Search results for: RLT test results

Authors: Jia-Ming Kok, Javaan Chahl

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An optimisation method using both global and local optimisation is implemented to determine the flapping profile which will produce the most lift for an experimental wing-actuation system. The optimisation method is tested using a numerical quasi-steady analysis. Results of an optimised flapping profile show a 20% increase in lift generated as compared to flapping profiles obtained by high speed cinematography of a Sympetrum frequens dragonfly. Initial optimisation procedures showed 3166 objective function evaluations. The global optimisation parameters - initial sample size and stage one sample size, were altered to reduce the number of function evaluations. Altering the stage one sample size had no significant effect. It was found that reducing the initial sample size to 400 would allow a reduction in computational effort to approximately 1500 function evaluations without compromising the global solvers ability to locate potential minima. To further reduce the optimisation effort required, we increase the local solver’s convergence tolerance criterion. An increase in the tolerance from 0.02N to 0.05N decreased the number of function evaluations by another 20%. However, this potentially reduces the maximum obtainable lift by up to 0.025N.

Keywords: Flapping wing, Optimisation, Quasi-steady model.

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Authors: Ramaswamy Palaniappan, Nai-Jen Huan

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Classification of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals extracted during mental tasks is a technique that is actively pursued for Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) designs. In this paper, we compared the classification performances of univariateautoregressive (AR) and multivariate autoregressive (MAR) models for representing EEG signals that were extracted during different mental tasks. Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) neural network (NN) trained by the backpropagation (BP) algorithm was used to classify these features into the different categories representing the mental tasks. Classification performances were also compared across different mental task combinations and 2 sets of hidden units (HU): 2 to 10 HU in steps of 2 and 20 to 100 HU in steps of 20. Five different mental tasks from 4 subjects were used in the experimental study and combinations of 2 different mental tasks were studied for each subject. Three different feature extraction methods with 6th order were used to extract features from these EEG signals: AR coefficients computed with Burg-s algorithm (ARBG), AR coefficients computed with stepwise least square algorithm (ARLS) and MAR coefficients computed with stepwise least square algorithm. The best results were obtained with 20 to 100 HU using ARBG. It is concluded that i) it is important to choose the suitable mental tasks for different individuals for a successful BCI design, ii) higher HU are more suitable and iii) ARBG is the most suitable feature extraction method.

Keywords: Autoregressive, Brain-Computer Interface, Electroencephalogram, Neural Network.

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Authors: André C. Silva, Mariana R. Barros, Elenice M. S. Silva, Douglas. Y. Marinho, Diego F. Lopes, Débora N. Sousa, Raphael S. Tomáz

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Modern agriculture requires productivity, efficiency and quality. Therefore, there is need for agricultural limestone implementation that provides adequate amounts of calcium and magnesium carbonates in order to correct soil acidity. During the limestone process, fine particles (with average size under 400#) are generated. These particles do not have economic value in agricultural and metallurgical sectors due their size. When limestone is used for agriculture purposes, these fine particles can be easily transported by wind generated air pollution. Therefore, briquetting, a mineral processing technique, was used to mitigate this problem resulting in an agglomerated product suitable for agriculture use. Briquetting uses compressive pressure to agglomerate fine particles. It can be aided by agglutination agents, allowing adjustments in shape, size and mechanical parameters of the mass. Briquettes can generate extra profits for mineral industry, presenting as a distinct product for agriculture, and can reduce the environmental liabilities of the fine particles storage or disposition. The produced limestone briquettes were subjected to shatter and water action resistance tests. The results show that after six minutes completely submerged in water, the briquettes where fully diluted, a highly favorable result considering its use for soil acidity correction.

Keywords: Agglomeration, briquetting, limestone, agriculture.

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Authors: Abbas Alli Taghipoor Bafghi, Hosein Bakhoda, Fateme Khodaei Chegeni

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An experimental investigation is carried out to establish the performance characteristics of a compression ignition engine while using cerium oxide nanoparticles as additive in neat diesel and diesel-biodiesel blends. In the first phase of the experiments, stability of neat diesel and diesel-biodiesel fuel blends with the addition of cerium oxide nanoparticles is analyzed. After series of experiments, it is found that the blends subjected to high speed blending followed by ultrasonic bath stabilization improves the stability. In the second phase, performance characteristics are studied using the stable fuel blends in a single cylinder four stroke engine coupled with an electrical dynamometer and a data acquisition system. The cerium oxide acts as an oxygen donating catalyst and provides oxygen for combustion. The activation energy of cerium oxide acts to burn off carbon deposits within the engine cylinder at the wall temperature and prevents the deposition of non-polar compounds on the cylinder wall results reduction in HC emissions. The tests revealed that cerium oxide nanoparticles can be used as additive in diesel and diesel-biodiesel blends to improve complete combustion of the fuel significantly.

