Search results for: intellectual property protection.

Authors: F. Al-Mufadi, F. Djavanroodi

Abstract:

During the last decade ultrafine grained (UFG) and nano-structured (NS) materials have experienced a rapid development. In this research work finite element analysis has been carried out to investigate the plastic strain distribution in equal channel angular process (ECAP). The magnitudes of Standard deviation (S. D.) and inhomogeneity index (C_i) were compared for different ECAP passes. Verification of a three-dimensional finite element model was performed with experimental tests. Finally the mechanical property including impact energy of ultrafine grained pure commercially pure Aluminum produced by severe plastic deformation method has been examined. For this aim, equal channel angular pressing die with the channel angle, outer corner angle and channel diameter of 90^°, 20^° and 20mm had been designed and manufactured. Commercial pure Aluminum billets were ECAPed up to four passes by route B_C at the ambient temperature. The results indicated that there is a great improvement at the hardness measurement, yield strength and ultimate tensile strength after ECAP process. It is found that the magnitudes of HV reach 67HV from 21HV after the final stage of process. Also, about 330% and 285% enhancement at the YS and UTS values have been obtained after the fourth pass as compared to the as-received conditions, respectively. On the other hand, the elongation to failure and impact energy have been reduced by 23% and 50% after imposing four passes of ECAP process, respectively.

Keywords: SPD, ECAP, FEM, Pure Al, Mechanical properties.

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Authors: E. F. Aransiola, M.O. Daramola, E. O. Iwalewa, A. M. Seluwa, O. O. Olufowobi

Abstract:

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disorder that affects the quality of life in terms of physical health, social and psychological well-being. In spite of the enormous progress in the treatment of diabetes using existing commercial drugs, such as, insulin and oral hypoglycemic agents, the quest and search for new drugs is imperative due to several limitations of the commercial drugs. In addition, the existing diabetic drugs are expensive and unaffordable by the rural populace in the developing countries. The present study demonstrates the anti-diabetic property of aqueous extract of Bryophyllum pinnatum (BP) leaves using diabetic rats (albino rats) as models. At the same time, the anti-diabetic effect of the aqueous extract was compared to that of a sample containing a mixture of the extract and a commercial diabetic medicine, glibenclamide. A specified dosage of aqueous extract of Bryophyllum pinnatum (BP) leaves was administered on the experimental diabetic rats, and their BGL was measured and recorded. The results showed a significant drop in the BGL of the diabetic rats to a value close to normal blood glucose level within 120 minutes when only aqueous extract from BP leaves was used. When a sample containing a mixture of the aqueous extract and glibenclamide was administered, a further drop in BGL was observed. Therefore, the results reveal that aqueous extract of Bryophyllum pinnatum leaves have significant anti-diabetic properties, and that the performance of the existing drugs (glibenclamide) could be enhanced with the use of the aqueous extract.

Keywords: Anti-diabetics, Bryophyllum pinnatum, Blood glucose level, albino rats.

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Authors: Z. Mazrouei-Sebdani, A. Khoddami, H. Hadadzadeh, M. Zarrebini

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In this research, waterglass based aerogel powder was prepared by sol–gel process and ambient pressure drying. Inspired by limited dust releasing, aerogel powder was introduced to the PET electrospinning solution in an attempt to create required bulk and surface structure for the nanofibers to improve their hydrophobic and insulation properties. The samples evaluation was carried out by measuring density, porosity, contact angle, heat transfer, FTIR, BET, and SEM. According to the results, porous silica aerogel powder was fabricated with mean pore diameter of 24 nm and contact angle of 145.9º. The results indicated the usefulness of the aerogel powder confined into nanofibers to control surface roughness for manipulating superhydrophobic nanowebs with water contact angle of 147º. It can be due to a multi-scale surface roughness which was created by nanowebs structure itself and nanofibers surface irregularity in presence of the aerogels while a layer of fluorocarbon created low surface energy. The wettability of a solid substrate is an important property that is controlled by both the chemical composition and geometry of the surface. Also, a decreasing trend in the heat transfer was observed from 22% for the nanofibers without any aerogel powder to 8% for the nanofibers with 4% aerogel powder. The development of thermal insulating materials has become increasingly more important than ever in view of the fossil energy depletion and global warming that call for more demanding energysaving practices.

Keywords: Superhydrophobicity, Insulation, Sol-gel, Surface energy, Roughness.

