Sound Absorption of Arenga Pinnata Natural Fiber

Arenga pinnata is an abundantly natural fiber that can be used for sound proof material. However, the scientific data of acoustics properties of Arenga pinnata was not available yet. In this study the sound absorption of pure arenga pinnata was measured. The thickness of Arenga pinnata was varied in 10 mm, 20 mm, 30mm, and 40mm. This work was carried out to investigate the potential of using Arenga pinnata fiber as raw material for sound absorbing material. Impedance Tube Method was used to measure sound absorption coefficient (α). The Measurements was done in accordance with ASTM E1050-98, that is the standard test method for impedance and absorption of acoustical materials using a tube, two microphones and a digital frequency analysis system . The results showed that sound absorption coefficients of Arenga pinnata were good from 2000 Hz to 5000 Hz within the range of 0.75 – 0.90. The optimum sound absorption coefficient was obtained from the thickness of 40 mm. These results indicated that Arenga pinnata fiber is promising to be used as raw material of sound absorbing material with low cost, light, and biodegradable.

Why I Trust My Father? : In the Eyes of Malaysian Adolescents

This study aims to investigate how much both son and daughter trust their father and what are the underlying reasons they trust their father. The results revealed five main reasons why Malaysian adolescents trust their father. Those reasons are related to the role of father, father-child relationship, father-s characteristics, father-s nurturing nature and father-s attitude and behavior. A total of 1022 students (males = 241, females = 781) from one of public university in Sabah, Malaysia participated in the study. The participants completed open-ended questionnaires developed by Kim (2008), asking how much the adolescents trust their father, and the reasons why they trust their father. The data was analysed by using the indigenous psychology method proposed by [1] Findings of this study revealed the pattern of trust towards father for both Malaysian male and female adolescents. The results contributed new information about Malaysian adolescents- trust towards their father form the indigenous context. The implications of finding will be discussed.

Detection of Pathogenic Escherichia coli Strains Pollution in Red Deer Meat in Latvia and Determination the Compatibility of VT1, VT2, eae A Genes in their Isolate

Tasks of the work were study the possible E.coli contamination in red deer meat, identify pathogenic strains from isolated E.coli, determine their incidence in red deer meat and determine the presence of VT1, VT2 and eaeA genes for the pathogenic E.coli. 8 (10%) samples were randomly selected from 80 analysed isolates of E.coli and PCR reaction was performed on them. PCR was done both on initial materials – samples of red deer meat - and for already isolated liqueurs. Two of analysed venison samples contain verotoxin-producing strains of E. coli. It means that this meat is not safe to consumer. It was proven by the sequestration reaction of E. coli and by comparison of the obtained results with the database of microorganism genome available on the internet that the isolated culture corresponds to region 16S rDNS of E. coli thus presenting correctness of the microbiological methods.

Neural Network Evaluation of FRP Strengthened RC Buildings Subjected to Near-Fault Ground Motions having Fling Step

Recordings from recent earthquakes have provided evidence that ground motions in the near field of a rupturing fault differ from ordinary ground motions, as they can contain a large energy, or “directivity" pulse. This pulse can cause considerable damage during an earthquake, especially to structures with natural periods close to those of the pulse. Failures of modern engineered structures observed within the near-fault region in recent earthquakes have revealed the vulnerability of existing RC buildings against pulse-type ground motions. This may be due to the fact that these modern structures had been designed primarily using the design spectra of available standards, which have been developed using stochastic processes with relatively long duration that characterizes more distant ground motions. Many recently designed and constructed buildings may therefore require strengthening in order to perform well when subjected to near-fault ground motions. Fiber Reinforced Polymers are considered to be a viable alternative, due to their relatively easy and quick installation, low life cycle costs and zero maintenance requirements. The objective of this paper is to investigate the adequacy of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) to determine the three dimensional dynamic response of FRP strengthened RC buildings under the near-fault ground motions. For this purpose, one ANN model is proposed to estimate the base shear force, base bending moments and roof displacement of buildings in two directions. A training set of 168 and a validation set of 21 buildings are produced from FEA analysis results of the dynamic response of RC buildings under the near-fault earthquakes. It is demonstrated that the neural network based approach is highly successful in determining the response.

