Search results for: warped product manifold

Authors: Hadeer E. Eliwa, Naglaa S. Bazan, Ebtissam A. Darweesh, Nagwa A. Sabri

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Background: Generic substitution of brand ivabradine prescriptions can reduce drug expenditures and improve adherence. However, the distrust of generic medicines by practitioners and patients due to doubts regarding their quality and fear of counterfeiting compromise the acceptance of this practice. Aim: The goal of this study is to compare the therapeutic equivalence of brand product versus the generic product of ivabradine in adult patients with chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (≤ 40%) (HFrEF). Methodology: Thirty-two Egyptian patients with chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) were treated with branded ivabradine (Procrolan ©) and generic (Bradipect ©) during 24 (2x12) weeks. Primary outcomes were resting heart rate (HR), NYHA FC, Quality of life (QoL) using Minnesota Living with Heart Failure (MLWHF) and EF. Secondary outcomes were the number of hospitalizations for worsening HFrEF and adverse effects. The washout period was not allowed. Findings: At the 12th week, the reduction in HR was comparable in the two groups (90.13±7.11 to 69±11.41 vs 96.13±17.58 to 67.31±8.68 bpm in brand and generic groups, respectively). Also, the increase in EF was comparable in the two groups (27.44 ±4.59 to 33.38±5.62 vs 32±5.96 to 39.31±8.95 in brand and generic groups, respectively). The improvement in NYHA FC was comparable in both groups (87.5% in brand group vs 93.8% in the generic group). The mean value of the QOL improved from 31.63±15.8 to 19.6±14.7 vs 35.68±17.63 to 22.9±15.1 for the brand and generic groups, respectively. Similarly, at end of 24 weeks, no significant changes were observed from data observed at 12th week regarding HR, EF, QoL and NYHA FC. Only minor side effects, mainly phosphenes, and a comparable number of hospitalizations were observed in both groups. Conclusion: The study revealed no statistically significant differences in the therapeutic effect and safety between generic and branded ivabradine. We assume that practitioners can safely interchange between them for economic reasons.

Keywords: bradipect©, heart failure, ivabradine, Procrolan ©, therapeutic equivalence

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Authors: Tariq Aljuneidi, Akif Asil Bulgak

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Remanufacturing may be defined as the process of bringing used products to “like-new” functional state with warranty to match, and it is one of the most popular product end-of-life scenarios. An efficient remanufacturing network lead to an efficient design of sustainable manufacturing enterprise. In remanufacturing network, products are collected from the customer zone, disassembled and remanufactured at a suitable remanufacturing facility. In this respect, another issue to consider is how the returned product to be remanufactured, in other words, what is the best layout for such facility. In order to achieve a sustainable manufacturing system, Cellular Manufacturing System (CMS) designs are highly recommended, CMSs combine high throughput rates of line layouts with the flexibility offered by functional layouts (job shop). Introducing the CMS while designing a remanufacturing network will benefit the utilization of such a network. This paper presents and analyzes a comprehensive mathematical model for the design of Dynamic Cellular Remanufacturing Systems (DCRSs). In this paper, the proposed model is the first one to date that consider CMS and remanufacturing system simultaneously. The proposed DCRS model considers several manufacturing attributes such as multi-period production planning, dynamic system reconfiguration, duplicate machines, machine capacity, available time for workers, worker assignments, and machine procurement, where the demand is totally satisfied from a returned product. A numerical example is presented to illustrate the proposed model.

Keywords: cellular manufacturing system, remanufacturing, mathematical programming, sustainability

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Authors: Ming Luo

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In this real world, a manufacturer may produce more than one product. The products produced by the same manufacturer may share the same type of parts, similar design, and be produced in the same factory, i.e. some common causes. From the perspective of warranty management, the frequencies of those products’ warranty claims may have statistical dependence caused by the common causes. Warranty policy optimisation in the existing research, majorly, has not considered such dependence, which may increase bias in decision making. In the market, renewing warranty policies are provided to some unrepairable products and consumer electronic products. This paper optimises the renewing warranty policy collectively in a multi-product scenario with a consideration of the dependence among the warranty claims of the products produced by the same manufacturer. The existence of the optimal solution is proved. Numerical examples are used to validate the applicability of the proposed methods.

