Abstract: New design of three dimensional (3D) flywheel system
based on gimbal and gyro mechanics is proposed. The 3D flywheel
device utilizes the rotational motion of three spherical shells and the
conservation of angular momentum to achieve planar locomotion.
Actuators mounted to the ring-shape frames are installed within the
system to drive the spherical shells to rotate, for the purpose of steering
and stabilization. Similar to the design of 2D flywheel system, it is
expected that the spherical shells may function like a “flyball” to store
and supply mechanical energy; additionally, in comparison with
typical single-wheel and spherical robots, the 3D flywheel can be used
for developing omnidirectional robotic systems with better mobility.
The Lagrangian method is applied to derive the equation of motion of
the 3D flywheel system, and simulation studies are presented to verify
the proposed design.
Abstract: The purpose of the paper is to address the strategic
risk issues surrounding Hindi film distribution in Mumbai for a film
distributor, who acts as an entrepreneur when launching a product
(movie) in the market (film territory).The paper undertakes a
fundamental review of films and risk in the Hindi film industry and
applies Grounded Theory technique to understand the complex
phenomena of risk taking behavior of the film distributors (both
independent and studios) in Mumbai. Rich in-depth interviews with
distributors are coded to develop core categories through constant
comparison leading to conceptualization of the phenomena of
interest. This paper is a first-of-its-kind-attempt to understand risk
behavior of a distributor, which is akin to entrepreneurial risk
behavior under conditions of uncertainty.
Abstract: The aim of the present study is to detect the chaotic
behavior in monetary economic relevant dynamical system. The
study employs three different forms of Taylor rules: current, forward,
and backward looking. The result suggests the existence of the
chaotic behavior in all three systems. In addition, the results strongly
represent that using expectations in policy rule especially rational
expectation hypothesis can increase complexity of the system and
leads to more chaotic behavior.
Abstract: Background: The change in foot posture can possibly
generate changes in the pelvic alignment. There is still a lack of
evidence about the effects of bilateral and unilateral flatfoot on
possible changes in pelvic alignment. The purpose of this study was
to investigate the effect of flatfoot on the sagittal and frontal planes of
pelvic postures. Materials and Methods: 56 subjects, aged 18–40
years, were assigned into three groups: 20 healthy subjects, 19
subjects with bilateral flexible second-degree flat foot, and 17
subjects with unilateral flexible second-degree flat foot. 3D
assessment of the pelvis using the formetric-II device was used to
evaluate pelvic alignment in the frontal and sagittal planes by
measuring pelvic inclination and pelvic tilt angles. Results: ANOVA
test with LSD test were used for statistical analysis. Both Unilateral
and bilateral second degree flatfoot produced significant (P
Abstract: Research Objectives: The roles and activities of
Human Resource Management (HRM) have changed a lot in the past
years. Driven by a changing environment and therefore new business
requirements, the scope of human resource (HR) activities has
widened. The extent to which these activities should focus on
strategic issues to support the long term success of a company has
been discussed in science for many years. As many economies of
Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) experienced a phase of transition
after the socialist era and are now recovering from the 2008 global
crisis it is needed to examine the current state of HR positioning.
Furthermore a trend in HR work developing from rather
administrative units to being strategic partners of management can be
noticed. This leads to the question of better understanding the
underlying competencies which are necessary to support
organisations. This topic was addressed by the international study
“HR Competencies in international comparison”. The quantitative
survey was conducted by the Institute for Human Resources &
Organisation of FHWien University of Applied Science of WKW (A)
in cooperation with partner universities in the countries Bosnia-
Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia. Methodology: Using the
questionnaire developed by Dave Ulrich we tested whether the HR
Competency model can be used for Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia. After performing confirmatory and
exploratory factor analysis for the whole data set containing all five
countries we could clearly distinguish between four competencies. In
a further step our analysis focused on median and average
comparisons between the HR competency dimensions. Conclusion:
Our literature review, in alignment with other studies, shows a
relatively rapid pace of development of HR Roles and HR
Competencies in BCSS in the past decades. Comparing data from
BCSS and Austria we still can notice that regards strategic orientation
there is a lack in BCSS countries, thus competencies are not as
developed as in Austria. This leads us to the tentative conclusion that
HR has undergone a rapid change but is still in a State of Transition
from being a rather administrative unit to performing the role of a
strategic partner.
