Search results for: KKIA (King Khalid International Airport)
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 877

Search results for: KKIA (King Khalid International Airport)

727 Clustering Approach to Unveiling Relationships between Gene Regulatory Networks

Authors: Hiba Hasan, Khalid Raza

Abstract:

Reverse engineering of genetic regulatory network involves the modeling of the given gene expression data into a form of the network. Computationally it is possible to have the relationships between genes, so called gene regulatory networks (GRNs), that can help to find the genomics and proteomics based diagnostic approach for any disease. In this paper, clustering based method has been used to reconstruct genetic regulatory network from time series gene expression data. Supercoiled data set from Escherichia coli has been taken to demonstrate the proposed method.

Keywords: Gene expression, gene regulatory networks (GRNs), clustering, data preprocessing, network visualization.

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726 Comparative Approach of Measuring Price Risk on Romanian and International Wheat Market

Authors: Larisa N. Pop, Irina M. Ban

Abstract:

This paper aims to present the main instruments used in the economic literature for measuring the price risk, pointing out on the advantages brought by the conditional variance in this respect. The theoretical approach will be exemplified by elaborating an EGARCH model for the price returns of wheat, both on Romanian and on international market. To our knowledge, no previous empirical research, either on price risk measurement for the Romanian markets or studies that use the ARIMA-EGARCH methodology, have been conducted. After estimating the corresponding models, the paper will compare the estimated conditional variance on the two markets.

Keywords: conditional variance, GARCH models, price risk, volatility

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725 Ontology-based Query System for UNITEN Postgraduate Students

Authors: Zaihisma C. Cob, Alicia Y.C. Tang, Sharifah J. Syed Aziz

Abstract:

This paper proposes a new model to support user queries on postgraduate research information at Universiti Tenaga Nasional. The ontology to be developed will contribute towards shareable and reusable domain knowledge that makes knowledge assets intelligently accessible to both people and software. This work adapts a methodology for ontology development based on the framework proposed by Uschold and King. The concepts and relations in this domain are represented in a class diagram using the Protégé software. The ontology will be used to support a menudriven query system for assisting students in searching for information related to postgraduate research at the university.

Keywords: Ontology, Protégé, postgraduate program, query system.

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724 The U.S. and Central Asia: Religion, Politics, Ideology

Authors: Zhanar Aldubasheva, Elnura Assyltayeva, Mukhtar Senggirbay, Gаzizа Aldubаshovа

Abstract:

Numerous facts evidence the increasing religiosity of the population and the intensification of religious movements in various countries in the last decade of the 20th century. The number of international religious institutions and foundations; religious movements; parties and sects operating worldwide is increasing as well. Some ethnic and inter-state conflicts are obviously of a religious origin. All of this make a number of analysts to conclude that the religious factor is becoming an important part of international life, including the formation and activities of terrorist organizations. Most of all is said and written about Islam, the second, after Christianity, world religions professed according to various estimates by 1.5 bln. individuals in 127 countries.

Keywords: USA, Central Asia, Religion, Politics, Ideology Terrorism, Regional Security

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723 Competitiveness of the Baltic States within the International Ratings

Authors: Ilze Stokmane

Abstract:

Baltic competitiveness is quite controversial. In a situation with the rapid structural changes, economy develops in balance very rarely - in different fields will always be more rapid changes in another more stagnation. Analyzing different economic indices developed by international organizations the situation in three Baltic countries are described from a different competitiveness positions highlighting strengths and weaknesses of each country. Exploring the openness of the economy, it is possible to observe certain risks included in the reports describing situation of competitiveness where government policies competing in the tax system, the rates of labour market policies, investment environment, etc. This is a very important factor resulting in competitive advantage. Baltic countries are still at a weak position from a technological perspective, and need to borrow the knowledge and technology from more developed countries.

Keywords: Baltic countries, Baltic region, competitiveness, indices of competitiveness.

