Search results for: Muhammad Sameer Ahmed

Authors: Yousra Zakaria Ahmed, Ahmed El Gendy, Salah El Haggar

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In this paper, our methodology to assess sustainability of wastewater treatment technologies in Egypt is presented. The preliminary list of factors to be considered, as well as their ranking listed. The factors include, but are not limited to pollutants removal efficiency and energy consumption under the environmental dimension, construction cost, operation and maintenance costs and required land area cost under the economic dimension and public acceptance, noise and generating job opportunities for local residents. This methodology is intended to be a user-friendly screening tool to support the decision making process when investigating different wastewater treatment technologies in Egypt. Based on the research work results presented in this paper, it can be generally concluded that the categorization of some of the social and environmental aspects of sustainability is subjective and highly dependent on the local conditions and researchers’ background.

Keywords: Sustainability, wastewater treatment, sustainability assessment, Egypt.

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Authors: Amir Ikram, Qin Su, Muhammad Fiaz, Muhammad Waqas Shabbir

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Women entrepreneurship witnessed a healthy rise in the last decade or so, and the scenario in Pakistan is not different. However female leaders are facing various, cultural, career oriented, and professional challenges. The study investigates the impact of social and industry-specific challenges on female entrepreneurship; social challenges was evaluated in terms of culture, and industry-specific challenges was measured in terms of team management and career growth. Purposive sampling was employed to collect data from 75 multicultural organizations operating in the culturally diverse and historic city of Lahore, Pakistan. Cronbach’s alpha was conducted to endorse the reliability of survey questionnaire, while correlation and regression analysis were used to test hypotheses. Industry-specific challenges were found to be more significant as compared to cultural factors. The paper also highlights the importance of female entrepreneurship for emerging economies, and suggests that bringing women to mainstream professions can lead to economic success.

Keywords: Cultural challenges, emerging economy, female entrepreneurship, leadership.

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Authors: Aimen Batool Bint-E-Rashid, Syed Muhammad Dawood Ali Shah, Muhammad Usman Farooq, Mahgul Anwar

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As the world is progressing, the needs and demands of the consumer market are also changing. Nowadays the trends of consumer purchase decisions are dependent upon multiple factors. This study aims to identify the influential impact of country of origin over the perception and devotion towards daily personal care products specifically in reference to the knowledge and awareness regarding that particular brand in Pakistan. To corroborate this study, a 30-item brand origin questionnaire has been used with 300 purchase decision makers belonging to different age groups. To illustrate this study, a model has been developed based on brand origin, brand awareness and brand loyalty. Correlation and regression analysis have been used to find out the results which conclude the findings on the perspective of Pakistan’s consumer market as that brand origin has a direct relationship with brand loyalty provided that the consumer has a positive brand awareness. Support for the fact that brand origin impacts brand loyalty through brand awareness has been presented in this study.

Keywords: Brand awareness, brand loyalty, brand origin, personal care products, P&G, Unilever.

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Authors: Hafiz Muhammad Obaid, Bilal Wajid, Nauman Haider, Muhammad Zafrullah

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In this research article, a comprehensive analysis is performed to compare the diagnostic performance of soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) and sTfR/log ferritin index tests in the differential diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and anemia of chronic disease (ACD). The analysis is performed for both sTfR and sTfR/log ferritin index using a set of 11 studies. The overall odds ratios for sTfR and sTfR/log ferritin index were 36.79 and 119.32 respectively, using 95% confidence interval. The relative sensitivity, specificity. positive likelihood ratio (LR) and negative LR values for sTfR in relation to sTfR/log ferritin index were 81% vs 85%, 84% vs 93%, 6.31 vs 13.95 and 0.18 vs 0.14 respectively. The summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curves are also plotted for both sTfR and sTfR/log ferritin index. The area under SROC curves for sTfR and sTfR/log ferritin index was found to be 0.9296 and 0.9825 respectively. Although both tests are useful, the sTfR/log ferritin index seems to be more effective when compared with sTfR.

Keywords: Anemia, sTfR, iron deficiency, ferritin, odds ratio, sensitivity.

