Search results for: Sara M. Kamel

Authors: Kamel Hashem, David Mioduser

Abstract:

This paper describes part of a project about Learningby- Modeling (LbM). Studying complex systems is increasingly important in teaching and learning many science domains. Many features of complex systems make it difficult for students to develop deep understanding. Previous research indicates that involvement with modeling scientific phenomena and complex systems can play a powerful role in science learning. Some researchers argue with this view indicating that models and modeling do not contribute to understanding complexity concepts, since these increases the cognitive load on students. This study will investigate the effect of different modes of involvement in exploring scientific phenomena using computer simulation tools, on students- mental model from the perspective of structure, behavior and function. Quantitative and qualitative methods are used to report about 121 freshmen students that engaged in participatory simulations about complex phenomena, showing emergent, self-organized and decentralized patterns. Results show that LbM plays a major role in students' concept formation about complexity concepts.

Keywords: Complexity, Educational technology, Learning by modeling, Mental models

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Authors: Khaled Shehata, Hanady Hussien, Sara Yehia

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Securing the data stored on E-passport is a very important issue. RSA encryption algorithm is suitable for such application with low data size. In this paper the design and implementation of 1024 bit-key RSA encryption and decryption module on an FPGA is presented. The module is verified through comparing the result with that obtained from MATLAB tools. The design runs at a frequency of 36.3 MHz on Virtex-5 Xilinx FPGA. The key size is designed to be 1024-bit to achieve high security for the passport information. The whole design is achieved through VHDL design entry which makes it a portable design and can be directed to any hardware platform.

Keywords: RSA, VHDL, FPGA, modular multiplication, modular exponential.

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Authors: Benhamouda Sara, Guezouli Larbi

Abstract:

Nowadays, the dissemination of information touches the distributed world, where selecting the relevant servers to a user request is an important problem in distributed information retrieval. During the last decade, several research studies on this issue have been launched to find optimal solutions and many approaches of collection selection have been proposed. In this paper, we propose a new collection selection approach that takes into consideration the number of documents in a collection that contains terms of the query and the weights of those terms in these documents. We tested our method and our studies show that this technique can compete with other state-of-the-art algorithms that we choose to test the performance of our approach.

Keywords: Distributed information retrieval, relevance, server selection, collection selection.

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Authors: Sara Bragança, Eric Costa

Abstract:

The work presented in this paper was performed for a workstation of an assembly section in a company that manufactures radio modules and air conditioning for cars. After performing a workstation analysis and a questionnaire to the operators it was possible to understand the need to investigate the risk of musculoskeletal disorders originated from both the handling of loads as the incorrect dimensioning of the workstation. Regarding the handling of loads the NIOSH Equation was used and it was verified that there was no risk of musculoskeletal disorders. As the operators expressed their lack of satisfaction regarding back pains due to posture adopted they were established the appropriate dimensions (to satisfy 97.5% of the population and using the table of anthropometric data of the Portuguese population) for the workstation and it was proposed the availability of a chair for the workers.

Keywords: Anthropometry, Musculoskeletal disorders, NIOSH Equation.

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Authors: S. Desouky, A. Al sabagh , M. Betiha, A. Badawi, A. Ghanem, S. Khalil

Abstract:

Two Amphiphilic catalysts, iron (III) dodecylbenzene sulfonate and nickel (II) dodecylbenzene sulfonate, were synthesized and used in the catalytic aquathermolysis of heavy crude oil to reduce its viscosity. The prepared catalysts exhibited good performance in the aquathermolysis and the viscosity is reduced by ~ 78.9 % for Egyptian heavy crude oil. The chemical and physical properties of heavy oil both before and after reaction were investigated by FT-IR, dynamic viscosity, molecular weight and SARA analysis. The results indicated that the content of resin, asphaltene, average molecular weight and sulfur content of heavy oil is reduced after the catalytic aquathermolysis.

Keywords: Amphiphilic catalyst, Aquathermolysis, Heavy oil, Viscosity reduction.

