Search results for: applied mathematics
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 8823

Search results for: applied mathematics

5283 Extraction of Colorant and Dyeing of Gamma Irradiated Viscose Using Cordyline terminalis Leaves Extract

Authors: Urvah-Til-Vusqa, Unsa Noreen, Ayesha Hussain, Abdul Hafeez, Rafia Asghar, Sidrat Nasir

Abstract:

Natural dyes offer an alternative better application in textiles than synthetic ones. The present study will be aimed to employ natural dye extracted from Cordyline terminalis plant and its application into viscose under the influence of gamma radiations. The colorant extraction will be done by boiling dracaena leaves powder in aqueous, alkaline and ethyl acetate mediums. Both dye powder and fabric will be treated with different doses (5-20 kGy) of gamma radiations. The antioxidant, antimicrobial and hemolytic activities of the extracts will also be determined. Different tests of fabric characterization (before and after radiations treatment) will be employed. Dyeing variables just as time, temperature and M: L will be applied for optimization. Standard methods for ISO to evaluate color fastness to light, washing and rubbing will be employed for improvement of color strength 1.5-15.5% of Al, Fe, Cr, and Cu as mordants will be employed through pre, post and meta mordanting. Color depth % & L*, a*, b* and L*, C*, h values will be recorded using spectra flash SF650.

Keywords: natural dyes, gamma radiations, Cordyline terminalis, ecofriendly dyes

Procedia PDF Downloads 595
5282 Energy Saving and Performance Evaluation of an Air Handling Unit Integrated with a Membrane Energy Exchanger for Cold Climates

Authors: Peng Liu, Maria Justo Alonso, Hans Martin Mathisen

Abstract:

A theoretical model is developed to evaluate the performance and energy saving potential of an air handling unit integrated with a membrane energy exchanger in cold climates. The recovered sensible and latent heat, fan preheating use for frost prevention and heating energy consumed by heating coil after the ventilator is compared for the air handling unit combined heat and energy exchanger respectively. A concept of coefficient of performance of air handling unit is presented and applied to assess the energy use of air handling unit (AHU) in cold climates. The analytic results indicate downsizing of the preheating coil before exchanger and heating coils after exchanger are expected since the required power to preheat and condition the air is reduced compared to heat exchanger when the MEE is integrated with AHU. Simultaneously, a superior ratio of energy recovered (RER) is obtained from AHU build-in a counter-flow MEE. The AHU with sensible-only heat exchanger has noticeably low RER, around 1 at low outdoor air temperature where the maximum energy rate is desired to condition the severe cold and dry air.

Keywords: membrane energy exchanger, cold climate, energy efficient building, HVAC

Procedia PDF Downloads 326
5281 Invasion of Scaevola sericea (Goodeniaceae) in Cuba: Invasive Dynamic and Density-Dependent Relationship with the Native Species Tournefortia gnaphalodes (Boraginaceae)

Authors: Jorge Ferro-Diaz, Lazaro Marquez-Llauger, Jose Alberto Camejo-Lamas, Lazaro Marquez-Govea

Abstract:

The invasion of Scaevola sericea Vahl (Goodeniaceae) in Cuba is a recent process, this exotic invasive species was reported for the first time, in the national territory, by 2008. S. sericea is native to the coasts around the Indian Ocean and western Pacific, common on sandy beaches; it has expanded rapidly around the planet by either natural or anthropic causes, mainly due to its use in hotel gardening. Cuba is highly vulnerable to the colonization of these species, mainly due to tropical hurricanes which have increased in the last decades; it also affects other native species such as Tournefortia gnaphalodes (L.) R. Br. (Boraginaceae) that show invasive manifestations because of the unbalanced state of demographic processes of littoral vegetation, which has been studied by authors during the last 10 years. The fast development of Cuban tourism has encouraged the use of exotic species in gardening that invade large sectors of sandy coasts. Taking into account the importance of assessing the impacts dimensions and adopting effective control measures, a monitoring program for the invasion of S. sericea in Cuba was undertaken. The program has been implemented since 2013 and the main objective was to identify invasive patterns and interactions with other native species of coastal vegetation. This experience also aimed to validate the design and propose a standardized monitoring protocol to be applied throughout the country. In the Cuban territory, 12 sites were chosen, where there were established 24 permanent plots of 100 m2; measurements were taken twice a year taking into consideration variables such as abundance, plant height, soil cover, flora and companion vegetation, density and frequency; other physical variables of the beaches were also measured. Similarly, for associated individuals of T. gnaphalodes, the same variables were measured. The results of these first four years allowed us to document patterns of S. sericea invasion, highlighting the use of adventitious roots to enhance their colonization, and to characterize demographic indicators, ecosystem affections, and interactions with native plants. A density-dependent relationship with T. gnaphalodes was documented, finding a controlling effect on S. sericea, so that a manipulation experiment was applied to evaluate possible management actions to be incorporated in the Plans of the protected areas involved. With these results, it was concluded, for the evaluated sites, that S. sericea has had an invasion dynamics ruled by effects of coastal dynamics, more intense in beaches with affectations to the native vegetation, and more controlled in beaches with more preserved vegetation. It was found that when S. sericea is established, the mechanism that most reinforces its invasion is the use of adventitious roots, used to expand the patches and colonize beach sectors. It was also found that when the density of T. gnaphalodes increases, it detains the expansion of S. sericea and reduces its colonization possibilities, behaving as a natural controller of its biological invasion. The results include a proposal of a new Monitoring Protocol for Scaevola sericea in Cuba, with the possibility of extending its implementation to other countries in the region.

