Search results for: primary User (PU)

Authors: Merve Sezer, Ismail Sahin, Ahmet Oguz Akturk

Abstract:

With the use of developing technology, mostly in communication and entertainment, students spend considerable time on the Internet. In addition to the advantages provided by the Internet, social isolation brings problems such as addiction. This is one of the problems of the virtual violence. Cyber bullying is the common name of the intensities which students are exposed on the Internet. The purpose of this study designed as a qualitative research is to find out the cyber bullying varieties and its effects on elementary school students. The participants of this research are 6^th, 7^th and 8^th grade students of a primary school and 24 students agreed to participate in the study. The students were asked to fill an interview with semi-structured open-ended questions. According to the results obtained in the research, the most important statements determined by the participants are breaking passwords on social networking sites, slang insult to blasphemy and taking friendship offers from unfamiliar people. According to participants from the research, the most used techniques to prevent themselves from cyber bullying are to complain to the site administrator, closing accounts on social networking sites and countercharging. Also, suggestions were presented according to the findings.

Keywords: Bullying, cyber-bullying, elementary, peer-relationship, virtual victimization.

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Authors: Atif Elahi, Ijaz Mansoor Qureshi, Mehreen Atif, Noor Gul

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Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is one of the best candidates for dynamic spectrum access due to its flexibility of spectrum shaping. However, the high sidelobes of the OFDM signal that result in high out-of-band radiation, introduce significant interference to the users operating in its vicinity. This problem becomes more critical in cognitive radio (CR) system that enables the secondary users (SUs) users to access the spectrum holes not used by the primary users (PUs) at that time. In this paper, we present a generalized OFDM framework that has a capability of describing any sidelobe suppression techniques, despite of whether one or a number of techniques are used. Based on that framework, we propose cancellation carrier (CC) technique in conjunction with the generalized sidelobe canceller (GSC) to reduce the out-of-band radiation in the region where the licensed users are operating. Simulation results show that the proposed technique can reduce the out-of-band radiation better when compared with the existing techniques found in the literature.

Keywords: Cognitive radio, cancellation carriers, generalized sidelobe canceller, out-of-band radiation, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing.

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Authors: Devanjan Bhattacharya, Jitka Komarkova

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The research describes the implementation of a novel and stand-alone system for dynamic hazard warning. The system uses all existing infrastructure already in place like mobile networks, a laptop/PC and the small installation software. The geospatial dataset are the maps of a region which are again frugal. Hence there is no need to invest and it reaches everyone with a mobile. A novel architecture of hazard assessment and warning introduced where major technologies in ICT interfaced to give a unique WebGIS based dynamic real time geohazard warning communication system. A never before architecture introduced for integrating WebGIS with telecommunication technology. Existing technologies interfaced in a novel architectural design to address a neglected domain in a way never done before – through dynamically updatable WebGIS based warning communication. The work publishes new architecture and novelty in addressing hazard warning techniques in sustainable way and user friendly manner. Coupling of hazard zonation and hazard warning procedures into a single system has been shown. Generalized architecture for deciphering a range of geo-hazards has been developed. Hence the developmental work presented here can be summarized as the development of internet-SMS based automated geo-hazard warning communication system; integrating a warning communication system with a hazard evaluation system; interfacing different open-source technologies towards design and development of a warning system; modularization of different technologies towards development of a warning communication system; automated data creation, transformation and dissemination over different interfaces. The architecture of the developed warning system has been functionally automated as well as generalized enough that can be used for any hazard and setup requirement has been kept to a minimum.

Keywords: Geospatial, web-based GIS, geohazard, warning system.

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Authors: C. Schulz-Herzenberg

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Due to the legacy of apartheid segregation South Africa remains a divided society where most voters live in politically homogenous social environments. This paper argues that political discussion within one’s social context plays a primary role in shaping political attitudes and vote choice. Using data from the Comparative National Elections Project 2004 and 2009 South African post-election surveys, the paper explores the extent of social context partisan homogeneity in South Africa and finds that voters are not overly embedded in homogenous social contexts. It then demonstrates the consequences of partisan homogeneity on voting behavior. Homogenous social contexts tend to encourage stronger partisan loyalties and fewer defections in vote choice while voters in more heterogeneous contexts show less consistency in their attitudes and behaviour. Finally, the analysis shows how momentous sociopolitical events at the time of a particular election can change the social context, with important consequences for electoral outcomes.

