Search results for: growth performance

Authors: Wissam B. Fahed

Abstract:

Entrepreneurship has become an important and extensively researched concept in business studies. Research on foreign direct investment (FDI) has become widespread due to the growth of FDI and its importance in globalization. Most entrepreneurship studies examined the importance and influence of entrepreneurial orientation in a micro-level context. On the other hand, studies and research concerning FDI used statistical techniques to analyze the effect, determinants, and motives of FDI on a macroeconomic level, ignoring empirical studies on other noneconomic determinants. In order to bridge the gap between the theory and empirical evidence on FDI and the theory and research on entrepreneurship, this study examines the impact of entrepreneurship on inward foreign direct investment. The relationship between entrepreneurship and foreign direct investment is investigated through regression analysis of pooled time-series and cross-sectional data. The results suggest that entrepreneurship has a significant effect on FDI.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, foreign direct investment, globalization, economic freedom.

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Authors: Michel Han, Christophe Besson, Alain Savary, Yvan Becher

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The variable flux permanent magnet synchronous motor (VF-PMSM), also called "Memory Motor", is a new generation of motor capable of modifying the magnetization state with short pulses of current during operation or standstill. The impact of such operation is the expansion of the operating range in the torque-speed characteristic and an improvement in energy efficiency at high-speed in comparison to conventional permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSMs). This paper reviews the operating principle and the unique features of the proposed memory motor. The benefits of this concept are highlighted by comparing the performance of the rotor of the VF-PMSM to that of two PM rotors that are typically found in the industry. The investigation emphasizes the properties of the variable magnetization and presents the comparison of the torque-speed characteristic with the capability of loss reduction in a VF-PMSM by means of experimental results, especially when tests are conducted under identical conditions for each rotor (same stator, same inverter and same experimental setup). The experimental results demonstrated that the VF-PMSM gives an additional degree of freedom to optimize the efficiency over a wide speed range. Thus, with a design easy to manufacture and with the possibility of controlling the magnetization and the demagnetization of the magnets during operations, the VF-PMSM can be interesting for various applications.

Keywords: Efficiency, magnetization state, memory motors, performances, permanent-magnet, synchronous machine, variable-flux, variable magnetization, wide speed application.

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Authors: Florin Leon, Silvia Curteanu

Abstract:

Developing complete mechanistic models for polymerization reactors is not easy, because complex reactions occur simultaneously; there is a large number of kinetic parameters involved and sometimes the chemical and physical phenomena for mixtures involving polymers are poorly understood. To overcome these difficulties, empirical models based on sampled data can be used instead, namely regression methods typical of machine learning field. They have the ability to learn the trends of a process without any knowledge about its particular physical and chemical laws. Therefore, they are useful for modeling complex processes, such as the free radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate achieved in a batch bulk process. The goal is to generate accurate predictions of monomer conversion, numerical average molecular weight and gravimetrical average molecular weight. This process is associated with non-linear gel and glass effects. For this purpose, an adaptive sampling technique is presented, which can select more samples around the regions where the values have a higher variation. Several machine learning methods are used for the modeling and their performance is compared: support vector machines, k-nearest neighbor, k-nearest neighbor and random forest, as well as an original algorithm, large margin nearest neighbor regression. The suggested method provides very good results compared to the other well-known regression algorithms.

Keywords: Adaptive sampling, batch bulk methyl methacrylate polymerization, large margin nearest neighbor regression, machine learning.

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Authors: P. Rattanapoltee, P. Kaewkannetra

Abstract:

According to biodiesel from microalgae is an attractive fuel for several reasons such as renewable, biodegradable and environmental friendly. Thus, this study, green microalgae Scenedesmus acutus PPNK1 isolated from natural water, was selected based on high growth rates, easy cultivation and high lipid content. The Nile red fluorescence method has been successfully applied to the determination of lipids in S. acutus PPNK1. The combination of the method to the lipid composition in algal cells showed the yellow fluorescence under fluorescent microscope. Interestingly, maximum cell numbers and biomass concentration were obtained at 5.44´10⁷ cells/mL and 1.60 g/L when it was cultivated in BG-11 medium while in case of BG-11 with nitrogen deprivation (N 0.25 g/L), accumulated lipid content in cells (44.67%) was achieved that was higher than that found in case of BG-11 medium at about 2 times (22.63%).

Keywords: Biodiesel, Lipid, Microalgae, Nile red.

