WAYS TO IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS SECTORS: THE EXAMPLE OF ARMENIA

Both worldwide and in Armenia, the telecommunications market is saturated. In order to understand the role of services offered by telecom operators, determine the availability of innovative technologies and identify problems that arise among subscribers, we conducted an anonymous sociological survey among the population of Armenia and also developed a system consisting of several indicators to measure the effectiveness of the sector. The results of the sociological survey prove once again that innovations and new technologies ensure customer loyalty. From the answers, it can be concluded that the reforms carried out in different years: the expansion of the network, the import of new technologies and their implementation contribute to the formation of loyal customers. To measure the effectiveness of the sector, the elasticity of various indicators in relation to each other was measured. As a result, the elasticity of real imports of innovative equipment in relation to real revenue is considered the most elastic of these indicators, which means that equipment imports are sensitive to a decrease in revenue. The results obtained indicate that the sector is in a fairly high degree of saturation, further growth of subscribers is accompanied by a decrease in revenue, since their attraction mainly occurs in the case of lower prices for the services provided. And the only way to be competitive is to provide new services by importing innovative equipment, especially by offering Internet services to consumers at affordable prices, thanks to increasing their loyalty.

Evaluation of the mechanical anisotropy of lacustrine smectite clays by triaxial test analysis

This paper describes the role of fabric anisotropy during clayey soil deformation. A set of triaxial tests was performed on vertical and horizontal specimens of undisturbed smectite lake sediments from Jurica, Queretaro in Mexico. The results allowed to analyze the influence of bedding and discontinuities on the mechanical behavior of Jurica clays after failure. Tests with applied low strain rates allowed pore pressure equalization within specimens with different gravimetric water content and degree of saturation. Shear failure results of undrained tests showed that deformation distributes differently in both horizontal and vertical directions and that stress may be dissipated by pore collapses, fractures and particle deformation. The experimental evidence suggests that microfabric is a relevant variable in the overall mechanical response of clayey sediments that depends on the natural fabric (bedding and discontinuities), mineralogy, and water content. A detailed analysis of Young´s Moduli (E) showed the high variability of this parameter from 108 to 409 kg/cm2 (calculated at 30% of σdmax) and its dependence on the orientation of the specimen and the water content. In addition, p’-q’ graphs illustrate the relevance of considering mechanical anisotropy in clays and provide further insights to understand the role of smectites in progressive shear deformation.

PERFORMANCE OF THREE ARMS SIGNALIZED INTERSECTION AT SALABENDA IN BOGOR REGENCY

<p>The increase in urban transportation in the 2000s era was very high. The use of motorized vehicles during the pandemic has decreased slightly with the government's ban on traveling out of town, including the 2020 homecoming and 2021 homecoming. Most people who travel are in the city center, including the city of Bogor and Bogor district. The travel patterns are very diverse, but most use public transportation and private transportation in addition to freight transportation with a fairly high intensity, especially at night. The purpose of this study was to obtain the LoS value at the signalized intersection of the three arms of the Salabenda intersection. The three-arm Salabenda intersection is the border between Bogor regency and the city of Bogor, so this intersection is one of the busiest and most densely populated intersections beside the Ciawi intersection in the north. The Salabenda intersection has become more congested with the opening of the Section IIIA Toll Road so that the traffic load shifts from Jl. KH. Sholeh Iskandar to this toll road, so that the intersection will have a higher traffic intensity. From the three observations and data collection in the field, it can be seen that in the afternoon it has a very high LoS, namely E. Followed by a LoS D level in the afternoon and in the morning LoS is still in the form of C. So it is still safe to use in the morning with a recommended level. The LoS E condition is a condition where the intersection has a degree of saturation of 0.926, which is almost close to 1, exacerbated by high side resistance activity.</p>

Cyclic Liquefaction Resistance of an Alluvial Natural Sand: A Comparison between Fully and Partially Saturated Conditions

Earthquake-induced liquefaction is one of the major causes of building damage as it decreases the strength and stiffness of soil. The liquefaction resistance of soils increases significantly as the degree of saturation decreases, making soil desaturation an effective measure for the mitigation of this phenomenon. This paper presents a comparative analysis of liquefaction resistance of an alluvial sand from Aveiro (Portugal) under fully and partially saturated conditions. For this purpose, an in situ characterisation based on CPTu and a laboratory series of cyclic triaxial tests were carried out. The cyclic triaxial tests were conducted under undrained conditions on remoulded specimens with different degrees of saturation, including the full saturation. On the other hand, the triaxial apparatus was instrumented with Hall-effect transducers to accurately measure the strains during all testing phases. In addition, it was equipped with piezoelectric transducers to measure seismic waves velocities, namely P-wave velocity, for evaluation of the saturation level of the specimen in parallel with the Skempton’s B parameter. Hence, relations between the B-value, and P-wave velocity and cyclic strength resistance are presented. The number of cycles to trigger liquefaction, considering the pore pressure build-up criterion, is presented for the different degrees of saturation. Results confirmed the increase in liquefaction resistance for lower degrees of saturation in this soil.