Keywords: Diesel engine, cerium oxide, diesel-biodiesel blends, nanoparticles.

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Authors: Zhuomin Zou, Thijs Van Landeghem, Elke Gruyaert

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Using supplementary cementitious materials, such as ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS) and limestone to replace Portland cement (PC) is a promising method to reduce the carbon emissions from cement production. To efficiently use GGBFS and limestone, it is necessary to carefully select the particle size distribution (PSD) of the binders. This study investigated the effects of the PSD of binders on the performance of slag-limestone ternary cement. Based on the PSD parameters of the binders, three types of ternary cements with a similar overall PSD were designed, i.e., No.1 fine GGBFS, medium PC, and coarse limestone; No.2 fine limestone, medium PC, and coarse GGBFS; No.3. fine PC, medium GGBFS, and coarse limestone. The binder contents in the ternary cements were 50% PC, 40% slag, and 10% limestone. The mortar performance of the three ternary cements was investigated in terms of flow table value, strength at 28 days, carbonation resistance and non-steady state chloride migration resistance at 28 days. Results show that ternary cement with fine limestone (No.2) has the weakest performance among the three ternary cements. Ternary cements with fine slag (No.1) show an overall comparable performance to ternary cement with fine PC (No.3). Moreover, the chloride migration coefficient of ternary cements with fine slag (No.1) is significantly lower than the other two ternary cements.

Keywords: Limestone, particle size distribution, slag, ternary cement.

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Authors: Terrance Charles, Zhiyin Yang, Yiling Lu

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Heavy trucks are aerodynamically inefficient due to their un-streamlined body shapes, leading to more than of 60% engine power being required to overcome the aerodynamics drag at 60 m/hr. There are many aerodynamics drag reduction devices developed and this paper presents a study on a drag reduction device called Cross Vortex Trap Device (CVTD) deployed in the gap between the tractor and the trailer of a simplified tractor-trailer model. Numerical simulations have been carried out at Reynolds number 0.51×10⁶ based on inlet flow velocity and height of the trailer using the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) approach. Three different configurations of CVTD have been studied, ranging from single to three slabs, equally spaced on the front face of the trailer. Flow field around three different configurations of trap device have been analysed and presented. The results show that a maximum of 12.25% drag reduction can be achieved when a triple vortex trap device is used. Detailed flow field analysis along with pressure contours are presented to elucidate the drag reduction mechanisms of CVTD and why the triple vortex trap configuration produces the maximum drag reduction among the three configurations tested.

Keywords: Aerodynamic drag, cross vortex trap device, truck, RANS.

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Authors: P. D. Pastuszak

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The present work is devoted to thermographic studies of curved composite panels (unidirectional GFRP) with subsurface defects. Various artificial defects, created by inserting PTFE stripe between individual layers of a laminate during manufacturing stage are studied. The analysis is conducted both with the use finite element method and experiments. To simulate transient heat transfer in 3D model with embedded various defect sizes, the ANSYS package is used. Pulsed Thermography combined with optical excitation source provides good results for flat surfaces. Composite structures are mostly used in complex components, e.g., pipes, corners and stiffeners. Local decrease of mechanical properties in these regions can have significant influence on strength decrease of the entire structure. Application of active procedures of thermography to defect detection and evaluation in this type of elements seems to be more appropriate that other NDT techniques. Nevertheless, there are various uncertainties connected with correct interpretation of acquired data. In this paper, important factors concerning Infrared Thermography measurements of curved surfaces in the form of cylindrical panels are considered. In addition, temperature effects on the surface resulting from complex geometry and embedded and real defect are also presented.

Keywords: Active thermography, finite element analysis, composite, curved structures, defects.

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Authors: Iman A. Elkiweri, Ph.D, Martha C. Tissot van Patot, Ph.D., Yan Ling Zhang, Ph.D., Uwe Christians, Ph.D., Thomas K. Henthorn, M.D.,

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Verapamil has been shown to inhibit fentanyl uptake in vitro and is a potent P-glycoprotein inhibitor. Tissue partitioning of loperamide, a commercially available opioid, is closely controlled by the P-gp efflux transporter. The following studies were designed to evaluate the effect of opioids on verapamil partitioning in the lung and brain, in vivo. Opioid (fentanyl or loperamide) was administered by intravenous infusion to Sprague Dawley rats alone or in combination with verapamil and plasma, with lung and brain tissues were collected at 1, 5, 6, 8, 10 and 60 minutes. Drug dispositions were modeled by recirculatory pharmacokinetic models. Fentanyl slightly increased the verapamil lung (PL) partition coefficient yet decreased the brain (PB) partition coefficient. Furthermore, loperamide significantly increased PLand PB. Fentanyl reduced the verapamil volume of distribution (V1) and verapamil elimination clearance (ClE). Fentanyl decreased verapamil brain partitioning, yet increased verapamil lung partitioning. Also, loperamide increased lung and brain partitioning in vivo. These results suggest that verapamil and fentanyl may be substrates of an unidentified inward transporter in brain tissue and confirm that verapamil and loperamide are substrates of the efflux transporter P-gp.

