Search results for: indoor environment quality (IEQ)

Authors: J. Hodna, B. Dohnalkova, V. Petranek, R. Drochytka

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The paper is focused on the identification of limiting environmental factors of individual industrial floors on which newly developed polymer protection and repair systems with the use of secondary raw materials will be used. These mainly include floors with extreme stresses and special requirements for materials used. In relation to the environment of a particular industrial floor, it is necessary to ensure, for example, chemical stability, resistance to higher temperatures, resistance to higher mechanical stress, etc. for developed materials, which is reflected in the demands for the developed material systems. The paper describes individual environments and, in relation to them, also requirements for individual components of the developed materials and for the developed materials as a whole.

Keywords: Limits, environment, polymer, industrial floors, recycling, secondary raw material, protective system.

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Authors: Nicoletta Adamo-Villani

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The object of this research is the design and evaluation of an immersive Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) for deaf children. Recently we have developed a prototype immersive VR game to teach sign language mathematics to deaf students age K- 4 [1] [2]. In this paper we describe a significant extension of the prototype application. The extension includes: (1) user-centered design and implementation of two additional interactive environments (a clock store and a bakery), and (2) user-centered evaluation including development of user tasks, expert panel-based evaluation, and formative evaluation. This paper is one of the few to focus on the importance of user-centered, iterative design in VR application development, and to describe a structured evaluation method.

Keywords: 3D Animation, Virtual Reality, Virtual Learning Environments, User-Centered Design, User-centered Evaluation.

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Authors: Iman Badr

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The concept of flexible manufacturing is highly appealing in gaining a competitive edge in the market by quickly adapting to the changing customer needs. Scheduling jobs on flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs) is a challenging task of managing the available flexibility on the shop floor to react to the dynamics of the environment in real-time. In this paper, an agent-oriented scheduling framework that can be integrated with a real or a simulated FMS is proposed. This framework works in stochastic environments with a dynamic model of job arrival. It supports a hierarchical cooperative scheduling that builds on the available flexibility of the shop floor. Testing the framework on a model of a real FMS showed the capability of the proposed approach to overcome the drawbacks of the conventional approaches and maintain a near optimal solution despite the dynamics of the operational environment.

Keywords: Autonomous agents, Flexible manufacturing systems(FMS), Manufacturing scheduling, Real-time systems.

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Authors: Pei-Ju Chao, Tsair-Fwu Lee, Wei-Luen Huang, Long-Chang Chen, Te-Jen Su, Wen-Ping Chen

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The main goal in this paper is to quantify the quality of different techniques for radiation treatment plans, a back-propagation artificial neural network (ANN) combined with biomedicine theory was used to model thirteen dosimetric parameters and to calculate two dosimetric indices. The correlations between dosimetric indices and quality of life were extracted as the features and used in the ANN model to make decisions in the clinic. The simulation results show that a trained multilayer back-propagation neural network model can help a doctor accept or reject a plan efficiently. In addition, the models are flexible and whenever a new treatment technique enters the market, the feature variables simply need to be imported and the model re-trained for it to be ready for use.

Keywords: neural network, dosimetric index, radiation treatment, tumor

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Authors: Sudipta Majumdar, Amarendra Kumar Mishra

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This paper proposes empirical mode decomposition (EMD) together with wavelet transform (WT) based analytic signal for power quality (PQ) events assessment. EMD decomposes the complex signals into several intrinsic mode functions (IMF). As the PQ events are non stationary, instantaneous parameters have been calculated from these IMFs using analytic signal obtained form WT. We obtained three parameters from IMFs and then used KNN classifier for classification of PQ disturbance. We compared the classification of proposed method for PQ events by obtaining the features using Hilbert transform (HT) method. The classification efficiency using WT based analytic method is 97.5% and using HT based analytic signal is 95.5%.

Keywords: Empirical mode decomposition, Hilbert transform, wavelet transform.

