechnology, reticulation.

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Authors: Makkia, Ahmad, Al-Falahi, Abdullah Abdelaziz Muharram

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Healthcare workers (HCWs) in Yemen are exposed to a myriad of occupational health hazards, including biological, physical, ergonomic, chemical and psychosocial hazards. HCWs operate in an environment that is considered to be one of the most hazardous occupational settings. The current study aimed to assess sng the prevalence of ‎occupational health hazards among Health care workers and associated ‎risk factors in public hospitals in Sana'a City, Yemen. Descriptive cross-sectional design was utilized; out of 5443 totals of HCWs 396 were selected by multistage sampling technique was carried out in the public hospitals in Sana'a city, Yemen. More the half (60.6%) of HCWs were aged between 20-30 years, 50.8% were males, 56.3% were married, and 45.5% had a diploma qualification, while 65.2% of HCWs had less than 6 years of experience. The results show a high prevalence of occupational hazards (99%); ergonomic hazards (93.4%), biological hazards (87.6%), psychosocial (86.65%), physical hazards (83.3%), and chemical hazards (73.5%). There were no statistically significant differences between demographic characteristics and the prevalence of occupational hazards (p > 0.05). The study revealed that occupational hazards were highly prevalent among the participants. The most common biological hazard was exposure to sharp-related injuries, while the predominant physical hazard was slip, trip, and fall incidents. Ergonomic hazards manifested as back or neck pain during work. Chemical hazards were represented by allergic reactions to medical gloves powder. Psychosocial hazards included experiencing verbal and physical harassment. In conclusion, the study emphasized the importance of raising awareness among HCWs and conducting training courses to prevent occupational hazards.

Keywords: Health workers, occupational hazard, prevalence, risk factors.

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Authors: M. S. Alam, M. R. Alam, Nusrat Jahan Imu

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This paper presents a computer simulation model based on system dynamics methodology for analyzing the dynamic characteristics of input energy structure in agriculture and Bangladesh is used here as a case study for model validation. The model provides an input energy structure linking the major energy flows with human energy and draft energy from cattle as well as tractors and/or power tillers, irrigation, chemical fertilizer and pesticide. The evaluation is made in terms of different energy dependent indicators. During the simulation period, the energy input to agriculture increased from 6.1 to 19.15 GJ/ha i.e. 2.14 fold corresponding to energy output in terms of food, fodder and fuel increase from 71.55 to 163.58 GJ/ha i.e. 1.28 fold from the base year. This result indicates that the energy input in Bangladeshi agricultural production is increasing faster than the energy output. Problems such as global warming, nutrient loading and pesticide pollution can associate with this increasing input. For an assessment, a comparative statement of input energy use in agriculture of developed countries (DCs) and least developed countries (LDCs) including Bangladesh has been made. The performance of the model is found satisfactory to analyze the agricultural energy system for LDCs

Keywords: Agriculture, energy indicator, system dynamics, energy flows.

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Authors: Jong-Jy Shyu, Soo-Chang Pei, Min-Han Chang

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In this paper, the least-squares design of variable fractional-delay (VFD) finite impulse response (FIR) digital differentiators is proposed. The used transfer function is formulated so that Farrow structure can be applied to realize the designed system. Also, the symmetric characteristics of filter coefficients are derived, which leads to the complexity reduction by saving almost a half of the number of coefficients. Moreover, all the elements of related vectors or matrices for the optimal process can be represented in closed forms, which make the design easier. Design example is also presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Keywords: Differentiator, variable fractional-delay filter, FIR filter, least-squares method, Farrow structure.

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Authors: Dorota Galeza

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This paper argues that networks, such as the ECN and the American network, are affected by certain small events which are inherent to path dependence and preclude the full evolution towards efficiency. It is advocated that the American network is superior to the ECN in many respects due to its greater flexibility and longer history. This stems in particular from the creation of the American network, which was based on a small number of cases. Such a structure encourages further changes and modifications which are not necessarily radical. The ECN, by contrast, was established by legislative action, which explains its rigid structure and resistance to change. This paper is an attempt to transpose the superiority of the American network on to the ECN. It looks at concepts such as judicial cooperation, harmonisation of procedure, peer review and regulatory impact assessments (RIAs), and dispute resolution procedures.

Keywords: Antitrust, Competition, Networks, Path Dependence.

