Abstract: Due to the interference effects, the intrinsic
aerodynamic parameters obtained from the individual component
testing are always fundamentally different than those obtained for
complete model testing. Consideration and limitation for such testing
need to be taken into account in any design work related to the
component buildup method. In this paper, the scaled model of a
straight rectangular canard of a hybrid buoyant aircraft is tested at 50
m/s in IIUM-LSWT (Low Speed Wind Tunnel). Model and its
attachment with the balance are kept rigid to have results free from
the aeroelastic distortion. Based on the velocity profile of the test
section’s floor; the height of the model is kept equal to the
corresponding boundary layer displacement. Balance measurements
provide valuable but limited information of overall aerodynamic
behavior of the model. Zero lift coefficient is obtained at -2.2o and
the corresponding drag coefficient was found to be less than that at
zero angle of attack. As a part of the validation of low fidelity tool,
plot of lift coefficient plot was verified by the experimental data and
except the value of zero lift coefficients, the overall trend has under
predicted the lift coefficient. Based on this comparative study, a
correction factor of 1.36 is proposed for lift curve slope obtained
from the panel method.
Abstract: The purpose of this research was to investigate the
creep behaviour of the heterogeneous Timber-UHPFRC beams. New
developments have been done to further improve the structural
performance, such as strengthening of the timber (glulam) beam by
bonding composite material combine with an ultra-high performance
fibre reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) internally reinforced with or
without carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) bars. However, in
the design of wooden structures, in addition to the criteria of
strengthening and stiffness, deformability due to the creep of wood,
especially in horizontal elements, is also a design criterion. Glulam,
UHPFRC and CFRP may be an interesting composite mix to respond
to the issue of creep behaviour of composite structures made of
different materials with different rheological properties. In this paper,
we describe an experimental and analytical investigation of the creep
performance of the glulam-UHPFRC-CFRP beams assembled by
bonding. The experimental investigations creep behaviour was
conducted for different environments: in- and outside under constant
loading for approximately a year. The measured results are compared
with numerical ones obtained by an analytical model. This model was
developed to predict the creep response of the glulam-UHPFRCCFRP
beams based on the creep characteristics of the individual
components. The results show that heterogeneous glulam-UHPFRC
beams provide an improvement in both the strengthening and
stiffness, and can also effectively reduce the creep deflection of
wooden beams.
Abstract: Chitosan polyacrylic acid composite membranes were
prepared by a bulk polymerization method in presence of N, N'-
methylene bisacrylamide (crosslinker) and ammonium persulphate as
initiator. Membranes prepared from this copolymer in presence and
absence of Ag nanoparticles were characterized by measuring
mechanical and physical properties, water up-take and antibacterial
properties. The results obtained indicated that the prepared
membranes have antibacterial properties which increase with adding
Ag nanoparticles.
Abstract: This paper explores and provides substantiated
evidence on the usage patterns of Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs) by female users at Vhembe District in Limpopo-
Province, South Africa. The study presents a comprehensive picture
on the usage of ICTs from female users’ perspective. The
significance of this study stems from the need to assess the role,
relevance and usage patterns of ICTs such as smartphones,
computers, laptops, and iPods, the internet and social networking
sites among females following the developments of new media
technologies in society. The objective of the study is to investigate
the usability and accessibility of ICTs to empower female users in
South Africa. The study used quantitative and qualitative research
methods to determine the major ideas, perceptions and usage patterns
of ICTs by users. Data collection involved the use of structured selfadministered
questionnaire from two groups of respondents who
participated in this study. Thus, (n=50) female students at the
University of Venda provided their ideas and perceptions about the
usefulness and usage patterns of ICTs such as smartphones, the
Internet and computers at the university level, whereas, the second
group were (n=50) learners from Makhado Comprehensive School
who provided their perceptions and ideas about the use of ICTs at the
high school level. The researcher also noted that the findings of the
study were useful as a guideline and model for ICT intervention that
could work as an empowerment to women in South Africa. It was
observed that the central purpose of ICTs among female users was to
search for information regarding assignment writing, conducting
research, dating, exchanging ideas and networking with friends and
relatives. This was demonstrated by a high number of females who
used ICTs for e-learning (62%) and social purposes (85%).
