Search results for: double side approach method

Authors: Balgaisha G. Mukanova, Yelbek B. Utepov, Aida G. Nazarova, Alisher Z. Imanov

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The problem of identifying local noise sources on a construction site using a sensor system is considered. Mathematical modeling of detected signals on sensors was carried out, considering signal decay and signal delay time between the source and detector. Recordings of noises produced by construction tools were used as a dependence of noise on time. Synthetic sensor data was constructed based on these data, and a model of the propagation of acoustic waves from a point source in the three-dimensional space was applied. All sensors and sources are assumed to be located in the same plane. A source localization method is checked based on the signal time delay between two adjacent detectors and plotting the direction of the source. Based on the two direct lines' crossline, the noise source's position is determined. Cases of one dominant source and the case of two sources in the presence of several other sources of lower intensity are considered. The number of detectors varies from three to eight detectors. The intensity of the noise field in the assessed area is plotted. The signal of a two-second duration is considered. The source is located for subsequent parts of the signal with a duration above 0.04 sec; the final result is obtained by computing the average value.

Keywords: Acoustic model, direction of arrival, inverse source problem, sound localization, urban noises.

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Authors: Faramarz Khosravi, Gokhan Izbirak

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A weighted statistical stochastic based Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) model for modeling the potential barriers and enablers of sustainability for measuring and assessing the sustainability level is proposed. For context-dependent potential barriers and enablers, the proposed model takes the basis of the properties of the variables describing the sustainability functions and was developed into a realistic analytical model for the sustainable behavior of an organization. This thus serves as a means for measuring the sustainability of the organization. The main focus of this paper was the application of the AHP tool in a statistically-based model for measuring sustainability. Hence a strong weighted stochastic AHP based procedure was achieved. A case study scenario of a widely reported major Canadian electric utility was adopted to demonstrate the applicability of the developed model and comparatively examined its results with those of an equal-weighted model method. Variations in the sustainability of a company, as fluctuations, were figured out during the time. In the results obtained, sustainability index for successive years changed form 73.12%, 79.02%, 74.31%, 76.65%, 80.49%, 79.81%, 79.83% to more exact values 73.32%, 77.72%, 76.76%, 79.41%, 81.93%, 79.72%, and 80,45% according to priorities of factors that have found by expert views, respectively. By obtaining relatively necessary informative measurement indicators, the model can practically and effectively evaluate the sustainability extent of any organization and also to determine fluctuations in the organization over time.

Keywords: AHP, sustainability fluctuation, environmental indicators, performance measurement, environmental sustainability.

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Authors: Pablo Ampuero, Claudia Labarca

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The current research paper assesses how the narrative of Chilean businesspeople about China shapes a new Orientalism Analyses on the role of non-state actors in foreign policy that have hitherto theorized about Orientalism as a narrative of hegemonic power. Hence, it has been instrumental to the efforts of imperialist powers to justify their mission civilisatrice. However, such conceptualization can seldom explain new complexities of international interactions at the height of globalization. Hence, we assessed the case of Chile, a small Latin American country, and its relationship with China, its largest trading partner. Through a discourse analysis of interviews with Chilean businesspeople engaged in the Chinese market, we could determine that Chile is building an Orientalist image of China. This new business Orientalism reinforces a relation of alterity based on commercial opportunities, traditional values, and natural dispositions. Hence, the perception of the Chinese Other amongst Chilean business people frames a new set of representations as part of the essentially commercial nature of current bilateral relations. It differs from previous frames, such as the racial bias frame of the early 20^th century, or the anti-communist frame in reaction to Mao’s leadership. As in every narrative of alterity, there is not only a construction of the Other but also a definition of the Self. Consequently, this analysis constitutes a relevant case of the role of non-state actors in asymmetrical bilateral relations, where the non-state actors of the minor power build and act upon an Orientalist frame, which is not representative of its national status in the relation. This study emerges as a contribution on the relation amongst non-state actors in asymmetrical relations, where the smaller power’s business class acts on a negative prejudice of its interactions with its counterpart. The research builds upon the constructivist approach to international relations, linking the idea of Nation Branding with Orientalism in the case of Chile-China relations.

Keywords: New business Orientalism, small power, framing, Chile-China relations.

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Authors: M. A. Meslem

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For precise geoid determination, we use a reference field to subtract long and medium wavelength of the gravity field from observations data when we use the remove-compute-restore technique. Therefore, a comparison study between considered models should be made in order to select the optimal reference gravity field to be used. In this context, two recent global geopotential models have been selected to perform this comparison study over Northern Algeria. The Earth Gravitational Model (EGM2008) and the Global Gravity Model (GECO) conceived with a combination of the first model with anomalous potential derived from a GOCE satellite-only global model. Free air gravity anomalies in the area under study have been used to compute residual data using both gravity field models and a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) to subtract the residual terrain effect from the gravity observations. Residual data were used to generate local empirical covariance functions and their fitting to the closed form in order to compare their statistical behaviors according to both cases. Finally, height anomalies were computed from both geopotential models and compared to a set of GPS levelled points on benchmarks using least squares adjustment. The result described in details in this paper regarding these two models has pointed out a slight advantage of GECO global model globally through error degree variances comparison and ground-truth evaluation.

