Search results for: policy evaluation

Authors: Marwah Mohsin, Thomas Beach, Alan Kwan, Mahdi Ismail

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This paper describes the differences in views on sustainable development between the general public and experts in a developing country, Iraq. This paper will answer the question: How do the views of the public differ from the generally accepted view of experts in the context of sustainable urban development in Iraq? In order to answer this question, the views of both the public and the experts will be analysed. These results are taken from a public survey and a Delphi questionnaire. These will be analysed using statistical methods in order to identify the significant differences. This will enable investigation of the different perceptions between the public perceptions and the experts’ views towards urban sustainable development factors. This is important due to the fact that different viewpoints between policy-makers and the public will impact on the acceptance by the public of any future sustainable development work that is undertaken. The brief findings of the statistical analysis show that the views of both the public and the experts are considered different in most of the variables except six variables show no differences. Those variables are ‘The importance of establishing sustainable cities in Iraq’, ‘Mitigate traffic congestion’, ‘Waste recycling and separating’, ‘Use wastewater recycling’, ‘Parks and green spaces’, and ‘Promote investment’.

Keywords: Urban sustainable development, experts’ views, public views, statistical analysis.

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Authors: J. K. Shrestha, A. Benta, R. B. Lopes, N. Lopes

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This paper presents a multi-objective model for addressing two main objectives in designing rural roads networks: minimization of user operation costs and maximization of population covered. As limited budgets often exist, a reasonable trade-off must be obtained in order to account for both cost and social benefits in this type of networks. For a real-world rural road network, the model is solved, where all non-dominated solutions were obtained. Afterwards, an analysis is made on the (possibly) most interesting solutions (the ones providing better trade-offs). This analysis, coupled with the knowledge of the real world scenario (typically provided by decision makers) provides a suitable method for the evaluation of road networks in rural areas of developing countries.

Keywords: Multi-objective, user operation cost, population covered, rural road network.

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Authors: Skander Jribi, Anutosh Chakraborty, Ibrahim I. El-Sharkawy, Bidyut Baran Saha, Shigeru Koyama

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Heat powered solid sorption is a feasible alternative to electrical vapor compression refrigeration systems. In this paper, activated carbon (powder type Maxsorb and fiber type ACF-A10)- CO2 based adsorption cooling cycles are studied using the pressuretemperature- concentration (P-T-W) diagram. The specific cooling effect (SCE) and the coefficient of performance (COP) of these two cooling systems are simulated for the driving heat source temperatures ranging from 30 ºC to 90 ºC in terms of different cooling load temperatures with a cooling source temperature of 25 ºC. It is found from the present analysis that Maxsorb-CO2 couple shows higher cooling capacity and COP. The maximum COPs of Maxsorb-CO2 and ACF(A10)-CO2 based cooling systems are found to be 0.15 and 0.083, respectively. The main innovative feature of this cooling cycle is the ability to utilize low temperature waste heat or solar energy using CO2 as the refrigerant, which is one of the best alternative for applications where flammability and toxicity are not allowed.

Keywords: Activated carbon, Adsorption cooling system, Carbon dioxide, Performance evaluation.

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Authors: Hanan Moawad, Naglaa M. Abd EL-Rahman

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Erwinia carotovora var. carotovora is the main cause of soft rot in potatoes. Hyphaene thebaica was studied for biocontrol of E. carotovora which inhibited growth of E. carotovora on solid medium, a comparative study of classical and ultrasound-assisted extractions of Hyphaene thebaica fruit. The use of ultrasound decreased significant the total time of treatment and increase the total amount of crude extract. The crude extract was subjected to determine the in vitro, by a bioassay technique revealed that the treatment of paper disks with ultrasound extraction of Hyphaene thebaica reduced the growth of pathogen and produced inhibition zones up to 38mm in diameter. The antioxidant activity of ultrasound-ethanolic extract of Doum fruits (Hyphaene thebaica) was determined. Data obtained showed that the extract contains the secondary metabolites such as Tannins, Saponin, Flavonoids, Phenols, Steroids, Terpenoids, Glycosides and Alkaloids.

Keywords: Ultrasound, classical extract, Biological control, Erwinia carotovora, Hyphaene thebaica.

