Search results for: species distribution modelling

Authors: Veronika Přivřelová

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Well-designed composite steel and concrete structures highlight the good material properties and lower the deficiencies of steel and concrete, in particular they make use of high tensile strength of steel and high stiffness of concrete. The most common composite steel and concrete structure is a simply supported beam, which concrete slab transferring the slab load to a beam is connected to the steel cross-section. The aim of this paper is to find the most adequate numerical model of a simply supported composite beam with the cross-sectional and material parameters based on the results of a processed parametric study and numerical analysis. The paper also evaluates the suitability of using compact concrete with the lightweight aggregates for composite steel and concrete beams. The most adequate numerical model will be used in the resent future to compare the results of laboratory tests.

Keywords: composite beams, high-performance concrete, high-strength steel, lightweight concrete slab, modeling

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Authors: Sinisa J. Vukicevic

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Edmonton is currently one of the youngest North American cities and has achieved significant growth over the past 40 years. Strong urban shift requires a new approach to how the city is envisioned, planned, and built. This approach is evidence-based scenario development, and an urban growth model was a key support tool in framing Edmonton development strategies, developing urban policies, and assessing policy implications. The urban growth model has been developed using the Metronamica software platform. The Metronamica land use model evaluated the dynamic of land use change under the influence of key development drivers (population and employment), zoning, land suitability, and land and activity accessibility. The model was designed following the Big City Moves ideas: become greener as we grow, develop a rebuildable city, ignite a community of communities, foster a healing city, and create a city of convergence. The Big City Moves were converted to three development scenarios: ‘Strong Central City’, ‘Node City’, and ‘Corridor City’. Each scenario has a narrative story that expressed scenario’s high level goal, scenario’s approach to residential and commercial activities, to transportation vision, and employment and environmental principles. Land use demand was calculated for each scenario according to specific density targets. Spatial policies were analyzed according to their level of importance within the policy set definition for the specific scenario, but also through the policy measures. The model was calibrated on the way to reproduce known historical land use pattern. For the calibration, we used 2006 and 2011 land use data. The validation is done independently, which means we used the data we did not use for the calibration. The model was validated with 2016 data. In general, the modeling process contain three main phases: ‘from qualitative storyline to quantitative modelling’, ‘model development and model run’, and ‘from quantitative modelling to qualitative storyline’. The model also incorporates five spatial indicators: distance from residential to work, distance from residential to recreation, distance to river valley, urban expansion and habitat fragmentation. The major finding of this research could be looked at from two perspectives: the planning perspective and technology perspective. The planning perspective evaluates the model as a tool for scenario development. Using the model, we explored the land use dynamic that is influenced by a different set of policies. The model enables a direct comparison between the three scenarios. We explored the similarities and differences of scenarios and their quantitative indicators: land use change, population change (and spatial allocation), job allocation, density (population, employment, and dwelling unit), habitat connectivity, proximity to objects of interest, etc. From the technology perspective, the model showed one very important characteristic: the model flexibility. The direction for policy testing changed many times during the consultation process and model flexibility in applying all these changes was highly appreciated. The model satisfied our needs as scenario development and evaluation tool, but also as a communication tool during the consultation process.

Keywords: urban growth model, scenario development, spatial indicators, Metronamica

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Authors: Mohammad Aminnia, Mahmood Hosseini

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Environmental and functional conditions sometimes necessitate the architectural plan of the building to be asymmetric, and this result in an asymmetric structure. In such cases, finding an optimal pattern for locating the components of the lateral load bearing system, including shear walls, in the building’s plan is desired. In case of shear walls, in addition to the location, the shape of the wall cross-section is also an effective factor. Various types of shear wall and their proper layout might come effective in better stiffness distribution and more appropriate seismic response of the building. Several studies have been conducted in the context of analysis and design of shear walls; however, few studies have been performed on making decisions for the location and form of shear walls in multi-story buildings, especially those with irregular plan. In this study, an attempt has been made to obtain the most reliable seismic behavior of multi-story reinforced concrete vertically chamfered buildings by using more appropriate shear walls form and arrangement in 7-, 10-, 12-, and 15-story buildings. The considered forms and arrangements include common rectangular walls and L-, T-, U- and Z-shaped plan, located as the core or in the outer frames of the building structure. Comparison of seismic behaviors of the buildings, including maximum roof displacement, and particularly the formation of plastic hinges and their distribution in the buildings’ structures, have been done based on the results of a series of nonlinear time history analyses by using a set of selected earthquake records. Results show that shear walls with U-shaped cross-section, placed as the building central core, and also walls with Z-shaped cross-section, placed at the corners give the building more reliable seismic behavior.

