Search results for: electronic materials

Authors: Shaheena Erkiah, Adjnu Damar Ladkoo

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Worldwide, improving tourism competitiveness has been on the agendas of many stakeholders of the hotel sector, and they seem to have agreed that one of the best ways to compete is via the implementation of electronic customer relationship management (e-CRM). In so doing, the organizations enjoy strategic positioning on the competitive market by managing better not only the customers but, other business components including knowledge and employee management. Over the recent years, the tourism industry in Mauritius has witnessed a drastic economic boom at international and national levels; providing a new outlook to boost business performance through existing and potential customers. E-CRM has been one of the management tools used to achieving this position. Thus, this insightful context- Mauritius- was opted for the study. The aim was to assess the effectiveness of e-CRM as a strategic tool in the hotel sector in Mauritius through the implementation of business strategy to create competitive advantage and impact on the business performance. To achieve the objectives of the study, a quantitative research methodology was adopted and the research revealed that e-CRM is indeed an effective strategic tool in the hotel industry in Mauritius that can provide a competitive advantage and impact positively on the organization’s performance.

Keywords: customer, electronic, management, relationship, strategic

Procedia PDF Downloads 128

Authors: Xiaodong Li, Peng Gao, Chao-Jung Huang, Shiying Hao, Xuefeng B. Ling, Yongxia Han, Yaqi Zhang, Le Zheng, Chengyin Ye, Modi Liu, Minjie Xia, Changlin Fu, Bo Jin, Karl G. Sylvester, Eric Widen

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Predicting the risk of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma (PA) in advance can benefit the quality of care and potentially reduce population mortality and morbidity. The aim of this study was to develop and prospectively validate a risk prediction model to identify patients at risk of new incident PA as early as 3 months before the onset of PA in a statewide, general population in Maine. The PA prediction model was developed using Deep Neural Networks, a deep learning algorithm, with a 2-year electronic-health-record (EHR) cohort. Prospective results showed that our model identified 54.35% of all inpatient episodes of PA, and 91.20% of all PA that required subsequent chemoradiotherapy, with a lead-time of up to 3 months and a true alert of 67.62%. The risk assessment tool has attained an improved discriminative ability. It can be immediately deployed to the health system to provide automatic early warnings to adults at risk of PA. It has potential to identify personalized risk factors to facilitate customized PA interventions.

Keywords: cancer prediction, deep learning, electronic health records, pancreatic adenocarcinoma

Procedia PDF Downloads 129

Authors: Yiwen Jin, Jing Xiao, Pinfang Su

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The idea of adapting authentic materials in language teaching is from the communicative method in the 1970s. Different from the language in language textbooks, authentic materials is not deliberately written, it is from the native speaker’s real life and contains real information, which can meet social needs. It could improve learners ' interest, create authentic context and improve learners ' communicative competence. Authentic materials play an important role in CFL（Chinese as a foreign language） classroom. Different types of authentic materials can be used in different ways during learning and teaching. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic，a lot of Chinese learners are learning Chinese without the real language environment. Although there are some well-written textbooks, there is a certain distance between textbook language materials and daily life. Learners cannot automatically fill this gap. That is why it is necessary to apply authentic materials as a supplement to the language textbook to create the real context. Chinese teachers around the world are working together, trying to integrate the resources and apply authentic materials through different approach. They apply authentic materials in the form of new textbooks, manuals, apps and short videos they collect and create to help Chinese learning and teaching. A review of previous research on authentic materials and the Chinese teachers’ attempt to adapt it in the classroom are offered in this manuscript.

