Abstract: This report is focused on widening the theoretical knowledge as well as controlling practical application from the risk management point of view, regarding to dynamic business changes that have occurred in Slovakia which recently has been considered to be an environment full of risk and uncertainty. The idea of the report is the proposal of the controlling operation model in the course of risk management process in an enterprise operating in Slovakia, by which the controller is able to identify early risk factors in suggested major areas of the business management upon appropriate business information integration, consecutive control and prognoses and to prepare in time full-value documents in order to suggest measures for reduction thereof. Dealing with risk factors, that can quickly limit the growth potential of the enterprise, is an essential part of managerial activities on each level. This is the reason why mutual unofficial, ergo collegial cooperation of individual departments is necessary for controlling application from the business risk management point of view. An important part of the report is elaborated survey of the most important risk factors existing in major management areas of enterprises operating in Slovakia. The outcome of the performed survey is a catalogue of the most important enterprise risk factors. The catalogue serves for better understanding risk factors affecting the Slovak enterprises, their importance and evaluation.
Abstract: This research is aimed to study a two-step iteration
process defined over a finite family of σ-asymptotically
quasi-nonexpansive nonself-mappings. The strong convergence
is guaranteed under the framework of Banach spaces with some
additional structural properties including strict and uniform
convexity, reflexivity, and smoothness assumptions. With similar
projection technique for nonself-mapping in Hilbert spaces, we
hereby use the generalized projection to construct a point within
the corresponding domain. Moreover, we have to introduce the use
of duality mapping and its inverse to overcome the unavailability
of duality representation that is exploit by Hilbert space theorists.
We then apply our results for σ-asymptotically quasi-nonexpansive
nonself-mappings to solve for ideal efficiency of vector optimization
problems composed of finitely many objective functions. We also
showed that the obtained solution from our process is the closest to
the origin. Moreover, we also give an illustrative numerical example
to support our results.
Abstract: Window system in high rise building is occasionally subjected to an excessive wind intensity, particularly during typhoon. The failure of window system did not affect overall safety of structural performance; however, it could endanger the safety of the residents. In this paper, comparison of fragility curves for window system of two residential buildings was studied. The probability of failure for individual window was determined with Monte Carlo Simulation method. Then, lognormal cumulative distribution function was used to represent the fragility. The results showed that windows located on the edge of leeward wall were more susceptible to wind load and the probability of failure for each window panel increased at higher floors.
Abstract: This paper analyses managing higher education institutions in emerging economies. The paper investigates the case of postgraduate studies development at public universities. In so doing, it adopts the complex theory approach to evaluate how postgraduate studies have evolved in these countries. The investigation suggests that the postgraduate studies sector at public universities can be seen as a complex adaptive system (CAS). Therefore, the paper adopts system dynamics (SD) methods to develop this analysis. The case of postgraduate studies at Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo in Mexico is investigated in this paper.
Abstract: The importance of fibre reinforced plastics continually
increases due to the excellent mechanical properties, low material
and manufacturing costs combined with significant weight reduction.
Today, components are usually designed and calculated numerically
by using finite element methods (FEM) to avoid expensive laboratory
tests. These programs are based on material models including
material specific deformation characteristics. In this research project,
material models for short glass fibre reinforced plastics are presented
to simulate the visco-elasto-plastic deformation behaviour. Prior
to modelling specimens of the material EMS Grivory HTV-5H1,
consisting of a Polyphthalamide matrix reinforced by 50wt.-% of
short glass fibres, are characterized experimentally in terms of
the highly time dependent deformation behaviour of the matrix
material. To minimize the experimental effort, the cyclic deformation
behaviour under tensile and compressive loading (R = −1) is
characterized by isothermal complex low cycle fatigue (CLCF)
tests. Combining cycles under two strain amplitudes and strain
rates within three orders of magnitude and relaxation intervals
into one experiment the visco-elastic deformation is characterized.
To identify visco-plastic deformation monotonous tensile tests
either displacement controlled or strain controlled (CERT) are
compared. All relevant modelling parameters for this complex
superposition of simultaneously varying mechanical loadings are
quantified by these experiments. Subsequently, two different material
models are compared with respect to their accuracy describing the
visco-elasto-plastic deformation behaviour. First, based on Chaboche
an extended 12 parameter model (EVP-KV2) is used to model cyclic
visco-elasto-plasticity at two time scales. The parameters of the
model including a total separation of elastic and plastic deformation
are obtained by computational optimization using an evolutionary
algorithm based on a fitness function called genetic algorithm.
