Search results for: optimal condition

Authors: Rani Danavath, V. B. Narsimha

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Cloud computing is emerging as a new paradigm of large scale distributed computing. Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., three service models, and four deployment networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. This cloud model is composed of five essential characteristics models. Load balancing is one of the main challenges in cloud computing, which is required to distribute the dynamic workload across multiple nodes, to ensure that no single node is overloaded. It helps in optimal utilization of resources, enhancing the performance of the system. The goal of the load balancing is to minimize the resource consumption and carbon emission rate, that is the direct need of cloud computing. This determined the need of new metrics energy consumption and carbon emission for energy-efficiency load balancing techniques in cloud computing. Existing load balancing techniques mainly focuses on reducing overhead, services, response time and improving performance etc. In this paper we introduced a Technique for energy-efficiency, but none of the techniques have considered the energy consumption and carbon emission. Therefore, our proposed work will go towards energy – efficiency. So this energy-efficiency load balancing technique can be used to improve the performance of cloud computing by balancing the workload across all the nodes in the cloud with the minimum resource utilization, in turn, reducing energy consumption, and carbon emission to an extent, which will help to achieve green computing.

Keywords: cloud computing, distributed computing, energy efficiency, green computing, load balancing, energy consumption, carbon emission

Procedia PDF Downloads 449

Authors: N. Kiran, S. A. Vikas, Yatish Chandra, S. Srinivasan

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Several Centuries ago, the aerodynamic studies on rotating cylinders and spheres have started. From the observation, the rotation of a cylinder has a remarkable effect on the aerodynamic characteristics is noticed. In case of airfoils as the angle of attack increases, the drag increases with reduction in lift i.e at the critical angle of attack. If at this point a strong impulse is imparted to the boundary layer by means of a spinning cylinder, the re-energisation of boundary layer is achieved and hence delaying the boundary layer separation and stalling characteristics. Analysis of aerodynamic effects spinning cylinder either at leading edge or at trailing edge of the airfoil is carried in the past, the positioning of cylinder close to trailing edge and its effects in delaying the stall are yet to be analyzed in depth. This paper aim is to understand the combined aerodynamic effects of coupling the spinning cylinder with the airfoil closer to the Trailing edge, by considering different spin ratio of the cylinder, its location and geometrical parameters in relation to the chord of the airfoil. From the analysis, it was observed that the spinning cylinder speed of rotation and location had a impact on stalling characteristics for a prescribed free stream condition. The results predicted through CFD analysis and experimental analysis showed a raise in aerodynamic efficiency and as the spin ratio increases, increase in stalling angle of attack is noticed when compared to the airfoil without spinning cylinder.

Keywords: aerodynamics, airfoil, spinning cylinder, stalling

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Authors: Frantisek Kopriva, Kamila Michalkova, Radim Dudek, Jana Volejnikova

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Rationale: Diagnostic criteria of asthma–COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS) are controversial in pediatrics. Emphysema is characteristic of COPD and usually does not occur in typical asthma; its presence in patients with asthma suggests the concurrence with COPD. Low-dose chest computed tomography (CT) allows a non-invasive assessment of the lung tissue structure. Here we present CT findings of emphysematous changes in a child with ACOS. Patient and Methods: In a 6-year-old boy, atopy was confirmed by a skin prick test using common allergen extracts (grass and tree pollen, house dust mite, molds, cat, dog; manufacturer Stallergenes Greer, London, UK), where reactions over 3 mm were considered positive. Treatment with corticosteroids was started during the course of severe asthma. At 12 years of age, his spirometric parameters deteriorated despite treatment adjustment (VC 1.76 L=85%, FEV1 1.13 L=67%, TI%VCmax 64%, MEF25 19%, TLC 144%) and the bronchodilator test became negative. Results: Low-dose chest CT displayed irregular regions with increased radiolucency of pulmonary parenchyma (typical for hyperinflation in emphysematous changes) in both lungs. This was in accordance with the results of spirometric examination. Conclusions: ACOS is infrequent in children. However, low-dose chest CT scan can be considered to confirm this diagnosis or eliminate other diagnoses when the clinical condition is deteriorating and treatment response is poor.

Keywords: child, asthma, low-dose chest CT, ACOS

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Authors: M. Arunachalam, M. Pandey

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Nacre, a biological material that forms the inner-layer of sea shells can achieve high toughness and strength by way of staggered arrangement of strong tablets with soft and weak organic interface. Under applied loads the tablets slide over the adjacent tablets, thus generating inelastic deformation and toughness on macroscopic scale. A two dimensional finite element based homogenization methodology is adopted for obtaining the effective material properties of Nacre using a representative volume element (RVE) at finite deformations. In this work, the material behaviour for tablet and interface are assumed to be Isotropic elastic and Isotropic elastic-perfectly plastic with strain softening respectively. Numerical experiments such as uniaxial tension test along X, Y directions and simple shear test are performed on the RVE with uniform displacement and periodic constraints applied at the RVE boundaries to obtain the anisotropic homogenized response and maximum local stresses within each constituents of Nacre. Homogenized material model is then tested for macroscopic structure under three point bending condition and the results obtained are comparable with the results obtained for detailed microstructure based structure, thus homogenization provides a bridge between macroscopic scale and microscopic scale and homogenized material properties obtained from microstructural (RVE) analysis could be used in large scale structural analysis.

