Search results for: working conditions.

Authors: Salah Gariani, Taher Dao, Khaled Jegandi

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Wiper inserts are widely used nowadays, particularly in turning and milling operations, due to their unique geometric characteristics that generate superb surface finish and improve productivity. Wiper inserts can produce double the feed rate while preserving comparable surface roughness compared to that produced by conventional cutting tools. This paper reports an experimental investigation of surface quality generated in the precision dry turning of 6060 Aluminium alloy using conventional and wiper inserts at different cutting conditions. The Taguchi L9 array, Analysis of Means (AOM) and variance (ANOVA) were employed in the development of the experimental design and to optimise the process parameter identified: average surface roughness (Ra). The experimental results show that the wiper inserts substantially improved the surface quality of the machined samples by a factor of two compared to those for the conventional insert under all cutting conditions. The ANOVA and AOM analysis showed that the type of insert is the most significant factor affecting surface roughness, with a Percentage Contribution Ratio (PCR) value of 67.41%. Feed rate also significantly affected surface roughness but contributed less to its variation. No significant difference was found between values of Ra using wiper inserts under dry and wet cooling modes when turning 6060 Aluminium alloy.

Keywords: 6060 Aluminium alloy, conventional and wiper carbide tools, dry turning, average surface roughness.

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Authors: Rike Brecht, Heidi Krömker, Adrian Kühlewind

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This paper presents a digital engineering library – the Digital Mechanism and Gear Library, DMG-Lib – providing a multimedia collection of e-books, pictures, videos and animations in the domain of mechanisms and machines. The specific characteristic about DMG-Lib is the enrichment and cross-linking of the different sources. DMG-Lib e-books not only present pages as pixel images but also selected figures augmented with interactive animations. The presentation of animations in e-books increases the clearness of the information. To present the multimedia e-books and make them available in the DMG-Lib internet portal a special e-book reader called StreamBook was developed for optimal presentation of digitized books and to enable reading the e-books as well as working efficiently and individually with the enriched information. The objective is to support different user tasks ranging from information retrieval to development and design of mechanisms.

Keywords: E-books, digital library, multimedia, enrichment and cross-linking

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Authors: Hossein Sahoolizadeh, Alishir Moradi Kordalivand, Zargham Heidari

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In first stage of each microwave receiver there is Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) circuit, and this stage has important rule in quality factor of the receiver. The design of a LNA in Radio Frequency (RF) circuit requires the trade-off many importance characteristics such as gain, Noise Figure (NF), stability, power consumption and complexity. This situation Forces desingners to make choices in the desing of RF circuits. In this paper the aim is to design and simulate a single stage LNA circuit with high gain and low noise using MESFET for frequency range of 5 GHz to 6 GHz. The desing simulation process is down using Advance Design System (ADS). A single stage LNA has successfully designed with 15.83 dB forward gain and 1.26 dB noise figure in frequency of 5.3 GHz. Also the designed LNA should be working stably In a frequency range of 5 GHz to 6 GHz.

Keywords: Advance Design System, Low Noise Amplifier, Radio Frequency, Noise Figure.

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Authors: Zhichao Jiao, Craig Farnham, Jihui Yuan, Kazuo Emura

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It is common to use the outdoor design weather data to select the air-conditioning capacity in the building design stage. The meteorological elements of outdoor design weather data are usually selected based on their excess frequency separately while the dependency between the elements is not well considered. It means that the simultaneous occurrence probability of these elements is smaller than the original excess frequency which may cause an overestimation of selecting air-conditioning capacity. Therefore, the copula approach which can capture the dependency between multivariate data was used to model the joint distributions of the meteorological elements, like air temperature and global solar radiation. We suggest a method based on the specific simultaneous occurrence probability of these two elements of selecting more credible outdoor design conditions. The hourly weather data at 12 noon from 2001 to 2010 in Tokyo, Japan are used to analyze the dependency structure and joint distribution, the Gaussian copula represents the dependence of data best. According to calculating the air temperature and global solar radiation in specific simultaneous occurrence probability and the common exceeding, the results show that both the air temperature and global solar radiation based on simultaneous occurrence probability are lower than these based on the conventional method in the same probability.

