Abstract: The objective of this study was to investigate the
awareness, knowledge and consumer behavior towards organic
products in Thailand. For this study, a purposive sampling technique
was used to identify a sample group of 2,575 consumers over the age
of 20 years who intended or made purchases from 1) green shops; 2)
supermarkets with branches; and, 3) green markets. A questionnaire
was used for data collection across the country. Descriptive statistics
were used for data analysis. The results showed that more than 92%
of consumers were aware of organic agriculture, but had less
knowledge about it. More than 60% of consumers knew that organic
agriculture production and processing did not allow the use of
chemicals. And about 40% of consumers were confused between the
food safety logo and the certified organic logo, and whether GMO
was allowed in organic agriculture practice or not. In addition, most
consumers perceived that organic agricultural products, good
agricultural practice (GAP) products, agricultural chemicals free
products, and hydroponic vegetable products had the same standard.
In the view of organic consumers, the organic Thailand label was the
most seen and reliable among various organic labels. Less than 3% of
consumers thought that the International Federation of Organic
Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) Global Organic Mark (GOM) was
the most seen and reliable. For the behaviors of organic consumers,
they purchased organic products mainly at the supermarket and green
shop (55.4%), one to two times per month, and with a total
expenditure of about 200 to 400 baht each time. The main reason for
buying organic products was safety and free from agricultural
chemicals. The considered factors in organic product selection were
price (29.5%), convenience (22.4%), and a reliable certification
system (21.3%). The demands for organic products were mainly rice,
vegetables and fruits. Processed organic products were relatively
small in quantity.
Abstract: Benchmarking of a process with respect to energy consumption, without accomplishing a full retrofit study, can save both engineering time and money. In order to achieve this goal, the first step is to develop a conceptual-mathematical model that can easily be applied to a group of similar processes. In this research, we have aimed to identify a set of key parameters for the model which is supposed to be used for benchmarking of combined cycle power plants. For this purpose, three similar combined cycle power plants were studied. The results showed that ambient temperature, pressure and relative humidity, number of HRSG evaporator pressure levels and relative power in part load operation are the main key parameters. Also, the relationships between these parameters and produced power (by gas/ steam turbine), gas turbine and plant efficiency, temperature and mass flow rate of the stack flue gas were investigated.
Abstract: In rough set models, tolerance relation, similarity
relation and limited tolerance relation solve different situation
problems for incomplete information systems in which there exists a
phenomenon of missing value. If two objects have the same few
known attributes and more unknown attributes, they cannot
distinguish them well. In order to solve this problem, we presented two
improved limited and variable precision rough set models. One is
symmetric, the other one is non-symmetric. They all use more
stringent condition to separate two small probability equivalent objects
into different classes. The two models are needed to engage further
study in detail. In the present paper, we newly form object classes with
a different respect comparing to the first suggested model. We
overcome disadvantages of non-symmetry regarding to the second
suggested model. We discuss relationships between or among several
models and also make rule generation. The obtained results by
applying the second model are more accurate and reasonable.
Abstract: This research responded to anecdotal evidence that suggested inefficiencies within the Architect and Acoustician relationship may lead to ineffective acoustic design decisions. The acoustician spoken to believed that he was approached too late in the design phase. The approached architect valued acoustical qualities, yet, struggled to interpret common measurement parameters. The preliminary investigation of these opinions indicated a gap in the current New Zealand Architectural discourse and currently informs the creation of a 2016 Master of Architecture (Prof) thesis research. Little meaningful information about acoustic intervention in the early design phase could be found from past literature. In the information that was sourced, authors focus on software as an incorporation tool without investigating why the flaws in the relationship originally exist. To further explore this relationship, a survey was designed. It underwent three phases to ensure its consistency, and was delivered to a group of 51 acousticians from one international Acoustics company. The results were then separated between New Zealand and off-shore to identify trends. The survey results suggest that 75% of acousticians meet the architect less than 5 times per project. Instead of regular contact, a mediated method is adopted though a mix of telecommunication and written reports. Acousticians tend to be introduced later into New Zealand building project than the corresponding off-shore building. This delay corresponds to an increase in remedial action for each of the building types in the survey except Auditoria and Office Buildings. 31 participants have had their specifications challenged by an architect. Furthermore, 71% of the acousticians believe that architects do not have the knowledge to understand why the acoustic specifications are in place. The issues raised in this investigation align to the colloquial evidence expressed by the two consultants. It identifies a larger gap in the industry were acoustics is remedially treated rather than identified as a possible design driver. Further research through design is suggested to understand the role of acoustics within architectural design and potential tools for its inclusion during, not after, the design process.
