Abstract: The social logic of 'Sequina' slum area in Alexandria details the integral measure of space syntax at the room-level of twenty-building samples. The essence of spatial structure integrates the central 'visitor' domain with the 'living' frontage of the 'children' zone against the segregated privacy of the opposite 'parent' depth. Meanwhile, the multifunctioning of shallow rooms optimizes the integral 'visitor' structure through graph and visibility dimensions in contrast to the 'inhabitant' structure of graph-tails out of sight. Common theme of the layout integrity increases in compensation to the decrease of room visibility. Despite the 'pheno-type' of collective integration, the individual layouts observe 'geno-type' structure of spatial diversity per room adjoins. In this regard, the layout integrity alternates the cross-correlation of the 'kitchen & living' rooms with the 'inhabitant & visitor' domains of 'motherhood' dynamic structure. Moreover, the added 'grandparent' restructures the integral measure to become the deepest space, but opens to the 'living' of 'household' integrity. Some isomorphic layouts change the integral structure just through the 'balcony' extension of access, visual or ignored 'ringiness' of space syntax. However, the most integrated or segregated layouts invert the 'geno-type' into a shallow 'inhabitant' centrality versus the remote 'visitor' structure. Overview of the multivariate social logic of spatial integrity could never clarify without the micro-data analysis.
Abstract: Lightweight and efficient structures have the aim to
enhance the efficiency of the components in various industries.
Toward this end, composites are one of the most widely used
materials because of durability, high strength and modulus, and low
weight. One type of the advanced composites is grid-stiffened
composite (GSC) structures, which have been extensively considered
in aerospace, automotive, and aircraft industries. They are one of the
top candidates for replacing some of the traditional components,
which are used here. Although there are a good number of published
surveys on the design aspects and fabrication of GSC structures, little
systematic work has been reported on their material modification to
improve their properties, to our knowledge. Matrix modification
using nanoparticles is an effective method to enhance the flexural
properties of the fibrous composites. In the present study, a silanecoupling
agent (3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane/3-GPTS) was
introduced onto the silica (SiO2) nanoparticle surface and its effects
on the three-point flexural response of isogrid E-glass/epoxy
composites were assessed. Based on the Fourier Transform Infrared
Spectrometer (FTIR) spectra, it was inferred that the 3-GPTS
coupling agent was successfully grafted onto the surface of SiO2
nanoparticles after modification. Flexural test revealed an
improvement of 16%, 14%, and 36% in stiffness, maximum load and
energy absorption of the isogrid specimen filled with 3 wt.% 3-
GPTS/SiO2 compared to the neat one. It would be worth mentioning
that in these structures, considerable energy absorption was observed
after the primary failure related to the load peak. In addition, 3-
GPTMS functionalization had a positive effect on the flexural
behavior of the multiscale isogrid composites. In conclusion, this
study suggests that the addition of modified silica nanoparticles is a
promising method to improve the flexural properties of the gridstiffened
fibrous composite structures.
Abstract: This paper focuses on the study of DC-to-DC
converters, which are suitable for low-voltage high-power
applications. The output voltages generated by renewable energy
sources such as photovoltaic arrays and fuel cell stacks are
generally low and required to be increased to high voltage levels.
Development of DC-to-DC converters, which provide high step-up
voltage conversion ratios with high efficiencies and low voltage
stresses, is one of the main issues in the development of renewable
energy systems. A procedure for three converters−conventional
DC-to-DC converter, interleaved boost converter, and isolated flyback
based converter, is illustrated for a given set of specifications. The
selection among the converters for the given application is based on
the voltage conversion ratio, efficiency, and voltage stresses.
Abstract: Information technology has been gaining more and
more space whether in industry, commerce or even for personal use,
but the misuse of it brings harm to the environment and human health
as a result. Contribute to the sustainability of the planet is to
compensate the environment, all or part of what withdraws it. The
green computing also came to propose practical for use in IT in an
environmentally correct way in aid of strategic management and
communication. This work focuses on showing how a mobile
application can help businesses reduce costs and reduced
environmental impacts caused by its processes, through a case study
of a public company in Brazil.
