Abstract: Starting in 2020, an EU-wide CO2-limitation of
95 g/km is scheduled for the average of an OEMs passenger car fleet.
Taking that into consideration additional improvement measures of
the Diesel cycle are necessary in order to reduce fuel consumption
and emissions while boosting, or at the least, keeping performance
values at the same time.
The present article deals with the possibilities of an optimized
air/water charge air cooler, also called iCAC (indirect Charge Air
Cooler) for a Diesel passenger car amongst extreme-boundary
conditions. In this context, the precise objective was to show the
impact of improved intercooling with reference to the engine working
process (fuel consumption and NOx-emissions). Several extremeboundaries
- e.g. varying ambient temperatures or mountainous
routes - that will become very important in the near future regarding
RDE (Real Driving emissions) were subject of the investigation.
With the introduction of RDE in 2017 (EU6c measure), the
controversial NEDC (New European Driving Cycle) will belong to
the past and the OEMs will have to avoid harmful emissions in any
conceivable real life situation.
This is certainly going to lead to optimization-measurements at the
powertrain, which again is going to make the implementation of
iCACs, presently solely used for the premium class, more and more
attractive for compact class cars. The investigations showed a benefit
in FC between 1 and 3% for the iCAC in real world conditions.
Abstract: Water spray cooling is a technique typically used in
heat treatment and other metallurgical processes where controlled
temperature regimes are required. Water spray cooling is used in
static (without movement) or dynamic (with movement of the steel
plate) regimes. The static regime is notable for the fixed position of
the hot steel plate and fixed spray nozzle. This regime is typical for
quenching systems focused on heat treatment of the steel plate. The
second application of spray cooling is the dynamic regime. The
dynamic regime is notable for its static section cooling system and
moving steel plate. This regime is used in rolling and finishing mills.
The fixed position of cooling sections with nozzles and the
movement of the steel plate produce nonhomogeneous water
distribution on the steel plate. The length of cooling sections and
placement of water nozzles in combination with the nonhomogeneity
of water distribution lead to discontinued or interrupted cooling
conditions. The impact of static and dynamic regimes on cooling
intensity and the heat transfer coefficient during the cooling process
of steel plates is an important issue.
Heat treatment of steel is accompanied by oxide scale growth. The
oxide scale layers can significantly modify the cooling properties and
intensity during the cooling. The combination of static and dynamic
(section) regimes with the variable thickness of the oxide scale layer
on the steel surface impact the final cooling intensity. The study of
the influence of the oxide scale layers with different cooling regimes
was carried out using experimental measurements and numerical
analysis. The experimental measurements compared both types of
cooling regimes and the cooling of scale-free surfaces and oxidized
surfaces. A numerical analysis was prepared to simulate the cooling
process with different conditions of the section and samples with
different oxide scale layers.
Abstract: Strong anion exchange resins with QN+OH-, have the
potential to be developed and employed as heterogeneous catalyst for
transesterification, as they are chemically stable to leaching of the
functional group. Nine different SIERs (SIER1-9) with QN+OH-were
prepared by suspension polymerization of vinylbenzyl chloridedivinylbenzene
(VBC-DVB) copolymers in the presence of n-heptane
(pore-forming agent). The amine group was successfully grafted into
the polymeric resin beads through functionalization with
trimethylamine. These SIERs are then used as a catalyst for the
transesterification of triacetin with methanol. A set of differential
equations that represents the Langmuir-Hinshelwood-Hougen-
Watson (LHHW) and Eley-Rideal (ER) models for the
transesterification reaction were developed. These kinetic models of
LHHW and ER were fitted to the experimental data. Overall, the
synthesized ion exchange resin-catalyzed reaction were welldescribed
by the Eley-Rideal model compared to LHHW models,
with sum of square error (SSE) of 0.742 and 0.996, respectively.
Abstract: Operations research science (OR) deals with good
success in developing and applying scientific methods for problem
solving and decision-making. However, by using OR techniques, we
can enhance the use of computer decision support systems to achieve
optimal management for institutions. OR applies comprehensive
analysis including all factors that effect on it and builds mathematical
modeling to solve business or organizational problems. In addition, it
improves decision-making and uses available resources efficiently.
The adoption of OR by universities would definitely contributes to
the development and enhancement of the performance of OR
techniques. This paper provides an understanding of the structures,
approaches and models of OR in problem solving and decisionmaking.