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Authors: Mangesh S. Deshpande, Raghunath S. Holambe

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Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficient (MFCC) features are widely used as acoustic features for speech recognition as well as speaker recognition. In MFCC feature representation, the Mel frequency scale is used to get a high resolution in low frequency region, and a low resolution in high frequency region. This kind of processing is good for obtaining stable phonetic information, but not suitable for speaker features that are located in high frequency regions. The speaker individual information, which is non-uniformly distributed in the high frequencies, is equally important for speaker recognition. Based on this fact we proposed an admissible wavelet packet based filter structure for speaker identification. Multiresolution capabilities of wavelet packet transform are used to derive the new features. The proposed scheme differs from previous wavelet based works, mainly in designing the filter structure. Unlike others, the proposed filter structure does not follow Mel scale. The closed-set speaker identification experiments performed on the TIMIT database shows improved identification performance compared to other commonly used Mel scale based filter structures using wavelets.

Keywords: Speaker identification, Wavelet transform, Feature extraction, MFCC, GMM.

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Authors: Ram Kumar Soni, Alok Jain, Rajiv Saxena

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The tree structured approach of non-uniform filterbank (NUFB) is normally used in perfect reconstruction (PR). The PR is not always feasible due to certain limitations, i.e, constraints in selecting design parameters, design complexity and some times output is severely affected by aliasing error if necessary and sufficient conditions of PR is not satisfied perfectly. Therefore, there has been generalized interest of researchers to go for near perfect reconstruction (NPR). In this proposed work, an optimized tree structure technique is used for the design of NPR non-uniform filterbank. Window functions of Blackman family are used to design the prototype FIR filter. A single variable linear optimization is used to minimize the amplitude distortion. The main feature of the proposed design is its simplicity with linear phase property.

Keywords: Tree structure, NUFB, QMF, NPR.

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Authors: V.P.Subramanyam Rallabandi, S.K.Sett

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An unsupervised classification algorithm is derived by modeling observed data as a mixture of several mutually exclusive classes that are each described by linear combinations of independent non-Gaussian densities. The algorithm estimates the data density in each class by using parametric nonlinear functions that fit to the non-Gaussian structure of the data. This improves classification accuracy compared with standard Gaussian mixture models. When applied to textures, the algorithm can learn basis functions for images that capture the statistically significant structure intrinsic in the images. We apply this technique to the problem of unsupervised texture classification and segmentation.

Keywords: Gaussian Mixture Model, Independent Component Analysis, Segmentation, Unsupervised Classification.

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Authors: M. Kalbac, T. Verhagen, K. Drogowska, J. Vejpravova

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One- and two-dimensional carbon nanostructures with sp2 hybridization of carbon atoms (single walled carbon nanotubes and graphene) are promising materials in future electronic and spintronics devices due to specific character of their electronic structure. In this paper we present a comparative study of graphene and single-wall carbon nanotubes by Raman spectro-microscopy in strong magnetic field. This unique method allows to study changes in electronic band structure of the two types of carbon nanostructures induced by a strong magnetic field.

Keywords: Carbon nanostructures, magnetic field, Raman spectroscopy.

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Authors: Gabriella Tjondro, Julita Dortua Laurentina Nainggolan

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Introduction: There are several things affecting menstrual cycle, namely, nutritional status, diet, financial status of one’s household and exercises. The most commonly used parameter to calculate the fat in a human body is body mass index. Therefore, it is necessary to do research to prevent complications caused by menstrual disorder in the future. Design Study: This research is an observational analytical study with the cross-sectional-case control approach. Participants (n = 124; median age = 19.5 years ± SD 3.5) were classified into 2 groups: normal, NM (n = 62; BMI = 18-23 kg/m²) and obese, OB (n = 62; BMI = > 25 kg/m²). BMI was calculated from the equation; BMI = weight, kg/height, m². Results: There were 79.10% from obese group who experienced menstrual cycle disorders (n=53, 79.10%; p value 0.00; OR 5.25) and 20.90% from normal BMI group with menstrual cycle disorders. There were several factors in this research that also influence the menstrual cycle disorders such as stress (44.78%; p value 0.00; OR 1.85), sleep disorders (25.37%; p value 0.00; OR 1.01), physical activities (25.37%; p value 0.00; OR 1.24) and diet (10.45%; p value 0.00; OR 1.07). Conclusion: There is a significant relation between body mass index (obese) and menstrual cycle disorders. However, BMI is not the only factor that affects the menstrual cycle disorders. There are several factors that also can affect menstrual cycle disorders, in this study we use stress, sleep disorders, physical activities and diet, in which none of them are dominant.

Keywords: Menstrual disorders, menstrual cycle, obesity, body mass index, stress, sleep disorders, physical activities, diet.