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Authors: Moustafa Ahmed, Ahmed Bakry, Fumio Koyama

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We report on the use of strong external optical feedback to enhance the modulation response of semiconductor lasers over a frequency passband around modulation frequencies higher than 60 GHz. We show that this modulation enhancement is a type of photon-photon resonance (PPR) of oscillating modes in the external cavity formed between the laser and the external reflector. The study is based on a time-delay rate equation model that takes into account both the strong feedback and multiple reflections in the external cavity. We examine the harmonic and intermodulation distortions associated with single and two-tone modulations in the mm-wave band of the resonant modulation. We show that compared with solitary lasers modulated around the carrier-photon resonance frequency, the present mm-wave modulated signal has lower distortions.

Keywords: Distortion, intensity modulation, optical feedback, semiconductor laser.

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Authors: Sher Muhammad, Mirza Muhammad Waqar

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It is necessary to monitor and identify mangroves types and spatial extent near coastal areas because it plays an important role in coastal ecosystem and environmental protection. This research aims at identifying and mapping mangroves types along Karachi coast ranging from 24.79⁰ to 24.85⁰ in latitude and 66.91⁰ to 66.97⁰ in longitude using hyperspectral remote sensing data and techniques. Image acquired during February, 2012 through Hyperion sensor have been used for this research. Image pre processing includes geometric and radiometric correction followed by Minimum Noise Fraction (MNF) and Pixel Purity Index (PPI). The output of MNF and PPI has been analyzed by visualizing it in n-dimensions for end member extraction. Well distributed clusters on the n-dimensional scatter plot have been selected with the region of interest (ROI) tool as end members. These end members have been used as an input for classification techniques applied to identify and map mangroves species including Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM), Spectral Feature Fitting (SFF) and Spectral Information Diversion (SID). Only two types of mangroves namely Avicennia Marina (White Mangroves) and Avicennia germinans (Black Mangroves) have been observed throughout the study area.

Keywords: Mangrove, Hyperspectral, SAM, SFF, SID.

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Authors: Metwally Abdel Aziz Ahmed, Ahmed Shaban Abdel Hay Gabr, Inas Mohamed Saleh

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The main objective of structural design is to ensure safety and functional performance requirements of a structural system for its target reliability levels. In this study, the reliability index for the reinforcement concrete slender columns with rectangular cross section is studied. The variable parameters studied include the loads, the concrete compressive strength, the steel yield strength, the dimensions of concrete cross-section, the reinforcement ratio, and the location of steel placement. Risk analysis program was used to perform the analytical study. The effect of load eccentricity on the reliability index of reinforced concrete slender column was studied and presented. The results of this study indicate that the good quality control improve the performance of slender reinforced columns through increasing the reliability index β.

Keywords: Reliability, reinforced concrete, safety, slender column.

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Authors: Bernardo Cedano, Ahmed H. Eltom, Bob Hay, Jim Glass, Raga Ahmed

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The deployment of smart grid devices such as smart meters and smart switches (SS) supported by a reliable and fast communications system makes automated distribution possible, and thus, provides great benefits to electric power consumers and providers alike. However, more research is needed before the full utility of smart switch data is realized. This paper presents new automated switching techniques using SS within the electric power grid. A concise background of the SS is provided, and operational examples are shown. Organization and presentation of data obtained from SS are shown in the context of the future goal of total automation of the distribution network. The description of application techniques, the examples of success with SS, and the vision outlined in this paper serve to motivate future research pertinent to disturbance analysis automation.

Keywords: Disturbance automation, electric power grid, smart grid, smart switch.

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Authors: Anwaar Ahmed, Muhammad Bilal Khurshid, Samuel Labi

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The effect of trucks on the level of service is determined by considering passenger car equivalents (PCE) of trucks. The current version of Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) uses a single PCE value for all tucks combined. However, the composition of truck traffic varies from location to location; therefore, a single PCE value for all trucks may not correctly represent the impact of truck traffic at specific locations. Consequently, present study developed separate PCE values for single-unit and combination trucks to replace the single value provided in the HCM on different freeways. Site specific PCE values, were developed using concept of spatial lagging headways (that is the distance between rear bumpers of two vehicles in a traffic stream) measured from field traffic data. The study used data from four locations on a single urban freeway and three different rural freeways in Indiana. Three-stage-leastsquares (3SLS) regression techniques were used to generate models that predicted lagging headways for passenger cars, single unit trucks (SUT), and combination trucks (CT). The estimated PCE values for single-unit and combination truck for basic urban freeways (level terrain) were: 1.35 and 1.60, respectively. For rural freeways the estimated PCE values for single-unit and combination truck were: 1.30 and 1.45, respectively. As expected, traffic variables such as vehicle flow rates and speed have significant impacts on vehicle headways. Study results revealed that the use of separate PCE values for different truck classes can have significant influence on the LOS estimation.

