Search results for: Homotopy analysis method

Authors: Mimi Mohaffyza Mohamad, Yee Mei Heong, Nurfirdawati Muhammad Hanafi Tee Tze Kiong

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This study is conducted to investigate the disparity of between learning styles and cognitive abilities specifically in Vocational Education.  Felder and Silverman Learning Styles Model (FSLSM) was applied to measure the students’ learning styles while the content in Building Construction Subject consists; knowledge, skills and problem solving were taken into account in constructing the elements of cognitive abilities. Building Construction is one of the vocational courses offered in Vocational Education structure. There are four dimension of learning styles proposed by Felder and Silverman intended to capture student learning preferences with regards to processing either active or reflective, perception based on sensing or intuitive, input of information used visual or verbal and understanding information represent with sequential or global learner. Felder-Solomon Learning Styles Index was developed based on FSLSM and the questions were used to identify what type of student learning preferences. The index consists 44 item-questions characterize for learning styles dimension in FSLSM. The achievement test was developed to determine the students’ cognitive abilities. The quantitative data was analyzed in descriptive and inferential statistic involving Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA). The study discovered students are tending to be visual learners and each type of learner having significant difference whereas cognitive abilities there are different finding for each type of learners in knowledge, skills and problem solving. This study concludes the gap between type of learner and the cognitive abilities in few illustrations and it explained how the connecting made. The finding may help teachers to facilitate students more effectively and to boost the student’s cognitive abilities.

Keywords: Learning Styles, Cognitive Abilities, Dimension of Learning Styles, Learning Preferences.

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Authors: Charles Chikwendu Okpala, Christopher Chukwutoo Ihueze

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As a technique that reduces variation in a product by lessening the sensitivity of the design to sources of variation, rather than by controlling their sources, Taguchi Robust Design entails the designing of ideal goods, by developing a product that has minimal variance in its characteristics and also meets the desired exact performance. This paper examined the concept of the manufacturing approach and its application to brake pad product of an automotive parts manufacturing company. Although the firm claimed that only defects, excess inventory, and over-production were the few wastes that grossly affect their productivity and profitability, a careful study and analysis of their manufacturing processes with the application of Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED) tool showed that the waste of waiting is the fourth waste that bedevils the firm. The selection of the Taguchi L9 orthogonal array which is based on the four parameters and the three levels of variation for each parameter revealed that with a range of 2.17, that waiting is the major waste that the company must reduce in order to continue to be viable. Also, to enhance the company’s throughput and profitability, the wastes of over-production, excess inventory, and defects with ranges of 2.01, 1.46, and 0.82, ranking second, third, and fourth respectively must also be reduced to the barest minimum. After proposing -33.84 as the highest optimum Signal-to-Noise ratio to be maintained for the waste of waiting, the paper advocated for the adoption of all the tools and techniques of Lean Production System (LPS), and Continuous Improvement (CI), and concluded by recommending SMED in order to drastically reduce set up time which leads to unnecessary waiting.

Keywords: Taguchi Robust Design, signal to noise ratio, Single Minute Exchange of Dies, lean production system, waste.

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Authors: R. D. Kulkarni, Mayur Chaudhari, S. Mishra

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Curing of paints by exposure to UV radiations is emerging as one of the best film forming technique as an alternative to traditional solvent borne oxidative and thermal curing coatings. The composition and chemistry of UV curable coatings and role of multifunctional and monofunctional monomers, oligomers, and photoinitiators have been discussed. The limitations imposed by thermodynamic equilibrium and tendency for acrylic double bond polymerizations during synthesis of multifunctional acrylates have been presented. Aim of present investigation was thus to explore the reaction variables associated with synthesis of multifunctional acrylates. Zirconium oxychloride was evaluated as catalyst against regular acid functional catalyst. The catalyzed synthesis of glyceryl acrylate and neopentyl glycol acrylate was conducted by variation of following reaction parameters: two different reactant molar ratios- 1:4 and 1:6; catalyst usage in % by moles on polyol- 2.5, 5.0 and 7.5 and two different reaction temperatures- 45 and 75 0C. The reaction was monitored by determination of acid value and hydroxy value at regular intervals, besides TLC, HPLC, and FTIR analysis of intermediates and products. On the basis of determination of reaction progress over 1-60 hrs, the esterification reaction was observed to follow 2nd order kinetics with rate constant varying from 1*10-4 to 7*10-4. The thermal and catalytic components of second order rate constant and energy of activation were also determined. Uses of these kinetic and thermodynamic parameters in design of reactor for manufacture of multifunctional acrylate ester have been presented. The synthesized multifunctional acrylates were used to formulate and apply UV curable clear coat followed by determination of curing characteristics and mechanical properties of cured film. The overall curing rates less than 05 min. were easily attained indicating economical viability of radiation curable system due to faster production schedules

Keywords: glyceryl acrylate, neopentyl glycol acrylate, kinetic modeling, zirconium oxychloride.

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Authors: Wahab Ali Shah, Junjia He

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Transferring electrical power without any wiring has been a dream since late 19^th century. There were some advances in this area as to know more about microwave systems. However, this subject has recently become very attractive due to their practiScal systems. There are low power applications such as charging the batteries of contactless tooth brushes or implanted devices, and higher power applications such as charging the batteries of electrical automobiles or buses. In the first group of applications operating frequencies are in microwave range while the frequency is lower in high power applications. In the latter, the concept is also called inductive power transfer. The aim of the paper is to have an overview of the inductive power transfer for electrical vehicles with a special concentration on coil design and power converter simulation for static charging. Coil design is very important for an efficient and safe power transfer. Coil design is one of the most critical tasks. Power converters are used in both side of the system. The converter on the primary side is used to generate a high frequency voltage to excite the primary coil. The purpose of the converter in the secondary is to rectify the voltage transferred from the primary to charge the battery. In this paper, an inductive power transfer system is studied. Inductive power transfer is a promising technology with several possible applications. Operation principles of these systems are explained, and components of the system are described. Finally, a single phase 2 kW system was simulated and results were presented. The work presented in this paper is just an introduction to the concept. A reformed compensation network based on traditional inductor-capacitor-inductor (LCL) topology is proposed to realize robust reaction to large coupling variation that is common in dynamic wireless charging application. In the future, this type compensation should be studied. Also, comparison of different compensation topologies should be done for the same power level.

Keywords: Coil design, contactless charging, electrical automobiles, inductive power transfer, operating frequency.

