Search results for: cost efficient
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 9956

Search results for: cost efficient

5156 Integration of Rapid Generation Technology in Pulse Crop Breeding

Authors: Saeid H. Mobini, Monika Lulsdorf, Thomas D. Warkentin

Abstract:

The length of the breeding cycle from seed to seed is a limiting factor in the development of improved homozygous lines for breeding or recombinant inbred lines (RILs) for genetic analysis. The objective of this research was to accelerate the production of field pea RILs through application of rapid generation technology (RGT). RGT is based on the principle of growing miniature plants in an artificial medium under controlled conditions, and allowing them to produce a few flowers which develop seeds that are harvested prior to normal seed maturity. We aimed to maintain population size and genetic diversity in regeneration cycles. The effects of flurprimidol (a gibberellin synthesis inhibitor), plant density, hydroponic system, scheduled fertilizer applications, artificial light spectrum, photoperiod, and light/dark temperature were evaluated in the development of RILs from a cross between cultivars CDC Dakota and CDC Amarillo. The main goal was to accelerate flowering while reducing maintenance and space costs. In addition, embryo rescue of immature seeds was tested for shortening the seed fill period. Data collected over seven generations included plant height, the percentage of plant survival, flowering rate, seed setting rate, the number of seeds per plant, and time from seed to seed. Applying 0.6 µM flurprimidol reduced the internode length. Plant height was decreased to approximately 32 cm allowing for higher plant density without a delay in flowering and seed setting rate. The three light systems (T5 fluorescent bulbs, LEDs, and High Pressure Sodium +Metal-halide lamp) evaluated did not differ significantly in terms of flowering time in field pea. Collectively, the combination of 0.6 µM flurprimidol, 217 plant. m-2, 20 h photoperiod, 21/16 oC light/dark temperature in a hydroponic system with vermiculite substrate, applying scheduled fertilizer application based on growth stage, and 500 µmole.m-2.s-1 light intensity using T5 bulbs resulted in 100% of plants flowering within 34 ± 3 days and 96.5% of plants completed seed setting in 68.2 ± 3.6 days, i.e., 30-45 days/generation faster than conventional single seed descent (SSD) methods. These regeneration cycles were reproducible consistently. Hence, RGT could double (5.3) generations per year, using 3% occupying space, compared to SSD (2-3 generation/year). Embryo rescue of immature seeds at 7-8 mm stage, using commercial fertilizer solutions (Holland’s Secret™) showed seed setting rate of 95%, while younger embryos had lower germination rate. Mature embryos had a seed setting rate of 96.5% without either hormones or sugar added. So, considering the higher cost of embryo rescue using a procedure which requires skill, additional materials, and expenses, it could be removed from RGT with a further cost saving, and the process could be stopped between generations if required.

Keywords: field pea, flowering, rapid regeneration, recombinant inbred lines, single seed descent

Procedia PDF Downloads 347
5155 An Automated System for the Detection of Citrus Greening Disease Based on Visual Descriptors

Authors: Sidra Naeem, Ayesha Naeem, Sahar Rahim, Nadia Nawaz Qadri

Abstract:

Citrus greening is a bacterial disease that causes considerable damage to citrus fruits worldwide. Efficient method for this disease detection must be carried out to minimize the production loss. This paper presents a pattern recognition system that comprises three stages for the detection of citrus greening from Orange leaves: segmentation, feature extraction and classification. Image segmentation is accomplished by adaptive thresholding. The feature extraction stage comprises of three visual descriptors i.e. shape, color and texture. From shape feature we have used asymmetry index, from color feature we have used histogram of Cb component from YCbCr domain and from texture feature we have used local binary pattern. Classification was done using support vector machines and k nearest neighbors. The best performances of the system is Accuracy = 88.02% and AUROC = 90.1% was achieved by automatic segmented images. Our experiments validate that: (1). Segmentation is an imperative preprocessing step for computer assisted diagnosis of citrus greening, and (2). The combination of shape, color and texture features form a complementary set towards the identification of citrus greening disease.

Keywords: citrus greening, pattern recognition, feature extraction, classification

Procedia PDF Downloads 166
5154 Governance of Clean Energy in Rural Northwest Pakistan

Authors: Inayatullah Jan, Sidra Pervez

Abstract:

Effective institutional arrangements at local and national levels are quintessential for promotion of renewable energy in a country. This study attempts to examine the institutional arrangements for development of domestic renewable energy in rural northwest Pakistan. The study describes that very limited number of public and private organizations were working on clean development in the area. Surprisingly, no institutional arrangements exclusively meant for domestic clean energy promotion were observed in the area. The study concludes that the objectives of Kyoto Protocol in Pakistan can be achieved only if the government and non-governmental organizations work together to launch cost-effective renewable energy interventions, particularly in rural areas. The need is to have a coordinated, consistent, and focused cooperation of all stakeholders involved in promotion of domestic renewable energy at all levels. This will not only improve the socioeconomic and environmental conditions in the local context, but will play a key role in achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals(MDGs).