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Authors: Dong-Chul Lee, Byung-Kwan Oh, Se-Woon Choi, Hyo-Sun Park

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The unanticipated brittle fracture of connection of the steel moment resisting frame (SMRF) occurred in 1994 the Northridge earthquake. Since then, the researches for the vulnerability of connection of the existing SMRF and for rehabilitation of those buildings were conducted. This paper suggests performance-based optimal seismic retrofit technique using connection upgrade. For optimal design, a multi-objective genetic algorithm(NSGA-II) is used. One of the two objective functions is to minimize initial cost and another objective function is to minimize lifetime seismic damages cost. The optimal algorithm proposed in this paper is performed satisfying specified performance objective based on FEMA 356. The nonlinear static analysis is performed for structural seismic performance evaluation. A numerical example of SAC benchmark SMRF is provided using the performance-based optimal seismic retrofit technique proposed in this paper

Keywords: connection upgrade, performace-based seismicdesign, seismic retrofit, multi-objective optimization

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Authors: Eva Nedeliakova, Juraj Camaj, Jaroslav Masek

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This contribution is focused on the methodology for identifying levels of quality and improving quality through new logistics model in railway transport. It is oriented on the application of dynamic quality models, which represent an innovative method of evaluation quality services. Through this conception, time factor, expected, and perceived quality in each moment of the transportation process within logistics chain can be taken into account. Various models describe the improvement of the quality which emphases the time factor throughout the whole transportation logistics chain. Quality of services in railway transport can be determined by the existing level of service quality, by detecting the causes of dissatisfaction employees but also customers, to uncover strengths and weaknesses. This new logistics model is able to recognize critical processes in logistic chain. It includes service quality rating that must respect its specific properties, which are unrepeatability, impalpability, their use right at the time they are provided and particularly changeability, which is significant factor in the conditions of rail transport as well. These peculiarities influence the quality of service regarding the constantly increasing requirements and that result in new ways of finding progressive attitudes towards the service quality rating.

Keywords: Logistics model, quality, railway transport.

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Authors: M. Keshlaf, R. Spooner-Hart

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Australia does not have varroa mite. However, we investigated the efficacy of modified hive bottom boards used for varroa mite management in honeybee colonies to control small hive beetle, Aethina tumida. We assessed infestation levels between hives fitted with tube, mesh and conventional (solid) bottom boards in Richmond, NSW eastern Australian. Colonies housed in hives with tube bottom boards were significantly superior to those in hives with conventional and mesh bottom boards. Even though in-hive beetle populations were generally low during the trial period, hives fitted with tube bottom boards however, had fewer small hive beetles than other hives. Although the trial was conducted over only one season, it suggests that there may be benefit in Australian beekeepers changing from using conventional bottom boards even with the absence of varroa mite, when small hive beetle is present.

Keywords: Aethina tumida, Apis mellifera, mesh bottom boards, tube bottom boards.

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Authors: A. Talapatra, N. R. Bandhyopadhyay, J. Datta

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In the present study, two TRIP-assisted steels were designated as A (having no Cr and Cu content) and B (having higher Ni, Cr and Cu content) heat treated under different conditions, and the correlation between its heat treatment, microstructure and properties were investigated. Micro structural examination was carried out by optical microscope and scanning electron microscope after electrolytic etching. Non-destructive electrochemical and ultrasonic testing on two TRIP-assisted steels was used to find out corrosion and mechanical properties of different alter microstructure phase’s steels. Furthermore, micro structural studies accompanied by the evaluation of mechanical properties revealed that steels having martensite phases with higher corrosive and hardness value were less sound velocity and also steel’s microstructure having finer grains that was more grain boundary was less corrosion resistance. Steel containing more Cu, Ni and Cr was less corrosive compared to other steels having same processing or microstructure.

Keywords: TRIP-assisted steels, heat treatment, corrosion, electrochemical techniques, micro-structural characterization, non-destructive (ultrasonic) technique.

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Authors: Tuti Haryati Jasimin, Hishamuddin Mohd Ali

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Malaysia’s green building development is gaining momentum and green buildings have become a key focus area, especially within the commercial sector with the encouragement of government legislation and policy. Due to the emerging awareness among the market players’ views of the benefits associated with the ownership of green buildings in Malaysia, there is a need for valuers to incorporate consideration of sustainability into their assessments of property market value to ensure the green buildings continue to increase in the market. This paper analyses the valuers’ current perception on the valuation practices with regard to the green issues in Malaysia. The study was based on a survey of registered real estate valuers and the experts whose work related to valuation in the Klang Valley area to rate their view regarding the perception on valuation of green building. The findings present evidence that even though Malaysian valuers have limited knowledge of green buildings, they recognise the importance of incorporating the green features in the valuation process. The inclusion of incorporating the green features in valuations in practice was hindered by the inadequacy of sufficient transaction data in the market. Furthermore, valuers experienced difficulty in identifying what are the various input parameters of green building and how to adjust it in order to reflect the benefit of sustainability features correctly in the valuation process. This paper focuses on the present challenges confronted by Malaysian valuers with regards to incorporating the green features in their valuation.

