Search results for: water quality indicators.

Authors: Chih Chin Yang

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In this paper, the relationship between learning motivation and learning performance is explored by using exchange theory. The relationship is concluded that external performance can raise learning motivation and then increase learning performance. The internal performance should be not completely neglected and the external performance should be not attached important excessively. The parents need self-study and must be also reeducated. The existing education must be improved in raise of internal performance. The incorrect learning thinking will mislead the students, parents, and educators of next generation, when the students obtain good learning performance in the learning environment with excess stimulants. Over operation of external performance will result abnormal learning thinking and violating learning goal. Learning is not only to obtain performance. Learning quality and learning performance will be limited as without learning motivation. The best learning motivation is, the best learning performance is. The learning for reward is not good for learning performance. Strategies of promoting life-long learning are including the encouraging for learner, establishment of good interaction learning environment, and the advertisement of the merit and the importance of life-long learning, which can let the learner with the correct learning motivation.

Keywords: exchange theory, learning motivation, learning performance, learning quality

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Authors: Jitlada Chumee

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Low silica type X (LSX) Zeolite is one of useful material in many manufacturing due to the advantage properties including high surface area, stability, microporous crystalline aluminosilicates and positive ion in an extra–framework. The LSX was used rice husk silica source which obtained by leaching with hydrochloric acid and calcination at 500C. To improve the synthesis method, the LSX was crystallizated in Teflon–lined autoclave will expedite deceasing of the amorphous particles. The mixed gel with composition of 5.5 Na2O : 1.65 K2O : Al2O3 : 2.2 SiO2 : 122 H2O was crystallized in different container (Polypropylene bottom and Teflon–lined autoclave). The obtained powder was characterized by X–ray diffraction (XRD), X–ray fluorescence spectrometry, N2 adsorption-desorption analysis BET surface area Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to justify the quality of zeolite. The results showed the crystallized zeolite in Teflon lined autoclave has 102.8 nm of crystal size, 286 m2/g of surface area and fewer amounts of round amorphous particles when compared with the crystallized zeolite in Polypropylene.

Keywords: LSX Zeolite, rice husk and crystallized container.

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Authors: Naser Valipour Motlagh, Majid Aliabadi, Elnaz Rahmani, Samira Ghorbanpour

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Strawberry is one of the most favored fruits all along the world. But due to its vulnerability to microbial contamination and short life storage, there are lots of problems in industrial production and transportation of this fruit. Therefore, lots of ideas have tried to increase the storage life of strawberries especially through proper packaging. This paper works on efficient packaging as well. The primary material used is produced through simple mixing of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and silver nanoparticles in different weight fractions of 0.5 and 1% in presence of dicumyl peroxide as a cross-linking agent. Final packages were made in a twin-screw extruder. Then, their effect on the quality maintenance of strawberry is evaluated. The SEM images of nano-silver packages show the distribution of silver nanoparticles in the packages. Total bacteria count, mold, yeast and E. coli are measured for microbial evaluation of all samples. Texture, color, appearance, odor, taste and total acceptance of various samples are evaluated by trained panelists and based on 9-point hedonic scale method. The results show a decrease in total bacteria count and mold in nano-silver packages compared to the samples packed in polyethylene packages for the same storage time. The optimum concentration of silver nanoparticles for the lowest bacteria count and mold is predicted to be around 0.5% which has attained the most acceptance from the panelist as well. Moreover, organoleptic properties of strawberry are preserved for a longer period in nano-silver packages. It can be concluded that using nano-silver particles in strawberry packages has improved the storage life and quality maintenance of the fruit.

Keywords: Antimicrobial properties, polyethylene, silver nanoparticles, strawberry.