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Authors: Mohamed Shahin, Ahmed Badawi, Mohamed Kamel

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This paper presents a hand vein authentication system using fast spatial correlation of hand vein patterns. In order to evaluate the system performance, a prototype was designed and a dataset of 50 persons of different ages above 16 and of different gender, each has 10 images per person was acquired at different intervals, 5 images for left hand and 5 images for right hand. In verification testing analysis, we used 3 images to represent the templates and 2 images for testing. Each of the 2 images is matched with the existing 3 templates. FAR of 0.02% and FRR of 3.00 % were reported at threshold 80. The system efficiency at this threshold was found to be 99.95%. The system can operate at a 97% genuine acceptance rate and 99.98 % genuine reject rate, at corresponding threshold of 80. The EER was reported as 0.25 % at threshold 77. We verified that no similarity exists between right and left hand vein patterns for the same person over the acquired dataset sample. Finally, this distinct 100 hand vein patterns dataset sample can be accessed by researchers and students upon request for testing other methods of hand veins matching.

Keywords: Biometrics, Verification, Hand Veins, PatternsSimilarity, Statistical Performance.

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Authors: Javed Khan, Aamir Saeed Malik, Nidal Kamel, Sarat Chandra Dass, Azura Mohd Affandi

Abstract:

Low contrast images can result from the wrong setting of image acquisition or poor illumination conditions. Such images may not be visually appealing and can be difficult for feature extraction. Contrast enhancement of color images can be useful in medical area for visual inspection. In this paper, a new technique is proposed to improve the contrast of color images. The RGB (red, green, blue) color image is transformed into normalized RGB color space. Adaptive histogram equalization technique is applied to each of the three channels of normalized RGB color space. The corresponding channels in the original image (low contrast) and that of contrast enhanced image with adaptive histogram equalization (AHE) are morphed together in proper proportions. The proposed technique is tested on seventy color images of acne patients. The results of the proposed technique are analyzed using cumulative variance and contrast improvement factor measures. The results are also compared with decorrelation stretch. Both subjective and quantitative analysis demonstrates that the proposed techniques outperform the other techniques.

Keywords: Contrast enhancement, normalized RGB, adaptive histogram equalization, cumulative variance.

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Authors: Behrouz Fathi-Vajargah, Sara Ghasemalipour

Abstract:

This paper studies a random fuzzy queueing system that the interarrival times of customers arriving at the server and the service times are independent and identically distributed random fuzzy variables. We match the random fuzzy queueing system with the random fuzzy alternating renewal process and we do not use from α-pessimistic and α-optimistic values to estimate the average chance of the event ”random fuzzy queueing system is busy at time t”, we employ the fuzzy simulation method in practical applications. Some theorem is proved and finally we solve a numerical example with fuzzy simulation method.

Keywords: Random fuzzy variables, Fuzzy simulation, Queueing system, Interarrival times.

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Authors: Samraj Andrews, Ramaswamy Palaniappan, Nidal Kamel

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In single trial analysis, when using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to extract Visual Evoked Potential (VEP) signals, the selection of principal components (PCs) is an important issue. We propose a new method here that selects only the appropriate PCs. We denote the method as selective eigen-rate (SER). In the method, the VEP is reconstructed based on the rate of the eigen-values of the PCs. When this technique is applied on emulated VEP signals added with background electroencephalogram (EEG), with a focus on extracting the evoked P3 parameter, it is found to be feasible. The improvement in signal to noise ratio (SNR) is superior to two other existing methods of PC selection: Kaiser (KSR) and Residual Power (RP). Though another PC selection method, Spectral Power Ratio (SPR) gives a comparable SNR with high noise factors (i.e. EEGs), SER give more impressive results in such cases. Next, we applied SER method to real VEP signals to analyse the P3 responses for matched and non-matched stimuli. The P3 parameters extracted through our proposed SER method showed higher P3 response for matched stimulus, which confirms to the existing neuroscience knowledge. Single trial PCA using KSR and RP methods failed to indicate any difference for the stimuli.

Keywords: Electroencephalogram, P3, Single trial VEP.