Keywords: Efflux transporter, elimination clearance, partition coefficient, verapamil

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Authors: Bassma Aldahlan, Zongming Fei

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Recently, there is a great interest in smart parking application. Theses applications are enhanced by a vehicular ad-hoc network, which helps drivers find and reserve satiable packing spaces for a period of time ahead of time. Named Data Networking (NDN) is a future Internet architecture that benefits vehicular ad-hoc networks because of its clean-slate design and pure communication model. In this paper, we proposed an NDN-based frame-work for smart parking that involved a fog computing architecture. The proposed application had two main directions: First, we allowed drivers to query the number of parking spaces in a particular parking lot. Second, we introduced a technique that enabled drivers to make intelligent reservations before their arrival time. We also introduced a “push-based” model supporting the NDN-based framework for smart parking applications. To evaluate the proposed solution’s performance, we analyzed the function for finding parking lots with available parking spaces and the function for reserving a parking space. Our system showed high performance results in terms of response time and push overhead. The proposed reservation application performed better than the baseline approach.

Keywords: Cloud Computing, Vehicular Named Data Networking, Smart Parking Applications, Fog Computing.

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Authors: Mohammad Adnan Rajib, Md.Rubayet Mortuza, Saranah Selmi, Asif Khan Ankur, Md. Mujibur Rahman

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Heat Index describes the combined effect of temperature and humidity on human body. This combined effect is causing a serious threat to the health of people because of the changing climate. With climate change, climate variability and thus the occurrence of heat waves is likely to increase. Evidence is emerging from the analysis of long-term climate records of an increase in the frequency and duration of extreme temperature events in all over Bangladesh particularly during summer. Summer season has prolonged while winters have become short in Bangladesh. Summers have become hotter and thus affecting the lives of the people engaged in outdoor activities during scorching sun hours. In 2003 around 62 people died due to heat wave across the country. In this paper Bangladesh is divided in four regions and heat index has been calculated from 1960 to 2010 in these regions of the country. The aim of this paper is to identify the spots most vulnerable to heat strokes and heat waves due to high heat index. The results show upward trend of heat index in almost all the regions of Bangladesh. The highest increase in heat index value has been observed in areas of South-west region and North-west Region. The highest change in average heat index has been found in Jessore by almost 5.50C.

Keywords: Anomaly, Heat index, Relative humidity, Temperature

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Authors: John Abraham, Ramesh Saravana Kumar, Francis Xavier, Deepak Mathew

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Broiler slaughter waste has become a major source of pollution throughout the world. Utilization of broiler slaughter waste by dry rendering process produced Rendered Chicken Oil (RCO), a cheap raw material for biodiesel production and Carcass Meal a feed ingredient for pets and fishes. Conversion of RCO into biodiesel may open new vistas for generating wealth from waste besides controlling the major havoc of environmental pollution. A two-step process to convert RCO to good quality Biodiesel was invented. Acid catalysed esterification of FFA followed by base catalysed transesterification of triglycerides was carried out after meticulously standardizing the methanol molar ratio, catalyst concentration, reaction temperature, and reaction time to obtain the maximum biodiesel yield of 97.62% and lowest glycerol yield of 6.96%. RCO biodiesel blend was tested in a CRDI diesel engine. The results revealed that the blending of commercial diesel with 20% RCO biodiesel (B20) lead to less engine wear, a quieter engine and better fuel economy. The better lubricating qualities of RCO B20 prevented over heating of engine, which prolongs the engine life. RCO B20 can reduce the import of crude oil and substantially reduce the engine emissions as proved by significantly lower smoke levels, thus mitigating climatic changes.

Keywords: Biodiesel, Broiler Waste, Engine Testing, Rendered Chicken Oil.

