Search results for: Distance Based Analysis

Authors: T.C. Manjunath, B. Bandyopadhyay

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This paper features the proposed modeling and design of a Robust Decentralized Periodic Output Feedback (RDPOF) control technique for the active vibration control of smart flexible multimodel Euler-Bernoulli cantilever beams for a multivariable (MIMO) case by retaining the first 6 vibratory modes. The beam structure is modeled in state space form using the concept of piezoelectric theory, the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory and the Finite Element Method (FEM) technique by dividing the beam into 4 finite elements and placing the piezoelectric sensor / actuator at two finite element locations (positions 2 and 4) as collocated pairs, i.e., as surface mounted sensor / actuator, thus giving rise to a multivariable model of the smart structure plant with two inputs and two outputs. Five such multivariable models are obtained by varying the dimensions (aspect ratios) of the aluminum beam, thus giving rise to a multimodel of the smart structure system. Using model order reduction technique, the reduced order model of the higher order system is obtained based on dominant eigen value retention and the method of Davison. RDPOF controllers are designed for the above 5 multivariable-multimodel plant. The closed loop responses with the RDPOF feedback gain and the magnitudes of the control input are observed and the performance of the proposed multimodel smart structure system with the controller is evaluated for vibration control.

Keywords: Smart structure, Euler-Bernoulli beam theory, Periodic output feedback control, Finite Element Method, State space model, SISO, Embedded sensors and actuators, Vibration control, Reduced order model

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Authors: Talar Agopian

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Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) is a common practice in many Lebanese schools. However, ESL teaching is done in traditional ways. Methods such as constructivism are seldom used, especially in villages. Here lies the significance of this research which joins constructivism and Piaget’s theory of cognitive development in ESL classes in Lebanese villages. The purpose of the present study is to explore the effects of applying constructivist student-centered strategies in teaching grammar, reading comprehension, and poetry on students in elementary ESL classes in two villages in Lebanon, Zefta in South Lebanon and Boqaata in Mount Lebanon. 20 English teachers participated in a training titled “Teaching English with Fun”, which focused on strategies that create a student-centered class where active learning takes place and there is increased learner engagement and autonomy. The training covered three main areas in teaching English: grammar, reading comprehension, and poetry. After participating in the training, the teachers applied the new strategies and methods in their ESL classes. The methodology comprised two phases: in phase one, practice-based research was conducted as the teachers attended the training and applied the constructivist strategies in their respective ESL classes. Phase two included the reflections of the teachers on the effects of the application of constructivist strategies. The results revealed the educational benefits of constructivist student-centered strategies; the students of teachers who applied these strategies showed improved engagement, positive attitudes towards poetry, increased motivation, and a better sense of autonomy. Future research is required in applying constructivist methods in the areas of writing, spelling, and vocabulary in ESL classrooms of Lebanese villages.

Keywords: Active learning, constructivism, learner engagement, student-centered strategies.

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Authors: Zaharani Ahmad, Nor Hashimah Jalaluddin

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The aim of this paper is to examine and identify the issue of linguistic redundancy in two competing grammars of Malay, namely the school grammar and the corpus grammar. The former is a normative grammar which is formally and prescriptively taught in the classroom, whereas the latter is a descriptive grammar that is informally acquired and mastered by the students as native speakers of the language outside the classroom. Corpus grammar is depicted based on its actual used in natural occurring texts, as attested in the corpus. It is observed that the grammar taught in schools is incompatible with the grammar used in the corpus. For instance, a noun phrase containing nominal reduplicated form which denotes plurality (i.e. murid-murid ‘students’ which is derived from murid ‘student’) and a modifier categorized as quantifiers (i.e. semua ‘all’, seluruh ‘entire’, and kebanyakan ‘most’) is not acceptable in the school grammar because the formation (i.e. semua murid-murid ‘all the students’ kebanyakan pelajar-pelajar ‘most of the students’) is claimed to be redundant, and redundancy is prohibited in the grammar. Redundancy is generally construed as the property of speech and language by which more information is provided than is precisely required for the message to be understood, so that, if some information is omitted, the remaining information will still be sufficient for the message to be comprehended. Thus, the correct construction to be used is strictly the reduplicated form (i.e. murid-murid ‘students’) or the quantifier plus the root (i.e. semua murid ‘all the students’) with the intention that the grammatical meaning of plural is not repeated. Nevertheless, the so-called redundant form (i.e. kebanyakan pelajar-pelajar ‘most of the students’) is frequently used in the corpus grammar. This study shows that there are a number of redundant forms occur in the morphology of the language, particularly in affixation, reduplication and combination of both. Apparently, the so-called redundancy has grammatical and socio-cultural functions in communication that is to give emphasis and to stress the importance of the information delivered by the speakers or writers.

Keywords: Corpus grammar, morphology, redundancy, school grammar.

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Authors: Vanessa A. Segovia, Sonia E. Ruiz

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The use of energy dissipation systems for seismic applications has increased worldwide, thus it is necessary to develop practical and modern criteria for their optimal design. Here, a direct displacement-based seismic design approach for frame buildings with hysteretic energy dissipation systems (HEDS) is applied. The building is constituted by two individual structural systems consisting of: 1) a main elastic structural frame designed for service loads; and 2) a secondary system, corresponding to the HEDS, that controls the effects of lateral loads. The procedure implies to control two design parameters: a) the stiffness ratio (α=Kframe/Ktotal system), and b) the strength ratio (γ=Vdamper/Vtotal system). The proposed damage-controlled approach contributes to the design of a more sustainable and resilient building because the structural damage is concentrated on the HEDS. The reduction of the design displacement spectrum is done by means of a damping factor (recently published) for elastic structural systems with HEDS, located in Mexico City. Two limit states are verified: serviceability and near collapse. Instead of the traditional trial-error approach, a procedure that allows the designer to establish the preliminary sizes of the structural elements of both systems is proposed. The design methodology is applied to an 8-story steel building with buckling restrained braces, located in soft soil of Mexico City. With the aim of choosing the optimal design parameters, a parametric study is developed considering different values of હ and ઻. The simplified methodology is for preliminary sizing, design, and evaluation of the effectiveness of HEDS, and it constitutes a modern and practical tool that enables the structural designer to select the best design parameters. 

