Search results for: utilization of cloud resources

Authors: Meiyan Xing, Cenran Li, Liang Xiang

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Impacts of excess sludge vermicompost on the germination and early growth of plant were tested. The better effect of cow dung vermicompost (CV) on seed germination and seedling growth proved that cow dung was indeed the preferred additive in sludge vermicomposting as reported by plentiful researchers worldwide. The effects and the best amount of application of CV were further discussed. Results demonstrated that seed germination and seedling growth (seedlings number, plant height, stem diameter) were the best and heavy metal (Zn, Pb, Cr and As) contents of plant were the lowest when soil amended with CV by 15%. Additionally, CV fostered higher contents of chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b compared to the control when concentration ranged from 5 to 15%, thereafter a slight increase in chlorophyll content was observed form 15% to 25%. Thus, CV at the optimum proportion of 15% could serve as a feasible and satisfactory way of sludge agricultural utilization of sewage sludge. In summary, sewage sludge can be gainfully utilized in producing organic fertilizer via vermicomposting, thereby not only providing a means of sewage sludge treatment and disposal, but also stimulating the growth of plant and the ability to resist disease.

Keywords: cow dung vermicompost, seed germination, seedling growth, sludge utilization

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Authors: Patrick Santos, João Casal, João Santos Luis Varandas, Tiago Alves, Carlos Romeiro, Sérgio Lourenço

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Nowadays, technology makes it possible to, in one hand, communicate with various objects of the daily life through the Internet, and in the other, put these objects interacting with each other through this channel. Simultaneously, with the raise of smartphones as the most ubiquitous technology on persons lives, emerge new agents for these devices - Intelligent Personal Assistants. These agents have the goal of helping the user manage and organize his information as well as supporting the user in his/her day-to-day tasks. Moreover, other emergent concept is the Cloud Computing, which allows computation and storage to get out of the users devices, bringing benefits in terms of performance, security, interoperability and others. Connecting these three paradigms, in this work we propose an architecture for an intelligent system which provides an interface that assists the user on smart environments, informing, suggesting actions and allowing to manage the objects of his/her daily life.

Keywords: internet of things, cloud, intelligent personal assistant, architecture

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Authors: Abdullah Al Mamun, Talal Alkharobi

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As data size is growing up, people are became more familiar to store big amount of secret information into cloud storage. Companies are always required to need transfer massive business files from one end to another. We are going to lose privacy if we transmit it as it is and continuing same scenario repeatedly without securing the communication mechanism means proper encryption. Although asymmetric key encryption solves the main problem of symmetric key encryption but it can only encrypt limited size of data which is inapplicable for large data encryption. In this paper we propose a probable approach of pretty good privacy for encrypt big data using both symmetric and asymmetric keys. Our goal is to achieve encrypt huge collection information and transmit it through a secure communication channel for committing the business and personal privacy. To justify our method an experimental dataset from three different platform is provided. We would like to show that our approach is working for massive size of various data efficiently and reliably.

Keywords: big data, cloud computing, cryptography, hadoop, public key

Procedia PDF Downloads 300

Authors: C. J. Rossouw, T. I. van Niekerk

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The global manufacturing industry is utilizing the internet and cloud-based services to further explore the anatomy and optimize manufacturing processes in support of the movement into the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). The 4IR from a third world and African perspective is hindered by the fact that many manufacturing systems that were developed in the third industrial revolution are not inherently equipped to utilize the internet and services of the 4IR, hindering the progression of third world manufacturing industries into the 4IR. This research focuses on the development of a non-invasive and cost-effective cyber-physical IoT system that will exploit a machine’s vibration to expose semantic characteristics in the manufacturing process and utilize these results through a real-time cloud-based machine condition monitoring system with the intention to optimize the system. A microcontroller-based IoT sensor was designed to acquire a machine’s mechanical vibration data, process it in real-time, and transmit it to a cloud-based platform via Wi-Fi and the internet. Time-frequency Fourier analysis was applied to the vibration data to form an image representation of the machine’s behaviour. This data was used to train a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to learn semantic characteristics in the machine’s behaviour and relate them to a state of operation. The same data was also used to train a Convolutional Autoencoder (CAE) to detect anomalies in the data. Real-time edge-based artificial intelligence was achieved by deploying the CNN and CAE on the sensor to analyse the vibration. A cloud platform was deployed to visualize the vibration data and the results of the CNN and CAE in real-time. The cyber-physical IoT system was deployed on a semi-automated metal granulation machine with a set of trained machine learning models. Using a single sensor, the system was able to accurately visualize three states of the machine’s operation in real-time. The system was also able to detect a variance in the material being granulated. The research demonstrates how non-IoT manufacturing systems can be equipped with edge-based artificial intelligence to establish a remote machine condition monitoring system.

Keywords: IoT, cyber-physical systems, artificial intelligence, manufacturing, vibration analytics, continuous machine condition monitoring

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Authors: Ghouas Halima, Haddou Boumedienne, Jean Peal Cancelier, Cristophe Gourdon, Ssaka Collines

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This work concerns the coacervate extraction of industrial dye, namely BezanylGreen - F2B, from an aqueous solution by nonionic surfactant “Lutensol AO7 and TX-114” (readily biodegradable). Binary water/surfactant and pseudo-binary (in the presence of solute) phase diagrams were plotted. The extraction results as a function of wt.% of the surfactant and temperature are expressed by the following four quantities: percentage of solute extracted, E%, residual concentrations of solute and surfactant in the dilute phase (Xs,w, and Xt,w, respectively) and volume fraction of coacervate at equilibrium (Фc). For each parameter, whose values are determined by a design of experiments, these results are subjected to empirical smoothing in three dimensions. The aim of this study is to find out the best compromise between E% and Фc. E% increases with surfactant concentration and temperature in optimal conditions, and the extraction extent of TA reaches 98 and 96 % using TX-114 and Lutensol AO7, respectively. The effect of sodium sulfate or cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) addition is also studied. Finally, the possibility of recycling the surfactant is proved.

