Search results for: Software Automation Testing

Authors: Henry Foulds, Magda Huisman, Gunther R. Drevin

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Privacy is regarded as a fundamental human right and it is clear that the study of digital privacy is an important field. Digital privacy is influenced by new and constantly evolving technologies and this continuous change makes it hard to create legislation to protect people’s privacy from being exploited by misuse of these technologies.

This study aims to benefit digital privacy legislation efforts by evaluating the awareness and perceived importance of digital privacy legislation among computer science students. The chosen fixed variables for the population are study year and gamer classification.

The use of location based services in mobile applications and games are a concern for digital privacy. For this reason the study focused on computer science students as they have a high likelihood to use and develop this type of software. Surveys were used to evaluate awareness and perceived importance of digital privacy legislation.

The results of the study show that privacy legislation and awareness of privacy legislation are important to people. The perception of the importance of privacy legislation increases with academic experience. Awareness of privacy legislation increases from non-gamers to pro gamers. 

Keywords: Digital privacy, Legislation awareness, Gaming.

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Authors: Abdulaziz H. El-Sinawi

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Some of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are the strongest known carcinogens compounds; the majority of them are mostly produced by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels; Motor vehicles are a significant source of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) where diesel emission is one of the main sources of such compounds available in the ambient air. There is a big concern about the increasing concentration of PAHs in the environment. Researchers are trying to explore optimal methods to reduce those pollutants and improve the quality of air. Water blended fuel is one of the possible approaches to reduce emission of PAHs from the combustion of diesel in urban and domestic vehicles. In this work a modeling study was conducted using CHEMKIN-PRO software to simulate spray combustion at similar diesel engine conditions. Surrogate fuel of (80 % n-heptane and 20 % toluene) was used due to detailed kinetic and thermodynamic data needed for modeling is available for this kind of fuel but not available for diesel. An emulsified fuel with 3, 5, 8, 10 and 20 % water by volume is used as an engine feed for this study. The modeling results show that water has a significant effect on reducing engine soot and PAHs precursors formation up to certain extent.

Keywords: Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), DieselEngine, Emission, Surrogate Fuel, Emulsified Fuel, Soot precursors, Combustion

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Authors: Mohamad Muqtada Ali Khan, Nor Ashikin Shaari, Donny Adriansyah Bin Nazaruddin, Hafzan Eva Bt Mansoor

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Floods play a key role in landform evolution of an area. This process is likely to alter the topography of the earth’s surface. The present study area, Kota Bharu is very prone to floods extends from upstream of Kelantan River near Kemubu to the downstream area near Kuala Besar. These flood events which occur every year in the study area exhibit a strong bearing on river morphological set-up. In the present study, three satellite imageries of different time periods have been used to manifest the post-flood landform changes. The pre-processing of the images such as subset, geometric corrections and atmospheric corrections were carried-out using ENVI 4.5 followed by the analysis processes. Twenty sets of cross sections were plotted using software Erdas 9.2, ERDAS and ArcGis 10 for the all three images. The results show a significant change in the length of the cross section which suggest that the geomorphological processes play a key role in carving and shaping the river banks during the floods. 

Keywords: Flood Induced, Geomorphic imprints, Kelantan river, Malaysia.

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Authors: Shiuh-Jer Huang, Yu-Chi Liu, Su-Hai Hsiang

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A novel low-cost impedance control structure is proposed for monitoring the contact force between end-effector and environment without installing an expensive force/torque sensor. Theoretically, the end-effector contact force can be estimated from the superposition of each joint control torque. There have a nonlinear matrix mapping function between each joint motor control input and end-effector actuating force/torques vector. This new force control structure can be implemented based on this estimated mapping matrix. First, the robot end-effector is manipulated to specified positions, then the force controller is actuated based on the hall sensor current feedback of each joint motor. The model-free fuzzy sliding mode control (FSMC) strategy is employed to design the position and force controllers, respectively. All the hardware circuits and software control programs are designed on an Altera Nios II embedded development kit to constitute an embedded system structure for a retrofitted Mitsubishi 5 DOF robot. Experimental results show that PI and FSMC force control algorithms can achieve reasonable contact force monitoring objective based on this hardware control structure.

Keywords: Robot, impedance control, fuzzy sliding mode control, contact force estimator.