Keywords: governance, clean energy, greenhouse gases, CDM, Northwest Pakistan

Procedia PDF Downloads 373
5153 Building Capacity and Personnel Flow Modeling for Operating amid COVID-19

Authors: Samuel Fernandes, Dylan Kato, Emin Burak Onat, Patrick Keyantuo, Raja Sengupta, Amine Bouzaghrane

Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic has spread across the United States, forcing cities to impose stay-at-home and shelter-in-place orders. Building operations had to adjust as non-essential personnel worked from home. But as buildings prepare for personnel to return, they need to plan for safe operations amid new COVID-19 guidelines. In this paper we propose a methodology for capacity and flow modeling of personnel within buildings to safely operate under COVID-19 guidelines. We model personnel flow within buildings by network flows with queuing constraints. We study maximum flow, minimum cost, and minimax objectives. We compare our network flow approach with a simulation model through a case study and present the results. Our results showcase various scenarios of how buildings could be operated under new COVID-19 guidelines and provide a framework for building operators to plan and operate buildings in this new paradigm.

Keywords: network analysis, building simulation, COVID-19

Procedia PDF Downloads 143
5152 An Efficient Hybrid Approach Based on Multi-Agent System and Emergence Method for the Integration of Systematic Preventive Maintenance Policies

Authors: Abdelhadi Adel, Kadri Ouahab

Abstract:

This paper proposes a hybrid algorithm for the integration of systematic preventive maintenance policies in hybrid flow shop scheduling to minimize makespan. We have implemented a problem-solving approach for optimizing the processing time, methods based on metaheuristics. The proposed approach is inspired by the behavior of the human body. This hybridization is between a multi-agent system and inspirations of the human body, especially genetics. The effectiveness of our approach has been demonstrated repeatedly in this paper. To solve such a complex problem, we proposed an approach which we have used advanced operators such as uniform crossover set and single point mutation. The proposed approach is applied to three preventive maintenance policies. These policies are intended to maximize the availability or to maintain a minimum level of reliability during the production chain. The results show that our algorithm outperforms existing algorithms. We assumed that the machines might be unavailable periodically during the production scheduling.

Keywords: multi-agent systems, emergence, genetic algorithm, makespan, systematic maintenance, scheduling, hybrid flow shop scheduling

Procedia PDF Downloads 319
5151 The Cases Studies of Eyewitness Misidentifications during Criminal Investigation in Taiwan

Authors: Chih Hung Shih

Abstract:

Eyewitness identification is one of the efficient information to identify suspects during criminal investigation. However eyewitness identification is improved frequently, inaccurate and plays vital roles in wrongful convictions. Most eyewitness misidentifications are made during police criminal investigation stage and then accepted by juries. Four failure investigation case studies in Taiwan are conduct to demonstrate how misidentifications are caused during the police investigation context. The result shows that there are several common grounds among these cases: (1) investigators lacked for knowledge about eyewitness memory so that they couldn’t evaluate the validity of the eyewitnesses’ accounts and identifications, (2) eyewitnesses were always asked to filter out several suspects during the investigation, and received investigation information which contaminated the eyewitnesses’ memory, (3) one to one live individual identifications were made in most of cases, (4) eyewitness identifications were always used to support the hypotheses of investigators, and exaggerated theirs powers when conform with the investigation lines, (5) the eyewitnesses’ confidence didn’t t reflect the validity of their identifications , but always influence the investigators’ beliefs for the identifications, (6) the investigators overestimated the power of the eyewitness identifications and ignore the inconsistency with other evidence. Recommendations have been proposed for future academic research and police practice of eyewitness identification in Taiwan.

Keywords: criminal investigation, eyewitness identification, investigative bias, investigative failures

Procedia PDF Downloads 228
5150 Cardiometabolic Risk Factors Responses to Supplemental High Intensity Exercise in Middle School Children

Authors: R. M. Chandler, A. J. Stringer

Abstract:

In adults, short bursts of high-intensity exercise (intensities between 80-95% of maximum heart rates) increase cardiovascular and metabolic function without the time investment of traditional aerobic training. Similar improvements in various health indices are also becoming increasingly evident in children in countries other than the United States. In the United States, physical education programs have become shorter in length and fewer in frequency. With this in the background, it is imperative that health and physical educators delivered well-organized and focused fitness programs that can be tolerated across many different somatotypes. Perhaps the least effective lag-time in a US physical education (PE) class is the first 10 minutes, a time during which children warm up. Replacing a traditional PE warmup with a 10 min high-intensity excise protocol is a time-efficient method to impact health, leaving as much time for other PE material such as skill development, motor behavior development as possible. This supplemented 10 min high-intensity exercise increases cardiovascular function as well as induces favorable body composition changes in as little as six weeks with further enhancement throughout a semester of activity. The supplemental high-intensity exercise did not detract from the PE lesson outcomes.

