Search results for: engine performance analysis

Authors: Muhammad Adeel Arshad, Shaukat Ali Bhatti

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The study aimed to investigate the effect of bile acids and lipase supplementation in low-energy diets on growth performance and meat quality of broilers. Seven hundred day-old Cobb-500 broiler chicks with an average initial body weight of 45.9 ± 0.3 g were assigned to 5 dietary treatments, with five replications of 28 birds each in a completely randomized design. The five treatments were as follows: (i) HE: broilers received a diet with high energy content; (ii) LE: broilers received a diet with low energy content and energy content reduced by 100 kcal/kg as compared to HE; (iii) LEB: broilers received a diet similar to the LE group supplemented with 300 g/ton bile acids; (iv) LEL: broilers received a diet similar to the LE group supplemented with 180 g/ton lipase enzyme and (v) LEBL: broilers received a diet similar to the LE group supplemented with both 300 g/ton bile acids and 180 g/ton lipase enzyme. The experimental period lasted for 35 days. Broilers fed HE had a lower (P < 0.05) body weight (BW) gain and lower feed intake (1-35 d), but during finisher period (21-35 d), BW gain was similar with other treatments. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) was lower in HE and higher in LEBL group (P < 0.05), while the LE, LEB, and LEL had intermediate values. At 35 d no difference occurred between treatment for water holding capacity and pH of breast and thigh muscles (P > 0.05). The relative weight of pancreas was higher (P < 0.05) in LEB treatment but lower (P < 0.05) in LEL treatment. In conclusion, bile acids and lipase supplementation at 300 g/ton and 150g/ton of feed in low-energy diets respectively had no effect on broiler performance and meat quality. However, FCR was improved in HE treatment.

Keywords: bile acids, energy, enzyme, growth

Procedia PDF Downloads 112

Authors: Ravande Kishore

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The paper present the results of experimental investigation carried out to understand the mechanical properties of concrete containing marble dust. Two grades of concrete viz. M25 and M35 have been considered for investigation. For each grade of concrete five replacement percentages of sand viz. 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% by marble dust have been considered. In all, 12 concrete mix cases including two control concrete mixtures have been studied to understand the key properties such as Compressive strength, Modulus of elasticity, Modulus of rupture and Split tensile strength. Development of Compressive strength is also investigated. In general, the results of investigation indicated improved performance of concrete mixture containing marble dust. About 21% increase in Compressive strength is noticed for concrete mixtures containing 20% marble dust and 80% river sand. An overall assessment of investigation results pointed towards high potential for marble dust as alternative construction material coming from waste generated in marble industry.

Keywords: construction material, partial replacement, marble dust, compressive strength

Procedia PDF Downloads 421

Authors: M. I. Youssef, A. E. Emam, M. Abd Elghany

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The performance of wireless communication systems is affected mainly by the environment of its associated channel, which is characterized by dynamic and unpredictable behavior. In this paper, different statistical earth-satellite channel models are studied with emphasize on two main models, first is the Rice-Log normal model, due to its representation for the environment including shadowing and multi-path components that affect the propagated signal along its path, and a three-state model that take into account different fading conditions (clear area, moderate shadow and heavy shadowing). The provided models are based on AWGN, Rician, Rayleigh, and log-normal distributions were their Probability Density Functions (PDFs) are presented. The transmission system Bit Error Rate (BER), Peak-Average-Power Ratio (PAPR), and the channel capacity vs. fading models are measured and analyzed. These simulations are implemented using MATLAB tool, and the results had shown the performance of transmission system over different channel models.

Keywords: fading channels, MIMO communication, RNS scheme, statistical modeling

Procedia PDF Downloads 142

Authors: R. M. Kashim

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The study investigated primary school teachers’ conceptual and procedural knowledge of rational numbers and its effects on pupil’s achievement in rational numbers. Specifically, primary school teachers’ level of conceptual knowledge about rational numbers, primary school teachers’ level of procedural knowledge about rational numbers, and the effects of teachers conceptual and procedural knowledge on their pupils understanding of rational numbers in primary schools is investigated. The study was carried out in Bauchi metropolis in the Bauchi state of Nigeria. The design of the study was a multi-stage design. The first stage was a descriptive design. The second stage involves a pre-test, post-test only quasi-experimental design. Two instruments were used for the data collection in the study. These were Conceptual and Procedural knowledge test (CPKT) and Rational number achievement test (RAT), the population of the study comprises of three (3) mathematics teachers’ holders of Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) teaching primary six and 210 pupils in their intact classes were used for the study. The data collected were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, analysis of variance, analysis of covariance and t- test. The findings indicated that the pupils taught rational number by a teacher that has high conceptual and procedural knowledge understand and perform better than the pupil taught by a teacher who has low conceptual and procedural knowledge of rational number. It is, therefore, recommended that teachers in primary schools should be encouraged to enrich their conceptual knowledge of rational numbers. Also, the superiority performance of teachers in procedural knowledge in rational number should not become an obstruction of understanding. Teachers Conceptual and procedural knowledge of rational numbers should be balanced so that primary school pupils will have a view of better teaching and learning of rational number in our contemporary schools.

