Search results for: BET Specific Surface Area

Authors: A. A. Najm, M. R. Haj Seyed Hadi, F. Fazeli, M. Taghi Darzi, R. Shamorady

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Cattle manure and mineral fertilizers are two source of Nitrogen, which can affect the growth and quantity of potato. In this research the effects of the use of cattle manure (5, 10, 15 and 20 ton ha-1), Nitrogen fertilizer (50, 100 and 150 kg N ha-1) and their interaction on potato growth were evaluated during field experiments in 2008 with the help of Randomized Complete Block (RCB) with the factorial arrangement of three experimental replications in Iran. At the 75 th day after emergence, dry weight of Shoots, leaf area index (LAI) and plant height were recorded. Results showed that, dry weight of Shoots, LAI and plant height increased linearly and very significantly in response to the application of manure and Nitrogen fertilizer. While the interaction between manure and Nitrogen fertilizer just on the LAI and plant height was significant, somehow the maximum amount of plant height( 73 cm) was obtained by using 150 kg Nitrogen + 15 tons of manure per hectare, and maximum LAI ( 5.36) was obtained by using 150 kg Nitrogen + 20 tons of manure per hectare. Also in this experiment maximum tuber yield (36.8 tons ha-1) was obtained by the utilization of 150 kg Nitrogen per hectare + 20 tons manure.

Keywords: Solanum tuberosum, LAI, cattle manure, mineral fertilizer, integrated management.

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Authors: Diganta Kumar Pathak, Manashjyoti Bhuyan, Vaskar Deka

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Vertical Handover(VHO) among different communication technologies ensuring uninterruption and service continuity is one of the most important performance parameter in Heterogenous networks environment. In an integrated Universal Mobile Telecommunicatin System(UMTS) and Wireless Local Area Network(WLAN), WLAN is given an inherent priority over UMTS because of its high data rates with low cost. Therefore mobile users want to be associated with WLAN maximum of the time while roaming, to enjoy best possible services with low cost. That encourages reduction of number of VHO. In this work the reduction of number of VHO with respect to varying number of WLAN Access Points(APs) in an integrated UMTS and WLAN network is investigated through simulation to provide best possible cost effective service to the users. The simulation has been carried out for an area (7800 × 9006)m2 where COST-231 Hata model and 3GPP (TR 101 112 V 3.1.0) specified models are used for WLAN and UMTS path loss models respectively. The handover decision is triggered based on the received signal level as compared to the fade margin. Fade margin gives a probabilistic measure of the reliability of the communication link. A relationship between number of WLAN APs and the number of VHO is also established in this work.

Keywords: VHO, UMTS, WLAN, MT, AP, BS.

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Authors: Ratchasak Suvannatsiri

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The objectives of the research are to find the basic engineering properties of lateritic soil and to predict the impact on community members who live nearby the excavation pits in the area of Amphur Pak Thor, Ratchaburi Province in the western area of Thailand. The research was conducted by collecting soil samples from four excavation pits for basic engineering properties, testing and collecting questionnaire data from 120 community members who live nearby the excavation pits, and applying statistical analysis. The results found that the basic engineering properties of lateritic soil can be classified into silt soil type which is cohesionless as the loess or collapsible soil which is not suitable to be used for a pavement structure for commuting highway because it could lead to structural and functional failure in the long run. In terms of opinion from community members toward the impact, the highest impact was on the dust from excavation activities. The prediction from the logistic regression in terms of impact on community members was at 84.32 which can be adapted and applied onto other areas with the same context as a guideline for risk prevention and risk communication since it could impact the infrastructures and also impact the health of community members.

Keywords: Lateritic soil, excavation pits, engineering properties, impact on community members

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Authors: B. A. Mir, A. Juneja

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In this paper, shear behavior of reconstituted clay reinforced with varying diameter of sand compaction piles with area replacement-ratio (a_s) of 6.25, 10.24, 16, 20.25 and 64% in 100mm diameter and 200mm long clay specimens is modeled using consolidated drained and undrained triaxial tests under different confining pressures ranging from 50kPa to 575kPa. The test results show that the stress-strain behavior of the clay was highly influenced by the presence of SCP. The insertion of SCPs into soft clay has shown to have a positive effect on the load carrying capacity of the clay, resulting in a composite soil mass that has greater shear strength and improved stiffness compared to the unreinforced clay due to increased reinforcement area ratio. In addition, SCP also acts as vertical drain in the clay thus accelerating the dissipation of excess pore water pressures that are generated during loading by shortening the drainage path and activating radial drainage, thereby reducing post-construction settlement. Thus, sand compaction piles currently stand as one of the most viable and practical techniques for improving the mechanical properties of soft clays.

Keywords: Reconstituted clay, SCP, shear strength, stress-strain response, triaxial tests.

