Search results for: techno readiness Index

Authors: Saleeza. S.N.R., Norma-Rashid Y, M. Sofian–Azirun

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Larval survey was carried out in 6 localities in the urban areas (Putrajaya) and suburban areas (Kuala Selangor) from January until December 2010. A total of 520 representative households in 6 localities were selected. Breeding habitats were sampled outdoors in the surroundings of housing areas. The study indicated that the most predominant species found in both areas was Aedes albopictus with the gardening utensil as a preferred breeding microhabitat for Putrajaya, in contrast to the artificial containers for Kuala Selangor. From a total of 1083 mosquito larvae species, 984 were Aedes albopictus larvae, 67 positive larvae of Aedes aegypti and 32 of Culex larvae. Aedes Index and Container Index were elevated in Putrajaya with 13% and 11% respectively which is higher than the standard given by the Ministry of Health, Malaysia. This results implicating dengue-sensitive skewed to the urban areas. Breteau Index result also above the standard in both study locations.

Keywords: Aedes albopictus, Aedes aegypti, Aedes Index (AI), Container Index (CI), Breteau Index (BI)

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Authors: Nikolina Ribarić

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This paper compares the readiness of chemistry teachers to use information and communication technologies in chemistry in 2018 and 2021. A survey conducted in 2018 on a sample of teachers showed that most teachers occasionally use visualization and digitization tools in chemistry teaching (65%), but feel that they are not educated enough to use them (56%). Also, most teachers do not have adequate equipment in their schools and are not able to use ICT in teaching or digital tools for visualization and digitization of content (44%). None of the teachers find the use of digitization and visualization tools useless. Furthermore, a survey conducted in 2021 shows that most teachers occasionally use visualization and digitization tools in chemistry teaching (83%). Also, the research shows that some teachers still do not have adequate equipment in their schools and are not able to use ICT in chemistry teaching or digital tools for visualization and digitization of content (14%). Advances in the use of ICT in chemistry teaching are linked to pandemic conditions and the obligation to conduct online teaching. The share of 14% of teachers who still do not have adequate equipment to use digital tools in teaching is worrying.

Keywords: Chemistry, digital content, e-learning, ICT, visualization.

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Authors: Hoda Zolfagharnejad, Behnam Kamkar, Omid Abdi

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Crop coefficient (Kc) is an important factor contributing to estimation of evapotranspiration, and is also used to determine the irrigation schedule. This study investigated and determined the monthly Kc of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) using five vegetation indices (VIs): Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Difference Vegetation Index (DVI), Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI), Infrared Percentage Vegetation Index (IPVI), and Ratio Vegetation Index (RVI) of four basins in Golestan province, Iran. 14 Landsat-8 images according to crop growth stage were used to estimate monthly Kc of wheat. VIs were calculated based on infrared and near infrared bands of Landsat 8 images using Geographical Information System (GIS) software. The best VIs were chosen after establishing a regression relationship among these VIs with FAO Kc and Kc that was modified for the study area by the previous research based on R² and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). The result showed that local modified SAVI with R²= 0.767 and RMSE= 0.174 was the best index to produce monthly wheat Kc maps.

Keywords: Crop coefficient, remote sensing, vegetation indices, wheat.

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Authors: Cora Fernandez Dacosta, John A. Posada, Andrea Ramirez

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The biodegradable family of polymers polyhydroxyalkanoates is an interesting substitute for convectional fossil-based plastics. However, the manufacturing and environmental impacts associated with their production via intracellular bacterial fermentation are strongly dependent on the raw material used and on energy consumption during the extraction process, limiting their potential for commercialization. Industrial wastewater is studied in this paper as a promising alternative feedstock for waste valorization. Based on results from laboratory and pilot-scale experiments, a conceptual process design, techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment are developed for the large-scale production of the most common type of polyhydroxyalkanoate, polyhydroxbutyrate. Intracellular polyhydroxybutyrate is obtained via fermentation of microbial community present in industrial wastewater and the downstream processing is based on chemical digestion with surfactant and hypochlorite. The economic potential and environmental performance results help identifying bottlenecks and best opportunities to scale-up the process prior to industrial implementation. The outcome of this research indicates that the fermentation of wastewater towards PHB presents advantages compared to traditional PHAs production from sugars because the null environmental burdens and financial costs of the raw material in the bioplastic production process. Nevertheless, process optimization is still required to compete with the petrochemicals counterparts.

