Search results for: A2212 brushless direct current motor

Authors: Bozena Dohnalkova, Jakub Hodul, Rostislav Drochytka, Jana Kosikova

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This paper deals with a proposal of a new methodology for durability assessment of solidification product for its safe further use. The new methodology is based on a review of the current state of assessment of treated waste in Czech Republic and abroad. The aim of the paper is to propose an optimal evaluation methodology for verifying properties of solidification product to ensure its safe further use in building industry.

Keywords: Solidification/stabilization, durability, waste.

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Authors: Marie Paseková, Jiří Strouhal, Lehte Alver, Arturs Praulinš

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During last decades is widely discussed the international harmonization of financial reporting. This harmonization is also affected by national tax systems in analyzed countries. This paper provides some evidence on current national tax systems in selected countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The linkage of accounting profit as a tax base might decrease the administrative burden for majority of SMEs, which are the most important engine of each national economy.

Keywords: International harmonization, tax system, SMEs, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia

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Authors: K. Bashirnezhad, M. Joleini

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The combustion chamber dimensions have important effects on pollutant emission in furnaces as a direct result of temperature distribution and maximum temperature value. In this paper the pollutant emission and the temperature distribution in two cylindrical furnaces with different dimensions (with similar length to diameter ratio) in similar condition have been investigated experimentally. The furnace fuel is gas oil that is used with three different flow rates. The results show that in these two cases the temperature increases to its maximum value quickly, and then decreases slowly. The results also show that increase in fuel flow rate cause to increase in NOx emission in each case, but this increase is greater in small furnace. With increase in fuel flow rate, CO emission decreases firstly, and then it increases. Combustion efficiency reduces with increase in fuel flow rate but the rate of reduction in small furnace is greater than large furnace. The results of axial temperature distribution have been compared with those have been obtained numerically and experimentally by Moghiman.

Keywords: Furnace dimensions, Oxides of Nitrogen, Carbonmonoxide, Efficiency.

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Authors: Vishal V. R. Nandigana, Mohammad Heiranian, Narayana R. Aluru

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Graphene material has found tremendous applications in water desalination, DNA sequencing and energy storage. Multiple nanopores are etched to create opening for water desalination and energy storage applications. The nanopores created are of the order of 3-5 nm allowing multiple ions to transport through the pore. In this paper, we present for the first time, molecular dynamics study of single ion transport, where only one ion passes through the graphene nanopore. The diameter of the graphene nanopore is of the same order as the hydration layers formed around each ion. Analogous to single electron transport resulting from ionic transport is observed for the first time. The current-voltage characteristics of such a device are similar to single electron transport in quantum dots. The current is blocked until a critical voltage, as the ions are trapped inside a hydration shell. The trapped ions have a high energy barrier compared to the applied input electrical voltage, preventing the ion to break free from the hydration shell. This region is called “Coulomb blockade region”. In this region, we observe zero transport of ions inside the nanopore. However, when the electrical voltage is beyond the critical voltage, the ion has sufficient energy to break free from the energy barrier created by the hydration shell to enter into the pore. Thus, the input voltage can control the transport of the ion inside the nanopore. The device therefore acts as a binary storage unit, storing 0 when no ion passes through the pore and storing 1 when a single ion passes through the pore. We therefore postulate that the device can be used for fluidic computing applications in chemistry and biology, mimicking a computer. Furthermore, the trapped ion stores a finite charge in the Coulomb blockade region; hence the device also acts a super capacitor.

Keywords: Graphene, single ion transport, Coulomb blockade, fluidic computer, super capacitor.