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Authors: Waqqas-ur-Rehman Butt, Martin Servin, Marion Pause

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In recent years, object detection has gained much attention and very encouraging research area in the field of computer vision. The robust object boundaries detection in an image is demanded in numerous applications of human computer interaction and automated surveillance systems. Many methods and approaches have been developed for automatic object detection in various fields, such as automotive, quality control management and environmental services. Inappropriately, to the best of our knowledge, object detection under illumination with shadow consideration has not been well solved yet. Furthermore, this problem is also one of the major hurdles to keeping an object detection method from the practical applications. This paper presents an approach to automatic object detection in images under non-standardized environmental conditions. A key challenge is how to detect the object, particularly under uneven illumination conditions. Image capturing conditions the algorithms need to consider a variety of possible environmental factors as the colour information, lightening and shadows varies from image to image. Existing methods mostly failed to produce the appropriate result due to variation in colour information, lightening effects, threshold specifications, histogram dependencies and colour ranges. To overcome these limitations we propose an object detection algorithm, with pre-processing methods, to reduce the interference caused by shadow and illumination effects without fixed parameters. We use the Y CrCb colour model without any specific colour ranges and predefined threshold values. The segmented object regions are further classified using morphological operations (Erosion and Dilation) and contours. Proposed approach applied on a large image data set acquired under various environmental conditions for wood stack detection. Experiments show the promising result of the proposed approach in comparison with existing methods.

Keywords: Image processing, Illumination equalization, Shadow filtering, Object detection, Colour models, Image segmentation.

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Authors: Mehrnaz Aminitabar, Moghan Amirhosseinian, Morteza Elsa

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Bioactive glasses (BGs) are a group of surface-reactive biomaterials used in clinical applications as implants or filler materials in the human body to repair and replace diseased or damaged bone. Sol-gel technique was employed to prepare a SiO₂-CaO-P₂O₅ glass with nominal composition of 58S BG with the addition of Sr and Li modifiers which imparts special properties to the BG. The effect of simultaneous addition of Sr and Li on bioactivity and biocompatibility, proliferation, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity of osteoblast cell line MC3T3-E1 and antibacterial property against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria were examined. BGs were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy before and after soaking the samples in the simulated body fluid (SBF) for different time intervals to characterize the formation of hydroxyapatite (HA) formed on the surface of BGs. Structural characterization indicated that the simultaneous presence of 5% Sr and 5% Li in 58S-BG composition not only did not retard HA formation because of opposite effect of Sr and Li of the dissolution of BG in the SBF but also, stimulated the differentiation and proliferation of MC3T3-E1s. Moreover, the presence of Sr and Li on dissolution of the ions resulted in an increase in the mean number of DAPI-labeled nuclei which was in good agreement with live/dead assay. The result of antibacterial tests revealed that Sr and Li-substituted 58S BG exhibited a potential antibacterial effect against MRSA bacteria. Because of optimal proliferation and ALP activity of MC3T3-E1cells, proper bioactivity and high antibacterial potential against MRSA, BG-5/5 is suggested as a multifunctional candidate for bone tissue engineering.

Keywords: Antibacterial activity, bioactive glass, sol-gel, strontium.

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Authors: Alessandro Cincotti, Timothee Bossart

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Col is a classic combinatorial game played on graphs and to solve a general instance is a PSPACE-complete problem. However, winning strategies can be found for some specific graph instances. In this paper, the solution of Col on complete k-ary trees is presented.

Keywords: Combinatorial game, Complete k-ary tree, Mapcoloring game.

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Authors: Nighat Mir, Sayed Afaq Hussain

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Advent enhancements in the field of computing have increased massive use of web based electronic documents. Current Copyright protection laws are inadequate to prove the ownership for electronic documents and do not provide strong features against copying and manipulating information from the web. This has opened many channels for securing information and significant evolutions have been made in the area of information security. Digital Watermarking has developed into a very dynamic area of research and has addressed challenging issues for digital content. Watermarking can be visible (logos or signatures) and invisible (encoding and decoding). Many visible watermarking techniques have been studied for text documents but there are very few for web based text. XML files are used to trade information on the internet and contain important information. In this paper, two invisible watermarking techniques using Synonyms and Acronyms are proposed for XML files to prove the intellectual ownership and to achieve the security. Analysis is made for different attacks and amount of capacity to be embedded in the XML file is also noticed. A comparative analysis for capacity is also made for both methods. The system has been implemented using C# language and all tests are made practically to get the results.

Keywords: Watermarking, Extensible Markup Language (XML), Synonyms, Acronyms, Copyright protection.

