Abstract: This paper describes the development of a boundary
fitted nested grid (BFNG) model to compute tsunami propagation of
2004 Indonesian tsunami in Southern Thailand coastal waters. We
develop a numerical model employing the shallow water nested
model and an orthogonal boundary fitted grid to investigate the
tsunami impact on the Southern Thailand due to the Indonesian
tsunami of 2004. Comparisons of water surface elevation obtained
from numerical simulations and field measurements are made.
Abstract: Indonesia has experienced annual forest fires that have
rapidly destroyed and degraded its forests. Fires in the peat swamp
forests of Riau Province, have set the stage for problems to worsen,
this being the ecosystem most prone to fires (which are also the most
difficult, to extinguish). Despite various efforts to curb deforestation,
and forest degradation processes, severe forest fires are still
occurring. To find an effective solution, the basic causes of the
problems must be identified. It is therefore critical to have an indepth
understanding of the underlying causal factors that have
contributed to deforestation and forest degradation as a whole, in
order to attain reductions in their rates. An assessment of the drivers of deforestation and forest
degradation was carried out, in order to design and implement
measures that could slow these destructive processes. Research was
conducted in Giam Siak Kecil–Bukit Batu Biosphere Reserve
(GSKBB BR), in the Riau Province of Sumatera, Indonesia. A
biosphere reserve was selected as the study site because such reserves
aim to reconcile conservation with sustainable development. A
biosphere reserve should promote a range of local human activities,
together with development values that are in line spatially and
economically with the area conservation values, through use of a
zoning system. Moreover, GSKBB BR is an area with vast peatlands,
and is experiencing forest fires annually. Various factors were
analysed to assess the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation
in GSKBB BR; data were collected from focus group discussions
with stakeholders, key informant interviews with key stakeholders,
field observation and a literature review. Landsat satellite imagery was used to map forest-cover changes
for various periods. Analysis of landsat images, taken during the
period 2010-2014, revealed that within the non-protected area of core
zone, there was a trend towards decreasing peat swamp forest areas,
increasing land clearance, and increasing areas of community oilpalm
and rubber plantations. Fire was used for land clearing and most
of the forest fires occurred in the most populous area (the transition
area). The study found a relationship between the deforested/
degraded areas, and certain distance variables, i.e. distance from
roads, villages and the borders between the core area and the buffer
zone. The further the distance from the core area of the reserve, the
higher was the degree of deforestation and forest degradation. Research findings suggested that agricultural expansion may be
the direct cause of deforestation and forest degradation in the reserve,
whereas socio-economic factors were the underlying driver of forest
cover changes; such factors consisting of a combination of sociocultural,
infrastructural, technological, institutional (policy and governance), demographic (population pressure) and economic
(market demand) considerations. These findings indicated that local
factors/problems were the critical causes of deforestation and
degradation in GSKBB BR. This research therefore concluded that
reductions in deforestation and forest degradation in GSKBB BR
could be achieved through ‘local actor’-tailored approaches such as
community empowerment.
Abstract: Localization of nodes is one of the key issues of
Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) that gained a wide attention in
recent years. The existing localization techniques can be generally
categorized into two types: range-based and range-free. Compared
with rang-based schemes, the range-free schemes are more costeffective,
because no additional ranging devices are needed. As a
result, we focus our research on the range-free schemes. In this paper
we study three types of range-free location algorithms to compare the
localization error and energy consumption of each one. Centroid
algorithm requires a normal node has at least three neighbor anchors,
while DV-hop algorithm doesn’t have this requirement. The third
studied algorithm is the amorphous algorithm similar to DV-Hop
algorithm, and the idea is to calculate the hop distance between two
nodes instead of the linear distance between them. The simulation
results show that the localization accuracy of the amorphous
algorithm is higher than that of other algorithms and the energy
consumption does not increase too much.
Abstract: A compact Ultra Wide Band (UWB) antenna with coplanar
waveguide feed has been designed and results are verified in
this paper. The antenna has been designed on FR4 substrate with
dielectric constant (εr) of 4.4 and dimensions of 32mm x 26mm x
0.8mm. The presented antenna shows return loss characteristics in the
band of 3.1 to 10.6 GHz as prescribed by FCC, USA. Parametric
studies have been done and results thus obtained have been
presented. Simulated results have been verified on Rohde & Swartz
VNA. The measured results are in good agreement with simulated
results which make the presented antenna suitable to be used for
wearable applications. Performance analysis of antenna has also been
shown in the presence of three layered Human Arm model. Results
obtained in presence of Human Arm model has been compared with
that in free space.
