Search results for: product modelling

Authors: Abdullah N. Olimat, Ahmad S. Awad, Faisal M. AL-Ghathian

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Natural wood is used in many applications in Jordan such as furniture, partitions constructions, and cupboards. Experimental work for smoke produced by the combustion of certain wood samples was studied. Smoke generated from burning of natural wood, is considered as a major cause of death in furniture fires. The critical parameter for life safety in fires is the available time for escape, so the visual obscuration due to smoke release during fire is taken into consideration. The effect of smoke, produced by burning of wood, depends on the amount of smoke released in case of fire. The amount of smoke production, apparently, affects the time available for the occupants to escape. To achieve the protection of life of building occupants during fire growth, fire retardant painting products are tested. The tested samples of natural wood include Beech, Ash, Beech Pine, and white Beech Pine. A smoke density chamber manufactured by fire testing technology has been used to perform measurement of smoke properties. The procedure of test was carried out according to the ISO-5659. A nonflammable vertical radiant heat flux of 25 kW/m² is exposed to the wood samples in a horizontal orientation. The main objective of the current study is to carry out the experimental tests for samples of natural woods to evaluate the capability to escape in case of fire and the fire safety requirements. Specific optical density, transmittance, thermal conductivity, and mass loss are main measured parameters. Also, comparisons between samples with paint and with no paint are carried out between the selected samples of woods.

Keywords: Optical density, specific optical density, transmittance, visibility.

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Authors: O.B. Ozipek, E. Bozdag, E. Sunbuloglu, A. Abdullahoglu, E. Belen, E. Celikkanat

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In textile industry, besides the conventional textile products, technical textile goods, that have been brought external functional properties into, are being developed for technical textile industry. Especially these products produced with weaving technology are widely preferred in areas such as sports, geology, medical, automotive, construction and marine sectors. These textile products are exposed to various stresses and large deformations under typical conditions of use. At this point, sufficient and reliable data could not be obtained with uniaxial tensile tests for determination of the mechanical properties of such products due to mainly biaxial stress state. Therefore, the most preferred method is a biaxial tensile test method and analysis. These tests and analysis is applied to fabrics with different functional features in order to establish the textile material with several characteristics and mechanical properties of the product. Planar biaxial tensile test, cylindrical inflation and bulge tests are generally required to apply for textile products that are used in automotive, sailing and sports areas and construction industry to minimize accidents as long as their service life. Airbags, seat belts and car tires in the automotive sector are also subject to the same biaxial stress states, and can be characterized by same types of experiments. In this study, in accordance with the research literature related to the various biaxial test methods are compared. Results with discussions are elaborated mainly focusing on the design of a biaxial test apparatus to obtain applicable experimental data for developing a finite element model. Sample experimental results on a prototype system are expressed.

Keywords: Biaxial Stress, Bulge Test, Cylindrical Inflation, Fabric Testing, Planar Tension.

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Authors: Amit Kumar Bhandary, Prithviraj Gupta, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Mahua Ghosh Chaudhuri, Rajib Dey

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Chromite ores are primarily used for extraction of chromium, which is an expensive metal. For low grade chromite ores (containing less than 40% Cr₂O₃), the chromium extraction is not usually economically viable. India possesses huge quantities of low grade chromite reserves. This deposit can be utilized after proper physical beneficiation. Magnetic separation techniques may be useful after reduction for the beneficiation of low grade chromite ore. The sample collected from the sukinda mines is characterized by XRD which shows predominant phases like maghemite, chromite, silica, magnesia and alumina. The raw ore is crushed and ground to below 75 micrometer size. The microstructure of the ore shows that the chromite grains surrounded by a silicate matrix and porosity observed the exposed side of the chromite ore. However, this ore may be utilized in refractory applications. Chromite ores contain Cr₂O₃, FeO, Al₂O₃ and other oxides like Fe-Cr, Mg-Cr have a high tendency to form spinel compounds, which usually show high refractoriness. Initially, the low grade chromite ore (containing 34.8% Cr₂O₃) was reduced at 1200 ⁰C for 80 minutes with 30% coke fines by weight, before being subjected to magnetic separation. The reduction by coke leads to conversion of higher state of iron oxides converted to lower state of iron oxides. The pre-reduced samples are then characterized by XRD. The magnetically inert mass was then reacted with 20% MgO by weight at 1450 ⁰C for 2 hours. The resultant product was then tested for various refractoriness parameters like apparent porosity, slag resistance etc. The results were satisfactory, indicating that the resultant spinel compounds are suitable for refractory applications for elevated temperature processes.

Keywords: Apparent porosity, beneficiation, low grade chromite, refractory, spinel compounds, slag resistance.

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Authors: Emiliano Matta

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Passive resonant vibration absorbers are among the most widely used dynamic control systems in civil engineering. They typically consist in a single-degree-of-freedom mechanical appendage of the main structure, tuned to one structural target mode through frequency and damping optimization. One classical scheme is the pendulum absorber, whose mass is constrained to move along a curved trajectory and is damped by viscous dashpots. Even though the principle is well known, the search for improved arrangements is still under way. In recent years this investigation inspired a type of bidirectional pendulum absorber (BPA), consisting of a mass constrained to move along an optimal three-dimensional (3D) concave surface. For such a BPA, the surface principal curvatures are designed to ensure a bidirectional tuning of the absorber to both principal modes of the main structure, while damping is produced either by horizontal viscous dashpots or by vertical friction dashpots, connecting the BPA to the main structure. In this paper, a variant of BPA is proposed, where damping originates from the variable tangential friction force which develops between the pendulum mass and the 3D surface as a result of a spatially-varying friction coefficient pattern. Namely, a friction coefficient is proposed that varies along the pendulum surface in proportion to the modulus of the 3D surface gradient. With such an assumption, the dissipative model of the absorber can be proven to be nonlinear homogeneous in the small displacement domain. The resulting homogeneous BPA (HBPA) has a fundamental advantage over conventional friction-type absorbers, because its equivalent damping ratio results independent on the amplitude of oscillations, and therefore its optimal performance does not depend on the excitation level. On the other hand, the HBPA is more compact than viscously damped BPAs because it does not need the installation of dampers. This paper presents the analytical model of the HBPA and an optimal methodology for its design. Numerical simulations of single- and multi-story building structures under wind and earthquake loads are presented to compare the HBPA with classical viscously damped BPAs. It is shown that the HBPA is a promising alternative to existing BPA types and that homogeneous tangential friction is an effective means to realize systems provided with amplitude-independent damping.

Keywords: Amplitude-independent damping, Homogeneous friction, Pendulum nonlinear dynamics, Structural control, Vibration resonant absorbers.

