Search results for: stress intensity factor (SIF)

Authors: Imen Hamed, Burcu Ak, Oya Işık, Leyla Uslu, Kubilay Kazım Vursavuş

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In this study, 3 species of Dunaliella (Dunaliella sp. Salt Lake isoalte (Tuz Gölü), Dunaliella salina CCAP19/18, and Dunaliella bardawil LB 2538) and their optical density, dry matter, chlorophyll a, total carotenoids, and β-carotene production were investigated in a batch system. The aim of this research was to compare carotenoids, and β-carotene production were investigated in a batch those 3 species. Therefore 2 stress factors were used: 2 different temperatures (20°C and 30°C) and 2 different salinities (30‰, and 60‰) were tested over a 17-day study. The highest growth and chlorophyll a was reported for Dunaliella sp. under 20°C/30‰ and 20°C/60‰ conditions respectively followed by D. bardawil and D. salina. Significant differences were noticed (p<0.05) for the other 3 species. The growth decreased as temperature and salinity increased since the lowest growth was noticed for the 30°C/60‰ group. The chlorophyll a content decreased also as temperature increased however when the NaCl concentration increased an augmentation of the content was noticed . In the 17^th day of experiment the highest carotenoids concentration was reported for D. bardawil 20°C/30‰ (65,639±0,400 μg.mL⁻¹) and the most important β carotene concentration was for D. salina 20°C/60‰ (8,98E-07±0,013 mol/L).

Keywords: Dunaliella sp., Dunaliella salina, Dunaliella bardawil, stress factors, pigments, growth.

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Authors: Sari F. Alkhatib, Chang Je Park, Gyuhong Roh

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Theiterative scheme which is used to treat buildup factors for stratified shields is being investigated here using the layer-splitting technique.A simple suggested formalism for the scheme based on the Kalos’ formula is introduced, based on which the implementation of the testing technique is carried out.

The second layer in a double-layer shield was split into two equivalent layers and the scheme (with the suggested formalism) was implemented on the new “three-layer” shieldconfiguration.The results of such manipulation on water-lead and water-iron shields combinations are presented here for 1MeV photons.

It was found that splitting the second layer introduces some deviation on the overall buildup factor value. This expected deviation appeared to be higher in the case of low Z layer followed by high Z. However, the overall performance of the iterative scheme showed a great consistency and strong coherence even with the introduced changes. The introduced layer-splitting testing technique shows the capability to be implemented in test the iterative scheme with a wide range of formalisms.

Keywords: Buildup Factor, Iterative Scheme, Stratified Shields

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Authors: Babak Darvish Rouhani, Mohd Naz’ri Mahrin, Fatemeh Nikpay, Pourya Nikfard, Maryam Khanian Najafabadi

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Enterprise Architecture (EA) is a strategy that is employed by enterprises in order to align their business and Information Technology (IT). EA is managed, developed, and maintained through Enterprise Architecture Implementation Methodology (EAIM). Effectiveness of EA implementation is the degree in which EA helps to achieve the collective goals of the organization. This paper analyzes the results of a survey that aims to explore the factors that affect the effectiveness of EAIM and specifically the relationship between factors and effectiveness of the output and functionality of EA project. The exploratory factor analysis highlights a specific set of five factors: alignment, adaptiveness, support, binding, and innovation. The regression analysis shows that there is a statistically significant and positive relationship between each of the five factors and the effectiveness of EAIM. Consistent with theory and practice, the most prominent factor for developing an effective EAIM is innovation. The findings contribute to the measuring the effectiveness of EA implementation project by providing an indication of the measurement implementation approaches which is used by the Enterprise Architects, and developing an effective EAIM.

Keywords: Enterprise Architecture, Enterprise Architecture Implementation Methodology, EA, Effectiveness, Factors, Implementation Methodology.

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Authors: Florian Wohlfeil, Orestis Terzidis, Louisa Hellmann

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Radical technological innovations enable companies to reach strong market positions and are thus desirable. On the other hand, the innovation process is related to significant costs and risks. Hence, the knowledge of the factors that influence success is crucial for technology driven companies. Taking a previously developed framework of Critical Success Factors for radical technological innovations as a reference model, we conducted a structured and focused literature review of eleven standard books within the field of technology and innovation management. With this approach we aim to evaluate, expand, and clarify the set of Critical Success Factors detailed in this framework. Overall, the set of factors and their allocation to the main categories of the framework could be confirmed. However, the factor organizational home is not emphasized and discussed in most of the reviewed literature. On the other hand, an additional factor that has not been part of the framework is described to be important – strategy fit. Furthermore, the factors strategic alliances and platform strategy appear in the literature but in a different context compared to the reference model.