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Authors: Antigoni Panagiotopoulou, Lemonia Ragia

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High-resolution satellite images can provide detailed information about change detection on the earth. In the present work, QuickBird images of spatial resolution 60 cm/pixel and WorldView images of resolution 30 cm/pixel are utilized to perform automatic change detection in urban and suburban areas of Crete, Greece. There is a relative time difference of 13 years among the satellite images. Multiindex scene representation is applied on the images to classify the scene into buildings, vegetation, water and ground. Then, automatic change detection is made possible by pixel-per-pixel comparison of the classified multi-temporal images. The vegetation index and the water index which have been developed in this study prove effective. Furthermore, the proposed change detection approach not only indicates whether changes have taken place or not but also provides specific information relative to the types of changes. Experimentations with other different scenes in the future could help optimize the proposed spectral indices as well as the entire change detection methodology.

Keywords: Change detection, multiindex scene representation, spectral index, QuickBird, WorldView.

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Authors: Renzo Carta, Mario Cruccu, Francesco Desogus

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This work presents the experimental results obtained at a pilot plant which works with a slow, wet and catalytic pyrolysis process of dry fowl manure. This kind of process mainly consists in the cracking of the organic matrix and in the following reaction of carbon with water, which is either already contained in the organic feed or added, to produce carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Reactions are conducted in a rotating reactor maintained at a temperature of 500°C; the required amount of water is about 30% of the dry organic feed. This operation yields a gas containing about 59% (on a volume basis) of hydrogen, 17% of carbon monoxide and other products such as light hydrocarbons (methane, ethane, propane) and carbon monoxide in lesser amounts. The gas coming from the reactor can be used to produce not only electricity, through internal combustion engines, but also heat, through direct combustion in industrial boilers. Furthermore, as the produced gas is devoid of both solid particles and pollutant species (such as dioxins and furans), the process (in this case applied to fowl manure) can be considered as an optimal way for the disposal and the contemporary energetic valorization of organic materials, in such a way that is not damaging to the environment.

Keywords: Brushwood, fowl manure, kenaf, pilot plant, pyrolysis, pyrolysis gas.

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Authors: Shu-Ning Liou

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The main purpose of this study was to establish Professional Competency Contents for International Marketer in Taiwan. To establish these contents a set of interviews with international marketing managers and three rounds of Delphi Technique surveys were employed. Five international marketing managers were interviewed for discussions on definitions, framework, and items of international marketing competency. A questionnaire for the " Delphi Technique Survey " was developed based on the results acquired from the interviews. The resulting questionnaire was distributed to another group of 30 international marketer of trading companies in Taiwan. After three rounds of Delphi Technique Survey with these participants, the "Contents of Professional Competency for International Marketer " was established. Five dimensions and thirty indicators were identified. It is hoped that the proposed contents could be served as a self-evaluation tool for international marketer as well as the basis for staffing and training programs for international marketer in Taiwan.

Keywords: Professional competency, International marketer, Delphi technique

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Authors: Josephine S. Larkings, Patricia M. Brown

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Mental health professionals views about mental illness is an important issue which has not received enough attention. The negative stigma associated with mental illness can have many negative consequences. Unfortunately, health professionals working with the mentally ill can also exhibit stigma. It has been suggested that causal explanations or beliefs around the causes of mental illness may influence stigma. This study aims to gain a greater insight into stigma through examining stigma among potential mental health professionals. Firstly, results found that potential mental health professionals had relatively low social distance t(205) = -3.62, p <.001. Secondly, an ANOVA indicated that the participants endorsed some causal beliefs more than others, F(1.82, 311.55) = 88.47, p < .001, partial n2 = .34. Moreover, participants endorsed the biological causal explanation the most. Thirdly, results indicated that combined contact (quality and quantity) and causal beliefs (biological, psychological, and environmental) explained a significant proportion of the variance in stigma, R2 = .35, adjusted R2 = .33, F(5, 153) = 16.66, p < .001. Quality of contact was the strongest predictor, with greater quality of contact associated with lower desired social distance. Also, quantity of contact, psychological and environmental causal explanations were also significant predictors of stigma. Greater quantity of contact and higher levels of environmental causal beliefs were associated with lower levels of stigma while psychological causal explanations were associated with higher levels of stigma. A series of multiple regression analyses were conducted that showed the three causal beliefs had different impacts on four factors of stigma (Authoritarian, Benevolence, Social restrictiveness, and Community mental health ideology). These analyses showed that psychological causal beliefs had the most positive impact. More research is required on this topic as it has important implications to the treatment and recovery for people suffering from mental illness.