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Authors: C. Lodato, S. Lopes

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The image segmentation method described in this paper has been developed as a pre-processing stage to be used in methodologies and tools for video/image indexing and retrieval by content. This method solves the problem of whole objects extraction from background and it produces images of single complete objects from videos or photos. The extracted images are used for calculating the object visual features necessary for both indexing and retrieval processes. The segmentation algorithm is based on the cooperation among an optical flow evaluation method, edge detection and region growing procedures. The optical flow estimator belongs to the class of differential methods. It permits to detect motions ranging from a fraction of a pixel to a few pixels per frame, achieving good results in presence of noise without the need of a filtering pre-processing stage and includes a specialised model for moving object detection. The first task of the presented method exploits the cues from motion analysis for moving areas detection. Objects and background are then refined using respectively edge detection and seeded region growing procedures. All the tasks are iteratively performed until objects and background are completely resolved. The method has been applied to a variety of indoor and outdoor scenes where objects of different type and shape are represented on variously textured background.

Keywords: Image Segmentation, Motion Detection, Object Extraction, Optical Flow

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Authors: Amir Sattari

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For newly produced houses and energy renovations, an energy calculation needs to be conducted. This is done to verify whether the energy consumption criteria of the house -to reach the energy targets by 2020 and 2050- are in-line with the norms. The main purpose of this study is to confirm whether easy to use energy calculation software or hand calculations used by small companies or individuals give logical results compared to advanced energy simulation program used by researchers or bigger companies. There are different methods for calculating energy consumption. In this paper, two energy calculation programs are used and the relation of energy consumption with solar radiation is compared. A hand calculation is also done to validate whether the hand calculations are still reasonable. The two computer programs which have been used are TMF Energi (the easy energy calculation variant used by small companies or individuals) and IDA ICE - Indoor Climate and Energy (the advanced energy simulation program used by researchers or larger companies). The calculations are done for a standard house from the Swedish house supplier Fiskarhedenvillan. The method is based on having the same conditions and inputs in the different calculation forms so that the results can be compared and verified. The house has been faced differently to see how the orientation affects energy consumption in different methods. The results for the simulations are close to each other and the hand calculation differs from the computer programs by only 5%. Even if solar factors differ due to the orientation of the house, energy calculation results from different computer programs and even hand calculation methods are in line with each other.

Keywords: Energy calculation, energy consumption, energy simulation, IDA ICE, TMF Energi.

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Authors: Shah Ahsanuzzaman Md. Tariq, Fabrizio Granelli

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IEEE 802.11e is the enhanced version of the IEEE 802.11 MAC dedicated to provide Quality of Service of wireless network. It supports QoS by the service differentiation and prioritization mechanism. Data traffic receives different priority based on QoS requirements. Fundamentally, applications are divided into four Access Categories (AC). Each AC has its own buffer queue and behaves as an independent backoff entity. Every frame with a specific priority of data traffic is assigned to one of these access categories. IEEE 802.11e EDCA (Enhanced Distributed Channel Access) is designed to enhance the IEEE 802.11 DCF (Distributed Coordination Function) mechanisms by providing a distributed access method that can support service differentiation among different classes of traffic. Performance of IEEE 802.11e MAC layer with different ACs is evaluated to understand the actual benefits deriving from the MAC enhancements.

Keywords: 802.11e, fairness, enhanced distributed channelaccess, access categories, quality of Service.

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Authors: A.R. Mortazavi Moghaddam, M. T. Ahmadian

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Bumpers play an important role in preventing the impact energy from being transferred to the automobile and passengers. Saving the impact energy in the bumper to be released in the environment reduces the damages of the automobile and passengers. The goal of this paper is to design a bumper with minimum weight by employing the Glass Material Thermoplastic (GMT) materials. This bumper either absorbs the impact energy with its deformation or transfers it perpendicular to the impact direction. To reach this aim, a mechanism is designed to convert about 80% of the kinetic impact energy to the spring potential energy and release it to the environment in the low impact velocity according to American standard1. In addition, since the residual kinetic energy will be damped with the infinitesimal elastic deformation of the bumper elements, the passengers will not sense any impact. It should be noted that in this paper, modeling, solving and result-s analysis are done in CATIA, LS-DYNA and ANSYS V8.0 software respectively.