Keywords: finite element, homogenization, inelastic deformation, staggered arrangement

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Authors: Ishaq Ahmad, Zhaomin Li, Liu Chengwen, Song yan Li, Wang Lei, Zhoujie Wang, Zheng Lei

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Because nanoparticles have the potential to improve foam stability, only a small amount of surfactant or polymer is required to control gas mobility in the reservoir. Numerous researches have revealed that this specific application is in use. The goal is to improve foam formation and foam stability. As a result, the foam stability and foam ability of black rice husk ash were investigated. By injecting N₂ gases into a core flood condition, black rice husk ash was used to produce stable foam. The properties of black rice husk ash were investigated using a variety of characterization techniques. The black rice husk ash was mixed with the best-performing anionic foaming surfactants at various concentrations (ppm). Sodium dodecyl benzene sulphonate was the anionic surfactant used (SDBS). In this article, the N₂ gas- black rice husk ash (BRHA) with high Silica content is shown to be beneficial for foam stability and foam ability. For the test, a 30 cm sand pack was prepared. For the experiment, N₂ gas cylinders and SDBS surfactant liquid cylinders were used. Two N₂ gas experiments were carried out: one without a sand pack and one with a sand pack and oil addition. The black rice husk and SDBS surfactant concentration was 0.5 percent. The high silica content of black rice husk ash has the potential to improve foam stability in sand pack conditions, which is beneficial. On N₂ foam, there is an increase in black rice husk ash particles, which may play an important role in oil recovery.

Keywords: black rice husk ash nanoparticle, surfactant, N₂ foam, sand pack

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Authors: Lavanya Dharmendran, Shenuka Singh, Sona Baburathanam

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The aim of the study is to understand the level of awareness in a community of a specific region of Kuwait regarding oral cancer and its screening methods so as to enhance the uptake of oral cancer screening methods. This is a cross-sectional study comprising 100 adult participants residing in the governate of Farwaniya, Kuwait. Participants of above 18 years of both genders will be selected using convenience sampling. Data collection includes the administration of a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire comprises three sections, each section assessing the knowledge, attitudes and practices of the participants’ opinions about oral cancer and screening methods. Data will be analyzed using Humphris Oral Cancer Knowledge Scale. Inferential statistics will be done using Chi-Square or Fisher’s exact test for categorical data. A level of p<.05 will be established as being significant. All ethical considerations, such as respect for personal confidentiality and informed consent, will be applied in this study. This study revealed that although respondents were aware of the term oral cancer, more than half of the study participants were unaware of the symptoms associated with this condition. Smoking and alcohol were identified as risk factors for oral cancer, but the majority of participants did not identify the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) as an added risk factor. This suggests a greater need for dental practitioners to include educational strategies in routine dental visits to ensure greater awareness of oral cancer.

Keywords: oral cancer, oral screening, oral public health, oral health

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Authors: Chi-Yuan Huang, Mei-Chuan Kuo, Ching-Yi Hsiao

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In this study, acids with various chain lengths (C₆, C₈, C₁₀ and C₁₂) modified by methane sulfonic acid (MSA) and temperature were used to modify tapioca starch (TPS), then the glycerol (GA) were added into modified starch, to prepare new blends. The mechanical properties, thermal properties and physical properties of blends were studied. This investigation was divided into two parts.  First, the biodegradable materials were used such as starch and glycerol with hexanedioic acid (HA), suberic acid (SBA), sebacic acid (SA), decanedicarboxylic acid (DA) manufacturing with different temperatures (90, 110 and 130 °C). And then, the solution was added into modified starch to prepare the blends by using single-screw extruder. The FT-IR patterns indicated that the characteristic peak of C=O in ester was observed at 1730 cm^-1. It is proved that different chain length acids (C₆, C₈, C₁₀ and C₁₂) reacted with glycerol by esterification and these are used to plasticize blends during extrusion. In addition, the blends would improve the hydrolysis and thermal stability. The water contact angle increased from 43.0° to 64.0°.  Second, the HA (110 °C), SBA (110 °C), SA (110 °C), and DA blends (130 °C) were used in study, because they possessed good mechanical properties, water resistances and thermal stability. On the other hand, the various contents (0, 0.005, 0.010, 0.020 g) of MSA were also used to modify the mechanical properties of blends. We observed that the blends were added to MSA, and then the FT-IR patterns indicated that the C=O ester appeared at 1730 cm^-1. For this reason, the hydrophobic blends were produced. The water contact angle of the MSA blends increased from 55.0° to 71.0°. Although break elongation of the MSA blends reduced from the original 220% to 128%, the stress increased from 2.5 MPa to 5.1 MPa. Therefore, the optimal composition of blends was the DA blend (130 °C) with adding of MSA (0.005 g).

