Abstract: In this paper, we develop a Spatio-Temporal graph as
of a key component of our knowledge representation Scheme. We
design an integrated representation Scheme to depict not only present
and past but future in parallel with the spaces in an effective and
intuitive manner. The resulting multi-dimensional comprehensive
knowledge structure accommodates multi-layered virtual world
developing in the time to maximize the diversity of situations in the
historical context. This knowledge representation Scheme is to be used
as the basis for simulation of situations composing the virtual world
and for implementation of virtual agents' knowledge used to judge and
evaluate the situations in the virtual world. To provide natural contexts
for situated learning or simulation games, the virtual stage set by this
Spatio-Temporal graph is to be populated by agents and other objects
interrelated and changing which are abstracted in the ontology.
Abstract: Clustering large populations is an important problem
when the data contain noise and different shapes. A good clustering
algorithm or approach should be efficient enough to detect clusters
sensitively. Besides space complexity, time complexity also gains
importance as the size grows. Using hierarchies we developed a new
algorithm to split attributes according to the values they have and
choosing the dimension for splitting so as to divide the database
roughly into equal parts as much as possible. At each node we
calculate some certain descriptive statistical features of the data
which reside and by pruning we generate the natural clusters with a
complexity of O(n).
Abstract: In a world worried about water resources with the
shadow of drought and famine looming all around, the quality of
water is as important as its quantity. The source of all concerns is the
constant reduction of per capita quality water for different uses.
Iran With an average annual precipitation of 250 mm compared to
the 800 mm world average, Iran is considered a water scarce country
and the disparity in the rainfall distribution, the limitations of
renewable resources and the population concentration in the margins
of desert and water scarce areas have intensified the problem.
The shortage of per capita renewable freshwater and its poor
quality in large areas of the country, which have saline, brackish or
hard water resources, and the profusion of natural and artificial
pollutant have caused the deterioration of water quality.
Among methods of treatment and use of these waters one can refer
to the application of membrane technologies, which have come into
focus in recent years due to their great advantages. This process is
quite efficient in eliminating multi-capacity ions; and due to the
possibilities of production at different capacities, application as
treatment process in points of use, and the need for less energy in
comparison to Reverse Osmosis processes, it can revolutionize the
water and wastewater sector in years to come. The article studied the
different capacities of water resources in the Persian Gulf and Oman
Sea watershed basins, and processes the possibility of using
nanofiltration process to treat brackish and non-conventional waters
in these basins.
Abstract: This paper reviews designs of the built environment
from a sustainability perspective, emphasizing their importance in
achieving ecological and sustainable economic objectives. The built
environment has traditionally resulted in loss of biodiversity,
extinction of some species, climate change, excessive water use, land
degradation, space depletion, waste accumulation, energy
consumption and environmental pollution. Materials used like
plastics, metals, bricks, concrete, cement, natural aggregates, glass
and plaster have wreaked havoc on the earth´s resources, since they
have high levels of embodied energy hence not sustainable.
Additional resources are consumed during use and disposal phases.
Proposed designs for sustainability solutions include: ecological
sanitation and eco-efficiency systems that ensure social, economic,
environmental and technical sustainability. Renewable materials and
energy systems, passive cooling and heating systems and material
and energy reduction, reuse and recycling can improve the sector.
These ideas are intended to inform the field of ecological design of
the built environment.
Abstract: In this work, we analyze the deformation of surface
waves in shallow flows conditions, propagating in a channel of
slowly varying cross-section. Based on a singular perturbation
technique, the main purpose is to predict the motion of waves by
using a dimensionless formulation of the governing equations,
considering that the longitudinal variation of the transversal section
obey a power-law distribution. We show that the spatial distribution
of the waves in the varying cross-section is a function of a kinematic
parameter,κ , and two geometrical parameters εh
and w ε . The above
spatial behavior of the surface elevation is modeled by an ordinary
differential equation. The use of single formulas to model the varying
cross sections or transitions considered in this work can be a useful
approximation to natural or artificial geometrical configurations.