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Authors: R. Malisa, E. Schwella, K. I. Theletsane

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Due to climate change, population growth and rapid urbanization, the demand for water in South Africa is inevitably surpassing supply. To address similar challenges globally, there has been a paradigm shift from conventional urban waste water management “government” to a “governance” paradigm. From the governance paradigm, Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) principle emerged. This principle emphasizes efficient urban waste water treatment and production of high-quality recyclable effluent. In so doing mimicking natural water systems, in their processes of recycling water efficiently, and averting depletion of natural water resources.  The objective of this study was to investigate drivers of shifting the current urban waste water management approach from a “government” paradigm towards “governance”. The study was conducted through Interactive Management soft systems research methodology which follows a qualitative research design. A case study methodology was employed, guided by realism research philosophy. Qualitative data gathered were analyzed through interpretative structural modelling using Concept Star for Professionals Decision-Making tools (CSPDM) version 3.64.  The constructed model deduced that the main drivers in shifting the Stellenbosch municipal urban waste water management towards IUWM “governance” principles are mainly social elements characterized by overambitious expectations of the public on municipal water service delivery, mis-interpretation of the constitution on access to adequate clean water and sanitation as a human right and perceptions on recycling water by different communities. Inadequate public participation also emerged as a strong driver. However, disruptive events such as draught may play a positive role in raising an awareness on the value of water, resulting in a shift on the perceptions on recycled water. Once the social elements are addressed, the alignment of governance and administration elements towards IUWM are achievable. Hence, the point of departure for the desired paradigm shift is the change of water service authorities and serviced communities’ perceptions and behaviors towards shifting urban waste water management approaches from “government” to “governance” paradigm.

Keywords: Integrated urban water management, urban water system, waste water governance, waste water treatment works.

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Authors: Faiza Belbachir, Thibault Schienhinski

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The massive development of online social networks allows users to post and share their opinions on various topics. With this huge volume of opinion, it is interesting to extract and interpret these information for different domains, e.g., product and service benchmarking, politic, system of recommendation. This is why opinion detection is one of the most important research tasks. It consists on differentiating between opinion data and factual data. The difficulty of this task is to determine an approach which returns opinionated document. Generally, there are two approaches used for opinion detection i.e. Lexical based approaches and Machine Learning based approaches. In Lexical based approaches, a dictionary of sentimental words is used, words are associated with weights. The opinion score of document is derived by the occurrence of words from this dictionary. In Machine learning approaches, usually a classifier is trained using a set of annotated document containing sentiment, and features such as n-grams of words, part-of-speech tags, and logical forms. Majority of these works are based on documents text to determine opinion score but dont take into account if these texts are really correct. Thus, it is interesting to exploit other information to improve opinion detection. In our work, we will develop a new way to consider the opinion score. We introduce the notion of trust score. We determine opinionated documents but also if these opinions are really trustable information in relation with topics. For that we use lexical SentiWordNet to calculate opinion and trust scores, we compute different features about users like (numbers of their comments, numbers of their useful comments, Average useful review). After that, we combine opinion score and trust score to obtain a final score. We applied our method to detect trust opinions in TRIPADVISOR collection. Our experimental results report that the combination between opinion score and trust score improves opinion detection.

Keywords: Tripadvisor, Opinion detection, SentiWordNet, trust score.

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Authors: Neha Budhwani

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Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are formed during the pyrolysis of scrap tyres to produce tyre pyrolytic oil (TPO). Due to carcinogenic, mutagenic, and toxic properties PAHs are priority pollutants. Hence it is essential to remove PAHs from TPO before utilising TPO as a petroleum fuel alternative (to run the engine). Agricultural wastes have promising future to be utilized as biosorbent due to their cost effectiveness, abundant availability, high biosorption capacity and renewability. Various low cost adsorbents were prepared from natural sources. Uptake of PAHs present in tyre pyrolytic oil was investigated using various low-cost adsorbents of natural origin including sawdust (shisham), coconut fiber, neem bark, chitin, activated charcoal. Adsorption experiments of different PAHs viz. naphthalene, acenaphthalene, biphenyl and anthracene have been carried out at ambient temperature (25°C) and at pH 7. It was observed that for any given PAH, the adsorption capacity increases with the lignin content. Freundlich constant Kf and 1/n have been evaluated and it was found that the adsorption isotherms of PAHs were in agreement with a Freundlich model, while the uptake capacity of PAHs followed the order: activated charcoal> saw dust (shisham) > coconut fiber > chitin. The partition coefficients in acetone-water, and the adsorption constants at equilibrium, could be linearly correlated with octanol–water partition coefficients. It is observed that natural adsorbents are good alternative for PAHs removal. Sawdust of Dalbergia sissoo, a by-product of sawmills was found to be a promising adsorbent for the removal of PAHs present in TPO. It is observed that adsorbents studied were comparable to those of some conventional adsorbents.

Keywords: Acenaphthene, anthracene, biphenyl, Coconut fiber, naphthalene, natural adsorbent, PAHs, TPO and wood powder (shisham).

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Authors: Syarifah Abd Rahim, Fatinah Ab Rahman, Engku N. E. M. Nasir, Noor A. Ramle

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Co-crystal is believed to improve the solubility and dissolution rates and thus, enhanced the bioavailability of poor water soluble drugs particularly during the oral route of administration. With the existing of poorly soluble drugs in pharmaceutical industry, the screening of co-crystal formation using carbamazepine (CBZ) as a model drug compound with dicarboxylic acids co-crystal formers (CCF) namely fumaric (FA) and succinic (SA) acids in ethanol has been studied. The co-crystal formations were studied by varying the mol ratio values of CCF to CBZ to access the effect of CCF concentration on the formation of the co-crystal. Solvent evaporation, slurry and cooling crystallization which representing the solution based method co-crystal screening were used. Based on the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis, the melting point of CBZ-SA in different ratio was in the range between 188oC-189oC. For CBZ-FA form A and CBZ-FA form B the melting point in different ratio were in the range of 174oC-175oC and 185oC-186oC respectively. The product crystal from the screening was also characterized using X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD). The XRPD pattern profile analysis has shown that the CBZ co-crystals with FA and SA were successfully formed for all ratios studied. The findings revealed that CBZ-FA co-crystal were formed in two different polymorphs. It was found that CBZ-FA form A and form B were formed from evaporation and slurry crystallization methods respectively. On the other hand, in cooling crystallization method, CBZ-FA form A was formed at lower mol ratio of CCF to CBZ and vice versa. This study disclosed that different methods and mol ratios during the co-crystal screening can affect the outcome of co-crystal produced such as polymorphic forms of co-crystal and thereof. Thus, it was suggested that careful attentions is needed during the screening since the co-crystal formation is currently one of the promising approach to be considered in research and development for pharmaceutical industry to improve the poorly soluble drugs.