Keywords: extraction, cloud point, non ionic surfactant, bezanyl green

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Authors: Ibrahim Laro ABUBAKAR

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The study examined the Availability and Utilization of E-Learning Technologies in Teaching of Human Kinetics and Health Education courses in Nigerian Universities, specifically, Universities in Kwara State. Two purposes were formulated to guide the study from which two research questions and two hypotheses were raised. The descriptive research design was used in the research. Three Hundred respondents (100 Lecturers and 200 Students) made up the population for the study. There was no sampling, as the population of the study was not much. A structured questionnaire tagged ‘Availability and Utilization of E-Learning Technologies in Teaching and Learning Questionnaire’ (AUETTLQ) was used for data collection. The questionnaire was subjected to face and content validation, and it was equally pilot tested. The validation yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.78. The data collected from the study were statistically analyzed using frequencies and percentage count for personal data of the respondents, mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions. The null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using the independent t-test. One among other findings of this study showed that lecturers and Student are aware of synchronous e-learning technologies in teaching and learning of Human Kinetics and Health Education but often utilize the synchronous e-learning technologies. It was recommended among others that lecturers and Students should be sensitized through seminars and workshops on the need to maximally utilize available e-learning technologies in teaching and learning of Human Kinetics and Health Education courses in Universities.

Keywords: awareness, utilization, E-Learning, technologies, human kinetics synchronous

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Authors: Ali Mardani-Aghabaglou, Zia Ahmad Faqiri, Semsi Yazici

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In this study, the effect of permeability reducing admixture (PRA) utilization on fresh properties, compressive strength and sulfate resistance of self-consolidating concrete (SSC) were investigated. For this aim, two different commercial PRA were used at two utilization ratios as %0.1 and %0.2 wt. CEM I 42.5 R type cement and crushed limestone aggregate having Dmax of 15 mm were used for preparing of SCC mixtures. In all mixtures, cement content, water/cement ratio, and flow value were kept constant as 450 kg, 0.40 and 65 ± 2 cm, respectively. In order to obtain desired flow value, a polycarboxylate ether-based high range water reducing admixture was used at different content. T50 flow time, flow value, L-box, and U-funnel of SCC mixture were measured as fresh properties. 1, 3, 7 and 28-day compressive strength of SCC mixture were obtained on 150 mm cubic specimens. To investigate the sulfate resistance of SCC mixture 75x75x285 mm prismatic specimens were produced. After 28-day water curing, specimens were immersed in %5 sodium sulfate solution during 210 days. The length change of specimens was measured at 5-day time intervals up to 210 days. According to the test results, all fresh properties of SCC mixtures were in accordance with the European federation of specialist construction chemicals and concrete systems (EFNARC) critter for SCC mixtures. The utilization of PRA had no significant effect on compressive strength and fresh properties of SCC mixtures. Regardless of PRA type, sulfate resistance of SCC mixture increased by adding of PRA into the SCC mixtures. The length changes of the SCC mixtures containing %1 and %2 PRA were measured as %8 and %14 less than that of control mixture containing no PRA, respectively.

Keywords: permeability reducing admixture, self-consolidating concrete, fresh properties, sulfate resistance

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Authors: Mina Bakhshi

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Nowadays, issues such as various types of pollution, problems caused by energy consumption, population density, social activities, difficulties related to urban access and communication, transportation, etc., have challenged different communities and become the subject of their discussions. In response to this issue, theories and movements have emerged to achieve sustainable urban development, including the smart growth movement. This theory emphasizes that the physical growth and expansion of cities should serve the community and the environment, aiming to improve the quality of life and promote the use of renewable energy resources for sustainability. The smart city network system not only improves the economic situation of the society and benefits the environment but also enables the achievement of important issues such as sustainable development, continuity, and diversity of energy resources. In this article, we investigate the impact of using renewable energy sources on optimizing energy consumption and reducing pollution caused by fossil fuels with the help of smart city development. The aim of this article is to introduce renewable energy sources and their utilization as a solution to address the energy crisis and reduce environmental pollution. This research has attempted to introduce the smart city and the use of renewable energy sources as a method for solving many urban problems and achieving efficient urban control and management.