Abstract: The Northeast China (NEC) was the most important
agriculture areas and known as the Golden-Maize-Belt. Based on
observed crop data and crop model, we design four simulating
experiments and separate relative impacts and contribution under
climate change, planting date shift, and varieties change as well
change of varieties and planting date. Without planting date and
varieties change, maize yields had no significant change trend at
Hailun station located in the north of NEC, and presented significant
decrease by 0.2 - 0.4 t/10a at two stations, which located in the middle
and the south of NEC. With planting date change, yields showed a
significant increase by 0.09 - 0.47 t/10a. With varieties change, maize
yields had significant increase by 1.8~ 1.9 t/10a at Hailun and Huadian
stations, but a non-significant and low increase by 0.2t /10a at Benxi
located in the south of NEC. With change of varieties and planting
date, yields presented a significant increasing by 0.53- 2.0 t/10a. Their
contribution to yields was -25% ~ -55% for climate change, 15% ~
35% for planting date change, and 20% ~110% for varieties change as
well 30% ~135% for varieties with planting date shift. It found that
change in varieties and planting date were highest yields and were
responsible for significant increases in maize yields, varieties was
secondly, and planting date was thirdly. It found that adaptation in
varieties and planting date greatly improved maize yields, and
increased yields annual variability. The increase of contribution with
planting date and varieties change in 2000s was lower than in 1990s.
Yields with the varieties change and yields with planting date and
varieties change all showed a decreasing trend at Huadian and Benxi
since 2002 or so. It indicated that maize yields increasing trend
stagnated in the middle and south of NEC, and continued in the north
of NEC.
Abstract: Constructed Wetland (CW) is a reasonable method to
treat wastewater. Current study was carried out to co-treat landfill
leachate and domestic wastewater using a CW system. Typha
domingensis was transplanted to CW, which encloses two substrate
layers of adsorbents named ZELIAC and zeolite. Response surface
methodology and central composite design were employed to
evaluate experimental data. Contact time (h) and leachate-towastewater
mixing ratio (%; v/v) were selected as independent
factors. Phenols and manganese removal were selected as dependent
responses. At optimum contact time (48.7 h) and leachate-towastewater
mixing ratio (20.0%), removal efficiencies of phenols and
manganese removal efficiencies were 90.5%, and 89.4%,
respectively.
Abstract: Structure-borne noise is an important aspect of
offshore platform sound field. It can be generated either directly by
vibrating machineries induced mechanical force, indirectly by the
excitation of structure or excitation by incident airborne noise.
Therefore, limiting of the transmission of vibration energy
throughout the offshore platform is the key to control the structureborne
noise. This is usually done by introducing damping treatment
to the steel structures. Two types of damping treatment using onboard
are presented. By conducting a Statistical Energy Analysis
(SEA) simulation on a jack-up rig, the noise level in the source room,
the neighboring rooms, and remote living quarter cabins are
compared before and after the damping treatments been applied. The
results demonstrated that, in the source neighboring room and living
quarter area, there is a significant noise reduction with the damping
treatment applied, whereas in the source room where air-borne sound
predominates that of structure-borne sound, the impact is not
obvious. The conclusion on effective damping treatment in the
offshore platform is made which enable acoustic professionals to
implement noise control during the design stage for offshore crews’
hearing protection and habitant comfortability.
Abstract: The composite flour blend consisting of corn, pearl
millet, black gram and wheat bran in the ratio of 80:5:10:5 was taken
to prepare the extruded product and their effect on physical properties
of extrudate was studied. The extrusion process was conducted in
laboratory by using twin screw extruder. The physical characteristics
evaluated include lateral expansion, bulk density, water absorption
index, water solubility index, and rehydration ratio and moisture
retention. The Central Composite Rotatable Design (CCRD) was
used to decide the level of processing variables i.e. feed moisture
content (%), screw speed (rpm), and barrel temperature (oC) for the
experiment. The data obtained after extrusion process were analyzed
by using response surface methodology. A second order polynomial
model for the dependent variables was established to fit the
experimental data. The numerical optimization studies resulted in
127°C of barrel temperature, 246 rpm of screw speed, and 14.5% of
feed moisture as optimum variables to produce acceptable extruded
product. The responses predicted by the software for the optimum
process condition resulted in lateral expansion 126%, bulk density
0.28 g/cm3, water absorption index 4.10 g/g, water solubility index
39.90%, rehydration ratio 544% and moisture retention 11.90% with
75% desirability.
