Search results for: fifth-generation district heating network

Authors: Samson T. Obafemi, Seraphin D. Eyono-Obono

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Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are pervasive nowadays, including in education where they are expected to improve the performance of learners. However, the hope placed in ICTs to find viable solutions to the problem of poor academic performance in schools in the developing world has not yet yielded the expected benefits. This problem serves as a motivation to this study whose aim is to examine the perceptions of educators on the advantages and disadvantages of e-learning. This aim will be subdivided into two types of research objectives. Objectives on the identification and design of theories and models will be achieved using content analysis and literature review. However, the objective on the empirical testing of such theories and models will be achieved through the survey of educators from different schools in the Pinetown District of the South African Kwazulu-Natal province. SPSS is used to quantitatively analyse the data collected by the questionnaire of this survey using descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations after assessing the validity and the reliability of the data. The main hypothesis driving this study is that there is a relationship between the demographics of educators’ and their adherence to learning theories on one side, and their perceptions on the advantages and disadvantages of e-learning on the other side, as argued by existing research; but this research views these learning theories under three perspectives: educators’ adherence to self-regulated learning, to constructivism, and to progressivism. This hypothesis was fully confirmed by the empirical study except for the demographic factor where teachers’ level of education was found to be the only demographic factor affecting the perceptions of educators on the advantages and disadvantages of e-learning.

Keywords: academic performance, e-learning, learning theories, teaching and learning

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Authors: Tsega Asresa Mengistu, Getahun Tigistu

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Computer vision is an artificial intelligence subfield that allows computers and systems to retrieve meaning from digital images. It is applied in various fields of study self-driving cars, video surveillance, agriculture, Quality control, Health care, construction, military, and everyday life. Aromatic and medicinal plants are botanical raw materials used in cosmetics, medicines, health foods, and other natural health products for therapeutic and Aromatic culinary purposes. Herbal industries depend on these special plants. These plants and their products not only serve as a valuable source of income for farmers and entrepreneurs, and going to export not only industrial raw materials but also valuable foreign exchange. There is a lack of technologies for the classification and identification of Aromatic and medicinal plants in Ethiopia. The manual identification system of plants is a tedious, time-consuming, labor, and lengthy process. For farmers, industry personnel, academics, and pharmacists, it is still difficult to identify parts and usage of plants before ingredient extraction. In order to solve this problem, the researcher uses a deep learning approach for the efficient identification of aromatic and medicinal plants by using a convolutional neural network. The objective of the proposed study is to identify the aromatic and medicinal plant Parts and usages using computer vision technology. Therefore, this research initiated a model for the automatic classification of aromatic and medicinal plants by exploring computer vision technology. Morphological characteristics are still the most important tools for the identification of plants. Leaves are the most widely used parts of plants besides the root, flower and fruit, latex, and barks. The study was conducted on aromatic and medicinal plants available in the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research center. An experimental research design is proposed for this study. This is conducted in Convolutional neural networks and Transfer learning. The Researcher employs sigmoid Activation as the last layer and Rectifier liner unit in the hidden layers. Finally, the researcher got a classification accuracy of 66.4 in convolutional neural networks and 67.3 in mobile networks, and 64 in the Visual Geometry Group.

Keywords: aromatic and medicinal plants, computer vision, deep convolutional neural network

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Authors: Souhir Chelly, Chahida Harizi, Aicha Hechaichi, Sihem Aissaoui, Leila Ben Ayed, Maha Bergaoui, Mohamed Kouni Chahed

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Introduction: The International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC) is part of the morbidity classification system. It had 17 chapters, and each is coded by an alphanumeric code: the letter corresponds to the chapter, the number to a paragraph in the chapter. The objective of this study is to show the utility of this classification in the coding of the reasons for demand for care in Primary health care (PHC), its advantages and limits. Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted in 4 PHC in Ariana district. Data on the demand for care during 2 days in the same week were collected. The coding of the information was done according to the CISP. The data was entered and analyzed by the EPI Info 7 software. Results: A total of 523 demands for care were investigated. The patients who came for the consultation are predominantly female (62.72%). Most of the consultants are young with an average age of 35 ± 26 years. In the ICPC, there are 7 rubrics: 'infections' is the most common reason with 49.9%, 'other diagnoses' with 40.2%, 'symptoms and complaints' with 5.5%, 'trauma' with 2.1%, 'procedures' with 2.1% and 'neoplasm' with 0.3%. The main advantage of the ICPC is the fact of being a standardized tool. It is very suitable for classification of the reasons for demand for care in PHC according to their specificity, capacity to be used in a computerized medical file of the PHC. Its current limitations are related to the difficulty of classification of some reasons for demand for care. Conclusion: The ICPC has been developed to provide healthcare with a coding reference that takes into account their specificity. The CIM is in its 10th revision; it would gain from revision to revision to be more efficient to be generalized and used by the teams of PHC.

Keywords: international classification of primary care, medical file, primary health care, Tunisia

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Authors: Lidija Trandafilovic, Kirsten Leistner, Marie Stenfeldt, Louise Olsson