Keywords: Causal beliefs, contact, health professionals, mental illness stigma, social distance.

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Authors: Salma Parvin, M. A. Alim

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The convective and radiative heat transfer performance and entropy generation on forced convection through a direct absorption solar collector (DASC) is investigated numerically. Four different fluids, including Cu-water nanofluid, Al₂O₃-waternanofluid, TiO₂-waternanofluid, and pure water are used as the working fluid. Entropy production has been taken into account in addition to the collector efficiency and heat transfer enhancement. Penalty finite element method with Galerkin’s weighted residual technique is used to solve the governing non-linear partial differential equations. Numerical simulations are performed for the variation of mass flow rate. The outcomes are presented in the form of isotherms, average output temperature, the average Nusselt number, collector efficiency, average entropy generation, and Bejan number. The results present that the rate of heat transfer and collector efficiency enhance significantly for raising the values of m up to a certain range.

Keywords: DASC, forced convection, mass flow rate, nanofluid.

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Authors: Ming-Hsiung Wu, Yu-Hsi Yuan

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The aim of the research is to understand whether the accuracy of customer detection of employee emotional labor strategy would influence the overall service satisfaction. From path analysis, it was found that employee-s positive emotions positively influenced service quality. Service quality in turn influenced Customer detection of employee emotional deep action strategy and Customer detection of employee emotional surface action strategy. Lastly, Customer detection of employee emotional deep action strategy and Customer detection of employee emotional surface action strategy positively influenced service satisfaction. Based on the analysis results, suggestions are proposed to provide reference for human resource management and use in relative fields.

Keywords: Emotional labor, Emotional deep action strategy, Emotional surface action strategy, Service satisfaction

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Authors: Yu-Min Chang, Kuo-Sheng Tsai, Hung-Te Tsai, Chia-Hsin Li

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This paper presents the early-warning lights classification management system for industrial parks promoted by the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) since 2011, including the definition of each early-warning light, objectives, action program and accomplishments. All of the 151 industrial parks in Taiwan were classified into four early-warning lights, including red, orange, yellow and green, for carrying out respective pollution management according to the monitoring data of soil and groundwater quality, regulatory compliance, and regulatory listing of control site or remediation site. The Taiwan EPA set up a priority list for high potential polluted industrial parks and investigated their soil and groundwater qualities based on the results of the light classification and pollution potential assessment. In 2011-2013, there were 44 industrial parks selected and carried out different investigation, such as the early warning groundwater well networks establishment and pollution investigation/verification for the red and orange-light industrial parks and the environmental background survey for the yellow-light industrial parks. Among them, 22 industrial parks were newly or continuously confirmed that the concentrations of pollutants exceeded those in soil or groundwater pollution control standards. Thus, the further investigation, groundwater use restriction, listing of pollution control site or remediation site, and pollutant isolation measures were implemented by the local environmental protection and industry competent authorities; the early warning lights of those industrial parks were proposed to adjust up to orange or red-light. Up to the present, the preliminary positive effect of the soil and groundwater quality management system for industrial parks has been noticed in several aspects, such as environmental background information collection, early warning of pollution risk, pollution investigation and control, information integration and application, and inter-agency collaboration. Finally, the work and goal of self-initiated quality management of industrial parks will be carried out on the basis of the inter-agency collaboration by the classified lights system of early warning and management as well as the regular announcement of the status of each industrial park.

Keywords: Industrial park, soil and groundwater quality management, early-warning lights classification, SOP for reporting and treatment of monitored abnormal events.

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Authors: K. Daud, A. F. Abidin, N. Hamzah, H. S. Nagindar Singh

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This paper produces a new approach for power quality analysis using a windowing technique based on Continuous S-transform (CST). This half-cycle window technique approach can detect almost correctly for initial detection of disturbances i.e. voltage sags, swells, and transients. Samples in half cycle window has been analyzed based continuous S-transform for entire disturbance waveform. The modified parameter has been produced by MATLAB programming m-file based on continuous s-transform. CST has better time frequency and localization property than traditional and also has ability to detect the disturbance under noisy condition correctly. The excellent time-frequency resolution characteristic of the CST makes it the most an attractive candidate for analysis of power system disturbances signals.

