Abstract: Magnesium wastes and scraps, one of the metal wastes, are produced by many industrial activities, all over the world. Their growing size is becoming a future problem for the world. In this study, the use of magnesium wastes as a raw material in the production of the magnesium borate hydrates are aimed. The method used in the experiments is hydrothermal synthesis. The conditions are set to, waste magnesium to B2O3, 1:3 as a molar ratio. Four different reaction times are studied which are 30, 60, 120 and 240 minutes. For the identification analyses X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Raman spectroscopy techniques are used. As a result at all the reaction times magnesium borate hydrates are synthesized and the most crystalline forms are obtained at a reaction time of 120 minutes. The overall yields of the production are found between the values of 65-80 %.
Abstract: METIS is the Multi Element Telescope for Imaging
and Spectroscopy, a Coronagraph aboard the European Space
Agency-s Solar Orbiter Mission aimed at the observation of the solar
corona via both VIS and UV/EUV narrow-band imaging and spectroscopy. METIS, with its multi-wavelength capabilities, will
study in detail the physical processes responsible for the corona heating and the origin and properties of the slow and fast solar wind.
METIS electronics will collect and process scientific data thanks to its detectors proximity electronics, the digital front-end subsystem
electronics and the MPPU, the Main Power and Processing Unit,
hosting a space-qualified processor, memories and some rad-hard
FPGAs acting as digital controllers.This paper reports on the overall
METIS electronics architecture and data processing capabilities
conceived to address all the scientific issues as a trade-off solution between requirements and allocated resources, just before the
Preliminary Design Review as an ESA milestone in April 2012.
Abstract: This paper highlights the importance of integrating social and technical approach (which is so called a “hybrid socio-technical approach") as one innovative and strategic program to support the social development in geodisaster prone area in Indonesia. Such program mainly based on public education and community participation as a partnership program by the University, local government and may also with the private company and/ or local NGO. The indigenous, simple and low cost technology has also been introduced and developed as a part of the hybrid sociotechnical system, in order to ensure the life and environmental protection, with respect to the sustainable human and social development.
Abstract: Teachers form the backbone of any educational system, hence selecting qualified candidates is very crucial. In Malaysia, the decision making in the selection process involves a few stages: Initial filtering through academic achievement, taking entry examination and going through an interview session. The last stage is the most challenging since it highly depends on human judgment. Therefore, this study sought to identify the selection criteria for teacher candidates that form the basis for an efficient multi-criteria teacher-candidate selection model for that last stage. The relevant criteria were determined from the literature and also based on expert input that is those who were involved in interviewing teacher candidates from a public university offering the formal training program. There are three main competency criteria that were identified which are content of knowledge, communication skills and personality. Further, each main criterion was divided into a few subcriteria. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique was employed to allocate weights for the criteria and later, integrated a Simple Weighted Average (SWA) scoring approach to develop the selection model. Subsequently, a web-based Decision Support System was developed to assist in the process of selecting the qualified teacher candidates. The Teacher-Candidate Selection (TeCaS) system is able to assist the panel of interviewers during the selection process which involves a large amount of complex qualitative judgments.
Abstract: The tray/multi-tray distillation process is a topic that
has been investigated to great detail over the last decade by many
teams such as Jubran et al. [1], Adhikari et al. [2], Mowla et al. [3],
Shatat et al. [4] and Fath [5] to name a few. A significant amount of
work and effort was spent focusing on modeling and/simulation of
specific distillation hardware designs. In this work, we have focused
our efforts on investigating and gathering experimental data on
several engineering and design variables to quantify their influence
on the yield of the multi-tray distillation process. Our goals are to
generate experimental performance data to bridge some existing gaps
in the design, engineering, optimization and theoretical modeling
aspects of the multi-tray distillation process.
Abstract: Recently, several designs of single fed circularly
polarized microstrip antennas have been studied. Relatively, a few
designs for achieving circular polarization using triangular microstrip
antenna are available. Typically existing design of single fed
circularly polarized triangular microstrip antennas include the use of
equilateral triangular patch with a slit or a horizontal slot on the patch
or addition a narrow band stub on the edge or a vertex of triangular
patch.
