Search results for: light condition

Authors: Shanawaz Patil, Mohamed Haneef, K. S. Narayanaswamy

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In the recent years, aluminum metal matrix composites were most widely used, which are finding wide applications in various field such as automobile, aerospace defense etc., due to their outstanding mechanical properties like low density, light weight, exceptional high levels of strength, stiffness, wear resistance, high temperature resistance, low coefficient of thermal expansion and good formability. In the present work, an effort is made to study the effect of heat treatment on mechanical properties of aluminum 7075 alloy reinforced with constant weight percentage of naturally occurring mineral beryl and varying weight percentage of graphene. The hybrid composites are developed with 0.5 wt. %, 1wt.%, 1.5 wt.% and 2 wt.% of graphene and 6 wt.% of beryl  by stir casting liquid metallurgy route. The cast specimens of unreinforced aluminum alloy and hybrid composite samples were prepared for heat treatment process and subjected to solutionizing treatment (T6) at a temperature of 490±5 ^oC for 8 hours in a muffle furnace followed by quenching in boiling water. The microstructure analysis of as cast and heat treated hybrid composite specimens are examined by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The tensile test and hardness test of unreinforced aluminum alloy and hybrid composites are examined. The wear behavior is examined by pin-on disc apparatus. The results of as cast specimens and heat treated specimens were compared. The heat treated Al7075-Beryl-Graphene hybrid composite had better properties and significantly improved the ultimate tensile strength, hardness and reduced wear loss when compared to aluminum alloy and  as cast hybrid composites.

Keywords: Beryl, graphene, heat treatment, mechanical properties.

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Authors: K. Anitha Sheela, J. Tarun Kumar

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HSDPA is a new feature which is introduced in Release-5 specifications of the 3GPP WCDMA/UTRA standard to realize higher speed data rate together with lower round-trip times. Moreover, the HSDPA concept offers outstanding improvement of packet throughput and also significantly reduces the packet call transfer delay as compared to Release -99 DSCH. Till now the HSDPA system uses turbo coding which is the best coding technique to achieve the Shannon limit. However, the main drawbacks of turbo coding are high decoding complexity and high latency which makes it unsuitable for some applications like satellite communications, since the transmission distance itself introduces latency due to limited speed of light. Hence in this paper it is proposed to use LDPC coding in place of Turbo coding for HSDPA system which decreases the latency and decoding complexity. But LDPC coding increases the Encoding complexity. Though the complexity of transmitter increases at NodeB, the End user is at an advantage in terms of receiver complexity and Bit- error rate. In this paper LDPC Encoder is implemented using “sparse parity check matrix" H to generate a codeword at Encoder and “Belief Propagation algorithm "for LDPC decoding .Simulation results shows that in LDPC coding the BER suddenly drops as the number of iterations increase with a small increase in Eb/No. Which is not possible in Turbo coding. Also same BER was achieved using less number of iterations and hence the latency and receiver complexity has decreased for LDPC coding. HSDPA increases the downlink data rate within a cell to a theoretical maximum of 14Mbps, with 2Mbps on the uplink. The changes that HSDPA enables includes better quality, more reliable and more robust data services. In other words, while realistic data rates are only a few Mbps, the actual quality and number of users achieved will improve significantly.

Keywords: AMC, HSDPA, LDPC, WCDMA, 3GPP.

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Authors: Aini Hussain, M A Hannan, Azah Mohamed, Hilmi Sanusi, Burhanuddin Yeop Majlis

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Airbag deployment has been known to be responsible for huge death, incidental injuries and broken bones due to low crash severity and wrong deployment decisions. Therefore, the authorities and industries have been looking for more innovative and intelligent products to be realized for future enhancements in the vehicle safety systems (VSSs). Although the VSSs technologies have advanced considerably, they still face challenges such as how to avoid unnecessary and untimely airbag deployments that can be hazardous and fatal. Currently, most of the existing airbag systems deploy without regard to occupant size and position. As such, this paper will focus on the occupant and crash sensing performances due to frontal collisions for the new breed of so called smart airbag systems. It intends to provide a thorough discussion relating to the occupancy detection, occupant size classification, occupant off-position detection to determine safe distance zone for airbag deployment, crash-severity analysis and airbag decision algorithms via a computer modeling. The proposed system model consists of three main modules namely, occupant sensing, crash severity analysis and decision fusion. The occupant sensing system module utilizes the weight sensor to determine occupancy, classify the occupant size, and determine occupant off-position condition to compute safe distance for airbag deployment. The crash severity analysis module is used to generate relevant information pertinent to airbag deployment decision. Outputs from these two modules are fused to the decision module for correct and efficient airbag deployment action. Computer modeling work is carried out using Simulink, Stateflow, SimMechanics and Virtual Reality toolboxes.

Keywords: Crash severity analysis, occupant size classification, smart airbag, vehicle safety system.

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Authors: V. Veeraprathap, G. S. Harish, G. Narendra Kumar

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Uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the lung in the form of tumor can be either benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous). Patients with Lung Cancer (LC) have an average of five years life span expectancy provided diagnosis, detection and prediction, which reduces many treatment options to risk of invasive surgery increasing survival rate. Computed Tomography (CT), Positron Emission Tomography (PET), and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) for earlier detection of cancer are common. Gaussian filter along with median filter used for smoothing and noise removal, Histogram Equalization (HE) for image enhancement gives the best results without inviting further opinions. Lung cavities are extracted and the background portion other than two lung cavities is completely removed with right and left lungs segmented separately. Region properties measurements area, perimeter, diameter, centroid and eccentricity measured for the tumor segmented image, while texture is characterized by Gray-Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) functions, feature extraction provides Region of Interest (ROI) given as input to classifier. Two levels of classifications, K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) is used for determining patient condition as normal or abnormal, while Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) is used for identifying the cancer stage is employed. Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) algorithm is used for the main feature extraction leading to best efficiency. The developed technology finds encouraging results for real time information and on line detection for future research.