Keywords: biological invasion, exotic invasive species, plant interactions, Scaevola sericea

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5280 Study and Solving Partial Differential Equation of Danel Equation in the Vibration Shells

Authors: Hesamoddin Abdollahpour, Roghayeh Abdollahpour, Elham Rahgozar

Abstract:

This paper we deal with an analysis of the free vibrations of the governing partial differential equation that it is Danel equation in the shells. The problem considered represents the governing equation of the nonlinear, large amplitude free vibrations of the hinged shell. A new implementation of the new method is presented to obtain natural frequency and corresponding displacement on the shell. Our purpose is to enhance the ability to solve the mentioned complicated partial differential equation (PDE) with a simple and innovative approach. The results reveal that this new method to solve Danel equation is very effective and simple, and can be applied to other nonlinear partial differential equations. It is necessary to mention that there are some valuable advantages in this way of solving nonlinear differential equations and also most of the sets of partial differential equations can be answered in this manner which in the other methods they have not had acceptable solutions up to now. We can solve equation(s), and consequently, there is no need to utilize similarity solutions which make the solution procedure a time-consuming task.

Keywords: large amplitude, free vibrations, analytical solution, Danell Equation, diagram of phase plane

Procedia PDF Downloads 321
5279 Multiclass Support Vector Machines with Simultaneous Multi-Factors Optimization for Corporate Credit Ratings

Authors: Hyunchul Ahn, William X. S. Wong

Abstract:

Corporate credit rating prediction is one of the most important topics, which has been studied by researchers in the last decade. Over the last decade, researchers are pushing the limit to enhance the exactness of the corporate credit rating prediction model by applying several data-driven tools including statistical and artificial intelligence methods. Among them, multiclass support vector machine (MSVM) has been widely applied due to its good predictability. However, heuristics, for example, parameters of a kernel function, appropriate feature and instance subset, has become the main reason for the critics on MSVM, as they have dictate the MSVM architectural variables. This study presents a hybrid MSVM model that is intended to optimize all the parameter such as feature selection, instance selection, and kernel parameter. Our model adopts genetic algorithm (GA) to simultaneously optimize multiple heterogeneous design factors of MSVM.

Keywords: corporate credit rating prediction, Feature selection, genetic algorithms, instance selection, multiclass support vector machines

Procedia PDF Downloads 294
5278 The Influence of Fiber Fillers on the Bonding Safety of Wood-Adhesive Interfaces: A Fracture Energetic Approach

Authors: M. H. Brandtner-Hafner

Abstract:

Adhesives have established themselves as an innovative joining technology in the wood industry. The strengths of adhesive bonding lie in the realization of lightweight designs, the avoidance of material weakening, and the joining of different types of materials. There is now a number of ways to positively influence the properties of bonded joints. One way is to add fiber fillers. This leads to an improvement in adhesion, structural integrity, and fracture toughness. In this study, the effectiveness of fiber-modified adhesives for bonding wooden joints is reviewed. A series of experimental tests were performed using the fracture analytical GF-principle to study the adhesive bonding safety and performance of the wood-adhesive interface. Two different construction adhesives based on epoxy and PUR were modified with different fiber materials and applied to bond wooden joints. The results show that bonding efficiency by adding fibrous materials to the bonding matrix leads to significant improvements in structural material properties.

