Abstract: A primary healthcare facility in developing countries should be a multifunctional space able to respond to different requirements: Flexibility, modularity, aggregation and reversibility. These basic features could be better satisfied if applied to an architectural artifact that complies with the typological, figurative and constructive aspects of the context in which it is located. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify a procedure that can define the figurative aspects of the architectural structure of the health prototype for the marginal areas of developing countries through a critical approach. The application context is the rural areas of the Northeast of Bahia in Brazil. The prototype should be located in the rural district of Quingoma, in the municipality of Lauro de Freitas, a particular place where there is still a cultural fusion of black and indigenous populations. Based on the historical analysis of settlement strategies and architectural structures in spaces of public interest or collective use, this paper aims to provide a procedure able to identify the categories and rules underlying typological and figurative aspects, in order to detect significant and generalizable elements, as well as materials and constructive techniques typically adopted in the rural areas of Brazil. The object of this work is therefore not only the recovery of certain constructive approaches but also the development of a procedure that integrates the requirements of the primary healthcare prototype with its surrounding economic, social, cultural, settlement and figurative conditions.
Abstract: The prevalence of post-treatment relapse in orthodontics in the community is high enough; therefore, relapses in orthodontic treatment must be prevented well. The aim of this study is to experimentally test the inhibition of relapse of orthodontics tooth movement in NaF of expression TGF-β1, Runx2, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and microscopic of woven bone. The research method used was experimental laboratory research involving 30 rats, which were divided into three groups. Group A: rats were not given orthodontic tooth movement and without NaF. Group B: rats were given orthodontic tooth movement and without 11.5 ppm by topical application. Group C: rats were given orthodontic tooth movement and 11.75 ppm by topical application. Orthodontic tooth movement was conducted by applying ligature wires of 0.02 mm in diameter on the molar-1 (M-1) of left permanent maxilla and left insisivus of maxilla. Immunohistochemical examination was conducted to calculate the number of osteoblast to determine TGF β1, Runx2, ALP and haematoxylin to determine woven bone on day 7 and day 14. Results: It was shown that administrations of Natrium Fluoride topical application proved effective to increase the expression of TGF-β1, Runx2, ALP and to increase woven bone in the tension area greater than administration without natrium fluoride topical application (p < 0.05), except the expression of ALP on day 7 and day 14 which was significant. The results of the study show that NaF significantly increases the expressions of TGF-β1, Runx2, ALP and woven bone. The expression of the variables enhanced on day 7 compared on that on day 14, except ALP. Thus, it can be said that the acceleration of woven bone occurs on day 7.
Abstract: According to the new requirements of the future spacecraft, such as networking, modularization and non-cable, this paper studies the CCSDS wireless communications standards, and focuses on the low data-rate wireless communications for spacecraft monitoring and control. The application fields and advantages of wireless communications are analyzed. Wireless communications technology has significant advantages in reducing the weight of the spacecraft, saving time in spacecraft integration, etc. Based on this technology, a scheme for spacecraft data system is put forward. The corresponding block diagram and key wireless interface design of the spacecraft data system are given. The design proposal of the wireless node and information flow of the spacecraft are also analyzed. The results show that the wireless communications scheme is reasonable and feasible. The wireless communications technology can meet the future spacecraft demands in networking, modularization and non-cable.
Abstract: The road environment information is needed accurately for applications such as road maintenance and virtual 3D city modeling. Mobile laser scanning (MLS) produces dense point clouds from huge areas efficiently from which the road and its environment can be modeled in detail. Objects such as buildings, cars and trees are an important part of road environments. Different methods have been developed for detection of above such objects, but still there is a lack of accuracy due to the problems of illumination, environmental changes, and multiple objects with same features. In this work the comparison between different classifiers such as Multiclass SVM, kNN and Multiclass LDA for the road environment detection is analyzed. Finally the classification accuracy for kNN with LBP feature improved the classification accuracy as 93.3% than the other classifiers.