Keywords: Damage-controlled buildings, direct displacementbased seismic design, optimal hysteretic energy dissipation systems

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Authors: Pradip Kumar Das

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Phenomenal growth of population and industry exploits the environment in varied ways. Consequently, the greenhouse effect and other allied problems are threatening mankind the world over. Protection and up gradation of environment have, therefore, become the prime necessity all of mankind for the sustainable development of environment. People in humbler walks of life including the corporate citizens have become aware of the impacts of environmental pollution. Governments of various nations have entered the picture with laws and regulations to correct and cure the effects of present and past violations of environmental practices and to obstruct future violations of good environmental disciplines. In this perspective, environmental audit directs verification and validation to ensure that the various environmental laws are complied with and adequate care has been taken towards environmental protection and preservation. The discipline of environmental audit has experienced expressive development throughout the world. It examines the positive and negative effects of the activities of an enterprise on environment and provides an in-depth study of the company processes any growth in realizing long-term strategic goals. Environmental audit helps corporations assess its achievement, correct deficiencies and reduce risk to the health and improving safety. Environmental audit being a strong management tool should be administered by industry for its own self-assessment. Developed countries all over the globe have gone ahead in environment quantification; but unfortunately, there is a lack of awareness about pollution and environmental hazards among the common people in India. In the light of this situation, the conceptual analysis of this study is concerned with the rationale of environmental audit on the industry and the society as a whole and highlights the emerging dimensions in the auditing theory and practices. A modest attempt has been made to throw light on the recent development in environmental audit in developing nations like India and the problems associated with the implementation of environmental audit. The conceptual study also reflects that despite different obstacles, environmental audit is becoming an increasing aspect within the corporate sectors in India and lastly, conclusions along with suggestions have been offered to improve the current scenario.

Keywords: Environmental audit, environmental hazards, environmental laws, environmental protection, environmental preservation.

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Authors: Md Y. Reja, Samuel D. Brody, Wesley E. Highfield, Galen D. Newman

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Historically, wetlands in the United States have been lost due to agriculture, anthropogenic activities, and rapid urbanization along the coast. Such losses of wetlands have resulted in high flooding risk for coastal communities over the period of time. In addition, alteration of wetlands via the Section 404 Clean Water Act permits can increase the flooding risk to future hurricane events, as the cumulative impact of this program is poorly understood and under-accounted. Further, recovery after hurricane events is acting as an encouragement for new development and reconstruction activities by converting wetlands under the wetland alteration permitting program. This study investigates the degree to which hurricane recovery activities in coastal communities are undermining the ability of these places to absorb the impacts of future storm events. Specifically, this work explores how and to what extent wetlands are being affected by the federal permitting program post-Hurricane Ike in 2008. Wetland alteration patterns are examined across three counties (Harris, Galveston, and Chambers County) along the Texas Gulf Coast over a 10-year time period, from 2004-2013 (five years before and after Hurricane Ike) by conducting descriptive spatial analyses. Results indicate that after Hurricane Ike, the number of permits substantially increased in Harris and Chambers County. The vast majority of individual and nationwide type permits were issued within the 100-year floodplain, storm surge zones, and areas damaged by Ike flooding, suggesting that recovery after the hurricane is compromising the ecological resiliency on which coastal communities depend. The authors expect that the findings of this study can increase awareness to policy makers and hazard mitigation planners regarding how to manage wetlands during a long-term recovery process to maintain their natural functions for future flood mitigation.

Keywords: Ecological resiliency, Hurricane Ike, recovery, Section 404 permitting, wetland alteration.

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Authors: Krasimira Georgieva, Yordan Denev

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Many of thermosetting resins have application only in filled state, reinforced with different mineral fillers. The co-filling of polymers with mineral filler and gases creates a possibility for production of polymer composites materials with low density. This processing leads to forming of new materials – gas-filled plastics (polymer foams). The properties of these materials are determined mainly by the shape and size of internal structural elements (pores). The interactions on the phase boundaries have influence on the materials properties too. In the present work, the gas-filled urea-formaldehyde resins were reinforced by waste phosphogypsum. The waste phosphogypsum (CaSO₄.2H₂O) is a solid by-product in wet phosphoric acid production processes. The values of the interactions polymer-filler were increased by using two modifying agents: polyvinyl acetate for polymer matrix and sodium metasilicate for filler. Technological methods for gas-filling and recipes of urea-formaldehyde based materials with apparent density 20-120 kg/m³ were developed. The heat conductivity of the samples is between 0.024 and 0.029 W/m^oK. Tensile analyses were carried out at 10 and 50% deformation and show values 0.01-0.14 MPa and 0.01-0.09 MPa, respectively. The apparent density of obtained materials is between 20 and 92 kg/m³. The changes in the tensile properties and density of these materials according to sodium metasilicate content were studied too. The mechanism of phosphogypsum adsorption modification was studied using methods of FT-IR spectroscopy. The structure of the gas-filled urea-formaldehyde resins was described by results of electron scanning microscopy at three different magnification ratios – x50, x150 and x 500. The aim of present work is to study the possibility of the usage of phosphogypsum as mineral filler for urea-formaldehyde resins and development of a technology for the production of gas-filled reinforced polymer composite materials. The structure and the properties of obtained composite materials are suitable for thermal and sound insulation applications.

Keywords: Gas-filled thermosets, mechanical properties, phosphogypsum, urea-formaldehyde resins.

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Authors: Karim Shiraazi, Zargham OstadiAsl, Vahid Sheikhloie, Ahadollah Azami, Shahin Hassanimehr

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Bridge is an architectural symbol in Iran as Badgir (wind catcher); fire temples and arch are vaults are such. Therefore, from the very old ages, construction of bridges in Iran has mixed with architecture, social customs, alms and charity and holiness. Since long ago, from Mad, Achaemenid, Parthian and Sassanid times which construction of bridges got an inseparable relation with social dependency and architecture, based on those dependency bridges and dams got holy names; as Dokhtar castle and Dokhtar bridges were constructed. This method continued even after Islam and whenever Iranians got free from political fights and the immunity of roads were established the bridge construction did also prospered. In ancient times bridge construction passes through it growing and completion process and in Sassanid time in some way it reached to the peak of art and glory; as after Islam especially during 4th. century (Arab calendar) it put behind a period of glory and in Safavid time it reached to an exceptional glory and magnificence by constructing glorious bridges on Zayandeh Roud River in Isfahan. Having a combined style and changeability into bridge barrier, some of these bridges develop into magnificent constructions. The sustainable structures, mentioned above, are constructed for various reasons as follows: connecting two sides of a river, storing water, controlling floods, using water energy to operate water windmills, making lanes of streams for farms- use, and building recreational places for people, etc. These studies carried in bridges reveals the fact that in construction and designing mentioned above, lots of technological factors have been taken into consideration such as exceeding floods in the rives, hydraulic and hydrology of the rivers and bridges, geology, foundation, structure, construction material, and adopting appropriate executing methods, all of which are being analyzed in this article.

