Search results for: Shear field test method

Authors: H. Baskar, A. S. Chakravarthy, P. Garg, D. Goel, A. S. Raj, K. Kumar, Lakshya, R. Parvatham, V. Sushant, B. Kumar Rout

Abstract:

In this paper, we present a computer vision task called nighttime dehaze-enhancement. This task aims to jointly perform dehazing and lightness enhancement. Our task fundamentally differs from nighttime dehazing – our goal is to jointly dehaze and enhance scenes, while nighttime dehazing aims to dehaze scenes under a nighttime setting. In order to facilitate further research on this task, we release a benchmark dataset called Reside-β Night dataset, consisting of 4122 nighttime hazed images from 2061 scenes and 2061 ground truth images. Moreover, we also propose a network called NDENet (Nighttime Dehaze-Enhancement Network), which jointly performs dehazing and low-light enhancement in an end-to-end manner. We evaluate our method on the proposed benchmark and achieve Structural Index Similarity (SSIM) of 0.8962 and Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) of 26.25. We also compare our network with other baseline networks on our benchmark to demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach. We believe that nighttime dehaze-enhancement is an essential task particularly for autonomous navigation applications, and hope that our work will open up new frontiers in research. The code for our network is made publicly available.

Keywords: Dehazing, image enhancement, nighttime, computer vision.

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Authors: Aaron A. R. Nwabude

Abstract:

This study used positivist quantitative approach to examine the mathematical concepts acquisition of- KS4 (14-16) Special Education Needs (SENs) students within the school sector education in England. The research is based on a pilot study and the design is completely holistic in its approach with mixing methodologies. The study combines the qualitative and quantitative methods of approach in gathering formative data for the design process. Although, the approach could best be described as a mix method, fundamentally with a strong positivist paradigm, hence my earlier understanding of the differentiation of the students, student – teacher body and the various elements of indicators that is being measured which will require an attenuated description of individual research subjects. The design process involves four phases with five key stages which are; literature review and document analysis, the survey, interview, and observation; then finally the analysis of data set. The research identified the need for triangulation with Reid-s phases of data management providing scaffold for the study. The study clearly identified the ideological and philosophical aspects of educational research design for the study of mathematics by the special education needs (SENs) students in England using the virtual learning environment (VLE) platform.

Keywords: VLE, Special Education Needs, Key stage4, School, Mathematics, Concepts Acquisition

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Authors: Banaja Mohanty, Prakash Kumar Hota

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This paper presents a differential evolution algorithm to design a robust PI and PID controllers for Load Frequency Control (LFC) of nonlinear interconnected power systems considering the boiler dynamics, Governor Dead Band (GDB), Generation Rate Constraint (GRC). Differential evolution algorithm is employed to search for the optimal controller parameters. The proposed method easily copes of with nonlinear constraints. Further the proposed controller is simple, effective and can ensure the desirable overall system performance. The superiority of the proposed approach has been shown by comparing the results with published fuzzy logic controller for the same power systems. The comparison is done using various performance measures like overshoot, settling time and standard error criteria of frequency and tie-line power deviation following a 1% step load perturbation in hydro area. It is noticed that, the dynamic performance of proposed controller is better than fuzzy logic controller. Furthermore, it is also seen that the proposed system is robust and is not affected by change in the system parameters.

Keywords: Automatic Generation control (AGC), Generation Rate Constraint (GRC), Governor Dead Band (GDB), Differential Evolution (DE)

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Authors: Lalla Nezha Lakmiti, Abdelkahar Zahid

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Due to the setbacks on the international scene and the wave of cacophonic financial scandals affecting large international groups, the new Islamic finance industry is not immune despite its initial resistance. The purpose of this paper is to understand and analyze the meaning of the Corporate Governance (CG) concept in Moroccan Islamic banking systems with specific reference to their institutions. The research objective is to identify also the path taken and adopted by these banks recently set up in Morocco. The foundation is rooted in shari'a, in particular, no stakeholder (the shareholding approach) must be harmed, and the ethical value is reflected into these parties’ behavior. We chose a qualitative method, semi-structured interviews where six managers provided answers about their banking systems. Since these respondents held a senior position (directors) within their organizations, it is felt that they are well placed and have the necessary knowledge to provide us with information to answer the questions asked. The results identified the orientation of participating banks and assessing how governance works, while determining which party is fovoured: shareholders, stakeholders or both. This study discusses the favorable condition to the harmonization of the regulations and therefore a better integration between Islamic finance and conventional ones in the economic context of Morocco.

Keywords: Corporate governance, participating banks, stakeholders, shareholders, and interests.

