Abstract: The paper describes the carbonate microfacies identified in the Sinjar Formation (Late Paleocene–Early Eocene) cropping out in Qara Dagh Mountain, near Sulekan Village approximately 20km south–west of Sulaimani (Iraq). One section (62m thick) has been measured in the field and closely sampled to undertake detailed microfaciesal and micropalaeontological studies to determine the formation-s age and environment of deposition. A samples were collected illustrating all the lithological changes along the section. The limestone in the studied area is hard and extremely rich in large foraminifers (soritids, rotaliids, nummulites, miliolids) and green algae (dasycladales). The investigation of the thin sections allowed us to identify the carbonate microfacies (18 types and subtypes) and the micropaleontological association (foraminifers and green algae), to determine the age of formation and to reconstruct the paleoenvironment of deposition (fore-reef, reef, back-reef). Based on the field observations and the studied thin sections, we determined three Units of a carbonate platform (I, II and III) from the base to the top of the section: Unit I with coralgal associations, Unit II is dominated by larger foraminifers and haracterized by the absence of coralgal associations, while Unit III is dominated by small foraminifers (mostly miliolids), peloids and green algae. It is partially dolomitized.
Abstract: Sustainable development is a concept which was
originated in Burtland commission in 1978. Although this concept
was born with environmental aspects, it is penetrated in all areas
rapidly, turning into a dominate view of planning. Concentrating on
future generation issue, especially when talking about heritage has a
long story. Each approach with all of its characteristics illustrates
differences in planning, hence planning always reflects the dominate
idea of its age. This paper studies sustainable development in
planning for historical cities with the aim of finding ways to deal
with heritage in planning for historical cities in Iran. Through this, it
will be illustrated how challenges between sustainable concept and
heritage could be concluded in planning.
Consequently, the paper will emphasize on:
Sustainable development in city planning
Trends regarding heritage
Challenges due to planning for historical cities in Iran
For the first two issues, documentary method regarding the
sustainable development and heritage literature is considered. As the
next step focusing on Iranian historical cities require considering the
urban planning and management structure and identifying the main
challenges related to heritage, so analyzing challenges regarding
heritage is considered. As the result it would be illustrated that key
issue in such planning is active conservation to improve and use the
potential of heritage while it's continues conservation is guaranteed.
By emphasizing on the planning system in Iran it will be obvious that
some reforms are needed in this system and its way of relating with
heritage. The main weakness in planning for historical cities in Iran
is the lack of independent city management. Without this factor
achieving active conservation as the main factor of sustainable
development would not be possible.
Abstract: The area of Project Risk Management (PRM) has
been extensively researched, and the utilization of various tools and
techniques for managing risk in several industries has been
sufficiently reported. Formal and systematic PRM practices have
been made available for the construction industry. Based on such
body of knowledge, this paper tries to find out the global picture of
PRM practices and approaches with the help of a survey to look into
the usage of PRM techniques and diffusion of software tools, their
level of maturity, and their usefulness in the construction sector.
Results show that, despite existing techniques and tools, their usage is
limited: software tools are used only by a minority of respondents
and their cost is one of the largest hurdles in adoption. Finally, the
paper provides some important guidelines for future research
regarding quantitative risk analysis techniques and suggestions for
PRM software tools development and improvement.
Abstract: Research papers are usually evaluated via peer
review. However, peer review has limitations in evaluating research
papers. In this paper, Scienstein and the new idea of 'collaborative
document evaluation' are presented. Scienstein is a project to
evaluate scientific papers collaboratively based on ratings, links,
annotations and classifications by the scientific community using the
internet. In this paper, critical success factors of collaborative
document evaluation are analyzed. That is the scientists- motivation
to participate as reviewers, the reviewers- competence and the
reviewers- trustworthiness. It is shown that if these factors are
ensured, collaborative document evaluation may prove to be a more
objective, faster and less resource intensive approach to scientific
document evaluation in comparison to the classical peer review
process. It is shown that additional advantages exist as collaborative
document evaluation supports interdisciplinary work, allows
continuous post-publishing quality assessments and enables the
implementation of academic recommendation engines. In the long
term, it seems possible that collaborative document evaluation will
successively substitute peer review and decrease the need for
journals.