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Authors: Şt. Creangâ, V. Maciuc, A.V. Bâlteanu, S.S. Chelmu

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The paper presents a part of the results obtained in a complex research project on Romanian Grey Steppe breed, owner of some remarkable qualities such as hardiness, longevity, adaptability, special resistance to ban weather and diseases and included in the genetic fund (G.D. no. 822/2008.) from Romania. Following the researches effectuated, we identified alleles of six loci, codifying the six types of major milk proteins: alpha-casein S1 (α S1-cz); beta-casein (β-cz); kappa-casein (K-cz); beta-lactoglobulin (β-lg); alpha-lactalbumin (α-la) and alpha-casein S2 (α S2-cz). In system αS1-cz allele αs1-Cn B has the highest frequency (0.700), in system β-cz allele β-Cn A2 ( 0.550 ), in system K-cz allele k-CnA2 ( 0.583 ) and heterozygote genotype AB ( 0.416 ) and BB (0.375), in system β-lg allele β-lgA1 has the highest frequency (0.542 ) and heterozygote genotype AB ( 0.500 ), in system α-la there is monomorphism for allele α-la B and similarly in system αS2-cz for allele αs2-Cn A. The milk analysis by the isoelectric focalization technique (I.E.F.) allowed the identification of a new allele for locus αS1-casein, for two of the individuals under analysis, namely allele called αS1-casein IRV. When experiments were repeated, we noticed that this is not a proteolysis band and it really was a new allele that has not been registered in the specialized literature so far. We identified two heterozygote individuals, carriers of this allele, namely: BIRV and CIRV. This discovery is extremely important if focus is laid on the national genetic patrimony.

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

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Authors: Saroj Kumar Pradhan, Dayal Ramakrushna Parhi, Anup Kumar Panda

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This paper deals with motion planning of multiple mobile robots. Mobile robots working together to achieve several objectives have many advantages over single robot system. However, the planning and coordination between the mobile robots is extremely difficult. In the present investigation rule-based and rulebased- neuro-fuzzy techniques are analyzed for multiple mobile robots navigation in an unknown or partially known environment. The final aims of the robots are to reach some pre-defined goals. Based upon a reference motion, direction; distances between the robots and obstacles; and distances between the robots and targets; different types of rules are taken heuristically and refined later to find the steering angle. The control system combines a repelling influence related to the distance between robots and nearby obstacles and with an attracting influence between the robots and targets. Then a hybrid rule-based-neuro-fuzzy technique is analysed to find the steering angle of the robots. Simulation results show that the proposed rulebased- neuro-fuzzy technique can improve navigation performance in complex and unknown environments compared to this simple rulebased technique.

Keywords: Mobile robots, Navigation, Neuro-fuzzy, Obstacle avoidance, Rule-based, Target seeking

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Authors: Vipin Pal, Girdhari Singh, R P Yadav

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As wireless sensor networks are energy constraint networks so energy efficiency of sensor nodes is the main design issue. Clustering of nodes is an energy efficient approach. It prolongs the lifetime of wireless sensor networks by avoiding long distance communication. Clustering algorithms operate in rounds. Performance of clustering algorithm depends upon the round time. A large round time consumes more energy of cluster heads while a small round time causes frequent re-clustering. So existing clustering algorithms apply a trade off to round time and calculate it from the initial parameters of networks. But it is not appropriate to use initial parameters based round time value throughout the network lifetime because wireless sensor networks are dynamic in nature (nodes can be added to the network or some nodes go out of energy). In this paper a variable round time approach is proposed that calculates round time depending upon the number of active nodes remaining in the field. The proposed approach makes the clustering algorithm adaptive to network dynamics. For simulation the approach is implemented with LEACH in NS-2 and the results show that there is 6% increase in network lifetime, 7% increase in 50% node death time and 5% improvement over the data units gathered at the base station.

Keywords: Wireless Sensor Network, Clustering, Energy Efficiency, Round Time.

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Authors: Ali Khourgami, Masoud Rafiee, Korous Rahmati, Ghobad Bour

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In order to study the effect of plant density and competition of wheat with field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) on yield and agronomical properties of wheat(Triticum Sativum) in irrigated conditions, a factorial experiment as the base of complete randomize block design in three replication was conducted at the field of Kamalvand in khoramabad (Lorestan) region of Iran during 2008-2009. Three plant density (Factor A=200, 230 and 260kg/ha) three cultivar (Factor B=Bahar,Pishtaz and Alvand) and weed control (Factor C= control and no control of weeds)were assigned in experiment. Results show that: Plant density had significant effect (statistically) on seed yield, 1000 seed weight, weed density and dry weight of weeds, seed yield and harvest index had been meaningful effect for cultivars. The interaction between plant density and cultivars for weed density, seed yield, thousand seed weight and harvest index were significant. 260 kg/ha (plant density) of wheat had more effect on increasing of seed yield in Bahar cultivar wheat in khoramabad region of Iran.