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Authors: B. Dikici, I. Ozdemir, M. Topuz

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The corrosion behaviour of 316L stainless steel coatings obtained by cold spray method was investigated in this study. 316L powders were deposited onto Al5052 aluminum substrates. The coatings were produced using nitrogen (N₂) process gas. In order to further improve the corrosion and mechanical properties of the coatings, heat treatment was applied at 250 and 750 °C. The corrosion performances of the coatings were compared using the potentiodynamic scanning (PDS) technique under in-vitro conditions (in Ringer’s solution at 37 °C). In addition, the hardness and porosity tests were carried out on the coatings. Microstructural characterization of the coatings was carried out by using scanning electron microscopy attached with energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM-EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. It was found that clean surfaces and a good adhesion were achieved for particle/substrate bonding. The heat treatment process provided both elimination of the anisotropy in the coating and resulting in healing-up of the incomplete interfaces between the deposited particles. It was found that the corrosion potential of the annealed coatings at 750 °C was higher than that of commercially 316 L stainless steel. Moreover, the microstructural investigations after the corrosion tests revealed that corrosion preferentially starts at inter-splat boundaries.

Keywords: 316L, biomaterials, cold spray, heat treatment.

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Authors: Eu Tteum Ha, Kwang Ryel Ryu

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As smartphones are equipped with various sensors, there have been many studies focused on using these sensors to create valuable applications. Human activity recognition is one such application motivated by various welfare applications, such as the support for the elderly, measurement of calorie consumption, lifestyle and exercise patterns analyses, and so on. One of the challenges one faces when using smartphone sensors for activity recognition is that the number of sensors should be minimized to save battery power. In this paper, we show that a fairly accurate classifier can be built that can distinguish ten different activities by using only a single sensor data, i.e., the smartphone accelerometer data. The approach that we adopt to deal with this twelve-class problem uses various methods. The features used for classifying these activities include not only the magnitude of acceleration vector at each time point, but also the maximum, the minimum, and the standard deviation of vector magnitude within a time window. The experiments compared the performance of four kinds of basic multi-class classifiers and the performance of four kinds of ensemble learning methods based on three kinds of basic multi-class classifiers. The results show that while the method with the highest accuracy is ECOC based on Random forest.

Keywords: Ensemble learning, activity recognition, smartphone accelerometer.

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Authors: S. Kulsri, M. Jaroensutasinee, K. Jaroensutasinee

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We developed a method based on quasi-molecular modelling to simulate the fall of water drops on horizontally smooth and rough surfaces. Each quasi-molecule was a group of particles that interacted in a fashion entirely analogous to classical Newtonian molecular interactions. When a falling water droplet was simulated at low impact velocity on both smooth and rough surfaces, the droplets moved periodically (i.e. the droplets moved up and down for a certain period, finally they stopped moving and reached a steady state), spreading and recoiling without splash or break-up. Spreading rates of falling water droplets increased rapidly as time increased until the spreading rate reached its steady state at time t ~ 0.25 s for rough surface and t ~ 0.40 s for smooth surface. The droplet height above both surfaces decreased as time increased, remained constant after the droplet diameter attained a maximum value and reached its steady state at time t ~ 0.4 s. However, rough surface had higher spreading rates of falling water droplets and lower height on the surface than smooth one.

Keywords: Quasi-molecular modelling, particle modelling, molecular aggregate approach.

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Authors: E. Oskoueian, E. Maroufyan, Y.M. Goh, E. Ramezani-Fard, M. Ebrahimi

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The fish meat plays an important role in the human health as it contains high quality protein. The tilapia fish considered as the third largest group of farmed fish. The oxidative deterioration of fish meat may occur during the cooking process. The proper cooking process and using natural antioxidant to prevent oxidation and enhance the quality of the tilapia fish fillet is necessary. Hence, this research was carried out to evaluate the potential of clove essential oil to prevent lipid peroxidation and enhance the antioxidant activity of tilapia fish fillet cooked using microwaving and grilling methods. The results showed that cooking using microwave significantly (p<0.05) increased the lipid peroxidation and decreased the DPPH and ferric reducing activity power of the fish fillet as compared to grilling method. The fortification of fish fillet using clove essential oil prevented from lipid peroxidation and enhanced the antioxidant activity of the fish fillet significantly (p<0.05). Consequently, fortification of tilapia fish fillet using clove essential oil followed by cooking using griller to have high quality cooked fish meat is recommended.

Keywords: Antioxidant activity, fillet, fish, fortification, lipid peroxidation.

