bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Road Safety in Kenya: A Case Study of Nairobi Southern Bypass (UCA-2) Road
Authors: Akinyi M. , Kabubo C. K. , Winja M. M. O.
Published: November 2020

The fundamental objective of transportation is to ensure that people and goods are safely and effectively moved from one place to another. Analyzing the design consistency is one of the ways in which the road’s safety can be maintained or enhanced. In order to obtain a balance in highway design, all the geometric components should, along with being economical functional, be designed to provide safety at speeds likely to occur under ordinary conditions. Distinguishing and treating any geometric inconsistency on an expressway can altogether enhance its safety outcome.
A Preventive Multi-agent based Policy for Distributed Hardware Resource Balancing
Authors: Benaouda A. , Benaouda N.
Published: November 2020

The success of a business, especially a multi-site extended enterprise, depends on the good management of all its distributed resources. It is difficult for a company to be successful if it does not have a reliable and optimal management of resources by avoiding overstocking of certain resources on a site Sitem ∈ E, and at the same time, the sub-storing of the same resources on another site Sitep ∈ E. In both cases, there is a lack of profit. In this paper, we will try to resolve this situation, by the proposal of an architecture based on the cooperative multi-agent systems paradigm combined with the Contract-Net protocol. We bring in an intelligent agent whose role is to warn in advance and for each item itemi ∈ Sitem, the coming of breakdowns and stock excesses by balancing the level of inter-site availability by a flow of resources of the same itemi by calling on the other E sites whose levels are in over-storage or under-storage.
A Short Review of Some of the Factors Affecting the Breakdown Strength of Insulating Oil for Power Transformers
Authors: Danikas M. , Sarathi R. , Morsalin S.
Published: November 2020

The present short review investigates some of the factors affecting the breakdown strength of transformer oil. Factors such as the conditioning effect, effect of oil flow, influence of impurities, type of applied voltage and electrode configuration and geometry are further discussed. It should be noted that this review does not discuss the effect of factors such as area, volume and capacitance. Velocity, impurities, electrodes’ shape and the type of applied voltage are among the factors documented to have a significant effect on breakdown strength.
Multi-national and Multi-language License Plate Detection using Convolutional Neural Networks
Authors: Salemdeeb M. , Erturk S.
Published: November 2020

Many real-life machine and computer vision applications are focusing on object detection and recognition. In recent years, deep learning-based approaches gained increasing interest due to their high accuracy levels. License Plate (LP) detection and classification have been studied extensively over the last decades. However, more accurate and language-independent approaches are still required. This paper presents a new approach to detect LPs and recognize their country, language, and layout. Furthermore, a new LP dataset for both multi-national and multi-language detection, with either one-line or two-line layouts is presented. The YOLOv2 detector with ResNet feature extraction core was utilized for LP detection, and a new low complexity convolutional neural network architecture was proposed to classify LPs. Results show that the proposed approach achieves an average detection precision of 99.57%, whereas the country, language, and layout classification accuracy is 99.33%.
Extracting Problem Linkages to Improve Knowledge Exchange between Science and Technology Domains using an Attention-based Language Model
Authors: Sasaki H. , Yamamoto S. , Agchbayar A. , Nkhbayasgalan Ν.
Published: November 2020

Science and technology activities can be considered problem-solving activities, and scientific papers and patent publications can be viewed as providing explicit knowledge gained from the problem-solving of academia and industry respectively. However, even in the same field, the approach to the same problem is not consistent between a paper and the patented technology. The creation of information silos in science and technology generates inefficiency in human intellectual production. Therefore, this study examines whether insights from technical problems can be shared with academics to solve scientific problems. We propose a concept to link the problems between these two domains using a linguistic approach for knowledge discovery that connects science and technology. We extracted scientific papers from the Association for Computational Linguistics dataset, and patent literature from the Derwent Innovation platform. From these, pairs of problem defining sentences were identified and extracted using an attention-based language model. For example, we were able to extract examples of issues that do not necessarily arise from scientific papers, such as annotation difficulties in the analysis of social network data, but can be hinted at by patented techniques prior to the paper. These results suggest that scientific problems and industrial solutions can provide mutual insight. This knowledge discovery approach is recommended not only for benefiting corporate activities but also for grasping research trends.
Investigations of Response Time Parameters of a Pneumatic 3/2 Direct Acting Solenoid Valve Under Various Working Pressure Conditions
Authors: Venkataraman K. A. , Kanthavel K. , Nirmal Kumar B.
Published: November 2020

