Search results for: product quality

Authors: J. Kundrák, I. Sztankovics, K. Gyáni

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In addition to the increase of the material removal rate or surface rate, or the improvement of the surface quality, which are the main aims of the development of manufacturing technology, a growing number of other manufacturing requirements have appeared in the machining of workpiece surfaces. Among these it is becoming increasingly dominant to generate a surface topography in finishing operations which meets more closely the needs of operational requirements.

These include the examination of the surface periodicity and/or ensuring that the twist-structure values are within the limits (or even preventing its occurrence) in specified cases such as on the sealing surfaces of rotating shafts or on the inside working surfaces of needle roller bearings. In the view of the measurement the twist has different parameters from surface roughness, which must be determined for the machining procedures. Therefore in this paper the alteration of the theoretical values of the parameters determining twist structure are studied as a function of the kinematic properties.

Keywords: Kinematic parameters, rotational turning, surface topography, twist structure

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Authors: M. R. Naghavi, S. Rashidi Monfared, A. H. Ahkami, M. A. Ombidbakhsh

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Knowledge of patterns of genetic diversity enhances the efficiency of germplasm conservation and improvement. In this study 96 Iranian landraces of Triticum turgidum originating from different geographical areas of Iran, along with 18 durum cultivars from ten countries were evaluated for variation in morphological and high molecular weight glutenin subunit (HMW-GS) composition. The first two principal components clearly separated the Iranian landraces from cultivars. Three alleles were present at the Glu-A1 locus and 11 alleles at Glu-B1. In both cultivars and landraces of durum wheat, the null allele (Glu-A1c) was observed more frequently than the Glu-A1a and Glu-A1b alleles. Two alleles, namely Glu-B1a (subunit 7) and Glu-B1e (subunit 20) represented the more frequent alleles at Glu-B1 locus. The results showed that the evaluated Iranian landraces formed an interesting source of favourable glutenin subunits that might be very desirable in breeding activities for improving pasta-making quality.

Keywords: Triticum turgidum var. durum, glutenin subunits, morphological characters.

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Authors: M. Yousefi, N. Nasirzadeh

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In this paper, behavior of an oscillator under injection of another signal has been investigated. Also, variation of output signal amplitude versus injected signal phase variation, the effect of varying the amplitude of injected signal and quality factor of the oscillator has been investigated. The results show that the locking time depends on phase and the best locking time happens at 180-degrees phase. Also, the effect of injected lock has been discussed. Simulations show that the locking time decreases with signal injection to bulk. Locking time has been investigated versus various phase differences. The effect of phase and amplitude changes on locking time of a typical LC oscillator in 180 nm technology has been investigated.

Keywords: Injection-lock oscillator, oscillator, analysis, phase modulation.

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Authors: Y.Chakrapani, K.Soundera Rajan

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In this paper a hybrid technique of Genetic Algorithm and Simulated Annealing (HGASA) is applied for Fractal Image Compression (FIC). With the help of this hybrid evolutionary algorithm effort is made to reduce the search complexity of matching between range block and domain block. The concept of Simulated Annealing (SA) is incorporated into Genetic Algorithm (GA) in order to avoid pre-mature convergence of the strings. One of the image compression techniques in the spatial domain is Fractal Image Compression but the main drawback of FIC is that it involves more computational time due to global search. In order to improve the computational time along with acceptable quality of the decoded image, HGASA technique has been proposed. Experimental results show that the proposed HGASA is a better method than GA in terms of PSNR for Fractal image Compression.

Keywords: Fractal Image Compression, Genetic Algorithm, HGASA, Simulated Annealing.

