Search results for: nonlocal nonlinear media
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 1672

Search results for: nonlocal nonlinear media

142 Use of Fruit Beetles, Waxworms Larvae and Tiger Worms in Waste Conditioning for Composting

Authors: Waleed S. Alwaneen

Abstract:

In many countries, cow dung is used as farm manure and for biogas production. Several bacterial strains associated with cow dung such as Campylobacter, Salmonella sp. and Escherichia coli cause serious human diseases. The objective of the present study was to investigate the use of insect larvae including fruit beetle, waxworms and tiger worms to improve the breakdown of agricultural wastes and reduce their pathogen loads. Fresh cow faeces were collected from a cattle farm and distributed into plastic boxes (100 g/box). Each box was provided with 10 larvae of fruit beetle, Waxworms and Tiger worms, respectively. There were 3 replicates in each treatment including the control. Bacteria were isolated weekly from both control and cow faeces to which larvae were added to determine the bacterial populations. Results revealed that the bacterial load was higher in the cow faeces treated with fruit beetles than in the control, while the bacterial load was lower in the cow faeces treated with waxworms and tiger worms than in the control. The activities of the fruit beetle larvae led to the cow faeces being liquefied which provided a more conducive growing media for bacteria. Therefore, higher bacterial load in the cow faeces treated with fruit beetle might be attributed to the liquefaction of cow faeces.

Keywords: Fruit beetle, waxworms, tiger worms, waste conditioning, composting.

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141 Mechanical Strengths of Self-Compacting Mortars Prepared with the Pozzolanic Cement in Aggressive Environments

Authors: M. Saidi, I. Djefour, F. Ait Medjber, A. Melouane, A. Gacem

Abstract:

The objective of this research is to study the physical and mechanical properties and durability of self-compacting mortars prepared by substituting a part of cement up to a percentage of 30% pozzolan according to different Blaine specific surface area (SSB1=7000 cm2/g and SSB=9000 cm2/g)). Order to evaluate durability, mortars were subjected to chemical attacks in various aggressive environments, a solution of a mixture of nitric acid and ammonium nitrate (HNO3 + NH4NO3) and a magnesium sulfate salt solution (MgSO4)) with a concentration of 10%, for a period of one month. This study is complemented by a comparative study of the durability of mortars elaborated with sulphate resistant cement (SRC). The results show that these mortars develop long-term, mechanical and chemical resistance better than mortars based Portland cement with 5% gypsum (CEM 1) and SRC. We found that the mass losses are lowest in mortars elaborated with pozzolanic cement (30% substitution with SSB2) in both of chemical attack solutions (3.28% in the solution acid and 1.16% in the salt solution) and the compressive strength gains of 14.68% and 8.5% respectively in the two media. This is due to the action of pozzolan which fixes portlandite to form hydrated calcium silicate (CSH) from the hydration of tricalcic silicate (C3S).

Keywords: Aggressive environments, durability, mechanical strengths, pozzolanic cement, self-compacting mortar.

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140 Recovering Taraxacum kok-saghyz Rodin. via Seed and Callus Culture

Authors: K. Uteulin, S. Mukhambetzhanov, I. Rakhimbaev

Abstract:

This experiment was performed to optimize the medium for tissue culture of Taraxacum kok-saghyz Rodin. Different tissue culture approaches such as shoot regeneration from seed, callus formation from leaf explants and plant regeneration from callus were investigated in this study. All the explants were cultured on MS basal medium supplemented with 20g/l sucrose, 7g/l agar and different plant growth regulators. Seeds of Taraxacum kok-saghyzwere cultured on media containing different levels of BA and 2,4-D (0.5, 1.0 and 3.0mg/L) to direct shoot regeneration study. Leaf explants were cultured in different combination of BA (at three levels: 0.5, 1.0 and 3.0mg/L) and zeatin (at two levels: 0.5 and 1.0mg/L) to examine callus formation. After the callus formation the formed calli were cultured on different combinations of BA and NAA for shoot regeneration. BA at three levels (0.5 and 1.0 and 3.0mg/L) and NAA at two levels (0.5 and 1.0mg/L) in all possible combinations were used for shoot regeneration from callus. The results showed that the treatment containing 1.0mg/L 2,4-D in combination with 1.0mg/L BA was found to be the best one for shoot regeneration from seeds. The treatment with 1.0mg/L BA in combination with 1.0mg/L zeatin were found to be suitable treatments for callus production from leaf explants, as well. Moreover, 0.5mg/L BA alone or in combination with 1.0mg/L NAA were found to be the best treatments for shoot regeneration from callus.

Keywords: Taraxacum kok-saghyz Rodin., shoot regeneration, callus.