Abstract: Coal tar is a liquid by-product of coal pyrolysis
processes. This liquid oil mixture contains various kinds of useful
compounds such as benzoic aromatic compounds and phenolic
compounds. These compounds are widely used as raw material for
insecticides, dyes, medicines, perfumes, coloring matters, and many
others. The coal tar was collected by pyrolysis process of coal
obtained from PT Kaltim Prima Coal and Arutmin-Kalimantan. The
experiments typically occurred at the atmospheric pressure in a
laboratory furnace at temperatures ranging from 300 to 550oC with a
heating rate of 10oC/min and a holding time of 1 hour at the pyrolysis
temperature. The Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS)
was used to analyze the coal tar components. The obtained coal tar
has the viscosity of 3.12 cp, the density of 2.78 g/cm3, the calorific
value of 11,048.44 cal/g, and the molecular weight of 222.67. The
analysis result showed that the coal tar contained more than 78
chemical compounds such as benzene, cresol, phenol, xylene,
naphtalene, etc. The total phenolic compounds contained in coal tar
are 33.25% (PT KPC) and 17.58% (Arutmin-Kalimantan). The total
naphtalene compounds contained in coal tar is 14.15% (PT KPC) and
17.13% (Arutmin-Kalimantan).
Abstract: The aim of our study is to project an optimized wind turbine of Darrieus type. This type of wind turbine is characterized by a low starting torque in comparison with the Savonius rotor allowing them to operate for a period greater than wind speed. This led us to reconsider the Darrieus rotor to optimize a design which will increase its starting torque. The study of a system of monitoring and control of the angle of attack of blade profile, which allows an auto start to wind speeds as low as possible is presented for the straight blade of Darrieus turbine. The study continues to extend to other configurations namely those of parabolic type.
Abstract: Public space is essential to strengthen the social and
urban fabric and the social cohesion; there lies the importance of its
study. Hence, the aim of this paper is to analyze the quality of public
space in the XXI century in both quantitative and qualitative terms. In
this article, the concept of public space includes open spaces such as
parks, public squares and walking areas. To make this analysis, we
take Mexico City as the case study. It has a population of nearly 9
million inhabitants and is composed of sixteen boroughs. For this
analysis, we consider both existing public spaces and the government
intervention for building and improving new and existent public
spaces. Results show that on the one hand, quantitatively there is not
an equitable distribution of public spaces due to both the growth of
the city itself as well as due to the absence of political will to create
public spaces. Another factor is the evolution of this city, which has
been growing merely in a “patched pattern”, where public space has
played no role at all with a total absence of urban design. On the
other hand, qualitatively, even the boroughs with the most public
spaces have not shown interest in making these spaces qualitatively
inclusive and open to the general population aiming for integration.
Therefore, urban projects that privatize public space seem to be the
rule, rather than a rehabilitation effort of the existent public spaces.
Hence, state intervention should reinforce its role as an agent of
social change acting in benefit of the majority of the inhabitants with
the promotion of more inclusive public spaces.
Abstract: Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) enable new
applications and need non-conventional paradigms for the protocol
because of energy and bandwidth constraints, In WSN, sensor node’s
life is a critical parameter. Research on life extension is based on
Low-Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) scheme,
which rotates Cluster Head (CH) among sensor nodes to distribute
energy consumption over all network nodes. CH selection in WSN
affects network energy efficiency greatly. This study proposes an
improved CH selection for efficient data aggregation in sensor
networks. This new algorithm is based on Bacterial Foraging
Optimization (BFO) incorporated in LEACH.
Abstract: The spindle system is one of the most important
components of machine tool. The dynamic properties of the spindle
affect the machining productivity and quality of the work pieces.