Abstract: Factors affecting construction unit cost vary
depending on a country’s political, economic, social and
technological inclinations. Factors affecting construction costs have
been studied from various perspectives. Analysis of cost factors
requires an appreciation of a country’s practices. Identified cost
factors provide an indication of a country’s construction economic
strata. The purpose of this paper is to identify the essential factors
that affect unit cost estimation and their breakdown using artificial
neural networks. Twenty five (25) identified cost factors in road
construction were subjected to a questionnaire survey and employing
SPSS factor analysis the factors were reduced to eight. The 8 factors
were analysed using neural network (NN) to determine the
proportionate breakdown of the cost factors in a given construction
unit rate. NN predicted that political environment accounted 44% of
the unit rate followed by contractor capacity at 22% and financial
delays, project feasibility and overhead & profit each at 11%. Project
location, material availability and corruption perception index had
minimal impact on the unit cost from the training data provided.
Quantified cost factors can be incorporated in unit cost estimation
models (UCEM) to produce more accurate estimates. This can create
improvements in the cost estimation of infrastructure projects and
establish a benchmark standard to assist the process of alignment of
work practises and training of new staff, permitting the on-going
development of best practises in cost estimation to become more
effective.
Abstract: This paper presents a new structure of microstrip band
pass filter (BPF) based on coupled stepped impedance resonators.
Each filter consists of two coupled stepped impedance resonators
connected to microstrip feed lines. The coupled junction is utilized to
connect the two BPFs to the antenna. This two band pass filters are
designed and simulated to operate for the digital communication
system (DCS) and Industrial Scientific and Medical (ISM) bands at
1.8 GHz and 2.45 GHz respectively. The proposed circuit presents
good performances with an insertion loss lower than 2.3 dB and
isolation between the two channels greater than 21 dB. The prototype
of the optimized diplexer have been investigated numerically by
using ADS Agilent and verified with CST microwave software.
Abstract: The thermal conductivity of a fluid can be
significantly enhanced by dispersing nano-sized particles in it, and
the resultant fluid is termed as "nanofluid". A theoretical model for
estimating the thermal conductivity of a nanofluid has been proposed
here. It is based on the mechanism that evenly dispersed
nanoparticles within a nanofluid undergo Brownian motion in course
of which the nanoparticles repeatedly collide with the heat source.
During each collision a rapid heat transfer occurs owing to the solidsolid
contact. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of the collision
of nanoparticles with the heat source has shown that there is a pulselike
pick up of heat by the nanoparticles within 20-100 ps, the extent
of which depends not only on thermal conductivity of the
nanoparticles, but also on the elastic and other physical properties of
the nanoparticle. After the collision the nanoparticles undergo
Brownian motion in the base fluid and release the excess heat to the
surrounding base fluid within 2-10 ms. The Brownian motion and
associated temperature variation of the nanoparticles have been
modeled by stochastic analysis. Repeated occurrence of these events
by the suspended nanoparticles significantly contributes to the
characteristic thermal conductivity of the nanofluids, which has been
estimated by the present model for a ethylene glycol based nanofluid
containing Cu-nanoparticles of size ranging from 8 to 20 nm, with
Gaussian size distribution. The prediction of the present model has
shown a reasonable agreement with the experimental data available
in literature.
Abstract: In this study the instability problem of a modified
Taylor-Couette flow between two vertical coaxial cylinders of radius
R1, R2 is considered. The modification is based on the wavy shape of
the inner cylinder surface, where inner cylinders with different
surface amplitude and wavelength are used. The study aims to
discover the effect of the inner surface geometry on the instability
phenomenon that undergoes Taylor-Couette flow. The study reveals
that the transition processes depends strongly on the amplitude and
wavelength of the inner cylinder surface and resulting in flow
instabilities that are strongly different from that encountered in the
case of the classical Taylor-Couette flow.
Abstract: Artificial Neural Network (ANN) can be trained using
back propagation (BP). It is the most widely used algorithm for
supervised learning with multi-layered feed-forward networks.
Efficient learning by the BP algorithm is required for many practical
applications. The BP algorithm calculates the weight changes of
artificial neural networks, and a common approach is to use a twoterm
algorithm consisting of a learning rate (LR) and a momentum
factor (MF). The major drawbacks of the two-term BP learning
algorithm are the problems of local minima and slow convergence
speeds, which limit the scope for real-time applications. Recently the
addition of an extra term, called a proportional factor (PF), to the
two-term BP algorithm was proposed. The third increases the speed
of the BP algorithm. However, the PF term also reduces the
convergence of the BP algorithm, and criteria for evaluating
convergence are required to facilitate the application of the three
terms BP algorithm. Although these two seem to be closely related,
as described later, we summarize various improvements to overcome
the drawbacks. Here we compare the different methods of
convergence of the new three-term BP algorithm.
