Abstract: By enhancing the applicatıon of grounds for
establishment and due to the lack of appropriate sites, engineers
attempt to seek out a new method to reduce the weakness of soils. İn
aspect of economic situation, various ways have been used to
decrease the weak grounds. Because of the rapid development of
infrastructural facilities, spreading the construction operation is an
obligation. Furthermore, in various sites with the really bad soil
situation, engineers have considered obvious problems. One of the
most essential ways for developing the weak soils is stone column.
Obviously, the method was introduced in France in 1830 to improve
a native soil initially. Stone columns have an expanding range of
usage in different rough foundation sites all over the world to
increase the bearing capacity, to reduce the whole and differential
settlements, to enhance the rate of consolidation, to stabilize slopes
stability of embankments and to increase the liquefaction resistance
as well. A recent procedure called installing vertical nails along the
round stone columns in order to make better the performance of
considered columns is offered. Moreover, thanks to the enhancing the
nail diameter, number and embedment nail depth, the positive points
of vertical circumferential nails increases. Based on the result of this
study, load caring capacity will be develop with enhancing the length
and the power of reinforcements in vertical encasement stone column
(CESC). In this study, the main purpose is comparing two methods of
stone columns (installed a nail surrounding the stone columns and
using geogrid on clay) for enhancing the bearing capacity, decreasing
the whole and various settlements.
Abstract: Consumers are demanding novel beverages that are
healthier, convenient and have appealing consumer acceptance. The
objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of adding grape
polyphenols and the influence of presenting health claims on the
sensory acceptability of wines. Fresh red sorrel calyces were
fermented into wines. The total soluble solids of the pectinase-treated
sorrel puree were from 4°Brix to 23.8°Brix. Polyphenol in the form
of grape pomace extract was added to sorrel wines (w/v) in specified
levels to give 0. 25. 50 and 75 ppm. A focus group comprising of 12
panelists was use to select the level of polyphenol to be added to
sorrel wines for sensory preference The sensory attributed of the
wines which were evaluated were colour, clarity, aroma, flavor,
mouth-feel, sweetness, astringency and overall preference. The sorrel
wine which was most preferred from focus group evaluation was
presented for hedonic rating. In the first stage of hedonic testing, the
sorrel wine was served chilled at 7°C for 24 h prior to sensory
evaluation. Each panelist was provided with a questionnaire and was
asked to rate the wines on colour, aroma, flavor, mouth-feel,
sweetness, astringency and overall acceptability using a 9-point
hedonic scale. In the second stage of hedonic testing, the panelist
were instructed to read a health abstract on the health benefits of
polyphenolic compounds and again to rate sorrel wine with added 25
ppm polyphenol. Paired t-test was used for the analysis of the
influence of presenting health information on polyphenols on hedonic
scoring of sorrel wines. Focus groups found that the addition of
polyphenol addition had no significant effect on sensory color and
aroma but affected clarity and flavor. A 25 ppm wine was liked
moderately in overall acceptability. The presentation of information
on the health benefit of polyphenols in sorrel wines to panelists had
no significant influence on the sensory acceptance of wine. More
than half of panelists would drink this wine now and then. This wine
had color L 19.86±0.68, chroma 2.10±0.12, hue° 16.90 ±3.10 and
alcohol content of 13.0%. The sorrel wine was liked moderately in
overall acceptability with the added polyphenols.
Abstract: This paper presents a fully Lagrangian coupled
Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) solver for simulations of
fluid-structure interactions, which is based on the Moving Particle
Semi-implicit (MPS) method to solve the governing equations
corresponding to incompressible flows as well as elastic structures.
The developed solver is verified by reproducing the high velocity
impact loads of deformable thin wedges with three different materials
such as mild steel, aluminium and tin during water entry. The present
simulation results for aluminium are compared with analytical solution
derived from the hydrodynamic Wagner model and linear Wan’s
theory. And also, the impact pressure and strain on the water entry
wedge with three different materials, such as mild steel, aluminium
and tin, are simulated and the effects of hydro-elasticity are discussed.
Abstract: This work is on decision tree-based classification for
the disbursement of scholarship. Tree-based data mining
classification technique is used in other to determine the generic rule
to be used to disburse the scholarship. The system based on the
defined rules from the tree is able to determine the class (status) to
which an applicant shall belong whether Granted or Not Granted. The
applicants that fall to the class of granted denote a successful
acquirement of scholarship while those in not granted class are
unsuccessful in the scheme. An algorithm that can be used to classify
the applicants based on the rules from tree-based classification was
also developed. The tree-based classification is adopted because of its
efficiency, effectiveness, and easy to comprehend features. The
system was tested with the data of National Information Technology
Development Agency (NITDA) Abuja, a Parastatal of Federal
Ministry of Communication Technology that is mandated to develop
and regulate information technology in Nigeria. The system was
found working according to the specification. It is therefore
recommended for all scholarship disbursement organizations.