Keywords: Hydraulic-Architectural Bridge, Sustainability, Construction

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Authors: Marinelle El-Khoury, Lina Bouhaya, Nivine Abbas, Hassan Sleiman

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The road network in the north of Lebanon is a prime example of the lack of pavement design and execution in Lebanon.  These roads show major distresses and hence, should be tested and evaluated. The aim of this research is to investigate and determine the deficiencies in road surface design in Lebanon, and to propose an environmentally friendly asphalt mix design. This paper consists of several parts: (i) evaluating pavement performance and structural behavior, (ii) identifying the distresses using visual examination followed by laboratory tests, (iii) deciding the optimal solution where rehabilitation or reconstruction is required and finally, (iv) identifying a sustainable method, which uses recycled material in the proposed mix. The asphalt formula contains Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) in the base course layer and in the asphalt layer. Visual inspection of the roads in Tripoli shows that these roads face a high level of distress severity. Consequently, the pavement should be reconstructed rather than simply rehabilitated. Coring was done to determine the pavement layer thickness. The results were compared to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) design methodology and showed that the existing asphalt thickness is lower than the required asphalt thickness. Prior to the pavement reconstruction, the road materials were tested according to the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) specification to identify whether the materials are suitable. Accordingly, the ASTM tests that were performed on the base course are Sieve analysis, Atterberg limits, modified proctor, Los Angeles, and California Bearing Ratio (CBR) tests. Results show a CBR value higher than 70%. Hence, these aggregates could be used as a base course layer. The asphalt layer was also tested and the results of the Marshall flow and stability tests meet the ASTM specifications. In the last section, an environmentally friendly mix was proposed. An optimal RAP percentage of 30%, which produced a well graded base course and asphalt mix, was determined through a series of trials.

Keywords: Asphalt mix, reclaimed asphalt pavement, California bearing ratio, sustainability.

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Authors: N. Hernández Huertas, F. Rojas Mora

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Sounding rockets are aerospace vehicles that were developed in the mid-20th century, and since then numerous investigations have been executed with the aim of innovate in this type of technology. However, the costs associated to the production of this type of technology are usually quite high, and therefore the challenge that exists today is to be able to reduce them. In this way, the main objective of this document is to present the design process of a Colombian aerospace mission capable to reach the thermosphere using low-cost “Candy” type solid fuel engines. This mission is the latest development of the Uniandes Aerospace Project (PUA for its Spanish acronym), which is an undergraduate and postgraduate research group at Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia), dedicated to incurring in this type of technology. In this way, the investigations that have been carried out on Candy-type solid fuel, which is a compound of potassium nitrate and sorbitol, have allowed the production of engines powerful enough to reach space, and which represents a unique technological advance in Latin America and an important development in experimental rocketry. In this way, following the engineering iterative design methodology was possible to design a 2-stage sounding rocket with 1 solid fuel engine in each one, which was then simulated in RockSim V9.0 software and reached an apogee of approximately 150 km above sea level. Similarly, a speed equal to 5 Mach was obtained, which after performing a finite element analysis, it was shown that the rocket is strong enough to be able to withstand such speeds. Under these premises, it was demonstrated that it is possible to build a high-power aerospace mission at low cost, using Candy-type solid fuel engines. For this reason, the feasibility of carrying out similar missions clearly depends on the ability to replicate the engines in the best way, since as mentioned above, the design of the rocket is adequate to reach supersonic speeds and reach space. Consequently, with a team of at least 3 members, the mission can be obtained in less than 3 months. Therefore, when publishing this project, it is intended to be a reference for future research in this field and benefit the industry.

Keywords: Aerospace missions, candy type solid propellant engines, design of solid rockets, experimental rocketry, low costs missions.

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Authors: David Xiaoqian Sun, Khairunnisa Binti Haji Sibah, Jr., Lejak Anak Ambol

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The purpose of the study was to examine the relationships between objectively measured physical activity levels (PALs), enjoyment of physical activity (EPA), and body mass index (BMI) among adolescents. A total of 188 12-14-year-old Bruneian secondary school adolescents (88 boys and 100 girls) voluntarily took part in this study. Subjects wore the RT3 accelerometer for seven consecutive days in order to measure their PALs. Times of students’ engagement in total (TPA), light (LPA), moderate (MPV), and vigorous PA (VPA) were obtained from the accelerometer. Their BMIs were calculated from their body height and weight. Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale (PACES) was administrated to obtain their EPA levels. Four key enjoyment factors including fun factors, positive perceptions, unexciting in doing activities, and negative perceptions were identified. Subjects’ social economic status (SES) was provided by school administration. Results show that all the adolescents did not meet the recommended PA guidelines even though boys were engaged in more MVPA than girls. No relationships were found between BMI and all PALs in both boys and girls. BMI was significantly related to the PACES scores (r = -.22, p = 0.01), fun factors (r = -.20, p = 0.05) and positive perceptions (r =- .21, p < 0.05). The PACES scores were significantly related to LPA (r = .18, p = 0.01) but not related to MVPA (r = .04, p > 0.05). After controlling for age and SES, BMI was only significantly related to the PACES scores in girls (r = -.27, p < .01) but boys (r = -.06, p > 0.05). Fun factors were significantly related to LPA and MVPA (p < .01) in girls while negative perceptions were significantly related to LPA and MVPA (p < .01) in boys. This study provides evidence that enjoyment may be a trigger of LPA but MVPA and may be influenced by their BMI status particularly in girls. Based on these findings, physical and health educators are suggested to not only make PA more enjoyable, but also consider gender differences in promoting adolescents' participation in MVPA

Keywords: Accelerometer, body mass index, enjoyment of physical activity, moderate to vigorous physical activity.