Abstract: This paper sets out a behavioral macro-model of a
Merged PiN and Schottky (MPS) diode based on silicon carbide
(SiC). This model holds good for both static and dynamic electrothermal
simulations for industrial applications. Its parameters have
been worked out from datasheets curves by drawing on the
optimization method: Simulated Annealing (SA) for the SiC MPS
diodes made available in the industry. The model also adopts the
Analog Behavioral Model (ABM) of PSPICE in which it has been
implemented. The thermal behavior of the devices was also taken
into consideration by making use of Foster’ canonical network as
figured out from electro-thermal measurement provided by the
manufacturer of the device.
Abstract: Manufacturing process has been considered as one of
the most important activity in business process. It correlates with
productivity and quality of the product so industries could fulfill
customer’s demand. With the increasing demand from customer,
industries must improve their manufacturing ability such as shorten
lead-time and reduce wastes on their process. Lean manufacturing
has been considered as one of the tools to waste elimination in
manufacturing or service industry. Workforce development is one
practice in lean manufacturing that can reduce waste generated from
operator such as waste of unnecessary motion. Anthropometric
approach is proposed to determine the recommended measurement in
operator’s work area. The method will get some dimensions from
Indonesia people that related to piston workstation. The result from
this research can be obtained new design for the work area
considering ergonomic aspect.
Abstract: Background modeling and subtraction in video
analysis has been widely used as an effective method for moving
objects detection in many computer vision applications. Recently, a
large number of approaches have been developed to tackle different
types of challenges in this field. However, the dynamic background
and illumination variations are the most frequently occurred problems
in the practical situation. This paper presents a favorable two-layer
model based on codebook algorithm incorporated with local binary
pattern (LBP) texture measure, targeted for handling dynamic
background and illumination variation problems. More specifically,
the first layer is designed by block-based codebook combining with
LBP histogram and mean value of each RGB color channel. Because
of the invariance of the LBP features with respect to monotonic
gray-scale changes, this layer can produce block wise detection results
with considerable tolerance of illumination variations. The pixel-based
codebook is employed to reinforce the precision from the output of the
first layer which is to eliminate false positives further. As a result, the
proposed approach can greatly promote the accuracy under the
circumstances of dynamic background and illumination changes.
Experimental results on several popular background subtraction
datasets demonstrate very competitive performance compared to
previous models.
Abstract: Polymeric composites are being increasingly used as
repair material for repairing critical infrastructures such as building,
bridge, pressure vessel, piping and pipeline. Technique in repairing
damaged pipes is one of the major concerns of pipeline owners.
Considerable researches have been carried out on the repair of
corroded pipes using composite materials. This article attempts a
short review of the subject matter to provide insight into various
techniques used in repairing corroded pipes, focusing on a wide range
of composite repair systems. These systems including pre-cured
layered, flexible wet lay-up, pre-impregnated, split composite sleeve
and flexible tape systems. Both advantages and limitations of these
repair systems were highlighted. Critical technical aspects have been
discussed through the current standards and practices. Research gaps
and future study scopes in achieving more effective design
philosophy are also presented.
Abstract: This experimental study consists of a characterization
of epoxy grout where an amount of 2% of graphene nanoplatelets
particles were added to commercial epoxy resin to evaluate their
behavior regarding neat epoxy resin. Compressive tests, tensile tests
and flexural tests were conducted to study the effect of graphene
nanoplatelets on neat epoxy resin. By comparing graphene-based and
neat epoxy grout, there is no significant increase of strength due to
weak interface in the graphene nanoplatelets/epoxy composites.
From this experiment, the tension and flexural strength of graphenebased
epoxy grouts is slightly lower than ones of neat epoxy grout.
Nevertheless, the addition of graphene has produced more consistent
results according to a smaller standard deviation of strength.
Furthermore, the graphene has also improved the ductility of the
grout, hence reducing its brittle behaviour. This shows that the
performance of graphene-based grout is reliably predictable and able
to minimise sudden rupture. This is important since repair design of
damaged pipeline is of deterministic nature.
Abstract: Issues relating to the destructive phenomena that can
damage people and goods have returned to the centre of debate in
Italy with the increase in catastrophic episodes in recent years in a
country which is highly vulnerable to hydrological risk.
Environmental factors and geological and geomorphological
territorial characteristics play an important role in determining the
level of vulnerability and the natural tendency to risk. However, a
territory has also been subjected to the requirements of and
transformations of society and this brings other relevant factors. The
reasons for the increase in destructive phenomena are often to be
found in the territorial development models adopted. Stewardship of
the landscape and management of risk are related issues. This study aims to summarize the most relevant elements about
this connection and at the same time to clarify the role of
environmental risk assessment as a tool to aid in the sustainable
management of landscape. Finally, the study reflects on how regional
and urban planners deal with environmental risk and which aspects
should be monitored in order to adopt responsible and useful
interventions.
