Abstract: Fly ash is a waste material of coal firing thermal
plants that is released from thermal power plants. It was defined as
very fine particles that are drifted upward which are taken up by the
flue gases. The emerging amount of fly ash in the world is
approximately 600 million tons per year. In our country, it is
expected that will be occurred 50 million tons of waste ash per year
until 2020. The fly ashes can be evaluated by using as adsorbent
material. The purpose of this study is to investigate the possibility of
use of various fly ashes (Tuncbilek, Catalagzi, Orhaneli) like lowcost
adsorbents for heavy metal adsorption. First of all, fly ashes
were characterized. For this purpose; analyses such as XRD, XRF,
SEM and FT-IR were performed.
Abstract: In this paper, a low-power digital controller for DC-DC power conversion was presented. The controller generates the pulse-width modulated (PWM) signal from digital inputs provided by analog-to-digital converter (ADC). An efficient and simple design scheme to develop the control unit was discussed. This method allows minimization of the consumed resources of the chip and it is based on direct digital design approach. In this application, with the proposed scheme, nearly half area and two-third of the power consumption was saved compared to the conventional schemes. This work illustrates the possibility of implementing low-power and area-efficient power management circuit using direct digital design based approach.
Abstract: This paper presents the finite difference scheme and the numerical simulation of suspended string. The vibration solutions when the various external forces are taken into account are obtained and compared with the solutions without external force. In addition, we also investigate how the external forces and their powers and coefficients affect the amplitude of vibration.
Abstract: Plenty researches have reported techniques to harvest energy from piezoelectric transducer. In the earlier years, the researches mainly report linear energy harvesting techniques whereby interface circuitry is designed to have input impedance that match with the impedance of the piezoelectric transducer. In recent years non-linear techniques become more popular. The non-linear technique employs voltage waveform manipulation to boost the available-for-extraction energy at the time of energy transfer. The fact that non-linear energy extraction provides larger available-for-extraction energy doesn’t mean the linear energy extraction is completely obsolete. In some scenarios, such as where initial power is not available, linear energy extraction is still preferred. A modified Buck Boost circuit which is capable of harvesting piezoelectric energy using both linear and non-linear techniques is reported in this paper. Efficiency of at least 64% can be achieved using this circuit. For linear extraction, the modified Buck Boost circuit is controlled using a fix frequency and duty cycle clock. A voltage sensor and a pulse generator are added as the controller for the non-linear extraction technique.
Abstract: A silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) was designed, fabricated and characterized. The SiPM was based on SACM (Separation of Absorption, Charge and Multiplication) structure, which was optimized for blue light detection in application of positron emission tomography (PET). The achieved SiPM array has a high geometric fill factor of 64% and a low breakdown voltage of about 22V, while the temperature dependence of breakdown voltage is only 17mV/°C. The gain and photon detection efficiency of the device achieved were also measured under illumination of light at 405nm and 460nm wavelengths. The gain of the device is in the order of 106. The photon detection efficiency up to 60% has been observed under 1.8V overvoltage.
Abstract: This study this is considering Boria as a conventional performance in Malaysia. Boria is a folk performance unique to Penang. This theatre style reached Penang in the mid-19th century and is believed to be derived from the Shia Islamic Passion play performed during the Muslim month of Muharram to commemorate the martyrs of Kerbela. These days in Malaysia (especially Penang) Boria mentions to a choral street performance performed annually by a number of groups composed mostly of Sunni Malaysian. Boria are performed for entertainment and often include an annual singing competition. The size, membership, themes and movements of each Boria troupe may vary from year to year. Similarly, the themes and contents of the Boria performed by the different troupes also changes each year and can have a comical, political or satirical notion. It is common to most groups during the first ten days of Muharram Boria generally is done.
Abstract: This paper presents the design and implementation of a fully integrated Capacitance-to-Voltage Converter (CVC) as the analog front-end for magnetometer interface IC. The application demands very low power solution operating in the frequency of around 20 KHz. The design adapts low power architecture to create low noise electronic interface for Capacitive Micro-machined Lorentz force magnetometer sensor. Using a 0.18-μm CMOS process, simulation results of this interface IC show that the proposed CVC can provide 33 dB closed loop gain, 20 nV/√Hz input referred noise at 20 KHz, while consuming 65 μA current from 1.8-V supply.
