Search results for: Basic design

Authors: Hossam el-ddin Mostafa, Pavel Čičak

Abstract:

IETF RFC 2002 originally introduced the wireless Mobile-IP protocol to support portable IP addresses for mobile devices that often change their network access points to the Internet. The inefficiency of this protocol mainly within the handoff management produces large end-to-end packet delays, during registration process, and further degrades the system efficiency due to packet losses between subnets. The criterion to initiate a simple and fast full-duplex connection between the home agent and foreign agent, to reduce the roaming duration, is a very important issue to be considered by a work in this paper. State-transition Petri-Nets of the modeling scenario-based CIA: communication inter-agents procedure as an extension to the basic Mobile-IP registration process was designed and manipulated. The heuristic of configuration file during practical Setup session for registration parameters, on Cisco platform Router-1760 using IOS 12.3 (15)T is created. Finally, stand-alone performance simulations results from Simulink Matlab, within each subnet and also between subnets, are illustrated for reporting better end-to-end packet delays. Results verified the effectiveness of our Mathcad analytical manipulation and experimental implementation. It showed lower values of end-to-end packet delay for Mobile-IP using CIA procedure. Furthermore, it reported packets flow between subnets to improve packet losses between subnets.

Keywords: Cisco configuration, handoff, packet delay, Petri-Nets, registration process, Simulink.

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Authors: Roy Y. C. Huang, J. S. Kuang, Hamdolah Behnam

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Beam-column connections play an important role in the reinforced concrete moment resisting frame (RCMRF), which is one of the most commonly used structural systems around the world. The premature failure of such connections would severely limit the seismic performance and increase the vulnerability of RCMRF. In the past decades, researchers primarily focused on investigating the structural behaviour and failure mechanisms of conventional beam-column joints, the beam width of which is either smaller than or equal to the column width, while studies in wide beam-column joints were scarce. This paper presents the preliminary experimental results of two full-scale exterior wide beam-column connections, which are mainly designed and detailed according to ACI 318-14 and ACI 352R-02, under reversed cyclic loading. The ratios of the design shear force to the nominal shear strength of these specimens are 1.0 and 1.7, respectively, so as to probe into differences of the joint shear strength between experimental results and predictions by design codes of practice. Flexural failure dominated in the specimen with ratio of 1.0 in which full-width plastic hinges were observed, while both beam hinges and post-peak joint shear failure occurred for the other specimen. No sign of premature joint shear failure was found which is inconsistent with ACI codes’ prediction. Finally, a modification of current codes of practice is provided to accurately predict the joint shear strength in wide beam-column joint.

Keywords: Joint shear strength, reversed cyclic loading, seismic codes, wide beam-column joints.

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Authors: Mrinalini Amritkar, Disha Patil, Swapna Kulkarni, Sukratu Barve, Suresh Gosavi

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Micro-mixers play an important role in the lab-on-a-chip applications and micro total analysis systems to acquire the correct level of mixing for any given process. The mixing process can be classified as active or passive according to the use of external energy. Literature of microfluidics reports that most of the work is done on the models of steady laminar flow; however, the study of unsteady laminar flow is an active area of research at present. There are wide applications of this, out of which, we consider nanoparticle synthesis in micro-mixers. In this work, we have developed a model for unsteady flow to study the mixing performance of a passive micro mixer for reactants used for such synthesis. The model is developed in Finite Volume Method (FVM)-based software, OpenFOAM. The model is tested by carrying out the simulations at Re of 0.5. Mixing performance of the micro-mixer is investigated using simulated concentration values of mixed species across the width of the micro-mixer and calculating the variance across a line profile. Experimental validation is done by passing dyes through a Y shape micro-mixer fabricated using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymer and comparing variances with the simulated ones. Gold nanoparticles are later synthesized through the micro-mixer and collected at two different times leading to significantly different size distributions. These times match with the time scales over which reactant concentrations vary as obtained from simulations. Our simulations could thus be used to create design aids for passive micro-mixers used in nanoparticle synthesis.

Keywords: Lab-on-chip, micro-mixer, OpenFOAM, PDMS.

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Authors: Ana Paula P. dos Santos, Claudia R. Andrade, Edson L. Zaparoli

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Gas turbine air inlet cooling is a useful method for increasing output for regions where significant power demand and highest electricity prices occur during the warm months. Inlet air cooling increases the power output by taking advantage of the gas turbine-s feature of higher mass flow rate when the compressor inlet temperature decreases. Different methods are available for reducing gas turbine inlet temperature. There are two basic systems currently available for inlet cooling. The first and most cost-effective system is evaporative cooling. Evaporative coolers make use of the evaporation of water to reduce the gas turbine-s inlet air temperature. The second system employs various ways to chill the inlet air. In this method, the cooling medium flows through a heat exchanger located in the inlet duct to remove heat from the inlet air. However, the evaporative cooling is limited by wet-bulb temperature while the chilling can cool the inlet air to temperatures that are lower than the wet bulb temperature. In the present work, a thermodynamic model of a gas turbine is built to calculate heat rate, power output and thermal efficiency at different inlet air temperature conditions. Computational results are compared with ISO conditions herein called "base-case". Therefore, the two cooling methods are implemented and solved for different inlet conditions (inlet temperature and relative humidity). Evaporative cooler and absorption chiller systems results show that when the ambient temperature is extremely high with low relative humidity (requiring a large temperature reduction) the chiller is the more suitable cooling solution. The net increment in the power output as a function of the temperature decrease for each cooling method is also obtained.