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Authors: Virginia Melnyk

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This paper explores the design for catenary structure using knitted textiles. Using the advantages of Grasshopper and Kangaroo parametric software to simulate and pre-design an overall form, the design is then translated to a pattern that can be made with hand manipulated stitches on a knitting machine. The textile takes advantage of the structure of knitted materials and the ability for it to stretch. Using different types of stitches to control the amount of stretch that can occur in portions of the textile generates an overall formal design. The textile is then hardened in an upside-down hanging position and then flipped right-side-up. This then becomes a structural catenary form. The resulting design is used as a small Cat House for a cat to sit inside and climb on top of.

Keywords: Architectural materials, catenary structures, knitting fabrication, textile design.

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Authors: Alexander Winkler, Jozef Suchý

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This paper investigates simple implicit force control algorithms realizable with industrial robots. A lot of approaches already published are difficult to implement in commercial robot controllers, because the access to the robot joint torques is necessary or the complete dynamic model of the manipulator is used. In the past we already deal with explicit force control of a position controlled robot. Well known schemes of implicit force control are stiffness control, damping control and impedance control. Using such algorithms the contact force cannot be set directly. It is further the result of controller impedance, environment impedance and the commanded robot motion/position. The relationships of these properties are worked out in this paper in detail for the chosen implicit approaches. They have been adapted to be implementable on a position controlled robot. The behaviors of stiffness control and damping control are verified by practical experiments. For this purpose a suitable test bed was configured. Using the full mechanical impedance within the controller structure will not be practical in the case when the robot is in physical contact with the environment. This fact will be verified by simulation.

Keywords: Damping control, impedance control, robot force control, stability, stiffness control.

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Authors: Oluyemi O. Awolusi, Abimbola M. Enitan, Sheena Kumari, Faizal Bux

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Nitrification is essential to biological processes designed to remove ammonia and/or total nitrogen. It removes excess nitrogenous compound in wastewater which could be very toxic to the aquatic fauna or cause serious imbalance of such aquatic ecosystem. Efficient nitrification is linked to an in-depth knowledge of the structure and dynamics of the nitrifying community structure within the wastewater treatment systems. In this study, molecular technique was employed for characterizing the microbial structure of activated sludge [ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB)] in a municipal wastewater treatment with intention of linking it to the plant efficiency. PCR based phylogenetic analysis was also carried out. The average operating and environmental parameters as well as specific nitrification rate of plant was investigated during the study. During the investigation the average temperature was 23±1.5oC. Other operational parameters such as mixed liquor suspended solids and chemical oxygen demand inversely correlated with ammonia removal. The dissolved oxygen level in the plant was constantly lower than the optimum (between 0.24 and 1.267 mg/l) during this study. The plant was treating wastewater with influent ammonia concentration of 31.69 and 24.47 mg/L. The influent flow rates (ML/Day) was 96.81 during period. The dominant nitrifiers include: Nitrosomonas spp. Nitrobacter spp. and Nitrospira spp. The AOB had correlation with nitrification efficiency and temperature. This study shows that the specific ammonia oxidizing rate and the specific nitrate formation rates can serve as good indicator of the plant overall nitrification performance.

Keywords: Ammonia monooxygenase α-subunit (amoA) gene, ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB), specific nitrification rate, PCR.

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Authors: B. D. Polat, O. Keles

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Physical vapor deposition under conditions of an obliquely incident flux results in a film formation with an inclined columnar structure. These columns will be oriented toward the vapor source because of the self-shadowing effect, and they are homogenously distributed on the substrate surface because of the limited surface diffusion ability of ad-atoms when there is no additional substrate heating.

In this work, the oblique angle electron beam evaporation technique is used to fabricate thin films containing inclined nanorods. The results demonstrate that depending on the thin film composition, the morphology of the nanorods is changed as well. The galvanostatic analysis of these thin film anodes reveals that a composite CuSn nanorods having approximately 900mAhg^-1 of initial discharge capacity, performs higher electrochemical performance compared to pure Sn nanorods containing anode material. The long cycle life and the advanced electrochemical properties of the nanostructured composite electrode might be attributed to its improved mechanical tolerance and enhanced electrical conductivity depending on the Cu presence in the nanorods.

Keywords: Cu-Sn thin film, oblique angle deposition, lithium ion batteries, anode.