Keywords: conceptual, procedural knowledge, rational number, pupils

Procedia PDF Downloads 444

Authors: Peter G. Youssef, Saad M. Mahmoud, Raya K. AL-Dadah

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Many water desalination technologies have been developed but in general they are energy intensive and have high cost and adverse environmental impact. Recently, adsorption technology for water desalination has been investigated showing the potential of using low temperature waste heat (50-85oC) thus reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions. This work mathematically compares the performance of an adsorption cycle that produces two useful effects namely, fresh water and cooling using two different adsorbents, silica-gel and an advanced zeolite material AQSOA-ZO2, produced by Mitsubishi plastics. It was found that at low chilled water temperatures, typically below 20oC, the AQSOA-Z02 is more efficient than silica-gel as the cycle can produce 5.8 m3 of fresh water per day and 50.1 Rton of cooling per tonne of AQSOA-ZO2. Above 20oC silica-gel is still better as the cycle production reaches 8.4 m3 per day and 62.4 Rton per tonne of silica-gel. These results show the potential of using the AQSOA-Z02 at low chilled water temperature for water desalination and cooling applications.

Keywords: adsorption, desalination, refrigeration, seawater

Procedia PDF Downloads 487

Authors: Johnson Adafin, James O. B. Rotimi, Suzanne Wilkinson, Abimbola O. Windapo

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An aspect of client expenditure management that requires attention is the level of accuracy achievable in design-stage elemental cost planning. This has been a major concern for construction clients and practitioners in New Zealand (NZ). Pre-tender estimating inaccuracies are significantly influenced by the level of risk information available to estimators. Proper cost planning activities should ensure the production of a project’s likely construction costs (initial and final), and subsequent cost control activities should prevent unpleasant consequences of cost overruns, disputes and project abandonment. If risks were properly identified and priced at the design stage, observed variance between design-stage elemental cost plans (ECPs) and final tender sums (FTS) (initial contract sums) could be reduced. This study investigates the variations between design-stage ECPs and FTS of construction projects, with a view to identifying risk factors that are responsible for the observed variance. Data were sourced through interviews, and risk factors were identified by using thematic analysis. Access was obtained to project files from the records of study participants (consultant quantity surveyors), and document analysis was employed in complementing the responses from the interviews. Study findings revealed the discrepancies between ECPs and FTS in the region of -14% and +16%. It is opined in this study that the identified risk factors were responsible for the variability observed. The values obtained from the analysis would enable greater accuracy in the forecast of FTS by Quantity Surveyors. Further, whilst inherent risks in construction project developments are observed globally, these findings have important ramifications for construction projects by expanding existing knowledge on what is needed for reasonable budgetary performance and successful delivery of construction projects. The findings contribute significantly to the study by providing quantitative confirmation to justify the theoretical conclusions generated in the literature from around the world. This therefore adds to and consolidates existing knowledge.

Keywords: accuracy, design-stage, elemental cost plan, final tender sum

Procedia PDF Downloads 260

Authors: Mirriam M. Moleko, Sekanse A. Ntsala

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Language in mathematics instruction enables the teacher to communicate mathematical knowledge to the learners with precision. It also enables the learner to deal with mathematical activities effectively. This scholarly piece was motivated by the fact that mathematics performance in the South African primary classrooms has not been satisfactory, and English, which is a Language of Learning and Teaching (LoLT) for the majority of the learners, has been singled out as one of the major impediments. This is not only on the part of the learners, but also on the part of the teachers as well. The study thus focused on the lack of competency in English among the primary school teachers as one of the possible causes of poor performance in mathematics in primary classrooms. The qualitative processes, which were premised on the social interaction theory as a lens, sourced the narratives of 10 newly qualified primary school mathematics teachers from the disadvantaged schools on the matter. This was achieved through the use of semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. The data, which were analyzed thematically, highlighted the actuality that the challenges cut across the pre-service stage to the in-service stage. The findings revealed that the undergraduate mathematics courses in the number of the institutions neglect the importance of language. The study further revealed that the in-service mathematics teachers lack adequate linguistic command, thereby finding it difficult to successfully teach some mathematical concepts, or even to outline instructions clearly. The study thus suggests the need for training institutions to focus on improving the teachers’ English language competency. The need for intensive in-service training targeting the problem areas was also highlighted. The study thus contributes to the body of knowledge by providing suggestions on how the mathematics teachers’ language incompetency can be mitigated.