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Authors: Peter Antwi Buah, Yingbin Zhang, Jianxian He, Chenlin Xiang, Delali Atsu Y. Bakah

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Near-fault ground motions with velocity pulses are considered to cause significant damage to structures or slopes compared to ordinary ground motions without velocity pulses. The double pulsed pulse-like ground motion is well known to be stronger than the single pulse. This research has numerically justified this perspective by studying the dynamic response of a homogeneous rock slope subjected to four pulse-like and two non-pulse-like ground motions using the Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua in 3 Dimensions (FLAC3D) software. Two of the pulse-like ground motions just have a single pulse. The results show that near-fault ground motions with velocity pulses can cause a higher dynamic response than regular ground motions. The amplification of the peak ground acceleration (PGA) in horizontal direction increases with the increase of the slope elevation. The seismic response of the slope under double pulse ground motion is stronger than that of the single pulse ground motion. The PGV amplification factor under the effect of the non-pulse-like records is also smaller than those under the pulse-like records. The velocity pulse strengthens the earthquake damage to the slope, which results in producing a stronger dynamic response.

Keywords: Velocity pulses, dynamic response, PGV magnification effect, elevation effect, double pulse.

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Authors: Hesam Sedaghat Nejad, Navid Hosseini, Arash Nikvar Hassani

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Determination of the optimum block size with high profitability is one of the significant parameters in designation of the building stone mines. The aim of this study was to determine the optimum dimensions of building stone blocks in Delichai travertine mine of Damavand in Tehran province through combining the effective parameters proven in determination of the optimum dimensions in building stones such as the spacing of joints and gaps, extraction tools constraints with the help of modeling by Gemcom software. To this end, following simulation of the topography of the mine, the block model was prepared and then in order to use spacing joints and discontinuities as a limiting factor, the existing joints set was added to the model. Since only one almost horizontal joint set with a slope of 5 degrees was available, this factor was effective only in determining the optimum height of the block, and thus to determine the longitudinal and transverse optimum dimensions of the extracted block, the power of available loader in the mine was considered as the secondary limiting factor. According to the aforementioned factors, the optimal block size in this mine was measured as 3.4×4×7 meter.

Keywords: Building stone, optimum block size, Delichai Travertine Mine, loader power.

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Authors: Jun Hee Lee, Young Kyu Kim, Seong Jae Hong, Chamroeun Chhorn, Seung Woo Lee

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Roller-compacted concrete pavement (RCCP), an environmental friendly pavement of which load carry capacity benefitted from both hydration and aggregate interlock from roller compacting, demonstrated a superb structural performance for a relatively small amount of water and cement content. Even though an excellent structural performance can be secured, it is required to investigate roller-compacted concrete (RCC) under environmental loading and its long-term durability under critical conditions. In order to secure long-term durability, an appropriate internal air-void structure is required for this concrete. In this study, a method for improving the long-term durability of RCCP is suggested by analyzing the internal air-void structure and corresponding durability of RCC. The method of improving the long-term durability involves measurements of air content, air voids, and air-spacing factors in RCC that experiences changes in terms of type of air-entraining agent and its usage amount. This test is conducted according to the testing criteria in ASTM C 457, 672, and KS F 2456. It was found that the freezing-thawing and scaling resistances of RCC without any chemical admixture was quite low. Interestingly, an improvement of freezing-thawing and scaling resistances was observed for RCC with appropriate the air entraining (AE) agent content; Relative dynamic elastic modulus was found to be more than 80% for those mixtures. In RCC with AE agent mixtures, large amount of air was distributed within a range of 2% to 3%, and an air void spacing factor ranging between 200 and 300 μm (close to 250 μm, recommended by PCA) was secured. The long-term durability of RCC has a direct relationship with air-void spacing factor, and thus it can only be secured by ensuring the air void spacing factor through the inclusion of the AE in the mixture.

Keywords: RCCP, durability, air spacing factor, surface scaling resistance test, freezing and thawing resistance test.

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Authors: Shih-Ching Lo, Hsieh-Chu Huang

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Mostly, pedestrian-car accidents occurred at a signalized interaction is because pedestrians cannot across the intersection safely within the green light. From the viewpoint of pedestrian, there might have two reasons. The first one is pedestrians cannot speed up to across the intersection, such as the elders. The other reason is pedestrians do not sense that the signal phase is going to change and their right-of-way is going to lose. Developing signal logic to protect pedestrian, who is crossing an intersection is the first purpose of this study. Another purpose of this study is improving the reliability and reduce delay of public transportation service. Therefore, bus preemption is also considered in the designed signal logic. In this study, the traffic data of the intersection of Chong-Qing North Road and Min-Zu West Road, Taipei, Taiwan, is employed to calibrate and validate the signal logic by simulation. VISSIM 5.20, which is a microscopic traffic simulation software, is employed to simulate the signal logic. From the simulated results, the signal logic presented in this study can protect pedestrians crossing the intersection successfully. The design of bus preemption can reduce the average delay. However, the pedestrian safety and bus preemptive signal will influence the average delay of cars largely. Thus, whether applying the pedestrian safety and bus preemption signal logic to an isolated intersection or not should be evaluated carefully.

