Search results for: small and large farms

Authors: Asma Dill

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The aim of this study is to explore the role of HRM practices in SMEs success. The role of HRM practices in large enterprises is relatively known, on the other hand, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) companies have not been greatly studied in relation to the HRM practices in the past. Although, there is a lack of literature and empirical research in this area, several studies in the recent years emphasized on the importance of the HRM practices for the success of the SMEs. This study finds out relationship of HRM practices and SMESs performances. The objective is to analyze significant impacts of HRM practices (training, performance appraisal, compensation and employee development) on SMEs success, to determine whether SMEs recognize the importance of HRM practices in their businesses. To carry out this research a survey research strategy was followed. The sample frame for this study consisted of firms that belong to the services and commerce sector, employing at least 50 employees. The final research sample consisted of questionnaires. Descriptive statistical methods have been used during quantitative analysis to explore the relations. The findings of the study revealed that HRM practices have a significant influence on the performance of SMEs, and the better the HRM practice, the higher the performance of the SMEs. HRM practices, including, training, compensation, performance appraisal and employee development, have been found to be significantly and positively related to business success. Outcome of the study will provide useful guidelines to the business organizations. This study contributes to knowledge by providing insights on the impact of HRM practices on SMEs performance.

Keywords: compensation, employee performance, HRM practices, training

Procedia PDF Downloads 179

Authors: Dukali Abujnah

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This study was undertaken to knowledge the chemical composition of some farm animals (cows ) by using ultrasonic milk analyzer. This method was used first time in our country in the field of milk hygiene to determine and comparison the composition percent of raw milk for farm animals as attempt to protect the health of consumers 240 raw milk samples for each species of animals included in this study for two different season of year first (Novembe 2014 - January 2015) , second from (May – Novembe2015) .The chemical analysis. In this way, a range of building suitable to put in the Libyan market product structures, and milk, for use as a new product or exposure to treatment such as pasteurized milk and long-life may be wider study project..Controls have been implemented in operating in Libya, companies which are part of the business created by the Libyan state. It was created only after the companies that made many of the studies and research carried out on areas of Libya which it was possible to intervene. Although troops spent in recent years, companies have not yet found their balance and milk production has not yet come to those set forth in the action plans, due to problems of various types that will be discussed in this study. We believe that these data have been taken in four years if analyzed properly, can provide more accurate information to farmers in their companies want to take dairy cattle breeding. The total bacterial count was 76 and 38 cfu/ml for locally produced and imported UHT milk respectively. Coliforms were negative for all examined locally produce and imported samples. E. coli were not isolated from any of the examined UHT samples. Aerobic spore-formers count mean count was 49 and 27 cfu/ml for both examined samples respectively. Obtained results show that most of the locally produced UHT milk does not satisfy the suggested Libyan Standards for UHT milk for fat% as well as total bacterial count/ml. Economical and public health importance of the obtained results were discussed, and control measures for improving the quality of UHT locally made milk were also discussed.

Keywords: locally, UHT milks, farms animals, raw milk analysis milk

Procedia PDF Downloads 287

Authors: Sylvia Mac

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This ethnographic case study examines disaster capitalism, neoliberal market-based school reforms, and disability through the lens of Disability Studies in Education. More specifically, it explores neoliberalism and special education at a small, urban charter school in a large city in California and the (re)production of social inequality. The study uses Sociology of Special Education to examine the ways in which special education is used to sort and stratify disabled students. At a time when rhetoric surrounding public schools is framed in catastrophic and dismal language in order to justify the privatization of public education, small urban charter schools must be examined to learn if they are living up to their promise or acting as another way to maintain economic and racial segregation. The study concludes that neoliberal contexts threaten successful inclusive education and normalize poor, disabled students’ continued low achievement and poor post-secondary outcomes. This ethnographic case study took place at a small urban charter school in a large city in California. Participants included three special education students, the special education teacher, the special education assistant, a regular education teacher, and the two founders and charter writers. The school claimed to have a push-in model of special education where all special education students were fully included in the general education classroom. Although presented as fully inclusive, some special education students also attended a pull-out class called Study Skills. The study found that inclusion and neoliberalism are differing ideologies that cannot co-exist. Successful inclusive environments cannot thrive while under the influences of neoliberal education policies such as efficiency and cost-cutting. Additionally, the push for students to join the global knowledge economy means that more and more low attainers are further marginalized and kept in poverty. At this school, neoliberal ideology eclipsed the promise of inclusive education for special education students. This case study has shown the need for inclusive education to be interrogated through lenses that consider macro factors, such as neoliberal ideology in public education, as well as the emerging global knowledge economy and increasing income inequality. Barriers to inclusion inside the school, such as teachers’ attitudes, teacher preparedness, and school infrastructure paint only part of the picture. Inclusive education is also threatened by neoliberal ideology that shifts the responsibility from the state to the individual. This ideology is dangerous because it reifies the stereotypes of disabled students as lazy, needs drains on already dwindling budgets. If these stereotypes persist, inclusive education will have a difficult time succeeding. In order to more fully examine the ways in which inclusive education can become truly emancipatory, we need more analysis on the relationship between neoliberalism, disability, and special education.