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Authors: S. Di Benedetto, M. P. Di Donato, A. Rispoli, S. Cardone, J. Riehmer, J. Steelant, L. Vecchione

Abstract:

Thanks to a coordinated funding by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission (EC) within the 7th framework program, the High-Speed Experimental Fly Vehicles – International (HEXAFLY-INT) project is aimed at the flight validation of hypersonics technologies enabling future trans-atmospheric flights. The project, which is currently involving partners from Europe, Russian Federation and Australia operating under ESA/ESTEC coordination, will achieve the goal of designing, manufacturing, assembling and flight testing an unpowered high speed vehicle in a glider configuration by 2018. The main technical challenges of the project are specifically related to the design of the vehicle gliding configuration and to the complexity of integrating breakthrough technologies with standard aeronautical technologies, e.g. high temperature protection system and airframe cold structures. Also, the sonic boom impact, which is one of the environmental challenges of the high speed flight, will be assessed. This paper provides a comprehensive and detailed update on all the current projects activities carried out to date on both the vehicle and mission design.

Keywords: Design, flight testing, hypersonics, integration.

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Authors: Daniel Y. Abebe, Jaehyouk Choi

Abstract:

There are several types of metal-based devices conceived as dampers for the seismic energy absorber whereby damages to the major structural components could be minimized for both new and existing structures. This paper aimed to develop and evaluate structural performance of slit circular shear panel damper for passive seismic energy protection by inelastic deformation. Structural evaluation was done using commercially available nonlinear FE simulation program. The main parameters considered are: diameter-to-thickness (D/t) ratio and slit length-to-width ratio (l/w). Depending on these parameters three different buckling mode and hysteretic behavior was found: yielding prior to buckling without strength degradation, yielding prior to buckling with strength degradation and yielding with buckling and strength degradation which forms pinching at initial displacement. The susceptible location at which the possible crack is initiated is also identified for selected specimens using rupture index.

Keywords: Slit circular shear panel damper, Hysteresis Characteristics, Slip length-to-width ratio, D/t ratio, FE analysis.

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Authors: Artur Krukowski, Emmanouela Vogiatzaki

Abstract:

The article presents an ongoing work in research projects such as SCAN4RECO or ARCH, both funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020 program. The former one concerns multimodal and multispectral scanning of Cultural Heritage assets for their digitization and conservation via spatiotemporal reconstruction and 3D printing, while the latter one aims to better preserve areas of cultural heritage from hazards and risks. It co-creates tools that would help pilot cities to save cultural heritage from the effects of climate change. It develops a disaster risk management framework for assessing and improving the resilience of historic areas to climate change and natural hazards. Tools and methodologies are designed for local authorities and practitioners, urban population, as well as national and international expert communities, aiding authorities in knowledge-aware decision making. In this article we focus on 3D modelling of object geometry using primarily photogrammetric methods to achieve very high model accuracy using consumer types of devices, attractive both to professions and hobbyists alike.

Keywords: 3D modeling, UAS, cultural heritage, preservation.

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Authors: C. Ardil

Abstract:

This paper presents preference programming technique based multiple criteria decision making analysis for selecting a facility location for a new organization or expansion of an existing facility which is of vital importance for a decision support system and strategic planning process. The implementation of decision support systems is considered crucial to sustain competitive advantage and profitability persistence in turbulent environment. As an effective strategic management and decision making is necessary, multiple criteria decision making analysis supports the decision makers to formulate and implement the right strategy. The investment cost associated with acquiring the property and facility construction makes the facility location selection problem a long-term strategic investment decision, which rationalize the best location selection which results in higher economic benefits through increased productivity and optimal distribution network. Selecting the proper facility location from a given set of alternatives is a difficult task, as many potential qualitative and quantitative multiple conflicting criteria are to be considered. This paper solves a facility location selection problem using preference programming, which is an effective multiple criteria decision making analysis tool applied to deal with complex decision problems in the operational research environment. The ranking results of preference programming are compared with WSM, TOPSIS and VIKOR methods.