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Authors: I. Elrouby

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The continued growth of tourism in the future relies on maintaining a clean environment by achieving sustainable development. The erosion and degradation of beaches, the deterioration of coastal water quality, visual pollution of coastlines by massive developments, all this has contributed heavily to the loss of the natural attractiveness for tourism. In light of this, promoting the concept of sustainable coastal development is becoming a central goal for governments and private sector. An ecolodge is a small hotel or guesthouse that incorporates local architectural, cultural and natural characteristics, promotes environmental conservation through minimizing the use of waste and energy and produces social and economic benefits for local communities. Egypt has some scattered attempts in some areas like Sinai in the field of ecolodging. This research tends to investigate the potentials of the North West Coast (NWC) in Alexandria as a new candidate for ecolodging investments. The area is full of primitive natural and man-made resources. These, if used in an environmental-friendly way could achieve cost reductions as a result of successful resource management for investors on the one hand, and coastal preservation on the other hand. In-depth interviews will be conducted with stakeholders in the tourism sector to examine their opinion about the potentials of the research area for ecolodging developments. The candidates will be also asked to rate the importance of the availability of certain environmental aspects in such establishments such as the uses of resources that originate from local communities, uses of natural power sources, uses of an environmental-friendly sewage disposal, forbidding the use of materials of endangered species and enhancing cultural heritage conservation. The results show that the area is full of potentials that could be effectively used for ecolodging investments. This if efficiently used could attract ecotourism as a supplementary type of tourism that could be promoted in Alexandria aside cultural, recreational and religious tourism.

Keywords: Alexandria, ecolodging, ecotourism, sustainability.

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Authors: Melis Inalpulat, Levent Genc, Unal Kizil, Tugce Civelek

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Livestock production is one of the most important components of rural economy. Due to the urban expansion, rural areas close to expanding cities transform into urban districts during the time. However, the legislations have some restrictions related to livestock farming in such administrative units since they tend to create environmental concerns like odor problems resulted from excessive manure production. Therefore, the existing animal operations should be moved from the settlement areas. This paper was focused on determination of suitable lands for livestock production in Canakkale province of Turkey using remote sensing (RS) data and GIS techniques. To achieve the goal, Formosat 2 and Landsat 8 imageries, Aster DEM, and 1:25000 scaled soil maps, village boundaries, and village livestock inventory records were used. The study was conducted using suitability analysis which evaluates the land in terms of limitations and potentials, and suitability range was categorized as Suitable (S) and Non-Suitable (NS). Limitations included the distances from main and crossroads, water resources and settlements, while potentials were appropriate values for slope, land use capability and land use land cover status. Village-based S land distribution results were presented, and compared with livestock inventories. Results showed that approximately 44230 ha area is inappropriate because of the distance limitations for roads and etc. (NS). Moreover, according to LULC map, 71052 ha area consists of forests, olive and other orchards, and thus, may not be suitable for building such structures (NS). In comparison, it was found that there are a total of 1228 ha S lands within study area. The village-based findings indicated that, in some villages livestock production continues on NS areas. Finally, it was suggested that organized livestock zones may be constructed to serve in more than one village after the detailed analysis complemented considering also political decisions, opinion of the local people, etc.

Keywords: GIS, livestock, LULC, remote sensing, suitable lands.

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Authors: E. Kharaishvili

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The paper analyses the role of small farms in socio-economic development of agriculture in Georgia and evaluates modern concepts regarding the development of the farms of this size. The scale of farms in Georgia is studied and the major problems are revealed. Opportunities and directions of diversification are discussed from the point of increasing the share of Georgian grapes and wine both on domestic and international markets. It’s shown that the size of vineyard areas is directly reflected on the grape and wine production potential. Accordingly, vineyard area and grape production dynamics is discussed. Comparative analysis of small farms in Georgia and Italy is made and the major differences are identified. Diversification is evaluated based on cost-benefit analysis on the one hand and on the other hand, from the point of promoting economic activities, protecting nature and rural area development. The paper provides proofs for the outcomes of diversification. The key hindering factors for the development of small farms are identified and corresponding conclusions are made, based on which recommendations for diversification of the farms of this size are developed.

Keywords: Farm diversification, scale of farms, small farms, viticulture-winemaking.

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Authors: Fardin Boustani, Mohammah Hosein Hojati, Masoud Hashemi