Keywords: Copula approach, Design weather database, energy conservation, HVAC.

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Authors: Diana Gómez-Cano, J. C. Ochoa-Botero, Roberto Bernal Correa, Yhan Paul Arias

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To obtain high mechanical performance, the fresh conditions of a mortar are decisive. Measuring the absorption of aggregates used in mortar mixes is a fundamental requirement for proper design of the mixes prior to their placement in construction sites. In this sense, absorption is a determining factor in the design of a mix because it conditions the amount of water, which in turn affects the water/cement ratio and the final porosity of the mortar. Thus, this work focuses on the mechanical behavior of recycled mortars manufactured from moisture correction using the Thermogravimetric Balancing Halogen Light (TBHL) technique in comparison with the traditional ASTM C 128 International Standard method. The advantages of using the TBHL technique are favorable in terms of reduced consumption of resources such as materials, energy and time. The results show that in contrast to the ASTM C 128 method, the TBHL alternative technique allows obtaining a higher precision in the absorption values of recycled aggregates, which is reflected not only in a more efficient process in terms of sustainability in the characterization of construction materials, but also in an effect on the mechanical performance of recycled mortars.

Keywords: Alternative raw materials, halogen light, recycled mortar, resources optimization, water absorption.

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Authors: Kiurski S. Jelena, Kecić S. Vesna, Oros B. Ivana

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Experimental results confirmed the temporal variation of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide concentration during the working shift of the photocopying process in a small photocopying shop in Novi Sad, Serbia. The statistically significant differences of target gases were examined with two-way analysis of variance without replication followed by Scheffe's post hoc test. The existence of statistically significant differences was obtained for carbon monoxide emission which is pointed out with F-values (12.37 and 31.88) greater than F_crit (6.94) in contrary to carbon dioxide emission (F-values of 1.23 and 3.12 were less than F_crit).  Scheffe's post hoc test indicated that sampling point A (near the photocopier machine) and second time interval contribute the most on carbon monoxide emission.

Keywords: Analysis of variance, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, photocopying indoor, Scheffe's test

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Authors: Rauno Pääkkönen, Fabriziomaria Gobba, Leena Korpinen

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The objective of the study is to assess the implementation of LED lighting into forest machine work in the dark. In addition, the paper includes a wide variety of important and relevant safety and health parameters. In modern, computerized work in the cab of forest machines, artificial illumination is a demanding task when performing duties, such as the visual inspections of wood and computer calculations. We interviewed entrepreneurs and gathered the following as the most pertinent themes: (1) safety, (2) practical problems, and (3) work with LED lighting. The most important comments were in regards to the practical problems of LED lighting. We found indications of technical problems in implementing LED lighting, like snow and dirt on the surfaces of lamps that dim the emission of light. Moreover, service work in the dark forest is dangerous and increases the risks of on-site accidents. We also concluded that the amount of blue light to the eyes should be assessed, especially, when the drivers are working in a semi-dark cab.

Keywords: Forest machines, health, LED, safety.

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Authors: Mahmoud Shaker, Ala'a Imran

Abstract:

Greenhouse is a building, which provides controlled climate conditions to the plants to keep them from external hard conditions. Greenhouse technology gives freedom to the farmer to select any crop type in any time during year. The quality and productivity of plants inside greenhouse is highly dependent on the management quality and a good management scheme is defined by the quality of the information collected from the greenhouse environment. Therefore, Continuous monitoring of environmental variables such as temperature, humidity, and soil moisture gives information to the grower to better understand, how each factor affects growth and how to manage maximal crop productiveness. In this piper, we designed and implemented climate monitoring with irrigation control system based on Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) technology. The designed system is characterized with friendly to use, easy to install by any greenhouse user, multi-sensing nodes, multi-PAN ID, low cast, water irrigation control and low operation complexity. The system consists of two node types (sensing and control) with star topology on one PAN ID. Moreover, greenhouse manager can modifying system parameters such as (sensing node addresses, irrigation upper and lower control limits) by updating corresponding data in SDRAM memory. In addition, the designed system uses 2*16 characters. LCD to display the micro climate parameters values of each plants row inside the greenhouse.