Keywords: chain length acids, methane sulfonic acid, Tapioca starch (TPS), tensile stress

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Authors: Nadia Yaghoobi, Seyed Majid Esmaeilzadeh

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Due to advancements in wireless communication, new sensor capabilities have been created. In addition to the automation industry, the Internet of Things (IoT) has been used in environmental issues and has provided the possibility of communication between different devices for data collection and exchange. Water quality depends on many factors which are essential for maintaining the minimum sustainability of water. Regarding the great dependence of fishes on the quality of the aquatic environment, water quality can directly affect their activity. Therefore, monitoring water quality is an important issue to consider, especially in the fish farming industry. The conventional method of water quality testing is to collect water samples manually and send them to a laboratory for testing and analysis. This time-consuming method is a waste of manpower and is not cost-effective. The water quality measurement system implemented in this project monitors water quality in real-time through various sensors (parameters: water temperature, water level, dissolved oxygen, humidity and ambient temperature, water turbidity, PH). The Wi-Fi module, ESP8266, transmits data collected by sensors wirelessly to ThingSpeak and the smartphone app. Also, with the help of these instantaneous data, water temperature and water level can be controlled by using a heater and a water pump, respectively. This system can have a detailed study of the pollution and condition of water resources and can provide an environment for safe fish farming.

Keywords: dissolved oxygen, IoT, monitoring, ThingSpeak, water level, water quality, WiFi module

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Authors: Vicky Khasandi-Telewa, Sinfree Makoni

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Barrenness is a fundamentally agonizing condition that leads to identity disruption in its victims. In Africa, women are usually referred to as ‘Mother of X,’ and this causes grief to one who does not have a child to be identified with. This paper is an examination and critical appraisal of the impact of barrenness on the self-perception of women and the underlying power relations in how they are discursively constructed in the Bible and Traditional African Society (TAS). It is an analysis of expressive practices to examine how barrenness is constructed in Christianity and TAS with the aim of understanding the intersecting power systems. We approach this from an integrationism and Critical Discourse Analysis perspective that takes seriously both the radical harassment of barren women and the possibilities offered by the ensuing desperation calling for inclusive reinterpretation. We also seek to understand barren women’s coping mechanisms and suggestions on how best to improve their lives. The purpose of this study is to explain how discursive construction of barrenness affects the fundamental rights and freedoms of women and what linguistic strategies they adopt to navigate through the maze of stigma. It seeks to illustrate a more nuanced complexity of barren women's lives through women's own exegesis of the Biblical accounts of barrenness and their traditions and to explore alternative narratives. We explore the linguistic strategies the barren women employ to communicate their coping with limitations imposed upon their rights by the negative constructions.

Keywords: integrationism, critical discourse analysis, barrenness, communication strategies, women rights

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Authors: Girlly Marchlina Listyono, Abdurrokhim Abdurrokhim, Emi Sukiyah, Pulung Arya Pranantya

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Jakarta Area is composed by deposit which has various lithology characteristics. Based on its lithology types, colors, textures, mineral dan organic content from 22 wells scattered on Jakarta, lithofacies analysis and intra-wells data correlation can be done. From the analysis, it can be interpretated that Jakarta deposit deposited in marine, transition and terrestrial depositional environments. Terrestrial deposit characterized by domination of relatively coarse clastics and content of remaining roots, woods, plants, high content of quartz, lithic fragment, calcareous and oxidated appearace. The thickness of terrestrial deposit is thickening to south. Transitional deposit characterized by fine to medium clastics with dark color, high content of organic matter, various thickness in any ways. Marine deposit characterized by finer clastics, contain remain of shells, fosil, coral, limestone fragments, glauconites, calcareous. Marine deposit relatively thickening to north. Those lateral variety caused by tectonic, subsidence and stratigraphic condition. Deposition of Jakarta deposit from the data research was started on marine depositional environment which surrounded by the event of cycle of regression and transgression then ended with regression which ongoing until form shore line in north Jakarta nowadays.

Keywords: deposit, Indonesia, Jakarta, sediment, stratigraphy

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Authors: Koray Altintas, Ozalp Vayvay

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Increased global issues such as depletion of sources, environmental problems and social inequality triggered public awareness towards finding sustainable solutions in order to ensure the well-being of the current as well as future generations. Since energy plays a significant role in improved social and economic well-being and is imperative on both industrial and commercial wealth creation, it is a must to develop a standardized set of metrics which makes it possible to indicate the present condition relative to conditions in the past and to develop any perspective which is required to frame actions for the future. This is not an easy task by considering the complexity of the issue which requires integrating economic, environmental and social aspects of sustainable energy. Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) can be considered as a form of integrated sustainability evaluation and a decision support approach that can be used to solve complex problems featuring; conflicting objectives, different forms of data and information, multi-interests and perspectives. On that matter, MCDM methods are useful for providing solutions to complex energy management problems. The aim of this study is to review MCDM approaches that can be used for examining sustainable energy management. This study presents an insight into MCDM techniques and methods that can be useful for engineers, researchers and policy makers working in the energy sector.

