Abstract: To study the effect of the cross direction in bead
wheat, three hybrid combinations (Babyle 113, Iratome), (Sawa,
Tamose2) and (Al Hashymya, Al Iraq) were tested for plant height,
spike and awn length, number of grains per spike, 1000-grain weight,
number of tillers/m and grain yield. The results revealed that the
direction of the crosses significantly effect on the number of
grains/spike, number of tillers/m and grain yields. Grain yield was
positively and significantly correlated with 1000-grain weight,
number of grains per spike and tillers. Depend on the results of
heritability and genetic advance it was suggested that 1000-grain
weight, number of grains per spike and tillers should be given
emphasis for future wheat yield improvement programs.
Abstract: This paper is focusing on the attitude of Georgian
consumers toward social media, influence of social media on
consumer buying behavior. The purpose of this paper is to explore
the usage of social media marketing for small business companies of
Georgia. The result of marketing research has revealed that social
webs are mostly used by Georgian consumers, but they have little
impact on the buying decision. The research method was exploratory
and descriptive. Conclusions summarize the research results and
offers insight to provide better understandings of consumers demand
and implementation of marketing strategy through social media in
Georgia.
Abstract: In this study, the Compressive strength of concretes
made with Ground Granulated Blast furnace Slag (GGBS),
Pulverised Fuel Ash (PFA), Rice Husk Ash (RHA) and Waste Glass
Powder (WGP) after they were exposed 7800C (exposure duration of
around 60 minutes) and then allowed to cool down gradually in the
furnace for about 280 minutes at water binder ratio of 0.50 was
investigated. GGBS, PFA, RHA and WGP were used to replace up to
20% Portland cement in the control concrete. Test for the
determination of workability, compressive strength and tensile
splitting strength of the concretes were carried out and the results
were compared with control concrete. The test results showed that the
compressive strength decreased by an average of around 30% after
the concretes were exposed to the heating and cooling scenario.
Abstract: This paper proposes five level diode clamped Z source
Inverter. The existing PWM techniques used for ZSI are restricted for
two level. The two level Z Source Inverter have high harmonic
distortions which effects the performance of the grid connected PV
system. To improve the performance of the system the number of
voltage levels in the output waveform need to be increased. This
paper presents comparative analysis of a five level diode clamped Z
source Inverter with different carrier based Modified Pulse Width
Modulation techniques. The parameters considered for comparison
are output voltage, voltage gain, voltage stress across switch and total
harmonic distortion when powered by same DC supply. Analytical
results are verified using MATLAB.
Abstract: Most people today are aware that global climate
change is not just a scientific theory but also a fact with worldwide
consequences. Global climate change is due to rapid urbanization,
industrialization, high population growth and current vulnerability of
the climatic condition. Water is becoming scarce as a result of global
climate change. To mitigate the problem arising due to global climate
change and its drought effect, harvesting rainwater from green roofs,
an environmentally-friendly and versatile technology, is becoming
one of the best assessment criteria and gaining attention in Malaysia.
This paper addresses the sustainability of green roofs and examines
the quality of water harvested from green roofs in comparison to
rainwater. The factors that affect the quality of such water, taking
into account, for example, roofing materials, climatic conditions, the
frequency of rainfall frequency and the first flush. A green roof was
installed on the Humid Tropic Centre (HTC) is a place of the study
on monitoring program for urban Stormwater Management Manual
for Malaysia (MSMA), Eco-Hydrological Project in Kuala Lumpur,
and the rainwater was harvested and evaluated on the basis of four
parameters i.e., conductivity, dissolved oxygen (DO), pH and
temperature. These parameters were found to fall between Class I and
Class III of the Interim National Water Quality Standards (INWQS)
and the Water Quality Index (WQI). Some preliminary treatment
such as disinfection and filtration could likely to improve the value of
these parameters to class I. This review paper clearly indicates that
there is a need for more research to address other microbiological and
chemical quality parameters to ensure that the harvested water is
suitable for use potable water for domestic purposes. The change in
all physical, chemical and microbiological parameters with respect to
storage time will be a major focus of future studies in this field.
Abstract: The main aim of the presented experiments is to
improve behaviour of sandwich structures under dynamic loading,
such as crash or explosion. This paper describes experimental
investigation on the response of new advanced materials to low and
high velocity load. Blast wave energy absorbers were designed using
two types of porous lightweight raw particle materials based on
expanded glass and ceramics with dimensions of 0.5-1 mm,
combined with polymeric binder. The effect of binder amount on the
static and dynamic properties of designed materials was observed.
