Search results for: significant wave height

Authors: C. M. A. Robles G., R. A. Hernandez-Becerril

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We board the problem of creating a seismic alert system, based upon artificial neural networks, trained by using the well-known back-propagation and genetic algorithms, in order to emit the alarm for the population located into a specific city, about an eminent earthquake greater than 4.5 Richter degrees, and avoiding disasters and human loses. In lieu of using the propagation wave, we employed the magnitude of the earthquake, to establish a correlation between the recorded magnitudes from a controlled area and the city, where we want to emit the alarm. To measure the accuracy of the posed method, we use a database provided by CIRES, which contains the records of 2500 quakes incoming from the State of Guerrero and Mexico City. Particularly, we performed the proposed method to generate an issue warning in Mexico City, employing the magnitudes recorded in the State of Guerrero.

Keywords: Seismic Alert System, Artificial Neural Networks, Genetic Algorithms.

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Authors: Sakul Jariyachamsit, Kevin Wongleedee

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There has been considerable growth in the issue of food & beverage safety in Thailand. This is important because the level of satisfaction in food & beverage safety has impacts on travel decision made by foreign tourists. Therefore, this paper was aimed to test if there is any significant gender effect in the level of satisfaction of food & beverage safety made by foreign tourists in Thailand. In addition, this paper utilized the Chi Square test of independent to test if there was an association between gender and sickness because of food and if there was an association between gender and the perception of food safety standard. During January to June, 2012, a total of 400 foreign tourist respondents, 200 male as well as 200 female foreign tourists, were interviewed at the departure lounge at Suvarnabhumi airport, Thailand. The findings revealed the astonishing result that there was no significant effect of gender. Also, there was no significant difference in the association between gender and being sick because of food as well as the association between gender and the perception on the standard of food safety during their trip in Thailand.

Keywords: Food & Beverage, Gender Effect, Safety Standard, Satisfaction.

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Authors: Rizvi Hasan

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Male factor infertility due to endocrine disturbances such as abnormalities in prolactin levels are encountered in a significant proportion. This case control study was carried out to determine the effects of prolactin on the male reproductive tract, using 200 male white rats. The rats were maintained as the control group (G1), hypoprolactinaemic group (G2), 3 hyperprolactinaemic groups induced using oral largactil (G3), low dose fluphenazine (G4) and high dose fluphenazine (G5). After 100 days, rats were subjected to serum prolactin (PRL) level measurements and for basic seminal fluid analysis (BSA). The difference between serum PRL concentrations of rats in G2, G3, G4 and G5 as compared to the control group were highly significant by Student’s t-test (p<0.001). There were statistically significant differences in seminal fluid characteristics of rats with induced prolactin abnormalities when compared with those of control group (p value <0.05), effects were more marked as the PRL levels rise.

Keywords: Male factor infertility, Prolactin, Seminal fluid analysis, animal studies.

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Authors: Zhibin Yu, Artur J. Jaworski, Abdulrahman S. Abduljalil

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A stack with a small critical temperature gradient is desirable for a standing wave thermoacoustic engine to obtain a low onset temperature difference (the minimum temperature difference to start engine-s self-oscillation). The viscous and heat relaxation loss in the stack determines the critical temperature gradient. In this work, a dimensionless critical temperature gradient factor is obtained based on the linear thermoacoustic theory. It is indicated that the impedance determines the proportion between the viscous loss, heat relaxation losses and the power production from the heat energy. It reveals the effects of the channel dimensions, geometrical configuration and the local acoustic impedance on the critical temperature gradient in stacks. The numerical analysis shows that there exists a possible optimum combination of these parameters which leads to the lowest critical temperature gradient. Furthermore, several different geometries have been tested and compared numerically.

Keywords: Critical temperature gradient, heat relaxation, stack, viscous effect.