Abstract: The article describes the effect of the replacement of
the used reference coordinate system in the georeferencing of an old
map of Europe. The map was georeferenced into three types of
projection – the equal-area conic (original cartographic projection),
cylindrical Plate Carrée and cylindrical Mercator map projection. The
map was georeferenced by means of the affine and the second-order
polynomial transformation. The resulting georeferenced raster
datasets from the Plate Carrée and Mercator projection were
projected into the equal-area conic projection by means of projection
equations. The output is the comparison of drawn graphics, the
magnitude of standard deviations for individual projections and types
of transformation.
Abstract: In recent research copper and manganese systems
were found to be the most active in CO and organic compounds
oxidation among the base catalysts. The mixed copper manganese
oxide has been widely studied in oxidation reactions because of their
higher activity at low temperatures in comparison with single oxide
catalysts. The results showed that the formation of spinel
CuxMn3−xO4 in the oxidized catalyst is responsible for the activity
even at room temperature. That is why the most of the investigations
are focused on the hopcalite catalyst (CuMn2O4) as the best coppermanganese
catalyst. Now it’s known that this is true only for CO
oxidation, but not for mixture of CO and VOCs. The purpose of this
study is to investigate the alumina supported copper-manganese
catalysts with different Cu/Mn molar ratio in terms of oxidation of
CO, methanol and dimethyl ether. The catalysts were prepared by impregnation of γ-Al2O3 with
copper and manganese nitrates and the catalytic activity
measurements were carried out in two stage continuous flow
equipment with an adiabatic reactor for simultaneous oxidation of all
compounds under the conditions closest possible to the industrial. Gas
mixtures on the input and output of the reactor were analyzed with a
gas chromatograph, equipped with FID and TCD detectors. The
texture characteristics were determined by low-temperature (- 196oС)
nitrogen adsorption in a Quantachrome Instruments NOVA 1200e
(USA) specific surface area & pore analyzer. Thermal, XRD and
TPR analyses were performed. It was established that the active component of the mixed Cu-
Mn/γ–alumina catalysts strongly depends on the Cu/Mn molar ratio.
Highly active alumina supported Cu-Mn catalysts for CO, methanol
and DME oxidation were synthesized. While the hopcalite is the best
catalyst for CO oxidation, the best compromise for simultaneous
oxidation of all components is the catalyst with Cu/Mn molar ratio
1:5.
Abstract: In this paper air quality conditions in Makkah and
Leeds are compared. These two cities have totally different climatic
conditions. Makkah climate is characterised as hot and dry (arid)
whereas that of Leeds is characterised as cold and wet (temperate).
This study uses air quality data from 2012 collected in Makkah,
Saudi Arabia and Leeds, UK. The concentrations of all pollutants,
except NO are higher in Makkah. Most notable, the concentrations of
PM10 are much higher in Makkah than in Leeds. This is probably due
to the arid nature of climatic conditions in Makkah and not solely due
to anthropogenic emission sources, otherwise like PM10 some of the
other pollutants, such as CO, NO, and SO2 would have shown much
greater difference between Leeds and Makkah. Correlation analysis is
performed between different pollutants at the same site and the same
pollutants at different sites. In Leeds the correlation between PM10
and other pollutants is significantly stronger than in Makkah. Weaker
correlation in Makkah is probably due to the fact that in Makkah
most of the gaseous pollutants are emitted by combustion processes,
whereas most of the PM10 is generated by other sources, such as
windblown dust, re-suspension, and construction activities. This is in
contrast to Leeds where all pollutants including PM10 are
predominantly emitted by combustions, such as road traffic.
Furthermore, in Leeds frequent rains wash out most of the
atmospheric particulate matter and suppress re-suspension of dust.
Temporal trends of various pollutants are compared and discussed.
This study emphasises the role of climatic conditions in managing air
quality, and hence the need for region-specific controlling strategies
according to the local climatic and meteorological conditions.