Keywords: Circular economy, life cycle assessment, polyhydroxyalkanoates, waste valorization.

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Authors: A. Zeynolabedin, M. A. Olyaei, B. Ghiasi

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Drought is an inevitable part of the earth’s climate. It occurs regularly with no clear warning and without recognizing borders. In addition, its impact is cumulative and not immediately discernible. Iran is located in a semi-arid region where droughts occur periodically as natural hazard. Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Surface Water Supply Index (SWSI), and Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) are three well-known indices which describe drought severity; each has its own advantages and disadvantages and can be used for specific types of drought. These indices take into account some factors such as precipitation, reservoir storage and discharge, temperature, and potential evapotranspiration in determining drought severity. In this paper, first all three indices are calculated in Aharchay river watershed located in northwestern part of Iran in East Azarbaijan province. Next, based on two other important parameters which are groundwater level and solar radiation, two new indices are defined. Finally, considering all five aforementioned indices, a combined drought index (CDI) is presented and calculated for the region. This combined index is based on all the meteorological, hydrological, and agricultural features of the region. The results show that the most severe drought condition in Aharchay watershed happened in Jun, 2004. The result of this study can be used for monitoring drought and prepare for the drought mitigation planning.

Keywords: Drought, index variation, regional assessment, monitoring.

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Authors: Edward C. W. Chan, Benny C. F. Cheung

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In the knowledge economy, the financial indicator is not the unique instrument to gauge the performance of a company. The role of intellectual capital contributing to the company performance is increasing. To measure the company performance due to intellectual capital, the value-added intellectual capital (VAIC) model is adopted to measure the intellectual capital utilization efficiency of the subject companies. The purpose of this study is to review the readiness of measuring intellectual capital for the Hong Kong listed companies in the property development and property investment industry by using VAIC model. This study covers the financial reports from the representative Hong Kong listed property development companies and property investment companies in the period 2014-2019. The findings from this study indicated the industry is ready for IC measurement employing VAIC framework but not yet ready for using the extended VAIC model.

Keywords: Intellectual capital, intellectual capital measurement, property development, property investment, Skandia Navigator, VAIC.

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Authors: Ti-An Tsai, Chun-Chih Wang, Hung-Wen Wang, I-Ling Chang, Lien-Wen Chen

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In this study, we demonstrate a high-resolution refractive index sensor based on a Magnetic Photonic Crystal (MPC) composed of a triangular lattice array of air holes embedded in Si matrix. A microcavity is created by changing the radius of an air hole in the middle of the photonic crystal. The cavity filled with gyrotropic materials can serve as a refractive index sensor. The shift of the resonant frequency of the sensor is obtained numerically using finite difference time domain method under different ambient conditions having refractive index from n = 1.0 to n = 1.1. The numerical results show that a tiny change in refractive index of  Δn = 0.0001 is distinguishable. In addition, the spectral response of the MPC sensor is studied while an external magnetic field is present. The results show that the MPC sensor exhibits a dramatic improvement in resolution.

Keywords: Magnetic photonic crystal, refractive index sensor, sensitivity, high-resolution.

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Authors: Hanan A. M. Abd Alla, Lilac A. E. Al-Safadi

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In this paper, a novel multi join algorithm to join multiple relations will be introduced. The novel algorithm is based on a hashed-based join algorithm of two relations to produce a double index. This is done by scanning the two relations once. But instead of moving the records into buckets, a double index will be built. This will eliminate the collision that can happen from a complete hash algorithm. The double index will be divided into join buckets of similar categories from the two relations. The algorithm then joins buckets with similar keys to produce joined buckets. This will lead at the end to a complete join index of the two relations. without actually joining the actual relations. The time complexity required to build the join index of two categories is Om log m where m is the size of each category. Totaling time complexity to O n log m for all buckets. The join index will be used to materialize the joined relation if required. Otherwise, it will be used along with other join indices of other relations to build a lattice to be used in multi-join operations with minimal I/O requirements. The lattice of the join indices can be fitted into the main memory to reduce time complexity of the multi join algorithm.

