Search results for: autonomous public transport

Authors: I. Cano-Aguilera, B. E. Rubio-Campos, G. De la Rosa, A. F. Aguilera-Alvarado

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Mining tailings represent a generating source of rich heavy metal material with a potential danger the public health and the environment, since these metals, under certain conditions, can leach and contaminate aqueous systems that serve like supplying potable water sources. The strategy for this work is based on the observation, experimentation and the simulation that can be obtained by binding real answers of the hydrodynamic behavior of metals leached from mining tailings, and the applied mathematics that provides the logical structure to decipher the individual effects of the general physicochemical phenomenon. The case of study presented herein focuses on mining tailings deposits located in Monte San Nicolas, Guanajuato, Mexico, an abandoned mine. This was considered the contamination source that under certain physicochemical conditions can favor the metal leaching, and its transport towards aqueous systems. In addition, the cartography, meteorology, geology and the hydrodynamics and hydrological characteristics of the place, will be helpful in determining the way and the time in which these systems can interact. Preliminary results demonstrated that arsenic presents a great mobility, since this one was identified in several superficial aqueous systems of the micro watershed, as well as in sediments in concentrations that exceed the established maximum limits in the official norms. Also variations in pH and potential oxide-reduction were registered, conditions that favor the presence of different species from this element its solubility and therefore its mobility.

Keywords: Arsenic, mining tailings, transport.

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Authors: Agneta Sundström, Zahra Ahmadi, Akmal Hyder

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The purpose of this paper is to develop a typology based on market orientation (MO) and innovation orientation (IO), and to illustrate to what extent housing companies in Sweden fit within this framework. A qualitative study on 11 public housing companies in the central part of Sweden has been conducted by the help of open and semi-structured questions for data collection. Four public housing company types- i.e. reactive prospector, proactive prospector, reactive defender and proactive defender have been identified by the combination of MO-IO dimensions. Future research can include other dimensions like entrepreneurship and network to observe how it particularly affects MO. An empirical study can compare public and private housing companies on the basis of MO and IO dimensions. One major contribution of the paper is the proposition of typology which can be used to describe public housing companies and deciding their future course of actions.

Keywords: Customer-led, economy, innovativeness, market orientation.

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Authors: David L. Olson, Stephen B. H. Bruder, Adam S. Watkins, Cleon E. Davis

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In global navigation satellite system (GNSS) denied settings, such as indoor environments, autonomous mobile robots are often limited to dead-reckoning navigation techniques to determine their position, velocity, and attitude (PVA). Localization is typically accomplished by employing an inertial measurement unit (IMU), which, while precise in nature, accumulates errors rapidly and severely degrades the localization solution. Standard sensor fusion methods, such as Kalman filtering, aim to fuse precise IMU measurements with accurate aiding sensors to establish a precise and accurate solution. In indoor environments, where GNSS and no other a priori information is known about the environment, effective sensor fusion is difficult to achieve, as accurate aiding sensor choices are sparse. However, an opportunity arises by employing a depth camera in the indoor environment. A depth camera can capture point clouds of the surrounding floors and walls. Extracting attitude from these surfaces can serve as an accurate aiding source, which directly combats errors that arise due to gyroscope imperfections. This configuration for sensor fusion leads to a dramatic reduction of PVA error compared to traditional aiding sensor configurations. This paper provides the theoretical basis for the depth camera aiding sensor method, initial expectations of performance benefit via simulation, and hardware implementation thus verifying its veracity. Hardware implementation is performed on the Quanser Qbot 2™ mobile robot, with a Vector-Nav VN-200™ IMU and Kinect™ camera from Microsoft.

Keywords: Autonomous mobile robotics, dead reckoning, depth camera, inertial navigation, Kalman filtering, localization, sensor fusion.