Keywords: Carbamazepine, co-crystal, co-crystal former, dicarboxylic acid.

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Authors: Nadia Belu, Laurentiu M. Ionescu, Agnieszka Misztal

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In this paper we propose a computer-aided solution with Genetic Algorithms in order to reduce the drafting of reports: FMEA analysis and Control Plan required in the manufacture of the product launch and improved knowledge development teams for future projects. The solution allows to the design team to introduce data entry required to FMEA. The actual analysis is performed using Genetic Algorithms to find optimum between RPN risk factor and cost of production. A feature of Genetic Algorithms is that they are used as a means of finding solutions for multi criteria optimization problems. In our case, along with three specific FMEA risk factors is considered and reduce production cost. Analysis tool will generate final reports for all FMEA processes. The data obtained in FMEA reports are automatically integrated with other entered parameters in Control Plan. Implementation of the solution is in the form of an application running in an intranet on two servers: one containing analysis and plan generation engine and the other containing the database where the initial parameters and results are stored. The results can then be used as starting solutions in the synthesis of other projects. The solution was applied to welding processes, laser cutting and bending to manufacture chassis for buses. Advantages of the solution are efficient elaboration of documents in the current project by automatically generating reports FMEA and Control Plan using multiple criteria optimization of production and build a solid knowledge base for future projects. The solution which we propose is a cheap alternative to other solutions on the market using Open Source tools in implementation.

Keywords: Automotive industry, control plan, FMEA.

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Authors: E. Abustam, M. Yusuf, M. I. Said

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One of functional properties of the meat is decrease of water holding capacity (WHC) during rigor mortis. At the time of pre-rigor, WHC is higher than post-rigor. The decline of WHC has implication to the other functional properties such as decreased cooking lost and yields resulting in lower elasticity and compactness of processed meat product. In many cases, the addition of phosphate in the meat will increase the functional properties of the meat such as WHC. Furthermore, liquid smoke has also been known in increasing the WHC of fresh meat. For food safety reasons, liquid smoke in the present study was used as a substitute to phosphate in production of chicken nuggets. This study aimed to know the effect of substitution of phosphate with liquid smoke on the quality of nuggets made from post-rigor chicken thigh and breast. The study was arranged using completely randomized design of factorial pattern 2x3 with three replications. Factor 1 was thigh and breast parts of the chicken, and factor 2 was different levels of liquid smoke in substitution to phosphate (0%, 50%, and 100%). The thigh and breast post-rigor broiler aged 40 days were used as the main raw materials in making nuggets. Auxiliary materials instead of meat were phosphate, liquid smoke at concentration of 10%, tapioca flour, salt, eggs and ice. Variables measured were flexibility, shear force value, cooking loss, elasticity level, and preferences. The results of this study showed that the substitution of phosphate with 100% liquid smoke resulting high quality nuggets. Likewise, the breast part of the meat showed higher quality nuggets than thigh part. This is indicated by high elasticity, low shear force value, low cooking loss, and a high level of preference of the nuggets. It can be concluded that liquid smoke can be used as a binder in making nuggets of chicken post-rigor.

Keywords: Liquid smoke, nugget quality, phosphate, post-rigor.

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Authors: E. Menga, S. Hernandez

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Finite Element Models (FEMs) are widely used in order to study and predict the dynamic properties of structures and usually, the prediction can be obtained with much more accuracy in the case of a single component than in the case of assemblies. Especially for structural dynamics studies, in the low and middle frequency range, most complex FEMs can be seen as assemblies made by linear components joined together at interfaces. From a modelling and computational point of view, these types of joints can be seen as localized sources of stiffness and damping and can be modelled as lumped spring/damper elements, most of time, characterized by nonlinear constitutive laws. On the other side, most of FE programs are able to run nonlinear analysis in time-domain. They treat the whole structure as nonlinear, even if there is one nonlinear degree of freedom (DOF) out of thousands of linear ones, making the analysis unnecessarily expensive from a computational point of view. In this work, a methodology in order to obtain the nonlinear frequency response of structures, whose nonlinearities can be considered as localized sources, is presented. The work extends the well-known Structural Dynamic Modification Method (SDMM) to a nonlinear set of modifications, and allows getting the Nonlinear Frequency Response Functions (NLFRFs), through an ‘updating’ process of the Linear Frequency Response Functions (LFRFs). A brief summary of the analytical concepts is given, starting from the linear formulation and understanding what the implications of the nonlinear one, are. The response of the system is formulated in both: time and frequency domain. First the Modal Database is extracted and the linear response is calculated. Secondly the nonlinear response is obtained thru the NL SDMM, by updating the underlying linear behavior of the system. The methodology, implemented in MATLAB, has been successfully applied to estimate the nonlinear frequency response of two systems. The first one is a two DOFs spring-mass-damper system, and the second example takes into account a full aircraft FE Model. In spite of the different levels of complexity, both examples show the reliability and effectiveness of the method. The results highlight a feasible and robust procedure, which allows a quick estimation of the effect of localized nonlinearities on the dynamic behavior. The method is particularly powerful when most of the FE Model can be considered as acting linearly and the nonlinear behavior is restricted to few degrees of freedom. The procedure is very attractive from a computational point of view because the FEM needs to be run just once, which allows faster nonlinear sensitivity analysis and easier implementation of optimization procedures for the calibration of nonlinear models.

Keywords: Frequency response, nonlinear dynamics, structural dynamic modification, softening effect, rubber.

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Authors: S. Homrossukon, A. Anurathapunt

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This is an application research presenting the improvement of production quality using the six sigma solutions and the analyses of benefit-cost ratio. The case of interest is the production of tile-concrete. Such production has faced with the problem of high nonconforming products from an inappropriate surface coating and had low process capability based on the strength property of tile. Surface coating and tile strength are the most critical to quality of this product. The improvements followed five stages of six sigma solutions. After the improvement, the production yield was improved to 80% as target required and the defective products from coating process was remarkably reduced from 29.40% to 4.09%. The process capability based on the strength quality was increased from 0.87 to 1.08 as customer oriented. The improvement was able to save the materials loss for 3.24 millions baht or 0.11 million dollars. The benefits from the improvement were analyzed from (1) the reduction of the numbers of non conforming tile using its factory price for surface coating improvement and (2) the materials saved from the increment of process capability. The benefit-cost ratio of overall improvement was high as 7.03. It was non valuable investment in define, measure, analyses and the initial of improve stages after that it kept increasing. This was due to there were no benefits in define, measure, and analyze stages of six sigma since these three stages mainly determine the cause of problem and its effects rather than improve the process. The benefit-cost ratio starts existing in the improve stage and go on. Within each stage, the individual benefitcost ratio was much higher than the accumulative one as there was an accumulation of cost since the first stage of six sigma. The consideration of the benefit-cost ratio during the improvement project helps make decisions for cost saving of similar activities during the improvement and for new project. In conclusion, the determination of benefit-cost ratio behavior through out six sigma implementation period provides the useful data for managing quality improvement for the optimal effectiveness. This is the additional outcome from the regular proceeding of six sigma.

