Search results for: Chinese higher education

Authors: Hyunhee Ryu, Young Ju Jeon, Jaeuk U. Kim, Hae Jung Lee, Yu Jung Lee, Jong Yeol Kim

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The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of blood viscosity on the radial pulse wave. For this, we obtained the radial pulse wave of 15 males with abnormal high hematocrit level and 47 males with normal hematocrit level at the age of thirties and forties. Various variables of the radial pulse wave between two groups were analyzed and compared by Student's T test. There are significant differences in several variables about height, time and area of the pulse wave. The first peak of the radial pulse wave was higher in abnormal high hematocrit group, but the third peak was higher and longer in normal hematocrit group. Our results suggest that the radial pulse wave can be used for diagnosis of high blood viscosity and more clinical application.

Keywords: Radial pulse wave, Blood viscosity, Hematocrit.

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Authors: Abdulfatah Al-Jaradi, Marzoq Ali Odhah, Abdulnasser A. Haza’a

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Background: Antenatal care can be defined as the care provided by skilled healthcare professionals to pregnant women and adolescent girls to ensure the best health conditions for both mother and baby during pregnancy. The components of Antenatal Care (ANC) include risk identification; prevention and management of pregnancy-related or concurrent diseases; and health education and health promotion. The aim of this study: to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of pregnant women regarding ANC. Methodology: A descriptive knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) study was conducted in public hospitals in Sana'a City, Yemen. The study population included all pregnant women that intended to the prenatal department and clinical outpatient department; the final sample size was 371 pregnant women. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data, statistical package for social sciences SPSS was used to data analysis. The results: Most (79%) of pregnant women had correct answers in total knowledge regarding ANC, and about two-thirds (67%) of pregnant women had performance practice regarding ANC and two-third (68%) of pregnant women had a positive attitude. Conclusions: More than three quarter of pregnant women had good knowledge level, most of pregnant women had moderate practice level, and more than two-thirds of pregnant women had a positive attitude regarding antenatal care. There was a statistically significant association between overall knowledge and practice level toward ANC and demographic characteristics of pregnant women, at P-value ≤ 0.05. Recommendations: we recommended more education and training courses, lecturers, and education sessions in clinical facilitators focused on ANC, which relies on evidence-based interventions provided to women during pregnancy by skilled healthcare providers such as midwives, doctors, and nurses.

Keywords: Antenatal care, knowledge, practice, attitude, pregnant women.

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Authors: Zhang Bian, Zhao Jijun

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The urban layout of Xi’an city (the capital Chang’an in the Tang dynasty) was shaped by feudal etiquette, but this dominant factor was replaced by modern city planning during the period of the Republic of China. This makes Xi’an a representative case to explore the transformation process of Chinese cities in the early 20^th century. By analyzing the contrast and connection between the historical texts of city planning and the realistic construction activities recorded by the maps and images, this paper reviews the transformation process of the urban space of Xi’an in the early 20^th century and divides it into four phases according to important events that significantly impacted planning and construction activities. Based on this, the entire transformation of Xi’an’s city planning and practices can be characterized by three aspects: 1) the dominant force of the city plan and construction changed with the establishment of modern city administrations; 2) the layout of the city was continuously broadened to meet the demand of modern economy and city life; and, 3) the ritual space was transformed into practical space for commercial and recreational activities.

Keywords: City space, early 20th century, transformation, Xi’an city.

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Authors: Glenn M. Calaguas, Carmela S. Dizon

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This study aimed to develop and initially validate an instrument that measures social competency among tertiary level faculty members. A review of extant literature on social competence was done. The review of extant literature led to the writing of the items in the initial instrument which was evaluated by 11 Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). The SMEs were either educators or psychologists. The results of the evaluations done by the SMEs served as bases for the creation of the pre-try-out instrument used in the first trial-run. Insights from the first trial-run participants led to the development of the main try-out instrument used in the final test administration. One Hundred Forty-one participants from five private Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the National Capital Region (NCR) and five private HEIs in Central Luzon in the Philippines participated in the final test administration. The reliability of the instrument was evaluated using Cronbach-s Coefficient Alpha formula and had a Cronbach-s Alpha of 0.92. On the other hand, Factor Analysis was used to evaluate the validity of the instrument and six factors were identified. The development of the final instrument was based on the results of the evaluation of the instrument-s reliability and validity. For purposes of recognition, the instrument was named “Social Competency Inventory for Tertiary Level Faculty Members (SCI-TLFM)."