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Authors: Aurélie Mabrouk, Vincent Lagneau, Caroline De Dieuleveult, Martin Bachet, Hélène Schneider, Christophe Coquelet

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Resins are used in nuclear power plants for water ultrapurification. Two approaches are considered in this work: column experiments and simulations. A software called OPTIPUR was developed, tested and used. The approach simulates the onedimensional reactive transport in porous medium with convectivedispersive transport between particles and diffusive transport within the boundary layer around the particles. The transfer limitation in the boundary layer is characterized by the mass transfer coefficient (MTC). The influences on MTC were measured experimentally. The variation of the inlet concentration does not influence the MTC; on the contrary of the Darcy velocity which influences. This is consistent with results obtained using the correlation of Dwivedi&Upadhyay. With the MTC, knowing the number of exchange site and the relative affinity, OPTIPUR can simulate the column outlet concentration versus time. Then, the duration of use of resins can be predicted in conditions of a binary exchange.

Keywords: ion exchange resin, mass transfer coefficient, modeling, OPTIPUR

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Authors: Saeed Sayyad Hagh Shomar

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Traffic congestion pricing in urban streets is one of the most suitable options for solving the traffic problems and environment pollutions in the cities of the country. Unlike its acceptable outcomes, there are problems concerning the necessity to pay by the mass. Regarding the fact that public response in order to succeed in this strategy is so influential, studying their response and behavior to get the feedback and improve the strategies is of great importance. In this study, a questionnaire was used to examine the public reactions to the traffic congestion pricing schemes at the center of Tehran metropolis and the factors involved in people’s decision making in accepting or rejecting the congestion pricing schemes were assessed based on the data obtained from the questionnaire as well as the international experiences. Then, by analyzing and comparing the schemes, guidelines to reduce public objections to them are discussed. The results of reviewing and evaluating the public reactions show that all the pros and cons must be considered to guarantee the success of these projects. Consequently, with targeted public education and consciousness-raising advertisements, prior to initiating a scheme and ensuring the mechanism of the implementation after the start of the project, the initial opposition is reduced and, with the gradual emergence of the real and tangible benefits of its implementation, users’ satisfaction will increase.

Keywords: Demand management, international experiences, traffic congestion pricing, public acceptance, public objection.

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Authors: Jianyong Xue, Olivier L. Georgeon, Salima Hassas

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During the initial phase of cognitive development, infants exhibit amazing abilities to generate novel behaviors in unfamiliar situations, and explore actively to learn the best while lacking extrinsic rewards from the environment. These abilities set them apart from even the most advanced autonomous robots. This work seeks to contribute to understand and replicate some of these abilities. We propose the Bottom-up hiErarchical sequential Learning algorithm with Constructivist pAradigm (BEL-CA) to design agents capable of learning autonomously and continuously through interactions. The algorithm implements no assumption about the semantics of input and output data. It does not rely upon a model of the world given a priori in the form of a set of states and transitions as well. Besides, we propose a toolkit to analyze the learning process at run time called GAIT (Generating and Analyzing Interaction Traces). We use GAIT to report and explain the detailed learning process and the structured behaviors that the agent has learned on each decision making. We report an experiment in which the agent learned to successfully interact with its environment and to avoid unfavorable interactions using regularities discovered through interaction.

Keywords: Cognitive development, constructivist learning, hierarchical sequential learning, self-adaptation.

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Authors: Miyoun Won, Youngkyung Choi

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In the meantime, there were lots of hardware solutions like products or urban facilities for crime prevention in the public design area. Meanwhile, people have growing interest in public design so by making a village; community design in public design is getting active by the society. The system for crime prevention is actively done by the citizens who created the community. Regarding the social situation, in this project, we saw it as a kind of community design practices and researched about 'how does community design influence Crime prevention?' The purpose of this study is to propose the community design as a way of preventing the crime in the city. First, we found out about the definition, elements and methods of community design by reviewing the theory. And then, this study analyzed the case that was enforced in Seoul and organize the elements and methods of community design. This study can be refer to Public Design based on civil participation and make the community design area contribute to expand the way of solving social problems.

Keywords: Public Design, Sustainable Community Design, Crime Prevention, Participatory Design.