Keywords: vulnerable road user, bus preemption, signal design.

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Authors: S. H. Mohades Kasaei, S. M. Mohades Kasaei, S. A. Mohades Kasaei, M. Taheri, M. Rahimi, H. Vahiddastgerdi, M. Saeidinezhad

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Omni directional mobile robots have been popularly employed in several applications especially in soccer player robots considered in Robocup competitions. However, Omni directional navigation system, Omni-vision system and solenoid kicking mechanism in such mobile robots have not ever been combined. This situation brings the idea of a robot with no head direction into existence, a comprehensive Omni directional mobile robot. Such a robot can respond more quickly and it would be capable for more sophisticated behaviors with multi-sensor data fusion algorithm for global localization base on the data fusion. This paper has tried to focus on the research improvements in the mechanical, electrical and software design of the robots of team ADRO Iran. The main improvements are the world model, the new strategy framework, mechanical structure, Omni-vision sensor for object detection, robot path planning, active ball handling mechanism and the new kicker design, , and other subjects related to mobile robot

Keywords: Mobile robot, Machine vision, Omni directional movement, Autonomous Systems, Robot path planning, Object Localization.

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Authors: Farbod Behnaminia, Saeed Samet

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The COVID-19 pandemic has paralyzed many lives until a vaccine has been available, which caused the so-called "new normal". COVID-19 is an infectious disease. It can cause significant illness or death in anyone. Governments and health officials tried to impose rules and regulations to avoid and slow down transmission. Therefore, software engineers worldwide developed applications to trace and track patients’ movements and notify others, mainly using Bluetooth. In this way, everyone could be informed whether they came in close contact with someone who has COVID-19 and take proper safety precautions. Because most of the applications use technologies that can potentially reveal the user’s identity and location, researchers have debated privacy preservation and how to improve user privacy during such pandemics. We conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the literature by looking for papers in the relevant field and dividing them into pre- and post-pandemic systems. Additionally, we discussed the many uses of blockchain technology in pandemic control. We found that two major obstacles facing blockchain implementation across many healthcare systems are scalability and privacy. The Polkadot platform is presented, along with a review of its efficacy in tackling current concerns. A more scalable healthcare system is achievable in near future using Polkadot as well as a much more privacy-preserving environment.

Keywords: Blockchain, Electronic Record Management, EHR, Privacy-Preserving, patient tracking, COVID-19, trust and confidence, Polkadot.

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Authors: S. Mogili, J. S. Kuang, N. Zhang

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Knee joints, the beam column connections found at the roof level of a moment resisting frame buildings, are inherently different from conventional interior and exterior beam column connections in the way that forces from adjoining members are transferred into joint and then resisted by the joint. A knee connection has two distinct load resisting mechanisms, each for closing and opening actions acting simultaneously under reversed cyclic loading. In spite of many distinct differences in the behaviour of shear resistance in knee joints, there are no special design provisions in the major design codes available across the world due to lack of in-depth research on the knee connections. To understand the relative importance of opening and closing actions in design, it is imperative to study knee joints under varying shear stresses, especially at higher opening-to-closing shear stress ratios. Three knee joint specimens, under different input shear stresses, were designed to produce a varying ratio of input opening to closing shear stresses. The design was carried out in such a way that the ratio of flexural strength of beams with consideration of axial forces in opening to closing actions are maintained at 0.5, 0.7, and 1.0, thereby resulting in the required variation of opening to closing joint shear stress ratios among the specimens. The behaviour of these specimens was then carefully studied in terms of closing and opening capacities, hysteretic behaviour, and envelope curves to understand the differences in joint performance based on which an attempt to suggest design guidelines for knee joints is made emphasizing the relative importance of opening and closing actions. Specimens with relatively higher opening stresses were observed to be more vulnerable under the action of seismic loading.

Keywords: Knee-joints, large-scale testing, opening and closing shear stresses, seismic performance.