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Ammonia Selective Catalytic Reduction (NH3 SCR), is one of the most efficient post combustion abatement technologies for removing NOx from diesel engines. In order to remove soot, diesel particulate filters (DPF) are used. Recently, SCR coated filters have been introduced, which captures soot and simultaneously is active for ammonia SCR. There are large advantages with using SCR coated filters, such as decreased volume and also better light off characteristics, since both the SCR function as well as filter function is close to the engine. The objective of this work was to examine the effect of soot, produced using an engine bench, on Cu/SSZ-13 catalysts. The impact of soot on Cu/SSZ-13 in standard SCR, NH3 oxidation, NH3 temperature programmed desorption (TPD), as well as soot oxidation (with and without water) was examined using flow reactor measurements. In all experiments, prior to the soot loading, the fresh activity of Cu/SSZ-13 was recorded with stepwise increasing the temperature from 100°C till 600°C. Thereafter, the sample was loaded with soot and the experiment was repeated in the temperature range from 100°C till 700°C. The amount of CO and CO2 produced in each experiment is used to calculate the soot oxidized at each steady state temperature. The soot oxidized during the heating to next temperature step is included, e.g. the CO+CO2 produced when increasing the temperature to 600°C is added to the 600°C step. The influence of the two factors seem to be of the most importance to soot oxidation: ammonia and water. The influence of water on soot oxidation shift the maximum of CO2 and CO production towards lower temperatures, thus water increases the soot oxidation. Moreover, when adding ammonia to the system it is clear that the soot oxidation is lowered in the presence of ammonia, resulting in larger integrated COx at 500°C for O2+H2O, while opposite results at 600 °C was received where more was oxidised for O2+H2O+NH3 case. To conclude the presence of ammonia reduces the soot oxidation, which is in line with the ammonia TPD results where we found ammonia storage on the soot. Interestingly, during ammonia SCR conditions the activity for soot oxidation is regained at 500°C. At this high temperature the SCR zone is very short, thus the majority of the catalyst is not exposed to ammonia and therefore the inhibition effect of ammonia is not observed.

Keywords: NH3-SCR, Cu/SSZ-13, soot, zeolite

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Authors: Ali Isapour, Ramin Nateghi

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— Markov parameters are unique parameters of the system and remain unchanged under similarity transformations. Markov parameters from a power series that is convergent only if the system matrix’s eigenvalues are inside the unity circle. Therefore, Markov parameters of a stable discrete-time system are convergent. In this study, we aim to realize the system based on Markov parameters by using Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), and this end, we use Flexible Neural Networks. Realization means determining the elements of matrices A, B, C, and D.

Keywords: Markov parameters, realization, activation function, flexible neural network

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Authors: Amel Ltifi, Ahmed Zouinkhi, Mohamed Salim Bouhlel

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Security and trust management in Vehicular Ad-hoc NETworks (VANET) is a crucial research domain which is the scope of many researches and domains. Although, the majority of the proposed trust management systems for VANET are based on specific road infrastructure, which may not be present in all the roads. Therefore, road security should be managed by vehicles themselves. In this paper, we propose a new Self Organized Trust Management system (SOTM). This system has the responsibility to cut with the spread of false warnings in the network through four principal components: cooperation, trust management, communication and security.

Keywords: ative vehicle, cooperation, trust management, VANET

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Authors: Parul Suraia, Harshit Sosan Lakra

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Indigenous communities represent some of the most marginalized populations globally, with India labeled as tribals, experiencing particularly pronounced marginalization and a concerning decline in their numbers. These communities often inhabit geographically challenging regions characterized by low population densities, posing significant challenges to providing essential infrastructure services. Jharkhand, a Schedule 5 state, is infamous for its low-level health status due to disparities in access to health care. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the spatial inequalities in healthcare accessibility among tribal populations within the state and pinpoint critical areas requiring immediate attention. Health indicators were selected based on the tribal perspective and association of Sustainable Goal 3 (Good Health and Wellbeing) with other SDGs. Focused group discussions in which tribal people and tribal experts were done in order to finalize the indicators. Employing Principal Component Analysis, two essential indices were constructed: the Tribal Health Index (THI) and the Tribal Health Intervention Index (THII). Index values were calculated based on the district-wise secondary data for Jharkhand. The bivariate spatial association technique, Moran’s I was used to assess the spatial pattern of the variables to determine if there is any clustering (positive spatial autocorrelation) or dispersion (negative spatial autocorrelation) of values across Jharkhand. The results helped in facilitating targeting policy interventions in deprived areas of Jharkhand.

Keywords: tribal health, health spatial disparities, health status, Jharkhand

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Authors: Swarnapriya Thiyagarajan, Modesto Antonio Sosa Aquino, Miguel Vallejo Hernandez, Senthilkumar Kalaiselvan Dhivyaraj, Jayaramakrishnan Velusamy

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In this paper the lithium tetra borate (Li2B4O7) was prepared by used water/solution assisted synthesis method. Once finished the synthesization, Copper (Cu) were used to doping material with Li2B4O7 in order to enhance its thermo luminescent properties. The heating temperature parameters were 750°C for 2 hr and 150°C for 2hr. The samples produced by water assisted method were doped at different doping percentage (0.02%, 0.04%, 0.06%, 0.08%, 0.12%, 0.5%, 0.1%, and 1%) of Cu.The characteristics and identification of Li2B4O7 (undoped and doped) were determined in four tests. They are X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Photoluminescence (PL), Ultra violet visible spectroscopy (UV Vis). As it is evidence from the XRD and SEM results the obtained Li2B4O7 and Li2B4O7 doping with Cu was confirmed and also confirmed the chemical compositition and their morphologies. The obtained lithium tetraborate XRD pattern result was verified with the reference data of lithium tetraborate with tetragonal structure from JCPDS. The glow curves of Li2B4O7 and Li2B4O7 : Cu were obtained by thermo luminescence (TLD) reader (Harshaw 3500). The pellets were irradiated with different kind of dose (58mGy, 100mGy, 500mGy, and 945mGy) by using an X-ray source. Finally this energy response was also compared with TLD100. The order of kinetics (b), frequency factor (S) and activation energy (E) or the trapping parameters were calculated using peak shape method. Especially Li2B4O7: Cu (0.1%) presents good glow curve in all kind of doses. The experimental results showed that this Li2B4O7: Cu could have good potential applications in radiation dosimetry. The main purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of synthesis on the TL properties of doped lithium tetra borate Li2B4O7.