Keywords: Critical success factors, radical technological innovation, TOMP framework, innovation process.

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Authors: Greeshma Sharma, Sushil Chandra, Vijander Singh, Alok Prakash Mittal

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Navigational ability requires spatial representation, planning, and memory. It covers three interdependent domains, i.e. cognitive and perceptual factors, neural information processing, and variability in brain microstructure. Many attempts have been made to see the role of spatial representation in the navigational ability, and the individual differences have been identified in the neural substrate. But, there is also a need to address the influence of planning, memory on navigational ability. The present study aims to evaluate relations of aforementioned factors in the navigational ability. Total 30 participants volunteered in the study of a virtual shopping complex and subsequently were classified into good and bad navigators based on their performances. The result showed that planning ability was the most correlated factor for the navigational ability and also the discriminating factor between the good and bad navigators. There was also found the correlations between spatial memory recall and navigational ability. However, non-verbal episodic memory and spatial memory recall were also found to be correlated with the learning variable. This study attempts to identify differences between people with more and less navigational ability on the basis of planning and memory.

Keywords: Memory, planning navigational ability, virtual reality.

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Authors: Thochi Seb Rengma, Mahendra Kumar Gupta, P. M. V. Subbarao

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Hydrokinetic turbines can be used to produce power in inaccessible villages located near rivers. The hydrokinetic turbine uses the kinetic energy of the water and maybe put it directly into the natural flow of water without dams. For off-grid power production, the Savonius-type vertical axis turbine is the easiest to design and manufacture. This proposal uses three-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations to measure the considerable interaction and complexity of turbine blades. Savonius hydrokinetic turbine (SHKT) performance is affected by a blockage in the river, canals, and waterways. Putting a large object in a water channel causes water obstruction and raises local free stream velocity. The blockage correction factor or velocity increment measures the impact of velocity on the performance. SHKT performance is evaluated by comparing power coefficient (Cp) with tip-speed ratio (TSR) at various blockage ratios. The maximum Cp was obtained at a TSR of 1.1 with a blockage ratio of 45%, whereas TSR of 0.8 yielded the highest Cp without blockage. The greatest Cp of 0.29 was obtained with a 45% blockage ratio compared to a Cp max of 0.18 without a blockage.

Keywords: Savonius hydrokinetic turbine, blockage ratio, vertical axis turbine, power coefficient.

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Authors: Z. Mortezaie, H. Hassanpour, S. Asadi Amiri

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Captured images may suffer from Gaussian blur due to poor lens focus or camera motion. Unsharp masking is a simple and effective technique to boost the image contrast and to improve digital images suffering from Gaussian blur. The technique is based on sharpening object edges by appending the scaled high-frequency components of the image to the original. The quality of the enhanced image is highly dependent on the characteristics of both the high-frequency components and the scaling/gain factor. Since the quality of an image may not be the same throughout, we propose an adaptive unsharp masking method in this paper. In this method, the gain factor is computed, considering the gradient variations, for individual pixels of the image. Subjective and objective image quality assessments are used to compare the performance of the proposed method both with the classic and the recently developed unsharp masking methods. The experimental results show that the proposed method has a better performance in comparison to the other existing methods.

Keywords: Unsharp masking, blur image, sub-region gradient, image enhancement.

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Authors: Jochen Nelles, Susanne Kohns, Julia Spies, Friederike Schmitz-Buhl, Roland Thietje, Christopher Brandl, Alexander Mertens, Christopher M. Schlick

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Industrial robots as part of highly automated manufacturing are recently developed to cooperative (light-weight) robots. This offers the opportunity of using them as assistance robots and to improve the participation in professional life of disabled or handicapped people such as tetraplegics. Robots under development are located within a cooperation area together with the working person at the same workplace. This cooperation area is an area where the robot and the working person can perform tasks at the same time. Thus, working people and robots are operating in the immediate proximity. Considering the physical restrictions and the limited mobility of tetraplegics, a hands-free robot control could be an appropriate approach for a cooperative assistance robot. To meet these requirements, the research project MeRoSy (human-robot synergy) develops methods for cooperative assistance robots based on the measurement of head movements of the working person. One research objective is to improve the participation in professional life of people with disabilities and, in particular, mobility impaired persons (e.g. wheelchair users or tetraplegics), whose participation in a self-determined working life is denied. This raises the research question, how a human-robot cooperation workplace can be designed for hands-free robot control. Here, the example of a library scenario is demonstrated. In this paper, an empirical study that focuses on the impact of head movement related stress is presented. 12 test subjects with tetraplegia participated in the study. Tetraplegia also known as quadriplegia is the worst type of spinal cord injury. In the experiment, three various basic head movements were examined. Data of the head posture were collected by a motion capture system; muscle activity was measured via surface electromyography and the subjective mental stress was assessed via a mental effort questionnaire. The muscle activity was measured for the sternocleidomastoid (SCM), the upper trapezius (UT) or trapezius pars descendens, and the splenius capitis (SPL) muscle. For this purpose, six non-invasive surface electromyography sensors were mounted on the head and neck area. An analysis of variance shows differentiated muscular strains depending on the type of head movement. Systematically investigating the influence of different basic head movements on the resulting strain is an important issue to relate the research results to other scenarios. At the end of this paper, a conclusion will be drawn and an outlook of future work will be presented.