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Authors: Andrew Cummings, Rhianne Boag, Sarah Bryson, Gordon Turner

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Packages designed for transport of radioactive material must satisfy rigorous safety regulations specified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Higher Activity Waste (HAW) transport packages have to maintain containment of their contents during normal and accident conditions of transport (NCT and ACT). To ensure containment criteria is satisfied these packages are required to be leak-tight in all transport conditions to meet allowable activity release rates. Package design safety reports are the safety cases that provide the claims, evidence and arguments to demonstrate that packages meet the regulations and once approved by the competent authority (in the UK this is the Office for Nuclear Regulation) a licence to transport radioactive material is issued for the package(s). The standard approach to demonstrating containment in the RWM transport safety case is set out in BS EN ISO 12807. In this document a method for measuring a leak rate from the package is explained by way of a small interspace test volume situated between two O-ring seals on the underside of the package lid. The interspace volume is pressurised and a pressure drop measured. A small interspace test volume makes the method more sensitive enabling the measurement of smaller leak rates. By ascertaining the activity of the contents, identifying a releasable fraction of material and by treating that fraction of material as a gas, allowable leak rates for NCT and ACT are calculated. The adherence to basic safety principles in ISO12807 is very pessimistic and current practice in the demonstration of transport safety, which is accepted by the UK regulator. It is UK government policy that management of HAW will be through geological disposal. It is proposed that the intermediate level waste be transported to the geological disposal facility (GDF) in large cuboid packages. This poses a challenge for containment demonstration because such packages will have long seals and therefore large interspace test volumes. There is also uncertainty on the releasable fraction of material within the package ullage space. This is because the waste may be in many different forms which makes it difficult to define the fraction of material released by the waste package. Additionally because of the large interspace test volume, measuring the calculated leak rates may not be achievable. For this reason a justification for a lower releasable fraction of material is sought. This paper considers the use of aerosol processes to reduce the releasable fraction for both NCT and ACT. It reviews the basic coagulation and removal processes and applies the dynamic aerosol balance equation. The proposed solution includes only the most well understood physical processes namely; Brownian coagulation and gravitational settling. Other processes have been eliminated either on the basis that they would serve to reduce the release to the environment further (pessimistically in keeping with the essence of nuclear transport safety cases) or that they are not credible in the conditions of transport considered.

Keywords: Aerosol processes, Brownian coagulation, gravitational settling, transport regulations.

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Authors: S K Sharma, N S Sehkon, S Deswal, Siby John

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The presence of toxic heavy metals in industrial effluents is one of the serious threats to the environment. Heavy metals such as Cadmium, Chromium, Lead, Nickel, Zinc, Mercury, Copper, Arsenic are found in the effluents of industries such as foundries, electroplating, petrochemical, battery manufacturing, tanneries, fertilizer, dying, textiles, metallurgical and metal finishing. Tremendous increase of industrial copper usage and its presence in industrial effluents has lead to a growing concern about the fate and effects of Copper in the environment. Percolation of industrial effluents through soils leads to contamination of ground water and soils. The transport of heavy metals and their diffusion into the soils has therefore, drawn the attention of the researchers. In this study, an attempt has been made to delineate the mechanisms of transport and fate of copper in terrestrial environment. Column studies were conducted using perplex glass square column of dimension side 15 cm and 1.35 m long. The soil samples were collected from a natural drain near Mohali (India). The soil was characterized to be poorly graded sandy loam. The soil was compacted to the field dry density level of about 1.6 g/cm3. Break through curves for different depths of the column were plotted. The results of the column study indicated that the copper has high tendency to flow in the soils and fewer tendencies to get absorbed on the soil particles. The t1/2 estimates obtained from the studies can be used for design copper laden wastewater disposal systems.

Keywords: Column study, copper, soil, transport.