Keywords: smart city, renewable energy sources, sustainable development, sustainable city

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Authors: Dina Magnaye

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In the Philippines, the performance of the agricultural sector is gauged through crop productivity and returns from farm production rather than the biodiversity in the agricultural ecosystem. Agricultural development hinges on the overall goal of increasing productivity through intensive agriculture, monoculture system, utilization of high yielding varieties in plants, and genetic upgrading in animals. This merits an analysis of the role of agro-biodiversity in terms of increasing productivity, food security and economic returns from community-based pro-biodiversity enterprises. These enterprises conserve biodiversity while equitably sharing production income in the utilization of biological resources. The study aims to determine how community-based pro-biodiversity enterprises become instrumental in local climate change adaptation and agro-biodiversity conservation as input to local green economic development planning. It also involves an assessment of the role of agrobiodiversity in terms of increasing productivity, food security and economic returns from community-based pro-biodiversity enterprises. The perceptions of the local community members both in urban and upland rural areas on community-based pro-biodiversity enterprises were evaluated. These served as a basis in developing a planning modality that can be mainstreamed in the management of local green economic enterprises to benefit the environment, provide local income opportunities, conserve species diversity, and sustain environment-friendly farming systems and practices. The interviews conducted with organic farmer-owners, entrepreneur-organic farmers, and organic farm workers revealed that pro-biodiversity enterprise such as organic farming involved the cyclic use of natural resources within the carrying capacity of a farm; recognition of the value of tradition and culture especially in the upland rural area; enhancement of socio-economic capacity; conservation of ecosystems in harmony with nature; and climate change mitigation. The suggested planning modality for community-based pro-biodiversity enterprises for a green economy encompasses four (4) phases to include community resource or capital asset profiling; stakeholder vision development; strategy formulation for sustained enterprises; and monitoring and evaluation.

Keywords: agro-biodiversity, agro-biodiversity conservation, local green economy, organic farming, pro-biodiversity enterprise

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Authors: D. Pugazhenthi, B. Sree Vidya

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Cloud computing is one of the emerging technologies that enables end users to use the services of cloud on ‘pay per usage’ strategy. This technology grows in a fast pace and so is its security threat. One among the various services provided by cloud is storage. In this service, security plays a vital factor for both authenticating legitimate users and protection of information. This paper brings in efficient ways of authenticating users as well as securing information on the cloud. Initial phase proposed in this paper deals with an authentication technique using multi-factor and multi-dimensional authentication system with multi-level security. Unique identification and slow intrusive formulates an advanced reliability on user-behaviour based biometrics than conventional means of password authentication. By biometric systems, the accounts are accessed only by a legitimate user and not by a nonentity. The biometric templates employed here do not include single trait but multiple, viz., iris and finger prints. The coordinating stage of the authentication system functions on Ensemble Support Vector Machine (SVM) and optimization by assembling weights of base SVMs for SVM ensemble after individual SVM of ensemble is trained by the Artificial Fish Swarm Algorithm (AFSA). Thus it helps in generating a user-specific secure cryptographic key of the multimodal biometric template by fusion process. Data security problem is averted and enhanced security architecture is proposed using encryption and decryption system with double key cryptography based on Fuzzy Neural Network (FNN) for data storing and retrieval in cloud computing . The proposing scheme aims to protect the records from hackers by arresting the breaking of cipher text to original text. This improves the authentication performance that the proposed double cryptographic key scheme is capable of providing better user authentication and better security which distinguish between the genuine and fake users. Thus, there are three important modules in this proposed work such as 1) Feature extraction, 2) Multimodal biometric template generation and 3) Cryptographic key generation. The extraction of the feature and texture properties from the respective fingerprint and iris images has been done initially. Finally, with the help of fuzzy neural network and symmetric cryptography algorithm, the technique of double key encryption technique has been developed. As the proposed approach is based on neural networks, it has the advantage of not being decrypted by the hacker even though the data were hacked already. The results prove that authentication process is optimal and stored information is secured.

Keywords: artificial fish swarm algorithm (AFSA), biometric authentication, decryption, encryption, fingerprint, fusion, fuzzy neural network (FNN), iris, multi-modal, support vector machine classification

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Authors: Ricardo Merlo

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The use of simulation as a digital didactic tool allowed students to reproduce the laws of Physics in order to improve their academic performance. The didactic resource of simulation also favored the motivation of most of the young people, depending on the subject of Physics to be developed in the classroom and in that sense, it was significant to know the favorable or unfavorable attitude that the students presented about the use of simulation resources to maximize the anchorage of the contents planned for the different classes developed in the classroom. The different real-time simulation applications that were offered free of charge through the Internet were not presented as a specific resource that could be used in a didactic model, and in that framework, the teachers of Physics at the university level did not apply these resources in a systematic way with the knowledge of the favorable or unfavorable attitude of the students towards these didactic resources. For this reason, this work proposed the design and application of attitude questionnaires to enhance the use of those simulation resources that allowed for improving the quality of the class and the academic performance of the students.

Keywords: physics teaching, attitude, motivation, didactic resources

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Authors: Vajhollah Ghorbanizadeh, Seyed Mohsen Asadi, Mirali Seyednaghavi, Davoud Hoseynpour

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In the current era, all organizations need knowledge to be able to manage the diverse human resources. Creative, dynamic and knowledge-based Human resources are important competitive advantage and the scarcest resource in today's knowledge-based economy. In addition managers with skills of knowledge management must be aware of human resource management science. It is now generally accepted that successful implementation of knowledge management requires dynamic interaction between knowledge management and human resource management. This is emphasized at systematic approach to knowledge management as well. However human resource management can be complementary of knowledge management because human resources management with the aim of empowering human resources as the key resource organizations in the 21st century, the use of other resources, creating and growing and developing today. Thus, knowledge is the major capital of every organization which is introduced through the process of knowledge management. In this context, knowledge management is systematic approach to create, receive, organize, access, and use of knowledge and learning in the organization. This article aims to define and explain the concepts of knowledge management and human resource management and the importance of these processes and concepts. Literature related to knowledge management and human resource management as well as related topics were studied, then to design, illustrate and provide a theoretical model to explain the factors affecting the relationship between knowledge management and human resource management and knowledge management system approach, for schematic design and are drawn.

