Search results for: urban structural unit.

Authors: Emad S. Abouel Nasr, Abdulaziz M. El-Tamimi, Mustufa H. Abidi, Abdulrahman M. Al-Ahmari

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Virtual Assembly (VA) is one of the key technologies in advanced manufacturing field. It is a promising application of virtual reality in design and manufacturing field. It has drawn much interest from industries and research institutes in the last two decades. This paper describes a process for integrating an interactive Virtual Reality-based assembly simulation of a digital mockup with the CAD/CAM infrastructure. The necessary hardware and software preconditions for the process are explained so that it can easily be adopted by non VR experts. The article outlines how assembly simulation can improve the CAD/CAM procedures and structures; how CAD model preparations have to be carried out and which virtual environment requirements have to be fulfilled. The issue of data transfer is also explained in the paper. The other challenges and requirements like anti-aliasing and collision detection have also been explained. Finally, a VA simulation has been carried out for a ball valve assembly and a car door assembly with the help of Vizard virtual reality toolkit in a semi-immersive environment and their performance analysis has been done on different workstations to evaluate the importance of graphical processing unit (GPU) in the field of VA.

Keywords: Collision Detection, Graphical Processing Unit (GPU), Virtual Reality (VR), Virtual Assembly (VA).

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Authors: Elmira Tavasoli Yousef Abadi

Abstract:

All structural components influencing the inelastic analysis alter response modification factor too. Ductility of connections has been regarded among the factors which have a direct impact on steel frame response modification factor. The experience of recent earthquakes such as the 1994 Northridge earthquake showed that structural connections in steel frame incurred unexpected (brittle) fracture in beam-to-column connection area. One of the methods to improve performance of moment frames is to reduce the beam section near the connection to the column. Reduced Beam Section (RBS) refers to one of the proposed moment connections in FEMA350. Ductility is the most important advantage of this connection over the other moment connections; it is found as the major factor in suitable plastic behavior of structural system. In this paper, beam-to-column connection with RBS and wide-flange beams has been examined via software Abaqus 6.12. It is observed that use of RBS connections can improve the connection behavior at inelastic area to a large extent and avoid stress concentrations and large deformation in the column.

Keywords: RBS, seismic performance, beam-to-column connection, ductility, wide-flange beam.

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Authors: Ntloana Hlabishi Peter

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The availability of public transportation modes and qualitative infrastructure is a burning issue that affects urban sustainability. Public transportation is indispensable in providing adequate transportation means to people at an affordable price, and it promotes public transport reliance. Burgersfort town has a critical condition on the urban public transportation infrastructure which affects the bus and taxi public transport modes and the existing infrastructure. The municipality is regarded as one of the mining towns in Limpopo Province considering the availability of mining activities and proposal on establishment of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ). The study aim is to assess the efficacy of current public transportation infrastructure and to propose relevant recommendations that will unlock the possibility of future supportable public transportation systems. The Key Informant Interview (KII) was used to acquire data on the views from commuters and stakeholders involved. There KII incorporated three relevant questions in relation to services rendered in public transportation. Relevant literature relating to public transportation modes and infrastructure revealed the imperatives of public transportation infrastructure, and relevant legislation was reviewed concerning public transport infrastructure. The finding revealed poor conditions on the public transportation ranks and also inadequate parking space for public transportation modes. The study reveals that 100% of people interviewed were not satisfied with the condition of public transportation infrastructure and 100% are not satisfied with the services offered by public transportation sectors. The findings revealed that the municipality is the main player who can upgrade the existing conditions of public transportation. The study recommended that an intermodal transportation facility must be established to resolve the emerging challenges.

Keywords: Public transportation, modes, infrastructure, urban sustainability.

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Authors: F. Castro Lopes, S. Fernandes

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Active learning strategies are at the center of any change process aimed to improve the development of student skills. This paper aims to analyze the impact of teaching strategies, including problem-based learning (PBL), in the curricular unit of information system for management, based on students’ perceptions of how they contribute to develop the desired learning outcomes of the curricular unit. This course is part of the 1st semester and 3rd year of the graduate degree program in management at a private higher education institution in Portugal. The methodology included an online questionnaire to students (n = 40). Findings from students reveal a positive impact of the teaching strategies used. In general, 35% considered that the strategies implemented in the course contributed to the development of courses’ learning objectives. Students considered PBL as the learning strategy that better contributed to enhance the courses’ learning outcomes. This conclusion brings forward the need for further reflection and discussion on the impact of student feedback on teaching and learning processes.

