Abstract: The problem of degradation of agricultural residues
from palm oil industry is increasing due to its expansion.
Lignocelloulosic waste from these industry represent large amount of
unutilized resources, this is due to their high lignin content. Since
white rot fungi are capable of degrading lignin, its potential for the
degradation of lignocelloulosic waste from palm oil industry was
accessed. The lignocellluloses content was measured before and after
biodegradation and the rate of reduction was determined. From the
results of the biodegradation, it was observed that hemicellulose
reduces by 22.62%, cellulose by 20.97% and lignin by 10.65% from
the initials lignocelluloses contents. Thus, to improve the digestibility
of palm oil mesocarp fibre, treatment by white rot-fungi is
recommended.
Abstract: This research was conducted in an automotive company in Indonesia to overcome the problem of high logistics cost. The problem causes high of additional truck delivery. From the breakdown of the problem, chosen one route, which has the highest gap value, namely for RE-04. Research methodology will be started from calculating the ideal condition, making simulation, calculating the ideal logistic cost, and proposing an improvement. From the calculation of the ideal condition, box arrangement was done on the truck has efficiency with three trucks delivery per day. Route simulation making uses Tecnomatix Plant Simulation software as a visualization for the company about how the system is occurred on route RE-04 in ideal condition. The last step is proposing improvements on the area of route RE-04. The route arrangement is done by Saving Method and sequence of each supplier with the Nearest Neighbor. The results of the proposed improvements are three new route groups, where was expected to decrease logistics cost and increase the average of the truck efficiency per day.
Abstract: This paper aims to determine Fundamental Natural
Frequency (FNF) of a structural composite floor system known as
Chromite. To achieve this purpose, FNFs of studied panels are
determined by development of Finite Element Models (FEMs) in
ABAQUS program. American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC)
code in Steel Design Guide Series 11 presents a fundamental formula
to calculate FNF of a steel framed floor system. This formula has
been used to verify results of the FEMs. The variability in the FNF of
the studied system under various parameters such as dimensions of
floor, boundary conditions, rigidity of main and secondary beams
around the floor, thickness of concrete slab, height of composite
joists, distance between composite joists, thickness of top and bottom
flanges of the open web steel joists, and adding tie beam
perpendicular on the composite joists, is determined. The results
show that changing in dimensions of the system, its boundary
conditions, rigidity of main beam, and also adding tie beam,
significant changes the FNF of the system up to 452.9%, 50.8%, -
52.2%, %52.6%, respectively. In addition, increasing thickness of
concrete slab increases the FNF of the system up to 10.8%.
Furthermore, the results demonstrate that variation in rigidity of
secondary beam, height of composite joist, and distance between
composite joists, and thickness of top and bottom flanges of open
web steel joists insignificant changes the FNF of the studied system
up to -0.02%, -3%, -6.1%, and 0.96%, respectively. Finally, the
results of this study help designer predict occurrence of resonance,
comfortableness, and design criteria of the studied system.
Abstract: Due to the fast and flawless technological innovation
there is a tremendous amount of data dumping all over the world in
every domain such as Pattern Recognition, Machine Learning, Spatial
Data Mining, Image Analysis, Fraudulent Analysis, World Wide
Web etc., This issue turns to be more essential for developing several
tools for data mining functionalities. The major aim of this paper is to
analyze various tools which are used to build a resourceful analytical
or descriptive model for handling large amount of information more
efficiently and user friendly. In this survey the diverse tools are
illustrated with their extensive technical paradigm, outstanding
graphical interface and inbuilt multipath algorithms in which it is
very useful for handling significant amount of data more indeed.
Abstract: New and more powerful communications technologies
continue to emerge at a rapid pace and their uses in education are
widespread and the impact remarkable in the developing societies.
This study investigates Mobile Collaboration Learning Technique
(MCLT) on learners’ outcome among students in tertiary institutions
of developing nations (a case of Nigeria students). It examines the
significance of retention achievement scores of students taught using
mobile collaboration and conventional method. The sample consisted
of 120 students using Stratified random sampling method. Five
research questions and hypotheses were formulated, and tested at
0.05 level of significance. A student achievement test (SAT) was
made of 40 items of multiple-choice objective type, developed and
validated for data collection by professionals. The SAT was
administered to students as pre-test and post-test. The data were
analyzed using t-test statistic to test the hypotheses. The result
indicated that students taught using MCLT performed significantly
better than their counterparts using the conventional method of
instruction. Also, there was no significant difference in the post-test
performance scores of male and female students taught using MCLT.
