Search results for: life cycle based analysis

Authors: Mohammad Reza Zamani Kouhpanji

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Characterizing the fatigue and fracture properties of nanostructures is one of the most challenging tasks in nanoscience and nanotechnology due to lack of a MEMS/NEMS device for generating uniform cyclic loadings at high frequencies. Here, the dynamic response of a recently proposed MEMS/NEMS device under different inputs signals is completely investigated. This MEMS/NEMS device is designed and modeled based on the electromagnetic force induced between paired parallel wires carrying electrical currents, known as Ampere’s Force Law (AFL). Since this MEMS/NEMS device only uses two paired wires for actuation part and sensing part, it represents highly sensitive and linear response for nanostructures with any stiffness and shapes (single or arrays of nanowires, nanotubes, nanosheets or nanowalls). In addition to studying the maximum gains at different resonance frequencies of the MEMS/NEMS device, its dynamical responses are investigated for different inputs and nanostructure properties to demonstrate the capability, usability, and reliability of the device for wide range of nanostructures. This MEMS/NEMS device can be readily integrated into SEM/TEM instruments to provide real time study of the fatigue and fracture properties of nanostructures as well as their softening or hardening behaviors, and initiation and/or propagation of nanocracks in them.

Keywords: Ampere’s force law, dynamical response, fatigue and fracture characterization, paired wire actuators and sensors, MEMS/NEMS devices.

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Authors: O. B. Citil, V. Sariyel, M. Akoz

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In this study, total fatty acid composition of muscle lipids of Cyprinus carpio L. living in Suğla Dam Lake, Altinapa Dam Lake, Eğirdir Lake and Burdur Lake were determined using GC. During this study, for the summer season of July was taken from each region of the land and they were stored in deep-freeze set to -20 degrees until the analysis date. At the end of the analyses, 30 different fatty acids were found in the composition of Cyprinus carpio L. which lives in different lakes. Cyprinus carpio Suğla Dam Lake of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), were higher than other lakes. Cyprinus carpio L. was the highest in the major SFA palmitic acid. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) of carp, the most abundant fish species in all lakes, were found to be higher than those of saturated fatty acids (SFA) in all lakes. Palmitic acid was the major SFA in all lakes. Oleic acid was identified as the major MUFA. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) was the most abundant in all lakes. ω3 fatty acid composition was higher than the percentage of the percentage ω6 fatty acids in all lake. ω3/ω6 rates of Cyprinus carpio L. Suğla Dam Lake, Altinapa Dam Lake, Eğirdir Lake and Burdur Lake, 2.12, 1.19, 2.15, 2.87, and 2.82, respectively. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) was the major PUFA in Eğirdir and Burdur lakes, whereas linoleic acid (LA) was the major PUFA in Altinapa and Suğla Dam Lakes. It was shown that the fatty acid composition in the muscle of carp was significantly influenced by different lakes.

Keywords: Chromatography, Cyprinus carpio L., fatty acid composition.

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Authors: D. Germanò, D. Plutino, G. Cannistraro

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The theatre-auditorium under investigation following the highly reflective characteristics of materials used in it (marble, painted wood, smooth plaster, etc), architectural and structural features of the Protocol and its intended use (very multifunctional: Auditorium, theatre, cinema, musicals, conference room) from the analysis of the statement of fact made by the acoustic simulation software Ramsete and supported by data obtained through a campaign of acoustic measurements of the state of fact made on the spot by a Fonomet Svantek model SVAN 957, appears to be acoustically inadequate. After the completion of the 3D model according to the specifications necessary software used forecast in order to be recognized by him, have made three simulations, acoustic simulation of the state of and acoustic simulation of two design solutions. Improved noise characteristics found in the first design solution, compared to the state in fact consists therefore in lowering Reverberation Time that you turn most desirable value, while the Indicators of Clarity, the Baricentric Time, the Lateral Efficiency, Ratio of Low Tmedia BR and defined the Speech Intelligibility improved significantly. Improved noise characteristics found instead in the second design solution, as compared to first design solution, is finally mostly in a more uniform distribution of Leq and in lowering Reverberation Time that you turn the optimum values. Indicators of Clarity, and the Lateral Efficiency improve further but at the expense of a value slightly worse than the BR. Slightly vary the remaining indices.