Abstract: The major environmental risk of soil pollution is the
contamination of groundwater by infiltration of organic and inorganic
pollutants which can cause a serious menace. To prevent this risk and
to protect the groundwater, we proceeded in this study to test the
reliability of a biosolid as barrier to prevent the migration of very
dangerous pollutants as ‘Cadmium’ through the different soil layers. In this study, we tried to highlight the effect of several parameters
such as: turbidity (different cycle of Hydration/Dehydration),
rainfall, effect of initial Cd(II) concentration and the type of soil.
These parameters allow us to find the most effective manner to
integrate this barrier in the soil. From the results obtained, we found a
significant effect of the barrier. Indeed, the recorded passing
quantities are lowest for the highest rainfall; we noted also that the
barrier has a better affinity towards higher concentrations; the most
retained amounts of cadmium has been in the top layer of the two
types of soil tested, while the lowest amounts of cadmium are
recorded in the bottom layers of soils.
Abstract: Rapid developments in technology in the present age
have made it necessary for communities to follow technological
developments and adapt themselves to these developments. One of
the fields that are most rapidly affected by these developments is
undoubtedly education. Determination of the attitudes of preservice
teachers, who live in an age of technology and get ready to raise
future individuals, is of paramount importance both educationally and
professionally. The purpose of this study was to analyze attitudes of
preservice teachers towards technology and some variables that
predict these attitudes (gender, daily duration of internet use, and the
number of technical devices owned). 329 preservice teachers
attending the education faculty of a large university in central Turkey
participated, on a volunteer basis, in this study, where relational
survey model was used as the research method. Research findings
reveal that preservice teachers’ attitudes towards technology are
positive and at the same time, the attitudes of male preservice
teachers towards technology are more positive than their female
counterparts. As a result of the stepwise multiple regression analysis
where factors predicting preservice teachers’ attitudes towards
technology, it was found that duration of daily internet use was the
strongest predictor of attitudes towards technology.
Abstract: The aim of this work is to study the numerical
implementation of the Hilbert Uniqueness Method for the exact
boundary controllability of Euler-Bernoulli beam equation. This study
may be difficult. This will depend on the problem under consideration
(geometry, control and dimension) and the numerical method used.
Knowledge of the asymptotic behaviour of the control governing the
system at time T may be useful for its calculation. This idea will
be developed in this study. We have characterized as a first step, the
solution by a minimization principle and proposed secondly a method
for its resolution to approximate the control steering the considered
system to rest at time T.
Abstract: Companies face increasing challenges in research due
to higher costs and risks. The intensifying technology complexity and
interdisciplinarity require unique know-how. Therefore, companies
need to decide whether research shall be conducted internally or
externally with partners. On the other hand, research institutes meet
increasing efforts to achieve good financing and to maintain high
research reputation. Therefore, relevant research topics need to be
identified and specialization of competency is necessary. However,
additional competences for solving interdisciplinary research projects
are also often required. Secured financing can be achieved by
bonding industry partners as well as public fundings. The realization
of faster and better research drives companies and research institutes
to cooperate in organized research networks, which are managed by
an administrative organization. For an effective and efficient
cooperation, necessary processes, roles, tools and a set of rules need
to be determined. Goal of this paper is to show the state-of-art
research and to propose a governance framework for organized
research networks.
Abstract: Zinc borates are used as a multi-functional flame
retardant additive for its high dehydration temperature. In this study,
the method of ultrasonic mixing was used in the synthesis of zinc
borates. The reactants of zinc oxide (ZnO) and boric acid (H3BO3)
were used at the constant reaction parameters of 90°C reaction
temperature and 55 min of reaction time. Several molar ratios of
ZnO:H3BO3 (1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4 and 1:5) were conducted for the
determination of the optimum reaction ratio. Prior to synthesis the
characterization of the synthesized zinc borates were made by X-Ray
Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy
(FT-IR). From the results Zinc Oxide Borate Hydrate
[Zn3B6O12.3.5H2O], were synthesized optimum at the molar ratio of
1:3, with a reaction efficiency of 95.2%.