Keywords: Higher education, active learning strategies, skills development, student assessment.

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Authors: Farooq A. Al-Sheikh, Ali Elkamel, William A. Anderson

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A fluidized catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) is one of the effective units in many refineries. Modeling and optimization of FCCU were done by many researchers in past decades, but in this research, comparison between post- and oxy-combustion was studied in the regenerator-FCCU. Therefore, a simplified mathematical model was derived by doing mass/heat balances around both reactor and regenerator. A state space analysis was employed to show effects of the flow rates variables such as air, feed, spent catalyst, regenerated catalyst and flue gas on the output variables. The main aim of studying dynamic responses is to figure out the most influencing variables that affect both reactor/regenerator temperatures; also, finding the upper/lower limits of the influencing variables to ensure that temperatures of the reactors and regenerator work within normal operating conditions. Therefore, those values will be used as side constraints in the optimization technique to find appropriate operating regimes. The objective functions were modeled to be maximizing the energy in the reactor while minimizing the energy consumption in the regenerator. In conclusion, an oxy-combustion process can be used instead of a post-combustion one.

Keywords: FCCU modeling, optimization, oxy-combustion post-combustion.

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Authors: Mohammed Al-Juhaishi, Mikael Motelica-Heino, Fabrice Muller, Audrey Guirimand-Dufour, Christian Défarge

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This study aims at improving the urban hydrological cycle of the Orléans agglomeration (France) and understanding the relationship between physical and chemical parameters of urban surface runoff and the hydrological conditions. In particular water quality parameters such as pH, conductivity, total dissolved solids, major dissolved cations and anions, and chemical and biological oxygen demands were monitored for three types of urban water discharges (wastewater treatment plant output (WWTP), storm overflow and stormwater outfall) under two hydrologic scenarios (dry and wet weather). The first results were obtained over a period of five months. Each investigated (Ormes, l’Egoutier and La Corne) outfall represents an urban runoff source that receives water from runoff roads, gutters, the irrigation of gardens and other sources of flow over the Earth’s surface that drains in its catchments and carries it to the Loire River. In wet weather conditions there is rain water runoff and an additional input from the roof gutters that have entered the stormwater system during rainfall. For the comparison the results La Chilesse is a storm overflow that was selected in our study as a potential source of waste water which is located before the (WWTP). The comparison of the physical-chemical parameters (total dissolved solids, turbidity, pH, conductivity, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), concentration of major cations and anions) together with the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) helped to characterize sources of runoff waters in the different watersheds. It also helped to highlight the infiltration of wastewater in some stormwater systems that reject directly in the Loire River. The values of the conductivity measured in the outflow of Ormes were always higher than those measured in the other two outlets. The results showed a temporal variation for the Ormes outfall of conductivity from 1465 μS cm-1 in the dry weather flow to 650 μS cm-1 in the wet weather flow and also a spatial variation in the wet weather flow from 650 μS cm-1 in the Ormes outfall to 281 μS cm-1 in L’Egouttier outfall. The ultimate BOD (BOD28) showed a significant decrease in La Corne outfall from 181 mg L-1 in the wet weather flow to 95 mg L-1 in the dry weather flow because of the nutrient load that was transported by the runoff.

Keywords: BOD, COD, the Loire River, urban hydrology, urban dry and wet weather discharges, macronutrients.

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Authors: L. Hammadi, N. Boudjenane, R. Houdjedje, R. Reffis, M. Belhadri

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In this study, we investigated the thixotropic behavior of two clays used in fabrication of ceramic. The structural kinetic model (SKM) was used to characterize the thixotropic behavior of two different kinds of clays used in fabrication of ceramic. The SKM postulates that the change in the rheological behavior is associated with shear-induced breakdown of the internal structure of the clays. This model for the structure decay with time at constant shear rate assumes nth order kinetics for the decay of the material structure with a rate constant.

Keywords: Ceramic, clays, structural kinetic model, thixotropy, viscosity.

