Search results for: Classification algorithms; data mining; tourism; knowledge discovery.

Authors: S. Golmohammadi, M. Noorian Bidgoli

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Tunneling progress is a key parameter in the blasting method of tunneling. Taking measures to enhance tunneling advance can limit the progress distance without a supporting system, subsequently reducing or eliminating the risk of damage. This paper focuses on modeling tunneling progress using three main groups of parameters (tunneling geometry, blasting pattern, and rock mass specifications) based on the Rock Engineering Systems (RES) methodology. In the proposed models, four main effective parameters on tunneling progress are considered as inputs (RMR, Q-system, Specific charge of blasting, Area), with progress as the output. Data from 86 blasts conducted at the tailrace tunnel in the Azad Dam, western Iran, were used to evaluate the progress value for each blast. The results indicated that, for the 86 blasts, the progress of the estimated model aligns mostly with the measured progress. This paper presents a method for building the interaction matrix (statistical base) of the RES model. Additionally, a comparison was made between the results of the new RES-based model and a Multi-Linear Regression (MLR) analysis model. In the RES-based model, the effective parameters are RMR (35.62%), Q (28.6%), q (specific charge of blasting) (20.35%), and A (15.42%), respectively, whereas for MLR analysis, the main parameters are RMR, Q (system), q, and A. These findings confirm the superior performance of the RES-based model over the other proposed models.

Keywords: Rock Engineering Systems, tunneling progress, Multi Linear Regression, Specific charge of blasting.

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Authors: Dike H. Ogbuagu, Etsede J. Oritsematosan

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This work investigated possible inductions of CaC₂, often misused by fruit vendors to stimulate artificial ripening, on mammalian sperm morphology and viability. Thirty isogenic strains of male albino mice, Mus musculus (age≈ 8weeks; weight= 32.52.0g) were acclimatized (ambient temperature 28.0±1.0°C) for 2 weeks and fed standard growers mash and water ad libutum. They were later exposed to graded toxicant concentrations (w/w) of 2.5000, 1.2500, 0.6250, and 0.3125% in 4 cages. A control cage was also established. After 5 weeks, 3 animals from each cage were sacrificed by cervical dislocation and the cauda epididymis excised. Sperm morphology and viability were determined by microscopic procedures. The ANOVA, means plots, Student’s t-test and variation plots were used to analyze data. The common abnormalities observed included Double Head, Pin Head, Knobbed Head, No Tail and With Hook. The higher toxicant concentrations induced significantly lower body weights [F_(829.899) ˃ F_crit(4.19)] and more abnormalities [F_(26.52) ˃ F_crit(4.00)] at P˂0.05. Sperm cells in the control setup were significantly more viable than those in the 0.625% (t=0.005) and 2.500% toxicant doses (t=0.018) at the 95% confidence limit. CaC₂ appeared to induced morphological abnormalities and reduced viability in sperm cells of M. musculus.

Keywords: Artificial ripening, Calcium carbide, fruit vendors, sperm morphology, sperm viability.

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Authors: Wai Phyo Aung

Abstract:

Wheeled Mobile Robots (WMRs) are built with their Wheels- drive machine, Motors. Depend on their desire design of WMR, Technicians made used of DC Motors for motion control. In this paper, the author would like to analyze how to choose DC motor to be balance with their applications of especially for WMR. Specification of DC Motor that can be used with desire WMR is to be determined by using MATLAB Simulink model. Therefore, this paper is mainly focus on software application of MATLAB and Control Technology. As the driving system of DC motor, a Peripheral Interface Controller (PIC) based control system is designed including the assembly software technology and H-bridge control circuit. This Driving system is used to drive two DC gear motors which are used to control the motion of WMR. In this analyzing process, the author mainly focus the drive system on driving two DC gear motors that will control with Differential Drive technique to the Wheeled Mobile Robot . For the design analysis of Motor Driving System, PIC16F84A is used and five inputs of sensors detected data are tested with five ON/OFF switches. The outputs of PIC are the commands to drive two DC gear motors, inputs of Hbridge circuit .In this paper, Control techniques of PIC microcontroller and H-bridge circuit, Mechanism assignments of WMR are combined and analyzed by mainly focusing with the “Modeling and Simulink of DC Motor using MATLAB".

Keywords: Control System Design, DC Motors, DifferentialDrive, H-bridge control circuit, MATLAB Simulink model, Peripheral Interface Controller (PIC), Wheeled Mobile Robots.

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Authors: Sanjay Singh, M Sathish Kumar, H. S Mruthyunjaya

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Multicarrier transmission system such as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a promising technique for high bit rate transmission in wireless communication system. OFDM is a spectrally efficient modulation technique that can achieve high speed data transmission over multipath fading channels without the need for powerful equalization techniques. However the price paid for this high spectral efficiency and less intensive equalization is low power efficiency. OFDM signals are very sensitive to nonlinear effects due to the high Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR), which leads to the power inefficiency in the RF section of the transmitter. This paper investigates the effect of PAPR reduction on the performance parameter of multicarrier communication system. Performance parameters considered are power consumption of Power Amplifier (PA) and Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC), power amplifier efficiency, SNR of DAC and BER performance of the system. From our analysis it is found that irrespective of PAPR reduction technique being employed, the power consumption of PA and DAC reduces and power amplifier efficiency increases due to reduction in PAPR. Moreover, it has been shown that for a given BER performance the requirement of Input-Backoff (IBO) reduces with reduction in PAPR.

