Abstract: By enhancing the applicatıon of grounds for
establishment and due to the lack of appropriate sites, engineers
attempt to seek out a new method to reduce the weakness of soils. İn
aspect of economic situation, various ways have been used to
decrease the weak grounds. Because of the rapid development of
infrastructural facilities, spreading the construction operation is an
obligation. Furthermore, in various sites with the really bad soil
situation, engineers have considered obvious problems. One of the
most essential ways for developing the weak soils is stone column.
Obviously, the method was introduced in France in 1830 to improve
a native soil initially. Stone columns have an expanding range of
usage in different rough foundation sites all over the world to
increase the bearing capacity, to reduce the whole and differential
settlements, to enhance the rate of consolidation, to stabilize slopes
stability of embankments and to increase the liquefaction resistance
as well. A recent procedure called installing vertical nails along the
round stone columns in order to make better the performance of
considered columns is offered. Moreover, thanks to the enhancing the
nail diameter, number and embedment nail depth, the positive points
of vertical circumferential nails increases. Based on the result of this
study, load caring capacity will be develop with enhancing the length
and the power of reinforcements in vertical encasement stone column
(CESC). In this study, the main purpose is comparing two methods of
stone columns (installed a nail surrounding the stone columns and
using geogrid on clay) for enhancing the bearing capacity, decreasing
the whole and various settlements.
Abstract: Computer aided diagnosis systems provide vital
opinion to radiologists in the detection of early signs of breast cancer
from mammogram images. Architectural distortions, masses and
microcalcifications are the major abnormalities. In this paper, a
computer aided diagnosis system has been proposed for
distinguishing abnormal mammograms with architectural distortion
from normal mammogram. Four types of texture features GLCM
texture, GLRLM texture, fractal texture and spectral texture features
for the regions of suspicion are extracted. Support vector machine
has been used as classifier in this study. The proposed system yielded
an overall sensitivity of 96.47% and an accuracy of 96% for
mammogram images collected from digital database for screening
mammography database.
Abstract: Batch production plants provide a wide range of
scheduling problems. In pharmaceutical industries a batch process
is usually described by a recipe, consisting of an ordering of tasks
to produce the desired product. In this research work we focused
on pharmaceutical production processes requiring the culture of
a microorganism population (i.e. bacteria, yeasts or antibiotics).
Several sources of uncertainty may influence the yield of the culture
processes, including (i) low performance and quality of the cultured
microorganism population or (ii) microbial contamination. For
these reasons, robustness is a valuable property for the considered
application context. In particular, a robust schedule will not collapse
immediately when a cell of microorganisms has to be thrown away
due to a microbial contamination. Indeed, a robust schedule should
change locally in small proportions and the overall performance
measure (i.e. makespan, lateness) should change a little if at all.
In this research work we formulated a constraint programming
optimization (COP) model for the robust planning of antibiotics
production. We developed a discrete-time model with a multi-criteria
objective, ordering the different criteria and performing a
lexicographic optimization. A feasible solution of the proposed
COP model is a schedule of a given set of tasks onto available
resources. The schedule has to satisfy tasks precedence constraints,
resource capacity constraints and time constraints. In particular
time constraints model tasks duedates and resource availability
time windows constraints. To improve the schedule robustness, we
modeled the concept of (a, b) super-solutions, where (a, b) are input
parameters of the COP model. An (a, b) super-solution is one in
which if a variables (i.e. the completion times of a culture tasks)
lose their values (i.e. cultures are contaminated), the solution can be
repaired by assigning these variables values with a new values (i.e.
the completion times of a backup culture tasks) and at most b other
variables (i.e. delaying the completion of at most b other tasks).
The efficiency and applicability of the proposed model is
demonstrated by solving instances taken from a real-life
pharmaceutical company. Computational results showed that
the determined super-solutions are near-optimal.
Abstract: An investigation has been presented to analyze the
effect of internal heat source on the onset of Hadley-Prats flow in
a horizontal fluid saturated porous medium. We examine a better
understanding of the combined influence of the heat source and mass
flow effect by using linear stability analysis. The resultant eigenvalue
problem is solved by using shooting and Runga-Kutta methods for
evaluate critical thermal Rayleigh number with respect to various
flow governing parameters. It is identified that the flow is switch from
stabilizing to destabilizing as the horizontal thermal Rayleigh number
is enhanced. The heat source and mass flow increases resulting a
stronger destabilizing effect.
