Search results for: bit error rate (BER)

Authors: Nana Segu Acquaah-Harrison, James Osei Mensah, Richard Aidoo, David Amponsah, Amy Buah, Gilbert Aboagye

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The study aimed at assessing the feasibility of commercial meat rabbit production in the Kumasi Metropolis of Ghana. Structured and unstructured questionnaires were utilized in obtaining information from two hundred meat consumers and 15 meat rabbit farmers. Data were analyzed using Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR)/Profitability Index (PI) technique, percentages and chi-square contingency test. The study found that the current demand for rabbit meat is low (36%). The desirable nutritional attributes of rabbit meat and other socio economic factors of meat consumers make the potential demand for rabbit meat high (69%). It was estimated that GH¢5,292 (approximately $ 2672) was needed as a start-up capital for a 40-doe unit meat rabbit farm in Kumasi Metropolis. The cost of breeding animals, housing and equipment formed 12.47%, 53.97% and 24.87% respectively of the initial estimated capital. A Net Present Value of GH¢ 5,910.75 (approximately $ 2984) was obtained at the end of the fifth year, with an internal rate return and profitability index of 70% and 1.12 respectively. The major constraints identified in meat rabbit production were low price of rabbit meat, shortage of fodder, pest and diseases, high cost of capital, high cost of operating materials and veterinary care. Based on the analysis, it was concluded that meat rabbit production is feasible in the Kumasi Metropolis of Ghana. The study recommends embarking on mass advertisement; farmer association and adapting to new technologies in the production process will help to enhance productivity.

Keywords: feasibility, commercial meat rabbit, production, Kumasi, Ghana

Procedia PDF Downloads 124

Authors: Eyhab El-Kharashi, Maher El-Dessouki

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The paper is dedicated to precise assessment of the induction motor output energy during the unbalanced operation. Since many years ago and until now the voltage complex unbalance factor (CVUF) is used only to assess the output energy of the induction motor while this output energy for asymmetry supply voltage does not depend on the value of unbalanced voltage only but also on the machine parameters. The paper illustrates the variation of the two unbalance factors, complex voltage unbalance factor (CVUF) and impedance unbalance factor (IUF), with positive sequence voltage component, reveals that degree and manner of unbalance in supply voltage. From this point of view the paper delineates the current unbalance factor (CUF) to exactly reflect the output energy during unbalanced operation. The paper proceeds to illustrate the importance of using this factor in the multi-machine system to precise prediction of the output energy during the unbalanced operation. The use of the proposed unbalance factor (CUF) avoids the accumulation of the error due to more than one machine in the system which is expected if only the complex voltage unbalance factor (CVUF) is used.

Keywords: induction motor, electromagnetic torque, voltage unbalance, energy conversion

Procedia PDF Downloads 553

Authors: El Khaddam Safaa, Soulaymani Abdelmajid, Mokhtari Abdelghani, Ouammi Lahcen, Rachida Soulaymani-Beincheikh

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The poisonings represent a problem of health in the world and Morocco, The exact dimensions of this phenomenon are still poorly recorded that we see the lack of exhaustive statistical data. The objective of this retrospective study of a series of cases of the poisonings declared at the level of the region of Tadla-Azilal and collected by the Moroccan Poison Control and Pharmacovigilance Center. An epidemiological profile of the poisonings was to raise, to determine the risk factors influencing the vital preview of the poisoned And to follow the evolution of the incidence, the lethality, and the mortality. During the period of study, we collected and analyzed 9303 cases of poisonings by different incriminated toxic products with the exception of the scorpion poisonings. These poisonings drove to 99 deaths. The epidemiological profile which we raised, showed that the poisoned were of any age with an average of 24.62±16.61 years, The sex-ratio (woman/man) was 1.36 in favor of the women. The difference between both sexes is highly significant (χ2 = 210.5; p<0,001). Most of the poisoned which declared to be of urban origin (60.5 %) (χ2=210.5; p<0,001). Carbon monoxide was the most incriminated among the cases of poisonings (24.15 %), them putting in head, followed by some pesticides and farm produces (21.44 %) and food (19.95 %). The analysis of the risk factors showed that the grown-up patients whose age is between 20 and 74 years have twice more risk of evolving towards the death (RR=1,57; IC95 % = 1,03-2,38) than the other age brackets, so the male genital organ was the most exposed (explained) to the death that the female genital organ (RR=1,59; IC95 % = 1,07-2,38) The patients of rural origin had presented 5 times more risk (RR=4,713; IC95 % = 2,543-8,742). Poisoned by the mineral products had presented the maximum of risk on the vital preview death (RR=23,19, IC95 % = 2,39-224,1). The poisonings by pesticides produce a risk of 9 (RR=9,31; IC95 % = 6,10-14,18). The incidence was 3,3 cases of 10000 inhabitants, and the mortality was 0,004 cases of 1000 inhabitants (that is 4 cases by 1000 000 inhabitants). The rate of lethality registered annually was 10.6 %. The evolution of the indicators of health according to the years showed that the rate of statement measured by the incidence increased by a significant way. We also noted an improvement in the coverage which (who) ended up with a decrease in the rate of the lethality and the mortality during last years. The fight anti-toxic is a work of length time. He asks for a lot of work various levels. It is necessary to attack the delay accumulated by our country on the various legal, institutional and technical aspects. The ideal solution is to develop and to set up a national strategy.