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Authors: Yanru Wu, Qing Sun

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Sightseeing glass bridges located in steep valley area are being built on a large scale owing to the development of tourism. Consequently, their aerostatic stability is seriously affected by the wind field characteristics created by strong wind and special terrain, such as wind speed and wind attack angle. For instance, a cable-stayed pedestrian bridge without backstays comprised of a 60-m cantilever girder and the glass bridge deck is located in an abrupt valley, acting as a viewing platform. The bridge’s nonlinear aerostatic stability was analyzed by the segmental model test and numerical simulation in this paper. Based on aerostatic coefficients of the main girder measured in wind tunnel tests, nonlinear influences caused by the structure and aerostatic load, inhomogeneous distribution of torsion angle along the bridge axis, and the influence of initial attack angle were analyzed by using the incremental double iteration method. The results show that the aerostatic response varying with speed shows an obvious nonlinearity, and the aerostatic instability mode is of the characteristic of space deformation of bending-twisting coupling mode. The vertical and torsional deformation of the main girder is larger than its lateral deformation, with the wind speed approaching the critical wind speed. The flow of negative attack angle will reduce the bridges’ critical stability wind speed, but the influence of the negative attack angle on the aerostatic stability is more significant than that of the positive attack angle. The critical wind speeds of torsional divergence and lateral buckling are both larger than 200 m/s; namely, the bridge will not occur aerostatic instability under the action of various wind attack angles.

Keywords: Aerostatic nonlinearity, cable-stayed pedestrian bridge, numerical simulation, nonlinear aerostatic stability.

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Authors: Dmitry K. Shaytan, Georgy D. Laptev

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In our research we aimed to test a managerial approach for the fuzzy front end (FFE) of innovation by creating controlled experiment/ business case in a breakthrough innovation development. The experiment was in the sport industry and covered all aspects of the customer discovery stage from ideation to prototyping followed by patent application. In the paper we describe and analyze mile stones, tasks, management challenges, decisions made to create the break through innovation, evaluate overall managerial efficiency that was at the considered FFE stage. We set managerial outcome of the FFE stage as a valid product concept in hand. In our paper we introduce hypothetical construct “Q-factor” that helps us in the experiment to distinguish quality of FFE outcomes. The experiment simulated for entrepreneur the FFE of innovation and put on his shoulders responsibility for the outcome of valid product concept. While developing managerial approach to reach the outcome there was a decision to look on product concept from the cognitive psychology and cognitive science point of view. This view helped us to develop the profile of a person whose projection (mental representation) of a new product could optimize for a manager or entrepreneur FFE activities. In the experiment this profile was tested to develop breakthrough innovation for swimmers. Following the managerial approach the product concept was created to help swimmers to feel/sense water. The working prototype was developed to estimate the product concept validity and value added effect for customers. Based on feedback from coachers and swimmers there were strong positive effect that gave high value for customers, and for the experiment – the valid product concept being developed by proposed managerial approach for the FFE. In conclusions there is a suggestion of managerial approach that was derived from experiment.

Keywords: Concept development, concept testing, customer discovery, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial management, idea generation, idea screening, startup management.

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Authors: Tuba Tekin, Nurcan Baglam, Emine Dincer

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This study aimed to examine the effects of nutrition education received by university students on sustainable healthy eating behaviors and adherence to the Mediterranean diet. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th-grade university students studying at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Nutrition and Dietetics, Midwifery, Nursing, Physical Therapy, and Rehabilitation departments of universities in Turkey were included in the study. Students' adherence to the Mediterranean diet was evaluated using the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Scale, and their sustainable and healthy eating behaviors were evaluated using the Sustainable and Healthy Eating Behaviors Scale. In addition, the body weight and height of the students were measured by the researchers, and the Body Mass Index (BMI) value was calculated. A total of 181 students, 85 of whom were studying in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics and 96 of whom were educated in other departments, were included in the study; 75.7% of the students in the sample are female, while 24.3% are male. The average body weight of the students was 61.17 ± 10.87 kg, and the average BMI was 22.04 ± 3.40 kg/m2. While the mean score of the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Scale was 6.72 ± 1.84, in the evaluation of adherence to the Mediterranean diet, it was determined that 25.4% of the students had poor adherence and 66.9% needed improvement. When the adherence scores of students who received and did not receive nutrition education were compared, it was discovered that the students who received nutrition education had a higher score (p < 0.05). Students who received nutrition education had a higher total score on the Sustainable and Healthy Eating Behaviors scale (p < 0.05). A moderately positive correlation was found between the Sustainable and Healthy Eating Behaviors scale total score and the Mediterranean Diet Adherence scores (p < 0.05). As a result of the linear regression analysis, it was revealed that a 1-unit increase in the Mediterranean diet adherence score would result in a 1.3-point increase in the total score of the Sustainable and Healthy Eating Behaviors scale. Sustainable and healthy diets are important for improving and developing health and the prevention of diseases. The Mediterranean diet is defined as a sustainable diet model. The findings revealed the relationship between the Mediterranean diet and sustainable nutrition and showed that nutrition education increased knowledge and awareness about sustainable nutrition and increased adherence to the Mediterranean diet. For this reason, courses or seminars on sustainable nutrition can be organized during educational periods.

Keywords: Healthy eating, Mediterranean diet, nutrition education, sustainable nutrition.

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Authors: Jean Berger, Mohamed Barkaoui

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Discrete search path planning in time-constrained uncertain environment relying upon imperfect sensors is known to be hard, and current problem-solving techniques proposed so far to compute near real-time efficient path plans are mainly bounded to provide a few move solutions. A new information-theoretic –based open-loop decision model explicitly incorporating false alarm sensor readings, to solve a single agent military logistics search-and-delivery path planning problem with anticipated feedback is presented. The decision model consists in minimizing expected entropy considering anticipated possible observation outcomes over a given time horizon. The model captures uncertainty associated with observation events for all possible scenarios. Entropy represents a measure of uncertainty about the searched target location. Feedback information resulting from possible sensor observations outcomes along the projected path plan is exploited to update anticipated unit target occupancy beliefs. For the first time, a compact belief update formulation is generalized to explicitly include false positive observation events that may occur during plan execution. A novel genetic algorithm is then proposed to efficiently solve search path planning, providing near-optimal solutions for practical realistic problem instances. Given the run-time performance of the algorithm, natural extension to a closed-loop environment to progressively integrate real visit outcomes on a rolling time horizon can be easily envisioned. Computational results show the value of the approach in comparison to alternate heuristics.

Keywords: Search path planning, false alarm, search-and-delivery, entropy, genetic algorithm.