Abstract: An investigation has been presented to analyze the
effect of internal heat source on the onset of Hadley-Prats flow in
a horizontal fluid saturated porous medium. We examine a better
understanding of the combined influence of the heat source and mass
flow effect by using linear stability analysis. The resultant eigenvalue
problem is solved by using shooting and Runga-Kutta methods for
evaluate critical thermal Rayleigh number with respect to various
flow governing parameters. It is identified that the flow is switch from
stabilizing to destabilizing as the horizontal thermal Rayleigh number
is enhanced. The heat source and mass flow increases resulting a
stronger destabilizing effect.
Abstract: The nickel-manganese (Ni-Mn) alloy coating prepared
from DC electrodeposition process in sulphamate bath was studied.
The effects of process parameters, such as current density and
electrolyte composition, on the cathodic current efficiency,
microstructure, internal stress and mechanical properties were
investigated. Because of its crucial effect on the application to the
electroforming of microelectronic components, the development of
low internal stress coating with high leveling power was emphasized.
It was found that both the coating’s manganese content and the
cathodic current efficiency increased with the raise in current density.
In addition, the internal stress of the deposited coating showed
compressive nature at low current densities while changed to tensile
one at higher current densities. Moreover, the metallographic
observation, X-ray diffraction measurement, and polarization curve
measurement were conducted. It was found that the Ni-Mn coating
consisted of nano-sized columnar grains and the maximum hardness of
the coating was associated with (111) preferred orientation in the
microstructure. The grain size was refined along with the increase in
the manganese content of the coating, which accordingly, raised its
hardness and resistance to annealing softening. In summary, the
Ni-Mn coating prepared at lower current density of 1-2 A/dm2 had low
internal stress, high leveling power, and better corrosion resistance.
Abstract: Sewer deposits have been identified as a major cause
of dysfunctions in combined sewer systems regarding sewer
management, which induces different negative consequents resulting
in poor hydraulic conveyance, environmental damages as well as
worker’s health. In order to overcome the problematics of
sedimentation, flushing has been considered as the most operative
and cost-effective way to minimize the sediments impacts and
prevent such challenges. Flushing, by prompting turbulent wave
effects, can modify the bed form depending on the hydraulic
properties and geometrical characteristics of the conduit. So far, the
dynamics of the bed-load during high-flow events in combined sewer
systems as a complex environment is not well understood, mostly due
to lack of measuring devices capable to work in the “hostile” in
combined sewer system correctly. In this regards, a one-episode
flushing issue from an opening gate valve with weir function was
carried out in a trunk sewer in Paris to understand its cleansing
efficiency on the sediments (thickness: 0-30 cm). During more than
1h of flushing within 5 m distance in downstream of this flushing
device, a maximum flowrate and a maximum level of water have
been recorded at 5 m in downstream of the gate as 4.1 m3/s and 2.1
m respectively. This paper is aimed to evaluate the efficiency of this
type of gate for around 1.1 km (from the point -50 m to +1050 m in
downstream from the gate) by (i) determining bed grain-size
distribution and sediments evolution through the sewer channel, as
well as their organic matter content, and (ii) identifying sections that
exhibit more changes in their texture after the flush. For the first one,
two series of sampling were taken from the sewer length and then
analyzed in laboratory, one before flushing and second after, at same
points among the sewer channel. Hence, a non-intrusive sampling
instrument has undertaken to extract the sediments smaller than the
fine gravels. The comparison between sediments texture after the
flush operation and the initial state, revealed the most modified zones
by the flush effect, regarding the sewer invert slope and hydraulic
parameters in the zone up to 400 m from the gate. At this distance,
despite the increase of sediment grain-size rages, D50 (median grainsize)
varies between 0.6 mm and 1.1 mm compared to 0.8 mm and 10
mm before and after flushing, respectively. Overall, regarding the
sewer channel invert slope, results indicate that grains smaller than
sands (< 2 mm) are more transported to downstream along about 400
m from the gate: in average 69% before against 38% after the flush
with more dispersion of grain-sizes distributions. Furthermore, high
effect of the channel bed irregularities on the bed material evolution
has been observed after the flush.
Abstract: This study aims to investigate the mixing behaviors of
deionized (DI) water and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) solutions in
C-shaped serpentine micromixers over a wide range of flow
conditions. The flow of CMC solutions exhibits shear-thinning
behaviors. Numerical simulations are performed to investigate the
effects of the mean flow speed, fluid properties and geometry
parameters on flow and mixing in the micromixers with the serpentine
channel of the same overall channel length. From the results, we can
find the following trends. When convection dominates fluid mixing,
the curvature-induced vortices enhance fluid mixing effectively. The
mixing efficiency of a micromixer consisting of semicircular C-shaped
repeating units with a smaller centerline radius is better than that of a
micromixer consisting of major segment repeating units with a larger
centerline radius. The viscosity of DI water is less than the overall
average apparent viscosity of CMC solutions, and so the effect of
curvature-induced vortices on fluid mixing in DI water is larger than
that in CMC solutions for the cases with the same mean flow speed.
