Search results for: seasonal unit root

Authors: Dipankar Deka

Abstract:

Exploration and production of Oil & Gas is a very challenging business on which a nation’s energy security depends on. The exploration and Production of hydrocarbon is a very precise and time-bound process. The striking rate of hydrocarbon in a drilled well is so uncertain that the success rate is only 31% in 2021 as per Rigzone. Huge cost is involved in drilling as well as the production of hydrocarbon from a well. Due to this very reason, no one can effort to lose a well because of faulty machines, which increases the non-productive time (NPT). Numerous activities that include manpower and machines synchronized together works in a precise way to complete the full cycle of exploration, rig movement, drilling and production of crude oil. There are several machines, both fixed and mobile, are used in the complete cycle. Most of these machines have a tight schedule of work operating in various drilling sites that are simultaneously being drilled, providing a very narrow window for maintenance. The shutdown of any of these machines for even a small period of time delays the whole project and increases the cost of production of hydrocarbon by manifolds. Moreover, these machines are custom designed exclusively for oil field operations to be only used in Mining Exploration Licensed area (MEL) earmarked by the government and are imported and very costly in nature. The cost of some of these mobile units like Well Logging Units, Coil Tubing units, Nitrogen pumping units etc. that are used for Well stimulation and activation process exceeds more than 1 million USD per unit. So the increase of self-life of these units also generates huge revenues during the extended duration of their services. In this paper we are considering the very critical mobile oil field equipment like Well Logging Unit, Coil Tubing unit, well-killing unit, Nitrogen pumping unit, MOL Oil Field Truck, Hot Oil Circulation Unit etc., and their extensive preventive maintenance in our auto workshop. This paper is the outcome of 10 years of structured automobile maintenance and minute documentation of each associated event that allowed us to perform the comparative study between the new practices of preventive maintenance over the age-old practice of system-based corrective maintenance and its impact on the self-life of the equipment.

Keywords: automobile maintenance, preventive maintenance, symptom based maintenance, workshop technologies

Procedia PDF Downloads 71

Authors: M. Taleb, G. Tail, F. Z. Kara, B. Djedouani T. Moussa

Abstract:

Necrophagous insects usually colonize cadavers within a short time after death. However, they are influenced by weather conditions, and their distribution and activity vary according to different time scales, which can affect the post-mortem interval (PMI) estimation. As no data have been published in Algeria on necrophagous insects visiting corpses, two field surveys were conducted in July 2012 and March 2013 at the National Institute for Criminalistics and Criminology (INCC) using rabbit carcasses (Oryctolagus cuniculus L.). The trials were designed to identify the necrophagous Diptera fauna of Algiers, Algeria and examine their variations according to environmental variables. Four hundred and eighteen Diptera adults belonging to five families were captured during this study. The species which were identified on human corpses in different regions of Algeria were also observed on the rabbit carcasses. Although seasonal variations of the species were observed, their abundance did not significantly vary between the two seasons. In addition to seasonal effects, the ambient temperature, the wind speed, and precipitation affect the number of trapped flies. These conclusions highlight the necessity of considering the environmental factors at a scene to estimate the post-mortem interval accurately. It is hoped that these findings provide basic information regarding the necrophagous Diptera fauna of Algeria.

Keywords: forensic entomology, necrophagous diptera, post-mortem interval, abiotic factors, Algeria

Procedia PDF Downloads 381

Authors: Arvind Dhingra, Tejinder Singh Saggu

Abstract:

As the energy demands rise and the pollution levels grow, it becomes imperative for us to save energy in all the fields in which it is used. The industrial sector is the major commercial energy consuming sector in India, where electrical energy is the most common and widely used type of energy. As the demand and price of energy are increasing day by day, therefore, the subject of energy conservation is a concern for most energy users particularly industry. Judicious use of energy becomes imperative for third world developing country being presence of energy crisis. This paper provides some measure for energy saving that can be commonly recommended for a rolling unit of steel industry. A case of hot rolling unit in JSL Stainless Ltd., Hisar for energy conservation is given. Overall improvement in energy consumption in light of the stated recommendation is illustrated along with the proposed utilization of the techniques and their applications. Energy conservation in conventional motor with replacement or use of star delta star converter, reduction in cable losses, replacement of filament of LED lamps, replacement of conventional transformer with cast resin dry type transformer and provision of energy management system for energy conservation and per unit production cost reduction are elaborated in this paper.

