Search results for: database structure and management

Authors: Assad Rashid, Umair Ahmed, Zafar Baig

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A new trend in construction is widely influenced by the use of Steel-Concrete Composite Columns. The rapid growth in Steel-Concrete Composite construction has widely decreased the conventional R.C.C structures. Steel Concrete composite construction has obtained extensive receiving around the globe. It is considering the fact that R.C.C structures construction is most suitable and economical for low-rise construction, so it is used in farming systems in most of the buildings. However, increased dead load, span restriction, less stiffness and risky formwork make R.C.C construction uneconomical and not suitable when it comes to intermediate to high-rise buildings. A Base + Ground +11 storey commercial building was designed on ETABS 2017 and made a comparison between conventional R.C.C and encased composite column structure. After performing Equivalent Static non-linear analysis, it has been found that construction cost is 13.01% more than R.C.C structure but encased composite column building has 7.7% more floor area. This study will help in understanding the behavior of conventional R.C.C structure and Encased Composite column structure.

Keywords: composite columns structure, equivalent static non-linear analysis, comparison between R.C.C and encased composite column structures, cost-effective structure

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Authors: Mohamed M. El Gendy, Ibrahim A. El Arabi, Rafeek W. Abdel-Missih, Omar A. Kandil

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Nonlinear analysis is one of the most important design and safety tools in structural engineering. Based on the finite-element method, a geometrical and material nonlinear analysis of large span reinforced concrete arches is carried out considering soil-structure interaction. The concrete section details and reinforcement distribution are taken into account. The behavior of soil is considered via Winkler's and continuum models. A computer program (NARC II) is specially developed in order to follow the structural behavior of large span reinforced concrete arches up to failure. The results obtained by the proposed model are compared with available literature for verification. This work confirmed that the geometrical and material nonlinearities, as well as soil structure interaction, have considerable influence on the structural response of reinforced concrete arches.

Keywords: nonlinear analysis, reinforced concrete arched structure, soil-structure interaction, geotechnical engineering

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Authors: Daomao Yang, Qizhi Wang

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Monoterpenoids are mainly found in plant essential oils and they are ideal substrates for biotransformation into oxygen-containing derivatives with important commercial value due to their low price and simple structure. In this paper, eleven strains of endophytic fungi from Praxelis clematidea were used as test strains to conduct the whole cell biotransformation of the monoterpenoids: (+)-limonene, (-)-limonene and myrcene. The fungi were inoculated in 50 ml Sabouraud medium and incubated at 30 ℃ with the agitation of 150 r/min for 6 d, and then 0.5% (v/v) substrates were added into the medium and biotransformed for further 3 d. Afterwards the cultures were filtered, and extracted using equal volume of ethyl acetate. The metabolites were analyzed by GC-MS technique with NIST database. The Total Ion Chromatogram of the extractions from the eleven strains showed that the main product of (+)- and (-)-limonene biotransformation was limonene-1,2-diol, while it is limonene and linalool oxide for biotransformation of myrcene. This work will help screen the microorganisms to biotransform the monoterpenes.

Keywords: endophytic fungi, (+)–limonene, (-)–limonene, myrcene

Procedia PDF Downloads 126

Authors: Balogun R. Ayodeji, Adefisan E. Adesanya, Adeyewa Z. Debo, E. C. Okogbue

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Deep convective systems during active periods of the West African monsoon season have not been properly investigated over better temporal and spatial resolution in West Africa. Deep convective systems are investigated over seven climatic zones of the West African sub-region, which are; west-coast rainforest, dry rainforest, Nigeria-Cameroon rainforest, Nigeria savannah, Central African and South Sudan (CASS) Savannah, Sudano-Sahel, and Sahel, using data from Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Feature (PF) database. The vertical structure of the convective systems indicated by the presence of at least one 40 dBZ and reaching (attaining) at least 1km in the atmosphere showed strong core (highest frequency (%)) of reflectivity values around 2 km which is below the freezing level (4-5km) for all the zones. Echoes are detected above the 15km altitude much more frequently in the rainforest and Savannah zones than the Sudano and Sahel zones during active periods in March-May (MAM), whereas during active periods in June-September (JJAS) the savannahs, Sudano and Sahel zones convections tend to reach higher altitude more frequently than the rainforest zones. The percentage frequencies of deep convection indicated that the occurrences of the systems are within the range of 2.3-2.8% during both March-May (MAM) and June-September (JJAS) active periods in the rainforest and savannah zones. On the contrary, the percentage frequencies were found to be less than 2% in the Sudano and Sahel zones, except during the active-JJAS period in the Sudano zone.