Abstract: Fiber reinforced polymeric (FRP) composites are finding wide-spread industrial applications because of their exceptionally high specific strength and specific modulus of elasticity. Nevertheless, it is very seldom to get ready-for-use components or products made of FRP composites. Secondary processing by machining, particularly drilling, is almost always required to make holes for fastening components together to produce assemblies. That creates problems since the FRP composites are neither homogeneous nor isotropic. Some of the problems that are encountered include the subsequent damage in the region around the drilled hole and the drilling – induced delamination of the layer of ply, that occurs both at the entrance and the exit planes of the work piece. Evidently, the functionality of the work piece would be detrimentally affected. The current work was carried out with the aim of eliminating or at least minimizing the work piece damage associated with drilling of FPR composites. Each test specimen involves a woven reinforced graphite fiber/epoxy composite having a thickness of 12.5 mm (0.5 inch). A large number of test specimens were subjected to drilling operations with different combinations of feed rates and cutting speeds. The drilling induced damage was taken as the absolute value of the difference between the drilled hole diameter and the nominal one taken as a percentage of the nominal diameter. The later was determined for each combination of feed rate and cutting speed, and a matrix comprising those values was established, where the columns indicate varying feed rate while and rows indicate varying cutting speeds. Next, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) approach was employed using Minitab software, in order to obtain the combination that would improve the drilling induced damage. Experimental results show that low feed rates coupled with low cutting speeds yielded the best results.
Abstract: Scientific work analytically explores and demonstrates techniques that can animate objects and geometric characters using CSS3 language by applying proper formatting and positioning of elements. This paper presents examples of optimum application of the CSS3 descriptive language when generating general web animations (e.g., billiards and movement of geometric characters, etc.). The paper presents analytically, the optimal development and animation design with the frames within which the animated objects are. The originally developed content is based on the upgrading of existing CSS3 descriptive language animations with more complex syntax and project-oriented work. The purpose of the developed animations is to provide an overview of the interactive features of CSS3 descriptive language design for computer games and the animation of important analytical data based on the web view. It has been analytically demonstrated that CSS3 as a descriptive language allows inserting of various multimedia elements into websites for public and internal sites.
Abstract: Offshore platforms for ultra-deep waters are form-dominant by design; hybrid systems with large flexibility in horizontal plane and high rigidity in vertical plane are preferred due to functional complexities. Offshore triceratops is relatively a new-generation offshore platform, whose deck is partially isolated from the supporting buoyant legs by ball joints. They allow transfer of partial displacements of buoyant legs to the deck but restrain transfer of rotational response. Buoyant legs are in turn taut-moored to the sea bed using pre-tension tethers. Present study will discuss detailed dynamic analysis and preliminary design of the chosen geometric, which is necessary as a proof of validation for such design applications. A detailed numeric analysis of triceratops at 2400 m water depth under random waves is presented. Preliminary design confirms member-level design requirements under various modes of failure. Tether configuration, proposed in the study confirms no pull-out of tethers as stress variation is comparatively lesser than the yield value. Presented study shall aid offshore engineers and contractors to understand suitability of triceratops, in terms of design and dynamic response behaviour.
Abstract: In the last years, the crashworthiness of an automotive body structure can be improved, since the beginning of the design stage, thanks to the development of specific optimization tools. It is well known how the finite element codes can help the designer to investigate the crashing performance of structures under dynamic impact. Therefore, by coupling nonlinear mathematical programming procedure and statistical techniques with FE simulations, it is possible to optimize the design with reduced number of analytical evaluations. In engineering applications, many optimization methods which are based on statistical techniques and utilize estimated models, called meta-models, are quickly spreading. A meta-model is an approximation of a detailed simulation model based on a dataset of input, identified by the design of experiments (DOE); the number of simulations needed to build it depends on the number of variables. Among the various types of meta-modeling techniques, Kriging method seems to be excellent in accuracy, robustness and efficiency compared to other ones when applied to crashworthiness optimization. Therefore the application of such meta-model was used in this work, in order to improve the structural optimization of a bumper for a racing car in composite material subjected to frontal impact. The specific energy absorption represents the objective function to maximize and the geometrical parameters subjected to some design constraints are the design variables. LS-DYNA codes were interfaced with LS-OPT tool in order to find the optimized solution, through the use of a domain reduction strategy. With the use of the Kriging meta-model the crashworthiness characteristic of the composite bumper was improved.