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Authors: Kwok Tak Kit

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The construction industry plays an important role in environmental and carbon emissions as it consumes a huge amount of natural resources and energy. Sustainable engineering involves the process of planning, design, procurement, construction and delivery in which the whole building and construction process resulting from building and construction can be effectively and sustainability managed to achieve the use of natural resources. Implementation of sustainable technology development and innovation, adoption of the advanced construction process and facilitate the facilities management to implement the energy and waste control more accurately and effectively. Study and research in the relationship of BIM and environment assessment tools lack a clear discussion. In this paper, we will focus on the synergy of BIM technology and sustainable engineering in the AEC industry and outline the key factors which enhance the use of advanced innovation, technology and method and define the role of stakeholders to achieve zero-carbon emission toward the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. A case study of the adoption of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and environmental assessment tools in Hong Kong will be discussed in this paper.

Keywords: sustainability, sustainable engineering, BIM, LEED

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Authors: Dehpour A. A., Eslami B., Rezaie S., Hashemian S. F., Shafie F., Kiaie M.

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The aims of study were investigation on chemical composition essential oil and the effect of extract of Coronilla varia on antimicrobial and cytotoxicity activity. The essential oils of Coronilla varia is obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by (GC/MS) for determining their chemical composition and identification of their components. Antibacterial activity of plant extract was determined by disc diffusion method and anticancer activity measured by MTT assay. The major components in essential oil were Caryophyllene Oxide (60.19%), Alphacadinol (4.13%) and Homoadantaneca Robexylic Acid (3.31%). The extracts from Coronilla varia had interesting activity against Proteus mirabilis in the concentration of 700 μg/disc and did not show any activity against Staphylococus aureus, Bacillus subtillis, Klebsiella pneumonia and Entrobacter cloacae. The positive control, Ampicillin, Chloramphenicol and Cenphalothin had shown zone of inhibition resistant all bacteria. The ethanol extract of Corohilla varia inhibited on MCF7 cell lines. IC50 0.6(mg/ml) was the optimum concentration of extract from Coronilla varia inhibition of cell line growth. The MCF7 cancer cell line and Proteus mirabilis were more sensitive to Coronilla varia ethanol extract.

Keywords: Coronilla varia, Essential oil, Antibacterial, Anticancer, HeLa cell line.

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Authors: Alireza Keshmiri, Shahriar Bagheri, Nan Wu

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This research presents an analytical model for the development of an energy harvester with piezoelectric rings stacked at the boundary of the structure based on the Adomian decomposition method. The model is applied to geometrically non-uniform beams to derive the steady-state dynamic response of the structure subjected to base motion excitation and efficiently harvest the subsequent vibrational energy. The in-plane polarization of the piezoelectric rings is employed to enhance the electrical power output. A parametric study for the proposed energy harvester with various design parameters is done to prepare the dataset required for optimization. Finally, simulation-based optimization technique helps to find the optimum structural design with maximum efficiency. To solve the optimization problem, an artificial neural network is first trained to replace the simulation model, and then, a genetic algorithm is employed to find the optimized design variables. Higher geometrical non-uniformity and length of the beam lowers the structure natural frequency and generates a larger power output.

Keywords: Piezoelectricity, energy harvesting, simulation-based optimization, artificial neural network, genetic algorithm.

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Authors: Jamal R. Elbergali

Abstract:

Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) systems are wireless systems with multiple antenna elements at both ends of the link. Wireless communication systems demand high data rate and spectral efficiency with increased reliability. MIMO systems have been popular techniques to achieve these goals because increased data rate is possible through spatial multiplexing scheme and diversity. Spatial Multiplexing (SM) is used to achieve higher possible throughput than diversity. In this paper, we propose a Zero- Forcing (ZF) detection using a combination of Ordered Successive Interference Cancellation (OSIC) and Zero Forcing using Interference Cancellation (ZF-IC). The proposed method used an OSIC based on Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) ordering to get the estimation of last symbol, then the estimated last symbol is considered to be an input to the ZF-IC. We analyze the Bit Error Rate (BER) performance of the proposed MIMO system over Rayleigh Fading Channel, using Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) modulation scheme. The results show better performance than the previous methods.

Keywords: SNR, BER, BPSK, MIMO, Modulation, Zero forcing (ZF), OSIC, ZF-IC, Spatial Multiplexing (SM).

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Authors: Nyambayar Davaadorj, Ichiro Koshijima

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Safety or the state of being safe can be described as a condition of being not dangerous or not harmful. It is necessary for an individual to avoid dangerous situations every day. Also, an organization is subject to legal requirements for the health and safety of persons inside and around the immediate workplace, or who are exposed to the workplace activities. Although it might be difficult to keep a situation where complete safety is ensured, efforts must nonetheless be made to consider ways of removing any potential danger within an organization. In order to ensure a safe working environment, the capability of responding (i.e., resilience) to signals (i.e., information concerning events that could pose future problems that must be taken into account) that occur in and around corporations is necessary. The ability to evaluate this essential point is thus one way in which safety and security can be managed. This study focuses on OHSAS18001, an internationally applied standard for the construction and operation of occupational health and safety management systems, by using IDEF0 for Function Modeling (IDEF0) and the Resilience Matrix originally made by Bracco. Further, this study discusses a method for evaluating a manner in which Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) systematically functions within corporations. Based on the findings, this study clarifies the potential structural objection for corporations when implementing and operating the OHSAS standard.

