Abstract: The purpose of this research was to study five vital
factors related to employees’ job performance. A total of 250
respondents were sampled from employees who worked at a public
warehouse organization, Bangkok, Thailand. Samples were divided
into two groups according to their work experience. The average
working experience was about 9 years for group one and 28 years for
group two. A questionnaire was utilized as a tool to collect data.
Statistics utilized in this research included frequency, percentage,
mean, standard deviation, t-test analysis, one way ANOVA, and
Pearson Product-moment correlation coefficient. Data were analyzed
by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. The findings
disclosed that the majority of respondents were female between 23-
31 years old, single, and hold an undergraduate degree. The average
income of respondents was less than 30,900 baht. The findings also
revealed that the factors of organization chart awareness, job process
and technology, internal environment, employee loyalty, and policy
and management were ranked as medium level. The hypotheses
testing revealed that difference in gender, age, and position had
differences in terms of the awareness of organization chart, job
process and technology, internal environment, employee loyalty, and
policy and management in the same direction with low level.
Abstract: This paper presents a new and efficient approach for capacitor placement in radial distribution systems that determine the optimal locations and size of capacitor with an objective of improving the voltage profile and reduction of power loss. The solution methodology has two parts: in part one the loss sensitivity factors are used to select the candidate locations for the capacitor placement and in part two a new algorithm that employs Plant growth Simulation Algorithm (PGSA) is used to estimate the optimal size of capacitors at the optimal buses determined in part one. The main advantage of the proposed method is that it does not require any external control parameters. The other advantage is that it handles the objective function and the constraints separately, avoiding the trouble to determine the barrier factors. The proposed method is applied to 9, 34, and 85-bus radial distribution systems. The solutions obtained by the proposed method are compared with other methods. The proposed method has outperformed the other methods in terms of the quality of solution.
Abstract: When an assignable cause(s) manifests itself to a multivariate process and the process shifts to an out-of-control condition, a root-cause analysis should be initiated by quality engineers to identify and eliminate the assignable cause(s) affected the process. A root-cause analysis in a multivariate process is more complex compared to a univariate process. In the case of a process involved several correlated variables an effective root-cause analysis can be only experienced when it is possible to identify the required knowledge including the out-of-control condition, the change point, and the variable(s) responsible to the out-of-control condition, all simultaneously. Although literature addresses different schemes to monitor multivariate processes, one can find few scientific reports focused on all the required knowledge. To the best of the author’s knowledge this is the first time that a multi task model based on artificial neural network (ANN) is reported to monitor all the required knowledge at the same time for a multivariate process with more than two correlated quality characteristics. The performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated numerically when different step shifts affect the mean vector. Average run length is used to investigate the performance of the proposed multi task model. The simulated results indicate the multi task scheme performs all the required knowledge effectively.
Abstract: The main emphasis of metallurgists has been to process the materials to obtain the balanced mechanical properties for the given application. One of the processing routes to alter the properties is heat treatment. Nearly 90% of the structural applications are related to the medium carbon an alloyed steels and hence are regarded as structural steels. The major requirement in the conventional steel is to improve workability, toughness, hardness and grain refinement. In this view, it is proposed to study the mechanical and tribological properties of unalloyed structural (AISI 1140) steel with different thermal (heat) treatments like annealing, normalizing, tempering and hardening and compared with as brought (cold worked) specimen. All heat treatments are carried out in atmospheric condition. Hardening treatment improves hardness of the material, a marginal decrease in hardness value with improved ductility is observed in tempering. Annealing and normalizing improve ductility of the specimen. Normalized specimen shows ultimate ductility. Hardened specimen shows highest wear resistance in the initial period of slide wear where as above 25KM of sliding distance, as brought steel dominates the hardened specimen. Both mild and severe wear regions are observed. Microstructural analysis shows the existence of pearlitic structure in normalized specimen, lath martensitic structure in hardened, pearlitic, ferritic structure in annealed specimen.
Abstract: In this paper, the energy performance of a selected
UHDE Ammonia plant is optimized by conducting heat integration through waste heat recovery and the synthesis of a heat exchange
network (HEN). Minimum hot and cold utility requirements were estimated through IChemE spreadsheet. Supporting simulation was
carried out using HYSYS software. The results showed that there is
no need for heating utility while the required cold utility was found to
be around 268,714 kW. Hence a threshold pinch case was faced. Then, the hot and cold streams were matched appropriately. Also,
waste heat recovered resulted with savings in HP and LP steams of
approximately 51.0% and 99.6%, respectively. An economic analysis
on proposed HEN showed very attractive overall payback period not
exceeding 3 years. In general, a net saving approaching 35% was
achieved in implementing heat optimization of current studied UHDE Ammonia process.