Abstract: Urban water management in Australia faces increasing pressure to deal with the challenges of droughts, growing population and the climate change uncertainty. Addressing these challenges is an opportunity to incorporate the parallel goals of sustainable water management and climate change adaptation through holistic, non-technical means. This paper presents case studies from Perth and Sydney which show how despite robust adaptation plans and experience, recent efforts to 'drought proof' cities have focused on supply-side measures (i.e. desalination), rather than rethinking how water is used and managing demand. The trend towards desalination as a climate adaptation measure raises questions about the sustainability of urban water futures in Australia.
Abstract: This study aims to explore the relationship between the
disposition effect and herding behavior of investors trading Taiwanese
information technology stocks. This study differs from previous
literature in two aspects. First, in contrast with the earlier studies that
focused on investigating investors’ herding behavior, this study
explores the possibility that the disposition effect drives investors’
herding behavior. Additionally, it takes an in-depth look at the
interdependence between the disposition effect and herding behavior
of investors, including lead-lag relationship and volatility transmission
effect. Empirical results show that investors trading Taiwan’s
information technology stocks exhibit pronounced herding behavior
and that the disposition effect has a great impact on their herding
behavior.
Abstract: In this paper, the wear of high speed steel hobs during
hobbing has been studied. The wear mechanisms are strongly
influenced by the choice of cutting speed. At moderate and high
cutting speeds three major wear mechanisms were identified:
abrasion, mild adhesive and severe adhesive. The microstructure and
wear behavior of two high speed steel grades (M2 and ASP30) has
been compared. In contrast, a variation in chemical composition or
microstructure of HSS tool material generally did not change the
dominant wear mechanism. However, the tool material properties
determine the resistance against the operating wear mechanism and
consequently the tool life. The metallographic analysis and wear
measurement at the tip of hob teeth included scanning electron
microscopy and stereoscope microscopy. Roughness profilometery is
used for measuring the gear surface roughness.
Abstract: Cassava bagasse is one of major biomass wastes in Thailand from starch processing industry, which contains high starch content of about 60%. The object of this study was to investigate the optimal condition for hydrothermally pretreating cassava baggasses with or without acid addition. The pretreated samples were measured reducing sugar yield directly or after enzymatic hydrolysis (alpha-amylase). In enzymatic hydrolysis, the highest reducing sugar content was obtained under hydrothermal conditions for at 125oC for 30 min. The result shows that pretreating cassava baggasses increased the efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis. For acid hydrolysis, pretreating cassava baggasses with sulfuric acid at 120oC for 60 min gave a maximum reducing sugar yield. In this study, sulfuric acid had a greater capacity for hydrolyzing cassava baggasses than phosphoric acid. In comparison, dilute acid hydrolysis to provide a higher yield of reducing sugar than the enzymatic hydrolysis combined hydrothermal pretreatment. However, enzymatic hydrolysis in a combination with hydrothermal pretreatment was an alternative to enhance efficiency reducing sugar production from cassava bagasse.
Abstract: This paper presents a heuristic approach to solve the Generalized Assignment Problem (GAP) which is NP-hard. It is worth mentioning that many researches used to develop algorithms for identifying the redundant constraints and variables in linear programming model. Some of the algorithms are presented using intercept matrix of the constraints to identify redundant constraints and variables prior to the start of the solution process. Here a new heuristic approach based on the dominance property of the intercept matrix to find optimal or near optimal solution of the GAP is proposed. In this heuristic, redundant variables of the GAP are identified by applying the dominance property of the intercept matrix repeatedly. This heuristic approach is tested for 90 benchmark problems of sizes upto 4000, taken from OR-library and the results are compared with optimum solutions. Computational complexity is proved to be O(mn2) of solving GAP using this approach. The performance of our heuristic is compared with the best state-ofthe- art heuristic algorithms with respect to both the quality of the solutions. The encouraging results especially for relatively large size test problems indicate that this heuristic approach can successfully be used for finding good solutions for highly constrained NP-hard problems.