Based on the findings, the following submissions was made that:
Mobile collaboration system be encouraged in the institutions to
boost knowledge sharing among learners, workshop and training
should be organized to train teachers on the use of this technique,
schools and government should consistently align curriculum
standard to trends of technological dictates and formulate policies
and procedures towards responsible use of MCLT.
Abstract: Asphalt concrete pavements have a short life cycle,
failing mainly due to temperature changes, traffic loading and ageing.
Modified asphalt mixtures provide the technology to produce a
bituminous binder with improved viscoelastic properties, which
remain in balance over a wider temperature range and loading
conditions. In this research, 60/70 penetration grade asphalt binder
was modified by adding 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 percent by weight of asphalt
binder following the wet process and the mineral aggregate was
modified by adding 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 percent crumb rubber by volume
of the mineral aggregate following the dry process. The LDPE
modified asphalt binder rheological properties were evaluated. The
laboratory results showed an increase in viscosity, softening point
and stiffness of the binder. The modified asphalt was then used in
preparing asphalt mixtures by Marshall Mix design procedure. The
Marshall Stability values for mixes containing 2% crumb rubber and
4% LDPE were found to be 30% higher than the conventional asphalt
concrete mix.
Abstract: Health of a person plays a vital role in the collective
health of his community and hence the well-being of the society as a
whole. But, in today’s fast paced technology driven world, health
issues are increasingly being associated with human behaviors – their
lifestyle. Social networks have tremendous impact on the health
behavior of individuals. Many researchers have used social network
analysis to understand human behavior that implicates their social
and economic environments. It would be interesting to use a similar
analysis to understand human behaviors that have health
implications. This paper focuses on concepts of those behavioural
analyses that have health implications using social networks analysis
and provides possible algorithmic approaches. The results of these
approaches can be used by the governing authorities for rolling out
health plans, benefits and take preventive measures, while the
pharmaceutical companies can target specific markets, helping health
insurance companies to better model their insurance plans.
Abstract: In this paper, we describe the use of formal methods
to model malware behaviour. The modelling of harmful behaviour
rests upon syntactic structures that represent malicious procedures
inside malware. The malicious activities are modelled by a formal
grammar, where API calls’ components are the terminals and the set
of API calls used in combination to achieve a goal are designated
non-terminals. The combination of different non-terminals in various
ways and tiers make up the attack vectors that are used by harmful
software. Based on these syntactic structures a parser can be
generated which takes execution traces as input for pattern
recognition.
Abstract: The work reported through this paper is an
experimental work conducted on High Performance Concrete (HPC)
with super plasticizer with the aim to develop some models suitable
for prediction of compressive strength of HPC mixes. In this study,
the effect of varying proportions of fly ash (0% to 50% @ 10%
increment) on compressive strength of high performance concrete has
been evaluated. The mix designs studied were M30, M40 and M50 to
compare the effect of fly ash addition on the properties of these
concrete mixes. In all eighteen concrete mixes that have been
designed, three were conventional concretes for three grades under
discussion and fifteen were HPC with fly ash with varying
percentages of fly ash. The concrete mix designing has been done in
accordance with Indian standard recommended guidelines. All the
concrete mixes have been studied in terms of compressive strength at
7 days, 28 days, 90 days, and 365 days. All the materials used have
been kept same throughout the study to get a perfect comparison of
values of results. The models for compressive strength prediction
have been developed using Linear Regression method (LR), Artificial
Neural Network (ANN) and Leave-One-Out Validation (LOOV)
methods.
Abstract: The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of Pd/n-GaN Schottky barrier were studied at temperatures over room temperature (300-470K). The values of ideality factor (n), zero-bias barrier height (φB0), flat barrier height (φBF) and series resistance (Rs) obtained from I-V-T measurements were found to be strongly temperature dependent while (φBo) increase, (n), (φBF) and (Rs) decrease with increasing temperature. The apparent Richardson constant was found to be 2.1x10-9 Acm-2K-2 and mean barrier height of 0.19 eV. After barrier height inhomogeneities correction, by assuming a Gaussian distribution (GD) of the barrier heights, the Richardson constant and the mean barrier height were obtained as 23 Acm-2K-2 and 1.78eV, respectively. The corrected Richardson constant was very closer to theoretical value of 26 Acm-2K-2.
