Abstract: In this study, an experiment was executed related to
the strength of wooden materials which have been commonly used
both in the past and present against pressure and whether fire
retardant materials used against fire have any effects or not. Totally
81 samples which included 3 different wood species, 3 different
sizes, 2 different fire retardants and 2 unprocessed samples were
prepared. Compressive pressure tests were applied to the prepared
samples, their variance analyses were executed in accordance with
the obtained results and it was aimed to determine the most
convenient wooden materials and fire-retardant coating material. It
was also determined that the species of wood and the species of
coating caused the decrease and/or increase in the resistance against
pressure.
Abstract: This work reports the potential of using Palm Kernel
(PK) ash and shell as a partial substitute for Portland Cement (PC)
and coarse aggregate in the development of mortar and concrete. PK
ash and shell are agro-waste materials from palm oil mills, the
disposal of PK ash and shell is an environmental problem of concern.
The PK ash has pozzolanic properties that enables it as a partial
replacement for cement and also plays an important role in the
strength and durability of concrete, its use in concrete will alleviate
the increasing challenges of scarcity and high cost of cement. In order
to investigate the PC replacement potential of PK ash, three types of
PK ash were produced at varying temperature (350-750C) and they
were used to replace up to 50% PC. The PK shell was used to replace
up to 100% coarse aggregate in order to study its aggregate
replacement potential. The testing programme included material
characterisation, the determination of compressive strength, tensile
splitting strength and chemical durability in aggressive sulfatebearing
exposure conditions. The 90 day compressive results showed
a significant strength gain (up to 26.2 N/mm2). The Portland cement
and conventional coarse aggregate has significantly higher influence
in the strength gain compared to the equivalent PK ash and PK shell.
The chemical durability results demonstrated that after a prolonged
period of exposure, significant strength losses in all the concretes
were observed. This phenomenon is explained, due to lower change
in concrete morphology and inhibition of reaction species and the
final disruption of the aggregate cement paste matrix.
Abstract: Elastomeric dielectric material has recently become a
new alternative for actuator technology. The characteristics of
dielectric elastomers placed between two electrodes to withstand
large strain when electrodes are charged has attracted the attention of
many researcher to study this material for actuator technology. Thus,
in the past few years Danfoss Ventures A/S has established their own
dielectric electro-active polymer (DEAP), which was called
PolyPower.
The main objective of this work was to investigate the dynamic
characteristics for vibration control of a PolyPower actuator folded in
‘pull’ configuration. A range of experiments was carried out on the
folded actuator including passive (without electrical load) and active
(with electrical load) testing. For both categories static and dynamic
testing have been done to determine the behavior of folded DEAP
actuator.
Voltage-Strain experiments show that the DEAP folded actuator is
a non-linear system. It is also shown that the voltage supplied has no
effect on the natural frequency. Finally, varying AC voltage with
different amplitude and frequency shows the parameters that
influence the performance of DEAP folded actuator. As a result, the
actuator performance dominated by the frequency dependence of the
elastic response and was less influenced by dielectric properties.
Abstract: Recently, universities are increasingly consuming
energy to support various activities. A large population of staff and
students in Malaysian universities has led to excessive energy
consumption which directly gives an impact to the environment. The
key question then ascended “How well is an energy management
(EM) been practiced in universities without taking the Critical
Success Factors (CSFs) into consideration to ensure the management
of university achieves the goals in reducing energy consumption.
Review on past literature is carried out to establish CSFs for EM best
practices. Thus, this paper highlighted the CSFs which have to be
focused on by management of university to successfully measure the
EM implementation and its performance. At the end of this paper, a
theoretical framework is developed for EM success factors towards
sustainable university.
