Search results for: urban growth
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 2216

Search results for: urban growth

926 Effect of Different Fertilization Methods on Soil Biological Indexes

Authors: Khosro Mohammadi

Abstract:

Fertilization plays an important role in crop growth and soil improvement. This study was conducted to determine the best fertilization system for wheat production. Experiments were arranged in a complete block design with three replications in two years. Main plots consisted of six methods of fertilization including (N1): farmyard manure; (N2): compost; (N3): chemical fertilizers; (N4): farmyard manure + compost; (N5): farmyard manure + compost + chemical fertilizers and (N6): control were arranged in sub plots. The addition of compost or farm yard manure significantly increased the soil microbial biomass carbon in comparison to the chemical fertilizer. The dehydrogenase, phosphatase and urease activities in the N3 treatment were significantly lower than in the farm yard manure and compost treatments.

Keywords: Enzyme activity, fertilization, microbial biomasscarbon, wheat.

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925 The Strategy of Creating a Virtual Interactive Platform for the Low-Carbon Open Innovations Relay

Authors: Mykola S. Shestavin

Abstract:

A strategy for the creation of a Virtual Interactive Platform (or Networking Platform) to combine the four web-baseness of expert systems on the transfer and diffusion of low-carbon technologies. It used the concept of “Open Innovation” and “Triple Helix” with regard to theories of “Green Growth” and “Carbon Footprint”. Interpreters expert systems operate on the basis of models of the “Predator-Prey” for the process of transfer and diffusion of technologies, taking into account the features caused by the need to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Keywords: Climate Change, Expert Systems, Low-Carbon Technology, Open Innovation, Virtual Interactive Platform.

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924 Towards Achieving Energy Efficiency in Kazakhstan

Authors: Aigerim Uyzbayeva, Valeriya Tyo, Nurlan Ibrayev

Abstract:

Kazakhstan is currently one of the dynamically developing states in its region. The stable growth in all sectors of the economy leads to a corresponding increase in energy consumption. Thus country consumes significant amount of energy due to the high level of industrialisation and the presence of energy-intensive manufacturing such as mining and metallurgy which in turn leads to low energy efficiency. With allowance for this the Government has set several priorities to adopt a transition of Republic of Kazakhstan to a “green economy”. This article provides an overview of Kazakhstan’s energy efficiency situation in for the period of 1991- 2014. First, the dynamics of production and consumption of conventional energy resources are given. Second, the potential of renewable energy sources is summarised followed by the description of GHG emissions trends in the country. Third, Kazakhstan’ national initiatives, policies and locally implemented projects in the field of energy efficiency are described.

Keywords: Energy efficiency in Kazakhstan, greenhouse gases, renewable energy, sustainable development.

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923 Climate Change and Poverty Nexus

Authors: O. Babalola Oladapo, A. Igbatayo Samuel

Abstract:

Climate change and poverty are global issues which cannot be waved aside in welfare of the ever increasing population. The causes / consequences are far more elaborate in developing countries, including Nigeria, which poses threats to the existence of man and his environment. The dominant role of agriculture makes it obvious that even minor climate deteriorations can cause devastating socio-economic consequences. Policies to curb the climate change by reducing the consumption of fossil fuels like oil, gas or carbon compounds have significant economical impacts on the producers/suppliers of these fuels. Thus a unified political narrative that advances both agendas is needed, because their components of an environmental coin that needs to be addressed. The developed world should maintain a low-carbon growth & real commitment of 0.7% of gross national income, as aid to developing countries & renewable energy approach should be emphasized, hence global poverty combated.

Keywords: Climate Change, Greenhouse gases, Nigeria, Poverty.

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922 Walkability as a Strategy towards Inclusive Communities: Case of a Portuguese Small Town

Authors: Miguel Amado, João Freitas, Eveline Rodrigues, Rosario Ribeiro

Abstract:

The United Nations has defined the inclusive community as “…promoting growth with equity, a place where everyone, regardless of their economic means, gender, race, ethnicity or religion, is enabled and empowered to fully participate in the social, economic and political opportunities that cities have to offer”. In this paper, the concept of walkability is viewed as an important tool towards the planning and future development of more inclusive communities. Walking is the cheapest and cleanest mode of travel available to all providing large benefits to both health and local economic development. To demonstrate the validity of this strategy a set of parameters, selected from existing research, were measure, compared and discussed in the existing and proposed scenarios of a Portuguese small town using GIS software.