Abstract: Reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions are probably the greatest challenge now facing mankind. From considerations surrounding global warming and CO2 production, it has to be recognized that oil is a finite resource and the KSA like many other oil-rich countries will have to start to consider a horizon where hydro-carbons are not the dominant energy resource. The employment of hybrid ground-cooling pipes in combination with the black body solar collection and radiant night cooling systems may have the potential to displace a significant proportion of oil currently used to run conventional air conditioning plant. This paper presents an investigation into the viability of such hybrid systems with the specific aim of reducing cooling load and carbon emissions while providing all year-round thermal comfort in a typical Saudi Arabian urban housing block. Soil temperatures were measured in the city of Jeddah. A parametric study then was carried out by computational simulation software (DesignBuilder) that utilized the field measurements and predicted the cooling energy consumption of both a base case and an ideal scenario (typical block retro-fitted with insulation, solar shading, ground pipes integrated with hypocaust floor slabs/stack ventilation and radiant cooling pipes embed in floor). Initial simulation results suggest that careful ‘ecological design’ combined with hybrid radiant and ground pipe cooling techniques can displace air conditioning systems, producing significant cost and carbon savings (both capital and running) without appreciable deprivation of amenity.
Abstract: In this paper, optimal design of hybrid standalone power supply system (SAPS) is done for off grid applications in remote areas where transmission of power is difficult. The hybrid SAPS system uses two primary energy sources, wind and solar, and in addition to these diesel generator is also connected to meet the load demand in case of failure of wind and solar system. This paper presents mathematical modeling of 1.4 MW hybrid SAPS system for rural electrification. This paper firstly focuses on mathematical modeling of PV module connected in a string, secondly focuses on modeling of permanent magnet wind turbine generator (PMWTG). The hybrid controller is also designed for selection of power from the source available as per the load demand. The power output of hybrid SAPS system is analyzed for meeting load demands at urban as well as for rural areas.
Abstract: This paper investigates MIMO (Multiple-Input
Multiple-Output) adaptive filtering techniques for the application
of supervised source separation in the context of convolutive
mixtures. From the observation that there is correlation among the
signals of the different mixtures, an improvement in the NSAF
(Normalized Subband Adaptive Filter) algorithm is proposed in
order to accelerate its convergence rate. Simulation results with
mixtures of speech signals in reverberant environments show the
superior performance of the proposed algorithm with respect to the
performances of the NLMS (Normalized Least-Mean-Square) and
conventional NSAF, considering both the convergence speed and
SIR (Signal-to-Interference Ratio) after convergence.
Abstract: Growing dependency of mankind on software
technology increases the need for thorough testing of the software
applications and automated testing techniques that support testing
activities. We have outlined our testing strategy for performing
various types of automated testing of Java applications using
AspectJ which has become the de-facto standard for Aspect Oriented
Programming (AOP). Likewise JUnit, a unit testing framework is
the most popular Java testing tool. In this paper, we have evaluated
our proposed AOP approach for automated testing and JUnit on
various parameters. First we have provided the similarity between
the two approaches and then we have done a detailed comparison
of the two testing techniques on factors like lines of testing code,
learning curve, testing of private members etc. We established that
our AOP testing approach using AspectJ has got several advantages
and is thus particularly more effective than JUnit.
Abstract: Deep Venous Thrombosis (DVT) occurs when a
thrombus is formed within a deep vein (most often in the legs). This
disease can be deadly if a part or the whole thrombus reaches the
lung and causes a Pulmonary Embolism (PE). This disorder, often
asymptomatic, has multifactorial causes: immobilization, surgery,
pregnancy, age, cancers, and genetic variations. Our project aims to
relate the thrombus epidemiology (origins, patient predispositions,
PE) to its structure using ultrasound images. Ultrasonography and
elastography were collected using Toshiba Aplio 500 at Brest
Hospital. This manuscript compares two classification approaches:
spectral clustering and scattering operator. The former is based on
the graph and matrix theories while the latter cascades wavelet
convolutions with nonlinear modulus and averaging operators.