Keywords: case study, disaster capitalism, inclusive education, neoliberalism

Procedia PDF Downloads 223

Authors: Pavitra Sharma, Anuradha Singh, Nupur Mathur

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There exist more than 100 trillion bacteria in the digestive system of human-beings. Such bacteria are referred to as gut microbiota. Gut microbiota comprises around 75% of our immune system. The bacteria that comprise the gut microbiota are unique to every individual and their composition keeps changing with time owing to factors such as the host’s age, diet, genes, environment, and external medication. Of these factors, the variable easiest to control is one’s diet. By modulating one’s diet, one can ensure an optimal composition of the gut microbiota yielding several health benefits. Prebiotics and probiotics are two compounds that have been considered as viable options to modulate the host’s diet. Prebiotics are basically plant products that support the growth of good bacteria in the host’s gut. Examples include garden asparagus, aloe vera etc. Probiotics are living microorganisms that exist in our intestines and play an integral role in promoting digestive health and supporting our immune system in general. Examples include yogurt, kimchi, kombucha etc. In the context of modulating the host’s diet, the key attribute of prebiotics is that they support the growth of probiotics. By developing the right combination of prebiotics and probiotics, food products or supplements can be created to enhance the host’s health. An effective combination of prebiotics and probiotics that yields health benefits to the host is referred to as synbiotics. Synbiotics comprise of an optimal proportion of prebiotics and probiotics, their application benefits the host’s health more than the application of prebiotics and probiotics used in isolation. When applied to food supplements, synbiotics preserve the beneficial probiotic bacteria during storage period and during the bacteria’s passage through the intestinal tract. When applied to the gastrointestinal tract, the composition of the synbiotics assumes paramount importance. Reason being that for synbiotics to be effective in the gastrointestinal tract, the chosen probiotic must be able to survive in the stomach’s acidic environment and manifest tolerance towards bile and pancreatic secretions. Further, not every prebiotic stimulates the growth of a particular probiotic. The prebiotic chosen should be one that not only maintains 2 balance in the host’s digestive system, but also provides the required nutrition to probiotics. Hence in each application of synbiotics, the prebiotic-probiotic combination needs to be carefully selected. Once the combination is finalized, the exact proportion of prebiotics and probiotics to be used needs to be considered. When determining this proportion, only that amount of a prebiotic should be used that activates metabolism of the required number of probiotics. It was observed that while probiotics are active is both the small and large intestine, the effect of prebiotics is observed primarily in the large intestine. Hence in the host’s small intestine, synbiotics are likely to have the maximum efficacy. In small intestine, prebiotics not only assist in the growth of probiotics, but they also enable probiotics to exhibit a higher tolerance to pH levels, oxygenation, and intestinal temperature

Keywords: microbiota, probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics

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Authors: Chuanzhi Chen, Wenjing Yu

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Parabolic cylindrical deployable antenna has the characteristics of wide cutting width, strong directivity, high gain, and easy automatic beam scanning. While, due to its large size, high flexibility, and strong coupling, the deployment process of parabolic cylindrical deployable antenna presents such problems as unsynchronized deployment speed, large local deformation and discontinuous switching of deployment state. A large deployable parabolic cylindrical antenna is taken as the research object, and the problem of unfolding process instability of cylindrical antenna is studied in the paper, which is caused by multiple factors such as multiple closed loops, elastic deformation, motion friction, and gap collision. Firstly, the multi-flexible system dynamics model of large-scale parabolic cylindrical antenna is established to study the influence of friction and elastic deformation on the stability of large multi-closed loop antenna. Secondly, the evaluation method of antenna expansion stability is studied, and the quantitative index of antenna configuration design is proposed to provide a theoretical basis for improving the overall performance of the antenna. Finally, through simulation analysis and experiment, the development dynamics and stability of large-scale parabolic cylindrical antennas are verified by in-depth analysis, and the principles for improving the stability of antenna deployment are summarized.

Keywords: multibody dynamics, expandable parabolic cylindrical antenna, stability, flexible deformation

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: Gregory Sullivan

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The evolution of global warming has escalated the number and complexity of forest fires around the world. As an example, the United States and Brazil combined generated more than 30,000 forest fires last year. The impact to our environment, structures and individuals is incalculable. The world has learned to try to take this in stride, trying multiple ways to contain fires. Some countries are trying to use cameras in limited areas. There are discussions of using hundreds of low earth orbit satellites and linking them together, and, interfacing them through ground networks. These are all truly noble attempts to defeat the forest fire phenomenon. But there is a better, simpler answer. A bigger piece of the solutions puzzle is to see the fires while they are small, soon after initiation. The approach is to see the fires while they are very small and report their location (latitude and longitude) to local first responders. This is done by placing a sensor at geostationary orbit (GEO: 26,000 miles above the earth). By placing this small satellite in GEO, we can “stare” at the earth, and sense temperature changes. We do not “see” fires, but “measure” temperature changes. This has already been demonstrated on an experimental scale. Fires were seen at close to initiation, and info forwarded to first responders. it were the first to identify the fires 7 out of 8 times. The goal is to have a small independent satellite at GEO orbit focused only on forest fire initiation. Thus, with one small satellite, focused only on forest fire initiation, we hope to greatly decrease the impact to persons, property and the environment.

Keywords: space detection, wildfire early warning, demonstration wildfire detection and action from space, space detection to first responders

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Authors: Samuel Ahamefula Mba

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Fluid turbulence is a complex and nonlinear phenomenon that occurs in various natural and industrial processes. Understanding turbulence remains a challenging task due to its intricate nature. One approach to gain insights into turbulence is through the study of entropy, which quantifies the disorder or randomness of a system. This research presents a numerical investigation of entropy signatures in fluid turbulence. The work is to develop a numerical framework to describe and analyse fluid turbulence in terms of entropy. This decomposes the turbulent flow field into different scales, ranging from large energy-containing eddies to small dissipative structures, thus establishing a correlation between entropy and other turbulence statistics. This entropy-based framework provides a powerful tool for understanding the underlying mechanisms driving turbulence and its impact on various phenomena. This work necessitates the derivation of the Poisson equation for pressure transformation of Navier-Stokes equation and using Chebyshev-Finite Difference techniques to effectively resolve it. To carry out the mathematical analysis, consider bounded domains with smooth solutions and non-periodic boundary conditions. To address this, a hybrid computational approach combining direct numerical simulation (DNS) and Large Eddy Simulation with Wall Models (LES-WM) is utilized to perform extensive simulations of turbulent flows. The potential impact ranges from industrial process optimization and improved prediction of weather patterns.

