Search results for: Statistical size effect

Authors: Ahmed H. Abdel-Kareem, Hala. Abousafa, Omia S. El-Hadidi

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The results of an experimental program conducted on seventeen simply supported concrete beams to study the effect of transverse reinforcement on the behavior of lap splice of steel reinforcement in tension zones in high strength concrete beams, are presented. The parameters included in the experimental program were the concrete compressive strength, the lap splice length, the amount of transverse reinforcement provided within the splice region, and the shape of transverse reinforcement around spliced bars. The experimental results showed that the displacement ductility increased and the mode of failure changed from splitting bond failure to flexural failure when the amount of transverse reinforcement in splice region increased, and the compressive strength increased up to 100 MPa. The presence of transverse reinforcement around spliced bars had pronounced effect on increasing the ultimate load, the ultimate deflection, and the displacement ductility. The prediction of maximum steel stresses for spliced bars using ACI 318-05 building code was compared with the experimental results. The comparison showed that the effect of transverse reinforcement around spliced bars has to be considered into the design equations for lap splice length in high strength concrete beams.

Keywords: Ductility, high strength concrete, tension lap splice, transverse reinforcement, steel stresses.

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Authors: K. M. Aldossari, W. A. Elsaigh, M. J. Shannag

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An experimental study was conducted to investigate the effect of hooked-end steel fibers on the flexural behavior of normal and high strength concrete matrices. The fibers content appropriate for the concrete matrices investigated was also determined based on flexural tests on standard prisms. Parameters investigated include: matrix compressive strength ranging from 45 MPa to 70 MPa, corresponding to normal and high strength concrete matrices respectively; fibers volume fraction including 0, 0.5%, 0.76% and 1%, equivalent to 0, 40, 60, and 80 kg/m³ of hooked-end steel fibers respectively. Test results indicated that flexural strength and toughness of normal and high strength concrete matrices were significantly improved with the increase in the fibers content added; whereas a slight improvement in compressive strength was observed for the same matrices. Furthermore, the test results indicated that the effect of increasing the fibers content was more pronounced on increasing the flexural strength of high strength concrete than that of normal concrete.

Keywords: Concrete, flexural strength, toughness, steel fibers.

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Authors: J. H. Park, S. C. Jeong, J. H. Koo, H. Y. Jung, S. M. Lee

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We propose an integral tracking control method for a piezoelectric actuator system. The proposed method achieves the output tracking without requiring any hysteresis observer or schemes to compensate the hysteresis effect. With the proposed control law, the system is converted into the standard singularly perturbed model. Using Tikhonov-s theorem, we guarantee that the tracking error can be reduced to arbitrarily small bound. A numerical example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of our proposed method.

Keywords: Piezoelectric actuator, tracking control, hysteresis effect.

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Authors: N. Masoudnia, M. Fatahi

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An experimental study of saturated pool boiling on a single artificial nucleation site without and with the application of an electric field on the boiling surface has been conducted. N-pentane is boiling on a copper surface and is recorded with a high speed camera providing high quality pictures and movies. The accuracy of the visualization allowed establishing an experimental bubble growth law from a large number of experiments. This law shows that the evaporation rate is decreasing during the bubble growth, and underlines the importance of liquid motion induced by the preceding bubble. Bubble rise is therefore studied: once detached, bubbles accelerate vertically until reaching a maximum velocity in good agreement with a correlation from literature. The bubbles then turn to another direction. The effect of applying an electric field on the boiling surface in finally studied. In addition to changes of the bubble shape, changes are also shown in the liquid plume and the convective structures above the surface. Lower maximum rising velocities were measured in the presence of electric fields, especially with a negative polarity.

Keywords: Single bubbles, electric field, boiling, effect.

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Authors: D. Ščeulovs, E. Gaile-Sarkane

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Latvia is the fourth in the world by means of broadband internet speed. The total number of internet users in Latvia exceeds 70% of its population. The number of active mailboxes of the local internet e-mail service Inbox.lv accounts for 68% of the population and 97.6% of the total number of internet users. The Latvian portal Draugiem.lv is a phenomenon of social media, because 58.4 % of the population and 83.5% of internet users use it. A majority of Latvian company profiles are available on social networks, the most popular being Twitter.com. These and other parameters prove the fact consumers and companies are actively using the Internet. 