Keywords: Absorption chiller, evaporative cooling, gas turbine, turbine inlet cooling.

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Authors: M. Zamin Khan, Yanjie Wang, R. Raut

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A 1V, 1GHz low noise amplifier (LNA) has been designed and simulated using Spectre simulator in a standard TSMC 0.18um CMOS technology.With low power and noise optimization techniques, the amplifier provides a gain of 24 dB, a noise figure of only 1.2 dB, power dissipation of 14 mW from a 1 V power supply.

Keywords:

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Authors: Catherine A. Todd, Fazel Naghdy

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In this work a surgical simulator is produced which enables a training otologist to conduct a virtual, real-time prosthetic insertion. The simulator provides the Ear, Nose and Throat surgeon with real-time visual and haptic responses during virtual cochlear implantation into a 3D model of the human Scala Tympani (ST). The parametric model is derived from measured data as published in the literature and accounts for human morphological variance, such as differences in cochlear shape, enabling patient-specific pre- operative assessment. Haptic modeling techniques use real physical data and insertion force measurements, to develop a force model which mimics the physical behavior of an implant as it collides with the ST walls during an insertion. Output force profiles are acquired from the insertion studies conducted in the work, to validate the haptic model. The simulator provides the user with real-time, quantitative insertion force information and associated electrode position as user inserts the virtual implant into the ST model. The information provided by this study may also be of use to implant manufacturers for design enhancements as well as for training specialists in optimal force administration, using the simulator. The paper reports on the methods for anatomical modeling and haptic algorithm development, with focus on simulator design, development, optimization and validation. The techniques may be transferrable to other medical applications that involve prosthetic device insertions where user vision is obstructed.

Keywords: Haptic modeling, medical device insertion, real-time visualization of prosthetic implantation, surgical simulation.

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Authors: E. Bakkaloğlu, N. Torunbalcı

Abstract:

Earthquakes are inevitable natural disasters in Turkey. Therefore, buildings must be prepared for this natural hazard. Especially in hospital buildings, earthquake resistance is an essential point because hospitals are one of the first places where people come after earthquake. Although hospital buildings are more suitable for horizontal architecture, it is necessary to construct and expand multi-story hospital buildings due to difficulties in finding suitable places as a result of excessive urbanization, difficulties in obtaining appropriate size land and decrease in suitable places and increase in land values. In Turkey, using seismic isolators in public hospitals, which are placed in first degree earthquake zone and have more than 100 beds, is made obligatory by general instruction. As a result of this decision, it may sometimes be necessary to construct seismic isolated multi-story hospital buildings in cities where those problems are experienced. Although there is widespread use of seismic isolators in Japan, there are few multi-story buildings in which seismic isolators are used in Turkey. As it is known, base isolation systems are the most effective methods of earthquake resistance, as the number of floors increases, the center of gravity moves away from the base in multi-story buildings, increasing the overturning effect and limiting use of these systems. In this context, it is aimed to investigate structural systems of multi-story buildings which are built using seismic isolation methods in the world. In addition to this, a working principle is suggested for the disseminating seismic isolator used in multi-story hospital buildings. The results to be obtained from the study will guide architects who design multi-story hospital buildings in their architectural designs, and engineers in terms of structural system design.

Keywords: Earthquake, energy absorbing systems, hospital, seismic isolation systems.

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Authors: M. Jayekumar, V. Nagarajan

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Wireless sensor network finds role in environmental monitoring, industrial applications, surveillance applications, health monitoring and other supervisory applications. Sensing devices form the basic operational unit of the network that is self-battery powered with limited life time. Sensor node spends its limited energy for transmission, reception, routing and sensing information. Frequent energy utilization for the above mentioned process leads to network lifetime degradation. To enhance energy efficiency and network lifetime, we propose a modified energy optimization and node recovery post failure method, Energy-Link Failure Recovery Routing (E-LFRR) algorithm. In our E-LFRR algorithm, two phases namely, Monitored Transmission phase and Replaced Transmission phase are devised to combat worst case link failure conditions. In Monitored Transmission phase, the Actuator Node monitors and identifies suitable nodes for shortest path transmission. The Replaced Transmission phase dispatches the energy draining node at early stage from the active link and replaces it with the new node that has sufficient energy. Simulation results illustrate that this combined methodology reduces overhead, energy consumption, delay and maintains considerable amount of alive nodes thereby enhancing the network performance.