Keywords: Indoor, Acoustic, Acoustic simulation

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Authors: Sanath Kumar Shetty, Sanya Sinha, K. Kamalakanth Shenoy

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The posterior reference for the ala tragal line is a cause of confusion, with different authors suggesting different locations as to the superior, middle or inferior part of the tragus. This study was conducted on 200 subjects to evaluate if any correlation exists between the variation of angulation of palatal throat form and the relative parallelism of occlusal plane to ala-tragal line at different tragal levels. A custom made Occlusal Plane Analyzer was used to check the parallelism between the ala-tragal line and occlusal plane. A lateral cephalogram was shot for each subject to measure the angulation of the palatal throat form. Fisher’s exact test was used to evaluate the correlation between the angulation of the palatal throat form and the relative parallelism of occlusal plane to the ala tragal line. Also, a classification was formulated for the palatal throat form, based on confidence interval. From the results of the study, the inferior part, middle part and superior part of the tragus were seen as the reference points in 49.5%, 32% and 18.5% of the subjects respectively. Class I palatal throat form (41degree-50 degree), Class II palatal throat form (below 41 degree) and Class III palatal throat form (above 50 degree) were seen in 42%, 43% and 15% of the subjects respectively. It was also concluded that there is no significant correlation between the variation in the angulations of the palatal throat form and the relative parallelism of occlusal plane to the ala-tragal line.

Keywords: Ala-tragal line, occlusal plane, palatal throat form, cephalometry.

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Authors: Kafuko M. Maria, Namisango Fatuma, Byomire Gorretti

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Mobile learning (m-learning) is steadily growing and has undoubtedly derived benefits to learners and tutors in different learning environments. This paper investigates the variation in benefits derived from enhanced classroom learning through use of m-learning platforms in the context of a developing country owing to the fact that it is still in its initial stages. The study focused on how basic technology-enhanced pedagogic innovation like cell phone-based learning is enhancing classroom learning from the learners’ perspective. The paper explicitly indicates the opportunities presented by enhanced learning to a conventional learning environment like a physical classroom. The findings were obtained through a survey of two universities in Uganda in which data was quantitatively collected, analyzed and presented in a three banded diagram depicting the variation in the obtainable benefits. Learners indicated that a smartphone is the most commonly used device. Learners also indicate that straight lectures, student to student plus student to lecturer communication, accessing learning material and assignments are core activities. In a TEL environment support by smartphones, learners indicated that they conveniently achieve the prior activities plus discussions and group work. Learners seemed not attracted to the possibility of using TEL environment to take lectures, as well as make class presentations. The less attractiveness of these two factors may be due to the teacher centered approach commonly applied in the country’s education system.

Keywords: Technology enhanced learning, mobile learning classroom learning, perceived benefits.

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Authors: Marin Mandić, Elis Sutlović, Tonći Modrić, Luka Stanić

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With the restructuring and deregulation of the power system, storage owners, generation companies or private producers can offer their multiple services on various power markets and earn income in different types of markets, such as the day-ahead, real-time, ancillary services market, etc. During the COVID-19 pandemic, electricity prices, as well as ancillary services prices, increased significantly. The optimization of the energy storage operation was performed using a suitable model for simulating the operation of a pumped storage hydropower plant under market conditions. The objective function maximizes the income earned through energy arbitration, regulation-up, regulation-down and spinning reserve services. The optimization technique used for solving the objective function is mixed integer linear programming (MILP). In numerical examples, the pumped storage hydropower plant operation has been optimized considering the already achieved hourly electricity market prices from Nord Pool for the pre-pandemic (2019) and the pandemic (2020 and 2021) years. The impact of the electricity market prices during the COVID-19 pandemic on energy storage operation is shown through the analysis of income, operating hours, reserved capacity and consumed energy for each service. The results indicate the role of energy storage during a significant fluctuation in electricity and services prices.

Keywords: Electrical market prices, electricity market, energy storage optimization, mixed integer linear programming, MILP, optimization.

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Authors: Kazuhisa Koda, Tsutomu Kobayashi

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Laura Island, which is located about 50 km away from downtown, is a source of water supply in Majuro atoll, which is the capital of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Low and flat Majuro atoll has neither river nor lake. It is very important for Majuro atoll to ensure the conservation of its water resources. However, upconing, which is the process of partial rising of the freshwater-saltwater boundary near the water-supply well, was caused by the excess pumping from it during the severe drought in 1998. Upconing will make the water usage of the freshwater lens difficult. Thus, appropriate water usage is required to prevent up coning in the freshwater lens because there is no other water source during drought. Numerical simulation of water usage applying SEAWAT model was conducted at the central part of Laura Island, including the water supply well, which was affected by upconing. The freshwater lens was created as a result of infiltration of consistent average rainfall. The lens shape was almost the same as the one in 1985. 0 of monthly rainfall and variable daily pump discharge were used to calculate the sustainable pump discharge from the water supply well. Consequently, the total amount of pump discharge was increased as the daily pump discharge was increased, indicating that it needs more time to recover from upconing. Thus, a pump standard to reduce the pump intensity is being proposed, which is based on numerical simulation concerning the occurrence of the up-coning phenomenon in Laura Island during the drought.