Keywords: dosimetry, irradiation, lithium tetraborate, thermoluminescence

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Authors: Salma Maher, Ahmed Elseragy, Sally Eldeeb

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Nowadays, Urbanism and climate change lead to the rapid growth in energy consumption and the increase of using air-conditioning for cooling. In a hot climate area, there is a need for a new sustainable alternative that is more convenient for an existing situation. The Building envelope controls the heat transfer between the outside and inside the building. While the building façade is the most critical part, types of façade material play a vital role in influences of the energy demand for heating and cooling due to exposure to direct solar radiation throughout the day. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the use of curtain walls in office buildings façades started to increase rapidly, which lead to more cooling loads in energy consumption. Integrating the living wall system in urban areas as a sustainable renovation and energy-saving method for the built environment will reduce the energy demand of buildings and will also provide environmental benefits. Also, it will balance the urban ecology and enhance urban life quality. The results show that the living wall systems reduce the internal temperature up to 4.0 °C. This research carries on an analytical study by highlighting the different types of living wall systems and verifying their thermal performance, energy-saving, and life potential on the building. These assessing criteria include the reason for using the Living wall systems in the building façade as well as the effect it has upon the surrounding environment. Finally, the paper ends with concluding the effect of using living wall systems on building. And, it suggests a system as long-lasting, and energy-efficient solution to be applied in curtain wall façades in a hot climate area.

Keywords: living wall systems, energy consumption, curtain walls, energy-saving, sustainability, urban life quality

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Authors: Abdessalam Hijab, Hafida Boulekbache, Eric Henry

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According to several research studies, the city as a whole is a complex, spatially organized system; its modeling must take into account several factors, socio-economic, and political, or geographical, acting at multiple scales of observation according to varied temporalities. Sustainable management and protection of the environment in this complex system require significant human and technical investment, particularly for monitoring and maintenance. The objective of this paper is to propose an intelligent approach based on the coupling of Geographic Information System (GIS) and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) tools in order to integrate the inhabitants in the processes of sustainable management and protection of the urban environment, specifically in the processes of household waste collection in urban areas. We are discussing a collaborative 'city/inhabitant' space. Indeed, it is a geo-collaborative approach, based on the spatialization and real-time geo-localization of topological and multimedia data taken by the 'active' inhabitant, in the form of geo-localized alerts related to household waste issues in their city. Our proposal provides a good understanding of the extent to which civil society (inhabitants) can help and contribute to the development of complementary solutions for the collection of household waste and the protection of the urban environment. Moreover, it allows the inhabitant to contribute to the enrichment of a data bank for future uses. Our geo-collaborative model will be tested in the Lamkansa sampling district of the city of Casablanca in Morocco.

Keywords: geographic information system, GIS, information and communications technology, ICT, geo-collaboration, inhabitants, city

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Authors: Lingzhi Li, Jiankun Zhang, Tiantian Gu

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Hazard management that can prevent fatal accidents and property losses is a fundamental process during the buildings’ construction stage. However, due to lack of safety supervision resources and operational pressures, the conduction of hazard management is poor and ineffective in China. In order to improve the quality of construction safety management, it is critical to explore the use of information technologies to ensure that the process of hazard management is efficient and effective. After exploring the existing problems of construction hazard management in China, this paper develops the griddization management model for construction hazard management. First, following the knowledge grid infrastructure, the griddization computing infrastructure for construction hazards management is designed which includes five layers: resource entity layer, information management layer, task management layer, knowledge transformation layer and application layer. This infrastructure will be as the technical support for realizing grid management. Second, this study divides the construction hazards into grids through city level, district level and construction site level according to grid principles. Last, a griddization management process including hazard identification, assessment and control is developed. Meanwhile, all stakeholders of construction safety management, such as owners, contractors, supervision organizations and government departments, should take the corresponding responsibilities in this process. Finally, a case study based on actual construction hazard identification, assessment and control is used to validate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed griddization management model. The advantage of this designed model is to realize information sharing and cooperative management between various safety management departments.

Keywords: construction hazard, griddization computing, grid management, process

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Authors: Mateusz Szul, Tomasz Iluk, Aleksander Sobolewski

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Small-scale, distributed energy systems enabling cogeneration of heat and power based on gasification of sewage sludge, are considered as the most efficient and environmentally friendly ways of their treatment. However, economic aspects of such an investment are very demanding; therefore, for such a small scale sewage sludge gasification installation to be profitable, it needs to be efficient and simple at the same time. The article presents results of research on air gasification of sewage sludge in fixed bed GazEla reactor. Two of the most important aspects of the research considered the influence of the composition of sewage sludge blends with other feedstocks on properties of generated syngas and ash sintering problems occurring at the fixed bed. Different means of the fuel pretreatment and blending were proposed as a way of dealing with the above mentioned undesired characteristics. Influence of RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) and biomasses in the fuel blends were evaluated. Ash properties were assessed based on proximate, ultimate, and ash composition analysis of the feedstock. The blends were specified based on complementary characteristics of such criteria as C content, moisture, volatile matter, Si, Al, Mg, and content of basic metals in the ash were analyzed, Obtained results were assessed with use of experimental gasification tests and laboratory ISO-procedure for analysis of ash characteristic melting temperatures. Optimal gasification process conditions were determined by energetic parameters of the generated syngas, its content of tars and lack of ash sinters within the reactor bed. Optimal results were obtained for co-gasification of herbaceous biomasses with sewage sludge where LHV (Lower Heating Value) of the obtained syngas reached a stable value of 4.0 MJ/Nm3 for air/steam gasification.