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722 Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism

Authors: C. Mallada Fernández

Abstract:

Economic development and globalization of international markets have created a favourable atmosphere for the emergence of new forms of crime such as money laundering or financing of terrorism, which may contribute to destabilized and damage economic systems. In particular, money laundering have acquired great importance since the 11S attacks, what has caused on the one hand, the establishment and development of preventive measures and, on the other hand, a progressive hardening of penal measures. Since then, the regulations imposed to fight against money laundering have been viewed as key components also in the fight against terrorist financing. Terrorism, at the beginning, was a “national” crime connected with internal problems of the State (for instance the RAF in Germany or ETA in Spain) but in the last 20 years has started to be an international problem that is connected with the defence and security of the States. Therefore, the new strategic concept for the defense and security of NATO has a comprehensive list of security threats to the Alliance, such as terrorism, international instability, money laundering or attacks on cyberspace, among others. With this new concept, money laundering and terrorism has become a priority in the national defense.

In this work we will analyze the methods to combat these new threats to the national security. We will study the preventive legislations to combat money laundering and financing of terrorism, the UIF that exchange information between States, and the hawala-Banking.

Keywords: Control of financial flows, money laundering, terrorism, financing of terrorism.

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721 Removal of Nitrogen Compounds from Industrial Wastewater Using Sequencing Batch Reactor: The Effects of React Time

Authors: Ali W. Alattabi, Khalid S. Hashim, Hassnen M. Jafer, Ali Alzeyadi

Abstract:

This study was performed to optimise the react time (RT) and study its effects on the removal rates of nitrogen compounds in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) treating synthetic industrial wastewater. The results showed that increasing the RT from 4 h to 10, 16 and 22 h significantly improved the nitrogen compounds’ removal efficiency, it was increased from 69.5% to 95%, 75.7 to 97% and from 54.2 to 80.1% for NH3-N, NO3-N and NO2-N respectively. The results obtained from this study showed that the RT of 22 h was the optimum for nitrogen compounds removal efficiency.

Keywords: Ammonia-nitrogen, retention time, nitrate, nitrite, sequencing batch reactor, sludge characteristics.

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720 Self-Perceived Employability of Students of International Relations of University of Warmia and Mazury in Poland

Authors: Marzena Świgoń

Abstract:

Nowadays, graduates should be prepared for serious challenges in the internal and external labor market. The notion that a degree is a “passport to employment” has been relegated to the past. In the last few years a phenomenon in the form of the increasing unemployment of highly educated young people in EU countries, including Poland has been observed. Empirical studies were conducted among Polish students in the scope of the so-called self-perceived employability review. In this study, a special scale was used which consisted of 19 statements regarding five components: student’s perception of university; field of study; self-belief; state of the external labor market; and, personal knowledge management. The respondent group consisted of final-year master’s students of International Relations at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland. The findings of the empirical studies were compiled using statistical methods: descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. In general, in light of the conducted studies, the self-perceived employability of the Polish students was not high. Limitations of the studies were discussed, as well as the implications for future research in the scope of the students’ employability.

Keywords: Self-perceived employability, students of international relations, university education.

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719 Tracking Trajectory of a Cable-Driven Robot for Lower Limb Rehabilitation

Authors: Hachmia Faqihi, Maarouf Saad, Khalid Benjelloun, Mohammed Benbrahim, M. Nabil Kabbaj

Abstract:

This paper investigates and presents a cable-driven robot to lower limb rehabilitation use in sagittal plane. The presented rehabilitation robot is used for a trajectory tracking in joint space. The paper covers kinematic and dynamic analysis, which reveals the tensionability of the used cables as being the actuating source to provide a rehabilitation exercises of the human leg. The desired trajectory is generated to be used in the control system design in joint space. The obtained simulation results is showed to be efficient in this kind of application.

Keywords: Cable-driven multibody system, computed-torque controller, lower limb rehabilitation, tracking trajectory.