Keywords: Level of Service, Capacity Analysis, Lagging Headway.

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Authors: Nadia Masood Khan, Muhammad Salman Khan, Gul Muhammad Khan

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Cardiologists perform cardiac auscultation to detect abnormalities in heart sounds. Since accurate auscultation is a crucial first step in screening patients with heart diseases, there is a need to develop computer-aided detection/diagnosis (CAD) systems to assist cardiologists in interpreting heart sounds and provide second opinions. In this paper different algorithms are implemented for automated heart sound classification using unsegmented phonocardiogram (PCG) signals. Support vector machine (SVM), artificial neural network (ANN) and cartesian genetic programming evolved artificial neural network (CGPANN) without the application of any segmentation algorithm has been explored in this study. The signals are first pre-processed to remove any unwanted frequencies. Both time and frequency domain features are then extracted for training the different models. The different algorithms are tested in multiple scenarios and their strengths and weaknesses are discussed. Results indicate that SVM outperforms the rest with an accuracy of 73.64%.

Keywords: Pattern recognition, machine learning, computer aided diagnosis, heart sound classification, and feature extraction.

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Authors: Mohamed T. Sorour, Mohamed A. Abdellatif, Ahmed A. Ramadan, Ahmed A. Abo-Ismail

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This paper describes the development of an autonomous robot for painting the interior walls of buildings. The robot consists of a painting arm with an end effector roller that scans the walls vertically and a mobile platform to give horizontal feed to paint the whole area of the wall. The painting arm has a planar twolink mechanism with two joints. Joints are driven from a stepping motor through a ball screw-nut mechanism. Four ultrasonic sensors are attached to the mobile platform and used to maintain a certain distance from the facing wall and to avoid collision with side walls. When settled on adjusted distance from the wall, the controller starts the painting process autonomously. Simplicity, relatively low weight and short painting time were considered in our design. Different modules constituting the robot have been separately tested then integrated. Experiments have shown successfulness of the robot in its intended tasks.

Keywords: Automated roller painting, Construction robots, Mobile robots, service robots, two link planar manipulator

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Authors: Muhammad Rehan Usman, Muhammad Arslan Usman, Soo Young Shin

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The new era of digital communication has brought up many challenges that network operators need to overcome. The high demand of mobile data rates require improved networks, which is a challenge for the operators in terms of maintaining the quality of experience (QoE) for their consumers. In live video transmission, there is a sheer need for live surveillance of the videos in order to maintain the quality of the network. For this purpose objective algorithms are employed to monitor the quality of the videos that are transmitted over a network. In order to test these objective algorithms, subjective quality assessment of the streamed videos is required, as the human eye is the best source of perceptual assessment. In this paper we have conducted subjective evaluation of videos with varying spatial and temporal impairments. These videos were impaired with frame freezing distortions so that the impact of frame freezing on the quality of experience could be studied. We present subjective Mean Opinion Score (MOS) for these videos that can be used for fine tuning the objective algorithms for video quality assessment.

Keywords: Frame freezing, mean opinion score, objective assessment, subjective evaluation.

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Authors: A. Elsayed Ahmed, A. Hafez, A. N. Ouda, H. Eldin Hussein Ahmed, H. Mohamed Abd-Elkader

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Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are playing increasingly prominent roles in defense programs and defense strategies around the world. Technology advancements have enabled the development of it to do many excellent jobs as reconnaissance, surveillance, battle fighters, and communications relays. Simulating a small unmanned aerial vehicle (SUAV) dynamics and analyzing its behavior at the preflight stage is too important and more efficient. The first step in the UAV design is the mathematical modeling of the nonlinear equations of motion. . In this paper, a survey with a standard method to obtain the full non-linear equations of motion is utilized, and then the linearization of the equations according to a steady state flight condition (trimming) is derived. This modeling technique is applied to an Ultrastick-25e fixed wing UAV to obtain the valued linear longitudinal and lateral models. At the end the model is checked by matching between the behavior of the states of the nonlinear UAV and the resulted linear model with doublet at the control surfaces.