Keywords: Green commercial office building, Malaysia, valuers’ perception, valuation.

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Authors: Abdolreza Roozbeh, Reza Sedaghati, Ali Asghar Baziar, Mohammad Reza Tabatabaei

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This paper presents dynamic models of distributed generators (DG) and investigates dynamic behavior of the DG units in the micro grid system. The DG units include photovoltaic and fuel cell sources. The voltage source inverter is adopted since the electronic interface which can be equipped with its controller to keep stability of the micro grid during small signal dynamics. This paper also introduces power management strategies and implements the DG load sharing concept to keep the micro grid operation in gridconnected and islanding modes of operation. The results demonstrate the operation and performance of the photovoltaic and fuel cell as distributed generators in a micro grid. The entire control system in the micro grid is developed by combining the benefits of the power control and the voltage control strategies. Simulation results are all reported, confirming the validity of the proposed control technique.

Keywords: Stability, Distributed Generation, Dynamic, Micro Grid.

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Authors: Marie Mikušová, Viktorie Janečková

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Measurement and the following evaluation of performance represent important part of management. The paper focuses on indicators as the basic elements of performance measurement system. It emphasizes a necessity of searching requirements for quality indicators so that they can become part of the useful system. It introduces standpoints for a systematic dividing of indicators so that they have as high as possible informative value of background sources for searching, analysis, designing and using of indicators. It draws attention to requirements for indicators' quality and at the same it deals with some dangers decreasing indicator's informative value. It submits a draft of questions that should be answered at the construction of indicator. It is obvious that particular indicators need to be defined exactly to stimulate the desired behavior in order to attain expected results. In the enclosure a concrete example of the defined indicator in the concrete conditions of a small firm is given. The authors of the paper pay attention to the fact that a quality indicator makes it possible to get to the basic causes of the problem and include the established facts into the company information system. At the same time they emphasize that developing of a quality indicator is a prerequisite for the utilization of the system of measurement in management.

Keywords: performance, measurement, firm, indicator

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Authors: Nattida Wannaruk, Wasawat Nakkiew

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This research aims to study the factors that affect the performance of green supply chain management in the Lampang ceramics industry. The data investigation of this research was questionnaires which were gathered from 20 factories in the Lampang ceramics industry. The research factors are divided into five major groups which are green design, green purchasing, green manufacturing, green logistics and reverse logistics. The questionnaire has consisted of four parts that related to factors green supply chain management and general information of the Lampang ceramics industry. Then, the data were analyzed using descriptive statistic and priority of each factor by using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The understanding of factors affecting the green supply chain management of Lampang ceramics industry was indicated in the summary result along with each factor weight. The result of this research could be contributed to the development of indicators or performance evaluation in the future.

Keywords: Lampang ceramics industry, green supply chain management, analytic hierarchy process, factors affecting.

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Authors: A. Sabzali, M. Nikaeen, B. Bina

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The purpose of the experiments described in this article was the comparison of integrated fixed film activated sludge (IFAS) and activated sludge (AS) system. The IFAS applied system consists of the cigarette filter rods (wasted filter in tobacco factories) as a biofilm carrier. The comparison with activated sludge was performed by two parallel treatment lines. Organic substance, ammonia and TP removal was investigated over four month period. Synthetic wastewater was prepared with ordinary tap water and glucose as the main sources of carbon and energy, plus balanced macro and micro nutrients. COD removal percentages of 94.55%, and 81.62% were achieved for IFAS and activated sludge system, respectively. Also, ammonia concentration significantly decreased by increasing the HRT in both systems. The average ammonia removal of 97.40 % and 96.34% were achieved for IFAS and activated sludge system, respectively. The removal efficiency of total phosphorus (TP-P) was 60.64%, higher than AS process by 56.63% respectively.

Keywords: Wastewater, biofilm carrier, cigarette filters rods, Activated Sludge, IFAS, nitrification.