Keywords: Bumper, Composite material, Energy Release, GMT, Impact

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Authors: Hanny H. Tumbelaka, Masafumi Miyatake

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This paper proposes a three-phase four-wire currentcontrolled Voltage Source Inverter (CC-VSI) for both power quality improvement and PV energy extraction. For power quality improvement, the CC-VSI works as a grid current-controlling shunt active power filter to compensate for harmonic and reactive power of loads. Then, the PV array is coupled to the DC bus of the CC-VSI and supplies active power to the grid. The MPPT controller employs the particle swarm optimization technique. The output of the MPPT controller is a DC voltage that determines the DC-bus voltage according to PV maximum power. The PSO method is simple and effective especially for a partially shaded PV array. From computer simulation results, it proves that grid currents are sinusoidal and inphase with grid voltages, while the PV maximum active power is delivered to loads.

Keywords: Active Power Filter, MPPT, PV Energy Conversion.

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Authors: Houman Saedi

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Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) is one of the most commonest constructed asphalts in Iran and the quality control of constructed roads with HMA have been always paid due attention by researchers. The quality control of constructed roads with this method is being usually carried out by measuring volumetric parameters of HMA marshall samples. One of the important parameters that has a critical role in changing these volumetric parameters is “compaction temperature"; which as a result of its changing, volumetric parameters of Marshall Samples and subsequently constructed asphalt is encountered with variations. In this study, considering the necessity of preservation of the compaction temperature, the effect of various temperatures on Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) samples properties has been evaluated. As well, to evaluate the effect of this parameter on different grading, two different grading (Top coat index grading and binder index grading) have been used and samples were compacted at 5 various temperatures.

Keywords: Compaction Temperature, HMA, Volumetric Parameters, Marshall Method

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Authors: Essam S. Altubaishi

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The motivation for adaptive modulation and coding is to adjust the method of transmission to ensure that the maximum efficiency is achieved over the link at all times. The receiver estimates the channel quality and reports it back to the transmitter. The transmitter then maps the reported quality into a link mode. This mapping however, is not a one-to-one mapping. In this paper we investigate a method for selecting the proper modulation scheme. This method can dynamically adapt the mapping of the Signal-to- Noise Ratio (SNR) into a link mode. It enables the use of the right modulation scheme irrespective of changes in the channel conditions by incorporating errors in the received data. We propose a Markov model for this method, and use it to derive the average switching thresholds and the average throughput. We show that the average throughput of this method outperforms the conventional threshold method.

Keywords: Adaptive modulation and coding, CDMA, Markov model.

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Authors: Mohammad-Eghbal Ghobadi, Mokhtar Ghobadi

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Coriander is an annual and herbaceous plant, belong to the apiaceae family. This plant is cultivated world widely. It is well known for having medicinal properties. The aim of this experiment was to study seed quality of species grown in Kermanshah conditions. The experiment was carried out in research farm, Campus of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran. Coriander (local type) was grown in late spring May (5th and 20th) and Jun (4th and 19th), and plant density (10, 30, 50 and 70 plants m-2) in 2009. The experimental plots were laid out in a factorial according to a randomized complete block design with three replications. The fruits were harvest between 83.5 – 106.5 days after sowing. The essential oil and oil content was extracted by Clevenger and Soxhlet apparatuses, respectively. Results showed that delay at planting date increased the oil content. Also, with the increase at plant density was decreased oil content and essential oil.

Keywords: coriander, late sowing, plant density, oil content, essential oil

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Authors: Robert O. Abolade, Olumide O. Ajayi, Zacheaus K. Adeyemo, Solomon A. Adeniran

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Link adaptation is an important strategy for achieving robust wireless multimedia communications based on quality of service (QoS) demand. Scheme switching in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems is an aspect of link adaptation, and it involves selecting among different MIMO transmission schemes or modes so as to adapt to the varying radio channel conditions for the purpose of achieving QoS delivery. However, finding the most appropriate switching method in MIMO links is still a challenge as existing methods are either computationally complex or not always accurate. This paper presents an intelligent switching method for the MIMO system consisting of two schemes - transmit diversity (TD) and spatial multiplexing (SM) - using fuzzy logic technique. In this method, two channel quality indicators (CQI) namely average received signal-to-noise ratio (RSNR) and received signal strength indicator (RSSI) are measured and are passed as inputs to the fuzzy logic system which then gives a decision – an inference. The switching decision of the fuzzy logic system is fed back to the transmitter to switch between the TD and SM schemes. Simulation results show that the proposed fuzzy logic – based switching technique outperforms conventional static switching technique in terms of bit error rate and spectral efficiency.

