Search results for: Africa Solar Potential

Authors: Azza A. Abou-Arab, Marwa H. Mahmoud, Ferial M. Abu-Salem

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This study aimed to determine the influence of some different juice extraction methods (screw type hand operated juice extractor and pressed squeeze juice extractor) as well as drying methods (microwave, solar and oven drying) on the chemical properties of lemon peels. It could be concluded that extraction of juice by screw type and drying of peel using the microwave drying method were the best preparative processing steps methods for lemon peel utilization as food additives.

Keywords: Lemon peel, extraction of juice methods, chemical analysis.

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Authors: Kholod J. Alotaibi, Andrew M. Gravell

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Usability is an important software quality that is often neglected at the design stage. Although methods exist to incorporate elements of usability engineering, there is a need for more balanced usability focused methods that can enhance the experience of software usability for users. In this regard, the potential for Usage-Centred Design is explored with respect to requirements gathering and is shown to lead to high software usability besides other benefits. It achieves this through its focus on usage, defining essential use cases, by conducting task modeling, encouraging user collaboration, refining requirements, and so on. The requirements gathering process in UgCD is described in detail.

Keywords: Requirements gathering, Usability, Usage-Centred Design.

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Authors: J. Chakwizira, P. Bikam, T. A. Adeboyejo

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This paper seeks to illustrate the impact of rapid urbanization (in terms of both increase in people and vehicles) in the Gauteng region (which includes Johannesburg, Pretoria and Ekurhuleni). The impact that existing transport systems and options place on the capacity of residents from low income areas to travel and conduct various socio-economic activities is discussed. The findings are drawn from a 2013 analysis of a random transport household survey of 1550 households carried out in Gauteng province. 91.4% of the study respondents had access to public transport, while 8.6% had no access to public transport. Of the 91.4% who used public transport, the main reason used to explain this state of affairs was that it was affordable (54.3%), convenient (15.9%), Accessible (11.9%), lack of alternatives (6.4%) and reliable at 4.1%. Recommendations advanced revolve around the need to reverse land use and transportation effects of apartheid planning, growing and developing a sustainable critical mass of public transport interventions supported by appropriate transport systems that are environmentally sustainable through proper governance. 38.5% of the respondents indicated that developing compact, smart and integrated urban land spaces was key to reducing travel challenges in the study area. 23.4% indicated that the introduction and upgrading of BRT buses to cover all areas in the study area was a step in the right direction because it has great potential in shifting travel patterns to favor public modes of transport. 15.1% indicated that all open spaces should be developed so that fragmentation of land uses can be addressed. This would help to fight disconnected and fragmented space and trip making challenges in Gauteng. 13.4% indicated that improving the metro rail services was critical since this is a mass mover of commuters. 9.6% of the respondents highlighted that the bus subsidy policy has to be retained in the short to medium term since the spatial mismatches and challenges created by apartheid are yet to be fully reversed.

Keywords: Urbanisation, population, public, transport systems, Gauteng.

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Authors: Nanche Billa Robert

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More and more youth are doubtful of making a satisfactory labour market transition because of the present global economic instability and this is more so in Africa of the Sahara and metropolis like Douala. We use the explanatory sequential mixed method: in the first phase we randomly administered 610 questionnaires in the Douala metropolis respecting the population size of each division and its gender composition. We constructed the questionnaire using the desired values for living a comfortable life in Douala. In the second phase, we purposefully selected and interviewed 50 poor youth in order to explain in detail the initial quantitative results. We obtain the following result: The modal income class is 24,000-74,000 frs Central Africa Franc (CFA) and about 67% of the youth of the Douala metropolis earn below 75,000 frs CFA. They earn only 31.02% of the total income. About 85.7% earn below 126,000 frs CFA and about 92.14% earn below 177,000 frs CFA. The poverty-line is estimated at 177,000 frs CFA per month based on the desired predominant values in Douala and only about 9% of youth earn this sum, therefore, 91% of the youth are poor. We discovered that the salary a youth earns influences his level of poverty. Low income earners eat once or twice per day, rent low-standard houses of below 20,000 frs, are dependent and possess very limited durable goods, consult traditional doctors when they are sick, sleep and gamble during their leisure time. Intermediate income earners feed themselves either twice or thrice per day, eat healthy meals weekly, possess more durable goods, are independent, gamble and drink during their leisure time. High income earners feed themselves at least thrice per day, eat healthy food daily, inhabit high quality and expensive houses, are more stable by living longer in their neighbourhoods, like travelling and drinking during their leisure time. Unsalaried youth, are students, housewives or unemployed youth, they eat four times per day, take healthy meals daily, weekly, fortnightly or occasionally, are dependent or homeless depending on whether they are students or unemployed youth. The situation of the youth can be ameliorated through investing in the productive sector and promoting entrepreneurship as well as formalizing the informal sector.