Keywords: mean-risk framework, modern portfolio theory, renewing warranty policy, warranty policy optimisation

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Authors: Hemad Zareiforoush, Saeed Minaei, Ahmad Banakar, Mohammad Reza Alizadeh

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The quality inspection of rice (Oryza sativa L.) during its various processing stages is very important. In this research, an artificial intelligence-based model coupled with computer vision techniques was developed as a decision support system for qualitative grading of rice grains. For conducting the experiments, first, 25 samples of rice grains with different levels of percentage of broken kernels (PBK) and degree of milling (DOM) were prepared and their qualitative grade was assessed by experienced experts. Then, the quality parameters of the same samples examined by experts were determined using a machine vision system. A grading model was developed based on fuzzy logic theory in MATLAB software for making a relationship between the qualitative characteristics of the product and its quality. Totally, 25 rules were used for qualitative grading based on AND operator and Mamdani inference system. The fuzzy inference system was consisted of two input linguistic variables namely, DOM and PBK, which were obtained by the machine vision system, and one output variable (quality of the product). The model output was finally defuzzified using Center of Maximum (COM) method. In order to evaluate the developed model, the output of the fuzzy system was compared with experts’ assessments. It was revealed that the developed model can estimate the qualitative grade of the product with an accuracy of 95.74%.

Keywords: machine vision, fuzzy logic, rice, quality

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Authors: Shirazu Issahaku, Isaac Kwesi Acquah, Simon Mensah Amoh, George Nunoo

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Introduction: Diagnostic Reference Levels are important indicators for monitoring and optimizing protocol and procedure in medical imaging between facilities and equipment. This helps to evaluate whether, in routine clinical conditions, the median value obtained for a representative group of patients within an agreed range from a specified procedure is unusually high or low for that procedure. This study aimed to propose Diagnostic Reference Levels for Computed Tomography examination of the most common routine examination of the head, chest and abdominal pelvis regions at the University of Ghana Medical Centre. Methods: The Diagnostic Reference Levels were determined based on the investigation of the most common routine examinations, including head Computed Tomography examination with and without contrast, abdominopelvic Computed Tomography examination with and without contrast, and chest Computed Tomography examination without contrast. The study was based on two dose indicators: the volumetric Computed Tomography Dose Index and Dose-Length Product. Results: The estimated median distribution for head Computed Tomography with contrast for volumetric-Computed Tomography dose index and Dose-Length Product were 38.33 mGy and 829.35 mGy.cm, while without contrast, were 38.90 mGy and 860.90 mGy.cm respectively. For an abdominopelvic Computed Tomography examination with contrast, the estimated volumetric-Computed Tomography dose index and Dose-Length Product values were 40.19 mGy and 2096.60 mGy.cm. In the absence of contrast, the calculated values were 14.65 mGy and 800.40 mGy.cm, respectively. Additionally, for chest Computed Tomography examination, the estimated values were 12.75 mGy and 423.95 mGy.cm for volumetric-Computed Tomography dose index and Dose-Length Product, respectively. These median values represent the proposed diagnostic reference values of the head, chest, and abdominal pelvis regions. Conclusions: The proposed Diagnostic Reference Level is comparable to the recommended International Atomic Energy Agency and International Commission Radiation Protection Publication 135 and other regional published data by the European Commission and Regional National Diagnostic Reference Level in Africa. These reference levels will serve as benchmarks to guide clinicians in optimizing radiation dose levels while ensuring accurate diagnostic image quality at the facility.

Keywords: diagnostic reference levels, computed tomography dose index, computed tomography, radiation exposure, dose-length product, radiation protection

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Authors: Oumayma Tajouri

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The relationship between total quality management (TQM) practices and innovation is conflictual. Some scholars suggest that TQM has an effect on incremental improvement and would not lead to innovation and creativity. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the association between TQM and different types of innovation. Our goal is to examine to what extent the implementation of TQM practices is indeed supporting innovation in the Tunisian ISO 9001 certified industries. Using a self-administered survey to sample ISO9001 certified industry companies, this study examines five hypotheses and tests the relation between TQM practices and innovation. The principal finding of this study is that TQM has significant and positive effects on innovation in the Tunisian context. The results support that TQM has an influence on incremental, radical, and administrative innovation.