Keywords: Political communication, social context, South Africa, voting behaviour.

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Authors: E. M. Vieira, C. S. Vieira, L. P. Bonifácio, L. M. de Oliveira Ciabati, A. C. A. Franzon, F. S. Zaratini, J. A. C. Sanchez, M. S. Andrade, J. P. Dias de Souza

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The quality of prenatal care is key to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality. Communication between the health service and users can stimulate prevention and care. M-health has been an important and low cost strategy to health education. The PRENACEL programme (prenatal in the cell phone) was developed. It consists of a programme of information via SMS from the 20^th week of pregnancy up to 12^th week after delivery. Messages were about prenatal care, birth, contraception and breastfeeding. Communication of the pregnant woman asking questions about their health was possible. The objective of this study was to evaluate the implementation of PRENACEL as a useful complement to the standard prenatal care. Twenty health clinics were selected and randomized by cluster, 10 as the intervention group and 10 as the control group. In the intervention group, women and their partner were invited to participate. The control group received the standard prenatal care. All women were interviewed in the immediate post-partum and in the 12^th and 24^th week post-partum. Most women were married, had more than 8 years of schooling and visit the clinic more than 6 times during prenatal care. The intervention group presented lowest percentage of higher economic participants (5.6%), less single mothers and no drug user. It also presented more prenatal care visits than the control group and it was less likely to present Severe Acute Maternal Mortality when compared to control group as well as higher percentage of partners (75.4%) was present at the birth compared to control group. Although the study is still being carried out, preliminary data are showing positive results of the compliance of women to prenatal care.

Keywords: Cellphone, health technology, prenatal care, prevention.

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Authors: Ali Raad Hassan, G. Thanigaiyarasu, V. Ramamurti

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Natural frequencies and dynamic response of a spur gear sector are investigated using a two dimensional finite element model that offers significant advantages for dynamic gear analyses. The gear teeth are analyzed for different operating speeds. A primary feature of this modeling is determination of mesh forces using a detailed contact analysis for each time step as the gears roll through the mesh. Transient mode super position method has been used to find horizontal and vertical components of displacement and dynamic stress. The finite element analysis software ANSYS has been used on the proposed model to find the natural frequencies by Block Lanczos technique and displacements and dynamic stresses by transient mode super position method. A comparison of theoretical (natural frequency and static stress) results with the finite element analysis results has also been done. The effect of rotational speed of the gears on the dynamic response of gear tooth has been studied and design limits have been discussed.

Keywords: Natural frequency, Modal and transientanalysis, Spur gear, Dynamic stress.

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Authors: Takeshi Takeda

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The author conducted post-test analysis with the RELAP5/MOD3.3 code for an experiment using the ROSA/LSTF (rig of safety assessment/large-scale test facility) that simulated a 1% cold leg small-break loss-of-coolant accident under the failure of scram in a pressurized water reactor. The LSTF test assumed total failure of high-pressure injection system of emergency core cooling system. In the LSTF test, natural circulation contributed to maintain core cooling effect for a relatively long time until core uncovery occurred. The post-test analysis result confirmed inadequate prediction of the primary coolant distribution. The author created the phenomena identification and ranking table (PIRT) for each component. The author investigated the influences of uncertain parameters determined by the PIRT on the cladding surface temperature at a certain time during core uncovery within the defined uncertain ranges.

Keywords: LSTF, LOCA, scram, RELAP5.

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Authors: Jeries J. Abou-Hanna

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Several techniques exist for determining stress-intensity factors in linear elastic fracture mechanics analysis. These techniques are based on analytical, numerical, and empirical approaches that have been well documented in literature and engineering handbooks. However, not all techniques share the same merit. In addition to overly-conservative results, the numerical methods that require extensive computational effort, and those requiring copious user parameters hinder practicing engineers from efficiently evaluating stress-intensity factors. This paper investigates the prospects of reducing the complexity and required variables to determine stress-intensity factors through the utilization of the stress gradient and a weighting function. The heart of this work resides in the understanding that fracture emanating from stress concentration locations cannot be explained by a single maximum stress value approach, but requires use of a critical volume in which the crack exists. In order to understand the effectiveness of this technique, this study investigated components of different notch geometry and varying levels of stress gradients. Two forms of weighting functions were employed to determine stress-intensity factors and results were compared to analytical exact methods. The results indicated that the “exponential” weighting function was superior to the “absolute” weighting function. An error band +/- 10% was met for cases ranging from a steep stress gradient in a sharp v-notch to the less severe stress transitions of a large circular notch. The incorporation of the proposed method has shown to be a worthwhile consideration.