Abstract: The performance of state of the art worldwide telecommunication networks strongly depends on the efficiency of the applied routing mechanism. Game theoretical approaches to this problem offer new solutions. In this paper a new continuous network routing model is defined to describe data transfer in fixed telecommunication networks of multiple hosts. The nodes of the network correspond to routers whose latency is assumed to be traffic dependent. We propose that the whole traffic of the network can be decomposed to a finite number of tasks, which belong to various hosts. To describe the different latency-sensitivity, utility functions are defined for each task. The model is used to compare router and host intelligent types of routing methods, corresponding to various data transfer protocols. We analyze host intelligent routing as a transferable utility cooperative game with externalities. The main aim of the paper is to provide a framework in which the efficiency of various routing algorithms can be compared and the transferable utility game arising in the cooperative case can be analyzed.
Abstract: In this paper a genetic algorithm (GA) with dual-fitness function is proposed and applied to solve the deterministic identical machine scheduling problem. The mating fitness function value was used to determine the mating for chromosomes, while the selection fitness function value was used to determine their survivals. The performance of this algorithm was tested on deterministic identical machine scheduling using simulated data. The results obtained from the proposed GA were compared with classical GA and integer programming (IP). Results showed that dual-fitness function GA outperformed the classical single-fitness function GA with statistical significance for large problems and was competitive to IP, particularly when large size problems were used.
Abstract: The purpose of the research is to investigate the energetic feature of the backpack load on soldier’s gait with variation of the trunk flexion angle. It is believed that the trunk flexion variation of the loaded gait may cause a significant difference in the energy cost which is often in practice in daily life. To this end, seven healthy Korea military personnel participated in the experiment and are tested under three different walking postures comprised of the small, natural and large trunk flexion. There are around 5 degree differences of waist angle between each trunk flexion. The ground reaction forces were collected from the force plates and motion kinematic data are measured by the motion capture system. Based on these data, the impulses, momentums and mechanical works done on the center of body mass (COM) during the double support phase were computed. The result shows that the push-off and heel strike impulse are not relevant to the trunk flexion change, however the mechanical work by the push-off and heel strike were changed by the trunk flexion variation. It is because the vertical velocity of the COM during the double support phase is increased significantly with an increase in the trunk flexion. Therefore, we can know that the gait efficiency of the loaded gait depends on the trunk flexion angle. Also, even though the gravitational impulse and pre-collision momentum are changed by the trunk flexion variation, the after-collision momentum is almost constant regardless of the trunk flexion variation.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to examine co-creation of non-economic values in Islamic banking services and their significance for service science by comparing Islamic and conventional banking services. Although many scholars have discussed co-creation of values in services, most of them have focused on only economic values.
Following Sharia (Islamic principles that are based on Qur’an and Sunnah) traditions, Islamic banking is more concerned with such non-economic values as well-being, partnership, fairness, trust, and justice, than such economic values as money in terms of interest. Therefore, it may be more sustainable and suitable for today’s unpredictable socio-economic environments.
We also argue that Islamic banking is essentially a value co-creation business model that fits better with the so-called Service-Dominant Logic (SDL) than conventional banking. This paper explores a new frontier of value co-creation in services, thereby contributing to further development of service science.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship among CO2 per capita emissions, energy consumption, economic growth and bilateral trade between Singapore and Malaysia for the 1970-2011 period. ARDL model and Granger causality tests are employed for the analysis. Results of bound F-statistics suggest that long-run relationship exists between CO2 per capita (PCO2) and its determinants. The EKC hypothesis is not supported in Malaysia. Carbon emissions are mainly determined by energy consumption in the short and long run. While, exports to Singapore is a significant variable in explaining PCO2 emissions in Malaysia in long-run. Furthermore, we find a unidirectional causal relationship running from economic growth to PCO2 emissions.
Abstract: Darcy’s Law is a well-known constitutive equation describing the flow of a fluid through a porous medium. The equation shows a relationship between the superficial or Darcy velocity and the pressure gradient which was first experimentally observed by Henry Darcy in 1855-1856. In this study, we apply homogenization method to Stokes equation in order to derive Darcy’s Law. The process of deriving the equation is complicated, especially in multidimensional domain. Thus, for the sake of simplicity, we use the indicial notation as well as the homogenization. This combination provides a smooth, simple and easy technique to derive Darcy’s Law.
Abstract: This paper presents device simulations on the vertical silicon nanowire tunneling FET (VSiNW TFET). Simulations show that a narrow nanowire and thin gate oxide is required for good performance, which is expected even for conventional MOSFETs. The gate length also needs to be more than the nanowire diameter to prevent short channel effects. An effect more unique to TFET is the need for abrupt source to channel junction, which is shown to improve the performance. The ambipolar effect suppression by reducing drain doping concentration is also explored and shown to have little or no effect on performance.