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Authors: Feyzan Tuzkaya, Nihan S. Soylu, Çağlar Solak, Hilal Peker, Mehmet Peker, Kemal Özeralp, Ceren Mete, Ezgi Mehmetoğlu, Mehmet Karasu, Cihan Elçi, Ece Akca, Melek Göregenli

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Perception, evaluation and representation of the environment have been the subject of many disciplines including psychology, geography and architecture. In environmental and social psychology literature there are several evidences which suggest that cognitive representations about a place consisted of not only geographic items but also social and cultural. Mental representations of residence area or a country are influenced and determined by social-demographics, the physical and social context. Thus, all mental representations of a given place are also social representations. Cognitive maps are the main and common instruments that are used to identify spatial images and the difference between physical and subjective environments. The aim of the current study is investigating the mental and social representations of Turkey in university students’ minds. Data was collected from 249 university students from different departments (i.e. psychology, geography, history, tourism departments) of Ege University. Participants were requested to reflect Turkey in their mind onto the paper drawing sketch maps. According to the results, cognitive maps showed geographic aspects of Turkey as well as the context of symbolic, cultural and political reality of Turkey. That is to say, these maps had many symbolic and verbal items related to critics on social and cultural problems, ongoing ethnic and political conflicts, and actual political agenda of Turkey. Additionally, one of main differentiations in these representations appeared in terms of the East and West side of the Turkey, and the representations of the East and West was varied correspondingly participants’ cultural background, their ethnic values, and where they have born. The results of the study were discussed in environmental and social psychological perspective considering cultural and social values of Turkey and current political circumstances of the country.

Keywords: Cognitive maps, East and West, politics, social representations, Turkey.

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Authors: Nahid Ardalani, Ahmadreza Khoogar, H. Roohi

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In this paper we compare the response of linear and nonlinear neural network-based prediction schemes in prediction of received Signal-to-Interference Power Ratio (SIR) in Direct Sequence Code Division Multiple Access (DS/CDMA) systems. The nonlinear predictor is Multilayer Perceptron MLP and the linear predictor is an Adaptive Linear (Adaline) predictor. We solve the problem of complexity by using the Minimum Mean Squared Error (MMSE) principle to select the optimal predictors. The optimized Adaline predictor is compared to optimized MLP by employing noisy Rayleigh fading signals with 1.8 GHZ carrier frequency in an urban environment. The results show that the Adaline predictor can estimates SIR with the same error as MLP when the user has the velocity of 5 km/h and 60 km/h but by increasing the velocity up-to 120 km/h the mean squared error of MLP is two times more than Adaline predictor. This makes the Adaline predictor (with lower complexity) more suitable than MLP for closed-loop power control where efficient and accurate identification of the time-varying inverse dynamics of the multi path fading channel is required.

Keywords: Power control, neural networks, DS/CDMA mobilecommunication systems.

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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: R. Chanajaree, D. Luanwiset, K. Pongpratea

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Dye removal is an environmental concern because the textile industries have been increasing by world population and industrialization. Adsorption is the technique to find adsorbents to remove dyes from wastewater. This method is low-cost and effective for dye removal. This work tries to develop effective adsorbents using the computational approach because it will be able to predict the possibility of the adsorbents for specific dyes in terms of binding free energies. The computational approach is faster and cheaper than the experimental approach in case of finding the best adsorbents. All starting structures of dyes and adsorbents are optimized by quantum calculation. The complexes between dyes and adsorbents are generated by the docking method. The obtained binding free energies from docking are compared to binding free energies from the experimental data. The calculated energies can be ranked as same as the experimental results. In addition, this work also shows the possible orientation of the complexes. This work used two experimental groups of the complexes of the dyes and adsorbents. In the first group, there are chitosan (adsorbent) and two dyes (reactive red (RR) and direct sun yellow (DY)). In the second group, there are poly(1,2-epoxy-3-phenoxy) propane (PEPP), which is the adsorbent, and 2 dyes of bromocresol green (BCG) and alizarin yellow (AY).

Keywords: Dye removal, binding free energies, quantum calculation, docking.

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Authors: Amir Shafeeq, Ayyaz Muhammad, Waqas Sarfraz, Ali Toqeer, Shazib Rashid, M. K. Rafiq

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The current work focuses on rephrasing the harmful effects of mercury that is being released from a number of sources. Most of the sources are from the industrial waste water. Different techniques of mercury removal have been discussed and a brief comparison among these has been made. The experimental work has been conducted for two most widely used methods of mercury removal and comparison in terms of their efficiency has been made.

