Abstract: The polymer foil used for manufacturing of
laminated glass members behaves in a viscoelastic manner with
temperature dependance. This contribution aims at incorporating
the time/temperature-dependent behavior of interlayer to our earlier
elastic finite element model for laminated glass beams. The model
is based on a refined beam theory: each layer behaves according
to the finite-strain shear deformable formulation by Reissner and
the adjacent layers are connected via the Lagrange multipliers
ensuring the inter-layer compatibility of a laminated unit. The
time/temperature-dependent behavior of the interlayer is accounted
for by the generalized Maxwell model and by the time-temperature
superposition principle due to the Williams, Landel, and Ferry.
The resulting system is solved by the Newton method with
consistent linearization and the viscoelastic response is determined
incrementally by the exponential algorithm. By comparing the model
predictions against available experimental data, we demonstrate that
the proposed formulation is reliable and accurately reproduces the
behavior of the laminated glass units.
Abstract: Waste load allocation (WLA) policies may use multiobjective
optimization methods to find the most appropriate and
sustainable solutions. These usually intend to simultaneously
minimize two criteria, total abatement costs (TC) and environmental
violations (EV). If other criteria, such as inequity, need for
minimization as well, it requires introducing more binary
optimizations through different scenarios. In order to reduce the
calculation steps, this study presents value index as an innovative
decision making approach. Since the value index contains both the
environmental violation and treatment costs, it can be maximized
simultaneously with the equity index. It implies that the definition of
different scenarios for environmental violations is no longer required.
Furthermore, the solution is not necessarily the point with minimized
total costs or environmental violations. This idea is testified for Haraz
River, in north of Iran. Here, the dissolved oxygen (DO) level of river
is simulated by Streeter-Phelps equation in MATLAB software. The
WLA is determined for fish farms using multi-objective particle
swarm optimization (MOPSO) in two scenarios. At first, the trade-off
curves of TC-EV and TC-Inequity are plotted separately as the
conventional approach. In the second, the Value-Equity curve is
derived. The comparative results show that the solutions are in a
similar range of inequity with lower total costs. This is due to the
freedom of environmental violation attained in value index. As a
result, the conventional approach can well be replaced by the value
index particularly for problems optimizing these objectives. This
reduces the process to achieve the best solutions and may find better
classification for scenario definition. It is also concluded that decision
makers are better to focus on value index and weighting its contents
to find the most sustainable alternatives based on their requirements.
Abstract: Channel sections are widely used in practice as beams.
However, design rules for eccentrically loaded (not through shear
center) beams with channel cross- sections are not available in
Eurocode 3. This paper compares the ultimate loads based on the
adjusted design rules for lateral torsional buckling of eccentrically
loaded channel beams in bending to the ultimate loads obtained with
Finite Element (FE) simulations on the basis of a parameter study.
Based on the proposed design rule, this study has led to a new design
rule which conforms to Eurocode 3.
Abstract: In this research article of modeling Underwater
Wireless Sensor Network Simulators, we provide a comprehensive
overview of the various currently available simulators used in UWSN
modeling. In this work, we compare their working environment,
software platform, simulation language, key features, limitations and
corresponding applications. Based on extensive experimentation and
performance analysis, we provide their efficiency for specific
applications. We have also provided guidelines for developing
protocols in different layers of the protocol stack, and finally these
parameters are also compared and tabulated. This analysis is
significant for researchers and designers to find the right simulator
for their research activities.
Abstract: A field study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of
safflower plant for phytoremediation of contaminated soils. The
experiment was performed on an agricultural fields contaminated by
the Non-Ferrous-Metal Works near Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Field
experiments with randomized complete block design with five
treatments (control, compost amendments added at 20 and 40 t/daa,
and vermicompost amendments added at 20 and 40 t/daa) were
carried out. The quality of safflower seeds and oil (heavy metals and
fatty acid composition) were determined. Tested organic amendments
significantly influenced the chemical composition of safflower seeds
and oil. The compost and vermicompost treatments significantly
reduced heavy metals concentration in safflower seeds and oils, but
the effect differed among them. Addition of vermicompost and
compost leads to an increase in the content of palmitic acid and
linoleic acid, and a decrease in the stearic and oleic acids compared
with the control. A significant increase in the quantity of saturated
acids was observed in the variants with 20 t/daa of compost and 20
t/daa of vermicompost (9.1 and 8.9% relative to the control).
