A Robust Software for Advanced Analysis of Space Steel Frames

This paper presents a robust software package for practical advanced analysis of space steel framed structures. The pre- and post-processors of the presented software package are coded in the C++ programming language while the solver is written by using the FORTRAN programming language. A user-friendly graphical interface of the presented software is developed to facilitate the modeling process and result interpretation of the problem. The solver employs the stability functions for capturing the second-order effects to minimize modeling and computational time. Both the plastic-hinge and fiber-hinge beam-column elements are available in the presented software. The generalized displacement control method is adopted to solve the nonlinear equilibrium equations.

Rubber Wood as a Potential Biomass Feedstock for Biochar via Slow Pyrolysis

Utilisation of biomass feedstock for biochar has received increasing attention because of their potential for carbon sequestration and soil amendment. The aim of this study is to investigate the characteristics of rubber wood as a biomass feedstock for biochar via slow pyrolysis process. This was achieved by using proximate, ultimate, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) as well as heating value, pH and lignocellulosic determination. Rubber wood contains 4.13 mf wt.% moisture, 86.30 mf wt.% volatile matter, 0.60 mf wt.% ash content, and 13.10 mf wt.% fixed carbon. The ultimate analysis shows that rubber wood consists of 44.33 mf wt.% carbon, 6.26 mf wt.% hydrogen, 19.31 mf wt.% nitrogen, 0.31 mf wt.% sulphur, and 29.79 mf wt.% oxygen. The higher heating value of rubber wood is 22.5 MJ/kg, and its lower heating value is 21.2 MJ/kg. At 27 °C, the pH value of rubber wood is 6.83 which is acidic. The lignocellulosic analysis revealed that rubber wood composition consists of 2.63 mf wt.% lignin, 20.13 mf wt.% cellulose, and 65.04 mf wt.% hemicellulose. The volatile matter to fixed carbon ratio is 6.58. This led to a biochar yield of 25.14 wt.% at 500 °C. Rubber wood is an environmental friendly feedstock due to its low sulphur content. Rubber wood therefore is a suitable and a potential feedstock for biochar production via slow pyrolysis.

A Multi-Modal Virtual Walkthrough of the Virtual Past and Present Based on Panoramic View, Crowd Simulation and Acoustic Heritage on Mobile Platform

This research presents a multi-modal simulation in the reconstruction of the past and the construction of present in digital cultural heritage on mobile platform. In bringing the present life, the virtual environment is generated through a presented scheme for rapid and efficient construction of 360° panoramic view. Then, acoustical heritage model and crowd model are presented and improvised into the 360° panoramic view. For the reconstruction of past life, the crowd is simulated and rendered in an old trading port. However, the keystone of this research is in a virtual walkthrough that shows the virtual present life in 2D and virtual past life in 3D, both in an environment of virtual heritage sites in George Town through mobile device. Firstly, the 2D crowd is modelled and simulated using OpenGL ES 1.1 on mobile platform. The 2D crowd is used to portray the present life in 360° panoramic view of a virtual heritage environment based on the extension of Newtonian Laws. Secondly, the 2D crowd is animated and rendered into 3D with improved variety and incorporated into the virtual past life using Unity3D Game Engine. The behaviours of the 3D models are then simulated based on the enhancement of the classical model of Boid algorithm. Finally, a demonstration system is developed and integrated with the models, techniques and algorithms of this research. The virtual walkthrough is demonstrated to a group of respondents and is evaluated through the user-centred evaluation by navigating around the demonstration system. The results of the evaluation based on the questionnaires have shown that the presented virtual walkthrough has been successfully deployed through a multi-modal simulation and such a virtual walkthrough would be particularly useful in a virtual tour and virtual museum applications.

Framework Study on Single Assembly Line to Improve Productivity with Six Sigma and Line Balancing Approach

Six sigma is a framework that is used to identify inefficiency so that the cause of inefficiency will be known and right improvement to overcome cause of inefficiency can be conducted. This paper presents result of implementing six sigma to improve piston assembly line in Manufacturing Laboratory, Universitas Indonesia. Six sigma framework will be used to analyze the significant factor of inefficiency that needs to be improved which causes bottleneck in assembly line. After analysis based on six sigma framework conducted, line balancing method was chosen for improvement to overcome causative factor of inefficiency which is differences time between workstation that causes bottleneck in assembly line. Then after line balancing conducted in piston assembly line, the result is increase in efficiency. Efficiency is shown in the decreasing of Defects per Million Opportunities (DPMO) from 900,000 to 700,000, the increasing of level of labor productivity from 0.0041 to 0.00742, the decreasing of idle time from 121.3 seconds to 12.1 seconds, and the increasing of output, which is from 1 piston in 5 minutes become 3 pistons in 5 minutes.