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Authors: Sara Sharifi Rad, Hassan Haghighi

Abstract:

Due to important issues, such as deadlock, starvation, communication, non-deterministic behavior and synchronization, concurrent systems are very complex, sensitive, and error-prone. Thus ensuring reliability and accuracy of these systems is very essential. Therefore, there has been a big interest in the formal specification of concurrent programs in recent years. Nevertheless, some features of concurrent systems, such as dynamic process creation, scheduling and starvation have not been specified formally yet. Also, some other features have been specified partially and/or have been described using a combination of several different formalisms and methods whose integration needs too much effort. In other words, a comprehensive and integrated specification that could cover all aspects of concurrent systems has not been provided yet. Thus, this paper makes two major contributions: firstly, it provides a comprehensive formal framework to specify all well-known features of concurrent systems. Secondly, it provides an integrated specification of these features by using just a single formal notation, i.e., the Z language.

Keywords: Concurrent systems, Formal methods, Formal specification, Z language

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Authors: Sara Kamalisiahroudi, Jun Huang, Zhe Li, Jianbo Zhang

Abstract:

Two types of commercial cylindrical lithium ion batteries (Panasonic 3.4 Ah NCR-18650B and Samsung 2.9 Ah INR-18650), were investigated experimentally. The capacities of these samples were individually measured using constant current-constant voltage (CC-CV) method at different ambient temperatures (-10°C, 0°C, 25°C). Their internal resistance was determined by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and pulse discharge methods. The cells with different configurations of parallel connection NCR-NCR, INR-INR and NCR-INR were charged/discharged at the aforementioned ambient temperatures. The results showed that the difference of internal resistance between cells much more evident at low temperatures. Furthermore, the parallel connection of NCR-NCR exhibits the most uniform temperature distribution in cells at -10°C, this feature is quite favorable for the safety of the battery pack.

Keywords: Batteries in parallel connection, internal resistance, low temperature, temperature difference, current distribution.

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Authors: Kamel Hashem, Ibrahim Arman

Abstract:

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in mathematical education is a very active field of research and innovation, where learning is understood to be meaningful and grasping multiple linked representation rather than rote memorization, a great amount of literature offering a wide range of theories, learning approaches, methodologies and interpretations, are generally stressing the potentialities for teaching and learning using ICT. Despite the utilization of new learning approaches with ICT, students experience difficulties in learning concepts relevant to understanding mathematics, much remains unclear about the relationship between the computer environment, the activities it might support, and the knowledge that might emerge from such activities. Many questions that might arise in this regard: to what extent does the use of ICT help students in the process of understanding and solving tasks or problems? Is it possible to identify what aspects or features of students' mathematical learning can be enhanced by the use of technology? This paper will highlight the interest of the integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) into the teaching and learning of mathematics (quadratic functions), it aims to investigate the effect of four instructional methods on students- mathematical understanding and problem solving. Quantitative and qualitative methods are used to report about 43 students in middle school. Results showed that mathematical thinking and problem solving evolves as students engage with ICT activities and learn cooperatively.

Keywords: Dynamic Geometry Software, Information and Communication Technologies, Visualization, Mathematical Education.

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Authors: Sara Felloni, Giuliano Strini

Abstract:

We explore entanglement in composite quantum systems and how its peculiar properties are exploited in quantum information and communication protocols by means of Diagrams of States, a novel method to graphically represent and analyze how quantum information is elaborated during computations performed by quantum circuits. We present quantum diagrams of states for Bell states generation, measurements and projections, for dense coding and quantum teleportation, for probabilistic quantum machines designed to perform approximate quantum cloning and universal NOT and, finally, for quantum privacy amplification based on entanglement purification. Diagrams of states prove to be a useful approach to analyze quantum computations, by offering an intuitive graphic representation of the processing of quantum information. They also help in conceiving novel quantum computations, from describing the desired information processing to deriving the final implementation by quantum gate arrays.

Keywords: Diagrams of states, entanglement, quantum circuits, quantum information.