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Authors: Ahmad Javid Habib, Tetsuo Kidokoro

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There is an increasing demand for developing urban land to provide better living conditions for all citizens in Afghanistan. Most of the development will involve the acquisition of land. And the current land acquisition method practiced by central government is expropriation, which is a cash-based transaction method that imposes heavy fiscal burden on local municipalities and central government, and it does not protect ownership rights and social equity of landowners besides it relocates the urban poor to remote areas with limited access to jobs and public services. The questionnaire analysis, backed by observations of different case studies in countries where land readjustment is used as a collaborative land development tool indicates that the method plays a key role in valuing landowners’ rights, giving other community members and stakeholders the opportunity to collaboratively implement urban development projects. The practice of the method is reducing the heavy fiscal burden on the local and central governments and is a better option to deal with the current development challenges in Afghanistan.

Keywords: Collaboration, land readjustment, master plan, expropriation.

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Authors: W. Fethallah, L. Chraibi, N. Sefiani

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The present paper is concerned with a statistical approach involving latent and manifest variables applied in order to assess the organization's social responsibility performance. The main idea is to develop an assessment tool and a measurement of the Social Responsibility Performance, enabling the company to characterize her performance regarding to the ISO 26000 standard's seven core subjects. For this, we conceptualize a structural equation modeling (SEM) which describes various causal connections between the Social Responsibility’s components. The SEM’s resolution is based on the Partial Least squares (PLS) method and the implementation is running in the XLSTAT software.

Keywords: Corporate social responsibility, latent and manifest variable, partial least squares, structural equation model.

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Authors: Yue Zhang, Bo Yang, Gang Xiong, Mohamed Elchalakanic, Shidong Nie

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This study aims to investigate the lateral torsional buckling of I-shaped cross-section beams fabricated from Q460GJ structural steel plates. Both experimental and numerical simulation results are presented in this paper. A total of eight specimens were tested under a three-point bending, and the corresponding numerical models were established to conduct parametric studies. The effects of some key parameters such as the non-dimensional member slenderness and the height-to-width ratio, were investigated based on the verified numerical models. Also, the results obtained from the parametric studies were compared with the predictions calculated by different design codes including the Chinese design code (GB50017-2003, 2003), the new draft version of Chinese design code (GB50017-201X, 2012), Eurocode 3 (EC3, 2005) and the North America design code (ANSI/AISC360-10, 2010). These comparisons indicated that the sectional height-to-width ratio does not play an important role to influence the overall stability load-carrying capacity of Q460GJ structural steel beams with welded I-shaped cross-sections. It was also found that the design methods in GB50017-2003 and ANSI/AISC360-10 overestimate the overall stability and load-carrying capacity of Q460GJ welded I-shaped cross-section beams.

Keywords: Experimental study, finite element analysis, global stability, lateral torsional buckling, Q460GJ structural steel.

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Authors: B. Kędra, R. Małkowski

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This paper presents information on Power System Component Simulator – a device designed for LINTE^2 laboratory owned by Gdansk University of Technology in Poland. In this paper, we first provide an introductory information on the Power System Component Simulator and its capabilities. Then, the concept of the unit is presented. Requirements for the unit are described as well as proposed and introduced functions are listed. Implementation details are given. Hardware structure is presented and described. Information about used communication interface, data maintenance and storage solution, as well as used Simulink real-time features are presented. List and description of all measurements is provided. Potential of laboratory setup modifications is evaluated. Lastly, the results of experiments performed using Power System Component Simulator are presented. This includes simulation of under frequency load shedding, frequency and voltage dependent characteristics of groups of load units, time characteristics of group of different load units in a chosen area.

Keywords: Power converter, Simulink real-time, MATLAB, load, tap controller.

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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: Negar Banan, Mohd Talib Latif, Liew Juneng

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Air quality studies were carried out in the towns of Putrajaya, Petaling Jaya and Nilai in the Malaysian Peninsular. In this study, the variations of Ozone (O3) concentrations over a four year period (2008-2011) were investigated using data obtained from the Malaysian Department of the Environment (DOE). This study aims to identify and describe the daily and monthly variations of O3 concentrations at the monitoring sites mentioned. The SPPS program (Statistical Package for the Social Science) was used to analyze this data in order to obtain the variations of O3 and also to clarify the relationship between the stations. The findings of the study revealed that the highest concentration of O3 occurred during the midday and afternoon (between 13:00-15:00 hrs). The comparison between stations also showed that highest O3 concentrations were recorded in Putrajaya. The comparisons of average and maximum concentrations of O3 for the three stations showed that the strongest significant correlation was recorded in the Petaling Jaya station with the value R2= 0.667. Results from this study indicate that in the urban areas of Peninsular Malaysia, the concentration of O3 depends on the concentration of NOx. Furthermore, HYSPLIT back trajectories (-72h) indicated that air-mass transport patterns can also influence the O3 concentration in the areas studied.