In pneumatic circuits, a solenoid valve is a key component for controlling and directing pneumatic energy. The solenoid valve functional performances are defined as response time parameters with respect to its actuations in terms of direction changing time. This paper aims to present response time parameters of solenoid valves under various working pressures. An experimental setup is employed in order to measure response time with reference to the input signals. The response time plays significant role for evaluating the valve performance in sensitive applications. The response time parameters includes the on delay, the off delay, the on time, the off time, the cycle time and the switching frequency. In this experimental investigation the influence of various input pressure conditions is recorded and tabulated. Valves with varying orifice diameter are employed and the investigation reveals the influence of orifice diameter in response time variations. The newly-proposed six response time parameters can be used to rate and select the appropriate valve for various industrial applications.
Effect of Starch Nanocrystals on the Properties of Low Density Polyethylene/Thermoplastic Starch Blends
Authors: Chaoui S. , Smail D. , Hellati A. , Benachour D.
Published: November 2020

In this study, Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) and Thermoplastic Starch (TPS) reinforced with different amounts of Starch Nanocrystals (SNCs) with and without Dicumyl Peroxide (DCP) were blended in an internal mixer. The XRD results showed that crystallinity decreases with increasing SNC content with and without DCP. Tensile test results showed that elongation at breaking, tensile strength, and elastic modulus are lower than that of neat LDPE, whereas, the elastic modulus for the LDPE/TPS/SNC5%/DCP is higher than that of LDPE. AFM showed a decrease in the roughness of the surface after the addition of SNC and the surface become less rough after DCP addition.
UAV Tomographic Synthetic Aperture Radar for Landmine Detection
Authors: Almutiry M.
Published: November 2020

The development of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and communication systems contributed to the availability of more applications using UAVs in military and civilians purposes. Anti-personnel landmines deployed by militia groups in conflict zones are a life threat for civilians and need cautious handling while removing. The UAV Tomographic Synthetic Aperture Radar (TSAR) can reconstruct three-dimension images of the investigation domain to prescreen nonmetallic landmines. A nonmetallic landmine cannot be detected using conventional ground penetrating radars when the scattering field is undetected due to the dielectric permittivity. In this paper, imaging the underground for detecting landmine using TSAR is proposed. The TSAR has the capability of prosing the data in discrete mode regardless of the altitude of UAV’s radar. A landmine is always buried less than a feet depth. L-band frequency is used to provide high resolution and to penetrate deep in dry soil. More than one UAVs are used to multistatic scan the investigation space. The geometric diversity of multistatic distribution of the sensors will provide more information about the buried nonmetallic landmines, certain features, and their location. The data collected from the sensors will align with the geolocation data obtained from the UAV’s system for processing. Dynamic flying can be used to predict the electromagnetic response of the scattering field to create a dynamic matching filter using the Green’s function under first-order Born approximation. The occurring air-soil interference has been removed as an unwanted reflection from the ground while keeping the signal coming from underground. Using the Born approximation assumption created an ill-posed linear system solved by the Conjugate Gradient algorithm. Simulation results are presented to validate the method.
Integrated Design and Control of Renewable Energy Sources for Energy Management
Authors: Krishna T. V. , Maharana M. K. , Panigrahi C. K.
Published: November 2020

Growing population and expanding industry set off the demand for electrical energy and issues, such as the problem of peak load demand, emerge. To balance the supply and load demand problem, the energy management system has the vital role of Electric Peak shaving with the integration of microgrid into the utility grid. The combination of demand-side management with storable energy sources helps us resolve the matters concerned with the peak load demand. However, in a microgrid, whenever the distributed energy sources are interconnected, the DC bus link voltage will vary due to the inherent behavior of each source as they mainly depend on geographical conditions. This work proposes voltage droop control strategy to keep the DC bus link voltage at a constant value. Also, it gives an overlook of the present power sector scenario of India and a reassessment of the demand side management system and how it is utilized in electrical peak shaving.
Robust Correction Procedure for Accurate Thin Shell Models via a Perturbation Technique
Authors: Quoc V. D.
Published: November 2020

This research proposes a robust correction procedure to improve inaccuracies around edges and corners inherent to thin shell electromagnetic problems by means of perturbation technique. This proposal is developed with three processes: A classical thin shell approximation replaced with an impedance-type interface condition across a surface is first considered and then a volume correction is introduced to overcome the thin shell approximation. However, the volume correction is quite sensitive to cancellation errors, with dramatic effects in the calculation of the local fields near edges and corners. Therefore, a robust correction procedure is added to improve cancellation errors of the volume correction. Each step of the developed method is validated on the practical problem.
Experimental Evaluation of Nano-Enhanced Phase Change Materials in a Finned Storage Unit
Authors: Aichouni M. A. , Alshammari N. F. , Ben Khedher N. , Aichouni M.
Published: November 2020