Abstract: The nickel-manganese (Ni-Mn) alloy coating prepared
from DC electrodeposition process in sulphamate bath was studied.
The effects of process parameters, such as current density and
electrolyte composition, on the cathodic current efficiency,
microstructure, internal stress and mechanical properties were
investigated. Because of its crucial effect on the application to the
electroforming of microelectronic components, the development of
low internal stress coating with high leveling power was emphasized.
It was found that both the coating’s manganese content and the
cathodic current efficiency increased with the raise in current density.
In addition, the internal stress of the deposited coating showed
compressive nature at low current densities while changed to tensile
one at higher current densities. Moreover, the metallographic
observation, X-ray diffraction measurement, and polarization curve
measurement were conducted. It was found that the Ni-Mn coating
consisted of nano-sized columnar grains and the maximum hardness of
the coating was associated with (111) preferred orientation in the
microstructure. The grain size was refined along with the increase in
the manganese content of the coating, which accordingly, raised its
hardness and resistance to annealing softening. In summary, the
Ni-Mn coating prepared at lower current density of 1-2 A/dm2 had low
internal stress, high leveling power, and better corrosion resistance.
Abstract: This study presents three different approaches to
estimate bubble point pressures for the binary system of CO2 and
ethyl palmitate fatty acid ethyl ester. The first method involves the
Peng-Robinson (PR) Equation of State (EoS) with the conventional
mixing rule of Van der Waals. The second approach involves the PR
EOS together with the Wong Sandler (WS) mixing rule, coupled with
the UNIQUAC GE model. In order to model the bubble point
pressures with this approach, the volume and area parameter for ethyl
palmitate were estimated by the Hansen group contribution method.
The last method involved the Peng-Robinson, combined with the
Wong-Sandler method, but using NRTL as the GE model. Results
using the Van der Waals mixing rule clearly indicated that this
method has the largest errors among all three methods, with errors in
the range of 3.96-6.22%. The PR-WS-UNIQUAC method exhibited
small errors, with average absolute deviations between 0.95 to 1.97
percent. The PR-WS-NRTL method led to the least errors, where
average absolute deviations ranged between 0.65-1.7%.
Abstract: The aim of this work was to characterize a potential
target group of people interested in participating into a training
program in organic farming in the context of mobile-learning. The
information sought addressed in particular, but not exclusively,
possible contents, formats and forms of evaluation that will
contribute to define the course objectives and curriculum, as well as
to ensure that the course meets the needs of the learners and their
preferences. The sample was selected among different European
countries. The questionnaires were delivered electronically for
answering on-line and in the end 135 consented valid questionnaires
were obtained. The results allowed characterizing the target group
and identifying their training needs and preferences towards m-learning
formats, giving valuable tools to design the training offer.
Abstract: The global demand for long-tailed macaques for
medical experimentation has continued to increase. Fulfillment of
Indonesian export demands has been mostly from natural habitats,
based on a harvesting quota. This quota has been determined
according to the total catch for a given year, and not based on
consideration of any demographic parameters or physical
environmental factors with regard to the animal; hence threatening
the sustainability of the various populations. It is therefore necessary
to formulate a method for calculating a sustainable harvesting quota,
based on population parameters in natural habitats. Considering the
possibility of variations in habitat characteristics and population
parameters, a time series observation of demographic and
physical/biotic parameters, in various habitats, was performed on 13
groups of long-tailed macaques, distributed throughout the West
Java, Lampung and Yogyakarta areas of Indonesia. These provinces
were selected for comparison of the influence of human/tourism
activities. Data on population parameters that was collected included
data on life expectancy according to age class, numbers of
individuals by sex and age class, and ‘ratio of infants to reproductive
females’. The estimation of population growth was based on a
population dynamic growth model: the Leslie matrix. The harvesting
quota was calculated as being the difference between the actual
population size and the MVP (minimum viable population) for each
sex and age class. Observation indicated that there were variations within group size
(24–106 individuals), gender (sex) ratio (1:1 to 1:1.3), life expectancy
value (0.30 to 0.93), and ‘ratio of infants to reproductive females’
(0.23 to 1.56). Results of subsequent calculations showed that
sustainable harvesting quotas for each studied group of long-tailed
macaques, ranged from 29 to 110 individuals. An estimation model
of the MVP for each age class was formulated as Log Y = 0.315 +
0.884 Log Ni (number of individual on ith age class). This study also
found that life expectancy for the juvenile age class was affected by
the humidity under tree stands, and dietary plants’ density at sapling,
pole and tree stages (equation: Y=2.296 – 1.535 RH + 0.002 Kpcg –
0.002 Ktg – 0.001 Kphn, R2 = 89.6% with a significance value of
0.001). By contrast, for the sub-adult-adult age class, life expectancy
was significantly affected by slope (equation: Y=0.377 = 0.012 Kml,
R2 = 50.4%, with significance level of 0.007). The infant-toreproductive-
female ratio was affected by humidity under tree stands,
and dietary plant density at sapling and pole stages (equation: Y = -
1.432 + 2.172 RH – 0.004 Kpcg + 0.003 Ktg, R2 = 82.0% with
significance level of 0.001). This research confirmed the importance
of population parameters in determining the minimum viable
population, and that MVP varied according to habitat characteristics
(especially food availability). It would be difficult therefore, to
formulate a general mathematical equation model for determining a
harvesting quota for the species as a whole.