Abstract: Cancer becomes one of the leading cause of death in
many countries over the world. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR)
spectra of human lung cancer cells (A549) treated with PMF (natural
product extracted from PM 701) for different time intervals were
examined. Second derivative and difference method were taken in
comparison studies. Cesium (Cs) and Rubidium (Rb) nanoparticles in
PMF were detected by Energy Dispersive X-ray attached to Scanning
Electron Microscope SEM-EDX. Characteristic changes in protein
secondary structure, lipid profile and changes in the intensities of
DNA bands were identified in treated A549 cells spectra. A
characteristic internucleosomal ladder of DNA fragmentation was
also observed after 30 min of treatment. Moreover, the pH values
were significantly increases upon treatment due to the presence of Cs
and Rb nanoparticles in the PMF fraction. These results support the
previous findings that PMF is selective anticancer agent and can
produce apoptosis to A549 cells.
Abstract: The contents of nitrates and nitrites were monitored in
15 ground water resources of a selected region earmarked for the
emergency supply of population. The resources have been selected on
the basis of previous assessment of natural conditions and the
exploitation of territory in the infiltration area as well as the
surroundings of water resources. The health risk analysis carried out
in relation to nitrates and nitrites, which were found to be the most
serious water contaminants, proved, that 14 resources met the health
standards in relation to the assessed criterion and could be included in
crisis plans. Water quality of ground resources may be assessed in the
same way with regard to other contaminants.
Abstract: The influence of human activities produced by dams
along the river beds is minor, but the location of accumulation of
water directly influences the hydrological regime. The most
important effect of the influence of damming on the way water flows
decreases the frequency of floods. The water rate controls the water
flow of the dams. These natural reservoirs become dysfunctional and,
as a result, a new distribution of flow in the downstream sector,
where maximum flow is, brings about, in this case, higher values. In
addition to fishing, middle and lower courses of rivers located by
accumulation also have a role in mitigating flood waves, thus
providing flood protection. The Vaslui also ensures a good part of the
needs of the town water supply. The most important lake is Solesti,
close to the Vaslui River, opened in 1974. A hydrological regime of
accumulation is related to an anthropogenic and natural drainage
system. The design conditions and their manoeuvres drain or fill the
water courses.
Abstract: Contamination of aromatic compounds in water can
cause severe long-lasting effects not only for biotic organism but also
on human health. Several alternative technologies for remediation of
polluted water have been attempted. One of these is adsorption
process of aromatic compounds by using organic modified clay
mineral. Porous structure of clay is potential properties for molecular
adsorptivity and it can be increased by immobilizing hydrophobic
structure to attract organic compounds. In this work natural
montmorillonite were modified with cetyltrimethylammonium
(CTMA+) and was evaluated for use as adsorbents of aromatic
compounds: benzene, toluene, and 2-chloro phenol in its single and
multicomponent solution by ethanol:water solvent. Preparation of
CTMA-montmorillonite was conducted by simple ion exchange
procedure and characterization was conducted by using x-day
diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infra red (FTIR) and gas
sorption analysis. The influence of structural modification of
montmorillonite on its adsorption capacity and adsorption affinity of
organic compound were studied. It was shown that adsorptivity of
montmorillonite was increased by modification associated with
arrangements of CTMA+ in the structure even the specific surface
area of modified montmorillonite was lower than raw
montmorillonite. Adsorption rate indicated that material has affinity
to adsorb compound by following order: benzene> toluene > 2-chloro
phenol. The adsorption isotherms of benzene and toluene showed 1st
order adsorption kinetic indicating a partition phenomenon of
compounds between the aqueous and organophilic CTMAmontmorillonite.
Abstract: Concrete performance is strongly affected by the
particle packing degree since it determines the distribution of the
cementitious component and the interaction of mineral particles. By
using packing theory designers will be able to select optimal
aggregate materials for preparing concrete with low cement content,
which is beneficial from the point of cost. Optimum particle packing
implies minimizing porosity and thereby reducing the amount of
cement paste needed to fill the voids between the aggregate particles,
taking also the rheology of the concrete into consideration. For
reaching good fluidity superplasticizers are required. The results from
pilot tests at Luleå University of Technology (LTU) show various
forms of the proposed theoretical models, and the empirical approach
taken in the study seems to provide a safer basis for developing new,
improved packing models.