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Authors: G.Ramana Murthy, C.Senthilpari, P.Velrajkumar, Lim Tien Sze

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The proposed multiplexer-based novel 1-bit full adder cell is schematized by using DSCH2 and its layout is generated by using microwind VLSI CAD tool. The adder cell layout interconnect analysis is performed by using BSIM4 layout analyzer. The adder circuit is compared with other six existing adder circuits for parametric analysis. The proposed adder cell gives better performance than the other existing six adder circuits in terms of power, propagation delay and PDP. The proposed adder circuit is further analyzed for interconnect analysis, which gives better performance than other adder circuits in terms of layout thickness, width and height.

Keywords: Full Adder, Interconnect Analysis, Low-Power, Multiplexer, Propagation Delay, Parametric Analysis.

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Authors: Zubair Ahmad, Muhammad Hassan Sayyad

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In this paper, fabrication and study of electronic properties of Au/methyl-red/Ag surface type Schottky diode by current-voltage (I-V) method has been reported. The I-V characteristics of the Schottky diode showed the good rectifying behavior. The values of ideality factor n and barrier height b of Au/methyl-red/Ag Schottky diode were calculated from the semi-log I-V characteristics and by using the Cheung functions. From semi-log current-voltage characteristics the values of n and b were found 1.93 and 0.254 eV, respectively, while by using Cheung functions their values were calculated 1.89 and 0.26 eV, respectively. The effect of series resistance was also analyzed by Cheung functions. The series resistance RS values were determined from dV/d(lnI)–I and H(I)–I graphs and were found to be 1.1 k and 1.3 k, respectively.

Keywords: Surface type Schottky diodes, Methyl-red, Currentvoltage method

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Authors: Serkawt Khola

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A feature weighting and selection method is proposed which uses the structure of a weightless neuron and exploits the principles that govern the operation of Genetic Algorithms and Evolution. Features are coded onto chromosomes in a novel way which allows weighting information regarding the features to be directly inferred from the gene values. The proposed method is significant in that it addresses several problems concerned with algorithms for feature selection and weighting as well as providing significant advantages such as speed, simplicity and suitability for real-time systems.

Keywords: Feature weighting, genetic algorithm, pattern recognition, weightless neuron.

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Authors: The Nan Chang, Ping-Tang Yu, Jyun-Ming Lin

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A triple band circularly polarized antenna covering 1.17, 1.22, and 1.57 GHz is presented. To extend to the triple-band operation, we need to add one more ring while maintaining the mechanism to independently control each ring. The inset-part in the feeding scheme is used to excite the band at 1.22 GHz, while the proximate-part of the feeding scheme is used to excite not only the band at 1.57 GHz but also the band at 1.17 GHz. This is achieved by up-vertically coupled with one ring to radiate at 1.57 GHz and down-vertically coupled another ring to radiate at 1.17 GHz. It is also noted that the inset-part in our feeding scheme is by horizontal coupling. Furthermore, to increase the gain at all three bands, three air-layers are added to make the total height of the antenna be 7.8 mm. The total thickness of the three air-layers is 3 mm. The gains of the three bands are all greater than 5 dBiC after adding the air-layers.

Keywords: Circular polarization, global position system, triband antenna, high gain.

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Authors: A. Maghari, V. H. Maleki

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In this paper, we present a quantum statistical mechanical formulation from our recently analytical expressions for partial-wave transition matrix of a three-particle system. We report the quantum reactive cross sections for three-body scattering processes 1+(2,3)→1+(2,3) as well as recombination 1+(2,3)→1+(3,1) between one atom and a weakly-bound dimer. The analytical expressions of three-particle transition matrices and their corresponding cross-sections were obtained from the threedimensional Faddeev equations subjected to the rank-two non-local separable potentials of the generalized Yamaguchi form. The equilibrium quantum statistical mechanical properties such partition function and equation of state as well as non-equilibrium quantum statistical properties such as transport cross-sections and their corresponding transport collision integrals were formulated analytically. This leads to obtain the transport properties, such as viscosity and diffusion coefficient of a moderate dense gas.

Keywords: Statistical mechanics, Nonlocal separable potential, three-body interaction, Faddeev equations.