Keywords: Competency, English language proficiency, language of learning and teaching, primary mathematics teachers

Procedia PDF Downloads 171

Authors: Ibtissem Talbi

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During the last decade, a variety of chaos-based cryptosystems have been investigated. Most of them are based on the structure of Fridrich, which is based on the traditional confusion-diffusion architecture proposed by Shannon. Compared with traditional cryptosystems (DES, 3DES, AES, etc.), the chaos-based cryptosystems are more flexible, more modular and easier to be implemented, which make them suitable for large scale-data encyption, such as images and videos. The heart of any chaos-based cryptosystem is the chaotic generator and so, a part of the efficiency (robustness, speed) of the system depends greatly on it. In this talk, we give an overview of the state of the art of chaos-based block ciphers and we describe some of our schemes already proposed. Also we will focus on the essential characteristics of the digital chaotic generator, The needed performance of a chaos-based block cipher in terms of security level and speed of calculus depends on the considered application. There is a compromise between the security and the speed of the calculation. The security of these block block ciphers will be analyzed.

Keywords: chaos-based cryptosystems, chaotic generator, security analysis, structure of Fridrich

Procedia PDF Downloads 675

Authors: Ghobad Gorji, Hasan Golabi

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The goal of this paper is to describe the design of an ultra-wideband (UWB) system that is optimized for the low-rate wireless personal area network application. To this aim, we propose a system based on direct chaotic communication (DCC) technology. Based on this system, a 2-GHz wide chaotic signal is directly generated into the lower band of the UWB spectrum, i.e., 3.1–5.1 GHz. For this system, two simple modulation schemes, namely chaotic on-off keying (COOK) and differential chaos shift keying (DCSK), were studied before, and their performance was evaluated. We propose a modulation scheme, namely Double DCSK, to improve the performance of UWB DCC. Different characteristics of these systems, with Monte Carlo simulations based on the Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) and the IEEE 802.15.4a standard channel models, are compared.

Keywords: UWB, DCC, IEEE 802.15.4a, COOK, DCSK

Procedia PDF Downloads 67

Authors: T. Mohammed Chikouche, K. Hartani

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Based on the analysis of basic direct torque control, a parallel master slave for four in-wheel permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM) fed by two three phase inverters used in electric vehicle is proposed in this paper. A conventional system with multi-inverter and multi-machine comprises a three phase inverter for each machine to be controlled. Another approach consists in using only one three-phase inverter to supply several permanent magnet synchronous machines. A modified direct torque control (DTC) algorithm is used for the control of the bi-machine traction system. Simulation results show that the proposed control strategy is well adapted for the synchronism of this system and provide good speed tracking performance.

Keywords: electric vehicle, multi-machine single-inverter system, multi-machine multi-inverter control, in-wheel motor, master-slave control

Procedia PDF Downloads 213

Authors: Wee Akina Sia Seng Lee, Shabeshan Rengasamy, Lim Boon Hooi, Chandrakalavaratharajoo, Mohd Ibrahim K. Azeez

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This study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of Teaching Games For Understanding (TGFU) in improving the hockey tactical skills and state self-confidence among 16-year-old students. Two hundred fifty nine (259) school students were selected for the study based on the intact sampling method. One class was used as the control group (Boys=60, Girls=70), while another as the treatment group (Boys=60, Girls=69) underwent intervention with TGFU in physical education class conducted twice a week for four weeks. The Games Performance Assessment Instrument was used to observe the hockey tactical skills and The State Self-Confidence Inventory was used to determine the state of self-confidence among the students. After four weeks, ANCOVA analysis indicated the treatment groups had significant improvement in hockey tactical skills with F (1, 118) =313.37, p < .05 for school boys, and F (1, 136) =92.62, p < .05 for school girls. The Mann Whitney U test also showed the treatment groups had significant improvement in state self-confidence with U=428.50, z= -7.22, p < .05, r=.06 for school boys. ANCOVA analysis also showed the treatment group had significant improvement in state self-confidence with F (1, 136) =74.40, p < .05 for school girls. This indicates that TGFU in a 40 minute physical education class conducted twice a week for four weeks can significantly improve the hockey tactical skills and state self-confidence among 16-year-old students. The findings give new knowledge to PE teachers to implement the TGFU method as it enhances the hockey tactical skills and state self-confidence among 16-year-old students. Some recommendation was suggested for future research.