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Authors: Shrey Sharma, Gunjan Kumar Verma

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High density electrical prospecting has been widely used in groundwater investigation, civil engineering and environmental survey. For efficient inversion, the forward modeling routine, sensitivity calculation, and inversion algorithm must be efficient. This paper attempts to provide a brief summary of the past and ongoing developments of the method. It includes reviews of the procedures used for data acquisition, processing and inversion of electrical resistivity data based on compilation of academic literature. In recent times there had been a significant evolution in field survey designs and data inversion techniques for the resistivity method. In general 2-D inversion for resistivity data is carried out using the linearized least-square method with the local optimization technique .Multi-electrode and multi-channel systems have made it possible to conduct large 2-D, 3-D and even 4-D surveys efficiently to resolve complex geological structures that were not possible with traditional 1-D surveys. 3-D surveys play an increasingly important role in very complex areas where 2-D models suffer from artifacts due to off-line structures. Continued developments in computation technology, as well as fast data inversion techniques and software, have made it possible to use optimization techniques to obtain model parameters to a higher accuracy. A brief discussion on the limitations of the electrical resistivity method has also been presented.

Keywords: Resistivity, inversion, optimization.

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Authors: MohammadReza EffatParvar, Akbar Bemana, Mehdi EffatParvar

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Scheduling algorithms are used in operating systems to optimize the usage of processors. One of the most efficient algorithms for scheduling is Multi-Layer Feedback Queue (MLFQ) algorithm which uses several queues with different quanta. The most important weakness of this method is the inability to define the optimized the number of the queues and quantum of each queue. This weakness has been improved in IMLFQ scheduling algorithm. Number of the queues and quantum of each queue affect the response time directly. In this paper, we review the IMLFQ algorithm for solving these problems and minimizing the response time. In this algorithm Recurrent Neural Network has been utilized to find both the number of queues and the optimized quantum of each queue. Also in order to prevent any probable faults in processes' response time computation, a new fault tolerant approach has been presented. In this approach we use combinational software redundancy to prevent the any probable faults. The experimental results show that using the IMLFQ algorithm results in better response time in comparison with other scheduling algorithms also by using fault tolerant mechanism we improve IMLFQ performance.

Keywords: IMLFQ, Fault Tolerant, Scheduling, Queue, Recurrent Neural Network.

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Authors: N. Muthukumaran, R. Ravi

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The Quad Tree Decomposition based performance analysis of compressed image data communication for lossy and lossless through wireless sensor network is presented. Images have considerably higher storage requirement than text. While transmitting a multimedia content there is chance of the packets being dropped due to noise and interference. At the receiver end the packets that carry valuable information might be damaged or lost due to noise, interference and congestion. In order to avoid the valuable information from being dropped various retransmission schemes have been proposed. In this proposed scheme QTD is used. QTD is an image segmentation method that divides the image into homogeneous areas. In this proposed scheme involves analysis of parameters such as compression ratio, peak signal to noise ratio, mean square error, bits per pixel in compressed image and analysis of difficulties during data packet communication in Wireless Sensor Networks. By considering the above, this paper is to use the QTD to improve the compression ratio as well as visual quality and the algorithm in MATLAB 7.1 and NS2 Simulator software tool.

Keywords: Image compression, Compression Ratio, Quad tree decomposition, Wireless sensor networks, NS2 simulator.

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Authors: Fahri Benli, Sitalakshmi Venkatraman, Ye Wei, Fiona Wahr

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A flipped classroom which is a form of blended learning shifts the focus from a teacher-centered approach to a learner-centered approach. However, not all learners are ready to take the active role of knowledge and skill acquisition through a flipped classroom and they continue to delve in a passive mode of learning. This challenges educators in designing, scaffolding and facilitating in-class activities for students to have active learning experiences in a flipped classroom environment. Experiential learning theories have been employed by educators in the past in physical classrooms based on the principle that knowledge could be actively developed through direct experience. However, with more of online teaching witnessed recently, there are inherent limitations in designing and simulating an experiential learning activity for an online environment. In this paper, we explore enhancing experiential learning using smart digital tools that could be employed in a flipped classroom within a higher education setting. We present the use of smart collaborative tools online to enhance the experiential learning activity to teach higher-order cognitive concepts of business process modeling as a case study.

Keywords: Experiential learning, flipped classroom, smart software tools, online learning higher-order learning attributes.