Keywords: Ozone, Precursors, Urban, HYSPLIT trajectory analysis.

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Authors: Cheon Sik Min, Hyeong Wook Song, Sook Yeon Shim, Hoon Chang

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The purpose of this study was to analyze the correlation between permitted building areas and housing distribution ratios and their fluctuation, and test a distribution model during 3 successive governments in 5 cities including Bucheon in reference to the time series administrative data, and thereby, interpret the results of the analysis in association with the policies pursued by the successive governments to examine the structural fluctuation of permitted building areas and housing distribution ratios. In order to analyze the fluctuation of permitted building areas and housing distribution ratios during 3 successive governments and examine the cycles of the time series data, the spectral analysis was performed, and in order to analyze the correlation between permitted building areas and housing distribution ratios, the tabulation was performed to describe the correlations statistically, and in order to explain about differences of fluctuation distribution of permitted building areas and housing distribution ratios among 3 governments, the goodness of fit test was conducted.

Keywords: The Permitted Building Areas, Housing Distribution Ratios, the Structural Fluctuation.

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Authors: Fiona Curran-Cournane

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Soil quality monitoring is a science-based soil management tool that assesses soil ecosystem health. A soil monitoring program in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city extends from 1995 to the present. The objective of this study was to firstly determine changes in soil parameters (basic soil properties and heavy metals) that were assessed from rural land in 1995-2000 and repeated in 2008-2012. The second objective was to determine differences in soil parameters across various land uses including native bush, rural (horticulture, pasture and plantation forestry) and urban land uses using soil data collected in more recent years (2009- 2013). Across rural land, mean concentrations of Olsen P had significantly increased in the second sampling period and was identified as the indicator of most concern, followed by soil macroporosity, particularly for horticultural and pastoral land. Mean concentrations of Cd were also greatest for pastoral and horticultural land and a positive correlation existed between these two parameters, which highlights the importance of analysing basic soil parameters in conjunction with heavy metals. In contrast, mean concentrations of As, Cr, Pb, Ni and Zn were greatest for urban sites. Native bush sites had the lowest concentrations of heavy metals and were used to calculate a ‘pollution index’ (PI). The mean PI was classified as high (PI > 3) for Cd and Ni and moderate for Pb, Zn, Cr, Cu, As and Hg, indicating high levels of heavy metal pollution across both rural and urban soils. From a land use perspective, the mean ‘integrated pollution index’ was highest for urban sites at 2.9 followed by pasture, horticulture and plantation forests at 2.7, 2.6 and 0.9, respectively. It is recommended that soil sampling continues over time because a longer spanning record will allow further identification of where soil problems exist and where resources need to be targeted in the future. Findings from this study will also inform policy and science direction in regional councils.

Keywords: Heavy metals, Pollution Index, Rural and Urban land use.

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Authors: R. Schweighoffer, N. Nagy, E. Reeves, B. Liebig

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Due to aging populations, the need for seamless palliative care provision is of central interest for western societies. An essential aspect of palliative care delivery is the quality of collaboration amongst palliative care providers. Therefore, the current research is based on Bainbridge’s conceptual framework, which provides an outline for the evaluation of palliative care provision. This study is the first one to investigate the predictive validity of spatial distribution on the quantity of interaction amongst various palliative care providers. Furthermore, based on the familiarity principle, we examine whether the extent of collaboration influences the perceived quality of collaboration among palliative care providers in urban versus rural areas of Switzerland. Based on a population-representative survey of Swiss palliative care providers, the results of the current study show that professionals in densely populated areas report higher absolute numbers of interactions and are more satisfied with their collaborative practice. This indicates that palliative care providers who work in urban areas are better embedded into networks than their counterparts in more rural areas. The findings are especially important, considering that efficient collaboration is a prerequisite to achieve satisfactory patient outcomes. Conclusively, measures should be taken to foster collaboration in weakly interconnected palliative care networks.

Keywords: Collaboration, healthcare networks, palliative care, Switzerland.