Keywords: vertically chamfered buildings, non-linear time history analyses, l-, t-, u- and z-shaped plan walls

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Authors: I. Boroňová, J. Bernasovská, J. Kmec, E. Petrejčíková

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Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a primary myocardial disease, it is characterized by progressive systolic dysfunction due to cardiac chamber dilatation and inefficient myocardial contractility with estimated prevalence of 37 in 100 000 people. It is the most frequent cause of heart failure and cardiac transplantation in young adults. About one-third of all patients have a suspected familial disease indicating a genetic basis of DCM. Many candidate gene studies in humans have tested the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in various genes coding for proteins with a known cardiovascular function. In our study we present the results of ZBTB17 gene rs10927875 polymorphism genotyping in relation to dilated cardiomyopathy in Slovak population. The study included 78 individuals, 39 patients with DCM and 39 healthy control persons. The mean age of patients with DCM was 50.7±11.5 years; the mean age of individuals in control group was 51.3±9.8 years. Risk factors detected at baseline in each group included age, sex, body mass index, smoking status, diabetes and blood pressure. Genomic DNA was extracted from leukocytes by a standard methodology and screened for rs10927875 polymorphism in intron of ZBTB17 gene using Real-time PCR method (Step One Applied Biosystems). The distribution of investigated genotypes for rs10927875 polymorphism in the group of patients with DCM was as follows: CC (89.74%), CT (10.26%), TT (0%), and the distribution in the control group: CC (92.31%), CT (5.13%), and TT (2.56%). Using the chi-square (χ2) test we compared genotype and allele frequencies between patients and controls. There was no difference in genotype or allele frequencies in ZBTB17 gene rs10927875 polymorphism between patients and control group (χ2=3.028, p=0.220; χ2=0.264, p=0.608). Our results represent an initial study, it can be considered as preliminary and first of its kind in Slovak population. Further studies of ZBTB17 gene polymorphisms of more numerous files and additional functional investigations are needed to fully understand the role of genetic associations.

Keywords: dilated cardiomyopathy, SNP polymorphism, ZBTB17 gene, bioscience

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Authors: Saba Ebrahimi, Saeed Ahmadian, Hedie Ashrafi

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World-wide spread of coronavirus grows the concern about planning for the excess demand of hospital services in response to COVID-19 pandemic. The surge in the hospital services demand beyond the current capacity leads to shortage of ICU beds and ventilators in some parts of US. In this study, we forecast the required number of hospital beds and possible shortage of beds in US during COVID-19 pandemic to be used in the planning and hospitalization of new cases. In this paper, we used a data on COVID-19 deaths and patients’ hospitalization besides the data on hospital capacities and utilization in US from publicly available sources and national government websites. we used a novel ensemble modelling of deep learning networks, based on stacking different linear and non-linear layers to predict the shortage in hospital beds. The results showed that our proposed approach can predict the excess hospital beds demand very well and this can be helpful in developing strategies and plans to mitigate this gap.

Keywords: COVID-19, deep learning, ensembled models, hospital capacity planning

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Authors: Chrislaura Carmo, Luca Deiana, Mafalda Laranjo, Abilio Sobral, Armando Cordova

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Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is currently used for the treatment of malignancies and premalignant tumors. It is based on the capture of a photosensitizing molecule (PS) which, when excited by light at a certain wavelength, reacts with oxygen and generates oxidizing species (radicals, singlet oxygen, triplet species) in target tissues, leading to cell death. BODIPY (4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indaceno) derivatives are emerging as important candidates for photosensitizer in photodynamic therapy of cancer cells due to their high triplet quantum yield. Today these dyes are relevant molecules in photovoltaic materials and fluorescent sensors. In this study, it will be demonstrated the possibility that BODIPY can be covalently linked to thioglycolic acid through the click reaction. Thiol−ene click chemistry has become a powerful synthesis method in materials science and surface modification. The design of biobased allyl-terminated precursors with high renewable carbon content for the construction of the thiol-ene polymer networks is essential for sustainable development and green chemistry. The work aims to synthesize the BODIPY (10-(4-(allyloxy) phenyl)-2,8-diethyl-5,5-difluoro-1,3,7,9-tetramethyl-5H-dipyrrolo[1,2-c:2',1'-f] [1,3,2] diazaborinin-4-ium-5-uide) and to click reaction with Thioglycolic acid. BODIPY was synthesized by the condensation reaction between aldehyde and pyrrole in dichloromethane, followed by in situ complexation with BF3·OEt2 in the presence of the base. Then it was functionalized with allyl bromide to achieve the double bond and thus be able to carry out the click reaction. The thiol−ene click was performed using DMPA (2,2-Dimethoxy-2-phenylacetophenone) as a photo-initiator in the presence of UV light (320–500 nm) in DMF at room temperature for 24 hours. Compounds were characterized by standard analytical techniques, including UV-Vis Spectroscopy, 1H, 13C, 19F NMR and mass spectroscopy. The results of this study will be important to link BODIPY to polymers through the thiol group offering a diversity of applications and functionalization. This new molecule can be tested as third-generation photosensitizers, in which the dye is targeted by antibodies or nanocarriers by cells, mainly in cancer cells, PDT and Photodynamic Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (PACT). According to our studies, it was possible to visualize a click reaction between allyl BODIPY and thioglycolic acid. Our team will also test the reaction with other thiol groups for comparison. Further, we will do the click reaction of BODIPY with a natural polymer linked with a thiol group. The results of the above compounds will be tested in PDT assays on various lung cancer cell lines.