Keywords: sustainable energy, sustainability criteria, multi-criteria decision making, sustainability dimensions

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Authors: Himanshu J. Bahirat, Apoorva S. Janawlekar

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Plasma actuators are essential for aerodynamic flow separation control due to their lack of mechanical parts, lightweight, and high response frequency, which have numerous applications in hypersonic or supersonic aircraft. The working of these actuators is based on the formation of a low-temperature plasma between a pair of parallel electrodes by the application of a high-voltage AC signal across the electrodes, after which air molecules from the air surrounding the electrodes are ionized and accelerated through the electric field. The high-frequency operation is required in dielectric discharge barriers to ensure plasma stability. To carry out flow separation control in a hypersonic flow, the optimal design and construction of a power supply to generate dielectric barrier discharges is carried out in this paper. In this paper, it is aspired to construct a simplified circuit topology to emulate the dielectric barrier discharge and study its various frequency responses. The power supply can generate high voltage pulses up to 20kV at the repetitive frequency range of 20-50kHz with an input power of 500W. The power supply has been designed to be short circuit proof and can endure variable plasma load conditions. Its general outline is to charge a capacitor through a half-bridge converter and then later discharge it through a step-up transformer at a high frequency in order to generate high voltage pulses. After simulating the circuit, the PCB design and, eventually, lab tests are carried out to study its effectiveness in controlling flow separation.

Keywords: aircraft propulsion, dielectric barrier discharge, flow separation control, power source

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: T. P. Singh, Vijay Gautam

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Gladiolus is an important cash crop and is grown mainly for its elegant spikes. Traditionally the gladiolus corms are planted manually which is very tedious, time consuming and labor intensive operation. So far, there is no planter available for planting of gladiolus corms. With a view to mechanize the planting operation of this horticultural crop, a prototype of 4-row gladiolus planter was developed and its performance was evaluated in-situ condition. Cup-chain type metering device was used to singulate the gladiolus corms while planting. Three levels of corm spacing viz 15, 20 and 25 cm and four levels of forward speed viz 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 km/h was taken as evaluation parameter for the planter. The performance indicators namely corm spacing in each row, coefficient of uniformity, missing index, multiple index, quality of feed index, number of corms per meter length, mechanical damage to the corms etc. were determined during the field test. The data was statistically analyzed using Completely Randomized Design (CRD) for testing the significance of the parameters. The result indicated that planter was able to drop the corms at required nominal spacing with minor variations. The highest deviation from the mean corm spacing was observed as 3.53 cm with maximum coefficient of variation as 13.88%. The highest missing and quality of feed indexes were observed as 6.33% and 97.45% respectively with no multiples. The performance of the planter was observed better at lower forward speed and wider corm spacing. The field capacity of the planter was found as 0.103 ha/h with an observed field efficiency of 76.57%.

Keywords: coefficient of uniformity, corm spacing, gladiolus planter, mechanization

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Authors: Michael Zenker, Henrik Prinzhorn, Christian Böning, Tom Strating

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Large-scale products are often assembled according to the job-site principle, meaning that during the assembly the product is located at a fixed position, while the area requirements are constantly changing. On one hand, the product itself is growing with each assembly step, whereas varying areas for storage, machines or working areas are temporarily required. This is an important factor when arranging products to be assembled within the factory. Currently, it is common to reserve a fixed area for each product to avoid overlaps or collisions with the other assemblies. Intending to be large enough to include the product and all adjacent areas, this reserved area corresponds to the superposition of the maximum extents of all required areas of the product. In this procedure, the reserved area is usually poorly utilized over the course of the entire assembly process; instead a large part of it remains unused. If the available area is a limited resource, a systematic arrangement of the products, which complies with the dynamic area requirements, will lead to an increased area utilization and productivity. This paper presents the results of a study on the arrangement of assembly objects assuming dynamic, competing area requirements. First, the problem situation is extensively explained, and existing research on associated topics is described and evaluated on the possibility of an adaptation. Then, a newly developed mathematical optimization model is introduced. This model allows an optimal arrangement of dynamic areas, considering logical and practical constraints. Finally, in order to quantify the potential of the developed method, some test series results are presented, showing the possible increase in area utilization.