Keywords: Teaching Games For Understanding (TGFU), traditional teaching, hockey tactical skills, state self-confidence

Procedia PDF Downloads 348

Authors: Marda Vidrianto, Tania Surya Utami

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Electrical Submersible Pump (ESP) is an artificial lift of choice to produce oil on Offshore Java Sea. It is selected based on the production rate capacity and running life expectation. ESP performance in a mature field is highly affected by oil well conditions. The presence of sand, scale, gas, and low influx will create unstable ESP operation hence lowering the run life expectation and system efficiency. This paper reviews the current energy usage and efficiency on every part of the ESP system. The hydraulic and electrical losses, as well as system efficiency for each well, are calculated to identify energy losses and the possibility for improvement. It is shown that high back pressure on the system and low-efficiency pump are the major contributors to energy losses. It was found that optimized production rate and the use of advanced technology on pump and motor unit could improve energy efficiency.

Keywords: advance technology, energy efficiency, ESP, mature field, production rate

Procedia PDF Downloads 333

Authors: Noura Al Akkari, Aurélie Foucquier, Sylvain Lespinats

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Load monitoring is a management process for energy consumption towards energy savings and energy efficiency. Non Intrusive Load Monitoring (NILM) is one method of load monitoring used for disaggregation purposes. NILM is a technique for identifying individual appliances based on the analysis of the whole residence data retrieved from the main power meter of the house. Our NILM framework starts with data acquisition, followed by data preprocessing, then event detection, feature extraction, then general appliance modeling and identification at the final stage. The event detection stage is a core component of NILM process since event detection techniques lead to the extraction of appliance features. Appliance features are required for the accurate identification of the household devices. In this research work, we aim at developing a new event detection methodology with accurate load disaggregation to extract appliance features. Time-domain features extracted are used for tuning general appliance models for appliance identification and classification steps. We use unsupervised algorithms such as Dynamic Time Warping (DTW). The proposed method relies on detecting areas of operation of each residential appliance based on the power demand. Then, detecting the time at which each selected appliance changes its states. In order to fit with practical existing smart meters capabilities, we work on low sampling data with a frequency of (1/60) Hz. The data is simulated on Load Profile Generator software (LPG), which was not previously taken into consideration for NILM purposes in the literature. LPG is a numerical software that uses behaviour simulation of people inside the house to generate residential energy consumption data. The proposed event detection method targets low consumption loads that are difficult to detect. Also, it facilitates the extraction of specific features used for general appliance modeling. In addition to this, the identification process includes unsupervised techniques such as DTW. To our best knowledge, there exist few unsupervised techniques employed with low sampling data in comparison to the many supervised techniques used for such cases. We extract a power interval at which falls the operation of the selected appliance along with a time vector for the values delimiting the state transitions of the appliance. After this, appliance signatures are formed from extracted power, geometrical and statistical features. Afterwards, those formed signatures are used to tune general model types for appliances identification using unsupervised algorithms. This method is evaluated using both simulated data on LPG and real-time Reference Energy Disaggregation Dataset (REDD). For that, we compute performance metrics using confusion matrix based metrics, considering accuracy, precision, recall and error-rate. The performance analysis of our methodology is then compared with other detection techniques previously used in the literature review, such as detection techniques based on statistical variations and abrupt changes (Variance Sliding Window and Cumulative Sum).

Keywords: electrical disaggregation, DTW, general appliance modeling, event detection

Procedia PDF Downloads 68

Authors: Shahin Zanbaghi, Saeed Samet

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The internet has transformed the way we shop. Previously, most of our purchases came in the form of shopping trips to a nearby store. Now, it’s as easy as clicking a mouse. But with great convenience comes great responsibility. We have to be constantly vigilant about our personal information. In this work, our proposed approach is to encrypt the information printed on the physical packages, which include personal information in plain text, using a symmetric encryption algorithm; then, we store that encrypted information into a Blockchain network rather than storing them in companies or corporations centralized databases. We present, implement and assess a blockchain-based system using Ethereum smart contracts. We present detailed algorithms that explain the details of our smart contract. We present the security, cost, and performance analysis of the proposed method. Our work indicates that the proposed solution is economically attainable and provides data integrity, security, transparency, and data traceability.