Keywords: epidemiology, poisoning, risk factors, indicators of health, Tadla-Azilal grated by anti-toxic fight

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Authors: Nicola Colaninno, Eugenio Morello

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The urban environment affects local-to-global climate and, in turn, suffers global warming phenomena, with worrying impacts on human well-being, health, social and economic activities. Physic-morphological features of the built-up space affect urban air temperature, locally, causing the urban environment to be warmer compared to surrounding rural. This occurrence, typically known as the Urban Heat Island (UHI), is normally assessed by means of air temperature from fixed weather stations and/or traverse observations or based on remotely sensed Land Surface Temperatures (LST). The information provided by ground weather stations is key for assessing local air temperature. However, the spatial coverage is normally limited due to low density and uneven distribution of the stations. Although different interpolation techniques such as Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW), Ordinary Kriging (OK), or Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) are used to estimate air temperature from observed points, such an approach may not effectively reflect the real climatic conditions of an interpolated point. Quantifying local UHI for extensive areas based on weather stations’ observations only is not practicable. Alternatively, the use of thermal remote sensing has been widely investigated based on LST. Data from Landsat, ASTER, or MODIS have been extensively used. Indeed, LST has an indirect but significant influence on air temperatures. However, high-resolution near-surface air temperature (NSAT) is currently difficult to retrieve. Here we have experimented Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) as an effective approach to enable NSAT estimation by accounting for spatial non-stationarity of the phenomenon. The model combines on-site measurements of air temperature, from fixed weather stations and satellite-derived LST. The approach is structured upon two main steps. First, a GWR model has been set to estimate NSAT at low resolution, by combining air temperature from discrete observations retrieved by weather stations (dependent variable) and the LST from satellite observations (predictor). At this step, MODIS data, from Terra satellite, at 1 kilometer of spatial resolution have been employed. Two time periods are considered according to satellite revisit period, i.e. 10:30 am and 9:30 pm. Afterward, the results have been downscaled at 30 meters of spatial resolution by setting a GWR model between the previously retrieved near-surface air temperature (dependent variable), the multispectral information as provided by the Landsat mission, in particular the albedo, and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), both at 30 meters. Albedo and DEM are now the predictors. The area under investigation is the Metropolitan City of Milan, which covers an area of approximately 1,575 km2 and encompasses a population of over 3 million inhabitants. Both models, low- (1 km) and high-resolution (30 meters), have been validated according to a cross-validation that relies on indicators such as R2, Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) and Mean Absolute Error (MAE). All the employed indicators give evidence of highly efficient models. In addition, an alternative network of weather stations, available for the City of Milano only, has been employed for testing the accuracy of the predicted temperatures, giving and RMSE of 0.6 and 0.7 for daytime and night-time, respectively.

Keywords: urban climate, urban heat island, geographically weighted regression, remote sensing

Procedia PDF Downloads 190

Authors: Haiu-Lan Chin, Yu-Fen Hsiao, Hua-Ying Chuang, Wei Lee

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An adult with intellectual disability generally has insufficient physical activity which is an important factor leading to premature weakness. Studies in recent years on frailty syndrome have accumulated substantial data about indicators of human aging, including unintentional weight loss, self-reported exhaustion, weakness, slow walking speed, and low physical activity. Of these indicators, hand-grip strength can be seen as a predictor of mortality, disability, complications, and increased length of hospital stay. Hand-grip strength in fact provides a comprehensive overview of one’s vitality. The research is about the investigation on hand-grip strength of adults with intellectual disabilities in facilities, institutions and workshops. The participants are 197 male adults (M=39.09±12.85 years old), and 114 female ones (M=35.80±8.2 years old) so far. The aim of the study is to figure out the performance of their hand-grip strength, and initiate the setting of training on hand-grip strength in their daily life which will decrease the weakening on their physical condition. Test items include weight, bone density, basal metabolic rate (BMR), static body balance except hand-grip strength. Hand-grip strength was measured by a hand dynamometer and classified as normal group ( ≧ 30 kg for male and ≧ 20 kg for female) and weak group ( < 30 kg for male, < 20 kg for female)The analysis includes descriptive statistics, and the indicators of grip strength fo the adults with intellectual disability. Though the research is still ongoing and the participants are increasing, the data indicates: (1) The correlation between hand-grip strength and degree of the intellectual disability (p ≦. 001), basal metabolic rate (p ≦ .001), and static body balance (p ≦ .01) as well. Nevertheless, there is no significant correlation between grip strength and basal metabolic rate which had been having significant correlation with hand-grip strength. (2) The difference between male and female subjects in hand-grip strength is significant, the hand-grip strength of male subjects (25.70±12.81 Kg) is much higher than female ones (16.30±8.89 Kg). Compared to the female counterparts, male participants indicate greater individual differences. And the proportion of weakness between male and female subjects is also different. (3) The regression indicates the main factors related to grip strength performance include degree of the intellectual disability, height, static body balance, training and weight sequentially. (4) There is significant difference on both hand-grip and static body balance between participants in facilities and workshops. The study supports the truth about the sex and gender differences in health. Nevertheless, the average hand-grip strength of left hand is higher than right hand in both male and female subjects. Moreover, 71.3% of male subjects and 64.2% of female subjects have better performance in their left hand-grip which is distinctive features especially in low degree of the intellectual disability.

Keywords: adult with intellectual disability, frailty syndrome, grip strength, physical condition

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Authors: Obiageli Helen Ezeh, Chuks Clement Ezeh

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Background: It is estimated that more than 330 million persons are living with HIV-infection globally and in Nigeria about 3.4 persons are living with the infection, with an annual death rate of 180,000. Psychological morbidity often accompany chronic illnesses and may be associated with substance abuse, poor health seeking behavior and adherence to treatment program; it may worsen existing health problems and the overall quality of life. Until the burden is effectively identified, intervention cannot be planned. Until there is a cure, the goal is to manage and cope effectively with HIV-infection. Little if any studies have been done in this area in the North West geo-political zone of Nigeria. The study would help to identify high risk groups and prevent the progression and spread of the infection. Aim: To identify HIV-infected persons with psychological morbidity, accessing HIV- clinic at Shika Hospital, Zaria, Kaduna State; and analyze their socio-demographic profile. Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study was carried out to assess and analyze the socio-demographic characteristics of HIV-infected persons attending Shika hospital Zaria Nigeria, who screened positive for psychological morbidity. A total of 109 HIV-infected persons receiving HAART at Shika clinic, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria, were administered questionnaires, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12)measuring psychological morbidity and socio-demographic data. The participants ranged in age between 18 and 75 years. Results: Data were analyzed using SPSS software 15. Both descriptive and inferential Statistics were performed on the data. Results indicate a total prevalent rate of psychological morbidity of 78 percent among participants. Of this, about 16.2 percent were severely distressed, 25.1 percent moderately distressed and 36.7percent were mildly distressed. More females (65 percent of those with psychological morbidity) were found to be distressed than their male (55 percent) counterparts. It was (44 percent) for patients whose HIV-infection was of relatively shorter duration(2-4 years) than those of longer duration(5-9 years; and 10 years/above). The age group (21-30 years) was the most affected (35 percent). The rate was also 55 percent for Christians and 45 percent for Muslims. For married patients with partners it was 20 percent and for singles 30 percent; for the widowed (12 percent) and divorced (38 percent). At the level of tribal/ethnic groups, it was 13 percent for Ibos, 22 percent for Yorubas, 27 percent for Hausas and 33 percent for all the other minority tribes put together. Conclusion/Recommendation: The study has been able to identify the presence of psychological morbidity among HIV-infected persons as high and analyze the socio-demographic factors associated with it as significant. Periodic screening of HIV-infected persons for psychological morbidity and psychosocial intervention was recommended.