Abstract: This study suggests the estimation method of stress
distribution for the beam structures based on TLS (Terrestrial Laser
Scanning). The main components of method are the creation of the
lattices of raw data from TLS to satisfy the suitable condition and
application of CSSI (Cubic Smoothing Spline Interpolation) for
estimating stress distribution. Estimation of stress distribution for the
structural member or the whole structure is one of the important
factors for safety evaluation of the structure. Existing sensors which
include ESG (Electric strain gauge) and LVDT (Linear Variable
Differential Transformer) can be categorized as contact type sensor
which should be installed on the structural members and also there are
various limitations such as the need of separate space where the
network cables are installed and the difficulty of access for sensor
installation in real buildings. To overcome these problems inherent in
the contact type sensors, TLS system of LiDAR (light detection and
ranging), which can measure the displacement of a target in a long
range without the influence of surrounding environment and also get
the whole shape of the structure, has been applied to the field of
structural health monitoring. The important characteristic of TLS
measuring is a formation of point clouds which has many points
including the local coordinate. Point clouds are not linear distribution
but dispersed shape. Thus, to analyze point clouds, the interpolation is
needed vitally. Through formation of averaged lattices and CSSI for
the raw data, the method which can estimate the displacement of
simple beam was developed. Also, the developed method can be
extended to calculate the strain and finally applicable to estimate a
stress distribution of a structural member. To verify the validity of the
method, the loading test on a simple beam was conducted and TLS
measured it. Through a comparison of the estimated stress and
reference stress, the validity of the method is confirmed.
Abstract: The main objective of this study was to assess the
seasonal variation of atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
(PAH) concentrations associated with PM10 in an urban site of Győr,
Hungary. A total of 112 PM10 aerosol samples were collected in the
years of 2012 and 2013 and analyzed for PAHs by gas
chromatography method. The total PAH concentrations (sum of the
concentrations of 19 individual PAH compounds) ranged from 0.19
to 70.16 ng/m3 with the mean value of 12.29 ng/m3. Higher
concentrations of both total PAHs and benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) were
detected in samples collected in the heating seasons. Using BaPequivalent
potency index on the carcinogenic PAH concentration
data, the local population appears to be exposed to significantly
higher cancer risk in the heating seasons. However, the comparison
of the BaP and total PAH concentrations observed for Győr with
other cities it was found that the PAH levels in Győr generally
corresponded to the EU average.
Abstract: An Acoustic Micro-Energy Harvester (AMEH) is
developed to convert wasted acoustical energy into useful electrical
energy. AMEH is mathematically modeled using Lumped Element
Modelling (LEM) and Euler-Bernoulli beam (EBB) modelling. An
experiment is designed to validate the mathematical model and assess
the feasibility of AMEH. Comparison of theoretical and experimental
data on critical parameter value such as Mm, Cms, dm and Ceb showed
the variances are within 1% to 6%, which is reasonably acceptable.
Then, AMEH undergoes bandwidth tuning for performance
optimization. The AMEH successfully produces 0.9V/(m/s^2) and
1.79μW/(m^2/s^4) at 60Hz and 400kΩ resistive load which only
show variances about 7% compared to theoretical data. At 1g and
60Hz resonance frequency, the averaged power output is about
2.2mW which fulfilled a range of wireless sensors and
communication peripherals power requirements. Finally, the design
for AMEH is assessed, validated and deemed as a feasible design.
Abstract: Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) is a promising
modern approach to the unused combinatorial optimization. Here
ACO is applied to finding the shortest during communication link
failure. In this paper, the performances of the prim’s and ACO
algorithm are made. By comparing the time complexity and program
execution time as set of parameters, we demonstrate the pleasant
performance of ACO in finding excellent solution to finding shortest
path during communication link failure.
Abstract: Waste Load Allocation (WLA) strategies usually
intend to find economic policies for water resource management.