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Authors: J. Preetha, S. Selvarajan

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When neck pain is associated with pain, numbness, or weakness in the arm, shoulder, or hand, further investigation is needed as these are symptoms indicating pressure on one or more nerve roots. Evaluation necessitates a neurologic examination and imaging using an MRI/CT scan. A degenerating disc loses some thickness and is less flexible, causing inter-vertebrae space to narrow. A radiologist diagnoses an Intervertebral Disc Degeneration (IDD) by localizing every inter-vertebral disc and identifying the pathology in a disc based on its geometry and appearance. Accurate localizing is necessary to diagnose IDD pathology. But, the underlying image signal is ambiguous: a disc’s intensity overlaps the spinal nerve fibres. Even the structure changes from case to case, with possible spinal column bending (scoliosis). The inter-vertebral disc pathology’s quantitative assessment needs accurate localization of the cervical region discs. In this work, the efficacy of multilevel set segmentation model, to segment cervical discs is investigated. The segmented images are annotated using a simple distance matrix.

Keywords: Intervertebral Disc Degeneration (IDD), Cervical Disc Localization, multilevel set segmentation.

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Authors: Murugan. A., Jerlin Nirmala. F .

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Life is beautiful. But, it is decided by genes, environment and the individual and shattered by the natural and / or the invited problems. Most of the global rural helpless masses are struggling for their survival since; they are neglected in all aspects of life including health. Amidst a countless number of miserable diseases in man, diabetes is becoming a dreaded killer and ramifying the entire globe in a jet speed. Diabetes control continues as a Herculean task to the scientific community and the modern society in the 21st century also. T2DM is not pertaining to any age and it can develop even during the childhood. This multifactorial disease abruptly changes the activities of certain vital biomarkers in the present rural T2DM cases. A remarkable variation in the levels of biomarkers like AST, ALT, GGT, ALP, LDH, HbA1C, C- peptide, fasting sugar, post-prandial sugar, sodium, potassium, BUN, creatinine and insulin show the rampant nature of T2DM in this physically active rural agrarian community.

Keywords: Alanine aminotransferase, Aspartate aminotransferase, Blood urea nitrogen, Glycated haemoglobin, Thyroid stimulating hormone

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Authors: A.M. Fahim, A. M. Salem, F. A. Torkey, M. A. Ramadan

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Clustering algorithms are attractive for the task of class identification in spatial databases. However, the application to large spatial databases rises the following requirements for clustering algorithms: minimal requirements of domain knowledge to determine the input parameters, discovery of clusters with arbitrary shape and good efficiency on large databases. The well-known clustering algorithms offer no solution to the combination of these requirements. In this paper, a density based clustering algorithm (DCBRD) is presented, relying on a knowledge acquired from the data by dividing the data space into overlapped regions. The proposed algorithm discovers arbitrary shaped clusters, requires no input parameters and uses the same definitions of DBSCAN algorithm. We performed an experimental evaluation of the effectiveness and efficiency of it, and compared this results with that of DBSCAN. The results of our experiments demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is significantly efficient in discovering clusters of arbitrary shape and size.

Keywords: Clustering Algorithms, Arbitrary Shape of clusters, cluster Analysis.

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Authors: Esteban Alejandro Armas Vega, Ana Lucila Sandoval Orozco, Luis Javier García Villalba

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The benchmarking of tools for dynamic analysis of vulnerabilities in web applications is something that is done periodically, because these tools from time to time update their knowledge base and search algorithms, in order to improve their accuracy. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these evaluations are made by software enthusiasts who publish their results on blogs or on non-academic websites and always with the same evaluation methodology. Similarly, academics who have carried out this type of analysis from a scientific approach, the majority, make their analysis within the same methodology as well the empirical authors. This paper is based on the interest of finding answers to questions that many users of this type of tools have been asking over the years, such as, to know if the tool truly test and evaluate every vulnerability that it ensures do, or if the tool, really, deliver a real report of all the vulnerabilities tested and exploited. This kind of questions have also motivated previous work but without real answers. The aim of this paper is to show results that truly answer, at least on the tested tools, all those unanswered questions. All the results have been obtained by changing the common model of benchmarking used for all those previous works.

Keywords: Cybersecurity, IDS, security, web scanners, web vulnerabilities.