Keywords: ash fusibility, gasification, piston engine, sewage sludge

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Authors: Negar Vkilbashi, Hassan Kabiri

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Modern diplomacy, in its general form, refers to the people and not the governments, and diplomacy tactics are more addressed to the people than to the governments. Media diplomacy and cyber diplomacy are also one of the sub-branches of public diplomacy and, in fact, the role of media in the process of influencing public opinion and directing foreign policy. Mass media, including written, radio and television, theater, satellite, internet, and news agencies, transmit information and demands. What the Qatari government tried to implement in the countries of the region during the Arab Spring and after was through its important media, Al Jazeera. The embargo on Qatar began in 2017, when Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt imposed a land, sea, and air blockade against the country. The media tool constitutes the cornerstone of soft power in the field of foreign policy, which Qatari leaders have consistently resorted to over the past two decades. Undoubtedly, the role it played in covering the events of the Arab Spring has created geopolitical tensions. The United Arab Emirates and other neighboring countries sometimes criticize Al Jazeera for providing a platform for the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and other Islamists to promote their ideology. In 2011, at the same time as the Arab Spring, Al Jazeera reached the peak of its popularity. Al Jazeera's live coverage of protests in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya, and Syria helped create a unified narrative of the Arab Spring, with audiences tuning in every Friday to watch simultaneous protests across the Middle East. Al Jazeera operates in three groups: First, it is a powerful base in the hands of the government so that it can direct and influence Arab public opinion. Therefore, this network has been able to benefit from the unlimited financial support of the Qatar government to promote its desired policies and culture. Second, it has provided an attractive platform for politicians and scientific and intellectual elites, thus attracting their support and defense from the government and its rulers. Third, during the last years of Prince Hamad's reign, the Al Jazeera network formed a deterrent weapon to counter the media and political struggle campaigns. The importance of the research is that this network covers a wide range of people in the Middle East and, therefore, has a high influence on the decision-making of countries. On the other hand, Al Jazeera is influential as a tool of public diplomacy and soft power in Qatar's foreign policy, and by studying it, the results of its effectiveness in the past years can be examined. Using a qualitative method, this research analyzes the impact of the media on the implementation of Qatar's foreign policy on the public opinion of the people of the Middle East. Data collection has been done by the secondary method, that is, reading related books, magazine articles, newspaper reports and articles, and analytical reports of think tanks. The most important findings of the research are that Al Jazeera plays an important role in Qatar's foreign policy in Qatar's public diplomacy. So that, in 2011, 2017 and 2023, it played an important role in Qatar's foreign policy in various crises. Also, the people of Arab countries use Al-Jazeera as their first reference.

Keywords: Al Jazeera, Qatar, media, diplomacy

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Authors: Ajab G. Majidi, Bilal Bingölbali, Adem Akpınar

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This study aims to investigate the amount of energy (economic wave energy potential) that can be obtained from the existing wave energy converters in the high wave energy potential region of the Black Sea in terms of wave energy potential and their performance at different depths in the region. The data needed for this purpose were obtained using the calibrated nested layered SWAN wave modeling program version 41.01AB, which was forced with Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) winds from 1979 to 2009. The wave dataset at a time interval of 2 hours was accumulated for a sub-grid domain for around Karaburun beach in Arnavutkoy, a district of Istanbul city. The annual sea state characteristic matrices for the five different depths along with a vertical line to the coastline were calculated for 31 years. According to the power matrices of different wave energy converter systems and characteristic matrices for each possible installation depth, the probability distribution tables of the specified mean wave period or wave energy period and significant wave height were calculated. Then, by using the relationship between these distribution tables, according to the present wave climate, the energy that the wave energy converter systems at each depth can produce was determined. Thus, the economically feasible potential of the relevant coastal zone was revealed, and the effect of different depths on energy converter systems is presented. The Oceantic at 50, 75 and 100 m depths and Oyster at 5 and 25 m depths presents the best performance. In the 31-year long period 1998 the most and 1989 is the least dynamic year.

Keywords: annual power production, Black Sea, efficiency, power production performance, wave energy converter

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Authors: Bongs Lainjo

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The evolution and escalation of bike-sharing programs (BSP) continue unabated. Since the sixties, many countries have introduced different models and strategies of BSP. These include variations ranging from dockless models to electronic real-time monitoring systems. Reasons for using this BSP include recreation, errands, work, etc. And there is all indication that complex, and more innovative rider-friendly systems are yet to be introduced. The objective of this paper is to analyze current variables established by different operators and streamline them identifying the most compelling ones using analytics. Given the contents of available databases, there is a lack of uniformity and common standard on what is required and what is not. Two factors appear to be common: user type (registered and unregistered, and duration of each trip). This article uses historical data provided by one operator based in the greater Washington, District of Columbia, USA area. Several variables including categorical and continuous data types were screened. Eight out of 18 were considered acceptable and significantly contribute to determining a useful and reliable predictive model. Bike-sharing systems have become popular in recent years all around the world. Although this trend has resulted in many studies on public cycling systems, there have been few previous studies on the factors influencing public bicycle travel behavior. A bike-sharing system is a computer-controlled system in which individuals can borrow bikes for a fee or free for a limited period. This study has identified unprecedented useful, and pragmatic parameters required in improving BSP ridership dynamics.

Keywords: sharing program, historical data, parameters, ridership dynamics, trip duration

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Authors: Hossein Aghababaei, Sergio Vitale, Giampaolo ferraioli