Keywords: Assistance robot, human-robot-interaction, motion capture, stress-strain-concept, surface electromyography, tetraplegia.

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Authors: Badr Alsulami, Ahmed S. Elamary

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This paper summarizes and presents main results of an in-depth numerical analysis dealing with the shear buckling resistance of aluminum plate girders. The studies conducted have permitted the development of a simple design expression to determine the critical shear buckling stress in aluminum web panels. This expression takes into account the effects of reduction of strength in aluminum alloys due to welding process. Ultimate shear resistance (USR) of plate girders can be obtained theoretically using Cardiff theory or Hӧglund’s theory. USR of aluminum alloy plate girders predicted theoretically using BS8118 appear inconsistent when compared with test data. Theoretical predictions based on Hӧglund’s theory, are more realistic. Cardiff theory proposed to predict the USR of steel plate girders only. Welded aluminum alloy plate girders studied experimentally by others; the USR resulted from tests are reviewed. Comparison between the test results with the values obtained from Hӧglund’s theory, BS8118 design method and Cardiff theory performed theoretically. Finally, a new equation based on Cardiff tension-field theory, proposed to predict theoretically the USR of aluminum plate girders.

Keywords: Shear resistance, Aluminum, Cardiff theory, Hӧglund's theory, Plate girder.

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Authors: M. Okan Tasar

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Basel III (or the Third Basel Accord) is a global regulatory standard on bank capital adequacy, stress testing and market liquidity risk agreed upon by the members of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in 2010-2011, and scheduled to be introduced from 2013 until 2018. Basel III is a comprehensive set of reform measures. These measures aim to; (1) improve the banking sector-s ability to absorb shocks arising from financial and economic stress, whatever the source, (2) improve risk management and governance, (3) strengthen banks- transparency and disclosures. Similarly the reform target; (1) bank level or micro-prudential, regulation, which will help raise the resilience of individual banking institutions to periods of stress. (2) Macro-prudential regulations, system wide risk that can build up across the banking sector as well as the pro-cyclical implication of these risks over time. These two approaches to supervision are complementary as greater resilience at the individual bank level reduces the risk system wide shocks. Macroeconomic impact of Basel III; OECD estimates that the medium-term impact of Basel III implementation on GDP growth is in the range -0,05 percent to -0,15 percent per year. On the other hand economic output is mainly affected by an increase in bank lending spreads as banks pass a rise in banking funding costs, due to higher capital requirements, to their customers. Consequently the estimated effects on GDP growth assume no active response from monetary policy. Basel III impact on economic output could be offset by a reduction (or delayed increase) in monetary policy rates by about 30 to 80 basis points. The aim of this paper is to create a framework based on the recent regulations in order to prevent financial crises. Thus the need to overcome the global financial crisis will contribute to financial crises that may occur in the future periods. In the first part of the paper, the effects of the global crisis on the banking system examine the concept of financial regulations. In the second part; especially in the financial regulations and Basel III are analyzed. The last section in this paper explored the possible consequences of the macroeconomic impacts of Basel III.

Keywords: Banking Systems, Basel III, Financial regulation, Global Financial Crisis.

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Authors: Bhim Singh

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Due to increased pressure from global competitors, manufacturing organizations are switching over to lean philosophies from traditional mass production. Lean manufacturing is a manufacturing philosophy which focuses on elimination of various types of wastes and creates maximum value for the end customers. Lean thinking aims to produce high quality products and services at the lowest possible cost with maximum customer responsiveness. Indian Industry is facing lot of problems in this transformation from traditional mass production to lean production. Through this paper an attempt has been made to identify various lean implementation hurdles in Indian industries with the help of a structured survey. Identified hurdles are grouped with the help of factor analysis and rated by calculating descriptive statistics. To show the effect of lean implementation hurdles a hypothesis “Organizations having higher level of lean implementation hurdles will have poor (negative) performance” has been postulated and tested using correlation matrix between performance parameters of the organizations and identified hurdles. The findings of the paper will be helpful to prepare road map to identify and eradicate the lean implementation hurdles.

