Search results for: robust lightweight design

Authors: Chris Fersterer, Col Fay, Tobias Danielmeier, Kat Achterberg, Scott Willis

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New Zealand, an island nation, has an extensive coastline peppered with small communities of iconic buildings known as Bachs. Post WWII, these modest buildings were constructed by their owners as retreats and generally were small, low cost, often using recycled material and often they fell below current acceptable building standards. In the latter part of the 20^th century, real estate prices in many of these communities remained low and these areas became permanent residences for people attracted to this affordable lifestyle choice. The Blueskin Resilient Communities Trust (BRCT) is an organisation that recognises the vulnerability of communities in low lying settlements as now being prone to increased flood threat brought about by climate change and sea level rise. Some of the inhabitants of Blueskin Bay, Otago, NZ have already found their properties to be un-insurable because of increased frequency of flood events and property values have slumped accordingly. Territorial authorities also acknowledge this increased risk and have created additional compliance measures for new buildings that are less than 2 m above tidal peaks. Community resilience becomes an additional concern where inhabitants are attracted to a lifestyle associated with a specific location and its people when this lifestyle is unable to be met in a suburban or city context. Traditional models of social housing fail to provide the sense of community connectedness and identity enjoyed by the current residents of Blueskin Bay. BRCT have partnered with the Otago Polytechnic Design School to design a new form of community housing that can react to this environmental change. It is a longitudinal project incorporating participatory approaches as a means of getting people ‘on board’, to understand complex systems and co-develop solutions. In the first period, they are seeking industry support and funding to develop a transportable and fully self-contained housing model that exploits current technologies. BRCT also hope that the building will become an educational tool to highlight climate change issues facing us today. This paper uses the Climate Safe House (CSH) as a case study for education in architectural sustainability through experiential learning offered as part of the Otago Polytechnics Bachelor of Design. Students engage with the project with research methodologies, including site surveys, resident interviews, data sourced from government agencies and physical modelling. The process involves collaboration across design disciplines including product and interior design but also includes connections with industry, both within the education institution and stakeholder industries introduced through BRCT. This project offers a rich learning environment where students become engaged through project based learning within a community of practice, including architecture, construction, energy and other related fields. The design outcomes are expressed in a series of public exhibitions and forums where community input is sought in a truly participatory process.

Keywords: community resilience, problem based learning, project based learning, case study

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Authors: Michael Scott, Phil Jarrell

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Digitalization seems to be everywhere these days. So if one was to digitalize Functional Safety, what would that require: • Ability to directly use data from intelligent P&IDs / process design in a PHA / LOPA • Ability to directly use data from intelligent P&IDs in the SIS Design to support SIL Verification Calculations, SRS, C&Es, Functional Test Plans • Ability to create Unit Operation / SIF Libraries to radically reduce engineering manhours while ensuring consistency and improving quality of SIS designs • Ability to link data directly from a PHA / LOPA to SIS Designs • Ability to leverage reliability models and SRS details from SIS Designs to automatically program the Safety PLC • Ability to leverage SIS Test Plans to automatically create Safety PLC application logic Test Plans for a virtual FAT • Ability to tie real-time data from Process Historians / CMMS to assumptions in the PHA / LOPA and SIS Designs to generate leading indicators on protection layer health • Ability to flag SIS bad actors for proactive corrective actions prior to a near miss or loss of containment event What if I told you all of this was available today? This paper will highlight how the digital revolution has revolutionized the way Safety Instrumented Systems are designed, configured, operated and maintained.

Keywords: IEC 61511, safety instrumented systems, functional safety, digitalization, IIoT

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Authors: K. M. Jananni, R. Nandini

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The proposed wireless, inverter type design of a LPG leakage monitoring system aims to provide a smart and safe kitchen. The system detects the LPG gas leak using Nano-sensors and alerts the concerned individual through GSM system. The system uses two sensors, one attached to the chimney and other to the regulator of the LPG cylinder. Upon a leakage being detected, the sensor at the regulator actuates the system to cut off the gas supply immediately using a solenoid control valve. The sensor at the chimney checks for the permissible level of LPG mix in the air and when the level exceeds the threshold, the system sends an automatic SMS to the numbers saved. Further the sensor actuates the mini suction system fixed at the chimney within 20 seconds of a leakage to suck out the gas until the level falls well below the threshold. As a safety measure, an automatic window opening and alarm feature is also incorporated into the system. The key feature of this design is that the system is provided with a special inverter designed to make the device function effectively even during power failures. In this paper, utilization of sensors in the kitchen area is discussed and this gives the proposed architecture for real time field monitoring with a PIC Micro-controller.

Keywords: nano sensors, global system for mobile communication, GSM, micro controller, inverter

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Authors: R. Periyasamy, Deepak Joshi, Sneh Anand

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Foot posture assessment is important to evaluate foot type, causing gait and postural defects in all age groups. Although different methods are used for classification of foot arch type in clinical/research examination, there is no clear approach for selecting the most appropriate measurement system. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a system for evaluation of foot type as clinical decision-making aids for diagnosis of flat and normal arch based on the Arch Index (AI) and foot pressure distribution parameter - Power Ratio (PR) data. The accuracy of the system was evaluated for 27 subjects with age ranging from 24 to 65 years. Foot area measurements (hind foot, mid foot, and forefoot) were acquired simultaneously from foot pressure intensity image using portable PedoPowerGraph system and analysis of the image in frequency domain to obtain foot pressure distribution parameter - PR data. From our results, we obtain 100% classification accuracy of normal and flat foot by using the linear discriminant analysis method. We observe there is no misclassification of foot types because of incorporating foot pressure distribution data instead of only arch index (AI). We found that the mid-foot pressure distribution ratio data and arch index (AI) value are well correlated to foot arch type based on visual analysis. Therefore, this paper suggests that the proposed system is accurate and easy to determine foot arch type from arch index (AI), as well as incorporating mid-foot pressure distribution ratio data instead of physical area of contact. Hence, such computational tool based system can help the clinicians for assessment of foot structure and cross-check their diagnosis of flat foot from mid-foot pressure distribution.