Keywords: Mercury, Waste Water, Adsorption.

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Authors: Ehab F. Badran, Guoxiang Gu

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We consider optimal channel equalization for MIMO (multi-input/multi-output) time-varying channels in the sense of MMSE (minimum mean-squared-error), where the observation noise can be non-stationary. We show that all ZF (zero-forcing) receivers can be parameterized in an affine form which eliminates completely the ISI (inter-symbol-interference), and optimal channel equalizers can be designed through minimization of the MSE (mean-squarederror) between the detected signals and the transmitted signals, among all ZF receivers. We demonstrate that the optimal channel equalizer is a modified Kalman filter, and show that under the AWGN (additive white Gaussian noise) assumption, the proposed optimal channel equalizer minimizes the BER (bit error rate) among all possible ZF receivers. Our results are applicable to optimal channel equalization for DWMT (discrete wavelet multitone), multirate transmultiplexers, OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing), and DS (direct sequence) CDMA (code division multiple access) wireless data communication systems. A design algorithm for optimal channel equalization is developed, and several simulation examples are worked out to illustrate the proposed design algorithm.

Keywords: Channel equalization, Kalman filtering, Time-varying systems.

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Authors: K. Laoubi, M. Yamao

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In Algeria, liberalization reforms undertaken since the 1990s have resulted in negative effects on the development and management of irrigation schemes, as well as on the conditions of farmers. Reforms have been undertaken to improve the performance of irrigation schemes, such as the national plan of agricultural development (PNDA) in 2000 and the water pricing policy of 2005. However, after implementation of these policies, questions have arisen with regard to irrigation performance and its suitability for agricultural development. Hence, the aim of this paper is to provide insight into the profitability of irrigation during the transition period under current irrigation agricultural policies in Algeria. By using the method of farm crop budget analysis in the East Mitidja irrigation scheme, the returns from using surface water resources based on farm typology were found to vary among crops and farmers- groups within the scheme. Irrigation under the current situation is profitable for all farmers, including both those who benefit from subsidies and those who do not. However, the returns to water were found to be very sensitive to crop price fluctuations, particularly for non-subsidized groups and less so for those whose farming is based on orchards. Moreover, the socio-economic environment of the farmers contributed to less significant impacts of the PNDA policy. In fact, the limiting factor is not only the water, but also the lack of land ownership title. Market access constraints led to less agricultural investment and therefore to low intensification and low water productivity. It is financially feasible to recover the annual O&M costs in the irrigation scheme. By comparing the irrigation water price, returns to water, and O&M costs of water delivery, it is clear that irrigation can be profitable in the future. However, water productivity must be improved by enhancing farmers- income through farming investment, improving assets access, and the allocation of activities and crops which bring high returns to water; this could allow the farmers to pay more for water and allow cost recovery for water systems.

Keywords: Irrigation schemes, agricultural irrigation policy, farm crop budget analysis, water productivity, Algeria.

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Authors: Pablo Ampuero, Claudia Labarca

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The current research paper assesses how the narrative of Chilean businesspeople about China shapes a new Orientalism Analyses on the role of non-state actors in foreign policy that have hitherto theorized about Orientalism as a narrative of hegemonic power. Hence, it has been instrumental to the efforts of imperialist powers to justify their mission civilisatrice. However, such conceptualization can seldom explain new complexities of international interactions at the height of globalization. Hence, we assessed the case of Chile, a small Latin American country, and its relationship with China, its largest trading partner. Through a discourse analysis of interviews with Chilean businesspeople engaged in the Chinese market, we could determine that Chile is building an Orientalist image of China. This new business Orientalism reinforces a relation of alterity based on commercial opportunities, traditional values, and natural dispositions. Hence, the perception of the Chinese Other amongst Chilean business people frames a new set of representations as part of the essentially commercial nature of current bilateral relations. It differs from previous frames, such as the racial bias frame of the early 20^th century, or the anti-communist frame in reaction to Mao’s leadership. As in every narrative of alterity, there is not only a construction of the Other but also a definition of the Self. Consequently, this analysis constitutes a relevant case of the role of non-state actors in asymmetrical bilateral relations, where the non-state actors of the minor power build and act upon an Orientalist frame, which is not representative of its national status in the relation. This study emerges as a contribution on the relation amongst non-state actors in asymmetrical relations, where the smaller power’s business class acts on a negative prejudice of its interactions with its counterpart. The research builds upon the constructivist approach to international relations, linking the idea of Nation Branding with Orientalism in the case of Chile-China relations.