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Authors: Mohsen Pirdashti, Masoomeh Omidi, Hemmatollah Pidashti

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Today, advantage of biotechnology especially in environmental issues compared to other technologies is irrefragable. Kimia Gharb Gostar Industries Company, as a largest producer of citric acid in Middle East, applies biotechnology for this goal. Citrogypsum is a by–product of citric acid production and it considered as a valid residuum of this company. At this paper summary of acid citric production and condition of Citrogypsum production in company were introduced in addition to defmition of Citrogypsum production and its applications in world. According to these information and evaluation of present conditions about Iran needing to Citrogypsum, the best priority was introduced and emphasized on strategy selection and proper programming for self-sufficiency. The Delphi technique was used to elicit expert opinions about criteria for evaluating the usages. The criteria identified by the experts were profitability, capacity of production, the degree of investment, marketable, production ease and time production. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (ARP) and Expert Choice software were used to compare the alternatives on the criteria derived from the Delphi process.

Keywords: Analytical Hierarchy Process, ARP, Delphi, Multi- criteria decision making, Citrogypsum

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Authors: Olayinka Gafar Okeola, Akinola Muyiwa Moore

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Urban population is rapidly increasing in Ilorin, (the capital of Kwara State of Nigeria) along with related increased water demand. The inadequacies of water supply services have forced the populace to depend on dug wells, boreholes, water tankers, street vendors etc. for their water needs. People spend hours daily carrying jerry can all around to collect and queue for water at the public water tap with high opportunity cost both in time and economic wastage. This situation motivated this study to assess the sustainability of an urban water supply services to unravel the factors undermining the effective delivery of services. Contingent Valuation Method was used to place value on water supply services using the Double Bounded Dichotomous Choice format for willingness to pay elicitation. A database was created with Microsoft Excel and Stata 12 Software to model and evaluate the variables that affect household willingness to pay. The results of the study reveal that about 92% of the total households surveyed were connected to the Government water supply out of which 87% reported that they were not satisfied with the existing services. The results furthered revealed that respondents are willing to pay ₦2500 monthly to enjoy sustainable water supply service delivery.

Keywords: Willingness-to-pay, contingent valuation method, Nigeria, service, delivery.

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Authors: K. Saravanan

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An electrical power system has some negative aspects such as flickering and deviations of voltage/power. This can be eliminated using energy storage devices that will provide a backup energy at the time of voltage/power deviations. Energy-storage devices get charging when system voltage/power is higher than reference value and discharging when system voltage/power is lower than reference value, it is acting as catalysts to provide energy boost. In this paper, a dynamic control of Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC) integrated with superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) is developed to improve the power quality, power oscillation damping, and dynamic voltage stability through the transmission line. UPFC inter-connected to SMES through an interface with DC-DC chopper. This inter-connected system is capable of injecting (absorbing) the real and reactive power into (from) the system at the beginning of stability problems. In this paper, the simulation results of UPFC integrated with SMES and UPFC integrated with fuel cells (FCs) are compared using MATLAB/Simulink software package.

Keywords: UPFC, SMES, power system stability, flexible ac transmission systems, fuel cells, chopper.

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Authors: Rafayel A. Azizyan, Aram E. Gevorgyan, Valeri B. Arakelyan, Emil S. Gevorgyan

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Currently, mathematical and computer modeling are widely used in different biological studies to predict or assess behavior of such a complex systems as a biological are. This study deals with mathematical and computer modeling of bi-substrate enzymatic reactions, which play an important role in different biochemical pathways. The main objective of this study is to represent the results from in silico investigation of bi-substrate enzymatic reactions in the presence of uncompetitive inhibitors, as well as to describe in details the inhibition effects. Four models of uncompetitive inhibition were designed using different software packages. Particularly, uncompetitive inhibitor to the first [ES₁] and the second ([ES₁S₂]; [FS₂]) enzyme-substrate complexes have been studied. The simulation, using the same kinetic parameters for all models allowed investigating the behavior of reactions as well as determined some interesting aspects concerning influence of different cases of uncompetitive inhibition. Besides, it has been shown that uncompetitive inhibitors exhibit specific selectivity depending on mechanism of bi-substrate enzymatic reaction. 

Keywords: Mathematical modeling, bi-substrate enzymatic reactions, sequential mechanism, ping-pong mechanism, uncompetitive inhibition.

