Abstract: The liberalisation of the education industry has
exposed the institute of higher learning (IHL) in Malaysia to the
financial challenges. Without good financial standing, public
institution will rely on the government funding. Ostensibly, this
contradicts with the government’s aspiration to make universities
self-sufficient. With stiff competition from private institutes of higher
learning, IHL need to be prepared at the forefront level. The
corporate identity itself is the entrance to the world of higher learning
and it is in this uniqueness, it will be able to distinguish itself from
competitors. This paper examined the perception of the stakeholders
at one of the public universities in the east coast region in Malaysia
on the perceived reputation and how the university communicate its
preparedness for self-sustainability through corporate identity. The
findings indicated while the stakeholders embraced the challenges in
facing the stiff competition and struggling market conditions, most of
them felt the university should put more efforts in mobilising the
corporate identity to its constituencies.
Abstract: Recently, many users have begun to frequently share
their opinions on diverse issues using various social media. Therefore,
numerous governments have attempted to establish or improve
national policies according to the public opinions captured from
various social media. In this paper, we indicate several limitations of
the traditional approaches to analyze public opinion on science and
technology and provide an alternative methodology to overcome these
limitations. First, we distinguish between the science and technology
analysis phase and the social issue analysis phase to reflect the fact that
public opinion can be formed only when a certain science and
technology is applied to a specific social issue. Next, we successively
apply a start list and a stop list to acquire clarified and interesting
results. Finally, to identify the most appropriate documents that fit
with a given subject, we develop a new logical filter concept that
consists of not only mere keywords but also a logical relationship
among the keywords. This study then analyzes the possibilities for the
practical use of the proposed methodology thorough its application to
discover core issues and public opinions from 1,700,886 documents
comprising SNS, blogs, news, and discussions.
Abstract: At a global level, water stewardship, water stress and
water security are crucial factors in tourism planning and
development considerations. Challenges associated with water is of
particular concern to the Maldives as there is limited availability of
freshwater, high dependency on desalinated water, and high unit cost
associated with desalinating water. While the Maldives is promoted
as an example of sustainable tourism, a key sustainability challenge
facing tourism dependent communities is the efficient use and
management of available water resources. A water crisis event in the
capital island of Maldives highlighted how precarious water related
issues are in this tourism dependent destination. Applying
netnography, the focus of this working paper is to present community
perceptions of how government policies addressed Malé Water and
Sewerage Company (MWSC) water crisis event.
Abstract: Local steel slag is produced as a by-product during the
oxidation of steel pellets in an electric arc furnace. Using local steel
slag waste as a hundred substitutes of crashed stone in construction
materials would resolve the environmental problems caused by the
large-scale depletion of the natural sources of crashed stone. This
paper reports the experimental study to investigate the influence of a
hundred replacement of crashed stone as a coarse aggregate with
local steel slag, on the fresh and hardened geopolymer concrete
properties. The investigation includes traditional testing of hardening
concrete, for selected mixes of cement and geopolymer concrete. It
was found that local steel slag as a coarse aggregate enhanced the
slump test of the fresh state of cement and geopolymer concretes.
Nevertheless, the unit weight of concretes was affected. Meanwhile,
the good performance was observed when fly ash used as geopolymer
concrete based.
Abstract: This paper presents a case study of using STATCOM to enhance the performance of Al-Qatraneh 33-kV transmission line. The location of the STATCOM was identified by maintaining minimum voltage drops at the 110 load nodes. The transmission line and the 110 load nodes have been modeled by MATLAB/Simulink. The suggested STATCOM and its location will increase the transmission capability of this transmission line and overcome the overload expected in the year 2020. The annual percentage loading rise has been considered as 14.35%. A graphical representation of the line-to-line voltages and the voltage drops at different load nodes is illustrated.