Keywords: turbulence, Navier-Stokes equation, Poisson pressure equation, numerical investigation, Chebyshev-finite difference, hybrid computational approach, large Eddy simulation with wall models, direct numerical simulation

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Authors: K. S. Sivakumaran, Bo Chen

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The floor beams of steel buildings, cold-formed steel floor joists, in particular, often require large web openings, which may affect their shear capacities. A cost effective way to mitigate the detrimental effects of such openings is to weld/fasten reinforcements. A difficulty associated with an experimental investigation to establish suitable reinforcement schemes for openings in shear zone is that moment always coexists with the shear, and thus, it is impossible to create pure shear state in experiments, resulting in moment influenced results. However, finite element analysis can be conveniently used to investigate the pure shear behaviour of webs including webs with reinforced opening. This paper presents that the details associated with the finite element analysis of thick/thin-plates (representing the web of hot-rolled steel beam, and the web of a cold-formed steel member) having a large reinforced openings. The study considered thin simply supported rectangular plates subjected to inplane shear loadings until failure (including post-buckling behaviour). The plate was modelled using geometrically non-linear quadrilateral shell elements, and non-linear stress-strain relationship based on experiments. Total Lagrangian (TL) with large displacement/small strain formulation was used for such analysis. The model also considered the initial geometric imperfections. This study considered three reinforcement schemes, namely, flat, lip, and angle reinforcements. This paper discusses the modelling considerations and presents the results associated with the various reinforcement schemes under consideration. The paper briefly compares the analysis results with the experimental results.

Keywords: cold-formed steel, finite element analysis, opening, reinforcement, shear resistance

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Authors: Helen S. Joyner (Melito), Mohammad Anvari

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Concentrated emulsions stabilized by proteins are systems of great importance in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. Controlling emulsion rheology is critical for ensuring desired properties during formation, storage, and consumption of emulsion-based products. Studies on concentrated emulsions have focused on rheology of monodispersed systems. However, emulsions used for industrial applications are polydispersed in nature, and this polydispersity is regarded as an important parameter that also governs the rheology of the concentrated emulsions. Therefore, the objective of this study was to characterize rheological (small and large deformation behaviors) and microstructural properties of concentrated emulsions which were not truly monodispersed as usually encountered in food products such as margarines, mayonnaise, creams, spreads, and etc. The concentrated emulsions were prepared at different concentrations of fish gelatin (0.2, 0.4, 0.8% w/v in the whole emulsion system), oil-water ratio 80-20 (w/w), homogenization speed 10000 rpm, and 25oC. Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) was used to determine the microstructure of the emulsions. To prepare samples for CLSM analysis, FG solutions were stained by Fluorescein isothiocyanate dye. Emulsion viscosity profiles were determined using shear rate sweeps (0.01 to 100 1/s). The linear viscoelastic regions (LVRs) of the emulsions were determined using strain sweeps (0.01 to 100% strain) for each sample. Frequency sweeps were performed in the LVR (0.1% strain) from 0.6 to 100 rad/s. Large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS) testing was conducted by collecting raw waveform data at 0.05, 1, 10, and 100% strain at 4 different frequencies (0.5, 1, 10, and 100 rad/s). All measurements were performed in triplicate at 25oC. The CLSM results revealed that increased fish gelatin concentration resulted in more stable oil-in-water emulsions with homogeneous, finely dispersed oil droplets. Furthermore, the protein concentration had a significant effect on emulsion rheological properties. Apparent viscosity and dynamic moduli at small deformations increased with increasing fish gelatin concentration. These results were related to increased inter-droplet network connections caused by increased fish gelatin adsorption at the surface of oil droplets. Nevertheless, all samples showed shear-thinning and weak gel behaviors over shear rate and frequency sweeps, respectively. Lissajous plots, or plots of stress versus strain, and phase lag values were used to determine nonlinear behavior of the emulsions in LAOS testing. Greater distortion in the elliptical shape of the plots followed by higher phase lag values was observed at large strains and frequencies in all samples, indicating increased nonlinear behavior. Shifts from elastic-dominated to viscous dominated behavior were also observed. These shifts were attributed to damage to the sample microstructure (e.g. gel network disruption), which would lead to viscous-type behaviors such as permanent deformation and flow. Unlike the small deformation results, the LAOS behavior of the concentrated emulsions was not dependent on fish gelatin concentration. Systems with different microstructures showed similar nonlinear viscoelastic behaviors. The results of this study provided valuable information that can be used to incorporate concentrated emulsions in emulsion-based food formulations.