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The Beshar River is one aquatic ecosystem, which is located next to the city of Yasuj in southern Iran. The Beshar river has been contaminated by industrial factories such as effluent of sugar factory, agricultural and other activities in this region such as, Imam Sajjad hospital, drainage from agricultural farms, Yasuj urban surface runoff and effluent of wastewater treatment plants ,specially Yasuj waste water treatment plant. In order to evaluate the effects of these pollutants on the quality of the Beshar river, five monitoring stations were selected along its course. The first station is located upstream of Yasuj near the Dehnow village; stations 2 to 4 are located east, south and west of city; and the 5th station is located downstream of Yasuj. Several water quality parameters were sampled. These include pH, dissolved oxygen, biological oxygen demand (BOD), temperature, conductivity, turbidity, total dissolved solids and discharge or flow measurements. Water samples from the five stations were collected and analyzed to determine the following physicochemical parameters: EC, pH, T.D.S, T.H, No2, DO, BOD5, COD during 2008 to 2010. The study shows that the BOD5 value of station 1 is at a minimum (1.7 ppm) and increases downstream from stations 2 to 4 to a maximum (11.6 ppm), and then decreases at station 5. The DO values of station 1 is a maximum (8.45 ppm), decreases downstream to stations 2 - 4 which are at a minimum (3.1 ppm), before increasing at station 5. The amount of BOD and TDS are highest at the 4th station and the amount of DO is lowest at this station, marking the 4th station as more highly polluted than the other stations .This study shows average amount of the water quality parameters in first year of sampling (2008) have had a better quality relation to third year in 2010 because of recent drought in this region and pollutant increasing .As the Beshar river path after 5th station goes through the mountain area with more slope and flow velocity ,so the physicochemical parameters improve at the 5th station due to pollutant degradation and dilution. Finally the point and nonpoint pollutant sources of Beshar river were determined and compared to the monitoring results.

Keywords: Beshar river, physicochemical parameter, waterpollution, water quality, Yasuj

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Authors: Alireza Azimi Sani , Shahram Chaharmahalie

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Internal controls of accounting are an essential business function for a growth-oriented organization, and include the elements of risk assessment, information communications and even employees' roles and responsibilities. Internal controls of accounting systems are designed to protect a company from fraud, abuse and inaccurate data recording and help organizations keep track of essential financial activities. Internal controls of accounting provide a streamlined solution for organizing all accounting procedures and ensuring that the accounting cycle is completed consistently and successfully. Implementing a formal Accounting Procedures Manual for the organization allows the financial department to facilitate several processes and maintain rigorous standards. Internal controls also allow organizations to keep detailed records, manage and organize important financial transactions and set a high standard for the organization's financial management structure and protocols. A well-implemented system also reduces the risk of accounting errors and abuse. A well-implemented controls system allows a company's financial managers to regulate and streamline all functions of the accounting department. Internal controls of accounting can be set up for every area to track deposits, monitor check handling, keep track of creditor accounts, and even assess budgets and financial statements on an ongoing basis. Setting up an effective accounting system to monitor accounting reports, analyze records and protect sensitive financial information also can help a company set clear goals and make accurate projections. Creating efficient accounting processes allows an organization to set specific policies and protocols on accounting procedures, and reach its financial objectives on a regular basis. Internal accounting controls can help keep track of such areas as cash-receipt recording, payroll management, appropriate recording of grants and gifts, cash disbursements by authorized personnel, and the recording of assets. These systems also can take into account any government regulations and requirements for financial reporting.

Keywords: Internal controls, risk assessment, financial management.

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Authors: Robson C. Santos, Julio C. P. Ribeiro, Iorran M. de Castro, Luan C. F. Rodrigues, Sandro R. L. Silva, Diego M. Quesada

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The work aims to develop a robot in the form of autonomous vehicle to detect, inspection and mapping of underground pipelines through the ATmega328 Arduino platform. Hardware prototyping is very similar to C / C ++ language that facilitates its use in robotics open source, resembles PLC used in large industrial processes. The robot will traverse the surface independently of direct human action, in order to automate the process of detecting buried pipes, guided by electromagnetic induction. The induction comes from coils that send the signal to the Arduino microcontroller contained in that will make the difference in intensity and the treatment of the information, and then this determines actions to electrical components such as relays and motors, allowing the prototype to move on the surface and getting the necessary information. This change of direction is performed by a stepper motor with a servo motor. The robot was developed by electrical and electronic assemblies that allowed test your application. The assembly is made up of metal detector coils, circuit boards and microprocessor, which interconnected circuits previously developed can determine, process control and mechanical actions for a robot (autonomous car) that will make the detection and mapping of buried pipelines plates. This type of prototype can prevent and identifies possible landslides and they can prevent the buried pipelines suffer an external pressure on the walls with the possibility of oil leakage and thus pollute the environment.

Keywords: Robotic, metal detector, embedded system, pipeline.

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Authors: Andrej Golowin, Viktor Denk, Axel Riepe

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Solid fan blades and discs in aero engines are subjected to high combined low and high cycle fatigue loads especially around the contact areas between blade and disc. Therefore, special coatings (e.g. dry film lubricant) and surface treatments (e.g. shot peening or laser shock peening) are applied to increase the strength with respect to combined cyclic fatigue and fretting fatigue, but also to improve damage tolerance capability. The traditional deterministic damage tolerance assessment based on fracture mechanics analysis, which treats service damage as an initial crack, often gives overly conservative results especially in the presence of vibratory stresses. A probabilistic damage tolerance methodology using crack initiation data has been developed for fan discs exposed to relatively high vibratory stresses in cross- and tail-wind conditions at certain resonance speeds for limited time periods. This Monte-Carlo based method uses a damage databank from similar designs, measured vibration levels at typical aircraft operations and wind conditions and experimental crack initiation data derived from testing of artificially damaged specimens with representative surface treatment under combined fatigue conditions. The proposed methodology leads to a more realistic prediction of the minimum damage tolerance life for the most critical locations applicable to modern fan disc designs.