Keywords: socio-demographics, psychological morbidities, HIV-Infection, HAART

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Authors: Abdelrahman Alghazali, Youssef Kassem, Hüseyin Çamur, Ozan Erenay

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Savonius is a drag type vertical axis wind turbine. Savonius wind turbines have a low cut-in speed and can operate at low wind speed. This makes it suitable for electricity or mechanical generation in low-power applications such as individual domestic installations. Therefore, the primary purpose of this work was to investigate the relationship between the type of Savonius rotor and the torque and mechanical power generated. And it was to illustrate how the type of rotor might play an important role in the prediction of mechanical power of wind turbine powered car. The main purpose of this paper is to predict and investigate the aerodynamic effects by means of velocity analysis on the performance of a wind turbine powered car by converting the wind energy into mechanical energy to overcome load that rotates the main shaft. The predicted results based on theoretical analysis were compared with experimental results obtained from literature. The percentage of error between the two was approximately around 20%. Prediction of the torque was done at a wind speed of 4 m/s, and an angular velocity of 130 RPM according to meteorological statistics in Northern Cyprus.

Keywords: mechanical power, torque, Savonius rotor, wind car

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Authors: B. Khatri, K. Lappe, M. Habedank, T. Müller, C. Megnin, T. Hanemann

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We present a process flow for the development of ceramic-filled polymer composite filaments compatible with the fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing process. Thermoplastic-ceramic composites were developed using acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and 10- and 20 vol.% barium titanate (BaTiO3) powder (corresponding to 39.47- and 58.23 wt.% respectively) and characterized for their flow properties. To make them compatible with the existing FDM process, the composites were extruded into filaments. These composite filaments were subsequently structured into tensile stress specimens using a commercially available FDM 3D printer and characterized for their mechanical properties. Rheometric characterization of the material composites revealed non-Newtonian behavior with the viscosity logarithmically decreasing over increasing shear rates, as well as higher viscosities for samples with higher BaTiO3 filler content for a given shear rate (with the ABS+20vol.% BaTiO3 composite being over 50% more viscous compared to pure ABS at a shear rate of 1x〖10〗^3 s^(-1)). Mechanical characterization of the tensile stress specimens exhibited increasingly brittle behavior as well as a linearly decreasing ultimate tensile strength of the material composites with increasing volumetric ratio of BaTiO3 (from σ_max=32.4MPa for pure ABS to σ_max=21.3MPa for ABS+20vol.% BaTiO3). Further studies being undertaken include the development of composites with higher filler concentrations, sintering of the printed composites to yield pure dielectric structures and the determination of the dielectric characteristics of the composites.

Keywords: ceramic composites, fused deposition modeling, material characterization, rapid prototyping

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Authors: Dongkwon Han, Sangho Kim, Sunil Kwon

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Unconventional gas resources have dramatically changed the future energy landscape. Unlike conventional gas resources, the key challenges in unconventional gas have been the requirement that applies to advanced approaches for production forecasting due to uncertainty and complexity of fluid flow. In this study, artificial neural network (ANN) model which integrates machine learning and data-driven approach was developed to predict productivity in shale gas. The database of 129 wells of Eagle Ford shale basin used for testing and training of the ANN model. The Input data related to hydraulic fracturing, well completion and productivity of shale gas were selected and the output data is a cumulative production. The performance of the ANN using all data sets, clustering and variables importance (VI) models were compared in the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). ANN model using all data sets, clustering, and VI were obtained as 44.22%, 10.08% (cluster 1), 5.26% (cluster 2), 6.35%(cluster 3), and 32.23% (ANN VI), 23.19% (SVM VI), respectively. The results showed that the pre-trained ANN model provides more accurate results than the ANN model using all data sets.

Keywords: unconventional gas, artificial neural network, machine learning, clustering, variables importance

Procedia PDF Downloads 190

Authors: Rodrigo De A. Ferrazza, Henry D. M. Garcia, Viviana H. V. Aristizabal, Camilla De S. Nogueira, Cecilia J. Verissimo, Jose Roberto Sartori, Roberto Sartori, Joao Carlos P. Ferreira

