Abstract: In this study, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
model has been developed for studying the effect of surface
roughness profile on the EHL problem. The cylinders contact
geometry, meshing and calculation of the conservation of mass and
momentum equations are carried out using the commercial software
packages ICEMCFD and ANSYS Fluent. The user defined functions
(UDFs) for density, viscosity and elastic deformation of the cylinders
as the functions of pressure and temperature are defined for the CFD
model. Three different surface roughness profiles are created and
incorporated into the CFD model. It is found that the developed CFD
model can predict the characteristics of fluid flow and heat transfer in
the EHL problem, including the main parameters such as pressure
distribution, minimal film thickness, viscosity, and density changes.
The results obtained show that the pressure profile at the center of the
contact area directly relates to the roughness amplitude. A rough
surface with kurtosis value of more than 3 has greater influence over
the fluctuated shape of pressure distribution than in other cases.
Abstract: Improved resource efficiency of production is a key
requirement for sustainable growth, worldwide. In this regards, by
considering the energy and tourism as the extra inputs to the classical
Coub-Douglas production function, this study aims at investigating
the efficiency changes in the North African countries. To this end, the
study uses panel data for the period 1995-2010 and adopts the
Malmquist index based on the data envelopment analysis. Results
show that tourism increases technical and scale efficiencies, while it
decreases technological and total factor productivity changes. On the
other hand, when the production function is augmented by the energy
input; technical efficiency change decreases, while the technological
change, scale efficiency change and total factor productivity change
increase. Thus, in order to satisfy the needs for sustainable growth,
North African governments should take some measures for increasing
the contribution that the tourism makes to economic growth and some
others for efficient use of resources in the energy sector.
Abstract: Using the first-principles full-potential linearized
augmented plane wave plus local orbital (FP-LAPW+lo) method
based on density functional theory (DFT), we have investigated the
electronic structure and magnetism of full Heusler alloys Co2ZrGe
and Co2NbB. These compounds are predicted to be half-metallic
ferromagnets (HMFs) with a total magnetic moment of 2.000 B per
formula unit, well consistent with the Slater-Pauling rule.
Calculations show that both the alloys have an indirect band gaps, in
the minority-spin channel of density of states (DOS), with values of
0.58 eV and 0.47 eV for Co2ZrGe and Co2NbB, respectively.
Analysis of the DOS and magnetic moments indicates that their
magnetism is mainly related to the d-d hybridization between the Co
and Zr (or Nb) atoms. The half-metallicity is found to be relatively
robust against volume changes. In addition, an atom inside molecule
AIM formalism and an electron localization function ELF were also
adopted to study the bonding properties of these compounds, building
a bridge between their electronic and bonding behavior.
As they have a good crystallographic compatibility with the lattice of
semiconductors used industrially and negative calculated cohesive
energies with considerable absolute values these two alloys could be
promising magnetic materials in the spintronic field.
Abstract: Knowledge is considered as an important asset which
can help organizations to create competitive advantage. The necessity
of taking care of these assets is more important in these days – in
days of turbulent changes in business environment. Knowledge could
facilitate adaption to constant changes. The aim of this paper is to
describe how the knowledge sharing can be supported in the
manufacturing companies. The methods of case studies and grounded
theory were used to present information gained by carrying out semistructured
interviews. Results show that knowledge sharing is
supported in very similar ways in respondent companies.
Abstract: Bir El Djir is an important coastal township in Oran
department, located at 450 Km far away from Algiers on northwest of
Algeria. In this coastal area, the urban sprawl is one of the main
problems that reduce the limited highly fertile land. So, using the
remote sensing and GIS technologies have shown their great
capabilities to solve many earth resources issues.
The aim of this study is to produce land use and cover map for the
studied area at varied periods to monitor possible changes that may
occurred, particularly in the urban areas and subsequently predict
likely changes. For this, two spatial images SPOT and Landsat
satellites from 1987 and 2014 respectively were used to assess the
changes of urban expansion and encroachment during this period
with photo-interpretation and GIS approach.
The results revealed that the town of Bir El Djir has shown a
highest growth rate in the period 1987-2014 which is 1201.5 hectares
in terms of area. These expansions largely concern the new real estate
constructions falling within the social and promotional housing
programs launched by the government.
The most urban expansion is characterized by the new
construction in the form of spontaneous or peripheral precarious
habitat, but also unstructured slums settled especially in the
southeastern part of town.