Keywords: authentic materials, Chinese as a second language, developmental use of digital resources, materials development for language teaching

Procedia PDF Downloads 155

Authors: Muhadam Labolo, Afdal R. Anwar, Sucia Miranti Sipisang

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Electronic Local Finance Management Information System (ELFMIS) is integrated application that was used as a tool for local governments to improve the effectiveness of the implementation of the various areas of financial management regulations. Appropriate With Exceptions Opinion (WDP) of Indonesia Audit Agency (BPK) for local governments Mempawah is a financial management problem that must be improved to avoid mistakes in decision-making. The use of Electronic Local Finance Management Information System (ELFMIS) by Mempawah authority has not yet performed maximally. These problems became the basis for research in measuring the effectiveness LFMIS in Mempawah regency. This research uses an indicator variable for measuring information systems effectiveness proposed by Bodnar. This research made use descriptive with inductive approach. Data collection techniques were mixed from qualitative and quantitative techniques, used questionnaires, interviews and documentation. The obstacles in Local Finance Board (LFB) for the application of ELFMIS such as connection, the quality and quantity of human resources, realization of financial resources, absence of maintenance and another facilities of ELFMIS and verification for financial information.

Keywords: effectiveness, E-LFMIS, finance, local government, system

Procedia PDF Downloads 201

Authors: Rekioua T., Rekioua D., Aissou S., Ouhabi A.

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Power provided by the photovoltaic array varies with solar radiation and temperature, since these parameters influence the electrical characteristic (Ipv-Vpv) of solar cells. In Scientific research, there are different methods to obtain these characteristics. In this paper, we present three methods. A simulation one using Matlab/Simulink. The second one is the standard experimental voltage method and the third one is by using LabVIEW software. This latter is based on an electronic circuit to test PV modules. All details of this electronic schemes are presented and obtained results of the three methods with a comparison and under different meteorological conditions are presented. The proposed method is simple and very efficiency for testing and measurements of electrical characteristic curves of photovoltaic panels.

Keywords: photovoltaic cells, measurement standards, temperature sensors, data acquisition

Procedia PDF Downloads 438

Authors: George Mahalu

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The Chua diode has been configured over time in various ways, using electronic structures like as operational amplifiers (OAs) or devices with gas or semiconductors. When discussing the use of semiconductor devices, tunnel diodes (Esaki diodes) are most often considered, and more recently, transistorized configurations such as lambda diodes. The paper-work proposed here uses in the modeling a lambda diode type configuration consisting of two Junction Field Effect Transistors (JFET). The original scheme is created in the MULTISIM electronic simulation environment and is analyzed in order to identify the conditions for the appearance of evolutionary unpredictability specific to nonlinear dynamic systems with chaos-induced behavior. The chaotic deterministic oscillator is one autonomous type, a fact that places it in the class of Chua’s type oscillators, the only significant and most important difference being the presence of a nonlinear device like the one mentioned structure above. The chaotic behavior is identified both by means of strange attractor-type trajectories and visible during the simulation and by highlighting the hypersensitivity of the system to small variations of one of the input parameters. The results obtained through simulation and the conclusions drawn are useful in the further research of ways to implement such constructive electronic solutions in theoretical and practical applications related to modern small signal amplification structures, to systems for encoding and decoding messages through various modern ways of communication, as well as new structures that can be imagined both in modern neural networks and in those for the physical implementation of some requirements imposed by current research with the aim of obtaining practically usable solutions in quantum computing and quantum computers.

Keywords: chaos, lambda diode, strange attractor, nonlinear system

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Authors: Jung Ho Yang, Yong Soo Kim

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Electrical units are operated by electrical and electronic components. An environmental test sequence is useful for testing electrical units to reduce reliability issues. This study introduces test sequence guidelines based on relevant principles and considerations for electronic testing according to international standard IEC-60068-1 and the United States military standard MIL-STD-810G. Then, test sequences were proposed based on the descriptions for each test. Finally, General Motors (GM) specification GMW3172 was interpreted and compared to IEC-60068-1 and MIL-STD-810G.