Keywords: Damage tolerance, Monte-Carlo method, fan blade and disc, laser shock peening.

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Authors: Elmira Tavasoli Yousef Abadi

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All structural components influencing the inelastic analysis alter response modification factor too. Ductility of connections has been regarded among the factors which have a direct impact on steel frame response modification factor. The experience of recent earthquakes such as the 1994 Northridge earthquake showed that structural connections in steel frame incurred unexpected (brittle) fracture in beam-to-column connection area. One of the methods to improve performance of moment frames is to reduce the beam section near the connection to the column. Reduced Beam Section (RBS) refers to one of the proposed moment connections in FEMA350. Ductility is the most important advantage of this connection over the other moment connections; it is found as the major factor in suitable plastic behavior of structural system. In this paper, beam-to-column connection with RBS and wide-flange beams has been examined via software Abaqus 6.12. It is observed that use of RBS connections can improve the connection behavior at inelastic area to a large extent and avoid stress concentrations and large deformation in the column.

Keywords: RBS, seismic performance, beam-to-column connection, ductility, wide-flange beam.

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Authors: B. O. Diyaolu, O. O. Oyerinde

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This study examined the effect of sexuality education training programs on the knowledge and practice of sexual risk behavior among secondary school adolescents in Ibadan North Local Government area of Oyo State. A total of 105 students were sampled from two schools in the Local Government area. 70 students constituted the experimental group while 35 constituted the control group. Pretest-Posttest control group quasi-experimental design was adopted. A self-developed questionnaire was used to test participants’ knowledge and practice of sexual risk behavior before and after the training (α = .62, .82 and .74). Analysis indicated a significant effect of sexuality education training on participants’ knowledge and practice of sexual risk behavior, a significant gender difference in knowledge of sexual risk behavior but no significant age and gender difference in the practice of sexual risk behavior. It was thus concluded that sexuality education should be taught in schools and emphasized at homes with no age or gender restrictions.

Keywords: Early adolescent, health risk, sexual risk behavior, sexuality education.

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Authors: Hari Shankar, Kshitij Raj, Priya Keshari, Pragya Singh

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Headache is one of the most ubiquitous and frequent neurological disorders interfering with everyday life in all countries. India appears to be no exception. Objectives are to assess the prevalence of headache among adult population in urban area of Varanasi and to find out factors influencing the occurrence of headache. A community based cross sectional study was conducted among adult population in urban area of Varanasi district, Uttar Pradesh, India. Total 151 eligible respondents were interviewed by simple random sampling technique. Proportion percentage and Chisquare test were applied for data analysis. Out of 151 respondents, majority (58.3%) were females. In this study, 92.8% respondents belonged to age group 18-60 years while 7.2% was either 60 year of age or above. The overall prevalence of headache was found to be 51.1%. Highest and lowest prevalence of headache was recorded in age groups 18-29 year & 40-49 year respectively. Headache was 62.1% in illiterate and was 40.0% among graduate & above. Unskilled workers had more headache 73.1% than other type of occupation. Headache was more prevalent among unemployed (35.9%) than employed (6.4%). Females had higher family history of headache (48.9%) as compared to males (41.3%). Study subjects having peaceful relation with family members, relatives and neighbors had more headache than those having no peaceful relation.  

Keywords: Family relationship, headache, neighbors, ration cards.

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Authors: Javier Roca, Etienne Pugnaghi, Gaëtan Libert

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We introduce an extended resource leveling model that abstracts real life projects that consider specific work ranges for each resource. Contrary to traditional resource leveling problems this model considers scarce resources and multiple objectives: the minimization of the project makespan and the leveling of each resource usage over time. We formulate this model as a multiobjective optimization problem and we propose a multiobjective genetic algorithm-based solver to optimize it. This solver consists in a two-stage process: a main stage where we obtain non-dominated solutions for all the objectives, and a postprocessing stage where we seek to specifically improve the resource leveling of these solutions. We propose an intelligent encoding for the solver that allows including domain specific knowledge in the solving mechanism. The chosen encoding proves to be effective to solve leveling problems with scarce resources and multiple objectives. The outcome of the proposed solvers represent optimized trade-offs (alternatives) that can be later evaluated by a decision maker, this multi-solution approach represents an advantage over the traditional single solution approach. We compare the proposed solver with state-of-art resource leveling methods and we report competitive and performing results.

Keywords: Intelligent problem encoding, multiobjective decision making, evolutionary computing, RCPSP, resource leveling.