Abstract: Mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a self-configuring network of mobile node connected without wires. A Fuzzy Logic Based Collaborative watchdog approach is used to reduce the detection time of misbehaved nodes and increase the overall truthfulness. This methodology will increase the secure efficient routing by detecting the Black Holes attacks. The simulation results proved that this method improved the energy, reduced the delay and also improved the overall performance of the detecting black hole attacks in MANET.
Abstract: Dunaliella salina has great potential as a system for generating commercially valuable products, including beta-carotene, pharmaceuticals, and biofuels. Our goal is to improve this potential by enhancing growth rate and other properties of D. salina under optimal growth conditions. We used ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) to generate random mutants in D. salina KU11, a strain classified in Thailand. In a preliminary experiment, we first treated D. salina cells with 0%, 0.8%, 1.0%, 1.2%, 1.44% and 1.66% EMS to generate a killing curve. After that, we randomly picked 30 candidates from approximately 300 isolated survivor colonies from the 1.44% EMS treatment (which permitted 30% survival) as an initial test of the mutant screen. Among the 30 survivor lines, we found that 2 strains (mutant #17 and #24) had significantly improved growth rates and cell number accumulation at stationary phase approximately up to 1.8 and 1.45 fold, respectively, 2 strains (mutant #6 and #23) had significantly decreased growth rates and cell number accumulation at stationary phase approximately down to 1.4 and 1.35 fold, respectively, while 26 of 30 lines had similar growth rates compared with the wild type control. We also analyzed cell size for each strain and found there was no significant difference comparing all mutants with the wild type. In addition, mutant #24 had shown an increase of biomass accumulation approximately 1.65 fold compared with the wild type strain on day 5 that was entering early stationary phase. From these preliminary results, it could be feasible to identify D. salina mutants with significant improved growth rate, cell accumulation and biomass production compared to the wild type for the further study; this makes it possible to improve this microorganism as a platform for biotechnology application.
Abstract: By the development of World Wide Web, the usage rate of Internet has rapidly grown globally; and provided a basis for the emergence of electronic business. As well as other sectors, the banking sector has adopted the use of internet with the developments in information and communication technologies. Due to the public disclosure and transparency principle of Corporate Governance, the importance of information disclosure of banks on their web sites has increased significantly. For the purpose of this study, a Bank Disclosure Attribute Index (BDAI) in Turkey has been constructed through classifying the information disclosure on banks’ web sites into general, financial, investors and corporate governance attributes. All 47 banks in Turkish Banking System have been evaluated according to the index with the aim of providing a comparison between banks. By Chi Square Test, Pearson Correlation, T-Test, and ANOVA statistical tools, it has been concluded that the majority of banks in Turkey have shared information on their web sites adequately with respect to their total index score. Although there is a positive correlation between various types of information on banks’ web sites, there is no uniformity among them. Also, no significant difference between various types of information disclosure and bank types has been observed. Compared with the total index score averages of the five largest banks in Turkey, there are some banks that need to improve the content of their web sites.
