Search results for: objective assessment

Authors: A. Miss May Thu Zar Myint, B. Dr. Kay Thi Lwin

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This research focuses on the effect of weight percentage variation and size variation of MgFeSi added, gating system design and reaction chamber design on inmold process. By using inmold process, well-known problem of fading is avoided because the liquid iron reacts with magnesium in the mold and not, as usual, in the ladle. During the pouring operation, liquid metal passes through the chamber containing the magnesium, where the reaction of the metal with magnesium proceeds in the absence of atmospheric oxygen [1].In this paper, the results of microstructural characteristic of ductile iron on this parameters are mentioned. The mechanisms of the inmold process are also described [2]. The data obtained from this research will assist in producing the vehicle parts and other machinery parts for different industrial zones and government industries and in transferring the technology to all industrial zones in Myanmar. Therefore, the inmold technology offers many advantages over traditional treatment methods both from a technical and environmental, as well as an economical point of view. The main objective of this research is to produce ductile iron castings in all industrial sectors in Myanmar more easily with lower costs. It will also assist the sharing of knowledge and experience related to the ductile iron production.

Keywords: ductile iron, inmold process, magnesiumtreatment, microstructural characteristics.

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Authors: Mustafa M. Donma, Orkide Donma

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Indices derived from anthropometric measurements [waist-to-hip ratio (WHR)] or body fat mass compositions [trunk-to-leg fat ratio (TLFR)] are used for the evaluation of obesity. The best for clinical practices is still being investigated. The aim of this study is to derive an index, which best suits the purpose for the discrimination of children with normal body mass index (N-BMI) from obese (OB) children. 83 children participated in the study. Groups 1 and 2 comprised 42 children with N-BMI and 41 OB children, whose age- and sex-adjusted BMI percentile values vary between 15-85 and 95-99, respectively. The institutional ethics committee approved the study protocol. Informed consent forms were filled by the parents of the participants. Anthropometric measurements (weight, height (Ht), waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), neck circumference (NC) values) were taken. BMI, WHR, (WC+HC)/2, WC/Ht, (WC/HC)/Ht, WC*NC were calculated. Bioelectrical impedance analysis was performed to obtain body’s fat compartments in terms of total fat, trunk fat, leg fat, arm fat masses. TLFR, trunk-to-appendicular fat ratio (TAFR), (trunk fat+leg fat)/2 ((TF+LF)/2), fat mass index (FMI) and diagnostic obesity notation model assessment-II (D2I) index values were calculated. Statistical analysis was performed. Significantly higher values of (WC+HC)/2, (TF+LF)/2, D2I and FMI were observed in OB group than N-BMI group. Significant correlations were found between BMI and WC, (WC+HC)/2, (TF+LF)/2, TLFR, TAFR, D2I, FMI in both groups. Similar correlations were obtained for WC. (WC+HC)/2 was correlated with TLFR, TAFR, (TF+LF)/2, D2I and FMI in N-BMI group. In OB group, the correlations were the same except those with TLFR and TAFR. These correlations were not present with WHR. Correlations were observed between TLFR as well as TAFR and BMI, WC, (WC+HC)/2, (TF+LF)/2, D2I, FMI in N-BMI group. In OB group, correlations between TLFR or TAFR and BMI, WC as well as (WC+HC)/2 were missing. None was noted with WHR. In conclusion, the only correlation valid in both groups was that exists between (TF+LF)/2 and (WC+HC)/2, which was suggested as a link between fat-based and anthropometric indices. (WC+HC)/2, but not WHR, was much more suitable as an anthropometric obesity index.

Keywords: Children, hip circumference, obesity, waist circumference.

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Authors: Alfrina Marwan, Erna Sulistyawati

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Class III malocclusion shows both skeletal and dentoalveolar component. Sketal Class III malocclusion can have variants in different region, maxilla or mandibular. Skeletal Class III malocclusion during growth period is considered to treat to prevent its severity in adulthood. Orthopedics treatment of skeletal Class III malocclusion in growing patient can be treated by using reverse twin block with expansion screw to modify the growth pattern. The objective of this case report was to describe the functional correction of skeletal Class III maloclussion using reverse twin block with expansion screw in growing patient. A patient with concave profile came with a chief complaint of aesthetic problems. The cephalometric analysis showed that patient had skeletal Class III malocclusion (ANB -5⁰, SNA 75º, Wits appraisal -3 mm) with anterior cross bite and deep bite (overjet -3 mm, overbite 6 mm). In this case report, the patient was treated with reverse twin block appliance with expansion screw. After three months of treatment, the skeletal problems have been corrected (ANB -1°), overjet, overbite and aesthetic were improved. Reverse twin block appliance with expansion screw can be used as orthopedics treatment for skeletal Class III malocclusion in growing patient and can improve the aesthetic with great satisfaction which was the main complaint in this patient.

Keywords: Growing patient, maxilla retrognatism, reverse twin blocks, skeletal Class III malocclusion.