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Authors: A. S. Adelokun, O. O. Gambo, A. A. Adegboye

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This study estimates the private cost of Humanities and Education programs in public universities in Osun state, Nigeria, as well as the private monetary returns to Humanities and Education programs in public universities in the state. It also estimates the private rates of return to Humanities and Education programmes in public universities in Osun state; with the view of providing information on the relative profitability of investments in Humanities and Education programs in public universities in Osun state. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population for the study consisted of all Humanities and Education students from public universities in Osun State and all Humanities and Education graduates who are workers in Osun state establishments. The sample was made up of 600 students and 120 workers. The students were selected through simple random sampling technique from the two public universities in the state while the workers were purposively selected from Osun state establishments. These workers were graduates of Humanities and Education programs. The selected programs included Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in English, Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) in English, B.A. in Religious Studies, B.Ed. in Religious Studies, B.A. in Yoruba and B.Ed. in Yoruba. Two research instruments were used, namely: Private Costs of University Education Questionnaire (PCUEQ) and Age Education Earnings of Workers Questionnaire (AEEWQ). The data were analyzed using compounding and discount cash flow techniques. The results showed that the private costs of Humanities and Education programs in public universities in Osun state were N855,935.59 and N694,269.34 respectively. The private monetary returns to Humanities and Education programs in public universities in the State were N9,052,859.28 and N9,052,859.28, respectively. The private rates of return to Humanities and Education programmes in public universities in Osun state were 27.36% and 34.40% respectively. The study concluded that it was more profitable to invest in Education programs than in Humanities programs at public universities in Osun state, Nigeria.

Keywords: Rates of return, private cost, investment, education.

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Authors: Yun-Hsuan Yu, Chi-Shung Tang, Nzar Rauf Abdullah, Vidar Gudmundsson

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Spin-orbit gap feature in energy dispersion of one-dimensional devices is revealed via strong spin-orbit interaction (SOI) effects under Zeeman field. We describe the utilization of a finger-gate or a top-gate to control the spin-dependent transport characteristics in the SOI-Zeeman influenced split-gate devices by means of a generalized spin-mixed propagation matrix method. For the finger-gate system, we find a bound state in continuum for incident electrons within the ultra-low energy regime. For the top-gate system, we observe more bound-state features in conductance associated with the formation of spin-associated hole-like or electron-like quasi-bound states around band thresholds, as well as hole bound states around the reverse point of the energy dispersion. We demonstrate that the spin-dependent transport behavior of a top-gate system is similar to that of a finger-gate system only if the top-gate length is less than the effective Fermi wavelength.

Keywords: Spin-orbit, Zeeman, top-gate, finger-gate, bound state.

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Authors: Sebastien Harasse, Laurent Bonnaud, Michel Desvignes

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Counting people from a video stream in a noisy environment is a challenging task. This project aims at developing a counting system for transport vehicles, integrated in a video surveillance product. This article presents a method for the detection and tracking of multiple faces in a video by using a model of first and second order local moments. An iterative process is used to estimate the position and shape of multiple faces in images, and to track them. the trajectories are then processed to count people entering and leaving the vehicle.

Keywords: face detection, tracking, counting, local statistics

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Authors: M. P. Amado, C. V. Santos, E. B. Moura, V.G. Silva

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Urban planning, in particular on protected landscape areas, demands an increasing role of public participation within the frame of the efficiency of sustainable planning process. The development of urban planning actions in Protected Landscape areas, as Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, should perform a methodological process that is structured over distinct sequential stages, providing the development of a continuous, interactive, integrated and participative planning. From the start of Malveira da Serra and Janes Plan process, several public participation actions were promoted, in order to involve the local agents, stakeholders and the population in the decision of specific local key issues and define the appropriate priorities within the goals and strategies previously settled. As a result, public participation encouraged an innovative process that guarantees the efficiency of sustainable urban planning and promotes a sustainable new way of living in community.

Keywords: Protected landscape areas, Public participation, Sustainable development, Sustainable planning, Urban planning.

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Authors: A. Leśniak, E. Plebankiewicz, K. Zima

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Construction projects can be implemented under various contractual and organizational systems. They can be divided into two groups: systems without the managing company where the Client manages the process, and systems with the managing company, where management is entrusted to an external company. In the public sector of the Polish market there are two ways of delivery of construction projects with the participation of the manager: one is to assign operations to another party, the so called Project Supervisor, whilst the other results from the application of FIDIC conditions of contract, which entail appointment of the Engineer. The decision is to be made by the Client and depends on various factors. On the public procurement market in Poland the selection of construction project manager boils down to awarding the contract for such a service. The selection can be done by one of eight public procurement procedures identified by the procurement law. The paper provides the analysis of 96 contracts for services awarded in 2011, which employed construction management. The study aimed to investigate the methods and criteria for selecting managers, applied in practice by the Polish public Clients.