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139 Shear Capacity of Rectangular Duct Panel Experiencing Internal Pressure

Authors: K. S. Sivakumaran, T. Thanga, B. Halabieh

Abstract:

The end panels of a large rectangular industrial duct, which experience significant internal pressures, also experience considerable transverse shear due to transfer of gravity loads to the supports. The current design practice of such thin plate panels for shear load is based on methods used for the design of plate girder webs. The structural arrangements, the loadings and the resulting behavior associated with the industrial duct end panels are, however, significantly different from those of the web of a plate girder. The large aspect ratio of the end panels gives rise to multiple bands of tension fields, whereas the plate girder web design is based on one tension field. In addition to shear, the industrial end panels are subjected to internal pressure which in turn produces significant membrane action. This paper reports a study which was undertaken to review the current industrial analysis and design methods and to propose a comprehensive method of designing industrial duct end panels for shear resistance. In this investigation, a nonlinear finite element model was developed to simulate the behavior of industrial duct end panel, along with the associated edge stiffeners, subjected to transverse shear and internal pressures. The model considered the geometric imperfections and constitutive relations for steels. Six scale independent dimensionless parameters that govern the behavior of such end panel were identified and were then used in a parametric study. It was concluded that the plate slenderness dominates the shear strength of stockier end panels, and whereas, both the plate slenderness and the aspect ratio influence the shear strength of slender end panels. Based on these studies, this paper proposes design aids for estimating the shear strength of rectangular duct end panels.

Keywords: Thin plate, transverse shear, tension field, finite element analysis, parametric study, design.

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138 dynr.mi: An R Program for Multiple Imputation in Dynamic Modeling

Authors: Yanling Li, Linying Ji, Zita Oravecz, Timothy R. Brick, Michael D. Hunter, Sy-Miin Chow

Abstract:

Assessing several individuals intensively over time yields intensive longitudinal data (ILD). Even though ILD provide rich information, they also bring other data analytic challenges. One of these is the increased occurrence of missingness with increased study length, possibly under non-ignorable missingness scenarios. Multiple imputation (MI) handles missing data by creating several imputed data sets, and pooling the estimation results across imputed data sets to yield final estimates for inferential purposes. In this article, we introduce dynr.mi(), a function in the R package, Dynamic Modeling in R (dynr). The package dynr provides a suite of fast and accessible functions for estimating and visualizing the results from fitting linear and nonlinear dynamic systems models in discrete as well as continuous time. By integrating the estimation functions in dynr and the MI procedures available from the R package, Multivariate Imputation by Chained Equations (MICE), the dynr.mi() routine is designed to handle possibly non-ignorable missingness in the dependent variables and/or covariates in a user-specified dynamic systems model via MI, with convergence diagnostic check. We utilized dynr.mi() to examine, in the context of a vector autoregressive model, the relationships among individuals’ ambulatory physiological measures, and self-report affect valence and arousal. The results from MI were compared to those from listwise deletion of entries with missingness in the covariates. When we determined the number of iterations based on the convergence diagnostics available from dynr.mi(), differences in the statistical significance of the covariate parameters were observed between the listwise deletion and MI approaches. These results underscore the importance of considering diagnostic information in the implementation of MI procedures.

Keywords: Dynamic modeling, missing data, multiple imputation, physiological measures.

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137 Effect of Tethers Tension Force in the Behavior of a Tension Leg Platform Subjected to Hydrodynamic Force

Authors: Amr R. El-Gamal, Ashraf Essa, Ayman Ismail

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The tension leg platform (TLP) is one of the compliant structures which are generally used for deep water oil exploration. With respect to the horizontal degrees of freedom, it behaves like a floating structure moored by vertical tethers which are pretension due to the excess buoyancy of the platform, whereas with respect to the vertical degrees of freedom, it is stiff and resembles a fixed structure and is not allowed to float freely. In the current study, a numerical study for square TLP using modified Morison equation was carried out in the time domain with water particle kinematics using Airy’s linear wave theory to investigate the effect of changing the tether tension force on the stiffness matrix of TLP's, the dynamic behavior of TLP's; and on the fatigue stresses in the cables. The effect was investigated for different parameters of the hydrodynamic forces such as wave periods, and wave heights. The numerical study takes into consideration the effect of coupling between various degrees of freedom. The stiffness of the TLP was derived from a combination of hydrostatic restoring forces and restoring forces due to cables. Nonlinear equation was solved using Newmark’s beta integration method. Only uni-directional waves in the surge direction was considered in the analysis. It was found that for short wave periods (i.e. 10 sec.), the surge response consisted of small amplitude oscillations about a displaced position that is significantly dependent on tether tension force, wave height; whereas for longer wave periods, the surge response showed high amplitude oscillations that is significantly dependent on wave height, and that special attention should be given to tethers fatigue because of their high tensile static and dynamic stress.

Keywords: Tethers tension, tension leg platforms, hydrodynamic wave forces, wave characteristic.

