Search results for: building temperature control

Authors: Andrii Shalaginov, Katrin Franke, Xiongwei Huang

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One of the leading problems in Cyber Security today is the emergence of targeted attacks conducted by adversaries with access to sophisticated tools. These attacks usually steal senior level employee system privileges, in order to gain unauthorized access to confidential knowledge and valuable intellectual property. Malware used for initial compromise of the systems are sophisticated and may target zero-day vulnerabilities. In this work we utilize common behaviour of malware called ”beacon”, which implies that infected hosts communicate to Command and Control servers at regular intervals that have relatively small time variations. By analysing such beacon activity through passive network monitoring, it is possible to detect potential malware infections. So, we focus on time gaps as indicators of possible C2 activity in targeted enterprise networks. We represent DNS log files as a graph, whose vertices are destination domains and edges are timestamps. Then by using four periodicity detection algorithms for each pair of internal-external communications, we check timestamp sequences to identify the beacon activities. Finally, based on the graph structure, we infer the existence of other infected hosts and malicious domains enrolled in the attack activities.

Keywords: Malware detection, network security, targeted attack.

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Authors: Abdallah AL Sabbagh, Robin Braun, Mehran Abolhasan

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Due to the coexistence of different Radio Access Technologies (RATs), Next Generation Wireless Networks (NGWN) are predicted to be heterogeneous in nature. The coexistence of different RATs requires a need for Common Radio Resource Management (CRRM) to support the provision of Quality of Service (QoS) and the efficient utilization of radio resources. RAT selection algorithms are part of the CRRM algorithms. Simply, their role is to verify if an incoming call will be suitable to fit into a heterogeneous wireless network, and to decide which of the available RATs is most suitable to fit the need of the incoming call and admit it. Guaranteeing the requirements of QoS for all accepted calls and at the same time being able to provide the most efficient utilization of the available radio resources is the goal of RAT selection algorithm. The normal call admission control algorithms are designed for homogeneous wireless networks and they do not provide a solution to fit a heterogeneous wireless network which represents the NGWN. Therefore, there is a need to develop RAT selection algorithm for heterogeneous wireless network. In this paper, we propose an approach for RAT selection which includes receiving different criteria, assessing and making decisions, then selecting the most suitable RAT for incoming calls. A comprehensive survey of different RAT selection algorithms for a heterogeneous wireless network is studied.

Keywords: Heterogeneous Wireless Network, RAT selection algorithms, Next Generation Wireless Network (NGWN), Beyond 3G Network, Common Radio Resource Management (CRRM).

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Authors: Oday Al-Mamoori, J. Enrique Martinez-Rueda

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'C' shape yielding devices (C-devices) are effective tools for introducing supplemental sources of energy dissipation by hysteresis. Studies have shown that C-devices made of mild steel can be successfully applied as integral parts of seismic retrofitting schemes. However, explicit modelling of these devices can become cumbersome, expensive and time consuming. The device under study in this article has been previously used in non-invasive dissipative bracing for seismic retrofitting. The device is cut from a mild steel plate and has an overall shape that resembles that of a rectangular portal frame with circular interior corner transitions to avoid stress concentration and to control the extension of the dissipative region of the device. A number of inelastic finite element (FE) analyses using either inelastic 2D plane stress elements or inelastic fibre frame elements are reported and used to calibrate a 1D equivalent inelastic spring model that effectively reproduces the cyclic response of the device. The more elaborate FE model accounts for the frictional forces developed between the steel plate and the bolts used to connect the C-device to structural members. FE results also allow the visualization of the inelastic regions of the device where energy dissipation is expected to occur. FE analysis results are in a good agreement with experimental observations.

Keywords: C-device, equivalent nonlinear spring, FE analyses, reversed cyclic tests.

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Authors: Alhaji M. H. Conteh, Xiangbin Yan, Alfred V. Gborie

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The goal of this study was to increase the awareness of the description and assessments of rice acreage response and to offer mechanisms for agricultural policy scrutiny. The ordinary least square (OLS) technique was utilized to determine the coefficients of acreage response models for the rice varieties. The magnitudes of the coefficients (λ) of both the ROK lagged and NERICA lagged acreages were found positive and highly significant, which indicates that farmers’ adjustment rate was very low. Regarding lagged actual price for both the ROK and NERICE rice varieties, the short-run price elasticitieswere lower than long-run, which is suggesting a long term adjustment of the acreage under the crop.

However, the apparent recommendations for policy transformation are to open farm gate prices and to decrease government’s involvement in agricultural sector especially in the acquisition of agricultural inputs. Impending research have to be centered on how this might be better realized. Necessary conditions should be made available to the private sector by means of minimizing price volatility. In accordance with structural reforms, it is necessary to convey output prices to farmers with minimum distortion. There is need to eradicate price subsidies and control, which generate distortion in the market in addition to huge financial costs.

Keywords: Acreage response, rate of adjustment, rice varieties, Sierra Leone.

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Authors: M. Athar Hussain, M. Zafar Iqbal., M. Saeed Akhtar

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The fast growing accessibility and capability of emerging technologies have fashioned enormous possibilities of designing, developing and implementing innovative teaching methods in the classroom. The global technological scenario has paved the way to new pedagogies in teaching-learning process focusing on technology based learning environment and its impact on student achievement. The present experimental study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of technology based learning environment on student achievement in English as a foreign language. The sample of the study was 90 students of 10th grade of a public school located in Islamabad. A pretest- posttest equivalent group design was used to compare the achievement of the two groups. A Pretest and A posttest containing 50 items each from English textbook were developed and administered. The collected data were statistically analyzed. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the mean scores of Experimental group and the Control group. The performance of Experimental group was better on posttest scores that indicted that teaching through technology based learning environment enhanced the achievement level of the students. On the basis of the results, it was recommended that teaching and learning through information and communication technologies may be adopted to enhance the language learning capability of the students.