Keywords: Fracture mechanics, finite element method, stress intensity factor, stress gradient.

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Authors: Endrick Barnacin, Jean-Luc Henry, Jack Molinié, Jimmy Nagau, Hélène Delatte, Gérard Lebreton

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Palynology is a field of interest for many disciplines. It has multiple applications such as chronological dating, climatology, allergy treatment, and even honey characterization. Unfortunately, the analysis of a pollen slide is a complicated and time-consuming task that requires the intervention of experts in the field, which is becoming increasingly rare due to economic and social conditions. So, the automation of this task is a necessity. Pollen slides analysis is mainly a visual process as it is carried out with the naked eye. That is the reason why a primary method to automate palynology is the use of digital image processing. This method presents the lowest cost and has relatively good accuracy in pollen retrieval. In this work, we propose a system combining recognition and grouping of pollen. It consists of using a Logistic Model Tree to classify pollen already known by the proposed system while detecting any unknown species. Then, the unknown pollen species are divided using a cluster-based approach. Success rates for the recognition of known species have been achieved, and automated clustering seems to be a promising approach.

Keywords: Pollen recognition, logistic model tree, expectation-maximization, local binary pattern.

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Authors: Parvinder Singh Sandhu, Dalwinder Singh Salaria, Hardeep Singh

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Software Reusability is primary attribute of software quality. There are metrics for identifying the quality of reusable components but the function that makes use of these metrics to find reusability of software components is still not clear. These metrics if identified in the design phase or even in the coding phase can help us to reduce the rework by improving quality of reuse of the component and hence improve the productivity due to probabilistic increase in the reuse level. In this paper, we have devised the framework of metrics that uses McCabe-s Cyclometric Complexity Measure for Complexity measurement, Regularity Metric, Halstead Software Science Indicator for Volume indication, Reuse Frequency metric and Coupling Metric values of the software component as input attributes and calculated reusability of the software component. Here, comparative analysis of the fuzzy, Neuro-fuzzy and Fuzzy-GA approaches is performed to evaluate the reusability of software components and Fuzzy-GA results outperform the other used approaches. The developed reusability model has produced high precision results as expected by the human experts.

Keywords: Software Reusability, Software Metrics, Neural Networks, Genetic Algorithm, Fuzzy Logic.

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Authors: C. S. Caires, A. Barbosa, W. Hanyou

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In this paper, we present the main results achieved during a five-week international workshop on Interactive Furniture for the Classroom, with 22 Chinese design students, in Jiangmen city (Guangdong province, China), and five teachers from Portugal, France, Iran, Macao SAR, and China. The main goal was to engage design students from China with new skills and practice methodologies towards interactive design research for furniture and product design for the classroom. The final results demonstrate students' concerns on improving Chinese furniture design for the classrooms, including solutions related to collaborative learning and human-interaction design for interactive furniture products. The findings of the research led students to the fabrication of five original prototypes: two for kindergartens ('Candy' and 'Tilt-tilt'), two for primary schools ('Closer' and 'Eks(x)'), and one for art/creative schools ('Wave'). From the findings, it was also clear that collaboration, personalization, and project-based teaching are still neglected when designing furniture products for the classroom in China. Students focused on these issues and came up with creative solutions that could transform this educational field in China.

Keywords: Product design, interface design, interactive design, collaborative education and design research, design prototyping.

