Search results for: physical development

Authors: Oksana G. Cherednichenko, Anastasia L. Pilyugina, Sergey N.Lukashenko, Elena G. Gubitskaya

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The estimation of accumulated radiation doses in people professionally exposed to ionizing radiation was performed using methods of biological (chromosomal aberrations frequency in lymphocytes) and physical (radionuclides analysis in urine, whole-body radiation meter, individual thermoluminescent dosimeters) dosimetry. A group of 84 "A" category employees after their work in the territory of former Semipalatinsk test site (Kazakhstan) was investigated. The dose rate in some funnels exceeds 40 μSv/h. After radionuclides determination in urine using radiochemical and WBC methods, it was shown that the total effective dose of personnel internal exposure did not exceed 0.2 mSv/year, while an acceptable dose limit for staff is 20 mSv/year. The range of external radiation doses measured with individual thermo-luminescent dosimeters was 0.3-1.406 µSv. The cytogenetic examination showed that chromosomal aberrations frequency in staff was 4.27±0.22%, which is significantly higher than at the people from non-polluting settlement Tausugur (0.87±0.1%) (р ≤ 0.01) and citizens of Almaty (1.6±0.12%) (р≤ 0.01). Chromosomal type aberrations accounted for 2.32±0.16%, 0.27±0.06% of which were dicentrics and centric rings. The cytogenetic analysis of different types group radiosensitivity among «professionals» (age, sex, ethnic group, epidemiological data) revealed no significant differences between the compared values. Using various techniques by frequency of dicentrics and centric rings, the average cumulative radiation dose for group was calculated, and that was 0.084-0.143 Gy. To perform comparative individual dosimetry using physical and biological methods of dose assessment, calibration curves (including own ones) and regression equations based on general frequency of chromosomal aberrations obtained after irradiation of blood samples by gamma-radiation with the dose rate of 0,1 Gy/min were used. Herewith, on the assumption of individual variation of chromosomal aberrations frequency (1–10%), the accumulated dose of radiation varied 0-0.3 Gy. The main problem in the interpretation of individual dosimetry results is reduced to different reaction of the objects to irradiation - radiosensitivity, which dictates the need of quantitative definition of this individual reaction and its consideration in the calculation of the received radiation dose. The entire examined contingent was assigned to a group based on the received dose and detected cytogenetic aberrations. Radiosensitive individuals, at the lowest received dose in a year, showed the highest frequency of chromosomal aberrations (5.72%). In opposite, radioresistant individuals showed the lowest frequency of chromosomal aberrations (2.8%). The cohort correlation according to the criterion of radio-sensitivity in our research was distributed as follows: radio-sensitive (26.2%) — medium radio-sensitivity (57.1%), radioresistant (16.7%). Herewith, the dispersion for radioresistant individuals is 2.3; for the group with medium radio-sensitivity — 3.3; and for radio-sensitive group — 9. These data indicate the highest variation of characteristic (reactions to radiation effect) in the group of radio-sensitive individuals. People with medium radio-sensitivity show significant long-term correlation (0.66; n=48, β ≥ 0.999) between the values of doses defined according to the results of cytogenetic analysis and dose of external radiation obtained with the help of thermoluminescent dosimeters. Mathematical models based on the type of violation of the radiation dose according to the professionals radiosensitivity level were offered.

Keywords: Biodosimetry, chromosomal aberrations, ionizing radiation, radiosensitivity.

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Authors: Seyed Hossein Iranmanesh, Zahra Mokhtari

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Estimation time and cost of work completion in a project and follow up them during execution are contributors to success or fail of a project, and is very important for project management team. Delivering on time and within budgeted cost needs to well managing and controlling the projects. To dealing with complex task of controlling and modifying the baseline project schedule during execution, earned value management systems have been set up and widely used to measure and communicate the real physical progress of a project. But it often fails to predict the total duration of the project. In this paper data mining techniques is used predicting the total project duration in term of Time Estimate At Completion-EAC (t). For this purpose, we have used a project with 90 activities, it has updated day by day. Then, it is used regular indexes in literature and applied Earned Duration Method to calculate time estimate at completion and set these as input data for prediction and specifying the major parameters among them using Clem software. By using data mining, the effective parameters on EAC and the relationship between them could be extracted and it is very useful to manage a project with minimum delay risks. As we state, this could be a simple, safe and applicable method in prediction the completion time of a project during execution.

Keywords: Data Mining Techniques, Earned Duration Method, Earned Value, Estimate At Completion.