Keywords: fiber-modified adhesives, bonding safety, wood-adhesive interfaces, fracture analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 97
5277 Students’ Perceptions of Communication Design in Media: Case Study of Portuguese and Spanish Communication Students

Authors: Fátima Gonçalves, Joaquim Brigas, Jorge Gonçalves

Abstract:

The proliferation of mobile devices in society enables the media to disseminate information and knowledge more rapidly. Higher education students access these contents and share them with each other, in the most diverse platforms, allowing the ubiquity in access to information. This article presents the results and respective quantitative analysis of a survey applied to communication students of two higher education institutions: one in Portugal and another in Spain. The results show that, in this sample, higher education students regularly access news content believing traditional news sources to be more credible. Regarding online sources, it was verified that the access was mostly to free news contents. This study intends to promote the knowledge about the changes that occur in the relationship of higher education students with the media, characterizing how news consumption is processed by these students, considering the resulting effects of the digital media evolution. It is intended to present not only the news sources they use, but also to know some of their habits and relationship with the news media.

Keywords: students' perceptions, communication design, mass media, higher education, digital media

Procedia PDF Downloads 247
5276 A Preliminary Study of Urban Resident Space Redundancy in the Context of Rapid Urbanization: Based on Urban Research of Hongkou District of Shanghai

Authors: Ziwei Chen, Yujiang Gao

Abstract:

The rapid urbanization has caused the massive physical space in Chinese cities to be in a state of duplication and dislocation through the rapid development, forming many daily spaces that cannot be standardized, typed, and identified, such as illegal construction. This phenomenon is known as urban spatial redundancy and is often excluded from mainstream architectural discussions because of its 'remaining' and 'excessive' derogatory label. In recent years, some practice architects have begun to pay attention to this phenomenon and tried to tap the value behind it. In this context, the author takes the redundancy phenomenon of resident space as the research object and explores the inspiration to the urban architectural renewal and the innovative residential area model, based on the urban survey of redundant living space in Hongkou District of Shanghai. On this basis, it shows that the changes accumulated in the long-term use of the building can be re-applied to the goals before the design, which is an important link and significance of the existence of an architecture.

Keywords: rapid urbanization, living space redundancy, architectural renewal, residential area model

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5275 Dual-Channel Reliable Breast Ultrasound Image Classification Based on Explainable Attribution and Uncertainty Quantification

Authors: Haonan Hu, Shuge Lei, Dasheng Sun, Huabin Zhang, Kehong Yuan, Jian Dai, Jijun Tang

Abstract:

This paper focuses on the classification task of breast ultrasound images and conducts research on the reliability measurement of classification results. A dual-channel evaluation framework was developed based on the proposed inference reliability and predictive reliability scores. For the inference reliability evaluation, human-aligned and doctor-agreed inference rationals based on the improved feature attribution algorithm SP-RISA are gracefully applied. Uncertainty quantification is used to evaluate the predictive reliability via the test time enhancement. The effectiveness of this reliability evaluation framework has been verified on the breast ultrasound clinical dataset YBUS, and its robustness is verified on the public dataset BUSI. The expected calibration errors on both datasets are significantly lower than traditional evaluation methods, which proves the effectiveness of the proposed reliability measurement.

Keywords: medical imaging, ultrasound imaging, XAI, uncertainty measurement, trustworthy AI

Procedia PDF Downloads 101
5274 Safety Effect of Smart Right-Turn Design at Intersections

Authors: Upal Barua

Abstract:

The risk of severe crashes at high-speed right-turns at intersections is a major safety concern these days. The application of a smart right-turn at an intersection is increasing day by day to address is an issue. The design, ‘Smart Right-turn’ consists of a narrow-angle of channelization at approximately 70°. This design increases the cone of vision of the right-tuning drivers towards the crossing pedestrians as well as traffic on the cross-road. As part of the Safety Improvement Program in Austin Transportation Department, several smart right-turns were constructed at high crash intersections where high-speed right-turns were found to be a contributing factor. This paper features the state of the art techniques applied in planning, engineering, designing and construction of this smart right-turn, key factors driving the success, and lessons learned in the process. This paper also presents the significant crash reductions achieved from the application of this smart right-turn design using Empirical Bayes method. The result showed that smart right-turns can reduce overall right-turn crashes by 43% and severe right-turn crashes by 70%.

Keywords: smart right-turn, intersection, cone of vision, empirical Bayes method

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5273 Biosecurity Control Systems in Two Phases for Poultry Farms

Authors: M. Peña Aguilar Juan, E. Nava Galván Claudia, Pastrana Palma Alberto

Abstract:

In this work was developed and implemented a thermal fogging disinfection system to counteract pathogens from poultry feces in agribusiness farms, to reduce mortality rates and increase biosafety in them. The control system consists of two phases for the conditioning of the farm during the sanitary break. In the first phase, viral and bacterial inactivation was performed by treating the stool dry cleaning, along with the development of a specialized product that foster the generation of temperatures above 55 °C in less than 24 hr, for virus inactivation. In the second phase, a process for disinfection by fogging was implemented, along with the development of a specialized disinfectant that guarantee no risk for the operators’ health or birds. As a result of this process, it was possible to minimize the level of mortality of chickens on farms from 12% to 5.49%, representing a reduction of 6.51% in the death rate, through the formula applied to the treatment of poultry litter based on oxidising agents used as antiseptics, hydrogen peroxide solutions, glacial acetic acid and EDTA in order to act on bacteria, viruses, micro bacteria and spores.