Keywords: cardiovascular fitness, high intensity interval training, high intensity exercise, pediatric

Procedia PDF Downloads 127
5149 Automated Vehicle Traffic Control Tower: A Solution to Support the Next Level Automation

Authors: Xiaoyun Zhao, Rami Darwish, Anna Pernestål

Abstract:

Automated vehicles (AVs) have the potential to enhance road capacity, improving road safety and traffic efficiency. Research and development on AVs have been going on for many years. However, when the complicated traffic rules and real situations interacted, AVs fail to make decisions on contradicting situations, and are not able to have control in all conditions due to highly dynamic driving scenarios. This limits AVs’ usage and restricts the full potential benefits that they can bring. Furthermore, regulations, infrastructure development, and public acceptance cannot keep up at the same pace as technology breakthroughs. Facing these challenges, this paper proposes automated vehicle traffic control tower (AVTCT) acting as a safe, efficient and integrated solution for AV control. It introduces a concept of AVTCT for control, management, decision-making, communication and interaction with various aspects in transportation. With the prototype demonstrations and simulations, AVTCT has the potential to overcome the control challenges with AVs and can facilitate AV reaching their full potential. Possible functionalities, benefits as well as challenges of AVTCT are discussed, which set the foundation for the conceptual model, simulation and real application of AVTCT.

Keywords: automated vehicle, connectivity and automation, intelligent transport system, traffic control, traffic safety

Procedia PDF Downloads 123
5148 The Effect of Health Subsidies on Poverty Level in Indonesia

Authors: Ikhsan Fahmi, Hasti Amanda Ilmi Putri

Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic caused large scale social restrictions which have an impact on aspects of the nation’s life, such as the level of poverty. One of the causes of poverty is the lack level of public health. The calculation of poverty is seen as an inability from an economic side of basic food and nonfood needs, which is measured from the expenditure side, one of which is health expenditure. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of health subsidies on society on the level of poverty in 2020 in Indonesia. The main source used is the National Socio-Economic Survey of Consumption Expenditure and Cor, March 2020. From the result of the analysis, it was found that the percentage of poor people increased from the previous 9.78 percent to 9,92 percent, or there were 391,000 people who were previously not poor people who became poor when the health subsidies were revoked. There is a pattern of distribution of provinces in Indonesia between the average cost of health subsidies per capita per month if the government does not provide health subsidies and the increase in the percentage of poor people. This indicates that government intervention related to health subsidised is important in terms of poverty alleviation in Indonesia.

Keywords: poverty, health, subsidy, expenditure

Procedia PDF Downloads 168
5147 Competitive Intelligence within the Maritime Security Intelligence

Authors: Dicky R. Munaf, Ayu Bulan Tisna

Abstract:

Competitive intelligence (business intelligence) is the process of observing the external environment which often conducted by many organizations to get the relevant information which will be used to create the organization policy, whereas, security intelligence is related to the function of the officers who have the duties to protect the country and its people from every criminal actions that might harm the national and individual security. Therefore, the intelligence dimension of maritime security is associated with all the intelligence activities including the subject and the object that connected to the maritime issues. The concept of intelligence business regarding the maritime security perspective is the efforts to protect the maritime security using the analysis of economic movements as the basic strategic plan. Clearly, a weak maritime security will cause high operational cost to all the economic activities which uses the sea as its media. Thus, it affects the competitiveness of a country compared to the other countries that are able to maintain the maritime law enforcement and secure their marine territory. So, the intelligence business within the security intelligence is important to conduct as the beginning process of the identification against the opponent strategy that might happen in the present or in the future. Thereby, the scenario of the potential impact of all the illegal maritime activities, as well as the strategy in preventing the opponent maneuver can be made.

Keywords: competitive intelligence, maritime security intelligence, intelligent systems, information technology

Procedia PDF Downloads 487
5146 Design an Intelligent Fire Detection System Based on Neural Network and Particle Swarm Optimization

Authors: Majid Arvan, Peyman Beygi, Sina Rokhsati

Abstract:

In-time detection of fire in buildings is of great importance. Employing intelligent methods in data processing in fire detection systems leads to a significant reduction of fire damage at lowest cost. In this paper, the raw data obtained from the fire detection sensor networks in buildings is processed by using intelligent methods based on neural networks and the likelihood of fire happening is predicted. In order to enhance the quality of system, the noise in the sensor data is reduced by analyzing wavelets and applying SVD technique. Meanwhile, the proposed neural network is trained using particle swarm optimization (PSO). In the simulation work, the data is collected from sensor network inside the room and applied to the proposed network. Then the outputs are compared with conventional MLP network. The simulation results represent the superiority of the proposed method over the conventional one.