Keywords: reliability, environmental test sequence, electrical units, IEC 60068-1, MIL-STD-810G

Procedia PDF Downloads 478

Authors: H. Zouaoui, D. Abdi, B. Nessark, F. Habelhames, A. Bahloul

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Among the conjugated organic polymers, the polythiophenes constitute a particularly important class of conjugated polymers, which has been extensively studied for the relation between the geometrical structure and the optic and electronic properties, while the polythiophene is an intractable material. They are, furthermore, chemically and thermally stable materials, and are very attractive for exploitation of their physical properties. The polythiophenes are extensively studied due to the possibility of synthesizing low band gap materials by using substituted thiophenes as precursors. Low band gap polymers may convert visible light into electricity and some photoelectrochemical cells based on these materials have been prepared. Polythiophenes (PThs) are good candidates for polymer optoelectronic devices such as polymer solar cells (PSCs) polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) field-effect transistors (FETs) electrochromics and biosensors. In this work, MnO2 has been synthesized by hydrothermal method and analyzed by infrared spectroscopy. The polybithiophene+MnO2 composite films were electrochemically prepared by cyclic voltammetry technic on a conductor glass substrate ITO (indium–tin-oxide). The composite films are characterized by cyclic voltammetry, impedance spectroscopy and photoelectrochemical analyses. The results confirmed the presence of manganese dioxide nanoparticles in the polymer layer. An application has been made by using these deposits as an electrode in a photoelectrochemical cell for measuring photocurrent tests. The composite films show a significant photocurrent intensity 80 μA.cm-2.

Keywords: polybithiophene, MnO2, photoelectrochemical cells, composite films

Procedia PDF Downloads 332

Authors: Marcin Tadla, Robert Rusinek, Jolanta Wawrzyniak, Marzena Gawrysiak-Witulska, Agnieszka Nawrocka, Marek Gancarz

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Rapeseeds were evaluated and classified by the static-headspace sampling method using electronic noses during the 25 days spoilage period. The Cyranose 320 comprising 32 polymer-composite sensors and VCA (Volatile Compound Analyzer - made in Institute of Agrophysics) built of 8 metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) sensors were used to obtain sensor response (∆R/R). Each sample of spoiled material was divided into three parts and the degree of spoilage was measured four ways: determination of ergosterol content (ERG), colony forming units (CFU) and measurement with both e-noses. The study showed that both devices responsive to changes in the fungal microflora. Cyranose and VCA registered the change of domination microflora of fungi. After 7 days of storage, typical fungi for soil disappeared and appeared typical for storeroom was observed. In both cases, response ∆R/R decreased to the end of experiment, while ERG and JTK increased. The research was supported by the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR), Grant No. PBS2/A8/22/2013.

Keywords: electronic nose, fungal microflora, metal-oxide sensor, polymer-composite sensors

Procedia PDF Downloads 276

Authors: Jae-Woo Kim, Kyung-Jung Lee, Hyun-Sik Ahn

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This paper presents a design methodology for the motor driven automotive subsystems with the consideration of the functional safety. There are many such modules in vehicles which use DC/AC motors for an electronic throttle control system, a motor driven power steering, a motor driven seat belt systems and for HVAC systems. The functional safety for the automotive electrical and electronic parts are standardized as ISO 26262, but the development procedure is very complex to be followed. We focus on the functional safe motor controller design process and show the designed motor controller hardware satisfies the required safety integrity level by using metric calculations with the safety mechanism.

Keywords: AUTOSAR, MDPS, Simulink, software component

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Authors: Michael Dole, Pierre Ninin, Denis Raffourt

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Most of the CERN’s facilities hosting particle accelerators are large, underground and radioactive areas. All fire detection systems installed in such areas, shall be carefully studied to cope with the particularities of this stringent environment. The detection equipment usually chosen by CERN to secure these underground facilities are based on air sampling technology. The electronic equipment is located in non-radioactive areas whereas air sampling networks are deployed in radioactive areas where fire detection is required. The air sampling technology provides very good detection performances and prevent the "radiation-to-electronic" effects. In addition, it reduces the exposure to radiations of maintenance workers and is permanently available during accelerator operation. In order to protect the Super Proton Synchrotron and its 7 km tunnels, a specific long distance aspirating smoke detector has been developed to detect smoke at up to 700 meters between electronic equipment and the last air sampling hole. This paper describes the architecture, performances and return of experience of the long distance fire detection system developed and installed to secure the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron tunnels.