Keywords: BER, Crest Factor (CF), Digital-to-Analog Converter(DAC), Input-Backoff (IBO), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing(OFDM), Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR), PowerAmplifier efficiency, SNR

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Authors: Chien-Yeh Hsu, Yuan-Ching Chiang, Zi-Jie Chien, Sih-Li Chen

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In this study, a field experiment and performance analysis of air-tunnel heat exchanger integrated with water-filled raft foundation of residential building were performed. In order to obtain better performance, conventional applications of air-tunnel inevitably have high initial cost or issues about insufficient installation space. To improve the feasibility of air tunnel heat exchanger in high-density housing, an integrated system consisting of air pipes immersed in the water-filled raft foundation was presented, taking advantage of immense amount of water and relatively stable temperature in raft foundation of building. The foundation-integrated air tunnel was applied to a residential building located in Yilan, Taiwan, and its thermal performance was measured in the field experiment. The results indicated that the cooling potential of integrated system was close to the potential of soil-based EAHE at 2 m depth or deeper. An analytical model based on thermal resistance method was validated by measurement results, and was used to carry out the dimensioning of foundation-integrated air tunnel. The discrepancies between calculated value and measured data were less than 2.7%. In addition, the return-on-investment with regard to thermal performance and economics of the application was evaluated. Because the installation for air tunnel is scheduled in the building foundation construction, the utilization of integrated system spends less construction cost compare to the conventional earth-air tunnel.

Keywords: Air tunnel, ground heat exchanger, raft foundation, residential building.

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Authors: A. Gandomkar, R. Dehghani

Abstract:

Climate change is a phenomenon has been based on the available evidence from a very long time ago and now its existence is very probable. The speed and nature of climate parameters changes at the middle of twentieth century has been different and its quickness more than the before and its trend changed to some extent comparing to the past. Climate change issue now regarded as not only one of the most common scientific topic but also a social political one, is not a new issue. Climate change is a complicated atmospheric oceanic phenomenon on a global scale and long-term. Precipitation pattern change, fast decrease of snowcovered resources and its rapid melting, increased evaporation, the occurrence of destroying floods, water shortage crisis, severe reduction at the rate of harvesting agricultural products and, so on are all the significant of climate change. To cope with this phenomenon, its consequences and events in which public instruction is the most important but it may be climate that no significant cant and effective action has been done so far. The present article is included a part of one surrey about climate change in Fars. The study area having annually mean temperature 14 and precipitation 320 mm .23 stations inside the basin with a common 37 year statistical period have been applied to the meteorology data (1974-2010). Man-kendal and change factor methods are two statistical methods, applying them, the trend of changes and the annual mean average temperature and the annual minimum mean temperature were studied by using them. Based on time series for each parameter, the annual mean average temperature and the mean of annual maximum temperature have a rising trend so that this trend is clearer to the mean of annual maximum temperature.

Keywords: Climate change, Coefficient Variation, Fars province, Man-Kendal method.

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Authors: Ghulam Murshid

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Carbon dioxide is one of the major greenhouse gas (GHG) contributors. It is an obligation of the industry to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emission to the acceptable limits. Tremendous research and studies are reported in the past and still the quest to find the suitable and economical solution of this problem needed to be explored in order to develop the most plausible absorber for carbon dioxide removal. Amino acids can be potential alternate solvents for carbon dioxide capture from gaseous streams. This is due to its ability to resist oxidative degradation, low volatility and its ionic structure. In addition, the introduction of promoter-like piperazine to amino acid helps to further enhance the solubility. In this work, the effect of piperazine on thermo physical properties and solubility of β-Alanine aqueous solutions were studied for various concentrations. The measured physicochemical properties data was correlated as a function of temperature using least-squares method and the correlation parameters are reported together with it respective standard deviations. The effect of activator piperazine on the CO2 loading performance of selected amino acid under high-pressure conditions (1bar to 10bar) at temperature range of (30 to 60)oC was also studied. Solubility of CO2 decreases with increasing temperature and increases with increasing pressure. Quadratic representation of solubility using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) shows that the most important parameter to optimize solubility is system pressure. The addition of promoter increases the solubility effect of the solvent.

Keywords: Amino acids, CO2, Global warming, Solubility.