Keywords: Power quality disturbances, initial detection, half cycle windowing, continuous S-transform.

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Authors: R. Oonsivilai, M. Oonsivilai, J. Sanguemrum, N. Thumsirirat, A. Oonsivilai

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Chaiyaphum Starch Co. Ltd. is one of many starch manufacturers that has introduced machinery to aid in manufacturing. Even though machinery has replaced many elements and is now a significant part in manufacturing processes, problems that must be solved with respect to current process flow to increase efficiency still exist. The paper-s aim is to increase productivity while maintaining desired quality of starch, by redesigning the flipping machine-s mechanical control system which has grossly low functional lifetime. Such problems stem from the mechanical control system-s bearings, as fluids and humidity can access into said bearing directly, in tandem with vibrations from the machine-s function itself. The wheel which is used to sense starch thickness occasionally falls from its shaft, due to high speed rotation during operation, while the shaft may bend from impact when processing dried bread. Redesigning its mechanical control system has increased its efficiency, allowing quality thickness measurement while increasing functional lifetime an additional 62 days.

Keywords: Control system, Machinery, Measurement, Potato starch

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Authors: Dinesh Setti, Sudarasan Ghosh, P. Venkateswara Rao

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Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL) technique obtained a significant attention in machining processes to reduce environmental loads caused by usage of conventional cutting fluids. Recently nanofluids are finding an extensive application in the field of mechanical engineering because of their superior lubrication and heat dissipation characteristics. This paper investigates the use of a nanofluid under MQL mode to improve grinding characteristics of Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Taguchi-s experimental design technique has been used in the present investigation and a second order model has been established to predict grinding forces and surface roughness. Different concentrations of water based Al2O3 nanofluids were applied in the grinding operation through MQL setup developed in house and the results have been compared with those of conventional coolant and pure water. Experimental results showed that grinding forces reduced significantly when nano cutting fluid was used even at low concentration of the nano particles and surface finish has been found to improve with higher concentration of the nano particles.

Keywords: MQL, Nanofluid, Taguchi method, Ti-6Al-4V.

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Authors: Gulmira Kenenbay, Urishbay Chomanov, Tamara Tultabayeva, Aruzhan Shoman

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Wheat germ has a balanced amino acid composition of the protein, which is well digested by enzymes in the gastrointestinal tract of humans, a high content of vitamins, minerals and unsaturated acids. Introduction components grain food products will enrich their biologically important substances, giving these products a number of valuable properties and reducing their caloric. A complex natural system of substances in foods will help replenish the body's need of essential nutrients, increasing its resistance to the harmful effects of the environment, prolong life. In this regard, there was a need for the development of production technology of protein complexes from wheat germ and then applying them in food, particularly in the dairy industry. Experimental studies were conducted to determine the number of herbal supplements on the sensory characteristics of the product. Studies have been conducted to determine the optimal process parameters of water activity and moisture content of the investigational product. 

Keywords: Wheat germ, sensory characteristics of the product, water activity.

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Authors: Camelia Iuliana Lungu, Chirața Caraiani, Cornelia Dascălu

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The business strategy of any company wanting to be competitive on the market should be designed around the concept of intangibles, with an increasingly decisive role in knowledge transfer of the biggest corporations. Advancing the research in these areas, this study integrates the two approaches, emphasizing the relationships between the components of intellectual capital and corporate social responsibility. The three dimensions of intellectual capital in terms of sustainability requirements are debated. The paper introduces the concept of sustainable intellectual capital and debates it within an assessment model designed on the base of key performance indicators. The results refer to the assessment of possible ways for including the information on intellectual capital and corporate responsibility within the corporate strategy. The conclusions enhance the need for companies to be ready to support the integration of this type of information the knowledge transfer process, in order to develop competitive advantage on the market.