Keywords: Freshwater lens, islands, numerical simulation, sustainable water use.

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Authors: Amir Sattari

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

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

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Authors: Emanuele Stomeo, Tatiana Kalganova, Cyrille Lambert

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Evolvable hardware (EHW) is a developing field that applies evolutionary algorithm (EA) to automatically design circuits, antennas, robot controllers etc. A lot of research has been done in this area and several different EAs have been introduced to tackle numerous problems, as scalability, evolvability etc. However every time a specific EA is chosen for solving a particular task, all its components, such as population size, initialization, selection mechanism, mutation rate, and genetic operators, should be selected in order to achieve the best results. In the last three decade the selection of the right parameters for the EA-s components for solving different “test-problems" has been investigated. In this paper the behaviour of mutation rate for designing logic circuits, which has not been done before, has been deeply analyzed. The mutation rate for an EHW system modifies the number of inputs of each logic gates, the functionality (for example from AND to NOR) and the connectivity between logic gates. The behaviour of the mutation has been analyzed based on the number of generations, genotype redundancy and number of logic gates for the evolved circuits. The experimental results found provide the behaviour of the mutation rate during evolution for the design and optimization of simple logic circuits. The experimental results propose the best mutation rate to be used for designing combinational logic circuits. The research presented is particular important for those who would like to implement a dynamic mutation rate inside the evolutionary algorithm for evolving digital circuits. The researches on the mutation rate during the last 40 years are also summarized.

Keywords: Design of logic circuit, evolutionary computation, evolvable hardware, mutation rate.

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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: Venerando E. Amaro, Francisco Gabriel F. de Lima, Marcelo S.T. Santos

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The morphological short-term evolution of Ponta do Tubarão Island (PTI) was investigated through high accurate surveys based on post-processed kinematic (PPK) relative positioning on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). PTI is part of a barrier island system on a high energy northeast Brazilian coastal environment and also an area of high environmental sensitivity. Surveys were carried out quarterly over a two years period from May 2010 to May 2012. This paper assesses statically the performance of digital elevation models (DEM) derived from different interpolation methods to represent morphologic features and to quantify volumetric changes and TIN models shown the best results to that purposes. The MDE allowed quantifying surfaces and volumes in detail as well as identifying the most vulnerable segments of the PTI to erosion and/or accumulation of sediments and relate the alterations to climate conditions. The coastal setting and geometry of PTI protects a significant mangrove ecosystem and some oil and gas facilities installed in the vicinities from damaging effects of strong oceanwaves and currents. Thus, the maintenance of PTI is extremely required but the prediction of its longevity is uncertain because results indicate an irregularity of sedimentary balance and a substantial decline in sediment supply to this coastal area.

Keywords: DEM, GNSS, short-term monitoring, Brazil.

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Authors: R. Kanmaniraja, R. Freshipali, J. Abdullah, K. Niranjan, K. Balasubramani, V. R. Sanal Kumar

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The present environmental issues have made aircraft jet noise reduction a crucial problem in aero-acoustics research. Acoustic studies reveal that addition of chevrons to the nozzle reduces the sound pressure level reasonably with acceptable reduction in performance. In this paper comprehensive numerical studies on acoustic characteristics of different types of chevron nozzles have been carried out with non-reacting flows for the shape optimization of chevrons in supersonic nozzles for aerospace applications. The numerical studies have been carried out using a validated steady 3D density based, k-ε turbulence model. In this paper chevron with sharp edge, flat edge, round edge and U-type edge are selected for the jet acoustic characterization of supersonic nozzles. We observed that compared to the base model a case with round-shaped chevron nozzle could reduce 4.13% acoustic level with 0.6% thrust loss. We concluded that the prudent selection of the chevron shape will enable an appreciable reduction of the aircraft jet noise without compromising its overall performance. It is evident from the present numerical simulations that k-ε model can predict reasonably well the acoustic level of chevron supersonic nozzles for its shape optimization.

Keywords: Supersonic nozzle, Chevron, Acoustic level, Shape Optimization of Chevron Nozzles, Jet noise suppression.

