Abstract: Reasonably priced and well-constructed housing must
be an integral and element supporting a healthy society. The absence
of housing everyone in society can afford negatively affects the
people's health, education, ability to get jobs, develop their
community. Without access to decent housing, economic
development, integration of immigrants and inclusiveness, the society
is negatively impacted. Canada has a sterling record in creating
housing compared to many other nations around the globe. Canadian
housing gets support from a mature and responsive mortgage network
and a top-quality construction industry as well as safe and excellent
quality building materials that are readily available. Yet 1.7 million
Canadian households occupy substandard abodes. During the past
hundred years, Canada's government has made a wide variety of
attempts to provide decent residential facilities every Canadian can
afford. Despite these laudable efforts, today Canada is left with
housing that is inadequate for many Canadians. People who own their
housing are given all kinds of privileges and perks, while people with
relatively low incomes who rent their apartments or houses are
discriminated against.
To help solve these problems, zoning that is based on an
"inclusionary" philosophy is tool developed to help provide people
the affordable residences that they need. No, thirty years after its
introduction, this type of zoning has been shown effective in helping
build and provide Canadians with a houses or apartments they can
afford to pay for. Using this form of zoning can have different results
+depending on where and how it is used. After examining Canadian
affordable housing and four American cases where this type of
zoning was enforced in the USA, this makes various
recommendations for expanding Canadians' access to housing they
can afford.
Abstract: Transition theory has been used to derive the elasticplastic
and transitional stresses. Results obtained have been discussed
numerically and depicted graphically. It is observed that the rotating
disk made of incompressible material with inclusion require higher
angular speed to yield at the internal surface as compared to disk
made of compressible material. It is seen that the radial and
circumferential stresses are maximum at the internal surface with and
without edge load (for flat disk). With the increase in thickness
parameter (k = 2, 4), the circumferential stress is maximum at the
external surface while the radial stress is maximum at the internal
surface. From the figures drawn the disk with exponentially varying
thickness (k = 2), high angular speed is required for initial yielding at
internal surface as compared to flat disk and exponentially varying
thickness for k = 4 onwards. It is concluded that the disk made of
isotropic compressible material is on the safer side of the design as
compared to disk made of isotropic incompressible material as it
requires higher percentage increase in an angular speed to become
fully plastic from its initial yielding.
Abstract: This paper presents an evaluation of the wind potential in the area of the Lagoon of Venice (Italy). A full anemometric campaign of 2 year measurements, performed by the "Osservatorio Bioclimatologico dell'Ospedale al Mare di Venezia" has been analyzed to obtain the Weibull wind speed distribution and the main wind directions. The annual energy outputs of two candidate horizontal-axis wind turbines (“Aventa AV-7 LoWind" and “Gaia Wind 133-11kW") have been estimated on the basis of the computed Weibull wind distribution, registering a better performance of the former turbine, due to a higher ratio between rotor swept area and rated power of the electric generator, determining a lower cut-in wind speed.
Abstract: People from different cultures favor web pages
characterized by the values of their culture and, therefore, tend to
prefer different characteristics of a website according to their cultural
values in terms of navigation, security, product information, customer
service, shopping and design tools. For a company aiming to
globalize its market it is useful to implement country specific cultural
interfaces and different web sites for countries with different cultures.
This paper, following the conclusions proposed by two models of
Hall and Hofstede, and the studies of Marcus and Gould, defines,
through an empirical analysis, the guidelines of web design for both
the Scandinavian countries and Malaysia.
Abstract: This paper describes an automated event detection and location system for water distribution pipelines which is based upon low-cost sensor technology and signature analysis by an Artificial
Neural Network (ANN). The development of a low cost failure sensor which measures the opacity or cloudiness of the local water
flow has been designed, developed and validated, and an ANN based system is then described which uses time series data produced by
sensors to construct an empirical model for time series prediction and
classification of events. These two components have been installed,
tested and verified in an experimental site in a UK water distribution
system. Verification of the system has been achieved from a series of
simulated burst trials which have provided real data sets. It is concluded that the system has potential in water distribution network
management.
Abstract: In this paper we use quintic non-polynomial
spline functions to develop numerical methods for approximation
to the solution of a system of fourth-order boundaryvalue
problems associated with obstacle, unilateral and contact
problems. The convergence analysis of the methods has been
discussed and shown that the given approximations are better
than collocation and finite difference methods. Numerical
examples are presented to illustrate the applications of these
methods, and to compare the computed results with other
known methods.