Keywords: ANN, DWT, GLCM, KNN, ROI, artificial neural networks, discrete wavelet transform, gray-level co-occurrence matrix, k-nearest neighbor, region of interest.

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Authors: Amani Jaber-Awida

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This study examines two bilingual phenomena in the narratives of Arabic Hebrew and Hebrew-English bilingual adults in Israel: CO memories and code-switching (CS). The study examined these phenomena in the context of autobiographical memory, using a cue word technique. Student experimenters held two sessions in the homes of the participants. In separate language sessions, the participant was asked to look first at each of 16 cue words and then to state a concrete memory. After stating the memory, participants reported whether their memories were in the same language of the experiment session or different. Memories were classified as ‘Crossovers’ (CO) or ‘Same Language’ (SL) according to participants' self-reports. Participants were also required to elaborate about the setting, interlocutors and other languages involved in the specific memory. Beyond replicating the procedure of cuing technique, one memory from a specific lifespan period was chosen per participant, and the participant was required to provide further details about it. For the more detailed memories, CS count was conducted. Both bilingual groups confirmed the Reminiscence Bump phenomenon, retrieving more memories in the 10-30 age period. CO memories prevailed in second language sessions (L2). Same language memories were more abundant in first language sessions (L1). Higher CS frequency was found in L2 sessions. Finally, as predicted, 'individual' CS was prevalent in L2 sessions, but 'community-based' CS was not higher in L1 sessions. The two bilingual measures in this study, crossovers, and CS came from different research traditions, the former from an experimental paradigm in the psychology of autobiographical memory based on self-reported judgments, the latter a behavioral measure from linguistics. This merger of approaches offers new insight into the field of bilingual autobiographical memory. In addition, the study attempted to shed light on the investigation of motivations for CS, beginning with Walters’ SPPL Model and concluding with a distinction between ‘community-based’ and individual motivations.

Keywords: Autobiographical memory, code-switching, crossover memories, reminiscence bump.

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Authors: Mehdi Gheibi, Shahram Hesami

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Scolothrips longicornis Priesner is one of the important predators of tetranychid mites with a wide distribution throughout Iran. Life table and population growth parameters of S. longicornis feeding on two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus turkestani Ugarov & Nikolski were investigated under laboratory condition (26±1ºC, 65±5% R.H. and 16L: 8D). To carry of these experiments, S. longicornis collections reared on cowpea infested with T. turkestani were prepared. The eggs with less than 24 hours old were selected and reared. The emerged larvae feeding directly on cowpea leaf discs which were infested with T. turkestani. Thirty females of S. longicornis with 24 hours age were selected and released on infested leaf discs. They replaced daily to a new leaf disc and the laying eggs have counted. The experiment continued till the last thrips had died. The result showed that the mean age mortality of the adult female thrips were between 21-25 days which is nearly equal life expectancy (ex) at the time of adult eclosion. Parameters related to reproductive table including gross reproductive rate, net reproductive rate, intrinsic rate of natural increase and finite rate of increase were 48.91, 37.63, 0.26 and 2.3, respectively. Mean age per female/day, mean fertile egg per female/day, gross hatch rate, mean net age fertility, mean net age fecundity, net fertility rate and net fecundity rate were 2.23, 1.76, 0.87, 13.87, 14.26, 69.1 and 78.5, respectively. Sex ratio of offspring also recorded daily. The highest sex ratio for females was 0.88 in first day of oviposition. The sex ratio decreased gradually and reached under 0.46 after the day 26 and the oviposition rate declined. Then it seems that maintenance of rearing culture of predatory thrips for mass rearing later than 26 days after egg-laying commence is not profitable.

Keywords: Tetranychus, Scolothrips, Demography, Life table, Reproductive table

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Authors: Abdoelmoniem A. Attaelmanan, Ahmed A. H. Siddig

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This study was conducted in light of continual global climate changes that projected increasing aridity, changes in soil fertility, and pollution. Plant growth and development largely depend on the combination of availing water and nutrients in the soil. Changes in the climate and atmospheric chemistry can cause serious effects on these growth factors. Plant carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and hydrogen (H) play a fundamental role in the maintenance of ecosystem structure and function. Hashab (Acacia senegal), which produces gum Arabic, supports dryland ecosystems in tropical zones by its potentiality to restore degraded soils; hence, it is ecologically and economically important for the dry areas of sub-Saharan Africa. The study aims at investigating the effects of water stress (simulated drought) and poor soil type on Acacia senegal C, N, and H contents. Seven-day-old seedlings were assigned to the treatments in split-plot design for four weeks. The main plot is irrigation interval (well-watered and water-stressed), and the subplot is soil types (silt and sandy soils). Seedling's C%, N%, and H% were measured using CHNS-O Analyzer and applying Standard Test Method. Irrigation intervals and soil types had no effects on seedlings and leaves C%, N%, and H%, irrigation interval had affected stem C% and H%, both irrigation intervals and soil types had affected root N% and interaction effect of water and soil was found on leaves and root's N%. Application of well-watered irrigation with soil that is rich in N and other nutrients would result in the greatest seedling C, N, and H content which will enhance growth and biomass accumulation and can play a crucial role in ecosystem productivity and services in the dryland regions.

Keywords: Acacia senegal, Africa, climate change, drylands, nutrients biomass, Sub-Sahara, Sudan.