Keywords: arch index, computational tool, static foot pressure intensity image, foot pressure distribution, linear discriminant analysis

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Authors: Santiago Quesada-García, María Lozano-Gómez, Pablo Valero-Flores

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The recent digital revolution, together with modern technologies, is changing the environment and the way people interact with inhabited space. However, in society, the elderly are a very broad and varied group that presents serious difficulties in understanding these modern technologies. Outpatients with cognitive disabilities, such as those suffering from Alzheimer's disease (AD), are distinguished within this cluster. This population group is in constant growth, and they have specific requirements for their inhabited space. According to architecture, which is one of the health humanities, environments are designed to promote well-being and improve the quality of life for all. Buildings, as well as the tools and technologies integrated into them, must be accessible, inclusive, and foster health. In this new digital paradigm, artificial intelligence (AI) appears as an innovative resource to help this population group improve their autonomy and quality of life. Some experiences and solutions, such as those that interact with users through chatbots and voicebots, show the potential of AI in its practical application. In the design of healthy spaces, the integration of AI in architecture will allow the living environment to become a kind of 'exo-brain' that can make up for certain cognitive deficiencies in this population. The objective of this paper is to address, from the discipline of neuroarchitecture, how modern technologies can be integrated into everyday environments and be an accessible resource for people with cognitive disabilities. For this, the methodology has a mixed structure. On the one hand, from an empirical point of view, the research carries out a review of the existing literature about the applications of AI to build space, following the critical review foundations. As a unconventional architectural research, an experimental analysis is proposed based on people with AD as a resource of data to study how the environment in which they live influences their regular activities. The results presented in this communication are part of the progress achieved in the competitive R&D&I project ALZARQ (PID2020-115790RB-I00). These outcomes are aimed at the specific needs of people with cognitive disabilities, especially those with AD, since, due to the comfort and wellness that the solutions entail, they can also be extrapolated to the whole society. As a provisional conclusion, it can be stated that, in the immediate future, AI will be an essential element in the design and construction of healthy new environments. The discipline of architecture has the compositional resources to, through this emerging technology, build an 'exo-brain' capable of becoming a personal assistant for the inhabitants, with whom to interact proactively and contribute to their general well-being. The main objective of this work is to show how this is possible.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, artificial intelligence, healthy architecture, neuroarchitecture, architectural design

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Authors: Oscar Armando González-Marin, Jhon F. Rodríguez-León, Oscar Mota-Pérez, Jorge Pineda-Piñón, Roberto S. Velázquez-González., Julio C. Sosa-Savedra

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Over the past six years, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has recorded the warmest years since 1880, primarily attributed to climate change. In addition, the overexploitation of agricultural lands, combined with food and water scarcity, has highlighted the urgent need for sustainable cultivation methods. Hydroponics has emerged as a sustainable farming technique that enables plant cultivation using nutrient solutions without the requirement for traditional soil. Among hydroponic methods, the Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) facilitates plant growth by circulating a nutrient solution continuously. This approach allows the monitoring and precise control of nutritional parameters, with potential for automation and technological integration. This study aims to present the state of the art of automated NFT hydroponic systems, discussing their design methodologies and considerations for implementation. Moreover, a medium-scale NFT system developed at CICATA-QRO is introduced, detailing its current manual management and progress toward automation.

Keywords: automation, hydroponics, nutrient film technique, sustainability

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Authors: Sujata Kulkarni, Udhav Bhosle, Vijaykumar T.

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Due to the closeness between seismic signals and non-seismic signals, it is vital to detect earthquakes using conventional methods. In order to distinguish between seismic events and non-seismic events depending on their amplitude, our study processes the data that come from seismic sensors. The authors suggest a robust noise suppression technique that makes use of a bandpass filter, an IIR Wiener filter, recursive short-term average/long-term average (STA/LTA), and Carl short-term average (STA)/long-term average for event identification (LTA). The trigger ratio used in the proposed study to differentiate between seismic and non-seismic activity is determined. The proposed work focuses on significant feature extraction for machine learning-based seismic event detection. This serves as motivation for compiling a dataset of all features for the identification and forecasting of seismic signals. We place a focus on feature vector dimension reduction techniques due to the temporal complexity. The proposed notable features were experimentally tested using a machine learning model, and the results on unseen data are optimal. Finally, a presentation using a hybrid dataset (captured by different sensors) demonstrates how this model may also be employed in a real-time setting while lowering false alarm rates. The planned study is based on the examination of seismic signals obtained from both individual sensors and sensor networks (SN). A wideband seismic signal from BSVK and CUKG station sensors, respectively located near Basavakalyan, Karnataka, and the Central University of Karnataka, makes up the experimental dataset.

Keywords: Carl STA/LTA, features extraction, real time, dataset, machine learning, seismic detection

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Authors: Amic G. Ho

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Language usage and typography in Hong Kong are unique, as can be seen clearly on the streets of the city. In contrast to many other parts of the world, where there is only one language, in Hong Kong many signs and billboards display two languages: Chinese and English. The language usage on signage, fonts and types used, and the designs in magazines and advertisements all demonstrate the unique features of Hong Kong typographic design, which reflect the multicultural nature of Hong Kong society. This study is the first step in investigating the nature and development of Hong Kong typography. The preliminary research explored how the historical development of Hong Kong is reflected in its unique typography. Following a review of historical development, a quantitative study was designed: Local Hong Kong participants were invited to provide input on what makes the Hong Kong typographic style unique. Their input was collected and analyzed. This provided us with information about the characteristic criteria and features of Hong Kong typography, as recognized by the local people. The most significant typographic designs in Hong Kong were then investigated and the influence of Chinese and other cultures on Hong Kong typography was assessed. The research results provide an indication to local designers on how they can strengthen local design outcomes and promote the values and culture of their mother town.

