Search results for: Elastic Light Scattering Spectroscopy

Authors: Sapan Mohan Saini

Abstract:

We report the electronic structure and optical properties of NdF3 compound. Our calculations are based on density functional theory (DFT) using the full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FPLAPW) method with the inclusion of spin orbit coupling. We employed the local spin density approximation (LSDA) and Coulomb-corrected local spin density approximation, known for treating the highly correlated 4f electrons properly, is able to reproduce the correct insulating ground state. We find that the standard LSDA approach is incapable of correctly describing the electronic properties of such materials since it positions the f-bands incorrectly resulting in an incorrect metallic ground state. On the other hand, LSDA + U approximation, known for treating the highly correlated 4f electrons properly, is able to reproduce the correct insulating ground state. Interestingly, however, we do not find any significant differences in the optical properties calculated using LSDA, and LSDA + U suggesting that the 4f electrons do not play a decisive role in the optical properties of these compounds. The reflectivity for NdF3 compound stays low till 7 eV which is consistent with their large energy gaps. The calculated energy gaps are in good agreement with experiments. Our calculated reflectivity compares well with the experimental data and the results are analyzed in the light of band to band transitions.

Keywords: FPLAPW Method, optical properties, rare earthtrifluorides LSDA+U

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Authors: M. C. Venter, G. Hitge, S. C. Krygsman, J. Thiart

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For decades, South Africa has been planning transportation systems from a supply, rather than a demand side, perspective. In terms of parking, this relates to requiring the minimum parking provision that is enforced by city officials. Newer insight is starting to indicate that South Africa needs to re-think this philosophy in light of a new policy environment that desires a different outcome. Urban policies have shifted from reliance on the private car for access, to employing a wide range of alternative modes. Car dominated travel is influenced by various parameters, of which the availability and location of parking plays a significant role. The question is therefore, what is the right strategy to achieve the desired transport outcomes for SA. The focus of this paper is used to assess this issue with regard to parking provision, and specifically at a tertiary institution. A parking audit was conducted at the Stellenbosch campus of Stellenbosch University, monitoring occupancy at all 60 parking areas, every hour during business hours over a five-day period. The data from this survey was compared with the prescribed number of parking bays according to the Stellenbosch Municipality zoning scheme (requiring a minimum of 0.4 bays per student). The analysis shows that by providing 0.09 bays per student, the maximum total daily occupation of all the parking areas did not exceed an 80% occupation rate. It is concluded that the prevailing parking standards are not supportive of the new urban and transport policy environment, but that it is extremely conservative from a practical demand point of view.

Keywords: Parking provision, parking requirements, travel behaviour, travel demand management.

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Authors: N. Yuvaraj, V. B. Prakash, D. Venkatraj

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This paper may be considered as combination of both pervasive computing and Differential GPS (global positioning satellite) which relates to control automatic traffic signals in such a way as to pre-empt normal signal operation and permit lifesaving vehicles. Before knowing the arrival of the lifesaving vehicles from the signal there is a chance of clearing the traffic. Traffic signal preemption system includes a vehicle equipped with onboard computer system capable of capturing diagnostic information and estimated location of the lifesaving vehicle using the information provided by GPS receiver connected to the onboard computer system and transmitting the information-s using a wireless transmitter via a wireless network. The fleet management system connected to a wireless receiver is capable of receiving the information transmitted by the lifesaving vehicle .A computer is also located at the intersection uses corrected vehicle position, speed & direction measurements, in conjunction with previously recorded data defining approach routes to the intersection, to determine the optimum time to switch a traffic light controller to preemption mode so that lifesaving vehicles can pass safely. In case when the ambulance need to take a “U" turn in a heavy traffic area we suggest a solution. Now we are going to make use of computerized median which uses LINKED BLOCKS (removable) to solve the above problem.

Keywords: Ubiquitous computing, differential GPS, fleet management system, wireless transmitter and receiver computerized median i.e. linked blocks (removable).

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Authors: M. S. Nourbakhsh, M. E. Khosroshahi

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Laser soldering is based on applying some soldering material (albumin) onto the approximated edges of the cut and heating the solder (and the underlying tissues) by a laser beam. Endogenous and exogenous materials such as indocyanine green (ICG) are often added to solders to enhance light absorption. Gold nanoshells are new materials which have an optical response dictated by the plasmon resonance. The wavelength at which the resonance occurs depends on the core and shell sizes, allowing nanoshells to be tailored for particular applications. The purposes of this study was use combination of ICG and different concentration of gold nanoshells for skin tissue soldering and also to examine the effect of laser soldering parameters on the properties of repaired skin. Two mixtures of albumin solder and different combinations of ICG and gold nanoshells were prepared. A full thickness incision of 2×20 mm2 was made on the surface and after addition of mixtures it was irradiated by an 810nm diode laser at different power densities. The changes of tensile strength σt due to temperature rise, number of scan (Ns), and scan velocity (Vs) were investigated. The results showed at constant laser power density (I), σt of repaired incisions increases by increasing the concentration of gold nanoshells in solder, Ns and decreasing Vs. It is therefore important to consider the tradeoff between the scan velocity and the surface temperature for achieving an optimum operating condition. In our case this corresponds to σt =1800 gr/cm2 at I~ 47 Wcm-2, T ~ 85ºC, Ns =10 and Vs=0.3mms-1.