Keywords: Multi join, Relation, Lattice, Join indices.

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Authors: Siti Khairunniza-Bejo, Yusnida Yusoff, Nik Salwani Nik Yusoff, Idris Abu Seman, Mohamad Izzuddin Anuar

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Most of the oil palm plantations have been threatened by Basal Stem Rot (BSR) disease which causes serious economic impact. This study was conducted to identify the healthy and BSRinfected oil palm tree using thirteen color indices. Multispectral and thermal camera was used to capture 216 images of the leaves taken from frond number 1, 9 and 17. Indices of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), red (R), green (G), blue (B), near infrared (NIR), green – blue (GB), green/blue (G/B), green – red (GR), green/red (G/R), hue (H), saturation (S), intensity (I) and thermal index (T) were used. From this study, it can be concluded that G index taken from frond number 9 is the best index to differentiate between the healthy and BSR-infected oil palm trees. It not only gave high value of correlation coefficient (R=-0.962), but also high value of separation between healthy and BSR-infected oil palm tree. Furthermore, power and S model developed using G index gave the highest R2 value which is 0.985.

Keywords: Oil palm, image processing, disease, leaves.

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Authors: Jaflah H. Al-Ammary

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The increasing recognition of the need for education to be closely aligned with team playing, project based learning and problem solving approaches has increase the interest in collaborative learning among university and college instructors. Using online collaboration learning in learning can enhance the outcome and achievement of students as well as improve their communication, critical thinking and personnel skills. The current research aims at examining the effect of OCL on the student's achievement at Kingdom of Bahrain. Numbers of objectives were set to achieve the aim of the research include: investigating the current situation regarding the collaborative learning and OCL at the Kingdom of Bahrain by identifying the advantages and effectiveness of OCL as a learning tool over traditional learning, examining the factors that affect OCL as well as examining the impact of OCL on the student's achievement. To achieve these objectives, quantitative method was adopted. Two hundred and thirty one questionnaires were distributed to students in different local and private universities at Kingdom of Bahrain. The findings of the research show that most of the students prefer to use FTFCL in learning and that OCL is already adopted in some universities especially in University of Bahrain. Moreover, the most factors affecting the adopted OCL are perceived readiness, and guidance and support.

Keywords: Collaborative learning, perceived readiness, student achievement.

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Authors: Satjaporn Tungsong, Gun Srijuntongsiri

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This research seeks to investigate the frequency and profitability of index arbitrage opportunities involving the SET50 futures, SET50 component stocks, and the ThaiDEX SET50 ETF (ticker symbol: TDEX). In particular, the frequency and profit of arbitrage are measured in the following three arbitrage tests: (1) SET50 futures vs. ThaiDEX SET50 ETF, (2) SET50 futures vs. SET50 component stocks, and (3) ThaiDEX SET50 ETF vs. SET50 component stocks are investigated. For tests (2) and (3), the problems involve conic optimization and quadratic programming as subproblems. This research is first to apply conic optimization and quadratic programming techniques in the context of index arbitrage and is first to investigate such index arbitrage in the Thai equity and derivatives markets. Thus, the contribution of this study is twofold. First, its results would help understand the contribution of the derivatives securities to the efficiency of the Thai markets. Second, the methodology employed in this study can be applied to other geographical markets, with minor adjustments.

Keywords: Conic optimization, Equity index arbitrage, Executionlags, Quadratic programming, SET50 index futures, ThaiDEX SET50ETF, Transaction costs

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Authors: Manish Pal, Rumi Sutradhar

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Pavement surface unevenness plays a pivotal role on roughness index of road which affects on riding comfort ability. Comfort ability refers to the degree of protection offered to vehicle occupants from uneven elements in the road surface. So, it is preferable to have a lower roughness index value for a better riding quality of road users. Roughness is generally defined as an expression of irregularities in the pavement surface which can be measured using different equipments like MERLIN, Bump integrator, Profilometer etc. Among them Bump Integrator is quite simple and less time consuming in case of long road sections. A case study is conducted on low volume roads in West District in Tripura to determine roughness index (RI) using Bump Integrator at the standard speed of 32 km/h. But it becomes too tough to maintain the requisite standard speed throughout the road section. The speed of Bump Integrator (BI) has to lower or higher in some distinctive situations. So, it becomes necessary to convert these roughness index values of other speeds to the standard speed of 32 km/h. This paper highlights on that roughness index conversional model. Using SPSS (Statistical Package of Social Sciences) software a generalized equation is derived among the RI value at standard speed of 32 km/h and RI value at other speed conditions.

