Search results for: vegetation root system

Authors: Sheng-Chuan Hsu

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Because the existing structure of ambient light sensor is most silicon photodiode device, it is extremely sensitive in the red and infrared regions. Even though the IR-Cut filter had added, it still cannot completely eliminate the influence of infrared light, and the spectral response of infrared light was stronger than that of the human eyes. Therefore, it is not able to present the vision spectrum of the human eye reacts with the ambient light. Then it needs to consider that the human eye feels the spectra that show significant differences between light and dark place. Consequently, in practical applications, we must create and develop advanced device of human-like photosensor which can solve these problems of ambient light sensor and let cognitive lighting system to provide suitable light to achieve the goals of vision spectrum of human eye and save energy.

Keywords: ambient light sensor, vision spectrum, cognitive lighting system, human eye

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Authors: Nitin Kumar

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Purpose: The current research work focuses mainly on evolving a delivery system for ginseng extract (GE), which in turn will ameliorate the neuroprotective potential by means of enhancing the ginsenoside (Rb1) bio-availability (BA). For more noteworthy enhancement in oral bioavailability (OBA) along with pharmacological properties, the drug carriers’ performance can be strengthened by utilizing phytosomes-loaded microspheres (PM) delivery system. Methods: For preparing the disparate phytosome complexes (F1, F2, and F3), an aqueous extract of ginseng roots (GR) along with phospholipids were reacted in disparate ratio. Considering the outcomes, F3 formulation (spray-dried) was chosen for preparing the phytosomes powder (PP), PM, and extract microspheres (EM). PM was made by means of loading of F3 into Gum Arabic (GA) in addition to maltodextrin polymer mixture, whereas EM was prepared by means of the addition of extract directly into the same polymer mixture. For investigating the neuroprotective effect (NPE) in addition to their pharmacokinetic (PK) properties, PP, PM, and EM formulations were assessed. Results: F3 formulation gave enhanced entrapment efficiency (EE) (i.e., 50.61%) along with good homogeneity of spherical shaped particle size (PS) (42.58 ± 1.4 nm) with least polydispersity index (PDI) (i.e., 0.193 ± 0.01). The sustained release (up to 24 h) of ginsenoside Rb1 (GRb1) is revealed by the dissolution study of PM. A significantly (p < 0.05) greater anti-oxidant (AO) potential of PM can well be perceived as of the diminution in the lipid peroxidase level in addition to the rise in the glutathione superoxide dismutase (SOD) in addition to catalase levels. It also showed a greater neuroprotective potential exhibiting significant (p < 0.05) augmentation in the nociceptive threshold together with the diminution in damage to nerves. A noteworthy enhancement in the relative BA (157.94%) of GRb1 through the PM formulation can well be seen in the PK studies. Conclusion: It is exhibited that the PM system is an optimistic and feasible strategy to enhance the delivery of GE for the effectual treatment of neuropathic pain.

Keywords: ginseng, neuropathic, phytosome, pain

Procedia PDF Downloads 177

Authors: Anthony Proschka, Deepak Mishra, Merlyn Ramanan, Zurab Baratashvili

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Small and medium-sized businesses receive over 160 billion invoices every year. Since these documents exhibit many subtle differences in layout and text, extracting structured fields such as sender name, amount, and VAT rate from them automatically is an open research question. In this paper, existing work in template-based document extraction is extended, and a system is devised that is able to reliably extract all required fields for up to 70% of all documents in the data set, more than any other previously reported method. The approaches are described for 1) detecting through visual features which template a given document belongs to, 2) automatically generating extraction rules for a given new template by composing regular expressions from multiple components, and 3) computing confidence scores that indicate the accuracy of the automatic extractions. The system can generate templates with as little as one training sample and only requires the ground truth field values instead of detailed annotations such as bounding boxes that are hard to obtain. The system is deployed and used inside a commercial accounting software.

Keywords: data mining, information retrieval, business, feature extraction, layout, business data processing, document handling, end-user trained information extraction, document archiving, scanned business documents, automated document processing, F1-measure, commercial accounting software

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Authors: Laila Algalal, Chen Xi

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The US dollar has long served as the world's primary reserve currency. However, this dominance faces growing challenges from internal US economic pressures and the rise of alternative currencies. Internally, issues like high debt, inflation, reduced competitiveness, and economic instability due to inequality in economic policies threaten the dollar's position. Externally, more countries are establishing alternative currencies, payment systems, and regional financial institutions to reduce dollar dependence. These drivers have contributed to a decline in the dollar's share of global foreign exchange reserves from 71% in 2001 to an estimated 58% in 2022. While this 13-percentage point drop took two decades, recent initiatives suggest de-dollarization could accelerate in the coming few decades. Efforts to establish non-dollar trade deals and alternative financial systems show more substantial progress compared to initiatives in the early 2000s. As the nature of the world system is anarchic, states make either individual or group efforts to guarantee their economic security and achieve their interests. Based on neoclassical realism, this paper analyzes both internal and external US economic factors driving current and future de-dollarization and the implications on the international monetary system, in addition to examining the motivation for such moves.