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Authors: Le Xuan Cau

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Flash flood is occurred in short time rainfall interval: from 1 hour to 12 hours in small and medium basins. Flash floods typically have two characteristics: large water flow and big flow velocity. Flash flood is occurred at hill valley site (strip of lowland of terrain) in a catchment with large enough distribution area, steep basin slope, and heavy rainfall. The risk of flash floods is determined through Gridded Basin Flash Flood Potential Index (GBFFPI). Flash Flood Potential Index (FFPI) is determined through terrain slope flash flood index, soil erosion flash flood index, land cover flash floods index, land use flash flood index, rainfall flash flood index. Determining GBFFPI, each cell in a map can be considered as outlet of a water accumulation basin. GBFFPI of the cell is determined as basin average value of FFPI of the corresponding water accumulation basin. Based on GIS, a tool is developed to compute GBFFPI using ArcObjects SDK for .NET. The maps of GBFFPI are built in two types: GBFFPI including rainfall flash flood index (real time flash flood warning) or GBFFPI excluding rainfall flash flood index. GBFFPI Tool can be used to determine a high flash flood potential site in a large region as quick as possible. The GBFFPI is improved from conventional FFPI. The advantage of GBFFPI is that GBFFPI is taking into account the basin response (interaction of cells) and determines more true flash flood site (strip of lowland of terrain) while conventional FFPI is taking into account single cell and does not consider the interaction between cells. The GBFFPI Map of QuangNam, QuangNgai, DaNang, Hue is built and exported to Google Earth. The obtained map proves scientific basis of GBFFPI.

Keywords: ArcObjects SDK for .NET, Basin average value of FFPI, Gridded basin flash flood potential index, GBFFPI map.

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Authors: Zoaib Mirza

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Pakistan is an Islamic country that got its partition from India in 1947 so that the people could practice the religion of Islam. The political slogan to strive for independence was “What does Pakistan mean? There is no God but Allah”. The ideology of Pakistan was based on the notion that sovereignty only belonged to God Almighty (in Arabic, God means “Allah”), and Muslims will live in accordance with Islam principles. The Quran (Holy Book) and Sunnah (authentic practices of Prophet Mohammad, Peace Be Upon Him, that explains the application of the Quran) are foundations of the Islamic principles. It has been over 75 years, but unfortunately, Pakistan, due to its own political, social, and economic mistakes, is responsible for not being able to become a true Islamic nation to justify its partition from India. The rationale for writing this paper is to analyze the factors that led to changes in the democratic movements impacting the country's political, social, and economic growth. The methodology to examine the historical and political context of Pakistan’s history is by referencing the scholarly work of Israr Ahmed. He focused on Islamic theology, philosophy, and studies, offering insights into the historical and political context of the country. While from a Western perspective, Karl Marx, Mar Weber, Hannah Arendt, Sheldon Wolin, Paulo Freire, and Jacques Ranciere's philosophies specific to totalitarianism, politics, military rule, religion, capitalism, and superpower are used as the framework to analyze Pakistan’s democracy. The study's findings conclude that Pakistan's democracy is unstable and has been impacted by military and civilian governance, which led to political, social, and economic downfall. To improve the current situation, the citizens of Pakistan have to realize that the success of a nation is only dependent on the level of consciousness of the leader and not the political system. Therefore, it is the responsibility of every citizen to be conscious of how they select their leader and take responsibility for the current situation in Pakistan.

Keywords: Pakistan, Islam, democracy, totalitarianism, military, religion, capitalism.

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Authors: Ioannis I. Αngeli

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Worldwide and mainly in the European Union, many standards, regulations, models and systems exists for the evaluation and identification of stakeholders’ requirements of individual universities and higher education (HE) in general. All systems are targeting to measure or evaluate the Universities’ Quality Assurance Systems and the services offered to the recipients of HE, mainly the students. Numerous surveys were conducted in the past either by each university or by organized bodies to identify the students’ satisfaction or to evaluate to what extent these requirements are fulfilled. In this paper, the main results of an ongoing 6-year joint research will be presented very briefly. This research deals with an in depth investigation of student’s satisfaction, students personal requirements, a cup analysis among these two parameters and compares different universities. Through this research an attempt will be made to address four very important questions in higher education establishments (HEE): (1) Are there any common requirements, parameters, good practices or questions that apply to a large number of universities that will assure that students’ requirements are fulfilled? (2) Up to what extent the individual programs of HEE fulfil the requirements of the stakeholders? (3) Are there any similarities on specific programs among European HEE? (4) To what extent the knowledge acquired in a specific course program is utilized or used in a specific country? For the execution of the research an internationally accepted questionnaire(s) was used to evaluate up to what extent the students’ requirements and satisfaction were fulfilled in 2012 and five years later (2017). Samples of students and or universities were taken from many European Universities. The questionnaires used, the sampling method and methodology adopted, as well as the comparison tables and results will be very valuable to any university that is willing to follow the same route and methodology or compare the results with their own HHE. Apart from the unique methodology, valuable results are demonstrated from the four case studies. There is a great difference between the student’s expectations or importance from what they are getting from their universities (in all parameters they are getting less). When there is a crisis or budget cut in HEE there is a direct impact to students. There are many differences on subjects taught in European universities.

Keywords: Quality in higher education, students’ requirements, education standards, student’s survey, stakeholder’s requirements, Mechanical Engineering courses.

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Authors: Samy A. Selim, Nashwa I. Hagag

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Abstract–The objectives of the current study are to determine the prevalence, etiological agents, drug susceptibility pattern and plasmid profile of Acinetobacter baumannii isolates from Hospital-Acquired Infections (HAI) at Community Hospital, Al Jouf Province, Saudi Arabia. A total of 1890 patients had developed infection during hospital admission and were included in the study. Among those who developed nosocomial infections, 15(9.4), 10(2.7) and 118 (12.7) had respiratory tract infection (RTI), blood stream infections (BSI) and urinary tract (UTI) respectively. A total of 268 bacterial isolates were isolated from nosocomial infection. S. aureus was reported in 23.5% for of the total isolates followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (17.5%), E. coli (17.2%), P. aeruginosa (11.9%), coagulase negative staphylococcus (9%), A. baumannii (7.1%), Enterobacter spp. (3.4%), Citrobacter freundii (3%), Proteus mirabilis (2.6%), and Proteus vulgaris and Enterococcous faecalis (0.7%). Isolated organisms are multi-drug resistant, predominantly Gram-positive pathogens with a high incidence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus, extended spectrum beta lactamase and vancomycin resistant enterococci organisms. The RFLP (Fragment Length Polymorphisms) patterns of plasmid preparations from isolated A. baumannii isolates had altered RFLP patterns, possibly due to the presence of plasmid(s). Five A. baumannii isolates harbored plasmids all of which were not less than 2.71kbp in molecular weight. Hence, it showed that the gene coding for the isolates were located on the plasmid DNA while the remaining isolates which have no plasmid might showed gene coding for antibiotic resistance being located on chromosomal DNA. Nosocomial infections represent a current problem in Community Hospital, Al Jouf Province, Saudi Arabia. Problems associated with SSI include infection with multidrug resistant pathogens which are difficult to treat and are associated with increased mortality.