Keywords: intelligent fire detection, neural network, particle swarm optimization, fire sensor network

Procedia PDF Downloads 368
5145 Low Cost Real Time Robust Identification of Impulsive Signals

Authors: R. Biondi, G. Dys, G. Ferone, T. Renard, M. Zysman

Abstract:

This paper describes an automated implementable system for impulsive signals detection and recognition. The system uses a Digital Signal Processing device for the detection and identification process. Here the system analyses the signals in real time in order to produce a particular response if needed. The system analyses the signals in real time in order to produce a specific output if needed. Detection is achieved through normalizing the inputs and comparing the read signals to a dynamic threshold and thus avoiding detections linked to loud or fluctuating environing noise. Identification is done through neuronal network algorithms. As a setup our system can receive signals to “learn” certain patterns. Through “learning” the system can recognize signals faster, inducing flexibility to new patterns similar to those known. Sound is captured through a simple jack input, and could be changed for an enhanced recording surface such as a wide-area recorder. Furthermore a communication module can be added to the apparatus to send alerts to another interface if needed.

Keywords: sound detection, impulsive signal, background noise, neural network

Procedia PDF Downloads 304
5144 Cloud-Based Multiresolution Geodata Cube for Efficient Raster Data Visualization and Analysis

Authors: Lassi Lehto, Jaakko Kahkonen, Juha Oksanen, Tapani Sarjakoski

Abstract:

The use of raster-formatted data sets in geospatial analysis is increasing rapidly. At the same time, geographic data are being introduced into disciplines outside the traditional domain of geoinformatics, like climate change, intelligent transport, and immigration studies. These developments call for better methods to deliver raster geodata in an efficient and easy-to-use manner. Data cube technologies have traditionally been used in the geospatial domain for managing Earth Observation data sets that have strict requirements for effective handling of time series. The same approach and methodologies can also be applied in managing other types of geospatial data sets. A cloud service-based geodata cube, called GeoCubes Finland, has been developed to support online delivery and analysis of most important geospatial data sets with national coverage. The main target group of the service is the academic research institutes in the country. The most significant aspects of the GeoCubes data repository include the use of multiple resolution levels, cloud-optimized file structure, and a customized, flexible content access API. Input data sets are pre-processed while being ingested into the repository to bring them into a harmonized form in aspects like georeferencing, sampling resolutions, spatial subdivision, and value encoding. All the resolution levels are created using an appropriate generalization method, selected depending on the nature of the source data set. Multiple pre-processed resolutions enable new kinds of online analysis approaches to be introduced. Analysis processes based on interactive visual exploration can be effectively carried out, as the level of resolution most close to the visual scale can always be used. In the same way, statistical analysis can be carried out on resolution levels that best reflect the scale of the phenomenon being studied. Access times remain close to constant, independent of the scale applied in the application. The cloud service-based approach, applied in the GeoCubes Finland repository, enables analysis operations to be performed on the server platform, thus making high-performance computing facilities easily accessible. The developed GeoCubes API supports this kind of approach for online analysis. The use of cloud-optimized file structures in data storage enables the fast extraction of subareas. The access API allows for the use of vector-formatted administrative areas and user-defined polygons as definitions of subareas for data retrieval. Administrative areas of the country in four levels are available readily from the GeoCubes platform. In addition to direct delivery of raster data, the service also supports the so-called virtual file format, in which only a small text file is first downloaded. The text file contains links to the raster content on the service platform. The actual raster data is downloaded on demand, from the spatial area and resolution level required in each stage of the application. By the geodata cube approach, pre-harmonized geospatial data sets are made accessible to new categories of inexperienced users in an easy-to-use manner. At the same time, the multiresolution nature of the GeoCubes repository facilitates expert users to introduce new kinds of interactive online analysis operations.

Keywords: cloud service, geodata cube, multiresolution, raster geodata

Procedia PDF Downloads 118
5143 Thermalytix: An Advanced Artificial Intelligence Based Solution for Non-Contact Breast Screening

Authors: S. Sudhakar, Geetha Manjunath, Siva Teja Kakileti, Himanshu Madhu

Abstract:

Diagnosis of breast cancer at early stages has seen better clinical and survival outcomes. Survival rates in developing countries like India are very low due to accessibility and affordability issues of screening tests such as Mammography. In addition, Mammography is not much effective in younger women with dense breasts. This leaves a gap in current screening methods. Thermalytix is a new technique for detecting breast abnormality in a non-contact, non-invasive way. It is an AI-enabled computer-aided diagnosis solution that automates interpretation of high resolution thermal images and identifies potential malignant lesions. The solution is low cost, easy to use, portable and is effective in all age groups. This paper presents the results of a retrospective comparative analysis of Thermalytix over Mammography and Clinical Breast Examination for breast cancer screening. Thermalytix was found to have better sensitivity than both the tests, with good specificity as well. In addition, Thermalytix identified all malignant patients without palpable lumps.

