Abstract: The Standard Penetration Test (SPT) is the most
common in situ test for soil investigations. On the other hand, the
Cone Penetration Test (CPT) is considered one of the best
investigation tools. Due to the fast and accurate results that can be
obtained it complaints the SPT in many applications like field
explorations, design parameters, and quality control assessments.
Many soil index and engineering properties have been correlated to
both of SPT and CPT. Various foundation design methods were
developed based on the outcome of these tests. Therefore it is vital to
correlate these tests to each other so that either one of the tests can be
used in the absence of the other, especially for preliminary evaluation
and design purposes.
The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the
relationships between the SPT and CPT for different type of sandy
soils in Florida. Data for this research were collected from number of
projects sponsored by the Florida Department of Transportation
(FDOT), six sites served as the subject of SPT-CPT correlations. The
correlations were established between the cone resistance (qc), sleeve
friction (fs) and the uncorrected SPT blow counts (N) for various
soils.
A positive linear relationship was found between qc, fs and N for
various sandy soils. In general, qc versus N showed higher
correlation coefficients than fs versus N. qc/N ratios were developed
for different soil types and compared to literature values, the results
of this research revealed higher ratios than literature values.
Abstract: This study is concerned with the optimization of
fermentation parameters for the hyper production of mannanase from
Fusarium oxysporum SS-25 employing two step statistical strategy
and kinetic characterization of crude enzyme preparation. The
Plackett-Burman design used to screen out the important factors in
the culture medium revealed 20% (w/w) wheat bran, 2% (w/w) each
of potato peels, soyabean meal and malt extract, 1% tryptone, 0.14%
NH4SO4, 0.2% KH2PO4, 0.0002% ZnSO4, 0.0005% FeSO4, 0.01%
MnSO4, 0.012% SDS, 0.03% NH4Cl, 0.1% NaNO3 in brewer’s spent
grain based medium with 50% moisture content, inoculated with
2.8×107 spores and incubated at 30oC for 6 days to be the main
parameters influencing the enzyme production. Of these factors, four
variables including soyabean meal, FeSO4, MnSO4 and NaNO3 were
chosen to study the interactive effects and their optimum levels in
central composite design of response surface methodology with the
final mannanase yield of 193 IU/gds. The kinetic characterization
revealed the crude enzyme to be active over broader temperature and
pH range. This could result in 26.6% reduction in kappa number with
4.93% higher tear index and 1% increase in brightness when used to
treat the wheat straw based kraft pulp. The hydrolytic potential of
enzyme was also demonstrated on both locust bean gum and guar
gum.
Abstract: The progress of industry integrated circuits in recent
years has been pushed by continuous miniaturization of transistors.
With the reduction of dimensions of components at 0.1 micron and
below, new physical effects come into play as the standard simulators
of two dimensions (2D) do not consider. In fact the third dimension
comes into play because the transverse and longitudinal dimensions
of the components are of the same order of magnitude. To describe
the operation of such components with greater fidelity, we must
refine simulation tools and adapted to take into account these
phenomena. After an analytical study of the static characteristics of
the component, according to the different operating modes, a
numerical simulation is performed of field-effect transistor with
submicron gate MESFET GaInP. The influence of the dimensions of
the gate length is studied. The results are used to determine the
optimal geometric and physical parameters of the component for their
specific applications and uses.
Abstract: Polysulfone (PSU) is a specialty engineering polymer
having various industrial applications. PSU is especially used in
waste water treatment membranes due to its good mechanical
properties, structural and chemical stability. But it is a hydrophobic
material and therefore its surface aim to pollute easily. In order to
resolve this problem and extend the properties of membrane, PSU
surface is rendered hydrophilic by addition of the sepiolite
nanofibers. Sepiolite is one of the natural clays, which is a hydrate
magnesium silicate fiber, also one of the well known layered clays of
the montmorillonites where has several unique channels and pores
within. It has also moisture durability, strength and low price.