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Authors: N. P. Waweru, D. B. O. Konditi, P. K. Langat

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Direction of Arrival estimation refers to defining a mathematical function called a pseudospectrum that gives an indication of the angle a signal is impinging on the antenna array. This estimation is an efficient method of improving the quality of service in a communication system by focusing the reception and transmission only in the estimated direction thereby increasing fidelity with a provision to suppress interferers. This improvement is largely dependent on the performance of the algorithm employed in the estimation. Many DOA algorithms exists amongst which are MUSIC, Root-MUSIC and ESPRIT. In this paper, performance of these three algorithms is analyzed in terms of complexity, accuracy as assessed and characterized by the CRLB and memory requirements in various environments and array sizes. It is found that the three algorithms are high resolution and dependent on the operating environment and the array size. 

Keywords: Direction of Arrival, Autocorrelation matrix, Eigenvalue decomposition, MUSIC, ESPRIT, CRLB.

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Authors: Hae-Yeoun Lee

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Mosaic refers to a technique that makes image by gathering lots of small materials in various colors. This paper presents an automatic algorithm that makes the photo-mosaic image using photos. The algorithm is composed of 4 steps: partition and feature extraction, block matching, redundancy removal and color adjustment. The input image is partitioned in the small block to extract feature. Each block is matched to find similar photo in database by comparing similarity with Euclidean difference between blocks. The intensity of the block is adjusted to enhance the similarity of image by replacing the value of light and darkness with that of relevant block. Further, the quality of image is improved by minimizing the redundancy of tiles in the adjacent blocks. Experimental results support that the proposed algorithm is excellent in quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis.

Keywords: Photo-mosaic, Euclidean distance, Block matching, Intensity adjustment.

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Authors: Zainoldin, K.H., Baba, A.S.

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Yogurt is a coagulated milk product obtained from the lactic acid fermentation by the action of Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. The additions of fruits into milk may enhance the taste and the therapeutical values of milk products. However fruits also may change the fermentation behaviour. In this present study, the changes in physicochemical, the peptide concentration, total phenolics content and the antioxidant potential of yogurt upon the addition of Hylocereus polyrhizus and Hylocereus undatus (white and red dragon fruit) were investigated. Fruits enriched yogurt (10%, 20%, 30% w/w) were prepared and the pH, TTA, syneresis measurement, peptide concentration, total phenolics content and DPPH antioxidant inhibition percentage were determined. Milk fermentation rate was enhanced in red dragon fruit yogurt for all doses (-0.3606 - -0.4126 pH/h) while only white dragon fruit yogurt with 20% and 30% (w/w) composition showed increment in fermentation rate (-0.3471 - -0.3609 pH/h) compared to plain yogurt (-0.3369pH/h). All dragon fruit enriched yogurts generally showed lower pH readings (pH 3.95 - 4.03) compared to plain yogurt (pH 4.05). Both fruit yogurts showed a higher lactic acid percentage (1.14-1.23%) compared to plain yogurt (1.08%). Significantly higher syneresis percentage (57.19 - 70.32%) compared to plain yogurt (52.93%) were seen in all fruit enriched yogurts. The antioxidant activity of plain yogurt (19.16%) was enhanced by the presence of white and red dragon fruit (24.97- 45.74%). All fruit enriched yogurt showed an increment in total phenolic content (36.44 - 64.43mg/ml) compared to plain yogurt (20.25mg/ml). However, the addition of white and red dragon fruit did not enhance the proteolysis of milk during fermentation. Therefore, it could be concluded that the addition of white and red dragon fruit into yogurt enhanced the milk fermentation rate, lactic acid content, syneresis percentage, antioxidant activity, and total phenolics content in yogurt.

Keywords: Antioxidant activity, Hylocereus polyrhizus, Hylocereus undatus, yogurt

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Authors: I. Lolic, P. Soric, M. Cizmesija

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Based on Business and Consumer Survey (BCS) data, the European Commission (EC) regularly publishes the monthly Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) for each EU member state. ESI is conceptualized as a leading indicator, aimed ad tracking the overall economic activity. In calculating ESI, the EC employs arbitrarily chosen weights on 15 BCS response balances. This paper raises the predictive quality of ESI by applying nonlinear programming to find such weights that maximize the correlation coefficient of ESI and year-on-year GDP growth. The obtained results show that the highest weights are assigned to the response balances of industrial sector questions, followed by questions from the retail trade sector. This comes as no surprise since the existing literature shows that the industrial production is a plausible proxy for the overall Croatian economic activity and since Croatian GDP is largely influenced by the aggregate personal consumption.