However, after the authors in a number of studies analyzed how enterprises are employing the e-environment, namely, e-environment tools, they arrived to the conclusions that are not as flattering as the aforementioned statistics. There is an obvious contradiction between the statistical data and the actual studies. As a result, the authors have posed a question: Why are entrepreneurs resistant to e-tools? In order to answer this question, the authors have addressed the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The authors analyzed each phase and determined several factors affecting the use of e-environment, reaching the main conclusion that entrepreneurs do not have a sufficient level of e-literacy (digital literacy). 

The authors employ well-established quantitative and qualitative methods of research: grouping, analysis, statistic method, factor analysis in SPSS 20  environment etc. 

The theoretical and methodological background of the research is formed by, scientific researches and publications, that from the mass media and professional literature, statistical information from legal institutions as well as information collected by the author during the survey.

Keywords: E-environment, e-environment tools, technology acceptance model, factors.

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Authors: Bu Jianhui, Bi Jinshun, Liu Mengxin, Luo Jiajun, Han Zhengsheng

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The floating body effect is a serious problem for the PDSOI MOSFET, and the H-gate layout is frequently used as the body contact to eliminate this effect. Unfortunately, most of the standard commercial SOI MOSFET model is for the device with finger gate, the necessity of the new models for the H-gate device arises. A simulation model for the H-gate PDSOI MOSFET is proposed based on the 0.35μm PDSOI process developed by the Institute of Microelectronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMECAS), and then the model is well verified by the ring-oscillator.

Keywords: PDSOI H-gate Device model Body contact.

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Authors: M. R. Salehi, S. Khosroabadi

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In this paper, the optical generation of three bands of continuously tunable millimeter-wave signals using an optical phase modulator (OPM) and a polarization state rotation filter (PSRF) as an optical notch filter is analyzed. The effect of the chromatic dispersion on millimeter-wave signals is presented.

Keywords: Optical generation, millimeter-wave, optical notchfilter , chromatic dispersion.

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Authors: Seyed Abolhasan Naeini, Saeideh Mohammadi

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Site response has a profound effect on earthquake damages. Seismic interaction of urban tunnels with surface structures could also affect seismic site response. Here, we use FLAC 2D to investigate the interaction of a single tunnel and twin tunnels-surface structures on the site response. Soil stratification and properties are selected based on Line. No 7 of the Tehran subway. The effect of surface structure is considered in two ways: Equivalent surcharge and geometrical modeling of the structure. Comparison of the results shows that consideration of the structure geometry is vital in dynamic analysis and leads to the changes in the magnitude of displacements, accelerations and response spectrum. Therefore it is necessary for the surface structures to be wholly modeled and not just considered as a surcharge in dynamic analysis. The use of twin tunnel also leads to the reduction of dynamic residual settlement.

Keywords: Superstructure, tunnel, site response, surcharge, interaction.

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Authors: Suman Senapati, Goutam Saha

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Real world Speaker Identification (SI) application differs from ideal or laboratory conditions causing perturbations that leads to a mismatch between the training and testing environment and degrade the performance drastically. Many strategies have been adopted to cope with acoustical degradation; wavelet based Bayesian marginal model is one of them. But Bayesian marginal models cannot model the inter-scale statistical dependencies of different wavelet scales. Simple nonlinear estimators for wavelet based denoising assume that the wavelet coefficients in different scales are independent in nature. However wavelet coefficients have significant inter-scale dependency. This paper enhances this inter-scale dependency property by a Circularly Symmetric Probability Density Function (CS-PDF) related to the family of Spherically Invariant Random Processes (SIRPs) in Log Gabor Wavelet (LGW) domain and corresponding joint shrinkage estimator is derived by Maximum a Posteriori (MAP) estimator. A framework is proposed based on these to denoise speech signal for automatic speaker identification problems. The robustness of the proposed framework is tested for Text Independent Speaker Identification application on 100 speakers of POLYCOST and 100 speakers of YOHO speech database in three different noise environments. Experimental results show that the proposed estimator yields a higher improvement in identification accuracy compared to other estimators on popular Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) based speaker model and Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficient (MFCC) features.