Abstract: In this study, artificial limestone brick samples are produced by using wood sawdust wastes (WSW) having different grades of sizes and limestone powder waste (LPW). The thermo-elastic properties of produced brick samples in various WSW amounts are investigated. At 30% WSW replacement with LPW in the brick sample the thermal conductivity value is effectively reduced and the reduction in the thermal conductivity value of brick sample at 30% WSW replacement with LPW is about 38.9% as compared with control sample. The energy conservation in buildings by using LPW and WSW in masonry brick material production having low thermal conductivity reduces energy requirements. A strong relationship is also found among the thermal conductivity, unit weight and ultrasonic pulse velocity values of brick samples produced. It shows a potential to be used for walls, wooden board substitute, alternative to the concrete blocks, ceiling panels, sound barrier panels, absorption materials etc.
Abstract: The problem of optimal planning of multiple sources
of distributed generation (DG) in distribution networks is treated in
this paper using an improved Ant Colony Optimization algorithm
(ACO). This objective of this problem is to determine the DG
optimal size and location that in order to minimize the network real
power losses. Considering the multiple sources of DG, both size and
location are simultaneously optimized in a single run of the proposed
ACO algorithm. The various practical constraints of the problem are
taken into consideration by the problem formulation and the
algorithm implementation. A radial power flow algorithm for
distribution networks is adopted and applied to satisfy these
constraints. To validate the proposed technique and demonstrate its
effectiveness, the well-know 69-bus feeder standard test system is
employed.cm.
Abstract: In power system protection, the need to know the load
current together with the fault level detected by a relay is important.
This is due to the fact that the relay is required to isolate the
equipment being protected if a fault is present and keep the breaker
associated with it closed if the current level is lower than the
maximum load level. This is not an issue for a radial system. This is
not the same however in a looped power system. In a looped power
system, the isolation of an equipment system will contribute to a
topology change. The change in the power system topology will then
influence or change the maximum load current and the fault level
detected by each relay. In this paper, a method of data collection for
changing topology using matlab and sim-power will be presented.
The method will take into consideration the change in topology and
collect data for each possible topology.
Abstract: Ergonomics is a useful tool for creating a healthy and
safe workplace. The long-term action of harmful conditions on the
health of workers is the emergence of occupational disease, and the
firm-s increased compensation costs associated with these diseases,
but is also the loss of time needed for educating and including new
workers in the work process. The article deals with the link of
ergonomics to occupational diseases, factors which influence these
diseases. In the conclusion, a model is described to help reduce the
risk of selected occupational diseases using ergonomic principles and
knowledge.
Abstract: Learning the gradient of neuron's activity function
like the weight of links causes a new specification which is
flexibility. In flexible neural networks because of supervising and
controlling the operation of neurons, all the burden of the learning is
not dedicated to the weight of links, therefore in each period of
learning of each neuron, in fact the gradient of their activity function,
cooperate in order to achieve the goal of learning thus the number of
learning will be decreased considerably.
Furthermore, learning neurons parameters immunes them against
changing in their inputs and factors which cause such changing.
Likewise initial selecting of weights, type of activity function,
selecting the initial gradient of activity function and selecting a fixed
amount which is multiplied by gradient of error to calculate the
weight changes and gradient of activity function, has a direct affect
in convergence of network for learning.
Abstract: Purpose: To compare attitudes and perceptions of
Israeli native born mothers versus former Soviet Union (FSU)
immigrant mothers regarding the physical health of their infant.
Methodology: cross-sectional design. A convenience sample of 50
participants was recruited by face to face and snowball technique. A
questionnaire was constructed according to the instructions of the
Ministry of Health for the care and treatment of infants. The main
areas explored were: sources of knowledge that the young mother
acquired regarding the care of her infant, ways of caring for the
infant, hygiene and sanitary habits, and the pattern of referral to
health professionals. The last topic relates to emotions mothers might
experience towards their infant.
Results: Mothers from both cultural groups present some similar
caring behaviors, which may express a universal aspect of mothers'
behavior towards their infants. However, immigrant mothers differ
significantly from native born by relying less on their mothers' and
grandmothers' experience, they wean their infants from diapers
earlier, they are stricter about hygiene and sanitary habits and they
tend to consult a physician when their infant has low fever. Native
born and immigrant mothers differ in their expressions of pride and
wonder. Immigrant mothers report of a lesser degree of these
emotions towards their infants than native born mothers.
Conclusion: The theoretical model of socialization and
acculturation of immigrant mothers is employed as an explanatory
model for the current findings Young immigrant mothers undergo a
complex acculturation process and adapt behavioral patterns in
various areas to comply with Israeli norms and values, demonstrating
assimilation. In other areas they adhere to the norms of their original
culture.