Sepiolite channels give great capacity of absorption and good surface
properties. In this study, nanocomposites of commercial PSU and
Sepiolite were prepared by solvent mixing method. Different organic
solvents and their mixtures were used. Rheological characteristics of
PSU-Sepiolite solvent mixtures were analyzed, the solubility of
nanocomposite content in those mixtures were studied.
Abstract: Different tools and technologies were implemented
for Crisis Response and Management (CRM) which is generally
using available network infrastructure for information exchange.
Depending on type of disaster or crisis, network infrastructure could
be affected and it could not be able to provide reliable connectivity.
Thus any tool or technology that depends on the connectivity could
not be able to fulfill its functionalities. As a solution, a new message
exchange framework has been developed. Framework provides
offline/online information exchange platform for CRM Information
Systems (CRMIS) and it uses XML compression and packet
prioritization algorithms and is based on open source web
technologies. By introducing offline capabilities to the web
technologies, framework will be able to perform message exchange
on unreliable networks. The experiments done on the simulation
environment provide promising results on low bandwidth networks
(56kbps and 28.8 kbps) with up to 50% packet loss and the solution is
to successfully transfer all the information on these low quality
networks where the traditional 2 and 3 tier applications failed.
Abstract: Eucalyptus species are well reputed for their
traditional use in Asia as well as in other parts of the world; therefore,
the present study was designed to investigate the antimicrobial and
antioxidant activities associated with essential oils from different
Eucalyptus species. Essential oils from the leaves of six Eucalyptus
species, including: Eucalyptus woodwardi, Eucalyptus stricklandii,
Eucalyptus salubris, Eucalyptus sargentii, Eucalyptus torquata and
Eucalyptus wandoo were separated by hydrodistillation and dried
over anhydrous sodium sulphate. DPPH, ferric reducing antioxidant
power, and hydroxyl radical scavenging activity assays were carried
out to evaluate the antioxidant potential of the oils. The results
indicate that examined oils exhibit substantial antioxidant activities
relative to ascorbic acid. Previously, these oils were evaluated for
their antimicrobial activities, against wide range of bacterial and
fungal strains, and they were shown to possess significant
antimicrobial activities. In this study, further investigation into the
growth kinetics of oil-treated microbial cultures was conducted. The
results clearly demonstrate that the microbial growth was markedly
inhibited when treated with sub-MIC concentrations of the oils.
Taken together, the results obtained indicate a high potential of the
examined essential oils as bioactive oils, for nutraceutical and
medical applications, possessing significant antioxidant and anti
microbial activities.
Abstract: Water contamination by toxic compound is one of the serious environmental problems today. These toxic compounds mostly originated from industrial effluents, agriculture, natural sources and human waste. These studies focus on modification of multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNTs) with nanoparticle of calixarene and explore the possibility of using this modification for the remediation of cadmium in water. The nanocomposites were prepared by dissolving calixarene in chloroform solution as solvent, followed by additional multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNTs) then sonication process for 3 hour and fabricated the nanocomposites on substrate by spin coating method. Finally, the nanocomposites were tested on cadmium ion (10 mg/ml). The morphology of nanocomposites was investigated by FESEM showing the formation of calixarene on the outer walls of carbon nanotube and cadmium ion also clearly seen from the micrograph. This formation was supported by using energy dispersive x-ray (EDX). The presence of cadmium ions in the films, leads to some changes in the surface potential and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR).The nanocomposites MWCNTs-calixarene have potential for development of sensor for pollutant monitoring and nanoelectronics devices applications.
Abstract: This paper presents a novel fractal antenna structure
proposed for UWB (Ultra – Wideband) applications. The frequency
band 3.1-10.6GHz released by FCC (Federal Communication
Commission) as the commercial operation of UWB has been chosen
as frequency range for this antenna based on coplanar waveguide
(CPW) feed and circular shapes fulfilled according to fractal
geometry. The proposed antenna is validated and designed by using
an FR4 substrate with overall area of 34x43 mm2. The simulated
results performed by CST-Microwave Studio and compared by ADS
(Advanced Design System) show good matching input impedance
with return loss less than -10dB between 2.9 GHz and 11 GHz.
