Search results for: radiation safety.

Authors: Rafiullah Chamlawi, Asifullah Khan, Adnan Idris, Zahid Munir

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Authentication of multimedia contents has gained much attention in recent times. In this paper, we propose a secure semi-fragile watermarking, with a choice of two watermarks to be embedded. This technique operates in integer wavelet domain and makes use of semi fragile watermarks for achieving better robustness. A self-recovering algorithm is employed, that hides the image digest into some Wavelet subbands to detect possible malevolent object manipulation undergone by the image (object replacing and/or deletion). The Semi-fragility makes the scheme tolerant for JPEG lossy compression as low as quality of 70%, and locate the tempered area accurately. In addition, the system ensures more security because the embedded watermarks are protected with private keys. The computational complexity is reduced using parameterized integer wavelet transform. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme guarantees the safety of watermark, image recovery and location of the tempered area accurately.

Keywords: Integer Wavelet Transform (IWT), Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT), JPEG Compression, Authentication and Self- Recovery.

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Authors: W. Sutopo, M. Hisjam, Yuniaristanto

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In general, small-scale vegetables farmers experience problems in improving the safety and quality of vegetables supplied to high-class consumers in modern retailers. They also lack of information to access market. The farmers group and/or cooperative (FGC) should be able to assist its members by providing training in handling and packing vegetables and enhancing marketing capabilities to sell commodities to the modern retailers. This study proposes an agri-food supply chain (ASC) model that involves the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to cultivate the capabilities of farmers to access market. Multi period ASC model is formulated as Weighted Goal Programming (WGP) to analyze the impacts of CSR programs to empower the FGCs in managing the small-scale vegetables farmers. The results show that the proposed model can be used to determine the priority of programs in order to maximize the four goals to be achieved in the CSR programs.

Keywords: agri-food supply chain, corporate social responsibility, small-scale vegetables farmers, weighted goal programming.

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Authors: F. O. Omoya

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Food borne illnesses have been reported to be a global health challenge. Annual incidences of food–related diseases involve 76 million cases, of which only 14 million can be traced to known pathogens. Poor hygienic practices have contributed greatly to this. It has been reported that in the year 2000 about 2.1 million people died from diarrheal diseases, hence, there is a need to ensure food safety at all level. This study focused on the sterility examination and inhibitory effect of honey samples on selected gram negative and gram positive food borne pathogen from South West Nigeria. The laboratory examinations revealed the presence of some bacterial and fungal contaminations of honey samples and that inhibitory activity of the honey sample was more pronounced on the gram negative bacteria than the gram positive bacterial isolates. Antibiotic sensitivity test conducted on the different bacterial isolates also showed that honey was able to inhibit the proliferation of the tested bacteria than the employed antibiotics.

Keywords: Food borne illness, gram positive and gram negative bacteria, honey, and inhibitory activity.

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Authors: Qazi Umer Jamil, Abubakr Siddique, Mubeen Ur Rehman, Nida Aziz, Mohsin I. Tiwana

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This paper discusses a brain controlled robotic gait trainer for neurorehabilitation of Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) patients. Patients suffering from Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI) become unable to execute motion control of their lower proximities due to degeneration of spinal cord neurons. The presented approach can help SCI patients in neuro-rehabilitation training by directly translating patient motor imagery into walkers motion commands and thus bypassing spinal cord neurons completely. A non-invasive EEG based brain-computer interface is used for capturing patient neural activity. For signal processing and classification, an open source software (OpenVibe) is used. Classifiers categorize the patient motor imagery (MI) into a specific set of commands that are further translated into walker motion commands. The robotic walker also employs fall detection for ensuring safety of patient during gait training and can act as a support for SCI patients. The gait trainer is tested with subjects, and satisfactory results were achieved.

Keywords: Brain Computer Interface (BCI), gait trainer, Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), neurorehabilitation.

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Authors: Jiří Barta

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At the present time, awareness, education, computer simulation and information systems protection are very serious and relevant topics. The article deals with perspectives and possibilities of implementation of emergence or natural hazard threats into the system which is developed for communication among members of crisis management staffs. The Czech Hydro-Meteorological Institute with its System of Integrated Warning Service resents the largest usable base of information. National information systems are connected to foreign systems, especially to flooding emergency systems of neighboring countries, systems of European Union and international organizations where the Czech Republic is a member. Use of outputs of particular information systems and computer simulations on a single communication interface of information system for communication among members of crisis management staff and setting the site interoperability in the net will lead to time savings in decision-making processes in solving extraordinary events and crisis situations. Faster managing of an extraordinary event or a crisis situation will bring positive effects and minimize the impact of negative effects on the environment.