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Authors: Sajjad Shojaeidoust, Mohsen Ghanbarzadeh, Abdolhamid Habibi

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Exercise-induced bronchospasm (EIB) is a transitory condition of airflow obstruction that is associated with physical activities. It is noted that high ventilation can lead to an increase in the heat and reduce in the moisture in airways resistance of trachea. Also causes of pathophysiological mechanism are EIB. Accordingly, studying some parameters of pulmonary function (FVC, FEV1) among active people seems quintessential. The aim of this study was to analyze bronchospasm following the implementation of a program of maximum aerobic exercise in active men at Chamran University of Ahwaz. Method: In this quasi-experimental study, the population consisted of all students at Chamran University. Among from 55 participants, of which, 15 were randomly selected as the experimental group. In this study, the size of the maximum oxygen consumption was initially measured, and then, based on the maximum oxygen consumed, the active individuals were identified. After five minutes’ warm-up, Strand treadmill exercise test was taken (one session) and pulmonary parameters were measured at both pre- and post-tests (spirometer). After data normalization using KS and non-normality of the data, the Wilcoxon test was used to analyze the data. The significance level for all statistical surveys was considered p≤0/05. Results: The results showed that the ventilation factors and bronchospasm (FVC, FEV1) in the pre-test and post-test resulted in no significant difference among the active people (p≥0/05). Discussion and conclusion: Based on the results observed in this study, it appears that pulmonary indices in active individuals increased after aerobic test. The increase in this indicator in active people is due to increased volume and elasticity of the lungs as well. In other words, pulmonary index is affected by rib muscles. It is considered that progress over respiratory muscle strength and endurance has raised FEV1 in the active cases.

Keywords: Bronchospasm, aerobic active maximum, pulmonary function, spirometer.

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Authors: Ganetsou Evanthia, Koutsikos Emmanouil, Austin Anna Maria

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Information technology has long served the needs of individuals for learning and entertainment, but much less for children in sickness. The aim of the proposed online video game is to provide immersive learning opportunities as well as essential social and emotional scenarios for hospital-bound children with long-term illness. Online self-paced courses on chosen school subjects, including specialized software and multisensory assessments, aim at enhancing children’s academic achievement and sense of inclusion, while doctor minigames familiarize and educate young patients on their medical conditions. Online ethical dilemmas will offer children opportunities to contemplate on the importance of medical procedures and following assigned medication, often challenging for young patients; they will therefore reflect on their condition, re-evaluate their perceptions about hospitalization, and assume greater personal responsibility for their progress. Children’s emotional and psychosocial needs are addressed by engaging in social conventions, such as interactive, daily, collaborative mini games with other hospitalized peers, like virtual competitive sports games, weekly group psychodrama sessions, and online birthday parties or sleepovers. Social bonding is also fostered by having a virtual pet to interact with and take care of, as well as a virtual nurse to discuss and reflect on the mood of the day, engage in constructive dialogue and perspective-taking, and offer reminders. Access to the platform will be available throughout the day depending on the patient’s health status. The program is designed to minimize escapism and feelings of exclusion and can flexibly be adapted to offer post-treatment and a support online system at home.

Keywords: Hospitalized children, interactive games, long-term illness, cognitive enhancement, socioemotional development.

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Authors: A. Gandomkar, K. Fouladi

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One of the efficient factors in comprehensive development of an area is to provide water sources and on the other hand the appropriate management of them. Population growth and nourishment security for such a population necessitate the achievement of constant development besides the reforming of traditional management in order to increase the profit of sources; In this case, the constant exploitation of sources for the next generations will be considered in this program. The achievement of this development without the consideration and possibility of water development will be too difficult. Zayanderood basin with 41500 areas in square kilometers contains 7 sub-basins and 20 units of hydrologic. In this basin area, from the entire environment descending, just a small part will enter into the river currents and the rest will be out of efficient usage by various ways. The most important surface current of this basin is Zayanderood River with 403 kilometers length which is originated from east slopes of Zagros mount and after draining of this basin area it will enter into Gaavkhooni pond. The existence of various sources and consumptions of water in Zayanderood basin, water transfer of the other basin areas into this basin, of course the contradiction between the upper and lower beneficiaries, the existence of worthwhile natural ecosystems such as Gaavkhooni swamp in this basin area and finally, the drought condition and lack of water in this area all necessitate the existence of comprehensive management of water sources in this central basin area of Iran as this method is a kind of management which considers the development and the management of water sources as an equilibrant way to increase the economical and social benefits. In this study, it is tried to survey the network of surface water sources of basin in upper and lower sections; at the most, according to the difficulties and deficiencies of an efficient management of water sources in this basin area, besides the difficulties of water draining and the destructive phenomenon of flood-water, the appropriate guidelines according to the region conditions are presented in order to prevent the deviation of water in upper sections and development of regions in lower sections of Zayanderood dam.

Keywords: Zayanderood Basin, Efficient Management, Hydrology Climate.

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Authors: I GD Yudha Partama, A. Kanno, Y. Akamatsu, R. Inui, M. Goto, M. Sekine

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The aerial photogrammetry of shallow water bottoms has the potential to be an efficient high-resolution survey technique for shallow water topography, thanks to the advent of convenient UAV and automatic image processing techniques Structure-from-Motion (SfM) and Multi-View Stereo (MVS)). However, it suffers from the systematic overestimation of the bottom elevation, due to the light refraction at the air-water interface. In this study, we present an empirical method to correct for the effect of refraction after the usual SfM-MVS processing, using common software. The presented method utilizes the empirical relation between the measured true depth and the estimated apparent depth to generate an empirical correction factor. Furthermore, this correction factor was utilized to convert the apparent water depth into a refraction-corrected (real-scale) water depth. To examine its effectiveness, we applied the method to two river sites, and compared the RMS errors in the corrected bottom elevations with those obtained by three existing methods. The result shows that the presented method is more effective than the two existing methods: The method without applying correction factor and the method utilizes the refractive index of water (1.34) as correction factor. In comparison with the remaining existing method, which used the additive terms (offset) after calculating correction factor, the presented method performs well in Site 2 and worse in Site 1. However, we found this linear regression method to be unstable when the training data used for calibration are limited. It also suffers from a large negative bias in the correction factor when the apparent water depth estimated is affected by noise, according to our numerical experiment. Overall, the good accuracy of refraction correction method depends on various factors such as the locations, image acquisition, and GPS measurement conditions. The most effective method can be selected by using statistical selection (e.g. leave-one-out cross validation).

Keywords: Bottom elevation, multi-view stereo, river, structure-from-motion.