Enhanced QoS Mechanisms for IEEE 802.11e Wireless Networks

The quality-of-service (QoS) support for wireless LANs has been a hot research topic during the past few years. In this paper, two QoS provisioning mechanisms are proposed for the employment in 802.11e EDCA MAC scheme. First, the proposed call admission control mechanism can not only guarantee the QoS for the higher priority existing connections but also provide the minimum reserved bandwidth for traffic flows with lower priority. In addition, the adaptive contention window adjustment mechanism can adjust the maximum and minimum contention window size dynamically according to the existing connection number of each AC. The collision probability as well as the packet delay will thus be reduced effectively. Performance results via simulations have revealed the enhanced QoS property achieved by employing these two mechanisms.

Pollution Induced Structural and Physico-Chemical Changes in Algal Community: A Case Study of River Pandu of North India

The study area receives a wide variety of wastes generated by municipalities and the industries like paints and pigments, metal processing industries, thermal power plants electroprocessing industries etc. The Physico-chemical and structural investigation of water from river Pandu indicated high level of chlorides and calcium which made the water unsuitable for human use. Algae like Cyclotella fumida, Asterionella Formosa, Cladophora glomerata, Pediastrum simplex, Scenedesmus bijuga, Cladophora glomerata were the dominant pollution tolerant species recorded under these conditions. The sensitive and less abundant species of algae included Spirogyra sps., Merismopedia sps. The predominance colonies of Zygnema sps, Phormidium sps, Mycrocystis aeruginosa, Merismopedia minima, Pandorina morum, seems to correlate with high organic contents of Pandu river water. This study assumes significance as some algae can be used as bioindicators of water pollution and algal floral of a municipal drain carrying waste effluents from industrial area Kanpur and discharge them into the river Pandu flowing onto southern outskirts of Kanpur city.

Experimental Study on Damping Ratios of in-situ Buildings

Accurate evaluation of damping ratios involving soilstructure interaction (SSI) effects is the prerequisite for seismic design of in-situ buildings. This study proposes a combined approach to identify damping ratios of SSI systems based on ambient excitation technique. The proposed approach is illustrated with main test process, sampling principle and algorithm steps through an engineering example, as along with its feasibility and validity. The proposed approach is employed for damping ratio identification of 82 buildings in Xi-an, China. Based on the experimental data, the variation range and tendency of damping ratios of these SSI systems, along with the preliminary influence factor, are shown and discussed. In addition, a fitting curve indicates the relation between the damping ratio and fundamental natural period of SSI system.

Improved K-Modes for Categorical Clustering Using Weighted Dissimilarity Measure

K-Modes is an extension of K-Means clustering algorithm, developed to cluster the categorical data, where the mean is replaced by the mode. The similarity measure proposed by Huang is the simple matching or mismatching measure. Weight of attribute values contribute much in clustering; thus in this paper we propose a new weighted dissimilarity measure for K-Modes, based on the ratio of frequency of attribute values in the cluster and in the data set. The new weighted measure is experimented with the data sets obtained from the UCI data repository. The results are compared with K-Modes and K-representative, which show that the new measure generates clusters with high purity.