Keywords: OHSAS18001, IDEF0, safety culture, resilience engineering.

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Authors: Asma M. Milad, Mohammad B. Kassim, Wan R. Daud

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Highly ordered TiO2 nanotube (TNT) arrays were fabricated onto a pre-treated titanium foil by anodic oxidation with a voltage of 20V in phosphoric acid/sodium fluoride electrolyte. A pretreatment of titanium foil involved washing with acetone, isopropanol, ethanol and deionized water. Carbon doped TiO2 nanotubes (C-TNT) was fabricated 'in-situ' with the same method in the presence of polyvinyl alcohol and urea as carbon sources. The affects of polyvinyl alcohol concentration and oxidation time on the composition, morphology and structure of the C-TN were studied by FE-SEM, EDX and XRD techniques. FESEM images of the nanotubes showed uniform arrays of C-TNTs. The density and microstructures of the nanotubes were greatly affected by the content of PVA. The introduction of the polyvinyl alcohol into the electrolyte increases the amount of C content inside TiO2 nanotube arrays uniformly. The influence of carbon content on the photo-current of C-TNT was investigated and the I-V profiles of the nanotubes were established. The preliminary results indicated that the 'in-situ' doping technique produced a superior quality nanotubes compared to post doping techniques.

Keywords: Anodization, photoelectrochemical cell, 'in-situ', post doping, thin film, and titania nanotube arrays.

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Authors: Sanjib Kr Pal, S. Bhattacharyya

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Mixed convection of Cu-water nanofluid in an enclosure with thick wavy bottom wall has been investigated numerically. A co-ordinate transformation method is used to transform the computational domain into an orthogonal co-ordinate system. The governing equations in the computational domain are solved through a pressure correction based iterative algorithm. The fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics are analyzed for a wide range of Richardson number (0.1 ≤ Ri ≤ 5), nanoparticle volume concentration (0.0 ≤ ϕ ≤ 0.2), amplitude (0.0 ≤ α ≤ 0.1) of the wavy thick- bottom wall and the wave number (ω) at a fixed Reynolds number. Obtained results showed that heat transfer rate increases remarkably by adding the nanoparticles. Heat transfer rate is dependent on the wavy wall amplitude and wave number and decreases with increasing Richardson number for fixed amplitude and wave number. The Bejan number and the entropy generation are determined to analyze the thermodynamic optimization of the mixed convection.

Keywords: Entropy generation, mixed convection, conjugate heat transfer, numerical, nanofluid, wall waviness.

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Authors: K. A. Sumitra Devi, N. P. Banashree, Annamma Abraham

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Partitioning is a critical area of VLSI CAD. In order to build complex digital logic circuits its often essential to sub-divide multi -million transistor design into manageable Pieces. This paper looks at the various partitioning techniques aspects of VLSI CAD, targeted at various applications. We proposed an evolutionary time-series model and a statistical glitch prediction system using a neural network with selection of global feature by making use of clustering method model, for partitioning a circuit. For evolutionary time-series model, we made use of genetic, memetic & neuro-memetic techniques. Our work focused in use of clustering methods - K-means & EM methodology. A comparative study is provided for all techniques to solve the problem of circuit partitioning pertaining to VLSI design. The performance of all approaches is compared using benchmark data provided by MCNC standard cell placement benchmark net lists. Analysis of the investigational results proved that the Neuro-memetic model achieves greater performance then other model in recognizing sub-circuits with minimum amount of interconnections between them.

Keywords: VLSI, circuit partitioning, memetic algorithm, genetic algorithm.

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Authors: N. Muthukumaran, R. Ravi

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The Quad Tree Decomposition based performance analysis of compressed image data communication for lossy and lossless through wireless sensor network is presented. Images have considerably higher storage requirement than text. While transmitting a multimedia content there is chance of the packets being dropped due to noise and interference. At the receiver end the packets that carry valuable information might be damaged or lost due to noise, interference and congestion. In order to avoid the valuable information from being dropped various retransmission schemes have been proposed. In this proposed scheme QTD is used. QTD is an image segmentation method that divides the image into homogeneous areas. In this proposed scheme involves analysis of parameters such as compression ratio, peak signal to noise ratio, mean square error, bits per pixel in compressed image and analysis of difficulties during data packet communication in Wireless Sensor Networks. By considering the above, this paper is to use the QTD to improve the compression ratio as well as visual quality and the algorithm in MATLAB 7.1 and NS2 Simulator software tool.