Keywords: Factor analysis, global competition, lean implementation and lean hurdles.

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Authors: Gbenga F. Akomolafe, Joseph Omojola, Ezekiel S. Joshua, Seyi C. Adediwura, Elijah T. Adesuji, Michael O. Odey, Oyinade A. Dedeke, Ayo H. Labulo

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Microgravity is known to be a major abiotic stress in space which affects plants depending on the duration of exposure. In this work, tomatoes seeds were exposed to long hours of simulated microgravity condition using a one-axis clinostat. The seeds were sown on a 1.5% combination of plant nutrient and agar-agar solidified medium in three Petri dishes. One of the Petri dishes was mounted on the clinostat and allowed to rotate at the speed of 20 rpm for 72 hours, while the others were subjected to the normal gravity vector. The anatomical sections of both clinorotated and normal gravity plants were made after 72 hours and observed using a Phase-contrast digital microscope. The percentage germination, as well as the growth rate of the normal gravity seeds, was higher than the clinorotated ones. The germinated clinorotated roots followed different directions unlike the normal gravity ones which grew towards the direction of gravity vector. The clinostat was able to switch off gravistimulation. Distinct cellular arrangement was observed for tomatoes under normal gravity condition, unlike those of clinorotated ones. The root epidermis and cortex of normal gravity are thicker than the clinorotated ones. This implied that under long-term microgravity influence, plants do alter their anatomical features as a way of adapting to the stress condition.

Keywords: Anatomy, Clinostat, Germination, Microgravity, Lycopersicon esculentum.

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Authors: E. De Finis, P. Gattinoni, L. Scesi

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Massive rock avalanches formed some of the largest landslide deposits on Earth and they represent one of the major geohazards in high-relief mountains. This paper interprets a very large sedimentary fan (the Sernio fan, Valtellina, Northern Italy), located 20 Km SW from Val Pola Rock avalanche (1987), as the deposit of a partial collapse of a Deep Seated Gravitational Slope Deformation (DSGSD), afterwards eroded and buried by debris flows. The proposed emplacement sequence has been reconstructed based on geomorphological, structural and mechanical evidences. The Sernio fan is actually considered anomalous with reference to the very high ratio between the fan area (≈ 4.5km2) and the basin area (≈ 3km2). The morphology of the fan area is characterised by steep slopes (dip ≈ 20%) and the fan apex is extended for 1.8 km inside the small catchment basin. This sedimentary fan was originated by a landslide that interested a part of a large deep-seated gravitational slope deformation, involving a wide area of about 55 km². The main controlling factor is tectonic and it is related to the proximity to regional fault systems and the consequent occurrence of fault weak rocks (GSI locally lower than 10 with compressive stress lower than 20MPa). Moreover, the fan deposit shows sedimentary evidences of recent debris flow events. The best current explanation of the Sernio fan involves an initial failure of some hundreds of Mm3. The run-out was quite limited because of the morphology of Valtellina’s valley floor, and the deposit filled the main valley forming a landslide dam, as confirmed by the lacustrine deposits detected upstream the fan. Nowadays the debris flow events represent the main hazard in the study area.

Keywords: Anomalous sedimentary fans, debris flow, deep seated gravitational slope deformation, Italy, rock avalanche.

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Authors: A. Żebrowska, A. Kochańska-Dziurowicz, A. Stanjek-Cichoracka

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We investigated the response of testosterone (T), growth hormone (GH), cortisol (C), steroid hormone binding globulin (SHBG), insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3), and some anaboliccatabolic indexes, i.e.: T/C, T/SHBG, and IGF-1/IGFBP-3 to maximal exercise in endurance-trained athletes (TREN) and untrained subjects (CG). The baseline concentration of IGF-1 was higher in athletes (TREN) when compared to the CG (p<0.05). The GH concentration and GH/IGF-1 ratio increased after exercise in all subjects compared to respective values at rest. The resting IGF- 1/IGFBP-3 ratio was significantly higher in athletes. The maximal exercise test induced an increase in post-exercise T/SHGB ratio in athletes compared to CG (p<0.05). These results indicate that elevation of baseline serum IGF-1/IGFBP-3 and T/SHGB ratio after exercise might suggest that free fractions of these hormones may act as a potent stimulant of muscle hypertrophy in trained endurance athletes.