Keywords: Bump Integrator, Pavement Distresses, Roughness Index, SPSS.

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Authors: Nuzlinda Abdul Rahman, Syerrina Zakaria

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Deprivation indices are widely used in public health study. These indices are also referred as the index of inequalities or disadvantage. Even though, there are many indices that have been built before, it is believed to be less appropriate to use the existing indices to be applied in other countries or areas which had different socio-economic conditions and different geographical characteristics. The objective of this study is to construct the index based on the geographical and socio-economic factors in Peninsular Malaysia which is defined as the weighted household-based deprivation index. This study has employed the variables based on household items, household facilities, school attendance and education level obtained from Malaysia 2000 census report. The factor analysis is used to extract the latent variables from indicators, or reducing the observable variable into smaller amount of components or factor. Based on the factor analysis, two extracted factors were selected, known as Basic Household Amenities and Middle-Class Household Item factor. It is observed that the district with a lower index values are located in the less developed states like Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah. Meanwhile, the areas with high index values are located in developed states such as Pulau Pinang, W.P. Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.

Keywords: Factor Analysis, Basic Household Amenities, Middle-Class Household Item, Socio-economic Index

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Authors: G. Cannistraro, L. Ponterio

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In this paper is reported an analysis about the outdoor air pollution of the urban centre of the city of Messina. The variations of the most critical pollutants concentrations (PM10, O3, CO, C6H6) and their trends respect of climatic parameters and vehicular traffic have been studied. Linear regressions have been effectuated for representing the relations among the pollutants; the differences between pollutants concentrations on weekend/weekday were also analyzed. In order to evaluate air pollution and its effects on human health, a method for calculating a pollution index was implemented and applied in the urban centre of the city. This index is based on the weighted mean of the most detrimental air pollutants concentrations respect of their limit values for protection of human health. The analyzed data of the polluting substances were collected by the Assessorship of the Environment of the Regional Province of Messina in the year 2004. A statistical analysis of the air quality index trends is also reported.

Keywords: Environmental pollution, Pollutants levels, Linearregression, Air Quality Index, Statistical analysis.

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Authors: Le Xuan Cau

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Flash flood is occurred in short time rainfall interval: from 1 hour to 12 hours in small and medium basins. Flash floods typically have two characteristics: large water flow and big flow velocity. Flash flood is occurred at hill valley site (strip of lowland of terrain) in a catchment with large enough distribution area, steep basin slope, and heavy rainfall. The risk of flash floods is determined through Gridded Basin Flash Flood Potential Index (GBFFPI). Flash Flood Potential Index (FFPI) is determined through terrain slope flash flood index, soil erosion flash flood index, land cover flash floods index, land use flash flood index, rainfall flash flood index. Determining GBFFPI, each cell in a map can be considered as outlet of a water accumulation basin. GBFFPI of the cell is determined as basin average value of FFPI of the corresponding water accumulation basin. Based on GIS, a tool is developed to compute GBFFPI using ArcObjects SDK for .NET. The maps of GBFFPI are built in two types: GBFFPI including rainfall flash flood index (real time flash flood warning) or GBFFPI excluding rainfall flash flood index. GBFFPI Tool can be used to determine a high flash flood potential site in a large region as quick as possible. The GBFFPI is improved from conventional FFPI. The advantage of GBFFPI is that GBFFPI is taking into account the basin response (interaction of cells) and determines more true flash flood site (strip of lowland of terrain) while conventional FFPI is taking into account single cell and does not consider the interaction between cells. The GBFFPI Map of QuangNam, QuangNgai, DaNang, Hue is built and exported to Google Earth. The obtained map proves scientific basis of GBFFPI.

Keywords: ArcObjects SDK for .NET, Basin average value of FFPI, Gridded basin flash flood potential index, GBFFPI map.