Keywords: total quality management, incremental innovation product and/service, radical innovation product/service, incremental innovation process, radical innovation process, administrative innovation

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Authors: Minh-Thuan Nguyen, Phuong-Thai Nguyen, Van-Vinh Nguyen, Quang-Minh Nguyen

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Research on automatically generating descriptions for e-commerce products is gaining increasing attention in recent years. However, the generated descriptions of their systems are often less informative and attractive because of lacking training datasets or the limitation of these approaches, which often use templates or statistical methods. In this paper, we explore a method to generate production descriptions by using the GPT-2 model. In addition, we apply text paraphrasing and task-adaptive pretraining techniques to improve the qualify of descriptions generated from the GPT-2 model. Experiment results show that our models outperform the baseline model through automatic evaluation and human evaluation. Especially, our methods achieve a promising result not only on the seen test set but also in the unseen test set.

Keywords: GPT-2, product description, transformer, task-adaptive, language model, pretraining

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Authors: Hossein Bayahia, Mohammed Saad Motlaq Al-Gahmdi

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The gas-phase deoxygenation of propionic acid was investigated in the presence of Co-Mo catalysts in N2 or H2 flow at 200-400 °C. In the presence of N2 the main product was 3-pentanone with other deoxygenates and some light gases: ethane and ethene. Using H2 flow, the catalyst was active for decarboxylation and decarbonylation of acid and the yields of ethane and ethene. The decarboxylation and decarbonylation reactions increased with increasing temperature. Cobalt-molybdenum supported on alumina showed better performance than bulk catalyst, especially at 400 °C in the presence of N2 for the ketonisation of propionic acid to form 3-pentanone as the main product. Bulk and supported catalysts were characterized by surface area porosity (BET), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) of pyridine adsorption.

Keywords: deoxygenation, propionic acid, gas-phase, catalyst

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Authors: Ashkan Golgoon, Arash Yavari

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In this paper, we present some analytical solutions for the stress fields of nonlinear anisotropic solids with line and point defects distributions. In particular, we determine the induced stress fields of a parallel cylindrically-symmetric distribution of screw dislocations in infinite orthotropic and monoclinic media as well as a cylindrically-symmetric distribution of parallel wedge disclinations in an infinite orthotropic medium. For a given distribution of edge dislocations, the material manifold is constructed using Cartan's moving frames and the stress field is obtained assuming that the medium is orthotropic. Also, we consider a spherically-symmetric distribution of point defects in a transversely isotropic spherical ball. We show that for an arbitrary incompressible transversely isotropic ball with the radial material preferred direction, a uniform point defect distribution results in a uniform hydrostatic stress field inside the spherical region the distribution is supported in. Finally, we find the stresses induced by a discombination in an orthotropic medium.

Keywords: defects, disclinations, dislocations, monoclinic solids, nonlinear elasticity, orthotropic solids, transversely isotropic solids

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Authors: Marzouk Benali, Jawad Jeaidi, Behrang Mansoornejad, Olumoye Ajao, Banafsheh Gilani, Nima Ghavidel Mehr

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Canadian forest industry is seeking to identify and implement transformational strategies for enhanced financial performance through the emerging bioeconomy or more specifically through the concept of the biorefinery. For example, processing forest residues or surplus of biomass available on the mill sites for the production of biofuels, biochemicals and/or biomaterials is one of the attractive strategies along with traditional wood and paper products and cogenerated energy. There are many possible process-product biorefinery pathways, each associated with specific product portfolios with different levels of risk. Thus, it is not obvious which unique strategy forest industry should select and implement. Therefore, there is a need for analytical and design tools that enable evaluating biorefinery strategies based on a set of criteria considering a perspective of sustainability over the short and long terms, while selecting the existing core products as well as selecting the new product portfolio. In addition, it is critical to assess the manufacturing flexibility to internalize the risk from market price volatility of each targeted bio-based product in the product portfolio, prior to invest heavily in any biorefinery strategy. The proposed paper will focus on introducing a systematic methodology for designing integrated biorefineries using process systems engineering tools as well as a multi-criteria decision making framework to put forward the most effective biorefinery strategies that fulfill the needs of the forest industry. Topics to be covered will include market analysis, techno-economic assessment, cost accounting, energy integration analysis, life cycle assessment and supply chain analysis. This will be followed by describing the vision as well as the key features and functionalities of the I-BIOREF software platform, developed by CanmetENERGY of Natural Resources Canada. Two industrial case studies will be presented to support the robustness and flexibility of I-BIOREF software platform: i) An integrated Canadian Kraft pulp mill with lignin recovery process (namely, LignoBoost™); ii) A standalone biorefinery based on ethanol-organosolv process.