Keywords: Tissue soldering, gold nanoshells, indocyanine green, combination, tensile strength.

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Authors: R. Chedid, R. Ghajar

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Lebanon electricity crisis continues to escalate. Rationing hours still apply across the country but with different rates. The capital Beirut is subjected to 3 hours cut while other cities, town and villages may endure 9 to 14 hours of power shortage. To mitigate this situation, private diesel generators distributed illegally all over the country are being used to bridge the gap in power supply. Almost each building in large cities has its own generator and individual villages may have more than one generator supplying their loads. These generators together with their private networks form incomplete and ill-designed and managed microgrids (MG) but can be further developed to become renewable energy-based MG operating in island- or grid-connected modes. This paper will analyze the potential of introducing MG to help resolve the energy crisis in Lebanon. It will investigate the usefulness of developing MG under the prevailing situation of existing private power supply service providers and in light of the developed national energy policy that supports renewable energy development. A case study on a distribution feeder in a rural area will be analyzed using HOMER software to demonstrate the usefulness of introducing photovoltaic (PV) arrays along the existing diesel generators for all the stakeholders; namely, the developers, the customers, the utility and the community at large. Policy recommendations regarding MG development in Lebanon will be presented on the basis of the accumulated experience in private generation and the privatization and public-private partnership laws.

Keywords: Decentralized systems, microgrids, distributed generation, renewable energy.

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Authors: J. R. Mudakavi, K. Puttanna

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Chromium in the environment is considered as one of the most toxic elements probably next only to mercury and arsenic. It is acutely toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic in the environment. Chromium contamination of soil and underground water due to industrial activities is a very serious problem in several parts of India covering Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh etc. Functionally modified Activated Carbon Fabrics (ACF) offer targeted chromium removal from drinking water and industrial effluents. Activated carbon fabric is a light weight adsorbing material with high surface area and low resistance to fluid flow. We have investigated surface modification of ACF using various acids in the laboratory through batch as well as through continuous flow column experiments with a view to develop the optimum conditions for chromium removal. Among the various acids investigated, phosphoric acid modified ACF gave best results with a removal efficiency of 95% under optimum conditions. Optimum pH was around 2 – 4 with 2 hours contact time. Continuous column experiments with an effective bed contact time (EBCT) of 5 minutes indicated that breakthrough occurred after 300 bed volumes. Adsorption data followed a Freundlich isotherm pattern. Nickel adsorbs preferentially and sulphate reduces chromium adsorption by 50%. The ACF could be regenerated up to 52.3% using 3 M NaOH under optimal conditions. The process is simple, economical, energy efficient and applicable to industrial effluents and drinking water.

Keywords: Activated carbon fabric, adsorption, drinking water, hexavalent chromium.

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Authors: M. Hossain, H. P. Zhu, A. B. Yu

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This paper presents a numerical investigation of regime transition of flow of ellipsoidal particles and a comparison with that of spherical particle assembly. Particle assemblies constituting spherical and ellipsoidal particle of 2.5:1 aspect ratio are examined at separate instances in similar flow conditions in a shear cell model that is numerically developed based on the discrete element method. Correlations among elastically scaled stress, kinetically scaled stress, coordination number and volume fraction are investigated, and show important similarities and differences for the spherical and ellipsoidal particle assemblies. In particular, volume fractions at points of regime transition are identified for both types of particles. It is found that compared with spherical particle assembly, ellipsoidal particle assembly has higher volume fraction for the quasistatic to intermediate regime transition and lower volume fraction for the intermediate to inertial regime transition. Finally, the relationship between coordination number and volume fraction shows strikingly distinct features for the two cases, suggesting that different from spherical particles, the effect of the shear rate on the coordination number is not significant for ellipsoidal particles. This work provides a glimpse of currently running work on one of the most attractive scopes of research in this field and has a wide prospect in understanding rheology of more complex shaped particles in light of the strong basis of simpler spherical particle rheology.

Keywords: Discrete element method, granular rheology, non-spherical particles, regime transition

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Authors: Parisa Shirzadeh

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Drug delivery systems in which drugs are traditionally used, multi-stage and at specified intervals by patients, do not meet the needs of the world's up-to-date drug delivery. In today's world, we are dealing with a huge number of recombinant peptide and protean drugs and analogues of hormones in the body, most of which are made with genetic engineering techniques. Most of these drugs are used to treat critical diseases such as cancer. Due to the limitations of the traditional method, researchers sought to find ways to solve the problems of the traditional method to a large extent. Following these efforts, controlled drug release systems were introduced, which have many advantages. Using controlled release of the drug in the body, the concentration of the drug is kept at a certain level, and in a short time, it is done at a higher rate. Graphene is a natural material that is biodegradable, non-toxic, natural and wide surfaces of graphene plates makes it more effective to modify graphene than carbon nanotubes. Graphene oxide is often synthesized using concentrated oxidizers such as sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and potassium permanganate based on Hummer method. graphene oxide is very hydrophilic and easily dissolves in water and creates a stable solution. Graphene oxide (GO) has been modified by chitosan (CS) covalently, developed for control release of doxorubicin (DOX). In this study, GO is produced by the hummer method under acidic conditions. Then, it is chlorinated by oxalyl chloride to increase its reactivity against amine. After that, in the presence of CS, the amino reaction was performed to form amide transplantation, and the DOX was connected to the carrier surface by π-π interaction in buffer phosphate. GO, GO-CS, and GO-CS-DOX were characterized by FT-IR and TGA to recognize new functional groups which show the new bonding of CS to GO, RAMA and SEM to recognize size of layers that show changing in size and number of layers. The ability to load and release is determined by UV-Visible spectroscopy. The loading result showed a high capacity of DOX absorption (99%) and pH dependence identified as a result of DOX release from GO-CS nanosheet at pH 5.3 and 7.4, which show a fast release rate in acidic conditions.