Prism shaped specimens were prepared and loaded to obtain physicomechanical
parameters – bulk density, compressive and flexural
strength under quasistatic load, the dynamic response was determined
using Split Hopkinson Pressure bar apparatus. Numerical
investigation of the material behaviour in sandwich structure was
performed using implicit/explicit solver LS-Dyna. As the last step,
the developed material was used as the interlayer of blast resistant
litter bin, and it´s functionality was verified by real field blast tests.
Abstract: In the present work, fly ash geopolymer based
composites including polyester (PES) waste were studied. Specimens
of three compositions were prepared: (a) fly ash geopolymer with 5%
PES waste; (b) fly ash geopolymer mortar with 5% PES waste; (c) fly
ash geopolymer mortar with 6.25% PES waste. Compressive and
bending strength measurements, water absorption test and
determination of thermal conductivity coefficient were performed.
The results showed that the addition of sand in a mixture of
geopolymer with 5% PES content led to higher compressive strength,
while it increased water absorption and reduced thermal conductivity
coefficient. The increase of PES addition in geopolymer mortars
resulted in a more dense structure, indicated by the increase of
strength and thermal conductivity and the decrease of water
absorption.
Abstract: Despite the highly touted benefits, emerging
technologies have unleashed pervasive concerns regarding unintended
and unforeseen social impacts. Thus, those wishing to create safe and
socially acceptable products need to identify such side effects and
mitigate them prior to the market proliferation. Various methodologies
in the field of technology assessment (TA), namely Delphi, impact
assessment, and scenario planning, have been widely incorporated in
such a circumstance. However, literatures face a major limitation in
terms of sole reliance on participatory workshop activities. They
unfortunately missed out the availability of a massive untapped data
source of futuristic information flooding through the Internet. This
research thus seeks to gain insights into utilization of futuristic data,
future-oriented documents from the Internet, as a supplementary
method to generate social impact scenarios whilst capturing
perspectives of experts from a wide variety of disciplines. To this end,
network analysis is conducted based on the social keywords extracted
from the futuristic documents by text mining, which is then used as a
guide to produce a comprehensive set of detailed scenarios. Our
proposed approach facilitates harmonized depictions of possible
hazardous consequences of emerging technologies and thereby makes
decision makers more aware of, and responsive to, broad qualitative
uncertainties.
Abstract: One of the best examples, in evolution of the public
procurement, from post-soviet countries are reforms carried out in
Georgia, which brought them close to international standards of
procurement. In Georgia, public procurement legislation started
functioning short after gaining independence. The reform has passed
several stages and came in the form as it is today. It should also be
noted, that countries with economy in transition, including Georgia,
implemented all the reforms in public procurement based on
recommendations and support of World Bank, the United Nations
and other international organizations.
The aim of first adopted law was regulation of the procurement
process of budget-organizations, transparency and creation of
competitive environment for private companies to access state funds
legally. The priorities were identified quite clearly in the wording of
the law, but operation/function of this law could not be reached on its
level, because of some objective and subjective reasons. The high
level of corruption in all levels of governance can be considered as a
main obstacle reason and of course, it is natural, that it had direct
impact on the procurement process, as well as on transparency and
rational use of state funds. These circumstances were the reasons that
reforms in this sphere continued, to improve procurement process, in
particular, the first wave of reforms began after several years. Public
procurement agency carried out reform with World Bank with main
purpose of smartening the procurement legislation and its
harmonization with international treaties and agreements. Also with
the support of World Bank various activities were carried out to raise
awareness of participants involved in procurement system.
Further major changes in the legislation were filed bit later, which
was also directed towards the improvement and smarten of the
procurement process. The third wave of the reform more or less
guaranteed the transparency of the procurement process, which later
became the basis for the rational spending of state funds. The reform
of the procurement system completely changed the procedures.
Carried out reform in Georgia resulted in introducing new
electronic tendering system, which benefit the transparency of the
process, after this became the basis for the further development of a
competitive environment, which become a prerequisite for the state
rational spending. Increased number of supplier organizations
participating in the procurement process resulted in reduction of the
estimated cost and the actual cost.
Assessment of the reforms in Georgia in the field of public
procurement can be concluded, that proper regulation of the sector
and relevant policy may proceed to rational and transparent spending
of the budget from country’s state institutions. Also, the business
sector has the opportunity to work in competitive market conditions
and to make a preliminary analysis, which is a prerequisite for future
strategy and development.
