Abstract: Nanotechnology in pristine sense refers to building of
structures at atomic and molecular scale. Meticulously
nanotechnology encompasses the nanomaterials with at least one
dimension size ranging from 1 to 100 nanometres. Unlike the literal
meaning of its name, nanotechnology is a massive concept beyond
imagination. This paper predominantly deals with relevance of
nanotechnology in automotive industries. New generation of
automotives looks at nanotechnology as an emerging trend of
manufacturing revolution. Intricate shapes can be made out of fairly
inexpensive raw materials instead of conventional fabrication
process. Though the current era have enough technology to face
competition, nanotechnology can give futuristic implications to pick
up the modern pace. Nanotechnology intends to bridge the gap
between automotives with superior technical performance and their
cost fluctuation. Preliminarily, it is an area of great scientific interest
and a major shaper of many new technologies. Nanotechnology can
be an ideal building block for automotive industries, under constant
evolution offering a very wide scope of activity. It possesses huge
potential and is still in the embryonic form of research and
development.
Abstract: Energy has a prominent role for development of
nations. Countries which have energy resources also have strategic
power in the international trade of energy since it is essential for all
stages of production in the economy. Thus, it is important for
countries to analyze the weaknesses and strength of the system. On
the other side, international trade is one of the fields that are analyzed
as a complex network via network analysis. Complex network is one
of the tools to analyze complex systems with heterogeneous agents
and interaction between them. A complex network consists of nodes
and the interactions between these nodes. Total properties which
emerge as a result of these interactions are distinct from the sum of
small parts (more or less) in complex systems. Thus, standard
approaches to international trade are superficial to analyze these
systems. Network analysis provides a new approach to analyze
international trade as a network. In this network, countries constitute
nodes and trade relations (export or import) constitute edges. It
becomes possible to analyze international trade network in terms of
high degree indicators which are specific to complex networks such
as connectivity, clustering, assortativity/disassortativity, centrality,
etc. In this analysis, international trade of crude oil and coal which
are types of fossil fuel has been analyzed from 2005 to 2014 via
network analysis. First, it has been analyzed in terms of some
topological parameters such as density, transitivity, clustering etc.
Afterwards, fitness to Pareto distribution has been analyzed via
Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Finally, weighted HITS algorithm has
been applied to the data as a centrality measure to determine the real
prominence of countries in these trade networks. Weighted HITS
algorithm is a strong tool to analyze the network by ranking countries
with regards to prominence of their trade partners. We have
calculated both an export centrality and an import centrality by
applying w-HITS algorithm to the data. As a result, impacts of the
trading countries have been presented in terms of high-degree
indicators.
Abstract: The introduction of a multitude of new and interactive
e-commerce information technology (IT) artifacts has impacted
adoption research. Rather than solely functioning as productivity
tools, new IT artifacts assume the roles of interaction mediators and
social actors. This paper describes the varying roles assumed by IT
artifacts, and proposes and distinguishes between four distinct foci of
how the artifacts are evaluated. It further proposes a theoretical
model that maps the different views of IT artifacts to four distinct
types of evaluations.
Abstract: The early-stage damage detection in offshore
structures requires continuous structural health monitoring and for the
large area the position of sensors will also plays an important role in
the efficient damage detection. Determining the dynamic behavior of
offshore structures requires dense deployment of sensors. The wired
Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems are highly expensive
and always needs larger installation space to deploy. Wireless sensor
networks can enhance the SHM system by deployment of scalable
sensor network, which consumes lesser space. This paper presents the
results of wireless sensor network based Structural Health Monitoring
method applied to a scaled experimental model of offshore structure
that underwent wave loading. This method determines the
serviceability of the offshore structure which is subjected to various
environment loads. Wired and wireless sensors were installed in the
model and the response of the scaled BLSRP model under wave
loading was recorded. The wireless system discussed in this study is
the Raspberry pi board with Arm V6 processor which is programmed
to transmit the data acquired by the sensor to the server using Wi-Fi
adapter, the data is then hosted in the webpage. The data acquired
from the wireless and wired SHM systems were compared and the
design of the wireless system is verified.
Abstract: The research aims to investigate the occurrence of
multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter, in carrot and estimate the role of
carrot in its transmission in a rapidly growing urban population.