Removal of Textile Dye from Industrial Wastewater by Natural and Modified Diatomite

The textile industry produces high amount of colored effluent each year. The management or treatment of these discharges depends on the applied techniques. Adsorption is one of wastewater treatment techniques destined to treat this kind of pollution, and the performance and efficiency predominantly depend on the nature of the adsorbent used. Therefore, scientific research is directed towards the development of new materials using different physical and chemical treatments to improve their adsorption capacities. In the same perspective, we looked at the effect of the heat treatment on the effectiveness of diatomite, which is found in abundance in Algeria. The textile dye Orange Bezaktiv (SRL-150) which is used as organic pollutants in this study is provided by the textile company SOITEXHAM in Oran city (west Algeria). The effect of different physicochemical parameters on the adsorption of SRL-150 on natural and modified diatomite is studied, and the results of the kinetics and adsorption isotherms were modeled.

Operation Strategy of Multi-Energy Storage System Considering Power System Reliability

As the penetration of Energy Storage System (ESS) increases in the power system due to higher performance and lower cost than ever, ESS is expanding its role to the ancillary service as well as the storage of extra energy from the intermittent renewable energy resources. For multi-ESS with different capacity and SOC level each other, it is required to make the optimal schedule of SOC level use the multi-ESS effectively. This paper proposes the energy allocation method for the multiple battery ESS with reliability constraint, in order to make the ESS discharge the required energy as long as possible. A simple but effective method is proposed in this paper, to satisfy the power for the spinning reserve requirement while improving the system reliability. Modelling of ESS is also proposed, and reliability is evaluated by using the combined reliability model which includes the proposed ESS model and conventional generation one. In the case study, it can be observed that the required power is distributed to each ESS adequately and accordingly, the SOC is scheduled to improve the reliability indices such as Loss of Load Probability (LOLP) and Loss of Load Expectation (LOLE).

Efficient Semi-Systolic Finite Field Multiplier Using Redundant Basis

The arithmetic operations over GF(2m) have been extensively used in error correcting codes and public-key cryptography schemes. Finite field arithmetic includes addition, multiplication, division and inversion operations. Addition is very simple and can be implemented with an extremely simple circuit. The other operations are much more complex. The multiplication is the most important for cryptosystems, such as the elliptic curve cryptosystem, since computing exponentiation, division, and computing multiplicative inverse can be performed by computing multiplication iteratively. In this paper, we present a parallel computation algorithm that operates Montgomery multiplication over finite field using redundant basis. Also, based on the multiplication algorithm, we present an efficient semi-systolic multiplier over finite field. The multiplier has less space and time complexities compared to related multipliers. As compared to the corresponding existing structures, the multiplier saves at least 5% area, 50% time, and 53% area-time (AT) complexity. Accordingly, it is well suited for VLSI implementation and can be easily applied as a basic component for computing complex operations over finite field, such as inversion and division operation.

Investigating Activity Recognition Using 9-Axis Sensors and Filters in Wearable Devices

In this paper, we analyze major components of activity recognition (AR) in wearable device with 9-axis sensors and sensor fusion filters. 9-axis sensors commonly include 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis gyroscope and 3-axis magnetometer. We chose sensor fusion filters as Kalman filter and Direction Cosine Matrix (DCM) filter. We also construct sensor fusion data from each activity sensor data and perform classification by accuracy of AR using Naïve Bayes and SVM. According to the classification results, we observed that the DCM filter and the specific combination of the sensing axes are more effective for AR in wearable devices while classifying walking, running, ascending and descending.

Hydraulic Analysis on Microhabitat of Benthic Macroinvertebrates at Riparian Riffles

Hydraulic analysis on microhabitat of Benthic Macro- invertebrates was performed at riparian riffles of Hongcheon River and Gapyeong Stream. As for the representative species, Ecdyonurus kibunensis, Paraleptophlebia cocorata, Chironomidae sp. and Psilotreta kisoensis iwata were chosen. They showed hydraulically different habitat types by flow velocity and particle diameters of streambed materials. Habitat conditions of the swimmers were determined mainly by the flow velocity rather than by flow depth or by riverbed materials. Burrowers prefer sand and silt, and inhabited at the riverbed. Sprawlers prefer cobble or boulder and inhabited for velocity of 0.05-0.15 m/s. Clingers prefer pebble or cobble and inhabited for velocity of 0.06-0.15 m/s. They were found to be determined mainly by the flow velocity.