Abstract: The Learning Management Systems present learning
environment which offers a collection of e-learning tools in a
package that allows a common interface and information sharing
among the tools. South East European University initial experience
in LMS was with the usage of the commercial LMS-ANGEL. After a
three year experience on ANGEL usage because of expenses that
were very high it was decided to develop our own software. As part
of the research project team for the in-house design and development
of the new LMS, we primarily had to select the features that would
cover our needs and also comply with the actual trends in the area of
software development, and then design and develop the system. In
this paper we present the process of LMS in-house development for
South East European University, its architecture, conception and
strengths with a special accent on the process of migration and
integration with other enterprise applications.
Abstract: Data compression is used operationally to reduce bandwidth and storage requirements. An efficient method for achieving lossless weather radar data compression is presented. The characteristics of the data are taken into account and the optical linear prediction is used for the PPI images in the weather radar data in the proposed method. The next PPI image is identical to the current one and a dramatic reduction in source entropy is achieved by using the prediction algorithm. Some lossless compression methods are used to compress the predicted data. Experimental results show that for the weather radar data, the method proposed in this paper outperforms the other methods.
Abstract: The present study has been taken to explore the
screening of in vitro antimicrobial activities of D-galactose-binding
sponge lectin (HOL-30). HOL-30 was purified from the marine
demosponge Halichondria okadai by affinity chromatography. The
molecular mass of the lectin was determined to be 30 kDa with a
single polypeptide by SDS-PAGE under non-reducing and reducing
conditions. HOL-30 agglutinated trypsinized and glutaraldehydefixed
rabbit and human erythrocytes with preference for type O
erythrocytes. The lectin was subjected to evaluation for inhibition of
microbial growth by the disc diffusion method against eleven human
pathogenic gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. The lectin
exhibited strong antibacterial activity against gram-positive bacteria,
such as Bacillus megaterium and Bacillus subtilis. However, it did
not affect against gram-negative bacteria such as Salmonella typhi
and Escherichia coli. The largest zone of inhibition was recorded of
Bacillus megaterium (12 in diameter) and Bacillus subtilis (10 mm in
diameter) at a concentration of the lectin (250 μg/disc). On the other
hand, the antifungal activity of the lectin was investigated against six
phytopathogenic fungi based on food poisoning technique. The lectin
has shown maximum inhibition (22.83%) of mycelial growth of
Botrydiplodia theobromae at a concentration of 100 μg/mL media.
These findings indicate that the lectin may be of importance to
clinical microbiology and have therapeutic applications.
Abstract: The aim of this work is to study the possible use of
stone cutting sludge waste in concrete production, which would
reduce both the environmental impact and the production cost .Slurry
sludge was used a source of water in concrete production, which was
obtained from Samara factory/Jordan, The physico-chemical and
mineralogical characterization of the sludge was carried out to
identify the major components and to compare it with the typical
sand used to produce concrete. Samples analysis showed that 96% of
slurry sludge volume is water, so it should be considered as an
important source of water. Results indicated that the use of slurry
sludge as water source in concrete production has insignificant effect
on compression strength, while it has a sharp effect on the slump
values. Using slurry sludge with a percentage of 25% of the total
water content obtained successful concrete samples regarding slump
and compression tests. To clarify slurry sludge, settling process can
be used to remove the suspended solid. A settling period of 30 min.
obtained 99% removal efficiency. The clarified water is suitable for
using in concrete mixes, which reduce water consumption, conserve
water recourses, increase the profit, reduce operation cost and save
the environment. Additionally, the dry sludge could be used in the
mix design instead of the fine materials with sizes < 160 um. This
application could conserve the natural materials and solve the
environmental and economical problem caused by sludge
accumulation.
Abstract: REY area has been located in Tehran Province and several archaeological ruins of this area indicate that the settlement in this area has been started since several thousand years ago. In this paper, the main investigation items consist of analysis of oil components and groundwater quality inside the wells. By finding the contents of oil in the well, it is possible to find out the pollution source by comparing the oil contents of well with other oil products that are used inside and outside of the oil farm. Investigation items consist of analysis of BTEX (Benzene, Toluene, Ethyl-benzene, Xylene), Gas chromatographic distillation characteristics, Water content, Density, Sulfur content, Lead content, Atmospheric distillation, MTBE(Methyl tertiary butyl ether). Analysis of polluting oil components showed that except MW(Monitoring Well)10 and MW 15 that oil with slightly heavy components was detected in them; with a high possibility the polluting oil is light oil.