Keywords: Facility Location Selection, Multiple Criteria Decision Making, Multiple Criteria Decision Making Analysis, Preference Programming, Location Selection, WSM, TOPSIS, VIKOR

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Authors: Wei Zhang, Xin Zhao, Yi-Fan Zhu, Xin-Jian Zhang

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Kernel function, which allows the formulation of nonlinear variants of any algorithm that can be cast in terms of dot products, makes the Support Vector Machines (SVM) have been successfully applied in many fields, e.g. classification and regression. The importance of kernel has motivated many studies on its composition. It-s well-known that reproducing kernel (R.K) is a useful kernel function which possesses many properties, e.g. positive definiteness, reproducing property and composing complex R.K by simple operation. There are two popular ways to compute the R.K with explicit form. One is to construct and solve a specific differential equation with boundary value whose handicap is incapable of obtaining a unified form of R.K. The other is using a piecewise integral of the Green function associated with a differential operator L. The latter benefits the computation of a R.K with a unified explicit form and theoretical analysis, whereas there are relatively later studies and fewer practical computations. In this paper, a new algorithm for computing a R.K is presented. It can obtain the unified explicit form of R.K in general reproducing kernel Hilbert space. It avoids constructing and solving the complex differential equations manually and benefits an automatic, flexible and rigorous computation for more general RKHS. In order to validate that the R.K computed by the algorithm can be used in SVM well, some illustrative examples and a comparison between R.K and Gaussian kernel (RBF) in support vector regression are presented. The result shows that the performance of R.K is close or slightly superior to that of RBF.

Keywords: admissible support vector kernel, reproducing kernel, reproducing kernel Hilbert space, Green function, support vectorregression

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Authors: Kamran Yousefpour, Mojtaba Rostaghi-Chalaki, Jason Warden, David Wallace, Chanyeop Park

Abstract:

There has been a rising trend in using impulse current generators to investigate the lightning strike protection of materials including aluminum and composites in structures such as wind turbine blade and aircraft body. The focus of this research is to present an impulse current generator built in the High Voltage Lab at Mississippi State University. The generator is capable of producing component A and D of the natural lightning discharges in accordance with the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) standard, which is widely used in the aerospace industry. The generator can supply lightning impulse energy up to 400 kJ with the capability of producing impulse currents with magnitudes greater than 200 kA. The electrical circuit and physical components of an improved impulse current generator are described and several lightning strike waveforms with different amplitudes is presented for comparing with the standard waveform. The results of this study contribute to the fundamental understanding the functionality of the impulse current generators and present an impulse current generator developed at the High Voltage Lab of Mississippi State University.

Keywords: impulse current generator, lightning, society of automotive engineers, capacitor

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Authors: Sher Muhammad, Mirza Muhammad Waqar

Abstract:

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: A. Masi, A. Digrisolo, G. Santarsiero

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Concrete strength evaluated from compression tests on cores is affected by several factors causing differences from the in-situ strength at the location from which the core specimen was extracted. Among the factors, there is the damage possibly occurring during the drilling phase that generally leads to underestimate the actual in-situ strength. In order to quantify this effect, in this study two wide datasets have been examined, including: (i) about 500 core specimens extracted from Reinforced Concrete existing structures, and (ii) about 600 cube specimens taken during the construction of new structures in the framework of routine acceptance control. The two experimental datasets have been compared in terms of compression strength and specific weight values, accounting for the main factors affecting a concrete property, that is type and amount of cement, aggregates' grading, type and maximum size of aggregates, water/cement ratio, placing and curing modality, concrete age. The results show that the magnitude of the strength reduction due to drilling damage is strongly affected by the actual properties of concrete, being inversely proportional to its strength. Therefore, the application of a single value of the correction coefficient, as generally suggested in the technical literature and in structural codes, appears inappropriate. A set of values of the drilling damage coefficient is suggested as a function of the strength obtained from compressive tests on cores.

Keywords: RC Buildings, Assessment, In-situ concrete strength, Core testing, Drilling damage.

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Authors: B. Akhmetov, A. Doszhanova, A. Ivanov, T. Kartbayev, A. Malygin

Abstract:

The article examines the methods of protection of citizens' personal data on the Internet using biometric identity authentication technology. It`s celebrated their potential danger due to the threat of loss of base biometric templates. To eliminate the threat of compromised biometric templates is proposed to use neural networks large and extra-large sizes, which will on the one hand securely (Highly reliable) to authenticate a person by his biometrics, and on the other hand make biometrics a person is not available for observation and understanding. This article also describes in detail the transformation of personal biometric data access code. It`s formed the requirements for biometrics converter code for his work with the images of "Insider," "Stranger", all the "Strangers". It`s analyzed the effect of the dimension of neural networks on the quality of converters mystery of biometrics in access code.