Keywords: Business and Consumer Survey, Economic Sentiment Indicator, Leading Indicator, Nonlinear Optimization with Constraints.

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Authors: Y. Atilgan Şengül

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Health information technologies promise higher quality, safer care and much more for both patients and professionals. Despite their promise, they are costly to develop and difficult to implement. On the other hand, user acceptance and usage determine the success of implemented information technology in healthcare. This study provides a model to understand health professionals’ perception and expectation of health information technology. Extensive literature review has been conducted to determine the main factors to be measured. A questionnaire has been designed as a measurement model and submitted to the personnel of an in vitro fertilization clinic. The respondents’ degree of agreement according to five-point Likert scale was 72% for convenient access to data and 69.4% for the importance of data security. There was a significant difference in acceptance of electronic data storage for female respondents. Also, other significant differences between professions were obtained.

Keywords: Healthcare, health informatics, medical record system, questionnaire.

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Authors: Ramin Yousefi, Muhamad. Rasat. Muhamad

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We investigated a modified thermal evaporation method in the growth process of ZnO nanowires. ZnO nanowires were fabricated on p-type silicon substrates without using a metal catalyst. A simple horizontal double-tube system along with chemical vapor diffusion of the precursor was used to grow the ZnO nanowires. The substrates were placed in different temperature zones, and ZnO nanowires with different diameters were obtained for the different substrate temperatures. In addition to the nanowires, ZnO microdiscs with different diameters were obtained on another substrate, which was placed at a lower temperature than the other substrates. The optical properties and crystalline quality of the ZnO nanowires and microdiscs were characterized by room temperature photoluminescence (PL) and Raman spectrometers. The PL and Raman studies demonstrated that the ZnO nanowires and microdiscs grown using such set-up had good crystallinity with excellent optical properties. Rectifying behavior of ZnO/Si heterostructures was characterized by a simple DC circuit.

Keywords: ZnO nano and microstructures, Photoluminescence, Raman, Rectifying behavior.

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Authors: Madihah Mohd Saudi, Zul Hilmi Abdullah

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This research paper presents a framework on how to build up malware dataset.Many researchers took longer time to clean the dataset from any noise or to transform the dataset into a format that can be used straight away for testing. Therefore, this research is proposing a framework to help researchers to speed up the malware dataset cleaningprocesses which later can be used for testing. It is believed, an efficient malware dataset cleaning processes, can improved the quality of the data, thus help to improve the accuracy and the efficiency of the subsequent analysis. Apart from that, an in-depth understanding of the malware taxonomy is also important prior and during the dataset cleaning processes. A new Trojan classification has been proposed to complement this framework.This experiment has been conducted in a controlled lab environment and using the dataset from VxHeavens dataset. This framework is built based on the integration of static and dynamic analyses, incident response method and knowledge database discovery (KDD) processes.This framework can be used as the basis guideline for malware researchers in building malware dataset.

Keywords: Dataset, knowledge database discovery (KDD), malware, static and dynamic analyses.

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Authors: Viliam Makis, Farnoosh Naderkhani, Leila Jafari

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In this paper, we present a model and an algorithm for the calculation of the optimal control limit, average cost, sample size, and the sampling interval for an optimal Bayesian chart to control the proportion of defective items produced using a semi-Markov decision process approach. Traditional p-chart has been widely used for controlling the proportion of defectives in various kinds of production processes for many years. It is well known that traditional non-Bayesian charts are not optimal, but very few optimal Bayesian control charts have been developed in the literature, mostly considering finite horizon. The objective of this paper is to develop a fast computational algorithm to obtain the optimal parameters of a Bayesian p-chart. The decision problem is formulated in the partially observable framework and the developed algorithm is illustrated by a numerical example.