Keywords: energy audit, energy conservation, energy efficient motors

Procedia PDF Downloads 520

Authors: Nasiru Inuwa, Haruna Usman Modibbo, Yahya Zakari Abdullahi

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI), economic growth on carbon emissions in context of WAIFEM member countries. The Im-Pesaran-Shin panel unit root test, Kao residual based test panel cointegration technique and panel Granger causality tests over the period 1980-2012 within a multivariate framework were applied. The results of cointegration test revealed a long run equilibrium relationship among CO2 emissions, economic growth and foreign direct investment. The results of Granger causality tests revealed a unidirectional causality running from economic growth to CO2 emissions for the panel of WAIFEM countries at the 5% level. Also, Granger causality runs from economic growth to foreign direct investment without feedback. However, no causality relationship between foreign direct investment and CO2 emissions for the panel of WAIFEM countries was observed. The study therefore, suggest that policy makers from WAIFEM member countries should design policies aim at attracting more foreign direct investments inflow as well the adoption of cleaner production technologies in order to reduce CO2 emissions.

Keywords: economic growth, CO2 emissions, causality, WAIFEM

Procedia PDF Downloads 566

Authors: Sheraz Ahmad Choudhary

Abstract:

Health plays a vital role in the growth. The study examined the effect of health indicator on the growth of Pakistan. ARDL model is used to check the growth rate which is affected by the health by using the time series date of Pakistan from 1990 to 2017. Health indicator, fertility rate, life expectancy, foreign direct investment, and infant mortality rate are variables Where the unit root is applied to check the stationarity of the model. consequences find a significant relationship between GDP, foreign direct investment, fertility rate, and life expectancy in the short run, whereas mortality rate effected negatively to economic growth but have significant values. In the long run, foreign direct investment (FDI) and fertility rate(FR) have significantly influenced the GDP. The results show thateconomic growth is positively stimulated by most of the health indicators. The study accomplishes that nations can achieve a high level of economic growth by increasing wellbeing human capital.

Keywords: economic growth, health expenditures, fertility rate, human capital, life expectancy, foreign direct investment, and infant mortality rate

Procedia PDF Downloads 121

Authors: Raheleh Khademian, Roghayeh Aminian

Abstract:

For the study of salinity stress on Vicia villosa and calcium effect for modulation of that, an experiment was conducted under hydroponic condition, and some important morphological and physiological characteristics were evaluated. This experiment was conducted as a factorial based on randomized complete design with three replications. The treatments include salinity stress in three levels (0, 50, and 100 mM NaCl) and calcium in two levels (content in Hoagland solution and double content). The results showed that all morphological and physiological traits include root and shoot length, root and shoot wet and dry weight, leaf area, leaf chlorophyll content, RWC, CMS, and biological yield was significantly different from the control and is affected by the salinity stress severely. But, calcium effect on them was not significant despite of decreasing salinity effect.

Keywords: Vicia villossa, salinity stress, calcium, hydroponic

Procedia PDF Downloads 255

Authors: M. A. Hamza, H. A. Bosila, M. A. Zewil, I. M. Harridy

Abstract:

Silymarin is one active component extracted from milk thistle Silybum marianum; it is flavonoid recognized for its ability to benefit people with liver disorders and as a protective compound against liver damaging agents. For this reason, this research aims to study the effect of growth regulators (BA+NAA) and explant type (cotyledon, hypocotyl, and root) to increase the growth and active ingredients (silymarin) in callus of S. mariaum plant. The results showed that cotyledon explant which have been cultured in MS medium supplemented with BA 0.4 mg/l. +NAA 0.25 mg/l. Led to obtain the best results in callus fresh weight (1.847a) and callus dry weight (0.155a). On the other hand, the same explant (cotyledon) cultured in MS medium supplemented with BA 1.6 mg/l. + NAA 0.5 mg/l. The suitable condition to silymarin content (0.132 mg/100 mg dry weight). And also, it turned out, lack of importance of the use of hypocotyl and root in the production of callus and silymarin compared to cotyledon.

Keywords: silybum, callus, tissue culture, cotyledon

Procedia PDF Downloads 191

Authors: Kirandeep Kaur, Rohit Mehra, Pargin Bangotra

Abstract:

Radon and thoron are pervasive radioactive gases and so are their progenies. The progenies of radon and thoron are present in the indoor atmosphere as attached/unattached fractions. In the present work, seasonal variation of concentration of attached and total (attached + unattached) nanosized decay products of indoor radon and thoron has been studied in the dwellings of Bathinda District of Punjab using Deposition based progeny sensors over long integrated times, which are independent of air turbulence. The preliminary results of these measurements are reported particularly regarding DTPS (Direct Thoron Progeny Sensor) and DRPS (Direct Radon Progeny Sensor) for the first time in Bathinda. It has been observed that there is a strong linear relationship in total EERC (Equilibrium Equivalent Radon Concentration) and EETC (Equilibrium Equivalent Thoron Concentration) in rainy season (R2 = 0.83). Further a strong linear relation between total indoor radon concentration and attached fraction has also been observed for the same rainy season (R2= 0.91). The concentration of attached progeny of radon (EERCatt) is 76.3 % of the total Equilibrium Equivalent Radon Concentration (EERC).