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Authors: Alaa A. Shamaun Al-Abboodi, Yunis A. A. Bapeer

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400 one-day-old male broiler chicks (Ross-308) randomly divided to 2 main groups, 1st main group (GA) was feeding basal diet with medium chain fatty acid (MCFA) at rate of 0.15% and divided to four subgroups, 3 subgroups vaccinated with different routes with Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) and non-vaccinated group. The 2nd main group (GB) feeding basal diet without MCFA and divided the same as 1st main group. The parameters used in this study included: ND antibody titers at 1, 10, 21, 28, 35 and 42 days of age and values of CD4 and CD8 at 1, 20, 30 and 42 days of age. This experiment detected increase in ND antibodies titers in (G1, G2, G3) groups were fed on basal diet MCFA comparing to groups were fed without adding MCFA (G5, G6, G7) and control groups (G4, G8). The results of cellular immune response (CD4 and CD8) T-cells in broiler chicks indicated that there was obviously significant relationship between dietary Fatty Acid (FA) versus the diet without FA on the level of CD4 parameter, for the entire experimental period. The effect of different ages was statistically significant in creating different values of CD4 level, whereas the CD4 level decreases markedly with age. However, analyzing the data of different vaccination methods, oculonasal method of vaccination led to the highest value of CD4 compared with the oral, S/C and control groups. There were statistical differences in CD8 values due to supplementation of FA versus the basal diet and due to the effect of different age periods. As for the age effect, the CD8 value at 20 days of age was significantly higher than at 42 and 30 days.

Keywords: Broiler, CD4 and CD8, fatty acids, Newcastle disease.

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Authors: Hatem Radwan Ibrahim Radwan

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Leadership is crucial for hotel survival and success. It enables hotels to develop and compete effectively. This research intends to explore the implementation of six leadership styles by frontline hotel managers in four star hotels in Cairo and assess its impact on employees’ creativity and organizational commitment. The leadership patterns considered in this study includes: democratic, autocratic, laissez-faire, transformational, transactional, and ethical leaderships. Questionnaire was used as a research method to gather data. A structured survey was established and distributed on employees in Cairo’s four star hotels. A total of 284 questionnaire forms were returned and usable for statistical analysis. The results of this study identified that transactional and autocratic leadership were the prevalent styles used in four star hotels in Cairo. Two leadership styles proved to have significant high correlation and impact on employees’ creativity and organizational commitment including: transformational and democratic leadership. Besides, laissez-faire leadership was found had a smaller effect on employees’ creativity and ethical leadership had a lesser influence on employees’ commitment. The autocratic leadership had strong negative correlation and significant impact on both dependent variables. This research concludes that frontline hotel managers should adopt transformational and/or democratic leadership style in managing their subordinates.

Keywords: Creativity, hotels, leadership styles, organizational commitment.

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Authors: Sriram Venkatesh, V. Murali Mohan, T. V. Karthikeyan

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The main advantage of multidirectionally reinforced composites is the freedom to orient selected fiber types and hence derives the benefits of varying fibre volume fractions and there by accommodate the design loads of the final structure of composites. This technology provides the means to produce tailored composites with desired properties. Due to the high level of fibre integrity with through thickness reinforcement those composites are expected to exhibit superior load bearing characteristics with capability to carry load even after noticeable and apparent fracture. However, a survey of published literature indicates inadequacy in the design and test data base for the complete characterization of the multidirectional composites. In this paper the research objective is focused on the development and testing of 4-D orthogonal composites with different preform configurations and resin systems. A preform is the skeleton 4D reinforced composite other than the matrix. In 4-D performs fibre bundles are oriented in three directions at 120⁰ with respect to each other and they are on orthogonal plane with the fibre in 4^th direction. This paper addresses the various types of 4-D composite manufacturing processes and the mechanical test methods followed for the material characterization. A composite analysis is also made, experiments on course and fine woven preforms are conducted and the findings of test results are discussed in this paper. The interpretations of the test results reveal several useful and interesting features. This should pave the way for more widespread use of the perform configurations for allied applications.

Keywords: Multidirectionally Reinforced Composites, 4-D Orthogonal Preform, Course weave, Fine weave.

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Authors: S. Chuenchooklin

Abstract:

This research was conducted in the Lower Ping River Basin downstream of the Bhumibol Dam and the Lower Wang River Basin in Tak Province, Thailand. Most of the tributary streams of the Ping can be considered as ungauged catchments. There are 10- pumping station installation at both river banks of the Ping in Tak Province. Recently, most of them could not fully operate due to the water amount in the river below the level that would be pumping, even though included water from the natural river and released flow from the Bhumibol Dam. The aim of this research was to increase the performance of those pumping stations using weir projects in the Ping. Therefore, the river analysis system model (HEC-RAS) was applied to study the hydraulic behavior of water surface profiles in the Ping River with both cases of existing conditions and proposed weirs during the violent flood in 2011 and severe drought in 2013. Moreover, the hydrologic modeling system (HMS) was applied to simulate lateral streamflow hydrograph from ungauged catchments of the Ping. The results of HEC-RAS model calibration with existing conditions in 2011 showed best trial roughness coefficient for the main channel of 0.026. The simulated water surface levels fitted to observation data with R2 of 0.8175. The model was applied to 3 proposed cascade weirs with 2.35 m in height and found surcharge water level only 0.27 m higher than the existing condition in 2011. Moreover, those weirs could maintain river water levels and increase of those pumping performances during less river flow in 2013.

Keywords: HEC-RAS, HMS, pumping stations, cascade weirs.