Keywords: Channel quality indicator, fuzzy logic, link adaptation, MIMO, spatial multiplexing, transmit diversity.

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Authors: Van Chung Nguyen

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The purpose of this research is to study the current status of the value chain for fish distribution at Quang Binh Fishing Port with 360 research samples, in which the research subjects are fishermen, traders, retailers, and businesses. The research uses the approach of applying the value chain theoretical framework of Kaplinsky and Morris to quantify and describe market channels and actors participating in the value chain and analyze the value-added process of these companies according to market channels. The analysis results show that fishermen directly catch fish with high economic efficiency, but processing enterprises and, especially retailers, are the agents to obtain higher added value. Processing enterprises play a role that is not really clear due to outdated processing technology; in contrast, retailers have the highest added value. This shows that the added value of the fish supply chain at Quang Binh fishing port is still limited, leading to low output quality. Therefore, the selling price of fish to the market is still high compared to the abundant fish resources, leading to low consumption and limiting exports due to the quality of processing enterprises. This reduces demand and fishing capacity, and productivity is lower than potential. To improve the fish value chain at fishing ports, it is necessary to focus on improving product quality, strengthening linkages between actors, building brands and product consumption markets at the same time, improving the capacity of export processing enterprises.

Keywords: Quang Binh fishing port, value chain, fish market, distributions channel.

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Authors: Panagiotis Tsarchopoulos, Nicos Komninos, Christina Kakderi

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Smart cities are high on the political agenda around the globe. However, planning smart cities and deploying applications dealing with the complex problems of the urban environment is a very challenging task that is difficult to be undertaken solely by the cities. We argue that the uptake of smart city strategies is facilitated, first, through the development of smart city application repositories allowing re-use of already developed and tested software, and, second, through cloud computing which disengages city authorities from any resource constraints, technical or financial, and has a higher impact and greater effect at the city level The combination of these two solutions allows city governments and municipalities to select and deploy a large number of applications dedicated to different city functions, which collectively could create a multiplier effect with a greater impact on the urban environment.

Keywords: Smart cities, applications, cloud computing, migration to the cloud, application repositories.

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Authors: Seham Ghalwash, Ayman Ismail

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Resources are crucial to the development and sustainability of social ventures. Thus, resources and resources scarcity are central concepts to study and understand the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship specially in developing countries where resources are very limited. Social entrepreneurs in developing countries face bigger challenges because financial resources are scarce. The empirical findings in this paper suggest that social enterprises in poor resources environments survive and grow because of the existence of social and human capitals in which they serve as prerequisites for the physical resources required for sustainability. This research paper explores how governments and policymakers might take nativities to support and foster social entrepreneurial activities in a resource-constraints environment reflecting on the experiences of Egypt-based social enterprises.

Keywords: Social ventures, financial constraints, intangible resources, scarce resources, legitimacy, developing countries, Egypt.

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Authors: Radovan Holubek, Matus Vlasek, Peter Kostal

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Development of intelligent assembly cell conception includes new solution kind of how to create structures of automated and flexible assembly system. The current trend of the final product quality increasing is affected by time analysis of the entire manufacturing process. The primary requirement of manufacturing is to produce as many products as soon as possible, at the lowest possible cost, but of course with the highest quality. Such requirements may be satisfied only if all the elements entering and affecting the production cycle are in a fully functional condition. These elements consist of sensory equipment and intelligent control elements that are essential for building intelligent manufacturing systems. Intelligent behavior of the system as the control system will repose on monitoring of important parameters of the system in the real time. Intelligent manufacturing system itself should be a system that can flexibly respond to changes in entering and exiting the process in interaction with the surroundings.

Keywords: Control system, intelligent manufacturing / assemble systems, manufacturing, monitoring process.