Keywords: Equations of motion, linearization, modeling, nonlinear model, UAV.

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Authors: Muhammad Ijaz Khan, Samina Jalali, Beenish Shahid, S. A. Shami, Muhammad Ikramullah

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In the present study, the response of Nili Ravi buffalo oocytes to recombinant human follicle stimulating hormone (rhFSH) (Organon) on meiotic maturation in vitro was examined. Oocytes were matured in vitro in medium containing either 0 or 0.05 IU/ ml rhFSH and the stage of nuclear maturation recorded after 24 hours. The percentage of oocytes in the control group undergoing germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) observed after 24 hours of culture was 29 % whereas as in rhFSH group the percentage was 10 % were at this stage (P< 0.001).Thus in the presence of rhFSH, a significantly greater number of oocytes had progressed to the more advanced stages of nuclear maturation. Indeed, the maturation of GV (Germinal Vesicle) stage oocytes to the metaphase II (M II) stage after 24 hours was significantly (P< 0.0001) increased by the addition of rhFSH (82 % VS 47 %). The percentage of degenerated oocytes after 24 hours of culture was 24 % in control group, whereas in rhFSH group the percentage was 8 % after 24 hours. Degeneration of the oocytes after 24 hours was not significantly (P = 0. 9361) decreased.

Keywords: Buffalo, in vitro, oocytes, recombinant FSH.

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Authors: Ahmed N. Shmroukh, Ahmed Hamza H. Ali, Ali K. Abel-Rahman

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Adsorption refrigeration working pair is a vital and is the main component in the adsorption refrigeration machine. Therefore the development key is laying on the adsorption pair that leads to the improvement of the adsorption refrigeration machine. In this study the state-of-the-art in the application of the adsorption refrigeration working pairs in both classical and modern adsorption pairs are presented, compared and summarized. It is found that the maximum adsorption capacity for the classical working pairs was 0.259kg/kg for activated carbon/methanol and that for the modern working pairs was 2kg/kg for maxsorb III/R-134a. The study concluded that, the performances of the adsorption working pairs of adsorption cooling systems are still need further investigations as well as developing adsorption pairs having higher sorption capacity with low or no impact on environmental, to build compact, efficient, reliable and long life performance adsorption chillier. Also, future researches need to be focused on designing the adsorption system that provide efficient heating and cooling for the adsorbent materials through distributing the adsorbent material over heat exchanger surface, to allow good heat and mass transfer between the adsorbent and the refrigerant.

Keywords: Adsorption, Adsorbent/Adsorbate Pairs, Refrigeration.

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Authors: Nidal F. Shilbayeh, Remah W. Al-Khatib, Sameer A. Nooh

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Arabic offline handwriting recognition systems are considered as one of the most challenging topics. Arabic Handwritten Numeral Strings are used to automate systems that deal with numbers such as postal code, banking account numbers and numbers on car plates. Segmentation of connected numerals is the main bottleneck in the handwritten numeral recognition system.  This is in turn can increase the speed and efficiency of the recognition system. In this paper, we proposed algorithms for automatic segmentation and feature extraction of Arabic handwritten numeral strings based on Watershed approach. The algorithms have been designed and implemented to achieve the main goal of segmenting and extracting the string of numeral digits written by hand especially in a courtesy amount of bank checks. The segmentation algorithm partitions the string into multiple regions that can be associated with the properties of one or more criteria. The numeral extraction algorithm extracts the numeral string digits into separated individual digit. Both algorithms for segmentation and feature extraction have been tested successfully and efficiently for all types of numerals.

Keywords: Handwritten numerals, segmentation, courtesy amount, feature extraction, numeral recognition.