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Authors: Chien-Lung Chen, Jeng-Lin Tsai, Feng-Chao Chung, Su-Ching Kuo, Kuo-Hsin Tseng, Pei-Hsuan Kuo, Li-Ying Hsieh, Ying I. Tsai

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This study applied the Gaussian trajectory transfer-coefficient model (GTx) to simulate the particulate matter concentrations and the source apportionments at Nanzih Air Quality Monitoring Station in southern Taiwan from November 2007 to February 2008. The correlation coefficient between the observed and the calculated daily PM10 concentrations is 0.5 and the absolute bias of the PM10 concentrations is 24%. The simulated PM10 concentrations matched well with the observed data. Although the emission rate of PM10 was dominated by area sources (58%), the results of source apportionments indicated that the primary sources for PM10 at Nanzih Station were point sources (42%), area sources (20%) and then upwind boundary concentration (14%). The obvious difference of PM10 source apportionment between episode and non-episode days was upwind boundary concentrations which contributed to 20% and 11% PM10 sources, respectively. The gas-particle conversion of secondary aerosol and long range transport played crucial roles on the PM10 contribution to a receptor.

Keywords: back trajectory model, particulate matter, sourceapportionment

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Authors: Ranjan Sarukkalige, Joseph Sanjaya Ma

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Flood management is one of the important fields in urban storm water management. Floods are influenced by the increase of huge storm event, or improper planning of the area. This study mainly provides the flood protection in four stages; planning, flood event, responses and evaluation. However it is most effective then flood protection is considered in planning/design and evaluation stages since both stages represent the land development of the area. Structural adjustments are often more reliable than nonstructural adjustments in providing flood protection, however structural adjustments are constrained by numerous factors such as political constraints and cost. Therefore it is important to balance both adjustments with the situation. The technical decisions provided will have to be approved by the higher-ups who have the power to decide on the final solution. Costs however, are the biggest factor in determining the final decision. Therefore this study recommends flood protection system should have been integrated and enforces more in the early stages (planning and design) as part of the storm water management plan. Factors influencing the technical decisions provided should be reduced as low as possible to avoid a reduction in the expected performance of the proposed adjustments.

Keywords: Urban Flood, flood protection, water management, storm water, cost,

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Authors: Ali Salehipour

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Studying literature theme in the fields of tourism and sustainable development and its importance in today world and their criteria in architecture, here in this article we will also study the area where the selected site is located; beside the Aab-Ask Village located in Larijan region in Mazandaran province on the way to Haraz – one of the tourism routes of Iran. After these studies by analyzing the site, its strong potentials – such as mineral water springs (hot springs), geothermal, landscapes and ideal climate - as a tourist attraction spot in the region, and considering sustainable development criteria – with regard to limits and available facilities – a plan was offered that could change the region to provide the needs of local people and in addition change it to a place where tourism services is offered to the visitors and make it an acceptable sample of stable building in Iran. Finally the reason to make design for this complex is recovery of natural and historical values of Aab-Ask area regarding development and sustainable architecture criteria in the form of a functional sample which can be a suitable place to fulfill this goal for having lots of strong points in attracting cultural and sustainable tourist.

Keywords: Sustainable Architecture, Tourist Complex, Development, Landscape Preservation, Culture

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Authors: S. S. Rana, C. Janveja, S. K. Soni

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This study is concerned with the optimization of fermentation parameters for the hyper production of mannanase from Fusarium oxysporum SS-25 employing two step statistical strategy and kinetic characterization of crude enzyme preparation. The Plackett-Burman design used to screen out the important factors in the culture medium revealed 20% (w/w) wheat bran, 2% (w/w) each of potato peels, soyabean meal and malt extract, 1% tryptone, 0.14% NH4SO4, 0.2% KH2PO4, 0.0002% ZnSO4, 0.0005% FeSO4, 0.01% MnSO4, 0.012% SDS, 0.03% NH4Cl, 0.1% NaNO3 in brewer’s spent grain based medium with 50% moisture content, inoculated with 2.8×107 spores and incubated at 30oC for 6 days to be the main parameters influencing the enzyme production. Of these factors, four variables including soyabean meal, FeSO4, MnSO4 and NaNO3 were chosen to study the interactive effects and their optimum levels in central composite design of response surface methodology with the final mannanase yield of 193 IU/gds. The kinetic characterization revealed the crude enzyme to be active over broader temperature and pH range. This could result in 26.6% reduction in kappa number with 4.93% higher tear index and 1% increase in brightness when used to treat the wheat straw based kraft pulp. The hydrolytic potential of enzyme was also demonstrated on both locust bean gum and guar gum.

Keywords: Brewer’s Spent Grain, Fusarium oxysporum, Mannanase, Response Surface Methodology.