Abstract: After a strong earthquake occurs, a secondary disaster due to strong aftershocks, flood, landslide or heavy snow can possible to occur and the secondary disaster due to resident-s action also can possible to happen. However, until now seldom researchers have paid attention at it. This paper focused on the Inhabitant-s action after the strong earthquake occurs when a terrible even becomes calm. An inappropriate behavior of people with disadvantaged climate after the worse earthquake can bring a tragedy to their life.
Abstract: Carbonic anhydrases (CAs) has been focused as
biological catalysis for CO2 sequestration process because it can
catalyze the conversion of CO2 to bicarbonate. Here, codon-optimized
sequence of α type-CA cloned from Duneliala species. (DsCAopt) was
constructed, expressed, and characterized. The expression level in E.
coli BL21(DE3) was better for codon-optimized DsCAopt than intact
sequence of DsCAopt. DsCAopt enzyme shows high-stability at pH
7.6/10.0. In final, we demonstrated that in the Ca2+ solution, DsCAopt
enzyme can catalyze well the conversion of CO2 to CaCO3, as the
calcite form.
Abstract: Multimedia security is an incredibly significant area
of concern. A number of papers on robust digital watermarking have
been presented, but there are no standards that have been defined so
far. Thus multimedia security is still a posing problem. The aim of
this paper is to design a robust image-watermarking scheme, which
can withstand a different set of attacks. The proposed scheme
provides a robust solution integrating image moment normalization,
content dependent watermark and discrete wavelet transformation.
Moment normalization is useful to recover the watermark even in
case of geometrical attacks. Content dependent watermarks are a
powerful means of authentication as the data is watermarked with its
own features. Discrete wavelet transforms have been used as they
describe image features in a better manner. The proposed scheme
finds its place in validating identification cards and financial
instruments.
Abstract: The aerodynamic performances of vertical axis wind
turbines are highly affected by tip vortexes. In the present
work, different tip devices are considered and simulated against
a baseline rotor configuration, with the aim of identifying the
best tip architecture. Three different configurations are tested:
winglets, an elliptic termination and an aerodynamic bulkhead.
A comparative analysis on the most promising architectures is
conducted, focusing also on blade torque evolution during a full
revolution of the rotor blade. The most promising technology is
concluded to be a well designed winglet.
Abstract: In this paper a study on the vibration of thin
cylindrical shells with ring supports and made of functionally graded
materials (FGMs) composed of stainless steel and nickel is presented.
Material properties vary along the thickness direction of the shell
according to volume fraction power law. The cylindrical shells have
ring supports which are arbitrarily placed along the shell and impose
zero lateral deflections. The study is carried out based on third order
shear deformation shell theory (T.S.D.T). The analysis is carried out
using Hamilton-s principle. The governing equations of motion of
FGM cylindrical shells are derived based on shear deformation
theory. Results are presented on the frequency characteristics,
influence of ring support position and the influence of boundary
conditions. The present analysis is validated by comparing results
with those available in the literature.
Abstract: Frequent machine breakdowns, low plant availability and increased overtime are a great threat to a manufacturing plant as they increase operating costs of an industry. The main aim of this study was to improve Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) at a manufacturing company through the implementation of innovative maintenance strategies. A case study approach was used. The paper focuses on improving the maintenance in a manufacturing set up using an innovative maintenance regime mix to improve overall equipment effectiveness. Interviews, reviewing documentation and historical records, direct and participatory observation were used as data collection methods during the research. Usually production is based on the total kilowatt of motors produced per day. The target kilowatt at 91% availability is 75 Kilowatts a day. Reduced demand and lack of raw materials particularly imported items are adversely affecting the manufacturing operations. The company had to reset its targets from the usual figure of 250 Kilowatt per day to mere 75 per day due to lower availability of machines as result of breakdowns as well as lack of raw materials. The price reductions and uncertainties as well as general machine breakdowns further lowered production. Some recommendations were given. For instance, employee empowerment in the company will enhance responsibility and authority to improve and totally eliminate the six big losses. If the maintenance department is to realise its proper function in a progressive, innovative industrial society, then its personnel must be continuously trained to meet current needs as well as future requirements. To make the maintenance planning system effective, it is essential to keep track of all the corrective maintenance jobs and preventive maintenance inspections. For large processing plants these cannot be handled manually. It was therefore recommended that the company implement (Computerised Maintenance Management System) CMMS.