Keywords: Biometric security technologies, Conversion of personal biometric data access code, Electronic signature, Large neural networks, quality of converters "Biometrics - the code", the Egovernment.

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Authors: A. Karnis, L. Gautron

Abstract:

Considering toxicity of heavy metals and their accumulation in domestic wastes, immobilization of lead and cadmium is envisaged inside glass-ceramics. We particularly focused this work on calcium-rich phases embedded in a glassy matrix. Glass-ceramics were synthesized from glasses doped with 12 wt% and 16 wt% of PbO or CdO. They were observed and analyzed by Electron MicroProbe Analysis (EMPA) and Analytical Scanning Electron Microscopy (ASEM). Structural characterization of the samples was performed by powder XRay Diffraction. Diopside crystals of CaMgSi2O6 composition are shown to incorporate significant amounts of cadmium (up to 9 wt% of CdO). Two new crystalline phases are observed with very high Cd or Pb contents: about 40 wt% CdO for the cadmiumrich phase and near 60 wt% PbO for the lead-rich phase. We present complete chemical and structural characterization of these phases. They represent a promising way for the immobilization of toxic elements like Cd or Pb since glass ceramics are known to propose a “double barrier" protection (metal-rich crystals embedded in a glass matrix) against metal release in the environment.

Keywords: Cadmium, Calcium-rich phases, Diopside, Domesticwastes, Fly ashes, Glass-ceramics, Lead, Municipal Solid WasteIncineration.

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Authors: Noor Zuhaira Abd Aziz, Rahmah Mohamed, Mohd Muizz Fahimi M.

Abstract:

Rice husk and kenaf filled with calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) composite were prepared separately using twin-screw extruder at 50rpm. Different filler loading up to 30 parts of rice husk particulate and kenaf fiber were mixed with the fixed 30% amount of CaCO3 mineral filler to produce rice husk/CaCO3/HDPE and kenaf/CaCO3/HDPE hybrid composites. In this study, the effects of natural fiber for both rice husk and kenaf in CaCO3/HDPE composite on physical, mechanical and morphology properties were investigated. Field Emission Scanning Microscope (FeSEM) was used to investigate the impact fracture surfaces of the hybrid composite. The property analyses showed that water absorption increased with the presence of kenaf and rice husk fillers. Natural fibers in composite significantly influence water absorption properties due to natural characters of fibers which contain cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin structures. The result showed that 10% of additional natural fibers into hybrid composite had caused decreased flexural strength, however additional of high natural fiber (>10%) filler loading has proved to increase its flexural strength.

Keywords: Hybrid composites, Water absorption, Mechanical properties.

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Authors: Yung-Gi Wu

Abstract:

With the growing of computer and network, digital data can be spread to anywhere in the world quickly. In addition, digital data can also be copied or tampered easily so that the security issue becomes an important topic in the protection of digital data. Digital watermark is a method to protect the ownership of digital data. Embedding the watermark will influence the quality certainly. In this paper, Vector Quantization (VQ) is used to embed the watermark into the image to fulfill the goal of data hiding. This kind of watermarking is invisible which means that the users will not conscious the existing of embedded watermark even though the embedded image has tiny difference compared to the original image. Meanwhile, VQ needs a lot of computation burden so that we adopt a fast VQ encoding scheme by partial distortion searching (PDS) and mean approximation scheme to speed up the data hiding process. The watermarks we hide to the image could be gray, bi-level and color images. Texts are also can be regarded as watermark to embed. In order to test the robustness of the system, we adopt Photoshop to fulfill sharpen, cropping and altering to check if the extracted watermark is still recognizable. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed system can resist the above three kinds of tampering in general cases.

Keywords: Data hiding, vector quantization, watermark.

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Authors: Abdessamad Essaouabi, Ibnelhaj Elhassane

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Efficient storage, transmission and use of video information are key requirements in many multimedia applications currently being addressed by MPEG-4. To fulfill these requirements, a new approach for representing video information which relies on an object-based representation, has been adopted. Therefore, objectbased watermarking schemes are needed for copyright protection. This paper proposes a novel blind object watermarking scheme for images and video using the in place lifting shape adaptive-discrete wavelet transform (SA-DWT). In order to make the watermark robust and transparent, the watermark is embedded in the average of wavelet blocks using the visual model based on the human visual system. Wavelet coefficients n least significant bits (LSBs) are adjusted in concert with the average. Simulation results shows that the proposed watermarking scheme is perceptually invisible and robust against many attacks such as lossy image/video compression (e.g. JPEG, JPEG2000 and MPEG-4), scaling, adding noise, filtering, etc.