Keywords: development, initial validation, social competency, tertiary level faculty members

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Authors: Jin Hou, Xia Wang, Fang Xu, Viet Dung Nguyen, Ling Wu

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There has been a growing interest in implementing humanoid avatars in networked virtual environment. However, most existing avatar communication systems do not take avatars- social backgrounds into consideration. This paper proposes a novel humanoid avatar animation system to represent personalities and facial emotions of avatars based on culture, profession, mood, age, taste, and so forth. We extract semantic keywords from the input text through natural language processing, and then the animations of personalized avatars are retrieved and displayed according to the order of the keywords. Our primary work is focused on giving avatars runtime instruction from multiple natural languages. Experiments with Chinese, Japanese and English input based on the prototype show that interactive avatar animations can be displayed in real time and be made available online. This system provides a more natural and interesting means of human communication, and therefore is expected to be used for cross-cultural communication, multiuser online games, and other entertainment applications.

Keywords: personalized avatar, mutiple natural luanguage processing, social backgrounds, anmimation, human computer interaction

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Authors: S. Bourennane, A. Bendjama

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This paper deals with the localization of the wideband sources. We develop a new approach for estimating the wide band sources parameters. This method is based on the high order statistics of the recorded data in order to eliminate the Gaussian components from the signals received on the various hydrophones.In fact the noise of sea bottom is regarded as being Gaussian. Thanks to the coherent signal subspace algorithm based on the cumulant matrix of the received data instead of the cross-spectral matrix the wideband correlated sources are perfectly located in the very noisy environment. We demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm on the real data recorded during an underwater acoustics experiments.

Keywords: Higher-order statistics, high resolution array processing techniques, localization of acoustics sources, wide band sources.

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Authors: Carol B. Collins, M. H. N Tabrizi

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The purposes of this paper are to (1) promote excellence in computer science by suggesting a cohesive innovative approach to fill well documented deficiencies in current computer science education, (2) justify (using the authors' and others anecdotal evidence from both the classroom and the real world) why this approach holds great potential to successfully eliminate the deficiencies, (3) invite other professionals to join the authors in proof of concept research. The authors' experiences, though anecdotal, strongly suggest that a new approach involving visual modeling technologies should allow computer science programs to retain a greater percentage of prospective and declared majors as students become more engaged learners, more successful problem-solvers, and better prepared as programmers. In addition, the graduates of such computer science programs will make greater contributions to the profession as skilled problem-solvers. Instead of wearily rememorizing code as they move to the next course, students will have the problem-solving skills to think and work in more sophisticated and creative ways.

Keywords: Algorithms, CASE, UML, Problem-solving.

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Authors: Zhankun Wang, Timothy Makubuya

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The efficiency of public sports service of prefecture-level cities in Zhejiang from 2008 to 2012 was evaluated by applying the DEA method, then its influencing factors were also analyzed through Tobit model. Upon analysis, the results revealed the following; (i) the change in average efficiency of public sports service in Zhejiang present a smooth uptrend and at a relatively high level from 2008 to 2012 (ii) generally, the productivity of public sports service in Zhejiang improved from 2008 to 2012, the productivity efficiency varied greatly in different years, and the regional difference of production efficiency increased. (iii) The correlations for urbanization rate, aging rate, per capita GDP and the population density were significantly positive with the public sports service efficiency in Zhejiang, of which the most significant was the aging rate. However, the population density and per capita GDP had less impact on the efficiency of public sports service in Zhejiang. In addition, whether the efficiency of public sports services in different areas in Zhejiang reciprocates to overall benefits in public wellbeing in both rural and urban settings is still arguable.

Keywords: DEA Model, public sports service, efficiency, Tobit model, Malmquist productivity index, Zhejiang.

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Authors: Veronika Pivkina, Alla Kim, Khon Nataliya

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In this paper, the actuality of the study, and the role of subjective well-being problem in modern psychology and the comprehending of subjective well-being by current students is defined. The purpose of this research is to educe peculiarities of comprehending of subjective well-being by students with various levels of emotional intelligence. Methods of research are adapted Russian-Language questionnaire of K. Riff 'The scales of psychological well-being'; emotional intelligence questionnaire of D. V. Lusin. The research involved 72 students from different universities and disciplines aged between 18 and 24. Analyzing the results of the studies, it can be concluded that the understanding of happiness in different groups of students with high and low levels of overall emotional intelligence is different, as well as differentiated by gender. Students with a higher level of happiness possess more capacity and higher need to control their emotions, to cause and maintain the desired emotions and control something undesirable.

