Fatigue Properties of Steel Sheets Treated by Nitrooxidation

Low carbon deep drawing steel DC 01 according to EN 10130-91 was nitrooxidized in dissociated ammonia at 580°C/45 min and consequently oxidised at 380°C/5 min in vapour of distilled water. Material after nitrooxidation had 54 % increase of yield point, 34 % increase of strength and 10-times increased resistance to atmospheric corrosion in comparison to the material before nitrooxidation. The microstructure of treated material consisted of thin ε-phase layer connected to layer containing precipitated massive needle shaped Fe4N - γ' nitrides. This layer passed to a diffusion layer consisting of fine irregular shaped Fe16N2 - α'' nitrides regularly dispersed in ferritic matrix. Fatigue properties were examined under bending load with frequency of 20 kHz and sinusoidal symmetric cycle. The results confirmed positive influence of nitrooxidation on fatigue properties as fatigue limit of treated material was double in comparison to untreated material.

A Numerical Study on Rear-spoiler of Passenger Vehicle

The simulation of external aerodynamics is one of the most challenging and important automotive CFD applications. With the rapid developments of digital computers, CFD is used as a practical tool in modern fluid dynamics research. It integrates fluid mechanics disciplines, mathematics and computer science. In this study, two different types of simulations were made, one for the flow around a simplified high speed passenger car with a rear-spoiler and the other for the flow without a rear-spoiler. The standard k-ε model is selected to numerically simulate the external flow field of the simplified Camry model with or without a rear-spoiler. Through an analysis of the simulation results, a new rear spoiler is designed and it shows a mild reduction of the vehicle aerodynamics drag. This leads to less vehicle fuel consumption on the road.

Service Identification Approach to SOA Development

Service identification is one of the main activities in the modeling of a service-oriented solution, and therefore errors made during identification can flow down through detailed design and implementation activities that may necessitate multiple iterations, especially in building composite applications. Different strategies exist for how to identify candidate services that each of them has its own benefits and trade offs. The approach presented in this paper proposes a selective identification of services approach, based on in depth business process analysis coupled with use cases and existing assets analysis and goal service modeling. This article clearly emphasizes the key activities need for the analysis and service identification to build a optimized service oriented architecture. In contrast to other approaches this article mentions some best practices and steps, wherever appropriate, to point out the vagueness involved in service identification.

Application of Pulse Doubling in Star-Connected Autotransformer Based 12-Pulse AC-DC Converter for Power Quality Improvement

This paper presents a pulse doubling technique in a 12-pulse ac-dc converter which supplies direct torque controlled motor drives (DTCIMD-s) in order to have better power quality conditions at the point of common coupling. The proposed technique increases the number of rectification pulses without significant changes in the installations and yields in harmonic reduction in both ac and dc sides. The 12-pulse rectified output voltage is accomplished via two paralleled six-pulse ac-dc converters each of them consisting of three-phase diode bridge rectifier. An autotransformer is designed to supply the rectifiers. The design procedure of magnetics is in a way such that makes it suitable for retrofit applications where a six-pulse diode bridge rectifier is being utilized. Independent operation of paralleled diode-bridge rectifiers, i.e. dc-ripple re-injection methodology, requires a Zero Sequence Blocking Transformer (ZSBT). Finally, a tapped interphase reactor is connected at the output of ZSBT to double the pulse numbers of output voltage up to 24 pulses. The aforementioned structure improves power quality criteria at ac mains and makes them consistent with the IEEE-519 standard requirements for varying loads. Furthermore, near unity power factor is obtained for a wide range of DTCIMD operation. A comparison is made between 6- pulse, 12-pulse, and proposed converters from view point of power quality indices. Results show that input current total harmonic distortion (THD) is less than 5% for the proposed topology at various loads.

Ethnobotany and Distribution of Dioscoreahispida Dennst. (Dioscoreaceae) in Besut, Marang and Setiu Districts of Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia

Dioscorea species or commonly named as yam is reported to be one of the major food sources worldwide. This ethnobotanical study was conducted to document local knowledge and potentials of DioscoreahispidaDennst. and to investigate and record its distribution in three districts of Terengganu. Information was gathered from 23 villagers from three districts of Besut, Marang and Setiu by using semi-structured questionnaire. The villagers were randomly selected and no appointment was made prior to the visits. For distribution, the location of Dioscoreahispida was recorded by using the Global Positioning System (GPS). The villagers identified Dioscoreahispida or locally named ubigadong by looking at the physical characteristics that include its leaf shape, stem and the color of the tuber-s flesh. The villagers used Dioscoreahispida in many ways in their life such as for food, medicinal purposes and fish poison.

Factors Influencing Rote Learner's Intention to Use WBL: Developing Country Study

Previous researches found that conventional WBL is effective for meaningful learner, because rote learner learn by repeating without thinking or trying to understand. It is impossible to have full benefit from conventional WBL. Understanding of rote learner-s intention and what influences it becomes important. Poorly designed user interface will discourage rote learner-s cultivation and intention to use WBL. Thus, user interface design is an important factor especially when WBL is used as comprehensive replacement of conventional teaching. This research proposes the influencing factors that can enhance learner-s intention to use the system. The enhanced TAM is used for evaluating the proposed factors. The research result points out that factors influencing rote learner-s intention are Perceived Usefulness of Homepage Content Structure, Perceived User Friendly Interface, Perceived Hedonic Component, and Perceived (homepage) Visual Attractiveness.