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136 Genetic Programming: Principles, Applications and Opportunities for Hydrological Modelling

Authors: Oluwaseun K. Oyebode, Josiah A. Adeyemo

Abstract:

Hydrological modelling plays a crucial role in the planning and management of water resources, most especially in water stressed regions where the need to effectively manage the available water resources is of critical importance. However, due to the complex, nonlinear and dynamic behaviour of hydro-climatic interactions, achieving reliable modelling of water resource systems and accurate projection of hydrological parameters are extremely challenging. Although a significant number of modelling techniques (process-based and data-driven) have been developed and adopted in that regard, the field of hydrological modelling is still considered as one that has sluggishly progressed over the past decades. This is majorly as a result of the identification of some degree of uncertainty in the methodologies and results of techniques adopted. In recent times, evolutionary computation (EC) techniques have been developed and introduced in response to the search for efficient and reliable means of providing accurate solutions to hydrological related problems. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the underlying principles, methodological needs and applications of a promising evolutionary computation modelling technique – genetic programming (GP). It examines the specific characteristics of the technique which makes it suitable to solving hydrological modelling problems. It discusses the opportunities inherent in the application of GP in water related-studies such as rainfall estimation, rainfall-runoff modelling, streamflow forecasting, sediment transport modelling, water quality modelling and groundwater modelling among others. Furthermore, the means by which such opportunities could be harnessed in the near future are discussed. In all, a case for total embracement of GP and its variants in hydrological modelling studies is made so as to put in place strategies that would translate into achieving meaningful progress as it relates to modelling of water resource systems, and also positively influence decision-making by relevant stakeholders.

Keywords: Computational modelling, evolutionary algorithms, genetic programming, hydrological modelling.

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135 Creativity in the Use of Sinhala and English in Advertisements in Sri Lanka: A Morphological Analysis

Authors: Chamindi Dilkushi Senaratne

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Sri Lanka has lived with the English language for more than 200 years. Although officially considered a link language, the phenomenal usage of English by the Sinhala-English bilingual has given rise to a mixed code with identifiable structural characteristics. The extensive use of the mixed language by the average Sri Lankan bilingual has resulted in it being used as a medium of communication by creative writers of bilingual advertisements in Sri Lanka. This study analyses the way in which English is used in bilingual advertisements in both print and electronic media in Sri Lanka. The theoretical framework for the study is based on Kachru’s analysis of the use of English by the bilingual, Muysken’s typology on code mixing theories in colonial settings and Myers-Scotton’s theory on the Matrix Language Framework Model. The study will look at a selection of Sinhala-English advertisements published in newspapers from 2015 to 2016. Only advertisements using both Sinhala and English are used for the analysis. To substantiate data collected from the newspapers, the study will select bilingual advertisements from television advertisements. The objective of the study is to analyze the mixed patterns used for creative purposes by advertisers. The results of the study will reveal the creativity used by the Sinhala –English bilingual and the morphological processes used by the creators of Sinhala-English bilingual advertisements to attract the masses.

Keywords: Bilingual, code mixing, mixed code, morphology, processes.

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134 Definition, Structure and Core Functions of the State Image

Authors: Rosa Nurtazina, Yerkebulan Zhumashov, Maral Tomanova

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Humanity is entering an era when "virtual reality" as the image of the world created by the media with the help of the Internet does not match the reality in many respects, when new communication technologies create a fundamentally different and previously unknown "global space". According to these technologies, the state begins to change the basic technology of political communication of the state and society, the state and the state. Nowadays image of the state becomes the most important tool and technology.

Image is a purposefully created image granting political object (person, organization, country, etc.) certain social and political values and promoting more emotional perception.

Political image of the state plays an important role in international relations. The success of the country's foreign policy, development of trade and economic relations with other countries depends on whether it is positive or negative. Foreign policy image has an impact on political processes taking place in the state: the negative image of the country's can be used by opposition forces as one of the arguments to criticize the government and its policies.

Keywords: Image of the country, country's image classification, function of the country image, country's image components.

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133 User Selections on Social Network Applications

Authors: C. C. Liang

Abstract:

MSN used to be the most popular application for communicating among social networks, but Facebook chat is now the most popular. Facebook and MSN have similar characteristics, including usefulness, ease-of-use, and a similar function, which is the exchanging of information with friends. Facebook outperforms MSN in both of these areas. However, the adoption of Facebook and abandonment of MSN have occurred for other reasons. Functions can be improved, but users’ willingness to use does not just depend on functionality. Flow status has been established to be crucial to users’ adoption of cyber applications and to affects users’ adoption of software applications. If users experience flow in using software application, they will enjoy using it frequently, and even change their preferred application from an old to this new one. However, no investigation has examined choice behavior related to switching from Facebook to MSN based on a consideration of flow experiences and functions. This investigation discusses the flow experiences and functions of social-networking applications. Flow experience is found to affect perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness; perceived ease of use influences information ex-change with friends, and perceived usefulness; information exchange influences perceived usefulness, but information exchange has no effect on flow experience.

Keywords: Consumer behavior, social media, technology acceptance model.

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132 Automatic Music Score Recognition System Using Digital Image Processing

Authors: Yuan-Hsiang Chang, Zhong-Xian Peng, Li-Der Jeng

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Music has always been an integral part of human’s daily lives. But, for the most people, reading musical score and turning it into melody is not easy. This study aims to develop an Automatic music score recognition system using digital image processing, which can be used to read and analyze musical score images automatically. The technical approaches included: (1) staff region segmentation; (2) image preprocessing; (3) note recognition; and (4) accidental and rest recognition. Digital image processing techniques (e.g., horizontal /vertical projections, connected component labeling, morphological processing, template matching, etc.) were applied according to musical notes, accidents, and rests in staff notations. Preliminary results showed that our system could achieve detection and recognition rates of 96.3% and 91.7%, respectively. In conclusion, we presented an effective automated musical score recognition system that could be integrated in a system with a media player to play music/songs given input images of musical score. Ultimately, this system could also be incorporated in applications for mobile devices as a learning tool, such that a music player could learn to play music/songs.