Keywords: Quasigeoid, gravity anomalies, covariance, GGM.

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Authors: Wayan F. Mahmudy, Romeo M. Marian, Lee H. S. Luong

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This paper presents modeling and optimization of two NP-hard problems in flexible manufacturing system (FMS), part type selection problem and loading problem. Due to the complexity and extent of the problems, the paper was split into two parts. The first part of the papers has discussed the modeling of the problems and showed how the real coded genetic algorithms (RCGA) can be applied to solve the problems. This second part discusses the effectiveness of the RCGA which uses an array of real numbers as chromosome representation. The novel proposed chromosome representation produces only feasible solutions which minimize a computational time needed by GA to push its population toward feasible search space or repair infeasible chromosomes. The proposed RCGA improves the FMS performance by considering two objectives, maximizing system throughput and maintaining the balance of the system (minimizing system unbalance). The resulted objective values are compared to the optimum values produced by branch-and-bound method. The experiments show that the proposed RCGA could reach near optimum solutions in a reasonable amount of time.

Keywords: Flexible manufacturing system, production planning, part type selection problem, loading problem, real-coded genetic algorithm

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Authors: M. Nakkuntod, S. Srinarang, K.W. Hilu

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Water lily (Nymphaea L.) is the largest genus of Nymphaeaceae. This family is composed of six genera (Nuphar, Ondinea, Euryale, Victoria, Barclaya, Nymphaea). Its members are nearly worldwide in tropical and temperate regions. The classification of some species in Nymphaea is ambiguous due to high variation in leaf and flower parts such as leaf margin, stamen appendage. Therefore, the phylogenetic relationships based on 18S rDNA were constructed to delimit this genus. DNAs of 52 specimens belonging to water lily family were extracted using modified conventional method containing cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB). The results showed that the amplified fragment is about 1600 base pairs in size. After analysis, the aligned sequences presented 9.36% for variable characters comprising 2.66% of parsimonious informative sites and 6.70% of singleton sites. Moreover, there are 6 regions of 1-2 base(s) for insertion/deletion. The phylogenetic trees based on maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood with high bootstrap support indicated that genus Nymphaea was a paraphyletic group because of Ondinea, Victoria and Euryale disruption. Within genus Nymphaea, subgenus Nymphaea is a basal lineage group which cooperated with Euryale and Victoria. The other four subgenera, namely Lotos, Hydrocallis, Brachyceras and Anecphya were included the same large clade which Ondinea was placed within Anecphya clade due to geographical sharing.

Keywords: nrDNA, phylogeny, taxonomy, Waterlily.

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Authors: F. Farzin

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Research has shown that techno-entrepreneurship is economically significant. Therefore, it is suggested that teaching techno-entrepreneurship may be important because such programmes would prepare current and future generations of learners to recognise and act on high-technology opportunities. Education in technoentrepreneurship may increase the knowledge of how to start one’s own enterprise and recognise the technological opportunities for commercialisation to improve decision-making about starting a new venture; also it influence decisions about capturing the business opportunities and turning them into successful ventures. Universities can play a main role in connecting and networking technoentrepreneurship students towards a cooperative attitude with real business practice and industry knowledge. To investigate and answer whether education for techno-entrepreneurs really helps, this paper choses a comparison of literature reviews as its method of research. After reviewing literature related to the impact of technoentrepreneurship education on self-employment 6 studies which had similar aim and objective to this paper were. These particular papers were selected based on a keywords search and as their aim, objectives, and gaps were close to the current research. In addition, they were all based on the influence of techno-entrepreneurship education in self-employment and intention of students to start new ventures. The findings showed that teaching techno-entrepreneurship education may have an influence on students’ intention and their future self-employment, but which courses should be covered and the duration of programmes, needs further investigation.

Keywords: Techno-entrepreneurship education, training, higher education, intention, self-employment.

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Authors: W. Phanwanich, O. Kumdee, P. Ritthipravat, Y. Wongsawat

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In order to alleviate the mental and physical problems of persons with disabilities, animal-assisted therapy (AAT) is one of the possible modalities that employs the merit of the human-animal interaction. Nevertheless, to achieve the purpose of AAT for persons with severe disabilities (e.g. spinal cord injury, stroke, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), real-time animal language interpretation is desirable. Since canine behaviors can be visually notable from its tail, this paper proposes the automatic real-time interpretation of canine tail language for human-canine interaction in the case of persons with severe disabilities. Canine tail language is captured via two 3-axis accelerometers. Directions and frequencies are selected as our features of interests. The novel fuzzy rules based on Gaussian-Trapezoidal model and center of gravity (COG)-based defuzzification method are proposed in order to interpret the features into four canine emotional behaviors, i.e., agitate, happy, scare and neutral as well as its blended emotional behaviors. The emotional behavior model is performed in the simulated dog and has also been evaluated in the real dog with the perfect recognition rate.