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Authors: M. Venkatesan, N. Shenbaga Vinayaga Moorthi, R. Karthikeyan, A. Manivannan

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Homogeneous Charge Compression (HCCI) Ignition technology has been around for a long time, but has recently received renewed attention and enthusiasm. This paper deals with experimental investigations of HCCI engine using hydrous methanol as a primary fuel and Dimethyl Ether (DME) as an ignition improver. A regular diesel engine has been modified to work as HCCI engine for this investigation. The hydrous methanol is inducted and DME is injected into a single cylinder engine. Hence, hydrous methanol is used with 15% water content in HCCI engine and its performance and emission behavior is documented. The auto-ignition of Methanol is enabled by DME. The quantity of DME varies with respect to the load. In this study, the experiments are conducted independently and the effect of the hydrous methanol on the engine operating limit, heat release rate and exhaust emissions at different load conditions are investigated. The investigation also proves that the Hydrous Methanol with DME operation reduces the oxides of Nitrogen and smoke to an extreme low level which is not possible by the direct injection CI engine. Therefore, it is beneficial to use hydrous methanol-DME HCCI mode while using hydrous methanol in internal Combustion Engines.

Keywords: Hydrous Methanol, Dimethyl ether, Performance, Emission and Combustion.

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Authors: Francesca Radice

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It has been observed that violent or coercive behaviour has been apparent from initial conversations on dating apps like Tinder. Child pornography, stalking, and coercive control are some criminal offences from dating apps, including women murdered after finding partners through Tinder. Police databases and predictive policing are novel approaches taken to prevent crime before harm is done. This research will investigate how police databases can be used in a privacy-preserving way to characterise users in terms of their potential for violent crime. Using the COPS database of NSW Police, we will explore how the past criminal record can be interpreted to yield a category of potential danger for each dating app user. It is up to the judgement of each subscriber on what degree of the potential danger they are prepared to enter into. Sentiment analysis is an area where research into natural language processing has made great progress over the last decade. This research will investigate how sentiment analysis can be used to interpret interchanges between dating app users to detect manipulative or coercive sentiments. These can be used to alert law enforcement if continued for a defined number of communications. One of the potential problems of this approach is the potential prejudice a categorisation can cause. Another drawback is the possibility of misinterpreting communications and involving law enforcement without reason. The approach will be thoroughly tested with cross-checks by human readers who verify both the level of danger predicted by the interpretation of the criminal record and the sentiment detected from personal messages. Even if only a few violent crimes can be prevented, the approach will have a tangible value for real people.

Keywords: Sentiment Analysis, data mining, predictive policing, virtual manipulation.

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Authors: Trapond Hiransalee

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The technology of mobile devices has changed our daily lives. Since smartphone have become a multi-functional device, many people spend unnecessary time on them, and could be interrupted by inappropriate notifications such as unimportant messages from social media. Notifications from smartphone could draw people’s attention and distract them from their priorities and current tasks. This research investigated that if the users were notified by their surroundings instead of smartphone, would it create less distraction and keep their focus on the present task. The experiment was a simulation of a lamp and door notification. Notifications related to work will be embedded in the lamp such as an email from a colleague. A notification that is useful when going outside such as weather information, traffic information, and schedule reminder will be embedded in the door. The experiment was conducted by sending notifications to the participant while he or she was working on a primary task and the working performance was measured. The results show that the lamp notification had fewer interruption effects than the smartphone. For the door notification, it was simulated in order to gain opinions and insights on ambient notifications from participants. Many participants agreed that the ambient notifications are useful and being informed by them could lessen the usage of their smartphone. The results and insights from this research could be used to guide the design process of ambient notifications.

Keywords: HCI, Interaction, Interaction design, Usability testing.

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Authors: Jean François Chatelain, Imed Zaghbani, Joseph Monier

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The machining of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics has come to constitute a significant challenge for many fields of industry. The resulting surface finish of machined parts is of primary concern for several reasons, including contact quality and impact on the assembly. Therefore, the characterization and prediction of roughness based on machining parameters are crucial for costeffective operations. In this study, a PCD tool comprised of two straight flutes was used to trim 32-ply carbon fiber laminates in a bid to analyze the effects of the feed rate and the cutting speed on the surface roughness. The results show that while the speed has but a slight impact on the surface finish, the feed rate for its part affects it strongly. A detailed study was also conducted on the effect of fiber orientation on surface roughness, for quasi-isotropic laminates used in aerospace. The resulting roughness profiles for the four-ply orientation lay-up were compared, and it was found that fiber angle is a critical parameter relating to surface roughness. One of the four orientations studied led to very poor surface finishes, and characteristic roughness profiles were identified and found to only relate to the ply orientations of multilayer carbon fiber laminates.