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In the context of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, polarization is an important source of information for Earth's surface monitoring . SAR Systems are often considered to transmit only one polarization. This constraint leads to either single or dual polarimetric SAR imaging modalities. Single polarimetric systems operate with a fixed single polarization of both transmitted and received electromagnetic (EM) waves, resulting in a single acquisition channel. Dual polarimetric systems, on the other hand, transmit in one fixed polarization and receive in two orthogonal polarizations, resulting in two acquisition channels. Dual polarimetric systems are obviously more informative than single polarimetric systems and are increasingly being used for a variety of remote sensing applications. In dual polarimetric systems, the choice of polarizations for the transmitter and the receiver is open. The choice of circular transmit polarization and coherent dual linear receive polarizations forms a special dual polarimetric system called hybrid polarimetry, which brings the properties of rotational invariance to geometrical orientations of features in the scene and optimizes the design of the radar in terms of reliability, mass, and power constraints. The complete characterization of target scattering, however, requires fully polarimetric data, which can be acquired with systems that transmit two orthogonal polarizations. This adds further complexity to data acquisition and shortens the coverage area or swath of fully polarimetric images compared to the swath of dual or hybrid polarimetric images. The search for solutions to augment dual polarimetric data to full polarimetric data will therefore take advantage of full characterization and exploitation of the backscattered field over a wider coverage with less system complexity. Several methods for reconstructing fully polarimetric images using hybrid polarimetric data can be found in the literature. Although the improvements achieved by the newly investigated and experimented reconstruction techniques are undeniable, the existing methods are, however, mostly based upon model assumptions (especially the assumption of reflectance symmetry), which may limit their reliability and applicability to vegetation and forest scenarios. To overcome the problems of these techniques, this paper proposes a new framework for reconstructing fully polarimetric information from hybrid polarimetric data. The framework uses Deep Learning solutions to augment hybrid polarimetric data without relying on model assumptions. A convolutional neural network (CNN) with a specific architecture and loss function is defined for this augmentation problem by focusing on different scattering properties of the polarimetric data. In particular, the method controls the CNN training process with respect to several characteristic features of polarimetric images defined by the combination of different terms in the cost or loss function. The proposed method is experimentally validated with real data sets and compared with a well-known and standard approach from the literature. From the experiments, the reconstruction performance of the proposed framework is superior to conventional reconstruction methods. The pseudo fully polarimetric data reconstructed by the proposed method also agree well with the actual fully polarimetric images acquired by radar systems, confirming the reliability and efficiency of the proposed method.

Keywords: SAR image, deep learning, convolutional neural network, deep neural network, SAR polarimetry

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Authors: Shubhashree Mahalik, Dhanesh Kumar, Jatin Kumar Pradhan

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Odisha is one of the coastal states situated on the eastern part of India with 480 km long coastline. The coastal Odisha is referred to as "Gift of Six Rivers". Balasore, a major coastal district of Odisha is bounded by Bay of Bengal in the East having 26 km long seashore. It is lined with several estuaries rich in biodiversity.Several studies have been carried out on the macro flora and fauna of this area but very few documented information are available regarding microbial biodiversity. In the present study, an attempt has been made to isolate and identify bacteria found along the estuaries of Balasore.Many marine microorganisms are sources of natural products which makes them potential industrial organisms. So the ability of the isolated bacteria to secrete one such industrially significant product, PHB (Polyhydroxybutyrate) has been elucidated. Several rounds of sampling, pure culture, morphological, biochemical and phylogenetic screening led to the identification of two PHB producing strains. Isolate 5 was identified to be Brevibacillus sp. and has maximum similarity to Brevibacillus parabrevis (KX83268). The isolate was named as Brevibacillus sp.KEI-5. Isolate 8 was identified asLysinibacillus sp. having closest similarity withLysinibacillus boroni-tolerance (KP314269) and named as Lysinibacillus sp. KEI-8.Media, temperature, carbon, nitrogen and salinity requirement were optimized for both isolates. Submerged fermentation of both isolates in Terrific Broth media supplemented with optimized carbon and nitrogen source at 37°C led to significant accumulation of PHB as detected by colorimetric method.

Keywords: Bacillus, estuary, marine, Odisha, polyhydroxy butyrate

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Authors: Fikremariam Beyene, Getachew Bekele

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Ethiopia is currently on the move with various projects to raise the amount of power generated in the country. The progress observed in recent years indicates this fact clearly and indisputably. The rural electrification program, the modernization of the power transmission system, the development of wind farm is some of the main accomplishments worth mentioning. As it is well known, currently, wind power is globally embraced as one of the most important sources of energy mainly for its environmentally friendly characteristics, and also that once it is installed, it is a source available free of charge. However, integration of wind power plant with an existing network has many challenges that need to be given serious attention. In Ethiopia, a number of wind farms are either installed or are under construction. A series of wind farm is planned to be installed in the near future. Ashegoda Wind farm (13.2°, 39.6°), which is the subject of this study, is the first large scale wind farm under construction with the capacity of 120 MW. The first phase of 120 MW (30 MW) has been completed and is expected to be connected to the grid soon. This paper is concerned with the investigation of the wind farm interaction with the national grid under transient operating condition. The main concern is the fault ride through (FRT) capability of the system when the grid voltage drops to exceedingly low values because of short circuit fault and also the active and reactive power behavior of wind turbines after the fault is cleared. On the wind turbine side, a detailed dynamic modelling of variable speed wind turbine of a 1 MW capacity running with a squirrel cage induction generator and full-scale power electronics converters is done and analyzed using simulation software DIgSILENT PowerFactory. On the Ethiopian electric power corporation side, after having collected sufficient data for the analysis, the grid network is modeled. In the model, a fault ride-through (FRT) capability of the plant is studied by applying 3-phase short circuit on the grid terminal near the wind farm. The results show that the Ashegoda wind farm can ride from voltage deep within a short time and the active and reactive power performance of the wind farm is also promising.