Keywords: active periods, convective system, frequency, reflectivity

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Authors: Bounar Nedjemeddine

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Materials with the pyrochlore lattice structure have attracted much recent attention due to their wide applications in ceramic thermal barrier coatings, high-permittivity dielectrics, and potential solid electrolytes in solid-oxide fuel cells. The work described in this paper is devoted to the synthesis and characterization of a pyrochlore structure based on lanthanum (La₂O₃) and tin (SnO₂) oxides of general formula La₂Sn₂O₇, substituted by Sr at the site La. Their structures were determined from X-ray powder diffraction using CELFER analysis. All the compositions present the space group Fd-3m. The substitution of La by Sr in the La₂Sn₂O₇ compound causes a variation of the cell parameters. The difference in charge between La³⁺ and Sr²⁺ and the difference in size cause the cell parameters to decrease from a=10.7165 A° to a=10.6848 A° for the substitution rates (x = 0.05, 0.1, 0.15 ...), which leads to a decrease in the volume of the mesh. For a substitution rate x = 0.25, there is an increase in the cell parameters (a=10.7035A°), which can be explained by a competitiveness of the size effect and the presence of a gap in the structure which go in the opposite direction.

Keywords: solid-oxide fuel cells, structure, pyrochlore, X-ray diffraction

Procedia PDF Downloads 126

Authors: Ebuka Valentine Iroha, Tsunemi Watanabe, Satoshi Tsuchiya

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Project management practices play an important role in construction project performance and are one of project managers' essential key performance indicators. Previous studies have explored the poor performance of the construction industry, with project delays and cost overruns identified to contribute largely to numerous abandoned projects. These challenges are attributed to insufficient project management practices and a lack of utilization of project managers. The actual causes of inadequate project management practices and underutilization of project managers have been rarely discussed. This study tends to bridge the gap by identifying and assessing the actual causes of insufficient project management practices and underutilization of project managers. This study differs from past studies investigating the causes of poor performance by using institutional analysis methods to identify and analyze the factors influencing project management practices and proper utilization of project managers. Based on a comprehensive literature review, this study identified some factors embedded in the construction industry that influence the institutional environment and weaken the laws and regulations. These factors were used as the basis for semi-structured interview questions to investigate their impacts on project management practices and project managers. The data collected were coded into a four-level framework for institutional analysis. This method was used to analyze the interrelationships between the identified embedded factors, institutional laws and regulations, and construction organizations to understand how these influences result in the underutilization of project managers. The study found that the underutilization of project managers consists of two subsystems, including underutilization and lowering commitment. The first subsystem, corruption, political influence, religious and tribal discrimination, and organizational culture, were found to affect the institutional structure. These embedded factors weaken the industry’s governance mechanism, forcing project managers to prioritize corrupt practices over project demands. The ineffectiveness of the existing laws and regulations worsens the situation, supporting unfair working conditions and contributing to the underperformance of project managers. This situation leads to the development of the second subsystem, which is characterized by a lack of opportunities for career development and minimal incentives within construction organizations. The findings provide significant potential for addressing systemic challenges in the construction industry, particularly the underutilization of project managers and enhancing organizational support measures to improve project management practices and mitigate the adverse effects of corruption.

Keywords: construction industry, project management, poor performance, embedded factors, project managers underutilization

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Authors: Rezky Rifaini, Raden Bagus Fajriya Hakim

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This research was conducted at the Bolo primary health Care in Bima Regency. The purpose of the research is to find out the association pattern that is formed of medical record database from Bolo Primary health care’s patient. The data used is secondary data from medical records database PHC. Sequential pattern mining technique is the method that used to analysis. Transaction data generated from Patient_ID, Check_Date and diagnosis. Sequential Pattern Discovery Algorithms Using Equivalent Classes (SPADE) is one of the algorithm in sequential pattern mining, this algorithm find frequent sequences of data transaction, using vertical database and sequence join process. Results of the SPADE algorithm is frequent sequences that then used to form a rule. It technique is used to find the association pattern between items combination. Based on association rules sequential analysis with SPADE algorithm for minimum support 0,03 and minimum confidence 0,75 is gotten 3 association sequential pattern based on the sequence of patient_ID, check_Date and diagnosis data in the Bolo PHC.

