Abstract: The effect of moisture content and loading rate on
mechanical strength of 12 brown rice grain varieties was determined.
The results showed that the rupture force of brown rice grain
decreased by increasing the moisture content and loading rate. The
highest rupture force values was obtained at the moisture content of
8% (w.b.) and loading rate of 10 mm/min; while the lowest rupture
force corresponded to the moisture content of 14% (w.b.) and loading
rate of 15 mm/min. The 12 varieties were divided into three groups,
namely local short grain varieties, local long grain varieties and
improved long grain varieties. It was observed that the rupture
strength of the three groups were statistically different from each
other (P
Abstract: This paper discusses E-government, in particular the
challenges that face adoption in Saudi Arabia. E-government can be
defined based on an existing set of requirements. In this research we
define E-government as a matrix of stakeholders: governments to
governments, governments to business and governments to citizens,
using information and communications technology to deliver and
consume services. E-government has been implemented for a
considerable time in developed countries. However, E-government
services still face many challenges in their implementation and
general adoption in many countries including Saudi Arabia. It has
been noted that the introduction of E-government is a major
challenge facing the government of Saudi Arabia, due to possible
concerns raised by its citizens. In addition, the literature review and
the discussion identify the influential factors that affect the citizens’
intention to adopt E-government services in Saudi Arabia.
Consequently, these factors have been defined and categorized
followed by an exploratory study to examine the importance of these
factors. Therefore, this research has identified factors that determine
if the citizen will adopt E-government services and thereby aiding
governments in accessing what is required to increase adoption.
Abstract: We attempted investigate a boat model, based on the
conversion of energy of surface wave into a sequence of
unidirectional pulses of jet spurts, in other words - model of the boat,
which is thrusting by the waves field on water surface. These pulses
are forming some average reactive stream from the output nozzle on
the stern of boat. The suggested model provides the conversion of its
oscillatory motions (both pitching and rolling) into a jet flow. This
becomes possible due to special construction of the boat and due to
several details, sensitive to the local wave field. The boat model
presents the uniflow jet engine without slow conversions of
mechanical energy into intermediate forms and without any external
sources of energy (besides surface waves). Motion of boat is
characterized by fast jerks and average onward velocity, which
exceeds the velocities of liquid particles in the wave.
Abstract: User-Centered Design (UCD), Usability Engineering (UE) and Participatory Design (PD) are the common Human- Computer Interaction (HCI) approaches that are practiced in the software development process, focusing towards issues and matters concerning user involvement. It overlooks the organizational perspective of HCI integration within the software development organization. The Management Information Systems (MIS) perspective of HCI takes a managerial and organizational context to view the effectiveness of integrating HCI in the software development process. The Human-Centered Design (HCD) which encompasses all of the human aspects including aesthetic and ergonomic, is claimed as to provide a better approach in strengthening the HCI approaches to strengthen the software development process. In determining the effectiveness of HCD in the software development process, this paper presents the findings of a content analysis of HCI approaches by viewing those approaches as a technology which integrates user requirements, ranging from the top management to other stake holder in the software development process. The findings obtained show that HCD approach is a technology that emphasizes on human, tools and knowledge in strengthening the HCI approaches to strengthen the software development process in the quest to produce a sustainable, usable and useful software product.
Abstract: Complaints today have the ability to retain
customer loyalty using state of the art systems and strategies
in customer relationship management to analyze and respond
to a plethora of customer perception. The Majority of
companies are not aware of the beneficiary utilization of
customer complaints for the sake of quality improvements.
Also, some companies have problems determining how
resolution of complaints can be profitable. In this study, we
will define the problems and ascertain the importance of
customer management system on the companies. Furthermore,
we will determine the impact of such a system on efficiency,
confidence, profitability and customer complaints. Eventually,
we will develop methods and address the issues. In this paper,
we used an open-ended questionnaire and distributed that to
30 randomly chosen respondents which were the passengers in
an airport. We also define three hypotheses for our study and
we will validate each of them. Then using frequency, Chi-
Square and quality control method we optimized the size of
customers- negative feedback and improved the process of
customer retention.
Abstract: From food consumption surveys has been found that potato consumption comparing to other European countries is one of the highest. Hence acrylamide (AA) intake coming from fried potatoes in population might be high as well. The aim of the research was to determine acrylamide content and estimate intake of acrylamide from roasted potatoes bred and cultivated in Latvia. Five common Latvian potato varieties were selected: Lenora, Brasla, Imanta, Zile, and Madara. A two-year research was conducted during two periods: just after harvesting and after six months of storage. Time and temperature (210 ± 5°C) was recorded during frying. AA was extracted from potatoes by solid phase extraction and AA content was determined by LC-MS/MS. estimated intake of acrylamide ranges from 0.012 to 0.496μgkg-1 BW per day.
Abstract: As embedded and portable systems were emerged power consumption of circuits had been major challenge. On the other hand latency as determines frequency of circuits is also vital task. Therefore, trade off between both of them will be desirable. Modulo 2n+1 adders are important part of the residue number system (RNS) based arithmetic units with the interesting moduli set (2n-1,2n, 2n+1). In this manuscript we have introduced novel binary representation to the design of modulo 2n+1 adder. VLSI realization of proposed architecture under 180 nm full static CMOS technology reveals its superiority in terms of area, power consumption and power-delay product (PDP) against several peer existing structures.