Keywords: breast cancer screening, radiology, thermalytix, artificial intelligence, thermography

Procedia PDF Downloads 263
5142 A General Framework for Knowledge Discovery from Echocardiographic and Natural Images

Authors: S. Nandagopalan, N. Pradeep

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to propose a general framework for storing, analyzing, and extracting knowledge from two-dimensional echocardiographic images, color Doppler images, non-medical images, and general data sets. A number of high performance data mining algorithms have been used to carry out this task. Our framework encompasses four layers namely physical storage, object identification, knowledge discovery, user level. Techniques such as active contour model to identify the cardiac chambers, pixel classification to segment the color Doppler echo image, universal model for image retrieval, Bayesian method for classification, parallel algorithms for image segmentation, etc., were employed. Using the feature vector database that have been efficiently constructed, one can perform various data mining tasks like clustering, classification, etc. with efficient algorithms along with image mining given a query image. All these facilities are included in the framework that is supported by state-of-the-art user interface (UI). The algorithms were tested with actual patient data and Coral image database and the results show that their performance is better than the results reported already.

Keywords: active contour, Bayesian, echocardiographic image, feature vector

Procedia PDF Downloads 427
5141 Assessment of Relationships between Agro-Morphological Traits and Cold Tolerance in Faba Bean (vicia faba l.) and Wild Relatives

Authors: Nisa Ertoy Inci, Cengiz Toker

Abstract:

Winter or autumn-sown faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is one the most efficient ways to overcome drought since faba bean is usually grown under rainfed where drought and high-temperature stresses are the main growth constraints. The objectives of this study were assessment of (i) relationships between cold tolerance and agro-morphological traits, and (ii) the most suitable agro-morphological trait(s) under cold conditions. Three species of the genus Vicia L. includes 109 genotypes of faba bean (Vicia faba L.), three genotypes of narbon bean (V. narbonensis L.) and two genotypes of V. montbretii Fisch. & C.A. Mey. Davis and Plitmann were sown in autumn at highland of Mediterranean region of Turkey. All relatives of faba bean were more cold-tolerant than the faba bean genotypes. Three faba bean genotypes, ACV-42, ACV-84 and ACV-88, were selected as sources of cold tolerance under field conditions. Path and correlation coefficients and factor and principal component analyses indicated that biological yield should be evaluated in selection for cold tolerance under cold conditions ahead of many agro-morphological traits. The seed weight should be considered for selection in early breeding generations because they had the highest heritability.

Keywords: cold tolerance, faba bean, narbon bean, selection

Procedia PDF Downloads 381
5140 Computer Aided Screening of Secreted Frizzled-Related Protein 4 (SFRP4): A Potential Control for Diabetes Mellitus

Authors: Shazia Anwer Bukhari, Waseem Akhtar Shamshari, Mahmood-Ur-Rahman, Muhammad Zia-Ul-Haq, Hawa Z. E. Jaafar

Abstract:

Diabetes mellitus is a life threatening disease and scientists are doing their best to find a cost effective and permanent treatment of this malady. The recent trend is to control the disease by target base inhibiting of enzymes or proteins. Secreted frizzled-related protein 4 (SFRP4) is found to cause five times more risk of diabetes when expressed above average levels. This study was therefore designed to analyze the SFRP4 and to find its potential inhibitors. SFRP4 was analyzed by bio-informatics tools of sequence tool and structure tool. A total of three potential inhibitors of SFRP4 were found, namely cyclothiazide, clopamide and perindopril. These inhibitors showed significant interactions with SFRP4 as compared to other inhibitors as well as control (acetohexamide). The findings suggest the possible treatment of diabetes mellitus type 2 by inhibiting the SFRP4 using the inhibitors cyclothiazide, clopamide and perindopril.

Keywords: bioscreening, clopamide, cyclothiazide, diabetes mellitus, perindopril, SFRP4

Procedia PDF Downloads 431
5139 Software Quality Assurance in Component Based Software Development – a Survey Analysis

Authors: Abeer Toheed Quadri, Maria Abubakar, Mehreen Sirshar

Abstract:

Component Based Software Development (CBSD) is a new trend in software development. Selection of quality components is not enough to ensure software quality in Component Based Software System (CBSS). A software product is considered to be a quality product if it satisfies its customer’s needs and has minimum defects. Authors’ survey different research papers and analyzes various techniques which ensure software quality in component based software development. This paper includes an investigation about how to improve the quality of a component based software system without effecting quality attributes. The reported information is identified from literature survey. The developments of component based systems are rising as they reduce the development time, effort and cost by means of reuse. After analysis, it has been explored that in order to achieve the quality in a CBSS we need to have the components that are certified through software measure because the predictability of software quality attributes of system depend on the quality attributes of the constituent components, integration process and the framework used.

