• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.633-641
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• 2017

The complexity of macro-fiber composite (MFC) materials increasing the difficulty in simulation and analysis of MFC integrated structures. To give an accurate prediction of MFC bonded smart structures for the simulation of shape and vibration control, the paper develops a linear electro-mechanically coupled static and dynamic finite element (FE) models based on the first-order shear deformation (FOSD) hypothesis. Two different types of MFCs are modeled and analyzed, namely MFC-d31 and MFC-d33, in which the former one is dominated by the $d_{31}$ effect, while the latter one by the $d_{33}$ effect. The present model is first applied to an MFC-d33 bonded composite plate, and then is used to analyze both active shape and vibration control for MFC-d31/-d33 bonded plate with various piezoelectric fiber orientations.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.11 no.12
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• pp.6092-6115
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• 2017

This paper demonstrates a case for an end-to-end pure Application Security Layer for reliable and confidential communications within an Internet of Things (IoT) constrained environment. To provide a secure key exchange and to setup a secure data connection, Transport Layer Security (TLS) is used, which provides native protection against replay attacks. TLS along with digital signature can be used to achieve non-repudiation within app-to-app communications. This paper studies the use of TLS over the JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) via a The Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) RESTful service to verify the hypothesis that in this way one can provide end-to-end communication flexibility and potentially retain identity information for repudiation. As a proof of concept, a prototype has been developed to simulate an IoT software client with the capability of hosting a CoAP RESTful service. The prototype studies data requests via a network client establishing a TLS over JSON session using a hosted CoAP RESTful service. To prove reputability and integrity of TLS JSON messages, JSON messages was intercepted and verified against simulated MITM attacks. The experimental results confirm that TLS over JSON works as hypothesised.

• Journal of Construction Engineering and Project Management
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.26-34
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• 2013

Customer satisfaction and customer relationship are crucial aspect in any enterprises including housing construction projects. In general, the housing developers are facing a number of new challenges in different countries including Libya. The construction industries/housing developers need to continuously improve their products and services to meet customers' satisfaction desires and to remain in the current competitive market. This paper focuses on analysing the satisfaction factors of customers including qualityaspects of products and services in the construction projects. A framework was developed to evaluate the dynamics relationship between customer satisfaction and quality products or services, aiming to help companies' managers and policy makers to understand the needs and points of view of their customers. Apragmatic analysis was conducted to explore and analyse the customer satisfaction factors in construction industry considering different aspect of customer groups in Libya. Results indicate that there is a high demand of improvements in the contractor's performance in terms of cost, time and quality of products. It was also found that Libyan construction companies have been forced to transform their policies after on Libyan war 2011 to focus on client and customer satisfactory policies, or say centric for the purpose of improving client requirements and turn the business into more advantageous for any company.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.27-36
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• 2014

This paper presents an adaptive wide-area damping controller (WADC) based on generalized predictive control (GPC) and model identification for damping the inter-area low frequency oscillations in large-scale inter-connected power system. A recursive least-squares algorithm (RLSA) with a varying forgetting factor is applied to identify online the reduced-order linearlized model which contains dominant inter-area low frequency oscillations. Based on this linearlized model, the generalized predictive control scheme considering control output constraints is employed to obtain the optimal control signal in each sampling interval. Case studies are undertaken on a two-area four-machine power system and the New England 10-machine 39-bus power system, respectively. Simulation results show that the proposed adaptive WADC not only can damp the inter-area oscillations effectively under a wide range of operation conditions and different disturbances, but also has better robustness against to the time delay existing in the remote signals. The comparison studies with the conventional lead-lag WADC are also provided.

• International Journal of Contents
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.1-17
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• 2020

Human motion recognition is essential for user-centric services such as surveillance-based security, elderly condition monitoring, exercise tracking, daily calories expend analysis, etc. It is typically based on the movement data analysis such as the acceleration and angular velocity of a target user. The existing motion recognition studies are only intended to measure the basic information (e.g., user's stride, number of steps, speed) or to recognize single motion (e.g., sitting, running, walking). Thus, a new mechanism is required to identify the transition of single motions for assessing a user's consecutive motion more accurately as well as recognizing the user's body and surrounding situations arising from the motion. Thus, in this paper, we collect the human movement data through Android smartphones in real time for five targeting single motions and propose a mechanism to recognize a consecutive motion including transitions among various motions and an occurred situation, with the state transition model to check if a vulnerable (life-threatening) condition, especially for the elderly, has occurred or not. Through implementation and experiments, we demonstrate that the proposed mechanism recognizes a consecutive motion and a user's situation accurately and quickly. As a result of the recognition experiment about mix sequence likened to daily motion, the proposed adoptive weighting method showed 4% (Holding time=15 sec), 88% (30 sec), 6.5% (60 sec) improvements compared to static method.