Keywords: typography, Hong Kong, historical developments, multiple cultures

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Authors: Farzaneh Badinlou, Reza Kormi-Nouri, Monika Knopf

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Enacted tasks are typically remembered better than when the same task materials are only verbally encoded, a robust finding referred to as the enactment effect. It has been assumed that enactment effect is independent of object presence but the size of enactment effect can be increased by providing objects at study phase in adults. To clarify the issues in children, free recall and cued recall performance of action phrases with or without using real objects were compared in 410 school-aged children from four age groups (8, 10, 12 and 14 years old). In this study, subjects were instructed to learn a series of action phrases under three encoding conditions, participants listened to verbal action phrases (VTs), performed the phrases (SPTs: subject-performed tasks), and observed the experimenter perform the phrases (EPTs: experimenter-performed tasks). Then, free recall and cued recall memory tests were administrated. The results revealed that the real object compared with imaginary objects improved recall performance in SPTs and EPTs, but more so in VTs. It was also found that the object presence was not necessary for the occurrence of the enactment effect but it was changed the size of enactment effect in all age groups. The size of enactment effect was more pronounced for imaginary objects than the real object in both free recall and cued recall memory tests in children. It was discussed that SPTs and EPTs deferentially facilitate item-specific and relation information processing and providing the objects can moderate the processing underlying the encoding conditions.

Keywords: action memory, enactment effect, item-specific processing, object, relational processing, school-aged children

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Authors: Kizito Ugochukwu Nwajeri

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This paper presents a distinct approach to solving fractional dynamical systems using hybrid block methods (HBMs). Fractional calculus extends the concept of derivatives and integrals to non-integer orders and finds increasing application in fields such as physics, engineering, and finance. However, traditional numerical techniques often struggle to accurately capture the complex behaviors exhibited by these systems. To address this challenge, we develop HBMs that integrate single-step and multi-step methods, enabling the simultaneous computation of multiple solution points while maintaining high accuracy. Our approach employs polynomial interpolation and collocation techniques to derive a system of equations that effectively models the dynamics of fractional systems. We also directly incorporate boundary and initial conditions into the formulation, enhancing the stability and convergence properties of the numerical solution. An adaptive step-size mechanism is introduced to optimize performance based on the local behavior of the solution. Extensive numerical simulations are conducted to evaluate the proposed methods, demonstrating significant improvements in accuracy and efficiency compared to traditional numerical approaches. The results indicate that our hybrid block methods are robust and versatile, making them suitable for a wide range of applications involving fractional dynamical systems. This work contributes to the existing literature by providing an effective numerical framework for analyzing complex behaviors in fractional systems, thereby opening new avenues for research and practical implementation across various disciplines.

Keywords: fractional calculus, numerical simulation, stability and convergence, Adaptive step-size mechanism, collocation methods

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Authors: S. Mahdi Sadatmansouri, Maryam Khalili

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World, nowadays, encounters serious water scarcity problem. During the past few years, by advent of Smart Energy and Water Meter (SEWM) and its installation at the electro-pumps of the water wells, one had believed that it could be the golden key to address the groundwater resources over-pumping issue. In fact, implementation of these Smart Meters managed to control the water table drawdown for short; but it was not a sustainable approach. SEWM has been considered as law enforcement facility at first; however, for solving a complex socioeconomic problem like shared groundwater resources management, more than just enforcement is required: participation to conserve common resources. The well owners or farmers, as water consumers, are the main and direct stakeholders of this system and other stakeholders could be government sectors, investors, technology providers, privet sectors or ordinary people. Designing a socio-technical system not only defines the role of each stakeholder but also can lubricate the communication to reach the system goals while benefits of each are considered and provided. Farmers, as the key participators for solving groundwater problem, do not trust governments but they would trust a fair system in which responsibilities, privileges and benefits are clear. Technology could help this system remained impartial and productive. Social aspects provide rules, regulations, social objects and etc. for the system and help it to be more human-centered. As the design methodology, Design Thinking provides probable solutions for the challenging problems and ongoing conflicts; it could enlighten the way in which the final system could be designed. Using Human Centered Design approach of IDEO helps to keep farmers in the center of the solution and provides a vision by which stakeholders’ requirements and needs are addressed effectively. Farmers would be considered to trust the system and participate in their groundwater resources management if they find the rules and tools of the system fair and effective. Besides, implementation of the socio-technical system could change farmers’ behavior in order that they concern more about their valuable shared water resources as well as their farm profit. This socio-technical system contains nine main subsystems: 1) Measurement and Monitoring system, 2) Legislation and Governmental system, 3) Information Sharing system, 4) Knowledge based NGOs, 5) Integrated Farm Management system (using IoT), 6) Water Market and Water Banking system, 7) Gamification, 8) Agribusiness ecosystem, 9) Investment system.