Abstract: An analysis is carried out to investigate the effect of
magnetic field and heat source on the steady boundary layer flow and
heat transfer of a Casson nanofluid over a vertical cylinder stretching
exponentially along its radial direction. Using a similarity
transformation, the governing mathematical equations, with the
boundary conditions are reduced to a system of coupled, non –linear
ordinary differential equations. The resulting system is solved
numerically by the fourth order Runge – Kutta scheme with shooting
technique. The influence of various physical parameters such as
Reynolds number, Prandtl number, magnetic field, Brownian motion
parameter, thermophoresis parameter, Lewis number and the natural
convection parameter are presented graphically and discussed for non
– dimensional velocity, temperature and nanoparticle volume
fraction. Numerical data for the skin – friction coefficient, local
Nusselt number and the local Sherwood number have been tabulated
for various parametric conditions. It is found that the local Nusselt
number is a decreasing function of Brownian motion parameter Nb
and the thermophoresis parameter Nt.
Abstract: Managing and improving efficiency in the current
highly competitive global automotive industry demands that those
companies adopt leaner and more flexible systems. During the past
20 years the domestic automotive industry in North America has been
focusing on establishing new management strategies in order to meet
market demands. The lean management process also known as
Toyota Manufacturing Process (TPS) or lean manufacturing
encompasses tools and techniques that were established in order to
provide the best quality product with the fastest lead time at the
lowest cost. The following paper presents a study that focused on
improving labor efficiency at one of the Big Three (Ford, GM,
Chrysler LLC) domestic automotive facility in North America. The
objective of the study was to utilize several lean management tools in
order to optimize the efficiency and utilization levels at the “Pre-
Marriage” chassis area in a truck manufacturing and assembly
facility. Utilizing three different lean tools (i.e. Standardization of
work, 7 Wastes, and 5S) this research was able to improve efficiency
by 51%, utilization by 246%, and reduce operations by 14%. The
return on investment calculated based on the improvements made
was 284%.
Abstract: The present work aims to throw light on the effects of
arcing in air on the surface state of contact pastilles made of silvernickel
Ag-Ni (60/40). Also, the photoelectric emission from these
electrical contacts has been investigated in the spectral range of 196-
256 nm. In order to study the effects of arcing on the EWF, the
metallic samples were subjected to electrical arcs in air, at
atmospheric pressure and room temperature, after that, they have
been introduced into the vacuum chamber of an experimental UHV
set-up for EWF measurements. Both Fowler method of isothermal
curves and linearized Fowler plots were used for the measurement of
the EWF by the photoelectric effect.
It has been found that the EWF varies with the number of applied
arcs. Thus, after 500 arcs in air, the observed EWF increasing is
probably due to progressive inclusion of oxide on alloy surface.
Microscopic examination is necessary to get better understandings on
EWF of silver alloys, for both virgin and arced electrical contacts.
Abstract: Member States shall establish zones and
agglomerations throughout their territory to assess and manage air
quality in order to comply with European directives.
In Italy decree 155/2010, transposing Directive 2008/50/EC on
ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe, merged into a single
act the previous provisions on ambient air quality assessment and
management, including those resulting from the implementation of
Directive 2004/107/EC relating to arsenic, cadmium, nickel, mercury
and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air.
Decree 155/2010 introduced stricter rules for identifying zones on
the basis of the characteristics of the territory in spite of considering
pollution levels, as it was in the past. The implementation of such
new criteria has reduced the great variability of the previous zoning,
leading to a significant reduction of the total number of zones and to
a complete and uniform ambient air quality assessment and
management throughout the Country.
The present document is related to the new zones definition in
Italy according to Decree 155/2010. In particular the paper contains
the description and the analysis of the outcome of zoning and
classification.
Abstract: The number of Ground Motion Prediction Equations
(GMPEs) used for predicting peak ground acceleration (PGA) and
the number of earthquake recordings that have been used for fitting
these equations has increased in the past decades. The current PF-L
database contains 3550 recordings. Since the GMPEs frequently
model the peak ground acceleration the goal of the present study was
to refit a selection of 44 of the existing equation models for PGA in
light of the latest data. The algorithm Levenberg-Marquardt was used
for fitting the coefficients of the equations and the results are
evaluated both quantitatively by presenting the root mean squared
error (RMSE) and qualitatively by drawing graphs of the five best
fitted equations. The RMSE was found to be as low as 0.08 for the
best equation models. The newly estimated coefficients vary from the
values published in the original works.