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Authors: A. Doaa M. Atia, Faten H. Fahmy, Ninet M. Ahmed, Hassen T. Dorrah

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Temperature is one of the most principle factors affects aquaculture system. It can cause stress and mortality or superior environment for growth and reproduction. This paper presents the control of pond water temperature using artificial intelligence technique. The water temperature is very important parameter for shrimp growth. The required temperature for optimal growth is 34oC, if temperature increase up to 38oC it cause death of the shrimp, so it is important to control water temperature. Solar thermal water heating system is designed to supply an aquaculture pond with the required hot water in Mersa Matruh in Egypt. Neural networks are massively parallel processors that have the ability to learn patterns through a training experience. Because of this feature, they are often well suited for modeling complex and non-linear processes such as those commonly found in the heating system. Artificial neural network is proposed to control water temperature due to Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques are becoming useful as alternate approaches to conventional techniques. They have been used to solve complicated practical problems. Moreover this paper introduces a complete mathematical modeling and MATLAB SIMULINK model for the aquaculture system. The simulation results indicate that, the control unit success in keeping water temperature constant at the desired temperature by controlling the hot water flow rate.

Keywords: artificial neural networks, aquaculture, forced circulation hot water system,

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Authors: Yananda Siraphatthada

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The current study was the succession of a previous study on value added of recycling business management. Its aims are to 1) explore conditions on how to increasing value add of Thai recycling business, and 2) exam the implementation of the 3-staged plan (short, medium, and long term), suggested by the former study, to increase value added of the recycling business as immediate mechanisms to accelerate government operation. Quantitative and qualitative methods were utilized in this research. A qualitative research consisted of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Responses were obtained from owners of the waste separation plants, and recycle shops, as well as officers in relevant governmental agencies. They were randomly selected via Quota Sampling. Data was analyzed via content analysis. The sample used for quantitative method consisted of 1,274 licensed recycling operators in eight provinces. The operators were randomly stratified via sampling method. Data were analyzed via descriptive statistics frequency, percentage, average (Mean) and standard deviation.The study recommended three-staged plan: short, medium, and long terms. The plan included the development of logistics, the provision of quality market/plants, the amendment of recycling rules/regulation, the restructuring recycling business, the establishment of green-purchasing recycling center, support for the campaigns run by the International Green Purchasing Network (IGPN), conferences/workshops as a public forum to share insights among experts/concern people.

Keywords: Strategies, Value Added, Recycle Business.

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Authors: T. Hirner, J. Polec

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This paper presents an approach for an unequal error protection of facial features of personal ID images coding. We consider unequal error protection (UEP) strategies for the efficient progressive transmission of embedded image codes over noisy channels. This new method is based on the progressive image compression embedded zerotree wavelet (EZW) algorithm and UEP technique with defined region of interest (ROI). In this case is ROI equal facial features within personal ID image. ROI technique is important in applications with different parts of importance. In ROI coding, a chosen ROI is encoded with higher quality than the background (BG). Unequal error protection of image is provided by different coding techniques and encoding LL band separately. In our proposed method, image is divided into two parts (ROI, BG) that consist of more important bytes (MIB) and less important bytes (LIB). The proposed unequal error protection of image transmission has shown to be more appropriate to low bit rate applications, producing better quality output for ROI of the compresses image. The experimental results verify effectiveness of the design. The results of our method demonstrate the comparison of the UEP of image transmission with defined ROI with facial features and the equal error protection (EEP) over additive white gaussian noise (AWGN) channel.

Keywords: Embedded zerotree wavelet (EZW), equal error protection (EEP), facial features, personal ID images, region of interest (ROI), unequal error protection (UEP)

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Authors: A. R. Malekpour, A.R. Seifi

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This paper discusses a genetic algorithm (GA) based optimal load shedding that can apply for electrical distribution networks with and without dispersed generators (DG). Also, the proposed method has the ability for considering constant and variable capacity deficiency caused by unscheduled outages in the bulked generation and transmission system of bulked power supply. The genetic algorithm (GA) is employed to search for the optimal load shedding strategy in distribution networks considering DGs in two cases of constant and variable modelling of bulked power supply of distribution networks. Electrical power distribution systems have a radial network and unidirectional power flows. With the advent of dispersed generations, the electrical distribution system has a locally looped network and bidirectional power flows. Therefore, installed DG in the electrical distribution systems can cause operational problems and impact on existing operational schemes. Introduction of DGs in electrical distribution systems has introduced many new issues in operational and planning level. Load shedding as one of operational issue has no exempt. The objective is to minimize the sum of curtailed load and also system losses within the frame-work of system operational and security constraints. The proposed method is tested on a radial distribution system with 33 load points for more practical applications.

Keywords: DG, Load shedding, Optimization, Capacity Deficiency Modelling.