A Modified Maximum Urgency First Scheduling Algorithm for Real-Time Tasks

This paper presents a modified version of the maximum urgency first scheduling algorithm. The maximum urgency algorithm combines the advantages of fixed and dynamic scheduling to provide the dynamically changing systems with flexible scheduling. This algorithm, however, has a major shortcoming due to its scheduling mechanism which may cause a critical task to fail. The modified maximum urgency first scheduling algorithm resolves the mentioned problem. In this paper, we propose two possible implementations for this algorithm by using either earliest deadline first or modified least laxity first algorithms for calculating the dynamic priorities. These two approaches are compared together by simulating the two algorithms. The earliest deadline first algorithm as the preferred implementation is then recommended. Afterwards, we make a comparison between our proposed algorithm and maximum urgency first algorithm using simulation and results are presented. It is shown that modified maximum urgency first is superior to maximum urgency first, since it usually has less task preemption and hence, less related overhead. It also leads to less failed non-critical tasks in overloaded situations.

Zeros of Bargmann Analytic Representation in the Complex Plane

The paper contains an investigation of zeros Of Bargmann analytic representation. A brief introduction to Harmonic oscillator formalism is given. The Bargmann analytic representation has been studied. The zeros of Bargmann analytic function are considered. The Q or Husimi functions are introduced. The The Bargmann functions and the Husimi functions have the same zeros. The Bargmann functions f(z) have exactly q zeros. The evolution time of the zeros μn are discussed. Various examples have been given.

Tourists, on Marine Sport Tourism Attraction, Travel Experiences and Perceived Values

The purpose of this study is to analyze the cognitive and travel experience the situation of the tourist attraction of the sport tourism in Penghu. This study used a questionnaires, the main island of Taiwan to Penghu in the way of marine sports tourists adopted the designated convenience sampling method, a total of 1447 valid questionnaires. After statistical analysis, this study found that: 1. Tourists to Penghu sports tourism attraction cognitive as “good air quality, suitable for water activities". 2. Tourists in Penghu's tourism experience, “Let me taste the delicious specialties and snacks". 3. The attraction of the sport tourism, travel experience and perceived value are correlated, and both the perceived value with a high degree of predictive ability. Based on the findings of this study not only for Penghu's tourism industry with the unit in charge of the proposed operating and suggestions for future research to other researchers.

Wear Mechanisms in High Speed Steel Gear Cutting Tools

In this paper, the wear of high speed steel hobs during hobbing has been studied. The wear mechanisms are strongly influenced by the choice of cutting speed. At moderate and high cutting speeds three major wear mechanisms were identified: abrasion, mild adhesive and severe adhesive. The microstructure and wear behavior of two high speed steel grades (M2 and ASP30) has been compared. In contrast, a variation in chemical composition or microstructure of HSS tool material generally did not change the dominant wear mechanism. However, the tool material properties determine the resistance against the operating wear mechanism and consequently the tool life. The metallographic analysis and wear measurement at the tip of hob teeth included scanning electron microscopy and stereoscope microscopy. Roughness profilometery is used for measuring the gear surface roughness.

Delay-Dependent H∞ Performance Analysis for Markovian Jump Systems with Time-Varying Delays

This paper considers ­H∞ performance for Markovian jump systems with Time-varying delays. The systems under consideration involve disturbance signal, Markovian switching and timevarying delays. By using a new Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional and a convex optimization approach, a delay-dependent stability condition in terms of linear matrix inequality (LMI) is addressed, which guarantee asymptotical stability in mean square and a prescribed ­H∞ performance index for the considered systems. Two numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness and the less conservatism of the proposed main results. All these results are expected to be of use in the study of stochastic systems with time-varying delays.

A Comparison of Fuzzy Clustering Algorithms to Cluster Web Messages

Our objective in this paper is to propose an approach capable of clustering web messages. The clustering is carried out by assigning, with a certain probability, texts written by the same web user to the same cluster based on Stylometric features and using fuzzy clustering algorithms. Focus in the present work is on comparing the most popular algorithms in fuzzy clustering theory namely, Fuzzy C-means, Possibilistic C-means and Fuzzy Possibilistic C-Means.