Keywords: innovation, triple helix, poultry farms, biosecurity

Procedia PDF Downloads 284
5272 Keypoint Detection Method Based on Multi-Scale Feature Fusion of Attention Mechanism

Authors: Xiaoxiao Li, Shuangcheng Jia, Qian Li

Abstract:

Keypoint detection has always been a challenge in the field of image recognition. This paper proposes a novelty keypoint detection method which is called Multi-Scale Feature Fusion Convolutional Network with Attention (MFFCNA). We verified that the multi-scale features with the attention mechanism module have better feature expression capability. The feature fusion between different scales makes the information that the network model can express more abundant, and the network is easier to converge. On our self-made street sign corner dataset, we validate the MFFCNA model with an accuracy of 97.8% and a recall of 81%, which are 5 and 8 percentage points higher than the HRNet network, respectively. On the COCO dataset, the AP is 71.9%, and the AR is 75.3%, which are 3 points and 2 points higher than HRNet, respectively. Extensive experiments show that our method has a remarkable improvement in the keypoint recognition tasks, and the recognition effect is better than the existing methods. Moreover, our method can be applied not only to keypoint detection but also to image classification and semantic segmentation with good generality.

Keywords: keypoint detection, feature fusion, attention, semantic segmentation

Procedia PDF Downloads 119
5271 SC-LSH: An Efficient Indexing Method for Approximate Similarity Search in High Dimensional Space

Authors: Sanaa Chafik, Imane Daoudi, Mounim A. El Yacoubi, Hamid El Ouardi

Abstract:

Locality Sensitive Hashing (LSH) is one of the most promising techniques for solving nearest neighbour search problem in high dimensional space. Euclidean LSH is the most popular variation of LSH that has been successfully applied in many multimedia applications. However, the Euclidean LSH presents limitations that affect structure and query performances. The main limitation of the Euclidean LSH is the large memory consumption. In order to achieve a good accuracy, a large number of hash tables is required. In this paper, we propose a new hashing algorithm to overcome the storage space problem and improve query time, while keeping a good accuracy as similar to that achieved by the original Euclidean LSH. The Experimental results on a real large-scale dataset show that the proposed approach achieves good performances and consumes less memory than the Euclidean LSH.

Keywords: approximate nearest neighbor search, content based image retrieval (CBIR), curse of dimensionality, locality sensitive hashing, multidimensional indexing, scalability

Procedia PDF Downloads 321
5270 Runoff Simulation by Using WetSpa Model in Garmabrood Watershed of Mazandaran Province, Iran

Authors: Mohammad Reza Dahmardeh Ghaleno, Mohammad Nohtani, Saeedeh Khaledi

Abstract:

Hydrological models are applied to simulation and prediction floods in watersheds. WetSpa is a distributed, continuous and physically model with daily or hourly time step that explains of precipitation, runoff and evapotranspiration processes for both simple and complex contexts. This model uses a modified rational method for runoff calculation. In this model, runoff is routed along the flow path using Diffusion-Wave Equation which depend on the slope, velocity and flow route characteristics. Garmabrood watershed located in Mazandaran province in Iran and passing over coordinates 53° 10´ 55" to 53° 38´ 20" E and 36° 06´ 45" to 36° 25´ 30"N. The area of the catchment is about 1133 km2 and elevations in the catchment range from 213 to 3136 m at the outlet, with average slope of 25.77 %. Results of the simulations show a good agreement between calculated and measured hydrographs at the outlet of the basin. Drawing upon Nash-Sutcliffe Model Efficiency Coefficient for calibration periodic model estimated daily hydrographs and maximum flow rate with an accuracy up to 61% and 83.17 % respectively.