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718 A Study of Efficiency and Prioritize of Eurasian Logistics Network

Authors: Ji-Young Song, Moon-Shuk Song, Hee-Seung Na

Abstract:

Recently, Northeast Asia has become one of the three largest trade areas, covering approximately 30% of the total trade volume of the world. However, the distribution facilities are saturated due to the increase in the transportation volume within the area and with the European countries. In order to accommodate the increase of the transportation volume, the transportation networking with the major countries in Northeast Asia and Europe is absolutely necessary. The Eurasian Logistics Network will develop into an international passenger transportation network covering the Northeast Asian region and an international freight transportation network connecting across Eurasia Continent. This paper surveys the changes and trend of the distribution network in the Eurasian Region according to the political, economic and environmental changes of the region, analyses the distribution network according to the changes in the transportation policies of the related countries, and provides the direction of the development of composite transportation on the basis of the present conditions of transportation means. The transportation means optimal for the efficiency of transportation system are suggested to be train ferries, sea & rail or sea & rail & sea. It is suggested to develop diversified composite transportation means and routes within the boundary of international cooperation system.

Keywords: Eurasian Logistics, Integrated Distribution Transport, Northeast Asia, Transportation Networking

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717 Impact of Customer Management System in Improving Customer Retention: Optimization of Negative Customer Feedback

Authors: Alireza Faed, David Forbes

Abstract:

Complaints today have the ability to retain customer loyalty using state of the art systems and strategies in customer relationship management to analyze and respond to a plethora of customer perception. The Majority of companies are not aware of the beneficiary utilization of customer complaints for the sake of quality improvements. Also, some companies have problems determining how resolution of complaints can be profitable. In this study, we will define the problems and ascertain the importance of customer management system on the companies. Furthermore, we will determine the impact of such a system on efficiency, confidence, profitability and customer complaints. Eventually, we will develop methods and address the issues. In this paper, we used an open-ended questionnaire and distributed that to 30 randomly chosen respondents which were the passengers in an airport. We also define three hypotheses for our study and we will validate each of them. Then using frequency, Chi- Square and quality control method we optimized the size of customers- negative feedback and improved the process of customer retention.

Keywords: Complaint, Complaint management system, Customer relationship management, Retention.

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716 A NXM Version of 5X5 Playfair Cipher for any Natural Language (Urdu as Special Case)

Authors: Muhammad Salam, Nasir Rashid, Shah Khalid, Muhammad Raees Khan

Abstract:

In this paper a modified version NXM of traditional 5X5 playfair cipher is introduced which enable the user to encrypt message of any Natural language by taking appropriate size of the matrix depending upon the size of the natural language. 5X5 matrix has the capability of storing only 26 characters of English language and unable to store characters of any language having more than 26 characters. To overcome this limitation NXM matrix is introduced which solve this limitation. In this paper a special case of Urdu language is discussed. Where # is used for completing odd pair and * is used for repeating letters.

Keywords: cryptography, decryption, encryption, playfair cipher, traditional cipher.

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715 Threats and Preventive Methods to Avoid Bird Strikes at the Deblin Military Airfield, Poland

Authors: J. Cwiklak, M. Grzegorzewski, M. Adamski

Abstract:

The paper presents results of the project conducted in Poland devoted to study on bird strikes at military airfields. The main aim of this project was to develop methods of aircraft protection against threats from birds. The studies were carried out using two methods. One by transect and the other one by selected sector scanning. During the research, it was recorded, that 104 species of birds in the number about of 36000 were observed. The most frequent ones were starling Sturnus vulgaris (31.0%), jackdaw Corvus monedula (18.3%), rook Corvus frugilegus (15.9 %), lapwing Vanellus vanellus (6.2%). Moreover, it was found, that starlings constituted the most serious threat. It resulted from their relatively high attendance at the runway (about 300 individuals). Possible repellent techniques concerning of the Deblin military airfield were discussed. The analysis of the birds’ concentration depending on the altitude, part of the day, year, part of the airfield constituted a base to work out critical flight phase and appropriate procedures to prevent bird strikes.

Keywords: Airport, bird strikes, flight safety, preventive methods.

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714 Exact Solutions of Steady Plane Flows of an Incompressible Fluid of Variable Viscosity Using (ξ, ψ)- Or (η, ψ)- Coordinates

Authors: Rana Khalid Naeem, Asif Mansoor, Waseem Ahmed Khan, Aurangzaib

Abstract:

The exact solutions of the equations describing the steady plane motion of an incompressible fluid of variable viscosity for an arbitrary state equation are determined in the (ξ,ψ) − or (η,ψ )- coordinates where ψ(x,y) is the stream function, ξ and η are the parts of the analytic function, ϖ =ξ( x,y )+iη( x,y ). Most of the solutions involve arbitrary function/ functions indicating  that the flow equations possess an infinite set of solutions. 