Abstract: It is quite essential to investigate the causes of
pavement deterioration in order to select the proper maintenance
technique. The objective of this study was to identify factors cause
deterioration of recently constructed roads in Khartoum state. A
comprehensive literature concerning the factors of road deterioration,
common road defects and their causes were reviewed. Three major
road projects with different deterioration reasons were selected for
this study. The investigation involved field survey and laboratory
testing on those projects to examine the existing pavement
conditions. The results revealed that the roads investigated
experienced severe failures in the forms of cracks, potholes, and
rutting in the wheel path. The causes of those failures were found
mainly linked to poor drainage, traffic overloading, expansive
subgrade soils, and the use of low quality materials in construction.
Based on the results, recommendations were provided to help
highway engineers in selecting the most effective repair techniques
for specific kinds of distresses.
Abstract: This qualitative case study seeks to understand and
explain the deployment of radio frequency identification (RFID)
systems in two countries (i.e., in Taiwan for the adoption of electric
scooters and in Finland for supporting glass bottle recycling) using
the “Technology-Organization-Environment” theoretical framework.
This study also seeks to highlight the relevance and importance of
pursuing environmental sustainability in firms and in society in
general due to the social urgency of the issues involved.
Abstract: Sweep frequency response analysis has been turning
out a powerful tool for investigation of mechanical as well as
electrical integration of transformers. In this paper various aspect of
practical application of SFRA has been studied. Open circuit and
short circuit measurement were done on different phases of high
voltage and low voltage winding. A case study was presented for the
transformer of rating 31.5 MVA for various frequency ranges. A
clear picture was presented for sub- frequency ranges for HV as well
as LV winding. The main motive of work is to investigate high
voltage short circuit response. The theoretical concept about SFRA
responses is validated with expert system software results.
Abstract: Intermediate cities which also called medium size
cities have an important role in the process of globalization. It is
argued that, in some cases this type of cities may be depopulated or in
otherwise may be transformed as the periphery of metropolitans, so
that the personal identity of the city and its local cultural heritage
could suffer from its neighbor metropolitan. Over the last decades,
the role of tourism in the development process and the cultural
heritage has increased. The impact of tourism on socioeconomic
growth makes motivation for the study of tourism development in
regional and urban planning process. There are evidences that
tourism has a positive impact in local development and makes
economic motivations for cultural heritage protection. In this study,
by considering the role of tourism in local development, especially by
its economic and socio-cultural impacts, it is tried to introduce a
strategy for tourism development through a method of urban planning
for intermediate cities called as Base plan. Damavand is an
intermediate city located in Tehran province, Iran with a high
potential in tourism by its local specific characteristic like social
structure, antiquities and natural attractions. It’s selected as a suitable
case study for intended strategy which is a combination of urban
planning and tourism development methods. Focusing on recognition
of the historical and cultural heritage of Damavand, in this paper
through “base plan methodology” a strategy of urban planning
toward tourism development is prepared in order to make tourism
development as a support for cultural heritage of this city.
Abstract: Background: Maintaining the correct body balance is
essential in the prevention of falls in the elderly, which is especially
important for women because of postmenopausal osteoporosis and
the serious consequences of falls. One of the exercise methods which
is very popular among adults, and which may affect body balance in
the positive way is the Pilates method. The aim of the study was to
evaluate the effect of regular Pilates exercises on the ability to
maintain body balance in static conditions in adult healthy women.
Material and methods: The study group consisted of 20 healthy
women attending Pilates twice a week for at least 1 year. The control
group consisted of 20 healthy women physically inactive. Women in
the age range from 35 to 50 years old without pain in musculoskeletal
system or other pain were only qualified to the groups. Body balance
was assessed using MatScan VersaTek platform with Sway Analysis
Module based on Matscan Clinical 6.7 software (Tekscan Inc.,
U.S.A). The balance was evaluated under the following conditions:
standing on both feet with eyes open, standing on both feet with eyes
closed, one-leg standing (separately on the right and left foot) with
eyes open. Each test lasted 30 seconds. The following parameters
were calculated: estimated size of the ellipse of 95% confidence, the
distance covered by the Center of Gravity (COG), the size of the
maximum shift in the sagittal and frontal planes and load distribution
between the left and right foot, as well as between rear- and forefoot.