Keywords: diagnosis, primary health care, medical record, data mining, sequential pattern mining, SPADE algorithm

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Authors: Asim Qureshi, R. S. Jangid

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Seismic response control of structures is generally achieved by using control devices which either dissipate the input energy or modify the dynamic properties of structure.In this paper, the response of a 20-storey benchmark building supplemented by viscous dampers and Negative Stiffness Device (NSD) is assessed by numerical simulations using the Newmark-beta method. True negative stiffness is an adaptive passive device which assists the motion unlike positive stiffness. The structure used in this study is subjected to four standard ground motions varying from moderate to severe, near fault to far-field earthquakes. The objective of the present study is to show the effectiveness of the adaptive negative stiffness device (NSD and passive dampers together) relative to passive dampers alone. This is done by comparing the responses of the above uncontrolled structure (i.e., without any device) with the structure having passive dampers only and also with the structure supplemented with adaptive negative stiffness device. Various performance indices, top floor displacement, top floor acceleration and inter-storey drifts are used as comparison parameters. It is found that NSD together with passive dampers is quite effective in reducing the response of aforementioned structure relative to structure without any device or passive dampers only. Base shear and acceleration is reduced significantly by incorporating NSD at the cost of increased inter-storey drifts which can be compensated using the passive dampers.

Keywords: adaptive negative stiffness device, apparent yielding, NSD, passive dampers

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Authors: Aziz Zoubir, Sefir Yamina, Djelti Redouan, Bentata Samir

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The effect of a uniform electric field across multibarrier systems (GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs) is exhaustively explored by a computational model using exact Airy function formalism and the transfer-matrix technique. In the case of biased Dimer Fibonacci Height Barrier superlattices (DFHBSL) structure a strong reduction in transmission properties was observed and the width of the miniband structure linearly decreases with the increase of the applied bias. This is due to the confinement of the states in the miniband structure, which becomes increasingly important (Wannier-Stark effect).

Keywords: Dimer Fibonacci Height Barrier superlattices, singular extended states, exact Airy function, transfer matrix formalism

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Authors: Muhammet Emre Turan, Sait Özçelik, Yavuz Sun

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In railway rails, residual stress was measured and the values of residual stress were associated with hardness and micro structure in this study. At first, three rails as one meter long were taken and residual stresses were measured by cutting method according to the EN 13674-1 standardization. In this study, strain gauge that is an electrical apparatus was used. During the cutting, change in resistance in rail gave us residual stress value via computer program. After residual stress measurement, Brinell hardness distribution were performed for head parts of rails. Thus, the relationship between residual stress and hardness were established. In addition to that, micro structure analysis was carried out by optical microscope. The results show that, the micro structure and hardness value was changed with residual stress.

Keywords: residual stress, hardness, micro structure, rail, strain gauge

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Authors: Shirin Ghasemi

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The structure of Asadi’s poem in Garshasb-Nameh coordinates with the structure of human psyche based on Jung’s perspective. The poetic stories of Asadi in Garshasb-Nameh is contrasted to human psyche according to Jung’s view in psychology which indicated the similarity of poetic structure of stories of Garshasb-Nameh to analytical psychology of Jung. In fact, by studying the stories of this collection the reader travels with him and finds it consistent with the human psyche. To demonstrate this, the story of Jamshid marriage with Kuhrang’s daughter and the story of Garshasb marriage with King’s daughter are selected. These two stories illustrate the poetic structure and the human psyche based on Jung’s analytical psychology perspective.

Keywords: Asadi Tusi, Garshasb-Nameh, Jung, analytical psychology

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Authors: Luciano Roberto Fernandez-Sola, Cesar Augusto Arredondo-Velez, Miguel Angel Jaimes-Tellez

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This paper explores the modifications on peak acceleration, velocity and displacement profiles over the structure due to dynamic soil-structure interaction (DSSI). A shear beam model is used for the structure. Soil-foundation flexibility (inertial interaction) is considered by a set of springs and dashpots at the structure base. Kinematic interaction is considered using transfer functions. Impedance functions are computed using simplified expressions for rigid foundations. The research studies the influence of the slenderness ratio on the value of the peak floor response. It is shown that the modifications of peak floor responses are not the same for acceleration, velocity and displacement. This is opposite to the hypothesis used by methods included in several building codes. Results show that modifications produced by DSSI on different response quantities are not equal.