Keywords: construction management, construction services, methods and criteria of tender selection, public procurement

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Authors: Sandesh Achar

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is being increasingly incorporated into many applications across various sectors such as health, education, security, and agriculture. Recently, there has been rapid development in cloud computing technology, resulting in AI’s implementation into cloud computing to enhance and optimize the technology service rendered. The deployment of AI in cloud-based applications has brought about autonomous computing, whereby systems achieve stated results without human intervention. Despite the amount of research into autonomous computing, work incorporating AI/ML into cloud computing to enhance its performance and resource allocation remains a fundamental challenge. This paper highlights different manifestations, roles, trends, and challenges related to AI-based cloud computing models. This work reviews and highlights investigations and progress in the domain. Future directions are suggested for leveraging AI/ML in next-generation computing for emerging computing paradigms such as cloud environments. Adopting AI-based algorithms and techniques to increase operational efficiency, cost savings, automation, reducing energy consumption and solving complex cloud computing issues are the major findings outlined in this paper.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence, AI, cloud computing, deep learning, machine learning, ML, internet of things, IoT.

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Authors: L. Haddad, Z. Aouachria

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The development of transport systems has negative impacts on the environment although it has beneficial effects on society. The car policy caused many problems such as: - the spectacular growth of fuel consumption hence the very vast increase in urban pollution, traffic congestion in certain places and at certain times, the increase in the number of accidents. The exhaust emissions from cars and weather conditions are the main factors that determine the level of pollution in urban atmosphere. These conditions lead to the phenomenon of heat transfer and radiation occurring between the air and the soil surface of any town. These exchanges give rise, in urban areas, to the effects of heat islands that correspond to the appearance of excess air temperature between the city and its surrounding space. In this object, we perform a numerical simulation of the plume generated by the cars exhaust gases and show that these gases form a screening effect above the urban city which cause the heat island in the presence of wind flow. This study allows us: 1. To understand the different mechanisms of interactions between these phenomena.2. To consider appropriate technical solutions to mitigate the effects of the heat island.

Keywords: Atmospheric pollution, impact on the health, urban transport, heat island.

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Authors: A. Andreasyan, C. Connors

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The Elliptic Curve Digital Signature algorithm-based X509v3 certificates are becoming more popular due to their short public and private key sizes. Moreover, these certificates can be stored in Internet of Things (IoT) devices, with limited resources, using less memory and transmitted in network security protocols, such as Internet Key Exchange (IKE), Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Shell (SSH) with less bandwidth. The proposed method gives another advantage, in that it increases the performance of the above-mentioned protocols in terms of key exchange by saving one scalar multiplication operation.

Keywords: Cryptography, elliptic curve digital signature algorithm, key exchange, network security protocols.

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Authors: Adrian Samuel Limanto, Yunli Lee

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Interactive public displays give access as an innovative media to promote enhanced communication between people and information. However, digital public displays are subject to a few constraints, such as content presentation. Content presentation needs to be developed to be more interesting to attract people’s attention and motivate people to interact with the display. In this paper, we proposed idea to implement contents with interaction elements for vision-based digital public display. Vision-based techniques are applied as a sensor to detect passers-by and theme contents are suggested to attract their attention for encouraging them to interact with the announcement content. Virtual object, gesture detection and projection installation are applied for attracting attention from passers-by. Preliminary study showed positive feedback of interactive content designing towards the public display. This new trend would be a valuable innovation as delivery of announcement content and information communication through this media is proven to be more engaging.

Keywords: Digital announcement, digital public display, human-information interaction, interactive media.