Keywords: air sampling, fire detection, long distance, radioactive areas

Procedia PDF Downloads 135

Authors: Mohamad Saab, Sidi Souvi

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In a major nuclear accident, the released fission products (FPs) and the structural materials are likely to influence the transport of iodine in the reactor coolant system (RCS) of a pressurized water reactor (PWR). So far, the thermodynamic data on cesium and silver species used to estimate the magnitude of FP release show some discrepancies, data are scarce and not reliable. For this reason, it is crucial to review the thermodynamic values related to cesium and silver materials. To this end, we have used state-of-the-art quantum chemical methods to compute the formation enthalpies and entropies of AgHMoO₄, CsHMoO₄, and AgCsMoO₄ in the gas phase. Different quantum chemical methods have been investigated (DFT and CCSD(T)) in order to predict the geometrical parameters and the energetics including the correlation energy. The geometries were optimized with TPSSh-5%HF method, followed by a single point calculation of the total electronic energies using the CCSD(T) wave function method. We thus propose with a final uncertainty of about 2 kJmol⁻¹ standard enthalpies of formation of AgHMoO₄, CsHMoO₄, and AgCsMoO₄.

Keywords: nuclear accident, ASTEC code, thermochemical database, quantum chemical methods

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Authors: Mikołaj Szyca

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Friction elements of rail vehicle brakes are more and more often made of composite materials that displace cast iron. Materials are tested primarily in terms of their dynamic abilities, but the material structure of brake pads and linings changes during operation. In connection with the above, the changes taking place in the tested rubbing materials were analyzed using X-ray computed tomography in order to obtain data on changes in the structure of the material immediately after production and after a certain number of operating cycles. The implementation of microtomography research for experimental work on new friction materials may result in increasing the potential for the production of new composites by eliminating unfavorable material factors and, consequently, improving the dynamic parameters.

Keywords: composite materials, friction pair, X-ray computed microtomography, railway

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Authors: Mouna Mesbahi, M. Loutfi Benkhedir

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In CZTS films solar cell, the preferable reaction between Cu and sulfur vapor was likely to be induced by out diffusion of the bottom Cu component to the surface; this would lead to inhomogeneous distribution of the Cu component to form the Cu2SnS3 secondary phase and formation of many voids and crevices in the resulting CZTS film; which is also the cause of the decline in performance. In this work we study the electronic and optical properties of Cu2SnS3. For this purpose we used the Wien2k code based on the theory of density functional theory (DFT) with the modified Becke-Johnson exchange potential mBJ and the Hubbard potential individually or combined. We have found an energy gap 0.92 eV. The results are in good agreement with experimental results.

Keywords: Cu2SnS3, DFT, electronic and optical properties, mBJ+U, WIEN2K

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Authors: Mariia Khramova, Sergio Martinez, Duc Nguyen

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Modern electronic devices, particularly smartphones, are characterised by extremely high environmental footprint and short product lifecycle. Every year manufacturers release new models with even more superior performance, which pushes the customers towards new purchases. As a result, millions of devices are being accumulated in the urban mine. To tackle these challenges the concept of circular economy has been introduced to promote repair, reuse and recycle of electronics. In this case, electronic devices, that previously ended up in landfills or households, are getting the second life, therefore, reducing the demand for new raw materials. Smartphone reuse is gradually gaining wider adoption partly due to the price increase of flagship models, consequently, boosting circular economy implementation. However, along with reuse of communication device, circular economy approach needs to ensure the data of the previous user have not been 'reused' together with a device. This is especially important since modern smartphones are comparable with computers in terms of performance and amount of data stored. These data vary from pictures, videos, call logs to social security numbers, passport and credit card details, from personal information to corporate confidential data. To assess how well the data privacy requirements are followed on smartphones second-hand market, a sample of 100 Android smartphones has been purchased from IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) facilities responsible for data erasure and resell. Although devices should not have stored any user data by the time they leave ITAD, it has been possible to retrieve the data from 19% of the sample. Applied techniques varied from manual device inspection to sophisticated equipment and tools. These findings indicate significant barrier in implementation of circular economy and a limitation of smartphone reuse. Therefore, in order to motivate the users to donate or sell their old devices and make electronic use more sustainable, data privacy on second-hand smartphone market should be significantly improved. Presented research has been carried out in the framework of sustainablySMART project, which is part of Horizon 2020 EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.

