Abstract: In this research, a questionnaire survey was conducted
to measure nap, drowsiness and fatigue of drivers who work for long
shifts, to discuss about the work environment and health conditions for
taxi and bus drivers who work at night-time. The questionnaire sheet
used for this research was organized into the following categories:
tension/tiredness, drowsiness while driving, and the nap situation
during night-time work. The number of taxi drivers was 127 and the
number of bus drivers was 40. Concerning the results of a comparison
of nap hours of taxi and bus drivers, the taxi drivers’ nap hours are
overwhelmingly shorter, and also the frequency of drivers who
experience drowsiness is higher. The burden on bus drivers does not
change because of the system of a two-driver rotation shift. In
particular, the working environment of the taxi driver may lead to
greater fatigue accumulation than the bus driver’s environment.
Abstract: New environmental regulations and the increasing
market preference for companies that respect the ecosystem had
encouraged the industry to look after new treatments for its effluents.
The sugar industry, one of the largest emitter of environmental
pollutants, follows this tendency. Membrane technology is
convenient for separation of suspended solids, colloids and high
molecular weight materials that are present in a wastewater from
sugar industry. The idea is to microfilter the wastewater, where the
permeate passes through the membrane and becomes available for
recycle and re-use in the sugar manufacturing process. For
microfiltration of this effluent a tubular ceramic membrane was used
with a pore size of 200 nm at transmembrane pressure in range of 1–3
bars and in range of flow rate of 50–150 l/h. Kenics static mixer was
used for permeate flux enhancement. Turbidity and suspended solids
were removed and the permeate flux was continuously monitored
during the microfiltration process. The flux achieved after 90 minutes
of microfiltration was in a range of 50–70 l/m2h. The obtained
turbidity decrease was in the range of 50-99 % and total amount of
suspended solids was removed.
Abstract: The possibility of application the dietary fibers in
production of crackers was observed in this work, as well as their
influence on rheological and textural properties on the dough for
crackers and influence on sensory properties of obtained crackers.
Three different dietary fibers, oat, potato and pea fibers, replaced
10% of wheat flour. Long fermentation process and baking test
method were used for crackers production. The changes of dough for
crackers were observed by rheological methods of determination the
viscoelastic dough properties and by textural measurements. Sensory
quality of obtained crackers was described using quantity descriptive
method (QDA) by trained members of descriptive panel. Additional
analysis of crackers surface was performed by videometer. Based on
rheological determination, viscoelastic properties of dough for
crackers were reduced by application of dietary fibers. Manipulation
of dough with 10% of potato fiber was disabled, thus the recipe
modification included increase in water content at 35%. Dough
compliance to constant stress for samples with dietary fibers
decreased, due to more rigid and stiffer dough consistency compared
to control sample. Also, hardness of dough for these samples
increased and dough extensibility decreased. Sensory properties of
final products, crackers, were reduced compared to control sample.
Application of dietary fibers affected mostly hardness, structure and
crispness of the crackers. Observed crackers were low marked for
flavor and taste, due to influence of fibers specific aroma. The sample
with 10% of potato fibers and increased water content was the most
adaptable to applied stresses and to production process. Also this
sample was close to control sample without dietary fibers by
evaluation of sensory properties and by results of videometer method.
Abstract: This research presents the main ideas to implement an
intelligent system composed by communicating wireless sensors
measuring environmental data linked to drought indicators (such as
air temperature, soil moisture , etc...). On the other hand, the setting
up of a spatio temporal database communicating with a Web mapping
application for a monitoring in real time in activity 24:00 /day, 7
days/week is proposed to allow the screening of the drought
parameters time evolution and their extraction. Thus this system
helps detecting surfaces touched by the phenomenon of drought.
Spatio-temporal conceptual models seek to answer the users who
need to manage soil water content for irrigating or fertilizing or other
activities pursuing crop yield augmentation. Effectively, spatiotemporal
conceptual models enable users to obtain a diagram of
readable and easy data to apprehend. Based on socio-economic
information, it helps identifying people impacted by the phenomena
with the corresponding severity especially that this information is
accessible by farmers and stakeholders themselves. The study will be
applied in Siliana watershed Northern Tunisia.
Abstract: Main objective of this paper is to establish a link
between inertial forces of the bearings used in construction of wind
power plant and its behavior. Using bearings with lower inertial
forces has the immediate effect of decreasing inertia rotor system,
with significant results in increased energy efficiency, due to
decreased friction forces between rollers and raceways. The F.E.M.
analysis shows the appearance of uniform contact stress at the ends of
the rollers, demonstrated the necessity of production of low mass
bearings. Favorable results are expected in the economic field, by
reducing material consumption and by increasing the durability of
bearings. Using low mass bearings with hollow rollers instead of
solid rollers has an impact on working temperature, on vibrations and
noise which decrease. Implementation of types of hollow rollers of
cylindrical tubular type, instead of expensive rollers with logarithmic
profile, will bring significant inertial forces decrease with large
benefits in behavior of wind power plant.