Keywords: bodipy, click reaction, thioglycolic acid, allyl, thiol-ene click

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Authors: H. Al-Khalaifa, A. Al-Nasser

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The viewpoint towards the use of drugs or vaccines against avian parasitic diseases is one of the most striking challenges in avian medical parasitology. This includes many difficulties associated with drug resistance and in developing prophylactic vaccines. In many instances, the potential success of a vaccination in controlling parasitic diseases in poultry is well-documented. However, some medical, technical and financial limitations are still paramount. On the other hand, chemotherapy is not very well-recommended due to a number of medical limitations. But in the absence of an effective vaccine, drugs are used against parasitic diseases. This paper sheds light on some the advantages and disadvantages of using vaccination and drugs in controlling parasitic diseases in poultry species. The usage of chemotherapeutic drugs is discussed with some examples. Then, more light will be shed on using vaccines as a potentially effective and promising control tool.

Keywords: drugs, parasitology, poultry, vaccines

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Authors: Oleg Oborin

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This paper is dedicated to the development of the model, which can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of long-term corporate strategies and identify the best strategies. The theoretical model of the relatively homogenous product market (such as iron and steel industry, mobile services or road transport) has been developed. In the model, the market consists of a large number of companies with different internal characteristics and objectives. The companies can perform mergers and acquisitions in order to increase their market share. The model allows the simulation of long-time dynamics of the market (for a period longer than 20 years). Therefore, a large number of simulations on random input data was conducted in the framework of the model. After that, the results of the model were compared with the dynamics of real markets, such as the US steel industry from the beginning of the XX century to the present day, and the market of mobile services in Germany for the period between 1990 and 2015.

Keywords: Economic Modelling, Long-Time Strategy, Mergers and Acquisitions, Simulation

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Authors: Analise Borg, Paul Micallef

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Over the past few years, the online multimedia collection has grown at a fast pace. Several companies showed interest to study the different ways to organize the amount of audio information without the need of human intervention to generate metadata. In the past few years, many applications have emerged on the market which are capable of identifying a piece of music in a short time. Different audio effects and degradation make it much harder to identify the unknown piece. In this paper, an audio fingerprinting system which makes use of a non-parametric based algorithm is presented. Parametric analysis is also performed using Gaussian Mixture Models (GMMs). The feature extraction methods employed are the Mel Spectrum Coefficients and the MPEG-7 basic descriptors. Bin numbers replaced the extracted feature coefficients during the non-parametric modelling. The results show that non-parametric analysis offer potential results as the ones mentioned in the literature.

Keywords: audio fingerprinting, mapping algorithm, Gaussian Mixture Models, MFCC, MPEG-7

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Authors: Cuiyang Feng, Xu Tang, Yi Jin

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Coal is the most important primary energy source in China, which exerts a significant influence on the rapid economic growth. However, it makes the water resources to be a constraint on coal industry development, on account of the reverse geographical distribution between coal and water. To ease the pressure on water shortage, the ‘3 Red Lines’ water policies were announced by the Chinese government, and then ‘water for coal’ plan was added to that policies in 2013. This study utilized a structural path analysis (SPA) based on the multi-regional input-output table to quantify the virtual water flows caused by coal consumption in different stages. Results showed that the direct water input (the first stage) was the highest amount in all stages of coal consumption, accounting for approximately 30% of total virtual water content. Regional analysis demonstrated that virtual water trade alleviated the pressure on water use for coal consumption in water shortage areas, but the import of virtual water was not from the areas which are rich in water. Sectoral analysis indicated that the direct inputs from the sectors of ‘production and distribution of electric power and heat power’ and ‘Smelting and pressing of metals’ took up the major virtual water flows, while the sectors of ‘chemical industry’ and ‘manufacture of non-metallic mineral products’ importantly but indirectly consumed the water. With the population and economic growth in China, the water demand-and-supply gap in coal consumption would be more remarkable. In additional to water efficiency improvement measures, the central government should adjust the strategies of the virtual water trade to address local water scarcity issues. Water resource as the main constraints should be highly considered in coal policy to promote the sustainable development of the coal industry.

Keywords: coal consumption, multi-regional input-output model, structural path analysis, virtual water

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Authors: Hossein Hassani, Ali Rezaei

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Heavy metals are naturally occurring elements that have a high atomic weight and a density at least five times greater than that of water. Their multiple industrial, domestic, agricultural, medical, and technological applications have led to their wide distribution in the environment, raising concerns over their potential effects on human health and the environment. Environmental protection against various pollutants, such as heavy metals formed by industries, mines and modern technologies, is a concern for researchers and industry. In order to assess the contamination of soils the distribution and environmental behavior have been investigated. Jajarm bauxite mine, the most important deposits have been discovered in Iran, which is about 22 million tons of reserve, and is the main mineral of the Diaspora. With a view to estimate the heavy metals ratio of the Jajarm bauxite mine area and to evaluate the pollution level, 50 samples have been collected and have been analyzed for the heavy metals of As, Cd, Cu, Hg, Ni and Pb with the help of Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometer (ICP- MS). In this study, we have dealt with determining evaluation criteria including contamination factor (CF), average concentration (AV), enrichment factor (EF) and geoaccumulation index (GI) to assess the risk of pollution from heavy metals(As, Cd, Cu, Hg, Ni and Pb) in Jajarm bauxite mine. In the samples of the studied, the average of recorded concentration of elements for Arsenic, Cadmium, Copper, Mercury, Nickel and Lead are 18, 0.11, 12, 0.07, 58 and 51 (mg/kg) respectively. The comparison of the heavy metals concentration average and the toxic potential in the samples has shown that an average with respect to the world average of the uncontaminated soil amounts. The average of Pb and As elements shows a higher quantity with respect to the world average quantity. The pollution factor for the study elements has been calculated on the basis of the soil background concentration and has been categorized on the basis of the uncontaminated world soil average with respect to the Hakanson classification. The calculation of the corrected pollutant degree shows the degree of the bulk intermediate pollutant (1.55-2.0) for the average soil sampling of the study area which is on the basis of the background quantity and the world average quantity of the uncontaminated soils. The provided conclusion from calculation of the concentrated factor, for some of the samples show that the average of the lead and arsenic elements stations are more than the background values and the unnatural metal concentration are covered under the study area, That's because the process of mining and mineral extraction. Given conclusion from the calculation of Geoaccumulation index of the soil sampling can explain that the copper, nickel, cadmium, arsenic, lead and mercury elements are Uncontamination. In general, the results indicate that the Jajarm bauxite mine of heavy metal pollution is uncontaminated area and extract the mineral from the mine, not create environmental hazards in the region.

