Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the effect of friendly
jamming power allocation strategies on the achievable average
secrecy rate over a bank of parallel fading wiretap channels.
We investigate the achievable average secrecy rate in parallel
fading wiretap channels subject to Rayleigh and Rician fading.
The achievable average secrecy rate, due to the presence of a
line-of-sight component in the jammer channel is also evaluated.
Moreover, we study the detrimental effect of correlation across the
parallel sub-channels, and evaluate the corresponding decrease in the
achievable average secrecy rate for the various fading configurations.
We also investigate the tradeoff between the transmission power
and the jamming power for a fixed total power budget. Our
results, which are applicable to current orthogonal frequency division
multiplexing (OFDM) communications systems, shed further light on
the achievable average secrecy rates over a bank of parallel fading
channels in the presence of friendly jammers.
Abstract: In Jordan having deficit atmospheric precipitation, an
increase in water demand occurs during summer months. Jordan can
be regarded with a relatively high potential for wastewater recycling
and reuse. The main purpose of this paper was to investigate the
removal of total suspended solids (TSS) and chemical oxygen
demand (COD) for olive mill wastewater (OMW) by
electrocoagulation (EC) process. In the combination of
electrocoagulation by using coupled iron–aluminum electrodes, the
optimum working pH was found to be around 6. Results indicated
that the electrocoagulation process allowed removal of TSS and COD
of about 82.5% and 47.5%, respectively at 45 mA/cm2 after 70
minutes by using coupled iron–aluminum electrodes. It was
demonstrated that the maximum TSS and COD removals were
obtained at some optimum experimental parameters for current
density, pH, and reaction time.
Abstract: The paper presents a thermodynamic cycle analysis
for three turboshaft engines. The first cycle is a Brayton cycle,
describing the evolution of a classical turboshaft, based on the
Klimov TV2 engine. The other four cycles aim at approaching an
Ericsson cycle, by replacing the Brayton cycle adiabatic expansion in
the turbine by quasi-isothermal expansion. The maximum quasi-
Ericsson cycles temperature is set to a lower value than the maximum
Brayton cycle temperature, equal to the Brayton cycle power turbine
inlet temperature, in order to decrease the engine NOx emissions.
Also, the power/expansion ratio distribution over the stages of the gas
generator turbine is maintained the same. In two of the considered
quasi-Ericsson cycles, the efficiencies of the gas generator turbine, as
well as the power/expansion ratio distribution over the stages of the
gas generator turbine are maintained the same as for the reference
case, while for the other two cases, the efficiencies are increased in
order to obtain the same shaft power as in the reference case. For the
two cases respecting the first condition, both the shaft power and the
thermodynamic efficiency of the engine decrease, while for the other
two, the power and efficiency are maintained, as a result of assuming
new, more efficient gas generator turbines.
Abstract: In this paper, we discuss the performance of applying
hybrid spiral dynamic bacterial chemotaxis (HSDBC) optimisation
algorithm on an intelligent controller for a differential drive robot. A
unicycle class of differential drive robot is utilised to serve as a basis
application to evaluate the performance of the HSDBC algorithm. A
hybrid fuzzy logic controller is developed and implemented for the
unicycle robot to follow a predefined trajectory. Trajectories of
various frictional profiles and levels were simulated to evaluate the
performance of the robot at different operating conditions. Controller
gains and scaling factors were optimised using HSDBC and the
performance is evaluated in comparison to previously adopted
optimisation algorithms. The HSDBC has proven its feasibility in
achieving a faster convergence toward the optimal gains and resulted
in a superior performance.
Abstract: Interaction of Schiff base complexes of Iron and
Manganese: Iron [N, N’ Bis (5- (triphenyl phosphonium methyl)
salicylidene) -1, 2 ethanediamine) chloride, [Fe Salen]Cl; Manganese
[N, N’ Bis (5- (triphenyl phosphonium methyl) salicylidene) -1, 2
ethanediamine) acetate, were investigated by spectroscopic and
isothermal titration calorimetry techniques (ITC).