A Study of Analyzing the Selection of Promotion Activities and Destination Attributes in Tourism Industry in Vietnam - From the Perspective of Tourism Industrial Service Network (TISN)

In order to explore the relationship of promotion activities, destination attribute and destination image of Vietnam and find possible solutions, this study uses decision system analysis (DSA) method to develop flowcharts based on three rounds of expert interviews. The interviews were conducted with the experts who were confirmed to directly participate or influence on the decision making that drives the promotion of Vietnam tourism process. This study identifies three models and describes specific decisions on promotion activities, destination attributes and destination images. This study finally derives a general model for promoting the Tourism Industrial Service Network (TISN) in Vietnam. This study finds that the coordination with all sectors and industries of tourism to facilitate favorable condition and improving destination attributes in linking with the efficient promotion activities is highly recommended in order to make visitors satisfied and improve the destination image.

Simulation of Thermal Storage Phase Change Material in Buildings

One of the potential and effective ways of storing thermal energy in buildings is the integration of brick with phase change materials (PCMs). This paper presents a two-dimensional model for simulating and analyzing of PCM in order to minimize energy consumption in the buildings. The numerical approach has been used with the real weather data of a selected city of Iran (Tehran). Two kinds of brick integrated PCM are investigated and compared base on outdoor weather conditions and the amount of energy consumption. The results show a significant reduction in maximum entering heat flux to building about 32.8% depending on PCM quantity. The results are analyzed by various temperature contour plots. The contour plots illustrated the time dependent mechanism of entering heat flux for a brick integrated with PCM. Further analysis is developed to investigate the effect of PCM location on the inlet heat flux. The results demonstrated that to achieve maximum performance of PCM it is better to locate PCM near the outdoor.

Some Physico-chemical and Nutritional Properties of Russion Olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia L.) Fruit Grown in Turkey

In this research, several physical and chemical properties and mineral contents of Russion olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia L.) fruit grown in Turkey were determined. In the fruit, length, width, thickness, weight were determined as 2.866cm, 1.880cm, 1.870cm, 2.90g; total soluble solids and colour were determined as 13.14% and S33O60Y99, respectively. In the seed, mean length, width, thickness, and weight were found to be 2.420cm, 0.508cm, 0.503cm, and 0.38g, respectively. In the fruit, 28 minerals (K, P, Ca, Na, Mg, S, Pb, Ba, Ga, As, In, Ti, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Co, B, Cd, Se, Li, Sr, Al, Ni, Ag, V, Cr, Bi) were analyzed and 19 minerals were present at detectable levels. Russion olive fruit was richest in potassium (10296.906ppm), Mg (762.314ppm), P (609.694ppm), Ca (547.647ppm), and Na (222.749ppm).

Knowledge and Skills Requirements for Software Developer Students

It is widely acknowledged that there is a shortage of software developers, not only in South Africa, but also worldwide. Despite reports on a gap between industry needs and software education, the gap has mostly been explored in quantitative studies. This paper reports on the qualitative data of a mixed method study of the perceptions of professional software developers regarding what topics they learned from their formal education and the importance of these topics to their actual work. The analysis suggests that there is a gap between industry’s needs and software development education and the following recommendations are made: 1) Real-life projects must be included in students’ education; 2) Soft skills and business skills must be included in curricula; 3) Universities must keep the curriculum up to date; 4) Software development education must be made accessible to a diverse range of students.

Mathematical Simulation of Acid Concentration Effects during Acid Nitric Leaching of Cobalt from a Mixed Cobalt-Copper Oxide

Cobalt was acid nitric leached from a mixed cobaltcopper oxide with variable acid concentration. Resulting experimental data were used to analyze effects of increase in acid concentration, based on a shrinking core model of the process. The mathematical simulation demonstrated that the time rate of the dissolution mechanism is an increasing function of acid concentration. It was also shown that the magnitude of the acid concentration effect is time dependent and the increase in acid concentration is more effective at earlier stage of the dissolution than at later stage. The remaining process parameters are comprehensively affected by acid concentration and their interaction is synergetic.