Abstract: The objective of this paper is to evaluate the effects of
soil-structure interaction (SSI) on the modal characteristics and on
the dynamic response of current structures. The objective is on the
overall behaviour of a real structure of five storeys reinforced
concrete (R/C) building typically encountered in Algeria. Sensitivity
studies are undertaken in order to study the effects of frequency
content of the input motion, frequency of the soil-structure system,
rigidity and depth of the soil layer on the dynamic response of such
structures. This investigation indicated that the rigidity of the soil
layer is the predominant factor in soil-structure interaction and its
increases would definitely reduce the deformation in the R/C
structure. On the other hand, increasing the period of the underlying
soil will cause an increase in the lateral displacements at story levels
and create irregularity in the distribution of story shears. Possible
resonance between the frequency content of the input motion and soil
could also play an important role in increasing the structural
response.
Abstract: Commercial banks in Nigeria adopted many strategies
to attract fresh deposits including the use of high deposit rate.
However, pricing of banking services moved in favor of the banks at
the expense of customers, resulting in their seeking other investment
alternatives rather than saving their money in the bank. Both deposit
and lending rates were greatly influenced by the Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) decision on interest rate. Therefore, commercial bank
effort to attract deposits via manipulation of her rates was greatly
limited, otherwise the banks will be giving out more than it earned.
The study aimed at examining the relationship between interest rate
and fixed fund deposit of commercial banks, how policy-controlled
interest rate affected commercial bank’s fixed fund deposit The
researcher employed ordinary least square technique, using, multiple
linear regression, unrestricted vector auto-regression, correlation
matrix test, granger causality and impulse response graph in the
analysis. Commercial bank’s interest rates affected commercial
bank’s fixed fund deposit significantly while policy-controlled
interest rate did not significantly transmit through the commercial
bank’s interest rates to affect fixed fund deposit. While commercial
banks seek creative ways to expand their fixed fund deposit, policy
authorities in Nigeria should better coordinate interest rate fluctuation
and induce competition in the entire financial sector.
Abstract: One of the most critical decision points in the design of a
face recognition system is the choice of an appropriate face representation.
Effective feature descriptors are expected to convey sufficient, invariant
and non-redundant facial information. In this work we propose a set of
Hahn moments as a new approach for feature description. Hahn moments
have been widely used in image analysis due to their invariance, nonredundancy
and the ability to extract features either globally and locally.
To assess the applicability of Hahn moments to Face Recognition we
conduct two experiments on the Olivetti Research Laboratory (ORL)
database and University of Notre-Dame (UND) X1 biometric collection.
Fusion of the global features along with the features from local facial
regions are used as an input for the conventional k-NN classifier. The
method reaches an accuracy of 93% of correctly recognized subjects for
the ORL database and 94% for the UND database.
Abstract: The use of Flexible AC Transmission System
(FACTS) devices in a power system can potentially overcome
limitations of the present mechanically controlled transmission
system. Also, the advance of technology makes possible to include
new energy storage devices in the electrical power system. The
integration of Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES)
into Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) can lead to
increase their flexibility in improvement of power system dynamic
behaviour by exchanging both active and reactive powers with power
grids. This paper describes structure and behaviour of SMES,
specifications and performance principles of the STATCOM/SMES
compensator. Moreover, the benefits and effectiveness of integrated
SMES with STATCOM in power systems is presented. Also, the
performance of the STATCOM/SMES compensator is evaluated
using an IEEE 3-bus system through the dynamic simulation by
PSCAD/EMTDC software.
Abstract: High frequency automotive interior noise above 500
Hz considerably affects automotive passenger comfort. To reduce this
noise, sound insulation material is often laminated on body panels or
interior trim panels. For a more effective noise reduction, the sound
reduction properties of this laminated structure need to be estimated.
We have developed a new calculate tool that can roughly calculate the
sound absorption and insulation properties of laminate structure and
handy for designers. In this report, the outline of this tool and an
analysis example applied to floor mat are introduced.
Abstract: This paper discusses the propagation of sound waves in
air, specifically in narrow rectangular pathways of an occluded-ear
simulator for acoustic measurements. In narrow pathways, both the
speed of sound and the phase of the sound waves are affected by the
damping of the air viscosity. Herein, we propose a new finite-element
method (FEM) that considers the effects of the air viscosity. The
method was developed as an extension of existing FEMs for porous,
sound-absorbing materials. The results of a numerical calculation for a
three-dimensional ear-simulator model using the proposed FEM were
validated by comparing with theoretical lumped-parameter modeling
analysis and standard values.