Keywords: biorefinery strategies, bioproducts, co-production, multi-criteria decision making, tool

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Authors: Chang Ting, Wu Chun Kuan

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Wireless sensing technology is increasingly developed, in order to avoid caregiver neglect children in poor physiological condition, so there are more and more products into the wireless sensor-related technologies, in order to reduce the risk of infants. In view of this, the study will focus on Somatosensory detection wristbands Applied Research of Baby, and to explore through observation and literature, to find design criteria which conform baby products, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of existing products. This study will focus on 0-2 years of infant research and product design, to provide 2-3 new design concepts and products to identify weaknesses through the use of the actual product, further provide future baby wristbands design reference.

Keywords: infants, observation, design criteria, wireless sensing

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Authors: Thanida Sritangthong, Suksun Amornraksa

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By-product upgrading is crucial in hydrocarbon industries as it can increase overall profit margin of the business. Microwave-assisted pyrolysis is relatively new technique which induces heat directly to raw materials. This results in a more energy saving and more energy-efficient process. It is also a promising method to enhance and accelerate chemical reactions, thus reducing the pyrolysis reaction time and increasing the quality of value-added products from different kinds of feedstocks. In this study, upgrading opportunity of fuel oil by-product from an olefins plant is investigated by means of microwave pyrolysis. The experiment was conducted in a lab-scale quartz reactor placed inside a 1,100 watts household microwave oven. Operating temperature was varied from 500 to 900C to observe the consequence on the quality of pyrolysis products. Several microwave receptors i.e. activated carbon, silicon carbide (SiC) and copper oxide (CuO) were used as a material to enhance the heating and reaction in the reactor. The effect of residence time was determined by adjusting flow rate of N2 carrier gas. The chemical composition and product yield were analyzed by using gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The results showed that hydrogen, methane, ethylene, and ethane were obtained as the main gaseous products from all operating temperatures while the main liquid products were alkane, cycloalkane and polycyclic aromatic groups. The results indicated that microwave pyrolysis has a potential to upgrade low value hydrocarbons to high value products.

Keywords: fuel oil, heavy hydrocarbons, microwave pyrolysis, pyrolysis

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Authors: Shyh-Ming Chern, H. Y. Cheng

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Biomass is renewable and sustainable. As an energy source, it will not release extra carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Hence, tremendous efforts have been made to develop technologies capable of transforming biomass into suitable forms of bio-fuel. One of the viable technologies is gasifying biomass in supercritical water (SCW), a green medium for reactions. While previous studies overwhelmingly selected glucose as a model compound for biomass, the present study adopted fructose for the sake of comparison. The gasification of fructose in SCW was investigated experimentally to evaluate the applicability of supercritical water processes to biomass gasification. Experiments were conducted with an autoclave reactor. Gaseous product mainly consists of H2, CO, CO2, CH4 and C2H6. The effect of two major operating parameters, the reaction temperature (673-873 K) and the dosage of oxidizing agent (0-0.5 stoichiometric oxygen), on the product gas composition, yield and heating value was also examined, with the reaction pressure fixed at 25 MPa.

Keywords: biomass, fructose, gasification, supercritical water

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Authors: Mohammad Rostami Mehr, Seyed Arya Mir Rashed, Arndt Lueder, Magdalena Missler-Behr

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This paper represents the conception that complex problems do not necessarily need a similar complex solution in order to cope with the complexity. Furthermore, a simple solution based on established methods can provide a sufficient way to deal with the complexity. To verify this conception, the presented paper focuses on the field of change management as a part of the new product development process in the automotive sector. In this field, dealing with increasing complexity is essential, while only non-flexible rigid processes that are not designed to handle complexity are available. The basic methodology of this paper can be divided into four main sections: 1) analyzing the complexity of the change management, 2) literature review in order to identify potential solutions and methods, 3) capturing and implementing expertise of experts from the change management field of an automobile manufacturing company and 4) systematical comparison of the identified methods from literature and connecting these with defined requirements of the complexity of the change management in order to develop a solution. As a practical outcome, this paper provides a method to capture the complexity of engineering changes (EC) and includes it within the EC evaluation process, following case-related process guidance to cope with the complexity. Furthermore, this approach supports the conception that dealing with complexity is possible while utilizing rather simple and established methods by combining them into a powerful tool.