Second, the 12 parameter visco-elasto-plastic material model by
Launay is used. In detail, the model contains a different type of a
flow function based on the definition of the visco-plastic deformation
as a part of the overall deformation. The accuracy of the models is
verified by corresponding experimental LCF testing.
Abstract: Finishing is an important part of fabric processing with which a wide range of features are imparted to greige or colored fabrics for various end-uses. Especially, by the addition or impartation of nano-scaled particles to the fabric structure composite fabrics, a kind of composite materials can be acquired. Composite materials, generally shortened as composites or in other words composition materials, are engineered or naturally occurring materials made from two or more component materials with significantly different physical, mechanical or chemical characteristics remaining separate and distinctive at the macroscopic or microscopic scale within the end product structure. Therefore, the technique finishing which is one of the fundamental methods to be applied on fabrics for obtainment of composite fabrics with many functionalities was used in the current study with the same purpose. However, regardless of the finishing materials applied, the efficient life of finished product on offering desired feature is low, since the durability of finishes on the material is limited. Any increase in durability of these finishes on textiles would enhance the life of use for textiles, which will result in happier users. Therefore, in this study, since higher durability was desired for the finishing materials fixed on the fabrics, nano-scaled hollow structured cyclodextrins were chemically imparted by grafting to the structure of conventional cotton fabrics by the help of finishing technique in order to be fixed permanently. By this way, a processed and functionalized base fabric having potential to be treated in the subsequent processes with many different finishing agents and nanomaterials could be obtained. Henceforth, this fabric can be used as a multi-functional fabric due to the encapturing ability of cyclodextrins to molecules/particles via physical/chemical means. In this study, scoured and rinsed woven bleached plain weave 100% cotton fabrics were utilized because textiles made of cotton are the most demanded textile products in the textile market by the textile consumers in daily life. Cotton fabric samples were immersed in treating baths containing β-cyclodextrin and 1,2,3,4-butanetetracarboxylic acid and to reduce the curing temperature the catalyst sodium hypophosphite monohydrate was used. All impregnated fabric samples were pre-dried. The reaction of grafting was performed in dry state. The treated and cured fabric samples were rinsed with warm distilled water and dried. The samples were dried for 4 h and weighed before and after finishing and rinsing. Stability and durability of β-cyclodextrins on fabric surface against external factors such as washing as well as strength of functionalized fabric in terms of tensile and tear strength were tested. Presence and homogeneity of distribution of β-cyclodextrins on fabric surface were characterized.
Abstract: Cotton dyeing using reactive dyes is one of the major water polluter; this is due to large amount of dye and salt remaining in effluent. Recent adverse climate change and its associated effect to human life have lead to search for more sustainable industrial production. Cationization of cotton to improve its affinity for reactive dye has been earmarked as a major solution for dyeing of cotton with no or less salt. Synthetic cationizing agents of ammonium salt have already been commercialized. However, in nature there are proteinous products which are rich in amino and ammonium salts which can be carefully harnessed to be used as cationizing agent for cotton. The hoofs and horns have successfully been used to cationize cotton so as to improve cotton affinity to the dye. The cationization action of the hoof and horn extract on cotton was confirmed by dyeing the pretreated fabric without salt and comparing it with conventionally dyed and untreated salt free dyed fabric. UV-VIS absorption results showed better dye absorption (62.5% and 50% dye bath exhaustion percentage for cationized and untreated respectively) while K/S values of treated samples were similar to conventional sample.
Abstract: Smart cities are high on the political agenda around the globe. However, planning smart cities and deploying applications dealing with the complex problems of the urban environment is a very challenging task that is difficult to be undertaken solely by the cities. We argue that the uptake of smart city strategies is facilitated, first, through the development of smart city application repositories allowing re-use of already developed and tested software, and, second, through cloud computing which disengages city authorities from any resource constraints, technical or financial, and has a higher impact and greater effect at the city level The combination of these two solutions allows city governments and municipalities to select and deploy a large number of applications dedicated to different city functions, which collectively could create a multiplier effect with a greater impact on the urban environment.