Thus, 50 carrot samples were collected from Jakara wastewater
irrigation farms and are analyzed on MacConkey agar and screened
by Microbact 24E (Oxoid) and susceptibility of isolates is tested
against 10 commonly used antibiotics. Acinetobacter baumannii and
A. lwoffii were isolated in 22.00% and 16% of samples respectively.
Resistance to ceporex and penicillin of 36.36% and 27.27% in A.
baumannii, and sensitivity to ofloxacin, pefloxacin, gentimycin and
co-trimoxazole were observed. However, for A. lwoffii apart from
37.50% resistance to ceporex, it was also resistant to all other drugs
tested. There were similarities in the resistances shown by A.
baumannii and A. lwoffii to fluoroquinolones and β- lactame drug
families in addition to between sulfonamide and animoglycoside
demonstrated by A. lwoffii. Significant correlation in similarities were
observed at P < 0.05 to CPX to NA (46.2%), and SXT to AU (52.6%)
A. baumannii and A. lwoffii respectively and high multi drug
resistance (MDR) of 27.27% and 62.50% by A. baumannii and A.
lwoffii respectively. The occurrence of multidrug-resistance pathogen
in carrot is a serious challenge to public health care, especially in a
rapidly growing urban population where subsistence agriculture
contributes greatly to urban livelihood and source of vegetables.
Abstract: In this research, we propose to conduct diagnostic and
predictive analysis about the key factors and consequences of urban
population relocation. To achieve this goal, urban simulation models
extract the urban development trends as land use change patterns from
a variety of data sources. The results are treated as part of urban big
data with other information such as population change and economic
conditions. Multiple data mining methods are deployed on this data to
analyze nonlinear relationships between parameters. The result
determines the driving force of population relocation with respect to
urban sprawl and urban sustainability and their related parameters.
This work sets the stage for developing a comprehensive urban
simulation model for catering to specific questions by targeted users. It
contributes towards achieving sustainability as a whole.
Abstract: Dietary cholesterol has elicited the most public
interest as it relates with coronary heart disease. Thus, humans have
been paying more attention to health, thereby reducing consumption
of cholesterol enriched food. Egg is considered as one of the major
sources of human dietary cholesterol. However, an alternative way to
reduce the potential cholesterolemic effect of eggs is to modify the
fatty acid composition of the yolk. The effect of palm oil (PO),
soybean oil (SO), sesame seed oil (SSO) and fish oil (FO)
supplementation in the diets of layers on egg yolk fatty acid,
cholesterol, egg production and egg quality parameters were
evaluated in a 42-day feeding trial. One hundred and five Isa Brown
laying hens of 34 weeks of age were randomly distributed into seven
groups of five replicates and three birds per replicate in a completely
randomized design. Seven corn-soybean basal diets (BD) were
formulated: BD+No oil (T1), BD+1.5% PO (T2), BD+1.5% SO (T3),
BD+1.5% SSO (T4), BD+1.5% FO (T5), BD+0.75% SO+0.75% FO
(T6) and BD+0.75% SSO+0.75% FO (T7). Five eggs were randomly
sampled at day 42 from each replicate to assay for the cholesterol,
fatty acid profile of egg yolk and egg quality assessment. Results
showed that there were no significant (P>0.05) differences observed
in production performance, egg cholesterol and egg quality
parameters except for yolk height, albumen height, yolk index, egg
shape index, haugh unit, and yolk colour. There were no significant
differences (P>0.05) observed in total cholesterol, high density
lipoprotein and low density lipoprotein levels of egg yolk across the
treatments. However, diets had effect (P
Abstract: Holistic methods covering the development process as
a whole – e.g. systems engineering – have established themselves in
product design. However, technical product optimization,
representing improvements in efficiency and/or minimization of loss,
usually applies to single components of a system. A holistic approach
is being defined based on a hierarchical point of view of systems
engineering. This is subsequently presented using the example of an
electromechanical flywheel energy storage system for automotive
applications.