Keywords: Image compression, Compression Ratio, Quad tree decomposition, Wireless sensor networks, NS2 simulator.

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Authors: Maria Vinca Novenia

Abstract:

The number of school-aged children with autism in Indonesia has been increasing each year. Autism is a developmental disorder which can be diagnosed in childhood. One of the symptoms is the lack of communication skills. Music therapy is known as an effective treatment for children with autism. Music elements and structures create a good space for children with autism to express their feelings and communicate their thoughts. School-aged children are expected to be able to communicate non-verbally very well, but children with autism experience the difficulties of communicating non-verbally. The aim of this research is to analyze the significance of music therapy treatment to improve non-verbal communication tools for children with autism. This research informs teachers and parents on how music can be used as a media to communicate with children with autism. The qualitative method is used to analyze this research, while the result is described with the microanalysis technique. The result is measured specifically from the whole experiment, hours of every week, minutes of every session, and second of every moment. The samples taken are four school-aged children with autism in the age range of six to 11 years old. This research is conducted within four months started with observation, interview, literature research, and direct experiment. The result demonstrates that music therapy could be effectively used as a non-verbal communication tool for children with autism, such as changes of body gesture, eye contact, and facial expression.

Keywords: Autism, non-verbal communication, microanalysis, music therapy, school-aged children.

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Authors: Sally Naji, Julie Gwilliam

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Climate change remains a challenging matter for the human and the built environment in the 21st century, where the need to consider adaptation to climate change in the development process is paramount. However, there remains a lack of information regarding how we should prepare responses to this issue, such as through developing organized and sophisticated tools enabling the adaptation process. This study aims to build a systematic framework approach to investigate the potentials that Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment tools (NSA) might offer in enabling both the analysis of the emerging adaptive capacity to climate change. The analysis of the framework presented in this paper aims to discuss this issue in three main phases. The first part attempts to link sustainability and climate change, in the context of adaptive capacity. It is argued that in deciding to promote sustainability in the context of climate change, both the resilience and vulnerability processes become central. However, there is still a gap in the current literature regarding how the sustainable development process can respond to climate change. As well as how the resilience of practical strategies might be evaluated. It is suggested that the integration of the sustainability assessment processes with both the resilience thinking process, and vulnerability might provide important components for addressing the adaptive capacity to climate change. A critical review of existing literature is presented illustrating the current lack of work in this field, integrating these three concepts in the context of addressing the adaptive capacity to climate change. The second part aims to identify the most appropriate scale at which to address the built environment for the climate change adaptation. It is suggested that the neighborhood scale can be considered as more suitable than either the building or urban scales. It then presents the example of NSAs, and discusses the need to explore their potential role in promoting the adaptive capacity to climate change. The third part of the framework presents a comparison among three example NSAs, BREEAM Communities, LEED-ND, and CASBEE-UD. These three tools have been selected as the most developed and comprehensive assessment tools that are currently available for the neighborhood scale. This study concludes that NSAs are likely to present the basis for an organized framework to address the practical process for analyzing and yet promoting Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change. It is further argued that vulnerability (exposure & sensitivity) and resilience (Interdependence & Recovery) form essential aspects to be addressed in the future assessment of NSA’s capability to adapt to both short and long term climate change impacts. Finally, it is acknowledged that further work is now required to understand impact assessment in terms of the range of physical sectors (Water, Energy, Transportation, Building, Land Use and Ecosystems), Actor and stakeholder engagement as well as a detailed evaluation of the NSA indicators, together with a barriers diagnosis process.

Keywords: Adaptive capacity, climate change, NSA tools, resilience, vulnerability.

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Authors: Chanisada Choosuk, Napisporn Memongkol Runchana Sinthavalai, Fareeda Lambensah

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The objective of this research is to explore the role of actors at the local level in managing the Pre-hospital Emergency Medical Service (EMS) system in Thailand. The research method was done through documentary research, individual interviews, and one forum conducted in each province. This paper uses the case of three provinces located in three regions in Thailand including; Ubon Ratchathani (North-eastern region), Lampang (Northern Region), and Songkhla (Southern Region). The result shows that, recently, the role of the local government in being the service provider for their local people is increasingly concerned. In identifying the key success factors towards the EMS system, it includes; (i) the local executives- vision and influence that the decisions made by them, for both PAO (Provincial Administration Organisation (PAO) and TAO (Tambon Administration Organisation), is vital to address the overall challenges in EMS development, (ii) the administrative system through reforming their working style create the flexibility in running the EMS task, (iii) the network-based management among different agencies at the local level leads to the better EMS practices, and (iv) the development in human resource is very vital in delivering the effective services.