Keywords: blockchain, Ethereum, smart contract, commit-reveal scheme

Procedia PDF Downloads 141

Authors: Neha Budhwani

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Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are formed during the pyrolysis of scrap tyres to produce tyre pyrolytic oil (TPO). Due to carcinogenic, mutagenic, and toxic properties PAHs are priority pollutants. Hence it is essential to remove PAHs from TPO before utilising TPO as a petroleum fuel alternative (to run the engine). Agricultural wastes have promising future to be utilized as biosorbent due to their cost effectiveness, abundant availability, high biosorption capacity and renewability. Various low cost adsorbents were prepared from natural sources. Uptake of PAHs present in tyre pyrolytic oil was investigated using various low-cost adsor¬bents of natural origin including sawdust (shiham), coconut fiber, neem bark, chitin, activated charcol. Adsorption experiments of different PAHs viz. naphthalene, acenaphthalene, biphenyl and anthracene have been carried out at ambient temperature (25°C) and at pH 7. It was observed that for any given PAH, the adsorption capacity increases with the lignin content. Freundlich constant kf and 1/n have been evaluated and it was found that the adsorption isotherms of PAHs were in agreement with a Freundlich model, while the uptake capacity of PAHs followed the order: activated charcoal> saw dust (shisham) > coconut fiber > chitin. The partition coefficients in acetone-water, and the adsorption constants at equilibrium, could be linearly correlated with octanol–water partition coefficients. It is observed that natural adsorbents are good alternative for PAHs removal. Sawdust of Dalbergia sissoo, a by-product of sawmills was found to be a promising adsorbent for the removal of PAHs present in TPO. It is observed that adsorbents studied were comparable to those of some conventional adsorbents.

Keywords: natural adsorbent, PAHs, TPO, coconut fiber, wood powder (shisham), naphthalene, acenaphthene, biphenyl and anthracene

Procedia PDF Downloads 222

Authors: Marina Yurievna Aleksandrova

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Research of the Holocaust retains value not only for history but also for sociology and psychology. One of the most important fields of study is how people were coping during and after this traumatic event. The aim of this paper is to identify the main contexts of the topic of love and to determine which contexts are more characteristic for different groups of victims of the Holocaust (gender, nationality, age). In this research, transcripts of interviews with Holocaust victims that were collected during 1946 for the "Voices of the Holocaust" project were used as data. Main contexts were analyzed with methods of network analysis and latent semantic analysis and classified by gender, age, and nationality with random forest. The results show that love is articulated and described significantly differently for male and female informants, nationality is shown results with lower values of quality metrics, as well as the age.

Keywords: Holocaust, latent semantic analysis, network analysis, text-mining, random forest

Procedia PDF Downloads 175

Authors: Nicolas Lipchak, Franco Aiducic, Santiago Baieli

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The present work is a part of the research project called ‘Testing of gas turbine KingTech with biodiesel’, carried out by the Department of Industrial Engineering of the National Technological University at Buenos Aires. The research group aims to experiment with biodiesel in a gas turbine Kingtech K-100 to verify the correct operation of it. In this sense, tests have been developed to obtain real data of parameters inherent to the work cycle, to be used later as parameters of comparison and performance analysis. In the first instance, the study consisted in testing the gas turbine with a mixture composition of 50% Biodiesel and 50% Diesel. The parameters arising from the measurements made were compared with the parameters of the gas turbine with a composition of 100% Diesel. In the second instance, the measured parameters were used to calculate the power generated and the thermal efficiency of the Kingtech K-100 turbine. The turbine was also inspected to verify the status of the internals due to the use of biofuels. The conclusions obtained allow empirically demonstrate that it is feasible to use biodiesel in this type of gas turbines, without the use of this fuel generates a loss of power or degradation of internals.

Keywords: biodiesel, efficiency, KingTech, turbine

Procedia PDF Downloads 236

Authors: Benmalek M. Larbi, R. Harbi, S. Boukor

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This paper reports an experimental work that aimed to investigate the effects of clay brick waste, as part of fine aggregate, on rendering mortar performance. The brick, in crushed form, was from a local brick manufacturer that was rejected due to being of-standard. It was used to replace 33.33 %, 50 %, 66.66 % and 100 % by weight of the quarry sand in mortar. Effects of the brick replacement on the mortar key properties intended for wall plastering were investigated; these are workability, compressive strength, flexural strength, linear shrinkage, water absorption by total immersion and by capillary suction. The results showed that as the brick replacement level increased, the mortar workability reduced. The linear shrinkage increases over time and decreases with the introduction of brick waste. The compressive and flexural strengths decrease with the increase of brick waste because of their great water absorption.

Keywords: clay brick waste, mortar, properties, quarry sand

Procedia PDF Downloads 249

Authors: Ceren Efe, Hale Sütçü

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In this study, the pyrolysis of bituminous coal, peat and their blends formed by mixing various ratios of them were examined by thermogravimetric analysis method. Thermogravimetric analyses of peat, bituminous coal and their blends in the proportions of 25 %, 50 % and 75 % were performed at heating rate of 10 °C/min and from the room temperature until to 800 °C temperature, in a nitrogen atmosphere of 100 ml/min. Kinetic parameters for the pyrolysis process were calculated using Coats&Redfern kinetic model.