Keywords: Speaker Identification, Log Gabor Wavelet, Bayesian Bivariate Estimator, Circularly Symmetric Probability Density Function, SIRP.

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Authors: Amid Ranjkesh, Milan Ambrožič, Samo Kralj

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We study the typical domain size and configuration character of a randomly perturbed system exhibiting continuous symmetry breaking. As a model system we use rod-like objects within a cubic lattice interacting via a Lebwohl–Lasher-type interaction. We describe their local direction with a headless unit director field. An example of such systems represents nematic LC or nanotubes. We further introduce impurities of concentration p, which impose the random anisotropy field-type disorder to directors. We study the domain-type pattern of molecules as a function of p, anchoring strength w between a neighboring director and impurity, temperature, history of samples. In simulations we quenched the directors either from the random or homogeneous initial configuration. Our results show that a history of system strongly influences: i) the average domain coherence length; and ii) the range of ordering in the system. In the random case the obtained order is always short ranged (SR). On the contrary, in the homogeneous case, SR is obtained only for strong enough anchoring and large enough concentration p. In other cases, the ordering is either of quasi long range (QLR) or of long range (LR). We further studied memory effects for the random initial configuration. With increasing external ordering field B either QLR or LR is realized.

Keywords: Lebwohl-Lasher model, liquid crystals, disorder, memory effect, orientational order.

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Authors: Kittaya Somsai, Thanatchai Kulworawanichpong, Nitus Voraphonpiput

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This paper presents the DC voltage control design of D-STATCOM when the D-STATCOM is used for load voltage regulation. Although, the DC voltage can be controlled by active current of the D-STATCOM, reactive current still affects the DC voltage. To eliminate this effect, the control strategy with elimination effect of the reactive current is proposed and the results of the control with and without the elimination the effect of the reactive current are compared. For obtaining the proportional and integral gains of the PI controllers, the symmetrical optimum and genetic algorithms methods are applied. The stability margin of these methods are obtained and discussed in detail. In addition, the performance of the DC voltage control based on symmetrical optimum and genetic algorithms methods are compared. Effectiveness of the controllers designed was verified through computer simulation performed by using Power System Tool Block (PSB) in SIMULINK/MATLAB. The simulation results demonstrated that the DC voltage control proposed is effective in regulating DC voltage when the DSTATCOM is used for load voltage regulation.

Keywords: D-STATCOM, DC voltage control, Symmetrical optimum, Genetic algorithms

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Authors: Flora Elvistia Firdaus

Abstract:

The epoxidation of soybean oil at temperature of 600C was provided the best result in terms of attaching the –OH functionality. Temperatures below and above 600C it is likely the attaching reaction did not proceed sufficiently fast. The considerable yield below 40%, implies the oil is not completely converted, it is not possible by conventional methods, because the epoxide decomposes at the temperature required. The objective of this work was the development of catalyst toward the conversion of epoxide and polyol with reaction temperature at 50,60, and 700C. The effect of different type of catalyst were studied, the effect of alcohols with different molecular configuration was determined which leads to selective addition of alcohols to the epoxide oils.

Keywords: optimization, epoxide, soybean, catalyst

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Authors: M Tayari, SZ Moosavi-nejad, A Shabani, M Rezaei Tavirani

Abstract:

Free Hemoglobin promotes the accumulation of hydroxyl radicals by the heme iron, which can react with endogenous hydrogen peroxide to produce free radicals which may cause severe oxidative cell damage. Haptoglobin binds to Hemoglobin strongly and Haptoglobin-Hemoglobin binding is irreversible. Peroxidase activity of Haptoglobin(2-2)-Hemoglobin complex was assayed by following increase of absorption of produced tetraguaiacol as the second substrate of Haptoglobin-Hemoglobin complex at 470 nm and 42°C by UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The results have shown that peroxidase activity of Haptoglobin(2-2)-Hemoglobin complex is modulated via homotropic effect of hydrogen peroxide as allostric substrate. On the other hand antioxidant property of Haptoglobin(2- 2)-Hemoglobin was increased via heterotropic effect of the two drugs (especially ampicillin) on peroxidase activity of the complex. Both drugs also have mild effect on quality of homotropic property of peroxidase activity of Haptoglobin(2-2)-Hemoglobin complex. Therefore, in vitro studies show that the two drugs may help Hp-Hb complex to remove hydrogen peroxide from serum at pathologic temperature ature (42 C).