Keywords: systemic approach, human resources, knowledge, human resources management, knowledge management

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Authors: Abeer Al Kalbani

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Oman is a sub-tropical country with limited water resources, harsh weather and limited soil fertility, constraining food production. Therefore, it largely depends on international markets to assure supply of food. In the light of these circumstances, food security in Oman is defined as the ability of the country to grant the staple food needs of people (e.g. rice, wheat, lentil, sugar, dates, dairy products, fish and plant or vegetable oils). It also involves exporting local goods with high production rates to exchange them with required food products. This concept of food security includes the availability of food through production and/or importing, stability of the market prices during all circumstances, and the ability of people to meet their needs within their income capabilities. As a result, most of the food security work is focused on availability and access dimensions of the issue. Not much research is focused on the utilization aspect of food security in Oman. Although women play a vital role in food security, there is limited research on women’s role in food security neither in Oman nor in neighboring Gulf countries. Women play an important role not only by carrying the responsibility of feeding their families but also by setting the consumption model for the household. Therefore, the research aims to contribute to the work done on food security in Oman and similar regions of the world by studying the role women play at the utilization level. Methods used in this research include Qualitative unstructured interviews, focus groups, survey questionnaire and an experimental study. Based on the FAO definition of food security, it consists of availability, access, utilization and sustainability. Results from a pilot study conducted for this research on two groups of women in Oman; urban and rural women, showed that women in Oman are responsible for achieving these four pillars at the household level. Moreover, awareness of women increased as their educational level increased. Urban women showed more awareness and openness to adopt healthier and proper food related choices than rural women. Urban women seem also more open than rural women to new ideas and concepts and ways to healthier food. However, both urban and rural women claim that no training and educational programs are available for them and awareness of food security in general remains relatively low in both groups. In the light of these findings, this research attempts to further investigate the social beliefs, practices and attitudes women adopt in relation to food purchase, storage, preparation and consumption as considered as important parts of the food system. It also seeks to examine the effect of educational training programs and media on the level of women awareness on the issue.

Keywords: food security, household food security, utilization, role of women

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Authors: Noor M. Abdulfattah, Ahmed M. Khalafallah, Nabil A. Kartam

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Despite the evident benefits of building information modeling (BIM) to the construction industry, it faces significant implementation challenges in the State of Kuwait. This study investigates the awareness of construction stakeholders of BIM implementation challenges, and identifies various solutions to overcome these challenges. Specifically, the main objectives of this study are to: (1) characterize the barriers that deter utilization of BIM, (2) examine the awareness of engineers, architects, and construction stakeholders of these barriers, and (3) identify practical solutions to facilitate BIM utilization. A questionnaire survey was designed to collect data on the aforementioned objectives from local companies and senior BIM experts. It was found that engineers are highly aware of BIM implementation barriers. In addition, it was concluded from the questionnaire that the biggest barrier is the lack of BIM training. Based on expert feedback, the study concluded with a number of recommendations on how to overcome the barriers of BIM utilization. This should prove useful to the construction industry stakeholders and can lead to significant changes to design and construction practices.

Keywords: building information modeling (BIM), construction, information technology, challenges

Procedia PDF Downloads 245

Authors: T. M. Tawfik, M. A. Badr, E. Y. El-Kady, O. E. Abdellatif

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Electric power shortage is a serious problem in remote rural communities in Egypt. Over the past few years, electrification of remote communities including efficient on-site energy resources utilization has achieved high progress. Remote communities usually fed from diesel generator (DG) networks because they need reliable energy and cheap fresh water. The main objective of this paper is to design an optimal economic power supply from hybrid standalone energy system (HSES) as alternative energy source. It covers energy requirements for reverse osmosis desalination unit (DU) located in National Research Centre farm in Noubarya, Egypt. The proposed system consists of PV panels, Wind Turbines (WT), Batteries, and DG as a backup for supplying DU load of 105.6 KWh/day rated power with 6.6 kW peak load operating 16 hours a day. Optimization of HSES objective is selecting the suitable size of each of the system components and control strategy that provide reliable, efficient, and cost-effective system using net present cost (NPC) as a criterion. The harmonization of different energy sources, energy storage, and load requirements are a difficult and challenging task. Thus, the performance of various available configurations is investigated economically and technically using iHOGA software that is based on genetic algorithm (GA). The achieved optimum configuration is further modified through optimizing the energy extracted from renewable sources. Effective minimization of energy charging the battery ensures that most of the generated energy directly supplies the demand, increasing the utilization of the generated energy.

Keywords: energy management, hybrid system, renewable energy, remote area, optimization

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Authors: Esmael Makarian, Ayub Elyasi, Fatemeh Saberi, Olusegun Stanley Tomomewo