Keywords: Income, inequality, poverty, metropolis.

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Authors: Chiu-Wen Chen, Chih-Feng Chen, Cheng-Di Dong

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The distribution, enrichment, accumulation, and potential ecological risk of copper (Cu) in the surface sediments of northern Kaohsiung Harbor, Taiwan were investigated. Sediment samples from 12 locations of northern Kaohsiung Harbor were collected and characterized for Cu, aluminum, water content, organic matter, total nitrogen, total phosphorous, total grease and grain size. Results showed that the Cu concentrations varied from 6.9–244 mg/kg with an average of 109±66 mg/kg. The spatial distribution of Cu reveals that the Cu concentration is relatively high in the river mouth region, and gradually diminishes toward the harbor entrance region. This indicates that upstream industrial and municipal wastewater discharges along the river bank are major sources of Cu pollution. Results from the enrichment factor and geo-accumulation index analyses imply that the sediments collected from the river mouth can be characterized between moderate and moderately severe degree enrichment and between none to medium and moderate accumulation of Cu, respectively. However, results of potential ecological risk index indicate that the sediment has low ecological potential risk.

Keywords: Accumulation, ecological risk, enrichment, copper, sediment.

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Authors: Salha Alshamrani, Maha Aljohni, Eman Aldhaheri

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With the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices in various industries, there has been a concurrent rise in security vulnerabilities, particularly spoofing attacks. This study explores the potential of blockchain technology in enhancing the security of IoT systems and mitigating these attacks. Blockchain's decentralized and immutable ledger offers significant promise for improving data integrity, transaction transparency, and tamper-proofing. This research develops and implements a blockchain-based IoT architecture and a reference network to simulate real-world scenarios and evaluate a blockchain-integrated intrusion detection system. Performance measures including time delay, security, and resource utilization are used to assess the system's effectiveness, comparing it to conventional IoT networks without blockchain. The results provide valuable insights into the practicality and efficacy of employing blockchain as a security mechanism, shedding light on the trade-offs between speed and security in blockchain deployment for IoT. The study concludes that despite minor increases in time consumption, the security benefits of incorporating blockchain technology into IoT systems outweigh potential drawbacks, demonstrating a significant potential for blockchain in bolstering IoT security.

Keywords: Internet of Thing, Spoofing, IoT, Access control, Blockchain, Raspberry pi.

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Authors: Ma Ya-li, Tang Fu-jun, Xue Yu-xiong, Chen Yi-feng, Gao Xin, Wang Yi, Tian Kai, Yan Ze-dong

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Plasma plume will be produced and arrive at spacecraft when the electric thruster operates on orbit. It-s important to characterize the thruster plasma parameters because the plume has significant effects or hazards on spacecraft sub-systems and parts. Through the ground test data of the desired parameters, the major characteristics of the thruster plume will be achieved. Also it is very important for optimizing design of Ion thruster. Retarding Potential Analyzer (RPA) is an effective instrument for plasma ion energy per unit charge distribution measurement. Special RPA should be designed according to certain plume plasma parameters range and feature. In this paper, major principles usable for good RPA design are discussed carefully. Conform to these principles, a four-grid planar electrostatic energy analyzer RPA was designed to avoid false data, and details were discussed including construction, materials, aperture diameter and so on. At the same time, it was designed more suitable for credible and long-duration measurements in the laboratory. In the end, RPA measurement results in the laboratory were given and discussed.

Keywords: Thruster plume ion energy distributions, retarding potential analyzer, ground test.