Keywords: radon, thoron, progeny, DTPS/DRPS, EERC, EETC, seasonal variation

Procedia PDF Downloads 412

Authors: Shamraiz Ahmad, Riaz Ahmad, Adnan Maqsood

Abstract:

This paper describes the application of 2k-design of experiment in order to screen the geometric parameters and experimental refinement of ceiling fan blades. The ratio of the air delivery to the power consumed is commonly known as service value (SV) in ceiling fan designer’s community. Service value was considered as the response for 56 inch ceiling fan and four geometric parameters (bend position at root, bend position at tip, bent angle at root and bent angle at tip) of blade were analyzed. With two levels, the 4-design parameters along with their eleven interactions were studied and design of experiment was employed for experimental arrangement. Blade manufacturing and testing were done in a medium scale enterprise. The objective was achieved and service value of ceiling fan was increased by 10.4 % without increasing the cost of production and manufacturing system. Experiments were designed and results were analyzed using Minitab® 16 software package.

Keywords: parametric screening, 2k-design of experiment, ceiling fan, service value, performance improvement

Procedia PDF Downloads 556

Authors: Bachir Bentouati, Lakhdar Chaib, Saliha Chettih, Gai-Ge Wang

Abstract:

The problem of economic dispatch (ED) is the basic problem of power framework, its main goal is to find the most favorable generation dispatch to generate each unit, reduce the whole power generation cost, and meet all system limitations. A heuristic algorithm, recently developed called Stud Krill Herd (SKH), has been employed in this paper to treat non-convex ED problems. The proposed KH has been modified using Stud selection and crossover (SSC) operator, to enhance the solution quality and avoid local optima. We are demonstrated SKH effects in two case study systems composed of 13-unit and 40-unit test systems to verify its performance and applicability in solving the ED problems. In the above systems, SKH can successfully obtain the best fuel generator and distribute the load requirements for the online generators. The results showed that the use of the proposed SKH method could reduce the total cost of generation and optimize the fulfillment of the load requirements.

Keywords: stud krill herd, economic dispatch, crossover, stud selection, valve-point effect

Procedia PDF Downloads 193

Authors: Jugal K. Prajapat, Manivannan M.

Abstract:

In this article we have studied a class of sense preserving harmonic mappings in the unit disk D. Let B⁰H (α, β) denote the class of sense-preserving harmonic mappings f=h+g ̅ in the open unit disk D and satisfying the condition |z h״(z)+α (h׳(z)-1) | ≤ β - |z g″(z)+α g′(z)| (α > -1, β > 0). We have proved that B⁰H (α, β) is close-to-convex in D. We also prove that the functions in B⁰H (α, β) are stable harmonic univalent, stable harmonic starlike and stable harmonic convex in D for different values of its parameters. Further, the coefficient estimates, growth results, area theorem, boundary behavior, convolution and convex combination properties of the class B⁰H (α, β) of harmonic mapping are obtained.

Keywords: analytic, univalent, starlike, convex and close-to-convex

Procedia PDF Downloads 169

Authors: Ch. Sandeep Kumar Subudhi, S. Sivanandam

Abstract:

Our system is to monitor the human body temperature, blood pressure (BP), Pulse Rate and ECG and tracking the patient location. In our system the body temperature is detected by using LM35 temperature sensor, blood pressure is detected by the BP sensor, pulse rate is detected by the ear plug pulse sensor and the ECG is detected by the three lead ECG sensor in the working environment of the patient. The sensed information is sent to the PIC16F877 microcontroller through signal conditioning circuit. A desired amount of sensor value is set and if it is exceeded preliminary steps should be taken by indication by buzzer. The sensor information will be transmitted from the patient unit to the main controller unit with the help of Zigbee communication medium which is connected with the microcontrollers in the both units. The main controller unit will send those sensor data as well as the location of that patient by the help of GPS module to the observer/doctor. The observer/doctor can receive the SMS sent by GSM module and further decision can be taken. The message is sent to a cell phone using global system mobile (GSM) Modem. MAX232 acts as a driver between microcontroller and modem.