Keywords: Six Sigma Solutions, Process Improvement, QualityManagement, Benefit Cost Ratio

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Authors: Monisha Isaac

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Biotechnology is a discipline which explains the use of living organisms and systems to construct a product, or we can define it as an application or technology developed to use biological systems and organisms processes for a specific use. Particularly, it includes cells and its components use for new technologies and inventions. The tools developed can be further used in diverse fields such as agriculture, industry, research and hospitals etc. The 21^st century has seen a drastic development and advancement in biotechnology in India. Significant increase in Government of India’s outlays for biotechnology over the past decade has been observed. A sectoral break up of biotechnology-based companies in India shows that most of the companies are agriculture-based companies having interests ranging from tissue culture to biopesticides. Major attention has been given by the companies in health related activities and in environmental biotechnology. The biopharmaceutical, which comprises of vaccines, diagnostic, and recombinant products is the most reliable and largest segment of the Indian Biotech industry. India has developed its vaccine markets and supplies them to various countries. Then there are the bio-services, which mainly comprise of contract researches and manufacturing services. India has made noticeable developments in the field of bio industries including manufacturing of enzymes, biofuels and biopolymers. Biotechnology is also playing a crucial and significant role in the field of agriculture. Traditional methods have been replaced by new technologies that mainly focus on GM crops, marker assisted technologies and the use of biotechnological tools to improve the quality of fertilizers and soil. It may only be a small contributor but has shown to have huge potential for growth. Bioinformatics is a computational method which helps to store, manage, arrange and design tools to interpret the extensive data gathered through experimental trials, making it important in the design of drugs.

Keywords: Biotechnology, advancement, agriculture, bio-services, bio-industries, bio-pharmaceuticals.

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Authors: Alonggot Limcharoen, Jintana Wannarat, Vorawat Panich

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This study aims to investigate the balancing of the number of operators (Line Balancing technique) in the production line of hard disk drive components in order to increase efficiency. At present, the trend of using hard disk drives has continuously declined leading to limits in a company’s revenue potential. It is important to improve and develop the production process to create market share and to have the ability to compete with competitors with a higher value and quality. Therefore, an effective tool is needed to support such matters. In this research, the Arena program was applied to analyze the results both before and after the improvement. Finally, the precedent was used before proceeding with the real process. There were 14 work stations with 35 operators altogether in the RA production process where this study was conducted. In the actual process, the average production time was 84.03 seconds per product piece (by timing 30 times in each work station) along with a rating assessment by implementing the Westinghouse principles. This process showed that the rating was 123% underlying an assumption of 5% allowance time. Consequently, the standard time was 108.53 seconds per piece. The Takt time was calculated from customer needs divided by working duration in one day; 3.66 seconds per piece. Of these, the proper number of operators was 30 people. That meant five operators should be eliminated in order to increase the production process. After that, a production model was created from the actual process by using the Arena program to confirm model reliability; the outputs from imitation were compared with the original (actual process) and this comparison indicated that the same output meaning was reliable. Then, worker numbers and their job responsibilities were remodeled into the Arena program. Lastly, the efficiency of production process enhanced from 70.82% to 82.63% according to the target.

Keywords: Hard disk drive, line balancing, simulation, Arena program.

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Authors: I. Oikonomou, I. Lappa, D. Daferera, C. Kanakis, L. Kiokakis, K. Skordilis, A. Avramouli, E. Kalli, C. Pappas, P. A. Tarantilis, E. Skotti

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Grape seeds are waste products of wineries and often referred to as an important agricultural and industrial waste product with the potential to be used in pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic applications. In this study, grape seed oil from traditional Ionian varieties was examined for the determination of the quality and the characteristics of each variety. Initially, the fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profiles were analyzed using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, after transesterification. Furthermore, other quality parameters of the grape seed oils were determined by Spectroscopy techniques, UV-Vis and Raman included. Moreover, the antioxidant capacity of the oil was measured by 2,2'-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) and 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assays and their antioxidant capacity expressed in Trolox equivalents. K and ΔΚ indices were measured in 232, 268, 270 nm, as an oil quality index. The results indicate that the air-dried grape seed total oil content ranged from 5.26 to 8.77% w/w, which is in accordance with the other grape seed varieties tested in similar studies. The composition of grape seed oil is predominated with linoleic and oleic fatty acids, with the linoleic fatty acid ranging from 53.68 to 69.95% and both the linoleic and oleic fatty acids totaling 78-82% of FAMEs, which is analogous to the fatty acid composition of safflower oil. The antioxidant assays ABTS and DPPH scored high, exhibiting that the oils have potential in the cosmetic and culinary businesses. Above that, our results demonstrate that Ionian grape seed oils have prospects that can go further than cosmetic or culinary use, into the pharmaceuticals industry. Finally, the reclamation of grape seeds from wineries waste stream is in accordance with the bio-economy strategic framework and contributes to environmental protection.

Keywords: Antioxidant capacity, fatty acid methyl esters, grape seed oil, GC-MS.

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Authors: Syahril Ridzuan Ab Rahim, Ibrahim Ahmad, Mohd Azizi Chik, Ahmad Zafir Md. Rejab, and U. Hashim

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This research presents the development of simulation modeling for WIP management in semiconductor fabrication. Manufacturing simulation modeling is needed for productivity optimization analysis due to the complex process flows involved more than 35 percent re-entrance processing steps more than 15 times at same equipment. Furthermore, semiconductor fabrication required to produce high product mixed with total processing steps varies from 300 to 800 steps and cycle time between 30 to 70 days. Besides the complexity, expansive wafer cost that potentially impact the company profits margin once miss due date is another motivation to explore options to experiment any analysis using simulation modeling. In this paper, the simulation model is developed using existing commercial software platform AutoSched AP, with customized integration with Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and Advanced Productivity Family (APF) for data collections used to configure the model parameters and data source. Model parameters such as processing steps cycle time, equipment performance, handling time, efficiency of operator are collected through this customization. Once the parameters are validated, few customizations are made to ensure the prior model is executed. The accuracy for the simulation model is validated with the actual output per day for all equipments. The comparison analysis from result of the simulation model compared to actual for achieved 95 percent accuracy for 30 days. This model later was used to perform various what if analysis to understand impacts on cycle time and overall output. By using this simulation model, complex manufacturing environment like semiconductor fabrication (fab) now have alternative source of validation for any new requirements impact analysis.