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Environmental factors adversely influence sustainability in livestock production system. Dairy herds are the most affected by heat stress among livestock industries. This clearly implies in development of new strategies for mitigating heat, which should be based on physiological and metabolic adaptations of the animal. In this study, we incorporated the effect of climate variables and heat exposure time on the thermoregulatory responses in order to clarify the adaptive mechanisms for bovine heat dissipation under intense thermal stress induced experimentally in climate chamber. Non-lactating Holstein cows were contemporaneously and randomly assigned to thermoneutral (TN; n=12) or heat stress (HS; n=12) treatments during 16 days. Vaginal temperature (VT) was measured every 15 min with a microprocessor-controlled data logger (HOBO®, Onset Computer Corporation, Bourne, MA, USA) attached to a modified vaginal controlled internal drug release insert (Sincrogest®, Ourofino, Brazil). Rectal temperature (RT), respiratory rate (RR) and heart rate (HR) were measured twice a day (0700 and 1500h) and dry matter intake (DMI) was estimated daily. The ambient temperature and air relative humidity were 25.9±0.2°C and 73.0±0.8%, respectively for TN, and 36.3± 0.3°C and 60.9±0.9%, respectively for HS. Respiratory rate of HS cows increased immediately after exposure to heat and was higher (76.02±1.70bpm; P<0.001) than TN (39.70±0.71bpm), followed by rising of RT (39.87°C±0.07 for HS versus 38.56±0.03°C for TN; P<0.001) and VT (39.82±0.10°C for HS versus 38.26±0.03°C for TN; P<0.001). A diurnal pattern was detected, with higher (P<0.01) afternoon temperatures than morning and this effect was aggravated for HS cows. There was decrease (P<0.05) of HR for HS cows (62.13±0.99bpm) compared to TN (66.23±0.79bpm), but the magnitude of the differences was not the same over time. From the third day, there was a decrease of DMI for HS in attempt to maintain homeothermy, while TN cows increased DMI (8.27kg±0.33kg d-1 for HS versus 14.03±0.29kg d-1 for TN; P<0.001). By regression analysis, RT and RR better reflected the response of cows to changes in the Temperature Humidity Index and the effect of climate variables from the previous day to influence the physiological parameters and DMI was more important than the current day, with ambient temperature the most important factor. Comparison between acute (0 to 3 days) and chronic (13 to 16 days) exposure to heat stress showed decreasing of the slope of the regression equations for RR and DMI, suggesting an adaptive adjustment, however with no change for RT. In conclusion, intense heat stress exerted strong influence on the thermoregulatory mechanisms, but the acclimation process was only partial.

Keywords: acclimation, bovine, climate chamber, hyperthermia, thermoregulation

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Authors: Kedar Hardikar, Joe Varghese

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Conductive adhesives have found wide-ranging applications in electronics industry ranging from fixing a defective conductor on printed circuit board (PCB) attaching an electronic component in an assembly to protecting electronics components by the formation of “Faraday Cage.” The reliability requirements for the conductive adhesive vary widely depending on the application and expected product lifetime. While the conductive adhesive is required to maintain the structural integrity, the electrical performance of the associated sub-assembly can be affected by the degradation of conductive adhesive. The degradation of the adhesive is dependent upon the highly varied use case. The conventional approach to assess the reliability of the sub-assembly involves subjecting it to the standard environmental test conditions such as high-temperature high humidity, thermal cycling, high-temperature exposure to name a few. In order to enable projection of test data and observed failures to predict field performance, systematic development of an acceleration factor between the test conditions and field conditions is crucial. Common acceleration factor models such as Arrhenius model are based on rate kinetics and typically rely on an assumption of linear degradation in time for a given condition and test duration. The application of interest in this work involves conductive adhesive used in an electronic circuit of a capacitive sensor. The degradation of conductive adhesive in high temperature and humidity environment is quantified by the capacitance values. Under such conditions, the use of established models such as Hallberg-Peck model or Eyring Model to predict time to failure in the field typically relies on linear degradation rate. In this particular case, it is seen that the degradation is nonlinear in time and exhibits a square root t dependence. It is also shown that for the mechanism of interest, the presence of moisture is essential, and the dominant mechanism driving the degradation is the diffusion of moisture. In this work, a framework is developed to incorporate nonlinear degradation of the conductive adhesive for the development of an acceleration factor. This method can be extended to applications where nonlinearity in degradation rate can be adequately characterized in tests. It is shown that depending on the expected product lifetime, the use of conventional linear degradation approach can overestimate or underestimate the field performance. This work provides guidelines for suitability of linear degradation approximation for such varied applications

Keywords: conductive adhesives, nonlinear degradation, physics of failure, acceleration factor model.

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Authors: Alebachew Halefom, Navsal Kumar, Arunava Poddar

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The purpose of this work is to specify the parameter values, the base flow index (BFI), and to rank the methods that should be used for base flow separation. Three different digital graphical approaches are chosen and used in this study for the purpose of comparison. The daily time series discharge data were collected from the site for a period of 30 years (1986 up to 2015) and were used to evaluate the algorithms. In order to separate the base flow and the surface runoff, daily recorded streamflow (m³/s) data were used to calibrate procedures and get parameter values for the basin. Additionally, the performance of the model was assessed by the use of the standard error (SE), the coefficient of determination (R²), and the flow duration curve (FDC) and baseflow indexes. The findings indicate that, in general, each strategy can be used worldwide to differentiate base flow; however, the Sliding Interval Method (SIM) performs significantly better than the other two techniques in this basin. The average base flow index was calculated to be 0.72 using the local minimum method, 0.76 using the fixed interval method, and 0.78 using the sliding interval method, respectively.

Keywords: baseflow index, digital graphical methods, streamflow, Emba Madre Watershed

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Authors: Mojtaba Farzaneh, Majid Baghaei Nejad

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This article proposes a new Flexible Capacitive Tactile Sensors based on paper sheets. This method combines the parameters of sensor's material and dielectric, and forms a new model of flexible capacitive sensors. The present article tries to present a practical explanation of this method's application and advantages. With the use of this new method, it is possible to make a more flexibility and accurate sensor in comparison with the current models. To assess the performance of this model, the common capacitive sensor is simulated and the proposed model of this article and one of the existing models are assessed. The results of this article indicate that the proposed model of this article can enhance the speed and accuracy of tactile sensor and has less error in comparison with the current models. Based on the results of this study, it can be claimed that in comparison with the current models, the proposed model of this article is capable of representing more flexibility and more accurate output parameters for touching the sensor, especially in abnormal situations and uneven surfaces, and increases accuracy and practicality.