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Authors: Kleiner Marques Marra, Tércio Pedrosa

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This paper reports the production of uranium-molybdenum alloys, which have been considered promising fuel for test and research nuclear reactors. U-Mo alloys were produced in three molybdenum contents: 5 wt.%, 7 wt.%, and 10 wt.%, using an electric vacuum induction furnace. A boron nitride-coated graphite crucible was employed in the production of the alloys and, after melting, the material was immediately poured into a boron nitride-coated graphite mold. The incorporation of carbon was observed, but it happened in a lower intensity than in the case of the non-coated crucible/mold. It is observed that the carbon incorporation increased and alloys density decreased with Mo addition. It was also noticed that the increase in the carbon or molybdenum content did not seem to change the as-cast structure in terms of granulation. The three alloys presented body-centered cubic crystal structure (g phase), after solidification, besides a seeming negative microsegregation of molybdenum, from the center to the periphery of the grains. There were signs of macrosegregation, from the base to the top of the ingots.

Keywords: Incorporation of carbon, macrosegregation and microsegregation, solidification, uranium-molybdenum alloys.

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Authors: Lenka Bodnárová, Rudolf Hela, Michala Hubertová, Iveta Nováková

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This paper is concerning the issues of behaviour of lightweight expanded clay aggregates concrete exposed to high temperature. Lightweight aggregates from expanded clay are produced by firing of row material up to temperature 1050°C. Lightweight aggregates have suitable properties in terms of volume stability, when exposed to temperatures up to 1050°C, which could indicate their suitability for construction applications with higher risk of fire. The test samples were exposed to heat by using the standard temperature-time curve ISO 834. Negative changes in resulting mechanical properties, such as compressive strength, tensile strength, and flexural strength were evaluated. Also visual evaluation of the specimen was performed. On specimen exposed to excessive heat, an explosive spalling could be observed, due to evaporation of considerable amount of unbounded water from the inner structure of the concrete.

Keywords: Expanded clay aggregate, explosive spalling, high temperature, lightweight concrete, temperature-time curve ISO 834.

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Authors: Shumani Ramuhaheli, Christopher C. Enweremadu, Hilary L. Rutto

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In this study, biodiesel from used cooking oil was produced as purified by washing with water (water wash) and amberlite (dry wash). The work presents the results of short term tests on performance characteristics of diesel engine using both biodiesel-fuel samples. In this investigation, the water wash biodiesel and dry wash biodiesel and diesel were compared for performance using a four-cylinder diesel engine. The torque, brake power, specific fuel consumption and brake thermal efficiency were analyzed. The tests showed that in all cases, dry wash biodiesel performed marginally poorer compared to water wash biodiesel. Except for brake thermal efficiency, diesel fuel had better engine performance characteristics compared to the biodiesel-fuel samples. According to these results, dry washing of biodiesel has a marginal effect on engine performance.

Keywords: Biodiesel, engine performance, used cooking oil, water wash, dry wash.

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Authors: M. Kosacka, I. Kudelska

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Vehicle is one of the most influential and complex product worldwide, which affects people’s life, state of the environment and condition of the economy (all aspects of sustainable development concept) during each stage of lifecycle. With the increase of vehicles’ number, there is growing potential for management of End of Life Vehicle (ELV), which is hazardous waste. From one point of view, the ELV should be managed to ensure risk elimination, but from another point, it should be treated as a source of valuable materials and spare parts. In order to obtain materials and spare parts, there are established recycling networks, which are an example of sustainable policy realization at the national level. The basic object in the polish recycling network is dismantling facility. The output material streams in dismantling stations include waste, which very often generate costs and spare parts, that have the biggest potential for revenues creation. Both outputs are stored into warehouses, according to the law. In accordance to the revenue creation and sustainability potential, it has been placed a strong emphasis on storage process. We present the concept of storage method, which takes into account the specific of the dismantling facility in order to support decision-making process with regard to the principles of sustainable development. The method was developed on the basis of case study of one of the greatest dismantling facility in Poland.

Keywords: Dismantling, end of life vehicle, sustainability, storage.

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Authors: Bastian Hartmann, Christoph Schauer, Norbert Link

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This paper addresses the problem of recognizing and interpreting the behavior of human workers in industrial environments for the purpose of integrating humans in software controlled manufacturing environments. In this work we propose a generic concept in order to derive solutions for task-related manual production applications. Thus, we are able to use a versatile concept providing flexible components and being less restricted to a specific problem or application. We instantiate our concept in a spot welding scenario in which the behavior of a human worker is interpreted when performing a welding task with a hand welding gun. We acquire signals from inertial sensors, video cameras and triggers and recognize atomic actions by using pose data from a marker based video tracking system and movement data from inertial sensors. Recognized atomic actions are analyzed on a higher evaluation level by a finite state machine.