Keywords: dynamic area requirements, facility layout problem, optimization model, product assembly

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Authors: Jungkyun Na, Jaesang Lee, Yang Mo Koo

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In this study to find a replacement for expensive secondary recrystallization in GO electrical steel production, effect of heat treatment on the formation of columnar grain and Goss texture is investigated. The composition of the sample is Fe-2.0Si-0.2C. This process involves repeating of cold rolling and decarburization as a replacement for secondary recrystallization. By cold-rolling shear band is made and Goss grain grows from shear band by decarburization. By doing another cold rolling, some Goss texture is newly formed from the shear band, and some Goss texture is retained in microbands. To determine whether additional heat treatment with H2 atmosphere is needed on decarburization process for growth of Goss texture, comparing between decarburization and heat treatment with H2 atmosphere is performed. Also, to find optimum condition for heat treatment, heat treatment with various time and temperature is performed. It was found that increase in the number of cold rolling and heat treatment increases Goss texture. Both high Goss texture and good columnar structure is achieved at 900℃, and this temperature is within a+r phase region. Heat treatment at a temperature higher than a+r phase region caused carbon diffusion and this made layer with Goss grain decrease.

Keywords: electrical steel, Goss texture, columnar structure, normal grain growth

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Authors: Navdeep Goel, Salvador Gabarda

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Digital images are widely used in computer applications. To store or transmit the uncompressed images requires considerable storage capacity and transmission bandwidth. Image compression is a means to perform transmission or storage of visual data in the most economical way. This paper explains about how images can be encoded to be transmitted in a multiplexing time-frequency domain channel. Multiplexing involves packing signals together whose representations are compact in the working domain. In order to optimize transmission resources each 4x4 pixel block of the image is transformed by a suitable polynomial approximation, into a minimal number of coefficients. Less than 4*4 coefficients in one block spares a significant amount of transmitted information, but some information is lost. Different approximations for image transformation have been evaluated as polynomial representation (Vandermonde matrix), least squares + gradient descent, 1-D Chebyshev polynomials, 2-D Chebyshev polynomials or singular value decomposition (SVD). Results have been compared in terms of nominal compression rate (NCR), compression ratio (CR) and peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) in order to minimize the error function defined as the difference between the original pixel gray levels and the approximated polynomial output. Polynomial coefficients have been later encoded and handled for generating chirps in a target rate of about two chirps per 4*4 pixel block and then submitted to a transmission multiplexing operation in the time-frequency domain.

Keywords: chirp signals, image multiplexing, image transformation, linear canonical transform, polynomial approximation

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Authors: Zheng Sun, Weiwei Cui, Xiaodong Ma, Hongxin Jin, Dongpao Hong, Jinsong Yang, Jingyi Sun

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With the improvement of the performance and complexity of modern equipment, automatic test system (ATS) becomes widely used for condition monitoring and fault diagnosis. However, the conventional ATS mainly works in a serial mode, and lacks the ability of testing several equipments at the same time. That leads to low test efficiency and ATS redundancy. Especially for a large majority of equipment under test, the conventional ATS cannot meet the requirement of efficient testing. To reduce the support resource and increase test efficiency, we propose a method of design for the parallel test based on the embedded system in this paper. Firstly, we put forward the general framework of the parallel test system, and the system contains a central management system (CMS) and several distributed test subsystems (DTS). Then we give a detailed design of the system. For the hardware of the system, we use embedded architecture to design DTS. For the software of the system, we use test program set to improve the test adaption. By deploying the parallel test system, the time to test five devices is now equal to the time to test one device in the past. Compared with the conventional test system, the proposed test system reduces the size and improves testing efficiency. This is of great significance for equipment to be put into operation swiftly. Finally, we take an industrial control system as an example to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The result shows that the method is reasonable, and the efficiency is improved up to 500%.

Keywords: parallel test, embedded system, automatic test system, automatic test system (ATS), central management system, central management system (CMS), distributed test subsystems, distributed test subsystems (DTS)

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Authors: T. Maruyama, T. Saida, S. Naritsuka, S. Iijima

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Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are generally synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using Fe, Co, and Ni as catalysts. However, due to the Ostwald ripening of metal catalysts, the diameter distribution of the grown SWCNTs is considerably wide (>2 nm), which is not suitable for electronics applications. In addition, reduction in the growth temperature is desirable for fabricating SWCNT devices compatible with the LSI process. Herein, we performed SWCNT growth by alcohol catalytic CVD using platinum-group metal catalysts (Pt, Rh, and Pd) because these metals have high melting points, and the reduction in the Ostwald ripening of catalyst particles is expected. Our results revealed that web-like SWCNTs were obtained from Pt and Rh catalysts at growth temperature between 500 °C and 600 °C by optimizing the ethanol pressure. The SWCNT yield from Pd catalysts was considerably low. By decreasing the growth temperature, the diameter and chirality distribution of SWCNTs from Pt and Rh catalysts became small and narrow. In particular, the diameters of most SWCNTs grown using Pt catalysts were below 1 nm and their diameter distribution was considerably narrow. On the contrary, SWCNTs can grow from Rh catalysts even at 300 °C by optimizing the growth condition, which is the lowest temperature recorded for SWCNT growth. Our results demonstrated that platinum-group metals are useful for the growth of small-diameter SWCNTs and facilitate low-temperature growth.