Keywords: ZigBee, WSN, Arduino platform, Greenhouse automation, micro climate monitoring, smart Irrigation control.

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Authors: Dariusz Dymek, Leszek Kotulski

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Modeling of the distributed systems allows us to represent the whole its functionality. The working system instance rarely fulfils the whole functionality represented by model; usually some parts of this functionality should be accessible periodically. The reporting system based on the Data Warehouse concept seams to be an intuitive example of the system that some of its functionality is required only from time to time. Analyzing an enterprise risk associated with the periodical change of the system functionality, we should consider not only the inaccessibility of the components (object) but also their functions (methods), and the impact of such a situation on the system functionality from the business point of view. In the paper we suggest that the risk attributes should be estimated from risk attributes specified at the requirements level (Use Case in the UML model) on the base of the information about the structure of the model (presented at other levels of the UML model). We argue that it is desirable to consider the influence of periodical changes in requirements on the enterprise risk estimation. Finally, the proposition of such a solution basing on the UML system model is presented.

Keywords: Risk assessing, software maintenance, UML, graph grammars.

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Authors: Nermine Ahmed Hendy, Hania Farag

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Emotion recognition is an important research field that finds lots of applications nowadays. This work emphasizes on recognizing different emotions from speech signal. The extracted features are related to statistics of pitch, formants, and energy contours, as well as spectral, perceptual and temporal features, jitter, and shimmer. The Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) was chosen as the classifier. Working on finding a robust and fast ANN classifier suitable for different real life application is our concern. Several experiments were carried out on different ANN to investigate the different factors that impact the classification success rate. Using a database containing 7 different emotions, it will be shown that with a proper and careful adjustment of features format, training data sorting, number of features selected and even the ANN type and architecture used, a success rate of 85% or even more can be achieved without increasing the system complicity and the computation time

Keywords: Classification, emotion recognition, features extraction, feature selection, neural network

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Authors: N. Shafiq, M. F. Nuruddin, S. C. Chin

Abstract:

This paper presents the experimental results of the investigation of various properties related to the durability and longterm performance of mortars made of Fly Ash blended cement, FA and Ordinary Portland cement, OPC. The properties that were investigated in an experimental program include; equilibration of specimen in different relative humidity, determination of total porosity, compressive strength, chloride permeability index, and electrical resistivity. Fly Ash blended cement mortar specimens exhibited 10% to 15% lower porosity when measured at equilibrium conditions in different relative humidities as compared to the specimens made of OPC mortar, which resulted in 6% to 8% higher compressive strength of FA blended cement mortar specimens. The effects of ambient relative humidity during sample equilibration on porosity and strength development were also studied. For specimens equilibrated in higher relative humidity conditions, such as 75%, the total porosity of different mortar specimens was between 35% to 50% less than the porosity of samples equilibrated in 12% relative humidity, consequently leading to higher compressive strengths of these specimens.A valid statistical correlation between values of compressive strength, porosity and the degree of saturation was obtained. Measured values of chloride permeability index of fly ash blended cement mortar were obtained as one fourth to one sixth of those measured for OPC mortar specimens, which indicates high resistance against chloride ion penetration in FA blended cement specimens, hence resulting in a highly durable mortar.

Keywords: chloride permeability index, equilibrium condition, electrical resistivity, fly ash

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Authors: M. S. Kilic, S. Korkut, B. Hazer

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Newly synthesized Polypropylene-g-Polyethylene glycol polymer was first time used for a compartment-less enzymatic fuel cell. Working electrodes based on Polypropylene-g-Polyethylene glycol were operated as unmediated and mediated system (with ferrocene and gold/cobalt oxide nanoparticles). Glucose oxidase and bilirubin oxidase was selected as anodic and cathodic enzyme, respectively. Glucose was used as fuel in a single-compartment and membrane-less cell. Maximum power density was obtained as 0.65 nW cm-2, 65 nW cm-2 and 23500 nW cm-2 from the unmediated, ferrocene and gold/cobalt oxide modified polymeric film, respectively. Power density was calculated to be ~16000 nW cm-2 for undiluted wastewater sample with gold/cobalt oxide nanoparticles including system.