Keywords: concentrated emulsion, fish gelatin, microstructure, rheology

Procedia PDF Downloads 276

Authors: Nalika S. Rajapaksha, James Airton, Amina Aboobakar, Nick Chappell, Andy Dyer

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Nutrient pollution and their impact on water quality is a key concern in England. Many water quality issues originate from multiple sources of pollution spread across the catchment. The river water quality in England has improved since 1990s and wastewater effluent discharges into rivers now contain less phosphorus than in the past. However, excess phosphorus is still recognised as the prevailing issue for rivers failing Water Framework Directive (WFD) good ecological status. To achieve WFD Phosphorus objectives, Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) permit limits are becoming increasingly stringent. Nevertheless, in some rural catchments, the apportionment of Phosphorus pollution can be greater from agricultural runoff and other sources such as septic tanks. Therefore, the challenge of meeting the requirements of watercourses to deliver WFD objectives often goes beyond water company activities, providing significant opportunities to co-deliver activities in wider catchments to reduce nutrient load at source. The aim of this study was to apply the United Utilities' Catchment Systems Thinking (CaST) strategy and pilot an innovative permitting approach - Catchment Nutrient Balancing (CNB) in a rural catchment in Cumbria (the River Petteril) in collaboration with the regulator and others to achieve WFD objectives and multiple benefits. The study area is mainly agricultural land, predominantly livestock farms. The local ecology is impacted by significant nutrient inputs which require intervention to meet WFD obligations. There are a range of Phosphorus inputs into the river, including discharges from wastewater assets but also significantly from agricultural contributions. Solely focusing on the WwTW discharges would not have resolved the problem hence in order to address this issue effectively, a CNB trial was initiated at a small WwTW, targeting the removal of a total of 150kg of Phosphorus load, of which 13kg were to be reduced through the use of catchment interventions. Various catchment interventions were implemented across selected farms in the upstream of the catchment and also an innovative polonite reactive filter media was implemented at the WwTW as an alternative to traditional Phosphorus treatment methods. During the 3 years of this trial, the impact of the interventions in the catchment and the treatment works were monitored. In 2020 and 2022, it respectively achieved a 69% and 63% reduction in the phosphorus level in the catchment against the initial reduction target of 9%. Phosphorus treatment at the WwTW had a significant impact on overall load reduction. The wider catchment impact, however, was seven times greater than the initial target when wider catchment interventions were also established. While it is unlikely that all the Phosphorus load reduction was delivered exclusively from the interventions implemented though this project, this trial evidenced the enhanced benefits that can be achieved with an integrated approach, that engages all sources of pollution within the catchment - rather than focusing on a one-size-fits-all solution. Primarily, the CNB approach and the act of collaboratively engaging others, particularly the agriculture sector is likely to yield improved farm and land management performance and better compliance, which can lead to improved river quality as well as wider benefits.

Keywords: agriculture, catchment nutrient balancing, phosphorus pollution, water quality, wastewater

Procedia PDF Downloads 67

Authors: Palwinder Singh

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Beyond the conventional mode of working with anti-inflammatory agents through enzyme inhibition, herein, an alternate substrate of cyclooxygenase-2 was developed. Proline centered pentapeptide iso-conformational to arachidonic acid exhibited appreciable selectivity for COX-2 overcoming acetic acid and formalin induced pain in rats to almost 80% and was treated as a substrate by the enzyme. Remarkably, COX-2 metabolized the pentapeptide into small fragments consisting mainly of di- and tri-peptides that ensured the safe breakdown of the peptide under in-vivo conditions. The kinetic parameter Kcat/Km for COX-2 mediated metabolism of peptide 6.3 x 105 M-1 s-1 was quite similar to 9.5 x 105 M-1 s-1 for arachidonic acid. Evidenced by the dynamic molecular studies and the use of Y385F COX-2, it was observed that the breakage of the pentapeptide has probably taken place through H-bond activation of the peptide bond by the side chains of Y385 and S530.

Keywords: small peptides, anti-inflammatory agents, cyclooxygenase-2, unnatural substrates

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Authors: Linlong Mu, Maosong Huang

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Considering excavations in urban areas, the soil deformation induced by the excavations usually causes damage to the surrounding structures. Displacement control becomes a critical indicator of foundation design in order to protect the surrounding structures. Evaluation, the damage potential of the surrounding structures induced by the excavations, usually depends on the finite element method (FEM) because of the complexity of the excavation and the variety of the surrounding structures. Besides, evaluation the influence of the excavation on surrounding structures is a three-dimensional problem. And it is now well recognized that small strain behaviour of the soil influences the responses of the excavation significantly. Three-dimensional FEM considering small strain behaviour of the soil is a very complex method, which is hard for engineers to use. Thus, it is important to obtain a simplified method for engineers to predict the influence of the excavations on the surrounding structures. Based on large-scale finite element calculation with small-strain based soil model coupling with inverse analysis, an empirical method is proposed to calculate the three-dimensional soil movement induced by braced excavation. The empirical method is able to capture the small-strain behaviour of the soil. And it is suitable to be used in layered soil. Then the free-field soil movement is applied to the pile to calculate the responses of the pile in both vertical and horizontal directions. The asymmetric solutions for problems in layered elastic half-space are employed to solve the interactions between soil points. Both vertical and horizontal pile responses are solved through finite difference method based on elastic theory. Interactions among the nodes along a single pile, pile-pile interactions, pile-soil-pile interaction action and soil-soil interactions are counted to improve the calculation accuracy of the method. For passive piles, the shadow effects are also calculated in the method. Finally, the restrictions of the raft on the piles and the soils are summarized as: (1) the summations of the internal forces between the elements of the raft and the elements of the foundation, including piles and soil surface elements, is equal to 0; (2) the deformations of pile heads or of the soil surface elements are the same as the deformations of the corresponding elements of the raft. Validations are carried out by comparing the results from the proposed method with the results from the model tests, FEM and other existing literatures. From the comparisons, it can be seen that the results from the proposed method fit with the results from other methods very well. The method proposed herein is suitable to predict the responses of the pile-raft foundation induced by braced excavation in layered soil in both vertical and horizontal directions when the deformation is small. However, more data is needed to verify the method before it can be used in practice.