Keywords: human centered design, participatory management, smart energy and water meter (SEWM), social object, socio-technical system, water table drawdown

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Authors: Louise Moles, Steve Riley, Sarah D. Lichenstein, Marzieh Babaeianjelodar, Robert Kohler, Annie Cheng, Corey Horien Abigail Greene, Wenjing Luo, Jonathan Ahern, Bohan Xu, Yize Zhao, Chun Chieh Fan, R. Todd Constable, Sarah W. Yip

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Background: Risks for depression are myriad and include both genetic and brain-based factors. However, relationships between these systems are poorly understood, limiting understanding of disease etiology, particularly at the developmental level. Methods: We use a data-driven machine learning approach connectome-based predictive modeling (CPM) to identify functional connectivity signatures associated with polygenic risk scores for depression (DEP-PRS) among youth from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study across diverse brain states, i.e., during resting state, during affective working memory, during response inhibition, during reward processing. Results: Using 10-fold cross-validation with 100 iterations and permutation testing, CPM identified connectivity signatures of DEP-PRS across all examined brain states (rho’s=0.20-0.27, p’s<.001). Across brain states, DEP-PRS was positively predicted by increased connectivity between frontoparietal and salience networks, increased motor-sensory network connectivity, decreased salience to subcortical connectivity, and decreased subcortical to motor-sensory connectivity. Subsampling analyses demonstrated that model accuracies were robust across random subsamples of N’s=1,000, N’s=500, and N’s=250 but became unstable at N’s=100. Conclusions: These data, for the first time, identify neural networks of polygenic depression risk in a large sample of youth before the onset of significant clinical impairment. Identified networks may be considered potential treatment targets or vulnerability markers for depression risk.

Keywords: genetics, functional connectivity, pre-adolescents, depression

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Authors: W. Assaad, D. Wilmink, H. R. Pasaribu, H. J. M. Geijselaers

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Shell has developed a mono-diameter well concept for oil and gas wells as opposed to the traditional telescopic well design. A Mono-diameter well design allows well to have a single inner diameter from the surface all the way down to reservoir to increase production capacity, reduce material cost and reduce environmental footprint. This is achieved by expansion of liners (casing string) concerned using an expansion tool (e.g. a cone). Since the well is drilled in stages and liners are inserted to support the borehole, overlap sections between consecutive liners exist which should be expanded. At overlap, the previously inserted casing which can be expanded or unexpanded is called the host casing and the newly inserted casing is called the expandable casing. When the cone enters the overlap section, an expandable casing is expanded against a host casing, a cured cement layer and formation. In overlap expansion, ironing or lengthening may appear instead of shortening in the expandable casing when the pressure exerted by the host casing, cured cement layer and formation exceeds a certain limit. This pressure is related to cement strength, thickness of cement layer, host casing material mechanical properties, host casing thickness, formation type and formation strength. Ironing can cause implications that hinder the deployment of the technology. Therefore, the understanding of ironing becomes essential. A physical model is built in-house to calculate expansion forces, stresses, strains and post expansion casing dimensions under different conditions. In this study, only free casing and overlap expansion of two casings are addressed while the cement and formation will be incorporated in future study. Since the axial strain can be predicted by the physical model, the onset of ironing can be confirmed. In addition, this model helps in understanding ironing and the parameters influencing it. Finally, the physical model is validated with Finite Element (FE) simulations and small-scale experiments. The results of the study confirm that high pressure leads to ironing when the casing is expanded in tension mode.

Keywords: casing expansion, cement, formation, metal forming, plasticity, well design

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Authors: Dharni Vasudhevan Venkatesan, K. E. Shanjay, H. Sujith Kumar, N. A. Abhilash, D. Aswin Ram, V. R. Sanal Kumar

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Numerical studies on race car aerodynamics at wing in ground effect have been carried out using a steady 3d, double precision, pressure-based, and standard k-epsilon turbulence model. Through various parametric analytical studies we have observed that at a particular speed and ground clearance of the wings a favorable negative lift was found high at a particular angle of attack for all the physical models considered in this paper. The fact is that if the ground clearance height to chord length (h/c) is too small, the developing boundary layers from either side (the ground and the lower surface of the wing) can interact, leading to an altered variation of the aerodynamic characteristics at wing in ground effect. Therefore a suitable ground clearance must be predicted throughout the racing for a better performance of the race car, which obviously depends upon the coupled effects of the topography, wing orientation with respect to the ground, the incoming flow features and/or the race car speed. We have concluded that for the design of high performance and high speed race cars the adjustable wings capable to alter the ground clearance and the angles of attack is the best design option for any race car for racing safely with variable speeds.

Keywords: external aerodynamics, external flow choking, race car aerodynamics, wing in ground effect

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Authors: Pedro Mota Veiga

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This study comprehensively evaluates the repercussions of innovation, digital advancements, and technological capabilities on the operational performance of companies across fifteen European Union countries following the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing insights from longitudinal data sourced from the 2019 World Bank business surveys and subsequent 2020 World Bank COVID-19 follow-up business surveys, our extensive examination involves a diverse sample of 5763 family businesses. In exploring the relationships between these variables, we adopt a nuanced approach to assess the impact of innovation and digital and technological capabilities on performance. This analysis unfolds along two distinct perspectives: one rooted in necessity and the other insufficiency. The methodological framework employed integrates partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with condition analysis (NCA), providing a robust foundation for drawing meaningful conclusions. The findings of the study underscore a positive influence on the performance of family firms stemming from both technological capabilities and digital advancements. Furthermore, it is pertinent to highlight the indirect contribution of innovation to enhanced performance, operating through its impact on digital capabilities. This research contributes valuable insights to the broader understanding of how innovation, coupled with digital and technological capabilities, can serve as pivotal factors in shaping the post-COVID-19 landscape for businesses across the European Union. The intricate analysis of family businesses, in particular adds depth to the comprehension of the dynamics at play in diverse economic contexts within the European Union.