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Authors: M. N. Othman, M. Bukhari, Z. Halim, S. A. Mohammad, K. Khalid

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Sandwich structure composites produced by epoxy core and aluminium skin were developed as potential building materials. Interface bonding between core and skin was controlled by varying kenaf content. Five different weight percentage of kenaf loading ranging from 10 wt% to 50 wt% were employed in the core manufacturing in order to study the mechanical properties of the sandwich composite. Properties of skin aluminium with epoxy were found to be affected by drying time of the adhesive. Mechanical behavior of manufactured sandwich composites in relation with properties of constituent materials was studied. It was found that 30 wt% of kenaf loading contributed to increase the flexural strength and flexural modulus up to 102 MPa and 32 GPa, respectively. Analysis were done on the flatwise and edgewise compression test. For flatwise test, it was found that 30 wt% of fiber loading could withstand maximum force until 250 kN, with compressive strength results at 96.94 MPa. However, at edgewise compression test, the sandwich composite with same fiber loading only can withstand 31 kN of the maximum load with 62 MPa of compressive strength results.

Keywords: Aluminium, kenaf fiber epoxy, sandwich structure composite.

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Authors: N. N. Nkomo, M. L. Mayanchi

Abstract:

The present study investigated various forms of disciplinary procedures or punishment used by teachers in secondary schools in Calabar Municipality, Nigera. There are agitations amongst parents and educators on the use of corporal punishment as a disciplinary measure against children. Those against the use of corporal punishment argue that this form of punishment does not teach, it only terminates behaviour temporarily and inculcates violence. Those in support are of the view that corporal punishment serves as a deterrent to others. This study sought to find out the most common measure of discipline employed by teachers in private and public schools. The study had three objectives, three research questions and two hypotheses. The design of the present study was the ex-post facto descriptive survey, since variables under study were not manipulated by the researcher. Teachers in Calabar Municipal Secondary Schools formed the population. A sample of 160 teachers was used for the study. The data collection instrument was a facts finding questionnaire titled Disciplinary Procedures Inventory. Data collected were analyzed using simple percentages and chi-square. The major findings were that physical measures such as flogging, exercise/drills, and painful postures were commonly used by teachers in secondary schools. It was also found that these measures were more often used in public schools. It was recommended that teachers should rather employ non-violent techniques of discipline than physical punishment.

Keywords: Discipline, non-violent punishment, physical punishment.

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Authors: Armin Samarghandi, Amirreza Jafari, Mohamad Ghiasi

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Since individuals spend the majority of their time indoors, this immediately affects their productivity and health. An essential factor in occupational health and public health is the influence of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in buildings on occupant welfare and productivity. Since then, empirical data have been equivocal, indicating either that the studies are inaccurate or that the research has just scratched the surface of green buildings in offices, accommodation, and hospital settings and not taken the aforementioned holistically. This study compared three green-certified buildings — a residential green building, a green hospital, and a green school — with conventional structures in Tehran, Iran by means of a questionnaire spread among those utilizing these buildings, and assessing their productivity and health rate as opposed to the time they resided, worked in conventional buildings. The results demonstrated higher scores pertaining to productivity, physical and mental wellness as a consequence of better indoor environmental quality (IEQ), natural lighting, design, and sustainability of these building against non-green buildings. In addition, ancillary matters — environmental, financial, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual dimensions of participants — were indirectly evaluated, and the same results are produced.

Keywords: Green building, Iran, productivity, physical and mental health, Tehran.

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Authors: V. Salajka, Z. Kaláb, J. Kala, P. Hradil

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In the territories where high-intensity earthquakes are frequent is paid attention to the solving of the seismic problems. In the paper are described two computational model variants based on finite element method of the construction with different subsoil simulation (rigid or elastic subsoil) is used. For simulation and calculations program system based on method final elements ANSYS was used. Seismic responses calculations of residential building structure were effected on loading characterized by accelerogram for comparing with the responses spectra method.

Keywords: Accelerogram, ANSYS, mining induced seismic, residential building structure, spectra, subsoil.

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Authors: N. Mahendran, R. Madhuranthi

Abstract:

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs), are constantly in demand to process information more rapidly with less energy and area cost. Presently, processor based solutions have difficult to achieve high processing speed with low-power consumption. This paper presents a simple and accurate data processing scheme for low power wireless sensor node, based on reduced number of processing element (PE). The presented model provides a simple recursive structure (SRS) to process the sampled data in the wireless sensor environment and to reduce the power consumption in wireless sensor node. Based on this model, to process the incoming samples and produce a smaller amount of data sufficient to reconstruct the original signal. The ModelSim simulator used to simulate SRS structure. Functional simulation is carried out for the validation of the presented architecture. Xilinx Power Estimator (XPE) tool is used to measure the power consumption. The experimental results show the average power consumption of 91 mW; this is 42% improvement compared to the folded tree architecture.

Keywords: Power consumption, energy efficiency, low power WSN node, recursive structure, sleep/wake scheduling.