Therefore, the study revealed that most females used ICTs for social
purposes and accessing the internet rather than for entertainment, a
gesture that provides an opportune space to empower rural women in
South Africa.
Abstract: For a rigid body sliding on a rough surface, a range of
uncertainty or non-uniqueness of solution could be found, which is
termed: Painlevé paradox. Painlevé paradox is the reason of a wide
range of bouncing motion, observed during sliding of robotic
manipulators on rough surfaces. In this research work, the existence
of the paradox zone during the sliding motion of a two-link (P-R)
robotic manipulator with a unilateral constraint is investigated.
Parametric study is performed to investigate the effect of friction,
link-length ratio, total height and link-mass ratio on the paradox zone.
Abstract: Networked environments which provide platforms for
business organizations are configured in different forms depending
on many factors including life time, member characteristics,
communication structure, and business objectives, among others.
With continuing advances in digital technologies the distance has
become a less barrier for business minded collaboration among
organizations. With the need and ease to make business collaborate
nowadays organizations are sometimes forced to co-work with others
that are either unknown or less known to them in terms of history and
performance. A promising approach for sustaining established
collaboration has been establishment of trust relationship among
organizations based on assessed trustworthiness for each participating
organization. It has been stated in research that trust in organization is
dynamic and thus assessment of trust level must address such
dynamic nature. This paper assesses relevant aspects of trust and
applies the assessed concepts to propose a semi-automated system for
the management of Sustainability and Evolution of trust in
organizations participating in specific objective in a networked
organizations environment.
Abstract: Wire Electric Discharge Machining (WEDM) is
thermal machining process capable of machining very hard
electrically conductive material irrespective of their hardness.
WEDM is being widely used to machine micro scale parts with the
high dimensional accuracy and surface finish. The objective of this
paper is to optimize the process parameters of wire EDM to fabricate
the micro channels and to calculate the surface finish and material
removal rate of micro channels fabricated using wire EDM. The
material used is aluminum 6061 alloy. The experiments were
performed using CNC wire cut electric discharge machine. The effect
of various parameters of WEDM like pulse on time (TON) with the
levels (100, 150, 200), pulse off time (TOFF) with the levels (25, 35,
45) and current (IP) with the levels (105, 110, 115) were investigated
to study the effect on output parameter i.e. Surface Roughness and
Material Removal Rate (MRR). Each experiment was conducted
under different conditions of pulse on time, pulse off time and peak
current. For material removal rate, TON and Ip
were the most significant process parameter. MRR increases with the increase in
TON and Ip and decreases with the increase in TOFF. For surface
roughness, TON and Ip have the maximum effect and TOFF was found
out to be less effective.
Abstract: A biosphere reserve is developed to create harmony
amongst economic development, community development, and
environmental protection, through partnership between human and
nature. Giam Siak Kecil Bukit Batu Biosphere Reserve (GSKBB BR)
in Riau Province, Indonesia, is unique in that it has peat soil
dominating the area, many springs essential for human livelihood,
high biodiversity. Furthermore, it is the only biosphere reserve
covering privately managed production forest areas. In this research, we aimed at analyzing the threat of deforestation
and forest fire, and the potential of CO2 emission at GSKBB BR. We
used Landsat image, arcView software, and ERDAS IMAGINE 8.5
Software to conduct spatial analysis of land cover and land use
changes, calculated CO2 emission based on emission potential from
each land cover and land use type, and exercised simple linear
regression to demonstrate the relation between CO2 emission
potential and deforestation. The result showed that, beside in the buffer zone and transition
area, deforestation also occurred in the core area. Spatial analysis of
land cover and land use changes from years 2010, 2012, and 2014
revealed that there were changes of land cover and land use from
natural forest and industrial plantation forest to other land use types,
such as garden, mixed garden, settlement, paddy fields, burnt areas,
and dry agricultural land. Deforestation in core area, particularly at
the Giam Siak Kecil Wildlife Reserve and Bukit Batu Wildlife
Reserve, occurred in the form of changes from natural forest in to
garden, mixed garden, shrubs, swamp shrubs, dry agricultural land,
open area, and burnt area. In the buffer zone and transition area,
changes also happened, what once swamp forest changed into garden,
mixed garden, open area, shrubs, swamp shrubs, and dry agricultural
land. Spatial analysis on land cover and land use changes indicated
that deforestation rate in the biosphere reserve from 2010 to 2014 had
reached 16 119 ha/year. Beside deforestation, threat toward the
biosphere reserve area also came from forest fire. The occurrence of forest fire in 2014 had burned 101 723 ha of the
area, in which 9 355 ha of core area, and 92 368 ha of buffer zone
and transition area. Deforestation and forest fire had increased CO2
emission as much as 24 903 855 ton/year.