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Authors: Giulia Sarego, Lorenzo Olivieri, Andrea Valmorbida, Carlo Bettanini, Giacomo Colombatti, Marco Pertile, Enrico C. Lorenzini

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International guidelines recommend removing any artificial body in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) within 25 years from mission completion. Among disposal strategies, electrodynamic tethers appear to be a promising option for LEO, thanks to the limited storage mass and the minimum interface requirements to the host spacecraft. In particular, recent technological advances make it feasible to deorbit large objects with tether lengths of a few kilometers or less. To further investigate such an innovative passive system, the European Union is currently funding the project E.T.PACK – Electrodynamic Tether Technology for Passive Consumable-less Deorbit Kit in the framework of the H2020 Future Emerging Technologies (FET) Open program. The project focuses on the design of an end of life disposal kit for LEO satellites. This kit aims to deploy a taped tether that can be activated at the spacecraft end of life to perform autonomous deorbit within the international guidelines. In this paper, the orbital performance of the E.T.PACK deorbiting kit is compared to other disposal methods. Besides, the orbital decay prediction is parametrized as a function of spacecraft mass and tether system performance. Different values of length, width, and thickness of the tether will be evaluated for various scenarios (i.e., different initial orbital parameters). The results will be compared to other end-of-life disposal methods with similar allocated resources. The analysis of the more innovative system’s performance with the tape coated with a thermionic material, which has a low work-function (LWT), for which no active component for the cathode is required, will also be briefly discussed. The results show that the electrodynamic tether option can be a competitive and performant solution for satellite disposal compared to other deorbit technologies.

Keywords: Deorbiting performance, H2020, spacecraft disposal, space electrodynamic tethers.

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Authors: Marthese Azzopardi, Liberato Camilleri

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This research was performed to investigate the study habits and level of difficulty perceived by post-secondary students in Biology at Advanced-level topics after completing their first year of study. At the end of a two-year ‘sixth form’ course, Maltese students sit for the Matriculation and Secondary Education Certificate (MATSEC) Advanced-level biology exam as a requirement to pursue science-related studies at the University of Malta. The sample was composed of 23 students (16 taking Chemistry and seven taking some ‘Other’ subject at the Advanced Level). The cohort comprised seven males and 16 females. A questionnaire constructed by the authors, was answered anonymously during the last lecture at the end of the first year of study, in May 2016. The Chi square test revealed that gender plays no effect on the various study habits (c² (6) = 5.873, p = 0.438). ‘Reading both notes and textbooks’ was the most common method adopted by males (71.4%), whereas ‘Writing notes on each topic’ was that mostly used by females (81.3%). The Mann-Whitney U test showed no significant difference in the study habits of students and the mean assessment mark obtained at the end of the first year course (p = 0.231). Statistical difference was found with the One-ANOVA test when comparing the mean assessment mark obtained at the end of the first year course when students are clustered by their Secondary Education Certificate (SEC) grade (p < 0.001). Those obtaining a SEC grade of 2 and 3 got the highest mean assessment of 68.33% and 66.9%, respectively [SEC grading is 1-7, where 1 is the highest]. The Friedman test was used to compare the mean difficulty rating scores provided for the difficulty of each topic. The mean difficulty rating score ranges from 1 to 4, where the larger the mean rating score, the higher the difficulty. When considering the whole group of students, nine topics out of 21 were perceived as significantly more difficult than the other topics. Protein synthesis, DNA Replication and Biomolecules were the most difficult, in that order. The Mann-Whitney U test revealed that the perceived level of difficulty in comprehending Biomolecules is significantly lower for students taking Chemistry compared to those not choosing the subject (p = 0.018). Protein Synthesis was claimed as the most difficult by Chemistry students and Biomolecules by those not studying Chemistry. DNA Replication was the second most difficult topic perceived by both groups. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to examine the effect of gender on the perceived level of difficulty in comprehending various topics. It was found that females have significantly more difficulty in comprehending Biomolecules than males (p=0.039). Protein synthesis was perceived as the most difficult topic by males (mean difficulty rating score = 3.14), while Biomolecules, DNA Replication and Protein synthesis were of equal difficulty for females (mean difficulty rating score = 3.00). Males and females perceived DNA Replication as equally difficult (mean difficulty rating score = 3.00). Discovering the students’ study habits and perceived level of difficulty of specific topics is vital for the lecturer to offer guidance that leads to higher academic achievement.

Keywords: Biology, Perceived difficulty, Post-secondary, Study habits.

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Authors: Pavana Manvikar, G K Purohit

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The functional performance of machined components, often, depends on surface topography, hardness, nature of stress and strain induced on the surface, etc. Invariably, surfaces of metallic components obtained by turning, milling, etc., consist of irregularities such as machining marks are responsible for the above. Surface finishing/coating processes used to produce improved surface quality/textures are classified as chip-removal and chip-less processes. Burnishing is chip-less cold working process carried out to improve surface finish, hardness and resistance to fatigue and corrosion; not obtainable by other surface coating and surface treatment processes. It is a very simple, but effective method which improves surface characteristics and is reported to introduce compressive stresses.

Of late, considerable attention is paid to post-machining, finishing operations, such as burnishing. During burnishing the micro-irregularities start to deform plastically, initially the crests are gradually flattened and zones of reduced deformation are formed. When all the crests are deformed, the valleys between the micro-irregularities start moving in the direction of the newly formed surface. The grain structure is then condensed, producing a smoother and harder surface with superior load-carrying and wear-resistant capabilities.

Burnishing can be performed on a lathe with a highly polished ball or roller type tool which is traversed under force over a rotating/stationary work piece. Often, several passes are used to obtain the work piece surface with the desired finish and hardness.

This paper presents the findings of an experimental investigation on the effect of ball burnishing parameters such as, burnishing speed, feed, force and number of passes; on surface roughness (Ra) and micro-hardness (Hv) of a 60/40 copper/zinc alloy, using a 2-level fractional factorial design of experiments (DoE). Mathematical models were developed to predict surface roughness and hardness generated by burnishing in terms of the above process parameters. A ball-type tool, designed and constructed from a high chrome steel material (HR_C=63 and Ra=0.012 µm), was used for burnishing of fine-turned cylindrical bars (0.68-0.78µm and 145Hv). They are given by,

 

Ra= 0.305-0.005X₁ - 0.0175X₂ + 0.0525X₄ + 0.0125X₁X₄ -0.02X₂X₄ - 0.0375X₃X₄

 

Hv=160.625 -2.37 5X₁ + 5.125X₂ + 1.875X₃ + 4.375X₄ - 1.625X₁X₄ + 4.375X₂X₄ - 2.375X₃X₄

 

High surface microhardness (175H_V) was obtained at 400rpm, 2passes, 0.05mm/rev and 15kgf., and high surface finish (0.20µm) was achieved at 30kgf, 0.1mm/rev, 112rpm and single pass. In other words, surface finish improved by 350% and microhardness improved by 21% compared to as machined conditions.