Keywords: anabolic hormones, endurance training, exercise, growth factors

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Authors: Md Rashadul Islam, Umme Amina Mannan, Rafiqul A. Tarefder

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Stiffness of Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) in flexible pavement is largely dependent of temperature, mode of testing and age of pavement. Accurate measurement of HMA stiffness is thus quite challenging. This study determines HMA stiffness based on Finite Element Model (FEM) and validates the results using field data. As a first step, stiffnesses of different layers of a pavement section on Interstate 40 (I-40) in New Mexico were determined by Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) test. Pavement temperature was not measured at that time due to lack of temperature probe. Secondly, a FE model is developed in ABAQUS. Stiffness of the base, subbase and subgrade were taken from the FWD test output obtained from the first step. As HMA stiffness largely varies with temperature it was assigned trial and error approach. Thirdly, horizontal strain and vertical stress at the bottom of the HMA and temperature at different depths of the pavement were measured with installed sensors on the whole day on December 25th, 2012. Fourthly, outputs of FEM were correlated with measured stress-strain responses. After a number of trials a relationship was developed between the trial stiffness of HMA and measured mid-depth HMA temperature. At last, the obtained relationship between stiffness and temperature is verified by further FWD test when pavement temperature was recorded. A promising agreement between them is observed. Therefore, conclusion can be drawn that linear elastic FEM can accurately predict the stiffness and the structural response of flexible pavement.

Keywords: Asphalt pavement, falling weight deflectometer test, field instrumentation, finite element model, horizontal strain, temperature probes.

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Authors: Photjanat Phimnom, Haruetai Lohasiriwat

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In today’s world, the LED display has been used for presenting visual information under various circumstances. Such information is an important intermediary in the human information processing. Researchers have been investigated diverse factors that influence this process effectiveness. The letter size is undoubtedly one major factor that has been tested and recommended by many standards and guidelines. However, viewing information on the display from direct perpendicular position is a typical assumption whereas many actual events are required viewing from the angles. This current research aims to study the effect of oblique viewing angle and viewing distance on ability to recognize alphabet, number, and English word. The total of ten participants was volunteered to our 3 x 4 x 4 within subject study. Independent variables include three distance levels (2, 6, and 12 m), four oblique angles (0, 45, 60, 75 degree), and four target types (alphabet, number, short word, and long word). Following the method of constant stimuli our study suggests that the larger oblique angle, ranging from 0 to 75 degree from the line of sight, results in significant higher legibility threshold or larger font size required (p-value < 0.05). Viewing distance factor also shows to have significant effect on the threshold (p-value < 0.05). However, the effect from distance factor is expected to be confounded by the quality of the screen used in our experiment. Lastly, our results show that single alphabet as well as single number are recognized at significant lower threshold (smaller font size) as compared to both short and long words (p-value < 0.05). Therefore, it is recommended that when designs information to be presented on LED display, understanding of all possible ranges of oblique angle should be taken into account in order to specify the preferred letter size. Additionally, the recommendation of letter size for 100% legibility in our tested conditions is provided in the paper.

Keywords: Letter Size, Oblique Angle, Viewing Distance, Legibility Threshold.

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Authors: Olga I. Moskalenko, Maksim O. Zhuravlev, Alexey A. Koronovskii, Alexander E. Hramov

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Intermittent behavior near the boundary of phase synchronization in the presence of noise is studied. In certain range of the coupling parameter and noise intensity the intermittency of eyelet and ring intermittencies is shown to take place. Main results are illustrated using the example of two unidirectional coupled Rössler systems. Similar behavior is shown to take place in two hydrodynamical models of Pierce diode coupled unidirectional.

Keywords: Chaotic oscillators, phase synchronization, noise, intermittency of intermittencies, control.

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Authors: N. Dahbi, D-E. Arafah

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The effect of chemical treatment in CdCl2 on the compositional changes and defect structures of potentially useful ZnS solar cell thin films prepared by vacuum deposition method was studied using the complementary Rutherford backscattering (RBS) and Thermoluminesence (TL) techniques. A series of electron and hole traps are found in the various as deposited samples studied. After treatment, perturbation on the intensity is noted; mobile defect states and charge conversion and/or transfer between defect states are found.