Keywords: carbon nanotube, chemical vapor deposition, catalyst, platinum, rhodium, palladium

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Authors: Adnan F. Sheikh, Fayaz A. Mir

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After the recent devastating flood in Kashmir in 2014, dredging of the local water bodies, especially Jhelum River has become a priority for the government. Local government under the project name of 'Comprehensive Flood Management Programme' plans to undertake an increase in discharge of existing flood channels by removal of encroachments and acquisition of additional land, dredging and other works of the water bodies. The total quantity of soil to be dredged will be 16.15 lac cumecs. Dredged soil is a major component that would result from the project which requires disposal/utilization. This study analyses the effect of cement and sand on the engineering properties of soil. The tests were conducted with variable additions of sand (10%, 20% and 30%), whereas cement was added at 12%. Samples with following compositions: soil-cement (12%) and soil-sand (30%) were tested as well. Laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the engineering characteristics of soil, i.e., compaction, strength, and CBR characteristics. The strength characteristics of the soil were determined by unconfined compressive strength test and direct shear test. Unconfined compressive strength of the soil was tested immediately and for a curing period of seven days. CBR test was performed for unsoaked, soaked (worst condition- 4 days) and cured (4 days) samples.

Keywords: comprehensive flood management programme, dredge soil, strength characteristics, flood

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Authors: G. La Scalia, M. Enea, R. Micale, O. Corona, L. Settanni

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The quality and condition of perishable products delivered to the market and their subsequent selling prices are directly affected by the care taken during harvesting and handling. Mechanical injury, in fact, occurs at all stages, from pre-harvest operations through post-harvest handling, packing and transport to the market. The main implications of this damage are the reduction of the product’s quality and economical losses related to the shelf life diminution. For most perishable products, the shelf life is relatively short and it is typically dictated by microbial growth related to the application of dynamic and static loads during transportation. This paper presents the correlation between vibration levels and microbiological growth on strawberries and woodland strawberries and detects the presence of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in order to develop an intelligent logistic unit capable of monitoring VOCs using a specific sensor system. Fresh fruits were exposed to vibrations by means of a vibrating table in a temperature-controlled environment. Microbiological analyses were conducted on samples, taken at different positions along the column of the crates. The values obtained were compared with control samples not exposed to vibrations and the results show that different positions along the column influence the development of bacteria, yeasts and filamentous fungi.

Keywords: microbiological analysis, shelf life, transport damage, volatile organic compounds

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Authors: T. Delval, C. Sauvage, Q. Jullien, R. Viano, T. Diallo, B. Collignan, G. Picinbono

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In the context of the international spread of COVID-19, the Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment (CSTB) has led a joint research with the French government authorities Hauts-de-Seine department, to analyse the risk in school spaces according to their configuration, ventilation system and spatial segmentation strategy. This paper describes the main results of this joint research. A multidisciplinary team involving experts in indoor air quality/ventilation, pedestrian movements and IT domains was established to develop a COVID risk analysis tool based on Building Information Model. The work started with specific analysis on two pilot schools in order to provide for the local administration specifications to minimize the spread of the virus. Different recommendations were published to optimize/validate the use of ventilation systems and the strategy of student occupancy and student flow segmentation within the building. This COVID expertise has been digitized in order to manage a quick risk analysis on the entire building that could be used by the public administration through an easy user interface implemented in a free BIM Management software. One of the most interesting results is to enable a dynamic comparison of different ventilation system scenarios and space occupation strategy inside the BIM model. This concurrent engineering approach provides users with the optimal solution according to both ventilation and pedestrian flow expertise.

Keywords: BIM, knowledge management, system expert, risk management, indoor ventilation, pedestrian movement, integrated design

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Authors: Wilson Bastos, Sigal G. Barsade

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Much of what happens in the marketplace revolves around the provision and consumption of goods. Recent research has advanced a useful categorization of these goods—as experiential versus material—and shown that, from the consumers’ perspective, experiences (e.g., a theater performance) are superior to objects (e.g., an electronic gadget) in offering various social and psychological benefits. A common finding in this growing research stream is that consumers gain more happiness from the experiences they have than the objects they own. By focusing solely on those acquiring the experiential or material goods (the consumers), prior research has remained silent regarding another important group of individuals—those providing the goods (the employees). Do employees whose jobs are primarily focused on offering consumers an experience (vs. object) also gain more happiness from their occupation? We report evidence from four experiments supporting an experiential-employee advantage. Further, we use mediation and moderation tests to unearth the mechanism responsible for this effect. Results reveal that work meaningfulness is the primary driver of the experiential-employee advantage. Overall, our findings suggest that employees find it more meaningful to provide people with an experience as compared to a material object, which in turn shapes the happiness they derive from their jobs. We expect this finding to have implications on human development, and to be of relevance to researchers and practitioners interested in how to advance human condition in the workplace.