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Authors: A. Diaf, H. Aburideh, Z.Tigrine, D. Tassalit, F.Alaoui

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The tray/multi-tray distillation process is a topic that has been investigated to great detail over the last decade by many teams such as Jubran et al. [1], Adhikari et al. [2], Mowla et al. [3], Shatat et al. [4] and Fath [5] to name a few. A significant amount of work and effort was spent focusing on modeling and/simulation of specific distillation hardware designs. In this work, we have focused our efforts on investigating and gathering experimental data on several engineering and design variables to quantify their influence on the yield of the multi-tray distillation process. Our goals are to generate experimental performance data to bridge some existing gaps in the design, engineering, optimization and theoretical modeling aspects of the multi-tray distillation process.

Keywords: Distillation, Desalination, Multi-Stage still, Solar Energy

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Authors: Firoz Khan

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Privacy of RFID systems is receiving increasing attention in the RFID community. RFID privacy is important as the RFID tags will be attached to all kinds of products and physical objects including people. The possible abuse or excessive use of RFID tracking capability by malicious users can lead to potential privacy violations. In this paper, we will discuss how the different industries use RFID and the potential privacy and security issues while RFID is implemented in these industries. Although RFID technology offers interesting services to customer and retailers, it could also endanger the privacy of end-users. Personal data can be leaked if a protection mechanism is not deployed in the RFID systems. The paper summarizes many different solutions for implementing privacy and security while deploying RFID systems.

Keywords: RFID, privacy, security, encryption.

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Authors: Mikhail Vladimirovich Deryabin, Morten Willatzen

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In this work, we address theoretically the influence of red and white Gaussian noise for electronic energies and eigenstates of cylindrically shaped quantum dots. The stochastic effect can be imagined as resulting from crystal-growth statistical fluctuations in the quantum-dot material composition. In particular we obtain analytical expressions for the eigenvalue shifts and electronic envelope functions in the k . p formalism due to stochastic variations in the confining band-edge potential. It is shown that white noise in the band-edge potential leaves electronic properties almost unaffected while red noise may lead to changes in state energies and envelopefunction amplitudes of several percentages. In the latter case, the ensemble-averaged envelope function decays as a function of distance. It is also shown that, in a stochastic system, constant ensembleaveraged envelope functions are the only bounded solutions for the infinite quantum-wire problem and the energy spectrum is completely discrete. In other words, the infinite stochastic quantum wire behaves, ensemble-averaged, as an atom.

Keywords: cylindrical quantum dots, electronic eigen energies, red and white Gaussian noise, ensemble averaging effects.

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Authors: Rade M. Ciric, Nikola L. J. Rajakovic

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This paper presents a curriculum of the subject small power plants and renewable energy sources, dealing with the concept of distributed generation, renewable energy sources, hydropower, wind farms, geothermal power plants, cogeneration plants, biogas plants of agriculture and animal origin, solar power and fuel cells. The course is taught the manner of connecting small power plants to the grid, the impact of small generators on the distribution system, as well as economic, environmental and legal aspects of operation of distributed generators.

Keywords: Distributed generation, renewable energy sources, techno-economic analysis, energy policy, curriculum.

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Authors: Chia Lin Chan, Yi Ju Yang, Chih Chin Yang

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Rainfall records of rainfall station including the rainfall potential per hour and rainfall mass of five heavy storms are explored, respectively from 2001 to 2010. The rationalization formula is to investigate the capability of flood peak duration of flood detention pond in different rainfall conditions. The stable flood detention model is also proposed by using system dynamic control theory to get the message of flood detention pond in this research. When rainfall frequency of one hour rainfall duration is more than 100-year frequency which exceeds the flood detention standard of 20-year frequency for the flood detention pond, the flood peak duration of flood detention pond is 1.7 hours at most even though the flood detention pond with maximum drainage potential about 15.0 m3/s of pumping system is constructed. If the rainfall peak current is more than maximum drainage potential, the flood peak duration of flood detention pond is about 1.9 hours at most. The flood detention pond is the key factor of stable drainage control and flood prevention. The critical factors of flood disaster is not only rainfall mass, but also rainfall frequency of heavy storm in different rainfall duration and flood detention frequency of flood detention system.

Keywords: Rainfall frequency, Rainfall duration, Rainfallintensity, Flood detention capability

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Authors: Pallabi Kalita, Hui Tag, H. N. Sarma, A. K. Das.