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Authors: Chapman Eze Nnadozie

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Cloud computing, a technology that is made possible through virtualization within networks represents a shift from the traditional ownership of infrastructure and other resources by distinct organization to a more scalable pattern in which computer resources are rented online to organizations on either as a pay-as-you-use basis or by subscription. In other words, cloud computing entails the renting of computing resources (such as storage space, memory, servers, applications, networks, etc.) by a third party to its clients on a pay-as-go basis. It is a new innovative technology that is globally embraced because of its renowned benefits, profound of which is its cost effectiveness on the part of organizations engaged with its services. In Nigeria, the services are provided either directly to companies mostly by the key IT players such as Microsoft, IBM, and Google; or in partnership with some other players such as Infoware, Descasio, and Sunnet. This action enables organizations to rent IT resources on a pay-as-you-go basis thereby salvaging them from wastages accruable on acquisition and maintenance of IT resources such as ownership of a separate data centre. This paper intends to appraise the challenges of cloud computing adoption in Nigeria, bearing in mind the country’s peculiarities’ in terms of infrastructural development. The methodologies used in this paper include the use of research questionnaires, formulated hypothesis, and the testing of the formulated hypothesis. The major findings of this paper include the fact that there are some addressable challenges to the adoption of cloud computing in Nigeria. Furthermore, the country will gain significantly if the challenges especially in the area of infrastructural development are well addressed. This is because the research established the fact that there are significant gains derivable by the adoption of cloud computing by organizations in Nigeria. However, these challenges can be overturned by concerted efforts in the part of government and other stakeholders.

Keywords: Cloud computing, data centre, infrastructure, IT resources, network, servers, virtualization.

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Authors: E. Izsó, M. Bartalné-Berceli, Sz. Gergely, A. Salgó

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The aim of this investigation is to elaborate nearinfrared methods for testing and recognition of chemical components and quality in “Pannon wheat” allied (i.e. true to variety or variety identified) milling fractions as well as to develop spectroscopic methods following the milling processes and evaluate the stability of the milling technology by different types of milling products and according to sampling times, respectively. These wheat categories produced under industrial conditions where samples were collected versus sampling time and maximum or minimum yields. The changes of the main chemical components (such as starch, protein, lipid) and physical properties of fractions (particle size) were analysed by dispersive spectrophotometers using visible (VIS) and near-infrared (NIR) regions of the electromagnetic radiation. Close correlation were obtained between the data of spectroscopic measurement techniques processed by various chemometric methods (e.g. principal component analysis [PCA], cluster analysis [CA]) and operation condition of milling technology. It is obvious that NIR methods are able to detect the deviation of the yield parameters and differences of the sampling times by a wide variety of fractions, respectively. NIR technology can be used in the sensitive monitoring of milling technology.

Keywords: Allied wheat fractions, CA, milling process, nearinfrared spectroscopy, PCA.

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Authors: Deng Shiwei

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The users are now expecting higher level of DSP(Digital Signal Processing) software quality than ever before. Prevention and detection of defect are critical elements of software quality assurance. In this paper, principles and rules for prevention and detection of defect are suggested, which are not universal guidelines, but are useful for both novice and experienced DSP software developers.

Keywords: defect detection, defect prevention, DSP-software, software development, software testing.

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Authors: Abolfazl Moeini, Elahe Alizadeh Paeenafrakaty

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The protection of groundwater resources is the great important many semiarid and arid environments. Baghan watershed is located in the north of Kangan in the Boshehr province in Iran. The groundwater resources have a vital role in supplying agricultural, drinking, domestic and industrial water demand in Baghan watershed. For our investigation into the water quality we collected 30 samples to chemical and physical analysis. The result showed the marl and evaporation deposits that contain anhydrite and gypsum is the main source of groundwater pollution, and one part of the groundwater was polluted by oil and gas industrial. Another part of the groundwater was contaminated by urban waste water. The electrical conductivity and captions and anions increased around of towns and gas refinery. Although the negative impact of untreated domestic wastewater is relatively low but the results showed strongly the negative impact of wastewater refinery is very considerable. This negative impact increased in downstream due to shallow aquifer. Additionally, the agents that adversely affect the quality of groundwater come from a variety of sources, including geology, domestic wastewater and the Jam refinery in Baghan watershed.

Keywords: Baghan watershed, Chemical quality, Groundwater, Pollution sources.