Keywords: watershed simulation, WetSpa, runoff, flood prediction

Procedia PDF Downloads 336
5269 Can Empowering Women Farmers Reduce Household Food Insecurity? Evidence from Malawi

Authors: Christopher Manyamba

Abstract:

Women in Malawi produce perform between 50-70 percent of all agricultural tasks and yet the majority remain food insecure. The aim of his paper is to build on existing mixed evidence that indicates that empowering women in agriculture is conducive to improving food security. The WEAI is used to provide evidence on the relationship between women’s empowerment in agriculture and household food security. A multinomial logistic regression is applied to the Women Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) components and the Household Hunger Scale. The overall results show that the WEAI can be used to determine household food insecurity; however it has to be contextually adapted. Assets ownership, credit, group membership and leisure time are positively associated with food security. Contrary to other literature, empowerment in having control and decisions on income indicate negative association with household food security. These results could potentially better inform public, private and civil society stakeholders’ dialogues in creating the most effective and sustainable interventions to help women attain long-term food security.

Keywords: food security, gender, empowerment, agriculture index, framework for African food security, household hunger scale

Procedia PDF Downloads 368
5268 Study on Robot Trajectory Planning by Robot End-Effector Using Dual Curvature Theory of the Ruled Surface

Authors: Y. S. Oh, P. Abhishesh, B. S. Ryuh

Abstract:

This paper presents the method of trajectory planning by the robot end-effector which accounts for more accurate and smooth differential geometry of the ruled surface generated by tool line fixed with end-effector based on the methods of curvature theory of ruled surface and the dual curvature theory, and focuses on the underlying relation to unite them for enhancing the efficiency for trajectory planning. Robot motion can be represented as motion properties of the ruled surface generated by trajectory of the Tool Center Point (TCP). The linear and angular properties of the six degree-of-freedom motion of end-effector are computed using the explicit formulas and functions from curvature theory and dual curvature theory. This paper explains the complete dualization of ruled surface and shows that the linear and angular motion applied using the method of dual curvature theory is more accurate and less complex.

Keywords: dual curvature theory, robot end effector, ruled surface, TCP (Tool Center Point)

Procedia PDF Downloads 365
5267 A Study of Flipped Classroom’s Influence on Classroom Environment of College English Reading, Writing and Translating

Authors: Xian Xie, Qinghua Fang

Abstract:

This study used quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the characteristics of flipped classroom’s influence on classroom environment of college English reading, writing, and translating, and to summarize and reflect on the teaching characteristics of college English Reading, writing, and translating. The results of the study indicated that after the flipped classroom applied to reading, writing, and translating, students’ performance was improved to a certain extent, the classroom environment was improved to some extent, students of the flipped classroom are generally satisfied with the classroom environment; students showed a certain degree of individual differences to the degree of cooperation, participation, self-responsibility, task-orientation, and the teacher leadership and innovation. The study indicated that the implementation of flipped classroom teaching mode can optimize College English reading, writing, and translating classroom environment and realize target-learner as the center in foreign language teaching and learning, but bring a greater challenge to teachers.

Keywords: classroom environment, college English reading, writing and translating, individual differences, flipped classroom

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5266 Wear Damage of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polyimide Composites with the Addition of Graphite

Authors: Mahmoudi Noureddine

Abstract:

The glass fiber (GF) reinforced polyimide (PL) composites filled with graphite powders were fabricated by means of hot press molding technique. The friction and wear properties of the resulting composites sliding against GCr15 steel were investigated on a model ring-on-block test rig at dry sliding condition. The wear mechanisms were also discussed, based on scanning electron microscopic examination of the worn surface of the PL composites and the transfer film formed on the counterpart. With the increasing normal loads, the friction coefficient of the composites increased under the dry sliding, owing to inconsistent influences of shear strength and real contact areas. Experimental results revealed that the incorporation of graphite significantly improve the wear resistance of the glass fibers reinforced polyimide composites. For best combination of friction coefficient and wear rate, the optimal volume content of graphite in the composites appears to be 45 %. It was also found that the tribological properties of the glass fiber reinforced PL composites filled with graphite powders were closely related with the sliding condition such as sliding rate and applied load.

Keywords: composites, fiber, friction, wear

Procedia PDF Downloads 356
5265 Study of Phenotypic Polymorphism and Detection of Genotypic Polymorphism in Menochilus sexmaculatus (Coleoptera: Insecta) Using RAPD PCR

Authors: Huma Balouch

Abstract:

Menochilus sexmaculatus commonly known as six spotted zig zag ladybird, is an aphidophagus and the most misidentified Coccinellids due to the occurrence of numerous color variants. The correct identification of Menochilus sexmaculatus and its strains is necessary to implement the use of biological control. In the present study phenotypic and genotypic polymorphism was investigated in Menochilus sexmaculatus collected from Punjab, NWFP and Sindh provinces of Pakistan. Six different morphs of the species were distinguished by analyzing its Elytral color and spot pattern and then Polymerase Chain Reaction was used to generate random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) from six different types of Menochilus sexmaculatus. Forty primers (OPA & OPC Kit) were used to perform RAPD PCR on six different types of Menochilus sexmaculatus of which, seven primers revealed different patterns related to the Menochilus sexmaculatus types. These seven primers (OPA-04, OPA-09, OPA-18, OPC-04, OPC-12, OPC-15 and OPC-18) produced 111 clear polymorphic bands and 6 scorable strain specific markers. The cluster analysis applied to RAPD data showed high polymorphism among six types and it can be concluded that these six types are six polymorphic strains of the same species.

