Abstract: Well-designed composite steel and concrete structures
highlight the good material properties and lower the deficiencies of
steel and concrete, in particular they make use of high tensile strength
of steel and high stiffness of concrete. The most common composite
steel and concrete structure is a simply supported beam, which
concrete slab transferring the slab load to a beam is connected to the
steel cross-section. The aim of this paper is to find the most adequate
numerical model of a simply supported composite beam with the
cross-sectional and material parameters based on the results of a
processed parametric study and numerical analysis. The paper also
evaluates the suitability of using compact concrete with the
lightweight aggregates for composite steel and concrete beams. The
most adequate numerical model will be used in the resent future to
compare the results of laboratory tests.
Abstract: The fundamental issues in ICT Governance (ICTG)
implementation for Malaysian Public Sector (MPS) is how ICT be
applied to support improvements in productivity, management
effectiveness and the quality of services offered to its citizens. Our
main concern is to develop and adopt a common definition and
framework to illustrate how ICTG can be used to better align ICT
with government’s operations and strategic focus. In particular, we
want to identify and categorize factors that drive a successful ICTG
process. This paper presents the results of an exploratory study to
identify, validate and refine such Critical Success Factors (CSFs) and
confirmed seven CSFs and nineteen sub-factors as influential factors
that fit MPS after further validated and refined. The Delphi method
applied in validation and refining process before being endorsed as
appropriate for MPS. The identified CSFs reflect the focus areas that
need to be considered strategically to strengthen ICT Governance
implementation and ensure business success.
Abstract: Load Forecasting plays a key role in making today's
and future's Smart Energy Grids sustainable and reliable. Accurate
power consumption prediction allows utilities to organize in advance
their resources or to execute Demand Response strategies more
effectively, which enables several features such as higher
sustainability, better quality of service, and affordable electricity
tariffs. It is easy yet effective to apply Load Forecasting at larger
geographic scale, i.e. Smart Micro Grids, wherein the lower available
grid flexibility makes accurate prediction more critical in Demand
Response applications. This paper analyses the application of
short-term load forecasting in a concrete scenario, proposed within the
EU-funded GreenCom project, which collect load data from single
loads and households belonging to a Smart Micro Grid. Three
short-term load forecasting techniques, i.e. linear regression, artificial
neural networks, and radial basis function network, are considered,
compared, and evaluated through absolute forecast errors and training
time. The influence of weather conditions in Load Forecasting is also
evaluated. A new definition of Gain is introduced in this paper, which
innovatively serves as an indicator of short-term prediction
capabilities of time spam consistency. Two models, 24- and
1-hour-ahead forecasting, are built to comprehensively compare these
three techniques.
Abstract: Metal-enhanced Luminescence of silicon nanocrystals
(SiNCs) was determined using two different particle sizes of silver
nanoparticles (AgNPs). SiNCs have been characterized by scanning
electron microscopy (SEM), high resolution transmission electron
microscopy (HRTEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
(FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It is found that
the SiNCs are crystalline with an average diameter of 65 nm and FCC
lattice. AgNPs were synthesized using photochemical reduction of
AgNO3 with sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS). The enhanced
luminescence of SiNCs by AgNPs was evaluated by confocal Raman
microspectroscopy. Enhancement up to x9 and x3 times were
observed for SiNCs that mixed with AgNPs which have an average
particle size of 100 nm and 30 nm, respectively. Silver NPs-enhanced
luminescence of SiNCs occurs as a result of the coupling between the
excitation laser light and the plasmon bands of AgNPs; thus this
intense field at AgNPs surface couples strongly to SiNCs.
Abstract: Diabetes is a growing health problem in worldwide.
Especially, the patients with Type 1 diabetes need strict glycemic
control because they have deficiency of insulin production. This
paper attempts to control blood glucose based on body mathematical
body model. The Bergman minimal mathematical model is used to
develop the nonlinear controller. A novel back-stepping based sliding
mode control (B-SMC) strategy is proposed as a solution that
guarantees practical tracking of a desired glucose concentration. In
order to show the performance of the proposed design, it is compared
with conventional linear and fuzzy controllers which have been done
in previous researches. The numerical simulation result shows the
advantages of sliding mode back stepping controller design to linear
and fuzzy controllers.