Abstract: There exists some time lag between the consumption of
inputs and the production of outputs. This time lag effect should be
considered in calculating efficiency of decision making units (DMU).
Recently, a couple of DEA models were developed for considering
time lag effect in efficiency evaluation of research activities. However,
these models can’t discriminate efficient DMUs because of the nature
of basic DEA model in which efficiency scores are limited to ‘1’. This
problem can be resolved a super-efficiency model. However, a super
efficiency model sometimes causes infeasibility problem. This paper
suggests an output oriented super-efficiency model for efficiency
evaluation under the consideration of time lag effect. A case example
using a long term research project is given to compare the suggested
model with the MpO model.
Abstract: Developing young people’s employability is a key
policy issue for ensuring their successful transition to the labour
market and their access to career oriented employment. The youths of
today irrespective of their gender need to acquire the knowledge,
skills and attitudes that will enable them to create or find jobs as well
as cope with unpredictable labour market changes throughout their
working lives. In a study carried out to determine the influence of
gender on job-competencies requirements of chemical-based
industries and undergraduate-competencies acquisition by chemists
working in the industries, all chemistry graduates working in twenty
(20) chemical-based industries that were randomly selected from six
sectors of chemical-based industries in Lagos and Ogun States of
Nigeria were administered with Job-competencies required and
undergraduate-competencies acquired assessment questionnaire. The
data were analysed using means and independent sample t-test. The
findings revealed that the population of female chemists working in
chemical-based industries is low compared with the number of male
chemists; furthermore, job-competencies requirements are found not
to be gender biased while there is no significant difference in
undergraduate-competencies acquisition of male and female
chemists. This suggests that females should be given the same
opportunity of employment in chemical-based industries as their male
counterparts. The study also revealed the level of acquisition of
undergraduate competencies as related to the needs of chemicalbased
industries.
Abstract: In this study which has been conducted in Akçasu
Forest Range District of Devrek Forest Directorate; 3 methods (weed
control with labourer power, cover removal with Hitachi F20
Excavator, and weed control with agricultural equipment mounted on
a Ferguson 240S agriculture tractor) were utilized in weed control
efforts in regeneration of degraded oriental beech forests have been
compared. In this respect, 3 methods have been compared by
determining certain work hours and standard durations of unit areas
(1 hectare). For this purpose, evaluating the tasks made with human
and machine force from the aspects of duration, productivity and
costs, it has been aimed to determine the most productive method in
accordance with the actual ecological conditions of research field.
Within the scope of the study, the time studies have been conducted
for 3 methods used in weed control efforts. While carrying out those
studies, the performed implementations have been evaluated by
dividing them into business stages. Also, the actual data have been
used while calculating the cost accounts. In those calculations, the
latest formulas and equations which are also used in developed
countries have been utilized. The variance of analysis (ANOVA) was
used in order to determine whether there is any statistically
significant difference among obtained results, and the Duncan test
was used for grouping if there is significant difference. According to
the measurements and findings carried out within the scope of this
study, it has been found during living cover removal efforts in
regeneration efforts in demolished oriental beech forests that the
removal of weed layer in 1 hectare of field has taken 920 hours with
labourer force, 15.1 hours with excavator and 60 hours with an
equipment mounted on a tractor. On the other hand, it has been
determined that the cost of removal of living cover in unit area (1
hectare) was 3220.00 TL for labourer power, 1250 TL for excavator
and 1825 TL for equipment mounted on a tractor.
According to the obtained results, it has been found that the
utilization of excavator in weed control effort in regeneration of
degraded oriental beech regions under actual ecological conditions of
research field has been found to be more productive from both of
aspects of duration and costs. These determinations carried out
should be repeated in weed control efforts in degraded forest fields
with different ecological conditions, it is compulsory for finding the
most efficient weed control method. These findings will light the way
of technical staff of forestry directorate in determination of the most
effective and economic weed control method. Thus, the more actual
data will be used while preparing the weed control budgets, and there
will be significant contributions to national economy. Also the results of this and similar studies are very important for developing the policies for our forestry in short and long term.
Abstract: e-Service has moved from the usual manual and
traditional way of rendering services to electronic service provision
for the public and there are several reasons for implementing these
services, Airline ticketing have gone from its manual traditional way
to an intelligent web-driven service of purchasing. Many companies
have seen their profits doubled through the use of online services in
their operation and a typical example is Hewlett Packard (HP) which
is rapidly transforming their after sales business into a profit
generating e-service business unit.