Keywords: Haptoglobin, Hemoglobin, Antioxidant, Antibiotics.

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Authors: Dong Bok Lee, Min Jung Kim

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The commercially available titanium alloy, Ti-6Al-4V, was oxynitrided in the deoxygenated nitrogen gas at high temperatures followed by cooling in oxygen-containing nitrogen in order to analyze the influence of oxynitriding parameters on the phase modification, hardness, and the microstructural evolution of the oxynitrided coating. The surface microhardness of the oxynitrided alloy increased due to the strengthening effect of the formed titanium oxynitrides, TiN_xO_y. The maximum microhardness was obtained, when TiN_xO_y had near equiatomic composition of nitrogen and oxygen. It could be attained under the optimum oxygen partial pressure and temperature-time condition.

Keywords: Oxynitriding, surface microhardness, titanium alloys, Ti-6Al-4V.

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Authors: Amèni Mokni, Hatem Mhiri, Georges Le Palec, Philippe Bournot

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This paper is a numerical investigation of a laminar isothermal plane two dimensional wall jet. Special attention has been paid to the effect of the inlet conditions at the nozzle exit on the hydrodynamic and thermal characteristics of the flow. The behaviour of various fluids evolving in both forced and mixed convection regimes near a vertical plate plane is carried out. The system of governing equations is solved with an implicit finite difference scheme. For numerical stability we use a staggered non uniform grid. The obtained results show that the effect of the Prandtl number is significant in the plume region in which the jet flow is governed by buoyant forces. Further for ascending X values, the buoyancy forces become dominating, and a certain agreement between the temperature profiles are observed, which shows that the velocity profile has no longer influence on the wall temperature evolution in this region. Fluids with low Prandtl number warm up more importantly, because for such fluids the effect of heat diffusion is higher.

Keywords: Forced convection, Mixed convection, Prandtl number, Wall jet.

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Authors: Zhongmin Wang, Wudong Fan, Hengshan Zhang, Yimin Zhou

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In data-driven prognostic methods, the prediction accuracy of the estimation for remaining useful life of bearings mainly depends on the performance of health indicators, which are usually fused some statistical features extracted from vibrating signals. However, the existing health indicators have the following two drawbacks: (1) The differnet ranges of the statistical features have the different contributions to construct the health indicators, the expert knowledge is required to extract the features. (2) When convolutional neural networks are utilized to tackle time-frequency features of signals, the time-series of signals are not considered. To overcome these drawbacks, in this study, the method combining convolutional neural network with gated recurrent unit is proposed to extract the time-frequency image features. The extracted features are utilized to construct health indicator and predict remaining useful life of bearings. First, original signals are converted into time-frequency images by using continuous wavelet transform so as to form the original feature sets. Second, with convolutional and pooling layers of convolutional neural networks, the most sensitive features of time-frequency images are selected from the original feature sets. Finally, these selected features are fed into the gated recurrent unit to construct the health indicator. The results state that the proposed method shows the enhance performance than the related studies which have used the same bearing dataset provided by PRONOSTIA.

Keywords: Continuous wavelet transform, convolution neural network, gated recurrent unit, health indicators, remaining useful life.

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Authors: Alma Lucero Ortiz, Mario Gómez

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The purpose of this article is to conduct a theoretical and empirical study in order to analyze how the Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Supply Chain Responsiveness (SCR) affects the competitive advantage of the agrofood sector in 2017, in particular, the exporting companies of berries in Mexico. This work is presented in two parts, as a first part is developed a theoretical analysis of the main studies to measure the variables subject to the study. Subsequently an empirical study is carried out through field work and to process the data a logical econometric model is performed to be able to evaluate the effect of the SCM and SCR on the competitive advantage in the companies exporting berries. The results suggest that the SCM has a positive effect on the competitive advantage of the companies under study, so it is necessary to implement greater practices oriented towards a suitable SCM for the companies to achieve a competitive performance. In the case of SCR, it was found that this variable does not have effect on competitive advantage.

Keywords: Competitive advantage, econometric model, supply chain management, supply chain responsiveness, sustained competitive advantage.