Keywords: Watermark, visual model, robustness, in place lifting shape adaptive-discrete wavelet transform.

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Authors: Supanun Kangrang, Kraipat Cheenkachorn, Kittiphong Rattanaporn, Malinee Sriariyanun

Abstract:

Rice straw is lignocellulosic biomass which can be utilized as substrate for the biogas production. However, due to the property and composition of rice straw, it is difficult to be degraded by hydrolysis enzymes. One of the pretreatment methods that modify such properties of lignocellulosic biomass is the application of lignocellulose-degrading microbial consortia. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of microbial consortia to enhance biogas production. To select the high efficient consortium, cellulase enzymes were extracted and their activities were analyzed. The results suggested that microbial consortium culture obtained from cattle manure is the best candidate compared to decomposed wood and horse manure. A microbial consortium isolated from cattle manure was then mixed with anaerobic sludge and used as inoculum for biogas production. The optimal conditions for biogas production were investigated using response surface methodology (RSM). The tested parameters were the ratio of amount of microbial consortium isolated and amount of anaerobic sludge (MI:AS), substrate to inoculum ratio (S:I) and temperature. Here, the value of the regression coefficient R2 = 0.7661 could be explained by the model which is high to advocate the significance of the model. The highest cumulative biogas yield was 104.6 ml/g-rice straw at optimum ratio of MI:AS, ratio of S:I, and temperature of 2.5:1, 15:1 and 44°C respectively.

Keywords: Lignocellulolytic biomass, microbial consortium, cellulase, biogas, Response Surface Methodology.

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Authors: H. P. Kerry

Abstract:

Drone technology has become a significant discourse in a nation’s national security, while this technology could constitute a danger to national security on the one hand, on the other hand, it is used in developed and developing countries for border security, and in some cases, for protection of security agents and migrants. In the case of Nigeria, drones are used by the military to monitor and tighten security around the borders. However, terrorist groups have devised a means to utilize the technology to their advantage. Therefore, the potential danger in the widespread proliferation of this technology has become a myriad of risks. The research on the effects of cross-border use of drones in Nigerian national security looks at the negative and positive consequences of using drone technology. The study employs the use of interviews and relevant documents to obtain data while the study applied the Just War theory to justify the reason why countries use force; it further buttresses the points with what the realist theory thinks about the use of force. In conclusion, the paper recommends that the Nigerian government through the National Assembly should pass a bill for the establishment of a law that will guide the use of armed and unarmed drones in Nigeria enforced by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority and the office of the National Security Adviser.

Keywords: Armed drones, cross-border, drones, national security.

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Authors: Samir Avdakovic, Amir Nuhanovic

Abstract:

Low frequency power oscillations may be triggered by many events in the system. Most oscillations are damped by the system, but undamped oscillations can lead to system collapse. Oscillations develop as a result of rotor acceleration/deceleration following a change in active power transfer from a generator. Like the operations limits, the monitoring of power system oscillating modes is a relevant aspect of power system operation and control. Unprevented low-frequency power swings can be cause of cascading outages that can rapidly extend effect on wide region. On this regard, a Wide Area Monitoring, Protection and Control Systems (WAMPCS) help in detecting such phenomena and assess power system dynamics security. The monitoring of power system electromechanical oscillations is very important in the frame of modern power system management and control. In first part, this paper compares the different technique for identification of power system oscillations. Second part analyzes possible identification some power system dynamics behaviors Using Wide Area Monitoring Systems (WAMS) based on Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) and wavelet technique.

Keywords: Power system oscillations, Modal analysis, Prony, Wavelet, PMU, Wide Area Monitoring System.

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Authors: Abdul-Khaliq M. Hussain, Bashir A. Tantosh, El-Sadeg A. Abdalla

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Corrosion of metallic water pipelines buried below ground surface is a function of the nature of the surrounding soil and groundwater. This gives the importance of knowing the physical and chemical characteristics of the pipe-s surrounding environment. The corrosion of externally – unprotected metallic water pipelines, specially ductile iron pipes, in localities with aggressive soil conditions is becoming a significant problem. Anticorrosive protection for metallic water pipelines, their fittings and accessories is very important, because they may be attached by corrosion with time. The tendency of a metallic substrate to corrode is a function of the surface characteristics of the metal and of the metal/protective film interface, the physical, electrical and electrochemical properties of the film, and the nature of the environment in which the pipelines system is placed. In this work the authors have looked at corrosion problems of water pipelines and their control. The corrosive properties of groundwater and soil environments are reviewed, and parameters affecting corrosion are discussed. The purpose of this work is to provide guidelines for materials selection in water and soil environments, and how the water pipelines can be protected against metallic corrosion.