Keywords: Graphene oxide, chitosan, nanosheet, controlled drug release, doxorubicin.

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Authors: Rodrigo Pacheco-Ruiz, Jonathan Adams, Felix Pedrotti

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This paper introduces the applicability of underwater photogrammetric survey within challenging conditions as the main tool to enhance and enrich the process of documenting archaeological excavation through the creation of 4D models. Photogrammetry was being attempted on underwater archaeological sites at least as early as the 1970s’ and today the production of traditional 3D models is becoming a common practice within the discipline. Photogrammetry underwater is more often implemented to record exposed underwater archaeological remains and less so as a dynamic interpretative tool.  Therefore, it tends to be applied in bright environments and when underwater visibility is > 1m, reducing its implementation on most submerged archaeological sites in more turbid conditions. Recent years have seen significant development of better digital photographic sensors and the improvement of optical technology, ideal for darker environments. Such developments, in tandem with powerful processing computing systems, have allowed underwater photogrammetry to be used by this research as a standard recording and interpretative tool. Using multi-source photogrammetry (5, GoPro5 Hero Black cameras) this paper presents the accumulation of daily (4D) underwater surveys carried out in the Early Bronze Age (3,300 BC) to Late Ottoman (17th Century AD) archaeological site of Ropotamo in the Bulgarian Black Sea under challenging conditions (< 0.5m visibility). It proves that underwater photogrammetry can and should be used as one of the main recording methods even in low light and poor underwater conditions as a way to better understand the complexity of the underwater archaeological record.

Keywords: 4D modelling, Black Sea, maritime archaeology, underwater photogrammetry, Bronze Age, low visibility.

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Authors: Amira Mabrouk, Chokri Abdennadher

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The reduction of road congestion which is inherent to the use of vehicles is an obvious priority to public authority. Therefore, assessing the willingness to pay of an individual in order to save trip-time is akin to estimating the change in price which was the result of setting up a new transport policy to increase the networks fluidity and improving the level of social welfare. This study holds an innovative perspective. In fact, it initiates an economic calculation that has the objective of giving an estimation of the monetized time value during the trips made in Sfax. This research is founded on a double-objective approach. The aim of this study is to i) give an estimation of the monetized value of time; an hour dedicated to trips, ii) determine whether or not the consumer considers the environmental variables to be significant, iii) analyze the impact of applying a public management of the congestion via imposing taxation of city tolls on urban dwellers. This article is built upon a rich field survey led in the city of Sfax. With the use of the contingent valuation method, we analyze the “declared time preferences” of 450 drivers during rush hours. Based on the fond consideration of attributed bias of the applied method, we bring to light the delicacy of this approach with regards to the revelation mode and the interrogative techniques by following the NOAA panel recommendations bearing the exception of the valorization point and other similar studies about the estimation of transportation externality.

Keywords: Willingness to pay, value of time, contingent valuation, time value, city toll, transport.

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Authors: Danielle Morin, Jennifer D. E. Thomas, Raafat G. Saade, Daniela Petrachi

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Over the past few decades, more and more students choose to enroll in online classes instead of attending in-class lectures. While past studies consider students’ attitudes towards online education and how their grades differed from in-class lectures, the profile of the online student remains a blur. To shed light on this, an online survey was administered to about 1,500 students enrolled in an undergraduate Fundamental Business Technology course at a Canadian University. The survey was comprised of questions on students’ demographics, their reasons for choosing online courses, their expectations towards the course, the communication channels they use for the course with fellow students and with the instructor. This paper focused on the research question: Do the perspectives of online students concerning the online experience, in general, and in the course in particular, differ according to age profile? After several statistical analyses, it was found that age does have an impact on the reasons why students select online classes instead of in-class. For example, it was found that the perception that an online course might be easier than in-class delivery was a more important reason for younger students than for older ones. Similarly, the influence of friends is much more important for younger students, than for older students. Similar results were found when analyzing students’ expectation about the online course and their use of communication tools. Overall, the age profile of online users had an impact on reasons, expectations and means of communication in an undergraduate Fundamental Business Technology course. It is left to be seen if this holds true across other courses, graduate and undergraduate.

Keywords: Communication channels, fundamentals of business technology, online classes, pedagogy, user age profile, user perspectives.