Abstract: Transpedicular screw fixation in spinal fractures,
degenerative changes, or deformities is a well-established procedure.
However, important rate of fixation failure due to screw bending,
loosening, or pullout are still reported particularly in weak bone stock
in osteoporosis. To overcome the problem, mechanism of failure has
to be fully investigated in vitro. Post-mortem human subjects are less
accessible and animal cadavers comprise limitations due to different
geometry and mechanical properties. Therefore, the development of a
synthetic model mimicking the realistic human vertebra is highly
demanded. A bone surrogate, composed of Polyurethane (PU) foam
analogous to cancellous bone porous structure, was tested for 3
different densities in this study. The mechanical properties were
investigated under uniaxial compression test by minimizing the end
artifacts on specimens. The results indicated that PU foam of 0.32
g.cm-3 density has comparable mechanical properties to human
cancellous bone in terms of young-s modulus and yield strength.
Therefore, the obtained information can be considered as primary
step for developing a realistic cancellous bone of human vertebral
body. Further evaluations are also recommended for other density
groups.
Abstract: Bond graph models of an electrical transformer including
the nonlinear saturation are presented. The transformer
using electrical and magnetic circuits are modelled. These models
determine the relation between self and mutual inductances, and
the leakage and magnetizing inductances of power transformers
with two windings using the properties of a bond graph. The
equivalence between electrical and magnetic variables is given.
The modelling and analysis using this methodology to three phase
power transformers can be extended.
Abstract: The rapid development of manufacturing and information systems has caused significant changes in manufacturing environments in recent decades. Mass production has given way to flexible manufacturing systems, in which an important characteristic is customized or "on demand" production. In this scenario, the seamless and without gaps information flow becomes a key factor for success of enterprises. In this paper we present a framework to support the mapping of features into machining workingsteps compliant with the ISO 14649 standard (known as STEP-NC). The system determines how the features can be made with the available manufacturing resources. Examples of the mapping method are presented for features such as a pocket with a general surface.
Abstract: The tracing methods determine the contribution the
power system sources have in their supplying. The methods can be used
to assess the transmission prices, but also to recover the transmission
fixed cost. In this paper is presented the influence of the modification of
commons structure has on the specific price of transfer. The operator
must make use of a few basic principles about allocation. Most
tracing methods are based on the proportional sharing principle. In this
paper Kirschen method is used. In order to illustrate this method, the 25-
bus test system is used, elaborated within the Electrical Power
Engineering Department, from Timisoara, Romania.
Abstract: Planar systems of electrodes arranged on both sides of dielectric piezoelectric layer are applied in numerous transducers. They are capable of electronic beam-steering of generated wave both in azimuth and elevation. The wave-beam control is achieved by addressable driving of two-dimensional transducer through proper voltage supply of electrodes on opposite surfaces of the layer. In this paper a semi-analytical method of analysis of the considered transducer is proposed, which is a generalization of the well-known BIS-expansion method. It was earlier exploited with great success in the theory of interdigital transducers of surface acoustic waves, theory of elastic wave scattering by cracks and certain advanced electrostatic problems. The corresponding nontrivial electrostatic problem is formulated and solved numerically.
Abstract: Ferroresonance is an electrical phenomenon in
nonlinear character, which frequently occurs in power system due to
transmission line faults and single or more-phase switching on the
lines as well as usage of the saturable transformers. In this study, the
ferroresonance phenomena are investigated under the modeling of the
West Anatolian Electric Power Network of 380 kV in Turkey. The
ferroresonance event is observed as a result of removing the loads at
the end of the lines. In this sense, two different cases are considered.
At first, the switching is applied at 2nd second and the ferroresonance
affects are observed between 2nd and 4th seconds in the voltage
variations of the phase-R. Hence the ferroresonance and nonferroresonance
parts of the overall data are compared with each
others using the Fourier transform techniques to show the
ferroresonance affects.
Abstract: Two commercial proteases from Bacillus
licheniformis (Alcalase 2.4 L FG and Alcalase 2.5 L, Type DX) were
screened for the production of Z-Ala-Phe-NH2 in batch reaction.
Alcalase 2.4 L FG was the most efficient enzyme for the C-terminal
amidation of Z-Ala-Phe-OMe using ammonium carbamate as
ammonium source. Immobilization of protease has been achieved by
the sol-gel method, using dimethyldimethoxysilane (DMDMOS) and
tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) as precursors (unpublished results). In
batch production, about 95% of Z-Ala-Phe-NH2 was obtained at
30°C after 24 hours of incubation. Reproducibility of different
batches of commercial Alcalase 2.4 L FG preparations was also
investigated by evaluating the amidation activity and the entrapment
yields in the case of immobilization. A packed-bed reactor (0.68 cm
ID, 15.0 cm long) was operated successfully for the continuous
synthesis of peptide amides. The immobilized enzyme retained the
initial activity over 10 cycles of repeated use in continuous reactor at
ambient temperature. At 0.75 mL/min flow rate of the substrate
mixture, the total conversion of Z-Ala-Phe-OMe was achieved after 5
hours of substrate recycling. The product contained about 90%
peptide amide and 10% hydrolysis byproduct.
