G - Journal Author

Emergency Health Management and Student Hygiene at a South African University

Year: 2013 Volume: 7 Issue: 6 1498 - 1506 Pages

Abstract: Risk of infectious disease outbreaks is related to the hygiene among the population. To assess the actual risks and modify the relevant emergency procedures if necessary, a hygiene survey was conducted among undergraduate students on the Rhodes University campus. Soap was available to 10.5% and only 26.8% of the study participants followed proper hygiene in relation to food consumption. This combination increases the risk of infectious disease outbreaks at the campus. Around 83.6% were willing to wash their hands if soap was provided. Procurement and availability of soap in undergraduate residences on campus should be improved, as the total cost is estimated at only 2000 USD per annum. Awareness campaigns about food-related hygiene and the need for regular handwashing with soap should be run among Rhodes University students. If successful, rates of respiratory and hygiene-related diseases will be decreased and emergency health management simplified.

Analysis of the Effect of HV Transmission Lines on the Control Room and its Proposed Shielding

Year: 2010 Volume: 4 Issue: 11 1621 - 1625 Pages

Abstract: Today with the rapid growth of telecommunications equipment, electronic and developing more and more networks of power, influence of electromagnetic waves on one another has become hot topic discussions. So in this article, this issue and appropriate mechanisms for EMC operations have been presented. First, impact of high voltage lines on the surrounding environment especially on the control room has been investigated, then to reduce electromagnetic radiation, various methods of shielding are provided and shielding effectiveness of them has been compared. It should be expressed that simulations have been done by the finite element method (FEM).

NFκB Pathway Modeling for Optimal Drug Combination Therapy on Multiple Myeloma

Year: 2010 Volume: 4 Issue: 5 190 - 196 Pages

Abstract: NFκB activation plays a crucial role in anti-apoptotic responses in response to the apoptotic signaling during tumor necrosis factor (TNFa) stimulation in Multiple Myeloma (MM). Although several drugs have been found effective for the treatment of MM by mainly inhibiting NFκB pathway, there are no any quantitative or qualitative results of comparison assessment on inhibition effect between different single drugs or drug combinations. Computational modeling is becoming increasingly indispensable for applied biological research mainly because it can provide strong quantitative predicting power. In this study, a novel computational pathway modeling approach is employed to comparably assess the inhibition effects of specific single drugs and drug combinations on the NFκB pathway in MM, especially the prediction of synergistic drug combinations.

Response Spectrum Transformation for Seismic Qualification Testing

Year: 2011 Volume: 5 Issue: 11 554 - 557 Pages

Abstract: Seismic qualification testing for equipments to be mounted on upper storeys of buildings is very demanding in terms of floor spectra. The latter is characterized by high accelerations amplitudes within a narrow frequency band. This article presents a method which permits to cover specified required response spectra beyond the shaking table capability by amplifying the acceleration amplitudes at an appropriate frequency range using a physical intermediate mounted on the platform of the shaker.

Text Summarization for Oil and Gas News Article

Year: 2009 Volume: 3 Issue: 5 1312 - 1315 Pages

Abstract: Information is increasing in volumes; companies are overloaded with information that they may lose track in getting the intended information. It is a time consuming task to scan through each of the lengthy document. A shorter version of the document which contains only the gist information is more favourable for most information seekers. Therefore, in this paper, we implement a text summarization system to produce a summary that contains gist information of oil and gas news articles. The summarization is intended to provide important information for oil and gas companies to monitor their competitor-s behaviour in enhancing them in formulating business strategies. The system integrated statistical approach with three underlying concepts: keyword occurrences, title of the news article and location of the sentence. The generated summaries were compared with human generated summaries from an oil and gas company. Precision and recall ratio are used to evaluate the accuracy of the generated summary. Based on the experimental results, the system is able to produce an effective summary with the average recall value of 83% at the compression rate of 25%.

Challenges on Adopting Scrum for Distributed Teams in Home Office Environments

Year: 2009 Volume: 3 Issue: 11 2048 - 2051 Pages

Abstract: This paper describes the two actual tendencies in the software development process usage: 'Scrum' and 'work in home office'. It-s exposed the four main challenges to adopt Scrum framework for distributed teams in this cited kind of work. The challenges are mainly based on the communication problems due distances since the Scrum encourages the team to work together in the same room, and this is not possible when people work distributed in their homes.