The absorbance spectra of complexes have shown hyper and
hypochromism in the presence of DNA that is indication of
interaction of complexes with DNA. The linear dichroism (LD)
measurements confirmed the bending of DNA in the presence of
complexes.
Furthermore, Isothermal titration calorimetry experiments
approved that complexes bound to DNA on the base of both
electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions. More, ITC profile exhibits
the existence of two binding phases for the complexes. Antibacterial
activity of ligand and complexes were tested in vitro to evaluate their
activity against the gram positive and negative bacteria.
Abstract: The Algeria by its location offers a rich and diverse
vegetation. A large number of aromatic and medicinal plants grow
spontaneously. The interest in these plants has continued to grow in
recent years. Their particular properties due to the essential oil
fraction can be utilized to treat microbial infections. To this end, and
in the context of the valuation of the Algerian flora, we became
interested in the species of the family Lamiaceae which is one of the
most used as a global source of spices. The plant on which we have
based our choice is a species of sage "Salvia officinalis" from the
Isser localized region within the province of Boumerdes. This work
focuses on the study of the antimicrobial activity of essential oil
extracted from the leaves of Salvia officinalis. The extraction is
carried out by essential oil hydrodistillation and reveals a yield of
1.06℅. The study of the antimicrobial activity of the essential oil by
the method of at aromatogramme shown that Gram positive bacteria
are most susceptible (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis)
with a strong inhibition of growth. The yeast Candida albicans
fungus Aspergillus niger and have shown moderately sensitive.
Abstract: The heavy metal pollution degree in the soils around
the Zangezur copper and molybdenum combine in Syunik Marz,
Armenia was assessed. The results of the study showed that heavy
metal pollution degree in the soils mainly decreased with increasing
distance from the open mine and the ore enrichment combine which
indicated that the open mine and the ore enrichment combine were
the main sources of heavy metal pollution. The only exception was
observed in the northern part of the open mine where pollution
degree in the sites (along the open mine) situated 600 meters far from
the mine was higher than that in the sites located 300 meters far from
the mine. This can be explained by the characteristics of relief and air
currents as well as the weak vegetation cover of these sites and the
characteristics of soil structure. According to geo-accumulation index
(I-geo), contamination factor (Cf), contamination degree (Cd) and
pollution load index (PLI) values, the pollution degree in the soils
around the open mine and the ore enrichment combine was higher
than that in the soils around the tailing dumps which was due to the
proper and accurate operation of the Artsvanik tailing damp and the
recultivation of the Voghji tailing dump.
The high Cu and Mo pollution of the soils was conditioned by the
character of industrial activities, the moving direction of air currents
as well as the physicochemical peculiarities of the soils.
Abstract: Two finite element (FEM) models are presented in
this paper to address the random nature of the response of glued
timber structures made of wood segments with variable elastic
moduli evaluated from 3600 indentation measurements. This total
database served to create the same number of ensembles as was the
number of segments in the tested beam. Statistics of these ensembles
were then assigned to given segments of beams and the Latin
Hypercube Sampling (LHS) method was called to perform 100
simulations resulting into the ensemble of 100 deflections subjected
to statistical evaluation. Here, a detailed geometrical arrangement of
individual segments in the laminated beam was considered in the
construction of two-dimensional FEM model subjected to in fourpoint
bending to comply with the laboratory tests. Since laboratory
measurements of local elastic moduli may in general suffer from a
significant experimental error, it appears advantageous to exploit the
full scale measurements of timber beams, i.e. deflections, to improve
their prior distributions with the help of the Bayesian statistical
method. This, however, requires an efficient computational model
when simulating the laboratory tests numerically. To this end, a
simplified model based on Mindlin’s beam theory was established.
The improved posterior distributions show that the most significant
change of the Young’s modulus distribution takes place in laminae in
the most strained zones, i.e. in the top and bottom layers within the
beam center region. Posterior distributions of moduli of elasticity
were subsequently utilized in the 2D FEM model and compared with
the original simulations.