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Authors: Erol Karaca

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This study aims to analyze ceramic employees’ occupational health and safety training expectations. To that general objective, the study tries to examine whether occupational health and safety training expectations of ceramic employees meaningfully differentiate depending on demographic features and professional, social and economic conditions. For this purpose, a questionnaire was developed by the researcher. The research data were collected through this questionnaire called “Questionnaire of Occupational Health and Safety Training Expectation” (QSOHSTE). QSOHSTE was applied to 125 ceramic employees working in Kütahya, Turkey. Data obtained from questionnaire were analyzed via SPSS 21. The findings, obtained from the study, revealed that employees’ agreement level to occupational health and safety training expectation statements is generally high-level. The findings reveal that employees expect professional interest such as increased development and investment, preventive measures for accidents, interventions to evaluate the working conditions, establishment of safe working environments and sustainment of adequate equipment for occupational health and safety training process. Besides these findings, employees’ agreement level to occupational health and safety training expectation statements also varies in terms of educational level, professional seniority, income level and perception of economic condition.

Keywords: Occupational Health and Safety, Occupational Training, Occupational Expectation.

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Authors: A. Kampker, K. Kreisköther, C. Reinders

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Since additive manufacturing technologies constantly advance, the use of this technology in mold making seems reasonable. Many manufacturers of additive manufacturing machines, however, do not offer any suggestions on how to parameterize the machine to achieve optimal results for mold making. The purpose of this research is to determine the interdependencies of different materials and parameters within the PolyJet process by using design of experiments (DoE), to additively manufacture molds, e.g. for thermoforming and injection molding applications. Therefore, the general requirements of thermoforming molds, such as heat resistance, surface quality and hardness, have been identified. Then, different materials and parameters of the PolyJet process, such as the orientation of the printed part, the layer thickness, the printing mode (matte or glossy), the distance between printed parts and the scaling of parts, have been examined. The multifactorial analysis covers the following properties of the printed samples: Tensile strength, tensile modulus, bending strength, elongation at break, surface quality, heat deflection temperature and surface hardness. The key objective of this research is that by joining the results from the DoE with the requirements of the mold making, optimal and tailored molds can be additively manufactured with the PolyJet process. These additively manufactured molds can then be used in prototyping processes, in process testing and in small to medium batch production.

Keywords: Additive manufacturing, design of experiments, mold making, PolyJet.

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Authors: Dilshad G.A. Ganjo, Ahmed I. Khwakaram

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An attempt was made for availability of wastewater reuse/reclamation for irrigation purposes using phytoremediation “the low cost and less technology", using six local aquatic macrophytes “e.g. T. angustifolia, B. maritimus, Ph. australis, A. donax, A. plantago-aquatica and M. longifolia (Linn)" as biological waste purifiers. Outdoor experiments/designs were conducted from May 03, 2007 till October 15, 2008, close to one of the main sewage channels of Sulaimani City/Iraq*. All processes were mainly based on conventional wastewater treatment processes, besides two further modifications were tested, the first was sand filtration pots, implanted by individual species of experimental macrophytes and the second was constructed wetlands implanted by experimental macrophytes all together. Untreated and treated wastewater samples were analyzed for their key physico-chemical properties (only heavy metals Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu with particular reference to removal efficiency by experimental macrophytes are highlighted in this paper). On the other hand, vertical contents of heavy metals were also evaluated from both pots and the cells of constructed wetland. After 135 days, macrophytes were harvested and heavy metals were analyzed in their biomass (roots/shoots) for removal efficiency assessment (i.e. uptake/ bioaccumulation rate). Results showed that; removal efficiency of all studied heavy metals was much higher in T. angustifolia followed by Ph. Australis, B. maritimus and A. donax in triple experiment sand pots. Constructed wetland experiments have revealed that; the more replicated constructed wetland cells the highest heavy metal removal efficiency was indicated.

Keywords: Aquatic Macrophytes, Heavy Metals (Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu), Phytoremediation and Removal Efficiency.

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Authors: Mamoon M. Atout

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The Middle East Gulf region has witnessed rapid growth and development in many areas over the last two decades. The development of the real-estate sector, construction industry and infrastructure projects are a major share of the development that has participated in the civilization of the countries of the Gulf. Construction industry projects were planned and managed by different types of experts, who came from all over the world having different types of experiences in construction management and industry. Some of these projects were completed on time, while many were not, due to many accumulating factors. Many accumulated factors are considered as the principle reason for the problem experienced at the project construction stage, which reflected negatively on the project success. Specific causes of delay have been identified by construction managers to avoid any unexpected delays through proper analysis and considerations to some implications such as risk assessment and analysis for many potential problems to ensure that projects will be delivered on time. Construction management implications were adopted and considered by project managers who have experience and knowledge in applying the techniques of the system of engineering construction management. The aim of this research is to determine the benefits of the implications of construction management by the construction team and level of considerations of the techniques and processes during the project development and construction phases to avoid any delay in the projects. It also aims to determine the factors that participate to project completion delays in case project managers are not well committed to their roles and responsibilities. The results of the analysis will determine the necessity of the applications required by the project team to avoid the causes of delays that help them deliver projects on time, e.g. verifying tender documents, quantities and preparing the construction method of the project.

Keywords: Construction management, control process, cost control, planning and scheduling, roles and responsibilities.

