Abstract: In this paper, a simple chemical precipitation route for the preparation of titanium dioxide nanoparticles, synthesized by using titanium tetra isopropoxide as a precursor and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) as a capping agent, is reported. The Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Thermo Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) of the samples were recorded and the phase transformation temperature of titanium hydroxide, Ti(OH)4 to titanium oxide, TiO2 was investigated. The as-prepared Ti(OH)4 precipitate was annealed at 800°C to obtain TiO2 nanoparticles. The thermal, structural, morphological and textural characterizations of the TiO2 nanoparticle samples were carried out by different techniques such as DSC-TGA, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infra-Red spectroscopy (FTIR), Micro Raman spectroscopy, UV-Visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis), Photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and Field Effect Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) techniques. The as-prepared precipitate was characterized using DSC-TGA and confirmed the mass loss of around 30%. XRD results exhibited no diffraction peaks attributable to anatase phase, for the reaction products, after the solvent removal. The results indicate that the product is purely rutile. The vibrational frequencies of two main absorption bands of prepared samples are discussed from the results of the FTIR analysis. The formation of nanosphere of diameter of the order of 10 nm, has been confirmed by FESEM. The optical band gap was found by using UV-Visible spectrum. From photoluminescence spectra, a strong emission was observed. The obtained results suggest that this method provides a simple, efficient and versatile technique for preparing TiO2 nanoparticles and it has the potential to be applied to other systems for photocatalytic activity.
Abstract: This paper investigates the dynamic behavior of laminar water flows inside superhydrophobic micro-pipes patterned with square micro-posts features under different operating conditions. It also investigates the effects of air fraction and Reynolds number on the frictional performance of these pipes. Rather than modeling the air-water interfaces of superhydrophobic as a flat inflexible surface, a transient, incompressible, three-dimensional, volume-of-fluid (VOF) methodology has been employed to continuously track the air–water interface shape inside micro-pipes. Also, the entrance effects on the flow field have been taken into consideration. The results revealed the strong dependency of the frictional performance on the air fractions and Reynolds number. The frictional resistance reduction becomes increasingly more significant at large air fractions and low Reynolds numbers. Increasing Reynolds number has an adverse effect on the frictional resistance reduction.
Abstract: Three types of salary distribution are usually proposed by the theorists of distributive justice: Equality, equity and need. Their influence has been studied, taking into consideration (in terms of equity) the performance of the employees and their degree of allegiance/rebellion in what regards discriminatory hierarchical orders, by taking into account the reasons of such allegiance/rebellion (allegiance out of conviction, legalism or opportunism/ethical rebellion). Conducted in Argentina, the study has confronted 480 students (240 male and 240 female) with a practical case in which they had to advise a manager of a real estate agency on the allocation of a bonus amongst his employees. The latter were characterized according to their respective performance, one of them being further defined as being (or not) in a financial need and as having complied (or not) with a discriminatory hierarchical order regarding foreigners. The results show that the distribution of the bonus only follows the rules of equity and need: The employees more efficient, allegiant or in need, are rewarded more than the others. It is also noteworthy that the allegiant employees are rewarded in the same way, regardless of the reason for their allegiance, and that the employee who refuses to adopt a discriminatory conduct is penalized.
Abstract: In present scenario, cardiovascular problems are growing challenge for researchers and physiologists. As heart disease have no geographic, gender or socioeconomic specific reasons; detecting cardiac irregularities at early stage followed by quick and correct treatment is very important. Electrocardiogram is the finest tool for continuous monitoring of heart activity. Heart rate variability (HRV) is used to measure naturally occurring oscillations between consecutive cardiac cycles. Analysis of this variability is carried out using time domain, frequency domain and non-linear parameters. This paper presents HRV analysis of the online dataset for normal sinus rhythm (taken as healthy subject) and sudden cardiac death (SCD subject) using all three methods computing values for parameters like standard deviation of node to node intervals (SDNN), square root of mean of the sequences of difference between adjacent RR intervals (RMSSD), mean of R to R intervals (mean RR) in time domain, very low-frequency (VLF), low-frequency (LF), high frequency (HF) and ratio of low to high frequency (LF/HF ratio) in frequency domain and Poincare plot for non linear analysis. To differentiate HRV of healthy subject from subject died with SCD, k –nearest neighbor (k-NN) classifier has been used because of its high accuracy. Results show highly reduced values for all stated parameters for SCD subjects as compared to healthy ones. As the dataset used for SCD patients is recording of their ECG signal one hour prior to their death, it is therefore, verified with an accuracy of 95% that proposed algorithm can identify mortality risk of a patient one hour before its death. The identification of a patient’s mortality risk at such an early stage may prevent him/her meeting sudden death if in-time and right treatment is given by the doctor.