Keywords: English as a Foreign Language, Student Achievement, Technology Based Learning

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Authors: Reham A. El-mayet, Hesham M. El-Badawy, Salwa H. Elramly

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New generation mobile communication networks have the ability of supporting triple play. In order that, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) access techniques have been chosen to enlarge the system ability for high data rates networks. Many of cross-layer modeling and optimization schemes for Quality of Service (QoS) and capacity of downlink multiuser OFDM system were proposed. In this paper, the Maximum Weighted Capacity (MWC) based resource allocation at the Physical (PHY) layer is used. This resource allocation scheme provides a much better QoS than the previous resource allocation schemes, while maintaining the highest or nearly highest capacity and costing similar complexity. In addition, the Delay Satisfaction (DS) scheduling at the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, which allows more than one connection to be served in each slot is used. This scheduling technique is more efficient than conventional scheduling to investigate both of the number of users as well as the number of subcarriers against system capacity. The system will be optimized for different operational environments: the outdoor deployment scenarios as well as the indoor deployment scenarios are investigated and also for different channel models. In addition, effective capacity approach [1] is used not only for providing QoS for different mobile users, but also to increase the total wireless network's throughput.

Keywords: Cross-layer, effective capacity, LTE, OFDM, QoS, resource allocation, wireless networks.

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Authors: Benjamin Osei-Tutu

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Food contaminated with biological, chemical and physical hazards usually leads to foodborne illnesses which in turn increase the disease burden of developing and developed economies. Restaurants play a key role in the food service industry and violations in application of standardized food safety management systems in these establishments have been associated with foodborne disease outbreaks. This study was undertaken to assess the level of compliance to the Code of practice that was developed and implemented after conducting needs assessment of the food safety management systems employed by the Food Service Establishments in Ghana. Data on pre-licence inspections were reviewed to assess the compliance of the Food Service Establishments. During the period under review (2012-2016), 74.52% of the food service facilities in the hospitality industry were in compliance with the FDA’s code of practice. Main violations observed during the study bordered on facility layout and fabrication (61.8%) and this is because these facilities may not have been built for use as a food service establishment. Another fact that came to the fore was that the redesigning of the facilities to bring them into compliance required capital intensive investments, which some establishments are not prepared for. Other challenges faced by the industry regarded issues on records and documentations, personnel facilities and hygiene, raw materials acquisition, storage and control, and cold storage.

Keywords: Assessment, Accra, food safety management systems, restaurants, hotel.

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Authors: S. Chuenchooklin, S. Taweepong, U. Pangnakorn

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This research was conducted in the Mae Sot Watershed where located in the Moei River Basin at the Upper Salween River Basin in Tak Province, Thailand. The Mae Sot Municipality is the largest urban area in Tak Province and situated in the midstream of the Mae Sot Watershed. It usually faces flash flood problem after heavy rain due to poor flood management has been reported since economic rapidly bloom up in recent years. Its catchment can be classified as ungauged basin with lack of rainfall data and no any stream gaging station was reported. It was attached by most severely flood events in 2013 as the worst studied case for all those communities in this municipality. Moreover, other problems are also faced in this watershed, such shortage water supply for domestic consumption and agriculture utilizations including a deterioration of water quality and landslide as well. The research aimed to increase capability building and strengthening the participation of those local community leaders and related agencies to conduct better water management in urban area was started by mean of the data collection and illustration of the appropriated application of some short period rainfall forecasting model as they aim for better flood relief plan and management through the hydrologic model system and river analysis system programs. The authors intended to apply the global rainfall data via the integrated data viewer (IDV) program from the Unidata with the aim for rainfall forecasting in a short period of 7-10 days in advance during rainy season instead of real time record. The IDV product can be present in an advance period of rainfall with time step of 3-6 hours was introduced to the communities. The result can be used as input data to the hydrologic modeling system model (HEC-HMS) for synthesizing flood hydrographs and use for flood forecasting as well. The authors applied the river analysis system model (HEC-RAS) to present flood flow behaviors in the reach of the Mae Sot stream via the downtown of the Mae Sot City as flood extents as the water surface level at every cross-sectional profiles of the stream. Both models of HMS and RAS were tested in 2013 with observed rainfall and inflow-outflow data from the Mae Sot Dam. The result of HMS showed fit to the observed data at the dam and applied at upstream boundary discharge to RAS in order to simulate flood extents and tested in the field, and the result found satisfying. The product of rainfall from IDV was fair while compared with observed data. However, it is an appropriate tool to use in the ungauged catchment to use with flood hydrograph and river analysis models for future efficient flood relief plan and management.

Keywords: Global rainfall, flood forecasting, hydrologic modeling system, river analysis system.