Keywords: Computer simulation, communication, continuity, critical infrastructure, information systems, safety.

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Authors: Sun Li-ping, Zhu Jian-xun, Liu Sheng-nan

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In order to study the performance of dynamic positioning system during S-lay operations, dynamic positioning system is simulated with the hull-stinger-pipe coupling effect. The roller of stinger is simulated by the generalized elastic contact theory. The stinger is composed of Morrison members. Force on pipe is calculated by lumped mass method. Time domain of fully coupled barge model is analyzed combining with PID controller, Kalman filter and allocation of thrust using Sequential Quadratic Programming method. It is also analyzed that the effect of hull wave frequency motion on pipe-stinger coupling force and dynamic positioning system. Besides, it is studied that how S-lay operations affect the dynamic positioning accuracy. The simulation results are proved to be available by checking pipe stress with API criterion. The effect of heave and yaw motion cannot be ignored on hull-stinger-pipe coupling force and dynamic positioning system. It is important to decrease the barge’s pitch motion and lay pipe in head sea in order to improve safety of the S-lay installation and dynamic positioning.

Keywords: S-lay operation, dynamic positioning, coupling motion; time domain, allocation of thrust.

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Authors: Shoujia Fang, Guoqing Ding, Xin Chen

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The quality of press-fit assembly is closely related to reliability and safety of product. The paper proposed a keypoint detection method based on convolutional neural network to improve the accuracy of keypoint detection in press-fit curve. It would provide an auxiliary basis for judging quality of press-fit assembly. The press-fit curve is a curve of press-fit force and displacement. Both force data and distance data are time-series data. Therefore, one-dimensional convolutional neural network is used to process the press-fit curve. After the obtained press-fit data is filtered, the multi-layer one-dimensional convolutional neural network is used to perform the automatic learning of press-fit curve features, and then sent to the multi-layer perceptron to finally output keypoint of the curve. We used the data of press-fit assembly equipment in the actual production process to train CNN model, and we used different data from the same equipment to evaluate the performance of detection. Compared with the existing research result, the performance of detection was significantly improved. This method can provide a reliable basis for the judgment of press-fit quality.

Keywords: Keypoint detection, curve feature, convolutional neural network, press-fit assembly.

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Authors: Sachin Kamble, Raghothama Anekal, Shivakumar Bhavi

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Thermal management of electronic components packaged inside an IP65 rated enclosure is of prime importance in industrial applications. Electrical enclosure protects the multiple board configurations such as inverter, power, controller board components, busbars, and various power dissipating components from harsh environments. Industrial environments often experience relatively warm ambient conditions, and the electronic components housed in the enclosure dissipate heat, due to which the enclosures and the components require thermal management as well as reduction of internal ambient temperatures. Design of Experiments based thermal simulation approach with MOSFET arrangement, Heat sink design, Enclosure Volume, Copper and Aluminum Spreader, Power density, and Printed Circuit Board (PCB) type were considered to optimize air temperature inside the IP65 enclosure to ensure conducive operating temperature for controller board and electronic components through the different modes of heat transfer viz. conduction, natural convection and radiation using Ansys ICEPAK. MOSFET’s with the parallel arrangement, IP65 enclosure molded heat sink with rectangular fins on both enclosures, specific enclosure volume to satisfy the power density, Copper spreader to conduct heat to the enclosure, optimized power density value and selecting Aluminum clad PCB which improves the heat transfer were the contributors towards achieving a conducive operating temperature inside the IP-65 rated Motor Inverter enclosure. A reduction of 52 ℃ was achieved in internal ambient temperature inside the IP65 enclosure between baseline and final design parameters, which met the operative temperature requirements of the electronic components inside the IP-65 rated Motor Inverter.

Keywords: Ansys ICEPAK, Aluminum Clad PCB, IP 65 enclosure, motor inverter, thermal simulation.

