Abstract: While millings materials from old pavement surface
can be an important component of cost effective maintenance
operation, their use in maintenance projects are not uniform and well
documented. This study documents the different maintenance
practices followed by four transportation districts of New Mexico
Department of Transportation (NMDOT) in an attempt to find
whether millings are being used in maintenance projects by those
districts. Based on existing literature, a questionnaire was developed
related to six common maintenance practices. NMDOT district
personal were interviewed face to face to discuss and get answers to
that questionnaire. It revealed that NMDOT districts mainly use chip
seal and patching. Other maintenance procedures such as sand seal,
scrub seal, slurry seal, and thin overlay have limited use. Two out of
four participating districts do not have any documents on chip
sealing; rather they employ the experiences of the chip seal crew. All
districts use polymer modified high float emulsion (HFE100P) for
chip seal with an application rate ranging from 0.4 to 0.56 gallons per
square yard. Chip application rate varies from 15 to 40 lb/ square
yard. State wide, the thickness of chip seal varies from 3/8'' to 1'' and
life varies from 3 to 10 years. NMDOT districts mainly use three type
of patching: pothole, dig-out and blade patch. Pothole patches are
used for small potholes and during emergency, dig-out patches are
used for all type of potholes sometimes after pothole patching, and
blade patch is used when a significant portion of the pavement is
damaged. Pothole patches last as low as three days whereas, blade
patch lasts as long as 3 years. It was observed that all participating
districts use millings in maintenance projects.
Abstract: The rhizome of Java grass, Cyperus rotundus was
extracted different organic polar and non-polar solvents and
performed the in vitro antiviral and immunostimulant activities
against White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) and Vibrio harveyi
respectively. Based on the initial screening the ethyl acetate extract of
C. rotundus was strong activities and further it was purified through
silica column chromatography and the fractions were screened again
for antiviral and immunostimulant activity. Among the different
fractions screened against the WSSV and V. harveyi, the fractions, FIII
to FV had strong activities. In order to study the in vivo influence
of C. rotundus, the fractions (F-III to FV) were pooled and delivered
to the F. indicus through artificial feed for 30 days. After the feeding
trail the experimental and control diet fed F. indicus were challenged
with virulent WSSV and studied the survival, molecular diagnosis,
biochemical, haematological, and immunological parameters.
Surprisingly, the pooled fractions (F-IV to FVI) incorporated diets
helped to significantly (P
Abstract: The seismic responses of steel buildings with semirigid
post-tensioned connections (PC) are estimated and compared
with those of steel buildings with typical rigid (welded) connections
(RC). The comparison is made in terms of global and local response
parameters. The results indicate that the seismic responses in terms of
interstory shears, roof displacements, axial load and bending
moments are smaller for the buildings with PC connection. The
difference is larger for global than for local parameters, which in turn
varies from one column location to another. The reason for this
improved behavior is that the buildings with PC dissipate more
hysteretic energy than those with RC. In addition, unlike the case of
buildings with WC, for the PC structures the hysteretic energy is
mostly dissipated at the connections, which implies that structural
damage in beams and columns is not significant. According to these
results, steel buildings with PC are a viable option in high seismicity
areas because of their smaller response and self-centering connection
capacity as well as the fact that brittle failure is avoided.
Abstract: In this paper 3D FEM analysis was carried out on
double lap bonded joint with composite adherents subjected to
dynamic shear. The adherents are made of Carbon/Epoxy while the
adhesive is epoxy Araldite 2031. The maximum average shear stress
and the stress homogeneity in the adhesive layer were examined.
Three fibers textures were considered: UD; 2.5D and 3D with same
volume fiber then a parametric study based on changing the thickness
and the type of fibers texture in 2.5D was accomplished. Moreover,
adherents’ dissimilarity was also investigated. It was found that the
main parameter influencing the behavior is the longitudinal stiffness
of the adherents. An increase in the adherents’ longitudinal stiffness
induces an increase in the maximum average shear stress in the
adhesive layer and an improvement in the shear stress homogeneity
within the joint. No remarkable improvement was observed for
dissimilar adherents.