Abstract: Salinity is one of the major factors limiting crop
production in an arid environment. Despite its global importance
soybean production suffer the problems of salinity stress causing
damages at plant development. So it is implacable to either search for
salinity enhancement of soybean plants. Therefore, in the current
study we try to clarify the mechanism that might be involved in the
ameliorating effects of osmo-protectants such as proline and glycine
betaine as well as, compost application on soybean plants grown
under salinity stress. The experiment was conducted under
greenhouse conditions at the Graduate School of Biosphere Science
Laboratory of Hiroshima University, Japan in 2011. The experiment
was designed as a spilt-split plot based on randomized complete
block design with four replications. The treatments could be
summarized as follows; (i) salinity concentrations (0 and 15 mM), (ii)
compost treatments (0 and 24 t ha-1) and (iii) the exogenous, proline
and glycine betaine concentrations (0 mM and 25 mM) for each.
Results indicated that salinity stress induced reduction in growth and
physiological aspects (dry weight per plant, chlorophyll content, N
and K+ content) of soybean plant compared with those of the
unstressed plants. On the other hand, salinity stress led to increases in
the electrolyte leakage ratio, Na and proline contents. Special
attention was paid to, the tolerance against salt stress was observed,
the improvement of salt tolerance resulted from proline, glycine
betaine and compost were accompanied with improved K+, and
proline accumulation. While, significantly decreased electrolyte
leakage ratio and Na+ content. These results clearly demonstrate that
harmful effect of salinity could reduce on growth aspects of soybean.
Consequently, exogenous osmoprotectants combine with compost
will effectively solve seasonal salinity stress problem and are a good
strategy to increase salinity resistance of soybean in the drylands.
Abstract: As a basic physiology need, threat to sufficient food
production is threat to human survival. Food security has been an
issue that has gained global concern. This paper looks at the food
security in Nigeria by assessing the availability of food and
accessibility of the available food. The paper employed multiple
linear regression technique and graphic trends of growth rates of
relevant variables to show the situation of food security in Nigeria.
Results of the tests revealed that population growth rate was higher
than the growth rate of food availability in Nigeria for the earlier
period of the study. Commercial bank credit to agricultural sector,
foreign exchange utilization for food and the Agricultural Credit
Guarantee Scheme Fund (ACGSF) contributed significantly to food
availability in Nigeria. Food prices grew at a faster rate than the
average income level, making it difficult to access sufficient food. It
implies that prior to the year 2012; there was insufficient food to feed
the Nigerian populace. However, continued credit to the food and
agricultural sector will ensure sustained and sufficient production of
food in Nigeria. Microfinance banks should make sufficient credit
available to smallholder farmer. Government should further control
and subsidize the rising price of food to make it more accessible by
the people.