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Authors: Imen Mejri, Ahmed Mahmoudi, Mohamed A. Abbassi, Ahmed Omri

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Thermal radiation plays a very important role in the heat transfer combination through the various components of the SOFC fuel cell operating at high temperatures. Lattice Boltzmann method is used for treating conduction-radiation heat transfer in the electrolyte. The thermal radiation heat transfer is coupled to the overall energy conservation equations through the divergence of the local radiative flux. The equation of energy in one dimension is numerically resolved by using the Lattice Boltzmann method. A computing program (FORTRAN) is developed locally for this purpose in order to obtain fields of temperature in every element of the cell. The parameters investigated are: functioning temperature, cell voltages and electrolyte thickness. The results show that the radiation effect increases with increasing the electrolyte thickness, also increases with increasing the functioning temperature and decreases with the increase of the voltage of the cell.

Keywords: SOFC, lattice Boltzmann method, conduction, radiation, planar medium.

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Authors: Nahid A. Ali, Salma H. Ahmed, ElShazali A. Mohamed, Isam A. Mohamed Ahmed, Elfadil E.Babiker

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The effect of cross linking of the protein isolates of three legumes with the microbial enzyme transglutaminase (EC 2.3.2.13) on the functional properties at different NaCl concentration was studied. The reduction in the total free amino groups (OD340) of the polymerized protein showed that TGase treatment cross-linking the protein subunit of each legume. The solubility of the protein polymer of each legume was greatly improved at high concentration of NaCl. At 1.2 M NaCl the solubility of the native legumes protein was significantly decreased but after polymerization slightly improved. Cross linked proteins were less turbid on heating to higher temperature as compared to native proteins and the temperature at which the protein turns turbid also increased in the polymerized proteins. The emulsifying and foaming properties of the protein polymer were greatly improved at all concentrations of NaCl for all legumes.

Keywords: Functional properties, Legumes, Protein isolate, NaCl, Transglutaminase.

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Authors: Muhammad Naveed, Muhammad Khalid Abdullah, Khalid Rashid, Hafiz Farooq Ahmad

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Aspect Oriented Programming promises many advantages at programming level by incorporating the cross cutting concerns into separate units, called aspects. Join Points are distinguishing features of Aspect Oriented Programming as they define the points where core requirements and crosscutting concerns are (inter)connected. Currently, there is a problem of multiple aspects- composition at the same join point, which introduces the issues like ordering and controlling of these superimposed aspects. Dynamic strategies are required to handle these issues as early as possible. State chart is an effective modeling tool to capture dynamic behavior at high level design. This paper provides methodology to formulate the strategies for multiple aspect composition at high level, which helps to better implement these strategies at coding level. It also highlights the need of designing shared join point at high level, by providing the solutions of these issues using state chart diagrams in UML 2.0. High level design representation of shared join points also helps to implement the designed strategy in systematic way.

Keywords: Aspect Oriented Software Development, Shared Join Points.

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Authors: Muhammad Liaquat Ali, Nasir-uddin Khan, Mushtaq Hussain, Asif Mansoor, Muhammad Shahid

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Population in rural areas are scattered in the form of different villages or settlements. The proper selection of land to launch any educational or health activities to equally facilitate both the genders is the sticky situation, both for Govt. and Private organizations. Govt. spends substantial funds for the establishment of education institution/health centre at the place which is feasible and accessible to general public. However for specific gender, the gender population is also considered so that both the gender may be benefited equally. In this research, efforts have been made to illustrate how one can choose or locate the best central place/ area in Taluka Kunri of district Umerkot Sindh Pakistan where the Educational or Health activity is to be initiated. For the purpose the concept of centre of mass theorem is used as a tool to develop mathematical model, subsequently utilize in achieving the objectives.

Keywords: Centre of mass theorem, Establishment of technical/ vocational/ health care centre, Gender population of taluka Kunri of District Umerkot, Graphical interpretation of town committee/villages.