Keywords: Exact solutions, Fluid of variable viscosity, Navier-Stokes equations, Steady plane flows

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713 Korea and Japan Economic Relations: An Analysis through the World Trade Organization

Authors: Caroline S. Dutra, Tatiana C. Squeff

Abstract:

It is well known that the history between South Korea and Japan influences their international relations; thus, also encompassing their economic relations. In this sense, it is impossible to analyze the latter without understanding the development of the former, which is known for episodes of hostility, like on Japanese colonization, but also had moments of cultural and trade interexchange. Indeed, since 1965, with the establishment of diplomatic relations between both countries, their trade relations have improved, especially after both nations have signed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Thereafter, with the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, another chapter of their diplomatic and economic relations have been inaugurated. Hence, bearing in mind this history between both nations, this research intends to examine their relations through the analysis of the WTO panels they have engaged in between each other, which are, in chronological order, “DS323: Japan – Import Quotas on Dried Laver and Seasoned Laver”, “DS336: Japan - Countervailing Duties on Dynamic Random Access Memories from Korea”, “DS495: Korea - Import Band, and Testing and Certification Requirements for Radionuclides”, “DS553: Korea - Sunset Review of Anti-Dumping Duties on Stainless Steel Bars” and “DS571: Korea - Measures Affecting Trade in Commercial Vessels”. The objective of this case analysis is to point out what are the areas that are more conflictual between Japan and South Korea in regard to their economic relations so that it is possible to assert on their future (economic) relations and other possible outcomes. And in order to do so, bibliographic and documental research will be made, particularly those involving the WTO and the nations under consideration. Regarding the methods used, it is important to highlight that this is applied research in the field of international economic relations and international law, which follows a hypothetic-deductive model.

Keywords: International economic relations, Japan, South Korea, World Trade Organization.

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712 STM Spectroscopy of Alloyed Nanocrystal Composite CdSxSe1-X

Authors: T. Abdallah, K. Easawi, A. Khalid, S. Negm, H. Talaat

Abstract:

Nanocrystals (NC) alloyed composite CdSxSe1-x(x=0 to 1) have been prepared using the chemical solution deposition technique. The energy band gap of these alloyed nanocrystals of approximately the same size, have been determined by scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) technique at room temperature. The values of the energy band gap obtained directly using STS are compared to those measured by optical spectroscopy. Increasing the molar fraction ratio x from 0 to 1 causes clearly observed increase in the band gap of the alloyed composite nanocrystal. Vegard-s law was applied to calculate the parameters of the effective mass approximation (EMA) model and the dimension obtained were compared to the values measured by STM. The good agreement of the calculated and measured values is a direct result of applying Vegard's law in the nanocomposites.

Keywords: Alloy semiconductor nanocrystals, STM.

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711 Agrowaste: Phytosterol from Durian Seed

Authors: D. Mohd Nazrul Hisham, J. Mohd Lip, R. Suri, H. Mohamed Shafit, Z.Kharis, K. Shazlin, A. Normah, M.F. Nurul Nabilah

Abstract:

Presence of phytosterol compound in Durian seed (Durio zibethinus) or known as King of fruits has been discovered from screening work using reagent test. Further analysis work has been carried out using mass spectrometer in order to support the priliminary finding. Isolation and purification of the major phytosterol has been carried out using an open column chromatography. The separation was monitored using thin layer chromatography (TLC). Major isolated compounds and purified phytosterol were identified using mass spectrometer and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). This novel finding could promote utilization of durian seeds as a functional ingredient in food products through production of standardized extract based on phytosterol content.