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Authors: Behzad Moeini Sam, Sara Mohammadi Avandi, Abbas Moradi Zirkuhi

Abstract:

Ancient Near East civilizations were successive powers with a similar structure as the Median and Persian Empires that came after them; that is, the ancient Empires were founded under new leadership, and their political power transferred from one nation to another. The replacement of the Iranians instead of the Mesopotamian civilizations caused the Old Iranian languages to influence the Mesopotamian ones. However, the changes were relatively small. This paper aims to compare the word of puhre(ī)puhr or son’s son in Haji-Abad inscription with that of the son of the son in Mesopotamian texts to find out the relationship with the Mesopotamian languages. First, we introduced the morphological derivation of ‘Grandchild’ from the Indo-European to the New Persian language; second, we searched for the same in the Mesopotamian languages from Sumerian to the Neo-Babylonian Period. Thus, we conclude that it is logical to assume puhre(ī)puhr’s (son’s son) morphology at the Haji-Abad inscription may be affected by that of the Mesopotamian languages.

Keywords: Indo-European, Mesopotamia, puhre(ī)puhr, son’s son.

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Authors: Sara Mensou, Ahmed Essadki, Issam Minka, Tamou Nasser, Badr Bououlid Idrissi

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In this paper we present a contribution for the modeling and control of wind energy conversion system based on a Doubly Fed Induction Generator (DFIG). Since the wind speed is random the system has to produce an optimal electrical power to the Network and ensures important strength and stability. In this work, the Backstepping controller is used to control the generator via two converter witch placed a DC bus capacitor and connected to the grid by a Filter R-L, in order to optimize capture wind energy. All is simulated and presented under MATLAB/Simulink Software to show performance and robustness of the proposed controller.

Keywords: Wind turbine, doubly fed induction generator, MPPT control, backstepping controller, power converter.

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Authors: Mliki Bouchmel, Abbassi Mohamed Ammar, Kamel Geudri, Chrigui Mouldi, Omri Ahmed

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The objective of this work is to use the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) to investigate the behavior of a kerosene small-scale fire. FDS is a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tool developed specifically for fire applications. Throughout its development, FDS is used for the resolution of practical problems in fire protection engineering. At the same time FDS is used to study fundamental fire dynamics and combustion. Predictions are based on Large Eddy Simulation (LES) with a Smagorinsky turbulence model. LES directly computes the large-scale eddies and the sub-grid scale dissipative processes are modeled. This technique is the default turbulence model which was used in this study. The validation of the numerical prediction is done using a direct comparison of combustion output variables to experimental measurements. Effect of the mesh size on the temperature evolutions is investigated and optimum grid size is suggested. Effect of width openings is investigated. Temperature distribution and species flow are presented for different operating conditions. The effect of the composition of the used fuel on atmospheric pollution is also a focus point within this work. Good predictions are obtained where the size of the computational cells within the fire compartment is less than 1/10th of the characteristic fire diameter.

Keywords: Large eddy simulation, Radiation, Turbulence, combustion, pollution.

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Authors: Sara A.Yones, Ahmed S. Moussa

Abstract:

Quantitative measurements of tumor in general and tumor volume in particular, become more realistic with the use of Magnetic Resonance imaging, especially when the tumor morphological changes become irregular and difficult to assess by clinical examination. However, tumor volume estimation strongly depends on the image segmentation, which is fuzzy by nature. In this paper a fuzzy approach is presented for tumor volume segmentation based on the fuzzy connectedness algorithm. The fuzzy affinity matrix resulting from segmentation is then used to estimate a fuzzy volume based on a certainty parameter, an Alpha Cut, defined by the user. The proposed method was shown to highly affect treatment decisions. A statistical analysis was performed in this study to validate the results based on a manual method for volume estimation and the importance of using the Alpha Cut is further explained.

Keywords: Alpha Cut, Fuzzy Connectedness, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Tumor volume estimation.

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Authors: Sara Soltanpour, Adolfo Foriero

Abstract:

Frost heave is arguably the most problematic adverse phenomenon in cold region areas. It is a complex process that depends on heat and water transfer. The coupled physical fields generate considerable heave stresses as well as deformations. In the present study, a coupled Thermal-Hydraulic-Mechanical (THM) model using COMSOL Multiphysics in frozen unsaturated soils, such as fine sand, is investigated. Particular attention to the frost heave and temperature distribution, as well as the water migrating during soil freezing, is assessed. The results obtained from the numerical simulations are consistent with the results measured in the full-scale tests conducted by Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL).