Keywords: peak floor intensities, dynamic soil-structure interaction, buildings with flexible base, kinematic and inertial interaction

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Authors: Priya Saha, Sourav Dey Roy Jr., Debotosh Bhattacharjee, Mita Nasipuri, Barin Kumar De, Mrinal Kanti Bhowmik

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Biometric face recognition technology (FRT) has gained a lot of attention due to its extensive variety of applications in both security and non-security perspectives. It has come into view to provide a secure solution in identification and verification of person identity. Although other biometric based methods like fingerprint scans, iris scans are available, FRT is verified as an efficient technology for its user-friendliness and contact freeness. Accurate facial feature localization plays an important role for many facial analysis applications including biometrics and emotion recognition. But, there are certain factors, which make facial feature localization a challenging task. On human face, expressions can be seen from the subtle movements of facial muscles and influenced by internal emotional states. These non-rigid facial movements cause noticeable alterations in locations of facial landmarks, their usual shapes, which sometimes create occlusions in facial feature areas making face recognition as a difficult problem. The paper proposes a new hybrid based technique for automatic landmark detection in both neutral and expressive frontal and near frontal face images. The method uses the concept of thresholding, sequential searching and other image processing techniques for locating the landmark points on the face. Also, a Graphical User Interface (GUI) based software is designed that could automatically detect 16 landmark points around eyes, nose and mouth that are mostly affected by the changes in facial muscles. The proposed system has been tested on widely used JAFFE and Cohn Kanade database. Also, the system is tested on DeitY-TU face database which is created in the Biometrics Laboratory of Tripura University under the research project funded by Department of Electronics & Information Technology, Govt. of India. The performance of the proposed method has been done in terms of error measure and accuracy. The method has detection rate of 98.82% on JAFFE database, 91.27% on Cohn Kanade database and 93.05% on DeitY-TU database. Also, we have done comparative study of our proposed method with other techniques developed by other researchers. This paper will put into focus emotion-oriented systems through AU detection in future based on the located features.

Keywords: biometrics, face recognition, facial landmarks, image processing

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Authors: X. Gumara Rigol, I. Martínez de Apellaniz Anzuola, A. Garcia Serrano, A. Franzi Cros, O. Vidal Calbet, A. Al Maruf

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Traditional federated architectures for data warehousing work well when corporations have existing regional data warehouses and there is a need to aggregate data at a global level. Schibsted Media Group has been maturing from a decentralised organisation into a more globalised one and needed to build both some of the regional data warehouses for some brands at the same time as the global one. In this paper, we present the architectural alternatives studied and why a custom federated approach was the notable recommendation to go further with the implementation. Although the data warehouses are logically federated, the implementation uses a single database system which presented many advantages like: cost reduction and improved data access to global users allowing consumers of the data to have a common data model for detailed analysis across different geographies and a flexible layer for local specific needs in the same place.

Keywords: data integration, data warehousing, federated architecture, Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)

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Authors: Davide Forcellini

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The most recent development of earthquake engineering is based on concept of design consisting in prescribed performance rather than the more traditional prescriptive approaches. The paper aims to assess the effects of isolation devices and soil structure interaction on a benchmark bridge adopting a Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering methodology. Several isolated configurations of abutments and pier connections are compared performing the most representative isolation devices. Isolation systems suitability depends on many factors, mainly connected with ground effects. In this regard, the second purpose of this paper is to assess the effects of soil-structure interaction (SSI) on the studied bridge configurations. Contributions of isolation technique and soil structure interaction are assessed evaluating the resistance effects applied to Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) levels in terms of cost and time repair quantities.

Keywords: base isolation, bridge, earthquake engineering, non linearity, PBEE methodology, seismic assessment, soil structure interaction

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Authors: Kumara Jayapathma J. H. M. S. S., Dampegama S. D. P. J.

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Lands are valuable & limited resource which constantly changes with the growth of the population. An efficient and good land management system is essential to avoid conflicts associated with lands. This paper aims to design the prototype model of a Mobile GIS Land use and Land Information System in real-time. Homagama Divisional Secretariat Division situated in the western province of Sri Lanka was selected as the study area. The prototype model was developed after reviewing related literature. The methodology was consisted of designing and modeling the prototype model into an application running on a mobile platform. The system architecture mainly consists of a Google mapping app for real-time updates with firebase support tools. Thereby, the method of implementation consists of front-end and back-end components. Software tools used in designing applications are Android Studio with JAVA based on GeoJSON File structure. Android Studio with JAVA in GeoJSON File Synchronize to Firebase was found to be the perfect mobile solution for continuously updating Land use and Land Information System (LIS) in real-time in the present scenario. The mobile-based land use and LIS developed in this study are multiple user applications catering to different hierarchy levels such as basic users, supervisory managers, and database administrators. The benefits of this mobile mapping application will help public sector field officers with non-GIS expertise to overcome the land use planning challenges with land use updated in real-time.