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Geothermal reservoirs (GTRs) have garnered global recognition as a sustainable energy source. The Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical-Chemical (THMC) integration coupling proves to be a practical and effective method for optimizing production in GTRs. The study outcomes demonstrate that THMC coupling serves as a versatile and valuable tool, offering in-depth insights into GTRs and enhancing their operational efficiency. This is achieved through temperature analysis and pressure changes and their impacts on mechanical properties, structural integrity, fracture aperture, permeability, and heat extraction efficiency. Moreover, THMC coupling facilitates potential benefits assessment and risks associated with different geothermal technologies, considering the complex thermal, hydraulic, mechanical, and chemical interactions within the reservoirs. However, THMC-coupling utilization in GTRs presents a multitude of challenges. These challenges include accurately modeling and predicting behavior due to the interconnected nature of processes, limited data availability leading to uncertainties, induced seismic events risks to nearby communities, scaling and mineral deposition reducing operational efficiency, and reservoirs' long-term sustainability. In addition, material degradation, environmental impacts, technical challenges in monitoring and control, accurate assessment of resource potential, and regulatory and social acceptance further complicate geothermal projects. Addressing these multifaceted challenges is crucial for successful geothermal energy resources sustainable utilization. This paper aims to illuminate the challenges and opportunities associated with THMC coupling in enhanced geothermal systems. Practical solutions and strategies for mitigating these challenges are discussed, emphasizing the need for interdisciplinary approaches, improved data collection and modeling techniques, and advanced monitoring and control systems. Overcoming these challenges is imperative for unlocking the full potential of geothermal energy making a substantial contribution to the global energy transition and sustainable development.

Keywords: geothermal reservoirs, THMC coupling, interdisciplinary approaches, challenges and opportunities, sustainable utilization

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Authors: Kedar J. Mahadeshwar

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Concept introduction: This paper talks about how an innovative cloud based analytics enabled solution that could address a major industry challenge that is approaching all of us globally faster than what one would think. The world of supply chain for drugs and devices is changing today at a rapid speed. In the US, the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) is a new law for Tracing, Verification and Serialization phasing in starting Jan 1, 2015 for manufacturers, repackagers, wholesalers and pharmacies / clinics. Similarly we are seeing pressures building up in Europe, China and many countries that would require an absolute traceability of every drug and device end to end. Companies (both manufacturers and distributors) can use this opportunity not only to be compliant but to differentiate themselves over competition. And moreover a country such as UAE can be the leader in coming up with a global solution that brings innovation in this industry. Problem definition and timing: The problem of counterfeit drug market, recognized by FDA, causes billions of dollars loss every year. Even in UAE, the concerns over prevalence of counterfeit drugs, which enter through ports such as Dubai remains a big concern, as per UAE pharma and healthcare report, Q1 2015. Distribution of drugs and devices involves multiple processes and systems that do not talk to each other. Consumer confidence is at risk due to this lack of traceability and any leading provider is at risk of losing its reputation. Globally there is an increasing pressure by government and regulatory bodies to trace serial numbers and lot numbers of every drug and medical devices throughout a supply chain. Though many of large corporations use some form of ERP (enterprise resource planning) software, it is far from having a capability to trace a lot and serial number beyond the enterprise and making this information easily available real time. Solution: The solution here talks about a service provider that allows all subscribers to take advantage of this service. The solution allows a service provider regardless of its physical location, to host this cloud based traceability and analytics solution of millions of distribution transactions that capture lots of each drug and device. The solution platform will capture a movement of every medical device and drug end to end from its manufacturer to a hospital or a doctor through a series of distributor or retail network. The platform also provides advanced analytics solution to do some intelligent reporting online. Why Dubai? Opportunity exists with huge investment done in Dubai healthcare city also with using technology and infrastructure to attract more FDI to provide such a service. UAE and countries similar will be facing this pressure from regulators globally in near future. But more interestingly, Dubai can attract such innovators/companies to run and host such a cloud based solution and become a hub of such traceability globally.

Keywords: cloud, pharmaceutical, supply chain, tracking

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Authors: Sreejith Jayachandran, Mojtaba Ghods, Morteza Mohammadzaheri

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The modern busy world is running behind new embedded technologies based on computers and software; meanwhile, some people forget to do their health condition and regular medical check-ups. Some of them postpone medical check-ups due to a lack of time and convenience, while others skip these regular evaluations and medical examinations due to huge medical bills and hospital expenses. Engineers and medical experts have come together to give birth to a new device in the telemonitoring system capable of monitoring, checking, and evaluating the health status of the human body remotely through the internet for the needs of all kinds of people. The remote health monitoring device is a microcontroller-based embedded unit. Various types of sensors in this device are connected to the human body, and with the help of an Arduino UNO board, the required analogue data is collected from the sensors. The microcontroller on the Arduino board processes the analogue data collected in this way into digital data and transfers that information to the cloud, and stores it there, and the processed digital data is instantly displayed through the LCD attached to the machine. By accessing the cloud storage with a username and password, the concerned person’s health care teams/doctors and other health staff can collect this data for the assessment and follow-up of that patient. Besides that, the family members/guardians can use and evaluate this data for awareness of the patient's current health status. Moreover, the system is connected to a Global Positioning System (GPS) module. In emergencies, the concerned team can position the patient or the person with this device. The setup continuously evaluates and transfers the data to the cloud, and also the user can prefix a normal value range for the evaluation. For example, the blood pressure normal value is universally prefixed between 80/120 mmHg. Similarly, the RHMS is also allowed to fix the range of values referred to as normal coefficients. This IoT-based miniature system (11×10×10) cm³ with a low weight of 500 gr only consumes 10 mW. This smart monitoring system is manufactured with 100 GBP, which can be used not only for health systems, it can be used for numerous other uses including aerospace and transportation sections.