Abstract: With the advancement of knowledge about the utility
and impact of sustainability, its feasibility has been explored into
different walks of life. Scientists, however; have established their
knowledge in four areas viz environmental, economic, social and
cultural, popularly termed as four pillars of sustainability. Aspects of
environmental and economic sustainability have been rigorously
researched and practiced and huge volume of strong evidence of
effectiveness has been founded for these two sub-areas. For the social
and cultural aspects of sustainability, dependable evidence of
effectiveness is still to be instituted as the researchers and
practitioners are developing and experimenting methods across the
globe. Therefore, the present research aimed to identify globally used
practices of social and cultural sustainability and through evidence
synthesis assess their outcomes to determine the effectiveness of
those practices. A PICO format steered the methodology which
included all populations, popular sustainability practices including
walkability/cycle tracks, social/recreational spaces, privacy, health &
human services and barrier free built environment, comparators
included ‘Before’ and ‘After’, ‘With’ and ‘Without’, ‘More’ and
‘Less’ and outcomes included Social well-being, cultural coexistence,
quality of life, ethics and morality, social capital, sense of
place, education, health, recreation and leisure, and holistic
development. Search of literature included major electronic
databases, search websites, organizational resources, directory of
open access journals and subscribed journals. Grey literature,
however, was not included. Inclusion criteria filtered studies on the
basis of research designs such as total randomization, quasirandomization,
cluster randomization, observational or single studies
and certain types of analysis. Studies with combined outcomes were
considered but studies focusing only on environmental and/or
economic outcomes were rejected. Data extraction, critical appraisal
and evidence synthesis was carried out using customized tabulation,
reference manager and CASP tool. Partial meta-analysis was carried
out and calculation of pooled effects and forest plotting were done.
As many as 13 studies finally included for final synthesis explained
the impact of targeted practices on health, behavioural and social
dimensions. Objectivity in the measurement of health outcomes
facilitated quantitative synthesis of studies which highlighted the
impact of sustainability methods on physical activity, Body Mass
Index, perinatal outcomes and child health. Studies synthesized
qualitatively (and also quantitatively) showed outcomes such as
routines, family relations, citizenship, trust in relationships, social
inclusion, neighbourhood social capital, wellbeing, habitability and
family’s social processes. The synthesized evidence indicates slight
effectiveness and efficacy of social and cultural sustainability on the
targeted outcomes. Further synthesis revealed that such results of this
study are due weak research designs and disintegrated implementations. If architects and other practitioners deliver their
interventions in collaboration with research bodies and policy
makers, a stronger evidence-base in this area could be generated.
Abstract: Segmentation of left ventricle (LV) from cardiac
ultrasound images provides a quantitative functional analysis of the
heart to diagnose disease. Active Shape Model (ASM) is widely used
for LV segmentation, but it suffers from the drawback that
initialization of the shape model is not sufficiently close to the target,
especially when dealing with abnormal shapes in disease. In this work,
a two-step framework is improved to achieve a fast and efficient LV
segmentation. First, a robust and efficient detection based on Hough
forest localizes cardiac feature points. Such feature points are used to
predict the initial fitting of the LV shape model. Second, ASM is
applied to further fit the LV shape model to the cardiac ultrasound
image. With the robust initialization, ASM is able to achieve more
accurate segmentation. The performance of the proposed method is
evaluated on a dataset of 810 cardiac ultrasound images that are mostly
abnormal shapes. This proposed method is compared with several
combinations of ASM and existing initialization methods. Our
experiment results demonstrate that accuracy of the proposed method
for feature point detection for initialization was 40% higher than the
existing methods. Moreover, the proposed method significantly
reduces the number of necessary ASM fitting loops and thus speeds up
the whole segmentation process. Therefore, the proposed method is
able to achieve more accurate and efficient segmentation results and is
applicable to unusual shapes of heart with cardiac diseases, such as left
atrial enlargement.
Abstract: This research work is an experimental study, through
development of an adhesive from Prosopis africana endosperm. The
prosopis seed for this work were obtained from Enugu State in the
South East part of Nigeria. The seeds were prepared by separating the
endosperm from the seed coat and cotyledon. Three methods were
used to separate them, which are acidic method, roasting method and
boiling method. 20g of seed were treated with different
concentrations (25, 40, 55, 70, and 85% w/w) at 100°C and constant
time (30 minutes), under continuous stirring with magnetic stirrer.
Also 20g of seed were treated with sulphuric acid of concentrations
40% w/w at 100°C with different time (10, 15, 20, 25, 30 minutes),
under continuous stirring with magnetic stirrer. Finally, 20g of seed
were treated with sulphuric acid of concentrations 40% w/w at
different temperature (20°C, 40°C, 60°C, 80°C, and 100°C) with
constant time (30 minutes), under continuous stirring with magnetic
stirrer. The whole endosperm extracted was adhesive. The physical
properties of the adhesive were determined (appearance, odour, taste,
solubility, pH, size, and binding strength). The percentage of the
adhesive yield makes the commercialization of the seed in Nigeria
possible and profitable. The very high viscosity attained at low
concentrations makes prosopis adhesive an excellent thickener in the
food industry.