Keywords: Android, Firebase, GeoJSON, GIS, JAVA, JSON, LIS, Mobile GIS, real-time, REST API

Procedia PDF Downloads 229

Authors: Mai Ghazal, Ahmed Hammad

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Cost overruns in construction projects are considered as worldwide challenges since the cost performance is one of the main measures of success along with schedule performance. To overcome this problem, studies were conducted to investigate the cost overruns' factors, also projects' historical data were analyzed to extract new and useful knowledge from it. This research is studying and analyzing the effect of some factors causing cost overruns using the historical data from completed construction projects. Then, using these factors to estimate the probability of cost overrun occurrence and predict its percentage for future projects. First, an intensive literature review was done to study all the factors that cause cost overrun in construction projects, then another review was done for previous researcher papers about mining process in dealing with cost overruns. Second, a proposed data warehouse was structured which can be used by organizations to store their future data in a well-organized way so it can be easily analyzed later. Third twelve quantitative factors which their data are frequently available at construction projects were selected to be the analyzed factors and suggested predictors for the proposed model.

Keywords: construction management, construction projects, cost overrun, cost performance, data mining, data warehousing, knowledge discovery, knowledge management

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Authors: Gautam, Gurcharan Singh, Mandeep Kaur, Yogesh Aggarwal, Sanjeev Naval

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The present ground reality scenario of suffering of humanity shows the evidence of failure to take wrong decisions to shape the civilization with Irresponsibilities in the history. A strong positive will of right responsibilities make the right civilization structure which affects itself and the whole world. Present suffering of humanity shows and reflect the failure of past decisions taken to shape the true culture with right social structure of society, due to unplanned system of Indian civilization and its rapid disaster of population make the failure to face all kind of problems which make the society sufferer. Our India is still suffering from disaster like earthquake, floods, droughts, tsunamis etc. and we face the uncountable disaster of deaths from the beginning of humanity at the present time. In this research paper our focus is to make a Disaster Resistance Structure having the solution of dense populated urban cities area by high vertical expansion HYBRID STRUCTURE. Our efforts are to analyse the Reinforced Concrete Hybrid Structure at different seismic zones, these concrete frames were analyzed using the response spectrum method to calculate and compare the different seismic displacement and drift. Seismic analysis by this method generally is based on dynamic analysis of building. Analysis results shows that the Reinforced Concrete Building at seismic Zone V having maximum peak story shear, base shear, drift and node displacement as compare to the analytical results of Reinforced Concrete Building at seismic Zone III and Zone IV. This analysis results indicating to focus on structural drawings strictly at construction site to make a HYBRID STRUCTURE. The study case is deal with the 10 story height of a vertical expansion Hybrid frame structure at different zones i.e. zone III, zone IV and zone V having the column 0.45x0.36mt and beam 0.6x0.36mt. with total height of 30mt, to make the structure more stable bracing techniques shell be applied like mage bracing and V shape bracing. If this kind of efforts or structure drawings are followed by the builders and contractors then we save the lives during earthquake disaster at Bhuj (Gujarat State, India) on 26th January, 2001 which resulted in more than 19,000 deaths. This kind of Disaster Resistance Structure having the capabilities to solve the problems of densely populated area of cities by the utilization of area in vertical expansion hybrid structure. We request to Government of India to make new plans and implementing it to save the lives from future disasters instead of unnecessary wants of development plans like Bullet Trains.

Keywords: history, irresponsibilities, unplanned social structure, humanity, hybrid structure, response spectrum analysis, DRIFT, and NODE displacement

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Authors: Ryspek Usubamatov, Tan San Chin, Sarken Kapaeva

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Productivity of the manufacturing systems depends on technological processes, a technical data of machines and a structure of systems. Technology is presented by the machining mode and data, a technical data presents reliability parameters and auxiliary time for discrete production processes. The term structure of manufacturing systems includes the number of serial and parallel production machines and links between them. Structures of manufacturing systems depend on the complexity of technological processes. Mathematical models of productivity rate for manufacturing systems are important attributes that enable to define best structure by criterion of a productivity rate. These models are important tool in evaluation of the economical efficiency for production systems.