Water quality trading (WQT) is an approach that uses discharge
permit market to reduce total environmental protection costs. This
primarily requires assigning discharge limits known as total
maximum daily loads (TMDLs). These are determined by monitoring
organizations with respect to the receiving water quality and
remediation capabilities. The purpose of this study is to compare two
approaches of TMDL assignment for WQT policy in small catchment
area of Haraz River, in north of Iran. At first, TMDLs are assigned
uniformly for the whole point sources to keep the concentrations of
BOD and dissolved oxygen (DO) at the standard level at checkpoint
(terminus point). This was simply simulated and controlled by
Qual2kw software. In the second scenario, TMDLs are assigned
using multi objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) method
in which the environmental violation at river basin and total treatment
costs are minimized simultaneously. In both scenarios, the equity
index and the WLA based on trading discharge permits (TDP) are
calculated. The comparative results showed that using economically
optimized TMDLs (2nd scenario) has slightly more cost savings rather
than uniform TMDL approach (1st scenario). The former annually
costs about 1 M$ while the latter is 1.15 M$. WQT can decrease
these annual costs to 0.9 and 1.1 M$, respectively. In other word,
these approaches may save 35 and 45% economically in comparison
with command and control policy. It means that using multi objective
decision support systems (DSS) may find more economical WLA,
however its outcome is not necessarily significant in comparison with
uniform TMDLs. This may be due to the similar impact factors of
dischargers in small catchments. Conversely, using uniform TMDLs
for WQT brings more equity that makes stakeholders not feel that
much envious of difference between TMDL and WQT allocation. In
addition, for this case, determination of TMDLs uniformly would be
much easier for monitoring. Consequently, uniform TMDL for TDP
market is recommended as a sustainable approach. However,
economical TMDLs can be used for larger watersheds.
Abstract: A comparison of activity and stability of the as-formed
Pt/C, Pt-Co and Pt-Pd/C electrocatalysts, prepared by a combined
approach of impregnation and seeding, was performed. According to
the activity test in a single Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel
cell, the Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR) activity of the Pt-M/C
electrocatalyst was slightly lower than that of Pt/C. The j0.9 V and
E10 mA/cm2 of the as-prepared electrocatalysts increased in the order of
Pt/C > Pt-Co/C > Pt-Pd/C. However, in the medium-to-high current
density region, Pt-Pd/C exhibited the best performance. With regard to
their stability in a 0.5 M H2SO4 electrolyte solution, the
electrochemical surface area decreased as the number of rounds of
repetitive potential cycling increased due to the dissolution of the
metals within the catalyst structure. For long-term measurement, Pt-
Pd/C was the most stable than the other three electrocatalysts.
Abstract: The phatic function of communication is a vital
element of any conversation. This research paper looks into this
function with respect to personal blogs maintained by Indian
bloggers. This paper is a study into the phenomenon of phatic
communication maintained by bloggers through their blogs. Based on
a linguistic analysis of the posts of twenty eight Indian bloggers,
writing in English, studied over a period of three years, the study
indicates that though the blogging phenomenon is not conversational
in the same manner as face-to-face communication, it does make
ample provision for feedback that is conversational in nature.
Ordinary day to day offline conversations use conventionalized
phatic utterances; those on the social media are in a perpetual mode
of innovation and experimentation in order to sustain contact with its
readers. These innovative methods and means are the focus of this
study. Though the personal blogger aims to chronicle his/her personal
life through the blog, the socializing function is crucial to these
bloggers. In comparison to the western personal blogs which focus on
the presentation of the ‘bounded individual self’, we find Indian
personal bloggers engage in the presentation of their ‘social selves’.
These bloggers yearn to reach out to the readers on the internet and
the phatic function serves to initiate, sustain and renew social ties on
the blogosphere thereby consolidating the social network of readers
and bloggers.
Abstract: Land Use Land Cover (LULC) changes due to human
activities and natural causes have become a major environmental
concern. Assessment of temporal remote sensing data provides
information about LULC impacts on environment. Land Surface
Temperature (LST) is one of the important components for modeling
environmental changes in climatological, hydrological, and
agricultural studies. In this study, LULC changes (September 7, 1984
and July 8, 2014) especially in agricultural lands together with
population changes (1985-2014) and LST status were investigated
using remotely sensed and census data in South Marmara Watershed,
Turkey. LULC changes were determined using Landsat TM and
Landsat OLI data acquired in 1984 and 2014 summers. Six-band TM
and OLI images were classified using supervised classification
method to prepare LULC map including five classes including Forest
(F), Grazing Land (G), Agricultural Land (A), Water Surface (W),
Residential Area-Bare Soil (R-B) classes. The LST image was also
derived from thermal bands of the same dates.