Keywords: complexity management, new product development, engineering change management, flexibility

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Authors: Hamed Saremi

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One of the challenges in manufacturing and service companies to provide a product or service is recognized Brand to consumers in target markets. They provide most of their processes under the same capacity. But the constant threat of devastating internal and external resources to prevent a rise Brands and more companies are recognizing the stages are bankrupt. This paper has tried to identify and analyze effective indicators of brand equity and focuses on indicators and presents a model of intelligent create a model to prevent possible damage. In this study identified indicators of brand equity based on literature study and according to expert opinions, set of indicators By techniques DEMATEL Then to used Multi-Step Adaptive Neural-Fuzzy Inference system (ANFIS) to design a multi-stage intelligent system for assessment of brand equity.

Keywords: anfis, dematel, brand, cosmetic product, brand value

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Authors: S. Parisi, Ch. Achillas, D. Aidonis, D. Folinas, N. Moussiopoulos

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Preparedness addresses the strategy in disaster management that allows the implementation of successful operational response immediately after a disaster. With speed as the main driver, product design for humanitarian aid purposes is a key factor of success in situations of high uncertainty and urgency. Within this context, a telecommunications container (TC) has been designed that belongs to a group of containers that serve the purpose of immediate response to global disasters. The TC includes all the necessary equipment to establish a telecommunication center in the destroyed area within the first 72 hours of humanitarian operations. The design focuses on defining the topology of the various parts of equipment by taking into consideration factors of serviceability, functionality, human-product interaction, universal design language, energy consumption, sustainability and the interrelationship with the other containers. The concept parametric design has been implemented with SolidWorks® CAD system.

Keywords: telecommunications container, design, case study, humanitarian logistics

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Authors: Juan A. Ferriz-Papi, Allan L. Nantel, Talib E. Butt

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Buildings are thought to consume about 50% of the total energy in the UK. The use stage in a building life cycle has the largest energy consumption, although different assessments are showing that the construction can equal several years of maintenance and operations. The selection of materials with lower embodied energy is very important to reduce this consumption. For this reason, timber is one adequate material due to its low embodied energy and the capacity to be used as carbon storage. The use of timber in the construction industry is very significant. Sawn wood, for example, is one of the top 5 construction materials consumed in the UK according to National Statistics. Embodied energy for building products considers the energy consumed in extraction and production stages. However, it is not the same consideration if this product is produced locally as when considering the resource produced further afield. Transport is a very relevant matter that profoundly influences in the results of embodied energy. The case of timber use in the UK is important because the balance between imports and exports is far negative, industry consuming more imported timber than produced. Nearly 80% of sawn softwood used in construction is imported. The imports-exports deficit for sawn wood accounted for more than 180 million pounds during the first four-month period of 2016. More than 85% of these imports come from Europe (83% from the EU). The aim of this study is to analyze climate change impact due to transport for timber products consumed in the UK. An approximate estimation of energy consumed and carbon emissions are calculated considering the timber product’s import origin. The results are compared to the total consumption of each product, estimating the impact of transport on the final embodied energy and carbon emissions. The analysis of these results can help deduce that one big challenge for climate change is the reduction of external dependency, with the associated improvement of internal production of timber products. A study of different types of timber products produced in the UK and abroad is developed to understand the possibilities for this country to improve sustainability and self-management. Reuse and recycle possibilities are also considered.

Keywords: embodied energy, climate change, CO2 emissions, timber, transport

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Authors: Burkhard Hehenkamp, Tahmina Faizi

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In this paper, we analyze the formation of cartels along with the stability of the cartel for the case of three firms that produce differentiated products and differ in their cost of production. Both cost and demand are linear, and firms compete in quantities once a cartel has been formed (or not). It turns out that the degree of product differentiation has a direct effect on the incentive to form a cartel. Firstly, when goods are complements or close substitutes, firms form a grand coalition. Secondly, for weak and medium substitutes, the firm with the lowest cost prefers to remain independent, while both other firms form a coalition. We also find that the producer profit of the stable coalition structure is nonmonotonic in the degree of product differentiation.