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Authors: Maliheh Raji, Hossein Abolghasemi, Jaber Safdari, Ali Kargari

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Samarium as a rare-earth element is playing a growing important role in high technology. Traditional methods for extraction of rare earth metals such as ion exchange and solvent extraction have disadvantages of high investment and high energy consumption. Emulsion liquid membrane (ELM) as an improved solvent extraction technique is an effective transport method for separation of various compounds from aqueous solutions. In this work, the extraction of samarium from aqueous solutions by ELM was investigated using response surface methodology (RSM). The organic membrane phase of the ELM was a nanofluid consisted of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), Span80 as surfactant, Cyanex 272 as mobile carrier, and kerosene as base fluid. 1 M nitric acid solution was used as internal aqueous phase. The effects of the important process parameters on samarium extraction were investigated, and the values of these parameters were optimized using the Central Composition Design (CCD) of RSM. These parameters were the concentration of MWCNT in nanofluid, the carrier concentration, and the volume ratio of organic membrane phase to internal phase (Roi). The three-dimensional (3D) response surfaces of samarium extraction efficiency were obtained to visualize the individual and interactive effects of the process variables. A regression model for % extraction was developed, and its adequacy was evaluated. The result shows that % extraction improves by using MWCNT nanofluid in organic membrane phase and extraction efficiency of 98.92% can be achieved under the optimum conditions. In addition, demulsification was successfully performed and the recycled membrane phase was proved to be effective in the optimum condition.

Keywords: Cyanex 272, emulsion liquid membrane, multiwalled carbon nanotubes, nanofluid, response surface methodology, Samarium.

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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: R. Estrada, A. Henriquez, R. Becerra, C. Laguna

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Spatial Augmented Reality is a variation of Augmented Reality where the Head-Mounted Display is not required. This variation of Augmented Reality is useful in cases where the need for a Head-Mounted Display itself is a limitation. To achieve this, Spatial Augmented Reality techniques substitute the technological elements of Augmented Reality; the virtual world is projected onto a physical surface. To create an interactive spatial augmented experience, the application must be aware of the spatial relations that exist between its core elements. In this case, the core elements are referred to as a projection system and an input system, and the process to achieve this spatial awareness is called system calibration. The Spatial Augmented Reality system is considered calibrated if the projected virtual world scale is similar to the real-world scale, meaning that a virtual object will maintain its perceived dimensions when projected to the real world. Also, the input system is calibrated if the application knows the relative position of a point in the projection plane and the RGB-depth sensor origin point. Any kind of projection technology can be used, light-based projectors, close-range projectors, and screens, as long as it complies with the defined constraints; the method was tested on different configurations. The proposed procedure does not rely on a physical marker, minimizing the human intervention on the process. The tests are made using a Kinect V2 as an input sensor and several projection devices. In order to test the method, the constraints defined were applied to a variety of physical configurations; once the method was executed, some variables were obtained to measure the method performance. It was demonstrated that the method obtained can solve different arrangements, giving the user a wide range of setup possibilities.

Keywords: Color depth sensor, human computer interface, interactive surface, spatial augmented reality.

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Authors: Shih-Wen Hsiao, Yi-Cheng Tsao

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In the field of reverse engineering and creative industries, applying 3D scanning process to obtain geometric forms of the objects is a mature and common technique. For instance, organic objects such as faces and nonorganic objects such as products could be scanned to acquire the geometric information for further application. However, although the data resolution of 3D scanning device is increasing and there are more and more abundant complementary applications, the penetration rate of 3D scanning for the public is still limited by the relative high price of the devices. On the other hand, Kinect, released by Microsoft, is known for its powerful functions, considerably low price, and complete technology and database support. Therefore, related studies can be done with the applying of Kinect under acceptable cost and data precision. Due to the fact that Kinect utilizes optical mechanism to extracting depth information, limitations are found due to the reason of the straight path of the light. Thus, various angles are required sequentially to obtain the complete 3D information of the object when applying a single Kinect for 3D scanning. The integration process which combines the 3D data from different angles by certain algorithms is also required. This sequential scanning process costs much time and the complex integration process often encounter some technical problems. Therefore, this paper aimed to apply multiple Kinects simultaneously on the field of developing a rapid 3D mannequin scan platform and proposed suggestions on the number and angles of Kinects. In the content, a method of establishing the coordination based on the relation between mannequin and the specifications of Kinect is proposed, and a suggestion of angles and number of Kinects is also described. An experiment of applying multiple Kinect on the scanning of 3D mannequin is constructed by Microsoft API, and the results show that the time required for scanning and technical threshold can be reduced in the industries of fashion and garment design.

Keywords: 3D scan, depth sensor, fashion and garment design, mannequin, multiple kinect sensor.

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Authors: Tomislav Stambolic, Anton Causevski

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The deficit of power for electricity demand reaches almost 30% for consumers in the last few years. This reflects with continually increasing the price of electricity, and today the price for small industry is almost 110Euro/MWh. The high price is additional problem for the owners in the economy crisis which is reflected with higher price of the goods. The paper gives analyses of the energy needs for real agro complex in Macedonia, private vinery with capacity of over 2 million liters in a year and with self grapes and fruits fields. The existing power supply is from grid with 10/04 kV transformer. The geographical and meteorological condition of the vinery location gives opportunity for including renewable as a power supply option for the vinery complex. After observation of the monthly energy needs for the vinery, the base scenario is the existing power supply from the distribution grid. The electricity bill in small industry has three factors: electricity in high and low tariffs in kWh and the power engaged for the technological process of production in kW. These three factors make the total electricity bill and it is over 110 Euro/MWh which is the price near competitive for renewable option. On the other side investments in renewable (especially photovoltaic (PV)) has tendency of decreasing with price of near 1,5 Euro/W. This means that renewable with PV can be real option for power supply for small industry capacities (under 500kW installed power). Therefore, the other scenarios give the option with PV and the last one includes wind option. The paper presents some scenarios for power supply of the vinery as the followings: • Base scenario of existing conventional power supply from the grid • Scenario with implementation of renewable of Photovoltaic • Scenario with implementation of renewable of Photovoltaic and Wind power The total power installed in a vinery is near 570 kW, but the maximum needs are around 250kW. At the end of the full paper some of the results from scenarios will be presented. The paper also includes the environmental impacts of the renewable scenarios, as well as financial needs for investments and revenues from renewable.