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Authors: M. V. G. Silva, J. Gazzola, I. M. Dal Fabbro, A. C. L. Lino

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Computer aided design accounts with the support of parametric software in the design of machine components as well as of any other pieces of interest. The complexities of the element under study sometimes offer certain difficulties to computer design, or ever might generate mistakes in the final body conception. Reverse engineering techniques are based on the transformation of already conceived body images into a matrix of points which can be visualized by the design software. The literature exhibits several techniques to obtain machine components dimensional fields, as contact instrument (MMC), calipers and optical methods as laser scanner, holograms as well as moiré methods. The objective of this research work was to analyze the moiré technique as instrument of reverse engineering, applied to bodies of nom complex geometry as simple solid figures, creating matrices of points. These matrices were forwarded to a parametric software named SolidWorks to generate the virtual object. Volume data obtained by mechanical means, i.e., by caliper, the volume obtained through the moiré method and the volume generated by the SolidWorks software were compared and found to be in close agreement. This research work suggests the application of phase shifting moiré methods as instrument of reverse engineering, serving also to support farm machinery element designs.

Keywords: Reverse engineering, Moiré technique, three dimensional image generation.

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Authors: D. Germanò, D. Plutino, G. Cannistraro

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The theatre-auditorium under investigation following the highly reflective characteristics of materials used in it (marble, painted wood, smooth plaster, etc), architectural and structural features of the Protocol and its intended use (very multifunctional: Auditorium, theatre, cinema, musicals, conference room) from the analysis of the statement of fact made by the acoustic simulation software Ramsete and supported by data obtained through a campaign of acoustic measurements of the state of fact made on the spot by a Fonomet Svantek model SVAN 957, appears to be acoustically inadequate. After the completion of the 3D model according to the specifications necessary software used forecast in order to be recognized by him, have made three simulations, acoustic simulation of the state of and acoustic simulation of two design solutions. Improved noise characteristics found in the first design solution, compared to the state in fact consists therefore in lowering Reverberation Time that you turn most desirable value, while the Indicators of Clarity, the Baricentric Time, the Lateral Efficiency, Ratio of Low Tmedia BR and defined the Speech Intelligibility improved significantly. Improved noise characteristics found instead in the second design solution, as compared to first design solution, is finally mostly in a more uniform distribution of Leq and in lowering Reverberation Time that you turn the optimum values. Indicators of Clarity, and the Lateral Efficiency improve further but at the expense of a value slightly worse than the BR. Slightly vary the remaining indices.

Keywords: Indoor, Acoustic, Acoustic simulation

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Authors: Atul Khurana, Rajul Rastogi, Hans-Joachim Gamperl

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The pharmaceutical companies are getting more inclined towards patient support programs (PSPs) which assist patients and/or healthcare professionals (HCPs) in more desirable disease management and cost-effective treatment. The utmost objective of these programs is patient care. The PSPs may include financial assistance to patients, medicine compliance programs, access to HCPs via phone or online chat centers, etc. The PSP has a crucial role in terms of customer acquisition and retention strategies. During the conduct of these programs, Marketing Authorisation Holder (MAH) may receive information related to concerned medicinal products, which is usually reported by patients or involved HCPs. This information may include suspected adverse reaction(s) during/after administration of medicinal products. Hence, the MAH should design PSP to comply with regulatory reporting requirements and avoid non-compliance during PV inspection. The emergence of wireless health devices is lowering the burden on patients to manually incorporate safety data, and building a significant option for patients to observe major swings in reference to drug safety. Therefore, to enhance the adoption of these programs, MAH not only needs to aware patients about advantages of the program, but also recognizes the importance of time of patients and commitments made in a constructive manner. It is indispensable that strengthening the public health is considered as the topmost priority in such programs, and the MAH is compliant to Pharmacovigilance (PV) requirements along with regulatory obligations.

Keywords: Drug safety, good pharmacovigilance practice, patient support program, pharmacovigilance.

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Authors: Chin-Yu Lee, Iau-Teh Wang

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The mountain road slope failures triggered by earthquake activities and torrential rain namely to create the disaster. Province Road No. 24 is a main route to the Wutai Township. The area of the study is located at the mileages between 46K and 47K along the road. However, the road has been suffered frequent damages as a result of landslide and slope failures during typhoon seasons. An understanding of the sliding behaviors in the area appears to be necessary. Slope failures triggered by earthquake activities and heavy rainfalls occur frequently. The study is to understand the mechanism of slope failures and to look for the way to deal with the situation. In order to achieve these objectives, this paper is based on theoretical and structural geology data interpretation program to assess the potential slope sliding behavior. The study showed an intimate relationship between the landslide behavior of the slopes and the stratum materials, based on structural geology analysis method to analysis slope stability and finds the slope safety coefficient to predict the sites of destroyed layer. According to the case study and parameter analyses results, the slope mainly slips direction compared to the site located in the southeast area. Find rainfall to result in the rise of groundwater level is main reason of the landslide mechanism. Future need to set up effective horizontal drain at corrective location, that can effective restrain mountain road slope failures and increase stability of slope.

Keywords: slope stability analysis, Stereographic Projection, wedge Failure.