Keywords: Connected component labeling, image processing, morphological processing, optical musical recognition.

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131 Investigation on Toxicity of Manufactured Nanoparticles to Bioluminescence Bacteria Vibrio fischeri

Authors: E. Binaeian, SH. Soroushnia

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Acute toxicity of nano SiO2, ZnO, MCM-41 (Meso pore silica), Cu, Multi Wall Carbon Nano Tube (MWCNT), Single Wall Carbon Nano Tube (SWCNT) , Fe (Coated) to bacteria Vibrio fischeri using a homemade luminometer , was evaluated. The values of the nominal effective concentrations (EC), causing 20% and 50% inhibition of biouminescence, using two mathematical models at two times of 5 and 30 minutes were calculated. Luminometer was designed with Photomultiplier (PMT) detector. Luminol chemiluminescence reaction was carried out for the calibration graph. In the linear calibration range, the correlation coefficients and coefficient of Variation (CV) were 0.988 and 3.21% respectively which demonstrate the accuracy and reproducibility of the instrument that are suitable. The important part of this research depends on how to optimize the best condition for maximum bioluminescence. The culture of Vibrio fischeri with optimal conditions in liquid media, were stirring at 120 rpm at a temperature of 150C to 180C and were incubated for 24 to 72 hours while solid medium was held at 180C and for 48 hours. Suspension of nanoparticles ZnO, after 30 min contact time to bacteria Vibrio fischeri, showed the highest toxicity while SiO2 nanoparticles showed the lowest toxicity. After 5 min exposure time, the toxicity of ZnO was the strongest and MCM-41 was the weakest toxicant component.

Keywords: Bioluminescence, effective concentration, nanomaterials, toxicity, Vibrio fischeri.

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130 The Use of Music Therapy to Improve Non-Verbal Communication Skills for Children with Autism

Authors: Maria Vinca Novenia

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The number of school-aged children with autism in Indonesia has been increasing each year. Autism is a developmental disorder which can be diagnosed in childhood. One of the symptoms is the lack of communication skills. Music therapy is known as an effective treatment for children with autism. Music elements and structures create a good space for children with autism to express their feelings and communicate their thoughts. School-aged children are expected to be able to communicate non-verbally very well, but children with autism experience the difficulties of communicating non-verbally. The aim of this research is to analyze the significance of music therapy treatment to improve non-verbal communication tools for children with autism. This research informs teachers and parents on how music can be used as a media to communicate with children with autism. The qualitative method is used to analyze this research, while the result is described with the microanalysis technique. The result is measured specifically from the whole experiment, hours of every week, minutes of every session, and second of every moment. The samples taken are four school-aged children with autism in the age range of six to 11 years old. This research is conducted within four months started with observation, interview, literature research, and direct experiment. The result demonstrates that music therapy could be effectively used as a non-verbal communication tool for children with autism, such as changes of body gesture, eye contact, and facial expression.

Keywords: Autism, non-verbal communication, microanalysis, music therapy, school-aged children.

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129 Students' Acceptance of Incorporating Emerging Communication Technologies in Higher Education in Kuwait

Authors: Bashaiar Alsanaa

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Never has a revolution affected all aspects of humanity as the communication revolution during the past two decades. This revolution, with all its advances and utilities, swept the world thus becoming an integral part of our lives, hence giving way to emerging applications at the social, economic, political, and educational levels. More specifically, such applications have changed the delivery system through which learning is acquired by students. Interaction with educators, accessibility to content, and creative delivery options are but a few facets of the new learning experience now being offered through the use of technology in the educational field. With different success rates, third world countries have tried to pace themselves with use of educational technology in advanced parts of the world. One such country is the small rich-oil state of Kuwait which has tried to adopt the e-educational model, however, an evaluation of such trial is yet to be done. This study aimed to fill the void of research conducted around that topic. The study explored students' acceptance of incorporating communication technologies in higher education in Kuwait. Students' responses to survey questions presented an overview of the e-learning experience in this country, and drew a framework through which implications and suggestions for future research were discussed to better serve the advancement of e-education in developing countries.

Keywords: Communication technologies, E-learning, Kuwait, Social media

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128 The Potential Benefits of Multimedia Information Representation in Enhancing Students’ Critical Thinking and History Reasoning

Authors: Ang Ling Weay, Mona Masood

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This paper discusses the potential benefits of an interactive multimedia information representation in enhancing students’ critical thinking aligned with history reasoning in learning history amongst Secondary School students in Malaysia. Two modes of multimedia information representation were implemented; chronologic and thematic information representations. A qualitative study of an unstructured interview was conducted among two history teachers, one history education lecturer, two i-think experts, and five students from Form Four secondary school. The interview was to elicit their opinions on the implementation of thinking maps and interactive multimedia information representation in history learning. The key elements of the interactive multimedia (e.g. multiple media, user control, interactivity and use of timelines and concept maps) were then considered to improve the learning process. Findings of the preliminary investigation reveal that the interactive multimedia information representations have the potential benefits to be implemented as an instructional resource in enhancing students’ higher order thinking skills (HOTs). This paper concludes by giving suggestions for future work.