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Wild edible food plants contain a number of organic phytochemical that have been linked to the promotion of good health. These plants used by the local people of Arunachal Pradesh (Northeast India) are found to have high nutritional potential to maintain general balance diet. A study was conducted to evaluate the nutritional potential of five commonly found, unexplored wild food plants namely, Piper pedicellatum C. DC (leaves), Gonostegia hirta (Blume ex Hassk.) Miq. (leaves), Mussaenda roxburghii Hook.f (leaves), Solanum spirale Roxb. (leaves and fruits) and Cyathea spinulosa Wall. ex Hook. (pith portion and tender rachis) from East Siang District of Arunachal Pradesh Northeast (India) for ascertaining their suitability for utilization as supplementary food. Results of study revealed that P. pedicellatum, C. spinulosa, and S. spirale (leaves) are the most promising species which have high nutritional content out of the five wild food plants investigated which is required for the normal growth and development of human.

Keywords: Wild edible plants, Gross energy, Gonostegia hirta, Cyathea spinulosa,

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Authors: Richardson M. Abraham-A., Colombo Celso Gaeta Tassinari

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The correlation between Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and flow units have been carried out to predict and compare the carbon dioxide (CO₂) storage potential of the shale and carbonate rocks in Irati Formation of the Parana Basin. The equations for permeability (K), reservoir quality index (RQI) and flow zone indicator (FZI) are redefined and engaged to evaluate the flow units in both potential reservoir rocks. Shales show higher values of TOC compared to carbonates, as such,  porosity (Ф) is most likely to be higher in shales compared to carbonates. The increase in Ф corresponds to the increase in K (in both rocks). Nonetheless, at lower values of Ф, K is higher in carbonates compared to shales. This shows that at lower values of TOC in carbonates, Ф is low, yet, K is likely to be high compared to shale. In the same vein, at higher values of TOC in shales, Ф is high, yet, K is expected to be low compared to carbonates.  Overall, the flow unit factors (RQI and FZI) are better in the carbonates compared to the shales. Moreso, within the study location,  there are some portions where the thicknesses of the carbonate units are higher compared to the shale units. Most parts of the carbonate strata in the study location are fractured in situ, hence,  this could provide easy access for the storage of CO₂. Therefore, based on these points and the disparities between the flow units in the evaluated rock types, the carbonate units are expected to show better potentials for the storage of CO₂. The shale units may be considered as potential cap rocks or seals.

Keywords: Total organic carbon, flow units, carbon dioxide storage.

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Authors: A.Diaf, Z.Tigrine, H. Aburideh, D.Tassalit , F.Alaoui, B .Abbad

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The distillation process in the general sense is a relatively simple technique from the standpoints of its principles. When dedicating distillation to water treatment and specifically producing fresh water from sea, ocean and/ briny waters it is interesting to notice that distillation has no limitations or domains of applicability regarding the nature or the type of the feedstock water. This is not the case however for other techniques that are technologically quite complex, necessitate bigger capital investments and are limited in their usability. In a previous paper we have explored some of the effects of temperature on yield. In this paper, we continue building onto that knowledge base and focus on the effects of several additional engineering and design variables on productivity.

Keywords: Distillation, Desalination, Multi-Stage still, Solar Energy

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Authors: S. Kotsiantis, A. Kostoulas, S. Lykoudis, A. Argiriou, K. Menagias

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Estimates of temperature values at a specific time of day, from daytime and daily profiles, are needed for a number of environmental, ecological, agricultural and technical applications, ranging from natural hazards assessments, crop growth forecasting to design of solar energy systems. The scope of this research is to investigate the efficiency of data mining techniques in estimating minimum, maximum and mean temperature values. For this reason, a number of experiments have been conducted with well-known regression algorithms using temperature data from the city of Patras in Greece. The performance of these algorithms has been evaluated using standard statistical indicators, such as Correlation Coefficient, Root Mean Squared Error, etc.

Keywords: regression algorithms, supervised machine learning.

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Authors: Prateep Wajeetongratana

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The purpose of this research was to study the influence of accountants’ potential performance on their working process, a case study of Government Savings Banks in the northeast of Thailand. The independent variables included accounting knowledge, accounting skill, accounting value, accounting ethics, and accounting attitude, while the dependent variable included the success of the working process. A total of 155 accountants working for Government Savings Banks were selected by random sampling. A questionnaire was used as a tool for collecting data. Descriptive statistics in this research included percentage, mean, and multiple regression analyses.