Keywords: bituminous coal, peat, pyrolysis, thermogravimetric analysis, Coats&Redfern

Procedia PDF Downloads 256

Authors: Mary Anne Roa

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Congestion in network occurs due to exceed in aggregate demand as compared to the accessible capacity of the resources. Network congestion will increase as network speed increases and new effective congestion control methods are needed, especially for today’s very high speed networks. To address this undeniably global issue, the study focuses on the development of a fuzzy-based congestion control model concerned with allocating the resources of a computer network such that the system can operate at an adequate performance level when the demand exceeds or is near the capacity of the resources. Fuzzy logic based models have proven capable of accurately representing a wide variety of processes. The model built is based on bandwidth, the aggregate incoming traffic and the waiting time. The theoretical analysis and simulation results show that the proposed algorithm provides not only good utilization but also low packet loss.

Keywords: congestion control, queue management, computer networks, fuzzy logic

Procedia PDF Downloads 389

Authors: S. Da Costa, D. Páez, F. Sánchez

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We examine the causal role of positive affect on creativity, the association of creativity or innovation in the ideation phase with functional emotional regulation, successful adjustment to stress and dispositional emotional creativity, as well as the predictive role of creativity for positive emotions and social adjustment. The study examines the effects of modification of positive affect on creativity. Participants write three poems, narrate an infatuation episode, answer a scale of personal growth after this episode and perform a creativity task, answer a flow scale after creativity task and fill a dispositional emotional creativity scale. High and low positive effect was induced by asking subjects to write three poems about high and low positive connotation stimuli. In a neutral condition, tasks were performed without previous affect induction. Subjects on the condition of high positive affect report more positive and less negative emotions, more personal growth (effect size r = .24) and their last poem was rated as more original by judges (effect size r = .33). Mediational analysis showed that positive emotions explain the influence of the manipulation on personal growth - positive affect correlates r = .33 to personal growth. The emotional creativity scale correlated to creativity scores of the creative task (r = .14), to the creativity of the narration of the infatuation episode (r = .21). Emotional creativity was also associated, during performing the creativity task, with flow (r = .27) and with affect balance (r = .26). The mediational analysis showed that emotional creativity predicts flow through positive affect. Results suggest that innovation in the phase of ideation is associated with a positive affect balance and satisfactory performance, as well as dispositional emotional creativity is adaptive.

Keywords: affectivity, creativity, induction, innovation, psychological factors

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Authors: Mohammed Talib Alkiyumi

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The Sultanate of Oman is characterized by a huge musical heritage that remains mostly preserved. 142 different traditional musical genres and styles (funun) have been registered in the Sultanate. This large number is a unique phenomenon that is worthy of attention and study. These genres and styles are different from others in their origins, rhythms, melodies, poetry, dance movements, etc. Certainly, Oman is exposed to other cultures and there is a variety of ethnicities in the Sultanate; however, this musical diversity is mostly an Omani product. This paper investigates the psychological motives behind Omani musical creativity. This qualitative study is based on relevant documents, as well as an analysis of Omani performance in those genres through documentary films and direct observations. Musical genres are performed in social events such as weddings and celebrations; however, research has shown psychological motives that motivated Omani people to create these various genres, such as provocation of enthusiasm, meditation, religious motivations, poetic competition, and emotional motivation. For each motive, musical genres have been presented.

Keywords: traditional musical, creativity, musical intelligence, Sultanate of Oman

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Authors: Anna Jastrzebska, K. S. Suresh, T. Kitashima, Y. Yamabe-Mitarai, Z. Pakiela

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Near α titanium alloys are important materials for aerospace applications, especially in high temperature applications such as jet engine. Mechanical properties of Ti alloys strongly depends on their processing route, then it is very important to understand micro-structure change by different processing. In our previous study, Nb was found to improve oxidation resistance of Ti alloys. In this study, micro-structure evolution of Ti-6Al-4Nb (wt %) alloy was investigated after plain strain compression test in hot working temperatures in the α and β phase region. High-resolution EBSD was successfully used for precise phase and texture characterization of this alloy. 1.1 kg of Ti-6Al-4Nb ingot was prepared using cold crucible levitation melting. The ingot was subsequently homogenized in 1050 deg.C for 1h followed by cooling in the air. Plate like specimens measuring 10×20×50 mm3 were cut from an ingot by electrical discharge machining (EDM). The plain strain compression test using an anvil with 10 x 35 mm in size was performed with 3 different strain rates: 0.1s-1, 1s-1and 10s-1 in 700 deg.C and 1050 deg.C to obtain 75% of deformation. The micro-structure was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) detector. The α/β phase ratio and phase morphology as well as the crystallographic texture, subgrain size, misorientation angles and misorientation gradients corresponding to each phase were determined over the middle and the edge of sample areas. The deformation mechanism in each working temperature was discussed. The evolution of texture changes with strain rate was investigated. The micro-structure obtained by plain strain compression test was heterogeneous with a wide range of grain sizes. This is because deformation and dynamic recrystallization occurred during deformation at temperature in the α and β phase. It was strongly influenced by strain rate.