Keywords: collusion, cartel formation, cartel stability, differentiated market, quantity competition, oligopolies

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Authors: Ilias Katsanis, Paraskevas Papanikos, Nikolas Zacharopoulos, Vassilis C. Moulianitis, Evgenios Scourboutis, Diamantis T. Panagiotarakos

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This paper presents aspects of the detailed design of an automated biomethane potential measurement system using CAD techniques. First, the design specifications grouped in eight sets that are used to design the design alternatives are briefly presented. Then, the major components of the final concept, as well as the design of the test, are presented. The material selection process is made using ANSYS EduPack database software. The mechanical behavior of one component developed in Creo v.5 is evaluated using finite element analysis. Finally, aspects of software development that integrate the BMP test is finally presented. This paper shows the advantages of CAD techniques in product design applied in the design of a mechatronic product.

Keywords: automated biomethane test, detail mechatronics design, materials selection, mechanical analysis

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Authors: Emely J. Escala, Lolito C. Bestil

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An experiment was conducted to assess the potential of jackfruit by-product concentrate (JBC) in combination with two types of protein sources, soybean meal (SBM) and liquid acid whey (LAW), given at two different ratios as supplement for growing kids fed a basal diet of 70:30 napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) and kakawate (Gliricidia sepium) soilage ratio. The experiment was set-up in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with sex-age combination as basis for blocking, with the following dietary treatments: T1 = 0.50:0.50% BW, DM basis, JBC:SBM, T2 = 0.75:0.25% BW JBC:SBM, T3 = 0.50:0.50% BW, DM basis, JBC:LAW, and T4 = 0.75:0.25% BW JBC:LAW. Analysis of JBC showed high contents of crude fiber with medium levels of crude protein and nitrogen-free extract, appearing to be fitting for ruminants and a potential energy source. Results showed significantly higher voluntary dry matter intake (VDMI), cumulative weight gain (CWG), and average daily gain (ADG) of growing goats supplemented with JBC in combination with SBM than with LAW. The amount of JBC can range from 0.50% to 0.75% BW with SBM making up the difference, but a JBC:SBM ratio of 0.75:0.25% BW, DM basis, is best in promoting highest voluntary dry matter intake and is, therefore, highly recommended in the light of savings in feed cost. A long-term study on the effects of JBC supplementation on meat qualities of growing kids (aroma, marbling characteristics and taste) is also recommended.

Keywords: jackfruit by-product concentrate, liquid acid whey, soybean meal, grower kids

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Authors: Mohamed Moheyeldin Mahmoud

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Egypt suffers from a severe shortage of data and charts concerning the physical dimensions, measurements, qualities and consumer behavior. The shortage of needed information and appropriate methods has forced the Egyptian designer to use any other foreign standard when designing a product for the Egyptian consumer which has led to many problems. The urgently needed database concerning the physical specifications, measurements of the Egyptian consumers, as well as the need to support the Ergonomics given courses in many colleges and institutes with the latest technologies, is stated as the research problem. Descriptive analytical method relying on the compiling, comparing and analyzing of information and facts in order to get acceptable perceptions, ideas and considerations is the used methodology by the researcher. The research concludes that: 1. Good interaction relationship between users and products shows the success of that product. 2. An integration linkage between the most prominent fields of science specially Ergonomics, Interaction Design and Ethnography should be encouraged to provide an ultimately updated database concerning the nature, specifications and environment of the Egyptian consumer, in order to achieve a higher benefit for both user and product. 3. Chinese economic policy based on the study of market requirements long before any market activities should be emulated. 4. Using Ethnography supports the design activities creating new products or updating existent ones through measuring the compatibility of products with their environment and user expectations, While contracting a joint cooperation between military colleges, sports education institutes from one side, and design institutes from the other side to provide an ultimately updated (annually updated) database concerning some specifications about students of both sexes applying in those institutes (height, weight, etc.) to provide the Industrial designer with the needed information when creating a new product or updating an existing one concerning that category is recommended by the researcher.

Keywords: adapt, ergonomics, ethnography, interaction design

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Authors: Chau Nguyen Pham Minh

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The aim of this study is to answer the following research question: What do we know about virtual customer integration in innovation development based on existing empirical research? The paper is based on a systematic review of 136 articles which were published in the past 16 years. The analysis focuses on three areas: what forms of virtual customer integration (e.g. netnography, online co-creation, virtual experience) have been applied in innovation development; how have virtual customer integration methods effectively been utilized by firms; and what are the influences of virtual customer integration on innovation development activities? Through the detailed analysis, the study provides researchers with broad understanding about virtual customer integration in innovation development. The study shows that practitioners and researchers increasingly pay attention on using virtual customer integration methods in developing innovation since those methods have dominant advantages in interact with customers in order to generate the best ideas for innovation development. Additionally, the findings indicate that netnography has been the most common method in integrating with customers for idea generation; while virtual product experience has been mainly used in product testing. Moreover, the analysis also reveals the positive and negative influences of virtual customer integration in innovation development from both process and strategic perspectives. Most of the review studies examined the phenomenon from company’s perspectives to understand the process of applying virtual customer integration methods and their impacts; however, the customers’ perspective on participating in the virtual interaction has been inadequately studied; therefore, it creates many potential interesting research paths for future studies.