The intermittent nature of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind necessitates integration with energy-storage units to enable realistic applications. In this study, thermal performance enhancement of the finned Cylindrical Thermal Energy Storage (C-TES) with nano-enhanced Phase Change Material (PCM) integrated with the water heating system under Storage, Charging and Discharging (SCD) conditions were investigated experimentally. The effects of the addition of copper oxide (CuO) and aluminum oxide (Al2O3) nanoparticles in PCM on thermal conductivity, specific heat, and on charging and discharging performance rates were theoretically and experimentally investigated and studied in detail. The experimental apparatus utilized paraffin wax as PCM, which was filled in Finned C-TES to conduct the experiments. The experimental results showed a positive improvement compared with the non-nano additive PCM. The significance and originality of this project lies within the evaluation and identification of preferable metal-oxides with higher potential for improving thermal performance.
ANN Based DC Link Control of STATCOM in Wind Integrated Distribution System for Power Quality Conditioning
Authors: Rani S. K. , Prabakaran S.
Published: November 2020

The integration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) brings along abnormalities that affect the grid, loads, and may degrade the performance of the system. These issues can be alleviated with the integration of RES with the use of a distribution Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM). Renewable generation with STATCOM provides quality of power during disturbances created by the AC loads and intermittent power from the RES. The STATCOM distribution of DC link plays a major role in the supply quality during abnormalities. In this work, an attempt has been made to provide supply quality in the distribution system with the integration of a renewable energy farm using Artificial Neural Network (ANN)-based DC link STATCOM control of distribution. The wind farm is analyzed for a Double Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) based wind turbine system and it is integrated into the distribution system. The system was simulated in MATLAB 2018A.
Predicting the Session of an P2P IPTV User through Support Vector Regression (SVR)
Authors: Ali M. , Ullah I. , Noor W. , Sajid A. , Basit A. , Baber J.
Published: November 2020

Scalability and ease of implementation make Peer-to-Peer (P2P) infrastructure an attractive option for live video streaming. Peer end-users or peers in these networks have extremely complex features and exhibit unpredictable behavior, i.e. any peer may join or exit the network without prior notice. Peers' dynamics is considered one of the key problems impacting the Quality of Service (QoS) of the P2P based IPTV services. Since, peer dynamics results in video disruption to consumer peers, for smooth video distribution, stable peer identification and selection is essential. Many research works have been conducted on stable peer identification using classical statistical methods. In this paper, a model based on machine learning is proposed in order to predict the length of a user session on entering the network. This prediction can be utilized in topology management such as offloading the departing peer before its exit. Consequently, this will help peers to select stable provider peers, which are the ones with longer session duration. Furthermore, it will also enable service providers to identify stable peers in a live video streaming network. Results indicate that the SVR based model performance is superior to an existing Bayesian network model.
Mandible Bone Osteoporosis Detection using Cone-beam Computed Tomography
Authors: Marar R. F. A. , Uliyan D. M. , Al-Sewadi H. A.
Published: November 2020

Osteoporosis is a common health problem that affects one-third of women over the age of 50 and it may not be detected until bone fractures occur. Osteoporosis is low bone mass and microarchitectural deterioration of bone tissue, which affects bone fragility and raises fracture risks. Early mandible bone osteoporosis detection could help reduce the risk of jaw fracture and dental implant failure. To solve this problem, a diagnostic algorithm for automatic detection of osteoporosis in Cone-Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) images is presented and 120 mandible CBCT images of 50-85 year-old women have been utilized. These images are classified into two classes: normal and osteoporotic. Their classification is based on the T-score which derives from the Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA). The proposed algorithm consists of image processing, feature extraction, and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) classification. Images are segmented and edges are detected. Then, texture features are extracted from the segmented regions. Finally, a feed-forward back-propagation ANN classifier is employed. Seven parameters were involved in the experiment data preparation as input: coarseness, contrast, direction, number of edges, length of edges, mean length of edges, and the number of edge pixels. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. With the help of the proposed method, dentists will be able to predict osteoporosis accurately and efficiently without the need for further examination since CBCT has been widely accepted in dentistry and the dentist is the most common health care professional that elderly visit regularly.
Analysis of the Risks arising from Fire Installations in Workplaces using the Ranking Method
Authors: Yilmaz F. , Alp S. , Oz B. , Alkoc A.
Published: November 2020

The aim of this study is to analyze the risks arising from fire installations in workplaces. It also aims to propose a risk analysis method in the form of a “Fire Safety Risk Ranking System” for enterprises with a closed work area of more than 1000m2 in accordance with regulations in Turkey. The relative weights of fire safety factors were determined by Fuzzy AHP. The ranking points of the enterprises were calculated by using the weights obtained with FAHP. From the 45 enterprises where the risk assessment was applied, only 3 enterprises scored 100 full points according to the fire risk ranking method, and 30 enterprises had a score below 80 points. Out of these, 6 scored below 60 points, which is considered a low score. The distribution of enterprises within sectors was not equal. According to the results, only 6.6% of the enterprises are in compliance with legislation and standards, about 67% are inadequate in terms of fire safety and continue to operate under serious fire risks.
A Machine Learning based Approach for Segmenting Retinal Nerve Images using Artificial Neural Networks
Authors: Saeed A. N.
Published: November 2020