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Authors: Khin S. Aye

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The present work was conducted to find out the effect of biofertilizer formulated with four species of bacteria (two species of Azotobacter and two species of Lysobacter) and zinc sulphate. Field experiments with mustard plant were conducted to study the effectiveness of soil application of zinc sulphate and biofertilizer at 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 days after sowing. Plant height and condition of plant was found to be increased significantly using a mixture of biofertilizer and zinc sulphate than other treatments after 40 days sowing. Three treatments were also used in this field experiment such as bacteria only, zinc sulphate only and mixture of biofertilizer and zinc sulphate. The treatment using a mixture of zinc sulphate and biofertilizer had the best yield (4688.008 kg/ha) within 50 days of sowing and performed better than other treatments. Field experiment using zinc sulphate only was second best yield (3380.75Kg/ha) and biofertilizer only treatment gave (2639.04kg/ha).

Keywords: biofertilizer, zinc sulphate, mustard plant, bacteria

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Authors: Shrinivas P. Mahajan, Aarti C. Kshirsagar

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Wireless communication technology is rapidly changing with recent developments in portable devices and communication protocols. This has generated demand for more advanced and compact antenna structures and therefore, proposed work focuses on Meander Line Antenna (MLA) design. Here, Pentaband MLA is designed on a FR4 substrate (85 mm x 40 mm) with dielectric constant (ϵr) 4.4, loss tangent (tan ) 0.018 and height 1.6 mm with coplanar feed and open stub structure. It can be operated in LTE (0.670 GHz-0.696 GHz) GPS (1.564 GHz-1.579 GHz), WCDMA (1.920 GHz-2.135 GHz), LTE UL frequency band 23 (2-2.020 GHz) and 5G (3.10 GHz-3.550 GHz) application bands. Also, it gives good performance in terms of Return Loss (RL) which is < -10 dB, impedance bandwidth with maximum Bandwidth (BW) up to 0.21 GHz and realized gains with maximum gain up to 3.28 dBi. Antenna is simulated with open stub and without open stub structures to see the effect on impedance BW coverage. In addition to this, it is checked with human hand and head phantoms to assure that it falls within specified Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) limits.

Keywords: Coplanar feed, L shaped ground, MLA, phantom, SAR, stub.

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Authors: YaoAn Lu, QingZhen Bi, BaoRui Du, ShuLin Chen, LiMin Zhu, Kai Huang

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Taking the design tolerance into account, this paper presents a novel efficient approach to generate iso-scallop tool path for five-axis strip machining with a barrel cutter. The cutter location is first determined on the scallop surface instead of the design surface, and then the cutter is adjusted to locate the optimal tool position based on the differential rotation of the tool axis and satisfies the design tolerance simultaneously. The machining strip width and error are calculated with the aid of the grazing curve of the cutter. Based on the proposed tool positioning algorithm, the tool paths are generated by keeping the scallop height formed by adjacent tool paths constant. An example is conducted to confirm the validity of the proposed method.

Keywords: Strip machining, barrel cutter, iso-scallop tool path, sculptured surfaces, differential motion.

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Authors: Harish K. Arya, Kulwant Singh, R. K. Saxena

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The heat flow in weldment changes its nature from 2D to 3D with the increase in plate thickness. For welding of thicker plates the heat loss in thickness direction increases the cooling rate of plate. Since the cooling rate changes, the various bead parameters like bead penetration, bead height and bead width also got affected by it. The present study incorporates the effect of variable plate thickness on penetration and bead width. The penetration reduces with increase in plate thickness due to heat loss in thickness direction for same heat input, while bead width increases for thicker plate due to faster cooling.

Keywords: Submerged arc welding, plate thickness, bead geometry, cooling rate.