Effective Security Method for Wireless LAN using Life-Cycle of Wireless Access Point

There are many expand of Wi-Fi zones provided mobile careers and usage of wireless access point at home as increase of usage of wireless internet caused by the use of smart phone. This paper shows wireless local area network status, security threats of WLAN and functionality of major wireless access point in Korea. We propose security countermeasures concerned with life cycle of access point from manufacturing to installation, using and finally disposal. There needed to releasing with configured secure at access point. Because, it is most cost effective resolution than stage of installation or other life cycle of access point.

Two-step Iterative Process For Common Fixed Points of Two Asymptotically Quasi-nonexpansive Mappings

In this paper, we consider an iteration process for approximating common fixed points of two asymptotically quasinonexpansive mappings and we prove some strong and weak convergence theorems for such mappings in uniformly convex Banach spaces.

Process of Reprivatization of Agricultural Properties in the Selected European Countries

Political transition of agricultural properties in Poland and the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) after 1989 had to include not only Reprivatization but also the issue of returning the properties in kind to their former owners. Restitution in kind applied in GDR to all forms of ownership which were subject to expropriation between 1933 and 1989 except for properties taken over during Soviet occupation in 1945-49. This issue was one of the flashpoints during the process of ownership changes. Privatization, limited as it was, took place in unequal legal environment where only one group of owners was privileged. Executing restitution in kind created a feeling of uncertainty among potential real estate buyers.

Navigation and Self Alignment of Inertial Systems using Nonlinear H∞ Filters

Micro electromechanical sensors (MEMS) play a vital role along with global positioning devices in navigation of autonomous vehicles .These sensors are low cost ,easily available but depict colored noises and unpredictable discontinuities .Conventional filters like Kalman filters and Sigma point filters are not able to cope with nonwhite noises. This research has utilized H∞ filter in nonlinear frame work both with Kalman filter and Unscented filter for navigation and self alignment of an airborne vehicle. The system is simulated for colored noises and discontinuities and results are compared with not robust nonlinear filters. The results are found 40%-70% more robust against colored noises and discontinuities.

Description and Analysis of Embedded Firewall Techniques

With the turn of this century, many researchers started showing interest in Embedded Firewall (EF) implementations. These are not the usual firewalls that are used as checkpoints at network gateways. They are, rather, applied near those hosts that need protection. Hence by using them, individual or grouped network components can be protected from the inside as well as from external attacks. This paper presents a study of EF-s, looking at their architecture and problems. A comparative study assesses how practical each kind is. It particularly focuses on the architecture, weak points, and portability of each kind. A look at their use by different categories of users is also presented.

A Note on the Numerical Solution of Singular Integral Equations of Cauchy Type

This manuscript presents a method for the numerical solution of the Cauchy type singular integral equations of the first kind, over a finite segment which is bounded at the end points of the finite segment. The Chebyshev polynomials of the second kind with the corresponding weight function have been used to approximate the density function. The force function is approximated by using the Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind. It is shown that the numerical solution of characteristic singular integral equation is identical with the exact solution, when the force function is a cubic function. Moreover, it also shown that this numerical method gives exact solution for other singular integral equations with degenerate kernels.

Software Architectural Design Ontology

Software Architecture plays a key role in software development but absence of formal description of Software Architecture causes different impede in software development. To cope with these difficulties, ontology has been used as artifact. This paper proposes ontology for Software Architectural design based on IEEE model for architecture description and Kruchten 4+1 model for viewpoints classification. For categorization of style and views, ISO/IEC 42010 has been used. Corpus method has been used to evaluate ontology. The main aim of the proposed ontology is to classify and locate Software Architectural design information.

Solving the Economic Dispatch Problem by Using Differential Evolution

This paper proposes an application of the differential evolution (DE) algorithm for solving the economic dispatch problem (ED). Furthermore, the regenerating population procedure added to the conventional DE in order to improve escaping the local minimum solution. To test performance of DE algorithm, three thermal generating units with valve-point loading effects is used for testing. Moreover, investigating the DE parameters is presented. The simulation results show that the DE algorithm, which had been adjusted parameters, is better convergent time than other optimization methods.

A Mahalanobis Distance-based Diversification and Nelder-Mead Simplex Intensification Search Scheme for Continuous Ant Colony Optimization

Ant colony optimization (ACO) and its variants are applied extensively to resolve various continuous optimization problems. As per the various diversification and intensification schemes of ACO for continuous function optimization, researchers generally consider components of multidimensional state space to generate the new search point(s). However, diversifying to a new search space by updating only components of the multidimensional vector may not ensure that the new point is at a significant distance from the current solution. If a minimum distance is not ensured during diversification, then there is always a possibility that the search will end up with reaching only local optimum. Therefore, to overcome such situations, a Mahalanobis distance-based diversification with Nelder-Mead simplex-based search scheme for each ant is proposed for the ACO strategy. A comparative computational run results, based on nine nonlinear standard test problems, confirms that the performance of ACO is improved significantly with the integration of the proposed schemes in the ACO.