Keywords: Convolvulus arvensis, plant density, Triticumsativum, weed density, Wheat

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Authors: H. López-Moreno, A. Rodríguez-Sánchez, C. Viñas-Arrebola, C. Porras-Amores

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The ventilated façade has great advantages when compared to traditional façades as it reduces the air conditioning thermal loads due to the stack effect induced by solar radiation in the air chamber. Optimizing energy consumption by using a ventilated façade can be used not only in newly built buildings but also it can be implemented in existing buildings, opening the field of implementation to energy building retrofitting works. In this sense, the following three prototypes of façade where designed, built and further analyzed in this research: non-ventilated façade (NVF); slightly ventilated façade (SLVF) and strongly ventilated façade (STVF). The construction characteristics of the three facades are based on the Spanish regulation of building construction “Technical Building Code”. The façades have been monitored by type-k thermocouples in a representative day of the summer season in Madrid (Spain). Moreover, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures, studying the thermal lag in the ventilated and no-ventilated façades has been designed. Results show that STVF façade presents higher levels of thermal inertia as the thermal lag reduces up to 17% (daily mean) compared to the non-ventilated façade. In addition, the statistical analysis proves that an increase of the ventilation holes size in STVF façades can improve the thermal lag significantly (p >0.05) when compared to the SLVF façade.

Keywords: Energy efficiency, experimental study, statistical analysis, thermal behavior, ventilated façade.

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Authors: Tayyab Hassan, Talha Rehman, Qasim Abdul Aziz, Ahmad Salman

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The constant monitoring of blood glucose level is necessary for maintaining health of patients and to alert medical specialists to take preemptive measures before the onset of any complication as a result of diabetes. The current clinical monitoring of blood glucose uses invasive methods repeatedly which are uncomfortable and may result in infections in diabetic patients. Several attempts have been made to develop non-invasive techniques for blood glucose measurement. In this regard, the existing methods are not reliable and are less accurate. Other approaches claiming high accuracy have not been tested on extended dataset, and thus, results are not statistically significant. It is a well-known fact that acetone concentration in breath has a direct relation with blood glucose level. In this paper, we have developed the first of its kind, reliable and high accuracy breath analyzer for non-invasive blood glucose measurement. The acetone concentration in breath was measured using MQ 138 sensor in the samples collected from local hospitals in Pakistan involving one hundred patients. The blood glucose levels of these patients are determined using conventional invasive clinical method. We propose a linear regression classifier that is trained to map breath acetone level to the collected blood glucose level achieving high accuracy.

Keywords: Blood glucose level, breath acetone concentration, diabetes, linear regression.

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Authors: David Julian Bernal Melgarejo

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Inland Waterway Transportation (IWT) is playing an important role in national transport systems, water transportation is considered to be safe, energy efficient and environmentally friendly mode of transport, all benefits of IWT cause national awareness increase, for instance the Colombian government is planning to restore the navigability of the most important river of the country, the Magdalena’s River navigability, embrace waterway transportation in Colombia could strength competitiveness while reduce most of the transport externalities. However, the current situation of the Magdalena is deplorable, the most important river of Colombia has been abandoned for decades and the solution is beyond of a single administrative entity. This paper analyzes the outcomes of the Navigation And Inland Waterway Action and Development in Europe program (NAIADES) as a prospective to develop a similar program in Colombia with similar objectives and guidelines, considering sustainability, guarantying the long-term future results and adaptability of the program. Identifying stakeholders and policy experts, a set of individual interviews were carried out; findings support the idea of lack of integration within governmental institutions and lack of importance in marketing promotion as possible drawbacks on the implementation of IWT projects.

Keywords: Inland waterway transportation, Logistics, Sustainability, Multimodal transport systems, Water transportation.

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Authors: Zhiwen Pan, Jesus Pacheco, Salim Hariri, Yiqiang Chen, Bozhi Liu

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The Internet of Things (IoT) will lead to the development of advanced Smart Home services that are pervasive, cost-effective, and can be accessed by home occupants from anywhere and at any time. However, advanced smart home applications will introduce grand security challenges due to the increase in the attack surface. Current approaches do not handle cybersecurity from a holistic point of view; hence, a systematic cybersecurity mechanism needs to be adopted when designing smart home applications. In this paper, we present a generic intrusion detection methodology to detect and mitigate the anomaly behaviors happened in Smart Home Systems (SHS). By utilizing our Smart Home Context Data Structure, the heterogeneous information and services acquired from SHS are mapped in context attributes which can describe the context of smart home operation precisely and accurately. Runtime models for describing usage patterns of home assets are developed based on characterization functions. A threat-aware action management methodology, used to efficiently mitigate anomaly behaviors, is proposed at the end. Our preliminary experimental results show that our methodology can be used to detect and mitigate known and unknown threats, as well as to protect SHS premises and services.