Keywords: squirrel cage induction generator, active and reactive power, DIgSILENT PowerFactory, fault ride-through capability, 3-phase short circuit

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Authors: Dhiraj Kumar

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The paper attempts to argue that the regulation of the rural lower caste woman’s life-world is at the core of the reproduction of hierarchy in an Adivasi samaj (society). It has been established in studies on caste and Adivasi that the two societies are distinct and operate through different structures, norms, rituals, beliefs, etc. This is as opposed to the colonial and certain post-independence anthropology in/of India that collapsed the two into single categories for analysis. However, how the two seemingly different social structures affect each other has attracted little attention. The paper is inspired by an action-research at Gadh-Bansla, an Adivasi village in the Kanker district of Chhattisgarh that houses different caste groups – OBCs and SCs, as well as two different Adivasi groups: Gond and Halba. The action-research, taken place across a year, has worked with six families of the different groups present (i.e., Gond, Halba, OBCs, and SCs) in which inter-caste marriages have taken place. Through in-depth interviews and free association discussions with these six families, the paper presents the ways in which the samaj and caste society have interacted. It has been observed that there is a difference in treatment in marriages between a lower caste woman marrying into an upper caste or Halba household, and an upper caste or Halba woman marrying into a lower caste household. While the upper caste woman is easily accepted into the Adivasi samaj and the husband’s family, the same does not hold true for the lower caste woman. The lower caste woman has to face humiliation through untouchability, fine on the family, or in some cases excommunication of the couple. The paper concludes with a need to use caste as a central analytic to understand gender discrimination even in Adivasi contexts.

Keywords: caste, Adivasi, Samaj, humiliation, woman

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Authors: Foo Shen Hwang, Thomas Confrey, Stephen Scully, Barry Flannery

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Thermal characterization plays an important role in battery pack design. Lithium-ion batteries have to be maintained between 15-35 °C to operate optimally. Heat is generated (Q) internally within the batteries during both the charging and discharging phases. This can be quantified using several standard methods. The most common method of calculating the batteries heat generation is through the addition of both the joule heating effects and the entropic changes across the battery. In addition, such values can be derived by identifying the open-circuit voltage (OCV), nominal voltage (V), operating current (I), battery temperature (T) and the rate of change of the open-circuit voltage in relation to temperature (dOCV/dT). This paper focuses on experimental characterization and comparative modelling of the heat generation rate (Q) across several current discharge rates (0.5C, 1C, and 1.5C) of a 18650 cell. The analysis is conducted utilizing several non-linear mathematical functions methods, including polynomial, exponential, and power models. Parameter fitting is carried out over the respective function orders; polynomial (n = 3~7), exponential (n = 2) and power function. The generated parameter fitting functions are then used as heat source functions in a 3-D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver under natural convection conditions. Generated temperature profiles are analyzed for errors based on experimental discharge tests, conducted at standard room temperature (25°C). Initial experimental results display low deviation between both experimental and CFD temperature plots. As such, the heat generation function formulated could be easier utilized for larger battery applications than other methods available.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, curve fitting, lithium-ion battery, voltage drop

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Authors: Szymon Kuczynski, Krystian Liszka, Mariusz Laciak, Andrii Oliinyk, Adam Szurlej

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Compressed natural gas (CNG) represents an excellent compromise between the availability of a technology that is proven and relatively easy to use in many areas of the automotive industry and incurred costs. This fuel causes a lower corrosion effect due to the lower content of products causing the potential difference on the walls of the engine system. Natural gas powered vehicles (NGVs) do not emit any substances that can contaminate water or land. The absence of carcinogenic substances in gaseous fuel extends the life of the engine. In the longer term, it contributes positively to waste management as well as waste disposal. Popularization of propulsion systems powered by natural gas CNG positively affects the reduction of heavy duty transport. For these reasons, CNG as a fuel stimulates considerable interest around the world. Over the last few years, technologies related to use of natural gas as an engine fuel have been developed and improved. These solutions have evolved from the prototype phase to the industrial scale implementation. The widespread availability of gaseous fuels has led to the development of a technology that allows the CNG fuel to be refueled directly from the urban gas network to the vehicle tank (ie. HYGEN - CNGHRS). Home refueling installations, although they have been known for many years, are becoming increasingly important in the present day. The major obstacle in the sale of this technology was, until recently, quite high capital expenditure compared to the later benefits. Home refueling systems allow refueling vehicle tank, with full control of fuel costs and refueling time. CNG Home Refueling Stations (such as HYGEN) allow gas value chain to overcome the dogma that there is a lack of refueling infrastructure allowing companies in gas value chain to participate in transportation market. Technology is based on one stage hydraulic compressor (instead of multistage mechanical compressor technology) which provides the possibility to compress low pressure gas from distribution gas network to 200 bar for its further usage as a fuel for NGVs. This boosts revenues and profits of gas companies by expanding its presence in higher margin of energy sector.

Keywords: alternative fuels, CNG (compressed natural gas), CNG stations, NGVs (natural gas vehicles), gas value chain

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Authors: M. Strémy, P. Závacký, P. Cuninka, M. Juhás

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Main goal of this paper is to introduce our design of private cloud for storing large amount of data, especially pictures, and to provide good technological backend for data analysis based on parallel processing and business intelligence. We have tested hypervisors, cloud management tools, storage for storing all data and Hadoop to provide data analysis on unstructured data. Providing high availability, virtual network management, logical separation of projects and also rapid deployment of physical servers to our environment was also needed.

Keywords: cloud, glusterfs, hadoop, juju, kvm, maas, openstack, virtualization

Procedia PDF Downloads 353

Authors: Malik Abid Hussain Khokhar, Muhammad Naveed Tahir, Muhammad Amin

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Energy demand has been increased manifold due to increasing population, urban sprawl and rapid socio-economic improvements. Low water capacity in dams for continuation of hydrological power, land cover and land use are the key parameters which are creating problems for more energy production. Overall installed hydropower capacity of Pakistan is more than 35000 MW whereas Pakistan is producing up to 17000 MW and the requirement is more than 22000 that is resulting shortfall of 5000 - 7000 MW. Therefore, there is a dire need to develop small hydropower to fulfill the up-coming requirements. In this regards, excessive rainfall, snow nurtured fast flowing perennial tributaries and streams in northern mountain regions of Pakistan offer a gigantic scope of hydropower potential throughout the year. Rivers flowing in KP (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) province, GB (Gilgit Baltistan) and AJK (Azad Jammu & Kashmir) possess sufficient water availability for rapid energy growth. In the backdrop of such scenario, small hydropower plants are believed very suitable measures for more green environment and power sustainable option for the development of such regions. Aim of this study is to estimate hydropower potential sites for small hydropower plants and stream distribution as per steam network available in the available basins in the study area. The proposed methodology will focus on features to meet the objectives i.e. site selection of maximum hydropower potential for hydroelectric generation using well emerging GIS tool SWAT as hydrological run-off model on the Neelum, Kunhar and the Dor Rivers’ basins. For validation of the results, NDWI will be computed to show water concentration in the study area while overlaying on geospatial enhanced DEM. This study will represent analysis of basins, watershed, stream links, and flow directions with slope elevation for hydropower potential to produce increasing demand of electricity by installing small hydropower stations. Later on, this study will be benefitted for other adjacent regions for further estimation of site selection for installation of such small power plants as well.