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Authors: S. Behnam Asl, H. Sadeghi Naeini, L. Sadat Ensaniat, R. Khorshidian, S. Alipour, S. Behnam Asl

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Nowadays the construction industry is growing specially among developing counties. Iran also has a critical role in these industries in terms of workers disorders. Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) assign 7% of the whole diseases in the society, which make some limitations. One of the main factors, which are ended to WMSDs, is awkward posture. Steel bar bending is considered as one of the prominent performance among construction workers. In this case study we conducted to find the major tasks of bar benders and the most important related risk factors. This study was carried out among twenty workers (18-45 years) as our volunteer samples in some construction sites with less than 6 floors in two regions of Tehran municipality. The data was gathered through in depth observation, interview and questionnaire. Also postural analysis was done by OWAS. In another part of study we used NMQ for gathering some data about psychosocial effects of work related disorders. Our findings show that 64% of workers were not aware of work risks, also about 59% of workers had troubles in their wrists, hands, and especially among workers who worked in steel bar bending. In 46% cases low back pain were prevalence. Considering with gathered data and results, awkward postures and long term tasks and its duration are known as the main risk factors in WMSDs among construction workers, so work-rest schedule and also tools design should be considered to make an ergonomic condition for the mentioned workers.

Keywords: Bar benders, construction workers, musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs), OWAS method.

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Authors: R. Gary Black, Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl

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The International Building Code (IBC) and the  California Building Code (CBC) both recognize four basic types of  steel seismic resistant frames; moment frames, concentrically braced  frames, shear walls and eccentrically braced frames. Based on  specified geometries and detailing, the seismic performance of these  steel frames is well understood. In 2011, the authors designed an  innovative steel braced frame system with tapering members in the  general shape of a branching tree as a seismic retrofit solution to an  existing four story “lift-slab” building. Located in the seismically  active San Francisco Bay Area of California, a frame of this  configuration, not covered by the governing codes, would typically  require model or full scale testing to obtain jurisdiction approval.  This paper describes how the theories, protocols, and code  requirements of eccentrically braced frames (EBFs) were employed  to satisfy the 2009 International Building Code (IBC) and the 2010  California Building Code (CBC) for seismically resistant steel frames  and permit construction of these nonconforming geometries.

 

Keywords: Eccentrically Braced Frame, Lift Slab Construction, Seismic Retrofit, Shear Link, Steel Design.

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Authors: A. Cho, H. Sanyal, J. Cataldo

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A quantitative analysis of the different variables on both the South and North green roofs of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center was taken to find mathematical relationships between net radiation and evapotranspiration (ET), average outside temperature, and the lysimeter weight. Groups of datasets were analyzed, and the relationships were plotted on linear and semi-log graphs to find consistent relationships. Antecedent conditions for each rainstorm were also recorded and plotted against the volumetric water difference within the lysimeter. The first relation was the inverse parabolic relationship between the lysimeter weight and the net radiation and ET. The peaks and valleys of the lysimeter weight corresponded to valleys and peaks in the net radiation and ET respectively, with the 8/22/15 and 1/22/16 datasets showing this trend. The U-shaped and inverse U-shaped plots of the two variables coincided, indicating an inverse relationship between the two variables. Cross variable relationships were examined through graphs with lysimeter weight as the dependent variable on the y-axis. 10 out of 16 of the plots of lysimeter weight vs. outside temperature plots had R² values > 0.9. Antecedent conditions were also recorded for rainstorms, categorized by the amount of precipitation accumulating during the storm. Plotted against the change in the volumetric water weight difference within the lysimeter, a logarithmic regression was found with large R² values. The datasets were compared using the Mann Whitney U-test to see if the datasets were statistically different, using a significance level of 5%; all datasets compared showed a U test statistic value, proving the null hypothesis of the datasets being different from being true.

Keywords: Green roof, green infrastructure, Javits Center, evapotranspiration, net radiation, lysimeter.

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Authors: Ons Sassi, Wahiba Ramdane Cherif-Khettaf, Ammar Oulamara

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In this paper, we consider the vehicle routing problem with mixed fleet of conventional and heterogenous electric vehicles and time dependent charging costs, denoted VRP-HFCC, in which a set of geographically scattered customers have to be served by a mixed fleet of vehicles composed of a heterogenous fleet of Electric Vehicles (EVs), having different battery capacities and operating costs, and Conventional Vehicles (CVs). We include the possibility of charging EVs in the available charging stations during the routes in order to serve all customers. Each charging station offers charging service with a known technology of chargers and time dependent charging costs. Charging stations are also subject to operating time windows constraints. EVs are not necessarily compatible with all available charging technologies and a partial charging is allowed. Intermittent charging at the depot is also allowed provided that constraints related to the electricity grid are satisfied. The objective is to minimize the number of employed vehicles and then minimize the total travel and charging costs. In this study, we present a Mixed Integer Programming Model and develop a Charging Routing Heuristic and a Local Search Heuristic based on the Inject-Eject routine with different insertion methods. All heuristics are tested on real data instances.