Abstract: Web Usage Mining is the application of data mining
techniques to find usage patterns from web log data, so as to grasp
required patterns and serve the requirements of Web-based
applications. User’s expertise on the internet may be improved by
minimizing user’s web access latency. This may be done by
predicting the future search page earlier and the same may be prefetched
and cached. Therefore, to enhance the standard of web
services, it is needed topic to research the user web navigation
behavior. Analysis of user’s web navigation behavior is achieved
through modeling web navigation history. We propose this technique
which cluster’s the user sessions, based on the K-medoids technique.
Abstract: This first-attempt study revealed that decolorized
intermediates of azo dyes could act as redox mediators to assist
wastewater (WW) decolorization due to enhancement of
electron-transport phenomena. Electrochemical impedance spectra
indicated that hydroxyl and amino-substituent(s) were functional
group(s) as redox-mediator(s). As azo dyes are usually multiple
benzene-rings structured, their derived decolorized intermediates are
likely to play roles of electron shuttles due to lower barrier of energy
gap for electron shuttling. According to cyclic voltammetric profiles,
redox mediating characteristics of decolorized intermediates of azo
dyes (e.g., RBu171, RR198, RR141, RBk5) were clearly disclosed.
With supplementation of biodecolorized metabolites of RR141 and
198, decolorization performance of could be evidently augmented.
This study also suggested the optimal modes of microbial fuel cell
(MFC)-assisted WW decolorization would be plug-flow or batch
mode of operation with no mix. Single chamber-MFCs would be more
favourable than double chamber MFCs due to non-mixing contacting
reactor scheme for operation.
Abstract: Over the last two decades, externally bonded fiber
reinforced polymer (FRP) composites bonded to concrete substrates
has become a popular method for strengthening reinforced concrete
(RC) highway and railway bridges. Such structures are exposed to
severe cyclic loading throughout their lifetime often resulting in
fatigue damage to structural components and a reduction in the
service life of the structure. Since experimental and numerical results
on the fatigue performance of FRP-to-concrete joints are still limited,
the current research focuses on assessing the fatigue performance of
externally bonded FRP-to-concrete joints using a direct shear test.
Some early results indicate that the stress ratio and the applied cyclic
stress level have a direct influence on the fatigue life of the externally
bonded FRP. In addition, a calibrated finite element model is
developed to provide further insight into the influence of certain
parameters such as: concrete strength, FRP thickness, number of
cycles, frequency, and stiffness on the fatigue life of the FRP-toconcrete
joints.
Abstract: In the present work, forming limit diagrams and strain
distribution profile diagrams for extra deep drawing steel at room and
elevated temperatures have been determined experimentally by
conducting stretch forming experiments by using designed and
fabricated warm stretchforming tooling setup. With the help of
forming Limit Diagrams (FLDs) and strain, distribution profile
diagrams the formability of Extra Deep Drawing steel has been
analyzed and co-related with mechanical properties like strain
hardening COEFFICIENT (n) and normal anisotropy (r−). Mechanical
properties of EDD steel from room temperature to 4500C were
determined and discussed the impact of temperature on the properties
like work hardening exponent (n) anisotropy (r-) and strength
coefficient of the material. In addition, the fractured surfaces after
stretching have undergone the some metallurgical investigations and
attempt has been made to co-relate with the formability of EDD steel
sheets. They are co-related and good agreement with FLDs at various
temperatures.
Abstract: Sewage sludge is a biomass resource that can create a
solid fuel and electricity. Utilizing sewage sludge as a renewable
energy can contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases. In Japan,
the "National Plan for the Promotion of Biomass Utilization" and the
“Priority Plan for Social Infrastructure Development" were approved
at cabinet meetings in December 2010 and August 2012, respectively,
to promote the energy utilization of sewage sludge. This study
investigated costs and greenhouse gas emission in different sewage
sludge treatments with technologies for energy from sewage sludge.
Expenses were estimated based on capital costs and O&M costs
including energy consumption of solid fuel plants and biogas power
generation plants for sewage sludge. Results showed that the cost of
sludge digestion treatment with solid fuel technologies was 8% lower
than landfill disposal. The greenhouse gas emission of sludge
digestion treatment with solid fuel technologies was also 6,390t as
CO2 smaller than landfill disposal. Biogas power generation reduced
the electricity of a wastewater treatment plant by 30% and the cost by
5%.