Keywords: LM35, heart beat sensor, ECG Sensor, BP Sensor, Zigbee module, GSM module, GPS module, PIC16F877A microcontroller

Procedia PDF Downloads 374

Authors: Nashalla Gwyn Nyinda

Abstract:

The ancient system of Tibetan Medicine, known as Sowa Rigpa across the Himalayan regions, is a systematic system of healing encouraging balance primarily through diet and behavior modifications. With the rise of the popularity of Tibetan Medicine, compliance is critical to successful treatment outcomes. As patients learn more about who they are as individuals and how their elemental balances or imbalances affect disorders and mental-emotional balance, they develop faith and dedication to their healing process. Specifically, regarding diet and behavior and the basic principles of the medical system, patient compliance increases dramatically in all treatment areas when they understand why a treatment or dietary prescription guidance is effective. Successful responses to Tibetan treatment rely on a buy-in from the patient. Trust between the slower process of Traditional medicine treatments, the Tibetan physician and the patient is a cornerstone of treatment. The resulting decrease in the use of allopathic medicine and better health outcomes for acute and chronic disorders are well documented. This paper addresses essential points of the Tibetan Medicine system, dialogue between doctor and patient focused on appropriate and seasonal changing dietetics. Such fluctuating treatment approaches, based on external elemental factors, dramatically increase treatment outcomes. Specifically, this work addresses why allopathic medicine models may need more trust development between practitioner and patient.

Keywords: compliancy in treatment, diet and lifestyle medicine, nature and elements as medicine, seasonal diets, Sowa Rigpa, traditional Tibetan medicine, treatment outcomes

Procedia PDF Downloads 56

Authors: Kyomin Lee, Joohee Kim, Sangho Kang

Abstract:

The commercial nuclear power reactor in South Korea, Kori Unit 1, which was a 587 MWe pressurized water reactor that started operation since 1978, was permanently shut down in June 2017 without an additional operating license extension. The Kori 1 Unit is scheduled to become the nuclear power unit to enter the decommissioning phase. In this study, the preliminary evaluation of the decommissioning wastes for the Kori Unit 1 was performed based on the following series of process: firstly, the plant inventory is investigated based on various documents (i.e., equipment/ component list, construction records, general arrangement drawings). Secondly, the radiological conditions of systems, structures and components (SSCs) are established to estimate the amount of radioactive waste by waste classification. Third, the waste management strategies for Kori Unit 1 including waste packaging are established. Forth, selection of the proper decontamination and dismantling (D&D) technologies is made considering the various factors. Finally, the amount of decommissioning waste by classification for Kori 1 is estimated using the DeCAT program, which was developed by KEPCO-E&C for a decommissioning cost estimation. The preliminary evaluation results have shown that the expected amounts of decommissioning wastes were less than about 2% and 8% of the total wastes generated (i.e., sum of clean wastes and radwastes) before/after waste processing, respectively, and it was found that the majority of contaminated material was carbon or alloy steel and stainless steel. In addition, within the range of availability of information, the results of the evaluation were compared with the results from the various decommissioning experiences data or international/national decommissioning study. The comparison results have shown that the radioactive waste amount from Kori Unit 1 decommissioning were much less than those from the plants decommissioned in U.S. and were comparable to those from the plants in Europe. This result comes from the difference of disposal cost and clearance criteria (i.e., free release level) between U.S. and non-U.S. The preliminary evaluation performed using the methodology established in this study will be useful as a important information in establishing the decommissioning planning for the decommissioning schedule and waste management strategy establishment including the transportation, packaging, handling, and disposal of radioactive wastes.

Keywords: characterization, classification, decommissioning, decontamination and dismantling, Kori 1, radioactive waste

Procedia PDF Downloads 206

Authors: Ikrima Zaleda Zia, Devi Fitri Kumalasari, Rosita Khusna, Farah Hidayati, Ilham Fajrul Haq, Amin Yusuf Efendi

Abstract:

Fertilizer is one of the production factors that are important to agriculture. Fertilizers contribution to the agricultural sector improvement is quite high. Fertilizers scarcity on the society are giving effect to agricultural sector, that is decreasing farmers production. Through a system called Kemal Propuri, society will be taught how to be independent, especially in terms of supplying the fertilizer and how to earn extra income besides of relying on the agriculture production. This research aims to determine implementation measures of Kemal Propuri in realizing farmers independence. This research was designed to use descriptive research with a qualitative approach. In this case, writers are trying to make an illustration of the increasing role of KUD (rural unit cooperative) through Kemal Propuri system (Independence System Through Individual Fertilizer Production) towards farmer independence. It can be concluded that Kemal Propuri system can contribute in order to achieve farmers independence. Independence fertilizer production will overcome farmers dependence of the subsidized fertilizer from the government.