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Authors: A. Seham A. Elgamal, Reham H. Saleh

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Chronic kidney disease became a global health problem worldwide. Therefore, in order to maintain a patient’s life and improve the survival rate, hemodialysis is essential to replace the function of their kidneys. However, those patients may complain about multiple physical and psychological stressors due to the nature of the disease and the need for frequent hemodialysis sessions. So, those patients use various strategies to cope with the stressors related to their disease and the treatment procedures. Cross-sectional, descriptive study was carried out to achieve the aim of the study. A convenient sample including all adult patients was recruited for this study. Hemodialysis Stressors Scale (HSS) and Jalowiec Coping Scale (JCS) were used to investigate the stressors and coping strategies of 89 hemodialysis patients, at a governmental hospital (King Khalid Hospital-Jeddah). Results of the study revealed that 50.7% experienced physiological stressors and 38% experienced psychosocial stressors. Also, optimistic, fatalistic, and supportive coping strategies were the most common coping strategies used by the patients with mean scores (2.88 + 0.75, 2.87 + 0.75, and 1.82 + 0.71), respectively. In conclusion, being familiar with the types of stressors and the effective coping strategies of hemodialysis patients and their families are important in order to enhance their adaptation with chronic kidney diseases.

Keywords: Coping strategies, hemodialysis, physiological stressors, psychological stressors.

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Authors: Bundit Pungnirund

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The objective of this research was to study the influence of marketing mix on customers purchasing behavior. A total of 397 respondents were collected from customers who were the patronages of the Chatuchak Plaza market. A questionnaire was utilized as a tool to collect data. Statistics utilized in this research included frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and multiple regression analysis. Data were analyzed by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. The findings revealed that the majority of respondents were male with the age between 25-34 years old, hold undergraduate degree, married and stay together. The average income of respondents was between 10,001-20,000 baht. In terms of occupation, the majority worked for private companies. The research analysis disclosed that there were three variables of marketing mix which included price (X2), place (X3), and product (X1) which had an influence on the frequency of customer purchasing. These three variables can predict a purchase about 30 percent of the time by using the equation; Y1 = 6.851 + .921(X2) + .949(X3) + .591(X1). It also found that in terms of marketing mixed, there were two variables had an influence on the amount of customer purchasing which were physical characteristic (X6), and the process (X7). These two variables are 17 percent predictive of a purchasing by using the equation: Y2 = 2276.88 + 2980.97(X6) + 2188.09(X7).

Keywords: Influences, Marketing Mixed, Purchasing Behavior.

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Authors: Feng Yue, Fei Dai

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With the rapid development of urbanization process in China, its environmental protection pressure is severely tested. So, analyzing and optimizing the landscape pattern is an important measure to ease the pressure on the ecological environment. This paper takes Wuhan Urban Development Zone as the research object, and studies its landscape pattern evolution and quantitative optimization strategy. First, remote sensing image data from 1990 to 2015 were interpreted by using Erdas software. Next, the landscape pattern index of landscape level, class level, and patch level was studied based on Fragstats. Then five indicators of ecological environment based on National Environmental Protection Standard of China were selected to evaluate the impact of landscape pattern evolution on the ecological environment. Besides, the cost distance analysis of ArcGIS was applied to simulate wildlife migration thus indirectly measuring the improvement of ecological environment quality. The result shows that the area of land for construction increased 491%. But the bare land, sparse grassland, forest, farmland, water decreased 82%, 47%, 36%, 25% and 11% respectively. They were mainly converted into construction land. On landscape level, the change of landscape index all showed a downward trend. Number of patches (NP), Landscape shape index (LSI), Connection index (CONNECT), Shannon's diversity index (SHDI), Aggregation index (AI) separately decreased by 2778, 25.7, 0.042, 0.6, 29.2%, all of which indicated that the NP, the degree of aggregation and the landscape connectivity declined. On class level, the construction land and forest, CPLAND, TCA, AI and LSI ascended, but the Distribution Statistics Core Area (CORE_AM) decreased. As for farmland, water, sparse grassland, bare land, CPLAND, TCA and DIVISION, the Patch Density (PD) and LSI descended, yet the patch fragmentation and CORE_AM increased. On patch level, patch area, Patch perimeter, Shape index of water, farmland and bare land continued to decline. The three indexes of forest patches increased overall, sparse grassland decreased as a whole, and construction land increased. It is obvious that the urbanization greatly influenced the landscape evolution. Ecological diversity and landscape heterogeneity of ecological patches clearly dropped. The Habitat Quality Index continuously declined by 14%. Therefore, optimization strategy based on greenway network planning is raised for discussion. This paper contributes to the study of landscape pattern evolution in planning and design and to the research on spatial layout of urbanization.

Keywords: Landscape pattern, optimization strategy, ArcGIS, Erdas, landscape metrics, landscape architecture.