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Authors: C. Elavarasi, T. Shanmuganantham

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A coplanar waveguide (CPW) feed is presented, and comprising a split ring resonator (SRR) loaded fractal with water lily shape is used for multi band applications. The impedance matching of the antenna is determined by the number of Koch curve fractal unit cells. The antenna is designed on a FR4 substrate with a permittivity of ε_{r =} 4.4 and size of 14 x 16 x 1.6 mm³ to generate multi resonant mode at 3.8 GHz covering S band, 8.68 GHz at X band, 13.96 GHz at Ku band, and 19.74 GHz at K band with reflection coefficient better than -10 dB. Simulation results show that the antenna exhibits the desired voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) level and radiation patterns across the wide frequency range. The fundamental parameters of the antenna such as return loss, VSWR, good radiation pattern with reasonable gain across the operating bands are obtained.

Keywords: Monopole antenna, fractal, metamaterial, waterlily shape, split ring resonator, multiband.

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Authors: I. Hosni, L. Bennaceur Farah, N. Saber, R Bennaceur

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Soil moisture content is a key variable in many environmental sciences. Even though it represents a small proportion of the liquid freshwater on Earth, it modulates interactions between the land surface and the atmosphere, thereby influencing climate and weather. Accurate modeling of the above processes depends on the ability to provide a proper spatial characterization of soil moisture. The measurement of soil moisture content allows assessment of soil water resources in the field of hydrology and agronomy. The second parameter in interaction with the radar signal is the geometric structure of the soil. Most traditional electromagnetic models consider natural surfaces as single scale zero mean stationary Gaussian random processes. Roughness behavior is characterized by statistical parameters like the Root Mean Square (RMS) height and the correlation length. Then, the main problem is that the agreement between experimental measurements and theoretical values is usually poor due to the large variability of the correlation function, and as a consequence, backscattering models have often failed to predict correctly backscattering. In this study, surfaces are considered as band-limited fractal random processes corresponding to a superposition of a finite number of one-dimensional Gaussian process each one having a spatial scale. Multiscale roughness is characterized by two parameters, the first one is proportional to the RMS height, and the other one is related to the fractal dimension. Soil moisture is related to the complex dielectric constant. This multiscale description has been adapted to two-dimensional profiles using the bi-dimensional wavelet transform and the Mallat algorithm to describe more correctly natural surfaces. We characterize the soil surfaces and sub-surfaces by a three layers geo-electrical model. The upper layer is described by its dielectric constant, thickness, a multiscale bi-dimensional surface roughness model by using the wavelet transform and the Mallat algorithm, and volume scattering parameters. The lower layer is divided into three fictive layers separated by an assumed plane interface. These three layers were modeled by an effective medium characterized by an apparent effective dielectric constant taking into account the presence of air pockets in the soil. We have adopted the 2D multiscale three layers small perturbations model including, firstly air pockets in the soil sub-structure, and then a vegetable canopy in the soil surface structure, that is to simulate the radar backscattering. A sensitivity analysis of backscattering coefficient dependence on multiscale roughness and new soil moisture has been performed. Later, we proposed to change the dielectric constant of the multilayer medium because it takes into account the different moisture values of each layer in the soil. A sensitivity analysis of the backscattering coefficient, including the air pockets in the volume structure with respect to the multiscale roughness parameters and the apparent dielectric constant, was carried out. Finally, we proposed to study the behavior of the backscattering coefficient of the radar on a soil having a vegetable layer in its surface structure.

Keywords: Multiscale, bi-dimensional, wavelets, SPM, backscattering, multilayer, air pockets, vegetable.

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

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

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

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Authors: Farshid Fathinia, Mohammad Parsazadeh, Amirhossein Heshmati

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Turbulent forced convection flow in a 2-dimensional channel over periodic grooves is numerically investigated. Finite volume method is used to study the effect of turbulence model. The range of Reynolds number varied from 10000 to 30000 for the ribheight to channel-height ratio (B/H) of 2. The downstream wall is heated by a uniform heat flux while the upstream wall is insulated. The investigation is analyzed with different types of nanoparticles such as SiO2, Al2O3, and ZnO, with water as a base fluid are used. The volume fraction is varied from 1% to 4% and the nanoparticle diameter is utilized between 20nm to 50nm. The results revealed 114% heat transfer enhancement compared to the water in a grooved channel by using SiO2 nanoparticle with volume fraction and nanoparticle diameter of 4% and 20nm respectively.