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Authors: Hilal A. Abdelwali, Elsayed E.M. Ellaimony, Ahmad E.M. Murad, Jasem M.S. Al-Rajhi

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Due to the excess of a vehicle operation through its life, some elements may face failure and deteriorate with time. This leads us to carry out maintenance, repair, tune up or full overhaul. After a certain period, the vehicle elements deteriorations increase with time which causes a very high increase of doing the maintenance operations and their costs. However, the logic decision at this point is to replace the current vehicle by a new one with minimum failure and maximum income. The importance of studying vehicle replacement problems come from the increase of stopping days due to many deteriorations in the vehicle parts. These deteriorations increase year after year causing an increase of operating costs and decrease the vehicle income. Vehicle replacement aims to determine the optimum time to keep, maintain, overhaul, renew and replace vehicles. This leads to an improvement in vehicle income, total operating costs, maintenance cost, fuel and oil costs, ton-kilometers, vehicle and engine performance, vehicle noise, vibration, and pollution. The aim of this paper is to find the optimum replacement policies of Kuwait Passenger Transport Company (KPTCP) fleet of busses. The objective of these policies is to maximize the busses pure profits. The dynamic programming (D.P.) technique is used to generate the busses optimal replacement policies

Keywords: Replacement Problem, Automotive Replacement, Dynamic Programming, Equipment Replacement, K.P.T.C.

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Authors: Elham S. Hasham, Anthony S. Hasham

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The construction industry is one of Australia’s fastest growing industries and its success is a result of a firm’s client satisfaction with focus on product determinants such as price and quality. Ensuring quality at every phase is a must and building rapport with the client will go a long way. To capitalize on the growing demand for Engineering Consulting Firms (ECFs), it is imperative to stress the implication of customer satisfaction and excellence in standards and performance. Consequently, the emphasis should be on improving employee skills through various training provisions. Clients seek consistency and thus expect that all services should be similar in respect to quality and the ability of the service to meet their needs. This calls for empowerment and comfortable work conditions to motivate employees and give them incentive to deliver quality and excellent output. The methodology utilized is triangulation - a combination of both quantitative and qualitative research. The case study - Australian Consulting Engineers (ACE) - was established in Australia in 1995 and has operations throughout Australia, the Philippines, Europe, UAE, KSA, and with a branch in Lebanon. ACE is affiliated with key agencies and support organizations in the engineering industry with International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certifications in Safety and Quality Management. The objective of this study, conducted in Australia, is significant as it sheds light on employee motivation and client satisfaction as imperative determinants of the success of an organization.

Keywords: Organizational behaviour, leadership, satisfaction, motivation, quality service.

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Authors: N. Kannan, Sabu Joseph

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Groundwater is an essential and vital component of our life support system. The groundwater resources are being utilized for drinking, irrigation and industrial purposes. There is growing concern on deterioration of groundwater quality due to geogenic and anthropogenic activities. Groundwater, being a fragile must be carefully managed to maintain its purity within standard limits. So, quality assessment and management are to be carried out hand-in-hand to have a pollution free environment and for a sustainable use. In order to assess the quality for consumption by human beings and for use in agriculture, the groundwater from the shallow aquifers (dug well) in the Palakkad and Chittur taluks of Bharathapuzha river basin - a paddy dominated agricultural basin (order=8th; L= 209 Km; Area = 6186 Km2), Kerala, India, has been selected. The water samples (n= 120) collected for various seasons, viz., monsoon-MON (August, 2005), postmonsoon-POM (December, 2005) and premonsoon-PRM (April, 2006), were analyzed for important physico-chemical attributes. Spatial and temporal variation of attributes do exist in the study area, and based on major cations and anions, different hydrochemical facies have been identified. Using Gibbs'diagram, rock dominance has been identified as the mechanism controlling groundwater chemistry. Further, the suitability of water for irrigation was determined by analyzing salinity hazard indicated by sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), residual sodium carbonate (RSC) and sodium percent (%Na). Finally, stress zones in the study area were delineated using Arc GIS spatial analysis and various management options were recommended to restore the ecosystem.

Keywords: Groundwater quality, agricultural basin, Kerala, India.

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Authors: Sundararajan Sangeetha, Joseph Jesu Christopher, Swaminathan Ramakrishnan

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In this work, the primary compressive strength components of human femur trabecular bone are qualitatively assessed using image processing and wavelet analysis. The Primary Compressive (PC) component in planar radiographic femur trabecular images (N=50) is delineated by semi-automatic image processing procedure. Auto threshold binarization algorithm is employed to recognize the presence of mineralization in the digitized images. The qualitative parameters such as apparent mineralization and total area associated with the PC region are derived for normal and abnormal images.The two-dimensional discrete wavelet transforms are utilized to obtain appropriate features that quantify texture changes in medical images .The normal and abnormal samples of the human femur are comprehensively analyzed using Harr wavelet.The six statistical parameters such as mean, median, mode, standard deviation, mean absolute deviation and median absolute deviation are derived at level 4 decomposition for both approximation and horizontal wavelet coefficients. The correlation coefficient of various wavelet derived parameters with normal and abnormal for both approximated and horizontal coefficients are estimated. It is seen that in almost all cases the abnormal show higher degree of correlation than normals. Further the parameters derived from approximation coefficient show more correlation than those derived from the horizontal coefficients. The parameters mean and median computed at the output of level 4 Harr wavelet channel was found to be a useful predictor to delineate the normal and the abnormal groups.

Keywords: Image processing, planar radiographs, trabecular bone and wavelet analysis.