Keywords: Animal-assisted therapy (AAT), Persons with disabilities, Canine tail language, Fuzzy emotional behavior model

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Authors: Manisha Dubey, Gaurav Gupta, Anoop Arya

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The demand for power supply increases day by day in developing countries like India henceforth demand of reactive power support in the form of ancillary services provider also has been increased. The multi-line and multi-type Flexible alternating current transmission system (FACTS) controllers are playing a vital role to regulate power flow through the transmission line. Unified power flow controller and interline power flow controller can be utilized to control reactive power flow through the transmission line. In a restructured power system, the demand of such controller is being popular due to their inherent capability. The transmission pricing by using reactive power cost allocation through modified matrix methodology has been proposed. The FACTS technologies have quite costly assembly, so it is very useful to apportion the expenses throughout the restructured electricity industry. Therefore, in this work, after embedding the FACTS devices into load flow, the impact on the costs allocated to users in fraction to the transmission framework utilization has been analyzed. From the obtained results, it is clear that the total cost recovery is enhanced towards the Reactive Power flow through the different transmission line for 5 bus test system. The fair pricing policy towards reactive power can be achieved by the proposed method incorporating FACTS controller towards cost recovery of the transmission network.

Keywords: Inter line power flow controller, Transmission Pricing, Unified power flow controller, cost allocation.

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Authors: Keisham Ingocha Singh, Mayanglambam Mani Babu, Lorho Mary Maheo

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Background: The tradition of the development of pottery through the handling of clay is one of the earliest skills known to the Chakpas of Manipur. Nongpok Sekmai, a Chakpa village in Thoubal district of Manipur, India, is strictly associated with making pots of red ochre colour called uyan. In the past, pottery was in great demand, each family needed them in rituals, festive occasions and also for day to day use. The whole village was engaged in the occupation of pot making. However the tradition of pottery making is fast declining. People have switched over to other economic activities which can provide them a better socioeconomic life leaving behind the age-old tradition of pottery occupation. The present study was carried out to find out the social life of the potters of Nongpok Sekmai. Materials and Method: In-depth interviews, household survey and observation were conducted to collect information on the pottery trend in the village. Results: The total population of the surveyed village is 1194 persons out of which 582 are male and 612 are female, distributed through 252 households. At present 4.94 % of the total population are still engaged in this profession. The study recorded 19 occupations other than pottery among women indicating decline of the traditional occupation. Conclusion: The study has revealed the changing life of the potters due to technological development, globalization and social network.

Keywords: Chakpas, Nongpok Sekmai, pottery, uyan.

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Authors: Saeed Sedighizadeh, Abbas Mansoori, Mohammad Reza Pirestani, Davoud Sedighizadeh

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The usual method of river flow diversion involves construction of tunnels and cofferdams. Given the fact that the cost of diversion works could be as high as 10-20% of the total dam construction cost, due attention should be paid to optimum design of the diversion works. The cost of diversion works depends, on factors, such as: the tunnel dimensions and the intended tunneling support measures during and after excavation; quality and characterizes of the rock through which the tunnel should be excavated; the dimensions of the upstream (and downstream) cofferdams; and the magnitude of river flood the system is designed to divert. In this paper by use of the cost of unit prices for tunnel excavation, tunnel lining, tunnel support (rock bolt + shotcrete) and cofferdam fill the cost function was determined. The function is then minimized by the aid of PSO Algorithm (particle swarm optimization). It is found that the optimum diameter and the total diversion cost are directly related to the river flood discharge (Q). It has also shown that in addition to optimum diameter design discharge (Q), river length, tunnel length, is mainly a function of the ratios (not the absolute values) of the unit prices and does not depend on the overall price levels in the respective country. The results of optimization use in some of the case study lead us to significant changes in the cost.

Keywords: Diversion Tunnel, Optimization, PSO Algorithm

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Authors: V. Maciuc, Şt. Creangă, I. Gîlcă, V. Ujică

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The paper makes part from a complex research project on Romanian Grey Steppe, a unique breed in terms of biological and cultural-historical importance, on the verge of extinction and which has been included in a preservation programme of genetic resources from Romania. The study of genetic polymorphism of protean fractions, especially kappa-casein, and the genotype relations of these lactoproteins with some quantitative and qualitative features of milk yield represents a current theme and a novelty for this breed. In the estimation of the genetic parameters we used R.E.M.L. (Restricted Maximum Likelihood) method. The main lactoprotein from milk, kappa - casein (K-cz), characterized in the specialized literature as a feature having a high degree of hereditary transmission, behaves as such in the nucleus under study, a value also confirmed by the heritability coefficient (h2 = 0.57 %). We must mention the medium values for milk and fat quantity (h2=0.26, 0.29 %) and the fat and protein percentage from milk having a high hereditary influence h2 = 0.71 - 0.63 %. Correlations between kappa-casein and the milk quantity are negative and strong. Between kappa-casein and other qualitative features of milk (fat content 0.58-0.67 % and protein content 0.77- 0.87%), there are positive and very strong correlations. At the same time, between kappa-casein and β casein (β-cz), β lactoglobulin (β- lg) respectively, correlations are positive having high values (0.37 – 0.45 %), indicating the same causes and determining factors for the two groups of features.