Keywords: Agrowaste, durian, seed, phytosterol

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710 Through the Lens of Forced Displacement: Refugee Women's Rights as Human Rights

Authors: Pearl K. Atuhaire, Sylvia Kaye

Abstract:

While the need for equal access to civil, political as well as economic, social and cultural rights is clear under the international law, the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against women in 1979 made this even clearer. Despite this positive progress, the abuse of refugee women's rights is one of the basic underlying root causes of their marginalisation and violence in their countries of asylum. This paper presents a critical review on the development of refugee women's rights at the international levels and national levels. It provides an array of scholarly literature on this issue and examines the measures taken by the international community to curb the problem of violence against women in their various provisions through the instruments set. It is cognizant of the fact that even if conflict affects both refugee women and men, the effects on women refugees are deep-reaching, due to the cultural strongholds they face. An important aspect of this paper is that it is conceptualised against the fact that refugee women face the problem of sexual and gender based first as refugees and second as women, yet, their rights are stumbled upon. Often times they have been rendered "worthless victims" who are only in need of humanitarian assistance than active participants committed to change their plight through their participation in political, economic and social participation in their societies. Scholars have taken notice of the fact that women's rights in refugee settings have been marginalized and call for a need to incorporate their perspectives in the planning and management of refugee settings in which they live. Underpinning this discussion is feminism theory which gives a clear understanding of the root cause of refugee women's problems. Finally, this paper suggests that these policies should be translated into action at local, national international and regional levels to ensure sustainable peace.

Keywords: Feminism theory, human rights, refugee women, sexual and gender based violence.

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709 Strategic Management of a Geoscience Education and Training Program

Authors: Lee Ock-Sun

Abstract:

The effective development of a geoscience education and training program takes account of the rapidly changing environment in the geoscience market, includes information about resource-rich countries which have international education demands. In this paper, we introduce the geoscience program run by the International School for Geoscience Resources at the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (IS-Geo of KIGAM), and show its remarkable performance. To further effective geoscience program planning and operation, we present recommendations for strategic management for customer-oriented operation with a more favorable program format and advanced training aids. Above all, the IS-Geo of KIGAM should continue improve through ‘plan-do-see-feedback’ activities based on the recommendations.

Keywords: Demand survey, geoscience program, program performance, strategic management.

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708 Quantitative Estimation of Periodicities in Lyari River Flow Routing

Authors: Rana Khalid Naeem, Asif Mansoor

Abstract:

The hydrologic time series data display periodic structure and periodic autoregressive process receives considerable attention in modeling of such series. In this communication long term record of monthly waste flow of Lyari river is utilized to quantify by using PAR modeling technique. The parameters of model are estimated by using Frances & Paap methodology. This study shows that periodic autoregressive model of order 2 is the most parsimonious model for assessing periodicity in waste flow of the river. A careful statistical analysis of residuals of PAR (2) model is used for establishing goodness of fit. The forecast by using proposed model confirms significance and effectiveness of the model.

Keywords: Diagnostic checks, Lyari river, Model selection, Monthly waste flow, Periodicity, Periodic autoregressive model.

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707 Politic Iconography: The Sky and Pants of Nicolas-Antoine Taunay (1755-1830)

Authors: Bárbara Dantas

Abstract:

Nicolas-Antoine Taunay had everything to have a quiet life with his family, his colleagues from the Paris Academy of Art, and as a renowned painter of the French Court, but the conjuncture was quite complicated in those final years of the eighteenth century and first decades of the 19th century. The painter had to adapt to various political and social ruptures: from royalty to the French Revolution, from the empire of Napoleon Bonaparte to the empire of King John VI. We wish to insert Taunay in its context through the analysis of his portrait made by a colleague of the profession and of a Brazilian landscape painted of his own (1816-1821) and, in which he represented himself. Finally, the intention is to find in these two paintings how Nicolas-Antoine Taunay faced himself and in the middle that surrounded him in the traffic that was forced to make it between Paris and Rio de Janeiro.

Keywords: Nicolas-Antoine Taunay, politic iconography, French Art, Brazilian Art, 19th century.