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Authors: M. Hossain, A. H. Khan, M. A. R. Sarkar

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Primary containment structure is one of the five safety layers of a nuclear facility which is needed to be designed in such a manner that it can withstand the pressure and excessive radioactivity during accidental situations. It is also necessary to ensure minimization of cost with maximum possible safety in order to make the design economically feasible and attractive. This paper attempts to identify the optimum design conditions for primary containment structure considering both mechanical and radiation safety keeping the economic aspects in mind. This work takes advantage of commercial simulation software to identify the suitable conditions without the requirement of costly experiments. Generated data may be helpful for further studies.

Keywords: PWR, concrete containment, finite element approach, neutron attenuation, Von Mises Stress.

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Authors: H. Ifassiouen, M. Guisser, H.Medromi

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This paper presents an investigation into the design of a flight control system, using a robust sliding mode control structure, designed using the exact feedback linearization procedure of the dynamic of a small-size autonomous helicopter in hover. The robustness of the controller in the context of stabilization and trajectory tracking with respect to small body forces and air resistance on the main and tail rotor, is analytically proved using Lyapunov approach. Some simulation results are presented to illustrate the performance and robustness of such controller in the presence of small body forces and air resistance.

Keywords: Robust control, sliding mode, stability, Lyapunovapproach.

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Authors: Fatima Zohra Mahi, Luca Varani

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We present an analytical model for the calculation of the sensitivity, the spectral current noise and the detective parameter for an optically illuminated In0.53Ga0.47As n+nn+ diode. The photocurrent due to the excess carrier is obtained by solving the continuity equation. Moreover, the current noise level is evaluated at room temperature and under a constant voltage applied between the diode terminals. The analytical calculation of the current noise in the n+nn+ structure is developed by considering the free carries fluctuations. The responsivity and the detection parameter are discussed as functions of the doping concentrations and the emitter layer thickness in one-dimensional homogeneous n+nn+ structure.

Keywords: Responsivity, detection parameter, photo-detectors, continuity equation, current noise.

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Authors: Heungsu Lee, Youngseok Kim, Jonghwa Yi, Chul Park

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A landing pier is subjected to safety assessment by visual inspection and design data, but it is difficult to check the damage in real-time. In this study, real - time damage detection and safety evaluation methods were studied. As a result of structural analysis of the arbitrary landing pier structure, the inflection point of deformation and moment occurred at 10%, 50%, and 90% of pile length. The critical value of Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensor was set according to the safety factor, and the FBG sensor application method for real - time safety evaluation was derived.

Keywords: FBG sensor, harbor structure, maintenance, safety evaluation system.

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Authors: T.C. Manjunath, B. Bandyopadhyay

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This paper features the modeling and design of a Fast Output Sampling (FOS) Feedback control technique for the Active Vibration Control (AVC) of a smart flexible aluminium cantilever beam for a Single Input Single Output (SISO) case. Controllers are designed for the beam by bonding patches of piezoelectric layer as sensor / actuator to the master structure at different locations along the length of the beam by retaining the first 2 dominant vibratory modes. The entire structure is modeled in state space form using the concept of piezoelectric theory, Euler-Bernoulli beam theory, Finite Element Method (FEM) and the state space techniques by dividing the structure into 3, 4, 5 finite elements, thus giving rise to three types of systems, viz., system 1 (beam divided into 3 finite elements), system 2 (4 finite elements), system 3 (5 finite elements). The effect of placing the sensor / actuator at various locations along the length of the beam for all the 3 types of systems considered is observed and the conclusions are drawn for the best performance and for the smallest magnitude of the control input required to control the vibrations of the beam. Simulations are performed in MATLAB. The open loop responses, closed loop responses and the tip displacements with and without the controller are obtained and the performance of the proposed smart system is evaluated for vibration control.

Keywords: Smart structure, Finite element method, State spacemodel, Euler-Bernoulli theory, SISO model, Fast output sampling, Vibration control, LMI

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Authors: G. Papageorgiou, A. Hadjis

Abstract:

This paper examines the problem of strategic management in highly turbulent dynamic business environmental conditions. As shown the high complexity of the problem can be managed with the use of System Dynamics Models and Computer Simulation in obtaining insights, and thorough understanding of the interdependencies between the organizational structure and the business environmental elements, so that effective product –market strategies can be designed. Simulation reveals the underlying forces that hold together the structure of an organizational system in relation to its environment. Such knowledge will contribute to the avoidance of fundamental planning errors and enable appropriate proactive well focused action.

Keywords: Strategic Management, System Dynamics, Modelingand Simulation, Strategic Planning, Organizational Dynamics

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