Keywords: Forced convection, Periodic grooves, Nanofluids, Turbulent model, Heat transfer.

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Authors: Robert M. Russo

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This paper analyzes the linkage between migration, economic globalization and terrorism concerns. On a broad level, I analyze Canadian economic and political considerations, searching for causal relationships between political and economic actors on the one hand, and Canadian immigration law on the other. Specifically, the paper argues that there are contradictory impulses affecting state sovereignty. These impulses are are currently being played out in the field of Canadian immigration law through several proposed changes to Canada-s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). These changes reflect an ideological conception of sovereignty that is intrinsically connected with decision-making capacity centered on an individual. This conception of sovereign decision-making views Parliamentary debate and bureaucratic inefficiencies as both equally responsible for delaying essential decisions relating to the protection of state sovereignty, economic benefits and immigration control This paper discusses these concepts in relation to Canadian immigration policy under Canadian governments over the past twenty five years.

Keywords: Globalization, immigration law, security, anti-terrorism.

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Authors: Jihad S. Daba, J. P. Dubois

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Understanding the statistics of non-isotropic scattering multipath channels that fade randomly with respect to time, frequency, and space in a mobile environment is very crucial for the accurate detection of received signals in wireless and cellular communication systems. In this paper, we derive stochastic models for the probability density function (PDF) of the shift in the carrier frequency caused by the Doppler Effect on the received illuminating signal in the presence of a dominant line of sight. Our derivation is based on a generalized Clarke’s and a two-wave partially developed scattering models, where the statistical distribution of the frequency shift is shown to be consistent with the power spectral density of the Doppler shifted signal.

Keywords: Doppler shift, filtered Poisson process, generalized Clark’s model, non-isotropic scattering, partially developed scattering, Rician distribution.

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Authors: Orkide Donma, Mustafa M. Donma, Muhammet Demirkol, Murat Aydin, Tuba Gokkus, Burcin Nalbantoglu, Aysin Nalbantoglu, Birol Topcu

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Obesity in childhood establishes a ground for adulthood obesity. Especially morbid obesity is an important problem for the children because of the associated diseases such as diabetes mellitus, cancer and cardiovascular diseases. In this study, body mass index (BMI), body fat ratios, anthropometric measurements and ratios were evaluated together with different laboratory indices upon evaluation of obesity in morbidly obese (MO) children. Children with nutritional problems participated in the study. Written informed consent was obtained from the parents. Study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee. Sixty-two MO girls aged 129.5±35.8 months and 75 MO boys aged 120.1±26.6 months were included into the scope of the study. WHO-BMI percentiles for age-and-sex were used to assess the children with those higher than 99^th as morbid obesity. Anthropometric measurements of the children were recorded after their physical examination. Bio-electrical impedance analysis was performed to measure fat distribution. Anthropometric ratios, body fat ratios, Index-I and Index-II as well as insulin sensitivity indices (ISIs) were calculated. Girls as well as boys were binary grouped according to homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index of <2.5 and >2.5, fasting glucose to insulin ratio (FGIR) of <6 and >6 and quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI) of <0.33 and >0.33 as the frequently used cut-off points. They were evaluated based upon their BMIs, arms, legs, trunk, whole body fat percentages, body fat ratios such as fat mass index (FMI), trunk-to-appendicular fat ratio (TAFR), whole body fat ratio (WBFR), anthropometric measures and ratios [waist-to-hip, head-to-neck, thigh-to-arm, thigh-to-ankle, height/2-to-waist, height/2-to-hip circumference (C)]. SPSS/PASW 18 program was used for statistical analyses. p≤0.05 was accepted as statistically significance level. All of the fat percentages showed differences between below and above the specified cut-off points in girls when evaluated with HOMA-IR and QUICKI. Differences were observed only in arms fat percent for HOMA-IR and legs fat percent for QUICKI in boys (p≤ 0.05). FGIR was unable to detect any differences for the fat percentages of boys. Head-to-neck C was the only anthropometric ratio recommended to be used for all ISIs (p≤0.001 for both girls and boys in HOMA-IR, p≤0.001 for girls and p≤0.05 for boys in FGIR and QUICKI). Indices which are recommended for use in both genders were Index-I, Index-II, HOMA/BMI and log HOMA (p≤0.001). FMI was also a valuable index when evaluated with HOMA-IR and QUICKI (p≤0.001). The important point was the detection of the severe significance for HOMA/BMI and log HOMA while they were evaluated also with the other indices, FGIR and QUICKI (p≤0.001). These parameters along with Index-I were unique at this level of significance for all children. In conclusion, well-accepted ratios or indices may not be valid for the evaluation of both genders. This study has emphasized the limiting properties for boys. This is particularly important for the selection process of some ratios and/or indices during the clinical studies. Gender difference should be taken into consideration for the evaluation of the ratios or indices, which will be recommended to be used particularly within the scope of obesity studies.

