Abstract: A one-step conservative level set method, combined with a global mass correction method, is developed in this study to simulate the incompressible two-phase flows. The present framework do not need to solve the conservative level set scheme at two separated steps, and the global mass can be exactly conserved. The present method is then more efficient than two-step conservative level set scheme. The dispersion-relation-preserving schemes are utilized for the advection terms. The pressure Poisson equation solver is applied to GPU computation using the pCDR library developed by National Center for High-Performance Computing, Taiwan. The SMP parallelization is used to accelerate the rest of calculations. Three benchmark problems were done for the performance evaluation. Good agreements with the referenced solutions are demonstrated for all the investigated problems.
Abstract: Judgment is affected by many agents and distortion in this assessment is unpreventable. Personality dimensions are among those factors that interfere with the distortion. In this research, the relations between personality dimensions of subject and his judgment on friends- personality dimensions is investigated. One-hundred friend couples completed both NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEOFFI) and Ahvaz Reality Distortion Inventory (ARDI) to make judgments about themselves and their friends. Observations show that judge-s Agreement and Neuroticism dimensions are impressed by reality distortion. On the other hand, this reality distortion interferes with one-s evaluation of his friend-s Agreement, Neuroticism, and Conscientiousness dimensions. Conscientiousness with suppressive effect on judge-s other dimensions plays the irrelevant role on personality judgment. Therefore, observer-rating tools which are used as a conventional criterion seem to be not valid because of the reality distortion due to judge-s personality dimensions.
Abstract: In this study, a new root-finding method for solving nonlinear equations is proposed. This method requires two starting values that do not necessarily bracketing a root. However, when the starting values are selected to be close to a root, the proposed method converges to the root quicker than the secant method. Another advantage over all iterative methods is that; the proposed method usually converges to two distinct roots when the given function has more than one root, that is, the odd iterations of this new technique converge to a root and the even iterations converge to another root. Some numerical examples, including a sine-polynomial equation, are solved by using the proposed method and compared with results obtained by the secant method; perfect agreements are found.
Abstract: Controlled release urea has become popular in agricultural industry as it helps to solve environmental issues and increase crop yield. Recently biomass was identified to replace the polymer used as a coating material in the conventional coated urea. In this paper spreading and contact angle of biomass droplet (lignin, cellulose and clay) on urea surface are investigated experimentally. There were two tests were conducted, sessile drop for contact angle measurement and pendant drop for contact angle measurement. A different concentration of biomass droplet was released from 30 mm above a substrate. Glass was used as a controlled substrate. Images were recorded as soon as the droplet impacted onto the urea before completely adsorb into the urea. Digitized droplets were then used to identify the droplet-s surface tension and contact angle. There is large difference observed between the low surface tension and high surface tension liquids, where the wetting and spreading diameter is higher for lower surface tension. From the contact angle results, the data showed that the biomass coating films were possible as wetting liquid (θ < 90º). Contact angle of biomass coating material gives good indication for the wettablity of a liquid on urea surface.
Abstract: None of the processing models in the software
development has explained the software systems performance
evaluation and modeling; likewise, there exist uncertainty in the
information systems because of the natural essence of requirements,
and this may cause other challenges in the processing of software
development. By definition an extended version of UML (Fuzzy-
UML), the functional requirements of the software defined
uncertainly would be supported. In this study, the behavioral
description of uncertain information systems by the aid of fuzzy-state
diagram is crucial; moreover, the introduction of behavioral diagrams
role in F-UML is investigated in software performance modeling
process. To get the aim, a fuzzy sub-profile is used.
Abstract: The potential, opportunities and drawbacks of biogas
technology use in Turkey are evaluated in this paper. Turkey is
dependent on foreign sources of energy. Therefore, use of biogas
technology would provide a safe way of waste disposal and recovery
of renewable energy, particularly from a sustainable domestic source,
which is less unlikely to be influenced by international price or
political fluctuations. Use of biogas technology would especially
meet the cooking, heating and electricity demand in rural areas and
protect the environment, additionally creating new job opportunities
and improving social-economical conditions.
Abstract: Experimental investigations were carried out in the
Manchester Tidal flow Facility (MTF) to study the flow patterns in
the region around and adjacent to a hypothetical headland in tidal
(oscillatory) ambient flow. The Planar laser-induced fluorescence
(PLIF) technique was used for visualization, with fluorescent dye
released at specific points around the headland perimeter and in its
adjacent recirculation zone. The flow patterns can be generalized into
the acceleration, stable flow and deceleration stages for each halfcycle,
with small variations according to location, which are more
distinct for low Keulegan-Carpenter number (KC) cases. Flow
patterns in the mixing region are unstable and complex, especially in
the recirculation zone. The flow patterns are in agreement with
previous visualizations, and support previous results in steady
ambient flow. It is suggested that the headland lee could be a viable
location for siting of pollutant outfalls.