Keywords: Corporate social responsibility, corporate strategy, intellectual capital, sustainability

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Authors: Sarah Reker

Abstract:

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) provides the basis of this study. For all countries which have ratified the convention since its entry into force in 2007, the effective implementation of the requirements often leads to considerable challenges. Furthermore, missing indicators make it difficult to measure progress. Therefore, the aim of the research project is to contribute to analyze the consequences of the implementation process on the inclusion and exclusion conditions for people with disabilities in Germany. Disabled People’s Organisations and other associations consider the social space to be relevant for the successful implementation of the CRPD. Against this background, the research project wants to focus on the relationship between a barrier-free access to the social space and the “full and effective participation and inclusion” (Art. 3) of persons with disabilities. The theoretical basis of the study is the sociological theory of social space (“Sozialraumtheorie”).

Keywords: Decentralisation, qualitative research, residential facilities, social space.

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Authors: Xiaodong Xu, Dan Zhao, Xiujuan Chang, Chunming Li, Huiyun Zhou, Xin Li, Qiang Shi, Shifang Luan, Jinghua Yin

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Polypropylene (PP) is one of the most commonly used plastics because of its low density, outstanding mechanical properties, and low cost. However, its drawbacks such as low surface energy, poor dyeability, lack of chemical functionalities, and poor compatibility with polar polymers and inorganic materials, have restricted the application of PP. To expand its application in biomedical materials, functionalization is considered to be the most effective way. In this study, PP was functionalized with a chiral monomer, (S)-1-acryloylpyrrolidine-2-carboxylic acid ((S)-APCA), by free-radical grafting in the solid phase. The grafting degree of PP-g-APCA was determined by chemical titration method, and the chemical structure of functionalized PP was characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, which confirmed that the chiral monomer (S)-APCA was successfully grafted onto PP. Static water contact angle results suggested that the surface hydrophilicity of PP was significantly improved by solid phase grafting and assistance of surface water treatment. Protein adsorption and platelet adhesion results showed that hemocompatibility of PP was greatly improved by grafting the chiral monomer.

Keywords: Functionalization, polypropylene, chiral monomer, hemocompatibility.

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Authors: Piyali Chaudhuri, Peter T. Martin, Aleksandar Z. Stevanovic, Chongkai Zhu

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Loop detectors report traffic characteristics in real time. They are at the core of traffic control process. Intuitively, one would expect that as density of detection increases, so would the quality of estimates derived from detector data. However, as detector deployment increases, the associated operating and maintenance cost increases. Thus, traffic agencies often need to decide where to add new detectors and which detectors should continue receiving maintenance, given their resource constraints. This paper evaluates the effect of detector spacing on freeway travel time estimation. A freeway section (Interstate-15) in Salt Lake City metropolitan region is examined. The research reveals that travel time accuracy does not necessarily deteriorate with increased detector spacing. Rather, the actual location of detectors has far greater influence on the quality of travel time estimates. The study presents an innovative computational approach that delivers optimal detector locations through a process that relies on Genetic Algorithm formulation.

Keywords: Detector, Freeway, Genetic algorithm, Travel timeestimate.

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Authors: H.M. El-Khayat, N.M. Ismail, K.M. Mahmoud, F.M. Ragb, K.M. El-Said, B. B. Mostafa, F. A. El- Deeb, A.A. Tantawy

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Seasonal survey of freshwater snails in different water courses in Egypt during two successive years included 13 snail species. They represented by Biomphalaria alexandrina, Bulinus truncatus, Physa acuta, Helisoma duryi, Lymnaea natalensis, Planorbis pantries, Cleopatra bulimoides, Lanistes carinatus, Bellamya unicolor, Melanoides tuberculata, Theodoxus niloticus, Succinia cleopatra and Valvata nilotica. B. alexandrina was most abundant during autumn and spring represented by 26and14 snails/site, respectively. B. truncatus was most abundant during winter (7.7and3.6snails/site) of the two years, respectively. L. natalensis was represented by 7snails/site in summer. The tolerance of different snail species to the chemical elements was determined seasonally and correlated to their abundance. In spring, autumn and winter, B. alexandrina was significantly found to live under the highest level of Pb, Cd,Cu, Na, K and Ca concentrations than the other species (p<0.01). Most snail species could be lived at approximately the same concentrations of Na, K and Ca during all seasons.