Keywords: Subjective well-being, emotional intelligence, psychology of comprehending, students.

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Authors: Xiaobai Li, Li Li, Yujin Hu, Weiming Deng, Zhe Ding

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A size-dependent Euler–Bernoulli beam model, which accounts for nonlocal stress field, strain gradient field and higher order inertia force field, is derived based on the nonlocal strain gradient theory considering velocity gradient effect. The governing equations and boundary conditions are derived both in dimensional and dimensionless form by employed the Hamilton principle. The analytical solutions based on different continuum theories are compared. The effect of higher order inertia terms is extremely significant in high frequency range. It is found that there exists an asymptotic frequency for the proposed beam model, while for the nonlocal strain gradient theory the solutions diverge. The effect of strain gradient field in thickness direction is significant in low frequencies domain and it cannot be neglected when the material strain length scale parameter is considerable with beam thickness. The influence of each of three size effect parameters on the natural frequencies are investigated. The natural frequencies increase with the increasing material strain gradient length scale parameter or decreasing velocity gradient length scale parameter and nonlocal parameter.

Keywords: Euler-Bernoulli Beams, free vibration, higher order inertia, nonlocal strain gradient theory, velocity gradient.

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Authors: Veronica Diaz Quezada

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In this article, the performance and errors are featured and analysed in the limit problems solving of a real-valued function, in correspondence to competency-based education in engineering careers, in the south of Chile. The methodological component is contextualised in a qualitative research, with a descriptive and explorative design, with elaboration, content validation and application of quantitative instruments, consisting of two parallel forms of open answer tests, based on limit application problems. The mathematical competences and errors made by students from five engineering careers from a public University are identified and characterized. Results show better performance only to solve routine-context problem-solving competence, thus they are oriented towards a rational solution or they use a suitable problem-solving method, achieving the correct solution. Regarding errors, most of them are related to techniques and the incorrect use of theorems and definitions of real-valued function limits of real variable.

Keywords: Engineering education, errors, limits, mathematics competences, problem solving.

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Authors: Ayuko Itsuki, Sachiyo Aburatani

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We assessed the ecology of the organic and mineral soil layers of laurel-leaved (BB-1) and Cryptomeria japonica (BB-2 and Pw) forests in the Kasugayama Hill Primeval Forest (Nara, Japan). The soil respiration rate was higher in the deeper horizons (F and H) of organic layers than in those of mineral soil layers, suggesting organic layers may be where active microbial metabolism occurs. Respiration rates in the soil of BB-1, BB-2 and Pw forests were closely similar at 5 and 10°C. However, the soil respiration rate increased in proportion to temperatures of 15°C or above. We therefore consider the activity of soil microorganisms to markedly decrease at temperatures below 10°C. At a temperature of 15°C or above, the soil respiration rate in the BB-1 organic layers was higher than in those of the BB-2 and Pw organic layers, due to differences in forest vegetation that appeared to influence several salient soil properties, particularly pH and the carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) content of the F and H horizons.

Keywords: Forest soil, mineralization rate, soil respiration rate.

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Authors: Pek Chuen-Khee, Jamal Othman

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This paper estimates the economic values of household preference for enhanced solid waste disposal services in Malaysia. The contingent valuation (CV) method estimates an average additional monthly willingness-to-pay (WTP) in solid waste management charges of Ôé¼0.77 to 0.80 for improved waste disposal services quality. The finding of a slightly higher WTP from the generic CV question than that of label-specific, further reveals a higher WTP for sanitary landfill, at Ôé¼0.90, than incineration, at Ôé¼0.63. This suggests that sanitary landfill is a more preferred alternative. The logistic regression estimation procedure reveals that household-s concern of where their rubbish is disposed, age, ownership of house, household income and format of CV question are significant factors in influencing WTP.

Keywords: contingent valuation, logistic regression, solid waste disposal, willingness-to-pay.