Keywords: Roughness, Detouring, Composites, Aerospace

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Authors: Wafa Labib

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Teaching methods include lectures, workshops and tutorials for the presentation and discussion of ideas have become out of date; were developed outside the discipline of architecture from the college of engineering and do not satisfy the architectural students’ needs and causes them many difficulties in integrating structure into their design. In an attempt to improve structure teaching methods, this paper focused upon proposing a supportive teaching/learning tool using multi-media applications which seeks to better meet the architecture student’s needs and capabilities and improve the understanding and application of basic and intermediate structural engineering and technology principles. Before introducing the use of multi-media as a supportive teaching tool, a questionnaire was distributed to third year students of a structural design course who were selected as a sample to be surveyed forming a sample of 90 cases. The primary aim of the questionnaire was to identify the students’ learning style and to investigate whether the selected method of teaching could make the teaching and learning process more efficient. Students’ reaction on the use of this method was measured using three key elements indicating that this method is an appropriate teaching method for the nature of the students and the course as well.

Keywords: Teaching Method, Architecture, Learning style, Multi-Media.

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Authors: Mohamed Haffar, Lombe Ngome Enongene, Mohammed Hamdan, Gbolahan Gbadamosi

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Despite the considerable body of literature investigating the influence of National Culture (NC) dimensions on consumer behaviour, there is a lack of studies comparing the influence of NC in Africa with Western European countries. This study is intended to fill the vacuum in knowledge by exploring how NC affects consumer buyer behavior in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. The primary data were collected through in depth, semi-structured interviews conducted with three groups of individuals: British students, Nigerian students in the United Kingdom, and Nigerian-based students. This approach and new frontier to analyze culture and consumer behaviour could help understand residual cultural threads of people (that are ingrained in their being) irrespective of exposure to other cultures. The findings of this study show that Nigerian and British consumers differ remarkably in cultural orientations such as symbols, values and psychological standpoints. This ultimately affects the choices made at every stage of the decision building process, and proves beneficial for international retail marketing.

Keywords: National culture, consumer behaviour, international business, Nigeria, UK.

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Authors: J. Palán, M. Zemko

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COMTES FHT has been active in a field of research and development of high-strength wires for quite some time. The main material was pure titanium. The primary goal of this effort is to develop a continuous production process for ultrafine and nanostructured materials with the aid of severe plastic deformation (SPD). This article outlines mechanical and microstructural properties of the materials and the options available for testing the components made of these materials. Ti Grade 2 and Grade 4 wires are the key products of interest. Ti Grade 2 with ultrafine to nano-sized grain shows ultimate strength of up to 1050 MPa. Ti Grade 4 reaches ultimate strengths of up to 1250 MPa. These values are twice or three times as higher as those found in the unprocessed material. For those fields of medicine where implantable metallic materials are used, bulk ultrafine to nanostructured titanium is available. It is manufactured by SPD techniques. These processes leave the chemical properties of the initial material unchanged but markedly improve its final mechanical properties, in particular, the strength. Ultrafine to nanostructured titanium retains all the significant and, from the biological viewpoint, desirable properties that are important for its use in medicine, i.e. those properties which made pure titanium the preferred material also for dental implants.

Keywords: CONFORM SPD, ECAP, titanium, rotary swaging.

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Authors: Eftah Bte. Moh Hj Abdullah, Izazol Binti Idris, Abd Aziz Bin Abd Shukor

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This study aims to identify the understanding expectations of school administrators concerning school assessment. The researcher utilized a qualitative descriptive study on 19 administrators from three secondary schools in the North Kinta district. The respondents had been interviewed on their understanding expectations of school assessment using the focus group discussion method. Overall findings showed that the administrators’ understanding expectations of school assessment was weak; especially in terms of content focus, articulation across age and grade, transparency and fairness, as well as the pedagogical implications. Findings from interviews indicated that administrators explained their understanding expectations of school assessment from the aspect of school management, and not from the aspect of instructional leadership or specifically as assessment leaders. The study implications from the administrators’ understanding expectations may hint at the difficulty of the administrators to function as assessment leaders, in order to reduce their focus as manager, and move towards their primary role in the process of teaching and learning. The administrator, as assessment leaders, would be able to reach assessment goals via collaboration in identifying and listing teacher assessment competencies, how to construct assessment capacity, how to interpret assessment correctly, the use of assessment and how to use assessment information to communicate confidently and effectively to the public.