Abstract: Contemporary city is a subject to rapid economic and
social changes. Therefore, it requires an active policy designed to
meet the diverse needs of their residents, build competitive position
and capacity to compete with other cities. Competitiveness of cities
depends largely on their resources but also to a large extent, on the
policies and performance of local authorities. Cooperation with social
sector also plays an important role, as it affects the use of resources
and builds an advantage over other cities.
The subject of this article is city's contemporary problems of
development with particular emphasis on central areas. This issue is a
starting point for reflection on the process of urban regeneration in
medium size cities in Poland, as well as cooperation between various
actors and their roles in the revitalization processes of Polish cities'
centers.
Abstract: The research studies the behaviors based on
sufficiency economy philosophy at individual and community
levelsas well as the satisfaction of the urban community leaders by
collecting data with purposive sampling technique. For in-depth
interviews with 26 urban community leaders, the result shows that
the urban community leaders have good knowledge and
understanding about sufficiency economy philosophy. Especially in
terms of money spending, they must consider the need for living and
be economical. The activities in the community or society should not
take advantage of the others as well as colleagues. At present, most of
the urban community leaders live in sufficient way. They often spend
time with public service, but many families are dealing with debt.
Many communities have some political conflict and high family
allowances because of living in the urban communities with rapid
social and economic changes. However, there are many communities
that leaders have applied their wisdom in development for their
people by gathering and grouping the professionals to form activities
such as making chilli sauce, textile organization, making artificial
flowers to worship the sanctity. The most prominent group is the foot
massage business in Wat Pracha Rabue Tham. This professional
group is supported continuously by the government. One of the
factors in terms of satisfaction used for evaluating community leaders
is the customary administration in brotherly, interdependent way
rather than using the absolute power or controlling power, but using
the roles of leader to perform the activities with their people intently,
determinedly and having public mind for people.
Abstract: Many of the ever-growing elderly population require
exercise, such as running, for health management. One important
element of a runner’s training is the choice of shoes for exercise; shoes
are important because they provide the interface between the feet and
road. When we purchase shoes, we may instinctively choose a pair
after trying on many different pairs of shoes. Selecting the shoes
instinctively may work, but it does not guarantee a suitable fit for
running activities. Therefore, if we could select suitable shoes for each
runner from the viewpoint of brain activities, it would be helpful for
validating shoe selection. In this paper, we describe how brain
activities show different characteristics during particular task,
corresponding to different properties of shoes. Using five subjects, we
performed a verification experiment, applying weight, softness, and
flexibility as shoe properties. In order to affect the shoe property’s
differences to the brain, subjects run for 10 min. Before and after
running, subjects conducted a paced auditory serial addition task
(PASAT) as the particular task; and the subjects’ brain activities
during the PASAT are evaluated based on oxyhemoglobin and
deoxyhemoglobin relative concentration changes, measured by
near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). When the brain works actively,
oxihemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin concentration drastically
changes; therefore, we calculate the maximum values of concentration
changes. In order to normalize relative concentration changes after
running, the maximum value are divided by before running maximum
value as evaluation parameters. The classification of the groups of
shoes is expressed on a self-organizing map (SOM). As a result,
deoxyhemoglobin can make clusters for two of the three types of
shoes.
Abstract: Floods play a key role in landform evolution of an
area. This process is likely to alter the topography of the earth’s
surface. The present study area, Kota Bharu is very prone to floods
extends from upstream of Kelantan River near Kemubu to the
downstream area near Kuala Besar. These flood events which occur
every year in the study area exhibit a strong bearing on river
morphological set-up. In the present study, three satellite imageries of
different time periods have been used to manifest the post-flood
landform changes. The pre-processing of the images such as subset,
geometric corrections and atmospheric corrections were carried-out
using ENVI 4.5 followed by the analysis processes. Twenty sets of
cross sections were plotted using software Erdas 9.2, ERDAS and
ArcGis 10 for the all three images. The results show a significant
change in the length of the cross section which suggest that the
geomorphological processes play a key role in carving and shaping
the river banks during the floods.
Abstract: The postharvest quality management of tomatoes is
important to limit the amount of losses that occur due to deterioration
between harvest and consumption. This study was undertaken to
investigate the effects of pre- and postharvest integrated agrotechnologies,
involving greenhouse microclimate and postharvest
storage conditions, on the postharvest quality attributes of four
tomato cultivars. Tomato fruit firmness, colour (hue angle (h°) and
L* value), pH and total soluble solids for the cultivars Bona,
Star 9037, Star 9009 and Zeal, grown in a fan-pad evaporativelycooled
and an open-ended naturally-ventilated tunnel, were harvested
at the mature-green stage. The tomatoes were stored for 28 days
under cold storage conditions, with a temperature of 13°C and RH of
85%, and under ambient air conditions, with a temperature of 23±
2°C and RH of 52± 4%. This study has provided information on the
effect of integrated pre-harvest and postharvest agro-technologies,
involving greenhouse microclimate and postharvest storage
environment on the postharvest quality attributes of four of the
tomato cultivars in South Africa. NVT-grown tomatoes retained
better textural qualities, but ripened faster by changing from green to
red faster, although these were reduced under cold storage conditions.