Keywords: enrichment factor, geoaccumulation index, heavy metals, Jajarm bauxite mine, pollution

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Authors: Ye Zhang, Chuanjun Liu

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In-service aircraft is exposed to different types of threaten, e.g. bird strike, ground vehicle impact, and run-way debris, or even lightning strike, etc. To satisfy the aircraft damage tolerance design requirements, the designer has to understand the threatening level for different types of the aircraft structures, either metallic or composite. Exposing to low-velocity impacts may produce very serious internal damages such as delaminations and matrix cracks without leaving visible mark onto the impacted surfaces for composite structures. This internal damage can cause significant reduction in the load carrying capacity of structures. The semi-probabilistic method provides a practical and proper approximation to establish the impact-threat based energy cut-off level for the damage tolerance evaluation of the aircraft components. Thus, the probabilistic distribution of impact threat and the realistic impact energy level cut-offs are the essential establishments required for the certification of aircraft composite structures. A new survey of impact threat to civil aircraft in-service has recently been carried out based on field records concerning around 500 civil aircrafts (mainly single aisles) and more than 4.8 million flight hours. In total 1,006 damages caused by low-velocity impact events had been screened out from more than 8,000 records including impact dents, scratches, corrosions, delaminations, cracks etc. The impact threat dependency on the location of the aircraft structures and structural configuration was analyzed. Although the survey was mainly focusing on the metallic structures, the resulting low-energy impact data are believed likely representative to general civil aircraft, since the service environments and the maintenance operations are independent of the materials of the structures. The probability of impact damage occurrence (Po) and impact energy exceedance (Pe) are the two key parameters for describing the statistic distribution of impact threat. With the impact damage events from the survey, Po can be estimated as 2.1x10-4 per flight hour. Concerning the calculation of Pe, a numerical model was developed using the commercial FEA software ABAQUS to backward estimate the impact energy based on the visible damage characteristics. The relationship between the visible dent depth and impact energy was established and validated by drop-weight impact experiments. Based on survey results, Pe was calculated and assumed having a log-linear relationship versus the impact energy. As the product of two aforementioned probabilities, Po and Pe, it is reasonable and conservative to assume Pa=PoxPe=10-5, which indicates that the low-velocity impact events are similarly likely as the Limit Load events. Combing Pa with two probabilities Po and Pe obtained based on the field survey, the cutoff level of realistic impact energy was estimated and valued as 34 J. In summary, a new survey was recently done on field records of civil aircraft to investigate the probabilistic distribution of impact threat. Based on the data, two probabilities, Po and Pe, were obtained. Considering a conservative assumption of Pa, the cutoff energy level for the realistic impact energy has been determined, which provides potential applicability in damage tolerance certification of future civil aircraft.

Keywords: composite structure, damage tolerance, impact threat, probabilistic

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Authors: Zhuoqun Sun, Francisco Sierra, A. Booth

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With BIM rapidly implemented in the design and construction stage of a project, researchers begin to focus on improving the operation and maintenance stage with the aid of BIM. Since the increasing amount of electronic equipment installed in the building, building management system becomes mainstream for controlling a building, especially in higher education institutions that can play an important role in terms of reducing carbon emission and improving energy efficiency. Currently, an approach to integrate BIM and BMS to improve HEIs facility management has not been established yet. Thus, this paper aims to analyse the benefits, issues, and trends of BIM and BMS integration and their application in HEIs. A systematic literature review was carried out on SCOPUS by applying the PRISMA methodology. 73 articles have been chosen based on keywords, abstracts, and the full content of the articles. The benefit and existed issues from the articles are analysed. The review shows the need to develop a tool to improve facility management through BIM BMS integration.