Thus, it is important and necessary to determine its dynamic
characteristics of spindles in the design and development in order to
avoid forced resonance. The finite element method (FEM) has been
adopted in order to obtain the dynamic behavior of spindle system.
For this reason, obtaining the Campbell diagrams and determining the
critical speeds are very useful to evaluate the spindle system
dynamics. The unbalance response of the system to the center of
mass unbalance at the cutting tool is also calculated to investigate the
dynamic behavior. In this paper, we used an ANSYS Parametric
Design Language (APDL) program which based on finite element
method has been implemented to make the full dynamic analysis and
evaluation of the results. Results show that the calculated critical
speeds are far from the operating speed range of the spindle, thus, the
spindle would not experience resonance, and the maximum
unbalance response at operating speed is still with acceptable limit.
ANSYS Parametric Design Language (APDL) can be used by spindle
designer as tools in order to increase the product quality, reducing
cost, and time consuming in the design and development stages.
Abstract: The microstrip antennas area has seen some inventive
work in recent years and is now one of the most dynamic fields of
antenna theory. A novel and simple wideband monopole antenna is
presented printed on a single dielectric substrate which is fed by a 50
ohm microstrip line having a low-profile antenna structure with two
parallel s-shaped meandered line of same size. This antenna is fed by
a coaxial feeding tube. In this research, S–form microstrip patch antenna is designed from
measuring the prototypes of the proposed antenna one available
bands with 10db return loss bandwidths of about GPS application
(GPS L2 1490 MHz) and covering the 1400 to 1580 MHz frequency
band at 1.5 GHz, the simulated results for main parameters such as
return loss, impedance bandwidth, radiation patterns, and gains are
also discussed herein. The modeling study shows that such antennas,
in simplicity design and supply, can satisfy GPS application. Two
parallel slots are incorporated to disturb the surface flow path,
introducing local inductive effect. This antenna is fed by a coaxial
feeding tube.
Abstract: In this communication, a low-cost circularly
polarized wire antenna exhibiting improved gain performance for
Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle
(V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications is
presented. The proposed antenna comprises a Y-shaped quarterwavelength
monopole antenna surrounded by two iterations of eight
conductive arched walls acting as parasitic elements to enhance the
overall antenna gain and to shape the radiation pattern in the H-plane.
A hemispherical radome shell is added to protect the antenna
structure and its effect on the antenna performance is discussed. The
designed antenna demonstrates antenna gain of 8.2 dB with
omnidirectional far-field radiation pattern in the H-plane. The gain of
the proposed antenna is also compared with the characteristic of the
stand-alone Y-shaped monopole to highlight the advantages of the
proposed approach.
Abstract: This study analyzes the critical gaps in the
architecture of European stability and the expected role of the
banking union as the new important step towards completing the
Economic and Monetary Union that should enable the creation of
safe and sound financial sector for the euro area market. The single
rulebook together with the Single Supervisory Mechanism and the
Single Resolution Mechanism - as two main pillars of the banking
union, should provide a consistent application of common rules and
administrative standards for supervision, recovery and resolution of
banks – with the final aim of replacing the former bail-out practice
with the bail-in system through which possible future bank failures
would be resolved by their own funds, i.e. with minimal costs for
taxpayers and real economy. In this way, the vicious circle between
banks and sovereigns would be broken. It would also reduce the
financial fragmentation recorded in the years of crisis as the result of
divergent behaviors in risk premium, lending activities and interest
rates between the core and the periphery. In addition, it should
strengthen the effectiveness of monetary transmission channels, in
particular the credit channels and overflows of liquidity on the money
market which, due to the fragmentation of the common financial
market, has been significantly disabled in period of crisis. However,
contrary to all the positive expectations related to the future
functioning of the banking union, major findings of this study
indicate that characteristics of the economic system in which the
banking union will operate should not be ignored. The euro area is an
integration of strong and weak entities with large differences in
economic development, wealth, assets of banking systems, growth
rates and accountability of fiscal policy. The analysis indicates that
low and unbalanced economic growth remains a challenge for the
maintenance of financial stability and this problem cannot be
resolved just by a single supervision. In many countries bank assets
exceed their GDP by several times and large banks are still a matter
of concern, because of their systemic importance for individual
countries and the euro zone as a whole. The creation of the Single
Supervisory Mechanism and the Single Resolution Mechanism is a
response to the European crisis, which has particularly affected
peripheral countries and caused the associated loop between the
banking crisis and the sovereign debt crisis, but has also influenced
banks’ balance sheets in the core countries, as the result of crossborder
capital flows. The creation of the SSM and the SRM should
prevent the similar episodes to happen again and should also provide
a new opportunity for strengthening of economic and financial
systems of the peripheral countries. On the other hand, there is a
potential threat that future focus of the ECB, resolution mechanism
and other relevant institutions will be extremely oriented towards
large and significant banks (whereby one half of them operate in the
core and most important euro area countries), and therefore it remains
questionable to what extent will the common resolution funds will be used for rescue of less important institutions. Recent geopolitical
developments will be the optimal indicator to show whether the
previously established mechanisms are sufficient enough to maintain
the adequate financial stability in the euro area market.