Keywords: Advanced Productivity Family (APF), Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS), Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), Work In Progress (WIP).

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Authors: Bujar Ismaili, Bahti Ismajli, Venhar Ismaili, Skender Ramadani

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In Kosovo, the problem with the electricity supply is huge and it does not meet the demands of consumers. Older thermal power plants, which are regarded as big environmental polluters, produce most of the energy. Our experiment is based on the production of electricity using the closed method that does not affect environmental pollution by using waste as fuel that is considered to pollute the environment. The experiment was carried out in the village of Godanc, municipality of Shtime, Kosovo. In the experiment, a production line based on the production of electricity and central heating was designed at the same time. The results are the benefits of electricity as well as the release of temperature for heating with minimal expenses and with the release of 0% gases into the atmosphere. During this experiment, coal, plastic, waste from wood processing, and agricultural wastes were used as raw materials. The method utilized in the experiment allows for the release of gas through pipes and filters during the top-to-bottom combustion of the raw material in the boiler, followed by the method of gas filtration from waste wood processing (sawdust). During this process, the final product, gas, is obtained. This gas passes through the carburetor, enabling the combustion process to put the internal combustion machine and the generator into operation and produce electricity that does not release gases into the atmosphere. The results show that the system provides energy stability without environmental pollution from toxic substances and waste, as well as with low production costs. From the final results, it follows that, in the case of using coal fuel, we have benefited from more electricity and higher temperature release, followed by plastic waste, which also gave good results. The results obtained during these experiments prove that the current problems of lack of electricity and heating can be met at a lower cost and have a clean environment and waste management.

Keywords: Energy, heating, atmosphere, waste management, gasification.

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Authors: S. A. Razavi Alavi, M. Torabi Angaji, Z. Gholami

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In the process of polyethylene extrusion polymer material similar to powder or granule is under compression, melting and transmission operation and on base of special form, extrudate has been produced. Twin-screw extruders are applicable in industries because of their high capacity. The powder mixing with chemical additives and melting with thermal and mechanical energy in three zones (feed, compression and metering zone) and because of gear pump and screw's pressure, converting to final product in latest plate. Extruders with twin-screw and short distance between screws are better than other types because of their high capacity and good thermal and mechanical stress. In this paper, process of polyethylene extrusion and various tapes of extruders are studied. It is necessary to have an exact control on process to producing high quality products with safe operation and optimum energy consumption. The granule size is depending on granulator motor speed. Results show at constant feed rate a decrease in granule size was found whit Increase in motor speed. Relationships between HDPE feed rate and speed of granulator motor, main motor and gear pump are calculated following as: x = HDPE feed flow rate, yM = Main motor speed yM = (-3.6076e-3) x^4+ (0.24597) x^3+ (-5.49003) x^2+ (64.22092) x+61.66786 (1) x = HDPE feed flow rate, yG = Gear pump speed yG = (-2.4996e-3) x^4+ (0.18018) x^3+ (-4.22794) x^2+ (48.45536) x+18.78880 (2) x = HDPE feed flow rate, y = Granulator motor speed 10th Degree Polynomial Fit: y = a+bx+cx^2+dx^3... (3) a = 1.2751, b = 282.4655, c = -165.2098, d = 48.3106, e = -8.18715, f = 0.84997 g = -0.056094, h = 0.002358, i = -6.11816e-5 j = 8.919726e-7, k = -5.59050e-9

Keywords: Extrusion, Extruder, Granule, HDPE, Polymer, Twin-Screw extruder.

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Authors: M. J. Baum, B. Gibbes, A. Grinham, S. Albert, D. Gale, P. Fisher

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Alongside the rapid expansion of Seawater Reverse Osmosis technologies there is a concurrent increase in the production of hypersaline brine by-products. To minimize environmental impact, these by-products are commonly disposed into open-coastal environments via submerged diffuser systems as inclined dense jet outfalls. Despite the widespread implementation of this process, diffuser designs are typically based on small-scale laboratory experiments under idealistic quiescent conditions. Studies concerning diffuser performance in the field are limited. A set of experiments were conducted to assess the near field characteristics of brine disposal at the Gold Coast Desalination Plant offshore multiport diffuser. The aim of the field experiments was to determine the trajectory and dilution characteristics of the plume under various discharge configurations with production ranging 66 – 100% of plant operative capacity. The field monitoring system employed an unprecedented static array of temperature and electrical conductivity sensors in a three-dimensional grid surrounding a single diffuser port. Complimenting these measurements, Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers were also deployed to record current variability over the depth of the water column and wave characteristics. Recorded data suggested the open-coastal environment was highly active over the experimental duration with ambient velocities ranging 0.0 – 0.5 m∙s^-1, with considerable variability over the depth of the water column observed. Variations in background electrical conductivity corresponding to salinity fluctuations of ± 1.7 g∙kg^-1 were also observed. Increases in salinity were detected during plant operation and appeared to be most pronounced 10 – 30 m from the diffuser, consistent with trajectory predictions described by existing literature. Plume trajectories and respective dilutions extrapolated from salinity data are compared with empirical scaling arguments. Discharge properties were found to adequately correlate with modelling projections. Temporal and spatial variation of background processes and their subsequent influence upon discharge outcomes are discussed with a view to incorporating the influence of waves and ambient currents in the design of brine outfalls into the future.

Keywords: Brine disposal, desalination, field study, inclined dense jets, negatively buoyant discharge.

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Authors: Pradeep Kulshrestha, Maulana Ayoub Ali

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The concept of financial inclusion has been tabled in the whole world where practitioners, academicians, policy makers and economists are working hard to look for the best possible opportunities in order to enable the whole society to be in the banking cycle. The Islamic banking system is considered to be one of the said opportunities. Countries like the United Kingdom, United States of America, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, the whole of the United Arab Emirates and many African countries have accommodated the aspect of Islamic banking in the conventional banking system as one of the financial inclusion strategies. This paper tries to analyse the current state of affairs of the Islamic Banking system in Tanzania in order to understand the improvement of the provision of Islamic banking products and services in the said country. The paper discusses the historical background of the banking system in Tanzania, the level of penetration of banking products and services and the coming of the Islamic banking system in the country. Furthermore, the paper discusses banking regulatory bodies, legal instruments governing banking operations as well as number of legal challenges facing Islamic banking operations in the country. Following a critical literature review, the paper discovered that there is no legal instrument which talks about the introduction and provision of Islamic banking system in Tanzania. Furthermore, the Islamic banking system was considered as a banking product which is absolutely incorrect because Islamic banking is considered to be as a banking system of its own. In addition to that, it has been discovered that lack of a proper regulatory system and legal instruments to harmonize the conventional and Islamic banking systems has resulted in the closure of one Islamic window in the country, which in the end affects the credibility of the newly introduced banking system. In its conclusive remarks, the paper suggests that Tanzania should work on all legal challenges affecting the smooth operations of the Islamic banking system. This can be in a way of adopting various Islamic banking legal models which are used in countries like Malaysia and others, or a borrowing legal harmonization process which has been adopted by the UK, Uganda, Nigeria and Kenya.