Keywords: chemical treatment, defect, glow curve, RBS, thinfilm, thermoluminescence, ZnS, vacuum deposition

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Authors: Zongjie Du, Shulin Sui, Panpan Xu

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Energy consumption of a hotel can be a hot topic in smart city; it is difficult to evaluate the contribution of impact factors to energy consumption of a hotel. Therefore, grasping the key impact factors has great effect on the energy saving management of a hotel. Based on the SPIRTPAT model, we establish the identity with the impact factors of occupancy rate, unit area of revenue, temperature factor, unit revenue of energy consumption. In this paper, we use the LMDI (Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index) to decompose the impact factors of energy consumption of hotel from Jan. to Dec. in 2001. The results indicate that the occupancy rate and unit area of revenue are the main factors that can increase unit area of energy consumption, and the unit revenue of energy consumption is the main factor to restrain the growth of unit area of energy consumption. When the energy consumption of hotel can appear abnormal, the hotel manager can carry out energy saving management and control according to the contribution value of impact factors.

Keywords: Smart city, SPIRTPAT model, LMDI, saving management and control.

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Authors: A. Brener, B. Balabekov, N. Zhumataev

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In the paper we submit the non-local modification of kinetic Smoluchowski equation for binary aggregation applying to dispersed media having memory. Our supposition consists in that that intensity of evolution of clusters is supposed to be a function of the product of concentrations of the lowest orders clusters at different moments. The new form of kinetic equation for aggregation is derived on the base of the transfer kernels approach. This approach allows considering the influence of relaxation times hierarchy on kinetics of aggregation process in media with memory.

Keywords: Binary aggregation, Media with memory, Non-local model, Relaxation times

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Authors: Inaki Maulida Hakim, T. Yuri M. Zagloel, Astari Wulandari

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Six sigma is a framework that is used to identify inefficiency so that the cause of inefficiency will be known and right improvement to overcome cause of inefficiency can be conducted. This paper presents result of implementing six sigma to improve piston assembly line in Manufacturing Laboratory, Universitas Indonesia. Six sigma framework will be used to analyze the significant factor of inefficiency that needs to be improved which causes bottleneck in assembly line. After analysis based on six sigma framework conducted, line balancing method was chosen for improvement to overcome causative factor of inefficiency which is differences time between workstation that causes bottleneck in assembly line. Then after line balancing conducted in piston assembly line, the result is increase in efficiency. Efficiency is shown in the decreasing of Defects per Million Opportunities (DPMO) from 900,000 to 700,000, the increasing of level of labor productivity from 0.0041 to 0.00742, the decreasing of idle time from 121.3 seconds to 12.1 seconds, and the increasing of output, which is from 1 piston in 5 minutes become 3 pistons in 5 minutes.

Keywords: Assembly line, efficiency, improvement, line balancing, productivity, six sigma, workstation.

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Authors: Somdech Rungsrisawat

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The purpose of this research is to study of consumer perception and understanding consumer buying behavior that related between satisfied and factors affecting the purchasing. Methodology can be classified between qualitative and quantitative approaches for the qualitative research were interviews from middlemen who bought organic vegetables, and middlemen related to production and marketing system. A questionnaire was utilized as a tool to collect data. Statistics utilized in this research included frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and multiple regression analysis. The result show the reason to decision buying motives is Fresh products of organic vegetables is the most significant factor on individuals’ income, with a b of –.143, t = –2.470, the price of organic vegetables is the most significant factor on individuals’ income, with a b of .176, t = 2.561, p value = .011. The results show that most people with higher income think about the organic products are expensive and have negative attitudes towards organic vegetable as individuals with low and medium income level. Therefore, household income had a significant influence on the purchasing decision.

Keywords: Consumer behaviors, Consumer perceptions, Organic Vegetable.

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Authors: Ekrem Erdem, Can Tansel Tugcu

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Improved resource efficiency of production is a key requirement for sustainable growth, worldwide. In this regards, by considering the energy and tourism as the extra inputs to the classical Coub-Douglas production function, this study aims at investigating the efficiency changes in the North African countries. To this end, the study uses panel data for the period 1995-2010 and adopts the Malmquist index based on the data envelopment analysis. Results show that tourism increases technical and scale efficiencies, while it decreases technological and total factor productivity changes. On the other hand, when the production function is augmented by the energy input; technical efficiency change decreases, while the technological change, scale efficiency change and total factor productivity change increase. Thus, in order to satisfy the needs for sustainable growth, North African governments should take some measures for increasing the contribution that the tourism makes to economic growth and some others for efficient use of resources in the energy sector.

Keywords: Data envelopment analysis, Economic efficiency, North African countries, Sustainable growth.