Keywords: Energy, Power Supply, Renewable, Efficiency.

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Authors: Madiha El Awamie, Catherine Rees

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Natural preservatives have been used as alternatives to traditional chemical preservatives; however, a limited number have been commercially developed and many remain to be investigated as sources of safer and effective antimicrobials. In this study, we have been investigating the antimicrobial activity of an extract of Glycyrrhiza glabra (liquorice) that was provided as a waste material from the production of liquorice flavourings for the food industry, and to investigate if this retained the expected antimicrobial activity so it could be used as a natural preservative. Antibacterial activity of liquorice extract was screened for evidence of growth inhibition against eight species of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, including Listeria monocytogenes, Listeria innocua, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis and Bacillus subtilis. The Gram-negative bacteria tested include Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium but none of these were affected by the extract. In contrast, for all of the Gram-positive bacteria tested, growth was inhibited as monitored using optical density. However parallel studies using viable count indicated that the cells were not killed meaning that the extract was bacteriostatic rather than bacteriocidal. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration [MIC] and Minimum Bactericidal Concentration [MBC] of the extract was also determined and a concentration of 50 µg ml^-1 was found to have a strong bacteriostatic effect on Gram-positive bacteria. Microscopic analysis indicated that there were changes in cell shape suggesting the cell wall was affected. In addition, the use of a reporter strain of Listeria transformed with the bioluminescence genes luxABCDE indicated that cell energy levels were reduced when treated with either 12.5 or 50 µg ml^-1 of the extract, with the reduction in light output being proportional to the concentration of the extract used. Together these results suggest that the extract is inhibiting the growth of Gram-positive bacteria only by damaging the cell wall and/or membrane.

Keywords: Antibacterial activity, bioluminescence, Glycyrrhiza glabra, natural preservative.

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Authors: Srinivasan Chandrasekaran, Shihas A. Khader

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Motion response of floating structures is of great concern in marine engineering. Nonlinearity is an inherent property of any floating bodies subjected to irregular waves. These floating structures are continuously subjected to environmental loadings from wave, current, wind etc. This can result in undesirable motions of the vessel which may challenge the operability. For a floating body to remain in its position, it should be able to induce a restoring force when displaced. Mooring is provided to enable this restoring force. This paper discusses the hydrodynamic performance and motion characteristics of an 8 point spread mooring system applied to a pipe laying barge operating in the West African sea. The modelling of the barge is done using a computer aided-design (CAD) software RHINOCEROS. Irregular waves are generated using a suitable wave spectrum. Both frequency domain and time domain analysis is done. Numerical simulations based on potential theory are carried out to find the responses and hydrodynamic performance of the barge in both free floating as well as moored conditions. Initially, potential flow frequency domain analysis is done to obtain the Response Amplitude Operator (RAO) which gives an idea about the structural motion in free floating state. RAOs for different wave headings are analyzed. In the following step, a time domain analysis is carried out to obtain the responses of the structure in the moored condition. In this study, wave induced motions are only taken into consideration. Wind and current loads are ruled out and shall be included in further studies. For the current study, 2000 seconds simulation is taken. The results represent wave induced motion responses, mooring line tensions and identify critical mooring lines.

Keywords: Irregular wave, moored barge, time domain analysis, numerical simulation.

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Authors: Kulaya Wimolwat, Panlop Chakravitthamrong, Neti Waranuch

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Background: Seborrheic dermatitis is a common chronic skin condition affecting the face, scalp, chest, and trunk. The cause of seborrheic dermatitis is still unknown. Sebum production, lipid composition, hormone levels, and Malassezia species have been suggested as important factors in the development of seborrheic dermatitis. Curcuma aeruginosa Roxb. extract-containing cream with anti-inflammatory and anti-androgenic properties may be beneficial for treating mild to moderate facial seborrheic dermatitis. Objectives: We evaluated the efficacy and safety of 2% C. aeruginosa Roxb. extract-containing cream in the treatment of mild to moderate seborrheic dermatitis. Methods: This was a prospective, open-label, and non-comparative study. Ten adult patients clinically diagnosed with mild to moderate seborrheic dermatitis were enrolled in a four-week study. The 2% C. aeruginosa Roxb. cream was applied twice daily to a lesional area on the face for four weeks. The Scoring Index (SI) ranking system on days 14 and 28 was compared with that at baseline to determine the efficacy of treatment. The adverse events (burning sensation and erythema) were evaluated on days 14 and 28 to determine the safety of the treatment. Results: Significant improvement was observed in the reduction of the mean SI at day 14 (2.9) and 28 (1.4) compared to that at baseline (4.9). An adverse reaction was observed on day 14 (mild erythema 20% and mild burning sensation 10%) and was resolved by the end of the study. Conclusion: This open-label pilot study has shown that there was a significant improvement in the severity in these seborrheic patients and most reported they were satisfied with it. Reported adverse events were all mild.

Keywords: Anti-androgenic, antifungals, anti-inflammatory, Curcuma aeruginosa, seborrheic dermatitis, efficacy, safety.