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Authors: L. Moussaoui, L. Rahmani

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This paper deals with the direct torque control (DTC) of the induction motor. This type of control allows decoupling control between the flux and the torque without the need for a transformation of coordinates. However, as with other hysteresis-based systems, the classical DTC scheme represents a high ripple, in both the electromagnetic torque and the stator flux and a distortion in the stator current. As well, it suffers from variable switching frequency. To solve these problems various modifications, in conventional DTC scheme, have been made during the last decade. Indeed the DTC based on space vector modulation (SVM) has proved to generate very low ripples in torque and flux with constant switching frequency. It also shows almost the same dynamic performances as the classical DTC system. On the other hand, fuzzy logic is considered as an interesting alternative approach for its advantages: Analysis close to the exigencies of user, ability of nonlinear systems control, best dynamic performances and inherent quality of robustness.

Therefore, two fuzzy direct torque control approaches, for the induction motor fed by SVM-voltage source inverter, are proposed in this paper. By using these two approaches of DTC, the advantages of fuzzy logic control, space vector modulation, and direct torque control method are combined. The performances of these DTC schemes are evaluated through digital simulation using Matlab/Simulink platform and fuzzy logic tools. Simulation results illustrate the effectiveness and the superiority of the proposed Fuzzy DTC-SVM schemes in comparison to the classical DTC.

Keywords: Direct torque control, Fuzzy logic control, Induction motor, Switching frequency, Space vector modulation, Torque and flux ripples.

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Authors: Rihab Hamdi, Amel Hadri Hamida, Fatiha Khelili, Sakina Zerouali, Ouafae Bennis

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This paper features a comparative study performance of sliding mode controller (SMC) for closed-loop voltage control of direct current to direct current (DC-DC) three-cells buck converter connected in parallel, operating in continuous conduction mode (CCM), based on pulse-width modulation (PWM) with SMC based on hysteresis modulation (HM) where an adaptive feedforward technique is adopted. On one hand, for the PWM-based SM, the approach is to incorporate a fixed-frequency PWM scheme which is effectively a variant of SM control. On the other hand, for the HM-based SM, oncoming an adaptive feedforward control that makes the hysteresis band variable in the hysteresis modulator of the SM controller in the aim to restrict the switching frequency variation in the case of any change of the line input voltage or output load variation are introduced. The results obtained under load change, input change and reference change clearly demonstrates a similar dynamic response of both proposed techniques, their effectiveness is fast and smooth tracking of the desired output voltage. The PWM-based SM technique has greatly improved the dynamic behavior with a bit advantageous compared to the HM-based SM technique, as well as provide stability in any operating conditions. Simulation studies in MATLAB/Simulink environment have been performed to verify the concept.

Keywords: Sliding mode control, pulse-width modulation, hysteresis modulation, DC-DC converter, parallel multi-cells converter, robustness.

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Authors: Takashi Shimizu, Tomoaki Hashimoto

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Controlling the flow of fluids is a challenging problem that arises in many fields. Burgers’ equation is a fundamental equation for several flow phenomena such as traffic, shock waves, and turbulence. The optimal feedback control method, so-called model predictive control, has been proposed for Burgers’ equation. However, the model predictive control method is inapplicable to systems whose all state variables are not exactly known. In practical point of view, it is unusual that all the state variables of systems are exactly known, because the state variables of systems are measured through output sensors and limited parts of them can be only available. In fact, it is usual that flow velocities of fluid systems cannot be measured for all spatial domains. Hence, any practical feedback controller for fluid systems must incorporate some type of state estimator. To apply the model predictive control to the fluid systems described by Burgers’ equation, it is needed to establish a state estimation method for Burgers’ equation with limited measurable state variables. To this purpose, we apply unscented Kalman filter for estimating the state variables of fluid systems described by Burgers’ equation. The objective of this study is to establish a state estimation method based on unscented Kalman filter for Burgers’ equation. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by numerical simulations.

Keywords: State estimation, fluid systems, observer systems, unscented Kalman filter.

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Authors: Francesco Ruscio, Paolo Paoletti, Jens Thomas, Paul Myers, Sebastiano Fichera

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This paper presents the development of a low-cost monitoring system for a hydroponic urban vertical farm, enabling its automation and a quantitative assessment of the farm performance. Urban farming has seen increasing interest in the last decade thanks to the development of energy efficient and affordable LED lights; however, the optimal configuration of such systems (i.e. amount of nutrients, light-on time, ambient temperature etc.) is mostly based on the farmers’ experience and empirical guidelines. Moreover, even if simple, the maintenance of such systems is labor intensive as it requires water to be topped-up periodically, mixing of the nutrients etc. To unlock the full potential of urban farming, a quantitative understanding of the role that each variable plays in the growth of the plants is needed, together with a higher degree of automation. The low-cost monitoring system proposed in this paper is a step toward filling this knowledge and technological gap, as it enables collection of sensor data related to water and air temperature, water level, humidity, pressure, light intensity, pH and electric conductivity without requiring any human intervention. More sensors and actuators can also easily be added thanks to the modular design of the proposed platform. Data can be accessed remotely via a simple web interface. The proposed platform can be used both for quantitatively optimizing the setup of the farms and for automating some of the most labor-intensive maintenance activities. Moreover, such monitoring system can also potentially be used for high-level decision making, once enough data are collected.

Keywords: Automation, hydroponics, internet of things, monitoring system, urban farming.