Keywords: breed, genetic preservation, lactoproteins, Romanian Grey Steppe

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Authors: Nabil A. Ibrahim, Nabil M. Abdel Moneim, Mohamed A. Ramadan, Marwa M. Hosni

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As the Textile Industry is the second largest industry in Egypt and as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up a great portion of this industry therein it is essential to apply the concept of Cleaner Production for the purpose of reducing pollution. In order to achieve this goal, a case study concerned with ecofriendly stone-washing of jeans-garments was investigated. A raw material-substitution option was adopted whereby the toxic potassium permanganate and sodium sulfide were replaced by the environmentally compatible hydrogen peroxide and glucose respectively where the concentrations of both replaced chemicals together with the operating time were optimized. In addition, a process-rationalization option involving four additional processes was investigated. By means of criteria such as product quality, effluent analysis, mass and heat balance; and cost analysis with the aid of a statistical model, a process optimization treatment revealed that the superior process optima were 50%, 0.15% and 50min for H2O2 concentration, glucose concentration and time, respectively. With these values the superior process ought to reduce the annual cost by about EGP 105 relative to the currently used conventional method.

Keywords: Cleaner Production, Eco-friendly of jeans garments, Stone washing, Textile Industry, Textile Wet Processing.

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Authors: Anas El Amraoui, Abdelkhalek Cheddadi, Mohammed Touhami Ouazzani

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Laminar natural convection in a cylindrical annular cavity filled with air and provided with two fins is studied numerically using the discretization of the governing equations with the Centered Finite Difference method based on the Alternating Direction Implicit (ADI) scheme. The fins are attached to the inner cylinder of radius r_i (hot wall of temperature T_i). The outer cylinder of radius r_o is maintained at a temperature T_o (T_o < T_i). Two values of the dimensionless thickness of the fins are considered: 0.015 and 0.203. We consider a low fin height equal to 0.078 and medium fin heights equal to 0.093 and 0.203. The position of the fin is 0.82π and the radius ratio is equal to 2. The effect of Rayleigh number, Ra, on the flow structure and heat transfer is analyzed for a range of Ra from 10³ to 10⁴. The results for established flow structures and heat transfer at low height indicate that the flow regime that occurs is unicellular for all Ra and fin thickness; in addition, the heat transfer rate increases with increasing Rayleigh number and is the same for both thicknesses. At median fin heights 0.093 and 0.203, the increase of Rayleigh number leads to transitions of flow structure which correspond to significant variations of the heat transfer. The critical Rayleigh numbers, Ra_c.app and Ra_c.disp corresponding to the appearance of the bicellular flow regime and its disappearance, are determined and their influence on the change of heat transfer rate is analyzed.

Keywords: Natural convection, fins, critical Rayleigh number, heat transfer, fluid flow regime, horizontal annulus.

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Authors: Saeid Gharechelou, Ryutaro Tateishi

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Earthquake is an inevitable catastrophic natural disaster. The damages of buildings and man-made structures, where most of the human activities occur are the major cause of casualties from earthquakes. A comparison of optical and SAR data is presented in the case of Kathmandu valley which was hardly shaken by 2015-Nepal Earthquake. Though many existing researchers have conducted optical data based estimated or suggested combined use of optical and SAR data for improved accuracy, however finding cloud-free optical images when urgently needed are not assured. Therefore, this research is specializd in developing SAR based technique with the target of rapid and accurate geospatial reporting. Should considers that limited time available in post-disaster situation offering quick computation exclusively based on two pairs of pre-seismic and co-seismic single look complex (SLC) images. The InSAR coherence pre-seismic, co-seismic and post-seismic was used to detect the change in damaged area. In addition, the ground truth data from field applied to optical data by random forest classification for detection of damaged area. The ground truth data collected in the field were used to assess the accuracy of supervised classification approach. Though a higher accuracy obtained from the optical data then integration by optical-SAR data. Limitation of cloud-free images when urgently needed for earthquak evevent are and is not assured, thus further research on improving the SAR based damage detection is suggested. Availability of very accurate damage information is expected for channelling the rescue and emergency operations. It is expected that the quick reporting of the post-disaster damage situation quantified by the rapid earthquake assessment should assist in channeling the rescue and emergency operations, and in informing the public about the scale of damage.

Keywords: Sentinel-1A data, Landsat-8, earthquake damage, InSAR, rapid monitoring, 2015-Nepal earthquake.