Keywords: Kemal Propuri, KUD (Rural Unit Cooperative), independence farmers, fertilizer production

Procedia PDF Downloads 379

Authors: Togzhan D. Mukasheva, Anel A. Omirbekova, Raikhan S. Sydykbekova, Ramza Zh. Berzhanova, Lyudmila V. Ignatova

Abstract:

Following plants-barley (Hordeum sativum), alfalfa (Medicago sativa), grass mixture (red fescue-75%, long-term ryegrass - 20% Kentucky bluegrass - 10%), oilseed rape (Brassica napus biennis), resistant to growth in the contaminated soil with oil content of 15.8 g / kg 25.9 g / kg soil were used. Analysis of the population showed that the oil pollution reduces the number of bacteria in the rhizosphere and rhizoplane of plants and enhances the amount of spore-forming bacteria and saprotrophic micromycetes. It was shown that regardless of the plant, dominance of Pseudomonas and Bacillus genera bacteria was typical for the rhizosphere and rhizoplane of plants. The frequency of bacteria of these genera was more than 60%. Oil pollution changes the ratio of occurrence of various types of bacteria in the rhizosphere and rhizoplane of plants. Besides the Pseudomonas and Bacillus genera, in the presence of hydrocarbons in the root zone of plants dominant and most typical were the representatives of the Mycobacterium and Rhodococcus genera. Together the number was between 62% to 72%.

Keywords: pollution, root system, micromycetes, identification

Procedia PDF Downloads 487

Authors: David C. Ni

Abstract:

In the previous efforts, we constructed N-Body Systems by an extended Blaschke product (EBP), which represents a non-temporal and nonlinear extension of Lorentz transformation. In this construction, we rely only on two parameters, nonlinear degree, and relative momentum to characterize the systems. We further explored root computation via iteration with an algorithm extended from Jenkins-Traub method. The solution sets demonstrate a form of σ+ i [-t, t], where σ and t are the real numbers, and the [-t, t] shows various canonical distributions. In this paper, we correlate the convergent sets in the original domain with solution sets, which demonstrating large-deviation distributions in the codomain. We proceed to compare our approach with the formula or principles, such as Donsker-Varadhan and Wentzell-Freidlin theories. The deterministic model based on this construction allows us to explore applications in the areas of finance and statistical mechanics.

Keywords: nonlinear Lorentz transformation, Blaschke equation, iteration solutions, root computation, large deviation distribution, deterministic model

Procedia PDF Downloads 388

Authors: Dagnija Blumberga, Toms Prodanuks, Ivars Veidenbergs, Andra Blumberga

Abstract:

Gas condensing units with inner tubes heat exchangers represent third generation technology and differ from second generation heat and mass transfer units, which are fulfilled by passive filling material layer. The first one improves heat and mass transfer by increasing cooled contact surface of gas and condensate drops and film formed in inner tubes heat exchanger. This paper presents a selection of significant factors which influence the heat and mass transfer. Experimental planning is based on the research and analysis of main three independent variables; velocity of water and gas as well as density of spraying. Empirical mathematical models show that the coefficient of heat transfer is used as dependent parameter which depends on two independent variables; water and gas velocity. Empirical model is proved by the use of experimental data of two independent gas condensing units in Lithuania and Russia. Experimental data are processed by the use of heat transfer criteria-Kirpichov number. Results allow drawing the graphical nomogram for the calculation of heat and mass transfer conditions in the innovative and energy efficient gas cooling unit.

Keywords: gas condensing unit, filling, inner heat exchanger, package, spraying, tunes

Procedia PDF Downloads 284

Authors: Qiang Zhang, Chun Yuan

Abstract:

Since the PU (Prediction Unit) decision process is the most time consuming part of the emerging HEVC (High Efficient Video Coding) standardin intra and inter frame coding, this paper proposes the fast PU decision algorithm and speed up the algorithm using CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture). In intra frame coding, the fast PU decision algorithm uses the texture features to skip intra-frame prediction or terminal the intra-frame prediction for smaller PU size. In inter frame coding of HEVC, the fast PU decision algorithm takes use of the similarity of its own two Nx2N size PU's motion vectors and the hierarchical structure of CU (Coding Unit) partition to skip some modes of PU partition, so as to reduce the motion estimation times. The accelerate algorithm using CUDA is based on the fast PU decision algorithm which uses the GPU to make the motion search and the gradient computation could be parallel computed. The proposed algorithm achieves up to 57% time saving compared to the HM 10.0 with little rate-distortion losses (0.043dB drop and 1.82% bitrate increase on average).

Keywords: HEVC, PU decision, inter prediction, intra prediction, CUDA, parallel

Procedia PDF Downloads 391

Authors: Keiwoma Mark Yila, Mathew Lamrana Siaffa Gboku, Mohamed Sahr Lebbie, Lamin Ibrahim Kamara

Abstract:

Rainfall and temperature are the important variables which are often used to trace climate variability and change. A perception study and analysis of climatic data were conducted to assess the changes in rainfall and temperature and their impact on crop production in Moyamba district, Sierra Leone. For the perception study, 400 farmers were randomly selected from farmer-based organizations (FBOs) in 4 chiefdoms, and 30 agricultural extension workers (AWEs) in the Moyamba district were purposely selected as respondents. Descriptive statistics and Kendall’s test of concordance was used to analyze the data collected from the farmers and AEWs. Data for the analysis of variability and trends of rainfall and temperature from 1991 to 2020 were obtained from the Sierra Leone Meteorological Agency and Njala University and grouped into monthly, seasonal and annual time series. Regression analysis was used to determine the statistical values and trend lines for the seasonal and annual time series data. The Mann-Kendall test and Sen’s Slope Estimator were used to analyze the trends' significance and magnitude, respectively. The results of both studies show evidence of climate change in the Moyamba district. A substantial number of farmers and AEWs perceived a decrease in the annual rainfall amount, length of the rainy season, a late start and end of the rainy season, an increase in the temperature during the day and night, and a shortened harmattan period over the last 30 years. Analysis of the meteorological data shows evidence of variability in the seasonal and annual distribution of rainfall and temperature, a decreasing and non-significant trend in the rainy season and annual rainfall, and an increasing and significant trend in seasonal and annual temperature from 1991 to 2020. However, the observed changes in rainfall and temperature by the farmers and AEWs partially agree with the results of the analyzed meteorological data. The majority of the farmers perceived that; adverse weather conditions have negatively affected crop production in the district. Droughts, high temperatures, and irregular rainfall are the three major adverse weather events that farmers perceived to have contributed to a substantial loss in the yields of the major crops cultivated in the district. In response to the negative effects of adverse weather events, a substantial number of farmers take no action due to their lack of knowledge and technical or financial capacity to implement climate-sensitive agricultural (CSA) practices. Even though few farmers are practising some CSA practices in their farms, there is an urgent need to build the capacity of farmers and AEWs to adapt to and mitigate the negative impacts of climate change. The most priority support needed by farmers is the provision of climate-resilient crop varieties, whilst the AEWs need training on CSA practices.

Keywords: climate change, crop productivity, farmer’s perception, rainfall, temperature, Sierra Leone

Procedia PDF Downloads 65

Authors: Szilvia Várallyay, Béla Kovács, Éva Bódi, Farzeneh Garousi, Szilvia Veres

Abstract:

Arsenic (As) is a naturally occurring substance that can be present in soil, water and air. Vegetables, fruits, and other plants that grow in contaminated soils which are able to accumulate arsenic. Arsenic when presents in plant cells, has various negative physiological effects and when presents in soil will be inorgaic form, namely arsenite (As(III)) and arsenate (As(V)). These two forms of arsenic disrupt plant metabolism by inhibiting its growth and these arsenic species has negative effect on nutrient uptake. A rhizobox experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of arsenite and arsenate on root growth of sunflower seedlings. Sunflower plants were grown in climatic room under irradiance of 300 µmol m-2 s-1, 16-h day and 8-h night photoperiod, day/night temperature of 25/20°C and relative humidity of 65-75%. We applied arsenic in form of arsenite (NaAsO2) and arsenate (KH2AsO4), respectively. The applied arsenic treatments was 0, 10, 30, 90 mg.kg-1. After disinfection, seeds were germinated between moist filter papers. Seedlings with 2-3 cm coleoptils were placed into rhizoboxes. In the rhizoboxes the growing and daily growing rhythm of roots of sunflower can be followed up, moreover possible phytotoxic symptoms of roots resulting from increasing arsenic can be seen. Weights of rhizoboxes were measured daily and also evaporated water added each day. The lengths of roots were measured daily until seedlings roots get at the end of the rhizoboxes. Negative correlation was observed between the higher concentration of arsenic in the soil and the growth of sunflower seedlings roots. The effect of arsenic toxicity was more considerable in 90 mg.kg-1 arsenic treatment than lower concentration. The same arsenite concentration causes slower growth in case of sunflower plant than the same arsenate concentration produced.

Keywords: arsenic, rhizobox experiment, sunflower, root growth

Procedia PDF Downloads 411

Authors: Abdelrady K. Nasr, Ezzat M. A. Noweer, Mahmoud M. Ramadan

Abstract:

The root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita Kofoid and White (Tylenchida: Heteroderidae), is one of the most important plant-parasitic nematodes attacking large numbers of vegetable and fruit plants in Egypt. Moreover, the soil predatory mites (Protogamasellopsisdenticus (Nasr), Gaeolaelaps longus (Hafez, El-Badry and Nasr) and Cosmolaelapskeni(Hafez, El-Badry and Nasr) are one of the excellent agents for biocontrol, this study was designed to evaluate the predation of the root-knot nematode (M. incognita) using water agar technique. The water agar medium was used as an experimental medium to rear both the mentioned mites and egg masses; these media allowed observe the development and predacious manner. The present study revealed that the predatory mites successfully developed and reproduced their egg masses. The mean life cycle of the tested mites P. denticus, G. longus, and C.keni were 10.33, 12.00, and 9.77 days, respectively. The mean total life span of the female of P. denticus, G. longus, and C. keni on egg-mases of M. incognita were obtained 63.44, 77.55 and 70.11 days, respectively, and the mean total fecundity of predatory mites, P. denticus, G.longus, and C. keni on egg-mases nematode were observed 62.66, 31.61 and 11.83 eggs, respectively. The mean total number of eggs laid by female P. denticus was significantly higher than other predatory mites, G. longus and C. keni. According to the obtained results, the tested predacious mites can be applied to combat the spreading of M. incognita in the agriculture field as a safe and effective biological control.