Keywords: Islamic banking, Islamic Windows, regulations, banks.

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Authors: Beata Ślusarczyk, Sebastian Kot

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In subjective terms, Polish SME sector occupies a prominent position in the national economic development, in which planning of the management strategies should be primarily based on identifying and meeting the innovation needs. As a research sample, there is chosen a printing sector of industry. SMEs share in printing sector in Poland is estimated at the level of 81% of all enterprises. In recent years, the printing industry achieved one of the highest levels of EU support in Poland. There is a relatively high increase in the development of technological innovations in equipment and the associated significant increase in production capacity. It can be also noticed that on average, every third enterprise belonging to the printing industry has implemented innovations, but not all of them effected in better economic results. Therefore, the aim of this article is to evaluate the impact of the implementation of innovation projects financed from the EU funds for performance of SMEs in the printing industry. As the results of research of EU funds co-financing effects on the development of innovation in the printing industry, it was specified that examined SMEs prefer to implement product innovation to receive a grant to the project at a level between 40% to 60%, the remaining part of the investment is usually covered with equity. The most common type of innovation had indicated a single implementation, related only to the change in process, technology, or organization. The relationship between variables of the EU funds and management of innovative activities was verified. It has been observed that the identified variables arising from the support in a form of the EU funds had a positive effect on the level of earned revenue, the increase in margin and in increase in employment as well. It was confirmed that the implemented innovations supported by the European funds have a positive impact on the performance of the printing companies. Although there is a risk that due to the decreasing demand for printing services such a high level of funding the companies in this sector will significantly increase competition in the long term, that may also contribute to the economic problems of the enterprises belonging to the analyzed branch.

Keywords: Innovations, SMEs, performance, results.

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Authors: M. H. Arslan, U. K. Sahin, H. Acikgoz-Tufan, I. Gocek, I. Erdem

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Various exterior factors have perpetual effects on textile materials during wear, use and laundering in everyday life. In accordance with their frequency of use, textile materials are required to be laundered at certain intervals. The medium in which the laundering process takes place have inevitable detrimental physical and chemical effects on textile materials caused by the unique parameters of the process inherently existing. Connatural structures of various textile materials result in many different physical, chemical and mechanical characteristics. Because of their specific structures, these materials have different behaviors against several exterior factors. By modeling the behavior of commercial and test textiles as group-wise against laundering process, it is possible to disclose the relation in between these two groups of materials, which will lead to better understanding of their behaviors in terms of similarities and differences against the washing parameters of the laundering. Thus, the goal of the current research is to examine the behavior of two groups of textile materials as commercial textiles and as test textiles towards the main washing machine parameters during laundering process such as temperature, load quantity, mechanical action and level of water amount by concentrating on shrinkage, pilling, sewing defects, collar abrasion, the other defects other than sewing, whitening and overall properties of textiles. In this study, cotton fabrics were preferred as commercial textiles due to the fact that garments made of cotton are the most demanded products in the market by the textile consumers in daily life. Full factorial experimental set-up was used to design the experimental procedure. All profiles always including all of the commercial and the test textiles were laundered for 20 cycles by commercial home laundering machine to investigate the effects of the chosen parameters. For the laundering process, a modified version of ‘‘IEC 60456 Test Method’’ was utilized. The amount of detergent was altered as 0.5% gram per liter depending on varying load quantity levels. Datacolor 650®, EMPA Photographic Standards for Pilling Test and visual examination were utilized to test and characterize the textiles. Furthermore, in the current study the relation in between commercial and test textiles in terms of their performance was deeply investigated by the help of statistical analysis performed by MINITAB® package program modeling their behavior against the parameters of the laundering process. In the experimental work, the behaviors of both groups of textiles towards washing machine parameters were visually and quantitatively assessed in dry state.

Keywords: Behavior against washing machine parameters, performance evaluation of textiles, statistical analysis, commercial and test textiles.

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Authors: Krasimira Georgieva, Yordan Denev

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Many of thermosetting resins have application only in filled state, reinforced with different mineral fillers. The co-filling of polymers with mineral filler and gases creates a possibility for production of polymer composites materials with low density. This processing leads to forming of new materials – gas-filled plastics (polymer foams). The properties of these materials are determined mainly by the shape and size of internal structural elements (pores). The interactions on the phase boundaries have influence on the materials properties too. In the present work, the gas-filled urea-formaldehyde resins were reinforced by waste phosphogypsum. The waste phosphogypsum (CaSO₄.2H₂O) is a solid by-product in wet phosphoric acid production processes. The values of the interactions polymer-filler were increased by using two modifying agents: polyvinyl acetate for polymer matrix and sodium metasilicate for filler. Technological methods for gas-filling and recipes of urea-formaldehyde based materials with apparent density 20-120 kg/m³ were developed. The heat conductivity of the samples is between 0.024 and 0.029 W/m^oK. Tensile analyses were carried out at 10 and 50% deformation and show values 0.01-0.14 MPa and 0.01-0.09 MPa, respectively. The apparent density of obtained materials is between 20 and 92 kg/m³. The changes in the tensile properties and density of these materials according to sodium metasilicate content were studied too. The mechanism of phosphogypsum adsorption modification was studied using methods of FT-IR spectroscopy. The structure of the gas-filled urea-formaldehyde resins was described by results of electron scanning microscopy at three different magnification ratios – x50, x150 and x 500. The aim of present work is to study the possibility of the usage of phosphogypsum as mineral filler for urea-formaldehyde resins and development of a technology for the production of gas-filled reinforced polymer composite materials. The structure and the properties of obtained composite materials are suitable for thermal and sound insulation applications.

Keywords: Gas-filled thermosets, mechanical properties, phosphogypsum, urea-formaldehyde resins.