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Authors: Jehad Al Dallal

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An application framework provides a reusable design and implementation for a family of software systems. Frameworks are introduced to reduce the cost of a product line (i.e., a family of products that shares the common features). Software testing is a timeconsuming and costly ongoing activity during the application software development process. Generating reusable test cases for the framework applications during the framework development stage, and providing and using the test cases to test part of the framework application whenever the framework is used reduces the application development time and cost considerably. This paper introduces the Framework Interface State Transition Tester (FIST2), a tool for automated unit testing of Java framework applications. During the framework development stage, given the formal descriptions of the framework hooks, the specifications of the methods of the framework-s extensible classes, and the illegal behavior description of the Framework Interface Classes (FICs), FIST2 generates unitlevel test cases for the classes. At the framework application development stage, given the customized method specifications of the implemented FICs, FIST2 automates the use, execution, and evaluation of the already generated test cases to test the implemented FICs. The paper illustrates the use of the FIST2 tool for testing several applications that use the SalesPoint framework.

Keywords: Automated testing, class testing, FICs, FIST2, object-oriented framework, object-oriented testing.

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Authors: L. Bernabeo, T. Loftus

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Many children often experience phases of picky eating, food aversions and/or avoidance. For families with children who have special needs, these experiences are often exacerbated, which can lead to feelings that negatively impact a caregiver’s relationship with their child. Within the scope of speech language pathology practice, knowledge of both emotional and feeding development is key. This paper will explore the significance of “messy play” within typical feeding development, and the challenges that may arise if a child does not have the opportunity to engage in this type of exploratory play. This paper will consider several contributing factors that can result in a “picky eater.” Further, research has shown that individuals with special needs, including autism, possess a neurological makeup that differs from that of a typical individual. Because autism is a disorder of relating and communicating due to differences in the limbic system, an individual with special needs may respond to a typical feeding experience as if it is a traumatic event. As a result, broadening one’s dietary repertoire may seem to be an insurmountable challenge. This paper suggests that introducing new foods through exploratory play can help broaden and strengthen diets, as well as improve the feeding experience, of individuals with autism. The DIRFloortimeⓇ methodology stresses the importance of following a child's lead. Within this developmental model, there is a special focus on a person’s individual differences, including the unique way they process the world around them, as well as the significance of therapy occurring within the context of a strong and motivating relationship. Using this child-centered approach, we can support our children in expanding their diets, while simultaneously building upon their cognitive and creative development through playful and respectful interactions that include exposure to foods that differ in color, texture, and smell. Further, this paper explores the importance of exploration, self-feeding and messy play on brain development, both in the context of typically developing individuals and those with disordered development.

Keywords: Autism, development, exploration, feeding, play.

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Authors: Joseph C. Chen, Joshua Cox

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This research focuses on the use of the Taguchi method to reduce the surface roughness and improve dimensional accuracy of parts machined by Wire Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) with S7 heat treated steel material. Due to its high impact toughness, the material is a candidate for a wide variety of tooling applications which require high precision in dimension and desired surface roughness. This paper demonstrates that Taguchi Parameter Design methodology is able to optimize both dimensioning and surface roughness successfully by investigating seven wire-EDM controllable parameters: pulse on time (ON), pulse off time (OFF), servo voltage (SV), voltage (V), servo feed (SF), wire tension (WT), and wire speed (WS). The temperature of the water in the Wire EDM process is investigated as the noise factor in this research. Experimental design and analysis based on L₁₈ Taguchi orthogonal arrays are conducted. This paper demonstrates that the Taguchi-based system enables the wire EDM process to produce (1) high precision parts with an average of 0.6601 inches dimension, while the desired dimension is 0.6600 inches; and (2) surface roughness of 1.7322 microns which is significantly improved from 2.8160 microns.

Keywords: Taguchi parameter design, surface roughness, dimensional accuracy, Wire EDM.

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Authors: Farhad H. Mustafa, Mohamad S. Jaafar , Asaad H. Ismail, Ahamad F. Omar, Zahra A. Timimi, Hend A. A. Houssein

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The process of laser absorption in the skin during laser irradiation was a critical point in medical application treatments. Delivery the correct amount of laser light is a critical element in photodynamic therapy (PDT). More amounts of laser light able to affect tissues in the skin and small amount not able to enhance PDT procedure in skin. The knowledge of the skin tone laser dependent distribution of 635 nm radiation and its penetration depth in skin is a very important precondition for the investigation of advantage laser induced effect in (PDT) in epidermis diseases (psoriasis). The aim of this work was to estimate an optimum effect of diode laser (635 nm) on the treatment of epidermis diseases in different color skin. Furthermore, it is to improve safety of laser in PDT in epidermis diseases treatment. Advanced system analytical program (ASAP) which is a new approach in investigating the PDT, dependent on optical properties of different skin color was used in present work. A two layered Realistic Skin Model (RSM); stratum corneum and epidermal with red laser (635 nm, 10 mW) were used for irradiative transfer to study fluence and absorbance in different penetration for various human skin colors. Several skin tones very fair, fair, light, medium and dark are used to irradiative transfer. This investigation involved the principles of laser tissue interaction when the skin optically injected by a red laser diode. The results demonstrated that the power characteristic of a laser diode (635 nm) can affect the treatment of epidermal disease in various color skins. Power absorption of the various human skins were recorded and analyzed in order to find the influence of the melanin in PDT treatment in epidermal disease. A two layered RSM show that the change in penetration depth in epidermal layer of the color skin has a larger effect on the distribution of absorbed laser in the skin; this is due to the variation of the melanin concentration for each color.