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Authors: Safyeh Soufian, Hoosein Naderi-Manesh, Abdoali Alizadeh, Mohammad Nabi Sarbolouki

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Aurein 1.2 is a 13-residue amphipathic peptide with antibacterial and anticancer activity. Aurein1.2 and its retro analog were synthesized to study the activity of the peptides in relation to their structure. The antibacterial test result showed the retro-analog is inactive. The secondary structural analysis by CD spectra indicated that both of the peptides at TFE/Water adopt alpha-helical conformation. MD simulation was performed on aurein 1.2 and retro-analog in water and TFE in order to analyse the factors that are involved in the activity difference between retro and the native peptide. The simulation results are discussed and validated in the light of experimental data from the CD experiment. Both of the peptides showed a relatively similar pattern for their hydrophobicity, hydrophilicity, solvent accessible surfaces, and solvent accessible hydrophobic surfaces. However, they showed different in directions of dipole moment of peptides. Also, Our results further indicate that the reversion of the amino acid sequence affects flexibility .The data also showed that factors causing structural rigidity may decrease the activity. Consequently, our finding suggests that in the case of sequence-reversed peptide strategy, one has to pay attention to the role of amino acid sequence order in making flexibility and role of dipole moment direction in peptide activity. KeywordsAntimicrobial peptides, retro, molecular dynamic, circular dichroism.

Keywords: Antimicrobial peptides, retro, molecular dynamic, circular dichroism.

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Authors: Papathanasiou Anastasios, Liontos George, Liagkou Vasiliki, Glavas Euripides

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The purpose of this paper is to describe the growing problem of various cyber fraud schemes that exist on the internet and are currently among the most prevalent. The main focus of this paper is to provide a detailed description of the modus operandi, tools, and techniques utilized in four basic typologies of cyber frauds: Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks, investment fraud, romance scams, and online sales fraud. The paper aims to shed light on the methods employed by cybercriminals in perpetrating these types of fraud, as well as the strategies they use to deceive and victimize individuals and businesses on the internet. Furthermore, this study outlines defense strategies intended to tackle the issue head-on, with a particular emphasis on the crucial role played by European legislation. European legislation has proactively adapted to the evolving landscape of cyber fraud, striving to enhance cybersecurity awareness, bolster user education, and implement advanced technical controls to mitigate associated risks. The paper evaluates the advantages and innovations brought about by the European legislation while also acknowledging potential flaws that cybercriminals might exploit. As a result, recommendations for refining the legislation are offered in this study in order to better address this pressing issue.

Keywords: Business email compromise, cybercrime, European legislation, investment fraud, Network and Information Security, online sales fraud, romance scams.

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Authors: Marco Lopes, Pedro D. Gaspar, Maria P. Simões

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This paper reviews the different concepts that have been investigated concerning the mechanization of fruit thinning as well as multiple working principles and solutions that have been developed for feature extraction of horticultural products, both in the field and industrial environments. The research should be committed towards selective methods, which inevitably need to incorporate some kinds of sensor technology. Computer vision often comes out as an obvious solution for unstructured detection problems, although leaves despite the chosen point of view frequently occlude fruits. Further research on non-traditional sensors that are capable of object differentiation is needed. Ultrasonic and Near Infrared (NIR) technologies have been investigated for applications related to horticultural produce and show a potential to satisfy this need while simultaneously providing spatial information as time of flight sensors. Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) technology also shows a huge potential but it implies much greater costs and the related equipment is usually much larger, making it less suitable for portable devices, which may serve a purpose on smaller unstructured orchards. Portable devices may serve a purpose on these types of orchards. In what concerns sensor methods, on-tree fruit detection, major challenge is to overcome the problem of fruits’ occlusion by leaves and branches. Hence, nontraditional sensors capable of providing some type of differentiation should be investigated.

Keywords: Fruit thinning, horticultural field, portable devices, sensor technologies.

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Authors: Zixian Zhang, Shanliang Yao, Zile Huang, Zhaodong Wu, Xiaohui Zhu, Yong Yue, Jieming Ma

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Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) hold significant value for their capacity to undertake hazardous and labor-intensive operations over aquatic environments. Object detection tasks are significant in these applications. Nonetheless, the efficacy of USVs in object detection is impeded by several intrinsic challenges, including the intricate dispersal of obstacles, reflections emanating from coastal structures, and the presence of fog over water surfaces, among others. To address these problems, this paper provides a fusion method for USVs to effectively detect objects in the inland surface environment, utilizing vision sensors and 3+1D Millimeter-wave radar. The MMW radar is a complementary tool to vision sensors, offering reliable environmental data. This approach involves the conversion of the radar’s 3D point cloud into a 2D radar pseudo-image, thereby standardizing the format for radar and vision data by leveraging a point transformer. Furthermore, this paper proposes the development of a multi-source object detection network, named RV-YOLOX, which leverages radar-vision integration specifically tailored for inland waterway environments. The performance is evaluated on our self-recording waterways dataset. Compared with the YOLOX network, our fusion network significantly improves detection accuracy, especially for objects with bad light conditions.

Keywords: Inland waterways, object detection, YOLO, sensor fusion, self-attention, deep learning.