Keywords: excavation, pile-raft foundation, passive piles, deformation control, soil movement

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Authors: Hari Krishna Ayyappa, Reenu Singh

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Rising population and restricted land for development has led towards the growth of vertical buildings and small complexes. It provides many possibilities to change the shape and size of internal space in addition to the social impacts on the commercial spaces. With the increased volatility of necessities of people, the need for mental and physical comfort has continuously increased. . Living in a small space musts minimalist and space- saving cabinetwork results to sustain mortal good. This paper attempts to explore the Influence of Using Minimalist Furniture on the Efficiency of the commercial Space interiors by means of the variable resulting from preceding studies based on literature. A literature review was conducted on research articles to understand the contributing variables in a well designed small commercial spaces. A questionnaire survey was conducted to understand the layout of small commercial spaces with respect to Environmental impact, material, Design elements, Modern approach, Layered lightings, and colours. The problem of small spaces can be resolved by some ways; it's still needed for cabinetwork to develop to be more innovative to accommodate small living spaces. Since cabinetwork is a necessity and not luxury, everybody is in need of it. The spatial factors affecting overall satisfaction at a detailed position were bandied. The variable helped in proposing design ideation and mock ups to explore improved interiors. This paper concludes that most of the principles of the minimalist approach have been overlooked at, which had an impact on the space efficiency in commercial spaces like storage rooms, office area, retail stores, restaurants, and other spaces where business is conducted.

Keywords: materials, modern approach, space efficiency, tall commercial buildings

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Authors: Wael Mohamed, Per-Erik Austrell, Ola Dahlblom

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Wind farms repowering is a significant topic nowadays. Wind farms repowering means the complete dismantling of the existing turbine, tower and foundation at an existing site and replacing these units with taller and larger units. Modern wind turbines are designed to withstand approximately for 20~25 years. However, a very long design life of 100 years or more can be expected for high-quality concrete foundations. Based on that there are significant economic and environmental benefits of replacing the out-of-date wind turbine with a new turbine of better power generation capacity and reuse the foundation. The big difference in lifetime shows a potential for new foundation solution to allow wind farms to be updated with taller and larger units in order to increase the energy production. This also means a significant change in the design loads on the foundations. Therefore, the new foundation solution should be able to handle the additional overturning loads. A raft surrounded by an active stabilisation system is proposed in this study. The concept of an active stabilisation system is a novel idea using a movable load to stabilise against the overturning moment. The active stabilisation system consists of a water tank being divided into eight compartments. The system uses the water as a movable load by pumping it into two compartments to stabilise against the overturning moment. The position of the water will rely on the wind direction and a water movement system depending on a number of electric motors and pipes with electric valves is used. One of the advantages of this active foundation solution is that some cost-efficient adjustment could be done to make this foundation able to support larger and taller units. After the end of the first turbine lifetime, an option is presented here to reuse this foundation and make it able to support taller and larger units. This option is considered using extra water volume to fill four compartments instead of two compartments. This extra water volume will increase the stability moment by 41% compared to using water in two compartments. The geotechnical performance of the new foundation solution is investigated using two existing weak soil profiles in Egypt and Sweden. A comparative study of the new solution and a piled raft with long friction piles is performed using finite element simulations. The results show that using a raft surrounded by an active stabilisation system decreases the tilting compared to a piled raft with friction piles. Moreover, it is found that using a raft surrounded by an active stabilisation system decreases the foundation costs compared to a piled raft with friction piles. In term of the environmental impact, it is found that the new foundation has a beneficial impact on the CO2 emissions. It saves roughly from 296.1 tonnes-CO2 to 518.21 tonnes-CO2 from the manufacture of concrete if the new foundation solution is used for another turbine-lifetime.

Keywords: active stabilisation system, CO2 emissions, FE analysis, reusable, weak soils

Procedia PDF Downloads 217

Authors: Ogbole Alexandra Simi, Wuyep Solomon Zitta, Monday Seri Nentok, Boilif Yilni Edward, Ocheri Maxwell Idoko

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Vegetables have positive antioxidative properties and are abundant in vitamins, minerals, and fiber. However, if consumed in large quantities, it may be harmful to human health. Therefore, this study assessed the effects of heavy metals on irrigated pepper, cabbage, and Irish potatoes grown in Butura. Atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AA240FS) was used to analyze cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), and arsenic (As) levels. Three samples were selected from each of the vegetables grown on nine selected farms at distances of 0 m, 10 m, and 30 m. This forms a composite sample of vegetables at each farm. The study showed that the concentrations of cobalt, chromium, cadmium, copper, arsenic, zinc and nickel were within the standard limits set by the FAO/WHO, except for lead, which is higher than the allowable limits for vegetables. These may have behavioral problems, neurological complications, and hematologic disorders for consumers. Thus, these findings could lead to a risk for the human population consuming these vegetables. It is recommended that irrigation water and agricultural soils be constantly monitored to determine the concentration of metals accumulated by crop plants to ensure that crop plants are safe for consumption by humans.

Keywords: vegetable, cabbage, heavy metals, irrigated, Irish potato, Bokkos, pepper

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Authors: Pan Rui, Ma Jun, Zhao Caiqi, Wang Guangda

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With the development of the tourism and religion,more and more large statue structures are adopted to build all over the world.For instance,the GuanYin statue with three plane reaches 108 meters high in HaiNan province in China.These statue structures belong to typical high-rise Building. However,the geometry sculpt of statues are complicated .The irregular shape makes these structures more complicated in force analysis than those normal standard tall buildings.In this paper,the Liu Bang Statue which is located at XuZhou in China.