Keywords: Frost heave, numerical simulations, COMSOL software, unsaturated freezing soil.

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Authors: Amin Kamal Akhnoukh, Lois Zaki Kamel, Magued Mourad Barsoum

Abstract:

The objective of this research is to mitigate and prevent the alkali silica reactivity (ASR) in highway construction projects. ASR is a deleterious reaction initiated when the silica content of the aggregate reacts with alkali hydroxides in cement in the presence of relatively high moisture content. The ASR results in the formation of an expansive white colored gel-like material which forms the destructive tensile stresses inside hardened concrete. In this research, different types of local aggregates available in the State of Arkansas were mixed and mortar bars were poured according to the ASTM specifications. Mortar bars expansion was measured versus time and aggregates with potential ASR problems were detected. Different types of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) were used in remixing mortar bars with highly reactive aggregates. Length changes for remixed bars proved that different types of SCMs can be successfully used in reducing the expansive effect of ASR. SCMs percentage by weight is highly dependent on the SCM type. The result of this study will help avoiding future losses due to ASR cracking in construction project and reduce the maintenance, repair, and replacement budgets required for highways network.

Keywords: Alkali Silica Reaction, Aggregates, Moisture, Cracks, Mortar Bar Test supplementary cementitious materials.

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Authors: A. Chaouachi, R. M. Kamel, K. Nagasaka

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This paper presents a novel methodology for Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) of a grid-connected 20 kW Photovoltaic (PV) system using neuro-fuzzy network. The proposed method predicts the reference PV voltage guarantying optimal power transfer between the PV generator and the main utility grid. The neuro-fuzzy network is composed of a fuzzy rule-based classifier and three Radial Basis Function Neural Networks (RBFNN). Inputs of the network (irradiance and temperature) are classified before they are fed into the appropriated RBFNN for either training or estimation process while the output is the reference voltage. The main advantage of the proposed methodology, comparing to a conventional single neural network-based approach, is the distinct generalization ability regarding to the nonlinear and dynamic behavior of a PV generator. In fact, the neuro-fuzzy network is a neural network based multi-model machine learning that defines a set of local models emulating the complex and non-linear behavior of a PV generator under a wide range of operating conditions. Simulation results under several rapid irradiance variations proved that the proposed MPPT method fulfilled the highest efficiency comparing to a conventional single neural network.

Keywords: MPPT, neuro-fuzzy, RBFN, grid-connected, photovoltaic.

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Authors: Abolghasem Yazdani, Sara Pourjafar

Abstract:

This study has applied the L16 orthogonal array of the Taguchi method to determine the optimized polymeric Nanocomposite asphalt binder. Three control factors are defined as polypropylene plastomer (PP), styrene-butadiene-styrene elastomer (SBS) and Nanoclay. Four level of concentration contents are introduced for prepared asphalt binder samples. all samples were prepared with 4.5% of bitumen 60/70 content. Compressive strength tests were carried out for defining the optimized sample via QUALITEK-4 software. SBS with 3%, PP with 5 % and Nanoclay with 1.5% of concentrations are defined as the optimized Nanocomposite asphalt binders. The confirmation compressive strength and also softening point tests showed that modification of asphalt binders with this method, improved the compressive strength and softening points of asphalt binders up to 55%.

Keywords: modified asphalt, Polypropylene, SBS, Nanoclay, Taguchi method

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Authors: Masoud Madadelahi, Amir Shamloo, Seyedeh Sara Salehi

Abstract:

Previously, some materials like solid metals and their alloys have been used as implants in human’s body. In order to amend fixation of these artificial hard human tissues, some porous structures have been introduced. In this way, tissues in vicinity of the porous structure can be attached more easily to the inserted implant. In particular, the porous bone scaffolds are useful since they can deliver important biomolecules like growth factors and proteins. This study focuses on the properties of the degradable porous hard tissues using a three-dimensional numerical Finite Element Method (FEM). The most important studied properties of these structures are diffusivity flux and concentration of different species like glucose, oxygen, and lactate. The process of cells migration into the scaffold is considered as a diffusion process, and related parameters are studied for different values of production/consumption rates.