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Authors: O. O. Olawusi-Peters, K. I. Adejugbagbe

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The concentration of heavy metal (Cd, Pb, Fe, Zn, Cu) in Clarias gariepinus collected from fish markets; Fanibi (Station I) and Fiwasaye (Station II) in Akure metropolis, Ondo state, Nigeria were investigated to ascertain the safety for the consumers. 60 samples were collected from the two markets in three batches (I, II, III) for a period of six months and analyzed for heavy metals in the gills and muscles of the fish. Also, the Health Risk Index (HRI) was used to determine the health risk of these metals to the consumer. The results showed that the investigated metal concentration was higher in station I than station II, except Pb having higher concentration in station II than station I. In both stations, the highest concentration of Fe was recorded in the gills (12.60 ± 1.51; 6.94 ± 1.38) and muscles (3.72 ± 0.09; 3.86 ± 0.33) of samples in batch I. Also, the HRI revealed that consumption of Clarias gariepinus from these study areas did not pose any health risk (HRI < 1). In addition, concentrations of the heavy metals were all below the permissible limits recommended by FAO/WHO.

Keywords: Health risk index, heavy metals, Clarias gariepinus, Akure metropolis, fish monger.

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Authors: T. Thulare, M. Herselman, A. Botha

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Poor system use, including inappropriate design of health information systems, causes difficulties in communication with patients and increased time spent by healthcare professionals in recording the necessary health information for medical records. System features like pop-up reminders, complex menus, and poor user interfaces can make medical records far more time consuming than paper cards as well as affect decision-making processes. Although errors associated with health information and their real and likely effect on the quality of care and patient safety have been documented for many years, more research is needed to measure the occurrence of these errors and determine the causes to implement solutions. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify data integrity challenges in hospital information systems through a scoping review and based on the results provide recommendations on how to manage these. Only 34 papers were found to be most suitable out of 297 publications initially identified in the field. The results indicated that human and computerized systems are the most common challenges associated with data integrity and factors such as policy, environment, health workforce, and lack of awareness attribute to these challenges but if measures are taken the data integrity challenges can be managed.

Keywords: Data integrity, data integrity challenges, hospital information systems, South Africa.

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Authors: Mohamad Saab, Sidi Souvi

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In a major nuclear accident, the released fission products (FPs) and the structural materials are likely to influence the transport of iodine in the reactor coolant system (RCS) of a pressurized water reactor (PWR). So far, the thermodynamic data on cesium and silver species used to estimate the magnitude of FP release show some discrepancies, data are scarce and not reliable. For this reason, it is crucial to review the thermodynamic values related to cesium and silver materials. To this end, we have used state-of-the-art quantum chemical methods to compute the formation enthalpies and entropies of AgHMoO₄, CsHMoO₄, and AgCsMoO₄ in the gas phase. Different quantum chemical methods have been investigated (DFT and CCSD(T)) in order to predict the geometrical parameters and the energetics including the correlation energy. The geometries were optimized with TPSSh-5%HF method, followed by a single point calculation of the total electronic energies using the CCSD(T) wave function method. We thus propose with a final uncertainty of about 2 kJmol⁻¹ standard enthalpies of formation of AgHMoO₄, CsHMoO₄, and AgCsMoO₄.

Keywords: ASTEC, Accident Source Term Evaluation Code, quantum chemical methods, severe nuclear accident, thermochemical database.

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Authors: A. M. Metak, T. T. Ajaal

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Commercial nanocomposite food packaging type nano-silver containers were characterised using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The presence of nanoparticles consistent with the incorporation of 1% nano-silver (Ag) and 0.1% titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticle into polymeric materials formed into food containers was confirmed. Both nanomaterials used in this type of packaging appear to be embedded in a layered configuration within the bulk polymer. The dimensions of the incorporated nanoparticles were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and determined by calculation using the Scherrer Formula; these were consistent with Ag and TiO₂ nanoparticles in the size range 20-70nm both were spherical shape nanoparticles. Antimicrobial assessment of the nanocomposite container has also been performed and the results confirm the antimicrobial activity of Ag and TiO₂ nanoparticles in food packaging containers. Migration assessments were performed in a wide range of food matrices to determine the migration of nanoparticles from the packages. The analysis was based upon the relevant European safety Directives and involved the application of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to identify the range of migration risk. The data pertain to insignificance levels of migration of Ag and TiO₂ nanoparticles into the selected food matrices.

Keywords: Nano-silver, antimicrobial food packaging, migration, titanium dioxide.