Keywords: android, circular economy, data privacy, second-hand phones

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Authors: Abdulla Almulla, Wafaa Mahdi

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Building materials can make a significant contribution to the level of natural radioactivity in closed dwelling areas. Therefore, developing an expert system for monitoring the activity concentrations (ACs) of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMs) existing in building materials is useful for limiting the population’s exposure to gamma radiation emitted from those materials. The present work not only is aimed at examining the indoor radon concentration emitted by the building materials that are originated from various countries but are commercially available in Kuwait, but also is aimed at developing an expert system for monitoring the radiation emitted from these materials and classifying it as normal (acceptable) or dangerous (unacceptable). This system makes it possible to always monitor any radiological risks to human health. When detecting high doses of radiation, the system gives warning messages.

Keywords: building materials, NORMs, HNBRA, radionuclides, activity concentrations, expert systems

Procedia PDF Downloads 138

Authors: Michael T. Ajayi, Oluwakemi E. Fapojuwo

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Farmers are in need of regular and relevant information relating to new technologies. Production of extension materials has been found to be useful in facilitating the process. Extension materials help to provide information to reach large numbers of farmers quickly and economically. However, as good as extension materials are, previous materials produced are not used by farmers. The reasons for this include lack of involvement of farmers in the production of the extension materials, most of the extension materials are not relevant to the farmers’ environments, the agricultural extension agents lack capacity to prepare the materials, and many extension agents lack commitment. These problems led to this innovative capacity building of extension agents. This innovative approach involves five stages. The first stage is the diagnostic survey of farmers’ environment to collect useful information. The second stage is the development and production of draft extension materials. The third stage is the field testing and evaluation of draft materials by the same farmers that were involved at the diagnostic stage. The fourth stage is the revision of the draft extension materials by incorporating suggestions from farmers. The fifth stage is the action plans. This process improves the capacity of agricultural extension agents in the preparation of extension materials and also promotes engagement of farmers and beneficiaries in the process. The process also makes farmers assume some level of ownership of the exercise and the extension materials.

Keywords: capacity building, extension agents, dissemination, information/technologies

Procedia PDF Downloads 342

Authors: G. P. Abdel Rahim, M. María Guadalupe Moreno Armenta, Jairo Arbey Rodriguez

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We investigated the structure and electronic properties of the compound Mg1-xBixO with varying concentrations of 0, ¼, ½, and ¾ x bismuth in the the NaCl (rock-salt) and WZ (wurtzite) phases. The calculations were performed using the first-principles pseudo-potential method within the framework of spin density functional theory (DFT). Our calculations predict that for Bi concentrations greater than ~70%, the WZ structure is more favorable than the NaCl one and that for x = 0 (pure MgO), x = 0.25 and x = 0.50 of Bi concentration the NaCl structure is more favorable than the WZ one. For x = 0.75 of Bi, a transition from wurtzite towards NaCl is possible, when the pressure is about 22 GPa. Also It has been observed the crystal lattice constant closely follows Vegard’s law, that the bulk modulus and the cohesion energy decrease with the concentration x of Bi.

Keywords: DFT, Mg1-xBixO, pseudo-potential, rock-salt, wurtzite

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Authors: Isik Cetintav, Cenk Misirli, Yilmaz Can, Damla Gunel

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This work investigates experimental and numerical analysis of open die forging of multimetallic materials. Multimetallic material production has recently become an interesting research field. The mechanical properties of the materials to be used for the formation of multimetallic materials and the mechanical properties of the multimetallic materials produced will be compared and the material flows of the use of different lubricants will be examined. Furthermore, in this work, the mechanical properties of multimetallic metallic materials produced using different materials will be examined by using different lubricants. The advantages and disadvantages of different lubricants will be approached with the bi-metallic material to be produced. Cylindrical specimens consisting of two different materials were used in the experiments. Specimens were prepared as aluminum sleeve and copper core and upset at different reduction. This metal combination present a material model of which chemical composition is different. ABAQUS software was used for the simulations. Simulation and experimental results have also shown reasonable agreement.