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Authors: P. G. Siddheshwar, B. N. Veena

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Rayleigh-B´enard convection of a nanoliquid in shallow, square and tall enclosures is studied using the Khanafer-Vafai-Lightstone single-phase model. The thermophysical properties of water, copper, copper-oxide, alumina, silver and titania at 3000 K under stagnant conditions that are collected from literature are used in calculating thermophysical properties of water-based nanoliquids. Phenomenological laws and mixture theory are used for calculating thermophysical properties. Free-free, rigid-rigid and rigid-free boundary conditions are considered in the study. Intractable Lorenz model for each boundary combination is derived and then reduced to the tractable Ginzburg-Landau model. The amplitude thus obtained is used to quantify the heat transport in terms of Nusselt number. Addition of nanoparticles is shown not to alter the influence of the nature of boundaries on the onset of convection as well as on heat transport. Amongst the three enclosures considered, it is found that tall and shallow enclosures transport maximum and minimum energy respectively. Enhancement of heat transport due to nanoparticles in the three enclosures is found to be in the range 3% - 11%. Comparison of results in the case of rigid-rigid boundaries is made with those of an earlier work and good agreement is found. The study has limitations in the sense that thermophysical properties are calculated by using various quantities modelled for static condition.

Keywords: Enclosures, free-free, rigid-rigid and rigid-free boundaries, Ginzburg-Landau model, Lorenz model.

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Authors: Seiichi Tamagawa, Takao Kawamura, Toshihiko Sasama, Kazunori Sugahara

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Route bus system is one of fundamental transportation device for aged people and students, and has an important role in every province. However, passengers decrease year by year, therefore the authors have developed the system called "Bus-Net" as a web application to sustain the public transport. But there are two problems in Bus-Net. One is the user interface that does not consider the variety of the device, and the other is the path planning system that dose not correspond to the on-demand bus. Then, Bus-Net was improved to be able to utilize the variety of the device, and a new function corresponding to the on-demand bus was developed.

Keywords: Route Bus, Path Planning System, User Interface, Ondemandbus, Reservation system.

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Authors: Isaac Kofi Mensah, Mi Jianing

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The lack of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) infrastructure in African countries is hampering the successful adoption, development and implementation of e-government in Africa. Electronic government is the use of ICTs to modernize government public administration processes and to provide government services to citizens with a purpose to enhance efficiency, accountability, and transparency in government’s interaction with the citizenry. ICT application in public administration has the potential to modernize and create smarter government and improvement in public service delivery. China’s Internet Plus policy and One Belt One Road strategy present a golden opportunity for countries in Africa to attract the huge financial investment through Chinese IT companies to develop and close Africa’s ICT infrastructure gap. This study recommends the establishment of One Belt One Road ICT Infrastructure Fund for Africa (OBOR ICT Fund for Africa) to enable countries in Africa to source solely for the purpose of ICT infrastructure development in the public sector/government machinery which would in turn promote the adoption and development of e-government in the public sectors of respective countries in Africa.

Keywords: E-government, public service delivery, internet plus, one belt one road initiative, China, Africa.

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Authors: Ting (Grace) Lin, Jianhong (Cecilia) Xia, Todd Robinson

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Accessibility analysis, examining people’s ability to access facilities and destinations, is a fundamental assessment for transport planning, policy making, and social exclusion research. Dynamic accessibility which measures accessibility in real-time traffic environment has been an advanced accessibility indicator in transport research. It is also a useful indicator to help travelers to understand travel time daily variability, assists traffic engineers to monitor traffic congestions, and finally develop effective strategies in order to mitigate traffic congestions. This research involved real-time traffic information by collecting travel time data with 15-minute interval via the TomTom^® API. A framework for measuring dynamic accessibility was then developed based on the gravity theory and accessibility dichotomy theory through space and time interpolation. Finally, the dynamic accessibility can be derived at any given time and location under dynamic accessibility spatial analysis framework.

Keywords: Dynamic accessibility, space-time continuum, transport research, TomTom® API.