Artificial Intelligence (AI) based Machine Learning (ML) is gaining more attention from researchers. In ophthalmology, ML has been applied to fundus photographs, achieving robust classification performance in the detection of diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, retinopathy of prematurity, etc. The detection and extraction of blood vessels in the retina is an essential part of various diagnosing problems associated with eyes, such as diabetic retinopathy. This paper proposes a novel machine learning approach to segment the retinal blood vessels from eye fundus images using a combination of color features, texture features, and Back Propagation Neural Networks (BPNN). The proposed method comprises of two steps, namely the color texture feature extraction and training the BPNN to get the segmented retinal nerves. Magenta color and correlation-texture features are given as input to the BPNN. The system was trained and tested in retinal fundus images taken from two distinct databases. The average sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy obtained for the segmentation of retinal blood vessels were 0.470%, 0.914%, and 0.903% respectively. Results obtained reveal that the proposed methodology is excellent in automated segmentation retinal nerves. The proposed segmentation methodology was able to obtain comparable accuracy with other methods.
Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) Model of an Industrial Ecosystem: An Agent-Based Modeling Approach
Authors: Ajisegiri G. O. , Muller F. L.
Published: November 2020

This paper addresses the application of the Agent-Based Model (ABM) to simulate the evolution of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) eco-industrial parks to gain insight into their behavior. ABM technique has proven to be an effective tool that can be used to express the evolution of eco-industrial parks. The ABM represents autonomous entities, each with dynamic behavior. The agents within the eco-industrial park are factories, market buyers, and market sellers. The results showed that the Réseau agent-based model allowed the investigation of the behaviors exhibited by different agents in exchange for materials in the industrial park.
Accurate Magnetic Shell Approximations with Magnetostatic Finite Element Formulations by a Subdomain Approach
Authors: Quoc V. D.
Published: November 2020

This paper presents a subproblem approach with h-conformal magnetostatic finite element formulations for treating the errors of magnetic shell approximation, by replacing volume thin regions by surfaces with interface conditions. These approximations seem to neglect the curvature effects in the vicinity of corners and edges. The process from the surface-to-volume correction problem is presented as a sequence of several subdomains, which can be composed to the full domain, including inductors and thin magnetic regions. Each step of the process will be separately performed on its own subdomain and submesh instead of solving the problem in the full domain. This allows reducing the size of matrix and time computation.
Impact of Inadequate Experience and Skill on the Construction Sector in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Authors: Ntuli B. , Allopi D.
Published: November 2020

Civil engineering contractors encounter serious challenges in order to sustain their businesses, especially in a weak economic climate.  A certain level of construction experience, expertise and training are required to manage a sustainable construction company.  The Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) was established in 2000 as a statutory body to provide leadership to stakeholders and stimulate sustainable growth, reform and improvement of the construction sector for effective infrastructure delivery and improvement of construction skills. The objectives of this research were to investigate challenges faced by civil engineering contractors whilst making their enterprises sustainable.  Contractors’ views were presented at “Construction Indaba 2011” held on 1–2 June 2011 and hosted by eThekwini Municipality’s Business Support, Tourism and Markets in Durban KwaZulu-Natal. Discussion and findings revealed to a skills’ shortage in the construction section and underlined the need for continuous training of the contractors’ employees. The South African government in conjunction with all stakeholders should develop and implement contractor programs to address the lack of technical and management skills in the construction sector.
A Magneto-Electric Dipole Antenna Array for Millimeter Wave Applications
Authors: My D. T. T. , Phuong H. N. B. , Huong T. T. , Tu B. T. M.
Published: November 2020

In this paper, a low-profile broadband antenna is proposed for future 5G millimeter-wave cellular wireless networks. The proposed antenna is a modified Magneto-Electric (ME) dipole, which consists of four metallic plates, grounded vias, an aperture fed, a ground plane, and a microstrip line feed. The antennas are built on RT/Duroid 5880 substrates and have been realized by the printed circuit board technique. A single-element with an overall of 10×10×1.04mm3 (~1.26λo×1.26λo×0.13λo at 38GHz) exhibits an impedance matching of 27.9% (32.2-42.8GHz) for |S11|<–10dB and a realized gain up to 7.5dBi over the frequency band. The usefulness of these antennas as beamforming radiators is demonstrated by a 1×4 element linear array. Also, a wide-band excitation is applied for the linear ME dipole array to realize a broadband array. The simulated results proved the proposed array can operate in a frequency band spreading from 31.4GHz to 42.1GHz with a gain of 12.5dBi and a side-lobe of -13dB
A Foresight Study about the Skills and Competencies Needed for Quality Professionals in 2030: An Empirical Study of Saudi Arabia
Authors: Touahmia M. , Aichouni M. , Alghamdi A. , Kolsi L. , Alzamil H.
Published: November 2020