Keywords: GIS, Inclusiveness, Planning, Sustainability, Walkability.

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921 The Prospects and Challenges of Open Learning and Distance Education in Malawi

Authors: Andrew Chimpololo

Abstract:

Open and distance learning is a fairly new concept in Malawi. The major public provider, the Malawi College of Distance Education, rolled out its activities only about 40 years ago. Over the years, the demand for distance education has tremendously increased. The present government has displayed positive political will to uplift ODL as outlined in the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy as well as the National Education Sector Plan. A growing national interest in education coupled with political stability and a booming ICT industry also raise hope for success. However, a fragile economy with a GNI per capita of -US$ 200 over the last decade, poor public funding, erratic power supply and lack of expertise put strain on efforts towards the promotion of ODL initiatives. Despite the challenges, the nation appears determined to go flat out and explore all possible avenues that could revolutionise education access and equity through ODL.

Keywords: challenges, distance education, Malawi, openlearning, prospects.

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920 The Effect of Repeated Reading on Student Fluency: Does Practice Always Make Perfect?

Authors: Angela R. Roundy, Philip T. Roundy

Abstract:

Fluency is a skill that, unfortunately, many students lack. This deficiency causes students to be frustrated with, and overwhelmed by, the act of reading. However, research suggests that the repeated reading method may help students to improve their fluency. This study examines the effects of repeated readings on student fluency. The study-s overarching question is: What effect do increases in repeated reading have on reading fluency among middle school students from diverse backgrounds? More specifically, the authors examine whether repeated reading improves the fluency, reading speed, reading-oriented self-esteem, and confidence of students of diverse academic abilities, socio-economics statuses, and racial and ethnic backgrounds. To examine these questions the authors conducted a study using repeated reading strategies with a sample of students from an urban, middle school in the southeastern United States. We found that, on average, the use of repeated reading strategies increased students- fluency, words per minute (wpm) reading score, reading-oriented self-esteem, and confidence.

Keywords: Comprehension, Diverse Learners, Reading Fluency, Repeated Reading.

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919 Creeping Insulation - Hong Kong Green Wall

Authors: X. L. Zhang, K. L. Li, R. M. Skitmore

Abstract:

Hong Kong is a densely populated city suffering badly from the urban heat island effect. Green wall offers a means of ameliorating the situation but there are doubts over its suitability in Hong Kong’s unique environment. In this paper, we look at the potential for green walls in Hong Kong first by summarizing some of the Chinese green walling systems and associated vegetation in use, then by an introduction to three existing green walls in Hong Kong, and finally through a small experiment aimed at identifying the likely main effects of green walled housing.

The results indicate that green walling in Hong Kong is likely to provide enhanced internal house environment in terms of warm weather temperature reduction, stabilization and damping, with direct energy savings in air-conditioning and indirect district benefits of reduced heat island effect and carbon emissions. The green walling insulation properties also suggest the possibility of warmer homes in winter and/or energy savings in mechanical heating provision.

Keywords: Case studies, experiment, green wall, Hong Kong.

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918 Barriers of Productivity in Public Sector Automotive Manufacturing Industry of Pakistan

Authors: S. Z. Sarwar, N. Ehsan , I, Mirza, J. L. Piracha, M. Azeem, A. Ishaque

Abstract:

The public sector losses are the major cause of stagnant growth of Pakistan. Public sector automotive manufacturing industry is one of the major contributors of these losses. This research has been carried out in order to identify the major barriers of productivity of this industry and suggest measures for improvement. This qualitative and quantitative research consisted of informal interviews, discussions augmented by closed ended questionnaire. Three major manufacturing units were chosen for this research and responses from 103 employees were collected. It was found out in this research that numerous productivity flaws exist in the system which requires immediate attention. Besides highlighting flaws this research also suggests corrective actions and areas for future research to overcome these problems.

Keywords: Automotive manufacturing industry, barriers ofproductivity, Public sector losses.