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Authors: Kien Tsong Chau, Zarina Samsudin, Wan Ahmad Jaafar Wan Yahaya

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The paper examined the capability of a prototype of a tangible multimedia system that was augmented with tangible objects in motivating young preschoolers in learning. Preschoolers’ learning behaviour is highly captivated and motivated by external physical stimuli. Hence, conventional multimedia which solely dependent on digital visual and auditory formats for knowledge delivery could potentially place them in inappropriate state of circumstances that are frustrating, boring, or worse, impede overall learning motivations. This paper begins by discussion with the objectives of the research, followed by research questions, hypotheses, ARCS model of motivation adopted in the process of macro-design, and the research instrumentation, Persuasive Multimedia Motivational Scale was deployed for measuring the level of motivation of subjects towards the experimental tangible multimedia. At the close, a succinct description of the findings of a relevant research is provided. In the research, a total of 248 preschoolers recruited from seven Malaysian kindergartens were examined. Analyses revealed that the tangible multimedia system improved preschoolers’ learning motivation significantly more than conventional multimedia. Overall, the findings led to the conclusion that the tangible multimedia system is a motivation conducive multimedia for preschoolers.

Keywords: Tangible multimedia, preschooler, motivation, multimedia.

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Authors: Santanu Santra, Utpal Roy

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Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA) is one of the most substitute emerging nanotechnologies for electronic circuits, because of lower power consumption, higher speed and smaller size in comparison with CMOS technology. The basic devices, a Quantum-dot cell can be used to implement logic gates and wires. As it is the fundamental building block on nanotechnology circuits. By applying XOR gate the hardware requirements for a QCA circuit can be decrease and circuits can be simpler in terms of level, delay and cell count. This article present a modest approach for implementing novel optimized XOR gate, which can be applied to design many variants of complex QCA circuits. Proposed XOR gate is simple in structure and powerful in terms of implementing any digital circuits. In order to verify the functionality of the proposed design some complex implementation of parity generator and parity checker circuits are proposed and simulating by QCA Designer tool and compare with some most recent design. Simulation results and physical relations confirm its usefulness in implementing every digital circuit.

Keywords: Clock, CMOS technology, Logic gates, QCA Designer, Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA).

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Authors: Kalyan Kr. Mandal, Suresh Thokchom, Mithun Roy

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The present paper reports results of an experimental program conducted to study performance of fly ash based geopolymer pastes at elevated temperature. Three series of geopolymer pastes differing in Na2O content (8.5%, 10% and 11.5%) were manufactured by activating low calcium fly ash with a mixture of sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate solution. The paste specimens were subjected to temperatures as high as 900oC and the behaviour at elevated temperatures were investigated on the basis of physical appearance, weight losses, residual strength, shrinkage measurements and sorptivity tests at different temperatures. Scanning electron microscopy along with EDX and XRD tests were also conducted to examine microstructure and mineralogical changes during the thermal exposure. Specimens which were initially grey turned reddish accompanied by appearance of small cracks as the temperature increased to 900oC. Loss of weight was more in specimens manufactured with highest Na2O content. Geopolymer paste specimen containing minimum Na2O performed better than those with higher Na2O content in terms of residual compressive strength.

Keywords: Compressive strength, EDX, Elevated temperature, Fly ash, Geopolymer, Scanning electron microscopy, XRD

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Authors: Simran Ballani

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The purpose of this paper is to call education professionals to implement etiquette and public speaking skills for preschoolers, primary, middle and higher school students. In this paper the author aims to present importance of etiquette learning and public speaking curriculum for preschoolers, reflect on experiences from implementation of the curriculum and discuss the effect of the said implementation on higher education/global job market. Author’s aim to introduce this curriculum was to provide children with innovative learning and all around development. This training of soft skills at kindergarten level can have a long term effect on their social behaviors which in turn can contribute to professional success once they are ready for campus recruitment/global job markets. Additionally, if preschoolers learn polite, appropriate behavior at early age, it will enable them to become more socially attentive and display good manners as an adult. It is easier to nurture these skills in a child rather than changing bad manners at adulthood. Preschool/Kindergarten education can provide the platform for children to learn these crucial soft skills irrespective of the ethnicity, economic or social background they come from. These skills developed at such early years can go a long way to shape them into better and confident individuals. Unfortunately, accessibility of the etiquette learning and public speaking skill education is not standardized in pre-primary or primary level and most of the time embedding into the kindergarten curriculum is next to nil. All young children should be provided with equal opportunity to learn these soft skills which are essential for finding their place in job market.

Keywords: Etiquette learning, public speaking, preschoolers, overall child development, early childhood interventions, soft skills.