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Authors: Prateep Wajeetongratana

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This study is a descriptive-normative research. It attempted to investigate the restaurants’ firm performance in terms of the customers and restaurant personnel’s degree of satisfaction. A total of 12 restaurants in Bangkok, Thailand that offer Thai cuisine were included in this study. It involved 24 stockholders/managers, 120 subordinates and 360 customers. General Managers and restaurants’ stockholders, 10 staffs, and 30 costumers for each restaurant were chosen for random sampling. This study found that respondents are slightly satisfied with their work environment but are generally satisfied with the accessibility to transportation, to malls, convenience, safety, recreation, noise-free, and attraction; customers find the Quality of Food in most Thai Cuisines like services, prices of food, sales promotion, and capital and length of service satisfactory. Therefore, both stockholder-related and personnel-related factors which are influenced by restaurant, personnel, and customer-related factors are partially accepted whereas; customer-related factors which are influenced by restaurant, personnel and customer-related factors are rejected.

Keywords: Firm performance, Thai Cuisine, Tourism industry.

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Authors: D. Subedi, S. Pradhan

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Current transformers are an integral part of power system because it provides a proportional safe amount of current for protection and measurement applications. However, when the power system experiences an abnormal situation leading to huge current flow, then this huge current is proportionally injected to the protection and metering circuit. Since the protection and metering equipment’s are designed to withstand only certain amount of current with respect to time, these high currents pose a risk to man and equipment. Therefore, during such instances, the CT saturation characteristics have a huge influence on the safety of both man and equipment and on the reliability of the protection and metering system. This paper shows the effect of burden on the Accuracy Limiting factor/ Instrument security factor of current transformers and the change in saturation characteristics of the CT’s. The response of the CT to varying levels of overcurrent at different connected burden will be captured using the data acquisition software LabVIEW. Analysis is done on the real time data gathered using LabVIEW. Variation of current transformer saturation characteristics with changes in burden will be discussed.

Keywords: Accuracy limiting factor, burden, current transformer, instrument security factor, saturation characteristics.

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Authors: Pimploi Tirastittam, Phutthiwat Waiyawuththanapoom

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Nowadays the promotion of the public transportation system in the Bangkok Metropolitan Area is increased such as the “Free Bus for Thai Citizen” Campaign and the prospect of the several MRT       routes to increase the convenient and comfortable to the Bangkok Metropolitan area citizens. But citizens do not make full use of them it because the citizens are lack of the data and information and also the confident to the public transportation system of Thailand especially in the time and safety aspects. This research is the Public Transport Planning System by Dijkstra Algorithm: Case Study Bangkok Metropolitan Area by focusing on buses, BTS and MRT schedules/routes to give the most information to passengers. They can choose the way and the routes easily by using Dijkstra STAR Algorithm of Graph Theory which also shows the fare of the trip. This Application was evaluated by 30 normal users to find the mean and standard deviation of the developed system. Results of the evaluation showed that system is at a good level of satisfaction (4.20 and 0.40). From these results we can conclude that the system can be used properly and effectively according to the objective.

Keywords: Dijkstra Algorithm, Graph Theory, Shortest Route, Public Transport, Bangkok Metropolitan Area.

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Authors: X. Zhao, F. Tian

Abstract:

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolic products of fungi. These are poisonous, carcinogens and mutagens in nature and pose a serious health threat to both humans and animals, causing severe illnesses and even deaths. The rapid, simple and cheap detection methods of mycotoxins are of immense importance and in great demand in the food and beverage industry as well as in agriculture and environmental monitoring. Lateral flow immunochromatographic strips (ICSTs) have been widely used in food safety, environment monitoring. 46 papers were identified and reviewed on Google Scholar and Scopus for their limit of detection and nanomaterial on Lateral flow ICSTs on different types of mycotoxins. The papers were dated 2001-2021. 25 papers were compared to identify the lowest limit of detection of among different mycotoxins (Aflatoxin B1: 10, Zearalenone: 5, Fumonisin B1: 5, Trichothecene-A: 5). Most of these highly sensitive strips are competitive. Sandwich structures are usually used in large scale detection. In conclusion, the limit of detection of Aflatoxin B1 is the lowest among these mycotoxins. Gold-nanoparticle based immunochromatographic test strips have the lowest limit of detection. Five papers involve smartphone detection and they all detect aflatoxin B1 with gold nanoparticles.