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Authors: Priyanka Sen, Kaibalya Prasad Panda, Soumyakanta Samantaray, Sreyasee Rout, Bishnupriya Biswal

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Deregulation in the power system industry and the invention of new technologies for producing electrical energy has led to innovations in power system planning. Distributed generation (DG) is one of the most attractive technologies that bring different kinds of advantages to a lot of entities, engaged in power systems. In this paper, a model for considering DGs in the power system planning problem is presented. Dynamic power system planning for reduction of maintenance and operational cost is presented in this paper. In addition to that, a modified particle swarm optimization (PSO) is used to find the optimal topology solution. Voltage Profile Improvement Index (VPII) and Line Loss Reduction Index (LLRI) are taken as benefit index of employing DG. The effectiveness of this method is demonstrated through examination of IEEE 30 bus test system.

Keywords: Distributed generation, line loss reduction index, particle swarm optimization, power system, voltage profile improvement index.

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Authors: Guangzhuang Yu, Chun-Chu Liu

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With the advent of the Internet era in recent years, social music education has gradually shifted from the original entity education mode to the mode of entity plus network teaching. No matter for school music education, professional music education or social music education, the teaching quality is the most important evaluation index. Regarding the research on teaching quality evaluation, scholars at home and abroad have contributed a lot of research results on the basis of multiple methods and evaluation subjects. However, to our best knowledge the complete evaluation model for the virtual teaching interaction mode of the emerging network music education Application (APP) has not been established. This research firstly found out the basic dimensions that accord with the teaching quality required by the three parties, constructing the quality evaluation index system; and then, on the basis of expounding the connotation of each index, it determined the weight of each index by using method of fuzzy analytic hierarchy process, providing ideas and methods for scientific, objective and comprehensive evaluation of the teaching quality of network education APP.

Keywords: Network music education APP, teaching quality evaluation, index, connotation.

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Authors: Altayeb Qasem, Tarek Zayed, Zhi Chen

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Statistics Canada stated that the wastewater treatment facilities in most provinces are aging and passes 63% of their useful life in 2007 the highest ratio among public infrastructure assets. Currently, there is no standard condition rating system for wastewater treatment plants that give a specific rating index that describe the physical integrity of different infrastructure elements in the treatment plant and its environmental performance. The main objective of this study is to develop a condition-rating index for wastewater treatment plants mainly activated sludge systems. The proposed WWTP CRI, is based on dividing the treatment plant into its three treatment phases; primary phase, secondary phase and the tertiary phase. The condition-rating index will reflect the infrastructures state for each phase, mainly tanks, pipes, blowers and pumps.

Keywords: Condition rating index, Wastewater treatment plants, AHP- MUAT.

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Authors: Muhammad Tufail, Jawad Hussain, Hammad Hussain, Imran Hafeez, Naveed Ahmad

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Road safety performance index is a composite index which combines various indicators of road safety into single number. Development of a road safety performance index using appropriate safety performance indicators is essential to enhance road safety. However, a road safety performance index in developing countries has not been given as much priority as needed. The primary objective of this research is to develop a general Road Safety Performance Index (RSPI) for developing countries based on the facility as well as behavior of road user. The secondary objectives include finding the critical inputs in the RSPI and finding the better method of making the index. In this study, the RSPI is developed by selecting four main safety performance indicators i.e., protective system (seat belt, helmet etc.), road (road width, signalized intersections, number of lanes, speed limit), number of pedestrians, and number of vehicles. Data on these four safety performance indicators were collected using observation survey on a 20 km road section of the National Highway N-125 road Taxila, Pakistan. For the development of this composite index, two methods are used: a) Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and b) Equal Weighting (EW) method. PCA is used for extraction, weighting, and linear aggregation of indicators to obtain a single value. An individual index score was calculated for each road section by multiplication of weights and standardized values of each safety performance indicator. However, Simple Average technique was used for weighting and linear aggregation of indicators to develop a RSPI. The road sections are ranked according to RSPI scores using both methods. The two weighting methods are compared, and the PCA method is found to be much more reliable than the Simple Average Technique.

Keywords: Aggregation, index score, indicators, principal component analysis, weighting.