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Authors: Zaza Tabagari, Zaza Sanikidze, George Giorgobiani

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Abovepresented work deals with the new scope of application of information and communication technologies for the improvement of the election process in the biased environment. We are introducing a new concept of construction of the information-communication system for the election participant. It consists of four main components: Software, Physical Infrastructure, Structured Information and the Trained Stuff. The Structured Information is the bases of the whole system and is the collection of all possible events (irregularities among them) at the polling stations, which are structured in special templates, forms and integrated in mobile devices.The software represents a package of analytic modules, which operates with the dynamic database. The application of modern communication technologies facilities the immediate exchange of information and of relevant documents between the polling stations and the Server of the participant. No less important is the training of the staff for the proper functioning of the system. The e-training system with various modules should be applied in this respect. The presented methodology is primarily focused on the election processes in the countries of emerging democracies.It can be regarded as the tool for the monitoring of elections process by the political organization(s) and as one of the instruments to foster the spread of democracy in these countries.

Keywords: ICT, elections, structured information, dynamic databases, e-training.

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Authors: Ando Leppiman, Kati Kõrbe Kaare, Ott Koppel

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Growing demand for gas has rekindled a debate on gas security of supply due to supply interruptions, increasing gas prices, cross-border bottlenecks and a growing reliance on imports over longer distances. Security of supply is defined mostly as an infrastructure package to satisfy N-1 criteria. In case of Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania all the gas infrastructure is built to supply natural gas only from one single supplier, Russia. In 2012 almost 100% of natural gas to the Eastern Baltic Region was supplied by Gazprom. Under such circumstances infrastructure N-1 criteria does not guarantee security of supply. In the Eastern Baltic Region, the assessment of risk of gas supply disruption has been worked out by applying the method of risk scenarios. There are various risks to be tackled in Eastern Baltic States in terms of improving security of supply, such as single supplier risk, physical infrastructure risk, regulatory gap, fair price and competition. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the energy security of the Eastern Baltic Region within the framework of the European Union’s policies and to make recommendations on how to better guarantee the energy security of the region.

Keywords: Security of supply, supply routes for natural gas, energy balance, diversified supply options, common regulative package.

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Authors: F. Amin Salehi, L. Sharp, M. A. Abdoli, D.E.Cotton, K.Rezapour

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The daily increase of organic waste materials resulting from different activities in the country is one of the main factors for the pollution of environment. Today, with regard to the low level of the output of using traditional methods, the high cost of disposal waste materials and environmental pollutions, the use of modern methods such as anaerobic digestion for the production of biogas has been prevailing. The collected biogas from the process of anaerobic digestion, as a renewable energy source similar to natural gas but with a less methane and heating value is usable. Today, with the help of technologies of filtration and proper preparation, access to biogas with features fully similar to natural gas has become possible. At present biogas is one of the main sources of supplying electrical and thermal energy and also an appropriate option to be used in four stroke engine, diesel engine, sterling engine, gas turbine, gas micro turbine and fuel cell to produce electricity. The use of biogas for different reasons which returns to socio-economic and environmental advantages has been noticed in CHP for the production of energy in the world. The production of biogas from the technology of anaerobic digestion and its application in CHP power plants in Iran can not only supply part of the energy demands in the country, but it can materialize moving in line with the sustainable development. In this article, the necessity of the development of CHP plants with biogas fuels in the country will be dealt based on studies performed from the economic, environmental and social aspects. Also to prove the importance of the establishment of these kinds of power plants from the economic point of view, necessary calculations has been done as a case study for a CHP power plant with a biogas fuel.

Keywords: Anaerobic Digestion, Biogas, CHP, Organic Wastes

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Authors: Tamer ElSerafi

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In recent approaches to heritage conservation, the whole context of historic areas becomes as important as the single historic building. This makes the provision of infrastructure and network of mobility an effective element in the urban conservation. Sustainable urban conservation projects consider the high density of activities, the need for a good quality access system to the transit system, and the importance of the configuration of the mobility network by identifying the best way to connect the different districts of the urban area through a complex unique system that helps the synergic development to achieve a sustainable mobility system. A sustainable urban mobility is a key factor in maintaining the integrity between socio-cultural aspects and functional aspects. This paper illustrates the mobility aspects, mobility problems in historic districts, and the needs of the mobility systems in the first part. The second part is a practical analysis for different mobility plans. It is challenging to find innovative and creative conservation solutions fitting modern uses and needs without risking the loss of inherited built resources. Urban mobility management is becoming an essential and challenging issue in the urban conservation projects. Depending on literature review and practical analysis, this paper tries to define and clarify the guidelines for mobility management in historic districts as a key element in sustainability of urban conservation and development projects. Such rules and principles could control the conflict between the socio–cultural and economic activities, and the different needs for mobility in these districts in a sustainable way. The practical analysis includes a comparison between mobility plans which have been implemented in four different cities; Freiburg in Germany, Zurich in Switzerland and Bray Town in Ireland. This paper concludes with a matrix of guidelines that considers both principles of sustainability and livability factors in urban historic districts.