Keywords: Corrosion, Drinking Water, Metallic WaterPipelines, Polluted Water.

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Authors: Jin-Bao Zhao, Wei Deng

Abstract:

This paper aims at developing a multilevel fuzzy decision support model for urban rail transit planning schemes in China under the background that China is presently experiencing an unprecedented construction of urban rail transit. In this study, an appropriate model using multilevel fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method is developed. In the decision process, the followings are considered as the influential objectives: traveler attraction, environment protection, project feasibility and operation. In addition, consistent matrix analysis method is used to determine the weights between objectives and the weights between the objectives- sub-indictors, which reduces the work caused by repeated establishment of the decision matrix on the basis of ensuring the consistency of decision matrix. The application results show that multilevel fuzzy decision model can perfectly deal with the multivariable and multilevel decision process, which is particularly useful in the resolution of multilevel decision-making problem of urban rail transit planning schemes.

Keywords: Urban rail transit, planning schemes, multilevel fuzzy decision support model, consistent matrix analysis

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Authors: Sahila Chopra, Hemdeep, Arshdeep Kaur, Raj K. Gupta

Abstract:

In recent times, we noticed an interesting and important role of non-coplanar degree-of-freedom (Φ = 00) in heavy ion reactions. Using the dynamical cluster-decay model (DCM) with Φ degree-of-freedom included, we have studied three compound systems 246Bk∗, 164Yb∗ and 105Ag∗. Here, within the DCM with pocket formula for nuclear proximity potential, we look for the effects of including compact, non-coplanar configurations (Φc = 00) on the non-compound nucleus (nCN) contribution in total fusion cross section σfus. For 246Bk∗, formed in 11B+235U and 14N+232Th reaction channels, the DCM with coplanar nuclei (Φc = 00) shows an nCN contribution for 11B+235U channel, but none for 14N+232Th channel, which on including Φ gives both reaction channels as pure compound nucleus decays. In the case of 164Yb∗, formed in 64Ni+100Mo, the small nCN effects for Φ=00 are reduced to almost zero for Φ = 00. Interestingly, however, 105Ag∗ for Φ = 00 shows a small nCN contribution, which gets strongly enhanced for Φ = 00, such that the characteristic property of PCN presents a change of behaviour, like that of a strongly fissioning superheavy element to a weakly fissioning nucleus; note that 105Ag∗ is a weakly fissioning nucleus and Psurv behaves like one for a weakly fissioning nucleus for both Φ = 00 and Φ = 00. Apparently, Φ is presenting itself like a good degree-of-freedom in the DCM.

Keywords: Dynamical cluster-decay model, fusion cross sections, non-compound nucleus effects, non-coplanarity.

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Authors: Say Wei Foo, Qi Dong

Abstract:

Digital watermarking is one of the techniques for copyright protection. In this paper, a normalization-based robust image watermarking scheme which encompasses singular value decomposition (SVD) and discrete cosine transform (DCT) techniques is proposed. For the proposed scheme, the host image is first normalized to a standard form and divided into non-overlapping image blocks. SVD is applied to each block. By concatenating the first singular values (SV) of adjacent blocks of the normalized image, a SV block is obtained. DCT is then carried out on the SV blocks to produce SVD-DCT blocks. A watermark bit is embedded in the highfrequency band of a SVD-DCT block by imposing a particular relationship between two pseudo-randomly selected DCT coefficients. An adaptive frequency mask is used to adjust local watermark embedding strength. Watermark extraction involves mainly the inverse process. The watermark extracting method is blind and efficient. Experimental results show that the quality degradation of watermarked image caused by the embedded watermark is visually transparent. Results also show that the proposed scheme is robust against various image processing operations and geometric attacks.

Keywords: Image watermarking, Image normalization, Singularvalue decomposition, Discrete cosine transform, Robustness.