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Authors: Farah Haroon, Haroon Rasheed, Kazi M Ahmed

Abstract:

IEEE 802.15.4a impulse radio-time hopping ultra wide band (IR-TH UWB) physical layer, due to small duty cycle and very short pulse widths is robust against multipath propagation. However, scattering and reflections with the large number of obstacles in indoor channel environments, give rise to dense multipath fading. It imposes serious problem to optimum Rake receiver architectures, for which very large number of fingers are needed. Presence of strong noise also affects the reception of fine pulses having extremely low power spectral density. A robust SRake receiver for IEEE 802.15.4a IRTH UWB in dense multipath and additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) is proposed to efficiently recover the weak signals with much reduced complexity. It adaptively increases the signal to noise (SNR) by decreasing noise through a recursive least square (RLS) algorithm. For simulation, dense multipath environment of IEEE 802.15.4a industrial non line of sight (NLOS) is employed. The power delay profile (PDF) and the cumulative distribution function (CDF) for the respective channel environment are found. Moreover, the error performance of the proposed architecture is evaluated in comparison with conventional SRake and AWGN correlation receivers. The simulation results indicate a substantial performance improvement with very less number of Rake fingers.

Keywords: Adaptive noise cancellation, dense multipath propoagation, IEEE 802.15.4a, IR-TH UWB, industrial NLOS environment, SRake receiver

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Authors: H. El-Kamchouchi, Heba Gaber, Fatma Ahmed, Dalia H. El-Kamchouchi

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Due to the rapid growth in modern communication systems, fault tolerance and data security are two important issues in a secure transaction. During the transmission of data between the sender and receiver, errors may occur frequently. Therefore, the sender must re-transmit the data to the receiver in order to correct these errors, which makes the system very feeble. To improve the scalability of the scheme, we present a secure proxy signature scheme with fault tolerance over an efficient and secure authenticated key agreement protocol based on RSA system. Authenticated key agreement protocols have an important role in building a secure communications network between the two parties.

Keywords: Proxy signature, fault tolerance, RSA, key agreement protocol.

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Authors: Dali Zhang, Baoqun Yin, Hongsheng Xi

Abstract:

In this paper, we propose a single sample path based algorithm with state aggregation to optimize the average rewards of singularly perturbed Markov reward processes (SPMRPs) with a large scale state spaces. It is assumed that such a reward process depend on a set of parameters. Differing from the other kinds of Markov chain, SPMRPs have their own hierarchical structure. Based on this special structure, our algorithm can alleviate the load in the optimization for performance. Moreover, our method can be applied on line because of its evolution with the sample path simulated. Compared with the original algorithm applied on these problems of general MRPs, a new gradient formula for average reward performance metric in SPMRPs is brought in, which will be proved in Appendix, and then based on these gradients, the schedule of the iteration algorithm is presented, which is based on a single sample path, and eventually a special case in which parameters only dominate the disturbance matrices will be analyzed, and a precise comparison with be displayed between our algorithm with the old ones which is aim to solve these problems in general Markov reward processes. When applied in SPMRPs, our method will approach a fast pace in these cases. Furthermore, to illustrate the practical value of SPMRPs, a simple example in multiple programming in computer systems will be listed and simulated. Corresponding to some practical model, physical meanings of SPMRPs in networks of queues will be clarified.

Keywords: Singularly perturbed Markov processes, Gradient of average reward, Differential reward, State aggregation, Perturbed close network.

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Authors: Laidson P. Gomes, Cristina T. Andrade, Eduardo M. Del Aguila, Cameron Alexander, Vânia M. F. Paschoalin

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Chitosan is a natural polysaccharide prepared by the N-deacetylation of chitin. In this study, the physicochemical and antibacterial properties of chitosan nanoparticles, produced by ultrasound irradiation, were evaluated. The physicochemical properties of the nanoparticles were determined by dynamic light scattering and zeta potential analysis. Chitosan nanoparticles inhibited the growth of E. coli. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values were lower than 0.5 mg/mL, and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values were similar or higher than MIC values. Confocal laser scanning micrographs (CLSM) were used to observe the interaction between E. coli suspensions mixed with FITC-labeled chitosan polymers and nanoparticles.

Keywords: Chitosan nanoparticles, dynamic light scattering, zeta potential, confocal microscopy, antibacterial activity.