Abstract: In this paper the features of multiple material gate
silicon-on-insulator MOSFETs are presented and compared with
single material gate silicon-on-insulator MOSFET structures. The
results indicate that the multiple material gate structures reduce short
channel effects such as drain induce barrier lowering, hot electron
effect and better current characteristics in comparison with single
material structures
Abstract: Fishbone of Nile Tilapia (Tilapia nilotica), waste from the frozen Nile Tilapia fillet factory, is one of calcium sources. In order to increase fish bone powder value, this study aimed to investigate the effect of Tilapia bone flour (TBF) addition (5, 10, 15% by flour weight) on cooking quality, texture and sensory attributes of noodles. The results indicated that tensile strength, color value (a*) and water absorption of noodles significantly decreased (p£0.05) as the levels of TBF increased from 0-15%. While cooking loss, cooking time and color values (L* and b*) of noodles significantly increased (p£0.05). Sensory evaluation indicated that noodles with 5% TBF received the highest overall acceptability score.
Abstract: Aspheric optical components are an alternative to the use of conventional lenses in the implementation of imaging systems for the visible range. Spherical lenses are capable of producing aberrations. Therefore, they are not able to focus all the light into a single point. Instead, aspherical lenses correct aberrations and provide better resolution even with compact lenses incorporating a small number of lenses.
Metrology of these components is very difficult especially when the resolution requirements increase and insufficient or complexity of conventional tools requires the development of specific approaches to characterization.
This work is part of the problem existed because the objectives are the study and comparison of different methods used to measure surface rays hybrid aspherical lenses.
Abstract: Pyrolysis of waste tire is one of alternative technique
to produce petrochemicals, such as light olefins, mixed C4, and monoaromatics.
Noble metals supported on acid zeolite catalysts were
reported as potential catalysts to produce the high valuable products
from waste tire pyrolysis. Especially, Pd supported on HBeta gave a
high yield of olefins, mixed C4, and mono-aromatics. Due to the high
prices of noble metals, the objective of this work was to investigate
whether or not a non-noble Ni metal can be used as a substitute of a
noble metal, Pd, supported on HBeta as a catalyst for waste tire pyrolysis.
Ni metal was selected in this work because Ni has high activity
in cracking, isomerization, hydrogenation and the ring opening of
hydrocarbons Moreover, Ni is an element in the same group as Pd
noble metal, which is VIIIB group, aiming to produce high valuable
products similarly obtained from Pd. The amount of Ni was varied as
5, 10, and 20% by weight, for comparison with a fixed 1 wt% Pd,
using incipient wetness impregnation. The results showed that as a
petrochemical-producing catalyst, 10%Ni/HBeta performed better
than 1%Pd/HBeta because it did not only produce the highest yield of
olefins and cooking gases, but the yields were also higher than
1%Pd/HBeta. 5%Ni/HBeta can be used as a substitute of
1%Pd/HBeta for similar crude production because its crude contains
the similar amounts of naphtha and saturated HCs, although it gave
no concentration of light mono-aromatics (C6-C11) in the oil. Additionally,
10%Ni/HBeta that gave high olefins and cooking gases was
found to give a fairly high concentration of the light mono-aromatics
in the oil.
Abstract: The present study examines the mediating effect of
online flow experience on the relationship between extraversionintroversion,
locus of control and loneliness, and depression and
satisfaction with life. The data was obtained using a structured
questionnaire prepared by adapting standardized scales available from
a sample of 102 engineering students from different technical
institutions at Bhubaneswar, India. The results indicate that there is a
positive significant relationship between introversion, external locus
of control, loneliness, depression and online flow experience, and
extraversion, internal locus of control and satisfaction with life. The
results also suggest that online flow experience mediates the
relationship between the aforementioned variables.
Abstract: In this paper, fabrication and study of electronic properties of Au/methyl-red/Ag surface type Schottky diode by current-voltage (I-V) method has been reported. The I-V characteristics of the Schottky diode showed the good rectifying behavior. The values of ideality factor n and barrier height b of Au/methyl-red/Ag Schottky diode were calculated from the semi-log I-V characteristics and by using the Cheung functions. From semi-log current-voltage characteristics the values of n and b were found 1.93 and 0.254 eV, respectively, while by using Cheung functions their values were calculated 1.89 and 0.26 eV, respectively. The effect of series resistance was also analyzed by Cheung functions. The series resistance RS values were determined from dV/d(lnI)–I and H(I)–I graphs and were found to be 1.1 k and 1.3 k, respectively.
Abstract: Promoting critical thinking (CT) in an educational
setting has been appraised in order to enhance learning and
intellectual skills. In this study, a pedagogical course in a vocational
teacher education program in Turkey was designed by integrating CT
skill-based strategies/activities into the course content and CT skills
were means leading to intended course objectives. The purpose of the
study was to evaluate the importance of the course objectives, the
attainment of the objectives, and the effectiveness of teachinglearning
strategies/activities from prospective teachers- points of
view. The results revealed that although the students mostly
considered the course objectives important, they did not feel
competent in the attainment of all objectives especially in those
related to the main topic of Learning and those requiring higher order
thinking skills. On the other hand, the students considered the course
activities effective for learning and for the development of thinking
skills, especially, in interpreting, comparing, questioning,
contrasting, and forming relationships.