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Authors: A. Bobirca, A. Draghici

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The objective of this paper is to construct a creativity composite index designed to capture the growing role of creativity in driving economic and social development for the 27 European Union countries. The paper proposes a new approach for the measurement of EU-27 creative potential and for determining its capacity to attract and develop creative human capital. We apply a modified version of the 3T model developed by Richard Florida and Irene Tinagli for constructing a Euro-Creativity Index. The resulting indexes establish a quantitative base for policy makers, supporting their efforts to determine the contribution of creativity to economic development.

Keywords: European Creativity Index, talent, technology, tolerance

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Authors: T. Basitah

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This study was to explore and utilize the fresh rind of mangosteen Index Colour 5 as an upcoming raw material for the production of natural dyes. Rind from the fresh mangosteen Index Colour 5 was utilized to extract the dyes. The established extracts were experimented on silk fabrics via three types of mordanting and dyeing procedures; pre-mordanting, simultaneous mordanting and post-mordanting. As a result, the applications of the freeze-drying methodology and mechanizable equipment have helped to produce excellent range of natural colours. Silk fabric treated simultaneously with mordanting and dyeing with extract dye Index Colour 5 produced a brilliant shade of the red colour and the colour from this index is also discovered sensitive to light and washing during the fastness tests. The preliminary evaluation and instrumentation analysis allowed us to examine whether the application of different mordanting and dyeing procedures with the same extract samples and concentrations affected the colours and shades of the fabric samples.

Keywords: Natural dye, Freeze-drying, Garcinia mangostana Linn, Mordanting.

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Authors: Mustafa M. Donma, Orkide Donma

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Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a disease associated with obesity. It is a complicated clinical problem possibly affecting body composition as well as macrominerals. These parameters gain further attention particularly in pediatric population. The aim of this study is to investigate the amount of discrete body composition fractions in groups that differ in the severity of obesity. Also, the possible associations with calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), magnesium (Mg) will be examined. The study population was divided into four groups. 28, 29, 34 and 34 children were involved in Group 1 (healthy), Group 2 (obese), Group 3 (morbid obese) and Group 4 (MetS), respectively. Institutional Ethical Committee approved the study protocol. Informed consent forms were obtained from the parents of the participants. The classification of obese groups was performed based upon the recommendations of World Health Organization. MetS components were defined. Serum Ca, P, Mg concentrations were measured. Within the scope of body composition, fat mass, fat-free mass, protein mass, mineral mass were determined by body composition monitor using bioelectrical impedance analysis technology. Weight, height, waist circumference, hip circumference, head circumference and neck circumference values were recorded. Body mass index, diagnostic obesity notation model assessment index, fat mass index and fat-free mass index values were calculated. Data were statistically evaluated and interpreted. There was no statistically significant difference among the groups in terms of Ca and P concentrations. Magnesium concentrations differed between Group 1 and Group 4. Strong negative correlations were detected between P as well as Mg and fat mass index as well as diagnostic obesity notation model assessment index in Group 4, which comprised morbid obese children with MetS. This study emphasized unique associations of P and Mg minerals with diagnostic obesity notation model assessment index and fat mass index during the evaluation of morbid obese children with MetS. It was also concluded that diagnostic obesity notation model assessment index and fat mass index were more proper indices in comparison with body mass index and fat-free mass index for the purpose of defining body composition in children.

Keywords: Children, fat mass, fat-free mass, macrominerals, obesity.

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Authors: Susana G. Azevedo, Helena Carvalho, V. Cruz –Machado

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The supply chains (SCs) have to appeal to new management paradigms to improve their ability to respond rapidly and cost effectively to unpredictable changes in markets and increasing levels of environmental turbulence, both in terms of volume and variety. In this highly demanded context, the Agile paradigm provides the capabilities to SC quickly adapt to changes in the market requirements. The purpose of this paper is to suggest an Agile Index to assess the agility of the automotive companies and corresponding SCs. The proposed integrated assessment model incorporates Agile practices weighted according to their importance to the automotive SC competitiveness and obtained from the Delphi technique.

Keywords: Agile, Supply chain management, Index, Delphitechnique.