Keywords: Internet of Things, network security, context awareness, intrusion detection

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Authors: Salwa Hagag Abdelaziz, Dorria Salem, Hoda Zaki, Suzan Atteya

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Early detection of breast cancer saves many thousands of lives each year via application of mammography and genetic screening and many more lives could be saved if nurses are involved in breast care screening practices. So, the aim of the study was to identify nurse's role in early detection of breast cancer through mammography and genetic screening and its impact on patient's outcome. In order to achieve this aim, 400 women above 40 years, asymptomatic were recruited for mammography and genetic screening. In addition, 50 nurses and 6 technologists were involved in the study. A descriptive analytical design was used. Five tools were utilized: sociodemographic, mammographic examination and risk factors, women's before, during and after mammography, items relaying to technologists, and items related to nurses were also obtained. The study finding revealed that 3% of women detected for malignancy and 7.25% for fibroadenoma. Statistically significant differences were found between mammography results and age, family history, genetic screening, exposure to smoke, and using contraceptive pills. Nurses have insufficient knowledge about screening tests. Based on these findings the present study recommended involvement of nurses in breast care which is very important to in force population about screening practices.

Keywords: Early detection, Genetic Screening, Mammography.

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Authors: Srimuruganandam. B, S.M. Shiva Nagendra

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In this paper the influence of heterogeneous traffic on the temporal variation of ambient PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 concentrations at a busy arterial route (Sardar Patel Road) in the Chennai city has been analyzed. The hourly PM concentration, traffic counts and average speed of the vehicles have been monitored at the study site for one week (19th-25th January 2009). Results indicated that the concentrations of coarse (PM10) and fine PM (PM2.5 and PM1) concentrations at SP road are having similar trend during peak and non-peak hours, irrespective of the days. The PM concentrations showed daily two peaks corresponding to morning (8 to 10 am) and evening (7 to 9 pm) peak hour traffic flow. The PM10 concentration is dominated by fine particles (53% of PM2.5 and 45% of PM1). The high PM2.5/PM10 ratio indicates that the majority of PM10 particles originate from re-suspension of road dust. The analysis of traffic flow at the study site showed that 2W, 3W and 4W are having similar diurnal trend as PM concentrations. This confirms that the 2W, 3W and 4W are the main emission source contributing to ambient PM concentration at SP road. The speed measurement at SP road showed that the average speed of 2W, 3W, 4W, LCV and HCV are 38, 40, 38, 40 and 38 km/hr and 43, 41, 42, 40 and 41 km/hr respectively for the weekdays and weekdays.

Keywords: particulate matter, heterogeneous traffic, fineparticles, coarse particles, vehicle speed, weekend and weekday.

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Authors: O. Starineca

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Some organizations as employers have difficulties to attract job seekers and retain their employees. Strategic planning of Human Resources (HR) presumes broad analysis of perspectives including analysis of potential job seekers in the field. Human Resources Recruitment (HRR) influences employer brand of an organization and peculiarities of both external organizational factors and stakeholders. Defining peculiarities of the future job seekers, who could potentially become the employees of the organization, could help to adjust HRR tools and methods adapt to the youngest generation employees’ preferences and be more successful in selecting the best candidates, who are likely to be loyal to the employer. The aim of the empirical study is definition of some students’ as job seekers peculiarities and their requirements to their potential employer. The survey in Latvia, Lithuania and Spain. Respondents were students from these countries’ tertiary education institutions Public Administration (PA) or relevant study programs. All three countries students’ peculiarities have just a slight difference. Overall, they all wish to work for a socially responsible employer that is able to provide positive working environment and possibilities for professional development and learning. However, respondents from each country have own peculiarities. The study might have a practical application. PA of the examined countries might use the results developing employer brand and creating job advertisements focusing on recent graduates’ recruitment.

Keywords: Generation Y, human resources recruitment, public administration.

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Authors: Theodore N.S. Karfakis, Anna Andrade, Carolina Volkmer-Castilho, Dennis R. Valle, Eric Arets, Paul van Gardingen

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The aim of the work presented here was to either use existing forest dynamic simulation models or calibrate a new one both within the SYMFOR framework with the purpose of examining changes in stand level basal area and functional composition in response to selective logging considering trees > 10 cm d.b.h for two areas of undisturbed Amazonian non flooded tropical forest in Brazil and one in Peru. Model biological realism was evaluated for forest in the undisturbed and selectively logged state and it was concluded that forest dynamics were realistically represented. Results of the logging simulation experiments showed that in relation to undisturbed forest simulation subject to no form of harvesting intervention there was a significant amount of change over a 90 year simulation period that was positively proportional to the intensity of logging. Areas which had in the dynamic equilibrium of undisturbed forest a greater proportion of a specific ecological guild of trees known as the light hardwoods (LHW’s) seemed to respond more favorably in terms of less deviation but only within a specific range of baseline forest composition beyond which compositional diversity became more important. These finds are in line partially with practical management experience and partiality basic systematics theory respectively.