Abstract: Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) has played a vital role to enhance the efficiency of solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation under varying atmospheric temperature and solar irradiation. However, it is hard to track the maximum power point using conventional linear controllers due to the natural inheritance of nonlinear I-V and P-V characteristics of solar PV systems. Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) is suitable for nonlinear system control applications and eliminating oscillations, circuit complexities present in the conventional perturb and observation and incremental conductance methods respectively. Hence, in this paper, FLC is proposed for tracking exact MPPT of solar PV power generation system under varying solar irradiation conditions. The effectiveness of the proposed FLC-based MPPT controller is validated through simulation and analysis using MATLAB/Simulink.
Abstract: Background: Uncontrolled inflammation may cause serious inflammatory diseases if left untreated. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAIDs) is commonly used to inhibit pro-inflammatory enzymes, thus, reduce inflammation. However, long term administration of NSAIDs leads to various complications. Medicinal plants are getting more attention as it is believed to be more compatible with human body. One of them is a flavonoid-containing medicinal plants, Strobilanthes crispus which has been traditionally claimed to possess anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. Nevertheless, its anti-inflammatory activities are yet to be scientifically documented. Objectives: This study aimed to examine the anti-inflammatory activity of S. crispus by investigating its effects on intracellular oxidative stress and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) levels. Materials and Methods: In this study, the Maximum Non-toxic Dose (MNTD) of methanol extract of both leaves and stems of S. crispus was first determined using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazolyl-2)-2,5-diphenytetrazolium Bromide (MTT) assay. The effects of S. crispus extracts at MNTD and half MNTD (½MNTD) on intracellular ROS as well as PGE2 levels in 1.0 µg/mL LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages were then be measured using DCFH-DA and a competitive enzyme immunoassay kit, respectively. Results: The MNTD of leaf extract was determined as 700µg/mL while for stem was as low as 1.4µg/mL. When LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages were subjected to the MNTD of S. crispus leaf extract, both intracellular ROS and PGE2 levels were significantly reduced. In contrast, stem extract at both MNTD and ½MNTD did not significantly reduce the PGE2 level, but significantly increased the intracellular ROS level. Conclusion: The methanol leaf extract of S. crispus may possess anti-inflammatory properties as it is able to significantly reduce the intracellular ROS and PGE2 levels of LPS-stimulated cells. Nevertheless, further studies such as investigating the interleukin, nitric oxide and cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) levels has to be conducted to further confirm the anti-inflammatory properties of S. crispus.
Abstract: By applying coating onto a structural component, the corrosion and/or wear resistance requirements of the surface can be fulfilled. Since the layer adhesion of the coating influences the mechanical integrity of the coat/substrate interface during the service time, it should be examined accurately. At the present work, the tensile bonding strength of the 316 stainless steel plasma sprayed coating on aluminum substrate was determined by using tensile adhesion test, TAT, specimen. The interfacial fracture toughness was specified using four-point bend specimen containing a saw notch and modified chevron-notched short-bar (SB) specimen. The coating microstructure and fractured specimen surface were examined by using scanning electron- and optical-microscopy. The investigation of coated surface after tensile adhesion test indicates that the failure mechanism is mostly cohesive and rarely adhesive type. The calculated value of critical strain energy release rate proposes relatively good interface status. It seems that four-point bending test offers a potentially more sensitive means for evaluation of mechanical integrity of coating/substrate interfaces than is possible with the tensile test. The fracture toughness value reported for the modified chevron-notched short-bar specimen testing cannot be taken as absolute value because its calculation is based on the minimum stress intensity coefficient value which has been suggested for the fracture toughness determination of homogeneous parts in the ASTM E1304-97 standard.
Abstract: The main purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of diversity sensitive orientation on job satisfaction and turnover intention. Diversity sensitive orientation is the attitude of the individual to respect and accommodate diversity. This is focused on an individual’s perception of diversity. Although being made from the most diversity related research team and organizational level, this study deals with diversity issues at the individual level. To test the proposed research model and hypothesis, the data were collected from 291 Korean employees. The study conducted a confirmatory factor analysis for the validity test. Furthermore, structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to test the hypothesized relationship in the conceptual model. The results of this paper were as followings: First, diversity sensitive orientation was positively related to job satisfaction. Second, diversity sensitive orientation was negatively related to turnover intention. In other words, the positive influence of the diversity sensitive orientation has been verified. Based on the findings, this study suggested implications and directions for future research.