Abstract: The understanding of generation and collapse of acoustic cavitation bubbles are prerequisites for application of cavitation erosion. Microbubbles generated due to rapid fluctuation of pressure induced by propagation of ultrasonic wave lead to formation of high velocity microjets and or shock waves upon collapse. Due to vast application of ultrasonic, it is important to characterize and understand cavitation collapse pressure under the radiating surface at different conditions. A comparative investigation is carried out to determine impact load and dynamic pressure distribution exerted upon bubble collapse using thin film pressure sensors. Measurements were recorded at different input conditions such as amplitude, stand-off distance, insertion depth of the horn inside the liquid and pulse on-off time of acoustic vibrations. Impact force of 2.97 N is recorded at amplitude of 108 μm and stand-off distance of 1 mm from the sensor film, whereas impulsive force as low as 0.4 N is recorded at amplitude of 12 μm and stand-off distance of 5 mm from the sensor film. The results drawn from the investigation indicated that variety of impact loads can be achieved by controlling generation and collapse of bubbles, making it suitable to use for numerous application.
Abstract: Dysprosium is a rare earth element which is essential for many growing high-technology applications. Dysprosium along with neodymium plays a significant role in different applications such as metal halide lamps, permanent magnets, and nuclear reactor control rods preparation. The purification and separation of rare earth elements are challenging because of their similar chemical and physical properties. Among the various methods, membrane processes provide many advantages over the conventional separation processes such as ion exchange and solvent extraction. In this work, selective extraction and separation of dysprosium from aqueous solutions containing an equimolar mixture of dysprosium and neodymium by emulsion liquid membrane (ELM) was investigated. The organic membrane phase of the ELM was a nanofluid consisting of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), Span80 as surfactant, Cyanex 272 as carrier, kerosene as base fluid, and nitric acid solution as internal aqueous phase. Factors affecting separation of dysprosium such as carrier concentration, MWCNT concentration, feed phase pH and stripping phase concentration were analyzed using Taguchi method. Optimal experimental condition was obtained using analysis of variance (ANOVA) after 10 min extraction. Based on the results, using MWCNT nanofluid in ELM process leads to increase the extraction due to higher stability of membrane and mass transfer enhancement and separation factor of 6 for dysprosium over neodymium can be achieved under the optimum conditions. Additionally, demulsification process was successfully performed and the membrane phase reused effectively in the optimum condition.
Abstract: Personnel selection process is considered as one of the most important and most difficult issues in human resources management. At the stage of personnel selection, the applicants are handled according to certain criteria, the candidates are dealt with, and efforts are made to select the most appropriate candidate. However, this process can be more complicated in terms of the managers who will carry out the staff selection process. Candidates should be evaluated according to different criteria such as work experience, education, foreign language level etc. It is crucial that a rational selection process is carried out by considering all the criteria in an integrated structure. In this study, the problem of choosing the front office manager of a 5 star accommodation enterprise operating in Antalya is addressed by using multi-criteria decision-making methods. In this context, SWARA (Step-wise weight assessment ratio analysis) and MOORA (Multi-Objective Optimization on the basis of ratio analysis) methods, which have relatively few applications when compared with other methods, have been used together. Firstly SWARA method was used to calculate the weights of the criteria and subcriteria that were determined by the business. After the weights of the criteria were obtained, the MOORA method was used to rank the candidates using the ratio system and the reference point approach. Recruitment processes differ from sector to sector, from operation to operation. There are a number of criteria that must be taken into consideration by businesses in accordance with the structure of each sector. It is of utmost importance that all candidates are evaluated objectively in the framework of these criteria, after these criteria have been carefully selected in the selection of suitable candidates for employment. In the study, staff selection process was handled by using SWARA and MOORA methods together.