Keywords: New business Orientalism, small power, framing, Chile-China relations.

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Authors: Dang Hanh Nguyen, Nassim Sebaibi, Mohamed Boutouil, Lydia Leleyter, Fabienne Baraud

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Pervious concrete is a green alternative to conventional pavements with minimal fine aggregate and a high void content. Pervious concrete allows water to infiltrate through the pavement, thereby reducing the runoff and the requirement for stormwater management systems.

Seashell By-Products (SBP) are produced in an important quantity in France and are considered as waste. This work investigated to use SBP in pervious concrete and produce an even more environmentally friendly product, Pervious Concrete Pavers.

The research methodology involved substituting the coarse aggregate in the previous concrete mix design with 20%, 40% and 60% SBP. The testing showed that pervious concrete containing less than 40% SBP had strengths, permeability and void content which are comparable to the pervious concrete containing with only natural aggregate. The samples that contained 40% SBP or higher had a significant loss in strength and an increase in permeability and a void content from the control mix pervious concrete. On the basis of the results in this research, it was found that the natural aggregate can be substituted by SBP without affecting the delicate balance of a pervious concrete mix. Additional, it is recommended that the optimum replacement percentage for SBP in pervious concrete is 40 % direct replacement of natural coarse aggregate while maintaining the structural performance and drainage capabilities of the pervious concrete.

Keywords: Seashell by-products, pervious concrete pavers, permeability and mechanical strength.

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Authors: Saswata Chakraborty, R.P.Chatterjee, S. Majumder, Anup Kr. Bhattacharjee

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The scattering effect of light in fog improves the difficulty in visibility thus introducing disturbances in transport facilities in urban or industrial areas causing fatal accidents or public harassments, therefore, developing an enhanced fog vision system with radio wave to improvise the way outs of these severe problems is really a big challenge for researchers. Series of experimental studies already been done and more are in progress to know the weather effect on radio frequencies for different ranges. According to Rayleigh scattering Law, the propagating wavelength should be greater than the diameter of the particle present in the penetrating medium. Direct wave RF signal thus have high chance of failure to work in such weather for detection of any object. Therefore an extensive study was required to find suitable region in the RF band that can help us in detecting objects with proper shape. This paper produces some results on object detection using 912 MHz band with successful detection of the persistence of any object coming under the trajectory of a vehicle navigating in indoor and outdoor environment. The developed images are finally transformed to video signal to enable continuous monitoring.

Keywords: RADAR Imaging, Fog vision system, Objectdetection, Jpeg to Mpeg conversion

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Authors: Francisco Echarte, José Javier Astrain, Alberto Córdoba, Jesús Villadangos

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Ontologies and tagging systems are two different ways to organize the knowledge present in the current Web. In this paper we propose a simple method to model folksonomies, as tagging systems, with ontologies. We show the scalability of the method using real data sets. The modeling method is composed of a generic ontology that represents any folksonomy and an algorithm to transform the information contained in folksonomies to the generic ontology. The method allows representing folksonomies at any instant of time.

Keywords: Folksonomies, ontologies, OWL, semantic web.