Abstract: We report the design and characterization of ultra high
quality factor filter based on one-dimensional photonic-crystal Thue-
Morse sequence structure. The behavior of aperiodic array of
photonic crystal structure is numerically investigated and we show
that by changing the angle of incident wave, desired wavelengths
could be tuned and a tunable filter is realized. Also it is shown that
high quality factor filter be achieved in the telecommunication
window around 1550 nm, with a device based on Thue-Morse
structure. Simulation results show that the proposed structure has a
quality factor more than 100000 and it is suitable for DWDM
communication applications.
Abstract: This paper discusses the question whether a person
diagnosed with dyslexia will necessarily have difficulty in reading
musical notes. The author specifies the characteristics of alphabet
reading in comparison to musical notation reading, and concludes
that there should be no contra-indication for teaching standard music
reading to children with dyslexia if an appropriate process is offered.
This conclusion is based on a long term case study and relies on two
main characteristics of music reading: (1) musical notation system is
a systematic, logical, relative set of symbols written on a staff; and
(2) music reading learning connected with playing a musical
instrument is a multi-sensory activity that combines sight, hearing,
touch, and movement. The paper describes music reading teaching
procedures, using soprano recorders, and provides unique teaching
methods that have been found to be effective for students who were
diagnosed with dyslexia. It provides theoretical explanations in
addition to guidelines for music education practices.
Abstract: Malaysia’s green building development is gaining
momentum and green buildings have become a key focus area,
especially within the commercial sector with the encouragement of
government legislation and policy. Due to the emerging awareness
among the market players’ views of the benefits associated with the
ownership of green buildings in Malaysia, there is a need for valuers
to incorporate consideration of sustainability into their assessments of
property market value to ensure the green buildings continue to
increase in the market. This paper analyses the valuers’ current
perception on the valuation practices with regard to the green issues
in Malaysia. The study was based on a survey of registered real estate
valuers and the experts whose work related to valuation in the Klang
Valley area to rate their view regarding the perception on valuation of
green building. The findings present evidence that even though
Malaysian valuers have limited knowledge of green buildings, they
recognise the importance of incorporating the green features in the
valuation process. The inclusion of incorporating the green features
in valuations in practice was hindered by the inadequacy of sufficient
transaction data in the market. Furthermore, valuers experienced
difficulty in identifying what are the various input parameters of
green building and how to adjust it in order to reflect the benefit of
sustainability features correctly in the valuation process. This paper
focuses on the present challenges confronted by Malaysian valuers
with regards to incorporating the green features in their valuation.
Abstract: Measuring the Electrocardiogram (ECG) signal is an
essential process for the diagnosis of the heart diseases. The ECG
signal has the information of the degree of how much the heart
performs its functions. In medical diagnosis and treatment systems,
Decision Support Systems processing the ECG signal are being
developed for the use of clinicians while medical examination. In this
study, a modular wireless ECG (WECG) measuring and recording
system using a single board computer and e-Health sensor platform
is developed. In this designed modular system, after the ECG signal
is taken from the body surface by the electrodes first, it is filtered and
converted to digital form. Then, it is recorded to the health database
using Wi-Fi communication technology. The real time access of the
ECG data is provided through the internet utilizing the developed
web interface.
Abstract: High temperature Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process
use fixed fluidized bed as a reactor. In order to understand the flow
behavior in the fluidized bed better, the research of how the radial
velocity affects the entire flow field is necessary. Laser Doppler
Velocimetry (LDV) was used to study the radial velocity distribution
along the diameter direction of the cross-section of the particle in a
fixed fluidized bed. The velocity in the cross-section is fluctuating
within a small range. The direction of the speed is a random
phenomenon. In addition to r/R is 1, the axial velocity are more than 6
times of the radial velocity, the radial velocity has little impact on the
axial velocity in a fixed fluidized bed.
Abstract: MHD chemically reacting viscous fluid flow towards
a vertical surface with slip and convective boundary conditions has
been conducted. The temperature and the chemical species
concentration of the surface and the velocity of the external flow are
assumed to vary linearly with the distance from the vertical surface.