Keywords: productivity, structure, manufacturing systems, structural design

Procedia PDF Downloads 583

Authors: Nigina Toktasynova, Sholpan Sagyndykova, Zhanat Kenzhebayeva, Maksat Kalimoldayev, Mariya Ishimova, Irbulat Utepbergenov

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Any business needs a stable operation and continuous improvement, therefore it is necessary to constantly interact with the environment, to analyze the work of the enterprise in terms of employees, executives and consumers, as well as to correct any inconsistencies of certain types of processes and their aggregate. In the case of heat supply organizations, in addition to suppliers, local legislation must be considered which often is the main regulator of pricing of services. In this case, the process approach used to build a functional organizational structure in these types of businesses in Kazakhstan is a challenge not only in the implementation, but also in ways of analyzing the employee's salary. To solve these problems, we investigated the management system of heating enterprise, including strategic planning based on the balanced scorecard (BSC), quality management in accordance with the standards of the Quality Management System (QMS) ISO 9001 and analysis of the system based on expert judgment using fuzzy inference. To carry out our work we used the theory of fuzzy sets, the QMS in accordance with ISO 9001, BSC according to the method of Kaplan and Norton, method of construction of business processes according to the notation IDEF0, theory of modeling using Matlab software simulation tools and graphical programming LabVIEW. The results of the work are as follows: We determined possibilities of improving the management of heat-supply plant-based on QMS; after the justification and adaptation of software tool it has been used to automate a series of functions for the management and reduction of resources and for the maintenance of the system up to date; an application for the analysis of the QMS based on fuzzy inference has been created with novel organization of communication software with the application enabling the analysis of relevant data of enterprise management system.

Keywords: balanced scorecard, heat supply, quality management system, the theory of fuzzy sets

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Authors: Eworo David

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It is dearly evident that a company which does not and will not innovate faces the grave danger of being pushed out of existence. The purpose of this study is to bring to knowledge of companies the significance of capital budgeting in viable project implementation and for proper investment appraisal as regards steps involved in effective investment strategies. The study examines investment policies of Nigeria companies. It deals with an overview of capital budgeting. The analysis covers the data gathered from two multi-national companies in Nigeria. The population of the study was the senior managers and the top management staff of the companies. The system of capital budgeting structure and project implementation styles were compared and contrasted to determine whether the system has MADE or MARRED the development of the organizations. The recommendations contribute towards Nigeria companies to remain and survive in business through the use of capital budgeting.

Keywords: appraisal, budgeting structure, capital budgeting, effective investment strategies

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Authors: Hyun-E Yeom

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Patients’ views about the cause of hypertension may influence their present and proactive behaviors to regulate high blood pressure. This study aimed to examine the internal structure underlying the causal beliefs about hypertension and the influence of causal beliefs on self-care intention and medical compliance in Korean patients with hypertension. The causal beliefs of 145 patients (M age = 57.7) were assessed using the Illness Perception Questionnaire-Revised. An exploratory factor analysis was used to identify the factor structure of the causal beliefs, and the factors’ influence on self-care intention and medication compliance was analyzed using multiple and logistic regression analyses. The four-factor structure including psychological, fate-related, risk and habitual factors was identified and the psychological factor was the most representative component of causal beliefs. The risk and fate-related factors were significant factors affecting lower intention to engage in self-care and poor compliance with medication regimens, respectively. The findings support the critical role of causal beliefs about hypertension in driving patients’ current and future self-care behaviors. This study highlights the importance of educational interventions corresponding to patients’ awareness of hypertension for improving their adherence to a healthy lifestyle and medication regimens.

Keywords: hypertension, self-care, beliefs, medication compliance

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Authors: M. Ibrir, S. Berri, S. Lakel, D. Maouche And Y. Medkour

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We have performed first-principle calculations of the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of KFeF3, KCoF3, KMnF3, KVF3, using full-potential linearized augmented plane-wave (FP-LAPW) scheme within GGA. Features such as the lattice constant, bulk modulus and its pressure derivative are reported. Also, we have presented our results of the band structure and the density of states. The magnetic moments of KFeF3, KCoF3, KMnF3, KVF3 compounds are in most came from the exchange-splitting of X-3d orbital.