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Authors: Parisa Tajer-Mohammad-Ghazvini, Rouha Kasra-Kermanshahi, Ahmad Nozad-Golikand, Majid Sadeghizadeh

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Bacterial magnetic nanoparticles have great useful potential in biotechnological and biomedical applications. In this study, a liquid growth medium was modified for cultivation a fastidious magnetotactic bacterium that has been isolated from Anzali lagoon, Iran in our previous research. These modifications include change in vitamin, mineral, carbon sources and etcetera. In our experience, the serum bottles and designed air-tight laboratory bottles were used to create microaerobic conditions in order to development of a method for scale-up experiment. This information may serve as a guide to green chemistry based biological protocols for the synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles with control over the chemical composition, morphology and size.

Keywords: Green chemistry, Magnetosome, Magnetotactic bacteria, Magnetic nanoparticles, Nano-Biotechnology.

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Authors: Venugopal Kummamuru

Abstract:

Corporate Governance (CG) is of utmost importance for running a company ethically. It is essential for the growth and success of the corporation. It is intended to increase the accountability of an organization to the larger context of the business environment. The general principles of CG include and are related to Shareholder recognition, Stakeholder interests, and focus on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Clear Board responsibilities, Ethical behavior, and Business transparency. Network Marketing Organizations (NMOs) focus on marketing through direct-sales using people who are associated with the organization but are not their employees. This paper tries to study the importance of Ethics and CSR in an NMO and suggest a basic guideline for CG in NMO(s). This paper could be used as a basis or starting point for conducting an in-depth research to understand the difference in CG practices between NMO(s) and other organizations and define a standard set of guidelines for CG practice.

Keywords: Corporate governance, corporate responsibility, direct selling, network marketing.

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Authors: F. Garousi, Sz. Veres, É. Bódi, Sz. Várallyay, B. Kovács

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Specific leaf area (SLA; cm2leaf g-1leaf) the ratio of leaf area to leaf dry mass is a key ecophysiological parameter influencing leaf physiology, photosynthesis, and whole plant carbon gain and also can be used as a rapid and diagnostic tool. In this study, two species of soluble inorganic selenium forms, selenite (Se^IV) and selenate (Se^VI) at different concentrations were investigated on maize plants that were growing in nutrient solutions during 2 weeks and at the end of the experiment, amounts of SLA for first and second leaves of maize were measured. In accordance with the results we observed that our regarded Se concentrations in both forms of Se^IV and Se^VI were not effective on maize plants’ SLA significantly although high level of 3 mg.kg-1 Se^IV had negative affect on growth of the samples that had been treated by it but about Se^VI samples we did not observe this state and our different considered Se^VI concentrations were not toxic for maize plants.

Keywords: Maize, Sodium selenate, sodium selenite, specific leaf area.

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Authors: Andra Costache, Rădiţa Alexe

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The analysis of the spatial disparities of social marginalization is a requirement in the present-day socio-economic and political context of Romania, an East-European state, member of the European Union since 2007, at present faced with the imperatives of the growth of its territorial cohesion. The main objective of this article is to develop a methodology for the assessment of social marginalization, in order to understand the intensity of the marginalization phenomenon at different spatial scales. The article proposes a social marginalization index (SMI), calculated through the integration of ten indicators relevant for the two components of social marginalization: the material component and the symbolical component. The results highlighted a strong connection between the total degree of social marginalization and the dependence on social benefits, unemployment rate, non-inclusion in the compulsory education, criminality rate, and the type of pension insurance.

Keywords: Romania, social marginalization index, territorial disparities.