Keywords: Bilirubin oxidase, Enzymatic fuel cell, Glucose oxidase, Nanoparticles.

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Authors: Z. Tasir, S. N. Kew, D. West, Z. Abdullah, D. Toohey

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Research on Learning Analytics is progressively developing in the higher education field by concentrating on the process of students' learning. Therefore, a research project between Malaysian and Australian Universities was initiated in 2015 to look at the use of Learning Analytics to support the development of teaching practice. The focal point of this article is to discuss and share the experiences of Malaysian and Australian universities in the process of developing the collaborative research on Learning Analytics. Three aspects of this will be discussed: 1) Establishing an international research project and team members, 2) cross-cultural understandings, and 3) ways of working in relation to the practicalities of the project. This article is intended to benefit other researchers by highlighting the challenges as well as the strategies used in this project to ensure such collaborative research succeeds.

Keywords: Academic research project, collaborative research, cross-cultural understanding, international research project.

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Authors: Liang Zhao, Guangwen Wang, Guichang Liu

Abstract:

Constant potometer is an important component of pipeline anti-corrosion systems in the chemical industry. Based on Internet of Things (IoT) technology, Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) technology and database technology, this paper developed a set of a constant potometer remote monitoring management system. The remote monitoring and remote adjustment of the working status of the constant potometer are realized. The system has real-time data display, historical data query, alarm push management, user permission management, and supporting Web access and mobile client application (APP) access. The actual engineering project test results show the stability of the system, which can be widely used in cathodic protection systems.

Keywords: Internet of Things, pipe corrosion protection, potentiostat, remote monitoring.

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Authors: Shishir Kumar, Chhaya Gangwal, Seema Raj

Abstract:

Public health informatics (PHI) which has seen successful implementation in the developed world, become the buzzword in the developing countries in providing improved healthcare with enhanced access. In rural areas especially, where a huge gap exists between demand and supply of healthcare facilities, PHI is being seen as a major solution. There are factors such as growing network infrastructure and the technological adoption by the health fraternity which provide support to these claims. Public health informatics has opportunities in healthcare by providing opportunities to diagnose patients, provide intra-operative assistance and consultation from a remote site. It also has certain barriers in the awareness, adaptation, network infrastructure, funding and policy related areas. There are certain medico-legal aspects involving all the stakeholders which need to be standardized to enable a working system. This paper aims to analyze the potential and challenges of Public health informatics services in rural communities.

Keywords: PHI, e-health, Public health.

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Authors: D. Kaczorek

Abstract:

Internal insulation of external walls is often problematic due to increased moisture content in the wall and interstitial or surface condensation risk. In this paper, the hygrothermal performance of prefabricated, concrete, large panel, external wall typical for WK70 system, commonly used in Poland in the 70’s, with inside, additional insulation was investigated. Thermal insulation board made out of hygroscopic, natural materials with moisture buffer capacity and extruded polystyrene (EPS) board was used as interior insulation. Experience with this natural insulation is rare in Poland. The analysis was performed using WUFI software. First of all, the impact of various standard boundary conditions on the behavior of the different wall assemblies was tested. The comparison of results showed that the moisture class according to the EN ISO 13788 leads to too high values of total moisture content in the wall since the boundary condition according to the EN 15026 should be usually applied. Then, hygrothermal 1D-simulations were conducted by WUFI Pro for analysis of internally added insulation, and the weak point like the joint of the wall with the concrete ceiling was verified using 2D simulations. Results showed that, in the Warsaw climate and the indoor conditions adopted in accordance with EN 15026, in the tested wall assemblies, regardless of the type of interior insulation, there would not be any problems with moisture - inside the structure and on the interior surface.

Keywords: Concrete large panel wall, hygrothermal simulation, internal insulation, moisture related issues.