Abstract: Sugarcane is an important resource for bioenergy. Fields are usually established by using 15-20 cm pieces of sugarcane stalks as propagation material. An alternative method is to use small chips with nodes from sugarcane stalks. Plants from nodes are often established in plastic pots, but plastic pots could be replaced with biodegradable paper pots. This would be a more sustainable solution, reducing labor costs and avoiding pollution with plastic. We compared the establishment of plants from nodes taken from three different part of the sugarcane plant. The nodes were planted in plastic and paper pots. There was no significant difference between plants established in the two pot types. Nodes from different part of the stalk had different sprouting capacity. Nodes from the top parts sprouted significantly better than nodes taken from the middle or nodes taken closed to the ground in two experiments. Nodes with a length of 3 cm performed better than nodes with a length of 2 cm.
Abstract: A prospective double-blind placebo controlled trial carried out on 60 children known to be asthmatic who presented to the emergency department at Alexandria University of Children’s Hospital at El-Shatby with acute asthma exacerbations to assess the efficacy of adding inhaled magnesium sulfate to β-agonist, compared with β-agonist in saline, in the management of acute asthma exacerbations in children. The participants in the study were divided in two groups; Group A (study group) received inhaled salbutamol solution (0.15 ml/kg) plus isotonic magnesium sulfate 2 ml in a nebulizer chamber. Group B (control group): received nebulized salbutamol solution (0.15 ml/kg) diluted with placebo (2 ml normal saline). Both groups received inhaled solution every 20 minutes that was repeated for three doses. They were evaluated using the Pediatric Asthma Severity Score (PASS), oxygen saturation using portable pulse oximetry and peak expiratory flow rate using a portable peak expiratory flow meter at initially recorded as zero-minute assessment and every 20 minutes from the end of each nebulization (nebulization lasts 5-10 minutes) recorded as 20, 40 and 60-minute assessments. Regarding PASS, comparison showed non-significant difference with p-value 0.463, 0.472, 0.0766 at 20, 40 and 60 minutes. Regarding oxygen saturation, improvement was more significant towards group A starting from 40 min with significant p-value=0.000. At 60 min p-value=0.000. Although mean PEFR significantly improved from zero-min in both groups; however, improvement was more significant in group A with significant p-value = 0.015, 0.001, 0.001 at 20 min, 40 min and 60 min, respectively. The conclusion this study suggests is that inhaled magnesium sulfate is an efficient add on drug to standard β- agonist inhalation used in the treatment of moderate to severe asthma exacerbations.
Abstract: This paper presents a mobile phone application developed for sightseeing in Nikko, one of the cultural world heritages in Japan, using the BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) beacon. Based on our pre-research, we decided to design our application for young people who walk around the area actively, but know little about the tradition and culture of Nikko. One solution is to construct many information boards to explain; however, it is difficult to construct new guide plates in cultural world heritage sites. The smartphone is a good solution to send such information to such visitors. This application was designed using a combination of the smartphone and beacons, set in the area, so that when a tourist passes near a beacon, the application displays information about the area including a map, historical or cultural information about the temples and shrines, and local shops nearby as well as a bus timetable. It is useful for foreigners, too. In addition, we developed quizzes relating to the culture and tradition of Nikko to provide information based on the Zeigarnik effect, a psychological effect. According to the results of our trials, tourists positively evaluated the basic information and young people who used the quiz function were able to learn the historical and cultural points. This application helped young visitors at Nikko to understand the cultural elements of the site. In addition, this application has a function to send notifications. This function is designed to provide information about the local community such as shops, local transportation companies and information office. The application hopes to also encourage people living in the area, and such cooperation from the local people will make this application vivid and inspire young visitors to feel that the cultural heritage site is still alive today. This is a gateway for young people to learn about a traditional place and understand the gravity of preserving such areas.
Abstract: Unique and distinctive properties could be obtained on such two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor as tungsten trioxide (WO3) when the reduction from multi-layer to one fundamental layer thickness takes place. This transition without damaging single-layer on a large spatial resolution remained elusive until the atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique was utilized. Here we report the ALD-enabled atomic-layer-precision development of a single layer WO3 with thickness of 0.77±0.07 nm on a large spatial resolution by using (tBuN)2W(NMe2)2 as tungsten precursor and H2O as oxygen precursor, without affecting the underlying SiO2/Si substrate. Versatility of ALD is in tuning recipe in order to achieve the complete WO3 with desired number of WO3 layers including monolayer. Governed by self-limiting surface reactions, the ALD-enabled approach is versatile, scalable and applicable for a broader range of 2D semiconductors and various device applications.