Abstract: This paper develops and investigates a framework for
the assessment of customer involvement in the service design process
of result oriented product-service systems in order to improve the
service offering in a business-to-business (B2B) context. The
framework comprises five main criteria and fifteen sub-criteria that
contribute to customer involvement in a hierarchy using a maturity
grid to highlight the strengths and weaknesses for each criterion. To
develop the customer involvement framework, an extensive literature
review related to service design, result oriented product-service
system (PSS) and customer involvement in service design was
carried out. Key factors that significantly influence customer
involvement from industry and literature were identified to develop
the framework. A major contribution of the developed framework
includes a hierarchy of appropriate criteria for assessing customer
involvement in the service design process within results oriented
PSS; the definition of four maturity levels which are suitable to
describe the whole spectrum of customer involvement in the service
design process; and finally, The paper concludes by enabling service
providers to: take proactive decisions; screen and evaluate new
services; improve perceived service quality; and provide barriers
against imitation.
Abstract: Sewer deposits have been identified as a major cause
of dysfunctions in combined sewer systems regarding sewer
management, which induces different negative consequents resulting
in poor hydraulic conveyance, environmental damages as well as
worker’s health. In order to overcome the problematics of
sedimentation, flushing has been considered as the most operative
and cost-effective way to minimize the sediments impacts and
prevent such challenges. Flushing, by prompting turbulent wave
effects, can modify the bed form depending on the hydraulic
properties and geometrical characteristics of the conduit. So far, the
dynamics of the bed-load during high-flow events in combined sewer
systems as a complex environment is not well understood, mostly due
to lack of measuring devices capable to work in the “hostile” in
combined sewer system correctly. In this regards, a one-episode
flushing issue from an opening gate valve with weir function was
carried out in a trunk sewer in Paris to understand its cleansing
efficiency on the sediments (thickness: 0-30 cm). During more than
1h of flushing within 5 m distance in downstream of this flushing
device, a maximum flowrate and a maximum level of water have
been recorded at 5 m in downstream of the gate as 4.1 m3/s and 2.1
m respectively. This paper is aimed to evaluate the efficiency of this
type of gate for around 1.1 km (from the point -50 m to +1050 m in
downstream from the gate) by (i) determining bed grain-size
distribution and sediments evolution through the sewer channel, as
well as their organic matter content, and (ii) identifying sections that
exhibit more changes in their texture after the flush. For the first one,
two series of sampling were taken from the sewer length and then
analyzed in laboratory, one before flushing and second after, at same
points among the sewer channel. Hence, a non-intrusive sampling
instrument has undertaken to extract the sediments smaller than the
fine gravels. The comparison between sediments texture after the
flush operation and the initial state, revealed the most modified zones
by the flush effect, regarding the sewer invert slope and hydraulic
parameters in the zone up to 400 m from the gate. At this distance,
despite the increase of sediment grain-size rages, D50 (median grainsize)
varies between 0.6 mm and 1.1 mm compared to 0.8 mm and 10
mm before and after flushing, respectively. Overall, regarding the
sewer channel invert slope, results indicate that grains smaller than
sands (< 2 mm) are more transported to downstream along about 400
m from the gate: in average 69% before against 38% after the flush
with more dispersion of grain-sizes distributions. Furthermore, high
effect of the channel bed irregularities on the bed material evolution
has been observed after the flush.