Keywords: Local governments, Management, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Thailand

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Authors: Andhe Dharani, P. S. Satyanarayana, Andhe Pallavi

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Considering payload, reliability, security and operational lifetime as major constraints in transmission of images we put forward in this paper a steganographic technique implemented at the physical layer. We suggest transmission of Halftoned images (payload constraint) in wireless sensor networks to reduce the amount of transmitted data. For low power and interference limited applications Turbo codes provide suitable reliability. Ensuring security is one of the highest priorities in many sensor networks. The Turbo Code structure apart from providing forward error correction can be utilized to provide for encryption. We first consider the Halftoned image and then the method of embedding a block of data (called secret) in this Halftoned image during the turbo encoding process is presented. The small modifications required at the turbo decoder end to extract the embedded data are presented next. The implementation complexity and the degradation of the BER (bit error rate) in the Turbo based stego system are analyzed. Using some of the entropy based crypt analytic techniques we show that the strength of our Turbo based stego system approaches that found in the OTPs (one time pad).

Keywords: Halftoning, Turbo codes, security, operationallifetime, Turbo based stego system.

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Authors: Hooriya Sadr Dadras, Shiva Seyed Erfani

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Speaking skills merit meticulous attention both on the side of the learners and the teachers. In particular, accuracy is a critical component to guarantee the messages to be conveyed through conversation because a wrongful change may adversely alter the content and purpose of the talk. Different types of tasks have served teachers to meet numerous educational objectives. Besides, negotiation of meaning and the use of different strategies have been areas of concern in socio-cultural theories of SLA. Negotiation of meaning is among the conversational processes which have a crucial role in facilitating the understanding and expression of meaning in a given second language. Conversational strategies are used during interaction when there is a breakdown in communication that leads to the interlocutor attempting to remedy the gap through talk. Therefore, this study was an attempt to investigate if there was any significant difference between the effect of reasoning gap tasks and information gap tasks on the frequency of conversational strategies used in negotiation of meaning in classrooms on one hand, and on the accuracy in speaking of Iranian intermediate EFL learners on the other. After a pilot study to check the practicality of the treatments, at the outset of the main study, the Preliminary English Test was administered to ensure the homogeneity of 87 out of 107 participants who attended the intact classes of a 15 session term in one control and two experimental groups. Also, speaking sections of PET were used as pretest and posttest to examine their speaking accuracy. The tests were recorded and transcribed to estimate the percentage of the number of the clauses with no grammatical errors in the total produced clauses to measure the speaking accuracy. In all groups, the grammatical points of accuracy were instructed and the use of conversational strategies was practiced. Then, different kinds of reasoning gap tasks (matchmaking, deciding on the course of action, and working out a time table) and information gap tasks (restoring an incomplete chart, spot the differences, arranging sentences into stories, and guessing game) were manipulated in experimental groups during treatment sessions, and the students were required to practice conversational strategies when doing speaking tasks. The conversations throughout the terms were recorded and transcribed to count the frequency of the conversational strategies used in all groups. The results of statistical analysis demonstrated that applying both the reasoning gap tasks and information gap tasks significantly affected the frequency of conversational strategies through negotiation. In the face of the improvements, the reasoning gap tasks had a more significant impact on encouraging the negotiation of meaning and increasing the number of conversational frequencies every session. The findings also indicated both task types could help learners significantly improve their speaking accuracy. Here, applying the reasoning gap tasks was more effective than the information gap tasks in improving the level of learners’ speaking accuracy.

Keywords: Accuracy in speaking, conversational strategies, information gap tasks, reasoning gap tasks.

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Authors: Hussein Togun, Tuqa Abdulrazzaq, S. N. Kazi, A. Badarudin, M. K. A. Ariffin, M. N. M. Zubir

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Heat transfer and laminar fluid flow over backward facing step with and without obstacle numerically studied in this paper. The finite volume method adopted to solve continuity, momentum and energy equations in two dimensions. Backward facing step without obstacle and with different dimension of obstacle were presented. The step height and expansion ratio of channel were 4.8mm and 2 respectively, the range of Reynolds number varied from 75 to 225, constant heat flux subjected on downstream of wall was 2000W/m², and length of obstacle was 1.5, 3, and 4.5mm with width 1.5mm. The separation length noticed increase with increase Reynolds number and height of obstacle. The result shows increase of heat transfer coefficient for backward facing step with obstacle in compared to those without obstacle. The maximum enhancement of heat transfer observed at 4.5mm of height obstacle due to increase recirculation flow after the obstacle in addition that at backward. Streamline of velocity showing the increase of recirculation region with used obstacle in compared without obstacle and highest recirculation region observed at obstacle height 4.5mm. The amount of enhancement heat transfer was varied between 3-5% compared to backward without obstacle.