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Authors: Imen Mejri, Ahmed Mahmoudi, Mohamed A. Abbassi, Ahmed Omri

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This paper examines the natural convection in a square enclosure filled with a water-Al₂O₃ nanofluid and is subjected to a magnetic field. The side walls of the cavity have spatially varying sinusoidal temperature distributions. The horizontal walls are adiabatic. Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is applied to solve the coupled equations of flow and temperature fields. This study has been carried out for the pertinent parameters in the following ranges: Rayleigh number of the base fluid, Ra=10³ to 10⁶, Hartmann number varied from Ha=0 to 90, phase deviation (γ=0, π/4, π/2, 3π/4 and π) and the solid volume fraction of the nanoparticles between Ø = 0 and 6%. The results show that the heat transfer rate increases with an increase of the Rayleigh number but it decreases with an increase of the Hartmann number. For γ=π/2 and Ra=10⁵ the magnetic field augments the effect of nanoparticles. At Ha=0, the greatest effects of nanoparticles are obtained at γ = 0 and π/4 for Ra=10⁴ and 10⁵ respectively.

 

Keywords: Lattice Boltzmann Method, magnetic field, Natural convection, nanofluid, Sinusoidal temperature distribution.

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Authors: Muhammad Shahid, Nasir-uddin Khan, Mushtaq Hussain, Muhammad Liaquat Ali, Asif Mansoor

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Tuberculosis (TB) remains a leading cause of infectious mortality. It is primarily transmitted by the respiratory route, individuals with active disease may infect others through airborne particles which releases when they cough, talk, or sing and subsequently inhale by others. In order to study the effect of the Bacilli Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine after vaccination of TB patient, a Vaccinated Susceptible Infected and Recovered (VSIR) mathematical model is being developed to achieve the desired objectives. The mathematical model, so developed, shall be used to quantify the effect of BCG Vaccine to protect the immigrant young adult person. Moreover, equations are to be established for the disease endemic and free equilibrium states and subsequently utilized in disease stability analysis. The stability analysis will give a complete picture of disease annihilation from the total population if the total removal rate from the infectious group should be greater than total number of dormant infections produced throughout infectious period.

Keywords: Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccine, disease-free equilibrium state, VSIR Quantification, disease stability analysis.

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Authors: Ali Khaleel Kareem, Shian Gao, Ahmed Qasim Ahmed

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A numerical investigation of unsteady mixed convection heat transfer in a 3D moving top wall enclosure, which has a central rotating cylinder and uses either artificial roughness on the bottom hot plate or smooth bottom hot plate to study the heat transfer enhancement, is completed for fixed circular cylinder, and anticlockwise and clockwise rotational speeds, -1 ≤ Ω ≤ 1, at Reynolds number of 5000. The top lid-driven wall was cooled, while the other remaining walls that completed obstructed cubic were kept insulated and motionless. A standard k-ε model of Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) method is involved to deal with turbulent flow. It has been clearly noted that artificial roughness can strongly control the thermal fields and fluid flow patterns. Ultimately, the heat transfer rate has been dramatically increased by involving artificial roughness on the heated bottom wall in the presence of rotating cylinder.

Keywords: Artificial roughness, Lid-driven cavity, Mixed convection heat transfer, Rotating cylinder, URANS method.

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Authors: Imen Mejri, Ahmed Mahmoudi, Mohamed A. Abbassi, Ahmed Omri

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The Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) with double populations is applied to solve the steady-state laminar natural convective heat transfer in a triangular cavity filled with water. The bottom wall is heated, the vertical wall is cooled, and the inclined wall is kept adiabatic. The buoyancy effect was modeled by applying the Boussinesq approximation to the momentum equation. The fluid velocity is determined by D2Q9 LBM and the energy equation is discritized by D2Q4 LBM to compute the temperature field. Comparisons with previously published work are performed and found to be in excellent agreement. Numerical results are obtained for a wide range of parameters: the Rayleigh number from  to  and the inclination angle from 0° to 360°. Flow and thermal fields were exhibited by means of streamlines and isotherms. It is observed that inclination angle can be used as a relevant parameter to control heat transfer in right-angled triangular enclosures.

 

Keywords: Heat transfer, inclination angle, Lattice Boltzmann Method, Nusselt number, Natural convection, Rayleigh number.