The governing differential equations are modeled and transformed
into systems of ordinary differential equations, which are then solved
numerically by a shooting method. The effects of various parameters
on the heat and mass transfer characteristics are discussed. Graphical
results are presented for the velocity, temperature, and concentration
profiles whilst the skin-friction coefficient and the rate of heat and
mass transfers near the surface are presented in tables and discussed.
The results revealed that increasing the strength of the magnetic field
increases the skin-friction coefficient and the rate of heat and mass
transfers toward the surface. The velocity profiles are increased
towards the surface due to the presence of the Lorenz force, which
attracts the fluid particles near the surface. The rate of chemical
reaction is seen to decrease the concentration boundary layer near the
surface due to the destructive chemical reaction occurring near the
surface.
Abstract: The effect of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) on the
electrical properties of Poly(vinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene)
(P(VdF-HFP)) based gel polymer electrolytes has been investigated
in the present work. The length and diameter ranges of CNFs used in
the present work are 5-50 μm and 200-600 nm respectively. The
nanocomposite gel polymer electrolytes have been synthesized by
solution casting technique with varying CNFs content in terms of
weight percentage. Electrochemical impedance analysis demonstrates
that the reinforcement of carbon nanofibers significantly enhances the
ionic conductivity of the polymer electrolyte. The decrease of
crystallinity of P(VdF-HFP) due the addition of CNFs has been
confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The interaction of CNFs with
various constituents of nanocomposite gel polymer electrolytes has
been assessed by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy.
Moreover CNFs added gel polymer electrolytes offer superior
thermal stability as compared to that of CNFs free electrolytes as
confirmed by Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).
Abstract: Carefully scheduling the operations of pumps can be
resulted to significant energy savings. Schedules can be defined
either implicit, in terms of other elements of the network such as tank
levels, or explicit by specifying the time during which each pump is
on/off. In this study, two new explicit representations based on timecontrolled
triggers were analyzed, where the maximum number of
pump switches was established beforehand, and the schedule may
contain fewer switches than the maximum. The optimal operation of
pumping stations was determined using a Jumping Particle Swarm
Optimization (JPSO) algorithm to achieve the minimum energy cost.
The model integrates JPSO optimizer and EPANET hydraulic
network solver. The optimal pump operation schedule of VanZyl
water distribution system was determined using the proposed model
and compared with those from Genetic and Ant Colony algorithms.
The results indicate that the proposed model utilizing the JPSO
algorithm is a versatile management model for the operation of realworld
water distribution system.
Abstract: At the present time, awareness, education, computer
simulation and information systems protection are very serious and
relevant topics. The article deals with perspectives and possibilities of
implementation of emergence or natural hazard threats into the
system which is developed for communication among members of
crisis management staffs. The Czech Hydro-Meteorological Institute
with its System of Integrated Warning Service resents the largest
usable base of information. National information systems are connected to foreign systems,
especially to flooding emergency systems of neighboring countries,
systems of European Union and international organizations where the
Czech Republic is a member. Use of outputs of particular information
systems and computer simulations on a single communication
interface of information system for communication among members
of crisis management staff and setting the site interoperability in the
net will lead to time savings in decision-making processes in solving
extraordinary events and crisis situations. Faster managing of an
extraordinary event or a crisis situation will bring positive effects and
minimize the impact of negative effects on the environment.
Abstract: Healthcare safety has been perceived important. It is
essential to prevent troubles in healthcare processes for healthcare
safety. Trouble prevention is based on trouble prediction using
accumulated knowledge on processes, troubles, and countermeasures.
However, information on troubles has not been accumulated in
hospitals in the appropriate structure, and it has not been utilized
effectively to prevent troubles. In the previous study, however a
detailed knowledge acquisition process for trouble prediction was
proposed, the knowledgebase for countermeasures was not involved.
In this paper, we aim to propose the structure of the knowledgebase for
countermeasures, in the knowledge acquisition process for trouble
prediction in healthcare process. We first design the structure of
countermeasures and propose the knowledge representation form on
countermeasures. Then, we evaluate the validity of the proposal, by
applying it into an actual hospital.