Abstract: In this paper, a new secure watermarking scheme for
color image is proposed. It splits the watermark into two shares using
(2, 2)- threshold Visual Cryptography Scheme (V CS) with Adaptive
Order Dithering technique and embeds one share into high textured
subband of Luminance channel of the color image. The other share
is used as the key and is available only with the super-user or the
author of the image. In this scheme only the super-user can reveal
the original watermark. The proposed scheme is dynamic in the sense
that to maintain the perceptual similarity between the original and the
watermarked image the selected subband coefficients are modified
by varying the watermark scaling factor. The experimental results
demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. Further, the
proposed scheme is able to resist all common attacks even with strong
amplitude.
Abstract: The possibility of producing drinking water from
brackish ground water using Vacuum membrane distillation (VMD)
process was studied. It is a rising technology for seawater or brine
desalination process. The process simply consists of a flat sheet
hydrophobic micro porous PTFE membrane and diaphragm vacuum
pump without a condenser for the water recovery or trap. In this
work, VMD performance was investigated for aqueous NaCl solution
and natural ground water. The influence of operational parameters
such as feed flow rate (30 to 55 l/h), feed temperature (313 to 333 K),
feed salt concentration (5000 to 7000 mg/l) and permeate pressure
(1.5 to 6 kPa) on the membrane distillation (MD) permeation flux
have been investigated. The maximum flux reached to 28.34 kg/m2 h
at feed temperature, 333 K; vacuum pressure, 1.5 kPa; feed flow rate,
55 l/h and feed salt concentration, 7000 mg/l. The negligible effects
in the reduction of permeate flux found over 150 h experimental run
for salt water. But for the natural ground water application over 75 h,
scale deposits observed on the membrane surface and 29% reduction
in the permeate flux over 75 h. This reduction can be eliminated by
acidification of feed water. Hence, promote the research attention in
apply of VMD for the ground water purification over today-s
conventional RO operation.
Abstract: In this paper we study some numerical methods to solve a model one-dimensional convection–diffusion equation. The semi-discretisation of the space variable results into a system of ordinary differential equations and the solution of the latter involves the evaluation of a matrix exponent. Since the calculation of this term is computationally expensive, we study some methods based on Krylov subspace and on Restrictive Taylor series approximation respectively. We also consider the Chebyshev Pseudospectral collocation method to do the spatial discretisation and we present the numerical solution obtained by these methods.
Abstract: Indices summarizing community structure are used to
evaluate fundamental community ecology, species interaction,
biogeographical factors, and environmental stress. Some of these
indices are insensitive to gross community changes induced by
contaminants of pollution. Diversity indices and similarity indices are
reviewed considering their ecological application, both theoretical
and practical. For some useful indices, empirical equations are given
to calculate the expected maximum value of the indices to which the
observed values can be related at any combination of sample sizes at
the experimental sites. This paper examines the effects of sample size
and diversity on the expected values of diversity indices and
similarity indices, using various formulae. It has been shown that all
indices are strongly affected by sample size and diversity. In some
indices, this influence is greater than the others and an attempt has
been made to deal with these influences.
Abstract: As the resources for naturally occurring aggregates
diminished at an ever increasing rate, researchers are keen to utilize
recycled materials in road construction in harmony with sustainable
development. Steel slag, a waste product from the steel making
industry, is one of the recycled materials reported to exhibit great
potential to replace naturally occurring aggregates in asphalt
mixtures. This paper presents the resilient modulus properties of
steel slag asphalt mixtures subjected to short term oven ageing
(STOA). The resilient modulus test was carried out to evaluate the
stiffness of asphalt mixtures at 10ºC, 25ºC and 40ºC. Previous
studies showed that stiffness changes in asphalt mixture played an
important role in inflicting pavement distress particularly cracking
and rutting that are common at low and high temperatures
respectively. Temperature was found to significantly influence the
resilient modulus of asphalt mixes. The resilient modulus of the
asphalt specimens tested decreased by more than 90% when the test
temperature increased from 10°C to 40°C.