The Taiwanese Institutional Arrangement for Coastal Management Due to Climate Change

Year: 2013 Volume: 7 Issue: 7 424 - 429 Pages

Abstract: Weather disaster events were frequent and caused loss of lives and property in Taiwan recently. Excessive concentration of population and lacking of integrated planning led to Taiwanese coastal zone face the impacts of climate change directly. Comparing to many countries which have already set up legislation, competent authorities and national adaptation strategies, the ability of coastal management adapting to climate change is still insufficient in Taiwan. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a complete institutional arrangement for coastal management due to climate change in order to protect environment and sustain socio-economic development. This paper firstly reviews the impact of climate change on Taiwanese coastal zone. Secondly, development of Taiwanese institutional arrangement of coastal management is introduced. Followed is the analysis of four dimensions of legal basis, competent authority, scientific and financial support and international cooperations of institutional arrangement. The results show that Taiwanese government shall: 1) integrate climate change issue into Coastal Act, Wetland Act and territorial planning Act and pass them; 2) establish the high level competent authority for coastal management; 3) set up the climate change disaster coordinate platform; 4) link scientific information and decision markers; 5) establish the climate change adjustment fund; 6) participate in international climate change organizations and meetings actively; 7) cooperate with near countries to exchange experiences.

Arabic and Islamic Education in Nigeria: The Case of Al-Majiri Schools

Year: 2012 Volume: 6 Issue: 11 2949 - 2953 Pages

Authors:
Abdul Ganiy A. S. Oladosu

Abstract: The AL-MAJIRI school system is a variant of private Arabic and Islamic schools which cater for the religious and moral development of Muslims. In the past, the system produced clerics, scholars, judges, religious reformers, eminent teachers and great men who are worthy of emulation, particularly in northern Nigeria. Gradually, the system lost its glory but continued to discharge its educational responsibilities to a certain extent. This paper takes a look at the activities of the AL-MAJIRI schools. The introduction provides background information about Nigeria where the schools operate. This is followed by an overview of the Nigerian educational system, the nature and the features of the AL-MAJIRI school system, its weaknesses and the current challenges facing the schools. The paper concludes with emphasis on the urgent need for a comprehensive reform of the curriculum content of the schools. The step by step procedure required for the reform is discussed.

Investigation of Inert Gas Injection in Steam Reforming of Methane: Energy

Year: 2011 Volume: 5 Issue: 8 690 - 693 Pages

Abstract: Synthesis gas manufacturing by steam reforming of hydrocarbons is an important industrial process. High endothermic nature of the process makes it one of the most cost and heat intensive processes. In the present work, composite effect of different inert gases on synthesis gas yield, feed gas conversion and temperature distribution along the reactor length has been studied using a heterogeneous model. Mathematical model was developed as a first stage and validated against the existing process models. With the addition of inert gases, a higher yield of synthesis gas is observed. Simultaneously the rector outlet temperature drops to as low as 810 K. It was found that Xenon gives the highest yield and conversion while Helium gives the lowest temperature. Using Xenon inert gas 20 percent reduction in outlet temperature was observed compared to traditional case.

Simplified Models to Determine Nodal Voltagesin Problems of Optimal Allocation of Capacitor Banks in Power Distribution Networks

Year: 2008 Volume: 2 Issue: 4 582 - 588 Pages

Abstract: This paper presents two simplified models to determine nodal voltages in power distribution networks. These models allow estimating the impact of the installation of reactive power compensations equipments like fixed or switched capacitor banks. The procedure used to develop the models is similar to the procedure used to develop linear power flow models of transmission lines, which have been widely used in optimization problems of operation planning and system expansion. The steady state non-linear load flow equations are approximated by linear equations relating the voltage amplitude and currents. The approximations of the linear equations are based on the high relationship between line resistance and line reactance (ratio R/X), which is valid for power distribution networks. The performance and accuracy of the models are evaluated through comparisons with the exact results obtained from the solution of the load flow using two test networks: a hypothetical network with 23 nodes and a real network with 217 nodes.