Keywords: CBSD (component based software development), CBSS (component based software system), quality components, SQA (software quality assurance)

Procedia PDF Downloads 397
5138 Contention Window Adjustment in IEEE 802.11-based Industrial Wireless Networks

Authors: Mohsen Maadani, Seyed Ahmad Motamedi

Abstract:

The use of wireless technology in industrial networks has gained vast attraction in recent years. In this paper, we have thoroughly analyzed the effect of contention window (CW) size on the performance of IEEE 802.11-based industrial wireless networks (IWN), from delay and reliability perspective. Results show that the default values of CWmin, CWmax, and retry limit (RL) are far from the optimum performance due to the industrial application characteristics, including short packet and noisy environment. An adaptive CW algorithm (payload-dependent) has been proposed to minimize the average delay. Finally a simple, but effective CW and RL setting has been proposed for industrial applications which outperforms the minimum-average-delay solution from maximum delay and jitter perspective, at the cost of a little higher average delay. Simulation results show an improvement of up to 20%, 25%, and 30% in average delay, maximum delay and jitter respectively.

Keywords: average delay, contention window, distributed coordination function (DCF), jitter, industrial wireless network (IWN), maximum delay, reliability, retry limit

Procedia PDF Downloads 401
5137 Barriers to the Use of Factoring Accounts Receivables: Ghanaian Contractor’s Perception

Authors: E. Kissi, V. K. Acheamfour, J. J. Gyimah, T. Adjei-Kumi

Abstract:

Factoring accounts receivable is widely accepted as an alternative financing source and utilized in almost every industry that sells business-to-business or business-to-government. However, its patronage in the construction industry is very limited as some barriers hinder its application in the construction industry. This study aims at assessing the barriers to the use of factoring accounts receivables in the Ghanaian construction industry. The study adopted the sequential exploratory research method where structured and unstructured questionnaires were conveniently distributed to D1K1 and D2K2 construction firms in Ghana. Using the one-sample t-test and Kendall’s Coefficient of concordance data was analyzed. The most severe challenge concluded is the high cost of factoring patronage. Other critical challenges identified were low knowledge on factoring processes, inadequate access to information on factoring, and high risks involved in factoring. Hence, it is recommended that contractors should be made aware of the prospects of factoring of accounts receivables in the construction industry. This study serves as basis for further rigorous research into factoring of accounts receivables in the industry.

Keywords: barriers, contractors, factoring accounts receivables, Ghanaian, perception

Procedia PDF Downloads 114
5136 Study of Strontium Sorption onto Indian Bentonite

Authors: Pankaj Pathak, Susmita Sharma

Abstract:

Incessant industrial growth fulfill the energy demand of present day society, at the same time it produces huge amount of waste which could be hazardous or non-hazardous in nature. These wastes are coming out from different sources viz, nuclear power, thermal power, coal mines which contain different types of contaminants and one of the emergent contaminant is strontium, used in the present study. The isotope of strontium (Sr90) is radioactive in nature with half-life of 28.8 years and permissible limit of strontium in drinking water is 1.5 ppm. Above the permissible limit causes several types of diseases in human being. Therefore, safe disposal of strontium into ground becomes a biggest challenge for the researchers. In this context, bentonite is being used as an efficient material to retain strontium onto ground due to its specific physical, chemical and mineralogical properties which exhibits higher cation exchange capacity and specific surface area. These properties influence the interaction between strontium and bentonite, which is quantified by employing a parameter known as distribution coefficient. Batch test was conducted, and sorption isotherms were modelled at different interaction time. The pseudo first-order and pseudo second order kinetic models have been used to fit experimental data, which helps to determine the sorption rate and mechanism.

Keywords: bentonite, interaction time, sorption, strontium

Procedia PDF Downloads 285
5135 An Improved Method on Static Binary Analysis to Enhance the Context-Sensitive CFI

Authors: Qintao Shen, Lei Luo, Jun Ma, Jie Yu, Qingbo Wu, Yongqi Ma, Zhengji Liu

Abstract:

Control Flow Integrity (CFI) is one of the most promising technique to defend Code-Reuse Attacks (CRAs). Traditional CFI Systems and recent Context-Sensitive CFI use coarse control flow graphs (CFGs) to analyze whether the control flow hijack occurs, left vast space for attackers at indirect call-sites. Coarse CFGs make it difficult to decide which target to execute at indirect control-flow transfers, and weaken the existing CFI systems actually. It is an unsolved problem to extract CFGs precisely and perfectly from binaries now. In this paper, we present an algorithm to get a more precise CFG from binaries. Parameters are analyzed at indirect call-sites and functions firstly. By comparing counts of parameters prepared before call-sites and consumed by functions, targets of indirect calls are reduced. Then the control flow would be more constrained at indirect call-sites in runtime. Combined with CCFI, we implement our policy. Experimental results on some popular programs show that our approach is efficient. Further analysis show that it can mitigate COOP and other advanced attacks.