Keywords: activity recognition, task modeling, marker-based video-tracking, inertial sensors.

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Authors: Daehyoung Kim, Pervez Khan, Hoon Kim

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Efficient utilization of spectrum resources is a fundamental issue of wireless communications due to its scarcity. To improve the efficiency of spectrum utilization, the spectrum sharing for unlicensed bands is being regarded as one of key technologies in the next generation wireless networks. A number of schemes such as Listen-Before-Talk(LBT) and carrier sensor adaptive transmission (CSAT) have been suggested from this aspect, but more efficient sharing schemes are required for improving spectrum utilization efficiency. This work considers an opportunistic transmission approach and a dynamic Contention Window (CW) adjustment scheme for LTE-U users sharing the unlicensed spectrum with Wi-Fi, in order to enhance the overall system throughput. The decision criteria for the dynamic adjustment of CW are based on the collision evaluation, derived from the collision probability of the system. The overall performance can be improved due to the adaptive adjustment of the CW. Simulation results show that our proposed scheme outperforms the Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) mechanism of IEEE 802.11 MAC.

Keywords: Spectrum sharing, adaptive opportunistic transmission, unlicensed bands, heterogeneous networks.

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Authors: Kitti Leangkrua

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This paper presents a risk-based maintenance strategy of a power transformer in order to optimize operating and maintenance costs. The methodology involves the study and preparation of a database for the collection the technical data and test data of a power transformer. An evaluation of the overall condition of each transformer is performed by a program developed as a result of the measured results; in addition, the calculation of the main equipment separation to the overall condition of the transformer (% HI) and the criteria for evaluating the importance (% ImI) of each location where the transformer is installed. The condition assessment is performed by analysis test data such as electrical test, insulating oil test and visual inspection. The condition of the power transformer will be classified from very poor to very good condition. The importance is evaluated from load criticality, importance of load and failure consequence. The risk matrix is developed for evaluating the risk of each power transformer. The high risk power transformer will be focused firstly. The computerized program is developed for practical use, and the maintenance strategy of a power transformer can be effectively managed.

Keywords: Asset management, risk-based maintenance, power transformer, health index.

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Authors: Christophe Gonçalves, Raquel P. F. Guiné, Daniela Teixeira, Fernando J. Gonçalves

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Blueberries are widely valued for their high content in phenolic compounds with antioxidant activity, and hence beneficial for the human health. In this way, a study was done to determine the phenolic composition (total phenols, anthocyanins and tannins) and antioxidant activity of blueberries from three cultivars (Duke, Bluecrop, and Ozarkblue) grown in two different Portuguese farms. Initially two successive extractions were done with methanol followed by two extractions with aqueous acetone solutions. These extracts obtained were then used to evaluate the amount of phenolic compounds and the antioxidant activity. The total phenols were observed to vary from 4.9 to 8.2 mg GAE/g fresh weight, with anthocyanin’s contents in the range 1.5-2.8 mg EMv3G/g and tannins contents in the range 1.5- 3.8 mg/g. The results for antioxidant activity ranged from 9.3 to 23.2 molTE/g and from 24.7 to 53.4molTE/g, when measured, respectively, by DPPH and ABTS methods. In conclusion it was observed that, in general, the cultivar had a visible effect on the phenols present, and furthermore, the geographical origin showed relevance either in the phenols contents or the antioxidant activity.

Keywords: Anthocyanins, antioxidant activity, blueberry cultivar, geographical origin, phenolic compounds.

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Authors: Ntokozo C. Mthembu

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The notion of sustainable chemistry has become significant in the discourse for a global post-colonial era, including South Africa, especially when it comes to access to the general health system and related policies in relation to disease or ease of human life. In view of the stubborn vestiges of coloniality in the daily lives of indigenous African people in general, the fundamentals of present Western medical and traditional medicine systems and related policies in the democratic era were examined in this study. The situation of traditional healers in relation to current policy was also reviewed. The advent of democracy in South Africa brought about a variety of development opportunities and limitations, particularly with respect to indigenous African knowledge systems such as traditional medicine. There were high hopes that the limitations of previous narrow cultural perspectives would be rectified in the democratic era through development interventions, but some sections of society, such as traditional healers, remain marginalised. The Afrocentric perspective was explored in dissecting government interventions related to traditional medicine. This article highlights that multiple medical systems should be adopted and that health policies should be aligned in order to guarantee mutual respect and to address the remnants of colonialism in South Africa, Africa and the broader global community.