Abstract: Artemisia species, which are medically beneficial, are
widespread in temperate regions of both Northern and Southern
hemispheres among which Iran is located. About 35 species of
Artemisia are indigenous in Iran among them some are widespread in
all or most provinces, yet some are restricted to some specific
regions. In this review paper, initially, GC-Mass results of some
experiments done in different provinces of Iran are mentioned among
them some compounds are common among species, some others are
mostly restricted to other species; after that, medical advantages
based on some researches on species of this genus are reviewed;
different qualities such as anti-leishmania, anti-bacteria, antiviral as
well as anti-proliferative could be mentioned.
Abstract: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has
increased in conjunction with obesity. The accuracy of risk factors
for detecting NAFLD in obese adolescents has not undergone a
formal evaluation. The aim of this study was to evaluate predictors of
NAFLD among Egyptian female obese adolescents. The study
included 162 obese female adolescents. All were subjected to
anthropometry, biochemical analysis and abdominal ultrasongraphic
assessment. Metabolic syndrome (MS) was diagnosed according to
the IDF criteria. Significant association between presence of MS and
NAFLD was observed. Obese adolescents with NAFLD had
significantly higher levels of ALT, triglycerides, fasting glucose,
insulin, blood pressure and HOMA-IR, whereas decreased HDL-C
levels as compared with obese cases without NAFLD. Receiver–
operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis shows that ALT is a
sensitive predictor for NAFLD, confirming that ALT can be used as a
marker of NAFLD.
Abstract: Due to reduced stiffness, research on second
generation titanium alloys for implant applications, like the
metastable β-titanium alloy Ti-15Mo, become more and more
important in the recent years. The machinability of these alloys is
generally poor leading to problems during implant production and
comparably large production costs. Therefore, in the present study,
Ti-15Mo was alloyed with 0.8 wt.-% of the rare earth metals
lanthanum (Ti-15Mo+0.8La) and neodymium (Ti-15Mo+0.8Nd) to
improve its machinability. Their microstructure consisted of a
titanium matrix and micrometer-size particles of the rare earth metals
and two of their oxides. The particles stabilized the microstructure as
grain growth was minimized. As especially the ductility might be
affected by the precipitates, the behavior of Ti-15Mo+0.8La and Ti-
15Mo+0.8Nd was investigated during static and dynamic
deformation at elevated temperature to develop a processing route.
The resulting mechanical properties (static strength and ductility)
were similar in all investigated alloys.
Abstract: In the present work, the effect of load and sliding
distance on the performance tribology of commercially used
aluminium-silicon engine block and piston was evaluated at ambient
conditions with humidity of 80% under dry sliding conditions using a
pin-on-disc with two different loads of 5N and 20N yielding applied
pressure of 0.30MPa and 1.4MPa, respectively, at sliding velocity of
0.29ms-1 and with varying sliding distance ranging from 260m-
4200m. Factors and conditions that had significant effect were
identified. The results showed that the load and the sliding distance
affect the wear rate of the alloys and the wear rate increased with
increasing load for both the alloys. Wear rate also increases almost
linearly at low loads and increase to a maximum then attain a plateau
with increasing sliding distance. For both applied loads the piston
alloy showed the better performance due to higher Ni and Mg
content. The worn surface and wear debris was characterized by
optical microscope, SEM and EDX analyzer. The worn surface was
characterized by surface with shallow grooves at loads while the
groove width and depth increased as the loads increases. Oxidative
wear was found to be the predominant mechanisms in the dry sliding
of Al-Si alloys at low loads.
Abstract: Heavy metals are one of the major groups of
contaminants in the environment and many of them are toxic even at
very low concentration in plants and animals. However, some metals
play important roles in the biological function of many enzymes in
living organisms. Metals such as zinc, iron, and cooper are important
for survival and activity of enzymes in plants, however heavy metals
can inhibit enzyme which is responsible for defense system of plants.
Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) is a copper-containing metalloenzyme
which is responsible for enzymatic browning reaction of plants.
Enzymatic browning is a major problem for the handling of
vegetables and fruits in food industry. It can be increased and
effected with many different futures such as metals in the nature and
ground. In the present work, PPO was isolated and characterized
from green leaves of red poppy plant (Papaverr hoeas). Then, the
effect of some known antibrowning agents which can form
complexes with metals and metals were investigated on the red poppy
PPO activity. The results showed that glutathione was the most
potent inhibitory effect on PPO activity. Cu(II) and Fe(II) metals
increased the enzyme activities however, Sn(II) had the maximum
inhibitory effect and Zn(II) and Pb(II) had no significant effect on the
enzyme activity. In order to reduce the effect of heavy metals, the
effects of metal-antibrowning agent complexes on the PPO activity
were determined. EDTA and metal complexes had no significant
effect on the enzyme. L-ascorbic acid and metal complexes decreased
but L-ascorbic acid-Cu(II)-complex had no effect. Glutathione–metal
complexes had the best inhibitory effect on Red poppy leaf PPO
activity.