Keywords: Anthropometry, childhood obesity, gender, insulin sensitivity index.

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Authors: O. S. Eludoyin, A. A. Aiyeloja, O. C. Ndife

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The study investigated the spatial analysis of trees composition, diversity and richness in the built up area of University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Four quadrats of 25m x 25m size were laid randomly in each of the three parks and inventories of trees ≥10cm girth at breast height were taken and used to calculate the species composition, diversity and richness. Results showed that species composition and diversity in Abuja Park was the highest with 134 species and 0.866 respectively while the species richness was highest in Choba Park with a value of 2.496. The correlation between the size of park (spatial coverage) and species composition was 0.99 while the correlation between the size of the park and species diversity was 0.78. There was direct relationship between species composition and diversity while the relationship between species composition and species richness was inversely proportional. Rational use of these resources is encouraged.

Keywords: Built up area, composition, diversity, richness, spatial analysis, urban tree.

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Authors: Kadry M. Sadek, Tarek K. Abouzed, Mousa A. Ayoub

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The presence of endocrine-disrupting compounds, such as bisphenol A (BPA), in the environment can cause serious health problems. However, there are controversial opinions. This study investigated the reproductive, metabolic, oxidative and immunologic-disrupting effects of bisphenol A in male rabbits. Rabbits were divided into five groups. The first four rabbit groups were administered oral BPA (1, 10, 50, or 100 mg/kg/day) for ten weeks. The fifth group was administered corn oil as the vehicle. BPA significantly decreased serum testosterone, estradiol and the free androgen index (FAI) and significantly increased sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) compared with the placebo group. The higher doses of BPA showed a significant decrease in follicular stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH). A significant increase in blood glucose levels was identified in the BPA groups. The non-significant difference in insulin levels is a novel finding. The cumulative testicular toxicity of BPA was clearly demonstrated by the dose-dependent decrease in absolute testes weight, primary measures of semen quality and a significant increase in testicular malonaldehyde (MDA). Moreover, BPA significantly decreased total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and significantly increased immunoglobulin G (IgG) at the highest concentration. Our results suggest that BPA, especially at higher doses, is associated with many adverse effects on metabolism, oxidative stress, immunity, sperm quality and markers of androgenic action.

Keywords: Bisphenol A, oxidative stress, rabbits, semen quality, steroidogenesis.