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Authors: Uzu-Kuei Hsu, Chang-Hsien Tai, Kai-Wun Jin

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When sinters are filled into the cooler from the sintering machine, and the non-uniform distribution of the sinters leads to uneven cooling. This causes the temperature difference of the sinters leaving the cooler to be so large that it results in the conveyors being deformed by the heat. The present work applies CFD method to investigate the thermo flowfield phenomena in a sinter cooler by the Porous Media Model. Using the obtained experimental data to simulate porosity (Ε), permeability (κ), inertial coefficient (F), specific heat (Cp) and effective thermal conductivity (keff) of the sinter packed beds. The physical model is a similar geometry whose Darcy numbers (Da) are similar to the sinter cooler. Using the Cooling Index (CI) and Uniformity Index (UI) to analyze the thermo flowfield in the sinter packed bed obtains the cooling performance of the sinter cooler.

Keywords: Porous media, sinter, cooling index, uniformity index, CFD.

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Authors: Orkide Donma, Mustafa M. Donma

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Basal metabolic rate is questioned as a risk factor for weight gain. The relations between basal metabolic rate and body composition have not been cleared yet. The impact of fat mass on basal metabolic rate is also uncertain. Within this context, indices based upon total body mass as well as total body fat mass are available. In this study, the aim is to investigate the potential clinical utility of these indices in the adult population. 287 individuals, aged from 18 to 79 years, were included into the scope of the study. Based upon body mass index values, 10 underweight, 88 normal, 88 overweight, 81 obese, and 20 morbid obese individuals participated. Anthropometric measurements including height (m), and weight (kg) were performed. Body mass index, diagnostic obesity notation model assessment index I, diagnostic obesity notation model assessment index II, basal metabolic rate-to-weight ratio were calculated. Total body fat mass (kg), fat percent (%), basal metabolic rate, metabolic age, visceral adiposity, fat mass of upper as well as lower extremities and trunk, obesity degree were measured by TANITA body composition monitor using bioelectrical impedance analysis technology. Statistical evaluations were performed by statistical package (SPSS) for Windows Version 16.0. Scatterplots of individual measurements for the parameters concerning correlations were drawn. Linear regression lines were displayed. The statistical significance degree was accepted as p < 0.05. The strong correlations between body mass index and diagnostic obesity notation model assessment index I as well as diagnostic obesity notation model assessment index II were obtained (p < 0.001). A much stronger correlation was detected between basal metabolic rate and diagnostic obesity notation model assessment index I in comparison with that calculated for basal metabolic rate and body mass index (p < 0.001). Upon consideration of the associations between basal metabolic rate-to-weight ratio and these three indices, the best association was observed between basal metabolic rate-to-weight and diagnostic obesity notation model assessment index II. In a similar manner, this index was highly correlated with fat percent (p < 0.001). Being independent of the indices, a strong correlation was found between fat percent and basal metabolic rate-to-weight ratio (p < 0.001). Visceral adiposity was much strongly correlated with metabolic age when compared to that with chronological age (p < 0.001). In conclusion, all three indices were associated with metabolic age, but not with chronological age. Diagnostic obesity notation model assessment index II values were highly correlated with body mass index values throughout all ranges starting with underweight going towards morbid obesity. This index is the best in terms of its association with basal metabolic rate-to-weight ratio, which can be interpreted as basal metabolic rate unit.

Keywords: Basal metabolic rate, body mass index, children, diagnostic obesity notation model assessment index, obesity.

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Authors: S. S. Rwanga, J. M. Ndambuki, Y. Woyessa

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Development of a groundwater management model is an important step in the exploitation and management of any groundwater aquifer as it assists in the long-term sustainable planning of the resource. The current study was conducted in Central Limpopo province of South Africa with the overall objective of determining how much water can be withdrawn from the aquifer without producing nonreversible impacts on the groundwater quantity, hence developing a model which can sustainably protect the aquifer. The development was done through the computation of Groundwater Sustainability Index (GSI). Values of GSI close to unity and above indicated overexploitation. In this study, an index of 0.8 was considered as overexploitation. The results indicated that there is potential for higher abstraction rates compared to the current abstraction rates. GSI approach can be used in the management of groundwater aquifer to sustainably develop the resource and also provides water managers and policy makers with fundamental information on where future water developments can be carried out.

Keywords: Development, groundwater, groundwater sustainability index, model.