Keywords: Amazonbasin, ecological species guild, selective logging, simulation modeling.

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Authors: Ikram Mohamed Eltayeb Elsiddig, Abdel Khalig Muddather, Hiba Abdel Rahman Ali, Saad Mohamed Hussein Ayoub

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Anogeissus leiocarpus (Combretaceae) is well known for its medicinal uses in African traditional medicine, for treating many human diseases mainly skin diseases and infections. Mycetoma disease is a fungal and/ or bacterial skininfection, mainly cause by Madurella mycetomatis fungus. This study was carried out in vitro to investigate the antifungal activity of Anogeissus leiocarpus leaf extracts against the isolated pathogenic Madurella mycetomatis, by using the NCCLS modified method compared to Ketoconazole standard drug, and MTT assay. The bioactive fraction was subjected to chemical analysis implementing different chromatographic analytical methods (TLC, HPLC, and LC-MS/MS). The results showed significance antifungal activity of A. leiocarpus leaf extracts against the isolated pathogenic M. mycetomatis, compared to negative and positive controls. The chloroform fraction showed the highest antifungal activity. The chromatographic analysis of the chloroform fraction with the highest activity showed the presence of important bioactive compounds such as ellagic and flavellagic acids derivatives, flavonoids and stilbenoid, which are well known for their antifungal activity.

Keywords: Anogeissus leiocarpus, crude extracts and fractions of Anogeissus leiocarpus, in vitro susceptibility of Madurella mycetomatis, Madurella mycetomatis.

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Authors: Jingming Wu, Junqi Yue, Ruikang Hu, Zhaoguang Yang, Lifeng Zhang

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Fecal coliform bacteria are widely used as indicators of sewage contamination in surface water. However, there are some disadvantages in these microbial techniques including time consuming (18-48h) and inability in discriminating between human and animal fecal material sources. Therefore, it is necessary to seek a more specific indicator of human sanitary waste. In this study, the feasibility was investigated to apply caffeine and human pharmaceutical compounds to identify the human-source contamination. The correlation between caffeine and fecal coliform was also explored. Surface water samples were collected from upstream, middle-stream and downstream points respectively, along Rochor Canal, as well as 8 locations of Marina Bay. Results indicate that caffeine is a suitable chemical tracer in Singapore because of its easy detection (in the range of 0.30-2.0 ng/mL), compared with other chemicals monitored. Relative low concentrations of human pharmaceutical compounds (< 0.07 ng/mL) in Rochor Canal and Marina Bay water samples make them hard to be detected and difficult to be chemical tracer. However, their existence can help to validate sewage contamination. In addition, it was discovered the high correlation exists between caffeine concentration and fecal coliform density in the Rochor Canal water samples, demonstrating that caffeine is highly related to the human-source contamination.

Keywords: Caffeine, Human Pharmaceutical Compounds, Chemical Tracer, Sewage Contamination.

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Authors: Hui-Chuan Chu, Min-Ju Liao, Wei-Kai Cheng, William Wei-Jen Tsai, Yuh-Min Chen

Abstract:

Avoiding learning failures in mathematics e-learning environments caused by emotional problems in students with autism has become an important topic for combining of special education with information and communications technology. This study presents an adaptive emotional adjustment model in mathematics e-learning for students with autism, emphasizing the lack of emotional perception in mathematics e-learning systems. In addition, an emotion classification for students with autism was developed by inducing emotions in mathematical learning environments to record changes in the physiological signals and facial expressions of students. Using these methods, 58 emotional features were obtained. These features were then processed using one-way ANOVA and information gain (IG). After reducing the feature dimension, methods of support vector machines (SVM), k-nearest neighbors (KNN), and classification and regression trees (CART) were used to classify four emotional categories: baseline, happy, angry, and anxious. After testing and comparisons, in a situation without feature selection, the accuracy rate of the SVM classification can reach as high as 79.3-%. After using IG to reduce the feature dimension, with only 28 features remaining, SVM still has a classification accuracy of 78.2-%. The results of this research could enhance the effectiveness of eLearning in special education.

Keywords: Emotion classification, Physiological and facial Expression measures, Students with autism, Mathematics e-learning.

