Abstract: This paper introduces a signal monitoring program
developed with a view to helping electrical engineering students get
familiar with sensors with digital output. Because the output of digital
sensors cannot be simply monitored by a measuring instrument such as
an oscilloscope, students tend to have a hard time dealing with digital
sensors. The monitoring program runs on a PC and communicates with
an MCU that reads the output of digital sensors via an asynchronous
communication interface. Receiving the sensor data from the MCU,
the monitoring program shows time and/or frequency domain plots of
the data in real time. In addition, the monitoring program provides a
serial terminal that enables the user to exchange text information with
the MCU while the received data is plotted. The user can easily
observe the output of digital sensors and configure the digital sensors
in real time, which helps students who do not have enough experiences
with digital sensors. Though the monitoring program was programmed
in the Matlab programming language, it runs without the Matlab since
it was compiled as a standalone executable.
Abstract: The transesterification of dimethyl malonate (DMM)
with phenol has been studied in vapour phase over cordierite
honeycomb coated with solid acid catalysts such as ZrO2,
Mo(VI)/ZrO2 and SO42-/ZrO2. The catalytic materials were prepared
honeycomb coated, powder forms, and characterized for their total
surface acidity by NH3-TPD and crystalinity by powder XRD
methods. Phenyl methyl malonate (PMM) and diphenyl malonate
(DPM) were obtained as the reaction products. A good conversion of
DMM (up to 82%) of MPM with 95% selectivity was observed when
the reactions were carried out at a catalyst bed temperature of 200 °C
and flow-rate of 10 mL/h in presence of Mo(VI)/ZrO2 as catalyst.
However, over SO4^2-/ZrO2 catalyst, the yield of DPM was found to be
higher. The results have been interpreted based on the variation of
acidic properties and powder XRD phases of zirconia on
incorporation of Mo(VI) or SO42– ions. Transesterification reactions
were also carried out over powder forms of the catalytic materials
and the yield of the desired phenyl ester products were compared
with that of the HC coated catalytic materials. The solid acids were
found to be reusable when used for at least 5 reaction cycles.
Abstract: Much of the literature on research design has focused
on research conducted in developed, uni-cultural or primarily English
speaking countries. Studies of qualitative case study research, the
challenges, and prospects have been embedded in Western/Eurocentric
society and social theories. Although there have been some
theoretical studies, few empirical studies have been conducted to
explore the nature of the challenges of qualitative case study in
developing countries. These challenges include accessibility to
organizations, conducting interviews in developing countries,
accessing documents and observing official meetings, language and
cultural challenges, the use of consent forms, issues affecting access
to companies, respondent issues, and data analysis. The author, while
conducting qualitative case study research in Libya, faced all these
issues. The discussion in this paper examines these issues in order to
make a contribution toward the literature in this area.
Abstract: A model to predict the plastic zone size for material
under plane stress condition has been developed and verified
experimentally. The developed model is a function of crack size,
crack angle and material property (dislocation density). Simulation
and validation results show that the model developed show good
agreement with experimental results. Samples of low carbon steel
(0.035%C) with included surface crack angles of 45o, 50o, 60o, 70o
and 90o and crack depths of 2mm and 4mm were subjected to low
strain rate between 0.48 x 10-3 s-1 – 2.38 x 10-3 s-1. The mechanical
properties studied were ductility, tensile strength, modulus of
elasticity, yield strength, yield strain, stress at fracture and fracture
toughness. The experimental study shows that strain rate has no
appreciable effect on the size of plastic zone while crack depth and
crack angle plays an imperative role in determining the size of the
plastic zone of mild steel materials.
Abstract: Production fluids are transported from the platform to
tankers or process facilities through transfer pipelines. Water being
one of the heavier phases tends to settle at the bottom of pipelines
especially at low flow velocities and this has adverse consequences
for pipeline integrity. On restart after a shutdown, this could result in
corrosion and issues for process equipment, thus the need to have the
heavier liquid dispersed into the flowing lighter fluid. This study
looked at the flow regime of low water cut and low flow velocity oil
and water flow using conductive film thickness probes in a large
diameter 4-inch pipe to obtain oil and water interface height and the
interface structural velocity. A wide range of 0.1–1.0 m/s oil and
water mixture velocities was investigated for 0.5–5% water cut. Two
fluid model predictions were used to compare with the experimental
results.
Abstract: Wind energy is rapidly emerging as the primary
source of electricity in the Philippines, although developing an
accurate wind resource model is difficult. In this study, Weather
Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model, an open source mesoscale
Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) model, was used to produce a
1-year atmospheric simulation with 4 km resolution on the Ilocos
Region of the Philippines. The WRF output (netCDF) extracts the
annual mean wind speed data using a Python-based Graphical User
Interface. Lastly, wind resource assessment was produced using a
GIS software. Results of the study showed that it is more flexible to
use Python scripts than using other post-processing tools in dealing
with netCDF files. Using WRF Model, Python, and Geographic
Information Systems, a reliable wind resource map is produced.