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706 Prediction of California Bearing Ratio from Physical Properties of Fine-Grained Soils

Authors: Bao Thach Nguyen, Abbas Mohajerani

Abstract:

The California Bearing Ratio (CBR) has been acknowledged as an important parameter to characterize the bearing capacity of earth structures, such as earth dams, road embankments, airport runways, bridge abutments and pavements. Technically, the CBR test can be carried out in the laboratory or in the field. The CBR test is time-consuming and is infrequently performed due to the equipment needed and the fact that the field moisture content keeps changing over time. Over the years, many correlations have been developed for the prediction of CBR by various researchers, including the dynamic cone penetrometer, undrained shear strength and Clegg impact hammer. This paper reports and discusses some of the results from a study on the prediction of CBR. In the current study, the CBR test was performed in the laboratory on some finegrained subgrade soils collected from various locations in Victoria. Based on the test results, a satisfactory empirical correlation was found between the CBR and the physical properties of the experimental soils.

Keywords: California bearing ratio, fine-grained soils, pavement, soil physical properties.

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705 Echo State Networks for Arabic Phoneme Recognition

Authors: Nadia Hmad, Tony Allen

Abstract:

This paper presents an ESN-based Arabic phoneme recognition system trained with supervised, forced and combined supervised/forced supervised learning algorithms. Mel-Frequency Cepstrum Coefficients (MFCCs) and Linear Predictive Code (LPC) techniques are used and compared as the input feature extraction technique. The system is evaluated using 6 speakers from the King Abdulaziz Arabic Phonetics Database (KAPD) for Saudi Arabia dialectic and 34 speakers from the Center for Spoken Language Understanding (CSLU2002) database of speakers with different dialectics from 12 Arabic countries. Results for the KAPD and CSLU2002 Arabic databases show phoneme recognition performances of 72.31% and 38.20% respectively.

Keywords: Arabic phonemes recognition, echo state networks (ESNs), neural networks (NNs), supervised learning.

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704 A Comparative Analysis of E-Government Quality Models

Authors: Abdoullah Fath-Allah, Laila Cheikhi, Rafa E. Al-Qutaish, Ali Idri

Abstract:

Many quality models have been used to measure egovernment portals quality. However, the absence of an international consensus for e-government portals quality models results in many differences in terms of quality attributes and measures. The aim of this paper is to compare and analyze the existing e-government quality models proposed in literature (those that are based on ISO standards and those that are not) in order to propose guidelines to build a good and useful e-government portals quality model. Our findings show that, there is no e-government portal quality model based on the new international standard ISO 25010. Besides that, the quality models are not based on a best practice model to allow agencies to both; measure e-government portals quality and identify missing best practices for those portals.

Keywords: E-government, portal, best practices, quality model, ISO, standard, ISO 25010, ISO 9126.

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703 Structural Evaluation of Airfield Pavement Using Finite Element Analysis Based Methodology

Authors: Richard Ji

Abstract:

Nondestructive deflection testing has been accepted widely as a cost-effective tool for evaluating the structural condition of airfield pavements. Backcalculation of pavement layer moduli can be used to characterize the pavement existing condition in order to compute the load bearing capacity of pavement. This paper presents an improved best-fit backcalculation methodology based on deflection predictions obtained using finite element method (FEM). The best-fit approach is based on minimizing the squared error between falling weight deflectometer (FWD) measured deflections and FEM predicted deflections. Then, concrete elastic modulus and modulus of subgrade reaction were back-calculated using Heavy Weight Deflectometer (HWD) deflections collected at the National Airport Pavement Testing Facility (NAPTF) test site. It is an alternative and more versatile method in considering concrete slab geometry and HWD testing locations compared to methods currently available.

Keywords: Nondestructive testing, Pavement moduli backcalculation, Finite Element Method, FEM, concrete pavements.

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702 Food and Beverage Safety and Satisfaction: A Gender Effect

Authors: Sakul Jariyachamsit, Kevin Wongleedee

Abstract:

There has been considerable growth in the issue of food & beverage safety in Thailand. This is important because the level of satisfaction in food & beverage safety has impacts on travel decision made by foreign tourists. Therefore, this paper was aimed to test if there is any significant gender effect in the level of satisfaction of food & beverage safety made by foreign tourists in Thailand. In addition, this paper utilized the Chi Square test of independent to test if there was an association between gender and sickness because of food and if there was an association between gender and the perception of food safety standard. During January to June, 2012, a total of 400 foreign tourist respondents, 200 male as well as 200 female foreign tourists, were interviewed at the departure lounge at Suvarnabhumi airport, Thailand. The findings revealed the astonishing result that there was no significant effect of gender. Also, there was no significant difference in the association between gender and being sick because of food as well as the association between gender and the perception on the standard of food safety during their trip in Thailand.