Keywords: energy, stream network, basins, SWAT, evapotranspiration

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Authors: Aparna Radhakrishnan, Jancy Gupta, R. Dileepkumar

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This paper aims at assessing the Socio Economic Vulnerability (SEV) of dairy farmers to Climate Variability and Change (CVC) in 3 states of Western Ghat region in India. For this purpose, a composite SEV index has been developed on the basis of functional relationships amongst sensitivity, exposure and adaptive capacity using 30 indicators related to dairy farming underlying the principles of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Fussel framework for nomenclature of vulnerable situation. Household level data were collected through Participatory Rural Appraisal and personal interviews of 540 dairy farmers of nine taluks, three each from a district selected from Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra, complemented by thirty years of gridded weather data. The data were normalized and then combined into three indices for sensitivity, exposure and adaptive capacity, which were then averaged with weights given using principal component analysis, to obtain the overall SEV index. Results indicated that the taluks of Western Ghats are vulnerable to CVC. The dairy farmers of Pulpally taluka were most vulnerable having the SEV score +1.24 and 42.66% farmers under high-level vulnerability category. Even though the taluks are geographically closer, there is wide variation in SEV components. Policies for incentivizing the ‘climate risk adaptation’ costs for small and marginal farmers and livelihood infrastructure for mitigating risks and promoting grass root level innovations are necessary to sustain dairy farming of the region.

Keywords: climate change, dairy, vulnerability, livelihoods, adaptation strategies

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Authors: Xiyang Li, Qi Yu, Lun Zhang

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In the face of natural disasters and other emergency situations, determining the optimal location of rescue centers is crucial for improving rescue efficiency and minimizing impact on affected populations. This paper proposes a method that integrates genetic algorithms (GA) and backpropagation neural networks (BPNN) to address the site selection optimization problem for emergency rescue centers. We utilize BPNN to accurately estimate the cost of delivering supplies from rescue centers to each temporary camp. Moreover, a genetic algorithm with a special partially matched crossover (PMX) strategy is employed to ensure that the number of temporary camps assigned to each rescue center adheres to predetermined limits. Using the population distribution data during the 2022 epidemic in Jiading District, Shanghai, as an experimental case, this paper verifies the effectiveness of the proposed method. The experimental results demonstrate that the BPNN-GA method proposed in this study outperforms existing algorithms in terms of computational efficiency and optimization performance. Especially considering the requirements for computational resources and response time in emergency situations, the proposed method shows its ability to achieve rapid convergence and optimal performance in the early and mid-stages. Future research could explore incorporating more real-world conditions and variables into the model to further improve its accuracy and applicability.

Keywords: emergency rescue centers, genetic algorithms, back-propagation neural networks, site selection optimization

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Authors: Wanwimon Mekwimon

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Drug addiction is a serious problem in Thailand which has occurred continuously and repeatedly and enormously impacting health and economy of drug users. The indigenous wisdom and folk medicine is an attractive alternative choice, especially in detoxification and rehabilitation period. There are two objectives: First is to study about rehabilitation process and the curing for drug eaters and 2nd is to investigate the effectiveness of the curing and rehabilitation process by indigenous wisdom at Tamkrabok monastery, Pra-Puttabat district, Saraburi province. The main informants are 10 curers, 15 patients and 17 after-1-year rehabilitators. In the process, the semi-structured questionnaire is administered, the data are analyzed and proved by triangulation. The curing and rehabilitation process which use herbal remedies has a period of 15 days (5 days for detoxification and 10 days for recovery period) and the occupational training and self-consciousness awakening were delivered. The follow-up process includes twice-a-month recall for 6 months, follow-up letters and in depth interview with their families. The outcome of 1 year post-treatment was 94% (16 from 17). There are many reasons for not relapsing: the recovering patients have drawn on their inner strength, self-awareness and coping skill as well as their family and social support while rehabilitation process which includes difficulties in contacting with family members. They can void themselves from high risk situations to relapse. Recommendations: The follow-up system should be improved for continuous quality improvement, there should be the qualification standard for herbal remedies and the comparison among rehabilitation process of Tamkrabok and another methods are to be guideline for the further development.

Keywords: rehabilitation, drug addiction, Thai indigenous knowledge, herbal remedies

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Authors: Jerry John T. M., Sylas V. P., Shijo Joy

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Hydrogen is the most essential gas that can be used for many purposes. During the production of hydrogen using raw materials like Soil and leftover cooked rice water (kanjivellam), the major by-product formed is water. Soil is collected from three different places in kottayam district: Kallara, Meenachilar, and Athirampuzha. Collected samples are mixed with rice water and tested for traces of hydrogen using a biohydrogen sensor after 72 hours. The result was the presence of hydrogen in all the 3 samples. After streaking, PCR and gel electrophoresis detected the bacteria which produced the hydrogen. RGCB Thiruvananthapuram conducted the sequencing of the PCR resultant. And identified the bacterial strains. Five variants of Bacillus bacteria ( (1) Bacillus cereus strain JTM GenBank: OP278839.1 (2) Bacillus toyonensis strain JTM2 GenBank: OP278841.1 (3) Bacillus anthracis strain JTM_SR2989-3-R_H08 GenBank: OP278960.1 (4) Bacillus thuringiensis strain JRY1 GenBank: OP278976.1 (5) Bacillus anthracis strain JTM_SR2989-3-F_H07 GenBank: OP278959.1 ) are identified and successfully registered in NCBI Gen bank. These Bacillus bacteria are major types of Rhizobacteria that can form spores and can survive in the soil for a long time period under harsh environmental conditions. Also, plant growth is enhanced by PGPR (Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria) through the induction of systemic resistance, antibiosis, and competitive omission. The molecular sequencing was submitted to the NCBI Gen Bank, and the accession numbers were allotted for the bacterial cultures.