Abstract: In insulation and cooling of power transformers
various liquids are used. Mineral oils have wide availability and low
cost. However, they have a poor biodegradability potential and lower
fire point in comparison with other insulating liquids. Use of a liquid
having high biodegradability is important due to environmental
consideration. This paper investigates edible corn oil as an alternative
to mineral oil. Various properties of mineral and corn oil like
breakdown voltage, dissipation factor, relative dielectric constant,
power loss and resistivity were measured according to different
standards.
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: Effects of nicotine on pre-partum body weight and
preimplantation embryonic development has been reported
previously. Present study was conducted to determine the effects of
annatto (Bixa orellana)-derived delta-tocotrienol (TCT) (with
presence of 10% gamma-TCT isomer) on the nicotine-induced
reduction in body weight and 8-cell embryonic growth in mice.
Twenty-four 6-8 weeks old (23-25g) female balb/c mice were
randomly divided into four groups (G1-G4; n=6). Those groups were
subjected to the following treatments for 7 consecutive days: G1
(control) were gavaged with 0.1 ml tocopherol stripped corn oil. G2
was subcutaneously (s.c.) injected with 3 mg/kg/day of nicotine. G3
received concurrent treatment of nicotine (3 mg/kg/day) and 60
mg/kg/day of δ-TCT mixture (contains 90% delta & 10% gamma
isomers) and G4 was given 60 mg/kg/day of δ-TCT mixture alone.
Body weights were recorded daily during the treatment. On Day 8,
females were superovulated with 5 IU Pregnant Mare’s Serum
Gonadotropin (PMSG) for 48 hours followed with 5 IU human
Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) before mated with males at the ratio
of 1:1. Females were sacrificed by cervical dislocation for embryo
collection 48 hours post-coitum. Collected embryos were cultured in
vitro. Results showed that throughout Day 1 to Day 7, the body
weight of nicotine treated group (G2) was significantly lower
(p
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: Studying on the response of vegetation phenology to
climate change at different temporal and spatial scales is important for
understanding and predicting future terrestrial ecosystem dynamics
and the adaptation of ecosystems to global change. In this study, the
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) dataset and climate
data were used to analyze the dynamics of grassland phenology as well
as their correlation with climatic factors in different eco-geographic
regions and elevation units across the Tibetan Plateau. The results
showed that during 2003–2012, the start of the grassland greening
season (SOS) appeared later while the end of the growing season
(EOS) appeared earlier following the plateau’s precipitation and heat
gradients from southeast to northwest. The multi-year mean value of
SOS showed differences between various eco-geographic regions and
was significantly impacted by average elevation and regional average
precipitation during spring. Regional mean differences for EOS were
mainly regulated by mean temperature during autumn. Changes in
trends of SOS in the central and eastern eco-geographic regions were
coupled to the mean temperature during spring, advancing by about
7d/°C. However, in the two southwestern eco-geographic regions,
SOS was delayed significantly due to the impact of spring
precipitation. The results also showed that the SOS occurred later with
increasing elevation, as expected, with a delay rate of 0.66 d/100m.
For 2003–2012, SOS showed an advancing trend in low-elevation
areas, but a delayed trend in high-elevation areas, while EOS was
delayed in low-elevation areas, but advanced in high-elevation areas.
Grassland SOS and EOS changes may be influenced by a variety of
other environmental factors in each eco-geographic region.
Abstract: Because current wireless communication requires high
reliability in a limited bandwidth environment, this paper proposes
the variable modulation scheme based on the codebook. The variable
modulation scheme adjusts transmission power using the codebook in
accordance with channel state. Also, if the codebook is composed of
many bits, the reliability is more improved by the proposed scheme.
The simulation results show that the performance of proposed scheme
has better reliability than the the performance of conventional scheme.