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Authors: Mustafa M. Donma

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Metabolic syndrome (MetS) components are noteworthy among children with obesity and morbid obesity, because they point out the cases with MetS, which have the great tendency to severe health problems such as cardiovascular diseases both in childhood and adulthood. In clinical practice, considerable efforts are being observed to bring into the open the striking differences between morbid obese cases and those with MetS findings. The most privileged aspect is concerning cardiometabolic features. The aim of this study was to derive an index, which behaves different in children with and without MetS from the cardiac point of view. For the purpose, aspartate transaminase (AST), a cardiac enzyme still being used independently to predict cardiac-related problems was used. 124 children were recruited from the outpatient clinic of Department of Pediatrics in Tekirdag Namik Kemal University, Faculty of Medicine. 43 children with normal body mass index, 41 and 40 morbid obese (MO) children with MetS and without the characteristic features of MetS, respectively, were included in the study. Weight, height, waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), head circumference (HdC), neck circumference (NC), systolic and diastolic blood pressure values were measured and recorded. Body mass index and anthropometric ratios were calculated. Fasting blood glucose (FBG), insulin (INS), triglycerides (TRG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) analyses were performed. The values for AST, alanine transaminase (ALT) and AST/ALT were obtained. Advanced Donma cardiac index (ADCI) values were calculated. Statistical evaluations including correlation analysis were done by a statistical package program. The statistical significance degree was accepted as p < 0.05. The index, ADCI, was developed from both anthropometric and biochemical parameters. All anthropometric measurements except weight were included in the equation. Besides all biochemical parameters concerning MetS components were also added. This index was tested in each of three groups. Its performance was compared with the performance of cardiometabolic index (CMI). It was also checked whether it was compatible with AST activity. The performance of ADCI was better than that of CMI. Instead of double increase, the increase of three times was observed in children with MetS compared to MO children. The index was correlated with AST in MO group and with AST/ALT in MetS group. In conclusion, this index was superior in discovering cardiac problems in MO and in diagnosing MetS in MetS groups. It was also arbiter to point out cardiovascular and MetS aspects among the groups.

Keywords: Aspartate transaminase, cardiac index, metabolic syndrome, obesity.

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Authors: J. B. Qin, X. H. Jiang, Y. T. Ge

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The growing awareness of global warming potential has internationally aroused interest and demand in reducing greenhouse gas emissions produced by human activity. Much national energy in the UK had been consumed in the residential sector mainly for space heating and domestic hot water production. Currently, gas boilers are mostly applied in the domestic water heating which contribute significantly to excessive CO₂ emissions and consumption of primary energy resources. The issues can be solved by popularizing heat pump systems that are attributable to higher performance efficiency than those of traditional gas boilers. Even so, the heat pump system performance can be further enhanced if the dissolved gases in its hot water circuit can be efficiently discharged.  To achieve this target, the bubble behaviors in the heat pump water heating system need to be extensively investigated. In this paper, by varying different experimental conditions, the effects of various heat pump hot water side parameters on gas microbubble diameters were measured and analyzed. Correspondingly, the effect of each parameter has been investigated. These include varied system pressures, water flow rates, saturation ratios and heat outputs. The results measurement showed that the water flow rate is the most significant parameter to influence on gas microbubble productions. The research outcomes can significantly contribute to the understanding of gas bubble behaviors at domestic heat pump water heating systems and thus the efficient way for the discharging of the associated dissolved gases.  

Keywords: Dissolved gases in water, heat pump, domestic water heating system, microbubble formation.

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Authors: I. Siti Rabiatull Aisha, A. Ourdjini, O. Saliza Azlina

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to study the effectiveness of bismuth addition in the solder alloy to retard the intermetallic compound formation and growth. In this study, three categories of solders such as Sn-4Ag-xCu (x = 0.5, 0.7, 1.0) and Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu-xBi (x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.4) were used. Ni/Au surface finish substrates were dipped into the molten solder at a temperature of 180-190 ^oC and allowed to cool at room temperature. The intermetallic compound (IMCs) were subjected to the characterization in terms of composition and morphology. The IMC phases were identified by energy dispersive x-ray (EDX), whereas the optical microscope and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to observe microstructure evolution of the solder joint. The results clearly showed that copper concentration dependency was high during the reflow stage. Besides, only Ni₃Sn₄ and Ni₃Sn₂ were detected for all copper concentrations. The addition of Bi was found to have no significant effect on the type of IMCs formed, but yet the grain became further refined.

Keywords: Bismuth addition, intermetallic compound, composition, morphology.

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Authors: Yuan L. Lai, Yong R. Chen, Jui P. Hung, Tzuo L. Luo, Hsi H. Hsiao

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Chatter vibration has been a troublesome problem for a machine tool toward the high precision and high speed machining. Essentially, the machining performance is determined by the dynamic characteristics of the machine tool structure and dynamics of cutting process. Therefore the dynamic vibration behavior of spindle tool system greatly determines the performance of machine tool. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influences of the machine frame structure on the dynamic frequency of spindle tool unit through finite element modeling approach. To this end, a realistic finite element model of the vertical milling system was created by incorporated the spindle-bearing model into the spindle head stock of the machine frame. Using this model, the dynamic characteristics of the milling machines with different structural designs of spindle head stock and identical spindle tool unit were demonstrated. The results of the finite element modeling reveal that the spindle tool unit behaves more compliant when the excited frequency approaches the natural mode of the spindle tool; while the spindle tool show a higher dynamic stiffness at lower frequency that may be initiated by the structural mode of milling head. Under this condition, it is concluded that the structural configuration of spindle head stock associated with the vertical column of milling machine plays an important role in determining the machining dynamics of the spindle unit.