Abstract: Vancron 40, a nitrided powder metallurgical tool
Steel, is used in cold work applications where the predominant failure
mechanisms are adhesive wear or galling. Typical applications of
Vancron 40 are among others fine blanking, cold extrusion, deep
drawing and cold work rolls for cluster mills. Vancron 40 positive
results for cold work rolls for cluster mills and as a tool for some
severe metal forming process makes it competitive compared to other
type of work rolls that require higher precision, among others in cold
rolling of thin stainless steel, which required high surface finish
quality. In this project, three roll materials for cold rolling of stainless
steel strip was examined, Vancron 40, Narva 12B (a high-carbon,
high-chromium tool steel alloyed with tungsten) and Supra 3 (a
Chromium-molybdenum tungsten-vanadium alloyed high speed
steel). The purpose of this project was to study the depth profiles of
the ironed stainless steel strips, emergence of galling and to study the
lubrication performance used by steel industries. Laboratory
experiments were conducted to examine scratch of the strip, galling
and surface roughness of the roll materials under severe tribological
conditions. The critical sliding length for onset of galling was
estimated for stainless steel with four different lubricants. Laboratory
experiments result of performance evaluation of resistance capability
of rolls toward adhesive wear under severe conditions for low and
high reductions. Vancron 40 in combination with cold rolling
lubricant gave good surface quality, prevents galling of
metal surfaces and good bearing capacity.
Abstract: This paper introduces novel approaches to partitioning
and mapping in terms of model-based embedded multicore system
engineering and further discusses benefits, industrial relevance and
features in common with existing approaches. In order to assess
and evaluate results, both approaches have been applied to a real
industrial application as well as to various prototypical demonstrative
applications, that have been developed and implemented for
different purposes. Evaluations show, that such applications improve
significantly according to performance, energy efficiency, meeting
timing constraints and covering maintaining issues by using
the AMALTHEA platform and the implemented approaches.
Furthermore, the model-based design provides an open, expandable,
platform independent and scalable exchange format between
OEMs, suppliers and developers on different levels. Our proposed
mechanisms provide meaningful multicore system utilization since
load balancing by means of partitioning and mapping is effectively
performed with regard to the modeled systems including hardware,
software, operating system, scheduling, constraints, configuration and
more data.
Abstract: Company managers are always looking for more and
more opportunities to succeed in today's fiercely competitive market.
To maintain your place among the successful companies on the
market today or to come up with a revolutionary business idea is
much more difficult than before. Each new or improved method, tool,
or approach that can improve the functioning of business processes or
even of the entire system is worth checking and verification. The use
of simulation in the design of manufacturing systems and their
management in practice is one of the ways without increased risk,
which makes it possible to find the optimal parameters of
manufacturing processes and systems. The paper presents an example
of use of simulation for solution of the bottleneck problem in the
concrete company.
Abstract: In medical imaging, segmentation of different areas of
human body like bones, organs, tissues, etc. is an important issue.
Image segmentation allows isolating the object of interest for further
processing that can lead for example to 3D model reconstruction of
whole organs. Difficulty of this procedure varies from trivial for
bones to quite difficult for organs like liver. The liver is being
considered as one of the most difficult human body organ to segment.
It is mainly for its complexity, shape versatility and proximity of
other organs and tissues. Due to this facts usually substantial user
effort has to be applied to obtain satisfactory results of the image
segmentation. Process of image segmentation then deteriorates from
automatic or semi-automatic to fairly manual one. In this paper,
overview of selected available software applications that can handle
semi-automatic image segmentation with further 3D volume
reconstruction of human liver is presented. The applications are being
evaluated based on the segmentation results of several consecutive
DICOM images covering the abdominal area of the human body.
Abstract: Motion Tracking and Stereo Vision are complicated,
albeit well-understood problems in computer vision. Existing
softwares that combine the two approaches to perform stereo motion
tracking typically employ complicated and computationally expensive
procedures. The purpose of this study is to create a simple and
effective solution capable of combining the two approaches. The
study aims to explore a strategy to combine the two techniques
of two-dimensional motion tracking using Kalman Filter; and depth
detection of object using Stereo Vision. In conventional approaches
objects in the scene of interest are observed using a single camera.