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Authors: Roxan Venter

Abstract:

Ombudsmen often face the challenge of a lack of authority to have their decisions and recommendations enforced. This lack of authority may be seen as one of the major obstacles in the way of the effectiveness of the institutions of Ombudsman and also the South African Public Protector. The paper will address the current legal position in South Africa with regard to the status of the decisions and recommendations of the South African Public Protector and the enforcement thereof. In addition, the paper will compare the South African position with the experiences of other jurisdictions, including Scandinavian countries like Sweden, Denmark and Norway, but also New Zealand and Northern Ireland, with regard to the enforcement of the decisions of Ombudsmen. Finally, the paper will make recommendations with regard to the enhancement of the power and authority of Ombudsmen in order to effectively enforce their decisions. It is submitted that the creation of the office of Ombudsman, and the Public Protector in the South African system, is an essential tool to ensure the protection of society against governmental abuse of power and it is therefore imperative to ensure that these watchdogs of democracy are not muzzled by a lack of powers of enforcement.

Keywords: Enforcement of decisions of Ombudsmen, Governmental control, Ombudsman, South African Public Protector.

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Authors: Woo-tai Jung, Jong-sup Park, Jae-yoon Kang, Moon-seoung Keum

Abstract:

CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer) is mainly used as reinforcing material for degraded structures owing to its advantages including its non-corrodibility, high strength and lightweight properties. Recently, dedicated studies focused not only on its simple bonding but also on its tensioning. The tension necessary for prestressing requires the anchoring of multi-CFRP tendons with high capacity and the surface treatment of the CFRP tendons may also constitute an important issue according to the type of anchor. The wedge type, swage type or bonded type anchor can be used to anchor the CFRP tendon. The bonded type anchor presents the disadvantage to lengthen the length of the anchor due to the low bond strength of the CFRP tendon without surface treatment. This study intends to overcome this drawback through the application of a method enlarging the bond area at the end of the CFRP tendon. This method enlarges the bond area by splitting the end of the CFRP tendon along its length and can be applied when CFRP is produced by pultrusion. The application of this method shows that the mono-CFRP tendon and 3-multi CFRP tendon secured the anchor performance corresponding to the tensile performance of the CFRP tendon and that the 7-multi tendon secured anchor performance corresponding to 90% of the tensile strength due to the occurrence of buckling in the steel tube anchorage. 

Keywords: Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP), Tendon, Anchor, Tensile property, Bond strength.

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Authors: M. Nageswara Rao, V. S. N. K. Chaitanya, P. Vijaya Haritha

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Insulators are one of the most significant equipment in power system. The insulators’ operation may affect the power flow, line loss and reliability. The electrical parameters that influence the performance of insulator are surface leakage current, corona and dry band arcing. Electric field stresses on the insulator surface will degrade the insulating properties and lead to puncture. Electric filed stresses can be analyzed by numerical methods and experimental evaluation. As per economic aspects, evaluation by numerical methods are best. In outdoor insulation, a hydrophobic surface can facilitate to prevent water film formation on the insulation surface, which is decisive for diminishing leakage currents and partial discharge (PD) under heavy polluted environments and harsh weather conditions. Polymer materials like silicone rubber have an outstanding hydrophobic property among general insulation materials. In this paper, electrical field intensity of 220 kV porcelain and polymer double tension insulator strings at critical regions are analyzed and compared by using Finite Element Method. Hydrophobic conditions of polymer insulator with equal and unequal water molecule conditions are verified by using finite element method.

Keywords: Porcelain insulator, polymer insulator, electric field analysis, EFA, finite element method, FEM, hydrophobicity, FEMM-2D.

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Authors: Norzita Jaafar, Nor Zaini Zakaria, Azni Zain Ahmed, Razidah Ismail

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The use of solar control film on windows as one of solar passive strategies for building have becoming important and is gaining recognition. Malaysia located close to equator is having warm humid climate with long sunshine hours and abundant solar radiation throughout the year. Hence, befitting solar control on windows is absolutely necessary to capture the daylight whilst moderating thermal impact and eliminating glare problems. This is one of the energy efficient strategies to achieve thermal and visual comfort in buildings. Therefore, this study was carried out to investigate the effect of window solar controls on thermal and visual performance of naturally ventilated buildings. This was conducted via field data monitoring using a test building facility. Four types of window glazing systems were used with three types of solar control films. Data were analysed for thermal and visual impact with reference to thermal and optical characteristics of the films. Results show that for each glazing system, the surface temperature of windows are influenced by the Solar Energy Absorption property, the indoor air temperature are influenced by the Solar Energy Transmittance and Solar Energy Reflectance, and the daylighting by Visible Light Transmission and Shading Coefficient. Further investigations are underway to determine the mathematical relation between thermal energy and visual performance with the thermal and optical characteristics of solar control films.