Keywords: Ball burnishing, surface roughness, micro-hardness.

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Authors: Omneya Messallam

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Technology has been developed dramatically in most of the educational disciplines. For instance, digital rendering subject, which is being taught in both Interior and Architecture fields, is witnessing almost annually updated software versions. A lot of students and educators argued that there will be no need for manual rendering techniques to be learned. Therefore, the Interior Design Visual Presentation 1 course (ID133) has been chosen from the first level of the Interior Design (ID) undergraduate program, as it has been taught for six years continually. This time frame will facilitate sound observation and critical analysis of the use of appropriate teaching methodologies. Furthermore, the researcher believes in the high value of the manual rendering techniques. The course objectives are: to define the basic visual rendering principles, to recall theories and uses of various types of colours and hatches, to raise the learners’ awareness of the value of studying manual render techniques, and to prepare them to present their work professionally. The students are female Arab learners aged between 17 and 20. At the outset of the course, the majority of them demonstrated negative attitude, lacking both motivation and confidence in manual rendering skills. This paper is a reflective appraisal of deploying two student-centred teaching pedagogies which are: Project-based learning (PBL) and Outcome-based education (OBE) on ID133 students. This research aims of developing some teaching strategies to enhance the quality of teaching in this given course over an academic semester. The outcome of this research emphasized the positive influence of applying such educational methods on improving the quality of students’ manual rendering skills in terms of: materials, textiles, textures, lighting, and shade and shadow. Furthermore, it greatly motivated the students and raised the awareness of the importance of learning the manual rendering techniques.

Keywords: Manual renders, outcome-based education, project-based learning, personal competences, and visual presentation.

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Authors: Mahmoud Roushdy, Mohamed El Naggar, Ahmed Yehia Abdelaziz

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Anchored sheet pile has been used worldwide as front quay walls for decades. With the increase in vessel drafts and weights, those sheet pile walls need to be upgraded by increasing the depth of the dredging line in front of the wall. One of the upgrades for the sheet pile wall is to add a separated platform to the system, where the platform is structurally separated from the front wall. The platform is structurally separated from the front wall. This paper presents a numerical investigation utilizing finite element analysis on the behavior of separated relieve platforms installed within existing anchored sheet pile quay walls. The investigation was done in two steps: a verification step followed by a parametric study. In the verification step, the numerical model was verified based on field measurements performed by others. The validated model was extended within the parametric study to a series of models with different backfill soils, separation gap width, and number of pile rows supporting the platform. The results of the numerical investigation show that using stiff clay as backfill soil (neglecting consolidation) gives better performance for the front wall and the first pile row adjacent to sandy backfills. The degree of compaction of the sandy backfill slightly increases lateral deformations but reduces bending moment acting on pile rows, while the effect is minor on the front wall. In addition, the increase in the separation gap width gradually increases bending moments on the front wall regardless of the backfill soil type, while this effect is reversed on pile rows (gradually decrease). Finally, the paper studies the possibility of deepening the basin along with the separation to take advantage of the positive separation effect on piles, and front wall.

Keywords: Anchored sheet pile, relieving platform, separation gap, upgrade quay wall.

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Authors: Chaiwat Kongsom, Vitoon Panyakul

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The objective of this study was to assess the production and market of certified organic products in Thailand. A purposive sampling technique was used to identify a sample group of 154 organic entrepreneurs for the study. A survey and in-depth interview were employed for data collection. Also, secondary data from organic agriculture certification body and publications was collected. Then descriptive statistics and content analysis technique were used to describe about production and market of certified organic products in Thailand. Results showed that there were 9,218 farmers on 213,183.68 Rai (83,309.2 acre) of certified organic agriculture land (0.29% of national agriculture land). A total of 57.8% of certified organic agricultural lands were certified by the international certification body. Organic farmers produced around 71,847 tons/year and worth around THB 1,914 million (Euro 47.92 million). Excluding primary producers, 471 operators involved in the Thai organic supply chains, including processors, exporters, distributors, green shops, modern trade shops (supermarket shop), farmer’s markets and food establishments were included. Export market was the major market channel and most of organic products were exported to Europe and North America. The total Thai organic market in 2014 was estimated to be worth around THB 2,331.55 million (Euro 58.22 million), of which, 77.9% was for export and 22.06% was for the domestic market. The largest exports of certified organic products were processed foods (66.1% of total export value), followed by organic rice (30.4%). In the domestic market, modern trade was the largest sale channel, accounting for 59.48% of total domestic sales, followed by green shop (29.47%) and food establishment (5.85%). To become a center of organic farming and trading within ASEAN, the Thai organic sector needs to have more policy support in regard to agricultural chemicals, GMO, and community land title. In addition, appropriate strategies need to be developed.

Keywords: Certified organic products, production, market, Thailand.

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Authors: Miriam Sosa-Díaz, Faustino Sánchez-Garduño

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In population dynamics the study of both, the abundance and the spatial distribution of the populations in a given habitat, is a fundamental issue a From ecological point of view, the determination of the factors influencing such changes involves important problems. In this paper a mathematical model to describe the temporal dynamic and the spatiotemporal dynamic of the interaction of three populations (pollinators, plants and herbivores) is presented. The study we present is carried out by stages: 1. The temporal dynamics and 2. The spatio-temporal dynamics. In turn, each of these stages is developed by considering three cases which correspond to the dynamics of each type of interaction. For instance, for stage 1, we consider three ODE nonlinear systems describing the pollinator-plant, plant-herbivore and plant-pollinator-herbivore, interactions, respectively. In each of these systems different types of dynamical behaviors are reported. Namely, transcritical and pitchfork bifurcations, existence of a limit cycle, existence of a heteroclinic orbit, etc. For the spatiotemporal dynamics of the two mathematical models a novel factor are introduced. This consists in considering that both, the pollinators and the herbivores, move towards those places of the habitat where the plant population density is high. In mathematical terms, this means that the diffusive part of the pollinators and herbivores equations depend on the plant population density. The analysis of this part is presented by considering pairs of populations, i. e., the pollinator-plant and plant-herbivore interactions and at the end the two mathematical model is presented, these models consist of two coupled nonlinear partial differential equations of reaction-diffusion type. These are defined on a rectangular domain with the homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions. We focused in the role played by the density dependent diffusion term into the coexistence of the populations. For both, the temporal and spatio-temporal dynamics, a several of numerical simulations are included.