Keywords: BIM, BMS, HEIs, review

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Authors: Shu-Yu Chung, Ying-Fang Wang, Shih-Min Wang

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To conduct long-term exposure assessments are important for workers exposed to chemicals with chronic effects. However, it usually encounters with several constrains, including cost, workers' willingness, and interference to work practice, etc., leading to inadequate long-term exposure data in the real world. In this study, an integrated approach was developed for conducting long-term exposure assessment for welding workers in a shipbuilding factory. A laboratory study was conducted to yield the fume generation rates under various operating conditions. The results and the measured environmental conditions were applied to the near field/far field (NF/FF) model for predicting long term fume exposures via the Monte Carlo simulation. Then, the predicted long-term concentrations were used to determine the prior distribution in Bayesian decision analysis (BDA). Finally, the resultant posterior distributions were used to assess the long-term exposure and serve as basis for initiating control strategies for shipbuilding workers. Results show that the NF/FF model was a suitable for predicting the exposures of metal contents containing in welding fume. The resultant posterior distributions could effectively assess the long-term exposures of shipbuilding welders. Welders' long-term Fe, Mn and Pb exposures were found with high possibilities to exceed the action level indicating preventive measures should be taken for reducing welders' exposures immediately. Though the resultant posterior distribution can only be regarded as the best solution based on the currently available predicting and monitoring data, the proposed integrated approach can be regarded as a possible solution for conducting long term exposure assessment in the field.

Keywords: Bayesian decision analysis, exposure assessment, near field and far field model, shipbuilding industry, welding fume

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Authors: Eric Asare, Jamie Evans, Mark Newton, Emiliano Bilotti

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Two types of filler shapes (sphere and flakes) and three different sizes are employed to study the size effect on PTC. The composite is prepared using a mini-extruder with high-density polyethylene (HDPE) as the matrix. A computer modelling is used to fit the experimental results. The percolation threshold decreases with decreasing filler size and this was observed for both the spherical particles as well as the flakes. This was caused by the decrease in interparticle distance with decreasing filler size. The 100 µm particles showed a larger PTC intensity compared to the 5 µm particles for the metal coated glass sphere and flake. The small particles have a large surface area and agglomeration and this makes it difficult for the conductive network to e disturbed. Increasing the filler content decreased the PTC intensity and this is due to an increase in the conductive network within the polymer matrix hence more energy is needed to disrupt the network.

Keywords: positive temperature coefficient (PTC) effect, conductive polymer composite (CPC), electrical conductivity

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Authors: Abbas Vahedian, Rijun Shrestha, Keith Crews

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In recent years, fibre reinforced polymers as applications of strengthening materials have received significant attention by civil engineers and environmentalists because of their excellent characteristics. Currently, these composites have become a mainstream technology for strengthening of infrastructures such as steel, concrete and more recently, timber and masonry structures. However, debonding is identified as the main problem which limit the full utilisation of the FRP material. In this paper, a preliminary analysis of factors affecting bond strength of FRP-to-concrete and timber bonded interface has been conducted. A novel theoretical method through regression analysis has been established to evaluate these factors. Results of proposed model are then assessed with results of pull-out tests and satisfactory comparisons are achieved between measured failure loads (R² = 0.83, P < 0.0001) and the predicted loads (R² = 0.78, P < 0.0001).

Keywords: debonding, fibre reinforced polymers (FRP), pull-out test, stepwise regression analysis

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Authors: Eduardo Rodrigues, Gisela Mendes, José M. Torres, José E. Sousa

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In the sequence of the liberalisation of the electricity sector a progressive engagement of consumers has been considered and targeted by sector regulatory policies. With the objective of promoting market competition while protecting consumers interests, by transferring some of the upstream benefits to the end users while reaching a fair distribution of system costs, different market models to value consumers’ demand flexibility at the energy community level are envisioned. Local Energy and Flexibility Markets (LEFM) involve stakeholders interested in providing or procure local flexibility for community, services and markets’ value. Under the scope of DOMINOES, a European research project supported by Horizon 2020, the local market concept developed is expected to: • Enable consumers/prosumers empowerment, by allowing them to value their demand flexibility and Distributed Energy Resources (DER); • Value local liquid flexibility to support innovative distribution grid management, e.g., local balancing and congestion management, voltage control and grid restoration; • Ease the wholesale market uptake of DER, namely small-scale flexible loads aggregation as Virtual Power Plants (VPPs), facilitating Demand Response (DR) service provision; • Optimise the management and local sharing of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in Medium Voltage (MV) and Low Voltage (LV) grids, trough energy transactions within an energy community; • Enhance the development of energy markets through innovative business models, compatible with ongoing policy developments, that promote the easy access of retailers and other service providers to the local markets, allowing them to take advantage of communities’ flexibility to optimise their portfolio and subsequently their participation in external markets. The general concept proposed foresees a flow of market actions, technical validations, subsequent deliveries of energy and/or flexibility and balance settlements. Since the market operation should be dynamic and capable of addressing different requests, either prioritising balancing and prosumer services or system’s operation, direct procurement of flexibility within the local market must also be considered. This paper aims to highlight the research on the definition of suitable DR models to be used by the Distribution System Operator (DSO), in case of technical needs, and by the retailer, mainly for portfolio optimisation and solve unbalances. The models to be proposed and implemented within relevant smart distribution grid and microgrid validation environments, are focused on day-ahead and intraday operation scenarios, for predictive management and near-real-time control respectively under the DSO’s perspective. At local level, the DSO will be able to procure flexibility in advance to tackle different grid constrains (e.g., demand peaks, forecasted voltage and current problems and maintenance works), or during the operating day-to-day, to answer unpredictable constraints (e.g., outages, frequency deviations and voltage problems). Due to the inherent risks of their active market participation retailers may resort to DR models to manage their portfolio, by optimising their market actions and solve unbalances. The interaction among the market actors involved in the DR activation and in flexibility exchange is explained by a set of sequence diagrams for the DR modes of use from the DSO and the energy provider perspectives. • DR for DSO’s predictive management – before the operating day; • DR for DSO’s real-time control – during the operating day; • DR for retailer’s day-ahead operation; • DR for retailer’s intraday operation.