Keywords: window, solar control film, natural ventilation, thermal performance, visual performance

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Authors: Addin Osman, Anwar Ali Yahya, Mohammed Basit Kamal

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Datasets or collections are becoming important assets by themselves and now they can be accepted as a primary intellectual output of a research. The quality and usage of the datasets depend mainly on the context under which they have been collected, processed, analyzed, validated, and interpreted. This paper aims to present a collection of program educational objectives mapped to student’s outcomes collected from self-study reports prepared by 32 engineering programs accredited by ABET. The manual mapping (classification) of this data is a notoriously tedious, time consuming process. In addition, it requires experts in the area, which are mostly not available. It has been shown the operational settings under which the collection has been produced. The collection has been cleansed, preprocessed, some features have been selected and preliminary exploratory data analysis has been performed so as to illustrate the properties and usefulness of the collection. At the end, the collection has been benchmarked using nine of the most widely used supervised multiclass classification techniques (Binary Relevance, Label Powerset, Classifier Chains, Pruned Sets, Random k-label sets, Ensemble of Classifier Chains, Ensemble of Pruned Sets, Multi-Label k-Nearest Neighbors and Back-Propagation Multi-Label Learning). The techniques have been compared to each other using five well-known measurements (Accuracy, Hamming Loss, Micro-F, Macro-F, and Macro-F). The Ensemble of Classifier Chains and Ensemble of Pruned Sets have achieved encouraging performance compared to other experimented multi-label classification methods. The Classifier Chains method has shown the worst performance. To recap, the benchmark has achieved promising results by utilizing preliminary exploratory data analysis performed on the collection, proposing new trends for research and providing a baseline for future studies.

Keywords: Benchmark collection, program educational objectives, student outcomes, ABET, Accreditation, machine learning, supervised multiclass classification, text mining.

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Authors: Vilasinee Jintalikhitdee, Saowapa Phaithayawat

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The research on “The Way of Life of the Civil Servant Community under the Bureau of the Royal Household” aims to study 1) the way of life of the people who live in the civil servant community in Tha Wasukri, and 2) the model of community administration of civil servants under the Bureau of the Royal Household. This research is conducted qualitatively and quantitatively by collecting data from interviews, focus group discussion, participant and non-participant observation along with the data from questionnaire based on age groups which include elder group, working age group and youth group. The result of the research shows that the origin of this community is related to the history during the Rama V’s reign. It has been a harbor for the king to boat in any royal ceremonies; this custom is still maintained until today. The status or position of person who serves the king in terms of working is often inherited from the bureau of the Royal Household based on his/her consanguinity and, hence, further receives the rights to live in the Tha Wasukri area. Therefore, this community has some special characteristics demonstrating the way of living influenced by the regulation of the Bureau of the Royal Household such as respecting elders and interdependence in which there is internal social organization with the practice of bureaucracy in going in and out the community. The person who has rights to live here must be friendly to everybody so that this community will be a safe place for lives and property. The administration based on the model of Bangkok for local administration was used as an external structure only, but the way of living still follows the practice of the Bureau of the Royal Household.

Keywords: The way of life, Community, Tha Wasukri.

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Authors: Zahra Morshedi

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Environmental considerations have become an integral part of developmental thinking and decision making in many countries. It is growing rapidly in importance as a discipline of its own. Preventive approaches have been used at the evolutional process of environmental management as a broad and dynamic system for dealing with pollution and environmental degradation. In this regard, Environmental Assessment as an activity for identification and prediction of project’s impacts carried out in the world and its legal significance dates back to late 1960. In Iran, according to the Article 2 of Environmental Protection Act, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) should be prepared for seven categories of project. This article has been actively implementing by Department of Environment at 1997. World Bank in 1989 attempted to introducing application of Environmental Assessment for making decision about projects which are required financial assistance in developing countries. So, preparing EIA for obtaining World Bank loan was obligated. Alborz Project is one of the World Bank Projects in Iran which is environmentally significant. Seven out of ten W.B safeguard policies were considered at this project. In this paper, Alborz project, objectives, safeguard policies and role of environmental management will be elaborated

Keywords: AILWMP, EIA, Environmental Management, Safeguard Policies.

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