Abstract: Climate warming would increase rainfall by shifting
precipitation falling form from snow to rain, and would accelerate
snow cover disappearing by increasing snowpack. Using temperature
and precipitation data in the temperature-index snowmelt model, we
evaluated variability of snowfall and continuous snow cover duration
(CSCD) during 1944-2010 over Pelso, central Finland. Mann-
Kendall non-parametric test determined that annual precipitation
increased by 2.69 (mm/year, p
Abstract: Climate change would cause mean sea level to rise +1
m by 2100. To prevent coastal floods resulting from the sea level
rising, different flood control structures have been built, with
acceptable protection levels. Gothenburg with the River Göta älv
located on the southwest coast of Sweden is a vulnerable city to the
accelerated rises in mean sea level. We evaluated using a sea barrage
in the River Göta älv to protect Gothenburg during this century. The
highest sea level was estimated to 2.95 m above the current mean sea
level by 2100. To verify flood protection against such high sea levels,
both barriers have to be closed. To prevent high water level in the
River Göta älv reservoir, the barriers would be open when the sea
level is low. The suggested flood control structures would
successfully protect the city from flooding events during this century.
Abstract: Using ETABS software, this study analyzed 23
buildings to evaluate effects of mistakes during construction phase on
buildings structural behavior. For modelling, two different loadings
were assumed: 1) design loading and 2) loading due to the effects of
mistakes in construction phase. Research results determined that
considering traditional construction methods for buildings resulted in
a significant increase in dead loads and consequently intensified the
displacements and base-shears of buildings under seismic loads.
Abstract: The thermo-mechanical behaviour of concrete energy
pile foundations with different single and double U-tube shapes
incorporated was analysed using the Comsol Multi-physics package.
For the analysis, a 3D numerical model in real scale of the concrete
pile and surrounding soil was simulated regarding actual operation of
ground heat exchangers (GHE) and the surrounding ambient
temperature. Based on initial ground temperature profile measured in
situ, tube inlet temperature was considered to range from 6oC to 0oC
(during the contraction process) over a 30-day period. Extra thermal
stresses and deformations were calculated during the simulations and
differences arising from the use of two different systems (single-tube
and double-tube) were analysed. The results revealed no significant
difference for extra thermal stresses at the centre of the pile in either
system. However, displacements over the pile length were found to
be up to 1.5-fold higher in the double-tube system than the singletube
system.
Abstract: This paper present the experimental work of double
unit tunnel form building (TFB) subjected to in-plane lateral cyclic
loading. A one third scale of 3-storey double unit of TFB is tested
until its strength degradation. Then, the TFB is repaired and
retrofitted using additional shear wall, steel angle and CFRP sheet.
The crack patterns, lateral strength, stiffness, ductility and equivalent
viscous damping (EVD) were analyzed and compared before and
after repair and retrofit. The result indicates that the lateral strength
increases by 22% in pushing and 27% in pulling direction. Moreover,
the stiffness and ductility obtained before and after retrofit increase
tremendously by 87.87% and 39.66%, respectively. Meanwhile, the
energy absorption measured by equivalent viscous damping obtained
after retrofit increase by 12.34% in pulling direction. It can be
concluded that the proposed retrofit method is capable to increase the
lateral strength capacity, stiffness and energy absorption of double
unit TFB.
Abstract: In this paper, numerical solution of system of
Fredholm and Volterra integral equations by means of the Spline
collocation method is considered. This approximation reduces the
system of integral equations to an explicit system of algebraic
equations. The solution is collocated by cubic B-spline and the
integrand is approximated by the Newton-Cotes formula. The error
analysis of proposed numerical method is studied theoretically. The
results are compared with the results obtained by other methods to
illustrate the accuracy and the implementation of our method.
Abstract: The current study explored the effect of economic
development, financial development and institutional quality on
environmental destruction in upper-middle income countries during
the time period of 1999-2011. The dependent variable is logarithm of
carbon dioxide emissions that can be considered as an index for
destruction or quality of the environment given to its effects on the
environment. Financial development and institutional development
variables as well as some control variables were considered. In order
to study cross-sectional correlation among the countries under study,
Pesaran and Friz test was used. Since the results of both tests show
cross-sectional correlation in the countries under study, seemingly
unrelated regression method was utilized for model estimation. The
results disclosed that Kuznets’ environmental curve hypothesis is
confirmed in upper-middle income countries and also, financial
development and institutional quality have a significant effect on
environmental quality. The results of this study can be considered by
policy makers in countries with different income groups to have
access to a growth accompanied by improved environmental quality.