Keywords: Bayesian control chart, semi-Markov decision process, quality control, partially observable process.

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Authors: M. Jaditager, J. Lovisa, N. Sivakugan

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The Port of Townsville conducts regular annual maintenance dredging to maintain depths of its harbor basin and approach channels for the navigational safety of the vessels against the natural accumulation of marine sediments. In addition to the regular maintenance dredging, the port undertakes emergency dredging in cases where large quantities of sediments are mobilized and deposited in port waters by cyclone or major flood events. The maintenance dredging material derived from the port may be disposed at sea or on land in accordance with relevant state and commonwealth regulations. For the land disposal, the dredged mud slurry is hydraulically placed into containment ponds and left to undergo sedimentation and self-weight consolidation to form fill material for land reclamation. This paper provides an overview of the maintenance dredging at the Port of Townsville and emphasis on maintenance dredging requirements, sediment quality, bathymetry, dredging methods used, and dredged material disposal options.

Keywords: Consolidation, dredged material, maintenance dredging, marine sediments, sedimentation.

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Authors: Wai Yee Lin, Masahiro Yamao

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Food control measures are critical in fostering food safety management of a nation. However, no academic study has been undertaken to assess the food control system of Myanmar up to now. The objective of this research paper was to assess the food control system with in depth examination of five key components using desktop analysis and short survey from related food safety program organizations including regulators and inspectors. Study showed that the existing food control system is conventional, mainly focusing on primary health care approach while relying on reactive measures. The achievements of food control work have been limited to a certain extent due to insufficienttechnical capacity that is needed to upgrade staffs, laboratory equipment and technical assistance etc. associated with various sectors. Assessing food control measures is the first step in the integration of food safety management, this paper could assist policy makers in providing information for enhancing the safety and quality of food produced and consumed in Myanmar.

Keywords: Food Control, Food Policy, Legislation, Management

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Authors: Yury Nikulin

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A multicriteria linear programming problem with integer variables and parameterized optimality principle "from lexicographic to Slater" is considered. A situation in which initial coefficients of penalty cost functions are not fixed but may be potentially a subject to variations is studied. For any efficient solution, appropriate measures of the quality are introduced which incorporate information about variations of penalty cost function coefficients. These measures correspond to the so-called stability and accuracy functions defined earlier for efficient solutions of a generic multicriteria combinatorial optimization problem with Pareto and lexicographic optimality principles. Various properties of such functions are studied and maximum norms of perturbations for which an efficient solution preserves the property of being efficient are calculated.

Keywords: Stability and accuracy, multicriteria optimization, lexicographic optimality.

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Authors: Mohamed A. Sullabi

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The importance of the formal specification in the software life cycle is barely concealing to anyone. Formal specifications use mathematical notation to describe the properties of information system precisely, without unduly constraining the way in how these properties are achieved. Having a correct and quality software specification is not easy task. This study concerns with how a group of rectifiers can communicate with each other and work to prepare and produce a correct formal software specification. WBCS has been implemented based mainly in the proposed supported cooperative work model and a survey conducted on the existing Webbased collaborative writing tools. This paper aims to assess the feasibility of executing the web-based collaboration process using WBCS. The purpose of conducting this test is to test the system as a whole for functionality and fitness for use based on the evaluation test plan.

Keywords: Formal methods, Formal specifications, collaborative writing, Usability testing.

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Authors: G.S. Abdiraiymova, D.K. Burkhanova, G.A. Kenzhakimova

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Education in the modern world provides the socioeconomic progress of society. In today's society, where the presence of large middle class ensures its stability and is a symbol of resolution of hidden economic problems, education is an integral part of formation and reproduction of the middle class. This article presents part of results of the sociological study conducted under the project "Kazakhstan model of education: international experience and national traditions" supported by the Foundation of the First President of Republic of Kazakhstan - Leader of the Nation to determine the ratio of students to the transformations of the educational system. The authors conclude that the Kazakhstani system of education, passing through the transformation processes, improving the quality of educational programs and trying to correspond to the international standards, not yet in full range, but begins to perform important functions in the formation of the middle class.