Mechanisms of Organic Contaminants Uptake and Degradation in Plants

Year: 2009 Volume: 3 Issue: 7 352 - 362 Pages

Abstract: As a result of urbanization, the unpredictable growth of industry and transport, production of chemicals, military activities, etc. the concentration of anthropogenic toxicants spread in nature exceeds all the permissible standards. Most dangerous among these contaminants are organic compounds having great persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity along with our awareness of their prominent occurrence in the environment and food chain. Among natural ecological tools, plants still occupying above 40% of the world land, until recently, were considered as organisms having only a limited ecological potential, accumulating in plant biomass and partially volatilizing contaminants of different structure. However, analysis of experimental data of the last two decades revealed the essential role of plants in environment remediation due to ability to carry out intracellular degradation processes leading to partial or complete decomposition of carbon skeleton of different structure contaminants. Though, phytoremediation technologies still are in research and development, their various applications have been successfully used. The paper aims to analyze mechanisms of organic contaminants uptake and detoxification in plants, being the less studied issue in evaluation and exploration of plants potential for environment remediation.

Performance of Histogram-Based Skin Colour Segmentation for Arms Detection in Human Motion Analysis Application

Year: 2009 Volume: 3 Issue: 4 993 - 998 Pages

Abstract: Arms detection is one of the fundamental problems in human motion analysis application. The arms are considered as the most challenging body part to be detected since its pose and speed varies in image sequences. Moreover, the arms are usually occluded with other body parts such as the head and torso. In this paper, histogram-based skin colour segmentation is proposed to detect the arms in image sequences. Six different colour spaces namely RGB, rgb, HSI, TSL, SCT and CIELAB are evaluated to determine the best colour space for this segmentation procedure. The evaluation is divided into three categories, which are single colour component, colour without luminance and colour with luminance. The performance is measured using True Positive (TP) and True Negative (TN) on 250 images with manual ground truth. The best colour is selected based on the highest TN value followed by the highest TP value.

Characterization of Catalagzi Fly Ash for Heavy Metal Adsorption

Year: 2012 Volume: 6 Issue: 11 1027 - 1031 Pages

Abstract: Fly ash is a significant waste that is released of thermal power plants and defined as very fine particles that are drifted upward with up taken by the flue gases due to the burning of used coal [1]. The fly-ash is capable of removing organic contaminants in consequence of high carbon content, a large surface area per unit volume and contained heavy metals. Therefore, fly ash is used as an effective coagulant and adsorbent by pelletization [2, 3]. In this study, the possibility of use of fly ash taken from Turkey like low-cost adsorbent for adsorption of zinc ions found in waste water was investigated. The fly ash taken from Turkey was pelletized with bentonite and molass to evaluate the adsorption capaticity. For this purpose; analyses such as sieve analysis, XRD, XRF, FTIR and SEM were performed. As a result, it was seen that pellets prepared from fly ash, bentonite and molass would be used for zinc adsorption.

Estimation of Production Function in Fishery on the Coasts of Caspian Sea

Year: 2010 Volume: 4 Issue: 5 269 - 272 Pages

Abstract: This research was conducted for the first time at the southeastern coasts of the Caspian Sea in order to evaluate the performance of osteichthyes cooperatives through production (catch) function. Using one of the indirect valuation methods in this research, contributory factors in catch were identified and were inserted into the function as independent variables. In order to carry out this research, the performance of 25 Osteichthyes catching cooperatives in the utilization year of 2009 which were involved in fishing in Miankale wildlife refuge region. The contributory factors in catch were divided into groups of economic, ecological and biological factors. In the mentioned function, catch rate of the cooperative were inserted into as the dependant variable and fourteen partial variables in terms of nine general variables as independent variables. Finally, after function estimation, seven variables were rendered significant at 99 percent reliably level. The results of the function estimation indicated that human resource (fisherman quantity) had the greatest positive effect on catch rate with an influence coefficient of 1.7 while weather conditions had the greatest negative effect on the catch rate of cooperatives with an influence coefficient of -2.07. Moreover, factors like member's share, experience and fisherman training and fishing effort played the main roles in the catch rate of cooperative with influence coefficients of 0.81, 0.5 and 0.21, respectively.

Prediction of a Human Facial Image by ANN using Image Data and its Content on Web Pages

Year: 2009 Volume: 3 Issue: 8 1957 - 1961 Pages

Abstract: Choosing the right metadata is a critical, as good information (metadata) attached to an image will facilitate its visibility from a pile of other images. The image-s value is enhanced not only by the quality of attached metadata but also by the technique of the search. This study proposes a technique that is simple but efficient to predict a single human image from a website using the basic image data and the embedded metadata of the image-s content appearing on web pages. The result is very encouraging with the prediction accuracy of 95%. This technique may become a great assist to librarians, researchers and many others for automatically and efficiently identifying a set of human images out of a greater set of images.