Abstract: In the present study, we have synthesized Cr and Fe
doped zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures (Zn1-δCraFebO; where δ = a +
b = 20%, a = 5, 6, 8 & 10% and b = 15, 14, 12 & 10%) via sol-gel
method at different doping concentrations. The synthesized samples
were characterized for structural properties by X-ray diffractrometer
and field emission scanning electron microscope and the optical
properties were carried out through photoluminescence and UVvisible
spectroscopy. The particle size calculated through field
emission scanning electron microscope varies from 41 to 96 nm for
the samples synthesized at different doping concentrations. The
optical band gaps calculated through UV-visible spectroscopy are
found to be decreasing from 3.27 to 3.02 eV as the doping
concentration of Cr increases and Fe decreases.
Abstract: This research aims to investigate callus induction,
somatic embryogenesis and indirect plant regeneration of Crassula
ovata (Mill.) Druce – the famous ornamental plant. Experiment no.1:
Callus induction was obtained from leaf and stem explants on
Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with various plant
growth regulators (PGRs). Effects of different PGRs, plant
regeneration and subsequent plantlet conversion were also assessed.
Indirect plant regeneration was achieved from the callus of stem
explants by the addition of 1.5 mg/L Kinetin (KN) alone. Best shoot
induction was achieved (6.5 shoots/per explant) after 60 days. For
successful rooting, regenerated plantlets were sub-cultured on the
same MS media supplemented with 1.5 mg/L KN alone. The rooted
plantlets were acclimatized and the survival rate was 90%.
Experiment no.2: Results revealed that 0.5 mg/L 2,4-D alone and in
combination with 1.0 mg/L 6-Benzyladenine (BA) gave 89.8% callus
from the stem explants as compared to leaf explants. Callus
proliferation and somatic embryo formation were also evaluated by
‘Double Staining Method’ and different stages of somatic
embryogenesis were revealed by scanning electron microscope. Full
Strength MS medium produced the highest number (49.6%) of
cotyledonary stage somatic embryos (SEs). Mature cotyledonary
stage SEs developed into plantlets after 12 weeks of culture. Wellrooted
plantlets were successfully acclimatized at the survival rate of
85%. Indirectly regenerated plants did not show any detectable
variation in morphological and growth characteristics when
compared with the donor plant.
Abstract: To mimic the natural circumstances of cell growth in an organism, we present three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds fabricated by microfluidics for cultivation. This work investigates the cellular behaviors of rat cardiomyocytes in gelatin 3D scaffolds compared to those on 2D control, such as proliferation, viability and morphology. We found that the scaffolds may induce skeletal differentiation of H9c2 cells.
Abstract: In Capitalism all economic activity rests upon a set of
core institutional foundations, main from which are privately owned
capital assets and profit. How these core institutional foundations are
working in former soviet countries, in particular in Travel and
Tourism Industry of Georgia?
The role of Travel and Tourism as a key pillar of economic growth
is being increasingly recognized by governments in all regions of the
world. For the last few years Georgia succeeded in the World Bank
and IFC “Doing Business” rankings. Despite of that, during decades
totally different statistical data of the tourism sector were provided by
the different State bodies; economic parameters were published few,
or not published at all.
The frequency and extent of property rights violation in Georgia
has repeatedly been the subject of concern for the last decade. Total
value of abrogated by the former Georgian Government private
property is estimated approximately in US$4-5 billion.
Thus, if economic profitability is unknown and property rights are
not protected – that means that the main institutional foundations of
capitalism in Georgia, are not working properly yet, that cause
management problems at all levels of the national Travel and
Tourism industry of Georgia.
Abstract: Copper being one of the major intrinsic residual
impurities in steel possesses the tendency to induce severe
microstructural distortions if not controlled within certain limits.