Keywords: Higher education, middle class, reforms, students, transformation processes.

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Authors: J. H. Boonzaaier, A. C. Brent

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South Africa, a water scarce country, experiences the phenomenon that its life supporting natural water resources is seriously threatened by the users that are totally dependent on it. South Africa is globally applauded to have of the best and most progressive water laws and policies. There are however growing concerns regarding natural water resource quality deterioration and a critical void in the management of natural resources and compliance to policies due to increasing institutional uncertainties and failures. These are in accordance with concerns of many South African researchers and practitioners that call for a change in paradigm from talk to practice and a more constructive, practical approach to governance challenges in the management of water resources. A qualitative theory-building case study through longitudinal action research was conducted from 2014 to 2017. The research assessed whether a strategic positioned institutional agent can be parlayed to facilitate and execute WRM on catchment level by engaging multiple stakeholders in a polycentric setting. Through a critical realist approach a distinction was made between ex ante self-deterministic human behaviour in the realist realm, and ex post governance-management in the constructivist realm. A congruence analysis, including Toulmin’s method of argumentation analysis, was utilised. The study evaluated the unique case of a self-steering local water management institution, the Impala Water Users Association (WUA) in the Pongola River catchment in the northern part of the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa. Exploiting prevailing water resource threats, it expanded its ancillary functions from 20,000 to 300,000 ha. Embarking on WRM activities, it addressed natural water system quality assessments, social awareness, knowledge support, and threats, such as: soil erosion, waste and effluent into water systems, coal mining, and water security dimensions; through structured engagement with 21 different catchment stakeholders. By implementing a proposed polycentric governance-management model on a catchment scale, the WUA achieved to fill the void. It developed a foundation and capacity to protect the resilience of the natural environment that is critical for freshwater resources to ensure long-term water security of the Pongola River basin. Further work is recommended on appropriate statutory delegations, mechanisms of sustainable funding, sufficient penetration of knowledge to local levels to catalyse behaviour change, incentivised support from professionals, back-to-back expansion of WUAs to alleviate scale and cost burdens, and the creation of catchment data monitoring and compilation centres.

Keywords: Institutional agent, water governance, polycentric water resource management, water resource management.

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Authors: Wahyu Widowati, Hana Ratnawati, Tjandrawati Mozefis, Dwiyati Pujimulyani, Yelliantty Yelliantty

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Background: Atherosclerosis is the main cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD) with complex and multifactorial process including atherogenic lipoprotein, oxidized low density lipoprotein (LDL), endothelial dysfunction, plaque stability, vascular inflammation, thrombotic and fibrinolytic disorder, exercises and genetic factor Epidemiological studies have shown tea consumption inversely associated with the development and progression of atherosclerosis. The research objectives: to elucidate hypolipidemic, antioxidant effects, as well as ability to improve coronary artery’s histopathologyof black tea extract (BTE) and quercetin in atherosclerotic rats. Methods: The antioxidant activity was determined by using Superoxide Dismutase activity (SOD) of serum and lipid peroxidation product (Malondialdehyde) of plasma and lipid profile including cholesterol total, LDL, triglyceride (TG), High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) of atherosclerotic rats. Inducing atherosclerotic, rats were given cholesterol and cholic acid in feed during ten weeks until rats indicated atherosclerotic symptom with narrowed artery and foamy cells in the artery’s wall. After rats suffered atherosclerotic, the high cholesterol feed and cholic acid were stopped and rats were given BTE 450; 300; 150 mg/kg body weight (BW) daily, quercetin 15; 10; 5 mg/kg BW daily, compared to rats were given vitamin E 60 mg/kg/BW; simvastatin 2.7 mg/kg BW, probucol 30 mg/kg BW daily for 21 days (first treatment) and 42 days (second treatment), negative control (normal feed), positive control (atherosclerotic rats). Results: BTE and quercetin could lower cholesterol total, triglyceride, LDL MDA and increase HDL, SOD were comparable with simvastatin, probucol both for 21 days and 42 days treatment, as well to improve coronary arteries histopathology. Conclusions: BTE andquercetin have hypolipidemic and antioxidant effects, as well as improve coronary arteries histopathology in atherosclerotic rats.