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Authors: Anatoly Krivinsh

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The results of dissertation research "Preventing and  combating corruption in public procurement" are presented in this  publication. The study was conducted 2011 till 2013 in a Member  State of the European Union– in the Republic of Latvia.  Goal of the thesis is to explore corruption prevention and  combating issues in public procurement sphere, to identify the  prevalence rates, determinants and contributing factors and  prevention opportunities in Latvia.  In the first chapter the author analyzes theoretical aspects of  understanding corruption in public procurement, with particular  emphasis on corruption definition problem, its nature, causes and  consequences. A separate section is dedicated to the public  procurement concept, mechanism and legal framework. In the first  part of this work the author presents cognitive methodology of  corruption in public procurement field, based on which the author has  carried out an analysis of corruption situation in public procurement  in Republic of Latvia.  In the second chapter of the thesis, the author analyzes the  problem of corruption in public procurement, including its historical  aspects, typology and classification of corruption subjects involved,  corruption risk elements in public procurement and their  identification. During the development of the second chapter author's  practical experience in public procurements was widely used.  The third and fourth chapter deals with issues related to the  prevention and combating corruption in public procurement, namely  the operation of the concept, principles, methods and techniques,  subjects in Republic of Latvia, as well as an analysis of foreign  experience in preventing and combating corruption. The fifth chapter  is devoted to the corruption prevention and combating perspectives  and their assessment. In this chapter the author has made the  evaluation of corruption prevention and combating measures  efficiency in Republic of Latvia, assessment of anti-corruption  legislation development stage in public procurement field in Latvia. 

Keywords: Prevention of corruption, public purchases.

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Authors: Z. Pavlík, J. Žumár, M. Pavlíková, J. Kočí, R. Černý

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Water vapour transport properties of gypsum block are studied in dependence on relative humidity using inverse analysis based on genetic algorithm. The computational inverse analysis is performed for the relative humidity profiles measured along the longitudinal axis of a rod sample. Within the performed transient experiment, the studied sample is exposed to two environments with different relative humidity, whereas the temperature is kept constant. For the basic gypsum characterisation and for the assessment of input material parameters necessary for computational application of genetic algorithm, the basic material properties of gypsum are measured as well as its thermal and water vapour storage parameters. On the basis of application of genetic algorithm, the relative humidity dependent water vapour diffusion coefficient and water vapour diffusion resistance factor are calculated.

Keywords: Water vapour transport, gypsum block, transient experiment, genetic algorithm.

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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: A. Benaiche

Abstract:

In the current situation, the automobile has become the main means of locomotion. It allows traveling long distances, encouraging urban sprawl. To counteract this trend, the train is often proposed as an alternative to the car. Simultaneously, the favoring of urban development around public transport nodes such as railway stations is one of the main issues of the coordination between urban planning and transportation and the keystone of the sustainable urban development implementation. In this context, this paper focuses on the study of the spatial structuring dynamics around the railway. Specifically, it is a question of studying the demographic dynamics in rail corridors of Nantes, Angers and Le Mans (Western France) basing on the radiation of railway stations. Consequently, the methodology is concentrated on the knowledge of demographic weight and gains of these corridors, the index of urban intensity and the mobility behaviors (workers’ travels, scholars' travels, modal practices of travels). The perimeter considered to define the rail corridors includes the communes of urban area which have a railway station and communes with an access time to the railway station is less than fifteen minutes by car (time specified by the Regional Transport Scheme of Travelers). The main tools used are the statistical data from the census of population, the basis of detailed tables and databases on mobility flows. The study reveals that the population is not tightened along rail corridors and train use is minimal despite the presence of a nearby railway station. These results lead to propose guidelines to make the train, a real vector of mobility across the rail corridors.

Keywords: Coordination between urban planning and transportation, Rail corridors, Railway stations, Travels.

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Authors: Michaela Chovancova, Pavel Niedoba

Abstract:

For the treatment of acute and chronic lung diseases it is preferred to deliver medicaments by inhalation. The drug is delivered directly to tracheobronchial tree. This way allows the given medicament to get directly into the place of action and it makes rapid onset of action and maximum efficiency. The transport of aerosol particles in the particular part of the lung is influenced by their size, anatomy of the lungs, breathing pattern and airway resistance. This article deals with calculation of airway resistance in the lung model of Horsfield. It solves the problem of determination of the pressure losses in bifurcation and thus defines the pressure drop at a given location in the bronchial tree. The obtained data will be used as boundary conditions for transport of aerosol particles in a central part of bronchial tree realized by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) approach. The results obtained from CFD simulation will allow us to provide information on the required particle size and optimal inhalation technique for particle transport into particular part of the lung.