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Authors: Nassib Abdallah, Pierre Chauvet, Abd El Salam Hajjar, Bassam Daya

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In this paper, we propose an optimized brain computer interface (BCI) system for unspoken speech recognition, based on the fact that the constructions of unspoken words rely strongly on the Wernicke area, situated in the temporal lobe. Our BCI system has four modules: (i) the EEG Acquisition module based on a non-invasive headset with 14 electrodes; (ii) the Preprocessing module to remove noise and artifacts, using the Common Average Reference method; (iii) the Features Extraction module, using Wavelet Packet Transform (WPT); (iv) the Classification module based on a one-hidden layer artificial neural network. The present study consists of comparing the recognition accuracy of 5 Arabic words, when using all the headset electrodes or only the 4 electrodes situated near the Wernicke area, as well as the selection effect of the subbands produced by the WPT module. After applying the articial neural network on the produced database, we obtain, on the test dataset, an accuracy of 83.4% with all the electrodes and all the subbands of 8 levels of the WPT decomposition. However, by using only the 4 electrodes near Wernicke Area and the 6 middle subbands of the WPT, we obtain a high reduction of the dataset size, equal to approximately 19% of the total dataset, with 67.5% of accuracy rate. This reduction appears particularly important to improve the design of a low cost and simple to use BCI, trained for several words.

Keywords: Brain-computer interface, speech recognition, electroencephalography EEG, Wernicke area, artificial neural network.

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Authors: Kalala Jalama

Abstract:

A process flowsheet was developed in ChemCad 6.4 to study the effect of feed moisture contents on the pre-esterification of waste oils. Waste oils were modelled as a mixture of triolein (90%), oleic acid (5%) and water (5%). The process mainly consisted of feed drying, pre-esterification reaction and methanol recovery. The results showed that the process energy requirements would be minimized when higher degrees of feed drying and higher preesterification reaction temperatures are used.

Keywords: Waste oils, moisture content, pre-esterification.

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Authors: Chun-Ying Lee, Kun-Hsien Lee, Bor-Wei Wang

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The process of post-supercritical CO₂ electroplating uses the electrolyte solution after being mixed with supercritical CO₂ and released to atmospheric pressure. It utilizes the microbubbles that form when oversaturated CO₂ in the electrolyte returns to gaseous state, which gives the similar effect of pulsed electroplating. Under atmospheric pressure, the CO₂ bubbles gradually diffuse. Therefore, the introduction of ultrasound and/or other agitation can potentially excite the CO₂ microbubbles to achieve an electroplated surface of even higher quality. In this study, during the electroplating process, three different modes of agitation: magnetic stirrer agitation, ultrasonic agitation and a combined mode (magnetic + ultrasonic) were applied, respectively, in order to obtain an optimal surface morphology and mechanical properties for the electroplated Ni coating. It is found that the combined agitation mode at a current density of 40 A/dm² achieved the smallest grain size, lower surface roughness, and produced an electroplated Ni layer that achieved hardness of 320 HV, much higher when compared with conventional method, which were usually in the range of 160 to 300 HV. However, at the same time, the electroplating with combined agitation developed a higher internal stress of 320 MPa due to the lower current efficiency of the process and finer grain in the coating. Moreover, a new control methodology for tailoring the coating’s mechanical property through its thickness was demonstrated by the timely introduction of ultrasonic agitation during the electroplating process with post supercritical CO₂ mixed electrolyte.

Keywords: Nickel electroplating, micro-bubbles, supercritical carbon dioxide, ultrasonic agitation, magnetic stirring.

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Authors: Javier Rivas, Olga Gimeno, Maria Carbajo, Teresa Borralho

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Potassium monopersulfate has been decomposed in aqueous solution in the presence of Co(II). The effect of the main operating variables has been assessed. Minimum variations in pH exert a considerable influence on the process kinetics. Thus, when no pH adjustment is considered, the actual effect of variables like initial monopersulfate and/or catalyst concentration may be hindered. As expected, temperature enhances the monopersulfate decomposition rate by following the Arrhenius law. The activation energy in the proximity of 85 kJ/mol has been obtained. Amongst the different solids tested in the monopersulfate decomposition, only the perovskite LaTi0.15Cu0.85O3 has shown a significant catalytic activity.