Comparative Study in Dentinal Tubuli Occlusion Using Bioglass and Copper-Bromide Laser

Cervical dentinal hypersensitivity (CDH) affects 8-30% of adults and nearly 85% of perio-treated patients. Various treatment schemes have been applied for treating CDH, among them being fluoride application, laser irradiation, and, recently, bioglass. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of bioglass, copper-bromide (Cu-Br) laser irradiation and their combination on dentinal tubule occlusion as a potential dentinal hypersensitivity treatment for CDH. 45 human dentin surfaces were organized into three equal groups: group A received Cu-Br laser only; group B received bioglass only; group C received bioglass followed by Cu-Br laser irradiation. Specimens were evaluated with regard to dentinal tubule occlusion under environmental scanning electron microscope. Treatment modality significantly affected dentinal tubule occlusion (p

Adaptive Transmission Scheme Based on Channel State in Dual-Hop System

In this paper, a dual-hop relay based on channel state is studied. In the conventional relay scheme, a relay uses the same modulation method without reference to channel state. But, a relay uses an adaptive modulation method with reference to channel state. If the channel state is poor, a relay eliminates latter 2 bits and uses Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) modulation. If channel state is good, a relay modulates the received symbols with 16-QAM symbols by using 4 bits. The performance of the proposed scheme for Symbol Error Rate (SER) and throughput is analyzed.

Comparison of Women’s Political Participation in Korea and China

This paper deals with the comparison of women’s political participation in Korea and China. Korean women are participated more in higher education. As the economic development and the women's social participation can enhance the possibility of women's political participation in advanced democratic countries, in Asian countries such as Korea and China in which Confucianism prohibited women to participate in public life and the process of nation building is different from western countries, the political power takes an initiative to implement policies for women's participation in politics and for women's consciousness.

Development of Sleep Quality Index Using Heart Rate

Adequate sleep affects various parts of one’s overall physical and mental life. As one of the methods in determining the appropriate amount of sleep, this research presents a heart rate based sleep quality index. In order to evaluate sleep quality using the heart rate, sleep data from 280 subjects taken over one month are used. Their sleep data are categorized by a three-part heart rate range. After categorizing, some features are extracted, and the statistical significances are verified for these features. The results show that some features of this sleep quality index model have statistical significance. Thus, this heart rate based sleep quality index may be a useful discriminator of sleep.

Effect of Pre-Construction on Construction Schedule and Client Loyalty

Pre-construction is essential in achieving the success of a construction project. Due to the early involvement of project participants in the construction phase, project managers are able to plan ahead and solve issues well in advance leading to the success of the project and the satisfaction of the client. This research utilizes quantitative data derived from construction management projects in order to identify the relationship between pre-construction, construction schedule, and client satisfaction. A total of 65 construction projects and 93 clients were investigated for this research in an attempt to identify (a) the relationship between pre-construction and schedule reduction, and (b) pre-construction and client loyalty. Based on the quantitative analysis, this research was able to establish a negative correlation based on 65 construction projects between pre-construction and project schedule existed. This finding represents that the more pre-construction is performed for a certain project, the overall construction schedule decreased. Then, to determine the relationship between pre-construction and client satisfaction, Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 93 clients from the 65 projects was utilized. Pre-construction and NPS was further analyzed and a positive correlation was found between the two. This infers that clients tend to be more satisfied with projects with higher ratio of pre-construction than those projects with less pre-construction.

Strength of Fine Concrete Used in Textile Reinforced Concrete by Changing Water-Binder Ratio

Recently, the abnormal climate phenomenon has enlarged due to the global warming. As a result, temperature variation is increasing and the term is being prolonged, frequency of high and low temperature is increasing by heat wave and severe cold. Especially for reinforced concrete structure, the corrosion of reinforcement has occurred by concrete crack due to temperature change and the durability of the structure that has decreased by concrete crack. Accordingly, the textile reinforced concrete (TRC) which does not corrode due to using textile is getting the interest and the investigation of TRC is proceeding. The study of TRC structure behavior has proceeded, but the characteristic study of the concrete used in TRC is insufficient. Therefore, characteristic of the concrete by changing mixing ratio is studied in this paper. As a result, mixing ratio with different water-binder ratio has influenced to the strength of concrete. Also, as the water-binder ratio has decreased, strength of concrete has increased.