Keywords: digital capabilities, technological capabilities, family firms performance, innovation, NCA, PLS-SEM

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Authors: Asim Quddus

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A miniaturized three dimensional co-planar waveguide (CPW) two-port MIMO antenna, exhibiting high isolation and WLAN band-notched characteristics is presented in this paper for ultrawideband (UWB) communication applications. The microstrip patch antenna operates as a single UWB antenna element. The proposed design is a cuboid-shaped structure having compact size of 35 x 27 x 45 mm³. Radiating as well as decoupling structure is placed around cuboidal polystyrene sheet. The radiators are 27 mm apart, placed Face-to-Face in vertical direction. Decoupling structure is placed on the side walls of polystyrene. The proposed antenna consists of an oval shaped radiating patch. A rectangular structure with fillet edges is placed on ground plan to enhance the bandwidth. The proposed antenna exhibits a good impedance match (S11 ≤ -10 dB) over frequency band of 2 GHz – 10.6 GHz. A circular slotted structure is employed as a decoupling structure on substrate, and it is placed on the side walls of polystyrene to enhance the isolation between antenna elements. Moreover, to achieve immunity from WLAN band distortion, a modified, inverted crescent shaped slotted structure is etched on radiating patches to achieve band-rejection characteristics at WLAN frequency band 4.8 GHz – 5.2 GHz. The suggested decoupling structure provides isolation better than 15 dB over the desired UWB spectrum. The envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) and gain for the MIMO antenna are analyzed as well. Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations are carried out in Ansys High Frequency Structural Simulator (HFSS) for the proposed design. The antenna is realized on a Rogers RT/duroid 5880 with thickness 1 mm, relative permittivity ɛr = 2.2. The proposed antenna achieves a stable omni-directional radiation patterns as well, while providing rejection at desired WLAN band. The S-parameters as well as MIMO parameters like ECC are analyzed and the results show conclusively that the design is suitable for portable MIMO-UWB applications.

Keywords: 3-D antenna, band-notch, MIMO, UWB

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Authors: Peace Liz Sasha Musonge

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Behavioral aspects of species nutrition such as feeding methods and food type are archetypal biological traits signifying how species have adapted to their environment. This concept of functional feeding groups (FFG) analysis is currently used to ascertain the trophic levels of the aquatic food web in a specific microhabitat. However, in Eastern Africa, information about the FFG classification of benthic macroinvertebrates in highland rivers and streams is almost absent, and existing studies have fragmented datasets. For this reason, we carried out a robust study to determine the feed type, trophic level and FFGs, of 56 macroinvertebrate taxa (identified to family level) from Albertine rift valley streams. Our findings showed that all five major functional feeding groups were represented; Gatherer Collectors (GC); Predators (PR); shredders (SH); Scrapers (SC); and Filterer collectors. The most dominant functional feeding group was the Gatherer Collectors (GC) that accounted for 53.5% of the total population. The most abundant (GC) families were Baetidae (7813 individuals), Chironomidae NTP (5628) and Caenidae (1848). Majority of the macroinvertebrate population feed on Fine particulate organic matter (FPOM) from the stream bottom. In terms of taxa richness the Predators (PR) had the highest value of 24 taxa and the Filterer Collectors group had the least number of taxa (3). The families that had the highest number of predators (PR) were Corixidae (1024 individuals), Coenagrionidae (445) and Libellulidae (283). However, Predators accounted for only 7.4% of the population. The findings highlighted the functional feeding groups and habitat type of macroinvertebrate communities along an altitudinal gradient.

Keywords: trophic levels, functional feeding groups, macroinvertebrates, Albertine rift

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Authors: Shawndra Bowers, Allie Brandriet, Betsy Gilbertson

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This paper will highlight how Auburn Online’s instructional designers leveraged student and faculty data to update and improve online course design and instructional materials. When designing and revising online courses, it can be difficult for faculty to know what strategies are most likely to engage learners and improve educational outcomes in a specific discipline. It can also be difficult to identify which metrics are most useful for understanding and improving teaching, learning, and course design. At Auburn Online, the instructional designers use a suite of data based student’s performance, participation, satisfaction, and engagement, as well as faculty perceptions, to inform sound learning and design principles that guide growth-mindset consultations with faculty. The consultations allow the instructional designer, along with the faculty member, to co-create an actionable course improvement plan. Auburn Online gathers learning analytics from a variety of sources that any instructor or instructional design team may have access to at their own institutions. Participation and performance data, such as page: views, assignment submissions, and aggregate grade distributions, are collected from the learning management system. Engagement data is pulled from the video hosting platform, which includes unique viewers, views and downloads, the minutes delivered, and the average duration each video is viewed. Student satisfaction is also obtained through a short survey that is embedded at the end of each instructional module. This survey is included in each course every time it is taught. The survey data is then analyzed by an instructional designer for trends and pain points in order to identify areas that can be modified, such as course content and instructional strategies, to better support student learning. This analysis, along with the instructional designer’s recommendations, is presented in a comprehensive report to instructors in an hour-long consultation where instructional designers collaborate with the faculty member on how and when to implement improvements. Auburn Online has developed a triage strategy of priority 1 or 2 level changes that will be implemented in future course iterations. This data-informed decision-making process helps instructors focus on what will best work in their teaching environment while addressing which areas need additional attention. As a student-centered process, it has created improved learning environments for students and has been well received by faculty. It has also shown to be effective in addressing the need for improvement while removing the feeling the faculty’s teaching is being personally attacked. The process that Auburn Online uses is laid out, along with the three-tier maintenance and revision guide that will be used over a three-year implementation plan. This information can help others determine what components of the maintenance and revision plan they want to utilize, as well as guide them on how to create a similar approach. The data will be used to analyze, revise, and improve courses by providing recommendations and models of good practices through determining and disseminating best practices that demonstrate an impact on student success.