Abstract: This research has been conducted to study the method
of culture and comparing growth and biomass of Gracilaria corticata
cultured on rope and net for 50 days through two treatments (first
treatment: culture of alga on net and the second treatment: culture of
alga on rope and each treatment was repeated by four cases). During
culture period, the water of aquariums was replaced once every two
days for 40-50%. Also, 0.3-0.5 grams of urea fertilizer was added to
the culture environment for fertilization. Moreover, some of the
environmental factors such as pH, salinity and temperature of the
environment were measured on a daily basis. During the culture
period, extent of longitudinal growth of the species of both treatments
was equal. The said length was reached from 8-10 cm to 10.5-13 cm
accordingly. The resulted weight in repetitions of the first treatment
was higher than that of the second treatment in such a way as in the
first treatment, its weight reached from 10 grams to 21.119 grams and
in the second treatment, its weight reached from 10 grams to 17.663
grams. On a whole, it may be stated that that kind of alga being
studied has a considerable growth with respect to its volume. The
results have revealed that the percentage of daily growth and wet
weight at the end of the first treatment was higher than that of the
second treatment and it was registered as 0.934, 6.072 and 811.432 in
the first treatment and 0.797, 4.990 and 758.071 in the second
treatment respectively. This difference is significant (P
Abstract: This paper presents two techniques, local feature
extraction using image spectrum and low frequency spectrum
modelling using GMM to capture the underlying statistical
information to improve the performance of face recognition
system. Local spectrum features are extracted using overlap sub
block window that are mapped on the face image. For each of this
block, spatial domain is transformed to frequency domain using
DFT. A low frequency coefficient is preserved by discarding high
frequency coefficients by applying rectangular mask on the
spectrum of the facial image. Low frequency information is non-
Gaussian in the feature space and by using combination of several
Gaussian functions that has different statistical properties, the best
feature representation can be modelled using probability density
function. The recognition process is performed using maximum
likelihood value computed using pre-calculated GMM components.
The method is tested using FERET datasets and is able to achieved
92% recognition rates.
Abstract: The objective of this study was to evaluate the
physical and chemical characteristics of Serra da Estrela cheese and
compare these results with those of the sensory analysis. For the
study were taken six samples of Serra da Estrela cheese produced
with 6 different ecotypes of thistle in a dairy situated in Penalva do
Castelo. The chemical properties evaluated were moisture content,
protein, fat, ash, chloride and pH; the physical properties studied
were color and texture; and finally a sensory evaluation was
undertaken. The results showed moisture varying in the range 40-
48%, protein in the range 15-20%, fat between 41-45%, ash between
3.9-5.0% and chlorides varying from 1.2 to 3.0%. The pH varied
from 4.8 to 5.4. The textural properties revealed that the crust
hardness is relatively low (maximum 7.3 N), although greater than
flesh firmness (maximum 1.7 N), and also that these cheeses are in
fact soft paste type, with measurable stickiness and intense
adhesiveness. The color analysis showed that the crust is relatively
light (L* over 50), and with a predominant yellow coloration (b*
around 20 or over) although with a slight greenish tone (a* negative).
The results of the sensory analysis did not show great variability for
most of the attributes measured, although some differences were
found in attributes such as crust thickness, crust uniformity, and
creamy flesh.
Abstract: Part and parcel of building green homes (GHs) with
favorable thermal comfort (TC) is to design and build with reduced
carbon footprint (CF) from embodied energy in the building envelope
and reduced operational CF overall. Together, the environmental
impact of GHs can be reduced significantly. Nevertheless, there is
still a need to identify the base CF value for Malaysian GHs and this
can be done by assessing existing ones which can then be compared
to conventional and vernacular houses which are built differently
with different building materials. This paper underlines the research
design and introduces the case studies. For now, the operational CF
of the case studies is beyond the scope of this study. Findings from
this research could identify the best building material and
construction technique combination to build GHs depending on the
available skills, financial constraints and the condition of the
immediate environment.
Abstract: The composite pavement system considered in this
paper is composed of a functional surface layer, a fiber reinforced
asphalt middle layer and a fiber reinforced lean concrete base layer.
The mix design of the fiber reinforced lean concrete corresponds to the
mix composition of conventional lean concrete but reinforced by
fibers. The quasi-absence of research on the durability or long-term
performances (fatigue, creep, etc.) of such mix design stresses the
necessity to evaluate experimentally the long-term characteristics of
this layer composition. This study tests the creep characteristics as one
of the long-term characteristics of the fiber reinforced lean concrete
layer for composite pavement using a new creep device. The test
results reveal that the lean concrete mixed with fiber reinforcement
and fly ash develops smaller creep than the conventional lean
concrete. The results of the application of the CEB-FIP prediction
equation indicate that a modified creep prediction equation should be
developed to fit with the new mix design of the layer.