Keywords: chemical parameters, freshwater, snails, tolerance

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Authors: Gülfem I. Alptekin, S. Emre Alptekin

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The next generation wireless systems, especially the cognitive radio networks aim at utilizing network resources more efficiently. They share a wide range of available spectrum in an opportunistic manner. In this paper, we propose a quality management model for short-term sub-lease of unutilized spectrum bands to different service providers. We built our model on competitive secondary market architecture. To establish the necessary conditions for convergent behavior, we utilize techniques from game theory. Our proposed model is based on potential game approach that is suitable for systems with dynamic decision making. The Nash equilibrium point tells the spectrum holders the ideal price values where profit is maximized at the highest level of customer satisfaction. Our numerical results show that the price decisions of the network providers depend on the price and QoS of their own bands as well as the prices and QoS levels of their opponents- bands.

Keywords: cognitive radio networks, game theory, nextgeneration wireless networks, spectrum management.

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Authors: Afzel Noore

Abstract:

A new digital watermarking technique for images that are sensitive to blocking artifacts is presented. Experimental results show that the proposed MDCT based approach produces highly imperceptible watermarked images and is robust to attacks such as compression, noise, filtering and geometric transformations. The proposed MDCT watermarking technique is applied to fingerprints for ensuring security. The face image and demographic text data of an individual are used as multiple watermarks. An AFIS system was used to quantitatively evaluate the matching performance of the MDCT-based watermarked fingerprint. The high fingerprint matching scores show that the MDCT approach is resilient to blocking artifacts. The quality of the extracted face and extracted text images was computed using two human visual system metrics and the results show that the image quality was high.

Keywords: Digital watermarking, data hiding, modified discretecosine transformation (MDCT).

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Authors: Ali A. Sayadi, Thomas R. Neitzert, G. Charles Clifton

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Lightweight concrete is being used in the construction industry as a building material in its own right. Ultra-lightweight concrete can be applied as a filler and support material for the manufacturing of composite building materials. This paper is about the development of a stable and reproducible ultra-lightweight concrete with the inclusion of poly-lactic acid (PLA) beads and assessing the feasibility of PLA as a lightweight aggregate that will deliver advantages such as a more eco-friendly concrete and a non-petroleum polymer aggregate. In total, sixty-three samples were prepared and the effectiveness of mineral admixture, curing conditions, water-cement ratio, PLA ratio, EPS ratio and perlite ratio on compressive strength of perlite concrete are studied. The results show that PLA particles are sensitive to alkali environment of cement paste and considerably shrank and lost their strength. A higher compressive strength and a lower density was observed when expanded polystyrene (EPS) particles replaced PLA beads. In addition, a set of equations is proposed to estimate the water-cement ratio, cement content and compressive strength of perlite concrete.

Keywords: Perlite concrete, poly-lactic acid, expanded polystyrene, concrete.

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Authors: Davoud Beheshtizadeh, Farzin Malekpour

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The progress of technology and producing new machinery have made a big change in excavation operations and construction of underground structures. The limitations of space and some other economic, politic and military considerations gained the attention of most developed and developing countries towards the construction of these structures for mine, military, and development objectives. Underground highways, tunnels, subways, oil reservoir resources, fuels, nuclear wastes burying reservoir and underground stores are increasingly developing and being used in these countries. The existence and habitability of the cities depend on these underground installations or in other words these vital arteries. Stopping the flow of water, gas leakage and explosion, collapsing of sewage paths, etc., resulting from the earthquake are among the factors that can severely harm the environment and increase the casualty. Lack of sewage network and complete stoppage of the flow of water in Bam (Iran) is a good example of this kind. In this paper, we investigate the effect of wave orientation on structures and deformation of them and the effect of faulting on underground structures, and then, we study resistance of reinforced concrete against earthquake, simulate two different samples, analyze the result and point out the importance of paying attention to underground installations.