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917 Media Façades in the Wild: Some Lessons

Authors: Hai-Ning Liang, Xiaowei Dai, Nancy Diniz, Charles Fleming, Woon Kian Chong

Abstract:

Media displays in public areas are becoming increasingly pervasive—they are used in many settings, come in different sizes, serve different purposes, and have varied degrees of interactivity. In this paper, we aim to provide a survey of how these displays, often named media façades, are used in the wild in a city in China which is undergoing a rapid growth. This survey is intended to raise greater awareness and discussion about the use and effect of these displays in public areas. Through this survey, we have been able to distill some lessons of what is good, bad, and ugly about some current examples of media displays used in a city that is transitioning into becoming a modern one and one that is located in one of the fastest growing areas in Asia. With this research, we hope that we can provide technology designers and architects with some general principles that can help them integrate these types of technologies into their architectural creations.

Keywords: Large displays, media façades, interaction design, architectural displays.

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916 Adoption of Appropriate and Cost Effective Technologies in Housing: Indian Experience

Authors: A. K. Jain, M. C. Paliwal

Abstract:

Construction cost in India is increasing at around 50 per cent over the average inflation levels. It have registered increase of up to 15 per cent every year, primarily due to cost of basic building materials such as steel, cement, bricks, timber and other inputs as well as cost of labour. As a result, the cost of construction using conventional building materials and construction is becoming beyond the affordable limits particularly for low-income groups of population as well as a large cross section of the middle - income groups. Therefore, there is a need to adopt cost-effective construction methods either by up-gradation of traditional technologies using local resources or applying modern construction materials and techniques with efficient inputs leading to economic solutions. This has become the most relevant aspect in the context of the large volume of housing to be constructed in both rural and urban areas and the consideration of limitations in the availability of resources such as building materials and finance. This paper makes an overview of the housing status in India and adoption of appropriate and cost effective technologies in the country.

Keywords: Appropriate, Cost Effective, Ekra, Five year plan, Poverty

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915 Stepwise Refinement in Executable-UML for Embedded System Design: A Preliminary Study

Authors: Nurul Azma Zakaria, Masahiro Kimura, Noriko Matsumoto, Norihiko Yoshida

Abstract:

The fast growth in complexity coupled with requests for shorter development periods for embedded systems are bringing demands towards a more effective, i.e. higher-abstract, design process for hardaware/software integrated design. In Software Engineering area, Model Driven Architecture (MDA) and Executable UML (xUML) has been accepted to bring further improvement in software design. This paper constructs MDA and xUML stepwise transformations from an abstract specification model to a more concrete implementation model using the refactoring technique for hardaware/software integrated design. This approach provides clear and structured models which enables quick exploration and synthesis, and early stage verification.

Keywords: Hardware/software integrated design, model driven architecture, executable UML, refactoring.

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914 Cultivation of Thymus by In Vitro And Hydroponics Combined Method

Authors: E. Sargsyan, A. Vardanyan, L. Ghalachyan, S. Bulgadaryan

Abstract:

Our results showed that for the growth of qualitative seedling and vegetative raw material of ðó. marschallianus Willd. and T. serphyllum L. it is more profitable to use the in vitro and hydroponics combined method. In in vitro culture it is possible to do micro-propagation whole year with 98-99% rhizogenesis. 30000 micro-plants were obtained from one explant during 9 months. Hydroponic conditions provide the necessary microclimate for microplants where the survival rate without acclimatization was 93.3%. The essential oil content in hydroponic dry herb of both species in vegetative and blossom phase was 1.3% whereas in wild plants it was 1.2%, the content of extractive substances and vitamin C also exceeded wild plants. Our biochemical and radiochemical investigations indicated that the medicinal raw materials obtained from hydroponic and wild plants of Thymus species correspond to the demands of SPh XI, and the content of artificial radionuclides does not exceed the MACL.

