Abstract: Evaluation of the excavation-induced ground
movements is an important design aspect of support systems in urban
areas. Geological and geotechnical conditions of an excavation area
have significant effects on excavation-induced ground movements and
the related damage. This paper is aimed at studying the performance of
excavation walls supported by nails in jointed rock medium. The
performance of nailed walls is investigated based on evaluating the
excavation-induced ground movements. For this purpose, a set of
calibrated 2D finite element models are developed by taking into
account the nail-rock-structure interactions, the anisotropic properties
of jointed rock, and the staged construction process. The results of this
paper highlight effects of different parameters such as joint
inclinations, anisotropy of rocks and nail inclinations on deformation
parameters of excavation wall supported by nails.
Abstract: Nonlinear evolution of broadband ultrasonic pulses
passed through the rock specimens is studied using the apparatus
“GEOSCAN-02M”. Ultrasonic pulses are excited by the pulses of Qswitched
Nd:YAG laser with the time duration of 10 ns and with the
energy of 260 mJ. This energy can be reduced to 20 mJ by some light
filters. The laser beam radius did not exceed 5 mm. As a result of the
absorption of the laser pulse in the special material – the optoacoustic
generator–the pulses of longitudinal ultrasonic waves are excited with
the time duration of 100 ns and with the maximum pressure
amplitude of 10 MPa. The immersion technique is used to measure
the parameters of these ultrasonic pulses passed through a specimen,
the immersion liquid is distilled water. The reference pulse passed
through the cell with water has the compression and the rarefaction
phases. The amplitude of the rarefaction phase is five times lower
than that of the compression phase. The spectral range of the
reference pulse reaches 10 MHz. The cubic-shaped specimens of the
Karelian gabbro are studied with the rib length 3 cm. The ultimate
strength of the specimens by the uniaxial compression is (300±10)
MPa. As the reference pulse passes through the area of the specimen
without cracks the compression phase decreases and the rarefaction
one increases due to diffraction and scattering of ultrasound, so the
ratio of these phases becomes 2.3:1. After preloading some horizontal
cracks appear in the specimens. Their location is found by one-sided
scanning of the specimen using the backward mode detection of the
ultrasonic pulses reflected from the structure defects. Using the
computer processing of these signals the images are obtained of the
cross-sections of the specimens with cracks. By the increase of the
reference pulse amplitude from 0.1 MPa to 5 MPa the nonlinear
transformation of the ultrasonic pulse passed through the specimen
with horizontal cracks results in the decrease by 2.5 times of the
amplitude of the rarefaction phase and in the increase of its duration
by 2.1 times. By the increase of the reference pulse amplitude from 5
MPa to 10 MPa the time splitting of the phases is observed for the
bipolar pulse passed through the specimen. The compression and
rarefaction phases propagate with different velocities. These features
of the powerful broadband ultrasonic pulses passed through the rock
specimens can be described by the hysteresis model of Preisach-
Mayergoyz and can be used for the location of cracks in the optically
opaque materials.
Abstract: Research has shown that techno-entrepreneurship is
economically significant. Therefore, it is suggested that teaching
techno-entrepreneurship may be important because such programmes
would prepare current and future generations of learners to recognise
and act on high-technology opportunities. Education in technoentrepreneurship
may increase the knowledge of how to start one’s
own enterprise and recognise the technological opportunities for
commercialisation to improve decision-making about starting a new
venture; also it influence decisions about capturing the business
opportunities and turning them into successful ventures. Universities
can play a main role in connecting and networking technoentrepreneurship
students towards a cooperative attitude with real
business practice and industry knowledge. To investigate and answer
whether education for techno-entrepreneurs really helps, this paper
choses a comparison of literature reviews as its method of research.
After reviewing literature related to the impact of technoentrepreneurship
education on self-employment 6 studies which had
similar aim and objective to this paper were. These particular papers
were selected based on a keywords search and as their aim,
objectives, and gaps were close to the current research. In addition,
they were all based on the influence of techno-entrepreneurship
education in self-employment and intention of students to start new
ventures. The findings showed that teaching techno-entrepreneurship
education may have an influence on students’ intention and their
future self-employment, but which courses should be covered and the
duration of programmes, needs further investigation.
Abstract: Urinary Tract Infections are considered as one of the
most common bacterial infections with an estimated annual global
incidence of 150 million. Antimicrobial drug resistance is one of the
major threats due to wide spread usage of uncontrolled antibiotics. In
this study, a total number of 9149 urine samples were collected from
R.H Patiala and processed in the Department of Microbiology G. M.