Keywords: Bifurcation, heteroclinic orbits, steady state, traveling wave.

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Authors: Mohammad Aminnia, Mahmood Hosseini

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Environmental and functional conditions, sometimes, necessitate the architectural plan of the building to be asymmetric, and this result in an asymmetric structure. In such cases finding an optimal pattern for locating the components of lateral load bearing system, including shear walls, in the building’s plan is desired. In case of shear wall in addition to the location the shape of the wall cross-section is also an effective factor. Various types of shear walls and their proper layout might come effective in better stiffness distribution and more appropriate seismic response of the building. Several studies have been conducted in the context of analysis and design of shear walls; however, few studies have been performed on making decisions for the location and form of shear walls in multistory buildings, especially those with irregular plan. In this study, an attempt has been made to obtain the most reliable seismic behavior of multi-story reinforced concrete vertically chamfered buildings by using more appropriate shear walls form and arrangement in 7-, 10-, 12-, and 15-stoy buildings. The considered forms and arrangements include common rectangular walls and L-, T-, U- and Z-shaped plan, located as the core or in the outer frames of the building structure. Comparison of seismic behaviors of the buildings, including maximum roof displacement and particularly formation of plastic hinges and their distribution in the buildings’ structures, have been done based on the results of a series of nonlinear time history analyses, by using a set of selected earthquake records. Results show that shear walls with U-shaped cross-section, placed as the building central core, and also walls with Z-shaped cross-section, placed at the corners give the building more reliable seismic behavior.

Keywords: Vertically chamfered buildings, non-linear time history analyses, L-, T-, U- and Z-shaped plan walls.

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Authors: Saeed Asiri

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This research is to design and implement a new kind of agitators called differential agitator. The Differential Agitator is an electro- mechanic set consists of two shafts. The first shaft is the bearing axis while the second shaft is the axis of the quartet upper bearing impellers group and the triple lower group which are called as agitating group. The agitating group is located inside a cylindrical container equipped especially to contain square directors for the liquid entrance and square directors called fixing group for the liquid exit. The fixing group is installed containing the agitating group inside any tank whether from upper or lower position. The agitating process occurs through the agitating group bearing causing a lower pressure over the upper group leading to withdrawing the liquid from the square directors of the liquid entering and consequently the liquid moves to the denser place under the quartet upper group. Then, the liquid moves to the so high pressure area under the agitating group causing the liquid to exit from the square directors in the bottom of the container. For improving efficiency, parametric study and shape optimization has been carried out. A numerical analysis, manufacturing and laboratory experiments were conducted to design and implement the differential agitator. Knowing the material prosperities and the loading conditions, the FEM using ANSYS11 was used to get the optimum design of the geometrical parameters of the differential agitator elements while the experimental test was performed to validate the advantages of the differential agitators to give a high agitation performance of lime in the water as an example. In addition, the experimental work has been done to express the internal container shape in the agitation efficiency. The study ended up with conclusions to maximize agitator performance and optimize the geometrical parameters to be used for manufacturing the differential agitator

Keywords: Differential Agitators, Parametric Optimization, Shape Optimization, Agitation, FEM, ANSYS11.

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Authors: Asif Ekbal, Sivaji Bandyopadhyay

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Named Entity Recognition (NER) aims to classify each word of a document into predefined target named entity classes and is now-a-days considered to be fundamental for many Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks such as information retrieval, machine translation, information extraction, question answering systems and others. This paper reports about the development of a NER system for Bengali and Hindi using Support Vector Machine (SVM). Though this state of the art machine learning technique has been widely applied to NER in several well-studied languages, the use of this technique to Indian languages (ILs) is very new. The system makes use of the different contextual information of the words along with the variety of features that are helpful in predicting the four different named (NE) classes, such as Person name, Location name, Organization name and Miscellaneous name. We have used the annotated corpora of 122,467 tokens of Bengali and 502,974 tokens of Hindi tagged with the twelve different NE classes 1, defined as part of the IJCNLP-08 NER Shared Task for South and South East Asian Languages (SSEAL) 2. In addition, we have manually annotated 150K wordforms of the Bengali news corpus, developed from the web-archive of a leading Bengali newspaper. We have also developed an unsupervised algorithm in order to generate the lexical context patterns from a part of the unlabeled Bengali news corpus. Lexical patterns have been used as the features of SVM in order to improve the system performance. The NER system has been tested with the gold standard test sets of 35K, and 60K tokens for Bengali, and Hindi, respectively. Evaluation results have demonstrated the recall, precision, and f-score values of 88.61%, 80.12%, and 84.15%, respectively, for Bengali and 80.23%, 74.34%, and 77.17%, respectively, for Hindi. Results show the improvement in the f-score by 5.13% with the use of context patterns. Statistical analysis, ANOVA is also performed to compare the performance of the proposed NER system with that of the existing HMM based system for both the languages.

Keywords: Named Entity (NE), Named Entity Recognition (NER), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Bengali, Hindi.

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Authors: Robin V. Cupido

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Online dispute resolution has been identified in many countries as a viable alternative for resolving conflicts which have arisen in the so-called digital age. This system of dispute resolution is developing alongside the Internet, and as new types of transactions are made possible by our increased connectivity, new ways of resolving disputes must be explored. Developed nations, such as the United States of America and the European Union, have been involved in creating these online dispute resolution mechanisms from the outset, and currently have sophisticated systems in place to deal with conflicts arising in a number of different fields, such as e-commerce, domain name disputes, labour disputes and conflicts arising from family law. Specifically, in the field of e-commerce, the Internet’s borderless nature has served as a way to promote cross-border trade, and has created a global marketplace. Participation in this marketplace boosts a country’s economy, as new markets are now available, and consumers can transact from anywhere in the world. It would be especially advantageous for developing nations to be a part of this global marketplace, as it could stimulate much-needed investment in these nations, and encourage international co-operation and trade. However, for these types of transactions to proliferate, an effective system for resolving the inevitable disputes arising from such an increase in e-commerce is needed. Online dispute resolution scholarship and practice is flourishing in developed nations, and it is clear that the gap is widening between developed and developing nations in this regard. The potential for implementing online dispute resolution in developing countries has been discussed, but there are a number of obstacles that have thus far prevented its continued development. This paper aims to evaluate the various political, infrastructural and socio-economic challenges faced in developing nations, and to question how these have impacted the acceptance and development of online dispute resolution, scholarship and training of online dispute resolution practitioners and, ultimately, developing nations’ readiness to participate in cross-border e-commerce.