Abstract: For cycling, the analysis of the pedal force is one of the
important factors in the study of exercise ability assessment and
overuse injuries. In past studies, a two-axis measurement sensor was
used at the sagittal plane to measure the force only in the anterior,
posterior, and vertical directions and to analyze the loss of force and
the injury on the frontal plane due to the forces in the right and left
directions. In this study, which is a basic study on diverse analyses of
the pedal force that consider the forces on the sagittal plane and the
frontal plane, a three-axis pedal force measurement sensor was
developed to measure the anterior-posterior (Fx), medio-lateral (Fz),
and vertical (Fy) forces. The sensor was fabricated with a size and
shape similar to those of the general flat pedal, and had a 550g weight
that allowed smooth pedaling. Its measurement range was ±1000 N for
Fx and Fz and ±2000 N for Fy, and its non-linearity, hysteresis, and
repeatability were approximately 0.5%. The data were sampled at
1000 Hz using a signal collector. To use the developed sensor, the
pedaling efficiency (index of efficiency, IE) and the range of left and
right (medio-lateral, ML) forces were measured with two seat heights
(low and high). The results of the measurement showed that the IE was
higher and the force range in the ML direction was lower with the high
position than with the low position. The developed measurement
sensor and its application results will be useful in understanding and
explaining the complicated pedaling technique, and will enable
diverse kinematic analyses of the pedal force on the sagittal plane and
the frontal plane.
Abstract: The transition period of Kosovo society brought
fundamental changes in all the spheres of organizing life. This was
the period when also in the cultural tradition the biggest movement
and an emerging from ‘isolation’ or from the ‘shell’ occurred.
Transformation of the traditional and embracing of the modern began
here. The same was experienced and is currently being experienced
also by Gjakova and its surrounding which is historically renowned
for its great tradition and culture.
The population of this region is actually facing a transition from
the traditional system into the modern one and quite often with huge
leaps.
These ‘movements’ or ‘evolutions’ of the society of this region,
besides the numerous positive things it ‘harvested’, also brought
things that do not at all correspond with their tradition as well as new
criminal occurrences which in the past were not present in this area.
Furthermore, some of the ‘new’ behaviors that are embraced from
other ‘cultures’ and ‘civilizations’, and which are often exceeded, are
quite perturbing. The security situation is also worrying, particularly
following the appearance of some new criminal occurrences.
Therefore, with this research paper we will strive to analyze the
new cultural “intersections” as well as the nature of the origin of
some new very worrying criminal occurrences. We will present there
also some factors inciting into these occurrences, which were
confessed by the persons involved in these criminal occurrences and
who come from this very region.
Abstract: Examining existing experimental results for shallow
rigid foundations subjected to vertical centric load (N), accompanied
or not with a bending moment (M), two main non-linear mechanisms
governing the cyclic response of the soil-foundation system can be
distinguished: foundation uplift and soil yielding. A soil-foundation
failure limit, is defined as a domain of resistance in the two
dimensional (2D) load space (N, M) inside of which lie all the
admissible combinations of loads; these latter correspond to a pure
elastic, non-linear elastic or plastic behavior of the soil-foundation
system, while the points lying on the failure limit correspond to a
combination of loads leading to a failure of the soil-foundation
system. In this study, the proposed resistance domain is constructed
analytically based on mechanics. Original elastic limit, uplift
initiation limit and iso-uplift limits are constructed inside this
domain. These limits give a prediction of the mechanisms activated
for each combination of loads applied to the foundation. A
comparison of the proposed failure limit with experimental tests
existing in the literature shows interesting results. Also, the
developed uplift initiation limit and iso-uplift curves are confronted
with others already proposed in the literature and widely used due to
the absence of other alternatives, and remarkable differences are
noted, showing evident errors in the past proposals and relevant
accuracy for those given in the present work.