Keywords: Menochilus sexmaculatus, aphidophagus, coccinellids, phenotypic and genotypic polymorphism, RAPD-PCR, strain specific markers

Procedia PDF Downloads 495
5264 The Predictive Value of Serum Bilirubin in the Post-Transplant De Novo Malignancy: A Data Mining Approach

Authors: Nasim Nosoudi, Amir Zadeh, Hunter White, Joshua Conrad, Joon W. Shim

Abstract:

De novo Malignancy has become one of the major causes of death after transplantation, so early cancer diagnosis and detection can drastically improve survival rates post-transplantation. Most previous work focuses on using artificial intelligence (AI) to predict transplant success or failure outcomes. In this work, we focused on predicting de novo malignancy after liver transplantation using AI. We chose the patients that had malignancy after liver transplantation with no history of malignancy pre-transplant. Their donors were cancer-free as well. We analyzed 254,200 patient profiles with post-transplant malignancy from the US Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). Several popular data mining methods were applied to the resultant dataset to build predictive models to characterize de novo malignancy after liver transplantation. Recipient's bilirubin, creatinine, weight, gender, number of days recipient was on the transplant waiting list, Epstein Barr Virus (EBV), International normalized ratio (INR), and ascites are among the most important factors affecting de novo malignancy after liver transplantation

Keywords: De novo malignancy, bilirubin, data mining, transplantation

Procedia PDF Downloads 105
5263 The Impact of Governance Criteria in the Supplier Selection Process of Large German Companies

Authors: Christoph Köster

Abstract:

Supplier selection is one of the key challenges in supply chain management and can be considered a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. In the 1960s, it evolved from considering only economic criteria, such as price, quality, and performance, to including environmental and social criteria nowadays. Although receiving considerable attention from scholars and practitioners over the past decades, existing research has not considered governance criteria so far. This is, however, surprising, as ESG (environmental, social, and governance) criteria have gained considerable attention. In order to complement ESG criteria in the supplier selection process, this study investigates German DAX and MDAX companies and evaluates the impact of governance criteria along their supplier selection process. Moreover, it proposes a set of criteria for the respective process steps. Specifically, eleven criteria for the first process step and five criteria for the second process step are identified. This paper contributes to a better understanding of the supplier selection process by elucidating the relevance of governance criteria in the supplier selection process and providing a set of empirically developed governance criteria. These results can be applied by practitioners to complement the criteria set in the supplier selection process and thus balance economic, environmental, social, and governance targets.

Keywords: ESG, governance, sustainable supplier selection, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 118
5262 Increasing the Apparent Time Resolution of Tc-99m Diethylenetriamine Pentaacetic Acid Galactosyl Human Serum Albumin Dynamic SPECT by Use of an 180-Degree Interpolation Method

Authors: Yasuyuki Takahashi, Maya Yamashita, Kyoko Saito

Abstract:

In general, dynamic SPECT data acquisition needs a few minutes for one rotation. Thus, the time-activity curve (TAC) derived from the dynamic SPECT is relatively coarse. In order to effectively shorten the interval, between data points, we adopted a 180-degree interpolation method. This method is already used for reconstruction of the X-ray CT data. In this study, we applied this 180-degree interpolation method to SPECT and investigated its effectiveness.To briefly describe the 180-degree interpolation method: the 180-degree data in the second half of one rotation are combined with the 180-degree data in the first half of the next rotation to generate a 360-degree data set appropriate for the time halfway between the first and second rotations. In both a phantom and a patient study, the data points from the interpolated images fell in good agreement with the data points tracking the accumulation of 99mTc activity over time for appropriate region of interest. We conclude that data derived from interpolated images improves the apparent time resolution of dynamic SPECT.

Keywords: dynamic SPECT, time resolution, 180-degree interpolation method, 99mTc-GSA.