Keywords: embedded technology, telemonitoring system, microcontroller, Arduino UNO, cloud storage, global positioning system, remote health monitoring system, alert system

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Authors: N. Gigauri, A. Surmava, L. Intskirveli, V. Kukhalashvili, S. Mdivani

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The subject of our study is atmospheric air pollution with numerical modeling. In the presented article, as the object of research, there is chosen city Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, with a population of one and a half million and a difficult terrain. The main source of pollution in Tbilisi is currently vehicles and construction dust. The concentrations of dust and PM (Particulate Matter) were determined in the air of Tbilisi and in its vicinity. There are estimated their monthly maximum, minimum, and average concentrations. Processes of dust propagation in the atmosphere of the city and its surrounding territory are modelled using a 3D regional model of atmospheric processes and an admixture transfer-diffusion equation. There were taken figures of distribution of the polluted cloud and dust concentrations in different areas of the city at different heights and at different time intervals with the background stationary westward and eastward wind. It is accepted that the difficult terrain and mountain-bar circulation affect the deformation of the cloud and its spread, there are determined time periods when the dust concentration in the city is greater than MAC (Maximum Allowable Concentration, MAC=0.5 mg/m³).

Keywords: air pollution, dust, numerical modeling, PM-particles

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Authors: Surabhi Maiti, Prajakta Tamhankar, Prachi Uttam Mehta

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Since the accomplishment of the Human Genome Project, there has been an unparalled escalation in the sequencing of genomic data. This project has been the first major vault in the field of medical research, especially in genomics. This project won accolades by using a concept called Bigdata which was earlier, extensively used to gain value for business. Bigdata makes use of data sets which are generally in the form of files of size terabytes, petabytes, or exabytes and these data sets were traditionally used and managed using excel sheets and RDBMS. The voluminous data made the process tedious and time consuming and hence a stronger framework called Hadoop was introduced in the field of genetic sciences to make data processing faster and efficient. This paper focuses on using SPARK which is gaining momentum with the advancement of BigData technologies. Cloud Storage is an effective medium for storage of large data sets which is generated from the genetic research and the resultant sets produced from SPARK analysis.

Keywords: human genome project, Bigdata, genomic data, SPARK, cloud storage, Hadoop

Procedia PDF Downloads 231

Authors: Michael Howard

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The growing popularity of electric vehicles in the United States requires an ever-expanding infrastructure of commercial DC fast charging stations. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates 33,355 publicly available DC fast charging stations as of September 2023. In 2017, 115,370 gasoline stations were operating in the United States, much more ubiquitous than DC fast chargers. Range anxiety is an important impediment to the adoption of electric vehicles and is even more relevant in underserved regions in the country. The peer-to-peer energy marketplace helps fill the demand by allowing private home and small business owners to rent their 240 Volt, level-2 charging facilities. The existing, publicly accessible outlets are wrapped with a Cloud-connected microcontroller managing security and charging sessions. These microcontrollers act as Edge devices communicating with a Cloud message broker, while both buyer and seller users interact with the framework via a web-based user interface. The database storage used by the marketplace framework is a key component in both the cost of development and the performance that contributes to the user experience. A traditional storage solution is the SQL database. The architecture and query language have been in existence since the 1970s and are well understood and documented. The Structured Query Language supported by the query engine provides fine granularity with user query conditions. However, difficulty in scaling across multiple nodes and cost of its server-based compute have resulted in a trend in the last 20 years towards other NoSQL, serverless approaches. In this study, we evaluate the NoSQL vs. SQL solutions through a comparison of Google Cloud Firestore and Cloud SQL MySQL offerings. The comparison pits Google's serverless, document-model, non-relational, NoSQL against the server-base, table-model, relational, SQL service. The evaluation is based on query latency, flexibility/scalability, and cost criteria. Through benchmarking and analysis of the architecture, we determine whether Firestore can support the energy marketplace storage needs and if the introduction of a GraphQL middleware layer can overcome its deficiencies.

Keywords: non-relational, relational, MySQL, mitigate, Firestore, SQL, NoSQL, serverless, database, GraphQL

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Authors: Obaid Alotaibi

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The geographical location of the State of Kuwait contributed significantly to the suffering of Kuwait in the past, due to the scarcity of natural water resources and the inability of the State's financial resources to provide other water resources to meet the needs of the population. The problem of water scarcity in Kuwait remained until the beginning of the second half of the twentieth century, as the country's economic conditions revived with the emergence and export of oil; which was clearly reflected in the steady growth of the population. To cope with this population, increase, it was necessary to expand the various development programs to include all sectors of the state. The process of development and urbanization could not start without finding solutions to the problem of water shortage in Kuwait. The only option for officials to meet the needs of the population and the different sectors of water development is the desalination of seawater. This process necessitated the establishment of six desalination plants along the coast of Kuwait and extended freshwater arteries to reach everywhere on the land. However, this does not mean that the problem of water shortage has been completely solved. The desalination plants are not meeting the country's future water needs, especially considering the increasing population growth. These stations are nearing completion and they need to be replaced, renovation and maintenance, require significant expenses. Therefore, it was necessary for scientific research to address the issue of water in Kuwait, whether in the field of development of existing resources or in the field of rationalization of consumption and protection of available resources. The study focused on how to address the increasing demand for water resulting from population increase, the impact of water on economic and social development, the prospects of water resources in Kuwait and its ability to meet the needs of the country by 2030.