Keywords: capacitive sensor, paper sheets, flexible, tactile, uneven

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Authors: Bamikole J. Adeyemi, Prashant Jadhawar, Lateef Akanji

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Theoretically, there exist two mathematical interfaces (fluid-solid and fluid-fluid) when a liquid film is present on solid surfaces. These interfaces overlap if the mineral surface is oil-wet or mixed wet, and therefore, the effects of disjoining pressure are significant on both boundaries. Hence, dewetting is a necessary process that could detach oil from the mineral surface. However, if the thickness of the thin water film directly in contact with the surface is large enough, disjoining pressure can be thought to be zero at the liquid-liquid interface. Recent studies show that the integration of fluid-fluid interactions with fluid-rock interactions is an important step towards a holistic approach to understanding smart water effects. Experiments have shown that the brine solution can alter the micro forces at oil-water interfaces, and these ion-specific interactions lead to oil emulsion formation. The natural emulsifiers present in crude oil behave as polyelectrolytes when the oil interfaces with low salinity water. Wettability alteration caused by low salinity waterflooding during Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) process results from the activities of divalent ions. However, polyelectrolytes are said to lose their viscoelastic property with increasing cation concentrations. In this work, the influence of cation concentrations on the dynamics of viscoelastic liquid-liquid interfaces is numerically investigated. The resultant ion concentrations at the crude oil/brine interfaces were estimated using a surface complexation model. Subsequently, the ion concentration parameter is integrated into a mathematical model to describe its effects on the dynamics of a viscoelastic interfacial thin film. The film growth, stability, and rupture were measured after different time steps for three types of fluids (Newtonian, purely elastic and viscoelastic fluids). The interfacial films respond to exposure time in a similar manner with an increasing growth rate, which resulted in the formation of more droplets with time. Increased surfactant accumulation at the interface results in a higher film growth rate which leads to instability and subsequent formation of more satellite droplets. Purely elastic and viscoelastic properties limit film growth rate and consequent film stability compared to the Newtonian fluid. Therefore, low salinity and reduced concentration of the potential determining ions in injection water will lead to improved interfacial viscoelasticity.

Keywords: liquid-liquid interfaces, surfactant concentrations, potential determining ions, residual oil mobilization

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Authors: N. Damenia, E. Kharaishvili, N. Sagareishvili, M. Saghareishvili

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Women's Employment is one of the most important issues in the global economy. The article discusses the stated topic in Georgia, through historical content, Soviet experience, and modern perspectives. The paper discusses segmentation insa terms of employment and related problems. Based on statistical analysis, women's unemployment rate and its factors are analyzed. The level of employment of women in Transcaucasia (Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan) is discussed and is compared with Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia). The study analyzes women’s level of development, according to the average age of marriage and migration level. The focus is on Georgia's Association Agreement with the EU in 2014, which includes economic, social, trade and political issues. One part of it is gender equality at workplaces. According to the research, the average monthly remuneration of women managers in the financial and insurance sector equaled to 1044.6 Georgian Lari, while in overall business sector average monthly remuneration equaled to 961.1 GEL. Average salaries are increasing; however, the employment rate remains problematic. For example, in 2017, 74.6% of men and 50.8% of women were employed from a total workforce. It is also interesting that the proportion of men and women at managerial positions is 29% (women) to 71% (men). Based on the results, the main recommendation for government and civil society is to consider women as a part of the country’s economic development. In this aspect, the experience of developed countries should be considered. It is important to create additional jobs in urban or rural areas and help migrant women return and use their working resources properly.

Keywords: employment of women, segregation in terms of employment, women's employment level in Transcaucasia, migration level

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Authors: Zhang Songning, Guan Zheng, Ci Yan, Ding Gangyi

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The application of physical simulation engines in collaborative editing systems has an important background and role. Firstly, physical simulation engines can provide real-world physical simulations, enabling users to interact and collaborate in real time in virtual environments. This provides a more intuitive and immersive experience for collaborative editing systems, allowing users to more accurately perceive and understand various elements and operations in collaborative editing. Secondly, through physical simulation engines, different users can share virtual space and perform real-time collaborative editing within it. This real-time sharing and collaborative editing method helps to synchronize information among team members and improve the efficiency of collaborative work. Through experiments, the average model transmission speed of a single person in the collaborative editing system has increased by 141.91%; the average model processing speed of a single person has increased by 134.2%; the average processing flow rate of a single person has increased by 175.19%; the overall efficiency improvement rate of a single person has increased by 150.43%. With the increase in the number of users, the overall efficiency remains stable, and the physical simulation engine running status collaborative editing system also has horizontal scalability. It is not difficult to see that the design and implementation of a collaborative editing system based on physical simulation engines not only enriches the user experience but also optimizes the effectiveness of team collaboration, providing new possibilities for collaborative work.

Keywords: physics engine, simulation technology, collaborative editing, system design, data transmission

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Authors: Tzu-Hao Li, Yen-Ying Kung, Chang-Youh Tsai

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Oral dryness is a common chief complaint among patients with Sjőgren syndrome (SS), which is a disorder currently known as autoantibodies production; however, to author’s best knowledge, there has been no satisfying pharmacy to relieve the associated symptoms. Hence the effectiveness of other non-pharmacological interventions such as acupuncture should be accessed. We conducted a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) which evaluated the effectiveness of xerostomia in SS. PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Chongqing Weipu Database (CQVIP), China Academic Journals Full-text Database, AiritiLibrary, Chinese Electronic Periodicals Service (CEPS), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) Database were searches through May 12, 2018 to select studies. Data for evaluation of subjective and objective xerostomia was extracted and was assessed with random-effects meta-analysis. After searching, a total of 541 references were yielded and five RCTs were included, covering 340 patients dry mouth resulted from SS, among whom 169 patients received acupuncture and 171 patients were control group. Acupuncture group was associated with higher subjective response rate (odds ratio 3.036, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.828 – 5.042, P < 0.001) and increased salivary flow rate (weighted mean difference [WMD] 3.066, 95% CI 2.969 – 3.164, P < 0.001), as an objective marker. In addition, two studies examined IgG levels, which were lower in the acupuncture group (WMD -166.857, 95% CI -233.138 - -100.576, P < 0.001). Therefore, in the present meta-analysis, acupuncture improves both subjective and objective markers of dry mouth with autoantibodies reduction in patients with SS and is considered as an option of non-pharmacological treatment for SS.