Abstract: When assessing the quality of the spraying procedure, three indicators are used: uneven distribution of precipitation of liquid sprayed, degree of coverage of sprayed surfaces, and deposition of liquid spraying However, there is a lack of information on the relationship between the quality parameters of the procedure. Therefore, the research was carried out at the Institute of Agricultural Engineering of Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences. The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between the degree of coverage of sprayed surfaces and the deposition of liquid in the aspect of the parametric characteristics of the protected plant using selected single and double stream nozzles. Experiments were conducted under laboratory conditions. The carrier of nozzles acted as an independent self-propelled sprayer used for spraying, whereas the parametric characteristics of plants were determined using artificial plants as the ratio of the vertical projection surface and the horizontal projection surface. The results and their analysis showed a strong and very strong correlation between the analyzed parameters in terms of the characteristics of the sprayed object.
Abstract: Current trends in the building industry are oriented towards the reduction of maintenance costs and the ecological benefits of buildings or building materials. Surface treatment of building materials with photocatalytic active titanium dioxide added into concrete can offer a good solution in this context. Architectural concrete has one disadvantage – dust and fouling keep settling on its surface, diminishing its aesthetic value and increasing maintenance e costs. Concrete surface – silicate material with open porosity – fulfils the conditions of effective photocatalysis, in particular, the self-cleaning properties of surfaces. This modern material is advantageous in particular for direct finishing and architectural concrete applications. If photoactive titanium dioxide is part of the top layers of road concrete on busy roads and the facades of the buildings surrounding these roads, exhaust fumes can be degraded with the aid of sunshine; hence, environmental load will decrease. It is clear that options for removing pollutants like nitrogen oxides (NOx) must be found. Not only do these gases present a health risk, they also cause the degradation of the surfaces of concrete structures. The photocatalytic properties of titanium dioxide can in the long term contribute to the enhanced appearance of surface layers and eliminate harmful pollutants dispersed in the air, and facilitate the conversion of pollutants into less toxic forms (e.g., NOx to HNO3). This paper describes verification of the photocatalytic properties of titanium dioxide and presents the results of mechanical and physical tests on samples of architectural lightweight self-compacting concretes (LWSCC). The very essence of the use of LWSCC is their rheological ability to seep into otherwise extremely hard accessible or inaccessible construction areas, or sections thereof where concrete compacting will be a problem, or where vibration is completely excluded. They are also able to create a solid monolithic element with a large variety of shapes; the concrete will at the same meet the requirements of both chemical aggression and the influences of the surrounding environment. Due to their viscosity, LWSCCs are able to imprint the formwork elements into their structure and thus create high quality lightweight architectural concretes.
Abstract: The current study investigates the behaviour of time-varying parameters that are based on the score function of the predictive model density at time t. The mechanism to update the parameters over time is the scaled score of the likelihood function. The results revealed that there is high persistence of time-varying, as the location parameter is higher and the skewness parameter implied the departure of scale parameter from the normality with the unconditional parameter as 1.5. The results also revealed that there is a perseverance of the leptokurtic behaviour in stock returns which implies the returns are heavily tailed. Prior to model estimation, the White Neural Network test exposed that the stock price can be modelled by a GAS model. Finally, we proposed further researches specifically to model the existence of time-varying parameters with a more detailed model that encounters the heavy tail distribution of the series and computes the risk measure associated with the returns.
Abstract: This paper introduced a topographic mapping system with time-saving and simplicity advantages based on integration of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data and Post Processing Kinematic Global Positioning System (PPK GPS) data. This topographic mapping system used a low-altitude Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) as a platform to conduct land survey in a low-cost, efficient, and totally autonomous manner. An experiment in a small-scale sugarcane farmland was conducted in Queensland, Australia. Subsequently, we synchronized LiDAR distance measurements that were corrected by using attitude information from gyroscope with PPK GPS coordinates for generation of precision topographic maps, which could be further utilized for such applications like precise land leveling and drainage management. The results indicated that LiDAR distance measurements and PPK GPS altitude reached good accuracy of less than 0.015 m.