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Authors: Martin Doran, Roy Sterritt, George Wilkie

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NASA, ESA, and NSSC space agencies have plans to put planetary rovers on Mars in 2020. For these future planetary rovers to succeed, they will heavily depend on sensors to detect obstacles. This will also become of vital importance in the future, if rovers become less dependent on commands received from earth-based control and more dependent on self-configuration and self-decision making. These planetary rovers will face harsh environments and the possibility of hardware failure is high, as seen in missions from the past. In this paper, we focus on using Autonomic principles where self-healing, self-optimization, and self-adaption are explored using the MAPE-K model and expanding this model to encapsulate the attributes such as Awareness, Analysis, and Adjustment (AAA-3). In the experimentation, a Pioneer P3-DX research robot is used to simulate a planetary rover. The sonar sensors on the P3-DX robot are used to simulate the sensors on a planetary rover (even though in reality, sonar sensors cannot operate in a vacuum). Experiments using the P3-DX robot focus on how our software system can be adapted with the loss of sonar sensor functionality. The autonomic manager system is responsible for the decision making on how to make use of remaining ‘enabled’ sonars sensors to compensate for those sonar sensors that are ‘disabled’. The key to this research is that the robot can still detect objects even with reduced sonar sensor capability.

Keywords: Autonomic, self-adaption, self-healing, self-optimization.

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Authors: B. Malarkodi, S. K. Riyaz Hussain, B. Venkataramani

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Power consumption of nodes in ad hoc networks is a critical issue as they predominantly operate on batteries. In order to improve the lifetime of an ad hoc network, all the nodes must be utilized evenly and the power required for connections must be minimized. In this project a link layer algorithm known as Power Aware medium Access Control (PAMAC) protocol is proposed which enables the network layer to select a route with minimum total power requirement among the possible routes between a source and a destination provided all nodes in the routes have battery capacity above a threshold. When the battery capacity goes below a predefined threshold, routes going through these nodes will be avoided and these nodes will act only as source and destination. Further, the first few nodes whose battery power drained to the set threshold value are pushed to the exterior part of the network and the nodes in the exterior are brought to the interior. Since less total power is required to forward packets for each connection. The network layer protocol AOMDV is basically an extension to the AODV routing protocol. AOMDV is designed to form multiple routes to the destination and it also avoid the loop formation so that it reduces the unnecessary congestion to the channel. In this project, the performance of AOMDV is evaluated using PAMAC as a MAC layer protocol and the average power consumption, throughput and average end to end delay of the network are calculated and the results are compared with that of the other network layer protocol AODV.

Keywords: AODV, PAMAC, AOMDV, Power consumption.

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Authors: Nader Nabhani, Amir Tofighi

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Nanotechnology is the science of creating, using and manipulating objects which have at least one dimension in range of 0.1 to 100 nanometers. In other words, nanotechnology is reconstructing a substance using its individual atoms and arranging them in a way that is desirable for our purpose. The main reason that nanotechnology has been attracting attentions is the unique properties that objects show when they are formed at nano-scale. These differing characteristics that nano-scale materials show compared to their nature-existing form is both useful in creating high quality products and dangerous when being in contact with body or spread in environment. In order to control and lower the risk of such nano-scale particles, the main following three topics should be considered: 1) First of all, these materials would cause long term diseases that may show their effects on body years after being penetrated in human organs and since this science has become recently developed in industrial scale not enough information is available about their hazards on body. 2) The second is that these particles can easily spread out in environment and remain in air, soil or water for very long time, besides their high ability to penetrate body skin and causing new kinds of diseases. 3) The third one is that to protect body and environment against the danger of these particles, the protective barriers must be finer than these small objects and such defenses are hard to accomplish. This paper will review, discuss and assess the risks that human and environment face as this new science develops at a high rate.

Keywords: Nanotechnology, risk assessment, environment.

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Authors: A. K. M. De Paula, R. Tenorio

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The 20th century has brought much development to the practice of Architecture worldwide, and technology has bridged inhabitation limits in many regions of the world with high levels of comfort and conveniences, most times at high costs to the environment. Throughout the globe, the tropical countries are being urbanized at an unprecedented rate and housing has become a major issue worldwide, in light of increased demand and lack of appropriate infra-structure and planning. Buildings and urban spaces designed in tropical cities have mainly adopted external concepts that in most cases do not fit the needs of the inhabitants living in such harsh climatic environment, and when they do, do so at high financial, environmental and cultural costs. Traditional architectural practices can provide valuable understanding on how self-reliance and autonomy of construction can be reinforced in rural-urban tropical environments. From traditional housing knowledge, it is possible to derive lessons for the development of new construction materials that are affordable, environmentally friendly, culturally acceptable and accesible to all.Specifically to the urban context, such solutions are of outmost importance, given the needs to a more democratic society, where access to housing is considered high in the agenda for development. Traditional or rural constructions are also ongoing through extensive changes eventhough they have mostly adopted climate-responsive building practices relying on local resources (with minimum embodied energy) and energy (for comfort and quality of life). It is important to note that many of these buildings can actually be called zero-energy, and hold potential answers to enable transition from high energy, high cost, low comfort urban habitations to zero/low energy habitations with high quality urban livelihood. Increasing access to modern urban lifestyels have also an effect on the aspirations from people in terms of performance, comfort and convenience in terms of their housing and the way it is produced and used. These aspirations are resulting in transitions from localresource dependent habitations- to non-local resource based highenergy urban style habitations. And such transitions are resulting in the habitations becoming increasingly unsuited to the local climatic conditions with increasing discomfort, ill-health, and increased CO2 emissions and local environmental disruption. This research studies one specific transition group in the context of 'water communities' in tropical-equatorial regions: Ribeirinhos housing typology (Amazonas, Brazil). The paper presents the results of a qualitative sustainability assessment of the housing typologies under transition, found at the Ribeirinhos communities.