Keywords: demand response, energy communities, flexible demand, local energy and flexibility markets

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Authors: Artur Krukowski, Emmanouela Vogiatzaki

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The article presents results from the AF3 project “Advanced Forest Fire Fighting” focused on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)-based 3D surveillance and 3D area mapping using high-resolution photogrammetric methods from multispectral imaging, also taking advantage of the 3D scanning techniques from the SCAN4RECO project. We also present a proprietary embedded sensor system used for the detection of fire ignitions in the forest using near-infrared based scanner with weight and form factors allowing it to be easily deployed on standard commercial micro-UAVs, such as DJI Inspire or Mavic. Results from real-life pilot trials in Greece, Spain, and Israel demonstrated added-value in the use of UAS for precise and reliable detection of forest fires, as well as high-resolution 3D aerial modeling for accurate quantification of human resources and equipment required for firefighting.

Keywords: forest wildfires, surveillance, fuel volume estimation, firefighting, ignition detectors, 3D modelling, UAV

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Authors: Rıza Gürhan Korkut, Metin Çelik, Süleyman Özkaynak

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The early-stage design and development projects for the freight village initiatives require a comprehensive analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data. Considering the literature review on structural and operational management requirements, this study proposed an original taxonomy on criterion structure to assess freight village conceptualization. The potential challenges and uncertainties of the developed taxonomy are extended. Besides requirement analysis, this study is also expected to contribute to forthcoming research on benchmarking of freight villages in different regions. The methodology used in this research is a systematic review on several articles as per their modelling approaches, sustainability, entities and decisions made together with the uncertainties and features of their models taken into consideration. The major findings of the study that are the categories for assessing the projects attributes on their environmental, socio-economical, accessibility and location aspects.

Keywords: logistics centers, freight village, operational management, taxonomy

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Authors: H. Ghodbane, A. A. Taleb, O. Kraa

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This paper presents geometric design of induction heating system. The objective of this design is to improve the temperature distribution in the load. The study of such a device requires the use of models or modeling representation, physical, mathematical, and numerical. This modeling is the basis of the understanding, the design, and optimization of these systems. The optimization technique is to find values of variables that maximize or minimize the objective function.

Keywords: optimization, modeling, geometric design system, temperature increase

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Authors: Elizabeth Stojanovski

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Associations between life events and various forms of cancers have been identified. The purpose of a recent random-effects meta-analysis was to identify studies that examined the association between adverse events associated with changes to financial status including decreased income and breast cancer risk. The same association was studied in four separate studies which displayed traits that were not consistent between studies such as the study design, location and time frame. It was of interest to pool information from various studies to help identify characteristics that differentiated study results. Two random-effects Bayesian meta-analysis models are proposed to combine the reported estimates of the described studies. The proposed models allow major sources of variation to be taken into account, including study level characteristics, between study variance, and within study variance and illustrate the ease with which uncertainty can be incorporated using a hierarchical Bayesian modelling approach.

Keywords: random-effects, meta-analysis, Bayesian, variation

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Authors: Muhammad Rasyid Angkotasan

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The soil is a dense granules and arrangement of the pores that are related to each other, so that the water can flow from one point which has higher energy to a point that has lower energy. The flow of water through the pores of the porous ground is urgently needed in water seepage estimates in ground water pumping problems, investigate for underground construction, as well as analyzing the stability of the construction of Weirs. Climate change resulted in long-term changes in the distribution of weather patterns are statistically throughout the period start time of decades to millions of years. In other words, changes in the average weather circumstances or a change in the distribution of weather events, on average, for example, the number of extreme weather events that increasingly a lot or a little. Climate change is limited to a particular regional or can occur in all regions of the Earth. Geographical location between two continents and two oceans and is located around the equator is klimatologis factor is the cause of flooding and drought in Indonesia. This caused Indonesia' geographical position is on a hemisphere with a tropical monsoon climate is very sensitive to climatic anomaly El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO). ENSO causes drought occurrence in sea surface temperature conditions in the Pacific Equator warms up to the middle part of the East (El Nino). Based on the analysis of the climate of the last 30 years show that there is a tendency, the formation of a new pattern of climate causes the onset of climate change. The impact of climate change on the occurrence of the agricultural sector is the bergesernya beginning of the dry season which led to the above-mentioned pattern planting due to drought. The impact of climate change (drought) which is very extreme in Indonesia affect the shrinkage dimensions grain land and reduced the value of a percentage of the soil Plasticity Index caused by climate change.

Keywords: climate change, soil shrinkage, plasticity index, shrinking dimensions

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Authors: Mihai Gheorghe

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Freelancing in IT has seen an increased popularity during the last years mainly because of the fast Internet adoption in the countries with emerging economies, correlated with the continuous seek for reduced development costs as well with the rise of online platforms which address planning, coordination, and various development tasks. This paper conducts an overview of the most relevant Freelance Marketplaces available and studies the market structure, distribution of the workforce and trends in IT freelancing.