Keywords: Actuator node, energy efficient routing, energy hole, link failure recovery, link utilization, wireless sensor network.

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Authors: Arash Taheri, Meysam Mohammadi-Amin, Seyed Hossein Moosavy

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Medical applications are among the most impactful areas of microrobotics. The ultimate goal of medical microrobots is to reach currently inaccessible areas of the human body and carry out a host of complex operations such as minimally invasive surgery (MIS), highly localized drug delivery, and screening for diseases at their very early stages. Miniature, safe and efficient propulsion systems hold the key to maturing this technology but they pose significant challenges. A new type of propulsion developed recently, uses multi-flagella architecture inspired by the motility mechanism of prokaryotic microorganisms. There is a lack of efficient methods for designing this type of propulsion system. The goal of this paper is to overcome the lack and this way, a numerical strategy is proposed to design multi-flagella propulsion systems. The strategy is based on the implementation of the regularized stokeslet and rotlet theory, RFT theory and new approach of “local corrected velocity". The effects of shape parameters and angular velocities of each flagellum on overall flow field and on the robot net forces and moments are considered. Then a multi-layer perceptron artificial neural network is designed and employed to adjust the angular velocities of the motors for propulsion control. The proposed method applied successfully on a sample configuration and useful demonstrative results is obtained.

Keywords: Artificial Neural Network, Biomimetic Microrobots, Flagellar Propulsion, Swimming Robots.

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Authors: Mihaela Popescu, Alexandru Bitoleanu, Mircea Dobriceanu

Abstract:

The proper selection of the AC-side passive filter interconnecting the voltage source converter to the power supply is essential to obtain satisfactory performances of an active power filter system. The use of the LCL-type filter has the advantage of eliminating the high frequency switching harmonics in the current injected into the power supply. This paper is mainly focused on analyzing the influence of the interface filter parameters on the active filtering performances. Some design aspects are pointed out. Thus, the design of the AC interface filter starts from transfer functions by imposing the filter performance which refers to the significant current attenuation of the switching harmonics without affecting the harmonics to be compensated. A Matlab/Simulink model of the entire active filtering system including a concrete nonlinear load has been developed to examine the system performances. It is shown that a gamma LC filter could accomplish the attenuation requirement of the current provided by converter. Moreover, the existence of an optimal value of the grid-side inductance which minimizes the total harmonic distortion factor of the power supply current is pointed out. Nevertheless, a small converter-side inductance and a damping resistance in series with the filter capacitance are absolutely needed in order to keep the ripple and oscillations of the current at the converter side within acceptable limits. The effect of change in the LCL-filter parameters is evaluated. It is concluded that good active filtering performances can be achieved with small values of the capacitance and converter-side inductance.

Keywords: Active power filter, LCL filter, Matlab/Simulinkmodeling, Passive filters, Transfer function.

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Authors: Hossam el-ddin Mostafa, Pavel Čičak

Abstract:

In IETF RFC 2002, Mobile-IP was developed to enable Laptobs to maintain Internet connectivity while moving between subnets. However, the packet loss that comes from switching subnets arises because network connectivity is lost while the mobile host registers with the foreign agent and this encounters large end-to-end packet delays. The criterion to initiate a simple and fast full-duplex connection between the home agent and foreign agent, to reduce the roaming duration, is a very important issue to be considered by a work in this paper. State-transition Petri-Nets of the modeling scenario-based CIA: communication inter-agents procedure as an extension to the basic Mobile-IP registration process was designed and manipulated to describe the system in discrete events. The heuristic of configuration file during practical Setup session for registration parameters, on Cisco platform Router-1760 using IOS 12.3 (15)T and TFTP server S/W is created. Finally, stand-alone performance simulations from Simulink Matlab, within each subnet and also between subnets, are illustrated for reporting better end-toend packet delays. Results verified the effectiveness of our Mathcad analytical manipulation and experimental implementation. It showed lower values of end-to-end packet delay for Mobile-IP using CIA procedure-based early registration. Furthermore, it reported packets flow between subnets to improve losses between subnets.