Keywords: Bone scaffolds, diffusivity, numerical simulation, tissue engineering.

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Authors: Marzieh Moosavi-Nasab, Masoumeh Izadi, Sara Hosseinpour

Abstract:

In this study, the possibility of using potato as a substrate for glutamic acid production by Brevibacterium linens was investigated. For preparation of fermentation medium, potato was hydrolyzed by hydrochloridric acid. The medium contained potato hydrolysate, tween 80, mineral solution, glucose, and potassium hydrogen phosphate. The initial pH of the medium was adjusted to 7-7.5. For achieving the optimum time with maximum yield, the beakers containing the medium and the inoculums were incubated in a rotary water bath flask shaker for one to five days. Thin layer choromatography was used for quantitative and qualitative assay of the glutamic acid produced. The results revealed that as fermentation time increased, pH of the fermentation medium significantly decreased (P<0.05). Furthermore, glutamic acid concentration in fermentation medium increased significantly (P<0.05). The highest amount of the glutamic acid obtained was 5.6 g/l on the forth day of fermentation.

Keywords: Brevibacterium linens, Fermentation, Glutamicacid, Thin layer choromatography

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Authors: Farah Mahmoud Attallah, Sara El-Deeb

Abstract:

The non-profit sector has been heavily rising with the rise of sustainable development in developed and developing countries. Most economies are putting high pressure on this sector, believing that nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are one of the main rescues during crises worldwide. However, with the rising number of those NGOs comes their incapability of sustaining their performance and fundraising. Additionally, donors who are considered the key partners for those organizations have become knowledgeable about this sector which made them more demanding, putting high pressure on those organizations to believe that there must be a valuable return for the economy in order to donate. This research aims to study the impact of a sustainable strategic planning model on raising loyal donors; the proposed model of this research presents several independent variables determining their impact on donors' intention to become loyal.

Keywords: Non-profit sector, non-governmental organizations, strategic planning, sustainable business model.

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Authors: Kamel K. Alzboon, Khalid N.Mahasneh

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The aim of this work is to study the possible use of stone cutting sludge waste in concrete production, which would reduce both the environmental impact and the production cost .Slurry sludge was used a source of water in concrete production, which was obtained from Samara factory/Jordan, The physico-chemical and mineralogical characterization of the sludge was carried out to identify the major components and to compare it with the typical sand used to produce concrete. Samples analysis showed that 96% of slurry sludge volume is water, so it should be considered as an important source of water. Results indicated that the use of slurry sludge as water source in concrete production has insignificant effect on compression strength, while it has a sharp effect on the slump values. Using slurry sludge with a percentage of 25% of the total water content obtained successful concrete samples regarding slump and compression tests. To clarify slurry sludge, settling process can be used to remove the suspended solid. A settling period of 30 min. obtained 99% removal efficiency. The clarified water is suitable for using in concrete mixes, which reduce water consumption, conserve water recourses, increase the profit, reduce operation cost and save the environment. Additionally, the dry sludge could be used in the mix design instead of the fine materials with sizes < 160 um. This application could conserve the natural materials and solve the environmental and economical problem caused by sludge accumulation.

Keywords: Concrete, recycle, sludge, slurry waste, stone cutting waste, waste.

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Authors: Sara Kakuk

Abstract:

Pedagogy has always been open to other disciplines that reflect about the educational process (philosophy, sociology, psychology, anthropology, technology, etc.). Its interdisciplinary openness puts education, as the subject of pedagogy within a broader context of the community, enabling the knowledge of other disciplines to contribute to a better understanding of the fundamental pedagogical notion of education. The purpose of pedagogy as a science serves humans, strives towards humans, must be for humans, and this is its ultimate goal. Humans are essentially dependent on education, which is also considered as a category of humans’ being, because through education an entire world develops in humans. Anthropological assumptions of humans as "deficient beings" see the solution in education, but they also indicate a wealth of shortcomings, because they provide an opportunity for enrichment and formation of culture, living and the self. In that context, this paper illustrates the determination of pedagogy through an anthropological conception of humans and the phenomenon of education. It presents a review of anthropological ideas about education, by providing an analysis of relevant literature dealing with the anthropological notion of humans, which provides fruitful conditions for a pedagogical reconsideration of education.