Methodological path to reach the degree of saturation in qualitative research: grounded theory

ABSTRACT Objectives: to achieve the degree of saturation in study that applied the grounded theory. Methods: qualitative research, carried out in four Family Health Units, between June 2018 and May 2019. The data from the interviews with 30 health professionals and non-participant observation were coded in the stages: open, axial and integration. Results: the degree of saturation was achieved by two conceptual models - theoretical saturation and inductive thematic. Theoretical saturation was considered: the development of conceptual codes and observation, in the collection and analysis of data, when they generated new categories/subcategories or only indicated increasing instances. For thematic inductive saturation, the use of new codes based on each interview stood out. Final Considerations: the visual layout for the number of codes, the theoretical scope of the concepts and the delimitation of the sample groups guided the identification of the degree of saturation for the development of the conceptual body that supported the substantive theory.

The Influence of the Degree of Saturation of Crop Rotations with Alfalfa (Medicago Sativa L.) and Winter Wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.) with Ncp on the Accumulation of Plant Mass and Nutrients in the Energy Storage System of Soil Content in the Western Precaspian

The energy storage system of soil maintenance in the irrigation landscapes of the Western Precaspian is based on the use of the second half of summer for the formation of a natural crop phytocenosis (NCP) and plowing it for green fertilizer. The article deals with the formation of plant mass in grain-grass crop rotations, the concentration and accumulation of nutrients in it. The degree of saturation of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) and winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) with natural crop phytocenosis (NCP) crop rotations ranges from 0 to 100%. The most productive of the studied crop rotations is a four-field with one output field of alfalfa and three fields of winter wheat, after harvesting which in the second half of summer a NCP for green fertilizer is formed. In this crop rotation, 97.4 t of agricultural products were produced on 1 ha of the crop rotation area, including 30.2 t/ha of its non-alienable part from the soil. Accordingly, the removal of N, P2O5 and K2O from the soil increases. The proportion of the returned amount of nutrients from the phytomass inalienable from the soil was (%): N-17.7; P2O5 and 45.3.

Mixed formulation for an easy and robust numerical computation of sorptivity

Sorptivity is one of the most important parameters for the quantification of water infiltration into soils. Parlange (1975) proposed a specific formulation to derive sorptivity as a function of the soil water retention and hydraulic conductivity functions, as well as initial and final soil water contents. However, this formulation requires the integration of a function involving the hydraulic diffusivity, which may be undefined or present numerical difficulties that cause numerical misestimations. In this study, we propose a mixed formulation that scales sorptivity and splits the integrals into two parts: the first term involves the scaled degree of saturation while the second involves the scaled water pressure head. The new mixed formulation is shown to be robust and well-suited to any type of hydraulic functions - even with infinite hydraulic diffusivity or positive air-entry water pressure heads - and any boundary condition, including infinite initial water pressure head, h → −∞.

The Influence of Mineralogy and Cation Exchange Capacity toward Electrical Resistivity Value

Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) is a method used for subsurface profiling in soil to characterize soil thickness, fracture zones, soil saturation, salinity and groundwater based on the electrical resistivity value (ERV). There are multiple factors that influence the electrical resistivity value, such as the porosity, degree of saturation, mineralogy, density, cation exchange capacity (CEC), and water resistivity. For this study, the effect of CEC towards resistivity value is studied via controlling the mineralogy factor, saturation, porosity and water resistivity. Thus, via understanding the CEC factor able to relate the resistivity and mineralogy of soil. This study is using a few common minerals in soil and rock, such as kaolinite, montmorillonite, illite, quartz, mica, and feldspar. The particle sizes of all tested minerals were passing 0.063mm sieve. The basic index properties of minerals such as particle size distribution, specific gravity, and Atterberg limit were tested. The instruments of Terrameter LS2 and resistivity box were used to determine the resistivity value of minerals. The Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) machine was used to analyze the CEC of minerals via dilute with the ammonium acetate solution. The porosity and degree of saturation of minerals mixed with distill water were controlled between the range of 0.5 to 0.6 and 20% to 100%. The CEC of each mineral has different value, where the lowest and the highest minerals CEC in this study were Kaolinite and Montmorillonite at 1 and 70, respectively. The electrical resistivity values decrease with the increasing of CEC value and degree of saturation. The mineral that has higher CEC indicates lower resistivity value. Meanwhile, via increasing the degree of saturation of minerals were decrease its resistivity values.

Development of A Soil Resistivity Calculator

Soil resistivity is an important parameter for designing electrical earthing system. The measurement of soil resistivity is greatly influenced by moisture content, temperature, porosity, degree of saturation, number of soil layer(s), and frequency of lightning current. Researchers have proposed various methodologies to provide an approximation of soil resistivity using the listed parameters. In order to ease the process of estimating soil resistivity at a particular area, there is a pressing need to devise a simple tool that enables the calculation of soil resistivity in the most accurate manner. As such, this research proposes a reliable tool for quick evaluation of soil resistivity based on various methodologies using Microsoft Excel’s built-in-functions and Visual Basic Application (VBA) Next, the developed tool was validated using two methods, in which the output value of the calculator was compared with data retrieved from IEEE Std 142-2007 and data reported in past studies. The validation results revealed that the developed calculator may serve as a significant application in future due to its time-saving and cost-effective attributes.