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Authors: Ya-Ting Carolyn Yang, Ping-Han Cheng, Shi-Hui Gilbert Chang, Terry Yuan-Fang Chen, Chih-Chieh Li

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Nanotechnology is widely applied in various areas so professionals in the related fields have to know more than nano knowledge. In the study, we focus on adopting ICT-assisted PBL in college general education to foster professionals who possess multiple abilities. The research adopted a pretest and posttest quasi-experimental design. The control group received traditional instruction, and the experimental group received ICT-assisted PBL instruction. Descriptive statistics will be used to describe the means, standard deviations, and adjusted means for the tests between the two groups. Next, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) will be used to compare the final results of the two research groups after 6 weeks of instruction. Statistics gathered in the end of the research can be used to make contrasts. Therefore, we will see how different teaching strategies can improve students’ understanding about nanotechnology and learning skills.

Keywords: Nanotechnology, science education, project-based learning, information and communication technology.

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Authors: A. Szabó Nagy, J. Szabó, Zs. Csanádi, J. Erdős

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An assessment of the air quality of Győr (Hungary) was performed by determining the ambient concentrations of PM10-bound carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (cPAHs) in different seasons. A high volume sampler was used for the collection of ambient aerosol particles, and the associated cPAH compounds (benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), benzo[a]anthracene, benzofluoranthene isomers, indeno[123-cd]pyrene and dibenzo[ah]anthracene) were analyzed by a gas chromatographic method. Higher mean concentrations of total cPAHs were detected in samples collected in winter (9.62 ng/m³) and autumn (2.69 ng/m³) compared to spring (1.05 ng/m³) and summer (0.21 ng/m³). The calculated BaP toxic equivalent concentrations have also reflected that the local population appears to be exposed to significantly higher cancer risk in the heating seasons. Moreover, the concentration levels of cPAHs determined in this study were compared to other Hungarian urban sites.

Keywords: Air, carcinogenic, PAH, PM10.

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Authors: A. Khalina, K. Shaharuddin, M. S. Wahab, M. P. Saiman, H. A. Aisyah

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This paper investigates the effect of alkali treatment and mechanical properties of kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) fibre for the development of yarn. Two different fibre sources are used for the yarn production. Kenaf fibres were treated with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) in the concentration of 3, 6, 9, and 12% prior to fibre opening process and tested for their tensile strength and Young’s modulus. Then, the selected fibres were introduced to fibre opener at three different opening processing parameters; namely, speed of roller feeder, small drum, and big drum. The diameter size, surface morphology, and fibre durability towards machine of the fibres were characterized. The results show that concentrations of NaOH used have greater effects on fibre mechanical properties. From this study, the tensile and modulus properties of the treated fibres for both types have improved significantly as compared to untreated fibres, especially at the optimum level of 6% NaOH. It is also interesting to highlight that 6% NaOH is the optimum concentration for the alkaline treatment. The untreated and treated fibres at 6% NaOH were then introduced to fibre opener, and it was found that the treated fibre produced higher fibre diameter with better surface morphology compared to the untreated fibre. Higher speed parameter during opening was found to produce higher yield of opened-kenaf fibres.

Keywords: Alkaline treatment, Kenaf fibre, Tensile strength, Yarn production.

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Authors: P. Murugesan, G. Venkateswaran, V. A. Shanmuga Selvan

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Water used for brewing tea plays a major role in the quality of tea. Water with higher hardness gives very dark coloured brew. This study was conducted to determine the effect of water hardness and free residual chlorine on the quality of black tea liquor. Theaflavin (TF) and Thearubigin (TR) levels are lower in comparison with the tea brewed in distilled water. At the same time, there is an increase in High Polymerized Substance (HPS) and Total Liquor Colour (TLC). While water with higher hardness has a negative impact on tea brew, water with high concentration of free residual chlorine did not affect the quality of tea brew.

Keywords: Theaflavin, Thearubigin, high polymerized substance, total liquor colour, hardness, residual chlorine.

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Authors: R. Yoganathan, H. K. L. K. Gunasekera, R. Hariharan

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Field experiment was conducted to investigate the combine use of animal manure and inorganic fertilizer on growth and yield performance of vegetable cowpea. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with seven treatments. Poultry manure, cattle manure and goat manure were evaluated with recommended level of inorganic fertilizer for vegetable cowpea. The highest crop yield was obtained by the application of poultry manure combined with the recommended level of inorganic fertilizer. The lowest yield was obtained by the application of goat manure only. In addition, the results revealed that the goat manure and cattle manure were inferior to poultry manure as a source of organic manure for vegetable cowpea cultivation. The animal manure combine with chemical fertilizer gave a higher yield when compared to the sole application of animal manure. The soil analysis showed that the nitrogen content and phosphorus content of poultry manure treated plots were higher than other treatments tested. But potassium content was higher in goat manure treated plots. The results further revealed that the poultry manure has a beneficial effect on crop growth and yield compared with other treatments. Therefore, the combined use of poultry manure with inorganic fertilizer application has been recognized as the most suitable way of ensuring high crop yield.