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Authors: Laila Seada, Ashraf Ibrahim, Amjad Al Shammari

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Background and Objectives: Breast carcinoma is the most common cancer of females in Hail region, accounting for 31% of all diagnosed cancer cases followed by thyroid carcinoma (25%) and colorectal carcinoma (13%). Methods: In the present retrospective study, all cases of breast lesions received at the histopathology department in King Khalid Hospital, Hail, during the period from May 2011 to April 2016 have been retrieved from department files. For all cases, a trucut biopsy, lumpectomy, or modified radical mastectomy was available for histopathologic diagnosis, while 105/140 (75%) had, as well, preoperative fine needle aspirates (FNA). Results: 49 cases out of 140 (35%) breast lesions were carcinomas: 44/49 (89.75%) was invasive ductal, 2/49(4.1%) invasive lobular carcinomas, 1/49(2.05%) intracystic low grade papillary carcinoma and 2/49 (4.1%) ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Mean age for malignant cases was 45.06 (+/-10.58): 32.6% were below the age of 40 and 30.6 below 50 years, 18.3% below 60 and 16.3% below 70 years. For the benign group, mean age was 32.52 (+/10.5) years. Benign lesions were in order of frequency: 34 fibroadenomas, 14 fibrocystic disease, 12 chronic mastitis, five granulomatous mastitis, three intraductal papillomas, and three benign phyllodes tumor. Tubular adenoma, lipoma, skin nevus, pilomatrixoma, and breast reduction specimens constituted the remaining specimens. Conclusion: Breast lesions are common in our series and invasive carcinoma accounts for more than 1/3^rd of the lumps, with 63.2% incidence in pre-menopausal ladies, below the age of 50 years. FNA as a non-invasive procedure, proved to be an effective tool in diagnosing both benign and malignant/suspicious breast lumps and should continue to be used as a first assessment line of palpable breast masses.

Keywords: Age incidence, breast carcinoma, fine needle aspiration, Hail Region.

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Authors: Aleksandra Mišan, Bojana Šarić, Nataša Nedeljković, Mladenka Pestorić, Pavle Jovanov, Milica Pojić, Jelena Tomić, Bojana Filipčev, Miroslav Hadnađev, Anamarija Mandić

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With the aim of improving nutritional profile and antioxidant capacity of gluten-free cookies, blueberry pomace, by-product of juice production, was processed into a new food ingredient by drying and grinding and used for a gluten-free cookie formulation. Since the quality of a baked product is highly influenced by the baking conditions, the objective of this work was to optimize the baking time and thickness of dough pieces, by applying Response Surface Methodology (RSM) in order to obtain the best technological quality of the cookies. The experiments were carried out according to a Central Composite Design (CCD) by selecting the dough thickness and baking time as independent variables, while hardness, color parameters (L*, a* and b* values), water activity, diameter and short/long ratio were response variables. According to the results of RSM analysis, the baking time of 13.74min and dough thickness of 4.08mm was found to be the optimal for the baking temperature of 170°C. As similar optimal parameters were obtained by previously conducted experiment based on sensory analysis, response surface methodology (RSM) can be considered as a suitable approach to optimize the baking process.

Keywords: Baking process, blueberry pomace, gluten-free cookies, Response Surface Methodology.

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Authors: Amado, M. P., Amado, A., Poggi, F., Correia de Freitas, J.

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Today is widely understood that global energy consumption patterns are directly related to the urban expansion and development process. This expansion is based on the natural growth of human activities and has left most urban areas totally dependent on fossil fuel derived external energy inputs. This status-quo of production, transportation, storage and consumption of energy has become inefficient and is set to become even more so when the continuous increases in energy demand are factored in. The territorial management of land use and related activities is a central component in the search for more efficient models of energy use, models that can meet current and future regional, national and European goals.

In this paper a methodology is developed and discussed with the aim of improving energy efficiency at the municipal level. The development of this methodology is based on the monitoring of energy consumption and its use patterns resulting from the natural dynamism of human activities in the territory and can be utilized to assess sustainability at the local scale. A set of parameters and indicators are defined with the objective of constructing a systemic model based on the optimization, adaptation and innovation of the current energy framework and the associated energy consumption patterns. The use of the model will enable local governments to strike the necessary balance between human activities and economic development and the local and global environment while safeguarding fairness in the energy sector.

Keywords: Solar urban planning, solar smart city, urban development, energy efficiency.

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Authors: Qing Zhang, Jiachen Nie, Yujia Wen, Guanyuan Kou, Peng Yu, Kun Xia, Qin Yang, Li Ding

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Background: A facility layout problem (FLP) is an NP-complete (non-deterministic polynomial) problem, for which is hard to obtain an exact optimal solution. FLP has been widely studied in various limited spaces and workflows. For example, cafeterias with many types of equipment for troops cause chaotic processes when dining. Objective: This article tried to optimize the layout of a troops’ cafeteria and to improve the overall efficiency of the dining process. Methods: First, the original cafeteria layout design scheme was analyzed from an ergonomic perspective and two new design schemes were generated. Next, three facility layout models were designed, and further simulation was applied to compare the total time and density of troops between each scheme. Last, an experiment of the dining process with video observation and analysis verified the simulation results. Results: In a simulation, the dining time under the second new layout is shortened by 2.25% and 1.89% (p<0.0001, p=0.0001) compared with the other two layouts, while troops-flow density and interference both greatly reduced in the two new layouts. In the experiment, process completing time and the number of interferences reduced as well, which verified corresponding simulation results. Conclusion: Our two new layout schemes are tested to be optimal by a series of simulation and space experiments. In future research, similar approaches could be applied when taking layout-design algorithm calculation into consideration.