Keywords: Separation flow, Backward facing step, Heat transfer, Laminar flow.

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Authors: Seda Yavuz, Anıl Çelebi, Aysun Taşyapı Çelebi, Oğuzhan Urhan

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Nowadays, demand for using real-time video transmission capable devices is ever-increasing. So, high resolution videos have made efficient video compression techniques an essential component for capturing and transmitting video data. Motion estimation has a critical role in encoding raw video. Hence, various motion estimation methods are introduced to efficiently compress the video. Low bit‑depth representation based motion estimation methods facilitate computation of matching criteria and thus, provide small hardware footprint. In this paper, a hardware implementation of a two-bit transformation based low-complexity motion estimation method using local binary pattern approach is proposed. Image frames are represented in two-bit depth instead of full-depth by making use of the local binary pattern as a binarization approach and the binarization part of the hardware architecture is explained in detail. Experimental results demonstrate the difference between the proposed hardware architecture and the architectures of well-known low-complexity motion estimation methods in terms of important aspects such as resource utilization, energy and power consumption.

Keywords: Binarization, hardware architecture, local binary pattern, motion estimation, two-bit transform.

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Authors: Valentina Piric, Maja Martinovic, Zoran Barac

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The application of marketing to the domain of politics has become relevant in recent times. With this article the authors wanted to explore the issue of the current political engagement among young people in Croatia. The question is what makes young people (age 18-30) politically active in young democracies such as that of the Republic of Croatia. Therefore, the objective of this study was to discover the real or hidden motivations behind the decision to actively participate in politics among young members of the two largest political parties in the country – the Croatian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party of Croatia. The study expected to find that the motivation for political engagement of young people is often connected with a possible achievement of individual goals and egoistic needs such as: self-acceptance, social success, financial success, prestige, reputation, status, recognition from the others etc. It was also expected that, due to the poor economic and social situation in the country, young people feel an increasing disconnection from politics. Additionally, the authors expected to find that there is a huge potential to engage young people in the political life of the country through a proper and more interactive use of marketing communication campaigns and social media platforms, with an emphasis on highly ethical motives of political activity and their benefits to society. All respondents included in the quantitative survey (sample size [N=100]) are active in one of the two largest political parties in Croatia. The sampling and distribution of the survey occurred in the field in September 2016. The results of the survey demonstrate that in Croatia, the way young people feel about politics and act accordingly, are in fact similar to what the theory describes. The research findings reveal that young people are politically active; however, the challenge is to find a way to motivate even more young people in Croatia to actively participate in the political and democratic processes in the country and to encourage them to see additional benefits out of this practice, not only related to their individual motives, but related more to the well-being of Croatia as a country and of every member of society. The research also discovered a huge potential for political marketing communication possibilities, especially related to interactive social media. It is possible that the social media channels have a stronger influence on the decision-making process among young people when compared to groups of reference. The level of interest in politics among young Croatians varies; some of them are almost indifferent, whilst others express a serious interest in different ways to actively contribute to the political life of the country, defining a participation in the political life of their country almost as their moral obligation. However, additional observations and further research need to be conducted to get a clearer and more precise picture about the interest in politics among young people in Croatia and their social potential.

Keywords: Croatia, marketing communication, motivation, politics, young people.

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Authors: Dae-Hee Son, Soon-Ryul Nam

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The power system frequency falls when disturbance such as rapid increase of system load or loss of a generating unit occurs in power systems. Especially, increase in the number of renewable generating units has a bad influence on the power system because of loss of generating unit depending on the circumstance. Conventional technologies use frequency droop control battery output for the frequency regulation and balance between supply and demand. If power is supplied using the fast output characteristic of the battery, power system stability can be further more improved. To improve the power system stability, we propose battery output control using ROCOF (Rate of Change of Frequency) in this paper. The bigger the power difference between the supply and the demand, the bigger the ROCOF drops. Battery output is controlled proportionally to the magnitude of the ROCOF, allowing for faster response to power imbalances. To simulate the control method of battery output system, we develop the user defined model using PSS/E and confirm that power system stability is improved by comparing with frequency droop control.

Keywords: PSS/E user defined model, power deviation, frequency droop control, ROCOF, rate of change of frequency.