Keywords: Machine tools, Compliance, Frequency response function, Machine frame structure, Spindle unit

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Authors: Akbarningrum Fatmawati, Rudy Agustriyanto, Lindawati

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Gluconic acid is one of interesting chemical products in industries such as detergents, leather, photographic, textile, and especially in food and pharmaceutical industries. Fermentation is an advantageous process to produce gluconic acid. Mathematical modeling is important in the design and operation of fermentation process. In fact, kinetic data must be available for modeling. The kinetic parameters of gluconic acid production by Aspergillus niger in batch culture was studied in this research at initial substrate concentration of 150, 200 and 250 g/l. The kinetic models used were logistic equation for growth, Luedeking-Piret equation for gluconic acid formation, and Luedeking-Piret-like equation for glucose consumption. The Kinetic parameters in the model were obtained by minimizing non linear least squares curve fitting.

Keywords: Aspergillus niger, fermentation, gluconic acid, kinetic.

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Authors: Lakshmi Pujitha Dachuri, Nalini Uppala

Abstract:

In many applications retransmissions of lost packets are not permitted. OFDM is a multi-carrier modulation scheme having excellent performance which allows overlapping in frequency domain. With OFDM there is a simple way of dealing with multipath relatively simple DSP algorithms.

 In this paper, an image frame is compressed using DWT, and the compressed data is arranged in data vectors, each with equal number of coefficients. These vectors are quantized and binary coded to get the bit steams, which are then packetized and intelligently mapped to the OFDM system. Based on one-bit channel state information at the transmitter, the descriptions in order of descending priority are assigned to the currently good channels such that poorer sub-channels can only affect the lesser important data vectors. We consider only one-bit channel state information available at the transmitter, informing only about the sub-channels to be good or bad. For a good sub-channel, instantaneous received power should be greater than a threshold P_th. Otherwise, the sub-channel is in fading state and considered bad for that batch of coefficients. In order to reduce the system power consumption, the mapped descriptions onto the bad sub channels are dropped at the transmitter. The binary channel state information gives an opportunity to map the bit streams intelligently and to save a reasonable amount of power. By using MAT LAB simulation we can analysis the performance of our proposed scheme, in terms of system energy saving without compromising the received quality in terms of peak signal-noise ratio.

Keywords: Binary channel state, Channel state feedback, DWT-OFDM system, Energy saving, Fading broadcast channel.

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Authors: Hazem M. El-Bakry

Abstract:

In this paper, an automatic determination algorithm for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of the metabolites in the living body by magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) without human intervention or complicated calculations is presented. In such method, the problem of NMR spectrum determination is transformed into the determination of the parameters of a mathematical model of the NMR signal. To calculate these parameters efficiently, a new model called modified Hopfield neural network is designed. The main achievement of this paper over the work in literature [30] is that the speed of the modified Hopfield neural network is accelerated. This is done by applying cross correlation in the frequency domain between the input values and the input weights. The modified Hopfield neural network can accomplish complex dignals perfectly with out any additinal computation steps. This is a valuable advantage as NMR signals are complex-valued. In addition, a technique called “modified sequential extension of section (MSES)" that takes into account the damping rate of the NMR signal is developed to be faster than that presented in [30]. Simulation results show that the calculation precision of the spectrum improves when MSES is used along with the neural network. Furthermore, MSES is found to reduce the local minimum problem in Hopfield neural networks. Moreover, the performance of the proposed method is evaluated and there is no effect on the performance of calculations when using the modified Hopfield neural networks.

Keywords: Hopfield Neural Networks, Cross Correlation, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Fast Fourier Transform.