Keywords: Troops’ cafeteria, layout optimization, dining efficiency, AnyLogic simulation, field experiment

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Authors: I. Szer, J. Szer, K. Czarnocki, E. Błazik-Borowa

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People on construction scaffoldings work in dynamically changing, often unfavourable climate. Additionally, this kind of work is performed on low stiffness structures at high altitude, which increases the risk of accidents. It is therefore desirable to define the parameters of the work environment that contribute to increasing the construction worker occupational safety level. The aim of this article is to present how changes in microclimate parameters on scaffolding can impact the development of dangerous situations and accidents. For this purpose, indicators based on the human thermal balance were used. However, use of this model under construction conditions is often burdened by significant errors or even impossible to implement due to the lack of precise data. Thus, in the target model, the modified parameter was used – apparent environmental temperature. Apparent temperature in the proposed Scaffold Use Risk Assessment Model has been a perceived outdoor temperature, caused by the combined effects of air temperature, radiative temperature, relative humidity and wind speed (wind chill index, heat index). In the paper, correlations between component factors and apparent temperature for facade scaffolding with a width of 24.5 m and a height of 42.3 m, located at south-west side of building are presented. The distribution of factors on the scaffolding has been used to evaluate fitting of the microclimate model. The results of the studies indicate that observed ranges of apparent temperature on the scaffolds frequently results in a worker’s inability to adapt. This leads to reduced concentration and increased fatigue, adversely affects health, and consequently increases the risk of dangerous situations and accidental injuries

Keywords: Apparent temperature, health, safety work, scaffoldings.

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Authors: Marjan Mahdavi-Roshan, Arsalan Salari, Mahbobeh Gholipour

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Hypertension is one of the important reasons of morbidity and mortality in countries, including Iran. It has been shown that hypertension is a consequence of the interaction of genetics and environment. Nutrients have important roles in the controlling of blood pressure. We assessed dietary habit and anthropometric status in patients with hypertension in the north of Iran, and that have special dietary habit and according to their culture. This study was conducted on 127 patients with newly recognized hypertension and the 120 normotensive participants. Anthropometric status was measured and demographic characteristics, and medical condition were collected by valid questionnaires and dietary habit assessment was assessed with 3-day food recall (two weekdays and one weekend). The mean age of participants was 58 ± 6.7 years. The mean level of energy intake, saturated fat, vitamin D, potassium, zinc, dietary fiber, vitamin C, calcium, phosphorus, copper and magnesium was significantly lower in the hypertensive group compared to the control (p < 0.05). After adjusting for energy intake, positive association was observe between hypertension and some dietary nutrients including; Cholesterol [OR: 1.1, P: 0.001, B: 0.06], fiber [OR: 1.6, P: 0.001, B: 1.8], vitamin D [OR: 2.6, P: 0.006, B: 0.9] and zinc [OR: 1.4, P: 0.006, B: 0.3] intake. Logistic regression analysis showed that there was not significant association between hypertension, weight and waist circumference. In our study, the mean intake of some nutrients was lower in the hypertensive individuals compared to the normotensive individual. Health training about suitable dietary habits and easier access to vitamin D supplementation in patients with hypertension are cost-effective tools to improve outcomes in Iran.

Keywords: Hypertension, dietary intake, weight, waist circumference, North of Iran.

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Authors: Azadeh Rouhandeh, Chris Joslin, Zhen Qu, Yuu Ono

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The centre of rotation of the hip joint is needed for an accurate simulation of the joint performance in many applications such as pre-operative planning simulation, human gait analysis, and hip joint disorders. In human movement analysis, the hip joint center can be estimated using a functional method based on the relative motion of the femur to pelvis measured using reflective markers attached to the skin surface. The principal source of errors in estimation of hip joint centre location using functional methods is soft tissue artefacts due to the relative motion between the markers and bone. One of the main objectives in human movement analysis is the assessment of soft tissue artefact as the accuracy of functional methods depends upon it. Various studies have described the movement of soft tissue artefact invasively, such as intra-cortical pins, external fixators, percutaneous skeletal trackers, and Roentgen photogrammetry. The goal of this study is to present a non-invasive method to assess the displacements of the markers relative to the underlying bone using optical motion capture data and tissue thickness from ultrasound measurements during flexion, extension, and abduction (all with knee extended) of the hip joint. Results show that the artefact skin marker displacements are non-linear and larger in areas closer to the hip joint. Also marker displacements are dependent on the movement type and relatively larger in abduction movement. The quantification of soft tissue artefacts can be used as a basis for a correction procedure for hip joint kinematics.

Keywords: Hip joint centre, motion capture, soft tissue artefact, ultrasound depth measurement.