Keywords: Vernacuilar and Tropical Architecture, SustainableHousing Design, Urban-rural Housing, Living Transitions

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Authors: R.Balamurugan, S.Subramanian

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This paper presents the solution of power economic dispatch (PED) problem of generating units with valve point effects and multiple fuel options using Self-Adaptive Differential Evolution (SDE) algorithm. The global optimal solution by mathematical approaches becomes difficult for the realistic PED problem in power systems. The Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm is found to be a powerful evolutionary algorithm for global optimization in many real problems. In this paper the key parameters of control in DE algorithm such as the crossover constant CR and weight applied to random differential F are self-adapted. The PED problem formulation takes into consideration of nonsmooth fuel cost function due to valve point effects and multi fuel options of generator. The proposed approach has been examined and tested with the numerical results of PED problems with thirteen-generation units including valve-point effects, ten-generation units with multiple fuel options neglecting valve-point effects and ten-generation units including valve-point effects and multiple fuel options. The test results are promising and show the effectiveness of proposed approach for solving PED problems.

Keywords: Multiple fuels, power economic dispatch, selfadaptivedifferential evolution and valve-point effects.

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Authors: H. Ferfera-Harrar, T. Benhalima, D. Lerari

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Contamination of water, due to the discharge of untreated industrial wastewaters into the ecosystem, has become a serious problem for many countries. In this study, bioadsorbents based on chitosan-g-poly(acrylamide) and montmorillonite (MMt) clay (CTS-g-PAAm/MMt) hydrogel nanocomposites were prepared via free‐radical grafting copolymerization and crosslinking of acrylamide monomer (AAm) onto natural polysaccharide chitosan (CTS) as backbone, in presence of various contents of MMt clay as nanofiller. Then, they were hydrolyzed to obtain highly functionalized pH‐sensitive nanomaterials with uppermost swelling properties. Their structure characterization was conducted by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analyses. The adsorption performances of the developed nanohybrids were examined for removal of methylene blue (MB) cationic dye from aqueous solutions. The factors affecting the removal of MB, such as clay content, pH medium, adsorbent dose, initial dye concentration and temperature were explored. The adsorption process was found to be highly pH dependent. From adsorption kinetic results, the prepared adsorbents showed remarkable adsorption capacity and fast adsorption rate, mainly more than 88% of MB removal efficiency was reached after 50 min in 200 mg L^-1 of dye solution. In addition, the incorporating of various content of clay has enhanced adsorption capacity of CTS-g-PAAm matrix from 1685 to a highest value of 1749 mg g^-1 for the optimized nanocomposite containing 2 wt.% of MMt. The experimental kinetic data were well described by the pseudo-second-order model, while the equilibrium data were represented perfectly by Langmuir isotherm model. The maximum Langmuir equilibrium adsorption capacity (q_m) was found to increase from 2173 mg g⁻¹ until 2221 mg g⁻¹ by adding 2 wt.% of clay nanofiller. Thermodynamic parameters revealed the spontaneous and endothermic nature of the process. In addition, the reusability study revealed that these bioadsorbents could be well regenerated with desorption efficiency overhead 87% and without any obvious decrease of removal efficiency as compared to starting ones even after four consecutive adsorption/desorption cycles, which exceeded 64%. These results suggest that the optimized nanocomposites are promising as low cost bioadsorbents.

Keywords: Chitosan, clay, dye adsorption, hydrogels nanocomposites.

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Authors: Sanjida Ahmed Sinthia

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Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world. There are several reasons for this insufficiency and uncontrolled population growth is one of the prime reasons. Others include low economic progress, imbalanced resource management, unemployment and underemployment, urban migration and natural catastrophes etc. As a result, the rate of urban poor is increasing inevitably in every sphere of urban cities in Bangladesh and Dhaka is the most affected one. Besides there is scarcity of urban land, housing, urban infrastructure and amenities which create pressure on urban cities and mostly encroach the open space, wetlands that causes environmental degradation. Government has no or limited control over these due to poor government policy and management, political pressure and lack of resource management. Unfortunately, over centralization and bureaucracy creates unnecessary delay and interruptions in any government initiations. There is also no coordination between government and private sector developer to solve the problem of urban Poor. To understand the problem of these huge populations this paper analyzes one of the single largest slum areas in Dhaka, Korail Slum. The study focuses on socio demographic analysis, morphological pattern and role of different actors responsible for the improvements of the area and recommended some possible steps for determining the potential outcomes.

Keywords: Demographic analysis, environmental degradation, physical condition, government policy, housing and land management policy.

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Authors: Paola Lecca, Lorenzo Dematte