Abstract: Catalytic combustion of methane is imperative due to
stability of methane at low temperature. Methane (CH4), therefore,
remains unconverted in vehicle exhausts thereby causing greenhouse
gas GHG emission problem. In this study, heterogeneous catalysts of
palladium with bio-char (2 wt% Pd/Bc) and Al2O3 (2wt% Pd/ Al2O3)
supports were prepared by incipient wetness impregnation and then
subsequently tested for catalytic combustion of CH4. Support-porous
heterogeneous catalytic combustion (HCC) material were selected
based on factors such as surface area, porosity, thermal stability,
thermal conductivity, reactivity with reactants or products, chemical
stability, catalytic activity, and catalyst life. Sustainable and
renewable support-material of bio-mass char derived from palm shell
waste material was compared with those from the conventional
support-porous materials. Kinetic rate of reaction was determined for
combustion of methane on Palladium (Pd) based catalyst with Al2O3
support and bio-char (Bc). Material characterization was done using
TGA, SEM, and BET surface area. The performance test was
accomplished using tubular quartz reactor with gas mixture ratio of
3% methane and 97% air. The methane porous-HCC conversion was
carried out using online gas analyzer connected to the reactor that
performed porous-HCC. BET surface area for prepared 2 wt% Pd/Bc
is smaller than prepared 2wt% Pd/ Al2O3 due to its low porosity
between particles. The order of catalyst activity based on kinetic rate
on reaction of catalysts in low temperature was 2wt%
Pd/Bc>calcined 2wt% Pd/ Al2O3> 2wt% Pd/ Al2O3>calcined 2wt%
Pd/Bc. Hence agro waste material can successfully be utilized as an
inexpensive catalyst support material for enhanced CH4 catalytic
combustion.
Abstract: Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)
often experience social-communication difficulties that negatively
impact their social interactions with typical peers. However, unlike
other age and disability groups, there is little intervention research to
inform best practice for these students. One evidence-based strategy
for younger students with ASD is peer-mediated intervention (PMI).
PMI may be particularly promising for use with adolescents, as peers
are readily available and are natural experts for encouraging authentic
high school conversations. This paper provides a review of previous
research that evaluated the use of PMI to improve the socialcommunication
skills of students with ASD. Specific intervention
features associated with positive student outcomes are identified and
recommendations for future research are provided. Adolescents with
ASD are targeted due the critical importance of social conversation at
the high school level.
Abstract: Most people today are aware that global climate
change is not just a scientific theory but also a fact with worldwide
consequences. Global climate change is due to rapid urbanization,
industrialization, high population growth and current vulnerability of
the climatic condition. Water is becoming scarce as a result of global
climate change. To mitigate the problem arising due to global climate
change and its drought effect, harvesting rainwater from green roofs,
an environmentally-friendly and versatile technology, is becoming
one of the best assessment criteria and gaining attention in Malaysia.
This paper addresses the sustainability of green roofs and examines
the quality of water harvested from green roofs in comparison to
rainwater. The factors that affect the quality of such water, taking
into account, for example, roofing materials, climatic conditions, the
frequency of rainfall frequency and the first flush. A green roof was
installed on the Humid Tropic Centre (HTC) is a place of the study
on monitoring program for urban Stormwater Management Manual
for Malaysia (MSMA), Eco-Hydrological Project in Kuala Lumpur,
and the rainwater was harvested and evaluated on the basis of four
parameters i.e., conductivity, dissolved oxygen (DO), pH and
temperature. These parameters were found to fall between Class I and
Class III of the Interim National Water Quality Standards (INWQS)
and the Water Quality Index (WQI). Some preliminary treatment
such as disinfection and filtration could likely to improve the value of
these parameters to class I. This review paper clearly indicates that
there is a need for more research to address other microbiological and
chemical quality parameters to ensure that the harvested water is
suitable for use potable water for domestic purposes. The change in
all physical, chemical and microbiological parameters with respect to
storage time will be a major focus of future studies in this field.