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Authors: Umm-e- Kalsoom, M. Arshad, Sadia Iqbal, M. Usman, M. Adnan

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The research study evaluated the performance of irrigation system by using special scientific tools like Remote Sensing and GIS technology, so that proper measurements could be taken for the sustainable agriculture and water management. Different performance evaluation parameters had been calculated for the purposed data was gathered from field investigation and different government and private organizations. According to the calculations, organic matter ranges from 0.19% (low value) to 0.76% (high value). In flat irrigation system for wheat yield ranges from 3347.16 to 5260.39 kg/ha, while the total water applied to wheat crop ranges from 252.94 to 279.19 mm and WUE ranges from 13.07 to 18.37 kg/ha/mm. For rice yield ranges from 3347.47 to 5433.07 kg/ha with total water supplied to rice crop ranges from 764.71 to 978.15 mm and WUE ranges from 3.49 to 5.71 kg/ha/mm. Similarly, in raised bed system wheat yield ranges from 4569.13 to 6008.60 kg/ha, total water supplied ranges from 158.87 to 185.09 mm and WUE ranges from 27.20 to 33.54 kg/ha/mm while in rice crop, yield ranges from 5285.04 to 6716.69 kg/ha, total water supplied ranges from 600.72 to 755.06 mm and WUE ranges from 6.41 to 10.05 kg/ha/mm. Almost 51.3% water saving is observed in bed irrigation system as compared to flat system. Less water supplied to beds is more affective as its WUE value is higher than flat system where more water is supplied in both the seasons. Similarly, RWS values show that maximum water deficit while minimum area is getting adequate water supply. Greater yield is recorded in bed system as plant per square meter is more in bed system in comparison of flat system Thus, the integration of GIS tools to regularly compute performance indices could provide irrigation managers with the means for managing efficiently the irrigation system.

Keywords: Field survey, Relative Water Supply (RWS), Remote sensing maps, Water Use Efficiency (WUE).

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Authors: Marco Raciti Castelli, Giulia Simioni, Ernesto Benini

Abstract:

This paper presents a model for the evaluation of energy performance and aerodynamic forces acting on a three-bladed small vertical axis Darrieus wind turbine depending on blade chord curvature with respect to rotor axis. The adopted survey methodology is based on an analytical code coupled to a solid modeling software, capable of generating the desired blade geometry depending on the blade design geometric parameters, which is linked to a finite volume CFD code for the calculation of rotor performance. After describing and validating the model with experimental data, the results of numerical simulations are proposed on the bases of two different blade profile architectures, which are respectively characterized by a straight chord and by a curved one, having a chord radius equal to rotor external circumference. A CFD campaign of analysis is completed for three blade-candidate airfoil sections, that is the recently-developed DU 06-W-200 cambered blade profile, a classical symmetrical NACA 0021 and its derived cambered airfoil, characterized by a curved chord, having a chord radius equal to rotor external circumference. The effects of blade chord curvature on angle of attack, blade tangential and normal forces are first investigated and then the overall rotor torque and power are analyzed as a function of blade azimuthal position, achieving a numerical quantification of the influence of blade camber on overall rotor performance.

Keywords: VAWT, NACA 0021, DU 06-W-200, cambered airfoil

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Authors: Libena Cernohorska

Abstract:

The goal of this paper is to specify factors influencing the profitability of selected banks. Next, a model will be created to help establish variables that have a demonstrable influence on the development of the selected banks' profitability ratios. Czech banks and their international parent companies were selected for analyzing profitability. Banks categorized as large banks (according to the Czech National Bank's system, which ranks banks according to balance sheet total) were selected to represent the Czech banks. Two ratios, the return on assets ratio (ROA) and the return on equity ratio (ROE) are used to assess bank profitability. Six endogenous and four external indicators were selected from among other factors that influence bank profitability. The data analyzed were for 2001–2013. First, correlation analysis, which was supposed to eliminate correlated values, was conducted. A large number of correlated values were established on the basis of this analysis. The strongly correlated values were omitted. Despite this, the subsequent regression analysis of profitability for the individual banks that were selected did not confirm that the selected variables influenced their profitability. The studied factors' influence on bank profitability was demonstrated only for Ceskoslovenska Obchodni Banka and Société Générale using regression analysis. For Československa Obchodni Banka, it was demonstrated that inflation level and the amount of the central bank's interest rate influenced the return on assets ratio and that capital adequacy and market concentration influenced the return on equity ratio for Société Générale.

Keywords: Banks, profitability, regression analysis, ROA, ROE.

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Authors: G. Sarojamma, K. Vendabai

Abstract:

An analysis is carried out to investigate the effect of magnetic field and heat source on the steady boundary layer flow and heat transfer of a Casson nanofluid over a vertical cylinder stretching exponentially along its radial direction. Using a similarity transformation, the governing mathematical equations, with the boundary conditions are reduced to a system of coupled, non –linear ordinary differential equations. The resulting system is solved numerically by the fourth order Runge – Kutta scheme with shooting technique. The influence of various physical parameters such as Reynolds number, Prandtl number, magnetic field, Brownian motion parameter, thermophoresis parameter, Lewis number and the natural convection parameter are presented graphically and discussed for non – dimensional velocity, temperature and nanoparticle volume fraction. Numerical data for the skin – friction coefficient, local Nusselt number and the local Sherwood number have been tabulated for various parametric conditions. It is found that the local Nusselt number is a decreasing function of Brownian motion parameter Nb and the thermophoresis parameter Nt.

Keywords: Casson nanofluid, Boundary layer flow, Internal heat generation/absorption, Exponentially stretching cylinder, Heat transfer, Brownian motion, Thermophoresis.