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Reactiondiffusion systems are mathematical models that describe how the concentration of one or more substances distributed in space changes under the influence of local chemical reactions in which the substances are converted into each other, and diffusion which causes the substances to spread out in space. The classical representation of a reaction-diffusion system is given by semi-linear parabolic partial differential equations, whose general form is ÔêétX(x, t) = DΔX(x, t), where X(x, t) is the state vector, D is the matrix of the diffusion coefficients and Δ is the Laplace operator. If the solute move in an homogeneous system in thermal equilibrium, the diffusion coefficients are constants that do not depend on the local concentration of solvent and of solutes and on local temperature of the medium. In this paper a new stochastic reaction-diffusion model in which the diffusion coefficients are function of the local concentration, viscosity and frictional forces of solvent and solute is presented. Such a model provides a more realistic description of the molecular kinetics in non-homogenoeus and highly structured media as the intra- and inter-cellular spaces. The movement of a molecule A from a region i to a region j of the space is described as a first order reaction Ai k- → Aj , where the rate constant k depends on the diffusion coefficient. Representing the diffusional motion as a chemical reaction allows to assimilate a reaction-diffusion system to a pure reaction system and to simulate it with Gillespie-inspired stochastic simulation algorithms. The stochastic time evolution of the system is given by the occurrence of diffusion events and chemical reaction events. At each time step an event (reaction or diffusion) is selected from a probability distribution of waiting times determined by the specific speed of reaction and diffusion events. Redi is the software tool, developed to implement the model of reaction-diffusion kinetics and dynamics. It is a free software, that can be downloaded from http://www.cosbi.eu. To demonstrate the validity of the new reaction-diffusion model, the simulation results of the chaperone-assisted protein folding in cytoplasm obtained with Redi are reported. This case study is redrawing the attention of the scientific community due to current interests on protein aggregation as a potential cause for neurodegenerative diseases.

Keywords: Reaction-diffusion systems, Fick's law, stochastic simulation algorithm.

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Authors: Keith D. Nare, Mohau J. Phiri, James Carson, Chris D. Woolard, Shanganyane P. Hlangothi

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In an energy-intensive world, minimizing energy consumption is paramount to cost saving and reducing the carbon footprint. Improving mixture procedures utilizing warm mix additive Fischer-Tropsch (FT) wax in ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) and modified bitumen highlights a greener and sustainable approach to modified bitumen. In this study, the impact of FT wax on optimized EVA/waste crumb rubber modified bitumen is assayed with a maximum loading of 2.5%. The rationale of the FT wax loading is to maintain the original maximum loading of EVA in the optimized mixture. The phase change abilities of FT wax enable EVA co-crystallization with the support of the elastomeric backbone of crumb rubber. Less than 1% loading of FT wax worked in the EVA/crumb rubber modified bitumen energy-sustainability nexus. Response surface methodology approach to the mixture design is implemented amongst the different loadings of FT wax, EVA for a consistent amount of crumb rubber and bitumen. Rheological parameters (complex shear modulus, phase angle and rutting parameter) were the factors used as performance indicators of the different optimized mixtures. The low temperature chemistry of the optimized mixtures is analyzed using elementary beam theory and the elastic-viscoelastic correspondence principle. Master curves and black space diagrams are developed and used to predict age-induced cracking of the different long term aged mixtures. Modified binder rheology reveals that the strain response is not linear and that there is substantial re-arrangement of polymer chains as stress is increased, this is based on the age state of the mixture and the FT wax and EVA loadings. Dominance of individual effects is evident over effects of synergy in co-interaction of EVA and FT wax. All-inclusive FT wax and EVA formulations were best optimized in mixture 4 with mixture 7 reflecting increase in ease of workability. Findings show that interaction chemistry of bitumen, crumb rubber EVA, and FT wax is first and second order in all cases involving individual contributions and co-interaction amongst the components of the mixture.

Keywords: Bitumen, crumb rubber, ethylene vinyl acetate, FT wax.

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Authors: Thiago Viana

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Eventually train accidents occur on railways and for some specific cases it is necessary to use a train rescue with a crane positioned under a platform wagon. These tumbled machines are collected and sent to the machine shop or scrap yard. In one of these cranes that were being used to rescue a wagon, occurred a fall of hoist due to fracture of two large pins. The two pins were collected and sent for failure analysis. This work investigates the main cause and the secondary causes for the initiation of the fatigue crack. All standard failure analysis procedures were applied, with careful evaluation of the characteristics of the material, fractured surfaces and, mainly, metallographic tests using an optical microscope to compare the geometry of the peaks and valleys of the thread of the pins and their respective seats. By metallographic analysis, it was concluded that the fatigue cracks were started from a notch (stress concentration) in the valley of the threads of the pin applied to the right side of the crane (pin 1). In this, it was verified that the peaks of the threads of the pin seat did not have proper geometry, with sharp edges being present that caused such notches. The visual analysis showed that fracture of the pin on the left side of the crane (pin 2) was brittle type, being a consequence of the fracture of the first one. Recommendations for this and other railway cranes have been made, such as nondestructive testing, stress calculation, design review, quality control and suitability of the mechanical forming process of the seat threads and pin threads.

Keywords: Crane, fracture, pin, railway.

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Authors: Md. Omar Bin Harun Khan