Keywords: charging problem, electric vehicle, heuristics, local search, optimization, routing problem.

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Authors: Al-Khalid Othman, Wan A. Wan Zainal Abidin, Kee M. Lee, Hushairi Zen, Tengku. M. A. Zulcaffle, Kuryati Kipli

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This paper provides an in-depth study of Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) application to monitor and control the swiftlet habitat. A set of system design is designed and developed that includes the hardware design of the nodes, Graphical User Interface (GUI) software, sensor network, and interconnectivity for remote data access and management. System architecture is proposed to address the requirements for habitat monitoring. Such applicationdriven design provides and identify important areas of further work in data sampling, communications and networking. For this monitoring system, a sensor node (MTS400), IRIS and Micaz radio transceivers, and a USB interfaced gateway base station of Crossbow (Xbow) Technology WSN are employed. The GUI of this monitoring system is written using a Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) along with Xbow Technology drivers provided by National Instrument. As a result, this monitoring system is capable of collecting data and presents it in both tables and waveform charts for further analysis. This system is also able to send notification message by email provided Internet connectivity is available whenever changes on habitat at remote sites (swiftlet farms) occur. Other functions that have been implemented in this system are the database system for record and management purposes; remote access through the internet using LogMeIn software. Finally, this research draws a conclusion that a WSN for monitoring swiftlet habitat can be effectively used to monitor and manage swiftlet farming industry in Sarawak.

Keywords: Swiftlet, WSN, Habitat Monitoring, Networking.

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Authors: Mohsen A. Bakouri, Andrey V. Savkin, Abdul-Hakeem H. Alomari, Robert F. Salamonsen, Einly Lim, Nigel H. Lovell

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Physiological control of a left ventricle assist device (LVAD) is generally a complicated task due to diverse operating environments and patient variability. In this work, a tracking control algorithm based on sliding mode and feed forward control for a class of discrete-time single input single output (SISO) nonlinear uncertain systems is presented. The controller was developed to track the reference trajectory to a set operating point without inducing suction in the ventricle. The controller regulates the estimated mean pulsatile flow Qp and mean pulsatility index of pump rotational speed PIω that was generated from a model of the assist device. We recall the principle of the sliding mode control theory then we combine the feed-forward control design with the sliding mode control technique to follow the reference trajectory. The uncertainty is replaced by its upper and lower boundary. The controller was tested in a computer simulation covering two scenarios (preload and ventricular contractility). The simulation results prove the effectiveness and the robustness of the proposed controller

Keywords: robust control system, discrete-sliding mode, left ventricularle assist devicse, pulsatility index.

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Authors: Touhari Fadhila, Mehaiguene Madjid, Meddi Mohamed

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This work aims to assess the quality of water dams based on the monitoring of physical-chemical parameters by the National Agency of Water Resources (ANRH) for a period of 10 years (1999-2008). Quality sheets of surface water for the four dams in the region of upper Cheliff (Ghrib, Deurdeur, Harreza, and Ouled Mellouk) show a degradation of the quality (organic pollution expressed in COD and OM) over time. Indeed, the registered amount of COD often exceeds 50 mg/ l, and the OM exceeds 15 mg/l. This pollution is caused by discharges of wastewater and eutrophication. The waters of dams show a very high salinity (TDS = 2574 mg/l in 2008 for the waters of the dam Ghrib, standard = 1500 mg/l). The concentration of nitrogenous substances (NH₄⁺, NO₂^-) in water is high in 2008 at Ouled Melloukdam. This pollution is caused by the oxidation of nitrogenous organic matter. On the other hand, we studied the relationship between the evolution of quality parameters and filling dams. We observed a decrease in the salinity and COD following an improvement of the filling state of dams, this resides in the dilution water through the contribution of rainwater. While increased levels of nitrates and phosphorus in the waters of four dams studied during the rainy season is compared to the dry period, this increase may be due to leaching from fertilizers used in agricultural soils situated in watersheds.

Keywords: Surface water quality, pollution, physical-chemical parameters, upper Cheliff basin.