Keywords: Black tea, quercetin, atherosclerosis, antioxidant, hypolipidemic, cardiovascular disease.

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Authors: Bahi brahim, El hassane Ibn Elhaj, Driss Aboutajdine

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In this paper we propose a Multiple Description Image Coding(MDIC) scheme to generate two compressed and balanced rates descriptions in the wavelet domain (Daubechies biorthogonal (9, 7) wavelet) using pairwise correlating transform optimal and application method for Generalized Multiple Description Coding (GMDC) to image coding in the wavelet domain. The GMDC produces statistically correlated streams such that lost streams can be estimated from the received data. Our performance test shown that the proposed method gives more improvement and good quality of the reconstructed image when the wavelet coefficients are normalized by Gaussian Scale Mixture (GSM) model then the Gaussian one ,.

Keywords: Multiple description coding (MDC), gaussian scale mixture (GSM) model, joint source-channel coding, pairwise correlating transform, GMDCT.

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Authors: P. Sawitri, S. Cdr. Sittha, T. Kritsana

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Flow forming is widely used in many industries, especially in defence technology industries. Pressure vessels requirements are high precision, light weight, seamless and optimum strength. For large pressure vessels, flow forming by 3 rollers machine were used. In case of long range rocket motor case flow forming and welding of pressure vessels have been used for manufacturing. Due to complication of welding process, researchers had developed 4 meters length pressure vessels without weldment by 4 rollers flow forming machine. Design and preparation of preform work pieces are performed. The optimization of flow forming parameter such as feed rate, spindle speed and depth of cut will be discussed. The experimental result shown relation of flow forming parameters to quality of flow formed tube and prototype pressure vessels have been made.

Keywords: Flow forming, Pressure vessel, four rollers, feed rate, spindle speed, cold work.

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Authors: Federica Cornali

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Does education matter to the quality of our life? The results of extensive studies offer an affirmative answer to this question: high education levels are positively associated with higher income, with more highly qualified professions, with lower risk of unemployment, with better physical health and also, it is said, with more happiness. However, exploring these relationships is far from straightforward. Aside from educational credentials, what properties distinguish functionally literate individuals? How can their personal level of satisfaction be measured? What are the social mechanisms whereby education affects well-being?Using a literacy index and several measures for well-being developed by secondary analysis of the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey database, this investigation examined the relationship between literacy skills and subjective wellbeing in several OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. Special attention was been addressed to Italy, and in particular to two regions representing territorial differences in this country: Piedmont and Campania.

Keywords: Cultural Divide, Literacy Index, Life Satisfaction, Subjective Well-being Index

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Authors: Md. Maksudur Rahman Khan, M. Rahim Uddin, Hamidah Abdullah, Kaykobad Md. Rezaul Karim, Abu Yousuf, Chin Kui Cheng, Huei Ruey Ong