Abstract: This paper describes a sliding mode controller for
autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). The dynamic of AUV
model is highly nonlinear because of many factors, such as
hydrodynamic drag, damping, and lift forces, Coriolis and centripetal
forces, gravity and buoyancy forces, as well as forces from thruster.
To address these difficulties, a nonlinear sliding mode controller is
designed to approximate the nonlinear dynamics of AUV and
improve trajectory tracking. Moreover, the proposed controller can
profoundly attenuate the effects of uncertainties and external
disturbances in the closed-loop system. Using the Lyapunov theory
the boundedness of AUV tracking errors and the stability of the
proposed control system are also guaranteed. Numerical simulation
studies of an AUV are included to illustrate the effectiveness of the
presented approach.
Abstract: Radiative heat transfer in participating medium was
carried out using the finite volume method. The radiative transfer
equations are formulated for absorbing and anisotropically scattering
and emitting medium. The solution strategy is discussed and the
conditions for computational stability are conferred. The equations
have been solved for transient radiative medium and transient
radiation incorporated with transient conduction. Results have been
obtained for irradiation and corresponding heat fluxes for both the
cases. The solutions can be used to conclude incident energy and
surface heat flux. Transient solutions were obtained for a slab of heat
conducting in slab and by thermal radiation. The effect of heat
conduction during the transient phase is to partially equalize the
internal temperature distribution. The solution procedure provides
accurate temperature distributions in these regions. A finite volume
procedure with variable space and time increments is used to solve
the transient radiation equation. The medium in the enclosure
absorbs, emits, and anisotropically scatters radiative energy. The
incident radiations and the radiative heat fluxes are presented in
graphical forms. The phase function anisotropy plays a significant
role in the radiation heat transfer when the boundary condition is
non-symmetric.
Abstract: Target of this study was the analysis of the impact of
crude glycerol on canine spermatozoa motility, morphology,
viability, and membrane integrity. Experiments were realized in vitro.
In the study, semen from 5 large dog breeds was used. They were
typical representatives of large breeds, coming from healthy rearing,
regularly vaccinated and integrated to the further breeding. Semen
collections were realized at the owners of animals and in the
veterinary clinic. Subsequently the experiments were realized at the
Department of Animal Physiology of the SUA in Nitra. The
spermatozoa motility was evaluated using CASA analyzer
(SpermVisionTM, Minitub, Germany) at the temperature 5 and 37°C
for 5 hours. In the study, 13 motility parameters were evaluated.
Generally, crude glycerol has generally negative effect on
spermatozoa motility. Morphological analysis was realized using
Hancock staining and the preparations were evaluated at
magnification 1000x using classification tables of morphologically
changed spermatozoa. Data clearly detected the highest number of
morphologically changed spermatozoa in the experimental groups
(know twisted tails, tail torso and tail coiling). For acrosome
alterations swelled acrosomes, removed acrosomes and acrosomes
with undulated membrane were detected. In this study also the effect
of crude glycerol on spermatozoa membrane integrity were analyzed.
The highest crude glycerol concentration significantly affects
spermatozoa integrity. Results of this study show that crude glycerol
has effect of spermatozoa motility, viability, and membrane integrity.
Detected changes are related to crude glycerol concentration,
temperature, as well as time of incubation.
Abstract: Digital reference service is when a traditional library
reference service is provided electronically. In most cases users do
not get full satisfaction from using digital reference service due to
variety of reasons. This paper discusses the formal specification of
web services applications for digital reference services (WSDRS).
WSDRS is an informal model that claims to reduce the problems of
digital reference services in libraries. It uses web services technology
to provide efficient digital way of satisfying users’ need in the
reference section of libraries. Informal model is in natural language
which is inconsistent and ambiguous that may cause difficulties to the
developers of the system. In order to solve this problem we decided
to convert the informal specifications into formal specifications. This
is supposed to reduce the overall development time and cost. We use
Z language to develop the formal model and verify it with Z/EVES
theorem prover tool.