Keywords: Assessment leaders, assessment goals, instructional leadership, understanding expectation of assessment.

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Authors: A. S. Telang, P. P. Bedekar

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In today’s world, electrical energy has become an indispensable component of all aspects of modern human life. Reliability, security and stability are the key aspects of any power system. Failure to meet any of these three aspects results into a great impediment to modern life. Modern power systems are being subjected to heavily stressed conditions leading to voltage stability problems. If the voltage stability problems are not mitigated properly through proper voltage stability assessment methods, cascading events may occur which may lead to voltage collapse or blackout events. Modern FACTS devices like STATCOM are one of the measures to overcome the blackout problems. As these devices are very costly, they must be installed properly at suitable locations, mostly at weak bus. Line voltage stability indices such as FVSI, Lmn and LQP play important role for identification of a weak bus. This paper presents evaluation of these line stability indices for the assessment of reliable information about the closeness of the power system to voltage collapse. PSAT is a user-friendly MATLAB toolbox, of which CPF is an important feature which has been extensively used for the placement of STATCOM to assess the stability. Novelty of the present research work lies in that the active and reactive load has been changed simultaneously at all the load buses under consideration. MATLAB code has been developed for the same and tested successfully on various standard IEEE test systems. The results for standard IEEE14 bus test system, specifically, are presented in this paper.

Keywords: Voltage stability analysis, voltage collapse, PSAT, CPF, VSI, FVSI, Lmn, LQP.

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Authors: Rashid A. Fayadh, F. Malek, Hilal A. Fadhil, Norshafinash Saudin

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At receiving high data rate in ultra wideband (UWB) technology for many users, there are multiple user interference and inter-symbol interference as obstacles in the multi-path reception technique. Since the rake receivers were designed to collect many resolvable paths, even more than hundred of paths. Rake receiver implementation structures have been proposed towards increasing the complexity for getting better performances in indoor or outdoor multi-path receivers by reducing the bit error rate (BER). So several rake structures were proposed in the past to reduce the number of combining and estimating of resolvable paths. To this aim, we suggested two improved rake receivers based on signal sign separation in the maximal ratio combiner (MRC), called positive-negative MRC selective rake (P-N/MRC-S-rake) and positive-negative MRC partial rake (P-N/MRC-S-rake) receivers. These receivers were introduced to reduce the complexity with less number of fingers and improving the performance with low BER. Before decision circuit, there is a comparator to compare between positive quantity and negative quantity to decide whether the transmitted bit is 1 or 0. The BER was driven by MATLAB simulation with multi-path environments for impulse radio time-hopping binary phase shift keying (TH-BPSK) modulation and the results were compared with those of conventional rake receivers.

Keywords: Selective and partial rake receivers, positive and negative signal separation, maximal ratio combiner, bit error rate performance.

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Authors: Gaurav Kumar, Rakesh Kumar Bajaj

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The primary objective of the paper is to propose a new method for solving assignment problem under uncertain situation. In the classical assignment problem (AP), z_pqdenotes the cost for assigning the qth job to the pth person which is deterministic in nature. Here in some uncertain situation, we have assigned a cost in the form of composite relative degree F_pq instead of  and this replaced cost is in the maximization form. In this paper, it has been solved and validated by the two proposed algorithms, a new mathematical formulation of IVIF assignment problem has been presented where the cost has been considered to be an IVIFN and the membership of elements in the set can be explained by positive and negative evidences. To determine the composite relative degree of similarity of IVIFS the concept of similarity measure and the score function is used for validating the solution which is obtained by Composite relative similarity degree method. Further, hypothetical numeric illusion is conducted to clarify the method’s effectiveness and feasibility developed in the study. Finally, conclusion and suggestion for future work are also proposed.

Keywords: Assignment problem, Interval-valued Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets, Similarity Measures, score function.

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Authors: Hao He, Shaoqian Li

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In this paper, we study the cooperative communications where multiple cognitive radio (CR) transmit-receive pairs competitive maximize their own throughputs. In CR networks, the influences of primary users and the spectrum availability are usually different among CR users. Due to the existence of multiple relay nodes and the different spectrum availability, each CR transmit-receive pair should not only select the relay node but also choose the appropriate channel. For this distributed problem, we propose a game theoretic framework to formulate this problem and we apply a regret-matching learning algorithm which is leading to correlated equilibrium. We further formulate a modified regret-matching learning algorithm which is fully distributed and only use the local information of each CR transmit-receive pair. This modified algorithm is more practical and suitable for the cooperative communications in CR network. Simulation results show the algorithm convergence and the modified learning algorithm can achieve comparable performance to the original regretmatching learning algorithm.