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Authors: Rudy Djamaluddin, Arbain Tata, Rita Irmawaty

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The study conducted a simulation of the effect of sea water to the bonding capacity of GFRP sheet on the concrete beams using a simulation tank. Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) has been developed and applied in many fields civil engineering structures on the new structures and also for strengthening of the deteriorated structures. The FRP has advantages such as its corrosion resistance as well as high tensile strength to weight ratio. Compared to the other FRP materials, Glass composed FRP (GFRP) is relatively cheaper. GFRP sheet is applied externally by bonding it on the concrete surface. The studies regarding the application of GFRP sheet have been conducted such as strengthening system, bonding behavior of GFRP sheet including the application as reinforcement in new structures. For application to the structures with direct contact to sea environment, a study regarding the effect of sea water to the bonding capacity of GFRP sheet is important to be clarified. To achieve the objective of the study, a series of concrete beams strengthened with GFRP sheet on extreme tension surface were prepared. The beams then were stored on the sea water tank for six months. Results indicated the bonding capacity decreased after six month exposed to the sea water.

Keywords: GFRP sheet, sea water, concrete beams, bonding.

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Authors: Norazah Mohd Suki, Norbayah Mohd Suki

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Online shopping enables consumers to search for information and purchase products or services through direct interaction with online store. This study aims to examine the effect of Internet marketing environment, product characteristics, familiarity and confidence, and promotional offers on consumer online shopping behavior. 200 questionnaires were distributed to the respondents, who are students and staff at a public university in the Federal Territory of Labuan, Malaysia, following simple random sampling as a means of data collection. Multiple regression analysis was used as a statistical measure to determine the strength of the relationship between one dependent variable and a series of other independent variables. Results revealed that familiarity and confidence was found to greatly influence consumer online shopping behavior followed by promotional offers. A clear understanding of consumer online shopping behavior can help marketing managers predict the online shopping rate and evaluate the future growth of online commerce.

Keywords: Internet Marketing Environment, Product Characteristics, Multiple Regression Analysis, Malaysia.

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Authors: Tisciane Perpetuo e Oliveira, Dante Inga Narvaez, Marcelo Gradella Villalva

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Installations of solar photovoltaic systems have increased considerably in the last decade. Therefore, it has been noticed that monitoring of meteorological data (solar irradiance, air temperature, wind velocity, etc.) is important to predict the potential of a given geographical area in solar energy production. In this sense, the present work compares two computational tools that are capable of estimating the energy generation of a photovoltaic system through correlation analyzes of solar radiation data: PVsyst software and an algorithm based on the PVlib package implemented in MATLAB. In order to achieve the objective, it was necessary to obtain solar radiation data (measured and from a solarimetric database), analyze the decomposition of global solar irradiance in direct normal and horizontal diffuse components, as well as analyze the modeling of the devices of a photovoltaic system (solar modules and inverters) for energy production calculations. Simulated results were compared with experimental data in order to evaluate the performance of the studied methods. Errors in estimation of energy production were less than 30% for the MATLAB algorithm and less than 20% for the PVsyst software.

Keywords: Energy production, meteorological data, irradiance decomposition, solar photovoltaic system.

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Authors: M. Kubeitari, A. Alhusayn, M. Alnahar

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Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation SVPWM is one of the most used techniques to generate sinusoidal voltage and current due to its facility and efficiency with low harmonics distortion. This algorithm is specially used in power electronic applications. This paper describes simulation algorithm of SVPWM & SPWM using MatLab/simulink environment. It also implements a closed loop three phases DC-AC converter controlling its outputs voltages amplitude and frequency using MatLab. Also comparison between SVPWM & SPWM results is given.

Keywords: DC-AC Converter, MatLab, SPWM, SVPWM, Vref - rotating frame.