Abstract: This research work presents the surface
thermodynamics approach to M-TB/HIV-Human sputum
interactions. This involved the use of the Hamaker coefficient
concept as a surface energetics tool in determining the interaction
processes, with the surface interfacial energies explained using van
der Waals concept of particle interactions. The Lifshitz derivation for
van der Waals forces was applied as an alternative to the contact
angle approach which has been widely used in other biological
systems. The methodology involved taking sputum samples from
twenty infected persons and from twenty uninfected persons for
absorbance measurement using a digital Ultraviolet visible
Spectrophotometer. The variables required for the computations with
the Lifshitz formula were derived from the absorbance data. The
Matlab software tools were used in the mathematical analysis of the
data produced from the experiments (absorbance values). The
Hamaker constants and the combined Hamaker coefficients were
obtained using the values of the dielectric constant together with the
Lifshitz Equation. The absolute combined Hamaker coefficients
A132abs and A131abs on both infected and uninfected sputum samples
gave the values of A132abs = 0.21631x10-21Joule for M-TB infected
sputum and Ã132abs = 0.18825x10-21Joule for M-TB/HIV infected
sputum. The significance of this result is the positive value of the
absolute combined Hamaker coefficient which suggests the existence
of net positive van der waals forces demonstrating an attraction
between the bacteria and the macrophage. This however, implies that
infection can occur. It was also shown that in the presence of HIV,
the interaction energy is reduced by 13% conforming adverse effects
observed in HIV patients suffering from tuberculosis.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to propose an effective method to improve frictional coefficient between shoe rubber soles with added glass fibers and the surfaces of icy and snowy road in order to prevent slip-and-fall accidents by the users. The additional fibers into the rubber were uniformly tilted to the perpendicular direction of the frictional surface, where tilting angles were -60, -30, +30, +60, 90 degrees and 0 (as normal specimen), respectively. It was found that parallel arraignment was effective to improve the frictional coefficient when glass fibers were embedded in the shoe rubber, while perpendicular to normal direction of the embedded glass fibers on the shoe surface was also effective to do that once after they were exposed from the shoe rubber with its abrasion. These improvements were explained by the increase of stiffness against the shear deformation of the rubber at critical frictional state and adequate scratching of fibers when fibers were protruded in perpendicular to frictional direction, respectively. Most effective angle of tilting of frictional coefficient between rubber specimens and a stone was perpendicular (= 0 degree) to frictional direction. Combinative modified rubber specimen having 2 layers was fabricated where tilting angle of protruded fibers was 0 degree near the contact surface and tilting angle of embedded fibers was 90 degrees near back surface in thickness direction to further improve the frictional coefficient. Current study suggested that effective arraignments in tilting angle of the added fibers should be applied in designing rubber shoe soles to keep the safeties for users in regions of cold climates.
Abstract: Rotary entrainment is a phenomenon in which the
interface of two immiscible fluids are subjected to external flux by
means of rotation. Present work reports the experimental study on
rotary motion of a horizontal cylinder between the interface of air and
water to observe the penetration of gas inside the liquid. Experiments
have been performed to establish entrainment of air mass in water
alongside the cylindrical surface. The movement of tracer and seeded
particles has been tracked to calculate the speed and path of the
entrained air inside water. Simplified particle image velocimetry
technique has been used to trace the movement of particles/tracers at
the moment they are injected inside the entrainment zone and
suspended beads have been used to replicate the particle movement
with respect to time in order to determine the flow dynamics of the
fluid along the cylinder. Present paper establishes a thorough experimental analysis of the
rotary entrainment phenomenon between air and water keeping in
interest the extent to which we can intermix the two and also to study
its entrainment trajectories.
Abstract: The understanding of geotechnical characteristics of
near-surface material and the effects of the groundwater is very
important problem in such as site studies. For showing the relations
between seismic data and groundwater, we selected about 25 km2 as
the study area. It has been presented which is a detailed work of
seismic data and groundwater depths of Gokpinar Damp area.
Seismic waves velocity (Vp and Vs) are very important parameters
showing the soil properties. The seismic records were used the
method of the multichannel analysis of surface waves near area of
Gokpinar Damp area. Sixty sites in this area have been investigated
with survey lines about 60 m in length. MASW (Multichannel
analysis of surface wave) method has been used to generate onedimensional
shear wave velocity profile at locations. These shear
wave velocities are used to estimate equivalent shear wave velocity in
the study area at every 2 and 5 m intervals up to a depth of 45 m.