LULC classification results showed that forest areas, agricultural
lands, water surfaces and residential area-bare soils were increased as
65751 ha, 20163 ha, 1924 ha and 20462 ha respectively. In
comparison, a dramatic decrement occurred in grazing land (107985
ha) within three decades. The population increased 29% between
years 1984-2014 in whole study area. Along with the natural causes,
migration also caused this increase since the study area has an
important employment potential. LULC was transformed among the
classes due to the expansion in residential, commercial and industrial
areas as well as political decisions. In the study, results showed that
agricultural lands around the settlement areas transformed to
residential areas in 30 years.
The LST images showed that mean temperatures were ranged
between 26-32°C in 1984 and 27-33°C in 2014. Minimum
temperature of agricultural lands was increased 3°C and reached to
23°C. In contrast, maximum temperature of A class decreased to
41°C from 44°C. Considering temperatures of the 2014 R-B class and
1984 status of same areas, it was seen that mean, min and max
temperatures increased by 2°C.
As a result, the dynamism of population, LULC and LST resulted
in increasing mean and maximum surface temperatures, living
spaces/industrial areas and agricultural lands.
Abstract: The main purpose of this study is static analysis of
two three-degree of freedom parallel mechanisms: 3-RCC and 3-
RRS. Geometry of these mechanisms is expressed and static
equilibrium equations are derived for the whole chains. For these
mechanisms due to the equal number of equations and unknowns, the
solution is as same as 3-RCC mechanism. A mathematical software is
used to solve the equations. In order to prove the results obtained
from solving the equations of mechanisms, the CAD model of these
robots has been simulated and their static is analysed in ADAMS
software. Due to symmetrical geometry of the mechanisms, the force
and external torque acting on the end-effecter have been considered
asymmetric to prove the generality of the solution method. Finally,
the results of both softwares, for both mechanisms are extracted and
compared as graphs. The good achieved comparison between the
results indicates the accuracy of the analysis.
Abstract: Evapotranspiration is one of the most important
components of the hydrological cycle. Evapotranspiration (ETo) is an
important variable in water and energy balances on the earth’s
surface, and knowledge of the distribution of ET is a key factor in
hydrology, climatology, agronomy and ecology studies. Many
researchers have a valid relationship, which is a function of climate
factors, to estimate the potential evapotranspiration presented to the
plant water stress or water loss, prevent. The FAO-Penman method
(PM) had been recommended as a standard method. This method
requires many data and these data are not available in every area of
world. So, other methods should be evaluated for these conditions.
When sufficient or reliable data to solve the PM equation are not
available then Hargreaves equation can be used. The Hargreaves
equation (HG) requires only daily mean, maximum and minimum air
temperature extraterrestrial radiation .In this study, Hargreaves
method (HG) were evaluated in 12 stations in the North West region
of Iran. Results of HG and M.HG methods were compared with
results of PM method. Statistical analysis of this comparison showed
that calibration process has had significant effect on efficiency of
Hargreaves method.
Abstract: In recent years, multi-antenna techniques are being considered as a potential solution to increase the flow of future wireless communication systems. The objective of this article is to study the emission and reception system MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output), and present the different reception decoding techniques. First we will present the least complex technical, linear receivers such as the zero forcing equalizer (ZF) and minimum mean squared error (MMSE). Then a nonlinear technique called ordered successive cancellation of interferences (OSIC) and the optimal detector based on the maximum likelihood criterion (ML), finally, we simulate the associated decoding algorithms for MIMO system such as ZF, MMSE, OSIC and ML, thus a comparison of performance of these algorithms in MIMO context.
Abstract: The aim of this research is to clarify the difference by
industry segment or product characteristics as regards organisation
management for an open innovation to raise R&D performance. In
particular, the trait of the pharmaceutical industry is defined in
comparison with IT component industry segment. In considering open
innovation, both inter-organisational relation and the management in
an organisation are important issues. As methodology, a questionnaire
was conducted. In conclusion, suitable organisation management
according to the difference in industry segment or product
characteristics became clear.