Procedia PDF Downloads 493
5261 Assessment of Yield and Water Use Efficiency of Soybean under Deficit Irrigation

Authors: Meysam Abedinpour

Abstract:

Water limitation is the main challenge for crop production in a semi-arid environment. Deficit irrigation is a strategy that allows a crop to sustain some degree of water deficit in order to reduce costs and potentially increase income. For this goal, a field experimental carried out at Asrieh fields of Gorgan city in the north of Iran, during summer season 2011. The treatments imposed were different irrigation water regimes (i.e. W1:70, W2:80, W3:90, and W4:100) percent of field capacity (FC). The results showed that there was Significant difference between the yield and (WUE) under different levels of irrigation, excepting of soil moisture content at field capacity (W4) and 90% of field capacity (W3) on yield and water use efficiency (WUE). The seasonal irrigation water applied were (i.e. 375, 338, 300, and 263 mm ha-1) under different irrigation water treatments (100, 90, 80, 80 and 70%) of FC, respectively. Grain yield productions under treatments were 4180, 3955, 3640, and 3355 (kg ha-1) respectively. Furthermore, the results showed that water use efficiency (WUE) at different treatments were 7.67, 7.79, 7.74, and 7.75 Kg mm ha-1 for (100, 90, 80, and 70) per cent of field capacity, therefore the 90 % of FC treatment (W3) is recommended for Soybean irrigation for water saving. Furthermore, the result showed that the treatment of 90 % of filed capacity (W3) seemed to be better adapted to product a high crop yield with acceptable yield coupling with water use efficiency in Golestan province.

Keywords: deficit irrigation, water use efficiency, yield, soybean

Procedia PDF Downloads 469
5260 Physical Education Teacher's Interpretation toward Teaching Games for Understanding Model

Authors: Soni Nopembri

Abstract:

The objective of this research is to evaluate the implementation of teaching games for Understanding model by conducting action to physical education teacher who have got long teaching experience. The research applied Participatory Action Research. The subjects of this research were 19 physical education teachers who had got training of Teaching Games for Understanding. Data collection was conducted intensively through a questionnaire, in-depth interview, Focus Group Discussion (FGD), observation, and documentation. The collected data was analysis zed qualitatively and quantitatively. The result showed that physical education teachers had got an appropriate interpretation on TGfU model. Some indicators that were the focus of this research indicated this points; they are: (1) physical education teachers had good understanding toward TGfU model, (2) PE teachers’ competence in applying TGfU model on Physical Education at school were adequate, though some improvement were needed, (3) the influence factors in the implementation of TGfU model, in sequence, were teacher, facilities, environment, and students factors, (4) PE teachers’ perspective toward TGfU model were positively good, although some teachers were less optimistic toward the development of TGfU model in the future.

Keywords: TGfU, physical education teacher, teaching games, FGD

Procedia PDF Downloads 547
5259 Impact of Climate Variation on Natural Vegetations and Human Lives in Thar Desert, Pakistan

Authors: Sujo Meghwar, Zulfqar Ali laghari, Kanji Harijan, Muhib Ali Lagari, G. M. Mastoi, Ali Mohammad Rind

Abstract:

Thar Desert is the most populous Desert of the world. Climate variation in Thar Desert has induced an increase in the magnitude of drought. The variation in climate variation has caused a decrease in natural vegetations. Some plant species are eliminated forever. We have applied the SPI (standardized precipitation index) climate model to investigate the drought induced by climate change. We have gathered the anthropogenic response through a developed questionnaire. The data was analyzed in SPSS version 18. The met-data of two meteorological station elaborated by the time series has suggested an increase in temperature from 1-2.5 centigrade, the decrease in rain fall rainfall from 5-25% and reduction in humidity from 5-12 mm in the 20th century. The anthropogenic responses indicate high impact of climate change on human life and vegetations. Triangle data, we have collected, gives a new insight into the understanding of an association between climate change, drought and human activities.

Keywords: Thar desert, human impact, vegetations, temperature, rainfall, humidity

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5258 Theoretical and Experimental Investigations of Binary Systems for Hydrogen Storage

Authors: Gauthier Lefevre, Holger Kohlmann, Sebastien Saitzek, Rachel Desfeux, Adlane Sayede

Abstract:

Hydrogen is a promising energy carrier, compatible with the sustainable energy concept. In this context, solid-state hydrogen-storage is the key challenge in developing hydrogen economy. The capability of absorption of large quantities of hydrogen makes intermetallic systems of particular interest. In this study, efforts have been devoted to the theoretical investigation of binary systems with constraints consideration. On the one hand, besides considering hydrogen-storage, a reinvestigation of crystal structures of the palladium-arsenic system shows, with experimental validations, that binary systems could still currently present new or unknown relevant structures. On the other hand, various binary Mg-based systems were theoretically scrutinized in order to find new interesting alloys for hydrogen storage. Taking the effect of pressure into account reveals a wide range of alternative structures, changing radically the stable compounds of studied binary systems. Similar constraints, induced by Pulsed Laser Deposition, have been applied to binary systems, and results are presented.