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Authors: Y. Bai, M. Bodlak, V. Frolov, S. Huber, V. Jary, I. Konorov, D. Levit, J. Novy, D. Steffen, O. Subrt, M. Virius

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Modern experiments in high energy physics impose great demands on the reliability, the efficiency, and the data rate of Data Acquisition Systems (DAQ). This contribution focuses on the development and deployment of the new communication library DIALOG for the intelligent, FPGA-based Data Acquisition System (iFDAQ) of the COMPASS experiment at CERN. The iFDAQ utilizing a hardware event builder is designed to be able to readout data at the maximum rate of the experiment. The DIALOG library is a communication system both for distributed and mixed environments, it provides a network transparent inter-process communication layer. Using the high-performance and modern C++ framework Qt and its Qt Network API, the DIALOG library presents an alternative to the previously used DIM library. The DIALOG library was fully incorporated to all processes in the iFDAQ during the run 2016. From the software point of view, it might be considered as a significant improvement of iFDAQ in comparison with the previous run. To extend the possibilities of debugging, the online monitoring of communication among processes via DIALOG GUI is a desirable feature. In the paper, we present the DIALOG library from several insights and discuss it in a detailed way. Moreover, the efficiency measurement and comparison with the DIM library with respect to the iFDAQ requirements is provided.

Keywords: Data acquisition system, DIALOG library, DIM library, FPGA, Qt framework, TCP/IP.

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Authors: Rafael Muñoz, Juan Melchor, Alicia Valera, Laura Peralta, Guillermo Rus

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A torsional piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer design is proposed to measure shear moduli in soft tissue with direct access availability, using shear wave elastography technique. The measurement of shear moduli of tissues is a challenging problem, mainly derived from a) the difficulty of isolating a pure shear wave, given the interference of multiple waves of different types (P, S, even guided) emitted by the transducers and reflected in geometric boundaries, and b) the highly attenuating nature of soft tissular materials. An immediate application, overcoming these drawbacks, is the measurement of changes in cervix stiffness to estimate the gestational age at delivery. The design has been optimized using a finite element model (FEM) and a semi-analytical estimator of the probability of detection (POD) to determine a suitable geometry, materials and generated waves. The technique is based on the time of flight measurement between emitter and receiver, to infer shear wave velocity. Current research is centered in prototype testing and validation. The geometric optimization of the transducer was able to annihilate the compressional wave emission, generating a quite pure shear torsional wave. Currently, mechanical and electromagnetic coupling between emitter and receiver signals are being the research focus. Conclusions: the design overcomes the main described problems. The almost pure shear torsional wave along with the short time of flight avoids the possibility of multiple wave interference. This short propagation distance reduce the effect of attenuation, and allow the emission of very low energies assuring a good biological security for human use.

Keywords: Cervix ripening, preterm birth, shear modulus, shear wave elastography, soft tissue, torsional wave.

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Authors: Norasmah Othman, Suzana Mohamed, Salpiah Suradi

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Copreneurship is a term used to describe the business pattern of operations run by married couples who share commitment, goals, and responsibilities in handling a business. Research conducted overseas showed that copreneurship business activities grew quickly and played a role in elevating families’ and nations’ socio-economic standards. In Malaysia, copreneurship has long been cultivated by spouses. Thus, this study aimed to explore the factors that motivate married partners to start a copreneurship business, and who is the dominant partner in the management of this business. The study participants are four entrepreneurial couples who are SME business operators selected through purposive sampling. In-depth interviews and direct observation were used as methods of measurement for triangulation of qualitative data in this study. The findings of the interviews were administered using NVivo 8.0 software. The result shows that freedom is a key factor that drives entrepreneurs to set up copreneurship businesses, and that the husband dominates the management aspects of the business. The study gives an overview of the parties involved in entrepreneurship to provide understanding of the copreneurship concept as it is practiced. This study provides academic value by creating understanding of the importance of a harmonious family institution specifically for forming entrepreneurs in the familial environment in Malaysia.

Keywords: Copreneurs, copreneurship, business management, enterprise.

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Authors: G. Aloisio, L. T. De Paolis, A. De Mauro, A. Mongelli

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One of the essential requirements of a realistic surgical simulator is to reproduce haptic sensations due to the interactions in the virtual environment. However, the interaction need to be performed in real-time, since a delay between the user action and the system reaction reduces the immersion sensation. In this paper, a prototype of a coronary stent implant simulator is present; this system allows real-time interactions with an artery by means of a specific haptic device. To improve the realism of the simulation, the building of the virtual environment is based on real patients- images and a Web Portal is used to search in the geographically remote medical centres a virtual environment with specific features in terms of pathology or anatomy. The functional architecture of the system defines several Medical Centres in which virtual environments built from the real patients- images and related metadata with specific features in terms of pathology or anatomy are stored. The searched data are downloaded from the Medical Centre to the Training Centre provided with a specific haptic device and with the software necessary both to manage the interaction in the virtual environment. After the integration of the virtual environment in the simulation system it is possible to perform training on the specific surgical procedure.