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A systematic study was conducted to explore the photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into methanol on TiO₂ loaded copper ferrite (CuFe₂O₄) photocatalyst under visible light irradiation. The phases and crystallite size of the photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and it indicates CuFe₂O₄ as tetragonal phase incorporation with anatase TiO₂ in CuFe₂O₄/TiO₂ hetero-structure. The XRD results confirmed the formation of spinel type tetragonal CuFe₂O₄ phases along with predominantly anatase phase of TiO₂ in the CuFe₂O₄/TiO₂ hetero-structure. UV-Vis absorption spectrum suggested the formation of the hetero-junction with relatively lower band gap than that of TiO₂. Photoluminescence (PL) technique was used to study the electron–hole (e⁻/h⁺) recombination process. PL spectra analysis confirmed the slow-down of the recombination of electron–hole (e⁻/h⁺) pairs in the CuFe₂O₄/TiO₂ hetero-structure. The photocatalytic performance of CuFe₂O₄/TiO₂ was evaluated based on the methanol yield with varying amount of TiO₂ over CuFe₂O₄ (0.5:1, 1:1, and 2:1) and changing light intensity. The mechanism of the photocatalysis was proposed based on the fact that the predominant species of CO₂ in aqueous phase were dissolved CO₂ and HCO₃^- at pH ~5.9. It was evident that the CuFe₂O₄ could harvest the electrons under visible light irradiation, which could further be injected to the conduction band of TiO₂ to increase the life time of the electron and facilitating the reactions of CO₂ to methanol. The developed catalyst showed good recycle ability up to four cycles where the loss of activity was ~25%. Methanol was observed as the main product over CuFe₂O₄, but loading with TiO₂ remarkably increased the methanol yield. Methanol yield over CuFe₂O₄/TiO₂ was found to be about three times higher (651 μmol/g_cat L) than that of CuFe₂O₄ photocatalyst. This occurs because the energy of the band excited electrons lies above the redox potentials of the reaction products CO₂/CH₃OH.

Keywords: Photocatalysis, CuFe2O4/TiO2, band-gap energy, methanol.

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Authors: Haythem Yahyaoui, Samir Moalla, Mounir Bouden, Skander Ghorbel

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Nowadays, cloud environments are becoming a need for companies, this new technology gives the opportunities to access to the data anywhere and anytime. It also provides an optimized and secured access to the resources and gives more security for the data which is stored in the platform. However, some companies do not trust Cloud providers, they think that providers can access and modify some confidential data such as bank accounts. Many works have been done in this context, they conclude that encryption methods realized by providers ensure the confidentiality, but, they forgot that Cloud providers can decrypt the confidential resources. The best solution here is to apply some operations on the data before sending them to the provider Cloud in the objective to make them unreadable. The principal idea is to allow user how it can protect his data with his own methods. In this paper, we are going to demonstrate our approach and prove that is more efficient in term of execution time than some existing methods. This work aims at enhancing the quality of service of providers and ensuring the trust of the customers. 

Keywords: Confidentiality, cryptography, security issues, trust issues.

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Authors: Azlina Abu Bakar, Abdul Fatah Wan Sidek

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Well-being has been given special emphasis in quality of life. It involves living a meaningful, life satisfaction, stability and happiness in life. Well-being also concerns the satisfaction of physical, psychological, social needs and demands of an individual. The purpose of this study was to validate three-factor measurement model of well-being using structural equation modeling (SEM). The conceptions of well-being measured such dimensions as physical, psychological and social well-being. This study was done based on a total sample of 650 adolescents from east-coast of peninsular Malaysia. The Well-Being Scales which was adapted from [1] was used in this study. The items were hypothesized a priori to have nonzero loadings on all dimensions in the model. The findings of the SEM demonstrated that it is a good fitting model which the proposed model fits the driving theory; (x2df = 1.268; GFI = .994; CFI = .998; TLI= .996; p = .255; RMSEA = .021). Composite reliability (CR) was .93 and average variance extracted (AVE) was 58%. The model in this study fits with the sample of data and well-being is important to bring sustainable development to the mainstream.

Keywords: Adolescence, Structural Equation Modeling, Sustainable Development, Well-Being.