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Authors: Thella Babu Rao, A. Gopala Krishna

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This investigation presents the formulation of kerf (width of slit) and optimal control parameter settings of wire electrochemical discharge machining which results minimum possible kerf while machining Al7075/SiCp MMCs. WEDM is proved its efficiency and effectiveness to cut the hard ceramic reinforced MMCs within the permissible budget. Among the distinct performance measures of WEDM process, kerf is an important performance characteristic which determines the dimensional accuracy of the machined component while producing high precision components. The lack of available of the machinability information such advanced MMCs result the more experimentation in the manufacturing industries. Therefore, extensive experimental investigations are essential to provide the database of effect of various control parameters on the kerf while machining such advanced MMCs in WEDM. Literature reviled the significance some of the electrical parameters which are prominent on kerf for machining distinct conventional materials. However, the significance of reinforced particulate size and volume fraction on kerf is highlighted in this work while machining MMCs along with the machining parameters of pulse-on time, pulse-off time and wire tension. Usually, the dimensional tolerances of machined components are decided at the design stage and a machinist pay attention to produce the required dimensional tolerances by setting appropriate machining control variables. However, it is highly difficult to determine the optimal machining settings for such advanced materials on the shop floor. Therefore, in the view of precision of cut, kerf (cutting width) is considered as the measure of performance for the model. It was found from the literature that, the machining conditions of higher fractions of large size SiCp resulting less kerf where as high values of pulse-on time result in a high kerf. A response surface model is used to predict the relative significance of various control variables on kerf. Consequently, a powerful artificial intelligence called genetic algorithms (GA) is used to determine the best combination of the control variable settings. In the next step the conformation test was conducted for the optimal parameter settings and found good agreement between the GA kerf and measured kerf. Hence, it is clearly reveal that the effectiveness and accuracy of the developed model and program to analyze the kerf and to determine its optimal process parameters. The results obtained in this work states that, the resulted optimized parameters are capable of machining the Al7075/SiCp MMCs more efficiently and with better dimensional accuracy.

Keywords: Al7075SiCP MMC, kerf, WEDM, optimization.

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Authors: R. Abdulrahman, A. Eardley, A. Soliman

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The proliferation in the development of mobile learning (m-learning) has played a vital role in the rapidly growing electronic learning market. This relatively new technology can help to encourage the development of in learning and to aid knowledge transfer a number of areas, by familiarizing students with innovative information and communications technologies (ICT). M-learning plays a substantial role in the deployment of learning methods for nursing students by using the Internet and portable devices to access learning resources ‘anytime and anywhere’. However, acceptance of m-learning by students is critical to the successful use of m-learning systems. Thus, there is a need to study the factors that influence student’s intention to use m-learning. This paper addresses this issue. It outlines the outcomes of a study that evaluates the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model as applied to the subject of user acceptance in relation to m-learning activity in nurse education. The model integrates the significant components across eight prominent user acceptance models. Therefore, a standard measure is introduced with core determinants of user behavioural intention. The research model extends the UTAUT in the context of m-learning acceptance by modifying and adding individual innovativeness (II) and quality of service (QoS) to the original structure of UTAUT. The paper goes on to add the factors of previous experience (of using mobile devices in similar applications) and the nursing students’ readiness (to use the technology) to influence their behavioural intentions to use m-learning. This study uses a technique called ‘convenience sampling’ which involves student volunteers as participants in order to collect numerical data. A quantitative method of data collection was selected and involves an online survey using a questionnaire form. This form contains 33 questions to measure the six constructs, using a 5-point Likert scale. A total of 42 respondents participated, all from the Nursing Institute at the Armed Forces Hospital in Saudi Arabia. The gathered data were then tested using a research model that employs the structural equation modelling (SEM), including confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The results of the CFA show that the UTAUT model has the ability to predict student behavioural intention and to adapt m-learning activity to the specific learning activities. It also demonstrates satisfactory, dependable and valid scales of the model constructs. This suggests further analysis to confirm the model as a valuable instrument in order to evaluate the user acceptance of m-learning activity.

Keywords: Mobile learning, nursing institute, unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model.

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Authors: T. Garlan, I. Gabelotaud, S. Lucas, E. Marchès

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Production of a global sedimentological seabed map has been initiated in 1995 to provide the necessary tool for searches of aircraft and boats lost at sea, to give sedimentary information for nautical charts, and to provide input data for acoustic propagation modelling. This original approach had already been initiated one century ago when the French hydrographic service and the University of Nancy had produced maps of the distribution of marine sediments of the French coasts and then sediment maps of the continental shelves of Europe and North America. The current map of the sediment of oceans presented was initiated with a UNESCO's general map of the deep ocean floor. This map was adapted using a unique sediment classification to present all types of sediments: from beaches to the deep seabed and from glacial deposits to tropical sediments. In order to allow good visualization and to be adapted to the different applications, only the granularity of sediments is represented. The published seabed maps are studied, if they present an interest, the nature of the seabed is extracted from them, the sediment classification is transcribed and the resulted map is integrated in the world map. Data come also from interpretations of Multibeam Echo Sounder (MES) imagery of large hydrographic surveys of deep-ocean. These allow a very high-quality mapping of areas that until then were represented as homogeneous. The third and principal source of data comes from the integration of regional maps produced specifically for this project. These regional maps are carried out using all the bathymetric and sedimentary data of a region. This step makes it possible to produce a regional synthesis map, with the realization of generalizations in the case of over-precise data. 86 regional maps of the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Indian Ocean have been produced and integrated into the world sedimentary map. This work is permanent and permits a digital version every two years, with the integration of some new maps. This article describes the choices made in terms of sediment classification, the scale of source data and the zonation of the variability of the quality. This map is the final step in a system comprising the Shom Sedimentary Database, enriched by more than one million punctual and surface items of data, and four series of coastal seabed maps at 1:10,000, 1:50,000, 1:200,000 and 1:1,000,000. This step by step approach makes it possible to take into account the progresses in knowledge made in the field of seabed characterization during the last decades. Thus, the arrival of new classification systems for seafloor has improved the recent seabed maps, and the compilation of these new maps with those previously published allows a gradual enrichment of the world sedimentary map. But there is still a lot of work to enhance some regions, which are still based on data acquired more than half a century ago.

Keywords: Marine sedimentology, seabed map, sediment classification, World Ocean.