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Authors: Anurag Gaur, Neha Sharma

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In this work, we have synthesized BaTiO₃ via sol gel method by sintering at different temperatures (600, 700, 800, 900, 1000⁰C) and studied their structural, optical and ferroelectric properties through X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis spectrophotometer and PE Loop Tracer. X-ray diffraction patterns of barium titanate samples show that the peaks of the diffractogram are successfully indexed with the tetragonal and cubic structure of BaTiO₃. The Optical band gap calculated through UV Visible spectrophotometer varies from 4.37 to 3.80 eV for the samples sintered at 600 to 1000⁰C, respectively. The particle size calculated through transmission electron microscopy varies from 20 to 40 nm for the samples sintered at 600 to 1000⁰C, respectively. Moreover, it has been observed that the ferroelectricity increases as we increase the sintering temperature.

Keywords: Nanostructures, Ferroelectricity, Sol-gel method.

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Authors: Badr M. Alshammari, T. Guesmi

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In recent years, the combined economic and emission power dispatch is one of the main problems of electrical power system. It aims to schedule the power generation of generators in order to minimize cost production and emission of harmful gases caused by fossil-fueled thermal units such as CO, CO₂, NO_x, and SO₂. To solve this complicated multi-objective problem, an improved version of the particle swarm optimization technique that includes non-dominated sorting concept has been proposed. Valve point loading effects and system losses have been considered. The three-unit and ten-unit benchmark systems have been used to show the effectiveness of the suggested optimization technique for solving this kind of nonconvex problem. The simulation results have been compared with those obtained using genetic algorithm based method. Comparison results show that the proposed approach can provide a higher quality solution with better performance.

Keywords: Power dispatch, valve point loading effects, multiobjective optimization, Pareto solutions.

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Authors: Mohammad Amin Safi, Mahmud Ashrafizaadeh, Amir Ali Ashrafizaadeh

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A highly optimized implementation of binary mixture diffusion with no initial bulk velocity on graphics processors is presented. The lattice Boltzmann model is employed for simulating the binary diffusion of oxygen and nitrogen into each other with different initial concentration distributions. Simulations have been performed using the latest proposed lattice Boltzmann model that satisfies both the indifferentiability principle and the H-theorem for multi-component gas mixtures. Contemporary numerical optimization techniques such as memory alignment and increasing the multiprocessor occupancy are exploited along with some novel optimization strategies to enhance the computational performance on graphics processors using the C for CUDA programming language. Speedup of more than two orders of magnitude over single-core processors is achieved on a variety of Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) devices ranging from conventional graphics cards to advanced, high-end GPUs, while the numerical results are in excellent agreement with the available analytical and numerical data in the literature.

Keywords: Lattice Boltzmann model, Graphical processing unit, Binary mixture diffusion, 2D flow simulations, Optimized algorithm.

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Authors: Juliana C. Alencar, Monica Ferreira do Amaral Porto

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Watercourses in Brazilian urban areas are constantly being degraded due to the unplanned use of the urban space; however, due to the different contexts of land use and occupation in the river watersheds, different intervention strategies are required to requalify them. When it comes to requalifying watercourses, we can list three main techniques to fulfill this purpose: restoration, revitalization and recovery; each one being indicated for specific contexts of land use and occupation in the basin. In this study, it was demonstrated that the application of these three techniques to three small basins in São Paulo city, listing the aspects involved in each of the contexts and techniques of requalification. For a protected watercourse within a forest park, renaturalization was proposed, where the watercourse is preserved in a state closer to the natural one. For a watercourse in an urban context that still preserves open spaces for its maintenance as a landscape element, an intervention was proposed following the principles of revitalization, integrating the watercourse with the landscape and the population. In the case of a watercourse in a harder context, only recovery was proposed, since the watercourse is found under the road system, which makes it difficult to integrate it into the landscape.

Keywords: Sustainable drainage, river restoration, river revitalization, river recovery.

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Authors: Bu Seog Ju, Jae Sang Kim, Woo Young Jung

Abstract:

In recent year, with recent increase of interest towards leisure sports, increased number of Zip-Line or Zip-Wire facilities has built. Many researches have been actively conducted on the emphasis of the cable and the wire at the bridge. However, very limited researches have been conducted on the safety of the Zip-Line structure. In fact, fall accidents from Zip-Line have been reported frequently. Therefore, in this study, the structural safety of Zip-Line under dynamic impact loading condition were evaluated on the previously installed steel cable for leisure (Zip-Line), using 3-dimensional nonlinear Finite Element (FE) model. The result from current study would assist assurance of systematic stability of Zip-Line.