Keywords: Pedagogy, education, humans, anthropology, culture.

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Authors: Tayebeh Saghapour, Sara Moridpour, Russell George Thompson

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One of the common aims of transport policy makers is to switch people’s travel to active transport. For this purpose, a variety of transport goals and investments should be programmed to increase the propensity towards active transport mode choice. This paper aims to investigate whether built environment features in neighbourhoods could enhance the odds of active transportation. The present study introduces an index measuring public transport accessibility (PTAI), and a walkability index along with socioeconomic variables to investigate mode choice behaviour. Using travel behaviour data, an ordered logit regression model is applied to examine the impacts of explanatory variables on walking trips. The findings indicated that high rates of active travel are consistently associated with higher levels of walking and public transport accessibility.

Keywords: Active transport, public transport accessibility, walkability, ordered logit model.

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Authors: Jean-Alain Grunchec, Jules Hernández-Sánchez, Sara Knott

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Some meta-schedulers query the information system of individual supercomputers in order to submit jobs to the least busy supercomputer on a computational Grid. However, this information can become outdated by the time a job starts due to changes in scheduling priorities. The MSR scheme is based on Multiple Simultaneous Requests and can take advantage of opportunities resulting from these priorities changes. This paper presents the SWARM meta-scheduler, which can speed up the execution of large sets of tasks by minimizing the job queuing time through the submission of multiple requests. Performance tests have shown that this new meta-scheduler is faster than an implementation of the MSR scheme and the gLite meta-scheduler. SWARM has been used through the GridQTL project beta-testing portal during the past year. Statistics are provided for this usage and demonstrate its capacity to achieve reliably a substantial reduction of the execution time in production conditions.

Keywords: Grid computing, multiple simultaneous requests, fault tolerance, GridQTL.

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Authors: Bezad Moeini Sam, Sara Mohammadi Avandi

Abstract:

The morphology of most Persian words goes back to the Indo-European and Indo-Iranian periods. These words show the beliefs and views of the earliest people about their structure. It is also necessary to search for the vocabulary in the Indo-European and Indo-Iranian periods. During recent centuries, comparative linguistics and mythology have facilitated the common Indo-European lexicon to reconstruct. The Persians have been appeared in the Assyrian inscriptions and affected by the Mesopotamians. It is also worth paying attention to the cultural and linguistic exchanges with the Mesopotamian civilizations. This paper aims to show the morphology of Pārsa based on linguistic evolutions and historical-mythological traditions. The method of this study is also to reconstruct both morphology and the earliest form of Persia. Then, it is tried to find the most plausive meaning according to the historical-mythological traditions. In the end, the sickle or scythe is considered the most probable meaning for Pārsa.

Keywords: Pārs, Parsumaš, Perseus, corner, leopard, ax, sickle.

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Authors: Mustapha Kamel Mihoubi, Mohamed Essadik Kerkar

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Probabilistic risk analysis models are used to provide a better understanding of the reliability and structural failure of works, including when calculating the stability of large structures to a major risk in the event of an accident or breakdown. This work is interested in the study of the probability of failure of concrete dams through the application of reliability analysis methods including the methods used in engineering. It is in our case, the use of level 2 methods via the study limit state. Hence, the probability of product failures is estimated by analytical methods of the type first order risk method (FORM) and the second order risk method (SORM). By way of comparison, a level three method was used which generates a full analysis of the problem and involves an integration of the probability density function of random variables extended to the field of security using the Monte Carlo simulation method. Taking into account the change in stress following load combinations: normal, exceptional and extreme acting on the dam, calculation of the results obtained have provided acceptable failure probability values which largely corroborate the theory, in fact, the probability of failure tends to increase with increasing load intensities, thus causing a significant decrease in strength, shear forces then induce a shift that threatens the reliability of the structure by intolerable values of the probability of product failures. Especially, in case the increase of uplift in a hypothetical default of the drainage system.

Keywords: Dam, failure, limit-state, Monte Carlo simulation, reliability, probability, simulation, sliding, Taylor.

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