Keywords: innovation, virtual customer integration, co-creation, netnography, new product development

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Authors: S. N. Turkmen Koc, A. S. Kipcak, M. B. Piskin, E. Moroydor Derun, N. Tugrul

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Active carbon can be obtained from agricultural sources. Due to the high surface area, the production of activated carbon from cheap resources is very important. Since the surface area of 1 g activated carbon is approximately between 300 and 2000 m², it can be used to remove both organic and inorganic impurities. In this study, the adsorption of Zn metal was studied with the product of activated carbon, which is obtained from pomegranate peel by microwave and chemical activation methods. The microwave process of pomegranate peel was carried out under constant microwave power of 800 W and 1 to 4 minutes. After the microwave process, samples were treated with H₂SO₄ for 3 h. Then prepared product was used in synthetic waste water including 40 ppm Zn metal. As a result, removal of waste Zn in waste water ranged from 91% to 93%.

Keywords: activated carbon, chemical activation, H₂SO₄, microwave, pomegranate peel

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Authors: Smita Sonker

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Various investigators have determined the degree of approximation of conjugate signals (functions) of functions belonging to different classes Lipα, Lip(α,p), Lip(ξ(t),p), W(Lr,ξ(t), (β ≥ 0)) by matrix summability means, lower triangular matrix operator, product means (i.e. (C,1)(E,1), (C,1)(E,q), (E,q)(C,1) (N,p,q)(E,1), and (E,q)(N,pn) of their conjugate trigonometric Fourier series. In this paper, we shall determine the degree of approximation of 2π-periodic function conjugate functions of f belonging to the function classes Lipα and W(Lr; ξ(t); (β ≥ 0)) by (C1.T) -means of their conjugate trigonometric Fourier series. On the other hand, we shall review above-mentioned work in the light of Lenski.

Keywords: signals, trigonometric fourier approximation, class W(L^r, \xi(t), conjugate fourier series

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Authors: I. Ben Kaddour, S. Larbaoui

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Since their first synthesis in 1984, silicoaluminophosphates have proven their effectiveness as a good adsorbent and catalyst in several environmental and energy applications. In this work, the photocatalytic reaction of the photo-degradation of a pharmaceutical product in water was carried out in the presence of a series of materials based on titanium oxide, anatase phase, supported on the microporous framework of the SAPO4-5 at different levels, under ultraviolet light. These photo-catalysts were characterized by different physicochemical analysis methods in order to determine their structural, textural, and morphological properties, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), microscopy scanning electronics (SEM), nitrogen adsorption measurements, UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-Vis-DRS). In this study, liquid chromatography coupled with spectroscopy of mass (LC-MS) was used to determine the nature of the intermediate products formed during the photocatalytic degradation of DCF.

Keywords: photocatalysis, titanium dioxide, SAPO-5, diclofenac

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Authors: Ali Abdelnabi, Nermeen Hamza

Abstract:

Coral calcium is a boasting natural product and dietary supplement which is considered a source of alkaline calcium carbonate, this study is a comparative study, comparing the remineralization effect of the new product of coral calcium with that of nano-hydroxyapatite. Methodology: a total of 35 extracted molars were collected, examined and sectioned to obtain 70 sound enamel discs, all discs were numbered and examined by scanning electron microscope coupled with Energy Dispersive Analysis of X-rays(EDAX) for mineral content, subjected to artificial caries, and mineral content was re-measured, discs were divided into seven groups according to the remineralizing agent used, where groups 1 to 3 used 10%, 20%, 30% nanohydroxyapatite gel respectively, groups 4 to 6 used 10%, 20%, 30% coral calcium gel and group 7 with no remineralizing agent (control group). All groups were re-examined by EDAX after remineralization; data were calculated and tabulated. Results: All groups showed a statistically significant drop in calcium level after artificial caries; all groups showed a statistically significant rise in calcium content after remineralization except for the control group; groups 1 and 5 showed the highest increase in calcium level after remineralization. Conclusion: coral calcium can be considered a comparative product to nano-hydroxyapatite regarding the remineralization of enamel initial carious lesions.