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Authors: Prakash Singh

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The aim of this study was to investigate the extent of teachers’ experiences of tobephobia (TBP) in their heterogeneous classrooms and what impact this had on their emotions and job satisfaction. The expansive and continuously changing demands for quality and equal education for all students in educational organisations that have limited resources connotes that the negative effects of TBP cannot be simply ignored as being non-existent in the educational environment. As this quantitative study reveals, teachers disliking their job with low expectations, lack of motivation in their workplace and pessimism, result in their low self-esteem. When there is pessimism in the workplace, then the employees’ self-esteem will inevitably be low, as pointed out by 97.1% of the respondents in this study. Self-esteem is a reliable indicator of whether employees are happy or not in their jobs and the majority of the respondents in this study agreed that their experiences of TBP negatively impacted on their self-esteem. Hence, this exploratory study strongly indicates that productivity in the workplace is directly linked to the employees’ expectations, self-confidence and their self-esteem. It is therefore inconceivable for teachers to be productive in their regular classrooms if their genuine professional concerns, anxieties, and curriculum challenges are not adequately addressed. This empirical study contributes to our knowledge on TBP because it clearly outlines some of the teaching problems that we are grappling with and constantly experience in our schools in this century. Therefore, it is imperative that the tobephobic experiences of teachers are not merely documented, but appropriately addressed with relevant action by every stakeholder associated with education so that our teachers’ emotions and job satisfaction needs are fully taken care of.

Keywords: Demotivated teachers’ pessimism, low expectations of teachers’ job satisfaction, Self-esteem, Tobephobia.

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Authors: Abdelsalam Omran Gebril Ali

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Pollution and solid waste are the most important environmental problems plaguing the city of Benghazi as well as other cities and towns in Libya. These problems are caused by the lack of environmental planning and sound environmental management. Environmental planning is very important at present for the development of projects that preserve the environment; therefore, the planning process should be prioritized over the management process. Pollution caused by poor planning and environmental management exists not only in Benghazi but also in all other Libyan cities. This study was conducted through various field visits to several neighborhoods and areas within Benghazi as well as its neighboring regions. Follow-ups in these areas were conducted from March 2013 to October 2013 as documented by photographs. The existing methods of waste collection and means of transportation were investigated. Interviews were conducted with relevant authorities, including the Environment Public Authority in Benghazi and the Public Service Company of Benghazi. The objective of this study is to determine the causes of solid waste pollution in Benghazi City and its surrounding areas. Results show that solid waste pollution in Benghazi and its surrounding areas is the result of poor planning and environmental management, population growth, and the lack of hardware and equipment for the collection and transport of waste from the city to the landfill site. One of the most important recommendations in this study is the development of a complete and comprehensive plan that includes environmental planning and environmental management to reduce solid waste pollution.

Keywords: Solid waste, pollution, environmental planning, management, Benghazi, Libya.

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Authors: Juhan Kim, Howon Kim

Abstract:

EPC Class-1 Generation-2 UHF tags, one of Radio frequency identification or RFID tag types, is expected that most companies are planning to use it in the supply chain in the short term and in consumer packaging in the long term due to its inexpensive cost. Because of the very cost, however, its resources are extremely scarce and it is hard to have any valuable security algorithms in it. It causes security vulnerabilities, in particular cloning the tags for counterfeits. In this paper, we propose a product authentication solution for anti-counterfeiting at application level in the supply chain and mobile RFID environment. It aims to become aware of distribution of spurious products with fake RFID tags and to provide a product authentication service to general consumers with mobile RFID devices like mobile phone or PDA which has a mobile RFID reader. We will discuss anti-counterfeiting mechanisms which are required to our proposed solution and address requirements that the mechanisms should have.

Keywords: EPC, RFID, Anti-Counterfeiting, Mobile RFIDenvironment.

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Authors: B. Lonla Moffo, J. Mbihi, L. Nneme Nneme

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In this paper, a low cost duty-cycle modulation scheme is studied in depth and compared to the standard pulse width modulation technique. Using a mix of analytical reasoning and electronics simulation tools, it is shown that under the same operating conditions, most characteristics of the proposed duty-cycle modulation scheme are better than those provided by a standard pulse width modulation technique. The simulation results obtained when testing both modulation control policies on prototyping systems, indicate that the proposed duty-cycle modulation approach, appears to be a high quality control policy in a wide variety of application areas, including A/D and D/A conversion, signal transmission and switching control in power electronics.

Keywords: Duty-cycle Modulation, Operational amplifiers, Pulse width modulation, Power electronics, Signal processing.