Keywords: employee happiness, experiential versus material jobs, work meaningfulness

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Authors: Sridhar S, Govinda Raj Mandela, Aruna Mangalpady

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In the present day scenario, Indian underground mines are moving towards full scale mechanisation for improvement of production and productivity levels. These mines are employing a wide variety of earth moving machines for the transportation of ore and overburden (waste). Low Profile Dump Trucks (LPDTs) have proven more advantageous towards improvement of production levels in underground mines through quick transportation. During the operation of LPDT, different kinds of vibrations are generated which can affect the health condition of the operator. Keeping this in view, the present research work focuses on measurement and evaluation of Hand Arm Vibrations (HAVs) from the steering system of LPDTs. The study also aims to evaluate the HAVs of different job components of a work cycle in operating LPDTs. The HAVs were measured and evaluated according to ISO 5349-2: 2001 standards, and the daily vibration exposures A(8) were calculated. The evaluated A(8) results show that LPDTs of 60 and 50 tons capacity have vibration levels more than that of the Exposure Action Value (EAV) of 2.5 m/s2 in every job component of the work cycle. Further, the results show that the vibration levels were more during empty haulage especially during descending journey when compared to other job components in all LPDTs considered for the study.

Keywords: low profile dump trucks, hand arm vibrations, exposure action value, underground mines

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Authors: Hsu Kuo-Wei, Tan Roon Fang, Chao Jen-chih

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Cities face environmental challenges, including over-urbanization issues, air and water quality issues, lack of green space, excess heat capture, polluted storm water runoff and lack of ecological biodiversity. The vertical farming holds the condition of technology addressing these issues by enabling more food to be produced with finite less resources use and space. Most of the existing research regarding to technology Industry of agriculture between plant factory and vertical greening, which with high costs and high-technology. Relative research developed a sustainable model for construction and operation of the vertical farm in urban housing which aims to revolutionize our daily life of food production and urban development. However, those researches focused on quantitative analysis. This study utilized relative research for key variables of benefits of vertical farming. In the second stage, utilizes Fuzzy Delphi Method to obtain the critical factors of benefits of vertical farming using in Urban Renewal by interviewing the foregoing experts. Then, Analytic Hierarchy Process is applied to find the importance degree of each criterion as the measurable indices of the vertical farming method in urban renewal within the older city of Taichung.

Keywords: urban renewal, vertical farming, urban agriculture, benefit analysis, the older city of Taichung

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Authors: Jean Berger, Nassirou Lo, Martin Noel

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Perfectly suited for natural or man-made emergency and disaster management situations such as flood, earthquakes, tornadoes, or tsunami, multi-target search path planning for a team of rescue agents is known to be computationally hard, and most techniques developed so far come short to successfully estimate optimality gap. A novel mixed-integer linear programming (MIP) formulation is proposed to optimally solve the multi-target multi-agent discrete search and rescue (SAR) path planning problem. Aimed at maximizing cumulative probability of successful target detection, it captures anticipated feedback information associated with possible observation outcomes resulting from projected path execution, while modeling agent discrete actions over all possible moving directions. Problem modeling further takes advantage of network representation to encompass decision variables, expedite compact constraint specification, and lead to substantial problem-solving speed-up. The proposed MIP approach uses CPLEX optimization machinery, efficiently computing near-optimal solutions for practical size problems, while giving a robust upper bound obtained from Lagrangean integrality constraint relaxation. Should eventually a target be positively detected during plan execution, a new problem instance would simply be reformulated from the current state, and then solved over the next decision cycle. A computational experiment shows the feasibility and the value of the proposed approach.

Keywords: search path planning, search and rescue, multi-agent, mixed-integer linear programming, optimization

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Authors: M. Kosacka, I. Kudelska

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Vehicle is one of the most influential and complex product worldwide, which affects people’s life, state of the environment and condition of the economy (all aspects of sustainable development concept) during each stage of lifecycle. With the increase of vehicles’ number, there is growing potential for management of End of Life Vehicle (ELV), which is hazardous waste. From one point of view, the ELV should be managed to ensure risk elimination, but from another point, it should be treated as a source of valuable materials and spare parts. In order to obtain materials and spare parts, there are established recycling networks, which are an example of sustainable policy realization at the national level. The basic object in the polish recycling network is dismantling facility. The output material streams in dismantling stations include waste, which very often generate costs and spare parts, that have the biggest potential for revenues creation. Both outputs are stored into warehouses, according to the law. In accordance to the revenue creation and sustainability potential, it has been placed a strong emphasis on storage process. We present the concept of storage method, which takes into account the specific of the dismantling facility in order to support decision-making process with regard to the principles of sustainable development. The method was developed on the basis of case study of one of the greatest dismantling facility in Poland.