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Authors: Asmaa M. El-Bandrawy, Afaf M. Botla, Ghada E. El-Refaye, Hassan O. Ghareeb

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Background: Urinary incontinence is a common problem among adults. Its incidence increases with age and it is more frequent in women. Pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) is the first-line therapy in the treatment of pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) either alone or combined with biofeedback-assisted PFMT. The aim of the work: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of biofeedback-assisted PFMT in postoperative stress urinary incontinence. Settings and Design: A single blind controlled trial design was. Methods and Material: This study was carried out in 30 volunteer patients diagnosed as severe degree of stress urinary incontinence and they were admitted to surgical treatment. They were divided randomly into two equal groups: (Group A) consisted of 15 patients who had been treated with post-operative biofeedback-assisted PFMT and home exercise program (Group B) consisted of 15 patients who had been treated with home exercise program only. Assessment of all patients in both groups (A) and (B) was carried out before and after the treatment program by measuring intra-vaginal pressure in addition to the visual analog scale. Results: At the end of the treatment program, there was a highly statistically significant difference between group (A) and group (B) in the intra-vaginal pressure and the visual analog scale favoring the group (A). Conclusion: biofeedback-assisted PFMT is an effective method for the symptomatic relief of post-operative female stress urinary incontinence.

Keywords: Stress urinary incontinence, pelvic floor muscles, pelvic floor exercises, biofeedback.

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Authors: Silvina Caíno-Lores, Jesús Carretero

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Large scale computing infrastructures have been widely developed with the core objective of providing a suitable platform for high-performance and high-throughput computing. These systems are designed to support resource-intensive and complex applications, which can be found in many scientific and industrial areas. Currently, large scale data-intensive applications are hindered by the high latencies that result from the access to vastly distributed data. Recent works have suggested that improving data locality is key to move towards exascale infrastructures efficiently, as solutions to this problem aim to reduce the bandwidth consumed in data transfers, and the overheads that arise from them. There are several techniques that attempt to move computations closer to the data. In this survey we analyse the different mechanisms that have been proposed to provide data locality for large scale high-performance and high-throughput systems. This survey intends to assist scientific computing community in understanding the various technical aspects and strategies that have been reported in recent literature regarding data locality. As a result, we present an overview of locality-oriented techniques, which are grouped in four main categories: application development, task scheduling, in-memory computing and storage platforms. Finally, the authors include a discussion on future research lines and synergies among the former techniques.

Keywords: Co-scheduling, data-centric, data-intensive, data locality, in-memory storage, large scale.

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Authors: E. A. Kiridi, A. O. Ogunlela

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Pollutants from aquacultural practices constitute environmental problems and phytoremediation could offer cheaper environmentally sustainable alternative since equipment using advanced treatment for fish tank effluent is expensive to import, install, operate and maintain, especially in developing countries. The main objective of this research was, therefore, to develop a mathematical model for phytoremediation by aquatic plants in aquaculture wastewater. Other objectives were to evaluate the retention times on phytoremediation rates using the model and to measure the nutrient level of the aquaculture effluent and phytoremediation rates of three aquatic macrophytes, namely; water hyacinth (Eichornia crassippes), water lettuce (Pistial stratoites) and morning glory (Ipomea asarifolia). A completely randomized experimental design was used in the study. Approximately 100 g of each macrophyte were introduced into the hydroponic units and phytoremediation indices monitored at 8 different intervals from the first to the 28^th day. The water quality parameters measured were pH and electrical conductivity (EC). Others were concentration of ammonium–nitrogen (NH4⁺ -N), nitrite- nitrogen (NO₂^- -N), nitrate- nitrogen (NO₃^- -N), phosphate –phosphorus (PO₄^3- -P), and biomass value. The biomass produced by water hyacinth was 438.2 g, 600.7 g, 688.2 g and 725.7 g at four 7–day intervals. The corresponding values for water lettuce were 361.2 g, 498.7 g, 561.2 g and 623.7 g and for morning glory were 417.0 g, 567.0 g, 642.0 g and 679.5g. Coefficient of determination was greater than 80% for EC, TDS, NO₂^- -N, NO₃^- -N and 70% for NH₄⁺ -N using any of the macrophytes and the predicted values were within the 95% confidence interval of measured values. Therefore, the model is valuable in the design and operation of phytoremediation systems for aquaculture effluent.

Keywords: Phytoremediation, macrophytes, hydroponic unit, aquaculture effluent, mathematical model.

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Authors: Banaja Mohanty, Prakash Kumar Hota

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This paper demonstrates dynamic performance evaluation of load frequency control (LFC) with different intelligent techniques. All non-linearities and physical constraints have been considered in simulation studies such as governor dead band (GDB), generation rate constraint (GRC) and boiler dynamics. The conventional integral time absolute error has been considered as objective function. The design problem is formulated as an optimisation problem and particle swarm optimisation (PSO), bacterial foraging optimisation algorithm (BFOA) and differential evolution (DE) are employed to search optimal controller parameters. The superiority of the proposed approach has been shown by comparing the results with published fuzzy logic control (FLC) for the same interconnected power system. The comparison is done using various performance measures like overshoot, undershoot, settling time and standard error criteria of frequency and tie-line power deviation following a step load perturbation (SLP). It is noticed that, the dynamic performance of proposed controller is better than FLC. Further, robustness analysis is carried out by varying the time constants of speed governor, turbine, tie-line power in the range of +40% to -40% to demonstrate the robustness of the proposed DE optimized PID controller.

Keywords: Automatic generation control, governor dead band, generation rate constraint, differential evolution.