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Authors: Akim Borbuev, Francisco de León

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Economic and population growth in densely-populated urban areas introduce major challenges to distribution system operators, planers, and designers. To supply added loads, utilities are frequently forced to invest in new distribution feeders. However, this is becoming increasingly more challenging due to space limitations and rising installation costs in urban settings. This paper proposes the conversion of critical alternating current (ac) distribution feeders into direct current (dc) feeders to increase the power transfer capacity by a factor as high as four. Current trends suggest that the return of dc transmission, distribution, and utilization are inevitable. Since a total system-level transformation to dc operation is not possible in a short period of time due to the needed huge investments and utility unreadiness, this paper recommends that feeders that are expected to exceed their limits in near future are converted to dc. The increase in power transfer capacity is achieved through several key differences between ac and dc power transmission systems. First, it is shown that underground cables can be operated at higher dc voltage than the ac voltage for the same dielectric stress in the insulation. Second, cable sheath losses, due to induced voltages yielding circulation currents, that can be as high as phase conductor losses under ac operation, are not present under dc. Finally, skin and proximity effects in conductors and sheaths do not exist in dc cables. The paper demonstrates that in addition to the increased power transfer capacity utilities substituting ac feeders by dc feeders could benefit from significant lower costs and reduced losses. Installing dc feeders is less expensive than installing new ac feeders even when new trenches are not needed. Case studies using the IEEE 342-Node Low Voltage Networked Test System quantify the technical and economic benefits of dc feeders.

Keywords: Dc power systems, distribution feeders, distribution networks, energy efficiency, power transfer capacity.

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Authors: Jaime Carpio-García, Elena Blanco-Fernández, Javier González-Fernández, Daniel Castro-Fresno

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Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) are more often used in order to prevent floods, water treatment, fight against pollution, urban heat island effect, and global warming in applications like green roofs, permeable pavements, and others. Furthermore, geosynthetics are also worldwide used as a part of drainage systems in road construction. Geotextiles are an essential part of both, and one of the main geotextile properties in those applications is permeability, whose behavior is not well established along its service life. In this paper, clogging reduction design factors for an estimated service life of 25 years are experimentally obtained for five different geotextiles used in SUDS and roads combined with two different soils and with two pollutants, motor oil, and lime, in order to evaluate chemical clogging, too. The effect of characteristic opening size and other characteristics of the geosynthetics are also discussed in order to give civil engineers, together with the clogging reduction factors, a better long-time design of geotextiles used in their SUDS and roads.

Keywords: Geotextiles, drainage, clogging, reduction factor.

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Authors: Diriba T. Balcha, Boris Kulig, Oliver Hensel, Eyassu Woldesenbet

Abstract:

Enset fiber is agricultural waste and available in a surplus amount in Ethiopia. However, the hypothesized variation in properties of this fiber due to diversity of its plant source breed, fiber position within plant stem and chemical treatment duration had not proven that its application for the development of composite products is problematic. Currently, limited data are known on the functional properties of the fiber as a potential functional fiber. Thus, an effort is made in this study to narrow the knowledge gaps by characterizing it. The experimental design was conducted using Design-Expert software and the tensile test was conducted on Enset fiber from 10 breeds: Dego, Dirbo, Gishera, Itine, Siskela, Neciho, Yesherkinke, Tuzuma, Ankogena, and Kucharkia. The effects of 5% Na-OH surface treatment duration and fiber location along and across the plant pseudostem was also investigated. The test result shows that the rupture stress variation is not significant among the fibers from 10 Enset breeds. However, strain variation is significant among the fibers from 10 Enset breeds that breed Dego fiber has the highest strain before failure. Surface treated fibers showed improved rupture strength and elastic modulus per 24 hours of treatment duration. Also, the result showed that chemical treatment can deteriorate the load-bearing capacity of the fiber. The raw fiber has the higher load-bearing capacity than the treated fiber. And, it was noted that both the rupture stress and strain increase in the top to bottom gradient, whereas there is no significant variation across the stem. Elastic modulus variation both along and across the stem was insignificant. The rupture stress, elastic modulus, and strain result of Enset fiber are 360.11 ± 181.86 MPa, 12.80 ± 6.85 GPa and 0.04 ± 0.02 mm/mm, respectively. These results show that Enset fiber is comparable to other natural fibers such as abaca, banana, and sisal fibers and can be used as alternatives natural fiber for composites application. Besides, the insignificant variation of properties among breeds and across stem is essential for all breeds and all leaf sheath of the Enset fiber plant for fiber extraction. The use of short natural fiber over the long is preferable to reduce the significant variation of properties along the stem or fiber direction. In conclusion, Enset fiber application for composite product design and development is mechanically feasible.

Keywords: Agricultural waste, chemical treatment, fiber characteristics, natural fiber.