Abstract: Array-based gene expression analysis is a powerful
tool to profile expression of genes and to generate information on
therapeutic effects of new anti-cancer compounds. Anti-apoptotic
effect of thymoquinone was studied in MCF7 breast cancer cell line
using gene expression profiling with cDNA microarray. The purity
and yield of RNA samples were determined using RNeasyPlus Mini
kit. The Agilent RNA 6000 NanoLabChip kit evaluated the quantity
of the RNA samples. AffinityScript RT oligo-dT promoter primer
was used to generate cDNA strands. T7 RNA polymerase was used to
convert cDNA to cRNA. The cRNA samples and human universal
reference RNA were labelled with Cy-3-CTP and Cy-5-CTP,
respectively. Feature Extraction and GeneSpring softwares analysed
the data. The single experiment analysis revealed involvement of 64
pathways with up-regulated genes and 78 pathways with downregulated
genes. The MAPK and p38-MAPK pathways were
inhibited due to the up-regulation of PTPRR gene. The inhibition of
p38-MAPK suggested up-regulation of TGF-ß pathway. Inhibition of
p38-MAPK caused up-regulation of TP53 and down-regulation of
Bcl2 genes indicating involvement of intrinsic apoptotic pathway.
Down-regulation of CARD16 gene as an adaptor molecule regulated
CASP1 and suggested necrosis-like programmed cell death and
involvement of caspase in apoptosis. Furthermore, down-regulation
of GPCR, EGF-EGFR signalling pathways suggested reduction of
ER. Involvement of AhR pathway which control cytochrome P450
and glucuronidation pathways showed metabolism of Thymoquinone.
The findings showed differential expression of several genes in
apoptosis pathways with thymoquinone treatment in estrogen
receptor-positive breast cancer cells.
Abstract: Object-oriented modeling is spreading in current
simulation of physiological systems through the use of the individual
components of the model and its interconnections to define the
underlying dynamic equations. In this paper we describe the use of
both the SIMSCAPE and MODELICA simulation environments in
the object-oriented modeling of the closed loop cardiovascular
system. The performance of the controlled system was analyzed by
simulation in light of the existing hypothesis and validation tests
previously performed with physiological data. The described
approach represents a valuable tool in the teaching of physiology for
graduate medical students.
Abstract: The Al-MoO3-P-CdTe-Al MOS sandwich structures
were fabricated by vacuum deposition method on cleaned glass
substrates. Capacitance versus voltage measurements were performed
at different frequencies and sweep rates of applied voltages for oxide
and semiconductor films of different thicknesses. In the negative
voltage region of the C-V curve a high differential capacitance of the
semiconductor was observed and at high frequencies (
Abstract: Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond coated
cutting tool has excellent cutting performance, it is the most ideal tool
for the processing of nonferrous metals and alloys, composites,
nonmetallic materials and other difficult-to-machine materials
efficiently and accurately. Depositing CVD diamond coating on the
cemented carbide with high cobalt content can improve its toughness
and strength, therefore, it is very important to research on the
preparation technology and cutting properties of CVD diamond coated
cemented carbide cutting tool with high cobalt content. The
preparation technology of boron-doped diamond (BDD) coating has
been studied and the coated drills were prepared. BDD coating were
deposited on the drills by using the optimized parameters and the SEM
results show that there are no cracks or collapses in the coating.
Cutting tests with the prepared drills against the silumin and aluminum
base printed circuit board (PCB) have been studied. The results show
that the wear amount of the coated drill is small and the machined
surface has a better precision. The coating does not come off during
the test, which shows good adhesion and cutting performance of the
drill.