Abstract: Fiber-Wireless (FiWi) networks are a promising candidate for future broadband access networks. These networks combine the optical network as the back end where different passive optical network (PON) technologies are realized and the wireless network as the front end where different wireless technologies are adopted, e.g. LTE, WiMAX, Wi-Fi, and Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs). The convergence of both optical and wireless technologies requires designing architectures with robust efficient and effective bandwidth allocation schemes. Different bandwidth allocation algorithms have been proposed in FiWi networks aiming to enhance the different segments of FiWi networks including wireless and optical subnetworks. In this survey, we focus on the differentiating between the different bandwidth allocation algorithms according to their enhancement segment of FiWi networks. We classify these techniques into wireless, optical and Hybrid bandwidth allocation techniques.
Abstract: Piecewise polynomial regression model is very flexible model for modeling the data. If the piecewise polynomial regression model is matched against the data, its parameters are not generally known. This paper studies the parameter estimation problem of piecewise polynomial regression model. The method which is used to estimate the parameters of the piecewise polynomial regression model is Bayesian method. Unfortunately, the Bayes estimator cannot be found analytically. Reversible jump MCMC algorithm is proposed to solve this problem. Reversible jump MCMC algorithm generates the Markov chain that converges to the limit distribution of the posterior distribution of piecewise polynomial regression model parameter. The resulting Markov chain is used to calculate the Bayes estimator for the parameters of piecewise polynomial regression model.
Abstract: Various retrofit techniques for reinforced concrete frame with infill wall have been steadily developed. Among those techniques, strengthening methodology based on diagonal FRP strips (FRP bracings) has numerous advantages such as feasibility of implementing without interrupting the building under operation, reduction of cost and time, and easy application. Considering the safety of structure and retrofit cost, the most appropriate retrofit solution is needed. Thus, the objective of this study is to suggest pareto-optimal solution for existing building using FRP bracings. To find pareto-optimal solution analysis, NSGA-II is applied. Moreover, the seismic performance of retrofit building is evaluated. The example building is 5-storey, 3-bay RC frames with infill wall. Nonlinear static pushover analyses are performed with FEMA 356. The criterion of performance evaluation is inter-story drift ratio at the performance level IO, LS, CP. Optimal retrofit solutions is obtained for 32 individuals and 200 generations. Through the proposed optimal solutions, we confirm the improvement of seismic performance of the example building.
Abstract: In this paper, using 2D TCAD simulations, the application of a dual material gate (DMG) for suppressing ambipolar conduction in a tunnel field effect transistor (TFET) is demonstrated. Using the proposed DMG concept, the ambipolar conduction can be effectively suppressed even if the drain doping is as high as that of the source doping. Achieving this symmetrical doping, without the ambipolar conduction in TFETs, gives the advantage of realizing both n-type and p-type devices with the same doping sequences. Furthermore, the output characteristics of the DMG TFET exhibit a good saturation when compared to that of the gate-drain underlap approach. This improved behavior of the DMG TFET makes it a good candidate for inverter based logic circuits.
Abstract: This paper addresses the control problem of a class of hyper-redundant arms. In order to avoid discrepancy between the mathematical model and the actual dynamics, the dynamic model with uncertain parameters of this class of manipulators is inferred. A procedure to design a feedback controller which stabilizes the uncertain system has been proposed. A PD boundary control algorithm is used in order to control the desired position of the manipulator. This controller is easy to implement from the point of view of measuring techniques and actuation. Numerical simulations verify the effectiveness of the presented methods. In order to verify the suitability of the control algorithm, a platform with a 3D flexible manipulator has been employed for testing. Experimental tests on this platform illustrate the applications of the techniques developed in the paper.
Abstract: Several experiments are conducted at different environments such as locations or periods (seasons) with identical treatments to each experiment purposely to study the interaction between the treatments and environments or between the treatments and periods (seasons). The commonly used designs of experiments for this purpose are randomized block design, Latin square design, balanced incomplete block design, Youden design, and one or more factor designs. The interest is to carry out a combined analysis of the data from these multi-environment experiments, instead of analyzing each experiment separately. This paper proposed combined analysis of experiments conducted via Sudoku square design of odd order with same experimental treatments.
Abstract: In this paper, an attribute weighting method called fuzzy C-means clustering based attribute weighting (FCMAW) for classification of Diabetes disease dataset has been used. The aims of this study are to reduce the variance within attributes of diabetes dataset and to improve the classification accuracy of classifier algorithm transforming from non-linear separable datasets to linearly separable datasets. Pima Indians Diabetes dataset has two classes including normal subjects (500 instances) and diabetes subjects (268 instances). Fuzzy C-means clustering is an improved version of K-means clustering method and is one of most used clustering methods in data mining and machine learning applications. In this study, as the first stage, fuzzy C-means clustering process has been used for finding the centers of attributes in Pima Indians diabetes dataset and then weighted the dataset according to the ratios of the means of attributes to centers of theirs. Secondly, after weighting process, the classifier algorithms including support vector machine (SVM) and k-NN (k- nearest neighbor) classifiers have been used for classifying weighted Pima Indians diabetes dataset. Experimental results show that the proposed attribute weighting method (FCMAW) has obtained very promising results in the classification of Pima Indians diabetes dataset.