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Authors: Sh. Sousani, Z. Shadrokh, M. Hofbauerová, J. Kollár, M. Jergel, V. Nádaždy, M. Omastová, E. Majková

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In this paper, we discuss the preparation and impact of post-treatment procedures, including purification, passivation, and ligand exchange, on the formation and stability of halide perovskite quantum dots (PQDs). CsPbBr3 quantum dots were synthesized via the conventional hot-injection method using cesium oleate, PbBr2, and oleylamine (OAm) & oleic acid (OA) and didodecyldimethylammonium bromide (DDAB) as ligands. Characterization by scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) confirms the QDs' cubic shape and monodispersity with an average size of 10-14 nm. The photoluminescent (PL) properties of perovskite quantum dots/CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite (PQDs/MAPI)  bilayers with OAm&OA and DDAB ligands spin coated on Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) substrate were explored. The impact of ligand type and oxygen plasma treatment on linear optical behaviour and PQDs/MAPI interface formation in ITO/PQDs/MAPI perovskite structures was examined. The obtained results have direct implications for selection of suitable ligands and processes for photovoltaic applications and enhancing their stability.

Keywords: Perovskite quantum dots, ligand exchange, photoluminescence, O3 plasma.

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Authors: Adel Dalilottojari, Bahman Delalat, Frances J. Harding, Michaelia P. Cockshell, Claudine S. Bonder, Nicolas H. Voelcker

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Endothelial Progenitor Cell (EPC) based therapies continue to be of interest to treat ischemic events based on their proven role to promote blood vessel formation and thus tissue re-vascularisation. Current strategies for the production of clinical-grade EPCs requires the in vitro isolation of EPCs from peripheral blood followed by cell expansion to provide sufficient quantities EPCs for cell therapy. This study aims to examine the use of different biomolecules to significantly improve the current strategy of EPC capture and expansion on collagen type I (Col I). In this study, four different biomolecules were immobilised on a surface and then investigated for their capacity to support EPC capture and proliferation. First, a cell microarray platform was fabricated by coating a glass surface with epoxy functional allyl glycidyl ether plasma polymer (AGEpp) to mediate biomolecule binding. The four candidate biomolecules tested were Col I, collagen type II (Col II), collagen type IV (Col IV) and vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A), which were arrayed on the epoxy-functionalised surface using a non-contact printer. The surrounding area between the printed biomolecules was passivated with polyethylene glycol-bisamine (A-PEG) to prevent non-specific cell attachment. EPCs were seeded onto the microarray platform and cell numbers quantified after 1 h (to determine capture) and 72 h (to determine proliferation). All of the extracellular matrix (ECM) biomolecules printed demonstrated an ability to capture EPCs within 1 h of cell seeding with Col II exhibiting the highest level of attachment when compared to the other biomolecules. Interestingly, Col IV exhibited the highest increase in EPC expansion after 72 h when compared to Col I, Col II and VEGF-A. These results provide information for significant improvement in the capture and expansion of human EPC for further application.

Keywords: Cardiovascular disease, cell microarray platform, cell therapy, endothelial progenitor cells, high throughput screening.

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Authors: Manouchehre Ansari, Mahmoud Dehghan Nayeri, Reza Yousefi Zenouz

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In order to develop any strategy, it is essential to first identify opportunities, threats, weak and strong points. Assessment of technology level provides the possibility of concentrating on weak and strong points. The results of technology assessment have a direct effect on decision making process in the field of technology transfer or expansion of internal research capabilities so it has a critical role in technology management. This paper presents a conceptual model to analyze the technology capability of a company as a whole and in four main aspects of technology. This model was tested on 10 automotive parts manufacturers in IRAN. Using this model, capability level of manufacturers was investigated in four fields of managing aspects, hard aspects, human aspects, and information and knowledge aspects. Results show that these firms concentrate on hard aspect of technology while others aspects are poor and need to be supported more. So this industry should develop other aspects of technology as well as hard aspect to have effective and efficient use of its technology. These paper findings are useful for the technology planning and management in automotive part manufactures in IRAN and other Industries which are technology followers and transport their needed technologies.