Hence, this paper investigates the effect of this element on the
mechanical properties of construction steel with a view to ascertain
its safe limits for effective control. The experiment entails collection
of statistically scheduled samples of hot rolled profiles with varied
copper concentrations in the range of 0.12-0.39 wt. %. From these
samples were prepared standard test specimens subjected to tensile,
impact, hardness and microstructural analyses. Results show a rather
huge compromise in mechanical properties as the specimens
demonstrated 54.3%, 74.2% and 64.9% reduction in tensile strength,
impact energy and hardness respectively as copper content increases
from 0.12 wt. % to 0.39 wt. %. The steel’s abysmal performance is
due to the severe distortion of the microstructure occasioned by the
development of incoherent complex compounds which weaken the
pearlite reinforcing phase. It is concluded that the presence of copper
above 0.22 wt. % is deleterious to construction steel performance.
Abstract: Ficus deltoidea from the Moraceae family is a popular
medicinal herb in Malaysia. It possesses strong antioxidant and antiinflammatory
properties. In the present study, the anti-inflammatory
effects of F. deltoidea extract on UVB-irradiated HaCaT
Keratinocytes were investigated. HaCaT Keratinocytes were UVBirradiated
(12.5 mJ/cm3) and were treated with 0.05, 0.08 or 0.1% of
F. deltoidea extract. Cell viability following UVB irradiation was
significantly higher in the groups treated with the F. deltoidea extract
at doses of 0.05, 0.08 or 0.1% than in control group with UVB
irradiation only. Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1α
(IL-1α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and cyclooxygenase (COX-2) play
primary roles in the inflammation process upon UV irradiation and
are known to be stimulated by UVB irradiation. Treatment with the
F. deltoidea extract dramatically inhibited the UV-induced TNF-α,
IL-1α, IL-6, and COX-2 expression. These results suggest that the F.
deltoidea extract inhibits the production of pro-inflammatory
cytokines and may be an effective protective agent for the treatment
of skin diseases.
Abstract: Nowadays, the amounts of companies which tend to
have an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application are
increasing. Although ERP projects are expensive, time consuming,
and complex, there are some successful experiences. These days,
developing countries are striving to implement ERP projects
successfully; however, there are many obstacles. Therefore, these
projects would be failed or partially failed. This paper concerns the
implementation of a successful ERP implementation, IFS, in Iran at
Dana Geophysics Company (DGC). After a short review of ERP and
ERP market in Iran, we propose a three phases deployment
methodology (phase 1: Preparation and Business Process
Management (BPM) phase 2: implementation and phase 3: testing,
golive-1 (pilot) and golive-2 (final)). Then, we present five guidelines
(Project Management, Change Management, Business Process
Management (BPM), Training& Knowledge Management, and
Technical Management), which were chose as work streams. In this
case study we present lessons learned in Project management and
Business process Management.
Abstract: The reduction of greenhouse gases emissions is highly
discussed ecological theme at present. In addition to power industry
also main production sectors of binders, i.e. cement, air and hydraulic
lime are very sensitive to these questions. One of the possibilities
how CO2 emissions can be reduced directly at clinker burnout is
represented by partial substitution of lime with a material containing
limy ions at absence of carbonate group. Fluidised fly ash is one of
such potential raw materials where CaO can be found free and also
bound in anhydrite, CaSO4. At application of FBC (fluidized bed
combustion) fly ash with approximate 20% CaO content and its
dosing ratio to high percent lime 1:2, corresponding stechiometrically
to the preparation of raw material powder, approximately 0,37 t CO2
per 1 ton of one-component cement would be released at clinker
burnout compared to 0,46 t CO2 when orthodox raw materials are
used. The reduction of CO2 emissions thus could reach even 20%.
Abstract: The most important part of modern lean low NOx combustors is a premixer where swirlers are often used for intensification of mixing processes and further formation of required flow pattern in combustor liner. Swirling flow leads to formation of complex eddy structures causing flow perturbations. It is able to cause combustion instability. Therefore, at design phase, it is necessary to pay great attention to aerodynamics of premixers. Analysis based on unsteady CFD modeling of swirling flow in production combustor swirler showed presence of large number of different eddy structures that can be conditionally divided into three types relative to its location of origin and a propagation path. Further, features of each eddy type were subsequently defined. Comparison of calculated and experimental pressure fluctuations spectrums verified correctness of computations.
Abstract: Fly ash is an important waste, produced in thermal
power plants which causes very important environmental pollutions.