C Patiala (January 2013 to December 2013). Urine samples were
inoculated on MacConkey’s and blood agar plates and incubated at
370C for 24 hrs. The organisms were identified by colony characters,
Gram’s staining, and biochemical reactions. Antimicrobial
susceptibility of the isolates was determined against various
antimicrobial agents (Hi – Media Mumbai India) by Kirby Bauer
DISK diffusion method on Muller Hinton agar plates. Maximum patients were in the age group of 21-30 yrs followed by
31-40 yrs. Males (34%) are less prone to urinary tract infections than
females (66%). Culture was positive in 25% of the samples.
Escherichia coli was the most common isolate 60.3% followed by
Klebsiella pneumoniae 13.5%, Proteus spp. 9% and Staphylococcus
aureus 7.6%. Most of the urinary isolates were sensitive to,
carbepenems, Aztreonam, Amikacin, and Piperacillin + Tazobactum.
All the isolates showed a good sensitivity towards Nitrofurantoin
(82%). ESBL production was found to be 70.6% in Escherichia coli
and 29.4% in Klebsiella pneumonia. Susceptibility of ESBL
producers to Imipenem, Nitrofurantoin and Amikacin were found to
be 100%, 76%, and 75% respectively. Uropathogens are increasingly
showing resistance to many antibiotics making empiric management
of outpatient UTIs challenging. Ampicillin, Cotrimoxazole and
Ciprofloxacin should not be used in empiric treatment. Nitrofurantoin
could be used in lower urinary tract infection. Knowledge of
uropathogens and their antimicrobial susceptibility pattern in a
geographical region will help in appropriate and judicious antibiotic
usage in a health care setup.
Abstract: Heart is the most important part in the body of living
organisms. It affects and is affected by any factor in the body.
Therefore, it is a good detector for all conditions in the body. Heart
signal is a non-stationary signal; thus, it is utmost important to study
the variability of heart signal. The Heart Rate Variability (HRV) has
attracted considerable attention in psychology, medicine and has
become important dependent measure in psychophysiology and
behavioral medicine. The standards of measurements, physiological
interpretation and clinical use for HRV that are most often used were
described in many researcher papers, however, remain complex
issues are fraught with pitfalls. This paper presents one of the nonlinear
techniques to analyze HRV. It discusses many points like, what
Poincaré plot is and how Poincaré plot works; also, Poincaré plot's
merits especially in HRV. Besides, it discusses the limitation of
Poincaré cause of standard deviation SD1, SD2 and how to overcome
this limitation by using complex correlation measure (CCM). The
CCM is most sensitive to changes in temporal structure of the
Poincaré plot as compared toSD1 and SD2.
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: 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: 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: In this work, we attempt to associate firm
characteristics with innovative activity. We collect microdata from
listed firms of selected Eurozone Country-members, after the
beginning of 2007 financial crisis. The following literature, several
indicators of growth and performance were selected and tested for
their ability to interpret innovative activity. The main scope is to
examine the possible differences in performance and growth between
innovative and non-innovative firms, during a severe recession.
Additionally to that, a special focus will be held on whether
macroeconomic performance and national innovation system,
determines the extent of innovators' performance. Preliminary
findings, through correlation matrices and non-parametric tests,
strongly indicate the positive relation between innovative activity and
most of the measures used (profitability, size, employment),
confirming that even during a recessionary period, innovative firms
not only survive but also seem to succeed better economic results in
almost all indexes relative to non-innovative. However, even though
innovators seem to perform better in all economies examined, the
extent of that performance seems to be strongly affected by the
supportive mechanisms (financial and structural) that their country
provides. Thus, it is clear, that the technologically intensive 'gap'
between European South and North, during the economic crisis,
became chaotic, due to the harsh austerity measures and reduced
budgets in those countries, even in sectors with high potentials in
economic activity and employment, impairing the effects of crisis and
enhancing the vicious circle of recession.
Abstract: There are real needs to integrate types of Open
Educational Resources (OER) with an intelligent system to extract
information and knowledge in the semantic searching level. The
needs came because most of current learning standard adopted web
based learning and the e-learning systems do not always serve all
educational goals. Semantic Web systems provide educators,
students, and researchers with intelligent queries based on a semantic
knowledge management learning system. An ontology-based learning
system is an advanced system, where ontology plays the core of the
semantic web in a smart learning environment. The objective of this
paper is to discuss the potentials of ontologies and mapping different
kinds of ontologies; heterogeneous or homogenous to manage and
control different types of Open Educational Resources. The important
contribution of this research is that it uses logical rules and
conceptual relations to map between ontologies of different
educational resources. We expect from this methodology to establish
an intelligent educational system supporting student tutoring, self and
lifelong learning system.