Keywords: Hospital-Acquired Infections, Acinetobacter baumannii, antibiotic resistance, plasmid profile, RFLP patterns, Al Jouf Province, Saudi Arabia

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Authors: Murtuza Ali Lakhani, Michelle Marquard

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From an organizational perspective, leaders are a variation of the same talent pool in that they all score a larger than average value on the bell curve that maps leadership behaviors and characteristics, namely competence, vision, communication, confidence, cultural sensibility, stewardship, empowerment, authenticity, reinforcement, and creativity. The question that remains unanswered and essentially unresolved is how to explain the irony that leaders are so much alike yet their organizations diverge so noticeably in their ability to innovate. Leadership intersects with innovation at the point where human interactions get exceedingly complex and where certain paradoxical forces cohabit: conflict with conciliation, sovereignty with interdependence, and imagination with realism. Rather than accepting that leadership is without context, we argue that leaders are specialists of their domain and that those effective at leading for innovation are distinct within the broader pool of leaders. Keeping in view the extensive literature on leadership and innovation, we carried out a quantitative study with data collected over a five-year period involving 240 participants from across five dissimilar companies based in the United States. We found that while innovation and leadership are, in general, strongly interrelated (r = .89, p = 0.0), there are five qualities that set leaders apart on innovation. These qualities include a large radius of trust, a restless curiosity with a low need for acceptance, an honest sense of self and other, a sense for knowledge and creativity as the yin and yang of innovation, and an ability to use multiple senses in the engagement with followers. When these particular behaviors and characteristics are present in leaders, organizations out-innovate their rivals by a margin of 29.3 per cent to gain an unassailable edge in a business environment that is regularly disruptive. A strategic outcome of this study is a psychometric scale named iLeadership, proposed with the underlying evidence, limitations, and potential for leadership and innovation in organizations.c

Keywords: Innovation, leadership, ileadership, stewardship, communication, empowerment, creativity, vision, influence, emotional connection, group membership, sense of community, knowledge creation.

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Authors: K. K. Kaldybay, T. K. Abdrassilov, G. K. Abdygalieva, P. M. Suleymenov, M. O. Nassimov

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People have always needed to believe in some supernatural power, which could explain nature phenomena. Different kinds of religions like Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism have thought believers in all world, how to behave themselves. We think the most important role of religion in modern society most important role of religion in modern society is safety of the People. World and traditional religion played a prominent role in the socio-cultural progress, and in the development of man as a spiritual being. At the heart of religious morals the belief in god and responsibility before it lies and specifies religious and ethical values and categories . The religion is based on ethical standards historically developed by society, requirements and concepts, but it puts all social and moral relations of the person in dependence on religious values. For everything that the believer makes on a debt or a duty, he bears moral responsibility before conscience, people and god. The concept of value of religious morals takes the central place because the religion from all forms of public consciousness most values is painted as it is urged to answer vital questions. Any religion not only considers questions of creation of the world, sense of human existence, relationship of god and the person, but also offers the ethical concept, develops rules of behavior of people. The religion a long time dominated in the history of culture, and during this time created a set of cultural and material values. The identity of Kazakh culture can be defined as a Cultural identity traditional ,national identity and the identity values developed by Kazakh people in process of cultural-historical development, promoting formation of Kazakh culture identity on public consciousness. Identity is the historical process but always the tradition exists in it as a component of stability, as a component of self that what this identity formed .

Keywords: Philosophy, religion, education, culture, human, national value, security, religious value.

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Authors: Victor Birikorang Danquah

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Ghana's primary energy supply is heavily reliant on petroleum, biomass, and hydropower. Currently, Ghana gets its energy from hydropower (Akosombo and Bui), thermal power plants powered by crude oil, natural gas, and diesel, solar power, and imports from La Cote d'Ivoire. Until the early 2000s, large hydroelectric dams dominated Ghana's electricity generation. Due to the unreliable weather patterns, Ghana increased its reliance on thermal power. Thermal power contributes the highest percentage in terms of electricity generation in Ghana and is predominantly supplied by Independent Power Producers (IPPs). Ghana's electricity industry operates the corporate utility model as its business model. This model is typically 'vertically integrated', with a single corporation selling the majority of power generated by its generation assets to its retail business, which then sells the electricity to retail market consumers. The corporate utility model has a straightforward value proposition that is based on increasing the number of energy units sold. The unit volume business model drives the entire energy value chain to increase throughput, locking system users into unsustainable practices. This report uses the qualitative research approach to explore the electricity industry in Ghana. There is the need for increasing renewable energy such as wind and solar in the electricity generation. The research recommends two critical business models for the penetration of renewable energy in Ghana's power sector. The first model is the peer-to-peer electricity trading model which relies on a software platform to connect consumers and generators in order for them to trade energy directly with one another. The second model is about encouraging local energy generation, incentivizing optimal time-of-use behaviour, and allow any financial gains to be shared among the community members.

Keywords: business model innovation, electricity generation, renewable energy, solar energy, sustainability, wind energy

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Authors: Chaudhary Itisha, Shankar Manu

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Patient satisfaction represents a crucial aspect in the evaluation of health care services. Preoperative teaching provides the patient with pertinent information concerning the surgical process and the intended surgical procedure as well as anticipated patient behavior (anxiety, fear), expected sensation, and the probable outcomes. Although patient education is part of Accreditation protocols, it is not uniform at most places. The aim of this study was to try to assess the benefit of preoperative patient education on selected post-operative outcome parameters; mainly, post-operative pain scores, requirement of additional analgesia, return to activity of daily living and overall patient satisfaction, and try to standardize few education protocols. Dependent variables were measured before and after the treatment on a study population of 302 volunteers. Educational intervention was provided by the Investigator in the preoperative period to the study group through personal counseling. An information booklet contained detailed information was also provided. Statistical Analysis was done using Chi square test, Mann Whitney u test and Fischer Exact Test on a total of 302 subjects. P value <0.05 was considered as level of statistical significance and p<0.01 was considered as highly significant. This study suggested that patients who are given a structured, individualized and elaborate preoperative education and counseling have a better ability to cope up with postoperative pain in the immediate post-operative period. However, there was not much difference when the patients have had almost complete recovery. There was no difference in the requirement of additional analgesia among the two groups. There is a positive effect of preoperative counseling on expected return to the activities of daily living and normal work schedule. However, no effect was observed on the activities in the immediate post-operative period. There is no difference in the overall satisfaction score among the two groups of patients. Thus this study concludes that there is a positive benefit as suggested by the results for pre-operative patient education. Although the difference in various parameters studied might not be significant over a long term basis, they definitely point towards the benefits of preoperative patient education. 