Multiple Sequence Alignment Using Three- Dimensional Fragments

Year: 2011 Volume: 5 Issue: 1 26 - 29 Pages

Abstract: Background: Dialign is a DNA/Protein alignment tool for performing pairwise and multiple pairwise alignments through the comparison of gap-free segments (fragments) between sequence pairs. An alignment of two sequences is a chain of fragments, i.e local gap-free pairwise alignments, with the highest total score. METHOD: A new approach is defined in this article which relies on the concept of using three-dimensional fragments – i.e. local threeway alignments -- in the alignment process instead of twodimensional ones. These three-dimensional fragments are gap-free alignments constituting of equal-length segments belonging to three distinct sequences. RESULTS: The obtained results showed good improvments over the performance of DIALIGN.

Data Traffic Dynamics and Saturation on a Single Link

Year: 2009 Volume: 3 Issue: 3 624 - 629 Pages

Authors:
Reginald D. Smith

Abstract: The dynamics of User Datagram Protocol (UDP) traffic over Ethernet between two computers are analyzed using nonlinear dynamics which shows that there are two clear regimes in the data flow: free flow and saturated. The two most important variables affecting this are the packet size and packet flow rate. However, this transition is due to a transcritical bifurcation rather than phase transition in models such as in vehicle traffic or theorized large-scale computer network congestion. It is hoped this model will help lay the groundwork for further research on the dynamics of networks, especially computer networks.

Performance and Emission Characteristics of a DI Diesel Engine Fuelled with Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL)-Diesel Blends

Year: 2011 Volume: 5 Issue: 10 1968 - 1973 Pages

Abstract: The increased number of automobiles in recent years has resulted in great demand for fossil fuel. This has led to the development of automobile by using alternative fuels which include gaseous fuels, biofuels and vegetables oils as fuel. Energy from biomass and more specific bio-diesel is one of the opportunities that could cover the future demand of fossil fuel shortage. Biomass in the form of cashew nut shell represents a new energy source and abundant source of energy in India. The bio-fuel is derived from cashew nut shell oil and its blend with diesel are promising alternative fuel for diesel engine. In this work the pyrolysis Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL)-Diesel Blends (CDB) was used to run the Direct Injection (DI) diesel engine. The experiments were conducted with various blends of CNSL and Diesel namely B20, B40, B60, B80 and B100. The results are compared with neat diesel operation. The brake thermal efficiency was decreased for blends of CNSL and Diesel except the lower blends of B20. The brake thermal efficiency of B20 is nearly closer to that of diesel fuel. Also the emission level of the all CNSL and Diesel blends was increased compared to neat diesel. The higher viscosity and lower volatility of CNSL leads to poor mixture formation and hence lower brake thermal efficiency and higher emission levels. The higher emission level can be reduced by adding suitable additives and oxygenates with CNSL and Diesel blends.

Technique for Grounding System Design in Distribution Substation

Year: 2012 Volume: 6 Issue: 11 1277 - 1280 Pages

Abstract: This paper presents the significant factor and give some suggestion that should know before design. The main objective of this paper is guide the first step for someone who attends to design of grounding system before study in details later. The overview of grounding system can protect damage from fault such as can save a human life and power system equipment. The unsafe conditions have three cases. Case 1) maximum touch voltage exceeds the safety criteria. In this case, the conductor compression ratio of the ground gird should be first adjusted to have optimal spacing of ground grid conductors. If it still over limit, earth resistivity should be consider afterward. Case 2) maximum step voltage exceeds the safety criteria. In this case, increasing the number of ground grid conductors around the boundary can solve this problem. Case 3) both of maximum touch and step voltage exceed the safety criteria. In this case, follow the solutions explained in case 1 and case 2. Another suggestion, vary depth of ground grid until maximum step and touch voltage do not exceed the safety criteria.

Genetic Algorithms with Oracle for the Traveling Salesman Problem

Year: 2007 Volume: 1 Issue: 7 1986 - 1991 Pages

Abstract: By introducing the concept of Oracle we propose an approach for improving the performance of genetic algorithms for large-scale asymmetric Traveling Salesman Problems. The results have shown that the proposed approach allows overcoming some traditional problems for creating efficient genetic algorithms.

Top Journal

SUGGEST A JOURNAL