Keywords: Technology, Technological evaluation, TechnologyMaturity

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Authors: Dr. Wendy Wang, Dr. Sigalit Ronen

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Telecommuting has become an increasingly popular work arrangement. However, little research has examined the impact of telecommuting on the relationship between employees and the organization. This study aims to shed light on this aspect by comparing the loyalty of telecommuters and non telecommuters as it can be viewed from three angles: organizational loyalty, peer loyalty, and professional loyalty. Furthermore, this paper will explore the dynamics among employee loyalty, productivity, and job satisfaction. Whereas previous studies had looked on employees that are not fully telecommuting, the current study concentrates on employees that are exclusively working from home.

Keywords: loyalty, productivity, satisfaction, telecommuting

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Authors: Jens Friedrich, Matthias A. Gebele, Armin Lechler, Alexander Verl

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Chatter vibrations and process instabilities are the most important factors limiting the productivity of the milling process. Chatter can leads to damage of the tool, the part or the machine tool. Therefore, the estimation and prediction of the process stability is very important. The process stability depends on the spindle speed, the depth of cut and the width of cut. In milling, the process conditions are defined in the NC-program. While the spindle speed is directly coded in the NC-program, the depth and width of cut are unknown. This paper presents a new simulation based approach for the prediction of the depth and width of cut of a milling process. The prediction is based on a material removal simulation with an analytically represented tool shape and a multi-dexel approach for the workpiece. The new calculation method allows the direct estimation of the depth and width of cut, which are the influencing parameters of the process stability, instead of the removed volume as existing approaches do. The knowledge can be used to predict the stability of new, unknown parts. Moreover with an additional vibration sensor, the stability lobe diagram of a milling process can be estimated and improved based on the estimated depth and width of cut.

Keywords: Dexel, process stability, material removal, milling.

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Authors: Martin Lisý, Marek Baláš, Michal Špiláček, Zdeněk Skála

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This paper deals with the issue of biomass and sorted municipal waste gasification and cogeneration using hot-air turbo-set. It brings description of designed pilot plant with electrical output 80 kWe. The generated gas is burned in secondary combustion chamber located beyond the gas generator. Flue gas flows through the heat exchanger where the compressed air is heated and consequently brought to a micro turbine. Except description, this paper brings our basic experiences from operating of pilot plant (operating parameters, contributions, problems during operating, etc.). The principal advantage of the given cycle is the fact that there is no contact between the generated gas and the turbine. So there is no need for costly and complicated gas cleaning which is the main source of operating problems in direct use in combustion engines because the content of impurities in the gas causes operation problems to the units due to clogging and tarring of working surfaces of engines and turbines, which may lead as far as serious damage to the equipment under operation. Another merit is the compact container package making installation of the facility easier or making it relatively more mobile. We imagine, this solution of cogeneration from biomass or waste can be suitable for small industrial or communal applications, for low output cogeneration.

Keywords: Biomass, combustion, gasification, microcogeneration.

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Authors: J. A. López, C.I. López, J.E. Olguín, C. Camargo, J. M. López

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The institutions seek to improve their performance and quality of service, so that their patients are satisfied. This research project aims, conduct a time study program in the area of gynecological surgery, to determine the current level of capacity and optimize the programming time in order to adequately respond to demand. The system is analyzed by waiting lines and uses the simulation using ARENA to evaluate proposals for improvement and optimization programming time each of the surgeries.

Keywords: Time study, waiting lines, reducing time, simulation.

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Authors: Haytham Al-Feel, M.A.Koutb, Hoda Suoror

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There are many problems associated with the World Wide Web: getting lost in the hyperspace; the web content is still accessible only to humans and difficulties of web administration. The solution to these problems is the Semantic Web which is considered to be the extension for the current web presents information in both human readable and machine processable form. The aim of this study is to reach new generic foundation architecture for the Semantic Web because there is no clear architecture for it, there are four versions, but still up to now there is no agreement for one of these versions nor is there a clear picture for the relation between different layers and technologies inside this architecture. This can be done depending on the idea of previous versions as well as Gerber-s evaluation method as a step toward an agreement for one Semantic Web architecture.

Keywords: Semantic Web Architecture, XML, RDF and Ontology.