Abstract: Evaluation of contact pressure, surface and
subsurface contact stresses are essential to know the functional
response of surface coatings and the contact behavior mainly depends
on surface roughness, material property, thickness of layer and the
manner of loading. Contact parameter evaluation of real rough
surface contacts mostly relies on statistical single asperity contact
approaches. In this work, a three dimensional layered solid rough
surface in contact with a rigid flat is modeled and analyzed using
finite element method. The rough surface of layered solid is
generated by FFT approach. The generated rough surface is exported
to a finite element method based ANSYS package through which the
bottom up solid modeling is employed to create a deformable solid
model with a layered solid rough surface on top. The discretization
and contact analysis are carried by using the same ANSYS package.
The elastic, elastoplastic and plastic deformations are continuous in
the present finite element method unlike many other contact models.
The Young-s modulus to yield strength ratio of layer is varied in the
present work to observe the contact parameters effect while keeping
the surface roughness and substrate material properties as constant.
The contacting asperities attain elastic, elastoplastic and plastic states
with their continuity and asperity interaction phenomena is inherently
included. The resultant contact parameters show that neighboring
asperity interaction and the Young-s modulus to yield strength ratio
of layer influence the bulk deformation consequently affect the
interface strength.
Abstract: A two-dimensional numerical simulation of the contribution
of both inertial and aerodynamic forces on the blade loads of
a Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) is presented. After describing
the computational model and the relative validation procedure, a
complete campaign of simulations - based on full RANS unsteady
calculations - is proposed for a three-bladed rotor architecture characterized
by a NACA 0021 airfoil. For each analyzed angular velocity,
the combined effect of pressure and viscous forces acting on every
rotor blade are compared to the corresponding centrifugal forces,
due to the revolution of the turbine, thus achieving a preliminary
estimation of the correlation between overall rotor efficiency and
structural blade loads.
Abstract: Streaming Applications usually run in parallel or in
series that incrementally transform a stream of input data. It poses a
design challenge to break such an application into distinguishable
blocks and then to map them into independent hardware processing
elements. For this, there is required a generic controller that
automatically maps such a stream of data into independent processing
elements without any dependencies and manual considerations. In
this paper, Kahn Process Networks (KPN) for such streaming
applications is designed and developed that will be mapped on
MPSoC. This is designed in such a way that there is a generic Cbased
compiler that will take the mapping specifications as an input
from the user and then it will automate these design constraints and
automatically generate the synthesized RTL optimized code for
specified application.
Abstract: This article describes the aspects of the formation of
the national idea and national identity through the prism of gender
control and its contradistinction to the obsolete, Soviet component.
The role of females in ethnic and national projects is considered from
the point of view of Dr. Nira Yuval-Davis: as biological reproducers
of the ethnic communities- members; as reproducers of the boarders
of ethnic/national groups; as central participants in the ideological
reproduction of community and transducers of its culture; as symbols
in ideology, reproduction and transformation of ethnic/national
categories; and as participants of national, economical, political and
military combats. The society of the transitional type uses the
symbolic resources of the formation of gender component in the
national project. The gender patterns act like cultural codes,
executing the important ideological function in formation of the
national female- image, i.e. the discussion on hijab - it-s not just the
discussion on control over the female body, it-s the discussion on the
metaphor of social order.
Abstract: Air conditioning is mainly use as human comfort
cooling medium. It use more in high temperatures are country such as
Malaysia. Proper estimation of cooling load will archive ideal
temperature. Without proper estimation can lead to over estimation or
under estimation. The ideal temperature should be comfort enough.
This study is to develop a program to calculate an ideal cooling load
demand, which is match with heat gain. Through this study, it is easy
to calculate cooling load estimation. Objective of this study are to
develop user-friendly and easy excess cooling load program. This is
to insure the cooling load can be estimate by any of the individual
rather than them using rule-of-thumb. Developed software is carryout
by using Matlab-GUI. These developments are only valid for
common building in Malaysia only. An office building was select as
case study to verify the applicable and accuracy of develop software.
In conclusion, the main objective has successfully where developed
software is user friendly and easily to estimate cooling load demand.