Keywords: Medical Simulation, Web Portal, Virtual Reality.

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Authors: Dong Xie, Jun Zhao, Yiming Weng

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The objective of this study was to synthesize and characterize the poly(alkenoic acid)s with different molecular structures, use these polymers to formulate a dental cement restorative, and study the effect of molecular structures on reaction kinetics, viscosity, and mechanical strengths of the formed polymers and cement restoratives. In this study, poly(alkenoic acid)s with different molecular structures were synthesized. The purified polymers were formulated with commercial Fuji II LC glass fillers to form the experimental cement restoratives. The reaction kinetics was studied via 1HNMR spectroscopy. The formed restoratives were evaluated using compressive strength, diametral tensile strength, flexural strength, hardness and wear-resistance tests. Specimens were conditioned in distilled water at 37oC for 24 h prior to testing. Fuji II LC restorative was used as control. The results show that the higher the arm number and initiator concentration, the faster the reaction was. It was also found that the higher the arm number and branching that the polymer had, the lower the viscosity of the polymer in water and the lower the mechanical strengths of the formed restorative. The experimental restoratives were 31-53% in compressive strength, 37- 55% in compressive modulus, 80-126% in diametral tensile strength, 76-94% in flexural strength, 4-21% in fracture toughness and 53-96% in hardness higher than Fuji II LC. For wear test, the experimental restoratives were only 5.4-13% of abrasive and 6.4-12% of attritional wear depths of Fuji II LC in each wear cycle. The aging study also showed that all the experimental restoratives increased their strength continuously during 30 days, unlike Fuji II LC. It is concluded that polymer molecular structures have significant and positive impact on mechanical properties of dental cement restoratives.

Keywords: Poly(alkenoic acid)s, molecular structures, dental cement, mechanical strength.

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Authors: Rami Darwish

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The transport industry is transitioning to sustainable industrial systems to meet its environmental targets. At the heart of this transition lies the electrification of bus systems, which involves the introduction and testing of sustainable technologies in protected environments for customer evaluation. While the transition necessitates business-model innovation, practical implementation has proven to be complex. This article delves into efforts to present the business model of a bus operator engaged in public procurement with the goal of facilitating the industry's shift towards electrification. Through an in-depth case study, the influence of public contracts’ design on the evolution of a technology and the operator's business model for electrification is explored. While the extant literature suggests that public procurement can facilitate business-model innovation and sustainable development, the findings reveal that public-contract design can limit value creation and value capture in potential business models, locking organizations into existing business models and hindering the socio-technical transition to sustainability. Interestingly, public-procurement contract design can play a pivotal role in preventing sustainable innovations from breaking through. This highlights the importance of contract design as a vehicle for dialogue between businesses and authorities that can enable systemic change. The case study also illuminates a paradoxical scenario in which the transport authority was required to reconcile the efficiency and stability required for bus transport with the potential benefits of electrification technologies promising sustainability. Finally, recommendations for navigating and addressing this tension are provided. The implications of these findings extend to the literature on discontinuous innovation and business-model innovation.

Keywords: Sustainable transition, public procurement, business-model innovation, discontinuous innovation, lock-in.

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Authors: Wen-Chao Tang, Tang-Yi Liu, Ming Gao, Gang Xu, Hua-Yuan Yang

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This study developed a method for teaching acupuncture manipulation in small groups optimized with the theory of motor learning. Sixty acupuncture students and their teacher participated in our research. Motion videos were recorded of their manipulations using the lifting-thrusting method. These videos were analyzed using Simi Motion software to acquire the movement parameters of the thumb tip. The parameter velocity curves along Y axis was used to generate small teaching groups clustered by a self-organized map (SOM) and K-means. Ten groups were generated. All the targeted instruction based on the comparative results groups as well as the videos of teacher and student was provided to the members of each group respectively. According to the theory and research of motor learning, the factors or technologies such as video instruction, observational learning, external focus and summary feedback were integrated into this teaching method. Such efforts were desired to improve and enhance the effectiveness of current acupuncture teaching methods in limited classroom teaching time and extracurricular training.

Keywords: Acupuncture, group teaching, video instruction, observational learning, external focus, summary feedback.