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Authors: Alan Luo, Hunter N. B. Moseley

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Many macromolecular structure entries in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) have a range of regional (localized) quality issues, be it derived from X-ray crystallography, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, or other experimental approaches. However, most PDB entries are judged by global quality metrics like R-factor, R-free, and resolution for X-ray crystallography or backbone phi-psi distribution statistics and average restraint violations for NMR. Regional quality is often ignored when PDB entries are re-used for a variety of structurally based analyses. The binding of ligands, especially ligands involved in energy metabolism, is of particular interest in many structurally focused protein studies. Using a regional quality metric that provides chemically interpretable information from electron density maps, a significant number of outliers in regional structural quality was detected across X-ray crystallographic PDB entries for proteins bound to biochemically critical ligands. In this study, a series of analyses was performed to evaluate both specific and general potential factors that could promote these outliers. In particular, these potential factors were the minimum distance to a metal ion, the minimum distance to a crystal contact, and the isotropic atomic b-factor. To evaluate these potential factors, Fisher’s exact tests were performed, using regional quality criteria of outlier (top 1%, 2.5%, 5%, or 10%) versus non-outlier compared to a potential factor metric above versus below a certain outlier cutoff. The results revealed a consistent general effect from region-specific normalized b-factors but no specific effect from metal ion contact distances and only a very weak effect from crystal contact distance as compared to the b-factor results. These findings indicate that no single specific potential factor explains a majority of the outlier ligand-bound regions, implying that human error is likely as important as these other factors. Thus, all factors, including human error, should be considered when regions of low structural quality are detected. Also, the downstream re-use of protein structures for studying ligand-bound conformations should screen the regional quality of the binding sites. Doing so prevents misinterpretation due to the presence of structural uncertainty or flaws in regions of interest.

Keywords: Biomacromolecular structure, coenzyme, electron density discrepancy analysis, X-ray crystallography.

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Authors: Giovanni Masala, Stefania Marica

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Forecasting electricity load plays a crucial role regards decision making and planning for economical purposes. Besides, in the light of the recent privatization and deregulation of the power industry, the forecasting of future electricity load turned out to be a very challenging problem. Empirical data about electricity load highlights a clear seasonal behavior (higher load during the winter season), which is partly due to climatic effects. We also emphasize the presence of load periodicity at a weekly basis (electricity load is usually lower on weekends or holidays) and at daily basis (electricity load is clearly influenced by the hour). Finally, a long-term trend may depend on the general economic situation (for example, industrial production affects electricity load). All these features must be captured by the model. The purpose of this paper is then to build an hourly electricity load model. The deterministic component of the model requires non-linear regression and Fourier series while we will investigate the stochastic component through econometrical tools. The calibration of the parameters’ model will be performed by using data coming from the Italian market in a 6 year period (2007- 2012). Then, we will perform a Monte Carlo simulation in order to compare the simulated data respect to the real data (both in-sample and out-of-sample inspection). The reliability of the model will be deduced thanks to standard tests which highlight a good fitting of the simulated values.

Keywords: ARMA-GARCH process, electricity load, fitting tests, Fourier series, Monte Carlo simulation, non-linear regression.

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Authors: A. Fayad, Q. Alqhazaly, T. Cinkler

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In light of the substantial increase in end-user requirements and the incessant need of network operators to upgrade the capabilities of access networks, in this paper, the performance of the different modulation formats on eight-channels Time and Wavelength Division Multiplexing Passive Optical Network (TWDM-PON) transmission system has been examined and compared. Limitations and features of modulation formats have been determined to outline the most suitable design to enhance the data rate and transmission reach to obtain the best performance of the network. The considered modulation formats are On-Off Keying Non-Return-to-Zero (NRZ-OOK), Carrier Suppressed Return to Zero (CSRZ), Duo Binary (DB), Modified Duo Binary (MODB), Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK), and Differential Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (DQPSK). The performance has been analyzed by varying transmission distances and bit rates under different channel spacing. Furthermore, the system is evaluated in terms of minimum Bit Error Rate (BER) and Quality factor (Qf) without applying any dispersion compensation technique, or any optical amplifier. Optisystem software was used for simulation purposes.

Keywords: Bit Error Rate, BER, Carrier Suppressed Return to Zero, CSRZ, Duo Binary, DB, Differential Quadrature Phase Shift Keying, DQPSK, Modified Duo Binary, MODB, On-Off Keying Non-Return-to-Zero, NRZ-OOK, Quality factor, Qf, Time and Wavelength Division Multiplexing Passive Optical Network, TWDM-PON.

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Authors: Djordjevic J. Sladjana, Djordjevic-Milošević B. Suzana, Milošević M. Slobodan

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The potential of biomass as a renewable energy source leads Serbia to be the top of European countries by the amount of available but unused biomass. Technologies for its use are available and ecologically acceptable. Moreover, they are not expensive high-tech solutions even for the poor investment environment of Serbia, while other options seem to be less achievable. From the other point of view, Serbia has a huge percentage of unused agriculture land. Agricultural production in Serbia languishes: a large share of agricultural land therefore remains untreated, and there is a significant proportion of degraded land. From all the above, biomass intended for energy production is becoming an increasingly important factor in the stabilization of agricultural activities. Orientation towards the growing bioenergy crops versus conventional crop cultivation becomes an interesting option. The aim of this paper is to point out the possibility of growing energy crops in accordance with the conditions and cultural practice in rural areas of Serbia. First of all, the cultivation of energy crops on lower quality land is being discussed, in order to revitalize the rural areas of crops through their inclusion into potential energy sector. Next is the theme of throwing more light on the increase in the area under this competitive agricultural production to correct land use in terms of climate change in Serbia. The goal of this paper is to point out the contribution of the share of biomass in energy production and consumption, and the effect of reducing the negative environmental impact.