This paper will examine the various challenges confronting e-
Service adoption and implementation in Nigeria and also analyse
lessons learnt from e-Service adoption and implementation in Asia to
see how it could be useful in Nigeria which is a lower middle income
country. From the analysis of the online survey data, it has been
identified that the public in Nigeria are much aware of e-Services but
successful adoption and implementation have been the problems
faced.
Abstract: Liposome plays an important role in medical and
pharmaceutical science as e.g. nano scale drug carriers. Liposomes
are vesicles of varying size consisting of a spherical lipid bilayer and
an aqueous inner compartment. Magnet-driven liposome used for the
targeted delivery of drugs to organs and tissues. These liposome
preparations contain encapsulated drug components and finely
dispersed magnetic particles.
Liposomes are vesicles of varying size consisting of a spherical
lipid bilayer and an aqueous inner compartment that are generated in
vitro. These are useful in terms of biocompatibility, biodegradability,
and low toxicity, and can control biodistribution by changing the size,
lipid composition, and physical characteristics. Furthermore,
liposomes can entrap both hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs and are
able to continuously release the entrapped substrate, thus being useful
drug carriers. Magnetic liposomes (MLs) are phospholipid vesicles
that encapsulate magneticor paramagnetic nanoparticles. They are
applied as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
The biological synthesis of nanoparticles using plant extracts plays
an important role in the field of nanotechnology. Green-synthesized
magnetite nanoparticles-protein hybrid has been produced by treating
Iron (III) / Iron (II) chloride with the leaf extract of Datura inoxia.
The phytochemicals present in the leaf extracts act as a reducing as
well stabilizing agents preventing agglomeration, which include
flavonoids, phenolic compounds, cardiac glycosides, proteins and
sugars.
The magnetite nanoparticles-protein hybrid has been trapped
inside the aqueous core of the liposome prepared by reversed phase
evaporation (REV) method using oleic and linoleic acid which has
been shown to be driven under magnetic field confirming the
formation magnetic liposome (ML). Chemical characterization of
stealth magnetic liposome has been performed by breaking the
liposome and release of magnetic nanoparticles. The presence iron
has been confirmed by colour complex formation with KSCN and
UV-Vis study using spectrophotometer Cary 60, Agilent.
This magnet driven liposome using nanoparticles-protein hybrid
can be a smart vesicles for the targeted drug delivery.
Abstract: The paper examines the interaction between the
environmental taxation, size of government spending on
environmental protection and greenhouse gas emissions and gross
inland energy consumption. The aim is to analyze the effects of
environmental taxation and government spending on environmental
protection as an environmental policy instruments on greenhouse gas
emissions and gross inland energy consumption in the EU15. The
empirical study is performed using a VAR approach with the
application of aggregated data of EU15 over the period 1995 to 2012.
The results provide the evidence that the reactions of greenhouse gas
emission and gross inland energy consumption to the shocks of
environmental policy instruments are strong, mainly in the short term
and decay to zero after about 8 years. Further, the reactions of the
environmental policy instruments to the shocks of greenhouse gas
emission and gross inland energy consumption are also strong in the
short term, however with the deferred effects. In addition, the results
show that government spending on environmental protection together
with gross inland energy consumption has stronger effect on
greenhouse gas emissions than environmental taxes in EU15 over the
examined period.
Abstract: Background: Taiwan now is an aging society. Research
on the elderly should not be confined to caring for seniors, but should
also be focused on ways to improve health and the quality of life.
Senior citizens who participate in volunteer services could become
less lonely, have new growth opportunities, and regain a sense of
accomplishment. Thus, the question of how to get the elderly to
participate in volunteer service is worth exploring. Objective: Apply
the Transtheoretical Model to understand stages of change in regular
volunteer service and voluntary service behaviour among the seniors.
Methods: 1525 adults over the age of 65 from the Renai district of
Keelung City were interviewed. The research tool was a
self-constructed questionnaire, and individual interviews were
conducted to collect data. Then the data was processed and analyzed
using the IBM SPSS Statistics 20 (Windows version) statistical
software program. Results: In the past six months, research subjects
averaged 9.92 days of volunteer services. A majority of these elderly
individuals had no intention to change their regular volunteer services.