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The collapse of the infamous Rana Plaza, a multi-storeyed commercial building in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh has brought with it a plethora of positive and negative consequences. Bangladesh being a key player in the export of clothing, found itself amidst a wave of economic upheaval following this tragic incident that resulted in numerous Bangladeshis, most of whom were factory workers. This paper compares the consequences that the country’s Ready Made Garments (RMG) sector is facing now, two years into the incident. The paper presents a comparison of statistical data from study reports and brings forward perspectives from all dimensions of Labour, Employment and Industrial Relations in Bangladesh following the event. The paper brings across the viewpoint of donor organizations and donor countries, the impacts of several initiatives taken by foreign organizations like the International Labour Organization, and local entities like the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) in order to reinforce compliance and stabilize the shaky foundation that the RMG sector had found itself following the collapse. Focus of the paper remains on the stance taken by the suppliers in Bangladesh, with inputs from buying houses and factories, and also on the reaction of foreign brands. The paper also focuses on the horrific physical, mental and financial implications sustained by the victims and their families, and the consequent uproar from workers in general regarding compliance with work safety and workers’ welfare conditions. The purpose is to get across both sides of the scenario: the economic impact that suppliers / factories/ sellers/ buying houses/exporters have faced in Bangladesh as a result of complete loss of reliability on them regarding working standards; and also to cover the aftershock felt on the other end of the spectrum by the importers/ buyers, particularly the foreign entities, in terms of the sudden accountability of being affiliated with non- compliant factories. The collapse of Rana Plaza has received vast international attention and strong criticism. Nevertheless, the almost immediate strengthening of labourrights and the wholesale reform undertaken on all sides of the supply chain, evidence a move of all local and foreign stakeholders towards greater compliance and taking of precautionary steps for prevention of further disasters. The tragedy that Rana Plaza embodies served as a much-needed epiphany for the soaring RMG Sector of Bangladesh. Prompt co-operation on the part of all stakeholders and regulatory bodies now show a move towards sustainable development, which further ensures safeguarding against any future irregularities and pave the way for steady economic growth.

Keywords: Economy, employment standards, Ranaplaza, RMG.

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Authors: Jagadish H. Pujar

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Fuzzy Load forecasting plays a paramount role in the operation and management of power systems. Accurate estimation of future power demands for various lead times facilitates the task of generating power reliably and economically. The forecasting of future loads for a relatively large lead time (months to few years) is studied here (long term load forecasting). Among the various techniques used in forecasting load, artificial intelligence techniques provide greater accuracy to the forecasts as compared to conventional techniques. Fuzzy Logic, a very robust artificial intelligent technique, is described in this paper to forecast load on long term basis. The paper gives a general algorithm to forecast long term load. The algorithm is an Extension of Short term load forecasting method to Long term load forecasting and concentrates not only on the forecast values of load but also on the errors incorporated into the forecast. Hence, by correcting the errors in the forecast, forecasts with very high accuracy have been achieved. The algorithm, in the paper, is demonstrated with the help of data collected for residential sector (LT2 (a) type load: Domestic consumers). Load, is determined for three consecutive years (from April-06 to March-09) in order to demonstrate the efficiency of the algorithm and to forecast for the next two years (from April-09 to March-11).

Keywords: Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC), Data DependantFactors(DDF), Model Dependent Factors(MDF), StatisticalError(SE), Short Term Load Forecasting (STLF), MiscellaneousError(ME).

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Authors: Ali Akbar Sadat Asl

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Diagnosis and deciding about diseases in medical fields is facing innate uncertainty which can affect the whole process of treatment. This decision is made based on expert knowledge and the way in which an expert interprets the patient's condition, and the interpretation of the various experts from the patient's condition may be different. Fuzzy logic can provide mathematical modeling for many concepts, variables, and systems that are unclear and ambiguous and also it can provide a framework for reasoning, inference, control, and decision making in conditions of uncertainty. In systems with high uncertainty and high complexity, fuzzy logic is a suitable method for modeling. In this paper, we use type-2 fuzzy logic for uncertainty modeling that is in diagnosis of leukemia. The proposed system uses an indirect-direct approach and consists of two stages: In the first stage, the inference of blood test state is determined. In this step, we use an indirect approach where the rules are extracted automatically by implementing a clustering approach. In the second stage, signs of leukemia, duration of disease until its progress and the output of the first stage are combined and the final diagnosis of the system is obtained. In this stage, the system uses a direct approach and final diagnosis is determined by the expert. The obtained results show that the type-2 fuzzy expert system can diagnose leukemia with the average accuracy about 97%.

Keywords: Expert system, leukemia, medical diagnosis, type-2 fuzzy logic.

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Authors: Hossein Soleimanzadeh

Abstract:

The effect of seed inoculation by VA- mycorrhiza and different levels of phosphorus fertilizer on growth and yield of sunflower (Azargol cultivar) was studied in experiment farm of Islamic Azad University, Karaj Branch during 2008 growing season. The experiment treatments were arranged in factorial based on a complete randomized block design with three replications. Four phosphorus fertilizer levels of 25%, 50% 75% and 100% P recommended with two levels of Mycorrhiza: with and without Mycorrhiza (control) were assigned in a factorial combination. Results showed that head diameter, number of seeds in head, seed yield and oil yield were significantly higher in inoculated plants than in non-inoculated plants. Head diameter, number of seeds in head, 1000 seeds weight, biological yield, seed yield and oil yield increased with increasing P level above 75% P recommended in non-inoculated plants, whereas no significant difference was observed between 75% and 100% P recommended. The positive effect of mycorrhizal inoculation decreased with increasing P levels due to decreased percent root colonization at higher P levels. According to the results of this experiment, application of mycorrhiza in present of 50% P recommended had an appropriate performance and could increase seed yield and oil production to an acceptable level, so it could be considered as a suitable substitute for chemical phosphorus fertilizer in organic agricultural systems.