Keywords: Zip-Line, Wire, Cable, 3D FE Model, Safety.

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Authors: Ali Alzaabi, Georges Alquié, Hussain Tassadaq, Ali Seba

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This article presents the developments of efficient algorithms for tablet copies comparison. Image recognition has specialized use in digital systems such as medical imaging, computer vision, defense, communication etc. Comparison between two images that look indistinguishable is a formidable task. Two images taken from different sources might look identical but due to different digitizing properties they are not. Whereas small variation in image information such as cropping, rotation, and slight photometric alteration are unsuitable for based matching techniques. In this paper we introduce different matching algorithms designed to facilitate, for art centers, identifying real painting images from fake ones. Different vision algorithms for local image features are implemented using MATLAB. In this framework a Table Comparison Computer Tool “TCCT" is designed to facilitate our research. The TCCT is a Graphical Unit Interface (GUI) tool used to identify images by its shapes and objects. Parameter of vision system is fully accessible to user through this graphical unit interface. And then for matching, it applies different description technique that can identify exact figures of objects.

Keywords: Harris Extraction and SIFT Matching

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Authors: Delly C. Lestari, Linosefa, Ardiana Kusumaningrum, Andi Yasmon, Anis Karuniawati

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The objective of this study is to determine the prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) harboring mecA genes from screening isolates among intensive care unit (ICU) patients. All MRSA screening isolates from ICU’s patients of Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital during 2011 and 2014 were included in this study. Identification and susceptibility test was performed using Vitek2 system (Biomereux®). PCR was conducted to characterize the SCCmec of S. aureus harboring the mecA gene on each isolate. Patient’s history of illness was traced through medical record. 24 isolates from 327 screening isolates were MRSA positive (7.3%). From PCR, we found 17 (70.8%) isolates carrying SCCmec type I, 3 (12.5%) isolates carrying SCCmec type III, and 2 (8.3%) isolates carrying SCCmec type IV. In conclusion, SCCmec type I is the most prevalent MRSA colonization among ICU patients in Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital.

Keywords: MRSA, mecA genes, ICU, colonization.

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Authors: S. Grishin

Abstract:

This article is dedicated to development of mathematical models for determining the dynamics of concentration of hazardous substances in urban turbulent atmosphere. Development of the mathematical models implied taking into account the time-space variability of the fields of meteorological items and such turbulent atmosphere data as vortex nature, nonlinear nature, dissipativity and diffusivity. Knowing the turbulent airflow velocity is not assumed when developing the model. However, a simplified model implies that the turbulent and molecular diffusion ratio is a piecewise constant function that changes depending on vertical distance from the earth surface. Thereby an important assumption of vertical stratification of urban air due to atmospheric accumulation of hazardous substances emitted by motor vehicles is introduced into the mathematical model. The suggested simplified non-linear mathematical model of determining the sought exhaust concentration at a priori unknown turbulent flow velocity through non-degenerate transformation is reduced to the model which is subsequently solved analytically.

Keywords: Urban ecology, time-dependent mathematical model, exhaust concentration, turbulent and molecular diffusion, airflow velocity.

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Authors: Dmitriy Yu. Korulkin, Raissa A. Muzychkina

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The article represents the results of research of antitumor activity of different structural types of plant flavonoids extracted by authors from Polygonum L. plants in commercial reserves at the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan. For the first time ever the results comparative research of antitumor activity of plant flavonoids of different structural groups and their synthetic derivatives have been represented. The results of determination of toxicity of flavonoids in single parenteral infusion conditions have been represented. Experimental substantiation of possible mechanisms of antiproliferative and cytotoxic action of flavonoids has been suggested. The perspectives of usage of plant flavonoids as medications and creation of effective dosage forms of antitumor medicines on their basis have been substantiated.

Keywords: Antitumor activity, cytotoxicity, flavonoids, Polygonum L., secondary metabolites.

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Authors: Hassen M. Ouakad

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In this paper, the influence of van der Waals, as well as electrostatic forces on the structural behavior of MEMS and NEMS actuators, has been investigated using of a Euler-Bernoulli beam continuous model. In the proposed nonlinear model, the electrostatic fringing-fields and the mid-plane stretching (geometric nonlinearity) effects have been considered. The nonlinear integro-differential equation governing the static structural behavior of the actuator has been derived. An original Galerkin-based reduced-order model has been developed to avoid problems arising from the nonlinearities in the differential equation. The obtained reduced-order model equations have been solved numerically using the Newton-Raphson method. The basic design parameters such as the pull-in parameters (voltage and deflection at pull-in), as well as the detachment length due to the van der Waals force of some investigated micro- and nano-actuators have been calculated. The obtained numerical results have been compared with some other existing methods (finite-elements method and finite-difference method) and the comparison showed good agreement among all assumed numerical techniques.