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Authors: Raja Singh Khela, R. K. Bansal, K. S. Sandhu, A. K. Goel

Abstract:

Self-Excited Induction Generator (SEIG) builds up voltage while it enters in its magnetic saturation region. Due to non-linear magnetic characteristics, the performance analysis of SEIG involves cumbersome mathematical computations. The dependence of air-gap voltage on saturated magnetizing reactance can only be established at rated frequency by conducting a laboratory test commonly known as synchronous run test. But, there is no laboratory method to determine saturated magnetizing reactance and air-gap voltage of SEIG at varying speed, terminal capacitance and other loading conditions. For overall analysis of SEIG, prior information of magnetizing reactance, generated frequency and air-gap voltage is essentially required. Thus, analytical methods are the only alternative to determine these variables. Non-existence of direct mathematical relationship of these variables for different terminal conditions has forced the researchers to evolve new computational techniques. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are very useful for solution of such complex problems, as they do not require any a priori information about the system. In this paper, an attempt is made to use cascaded neural networks to first determine the generated frequency and magnetizing reactance with varying terminal conditions and then air-gap voltage of SEIG. The results obtained from the ANN model are used to evaluate the overall performance of SEIG and are found to be in good agreement with experimental results. Hence, it is concluded that analysis of SEIG can be carried out effectively using ANNs.

Keywords: Self-Excited Induction Generator, Artificial NeuralNetworks, Exciting Capacitance and Saturated magnetizingreactance.

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Authors: Satyasen Panda, Urmila Bhanja

Abstract:

In this paper, we have presented and analyzed three-dimensional (3-D) matrices of wavelength/time/space code for optical code division multiple access (OCDMA) networks with NAND subtraction detection technique. The 3-D codes are constructed by integrating a two-dimensional modified quadratic congruence (MQC) code with one-dimensional modified prime (MP) code. The respective encoders and decoders were designed using fiber Bragg gratings and optical delay lines to minimize the bit error rate (BER). The performance analysis of the 3D-OCDMA system is based on measurement of signal to noise ratio (SNR), BER and eye diagram for a different number of simultaneous users. Also, in the analysis, various types of noises and multiple access interference (MAI) effects were considered. The results obtained with NAND detection technique were compared with those obtained with OR and AND subtraction techniques. The comparison results proved that the NAND detection technique with 3-D MQC\MP code can accommodate more number of simultaneous users for longer distances of fiber with minimum BER as compared to OR and AND subtraction techniques. The received optical power is also measured at various levels of BER to analyze the effect of attenuation.

Keywords: Cross correlation, three-dimensional optical code division multiple access, spectral amplitude coding optical code division multiple access, multiple access interference, phase induced intensity noise, three-dimensional modified quadratic congruence/modified prime code.

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Authors: Nagalingam Arun Prasanth, Ahmed Syed Adnan, S. H. Yeo

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Surface topography plays a significant role in the functional performance of engineered parts. It is important to have a control on the surface geometry and understanding on the surface details to get the desired performance. Hence, in the current research contribution, a non-contact micro-texturing technique has been explored and developed. The technique involves ultrasonic excitation of a tool as a prime source of surface texturing for aluminum alloy workpieces. The specimen surface is polished first and is then immersed in a liquid bath containing 10% weight concentration of Ti6Al4V grade 5 spherical powders. A submerged slurry jet is used to recirculate the spherical powders under the ultrasonic horn which is excited at an ultrasonic frequency and amplitude of 40 kHz and 70 µm respectively. The distance between the horn and workpiece surface was remained fixed at 200 µm using a precision control stage. Texturing effects were investigated for different process timings of 1, 3 and 5 s. Thereafter, the specimens were cleaned in an ultrasonic bath for 5 mins to remove loose debris on the surface. The developed surfaces are characterized by optical and contact surface profiler. The optical microscopic images show a texture of circular spots on the workpiece surface indented by titanium spherical balls. Waviness patterns obtained from contact surface profiler supports the texturing effect produced from the proposed technique. Furthermore, water droplet tests were performed to show the efficacy of the proposed technique to develop hydrophilic surfaces and to quantify the texturing effect produced.

Keywords: Surface texturing, surface modification, topography, ultrasonic.

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Authors: H. Sajjadi, M. Gorji, GH.R. Kefayati, D. D. Ganji, M. Shayan nia

Abstract:

In this paper effects of inclination angle on natural convection flow in an open cavity has been analyzed with Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM).The angle of inclination varied from θ= - 45° to 45° with 15° intervals. Study has been conducted for Rayleigh numbers (Ra) 104 to 106. The comparisons show that the average Nusselt number increases with growth of Rayleigh number and the average Nusselt number increase as inclination angles increases at Ra=104.At Ra=105 and Ra=106 the average Nusselt number enhance as inclination angels varied from θ= -45° to θ= 0° and decrease as inclination angels increase in θ= 0° to θ= 45°.