Keywords: Cisco configuration, handoff, Mobile-IP, packetdelay, Petri-Nets, registration process, Simulink

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Authors: Manuela Nayantara Jeyaraj

Abstract:

Having moved into the 21^st century, it is way past being arguable that innovative technology needs to be incorporated into conventional classroom teaching. Though the Western world has found presumable success in achieving this, it is still a concept under battle in developing countries such as Sri Lanka. Reaching the acme of implementing interactive virtual learning within classrooms is a struggling idealistic fascination within the island. In order to overcome this problem, this study is set to reveal facts that limit the implementation of virtual, interactive learning within the school classrooms and provide hacks that could prove the augmented use of the Virtual World to enhance teaching and learning experiences. As each classroom moves along with the usage of technology to fulfill its functionalities, a few intense hacks provided will build the administrative onuses on a virtual system. These hacks may divulge barriers based on social conventions, financial boundaries, digital literacy, intellectual capacity of the staff, and highlight the impediments in introducing students to an interactive virtual learning environment and thereby provide the necessary actions or changes to be made to succeed and march along in creating an intellectual society built on virtual learning and lifestyle. This digital learning environment will be composed of multimedia presentations, trivia and pop quizzes conducted on a GUI, assessments conducted via a virtual system, records maintained on a database, etc. The ultimate objective of this study could enhance every child's basic learning environment; hence, diminishing the digital divide that exists in certain communities.

Keywords: Digital divide, digital learning, digitization, Sri Lanka, teaching methodologies.

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Authors: Ragi Poyyara, Vivek V., Ashish Khaparde

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The product development process (PDP) in the Technology group plays a very important role in the launch of any product. While a manufacturing process encourages the use of certain measures to reduce health, safety and environmental (HSE) risks on the shop floor, the PDP concentrates on the use of Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) to develop a flawless design. Furthermore, PDP distributes and coordinates activities between different departments such as marketing, purchasing, and manufacturing. However, it is seldom realized that PDP makes a significant contribution to developing a product that reduces HSE risks by encouraging the Technology group to use effective GD&T. The GD&T is a precise communication tool that uses a set of symbols, rules, and definitions to mathematically define parts to be manufactured. It is a quality assurance method widely used in the oil and gas sector. Traditionally it is used to ensure the interchangeability of a part without affecting its form, fit, and function. Parts that do not meet these requirements are rejected during quality audits. This paper discusses how the Technology group integrates this quality assurance tool into the PDP and how the tool plays a major role in helping the HSE department in its goal towards eliminating HSE incidents. The PDP involves a thorough risk assessment and establishes a method to address those risks during the design stage. An illustration shows how GD&T helped reduce safety risks by ergonomically improving assembling operations. A brief discussion explains how tolerances provided on a part help prevent finger injury. This tool has equipped Technology to produce fixtures, which are used daily in operations as well as manufacturing. By applying GD&T to create good fits, HSE risks are mitigated for operating personnel. Both customers and service providers benefit from reduced safety risks.

Keywords: HSE, PDP, GD&T, risks.

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Authors: Basyir Yaman, Fades Br. Gultom

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The picture and pattern of Islamic education in the Prophet's period in Mecca and Medina is the history of the past that we need to bring back. The Basic Education Institute called Kuttab. Kuttab or Maktab comes from the word kataba which means to write. The popular Kuttab in the Prophet’s period aims to resolve the illiteracy in the Arab community. In Indonesia, this Institution has 25 branches; one of them is located in Semarang (i.e. Kuttab Al-Fatih). Kuttab Al-Fatih as a non-formal institution of Islamic education is reserved for children aged 5-12 years. The independently designed curriculum is a distinctive feature that distinguishes between Kuttab Al-Fatih curriculum and the formal institutional curriculum in Indonesia. The curriculum includes the faith and the Qur’an. Kuttab Al-Fatih has been licensed as a Community Activity Learning Center under the direct supervision and guidance of the National Education Department. Here, we focus to describe the implementation of curriculum Kuttab Al-Fatih Semarang (i.e. faith and al-Qur’an). After that, we determine the relevance between the implementation of the Kuttab Al-Fatih education system with the formal education system in Indonesia. This research uses literature review and field research qualitative methods. We obtained the data from the head of Kuttab Al-Fatih Semarang, vice curriculum, faith coordinator, al-Qur’an coordinator, as well as the guardians of learners and the learners. The result of this research is the relevance of education system in Kuttab Al-Fatih Semarang about education system in Indonesia. Kuttab Al-Fatih Semarang emphasizes character building through a curriculum designed in such a way and combines thematic learning models in modules.

Keywords: Islamic education system, implementation of curriculum, Kuttab Al-Fatih semarang, formal education system in Indonesia.

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Authors: K. Kong, E. Ferrier, L. Michel

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The purpose of this research was to investigate the creep behaviour of the heterogeneous Timber-UHPFRC beams. New developments have been done to further improve the structural performance, such as strengthening of the timber (glulam) beam by bonding composite material combine with an ultra-high performance fibre reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) internally reinforced with or without carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) bars. However, in the design of wooden structures, in addition to the criteria of strengthening and stiffness, deformability due to the creep of wood, especially in horizontal elements, is also a design criterion. Glulam, UHPFRC and CFRP may be an interesting composite mix to respond to the issue of creep behaviour of composite structures made of different materials with different rheological properties. In this paper, we describe an experimental and analytical investigation of the creep performance of the glulam-UHPFRC-CFRP beams assembled by bonding. The experimental investigations creep behaviour was conducted for different environments: in- and outside under constant loading for approximately a year. The measured results are compared with numerical ones obtained by an analytical model. This model was developed to predict the creep response of the glulam-UHPFRCCFRP beams based on the creep characteristics of the individual components. The results show that heterogeneous glulam-UHPFRC beams provide an improvement in both the strengthening and stiffness, and can also effectively reduce the creep deflection of wooden beams.