Keywords: economic, development, Kuwait, social, water resources

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Authors: Adel. M. Sharaf, Foad H. Gandoman

Abstract:

Nowadays, Photovoltaic-PV Farms/ Parks and large PV-Smart Grid Interface Schemes are emerging and commonly utilized in Renewable Energy distributed generation. However, PV-hybrid-Dc-Ac Schemes using interface power electronic converters usually has negative impact on power quality and stabilization of modern electrical network under load excursions and network fault conditions in smart grid. Consequently, robust FACTS based interface schemes are required to ensure efficient energy utilization and stabilization of bus voltages as well as limiting switching/fault onrush current condition. FACTS devices are also used in smart grid-Battery Interface and Storage Schemes with PV-Battery Storage hybrid systems as an elegant alternative to renewable energy utilization with backup battery storage for electric utility energy and demand side management to provide needed energy and power capacity under heavy load conditions. The paper presents a robust interface PV-Li-Ion Battery Storage Interface Scheme for Distribution/Utilization Low Voltage Interface using FACTS stabilization enhancement and dynamic maximum PV power tracking controllers. Digital simulation and validation of the proposed scheme is done using MATLAB/Simulink software environment for Low Voltage- Distribution/Utilization system feeding a hybrid Linear-Motorized inrush and nonlinear type loads from a DC-AC Interface VSC-6-pulse Inverter Fed from the PV Park/Farm with a back-up Li-Ion Storage Battery.

Keywords: AC FACTS, smart grid, stabilization, PV-battery storage, Switched Filter-Compensation (SFC)

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Authors: Hasrat Arjjumend, Sabiha Alam

Abstract:

The Nagoya Protocol is landmark international legislation governing access to genetic resources and benefit sharing from utilization of genetic resource and traditional knowledge. The field implications of the international law have been assessed by surveying academic/ research institutions, civil society organizations (CSOs) and concerned individuals, who gave their opinions on whether the provider parties (usually developing countries) would ensure effective participation of Indigenous people and local communities (ILCs) in establishing the mechanisms to inform the potential users of traditional knowledge (TK) about their obligations under art. 12.2 of Nagoya Protocol. First of all, involvement and participation of ILCs in suggested clearing-house mechanisms of the Parties are seldom witnessed. Secondly, as respondents expressed, it is doubtful that developing countries would ensure effective participation of ILCs in establishing the mechanisms to inform the potential users of TK about their obligations. Yet, as most of ILCs speak and understand local or indigenous languages, whether the Nagoya Protocol provides or not, it is a felt need that the Parties should disclose information in a language understandable to ILCs. Alternative opinions indicate that if TK held by ILCs is disclosed, the value is gone. Therefore, it should be protected by the domestic law first and should be disclosed then.

Keywords: genetic resources, indigenous people, language, Nagoya protocol, participation, traditional knowledge

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Authors: Sifen Abreham

Abstract:

Employees are resources in organizations; as such, they need to be trained and developed properly to achieve an organization's goals and expectations. The initial development of the human resource management concept is based on the effective utilization of people to treat them as resources, leading to the realization of business strategies and organizational objectives. The study aimed to assess the effect of training and development practices on employee performance. The researcher used an explanatory research design, which helps to explain, understand, and predict the relationship between variables. To collect the data from the respondents, the study used probability sampling. From the probability, the researcher used stratified random sampling, which can branch off the entire population into homogenous groups. The result was analyzed and presented by using the statistical package for the social science (SPSS) version 26. The major finding of the study was that the training has an impact on employees' job performance to achieve organizational objectives. The district has a policy and procedure for training and development, but it doesn’t apply actively, and it’s not suitable for district-advised reform this policy and procedure and applied actively; the district gives training for the majority of its employees, but most of the time, the training is theoretical the district advised to use practical training method to see positive change, the district gives evaluation after the employees take training and development, but the result is not encouraging the district advised to assess employees skill gap and feel that gap, the district has a budget, but it’s not adequate the district advised to strengthen its financial ground.

Keywords: training, development, employees, performance, policy

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Authors: Leandro Moura da Silva

Abstract:

The international community has strived to create legal mechanisms to protect their biodiversity, but this can represent, sometimes, particularly in the case of regulatory regime on access to genetic resources, an excessive nationalism which transforms itself into a significant obstacle to scientific progress causing damages to the country and to local farmers. Although it has been poorly publicized in the media, the international legal system was marked, in 2014, by the entry into force of the Nagoya Protocol, which regulates the access and benefit sharing of genetic resources of the States Party to that legal instrument. However, it’s not reasonable to think of regulating access to genetic resources without reflecting on the links of this important subject with other related issues, such as family farming and agribusiness, food safety, food security, intellectual property rights (on seeds, genetic material, new plant varieties, etc.), environmental sustainability, biodiversity, and biosafety.

Keywords: international law, regulation on agriculture, agronomy techniques, sustainability, genetic resources and new crop varieties, CBD, Nagoya Protocol, ITPGRFA

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Authors: Nathan Moran, Robert Hanser, Attapol Kuanliang

Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between personal and social resources and burnout for police officers. Current conceptualizations of the condition of burnout are challenged as being too phenomenological and ambiguous, and consequently, not given to direct empirical testing. The conservation of resources model is based on the supposition that people strive to retain, protect, and build resources as a means to protect them from the impacts of burnout. The model proposes that the effects of stress (i.e. burnout) can be manifested in personal and professional attitudes and attributes, which can measure burnout using self-reports to provide strong support for the conservation of resources model, in that, personal and professional demands are related to the exhaustion component of burnout, whereas personal and professional resources can be compiled to counteract the negative impact of the burnout condition. Highly similar patterns of burnout resistance factors were witnessed in police officers in two department precincts (N:81). In addition, results confirmed the positive influence of key demographic variables in burnout resistance using the conservation of resources model. Participants in this study are all sheriff’s deputies with a populous county in a Pacific Northwestern state (N = 274). Four instruments will be used in this quantitative study for data collection (a) a series of demographic questions, (b) the Organizational Citizenship Behavior, (c) the PANAS-X Scale (OCB: Watson& Clark, 1994), and (d) The Maslach Burnout Inventory.