Safflower is a plant which is tolerant to heavy metals and can be
successfully used in the phytoremediation of heavy metal
contaminated soils. The processing of seeds to oil and using the
obtained oil for nutritional purposes will greatly reduce the cost of
phytoremediation.
Abstract: The secondary alloy A226 is used for many
automotive casting produced by mould casting and high pressure die
casting. This alloy has excellent castability, good mechanical
properties and cost-effectiveness. Production of primary aluminium
alloys belong to heavy source fouling of life environs. The European
Union calls for the emission reduction and reduction in energy
consumption therefore increase production of recycled (secondary)
aluminium cast alloys. The contribution is deal with influence of
recycling on the quality of the casting made from A226 in automotive
industry. The properties of the casting made from secondary
aluminium alloys were compared with the required properties of
primary aluminium alloys. The effect of recycling on microstructure
was observed using combination different analytical techniques (light
microscopy upon black-white etching, scanning electron microscopy
- SEM upon deep etching and energy dispersive X-ray analysis -
EDX). These techniques were used for the identification of the
various structure parameters, which was used to compare secondary
alloy microstructure with primary alloy microstructure.
Abstract: Many factors influence the educational outcome of
students. Some of these have been studied by researchers with many
emphasizing the role of students, schools, governments, peer groups
and so on. More often than not, some of these factors influencing the
academic achievement of the students have been traced back to
parents and family; being the primary platform on which learning not
only begins but is nurtured, encouraged and developed which later
transforms to the performance of the students. This study not only
explores parental and related factors that predict academic
achievement through the review of relevant literatures but also,
investigates the influence of parental background on the academic
achievement of senior secondary school students in Ibadan North
Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria. As one of the criteria
of the quality of education, students’ academic achievement was
investigated because it is most often cited as an indicator of school
effectiveness by school authorities and educationists. The data
collection was done through interviews and use of well-structured
questionnaires administered to one hundred students (100) within the
target local government. This was statistically analysed and the result
showed that parents’ attitudes towards their children’s education had
significant effect(s) on students’ self-reporting of academic
achievement. However, such factors as parental education and socioeconomic
background had no significant relationship with the
students’ self-reporting of academic achievement.
Abstract: The iron environment in Fe-doped Vycor Anode was
investigated with EXAFS using Brookhaven Synchrotron Light
Source. The iron-reducing Shewanella oneidensis culture was grown
in a microbial fuel cell under anaerobic respiration. The Fe bond
length was found to decrease and correlate with the amount of
biofilm growth on the Fe-doped Vycor Anode. The data suggests that
Fe-doped Vycor Anode would be a good substrate to study the
Shewanella oneidensis nanowire structure using EXAFS.
Abstract: The arsenic and iron environments in different growth
stages have been studied with EXAFS and XANES using
Brookhaven Synchrotron Light Source. Collard Greens plants were
grown and tissue samples were harvested. The project studied the
EXAFS and XANES of tissue samples using As and Fe K-edges. The
Fe absorption and the Fourier transform bond length information
were used as a control comparison. The Fourier transform of the
XAFS data revealed the coexistence of As (III) and As (V) in the As
bonding environment inside the studied plant tissue samples,
although the soil only had As (III). The data suggests that Collard
Greens has a novel pathway to handle arsenic absorption in soil.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present the concept of an
agile enterprise model and to initiate discussion on the research
assumptions of the model presented. The implementation of the
research project "The agility of enterprises in the process of adapting
to the environment and its changes" began in August 2014 and is
planned to last three years. The article has the form of a work-inprogress
paper which aims to verify and initiate a debate over the
proposed research model. In the literature there are very few
publications relating to research into agility; it can be concluded that
the most controversial issue in this regard is the method of measuring
agility. In previous studies the operationalization of agility was often
fragmentary, focusing only on selected areas of agility, for example
manufacturing, or analysing only selected sectors. As a result the
measures created to date can only be treated as contributory to the
development of precise measurement tools. This research project
aims to fill a cognitive gap in the literature with regard to the
conceptualization and operationalization of an agile company. Thus,
the original contribution of the author of this project is the
construction of a theoretical model that integrates manufacturing
agility (consisting mainly in adaptation to the environment) and
strategic agility (based on proactive measures). The author of this
research project is primarily interested in the attributes of an agile
enterprise which indicate that the company is able to rapidly adapt to
changing circumstances and behave pro-actively.