Abstract: Piezoelectric actuator is treated as RC load when it is
modeled electrically. For some piezoelectric actuator applications,
arbitrary voltage is required to actuate. Especially for unidirectional
arbitrary voltage driving like as sine wave, some special inverter with
circuit that can charge and discharge the capacitive energy can be
used. In this case, the difference between power supply level and the
object voltage level for RC load is varied. Because the control gain is
constant, the controlled output is not uniform according to the voltage
difference. In this paper, for charge and discharge circuit for
unidirectional arbitrary voltage driving for piezoelectric actuator, the
controller gain is controlled according to the voltage difference. With
the proposed simple idea, the load voltage can have controlled
smoothly although the voltage difference is varied. The
appropriateness is proved from the simulation of the proposed circuit.
Abstract: Lots of motors have been being used in industry.
Therefore many researchers have studied about the failure diagnosis of
motors. In this paper, the effect of measuring environment for
diagnosis of gear fault connected to a motor shaft is studied. The fault
diagnosis is executed through the comparison of normal gear and
abnormal gear. The measured FFT data are compared with the normal
data and analyzed for q-axis current, noise and vibration. For bad and
good environment, the diagnosis results are compared. From these, it
is shown that the bad measuring environment may not be able to detect
exactly the motor gear fault. Therefore it is emphasized that the
measuring environment should be carefully prepared.
Abstract: Food supply chain is one of the most complex supply
chain networks due to its perishable nature and customer oriented
products, and food safety is the major concern for this industry. IT
system could help to minimize the production and consumption of
unsafe food by controlling and monitoring the entire system.
However, there have been many issues in adoption of IT system in
this industry specifically within SMEs sector. With this regard, this
study presents a novel approach to use IT and tractability systems in
the food supply chain, using application of RFID and central
database.
Abstract: Health workforce is a fundamental component of
health system and plays a significant role in delivering effective
health care services. However, there is a crucial shortage of skilled
personnel which make them prone to work in stressful conditions. In
spite of excessively high workload and burnout among the staff, little
attention is given to their job satisfaction level which has serious
implications on the productivity and effective performance of staff to
achieve organizational goals. Therefore, this study aims to explore
the job satisfaction of midwives working in the labor ward of the
Lady Dufferin Hospital, Karachi. A cross-sectional survey was
conducted. The short version of Minnesota Job Satisfaction
Questionnaire was administered on a convenient sample group of 22
midwives to gather information on their job satisfaction. The results
demonstrated that midwives were overall satisfied with their job. The
level of job satisfaction was however found different in various
positions within midwifery cadre. The head of midwives was highly
satisfied as compared to midwifery staff who works under the
supervision of head. The level of satisfaction of team leaders fall
between the head and staff of midwifery. Similar trends were
observed for both intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction. Such
evidences on these issues are essential and useful as it helps explore
the attitudes of individuals towards work which has direct
implications on access to quality care services. Strategic interventions
are required at organizational level to provide motivators and
satisfiers to health workers for their work related satisfaction and
enhanced motivation.
Abstract: The McEliece cryptosystem is an asymmetric type of
cryptography based on error correction code. The classical McEliece
used irreducible binary Goppa code which considered unbreakable
until now especially with parameter [1024, 524, and 101], but it is
suffering from large public key matrix which leads to be difficult to
be used practically. In this work Irreducible and Separable Goppa
codes have been introduced. The Irreducible and Separable Goppa
codes used are with flexible parameters and dynamic error vectors. A
Comparison between Separable and Irreducible Goppa code in
McEliece Cryptosystem has been done. For encryption stage, to get
better result for comparison, two types of testing have been chosen;
in the first one the random message is constant while the parameters
of Goppa code have been changed. But for the second test, the
parameters of Goppa code are constant (m=8 and t=10) while the
random message have been changed. The results show that the time
needed to calculate parity check matrix in separable are higher than
the one for irreducible McEliece cryptosystem, which is considered
expected results due to calculate extra parity check matrix in
decryption process for g2(z) in separable type, and the time needed to
execute error locator in decryption stage in separable type is better
than the time needed to calculate it in irreducible type. The proposed
implementation has been done by Visual studio C#.
Abstract: This paper addresses the issue of resource allocation
in the emerging cognitive technology. Focusing the Quality of
Service (QoS) of Primary Users (PU), a novel method is proposed for
the resource allocation of Secondary Users (SU). In this paper, we
propose the unique Utility Function in the game theoretic model of
Cognitive Radio which can be maximized to increase the capacity of
the Cognitive Radio Network (CRN) and to minimize the
interference scenario. Utility function is formulated to cater the need
of PUs by observing Signal to Noise ratio. Existence of Nash
Equilibrium for the postulated game is established.