This paper presents the results of a foresight study examining the future knowledge, skills, and competencies required by quality professionals to meet the goals and objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030. The study aims to develop a methodology allowing the forecasting of skills and competency demands in the future. Data collection was conducted through the design of a web-based questionnaire that was distributed online to academic and quality management specialists in Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire consisted of four sections and forty items aiming to identify the necessary competencies that quality professionals should develop to deal with the changing business environments. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were confirmed by Cronbach’s alpha and the data were analyzed using descriptive tests (mean and standard deviation). One-way ANOVA method was also used to test the significant differences in participants’ attitudes. The results of the study clearly emphasize on the emerging need for new effective skills to face this new era of the rapid pace of technological changes. The outcomes of this study may be used by policy-makers, local authorities, employers, academics, and researchers to set up future-oriented education and training policies to bridge the gap between skills demand and supply which arises out of labor market changes.
Gradient Descent Optimization Control of an Activated Sludge Process based on Radial Basis Function Neural Network
Authors: Lemita A. , Boulahbel S. , Kahla S.
Published: November 2020

Most systems in science and engineering can be described in the form of ordinary differential equations, but only a limited number of these equations can be solved analytically. For that reason, numerical methods have been used to get the approximate solutions of differential equations. Among these methods, the most famous is the Euler method. In this paper, a new proposed control strategy utilizing the Euler and the gradient method based on Radial Basis Function Neural Network (RBFNN) model have been used to control the activated sludge process of wastewater treatment. The aim was to maintain the Dissolved Oxygen (DO) level in the aerated tank and have the substrate concentration Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD5) within the standard limits. The simulation results of DO show the robustness of the proposed control method compared to the classical method. The proposed method can be applied in wastewater treatment systems.
Creep Performance of Geosynthetic Reinforcements
Authors: Touahmia M. , Gasmi H. , Said M. A.
Published: November 2020

Most geosynthetic materials exhibit rheological properties that lead to creep strain response when subjected to sustained loads, and consequently it is necessary to evaluate their long-term creep deformation before any real application. This paper presents the results of sustained loading tests conducted on large-scale geogrid soil reinforcement. The purpose of these laboratory tests was to identify the appropriate design parameters for geosynthetic-reinforced systems. The results of these tests demonstrate the continuous creep deformation characteristic of geogrid materials under constant sustained loading. The increase in the applied load led to a continuous increase in the amount and rate of the geogrid creep deformation. The data analysis method used in this investigation enabled the possibility of predicting the load-deformation-time behavior and the ultimate load of geosynthetic reinforcements.
Energy Efficient Resource Allocation in Millimeter-Wave D2D Enabled 5G Cellular Networks
Authors: Ombongi F. O. , Absaloms H. O. , Kibet P. L.
Published: November 2020

The current trend has seen the data capacity and traffic density increase due to the increased demand for multimedia services. Since this cannot be handled successfully by the current 4G networks, there is a need to integrate the mmWave and the Device-to-Device (D2D) communication 5G technologies to meet this increased demand and traffic density. However, there is the challenge of increased interference between dense D2D users and cellular users if D2D users are allowed to reuse the resources allocated to cellular users. This degrades the performance of the D2D users in terms of achievable data rate and Energy Efficiency (EE). The paper formulates a match theoretic resource allocation scheme to maximize the achievable D2D sum rate. In addition, an EE optimization problem is formulated for D2D users by considering the rate and power constraints. The EE optimization problem is solved by the Lagrangian dual decomposition method. The algorithms were simulated in MATLAB and the results were compared to Hungarian and heuristic optimization algorithms. The results showed that the match theoretic resource allocation is on average 1.82 times better than the Hungarian algorithm. At the same time, the match theoretic resource allocation algorithm increases fairness in resource allocation as it maintains a higher sum rate for low and high-density number of users. The proposed EE optimization algorithm improved the D2D performance by 8.2% compared to the heuristic algorithm.
Investigation of the Influence of the Synthesized Iron-Carbide Mixture on the Adhesive and Mechanical Properties of Epoxy Composites for Parts of Transport Machines
Authors: Buketov A. , Syzonenko O. , Kruglyj D. , Cherniavska T. , Appazov E. , Klevtsov K.
Published: November 2020