Abstract: In this paper, a one-dimensional numerical approach is
used to study the effect of applying electrohydrodynamics on the
temperature and species mass fraction profiles along the microcombustor.
Premixed mixture is H2-Air with a multi-step chemistry
(9 species and 19 reactions). In the micro-scale combustion because
of the increasing ratio of area-to-volume, thermal and radical
quenching mechanisms are important. Also, there is a significant heat
loss from the combustor walls. By inserting a number of electrodes
into micro-combustor and applying high voltage to them corona
discharge occurs. This leads in moving of induced ions toward
natural molecules and colliding with them. So this phenomenon
causes the movement of the molecules and reattaches the flow to the
walls. It increases the velocity near the walls that reduces the wall
boundary layer. Consequently, applying electrohydrodynamics
mechanism can enhance the temperature profile in the microcombustor.
Ultimately, it prevents the flame quenching in microcombustor.
Abstract: The present paper considers the steady free convection
boundary layer flow of a viscoelastic fluid on solid sphere with
Newtonian heating. The boundary layer equations are an order higher
than those for the Newtonian (viscous) fluid and the adherence
boundary conditions are insufficient to determine the solution of
these equations completely. Thus, the augmentation an extra
boundary condition is needed to perform the numerical
computational. The governing boundary layer equations are first
transformed into non-dimensional form by using special
dimensionless group and then solved by using an implicit finite
difference scheme. The results are displayed graphically to illustrate
the influence of viscoelastic K and Prandtl Number Pr parameters on
skin friction, heat transfer, velocity profiles and temperature profiles.
Present results are compared with the published papers and are found
to concur very well.
Abstract: Hexavalent chromium is highly toxic to most living organisms and a known human carcinogen by the inhalation route of exposure. Therefore, treatment of Cr(VI) contaminated wastewater is essential before their discharge to the natural water bodies. Cr(VI) reduction to Cr(III) can be beneficial because a more mobile and more toxic chromium species is converted to a less mobile and less toxic form. Zero-valence-state metals, such as scrap iron, can serve as electron donors for reducing Cr(VI) to Cr(III). The influence of pH on scrap iron capacity to reduce Cr(VI) was investigated in this study. Maximum reduction capacity of scrap iron was observed at the beginning of the column experiments; the lower the pH, the greater the experiment duration with maximum scrap iron reduction capacity. The experimental results showed that highest maximum reduction capacity of scrap iron was 12.5 mg Cr(VI)/g scrap iron, at pH 2.0, and decreased with increasing pH up to 1.9 mg Cr(VI)/g scrap iron at pH = 7.3.
Abstract: The ability of UML to handle the modeling process of complex industrial software applications has increased its popularity to the extent of becoming the de-facto language in serving the design purpose. Although, its rich graphical notation naturally oriented towards the object-oriented concept, facilitates the understandability, it hardly successes to report all domainspecific aspects in a satisfactory way. OCL, as the standard language for expressing additional constraints on UML models, has great potential to help improve expressiveness. Unfortunately, it suffers from a weak formalism due to its poor semantic resulting in many obstacles towards the build of tools support and thus its application in the industry field. For this reason, many researches were established to formalize OCL expressions using a more rigorous approach. Our contribution join this work in a complementary way since it focuses specifically on OCL predefined properties which constitute an important part in the construction of OCL expressions. Using formal methods, we mainly succeed in expressing rigorously OCL predefined functions.
Abstract: This study deals with evaluation of influence of salinity (NaCl) onto equilibrium of Cu and Ni removal from aqueous solutions by natural sorbent – zeolite. Equilibrium data were obtained by batch experiments. The salinity of the aqueous solution was influenced by dissolving NaCl in distilled water. It was studied in the range of NaCl concentrations from 1 g.l-1 to 100g.l-1. For Cu sorption there is a significant influence of salinity. The maximum capacity of zeolite for Cu was decreasing with growing concentration of NaCl. For Ni sorption there is not so significant influence of salinity as for Cu. The maximum capacity of zeolite for Ni was slightly decreasing with growing concentration of NaCl.