Keywords: data-driven, improvement, online courses, faculty development, analytics, course design

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Authors: Bandar Alkahlan

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The King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) created the Saudi Future Dwelling (SFD) initiative to identify, localize and commercialize a scalable home manufacturing technology suited to deployment across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This paper outlines the journey, the creation of the international project delivery team, the product design, the selection of the process technologies, and the outcomes. A target was set to remove 85% of the construction and finishing processes from the building site as these activities could be more efficiently completed in a factory environment. Therefore, integral to the SFD initiative is the successful industrialization of the home building process using appropriate technologies, automation, robotics, and manufacturing logistics. The technologies proposed for the SFD housing system are designed to be energy efficient, economical, fit for purpose from a Saudi cultural perspective, and will minimize the use of concrete, relying mainly on locally available Saudi natural materials derived from the local resource industries. To this end, the building structure is comprised of a hybrid system of structural insulated panels (SIP), combined with a light gauge steel framework manufactured in a large format panel system. The paper traces the investigative process and steps completed by the project team during the selection process. As part of the SFD Project, a pathway was mapped out to include a proof-of-concept prototype housing module and the set-up and commissioning of a lab-factory complete with all production machinery and equipment necessary to simulate a full-scale production environment. The prototype housing module was used to validate and inform current and future product design as well as manufacturing process decisions. A description of the prototype design and manufacture is outlined along with valuable learning derived from the build and how these results were used to enhance the SFD project. The industrial engineering concepts and lab-factory detailed design and layout are described in the paper, along with the shop floor I.T. management strategy. Special attention was paid to showcase all technologies within the lab-factory as part of the engagement strategy with private investors to leverage the SFD project with large scale factories throughout the Kingdom. A detailed analysis is included in the process surrounding the design, specification, and procurement of the manufacturing machinery, equipment, and logistical manipulators required to produce the SFD housing modules. The manufacturing machinery was comprised of a combination of standardized and bespoke equipment from a wide range of international suppliers. The paper describes the selection process, pre-ordering trials and studies, and, in some cases, the requirement for additional research and development by the equipment suppliers in order to achieve the SFD objectives. A set of conclusions is drawn describing the results achieved thus far, along with a list of recommended ongoing operational tests, enhancements, research, and development aimed at achieving full-scale engagement with private sector investment and roll-out of the SFD project across the Kingdom.

Keywords: automation, dwelling, manufacturing, product design

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Authors: Tarek M. Alguhane, Ayman H. Khalil, M. N. Fayed, Ayman M. Ismail

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The elastic period has a primary role in the seismic assessment of buildings. Reliable calculations and/or estimates of the fundamental frequency of a building and its site are essential during analysis and design process. Various code formulas based on empirical data are generally used to estimate the fundamental frequency of a structure. For existing structures, in addition to code formulas and available analytical tools such as modal analyses, various methods of testing including ambient and forced vibration testing procedures may be used to determine dynamic characteristics. In this study, the dynamic properties of the 32 buildings located in the Madinah of Saudi Arabia were identified using ambient motions recorded at several, spatially-distributed locations within each building. Ambient vibration measurements of buildings have been analyzed and the fundamental longitudinal and transverse periods for all tested buildings are presented. The fundamental mode of vibration has been compared in plots with codes formulae (Saudi Building Code, EC8, and UBC1997). The results indicate that measured periods of existing buildings are shorter than that given by most empirical code formulas. Recommendations are given based on the common design and construction practice in Madinah city.

Keywords: ambient vibration, fundamental period, RC buildings, infill walls

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Authors: Mohamed Attia, Vissarion Papadopoulos

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There is no doubt that there is a continuous deterioration of structures as a result of multiple hazards which can be divided into natural hazards (e.g., earthquakes, floods, winds) and other hazards due to human behavior (e.g., ship collisions, excessive traffic, terrorist attacks). There have been numerous attempts to address the catastrophic consequences of these hazards and traditional solutions through structural design and safety factors within the design codes, but there has not been much research addressing solutions through the use of new materials that have high performance and can be more effective than usual materials such as reinforced concrete and steel. To illustrate the effect of one of the new high-performance materials, carbon nanotube-reinforced polymer (CNT/polymer) bearings with different weight fractions were simulated as structural components of seismic isolation using ABAQUS in the connection between a bridge superstructure and the substructure. The results of the analyzes showed a significant increase in the time period of the bridge and a clear decrease in the bending moment at the base of the bridge piers at each time step of the time-history analysis in the case of using CNT/polymer bearings compared to the case of direct contact between the superstructure of the bridge and the substructure.

Keywords: seismic isolation, bridges damage, earthquake hazard, earthquake resistant structures

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Authors: Jinan Fiaidhi, Sabah Mohammed, Petros Zezos

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Capsule endoscopy (CE) is an established noninvasive diagnostic modality in investigating small bowel disease. CE has a pivotal role in assessing patients with suspected bleeding or identifying evidence of active Crohn's disease in the small bowel. However, CE produces lengthy videos with at least eighty thousand frames, with a frequency rate of 2 frames per second. Gastroenterologists cannot dedicate 8 to 15 hours to reading the CE video frames to arrive at a diagnosis. This is why the issue of analyzing CE videos based on modern artificial intelligence techniques becomes a necessity. However, machine learning, including deep learning, has failed to report robust results because of the lack of large samples to train its neural nets. In this paper, we are describing a thick data approach that learns from a few anchor images. We are using sound datasets like KVASIR and CrohnIPI to filter candidate frames that include interesting anomalies in any CE video. We are identifying candidate frames based on feature extraction to provide representative measures of the anomaly, like the size of the anomaly and the color contrast compared to the image background, and later feed these features to a decision tree that can classify the candidate frames as having a condition like the Crohn's Disease. Our thick data approach reported accuracy of detecting Crohn's Disease based on the availability of ulcer areas at the candidate frames for KVASIR was 89.9% and for the CrohnIPI was 83.3%. We are continuing our research to fine-tune our approach by adding more thick data methods for enhancing diagnosis accuracy.