Bond Strength between Concrete and AR-Glass Roving with Variables of Development Length

Recently, the climate change is the one of the main problems. This abnormal phenomenon is consisted of the scorching heat, heavy rain and snowfall, and cold wave that will be enlarged abnormal climate change repeatedly. Accordingly, the width of temperature change is increased more and more by abnormal climate, and it is the main factor of cracking in the reinforced concrete. The crack of the reinforced concrete will affect corrosion of steel re-bar which can decrease durability of the structure easily. Hence, the elimination of the durability weakening factor (steel re-bar) is needed. Textile which weaves the carbon, AR-glass and aramid fiber has been studied actively for exchanging the steel re-bar in the Europe for about 15 years because of its good durability. To apply textile as the concrete reinforcement, the bond strength between concrete and textile will be investigated closely. Therefore, in this paper, pull-out test was performed with change of development length of textile. Significant load and stress was increasing at D80. But, bond stress decreased by increasing development length.

An Adaptive Opportunistic Transmission for Unlicensed Spectrum Sharing in Heterogeneous Networks

Efficient utilization of spectrum resources is a fundamental issue of wireless communications due to its scarcity. To improve the efficiency of spectrum utilization, the spectrum sharing for unlicensed bands is being regarded as one of key technologies in the next generation wireless networks. A number of schemes such as Listen-Before-Talk(LBT) and carrier sensor adaptive transmission (CSAT) have been suggested from this aspect, but more efficient sharing schemes are required for improving spectrum utilization efficiency. This work considers an opportunistic transmission approach and a dynamic Contention Window (CW) adjustment scheme for LTE-U users sharing the unlicensed spectrum with Wi-Fi, in order to enhance the overall system throughput. The decision criteria for the dynamic adjustment of CW are based on the collision evaluation, derived from the collision probability of the system. The overall performance can be improved due to the adaptive adjustment of the CW. Simulation results show that our proposed scheme outperforms the Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) mechanism of IEEE 802.11 MAC.

The Influence of Step and Fillet Shape on Nozzle Endwall Heat Transfer

There is a gap at combustor-turbine interface where leakage flow comes out to prevent hot gas ingestion into the gas turbine nozzle platform. The leakage flow protects the nozzle endwall surface from the hot gas coming from combustor exit. For controlling flow’s stream, the gap’s geometry is transformed by changing fillet radius size. During the operation, step configuration is occurred that was unintended between combustor-turbine platform interface caused by thermal expansion or mismatched assembly. In this study, CFD simulations were performed to investigate the effect of the fillet and step on heat transfer and film cooling effectiveness on the nozzle platform. The Reynolds-averaged Navier-stokes equation was solved with turbulence model, SST k-omega. With the fillet configuration, predicted film cooling effectiveness results indicated that fillet radius size influences to enhance film cooling effectiveness. Predicted film cooling effectiveness results at forward facing step configuration indicated that step height influences to enhance film cooling effectiveness. We suggested that designer change a combustor-turbine interface configuration which was varied by fillet radius size near endwall gap when there was a step at combustor-turbine interface. Gap shape was modified by increasing fillet radius size near nozzle endwall. Also, fillet radius and step height were interacted with the film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer on endwall surface.

A Study on the Accelerated Life Cycle Test Method of the Motor for Home Appliances by Using Acceleration Factor

This paper deals with the accelerated life cycle test method of the motor for home appliances that demand high reliability. Life Cycle of parts in home appliances also should be 10 years because life cycle of the home appliances such as washing machine, refrigerator, TV is at least 10 years. In case of washing machine, the life cycle test method of motor is advanced for 3000 cycle test (1cycle = 2hours). However, 3000 cycle test incurs loss for the time and cost. Objectives of this study are to reduce the life cycle test time and the number of test samples, which could be realized by using acceleration factor for the test time and reduction factor for the number of sample.

Mooring Analysis of Duct-Type Tidal Current Power System in Shallow Water

The exhaustion of oil and the environmental pollution from the use of fossil fuel are increasing. Tidal current power (TCP) has been proposed as an alternative energy source because of its predictability and reliability. By applying a duct and single point mooring (SPM) system, a TCP device can amplify the generating power and keep its position properly. Because the generating power is proportional to cube of the current stream velocity, amplifying the current speed by applying a duct to a TCP system is an effective way to improve the efficiency of the power device. An SPM system can be applied at any water depth and is highly cost effective. Simple installation and maintenance procedures are also merits of an SPM system. In this study, we designed an SPM system for a duct-type TCP device for use in shallow water. Motions of the duct are investigated to obtain the response amplitude operator (RAO) as the magnitude of the transfer function. Parameters affecting the stability of the SPM system such as the fairlead departure angle, current velocity, and the number of clamp weights are analyzed and/or optimized. Wadam and OrcaFlex commercial software is used to design the mooring line.