Keywords: de-dollarization, US dollar, monetary system, economic security, economic policies.

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Authors: Hanan Mikhael Dawood, Haider Salim, Jafar Al-Wash

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This paper presents Proportional-Integral (PI) controller to improve the system performance which gives better torque and flux response. In addition, it reduces the undesirable torque ripple. The conventional DTC controller approach for induction machines, based on an improved torque and stator flux estimator, is implemented using Xilinx System Generator (XSG) for MATLAB/Simulink environment through Xilinx blocksets. The design was achieved in VHDL which is based on a MATLAB/Simulink simulation model. The hardware in the loop results are obtained considering the implementation of the proposed model on the Xilinx NEXYS2 Spartan 3E1200 FG320 Kit.

Keywords: induction motor, Direct Torque Control (DTC), Xilinx FPGA, motor drive

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Authors: S. Kherchaoui, A. Houacine

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This paper presents a facial expression recognition system. It performs identification and classification of the seven basic expressions; happy, surprise, fear, disgust, sadness, anger, and neutral states. It consists of three main parts. The first one is the detection of a face and the corresponding facial features to extract the most expressive portion of the face, followed by a normalization of the region of interest. Then calculus of curvelet coefficients is performed with dimensionality reduction through principal component analysis. The resulting coefficients are combined with two ratios; mouth ratio and face edge ratio to constitute the whole feature vector. The third step is the classification of the emotional state using the SVM method in the feature space.

Keywords: facial expression identification, curvelet coefficient, support vector machine (SVM), recognition system

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Authors: Rameez Ahmad, Aqib Mehmood, Imran Khan

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Self-directed car (SDC) that can drive itself from one fact to another without support from a driver. Certain trust that self-directed car obligate the probable to transform the transportation manufacturing while essentially removing coincidences, and cleaning up the environment. This study realizes the effects that SDC (also called a self-driving, driver or robotic) vehicle travel demands and ride scheme is likely to have. Without the typical obstacles that allows detection of a audio vision based hardware and software construction (It (SDC) and cost benefits, the vehicle technologies, Gold (Generic Obstacle and Lane Detection) to a knowledge-based system to predict their potential and consider the shape, color, or balance) and an organized environment with colored lane patterns, lane position ban. Discovery the problematic consequence of (SDC) on GT (grand trunk road) road and brand the car further effectual.

Keywords: SDC, gold, GT, knowledge-based system

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Authors: Andrey V. Timofeev, Viktor M. Denisov

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A robust sequential nonparametric method is proposed for adaptation to background noise parameters for real-time. The distribution of background noise was modelled like to Huber contamination mixture. The method is designed to operate as an adaptation-unit, which is included inside a detection subsystem of an integrated multichannel monitoring system. The proposed method guarantees the given size of a nonasymptotic confidence set for noise parameters. Properties of the suggested method are rigorously proved. The proposed algorithm has been successfully tested in real conditions of a functioning C-OTDR monitoring system, which was designed to monitor railways.

Keywords: guaranteed estimation, multichannel monitoring systems, non-asymptotic confidence set, contamination mixture

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Authors: Mohammed Arif, Abdessalam Kifouche

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Speech is a very convenient way of communication between people and machines. It conveys information about the identity of the talker. Since speaker recognition technology is increasingly securing our everyday lives, the objective of this paper is to develop two automatic text-independent speaker verification systems (TI SV) using low-level spectral features and machine learning methods. (i) The first system is based on a support vector machine (SVM), which was widely used in voice signal processing with the aim of speaker recognition involving verifying the identity of the speaker based on its voice characteristics, and (ii) the second is based on Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) and Universal Background Model (UBM) to combine different functions from different resources to implement the SVM based.