Keywords: Multimedia Information Representation, Critical Thinking, History Reasoning, Chronological and Thematic Information Representation.

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127 Simulation of Soil-Pile Interaction of Steel Batter Piles Penetrated in Sandy Soil Subjected to Pull-Out Loads

Authors: Ameer A. Jebur, William Atherton, Rafid M. Alkhaddar, Edward Loffill

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Superstructures like offshore platforms, tall buildings, transition towers, skyscrapers and bridges are normally designed to resist compression, uplift and lateral forces from wind waves, negative skin friction, ship impact and other applied loads. Better understanding and the precise simulation of the response of batter piles under the action of independent uplift loads is a vital topic and an area of active research in the field of geotechnical engineering. This paper investigates the use of finite element code (FEC) to examine the behaviour of model batter piles penetrated in dense sand, subjected to pull-out pressure by means of numerical modelling. The concept of the Winkler Model (beam on elastic foundation) has been used in which the interaction between the pile embedded depth and adjacent soil in the bearing zone is simulated by nonlinear p-y curves. The analysis was conducted on different pile slenderness ratios (lc⁄d) ranging from 7.5, 15.22 and 30 respectively. In addition, the optimum batter angle for a model steel pile penetrated in dense sand has been chosen to be 20° as this is the best angle for this simulation as demonstrated by other researcher published in literature. In this numerical analysis, the soil response is idealized as elasto-plastic and the model piles are described as elastic materials for the purpose of simulation. The results revealed that the applied loads affect the pullout pile capacity as well as the lateral pile response for dense sand together with varying shear strength parameters linked to the pile critical depth. Furthermore, the pile pull-out capacity increases with increasing the pile aspect ratios.

Keywords: Slenderness ratio, soil-pile interaction, winkler model (beam on elastic foundation), pull-out capacity.

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126 Neural Networks-Based Acoustic Annoyance Model for Laptop Hard Disk Drive

Authors: Yi Chao Ma, Cheng Siong Chin, Wai Lok Woo

Abstract:

Since the last decade, there has been a rapid growth in digital multimedia, such as high-resolution media files and threedimentional movies. Hence, there is a need for large digital storage such as Hard Disk Drive (HDD). As such, users expect to have a quieter HDD in their laptop. In this paper, a jury test has been conducted on a group of 34 people where 17 of them are students who are the potential consumer, and the remaining are engineers who know the HDD. A total 13 HDD sound samples have been selected from over hundred HDD noise recordings. These samples are selected based on an agreed subjective feeling. The samples are played to the participants using head acoustic playback system, which enabled them to experience as similar as possible the same environment as have been recorded. Analysis has been conducted and the obtained results have indicated different group has different perception over the noises. Two neural network-based acoustic annoyance models are established based on back propagation neural network. Four psychoacoustic metrics, loudness, sharpness, roughness and fluctuation strength, are used as the input of the model, and the subjective evaluation results are taken as the output. The developed models are reasonably accurate in simulating both training and test samples.

Keywords: Hard disk drive noise, jury test, neural network model, psychoacoustic annoyance.

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125 Appraisal of Energy Efficiency of Urban Development Plans: The Fidelity Concept on Izmir-Balcova Case

Authors: Y. Duvarci, A. K. Kutluca

Abstract:

Design and land use are closely linked to the energy efficiency levels for an urban area. The current city planning practice does not involve an effective land useenergy evaluation in its 'blueprint' urban plans. The study proposed an appraisal method that can be embedded in GIS programs using five planning criteria as how far a planner can give away from the planning principles (criteria) for the most energy output s/he can obtain. The case of Balcova, a district in the Izmir Metropolitan area, is used conformingly for evaluating the proposed master plan and the geothermal energy (heating only) use for the concern district. If the land use design were proposed accordingly at-most energy efficiency (a 30% obtained), mainly increasing the density around the geothermal wells and also proposing more mixed use zones, we could have 17% distortion (infidelity to the main planning principles) from the original plan. The proposed method can be an effective tool for planners as simulation media, of which calculations can be made by GIS ready tools, to evaluate efficiency levels for different plan proposals, letting to know how much energy saving causes how much deviation from the other planning ideals. Lower energy uses can be possible for different land use proposals for various policy trials.