Keywords: Sustainable mobility, urban mobility, mobility management, historic districts.

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Authors: War War Myint

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Geometric design is an important part of planning process design for physical highway to fill up basic function of roads, to give good traffic service. It is found that most of the road safety problems occur at the horizontal curves and complex-compound curves. In this paper, review on Sagarinn-Myinsain Portion of Nay Pyi Taw - Mandalay highway has been conducted in aspect of geometric design induced road safety condition. Horizontal alignment of geometric features and curve details are reviewed based on (AASHTO) standard and revised by Autodesk Land Desktop Software. Moreover, 85th Percentile Operation Speeds (V85) with driver confidence on horizontal curves is evaluated in order to obtain the range of highway safety factor (FS). The length of the selected highway portion is 13.65 miles and 8 lanes. The results of this study can be used to investigate the possible hazardous locations in advance and to revise how design radius and super elevation should be for better road safety performance for the selected portion. Moreover, the relationship between highway safety and highway geometry characteristics can also be known.

Keywords: Geometric design; horizontal alignment; superelevation; 85th percentile operation speed (V85), safety factor (FS).

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Authors: Chunghan Li, Chang-Shyh Peng, Daisy F. Sang

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Augmented Reality is an application which combines a live view of real-world environment and computer-generated images. This paper studies and demonstrates an efficient Augmented Reality development in the mobile Android environment with the native Java language and Android SDK. Major components include Barcode Reader, File Loader, Marker Detector, Transform Matrix Generator, and a cloud database.

Keywords: Augmented Reality, Android.

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Authors: Omid F. Valilai, Mahmoud Houshmand

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Nowadays companies strive to survive in a competitive global environment. To speed up product development/modifications, it is suggested to adopt a collaborative product development approach. However, despite the advantages of new IT improvements still many CAx systems work separately and locally. Collaborative design and manufacture requires a product information model that supports related CAx product data models. To solve this problem many solutions are proposed, which the most successful one is adopting the STEP standard as a product data model to develop a collaborative CAx platform. However, the improvement of the STEP-s Application Protocols (APs) over the time, huge number of STEP AP-s and cc-s, the high costs of implementation, costly process for conversion of older CAx software files to the STEP neutral file format; and lack of STEP knowledge, that usually slows down the implementation of the STEP standard in collaborative data exchange, management and integration should be considered. In this paper the requirements for a successful collaborative CAx system is discussed. The STEP standard capability for product data integration and its shortcomings as well as the dominant platforms for supporting CAx collaboration management and product data integration are reviewed. Finally a platform named LAYMOD to fulfil the requirements of CAx collaborative environment and integrating the product data is proposed. The platform is a layered platform to enable global collaboration among different CAx software packages/developers. It also adopts the STEP modular architecture and the XML data structures to enable collaboration between CAx software packages as well as overcoming the STEP standard limitations. The architecture and procedures of LAYMOD platform to manage collaboration and avoid contradicts in product data integration are introduced.

Keywords: CAx, Collaboration management, STEP applicationmodules, STEP standard, XML data structures

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Authors: Steve Fish, Chris Lambert

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Cumbria is a geo-political county in Northwest England within which the Lake District National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site is located. Whilst the area has a formidable reputation for natural beauty and historic assets, the innovation ecosystem is described as ‘patchy’ for a number of reasons. The county is one of the largest in England by area and is sparsely populated. This paper describes the needs, development and delivery of an SME business-support programme funded by the European Regional Development Fund, Lancaster University and the University of Cumbria. The Cumbria Innovations Platform (CUSP) Project has been designed to respond to the nuanced needs of SMEs in this locale, whilst promoting the adoption of research and innovation. CUSP utilizes a funnel method to support rural businesses with access to university innovation intervention. CUSP has been built on a three-tier model: Communicate, Collaborate and Create. The paper describes this project in detail and presents results in terms of output indicators achieved, a beneficiary telephone survey and wider economic forecasts. From a pragmatic point-of-view, the paper provides experiences and reflections of those people who are delivering and evaluating knowledge exchange. The authors discuss some of the benefits, challenges and implications for both policy makers and practitioners. Finally, the paper aims to serve as an invitation to others who may consider adopting a similar method of university-industry collaboration in their own region.

Keywords: Regional business support, rural business support, university-industry collaboration, collaborative R&D, SMEs, knowledge exchange.