Keywords: acupuncture, meta-analysis, Sjogren syndrome, xerostomia

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Authors: Jui-Chen Huang

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This research used artificial intelligence method to explore elderly’s opinions on the reuse of telecare, its effect on their service quality, satisfaction and the relationship between customer perceived value and intention to reuse. This study conducted a questionnaire survey on the elderly. A total of 124 valid copies of a questionnaire were obtained. It adopted Backpropagation Network (BPN) to propose an effective and feasible analysis method, which is different from the traditional method. Two third of the total samples (82 samples) were taken as the training data, and the one third of the samples (42 samples) were taken as the testing data. The training and testing data RMSE (root mean square error) are 0.022 and 0.009 in the BPN, respectively. As shown, the errors are acceptable. On the other hand, the training and testing data RMSE are 0.100 and 0.099 in the regression model, respectively. In addition, the results showed the service quality has the greatest effects on the intention to reuse, followed by the satisfaction, and perceived value. This result of the Backpropagation Network method is better than the regression analysis. This result can be used as a reference for future research.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, backpropagation network (BPN), elderly, reuse, telecare

Procedia PDF Downloads 206

Authors: Jiranun Sreecharit, Anongnat Boonrut, Kunvadee Munvaradee, Phechnoy Singchungchai

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Hatyai Hospital as center of hospital with a capacity of 670 beds. Medicine intensive care units (MICU240) provide care for critically ill patients who are at high risk need to be monitored closely. Intravenous catheter is vital to help assess the level of water in the body fluids and medications. Potential complications such as infection. We need to have guidelines for the care of patients who received intravenous catheter used to achieve good results. The operations research in this study was intended 1) To study the effects of practice for nurses in caring for patients with central venous catheter to infection rate and 2) To assess the satisfaction of nurses and patient care practices in central venous catheterization patients in the MICU 240. The sample of the patient's central venous catheter crisis that everyone who admitted in MICU 240 during the period from October 2013 to May 2014. Samples prior to practice and 148 samples with 249 case of practice. A systematic review of the research NSWHealth Statewide Guideline for Intensive Care. Data were analyzed by statistics, percentages and frequency NON-PARAMETRICS with Mann-Whitney U. The finding revealed that: 1. Results of the practice patient care central venous catheter infection rates were found to be reduced from 35.14 percent to 25.3 percent. 2. The results of the evaluation of nurses and patients in the patient care practices central venous catheter found to be satisfied and happy to work 85 percent.

Keywords: clinical practice guidelines, central venous catheter, infection satisfaction

Procedia PDF Downloads 472

Authors: Idowu Kemi Ruth, Adeyemo Adedayo Akinade, Iyanda Adegboyega Ibukun, Idowu Olubukola Precious Akinade

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Liveability and mortality rate is a germane aspect of product performance that cannot be overlooked in poultry production, while the disease is a major threat in the poultry industry which can cause a major loss for the farmer and a reduction in the total income generated from the stock. Therefore, efforts must be made to enhance the health status of chickens to reduce mortality. The study was conducted to investigate the effect of different biotic additives (prebiotic, probiotic and synbiotic ) on the performance of Noiler females at the growing phase (forty-nine days) till the point of the first egg across the biotic additive. A total of one hundred and twenty-eight female Noiler were used for the experiment. Experimental treatment consisted of prebiotic, probiotic, synbiotic and control at the inclusion rate of a gram into a kilogram of feed. Parameters measured are Feed intake, feed conversion ratio, the weight of the first egg, age of the first egg and livability. Data collected were subjected to a one-way analysis of variance. The result obtained revealed a better growth performance across the treatments than the control group with the least final weight at nineteen weeks of point of lay. Prebiotic treatment had the best age at first lay on day one hundred and thirty seven followed by other treatments on day one hundred and fifty four. However, the size of the eggs was not significantly influenced by the biotic additive. Hence, the experiment can be concluded that the inclusion of different biotic additives influenced the growth performance; likewise, the Prebiotic had a significant effect on the age of first laying in Noiler chicken, and livability was a hundred percent throughout the duration of the experiment.

Keywords: prebiotic, probiotic, synbiotic, noiler

Procedia PDF Downloads 87

Authors: Elysia Barker, Jian Guo Zhou, Ling Qian, Steve Decent

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A method of modelling topography used in the simulation of riverbeds is proposed in this paper, which removes the need for datapoints and measurements of physical terrain. While complex scans of the contours of a surface can be achieved with other methods, this requires specialised tools, which the proposed method overcomes by using fractional Brownian motion (FBM) as a basis to estimate the real surface within a 15% margin of error while attempting to optimise algorithmic efficiency. This removes the need for complex, expensive equipment and reduces resources spent modelling bed topography. This method also accounts for the change in topography over time due to erosion, sediment transport, and other external factors which could affect the topography of the ground by updating its parameters and generating a new bed. The lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is used to simulate both stationary and steady flow cases in a side-by-side comparison over the generated bed topography using the proposed method and a test case taken from an external source. The method, if successful, will be incorporated into the current LBM program used in the testing phase, which will allow an automatic generation of topography for the given situation in future research, removing the need for bed data to be specified.

Keywords: bed topography, FBM, LBM, shallow water, simulations

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Authors: U. Sabura Banu, S. K. Lakshmanaprabu

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The improvement of meta-heuristic algorithm encourages control engineer to design an optimal controller for industrial process. Most real-world industrial processes are non-linear multivariable process with high interaction. Even in sub-process unit, thousands of loops are available mostly interacting in nature. Optimal controller design for such process are still challenging task. Closed loop controller design by multiloop PID involves a tedious procedure by performing interaction study and then PID auto-tuning the loop with higher interaction. Finally, detuning the controller to accommodate the effects of the other process variables. Fractional order PID controllers are replacing integer order PID controllers recently. Design of Multiloop Fractional Order (MFO) PID controller is still more complicated. Cuckoo algorithm, a swarm intelligence technique is used to optimally tune the MFO PID controller with easiness minimizing Integral Time Absolute Error. The closed loop performance is tested under servo, regulatory and servo-regulatory conditions.