Keywords: Animal manure, inorganic fertilizer, vegetable cowpea, growth and yield performance.

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Authors: V. Spaeth, A. Djerbi-Tegguer

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The recycling of concrete, bricks and masonry rubble as concrete aggregates is an important way to contribute to a sustainable material flow. However, there are still various uncertainties limiting the widespread use of Recycled Concrete Aggregates (RCA). The fluctuations in the composition of grade recycled aggregates and their influence on the properties of fresh and hardened concrete are of particular concern regarding the use of RCA. Most of problems occurring while using recycled concrete aggregates as aggregates are due to higher porosity and hence higher water absorption, lower mechanical strengths, residual impurities on the surface of the RCA forming weaker bond between cement paste and aggregate. So, the reuse of RCA is still limited. Efficient polymer based treatment is proposed in order to reuse RCA easier. The silicon-based polymer treatments of RCA were carried out and were compared. This kind of treatment can improve the properties of RCA such as the rate of water absorption on treated RCA is significantly reduced.

Keywords: Recycled concrete aggregates, water absorption, silicon-based agent and polymer.

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Authors: Abdul Halim Abdullah, Nur Liyana Zainal Abidin, Mahani Mokhtar

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Problem-solving is an activity which can encourage students to use Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS). Learning fractions can be challenging for students since empirical evidence shows that students experience difficulties in solving the fraction problems. However, visual methods can help students to overcome the difficulties since the methods help students to make meaningful visual representations and link abstract concepts in Mathematics. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether there were any changes in students’ HOTS at the four highest levels when learning the fractions by using Thinking Blocks. 54 students participated in a quasi-experiment using pre-tests and post-tests. Students were divided into two groups. The experimental group (n=32) received a treatment to improve the students’ HOTS and the other group acted as the control group (n=22) which used a traditional method. Data were analysed by using Mann-Whitney test. The results indicated that during post-test, students who used Thinking Blocks showed significant improvement in their HOTS level (p=0.000). In addition, the results of post-test also showed that the students’ performance improved significantly at the four highest levels of HOTS; namely, application (p=0.001), analyse (p=0.000), evaluate (p=0.000), and create (p=0.000). Therefore, it can be concluded that Thinking Blocks can effectively encourage students to use the four highest levels of HOTS which consequently enable them to solve fractions problems successfully.

Keywords: Thinking blocks, higher order thinking skills, fractions, problem solving.

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Authors: A. Nielen, S. Mütze-Niewöhner, C. M. Schlick

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In view of growing competition in the service sector, services are as much in need of modeling, analysis and improvement as business or working processes. Graphical process models are important means to capture process-related know-how for an effective management of the service process. In this contribution, a human performance analysis of process model development paying special attention to model development time and the working method was conducted. It was found that modelers with higher application experience need significantly less time for mental activities than modelers with lower application experience, spend more time on labeling graphical elements, and achieved higher process model quality in terms of activity label quality.

Keywords: Model quality, predetermined motion time system, process modeling, working method.

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Authors: Chun-Ying Lee, Kun-Hsien Lee, Bor-Wei Wang

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The process of post-supercritical CO₂ electroplating uses the electrolyte solution after being mixed with supercritical CO₂ and released to atmospheric pressure. It utilizes the microbubbles that form when oversaturated CO₂ in the electrolyte returns to gaseous state, which gives the similar effect of pulsed electroplating. Under atmospheric pressure, the CO₂ bubbles gradually diffuse. Therefore, the introduction of ultrasound and/or other agitation can potentially excite the CO₂ microbubbles to achieve an electroplated surface of even higher quality. In this study, during the electroplating process, three different modes of agitation: magnetic stirrer agitation, ultrasonic agitation and a combined mode (magnetic + ultrasonic) were applied, respectively, in order to obtain an optimal surface morphology and mechanical properties for the electroplated Ni coating. It is found that the combined agitation mode at a current density of 40 A/dm² achieved the smallest grain size, lower surface roughness, and produced an electroplated Ni layer that achieved hardness of 320 HV, much higher when compared with conventional method, which were usually in the range of 160 to 300 HV. However, at the same time, the electroplating with combined agitation developed a higher internal stress of 320 MPa due to the lower current efficiency of the process and finer grain in the coating. Moreover, a new control methodology for tailoring the coating’s mechanical property through its thickness was demonstrated by the timely introduction of ultrasonic agitation during the electroplating process with post supercritical CO₂ mixed electrolyte.