Keywords: Food & Beverage, Gender Effect, Safety Standard, Satisfaction.

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701 Three-Dimensional Numerical Investigation for Reinforced Concrete Slabs with Opening

Authors: Abdelrahman Elsehsah, Hany Madkour, Khalid Farah

Abstract:

This article presents a 3-D modified non-linear elastic model in the strain space. The Helmholtz free energy function is introduced with the existence of a dissipation potential surface in the space of thermodynamic conjugate forces. The constitutive equation and the damage evolution were derived as well. The modified damage has been examined to model the nonlinear behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) slabs with an opening. A parametric study with RC was carried out to investigate the impact of different factors on the behavior of RC slabs. These factors are the opening area, the opening shape, the place of opening, and the thickness of the slabs. And the numerical results have been compared with the experimental data from literature. Finally, the model showed its ability to be applied to the structural analysis of RC slabs.

Keywords: 3-D numerical analysis, damage mechanics, RC slab with opening.

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700 Numerical Simulation of the Effects of Nanofluid on a Heat Pipe Thermal Performance

Authors: Barzin Gavtash, Khalid Hussain, Mohammad Layeghi, Saeed Sadeghi Lafmejani

Abstract:

This research aims at modeling and simulating the effects of nanofluids on cylindrical heat pipes thermal performance using the ANSYS-FLUENT CFD commercial software. The heat pipe outer wall temperature distribution, thermal resistance, liquid pressure and axial velocity in presence of suspended nano-scaled solid particle (i.e. Cu, Al2O3 and TiO2) within the fluid (water) were investigated. The effect of particle concentration and size were explored and it is concluded that the thermal performance of the heat pipe is improved when using nanofluid as the system working fluid. Additionally, it was observed that the thermal resistance of the heat pipe drops as the particle concentration level increases and particle radius decreases.

Keywords: CFD, Heat Pipe, Nanofluid, Thermal resistance

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699 Sustainable Development, China’s Emerging Role via One Belt, One Road

Authors: Saeid Rabiei Majd, Motahareh Alvandi, Mehrad Rabiei

Abstract:

The rapid economic and technological development of any country depends on access to cheap sources of energy. Competition for access to petroleum resources is always accompanied by numerous environmental risks. These factors have caused more attention to environmental issues and sustainable development in petroleum contracts and activities. Nowadays, a sign of developed countries is adhering to the principles and rules of international environmental law and sustainable development of commercial contracts. China has entered into play through the massive project plan, One Belt, One Road. China is becoming a new emerging power in the world. China's bilateral investment treaties have an impact on environmental rights and sustainable development through regional and international foreign direct investment. The aim of this research is to examine China's key position to promote and improve environmental principles and international law and sustainable development in the energy sector in the world through the initiative, One Belt, One Road. Based on this hypothesis, it seems that in the near future, China's investment bilateral investment treaties will become popular investment model used in global trade, especially in the field of energy and sustainable development. They will replace the European and American models. The research method is including literature review, analytical and descriptive methods.

Keywords: Principles of sustainable development, oil and gas law, Chinas BITs, one belt one road, environmental rights.

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698 Uniform Solution on the Effect of Internal Heat Generation on Rayleigh-Benard Convection in Micropolar Fluid

Authors: Izzati K. Khalid, Nor Fadzillah M. Mokhtar, Norihan Md. Arifin

Abstract:

The effect of internal heat generation is applied to the Rayleigh-Benard convection in a horizontal micropolar fluid layer. The bounding surfaces of the liquids are considered to be rigid-free, rigid-rigid and free-free with the combination of isothermal on the spin-vanishing boundaries. A linear stability analysis is used and the Galerkin method is employed to find the critical stability parameters numerically. It is shown that the critical Rayleigh number decreases as the value of internal heat generation increase and hence destabilize the system.

Keywords: Internal heat generation, micropolar fluid, rayleighbenard convection.

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