Abstract: With the aging of the world population and the
continuous growth in technology, service robots are more and more
explored nowadays as alternatives to healthcare givers or personal
assistants for the elderly or disabled people. Any service robot
should be capable of interacting with the human companion, receive
commands, navigate through the environment, either known or
unknown, and recognize objects. This paper proposes an approach
for object recognition based on the use of depth information and
color images for a service robot. We present a study on two of the
most used methods for object detection, where 3D data is used to
detect the position of objects to classify that are found on horizontal
surfaces. Since most of the objects of interest accessible for service
robots are on these surfaces, the proposed 3D segmentation reduces
the processing time and simplifies the scene for object recognition.
The first approach for object recognition is based on color histograms,
while the second is based on the use of the SIFT and SURF feature
descriptors. We present comparative experimental results obtained
with a real service robot.
Abstract: Although, reliability is an important attribute of quality, especially for mission critical systems, yet, there does not exist any versatile model even today for the reliability assessment of component-based software. The existing Black Box models are found to make various assumptions which may not always be realistic and may be quite contrary to the actual behaviour of software. They focus on observing the manner in which the system behaves without considering the structure of the system, the components composing the system, their interconnections, dependencies, usage frequencies, etc.As a result, the entropy (uncertainty) in assessment using these models is much high.Though, there are some models based on operation profile yet sometimes it becomes extremely difficult to obtain the exact operation profile concerned with a given operation. This paper discusses the drawbacks, deficiencies and limitations of Black Box approaches from the perspective of various authors and finally proposes a conceptual model for the reliability assessment of software.
Abstract: Existing indicators for sustainable urban development do not identify the features of cities’ planning structures and their architecture. Iranian city has special relevance problem of assessing the conformity of their planning and development of the concept of sustainable development. Based on theoretical sources, the author concludes that, despite the existence of common indicators for sustainable development of settlements, specialized evaluation criteria city structure planning has not been developed. He is trying to fill this gap and put forward a system of indicators characterizing the level of development of the architectural-planning structure of the city. The proposed system of indicators is designed based on technical and economic urban standard indicators from different countries. Alternative designing systems and requirements of modern rating systems like LEED-ND comprise a criterion for evaluation of urban structures in accordance with principles of "Green" building and New Urbanism. Urban development trends are close in spirit of sustainable development and developed under its influence. The study allowed concluding that a system of indicators to identify the relevant architectural-planning structure of the city, requirements of sustainable development, should be adapted to the conditions of each country, particularly in Iran. The article attempts typology proposed indicators, which are presented in tabular form and are divided into two types: planning and spatial. This article discusses the known indicators of sustainable development and proposed specific system of indicators characterizing the level of development of architectural-planning structure of the city. This article examines indicators for evaluating level of city' planning structure development. The proposed system of indicators is derived from the urban planning standards and rating systems such as LEED-ND, BREEAM Community and CASBEE-UD.
Abstract: The tremendous increase in the population of the world creates the immediate need for the energy resources. All the people in the world need the sustainable energy resources which have low costs. Solar energy is appraised as one of the main energy resources in warm countries. The areas in the west of India like Rajasthan, Gujarat, etc. are immensely rich in solar energy resources. This paper deals with the development of dual axis solar tracker using Arduino board. Depending on the astronomical estimates of the sun from the GPS and sensor image processing outcomes, a methodology is proposed to locate the position of the sun to obtain the maximum solar energy. Based on the outcomes, the solar tracking system figures out whether to use image processing outcomes or astronomical estimates to attain the maximum efficiency of the solar panel. Finally, the experimental values obtained from the solar tracker for both the sunny and the rainy days are being tabulated.
Abstract: We present a method to set up system functions
through a near filed communication (NFC) of a smartphone. The
short communication distance of the NFC which is usually less
than 4 cm could prevent any interferences from other devices and
establish a secure communication channel between a system and the
smartphone. The proposed set-up method for system function values
is demonstrated for a blacbox system in a car. In demonstration,
system functions of a blackbox which is manipulated through NFC
of a smartphone are controls of image quality, sound level, shock
sensing level to store images, etc. The proposed set-up method for
system function values can be used for any devices with NFC.