Keywords: thick data analytics, capsule endoscopy, Crohn’s disease, siamese neural network, decision tree

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Authors: Kenneth Nhundu, Leocadia Zhou, Farhad Aghdasi, Voster Muchenje

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Climate change poses increased risks to rural communities that rely on natural resources, such as forests, cropland and rangeland, waterways, and open spaces Because of their connection to the land and the potential for climate change to impact natural resources and disrupt ecosystems and seasons, rural livelihoods and well-being are disproportionately vulnerable to climate change. Climate change has the potential to affect the environment in a number of ways that place increased stress on everyone, but disproportionately on the most vulnerable populations, including the young, the old, those with chronic illness, and the poor. The communities in the study area are predominantly rural, resource-based and are generally surrounded by public or private lands that are dominated by natural resources, including forests, rangelands, and agriculture. The livelihoods of these communities are tied to natural resources. Therefore, targeted strategies to cope will be required. This paper assessed the household socio-economic characteristics and their implications to household vulnerability to climate change impacts in the rural Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The results indicate that the rural communities are climate-vulnerable populations as they have a large proportion of people who are less economically or physically capable of adapting to climate change. The study therefore recommends that at each level, the needs, knowledge, and voices of vulnerable populations, including indigenous peoples and resource-based communities, deserve consideration and incorporation so that climate change policy (1) ensures that all people are supported and able to act, (2) provides as robust a strategy as possible to address a rapidly changing environment, and (3) enhances equity and justice.

Keywords: climate change, vulnerable, socio-economic, livelihoods

Procedia PDF Downloads 355

Authors: Anat Keller

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Given that macro-prudential supervision is a relatively new policy area and its empirical and analytical research are still in their infancy, its theoretical foundations are also lagging behind. This paper contributes to the developing discussion on effective legal and institutional macroprudential supervision frameworks. In the first part of the paper, it is argued that effectiveness as a key benchmark poses some challenges in the context of macroprudential supervision such as the difficulty in proving causality between supervisory actions and the achievement of the supervisor’s mission. The paper suggests that effectiveness in the macroprudential context should, therefore, be assessed at the supervisory decision-making process (to be differentiated from the supervisory outcomes). The second part of the essay examines whether insights from behavioural economics can point to biases in the macroprudential decision-making process. These biases include, inter alia, preference bias, groupthink bias and inaction bias. It is argued that these biases are exacerbated in the multilateral setting of the macroprudential supervision framework in the EU. The paper then examines how legal and institutional frameworks should be designed to acknowledge and perhaps contain these identified biases. The paper suggests that the effectiveness of macroprudential policy will largely depend on the existence of clear and robust transparency and accountability arrangements. Accountability arrangements can be used as a vehicle for identifying and addressing potential biases in the macro-prudential framework, in particular, inaction bias. Inclusiveness of the public in the supervisory process in the form of transparency and awareness of the logic behind policy decisions may assist in minimising their potential unpopularity thus promoting their effectiveness. Furthermore, a governance structure which facilitates coordination of the macroprudential supervisor with other policymakers and incorporates outside perspectives and opinions could ‘break-down’ groupthink bias as well as inaction bias.

Keywords: behavioural economics and biases, effectiveness of macroprudential supervision, legal and institutional macroprudential frameworks, macroprudential decision-making process

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Authors: Adel Sabry Eesa, Adnan Mohsin Abdulazeez Brifcani, Zeynep Orman

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Feature selection has been used in many fields such as classification, data mining and object recognition and proven to be effective for removing irrelevant and redundant features from the original data set. In this paper, a new design of distributed intrusion detection system using a combination feature selection model based on bees and decision tree. Bees algorithm is used as the search strategy to find the optimal subset of features, whereas decision tree is used as a judgment for the selected features. Both the produced features and the generated rules are used by Decision Making Mobile Agent to decide whether there is an attack or not in the networks. Decision Making Mobile Agent will migrate through the networks, moving from node to another, if it found that there is an attack on one of the nodes, it then alerts the user through User Interface Agent or takes some action through Action Mobile Agent. The KDD Cup 99 data set is used to test the effectiveness of the proposed system. The results show that even if only four features are used, the proposed system gives a better performance when it is compared with the obtained results using all 41 features.

Keywords: distributed intrusion detection system, mobile agent, feature selection, bees algorithm, decision tree

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Authors: S. Bahadır Yüksel, Alptuğ Ünal

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The composite shear walls (CSW) with steel encased profiles can be used as lateral-load resisting systems for buildings that require considerable large lateral-load capacity. The aim of this work is to propose the experimental work conducted on CSW having L section folded plate (L shape steel made-up sections) as longitudinal reinforcement in boundary regions. The study in this paper present the experimental test conducted on CSW having L section folded plate as longitudinal reinforcement in boundary regions. The tested 1/3 geometric scaled CSW has aspect ratio of 3.2. L-shape structural steel materials with 2L-19x57x7mm dimensions were placed in shear wall boundary zones. The seismic behavior of CSW test specimen was investigated by evaluating and interpreting the hysteresis curves, envelope curves, rigidity and consumed energy graphs of this tested element. In addition to this, the experimental results, deformation and cracking patterns were evaluated, interpreted and suggestions of the design recommendations were proposed.