FPVT-grown tomatoes had lower firmness, but ripened slowly with
higher colour attributes. With cold storage conditions, the firmness of
FPVT-grown tomatoes was maintained. Cultivar Bona firmness and
colour qualities depreciated the fastest, but it had higher TSS content
and lower pH values. Star 9009 and Star 9037 presented better
quality, by retaining higher firmness and ripening slowly, but they
had the lowest TSS contents and high pH values, especially
Star 9037. Cold storage improved the firmness of tomato cultivars
with poor textural quality and faster colour changes.
Abstract: Disasters are quite experienced in our days. They are
caused by floods, landslides, and building fires that is the main
objective of this study. To cope with these unexpected events,
precautions must be taken to protect human lives. The emphasis on
disposal work focuses on the resolution of the evacuation problem in
case of no-notice disaster. The problem of evacuation is listed as a
dynamic network flow problem. Particularly, we model the
evacuation problem as an earliest arrival flow problem with load
dependent transit time. This problem is classified as NP-Hard. Our
challenge here is to propose a metaheuristic solution for solving the
evacuation problem. We define our objective as the maximization of
evacuees during earliest periods of a time horizon T. The objective
provides the evacuation of persons as soon as possible. We
performed an experimental study on emergency evacuation from the
tunisian children’s hospital. This work prompts us to look for
evacuation plans corresponding to several situations where the
network dynamically changes.
Abstract: Information technology is changing rapidly and the users’ expectations are also growing. Dealing with these changes in information technology, while satisfying the users’ needs and expectations is a big challenge. IT managers need to explore new mechanisms/strategies to enable them to cope with such challenges.
The objectives of this research are to identify the significant challenges that might face IT managers in higher education institutes in the face of the high and ever growing customer expectations and to propose possible solutions to cope with such high-speed changes in information technology.
To achieve these objectives, interviews with the IT professionals from different higher education institutes in Oman were conducted. In addition, documentation (printed and online) related to these institutions were studied and an intensive literature review of published work was examined.
The findings of this research are expected to give a better understanding of the challenges that might face the IT managers at higher education institutes. This acquired understanding is expected to highlight the importance of being adaptable and fast in keeping up with the ever-growing technological changes. Moreover, adopting different tools and technologies could assist IT managers in developing their organisations’ IT policies and strategies.
Abstract: Theiterative scheme which is used to treat buildup factors for stratified shields is being investigated here using the layer-splitting technique.A simple suggested formalism for the scheme based on the Kalos’ formula is introduced, based on which the implementation of the testing technique is carried out.
The second layer in a double-layer shield was split into two equivalent layers and the scheme (with the suggested formalism) was implemented on the new “three-layer” shieldconfiguration.The results of such manipulation on water-lead and water-iron shields combinations are presented here for 1MeV photons.
It was found that splitting the second layer introduces some deviation on the overall buildup factor value. This expected deviation appeared to be higher in the case of low Z layer followed by high Z. However, the overall performance of the iterative scheme showed a great consistency and strong coherence even with the introduced changes. The introduced layer-splitting testing technique shows the capability to be implemented in test the iterative scheme with a wide range of formalisms.
Abstract: Kandy district in Sri Lanka, has small scale and rain-fed paddy farming, and highly vulnerable to climate change. In this study, the status of climate change was assessed using meteorological data and compared with the perceptions of paddy farming community. Factors affecting the adaptation to the climate smart farming were also assessed.
Meteorological data for 33 years were collected and the changes over time compared with the perceptions of farmers. The temperature, rainfall and number of rainy days have increased in both locations. The onset of rains also has shifted. The perceptions of the majority of the farmers were in line with the actual changes. The knowledge and attitudes about the causes of climate change and adaptation were medium and related to level of adoption. Formulating effective communication strategies, and a collaborative approach involving state, private sector, civil society to make Sri Lankan agriculture ‘climate-smart’ is urgently needed.