Abstract: Planning for natural disasters and emergencies is something every school or educational institution must consider, regardless of its size or location. Preparedness is the key to save lives if a disaster strikes. School disaster management mirrors individual and family disaster prevention, and wider community disaster prevention efforts. This paper presents the usage of E-PreS System as a helpful, managerial tool during the school earthquake drill, in order to support schools in developing effective disaster and emergency plans specific to their local needs. The project comes up with a holistic methodology using real-time evaluation involving different categories of actors, districts, steps and metrics. The main outcomes of E-PreS project are the development of E-PreS web platform that host the needed data of school emergency planning; the development of E-PreS System; the implementation of disaster drills using E-PreS System in educational premises and local schools; and the evaluation of E-PreS System. Taking into consideration that every disaster drill aims to test and valid school plan and procedures; clarify and train personnel in roles and responsibilities; improve interagency coordination; identify gaps in resources; improve individual performance; and identify opportunities for improvement, E-PreS Project was submitted and approved by the European Commission (EC).
Abstract: Biotechnology in recent times has tried to develop a mechanism whereby sustainable electricity can be generated by the activity of microorganisms on waste and renewable biomass (often regarded as “negative value”) in a device called microbial fuel cell, MFC. In this paper, we established how the biocatalytic activities of bacteria on organic matter (substrates) produced some electrons with the associated removal of some water pollution parameters; Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD) to the tune of 77.2% and 88.3% respectively from a petrochemical sanitary wastewater. The electricity generation was possible by conditioning the bacteria to operate anaerobically in one chamber referred to as the anode while the electrons are transferred to the fully aerated counter chamber containing the cathode. Power densities ranging from 12.83 mW/m2 to 966.66 mW/m2 were achieved using a dual-chamber starch membrane MFC experimental set-up. The maximum power density obtained in this research shows an improvement in the use of low cost MFC set up to achieve power production. Also, the level of organic matter removal from the sanitary waste water by the operation of this device clearly demonstrates its potential benefit in achieving an improved benign environment. The beauty of the MFCs is their potential utility in areas lacking electrical infrastructures like in most developing countries.
Abstract: Although most of the existing skyline queries algorithms focused basically on querying static points through static databases; with the expanding number of sensors, wireless communications and mobile applications, the demand for continuous skyline queries has increased. Unlike traditional skyline queries which only consider static attributes, continuous skyline queries include dynamic attributes, as well as the static ones. However, as skyline queries computation is based on checking the domination of skyline points over all dimensions, considering both the static and dynamic attributes without separation is required. In this paper, we present an efficient algorithm for computing continuous skyline queries without discriminating between static and dynamic attributes. Our algorithm in brief proceeds as follows: First, it excludes the points which will not be in the initial skyline result; this pruning phase reduces the required number of comparisons. Second, the association between the spatial positions of data points is examined; this phase gives an idea of where changes in the result might occur and consequently enables us to efficiently update the skyline result (continuous update) rather than computing the skyline from scratch. Finally, experimental evaluation is provided which demonstrates the accuracy, performance and efficiency of our algorithm over other existing approaches.
Abstract: Walkability in civic and public spaces in Libyan cities is challenging due to the lack of accessibility design, informal merging into car traffic, and the general absence of adequate urban and space planning. The lack of accessible and pedestrian-friendly public spaces in Libyan cities has emerged as a major concern for the government if it is to develop smart and sustainable spaces for the 21st century. A walkable urban space has become a driver for urban development and redistribution of land use to ensure pedestrian and walkable routes between sites of living and workplaces. The characteristics of urban open space in the city centre play a main role in attracting people to walk when attending their daily needs, recreation and daily sports. There is significant gap in the understanding of perceptions, feasibility and capabilities of Libyan urban space to accommodate enhance or support the smart design of a walkable pedestrian-friendly environment that is safe and accessible to everyone. The paper aims to undertake observations of walkability and walkable space in the city of Tripoli as a benchmark for Libyan cities; assess the validity and consistency of the seven principal aspects of smart design, safety, accessibility and 51 factors that affect the walkability in open urban space in Tripoli, through the analysis of 10 local urban spaces experts (town planner, architect, transport engineer and urban designer); and explore user groups’ perceptions of accessibility in walkable spaces in Libyan cities through questionnaires. The study sampled 200 respondents in 2015-16. The results of this study are useful for urban planning, to classify the walkable urban space elements which affect to improve the level of walkability in the Libyan cities and create sustainable and liveable urban spaces.