Abstract: The aim of the paper was to elaborate a novel calculator BasWilCalc, that allows to estimate the actual amount of biomass on the basket willow plantations. The proposed method is based on the results of field experiment conducted during years 2011-2013 on basket willow plantation in the south-western part of Poland. As input data the results of destructive measurements of the diameter, length and weight of willow stems and non-destructive biometric measurements of diameter in the middle of stems and their length during the growing season performed at weekly intervals were used. Performed analysis enabled to develop the algorithm which, due to the fact that energy plantations are of known and constant planting structure, allows to estimate the actual amount of willow basket biomass on the plantation with a given probability and accuracy specified by the model, based on the number of stems measured and the age of the plantation.
Abstract: The mathematical analysis on radiation obtained and
the development of the solar photovoltaic (PV) array groundwater
pumping is needed in the rural areas of Thohoyandou for sizing and
power performance subject to the climate conditions within the area.
A simple methodology approach is developed for the directed
coupled solar, controller and submersible ground water pump system.
The system consists of a PV array, pump controller and submerged
pump, battery backup and charger controller. For this reason, the
theoretical solar radiation is obtained for optimal predictions and
system performance in order to achieve different design and
operating parameters. Here the examination of the PV schematic
module in a Direct Current (DC) application is used for obtainable
maximum solar power energy for water pumping. In this paper, a
simple efficient photovoltaic water pumping system is presented with
its theoretical studies and mathematical modeling of photovoltaics
(PV) system.
Abstract: This paper is about method to produce a stable and
accurate constant output pulse width regardless of the amplitude,
period and pulse width variation of the input signal source. The pulse
generated is usually being used in numerous applications as the
reference input source to other circuits in the system. Therefore, it is
crucial to produce a clean and constant pulse width to make sure the
system is working accurately as expected.
Abstract: Calcium phosphate coating (CaP) has been employed
for protein delivery, but the typical direct protein adsorption on the
coating led to low incorporation content and fast release of the
protein from the coating. By using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a
model protein, rapid biomimetic co-precipitation between calcium
phosphate and BSA was employed to control the distribution of BSA
within calcium phosphate coating during biomimetic formation on
titanium surface for only 6 h at 50oC in an accelerated calcium
phosphate solution. As a result, the amount of BSA incorporation and
release duration could be increased by using a rapid biomimetic coprecipitation
technique. Up to 43 fold increases in the BSA
incorporation content and the increase from 6 h to more than 360 h in
release duration compared to typical direct adsorption technique were
observed depending on the initial BSA concentration used during coprecipitation
(1, 10 and 100 μg.ml-1). From x-ray diffraction and
Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy studies, the coating
composition was not altered with the incorporation of BSA by this
rapid biomimetic co-precipitation and mainly comprised octacalcium
phosphate and hydroxyapatite. However, the microstructure of
calcium phosphate crystals changed from straight, plate-like units to
curved, plate-like units with increasing BSA content.
Abstract: In Capitalism all economic activity rests upon a set of
core institutional foundations, main from which are privately owned
capital assets and profit. How these core institutional foundations are
working in former soviet countries, in particular in Travel and
Tourism Industry of Georgia?
The role of Travel and Tourism as a key pillar of economic growth
is being increasingly recognized by governments in all regions of the
world. For the last few years Georgia succeeded in the World Bank
and IFC “Doing Business” rankings. Despite of that, during decades
totally different statistical data of the tourism sector were provided by
the different State bodies; economic parameters were published few,
or not published at all.
The frequency and extent of property rights violation in Georgia
has repeatedly been the subject of concern for the last decade. Total
value of abrogated by the former Georgian Government private
property is estimated approximately in US$4-5 billion.
Thus, if economic profitability is unknown and property rights are
not protected – that means that the main institutional foundations of
capitalism in Georgia, are not working properly yet, that cause
management problems at all levels of the national Travel and
Tourism industry of Georgia.