Keywords: multimetallic, forging, experimental, numerical

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Authors: M. Ramesh, Manish K. Niranjan

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The electronic, structural and thermoelectric properties of Mg₂SiSn (110) surface are investigated within the framework of first principle density functional theory and semi classical Boltzmann approach. In particular, directional dependent thermoelectric properties such as electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, Seebeck coefficient and figure of merit are explored. The (110)-oriented Mg₂SiSn surface exhibits narrow indirect band gap of ~0.17 eV. The thermoelectric properties are found to be significant along the y-axis at 300 K and along x-axis at 500 K. The figure of merit (ZT) for hole carrier concentration is found to be significantly large having magnitude 0.83 (along x-axis) at 500 K and 0.26 (y-axis) at 300 K. Our results suggest that Mg₂SiSn (110) surface is promising for various thermoelectric applications due to its overall good thermoelectric properties.

Keywords: thermoelectric, surface science, semiconducting silicide, first principles calculations

Procedia PDF Downloads 207

Authors: Charity Ifunanya Osakwe, Victoria Ogochuchukwu Obi-Nwosu, Chima Kenneth Anachedo

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The study investigates how automated teller machines (ATM) and mobile banking affect deposit money banks in the Nigerian economy. The study made use of time series data which were obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin from 2009 to 2021. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) data on automated teller machine and mobile phones were used to proxy electronic banking while total deposit in banks proxied the performance of deposit money banks. The analysis for the study was done using ordinary least square econometric technique with the aid of economic view statistical package. The results show that the automated teller machine has a positive and significant effect on the total deposits of deposit money banks in Nigeria and that making use of deposits of deposit money banks in Nigeria. It was concluded in the study that e-banking has equally increased banking access to customers and also created room for banks to expand their operations to more customers. The study recommends that banks in Nigeria should prioritize the expansion and maintenance of ATM networks as well as continue to invest in and develop more mobile banking services.

Keywords: electronic, banking, automated teller machines, mobile, deposit

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Authors: Rakesh Kumar, Shashi Janeoo, Ankit Dhiman, Siddharth Chopra

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Arynes are versatile reactive intermediates that offer broad opportunities in green organic synthesis. Arynes are potential aryl group surrogates for the transition metal-free environment friendly arylation reactions. Regioselective arylations of quinolines were achieved by the reactions of quinoline N-oxides with aryne intermediates generated in situ from the Kobayashi precursors. Various 2-substituted quinolines provided 3-arylated-2-substituted quinolines under ambient conditions. Acridine N-oxides also reacted well and provided unusual 4-arylacridines. Various fluorine containing 2,3-diarylquinaolines prepared using this approach were evaluated for antibacterial activity and two compounds inhibited the drug-resistant strains of S-aureus with a good selectivity index. Further, the 2,3-diarylquinolines as the potential optoelectronic materials were prepared by the aryne chemistry approach and their optical and electronic properties for such applications are under study. The aryne intermediates provide an effective Green Chemistry tool to achieve versatile arylated heteroarenes for diverse applications.

Keywords: arynes, arylation, quinolines, acridines.

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Authors: Sarka Keprdova, Nikol Zizkova

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This paper focuses on the presentation of results which were obtained as a part of the project FR-TI 3/742: “System of Lightweight Materials for Finishing of Buildings with Waste Raw Materials”. Attention was paid to the lightweighting of polymer-modified mortars applicable as adhesives, screeds and repair mortars. In terms of repair mortars, they were ones intended for the sanitation of aerated concrete.