Keywords: Patient education, post-operative pain, patient satisfaction, post-operative outcome.

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Authors: A. G. Temnikov, O. S. Belova, L. L. Chernensky, T. K. Gerastenok, N. Y. Lysov, A. V. Orlov, D. S. Zhuravkova

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Hypothesis of the lightning initiation on the arrays of large hydrometeors are in the consideration. There is no agreement about the form the hydrometeors that could be the best for the lightning initiation from the thundercloud. Artificial charged water aerosol clouds of the positive or negative polarity could help investigate the possible influence of the hydrometeor form on the peculiarities and the probability of the lightning discharge initiation between the thundercloud and the ground. Artificial charged aerosol clouds that could create the electric field strength in the range of 5-6 kV/cm to 16-18 kV/cm have been used in experiments. The array of the model hydrometeors of the volume and plate form has been disposed near the bottom cloud boundary. It was established that the different kinds of the discharge could be initiated in the presence of the model hydrometeors array – from the cloud discharges up to the diffuse and channel discharges between the charged cloud and the ground. It was found that the form of the model hydrometeors could significantly influence the channel discharge initiation from the artificial charged aerosol cloud of the negative or positive polarity correspondingly. Analysis and generalization of the experimental results have shown that the maximal probability of the channel discharge initiation and propagation stimulation has been observed for the artificial charged cloud of the positive polarity when the arrays of the model hydrometeors of the cylinder revolution form have been used. At the same time, for the artificial charged clouds of the negative polarity, application of the model hydrometeor array of the plate rhombus form has provided the maximal probability of the channel discharge formation between the charged cloud and the ground. The established influence of the form of the model hydrometeors on the channel discharge initiation and from the artificial charged water aerosol cloud and its following successful propagation has been related with the different character of the positive and negative streamer and volume leader development on the model hydrometeors array being near the bottom boundary of the charged cloud. The received experimental results have shown the possibly important role of the form of the large hail particles precipitated in thundercloud on the discharge initiation.

Keywords: Cloud and channel discharges, hydrometeor form, lightning initiation, negative and positive artificial charged aerosol cloud.

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Authors: Salam M. H. Kareem

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Instructional or teaching procedures and their proper sequence are essential for high-quality learning outcomes. These actions are the path that the teacher takes during the learning process after setting the learning objectives. Teachers and specialists in the education field should include teaching procedures with putting in place an effective mechanism for the procedure’s implementation to achieve a logical sequence with the desired output of overall education process. Determining the sequence of these actions may be a strategic process outlined by a strategic educational plan or drawn by teachers with a high level of experience, enabling them to determine those logical procedures. While specific actions may be necessary for a specific form, many Physical Education (PE) teachers can work out on various sports disciplines. This study was conducted to investigate the impact of using the teaching sequence of the teaching pyramid in raising the level of enjoyment in swimming classes. Four months later of teaching swimming skills to the control and experimental groups of the study, we figured that using the tools shown in the teaching pyramid with the experimental group led to statistically significant differences in the positive tendencies of students to participate in the swimming classes by using the traditional procedures of teaching and using of successive procedures in the teaching pyramid, and in favor of the teaching pyramid, The students are influenced by enhancing their tendency to participate in swimming classes when the teaching procedures followed are sensitive to individual differences and are based on the element of pleasure in learning, and less positive levels of the tendency of students when using traditional teaching procedures, by getting the level of skills' requirements higher and more difficult to perform. The level of positive tendencies of students when using successive procedures in the teaching pyramid was increased, by getting the level of skills' requirements higher and more difficult to perform, because of the high level of motivation and the desire to challenge the self-provided by the teaching pyramid.

Keywords: Physical education, swimming classes, teaching process, teaching pyramid.

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Authors: M. S. R. Waas, S. G. U. S. Chandrarathne, U. A. Kumara

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The purpose of this quantitative study is to identify the impact of the destination attributes of Negombo on the coastal tourists’ visitor experience. As an island nation, Sri Lanka is identified and well renowned for its gold sandy beaches and natural scenic beauty. Among many tourist attractions, Negombo is identified as a developed beach centric tourist destination in the country. Yet, it is identified that there are low positive reviews on the internet for Negombo compared to other beach centric tourist attractions in Sri Lanka. Therefore, this study would help the policymakers and tourism service providers to identify the impact of destination attributes on international visitor satisfaction and to understand the visitors comprehensively so as to develop Negombo as a stable tourist destination while offering a memorable and satisfying experience for its visitors. In support, a self-administered questionnaire survey study was performed with 150 respondents (international tourists) in Negombo. The questions were designed based on the selected dimensions of destination attributes such as tourism service quality, infrastructure and superstructure developments, tourist information facilities and destination aesthetics and developments. The results showed that the overall satisfaction level of the international tourists who visit Sri Lanka is significantly affected by the destination attributes of Negombo. Yet, the dimensions of destination aesthetics and developments and tourist information facilities indicated a low level of mean satisfaction, paving the critique that Negombo as a beach centric tourist attraction is not serving well with its natural beauty and its destination management. Further, it is advocated that the policymakers and tourism service providers have a significant role in leading the way to attract more potential visitors to enhance their destination satisfaction and to encourage them to revisit Sri Lanka while recommending it to others. The survey was done during the off-peak season of the industry and it is suggested that the survey would have been conducted throughout a complete year.

Keywords: Destination attributes, coastal tourism, tourism development, tourist satisfaction.

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Authors: Ahmed R. Z. Baghdadi, Amira A. A. Abdallah

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Background: With the perceived pain and poor function experienced following knee arthroplasty, patients usually feel un-satisfied. Yet, a controversy still persists on the appropriate operative technique that doesn’t affect proprioception much.

Purpose: This study compared the effects of Cruciate Retaining (CR) and Posterior Stabilized (PS) total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and uni-compartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) on dynamic balance, pain and functional performance following rehabilitation.

Methods: Fifteen patients with CRTKA (group I), fifteen with PSTKA (group II), fifteen with UKA (group III) and fifteen indicated for arthroplasty but weren’t operated on yet (group IV) participated in the study. The mean age was 54.53±3.44, 55.13±3.48, 52.8±1.93 and 55.33±2.32 years and BMI 35.7±3.03, 35.7±1.99, 35.6±1.88 and 35.73±1.03 kg/m² for group I, II, III and IV respectively. The Berg Balance Scale (BBS), WOMAC pain subscale and Timed Up-and-Go (TUG) and Stair-Climbing (SC) tests were used for assessment. Assessments were conducted four and eight weeks pre- and post-operatively with the control group being assessed at the same time intervals. The post-operative rehabilitation involved hospitalization (1^st week), home-based (2^nd-4^th weeks), and outpatient clinic (5^th-8^th weeks) programs.