Keywords: Photodynamic therapy, Realistic skin model, Laser, Light penetration, simulation, Optical properties of skin, Melanin.

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Authors: Subramaniam Chandran

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This paper explores the features of political economy in the dynamics of representative politics in India. Politics is seen as enhancing economic benefits through acquiring and maintenance of power in the realm of democratic set up. The system of representation is riddled with competitive populism. Emerging leaders and parties are forced to accommodate their ideologies in coping with competitive politics. Electoral politics and voting behaviour reflect series of influences mooted by the politicians. Voters are accustomed to expect benefits outs of state exchequer. The electoral competitors show a changing phase of investment and return policy. Every elector has to spend and realize his costs in his tenure. In the case of defeated electors, even the cost recovery is not possible directly; there are indirect means to recover their costs. The series of case studies show the method of party funding, campaign financing, electoral expenditure, and cost recovery. Regulations could not restrict the level of spending. Several cases of disproportionate accumulation of wealth by the politicians reveal that money played a major part in electoral process. The political economy of representative politics hitherto ignores how a politician spends and recovers his cost and multiples his wealth. To be sure, the acquiring and maintenance of power is to enhance the wealth of the electors.

Keywords: Political economy, representative politics, costrecovery, electoral politics

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Authors: Dimitrios Ntardas, Alexandros Tzanetos, Georgios Dounias

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High Voltage Substations (HVS) are the intermediate step between production of power and successfully transmitting it to clients, making them one of the most important checkpoints in power grids. Nowadays - renewable resources and consequently distributed generation are growing fast, the construction of HVS is of high importance both in terms of quality and time completion so that new energy producers can quickly and safely intergrade in power grids. The resources needed, such as machines and workers, should be carefully allocated so that the construction of a HVS is completed on time, with the lowest possible cost (e.g. not spending additional cost that were not taken into consideration, because of project delays), but in the highest quality. In addition, there are milestones and several checkpoints to be precisely achieved during construction to ensure the cost and timeline control and to ensure that the percentage of governmental funding will be granted. The management of such a demanding project is a NP-hard problem that consists of prerequisite constraints and resource limits for each task of the project. In this work, a hybrid meta-heuristic method is implemented to solve this problem. Meta-heuristics have been proven to be quite useful when dealing with high-dimensional constraint optimization problems. Hybridization of them results in boost of their performance.

Keywords: High voltage substations, nature-inspired algorithms, project management, meta-heuristics.

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Authors: Wayan F. Mahmudy, Romeo M. Marian, Lee H. S. Luong

Abstract:

 This paper deals with modeling and optimization of two NP-hard problems in production planning of flexible manufacturing system (FMS), part type selection problem and loading problem. The part type selection problem and the loading problem are strongly related and heavily influence the system’s efficiency and productivity. These problems have been modeled and solved simultaneously by using real coded genetic algorithms (RCGA) which uses an array of real numbers as chromosome representation. The novel proposed chromosome representation produces only feasible solutions which minimize a computational time needed by GA to push its population toward feasible search space or repair infeasible chromosomes. The proposed RCGA improves the FMS performance by considering two objectives, maximizing system throughput and maintaining the balance of the system (minimizing system unbalance). The resulted objective values are compared to the optimum values produced by branch-and-bound method. The experiments show that the proposed RCGA could reach near optimum solutions in a reasonable amount of time.

Keywords: Flexible manufacturing system, production planning, part type selection problem, loading problem, real-coded genetic algorithm.

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Authors: A. Rashid, N. Hasan

Abstract:

The present study investigates numerically the phenomenon of vortex-shedding and its suppression in twodimensional mixed convective flow past a square cylinder under the joint influence of buoyancy and free-stream orientation with respect to gravity. The numerical experiments have been conducted at a fixed Reynolds number (Re) of 100 and Prandtl number (Pr) of 0.71, while Richardson number (Ri) is varied from 0 to 1.6 and freestream orientation, α, is kept in the range 0o≤ α ≤ 90o, with 0o corresponding to an upward flow and 90o representing a cross-flow scenario, respectively. The continuity, momentum and energy equations, subject to Boussinesq approximation, are discretized using a finite difference method and are solved by a semi-explicit pressure correction scheme. The critical Richardson number, leading to the suppression of the vortex-shedding (Ric), is estimated by using Stuart-Landau theory at various free-stream orientations and the neutral curve is obtained in the Ri-α plane. The neutral curve exhibits an interesting non-monotonic behavior with Ric first increasing with increasing values of α upto 45o and then decreasing till 70o. Beyond 70o, the neutral curve again exhibits a sharp increasing asymptotic trend with Ric approaching very large values as α approaches 90o. The suppression of vortex shedding is not observed at α = 90o (cross-flow). In the unsteady flow regime, the Strouhal number (St) increases with the increase in Richardson number.