However for Stereo Motion Tracking; the scene of interest is
observed using video feeds from two calibrated cameras. Using two
simultaneous measurements from the two cameras a calculation for
the depth of the object from the plane containing the cameras is made.
The approach attempts to capture the entire three-dimensional spatial
information of each object at the scene and represent it through a
software estimator object. In discrete intervals, the estimator tracks
object motion in the plane parallel to plane containing cameras and
updates the perpendicular distance value of the object from the plane
containing the cameras as depth. The ability to efficiently track
the motion of objects in three-dimensional space using a simplified
approach could prove to be an indispensable tool in a variety of
surveillance scenarios. The approach may find application from high
security surveillance scenes such as premises of bank vaults, prisons
or other detention facilities; to low cost applications in supermarkets
and car parking lots.
Abstract: Compositions of different molar ratios of
polymethylmethacrylate-co-methacrylic acid (PMMA-co-MAA)
were synthesized via free-radical polymerization. Polymer coated
surfaces have been produced on silicon wafers. Coated samples were
analyzed by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results have shown
that the roughness of the surfaces have increased by increasing the
molar ratio of monomer methacrylic acid (MAA). This study reveals
that the gradual increase in surface roughness is due to the fact that
carboxylic functional groups have been generated by MAA segments.
Such surfaces can be desirable platforms for fabrication of the
biosensors for detection of the viruses and diseases.
Abstract: Food is widely packaged with plastic materials to
prevent microbial contamination and spoilage. Ionizing radiation is
widely used to sterilize the food-packaging materials. Sterilization by
γ-radiation causes degradation such as embrittlement, stiffening,
softening, discoloration, odour generation, and decrease in molecular
weight. Many antioxidants can prevent γ-degradation but most of
them are toxic. The migration of antioxidants to its environment
gives rise to major concerns in case of food packaging plastics. In
this attempt, we have aimed to utilize synergistic mixtures of
stabilizers which are approved for food-contact applications.
Ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymer has been melt-mixed with
hindered amine stabilizers (HAS), phenolic antioxidants and organophosphites
(hydroperoxide decomposer). Results were discussed by
comparing the stabilizing efficiency of mixtures with and without
phenol system. Among phenol containing systems where we mostly
observed discoloration due to the oxidation of hindered phenol, the
combination of secondary HAS, tertiary HAS, organo-phosphite and
hindered phenol exhibited improved stabilization efficiency than
single or binary additive systems. The mixture of secondary HAS and
tertiary HAS, has shown antagonistic effect of stabilization.
However, the combination of organo-phosphite with secondary HAS,
tertiary HAS and phenol antioxidants have been found to give
synergistic even at higher doses of Gamma-irradiation. The effects
have been explained through the interaction between the stabilizers.
After γ-irradiation, the consumption of oligomeric stabilizer
significantly depends on the components of stabilization mixture. The
effect of the organo-phosphite antioxidant on the overall stability has
been discussed.
Abstract: Composite materials, due to their unique properties
such as high strength to weight ratio, corrosion resistance, and impact
resistance have huge potential as structural materials in automotive,
construction and transportation applications. However, these
properties often come at higher cost owing to complex design
methods, difficult manufacturing processes and raw material cost.
Traditionally, tapered laminated composite structures are
manufactured using autoclave manufacturing process by ply drop off
technique. Autoclave manufacturing though very powerful suffers
from high capital investment and higher energy consumption. As per
the current trends in composite manufacturing, Out of Autoclave
(OoA) processes are looked as emerging technologies for
manufacturing the structural composite components for aerospace
and defense applications. However, there is a need for improvement
among these processes to make them reliable and consistent. In this
paper, feasibility of using out of autoclave process to manufacture the
variable thickness cantilever beam is discussed. The minimum weight
design for the composite beam is obtained using constant stress beam
concept by tailoring the thickness of the beam. Ply drop off
techniques was used to fabricate the variable thickness beam from
glass/epoxy prepregs. Experiments were conducted to measure
bending stresses along the span of the cantilever beam at different
intervals by applying the concentrated load at the free end.