Results: The Mixed design MANOVA revealed that group III had significantly higher BBS scores, and lower pain scores and TUG and SC time than groups I and II four and eight weeks post-operatively. In addition, group I had significantly lower pain scores and SC time compared with group II eight weeks post-operatively. Moreover, the BBS scores increased significantly and the pain scores and TUG and SC time decreased significantly eight weeks post-operatively compared with the three other assessments in group I, II and III with the opposite being true four weeks post-operatively.

Interpretation/Conclusion: CRTKA is preferable to PSTKA with UKA being generally superior to TKA, possibly due to the preserved human proprioceptors in the un-excised compartmental articular surface.

Keywords: Dynamic Balance, Functional Performance, Knee Arthroplasty, Pain.

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Authors: Angelo Corallo, Maria Elena Latino, Marta Menegoli

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Agri-food value chain involves various stakeholders with different roles. All of them abide by national and international rules and leverage marketing strategies to advance their products. Food products and related processing phases carry with it a big mole of data that are often not used to inform final customer. Some data, if fittingly identified and used, can enhance the single company, and/or the all supply chain creates a math between marketing techniques and voluntary traceability strategies. Moreover, as of late, the world has seen buying-models’ modification: customer is careful on wellbeing and food quality. Food citizenship and food democracy was born, leveraging on transparency, sustainability and food information needs. Internet of Things (IoT) and Analytics, some of the innovative technologies of Industry 4.0, have a significant impact on market and will act as a main thrust towards a genuine ‘4.0 change’ for agriculture. But, realizing a traceability system is not simple because of the complexity of agri-food supply chain, a lot of actors involved, different business models, environmental variations impacting products and/or processes, and extraordinary climate changes. In order to give support to the company involved in a traceability path, starting from business model analysis and related business process a Framework to Manage Product Data in Agri-Food Supply Chain for Voluntary Traceability was conceived. Studying each process task and leveraging on modeling techniques lead to individuate information held by different actors during agri-food supply chain. IoT technologies for data collection and Analytics techniques for data processing supply information useful to increase the efficiency intra-company and competitiveness in the market. The whole information recovered can be shown through IT solutions and mobile application to made accessible to the company, the entire supply chain and the consumer with the view to guaranteeing transparency and quality.

Keywords: Agriculture 4.0, agri-food supply chain, Industry 4.0, voluntary traceability.

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Authors: Siming Wang, Qing Ni, Yu Wu, Ruihai Xu, Hong Ye

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Porous electric heaters, compared to conventional electric heaters, exhibit excellent heating performance due to their large specific surface area. Porous electric heaters employ porous metallic materials or conductive porous ceramics as the heating element. The former attains a low heating power with a fixed current due to the low electrical resistivity of metal. Although the latter can bypass the inherent challenges of porous metallic materials, the fabrication process of the conductive porous ceramics is complicated and high cost. This work proposed a porous ceramic electric heater with dielectric honeycomb ceramic as a substrate and surface conductive coating as a heating element. The conductive coating was prepared by the sol-gel method using silica sol and methyl trimethoxysilane as raw materials and graphite powder as conductive fillers. The conductive mechanism and degradation reason of the conductive coating was studied by electrical resistivity and thermal stability analysis. The heating performance of the proposed heater was experimentally investigated by heating air and deionized water. The results indicate that the electron transfer is achieved by forming the conductive network through the contact of the graphite flakes. With 30 wt% of graphite, the electrical resistivity of the conductive coating can be as low as 0.88 Ω∙cm. The conductive coating exhibits good electrical stability up to 500 °C but degrades beyond 600 °C due to the formation of many cracks in the coating caused by the weight loss and thermal expansion. The results also show that the working medium has a great influence on the volume power density of the heater. With air under natural convection as the working medium, the volume power density attains 640.85 kW/m3, which can be increased by 5 times when using deionized water as the working medium. The proposed honeycomb ceramic electric heater has the advantages of the simple fabrication method, low cost, and high-volume power density, demonstrating great potential in the fluid heating field.

Keywords: Conductive coating, honeycomb ceramic electric heater, high specific surface area, high volume power density.

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Authors: S. V. Ukwungwu, A. J. Abbas, G. G. Nasr

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The increasing high price of natural gas and oil with attendant increase in energy demand on world markets in recent years has stimulated interest in recovering residual oil saturation across the globe. In order to meet the energy security, efforts have been made in developing new technologies of enhancing the recovery of oil and gas, utilizing techniques like CO₂ flooding, water injection, hydraulic fracturing, surfactant flooding etc. Surfactant flooding however optimizes production but poses risk to the environment due to their toxic nature. Amongst proven records that have utilized other type of bacterial in producing biosurfactants for enhancing oil recovery, this research uses a technique to combine biosurfactants that will achieve a scale of EOR through lowering interfacial tension/contact angle. In this study, three biosurfactants were produced from three Bacillus species from freeze dried cultures using sucrose 3 % (w/v) as their carbon source. Two of these produced biosurfactants were screened with the TEMCO Pendant Drop Image Analysis for reduction in IFT and contact angle. Interfacial tension was greatly reduced from 56.95 mN.m^-1 to 1.41 mN.m^-1 when biosurfactants in cell-free culture (Bacillus licheniformis) were used compared to 4. 83mN.m^-1 cell-free culture of Bacillus subtilis. As a result, cell-free culture of (Bacillus licheniformis) changes the wettability of the biosurfactant treatment for contact angle measurement to more water-wet as the angle decreased from 130.75^o to 65.17^o. The influence of microbial treatment on crushed rock samples was also observed by qualitative wettability experiments. Treated samples with biosurfactants remained in the aqueous phase, indicating a water-wet system. These results could prove that biosurfactants can effectively change the chemistry of the wetting conditions against diverse surfaces, providing a desirable condition for efficient oil transport in this way serving as a mechanism for EOR. The environmental friendly effect of biosurfactants applications for industrial purposes play important advantages over chemically synthesized surfactants, with various possible structures, low toxicity, eco-friendly and biodegradability.

Keywords: Bacillus, biosurfactant, enhanced oil recovery, residual oil, wettability.

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