Keywords: Ab initio calculations, electronic structure, magnetic materials

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Authors: Francesca Marsili

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The reliability assessment of existing structures with probabilistic methods is becoming an increasingly important and frequent engineering task. However probabilistic reliability methods are based on an exhaustive knowledge of the stochastic modeling of the variables involved in the assessment; at the moment standards for the modeling of variables are absent, representing an obstacle to the dissemination of probabilistic methods. The framework according to probability distribution functions (PDFs) are established is represented by the Bayesian statistics, which uses Bayes Theorem: a prior PDF for the considered parameter is established based on information derived from the design stage and qualitative judgments based on the engineer past experience; then, the prior model is updated with the results of investigation carried out on the considered structure, such as material testing, determination of action and structural properties. The application of Bayesian statistics arises two different kind of problems: 1. The results of the updating depend on the engineer previous experience; 2. The updating of the prior PDF can be performed only if the structure has been tested, and quantitative data that can be statistically manipulated have been collected; performing tests is always an expensive and time consuming operation; furthermore, if the considered structure is an ancient building, destructive tests could compromise its cultural value and therefore should be avoided. In order to solve those problems, an interesting research path is represented by investigating Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques that can be useful for the automation of the modeling of variables and for the updating of material parameters without performing destructive tests. Among the others, one that raises particular attention in relation to the object of this study is constituted by Case-Based Reasoning (CBR). In this application, cases will be represented by existing buildings where material tests have already been carried out and an updated PDFs for the material mechanical parameters has been computed through a Bayesian analysis. Then each case will be composed by a qualitative description of the material under assessment and the posterior PDFs that describe its material properties. The problem that will be solved is the definition of PDFs for material parameters involved in the reliability assessment of the considered structure. A CBR system represent a good candi¬date in automating the modelling of variables because: 1. Engineers already draw an estimation of the material properties based on the experience collected during the assessment of similar structures, or based on similar cases collected in literature or in data-bases; 2. Material tests carried out on structure can be easily collected from laboratory database or from literature; 3. The system will provide the user of a reliable probabilistic description of the variables involved in the assessment that will also serve as a tool in support of the engineer’s qualitative judgments. Automated modeling of variables can help in spreading probabilistic reliability assessment of existing buildings in the common engineering practice, and target at the best intervention and further tests on the structure; CBR represents a technique which may help to achieve this.

Keywords: reliability assessment of existing buildings, Bayesian analysis, case-based reasoning, historical structures

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Authors: Ram Narayan Khare, Adhyatma Khare, Aradhna Shrivastava

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In this study, numerical modeling of ‘Lime Surkhi’ masonry building has been carried out for a prototype ancient building situated at seismic zone III using the Finite Element Method by Abaqus software. The model is designed in order to get the failure envelope and then decide the best method of retrofitting the structure so that the structure is made to withstand more decades, given its historical background. Previously, due to a lack of technologies, it was difficult to determine the mode of failure. Present technological development can predict the mode of failure, and subsequently, the structure can be refabricated accordingly. The study makes an important addition to the understanding of retrofitting ancient and old buildings based on the results of FEM modeling.

Keywords: seismic retrofitting, Abaqus, FEM, historic building, Lime Surkhi masonry

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Authors: Farhad Sedaghati, Shahram Pezeshk

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Regional variations in strong ground motions for the Iranian Plateau have been investigated by using a simple statistical method called Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). In this respect, a large database consisting of 1157 records occurring within the Iranian Plateau with moment magnitudes of greater than or equal to 5 and Joyner-Boore distances up to 200 km has been considered. Geometric averages of horizontal peak ground accelerations (PGA) as well as 5% damped linear elastic response spectral accelerations (SA) at periods of 0.2, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 sec are used as strong motion parameters. The initial database is divided into two different datasets, for Northern Iran (NI) and Central and Southern Iran (CSI). The comparison between strong ground motions of these two regions reveals that there is no evidence for significant differences; therefore, data from these two regions may be combined to estimate the unknown coefficients of attenuation relationships.

Keywords: ANOVA, attenuation relationships, Iranian Plateau, PGA, regional variation, SA, strong ground motion

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Authors: Rahmoune Abdelhaq

Abstract:

Systemic risk is a key concern for central banks charged with safeguarding overall financial stability. In this work, we investigate how systemic risk is affected by the structure of the financial system. We construct banking systems that are composed of a number of banks that are connected by interbank linkages. We then vary the key parameters that define the structure of the financial system — including its level of capitalization, the degree to which banks are connected, the size of interbank exposures and the degree of concentration of the system — and analyses the influence of these parameters on the likelihood of contagious (knock-on) defaults. First, we find that the better-capitalized banks are, the more resilient is the banking system against contagious defaults and this effect is non-linear. Second, the effect of the degree of connectivity is non-monotonic, that is, initially a small increase in connectivity increases the contagion effect; but after a certain threshold value, connectivity improves the ability of a banking system to absorb shocks. Third, the size of interbank liabilities tends to increase the risk of knock-on default, even if banks hold capital against such exposures. Fourth, more concentrated banking systems are shown to be prone to larger systemic risk, all else equal. In an extension to the main analysis, we study how liquidity effects interact with banking structure to produce a greater chance of systemic breakdown. We finally consider how the risk of contagion might depend on the degree of asymmetry (tier) inherent in the structure of the banking system. A number of our results have important implications for public policy, which this paper also draws out. This paper also discusses why bank risk management is needed to get the optimal one.