Abstract: The purpose of this research is to study of consumer
perception and understanding consumer buying behavior that related
between satisfied and factors affecting the purchasing. Methodology
can be classified between qualitative and quantitative approaches for
the qualitative research were interviews from middlemen who bought
organic vegetables, and middlemen related to production and
marketing system. A questionnaire was utilized as a tool to collect
data. Statistics utilized in this research included frequency,
percentage, mean, standard deviation, and multiple regression
analysis. The result show the reason to decision buying motives is
Fresh products of organic vegetables is the most significant factor on
individuals’ income, with a b of –.143, t = –2.470, the price of
organic vegetables is the most significant factor on individuals’
income, with a b of .176, t = 2.561, p value = .011. The results show
that most people with higher income think about the organic products
are expensive and have negative attitudes towards organic vegetable
as individuals with low and medium income level. Therefore,
household income had a significant influence on the purchasing
decision.
Abstract: The purpose of this research was to identify factors
that influenced the success of e-commerce implementation within
SMEs businesses. In order to achieve the objectives of this research,
the researcher collected data from random firms in Thailand, both the
users and those who are not using the e-commerce. The data was
comprised of the results of 310 questionnaires, as well as 10
interviews with owner/managers of businesses who are currently
using e-commerce successfully. The data were analyzed by using
descriptive statistics, which included frequency, percentages, mean,
and the standard deviation of pertinent factors. Independent t-test and
one-way ANOVA test were also used. The findings of this research
revealed that 50% of all the firms surveyed had e-commerce website,
whereas, over 20% of all firms surveyed had developing an ecommerce
strategy. The result findings also indicate that
organizational factors, technological factors and environment factors
as significant factors effecting success of e-commerce
implementation in SMEs. From the hypotheses testing, the findings
revealed that the different level of support use ecommerce by
owner/manager had different success in e-commerce implementation.
Moreover, the difference in e-commerce management approach
affected the success in terms of higher total sales for the business or
higher number of retained or returning customers.
Abstract: The success of any retail business is predisposed by its
swift response and its knack in understanding the constraints and the
requirements of customers. In this paper a conceptual design model
of an automated customer-friendly supermarket has been proposed.
In this model a 10-sided, space benefited, regular polygon shaped
gravity shelves have been designed for goods storage and effective
customer-specific algorithms have been built-in for quick automatic
delivery of the randomly listed goods. The algorithm is developed
with two main objectives, viz., delivery time and priority. For
meeting these objectives the randomly listed items are reorganized
according to the critical-path of the robotic arm specific to the
identified shop and its layout and the items are categorized according
to the demand, shape, size, similarity and nature of the product for an
efficient pick-up, packing and delivery process. We conjectured that
the proposed automated supermarket model reduces business
operating costs with much customer satisfaction warranting a winwin
situation.
Abstract: Copper being one of the major intrinsic residual
impurities in steel possesses the tendency to induce severe
microstructural distortions if not controlled within certain limits.
Hence, this paper investigates the effect of this element on the
mechanical properties of construction steel with a view to ascertain
its safe limits for effective control. The experiment entails collection
of statistically scheduled samples of hot rolled profiles with varied
copper concentrations in the range of 0.12-0.39 wt. %. From these
samples were prepared standard test specimens subjected to tensile,
impact, hardness and microstructural analyses. Results show a rather
huge compromise in mechanical properties as the specimens
demonstrated 54.3%, 74.2% and 64.9% reduction in tensile strength,
impact energy and hardness respectively as copper content increases
from 0.12 wt. % to 0.39 wt. %. The steel’s abysmal performance is
due to the severe distortion of the microstructure occasioned by the
development of incoherent complex compounds which weaken the
pearlite reinforcing phase. It is concluded that the presence of copper
above 0.22 wt. % is deleterious to construction steel performance.
Abstract: The discarded clam shell waste, fossil and edible oil
as biolubricant feedstocks create environmental impacts and food
chain dilemma, thus this work aims to circumvent these issues by
using activated saltwater clam shell waste (SCSW) as solid catalyst
for conversion of Jatropha curcas oil as non-edible sources to ester
biolubricant. The characterization of solid catalyst was done by
Differential Thermal Analysis-Thermo Gravimetric Analysis (DTATGA),
X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD),
Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), Field Emission Scanning Electron
Microscopy (FESEM) and Fourier Transformed Infrared
Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. The calcined catalyst was used in the
transesterification of Jatropha oil to methyl ester as the first step, and
the second stage was involved the reaction of Jatropha methyl ester
(JME) with trimethylolpropane (TMP) based on the various process
parameters. The formated biolubricant was analyzed using the
capillary column (DB-5HT) equipped Gas Chromatography (GC).
The conversion results of Jatropha oil to ester biolubricant can be
found nearly 96.66%, and the maximum distribution composition
mainly contains 72.3% of triester (TE).