Results: It was found that there is significant difference between the
groups in favor of the study group in the size of the confidence
ellipse and maximum shifts of COG in the sagittal plane during
standing on both feet, both with the eyes open and closed (p
Abstract: Introduction: Whole-Body Vibration (WBV) uses
high frequency mechanical stimuli generated by a vibration plate and
transmitted through bone, muscle and connective tissues to the whole
body. Research has shown that long-term vibration-plate training
improves neuromuscular facilitation, especially in afferent neural
pathways, responsible for the conduction of vibration and
proprioceptive stimuli, muscle function, balance and proprioception.
Some researchers suggest that the vibration stimulus briefly inhibits
the conduction of afferent signals from proprioceptors and can
interfere with the maintenance of body balance. The aim of this study
was to evaluate the influence of a single set of exercises associated
with whole-body vibration on the joint position sense and body
balance. Material and methods: The study enrolled 55 people aged
19-24 years. These individuals were randomly divided into a test
group (30 persons) and a control group (25 persons). Both groups
performed the same set of exercises on a vibration plate. The
following vibration parameters: frequency of 20Hz and amplitude of
3mm, were used in the test group. The control group performed
exercises on the vibration plate while it was off. All participants were
instructed to perform six dynamic exercises lasting 30 seconds each
with a 60-second period of rest between them. The exercises involved
large muscle groups of the trunk, pelvis and lower limbs.
Measurements were carried out before and immediately after
exercise. Joint position sense (JPS) was measured in the knee joint
for the starting position at 45° in an open kinematic chain. JPS error
was measured using a digital inclinometer. Balance was assessed in a
standing position with both feet on the ground with the eyes open and
closed (each test lasting 30 sec). Balance was assessed using Matscan
with FootMat 7.0 SAM software. The surface of the ellipse of
confidence and front-back as well as right-left swing were measured
to assess balance. Statistical analysis was performed using Statistica
10.0 PL software. Results: There were no significant differences
between the groups, both before and after the exercise (p> 0.05). JPS
did not change in both the test (10.7° vs. 8.4°) and control groups
(9.0° vs. 8.4°). No significant differences were shown in any of the
test parameters during balance tests with the eyes open or closed in
both the test and control groups (p> 0.05). Conclusions: 1.
Deterioration in proprioception or balance was not observed
immediately after the vibration stimulus. This suggests that vibrationinduced
blockage of proprioceptive stimuli conduction can have only
a short-lasting effect that occurs only as long as a vibration stimulus
is present. 2. Short-term use of vibration in treatment does not impair
proprioception and seems to be safe for patients with proprioceptive
impairment. 3. These results need to be supplemented with an
assessment of proprioception during the application of vibration
stimuli. Additionally, the impact of vibration parameters used in the
exercises should be evaluated.
Abstract: Foundation differential settlement and supported
structure tilting are an occasionally occurred engineering problem.
This may be caused by overloading, changes in ground soil properties
or unsupported nearby excavations. Engineering thinking points
directly toward the logic solution for such problem by uplifting the
settled side. This can be achieved with deep foundation elements
such as micro-piles and macro-piles™, jacked piers, and helical piers,
jet grouted mortar columns, compaction grout columns, cement
grouting or with chemical grouting, or traditional pit underpinning
with concrete and mortar. Although, some of these techniques offer
economic, fast and low noise solutions, many of them are quite the
contrary. For tilted structures, with the limited inclination, it may be much
easier to cause a balancing settlement on the less-settlement side
which shall be done carefully in a proper rate. This principal has been
applied in Leaning Tower of Pisa stabilization with soil extraction
from the ground surface. In this research, the authors attempt to
introduce a new solution with a different point of view. So, the
micro-tunneling technique is presented in here as an intended ground
deformation cause. In general, micro-tunneling is expected to induce
limited ground deformations. Thus, the researchers propose to apply
the technique to form small size ground unsupported holes to produce
the target deformations. This shall be done in four phases: 1.
Application of one or more micro-tunnels, regarding the existing
differential settlement value, under the raised side of the tilted
structure. 2. For each individual tunnel, the lining shall be pulled out
from both sides (from jacking and receiving shafts) in the slow rate.