Keywords: financial stability, contagion, liquidity risk, optimal risk

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Authors: Jamerson Felipe Pereira Lima, Jeane Cecília Bezerra de Melo

Abstract:

The difficulty and cost related to obtaining of protein tertiary structure information through experimental methods, such as X-ray crystallography or NMR spectroscopy, helped raising the development of computational methods to do so. An approach used in these last is prediction of tridimensional structure based in the residue chain, however, this has been proved an NP-hard problem, due to the complexity of this process, explained by the Levinthal paradox. An alternative solution is the prediction of intermediary structures, such as the secondary structure of the protein. Artificial Intelligence methods, such as Bayesian statistics, artificial neural networks (ANN), support vector machines (SVM), among others, were used to predict protein secondary structure. Due to its good results, artificial neural networks have been used as a standard method to predict protein secondary structure. Recent published methods that use this technique, in general, achieved a Q3 accuracy between 75% and 83%, whereas the theoretical accuracy limit for protein prediction is 88%. Alternatively, to achieve better results, support vector machines prediction methods have been developed. The statistical evaluation of methods that use different AI techniques, such as ANNs and SVMs, for example, is not a trivial problem, since different training sets, validation techniques, as well as other variables can influence the behavior of a prediction method. In this study, we propose a prediction method based on artificial neural networks, which is then compared with a selected SVM method. The chosen SVM protein secondary structure prediction method is the one proposed by Huang in his work Extracting Physico chemical Features to Predict Protein Secondary Structure (2013). The developed ANN method has the same training and testing process that was used by Huang to validate his method, which comprises the use of the CB513 protein data set and three-fold cross-validation, so that the comparative analysis of the results can be made comparing directly the statistical results of each method.

Keywords: artificial neural networks, protein secondary structure, protein structure prediction, support vector machines

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Authors: Hotlan Siagian, Han Tae Hee

Abstract:

This study aims to examine the effect of supplier trust and top management involvement on the supply chain risk management through buyer-supplier relationship. The population of the research is 44 Korean companies domiciled in East and Central Java of Indonesia. The respondent consists of a top management level from each company. Data collection used a questionnaire designed with five-item Likert scale. Collected data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) technique with SmartPLS software version 3.0 to examine the hypotheses. The result revealed that supplier trust has an effect on supply chain risk management, top management involvement affects supply chain risk management, supplier trust influences buyer-supplier relationship, top management involvement affects the buyer-supplier relationship, and buyer-supplier relationship affects supply chain risk management. The last finding is that buyer-supplier relationship empirically mediates the effect of supplier trust and top management involvement.

Keywords: buyer supplier relationship, supplier trust, supply chain risk management, top management involvement

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Authors: Harish Krishnamurthy, Anna Lafontant, Ren Yi

Abstract:

Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) have been an interesting topic for most enthusiasts and hence people all over the United States report such findings online at the National UFO Report Center (NUFORC). Some of these reports are a hoax and among those that seem legitimate, our task is not to establish that these events confirm that they indeed are events related to flying objects from aliens in outer space. Rather, we intend to identify if the report was a hoax as was identified by the UFO database team with their existing curation criterion. However, the database provides a wealth of information that can be exploited to provide various analyses and insights such as social reporting, identifying real-time spatial events and much more. We perform analysis to localize these time-series geospatial events and correlate with known real-time events. This paper does not confirm any legitimacy of alien activity, but rather attempts to gather information from likely legitimate reports of UFOs by studying the online reports. These events happen in geospatial clusters and also are time-based. We look at cluster density and data visualization to search the space of various cluster realizations to decide best probable clusters that provide us information about the proximity of such activity. A random forest classifier is also presented that is used to identify true events and hoax events, using the best possible features available such as region, week, time-period and duration. Lastly, we show the performance of the scheme on various days and correlate with real-time events where one of the UFO reports strongly correlates to a missile test conducted in the United States.

Keywords: time-series clustering, feature extraction, hoax prediction, geospatial events

Procedia PDF Downloads 376