Epoxy-diane oligomer ED-20, hardener polyethylene polyamine, and micro dispersed particles of iron-carbide mixture synthesized by high-voltage electric discharge have been used for the formation of Composite Materials (CMs) and protective coatings for the transport industry. The dependence of the adhesive, physical, and mechanical properties and residual stresses of epoxy composites on the content of micro dispersed powders has been studied in this paper. It has been proved that for the formation of a composite material or protective coating with improved adhesion and cohesion properties, the optimal content of particles is 0.5 wt.% per 100 wt.% of epoxy oligomer ED-20. Such materials are characterized by increased mechanical strength and the ability to resist static and shock loads, as their properties are significantly increased. The obtained results of the experimental studies of the physical and mechanical properties of composite materials correlate with the studied results of adhesive characteristics, which indicate their veracity.
Soft-Charging Effects on a High Gain DC-to-DC Step-up Converter with PSC Voltage Multipliers
Authors: Al-Ateeq A. , Alateeq A. J.
Published: November 2020

This paper proposes a split-phase control diagram for a new design of a DC-to-DC boost converter which is called PSC-boost and studies its performance. The PSC-boost has two sides, the primary is a PSC converter and the secondary is a DC-to-DC boost converter. The effect of applying the split-phase control diagram helps reduce the output impedance successfully and increases efficiency by 3%. The simulated and analytical results have been proven to validate the effect of the split-phase diagram. The simulated design contains five switches, five capacitors, seven diodes, and three inductors to step up 10V into 160V at 200KHz and 100KHz switching frequencies. The LTspice simulator was used to design and test the proposed model.
The Effects of Marble Dust on the Rheological and Mechanical Properties of Shotcrete
Authors: Shaaban M.
Published: November 2020

Recycling industrial waste materials has become an environmental and economic necessity. The utilization of these materials to develop concrete contributes not only to their disposal, but also to the preservation of the environment. This study attempted to evaluate the properties of sprayed concrete with Marble Dust (MD) as partial replacement of concrete components. For this purpose two series of concrete mixtures were prepared: the first series included six mixtures containing MD as cement replacement with percentages of 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30% by weight, the second series included six mixtures containing 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30% of MD as replacement for sand. Also, conventional concrete mixture with 100% cement and 100% sand was produced as control mixture. Rheological and mechanical properties as pumpability, build-up thickness, rebound percentage, adhesion strength, and compressive and tensile strength were studied. In general, the results indicate that use of MD improves shotcreting as an application and shotcrete’s performance.
Erratum and Addendum: “A Standalone PV System with a Hybrid P&O MPPT Optimization Technique”
Authors: Hota S. , Sahu M. K. , Malla J. M. R.
Published: November 2020

Since the publication of our original paper in vol. 7, no. 6 of this journal [1], we have detected several misprints and errors that are corrected here, in the order in which they appear in the original paper.
Growth mode study of MgCl2 on Au foil and Si (111) 7x7, under Ultra High Vacuum by XPS
Authors: Karakalos S.
Published: November 2020

The growth mode of MgCl2 on Au foil and Si (111) 7x7 reconstructed surface under UHV conditions, was investigated by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). Magnesium chloride grows with the Frank-van der Merve, (FM) growth mode on the Au foil. On Si surface there is evidence for the layer by layer growth of MgCl2 but leaving uncovered silicon areas at the first steps of deposition due to the Si (111)7x7 surface roughness.
Prograph Based Analysis of Single Source Shortest Path Problem with Few Distinct Positive Lengths
Authors: Bhowmik B. , Nag Chowdhury S.
Published: November 2020

In this paper we propose an experimental study model S3P2 of a fast fully dynamic programming algorithm design technique in finite directed graphs with few distinct nonnegative real edge weights. The Bellman-Ford’s approach for shortest path problems has come out in various implementations. In this paper the approach once again is re-investigated with adjacency matrix selection in associate least running time. The model tests proposed algorithm against arbitrarily but positive valued weighted digraphs introducing notion of  Prograph that speeds up finding the shortest path over previous implementations. Our experiments have established abstract results with the intention that the proposed algorithm can consistently dominate other existing algorithms for Single Source Shortest Path Problems. A comparison study is also shown among Dijkstra’s algorithm, Bellman-Ford algorithm, and our algorithm.
SHAF for Mitigation of Current Harmonics Using p-q Method with PI and Fuzzy Controllers
Authors: Mikkili S. , Panda A. K.
Published: November 2020

Commencing with incandescent light bulb, every load today creates harmonics. Unfortunately, these loads vary with respect to their amount of harmonic content and response to problems caused by harmonics. Issue of Harmonics are of a greater concern to engineers, building designers and in industrial applications because they do more than distort voltage waveforms, they can overheat the building wiring, cause nuisance tripping, overheat transformer units, and cause random end-user equipment failures. Thus power quality has become more and more serious with each passing day. As a result active power filter (APF) gains much more attention due to excellent harmonic compensation. But still the performance of the active filter seems to be in contradictions with different control techniques. The main objective of this paper is to analyse shunt active filter with fuzzy and pi controllers. To carry out the analysis, we consider active and reactive power method (p-q). Extensive simulations were carried out; simulations were performed with balance, unbalanced and non sinusoidal conditions. Simulation results validate the dynamic behaviour of fuzzy logic controller over pi controller.
A Numerical Approach for the Determination of Mode I Stress Intensity Factors in PMMA Materials
Authors: Khelil F. , Belhouari M. , Benseddiq N. , Talha A.
Published: November 2020