For this reason the usage and evaluation the fly ash in various areas
are very important. Nearly, 15 million tons/year of fly ash is
produced in Turkey. In this study, usage of fly ash with diatomite and
molasses for heavy metal (Cd) adsorption from wastewater is
investigated. The samples of Seyitomer region fly ash were analyzed
by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Scanning Electron Microscope
(SEM) then diatomite (0 and 1% in terms of fly ash, w/w) and
molasses (0-0.75 mL) were pelletized under 30 MPa of pressure for
the usage of cadmium (Cd) adsorption in wastewater. After the
adsorption process, samples of Seyitomer were analyzed using
Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES). As a result, it is seen that
the usage of Seyitomer fly ash is proper for cadmium (Cd) adsorption
and an optimum adsorption yield with 52% is found at a compound
with Seyitomer fly ash (10 g), diatomite (0.5 g) and molasses (0.75
mL) at 2.5 h of reaction time, pH:4, 20ºC of reaction temperature and
300 rpm of stirring rate.
Abstract: A generalized vortex lattice method for complex
lifting surfaces with flap and aileron deflection is formulated. The
method is not restricted by the linearized theory assumption and
accounts for all standard geometric lifting surface parameters:
camber, taper, sweep, washout, dihedral, in addition to flap and
aileron deflection. Thickness is not accounted for since the physical
lifting body is replaced by a lattice of panels located on the mean
camber surface. This panel lattice setup and the treatment of different
wake geometries is what distinguish the present work form the
overwhelming majority of previous solutions based on the vortex
lattice method. A MATLAB code implementing the proposed
formulation is developed and validated by comparing our results to
existing experimental and numerical ones and good agreement is
demonstrated. It is then used to study the accuracy of the widely used
classical vortex-lattice method. It is shown that the classical approach
gives good agreement in the clean configuration but is off by as much
as 30% when a flap or aileron deflection of 30° is imposed. This
discrepancy is mainly due the linearized theory assumption
associated with the conventional method. A comparison of the effect
of four different wake geometries on the values of aerodynamic
coefficients was also carried out and it is found that the choice of the
wake shape had very little effect on the results.
Abstract: Three dimensional non-Interlaced carbon fibre
reinforced silicon carbide (3-D-Cf/SiC) composites with pyrocarbon
interphase were fabricated using isothermal chemical vapor
infiltration (ICVI) combined with polymer impregnation pyrolysis
(PIP) process. Polysilazane (PSZ) is used as a preceramic polymer to
obtain silicon carbide matrix. Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA),
Infrared spectroscopic analysis (IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD)
analysis were carried out on PSZ pyrolysed at different temperatures
to understand the pyrolysis and obtaining the optimum pyrolysing
condition to yield β-SiC phase. The density of the composites was
1.94 g cm-3 after the 3-D carbon preform was SiC infiltrated for 280 h
with one intermediate polysilazane pre-ceramic PIP process.
Mechanical properties of the composite materials were investigated
under tensile, flexural, shear and impact loading. The values of
tensile strength were 200 MPa at room temperature (RT) and 195
MPa at 500°C in air. The average RT flexural strength was 243 MPa.
The lower flexural strength of these composites is because of the
porosity. The fracture toughness obtained from single edge notched
beam (SENB) technique was 39 MPa.m1/2. The work of fracture
obtained from the load-displacement curve of SENB test was 22.8
kJ.m-2. The composites exhibited excellent impact resistance and the
dynamic fracture toughness of 44.8 kJ.m-2 is achieved as determined
from instrumented Charpy impact test. The shear strength of the
composite was 93 MPa, which is significantly higher compared 2-D
Cf/SiC composites. Microstructure evaluation of fracture surfaces
revealed the signatures of fracture processes and showed good
support for the higher toughness obtained.
Abstract: This paper presents the voltage problem location
classification using performance of Least Squares Support Vector
Machine (LS-SVM) and Learning Vector Quantization (LVQ) in
electrical power system for proper voltage problem location
implemented by IEEE 39 bus New- England. The data was collected
from the time domain simulation by using Power System Analysis
Toolbox (PSAT). Outputs from simulation data such as voltage, phase
angle, real power and reactive power were taken as input to estimate
voltage stability at particular buses based on Power Transfer Stability
Index (PTSI).The simulation data was carried out on the IEEE 39 bus
test system by considering load bus increased on the system. To verify
of the proposed LS-SVM its performance was compared to Learning
Vector Quantization (LVQ). The results showed that LS-SVM is faster
and better as compared to LVQ. The results also demonstrated that the
LS-SVM was estimated by 0% misclassification whereas LVQ had
7.69% misclassification.