Keywords: contex-sensitive, CFI, binary analysis, code reuse attack

Procedia PDF Downloads 304
5134 Transformational Leadership and Departmental Performance: The Intervening Role of Internal Communication and Citizen/Customer Participation

Authors: Derrick Boakye Boadu, Zahra Fakhri

Abstract:

Transformational leaders are the catalyst of change and focus more importantly on members or followers. Involvement of transformational leadership style in organizational structures can provide interesting nuances to the implementation and enhancement of citizen and customer participation mechanisms in an organization regardless of the time consuming, cost, and delaying process of analyzing the feedback of workers and citizens/customers which stifles good outcome of organization’s department performance. It posits that transformational leadership has a positive direct effect on organization-departmental performance and the intervening role of citizen and customer participation and internal communication. Using the NASP-IV 2007 data, the article finds support for the five hypotheses in a structural equation model, and the findings show that transformational leadership does have a direct impact on organizational-departmental performance a partial mediation effect of the relationship through the role of internal communication and citizen and customer participation.  

Keywords: transformational leaders, departmental performance, internal communication, citizen/customer participation

Procedia PDF Downloads 102
5133 Monitoring Co-Creation: A Survey of Lithuanian Urban Communities

Authors: Aelita Skarzauskiene, Monika Maciuliene

Abstract:

In this paper, we conduct a systematic survey of urban communities in Lithuania to evaluate their potential to co-create collective intelligence or “civic intelligence” applying Digital Co-creation Index methodology that includes different socio-technological indicators. Civic intelligence is a form of collective intelligence that refers to the group’s capacity to perceive societal problems and to address them effectively. The research focuses on evaluation of diverse organizational designs that increase efficient collective performance. The current scientific project advanced the state of the art by evaluating the basic preconditions in the urban communities through which the collective intelligence is being co-created under the systemic manner. The research subject is the “bottom up” digital enabled urban platforms, initiated by Lithuanian public organizations, civic movements or business entities. The web-based monitoring results obtained by applying a social indices calculation methodology and Pearson correlation analysis provided the information about the potential and limits of the urban communities and what possible changes need to be implemented to overcome the limitations.

Keywords: computer supported collaboration, socio-technological system, collective intelligence, networked society

Procedia PDF Downloads 190
5132 Mathematical Modeling of the Fouling Phenomenon in Ultrafiltration of Latex Effluent

Authors: Amira Abdelrasoul, Huu Doan, Ali Lohi

Abstract:

An efficient and well-planned ultrafiltration process is becoming a necessity for monetary returns in the industrial settings. The aim of the present study was to develop a mathematical model for an accurate prediction of ultrafiltration membrane fouling of latex effluent applied to homogeneous and heterogeneous membranes with uniform and non-uniform pore sizes, respectively. The models were also developed for an accurate prediction of power consumption that can handle the large-scale purposes. The model incorporated the fouling attachments as well as chemical and physical factors in membrane fouling for accurate prediction and scale-up application. Both Polycarbonate and Polysulfone flat membranes, with pore sizes of 0.05 µm and a molecular weight cut-off of 60,000, respectively, were used under a constant feed flow rate and a cross-flow mode in ultrafiltration of the simulated paint effluent. Furthermore, hydrophilic ultrafilic and hydrophobic PVDF membranes with MWCO of 100,000 were used to test the reliability of the models. Monodisperse particles of 50 nm and 100 nm in diameter, and a latex effluent with a wide range of particle size distributions were utilized to validate the models. The aggregation and the sphericity of the particles indicated a significant effect on membrane fouling.

Keywords: membrane fouling, mathematical modeling, power consumption, attachments, ultrafiltration

Procedia PDF Downloads 458
5131 Sustainable Biogas Upgrading: Characterization of Adsorption Properties of Tuff

Authors: Emanuele Bonamente, Andrea Aquino, Franco Cotana

Abstract:

This paper presents experimental results from the analysis of Tuff for CO2 and H2S removal from biogas. Synthetic zeolites, commonly used for biogas upgrading, are characterized by excellent performance in terms of carbon dioxide adsorption, however, cost and environmental footprint represent a negative contribute to their sustainability. Natural zeolites contained in Tuff, a totally inexpensive byproduct of the construction industry, show very interesting selective adsorption properties, associated with its availability in regions, as central Italy, where biogas production from small scale plants is rapidly increasing. An in-house experimental device was assembled to measure the adsorption capacity of Tuff as a function of partial CO2 pressure for different temperatures (i.e. adsorption isotherms). Results show performances as high as 66% with respect to commercial zeolites (13X). A sensitivity analysis of different regeneration processes is also presented. A comparative analysis of natural and synthetic zeolites was finally performed using biogas samples obtained from different types of feedstock and characterized by varying CO2 and H2S content.