Keywords: Monopersulfate, Oxone®, Sulfate radicals, Watertreatment.

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Authors: Corné J. Coetzee, Etienne Horn

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One of the main challenges in using the Discrete Element Method (DEM) is to specify the correct input parameter values. In general, the models are sensitive to the input parameter values and accurate results can only be achieved if the correct values are specified. For the linear contact model, micro-parameters such as the particle density, stiffness, coefficient of friction, as well as the particle size and shape distributions are required. There is a need for a procedure to accurately calibrate these parameters before any attempt can be made to accurately model a complete bulk materials handling system. Since DEM is often used to model applications in the mining and quarrying industries, a calibration procedure was developed for materials that consist of relatively large (up to 40 mm in size) particles. A coarse crushed aggregate was used as the test material. Using a specially designed large shear box with a diameter of 590 mm, the confined Young’s modulus (bulk stiffness) and internal friction angle of the material were measured by means of the confined compression test and the direct shear test respectively. DEM models of the experimental setup were developed and the input parameter values were varied iteratively until a close correlation between the experimental and numerical results was achieved. The calibration process was validated by modelling the pull-out of an anchor from a bed of material. The model results compared well with experimental measurement.

Keywords: Discrete Element Method (DEM), calibration, shear box, anchor pull-out.

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Authors: Hadi Barghlame, M. A. Lotfollahi-Yaghin, Mehdi Mohammad Rezaei

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In this paper, the effect of admixtures on the tensional strength of concrete in Urmia-lake water have been investigated. We made different types of concretes with the ratio of w/c and replaced different percentages of micro-silica, air-entraining, super plasticizer, corrosion-inhibiting, and caulk with two types of cement I and II as well as investigating in both ordinary water and Urmia-lake water. The tensional strength was investigated on these samples.

Keywords: Urmia-lake water, Tensional strength, Concrete, Admixtures.

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Authors: Ayyaz Mahmood

Abstract:

A new approach for the improvement of coding gain in channel coding using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and Maximum A Posteriori (MAP) algorithm is proposed. This new approach uses the avalanche effect of block cipher algorithm AES and soft output values of MAP decoding algorithm. The performance of proposed approach is evaluated in the presence of Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN). For the verification of proposed approach, computer simulation results are included.

Keywords: Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Avalanche Effect, Maximum A Posteriori (MAP), Soft Input Decryption (SID).

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Authors: Gulnara Moldasheva

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The research explores the relationship between management responsibility and corporate governance of listed companies in Kazakhstan. This research employs firm level data of selected listed non-financial firms and firm level data “operational” financial sector, consisted from banking sector, insurance companies and accumulated pension funds using multivariate regression analysis under fixed effect model approach. Ownership structure includes institutional ownership, managerial ownership and private investor’s ownership. Management responsibility of the firm is expressed by the decision of the firm on amount of leverage. Results of the cross sectional panel study for non-financial firms showed that only institutional shareholding is significantly negatively correlated with debt to equity ratio. Findings from “operational” financial sector show that leverage is significantly affected only by the CEO/Chair duality and the size of financial institutions, and insignificantly affected by ownership structure. Also, the findings show, that there is a significant negative relationship between profitability and the debt to equity ratio for non-financial firms, which is consistent with pecking order theory. Generally, the found results suggest that corporate governance and a management responsibility play important role in corporate performance of listed firms in Kazakhstan.

Keywords: Corporate governance, corporate performance, debt to equity ratio, ownership.

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Authors: N. Ebrahimi-Tofighi, M. ArdebiliPour, M. Shahabadi

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In this paper, the effect of receive and/or transmit antenna spacing on the performance (BER vs. SNR) of multipleantenna systems is determined by using an RCS (Radar Cross Section) channel model. In this physical model, the scatterers existing in the propagation environment are modeled by their RCS so that the correlation of the receive signal complex amplitudes, i.e., both magnitude and phase, can be estimated. The proposed RCS channel model is then compared with classical models.

Keywords: MIMO system, Performance of system, Signalcorrelation, SIMO system, Wireless channel model.