Keywords: speaker verification, text-independent, support vector machine, Gaussian mixture model, cepstral analysis

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Authors: Evgeniia V. Mekhonoshina, Vladimir Ya. Modorskii, Vasilii Yu. Petrov

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At present, vibrations of rotors of gas transmittal unit evade sustainable forecasting. This paper describes elastic oscillation modes in resilient supports and rotor impellers modeled during computational experiments with regard to interference in the system of gas-dynamic flow and compressor rotor. Verification of aeroelastic approach was done on model problem of interaction between supersonic jet in shock tube with deformed plate. ANSYS 15.0 engineering analysis system was used as a modeling tool of numerical simulation in this paper. Finite volume method for gas dynamics and finite elements method for assessment of the strain stress state (SSS) components were used as research methods. Rotation speed and material’s elasticity modulus varied during calculations, and SSS components and gas-dynamic parameters in the dynamic system of gas-dynamic flow and compressor rotor were evaluated. The analysis of time dependence demonstrated that gas-dynamic parameters near the rotor blades oscillate at 200 Hz, and SSS parameters at the upper blade edge oscillate four times higher, i.e. with blade frequency. It has been detected that vibration amplitudes correction in the test points at magnetic bearings by aeroelasticity may correspond up to 50%, and about -π/4 for phases.

Keywords: Centrifugal compressor, aeroelasticity, interdisciplinary calculation, oscillation phase displacement, vibration, nonstationarity

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Authors: Carmen Viñas Arrebola, Antonio Rodriguez Sanchez, Sheila Varela Lujan, Mariano Gonzalez Cortina, Cesar Porras Amores

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The research group TEMA from the School of Building (UPM) is working in the line of energy efficiency and comfort in building. The need to reduce energy consumption in the building construction implies designing new constructive systems. These systems help to reduce both consumption and energy losses in order to achieve adequate thermal comfort for people in any type of building. In existing buildings the best option is the rehabilitation focused on thermal insulation. The aim of this paper is to design, monitor and analyze the first results of thermal behavior of the ETICS system in façades. This retrofitting solution consists of adding thermal insulation on the outside of the building, helping to create a continuous envelope on the façades. The analysis is done by comparing a rehabilitated part of the building with ETICS system and another part which has not been rehabilitated, and it is taken as reference. Both of them have the same characteristics. Temperature measurements were taken with type K thermocouples according to the previous design of the monitoring and in the same period of time. The pilot building of the study is situated in Benimamet Street, in San Cristobal de Los Ángeles, in the south of Madrid. It was built in the late 50s. The 51st entrance hall, which is restored, and the 47th entrance hall, in original conditions, have been studied.

Keywords: comfort in building, energy efficiency in building, ETICS, thermal properties

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Authors: Alina Mirza, Sumrin M. Kabir, Shahzad A. Sheikh

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The Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) with high data rate, high spectral efficiency and its ability to mitigate the effects of multipath makes them most suitable in wireless application. Impulsive noise distorts the OFDM transmission and therefore methods must be investigated to suppress this noise. In this paper, a State Space Recursive Least Square (SSRLS) algorithm based adaptive impulsive noise suppressor for OFDM communication system is proposed. And a comparison with another adaptive algorithm is conducted. The state space model-dependent recursive parameters of proposed scheme enables to achieve steady state mean squared error (MSE), low bit error rate (BER), and faster convergence than that of some of existing algorithm.

Keywords: OFDM, impulsive noise, SSRLS, BER

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Authors: Joanna Bajerska, Agata Chmurzyńska, Agata Muzsik, Patrycja Krzyżanowska, Klaudia Łochocka, Jarosław Walkowiak

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The Mediterranean diet (MED) is regarded as beneficial in the therapy of central obesity-associated metabolic abnormalities. However, in the traditional diet of the Central European countries, food items with positive nutritional profiles (rye bread, oats, buckwheat, herrings, linseed and rapeseed oil, berries, apples, plums, root vegetables etc.) are also used. We hypothesized that the Central European Diet (CED) may be comparatively effective in reducing symptoms of central obesity as MED. We tested the health effects of the CED, which is an environmentally friendly regional diet and the traditional MED diet in a group of postmenopausal centrally obese women. A total 58 with a mean age of 60 y (50-70y), body mass index (in kg/m(2)) of 33.4 (22.6-47.3), and waist circumference of 105 cm (87.5-137 cm) were randomly assigned to receive either the diet based on food items commonly used in Central Europe (the CED group; n = 29) or the Mediterranean diet (the MED group; n = 29) for 15 weeks. Body mass and body composition were measured with a Bod Pod (Cosmed, Italy). A non-elastic flexible measuring tape was used to measure waist circumference. Additionally, blood pressure, plasma lipid and glucose levels were assessed with the use of a biochemical analyzer. A total of 50 subjects [86% (CED 83%; MED 90%)] completed the intervention. A high dietary compliance for both described diets was achieved. The mean (±SEM) weight and waist circumference changes were -7.4 ± 0.7 kg; -8.3 ± 0.7 cm and -8.1 ± 0.5 kg; -7.1 ± 0.6 cm for the CED and MED groups, respectively. Moreover, there were no differences between the effectiveness of the diets used in terms of the influence on fat mass, blood pressure, and biochemical parameters. The preliminary data suggest that both described diets may be successfully used for improving central obesity-associated metabolic abnormalities. The project was financed by the National Science Centre awarded based on the number of decision DEC-013/09/B/NZ9/02365