Abstract: Every year, schools aim to develop and adopt new technology and pedagogy as a way to equip today's students with the needed 21st Century skills. However, the field of primary and secondary education may not be as open to embracing change in reality. Despite the drive to reform and innovation, the field of education in Canada is still very much steeped in tradition and uses many of the practices that came into effect over 50 years ago. Among those are employment and retention practices. Millennials are the youngest generation of professionals entering the workplace at this time and the ones leaving their jobs within just a few years. Almost half of new teachers leave Canadian schools within their first five years on the job. This paper discusses one of the contributing factors that lead Canadian millennial teachers to either leave or stay in the profession - standardized education system. Using an exploratory case study approach, in-depth interviews with former and current millennial teachers were conducted to learn about their experiences within the K-12 system. Among the findings were the young teachers' concerns about the constant changes to teaching practices and technological implementations that claimed to advance teaching and learning, and yet in reality only disguised and reiterated the same traditional, outdated, and standardized practices that already existed. Furthermore, while many millennial teachers aspired to be innovative with their curriculum and teaching practices, they felt trapped and helpless in the hands of school leaders who were very reluctant to change. While many new program ideas and technological advancements are being made openly available to teachers on a regular basis, it is important to consider the education field as a whole and how it plays into the teachers' ability to realistically implement changes. By the year 2025, millennials will make up approximately 75% of the North American workforce. It is important to examine generational differences among teachers and understand how millennial teachers may be shaping the future of primary and secondary schools, either by staying or leaving the profession.
Abstract: The connecting rod transmits the piston load to the crank causing the latter to turn, thus converting the reciprocating motion of the piston into a rotary motion of the crankshaft. Connecting rods are subjected to forces generated by mass and fuel combustion. This study investigates and compares the fatigue behavior of forged steel, powder forged and ASTM a 514 steel cold quenched connecting rods. The objective is to suggest for a new material with reduced weight and cost with the increased fatigue life. This has entailed performing a detailed load analysis. Therefore, this study has dealt with two subjects: first, dynamic load and stress analysis of the connecting rod, and second, optimization for material, weight and cost. In the first part of the study, the loads acting on the connecting rod as a function of time were obtained. Based on the observations of the dynamic FEA, static FEA, and the load analysis results, the load for the optimization study was selected. It is the conclusion of this study that the connecting rod can be designed and optimized under a load range comprising tensile load and compressive load. Tensile load corresponds to 360o crank angle at the maximum engine speed. The compressive load is corresponding to the peak gas pressure. Furthermore, the existing connecting rod can be replaced with a new connecting rod made of ASTM a 514 steel cold quenched that is 12% lighter and 28% cheaper.
Abstract: This paper describes an approach to detect the
transmitted signals for 2×2 Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO)
setup using roulette wheel based ant colony optimization technique.
The results obtained are compared with classical zero forcing and
least mean square techniques. The detection rates achieved using
this technique are consistently larger than the one achieved using
classical methods for 50 number of attempts with two different
antennas transmitting the input stream from a user. This paves the
path to use alternative techniques to improve the throughput achieved
in advanced networks like Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks.
Abstract: This paper focuses on the performance of Iwan as one of the significant spaces in the traditional architecture of Iran. The aim of this study is to investigate on the role of Iwan in sustainability enhancement of traditional houses of different climatic regions of Iran. Iwan is considered as a semi-open space, which its form and location in the building highly depends to the climatic situation of that region. For that reason, Iwan is recognized as one of the sustainable elements in the traditional houses of Iran, which can provide more comfort with less use of energy. In this study, the history and emergence of Iwan in the traditional architecture of Iran as well as the concept of sustainability in architecture are explained briefly. Then, the change of performance or form of Iwan is analysed in different climatic regions of Iran in accordance to the sustainability concepts. The methods used in this study are descriptive and analytic. Results of this paper verify that studying the sustainability solutions in the traditional architecture of Iran, would be a valuable source of inspiration for the current designers to create an environmental and sustainable architecture for the future.