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Authors: Tarunjit S. Butalia, William E. Wolfe

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This study demonstrates the use of Class F fly ash in combination with lime or lime kiln dust in the full depth reclamation (FDR) of asphalt pavements. FDR, in the context of this paper, is a process of pulverizing a predetermined amount of flexible pavement that is structurally deficient, blending it with chemical additives and water, and compacting it in place to construct a new stabilized base course. Test sections of two structurally deficient asphalt pavements were reclaimed using Class F fly ash in combination with lime and lime kiln dust. In addition, control sections were constructed using cement, cement and emulsion, lime kiln dust and emulsion, and mill and fill. The service performance and structural behavior of the FDR pavement test sections were monitored to determine how the fly ash sections compared to other more traditional pavement rehabilitation techniques. Service performance and structural behavior were determined with the use of sensors embedded in the road and Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) tests. Monitoring results of the FWD tests conducted up to 2 years after reclamation show that the cement, fly ash+LKD, and fly ash+lime sections exhibited two year resilient modulus values comparable to open graded cement stabilized aggregates (more than 750 ksi). The cement treatment resulted in a significant increase in resilient modulus within 3 weeks of construction and beyond this curing time, the stiffness increase was slow. On the other hand, the fly ash+LKD and fly ash+lime test sections indicated slower shorter-term increase in stiffness. The fly ash+LKD and fly ash+lime section average resilient modulus values at two years after construction were in excess of 800 ksi. Additional longer-term testing data will be available from ongoing pavement performance and environmental condition data collection at the two pavement sites.

Keywords: Coal fly ash, full depth reclamation, FWD, pavement rehabilitation

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Authors: D. Woradechjumroen, H. Li, Y. Yu

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Supermarkets are the most electricity-intensive type of commercial buildings. The unsuitable indoor environment of a supermarket provided by abnormal HVAC operations incurs waste energy consumption in refrigeration systems. This current study briefly describes significantly solid backgrounds and proposes easyto- use analysis terminology for investigating the impact of HVAC operations on refrigeration power consumption using the field-test data obtained from building automation system (BAS). With solid backgrounds and prior knowledge, expected energy interactions between HVAC and refrigeration systems are proposed through Pearson’s correlation analysis (R value) by considering correlations between equipment power consumption and dominantly independent variables (driving force conditions).The R value can be conveniently utilized to evaluate how strong relations between equipment operations and driving force parameters are. The calculated R values obtained from field data are compared to expected ranges of R values computed by energy interaction methodology. The comparisons can separate the operational conditions of equipment into faulty and normal conditions. This analysis can simply investigate the condition of equipment operations or building sensors because equipment could be abnormal conditions due to routine operations or faulty commissioning processes in field tests. With systematically solid and easy-to-use backgrounds of interactions provided in the present article, the procedures can be utilized as a tool to evaluate the proper commissioning and routine operations of HVAC and refrigeration systems to detect simple faults (e.g. sensors and driving force environment of refrigeration systems and equipment set-point) and optimize power consumption in supermarket buildings. Moreover, the analysis will be used to further study the FDD research for supermarkets in future.

Keywords: Energy interaction, HVAC, R-value, Supermarket buildings.

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Authors: Mohammed Sani Abdulai

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Public sector budgeting, all over the world, is underpinned by some universally accepted principles of sound budget management such as budget unity, universality, annuality, and a balanced budget. These traditional principles, though fundamental, had, in recent years, been augmented by the more modern principles of budgeting within fiscal objective, alignment with medium-term strategic plans as well as the observance of such related concepts as transparency, openness and accessibility. In this paper, we have endeavored to shed light, from literature and practice, on the meaning and purposes of such fundamental budgeting principles. We have also assessed the extent to which the Government of Ghana’s budget complies with the four traditional principles of budget unity, universality, annuality, and a balanced budget and the three out of the ten modern principles of budgetary governance of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). We did so by using a qualitative method of review and analysis of existing documents and the performance assessment reports on Ghana’s Public Financial Management (PFM) measured using such frameworks as the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA), the Open Budget Survey (OBS) and its Index (OBI), the reports and action plans of Open Government Partnership (OGP) and the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency (GIFT). Other performance assessment reports that were relied on included, but not limited to, the Joint Evaluation Report of PFM in Ghana, 2001-2010, and the Joint Evaluation of Budget Support to Ghana, 2005-2015. We have, through this paper, brought to the fore the lessons that could be learned on how those budgetary principles undergird the Government of Ghana’s budget formulation, execution, accounting, control, and oversight. These lessons include, but are not limited to, the need for both scholars and practitioners in the PFM space to be aware of the impact of those principles on public sector budgeting.

Keywords: Annulaity, Balanced Budget, Budget Unity, Budgetary Principles, OECD’s Principles on Budgetary Governance, Open Budget Index, Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability, Universality.

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Authors: F. Lops, G. Disciglio, A. Carlucci, G. Gatta, L. Frabboni, A. Tarantino, E. Tarantino

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Phelipanche ramosa L. Pomel is a root holoparasitic weed plant of many cultivations, particularly of tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum L.) crop. In Italy, Phelipanche problem is increasing, both in density and in acreage. The biological control of this parasitic weed involves the use of living organisms as numerous fungi and bacteria that can infect the parasitic weed, while it may improve the crop growth. This paper deals with the biocontrol with microorganism, including Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and fungal pathogens as Fusarium oxisporum spp. Colonization of crop roots by AM fungi can provide protection of crops against parasitic weeds because of a reduction in their seed germination and attachment, while F. oxisporum, isolated from diseased broomrape tubercles, proved to be highly virulent on P. ramosa. The experimental trial was carried out in open field at Foggia province (Apulia Region, Southern Italy), during the spring-summer season 2016, in order to evaluate the effect of four biological treatments: AM fungi and Fusarium oxisporum applied in the soil alone or combined together, and Rizosum Max^® product, compared with the untreated control, to reduce the P. ramosa infestation in processing tomato crop. The principal results to be drawn from this study under field condition, in contrast of those reported previously under laboratory and greenhouse conditions, show that both AM fungi and F. oxisporum do not provide the reduction of the number of emerged shoots of P. ramosa. This can arise probably from the low efficacy seedling of the agent pathogens for the control of this parasite in the field. On the contrary, the Rizosum Max^® product, containing AM fungi and some rizophere bacteria combined with several minerals and organic substances, appears to be most effective for the reduction of P. ramosa infestation.

Keywords: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, biocontrol methods, Phelipanche ramosa, F. oxisporum spp.