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Authors: Isabel Brás, Artur Figueirinha, Bruno Esteves, Luísa P. Cruz-Lopes

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The agriculture lignocellulosic by-products are receiving increased attention, namely in the search for filter materials that retain contaminants from water. These by-products, specifically almond and hazelnut shells are abundant in Portugal once almond and hazelnuts production is a local important activity. Hazelnut and almond shells have as main constituents lignin, cellulose and hemicelluloses, water soluble extractives and tannins. Along the adsorption of heavy metals from contaminated waters, water soluble compounds can leach from shells and have a negative impact in the environment. Usually, the chemical characterization of treated water by itself may not show environmental impact caused by the discharges when parameters obey to legal quality standards for water. Only biological systems can detect the toxic effects of the water constituents. Therefore, the evaluation of toxicity by biological tests is very important when deciding the suitability for safe water discharge or for irrigation applications.

The main purpose of the present work was to assess the potential impacts of waters after been treated for heavy metal removal by hazelnut and almond shells adsorption systems, with short term acute toxicity tests.

To conduct the study, water at pH 6 with 25 mg.L^-1 of lead, was treated with 10 g of shell per litre of wastewater, for 24 hours. This procedure was followed for each bark. Afterwards the water was collected for toxicological assays; namely bacterial resistance, seed germination, Lemna minor L. test and plant grow. The effect in isolated bacteria strains was determined by disc diffusion method and the germination index of seed was evaluated using lettuce, with temperature and humidity germination control for 7 days. For aquatic higher organism, Lemnas were used with 4 days contact time with shell solutions, in controlled light and temperature. For terrestrial higher plants, biomass production was evaluated after 14 days of tomato germination had occurred in soil, with controlled humidity, light and temperature.

Toxicity tests of water treated with shells revealed in some extent effects in the tested organisms, with the test assays showing a close behaviour as the control, leading to the conclusion that its further utilization may not be considered to create a serious risk to the environment.

Keywords: Acute toxicity tests, adsorption, lignocellulosic wastes, risk assessment.

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Authors: Matthias Minich, B. Harriehausen-Muehlbauer, C. Wentzel

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Today-s economy is in a permanent change, causing merger and acquisitions and co operations between enterprises. As a consequence, process adaptations and realignments result in systems integration and software development projects. Processes and procedures to execute such projects are still reliant on craftsman-ship of highly skilled workers. A generally accepted, industrialized production, characterized by high efficiency and quality, seems inevitable. In spite of this, current concepts of software industrialization are aimed at traditional software engineering and do not consider the characteristics of systems integration. The present work points out these particularities and discusses the applicability of existing industrial concepts in the systems integration domain. Consequently it defines further areas of research necessary to bring the field of systems integration closer to an industrialized production, allowing a higher efficiency, quality and return on investment.

Keywords: Software Industrialization, Systems Integration, Software Product Lines, Component Based Development, Model Driven Development.

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Authors: Nasser M. Amaitik, Mohammed J. El-Sahli

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Evaluation of educational portals is an important subject area that needs more attention from researchers. A university that has an educational portal which is difficult to use and interact by teachers or students or management staff can reduce the position and reputation of the university. Therefore, it is important to have the ability to make an evaluation of the quality of e-services the university provide to improve them over time. The present study evaluates the usability of the Information Technology Faculty portal at University of Benghazi. Two evaluation methods were used: a questionnaire-based method and an online automated tool-based method. The first method was used to measure the portal's external attributes of usability (Information, Content and Organization of the portal, Navigation, Links and Accessibility, Aesthetic and Visual Appeal, Performance and Effectiveness and educational purpose) from users' perspectives, while the second method was used to measure the portal's internal attributes of usability (number and size of HTML files, number and size of images, load time, HTML check errors, browsers compatibility problems, number of bad and broken links), which cannot be perceived by the users. The study showed that some of the usability aspects have been found at the acceptable level of performance and quality, and some others have been found otherwise. In general, it was concluded that the usability of IT faculty educational portal generally acceptable. Recommendations and suggestions to improve the weakness and quality of the portal usability are presented in this study.

Keywords: Automated tools-based evaluation, Educational portals, Evaluation criteria, Questionnaire-based evaluation, Usability evaluation.