Keywords: Cuckoo algorithm, mutliloop fractional order PID controller, two Interacting conical tank process

Procedia PDF Downloads 494

Authors: Firas Alfwaress, Abdelraheem Bebers Abdelhadi Hamasha, Maha Abu Awaad

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Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of Palatal Lift Prosthesis (PLP) on speech clarity in patients with Flaccid Dysarthria. Five speech measures were investigated including Nasalance Scores, Diadchokinetic (DDK), Vowel Duration, airflow, and Sound Intensity. Participants: Twelve (7 Males and 5 females) native speakers of Jordanian Arabic with Flaccid Dysarthria following stroke, traumatic brain injury, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis were included. The age of the participants ranged from 8–65 years with an average of 31.75 years. Design: Nasalance Scores, Diadchokinetic rate, Vowel Duration, and Sound Intensity were obtained using the Nasometer II, Model 6450 in three conditions. The first condition included obtaining the five measures without wearing the customized Palatal Lift Prosthesis. The second and third conditions included obtaining the five measures immediately after wearing the Palatal Lift Prosthesis and three months later. Results: Palatal lift prosthesis was found to be effective in individuals with flaccid dysarthria. Results showed decrease in the Nasalance Scores for the syllable repetition tasks and vowel prolongation tasks when comparing the means in the pre PLP with the post PLP at p≤0.001 except for the /m/ prolongation task. Results showed increased DDK repetition task, airflow amount, and sound intensity, and a decrease in vowel length at p≤0.001. Conclusions: The use of palatal lift prosthesis is effective in improving the speech of patients with flaccid dysarthria.

Keywords: palatal lift prosthesis, flaccid dysarthria, hypernasality, speech clarity, diadchokinetic rate

Procedia PDF Downloads 382

Authors: Abdullah Arafat, Ali Al-Farhan, Amir Omair

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Objectives: To review and assess the effectiveness of the implemented modified five-levels triage and acuity scale triage system in AL-Yarmook Urgent Care Center (UCC), King Abdulaziz Residential city, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Method: The applied study design was an observational cross sectional design. A data collection sheet was designed and distributed to triage nurses; the data collection was done during triage process and was directly observed by the co-investigator. Triage system was reviewed by measuring three time intervals as quality indicators: time before triage (TBT), time before being seen by physician (TBP) and total length of stay (TLS) taking in consideration timing of presentation and level of triage. Results: During the study period, a total of 187 patients were included in our study. 118 visits were at weekdays and 68 visits at weekends. Overall, 173 patients (92.5%) were seen by the physician in timely manner according to triage guidelines while 14 patients (7.5%) were not seen at appropriate time.Overall, The mean time before seen the triage nurse (TBT) was 5.36 minutes, the mean time to be seen by physician (TBP) was 22.6 minutes and the mean length of stay (TLS) was 59 minutes. The data didn’t showed significant increase in TBT, TBP, and number of patients not seen at the proper time, referral rate and admission rate during weekend. Conclusion: The CTAS is adaptable to countries beyond Canada and worked properly. The applied CTAS triage system in Al-Yarmook UCC is considered to be effective and well applied. Overall, urgent cases have been seen by physician in timely manner according to triage system and there was no delay in the management of urgent cases.

Keywords: CTAS, emergency, Saudi Arabia, triage, urgent care

Procedia PDF Downloads 316

Authors: P. Comendador, I. Garcia, S. Orozco, L. Santamaria, M. Amutio, G. Lopez, M. Olazar

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In situ CO₂ capture in steam reforming processes has been studied in the last years as an alternative for increasing H₂ yields and H₂ purity in the product stream. For capturing the CO₂ at the reforming conditions, CaO-based sorbents are usually employed due to their properties at high temperature, low cost and high availability. However, the challenge is to develop high-capacity (gCO₂/gsorbent) materials that retain their capacity over cycles of operation. Besides, since the objective is to capture the CO₂ generated in situ, another key aspect is the sorption dynamics, which means that, in order to efficiently use the sorbent, it has to capture the CO₂ at a rate equal to or higher than the generation rate. In this work, different CaO-based materials have been prepared to aim at meeting these criteria. First, and by using the wet mixing method, different inert materials (Mg, Ce and Al) were combined with CaO. Second, and with the inert material selected (Mg), the effect of its concentration in the final material was studied. Transversally, the calcination temperature was also evaluated. It was determined that the wet mixing method is a simple procedure suitable for the preparation of CaO sorbents mixed with inert materials. The materials prepared by mixing the CaO with Mg have shown satisfactory anti-sintering properties and adequate sorption kinetics for their application in steam reforming processes. Regarding the concentration of Mg in the solid, it was concluded that high values contribute to the stability but at the expense of losing sorption capacity. Finally, it was observed that high calcination temperatures negatively affected the sorption properties of the final materials due to the decrease in the pore volume and the specific surface area.

Keywords: calcination temperature effect, CO₂ capture, Mg-Ce-Al stabilizers, Mg varying concentration effect, Sorbent stabilization

Procedia PDF Downloads 75

Authors: Longqing Li

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The paper addresses the inefficiency of the classical model in measuring the Value-at-Risk (VaR) using a normal distribution or a Student’s t distribution. Specifically, the paper focuses on the one day ahead Value-at-Risk (VaR) of major stock market’s daily returns in US, UK, China and Hong Kong in the most recent ten years under 95% confidence level. To improve the predictable power and search for the best performing model, the paper proposes using two leading alternatives, Extreme Value Theory (EVT) and a family of GARCH models, and compares the relative performance. The main contribution could be summarized in two aspects. First, the paper extends the GARCH family model by incorporating EGARCH and TGARCH to shed light on the difference between each in estimating one day ahead Value-at-Risk (VaR). Second, to account for the non-normality in the distribution of financial markets, the paper applies Generalized Error Distribution (GED), instead of the normal distribution, to govern the innovation term. A dynamic back-testing procedure is employed to assess the performance of each model, a family of GARCH and the conditional EVT. The conclusion is that Exponential GARCH yields the best estimate in out-of-sample one day ahead Value-at-Risk (VaR) forecasting. Moreover, the discrepancy of performance between the GARCH and the conditional EVT is indistinguishable.