Abstract: This paper addressed the impacts of energy consumption, economic growth, financial development, and population size on environmental degradation using grey relational analysis (GRA) for China, where foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows is the proxy variable for financial development. The more recent historical data during the period 2004–2011 are used, because the use of very old data for data analysis may not be suitable for rapidly developing countries. The results of the GRA indicate that the linkage effects of energy consumption–emissions and GDP–emissions are ranked first and second, respectively. These reveal that energy consumption and economic growth are strongly correlated with emissions. Higher economic growth requires more energy consumption and increasing environmental pollution. Likewise, more efficient energy use needs a higher level of economic development. Therefore, policies to improve energy efficiency and create a low-carbon economy can reduce emissions without hurting economic growth. The finding of FDI–emissions linkage is ranked third. This indicates that China do not apply weak environmental regulations to attract inward FDI. Furthermore, China’s government in attracting inward FDI should strengthen environmental policy. The finding of population–emissions linkage effect is ranked fourth, implying that population size does not directly affect CO2 emissions, even though China has the world’s largest population, and Chinese people are very economical use of energy-related products. Overall, the energy conservation, improving efficiency, managing demand, and financial development, which aim at curtailing waste of energy, reducing both energy consumption and emissions, and without loss of the country’s competitiveness, can be adopted for developing economies. The GRA is one of the best way to use a lower data to build a dynamic analysis model.
Abstract: Samples of tap and wastewater were collected in three offset printing facilities in Novi Sad, Serbia. Ten physicochemical parameters were analyzed within all collected samples: pH, conductivity, m - alkalinity, p - alkalinity, acidity, carbonate concentration, hydrogen carbonate concentration, active oxygen content, chloride concentration and total alkali content. All measurements were conducted using the standard analytical and instrumental methods. Comparing the obtained results for tap water and wastewater, a clear quality difference was noticeable, since all physicochemical parameters were significantly higher within wastewater samples. The study also involves the application of simple linear regression analysis on the obtained dataset. By using software package ORIGIN 5 the pH value was mutually correlated with other physicochemical parameters. Based on the obtained values of Pearson coefficient of determination a strong positive correlation between chloride concentration and pH (r = -0.943), as well as between acidity and pH (r = -0.855) was determined. In addition, statistically significant difference was obtained only between acidity and chloride concentration with pH values, since the values of parameter F (247.634 and 182.536) were higher than Fcritical (5.59). In this way, results of statistical analysis highlighted the most influential parameter of water contamination in offset printing, in the form of acidity and chloride concentration. The results showed that variable dependence could be represented by the general regression model: y = a0 + a1x+ k, which further resulted with matching graphic regressions.
Abstract: Numerical investigation into convective heat transfer of CuO-Water based nanofluid in a pipe with return bend under laminar flow conditions has been done. The impacts of Reynolds number and the volume concentration of nanoparticles on the flow and the convective heat transfer behaviour are investigated. The results indicate that the increase in Reynolds number leads to the enhancement of average Nusselt number, and the increase in specific heat in the presence of the nanofluid results in improvement in heat transfer. Also, the presence of the secondary flow in the curve plays a key role in increasing the average Nusselt number and it appears higher than the inlet and outlet tubes. However, the pressure drop curve increases significantly in the tubes with the increase in nanoparticles concentration.
Abstract: Belt conveyors play an important role in continuous dry bulk material transport, especially at the mining industry. Speed control is expected to reduce the energy consumption of belt conveyors. Transient operation is the operation of increasing or decreasing conveyor speed for speed control. According to literature review, current research rarely takes the conveyor dynamics in transient operation into account. However, in belt conveyor speed control, the conveyor dynamic behaviors are significantly important since the poor dynamics might result in risks. In this paper, the potential risks in transient operation will be analyzed. An existing finite element model will be applied to build a conveyor model, and simulations will be carried out to analyze the conveyor dynamics. In order to realize the soft speed regulation, Harrison’s sinusoid acceleration profile will be applied, and Lodewijks estimator will be built to approximate the required acceleration time. A long inclined belt conveyor will be studied with two major simulations. The conveyor dynamics will be given.