Abstract: The consumption of food contaminated with molds
(microscopic filamentous fungi) and their toxic metabolites results in
the development of food-borne mycotoxicosis. The spores of molds
are ubiquitously spread in the environment and can be detected
everywhere. Ochratoxin A is a toxic and potentially carcinogenic
fungal toxin found in a variety of food commodities. In this study, the
mycological quality of various ready-to-eat local and imported pork
meat and meat byproducts sold in Egyptian markets were assessed
and the presence of various molds was determined in pork used as a
raw material, edible organs as liver and kidney as well as in
fermented raw meat by-products. The study assessed the mycological
quality of pork raw meat and their by-products sold in commercial
shops in Cairo, Egypt. Mycological analysis was conducted on
(n=110) samples which included pig’s livers and kidneys from
Egyptian Bassatin slaughter house; local and imported processed
pork meat by-products from Egyptian pork markets. The isolates
were identified using traditional mycological and biochemical tests.
All kidney and liver samples were positive to molds growth while all
byproducts were negative. Ochratoxin A levels were quantitatively
analyzed using the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)
and the highest results were present in kidney 7.51 part per billion
(ppb) followed by minced meat 6.19 ppb generally the local samples
showed higher levels than the imported ones. To the best of our
knowledge, this is the first report on mycotoxins detection and
quantification from pork by-products in Egypt.
Abstract: Massive rock avalanches formed some of the largest landslide deposits on Earth and they represent one of the major geohazards in high-relief mountains. This paper interprets a very large sedimentary fan (the Sernio fan, Valtellina, Northern Italy), located 20 Km SW from Val Pola Rock avalanche (1987), as the deposit of a partial collapse of a Deep Seated Gravitational Slope Deformation (DSGSD), afterwards eroded and buried by debris flows. The proposed emplacement sequence has been reconstructed based on geomorphological, structural and mechanical evidences. The Sernio fan is actually considered anomalous with reference to the very high ratio between the fan area (≈ 4.5km2) and the basin area (≈ 3km2). The morphology of the fan area is characterised by steep slopes (dip ≈ 20%) and the fan apex is extended for 1.8 km inside the small catchment basin. This sedimentary fan was originated by a landslide that interested a part of a large deep-seated gravitational slope deformation, involving a wide area of about 55 km². The main controlling factor is tectonic and it is related to the proximity to regional fault systems and the consequent occurrence of fault weak rocks (GSI locally lower than 10 with compressive stress lower than 20MPa). Moreover, the fan deposit shows sedimentary evidences of recent debris flow events. The best current explanation of the Sernio fan involves an initial failure of some hundreds of Mm3. The run-out was quite limited because of the morphology of Valtellina’s valley floor, and the deposit filled the main valley forming a landslide dam, as confirmed by the lacustrine deposits detected upstream the fan. Nowadays the debris flow events represent the main hazard in the study area.
Abstract: Urban areas, as they have been developed and operate
today, are areas of accumulation of a significant amount of people
and a large number of activities that generate desires and reasons for
traveling. The territorial expansion of the cities as well as the need to
preserve the importance of the central city areas lead to the
continuous increase of transportation needs which in the limited
urban space results in creating serious traffic and operational
problems. The modern perception of urban planning is directed towards more
holistic approaches and integrated policies that make it economically
competitive, socially just and more environmentally friendly. Over
the last 25 years, the goal of sustainable transport development has
been central to the agenda of any plan or policy for the city. The
modern planning of urban space takes into account the economic and
social aspects of the city and the importance of the environment to
sustainable urban development. In this context, the European Union
promotes direct or indirect related interventions according to the
cohesion and environmental policies; many countries even had the
chance to actually test them. This paper explores the methods and processes that have been
developed towards this direction and presents a review and
systematic presentation of this work. The ultimate purpose of this
research is to effectively use this review to create a decision making
methodological framework which can be the basis of a useful
operational tool for sustainable urban planning.
Abstract: Biomass treatment through densification is very suitable and helpful technology before its effective energy recovery. Densification process of biomass is significantly influenced by various technological and material variables, which are ultimately reflected on the final solid biofuels quality. The paper deals with the experimental research of the relationship between technological and material variables during densification of fast-growing trees, roundly fast-growing willows. The main goal of presented experimental research is to determine the relationship between compression pressure and raw material particle size from a final briquettes density point of view. Experimental research was realized by single-axis densification. The impact of particle size with interaction of compression pressure and stabilization time on the quality properties of briquettes was determined. These variables interaction affects the final solid biofuels (briquettes) quality. From briquettes production point of view and from densification machines constructions point of view is very important to know about mutual interaction of these variables on final briquettes quality. The experimental findings presented here are showing the importance of mentioned variables during the densification process.