Keywords: Hydroponics, In vitro, Micro-propagation, Thymus

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913 Biodegradation of Cyanide by a Novel Cyanidedegrading Bacterium

Authors: S. Potivichayanon, R. Kitleartpornpairoat

Abstract:

The objectives were to identify cyanide-degrading bacteria and study cyanide removal efficiency. Agrobacterium tumefaciens SUTS 1 was isolated. This is a new strain of microorganisms for cyanide degradation. The maximum growth rate of SUTS 1 obtained 4.7 × 108 CFU/ml within 4 days. The cyanide removal efficiency was studied at 25, 50, and 150 mg/L cyanide. The residual cyanide, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, pH, and cell counts were analyzed. At 25 and 50 mg/L cyanide, SUTS 1 obtained similar removal efficiency approximately 87.50%. At 150 mg/L cyanide, SUTS 1 enhanced the cyanide removal efficiency up to 97.90%. Cell counts of SUTS 1 increased when the cyanide concentration was set at lower. The ammonia increased when the removal efficiency increased. The nitrate increased when the ammonia decreased but the nitrite did not detect in all experiments. pH values also increased when the cyanide concentrations were set at higher.

Keywords: Biodegradation, Cyanide-degrading bacteria, Removal efficiency, Residual cyanide

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912 Art and Culture in the Development Period to Modernization in the Reign of King Rama VI

Authors: Weena Eiamprapai

Abstract:

The growth of Thai society in western style in the middle of Rattanakosin period can be defined as modernization /civilization. These terms had an influence on the development of the country in the reign of King Rama V owing to the governance reform, and cultures influenced by the West. Those were passed on until the reign of King Rama VI. The preference was not only for the renovation of architecture and arts based on Thai customs reflecting the prosperity and beauty of handicrafts but also for the acceptance of westernization. The remain of this acceptance includes the concept of such value as gentlemanly behavior like that in Victorian Era of the United Kingdom, and the support of women’s status. Moreover, the wide spread of modernization leads to the movement to change the country’s governance system from absolute monarchy to democracy by a group of people called Rattanakosin Era (R.E.) 130 party.

Keywords: Art and culture, development period, modernization, King Rama VI.

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911 The Effect of Entrepreneurship on Foreign Direct Investment

Authors: Wissam B. Fahed

Abstract:

Entrepreneurship has become an important and extensively researched concept in business studies. Research on foreign direct investment (FDI) has become widespread due to the growth of FDI and its importance in globalization. Most entrepreneurship studies examined the importance and influence of entrepreneurial orientation in a micro-level context. On the other hand, studies and research concerning FDI used statistical techniques to analyze the effect, determinants, and motives of FDI on a macroeconomic level, ignoring empirical studies on other noneconomic determinants. In order to bridge the gap between the theory and empirical evidence on FDI and the theory and research on entrepreneurship, this study examines the impact of entrepreneurship on inward foreign direct investment. The relationship between entrepreneurship and foreign direct investment is investigated through regression analysis of pooled time-series and cross-sectional data. The results suggest that entrepreneurship has a significant effect on FDI.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, foreign direct investment, globalization, economic freedom.

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910 Nile Red, an Alternative Fluorescence Method for Quantification of Neutral Lipids in Microalgae

Authors: P. Rattanapoltee, P. Kaewkannetra

Abstract:

According to biodiesel from microalgae is an attractive fuel for several reasons such as renewable, biodegradable and environmental friendly. Thus, this study, green microalgae Scenedesmus acutus PPNK1 isolated from natural water, was selected based on high growth rates, easy cultivation and high lipid content. The Nile red fluorescence method has been successfully applied to the determination of lipids in S. acutus PPNK1. The combination of the method to the lipid composition in algal cells showed the yellow fluorescence under fluorescent microscope. Interestingly, maximum cell numbers and biomass concentration were obtained at 5.44´107 cells/mL and 1.60 g/L when it was cultivated in BG-11 medium while in case of BG-11 with nitrogen deprivation (N 0.25 g/L), accumulated lipid content in cells (44.67%) was achieved that was higher than that found in case of BG-11 medium at about 2 times (22.63%).

Keywords: Biodiesel, Lipid, Microalgae, Nile red.