Keywords: behavioral, burnout, law enforcement, quantitative

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Authors: Jyoti Sahu, Vinay A. Juvekar

Abstract:

Electrolytes are often used to bring about salting-in and salting-out of organic molecules and polymers (e.g. polyethylene glycols/proteins) from the aqueous solutions. For quantification of these phenomena, a thermodynamic model which can accurately predict activity coefficient of electrolyte as a function of temperature is needed. The thermodynamics models available in the literature contain a large number of empirical parameters. These parameters are estimated using lower/upper critical solution temperature of the solution in the electrolyte/organic molecule at different temperatures. Since the number of parameters is large, inaccuracy can bethe creep in during their estimation, which can affect the reliability of prediction beyond the range in which these parameters are estimated. Cloud point of solution is related to its free energy through temperature and composition derivative. Hence, the Cloud point measurement can be used for accurate estimation of the temperature and composition dependence of parameters in the model for free energy. Hence, if we use a two pronged procedure in which we first use cloud point of solution to estimate some of the parameters of the thermodynamic model and determine the rest using osmotic coefficient data, we gain on two counts. First, since the parameters, estimated in each of the two steps, are fewer, we achieve higher accuracy of estimation. The second and more important gain is that the resulting model parameters are more sensitive to temperature. This is crucial when we wish to use the model outside temperatures window within which the parameter estimation is sought. The focus of the present work is to prove this proposition. We have used electrolyte (NaCl/Na2CO3)-water-organic molecule (Iso-propanol/ethanol) as the model system. The model of Robinson-Stokes-Glukauf is modified by incorporating the temperature dependent Flory-Huggins interaction parameters. The Helmholtz free energy expression contains, in addition to electrostatic and translational entropic contributions, three Flory-Huggins pairwise interaction contributions viz., and (w-water, p-polymer, s-salt). These parameters depend both on temperature and concentrations. The concentration dependence is expressed in the form of a quadratic expression involving the volume fractions of the interacting species. The temperature dependence is expressed in the form .To obtain the temperature-dependent interaction parameters for organic molecule-water and electrolyte-water systems, Critical solution temperature of electrolyte -water-organic molecules is measured using cloud point measuring apparatus The temperature and composition dependent interaction parameters for electrolyte-water-organic molecule are estimated through measurement of cloud point of solution. The model is used to estimate critical solution temperature (CST) of electrolyte water-organic molecules solution. We have experimentally determined the critical solution temperature of different compositions of electrolyte-water-organic molecule solution and compared the results with the estimates based on our model. The two sets of values show good agreement. On the other hand when only osmotic coefficients are used for estimation of the free energy model, CST predicted using the resulting model show poor agreement with the experiments. Thus, the importance of the CST data in the estimation of parameters of the thermodynamic model is confirmed through this work.

Keywords: concentrated electrolytes, Debye-Hückel theory, interaction parameters, Robinson-Stokes-Glueckauf model, Flory-Huggins model, critical solution temperature

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Authors: Yongjian Du, Jinhua Sun, Kim M. Liew, Huahua Xiao

Abstract:

Optimal allocation of emergency resources before a disaster is of great importance for emergency response. In reality, the pre-protection for a single critical node where accidents may occur is common. In this study, a model is developed to determine location and inventory decisions of multiple emergency resources among a set of candidate stations to minimize the total cost based on the constraints of budgetary and capacity. The total cost includes the economic accident loss which is accorded with probability distribution of time and the warehousing cost of resources which is increasing over time. A ratio is set to measure the degree of a storage station only serving the target node that becomes larger with the decrease of the distance between them. For the application of linear program, it is assumed that the length of travel time to the accident scene of emergency resources has a linear relationship with the economic accident loss. A computational experiment is conducted to illustrate how the proposed model works, and the results indicate its effectiveness and practicability.

Keywords: emergency response, integer linear program, multiple emergency resources, pre-allocation decisions, single potential accident node

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Authors: L. Almulla

Abstract:

Native plants are better adapted to the local environment providing a more natural effect on landscape projects; their use will both conserve natural resources and produce sustainable greenery. Continuation of evaluation of additional native plants is essential to increase diversity of plant resources for greenery projects. Therefore, in this project an effort was made to study the mass multiplication of further native plants for greenery applications. Standardization of vegetative propagation methods is essential for conservation and sustainable utilization of native plants in restoration projects. Moreover, these simple propagation methods can be readily adapted by the local nursery sector in Kuwait. In the present study, various treatments were used to mass multiply selected plants using vegetative parts to secure maximum rooting and initial growth. Soft or semi-hardwood cuttings of selected native plants were collected from mother plants and subjected to different treatments. Pennisetum divisum can be vegetatively propagated by cuttings/off-shoots. However, Tamarix aucheriana showed maximum number of rooted cuttings and stronger vigor seedlings with the lowest growth hormone concentration. Standardizing the propagation techniques for the native plant species will add to the rehabilitation and landscape revegetation projects in Kuwait.

Keywords: Kuwait desert, landscape, rooting percentage, vegetative propagation

Procedia PDF Downloads 97