Abstract: In this study, a multi objective optimization for end
milling of Al 6061 alloy has been presented to provide better
surface quality and higher Material Removal Rate (MRR). The input
parameters considered for the analysis are spindle speed, depth of cut
and feed. The experiments were planned as per Taguchis design of
experiment, with L27 orthogonal array. The Grey Relational Analysis
(GRA) has been used for transforming multiple quality responses
into a single response and the weights of the each performance
characteristics are determined by employing the Principal Component
Analysis (PCA), so that their relative importance can be properly and
objectively described. The results reveal that Taguchi based G-PCA
can effectively acquire the optimal combination of cutting parameters.
Abstract: Different designs of attenuator systems have been
studied in this research; new analysis have been done on existed
designs considering fibers effect on air flow; it was comprehended
that, at fibers presence, there is an air flow which agglomerates fibers
as a negative effect. So some new representations have been designed
and CFD analysis has been done on them. Afterwards, one of these
representations selected as the most optimum and effective design
which is brought in this paper.
Abstract: A flow column has been innovatively used in the
design of a new electrocoagulation reactor (ECR1) that will reduce
the temperature of water being treated; where the flow columns work
as a radiator for the water being treated. In order to investigate the
performance of ECR1 and compare it to that of traditional reactors;
600 mL water samples with an initial temperature of 350C were
pumped continuously through these reactors for 30 min at current
density of 1 mA/cm2. The temperature of water being treated was
measured at 5 minutes intervals over a 30 minutes period using a
thermometer. Additional experiments were commenced to investigate
the effects of initial temperature (15-350C), water conductivity (0.15
– 1.2 S) and current density (0.5 -3 mA/cm2) on the performance of
ECR1.
The results obtained demonstrated that the ECR1, at a current
density of 1 mA/cm2 and continuous flow model, reduced water
temperature from 350C to the vicinity of 280C during the first 15
minutes and kept the same level till the end of the treatment time.
While, the temperature increased from 28.1 to 29.80C and from 29.8
to 31.90C in the batch and the traditional continuous flow models
respectively. In term of initial temperature, ECR1 maintained the
temperature of water being treated within the range of 22 to 280C
without the need for external cooling system even when the initial
temperatures varied over a wide range (15 to 350C). The influent
water conductivity was found to be a significant variable that affect
the temperature. The desirable value of water conductivity is 0.6 S.
However, it was found that the water temperature increased rapidly
with a higher current density.
Abstract: Feature selection has been used in many fields such as
classification, data mining and object recognition and proven to be
effective for removing irrelevant and redundant features from the
original dataset. In this paper, a new design of distributed intrusion
detection system using a combination feature selection model based
on bees and decision tree. Bees algorithm is used as the search
strategy to find the optimal subset of features, whereas decision tree
is used as a judgment for the selected features. Both the produced
features and the generated rules are used by Decision Making Mobile
Agent to decide whether there is an attack or not in the networks.
Decision Making Mobile Agent will migrate through the networks,
moving from node to another, if it found that there is an attack on one
of the nodes, it then alerts the user through User Interface Agent or
takes some action through Action Mobile Agent. The KDD Cup 99
dataset is used to test the effectiveness of the proposed system. The
results show that even if only four features are used, the proposed
system gives a better performance when it is compared with the
obtained results using all 41 features.