Keywords: phosphorus fertilizer, seed yield, sunflower, VA-mycorrhiza

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Authors: M. A. Adejumobi, J. O. Ojediran

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The aim of irrigation is to recharge the available water in the soil. Quality of irrigation water is essential for the yield and quality of crops produced, maintenance of soil productivity and protection of the environment. The analysis of irrigation water arises as a need to know the impact of irrigation water on the yield of crops, the effect, and the necessary control measures to rectify the effect of this for optimum production and yield of crops. This study was conducted to assess the quality of irrigation water with its performance on crop planted, in Josepdam irrigation scheme Bacita, Nigeria. Field visits were undertaken to identify and locate water supply sources and collect water samples from these sources; X1 Drain, Oshin, River Niger loop and Ndafa. Laboratory experiments were then undertaken to determine the quality of raw water from these sources. The analysis was carried for various parameters namely; physical and chemical analyses after water samples have been taken from four sources. The samples were tested in laboratory. Results showed that the raw water sources shows no salinity tendencies with SAR values less than 1me/l and Ecvaules at Zero while the pH were within the recommended range by FAO, there are increase in potassium and sulphate content contamination in three of the location. From this, it is recommended that there should be proper monitoring of the scheme by conducting analysis of water and soil in the environment, preferable test should be carried out at least one year to cover the impact of seasonal variations and to determine the physical and chemical analysis of the water used for irrigation at the scheme.

Keywords: Irrigation, Salinity, Raw water quality, Scheme.

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Authors: G. Feletti, D. Tedesco, P. Trucco

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The present study aims to develop a dashboard of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to enhance information and predictive capabilities in Emergency Medical Services (EMS) systems, supporting both operational and strategic decisions of different actors. The employed research methodology consists of a first phase of revision of the technical-scientific literature concerning the indicators currently in use for the performance measurement of EMS. It emerges that current studies focus on two distinct areas and independent objectives: the ambulance service, a fundamental component of pre-hospital health treatment, and the patient care in the Emergency Department (ED). Conversely, the perspective proposed by this study is to consider an integrated view of the ambulance service process and the ED process, both essential to ensure high quality of care and patient safety. Thus, the proposal covers the end-to-end healthcare service process and, as such, allows considering the interconnection between the two EMS processes, the pre-hospital and hospital ones, connected by the assignment of the patient to a specific ED. In this way, it is possible to optimize the entire patient management. Therefore, attention is paid even to EMS aspects that in current literature tend to be neglected or underestimated. In particular, the integration of the two processes enables to evaluate the advantage of an ED selection decision having visibility on EDs’ saturation status and therefore considering, besides the distance, the available resources and the expected waiting times. Starting from a critical review of the KPIs proposed in extant literature, the design of the dashboard was carried out: the high number of analyzed KPIs was reduced by eliminating firstly the ones not in line with the aim of the study and then the ones supporting a similar functionality. The KPIs finally selected were tested on a realistic dataset, which draw us to exclude additional indicators due to unavailability of data required for their computation. The final dashboard, that was discussed and validated by experts in the field, includes a variety of KPIs able to support operational and planning decisions, early warning, and citizens’ awareness on EDs accessibility in real time. The association of each KPI to the EMS phase it refers to enabled the design of a well-balanced dashboard, covering both efficiency and effectiveness performance objectives of the entire EMS process. Indeed, just the initial phases related to the interconnection between ambulance service and patient care are covered by traditional KPIs. Future developments could be directed to building a hierarchical dashboard, composed by a high-level minimal set of KPIs for measuring the basic performance of the EMS system, at an aggregate level, and lower levels of KPIs that bring additional and more detailed information on specific performance dimensions or EMS phases.

Keywords: Emergency Medical Services, Key Performance Indicators, Dashboard, Decision Support.

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Authors: S. Onder, Z. Kocbeker

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The impact of noise upon live quality has become an important aspect to make both urban and environmental policythroughout Europe and in Turkey. Concern over the quality of urban environments, including noise levels and declining quality of green space, is over the past decade with increasing emphasis on designing livable and sustainable communities. According to the World Health Organization, noise pollution is the third most hazardous environmental type of pollution which proceeded by only air (gas emission) and water pollution. The research carried out in two phases, the first stage of the research noise and plant types providing the suction of noise was evaluated through literature study and at the second stage, definite types (Juniperus horizontalis L., Spirea vanhouetti Briot., Cotoneaster dammerii C.K., Berberis thunbergii D.C., Pyracantha coccinea M. etc.) were selected for the city of Konya. Trials were conducted on the highway of Konya. The biggest value of noise reduction was 6.3 dB(A), 4.9 dB(A), 6.2 dB(A) value with compared to the control which includes the group that formed by the bushes at the distance of 7m, 11m, 20m from the source and 5m, 9m, 20m of plant width, respectively. In this paper, definitions regarding to noise and its sources were made and the precautions were taken against to noise that mentioned earlier with the adverse effects of noise. Plantation design approaches and suggestions concerning to the diversity to be used, which are peculiar to roadside, were developed to discuss the role and the function of plant material to reduce the noise of the traffic.

Keywords: Bushes, noise, road, Konya

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Authors: Manisha Dubey, Gaurav Gupta, Anoop Arya

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The demand for power supply increases day by day in developing countries like India henceforth demand of reactive power support in the form of ancillary services provider also has been increased. The multi-line and multi-type Flexible alternating current transmission system (FACTS) controllers are playing a vital role to regulate power flow through the transmission line. Unified power flow controller and interline power flow controller can be utilized to control reactive power flow through the transmission line. In a restructured power system, the demand of such controller is being popular due to their inherent capability. The transmission pricing by using reactive power cost allocation through modified matrix methodology has been proposed. The FACTS technologies have quite costly assembly, so it is very useful to apportion the expenses throughout the restructured electricity industry. Therefore, in this work, after embedding the FACTS devices into load flow, the impact on the costs allocated to users in fraction to the transmission framework utilization has been analyzed. From the obtained results, it is clear that the total cost recovery is enhanced towards the Reactive Power flow through the different transmission line for 5 bus test system. The fair pricing policy towards reactive power can be achieved by the proposed method incorporating FACTS controller towards cost recovery of the transmission network.