3. If required, according to calculations and site records, an additional
surface load can be applied on the raised foundation side. 4. Finally, a
strengthening soil grouting shall be applied for stabilization after
adjustment. A finite element based numerical model is presented to simulate
the proposed construction phases for different tunneling positions and
tunnels group. For each case, the surface settlements are calculated
and induced plasticity points are checked. These results show the
impact of the suggested procedure on the tilted structure and its
feasibility. Comparing results also show the importance of the
position selection and tunnels group gradual effect. Thus, a new
engineering solution is presented to one of the structural and
geotechnical engineering challenges.
Abstract: Unemployment among the youth is a significant
problem in South Africa. Large corporations and the public sector
simply cannot create enough jobs. Too many youths in South Africa
currently do not consider entrepreneurship as an option in order to
become independent. Unlike the youth of the Netherlands, South
African youth prefer to find employment in the public or private
sector. The Netherlands has a much lower unemployment rate than
South Africa and the Dutch are generally very entrepreneurial. From
early on, entrepreneurship is considered a desirable career option in
the Netherlands. The purpose of this study was to determine whether
there is a difference in the perceptions of some Dutch and South
African students in terms of unemployment and entrepreneurship.
Questionnaires were distributed to students at the North West
University's Vaal Triangle campus in Vanderbijlpark in Gauteng,
South Africa and the Technical University of Delft in the
Netherlands. A descriptive statistical analysis approach was followed
and the means for the independent questions were calculated. The
results demonstrate that the Dutch students are not as concerned
about unemployment after completion of their studies as this is not as
significant a problem as it is in South Africa. Both groups had
positive responses towards the posed questions, but the South African
group felt more strongly about the issues. Both groups of students felt
that there was a need for more practical entrepreneurship training.
The South African education system should focus on practical
entrepreneurship training from a young age.
Abstract: Globally, many women are still disadvantaged when it
comes to business opportunities. Entrepreneurship development
programs, specifically designed to assist women entrepreneurs, are
assisting in solving this problem to a certain extent. The purpose of
this study is to identify the factors that motivate females to start their
own business. Females, from three different groups (2013, 2014 and
2015), who were all enrolled in a short learning program specifically
designed for women in early start-up stage or intending to start a
business, were asked what motivated them to start a business. The
results indicated that, from all three groups, the majority of the
women wanted to start a business to be independent and have
freedom and to add towards a social goal. The results further
indicated that in general, women would enter into entrepreneurship
activity due to pull factors rather than push factors.
Abstract: A Multi-dimensional computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) two-phase model was developed with the aim to simulate
the in-core coolant circuit of a pressurized heavy water reactor
(PHWR) of a commercial nuclear power plant (NPP). Due to the
fact that this PHWR is a Reactor Pressure Vessel type (RPV),
three-dimensional (3D) detailed modelling of the large reservoirs of
the RPV (the upper and lower plenums and the downcomer) were
coupled with an in-house finite volume one-dimensional (1D) code
in order to model the 451 coolant channels housing the nuclear fuel.
Regarding the 1D code, suitable empirical correlations for taking into
account the in-channel distributed (friction losses) and concentrated
(spacer grids, inlet and outlet throttles) pressure losses were used.
A local power distribution at each one of the coolant channels
was also taken into account. The heat transfer between the coolant
and the surrounding moderator was accurately calculated using a
two-dimensional theoretical model. The implementation of subcooled
boiling and condensation models in the 1D code along with the use
of functions for representing the thermal and dynamic properties of
the coolant and moderator (heavy water) allow to have estimations
of the in-core steam generation under nominal flow conditions for a
generic fission power distribution. The in-core mass flow distribution
results for steady state nominal conditions are in agreement with the
expected from design, thus getting a first assessment of the coupled
1/3D model. Results for nominal condition were compared with
those obtained with a previous 1/3D single-phase model getting more
realistic temperature patterns, also allowing visualize low values of
void fraction inside the upper plenum. It must be mentioned that the
current results were obtained by imposing prescribed fission power
functions from literature. Therefore, results are showed with the aim
of point out the potentiality of the developed model.