Abstract: This study aims to investigate the mixing behaviors of
deionized (DI) water and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) solutions in
C-shaped serpentine micromixers over a wide range of flow
conditions. The flow of CMC solutions exhibits shear-thinning
behaviors. Numerical simulations are performed to investigate the
effects of the mean flow speed, fluid properties and geometry
parameters on flow and mixing in the micromixers with the serpentine
channel of the same overall channel length. From the results, we can
find the following trends. When convection dominates fluid mixing,
the curvature-induced vortices enhance fluid mixing effectively. The
mixing efficiency of a micromixer consisting of semicircular C-shaped
repeating units with a smaller centerline radius is better than that of a
micromixer consisting of major segment repeating units with a larger
centerline radius. The viscosity of DI water is less than the overall
average apparent viscosity of CMC solutions, and so the effect of
curvature-induced vortices on fluid mixing in DI water is larger than
that in CMC solutions for the cases with the same mean flow speed.
Abstract: The objective of this paper is to evaluate the effects of
soil-structure interaction (SSI) on the modal characteristics and on
the dynamic response of current structures. The objective is on the
overall behaviour of a real structure of five storeys reinforced
concrete (R/C) building typically encountered in Algeria. Sensitivity
studies are undertaken in order to study the effects of frequency
content of the input motion, frequency of the soil-structure system,
rigidity and depth of the soil layer on the dynamic response of such
structures. This investigation indicated that the rigidity of the soil
layer is the predominant factor in soil-structure interaction and its
increases would definitely reduce the deformation in the R/C
structure. On the other hand, increasing the period of the underlying
soil will cause an increase in the lateral displacements at story levels
and create irregularity in the distribution of story shears. Possible
resonance between the frequency content of the input motion and soil
could also play an important role in increasing the structural
response.
Abstract: This study integrates a larger research empirical
project that examines second language (SL) learners’ profiles and
valid procedures to perform complete and diagnostic assessment in
schools. 102 learners of Portuguese as a SL aged 7 and 17 years
speakers of distinct home languages were assessed in several
linguistic tasks. In this article, we focused on writing performance in
the specific task of narrative essay composition. The written outputs
were measured using the score in six components adapted from an
English SL assessment context (Alberta Education): linguistic
vocabulary, grammar, syntax, strategy, socio-linguistic, and
discourse. The writing processes and strategies in Portuguese
language used by different immigrant students were analysed to
determine features and diversity of deficits on authentic texts
performed by SL writers. Differentiated performance was based on
the diversity of the following variables: grades, previous schooling,
home language, instruction in first language, and exposure to
Portuguese as Second Language. Indo-Aryan languages speakers
showed low writing scores compared to their peers and the type of
language and respective cognitive mapping (such as Mandarin and
Arabic) was the predictor, not linguistic distance. Home language
instruction should also be prominently considered in further research
to understand specificities of cognitive academic profile in a
Romance languages learning context. Additionally, this study also
examined the teachers’ representations that will be here addressed to
understand educational implications of second language teaching in
psychological distress of different minorities in schools of specific
host countries.
Abstract: Conductivity properties of DNA molecule is
investigated in a simple, but chemically specific approach that is
intimately related to the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model. This
model is a tight-binding linear nanoscale chain. We have tried to
study the electrical current flowing in DNA and investigated the
characteristic I-V diagram. As a result, It is shown that there are the
(quasi-) ohmic areas in I-V diagram. On the other hand, the regions
with a negative differential resistance (NDR) are detectable in
diagram.
Abstract: Speaker Identification (SI) is the task of establishing
identity of an individual based on his/her voice characteristics. The SI
task is typically achieved by two-stage signal processing: training and
testing. The training process calculates speaker specific feature
parameters from the speech and generates speaker models
accordingly. In the testing phase, speech samples from unknown
speakers are compared with the models and classified. Even though
performance of speaker identification systems has improved due to
recent advances in speech processing techniques, there is still need of
improvement. In this paper, a Closed-Set Tex-Independent Speaker
Identification System (CISI) based on a Multiple Classifier System
(MCS) is proposed, using Mel Frequency Cepstrum Coefficient
(MFCC) as feature extraction and suitable combination of vector
quantization (VQ) and Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) together
with Expectation Maximization algorithm (EM) for speaker
modeling. The use of Voice Activity Detector (VAD) with a hybrid
approach based on Short Time Energy (STE) and Statistical
Modeling of Background Noise in the pre-processing step of the
feature extraction yields a better and more robust automatic speaker
identification system. Also investigation of Linde-Buzo-Gray (LBG)
clustering algorithm for initialization of GMM, for estimating the
underlying parameters, in the EM step improved the convergence rate
and systems performance. It also uses relative index as confidence
measures in case of contradiction in identification process by GMM
and VQ as well. Simulation results carried out on voxforge.org
speech database using MATLAB highlight the efficacy of the
proposed method compared to earlier work.