Keywords: cognitive radio, cooperative communication, relay selection, channel choice, regret-matching learning, correlated equilibrium.

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Authors: Philomena Ibuh Adzongo, Margaret U. Oluwole, Justina Nguveren Jor.

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This paper investigated the need for the development of entrepreneurial skills for Benue State University students. The population consisted of all 1,500 final year students in Benue State University. A sample of 100 students was selected using simple random sampling. A 12-item self-constructed and content validated questionnaire by research experts titled, the Need for the Development of Entrepreneurial Skills in Benue State University Students (NDECBSUS) was used to collect the data. The questionnaire items were rated using a 4-point modified rating scale of Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree and Strongly Disagree, assigned the following scores of 4,3,2 and 1, respectively. The questionnaire was administered by the researcher with the help of two research assistants through the primary source. Simple percentages and chi-square were used to answer the research questions and test the hypotheses, respectively. The findings revealed that in business management, business management skills, personal skills, and technical skills need to be developed in students for them to become effective and efficient entrepreneurs and concluded that the acquisition of these skills will reduce the challenge of unemployment. The study recommended that funds should be made available by all education stakeholders for such programmes to remain functional.

Keywords: Entrepreneurial skill, entrepreneurship, need for development, university students.

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Authors: Martin H¨ausl, Maximilian Auch, Johannes Forster, Peter Mandl, Alexander Schill

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In order to survive on the market, companies must constantly develop improved and new products. These products are designed to serve the needs of their customers in the best possible way. The creation of new products is also called innovation and is primarily driven by a company’s internal research and development department. However, a new approach has been taking place for some years now, involving external knowledge in the innovation process. This approach is called open innovation and identifies customer knowledge as the most important source in the innovation process. This paper presents a concept of using social media posts as an external source to support the open innovation approach in its initial phase, the Ideation phase. For this purpose, the social media posts are semantically structured with the help of an ontology and the authors are evaluated using graph-theoretical metrics such as density. For the structuring and evaluation of relevant social media posts, we also use the findings of Natural Language Processing, e. g. Named Entity Recognition, specific dictionaries, Triple Tagger and Part-of-Speech-Tagger. The selection and evaluation of the tools used are discussed in this paper. Using our ontology and metrics to structure social media posts enables users to semantically search these posts for new product ideas and thus gain an improved insight into the external sources such as customer needs.

Keywords: Idea ontology, innovation management, open innovation, semantic search.

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Authors: N. R. P Withana, E. Auch

Abstract:

The purpose of this study was to investigate perceptions of climate change risk to forest ecosystems and forestbased communities as well as perceived effectiveness of adaptation strategies for climate change as well as challenges for adaptation. Data was gathered using a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire. Simple random selection technique was applied. For the majority of issues, the responses were obtained on multi-point likert scales, and the scores provided were, in turn, used to estimate the means and other useful estimates. A composite knowledge index developed using correct responses to a set of self-rated statements were used to evaluate the issues. The mean of the knowledge index was 0.64. Also all respondents recorded values of the knowledge index above 0.25. Increase forest fire was perceived by respondents as the greatest risk to forest eco-system. Decrease access to water supplies was perceived as the greatest risk to livelihoods of forest based communities. The most effective adaptation strategy relevant to climate change risks to forest eco-systems and forest based communities livelihoods in Kathmandu valley in Nepal as perceived by the respondents was reforestation and afforestation. As well, lack of public awareness was perceived as the major limitation for climate change adaptation. However, perceived risks as well as effective adaptation strategies showed an inconsistent association with knowledge indicators and social-cultural variables. The results provide useful information to any party who involve with climate change issues in Nepal, since such attempts would be more effective once the people’s perceptions on these aspects are taken into account.

Keywords: Climate change, forest ecosystems, forest-based communities, risk perceptions.