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Authors: Amr A. El Hanafy, Yasir Anwar, Saleh A. Mohamed, Saleh Mohamed Saleh Al-Garni, Jamal S. M. Sabir, Osama A. H. Abu Zinadah, Mohamed Morsi Ahmed

Abstract:

In the vicinity of red sea about 15 fungi species were isolated from oil contaminated sites. On the basis of aptitude to degrade the crude oil and DCPIP assay, two fungal isolates were selected amongst 15 oil degrading strains. Analysis of ITS-1, ITS-2 and amplicon pyrosequencing studies of fungal diversity revealed that these strains belong to Penicillium and Aspergillus species. Two strains that proved to be the most efficient in degrading crude oil was Aspergillus niger (54%) and Penicillium commune (48%) Subsequent to two weeks of cultivation in BHS medium the degradation rate were recorded by using spectrophotometer and GC-MS. Hence, it is cleared that these fungal strains has capability of degradation and can be utilize for cleaning the Saudi Arabian environment.

Keywords: Fungal strains, hydrocarbon contaminants, molecular identification, biodegradation, GC-MS.

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Authors: Zahra Yazdani Paraii, Zohreh Yazdani Paraei

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Many urban designers and planners have been involved in the design of environmentally friendly or nature adaptable urban development models due to increase in urban populations in the recent century, limitation on natural resources, climate change, and lack of enough water and food. Ecological city is one of the latest models proposed to accomplish the latter goal. In this work, the existing establishing indicators of the ecological city are used regarding energy, water, land use and transportation issues. The model is used to compare the function of traditional settlements of Iran. The result of investigation shows that the specifications and functions of the traditional settlements of Iran fit well into the ecological city model. It is found that the inhabitants of the old cities and villages in Iran had founded ecological cities based on their knowledge of the environment and its natural opportunities and limitations.

Keywords: Ecological city, traditional city, urban design, environment.

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Authors: E. M. Anawa, A. G. Olabi

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The dissimilar joint between aluminum/titanium alloys (Al 6082 and Ti G2) were successfully achieved by CO2 laser welding with a single pass and without filler material using the overlap joint design. Laser welding parameters ranges combinations were experimentally determined using Taguchi approach with the objective of producing welded joint with acceptable welding profile and high quality of mechanical properties. In this study a joining of dissimilar Al 6082 / Ti G2 was resulted in three distinct regions fusion area in the weldment. These regions are studied in terms of its microstructural characteristics and microhardness which are directly affecting the welding quality. The weld metal was mainly composed of martensite alpha prime. In two different metals in the two different sides of joint HAZ, grain growth was detected. The microhardness of the joint distribution also has shown microhardness increasing in the HAZ of two base metals and a varying microhardness in fusion zone.

Keywords: Micro-hardness, Microstructure, laser welding, dissimilar jointed materials.

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Authors: Alena Sicakova, Adriana Estokova

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Although properly made concrete is inherently a durable material, there are many physical and chemical forces in the environment which can contribute to its deterioration. This paper deals with two aspects of concrete durability in chemical aggressive environment: degradation effect of particular aggressive exposure and role of particular mineral additives. Results of the study of leaching and acid corrosion processes in samples prepared with specific dosage of microsilica and zeolite are given in the paper.

Corrosion progress after 60-day exposition is manifested by increasing rate of both Ca and Si release, what is identified by XRF method. Kind and dosage of additions used in experiment was found to be helpful for stabilization of concrete microstructure.The lowest concentration of mean elements in leachates was observed for mixture V1 (microsilica only) unlike the V2 (microsilica + zeolite). It is surprising in the terms of recommendations of zeolite application for acid exposure. Using microsilica only seems to be more effective.

Keywords: Sustainability, durability, concrete, acid corrosion, leaching.

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Authors: Nameesh Miglani, Rajeev Saha, R. S. Parihar

Abstract:

Estimation of the quality regarding higher education within a university is practically long drawn process besides being difficult to measure primarily due to lack of a standard scale. National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) evolved a methodology of assessment which involves self-appraisal by each university/college and an assessment of performance by an expert committee. The attributes involved in assessing a university may not be totally independent from each other thereby necessitating the consideration of interdependencies. The present study focuses on evaluation of assessment criteria using graph theoretic approach and fuzzy treatment of data collected from the students. The technique will provide a suitable platform to university management team to cross check assessment of education quality by considering interdependencies of the attributes using graph theory.

Keywords: Graph theory, NAAC accreditation criteria, Indian University accreditation process.

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