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Authors: Yunos Zahri, Ab Hamid R. Susanty, Ahmad Mustaffa

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This paper explores the need for a national baseline study on understanding the level of cyber security situational awareness among primary and secondary school students in Malaysia. The online survey method was deployed to administer the data collection exercise. The target groups were divided into three categories: Group 1 (primary school aged 7-9 years old), Group 2 (primary school aged 10-12 years old), and Group 3 (secondary school aged 13-17 years old). A different questionnaire set was designed for each group. The survey topics/areas included Internet and digital citizenship knowledge. Respondents were randomly selected from rural and urban areas throughout all 14 states in Malaysia. A total of 9,158 respondents participated in the survey, with most states meeting the minimum sample size requirement to represent the country’s demographics. The findings and recommendations from this baseline study are fundamental to develop teaching modules required for children to understand the security risks and threats associated with the Internet throughout their years in school. Early exposure and education will help ensure healthy cyber habits among millennials in Malaysia.

Keywords: Cyber security awareness, cyber security education, cyber security, students.

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Authors: Abdesselem Dakhli, Wajdi Bellil, Chokri Ben Amar

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DNA Barcode provides good sources of needed information to classify living species. The classification problem has to be supported with reliable methods and algorithms. To analyze species regions or entire genomes, it becomes necessary to use the similarity sequence methods. A large set of sequences can be simultaneously compared using Multiple Sequence Alignment which is known to be NP-complete. However, all the used methods are still computationally very expensive and require significant computational infrastructure. Our goal is to build predictive models that are highly accurate and interpretable. In fact, our method permits to avoid the complex problem of form and structure in different classes of organisms. The empirical data and their classification performances are compared with other methods. Evenly, in this study, we present our system which is consisted of three phases. The first one, is called transformation, is composed of three sub steps; Electron-Ion Interaction Pseudopotential (EIIP) for the codification of DNA Barcodes, Fourier Transform and Power Spectrum Signal Processing. Moreover, the second phase step is an approximation; it is empowered by the use of Multi Library Wavelet Neural Networks (MLWNN). Finally, the third one, is called the classification of DNA Barcodes, is realized by applying the algorithm of hierarchical classification.

Keywords: DNA Barcode, Electron-Ion Interaction Pseudopotential, Multi Library Wavelet Neural Networks.

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Authors: R. Deju, M. Mincu, D. Gurau

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During the interim storage or final disposal of low level waste, migration/diffusion of radionuclides can occur when the waste comes in contact with water. The long-term leaching behaviour into surrounding fluid (demineralized water) of ¹³⁷Cs, ⁶⁰Co and ¹⁵²Eu radionuclides, artificially incorporated in mortar matrices made from natural aggregates (river sand) and recycled radioactive concrete was studied. Results presented in this work are obtained in two years of mortar testing and will be used for the safety increasing in the storage of low level radioactive waste. The study involved the influence of curing time, type and size distribution of the aggregates on leaching behaviour. The mortar samples were immersed in distilled water for 30 days. The leached activity of the mortar samples was measured on samples from the immersing water and analyzed through a gamma-ray spectrometry method using an HPGe detector with a GESPECOR code for efficiency evaluation. The long-term leaching behaviour of the radionuclides was evaluated from the leaching data calculating the apparent diffusion coefficient.

Keywords: Leaching behaviour, recycling of radioactive concrete, waste management, gamma-ray spectrometry.

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Authors: Gaurav

Abstract:

Sexuality remains a personal or a private matter of discussion in the Indian society and generally discussed among the same age group or gender. Complete absence of the sex education has caused serious implications for the students with disabilities in Indian society. There are widespread perceptions that student with disabilities are ‘asexual’, ‘unattractive’ and therefore cannot be considered sexually desirable. Such perceptions continue to reinforce the other perceptions that student with disabilities are somehow incapable of being in an intimate relationship in the life and therefore they do not need any learning related to the sex education. We need to understand that if a student has a disability, it does not mean that student have no emotional feelings, hormones and sexual desires like any other student without disability. Sexuality is an integral part of every human life and should not be seen as matter of shame and guilt. Unfortunately, the concept of the sex education is misunderstood in itself. Instead of realizing the crucial importance of sex education for the students with disabilities or non-disabilities, it is often considered mainly as an education about ‘how to have sexual intercourse’. One needs to understand that it is not just about sexual conduct but also about the gender and sexual identity, self-esteem, self protection and acceptance of self. This research paper examined issues and debates around the sex education, particularly in context of the students with disabilities in India and focuses on how students with disabilities themselves see the need of sex (health) education. To understand their perceptions, descriptive survey method was used. It was found that most of the students among respondent were comfortable and felt it as a strong need for such orientation during their schooling. The paper emphasizes that sex education is a need of the time and further a necessity. Hence it is important for our education system to implement it for the complete well being of the students with disabilities.

Keywords: Disabilities, identity, sexuality, sex education.

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