Keywords: Agro-energy crops, conditions for plantation, revitalization of rural areas, degraded and unused soils.

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Authors: Cristina Bahón Arnaiz

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Many Asian languages, such as Korean and Japanese, are well-known for their wide use of sound symbolic words or ideophones. This is a very particular characteristic which enriches its lexicon hugely. Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words that utilize sound symbolism to express aspects, states, emotions, or conditions that can be experienced through the senses, such as shape, color, smell, action or movement. Ideophones have very particular characteristics in terms of sound symbolism and morphology, which distinguish them from other words. The phonological characteristics of ideophones are vowel ablaut or vowel gradation and consonant mutation. In the case of Korean, there are light vowels and dark vowels. Depending on the type of vowel that is used, the meaning will slightly change. Consonant mutation, also known as consonant ablaut, contributes to the level of intensity, emphasis, and volume of an expression. In addition to these phonological characteristics, there is one main morphological singularity, which is reduplication and it carries the meaning of continuity, repetition, intensity, emphasis, and plurality. All these characteristics play an important role in both linguistics and literature as they enhance the meaning of what is trying to be expressed with incredible semantic detail, expressiveness, and rhythm. The following study will analyze the ideophones used in a single paragraph of a Korean novel, which add incredible yet subtle detail to the meaning of the words, and advance the expressiveness and rhythm of the text. The results from analyzing one paragraph from a novel, after presenting the phonological and morphological characteristics of Korean ideophones, will evidence the important role that ideophones play in literature. 

Keywords: Ideophones, mimetic words, phonomimes, phenomimes, psychomimes, sound symbolism.

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Authors: Jooho Hwang, Chang-Kyu Song, Chun-Hong Park

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This paper describes a method to measure and compensate a 4 axes ultra-precision machine tool that generates micro patterns on the large surfaces. The grooving machine is usually used for making a micro mold for many electrical parts such as a light guide plate for LCD and fuel cells. The ultra precision machine tool has three linear axes and one rotational table. Shaping is usually used to generate micro patterns. In the case of 50 μm pitch and 25 μm height pyramid pattern machining with a 90° wedge angle bite, one of linear axis is used for long stroke motion for high cutting speed and other linear axis are used for feeding. The triangular patterns can be generated with many times of long stroke of one axis. Then 90° rotation of work piece is needed to make pyramid patterns with superposition of machined two triangular patterns. To make a two dimensional positioning error, straightness of two axes in out of plane, squareness between the each axis are important. Positioning errors, straightness and squarness were measured by laser interferometer system. Those were compensated and confirmed by ISO230-6. One of difficult problem to measure the error motions is squareness or parallelism of axis between the rotational table and linear axis. It was investigated by simultaneous moving of rotary table and XY axes. This compensation method is introduced in this paper.

Keywords: Ultra-precision machine tool, muti-axis errors, squraness, positioning errors.

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Authors: Se Kyung Oh, Young Hwan Yoon, Ary Bachtiar Krishna

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Nowadays, a passenger car suspension must has high performance criteria with light weight, low cost, and low energy consumption. Pilot controlled proportional valve is designed and analyzed to get small pressure change rate after blow-off, and to get a fast response of the damper, a reverse damping mechanism is adapted. The reverse continuous variable damper is designed as a HS-SH damper which offers good body control with reduced transferred input force from the tire, compared with any other type of suspension system. The damper structure is designed, so that rebound and compression damping forces can be tuned independently, of which the variable valve is placed externally. The rate of pressure change with respect to the flow rate after blow-off becomes smooth when the fixed orifice size increases, which means that the blow-off slope is controllable using the fixed orifice size. Damping forces are measured with the change of the solenoid current at the different piston velocities to confirm the maximum hysteresis of 20 N, linearity, and variance of damping force. The damping force variance is wide and continuous, and is controlled by the spool opening, of which scheme is usually adapted in proportional valves. The reverse continuous variable damper developed in this study is expected to be utilized in the semi-active suspension systems in passenger cars after its performance and simplicity of the design is confirmed through a real car test.

Keywords: Blow-off, damping force, pilot controlledproportional valve, reverse continuous damper.

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Authors: Khairul Bariah Sulaiman, Tajul Aris Yang

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Fermentation is well known as an essential process to develop chocolate flavor in dried cocoa beans. Besides developing the precursor of cocoa flavor, it also induces the color changes in the beans. The fermentation process is influenced by various factors such as planting material, preconditioning of cocoa pod and fermentation technique. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate color of Malaysian cocoa beans and how the duration of pods storage and fermentation technique using shallow box will effect on its color characteristics. There are two factors being studied i.e. duration of cocoa pod storage (0, 2, 4 and 6 days) and duration of cocoa fermentation (0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 days). The experiment is arranged in 4 x 6 factorial designs with 24 treatments and arrangement is in a Completely Randomised Design (CRD). The produced beans are inspected for color changes under artificial light during cut test and divided into four groups of color namely fully brown, purple brown, fully purple and slaty. Cut tests indicated that cocoa beans which are directly dried without undergone fermentation has the highest slaty percentage. However, application of pods storage before fermentation process is found to decrease the slaty percentage. In contrast, the percentages of fully brown beans start to dominate after two days of fermentation, especially from four and six days of pods storage batch. Whereas, almost all batches of cocoa beans have a percentage of fully purple less than 20%. Interestingly, the percentage of purple brown beans are scattered in the entire beans batch regardless any specific trend. Meanwhile, statistical analysis using General Linear Model showed that the pods storage has a significant effect on the color characteristic of the Malaysian dried beans compared to fermentation duration.