Keywords: Lattice Boltzmann Method, Inclination angle, Opencavity, Natural convection

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Authors: M. Yasin, A. Tanveer, Z. Iqbal, A. Ali

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This study was conducted to investigate the efficacy of five herbicides on narrow leaved weeds and growth and yield of wheat. An experiment was conducted at Agronomic Research Farm, University of Agriculture Faisalabad. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block designee (RCBD) with three replications. Treatments studied were clodinafop (Topic-15 WG) at 37 g a.i. ha-1, clodinafop (Topaz-15 WG) at 45 g a.i. ha-1, fenoxaprop-p-ethyl (Puma Super-75 EW) at 45 g a.i. ha-1, fenoxaprop-p-ethyl (Gramicide-6.9 EW) at 85 g a.i. ha-1, fenoxaprop-p-ethyl (Chinlima-6.9 EW) at 85 g a.i. ha-1 and weedy check. Plots treated with fenoxaprop-p-ethyl (Puma Super-75 EW) at 45 g a.i. ha-1 produced relatively less weed biomass, more plant height, number of spike bearing tillers, number of grains per spike, 1000-grain weight and grain yield (4.20 t ha-1).

Keywords: clodinafop, fenoxaprop-p-ethyl, weeds, wheat

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Authors: Sambit Prasad Kar, P.Palanisamy

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In this paper a novel method for multiple one dimensional real valued sinusoidal signal frequency estimation in the presence of additive Gaussian noise is postulated. A computationally simple frequency estimation method with efficient statistical performance is attractive in many array signal processing applications. The prime focus of this paper is to combine the subspace-based technique and a simple peak search approach. This paper presents a variant of the Propagator Method (PM), where a collaborative approach of SUMWE and Propagator method is applied in order to estimate the multiple real valued sine wave frequencies. A new data model is proposed, which gives the dimension of the signal subspace is equal to the number of frequencies present in the observation. But, the signal subspace dimension is twice the number of frequencies in the conventional MUSIC method for estimating frequencies of real-valued sinusoidal signal. The statistical analysis of the proposed method is studied, and the explicit expression of asymptotic (large-sample) mean-squared-error (MSE) or variance of the estimation error is derived. The performance of the method is demonstrated, and the theoretical analysis is substantiated through numerical examples. The proposed method can achieve sustainable high estimation accuracy and frequency resolution at a lower SNR, which is verified by simulation by comparing with conventional MUSIC, ESPRIT and Propagator Method.

Keywords: Frequency estimation, peak search, subspace-based method without eigen decomposition, quadratic convex function.

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Authors: Sawangjit Sopid

Abstract:

Atrazine, a herbicide widely used in sugarcane and corn production, is a frequently detected groundwater contaminant. An atrazine-degrading bacterium, strain KB02, was obtained from long-term atrazine-treated sugarcane field soils in Kanchanaburi province of Thailand. Strain KB02 had a rod-to-coccus morphological cycle during growth. Sequence analysis of the PCR product indicated that the 16S rRNA gene in strain KB02 was ranging from 97-98% identical to the same region in Klebsiella sp. Based on biochemical, physiological analysis and 16S rDNA sequence analysis of one representative isolate, strain KB02, the isolates belong to the genus Klebsiella in the family Enterobacteriaceae. Interestingly that the various primers for atzA, B and C failed to amplify genomic DNA of strain KB02. Whereas the expected PCR product of atzA, B and C were obtained from the reference strain, Arthrobacter sp. strain KU001.

Keywords: Atrazine, atz gene, Biodegradation, bioremediation, Klebsiella

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Authors: P. S. A. Souza, M. R. C. Marques, M. M. Rigo, A. A. Cerqueira, J. L. Paiva, F. Merçon, D. V. Perez

Abstract:

Produced water (PW), which is water extracted along with oil, is the largest waste stream in the oil and gas industry. With the proper treatment, this wastewater can be used in agricultural irrigation. This study evaluated the effects the application of PW treated by electroflocculation (EF) and combined electroflocculation-reverse osmosis (EF-RO) on soil salinity and sodification parameters. Excessive sodium levels in PW treated by EF may affect soil structural stability and plant growth, and tends to accumulate in upper layers, displacing the nutrient K to deeper layers of the soil profile. PW treated by EF-RO did not promote salinization and soil sodification, indicating that this combined technique may be a viable alternative for oily water treatment aiming at irrigation use in semiarid regions.

Keywords: Electroflocculation, irrigation, produced water, reverse osmosis, soil.