Abstract: This paper deals with nonlinear vibration analysis
using finite element method for frame structures consisting of elastic
and viscoelastic damping layers supported by multiple nonlinear
concentrated springs with hysteresis damping. The frame is supported
by four nonlinear concentrated springs near the four corners. The
restoring forces of the springs have cubic non-linearity and linear
component of the nonlinear springs has complex quantity to represent
linear hysteresis damping. The damping layer of the frame structures
has complex modulus of elasticity. Further, the discretized equations in
physical coordinate are transformed into the nonlinear ordinary
coupled differential equations using normal coordinate corresponding
to linear natural modes. Comparing shares of strain energy of the
elastic frame, the damping layer and the springs, we evaluate the
influences of the damping couplings on the linear and nonlinear impact
responses. We also investigate influences of damping changed by
stiffness of the elastic frame on the nonlinear coupling in the damped
impact responses.
Abstract: A large amount of software products offer a wide
range and number of features. This is called featuritis or creeping
featurism and tends to rise with each release of the product. Feautiris
often adds unnecessary complexity to software, leading to longer
learning curves and overall confusing the users and degrading their
experience. We take a look to a new design approach tendency that
has been coming up, the so-called “What You Get is What You
Need” concept that argues that products should be very focused,
simple and with minimalistic interfaces in order to help users conduct
their tasks in distraction-free ambiences. This isn’t as simple to
implement as it might sound and the developers need to cut down
features. Our contribution illustrates and evaluates this design method
through a novel distraction-free diagramming tool named Delineato
Pro for Mac OS X in which the user is confronted with an empty
canvas when launching the software and where tools only show up
when really needed.
Abstract: Steel slag is a by-product of the steel industry and can
be used potentially as aggregate in the asphalt mixture. This study
evaluates the use of Steel Slag Aggregates (SSA) as a substitute for
natural aggregates in the production of hot mix asphalt (HMA) for
road construction. Based on intensive laboratory testing program, the
characteristic properties of SSA were assessed to determine its
suitability to be used in HMA. Four different percentages (0, 50, 75,
and 100%) of SSA were used, and the proposed mix designs for
HMA were conducted in accordance with Marshall mix design. The
experiment results revealed that the addition of SSA has a significant
improvement on the properties of HMA. An increase in density and
stability and a reduction in flow and air voids values were clearly
observed in specimens prepared with 100% SSA. It is concluded that
the steel slag can be considered reasonable alternative source of
aggregate for concrete asphalt mixture production.
Abstract: This paper discusses the propagation of sound waves in
air, specifically in narrow rectangular pathways of an occluded-ear
simulator for acoustic measurements. In narrow pathways, both the
speed of sound and the phase of the sound waves are affected by the
damping of the air viscosity. Herein, we propose a new finite-element
method (FEM) that considers the effects of the air viscosity. The
method was developed as an extension of existing FEMs for porous,
sound-absorbing materials. The results of a numerical calculation for a
three-dimensional ear-simulator model using the proposed FEM were
validated by comparing with theoretical lumped-parameter modeling
analysis and standard values.
Abstract: In this paper, we report the development of the device
for diagnostics of cardiovascular system state and associated
automated workstation for large-scale medical measurement data
collection and analysis. It was shown that optimal design for the
monitoring device is wristband as it represents engineering trade-off
between accuracy and usability. Monitoring device is based on the
infrared reflective photoplethysmographic sensor, which allows
collecting multiple physiological parameters, such as heart rate and
pulsing wave characteristics. Developed device uses BLE interface
for medical and supplementary data transmission to the coupled
mobile phone, which processes it and send it to the doctor's
automated workstation. Results of this experimental model
approbation confirmed the applicability of the proposed approach.