The findings revealed that the majority of accountants were female with an age between 35-40 years old. Most of the respondents had an undergraduate degree with ten years of experience. Moreover, the factors of accounting knowledge, accounting skill, accounting a value and accounting ethics and accounting attitude were rated at a high level. The findings from regression analysis of observation data revealed a causal relationship in that the observation data could explain at least 51 percent of the success in the accountants’ working process.

Keywords: Influence, Potential Performance, Success, Working Process.

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Authors: Rahil Samani, Saeed Soleimani, Ehsan Adib, Majid Pahlevani

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This paper presents an inverting high step-up DC/DC converter. Basically, this high step-up DC/DC converter is an appealing interface for solar applications. The proposed topology takes advantage of using coupled inductors. Due to the leakage inductances of these coupled inductors, the power MOSFET has the zero current switching (ZCS) condition, which results in decreased switching losses. This will substantially improve the overall efficiency of the power converter. Furthermore, employing coupled inductors has led to a higher voltage gain. Theoretical analysis and experimental results of a 100W 20V/220V prototype are presented to verify the superior performance of the proposed DC/DC converter.

Keywords: Coupled inductors, high step-up DC/DC converter, zero-current switching, cuk converter, sepic converter.

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Authors: H. H. Goh, K. C. Goh, W. N. Z. S. Wan Sukri, Q. S. Chua, S. W. Lee, B. C. Kok

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Endowed of renewable energy sources (RES) are the advantages of ASEAN, but they are using a low amount of RES only to generate electricity because their primary energy sources are fossil and coal. The cost of purchasing fossil and coal is cheaper now, but it might be expensive soon, as it will be depleted sooner and after. ASEAN showed that the RES are convenient to be implemented. Some country in ASEAN has huge renewable energy sources potential and use. The primary aim of this project is to assist ASEAN countries in preparing the renewable energy and to guide the policies for RES in the more upright direction. The Green-Y model will help ASEAN government to study and forecast the economic concept, including feed-in tariff.

Keywords: ASEAN RES, Renewable Energy, RES Policies, RES Potential, RES Utilization.

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Authors: Ang Ling Weay, Mona Masood

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This paper discusses the potential benefits of an interactive multimedia information representation in enhancing students’ critical thinking aligned with history reasoning in learning history amongst Secondary School students in Malaysia. Two modes of multimedia information representation were implemented; chronologic and thematic information representations. A qualitative study of an unstructured interview was conducted among two history teachers, one history education lecturer, two i-think experts, and five students from Form Four secondary school. The interview was to elicit their opinions on the implementation of thinking maps and interactive multimedia information representation in history learning. The key elements of the interactive multimedia (e.g. multiple media, user control, interactivity and use of timelines and concept maps) were then considered to improve the learning process. Findings of the preliminary investigation reveal that the interactive multimedia information representations have the potential benefits to be implemented as an instructional resource in enhancing students’ higher order thinking skills (HOTs). This paper concludes by giving suggestions for future work.

Keywords: Multimedia Information Representation, Critical Thinking, History Reasoning, Chronological and Thematic Information Representation.

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Authors: Siyanda S. Biyela, Willie A. Cronje

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This paper presents a desktop study of comparing two different wave energy to electricity technologies (WECs) using a techno-economic approach. This techno-economic approach forms basis of a framework for rapid comparison of current and future technologies. The approach also seeks to assist in investment and strategic decision making expediting future deployment of wave energy harvesting in South Africa.

Keywords: Cost of energy, tool, wave energy converter, WEC-Sim.

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Authors: Klathea Sevilla, Marjorie Remolador, Bryan Baltazar, Imee Saladaga, Loureal Camille Inocencio, Ma. Rosario Concepcion Ang

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The underutilization of biomass resources in the Philippines, combined with its growing population and the rise in fossil fuel prices confirms demand for alternative energy sources. The goal of this paper is to provide a comparison of MODIS-based and Landsat-based agricultural land cover maps when used in the estimation of rice hull’s available energy potential. Biomass resource assessment was done using mathematical models and remote sensing techniques employed in a GIS platform.