Keywords: Developing countries, feasibility, online dispute resolution, progress.

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Authors: G. Disciglio, F. Lops, A. Carlucci, G. Gatta, A. Tarantino, E. Tarantino

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Phelipanche ramosa is the most damaging obligate flowering parasitic weed on wide species of cultivated plants. The semi-arid regions of the world are considered the main centers of this parasitic plant that causes heavy infestation. This is due to its production of high numbers of seeds (up to 200,000) that remain viable for extended periods (up to 20 years). In this study, 13 treatments for the control of Phelipanche were carried out, which included agronomic, chemical, and biological treatments and the use of resistant plant methods. In 2014, a trial was performed at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Foggia (southern Italy), on processing tomato (cv ‘Docet’) grown in pots filled with soil taken from a field that was heavily infested by P. ramosa). The tomato seedlings were transplanted on May 8, 2014, into a sandy-clay soil (USDA). A randomized block design with 3 replicates (pots) was adopted. During the growing cycle of the tomato, at 70, 75, 81 and 88 days after transplantation, the number of P. ramosa shoots emerged in each pot was determined. The tomato fruit were harvested on August 8, 2014, and the quantitative and qualitative parameters were determined. All of the data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the JMP software (SAS Institute Inc. Cary, NC, USA), and for comparisons of means (Tukey's tests). The data show that each treatment studied did not provide complete control against P. ramosa. However, the virulence of the attacks was mitigated by some of the treatments tried: radicon biostimulant, compost activated with Fusarium, mineral fertilizer nitrogen, sulfur, enzone, and the resistant tomato genotype. It is assumed that these effects can be improved by combining some of these treatments with each other, especially for a gradual and continuing reduction of the “seed bank” of the parasite in the soil.

Keywords: Control methods, Phelipanche ramosa, tomato crop.

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Authors: W. C. Lucas, S. Titus, M. E. M. Young

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Gymnastics is the umbrella term that represents seven different and unique disciplines of gymnastics. Men and women of all ages and abilities practice this sport, and participation in gymnastics can develop both gross and fine motor skills, strength, flexibility, coordination and balance. There are various social factors, such as a family’s socioeconomic status or accessibility to sports facilities that may play a role in affecting levels of participation. The aim of this study is to investigate the social factors that have an influence on gymnastics participation in the Western Cape. To this end, a qualitative approach is adopted to collect data. This study also adopts the ecological systems theory as the theoretical framework, and is used to analyze and interpret current social factors that directly or indirectly influence participation in gymnastics. The study’s objectives were to ascertain which social factors hinder participation, and which social factors promote participation, thus, coaches, parents and gymnasts participated in focus group discussions. Key informant interviews took place with experts in the field of gymnastics in the Western Cape. A thematic analysis was conducted on transcriptions from the focus group discussions and key informant interviews. Social factors investigated in this study occurred in the chronosystem, macrosystem, exosystem, mesosystem, and microsystem, and had both a direct and indirect influence on the gymnast’s continued participation. These systems are defined as the environment of the individual, in which they grow and develop. The research findings of this paper are used to draw conclusions and make specific recommendations for practice and further research. The information gathered in this study can assist all stakeholders within the field of gymnastics, such as parents, judges, coaches, gymnasts, and the supporting community which surround the participating gymnast.

Keywords: Developing child, ecological systems theory, facilities, federation, gymnastics, influence, participation, social factors, socioeconomic status, sport.

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Authors: Hajar Mohammadpour Kachlami , Ghasem Javadzadeh Moghtader , Habib Mohammadpour Kachlami

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Nowadays due to globalization of economy and competition environment, innovation and technology plays key role at creation of wealth and economic growth of countries. In fact prompt growth of practical and technologic knowledge may results in social benefits for countries when changes into effective innovation. Considering the importance of innovation for the development of countries, this study addresses the radical technological innovation introduced by nanopapers at different stages of producing paper including stock preparation, using authorized additives, fillers and pigments, using retention, calender, stages of producing conductive paper, porous nanopaper and Layer by layer self-assembly. Research results show that in coming years the jungle related products will lose considerable portion of their market share, unless embracing radical innovation. Although incremental innovations can make this industry still competitive in mid-term, but to have economic growth and competitive advantage in long term, radical innovations are necessary. Radical innovations can lead to new products and materials which their applications in packaging industry can produce value added. However application of nanotechnology in this industry can be costly, it can be done in cooperation with other industries to make the maximum use of nanotechnology possible. Therefore this technology can be used in all the production process resulting in the mass production of simple and flexible papers with low cost and special properties such as facility at shape, form, easy transportation, light weight, recovery and recycle marketing abilities, and sealing. Improving the resistance of the packaging materials without reducing the performance of packaging materials enhances the quality and the value added of packaging. Improving the cellulose at nano scale can have considerable electron optical and magnetic effects leading to improvement in packaging and value added. Comparing to the specifications of thermoplastic products and ordinary papers, nanopapers show much better performance in terms of effective mechanical indexes such as the modulus of elasticity, tensile strength, and strain-stress. In densities lower than 640 kgm -3, due to the network structure of nanofibers and the balanced and randomized distribution of NFC in flat space, these specifications will even improve more. For nanopapers, strains are 1,4Gpa, 84Mpa and 17%, 13,3 Gpa, 214Mpa and 10% respectively. In layer by layer self assembly method (LbL) the tensile strength of nanopaper with Tio3 particles and Sio2 and halloysite clay nanotube are 30,4 ±7.6Nm/g and 13,6 ±0.8Nm/g and 14±0.3,3Nm/g respectively that fall within acceptable range of similar samples with virgin fiber. The usage of improved brightness and porosity index in nanopapers can create more competitive advantages at packaging industry.