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Authors: Jehad A. H. Hammad, Nur'Aini binti Abdul Rashid

Abstract:

With the rapid development in the field of life sciences and the flooding of genomic information, the need for faster and scalable searching methods has become urgent. One of the approaches that were investigated is indexing. The indexing methods have been categorized into three categories which are the lengthbased index algorithms, transformation-based algorithms and mixed techniques-based algorithms. In this research, we focused on the transformation based methods. We embedded the N-gram method into the transformation-based method to build an inverted index table. We then applied the parallel methods to speed up the index building time and to reduce the overall retrieval time when querying the genomic database. Our experiments show that the use of N-Gram transformation algorithm is an economical solution; it saves time and space too. The result shows that the size of the index is smaller than the size of the dataset when the size of N-Gram is 5 and 6. The parallel N-Gram transformation algorithm-s results indicate that the uses of parallel programming with large dataset are promising which can be improved further.

Keywords: Biological sequence, Database index, N-gram indexing, Parallel computing, Sequence retrieval.

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Authors: Saleh Abu Dabous, Khaled Hamad, Rami Al-Ruzouq

Abstract:

Bridge condition assessment and rating provide essential information needed for bridge management. This paper reviews bridge inspection and condition rating practices and introduces a defect-based urgency index. The index is estimated at the element-level based on the extent and severity of the different defects typical to the bridge element. The urgency index approach has the following advantages: (1) It facilitates judgment submission, i.e. instead of rating the bridge element with a specific linguistic overall expression (which can be subjective and used differently by different people), the approach is based on assessing the defects; (2) It captures multiple defects that can be present within a deteriorated element; and (3) It reflects how critical the element is through quantifying critical defects and their severity. The approach can be further developed and validated. It is expected to be useful for practical purposes as an early-warning system for critical bridge elements.

Keywords: Condition rating, deterioration, inspection, maintenance.

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Authors: Gholamreza Habibi

Abstract:

In order to study seed yield and seed yield components in bean under reduced irrigation condition and assessment drought tolerance of genotypes, 15 lines of White beans were evaluated in two separate RCB design with 3 replications under stress and non stress conditions. Analysis of variance showed that there were significant differences among varieties in terms of traits under study, indicating the existence of genetic variation among varieties. The results indicate that drought stress reduced seed yield, number of seed per plant, biological yield and number of pod in White been. In non stress condition, yield was highly correlated with the biological yield, whereas in stress condition it was highly correlated with harvest index. Results of stepwise regression showed that, selection can we done based on, biological yield, harvest index, number of seed per pod, seed length, 100 seed weight. Result of path analysis showed that the highest direct effect, being positive, was related to biological yield in non stress and to harvest index in stress conditions. Factor analysis were accomplished in stress and nonstress condition a, there were 4 factors that explained more than 76 percent of total variations. We used several selection indices such as Stress Susceptibility Index ( SSI ), Geometric Mean Productivity ( GMP ), Mean Productivity ( MP ), Stress Tolerance Index ( STI ) and Tolerance Index ( TOL ) to study drought tolerance of genotypes, we found that the best Stress Index for selection tolerance genotypes were STI, GMP and MP were the greatest correlations between these Indices and seed yield under stress and non stress conditions. In classification of genotypes base on phenotypic characteristics, using cluster analysis ( UPGMA ), all allels classified in 5 separate groups in stress and non stress conditions.

Keywords: Cluster analysis, factor analysis, path analysis, selection index, White bean

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Authors: S. Kumchoo

Abstract:

The result of suggestion for low energy diet (1,000-1,200 kcal) in obese women to the effect on body weight, waist circumference and body mass index (BMI) in this experiment. Quisi experimental research was used for this study and it is a One-group pretest-posttest designs measurement method. The aim of this study was body weight, waist circumference and body mass index (BMI) reduction by using low energy diet (1,000-1,200 kcal) in obese women, the result found that in 15 of obese women that contained their body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30, after they obtained low energy diet (1,000-1,200 kcal) within 2 weeks. The data were collected before and after of testing the results showed that the average of body weight decrease 3.4 kilogram, waist circumference value decrease 6.1 centimeter and the body mass index (BMI) decrease 1.3 kg.m² from their previous body weight, waist circumference and body mass index (BMI) before experiment started. After this study, the volunteers got healthy and they can choose or select some food for themselves. For this study, the research can be improved for data development for forward study in the future.

Keywords: Body weight, waist circumference, BMI, low energy diet.

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