Search results for: capacity performance

Authors: David Loh, Wan Chee Wai, Pei Nan, Chen Zhe

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To increase the conveyance capacity to Western Singapore and to meet Singapore’s long-term water needs in a more cost-effective manner, four new transmission pipelines consisting of two 2200 mm diameter water pipes and two 1200mm diameter water pipes will be needed by 2024 to convey water from a Water Reclamation Plant to existing networks in the west region of Singapore. Out of the several possible routes studied, the most cost-effective and technically feasible route was selected to lay the proposed 1.6km-long pipelines that cross a channel via a 6m diameter subsea tunnel. This paper outlines the challenges the team faced throughout the project thus far. It also examined the difficulties such as (1) construction of a 56m-deep launching shaft near a highly sensitive 700mm diameter Gas Transmission Pipeline (GTP) and at a location with high groundwater; (2) manpower and supply disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

Keywords: underwater tunnel, subsea engineering, subsea tunnel construction, waterpipe construction

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Authors: Vishal Kumar Singh

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Bioprocess development is a time-constrained activity aimed at harnessing the full potential of culture performance in an ambience that is not natural to cells. Even with the use of chemically defined media and feeds, a significant amount of time is devoted in identifying the apt operating parameters. In addition, the scale-up of these processes is often accompanied by loss of antibody titer and product quality, which further delays the commercialization of the drug product. In such a scenario, the investigation of this disparity of culture performance is done by further experimentation at a smaller scale that is representative of at-scale production bioreactors. These scale-down model developments are also time-intensive. In this study, a computation fluid dynamics-based multi-objective scaling approach has been illustrated to speed up the process transfer. For the implementation of this approach, a transient multiphase water-air system has been studied in Ansys CFX to visualize the air bubble distribution and volumetric mass transfer coefficient (kLa) profiles, followed by the design of experiment based parametric optimization approach to define the operational space. The proposed approach is completely in silico and requires minimum experimentation, thereby rendering a high throughput to the overall process development.

Keywords: bioprocess development, scale up, scale down, computation fluid dynamics, multi-objective, Ansys CFX, design of experiment

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Authors: L. K. Shitole

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Usually on the face of it, personality is regarded as the external appearance of an individual. In psychology, the personality is not viewed merely as self or external appears, but it adds much more. Human resources development encompasses the personality development of the students. The student’s development starts right from the childhood and gradually continues right up to the completion of education in professional courses. This paper attempts to find out the role of the educational institutions in shaping the personality of the students from the rural area. Schools and colleges have infrastructural limitations, obtaining good quality and devoted teaching staff poses problems and even outside the school environment there are no private classes which may take care of this deficiency. The researcher has used the standardized test namely “Vyaktitva Shodhika” developed by Gyan Prabodhini, Pune for the students in Daund Taluka. There are 68 objective types of questions in the said questionnaire. Totally a sample size of 4191 students was selected. The sample was quite representative. It is observed that by and large the response indicates that the educational institutions are taking sincere efforts in shaping the personality of the students. In the semi-urban area i.e. at educational institutions of all levels, the performance on this front is excellent and at rest of Daund Taluka there is scope for improvement. Educational institutions of all levels are showing excellent performance in ensuring availability of the requisite infrastructure conducive for the development of the personality of the students. In rest of Daund Taluka there is ample scope for improving the situation. As far as data relating to role of co-curricular activities and sports programs in mental and physical development at various educational institutions is concerned Daund educational institutions have repeated their performance in securing “A” category, while in the rural area of Daund Taluka, there is need to step up the efforts in this regard. In today’s world of knowledge industry, one cannot ignore the importance of education and thereby the personality growth of the students. Accordingly, the educational institutions should undertake consistent research and extension activities in the area of personality development.

Keywords: personality, attitude, infrastructure, quality of education, learning environment, teacher’s contribution, family and society’s role

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Authors: Hao-Hsi Tseng, Hsin-Yun Lee

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In the process of building design, the designers have to complete the spatial design and consider the evacuation performance at the same time. It is usually difficult to combine the two planning processes and it results in the gap between spatial design and evacuation performance. Then the designers cannot complete an integrated optimal design solution. In addition, the evacuation routing models proposed by previous researchers is different from the practical evacuation decisions in the real field. On the other hand, more and more building design projects are executed by Building Information Modeling (BIM) in which the design content is formed by the object-oriented framework. Thus, the integration of BIM and evacuation simulation can make a significant contribution for designers. Therefore, this research plan will establish a model that integrates spatial design and evacuation planning. The proposed model will provide the support for the spatial design modifications and optimize the evacuation planning. The designers can complete the integrated design solution in BIM. Besides, this research plan improves the evacuation routing method to make the simulation results more practical. The proposed model will be applied in a building design project for evaluation and validation when it will provide the near-optimal design suggestion. By applying the proposed model, the integration and efficiency of the design process are improved and the evacuation plan is more useful. The quality of building spatial design will be better.

Keywords: building information modeling, evacuation, design, floor plan

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Authors: A. Loayza

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Wood acetilationhapens when woody cell wall is saturated with acetic anhydride, the free hydroxyl groups present on cellulosic structures are replaced. Thus, the capillary spaces are filled with acetyl groups, and this replacement avoids further reactions with water. But, there is no information about wood acetilation in peruvianamzonic Wood species (SchizolobiumExcelsumVoge and CalycophyllumSpruceanum). So, in this research, we test acetylation of this two peruvian species in order to assess its ability as a protection estrategy, like the artificially cultivated species common for this type of treatment. A know experimental methodology was applied, using a laboratory reactor, evaluating the time as a principal variable. In this research, we were able to evaluate weight gains. The acetylation was carriet out considering one immersion time of 3 and 6 hours on acetic anhydride, were could it be observed weight gains ranged between 14 and 20% and the improvement of mention properties such as: a) Dimensional stability and water absorption capacity improved as well as its compressive strength.