Abstract: The current study begins with an awareness that
today-s media environment is characterized by technological
development and a new way of reading caused by the introduction of
the Internet. The researcher conducted a meta analysis framed within
Technological Determinism to investigate the process of hypertext
reading, its differences from linear reading and the effects such
differences can have on people-s ways of mentally structuring their
world. The relationship between literacy and the comprehension
achieved by reading hypertexts is also investigated. The results show
hypertexts are not always user friendly. People experience hyperlinks
as interruptions that distract their attention generating comprehension
and disorientation. On one hand hypertextual jumping reading
generates interruptions that finally make people lose their
concentration. On the other hand hypertexts fascinate people who
would rather read a document in such a format even though the
outcome is often frustrating and affects their ability to elaborate and
retain information.
Abstract: The plastic forming process of sheet plate takes an
important place in forming metals. The traditional techniques of tool
design for sheet forming operations used in industry are experimental
and expensive methods. Prediction of the forming results,
determination of the punching force, blank holder forces and the
thickness distribution of the sheet metal will decrease the production
cost and time of the material to be formed. In this paper, multi-stage
deep drawing simulation of an Industrial Part has been presented
with finite element method. The entire production steps with
additional operations such as intermediate annealing and springback
has been simulated by ABAQUS software under axisymmetric
conditions. The simulation results such as sheet thickness
distribution, Punch force and residual stresses have been extracted in
any stages and sheet thickness distribution was compared with
experimental results. It was found through comparison of results, the
FE model have proven to be in close agreement with those of
experiment.
Abstract: In a competitive production environment, critical
decision making are based on data resulted by random sampling of
product units. Efficiency of these decisions depends on data quality
and also their reliability scale. This point leads to the necessity of a
reliable measurement system. Therefore, the conjecture process and
analysing the errors contributes to a measurement system known as
Measurement System Analysis (MSA). The aim of this research is on
determining the necessity and assurance of extensive development in
analysing measurement systems, particularly with the use of
Repeatability and Reproducibility Gages (GR&R) to improve
physical measurements. Nowadays in productive industries,
repeatability and reproducibility gages released so well but they are
not applicable as well as other measurement system analysis
methods. To get familiar with this method and gain a feedback in
improving measurement systems, this survey would be on
“ANOVA" method as the most widespread way of calculating
Repeatability and Reproducibility (R&R).
Abstract: The acidity of different raw Jordanian clays
containing zeolite, bentonite, red and white kaolinite and diatomite
was characterized by means of temperature programmed desorption
(TPD) of ammonia, conversion of 2-methyl-3-butyn-2-ol (MBOH),
FTIR and BET-measurements. FTIR spectra proved presence of
silanol and bridged hydroxyls on the clay surface. The number of
acidic sites was calculated from experimental TPD-profiles. We
observed the decrease of surface acidity correlates with the decrease
of Si/Al ratio except for diatomite. On the TPD-plot for zeolite two
maxima were registered due to different strength of surface acidic
sites. Values of MBOH conversion, product yields and selectivity
were calculated for the catalysis on Jordanian clays. We obtained that
all clay samples are able to convert MBOH into a major product
which is 3-methyl-3-buten-1-yne (MBYNE) catalyzed by acid
surface sites with the selectivity close to 70%. There was found a
correlation between MBOH conversion and acidity of clays
determined by TPD-NH3, i.e. the higher the acidity the higher the
conversion of MBOH. However, diatomite provided the lowest
conversion of MBOH as result of poor polarization of silanol groups.
Comparison of surface areas and conversions revealed the highest
density of active sites for red kaolinite and the lowest for zeolite and
diatomite.
Abstract: Generator of hypotheses is a new method for data mining. It makes possible to classify the source data automatically and produces a particular enumeration of patterns. Pattern is an expression (in a certain language) describing facts in a subset of facts. The goal is to describe the source data via patterns and/or IF...THEN rules. Used evaluation criteria are deterministic (not probabilistic). The search results are trees - form that is easy to comprehend and interpret. Generator of hypotheses uses very effective algorithm based on the theory of monotone systems (MS) named MONSA (MONotone System Algorithm).
Abstract: Given a parallel program to be executed on a heterogeneous
computing system, the overall execution time of the program
is determined by a schedule. In this paper, we analyze the worst-case
performance of the list scheduling algorithm for scheduling tasks
of a parallel program in a mixed-machine heterogeneous computing
system such that the total execution time of the program is minimized.
We prove tight lower and upper bounds for the worst-case
performance ratio of the list scheduling algorithm. We also examine
the average-case performance of the list scheduling algorithm. Our
experimental data reveal that the average-case performance of the list
scheduling algorithm is much better than the worst-case performance
and is very close to optimal, except for large systems with large
heterogeneity. Thus, the list scheduling algorithm is very useful in
real applications.