Keywords: Value-at-Risk, Extreme Value Theory, conditional EVT, backtesting

Procedia PDF Downloads 317

Authors: Caiyun Liu, A. Hernandez-Manas, N. Grimi, E. Vorobiev

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Drying is one of the most used methods for food preservation, which extend shelf life of food and makes their transportation, storage and packaging easier and more economic. The commonly dried method is hot air drying. However, its disadvantages are low energy efficiency and long drying times. Because of the high temperature during the hot air drying, the undesirable changes in pigments, vitamins and flavoring agents occur which result in degradation of the quality parameters of the product. Drying process can also cause shrinkage, case hardening, dark color, browning, loss of nutrients and others. Recently, new processes were developed in order to avoid these problems. For example, the application of pulsed electric field provokes cell membrane permeabilisation, which increases the drying kinetics and moisture diffusion coefficient. Microwave drying technology has also several advantages over conventional hot air drying, such as higher drying rates and thermal efficiency, shorter drying time, significantly improved product quality and nutritional value. Rehydration kinetics of dried product is a very important characteristic of dried products. Current research has indicated that the rehydration ratio and the coefficient of rehydration are dependent on the processing conditions of drying. The present study compares the efficiency of two processes (1: room temperature air drying, 2: microwave/air drying) in terms of drying rate, product quality and rehydration ratio. In this work, potato slices (≈2.2g) with a thickness of 2 mm and diameter of 33mm were placed in the microwave chamber and dried. Drying kinetics and drying rates of different methods were determined. The process parameters included inlet air velocity (1 m/s, 1.5 m/s, 2 m/s) and microwave power (50 W, 100 W, 200 W and 250 W) were studied. The evolution of temperature during microwave drying was measured. The drying power had a strong effect on drying rate, and the microwave-air drying resulted in 93% decrease in the drying time when the air velocity was 2 m/s and the power of microwave was 250 W. Based on Lewis model, drying rate constants (kDR) were determined. It was observed an increase from kDR=0.0002 s-1 to kDR=0.0032 s-1 of air velocity of 2 m/s and microwave/air (at 2m/s and 250W) respectively. The effective moisture diffusivity was calculated by using Fick's law. The results show an increase of effective moisture diffusivity from 7.52×10-11 to 2.64×10-9 m2.s-1 for air velocity of 2 m/s and microwave/air (at 2m/s and 250W) respectively. The temperature of the potato slices increased for higher microwaves power, but decreased for higher air velocity. The rehydration ratio, defined as the weight of the the sample after rehydration per the weight of dried sample, was determined at different water temperatures (25℃, 50℃, 75℃). The rehydration ratio increased with the water temperature and reached its maximum at the following conditions: 200 W for the microwave power, 2 m/s for the air velocity and 75°C for the water temperature. The present study shows the interest of microwave drying for the food preservation.

Keywords: drying, microwave, potato, rehydration

Procedia PDF Downloads 266

Authors: Mohammad Y. Abualhoul, Edgar Talavera Munoz, Fawzi Nashashibi

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The new emerging Visible Light Communication (VLC) technology has been subjected to intensive investigation, evaluation, and lately, deployed in the context of convoy-based applications for Intelligent Transportations Systems (ITS). The technology limitations were defined and supported by different solutions proposals to enhance the crucial alignment and mobility limitations. In this paper, we propose the incorporation of VLC technology and Lane-Centering (LC) technique to assure the VLC-connectivity by keeping the autonomous vehicle aligned to the lane center using vision-based lane detection in a convoy-based formation. Such combination can ensure the optical communication connectivity with a lateral error less than 30 cm. As soon as the road lanes are detectable, the evaluated system showed stable behavior independently from the inter-vehicle distances and without the need for any exchanged information of the remote vehicles. The evaluation of the proposed system is verified using VLC prototype and an empirical result of LC running application over 60 km in Madrid M40 highway.

Keywords: visible light communication, lane-centerin, platooning, intelligent transportation systems, road safety applications

Procedia PDF Downloads 165

Authors: Pablo Martinez, Emad Mohamed, Osama Mohsen, Yasser Mohamed

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Highway and bridge agencies, such as the Ministry of Transportation in Ontario, use the Bridge Condition Index (BCI) which is defined as the weighted condition of all bridge elements to determine the rehabilitation priorities for its bridges. Therefore, accurate forecasting of BCI is essential for bridge rehabilitation budgeting planning. The large amount of data available in regard to bridge conditions for several years dictate utilizing traditional mathematical models as infeasible analysis methods. This research study focuses on investigating different classification models that are developed to predict the bridge condition index in the province of Ontario, Canada based on the publicly available data for 2800 bridges over a period of more than 10 years. The data preparation is a key factor to develop acceptable classification models even with the simplest one, the k-NN model. All the models were tested, compared and statistically validated via cross validation and t-test. A simple k-NN model showed reasonable results (within 0.5% relative error) when predicting the bridge condition in an incoming year.

Keywords: asset management, bridge condition index, data mining, forecasting, infrastructure, knowledge discovery in databases, maintenance, predictive models

Procedia PDF Downloads 184

Authors: Ninlawat Phuangchoke, Waraporn Viyanon, Setta Sasananan

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The most important process of the water treatment plant process is the coagulation using alum and poly aluminum chloride (PACL), and the value of usage per day is a hundred thousand baht. Therefore, determining the dosage of alum and PACL are the most important factors to be prescribed. Water production is economical and valuable. This research applies an artificial neural network (ANN), which uses the Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm to create a mathematical model (Soft Jar Test) for prediction chemical dose used to coagulation such as alum and PACL, which input data consists of turbidity, pH, alkalinity, conductivity, and, oxygen consumption (OC) of Bangkhen water treatment plant (BKWTP) Metropolitan Waterworks Authority. The data collected from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019 cover changing seasons of Thailand. The input data of ANN is divided into three groups training set, test set, and validation set, which the best model performance with a coefficient of determination and mean absolute error of alum are 0.73, 3.18, and PACL is 0.59, 3.21 respectively.

Keywords: soft jar test, jar test, water treatment plant process, artificial neural network

Procedia PDF Downloads 159