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Authors: Estevan B. Costa, Armando M. Toda, Marcell A. A. Mesquita, Jacques D. Brancher

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The advances in technology in the last five years allowed an improvement in the educational area, as the increasing in the development of educational software. One of the techniques that emerged in this lapse is called Gamification, which is the utilization of video game mechanics outside its bounds. Recent studies involving this technique provided positive results in the application of these concepts in many areas as marketing, health and education. In the last area there are studies that covers from elementary to higher education, with many variations to adequate to the educators methodologies. Among higher education, focusing on IT courses, data structures are an important subject taught in many of these courses, as they are base for many systems. Based on the exposed this paper exposes the development of an interactive web learning environment, called DSLEP (Data Structure Learning Platform), to aid students in higher education IT courses. The system includes basic concepts seen on this subject such as stacks, queues, lists, arrays, trees and was implemented to ease the insertion of new structures. It was also implemented with gamification concepts, such as points, levels, and leader boards, to engage students in the search for knowledge and stimulate self-learning.

Keywords: Gamification, Interactive learning environment, Data structures, e-learning.

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Authors: Ganesan V.

Abstract:

Application of Expert System in the area of agriculture would take the form of Integrated Crop Management decision aids and would encompass water management, fertilizer management, crop protection systems and identification of implements. In order to remain competitive, the modern farmer often relies on agricultural specialists and advisors to provide information for decision-making. An expert system normally composed of a knowledge base (information, heuristics, etc.), inference engine (analyzes knowledge base), and end user interface (accepting inputs, generating outputs). Software named 'CROP-9-DSS' incorporating all modern features like, graphics, photos, video clippings etc. has been developed. This package will aid as a decision support system for identification of pest and diseases with control measures, fertilizer recommendation system, water management system and identification of farm implements for leading crops of Kerala (India) namely Coconut, Rice, Cashew, Pepper, Banana, four vegetables like Amaranthus, Bhindi, Brinjal and Cucurbits. 'CROP-9-DSS' will act as an expert system to agricultural officers, scientists in the field of agriculture and extension workers for decision-making and help them in suggesting suitable recommendations.

Keywords: Diagnostic, inference engine, knowledge base and user interface.

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Authors: Hani Mekdash, Lina Jaber, Yehia Temsah

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Underground space is becoming a necessity nowadays, especially in highly congested urban areas. Retaining underground excavations using shoring systems is essential in order to protect adjoining structures from potential damage or collapse. Reinforced Concrete Piles (RCP) supported by multiple rows of tie-back anchors are commonly used type of shoring systems in deep excavations. However, executing anchors can sometimes be challenging because they might illegally trespass neighboring properties or get obstructed by infrastructure and other underground facilities. A technique is proposed in this paper, and it involves the addition of eccentric high-strength steel strands to the RCP section through ducts without providing the pile with lateral supports. The strands are then vertically stressed externally on the pile cap using a hydraulic jack, creating a compressive strengthening force in the concrete section. An experimental study about the behavior of the shoring wall by pre-stressed piles is presented during the execution of an open excavation in an urban area (Beirut city) followed by numerical analysis using finite element software. Based on the experimental results, this technique is proven to be cost-effective and provides flexible and sustainable construction of shoring works.

Keywords: Excavation, inclinometer, prestressing, shoring system.

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Authors: Fahim Kahlouche, Alaoua Bouaicha, Sihem Chaîbeddra, Sid-Ali Rafa, Abdelhamid Benouali

Abstract:

A designing of a structure requires its realization on rough or sloping ground. Besides the problem of the stability of the landslide, the behavior of the foundations that are bearing the structure is influenced by the destabilizing effect of the ground’s slope. This article focuses on the analysis of the slope stability exposed to loading by introducing the different factors influencing the slope’s behavior on the one hand, and on the influence of this slope on the foundation’s behavior on the other hand. This study is about the elastoplastic modelization using FLAC 2D. This software is based on the finite difference method, which is one of the older methods of numeric resolution of differential equations system with initial and boundary conditions. It was developed for the geotechnical simulation calculation. The aim of this simulation is to demonstrate the notable effect of shear modulus « G », cohesion « C », inclination angle (edge) « β », and distance between the foundation and the head of the slope on the stability of the slope as well as the stability of the foundation. In our simulation, the slope is constituted by homogenous ground. The foundation is considered as rigid/hard; therefore, the loading is made by the application of the vertical strengths on the nodes which represent the contact between the foundation and the ground. 

Keywords: Slope, shallow foundation, numeric method, FLAC 2D.

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