Keywords: Aflatoxin B1, limit of detection, gold nanoparticle, lateral flow immunochromatographic strips, mycotoxins, smartphone.

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Authors: H. Masaeli, R. Ziaei, F. Khoshnoudian

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Shock response analysis of the soil–structure systems induced by near–fault pulses is investigated. Vibration transmissibility of the soil–structure systems is evaluated by shock response spectra (SRS). Medium–to–high rise buildings with different aspect ratios located on different soil types as well as different foundations with respect to vertical load bearing safety factors are studied. Two types of mathematical near–fault pulses, i.e. forward directivity and fling step, with different pulse periods as well as pulse amplitudes are selected as incident ground shock. Linear versus nonlinear soil–structure interaction (SSI) condition are considered alternatively and the corresponding results are compared. The results show that nonlinear SSI is likely to amplify the acceleration responses when subjected to long–period incident pulses with normalized period exceeding a threshold. It is also shown that this threshold correlates with soil type, so that increased shear–wave velocity of the underlying soil makes the threshold period decrease.

Keywords: Nonlinear soil–structure interaction, shock response spectrum, near–fault ground shock, rocking isolation.

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Authors: Niveditha Domse, Kris Kumar, K. N. Balasubramanya Murthy

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The more recent satellite projects/programs makes extensive usage of real – time embedded systems. 16 bit processors which meet the Mil-Std-1750 standard architecture have been used in on-board systems. Most of the Space Applications have been written in ADA. From a futuristic point of view, 32 bit/ 64 bit processors are needed in the area of spacecraft computing and therefore an effort is desirable in the study and survey of 64 bit architectures for space applications. This will also result in significant technology development in terms of VLSI and software tools for ADA (as the legacy code is in ADA). There are several basic requirements for a special processor for this purpose. They include Radiation Hardened (RadHard) devices, very low power dissipation, compatibility with existing operational systems, scalable architectures for higher computational needs, reliability, higher memory and I/O bandwidth, predictability, realtime operating system and manufacturability of such processors. Further on, these may include selection of FPGA devices, selection of EDA tool chains, design flow, partitioning of the design, pin count, performance evaluation, timing analysis etc. This project deals with a brief study of 32 and 64 bit processors readily available in the market and designing/ fabricating a 64 bit RISC processor named RISC MicroProcessor with added functionalities of an extended double precision floating point unit and a 32 bit signal processing unit acting as co-processors. In this paper, we emphasize the ease and importance of using Open Core (OpenSparc T1 Verilog RTL) and Open “Source" EDA tools such as Icarus to develop FPGA based prototypes quickly. Commercial tools such as Xilinx ISE for Synthesis are also used when appropriate.

Keywords: RISC MicroProcessor, RPC – RISC Processor Core, PBX – Processor to Block Interface part of the Interconnection Network, BPX – Block to Processor Interface part of the Interconnection Network, FPU – Floating Point Unit, SPU – Signal Processing Unit, WB – Wishbone Interface, CTU – Clock and Test Unit

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Authors: Sina Fadaie, Seyed Abolhassan Naeini

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Coastal embankments play an important role in coastal structures by reducing the effect of the wave forces and controlling the movement of sediments. Many coastal areas are underlain by weak and compressible soils. Estimation of during construction settlement of coastal embankments is highly important in design and safety control of embankments and appurtenant structures. Accordingly, selecting and establishing of an appropriate model with a reasonable level of complication is one of the challenges for engineers. Although there are advanced models in the literature regarding design of embankments, there is not enough information on the prediction of their associated settlement, particularly in coastal areas having considerable soft soils. Marine engineering study in Iran is important due to the existence of two important coastal areas located in the northern and southern parts of the country. In the present study, the validity of Terzaghi’s consolidation theory has been investigated. In addition, the settlement of these coastal embankments during construction is predicted by using special methods in PLAXIS software by the help of appropriate boundary conditions and soil layers. The results indicate that, for the existing soil condition at the site, some parameters are important to be considered in analysis. Consequently, a model is introduced to estimate the settlement of the embankments in such geotechnical conditions.

Keywords: Consolidation, coastal embankments, settlement, numerical methods, finite elements method.