Keywords: bluff body, buoyancy, free-stream orientation, vortex-shedding.

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Authors: Racholsan Raj Nirmal, B. S. V. Patnaik, R. Jayaganthan

Abstract:

The deformation behaviour of additively manufactured AlSi10Mg alloy under low strains, high strain rates and elevated temperature conditions is essential to analyse and predict its response against dynamic loading such as impact and thermomechanical fatigue. The constitutive relation of Johnson-Cook is used to capture the strain rate sensitivity and thermal softening effect in AlSi10Mg alloy. Johnson-Cook failure model is widely used for exploring damage mechanics and predicting the fracture in many materials. In this present work, Johnson-Cook material and damage model parameters for additively manufactured AlSi10Mg alloy have been determined numerically from four types of uniaxial tensile test. Three different uniaxial tensile tests with dynamic strain rates (0.1, 1, 10, 50, and 100 s^-1) and elevated temperature tensile test with three different temperature conditions (450 K, 500 K and 550 K) were performed on 3D printed AlSi10Mg alloy in ABAQUS/Explicit. Hexahedral elements are used to discretize tensile specimens and fracture energy value of 43.6 kN/m was used for damage initiation. Levenberg Marquardt optimization method was used for the evaluation of Johnson-Cook model parameters. It was observed that additively manufactured AlSi10Mg alloy has shown relatively higher strain rate sensitivity and lower thermal stability as compared to the other Al alloys.

Keywords: ABAQUS, additive manufacturing, AlSi10Mg, Johnson-Cook model.

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Authors: D. Pujimulyani, S. Raharjo, Y. Marsono, U. Santoso

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Background and objectives: Most of the agricultural products are processed by blanching. Blanching can increase antioxidant activity in white saffron products. The objective of this research were to determine antioxidant activity, to identify, and to measure changes in phenolic substances of fresh and blanched white saffron rhizomes (Curcuma mangga Val.). Methods: White saffron rhizomes were peeled, washed and blanched in boiling water containing 0% or 0.05% citric acid solution for 5 and 10 minutes. Samples were extracted using methanol, rotaevaporated, and freezedried. Dried extract was determined antioxidant activity by DPPH method, identified and quantified for the phenolic substances by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) equipped with coloumn C₁₈ and Photodiode-array detector (PAD). Result: This research showed that the quantity of the 6 phenolic substances identified in blanched white saffron in citric acid solution increased significantly compared to that of the non-blanched. Blanching white saffron in 0.05% citric acid media for 5 minutes increased its antioxidant activity, and total phenolic content. Conclusions: The identified phenolic substances of white saffron were Gallic Acid (GA), Catechin (C), Epicatechin (EC), Epigallocatechin (EGC), Epigallocatechingallat (EGCG) and Gallocatechingallat (GCG). The blanched white saffron contained C and EGCG significantly higher than that of fresh rhizomes.

Keywords: White saffron, antioxidant activity, blanching, phenolic.

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Authors: Arunima Shukla, Vikas Almadi, Devesh Jaiswal, Sunil Saini, Bhusan S. Patil

Abstract:

Lightning protection consists of three main parts; mainly air termination system, down conductor, and earth termination system. Earth termination system is the most important part as earth is the sink and source of charges. Therefore, even when the charges are captured and delivered to the ground, and an easy path is not provided to the charges, earth termination system would lead to problems. Soil has significantly different resistivities ranging from 10 Ωm for wet organic soil to 10000 Ωm for bedrock. Different methods have been discussed and used conventionally such as deep-ground-well method and altering the length of the rod. Those methods are not considered economical. Therefore, it was a general practice to use charcoal along with salt to reduce the soil resistivity. Bentonite is worldwide acceptable material, that had led our interest towards study of bentonite at first. It was concluded that bentonite is a clay which is non-corrosive, environment friendly. Whereas bentonite is suitable only when there is moisture present in the soil, as in the absence of moisture, cracks will appear on the surface which will provide an open passage to the air, resulting into increase in the resistivity. Furthermore, bentonite without moisture does not have enough bonding property, moisture retention, conductivity, and non-leachability. Therefore, bentonite was used along with the other backfill material to overcome the dependency of bentonite on moisture. Different experiments were performed to get the best ratio of bentonite and carbon backfill. It was concluded that properties will highly depend on the quantity of bentonite and carbon-based backfill material.