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Authors: Alemayehu Agizew Woldeamanuel, Mekonnen Maschal Tarekegn, Raj Mohan Balakrishina

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Composting is one of the conventional techniques adopted for organic waste management but the practice is very limited in emerging cities despite that most of the waste generated is organic. This paper aims to examine the viability of composting for organic waste management in the emerging city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia by addressing the composting practice, quality of compost and application of compost in urban agriculture. The study collects data using compost laboratory testing and urban farm households’ survey and uses descriptive analysis on the state of compost production and application, physicochemical analysis of the compost samples, and regression analysis on the urban farmer’s willingness to pay for compost. The findings of the study indicated that there is composting practice at a small scale, most of the producers use unsorted feedstock materials, aerobic composting is dominantly used and the maturation period ranged from four to 10 weeks. The carbon content of the compost ranges from 30.8 to 277.1 due to the type of feedstock applied and this surpasses the ideal proportions for C:N ratio. The total nitrogen, pH, organic matter and moisture content are relatively optimal. The levels of heavy metals measured for Mn, Cu, Pb, Cd and Cr6+ in the compost samples are also insignificant. In the urban agriculture sector, chemical fertilizer is the dominant type of soil input in crop productions but vegetable producers use a combination of both fertilizer and other organic inputs including compost. The willingness to pay for compost depends on income, household size, gender, type of soil inputs, monitoring soil fertility, the main product of the farm, farming method and farm ownership. Finally, this study recommends the need for collaboration among stakeholders along the value chain of waste, awareness creation on the benefits of composting and addressing challenges faced by both compost producers and users.

Keywords: Composting, emerging city, organic waste management, urban agriculture.

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Authors: I. Székács, Á. Fejes, S. Klátyik, E. Takács, D. Patkó, J. Pomóthy, M. Mörtl, R. Horváth, E. Madarász, B. Darvas, A. Székács

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Environmental and toxicological characteristics of formulated pesticides may substantially differ from those of their active ingredients or other components alone. This phenomenon is demonstrated in the case of the herbicide active ingredient glyphosate. Due to its extensive application, this active ingredient was found in surface and ground water samples collected in Békés County, Hungary, in the concentration range of 0.54–0.98 ng/ml. The occurrence of glyphosate appeared to be somewhat higher at areas under intensive agriculture, industrial activities and public road services, but the compound was detected at areas under organic (ecological) farming or natural grasslands, indicating environmental mobility. Increased toxicity of the formulated herbicide product Roundup compared to that of glyphosate was observed on the indicator aquatic organism Daphnia magna Straus. Acute LC₅₀ values of Roundup and its formulating adjuvant polyethoxylated tallowamine (POEA) exceeded 20 and 3.1 mg/ml, respectively, while that of glyphosate (as isopropyl salt) was found to be substantially lower (690-900 mg/ml) showing good agreement with literature data. Cytotoxicity of Roundup, POEA and glyphosate has been determined on the neuroectodermal cell line, NE-4C measured both by cell viability test and holographic microscopy. Acute toxicity (LC₅₀) of Roundup, POEA and glyphosate on NE-4C cells was found to be 0.013±0.002%, 0.017±0.009% and 6.46±2.25%, respectively (in equivalents of diluted Roundup solution), corresponding to 0.022±0.003 and 53.1±18.5 mg/ml for POEA and glyphosate, respectively, indicating no statistical difference between Roundup and POEA and 2.5 orders of magnitude difference between these and glyphosate. The same order of cellular toxicity seen in average cell area has been indicated under quantitative cell visualization. The results indicate that toxicity of the formulated herbicide is caused by the formulating agent, but in some parameters toxicological synergy occurs between POEA and glyphosate.

Keywords: Glyphosate, polyethoxylated tallowamine, Roundup, combined aquatic and cellular toxicity, synergy.

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Authors: Daisy Biswas, Samar Kanti Bose, M. Mozaffar Hossain

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The development of value added composite products from bamboo with the application of gluing technology can play a vital role in economic development and also in forest resource conservation of any country. In this study, the gluability of Bambusa balcooa and Bambusa vulgaris, two locally grown bamboo species of Bangladesh was assessed. As the culm wall thickness of bamboos decreases from bottom to top, a culm portion of up to 5.4 m and 3.6 m were used from the base of B. balcooa and B. vulgaris, respectively, to get rectangular strips of uniform thickness. The color of the B. vulgaris strips was yellowish brown and that of B. balcooa was reddish brown. The strips were treated in borax-boric, bleaching and carbonization for extending the service life of the laminates. The preservative treatments changed the color of the strips. Borax–boric acid treated strips were reddish brown. When bleached with hydrogen peroxide, the color of the strips turned into whitish yellow. Carbonization produced dark brownish strips having coffee flavor. Chemical constituents for untreated and treated strips were determined. B. vulgaris was more acidic than B. balcooa. Then the treated strips were used to develop three-layered bamboo laminated panel. Urea formaldehyde (UF) and polyvinyl acetate (PVA) were used as binder. The shear strength and abrasive resistance of the panel were evaluated. It was found that the shear strength of the UF-panel was higher than the PVA-panel for all treatments. Between the species, gluability of B. vulgaris was better and in some cases better than hardwood species. The abrasive resistance of B. balcooa is slightly higher than B. vulgaris; however, the latter was preferred as it showed well gluability. The panels could be used as structural panel, floor tiles, flat pack furniture component, and wall panel etc. However, further research on durability and creep behavior of the product in service condition is warranted.

Keywords: Bambusa balcooa, Bambusa vulgaris, polyvinyl acetate, urea formaldehyde.

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Authors: Rahma Fitriani, Eni Sumarminingsih, Suci Astutik

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In a fast growing region, conversion of agricultural lands which are surrounded by some new development sites will occur sooner than expected. This phenomenon has been experienced by many regions in Indonesia, especially the fringe of Jakarta (BoDeTaBek). Being Indonesia’s capital city, rapid conversion of land in this area is an unavoidable process. The land conversion expands spatially into the fringe regions, which were initially dominated by agricultural land or conservation sites. Without proper control or growth management, this activity will invite greater costs than benefits. The current land use is the use which maximizes its value. In order to maintain land for agricultural activity or conservation, some efforts are needed to keep the land value of this activity as high as possible. In this case, the knowledge regarding the functional relationship between land value and its driving forces is necessary. In a fast growing region, development externalities are the assumed dominant driving force. Land value is the product of the past decision of its use leading to its value. It is also affected by the local characteristics and the observed surrounded land use (externalities) from the previous period. The effect of each factor on land value has dynamic and spatial virtues; an empirical spatial dynamic land value model will be more useful to capture them. The model will be useful to test and to estimate the extent of land use externalities on land value in the short run as well as in the long run. It serves as a basis to formulate an effective urban growth management’s policy. This study will apply the model to the case of land value in the fringe of Jakarta Metropolitan. The model will be used further to predict the effect of externalities on land value, in the form of prediction map. For the case of Jakarta’s fringe, there is some evidence about the significance of neighborhood urban activity – negative externalities, the previous land value and local accessibility on land value. The effects are accumulated dynamically over years, but they will fully affect the land value after six years.

Keywords: Growth management, land use externalities, land value, spatial panel dynamic.

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