Keywords: Innovation; NanoPaper; Nanofiber; Packaging

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Authors: Bolanle Deborah Motilewa, E. K. Rowland Worlu, Gbenga Mayowa Agboola, Ayodele Maxwell Olokundun

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Several studies have proposed a one-size fit all approach to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices, such that CSR as it applies to developed countries is adapted to developing countries, ignoring the differing institutional environments (such as the regulative, economic, social and political environments), which affects the profitability and practices of businesses operating in them. CSR as it applies to filling institutional gaps in developing countries, was categorized into four themes: environmental protection, product and service innovation, social innovation and local cluster development. Based on the four themes, the study employed a qualitative research approach through the use of interviews and review of available publications to study the influence of institutional environments on CSR practices engaged in by three renewable energy firms operating in Nigeria. Over the course of three 60-minutes sessions with the top management and selected workers of the firms, four propositions were made: regulatory environment influences environmental protection practice of Nigerian renewable firms, economic environment influences product and service innovation practice of Nigerian renewable energy firms, the social environment impacts on social innovation in Nigerian renewable energy firms, and political environment affects local cluster development practice of Nigerian renewable energy firms. It was also observed that beyond institutional environments, the international exposure of an organization’s managers reflected in their approach to CSR. This finding on the influence of international exposure on CSR practices creates an area for further study. Insights from this paper are set to help policy makers in developing countries, CSR managers, and future researchers.

Keywords: Corporate social responsibility, institutional environment, renewable energy firms, developing countries, international exposure.

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Authors: Puthsodary Tat

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Democracy has been categorially accepted and used as foreign and domestic policy agendas for the hope of peace, economic growth and prosperity for more than 25 years in Cambodia. However, the country is now in the grip of dictatorship, human rights violations, and prospective economic sanctions. This paper examines different perceptions and experiences of democratic assistance. In this study, the author employs discourse theory, idealism and realism as a theory-based methodology for debating and assessing the implications of democratization. Discourse theory is used to establish a platform for understanding discursive formations, body of knowledge and the games of truth of democracy. Idealist approaches give rational arguments for adopting key tenets that work well on the ground. In contrast, realism allows for some sweeping critiques of utopian ideal and offers particular views on why Western hegemonic missions do not work well. From idealist views, the research finds that Cambodian people still believe that democracy is a prima facie universality for peace, growth and prosperity. From realism, democratization is on the brink of death in three reasons. Firstly, there are tensions between Western and local discourses about democratic values and norms. Secondly, democratic tenets have been undermined by the ruling party-controlled courts, corruption, structural oppression and political patronage-based institutions. The third pitfall is partly associated with foreign aid dependency and geopolitical power struggles in the region. Finally, the study offers a precise mosaic of democratic principles that may be used to avoid a future geopolitical and economic crisis.

Keywords: Corruption, democracy, democratic principles, discourse theory, discursive formations, foreign aid dependency, games of truth, geopolitical and economic crisis, geopolitical power struggle, hegemonic mission, idealism, realism, utopian ideal.

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Authors: Modreck Gomo

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The evolution of groundwater chemistry and its quality is largely controlled by hydrogeochemical processes and their understanding is therefore important for groundwater quality assessments and protection of the water resources. A study was conducted in Bloemfontein town of South Africa to assess and compare the groundwater chemistry and quality characteristics in an alluvial aquifer and single-plane fractured-rock aquifers. 9 groundwater samples were collected from monitoring boreholes drilled into the two aquifer systems during a once-off sampling exercise. Samples were collected through low-flow purging technique and analysed for major ions and trace elements. In order to describe the hydrochemical facies and identify dominant hydrogeochemical processes, the groundwater chemistry data are interpreted using stiff diagrams and principal component analysis (PCA), as complimentary tools. The fitness of the groundwater quality for domestic and irrigation uses is also assessed. Results show that the alluvial aquifer is characterised by a Na-HCO₃ hydrochemical facie while fractured-rock aquifer has a Ca-HCO₃ facie. The groundwater in both aquifers originally evolved from the dissolution of calcite rocks that are common on land surface environments. However the groundwater in the alluvial aquifer further goes through another evolution as driven by cation exchange process in which Na in the sediments exchanges with Ca²⁺ in the Ca-HCO₃ hydrochemical type to result in the Na-HCO₃ hydrochemical type. Despite the difference in the hydrogeochemical processes between the alluvial aquifer and single-plane fractured-rock aquifer, this did not influence the groundwater quality. The groundwater in the two aquifers is very hard as influenced by the elevated magnesium and calcium ions that evolve from dissolution of carbonate minerals which typically occurs in surface environments. Based on total dissolved levels (600-900 mg/L), groundwater quality of the two aquifer systems is classified to be of fair quality. The negative potential impacts of the groundwater quality for domestic uses are highlighted.

Keywords: Alluvial aquifer, fractured-rock aquifer, groundwater quality, hydrogeochemical processes.

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Authors: Brian M. Mehling, Louis Quartararo, Marine Manvelyan, Paul Wang, Dong-Cheng Wu

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Numerous investigations suggest that Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) in general represent a valuable tool for therapy of symptoms related to chronic inflammatory diseases. Blue Horizon Stem Cell Therapy Program is a leading provider of adult and children’s stem cell therapies. Uniquely we have safely and efficiently treated more than 600 patients with documenting each procedure. The purpose of our study is primarily to monitor the immune response in order to validate the safety of intravenous infusion of human umbilical cord blood derived MSCs (UC-MSCs), and secondly, to evaluate effects on biomarkers associated with chronic inflammation. Nine patients were treated for conditions associated with chronic inflammation and for the purpose of antiaging. They have been given one intravenous infusion of UCMSCs. Our study of blood test markers of 9 patients with chronic inflammation before and within three months after MSCs treatment demonstrates that there is no significant changes and MSCs treatment was safe for the patients. Analysis of different indicators of chronic inflammation and aging included in initial, 24-hours, two weeks and three months protocols showed that stem cell treatment was safe for the patients; there were no adverse reactions. Moreover data from follow up protocols demonstrates significant improvement in energy level, hair, nails growth and skin conditions. Intravenously administered UC-MSCs were safe and effective in the improvement of symptoms related to chronic inflammation. Further close monitoring and inclusion of more patients are necessary to fully characterize the advantages of UC-MSCs application in treatment of symptoms related to chronic inflammation.

Keywords: Chronic inflammatory diseases, intravenous infusion, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), umbilical cord blood.