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Authors: Mohamed El Morsy, Gabriela Achtenová

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Research on damage of gears and gear pairs using vibration signals remains very attractive, because vibration signals from a gear pair are complex in nature and not easy to interpret. Predicting gear pair defects by analyzing changes in vibration signal of gears pairs in operation is a very reliable method. Therefore, a suitable vibration signal processing technique is necessary to extract defect information generally obscured by the noise from dynamic factors of other gear pairs.This article presents the value of cepstrum analysis in vehicle gearbox fault diagnosis. Cepstrum represents the overall power content of a whole family of harmonics and sidebands when more than one family of sidebands is present at the same time. The concept for the measurement and analysis involved in using the technique are briefly outlined. Cepstrum analysis is used for detection of an artificial pitting defect in a vehicle gearbox loaded with different speeds and torques. The test stand is equipped with three dynamometers; the input dynamometer serves asthe internal combustion engine, the output dynamometers introduce the load on the flanges of the output joint shafts. The pitting defect is manufactured on the tooth side of a gear of the fifth speed on the secondary shaft. Also, a method for fault diagnosis of gear faults is presented based on order Cepstrum. The procedure is illustrated with the experimental vibration data of the vehicle gearbox. The results show the effectiveness of Cepstrum analysis in detection and diagnosis of the gear condition.

Keywords: Cepstrum analysis, fault diagnosis, gearbox.

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Authors: Ofelia A. Damag

Abstract:

The study was focused on the development and assessment of the illustrated language activities of the 1996 Edition of the Portage Guide to Early Education. It determined the extent of appropriateness, applicability, time efficiency and aesthetics of the illustrated language activities to be used as instructional material not only by teachers, but parents and caregivers as well. The eclectic research design was applied in this study using qualitative and quantitative methods. To determine the applicability and time efficiency of the study, a try out was done. Since the eclectic research design was used, it made use of a researcher-made survey questionnaire and focus group discussion. Analysis of the data was done through weighted mean and ANOVA. The respondents of the study were representatives of Special Education (SPED) teachers, caregivers and parents of a special-needs child, particularly with difficulties in learning basic language skills. The results of the study show that a large number of respondents are SPED teachers and caregivers and are mostly college graduates. Many of them have earned units towards Master’s studies. Moreover, a majority of the respondents have not attended seminars or in-service training in early intervention for them to be more competent in the area of specialization. It is concluded that the illustrated language activities under review in this study are appropriate, applicable, time efficient and aesthetic for use as a tool in teaching. The recommendations are focused on the advocacy for SPED teachers, caregivers and parents of special-needs children to be more consistent in the implementation of the new instructional materials as an aid in an intervention program.

Keywords: Illustrated language activities, inclusion, portage guide to early education, special educational needs.

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Authors: Hani N. Hermiz, Sukar H. Ali

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This study include the effect of strain and storage period and their interaction on some quantitative and qualitative traits and percentages of the egg components in the eggs collected at the start of production (at age 24 weeks). Eggs were divided into three storage periods (1, 7 and 14) days under refrigerator temperature (5- 7)0C. Fifty seven eggs obtained randomly from each strain including Isa Brown and Lohman White. General Linear Model within SAS programme was used to analyze the collected data and correlations between the studied traits were calculated for each strain.Average egg weight (EW), Haugh Unit (HU), yolk index (YI), yolk % (HP), albumin % (AP) and yolk to albumin ratio (YAR) was 56.629 gm, 87.968 %, 0.493, 22.13%, 67.74% and 32.76 respectively. Egg produced from ISA Brown surpassed those produced by Lohman White significantly (P<0.01) in EW (59.337 vs. 53.921 g) and AP (68.46 vs. 67.02 %), while Lohman White surpassed ISA Brown significantly (P<0.01) in HU (91.998 against 83.939 %), YI (0.498 against 0.487), YP (22.83 against 21.44%) and YAR (34.12 against 31.40). Storage period did not have any significant effect on EW and YI. Increasing the storage period caused a significant (P<0.01) decrease in HU. A non-significant increasing in YP and significant decreasing in AP % due to increasing storage period caused a significant increasing in YAR. The interaction between strain and storage period affect EW, HU and YI significantly (P <0.01), while its effect on YP, AP and YAR was not significant. Highest and significant (P<0.01) correlation was recorded between YP with YAR (0.99) in both strains, while the lowest values were between AP with YAR and being -0.97 and -0.95 in ISA Brown and Lohman White, respectively. The conclusion: increasing storage period caused a few decreasing in egg weight and this enabling the consumer to store eggs without any damage. Because of using the albumin in many food industries, so it is very important to focus on its weight. The correlations between some of the studied traits were significant, which means that selection for any trait will improve other traits.