Keywords: large statue structure, special-shaped steel, GuanYin statue, China

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Authors: Eseldin Keleb

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In the pharmaceutical industry particle size distribution is an important parameter for the characterization of pharmaceutical powders. The powder flowability, reactivity and compatibility, which have a decisive impact on the final product, are determined by particle size and size distribution. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of processing parameters on the particle size distribution measurements. Different Size fractions of α-lactose monohydrate and 5% polyvinylpyrrolidone were prepared by wet granulation and were used for the preparation of samples. The influence of sieve load (50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, and 350 g), processing time (5, 10, and 15 min), sample size ratios (high percentage of small and large particles), type of disturbances (vibration and shaking) and process reproducibility have been investigated. Results obtained showed that a sieve load of 50 g produce the best separation, a further increase in sample weight resulted in incomplete separation even after the extension of the processing time for 15 min. Performing sieving using vibration was rapider and more efficient than shaking. Meanwhile between day reproducibility showed that particle size distribution measurements are reproducible. However, for samples containing 70% fines or 70% large particles, which processed at optimized parameters, the incomplete separation was always observed. These results indicated that sieving reliability is highly influenced by the particle size distribution of the sample and care must be taken for samples with particle size distribution skewness.

Keywords: sieving, reliability, particle size distribution, processing parameters

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Authors: M. Bertsiou, E. Feloni, E. Baltas

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The proper management of the water supply and electricity is the key issue, especially in small islands, where sustainability has been combined with the autonomy and covering of water needs and the fast development in potential sectors of economy. In this research work a hybrid system in Fournoi island (Icaria), a small island of Aegean, has been evaluated in order to produce hydropower and cover water demands, as it can provide solutions to acute problems, such as the water scarcity or the instability of local power grids. The meaning and the utility of hybrid system and the cooperation with a desalination plant has also been considered. This kind of project has not yet been widely applied, so the consideration will give us valuable information about the storage of water and the controlled distribution of the generated clean energy. This process leads to the conclusions about the functioning of the system and the profitability of this project, covering the demand for water and electricity.

Keywords: hybrid system, water, electricity, island

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Authors: Jerzy Banski

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Small towns represent a key element of settlement structure and serve a number of important functions associated with the servicing of rural areas that surround them. It is in light of this that scientific studies have paid considerable attention to the functional structure of centers of this kind, as well as the relationships with both surrounding rural areas and other urban centers. But a preliminary to such research has typically involved attempts at classifying the urban centers themselves, with this also assisting with the planning and shaping of development policy on different spatial scales. The purpose of the work is to test out the methods underpinning three different classifications of small urban centers, as well as to offer a preliminary interpretation of the outcomes obtained. Research took in 722 settlement units in Poland, granted town rights and populated by fewer than 20,000 inhabitants. A morphologically-based classification making reference to the database of topographic objects as regards land cover within the administrative boundaries of towns and cities was carried out, and it proved possible to distinguish the categories of “housing-estate”, industrial and R&R towns, as well as towns characterized by dichotomy. Equally, a functional/morphological approach taken with the same database allowed for the identification – via an alternative method – of three main categories of small towns (i.e., the monofunctional, multifunctional or oligo functional), which could then be described in far greater detail. A third, multi-criterion classification made simultaneous reference to the conditioning of a structural, a location-related, and an administrative hierarchy-related nature, allowing for distinctions to be drawn between small towns in 9 different categories. The results obtained allow for multifaceted analysis and interpretation of the geographical differentiation characterizing the distribution of Poland’s urban centers across space in the country.

Keywords: small towns, classification, local planning, Poland

Procedia PDF Downloads 87

Authors: Han Xiao, Ruan Qi, Zhang Lei, Qi Yan

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Space environment simulator is a facility used to conduct thermal test for spacecraft, and vacuum vessel is the main body of it. According to the requirements for thermal tests of the spacecraft and its solar array panels, the primary vessel and the side vessels are designed to be a combinative structure connected with aperture, which ratio reaches 0.7. Since the vacuum vessel suffers 0.1MPa external pressure during the process of thermal test, in order to ensure the simulator’s reliability and safety, it’s necessary to calculate the vacuum vessel’s intensity and stability. Based on the impact of large openings to vacuum vessel structure, this paper explored the reinforce design and analytical way of vacuum vessel with large openings, using a large space environment simulator’s vacuum vessel design as an example. Tests showed that the reinforce structure is effective to fulfill the requirements of external pressure and the gravity. This ensured the reliability of the space environment simulator, providing a guarantee for developing the spacecraft.

Keywords: vacuum vessel, large opening, space environment simulator, structure design

Procedia PDF Downloads 537

Authors: Behnoush Sabayan, Ali Alidadi, Saeid Ebarhimi, N. M. Bakhshani

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Hemodialysis (HD) patients are at a high risk of atherosclerotic and vascular disease; also little information is available for the HD impact on brain structure of these patients. We studied the brain abnormalities in HD patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of long term HD on brain structure of HD patients. Non-contrast MRI was used to evaluate imaging findings. Our study included 80 HD patients of whom 39 had less than six months of HD and 41 patients had a history of HD more than six months. The population had a mean age of 51.60 years old and 27.5% were female. According to study, HD patients who have been hemodialyzed for a long time (median time of HD was up to 4 years) had small vessel ischemia than the HD patients who underwent HD for a shorter term, which the median time was 3 to 5 months. Most of the small vessel ischemia was located in pre-ventricular, subcortical and white matter (1.33± .471, 1.23± .420 and 1.39±.490). However, the other brain damages like: central pons abnormality, global brain atrophy, thinning of corpus callosum and frontal lobe atrophy were found (P<0.01). The present study demonstrated that HD patients who were under HD for a longer time had small vessel ischemia and we conclude that this small vessel ischemia might be a causative mechanism of brain atrophy in chronic hemodialysis patients. However, additional researches are needed in this area.