Keywords: dismantling, end of life vehicles, sustainability, storage

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Authors: Rachel Ashwell, Sally Millett

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Introduction: Adequate post-operative pain relief is a key priority in the delivery of caesarean sections. This improves patient experience, reduces morbidity and enables optimal mother-infant interaction. Recommendations outlined in the NICE guidelines for caesarean section (CS) include offering peri-operative intrathecal/epidural diamorphine and post-operative opioid analgesics; offering non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) unless contraindicated and taking hourly observations for 12 hours following intrathecal diamorphine. Method: This audit assessed the provision of post-CS analgesia in 29 women over a two-week period. Indicators used were the use of intrathecal/epidural opioids, use of post-operative opioids and NSAIDs, frequency of observations and patient satisfaction with pain management on post-operative days 1 and 2. Results: All women received intrathecal/epidural diamorphine, 97% were prescribed post-operative opioids and all were prescribed NSAIDs unless contraindicated. Hourly observations were not maintained for 12 hours following intrathecal diamorphine. 97% of women were satisfied with their pain management on post-operative day 1 whereas only 75% were satisfied on day 2. Discussion: This service meets the proposed standards for the provision of post-operative analgesia, achieving high levels of patient satisfaction 1 day after CS. However, patient satisfaction levels are significantly lower on post-operative day 2, which may be due to reduced frequency of observations. The lack of an official audit standard for patient satisfaction on postoperative day 2 may result in reduced incentive to prioritise pain management at this stage.

Keywords: Caesarean section, analgesia, postoperative care, patient satisfaction

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Authors: H. N. S. Silva, S. N. Silva

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Introduction: The latest WHO data published in 2014 states that Sri Lanka has reached 2,773 of total deaths and over 14000 individuals’ sustained injuries due to RTAs each year. It was noticed in previous studies that policemen, three wheel drivers and also pedestrians were the first to respond to RTAs but the victim’s condition was aggravated due to unskilled attempts made by the responders while management of the victim’s wounds, moving and positioning of the victims and also mainly while transportation of the victims. Objective: To observe the practices of the urban public in Sri Lanka who are encountered with RTAs. Methods: A qualitative study was done to analyze public behavior seen on video recordings of scenes of accidents purposefully selected from social media, news websites, YouTube and Google. Results: The results showed that all individuals who tried to help during the RTA were middle aged men, who were mainly pedestrians, motorcyclists and policemen during that moment. Vast majority were very keen to actively help the victims to get to hospital as soon as possible and actively participated in providing 'aid'. But main problem was the first aid attempts were disorganized and uncoordinated. Even though all individuals knew how to control external bleeding, none of them was aware of spinal prevention techniques or management of limb injuries. Most of the transportation methods and transfer techniques used were inappropriate and more injury prone. Conclusions: The public actively engages in providing aid despite their inappropriate practices in giving first aid.

Keywords: encountered, pedestrians, road traffic accidents, urban public

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Authors: Yunjia Wang, Zhihong Zhao, Erxiang Song

Abstract:

Rockfills are widely used in civil engineering, such as dams, railways, and airport foundations in mountain areas. A significant long-term post-construction settlement may affect the serviceability or even the safety of rockfill infrastructures. The creep behavior of rockfills is influenced by a number of factors, such as particle size, strength and shape, water condition and stress level. However, the effect of particle shape on rockfill creep still remains poorly understood, which deserves a careful investigation. Particle-based discrete element method (DEM) was used to simulate the creep behavior of rockfills under different boundary conditions. Both angular and rounded particles were considered in this numerical study, in order to investigate the influence of particle shape. The preliminary results showed that angular particles experience more breakages and larger creep strains under one-dimensional compression than rounded particles. On the contrary, larger creep strains were observed in he rounded specimens in the direct shear test. The mechanism responsible for this difference is that the possibility of the existence of key particle in rounded particles is higher than that in angular particles. The above simulations demonstrate that the influence of particle shape on the creep behavior of rockfills can be simulated by DEM properly. The method of DEM simulation may facilitate our understanding of deformation properties of rockfill materials.

Keywords: rockfills, creep behavior, particle crushing, discrete element method, boundary conditions

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Authors: Athar Mahmood, Asad Ali

Abstract:

Management considerations including harvesting time and nitrogen application considerably influence the biomass yield, quality and biogas production. Therefore, a field study was conducted to determine the effect of various harvesting times and nitrogen rates on the biomass yield, quality and biogas yield of maize crop. This experiment was consisted of various harvesting times i.e., harvesting after 45, 55 and 65 days of sowing (DAS) and nitrogen rates i.e., 0, 100, 150 and 200 kg ha-1 respectively. The data indicated that maximum plant height, leaf area, dry matter (DM) yield, protein, acid detergent fiber, neutral detergent fiber, crude fiber contents and biogas yield were recorded 65 days after sowing while lowest was recorded 45 days after sowing. In contrary to that significantly higher chlorophyll contents were observed at 45 DAS. In case of nitrogen rates maximum plant height, leaf area, and DM yield, protein contents, ash contents, acid detergent fiber, neutral detergent fiber, crude fiber contents and chlorophyll contents were determined with nitrogen at the rate of 200 kg ha-1, while minimum was observed when no N was applied. Therefore, harvesting 65 DAS and N application @ 200 kg ha-1 can be suitable for getting the higher biomass and biogas production.

Keywords: chemical composition, fiber contents, biogas, nitrogen, harvesting time

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