Abstract: Egg yolk oil is a concentrated source of egg bioactive compounds, such as fat-soluble vitamins, phospholipids, cholesterol, carotenoids and others. To extract lipids and other fat-soluble nutrients from liquid egg yolk, a two-step extraction process involving polar (ethanol) and non-polar (hexane) solvents were used. This extraction technique was based on egg yolk bioactive compounds polarities, where non-polar compound was extracted into non-polar hexane, but polar in to polar alcohol/water phase. But many egg yolk bioactive compounds are not strongly polar or non-polar. Egg yolk phospholipids, cholesterol and pigments are amphipatic (have both polar and non-polar regions) and their behavior in ethanol/hexane solvent system is not clear. The aim of this study was to clarify the behavior of phospholipids, cholesterol and carotenoids during extraction of egg yolk oil with ethanol and hexane and determine the loss of these compounds in egg yolk oil. Egg yolks and egg yolk oil were analyzed for phospholipids (phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE)), cholesterol and carotenoids (lutein, zeaxanthin, canthaxanthin and β-carotene) content using GC-FID and HPLC methods. PC and PE are polar lipids and were extracted into polar ethanol phase. Concentration of PC in ethanol was 97.89% and PE 99.81% from total egg yolk phospholipids. Due to cholesterol’s partial extraction into ethanol, cholesterol content in egg yolk oil was reduced in comparison to its total content presented in egg yolk lipids. The highest amount of lutein and zeaxanthin was concentrated in ethanol extract. The opposite situation was observed with canthaxanthin and β-carotene, which became the main pigments of egg yolk oil.
Abstract: This paper will explore the influence of energy sector in Arab Republic of Egypt which has shared its responsibilities of many environmental challenges as the second largest economy in the Middle East (after Iran). Air and water pollution, desertification, inadequate disposal of solid waste and damage to coral reefs are serious problems that influence environmental management in Egypt. The intensive reliance of high population density and strong industrial growth are wearing Egypt's resources, and the rapidly-growing population has forced Egypt to breakdown agricultural land to residential and relevant use of commercial ingestion. The depletion effects of natural resources impose the government to apply innovation techniques in emission control and focus on sustainability. The cogeneration will be presented to control thermal losses and increase efficiency of energy power system.
Abstract: There have recently been many studies and investments in developed and developing countries regarding the possibility of recycling construction waste, which are still ongoing. Since the term 'construction waste' covers a vast spectrum of materials in constructing buildings, roads and etc., many investigations are required to measure their technical performance in use as well as their time and place of use. Concrete is among the major and fundamental materials used in current construction industry. Along with the rise of population in developing countries, it is desperately required to meet the people's primary need in construction industry and on the other hand, dispose existing wastes for reducing the amount of environmental pollutants. Restrictions of natural resources and environmental pollution are the most important problems encountered by civil engineers. Reusing construction waste is an important and economic approach that not only assists the preservation of environment but also, provides us with primary raw materials. In line with consistent municipal development in disposal and reuse of construction waste, several approaches including, management of construction waste and materials, materials recycling and innovation and new inventions in materials have been predicted. This article has accordingly attempted to study the activities related to recycling of construction wastes and then, stated the economic, quantitative, qualitative and environmental results obtained.
Abstract: This paper presents a method for steering velocity bounded mobile robots in environments with partially known stationary obstacles. The exact location of obstacles is unknown and only a probability distribution associated with the location of the obstacles is known. Kinematic model of a 2-wheeled differential drive robot is used as the model of mobile robot. The presented control strategy uses the Artificial Potential Field (APF) method for devising a desired direction of movement for the robot at each instant of time while the Constrained Directions Control (CDC) uses the generated direction to produce the control signals required for steering the robot. The location of each obstacle is considered to be the mean value of the 2D probability distribution and similarly, the magnitude of the electric charge in the APF is set as the trace of covariance matrix of the location probability distribution. The method not only captures the challenges of planning the path (i.e. probabilistic nature of the location of unknown obstacles), but it also addresses the output saturation which is considered to be an important issue from the control perspective. Moreover, velocity of the robot can be controlled during the steering. For example, the velocity of robot can be reduced in close vicinity of obstacles and target to ensure safety. Finally, the control strategy is simulated for different scenarios to show how the method can be put into practice.