Keywords: Sustainable Urban Planning, Energy Efficiency, Geothermal Energy, District Heating Systems (DHS), EnergyPlanning

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124 Using Non-Linear Programming Techniques in Determination of the Most Probable Slip Surface in 3D Slopes

Authors: M. M. Toufigh, A. R. Ahangarasr, A. Ouria

Abstract:

Among many different methods that are used for optimizing different engineering problems mathematical (numerical) optimization techniques are very important because they can easily be used and are consistent with most of engineering problems. Many studies and researches are done on stability analysis of three dimensional (3D) slopes and the relating probable slip surfaces and determination of factors of safety, but in most of them force equilibrium equations, as in simplified 2D methods, are considered only in two directions. In other words for decreasing mathematical calculations and also for simplifying purposes the force equilibrium equation in 3rd direction is omitted. This point is considered in just a few numbers of previous studies and most of them have only given a factor of safety and they haven-t made enough effort to find the most probable slip surface. In this study shapes of the slip surfaces are modeled, and safety factors are calculated considering the force equilibrium equations in all three directions, and also the moment equilibrium equation is satisfied in the slip direction, and using nonlinear programming techniques the shape of the most probable slip surface is determined. The model which is used in this study is a 3D model that is composed of three upper surfaces which can cover all defined and probable slip surfaces. In this research the meshing process is done in a way that all elements are prismatic with quadrilateral cross sections, and the safety factor is defined on this quadrilateral surface in the base of the element which is a part of the whole slip surface. The method that is used in this study to find the most probable slip surface is the non-linear programming method in which the objective function that must get optimized is the factor of safety that is a function of the soil properties and the coordinates of the nodes on the probable slip surface. The main reason for using non-linear programming method in this research is its quick convergence to the desired responses. The final results show a good compatibility with the previously used classical and 2D methods and also show a reasonable convergence speed.

Keywords: Non-linear programming, numerical optimization, slope stability, 3D analysis.

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123 Stability of Fractional Differential Equation

Authors: Rabha W. Ibrahim

Abstract:

We study a Dirichlet boundary value problem for Lane-Emden equation involving two fractional orders. Lane-Emden equation has been widely used to describe a variety of phenomena in physics and astrophysics, including aspects of stellar structure, the thermal history of a spherical cloud of gas, isothermal gas spheres,and thermionic currents. However, ordinary Lane-Emden equation does not provide the correct description of the dynamics for systems in complex media. In order to overcome this problem and describe dynamical processes in a fractalmedium, numerous generalizations of Lane-Emden equation have been proposed. One such generalization replaces the ordinary derivative by a fractional derivative in the Lane-Emden equation. This gives rise to the fractional Lane-Emden equation with a single index. Recently, a new type of Lane-Emden equation with two different fractional orders has been introduced which provides a more flexible model for fractal processes as compared with the usual one characterized by a single index. The contraction mapping principle and Krasnoselskiis fixed point theorem are applied to prove the existence of solutions of the problem in a Banach space. Ulam-Hyers stability for iterative Cauchy fractional differential equation is defined and studied.

Keywords: Fractional calculus, fractional differential equation, Lane-Emden equation, Riemann-Liouville fractional operators, Volterra integral equation.

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122 On One Mathematical Model for Filtration of Weakly Compressible Chemical Compound in the Porous Heterogeneous 3D Medium. Part I: Model Construction with the Aid of the Ollendorff Approach

Authors: Sharif E. Guseynov, Jekaterina V. Aleksejeva, Janis S. Rimshans

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A filtering problem of almost incompressible liquid chemical compound in the porous inhomogeneous 3D domain is studied. In this work general approaches to the solution of twodimensional filtering problems in ananisotropic, inhomogeneous and multilayered medium are developed, and on the basis of the obtained results mathematical models are constructed (according to Ollendorff method) for studying the certain engineering and technical problem of filtering the almost incompressible liquid chemical compound in the porous inhomogeneous 3D domain. For some of the formulated mathematical problems with additional requirements for the structure of the porous inhomogeneous medium, namely, its isotropy, spatial periodicity of its permeability coefficient, solution algorithms are proposed. Continuation of the current work titled ”On one mathematical model for filtration of weakly compressible chemical compound in the porous heterogeneous 3D medium. Part II: Determination of the reference directions of anisotropy and permeabilities on these directions” will be prepared in the shortest terms by the authors.

Keywords: Porous media, filtering, permeability, elliptic PDE.

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121 Hydrodynamic Simulation of Co-Current and Counter Current of Column Distillation Using Euler Lagrange Approach

Authors: H. Troudi, M. Ghiss, Z. Tourki, M. Ellejmi

Abstract:

Packed columns of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) consists of separating the liquid mixture of propane and butane to pure gas components by the distillation phenomenon. The flow of the gas and liquid inside the columns is operated by two ways: The co-current and the counter current operation. Heat, mass and species transfer between phases represent the most important factors that influence the choice between those two operations. In this paper, both processes are discussed using computational CFD simulation through ANSYS-Fluent software. Only 3D half section of the packed column was considered with one packed bed. The packed bed was characterized in our case as a porous media. The simulations were carried out at transient state conditions. A multi-component gas and liquid mixture were used out in the two processes. We utilized the Euler-Lagrange approach in which the gas was treated as a continuum phase and the liquid as a group of dispersed particles. The heat and the mass transfer process was modeled using multi-component droplet evaporation approach. The results show that the counter-current process performs better than the co-current, although such limitations of our approach are noted. This comparison gives accurate results for computations times higher than 2 s, at different gas velocity and at packed bed porosity of 0.9.

Keywords: Co-current, counter current, Euler Lagrange model, heat transfer, mass transfer.