Abstract: Work stress causes the organizational work-life
imbalance of employees. Because of this imbalance, workers perform
with lower effort to finish assignments and thus an organization will
experience reduced productivity. In order to investigate the problem
of an organizational work-life imbalance, this qualitative case study
focuses on an organizational work-life imbalance among Thai
software developers in a German-owned company in Chiang Mai,
Thailand. In terms of knowledge management, fishbone diagram is
useful analysis tool to investigate the root causes of an organizational
work-life imbalance systematically in focus-group discussions.
Furthermore, fishbone diagram shows the relationship between
causes and effects clearly. It was found that an organizational worklife
imbalance among Thai software developers is influenced by
management team, work environment, and information tools used in
the company over time.
Abstract: Groundwater has become the most dependable source
of fresh water for agriculture, domestic and industrial uses in the past
few decades. This wide use of groundwater if left uncontrolled and
unseen will lead to overexploitation causing sea water intrusion in the
coastal areas and illegal water marketing. Several Policies and Acts
have been enacted to regulate and manage the use of this valuable
resource. In spite of this the over extraction of groundwater beyond
the recharging capacity of aquifers and depletion in the quality of
groundwater is continuing. The current study aims at reviewing the
Acts and Policies existing in the State of Tamil Nadu and in the
National level regarding groundwater regulation and management.
Further an analysis is made on the rights associated with the usage of
groundwater resources and the gaps in these policies have been
analyzed. Some suggestions are made to reform the existing
groundwater policies for better management and regulation of the
resource.
Abstract: Although agriculture is an important part of the world
economy, accounting in agriculture still has many shortcomings. The
adoption of IAS 41 “Agriculture” has tried to improve this situation
and increase the comparability of financial statements of entities in
the agricultural sector. Although controversial, IAS 41 is the first
step of a consistent transition to fair value assessment in the
agricultural sector. The objective of our work is the analysis of IAS
41 and current accounting agricultural situation in Romania.
Accounting regulations in Romania are in accordance with European
directives and, in many respects, converged with IFRS referential.
Provisions of IAS 41, however, are not reflected directly in
Romanian regulations. With the increase of forest land transactions,
it is expected that recognition and measurement of biological assets
under IAS 41 to become a necessity.
Abstract: During the year 1999, Serbia (ex Yugoslavia) and their northern province, Vojvodina, has been bombarded. Because of that general public believe is that this region was contaminated by depleted uranium and that there is a potential contaminant of agricultural products due to soil radioactivity. This paper presents the repeated analysis of agricultural soil samples in Vojvodina. The same investigation was carried out during the year 2001, and it was concluded that, based on the gamma-spectrometric analysis of 50 soil samples taken from the region of Vojvodina, there haven-t been registered any increase of radioactivity that could endanger the food production. We continue with the monitoring of this region. The comparison between those two sets of results is presented.
Abstract: Coverage is one of the main research interests in wireless sensor networks (WSN), it is used to determine the quality of service (QoS) of the networks. Therefore this paper aims to review the common strategies use in solving coverage problem in WSN. The strategies studied are used during deployment phase where the coverage is calculated based on the placement of the sensors on the region of interest (ROI). The strategies reviewed are categorized into three groups based on the approaches used, namely; force based, grid based or computational geometry based approach.
Abstract: The Eulerian numerical method is proposed to analyze
the explosion in tunnel. Based on this method, an original software
M-MMIC2D is developed by Cµ program language. With this
software, the explosion problem in the tunnel with three
expansion-chambers is numerically simulated, and the results are
found to be in full agreement with the observed experimental data.
Abstract: This study examines whether contrived success on a
task closely related to school subjects would promote students-
self-efficacy. In our previous study, junior high school students who
experienced contrived success on anagram tasks raised their sense of
self-efficacy and kept it high for a year.We tried to replicate that study,
substituting calculation tasks for the anagrams. One hundred eighteen
junior high school students participated in this study, 18 of whom were
surreptitiously given easier tasks than their classmates. Those students
with easier tasks outperformed their peers and thereby raised their
sense of self-efficacy. However, elevated self-efficacy did not persist,
falling to the starting level after only three months.
Abstract: This paper investigates the development of weld zone
in Resistance Spot Welding (RSW) which focuses on weld nugget and Heat Affected Zone (HAZ). The effects of four factors namely
weld current, weld time, electrode force and hold time were studied using a general 24 factorial design augmented by five centre points. The results of the analysis showed that all selected factors except
hold time exhibit significant effect on weld nugget radius and HAZ size. Optimization of the welding parameters (weld current, weld
time and electrode force) to normalize weld nugget and to minimize
HAZ size was then conducted using Central Composite Design (CCD) in Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and the optimum
parameters were determined. A regression model for radius of weld nugget and HAZ size was developed and its adequacy was evaluated.