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Authors: J. Radojicic, D. Surdilovic, G. Schreck

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The paper considers a novel modular and intrinsically safe redundant robotic system with biologically inspired actuators (pneumatic artificial muscles and rubber bellows actuators). Similarly to the biological systems, the stiffness of the internal parallel modules, representing 2 DOF joints in the serial robotic chains, is controlled by co-activation of opposing redundant actuator groups in the null-space of the module Jacobian, without influencing the actual robot position. The decoupled position/stiffness control allows the realization of variable joint stiffness according to different force-displacement relationships. The variable joint stiffness, as well as limited pneumatic muscle/bellows force ability, ensures internal system safety that is crucial for development of human-friendly robots intended for human-robot collaboration. The initial experiments with the system prototype demonstrate the capabilities of independently, simultaneously controlling both joint (Cartesian) motion and joint stiffness. The paper also presents the possible industrial applications of snake-like robots built using the new modules.

Keywords: bellows actuator, human-robot interaction, hyper redundant robot, pneumatic muscle.

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Authors: Guarry Montrose, Ted Soubdhan

Abstract:

In the context of sustainable development and climate change, the adaptation of buildings to the climatic context in hot climates is a necessity if we want to improve living conditions in housing and reduce the risks to the health and productivity of occupants due to thermal discomfort in buildings. One can find a wide variety of efficient solutions but with high costs. In developing countries, especially tropical countries, we need to appreciate a technology with a very limited cost that is affordable for everyone, energy efficient and protects the environment. Biosourced insulation is a product based on plant fibers, animal products or products from recyclable paper or clothing. Their development meets the objectives of maintaining biodiversity, reducing waste and protecting the environment. In tropical or hot countries, the aim is to protect the building from solar thermal radiation, a source of discomfort. The aim of this work is in line with the logic of energy control and environmental protection, the approach is to make the occupants of buildings comfortable, reduce their carbon dioxide emissions (CO₂) and decrease their energy consumption (energy efficiency). We have chosen to study the thermo-physical properties of banana leaves and sawdust, especially their thermal conductivities, direct measurements were made using the flash method and the hot plate method. We also measured the heat flow on both sides of each sample by the hot box method. The results from these different experiences show that these materials are very efficient used as insulation. We have also conducted a building thermal simulation using banana leaves as one of the materials under Design Builder software. Air-conditioning load as well as CO₂ release was used as performance indicator. When the air-conditioned building cell is protected on the roof by banana leaves and integrated into the walls with solar protection of the glazing, it saves up to 64.3% of energy and avoids 57% of CO₂ emissions.

Keywords: Plant fibers, tropical climates, sustainable development, waste reduction.

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Authors: Jamaa Salih, Francis Edum-Fotwe, Andrew Price

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One of the most critical aspects of the management of road infrastructure is the type and scale of maintenance systems adopted and the consequences of their inadequacy. The performance of road maintenance systems can be assessed by a number of important indicators such as: cost, safety, environmental impact, and level of complaints by users. A review of practice reveals that insufficient level of expenditure or poor management of the road network often has serious consequences for the economic and social life of a country in terms of vehicle operating costs (VOC), travel time costs, accident costs and environmental impact. Despite an increase in the attention paid by global road agencies to the environmental and the road users’ satisfaction, the overwhelming evidence from the available literature agree on the lack of similar levels of attention for the two factors in many developing countries. While many sources agree that the road maintenance backlog is caused by either the shortage of expenditures or lack of proper management or both, it appears that managing the available assets particularly in the developing countries is the main issue. To address this subject, this paper will concentrate on exposing the various issues related to this field.  

Keywords: Environmental impact, performance indicators, road maintenance, users’ satisfaction.

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Authors: Sang Wook Park, Se Woon Choi, Yousok Kim, Byung Kwan Oh, Hyo Seon Park

Abstract:

Various retrofit techniques for reinforced concrete frame with infill wall have been steadily developed. Among those techniques, strengthening methodology based on diagonal FRP strips (FRP bracings) has numerous advantages such as feasibility of implementing without interrupting the building under operation, reduction of cost and time, and easy application. Considering the safety of structure and retrofit cost, the most appropriate retrofit solution is needed. Thus, the objective of this study is to suggest pareto-optimal solution for existing building using FRP bracings. To find pareto-optimal solution analysis, NSGA-II is applied. Moreover, the seismic performance of retrofit building is evaluated. The example building is 5-storey, 3-bay RC frames with infill wall. Nonlinear static pushover analyses are performed with FEMA 356. The criterion of performance evaluation is inter-story drift ratio at the performance level IO, LS, CP. Optimal retrofit solutions is obtained for 32 individuals and 200 generations. Through the proposed optimal solutions, we confirm the improvement of seismic performance of the example building.