Keywords: binary systems, evolutionary algorithm, first principles study, pulsed laser deposition

Procedia PDF Downloads 272
5257 Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Gas-Liquid Phase Stirred Tank

Authors: Thiyam Tamphasana Devi, Bimlesh Kumar

Abstract:

A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technique has been applied to simulate the gas-liquid phase in double stirred tank of Rushton impeller. Eulerian-Eulerian model was adopted to simulate the multiphase with standard correlation of Schiller and Naumann for drag co-efficient. The turbulence was modeled by using standard k-ε turbulence model. The present CFD model predicts flow pattern, local gas hold-up, and local specific area. It also predicts local kLa (mass transfer rate) for single impeller. The predicted results were compared with experimental and CFD results of published literature. The predicted results are slightly over predicted with the experimental results; however, it is in reasonable agreement with other simulated results of published literature.

Keywords: Eulerian-Eulerian, gas-hold up, gas-liquid phase, local mass transfer rate, local specific area, Rushton Impeller

Procedia PDF Downloads 234
5256 Numerical Simulation of Ultraviolet Disinfection in a Water Reactor

Authors: H. Shokouhmand, H. Sobhani, B. Sajadi, M. Degheh

Abstract:

In recent years, experimental and numerical investigation of water UV reactors has increased significantly. The main drawback of experimental methods is confined and expensive survey of UV reactors features. In this study, a CFD model utilizing the eulerian-lagrangian framework is applied to analysis the disinfection performance of a closed conduit reactor which contains four UV lamps perpendicular to the flow. A discrete ordinates (DO) model was employed to evaluate the UV irradiance field. To investigate the importance of each of lamps on the inactivation performance, in addition to the reference model (with 4 bright lamps), several models with one or two bright lamps in various arrangements were considered. All results were reported in three inactivation kinetics. The results showed that the log inactivation of the two central bright lamps model was between 88-99 percent, close to the reference model results. Also, whatever the lamps are closer to the main flow region, they have more effect on microbial inactivation. The effect of some operational parameters such as water flow rate, inlet water temperature, and lamps power were also studied.

Keywords: Eulerian-Lagrangian framework, inactivation kinetics, log inactivation, water UV reactor

Procedia PDF Downloads 251
5255 Low-Level Forced and Ambient Vibration Tests on URM Building Strengthened by Dampers

Authors: Rafik Taleb, Farid Bouriche, Mehdi Boukri, Fouad Kehila

Abstract:

The aim of the paper is to investigate the dynamic behavior of an unreinforced masonry (URM) building strengthened by DC-90 dampers by ambient and low-level forced vibration tests. Ambient and forced vibration techniques are usually applied to reinforced concrete or steel buildings to understand and identify their dynamic behavior, however, less is known about their applicability for masonry buildings. Ambient vibrations were measured before and after strengthening of the URM building by DC-90 dampers system. For forced vibration test, a series of low amplitude steady state harmonic forced vibration tests were conducted after strengthening using eccentric mass shaker. The resonant frequency curves, mode shapes and damping coefficients as well as stress distribution in the steel braces of the DC-90 dampers have been investigated and could be defined. It was shown that the dynamic behavior of the masonry building, even if not regular and with deformable floors, can be effectively represented. It can be concluded that the strengthening of the building does not change the dynamic properties of the building due to the fact of low amplitude excitation which do not activate the dampers.

Keywords: ambient vibrations, masonry buildings, forced vibrations, structural dynamic identification

Procedia PDF Downloads 408
5254 An Application of a Machine Monitoring by Using the Internet of Things to Improve a Preventive Maintenance: Case Study of an Automated Plastic Granule-Packing Machine

Authors: Anek Apipatkul, Paphakorn Pitayachaval

Abstract:

Preventive maintenance is a standardized procedure to control and prevent risky problems affecting production in order to increase work efficiency. Machine monitoring also routinely works to collect data for a scheduling maintenance period. This paper is to present the application of machine monitoring by using the internet of things (IOTs) and a lean technique in order to manage with complex maintenance tasks of an automated plastic granule packing machine. To organize the preventive maintenance, there are several processes that the machine monitoring was applied, starting with defining a clear scope of the machine, establishing standards in maintenance work, applying a just-in-time (JIT) technique for timely delivery in the maintenance work, solving problems on the floor, and also improving the inspection process. The result has shown that wasted time was reduced, and machines have been operated as scheduled. Furthermore, the efficiency of the scheduled maintenance period was increased by 95%.

Keywords: internet of things, preventive maintenance, machine monitoring, lean technique

Procedia PDF Downloads 102