In other word, with using a narrow band tune stub on middle of an
edge of triangle causes of facility to compensate the possible
fabrication error and substrate materials with easier adjusting the
tuner stub length. Even though disadvantages of this method is very
long of stub (approximate 1/3 length of triangle edge). In this paper,
instead of narrow band stub, a wide band stub has been applied,
therefore the length of stub by this method has been decreased
around 1/10 edge of triangle in addition changing the aperture angle
of stub, provides more facility for designing and producing circular
polarization wave.
Abstract: A prototype for audio and video capture and compression in real time on a Linux platform has been developed. It is able to visualize both the captured and the compressed video at the same time, as well as the captured and compressed audio with the goal of comparing their quality. As it is based on free code, the final goal is to run it in an embedded system running Linux. Therefore, we would implement a node to capture and compress such multimedia information. Thus, it would be possible to consider the project within a larger one aimed at live broadcast of audio and video using a streaming server which would communicate with our node. Then, we would have a very powerful and flexible system with several practical applications.
Abstract: This paper presents a numerical analysis of the
seismic behaviour of earth dams. Analysis is conducted for the solid
phase. It may correspond to the response of the dam before water
filling. Analysis is conducted for a simple case which concerns the
elastic response of the dam. Numerical analyses are conducted using
the FLAC3D program. The behaviour of the Shell and core of the
dam and the foundation behaviour is assumed to be elastic. Result
shows the influence of the variation of the shear modulus of the core
and shell on the seismic amplification of the dam. It can be observed
that the variation of the shearing modulus of the core leads to a
moderate increase in the dynamic amplification and the increase in
the shell shearing modulus leads to a significant increase in the
dynamic amplification.
Abstract: Prickly pear fruit (Opuntia ficus indica L. Miller) belongs to the Cactaceae family. This species is very sensitive to low storage temperatures (< 5°C) which cause damages. The fruits can be peeled, suitably packaged and successfully commercialized as a ready-to-eat product. The main limit to the extension of the shelf life is the production of off-flavors due to different factors, the growth of microorganisms and the action of endogenous enzymes. Lipoxygenase (LOX) and Pectinesterase (PE) are involved in fruit degradation. In particular, LOX pathway is directly responsible for lipid oxidation, and the subsequent production of off-flavours, while PE causes the softening of fruit during maturation. They act on the texture and shelf-life of post-harvest, packaged fruits, as a function of the the grown of microorganisms and packaging technologies used. The aim of this work is to compare the effect of different packaging technologies on the shelf life extension of ready-to-eat prickly pear fruits with regards for the enzymes activities.
Abstract: Hydrogen is regarded to play an important role in
future energy systems because it can be produced from abundant
resources and its combustion only generates water. The disposal of
waste tyres is a major problem in environmental management
throughout the world. The use of waste materials as a source of
hydrogen is particularly of interest in that it would also solve a waste
treatment problem. There is much interest in the use of alternative
feedstocks for the production of hydrogen since more than 95% of
current production is from fossil fuels. The pyrolysis of waste tyres
for the production of liquid fuels, activated carbons and gases has
been extensively researched. However, combining pyrolysis with
gasification is a novel process that can gasify the gaseous products
from pyrolysis. In this paper, an experimental investigation into the
production of hydrogen and other gases from the bench scale
pyrolysis-gasification of tyres has been investigated. Experiments
were carried using a two stage system consisting of pyrolysis of the
waste tyres followed by catalytic steam gasification of the evolved
gases and vapours in a second reactor. Experiments were conducted
at a pyrolysis temperature of 500 °C using Ni/Al2O3 as a catalyst. The
results showed that there was a dramatic increase in gas yield and the
potential H2 production when the gasification temperature was
increased from 600 to 900 oC. Overall, the process showed that high
yields of hydrogen can be produced from waste tyres.