Keywords: Retrofit, FRP bracings, reinforced concrete frame with infill wall, seismic performance evaluation, NSGA-II.

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Authors: J. R. Wang, H. T. Lin, Y. S. Tseng, W. Y. Li, H. C. Chen, S. W. Chen, C. Shih

Abstract:

TRACE is developed by U.S. NRC for the nuclear power plants (NPPs) safety analysis. We focus on the establishment and application of TRACE/FRAPTRAN/SNAP models for Chinshan NPP (BWR/4) spent fuel pool in this research. The geometry is 12.17 m × 7.87 m × 11.61 m for the spent fuel pool. In this study, there are three TRACE/SNAP models: one-channel, two-channel, and multi-channel TRACE/SNAP model. Additionally, the cooling system failure of the spent fuel pool was simulated and analyzed by using the above models. According to the analysis results, the peak cladding temperature response was more accurate in the multi-channel TRACE/SNAP model. The results depicted that the uncovered of the fuels occurred at 2.7 day after the cooling system failed. In order to estimate the detailed fuel rods performance, FRAPTRAN code was used in this research. According to the results of FRAPTRAN, the highest cladding temperature located on the node 21 of the fuel rod (the highest node at node 23) and the cladding burst roughly after 3.7 day.

Keywords: TRACE, FRAPTRAN, SNAP, spent fuel pool.

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Authors: Ramon Santana

Abstract:

The use of biometric identifiers in the field of information security, access control to resources, authentication in ATMs and banking among others, are of great concern because of the safety of biometric data. In the general architecture of a biometric system have been detected eight vulnerabilities, six of them allow obtaining minutiae template in plain text. The main consequence of obtaining minutia templates is the loss of biometric identifier for life. To mitigate these vulnerabilities several models to protect minutiae templates have been proposed. Several vulnerabilities in the cryptographic security of these models allow to obtain biometric data in plain text. In order to increase the cryptographic security and ease of reversibility, a minutiae templates protection model is proposed. The model aims to make the cryptographic protection and facilitate the reversibility of data using two levels of security. The first level of security is the data transformation level. In this level generates invariant data to rotation and translation, further transformation is irreversible. The second level of security is the evaluation level, where the encryption key is generated and data is evaluated using a defined evaluation function. The model is aimed at mitigating known vulnerabilities of the proposed models, basing its security on the impossibility of the polynomial reconstruction.

Keywords: Fingerprint, template protection, bio-cryptography, minutiae protection.

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Authors: M. Tufekci, C. Guven

Abstract:

In Automotive Industry, sliding door systems that are also used as body closures are safety members. Extreme product tests are realized to prevent failures in design process, but these tests realized experimentally result in high costs. Finite element analysis is an effective tool used for design process. These analyses are used before production of prototype for validation of design according to customer requirement. In result of this, substantial amount of time and cost is saved. Finite element model is created for geometries that are designed in 3D CAD programs. Different element types as bar, shell and solid, can be used for creating mesh model. Cheaper model can be created by selection of element type, but combination of element type that was used in model, number and geometry of element and degrees of freedom affects the analysis result. Sliding door system is a good example which used these methods for this study. Structural analysis was realized for sliding door mechanism by using FE models. As well, physical tests that have same boundary conditions with FE models were realized. Comparison study for these element types, were done regarding test and analyses results then optimum combination was achieved.

Keywords: Finite Element Analysis, Sliding Door Mechanism, Element Type, Structural Analysis.

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Authors: Mohamed A. Azab

Abstract:

Over the early years of the 21st century, cities throughout the Middle East, particularly in the Gulf region have expanded more rapidly than ever before. Given the presence of a large volume of high-rise buildings allover the region, the local authority aims to set a new standard for sustainable development; with an integrated approach to maintain a balance between economy, quality, environmental protection and safety of life. In the very near future, as mandatory requirements, sustainability will be the criteria that should be included in all building projects. It is well known in the building sustainability topics that structural design engineers do not have a key role in this matter. In addition, the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) has looked almost exclusively on the environmental components and materials specifications. The objective of this paper is to focus and establish groundwork for sustainability techniques and applications related to the RC high-rise buildings design, from the structural point of view. A set of recommendations related to local conditions, structural modeling and analysis is given, and some helpful suggestions for structural design team work are addressed. This paper attempts to help structural engineers in identifying the building sustainability design, in order to meet local needs and achieve alternative solutions at an early stage of project design.