Keywords: central european diet, central obesity, Mediterranean diet, metabolic abnormalities

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Authors: Faiqa Jalal

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The purpose of the following research paper is to discuss the differentiating meanings of culture and how popular culture has maintained a great impact on intercultural and international behavior. The following discussion leads to the notion of communicating cultural impact on behavior through advertising and sub-cultural theory in advertising. Although towards the end of the research, the complexities that develop through the above discussion, lead to the solution that ‘advertising gives meaning to the otherwise meaningless and identical objects through linking them to our basic needs’. In today’s fast paced digital world, it is difficult to define culture, literally, since its meaning tends to shift through series of different perceptions such as ‘how’ and ‘why’ it should be used. This notion can be taken towards another notion of popular culture. It is dependent on ‘attitudes, ideas, images, perspectives and other phenomena within the mainstream of a given culture’. Since popular culture is influenced by mass media, it has a way of influencing an individual’s attitude towards certain topics. For example, tattoos are a form of human decorations, that have historic significance, and a huge spectrum of meanings. Advertising is one aspect of marketing that has evolved from the time when it was ‘production oriented’, up till the time it started using different mediums to make its impact more effective. However, this impact has confused us between our needs and desires. The focus in this paper is ‘we consume to acquire a sense of social identity and status, not just for the sake of consumption’. Every culture owns different expressions, which are then used by advertisers to create its impact on the behavior of people sub-culturally and globally, as culture grows through social interaction. Advertisers furthermore play a smart role in highlighting quality of life ranging from ‘survival to well-being’. Hence, this research paper concludes by highlighting that culture is considered as a ‘basic root’ of any community that also provides solution to certain problems; however, advertisers play their part in manipulating society’s literacy and beliefs by rationalizing how relevant certain products/brands are to their beliefs.

Keywords: mass media, popular culture, production oriented, sub-culture

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Authors: Maher J. Tadros

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This research was conducted to study the effect of different salinity concentrations on the plant water relation and forage quality on two multipurpose forest trees species seedlings Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de wit and Acacia saligna (Labill.). Five different salinity concentrations mixture between sodium chloride and calcium chloride (v/v, 1:1) were applied. The control (Distilled Water), 2000, 4000, 6000, and 8000 ppm were used to water the seedlings for 3 months. The research results presented showed a marked variation among the two species in response to salinity. The Leucaena was able to withstand the highest level of salinity compared to Acacia all over the studied parameters except in the relative water content. Although all the morphological characteristics studied for the two species showed a marked decrease under the different salinity concentrations, except the shoot/root ratio that showed a trend of increase. The water stress measure the leaf water potential was more negative with as the relative water content increase under that saline conditions compared to the control. The forage quality represented by the crude protein and nitrogen content were low at 6000 ppm compared to the 8000 ppm in L. Leucocephala that increased compared that level in A. saligna. Also the results showed that growing both Leucaena and Acacia provide a good source of forage when that grow under saline condition which will be of great benefits to the agricultural sector especially in the arid and semiarid areas were these species can provide forage with high quality forage all year around when grown under irrigation with saline. This research recommended such species to be utilized and grown for forages under saline conditions.

Keywords: plant water relations, growth performance, salinity stress, protein content, forage quality, multipurpose trees

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Authors: Jiří F. Urbánek, Jiří Barta

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Societal security, continuity scenarios, and methodological cycling approach understands in this article. Namely, societal security organizational challenges ask implementation of international standards BS 25999-2 and global ISO 22300 which is a family of standards for business continuity management system. Efficient global organization system is distinguished of high entity´s complexity, connectivity, and interoperability, having not only cooperative relations in a fact. Competing business have numerous participating ´enemies´, which are in apparent or hidden opponent and antagonistic roles with prosperous organization systems, resulting to a crisis scene or even to a battle theater. Organization business continuity scenarios are necessary for such ´a play´ preparedness, planning, management, and overmastering in real environments.