Keywords: artificial caries, coral calcium, nanohydroxyapatite, re-mineralization

Procedia PDF Downloads 125

Authors: Dilek Bilgiç

Abstract:

Configuration Management (CM) is a discipline assuring the consistency between product information the reality all along the product lifecycle. Although the extensive benefits of this discipline, such as the direct impact on increasing return on investment, reducing lifecycle costs, are realized by most organizations. It is worth evaluating that CM functions might be successfully implemented in some organized anarchies. This paper investigates how to manage ambiguity in CM processes as an opportunity within an environment that has different types of complexities and choice arenas. It is not explained how to establish a configuration management organization in a company; more specifically, it is analyzed how to apply configuration management processes when different types of streams exist. From planning to audit, all the CM functions may provide different organization learning opportunities when those applied with the right leadership methods.

Keywords: configuration management, leadership, organizational analysis, organized anarchy, cm process, organizational learning, organizational maturity, configuration status accounting, leading innovation, change management

Procedia PDF Downloads 214

Authors: Sixing Chen, Shuai Yang

Abstract:

Online celebrity business, also known as Internet celebrity business (or Wanghong business in Chinese), is an emerging relational C2C business model, and an alternative to traditional C2C transactional business models. There are already millions of these consumers, and this number is growing. In this model, consumer purchase decisions are driven by recommendations and endorsements in videos posted online by celebrities. The purpose of this paper is to determine the relational constructs within consumer relationships in the Internet celebrity business model and to investigate relationships between the constructs and consumer purchase intention. A questionnaire-based study was conducted with consumers who had an awareness of, or prior purchase experience with online celebrities. The results of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and multiple regression analysis revealed three valid relational constructs: product experience sharing, lifestyle association, and real-time interaction. This study indicated that these constructs had the direct effect on consumer preference and purchase intention. The findings of this study provide insight into a business model in which online shopping is driven by celebrities. They suggest that online celebrities should pay more attention to product experience sharing, life style association and real-time interaction for managing their product promotions. These are the most salient factors with respect to the relational constructs identified in this study.

Keywords: customer relationship, customer to customer, Internet celebrity, online celebrity, online marketing, purchase intention

Procedia PDF Downloads 319

Authors: A. Boveiri Monji, H. Yousefnia, M. Haji Hosseini, S. Zolghadri

Abstract:

A clean spectrophotometric method for the determination of hafnium by using a green reagent, acidic extract of Ficus carica tree leaves is developed. In 6-M hydrochloric acid, hafnium reacts with this reagent to form a yellow product. The formed product shows maximum absorbance at 421 nm with a molar absorptivity value of 0.28 × 104 l mol⁻¹ cm⁻¹, and the method was linear in the 2-11 µg ml⁻¹ concentration range. The detection limit value was found to be 0.312 µg ml⁻¹. Except zirconium and iron, the selectivity was good, and most of the ions did not show any significant spectral interference at concentrations up to several hundred times. The proposed method was green, simple, low cost, and selective.

Keywords: spectrophotometric determination, Ficus caricatree leaves, synthetic reagents, hafnium

Procedia PDF Downloads 211

Authors: Ankit Kumar, Balram Dubey

Abstract:

This study proposes a three dimensional prey-predator model with additional food, provided to predator individuals, including gestation delay in predators and delay in supplying the additional food to predators. It is assumed that the interaction between prey and predator is followed by Holling type-II functional response. We discussed the steady states and their local and global asymptotic behavior for the non-delayed system. Hopf-bifurcation phenomenon with respect to different parameters has also been studied. We obtained a range of predator’s tendency factor on provided additional food, in which the periodic solutions occur in the system. We have shown that oscillations can be controlled from the system by increasing the tendency factor. Moreover, the existence of periodic solutions via Hopf-bifurcation is shown with respect to both the delays. Our analysis shows that both delays play an important role in governing the dynamics of the system. It changes the stability behavior into instability behavior. The direction and stability of Hopf-bifurcation are also investigated through the normal form theory and the center manifold theorem. Lastly, some numerical simulations and graphical illustrations have been carried out to validate our analytical findings.

Keywords: additional food, gestation delay, Hopf-bifurcation, prey-predator

Procedia PDF Downloads 131