Keywords: freelancing in IT, freelance marketplaces, freelance market structure, globalization, online staffing, trends in freelancing

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Authors: S. A. Che Osmi, W. M. F. W. Ishak, S. F. Che Osmi

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Nowadays the issues of water quality and water pollution have been a major problem across the country. A lot of management attempt to develop their own TMDL database in order to control the river pollution. Over the past decade, the mathematical modeling has been used as the tool for the development of TMDL. This paper presents the application of water quality modeling to develop the total maximum daily load (TMDL) information. To obtain the reliable database of TMDL, the appropriate water quality modeling should choose based on the available data provided. This paper will discuss on the use of several water quality modeling such as QUAL2E, QUAL2K, and EFDC to develop TMDL. The attempts to integrate several modeling are also being discussed in this paper. Based on this paper, the differences in the application of water quality modeling based on their properties such as one, two or three dimensional are showing their ability to develop the modeling of TMDL database.

Keywords: TMDL, water quality modeling, QUAL2E, EFDC

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Authors: Viktoriia Burkina, Vladimir Zlabek, Galia Zamaratskaia

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Cytochromes P450 (CYP) are important family of enzymes in Phase I metabolism. Environmental pollutants often act as inducers of the gene expression and activities CYP1A1 and CYP3A-like isoforms in fish. The activities are generally measured in the fish liver or gills, and less is known about tissue distribution of expression. In present study, the CYP1A1 and CYP3A-like activities were measured in rainbow trout liver, gill, intestine, heart, brain and gonads. The activities of CYP1A1 and CYP3A-like proteins were estimated as the rates of 7-ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylation (EROD) and benzyloxy-4-trifluoromethylcoumarin-O-debenzyloxylation (BFCOD), respectively. The CYP1A1 and CYP3A-like activities were detectable in all investigated fish tissues, with the highest activity in hepatic tissue followed by heart > brain > gill > intestine > gonads. To confirm the presence of CYP1A1 in different tissues, EROD activity was measured in presence of the selective inhibitors ellipticine (CYP1A1), ketoconazole (CYP3A), 8-methoxypsoralen (human CYP2A) and diallyl sulphide (CYP2E1). It was found that ellipticine, ketoconazole and 8-methoxypsoralen inhibited hepatic EROD activity by 88-98%. Ellipticine inhibited gill, intestine, and gonad EROD activity by 50%. In conclusion, EROD and BFCOD activities were detected in rainbow trout liver, gill, intestine, heart, brain and gonads. Further studies are needed to fully identify all CYP450 isoforms responsible for these activities. Acknowledgement: The study was financially supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic - projects „CENAKVA “(No. CZ.1.05/2.1.00/01.0024), “CENAKVA Center Development “(No. CZ.1.05/2.1.00/19.0380), “CENAKVA II “(No. LO1205 under the NPU I program), and "Development of USB - International mobility (No. CZ.02.2.69/0.0/0.0/16_027/0008364).

Keywords: BFCOD, EROD, fish, phase I metabolism, selective inhibitors

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Authors: Rakan Alajmi, Rahaf Alnazzawi, Yara Aljefri, Abdullah Alafif, Ali Alraddadi, Awadh Alamri

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Background: The distribution of physicians in different specialties across Saudi Arabia is determined by the career choices of medical students. Dermatology residency program is one of the highly competitive programs here in Saudi Arabia. Assessing and understanding the factors perceived to be attractive in choosing dermatology will aid the directors of the specialty programs to plan for a more balanced workforce distribution to better suit the needs of the specialties. Aim: The aim of our study is to determine and assess the factors perceived to be significantly attractive when choosing dermatology as a future specialty. Methods: The study is a cross-sectional study conducted in King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A validated questionnaire was sent electronically to clinical year medical students. In addition to the questionnaire, gender, grade point average, preferred specialty, and other socio-demographic data were assessed. Results: A total of 121 clinical years medical students completed the questionnaire, 8 (6.6%) preferred dermatology as a specialty. 76 (62.8%) of the participants score a grade point average of more than 4.5 and 83 students (68.6%) chose their specialty during clinical years. The appeal of being a dermatologist (P= 0.047), the portrayal of different specialities in the media (P= 0.005), and the likelihood that dermatologists can influence patients’ lives (P=0.010) were shown to be significantly attractive factors. Conclusion: There are many factors that are affecting students’ choices when choosing a medical specialty. The appeal of being a dermatologist, the portrayal of different specialities in the media, and the likelihood that dermatologists can influence patients’ lives were shown to be significantly attractive factors when choosing dermatology as a future specialty. Recognizing medical students’ specialty perception will lead them to a proper specialty tailored to their needs.

Keywords: dermatology, career choice, medical specialties, student's perception

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Authors: Vahidullah Tac, Ercan Gurses

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There have been numerous attempts at modelling carbon nanotube – polymer composites micromechanically in recent years, albeit to limited success. One of the major setbacks of the models used in the scientific community is the lack of regard to the different phases present in a nanocomposite. We employ a multi-phase micromechanical model that allows functionally grading certain phases to determine the mechanical properties of nanocomposites. The model has four distinct phases; the nanotube, the interface between the nanotube and polymer, the interphase, and the bulk matrix. Among the four phases, the interphase is functionally graded such that its moduli gradually decrease from some predetermined values to those of the bulk polymer. We find that the interface plays little role in stiffening/softening of the polymer per se , but instead, it is responsible for load transfer between the polymer and the carbon nanotube. Our results indicate that the carbon nanotube, as well as the interphase, have significant roles in stiffening the composite. The results are then compared to experimental findings and the interphase is tuned accordingly.