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Authors: Oliver Mărunţălu, Gheorghe Lăzăroiu, Elena Elisabeta Manea, Dana Andreya Bondrea, Lăcrămioara Diana Robescu

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This paper presents the results obtained by numerical simulation using the software ANSYS CFX-CFD for the air pollutants dispersion in the atmosphere coming from the evacuation of combustion gases resulting from the fuel combustion in an electric thermal power plant. The model uses the Navier-Stokes equation to simulate the dispersion of pollutants in the atmosphere. It is considered as important factors in elaboration of simulation the atmospheric conditions (pressure, temperature, wind speed, wind direction), the exhaust velocity of the combustion gases, chimney height and the obstacles (buildings). Using the air quality monitoring stations it is measured the concentrations of main pollutants (SO2, NOx and PM). The pollutants were monitored over a period of 3 months, after that the average concentration are calculated, which is used by the software. The concentrations are: 8.915 μg/m3 (NOx), 9.587 μg/m3 (SO2) and 42 μg/m3 (PM). A comparison of test data with simulation results demonstrated that CFX was able to describe the dispersion of the pollutant as well the concentration of this pollutants in the atmosphere.

Keywords: Air pollutants, computational fluid dynamics, dispersion, simulation.

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Authors: Alireza Barari, Maryam Firoozi, Maryam Ebrahimzadeh, Romina Roohani Ardeshiri, Maryam Kamarloeei

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Background: The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of six-week aerobic training and taxol consumption on interleukin-8 and Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) in mice with cervical cancer. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 40 female C57 mice with cervical cancer, eight weeks old, were randomly divided into 4 groups including: control, taxol supplement, training, and training-taxol supplement. The implantation of cancerous tumors was performed under the skin at the upper of the pelvis. The program training was included: endurance training for six weeks, 3 sessions per week and 50 minutes per session, at the speed of 14-18 m/s. Taxol supplement at a dose of 60 mg/kg per day was injected intraperitoneally. Data analysis was performed using t-test and one-way ANOVA and if statistically significant, Bonferroni post hoc was used at the significance level p < .05. Results: The results showed that there was a significant difference between the levels of interleukin 8 (P < 0.05, F = 12.25) and the PAI-1 (P < 0.05, P = 0.10737 between the 4 groups. The results of this study showed a significant difference between the control group and the training - complementary group. Six weeks of aerobic training and taxol consumption have a significant effect on the level of PAI-1 and interleukin-8 mice with cervical cancer. Conclusion: Considering the effect of training on these variables, this type of exercise can be used as a complementary therapeutic approach with other therapies for cervical cancer.

Keywords: Cervical cancer, taxol, endurance training, interleukin 8, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1.

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Authors: Masoud Afrand, Saeid Farahat, Mehdi Alamkar

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In this research, effect of combustion reaction mechanism on direct initiation of detonation has been studied numerically. For this purpose, reaction mechanism has been simulated by using a three-step chemical kinetics model. The reaction scheme consists sequentially of a chain-initiation and chainbranching step, followed by a temperature -independent chaintermination. In a previous research, the effect of chain-branching on the direct initiation of detonation is studied. In this research effect of chain-initiation on direct initiation of detonation is investigated. For the investigation, first a characteristic time (τ) for each step of mechanism, which includes effect of different kinetics parameters, is defined. Then the effect of characteristic time of chain-initiation (τI) on critical initiation energy is studied. It is seen that increasing τI, causes critical initiation energy to be increased. Drawing detonation's shock pressure diagrams for different cases, shows that in small value of τI , kinetics has more important effect on the behavior of the wave.

Keywords: Detonation initiation, Initiation energy, Reaction rate, Characteristic time.

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Authors: N. Fhafhiem, P. Krachodnok, R. Wongsan

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This paper proposes the development and design of double layer metamaterials based on electromagnetic band gap (EBG) rods as a superstrate of a resonator antenna to enhance required antenna characteristics for the mobile base station. The metallic rod type metamaterial can partially reflect wave of a primary radiator. The antenna was designed and analyzed by a simulation result from CST Microwave Studio and designed technique could be confirmed by a measurement results from prototype antenna that agree with simulation results. The results indicate that the antenna can also generate a dual polarization by using a 45˚ oriented curved strip dipole located at the center of the reflector plane with double layer superstrate. It can be used to simplify the feed system of an antenna. The proposed antenna has a bandwidth covering the frequency range of 1920 – 2200 MHz, the gain of the antenna increases up to 14.06 dBi. In addition, an interesting sectoral 60˚ pattern is presented in horizontal plane.