Keywords: Inter line power flow controller, Transmission Pricing, Unified power flow controller, cost allocation.

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Authors: Hafizah Che Hasan, Fateen Nazwa Yusof, Maslina Daud

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Internet of Things (IoT) is a powerful industry system, which end-devices are interconnected and automated, allowing the devices to analyze data and execute actions based on the analysis. The IoT technology leverages the technology of Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) and Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), including mobile and sensor. These technologies contribute to the evolution of IoT. However, due to more devices are connected each other in the Internet, and data from various sources exchanged between things, confidentiality of the data becomes a major concern. This paper focuses on one of the major challenges in IoT; authentication, in order to preserve data integrity and confidentiality are in place. A few solutions are reviewed based on papers from the last few years. One of the proposed solutions is securing the communication between IoT devices and cloud servers with Elliptic Curve Cryptograhpy (ECC) based mutual authentication protocol. This solution focuses on Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) cookies as security parameter.  Next proposed solution is using keyed-hash scheme protocol to enable IoT devices to authenticate each other without the presence of a central control server. Another proposed solution uses Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) based mutual authentication protocol. It emphasizes on tamper resistant and resource-efficient technology, which equals a 3-way handshake security protocol.

Keywords: Internet of Things, authentication, PUF ECC, keyed hash scheme protocol.

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Authors: Bunakiye R. Japheth, Ogude U. Cyril

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Since the process of transforming user requirements to modeling constructs are not very well supported by domain-specific frameworks, it became necessary to integrate domain requirements with the specific architectures to achieve an integrated customizable solutions space via artifact orientation. Domain-specific modeling language specifications of model-driven engineering technologies focus more on requirements within a particular domain, which can be tailored to aid the domain expert in expressing domain concepts effectively. Modeling processes through domain-specific language formalisms are highly volatile due to dependencies on domain concepts or used process models. A capable solution is given by artifact orientation that stresses on the results rather than expressing a strict dependence on complicated platforms for model creation and development. Based on this premise, domain-specific methods for producing artifacts without having to take into account the complexity and variability of platforms for model definitions can be integrated to support customizable development. In this paper, we discuss methods for the integration capabilities and necessities within a common structure and semantics that contribute a metamodel for artifact-orientation, which leads to a reusable software layer with concrete syntax capable of determining design intents from domain expert. These concepts forming the language formalism are established from models explained within the oil and gas pipelines industry.

Keywords: Control process, metrics of engineering, structured abstraction, semantic model.

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Authors: Ratnakar Tripathi, Rajnikant Mishra

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The PAX6, a transcription factor, is essential for the morphogenesis of the eyes, brain, pituitary and pancreatic islets. In rodents, the loss of Pax6 function leads to central nervous system defects, anophthalmia, and nasal hypoplasia. The haplo-insufficiency of Pax6 causes microphthalmia, aggression and other behavioral abnormalities. It is also required in brain patterning and neuronal plasticity. In human, heterozygous mutation of Pax6 causes loss of iris [aniridia], mental retardation and glucose intolerance. The 3- deletion in Pax6 leads to autism and aniridia. The phenotypes are variable in peneterance and expressivity. However, mechanism of function and interaction of PAX6 with other proteins during development and associated disease are not clear. It is intended to explore interactors of PAX6 to elucidated biology of PAX6 function in the tissues where it is expressed and also in the central regulatory pathway. This report describes In-silico approaches to explore interacting proteins of PAX6. The models show several possible proteins interacting with PAX6 like MITF, SIX3, SOX2, SOX3, IPO13, TRIM, and OGT. Since the Pax6 is a critical transcriptional regulator and master control gene of eye and brain development it might be interacting with other protein involved in morphogenesis [TGIF, TGF, Ras etc]. It is also presumed that matricelluar proteins [SPARC, thrombospondin-1 and osteonectin etc] are likely to interact during transport and processing of PAX6 and are somewhere its cascade. The proteins involved in cell survival and cell proliferation can also not be ignored.

Keywords: Interacting Proteins, Pax6, PIP, STRING

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Authors: Ki Hyun Kim, Jang-Hee Yoo, Kyo Il Chung

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This paper proposes a VPN Accelerator Board (VPN-AB), a virtual private network (VPN) protocol designed for trust channel security system (TCSS). TCSS supports safety communication channel between security nodes in internet. It furnishes authentication, confidentiality, integrity, and access control to security node to transmit data packets with IPsec protocol. TCSS consists of internet key exchange block, security association block, and IPsec engine block. The internet key exchange block negotiates crypto algorithm and key used in IPsec engine block. Security Association blocks setting-up and manages security association information. IPsec engine block treats IPsec packets and consists of networking functions for communication. The IPsec engine block should be embodied by H/W and in-line mode transaction for high speed IPsec processing. Our VPN-AB is implemented with high speed security processor that supports many cryptographic algorithms and in-line mode. We evaluate a small TCSS communication environment, and measure a performance of VPN-AB in the environment. The experiment results show that VPN-AB gets a performance throughput of maximum 15.645Gbps when we set the IPsec protocol with 3DES-HMAC-MD5 tunnel mode.

Keywords: TCSS(Trust Channel Security System), VPN(VirtualPrivate Network), IPsec, SSL, Security Processor, Securitycommunication.

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