We discovered that during the maintenance stage, the self-efficacy for
volunteer services was higher than during all other stages, but
self-perceived barriers were less during the preparation stage and
action stage. Self-perceived benefits were found to have an important
predictive power for those with regular volunteer service behaviors in
the previous stage, and self-efficacy was found to have an important
predictive power for those with regular volunteer service behaviors in
later stages. Conclusions/Implications for Practice: The research
results support the conclusion that community nursing staff should
group elders based on their regular volunteer services change stages
and design appropriate behavioral change strategies.
Abstract: The objective of the present study is to determine
better eye end design of a mono leaf spring used in light motor
vehicle. A conventional 65Si7 spring steel leaf spring model with
standard eye, casted and riveted eye end are considered. The CAD
model of the leaf springs is prepared in CATIA and analyzed using
ANSYS. The standard eye, casted and riveted eye leaf springs are
subjected to similar loading conditions. The CAE analysis of the leaf
spring is performed for various parameters like deflection and Von-
Mises stress. Mass reduction of 62.9% is achieved in case of riveted
eye mono leaf spring as compared to standard eye mono leaf spring
for the same loading conditions.
Abstract: This paper provides a comparative study on the
performances of standard PID and adaptive PID controllers tested on
travel angle of a 3-Degree-of-Freedom (3-DOF) Quanser bench-top
helicopter. Quanser, a well-known manufacturer of educational
bench-top helicopter has developed Proportional Integration
Derivative (PID) controller with Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR)
for all travel, pitch and yaw angle of the bench-top helicopter. The
performance of the PID controller is relatively good; however, its
performance could also be improved if the controller is combined
with adaptive element. The objective of this research is to design
adaptive PID controller and then compare the performances of the
adaptive PID with the standard PID. The controller design and test is
focused on travel angle control only. Adaptive method used in this
project is self-tuning controller, which controller’s parameters are
updated online. Two adaptive algorithms those are pole-placement
and deadbeat have been chosen as the method to achieve optimal
controller’s parameters. Performance comparisons have shown that
the adaptive (deadbeat) PID controller has produced more desirable
performance compared to standard PID and adaptive (poleplacement).
The adaptive (deadbeat) PID controller attained very fast
settling time (5 seconds) and very small percentage of overshoot (5%
to 7.5%) for 10° to 30° step change of travel angle.
Abstract: Periventricular Leukomalacia (PVL) is a White Matter
Injury (WMI) of preterm neonatal brain. Objectives of the study were
to assess the neuro-developmental outcome at one year of age and to
determine a good protocol of cranial ultrasonography to detect PVL.
Two hundred and sixty four preterm neonates were included in the
study. Series of cranial ultrasound scans were done by using a
dedicated neonatal head probe 4-10 MHz of Logic e portable
ultrasound scanner. Clinical history of seizures, abnormal head
growth (hydrocephalus or microcephaly) and developmental
milestones were assessed and neurological examinations were done
until one year of age. Among live neonates, 57% who had cystic PVL
(Grades 2 and 3) manifested as cerebral palsy. In conclusion cystic
PVL has permanent neurological disabilities like cerebral palsy.
Good protocol of real time cranial ultrasonography to detect PVL is
to perform scans at least once a week until one month and at term (40
weeks of gestation).
Abstract: Science and technology has a major impact on many
societal domains such as communication, medicine, food,
transportation, etc. However, this dominance of modern technology
can have a negative unintended impact on indigenous systems, and in
particular on indigenous foods. This problem serves as a motivation
to this study whose aim is to examine the perceptions of learners on
the usefulness of Information and Communication Technologies
(ICTs) for learning about indigenous foods. This aim will be
subdivided into two types of research objectives. The design and
identification of theories and models will be achieved using literature
content analysis. The objective on the empirical testing of such
theories and models will be achieved through the survey of
Hospitality studies learners from different schools in the iLembe and
Umgungundlovu Districts of the South African Kwazulu-Natal
province. SPSS is used to quantitatively analyze the data collected by
the questionnaire of this survey using descriptive statistics and
Pearson correlations after the assessment of the validity and the
reliability of the data. The main hypothesis behind this study is that
there is a connection between the demographics of learners, their
perceptions on the usefulness of ICTs for learning about indigenous
foods, and the following personality and eLearning related theories
constructs: Computer self-efficacy, Trust in ICT systems, and
Conscientiousness; as suggested by existing studies on learning
theories. This hypothesis was fully confirmed by the survey
conducted by this study except for the demographic factors where
gender and age were not found to be determinant factors of learners’
perceptions on the usefulness of ICTs for learning about indigenous
foods.