An evaluation technique of the KI stress intensity factors (SIF) by a numerical investigation using line strain method is presented in this paper. The main purpose of this research is to re-analyze experimental results of fracture loads from polymethyl-metacrylate (PMMA) specimens (fully finite plates). Stress intensity factor equation calculation is derived from the Williams stress asymptotic expansion. Possible error caused by strain gradients across the gage length is minimized by integrating the equation in the KI  calculation. Theoretical and computed values using finite element analysis of stress intensity factors are compared with experimental results. A good agreement is observed between the present approach and experimental values. It is shown that, in the case of a through-plate crack, the stress intensity factor can be calculated with adequate accuracy using the proposed method.
Advanced High Strength Steel in Auto Industry: an Overview
Authors: Baluch N. , Udin Z. M. , Abdullah C. S.
Published: November 2020

The world’s most common alloy, steel, is the material of choice when it comes to making products as diverse as oil rigs to cars and planes to skyscrapers, simply because of its functionality, adaptability, machine-ability and strength. Newly developed grades of Advanced High Strength Steel (AHSS) significantly outperform competing materials for current and future automotive applications. This is a direct result of steel’s performance flexibility, as well as of its many benefits including low cost, weight reduction capability, safety attributes, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and superior recyclability. To improve crash worthiness and fuel economy, the automotive industry is, increasingly, using AHSS. Today, and in the future, automotive manufacturers must reduce the overall weight of their cars. The most cost-efficient way to do this is with AHSS. However, there are several parameters that decide which of the AHSS types to be used; the most important parameters are derived from the geometrical form of the component and the selection of forming and blanking methods. This paper describes the different types of AHSS, highlights their advantages for use in auto metal stampings, and discusses about the new challenges faced by stampers, particularly those serving the automotive industry.
Robust E-Health Communication Architecture for Rural Communities in Developing Countries
Authors: Idachaba F. E. , Idachaba E. M.
Published: November 2020

The lack of access to quality healthcare and the lack of sufficient manpower, especially doctors, in rural areas is a major healthcare challenge faced by dwellers in rural communities in most developing countries. The intervention of governments, which range from the introduction of training programs aimed at producing health workers from schools of health technology and nursing to the recalling and deployment of retired nurses to rural areas, has still not been able to generate the desired improvement in healthcare delivery, as outbreaks of epidemics are still being reported in such areas. This work presents an E-Health architecture which utilizes low cost sensors and communication devices to link the doctors in the urban areas with the patients in rural areas enabling doctors-patients interaction. The system enables accurate and timely diagnosis of the patients and facilitates proper treatment plans. It also incorporates an epidemic alert which enables the tracking of diseases and the early detection and control of epidemics.
Assessment of the Suitability of Paper Waste as an Engineering Material
Authors: Okeyinka O. M. , Idowu O. J.
Published: November 2020

This research work investigates the potential applicability of waste paper in the production of ceiling boards with focus on achieving: environmental sustainability, safe disposal of waste paper and more cost effective production of materials. The main view was to provide an alternative to the conventional asbestos ceiling boards that are costly and also pose health risks. Three mix designs were formulated and used for the casting (1:1, 1:1.5 and 1:2), varying in regards of the weight of the waste paper components. CaCO3 was added to the mix as an additive as well as starch bond glue to aid binding. Laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the properties and suitability of the produced boards. Properties such as water absorption, abrasion, compressive strength, flexural strength and ultimate loads were considered for comparison. The boards with 1:1 mix ratio displayed the best results of the test properties hence, its mechanized manufacturing was recommended.
Study of Direct Torque Controlled 3-phase SCIM with Two and Three-level Inverters using ST-DTC and FR-DTC scheme
Authors: Tripathy P. R. , Panigrahi B. P.
Published: November 2020

DTC control strategy helps to obtain fast and smooth control in 3–phase induction motors. It does not depend upon the machine parameters and transformation of reference frames. Various control strategies on the Direct Torque Control (DTC) scheme have been carried out in the present study. The suggested scheme is meant for designing the low cost control circuit for DTC implementation on 3-phase SCIM. Three schemes with two types of inverters have been simulated in MATLAB (Simulink) environment and the THD ratio in each case has been studied along with Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) tools to compare the advantages.
VALUE ANALYSIS: Going into a Further Dimension
Authors: Fernandes M. T.
Published: November 2020