Keywords: business continuity, societal security, crisis scenarios cycles, interoperability

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Authors: A. Majeed, P. Ali

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Before designing an electrical system, the estimation of load is necessary for unit sizing and demand-generation balancing. The system could be a stand-alone system for a village or grid connected or integrated renewable energy to grid connection, especially as there are non–electrified villages in developing countries. In the classical model, the energy demand was found by estimating the household appliances multiplied with the amount of their rating and the duration of their operation, but in this paper, information exists for electrified villages could be used to predict the demand, as villages almost have the same life style. This paper describes a method used to predict the average energy consumed in each two months for every consumer living in a village by Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The input data are collected using a regional survey for samples of consumers representing typical types of different living, household appliances and energy consumption by a list of information, and the output data are collected from administration office of Piramagrun for each corresponding consumer. The result of this study shows that the average demand for different consumers from four villages in different months throughout the year is approximately 12 kWh/day, this model estimates the average demand/day for every consumer with a mean absolute percent error of 11.8%, and MathWorks software package MATLAB version 7.6.0 that contains and facilitate Neural Network Toolbox was used.

Keywords: artificial neural network, load estimation, regional survey, rural electrification

Procedia PDF Downloads 107

Authors: Fangliang Chen, Yihe Huang, Tejav Deganyar, Anselm Boehm, Hamid Batoul

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With growing population density and further urbanization, the average noise level in cities is increasing. Excessive noise is not only annoying but also leads to a negative impact on human health. To deal with the increasing city noise, environmental regulations bring up higher standards on acoustic comfort in buildings by mitigating the noise transmission from building envelope exterior to interior. Framed window, door and façade systems are the leading choice for modern fenestration construction, which provides demonstrated quality of weathering reliability, environmental efficiency, and installation ease. The overall sound insulation of such systems depends both on glasses and frames, where glass usually covers the majority of the exposed surfaces, thus it is the main source of sound energy transmission. While frames in modern façade systems become slimmer for aesthetic appearance, which contribute to a minimal percentage of exposed surfaces. Nevertheless, frames might provide substantial transmission paths for sound travels through because of much less mass crossing the path, thus becoming more critical in limiting the acoustic performance of the whole system. There are various methodologies and numerical programs that can accurately predict the acoustic performance of either glasses or frames. However, due to the vast variance of size and dimension between frame and glass in the same system, there is no satisfactory theoretical approach or affordable simulation tool in current practice to access the over acoustic performance of a whole façade system. For this reason, laboratory test turns out to be the only reliable source. However, laboratory test is very time consuming and high costly, moreover different lab might provide slightly different test results because of varieties of test chambers, sample mounting, and test operations, which significantly constrains the early phase design of framed façade systems. To address this dilemma, this study provides an effective analytical methodology to predict the acoustic performance of framed façade systems, based on vast amount of acoustic test results on glass, frame and the whole façade system consist of both. Further test results validate the current model is able to accurately predict the overall sound transmission loss of a framed system as long as the acoustic behavior of the frame is available. Though the presented methodology is mainly developed from façade systems with aluminum frames, it can be easily extended to systems with frames of other materials such as steel, PVC or wood.

Keywords: city noise, building facades, sound mitigation, sound transmission loss, framed façade system

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Authors: Moung Young Lee, Chul Gyu Song

Abstract:

Photoacoustic imaging is the imaging technology that combines the optical imaging and ultrasound. This provides the high contrast and resolution due to optical imaging and ultrasound imaging, respectively. We developed the real-time photoacoustic tomography (PAT) system using linear-ultrasound transducer and digital acquisition (DAQ) board. There are two types of algorithm for reconstructing the photoacoustic signal. One is back-projection algorithm, the other is FFT algorithm. Especially, we used the non-uniform FFT algorithm. To evaluate the performance of our system and algorithms, we monitored two wires that stands at interval of 2.89 mm and 0.87 mm. Then, we compared the images reconstructed by algorithms. Finally, we monitored the two hairs crossed and compared between these algorithms.