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909 A Secure Proxy Signature Scheme with Fault Tolerance Based on RSA System

Authors: H. El-Kamchouchi, Heba Gaber, Fatma Ahmed, Dalia H. El-Kamchouchi

Abstract:

Due to the rapid growth in modern communication systems, fault tolerance and data security are two important issues in a secure transaction. During the transmission of data between the sender and receiver, errors may occur frequently. Therefore, the sender must re-transmit the data to the receiver in order to correct these errors, which makes the system very feeble. To improve the scalability of the scheme, we present a secure proxy signature scheme with fault tolerance over an efficient and secure authenticated key agreement protocol based on RSA system. Authenticated key agreement protocols have an important role in building a secure communications network between the two parties.

Keywords: Proxy signature, fault tolerance, RSA, key agreement protocol.

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908 Diversity and Public Decision Making

Authors: Karin Hansson, Göran Cars, Mats Danielson, Love Ekenberg, Aron Larsson

Abstract:

Within the realm of e-government, the development has moved towards testing new means for democratic decisionmaking, like e-panels, electronic discussion forums, and polls. Although such new developments seem promising, they are not problem-free, and the outcomes are seldom used in the subsequent formal political procedures. Nevertheless, process models offer promising potential when it comes to structuring and supporting transparency of decision processes in order to facilitate the integration of the public into decision-making procedures in a reasonable and manageable way. Based on real-life cases of urban planning processes in Sweden, we present an outline for an integrated framework for public decision making to: a) provide tools for citizens to organize discussion and create opinions; b) enable governments, authorities, and institutions to better analyse these opinions; and c) enable governments to account for this information in planning and societal decision making by employing a process model for structured public decision making.

Keywords: Negotiation games, Agenda setting, Multi-criteria decision analysis, Elicitation method.

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907 Assessing the Antimicrobial Activity of Chitosan Nanoparticles by Fluorescence-Labeling

Authors: Laidson P. Gomes, Cristina T. Andrade, Eduardo M. Del Aguila, Cameron Alexander, Vânia M. F. Paschoalin

Abstract:

Chitosan is a natural polysaccharide prepared by the N-deacetylation of chitin. In this study, the physicochemical and antibacterial properties of chitosan nanoparticles, produced by ultrasound irradiation, were evaluated. The physicochemical properties of the nanoparticles were determined by dynamic light scattering and zeta potential analysis. Chitosan nanoparticles inhibited the growth of E. coli. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values were lower than 0.5 mg/mL, and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values were similar or higher than MIC values. Confocal laser scanning micrographs (CLSM) were used to observe the interaction between E. coli suspensions mixed with FITC-labeled chitosan polymers and nanoparticles.

Keywords: Chitosan nanoparticles, dynamic light scattering, zeta potential, confocal microscopy, antibacterial activity.

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906 A Green Chemical Technique for the Synthesis of Magnetic Nanoparticles by Magnetotactic Bacteria

Authors: Parisa Tajer-Mohammad-Ghazvini, Rouha Kasra-Kermanshahi, Ahmad Nozad-Golikand, Majid Sadeghizadeh

Abstract:

Bacterial magnetic nanoparticles have great useful potential in biotechnological and biomedical applications. In this study, a liquid growth medium was modified for cultivation a fastidious magnetotactic bacterium that has been isolated from Anzali lagoon, Iran in our previous research. These modifications include change in vitamin, mineral, carbon sources and etcetera. In our experience, the serum bottles and designed air-tight laboratory bottles were used to create microaerobic conditions in order to development of a method for scale-up experiment. This information may serve as a guide to green chemistry based biological protocols for the synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles with control over the chemical composition, morphology and size.

Keywords: Green chemistry, Magnetosome, Magnetotactic bacteria, Magnetic nanoparticles, Nano-Biotechnology.

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905 Corporate Governance in Network Marketing Organizations: The Role of Ethics and CSR

Authors: Venugopal Kummamuru

Abstract:

Corporate Governance (CG) is of utmost importance for running a company ethically. It is essential for the growth and success of the corporation. It is intended to increase the accountability of an organization to the larger context of the business environment. The general principles of CG include and are related to Shareholder recognition, Stakeholder interests, and focus on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Clear Board responsibilities, Ethical behavior, and Business transparency. Network Marketing Organizations (NMOs) focus on marketing through direct-sales using people who are associated with the organization but are not their employees. This paper tries to study the importance of Ethics and CSR in an NMO and suggest a basic guideline for CG in NMO(s). This paper could be used as a basis or starting point for conducting an in-depth research to understand the difference in CG practices between NMO(s) and other organizations and define a standard set of guidelines for CG practice.