Abstract: Solar energy is not only sustainable but also a clean
alternative to be used as source of high temperature heat for many
processes and power generation. However, the major drawback of
solar energy is its transient nature. Especially in solar
thermochemical processing, it is crucial to maintain constant or semiconstant
temperatures inside the solar reactor. In our laboratory, we
have developed a mechanism allowing us to achieve semi-constant
temperature inside the solar reactor. In this paper, we introduce the
concept along with some updated designs and provide the optical
analysis of the concept under various incoming flux.
Abstract: In this paper, a novel corner detection method is
presented to stably extract geometrically important corners.
Intensity-based corner detectors such as the Harris corner can detect
corners in noisy environments but has inaccurate corner position and
misses the corners of obtuse angles. Edge-based corner detectors such
as Curvature Scale Space can detect structural corners but show
unstable corner detection due to incomplete edge detection in noisy
environments. The proposed image-based direct curvature estimation
can overcome limitations in both inaccurate structural corner detection
of the Harris corner detector (intensity-based) and the unstable corner
detection of Curvature Scale Space caused by incomplete edge
detection. Various experimental results validate the robustness of the
proposed method.
Abstract: Relevant agricultural information disseminator
(extension agent) ratio of 1:3500 farm families which become a
menace to agricultural production capacity in developing countries
necessitate this study. Out of 4 zones in the state, 24 extension agents
in each zone, 4 extension agents using cell phones and 120 farmers
using cell phone and 120 other farmers not using cell phone were
purposively selected to give 240 farmers that participated in the
research. Data were collected using interview guide and analysized
using frequency, percentage and t-test.. Frequency of contact with
agricultural information centers revealed that cell phone user farmers
had greater means score of X 41.43 contact as against the low mean
X19.32 contact recorded by farmers receiving agricultural
information from extension agents not using cell phone and their
production was statistically significant at P < 0.05. Usage of cell
phone increase extension agent contact and increase farmers-
production capacity.
Abstract: In this paper, the techniques for estimating the
residual stress in high velocity oxy fuel thermal spray coatings have
been discussed and compared. The development trend and the last
investigation have been studied. It is seemed that the there is not
effective study on the effect of the peening action in HVOF
analytically and numerically.
Abstract: Today, Hydroforming technology provides an
attractive alternative to conventional matched die forming, especially
for cost-sensitive, lower volume production, and for parts with
irregular contours. In this study the critical fluid pressures which lead
to rupture in the workpiece has been investigated by theoretical and
finite element methods. The axisymmetric analysis was developed to
investigate the tearing phenomenon in cylindrical Hydroforming
Deep Drawing (HDD). By use of obtained equations the effect of
anisotropy, drawing ratio, sheet thickness and strain hardening
exponent on tearing diagram were investigated.
Abstract: At the time where electronic books, or e-Books, offer
students a fun way of learning , teachers who are used to the paper
text books may find it as a new challenge to use it as a part of
learning process. Precisely, there are various types of e-Books
available to suit students- knowledge, characteristics, abilities, and
interests. The paper discusses teachers- perceptions on the use of ebooks
as a paper text book in the classroom. A survey was conducted
on 72 teachers who use e-books as textbooks. It was discovered that a
majority of these teachers had good perceptions on the use of ebooks.
However, they had little problems using the devices. It can be
overcome with some strategies and a suggested framework.
Abstract: A multiphase harmonic load flow algorithm is developed based on backward/forward sweep to examine the effects of various factors on the neutral to earth voltage (NEV), including unsymmetrical system configuration, load unbalance and harmonic injection. The proposed algorithm composes fundamental frequency and harmonic frequencies power flows. The algorithm and the associated models are tested on IEEE 13 bus system. The magnitude of NEV is investigated under various conditions of the number of grounding rods per feeder lengths, the grounding rods resistance and the grounding resistance of the in feeding source. Additionally, the harmonic injection of nonlinear loads has been considered and its influences on NEV under different conditions are shown.
Abstract: The IFRS for Small and Medium-sized Entities
(SMEs) was issued in July 2009 and currently regulators are
considering various implementation strategies of this standard.
Romania is a member of the European Union since 2007, thus
accounting regulations were issued in order to ensure compliance
with the European Accounting Directives. As the European
Commission rejected recently the mandatory use of IFRS for SMEs,
regulatory bodies from the Member States have to decide if the
standard will affect or not the accounting practices of SMEs from
their countries. Recently IASB invited stakeholders to discuss the
revision of IFRS for SMEs. Empirical studies on the differences and
similarities between national standards and IFRS for SMEs could
inform decision makers on the actual level of convergence in
different countries. The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical
evidences on the convergence of the Romanian regulations with IFRS
for SMEs analyzing the results in the context of the last revisions
proposed to the EU Accounting Directives.