Keywords: additives, light aggregates, lightweight materials, lightweight mortars, polymer-modified mortars

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Authors: Josef Brychta, Jiri Kratochvil, Marek Pagac

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The group of progressive cutting materials can include non-traditional, emerging and less-used materials that can be an efficient use of cutting their lead to a quantum leap in the field of machining. This is essentially a “superhard” materials (STM) based on polycrystalline diamond (PCD) and polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN) cutting performance ceramics and development is constantly "perfecting" fine coated cemented carbides. The latter cutting materials are broken down by two parameters, toughness and hardness. A variation of alloying elements is always possible to improve only one of each parameter. Reducing the size of the core on the other hand doing achieves "contradictory" properties, namely to increase both hardness and toughness.

Keywords: grained cutting materials difficult to machine materials, optimum utilization, mechanic, manufacturing

Procedia PDF Downloads 280

Authors: Punya Tepsing

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This research aimed to study the beliefs in auspicious materials of entrepreneurs in Muang Hat Yai. The data were collected via documentary research and field work including interviews, observations shops in Hat Yai which used auspicious materials to bring lucks to the shops. The results were as follows. The beliefs in auspicious materials that the entrepreneurs had were of three areas: 1) The auspicious materials could correct the improperness of the shop location, for example, the shop situated opposite a branch road, a shrine, or a bank. The owner usually corrected it by putting Chinese auspicious materials in front of or in the shop, for example, a lion holding a sword in his mouth, or a mirror, etc. 2) The auspicious materials could bring in more income. The owner of the shop usually put the auspicious materials such as a cat beckoning and a bamboo fish trap believed to trap money in front of or inside the shop. 3) The auspicious materials like turtles, paired fish and a monster holding the moon in his mouth could solve life problems including health, family, and safety problems. The use of these auspicious materials showed the blending of the beliefs of the Chinese shop entrepreneurs with the Thai folk beliefs. What is interesting is that Hat Yai is located near the three southern border provinces which are the unrest area and this may cause the number of tourists to decline. This prompted them to build a mechanism in adjusting themselves both to save their lives and to increase the number of customers. Auspicious materials can make them feel more confident.

Keywords: belief, auspicious materials, shop, entrepreneur, Maung Hat Yai

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Authors: Fawzia Al-Sakeer, Hassan Aldeeb

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Development in the communications field is proceeding at an amazing speed, which has led researchers to improve and develop electronic circuits by increasing their efficiency and reducing their size to reduce the weight of electronic devices. One of the most important of these circuits is the band-pass filter, which is what made us carry out this research, which aims to use an alternate technology to design a dual band-pass filter by using a stepped impedance microstrip transmission line. We designed a filter that works at two center frequency bands by designing with the ADS program, and the results were excellent, as we obtained the two design frequencies, which are 1 and 3GHz, and the values of insertion loss S11, which was more than 21dB with a small area.

Keywords: band pass filter, dual band band-pass filter, ADS, microstrip filter, stepped impedance

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Authors: Vesna Pungercar, Florian Musso

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Identifying materials that can substitute rare or expensive natural resources is one of the key challenges for improving resource efficiency in the building sector. With a growing world population and rising living standards, more and more salt is produced as waste through seawater desalination and potash mining processes. Unfortunately, most of the salt is directly disposed of into nature, where it causes environmental pollution. On the other hand, salt is affordable, is used therapeutically in various respiratory treatments, and can store humidity and heat. It was, therefore, necessary to determine salt materials already in use in building construction and their hygrothermal properties. This research aims to identify salt materials from different scientific branches and historically, to investigate their properties and prioritize the most promising salt materials for indoor applications in a thermal envelope. This was realized through literature review and classification of salt materials into three groups (raw salt materials, composite salt materials, and processed salt materials). The outcome of this research shows that salt has already been used as a building material for centuries and has a potential for future applications due to its hygrothermal properties in a thermal envelope.