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Authors: M. R. Mustafa, M. H. Isa, R. B. Rezaur

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The use of artificial neural network (ANN) modeling for prediction and forecasting variables in water resources engineering are being increasing rapidly. Infrastructural applications of ANN in terms of selection of inputs, architecture of networks, training algorithms, and selection of training parameters in different types of neural networks used in water resources engineering have been reported. ANN modeling conducted for water resources engineering variables (river sediment and discharge) published in high impact journals since 2002 to 2011 have been examined and presented in this review. ANN is a vigorous technique to develop immense relationship between the input and output variables, and able to extract complex behavior between the water resources variables such as river sediment and discharge. It can produce robust prediction results for many of the water resources engineering problems by appropriate learning from a set of examples. It is important to have a good understanding of the input and output variables from a statistical analysis of the data before network modeling, which can facilitate to design an efficient network. An appropriate training based ANN model is able to adopt the physical understanding between the variables and may generate more effective results than conventional prediction techniques.

Keywords: ANN, discharge, modeling, prediction, sediment,

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Authors: Arkal Vittal Hegde, L. Ravikiran

Abstract:

The paper presents the results of a series of experiments conducted on physical models of Quarter-circle breakwater (QBW) in a two dimensional monochromatic wave flume. The purpose of the experiments was to evaluate the reflection coefficient Kr of QBW models of different radii (R) for different submergence ratios (d/hc), where d is the depth of water and hc is the height of the breakwater crest from the sea bed. The radii of the breakwater models studied were 20cm, 22.5cm, 25cm, 27.5cm and submergence ratios used varied from 1.067 to 1.667. The wave climate off the Mangalore coast was used for arriving at the various model wave parameters. The incident wave heights (Hi) used in the flume varied from 3 to 18cm, and wave periods (T) ranged from 1.2 s to 2.2 s. The water depths (d) of 40cm, 45cm and 50cm were used in the experiments. The data collected was analyzed to compute variation of reflection coefficient Kr=Hr/Hi (where Hr=reflected wave height) with the wave steepness Hi/gT2 for various R/Hi (R=breakwater radius) values. It was found that the reflection coefficient increased as incident wave steepness increased. Also as wave height decreases reflection coefficient decreases and as structure radius R increased Kr decreased slightly.

Keywords: Incident wave steepness, Quarter-circle breakwater, Reflection coefficient, Submergence ratio.

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Authors: Mingyang Sun, Guozheng Yan, Dasheng Liu, Lei Yang

Abstract:

Driven by the demand of intelligent monitoring in rehabilitation centers or hospitals, a high accuracy real-time location system based on UWB (ultra-wideband) technology was proposed. The system measures precise location of a specific person, traces his movement and visualizes his trajectory on the screen for doctors or administrators. Therefore, doctors could view the position of the patient at any time and find them immediately and exactly when something emergent happens. In our design process, different algorithms were discussed, and their errors were analyzed. In addition, we discussed about a , simple but effective way of correcting the antenna delay error, which turned out to be effective. By choosing the best algorithm and correcting errors with corresponding methods, the system attained a good accuracy. Experiments indicated that the ranging error of the system is lower than 7 cm, the locating error is lower than 20 cm, and the refresh rate exceeds 5 times per second. In future works, by embedding the system in wearable IoT (Internet of Things) devices, it could provide not only physical parameters, but also the activity status of the patient, which would help doctors a lot in performing healthcare.

Keywords: Intelligent monitoring, IoT devices, real-time location, smart healthcare, ultra-wideband technology.

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Authors: R. R. Chen, K. Khorasani

Abstract:

In this paper, a robust decentralized congestion control strategy is developed for a large scale network with Differentiated Services (Diff-Serv) traffic. The network is modeled by a nonlinear fluid flow model corresponding to two classes of traffic, namely the premium traffic and the ordinary traffic. The proposed congestion controller does take into account the associated physical network resource limitations and is shown to be robust to the unknown and time-varying delays. Our proposed decentralized congestion control strategy is developed on the basis of Diff-Serv architecture by utilizing a robust adaptive technique. A Linear Matrix Inequality (LMI) condition is obtained to guarantee the ultimate boundedness of the closed-loop system. Numerical simulation implementations are presented by utilizing the QualNet and Matlab software tools to illustrate the effectiveness and capabilities of our proposed decentralized congestion control strategy.

Keywords: Congestion control, Large scale networks, Decentralized control, Differentiated services traffic, Time-delay systems.