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Authors: Rawan A. Abdelrazeq, Ahmed M. Khalafallah, Nabil A. Kartam

Abstract:

Selection of competent contractors for construction projects is usually accomplished through competitive bidding or negotiated contracting in which the contract bid price is the basic criterion for selection. The evaluation of contractor’s safety performance is still not a typical criterion in the selection process, despite the existence of various safety prequalification procedures. There is a critical need for practical and automated systems that enable owners and decision makers to evaluate contractor safety performance, among other important contractor selection criteria. These systems should ultimately favor safety-conscious contractors to be selected by the virtue of their past good safety records and current safety programs. This paper presents an exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach to develop a framework for an automated decision support system that evaluates contractor safety performance based on a multitude of indicators and metrics that have been identified through a comprehensive review of construction safety research, and a survey distributed to domain experts. The framework is developed in three phases: (1) determining the indicators that depict contractor current and past safety performance; (2) soliciting input from construction safety experts regarding the identified indicators, their metrics, and relative significance; and (3) designing a decision support system using relational database models to integrate the identified indicators and metrics into a system that assesses and rates the safety performance of contractors. The proposed automated system is expected to hold several advantages including: (1) reducing the likelihood of selecting contractors with poor safety records; (2) enhancing the odds of completing the project safely; and (3) encouraging contractors to exert more efforts to improve their safety performance and practices in order to increase their bid winning opportunities which can lead to significant safety improvements in the construction industry. This should prove useful to decision makers and researchers, alike, and should help improve the safety record of the construction industry.

Keywords: Construction safety, contractor selection, decision support system, relational database.

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Authors: S, Rosnafisah, M.S., Siti Salbiah., A, Mohd Sharifuddin

Abstract:

Research in e-Business has been growing tremendously covering all related aspects such as adoption issues, e- Business models, strategies, etc. This research aims to explore the potential of adopting e-Business for a micro size business operating from home called home-based businesses (HBBs). In Malaysia, the HBB industry started many years ago and were mostly monopolized by women or housewives managed as a part-time job to support their family economy. Today, things have changed. The availability of the Internet technology and the emergence of e-Business concept promote the evolution of HBBs, which have been adopted as another alternative as a professional career for women without neglecting their family needs especially the children. Although this study is confined to a limited sample size and within geographical biasness, the findings show that it concurs with previous large scale studies. In this study, both qualitative and quantitative methods were used and data were gathered using triangulation methods via interview, direct observation, document analysis and survey questionnaires. This paper discusses the literature review, research methods and findings pertaining to e-Business adoption factors that influence the HBBs in Malaysia.

Keywords: e-Business, HBB, adoption factor, qualitative andquantitative

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Authors: S. N. H. Azmi, B. Iqbal, J. K. Al Mamari, K. A. Al Hattali, W. N. Al Hadhrami

Abstract:

A simple, accurate and precise direct spectrophotometric method has been developed for the determination of cefixime in tablets and capsules. The method is based on the reaction of cefixime with a mixture of potassium iodide and potassium iodate to form yellow coloured product in ethanol-distilled water medium at room temperature which absorbed maximally at 352 nm. The factors affecting the reaction product were carefully studied and optimized. The validation parameters based on International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH, USA) guidelines were followed. The effect of common excipients used as additives has been tested and the tolerance limit was calculated for the determination of cefixime. Beer’s law is obeyed in the concentration range of 4 – 24 ug mL-1 with apparent molar absorptivity of 1.52 × 104 L mol-1cm-1 and Sandell’s sensitivity of 0.033 ug/cm2/ 0.001 absorbance unit. The limits of detection and quantitation for the proposed method are 0.32 and 1.06 ug mL-1, respectively. The proposed method has been successfully applied for the determination of cefixime in pharmaceutical formulations. The results obtained by the proposed method were statistically compared with the reference method using t- and F- values and found no significant difference between the two methods. The proposed method can be used as an alternate method for routine quality control analysis of cefixime in pharmaceutical formulations.

Keywords: Spectrophotometry, cefixime, validation, pharmaceutical formulations.

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