Abstract: The purpose of the present work was to develop an
innovative food product with nutritional properties as well as
appealing organoleptic qualities. The product, a jam, was prepared
with the beans’ cooking water combined with fresh apple or carrot,
without the addition of any conservatives. Three different jams were
produced: bean and carrot, bean and apple and bean, apple and
cinnamon. The developed products underwent a sensorial analysis
that revealed that the bean, apple and cinnamon jam was globally
better accepted. However, with this study, the consumers determined
that the bean and carrot jam had the most attractive color and the
bean and apple jam the better consistency. Additionally, it was
possible to analyze the jams for their chemical components, namely
fat, fiber, protein, sugars and antioxidant activity. The obtained
results showed that the bean and carrot jam had the highest lipid
content, while the bean, apple and cinnamon jam had the highest
fiber content, when compared to the other two jams. Regarding the
sugar content, both jams with apple revealed similar sugar values,
which were higher than the sugar content of the bean and carrot jam.
The antioxidant activity was on average 10 mg TE/g.
Abstract: The present work describes the implementation of the
Enhanced Collaborative Optimization (ECO) multilevel architecture
with a gradient-based optimization algorithm with the aim of
performing a multidisciplinary design optimization of a generic
unmanned aerial vehicle with morphing technologies. The concepts
of weighting coefficient and dynamic compatibility parameter are
presented for the ECO architecture. A routine that calculates the
aircraft performance for the user defined mission profile and vehicle’s
performance requirements has been implemented using low fidelity
models for the aerodynamics, stability, propulsion, weight, balance
and flight performance. A benchmarking case study for evaluating
the advantage of using a variable span wing within the optimization
methodology developed is presented.
Abstract: This study aimed to identify the alignment of
understanding and assessment practices among secondary school
teachers. The study was carried out using quantitative descriptive
study. The sample consisted of 164 teachers who taught Form 1 and 2
from 11 secondary schools in the district of North Kinta, Perak,
Malaysia. Data were obtained from 164 respondents who answered
Expectation Alignment Understanding and Practices of School
Assessment (PEKDAPS) questionnaire. The data were analysed
using SPSS 17.0+. The Cronbach’s alpha value obtained through
PEKDAPS questionnaire pilot study was 0.86. The results showed
that teachers' performance in PEKDAPS based on the mean value
was less than 3, which means that perfect alignment does not occur
between the understanding and practices of school assessment. Two
major PEKDAPS sub-constructs of articulation across grade and age
and usability of the system were higher than the moderate alignment
of the understanding and practices of school assessment (Min=2.0).
The content focused of PEKDAPs sub-constructs which showed
lower than the moderate alignment of the understanding and practices
of school assessment (Min=2.0). Another two PEKDAPS subconstructs
of transparency and fairness and the pedagogical
implications showed moderate alignment (2.0). The implications of
the study is that teachers need to fully understand the importance of
alignment among components of assessment, learning and teaching
and learning objectives as strategies to achieve quality assessment
process.
Abstract: The dissimilar joint between aluminum/titanium
alloys (Al 6082 and Ti G2) were successfully achieved by CO2 laser
welding with a single pass and without filler material using the
overlap joint design. Laser welding parameters ranges combinations
were experimentally determined using Taguchi approach with the
objective of producing welded joint with acceptable welding profile
and high quality of mechanical properties. In this study a joining of
dissimilar Al 6082 / Ti G2 was resulted in three distinct regions
fusion area in the weldment. These regions are studied in terms of its
microstructural characteristics and microhardness which are directly
affecting the welding quality.
The weld metal was mainly composed of martensite alpha prime.
In two different metals in the two different sides of joint HAZ, grain
growth was detected. The microhardness of the joint distribution also
has shown microhardness increasing in the HAZ of two base metals
and a varying microhardness in fusion zone.
Abstract: The article deals with modelling of the fire
pragmatism in the area of military management and its experimental
verification. Potential approaches are based on the synergy of
mathematical and theoretical ideas, operational and tactical
requirements and the military decision-making process. This issue
has taken on importance in recent times, particularly with the
increasing trend of digitized battlefield, the development of C4ISR
systems and intention to streamline the command and control process
at the lowest levels of command. From fundamental and
philosophical point of view, these new approaches seek to
significantly upgrade and enhance the decision-making process of the
tactical commanders.