Value Analysis (VA), as it was originally conceived, was defined and applied as a cost cutting tool, in order to make products more competitive. That short scope was early identified as limiting further developments and applications of the concept, by its initial pathfinder, if no extra effort was made to take the concept into other levels of management and, consequently, of business. The many different and alternative applications of the concept and of its original methodology have taken many professional practitioners and scholars to theorize and apply new concepts and methods. We can find a tremendous number of different learning exercises and theoretical evolution from that work, but that has not yet answered many aspirations regarding the initial concept of value and value analysis. This paper aims at bringing a new and more comprehensive understanding to professional practitioners, scholars, trainers and students, about some major concepts and applied methodologies in the disciplines of Value Management (VM), Value Analysis (VA) and Value Engineering (VE).
Volume Resistivity and Mechanical Behavior of Epoxy Nanocomposite Materials
Authors: Abdelkarim M. F. , Nasrat L. S. , Elkhodary S. M. , Soliman A. M. , Hassan A. M. , Mansour S. H.
Published: November 2020

Electrical and mechanical properties of polymer composite materials are investigated through the determination of resistivity and hardness for composites samples. Epoxy composite samples have been prepared with different concentrations of certain inorganic fillers such as; Titanium dioxide (TiO2) and Silica (SiO2), of various size (micro, nano and hybrid) to study the electrical and mechanical behavior. The volume resistivity reaches 3.23×1014 ohm.cm for the micro silica composite. Surface of composite material has been mechanically examined by hardness test. The results show that the resistivity of microcomposites and nanocmposites are increased with the decrease of filler concentration. But the resistivity of hybrid composites is increased with the increase of filler concentration. Maximum hardness value was obtained from hybrid silica composite with 0.1% filler concentration.
A Review on Direct Power Control for Applications to Grid Connected PWM Converters
Authors: Trivedi T. A. , Jadeja R. , Bhatt P.
Published: November 2020

The Direct Power Control strategy has become popular as an alternative to the conventional vector oriented control strategy for grid connected PWM converters. In this paper, Direct Power Control as applied to various applications of grid connected converters is reviewed. The Direct Power Control for PWM rectifiers, Grid Connected DC/AC inverters applications such as renewable energy sources interface, Active Power Filters, Doubly Fed Induction Generators and AC-DC-AC converters are discussed. Control strategies such as Look-Up table based control, predictive control, Virtual Flux DPC, Model based DPC and DPC-Space Vector Modulation are critically reviewed. The effects of various key parameters such as selection of switching vector, sampling time, hysteresis band and grid interfacing on performance of direct power controlled converters are presented.
An Efficient Adaptive Load Balancing Algorithm for Cloud Computing Under Bursty Workloads
Authors: Issawi S. F. , Al Halees A. , Radi M.
Published: November 2020

Cloud computing is a recent, emerging technology in the IT industry. It is an evolution of previous models such as grid computing. It enables a wide range of users to access a large sharing pool of resources over the internet. In such complex system, there is a tremendous need for an efficient load balancing scheme in order to satisfy peak user demands and provide high quality of services. One of the challenging problems that degrade the performance of a load balancing process is bursty workloads. Although there are a lot of researches proposing different load balancing algorithms, most of them neglect the problem of bursty workloads. Motivated by this problem, this paper proposes a new burstness-aware load balancing algorithm which can adapt to the variation in the request rate by adopting two load balancing algorithms: RR in burst and Random in non-burst state. Fuzzy logic is used in order to assign the received request to a balanced VM. The algorithm has been evaluated and compared with other algorithms using Cloud Analyst simulator.  Results show that the proposed algorithm improves the average response time and average processing time in comparison with other algorithms.
Are HLS Tools Healthy? The C-Cubed Project
Authors: Dossis M. , Dimitriou G.
Published: November 2020

The increasing complexity of Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) and Systems-on-Chip (SoCs) that incorporate custom and standard embedded core IP blocks dictates the need for a new generation of automated and formal system EDA tools and methodologies. High-Level Synthesis (HLS) plays a critical role in the required Electronic System Level (ESL) methodologies. However, most of the available academic and commercial High-Level Synthesis (HLS) tools still do not play an established role in the system and hardware engineering teams. This is true for a number of practical reasons, analyzed and discussed in this work. The present article is a practical perspective of the required fully automated and formal tools, which are needed to constitute integral parts in Electronic Design Automation (EDA) flows. In addition, this article is a useful guide to the system engineer who wants to familiarize with HLS tools and to select the appropriate tool for the everyday engineering practice. The advanced HLS toolset that is analyzed in this paper is developed by the first author, its C-frontend by the second author, and they are both based on formal methods and fully automated techniques, thus they guarantee the correctness of the synthesized hardware implementations. This paper completes with a number of experiments that were executed using the author’s methodology and they are used to evaluate the specific HLS tools. Consequently, a number of conclusions are drawn as well as suggestions for the future directions of HLS technology. In this way, what is practically needed by the hardware systems engineering community is outlined at the end of the paper.