Keywords: back-projection, image comparison, non-uniform FFT, photoacoustic tomography

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Authors: Xin Chen, Xinyong Li, Qidong Zhao, Dong Wang

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A new coupling system was constructed by combining photo-electrochemical cell with electro-fenton cell (PEC-EF). The electrode material in this system was derived from MnyFe₁₋yCo Prussian-Blue-Analog (PBA). Mn₀.₄Fe₀.₆Co₀.₆₇-N@C spin-coated on carbon paper behaved as the gas diffusion cathode and Mn₀.₄Fe₀.₆Co₀.₆₇O₂.₂ spin-coated on fluorine-tin oxide glass (FTO) as anode. The two separated cells could degrade Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) simultaneously and some coupling mechanisms by PEC and EF enhancing the degradation efficiency were investigated. The continuous on-site generation of H₂O₂ at cathode through an oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) was realized over rotating ring-disk electrode (RRDE). The electron transfer number (n) of the ORR with Mn₀.₄Fe₀.₆Co₀.₆₇-N@C was 2.5 in the selected potential and pH range. The photo-electrochemical properties of Mn₀.₄Fe₀.₆Co₀.₆₇O₂.₂ were systematically studied, which displayed good response towards visible light. The photoinduced electrons at anode can transfer to cathode for further use. Efficient photo-electro-catalytic performance was observed in degrading SMX. Almost 100% SMX removal was achieved in 120 min. This work not only provided a highly effective technique for antibiotic treatment but also revealed the synergic effect between PEC and EF.

Keywords: electro-fenton, photo-electrochemical, synergic effect, sulfamethoxazole

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Authors: João Madureira, Ricardo Lagido, Inês Sousa, Fraunhofer Portugal

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Surf is an increasingly popular sport and its performance evaluation is often qualitative. This work aims at using a smartphone to collect and analyze the GPS and inertial sensors data in order to obtain quantitative metrics of the surfing performance. Two approaches are compared for detection of wave rides, computing the number of waves rode in a surfing session, the starting time of each wave and its duration. The first approach is based on computing the velocity from the Global Positioning System (GPS) signal and finding the velocity thresholds that allow identifying the start and end of each wave ride. The second approach adds information from the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) of the smartphone, to the velocity thresholds obtained from the GPS unit, to determine the start and end of each wave ride. The two methods were evaluated using GPS and IMU data from two surfing sessions and validated with similar metrics extracted from video data collected from the beach. The second method, combining GPS and IMU data, was found to be more accurate in determining the number of waves, start time and duration. This paper shows that it is feasible to use smartphones for quantification of performance metrics during surfing. In particular, detection of the waves rode and their duration can be accurately determined using the smartphone GPS and IMU.

Keywords: inertial measurement unit (IMU), global positioning system (GPS), smartphone, surfing performance

Procedia PDF Downloads 389

Authors: Sarwan Hasan

Abstract:

This article is to investigate the main forms and causes of corruption and provides anti-corruption policies. It is significant to find out how both interact and affect each other. The research focuses particularly on the case study of Iraq from 2003 to 2023. In this way, the main methods of analysis will be the system approach to analyze the relationship of different elements of the political system of Iraq in the context of corruption, the process-tracing method to explain the reasons for corruption, and content analysis of the official documents important for the research topic. Moreover, the SWOT analysis will be used in the part about the anti-corruption policies. This article concludes that the main causes behind corruption in Iraq are power distribution based on muhassasa tayifiya (power apportionment based on ethno-sectarianism), decentralized political system, sectarian division, Iran, and socio-cultural structure. The main forms of corruption in the country are illegal enrichment, using public positions for sectarian agenda, criminal corruption, bribery, political patronage, clientelism, cronyism, nepotism, embezzlement, kickback, extortion, money laundry, speed money, theft, and justice obstruction. The main anti-corruption policies in Iraq are establishing the Commission of Integrity, Board of Supreme Audit, Inspectors General and Parliamentary Committee, Internalization (assistance from foreign actors), economic adjustment and financial reform, and the new anti-corruption program of the new Prime Minister (Mohamed Shiyah al-Sudani).

Keywords: anti-corruption, corruption, Iraq, anti-corruption policies

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Authors: Jiin Jeong, Taekwang Kim, Kwang Ryel Ryu

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The target microgrid in this paper is isolated from the large central power system and is assumed to consist of wind generators, photovoltaic power generators, an energy storage system (ESS), a diesel power generator, the community load, and a dump load. The operation of such a microgrid can be hazardous because of the uncertain prediction of power supply and demand and especially due to the high fluctuation of the output from the wind generators. In this paper, we propose an iterative replanning method for determining the appropriate level of diesel generation and the charging/discharging cycles of the ESS for the upcoming one-hour horizon. To cope with the uncertainty of the estimation of supply and demand, the one-hour plan is built repeatedly in the regular interval of one minute by rolling the one-hour horizon. Since the plan should be built with a sufficiently large safe margin to avoid any possible black-out, some energy waste through the dump load is inevitable. In our approach, the level of safe margin is optimized through learning from the past experience. The simulation experiments show that our method combined with the margin optimization can reduce the dump load compared to the method without such optimization.