Abstract: Novel acrylated epoxidized hemp oil (AEHO) based
bioresins were successfully synthesised, characterized and applied to
biocomposites reinforced with woven jute fibre. Characterisation of
the synthesised AEHO consisted of acid number titrations and FTIR
spectroscopy to assess the success of the acrylation reaction. Three
different matrices were produced (vinylester (VE), 50/50 blend of
AEHO/VE and 100% AEHO) and reinforced with jute fibre to form
three different types of biocomposite samples. Mechanical properties
in the form of flexural and interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) were
investigated and compared for the different samples. Results from the
mechanical tests showed that AEHO and 50/50 based neat bioresins
displayed lower flexural properties compared with the VE samples.
However when applied to biocomposites and compared with VE
based samples, AEHO biocomposites demonstrated comparable
flexural performance and improved ILSS. These results are attributed
to improved fibre-matrix interfacial adhesion due to surface-chemical
compatibility between the natural fibres and bioresin.
Abstract: Undular hydraulic jumps are illustrated by a smooth
rise of the free surface followed by a train of stationary waves. They
are sometimes experienced in natural waterways and rivers. The
characteristics of undular hydraulic jumps are studied here. The
height, amplitude and the main characteristics of undular jump is
depended on the upstream Froude number and aspect ratio. The
experiments were done on the smooth bed flume. These results
compared with other researches and the main characteristics of the
undular hydraulic jump were studied in this article.
Abstract: This paper reviews the objectives, methods and results of previous studies on biodrying of solid waste in several countries. Biodrying of solid waste is a novel technology in developing countries such as in Malaysia where high moisture content in organic waste makes the segregation process for recycling purposes complicated and diminishes the calorific value for the use of fuel source. In addition, the high moisture content also encourages the breeding of vectors and disease-bearing animals. From the laboratory results, the average moisture content of organic waste, paper, plastics and metals are 58.17%, 37.93%, 29.79% and 1.03% respectively for UKM campus. Biodrying of solid waste is a simple method of waste treatment as well as a cost-efficient technology to dry the solid waste. The process depends on temperature monitoring and air flow control along with the natural biodegradable process of organic waste. This review shows that the biodrying of solid waste method has high potential in treatment and recycling of solid waste, be useful for biodrying study and implementation in Malaysia.
Abstract: A catastrophic earthquake measuring 6.3 on the
Richter scale struck the Christchurch, New Zealand Central Business
District on February 22, 2012, abruptly disrupting the business of
teaching and learning at Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of
Technology. This paper presents the findings from a study
undertaken about the complexity of delivering an educational
programme in the face of this traumatic natural event. Nine
interconnected themes emerged from this multiple method study:
communication, decision making, leader- and follower-ship,
balancing personal and professional responsibilities, taking action,
preparedness and thinking ahead, all within a disruptive and uncertain
context. Sustainable responses that maximise business continuity, and
provide solutions to practical challenges, are among the study-s
recommendations.
Abstract: For more than 120 years, gold mining formed the
backbone the South Africa-s economy. The consequence of mine
closure was observed in large-scale land degradation and widespread
pollution of surface water and groundwater. This paper investigates
the feasibility of using natural zeolite in removing heavy metals
contaminating the Wonderfonteinspruit Catchment Area (WCA), a
water stream with high levels of heavy metals and radionuclide
pollution. Batch experiments were conducted to study the adsorption
behavior of natural zeolite with respect to Fe2+, Mn2+, Ni2+, and Zn2+.
The data was analysed using the Langmuir and Freudlich isotherms.
Langmuir was found to correlate the adsorption of Fe2+, Mn2+, Ni2+,
and Zn2+ better, with the adsorption capacity of 11.9 mg/g, 1.2 mg/g,
1.3 mg/g, and 14.7 mg/g, respectively. Two kinetic models namely,
pseudo-first order and pseudo second order were also tested to fit the
data. Pseudo-second order equation was found to be the best fit for
the adsorption of heavy metals by natural zeolite. Zeolite
functionalization with humic acid increased its uptake ability.