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Authors: P. Mukhopadhyay, N. C. Dey

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Occupational health hazard is a very common term in every emerging country. Along with the unorganized sector, most organized sectors including government industries are suffering from this affliction. In addition to workload, the seasonal changes also have some impacts on working environment. With this focus in mind, one hundred male industrial workers, who are directly involved to the task of Periodic Overhauling (POH) in a fabricating workshop in the public domain are selected for this research work. They have been studied during work periods throughout different seasons in a year. For each and every season, the participants working heart rate (WHR) is measured and compared with the standards given by different national and internationally recognized agencies i.e., World Health Organization (WHO) and American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) etc. The different environmental parameters i.e. dry bulb temperature (DBT), wet bulb temperature (WBT), globe temperature (GT), natural wet bulb temperature (NWB), relative humidity (RH), wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), air velocity (AV), effective temperature (ET) are recorded throughout the seasons to critically observe the effect of seasonal changes on the WHR of the workers. The effect of changes in environment to the WHR of the workers is very much surprising. It is found that the percentages of workers who belong to the ‘very heavy’ workload category are 83.33%, 66.66% and 16.66% in the summer, rainy and winter seasons, respectively. Ongoing undertaking of this type of job profile forces the worker towards occupational disorders causing absenteeism. This occurrence results in lower production rates, and on the other hand, costs due to medical claims also weaken the industry’s economic condition. In this circumstance, the authors are trying to focus on some remedial measures from the ergonomic angle by proposing a new work/ rest regimen and introducing engineering controls along with management controls which may help the worker, and consequently, the management also.

Keywords: Environmental changes, industrial worker, working heart rate, workload, occupational health hazard.

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Authors: Marko Spasojevic, Ying Hei Chui, Yuxiang Chen

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Increasing the level of exterior insulation in residential buildings is a popular way for improving the thermal characteristic of building enclosure and reducing heat loss. However, the layout and properties of materials composing the wall have a great effect on moisture accumulation within the wall cavity, long-term durability of a wall as well as the structural performance. A one-dimensional hygrothermal modeling has been performed to investigate moisture condensation risks and the drying capacity of standard 2×4 and 2×6 light wood-frame wall assemblies including exterior low-permeance extruded polystyrene (XPS) insulation. The analysis considered two different wall configurations whereby the rigid insulation board was placed either between Oriented Strand Board (OSB) sheathing and the stud or outboard to the structural sheathing. The thickness of the insulation varied between 0 mm and 50 mm and the analysis has been conducted for eight different locations in Canada, covering climate zone 4 through zone 8. Results show that the wall configuration with low-permeance insulation inserted between the stud and OSB sheathing accumulates more moisture within the stud cavity, compared to the assembly with the same insulation placed exterior to the sheathing. On the other hand, OSB moisture contents of the latter configuration were markedly higher. Consequently, the analysis of hygrothermal performance investigated and compared moisture accumulation in both the OSB and stud cavity. To investigate the structural performance of the wall and the effect of soft insulation layer inserted between the sheathing and framing, forty nail connection specimens were tested. Results have shown that both the connection strength and stiffness experience a significant reduction as the insulation thickness increases. These results will be compared with results from a full-scale shear wall tests in order to investigate if the capacity of shear walls with insulated sheathing would experience a similar reduction in structural capacities.

Keywords: Hygrothermal analysis, insulated sheathing, moisture performance, nail joints, wood shear wall.

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Authors: M. Uysal, M. Yilmaz, I. Tiryakioğlu

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Digital Terrain Model (DTM) is a digital numerical representation of the Earth's surface. DTMs have been applied to a diverse field of tasks, such as urban planning, military, glacier mapping, disaster management. In the expression of the Earth' surface as a mathematical model, an infinite number of point measurements are needed. Because of the impossibility of this case, the points at regular intervals are measured to characterize the Earth's surface and DTM of the Earth is generated. Hitherto, the classical measurement techniques and photogrammetry method have widespread use in the construction of DTM. At present, RADAR, LiDAR, and stereo satellite images are also used for the construction of DTM. In recent years, especially because of its superiorities, Airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) has an increased use in DTM applications. A 3D point cloud is created with LiDAR technology by obtaining numerous point data. However recently, by the development in image mapping methods, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for photogrammetric data acquisition has increased DTM generation from image-based point cloud. The accuracy of the DTM depends on various factors such as data collection method, the distribution of elevation points, the point density, properties of the surface and interpolation methods. In this study, the random data reduction method is compared for DTMs generated from image based point cloud data. The original image based point cloud data set (100%) is reduced to a series of subsets by using random algorithm, representing the 75, 50, 25 and 5% of the original image based point cloud data set. Over the ANS campus of Afyon Kocatepe University as the test area, DTM constructed from the original image based point cloud data set is compared with DTMs interpolated from reduced data sets by Kriging interpolation method. The results show that the random data reduction method can be used to reduce the image based point cloud datasets to 50% density level while still maintaining the quality of DTM.

Keywords: DTM, unmanned aerial vehicle, UAV, random, Kriging.

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Authors: Abdelhalim. N. Mohammed, Mohammed. Y. Esmail

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In the course of recent decades, medical imaging has been dominated by the use of costly film media for review and archival of medical investigation, however due to developments in networks technologies and common acceptance of a standard digital imaging and communication in medicine (DICOM) another approach in light of World Wide Web was produced. Web technologies successfully used in telemedicine applications, the combination of web technologies together with DICOM used to design a web-based and open source DICOM viewer. The Web server allowance to inquiry and recovery of images and the images viewed/manipulated inside a Web browser without need for any preinstalling software. The dynamic site page for medical images visualization and processing created by using JavaScript and HTML5 advancements. The XAMPP ‘apache server’ is used to create a local web server for testing and deployment of the dynamic site. The web-based viewer connected to multiples devices through local area network (LAN) to distribute the images inside healthcare facilities. The system offers a few focal points over ordinary picture archiving and communication systems (PACS): easy to introduce, maintain and independently platforms that allow images to display and manipulated efficiently, the system also user-friendly and easy to integrate with an existing system that have already been making use of web technologies. The wavelet-based image compression technique on which 2-D discrete wavelet transform used to decompose the image then wavelet coefficients are transmitted by entropy encoding after threshold to decrease transmission time, stockpiling cost and capacity. The performance of compression was estimated by using images quality metrics such as mean square error ‘MSE’, peak signal to noise ratio ‘PSNR’ and compression ratio ‘CR’ that achieved (83.86%) when ‘coif3’ wavelet filter is used.