Keywords: Cocoa beans, color, fermentation, shallow box.

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Authors: Z. Khoshnood, R. Khoshnood

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The aim of present study was to monitor the presence of Trichodina sp. in Rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss collected from various fish farms in the western provinces of Iran during January, 2013- January, 2014. Out of 675 sampled fish 335, (49.16%) were infested with Trichodina. The highest prevalence was observed in the spring and winter followed by autumn and summer. In general, the intensity of infection was low except in cases where outbreaks of Trichodiniasis endangered the survival of fish in some ponds. In light infestation Trichodina is usually present on gills, fins and skin of apparently healthy fish. Clinical signs of Trichodiniasis only appear on fish with heavy infections and cases of moderate ones that are usually exposed to one or more stress factors including, rough handling during transportation from ponds, overcrowdness, malnutrition, high of free ammonia and low of oxygen concentration. Clinical signs of Trichodiniasis in sampled fish were sluggish movement, loss of appetite, black coloration, necrosis and ulcer on different parts of the body, detached scales and excessive accumulation of mucous in gill pouches. The most obvious histopathological changes in diseased fish were sloughing of the epidermal layer, aggregation of leucocytes and melanine-carrying cells (between the dermis and hypodermis) and proliferative changes including hyperplasia and hypertrophy of the epithelial lining cells of gill filaments which resulted in fusion of secondary lamellae. Control of Trichodiniasis, has been achieved by formalin bath treatment at a concentration of 250 ppm for one hour.

Keywords: Gill, Histopathology, Rainbow trout, Trichodina.

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Authors: Salina Budin, Shaira Ismail

Abstract:

Students learn effectively in a learning environment with a suitable teaching approach that matches their learning preferences. The main objective of the study is to examine the learning preferences amongst the students in the Science and Technology (S&T), and Social Science (SS) fields of study at the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Pulau Pinang. The measurement instrument is based on the Dunn and Dunn Learning Styles which measure five elements of learning styles; environmental, sociological, emotional, physiological and psychological. Questionnaires are distributed amongst undergraduates in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Faculty of Business Management. The respondents comprise of 131 diploma students of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and 111 degree students of the Faculty of Business Management. The results indicate that, both S&T and SS students share a similar learning preferences on the environmental aspect, emotional preferences, motivational level, learning responsibility, persistent level in learning and learning structure. Most of the S&T students are concluded as analytical learners and the majority of SS students are global learners. Both S&T and SS students are concluded as visual learners, preferred to be in an active mobility in a relaxing and enjoying mode with some light of refreshments during the learning process and exhibited reflective characteristics in learning. Obviously, the S&T students are considered as left brain dominant, whereas the SS students are right brain dominant. The findings highlighted that both categories of students exhibited similar learning preferences except on psychological preferences.

Keywords: Learning preferences, Dunn and Dunn learning style, teaching approach, science and technology, social science.

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Authors: Juhi Faridi, Mohd. Ajmal Kafeel

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The advancements in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and technology has led to an evolution of an intelligent era. Neural networks, having the computational power and learning ability similar to the brain is one of the key AI technologies. Neuromorphic computing system (NCS) consists of the synaptic device, neuronal circuit, and neuromorphic architecture. Memristor are a promising candidate for neuromorphic computing systems, but when it comes to neuromorphic computing, the conductance behavior of the synaptic memristor or neuronal memristor needs to be studied thoroughly in order to fathom the neuroscience or computer science. Furthermore, there is a need of more simulation work for utilizing the existing device properties and providing guidance to the development of future devices for different performance requirements. Hence, development of NCS needs more simulation work to make use of existing device properties. This work aims to provide an insight to build neuronal circuits using memristors to achieve a Memristor based NCS.  Here we throw a light on the research conducted in the field of memristors for building analog and digital circuits in order to motivate the research in the field of NCS by building memristor based neural circuits for advanced AI applications. This literature is a step in the direction where we describe the various Key findings about memristors and its analog and digital circuits implemented over the years which can be further utilized in implementing the neuronal circuits in the NCS. This work aims to help the electronic circuit designers to understand how the research progressed in memristors and how these findings can be used in implementing the neuronal circuits meant for the recent progress in the NCS.

Keywords: Analog circuits, digital circuits, memristors, neuromorphic computing systems.