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Authors: Mamta Agrawal, Neeru Adlakha, K.R. Pardasani

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An attempt has been made to develop a seminumerical model to study temperature variations in dermal layers of human limbs. The model has been developed for two dimensional steady state case. The human limb has been assumed to have elliptical cross section. The dermal region has been divided into three natural layers namely epidermis, dermis and subdermal tissues. The model incorporates the effect of important physiological parameters like blood mass flow rate, metabolic heat generation, and thermal conductivity of the tissues. The outer surface of the limb is exposed to the environment and it is assumed that heat loss takes place at the outer surface by conduction, convection, radiation, and evaporation. The temperature of inner core of the limb also varies at the lower atmospheric temperature. Appropriate boundary conditions have been framed based on the physical conditions of the problem. Cubic splines approach has been employed along radial direction and Fourier series along angular direction to obtain the solution. The numerical results have been computed for different values of eccentricity resembling with the elliptic cross section of the human limbs. The numerical results have been used to obtain the temperature profile and to study the relationships among the various physiological parameters.

Keywords: Blood Mass Flow Rate, Metabolic Heat Generation, Fourier Series, Cubic splines and Thermal Conductivity.

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Authors: Ananya Das, Arun Kumar, Gazala Habib, Vivekanandan Perumal

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Regulatory bodies has proposed limits on Particulate Matter (PM) concentration in air; however, it does not explicitly indicate the incorporation of effects of toxicities of constituents of PM in developing regulatory limits. This study aimed to provide a structured approach to incorporate toxic effects of components in developing regulatory limits on PM. A four-step human health risk assessment framework consists of - (1) hazard identification (parameters: PM and its constituents and their associated toxic effects on health), (2) exposure assessment (parameters: concentrations of PM and constituents, information on size and shape of PM; fate and transport of PM and constituents in respiratory system), (3) dose-response assessment (parameters: reference dose or target toxicity dose of PM and its constituents), and (4) risk estimation (metric: hazard quotient and/or lifetime incremental risk of cancer as applicable). Then parameters required at every step were obtained from literature. Using this information, an attempt has been made to determine limits on PM using component-specific information. An example calculation was conducted for exposures of PM_2.5 and its metal constituents from Indian ambient environment to determine limit on PM values. Identified data gaps were: (1) concentrations of PM and its constituents and their relationship with sampling regions, (2) relationship of toxicity of PM with its components.

Keywords: Air, component-specific toxicity, human health risks, particulate matter.

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Authors: Andrea Zielke-Nadkarni

Abstract:

Pain management is a question of quality of life and an indicator for nursing quality. Chronic pain which is predominant in oncology and palliative nursing situations is perceived today as a multifactorial, individual emotional experience with specific characteristics including the sociocultural dimension when dealing with migrant patients. This dimension of chronic pain is of major importance in professional nursing of migrant patients in hospices or palliative care units. Objectives of the study are: 1. To find out more about the sociocultural views on pain and nursing care, on customs and nursing practices connected with pain of both Turkish Muslim and German Christian women, 2. To improve individual and family oriented nursing practice with view to sociocultural needs of patients in severe pain in palliative care. In a qualitative-explorative comparative study 4 groups of women, Turkish Muslims immigrants (4 from the first generation, 5 from the second generation) and German Christian women of two generations (5 of each age group) of the same age groups as the Turkish women and with similar educational backgrounds were interviewed (semistructured ethnographic interviews using Spradley, 1979) on their perceptions and experiences of pain and nursing care within their families. For both target groups the presentation will demonstrate the following results in detail: Utterance of pain as well as “private” and “public” pain vary within different societies and cultures. Permitted forms of pain utterance are learned in childhood and determine attitudes and expectations in adulthood. Language, especially when metaphors and symbols are used, plays a major role for misunderstandings. The sociocultural context of illness may include specific beliefs that are important to the patients and yet seem more than far-fetched from a biomedical perspective. Pain can be an influential factor in family relationships where respect or hierarchies do not allow the direct utterance of individual needs. Specific resources are often, although not exclusively, linked to religious convictions and are significantly helpful in reducing pain. The discussion will evaluate the results of the study with view to the relevant literature and present nursing interventions and instruments beyond medication that are helpful when dealing with patients from various socio-cultural backgrounds in painful end-oflife situations.

Keywords: Pain management, migrants, sociocultural context, palliative care.