Keywords: bio hydrogen production, bacterial bio hydrogen production, plant related to bacillus bacteria., bacillus bacteria study

Procedia PDF Downloads 66

Authors: Jin Hwa Yang, Hwang Bae, Sung Uk Ryu, Byong Guk Jeon, Sung Jae Yi, Hyun Sik Park

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Experimental studies using a large-scale thermal-hydraulic integral test facility, System–integrated Modular Advanced Reactor Integral Test Loop (SMART-ITL), have been carried out to validate the performance of the prototype, SMART. After Fukushima accident, the passive safety systems have been dealt as important designs for retaining of nuclear safety. One of the concerned scenarios for evaluating the passive safety system is a Complete Loss of Coolant Flow (CLOF). The flowrate of coolant in the primary system is maintained by Reactor Coolant Pump (RCP). When the supply of electric power of RCP is shut off, the flowrate of coolant decreases sharply, and the temperature of the coolant increases rapidly. Therefore, the reactor trip signal is activated to prevent the over-heating of the core. In this situation, Passive Residual Heat Removal System (PRHRS) plays a significant role to assure the soundness of the SMART. The PRHRS using a two-phase natural circulation is a passive safety system in the SMART to eliminate the heat of steam generator in the secondary system with heat exchanger submarined in the Emergency Cooling Tank (ECT). As the RCPs continue to coast down, inherent natural circulation in the primary system transfers heat to the secondary system. The transferred heat is removed by PRHRS in the secondary system. In this paper, the progress of the CLOF accident is described with experimental data of transient condition performed by SMART-ITL. Finally, the capability of passive safety system and inherent natural circulation will be evaluated.

Keywords: CLOF, natural circulation, PRHRS, SMART-ITL

Procedia PDF Downloads 438

Authors: Suppara Charoenpoom

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This study focuses on 1) a good-quality management procedures of buildings and environment in schools 2) designing the management procedures and 3) creating an operation manual for the procedures. This study is the combination of qualitative and quantitative research method. Populations in the research were 83 deans and directors of primary and secondary schools from the 10th educational district in Samut Songkram. Sample group was selected from the voluntary deans and directors. There were 14 participants in sample group. Research tools in this study were divided into 2 categories. The first one was data-collecting tools, which were in-depth interview and questionnaires. The second one was the designing tools to help creating management procedures: quality business, quality work procedure and key quality indicator of each activity in schools. All data were analyzed by mean and standard deviation. The result from this study has found out 1 effective process of building and environment management for basic education schools which is called Quality Business Process (QBP) and 7 Quality Work Procedures (QWP). In terms of academic feasibility checkup by experts, the research had shown that new design of building and environment management was approved unanimously. It means that new process of building and environment management in schools works very well and can be adapted. After examining the possibility of management process being used in schools by calculating the mean value among sample group (14 school deans and directors), the mean value was between 0.64-1.00. It means that the new design of building and environment management can be operated effectively in schools. For the satisfaction part, deans and school directors gave the satisfaction score in the highest level (Mean = 4.7372, S.D. = 0.4385).

Keywords: buildings, environment, procedures, quality management

Procedia PDF Downloads 233

Authors: Stefan Andersson, Balram Panjwani, Bernd Wittgens, Jan Erik Olsen

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Polycyclic Aromatic hydrocarbons are organic compounds consisting of only hydrogen and carbon aromatic rings. PAH are neutral, non-polar molecules that are produced due to incomplete combustion of organic matter. These compounds are carcinogenic and interact with biological nucleophiles to inhibit the normal metabolic functions of the cells. Norways, the most important sources of PAH pollution is considered to be aluminum plants, the metallurgical industry, offshore oil activity, transport, and wood burning. Stricter governmental regulations regarding emissions to the outer and internal environment combined with increased awareness of the potential health effects have motivated Norwegian metal industries to increase their efforts to reduce emissions considerably. One of the objective of the ongoing industry and Norwegian research council supported "SCORE" project is to reduce potential PAH emissions from an off gas stream of a ferroalloy furnace through controlled combustion. In a dedicated combustion chamber. The sizing and configuration of the combustion chamber depends on the combined properties of the bulk gas stream and the properties of the PAH itself. In order to achieve efficient and complete combustion the residence time and minimum temperature need to be optimized. For this design approach reliable kinetic data of the individual PAH-species and/or groups thereof are necessary. However, kinetic data on the combustion of PAH are difficult to obtain and there is only a limited number of studies. The paper presents an evaluation of the kinetic data for some of the PAH obtained from literature. In the present study, the oxidation is modelled for pure PAH and also for PAH mixed with process gas. Using a perfectly stirred reactor modelling approach the oxidation is modelled including advanced reaction kinetics to study influence of residence time and temperature on the conversion of PAH to CO2 and water. A Chemical Reactor Network (CRN) approach is developed to understand the oxidation of PAH inside the combustion chamber. Chemical reactor network modeling has been found to be a valuable tool in the evaluation of oxidation behavior of PAH under various conditions.

Keywords: PAH, PSR, energy recovery, ferro alloy furnace

Procedia PDF Downloads 273