Keywords: Carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) bars, creep behaviour, glulam, ultra-high performance fibre reinforced concrete (UHPFRC).

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Authors: Alexei M. Mikhailov

Abstract:

The paper attempts to elucidate the columnar structure of the cortex by answering the following questions. (1) Why the cortical neurons with similar interests tend to be vertically arrayed forming what is known as cortical columns? (2) How to describe the cortex as a whole in concise mathematical terms? (3) How to design efficient digital models of the cortex?

Keywords: Cortex, pattern recognition, artificial neural cortex, computational biology, brain and neural engineering.

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Authors: Sharifullah Ahmed, Sarwar Jahan Md. Yasin

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Shallow foundations on unimproved soft natural soils can undergo a high consolidation and secondary settlement. For low and medium rise building projects on such soil condition, pile foundation may not be cost effective. In such cases an alternative to pile foundations may be shallow strip footings placed on a double layered improved soil system soil. The upper layer of this system is untreated or cement treated compacted sand and underlying layer is natural soft clay. This system will reduce the settlement to an allowable limit. The current research has been conducted with the settlement of a rigid plane-strain strip footing of 2.5 m width placed on the surface of a soil consisting of an untreated or cement treated sand layer overlying a bed of homogeneous soft clay. The settlement of the mentioned shallow foundation has been studied considering both cases with the thicknesses of the sand layer are 0.3 to 0.9 times the width of footing. The response of the clay layer is assumed as undrained for plastic loading stages and drained during consolidation stages. The response of the sand layer is drained during all loading stages. FEM analysis was done using PLAXIS 2D Version 8.0. A natural clay deposit of 15 m thickness and 18 m width has been modeled using Hardening Soil Model, Soft Soil Model, Soft Soil Creep Model, and upper improvement layer has been modeled using only Hardening Soil Model. The groundwater level is at the top level of the clay deposit that made the system fully saturated. Parametric study has been conducted to determine the effect of thickness, density, cementation of the sand mat and density, shear strength of the soft clay layer on the settlement of strip foundation under the uniformly distributed vertical load of varying value. A set of the chart has been established for designing shallow strip footing on the sand mat over thick, soft clay deposit through obtaining the particular thickness of sand mat for particular subsoil parameter to ensure no punching shear failure and no settlement beyond allowable level. Design guideline in the form of non-dimensional charts has been developed for footing pressure equivalent to medium-rise residential or commercial building foundation with strip footing on soft inorganic Normally Consolidated (NC) soil of Bangladesh having void ratio from 1.0 to 1.45.

Keywords: Design charts, ground improvement, PLAXIS 2D, primary and secondary settlement, sand Mat, soft clay.

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Authors: Hock Chuan, Lim

Abstract:

This paper presents an approach for identifying interactive effects using Network Science (NS) supported by Social Network Analysis (SNA) techniques. Based on general observations that learning processes and behaviors are shaped by the social relationships and influenced by learning environment, the central idea was to understand both the human and non-human interactive effects for a blended learning mode of delivery of computer science modules. Important findings include (a) the importance of non-human nodes to influence the centrality and transfer; (b) the degree of non-human and human connectivity impacts learning. This project reveals that the NS pattern and connectivity as measured by node relationships offer alternative approach for hypothesis generation and design of qualitative data collection. An iterative process further reinforces the analysis, whereas the experimental simulation option itself is an interesting alternative option, a hybrid combination of both experimental simulation and qualitative data collection presents itself as a promising and viable means to study complex scenario such as blended learning delivery mode. The primary value of this paper lies in the design of the approach for studying interactive effects of human (social nodes) and non-human (learning/study environment, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) infrastructures nodes) components. In conclusion, this project adds to the understanding and the use of SNA to model and study interactive effects in blended social learning.

Keywords: Blended learning, network science, social learning, social network analysis, study environment.