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Authors: M. Dinakaran, P. Balasubramanie

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With the demand of mobility by users, wireless technologies have become the hotspot developing arena. Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) working group has developed Mobile IP to support node mobility. The concept of node mobility indicates that in spite of the movement of the node, it is still connected to the internet and all the data transactions are preserved. It provides location-independent access to Internet. After the incorporation of host mobility, network mobility has undergone intense research. There are several intricacies faced in the real world implementation of network mobility significantly the problem of nested networks and their consequences. This article is concerned regarding a problem of nested network called pinball route problem and proposes a solution to eliminate the above problem. The proposed mechanism is implemented using NS2 simulation tool and it is found that the proposed mechanism efficiently reduces the overload caused by the pinball route problem.

Keywords: Mobile IP, Pinball routing problem, NEMO

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Authors: Lalith Edirisinghe, Zhihong Jin, A.W. Wijeratne, Hansa Edirisinghe, Lakshmi Ranwala Rashika Mudunkotuwa

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A paradigm shift in container inventory management (CIM) is a long-awaited industry need. Virtual container yard (VCY) is a concept developed in 2013 and its primary objective is to minimize shipping transport cost through implementing container exchange between carriers. Shipping lines always try to maintain lower container idle time and provide higher customer satisfaction. However, it is disappointing to note that carriers turn a blind eye to the escalating cost resulted from the present inefficient CIM mechanism. The cost of empty container management is simply transferred to the importers and exporters as freight adjustments. It also creates an environmental hazard. Therefore, it has now become a problem for the society. Therefore, a paradigm shift may be required as the present CIM system is not working for common interests of human beings as it should be.

Keywords: Virtual container yard, imbalance, management, inventory, container inventory management.

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Authors: Abdulrahim Shamayleh, John Fowler, Muhong Zhang

Abstract:

Operating rooms are important assets for hospitals as they generate the largest revenue and, at the same time, produce the largest cost for hospitals. The model presented in this paper helps make capacity planning decisions on the combination of open operating rooms (ORs) and estimated overtime to satisfy the allocated OR time to each specialty. The model combines both decisions on determining the amount of OR time to open and to allocate to different surgical specialties. The decisions made are based on OR costs, overutilization and underutilization costs, and contribution margins from allocating OR time. The results show the importance of having a good estimate of specialty usage of OR time to determine the amount of needed capacity and highlighted the tradeoff that the OR manager faces between opening more ORs versus extending the working time of the ORs already in use.

Keywords: capacity planning, contribution margins, operating room, overutilization

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Authors: Nurulhuda Ismail, Mas Idayu Md. Sabri

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This paper presents a system overview of Mobile to Server Face Recognition, which is a face recognition application developed specifically for mobile phones. Images taken from mobile phone cameras lack of quality due to the low resolution of the cameras. Thus, a prototype is developed to experiment the chosen method. However, this paper shows a result of system backbone without the face recognition functionality. The result demonstrated in this paper indicates that the interaction between mobile phones and server is successfully working. The result shown before the database is completely ready. The system testing is currently going on using real images and a mock-up database to test the functionality of the face recognition algorithm used in this system. An overview of the whole system including screenshots and system flow-chart are presented in this paper. This paper also presents the inspiration or motivation and the justification in developing this system.

Keywords: Mobile to server, face recognition, system overview.

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Authors: Wen-Hui Chang

Abstract:

This paper focuses upon three such painters working in France from this time and their representations both of their host country in which they found themselves displaced, and of their homeland which they represent through refracted memories from their new perspective in Europe. What is their representation of France and China´╝ÅTaiwan? Is it Otherness or an origin? This paper also attempts to explore the three artists- diasporic lives and to redefine their transnational identities. Hou Chin-lang, the significance of his multiple-split images serve to highlight the intricate relationships between his work and the surrounding family, and to reveal his identity of his Taiwan “homeland". Yin Xin takes paintings from the Western canon and subjects them to a process of transformation through Chinese imagery. In the same period, Lin Li-ling, transforms the transnational spirit of Yin Xin to symbolic codes with neutered female bodies and tatoos, thus creates images that challenge the boundaries of both gender and nationality.