Keywords: Quality, Quantity, Storage period, Strain, Table egg

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Authors: A. R. Azrin Hani, R. Ahmad, M. Mariatti

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Textile structures are engineered and fabricated to meet worldwide structural applications. Nevertheless, research varying textile structure on natural fibre as composite reinforcement was found to be very limited. Most of the research is focusing on short fibre and random discontinuous orientation of the reinforcement structure. Realizing that natural fibre (NF) composite had been widely developed to be used as synthetic fibre composite replacement, this research attempted to examine the influence of woven and cross-ply laminated structure towards its mechanical performances. Laminated natural fibre composites were developed using hand lay-up and vacuum bagging technique. Impact and flexural strength were investigated as a function of fibre type (coir and kenaf) and reinforcement structure (imbalanced plain woven, 0°/90° cross-ply and +45°/-45° cross-ply). Multi-level full factorial design of experiment (DOE) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed to impart data as to how fibre type and reinforcement structure parameters affect the mechanical properties of the composites. This systematic experimentation has led to determination of significant factors that predominant influences the impact and flexural properties of the textile composites. It was proven that both fibre type and reinforcement structure demonstrated significant difference results. Overall results indicated that coir composite and woven structure exhibited better impact and flexural strength. Yet, cross-ply composite structure demonstrated better fracture resistance.

Keywords: Cross-ply composite, Flexural strength, Impact strength, Textile natural fibre composite, Woven composite.

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Authors: Yusri Yusof, Stephen Newman, Aydin Nassehi, Keith Case

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The changing economic climate has made global manufacturing a growing reality over the last decade, forcing companies from east and west and all over the world to collaborate beyond geographic boundaries in the design, manufacture and assemble of products. The ISO10303 and ISO14649 Standards (STEP and STEP-NC) have been developed to introduce interoperability into manufacturing enterprises so as to meet the challenge of responding to production on demand. This paper describes and illustrates a STEP compliant CAD/CAPP/CAM System for the manufacture of rotational parts on CNC turning centers. The information models to support the proposed system together with the data models defined in the ISO14649 standard used to create the NC programs are also described. A structured view of a STEP compliant CAD/CAPP/CAM system framework supporting the next generation of intelligent CNC controllers for turn/mill component manufacture is provided. Finally a proposed computational environment for a STEP-NC compliant system for turning operations (SCSTO) is described. SCSTO is the experimental part of the research supported by the specification of information models and constructed using a structured methodology and object-oriented methods. SCSTO was developed to generate a Part 21 file based on machining features to support the interactive generation of process plans utilizing feature extraction. A case study component has been developed to prove the concept for using the milling and turning parts of ISO14649 to provide a turn-mill CAD/CAPP/CAM environment.

Keywords:

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Authors: Azadeh Yazdi, Mohammadreza Nezamirad, Sepideh Amirahmadian, Nasim Sabetpour, Amirmasoud Hamedi

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Cavitation inside diesel injector nozzle is investigated using Reynolds-Stress-Navier stokes equations. Schnerr-Sauer cavitation model is used for modeling cavitation inside diesel injector nozzle. The carrying fluid utilized in the current study is diesel fuel. The flow is verified at the beginning by comparing with the previous experimental data and it was found that K-Epsilon turbulent model could lead to a better accuracy comparing to K-Omega turbulent model. Moreover, mass flow rate obtained numerically is compared with the experimental value and discrepancy was found to be less than 5% - which shows the accuracy of the current results. Finally, a real-size four-hole nozzle is investigated and the flow inside it is visualized based on velocity profile, discharge coefficient and cavitation number. It was found that the mesh density could be reduced significantly by utilizing periodic boundary condition. Velocity contour at the mid nozzle showed that maximum value of velocity occurs at the end of the needle before entering the orifice area. Last but not least, at the same boundary conditions, when different needle heights were utilized, it was found that as needle height increases with an increase in cavitation number, discharge coefficient increases, while the mentioned increases is more tangible at smaller values of needle heights.

Keywords: cavitation, diesel fuel, CFD, real size nozzle, mass flow rate

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Authors: Rishabh Garg

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Blockchain technology can allow remote, untrusted parties in the banking and financial sector to reach consensus on the state of databases without the involvement of gatekeepers. Like a bookkeeper, it can manage all financial transactions including payments, settlements, fundraising, securities management, loans, credits and trade finance. It can outperform existing systems in terms of identity verification, asset transfers, peer-to-peer transfers, hedge funds, security and auditability. Blockchain-based decentralized finance (DeFi) is a new financial protocol. Being open and programmable, it enables various DeFi use-cases, including asset management, tokenization, tokenized derivatives, decentralized autonomous organizations, data analysis and valuation, payments, lending and borrowing, insurance, margin trading, prediction market, gambling and yield-farming, etc. In addition, it can ease financial transactions, cash-flow, use of programmable currency, no-loss lotteries, etc. This paper aims to assess the potential of decentralized finance by leveraging the blockchain-enabled Ethereum platform as an alternative to traditional finance. The study also aims to find out the impact of decentralized finance on prediction markets, quadratic funding and crowd-funding, together with the potential challenges and solutions associated with its implementation.

Keywords: Advance trading, crowd funding, exchange tokens, fund aggregation, margin trading, quadratic funding, smart contracts, streaming money, token derivatives.