Abstract: Imaging is defined as the process of obtaining
geometric images either two dimensional or three dimensional by scanning or digitizing the existing objects or products. In this research, it applied to retrieve 3D information of the human skin
surface in medical application. This research focuses on analyzing
and determining volume of leg ulcers using imaging devices. Volume
determination is one of the important criteria in clinical assessment of leg ulcer. The volume and size of the leg ulcer wound will give the
indication on responding to treatment whether healing or worsening.
Different imaging techniques are expected to give different result (and accuracies) in generating data and images. Midpoint projection
algorithm was used to reconstruct the cavity to solid model and compute the volume. Misinterpretation of the results can affect the
treatment efficacy. The objectives of this paper is to compare the
accuracy between two 3D data acquisition method, which is laser
triangulation and structured light methods, It was shown that using models with known volume, that structured-light-based 3D technique
produces better accuracy compared with laser triangulation data
acquisition method for leg ulcer volume determination.
Abstract: Mixed Model Production is the practice of assembling
several distinct and different models of a product on the same
assembly line without changeovers and then sequencing those models
in a way that smoothes the demand for upstream components. In this
paper, we consider an objective function which minimizes total
stoppage time and total idle time and it is presented sequence
dependent set up time. Many studies have been done on the mixed
model assembly lines. But in this paper we specifically focused on
reducing the idle times. This is possible through various help policies.
For improving the solutions, some cases developed and about 40 tests
problem was considered. We use scatter search for optimization and
for showing the efficiency of our algorithm, experimental results
shows behavior of method. Scatter search and help policies can
produce high quality answers, so it has been used in this paper.
Abstract: The adoption of building information modeling (BIM)
is increasing in the construction industry. However, quantity
surveyors are slow in adoption compared to other professions due to
lack of awareness of the BIM’s potential in their profession. It is still
unclear on how BIM application can enhance quantity surveyors’
work performance and project performance. The aim of this research
is to identify the capabilities of BIM in quantity surveying practices
and examine the relationship between BIM capabilities and project
performance. Questionnaire survey and interviews were adopted for
data collection. Literature reviews identified there are eleven BIM
capabilities in quantity surveying practice. Questionnaire results
showed that there are several BIM capabilities significantly
correlated with project performance in time, cost and quality aspects
and the results were validated through interviews. These findings
show that BIM has the capabilities to enhance quantity surveyors’
performances and subsequently improved project performance.
Abstract: Hydraulic conductivity is one parameter important for predicting the movement of water and contaminants dissolved in the water through the soil. The hydraulic conductivity is measured on soil samples in the lab and sometimes tests carried out in the field. The hydraulic conductivity has been related to soil particle diameter by a number of investigators. In this study, 25 set of soil samples with sand texture. The results show approximately success in predicting hydraulic conductivity from particle diameters data. The following relationship obtained from multiple linear regressions on data (R2 = 0.52): Where d10, d50 and d60, are the soil particle diameter (mm) that 10%, 50% and 60% of all soil particles are finer (smaller) by weight and Ks, saturated hydraulic conductivity is expressed in m/day. The results of regression analysis showed that d10 play a more significant role with respect to Ks, saturated hydraulic conductivity (m/day), and has been named as the effective parameter in Ks calculation.
Abstract: In this paper, an attempt has been made to obtain nonsensitive
solutions in the multi-objective optimization of a
photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) air collector. The selected objective
functions are overall energy efficiency and exergy efficiency.
Improved thermal, electrical and exergy models are used to calculate
the thermal and electrical parameters, overall energy efficiency,
exergy components and exergy efficiency of a typical PV/T air
collector. A computer simulation program is also developed. The
results of numerical simulation are in good agreement with the
experimental measurements noted in the previous literature. Finally,
multi-objective optimization has been carried out under given
climatic, operating and design parameters. The optimized ranges of
inlet air velocity, duct depth and the objective functions in optimal
Pareto front have been obtained. Furthermore, non-sensitive solutions
from energy or exergy point of view in the results of multi-objective
optimization have been shown.