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Authors: Andres Gonzalez, Adam Boies, Jacob Swanson, David Kittelson

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The concern of the indoor air quality (IAQ) has been increasing due to its risk to human health. The smoking, sweeping, and stove and stovetop use are the activities that have a major contribution to the indoor air pollution. Outdoor air pollution also affects IAQ. The most important factors over IAQ from cooking activities are the materials, fuels, foods, and ventilation. The low-cost, mobile air quality monitoring (LCMAQM) sensors, is reachable technology to assess the IAQ. This is because of the lower cost of LCMAQM compared to conventional instruments. The IAQ was assessed, using LCMAQM, during cooking activities in a University of Minnesota graduate-housing evaluating different ventilation systems. The gases measured are carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO₂). The particles measured are particle matter (PM) _2.5 micrometer (µm) and lung deposited surface area (LDSA). The measurements are being conducted during April 2019 in Como Student Community Cooperative (CSCC) that is a graduate housing at the University of Minnesota. The measurements are conducted using an electric stove for cooking. The amount and type of food and oil using for cooking are the same for each measurement. There are six measurements: two experiments measure air quality without any ventilation, two using an extractor as mechanical ventilation, and two using the extractor and windows open as mechanical and natural ventilation. 3The results of experiments show that natural ventilation is most efficient system to control particles and CO₂. The natural ventilation reduces the concentration in 79% for LDSA and 55% for PM_2.5, compared to the no ventilation. In the same way, CO₂ reduces its concentration in 35%. A well-mixed vessel model was implemented to assess particle the formation and decay rates. Removal rates by the extractor were significantly higher for LDSA, which is dominated by smaller particles, than for PM_2.5, but in both cases much lower compared to the natural ventilation. There was significant day to day variation in particle concentrations under nominally identical conditions. This may be related to the fat content of the food. Further research is needed to assess the impact of the fat in food on particle generations.

Keywords: Cooking, indoor air quality, low-cost sensor, ventilation.

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Authors: Riham A. Ragheb

Abstract:

Water is a fundamental attraction in all cultures and among all classes of people,tourists and citizens. It is a favorite location for major tourism initiatives, celebrations and ceremonies. The vitality of any city depends on citizen action to take part in creating the neighborhoods they desire. Waterfront can provide extensive new areas of high quality public open space in parts of the city that are popular venues for social activities and also have the highest land values. Each city must have a character that can be used as a key attraction for the development. The morphology of a waterfront can be identified by both its physical characteristics and the socio-cultural activities that take place in the area. Alexandria has been selected as an area of study because it has a unique character due to its possession of a variety of waterfronts.

This paper aims to set some criteria of successful waterfront development and then through these criteria analyzing the development of the Qaitbay waterfront in the eastern harbor in Alexandria, Egypt. Hence, a comprehensive improvement of the waterfront areas is certainly needed to ensure a successful waterfront development radiated the sense of uniformity and coherence.

Alexandria can benefit from these criteria to develop its urban waterfront in order to preserve and revitalize its unique waterfront character and achieve mixed uses and tourism development.

Keywords: Place making, Qaitbay, responsive environment, sustainable urban design, waterfront development.

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Authors: Saeed Sayyad Hagh Shomar

Abstract:

Traffic congestion pricing – as a strategy in travel demand management in urban areas to reduce traffic congestion, air pollution and noise pollution – has drawn many attentions towards itself. Unlike the satisfying findings in this method, there are still problems in determining the best functional congestion pricing scheme with regard to the situation. The so-called problems in this process will result in further complications and even the scheme failure. That is why having proper knowledge of the significance of congestion pricing schemes and the effective factors in choosing them can lead to the success of this strategy. In this study, first, a variety of traffic congestion pricing schemes and their components are introduced; then, their functional usage is discussed. Next, by analyzing and comparing the barriers, limitations and advantages, the selection criteria of pricing schemes are described. The results, accordingly, show that the selection of the best scheme depends on various parameters. Finally, based on examining the effective parameters, it is concluded that the implementation of area-based schemes (cordon and zonal) has been more successful in non-diversion of traffic. That is considering the topology of the cities and the fact that traffic congestion is often created in the city centers, area-based schemes would be notably functional and appropriate.

Keywords: Congestion pricing, demand management, flat toll, variable toll.

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Authors: Ghazaleh Monazami Tehrani, A. Halim Sulaiman, Rosli Hashim, Ahmad Savari, Belin Tavakoly Sany T Mohamad Taqi Jafarzadeh, Reza Khani Jazani, Zhamak Monazami Tehrani

Abstract:

The present study was performed in Musa bay (northern part of the Persian Gulf) around the coastal area of Bandare-Imam Khomeini and Razi Petrochemical Companies. Sediment samples and effluent samples were collected from the selected stations, from June 2009 to June 2010. The samples were analyzed to determine the degree of hydrocarbon contamination. The average level of TPH concentration in the study area was more than the natural background value at all of the stations, especially at station BI1 which was the main effluent outlet of Bandar-e- Imam Khomeini petrochemical company. Also the concentration of total petroleum hydrocarbon was monitored in the effluents of aforementioned petrochemical companies and the results showed that the concentration of TPH in the effluents of Bandar-e- Imam Khomeini petrochemical company was greater than Razi petrochemical company which is may be related to the products of Bandar-e- Imam Khomeini petrochemical company (aromatics, polymers, chemicals, fuel).

Keywords: Musa bay, Bandar-e- Imam Khomeini and Razi Petrochemical Companies, TPH

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