Abstract: Edge is variation of brightness in an image. Edge
detection is useful in many application areas such as finding forests,
rivers from a satellite image, detecting broken bone in a medical
image etc. The paper discusses about finding edge of multiple aerial
images in parallel. The proposed work tested on 38 images 37
colored and one monochrome image. The time taken to process N
images in parallel is equivalent to time taken to process 1 image in
sequential. Message Passing Interface (MPI) and Open Computing
Language (OpenCL) is used to achieve task and pixel level
parallelism respectively.
Abstract: This work studied the isomerization of 1-butene over
hydrotalcite catalyst. The experiments were conducted at various gas
hourly space velocity (GHSV), reaction temperature and feed
concentration. No catalyst deactivation was observed over the
reaction time of 16 hours. Two major reaction products were trans-2-
butene and cis-2-butene. The reaction temperature played an
important role on the reaction selectivity. At high operating
temperatures, the selectivity of trans-2-butene was higher than the
selectivity of cis-2-butene while it was opposite at lower reaction
temperature. In the range of operating condition, the maximum
conversion of 1-butene was found at 74% when T = 673 K and GHSV
= 4 m3/h/kg-cat with trans- and cis-2-butene selectivities of 54% and
46%, respectively. Finally, the kinetic parameters of the reaction
were determined.
Abstract: The atmospheres in many cities along the coastal lines
in the world have been rapidly changed to coastal-industrial
atmosphere. Hence, it is vital to investigate the corrosion behavior of
steel exposed to this kind of environment. In this present study,
Electrochemical Impedance Spectrography (EIS) and film thickness
measurement were applied to monitor the corrosion behavior of
weathering steel covered with a thin layer of the electrolyte in a
wet-dry cyclic condition, simulating a coastal-industrial environment
at 25oC and 60% RH. The results indicate that in all cycles, the
corrosion rate increases during the drying process due to an increase in
anion concentration and an acceleration of oxygen diffusion enhanced
by the effect of the thinning out of the electrolyte. During the wet-dry
cyclic corrosion test, the long-term corrosion behavior of this steel
depends on the periods of exposure. Corrosion process is first
accelerated and then decelerated. The decelerating corrosion process is
contributed to the formation of the protective rust, favored by the
wet-dry cycle and the acid regeneration process during the rusting
process.
Abstract: In this work, we explore the capability of the mean
shift algorithm as a powerful preprocessing tool for improving the
quality of spatial data, acquired from airborne scanners, from densely
built urban areas. On one hand, high resolution image data corrupted
by noise caused by lossy compression techniques are appropriately
smoothed while at the same time preserving the optical edges and, on
the other, low resolution LiDAR data in the form of normalized
Digital Surface Map (nDSM) is upsampled through the joint mean
shift algorithm. Experiments on both the edge-preserving smoothing
and upsampling capabilities using synthetic RGB-z data show that the
mean shift algorithm is superior to bilateral filtering as well as to
other classical smoothing and upsampling algorithms. Application of
the proposed methodology for 3D reconstruction of buildings of a
pilot region of Athens, Greece results in a significant visual
improvement of the 3D building block model.
Abstract: A comprehensive CFD model is developed to
represent heterogeneous combustion and two burner designs of
supply sugar-cane bagasse into a furnace. The objective of this work
is to compare the insertion and burning of a Brazilian south-eastern
sugar-cane bagasse using a new swirl burner design against an actual
geometry under operation. The new design allows control the
particles penetration and scattering inside furnace by adjustment of
axial/tangential contributions of air feed without change their mass
flow. The model considers turbulence using RNG k-, combustion
using EDM, radiation heat transfer using DTM with 16 ray directions
and bagasse particle tracking represented by Schiller-Naumann
model. The obtained results are favorable to use of new design swirl
burner because its axial/tangential control promotes more penetration
or more scattering than actual design and allows reproduce the actual
design operation without change the overall mass flow supply.