Keywords: carbon nanotube, composite, interphase, micromechanical modeling

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Authors: Yue Wang, Fan Chen

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After the economic reform in 1978, the urbanization in China has grown fast. It urged cities to expand in an unprecedented high speed. Villages around were annexed unprepared, and it turned out to be a new type of community called 'village in city.' Two things happened here. First, the locals gave up farming and turned to secondary industry and tertiary industry, as a result of losing their land. Secondly, attracted by the high income in cities and low rent here, plenty of migrants came into the community. This area is important to a city in rapid growth for providing a transitional zone. But thanks to its passivity and low development, 'village in city' has caused lots of trouble to the city. Densities of population and construction are both high, while facilities are severely inadequate. Unplanned and illegal structures are built, which creates a complex mixed-function area and leads to a bad residential area. Besides, the locals have a strong property right consciousness for the land. It holds back the transformation and development of the community. Although the land capitalization can bring significant benefits, it’s inappropriate to make a great financial compensation to the locals, and considering the large population of city migrants, it’s important to explore the relationship among the 'village in city,' city immigrants and the city itself. Taking the example of Hangzhou, this paper analyzed the developing process, functions spatial distribution, industrial structure and current traffic system of 'village in city.' Above the research on the community, this paper put forward a common method to make urban planning through the following ways: adding city functions, building civil facilities, re-planning functions spatial distribution, changing the constitution of local industry and planning new traffic system. Under this plan, 'village in city' finally can be absorbed into cities and make its own contribution to the urbanization.

Keywords: China, city immigrant, urbanization, village in city

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Authors: Gunawan Muhammad, Takashi Atsumi, Akira Komaru

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Pinctada fucata has been the most important pearl culture species in Japan and known as Japanese Akoya Pearl Oyster. However, during summer 1994, mass mortality devastated pearl culture in most parts of Japan. Therefore, pearl farmers started to import Chinese Pearl Oysters from Hainan Island that came from the same species because they are believed to be more resistant towards high water temperature, despite their lack of ability in producing high-quality pearls. The local farmers were then hybridized Japanese and Chinese pearl oysters and currently known as Hybrid pearl oysters, as an attempt to produce a new oyster's strain which is more resistant towards high temperature but also able to produce higher quality pearls. However, despite both strains were implanted by mantle tissues from the same group of donors, the thickness of pearl nacre produced by both strains was different, even though tablet thickness shows a rather similar pattern. Hence, this leads to a question of whether mother oysters play a major role in both nacre deposition rate and tablet thickness of pearls or not. This study first describes the nacre deposition rate of the shells of Japanese and Hybrid mother oysters towards the water temperature condition in Ago Bay, Mie Prefecture, Japan. Later, a comparative study was conducted among 4 shell positions that had been chosen according to the mantle tissue location and shell growth directions. A correlative study was then taken between shells and pearls nacre deposition rate to know whether mother oyster ability in depositing nacre on their shells is related to that of pearls. All the four shell positions were significantly different in shell nacre growth rate (Kruskal-Wallis, p-value < 0.05), and the third position have faster nacre growth among the other three both in Japanese and Hybrid strains, especially in warm temperature. The ability to deposit nacre between Japanese and Hybrid during warm water conditions (August and September) is also significantly different in almost all positions (Mann Whitney U, p-value < 0.01), Japanese oyster growth faster than Hybrid in all four positions. This leads to a different total growth among the two strains and a higher possibility of thicker nacre thickness in Japanese shell nacre. Tablet thickness is significantly different among all positions of shells (Kruskal-Wallis, p-value < 0.01), the 2nd position deposited rather thinner tablet thickness than the other three, including on the 6th month of culture which is more desirable in producing pearls with good luster. This result gives us new information that pearl growth rate is highly affected by the mother oysters; however, nacre tablet thickness might be the result of the shell matrix expressed by different mantle position from donor oysters.

Keywords: nacre, deposition, biomineralization, pearl aquaculture, pearl oyster, Akoya pearl, pearl

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Authors: Reneiloe Seodigeng, Malwandla Hanabe, Haleden Chiririwa, Hilary Rutto, Tumisang Seodigeng

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Neutralisation of acid-mine drainage (AMD) using limestone is cost effective, and good results can be obtained. However, this process has its limitations; it cannot be used for highly acidic water which consists of Fe(III). When Fe(III) reacts with CaCO₃, it results in armoring. Armoring slows the reaction, and additional alkalinity can no longer be generated. Limestone is easily accessible, so this problem can be easily dealt with. Experiments were carried out to evaluate the effect of PVC pipe length on ferric and ferrous ions. It was found that the shorter the pipe length the more these dissolved metals precipitate. The effect of the pipe length on the hydrogen ions was also studied, and it was found that these two have an inverse relationship. Experimental data were further compared with the model prediction data to see if they behave in a similar fashion. The model was able to predict the behaviour of 1.5m and 2 m pipes in ferric and ferrous ion precipitation.

Keywords: acid mine drainage, neutralisation, limestone, mathematical modelling

Procedia PDF Downloads 361