Keywords: Earthquake, underground structures, underground installations.

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Authors: Krishna Mohana Rao, G. Ravi Kumar, P. Sowmya

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This paper presents a study of the Taguchi design application to optimize surface quality in damper inserted end milling operation. Maintaining good surface quality usually involves additional manufacturing cost or loss of productivity. The Taguchi design is an efficient and effective experimental method in which a response variable can be optimized, given various factors, using fewer resources than a factorial design. This Study included spindle speed, feed rate, and depth of cut as control factors, usage of different tools in the same specification, which introduced tool condition and dimensional variability. An orthogonal array of L9(3^4)was used; ANOVA analyses were carried out to identify the significant factors affecting surface roughness, and the optimal cutting combination was determined by seeking the best surface roughness (response) and signal-to-noise ratio. Finally, confirmation tests verified that the Taguchi design was successful in optimizing milling parameters for surface roughness.

Keywords: ANOVA, Damper, End Milling, Optimization, Surface roughness, Taguchi design.

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Authors: Nikolay P. Brayanov, Anna V. Stoynova

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Model-based development approach is gaining more support and acceptance. Its higher abstraction level brings simplification of systems’ description that allows domain experts to do their best without particular knowledge in programming. The different levels of simulation support the rapid prototyping, verifying and validating the product even before it exists physically. Nowadays model-based approach is beneficial for modelling of complex embedded systems as well as a generation of code for many different hardware platforms. Moreover, it is possible to be applied in safety-relevant industries like automotive, which brings extra automation of the expensive device certification process and especially in the software qualification. Using it, some companies report about cost savings and quality improvements, but there are others claiming no major changes or even about cost increases. This publication demonstrates the level of maturity and autonomy of model-based approach for code generation. It is based on a real live automotive seat heater (ASH) module, developed using The Mathworks, Inc. tools. The model, created with Simulink, Stateflow and Matlab is used for automatic generation of C code with Embedded Coder. To prove the maturity of the process, Code generation advisor is used for automatic configuration. All additional configuration parameters are set to auto, when applicable, leaving the generation process to function autonomously. As a result of the investigation, the publication compares the quality of generated embedded code and a manually developed one. The measurements show that generally, the code generated by automatic approach is not worse than the manual one. A deeper analysis of the technical parameters enumerates the disadvantages, part of them identified as topics for our future work.

Keywords: Embedded code generation, embedded C code quality, embedded systems, model-based development.

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Authors: Aleksandre Ergeshidze

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The exchange rate is a pivotal pricing instrument that simultaneously impacts various components of the economy. Depreciation of nominal exchange rate is export promoting, which might be a desired export-led growth policy, and particularly critical to closing-down the widening current account imbalance. However, negative effects resulting from high dollarization and high share of imported intermediate inputs can outweigh positive effect. The aim of this research is to quantify impact of change in nominal exchange rate and test contractionary depreciation hypothesis on Georgian economy using structural and Bayesian vector autoregression. According to the acquired results, appreciation of nominal exchange rate is expected to decrease inflation, monetary policy rate, interest rate on domestic currency loans and economic growth in the medium run; however, impact on economic growth in the short run is statistically not significant.

Keywords: Bayesian vector autoregression, contractionary depreciation, dollarization, nominal exchange rate, structural vector autoregression.

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Authors: P.S. Prakash, S. Selvan

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IP networks are evolving from data communication infrastructure into many real-time applications such as video conferencing, IP telephony and require stringent Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. A rudimentary issue in QoS routing is to find a path between a source-destination pair that satisfies two or more endto- end constraints and termed to be NP hard or complete. In this context, we present an algorithm Multi Constraint Path Problem Version 3 (MCPv3), where all constraints are approximated and return a feasible path in much quicker time. We present another algorithm namely Delay Coerced Multi Constrained Routing (DCMCR) where coerce one constraint and approximate the remaining constraints. Our algorithm returns a feasible path, if exists, in polynomial time between a source-destination pair whose first weight satisfied by the first constraint and every other weight is bounded by remaining constraints by a predefined approximation factor (a). We present our experimental results with different topologies and network conditions.