Keywords: DICOM, discrete wavelet transform, PACS, HIS, LAN.

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Authors: Tamara Tallman

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Collaboration is a powerful tool for professional development and central for creating opportunities for teachers to reflect on their practice. However, school districts continue to have difficulty both implementing and sustaining collaboration. The purpose of this research was to investigate the experience of the teacher in a creative, instructional collaboration. The teachers in this study found that teacher-initiated collaboration offered them trust and they were more open with their partners. An interpretative phenomenological analysis was used for this study as it told the story of the teacher’s experience. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was chosen for this study to capture the complex and contextual nature of the teacher experience from a creative, instructional collaborative experience. This study sought to answer the question of how teachers in a private, faith-based school experience collaboration. In particular, the researcher engaged the study’s participants in interviews where they shared their unique perspectives on their experiences in relation to this phenomenon. Through the use of interpretative phenomenological analysis, the researcher interpreted the experiences of each participant in an attempt to gain deeper insight into how teachers made sense of their understanding of collaboration. In addition to the researcher’s interpreting the meaning of this construct for each research participant, this study gave a voice to the individual experiences and positionality of each participant at the research site. Moreover, the key findings presented in this study shed light on how teachers within this particular context participated in and made sense of their experience of creating an instructional collaborative. The research presented the findings that speak to the meaning that each research participant experienced in their relation to participating in building a collaborative culture and its effect on professional and personal growth. The researcher provided recommendations for future practice and research possibilities. The research findings demonstrated the unique experiences of each participant as well as a connection to the literature within the field of teacher professional development. The results also supported the claim that teacher collaboration can facilitate school reform. Participating teachers felt less isolation and developed more teacher knowledge.

Keywords: Collaboration, professional development, teacher, growth.

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Authors: J. Urbánek Jiří, Krahulec Josef, Johanidesová Jitka, F. Urbánek Jiří

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This paper deals with using of prevailing operation system MS Office (SmartArt...) for mathematical models, using DYVELOP (Dynamic Vector Logistics of Processes) method. It serves for crisis situations investigation and modelling within the organizations of critical infrastructure. In first part of paper, it will be introduced entities, operators, and actors of DYVELOP method. It uses just three operators of Boolean algebra and four types of the entities: the Environments, the Process Systems, the Cases, and the Controlling. The Process Systems (PrS) have five “brothers”: Management PrS, Transformation PrS, Logistic PrS, Event PrS and Operation PrS. The Cases have three “sisters”: Process Cell Case, Use Case, and Activity Case. They all need for the controlling of their functions special Ctrl actors, except ENV – it can do without Ctrl. Model´s maps are named the Blazons and they are able mathematically - graphically express the relationships among entities, actors and processes. In second part of this paper, the rich blazons of DYVELOP method will be used for the discovering and modelling of the cycling cases and their phases. The blazons need live PowerPoint presentation for better comprehension of this paper mission. The crisis management of energetic crisis infrastructure organization is obliged to use the cycles for successful coping of crisis situations. Several times cycling of these cases is necessary condition for the encompassment for both emergency events and the mitigation of organization´s damages. Uninterrupted and continuous cycling process brings for crisis management fruitfulness and it is good indicator and controlling actor of organizational continuity and its sustainable development advanced possibilities. The research reliable rules are derived for the safety and reliable continuity of energetic critical infrastructure organization in the crisis situation.

Keywords: Blazons, computational assistance, DYVELOP method, critical infrastructure.

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Authors: Jatindra N. Bhakta, Kouhei Ohnishi, Yukihiro Munekage, Kozo Iwasaki

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The growing health hazardous impact of arsenic (As) contamination in environment is the impetus of the present investigation. Application of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) for the removal of toxic and heavy metals from water has been reported. This study was performed in order to isolate and characterize the Asresistant LAB from mud and sludge samples for using as efficient As uptaking probiotic. Isolation of As-resistant LAB colonies was performed by spread plate technique using bromocresol purple impregnated-MRS (BP-MRS) agar media provided with As @ 50 μg/ml. Isolated LAB were employed for probiotic characterization process, acid and bile tolerance, lactic acid production, antibacterial activity and antibiotic tolerance assays. After As-resistant and removal characterizations, the LAB were identified using 16S rDNA sequencing. A total of 103 isolates were identified as As-resistant strains of LAB. The survival of 6 strains (As99-1, As100-2, As101-3, As102-4, As105-7, and As112-9) was found after passing through the sequential probiotic characterizations. Resistant pattern pronounced hollow zones at As concentration >2000 μg/ml in As99-1, As100-2, and As101-3 LAB strains, whereas it was found at ~1000 μg/ml in rest 3 strains. Among 6 strains, the As uptake efficiency of As102-4 (0.006 μg/h/mg wet weight of cell) was higher (17 – 209%) compared to remaining LAB. 16S rDNA sequencing data of 3 (As99- 1, As100-2, and As101-3) and 3 (As102-4, As105-7, and As112-9) LAB strains clearly showed 97 to 99% (340 bp) homology to Pediococcus dextrinicus and Pediococcus acidilactici, respectively. Though, there was no correlation between the metal resistant and removal efficiency of LAB examined but identified elevated As removing LAB would probably be a potential As uptaking probiotic agent. Since present experiment concerned with only As removal from pure water, As removal and removal mechanism in natural condition of intestinal milieu should be assessed in future studies.

Keywords: Lactic acid bacteria, As-resistant, characterization, Pediococcus sp., As removal probiotic.

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