Abstract: The aim of this study is to examine, through
experimentation in the laboratory, the supercritical flow in the
presence of an obstacle in a rectangular channel. The supercritical
regime in the whole hydraulic channel is achieved by adding a
convergent. We will observe the influence of the obstacle shape and
dimension on the characteristics of the supercritical flow, mainly the
free-surface elevation and the velocity profile. The velocity
measurements have been conducted with the one dimension laser
anemometry technique.
Abstract: The objective of this study was to examine the
relationship between transformational leadership and innovative work
behavior and to evaluate the mediating role of leader-member
exchange relationships (LMX) on the assumed relationship. This
study has focused on the suggestion that LMX might emerge through
transformational leadership behaviors and thus could mediate the
relationship between transformational leadership and innovative
behavior. A cross-sectional survey research has been conducted on
the relationship these leadership approaches and their impact on
organizational HRM-outcomes have been conducted on two
organizations operating in the technical sector in Istanbul-Turkey.
The results of the research have supported the hypotheses.
Transformational leadership was positively related to the innovative
behaviors and LMX emerged to mediate that relationship.
Abstract: Background modeling and subtraction in video
analysis has been widely used as an effective method for moving
objects detection in many computer vision applications. Recently, a
large number of approaches have been developed to tackle different
types of challenges in this field. However, the dynamic background
and illumination variations are the most frequently occurred problems
in the practical situation. This paper presents a favorable two-layer
model based on codebook algorithm incorporated with local binary
pattern (LBP) texture measure, targeted for handling dynamic
background and illumination variation problems. More specifically,
the first layer is designed by block-based codebook combining with
LBP histogram and mean value of each RGB color channel. Because
of the invariance of the LBP features with respect to monotonic
gray-scale changes, this layer can produce block wise detection results
with considerable tolerance of illumination variations. The pixel-based
codebook is employed to reinforce the precision from the output of the
first layer which is to eliminate false positives further. As a result, the
proposed approach can greatly promote the accuracy under the
circumstances of dynamic background and illumination changes.
Experimental results on several popular background subtraction
datasets demonstrate very competitive performance compared to
previous models.
Abstract: Issues relating to the destructive phenomena that can
damage people and goods have returned to the centre of debate in
Italy with the increase in catastrophic episodes in recent years in a
country which is highly vulnerable to hydrological risk.
Environmental factors and geological and geomorphological
territorial characteristics play an important role in determining the
level of vulnerability and the natural tendency to risk. However, a
territory has also been subjected to the requirements of and
transformations of society and this brings other relevant factors. The
reasons for the increase in destructive phenomena are often to be
found in the territorial development models adopted. Stewardship of
the landscape and management of risk are related issues. This study aims to summarize the most relevant elements about
this connection and at the same time to clarify the role of
environmental risk assessment as a tool to aid in the sustainable
management of landscape. Finally, the study reflects on how regional
and urban planners deal with environmental risk and which aspects
should be monitored in order to adopt responsible and useful
interventions.
Abstract: Companies face increasing challenges in research due
to higher costs and risks. The intensifying technology complexity and
interdisciplinarity require unique know-how. Therefore, companies
need to decide whether research shall be conducted internally or
externally with partners. On the other hand, research institutes meet
increasing efforts to achieve good financing and to maintain high
research reputation. Therefore, relevant research topics need to be
identified and specialization of competency is necessary. However,
additional competences for solving interdisciplinary research projects
are also often required. Secured financing can be achieved by
bonding industry partners as well as public fundings. The realization
of faster and better research drives companies and research institutes
to cooperate in organized research networks, which are managed by
an administrative organization. For an effective and efficient
cooperation, necessary processes, roles, tools and a set of rules need
to be determined. Goal of this paper is to show the state-of-art
research and to propose a governance framework for organized
research networks.
Abstract: This first-attempt study revealed that decolorized
intermediates of azo dyes could act as redox mediators to assist
wastewater (WW) decolorization due to enhancement of
electron-transport phenomena. Electrochemical impedance spectra
indicated that hydroxyl and amino-substituent(s) were functional
group(s) as redox-mediator(s). As azo dyes are usually multiple
benzene-rings structured, their derived decolorized intermediates are
likely to play roles of electron shuttles due to lower barrier of energy
gap for electron shuttling. According to cyclic voltammetric profiles,
redox mediating characteristics of decolorized intermediates of azo
dyes (e.g., RBu171, RR198, RR141, RBk5) were clearly disclosed.
With supplementation of biodecolorized metabolites of RR141 and
198, decolorization performance of could be evidently augmented.