Keywords: Building, Design, High-rise, Middle East, Structural, Sustainability.

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Authors: Rungpansa Noichan, Bart Julien Dewancker

Abstract:

Access to the mass transit system, including rapid elevated and underground transport has become an outstanding issue for many cities. The mass transit access development should focus on behavioral responses of the different passenger groups. Moreover, it should consider about the appearance of intent-oriented action related accessibility that was explored from user’s satisfaction and attitudes related to services quality. This study aims to evaluate mass transit accessibility from passenger’s satisfaction, therefore, understanding the passenger’s attitudes about mass transit accessibility. The study area of this research is Bangkok Mass Transit system (BTS Skytrain) at Saphan Taksin station. 200 passengers at Saphan Taksin station were asked to rate the questionnaires survey that considers accessibility aspects of convenience, safety, feeder connectivity, and other dimensions. The survey was to find out the passenger attitudes and satisfaction for access to the BTS station, and the result shows several factors that influence the passenger choice of using the BTS as a public transportation mode and passenger’s opinion that needs to concern for the development mass transit system and accessibility performance.

Keywords: Urban transportation, user satisfaction, accessibility, Bangkok mass transit.

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Authors: Faezeh Mosallat, Eric L. Bibeau, Tarek El Mekkawy

Abstract:

Parabolic solar trough systems have seen limited deployments in cold northern climates as they are more suitable for electricity production in southern latitudes. A numerical dynamic model is developed to simulate troughs installed in cold climates and validated using a parabolic solar trough facility in Winnipeg. The model is developed in Simulink and will be utilized to simulate a trigeneration system for heating, cooling and electricity generation in remote northern communities. The main objective of this simulation is to obtain operational data of solar troughs in cold climates and use the model to determine ways to improve the economics and address cold weather issues. In this paper the validated Simulink model is applied to simulate a solar assisted absorption cooling system along with electricity generation using Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) and thermal storage. A control strategy is employed to distribute the heated oil from solar collectors among the above three systems considering the temperature requirements. This modelling provides dynamic performance results using measured meteorological data recorded every minute at the solar facility location. The purpose of this modeling approach is to accurately predict system performance at each time step considering the solar radiation fluctuations due to passing clouds. Optimization of the controller in cold temperatures is another goal of the simulation to for example minimize heat losses in winter when energy demand is high and solar resources are low. The solar absorption cooling is modeled to use the generated heat from the solar trough system and provide cooling in summer for a greenhouse which is located next to the solar field. The results of the simulation are presented for a summer day in Winnipeg which includes comparison of performance parameters of the absorption cooling and ORC systems at different heat transfer fluid (HTF) temperatures.

Keywords: Absorption cooling, parabolic solar trough, remote community, organic Rankine cycle.

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Authors: Kevin Moustapha

Abstract:

Psychopathic disorders are taking an important part in judge sentencing, especially in Canada. First, we will see how this phenomenon can be illustrated by the high proportion of psychopath offenders incarcerated in North American prisons. Many decisions in Canadians courtrooms seem to point out that psychopathy is often used as a strong argument by the judges to preserve public safety. The fact that psychopathy is often associated with violence, recklessness and recidivism, could explain why many judges consider psychopathic disorders as an aggravating factor. Generally, the judge reasoning is based on Article 753 of Canadian Criminal Code related to dangerous offenders, which is used for individuals who show a pattern of repetitive and persistent aggressive behaviour. Then we will show how, with cognitive neurosciences, the psychopath’s situation in courtrooms would probably change. Cerebral imaging and news data provided by the neurosciences show that emotional and volitional functions in psychopath’s brains are impaired. Understanding these new issues could enable some judges to recognize psychopathic disorders as a mitigating factor. Finally, two important questions ought to be raised in this article: can exploring psychopaths ‘brains really change the judge sentencing in Canadian courtrooms? If yes, can judges consider psychopathy more as a mitigating factor than an aggravating factor?

Keywords: Criminal law, judges sentencing, neurosciences, psychopathy.

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