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Authors: Amr A. El Hanafy, Muhammad Qureshi, Jamal Sabir, Mohamed Mutawakil, Mohamed M. Ahmed, Hassan El Ashmaoui, Hassan Ramadan, Mohamed Abou-Alsoud, Mahmoud Abdel Sadek

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Domestic goats (Capra hircus) are extremely diverse species and principal animal genetic resource of the developing world. These facilitate a persistent supply of meat, milk, fibre, and skin and are considered as important revenue generators in small pastoral environments. This study aimed to fingerprint β-LG gene at PCR-RFLP level in native Saudi goat breeds (Ardi, Habsi and Harri) in an attempt to have a preliminary image of β-LG genotypic patterns in Saudi breeds as compared to other foreign breeds such as Indian and Egyptian. Also, the Phylogenetic analysis was done to investigate evolutionary trends and similarities among the caprine β-LG gene with that of the other domestic specie, viz. cow, buffalo and sheep. Blood samples were collected from 300 animals (100 for each breed) and genomic DNA was extracted. A fragment of the β-LG gene (427bp) was amplified using specific primers. Subsequent digestion with Sac II restriction endonuclease revealed two alleles (A and B) and three different banding patterns or genotypes i.e. AA, AB and BB. The statistical analysis showed a general trend that β-LG AA genotype had higher milk yield than β-LG AB and β-LG BB genotypes. Nucleotide sequencing of the selected β-LG fragments was done and submitted to GenBank NCBI (Accession No. KJ544248, KJ588275, KJ588276, KJ783455, KJ783456 and KJ874959). Phylogenetic analysis on the basis of nucleotide sequences of native Saudi goats indicated evolutional similarity with the GenBank reference sequences of goat, Bubalus bubalis and Bos taurus. However, the origin of sheep which is the most closely related from the evolutionary point of view, was located some distance away.

Keywords: β-Lactoglobulin, Saudi goats, PCR-RFLP, Phylogenetic analysis.

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Authors: Areej Almalkawi, Sameer Hamadna, Parviz Soroushian, Nalin Darsana

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The work on indigenous binders in this paper focused on the following indigenous raw materials: red clay, red lava and pumice (as primary aluminosilicate precursors), wood ash and gypsum (as supplementary minerals), and sodium sulfate and lime (as alkali activators). The experimental methods used for evaluation of these indigenous raw materials included laser granulometry, x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy, and chemical reactivity. Formulations were devised for transforming these raw materials into alkali aluminosilicate-based hydraulic cements. These formulations were processed into hydraulic cements via simple heating and milling actions to render thermal activation, mechanochemical and size reduction effects. The resulting hydraulic cements were subjected to laser granulometry, heat of hydration and reactivity tests. These cements were also used to prepare mortar mixtures, which were evaluated via performance of compressive strength tests. The measured values of strength were correlated with the reactivity, size distribution and microstructural features of raw materials. Some of the indigenous hydraulic cements produced in this reporting period yielded viable levels of compressive strength. The correlation trends established in this work are being evaluated for development of simple and thorough methods of qualifying indigenous raw materials for use in production of indigenous hydraulic cements.

Keywords: One-part geopolymer cement, aluminosilicate precursors, thermal activation, mechanochemical.

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Authors: Awais Adnan, Muhammad Nawaz, Sajid Anwar, Tamleek Ali, Muhammad Ali

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Needs of an efficient information retrieval in recent years in increased more then ever because of the frequent use of digital information in our life. We see a lot of work in the area of textual information but in multimedia information, we cannot find much progress. In text based information, new technology of data mining and data marts are now in working that were started from the basic concept of database some where in 1960. In image search and especially in image identification, computerized system at very initial stages. Even in the area of image search we cannot see much progress as in the case of text based search techniques. One main reason for this is the wide spread roots of image search where many area like artificial intelligence, statistics, image processing, pattern recognition play their role. Even human psychology and perception and cultural diversity also have their share for the design of a good and efficient image recognition and retrieval system. A new object based search technique is presented in this paper where object in the image are identified on the basis of their geometrical shapes and other features like color and texture where object-co-relation augments this search process. To be more focused on objects identification, simple images are selected for the work to reduce the role of segmentation in overall process however same technique can also be applied for other images.

Keywords: Object correlation, Geometrical shape, Color, texture, features, contents.