Keywords: shear wall, composite shear wall, boundary reinforcement, earthquake resistant structural design, L section

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Authors: Wahab Abdul Ghafar, Tao Zhong, Baba Kalan Enamullah

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Steel plate shear walls (SPSWs) are a robust lateral load resistance structure because of their high flexibility and efficient energy dissipation when subjected to seismic loads. This research investigates the seismic Performance of an innovative infill web strip (IWS-SPSW) and a typical unstiffened steel plate shear wall (USPSW). As a result, two 1:3 scale specimens of an IWS-SPSW and USPSW with a single story and a single bay were built and subjected to a cyclic lateral loading methodology. In the prototype, the beam-to-column connections were accomplished with the assistance of semi-rigid end-plate connectors. IWS-SPSW demonstrated exceptional ductility and shear load-bearing capacity during the testing process, with no cracks or other damage occurring. In addition, the IWS-SPSW could effectively dissipate energy without causing a significant amount of beam-column connection distortion. The shear load-bearing capacity of the USPSW was exceptional. However, it exhibited low ductility, severe infill plate corner ripping, and huge infill web plate cracks. The FE models were created and then confirmed using the experimental data. It has been demonstrated that the infill web strips of an SPSW system can affect the system's high Performance and total energy dissipation. In addition, a parametric analysis was carried out to evaluate the material qualities of the IWS, which can considerably improve the system's seismic performances. These properties include the steel's strength as well as its thickness.

Keywords: steel shear walls, seismic performance, failure mode, hysteresis response, nonlinear finite element analysis, parametric study.

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Authors: Tinatin Sabauri, Eduard Gelagutashvili, Salome Pataridze

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The COVID-19 pandemic presents a serious challenge to all sectors of the country. Particularly difficult and important was the rapid mobilization of educational institutions to ensure the continuous flow of the educational process and effective fulfillment of the transaction. Developed countries managed to overcome this challenge quickly because, before the pandemic, part of universities had implemented blended learning (a mixture of online and face-to-face learning). The article aims to evaluate the use of electronic platforms by non-Georgian-speaking students and their involvement in the e-learning process at Ilia State University. Based on the phenomenological research design, a comparative analysis has been conducted - what was the use of electronic systems by non-Georgian-speaking students before 2019, and what was it like during the COVID-19 pandemic? Concretely, the phenomenological design was used in the research to evaluate the efficiency of distance learning with non-Georgian speaking students at Ilia State University. Focus groups were created within the phenomenological design. In the focus groups, students answered a pre-designed semi-structured questionnaire. Based on the analysis of the questionnaires, it was revealed that online learning and access to electronic portals were not a particular difficulty for ethnic minorities. The following positive and negative aspects of e-learning were identified in the research. Students named as positive aspects: Enables joining online classes directly from home before the start of the lecture, It saves time and money on travel and accommodation (for some students). It was named as negative aspects: Learning a language online is more difficult than in face-to-face classrooms, lack of teamwork activity, lack of strong and stable internet connections, and audio problems. Based on the results of the research, it was shown that in the post-pandemic period, the involvement of non-Georgian speaking students has significantly increased; therefore, the use of electronic systems by non-Georgian speaking students.

Keywords: electronic system, distance learning, COVID-19, students

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Authors: Kittipong Tissayakorn, Fumio Akagi, Yu Song

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Manufacturers have been exploring innovative strategies to achieve and sustain competitive advantages as they face a new era of intensive global competition. Such strategy is known as Supply Chain Management (SCM), which has gained a tremendous amount of attention from both researchers and practitioners over the last decade. Supply chain management (SCM) is considered as the most popular operating strategy for improving organizational competitiveness in the twenty-first century. It has attracted a lot of attention recently due to its role involving all of the activities in industrial organizations, ranging from raw material procurement to final product delivery to customers. Well-designed supply chain systems can substantially improve efficiency and product quality, and eventually enhance customer satisfaction and profitability. In this paper, a manufacturing engineering perspective on supply chain integration is presented. Research issues discussed include the product and process design for the supply chain, design evaluation of manufacturing in the supply chain, agent-based techniques for supply chain integration, intelligent information for sharing across the supply chain, and a development of standards for product, process, and production data exchange to facilitate electronic commerce. The objective is to provide guidelines and references for manufacturing engineers and researchers interested in supply chain integration.

Keywords: supply chain, supply chain management, supply chain integration, manufacturing industries

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Authors: J. Mizuno, S. Takahashi

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In this paper, design and fabrication of an actuated parallel-plate mirror based on a 3D-printer is described. The mirror and electrode layers are fabricated separately and assembled thereafter. The alignment is performed by dowel pin-hole pairs fabricated on the respective layers. The electrodes are formed on the surface of the electrode layer by Au ion sputtering using a suitable mask, which is also fabricated by a 3D-printer.For grounding the mirror layer, except the contact area with the electrode paths, all the surface is Au ion sputtered. 3D-printers are widely used for creating 3D models or mock-ups. The authors have recently proposed that these models can perform electromechanical functions such as actuators by suitably masking them followed by metallization process. Since the smallest possible fabrication size is in the order of sub-millimeters, these electromechanical devices are named by the authors as SMEMS (Sub-Milli Electro-Mechanical Systems) devices. The proposed mirror described in this paper which consists of parallel-plate electrostatic actuators is also one type of SMEMS devices. In addition, SMEMS is totally environment-clean compared to MEMS (Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems) fabrication processes because any hazardous chemicals or gases are utilized.

Keywords: MEMS, parallel-plate mirror, SMEMS, 3D-printer

Procedia PDF Downloads 438