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Authors: Alireza Barari, Maryam Firoozi, Maryam Ebrahimzadeh, Romina Roohani Ardeshiri, Maryam Kamarloeei

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Background: The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of six-week aerobic training and taxol consumption on interleukin-8 and Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) in mice with cervical cancer. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 40 female C57 mice with cervical cancer, eight weeks old, were randomly divided into 4 groups including: control, taxol supplement, training, and training-taxol supplement. The implantation of cancerous tumors was performed under the skin at the upper of the pelvis. The program training was included: endurance training for six weeks, 3 sessions per week and 50 minutes per session, at the speed of 14-18 m/s. Taxol supplement at a dose of 60 mg/kg per day was injected intraperitoneally. Data analysis was performed using t-test and one-way ANOVA and if statistically significant, Bonferroni post hoc was used at the significance level p < .05. Results: The results showed that there was a significant difference between the levels of interleukin 8 (P < 0.05, F = 12.25) and the PAI-1 (P < 0.05, P = 0.10737 between the 4 groups. The results of this study showed a significant difference between the control group and the training - complementary group. Six weeks of aerobic training and taxol consumption have a significant effect on the level of PAI-1 and interleukin-8 mice with cervical cancer. Conclusion: Considering the effect of training on these variables, this type of exercise can be used as a complementary therapeutic approach with other therapies for cervical cancer.

Keywords: Cervical cancer, taxol, endurance training, interleukin 8, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1.

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Authors: Chin-Pin Chen, David W.S. Tai, Wen-Jong Chen, Hui-Min Lai

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This study aims to analyze the effect of e-learning on photonics technology and daily livings among college students. The course contents of photonics technology and daily livings are first drafted based on research discussions and expert interviews. Having expert questionnaires with Delphi Technique for three times, the knowledge units and items for the course of photonics technology and daily livings are established. The e-learning materials and the drafts of instructional strategies, academic achievement, and learning attitude scales are then developed. With expert inspection, reliability and validity test, and experimental instructions, the scales and the material are further revised. Finally, the formal instructions are implemented to test the effect of different instructional methods on the academic achievement of photonics technology and daily livings among students in universities of technology. The research results show that e-learning could effectively promote academic achievement and learning attitude, and the students with e-learning obviously outperform the ones with trandition instructions.

Keywords: E-learning, Photonics Technology and Daily Livings, Academic Achievement

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Authors: U. Waqas, M. F. Ahmed, A. Mehmood, M. A. Rashid

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In geophysical exploration surveys, the quality of acquired data holds significant importance before executing the data processing and interpretation phases. In this study, 2D seismic reflection survey data of Fort Abbas area, Cholistan Desert, Pakistan was taken as test case in order to assess its quality on statistical bases by using normalized root mean square error (NRMSE), Cronbach’s alpha test (α) and null hypothesis tests (t-test and F-test). The analysis challenged the quality of the acquired data and highlighted the significant errors in the acquired database. It is proven that the study area is plain, tectonically least affected and rich in oil and gas reserves. However, subsurface 3D modeling and contouring by using acquired database revealed high degrees of structural complexities and intense folding. The NRMSE had highest percentage of residuals between the estimated and predicted cases. The outcomes of hypothesis testing also proved the biasness and erraticness of the acquired database. Low estimated value of alpha (α) in Cronbach’s alpha test confirmed poor reliability of acquired database. A very low quality of acquired database needs excessive static correction or in some cases, reacquisition of data is also suggested which is most of the time not feasible on economic grounds. The outcomes of this study could be used to assess the quality of large databases and to further utilize as a guideline to establish database quality assessment models to make much more informed decisions in hydrocarbon exploration field.

Keywords: Data quality, null hypothesis, seismic lines, seismic reflection survey.

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Authors: W. L. Liong, Srimala Sreekantan, Sabar D. Hutagalung

Abstract:

The effect of concentration of reduction agent of sodium borohydrate (NaBH4) on the properties of silicon nanoparticles synthesized via microemulsion route is reported. In this work, the concentration of the silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4) that served as silicon source with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) as stabilizer and surfactant, respectively, are keep fixed. Four samples with varied concentration of NaBH4 from 0.05 M to 0.20 M were synthesized. It was found that the lowest concentration of NaBH4 gave better formation of silicon nanoparticles.

Keywords: Microelmusion, nanoparticles, reduction, silicon

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