Keywords: microgrid, operation planning, power efficiency optimization, supply and demand prediction

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Authors: Burak Erkayman, Emin Gundogar, Hayrettin Evirgen, Murat Sarı

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With the increasing competition in recent years, airline companies tend to manage their operations aiming fewer losses in a robust manner. Airline operations are complex operations and have the necessity of being performed just in time and more knock-on relevant elements in the event of a disruption. In this study a knowledge based decision support system is suggested and software is developed. The developed software includes knowledge bases which are based on expert experience and government regulations, model bases and data bases. The results of the suggested approach are presented and improvable aspects of the approach are discussed.

Keywords: knowledge based systems, irregular operations, decision support systems, flight disruptions management

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Authors: Hasneet K. Kalsi, Julie K. Kilgariff

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Introduction: Within dentistry, the process for gaining informed consent has become more complex. To consent for treatment, patients must understand all reasonable treatment options and associated risks and benefits. Consenting is therefore deeply embedded in health literacy. Patients attending for dental consultation are often presented with an array of information and choices, yet studies show patients recall less than half of the information provided immediately after. Appropriate and comprehensible patient information leaflets (PILs) may be useful aid memories. In 2016 the World Health Organisation set improving health literacy as a global priority. Soon after, Scotland’s 2017-2025 Making it Easier: A Health Literacy Action Plan followed. This project involved the review of Restorative PILs used within Dundee Dental Hospital to assess the Content and Readability. Method: The current PIL on Root Canal Treatment (RCT) was created in 2011. This predates the Montgomery vs. NHS Lanarkshire case, a ruling which significantly impacted dental consenting processes, as well as General Dental Council’s (GDC’s) Standards for the Dental Team and Faculty of General Dental Practice’s Good Practice Guidance on Clinical Examination and Record-Keeping. Current evidence-based guidance, including that stipulated by the GDC, was reviewed. A 20-point Essential Content Checklist was designed to conform to best practice guidance for valid consenting processes. The RCT leaflet was scored against this to ascertain if the content was satisfactory. Having ensured the content satisfied medicolegal requirements, health literacy considerations were reviewed regarding readability. This was assessed using McLaughlin’s Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) formula, which identifies school stages that would have to be achieved to comprehend the PIL. The sensitivity of the results to alternative readability methods were assessed. Results: The PIL was not sufficient for modern consenting processes and reflected a suboptimal level of health literacy. Evaluation of the leaflet revealed key content was missing, including information pertaining to risks and benefits. Only five points out of the 20-point checklist were present. The readability score was 16, equivalent to a level 2 in National Adult Literacy Standards/Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework Level 5; 62% of Scottish adults are able to read to this standard. Discussion: Assessment of the leaflet showed it was no longer fit for purpose. Reasons include a lack of pertinent information, a text-heavy leaflet lacking flow, and content errors. The SMOG score indicates a high level of comprehension is required to understand this PIL, which many patients may not possess. A new PIL, compliant with medicolegal and health literacy guidance, was designed with patient-driven checklists, notes spaces for annotations/ questions and areas for clinicians to highlight important case-specific information. It has been tested using the SMOG formula. Conclusion: PILs can be extremely useful. Studies show that interactive use can enhance their effectiveness. PILs should reflect best practice guidance and be understood by patients. The 2020 leaflet designed and implemented aims to fulfill the needs of a modern healthcare system and its service users. It embraces and embeds Scotland’s Health Literacy Action Plan within the consenting process. A review of further leaflets using this model is ongoing.

Keywords: consent, health literacy, patient information leaflet, restorative dentistry

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Authors: Boris Blostotsky, Elia Efraim

Abstract:

Testing of columns in sway mode is performed in order to determine the maximal allowable load limited by plastic deformations or their end connections and a critical load limited by columns stability. Motivation to determine accurate value of critical force is caused by its using as follow: - critical load is maximal allowable load for given column configuration and can be used as criterion of perfection; - it is used in calculation prescribed by standards for design of structural elements under combined action of compression and bending; - it is used for verification of theoretical analysis of stability at various end conditions of columns. In the present work a new non-destructive method for determination of columns critical buckling load in sway mode is proposed. The method allows performing measurements during the tests under loads that exceeds the columns critical load without losing its stability. The possibility of such loading is achieved by structure of the loading system. The system is performed as frame with rigid girder, one of the columns is the tested column and the other is additional two-hinged strut. Loading of the frame is carried out by the flexible traction element attached to the girder. The load applied on the tested column can achieve a values that exceed the critical load by choice of parameters of the traction element and the additional strut. The system lateral stiffness and the column critical load are obtained by the dynamic method. The experiment planning and the comparison between the experimental and theoretical values were performed based on the developed dependency of lateral stiffness of the system on vertical load, taking into account a semi-rigid connections of the column's ends. The agreement between the obtained results was established. The method can be used for testing of real full-size columns in industrial conditions.