Keywords: Body Codes, Chinese French, Diasporic Discourse, Identity

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Authors: Cory Cannon

Abstract:

In the current era of shrinking budgets, increasing amounts of worldwide natural disasters, state and non-state initiated conflicts within the world. The response has involved multinational coalitions to conduct effective military operations. The need for a Knowledge Management strategy when developing these coalitions have been overlooked in the past and the need for developing these accords early on will save time and help shape the way information and knowledge are transferred from the staff and action officers of the coalition to the decision-makers in order to make timely decisions within an ever changing environment. The aim of this paper is to show how Knowledge Management has developed within the United States military and how the transformation of working within a Combined/ Joint environment in both the Middle East and the Far East has improved relations between members of the coalitions as well as being more effective as a military force. These same principles could be applied to multinational corporations when dealing with cultures and decision-making processes.

Keywords: Civil-military, culture, joint environment, knowledge management.

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Authors: Maria Mădălina Gîrbină, Nadia Albu, Cătălin Nicolae Albu

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This study realizes an empirical investigation of main factors to develop an accounting career, stereotypes on accountants and accounting and perceptions on future career path for a sample of master students in accounting. The research provides some insight into what master students consider when choosing their future career paths. The most important two reasons chosen by students were “career opportunities" and “future earnings. They see accounting as structured, governed by conformity, requiring skills in working with numbers, monotonous, accurate, more efficient than effective but also absorbing, interesting and involving a certain degree of novelty. Although these students plan to start their careers in a multinational or accounting/audit firm, most of those plan to leave after five years. It resulted that women value more flexibility and time requiring special attention in retention policies practiced by firms.

Keywords: Accounting career, students' perception, stereotypes.

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Authors: Barbara A. Perry

Abstract:

In 1996, the New Zealand government and the Ministry of Education announced that they were setting up a "world class system of inclusive education". As a parent of a son with high and complex needs, a teacher, school Principal and Disability studies Lecturer, this author will track the changes in the journey towards inclusive education over the last 20 years. Strategies for partnering with families to ensure educational success along with insights from one of those on the crest of the wave will be presented. Using a narrative methodology the author will illuminate how far New Zealand has come towards this world class system of inclusion promised and share from personal experience some of the highlights and risks in the system. This author has challenged the old structures and been part of the setting up of new structures particularly for providing parent voice and insight; this paper provides a unique view from an insider’s voice as well as a professional in the system.

Keywords: Disability studies, inclusive education, special education, working with families with children with disability.

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Authors: Ju-Chun Chien

Abstract:

The validity of Herzberg-s Two-Factor Theory of Motivation was tested empirically by surveying 2372 chemical fiber employees in 2012. In the valid sample of 1875 respondents, the degree of overall job satisfaction was more than moderate. The most highly valued components of job satisfaction were: “corporate image," “collaborative working atmosphere," and “supervisor-s expertise"; whereas the lowest mean score was 34.65 for “job rotation and promotion." The top three job retention options rated by the participants were “good image of the enterprise," “good compensation," and “workplace is close to my residence." The overall evaluation of the level of thriving facilitation workplace reached almost to “mostly agree." For those participants who chose at least one motivator as their job retention options had significantly greater job satisfaction than those who chose only hygiene factors as their retention options. Therefore, Herzberg-s Two-Factor Theory of Motivation was proven valid in this study.

Keywords: Employee job satisfaction, Job retention, Traditional business, Two-factor theory of motivation.

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Authors: Maciej Paszynski, Leszek Demkowicz, Jason Kurtz

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In this paper, a new formulation for acoustics coupled with linear elasticity is presented. The primary objective of the work is to develop a three dimensional hp adaptive finite element method code destinated for modeling of acoustics of human head. The code will have numerous applications e.g. in designing hearing protection devices for individuals working in high noise environments. The presented work is in the preliminary stage. The variational formulation has been implemented and tested on a sequence of meshes with concentric multi-layer spheres, with material data representing the tissue (the brain), skull and the air. Thus, an efficient solver for coupled elasticity/acoustics problems has been developed, and tested on high contrast material data representing the human head.