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120 The Tourist Satisfaction on Brand Identity Design of Creative Agriculture Community Enterprise, Bang Khonthi District, Samut Songkhram Province

Authors: Panupong Chanplin, Kathaleeya Chanda., Wilailuk Mepracha

Abstract:

The aims of this research were twofold: 1) to brand identity design of Creative Agriculture Community Enterprise, Bang Khonthi District, Samut Songkhram Province and 2) to study the level of tourist satisfaction towards brand identity design of Creative Agriculture Community Enterprise, Bang Khonthi District, Samut Songkhram Province. tourist satisfaction was measured using six criteria: clear brand positioning, likeable brand personality, memorable logo, attractive color palette, professional typography and on-brand supporting graphics. The researcher utilized a probability sampling method via simple random sampling. The sample consisted of 30 tourists in the Creative Agriculture Community Enterprise. Statistics utilized for data analysis were percentage, mean, and standard deviation. The results suggest that tourist had high levels of satisfaction towards all six criteria of the brand identity design that was designed to target them. This study proposes that specifically brand identity designed of Creative Agriculture Community Enterprise could also be implemented with other real media already available on the market.

Keywords: Satisfaction, brand identity, logo, creative agriculture community enterprise.

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119 Simultaneous HPAM/SDS Injection in Heterogeneous/Layered Models

Authors: M. H. Sedaghat, A. Zamani, S. Morshedi, R. Janamiri, M. Safdari, I. Mahdavi, A. Hosseini, A. Hatampour

Abstract:

Although lots of experiments have been done in enhanced oil recovery, the number of experiments which consider the effects of local and global heterogeneity on efficiency of enhanced oil recovery based on the polymer-surfactant flooding is low and rarely done. In this research, we have done numerous experiments of water flooding and polymer-surfactant flooding on a five spot glass micromodel in different conditions such as different positions of layers. In these experiments, five different micromodels with three different pore structures are designed. Three models with different layer orientation, one homogenous model and one heterogeneous model are designed. In order to import the effect of heterogeneity of porous media, three types of pore structures are distributed accidentally and with equal ratio throughout heterogeneous micromodel network according to random normal distribution. The results show that maximum EOR recovery factor will happen in a situation where the layers are orthogonal to the path of mainstream and the minimum EOR recovery factor will happen in a situation where the model is heterogeneous. This experiments show that in polymer-surfactant flooding, with increase of angles of layers the EOR recovery factor will increase and this recovery factor is strongly affected by local heterogeneity around the injection zone.

Keywords: Layered Reservoir, Micromodel, Local Heterogeneity, Polymer-Surfactant Flooding, Enhanced Oil Recovery.

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118 Dynamics of Marital Status and Information Search through Consumer Generated Media: An Exploratory Study

Authors: Shivakumar Krishnamurti, Ruchi Agarwal

Abstract:

The study examines the influence of marital status on consumers of products and services using blogs as a source of information. A pre-designed questionnaire was used to collect the primary data from the respondents (experiences). Data were collected from one hundred and eighty seven respondents residing in and around the Emirates of Sharjah and Dubai of the United Arab Emirates. The collected data was analyzed with the help of statistical tools such as averages, percentages, factor analysis, Student’s t-test and Structural Equation Modelling Technique. Objectives of the study are to know the reasons how married and unmarried or single consumers of products and services are motivated to use blogs as a source of information, to know whether the consumers of products and services irrespective of their marital status share their views and experiences with other bloggers and to know the respondents’ future intentions towards blogging. The study revealed the following: Majority of the respondents have the motivation to blog because they are willing to receive comments on what they post about services, convenience of blogs to search for information about services and products, by blogging respondents share information on the symptoms of a disease/ disorder that may be experienced by someone, helps to share information about ready to cook mix products and are keen to spend more time blogging in the future.

Keywords: Blog, consumer, information, marital status.

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117 Radio and Television Supreme Council as a Regulatory Board

Authors: Sevil Yildiz

Abstract:

In parallel, broadcasting has changed rapidly with the changing of the world at the same area. Broadcasting is also influenced and reshaped in terms of the emergence of new communication technologies. These developments have resulted a lot of economic and social consequences. The most important consequences of these results are those of the powers of the governments to control over the means of communication and control mechanisms related to the descriptions of the new issues. For this purpose, autonomous and independent regulatory bodies have been established by the state. One of these regulatory bodies is the Radio and Television Supreme Council, which to be established in 1994, with the Code no 3984. Today’s Radio and Television Supreme Council which is responsible for the regulation of the radio and television broadcasts all across Turkey has an important and effective position as autonomous and independent regulatory body. The Radio and Television Supreme Council acts as being a remarkable organizer for a sensitive area of radio and television broadcasting on one hand, and the area of democratic, liberal and keep in mind the concept of the public interest by putting certain principles for the functioning of the Board control, in the context of media policy as one of the central organs, on the other hand. In this study, the role of the Radio and Television Supreme Council is examined in accordance with the Code no 3894 in order to control over the communication and control mechanisms as well as the examination of the changes in the duties of the Code No. 6112, dated 2011.

Keywords: Regulatory Boards, Radio and Television Supreme Council.