Keywords: Traditional healing system, healers, pluralist healthcare system, post-colonial era.

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Authors: Almudena Konrad, Tomás Galguera

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Lack of motivation and interest is a serious obstacle to students’ learning computing skills. A need exists for a knowledge base on effective pedagogy and curricula to teach computer programming. This paper presents results from research evaluating a six-year project designed to teach complex concepts in computer programming collaboratively, while supporting students to continue developing their computer thinking and related coding skills individually. Utilizing a quasi-experimental, mixed methods design, the pedagogical approaches and methods were assessed in two contrasting groups of students with different socioeconomic status, gender, and age composition. Analyses of quantitative data from Likert-scale surveys and an evaluation rubric, combined with qualitative data from reflective writing exercises and semi-structured interviews yielded convincing evidence of the project’s success at both teaching and inspiring students.

Keywords: Computational thinking, computing education, computer programming curriculum, logic, teaching methods.

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Authors: Sara Jelodarian

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Organic agriculture is a kind of living and dynamic agriculture that was introduced in the early 20^th century. The fundamental basis for organic agriculture is in harmony with nature. This version of farming emphasizes removing growth hormones, chemical fertilizers, toxins, radiation, genetic manipulation and instead, integration of modern scientific techniques (such as biologic and microbial control) that leads to the production of healthy food and the preservation of the environment and use of agricultural products such as forage and manure. Supports from governments for the markets producing organic products and taking advantage of the experiences from other successful societies in this field can help progress the positive and effective aspects of this technology, especially in developing countries. This research proves that till 2030, 25% of the global agricultural lands would be covered by organic farming. Consequently Iran, due to its rich genetic resources and various climates, can be a pioneer in promoting organic products. In addition, for sustainable farming, blend of organic and other innovative systems is needed. Important limitations exist to accept these systems, also a diversity of policy instruments will be required to comfort their development and implementation. The paper was conducted to results of compilation of reports, issues, books, articles related to the subject with library studies and research. Likewise we combined experimental and survey to get data.

Keywords: Development, production markets, progress, strategic role, technology.

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Authors: B. A. Lawal, B. R. Singh, G. A. Babaji, P. A. Tsado

Abstract:

The two widely used methods base on the sedimentation principle (Bouyoucos hydrometer and International pipette) for particle-size analysis were comparatively evaluated on soils collected from various locations in Sudan savanna of Nigeria particularly from Sokoto and Zamfara States. The hydrometer method under-estimated the silt and over-estimated the clay content. Also, the hydrometer reading proved difficult and tended to submerge when floated for clay reading in the suspension of very sandy soils (900g kg-1 sand). Furthermore, the results from the two methods were validated by subjecting the data to USDA soil textural triangle to determine their textural class names. The outcome was that 91.67 % of the experimental soils retained the same textural class names irrespective of the method. Thus, Bouyoucos hydrometer method may conveniently find a place in routine work in view of its simplicity, rapidity, and strong correlation with the pipette method.

Keywords: Hydrometer and pipette methods, particle-size analysis, sedimentation.

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Authors: A. Ashjaran, A. Rashidi, R. Ghazi-Saeidi

Abstract:

Protective clothing limits heat transfer and hampers task performance due to the increased weight. Militarism protective clothing enables humans to operate in adverse environments. In the selection and evaluation of militarism protective clothing attention should be given to heat strain, ergonomic and fit issues next to the actual protection it offers. Fifty Male healthy subjects participated in the study. The subjects were dressed in shorts, T-shirts, socks, sneakers and four deferent kinds of militarism protective clothing such as CS, CSB, CS with NBC protection and CS with NBC- protection added. Ergonomically and psychological strains of every four cloths were investigated on subjects by walking on a treadmill (7km/hour) with a 19.7 kg backpack. As a result of these tests were showed that, the highest heart rate was found wearing the NBC-protection added outfit, the highest temperatures were observed wearing NBCprotection added, followed by respectively CS with NBC protection, CSB and CS and the highest value for thermal comfort (implying worst thermal comfort) was observed wearing NBC-protection added.

Keywords: Militarist protective clothing, Ergonomic, Heat strain, Thermal comfort

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