Keywords: Hemodialysis Patients, Duration of Hemodialysis, MRI, Zahedan

Procedia PDF Downloads 214

Authors: John Dorrell, Matthew Ambrosia, Abilash

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This paper employs econometric analysis to quantify the potential profit wind farms can receive by allocating excess wind energy to power bitcoin mining machines. Cryptocurrency mining consumes a substantial amount of electricity worldwide, and wind energy produces a significant amount of energy that is lost because of the intermittent nature of the resource. Supply does not always match consumer demand. By combining the weaknesses of these two technologies, we can improve efficiency and a sustainable path to mine cryptocurrencies. This paper uses historical wind energy from the ERCOT network in Texas and cryptocurrency data from 2000-2021, to create 4-year return on investment projections. Our research model incorporates the price of bitcoin, the price of the miner, the hash rate of the miner relative to the network hash rate, the block reward, the bitcoin transaction fees awarded to the miners, the mining pool fees, the cost of the electricity and the percentage of time the miner will be running to demonstrate that wind farms generate enough excess energy to mine bitcoin profitably. Excess wind energy can be used as a financial battery, which can utilize wasted electricity by changing it into economic energy. The findings of our research determine that wind energy producers can earn profit while not taking away much if any, electricity from the grid. According to our results, Bitcoin mining could give as much as 1347% and 805% return on investment with the starting dates of November 1, 2021, and November 1, 2022, respectively, using wind farm curtailment. This paper is helpful to policymakers and investors in determining efficient and sustainable ways to power our economic future. This paper proposes a practical solution for the problem of crypto mining energy consumption and creates a more sustainable energy future for Bitcoin.

Keywords: bitcoin, mining, economics, energy

Procedia PDF Downloads 37

Authors: Ali E. Abbas

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This paper summarizes some of the discussions that occurred in a workshop in West Virginia, U.S.A which was sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in February 2016. The goal of the workshop was to explore the opportunities and challenges for applying systems engineering in large enterprises, and some of the issues that still persist. The main topics of the discussion included challenges with elaboration and abstraction in large systems, interfacing physical and social systems, and the need for axiomatic frameworks for large enterprises. We summarize these main points of discussion drawing parallels with decision making in organizations to instigate research in these discussion areas.

Keywords: decision analysis, systems engineering, framing, value creation

Procedia PDF Downloads 329

Authors: Claudio L. M. Souza, Milton Erthal, Aldo Shimoya, Elias R. Goncalves, Igor C. Rangel, Allysson R. T. Tavares, Elias G. Figueira

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The process of choosing a region for the implementation of wind farms involves factors such as the wind regime, economic viability, land value, topography, and accessibility. This work presents results obtained by multi-criteria decision analysis, and it establishes a hierarchy, regarding the installation of wind farms, among geopolicy regions in the state of ‘Rio de Janeiro’, Brazil: ‘Regiao Norte-RN’, ‘Regiao dos Lagos-RL’ and ‘Regiao Serrana-RS’. The wind regime map indicates only these three possible regions with an average annual wind speed of above of 6.0 m/s. The method applied was the Analytical Hierarchy Process-AHP, designed to prioritize and rank the three regions based on four criteria as follows: 1) potential of the site and average wind speeds of above 6.0 ms-¹, 2) average land value, 3) distribution and interconnection to electric network with the highest number of electricity stations, and 4) accessibility with proximity and quality of highways and flat topography. The values of energy generation were calculated for wind turbines 50, 75, and 100 meters high, considering the production of site (GWh/Km²) and annual production (GWh). The weight of each criterion was attributed by six engineers and by analysis of Road Map, the Map of the Electric System, the Map of Wind Regime and the Annual Land Value Report. The results indicated that in 'RS', the demand was estimated at 2,000 GWh, so a wind farm can operate efficiently in 50 m turbines. This region is mainly mountainous with difficult access and lower land value. With respect to ‘RL’, the wind turbines have to be installed at a height of 75 m high to reach a demand of 6,300 GWh. This region is very flat, with easy access, and low land value. Finally, the ‘NR’ was evaluated as very flat and with expensive lands. In this case, wind turbines with 100 m can reach an annual production of 19,000 GWh. In this Region, the coast area was classified as of greater logistic, productivity and economic potential.

Keywords: AHP, renewable energy, wind energy

Procedia PDF Downloads 152

Authors: C. L. Wu, W. W. Tseng

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From the National Health Insurance (NHI) system was introduced in Taiwan in 2000, there have been some problems in transformed small-scale hospitals, such as mobility of patients, shortage of nursing staff, medical pipelines breaking fire compartments and insufficient fire protection systems. Due to shrinking of the funding scale and the aging society, fire safety in small-scale hospitals has recently given cause for concern. The aim of this study is to determine fire risk index for small-scale hospital through a systematic approach The selection of fire safety mitigation methods can be regarded as a multi-attribute decision making process which must be guaranteed by expert groups. First of all, identify and select safety related factors and identify evaluation criteria through literature reviews and experts group. Secondly, application of the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process method is used to ascertain a weighted value which enables rating of the importance each of the selected factors. Overall, Sprinkler type and Compartmentation are the most crucial indices in mitigating fire, that is to say, structural approach play an important role to decrease losses in fire events.