Levels of equivalent shear wave velocity of soil are used the
classified of the study area. After the results of the study, it must be
considered as components of urban planning and building design of
Gokpinar Damp area, Denizli and the application and use of these
results should be required and enforced by municipal authorities.
Abstract: This study investigates the influence of low
temperature thermo-chemical pretreatment of organic food waste on
performance of COD solubilisation. Both temperature and alkaline
agent were reported to have effect on solubilizing any possible
biomass including organic food waste. The three independent
variables considered in this pretreatment were temperature (50-90oC),
pretreatment time (30-120 minutes) and alkaline concentration,
sodium hydroxide, NaOH (0.7-15 g/L). The maximal condition
obtained were 90oC, 15 g/L NaOH for 2 hours. Solubilisation has
potential in enhancing methane production by providing high amount
of soluble components at early stage during anaerobic digestion.
Abstract: Selling has changed. Selling has taken on aspects of
relationship marketing and sales force play a critical role in
developing long-term relationships between buyers and sellers which
is seen to serve the company’s targets and create success for a long
run. The purpose of this study was to examine what really matters in
buyer-seller encounters and determine what expectations business
buyers have. We studied 17 business buyers by a qualitative
interview. We found that buyers appreciate encounters where the
salesperson face the buyer as a way he or she is as a person, map the
real needs to improve buyers’ business and build up cooperation for
long-term relationship. This study show that personality matters are a
key elements when satisfying business buyers’ expectations.
Abstract: It is very important for a developing nation to
developing their infrastructure on the prime priority because their
infrastructure particularly their roads and transportation functions as a
blood in the system. Almost 1.1 billion populations share the travel
and transportation industry in India. On the other hand, the Pakistan
transportation industry is also extensive and elevating about 170
million users of transportation. Indian and Pakistani specifically
within bus industry are well connected within and between the urban
and rural areas. The transportation industry is radically helping the
economic alleviation of both countries. Due to high economic
instability, unemployment and poverty rate both countries
governments are very serious and committed to help for boosting
their economy. They believe that any form of transportation
development would play a vital role in the development of land,
infrastructure which could indirectly support many other industries’
developments, such as tourism, freighting and shipping businesses,
just to mention a few. However, it seems that their previous
transportation planning in the due course has failed to meet the fast
growing demand. As with the span of time, both the countries are
looking forward to a long-term, and economical solutions, because
the demand is from time to time keep appreciating and reacting
according to other key economic drivers. Content analysis method
and case study approach is used in this paper and secondary data
from the bureau of statistic is used for case analysis. The paper
focused on the mobility concerns of the lower and middle-income
people in India and Pakistan. The paper is aimed to highlight the
weaknesses, opportunities and limitations resulting from low priority
industry for a government, which is making the either country's
public suffer. The paper has concluded that the main issue is
identified as the slow, inappropriate, and unfavorable decisions which
are not in favor of long-term country’s economic development and
public interest. The paper also recommends to future research
avenues for public and private transportation, which is continuously
failing to meet the public expectations.
Abstract: In this paper, we calculate the two-photon ionization
(TPI) cross-section for pump-probe scheme in Ag neutral cluster. The
pump photon energy is assumed to be close to the surface plasmon
(SP) energy of cluster in dielectric media. Due to this choice, the
pump wave excites collective oscillations of electrons-SP and the
probe wave causes ionization of the cluster. Since the interband
transition energy in Ag exceeds the SP resonance energy, the main
contribution into the TPI comes from the latter. The advantage of Ag
clusters as compared to the other noble metals is that the SP
resonance in silver cluster is much sharper because of peculiarities of
its dielectric function. The calculations are performed by separating
the coordinates of electrons corresponding to the collective
oscillations and the individual motion that allows taking into account
the resonance contribution of excited SP oscillations. It is shown that
the ionization cross section increases by two orders of magnitude if
the energy of the pump photon matches the surface plasmon energy
in the cluster.
Abstract: The research on thermoelectric has been a blooming field of research for the latest decade, owing to large amount of heat source available to be harvested, being eco-friendly and static in operation. This paper provides the performance of thermoelectric generator (TEG) with bulk material of bismuth telluride, Bi2Te3. Later, the performance of the TEGs is evaluated by considering attaching the TEGs on a plastic (polyethylene sheet) in contrast to the common method of attaching the TEGs on the metal surface.
Abstract: The aim of the study is to describe and analyze design
of mobile teaching for students collaborative learning in distance
higher education with a focus on mobile technologies as online
webinars (web-based seminars or conferencing) by using laptops,
smart phones, or tablets. These multimedia tools can provide face-toface
interactions, recorded flipped classroom videos and parallel chat
communications. The data collection consists of interviews with 22
students and observations of online face-to-face webinars, as well
two surveys. Theoretically, the study joins the research tradition of
Computer Supported Collaborative learning, CSCL, as well as
Computer Self-Efficacy, CSE concerned with individuals’ media and
information literacy. Important conclusions from the study
demonstrated mobile interactions increased student centered
learning. As the students were appreciating the working methods,
they became more engaged and motivated. The mobile technology
using among student also contributes to increased flexibility between
space and place, as well as media and information literacy.