Keywords: salt, building material, hygrothermal properties, environment

Procedia PDF Downloads 142

Authors: Yanné Etienne

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The current climatic conditions necessarily impose the development and use of construction materials with low or no carbon footprint. The Far North Region of Cameroon has huge deposits of termite mounds. Various tests in this work have been carried out on these soils with the aim of using them as construction materials. They are mainly geotechnical tests, physical and mechanical tests. The different tests gave the following values: uniformity coefficient (4.95), curvature coefficient (1.80), plasticity index (12.85%), optimum moisture content (6.70%), maximum dry density (2.05 g.cm-³), friction angles (14.07°), and cohesion of 100.29 kN.m2. The results obtained show that termite mound soils, which are ecological materials, are plastic and water-stable can be used for the production of load-bearing elements in construction.

Keywords: termite mound soil, ecological materials, building materials, geotechnical tests, physical and mechanical tests

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Authors: Ayşe Eldem, Fatih Başçiftçi

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Braille alphabet is an important tool that enables visually impaired individuals to have a comfortable life like those who have normal vision. For this reason, new applications related to the Braille alphabet are being developed. In this study, a new Refreshable Braille Display was developed to help visually impaired individuals learn the Braille alphabet easier. By means of this system, any text downloaded on a computer can be read by the visually impaired individual at that moment by feeling it by his/her hands. Through this electronic device, it was aimed to make learning the Braille alphabet easier for visually impaired individuals with whom the necessary tests were conducted.

Keywords: visually impaired individual, Braille, Braille display, refreshable Braille display, USB

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Authors: Adrian Niewiadomski, Barbara Surma, Katarzyna Kolodziejak, Dorota A. Pawlak

Abstract:

Oxide-oxide eutectic is attracting increasing interest of scientific community because of their unique properties and numerous potential applications. Some of the most interesting examples of applications are metamaterials, glucose sensors, photoactive materials, thermoelectric materials, and photocatalysts. Their unique properties result from the fact that composite materials consist of two or more phases. As a result, these materials have additive and product properties. Additive properties originate from particular phases while product properties originate from the interaction between phases. MnTiO3-TiO2 eutectic is one of such materials. TiO2 is a well-known semiconductor, and it is used as a photocatalyst. Moreover, it may be used to produce solar cells, in a gas sensing devices and in electrochemistry. MnTiO3 is a semiconductor and antiferromagnetic. Therefore it has potential application in integrated circuits devices, and as a gas and humidity sensor, in non-linear optics and as a visible-light activated photocatalyst. The above facts indicate that eutectic MnTiO3-TiO2 constitutes an extremely promising material that should be studied. Despite that Raman spectroscopy is a powerful method to characterize materials, to our knowledge Raman studies of eutectics are very limited, and there are no studies of the MnTiO3-TiO2 eutectic. While to our knowledge the papers regarding this material are scarce. The MnTiO3-TiO2 eutectic, as well as TiO2 and MnTiO3 single crystals, were grown by the micro-pulling-down method at the Institute of Electronic Materials Technology in Warsaw, Poland. A nitrogen atmosphere was maintained during whole crystal growth process. The as-grown samples of MnTiO3-TiO2 eutectic, as well as TiO2 and MnTiO3 single crystals, are black and opaque. Samples were cut perpendicular to the growth direction. Cross sections were examined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and with Raman spectroscopy. The present studies showed that maintaining nitrogen atmosphere during crystal growth process may result in obtaining black TiO2 crystals. SEM and Raman experiments showed that studied eutectic consists of three distinct regions. Furthermore, two of these regions correspond with MnTiO3, while the third region corresponds with the TiO2-xNx phase. Raman studies pointed out that TiO2-xNx phase crystallizes in rutile structure. The studies show that Raman experiments may be successfully used to characterize eutectic materials. The MnTiO3-TiO2 eutectic was grown by the micro-pulling-down method. SEM and micro-Raman experiments were used to establish phase composition of studied eutectic. The studies revealed that the TiO2 phase had been doped with nitrogen. Therefore the TiO2 phase is, in fact, a solid solution with TiO2-xNx composition. The remaining two phases exhibit Raman lines of both rutile TiO2 and MnTiO3. This points out to some kind of coexistence of these phases in studied eutectic.

Keywords: compound materials, eutectic growth and characterization, Raman spectroscopy, rutile TiO₂

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