Abstract: On-chip memories consume a significant portion of the overall die space and power in modern microprocessors. On-chip caches depend on Static Random-Access Memory (SRAM) cells and scaling of technology occurring as per Moore’s law. Unfortunately, the scaling is affecting stability, performance, and leakage power which will become major problems for future SRAMs in aggressive nanoscale technologies due to increasing device mismatch and variations. 3T1D Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DRAM) cell is a non-destructive read DRAM cell with three transistors and a gated diode. In 3T1D DRAM cell gated diode (D1) acts as a storage device and also as an amplifier, which leads to fast read access. Due to its high tolerance to process variation, high density, and low cost of memory as compared to 6T SRAM cell, it is universally used by the advanced microprocessor for on chip data and program memory. In the present paper, it has been shown that 3T1D DRAM cell can perform better in terms of fast read access as compared to 6T, 4T, 3T SRAM cells, respectively.
Abstract: This paper presents experimental results on testing the symbol-error-rate (SER) performance of quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) systems employing symmetric pulse-shaping square-root (SR) filters designed by minimizing the roughness function and by minimizing the peak-to-average power ratio (PAR). The device used in the experiments is the 'bladeRF' software-defined-radio platform. PAR is a well-known measurement, whereas the roughness function is a concept for measuring the jitter-induced interference. The experimental results show that the system employing minimum-roughness pulse-shaping SR filters outperforms the system employing minimum-PAR pulse-shaping SR filters in the sense of SER performance.
Abstract: Nowadays, Ministry of Industry has given an attention to develop Eco-industrial towns in Thailand. Eco-industrial towns are a way of demonstrating the application of industrial ecology and are subjects of increased interest as government, business and society. This concept of Eco-industrial town is quite new in Thailand. It is used as a way of achieving more sustainable industrial development. However, many firms or organizations have misunderstood the concept and treated with suspicion. The planning and development of Eco-industrial towns is a significant challenge for the developers and public agencies. This research then gives an attempt to determine current problems of being Eco-Industrial towns and determine success factors for developing Eco-Industrial towns in Thailand. The research starts with giving knowledge about Eco-industrial towns to stakeholders and conducting public hearing in order to acquire the problems of being Eco-industrial towns. Then, factors effecting the development of Eco-Industrial town are collected. The obtained factors are analyzed by using the concept of IOC. Then, the remained factors are categorized and structured based on the concept of AHP. A questionnaire is constructed and distributed to the experts who are involved in the Eco-industrial town project. The result shows that the most significant success criterion is management teams of industrial parks or groups and the second most significant goes to governmental policies.
Abstract: Artificial joint replacements such as total knee and total hip prosthesis have been applied to the patients who affected by osteoarthritis. Although different material combinations are used for these joints, biopolymers are most commonly preferred materials especially for acetabular cup and tibial component of hip and knee joints respectively. The main limitation that shortens the service life of these prostheses is wear. Wear is complicated phenomena and it must be considered with friction and lubrication. In this study, micro wave (MW) induced argon+oxygen plasma surface modification were applied on ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) and vitamin E blended UHMWPE (VE-UHMWPE) biopolymer surfaces to improve surface wettability and wear resistance of the surfaces. Contact angel measurement method was used for determination of wettability. Ball-on-disc wear test was applied under 25% bovine serum lubrication conditions. The results show that surface wettability and wear resistance of both material samples were increased by plasma surface modification.
Abstract: Drought is an inevitable part of the earth’s climate. It occurs regularly with no clear warning and without recognizing borders. In addition, its impact is cumulative and not immediately discernible. Iran is located in a semi-arid region where droughts occur periodically as natural hazard. Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Surface Water Supply Index (SWSI), and Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) are three well-known indices which describe drought severity; each has its own advantages and disadvantages and can be used for specific types of drought. These indices take into account some factors such as precipitation, reservoir storage and discharge, temperature, and potential evapotranspiration in determining drought severity. In this paper, first all three indices are calculated in Aharchay river watershed located in northwestern part of Iran in East Azarbaijan province. Next, based on two other important parameters which are groundwater level and solar radiation, two new indices are defined. Finally, considering all five aforementioned indices, a combined drought index (CDI) is presented and calculated for the region. This combined index is based on all the meteorological, hydrological, and agricultural features of the region. The results show that the most severe drought condition in Aharchay watershed happened in Jun, 2004. The result of this study can be used for monitoring drought and prepare for the drought mitigation planning.