Keywords: Corporate governance, corporate responsibility, direct selling, network marketing.

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904 Effect of Selenite and Selenate Uptake by Maize Plants on Specific Leaf Area

Authors: F. Garousi, Sz. Veres, É. Bódi, Sz. Várallyay, B. Kovács

Abstract:

Specific leaf area (SLA; cm2leaf g-1leaf) the ratio of leaf area to leaf dry mass is a key ecophysiological parameter influencing leaf physiology, photosynthesis, and whole plant carbon gain and also can be used as a rapid and diagnostic tool. In this study, two species of soluble inorganic selenium forms, selenite (Se^IV) and selenate (Se^VI) at different concentrations were investigated on maize plants that were growing in nutrient solutions during 2 weeks and at the end of the experiment, amounts of SLA for first and second leaves of maize were measured. In accordance with the results we observed that our regarded Se concentrations in both forms of Se^IV and Se^VI were not effective on maize plants’ SLA significantly although high level of 3 mg.kg-1 Se^IV had negative affect on growth of the samples that had been treated by it but about Se^VI samples we did not observe this state and our different considered Se^VI concentrations were not toxic for maize plants.

Keywords: Maize, Sodium selenate, sodium selenite, specific leaf area.

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903 A Quantitative Assessment of the Social Marginalization in Romania

Authors: Andra Costache, Rădiţa Alexe

Abstract:

The analysis of the spatial disparities of social marginalization is a requirement in the present-day socio-economic and political context of Romania, an East-European state, member of the European Union since 2007, at present faced with the imperatives of the growth of its territorial cohesion. The main objective of this article is to develop a methodology for the assessment of social marginalization, in order to understand the intensity of the marginalization phenomenon at different spatial scales. The article proposes a social marginalization index (SMI), calculated through the integration of ten indicators relevant for the two components of social marginalization: the material component and the symbolical component. The results highlighted a strong connection between the total degree of social marginalization and the dependence on social benefits, unemployment rate, non-inclusion in the compulsory education, criminality rate, and the type of pension insurance.

Keywords: Romania, social marginalization index, territorial disparities.

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902 Modal Analysis for Study of Minor Historical Architecture

Authors: Milorad Pavlovic, Anna Manzato, Antonella Cecchi

Abstract:

Cultural heritage conservation is a challenge for contemporary society. In recent decades, significant resources have been allocated for the conservation and restoration of architectural heritage. Historical buildings were restored, protected and reinforced with the intent to limit the risks of degradation or loss, due to phenomena of structural damage and to external factors such as differential settlements, earthquake effects, etc. The wide diffusion of historic masonry constructions in Italy, Europe and the Mediterranean area requires reliable tools for the evaluation of their structural safety. In this paper is presented a free modal analysis performed on a minor historical architecture located in the village of Bagno Grande, near the city of L’Aquila in Italy. The location is characterized by a complex urban context, seriously damaged by the earthquake of 2009. The aim of this work is to check the structural behavior of a masonry building characterized by several boundary conditions imposed by adjacent buildings and infrastructural facilities.

Keywords: FEM, masonry, minor historical architecture, modal analysis.

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901 Influence of Ammonium Concentration on the Performance of an Inorganic Biofilter Treating Methane

Authors: Marc Veillette, Antonio Avalos Ramirez, Michèle Heitz

Abstract:

Among the technologies available to reduce methane emitted from the pig industry, biofiltration seems to be an effective and inexpensive solution. In methane (CH4) biofiltration, nitrogen is an important macronutrient for the microorganisms growth. The objective of this research project was to study the effect of ammonium (NH4 +) on the performance, the biomass production and the nitrogen conversion of a biofilter treating methane. For NH4 + concentrations ranging from 0.05 to 0.5 gN-NH4 +/L, the CH4 removal efficiency and the dioxide carbon production rate decreased linearly from 68 to 11.8 % and from 7.1 to 0.5 g/(m3-h), respectively. The dry biomass content varied from 4.1 to 5.8 kg/(m3 filter bed). For the same range of concentrations, the ammonium conversion decreased while the specific nitrate production rate increased. The specific nitrate production rate presented negative values indicating denitrification in the biofilter.