This study also suggested the optimal modes of microbial fuel cell
(MFC)-assisted WW decolorization would be plug-flow or batch
mode of operation with no mix. Single chamber-MFCs would be more
favourable than double chamber MFCs due to non-mixing contacting
reactor scheme for operation.
Abstract: In the present research, whole meal barley flour
(WBF) was supplemented with gelatinized corn flour (GCF) in 0 and
30%. Whole meal wheat flour (WWF) was mixed with defatted rice
bran (DRB) to produce 0, 20, 25, and 30% replacement levels.
Rheological properties of dough were studied. Thermal properties
and starch crystallinity of flours were evaluated. Flat bread, balady
bread and pie were prepared from the different flour blends. The
different bakeries were sensory evaluated. Color of raw materials and
crust of bakery products were determined. Nutrients contents of raw
flours and food products were assessed. Results showed that addition
of GCF to WBF increased the viscosity and falling number of the
produced dough. Water absorption, dough development time and
dough stability increased with increasing the level of DRB in dough
while, weakening and mixing tolerance index decreased.
Extensibility and energy decreased, while, resistance to extension
increased as DRB level increased. Gelatinized temperature of WWF,
WBF, GCF, and DRB were 13.26, 35.09, 28.33, and 39.63,
respectively. Starch crystallinity was affected when DRB was added
to WWF. The highest protein content was present in balady bread
made from 70% WWF and 30% DRB. The highest calcium,
phosphorus, and potassium levels were present in products made
from 100% WBF. Sensory attributes of the products were slightly
affected by adding DRB and GCF. Conclusion: Addition of DRB or
GCF to WWF or WBF, respectively affect the physical, chemical,
rheological and sensory properties of balady bread, flat bread, and pie
while improved their nutritive values.
Abstract: The research investigates the causes of unemployment
in Namibia, Nigeria and South Africa and the role of Capital
Accumulation in reducing the unemployment profile of these
economies as proposed by the post-Keynesian economics. This is
conducted through extensive review of literature on the NAIRU
models and focused on the post-Keynesian view of unemployment
within the NAIRU framework. The NAIRU (non-accelerating
inflation rate of unemployment) model has become a dominant
framework used in macroeconomic analysis of unemployment. The
study views the post-Keynesian economics arguments that capital
accumulation is a major determinant of unemployment.
Unemployment remains the fundamental socio-economic challenge
facing African economies. It has been a burden to citizens of those
economies. Namibia, Nigeria, and South Africa are great African
nations battling with high unemployment rates. The high
unemployment rate in the country led the citizens to chase away
foreigners in the country claiming that they have taken away their
jobs. The study proposes there is a strong relationship between
capital accumulation and unemployment in Namibia, Nigeria, and
South Africa, and capital accumulation is responsible for high
unemployment rates in these countries. For the economies to achieve
steady state level of employment and satisfactory level of economic
growth and development, there is need for capital accumulation to
take place. The countries in the study have been selected after a
critical research and investigations. They are selected based on the
following criteria; African economies with high unemployment rates
above 15% and have about 40% of their workforce unemployed. This
level of unemployment is the critical level of unemployment in
Africa as expressed by International Labour Organization (ILO). And
finally, the African countries experience a slow growth in their Gross
fixed capital formation. Adequate statistical measures have been
employed using a time-series analysis in the study and the results
revealed that capital accumulation is the main driver of
unemployment performance in the chosen African countries. An
increase in the accumulation of capital causes unemployment to
reduce significantly. The results of the research work will be useful
and relevant to federal governments and ministries, departments and
agencies (MDAs) of Namibia, Nigeria and South Africa to resolve
the issue of high and persistent unemployment rates in their
economies which are great burden that slows growth and
development of developing economies. Also, the result can be useful
to World Bank, African Development Bank and International Labour
Organization (ILO) in their further research and studies on how to
tackle unemployment in developing and emerging economies.
Abstract: A broadband wire monopole antenna loaded by inhomogeneous stack of annular dielectric ring resonators (DRRs) is proposed. The proposed antenna exhibits a broad impedance bandwidth from 3 to 30 GHz. This is achieved by adding an external step matching network at the antenna feed point. The matching network is comprised of three annular DRRs possessing different permittivity values and sharing the same axial over a finite ground plane. The antenna performance is characterized using full-wave EM simulation. Compared to previous-reported wire antennas with improved bandwidth achieved by DRRs, the proposed topology provides relatively compact realization and superior broadband performance.