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Authors: Siti Aisya Gany, Swee Ching Tan, Sook Yee Gan

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Diminished antioxidant defense or increased production of reactive oxygen species in the biological system can result in oxidative stress which may lead to various neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Microglial activation also contributes to the progression of AD by producing several proinflammatory cytokines, nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). Oxidative stress and inflammation have been reported to be possible pathophysiological mechanisms underlying AD. In addition, the cholinergic hypothesis postulates that memory impairment in patient with AD is also associated with the deficit of cholinergic function in the brain. Although a number of drugs have been approved for the treatment of AD, most of these synthetic drugs have diverse side effects and yield relatively modest benefits. Marine algae have great potential in pharmaceutical and biomedical applications as they are valuable sources of bioactive properties such as anticoagulation, antimicrobial, antioxidative, anticancer and anti-inflammatory. Hence, this study aimed to provide an overview of the properties of Malaysian seaweeds (Padina australis, Sargassum polycystum and Caulerpa racemosa) in inhibiting oxidative stress, neuroinflammation and cholinesterase enzymes. These seaweeds significantly exhibited potent DPPH and moderate superoxide anion radical scavenging ability (P<0.05). Hexane and methanol extracts of S. polycystum exhibited the most potent radical scavenging ability with IC50 values of 0.157±0.004mg/ml and 0.849±0.02mg/ml for DPPH and ABTS assays, respectively. Hexane extract of C. racemosa gave the strongest superoxide radical inhibitory effect (IC50 of 0.386±0.01mg/ml). Most seaweed extracts significantly inhibited the production of cytokine (IL-6, IL-1 β, TNFα) and NO in a concentration-dependent manner without causing significant cytotoxicity to the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated microglia cells (P<0.05). All extracts suppressed cytokine and NO level by more than 50% at the concentration of 0.4mg/ml. In addition, C. racemosa and S. polycystum also showed anti-acetylcholinesterase activities with the IC50 values ranging from 0.086-0.115 mg/ml. Moreover, C. racemosa and P. australis were also found to be active against butyrylcholinesterase with IC50 values ranging from 0.118- 0.287 mg/ml.

Keywords: Anticholinesterase, antioxidative, neuroinflammation, seaweeds.

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Authors: E. Neamatollahi, M. Bannayan, A. Souhani Darban, A. Ghanbari

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In production of medicinal plants, seed germination is very important problem. The treated seeds (control, hydro priming and ZnSO4) of Cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.) were evaluated at germination and seedling growth for tolerance to salt (NaCl and Na2SO4) conditions at the same water potentials of 0.0, -0.3, -0.6, - 0.9 and -1.2MPa. Electrical conductivity (EC) values of the NaCl solutions were 0.0, 6.5, 12.7, 18.4 and 23.5 dSm-1, respectively. The objective of the study was to determine factors responsible for germination and early seedling growth due to salt toxicity or osmotic effect and to optimize the best priming treatment for these stress conditions. Results revealed that germination delayed in both solutions, having variable germination with different priming treatments. Germination, shoot and weight, root and shoot length were higher but mean germination time and abnormal germination percentage were lower in NaCl than Na2SO4 at the same water potential. The root / shoot weight and R/S length increased with increase in osmotic potential in both NaCl and Na2SO4 solutions. NaCl had less inhibitor effect on seedling growth than the germination. It was concluded that inhibition of germination at the same water potential of NaCl and Na2SO4 resulted from salt toxicity rather than osmotic effect. Hydro priming increased germination and seedling growth under salt stress. This protocol has practical importance and could be recommended to farmers to achieve higher germination and uniform emergence under field conditions.

Keywords: Priming, Germination, Nacl, ZnSo4, Na2So4.

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Authors: Tania Bose, Minto Rattan, Neeraj Chamoli

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In this paper, an attempt has been made to study the effect of thermal gradation on the steady-state creep behavior of rotating isotropic disc made of functionally graded material using threshold stress based Sherby’s creep law. The composite discs made of aluminum matrix reinforced with silicon carbide particulate have been taken for analysis. The stress and strain rate distributions have been calculated for the discs rotating at elevated temperatures having thermal gradation. The material parameters of creep vary radially and have been estimated by regression fit of the available experimental data. Investigations for discs made up of linearly increasing particle content operating under linearly decreasing temperature from inner to outer radii have been done using von Mises’ yield criterion. The results are displayed and compared graphically in designer friendly format for the above said disc profile with the disc made of particle reinforced composite operating under uniform temperature profile. It is observed that radial and tangential stresses show minor variation and the strain rates vary significantly in the presence of thermal gradation as compared to disc having uniform temperature.

Keywords: Creep, functionally graded isotropic material, steady-state, thermal gradation.

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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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