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116 The Effect of Acrylic Gel Grouting on Groundwater in Porous Media

Authors: S. Wagner, C. Boley, Y. Forouzandeh

Abstract:

When digging excavations, groundwater bearing layers are often encountered. In order to allow anhydrous excavation, soil groutings are carried out, which form a water-impermeable layer. As it is injected into groundwater areas, the effects of the materials used on the environment must be known. Developing an eco-friendly, economical and low viscous acrylic gel which has a sealing effect on groundwater is therefore a significant task. At this point the study begins. Basic investigations with the rheometer and a reverse column experiment have been performed with different mixing ratios of an acrylic gel. A dynamic rheology study was conducted to determine the time at which the gel still can be processed and the maximum gel strength is reached. To examine the effect of acrylic gel grouting on determine the parameters pH value, turbidity, electric conductivity, and total organic carbon on groundwater, an acrylic gel was injected in saturated sand filled the column. The structure was rinsed with a constant flow and the eluate was subsequently examined. The results show small changes in pH values and turbidity but there is a dependency between electric conductivity and total organic carbon. The curves of the two parameters react at the same time, which means that the electrical conductivity in the eluate can be measured constantly until the maximum is reached and only then must total organic carbon (TOC) samples be taken.

Keywords: Acrylic gel grouting, dynamic rheology study, electric conductivity, total organic carbon.

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115 The Phatic Function and the Socializing Element of Personal Blogs

Authors: Emelia Noronha, Milind Malshe

Abstract:

The phatic function of communication is a vital element of any conversation. This research paper looks into this function with respect to personal blogs maintained by Indian bloggers. This paper is a study into the phenomenon of phatic communication maintained by bloggers through their blogs. Based on a linguistic analysis of the posts of twenty eight Indian bloggers, writing in English, studied over a period of three years, the study indicates that though the blogging phenomenon is not conversational in the same manner as face-to-face communication, it does make ample provision for feedback that is conversational in nature. Ordinary day to day offline conversations use conventionalized phatic utterances; those on the social media are in a perpetual mode of innovation and experimentation in order to sustain contact with its readers. These innovative methods and means are the focus of this study. Though the personal blogger aims to chronicle his/her personal life through the blog, the socializing function is crucial to these bloggers. In comparison to the western personal blogs which focus on the presentation of the ‘bounded individual self’, we find Indian personal bloggers engage in the presentation of their ‘social selves’. These bloggers yearn to reach out to the readers on the internet and the phatic function serves to initiate, sustain and renew social ties on the blogosphere thereby consolidating the social network of readers and bloggers.

Keywords: Personal blogs, phatic, social-selves, blog readers.

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114 Experimental and Graphical Investigation on Oil Recovery by Buckley-Leveret Theory

Authors: Khwaja Naweed Seddiqi, Zabihullah Mahdi, Shigeo Honma

Abstract:

Recently increasing oil production from petroleum reservoirs is one of the most important issues in the global energy sector. So, in this paper, the recovery of oil by the waterflooding technique from petroleum reservoir are considered. To investigate the aforementioned phenomena, the relative permeability of two immiscible fluids in sand is measured in the laboratory based on the steady-state method. Two sorts of oils, kerosene and heavy oil, and water are pumped simultaneously into a vertical sand column with different pumping ratio. From the change in fractional discharge measured at the outlet, a method for determining the relative permeability is developed focusing on the displacement mechanism in sand. Then, displacement mechanism of two immiscible fluids in the sand is investigated under the Buckley-Leveret frontal displacement theory and laboratory experiment. Two sorts of experiments, one is the displacement of pore water by oil, the other is the displacement of pore oil by water, are carried out. It is revealed that the relative permeability curves display tolerably different shape owing to the properties of oils, and produce different amount of residual oils and irreducible water saturation.

Keywords: Petroleum reservoir engineering, relative permeability, two-phase flow, immiscible displacement in porous media, steady-state method, waterflooding.

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113 Patient Perspectives on Telehealth during the Pandemic in the United States

Authors: Manal Sultan Alhussein, Xiang Michelle Liu

Abstract:

Telehealth is an advanced technology using digital information and telecommunication facilities that provide access to health services from a distance. It slows the transmission factor of COVID-19, especially for elderly patients and patients with chronic diseases during the pandemic. Therefore, understanding patient perspectives on telehealth services and the factors impacting their option of telehealth service will shed light on the measures that healthcare providers can take to improve the quality of telehealth services. This study aimed to evaluate perceptions of telehealth services among different patient groups and explore various aspects of telehealth utilization in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey distributed via social media platforms was used to collect research data. In addition to the descriptive statistics, both correlation and regression analyses were conducted to test research hypotheses. The empirical results highlighted that the factors such as accessibility to telehealth services and the type of specialty clinics that the patients required play important roles in the effectiveness of telehealth services they received. However, the results found that patients’ waiting time to receive telehealth services and their annual income did not significantly influence their desire to select receiving healthcare services via telehealth. The limitations of the study and future research directions are discussed.

Keywords: Telehealth, patient satisfaction, pandemic, healthcare, remote patient monitor.

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