Abstract: Purpose of this work is to develop an automatic classification system that could be useful for radiologists in the breast cancer investigation. The software has been designed in the framework of the MAGIC-5 collaboration. In an automatic classification system the suspicious regions with high probability to include a lesion are extracted from the image as regions of interest (ROIs). Each ROI is characterized by some features based generally on morphological lesion differences. A study in the space features representation is made and some classifiers are tested to distinguish the pathological regions from the healthy ones. The results provided in terms of sensitivity and specificity will be presented through the ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) curves. In particular the best performances are obtained with the Neural Networks in comparison with the K-Nearest Neighbours and the Support Vector Machine: The Radial Basis Function supply the best results with 0.89 ± 0.01 of area under ROC curve but similar results are obtained with the Probabilistic Neural Network and a Multi Layer Perceptron.
Abstract: Mercury adsorption on soil was investigated at
different ionic strengths using Ca(NO3)2 as a background electrolyte.
Results fitted the Langmuir equation and the adsorption isotherms
reached a plateau at higher equilibrium concentrations. Increasing
ionic strength decreased the sorption of mercury, due to the
competition of Ca ions for the sorption sites in the soils. The
influence of ionic strength was related to the mechanisms of heavy
metal sorption by the soil. These results can be of practical
importance both in the agriculture and contaminated soils since the
solubility of mercury in soils are strictly dependent on the adsorption
and release process.
Abstract: Tourism is a phenomenon respected by the human communities since a long time ago. It has been evoloving continually based on a variety of social and economic needs and with respect to increasingly development of communication and considerable increase of tourist-s number and resulted exchange income has attained much out come such as employment for the communities. or the purpose of tourism development in this zone suitable times and locations need to be specified in the zone for the tourist-s attendance. One of the most important needs of the tourists is the knowledge of climate conditions and suitable times for sightseeing. In this survey, the climate trend condition has been identified for attending the tourists in Isfahan province using the modified tourism climate index (TCI) as well as SPSS, GIS, excel, surfer softwares. This index evoluates systematically the climate conditions for tourism affairs and activities using the monthly maximum mean parameters of daily temperature, daily mean temperature, minimum relative humidity, daily mean relative humidity, precipitation (mm), total sunny hours, wind speed and dust. The results obtaind using kendal-s correlation test show that the months January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December are significant and have an increasing trend that indicates the best condition for attending the tourists. S, P, T mean , T max and dust are estimated from 1976-2005 and do kendal-s correlation test again to see which parameter has been effective. Based on the test, we also observed on the effective parameters that the rate of dust in February, March, April, May, June, July, August, October and November is decreasing and precipitation in September and January is increasing and also the radiation rate in May and August is increasing that indicate a better condition of convenience. Maximum temperature in June is also decreasing. Isfahan province has two spring and fall peaks and the best places for tourism are in the north and western areas.
Abstract: This paper presents the characterization and design of a capacitive pressure sensor with LC-based 0.35 µm CMOS readout circuit. SPICE is employed to evaluate the characteristics of the readout circuit and COMSOL multiphysics structural analysis is used to simulate the behavior of the pressure sensor. The readout circuit converts the capacitance variation of the pressure sensor into the frequency output. Simulation results show that the proposed pressure sensor has output frequency from 2.50 to 2.28 GHz in a pressure range from 0.1 to 2 MPa almost linearly. The sensitivity of the frequency shift with respect to the applied pressure load is 0.11 GHz/MPa.
Abstract: Rural areas of Tanzania are still disadvantaged in terms of diffusion of IP-based services; this is due to lack of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructures, especially lack of connectivity. One of the limitations for connectivity problems in rural areas of Tanzania is the high cost to establish infrastructures for IP-based services [1-2]. However the cost of connectivity varies from one technology to the other and at the same time, the cost is also different from one operator (service provider) to another within the country. This paper presents development of software system to calculate cost of connectivity to rural areas of Tanzania. The system is developed to make an easy access of connectivity cost from different technologies and different operators. The development of the calculator follows the V-model software development lifecycle. The calculator is used to evaluate the economic viability of different technologies considered as being potential candidates to provide rural connectivity. In this paper, the evaluation is based on the techno-economic analysis approach.