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Authors: Lixin Tian, Wei Xue

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Many jobs in society go underground, such as mine mining, tunnel construction and subways, which are vital to the development of society. Once accidents occur in these places, the interruption of traditional wired communication is not conducive to the development of rescue work. In order to realize the positioning, early warning and command functions of underground personnel and improve rescue efficiency, it is necessary to develop and design an emergency ground communication system. It is easy to be subjected to narrowband interference when performing conventional underground communication. Spreading communication can be used for this problem. However, general spread spectrum methods such as direct spread communication are inefficient, so it is proposed to use parallel combined spread spectrum (PCSS) communication to improve efficiency. The PCSS communication not only has the anti-interference ability and the good concealment of the traditional spread spectrum system, but also has a relatively high frequency band utilization rate and a strong information transmission capability. So, this technology has been widely used in practice. This paper presents a PCSS communication model-multiple detection parallel combined spread spectrum (MDPCSS) communication system. In this paper, the principle of MDPCSS communication system is described, that is, the sequence at the transmitting end is processed in blocks and cyclically shifted to facilitate multiple detection at the receiving end. The block diagrams of the transmitter and receiver of the MDPCSS communication system are introduced. At the same time, the calculation formula of the system bit error rate (BER) is introduced, and the simulation and analysis of the BER of the system are completed. By comparing with the common parallel PCSS communication, we can draw a conclusion that it is indeed possible to reduce the BER and improve the system performance. Furthermore, the influence of different pseudo-code lengths selected on the system BER is simulated and analyzed, and the conclusion is that the larger the pseudo-code length is, the smaller the system error rate is.

Keywords: Cyclic shift, multiple detection, parallel combined spread spectrum, PN code.

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Authors: Vladyslav Povoroznyuk, Larysa Martynyuk, Iryna Syzonenko, Liliya Martynyuk

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Medical, social, and economic relevance of osteoporosis is caused by reducing quality of life, increasing disability and mortality of the patients as a result of fractures due to the low-energy trauma. This study is aimed to examine the associations of metabolic syndrome components, bone mineral density (BMD) and trabecular bone score (TBS) in menopausal women with non-vertebral fractures. 1161 menopausal women aged 50-79 year-old were examined and divided into three groups: A included 419 women with increased body weight (BMI - 25.0-29.9 kg/m²), B – 442 females with obesity (BMI >29.9 kg/m²)i and C – 300 women with metabolic syndrome (diagnosis according to IDF criteria, 2005). BMD of lumbar spine (L1-L4), femoral neck, total body and forearm was investigated with usage of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. The bone quality indexes were measured according to Med-Imaps installation. All analyses were performed using Statistical Package 6.0. BMD of lumbar spine (L1-L4), femoral neck, total body, and ultradistal radius was significant higher in women with obesity and metabolic syndrome compared to the pre-obese ones (p<0.001). TBS was significantly higher in women with increased body weight compared to obese and metabolic syndrome patients. Analysis showed significant positive correlation between waist circumference, triglycerides level and BMD of lumbar spine and femur. Significant negative association between serum HDL level and BMD of investigated sites was established. The TBS (L1-L4) indexes positively correlated with HDL (high-density lipoprotein) level. Despite the fact that BMD indexes were better in women with metabolic syndrome, the frequency of non-vertebral fractures was significantly higher in this group of patients.

Keywords: Bone mineral density, trabecular bone score, metabolic syndrome, fracture.

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Authors: Mark Kaahwa, Chang Zhu, Moses Muhumuza

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This study investigates the satisfaction of distance education university students (DEUS) with the use of audio media as a medium of instruction. Studying students’ satisfaction is vital because it shows whether learners are comfortable with a certain instructional strategy or not. Although previous studies have investigated the use of audio media, the satisfaction of students with an instructional strategy that combines radio teaching and podcasts as an independent teaching strategy has not been fully investigated. In this study, all lectures were delivered through the radio and students had no direct contact with their instructors. No modules or any other material in form of text were given to the students. They instead, revised the taught content by listening to podcasts saved on their mobile electronic gadgets. Prior to data collection, DEUS received orientation through workshops on how to use audio media in distance education. To achieve objectives of the study, a survey, naturalistic observations and face-to-face interviews were used to collect data from a sample of 211 undergraduate and graduate students. Findings indicate that there was no statistically significant difference in the levels of satisfaction between male and female students. The results from post hoc analysis show that there is a statistically significant difference in the levels of satisfaction regarding the use of audio media between diploma and graduate students. Diploma students are more satisfied compared to their graduate counterparts. T-test results reveal that there was no statistically significant difference in the general satisfaction with audio media between rural and urban-based students. And ANOVA results indicate that there is no statistically significant difference in the levels of satisfaction with the use of audio media across age groups. Furthermore, results from observations and interviews reveal that DEUS found learning using audio media a pleasurable medium of instruction. This is an indication that audio media can be considered as an instructional strategy on its own merit.

Keywords: Audio media, distance education, distance education university students, medium of instruction, satisfaction.

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Authors: J. Chakwizira, P. Bikam, T. A. Adeboyejo

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This paper seeks to illustrate the impact of rapid urbanization (in terms of both increase in people and vehicles) in the Gauteng region (which includes Johannesburg, Pretoria and Ekurhuleni). The impact that existing transport systems and options place on the capacity of residents from low income areas to travel and conduct various socio-economic activities is discussed. The findings are drawn from a 2013 analysis of a random transport household survey of 1550 households carried out in Gauteng province. 91.4% of the study respondents had access to public transport, while 8.6% had no access to public transport. Of the 91.4% who used public transport, the main reason used to explain this state of affairs was that it was affordable (54.3%), convenient (15.9%), Accessible (11.9%), lack of alternatives (6.4%) and reliable at 4.1%. Recommendations advanced revolve around the need to reverse land use and transportation effects of apartheid planning, growing and developing a sustainable critical mass of public transport interventions supported by appropriate transport systems that are environmentally sustainable through proper governance. 38.5% of the respondents indicated that developing compact, smart and integrated urban land spaces was key to reducing travel challenges in the study area. 23.4% indicated that the introduction and upgrading of BRT buses to cover all areas in the study area was a step in the right direction because it has great potential in shifting travel patterns to favor public modes of transport. 15.1% indicated that all open spaces should be developed so that fragmentation of land uses can be addressed. This would help to fight disconnected and fragmented space and trip making challenges in Gauteng. 13.4% indicated that improving the metro rail services was critical since this is a mass mover of commuters. 9.6% of the respondents highlighted that the bus subsidy policy has to be retained in the short to medium term since the spatial mismatches and challenges created by apartheid are yet to be fully reversed.

Keywords: Urbanisation, population, public, transport systems, Gauteng.