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Authors: Alemu Moges Belay

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In the 1980s, companies began to feel the effect of three major influences on their product development: newer and innovative technologies, increasing product complexity and larger organizations. And therefore companies were forced to look for new product development methods. This paper tries to focus on the two of new product development methods (DFM and CE). The aim of this paper is to see and analyze different product development methods specifically on Design for Manufacturability and Concurrent Engineering. Companies can achieve and be benefited by minimizing product life cycle, cost and meeting delivery schedule. This paper also presents simplified models that can be modified and used by different companies based on the companies- objective and requirements. Methodologies that are followed to do this research are case studies. Two companies were taken and analysed on the product development process. Historical data, interview were conducted on these companies in addition to that, Survey of literatures and previous research works on similar topics has been done during this research. This paper also tries to show the implementation cost benefit analysis and tries to calculate the implementation time. From this research, it has been found that the two companies did not achieve the delivery time to the customer. Some of most frequently coming products are analyzed and 50% to 80 % of their products are not delivered on time to the customers. The companies are following the traditional way of product development that is sequentially design and production method, which highly affect time to market. In the case study it is found that by implementing these new methods and by forming multi disciplinary team in designing and quality inspection; the company can reduce the workflow steps from 40 to 30.

Keywords: Design for manufacturability, Concurrent Engineering, Time-to-Market, Product development

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Authors: Erika Martinez Ramirez, Rene V. Mayorga

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In our modern world, more physical transactions are being substituted by electronic transactions (i.e. banking, shopping, and payments), many businesses and companies are performing most of their operations through the internet. Instead of having a physical commerce, internet visitors are now adapting to electronic commerce (e-Commerce). The ability of web users to reach products worldwide can be greatly benefited by creating friendly and personalized online business portals. Internet visitors will return to a particular website when they can find the information they need or want easily. Dealing with this human conceptualization brings the incorporation of Artificial/Computational Intelligence techniques in the creation of customized portals. From these techniques, Fuzzy-Set technologies can make many useful contributions to the development of such a human-centered endeavor as e-Commerce. The main objective of this paper is the implementation of a Paradigm for the Intelligent Design and Operation of Human-Computer interfaces. In particular, the paradigm is quite appropriate for the intelligent design and operation of software modules that display information (such Web Pages, graphic user interfaces GUIs, Multimedia modules) on a computer screen. The human conceptualization of the user personal information is analyzed throughout a Cascaded Fuzzy Inference (decision-making) System to generate the User Ascribe Qualities, which identify the user and that can be used to customize portals with proper Web links.

Keywords: Fuzzy Logic, Internet, Electronic Commerce, Intelligent Portals, Electronic Shopping.

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Authors: Meseret Teshome

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This study has the objective of assessing the effect of kaizen (5S, Muda elimination and Quality Control Circle (QCC) on employees’ affective attitude (job satisfaction, commitment and job stress) in Kombolcha Textile Share Company. A conceptual model was developed to describe the relationship between Kaizen and Employees’ Affective Attitude (EAA) factors. The three factors of Employee Affective Attitude were measured using questionnaire derived from other validated questionnaire. In the data collection to conduct this study; questionnaire, unstructured interview, written documents and direct observations are used. To analyze the data, SPSS and Microsoft Excel were used. In addition, the internal consistency of similar items in the questionnaire instrument was measured for their equivalence by using the cronbach’s alpha test. In this study, the effect of 5S, Muda elimination and QCC on job satisfaction, commitment and job stress in Kombolcha Textile Share Company is assessed and factors that reduce employees’ job satisfaction with respect to kaizen implementation are identified. The total averages of means from the questionnaire are 3.1 for job satisfaction, 4.31 for job commitment and 4.2 for job stress. And results from interview and secondary data show that kaizen implementation have effect on EAA. In general, based on the thesis results it was concluded that kaizen (5S, muda elimination and QCC) have positive effect for improving EAA factors at KTSC. Finally, recommendations for improvement are given based on the results.

Keywords: Kaizen, job satisfaction, job commitment, job stress.

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Authors: Woo Young Jung, Min Ho Kwon, Bu Seog Ju

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A failure of the non-structural component can cause  significant damages in critical facilities such as nuclear power plants  and hospitals. Historically, it was reported that the damage from the  leakage of sprinkler systems, resulted in the shutdown of hospitals for  several weeks by the 1971 San Fernando and 1994 North Ridge  earthquakes. In most cases, water leakages were observed at the cross  joints, sprinkler heads, and T-joint connections in piping systems  during and after the seismic events. Hence, the primary objective of  this study was to understand the seismic performance of T-joint  connections and to develop an analytical Finite Element (FE) model  for the T-joint systems of 2-inch fire protection piping system in  hospitals subjected to seismic ground motions. In order to evaluate the  FE models of the piping systems using OpenSees, two types of  materials were used: 1) Steel02 materials and 2) Pinching4 materials.  Results of the current study revealed that the nonlinear  moment-rotation FE models for the threaded T-joint reconciled well  with the experimental results in both FE material models. However,  the system-level fragility determined from multiple nonlinear time  history analyses at the threaded T-joint was slightly different. The  system-level fragility at the T-joint, determined by Pinching4 material  was more conservative than that of using Steel02 material in the piping  system.

Keywords: Fragility, T-joint, Piping, Leakage, Sprinkler.

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