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Authors: Mohammad A. Bani-Khaled

Abstract:

In this work we use the Discrete Proper Orthogonal Decomposition transform to characterize the properties of coupled dynamics in thin-walled beams by exploiting numerical simulations obtained from finite element simulations. The outcomes of the will improve our understanding of the linear and nonlinear coupled behavior of thin-walled beams structures. Thin-walled beams have widespread usage in modern engineering application in both large scale structures (aeronautical structures), as well as in nano-structures (nano-tubes). Therefore, detailed knowledge in regard to the properties of coupled vibrations and buckling in these structures are of great interest in the research community. Due to the geometric complexity in the overall structure and in particular in the cross-sections it is necessary to involve computational mechanics to numerically simulate the dynamics. In using numerical computational techniques, it is not necessary to over simplify a model in order to solve the equations of motions. Computational dynamics methods produce databases of controlled resolution in time and space. These numerical databases contain information on the properties of the coupled dynamics. In order to extract the system dynamic properties and strength of coupling among the various fields of the motion, processing techniques are required. Time- Proper Orthogonal Decomposition transform is a powerful tool for processing databases for the dynamics. It will be used to study the coupled dynamics of thin-walled basic structures. These structures are ideal to form a basis for a systematic study of coupled dynamics in structures of complex geometry.

Keywords: Coupled dynamics, geometric complexity, Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD), thin walled beams.

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Authors: Wei Sun, Yan Dong

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There is an increasing interest in introducing computational thinking at an early age. Computational thinking, like mathematical thinking, engineering thinking, and scientific thinking, is a kind of analytical thinking. Learning computational thinking skills is not only to improve technological literacy, but also allows learners to equip with practicable skills such as problem-solving skills. As people realize the importance of computational thinking, the field of educational technology faces a problem: how to choose appropriate tools and activities to help students develop computational thinking skills. Robots are gradually becoming a popular teaching tool, as robots provide a tangible way for young children to access to technology, and controlling a robot through programming offers them opportunities to engage in developing computational thinking. This study explores whether the introduction of flowcharts into the robotics programming courses can help children convert natural language into a programming language more easily, and then to better cultivate their computational thinking skills. An experimental study was adopted with a sample of children ages six to seven (N = 16) participated, and a one-meter-tall humanoid robot was used as the teaching tool. Results show that children can master basic programming concepts through robotic courses. Children's computational thinking has been significantly improved. Besides, results suggest that flowcharts do have an impact on young children’s computational thinking skills development, but it only has a significant effect on the "sequencing" and "correspondence" skills. Overall, the study demonstrates that the humanoid robot and flowcharts have qualities that foster young children to learn programming and develop computational thinking skills.

Keywords: Robotics, computational thinking, programming, young children, flowcharts.

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Authors: Devanjan Bhattacharya, Jitka Komarkova

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The research describes the implementation of a novel and stand-alone system for dynamic hazard warning. The system uses all existing infrastructure already in place like mobile networks, a laptop/PC and the small installation software. The geospatial dataset are the maps of a region which are again frugal. Hence there is no need to invest and it reaches everyone with a mobile. A novel architecture of hazard assessment and warning introduced where major technologies in ICT interfaced to give a unique WebGIS based dynamic real time geohazard warning communication system. A never before architecture introduced for integrating WebGIS with telecommunication technology. Existing technologies interfaced in a novel architectural design to address a neglected domain in a way never done before – through dynamically updatable WebGIS based warning communication. The work publishes new architecture and novelty in addressing hazard warning techniques in sustainable way and user friendly manner. Coupling of hazard zonation and hazard warning procedures into a single system has been shown. Generalized architecture for deciphering a range of geo-hazards has been developed. Hence the developmental work presented here can be summarized as the development of internet-SMS based automated geo-hazard warning communication system; integrating a warning communication system with a hazard evaluation system; interfacing different open-source technologies towards design and development of a warning system; modularization of different technologies towards development of a warning communication system; automated data creation, transformation and dissemination over different interfaces. The architecture of the developed warning system has been functionally automated as well as generalized enough that can be used for any hazard and setup requirement has been kept to a minimum.

Keywords: Geospatial, web-based GIS, geohazard, warning system.

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Authors: M. Arefi, A.M. Amini, K. Fallahi

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One of the basic concepts in marketing is the concept of meeting customers- needs. Since customer satisfaction is essential for lasting survival and development of a business, screening and observing customer satisfaction and recognizing its underlying factors must be one of the key activities of every business. The purpose of this study is to recognize the drivers that effect customer satisfaction in a business-to-business situation in order to improve marketing activities. We conducted a survey in which 93 business customers of a manufacturer of Diesel Generator in Iran participated and they talked about their ideas and satisfaction of supplier-s services related to its products. We developed the measures for drivers of satisfaction first by as investigative research (by means of feedback from executives and customers of sponsoring firm). Then based on these measures, we created a mail survey, and asked the respondents to explain their opinion about the sponsoring firm which was a supplier of diesel generator and similar products. Furthermore, the survey required the participants to mention their functional areas and their company features. In Conclusion we found that there are three drivers for customer satisfaction, which are reliability, information about product, and commercial features. Buyers/users from different functional areas attribute different degree of importance to the last two drivers. For instance, people from buying and management areas believe that commercial features are more important than information about products. But people in engineering, maintenance and production areas believe that having information about products is more important than commercial aspects. Marketing experts should consider the attribute of customers regarding information about the product and commercial features to improve market share.