Keywords: Nickel electroplating, micro-bubbles, supercritical carbon dioxide, ultrasonic agitation, magnetic stirring.

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Authors: Ajay V. Kolhe, R. E. Shelke, S. S. Khandare

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The use of biodiesel in conventional diesel engines results in substantial reduction of unburned hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide and particulate matters. The performance, emission and combustion characteristics of a single cylinder four stroke variable compression ratio engine when fueled with Karanja (Pongamia) methyl ester and its 10-50 % blends with diesel (on a volume basis) are investigated and compared with standard diesel. The suitability of karanja methyl ester as a biofuel has been established in this study. The useful brake power obtained is similar to diesel fuel for all loads. Experiment has been conducted at a fixed engine speed of 1500 rpm, variable load and at compression ratios of 17.5:1 and 18.5:1. The impact of compression ratio on fuel consumption, combustion pressures and exhaust gas emissions has been investigated and presented. Optimum compression ratio which gives best performance has been identified. The results indicate longer ignition delay, maximum rate of pressure rise, lower heat release rate and higher mass fraction burnt at higher compression ratio for pongamia oil methyl ester when compared to that of diesel. The brake thermal efficiency for pongamia oil methyl ester blends and diesel has been calculated and the blend B20 is found to give maximum thermal efficiency. The blends when used as fuel results in reduction of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon and increase in nitrogen oxides emissions. PME as an oxygenated fuel generated more complete combustion, which means increased torque and power. This is also supported with higher thermal efficiencies of the PME blends. NO_x is slightly increased due to the higher combustion temperature and the presence of fuel oxygen with the blend at full load. PME as a new Biodiesel and its blends can be used in diesel engines without any engine modification.

Keywords: Variable compression ratio CI engine, performance, combustion, emissions, biodiesel.

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Authors: Ali Cheraghian, Farshid Hajati, Soheila Gheisari, Yongsheng Gao

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In this paper, we present a novel 2.5D face recognition method based on Gabor Discrete Cosine Transform (GDCT). In the proposed method, the Gabor filter is applied to extract feature vectors from the texture and the depth information. Then, Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) is used for dimensionality and redundancy reduction to improve computational efficiency. The system is combined texture and depth information in the decision level, which presents higher performance compared to methods, which use texture and depth information, separately. The proposed algorithm is examined on publically available Bosphorus database including models with pose variation. The experimental results show that the proposed method has a higher performance compared to the benchmark.

Keywords: Gabor filter, discrete cosine transform, 2.5D face recognition, pose.

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Authors: Yi-Ting Mai, Chun-Chuan Yang, Cheng-Jung Wen

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IEEE 802.16 is a new wireless technology standard, it has some advantages, including wider coverage, higher bandwidth, and QoS support. As the new wireless technology for last mile solution, there are designed two models in IEEE 802.16 standard. One is PMP (point to multipoint) and the other is Mesh. In this paper we only focus on IEEE 802.16 Mesh model. According to the IEEE 802.16 standard description, Mesh model has two scheduling modes, centralized and distributed. Considering the pros and cons of the two scheduling, we present the combined scheduling QoS framework that the BS (Base Station) controls time frame scheduling and selects the shortest path from source to destination directly. On the other hand, we propose the Expedited Queue mechanism to cut down the transmission time. The EQ mechanism can reduce a lot of end-to-end delay in our QoS framework. Simulation study has shown that the average delay is smaller than contrasts. Furthermore, our proposed scheme can also achieve higher performance.

Keywords: IEEE 802.16 Mesh, Scheduling, Expedited Queue, QoS.

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Authors: J. Hodna, B. Dohnalkova, V. Petranek, R. Drochytka

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The paper is focused on the identification of limiting environmental factors of individual industrial floors on which newly developed polymer protection and repair systems with the use of secondary raw materials will be used. These mainly include floors with extreme stresses and special requirements for materials used. In relation to the environment of a particular industrial floor, it is necessary to ensure, for example, chemical stability, resistance to higher temperatures, resistance to higher mechanical stress, etc. for developed materials, which is reflected in the demands for the developed material systems. The paper describes individual environments and, in relation to them, also requirements for individual components of the developed materials and for the developed materials as a whole.