Keywords: biological control, plant-parasitic nematodes, predaceous mites, water agar

Procedia PDF Downloads 71

Authors: Anil F. Felek, Mehmet M. Ozcan, Faruk Akyazi

Abstract:

Volatile oils of medicinal and aromatic plants are important for managing nematological problems in agriculture. In present study, volatile oils extracted from five medicinal and aromatic plants including Origanum onites (flower+steam+leaf), Salvia officinalis (leaf), Lippia citriodora (leaf+seed), Mentha spicata (leaf) and Mentha longifolia (leaf) were tested for egg hatching inhibition activity against root-knot nematode Meloidogyne hapla under laboratory conditions. The essential oils were extracted using water distillation method with a Clevenger system. For the homogenisation process of the oils, 2% gum arabic solution was used and 4 µl oils was added into 1ml filtered gum arabic solution to prepare the last stock solution. 5 ml of stock solution and 1 ml of M. hapla egg suspension (about 100 eggs) were added into petri dishes. Gum arabic solution was used as control. Seven days after exposure to oils at room temperature (26±2 °C), the cumulative hatched and unhatched eggs were counted under 40X inverted light microscope and Abbott’s formula was used to calculate egg hatching inhibition rates. As a result, the highest inhibition rate was found as 54% for O. onites. In addition, the other inhibition rates varied as 31.4%, 21.6%, 23.8%, 25.67% for the other plants, S. officinalis, M. longifolia, M. spicata and L. citriodora, respectively. Carvacrol was found as the main component (68.8%) of O. onites followed by Thujone 27.77% for S. officinalis, I-Menthone 76.92% for M. longifolia, Carvone 27.05% for M. spicata and Citral 19.32% for L. citriodora.

Keywords: egg hatching, Meloidogyne hapla, medicinal and aromatic plants, root-knot nematodes, volatile oils

Procedia PDF Downloads 260

Authors: Abdallah Sofiane Berrouk, Dara Satyadileep

Abstract:

This paper investigates the feasibility of retrofitting a middle-east based commercial amine sweetening unit with a split-flow scheme which involves withdrawing a portion of partially stripped semi-lean solvent from the stripping column and re-injecting it in the absorption column to reduce the overall energy consumption of the unit. This method is comprehensively explored by performing parametric analysis of the split fraction of the semi-lean solvent using a kinetics based process simulator ProMax V 3.2. Re-boiler duty, condenser duty, solvent cooling and pumping loads are analysed as functions of a split fraction of the semi-lean solvent from the stripper. It is shown that the proposed method significantly reduces the overall energy consumption of the unit resulting in an annual savings of 325,000 USD. The thorough economic analysis is performed using Aspen Economic Evaluation V 8.4 to reveal that the retrofit scheme pays back the capital cost in less than eight years and is highly recommended for any commercial plant having suitable provisions for solvent inlet/withdrawal on the columns.

Keywords: split flow, Amine, gas processing, optimization

Procedia PDF Downloads 323

Authors: Abdessamad Dali-Ali, Houaria Beldjillali, Fouzia Agag, Asmaa Oukebdane, Ramzi Tidjani, Arslane Bettayeb, Khadidja Meddeber, Radia Dali-Yahia, Nori Midoun

Abstract:

Healthcare-associated infections are a real public health problem, especially in intensive care units. The aim of our study was to describe the epidemiological profile and to estimate the incidence of these infections at the intensive care unit of our teaching hospital. A prospective study was conducted, from June 2012 to December 2013. During this period, 305 patients having a duration of hospitalization equal or more than 48 hours were included in the study. In terms of the incidence of healthcare associated infections, nosocomial pneumonia occupied the first position with a cumulative incidence rate of 20.0%, followed by bacteremia (5.6%), central venous catheter infections (4%), and urinary tract infections (3%). In the case of isolated microorganisms, Gram-negative bacilli not enterobacteriaceae occupied the first place with 48.5%, followed by enterobacteria (32.1%). Acinetobacter baumannii was the most common germ (27.6%). Our study showed that the rate of health-care-associated infections was relatively high in the intensive care unit. A control program to reduce all infections is a priority for the Infection Control Associated Committee.