Keywords: Human lungs, bronchial tree, pressure losses, airways resistance, flow, breathing.

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Authors: Kianoosh Samimi, Siham Kamali-Bernard, Ali Akbar Maghsoudi

Abstract:

Due to the difficult placement and vibration between reinforcements of reinforced concrete and the defects that it may cause, the use of self-compacting concrete (SCC) is becoming more widespread. Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) is the most widely used binder in the construction industry. However, the manufacture of this cement results in a significant amount of CO₂ being released, which is detrimental to the environment. Thus, an alternative to reduce the cost of SCC is the use of more economical and environmental mineral additives in partial or total substitution of Portland cement. Our study is in this context and aims to develop SCCs both economic and ecological. Two natural pozzolans such as pumice and zeolite are chosen in this research. This research tries to answer questions including the microstructure of the two types of natural pozzolan and their influence on the mechanical properties as well as on the transport property of SCC. Based on the findings of this study, the studied zeolite is a clinoptilolite that presents higher pozzolan activity compared to pumice. However, the use of zeolite decreases the compressive strength of SCC composites. On the contrary, the compressive strength in SCC containing of pumice increases at both early and long term ages with a remarkable increase at long term. A correlation is obtained between the compressive strength with permeable pore and capillary absorption. Also, the results concerning compressive strength and transport property are well justified by evaporable and non-evaporable water content measurement. This paper shows that the substitution of Portland cement by 15% of pumice or 10% of zeolite in HSSCC is suitable in all aspects. 

Keywords: SCC, concrete, pumice, zeolite, durability, transport.

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Authors: Yasmin Nanabhay

Abstract:

The paper scrutinizes the literature on accountability and non-accountability, and then presents an analysis of a South African case which demonstrated consequences of a lack of accountability. Ethical conduct displayed by members of the public sector is integral to creating a sustainable democratic government, which upholds the constitutional tenets of accountability, transparency and professional ethicality. Furthermore, a true constitutional democracy emphasises and advocates the notion of service leadership that nurtures public participation and engages with citizens in a positive manner. Ethical conduct and accountability in the public sector earns public trust; hence these are key principles in good governance. Yet, in the years since the advent of democracy in South Africa, the government has been plagued by rampant corruption and mal-administration by public officials and politicians in leadership positions. The control measures passed by government in an attempt to ensure ethicality and accountability within the public sector include codes of ethics, rules of conduct and the enactment of legislation. These are intended to shape the mindset of members of the public sector, with the ultimate aim of an efficient, effective, ethical, responsive and accountable public service. The purpose of the paper is to analyse control systems and accountability within the public sector and to present reasons for non-accountability by means of a selected case study. The selected case study is the corruption trial of Jackie Selebi, who served as National Commissioner of the South African Police Service but was dismissed from the post. The reasons for non-accountability in the public sector as well as recommendations based on the findings to enhance accountability will be undertaken. The case study demonstrates the experience and impact of corruption and/or mal-administration, as a result of a lack of accountability, which has contributed to the increasing loss of confidence in political leadership in the country as elsewhere in the world. The literature is applied to the erstwhile National Commissioner of the South African Police Service and President of Interpol, as a case study of non-accountability.

Keywords: Public sector, public accountability, internal control, oversight mechanisms, non-compliance, corruption, mal-administration.

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Authors: Fulya Zaralı, Harun Resit Yazgan

Abstract:

Logistics centers represent areas that all national and international logistics and activities related to logistics can be implemented by the various businesses. Logistics centers have a key importance in joining the transport stream and the transport system operations. Therefore, it is important where these centers are positioned to be effective and efficient and to show the expected performance of the centers. In this study, the location selection problem to position the logistics center is discussed. Alternative centers are evaluated according certain criteria. The most appropriate center is identified using the axiomatic design method.

Keywords: Logistic center, axiomatic design, facility location, information systems.

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