Keywords: EBSD, plain strain compression test, Ti alloys

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Authors: Aya Maher, Pakinam Youssef

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The objective of this theoretical study is to explore in depth the role of leaders in managing employees’ dysfunctional behavior at workplace in an effort to recommend strategies and solutions for these destructive behaviors that affect employees’ performance. The significance of the study lies in the fact that dysfunctional behavior has been widely spread in almost all organizations, public and private, with its very destructive manifestations. Dysfunctional behavior may be classified into thefts, sabotage, sexual harassment, jealousy, envy, revenge, vulgarity all of which affect employees’ moral, self-esteem and satisfaction level drastically which will be reflected negatively on their performance and productivity. The main research question will focus on the role of leaders in managing employees’ dysfunctional behavior effectively at the workplace through the different strategies and control measures. In this study, the data will be collected from different academic literature and through some primary data by conducting interviews with some public and private employees from different managerial levels and fields.

Keywords: dysfunctional behavior, employees deviant behavior, employees moral, leaders role

Procedia PDF Downloads 331

Authors: Ilia Zharikov, Philipp Nikitin, Ilia Vasiliev, Vladimir Dokholyan

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With the increasing popularity of document analysis and recognition systems, text detection (TD) and optical character recognition (OCR) in document images become challenging tasks. However, according to our best knowledge, no publicly available datasets for these particular problems exist. In this paper, we introduce a Distorted Document Images dataset (DDI-100) and provide a detailed analysis of the DDI-100 in its current state. To create the dataset we collected 7000 unique document pages, and extend it by applying different types of distortions and geometric transformations. In total, DDI-100 contains more than 100,000 document images together with binary text masks, text and character locations in terms of bounding boxes. We also present an analysis of several state-of-the-art TD and OCR approaches on the presented dataset. Lastly, we demonstrate the usefulness of DDI-100 to improve accuracy and stability of the considered TD and OCR models.

Keywords: document analysis, open dataset, optical character recognition, text detection

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Authors: Zayar Phyo, Ei Chaw Htoon

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In a New-LSB based Steganography method, the Fisher-Yates algorithm is used to permute an existing array randomly. However, that algorithm performance became slower and occurred memory overflow problem while processing the large dimension of images. Therefore, the Text-Based Shuffling algorithm aimed to select only necessary pixels as hiding characters at the specific position of an image according to the length of the input text. In this paper, the enhanced text-based shuffling algorithm is presented with the powered of GPU to improve more excellent performance. The proposed algorithm employs the OpenCL Aparapi framework, along with XORShift Kernel including the Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG) Kernel. PRNG is applied to produce random numbers inside the kernel of OpenCL. The experiment of the proposed algorithm is carried out by practicing GPU that it can perform faster-processing speed and better efficiency without getting the disruption of unnecessary operating system tasks.

Keywords: LSB based steganography, Fisher-Yates algorithm, text-based shuffling algorithm, OpenCL, XORShiftKernel

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Authors: Lee Soo-Kyoung, Kim Young-Su

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This study established a network related to metabolic syndrome intervention by conducting a social network analysis of titles, keywords, and abstracts, and it identified emerging topics of research. It visualized an interconnection between critical keywords and investigated their frequency of appearance to construe the trends in metabolic syndrome intervention measures used in studies conducted over 38 years (1979–2017). It examined a collection of keywords from 8,285 studies using text rank analyzer, NetMiner 4.0. The analysis revealed 5 groups of newly emerging keywords in the research. By examining the relationship between keywords with reference to their betweenness centrality, the following clusters were identified. Thus if new researchers refer to existing trends to establish the subject of their study and the direction of the development of future research on metabolic syndrome intervention can be predicted.

Keywords: intervention, metabolic syndrome, network analysis, research, the trend

Procedia PDF Downloads 196

Authors: Sadegh Torfi

Abstract:

Realization of anticipated energy efficiency from recuperative run-around energy recovery (RER) systems requires identification of the system components influential parameters. Because simulation modeling is considered as an integral part of the design and economic evaluation of RER systems, it is essential to calibrate the developed models and validate the performance predictions by means of comparison with data from experimental measurements. Several theoretical and numerical analyses on RER systems by researchers have been done, but generally the effect of distance between hot and cold flow is ignored. The objective of this study is to develop a thermohydroulic model for a typical RER system that accounts for energy loss from the interconnecting piping and effects of interconnecting pipes length performance of run-around energy recovery systems. Numerical simulation shows that energy loss from the interconnecting piping is change linear with pipes length and if pipes are properly isolated, maximum reduction of effectiveness of RER systems is 2% in typical piping systems.