Regret, Choice, and Outcome

In two studies we challenged the well consolidated position in regret literature according to which the necessary condition for the emergence of regret is a bad outcome ensuing from free decisions. Without free choice, and, consequently, personal responsibility, other emotions, such as disappointment, but not regret, are supposed to be elicited. In our opinion, a main source of regret is being obliged by circumstance out of our control to chose an undesired option. We tested the hypothesis that regret resulting from a forced choice is more intense than regret derived from a free choice and that the outcome affects the latter, not the former. Besides, we investigated whether two other variables – the perception of the level of freedom of the choice and the choice justifiability – mediated the relationships between choice and regret, as well as the other four emotions we examined: satisfaction, anger toward oneself, disappointment, anger towards circumstances. The two studies were based on the scenario methodology and implied a 2 x 2 (choice x outcome) between design. In the first study the foreseen short-term effects of the choice were assessed; in the second study the experienced long-term effects of the choice were assessed. In each study 160 students of the Second University of Naples participated. Results largely corroborated our hypotheses. They were discussed in the light of the main theories on regret and decision making.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Values in Innovation Management

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) viewpoint have challenged the traditional perception to understand corporations position. Production- and managerial-centred views are expanding towards reference group-centred policies. Consequently, the significance of new kind of knowledge has emerged. In addition to management of the organisation, the idea of CSR emphasises the importance to recognise the value-expectations of operational environment. It is know that management is often well-aware of corporate social responsibilities, but it is less clear how well these high level goals are understood in practical product design and development work. In this study, the apprehension above proved to be real to some degree. While management was very aware of CSR it was less familiar to designers. The outcome shows that it is essential to raise ethical values and issues higher in corporate communication, if it is wished that they materialize also in products.

ABURAS Index: A Statistically Developed Index for Dengue-Transmitting Vector Population Prediction

“Dengue" is an African word meaning “bone breaking" because it causes severe joint and muscle pain that feels like bones are breaking. It is an infectious disease mainly transmitted by female mosquito, Aedes aegypti, and causes four serotypes of dengue viruses. In recent years, a dramatic increase in the dengue fever confirmed cases around the equator-s belt has been reported. Several conventional indices have been designed so far to monitor the transmitting vector populations known as House Index (HI), Container Index (CI), Breteau Index (BI). However, none of them describes the adult mosquito population size which is important to direct and guide comprehensive control strategy operations since number of infected people has a direct relationship with the vector density. Therefore, it is crucial to know the population size of the transmitting vector in order to design a suitable and effective control program. In this context, a study is carried out to report a new statistical index, ABURAS Index, using Poisson distribution based on the collection of vector population in Jeddah Governorate, Saudi Arabia.

Scots Pine Needles as Bioindicators in Determining the Aerial Distribution Pattern of Sulphur Emissions around Industrial Plants

In this study, the Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) C needles (i.e. the current-year-needles) were used as bioindicators in determining the aerial distribution pattern of sulphur emissions around industrial point sources at Kemi, Northern Finland. The average sulphur concentration in the C needles was 897 mg/kg (d.w.), with a standard deviation of 118 mg/kg (d.w.) and range 740 – 1350 mg/kg (d.w.). According to results in this study, Scots pine needles (Pinus sylvestris L.) appear to be an ideal bioindicators for identifying atmospheric sulphur pollution derived from industrial plants and can complement the information provided by plant mapping studies around industrial plants.

Towards a New Era of Sustainability in the Automotive Industry: Strategic Human Resource Management and Green Technology Innovation

Although automotive industry has brought different beneficiaries to human life, it is being pointed out as one of the major cause of global air pollution which resulted in climate change, smog, green house gases (GHGs), and human diseases by many reasons. Since auto industry is one of the largest consumers of fossil fuels, the realization of green innovations is becoming a crucial choice to meet the challenges towards sustainable development. Recently, many auto manufacturers have embarked on green technology initiatives to gain a competitive advantage in the global market; however, innovative manufacturing systems and technologies can enhance operational performance only if the human resource management is in place to elicit the motivation of the employees and develop their organizational expertise. No organization can perform at peak levels unless each employee is committed to the company goals and works as an effective team member. Strategic human resource practices are the primary means by which firms can shape the skills, attitudes, and behavior of individuals to align with the business strategic objectives. This study investigates on the comprehensive approach of multiple advanced technology innovations and human resource management at Toyota Motor Corporation as the market leader of full hybrid technology in the automotive industry. Then, HRM framework of the company is described and three sets of human resource practices that support the innovation-oriented HR system, presented. Finally, a conceptual framework for innovativeness in green technology in automotive industry by applying a deliberate strategic HR management system and knowledge management with the intervening factors of organizational culture, knowledge application and knowledge sharing is proposed.