Keywords: Methane, biofiltration, pig, ammonium, nitrification, denitrification.

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900 The Effectiveness of Bismuth Addition to Retard the Intermetallic Compound Formation

Authors: I. Siti Rabiatull Aisha, A. Ourdjini, O. Saliza Azlina

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to study the effectiveness of bismuth addition in the solder alloy to retard the intermetallic compound formation and growth. In this study, three categories of solders such as Sn-4Ag-xCu (x = 0.5, 0.7, 1.0) and Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu-xBi (x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.4) were used. Ni/Au surface finish substrates were dipped into the molten solder at a temperature of 180-190 oC and allowed to cool at room temperature. The intermetallic compound (IMCs) were subjected to the characterization in terms of composition and morphology. The IMC phases were identified by energy dispersive x-ray (EDX), whereas the optical microscope and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to observe microstructure evolution of the solder joint. The results clearly showed that copper concentration dependency was high during the reflow stage. Besides, only Ni3Sn4 and Ni3Sn2 were detected for all copper concentrations. The addition of Bi was found to have no significant effect on the type of IMCs formed, but yet the grain became further refined.

Keywords: Bismuth addition, intermetallic compound, composition, morphology.

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899 A Multiclass BCMP Queueing Modeling and Simulation-Based Road Traffic Flow Analysis

Authors: Jouhra Dad, Mohammed Ouali, Yahia Lebbah

Abstract:

Urban road network traffic has become one of the most studied research topics in the last decades. This is mainly due to the enlargement of the cities and the growing number of motor vehicles traveling in this road network. One of the most sensitive problems is to verify if the network is congestion-free. Another related problem is the automatic reconfiguration of the network without building new roads to alleviate congestions. These problems require an accurate model of the traffic to determine the steady state of the system. An alternative is to simulate the traffic to see if there are congestions and when and where they occur. One key issue is to find an adequate model for road intersections. Once the model established, either a large scale model is built or the intersection is represented by its performance measures and simulation for analysis. In both cases, it is important to seek the queueing model to represent the road intersection. In this paper, we propose to model the road intersection as a BCMP queueing network and we compare this analytical model against a simulation model for validation.

Keywords: Queueing theory, transportation systems, BCMPqueueing network, performance measures, modeling, simulation

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898 Kinetic Study of Gluconic Acid Batch Fermentation by Aspergillus niger

Authors: Akbarningrum Fatmawati, Rudy Agustriyanto, Lindawati

Abstract:

Gluconic acid is one of interesting chemical products in industries such as detergents, leather, photographic, textile, and especially in food and pharmaceutical industries. Fermentation is an advantageous process to produce gluconic acid. Mathematical modeling is important in the design and operation of fermentation process. In fact, kinetic data must be available for modeling. The kinetic parameters of gluconic acid production by Aspergillus niger in batch culture was studied in this research at initial substrate concentration of 150, 200 and 250 g/l. The kinetic models used were logistic equation for growth, Luedeking-Piret equation for gluconic acid formation, and Luedeking-Piret-like equation for glucose consumption. The Kinetic parameters in the model were obtained by minimizing non linear least squares curve fitting.

Keywords: Aspergillus niger, fermentation, gluconic acid, kinetic.

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897 Public R and D Risk and Risk Management Policy

Authors: Youngseok Lee, Dongjin Chung, Youngjin Kim

Abstract:

R&D risk management has been suggested as one of the management approaches for accomplishing the goals of public R&D investment. The investment in basic science and core technology development is the essential roles of government for securing the social base needed for continuous economic growth. And, it is also an important role of the science and technology policy sectors to generate a positive environment in which the outcomes of public R&D can be diffused in a stable fashion by controlling the uncertainties and risk factors in advance that may arise during the application of such achievements to society and industry. Various policies have already been implemented to manage uncertainties and variables that may have negative impact on accomplishing public R& investment goals. But we may derive new policy measures for complementing the existing policies and for exploring progress direction by analyzing them in a policy package from the viewpoint of R&D risk management.

Keywords: Risk management, Public R&D policy, Science andtechnology policy, Performance management.

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