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Authors: Veruska C. Dutra, Mary L. G. S. Senna, Afonso R. Aquino

Abstract:

Tourists bring many benefits to a local community, encouraging it to be involved in that activity; however, it may also have detrimental effects like garbage, noise, violence, external culture and the damaging of the natural environment among others, which may promote community dissatisfaction. The contact between the tourist and the local community is a concern, especially when the community is located near protected areas. In this case, the community must know the tourist destination well, so it can collaborate in the tourism development without harming the environment. In this context, the present article aims to demonstrate the results of a research study conducted as part of a doctorate program in Sciences from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. It had as an objective to elaborate a methodology proposal to measure the local community satisfaction indicator, with applicability on a case study in the Mateiros community located in the surrounding area of the Parque Estadual do Jalapão –PEJ conservation unit in the state of Tocantins, Brazil. This is a study of an interdisciplinary nature that had the deductive method as its guide. The indicator result is going to be presented in this study. It pointed out as negative factors: there is no involvement between the local community and the tourism sector, and there is also dissatisfaction with regard to the town’s basic services. The study showed as positive the local community knowledge about the various attractions in the surrounding area and that the group recognizes the importance of the tourism for the town and life. Concerning the methodology that was used, the results showed that it can collaborate in seeking actions of improvement and involvement of the community in the planning and development of the local tourism. It comes out as an efficient analysis tool, thus enabling the perceiving of the local community point of view.

Keywords: Satisfaction indicator, tourism, community, Jalapão.

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Authors: Hamdi Amroun, Yacine Benziani, Mehdi Ammi

Abstract:

In this paper, we want to determine whether the accurate prediction of nicotine concentration can be obtained by using a network of smart objects and an e-cigarette. The approach consists of, first, the recognition of factors influencing smoking cessation such as physical activity recognition and participant’s behaviors (using both smartphone and smartwatch), then the prediction of the configuration of the e-cigarette (in terms of nicotine concentration, power, and resistance of e-cigarette). The study uses a network of commonly connected objects; a smartwatch, a smartphone, and an e-cigarette transported by the participants during an uncontrolled experiment. The data obtained from sensors carried in the three devices were trained by a Long short-term memory algorithm (LSTM). Results show that our LSTM-based model allows predicting the configuration of the e-cigarette in terms of nicotine concentration, power, and resistance with a root mean square error percentage of 12.9%, 9.15%, and 11.84%, respectively. This study can help to better control consumption of nicotine and offer an intelligent configuration of the e-cigarette to users.

Keywords: Iot, activity recognition, automatic classification, unconstrained environment, deep neural networks.

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Authors: Murat Colak, Berkay Cakir Saridogan

Abstract:

Since the dawn of modern corporations, almost every single employee has been working in the same loop, which contains three basic steps: going to work, providing the needs for the work, and getting back home. Only a small amount of people was able to break that standard and live outside the box. As the 2019 pandemic hit the Earth and most companies shut down their physical offices, that loop had to change for everyone. This means that the old management styles had to be significantly re-arranged to the "work from home" type of business methods. The methods include online conferences and meetings, time and task tracking using algorithms, globalization of the work, and, most importantly, remote working. After the global epidemic started, even the tech giants were concerned. Now, it can be seen that those technology companies have an incredible step-up in their shares compared to the other companies because they know how to manage such situations even better than every other industry. This study aims to take the old traditional management styles in big companies and compare them with the post-Covid methods (2019-2022). As a result of this comparison made using the annual reports and shared statistics, this study aims to explain why the winners of this crisis are the technology companies.

Keywords: COVID-19, technology companies, business models, remote work.

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Authors: Meftah O. Bashir, Fatma A. Karkory

Abstract:

Rapid prototyping is a new group of manufacturing processes, which allows fabrication of physical of any complexity using a layer by layer deposition technique directly from a computer system. The rapid prototyping process greatly reduces the time and cost necessary to bring a new product to market. The prototypes made by these systems are used in a range of industrial application including design evaluation, verification, testing, and as patterns for casting processes. These processes employ a variety of materials and mechanisms to build up the layers to build the part. The present work was to build a FDM prototyping machine that could control the X-Y motion and material deposition, to generate two-dimensional and three-dimensional complex shapes. This study focused on the deposition of wax material. This work was to find out the properties of the wax materials used in this work in order to enable better control of the FDM process. This study will look at the integration of a computer controlled electro-mechanical system with the traditional FDM additive prototyping process. The characteristics of the wax were also analysed in order to optimise the model production process. These included wax phase change temperature, wax viscosity and wax droplet shape during processing.

Keywords: Rapid prototyping, wax, manufacturing processes, additive prototyping.

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Authors: Hamed Fawareh

Abstract:

The recent development in learning technologies leads to emerge many learning management systems (LMS). In this study, we concentrate on the specifications and characteristics of LMSs. Furthermore, this paper emphasizes on the feature of e-learning management systems. The features take on the account main indicators to assist and evaluate the quality of e-learning systems. The proposed indicators based of ten dimensions.

Keywords: E-Learning, System Requirement, Social Requirement, Learning Management System.

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