Experimental results showed that the stresses in the bean at different
intervals were constant. This proves the ability of OoA process to
manufacture the constant stress beam. Finite element model for the
constant stress beam was developed using commercial finite element
simulation software. It was observed that the simulation results
agreed very well with the experimental results and thus validated
design and manufacturing approach used.
Abstract: For cycling, the analysis of the pedal force is one of the
important factors in the study of exercise ability assessment and
overuse injuries. In past studies, a two-axis measurement sensor was
used at the sagittal plane to measure the force only in the anterior,
posterior, and vertical directions and to analyze the loss of force and
the injury on the frontal plane due to the forces in the right and left
directions. In this study, which is a basic study on diverse analyses of
the pedal force that consider the forces on the sagittal plane and the
frontal plane, a three-axis pedal force measurement sensor was
developed to measure the anterior-posterior (Fx), medio-lateral (Fz),
and vertical (Fy) forces. The sensor was fabricated with a size and
shape similar to those of the general flat pedal, and had a 550g weight
that allowed smooth pedaling. Its measurement range was ±1000 N for
Fx and Fz and ±2000 N for Fy, and its non-linearity, hysteresis, and
repeatability were approximately 0.5%. The data were sampled at
1000 Hz using a signal collector. To use the developed sensor, the
pedaling efficiency (index of efficiency, IE) and the range of left and
right (medio-lateral, ML) forces were measured with two seat heights
(low and high). The results of the measurement showed that the IE was
higher and the force range in the ML direction was lower with the high
position than with the low position. The developed measurement
sensor and its application results will be useful in understanding and
explaining the complicated pedaling technique, and will enable
diverse kinematic analyses of the pedal force on the sagittal plane and
the frontal plane.
Abstract: It is widely believed that mobile device is a promising technology for lending the opportunity for the third wave of electronic commerce. Mobile devices have changed the way companies do business. Many applications are under development or being incorporated into business processes. In this day, mobile applications are a vital component of any industry strategy.One of the greatest benefits of selling merchandise and providing services on a mobile application is that it widens a company’s customer base significantly.Mobile applications are accessible to interested customers across regional and international borders in different electronic business (e-business) area. But there is a dark side to this success story. The security risks associated with mobile devices and applications are very significant. This paper introduces a broad risk analysis for the various threats, vulnerabilities, and risks in mobile e-business applications and presents some important risk mitigation approaches. It reviews and compares two different frameworks for security assurance in mobile e-business applications. Based on the comparison, the paper suggests some recommendations for applications developers and business owners in mobile e-business application development process.
Abstract: This paper presents analysis and design of a wideband
Wilkinson power divider for wireless applications. The design is
accomplished by transforming the lengths and impedances of the
quarter wavelength sections of the conventional Wilkinson power
divider into U-shaped sections. The designed power divider is
simulated by using ADS Agilent technologies and CST microwave
studio software. It is shown that the proposed power divider has
simple topology and good performances in terms of insertion loss,
port matching and isolation at all operating frequencies (1.8 GHz,
2.45 GHz and 3.55 GHz).
Abstract: Lightweight design represents an important key to
successful implementation of energy-saving, fuel-efficient and
environmentally friendly means of transport in the aerospace and
automotive industry. In this context the use of carbon fibre reinforced
plastics (CFRP) which are distinguished by their outstanding
mechanical properties at relatively low weight, promise significant
improvements. Due to the reduction of the total mass, with the
resulting lowered fuel or energy consumption and CO2 emissions
during the operational phase, commercial aircraft will increasingly be
made of CFRP. An auspicious technology for the efficient and
economic production of high performance thermoset composites and
hybrid structures for future lightweight applications is the
combination of carbon fibre sheet moulding compound, tailored
continuous carbon fibre reinforcements and metallic components in a
one-shot pressing and curing process. This paper deals with a hybrid
composite technology for aerospace industries, which was developed
with the help of a special innovation and development system.