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Authors: Muhammed Ordu, Eren Demir, Chris Tofallis

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Over the past decade, the non-elective admissions in the UK have increased significantly. Taking into account limited resources (i.e. beds), the related service managers are obliged to manage their resources effectively due to the non-elective admissions which are mostly admitted to inpatient specialities via A&E departments. Geriatric medicine is one of specialities that have long length of stay for the non-elective admissions. This study aims to develop a discrete event simulation model to understand how possible increases on non-elective demand over the next 12 months affect the bed occupancy rate and to determine required number of beds in a geriatric medicine speciality in a UK hospital. In our validated simulation model, we take into account observed frequency distributions which are derived from a big data covering the period April, 2009 to January, 2013, for the non-elective admission and the length of stay. An experimental analysis, which consists of 16 experiments, is carried out to better understand possible effects of case studies and scenarios related to increase on demand and number of bed. As a result, the speciality does not achieve the target level in the base model although the bed occupancy rate decreases from 125.94% to 96.41% by increasing the number of beds by 30%. In addition, the number of required beds is more than the number of beds considered in the scenario analysis in order to meet the bed requirement. This paper sheds light on bed management for service managers in geriatric medicine specialities.

Keywords: Bed management, bed occupancy rate, discrete event simulation, geriatric medicine, non-elective admission.

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Authors: Seham El Kareh, Miramar Etman

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Recently, detecting liars and extracting features which distinguish them from truth-tellers have been the focus of a wide range of disciplines. To the author’s best knowledge, most of the work has been done on facial expressions and body gestures but only few works have been done on the language used by both liars and truth-tellers. This paper sheds light on four axes. The first axis copes with building an audio corpus for deceptive and truthful speech for Egyptian Arabic speakers. The second axis focuses on examining the human perception of lies and proving our need for computational linguistic-based methods to extract features which characterize truthful and deceptive speech. The third axis is concerned with building a linguistic analysis program that could extract from the corpus the inter- and intra-linguistic cues for deceptive and truthful speech. The program built here is based on selected categories from the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count program. Our results demonstrated that Egyptian Arabic speakers on one hand preferred to use first-person pronouns and present tense compared to the past tense when lying and their lies lacked of second-person pronouns, and on the other hand, when telling the truth, they preferred to use the verbs related to motion and the nouns related to time. The results also showed that there is a need for bigger data to prove the significance of words related to emotions and numbers.

Keywords: Egyptian Arabic corpus, computational analysis, deceptive features, forensic linguistics, human perception, truthful features.

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Authors: Chan Eang Teng, Tang Mui Joo

Abstract:

In the beginning of the prevalence of social media, it would be an obvious trend that the young adult age group has the highest population among the users on social media. However, apart from the age group of the users are becoming younger and younger, the elderly group has become a new force on social media, and this age group has increased rapidly. On top of that, the influence of social media towards the elderly is becoming more significant and it is even trending among them. This is because basic computer knowledge is not instilled into their life when they were young. This age group tends to be engrossed more than the young as this is something new for them, and they have the mindset that it is a new platform to approach things, and they tend to be more engrossed when they start getting in touch with the social media. Generally, most of the social media has been accepted and accessed by teenagers and young adult, but it is reasonable to believe that the social media is not really accepted among the elderly. Surprisingly, the elderlies are more addicted to the social media than the teenagers. Therefore, this study is to determine and understand the relationship between the elderly and social media, and how they employ social media in their lives. An online survey on 200 elderly aged 45-80 and an interview with a media expert are conducted to answer the main questions in the research paper. Uses and Gratification Approach is employed in theoretical framework. Finding revealed that majority of the respondents use social media to connect with family, friends, and for leisure purposes. The finding concluded that the elderly use social media differently according to their needs and wants which is in par with the highlight of Uses and Gratification theory. Considering the significantly large role social media plays in our culture and daily life today, the finding will shed some light on the effect of social media on the elderly or senior citizens who are usually relegated into a minority group in today’s age where the internet and social media are of great importance to our society and humanity in general. This may also serve to be useful in understanding behavioral patterns and preference in terms of social media usage among the elderly.

Keywords: Elderly, Facebook, Malaysia, social media.

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Authors: Atif Mehmood, Said M. Easa

Abstract:

This paper develops driver reaction-time models for car-following analysis based on human factors. The reaction time was classified as brake-reaction time (BRT) and acceleration/deceleration reaction time (ADRT). The BRT occurs when the lead vehicle is barking and its brake light is on, while the ADRT occurs when the driver reacts to adjust his/her speed using the gas pedal only. The study evaluates the effect of driver characteristics and traffic kinematic conditions on the driver reaction time in a car-following environment. The kinematic conditions introduced urgency and expectancy based on the braking behaviour of the lead vehicle at different speeds and spacing. The kinematic conditions were used for evaluating the BRT and are classified as normal, surprised, and stationary. Data were collected on a driving simulator integrated into a real car and included the BRT and ADRT (as dependent variables) and driver-s age, gender, driving experience, driving intensity (driving hours per week), vehicle speed, and spacing (as independent variables). The results showed that there was a significant difference in the BRT at normal, surprised, and stationary scenarios and supported the hypothesis that both urgency and expectancy had significant effects on BRT. Driver-s age, gender, speed, and spacing were found to be significant variables for the BRT in all scenarios. The results also showed that driver-s age and gender were significant variables for the ADRT. The research presented in this paper is part of a larger project to develop a driversensitive in-vehicle rear-end collision warning system.

Keywords: Brake reaction time, car-following, human factors, modeling.

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