Keywords: Routing, Quality-of-Service (QoS), additive constraints, shortest path, delay coercion.

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Authors: A. Nour Eddine, D. Chalet, L. Aixala, P. Chessé, X. Faure, N. Hatat

Abstract:

Thermal power technology such as the TEG (Thermo-Electric Generator) arouses significant attention worldwide for waste heat recovery. Despite the potential benefits of marine application due to the permanent heat sink from sea water, no significant studies on this application were to be found. In this study, a test rig has been designed and built to test the performance of the TEG on engine operating points. The TEG device is built from commercially available materials for the sake of possible economical application. Two types of commercial TEM (thermo electric module) have been studied separately on the test rig. The engine data were extracted from a commercial Diesel engine since it shares the same principle in terms of engine efficiency and exhaust with the marine Diesel engine. An open circuit water cooling system is used to replicate the sea water cold source. The characterization tests showed that the silicium-germanium alloys TEM proved a remarkable reliability on all engine operating points, with no significant deterioration of performance even under sever variation in the hot source conditions. The performance of the bismuth-telluride alloys was 100% better than the first type of TEM but it showed a deterioration in power generation when the air temperature exceeds 300 °C. The temperature distribution on the heat exchange surfaces revealed no useful combination of these two types of TEM with this tube length, since the surface temperature difference between both ends is no more than 10 °C. This study exposed the perspective of use of TEG technology for marine engine exhaust heat recovery. Although the results suggested non-sufficient power generation from the low cost commercial TEM used, it provides valuable information about TEG device optimization, including the design of heat exchanger and the types of thermo-electric materials.

Keywords: Internal combustion engine application, Seebeck, thermo-electricity, waste heat recovery.

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Authors: Ashwin Bala, K. Panthalaraja Kumaran, S. Prithviraj, R. Pradeep, J. Udhayakumar, S. Ajith

Abstract:

In this paper comprehensive studies have been carried out for the design optimization of a waste heat recovery system for effectively utilizing the domestic air conditioner heat energy for producing hot water. Numerical studies have been carried for the geometry optimization of a waste heat recovery system for domestic air conditioners. Numerical computations have been carried out using a validated 2d pressure based, unsteady, 2nd-order implicit, SST k-ω turbulence model. In the numerical study, a fully implicit finite volume scheme of the compressible, Reynolds-Averaged, Navier- Stokes equations is employed. At identical inflow and boundary conditions various geometries were tried and effort has been taken for proposing the best design criteria. Several combinations of pipe line shapes viz., straight and spiral with different number of coils for the radiator have been attempted and accordingly the design criteria has been proposed for the waste heat recovery system design. We have concluded that, within the given envelope, the geometry optimization is a meaningful objective for getting better performance of waste heat recovery system for air conditioners.

Keywords: Air-conditioning system, Energy conversion system, Hot water production from waste heat, Waste heat recovery system.

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Authors: K. Anusarn, P. Chuttrakul, M. Schmidt, T. Kangsadan, A. Pfennig

Abstract:

Liquid-liquid extraction is a process using two immiscible liquids to extract compounds from one phase without high temperature requirement. Mostly, the technical implementation of this process is carried out in mixer-settlers or extraction columns. In real chemical processes, chemicals may have high viscosity and contain impurities. These impurities may change the settling behavior of the process without measurably changing the physical properties of the phases. In the current study, the settling behavior and the affected parameters in a high-viscosity system were observed. Batchsettling experiments were performed to experimentally quantify the settling behavior and the mixer-settler model of Henschke [1] was used to evaluate the behavior of the toluene + water system. The viscosity of the system was increased by adding polyethylene glycol 4000 to the aqueous phase. NaCl and Na2SO4 were used to study the influence of electrolytes. The results from this study show that increasing the viscosity of water has a higher influence on the settling behavior in comparison to the effects of the electrolytes. It can be seen from the experiments that at high salt concentrations, there was no effect on the settling behavior.

Keywords: Coalescence; electrolytes; liquid-liquid separation; high viscosity; mixer- settler.

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