Keywords: Biomass, geographic information system, GIS, renewable energy.

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Authors: Chang-Guk Sun, Jin-Soo Shin

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In this study, an inland metropolitan area, Gwangju, in Korea was selected to assess the amplification potential of earthquake motion and provide the information for regional seismic countermeasure. A geographic information system-based expert system was implemented for reliably predicting the spatial geotechnical layers in the entire region of interesting by building a geo-knowledge database. Particularly, the database consists of the existing boring data gathered from the prior geotechnical projects and the surface geo-knowledge data acquired from the site visit. For practical application of the geo-knowledge database to estimate the earthquake hazard potential related to site amplification effects at the study area, seismic zoning maps on geotechnical parameters, such as the bedrock depth and the site period, were created within GIS framework. In addition, seismic zonation of site classification was also performed to determine the site amplification coefficients for seismic design at any site in the study area. KeywordsEarthquake hazard, geo-knowledge, geographic information system, seismic zonation, site period.

Keywords: Earthquake hazard, geo-knowledge, geographic information system, seismic zonation, site period.

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Authors: Thandokazi Nyangiwe, Christopher Amoah, Charles P. Mukumba

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The South African construction sector is threatened by emerging black business forums called construction mafias. The emergence of the construction mafia has culminated in the disruptions and abandonment of construction sites resulting in the loss of jobs for construction workers. The paper examines the origin of construction mafias and their impact on the construction sector, including the potential ways to cope with their operations. A qualitative research approach was adopted for this study using open-ended interview questions to gather information from 30 key construction industry stakeholders, including contractors, subcontractors, consultants, and the construction project communities. Content and thematic analyses were used to analyses the data collected. The findings suggest that most participants do not fully understand the existence and operations of construction mafias in the construction industry. Construction mafias claim to be part of the local business forums. They disrupt construction projects and demand a certain amount, usually 30% of the construction value. Construction mafias frequently resort to intimidation and violence if their demands are unmet. Their operations have resulted in delayed completion of construction projects, abandonment of projects, and loss of income for the contractor and jobs for the construction workers. The interviews were limited to construction stakeholders. Because of the nature of the mafias’ operations, they could not be accessed for interviews for fear of being identified because of the connotation attached to their role as construction mafias. Construction project owners face disruptions of projects resulting in loss of equipment, materials, and income. Therefore, there is a need to sensitize the construction stakeholders in the construction industry regarding the existence and operations of the construction mafia and the implications on construction project performance and delivery. The findings will give insight into the operations of the construction mafias in the South African construction industry, which has caused disruptions in construction project sites. Stakeholders must find solutions to address the construction mafias’ disruptive actions on construction projects. The study presents an initial inquiry that will come up with how to manage and cope with the growing operations of construction mafias in the South African construction industry.

Keywords: Black business forums, construction mafia, South African construction industry.

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Authors: Supriya Gupta, Paresh Chokshi

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Polymer-particle interactions can be effectively utilized to produce composites that possess physicochemical properties superior to that of neat polymer. The incorporation of fillers with dimensions comparable to polymer chain size produces composites with extra-ordinary properties owing to very high surface to volume ratio. The dispersion of nanoparticles is achieved by inducing steric repulsion realized by grafting particles with polymeric chains. A comprehensive understanding of the interparticle interaction between these functionalized nanoparticles plays an important role in the synthesis of a stable polymer nanocomposite. With the focus on incorporation of clay sheets in a polymer matrix, we theoretically construct the polymer mediated interparticle potential for two nanosheets grafted with polymeric chains. The self-consistent field theory (SCFT) is employed to obtain the inhomogeneous composition field under equilibrium. Unlike the continuum models, SCFT is built from the microscopic description taking in to account the molecular interactions contributed by both intra- and inter-chain potentials. We present the results of SCFT calculations of the interaction potential curve for two grafted nanosheets immersed in the matrix of polymeric chains of dissimilar chemistry to that of the grafted chains. The interaction potential is repulsive at short separation and shows depletion attraction for moderate separations induced by high grafting density. It is found that the strength of attraction well can be tuned by altering the compatibility between the grafted and the mobile chains. Further, we construct the interaction potential between two nanosheets grafted with diblock copolymers with one of the blocks being chemically identical to the free polymeric chains. The interplay between the enthalpic interaction between the dissimilar species and the entropy of the free chains gives rise to a rich behavior in interaction potential curve obtained for two separate cases of free chains being chemically similar to either the grafted block or the free block of the grafted diblock chains.