Abstract: There is currently a gap in the technology covering the
rapid establishment of control after a reconfiguration in a
Reconfigurable Manufacturing System. This gap involves the
detection of the factory floor state and the communication link
between the factory floor and the high-level software. In this paper, a
thin, hardware-supported Middleware Management System (MMS) is
proposed and its design and implementation are discussed. The
research found that a cost-effective localization technique can be
combined with intelligent software to speed up the ramp-up of a
reconfigured system. The MMS makes the process more intelligent,
more efficient and less time-consuming, thus supporting the
industrial implementation of the RMS paradigm.
Abstract: The present study applies the inverse method and
three-dimensional CFD commercial software in conjunction with the
experimental temperature data to investigate the heat transfer and fluid
flow characteristics of the plate-fin heat sink in a rectangular closed
enclosure. The inverse method with the finite difference method and
the experimental temperature data is applied to determine the
approximate heat transfer coefficient. Later, based on the obtained
results, the zero-equation turbulence model is used to obtain the heat
transfer and fluid flow characteristics between two fins. T0 validate
the accuracy of the results obtained, the comparison of the heat transfer
coefficient is made. The obtained temperature at selected
measurement locations of the fin is also compared with experimental
data. The effect of the height of the rectangular enclosure on the
obtained results is discussed.
Abstract: Determination of genetic variation is useful for plant
breeding and hence production of more efficient plant species under
different conditions, like drought stress. In this study a sample of 28
recombinant inbred lines (RILs) of wheat developed from the cross of
Norstar and Zagross varieties, together with their parents, were
evaluated for two years (2010-2012) under normal and water stress
conditions using split plot design with three replications. Main plots
included two irrigation treatments of 70 and 140 mm evaporation
from Class A pan and sub-plots consisted of 30 genotypes. The effect
of genotypes and interaction of genotypes with years and water
regimes were significant for all characters. Significant genotypic
effect implies the existence of genetic variation among the lines
under study. Heritability estimates were high for 1000 grain weight
(0.87). Biomass and grain yield showed the lowest heritability values
(0.42 and 0.50, respectively). Highest genotypic and phenotypic
coefficients of variation (GCV and PCV) belonged to harvest index.
Moderate genetic advance for most of the traits suggested the
feasibility of selection among the RILs under investigation. Some
RILs were higher yielding than either parent at both environments.
Abstract: In this paper, a new SMC (Sliding Mode Control)
method with MP (Model Predictive Control) integral action for the
slip suppression of EV (Electric Vehicle) under braking is proposed.
The proposed method introduce the integral term with standard SMC
gain , where the integral gain is optimized for each control period by
the MPC algorithms. The aim of this method is to improve the safety
and the stability of EVs under braking by controlling the wheel slip
ratio. There also include numerical simulation results to demonstrate
the effectiveness of the method.
Abstract: This research presents the main ideas to implement an
intelligent system composed by communicating wireless sensors
measuring environmental data linked to drought indicators (such as
air temperature, soil moisture , etc...). On the other hand, the setting
up of a spatio temporal database communicating with a Web mapping
application for a monitoring in real time in activity 24:00 /day, 7
days/week is proposed to allow the screening of the drought
parameters time evolution and their extraction. Thus this system
helps detecting surfaces touched by the phenomenon of drought.
Spatio-temporal conceptual models seek to answer the users who
need to manage soil water content for irrigating or fertilizing or other
activities pursuing crop yield augmentation. Effectively, spatiotemporal
conceptual models enable users to obtain a diagram of
readable and easy data to apprehend. Based on socio-economic
information, it helps identifying people impacted by the phenomena
with the corresponding severity especially that this information is
accessible by farmers and stakeholders themselves. The study will be
applied in Siliana watershed Northern Tunisia.
Abstract: Main objective of this paper is to establish a link
between inertial forces of the bearings used in construction of wind
power plant and its behavior. Using bearings with lower inertial
forces has the immediate effect of decreasing inertia rotor system,
with significant results in increased energy efficiency, due to
decreased friction forces between rollers and raceways. The F.E.M.
analysis shows the appearance of uniform contact stress at the ends of
the rollers, demonstrated the necessity of production of low mass
bearings. Favorable results are expected in the economic field, by
reducing material consumption and by increasing the durability of
bearings. Using low mass bearings with hollow rollers instead of
solid rollers has an impact on working temperature, on vibrations and
noise which decrease. Implementation of types of hollow rollers of
cylindrical tubular type, instead of expensive rollers with logarithmic
profile, will bring significant inertial forces decrease with large
benefits in behavior of wind power plant.