Abstract: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are formed
during the pyrolysis of scrap tyres to produce tyre pyrolytic oil
(TPO). Due to carcinogenic, mutagenic, and toxic properties PAHs
are priority pollutants. Hence it is essential to remove PAHs from
TPO before utilising TPO as a petroleum fuel alternative (to run the
engine). Agricultural wastes have promising future to be utilized as
biosorbent due to their cost effectiveness, abundant availability, high
biosorption capacity and renewability. Various low cost adsorbents
were prepared from natural sources. Uptake of PAHs present in tyre
pyrolytic oil was investigated using various low-cost adsorbents of
natural origin including sawdust (shisham), coconut fiber, neem bark,
chitin, activated charcoal. Adsorption experiments of different PAHs
viz. naphthalene, acenaphthalene, biphenyl and anthracene have been
carried out at ambient temperature (25°C) and at pH 7. It was
observed that for any given PAH, the adsorption capacity increases
with the lignin content. Freundlich constant Kf and 1/n have been
evaluated and it was found that the adsorption isotherms of PAHs
were in agreement with a Freundlich model, while the uptake
capacity of PAHs followed the order: activated charcoal> saw dust
(shisham) > coconut fiber > chitin. The partition coefficients in
acetone-water, and the adsorption constants at equilibrium, could be
linearly correlated with octanol–water partition coefficients. It is
observed that natural adsorbents are good alternative for PAHs
removal. Sawdust of Dalbergia sissoo, a by-product of sawmills was
found to be a promising adsorbent for the removal of PAHs present in
TPO. It is observed that adsorbents studied were comparable to those
of some conventional adsorbents.
Abstract: This work introduces a simple device designed to
perform in-situ direct shear and sinkage tests on granular materials
as sand, clays, or regolith. It consists of a box nested within a larger
box. Both have open bottoms, allowing them to be lowered into the
material. Afterwards, two rotating plates on opposite sides of the
outer box will rotate outwards in order to clear regolith on either
side, providing room for the inner box to move relative to the plates
and perform a shear test without the resistance of the surrounding
soil. From this test, Coulomb parameters, including cohesion and
internal friction angle, as well as, Bekker parameters can be inferred.
This device has been designed for a laboratory setting, but with few
modifications, could be put on the underside of a rover for use in
a remote location. The goal behind this work is to ultimately create
a compact, but accurate measuring tool to put onto a rover or any
kind of exploratory vehicle to test for regolith properties of celestial
bodies.
Abstract: This paper proposes a rotational invariant texture
feature based on the roughness property of the image for psoriasis
image analysis. In this work, we have applied this feature for image
classification and segmentation. The fuzzy concept is employed to
overcome the imprecision of roughness. Since the psoriasis lesion is
modeled by a rough surface, the feature is extended for calculating
the Psoriasis Area Severity Index value. For classification and
segmentation, the Nearest Neighbor algorithm is applied. We have
obtained promising results for identifying affected lesions by using
the roughness index and severity level estimation.
Abstract: Blueberries are widely valued for their high content in
phenolic compounds with antioxidant activity, and hence beneficial
for the human health. In this way, a study was done to determine the
phenolic composition (total phenols, anthocyanins and tannins) and
antioxidant activity of blueberries from three cultivars (Duke,
Bluecrop, and Ozarkblue) grown in two different Portuguese farms.
Initially two successive extractions were done with methanol
followed by two extractions with aqueous acetone solutions. These
extracts obtained were then used to evaluate the amount of phenolic
compounds and the antioxidant activity. The total phenols were
observed to vary from 4.9 to 8.2 mg GAE/g fresh weight, with
anthocyanin’s contents in the range 1.5-2.8 mg EMv3G/g and tannins
contents in the range 1.5- 3.8 mg/g. The results for antioxidant
activity ranged from 9.3 to 23.2 molTE/g and from 24.7 to 53.4molTE/g, when measured, respectively, by DPPH and ABTS
methods. In conclusion it was observed that, in general, the cultivar
had a visible effect on the phenols present, and furthermore, the
geographical origin showed relevance either in the phenols contents
or the antioxidant activity.
Abstract: Established objective and subjective preconditions for
entrepreneurship, forming the business organically related whole, are
the necessary condition of successful entrepreneurial activities.
Objective preconditions for entrepreneurship are developed by
market economy that should stimulate entrepreneurship by allowing
the use of economic opportunities for all those who want to do
business in respective field while providing guarantees to all owners
and creating a stable business environment for entrepreneurs.
Subjective preconditions of entrepreneurship are formed primarily by
personal characteristics of the entrepreneur. These are his properties,
abilities, skills, physiological and psychological preconditions which
may be inherited, inborn or sequentially developed and obtained
during his life on the basis of education and influences of
surrounding environment. The paper is dealing with issues of
objective and subjective preconditions for entrepreneurship and
provides their analysis in view of the current situation in Slovakia. It
presents risks of the business environment in Slovakia that the Slovak
managers considered the most significant in 2014 and defines the
dominant attributes of the entrepreneur in the current business
environment in Slovakia.