Abstract: Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN) is the relay center
in the visual pathway as it receives most of the input information
from retinal ganglion cells (RGC) and sends to visual cortex. Low
threshold calcium currents (IT) at the membrane are the unique
indicator to characterize this firing functionality of the LGN neurons
gained by the RGC input. According to the LGN functional
requirements such as functional mapping of RGC to LGN, the
morphologies of the LGN neurons were developed. During the
neurological disorders like glaucoma, the mapping between RGC and
LGN is disconnected and hence stimulating LGN electrically using
deep brain electrodes can restore the functionalities of LGN. A
computational model was developed for simulating the LGN neurons
with three predominant morphologies each representing different
functional mapping of RGC to LGN. The firings of action potentials
at LGN neuron due to IT were characterized by varying the
stimulation parameters, morphological parameters and orientation. A
wide range of stimulation parameters (stimulus amplitude, duration
and frequency) represents the various strengths of the electrical
stimulation with different morphological parameters (soma size,
dendrites size and structure). The orientation (0-1800) of LGN
neuron with respect to the stimulating electrode represents the angle
at which the extracellular deep brain stimulation towards LGN
neuron is performed. A reduced dendrite structure was used in the
model using Bush–Sejnowski algorithm to decrease the
computational time while conserving its input resistance and total
surface area. The major finding is that an input potential of 0.4 V is
required to produce the action potential in the LGN neuron which is
placed at 100 μm distance from the electrode. From this study, it can
be concluded that the neuroprostheses under design would need to
consider the capability of inducing at least 0.4V to produce action
potentials in LGN.
Abstract: Cooperative groups through much research have been
recognized to churn remarkable achievements instead of solitary or
individualistic efforts. Based on Johnson and Johnson’s model of
cooperative learning, the five key components of cooperation are
positive interdependence, face-to-face promotive interaction,
individual accountability, social skills, and group processing. In
2011, the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE)
introduced the Holistic Student Development policy with the aim to
develop morally sound individuals equipped with lifelong learning
skills. The Community Service project was included in the
improvement initiative. The purpose of this study is to assess the
relationship of team-based learning in facilitating particularly
students’ positive interdependence and face-to-face promotive
interaction. The research methods involve in-depth interviews with
the team leaders and selected team members, and a content analysis
of the undergraduate students’ reflective journals. A significant
positive relationship was found between students’ progressive
outlook towards teamwork and the highlighted two components. The
key findings show that students have gained in their individual
learning and work results through teamwork and interaction with
other students. The inclusion of Community Service as a MOHE
subject resonates with cooperative learning methods that enhances
supportive relationships and develops students’ social skills together
with their professional skills.
Abstract: Recovering resources from water purification sludge
(WPS) have been gradually stipulated in environmental protection
laws and regulations in many nations. Hence, reusing the WPS is
becoming an important topic, and recovering alum from WPS is one of
the many practical alternatives. Most previous research efforts have
been conducted on studying the amphoteric characteristic of aluminum
hydroxide for investigating the optimum pH range to dissolve the
Al(III) species from WPS, but it has been lack of reaction kinetics or
mechanisms related discussion. Therefore, in this investigation, water
purification sludge (WPS) solution was broken by ultrasound to make
particle size of reactants smaller, specific surface area larger.
According to the reaction kinetics, these phenomena let the dissolved
aluminum salt quantity increased and the reaction rate go faster.
Abstract: Chatter vibrations, occurring during cutting process,
cause vibration between the cutting tool and workpiece, which
deteriorates surface roughness and reduces tool life. The purpose of
this study is to investigate the influence of cutting parameters and
tool construction on surface roughness and vibration in turning of
aluminum alloy AA2024. A new design of cutting tool is proposed,
which is filled up with epoxy granite in order to improve damping
capacity of the tool. Experiments were performed at the lathe using
carbide cutting insert coated with TiC and two different cutting tools
made of AISI 5140 steel. Taguchi L9 orthogonal array was applied to
design of experiment and to optimize cutting conditions. By the help
of signal-to-noise ratio and analysis of variance the optimal cutting
condition and the effect of the cutting parameters on surface
roughness and vibration were determined. Effectiveness of Taguchi
method was verified by confirmation test. It was revealed that new
cutting tool with epoxy granite has reduced vibration and surface
roughness due to high damping properties of epoxy granite in
toolholder.