Keywords: B2B, Customer satisfaction, Commercial, Industry.

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Authors: Zhao Cai-qi, Ma Jun

Abstract:

Twin steel plates-concrete composite shear walls are composed of a pair of steel plate layers and a concrete layer sandwiched between them, which have the characteristics of both reinforced concrete shear walls and steel plate shear walls. Twin steel plates-composite shear walls contain very high ultimsate bearing capacity and ductility, which have great potential to be applied in the super high-rise buildings and special structures. In this paper, we analyzed the basic characteristics and stress mechanism of the twin steel plates-composite shear walls. Specifically, we analyzed the effects of the steel plate thickness, wall thickness and concrete strength on the bearing capacity of the twin steel plates-composite shear walls. The analysis results indicate that: (1) the initial shear stiffness and ultimate shear-carrying capacity is not significantly affected by the thickness of concrete wall but by the class of concrete, (2) both factors significantly impact the shear distribution of the shear walls in ultimate shear-carrying capacity. The technique of twin steel plates-composite shear walls has been successfully applied in the construction of an 88-meter Huge Statue of Buddha located in Hunan Province, China. The analysis results and engineering experiences showed that the twin steel plates-composite shear walls have great potential for future research and applications.

Keywords: Twin steel plates-concrete composite shear wall, huge statue of Buddha, shear capacity, initial lateral stiffness, overturning moment bearing.

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Authors: N. V. Toan, S. Sangu, T. Saitoh, N. Inomata, T. Ono

Abstract:

This paper presents the design and fabrication of an optical window for an optical modulator toward image sensing applications. An optical window consists of micrometer-order SiO2 capillaries (porous solid) that can modulate transmission light intensity by moving the liquid in and out of porous solid. A high optical transmittance of the optical window can be achieved due to refractive index matching when the liquid is penetrated into the porous solid. Otherwise, its light transmittance is lower because of light reflection and scattering by air holes and capillary walls. Silicon capillaries fabricated by deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) process are completely oxidized to form the SiO2 capillaries. Therefore, high aspect ratio SiO2 capillaries can be achieved based on silicon capillaries formed by DRIE technique. Large compressive stress of the oxide causes bending of the capillary structure, which is reduced by optimizing the design of device structure. The large stress of the optical window can be released via thin supporting beams. A 7.2 mm x 9.6 mm optical window area toward a fully integrated with the image sensor format is successfully fabricated and its optical transmittance is evaluated with and without inserting liquids (ethanol and matching oil). The achieved modulation range is approximately 20% to 35% with and without liquid penetration in visible region (wavelength range from 450 nm to 650 nm).

Keywords: Thermal oxidation process, SiO2 capillaries, optical window, light transmittance, image sensor, liquid penetration.

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Authors: Omid A. Zargar

Abstract:

Vibration monitoring methods of most critical equipment like main turbine and compressors always plays important role in preventive maintenance and management consideration in big industrial plants. There are a number of traditional methods like monitoring the overall vibration data from Bently Nevada panel and the time wave form (TWF) or fast Fourier transform (FFT) monitoring. Besides, Shaft centerline monitoring method developed too much in recent years. There are a number of arguments both in favor of and against this method between people who work in preventive maintenance and condition monitoring systems (vibration analysts). In this paper basic principal of Turbine compressor vibration analysis and rotor movement evaluation by shaft centerline method discussed in details through a case history. This case history is related to main turbine compressor of an olefin plant in Iran oil industry. In addition, some common mistakes that may occur by vibration analyst during the process discussed in details. It is worthy to know that, these mistakes may one of the reasons that sometimes this method seems to be not effective. Furthermore, recent patent and innovation in shaft position and movement evaluation are discussed in this paper.

Keywords: Shaft centerline position, attitude angle, journal bearing, sleeve bearing, tilting pad, steam turbine, main compressor, multistage compressor, condition monitoring, non-contact probe

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Authors: A. Abdullah, N. Faghih Mirzaei, S. Hany Haron

Abstract:

Neighbourhood environment walkability on reported physical activity (PA) levels of students of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in Malaysia. Compared with previous generations, today’s young people spend less time playing outdoors and have lower participation rates in PA. Research suggests that negative perceptions of neighbourhood walkability may be a potential barrier to adolescents’ PA. The sample consisted of 200 USM students (to 24 years old) who live outside of the main campus and engage in PA in sport halls and sport fields of USM. The data were analysed using the t-test, binary logistic regression, and discriminant analysis techniques. The present study found that youth PA was affected by neighbourhood environment walkability factors, including neighbourhood infrastructures, neighbourhood safety (crime), and recreation facilities, as well as street characteristics and neighbourhood design variables such as facades of sidewalks, roadside trees, green spaces, and aesthetics. The finding also illustrated that active students were influenced by street connectivity, neighbourhood infrastructures, recreation facilities, facades of sidewalks, and aesthetics, whereas students in the less active group were affected by access to destinations, neighbourhood safety (crime), and roadside trees and green spaces for their PAs. These results report which factors of built environments have more effect on youth PA and they message to the public to create more awareness about the benefits of PA on youth health.