Keywords: epidemiological profile, healthcare associated infections, intensive care units, teaching hospital of Oran, Algeria

Procedia PDF Downloads 294

Authors: Bharatendra Rai

Abstract:

Predictive data analysis and modeling involving machine learning techniques become challenging in presence of too many explanatory variables or features. Presence of too many features in machine learning is known to not only cause algorithms to slow down, but they can also lead to decrease in model prediction accuracy. This study involves housing dataset with 79 quantitative and qualitative features that describe various aspects people consider while buying a new house. Boruta algorithm that supports feature selection using a wrapper approach build around random forest is used in this study. This feature selection process leads to 49 confirmed features which are then used for developing predictive random forest models. The study also explores five different data partitioning ratios and their impact on model accuracy are captured using coefficient of determination (r-square) and root mean square error (rsme).

Keywords: housing data, feature selection, random forest, Boruta algorithm, root mean square error

Procedia PDF Downloads 315

Authors: Jun Gil Ahn, Jong Tae Kim

Abstract:

In this paper, we study the sensor fusion structure on the multipoint control unit (MCU). Sensor fusion using Kalman filter for 9-axis sensors is considered. The 9-axis inertial sensor is the combination of 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis gyroscope and 3-axis magnetometer. We implement the sensor fusion structure among the sensor hubs in MCU and measure the execution time, power consumptions, and total energy. Experiments with real data from 9-axis sensor in 20Mhz show that the average power consumptions are 44mW and 48mW on Cortx-M0 and Cortex-M3 MCU, respectively. Execution times are 613.03 us and 305.6 us respectively.

Keywords: 9-axis sensor, Kalman filter, MCU, sensor fusion

Procedia PDF Downloads 499

Authors: Atinkut Atinafu Yilma, Eyob Messele Sefene

Abstract:

Anomaly detection is one of the essential mechanisms to control and reduce production loss, especially in today's smart manufacturing. Quick anomaly detection aids in reducing the cost of production by minimizing the possibility of producing defective products. However, developing an anomaly detection model that can rapidly detect a production change is challenging. This paper proposes Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) combined with Random Forest (RF) to detect anomalies in the production process in real-time quickly. The GRU is used as a feature detector, and RF as a classifier using the input features from GRU. The model was tested using various synthesis and real-world datasets against benchmark methods. The results show that the proposed GRU-RF outperforms the benchmark methods with the shortest time taken to detect anomalies in the production process. Based on the investigation from the study, this proposed model can eliminate or reduce unnecessary production costs and bring a competitive advantage to manufacturing industries.

Keywords: anomaly detection, multivariate time series data, smart manufacturing, gated recurrent unit network, random forest

Procedia PDF Downloads 105

Authors: Shripad Kulkarni

Abstract:

Plant disease is an impairment of the normal state of a plant that interrupts or modifies its vital functions. Disease occurs on different parts of plants and cause heavy losses. Diagnosis of Problem is very important before planning any management practice and this can be done based on appearance of the crop, examination of the root and examination of the soil. There are various types of diseases such as biotic (transmissible) which accounts for ~30% whereas , abiotic (not transmissible) diseases are the major one with ~70% incidence. Plant diseases caused by different groups of organism’s belonging fungi, bacteria, viruses, nematodes and few others have remained important in causing significant losses in different crops indicating the urgent need of their integrated management. Various factors favor disease development and different steps and methods are involved in management of diseases under protected condition. Management of diseases through botanicals and bioagents by modifying root and aerial environment, vector management along with care to be taken while managing the disease are analysed.

Keywords: organic production system, diseases, bioagents and polyhouse, agriculture

Procedia PDF Downloads 400

Authors: Mehdi Ganjkhani, Sobhan Badakhshan, Seyedvahid Hosseini

Abstract:

Power plants exploit striking proportion of underground water consumption. Correspondingly, natural gas-fired power plants need less water than the other conventional power plants. Therefore, shifting unit commitment planning toward these power plants would help to save water consumption. This paper discusses the impacts of water consumption limitation on natural gas consumption and vice versa as a short-term water consumption management solution. To do so, conventional unit commitment problem is extended by adding water consumption and natural gas constraints to the previous constrains. The paper presents the impact of water saving on natural gas demands as well as natural gas shortage on water demand. Correspondingly, the additional cost of electricity production according to the aforementioned constraints is evaluated. Finally, a test system is applied to investigate potentials and impacts of water saving and natural gas shortage. Different scenarios are conducted and the results are presented. The results of the study illustrate that in order to use less water for power production it needs to use more natural gas. Meanwhile, natural gas shortage causes to utilize more amount of water in aggregate.

Keywords: electric energy generation system, underground water sources, unit commitment, water consumption saving, natural gas

Procedia PDF Downloads 185