Abstract: Analysis of the properties of coconut (Cocos nucifera)
and its oil was evaluated in this work using standard analytical
techniques. The analyses carried out include proximate composition
of the fruit, extraction of oil from the fruit using different process
parameters and physicochemical analysis of the extracted oil. The
results showed the percentage (%) moisture, crude lipid, crude
protein, ash and carbohydrate content of the coconut as 7.59, 55.15,
5.65, 7.35 and 19.51 respectively. The oil from the coconut fruit was
odourless and yellowish liquid at room temperature (30oC). The
treatment combinations used (leaching time, leaching temperature
and solute: solvent ratio) showed significant differences (P
Abstract: Risk analysis is considered as a fundamental aspect
relevant for ensuring the level of critical infrastructure protection,
where the critical infrastructure is seen as system, asset or its part
which is important for maintaining the vital societal functions. Article
actually discusses and analyzes the potential application of selected
tools of information support for the implementation and within the
framework of risk analysis and critical infrastructure protection. Use
of the information in relation to their risk analysis can be viewed as a
form of simplifying the analytical process. It is clear that these
instruments (information support) for these purposes are countless, so
they were selected representatives who have already been applied in
the selected area of critical infrastructure, or they can be used. All
presented fact were the basis for critical infrastructure resilience
evaluation methodology development.
Abstract: The wide use of the Internet-based applications bring many challenges to the researchers to guarantee the continuity of the connections needed by the mobile hosts and provide reliable Internet access for them. One of proposed solutions by Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is to connect the local, multi-hop, and infrastructure-less Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) with Internet structure. This connection is done through multi-interface devices known as Internet Gateways. Many issues are related to this connection like gateway discovery, handoff, address auto-configuration and selecting the optimum gateway when multiple gateways exist. Many studies were done proposing gateway selection schemes with a single selection criterion or weighted multiple criteria. In this research, a review of some of these schemes is done showing the differences, the features, the challenges and the drawbacks of each of them.
Abstract: The English competence of Thai people was examined
in the context of knowledge of English in everyday life for Small and
Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs), and also integrated with Second
language acquisition (SLA) students’ classroom. Second language
acquisition was applied to the results of the questionnaires and
interview forms. Levels of the need on English used for SME
entrepreneurs in Thailand, satisfaction on joining the street classroom
project were shown to be significantly high for some certain language
functions and satisfaction. Finding suggests that the language
functions on etiquette for professional use is essential and useful
because lesson learned can be used in the real situation for their
career. Implications for the climate of the street classroom are
discussed.
Abstract: Living today in turbulent business environment forces
companies to distinguish from each other, securing sustainable
competitive growth and competitive advantage. The best possible
solution is to invest (effort and financial resources) within
companies’ different practices of human resource management
(HRM), more specifically in employees’ knowledge, skills and
abilities. Applying this approach companies will create enviable level
of human capital securing its economic growth. Employees become
human capital for their employers at the moment when they
contribute with their own knowledge and abilities in creating material
and non-material value of the company. The main aim of this
research is to explore the relations between human capital
investments and business excellence of Croatian companies.
Furthermore, the differences in the level of human capital
investments with regard to several companies’ characteristics (e.g.
size of the company, ownership and type of the industry) are
investigated.
Abstract: This study aims to investigate the possibility of crime
prevention through CCTV by analyzing the appropriateness of the
CCTV location, whether it is installed in the hotspot of crime-prone
areas, and exploring the crime prevention effect and transition effect.
The real crime and CCTV locations of case city were converted into
the spatial data by using GIS. The data was analyzed by hotspot
analysis and weighted displacement quotient (WDQ). As study
methods, it analyzed existing relevant studies for identifying the trends
of CCTV and crime studies based on big data from 1800 to 2014 and
understanding the relation between CCTV and crime. Second, it
investigated the current situation of nationwide CCTVs and analyzed
the guidelines of CCTV installation and operation to draw attention to
the problems and indicating points of CCTV use. Third, it investigated
the crime occurrence in case areas and the current situation of CCTV
installation in the spatial aspects, and analyzed the appropriateness and
effectiveness of CCTV installation to suggest a rational installation of
CCTV and the strategic direction of crime prevention. The results
demonstrate that there was no significant effect in the installation of
CCTV on crime prevention in the case area. This indicates that CCTV
should be installed and managed in a more scientific way reflecting
local crime situations. In terms of CCTV, the methods of spatial
analysis such as GIS, which can evaluate the installation effect, and the
methods of economic analysis like cost-benefit analysis should be
developed. In addition, these methods should be distributed to local
governments across the nation for the appropriate installation of
CCTV and operation. This study intended to find a design guideline of
the optimum CCTV installation. In this regard, this study is
meaningful in that it will contribute to the creation of a safe city.