Keywords: Fear of crime, neighbourhood built environment, physical activities, street characteristics design.

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Authors: Sung Uk Park, Young Su Kang, Sangmo Kang, Yong Kweon Suh

Abstract:

Mineral product, waste concrete (fine aggregates), waste in the optical field, industry, and construction employ separators to separate solids and classify them according to their size. Various sorting machines are used in the industrial field such as those operating under electrical properties, centrifugal force, wind power, vibration, and magnetic force. Study on separators has been carried out to contribute to the environmental industry. In this study, we perform CFD analysis for understanding the basic mechanism of the separation of waste concrete (fine aggregate) particles from air with a machine built with a rotor with blades. In CFD, we first performed two-dimensional particle tracking for various particle sizes for the model with 1 degree, 1.5 degree, and 2 degree angle between each blade to verify the boundary conditions and the method of rotating domain method to be used in 3D. Then we developed 3D numerical model with ANSYS CFX to calculate the air flow and track the particles. We judged the capability of particle separation for given size by counting the number of particles escaping from the domain toward the exit among 10 particles issued at the inlet. We confirm that particles experience stagnant behavior near the exit of the rotating blades where the centrifugal force acting on the particles is in balance with the air drag force. It was also found that the minimum particle size that can be separated by the machine with the rotor is determined by its capability to stay at the outlet of the rotor channels.

Keywords: Environmental industry, Separator, CFD, Fine aggregate.

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Authors: S. S. Rana, C. Janveja, S. K. Soni

Abstract:

This study is concerned with the optimization of fermentation parameters for the hyper production of mannanase from Fusarium oxysporum SS-25 employing two step statistical strategy and kinetic characterization of crude enzyme preparation. The Plackett-Burman design used to screen out the important factors in the culture medium revealed 20% (w/w) wheat bran, 2% (w/w) each of potato peels, soyabean meal and malt extract, 1% tryptone, 0.14% NH4SO4, 0.2% KH2PO4, 0.0002% ZnSO4, 0.0005% FeSO4, 0.01% MnSO4, 0.012% SDS, 0.03% NH4Cl, 0.1% NaNO3 in brewer’s spent grain based medium with 50% moisture content, inoculated with 2.8×107 spores and incubated at 30oC for 6 days to be the main parameters influencing the enzyme production. Of these factors, four variables including soyabean meal, FeSO4, MnSO4 and NaNO3 were chosen to study the interactive effects and their optimum levels in central composite design of response surface methodology with the final mannanase yield of 193 IU/gds. The kinetic characterization revealed the crude enzyme to be active over broader temperature and pH range. This could result in 26.6% reduction in kappa number with 4.93% higher tear index and 1% increase in brightness when used to treat the wheat straw based kraft pulp. The hydrolytic potential of enzyme was also demonstrated on both locust bean gum and guar gum.

Keywords: Brewer’s Spent Grain, Fusarium oxysporum, Mannanase, Response Surface Methodology.

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Authors: Yahia Salah, Med Lassaad Kaddachi, Rached Tourki

Abstract:

This paper presents the design, implementation and evaluation of a micro-network, or Network-on-Chip (NoC), based on a generic pipeline router architecture. The router is designed to efficiently support traffic generated by multimedia applications on embedded multi-core systems. It employs a simplest routing mechanism and implements the round-robin scheduling strategy to resolve output port contentions and minimize latency. A virtual channel flow control is applied to avoid the head-of-line blocking problem and enhance performance in the NoC. The hardware design of the router architecture has been implemented at the register transfer level; its functionality is evaluated in the case of the two dimensional Mesh/Torus topology, and performance results are derived from ModelSim simulator and Xilinx ISE 9.2i synthesis tool. An example of a multi-core image processing system utilizing the NoC structure has been implemented and validated to demonstrate the capability of the proposed micro-network architecture. To reduce complexity of the image compression and decompression architecture, the system use image processing algorithm based on classical discrete cosine transform with an efficient zonal processing approach. The experimental results have confirmed that both the proposed image compression scheme and NoC architecture can achieve a reasonable image quality with lower processing time.

Keywords: Generic Pipeline Network-on-Chip Router Architecture, JPEG Image Compression, FPGA Hardware Implementation, Performance Evaluation.

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Authors: J. Rizk, Y. Chaiko

Abstract:

This paper shows the potential system benefits of simple tracking solar system using a stepper motor and light sensor. This method is increasing power collection efficiency by developing a device that tracks the sun to keep the panel at a right angle to its rays. A solar tracking system is designed, implemented and experimentally tested. The design details and the experimental results are shown.

Keywords: Renewable Energy, Power Optimization.

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