Keywords: Metamaterial, electromagnetic band gap, dual polarization, resonator antenna.

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Authors: A. L. Qureshi, A. A. Mahessar, A. Baloch

Abstract:

Flood wave propagation in river channel flow can be enunciated by nonlinear equations of motion for unsteady flow. It is difficult to find analytical solution of these non-linear equations. Hence, in this paper verification of the finite element model has been carried out against available numerical predictions and field data. The results of the model indicate a good matching with both Preissmann scheme and HEC-RAS model for a river reach of 29km at both sites (15km from upstream and at downstream end) for discharge hydrographs. It also has an agreeable comparison with the Preissemann scheme for the flow depth (stage) hydrographs. The proposed model has also been applying to forecast daily discharges at 400km downstream in the Indus River from Sukkur barrage of Sindh, Pakistan, which demonstrates accurate model predictions with observed the daily discharges. Hence, this model may be utilized for flood warnings in advance.

Keywords: Finite Element Method, Flood Forecasting, HEC-RAS, Indus river.

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Authors: Radhika Ambatipudi, Hari Babu Kotte, Dr. Kent Bertilsson

Abstract:

In this paper, multilayered coreless printed circuit board (PCB) step-down power transformers for DC-DC converter applications have been designed, manufactured and evaluated. A set of two different circular spiral step-down transformers were fabricated in the four layered PCB. These transformers have been modelled with the assistance of high frequency equivalent circuit and characterized with both sinusoidal and square wave excitation. This paper provides the comparative results of these two different transformers in terms of their resistances, self, leakage, mutual inductances, coupling coefficient and also their energy efficiencies. The operating regions for optimal performance of these transformers for power transfer applications are determined. These transformers were tested for the output power levels of about 30 Watts within the input voltage range of 12-50 Vrms. The energy efficiency for these step down transformers is observed to be in the range of 90%-97% in MHz frequency region.

Keywords: Coreless Step down Transformer, DC-DC Converterapplications, High frequency transformer, MHz operating frequency, Multilayered PCB transformers, Power Transfer Applications.

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Authors: Jamal A. Gledan, Akrm H. Algnin

Abstract:

The Global Positioning System (GPS), satellite-based technology, has been utilized extensively in the last few years in a wide range of Geometrics and Geographic Information Systems’ (GIS) applications. One of the main challenges dealing with GPS-based heights consists of converting them into Mean Sea Level (MSL) heights, which is used in surveys and mapping.

In this research’s work, differences in heights of 50 points, in northern part of Libya has been carried out by using both ordinary leveling (in which Geoid is the reference datum) and GPS techniques (in which Ellipsoid is the reference datum). In addition, this study utilized the EGM2008 model to obtain the undulation values between the ellipsoidal and orthometric heights. From these values of ellipsoidal heights can be obtained from GPS observations to compute the orthomteric heights. This research presents a suitable alternative, from an economical point of view, to substitute the expensive traditional leveling technique, particularly, for topographic mapping.

Keywords: Geoid undulation, GPS, ordinary and geodetic leveling, orthometric height.

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Authors: A. Alirezaei, S. Vahdani

Abstract:

This study estimates the seismic demands of tall buildings with central symmetric setbacks by using nonlinear time history analysis. Three setback structures, all 60-story high with setback in three levels, are used for evaluation. The effects of irregularities occurred by setback are evaluated by determination of global-drift, story-displacement and story drift. Story-displacement is modified by roof displacement and first story displacement and story drift is modified by global drift. All results are calculated at the center of mass and in x and y direction. Also the absolute values of these quantities are determined. The results show that increasing of vertical irregularities increases the global drift of the structure and enlarges the deformations in the height of the structure. It is also observed that the effects of geometry irregularity in the seismic deformations of setback structures are higher than those of mass irregularity.

Keywords: Deformation demand, drift, setback, tall building.

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