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Authors: Farzad Bazdidi-Tehrani, Mohammad Hadi Kamrava

Abstract:

In all industries which are related to heat, suitable thermal ranges are defined for each device to operate well. Consideration of these limits requires a thermal control unit beside the main system. The Satellite Thermal Control Unit exploits from different methods and facilities individually or mixed. For enhancing heat transfer between primary surface and the environment, utilization of radiating extended surfaces are common. Especially for large temperature differences; variable thermal conductivity has a strong effect on performance of such a surface .In most literatures, thermo-physical properties, such as thermal conductivity, are assumed as constant. However, in some recent researches the variation of these parameters is considered. This may be helpful for the evaluation of fin-s temperature distribution in relatively large temperature differences. A new method is introduced to evaluate temperature-dependent thermal conductivity values. The finite volume method is employed to simulate numerically the temperature distribution in a space radiating fin. The present modeling is carried out for Aluminum as fin material and compared with previous method. The present results are also compared with those of two other analytical methods and good agreement is shown.

Keywords: Variable thermal conductivity, New method, Finitevolume method, Combined heat transfer, Extended Surface

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Authors: Xin Tong, Jin-sheng Xu, Xiong Chen, Ya Zheng

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to study the mechanical properties of HTPB (Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene) composite propellant under harsh conditions. It describes two tests involving uniaxial tensile tests of various strain rates (ranging from 0.0005 s^-1 to 1.5 s^-1), temperatures (ranging from 223 K to 343 K) and high-cycle fatigue tests under low-temperature (223 K, frequencies were set at 50, 100, 150 Hz) using DMA (Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer). To highlight the effect of small pre-strain on fatigue properties of HTPB propellant, quasi-static stretching was carried out before fatigue loading, and uniaxial tensile tests at constant strain rates were successively applied. The results reveal that flow stress of propellant increases with reduction in temperature and rise in strain rate, and the strain rate-temperature equivalence relationship could be described by TTSP (time-temperature superposition principle) incorporating a modified WLF equation. Moreover, the rate of performance degradations and damage accumulation of propellant during fatigue tests increased with increasing strain amplitude and loading frequencies, while initial quasi-static loading has a negative effect on fatigue properties by comparing stress-strain relations after fatigue tests.

Keywords: Fatigue, HTPB propellant, tensile properties, time-temperature superposition principle.

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Authors: Young-Seok Choi

Abstract:

This work proposes a data-driven multiscale based quantitative measures to reveal the underlying complexity of electroencephalogram (EEG), applying to a rodent model of hypoxic-ischemic brain injury and recovery. Motivated by that real EEG recording is nonlinear and non-stationary over different frequencies or scales, there is a need of more suitable approach over the conventional single scale based tools for analyzing the EEG data. Here, we present a new framework of complexity measures considering changing dynamics over multiple oscillatory scales. The proposed multiscale complexity is obtained by calculating entropies of the probability distributions of the intrinsic mode functions extracted by the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) of EEG. To quantify EEG recording of a rat model of hypoxic-ischemic brain injury following cardiac arrest, the multiscale version of Tsallis entropy is examined. To validate the proposed complexity measure, actual EEG recordings from rats (n=9) experiencing 7 min cardiac arrest followed by resuscitation were analyzed. Experimental results demonstrate that the use of the multiscale Tsallis entropy leads to better discrimination of the injury levels and improved correlations with the neurological deficit evaluation after 72 hours after cardiac arrest, thus suggesting an effective metric as a prognostic tool.

Keywords: Electroencephalogram (EEG), multiscale complexity, empirical mode decomposition, Tsallis entropy.

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Authors: Chang Hsueh-Sheng, Chen Tzu-Ling

Abstract:

Earthquake is an unpredictable natural disaster and intensive earthquakes have caused serious impacts on social-economic system, environmental and social resilience. Conventional ways to mitigate earthquake disaster are to enhance building codes and advance structural engineering measures. However, earthquake-induced ground damage such as liquefaction, land subsidence, landslide happen on places nearby earthquake prone or poor soil condition areas. Therefore, this study uses spatial statistical analysis to explore the spatial pattern of damaged buildings. Afterwards, principle components analysis (PCA) is applied to categorize the similar features in different kinds of clustered patterns. The results show that serious landslide prone area, close to fault, vegetated ground surface and mudslide prone area are common in those highly damaged buildings. In addition, the oldest building might not be directly referred to the most vulnerable one. In fact, it seems that buildings built between 1974 and 1989 become more fragile during the earthquake. The incorporation of both spatial statistical analyses and PCA can provide more accurate information to subsidize retrofit programs to enhance earthquake resistance in particular areas.

Keywords: Earthquake disaster, spatial statistical analysis, principle components analysis, clustered patterns.

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