Abstract: This paper presents the optimal design and development
of an axial flux motor for blood pump application. With the design
objective of maximizing the motor efficiency and torque, different
topologies of AFPM machine has been examined. Selection of
optimal magnet fraction, Halbach arrangement of rotor magnets and
the use of Soft Magnetic Composite (SMC) material for the stator
core results in a novel motor with improved efficiency and torque
profile. The results of the 3D Finite element analysis for the novel
motor have been shown.
Abstract: Market based models are frequently used in the resource
allocation on the computational grid. However, as the size of
the grid grows, it becomes difficult for the customer to negotiate
directly with all the providers. Middle agents are introduced to
mediate between the providers and customers and facilitate the
resource allocation process. The most frequently deployed middle
agents are the matchmakers and the brokers. The matchmaking agent
finds possible candidate providers who can satisfy the requirements
of the consumers, after which the customer directly negotiates with
the candidates. The broker agents are mediating the negotiation with
the providers in real time.
In this paper we present a new type of middle agent, the marketmaker.
Its operation is based on two parallel operations - through
the investment process the marketmaker is acquiring resources and
resource reservations in large quantities, while through the resale process
it sells them to the customers. The operation of the marketmaker
is based on the fact that through its global view of the grid it can
perform a more efficient resource allocation than the one possible in
one-to-one negotiations between the customers and providers.
We present the operation and algorithms governing the operation
of the marketmaker agent, contrasting it with the matchmaker and
broker agents. Through a series of simulations in the task oriented
domain we compare the operation of the three agents types. We find
that the use of marketmaker agent leads to a better performance in the
allocation of large tasks and a significant reduction of the messaging
overhead.
Abstract: Attachment of the circulating monocytes to the
endothelium is the earliest detectable events during formation of
atherosclerosis. The adhesion molecules, chemokines and matrix
proteases genes were identified to be expressed in atherogenesis.
Expressions of these genes may influence structural integrity of the
luminal endothelium. The aim of this study is to relate changes in the
ultrastructural morphology of the aortic luminal surface and gene
expressions of the endothelial surface, chemokine and MMP-12 in
normal and hypercholesterolemic rabbits. Luminal endothelial
surface from rabbit aortic tissue was examined by scanning electron
microscopy (SEM) using low vacuum mode to ascertain
ultrastructural changes in development of atherosclerotic lesion. Gene
expression of adhesion molecules, MCP-1 and MMP-12 were studied
by Real-time PCR. Ultrastructural observations of the aortic luminal
surface exhibited changes from normal regular smooth intact
endothelium to irregular luminal surface including marked globular
appearance and ruptures of the membrane layer. Real-time PCR
demonstrated differentially expressed of studied genes in
atherosclerotic tissues. The appearance of ultrastructural changes in
aortic tissue of hypercholesterolemic rabbits is suggested to have
relation with underlying changes of endothelial surface molecules,
chemokine and MMP-12 gene expressions.
Abstract: In-vitro mouse co-culture of E14 embryonic stem cells
(ESCs) and OP9 stromal cells can recapitulate the earliest stages of
haematopoietic development, not accessible in human embryos,
supporting both haemogenic precursors and their primitive
haematopoietic progeny. 1α, 25-Dihydroxy-vitamin D3 (VD3) has
been demonstrated to be a powerful differentiation inducer for a wide
variety of neoplastic cells, and could enhance early differentiation of
ESCs into blood cells in E14/OP9 co-culture. This study aims to
ascertain whether VD3 is key in promoting differentiation and
suppressing proliferation, by separately investigating the effects of
VD3 on the proliferation phase of the E14 cell line and on stromal
OP9 cells.The results showed that VD3 inhibited the proliferation of
the cells in a dose-dependent manner, quantitatively by decreased cell
number, and qualitatively by alkaline-phosphatase staining that
revealed significant differences between VD3-treated and untreated
cells, characterised by decreased enzyme expression (colourless
cells). Propidium-iodide cell-cycle analyses showed no significant
percentage change in VD3-treated E14 and OP9 cells within their G
and S-phases, compared to the untreated controls, despite the
increased percentage of G-phase compared to the S-phase in a dosedependent
manner. These results with E14 and OP9 cells indicate that
adequate VD3 concentration enhances cellular differentiation and
inhibits proliferation. The results also suggest that if E14 and OP9
cells were co-cultured andVD3-treated, there would be furtherenhanced
differentiation of ESCs into blood cells.