Abstract: In order to be competitive, companies have to reduce
their production costs while meeting increasing quality requirements.
Therefore, companies try to plan their assembly processes as detailed
as possible. However, increasing product individualization leading to
a higher number of variants, smaller batch sizes and shorter product
life cycles raise the question to what extent the effort of detailed
planning is still justified. An important approach in this field of
research is the concept of determining the economic planning depth
for assembly process planning based on production specific
influencing factors. In this paper first solution hypotheses as well as a
first draft of the resulting method will be presented.
Abstract: In this study, static and dynamic responses of a typical
reinforced concrete solid slab, designed to British Standard (BS 8110:
1997) and under self and live loadings for dance halls are reported.
Linear perturbation analysis using finite element method was
employed for modal, impulse loading and frequency response
analyses of the slab under the aforementioned loading condition.
Results from the static and dynamic analyses, comprising of the slab
fundamental frequencies and mode shapes, dynamic amplification
factor, maximum deflection, stress distributions among other
valuable outcomes are presented and discussed. These were gauged
with the limiting provisions in the design code with a view of
justifying valid optimization objective function for the structure that
can ensure both adequate strength and economical section for large
clear span slabs. This is necessary owing to the continued increase in
cost of erecting building structures and the squeeze on public finance
globally.
Abstract: The education sector is constantly faced with rapid
changes in technologies in terms of ensuring that the curriculum is up
to date and in terms of making sure that students are aware of these
technological changes. This challenge can be seen as the motivation
for this study, which is to examine the factors affecting computing
students’ awareness of the latest Information Technologies (ICTs).
The aim of this study is divided into two sub-objectives which are:
the selection of relevant theories and the design of a conceptual
model to support it as well as the empirical testing of the designed
model. The first objective is achieved by a review of existing
literature on technology adoption theories and models. The second
objective is achieved using a survey of computing students in the four
universities of the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Data
collected from this survey is analyzed using Statistical package for
the Social Science (SPSS) using descriptive statistics, ANOVA and
Pearson correlations. The main hypothesis of this study is that there is
a relationship between the demographics and the prior conditions of
the computing students and their awareness of general ICT trends and
of Digital Switch Over (DSO) a new technology which involves the
change from analog to digital television broadcasting in order to
achieve improved spectrum efficiency. The prior conditions of the
computing students that were considered in this study are students’
perceived exposure to career guidance and students’ perceived
curriculum currency. The results of this study confirm that gender,
ethnicity, and high school computing course affect students’
perceived curriculum currency while high school location affects
students’ awareness of DSO. The results of this study also confirm
that there is a relationship between students prior conditions and their
awareness of general ICT trends and DSO in particular.
Abstract: Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has become a
key technology in the emerging concept of Internet of Things (IoT).
Naturally, business applications would require the deployment of
various RFID systems developed by different vendors that use
different data formats and structures. This heterogeneity poses a
challenge in developing real-life IoT systems with RFID, as
integration is becoming very complex and challenging. Semantic
integration is a key approach to deal with this challenge. To do so,
ontology for RFID systems need to be developed in order to
annotated semantically RFID systems, and hence, facilitate their
integration. Accordingly, in this paper, we propose ontology for
RFID systems. The proposed ontology can be used to semantically
enrich RFID systems, and hence, improve their usage and reasoning.
Abstract: The laser-ultrasonic method is realized for
quantifying the influence of porosity on the local Young’s
modulus of isotropic composite materials. The method is based on
a laser thermooptical method of ultrasound generation combined
with measurement of the phase velocity of longitudinal and shear
acoustic waves in samples. The main advantage of this method
compared with traditional ultrasonic research methods is the
efficient generation of short and powerful probing acoustic pulses
required for reliable testing of ultrasound absorbing and
scattering heterogeneous materials. Using as an example samples
of a metal matrix composite with reinforcing microparticles of
silicon carbide in various concentrations, it is shown that to
provide an effective increase in Young’s modulus with increasing
concentration of microparticles, the porosity of the final sample
should not exceed 2%.