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Authors: A. Özköse, A. Tamkoç

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The present study involved analysis of certain characteristics of the perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) genotypes collected from the natural flora of Ankara, and explores a correlation among them. In order to evaluate the plants for breeding purpose as per Turkey's environmental conditions, the perennial ryegrass plants were collected from natural pasture of Ankara in 2004 and were utilized for the study. Seeds of the collected plants were sown in pots and seedlings were prepared in a greenhouse. In 2005, the seedlings were transplanted at 50 × 50 cm2 intervals in Randomized Complete Blocks Design in an experimental field. In 2007 and 2008, data were recorded from the observations and measurements of 568 perennial ryegrasses. The plant characteristics, which were investigated, included re-growth time in spring, color, density, growth habit, tendency to form inflorescence, time of inflorescence, plant height, length of upper internode, spike length, leaf length, leaf width, leaf area, leaf shape, number of spikelets per spike, seed yield per spike and 1000 grain weight and the correlation analyses were made using this data. Correlation coefficients were estimated between all paired combinations of the studied traits. The yield components exhibited varying trends of association among themselves. Seed yield per spike showed significant and positive association with the number of spikelets per spike, 1000 grain weight, plant height, length of upper internode, spike length, leaf length, leaf width, leaf area and color, but significant and negative association with the growth habit and re-growth time in spring.

Keywords: Correlation, morphological traits, Lolium perenne.

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Authors: Juan David Arango, Alejandro Restrepo-Martinez

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The Rolling Element Bearing (REB) vibration diagnosis is worth of special interest by the variety of REB and the wide necessity of those elements in industrial applications. The presence of a localized fault in a REB gives rise to a vibrational response, characterized by the modulation of a carrier signal. Frequency content of carrier signal (Spectral Frequency –f) is mainly related to resonance frequencies of the REB. This carrier signal is modulated by another signal, governed by the periodicity of the fault impact (Cyclic Frequency –α). In this sense, REB fault vibration response gives rise to a second-order cyclostationary signal. Second order cyclostationary signals could be represented in a bi-spectral map, where Spectral Coherence –SCoh are plotted against f and α. The Improved Envelope Spectrum –IES, is a useful approach to execute REB fault diagnosis. IES could be applied by the integration of SCoh over a predefined bandwidth on the f axis. Approaches to select f-bandwidth have been recently exposed by the definition of a metric which intends to evaluate the magnitude of the IES at the fault characteristics frequencies. This metric is represented in a 1/3-binary tree as a function of the frequency bandwidth and centre. Based on this binary tree the optimal frequency band is selected. However, some advantages have been seen if the metric is changed, which in fact tends to dictate different optimal f-bandwidth and so improve the IES representation. This paper evaluates the behaviour of the IES from a different metric optimization. This metric is based on the sample correlation coefficient, detecting high peaks in the selected frequencies while penalizing high peaks in the neighbours of the selected frequencies. Prior results indicate an improvement on the signal-noise ratio (SNR) on around 86% of samples analysed, which belong to IMS database.

Keywords: Sample Correlation IESFOgram, cyclostationary analysis, improved envelope spectrum, IES, rolling element bearing diagnosis, spectral coherence.

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Authors: Elzo Alves Aranha, Marcio M. Araki

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Business model (BM) is a term that has been receiving the attention of scholars and practitioners and has been consolidating itself as a field of study and research. Although there is no agreement in the academic literature on the definition of BM, at least there is an explicit agreement: BM defines a logical structure of how an organization creates value, capture value and delivers value for the customers and stakeholders. The lack of understanding about connections and elements among BM and higher education, university, and entrepreneurship education opens a gap in the academic literature. Thus, it is interesting to analyze how BM has been approached by the literature and applied in higher education, university, and entrepreneurship education aimed to know the main streams of research. This is because higher education institutions are characterized by innovation, leading to a greater acceptance of new and modern concepts such as BM. Our research has the main motivation to fill the gap in the academic literature, making it possible to increase the power of understanding about connections and aspects among BM and higher education, university, and entrepreneurship education. The objective of the research is to analyze the main aspects among BM and higher education, university, and entrepreneurship education in academic literature. The research followed the systematic literature review (SLR). The SLR is based on three main factors: clarity, validity, and auditability. 82 academic papers were found in the past 10 years, from 2009-2019. The search was carried out in Science Direct and Periodicos Capes databases. The main findings indicate that there are links between BM and higher education, BM and university, BM, and entrepreneurship education. The main findings are inserted within seven aspects. The findings are innovative and contribute to increase the power of understanding about the connection among BM and higher education, university, and entrepreneurship education in academic literature. The research findings addressed to the gap exposed in academic literature. The research findings have several practical implications, and we highlight only two main ones. First, researchers will be able to use the research findings to mitigate a BM research agenda involving connections between BM and higher education, BM and university, and BM and entrepreneurship education. Second, directors, deans, and university leaders will be able to carry out BM awareness programs, BM professors training programs, and makers planning for the inclusion of BM, as one of the components of the curricula of the undergraduate and graduate courses.

Keywords: Business model, entrepreneurship education, higher education, university.

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Authors: Michael Moeti, Khuliso Sigama, Thapelo Samuel Matlala

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One of the principal challenges that the world is confronted with is insecurity. The crime rate is increasing exponentially, and protecting our physical assets, especially in the motorist sector, is becoming impossible when applying our own strength. The need to develop technological solutions that detect and report theft without any human interference is inevitable. This is critical, especially for vehicle owners, to ensure theft detection and speedy identification towards recovery efforts in cases where a vehicle is missing or attempted theft is taking place. The vehicle theft detection system uses Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to recognize the driver's face captured using an installed mobile phone device. The location identification function uses a Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine the real-time location of the vehicle. Upon identification of the location, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technology is used to report or notify the vehicle owner about the whereabouts of the vehicle. The installed mobile app was implemented by making use of Python as it is undoubtedly the best choice in machine learning. It allows easy access to machine learning algorithms through its widely developed library ecosystem. The graphical user interface was developed by making use of JAVA as it is better suited for mobile development. Google's online database (Firebase) was used as a means of storage for the application. The system integration test was performed using a simple percentage analysis. 60 vehicle owners participated in this study as a sample, and questionnaires were used in order to establish the acceptability of the system developed. The result indicates the efficiency of the proposed system, and consequently, the paper proposes that the use of the system can effectively monitor the vehicle at any given place, even if it is driven outside its normal jurisdiction. More so, the system can be used as a database to detect, locate and report missing vehicles to different security agencies.

Keywords: Convolutional Neural Network, CNN, location identification, tracking, GPS, GSM.

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