Keywords: Clay nanosheets, polymer brush, polymer nanocomposites, self-consistent field theory.

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Authors: Pattrarat Teamkao, Paitip Thiravetyan

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The aim of this work was to investigate the potential of soil microorganisms and the burhead plant, as well as the combination of soil microorganisms and plants to remediate monoethylene glycol (MEG), diethylene glycol (DEG), and triethylene glycol (TEG) in synthetic wastewater. The result showed that a system containing both burhead plant and soil microorganisms had the highest efficiency in EGs removal. Around 100% of MEG and DEG and 85% of TEG were removed within 15 days of the experiments. However, the burhead plant had higher removal efficiency than soil microorganisms for MEG and DEG but the same for TEG in the study systems. The removal rate of EGs in the study system related to the molecular weight of the compounds and MEG, the smallest glycol, was removed faster than DEG and TEG by both the burhead plant and soil microorganisms in the study system.

Keywords: Ethylene glycol, burhead plant, soil microorganisms, phytoremediation

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Authors: Martha E. Ikome, John M. Ikome

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Intellectual property should be a day-to-day business decision due to its value, but increasingly, a number of institution are still not aware of the importance. Intellectual Property (IP) and its value are often not adequately appreciated. In the increasingly knowledge-driven economy, IP is a key consideration in day-to-day business decisions because new ideas and products appear almost daily in the market, which results in continuous innovation and research. Therefore, this paper will focus on the importance of IP for universities of technology and also further demonstrates how IP can become an economic tool and the challenges faced by these universities in implementing an IP system.

Keywords: Intellectual property, institutions, challenges, protection.

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Authors: Lalit Garg, Sally McClean, Maria Barton

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Healthcare issues continue to pose huge problems and incur massive costs. As a result there are many challenging problems still unresolved. In this paper, we will carry out an extensive scientific survey of different areas of management and planning in an attempt to identify where there has already been a substantial contribution from management science methods to healthcare problems and where there is a clear potential for more work to be done. The focus will be on the read-across to the healthcare domain from such approaches applied generally to management and planning and how the methods can be used to improvement patient care. We conclude that, since the healthcare domain significantly differs from traditional areas of management and planning, in some cases there is a need to modify the approaches so as to incorporate the complexities of healthcare, and fully exploit the potential for improvement.

Keywords: Management science, management and planning, transforming services, healthcare.

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Authors: Nishanth Murugan, Mohammed Niyasdeen Nejaamtheen, S. Sounder Rajan

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The accelerated growth in aircraft industries desire effectual schemes, programs, innovative designs of advanced systems to accomplishing the augmenting need for home-free air transportation. In this paper, a contemporary conceptual design of an airplane has been proposed without landing gear systems in order to reducing accidents, time consumption, and to eliminating drawbacks by using superconducting levitation phenomenon. This invention of an airplane with superconductive material coating, on the solar plexus region assist to reduce weight by approximately 4% of the total takeoff weight, and cost effective. Moreover, we conjectured that superconductor landing system reduces ground friction, mission fuel, total drag, take-off and landing distance.

Keywords: Aircraft landing system, Magnetic levitation, Superconductors, Take-off and landing.

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Authors: Jung Hyun Kim, Gyo Woo Lee

Abstract:

In this study, the enhancement of the heat release performance of an extruded-type heat sink to prepare the large-capacity solar inverter thru the flow holes in the base plate near the heat sources was investigated. Optimal location and number of the holes in the baseplate were determined by using a commercial computation program. The heat release performance of the shape-modified heat sink was measured experimentally and compared with that of the simulation. The heat sink with 12 flow holes in the 18-mm-thick base plate has a 8.1% wider heat transfer area, a 2.5% more mass flow of air, and a 2.7% higher heat release rate than those of the original heat sink. Also, the surface temperature of the base plate was lowered 1.5^oC by the holes.

Keywords: Heat Sink, Forced Convection, Heat Transfer, Performance Evaluation, Flow Holes.

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