Abstract: Industries produce millions of cubic meters of effluent
every year and the wastewater produced may be released into the
surrounding water bodies, treated on-site or at municipal treatment
plants. The determination of organic matter in the wastewater
generated is very important to avoid any negative effect on the
aquatic ecosystem. The scope of the present work is to assess the
physicochemical composition of the wastewater produced from one
of the brewery industry in South Africa. This is to estimate the
environmental impact of its discharge into the receiving water bodies
or the municipal treatment plant. The parameters monitored for the
quantitative analysis of brewery wastewater include biological
oxygen demand (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total
suspended solids, volatile suspended solids, ammonia, total oxidized
nitrogen, nitrate, nitrite, phosphorus and alkalinity content. In
average, the COD concentration of the brewery effluent was 5340.97
mg/l with average pH values of 4.0 to 6.7. The BOD5 and the solids
content of the wastewater from the brewery industry were high. This
means that the effluent is very rich in organic content and its
discharge into the water bodies or the municipal treatment plant could
cause environmental pollution or damage the treatment plant. In
addition, there were variations in the wastewater composition
throughout the monitoring period. This might be as a result of
different activities that take place during the production process, as
well as the effects of peak period of beer production on the water
usage.
Abstract: The influence of physicochemical water quality
parameters on the abundance and diversity of caddisfly larvae was
studied in seven sampling stations in Mae Tao and Mae Ku
watersheds, Mae Sot District, Tak Province, northern Thailand. The
streams: MK2 and MK8 as reference site, and impacted streams
(MT1-MT5) were sampled bi-monthly during July 2011 to May
2012. A total of 4,584 individual of caddisfly larvae belonging to 10
family and 17 genera were found. The larvae of family
Hydropsychidae were the most abundance, followed by
Philopotamidae, Odontoceridae, and Leptoceridae, respectively. The
genus Cheumatopsyche, Hydropsyche, and Chimarra were the most
abundance genera in this study. Results of CCA ordination showed
the total dissolved solids, sulfate, water temperature, dissolved
oxygen and pH were the most important physicochemical factors to
affect distribution of caddisflies communities. Changes in the
caddisfly fauna may indicate changes in physicochemical factors
owing to agricultural pollution, urbanization, or other human
activities. Results revealed that the order Trichoptera, identified to
species or genus, can be potentially used to assess environmental
water quality status in freshwater ecosystems.
Abstract: Different terms of the Statistical Process Control (SPC)
has sketch in the fuzzy environment. However, Measurement System
Analysis (MSA), as a main branch of the SPC, is rarely investigated
in fuzzy area. This procedure assesses the suitability of the data to be
used in later stages or decisions of the SPC. Therefore, this research
focuses on some important measures of MSA and through a new
method introduces the measures in fuzzy environment. In this
method, which works based on Buckley approach, imprecision and
vagueness nature of the real world measurement are considered
simultaneously. To do so, fuzzy version of the gauge capability (Cg
and Cgk) are introduced. The method is also explained through
example clearly.
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: Efficient use of energy, the increase in demand of
energy and also with the reduction of natural energy sources, has
improved its importance in recent years. Most of the losses in the
system from electricity produced until the point of consumption is
mostly composed by the energy distribution system. In this study,
analysis of the resulting loss in power distribution transformer and
distribution power cable is realized which are most of the losses in
the distribution system. Transformer losses in the real distribution
system are analyzed by CYME Power Engineering Software
program. These losses are disclosed for different voltage levels and
different loading conditions.
Abstract: In order to help the expert to validate association rules
extracted from data, some quality measures are proposed in the
literature. We distinguish two categories: objective and subjective
measures. The first one depends on a fixed threshold and on data
quality from which the rules are extracted. The second one consists
on providing to the expert some tools in the objective to explore and
visualize rules during the evaluation step. However, the number of
extracted rules to validate remains high. Thus, the manually mining
rules task is very hard. To solve this problem, we propose, in this
paper, a semi-automatic method to assist the expert during the
association rule's validation. Our method uses rule-based
classification as follow: (i) We transform association rules into
classification rules (classifiers), (ii) We use the generated classifiers
for data classification. (iii) We visualize association rules with their
quality classification to give an idea to the expert and to assist him
during validation process.
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 development of transport systems has negative
impacts on the environment although it has beneficial effects on
society. The car policy caused many problems such as: - the
spectacular growth of fuel consumption hence the very vast increase
in urban pollution, traffic congestion in certain places and at certain
times, the increase in the number of accidents. The exhaust emissions
from cars and weather conditions are the main factors that determine
the level of pollution in urban atmosphere. These conditions lead to
the phenomenon of heat transfer and radiation occurring between the
air and the soil surface of any town. These exchanges give rise, in
urban areas, to the effects of heat islands that correspond to the
appearance of excess air temperature between the city and its
surrounding space. In this object, we perform a numerical simulation
of the plume generated by the cars exhaust gases and show that these
gases form a screening effect above the urban city which cause the
heat island in the presence of wind flow. This study allows us: 1. To
understand the different mechanisms of interactions between these
phenomena.2. To consider appropriate technical solutions to mitigate
the effects of the heat island.