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Authors: Thomas V. Prevenslik

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Ovshinsky initiated scientific research in the field of amorphous and disordered materials that continues to this day. The Ovshinsky Effect where the resistance of thin GST films is significantly reduced upon the application of low voltage is of fundamental importance in phase-change - random access memory (PC-RAM) devices.GST stands for GdSbTe chalcogenide type glasses.However, the Ovshinsky Effect is not without controversy. Ovshinsky thought the resistance of GST films is reduced by the redistribution of charge carriers; whereas, others at that time including many PC-RAM researchers today argue that the GST resistance changes because the GST amorphous state is transformed to the crystalline state by melting, the heat supplied by external heaters. In this controversy, quantum mechanics (QM) asserts the heat capacity of GST films vanishes, and therefore melting cannot occur as the heat supplied cannot be conserved by an increase in GST film temperature.By precluding melting, QM re-opens the controversy between the melting and charge carrier mechanisms. Supporting analysis is presented to show that instead of increasing GST film temperature, conservation proceeds by the QED induced creation of photons within the GST film, the QED photons confined by TIR. QED stands for quantum electrodynamics and TIR for total internal reflection. The TIR confinement of QED photons is enhanced by the fact the absorbedheat energy absorbed in the GST film is concentrated in the TIR mode because of their high surface to volume ratio. The QED photons having Planck energy beyond the ultraviolet produce excitons by the photoelectric effect, the electrons and holes of which reduce the GST film resistance.

Keywords: Ovshinsky, phase change memory, PC-RAM, chalcogenide, quantummechanics, quantum electrodynamics.

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Authors: Rassoli Aisa, Abrishami Movahhed Arezu, Faturaee Nasser, Seddighi Amir Saeed, Shafigh Mohammad

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Cardiovascular diseases are one of the most common causes of mortality in developed countries. Coronary artery abnormalities and carotid artery stenosis, also known as silent death, are among these diseases. One of the treatment methods for these diseases is to create a deviatory pathway to conduct blood into the heart through a bypass surgery. The saphenous vein is usually used in this surgery to create the deviatory pathway. Unfortunately, a re-surgery will be necessary after some years due to ignoring the disagreement of mechanical properties of graft tissue and/or applied prostheses with those of host tissue. The objective of the present study is to clarify the viscoelastic behavior of human saphenous tissue. The stress relaxation tests in circumferential and longitudinal direction were done in this vein by exerting 20% and 50% strains. Considering the stress relaxation curves obtained from stress relaxation tests and the coefficients of the standard solid model, it was demonstrated that the saphenous vein has a non-linear viscoelastic behavior. Thereafter, the fitting with Fung’s quasilinear viscoelastic (QLV) model was performed based on stress relaxation time curves. Finally, the coefficients of Fung’s QLV model, which models the behavior of saphenous tissue very well, were presented.

Keywords: Fung’s quasilinear viscoelastic (QLV) model, strain rate, stress relaxation test, uniaxial tensile test, viscoelastic behavior.

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Authors: Benjamin Osae Agyei, Hypolite Bayor

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This present experiment was carried out during the 2012 cropping season, at the Farming for the Future Experimental Field of the University for Development Studies, Nyankpala Campus in the Northern Region of Ghana. The objective of the experiment was to determine the carrot growth and yield responses to poultry manure and N.P.K (15:15:15). Six treatments (Control (no amendment), 20 t/ha poultry manure (PM), 40 t/ha PM, 70 t/ha PM, 35 t/ha PM + 0.11t/ha N.P.K and 0.23 t/ha N.P.K) with three replications for each were laid in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). Data were collected on plant height, number of leaves per plant, canopy spread, root diameter, root weight, and root length. Microsoft Excel and Genstat Statistical Package (9^th edition) were used for the data analysis. The treatment means were compared by using Least Significant Difference at 10%. Generally, the results showed that there were no significant differences (P>0.1) among the treatments with respect to number of leaves per plant, root diameter, root weight, and root length. However, significant differences occurred among plant heights and canopy spreads. Plant height treated with 40 t/ha PM at the fourth week after planting and canopy spread at eight weeks after planting and ten weeks after planting by 70 t/ha PM and 20 t/ha PM respectively showed significant difference (P<0.1). The study recommended that any of the amended treatments can be applied at their recommended rates to plots for carrot production, since there were no significant differences among the treatments.

Keywords: Poultry manure, N.P.K., soil amendment, growth, yield, carrot.

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Authors: G. Sarojamma, K. Vendabai

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An analysis is carried out to investigate the effect of magnetic field and heat source on the steady boundary layer flow and heat transfer of a Casson nanofluid over a vertical cylinder stretching exponentially along its radial direction. Using a similarity transformation, the governing mathematical equations, with the boundary conditions are reduced to a system of coupled, non –linear ordinary differential equations. The resulting system is solved numerically by the fourth order Runge – Kutta scheme with shooting technique. The influence of various physical parameters such as Reynolds number, Prandtl number, magnetic field, Brownian motion parameter, thermophoresis parameter, Lewis number and the natural convection parameter are presented graphically and discussed for non – dimensional velocity, temperature and nanoparticle volume fraction. Numerical data for the skin – friction coefficient, local Nusselt number and the local Sherwood number have been tabulated for various parametric conditions. It is found that the local Nusselt number is a decreasing function of Brownian motion parameter Nb and the thermophoresis parameter Nt.