Abstract: Game theory is the study of how people interact and
make decisions to handle competitive situations. It has mainly been
developed to study decision making in complex situations. Humans
routinely alter their behaviour in response to changes in their social
and physical environment. As a consequence, the outcomes of
decisions that depend on the behaviour of multiple decision makers
are difficult to predict and require highly adaptive decision-making
strategies. In addition to the decision makers may have preferences
regarding consequences to other individuals and choose their actions
to improve or reduce the well-being of others. Nash equilibrium is a
fundamental concept in the theory of games and the most widely used
method of predicting the outcome of a strategic interaction in the
social sciences. A Nash Equilibrium exists when there is no unilateral
profitable deviation from any of the players involved. On the other
hand, no player in the game would take a different action as long as
every other player remains the same.
Abstract: In this paper, the author studied the possibilities of
using Rice Husk Ash (RHA) available in India; to produce concrete.
Experiments conducted with RHA obtained from West Bengal, India;
to replace cement partially to produce concrete of grade M10, M15,
M20, M25 and M30. The concrete produced in the laboratory by
replacing cement by 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 30% RHA.
Compressive strength tests carried out to determine the strength of
concrete. Cost analysis and comparison done to show the cost
effectiveness of RHA Concrete. Traditional uses of Rice Husk in
India pointed out and the advantages of using RHA in making
concrete highlighted. Suggestion provided regarding prospective
application of RHA concrete in India; which in turn will definitely
reduce the cost of concrete and environmental friendly due to
utilization of waste and replacement of Cement.
Abstract: Zinc oxide (ZnO) is one of the light emitting materials in ultraviolet (UV) region. In addition, ZnO nanostructures are also attracting increasing research interest as buildingblocks for UV optoelectronic applications. We have succeeded in synthesizing vertically-aligned ZnO nanostructures by laser interference patterning, which is catalyst-free and non-contact technique. In this study, vertically-aligned ZnO nanowall arrays were synthesized using two-beam interference. The maximum height and average thickness of the ZnO nanowalls were about 4.5µm and 200 nm, respectively.UV lasing from a piece of the ZnO nanowall was obtained under the third harmonic of a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser excitation, and the estimated threshold power density for lasing was about 150 kW/cm2. Furthermore, UV lasing from the vertically-aligned ZnO nanowall was also achieved. The results indicate that ZnO nanowalls can be applied to random laser.
Abstract: Absorptive capacity generally facilitates the adoption
of innovation. How does this relationship change when economic
return is not the sole driver of innovation uptake? We investigate
whether absorptive capacity facilitates the adoption of green
innovation based on a survey of 79 construction companies in
Scotland. Based on the results of multiple regression analyses, we
confirm that existing knowledge utilisation (EKU), knowledge
building (KB) and external knowledge acquisition (EKA) are
significant predictors of green process GP), green administrative
(GA) and green technical innovation (GT), respectively. We discuss
the implications for theories of innovation adoption and knowledge
enhancement associated with environmentally-friendly practices.
Abstract: A nanocrystalline thin film of ZnSe was successfully
electrodeposited on copper substrate using a non-aqueous solution
and subsequently annealed in air at 400°C. XRD analysis indicates
the polycrystalline deposit of (111) plane in both the cases. The
sharpness of the peak increases due to annealing of the film and
average grain size increases to 20 nm to 27nm. SEM photograph
indicate that grains are uniform and densely distributed over the
surface. Annealing increases the average grain size by 20%. The EDS
spectroscopy shows the ratio of Zn & Se is 1.1 in case of annealed
film. AFM analysis indicates the average roughness of the film
reduces from 181nm to 165nm due to annealing of the film. The
bandgap also decreases from 2.71eV to 2.62eV.
Abstract: In this paper, groundwater seepage into Amirkabir
tunnel has been estimated using analytical and numerical methods for
14 different sections of the tunnel. Site Groundwater Rating (SGR)
method also has been performed for qualitative and quantitative
classification of the tunnel sections. The obtained results of above
mentioned methods were compared together. The study shows
reasonable accordance with results of the all methods unless for two
sections of tunnel. In these two sections there are some significant
discrepancies between numerical and analytical results mainly
originated from model geometry and high overburden. SGR and the
analytical and numerical calculations, confirm high concentration of
seepage inflow in fault zones. Maximum seepage flow into tunnel has
been estimated 0.425 lit/sec/m using analytical method and 0.628
lit/sec/m using numerical method occured in crashed zone. Based on
SGR method, six sections of 14 sections in Amirkabir tunnel axis are
found to be in "No Risk" class that is supported by the analytical and
numerical seepage value of less than 0.04 lit/sec/m.