Keywords: Limits, environment, polymer, industrial floors, recycling, secondary raw material, protective system.

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Authors: Hamed Sanei, Mohammad Bagher Ayani

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Optimizations of Plate Heat Exchangers (PHS) have received great attention in the past decade. In this study, heat transfer and pressure drop coefficients are compared for rectangular and circular PHS employing numerical simulations. Plates are designed to have equivalent areas. Simulations were implemented to investigate the efficiency of PHSs considering heat transfer, friction factor and pressure drop. Amount of heat transfer and pressure drop was obtained for different range of Reynolds numbers. These two parameters were compared with aim of F "weighting factor correlation". In this comparison, the minimum amount of F indicates higher efficiency. Results reveal that the F value for rectangular shape is less than circular plate, and hence using rectangular shape of PHS is more efficient than circular one. It was observed that, the amount of friction factor is correlated to the Reynolds numbers, such that friction factor decreased in both rectangular and circular plates with an increase in Reynolds number. Furthermore, such simulations revealed that the amount of heat transfer in rectangular plate is more than circular plate for different range of Reynolds numbers. The difference is more distinct for higher Reynolds number. However, amount of pressure drop in circular plate is less than rectangular plate for the same range of Reynolds numbers which is considered as a negative point for rectangular plate efficiency. It can be concluded that, while rectangular PHSs occupy more space than circular plate, the efficiency of rectangular plate is higher.

Keywords: Chevron corrugated-plate heat exchanger, heat transfer, friction factor, Reynolds numbers.

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Authors: Mohie Eldin Mohamed Afifiy Elmashad

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Day by day technology increases and problems associated with this technology also increase. Several researches were carried out to investigate the deployment of such material safely in geotechnical engineering in particular and civil engineering in general. However, different types of waste material have such as cement duct, fly ash and slag been proven to be suitable in several applications. In this research cement dust mixed with different percentages of sand will be used in some civil engineering application as will be explained later in this paper throughout filed and laboratory test. The used mixer (waste material with sand) prove high performance, durability to environmental condition, low cost and high benefits. At higher cement dust ratio, small cement ratio is valuable for compressive strength and permeability. Also at small cement dust ratio higher cement ratio is valuable for compressive strength.

Keywords: cement dust, cement, soil improvement, permeability

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Authors: Isaac Kofi Mensah, Mi Jianing

Abstract:

The lack of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) infrastructure in African countries is hampering the successful adoption, development and implementation of e-government in Africa. Electronic government is the use of ICTs to modernize government public administration processes and to provide government services to citizens with a purpose to enhance efficiency, accountability, and transparency in government’s interaction with the citizenry. ICT application in public administration has the potential to modernize and create smarter government and improvement in public service delivery. China’s Internet Plus policy and One Belt One Road strategy present a golden opportunity for countries in Africa to attract the huge financial investment through Chinese IT companies to develop and close Africa’s ICT infrastructure gap. This study recommends the establishment of One Belt One Road ICT Infrastructure Fund for Africa (OBOR ICT Fund for Africa) to enable countries in Africa to source solely for the purpose of ICT infrastructure development in the public sector/government machinery which would in turn promote the adoption and development of e-government in the public sectors of respective countries in Africa.

Keywords: E-government, public service delivery, internet plus, one belt one road initiative, China, Africa.

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Authors: G. Gürsel, K. H. Gülkesen, N. Zayim, A. Arifoğlu, O. Saka

Abstract:

User satisfaction is one of the most used success indicators in the research of information system (IS). Literature shows user expectations have great influence on user satisfaction. Both expectation and satisfaction of users are important for Hospital Information Systems (HIS). Education, IS experience, age, attitude towards change, business title, sex and working unit of the hospital, are examined as the potential determinant of the medical users’ expectations. Data about medical user expectations are collected by the “Expectation Questionnaire” developed for this study. Expectation data are used for calculating the Expectation Meeting Ratio (EMR) with the evaluation framework also developed for this study. The internal consistencies of the answers to the questionnaire are measured by Cronbach´s Alpha coefficient. The multivariate analysis of medical user’s EMRs of HIS is performed by forward stepwise binary logistic regression analysis. Education and business title is appeared to be the determinants of expectations from HIS.

Keywords: Evaluation, Fuzzy Logic, Hospital Information System, User Expectation.

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