Keywords: Casson nanofluid, Boundary layer flow, Internal heat generation/absorption, Exponentially stretching cylinder, Heat transfer, Brownian motion, Thermophoresis.

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Authors: Ofelia A. Damag

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The study was focused on the development and assessment of the illustrated language activities of the 1996 Edition of the Portage Guide to Early Education. It determined the extent of appropriateness, applicability, time efficiency and aesthetics of the illustrated language activities to be used as instructional material not only by teachers, but parents and caregivers as well. The eclectic research design was applied in this study using qualitative and quantitative methods. To determine the applicability and time efficiency of the study, a try out was done. Since the eclectic research design was used, it made use of a researcher-made survey questionnaire and focus group discussion. Analysis of the data was done through weighted mean and ANOVA. The respondents of the study were representatives of Special Education (SPED) teachers, caregivers and parents of a special-needs child, particularly with difficulties in learning basic language skills. The results of the study show that a large number of respondents are SPED teachers and caregivers and are mostly college graduates. Many of them have earned units towards Master’s studies. Moreover, a majority of the respondents have not attended seminars or in-service training in early intervention for them to be more competent in the area of specialization. It is concluded that the illustrated language activities under review in this study are appropriate, applicable, time efficient and aesthetic for use as a tool in teaching. The recommendations are focused on the advocacy for SPED teachers, caregivers and parents of special-needs children to be more consistent in the implementation of the new instructional materials as an aid in an intervention program.

Keywords: Illustrated language activities, inclusion, portage guide to early education, special educational needs.

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Authors: J. Fenianos, C. Khater, D. Brouillet

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Ecological projects are often faced with reluctance from local communities hosting the project, especially when this project involves variation from preset ideas or classical practices. This paper aims at appreciating the contribution of environmental psychology through cognitive flexibility exercises to improve the acceptability of local communities in adopting more ecological rehabilitation scenarios. The study is based on a quarry site located in Bekaa- Lebanon. Four groups were considered with different levels of involvement, as follows: Group 1 is Training (T) – 50 hours of on-site training over 8 months, Group 2 is Awareness (A) – 2 hours of awareness raising session, Group 3 is Flexibility (F) – 2 hours of flexibility exercises and Group 4 is the Control (C). The results show that individuals in Group 3 (F) who followed flexibility sessions accept comparably the ecological rehabilitation option over the more classical one. This is also the case for the people in Group 1 (T) who followed a more time-demanding “on-site training”. Another experience was conducted on a second quarry site combining flexibility with awareness-raising. This research confirms that it is possible to reduce resistance to change thanks to a limited in-time intervention using cognitive flexibility. This methodological approach could be transferable to other environmental problems involving local communities and changes in preset perceptions.

Keywords: Acceptability, ecological restoration, environmental psychology, Lebanon, local communities, resistance to change.

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Authors: Zayed Freah Zeadat

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The wellbeing of urban dwellers is strongly associated with the quality and quantity of green infrastructure. Nevertheless, urban green infrastructure is still lagging in many Arab cities, and Jordan is no exception. The capital city of Jordan, Amman, is becoming more urban dense with limited green spaces. The unplanned urban growth in Amman has caused several environmental problems such as urban heat islands, air pollution and lack of green spaces. This study aims to investigate the most suitable drivers to leverage the implementation of urban green infrastructure in Jordan through qualitative and quantitative analysis. The qualitative research includes an extensive literature review to discuss the most common drivers used internationally to promote urban green infrastructure implementation in the literature. The quantitative study employs a questionnaire survey to rank the suitability of each driver. Consultants, contractors and policymakers were invited to fill the research questionnaire according to their judgments and opinions. Relative Importance Index has been used to calculate the weighted average of all drivers and the Kruskal-Wallis test to check the degree of agreement among groups. This study finds that research participants agreed that indirect financial incentives (i.e., tax reductions, reduction in stormwater utility fee, reduction of interest rate, density bonus etc.) are the most effective incentive policy whilst granting sustainability certificate policy is the least effective driver to ensure widespread of UGI is elements in Jordan.

Keywords: sustainable development, urban green infrastructure, relative importance index, urban Jordan

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