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Authors: Anne M. Sørebø

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In this paper we investigate how wide-ranging organizational support and the more specific form of support, namely management support, may influence on tourism workers satisfaction with a cash transaction system. The IS continuance theory, proposed by Bhattacherjee in 2001, is utilized as a theoretical framework. This implies that both perceived usefulness and ease of use is included in the research model, in addition to organizational and management support. The sample consists of 500 workers from 10 cruise and tourist ferries in Scandinavia that use a cash transaction system to perform their work tasks. Using structural equation modelling, results indicate that organizational support and ease of use perceptions is critical for the users- level of satisfaction with the cash transaction system.The findings have implications for business managers and IS practitioners that want to increase the quality of IT-based business processes within the tourism industry.

Keywords: ease of use, IS continuance, organizational support, tourism industry, user satisfaction.

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Authors: Hossein Pazhoumand-Dar, Amir Mohsen Toliyat Abolhassani, Ehsan Saeedi

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Speed estimation is one of the important and practical tasks in machine vision, Robotic and Mechatronic. the availability of high quality and inexpensive video cameras, and the increasing need for automated video analysis has generated a great deal of interest in machine vision algorithms. Numerous approaches for speed estimation have been proposed. So classification and survey of the proposed methods can be very useful. The goal of this paper is first to review and verify these methods. Then we will propose a novel algorithm to estimate the speed of moving object by using fuzzy concept. There is a direct relation between motion blur parameters and object speed. In our new approach we will use Radon transform to find direction of blurred image, and Fuzzy sets to estimate motion blur length. The most benefit of this algorithm is its robustness and precision in noisy images. Our method was tested on many images with different range of SNR and is satisfiable.

Keywords: Blur Analysis, Fuzzy sets, Speed estimation.

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Authors: Yassine Meraihi, Dalila Acheli, Rabah Meraihi

Abstract:

Vehicular Ad hoc Network (VANET) is a special case of Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) used to establish communications and exchange information among nearby vehicles and between vehicles and nearby fixed infrastructure. VANET is seen as a promising technology used to provide safety, efficiency, assistance and comfort to the road users. Routing is an important issue in Vehicular Ad Hoc Network to find and maintain communication between vehicles due to the highly dynamic topology, frequently disconnected network and mobility constraints.

This paper evaluates the performance of two most popular proactive routing protocols OLSR and DSDV in real city traffic scenario on the basis of three metrics namely Packet delivery ratio, throughput and average end to end delay by varying vehicles density and transmission range.

Keywords: DSDV, OLSR, Quality of service, Routing protocols, VANET.

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Authors: Bernd Scholz-Reiter, Christian Toonen, Jan Topi Tervo, Dennis Lappe

Abstract:

Time series analysis often requires data that represents the evolution of an observed variable in equidistant time steps. In order to collect this data sampling is applied. While continuous signals may be sampled, analyzed and reconstructed applying Shannon-s sampling theorem, time-discrete signals have to be dealt with differently. In this article we consider the discrete-event simulation (DES) of job-shop-systems and study the effects of different sampling rates on data quality regarding completeness and accuracy of reconstructed inventory evolutions. At this we discuss deterministic as well as non-deterministic behavior of system variables. Error curves are deployed to illustrate and discuss the sampling rate-s impact and to derive recommendations for its wellfounded choice.

Keywords: discrete-event simulation, job-shop-system, sampling rate.

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Authors: Tomáš Ludík, Josef Navrátil

Abstract:

Managing the emergency situations at the Emergency Staff requires a high co-operation between its members and their fast decision making. For these purpose it is necessary to prepare Emergency Staff members adequately. The aim of this paper is to describe the development of information support that focuses to emergency staff processes and effective decisions. The information support is based on the principles of process management, and Process Framework for Emergency Management was used during the development. The output is the information system that allows users to simulate an emergency situation, including effective decision making. The system also evaluates the progress of the emergency processes solving by quantitative and qualitative indicators. By using the simulator, a higher quality education of specialists can be achieved. Therefore, negative impacts resulting from arising emergency situations can be directly reduced.

Keywords: Information Support for Emergency Staff, Effective Decisions, Process Framework, Simulation of Emergency Processes, System Development.

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