Abstract: Structural analysis of flexible pavements has been and still is currently performed using multi-layer elastic theory. However, for thinly surfaced pavements subjected to low to medium volumes of traffics, the importance of non-linear stress-strain behavior of unbound granular materials (UGM) requires the use of more sophisticated numerical models for structural design and performance of such pavements. In the present work, nonlinear unbound aggregates constitutive model is implemented within an axisymmetric finite element code developed to simulate the nonlinear behavior of pavement structures including two local aggregates of different mineralogical nature, typically used in Algerian pavements. The performance of the mechanical model is examined about its capability of representing adequately, under various conditions, the granular material non-linearity in pavement analysis. In addition, deflection data collected by Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) are incorporated into the analysis in order to assess the sensitivity of critical pavement design criteria and pavement design life to the constitutive model. Finally, conclusions of engineering significance are formulated.
Abstract: This paper discusses micrometeorological aspects of the urban climate in three cities in Western São Paulo State: Presidente Prudente, Assis and Iepê. Particular attention is paid to the method used to estimate the components of the energy balance at the surface. Estimates of convective fluxes showed that the Bowen ratio was an indicator of the local climate and that its magnitude varied between 0.3 and 0.7. Maximum values for the Bowen ratio occurred earlier in Iepê (11:00 am) than in Presidente Prudente (4:00 pm). The results indicate that the Bowen ratio is modulated by the radiation balance at the surface and by different clusters of vegetation.
Abstract: The Gezi Park protests of 2013 have significantly changed the Turkish agenda and its effects have been felt historically. The protests, which rapidly spread throughout the country, were triggered by the proposal to recreate the Ottoman Army Barracks to function as a shopping mall on Gezi Park located in Istanbul’s Taksim neighbourhood despite the oppositions of several NGOs and when trees were cut in the park for this purpose. Once the news that the construction vehicles entered the park on May 27 spread on social media, activists moved into the park to stop the demolition, against whom the police used disproportioned force. With this police intervention and the then prime-minister Tayyip Erdoğan's insistent statements about the construction plans, the protests turned into anti- government demonstrations, which then spread to the rest of the country, mainly in big cities like Ankara and Izmir. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ June 23rd reports, 2.5 million people joined the demonstrations in 79 provinces, that is all of them, except for the provinces of Bayburt and Bingöl, while even more people shared their opinions via social networks. As a result of these events, 8 civilians and 2 security personnel lost their lives, namely police chief Mustafa Sarı, police officer Ahmet Küçükdağ, citizens Mehmet Ayvalıtaş, Abdullah Cömert, Ethem Sarısülük, Ali İsmail Korkmaz, Ahmet Atakan, Berkin Elvan, Burak Can Karamanoğlu, Mehmet İstif, and Elif Çermik, and 8163 more were injured. Besides being a turning point in Turkish history, the Gezi Park protests also had broad repercussions in both in Turkish and in global media, which focused on Turkey throughout the events. Our study conducts content analysis of three Turkish reporting newspapers with varying ideological standpoints, Hürriyet, Cumhuriyet ve Yeni Şafak, in order to reveal their basic approach to news casting in context of the Gezi Park protests. Headlines, news segments, and news content relating to the Gezi protests were treated and analysed for this purpose. The aim of this study is to understand the social effects of the Gezi Park protests through media samples with varying political attitudes towards news casting.
Abstract: This paper contributes to the ongoing debate as to the relevance of translation studies to professional practitioners. It exposes the various misconceptions permeating the links between theory and practice in the translation landscape in the Arab World. It is a thesis of this paper that specialization in translation should be redefined; taking account of the fact, that specialized knowledge alone is neither crucial nor sufficient in technical translation. It should be tested against the readability of the translated text, the appropriateness of its style and the usability of its content by endusers to carry out their intended tasks. The paper also proposes a preliminary model to establish a working link between theory and practice from the perspective of professional trainers and practitioners, calling for the latter to participate in the production of knowledge in a systematic fashion. While this proposal is driven by a rather intuitive conviction, a research line is needed to specify the methodological moves to establish the mediation strategies that would relate the components in the model of knowledge transfer proposed in this paper.