Keywords: biogas upgrading, CO2 adsorption, sustainable energy, tuff

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5130 Feasibility Study of Utilization and Development of Wind Energy for Electricity Generation in Panjang Island, Serang, Banten, West Java

Authors: Aryo Bayu Tejokusumo, Ivan Hidayat, C. Steffany Yoland

Abstract:

Wind velocity in Panjang Island, Serang, Banten, West Java, measured 10 m above sea level, is about 8 m/s. This wind velocity is potential for electricity generation using wind power. Using ten of Alstom-Haliade 150-6 W turbines, the placement of wind turbines has 7D for vertical distance and 4D for horizontal distance. Installation of the turbines is 100 m above sea level which is produces 98.64 MW per hour. This wind power generation has ecology impacts (the deaths of birds and bats and land exemption) and human impacts (aesthetics, human’s health, and potential disruption of electromagnetics interference), but it could be neglected totally, because of the position of the wind farm. The investment spent 73,819,710.00 IDR. Payback period is 2.23 years, and rate of return is 45.24%. This electricity generation using wind power in Panjang Island is suitable to install despite the high cost of investment since the profit is also high.

Keywords: wind turbine, Panjang island, renewable energy, Indonesia, offshore, power generation

Procedia PDF Downloads 650
5129 Least Squares Solution for Linear Quadratic Gaussian Problem with Stochastic Approximation Approach

Authors: Sie Long Kek, Wah June Leong, Kok Lay Teo

Abstract:

Linear quadratic Gaussian model is a standard mathematical model for the stochastic optimal control problem. The combination of the linear quadratic estimation and the linear quadratic regulator allows the state estimation and the optimal control policy to be designed separately. This is known as the separation principle. In this paper, an efficient computational method is proposed to solve the linear quadratic Gaussian problem. In our approach, the Hamiltonian function is defined, and the necessary conditions are derived. In addition to this, the output error is defined and the least-square optimization problem is introduced. By determining the first-order necessary condition, the gradient of the sum squares of output error is established. On this point of view, the stochastic approximation approach is employed such that the optimal control policy is updated. Within a given tolerance, the iteration procedure would be stopped and the optimal solution of the linear-quadratic Gaussian problem is obtained. For illustration, an example of the linear-quadratic Gaussian problem is studied. The result shows the efficiency of the approach proposed. In conclusion, the applicability of the approach proposed for solving the linear quadratic Gaussian problem is highly demonstrated.

Keywords: iteration procedure, least squares solution, linear quadratic Gaussian, output error, stochastic approximation

Procedia PDF Downloads 163
5128 Screen Method of Distributed Cooperative Navigation Factors for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Swarm

Authors: Can Zhang, Qun Li, Yonglin Lei, Zhi Zhu, Dong Guo

Abstract:

Aiming at the problem of factor screen in distributed collaborative navigation of dense UAV swarm, an efficient distributed collaborative navigation factor screen method is proposed. The method considered the balance between computing load and positioning accuracy. The proposed algorithm utilized the factor graph model to implement a distributed collaborative navigation algorithm. The GNSS information of the UAV itself and the ranging information between the UAVs are used as the positioning factors. In this distributed scheme, a local factor graph is established for each UAV. The positioning factors of nodes with good geometric position distribution and small variance are selected to participate in the navigation calculation. To demonstrate and verify the proposed methods, the simulation and experiments in different scenarios are performed in this research. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme achieves a good balance between the computing load and positioning accuracy in the distributed cooperative navigation calculation of UAV swarm. This proposed algorithm has important theoretical and practical value for both industry and academic areas.

Keywords: screen method, cooperative positioning system, UAV swarm, factor graph, cooperative navigation

Procedia PDF Downloads 57
5127 Multi-Robotic Partial Disassembly Line Balancing with Robotic Efficiency Difference via HNSGA-II

Authors: Tao Yin, Zeqiang Zhang, Wei Liang, Yanqing Zeng, Yu Zhang

Abstract:

To accelerate the remanufacturing process of electronic waste products, this study designs a partial disassembly line with the multi-robotic station to effectively dispose of excessive wastes. The multi-robotic partial disassembly line is a technical upgrade to the existing manual disassembly line. Balancing optimization can make the disassembly line smoother and more efficient. For partial disassembly line balancing with the multi-robotic station (PDLBMRS), a mixed-integer programming model (MIPM) considering the robotic efficiency differences is established to minimize cycle time, energy consumption and hazard index and to calculate their optimal global values. Besides, an enhanced NSGA-II algorithm (HNSGA-II) is proposed to optimize PDLBMRS efficiently. Finally, MIPM and HNSGA-II are applied to an actual mixed disassembly case of two types of computers, the comparison of the results solved by GUROBI and HNSGA-II verifies the correctness of the model and excellent performance of the algorithm, and the obtained Pareto solution set provides multiple options for decision-makers.

Keywords: waste disposal, disassembly line balancing, multi-robot station, robotic efficiency difference, HNSGA-II

Procedia PDF Downloads 215