• Ecology and Resilient Infrastructure
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.94-104
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• 2018

The Soyangho Reservoir in Korea has a large drawdown zone, with an annual maximum water level fluctuation of 37 m due to dam operations to maintain a stable water supply and control flooding, especially during the monsoon period. The floristic composition, distribution and biomass of the major plant communities in the drawdown zone of the Soyangho Reservoir were assessed in order to understand their responses to the wide water level fluctuation. Species richness of vascular plants was low, and species composition was dominated by herbaceous annuals. Principal coordinates analysis using both flora and environmental data identified slope angle and the distance from the dam as important factors determining floristic composition. The species richness was low in the steep drawdown zone close to the dam, where much of the soil surface was almost devoid of vegetation. In shallower slopes, distant from the dam plant communities composed of mainly annuals were found. The large fluctuation in water level exposed soil where these annuals could establish. An overall biomass of 122 t (metric tons) Dry Matter was estimated for the reservoir, containing ca 3.6 t N (nitrogen) and ca 0.3 t P (phosphorus); the role of the vegetation of the drawdown zone in carbon sequestration and water pollution were briefly discussed.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.1227-1234
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• 2017

The two-degree-of-freedom direct drive induction motor, which is capable of linear, rotary and helical motion, has a wide application in special industry such as industrial robot arms. It is inevitable that the linear motion and rotary motion generate coupling effect on each other on account of the high integration. The analysis of this effect has great significance in the research of two-degree-of-freedom motors, which is also crucial to realize precision control of them. The coupling factor considering the coupling effect is proposed and addressed by 3D finite element method. Then the corrected mathematical model is presented by importing the coupling factor. The results from it are verified by 3D finite element model and prototype test, which validates the corrected mathematical model.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.18-30
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• 2015

This paper focuses on a systematical and in-depth analysis of the reactive power and soft-switching regions of Dual Active Bridge (DAB) converters with dual-phase-shift (DPS) control to achieve high efficiency in a wide operating range. The key features of the DPS operating modes are characterized and verified by analytical calculation and experimental tests. The mathematical expressions of the reactive power are derived and the reductions of the reactive power are illustrated with respect to a wide range of output power and voltage conversion ratios. The ZVS soft-switching boundary of the DPS is presented and one more leg with ZVS capability is achieved compared with the CPS control. With the selection of the optimal operating mode, the optimal phase-shift pair is determined by performance indices, which include the minimum peak or rms inductor current. All of the theoretical analysis and optimizations are verified by experimental tests. The experimental results with the DPS demonstrate the efficiency improvement for different load conditions and voltage conversion ratios.

• Asia Pacific Journal of Business Review
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.43-66
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• 2019

Home-based business (HBB) is one of the fastest growing form of business start-ups where the business is conducted from home. In develop economies, the HBB industry is an engine for economic growth that has proven its viability through significant contribution to the national GDP. In view of its importance, the Saudi Ministry of Commerce and Industry encourage local women to start and develop their own HBB as it gives them the flexibility while still contributing to the national economy. Although various initiatives have been taken place, little information is available about Saudi HBB. This study therefore aims to determine the factors that contribute to the growth as well as the challenges of female HBB in Saudi Arabia. The study was based on qualitative approach which adopted an in-depth interview with eleven Saudi females who run HBB. The findings revealed that HBB contributing factors comprised of access to funding, sufficiency of savings and the influence of the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in starting the business. Meanwhile, the obstacles are government regulations and policies, culture, and home design. The study recommendations include improving banks and service institution policy and procedures to enable HBB to have access to funding and services and to develop legal policies to protect the right of the HBB operator and customers. Finally, the study also suggests future research on managerial factors that can contribute to HBB female success, the stress coping mechanism of HBB and the factors contributing to the difference between HBB in growth strategies.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.433-439
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• 2021

Acellular dermal matrices (ADM) are a novel graft. The goal of this systematic review is to evaluate the evidence behind differences in human and porcine ADM, irrelevant of manufacturing method, and to determine if there is enough of an evidence base to change clinical practice. An extensive literature search was performed through MEDLINE and Embase with search terms defining a population, intervention and outcome. Title and abstract exclusion were performed with other exclusion criteria. In 191 articles were found after exclusion of duplicates, with only 29 remaining following exclusions. Ten studies were found to have level I and II evidence (I=3, II=8), of which two were histopathological, one was an animal model, one was a systematic review, and six were clinical. The remaining studies were reviewed and considered for discussion, but did not hold high enough standards for medical evidence. Strong clinical evidence already exists for the use of human ADM, but questions of access, cost, and ethics require consideration of a xenograft. Histopathologically, evidence suggests minimal long-term differences between human and porcine ADM, although there is a short acute immune response with porcine ADM. Clinically, there is limited difference in outcomes, with a small range in effect of different ADM preparations. Considering the effectiveness of ADM in wound healing, more high-level research with appropriate statistical analysis to facilitate a future meta-analysis is recommended to justify a transition from human to porcine ADM.