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Authors: Abed Sami Qawasme, Sameer Khader

Abstract:

This paper describes the effects of photovoltaic voltage changes on Multi-level inverter (MLI) due to solar irradiation variations, and methods to overcome these changes. The irradiation variation affects the generated voltage, which in turn varies the switching angles required to turn-on the inverter power switches in order to obtain minimum harmonic content in the output voltage profile. Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used to solve harmonics elimination equations of eleven level inverters with equal and non-equal dc sources. After that artificial neural network (ANN) algorithm is proposed to generate appropriate set of switching angles for MLI at any level of input dc sources voltage causing minimization of the total harmonic distortion (THD) to an acceptable limit. MATLAB/Simulink platform is used as a simulation tool and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analyses are carried out for output voltage profile to verify the reliability and accuracy of the applied technique for controlling the MLI harmonic distortion. According to the simulation results, the obtained THD for equal dc source is 9.38%, while for variable or unequal dc sources it varies between 10.26% and 12.93% as the input dc voltage varies between 4.47V nd 11.43V respectively. The proposed ANN algorithm provides satisfied simulation results that match with results obtained by alternative algorithms.

Keywords: Multi level inverter, genetic algorithm, artificial neural network, total harmonic distortion.

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Authors: Ahmed N. Shmroukh, Ahmed Hamza H. Ali, Ali K. Abel-Rahman

Abstract:

This study is experimentally targeting to develop effective in heat and mass transfer processes for the adsorbate to obtain applicable adsorption capacity data. This is done by using fin and tube heat exchanger core and the adsorbate is adhesive over its surface and located as the core of the adsorber. The pairs are activated carbon powder/R-134a, activated carbon powder/R-407c, activated carbon powder/R-507A, activated carbon granules/R-507A, activated carbon granules/R-407c and activated carbon granules/R-134a, at different adsorption temperatures of 25, 30, 35 and 50°C. The following is results is obtained: at adsorption temperature of 25 °C the maximum adsorption capacity is found to be 0.8352kg/kg for activated carbon powder with R-134a and the minimum adsorption capacity found to be 0.1583kg/kg for activated carbon granules with R-407c. While, at adsorption temperature of 50°C the maximum adsorption capacity is found to be 0.3207kg/kg for activated carbon powder with R-134a and the minimum adsorption capacity found to be 0.0609kg/kg for activated carbon granules with R-407c. Therefore, the activated carbon powder/R-134a pair is highly recommended to be used as adsorption refrigeration working pair because of its higher maximum adsorption capacity than the other tested pairs, to produce a compact, efficient and reliable for long life performance adsorption refrigeration system.

Keywords: Adsorption, Adsorbent/Adsorbate Pairs, Adsorption Capacity, Refrigeration.

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Authors: Muhammad Shahid, Muhammad Mansoor

Abstract:

Increasing demands of contemporary applications for high strength and lightweight materials prompted the development of metal-matrix composites (MMCs). After the discovery of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in 1991 (revealing an excellent set of mechanical properties) became one of the most promising strengthening materials for MMC applications. Additionally, the relatively low density of the nanotubes imparted high specific strengths, making them perfect strengthening material to reinforce MMCs. In the present study, aluminum-multiwalled carbon nanotubes (Al-MWCNTs) composite was prepared in an air induction furnace. The dispersion of the nanotubes in molten aluminum was assisted by inherent string action of induction heating at 790°C. During the fabrication process, multifunctional fluxes were used to avoid oxidation of the nanotubes and molten aluminum. Subsequently, the melt was cast in to a copper mold and cold rolled to 0.5 mm thickness. During metallographic examination using a scanning electron microscope, it was observed that the nanotubes were effectively dispersed in the matrix. The mechanical properties of the composite were significantly increased as compared to pure aluminum specimen i.e. the yield strength from 65 to 115 MPa, the tensile strength from 82 to 125 MPa and hardness from 27 to 30 HV for pure aluminum and Al-CNTs composite, respectively. To recognize the associated strengthening mechanisms in the nanocomposites, three foremost strengthening models i.e. shear lag model, Orowan looping and Hall-Petch have been critically analyzed; experimental data were found to be closely satisfying the shear lag model.

Keywords: Carbon nanotubes, induction melting, nanocomposite, strengthening mechanism.

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