Abstract: Prosperity of electronic equipment in photocopying
environment not only has improved work efficiency, but also has
changed indoor air quality. Considering the number of photocopying
employed, indoor air quality might be worse than in general office
environments. Determining the contribution from any type of
equipment to indoor air pollution is a complex matter. Non-methane
hydrocarbons are known to have an important role on air quality due
to their high reactivity. The presence of hazardous pollutants in
indoor air has been detected in one photocopying shop in Novi Sad,
Serbia. Air samples were collected and analyzed for five days, during
8-hr working time in three time intervals, whereas three different
sampling points were determined. Using multiple linear regression
model and software package STATISTICA 10 the concentrations of
occupational hazards and microclimates parameters were mutually
correlated. Based on the obtained multiple coefficients of
determination (0.3751, 0.2389 and 0.1975), a weak positive
correlation between the observed variables was determined. Small
values of parameter F indicated that there was no statistically
significant difference between the concentration levels of nonmethane
hydrocarbons and microclimates parameters. The results
showed that variable could be presented by the general regression
model: y = b0 + b1xi1+ b2xi2. Obtained regression equations allow to
measure the quantitative agreement between the variables and thus
obtain more accurate knowledge of their mutual relations.
Abstract: This paper deals with various questions related to
functionality and providing banking services in the European union
on the Internet. Due to the fact that we live in the information
technologies era, the Internet become a new space for doing
economic and business activities in all areas, and especially important
in banking. Accepting the busy tempo of life, in the past several years
electronic banking has become necessity and a must for most users of
banking services. On a sample of 300 web sites of the banks
operating in European Union (EU) we conduct the research on the
functionality of e-banking services offered through banks web sites
with the key objective to reveal to what extent the information
technologies are used in their business operations. Characteristics of
EU banks websites will be examined and compared to the basic
groups of business activities on the web. Also some
recommendations for the successful bank web sites will be provided.
Abstract: Press-hardened profiles are used e.g. for automotive
applications in order to improve light weight construction due to the
high reachable strength. The application of interior water-air spray
cooling contributes to significantly reducing the cycle time in the
production of heat-treated tubes. This paper describes a new
manufacturing method for producing press-hardened hollow profiles
by means of an additional interior cooling based on a water-air spray.
Furthermore, this paper provides the results of thorough
investigations on the properties of press-hardened tubes in
dependence of varying spray parameters.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop a descriptive
profile of the adapted physical activity research using single subject
experimental designs. All research articles using single subject
experimental designs published in the journal of Adapted Physical
Activity Quarterly from 1984 to 2013 were employed as the data
source. Each of the articles was coded in a subcategory of seven
categories: (a) the size of sample; (b) the age of participants; (c) the
type of disabilities; (d) the type of data analysis; (e) the type of
designs, (f) the independent variable, and (g) the dependent variable.
Frequencies, percentages, and trend inspection were used to analyze
the data and develop a profile. The profile developed characterizes a
small portion of research articles used single subject designs, in
which most researchers used a small sample size, recruited children
as subjects, emphasized learning and behavior impairments, selected
visual inspection with descriptive statistics, preferred a multiple
baseline design, focused on effects of therapy, inclusion, and
strategy, and measured desired behaviors more often, with a
decreasing trend over years.
Abstract: The relationship between the state and the religion is
different based on the fact that how powerful is the religion faith in a
state and of the influences that affected the views of the constitution
drafters according to the constitutional system they were based to
draft their constitution. This paper aims at providing, through a
comparative methodology, how it is regulated by the constitution the
relationship between the state and the religion. The object of this
study are the constitutions of Italy as a nation with catholic religious
tradition, Greece as a nation with orthodox religion tradition, and
Turkey as a nation which represents Muslim religion, while Albania
as a nation known for its religious plurality. In particular, the analysis
will be focused on the secular or religious principle provided in the
constitution of each respective state. This comparative overview
intends to discern which of the states analyzed is more tolerant and
fully respects the freedom of religion. It results that most of the states
subject of this study, despite their religious tradition have chosen the
secular principle in their constitutions, but the religious freedom is
differently guaranteed.