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Authors: N. Muthukumaran, R. Ravi

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The Simulation based VLSI Implementation of FELICS (Fast Efficient Lossless Image Compression System) Algorithm is proposed to provide the lossless image compression and is implemented in simulation oriented VLSI (Very Large Scale Integrated). To analysis the performance of Lossless image compression and to reduce the image without losing image quality and then implemented in VLSI based FELICS algorithm. In FELICS algorithm, which consists of simplified adjusted binary code for Image compression and these compression image is converted in pixel and then implemented in VLSI domain. This parameter is used to achieve high processing speed and minimize the area and power. The simplified adjusted binary code reduces the number of arithmetic operation and achieved high processing speed. The color difference preprocessing is also proposed to improve coding efficiency with simple arithmetic operation. Although VLSI based FELICS Algorithm provides effective solution for hardware architecture design for regular pipelining data flow parallelism with four stages. With two level parallelisms, consecutive pixels can be classified into even and odd samples and the individual hardware engine is dedicated for each one. This method can be further enhanced by multilevel parallelisms.

Keywords: Image compression, Pixel, Compression Ratio, Adjusted Binary code, Golumb Rice code, High Definition display, VLSI Implementation.

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Authors: Ashraf Pirasteh, Alireza Hidarnia, Ali Asghari, Soghrate Faghihzadeh, Fazlollah Ghofranipour

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Background: Regular physical activity contributes positively to physical and psychological health. In the present study, the stages of change of physical activity and the total physical Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the proportion of adolescent girls in each stages of change and the causative factors associated with physical activity such as the related social support and self efficacy in a sample of the high school students. Methods: In this study, Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and the Transtheorical Model (TTM) guided instrument development. The data regarding the demographics, psychosocial determinants of physical activity, stage of change and physical activity was gathered by questionnaires. Several measures of psychosocial determinants of physical activity were translated from English into Persian using the back-translation technique. These translated measures were administered to 512 ninth and tenth-grade Iranian high school students for factor analysis. Results: The distribution of the stage of change for physical activity was as follow: 18/5% in precontemplation, 23.4% in contemplation, 38.2% in preparation, 4.6% in action and 15.3% in maintenance. They were in 80.1% pre-adoption stages (precontemplation stage, contemplation stage and preparation stage) and 19.9% post-adoption stages (action stage and maintenance stage) of physical activity. There was a significant relate between age and physical activity in adolescent girls (age-related decline of physical activity) p<0001. Conclusion: The findings of the present study can contribute to improve health behaviors and for administration of health promotion programs in the adolescent populations.

Keywords: Adolescent, Iranian girls, Physical activity, Stages of change

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Authors: P. Sophon, M. Kruachanta, S. Chaisri, G. Leaungvongpaisan, P. Wongpornchai

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The thick bed hydrocarbon reservoirs are primarily interested because of the more prolific production. When the amount of petroleum in the thick bed starts decreasing, the thin bed reservoirs are the alternative targets to maintain the reserves. The conventional interpretation of seismic data cannot delineate the thin bed having thickness less than the vertical seismic resolution. Therefore, spectral decomposition and instantaneous seismic attributes were used to delineate the thin bed in this study. Short Window Discrete Fourier Transform (SWDFT) spectral decomposition and instantaneous frequency attributes were used to reveal the thin bed reservoir, while Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) spectral decomposition and envelope (instantaneous amplitude) attributes were used to indicate hydrocarbon bearing zone. The study area is located in the Pohokura Field, Taranaki Basin, New Zealand. The thin bed target is the uppermost part of Mangahewa Formation, the most productive in the gas-condensate production in the Pohokura Field. According to the time-frequency analysis, SWDFT spectral decomposition can reveal the thin bed using a 72 Hz SWDFT isofrequency section and map, and that is confirmed by the instantaneous frequency attribute. The envelope attribute showing the high anomaly indicates the hydrocarbon accumulation area at the thin bed target. Moreover, the CWT spectral decomposition shows the low-frequency shadow zone and abnormal seismic attenuation in the higher isofrequencies below the thin bed confirms that the thin bed can be a prospective hydrocarbon zone.

Keywords: Hydrocarbon indication, instantaneous seismic attribute, spectral decomposition, thin bed delineation.

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Authors: Bohsiu Wu

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Among serious crimes, child homicide is a rather rare event. However, the killing of children stirs up a special type of emotion in society that pales other criminal acts. This study examines the relevancy of three possible community-level explanations for child homicide: social deprivation, female empowerment, and social isolation. The social deprivation hypothesis posits that child homicide results from lack of resources in communities. The female empowerment hypothesis argues that a higher female status translates into a higher level of capability to prevent child homicide. Finally, the social isolation hypothesis regards child homicide as a result of lack of social connectivity. Child homicide data, aggregated by US postal ZIP codes in California from 1990 to 1999, were analyzed with a negative binomial regression. The results of the negative binomial analysis demonstrate that social deprivation is the most salient and consistent predictor among all other factors in explaining child homicide victimization at the ZIP-code level. Both social isolation and female labor force participation are weak predictors of child homicide victimization across communities. Further, results from the negative binomial regression show that it is the communities with a higher, not lower, degree of female labor force participation that are associated with a higher count of child homicide. It is possible that poor communities with a higher level of female employment have a lesser capacity to provide the necessary care and protection for the children. Policies aiming at reducing social deprivation and strengthening female empowerment possess the potential to reduce child homicide in the community.

Keywords: Child homicide, deprivation, empowerment, isolation.

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