The experimental results obtained under optimum operating conditions were then compared with the predicted values and were
found to agree satisfactorily with each other
Abstract: Milk is a very important nutrient. Low productivity is
a problem of Turkish dairy farming. During recent years, Turkish government has supported cooperatives that assist milk producers and
encouraged farmers to become cooperative members. Turkish
government established several ways to support specially smallholders. For example Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs
(MARA) provided two to four cows to villagers on a grant or loan basis with a long repayment period at low interest rates by
cooperatives. Social Support Project in Rural Areas (SSPRA) is
another support program targeting only disadvantaged people,
especially poor villager. Both programs have a very strong social
support component and similar objectives. But there are minor
differences between them in terms of target people, terms and conditions of the credit supplied Isparta province in Mediterranean region of Turkey is one of the
supported regions. MARA distributed dairy cows to 1072 farmers through 16 agricultural cooperatives in Isparta province in the context
of SSPRA. In this study, economic-social impacts on dairy cattle project
implemented through cooperatives were examined in Isparta. Primary data were collected from 12 cooperatives- president. The
data were obtained by personal interview through a questionnaire and
to cooperatives and given to farms benefiting from the project in
order to reveal the economic and social developments.
Finding of the study revealed that project provided new job
opportunities and improved quality of livestock. It was found that producers who benefited from the project were more willing to
participate in cooperative or other producer organizations.
Abstract: In the present work, an attempt is made to understand
electromagnetic field confinement in a subwavelength waveguide
structure using concepts of quantum mechanics. Evanescent field in
the waveguide is looked as inability of the photon to get confined in
the waveguide core and uncertainty of position is assigned to it. The
momentum uncertainty is calculated from position uncertainty.
Schrödinger wave equation for the photon is written by incorporating
position-momentum uncertainty. The equation is solved and field
distribution in the waveguide is obtained. The field distribution and
power confinement is compared with conventional waveguide theory.
They were found in good agreement with each other.
Abstract: Transition prediction of boundary layers has always
been an important problem in fluid mechanics both theoretically and
practically, yet notwithstanding the great effort made by many
investigators, there is no satisfactory answer to this problem. The most
popular method available is so-called e-N method which is heavily
dependent on experiments and experience. The author has proposed
improvements to the e-N method, so to reduce its dependence on
experiments and experience to a certain extent. One of the key
assumptions is that transition would occur whenever the velocity
amplitude of disturbance reaches 1-2% of the free stream velocity.
However, the reliability of this assumption needs to be verified. In this
paper, transition prediction on a flat plate is investigated by using both
the improved e-N method and the parabolized stability equations (PSE)
methods. The results show that the transition locations predicted by
both methods agree reasonably well with each other, under the above
assumption. For the supersonic case, the critical velocity amplitude in
the improved e-N method should be taken as 0.013, whereas in the
subsonic case, it should be 0.018, both are within the range 1-2%.
Abstract: Ad hoc networks are characterized by multi-hop
wireless connectivity and frequently changing network topology.
Forming security association among a group of nodes in ad-hoc
networks is more challenging than in conventional networks due to the
lack of central authority, i.e. fixed infrastructure. With that view in
mind, group key management plays an important building block of
any secure group communication. The main contribution of this paper
is a low complexity key management scheme that is suitable for fully
self-organized ad-hoc networks. The protocol is also password
authenticated, making it resilient against active attacks. Unlike other
existing key agreement protocols, ours make no assumption about the
structure of the underlying wireless network, making it suitable for
“truly ad-hoc" networks. Finally, we will analyze our protocol to show
the computation and communication burden on individual nodes for
key establishment.
Abstract: Yield and Crop Water Productivity are crucial issues
in sustainable agriculture, especially in high-demand resource crops such as sweet corn. This study was conducted to investigate
agronomic responses such as plant growth, yield and soil parameters (EC and Nitrate accumulation) to several deficit irrigation treatments
(100, 75, 50, 25 and 0% of ETm) applied during vegetative growth
stage, rainfed treatment was also tested.
The finding of this research indicates that under deficit irrigation
during vegetative growth stage applying 75% of ETm lead to increasing of 19.4% in terms of fresh ear yield, 9.4% in terms of dry grain yield, 10.5% in terms of number of ears per plant, 11.5% for
the 1000 grains weight and 19% in terms of crop water productivity compared with fully irrigated treatment. While those parameters in
addition to root, shoot and plant height has been affected by deficit
irrigation during vegetative growth stage when increasing water stress degree more than 50% of ETm.