Abstract: This paper identifies limitations of existing two e-
Governance services viz. railway ticket booking and passport service
in India. The comparison has been made as to how in the past these
two citizen services were operating manually and how these services
are taken online via e-Governance. Different e-Governance projects,
investment aspects, and role of corporate are discussed. For Indian
Railway online ticketing a comparison has been made between state
run booking website and popular private firm run booking websites.
For passport service, observations through personal visit to passport
center is described. Suggestions are made to improve these services
further to improve citizen service experiences.
Abstract: Starting in 2020, an EU-wide CO2-limitation of
95 g/km is scheduled for the average of an OEMs passenger car fleet.
Taking that into consideration additional improvement measures of
the Diesel cycle are necessary in order to reduce fuel consumption
and emissions while boosting, or at the least, keeping performance
values at the same time.
The present article deals with the possibilities of an optimized
air/water charge air cooler, also called iCAC (indirect Charge Air
Cooler) for a Diesel passenger car amongst extreme-boundary
conditions. In this context, the precise objective was to show the
impact of improved intercooling with reference to the engine working
process (fuel consumption and NOx-emissions). Several extremeboundaries
- e.g. varying ambient temperatures or mountainous
routes - that will become very important in the near future regarding
RDE (Real Driving emissions) were subject of the investigation.
With the introduction of RDE in 2017 (EU6c measure), the
controversial NEDC (New European Driving Cycle) will belong to
the past and the OEMs will have to avoid harmful emissions in any
conceivable real life situation.
This is certainly going to lead to optimization-measurements at the
powertrain, which again is going to make the implementation of
iCACs, presently solely used for the premium class, more and more
attractive for compact class cars. The investigations showed a benefit
in FC between 1 and 3% for the iCAC in real world conditions.
Abstract: Background: Taiwan now is an aging society. Research
on the elderly should not be confined to caring for seniors, but should
also be focused on ways to improve health and the quality of life.
Senior citizens who participate in volunteer services could become
less lonely, have new growth opportunities, and regain a sense of
accomplishment. Thus, the question of how to get the elderly to
participate in volunteer service is worth exploring. Objective: Apply
the Transtheoretical Model to understand stages of change in regular
volunteer service and voluntary service behaviour among the seniors.
Methods: 1525 adults over the age of 65 from the Renai district of
Keelung City were interviewed. The research tool was a
self-constructed questionnaire, and individual interviews were
conducted to collect data. Then the data was processed and analyzed
using the IBM SPSS Statistics 20 (Windows version) statistical
software program. Results: In the past six months, research subjects
averaged 9.92 days of volunteer services. A majority of these elderly
individuals had no intention to change their regular volunteer services.
We discovered that during the maintenance stage, the self-efficacy for
volunteer services was higher than during all other stages, but
self-perceived barriers were less during the preparation stage and
action stage. Self-perceived benefits were found to have an important
predictive power for those with regular volunteer service behaviors in
the previous stage, and self-efficacy was found to have an important
predictive power for those with regular volunteer service behaviors in
later stages. Conclusions/Implications for Practice: The research
results support the conclusion that community nursing staff should
group elders based on their regular volunteer services change stages
and design appropriate behavioral change strategies.
Abstract: Machining parameters are very important in
determining the surface quality of any material. In the past decade,
some new engineering materials were developed for the
manufacturing industry which created a need to conduct an
investigation on the impact of the said parameters on their surface
roughness. Polyurethane (PU) block is widely used in the automotive
industry to manufacture parts such as checking fixtures that are used
to verify the dimensional accuracy of automotive parts. In this paper,
the design of experiment (DOE) was used to investigate on the effect
of the milling parameters on the PU block. Furthermore, an analysis
of the machined surface chemical composition was done using
scanning electron microscope (SEM). It was found that the surface
roughness of the PU block is severely affected when PU undergoes a
flood machining process instead of a dry condition. In addition the
stepover and the silicon content were found to be the most significant
parameters that influence the surface quality of the PU block.