Abstract: The condition of the market is currently very dynamic, demanding organizations which is use system information to support the achievement of objectives should be necessarily improve the ability of information systems in accordance with the changes. Improved information systems capabilities need to align with the resource capabilities in internal environment of the organization, and vice versa. Alignment model between information systems and environment organizational in this capability perspective is expected can assist management in making the strategy for enhance the capability of information systems in accordance with resources internally within the organization, efficiency in the process of development, and optimization of contributions information systems in achieving organizational goals.
Abstract: Modern engineering assets are complex and very high in value. They are expected to function for years to come, with ability to handle the change in technology and ageing modification. The aging of an engineering asset and continues increase of vendors and contractors numbers forces the asset operation management (or Owner) to design an asset system which can capture these changes. Furthermore, an accurate performance measurement and risk evaluation processes are highly needed. Therefore, this paper explores the nature of the asset management system performance evaluation for an engineering asset based on the System Support Engineering (SSE) principles. The research work explores the asset support system from a range of perspectives, interviewing managers from across a refinery organization. The factors contributing to complexity of an asset management system are described in context which clusters them into several key areas. It is proposed that SSE framework may then be used as a tool for analysis and management of asset. The paper will conclude with discussion of potential application of the framework and opportunities for future research.
Abstract: One of the Best Management Practices (BMPs) promoted in Urban Stormwater Management Manual for Malaysia (MSMA) published by the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) in 2001 is through the construction of wet ponds in new development projects for water quantity and quality control. Therefore, this paper aims to demonstrate a case study on evaluation of a constructed mini wet pond located at Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan Seksyen 2, Puchong, Selangor, Malaysia in both stormwater quantity and quality aspect particularly to reduce the peak discharge by temporary storing and gradual release of stormwater runoff from an outlet structure or other release mechanism. The evaluation technique will be using InfoWorks Collection System (CS) as the numerical modeling approach for water quantity aspect. Statistical test by comparing the correlation coefficient (R2), mean error (ME), mean absolute error (MAE) and root mean square error (RMSE) were used to evaluate the model in simulating the peak discharge changes. Results demonstrated that there will be a reduction in peak flow at 11 % to 15% and time to peak flow is slower by 5 minutes through a wet pond. For water quality aspect, a survey on biological indicator of water quality carried out depicts that the pond is within the range of rather clean to clean water with the score of 5.3. This study indicates that a constructed wet pond with wetland facilities is able to help in managing water quantity and stormwater generated pollution at source, towards achieving ecologically sustainable development in urban areas.
Abstract: Floods are natural phenomena, which may turn into disasters causing widespread damage, health problems and even deaths. Nowadays, floods had become more serious and more frequent due to climatic changes. During flooding, discharge measurement still can be taken by standing on the bridge across the river using portable measurement instrument. However, it is too dangerous to get near to the river especially during high flood. Therefore, this study employs Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) as a tool to measure the surface flow velocity. PIV is a image processing technique to track the movement of water from one point to another. The PIV codes are developed using Matlab. In this study, 18 ping pong balls were scattered over the surface of the drain and images were taken with a digital SLR camera. The images obtained were analyzed using the PIV code. Results show that PIV is able to produce the flow velocity through analyzing the series of images captured.
Abstract: In production processes, assembly conceals a considerable potential for increased efficiency in terms of lowering production costs. Due to the individualisation of customer requirements, product variants have increased in recent years. Simultaneously, the portion of automated production systems has increased. A challenge is to adapt the flexibility and adaptability of automated systems to these changes. The Institute for Production Systems and Logistics developed an aerodynamic orientation system for feeding technology. When changing to other components, only four parameters must be adjusted. The expenditure of time for setting parameters is high. An objective therefore is developing an optimisation algorithm for automatic parameter configuration. Know how regarding the interaction of the four parameters and their effect on the sizes to be optimised is required in order to be able to develop a more efficient algorithm. This article introduces an analysis of the interactions between parameters and their influence on the quality of feeding.
Abstract: Fault detection determines faultexistence and detecting
time. This paper discusses two layered fault detection methods to
enhance the reliability and safety. Two layered fault detection methods
consist of fault detection methods of component level controllers and
system level controllers. Component level controllers detect faults by
using limit checking, model-based detection, and data-driven
detection and system level controllers execute detection by stability
analysis which can detect unknown changes. System level controllers
compare detection results via stability with fault signals from lower
level controllers. This paper addresses fault detection methods via
stability and suggests fault detection criteria in nonlinear systems. The
fault detection method applies tothe hybrid control unit of a military
hybrid electric vehicleso that the hybrid control unit can detect faults
of the traction motor.