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Authors: Natalia Rudeli, Elisabeth Viles, Adrian Santilli

Abstract:

Delays in the construction industry are a global phenomenon. Many construction projects experience extensive delays exceeding the initially estimated completion time. The main purpose of this study is to identify construction projects typical behaviors in order to develop a prognosis and management tool. Being able to know a construction projects schedule tendency will enable evidence-based decision-making to allow resolutions to be made before delays occur. This study presents an innovative approach that uses Cluster Analysis Method to support predictions during Earned Value Analyses. A clustering analysis was used to predict future scheduling, Earned Value Management (EVM), and Earned Schedule (ES) principal Indexes behaviors in construction projects. The analysis was made using a database with 90 different construction projects. It was validated with additional data extracted from literature and with another 15 contrasting projects. For all projects, planned and executed schedules were collected and the EVM and ES principal indexes were calculated. A complete linkage classification method was used. In this way, the cluster analysis made considers that the distance (or similarity) between two clusters must be measured by its most disparate elements, i.e. that the distance is given by the maximum span among its components. Finally, through the use of EVM and ES Indexes and Tukey and Fisher Pairwise Comparisons, the statistical dissimilarity was verified and four clusters were obtained. It can be said that construction projects show an average delay of 35% of its planned completion time. Furthermore, four typical behaviors were found and for each of the obtained clusters, the interim milestones and the necessary rhythms of construction were identified. In general, detected typical behaviors are: (1) Projects that perform a 5% of work advance in the first two tenths and maintain a constant rhythm until completion (greater than 10% for each remaining tenth), being able to finish on the initially estimated time. (2) Projects that start with an adequate construction rate but suffer minor delays culminating with a total delay of almost 27% of the planned time. (3) Projects which start with a performance below the planned rate and end up with an average delay of 64%, and (4) projects that begin with a poor performance, suffer great delays and end up with an average delay of a 120% of the planned completion time. The obtained clusters compose a tool to identify the behavior of new construction projects by comparing their current work performance to the validated database, thus allowing the correction of initial estimations towards more accurate completion schedules.

Keywords: Cluster analysis, construction management, earned value, schedule.

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Authors: Suriyani Ariffin, Nor Aziah Alias, Khairil Iskandar Othman, Haslinda Yusoff

Abstract:

An Integrated Cumulative Grade Point Average (iCGPA) is a mechanism and strategy to ensure the curriculum of an academic programme is constructively aligned to the expected learning outcomes and student performance based on the attainment of those learning outcomes that is reported objectively in a spider web. Much effort and time has been spent to develop a viable mechanism and trains academics to utilize the platform for reporting. The question is: How well do learners conceive the idea of their achievement via iCGPA and whether quality learner attributes have been nurtured through the iCGPA mechanism? This paper presents the architecture of an integrated CGPA mechanism purported to address a holistic evaluation from the evaluation of courses learning outcomes to aligned programme learning outcomes attainment. The paper then discusses the students’ understanding of the mechanism and evaluation of their achievement from the generated spider web. A set of questionnaires were distributed to a group of students with iCGPA reporting and frequency analysis was used to compare the perspectives of students on their performance. In addition, the questionnaire also explored how they conceive the idea of an integrated, holistic reporting and how it generates their motivation to improve. The iCGPA group was found to be receptive to what they have achieved throughout their study period. They agreed that the achievement level generated from their spider web allows them to develop intervention and enhance the programme learning outcomes before they graduate.

Keywords: Learning outcomes attainment, iCGPA, programme learning outcomes, spider web, iCGPA reporting skills.

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Authors: F. Garousi, S. Veres, É. Bódi, S. Várallyay, B. Kovács

Abstract:

Extracting and determining chlorophyll pigments (chlorophyll a and b) in green leaves are the procedures based on the solvent extraction of pigments in samples using N,Ndimethylformamide as the extractant. In this study, two species of soluble inorganic selenium forms, selenite (SeIV) and selenate (SeVI) at different concentrations were investigated on maize plants that were growing in nutrient solutions during 2 weeks and at the end of the experiment, amounts of chlorophyll a and b for first and second leaves of maize were measured. In accordance with the results we observed that our regarded Se concentrations in both forms of SeIV and SeVI were not effective on maize plants’ chlorophyll a and b significantly although high level of 3 mg.kg-1 SeIV had negative affect on growth of the samples that had been treated by it but about SeVI samples we did not observe this state and our different considered SeVI concentrations were not toxic for maize plants.

Keywords: Maize, sodium selenate, sodium selenite, chlorophyll a and b.

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