Keywords: Backfill material, bentonite, conducting soil, grounding material, low resistivity.

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Authors: T. Valdbjørn Rasmussen

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Design criteria for achieving an acceptable indoor radon concentration are presented in this paper. The paper suggests three design criteria. These criteria have to be considered at the early stage of the building design phase to meet the latest recommendations from the World Health Organization in most countries. The three design criteria are; first, establishing a radon barrier facing the ground; second, lowering the air pressure in the lower zone of the slab on ground facing downwards; third, diluting the indoor air with outdoor air. The first two criteria can prevent radon from infiltrating from the ground, and the third criteria can dilute the indoor air. By combining these three criteria, the indoor radon concentration can be lowered achieving an acceptable level. In addition, a cheap and reliable method for measuring the radon concentration in the indoor air is described. The provision on radon in the Danish Building Regulations complies with the latest recommendations from the World Health Organization. Radon can cause lung cancer and it is not known whether there is a lower limit for when it is not harmful to human beings. Therefore, it is important to reduce the radon concentration as much as possible in buildings. Airtightness is an important factor when dealing with buildings. It is important to avoid air leakages in the building envelope both facing the atmosphere, e.g. in compliance with energy requirements, but also facing the ground, to meet the requirements to ensure and control the indoor environment. Infiltration of air from the ground underneath a building is the main providing source of radon to the indoor air.

Keywords: Radon, natural radiation, barrier, pressure lowering, ventilation.

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Authors: Karchung, S. Ruangsinchaiwanich

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This paper presents open-loop vector control method of induction motor with space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) technique. Normally, the closed loop speed control is preferred and is believed to be more accurate. However, it requires a position sensor to track the rotor position which is not desirable to use it for certain workspace applications. This paper exhibits the performance of three-phase induction motor with the simplest control algorithm without the use of a position sensor nor an estimation block to estimate rotor position for sensorless control. The motor stator currents are measured and are transformed to synchronously rotating (d-q-axis) frame by use of Clarke and Park transformation. The actual control happens in this frame where the measured currents are compared with the reference currents. The error signal is fed to a conventional PI controller, and the corrected d-q voltage is generated. The controller outputs are transformed back to three phase voltages and are fed to SVPWM block which generates PWM signal for the voltage source inverter. The open loop vector control model along with SVPWM algorithm is modeled in MATLAB/Simulink software and is experimented and validated in TMS320F28335 DSP board.

Keywords: Electric drive, induction motor, open-loop vector control, space vector pulse width modulation technique.

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Authors: Z. N. Haji, S. O. Oyadiji, H. Samami, O. Farrell

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The prediction of the vibration response of rubber products by analytical or numerical method depends mainly on the predefined intrinsic material properties such as Young’s modulus, damping factor and Poisson’s ratio. Such intrinsic properties are determined experimentally by subjecting a bonded rubber sample to compression tests. The compression tests on such a sample yield an apparent Young’s modulus which is greater in magnitude than the intrinsic Young’s modulus of the rubber. As a result, many analytical equations have been developed to determine Young’s modulus from an apparent Young’s modulus of bonded rubber materials. In this work, the applicability of some of these analytical equations is assessed via experimental testing. The assessment is based on testing of vulcanized nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR70) samples using tensile test and compression test methods. The analytical equations are used to determine the intrinsic Young’s modulus from the apparent modulus that is derived from the compression test data of the bonded rubber samples. Then, these Young’s moduli are compared with the actual Young’s modulus that is derived from the tensile test data. The results show significant discrepancy between the Young’s modulus derived using the analytical equations and the actual Young’s modulus.

Keywords: Bonded rubber, quasi-static test, shape factor, apparent Young’s modulus.

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Authors: H. Alnajajra, A. Touqan, M. Dwaikat

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The vast majority of the Middle East countries are prone to earthquakes. Despite that and from a seismic hazard point of view, the higher values of the superimposed dead load intensity of partitions and wearing materials of the constructed reinforced concrete slabs in these countries can increase the earthquake vulnerability of the structures. The primary objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of reducing superimposed dead load on the lateral seismic deformations of structures, the inter-story drifts and the seismic pounding damages. The study utilizes a group of three reinforced concrete structures at three different site conditions. These structures are assumed to be constructed in Nablus city of Palestine, and having superimposed dead load value as 1 kN/m², 3 kN/m², and 5 kN/m², respectively. SAP2000 program, Version 18.1.1, is used to perform the response spectrum analysis to obtain the potential lateral seismic deformations of the studied models. Amazingly, the study points that, at the same site, superimposed dead load has a minor effect on the lateral deflections of the models. This, however, promotes the hypothesis that buildings failed during earthquakes mainly because they were not designed appropriately against gravity loads.

Keywords: Gravity loads, inter-story drifts, lateral seismic deformations, reinforced concrete slabs, response spectrum method, SAP2000, seismic design, seismic pounding, superimposed dead load.

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