Abstract: It has become an increasing evident that large
development influences the climate. There are concerns that rising
temperature over developed areas could have negative impact and
increase living discomfort within city boundaries. Temperature trends
in Ibadan city have received little attention, yet the area has
experienced heavy urban expansion between 1972 and 2014. This
research aims at examining the impact of landuse change on surface
temperature knowing that the built-up environment absorb and store
solar energy, resulting into the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. The
Landsat imagery was used to examine the landuse change for a
period of 42 years (1972-2014). Land Surface Temperature (LST)
was obtained by converting the thermal band to a surface temperature
map and zonal statistic analyses was used to examine the relationship
between landuse and temperature emission. The results showed that
the settlement area increased to a large extent while the area covered
by vegetation reduced during the study period. The spatial and
temporal trends of surface temperature are related to the gradual
change in urban landuse/landcover and the settlement area has the
highest emission. This research provides useful insight into the
temporal behavior of the Ibadan city.
Abstract: Development of a method to estimate gene functions is
an important task in bioinformatics. One of the approaches for the
annotation is the identification of the metabolic pathway that genes are
involved in. Since gene expression data reflect various intracellular
phenomena, those data are considered to be related with genes’
functions. However, it has been difficult to estimate the gene function
with high accuracy. It is considered that the low accuracy of the
estimation is caused by the difficulty of accurately measuring a gene
expression. Even though they are measured under the same condition,
the gene expressions will vary usually. In this study, we proposed a
feature extraction method focusing on the variability of gene
expressions to estimate the genes' metabolic pathway accurately. First,
we estimated the distribution of each gene expression from replicate
data. Next, we calculated the similarity between all gene pairs by KL
divergence, which is a method for calculating the similarity between
distributions. Finally, we utilized the similarity vectors as feature
vectors and trained the multiclass SVM for identifying the genes'
metabolic pathway. To evaluate our developed method, we applied the
method to budding yeast and trained the multiclass SVM for
identifying the seven metabolic pathways. As a result, the accuracy
that calculated by our developed method was higher than the one that
calculated from the raw gene expression data. Thus, our developed
method combined with KL divergence is useful for identifying the
genes' metabolic pathway.
Abstract: Experimental & numeral study of temperature
distribution during milling process, is important in milling quality
and tools life aspects. In the present study the milling cross-section
temperature is determined by using Artificial Neural Networks
(ANN) according to the temperature of certain points of the work
piece and the point specifications and the milling rotational speed of
the blade. In the present work, at first three-dimensional model of the
work piece is provided and then by using the Computational Heat
Transfer (CHT) simulations, temperature in different nods of the
work piece are specified in steady-state conditions. Results obtained
from CHT are used for training and testing the ANN approach. Using
reverse engineering and setting the desired x, y, z and the milling
rotational speed of the blade as input data to the network, the milling
surface temperature determined by neural network is presented as
output data. The desired points temperature for different milling
blade rotational speed are obtained experimentally and by
extrapolation method for the milling surface temperature is obtained
and a comparison is performed among the soft programming ANN,
CHT results and experimental data and it is observed that ANN soft
programming code can be used more efficiently to determine the
temperature in a milling process.
Abstract: The concept of technology as well as itself has
evolved continuously over time, such that, nowadays, this concept is
still marked by myths and realities. Even the concept of science is
frequently misunderstood as technology. In this way, this paper
presents different forms of interpretation of the concept of technology
in the course of history, as well as the social and cultural aspects
associated with it, through an analysis made by means of insights
from sociological studies of science and technology and its multiple
relations with society. Through the analysis of contents, the paper
presents a classification of how technology is interpreted in the social
sphere and search channel efforts to show how a broader
understanding can contribute to better interpretations of how
scientific and technological development influences the environment
in which we operate. The text also presents a particular point of view
for the interpretation of the concept from the analysis throughout the
whole work.
Abstract: The Ombudsman is a procedural mechanism that
provides a different approach of dispute resolution. The ombudsman
primarily deals with specific grievances from the public against
governmental injustice and misconduct. The ombudsman theory is
considered an important instrument to any democratic government.
This is true since it improves the transparency of the governmental
activities in a world in which executive power are rising. Many
countries have adopted the concept of Ombudsman but under
different terminologies. This paper will provide the different types of
Ombudsman and the common activities/processes of fulfilling their
mandates.