Keywords: combined heat and power, heat recovery, effectiveness, CGS

Procedia PDF Downloads 191

Authors: Piotr K. Szewczyk, Arkadiusz Gradys, Sungkyun Kim, Luana Persano, Mateusz M. Marzec, Oleksander Kryshtal, Andrzej Bernasik, Sohini Kar-Narayan, Pawel Sajkiewicz, Urszula Stachewicz

Abstract:

Piezoelectric polymers have received great attention in smart textiles, wearables, and flexible electronics. Their potential applications range from devices that could operate without traditional power sources, through self-powering sensors, up to implantable biosensors. Semi-crystalline PVDF is often proposed as the main candidate for industrial-scale applications as it exhibits exceptional energy harvesting efficiency compared to other polymers combined with high mechanical strength and thermal stability. Plenty of approaches have been proposed for obtaining PVDF rich in the desired β-phase with electric polling, thermal annealing, and mechanical stretching being the most prevalent. Electrospinning is a highly tunable technique that provides a one-step process of obtaining highly piezoelectric PVDF fibers without the need for post-treatment. In this study, voltage polarity and relative humidity influence on electrospun PVDF, fibers were investigated with the main focus on piezoelectric β-phase contents and piezoelectric performance. Morphology and internal structure of fibers were investigated using scanning (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy techniques (TEM). Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FITR), wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were used to characterize the phase composition of electrospun PVDF. Additionally, surface chemistry was verified with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Piezoelectric performance of individual electrospun PVDF fibers was measured using piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM), and the power output from meshes was analyzed via custom-built equipment. To prepare the solution for electrospinning, PVDF pellets were dissolved in dimethylacetamide and acetone solution in a 1:1 ratio to achieve a 24% solution. Fibers were electrospun with a constant voltage of +/-15kV applied to the stainless steel nozzle with the inner diameter of 0.8mm. The flow rate was kept constant at 6mlh⁻¹. The electrospinning of PVDF was performed at T = 25°C and relative humidity of 30 and 60% for PVDF30+/- and PVDF60+/- samples respectively in the environmental chamber. The SEM and TEM analysis of fibers produced at a lower relative humidity of 30% (PVDF30+/-) showed a smooth surface in opposition to fibers obtained at 60% relative humidity (PVDF60+/-), which had wrinkled surface and additionally internal voids. XPS results confirmed lower fluorine content at the surface of PVDF- fibers obtained by electrospinning with negative voltage polarity comparing to the PVDF+ obtained with positive voltage polarity. Changes in surface composition measured with XPS were found to influence the piezoelectric performance of obtained fibers what was further confirmed by PFM as well as by custom-built fiber-based piezoelectric generator. For PVDF60+/- samples humidity led to an increase of β-phase contents in PVDF fibers as confirmed by FTIR, WAXS, and DSC measurements, which showed almost two times higher concentrations of β-phase. A combination of negative voltage polarity with high relative humidity led to fibers with the highest β-phase contents and the best piezoelectric performance of all investigated samples. This study outlines the possibility to produce electrospun PVDF fibers with tunable piezoelectric performance in a one-step electrospinning process by controlling relative humidity and voltage polarity conditions. Acknowledgment: This research was conducted within the funding from m the Sonata Bis 5 project granted by National Science Centre, No 2015/18/E/ST5/00230, and supported by the infrastructure at International Centre of Electron Microscopy for Materials Science (IC-EM) at AGH University of Science and Technology. The PFM measurements were supported by an STSM Grant from COST Action CA17107.

Keywords: crystallinity, electrospinning, PVDF, voltage polarity

Procedia PDF Downloads 123

Authors: Charmaine Lamiel, Van Hoa Nguyen, Jae-Jin Shim

Abstract:

Supercapacitors are energy storage devices capable of storing more energy than conventional capacitors and have higher power density than batteries. The advantages of this method include the non-use of reducing agents and acidic medium, and no further use of a post-heat treatment unlike the conventional processes, in which calcination is generally employed after obtaining the initial product. Furthermore, it also offers a shorter reaction time at low temperatures and low power requirements, which allows low fabrication and energy cost. In this study, microwave irradiation was used for the facile and rapid synthesis of mesoporous RGO@(Co,Mn)3O4 nanosheets as an electrode material. The as-prepared electrode exhibited a high capacitance of 953 F•g^−1 at 1 A•g^−1 in a 6 M KOH electrolyte solution. Moreover, the electrode exhibited a high energy density of 76.2 Wh•kg^−1 at a power density of 720 W•kg^−1, and a high power density of 7200 W•kg^−1 at an energy density of 38 Wh•kg^−1. The successful methodology was considered to be efficient and cost-effective, thereby providing an active electrode material with very promising electrochemical performance.

Keywords: cobalt-manganese oxide, electrochemical, graphene, microwave synthesis, supercapacitor

Procedia PDF Downloads 201