Keywords: finite element method, acoustics, coupled problems, biomechanics

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Authors: P. G. Siddheshwar, B. N. Veena

Abstract:

Rayleigh-B´enard convection of a nanoliquid in shallow, square and tall enclosures is studied using the Khanafer-Vafai-Lightstone single-phase model. The thermophysical properties of water, copper, copper-oxide, alumina, silver and titania at 3000 K under stagnant conditions that are collected from literature are used in calculating thermophysical properties of water-based nanoliquids. Phenomenological laws and mixture theory are used for calculating thermophysical properties. Free-free, rigid-rigid and rigid-free boundary conditions are considered in the study. Intractable Lorenz model for each boundary combination is derived and then reduced to the tractable Ginzburg-Landau model. The amplitude thus obtained is used to quantify the heat transport in terms of Nusselt number. Addition of nanoparticles is shown not to alter the influence of the nature of boundaries on the onset of convection as well as on heat transport. Amongst the three enclosures considered, it is found that tall and shallow enclosures transport maximum and minimum energy respectively. Enhancement of heat transport due to nanoparticles in the three enclosures is found to be in the range 3% - 11%. Comparison of results in the case of rigid-rigid boundaries is made with those of an earlier work and good agreement is found. The study has limitations in the sense that thermophysical properties are calculated by using various quantities modelled for static condition.

Keywords: Enclosures, free-free, rigid-rigid and rigid-free boundaries, Ginzburg-Landau model, Lorenz model.

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Authors: Zanjbeel Tabassum, Cahit Ali Bayraktar, Asfa Muhammad Din, Murat Durucu

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Six Sigma is a widely adapted quality improvement methodology applied throughout the world. Through this paper, an attempt has been made to identify Critical Success Factors (CSF) for successful implementation of Six Sigma in Pakistani Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). A survey methodology was used to collect the data from SMEs in Pakistan. The results of this exploratory empirical research reflect the importance of different CSFs of Six Sigma implementation in SMEs in Pakistan. On the basis of extracted factors, a framework has been proposed for successful Six Sigma implementation in Pakistani SMEs. This study will provide a base for Pakistani SMEs and future researchers working in Six Sigma implementation and help them to prepare a road map to eradicate the hurdles in Six Sigma implementation.

Keywords: Critical success factors, small and medium-sized enterprises, Six Sigma, Pakistan.

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Authors: J. D. Burges, M. J. Hall, E. G. Lightsey

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A new dual-fluid concept was studied that could eventually find application for cold-gas propulsion for small space satellites or other constant flow applications. In basic form, the concept uses two different refrigerant working fluids, each having a different saturation vapor pressure. The higher vapor pressure refrigerant remains in the saturation phase and is used to pressurize the lower saturation vapor pressure fluid (the propellant) which remains in the compressed liquid phase. A demonstration thruster concept based on this principle was designed and built to study its operating characteristics. An automotive-type electronic fuel injector was used to meter and deliver the propellant. Ejected propellant mass and momentum were measured for several combinations of refrigerants and hydrocarbon fluids. The thruster has the advantage of delivering relatively large total impulse at low tank pressure within a small volume.

Keywords: cold-gas, nano-satellite, R134a, thruster

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Authors: Jung-Chuan Chou, Wei-Chuan Chen, Chien-Cheng Chen

Abstract:

This study is concerned with pH solution detection using 2 × 4 flexible sensor array based on a plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate that is coated a conductive layer and a ruthenium dioxide (RuO2) sensitive membrane with the technologies of screen-printing and RF sputtering. For data analysis, we also prepared a dynamic measurement system for acquiring the response voltage and analyzing the characteristics of the working electrodes (WEs), such as sensitivity and linearity. In this condition, an array measurement system was designed to acquire the original signal from sensor array, and it is based on the method of digital signal processing (DSP). The DSP modifies the unstable acquisition data to a direct current (DC) output using the technique of digital filter. Hence, this sensor array can obtain a satisfactory yield, 62.5%, through the design measurement and analysis system in our laboratory.

Keywords: Flexible sensor array, PET, RuO2, dynamic measurement, data analysis.

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