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Authors: M. Iommi, G. Losco

Abstract:

Current building sector is focused on reduction of energy requirements, on renewable energy generation and on regeneration of existing urban areas. These targets need to be solved with a systemic approach, considering several aspects simultaneously such as climate conditions, lighting conditions, solar radiation, PV potential, etc. The solar access analysis is an already known method to analyze the solar potentials, but in current years, simulation tools have provided more effective opportunities to perform this type of analysis, in particular in the early design stage. Nowadays, the study of the solar access is related to the easiness of the use of simulation tools, in rapid and easy way, during the design process. This study presents a comparison of three simulation tools, from the point of view of the user, with the aim to highlight differences in the easy-to-use of these tools. Using a real urban context as case study, three tools; Ecotect, Townscope and Heliodon, are tested, performing models and simulations and examining the capabilities and output results of solar access analysis. The evaluation of the ease-to-use of these tools is based on some detected parameters and features, such as the types of simulation, requirements of input data, types of results, etc. As a result, a framework is provided in which features and capabilities of each tool are shown. This framework shows the differences among these tools about functions, features and capabilities. The aim of this study is to support users and to improve the integration of simulation tools for solar access with the design process.

Keywords: Solar access analysis, energy building design tools, urban planning, solar potential.

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Authors: Salem Alsanusi

Abstract:

A self-compacting concrete (SCC) is the one that can be placed in the form and can go through obstructions by its own weight and without the need of vibration. Since its first development in Japan in 1988, SCC has gained wider acceptance in Japan, Europe and USA due to its inherent distinct advantages. Although there are visible signs of its gradual acceptance in the North Africa through its limited use in construction, Libya has yet to explore the feasibility and applicability of SCC in new construction. The contributing factors to this reluctance appear to be lack of any supportive evidence of its suitability with local aggregates and the harsh environmental conditions. The primary aim of this study is to explore the feasibility of using SCC made with local aggregates of Eastern Province of Libya by examining its basic properties characteristics. This research consists of: (i) Development of a suitable mix for SCC such as the effect of water to cement ratio, limestone and silica fume that would satisfy the requirements of the plastic state; (ii) Casting of concrete samples and testing them for compressive strength and unit weight. Local aggregates, cement, admixtures and industrial waste materials were used in this research. The significance of this research lies in its attempt to provide some performance data of SCC made in the Eastern Province of Libya so as to draw attention to the possible use of SCC.

Keywords: Silica fume, self compacting concrete, workability, coarse and fine aggregate.

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Authors: A. Jabbari, M. Shakeri, A. Nabavi

Abstract:

In this paper, a tooth shape optimization method for cogging torque reduction in Permanent Magnet (PM) motors is developed by using the Reduced Basis Technique (RBT) coupled by Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Design of Experiments (DOE) methods. The primary objective of the method is to reduce the enormous number of design variables required to define the tooth shape. RBT is a weighted combination of several basis shapes. The aim of the method is to find the best combination using the weights for each tooth shape as the design variables. A multi-level design process is developed to find suitable basis shapes or trial shapes at each level that can be used in the reduced basis technique. Each level is treated as a separated optimization problem until the required objective – minimum cogging torque – is achieved. The process is started with geometrically simple basis shapes that are defined by their shape co-ordinates. The experimental design of Taguchi method is used to build the approximation model and to perform optimization. This method is demonstrated on the tooth shape optimization of a 8-poles/12-slots PM motor.

Keywords: PM motor, cogging torque, tooth shape optimization, RBT, FEA, DOE.

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Authors: Haider M. Giasuddin, Jay G. Sanjayan, P. G. Ranjith

Abstract:

Geopolymer cement was evaluated as wellbore sealing material for carbon dioxide geosequestration application. Curing of cement system in saline water and strength testing in triaxial stress state condition under lateral confinement is relevant to primary cementing in CO2 geosequestration wellbore in saline aquifer. Geopolymer cement was cured in saline water (both at ambient conditions for 28 days and heated (60°C) conditions for 12 hours) and tested for triaxial strength at different levels of lateral confinement. Normal water and few other curing techniques were also studied both for geopolymer and API ‘G’ cement. Results reported were compared to evaluate the suitability of saline water for curing of geopolymer cement. Unconfined compression test results showed higher strength for curing in saline water than normal water. Besides, testing strength under lateral confinement demonstrated the material failure behavior from brittle to plastic.

Keywords: Fly ash, Geopolymer, Geosequestration, Saline water, Strength, Traiaxial test.

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