Abstract: A cleaner production project was implemented in a
bakery. The project is based on the substitution of the best available
technique for an obsolete leaven production technology. The new
technology enables production of durable, high-quality leavens.
Moreover, 25% of flour as the original raw material can be replaced
by pastry from the previous day production which has not been sold.
That pastry was previously disposed in a waste incineration plant.
Besides the environmental benefits resulting from less waste, lower
consumption of energy, reduction of sewage waters quantity and
floury dustiness there are also significant economic benefits. Payback
period of investment was calculated with help of static method of
financial analysis about 2.6 years, using dynamic method 3.5 years
and an internal rate of return more than 29%. The supposed annual
average profit after taxationin the second year of operation was
incompliance with the real profit.
Abstract: Wireless sensor network (WSN) is a network of many interconnected networked systems, they equipped with energy resources and they are used to detect other physical characteristics. On WSN, there are many researches are performed in past decades. WSN applicable in many security systems govern by military and in many civilian related applications. Thus, the security of WSN gets attention of researchers and gives an opportunity for many future aspects. Still, there are many other issues are related to deployment and overall coverage, scalability, size, energy efficiency, quality of service (QoS), computational power and many more. In this paper we discus about various applications and security related issue and requirements of WSN.
Abstract: The Lean Environmental Management Integration
System (LEMIS) framework development is integration between lean
core element and ISO 14001. The curiosity on the relationship
between continuous improvement and sustainability of lean
implementation has influenced this study toward LEMIS.
Characteristic of ISO 14001 standard clauses and core elements of
lean principles are explored from past studies and literature reviews.
Survey was carried out on ISO 14001 certified companies to examine
continual improvement by implementing the ISO 14001 standard.
The study found that there is a significant and positive relationship
between Lean Principles: value, value stream, flow, pull and
perfection with the ISO 14001 requirements. LEMIS is significant to
support the continuous improvement and sustainability. The
integration system can be implemented to any manufacturing
company. It gives awareness on the importance on why organizations
need to sustain its environmental management system. In the
meantime, the lean principle can be adapted in order to streamline
daily activities of the company. Throughout the study, it had proven
that there is no sacrifice or trade-off between lean principles with ISO
14001 requirements. The framework developed in the study can be
further simplified in the future, especially the method of crossing
each sub requirements of ISO 14001 standard with the core elements
of Lean principles in this study.
Abstract: Domestic goats (Capra hircus) are extremely diverse
species and principal animal genetic resource of the developing
world. These facilitate a persistent supply of meat, milk, fibre, and
skin and are considered as important revenue generators in small
pastoral environments. This study aimed to fingerprint β-LG gene at
PCR-RFLP level in native Saudi goat breeds (Ardi, Habsi and Harri)
in an attempt to have a preliminary image of β-LG genotypic patterns
in Saudi breeds as compared to other foreign breeds such as Indian
and Egyptian. Also, the Phylogenetic analysis was done to investigate
evolutionary trends and similarities among the caprine β-LG gene
with that of the other domestic specie, viz. cow, buffalo and sheep.
Blood samples were collected from 300 animals (100 for each breed)
and genomic DNA was extracted. A fragment of the β-LG gene
(427bp) was amplified using specific primers. Subsequent digestion
with Sac II restriction endonuclease revealed two alleles (A and B)
and three different banding patterns or genotypes i.e. AA, AB and
BB. The statistical analysis showed a general trend that β-LG AA
genotype had higher milk yield than β-LG AB and β-LG BB
genotypes. Nucleotide sequencing of the selected β-LG fragments
was done and submitted to GenBank NCBI (Accession No.
KJ544248, KJ588275, KJ588276, KJ783455, KJ783456 and
KJ874959). Phylogenetic analysis on the basis of nucleotide
sequences of native Saudi goats indicated evolutional similarity with
the GenBank reference sequences of goat, Bubalus bubalis and Bos
taurus. However, the origin of sheep which is the most closely
related from the evolutionary point of view, was located some
distance away.