Keywords: buckling, columns, dynamic method, semi-rigid connections, sway mode

Procedia PDF Downloads 300

Authors: Tahsen Abdalwahab Ibraheem Albehege

Abstract:

Exhaust fuel purification is of great importance to prevent the emission of major pollutants into the atmosphere such as diesel particulates and nitrogen oxides and meet environmental regulations, so environmental impacts are a primary concern of Diesel Exhaust Gas (DEG) which contains hazardous substances harmful to the environment as well as human health.We can not plasma formed through directing electrical energy to create free electrons, which in turn can react with gaseous species, but we can by used to treat engine exhaust gases. . By NO that has been reportedly oxidized to HNO3 and then into ammonium nitrate, and then condensed and removed. In general, thermal plasmas are formed by heating a system to high temperatures 2,000 degrees C, however this can be inefficient and can require extensive thermal management.

Keywords: plasma system application, project physics, oxidizing environment, electromagnetically

Procedia PDF Downloads 83

Authors: Usman Mahmood, Khawaja M. U. Suleman

Abstract:

A peer-to-peer storage system has challenges like; peer availability, data protection, churn rate. To address these challenges different redundancy, replacement and repair schemes are used. This paper presents a hybrid scheme of redundancy using replication and erasure coding. We calculate and compare the storage, access, and maintenance costs of our proposed scheme with existing redundancy schemes. For realistic behaviour of peers a trace of live peer-to-peer system is used. The effect of different replication, and repair schemes are also shown. The proposed hybrid scheme performs better than existing double coding hybrid scheme in all metrics and have an improved maintenance cost than hierarchical codes.

Keywords: erasure coding, P2P, redundancy, replication

Procedia PDF Downloads 375

Authors: Gokhan Sir, Muhammed Ergun, Onder Balioglu

Abstract:

Nowadays, laundry dryers containing heaters and heat pumps are used to provide fast and efficient drying. In this system, as the drying capacity changes, the sensible and latent heat transfer rate in the evaporator changes. Therefore, the drying time measured for the unit capacity increases as the drying capacity decreases. The objective of this study is to investigate the evaporator efficiency according to load amount and textile type in hybrid heat pump dryers. Air side flow rate and system temperatures (air side and refrigeration side) were monitored instantly, and the specific moisture extraction rate (SMER), evaporator efficiency, and heat transfer mechanism between the textile and hybrid heat pump system were examined. Evaporator efficiency of heat pump dryers for cotton and synthetic based textile types in load amounts of 2, 5, 8 and 10 kg were investigated experimentally. As a result, the maximum evaporator efficiency (%72) was obtained in drying cotton and synthetic based textiles with a capacity of 5 kg; the minimum evaporator efficiency (%40) was obtained in drying cotton and synthetic based textiles with a capacity of 2 kg. The experimental study also reveals that capacity-dependent flow rate changes are the major factor for evaporator efficiency.

Keywords: evaporator, heat pump, hybrid, laundry dryer, textile

Procedia PDF Downloads 118

Authors: Samet Sen, Yalcin Alver

Abstract:

Before Izmir Commuter Rail System (IZBAN), most of the respondents along the railway were making their trips by city buses, minibuses or private cars. After IZBAN was put into service, some people changed their previous trip behaviors and they started travelling by IZBAN. Therefore a big travel demand in IZBAN occurred. In this study, the characteristics of passengers and their trip behaviors are found out based on the longitudinal data conducted via two wave trip surveys. Just after one year from IZBAN's opening, the first wave of the surveys was carried out among 539 passengers at six stations during morning peak hours between 07.00 am-09.30 am. The second wave was carried out among 669 passengers at the same six stations two years after the first wave during the same morning peak hours. As a result of this study, the respondents' socio-economic specifications, the distribution of trips by region, the impact of IZBAN on transport modes, the changes in travel time and travel cost and satisfaction data were obtained. These data enabled to compare two waves and explain the changes in socio-economic factors and trip behaviors. In both waves, 10 % of the respondents stopped driving their own cars and they started to take IZBAN. This is an important development in solving traffic problems. More public transportation means less traffic congestion.

Keywords: commuter rail system, comparative study, longitudinal survey, public transportation

Procedia PDF Downloads 415