Keywords: MEMS, NEMS, fringing-fields, mid-plane stretching, Galerkin method.

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Authors: Mahdi Nouri

Abstract:

In this paper Algebraic Riccati matrix equation is used for Eigen-decomposition of special structured matrices. This is achieved by similarity transformation and then using algebraic riccati matrix equation to triangulation of matrices. The process is decomposition of matrices into small and specially structured submatrices with low dimensions for fast and easy finding of Eigenpairs. Numerical and structural examples included showing the efficiency of present method.

Keywords: Riccati, matrix equation, eigenvalue problem, symmetric, bisymmetric, persymmetric, decomposition, canonical forms, Graphs theory, adjacency and Laplacian matrices.

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Authors: Sang Ho Lee, Tae Heon Moon, Youn Taik Leem, Kwang Woo Nam

Abstract:

Knowledge and IT inputs to other industrial production have become more important as a key factor for the competitiveness of national and regional economies, such as knowledge economies in smart cities. Knowledge and IT industries lead the industrial innovation and technical (r)evolution through low cost, high efficiency in production, and by creating a new value chain and new production path chains, which is referred as knowledge and IT dynamics. This study aims to investigate the knowledge and IT dynamics in Korea, which are analyzed through the input-output model and structural path analysis. Twenty-eight industries were reclassified into seven categories; Agriculture and Mining, IT manufacture, Non-IT manufacture, Construction, IT-service, Knowledge service, Non-knowledge service to take close look at the knowledge and IT dynamics. Knowledge and IT dynamics were analyzed through the change of input output coefficient and multiplier indices in terms of technical innovation, as well as the changes of the structural paths of the knowledge and IT to other industries in terms of new production value creation from 1985 and 2010. The structural paths of knowledge and IT explain not only that IT foster the generation, circulation and use of knowledge through IT industries and IT-based service, but also that knowledge encourages IT use through creating, sharing and managing knowledge. As a result, this paper found the empirical investigation on the knowledge and IT dynamics of the Korean economy. Knowledge and IT has played an important role regarding the inter-industrial transactional input for production, as well as new industrial creation. The birth of the input-output production path has mostly originated from the knowledge and IT industries, while the death of the input-output production path took place in the traditional industries from 1985 and 2010. The Korean economy has been in transition to a knowledge economy in the Smart City.

Keywords: Knowledge and IT industries, input-output model, structural path analysis, dynamics of knowledge and IT, knowledge economy, knowledge city, smart city.

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Authors: Marco E. O. Jardim, Frederico A. M. Souza, Valeria M. Bastos, Myrian C. A. Costa, Nelson F. F. Ebecken

Abstract:

Urban public transportation in Rio de Janeiro is based on bus lines, powered by diesel, and four limited metro lines that support only some neighborhoods. This work presents an infrastructure built to better understand microclimate variations related to massive urban transportation in some specific areas of the city. The use of sensor nodes with small analytics capacity provides environmental information to population or public services. The analyses of data collected from a few small sensors positioned near some heavy traffic streets show the harmful impact due to poor bus route plan.

Keywords: Big data, IoT, public transportation, public health system.

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Authors: Carrie Ho, Choo Bo Quan

Abstract:

Urban non-point source (NPS) pollution for a residential catchment in Miri, Sarawak was investigated for two storm events in 2011. Runoff from two storm events were sampled and tested for water quality parameters including TSS, BOD5, COD, NH3-N, NO3-N, NO2-N, P and Pb. Concentration of the water quality parameters was found to vary significantly between storms and the pollutant of concern was found to be NO3-N, TSS, COD and Pb. Results were compared to the Interim National Water Quality Standards for Malaysia (INWQS),and the stormwater runoff from the study can be classified as polluted, exceeding class III water quality, especially in terms of TSS, COD, and NH3-N with maximum EMCs of 158, 135, and 2.17 mg/L, respectively.

Keywords: Residential land-use, urban runoff, water quality.

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