Keywords: Fuzzy Delphi Method, fuzzy analytic hierarchy, process risk assessment, fire events

Procedia PDF Downloads 448

Authors: Sandeep Sharma, Sarabjit Singh

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As per the user demand and growth trends of large free data the storage solutions are now becoming more challenge-able to protect, store and to retrieve data. The days are not so far when the storage companies and organizations are start saying 'no' to store our valuable data or they will start charging a huge amount for its storage and protection. On the other hand as per the environmental conditions it becomes challenge-able to maintain and establish new data warehouses and data centers to protect global warming threats. A challenge of small data is over now, the challenges are big that how to manage the exponential growth of data. In this paper we have analyzed the growth trend of big data and its future implications. We have also focused on the impact of the unstructured data on various concerns and we have also suggested some possible remedies to streamline big data.

Keywords: big data, unstructured data, volume, variety, velocity

Procedia PDF Downloads 549

Authors: Piotr Prewysz-Kwinto, Grazyna Voss

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In June 2013, the European Parliament and the Council adopted a directive on financial reporting (Directive 2013/34/EU). The main objective was to simplify the principles of the preparation of financial statements, including the principles of the presentation and disclosures of financial information by adapting reporting burdens to the type and size of an undertaking. Therefore, the Directive introduced a classification of all undertakings into five groups, i.e. micro, small, medium-sized, large and public-interest entities, and defined in detail the classification criteria. The principles of the preparation of financial statements and the presentation of financial information as well as applicable simplifications were defined for each group. The EU Member States had to implement the provisions of Directive 34 relating to accounting and financial reporting into domestic norms until January 1, 2016. In Poland, the provisions of Directive 34 were implemented into domestic accounting norms specified in the Polish Accounting Act on a gradual basis. On July 11, 2014, the Polish Parliament adopted an amendment to the Act, introducing the Directive's solutions for micro-undertakings and on July 23, 2015, for the remaining undertakings. The aim of this paper is to present Polish solutions relating to financial reporting after the implementation of Directive 34 and the results of the survey conducted among accountants regarding the evaluation of the implemented simplifications for micro and small undertakings.

Keywords: accounting standards, financial reporting, financial statement, simplification

Procedia PDF Downloads 279

Authors: Y. Venturini, C. Tintori

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Given the continuous demand for improved readout performances in particle and dark matter physics, CAEN SpA is pushing on the development of advanced technologies for detector readout. We present the Digitizers 2.0, the result of the success of the previous Digitizers generation, combined with expanded capabilities and a renovation of the user experience introducing the open FPGA. The first product of the family is the VX2740 (64 ch, 125 MS/s, 16 bit) for advanced waveform recording and Digital Pulse Processing, fitting with the special requirements of Dark Matter and Neutrino experiments. In parallel, CAEN is developing the FERS-5200 platform, a Front-End Readout System designed to read out large multi-detector arrays, such as SiPMs, multi-anode PMTs, silicon strip detectors, wire chambers, GEM, gas tubes, and others. This is a highly-scalable distributed platform, based on small Front-End cards synchronized and read out by a concentrator board, allowing to build extremely large experimental setup. We plan to develop a complete family of cost-effective Front-End cards tailored to specific detectors and applications. The first one available is the A5202, a 64-channel unit for SiPM readout based on CITIROC ASIC by Weeroc.

Keywords: dark matter, digitizers, front-end electronics, open FPGA, SiPM

Procedia PDF Downloads 129

Authors: Anwar H. Jarndal, Ahmed S. Elwakil

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In this paper, a fraction-order model for pad parasitic effect of GaN HEMT on Si substrate is developed and validated. Open de-embedding structure is used to characterize and de-embed substrate loading parasitic effects. Unbiased device measurements are implemented to extract parasitic inductances and resistances. The model shows very good simulation for S-parameter measurements under different bias conditions. It has been found that this approach can improve the simulation of intrinsic part of the transistor, which is very important for small- and large-signal modeling process.

Keywords: fractional-order modeling, GaNHEMT, si-substrate, open de-embedding structure

Procedia PDF Downloads 356

Authors: Jali Octariady, Ida Herliningsih, Ade K. Mulyana, Annisa Fitria, Diaz C. K. Yuwana

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Awareness of the importance large-scale maps for development of a country is growing in all walks of life, especially for governments in Indonesia. Various parties, especially local governments throughout Indonesia demanded for immediate availability the large-scale maps of 1:5000 for regional development. But in fact, the large-scale maps of 1:5000 is only available less than 5% of the entire territory of Indonesia. Unavailability precise GCP at the entire territory of Indonesia is one of causes of slow availability the large scale maps of 1:5000. This research was conducted to find an alternative solution to this problem. This study was conducted to assess the accuracy of ArcGIS base maps coordinate when it shall be used as GCP for creating a map scale of 1:5000. The study was conducted by comparing the GCP coordinate from Field survey using GPS Geodetic than the coordinate from ArcGIS basemaps in various locations in Indonesia. Some areas are used as a study area are Lombok Island, Kupang City, Surabaya City and Kediri District. The differences value of the coordinates serve as the basis for assessing the accuracy of ArcGIS basemaps coordinates. The results of the study at various study area show the variation of the amount of the coordinates value given. Differences coordinate value in the range of millimeters (mm) to meters (m) in the entire study area. This is shown the inconsistency quality of ArcGIS base maps coordinates. This inconsistency shows that the coordinate value from ArcGIS Basemaps is careless. The Careless coordinate from ArcGIS Basemaps indicates that its cannot be used as GCP for large-scale mapping on the entire territory of Indonesia.

Keywords: accuracy, ArcGIS base maps, GCP, large scale maps

Procedia PDF Downloads 374