Keywords: acetylation, calycophyllum spruceanum benth. Hook. F., cedrelinga cateniformis, copaifera langsdorffii, dimensional stability, schizolobium parahybum

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Authors: Dauda A. Oladosu, Kamorudeen A Olaiya, Abdurahman Bello

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The deployment of smart meters by utility providers to gather fine grained spatiotemporal consumption data has grossly influenced the consumers’ emotion and behavior towards energy utilization. The quest for reduction in power consumption is now a subject of concern and one the methods adopted by the consumers to achieve this is Non-intrusive Load (appliance) Monitoring. Hence, this work presents performance Analysis of Domotics System as a tool for load monitoring when integrated with Consumer Control Unit of residential building. The system was developed with basic elements which enhance remote sensing, DTMF (Dual Tone Multi-frequency) recognition and cryptic messaging when specific task was performed. To demonstrate its applicability and suitability, this prototype was used consistently for six months at different load demands and the utilities consumed were documented. The results obtained shows good response when phone dialed, and the packet delivery of feedback SMS was quite satisfactory, making the implemented system to be of good quality with affordable cost and performs the desired functions. Besides, comparative analysis showed notable reduction in energy consumption and invariably lessened electrical bill of the consumer.

Keywords: automation, domotics, energy, load, remote, schedule

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Authors: Hukam Chand

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Over the past few years, the performance of Indian classical music has been improved a lot due to the technical inclusion of western instruments. Infect, the Indian classical music is all about raags which portray a mood and sentiments expressed through a microtonal scale based on natural harmonic series. And, most of the western instruments are not based on natural harmonic series and the tonal system is the only system which has considerable influence on the Indian classical music. However, the use of western instruments has been growing day by day in one way or the other by the Indian artists due to their quality of harmony. As a result of which, there are some common instruments such as harmonium, violin, guitar, saxophone, synthesizer which are being used commonly by Indian and western artists. On the other hand, a lot of fusion has taken place in the music of both sides due to the similar characteristics in their instruments. For example, harmonium which was originally the western instrument has now acquired an important position in Indian classical music to perform raags. Besides, a lot of suggestions for improving in the Indian music have been given by the artists for technical modification in the western instruments to cater the needs of Indian music through melody approach. Pt. Vishav Mohan Bhatt an Indian musician has developed Mohan Veena (called guitar) to perform raags. N. Rajam the Indian lady Violinist has made a remarkable work on Indian classical music by accompanied with vocal music. The purpose of the present research paper is to highlight the changes in Indian Classical Music through performance by using modified western music instruments.

Keywords: Indian classical music, Western instruments, harmonium, guitar, Violin and impact

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Authors: A. M. Gheitaghy, H. Saffari, G. Q. Zhang

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Numerical approach based on the electrical simulation method is proposed to solve a nonlinear transient heat conduction problem with nonlinear boundary for a spherical body. This problem represents a strong nonlinearity in both the governing equation for temperature dependent thermal property and the boundary condition for combined convective and radiative cooling. By analysing the equivalent electrical model using the electrical circuit simulation program HSPICE, transient temperature and heat flux distributions at sphere can be obtained easily and fast. The solutions clearly illustrate the effect of the radiation-conduction parameter Nrc, the Biot number and the linear coefficient of temperature dependent conductivity and heat capacity. On comparing the results with corresponding numerical solutions, the accuracy and efficiency of this computational method are found to be good.

Keywords: convective and radiative boundary, electrical simulation method, nonlinear heat conduction, spherical coordinate

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Authors: Valeria Piccioni, Matthias Leschok, Ina Cheibas, Illias Hischier, Benjamin Dillenburger, Arno Schlueter, Matthias Kohler, Fabio Gramazio

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The decarbonisation of the building sector requires the development of building components that provide energy efficiency while producing minimal environmental impact. Recent advancements in large-scale 3D printing have shown that it is possible to fabricate components with embedded performances that can be tuned for their specific application. We investigate the potential of polymer 3D printing for the fabrication of translucent facade components. In this study, we explore the effect of geometry on thermal insulation of printed cavity structures following a Hot Box test method. The experimental results are used to calibrate a finite-element simulation model which can support the informed design of 3D printed insulation structures. We show that it is possible to fabricate components providing thermal insulation ranging from 1.7 to 0.95 W/m2K only by changing the internal cavity distribution and size. Moreover, we identify design guidelines that can be used to fabricate components for different climatic conditions and thermal insulation requirements. The research conducted provides the first insights into the thermal behaviour of polymer 3DP facades on a large scale. These can be used as design guidelines for further research toward performant and low-embodied energy 3D printed facade components.

Keywords: 3D printing, thermal performance, polymers, facade components, hot-box method

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Authors: Ali Motalebi Saraji, Reza Zarei Lamuki

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Speed control and behavior improvement of permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM) that have reliable performance, low loss, and high power density, especially in industrial drives, are of great importance for researchers. Because of its importance in this paper, coefficients optimization of proportional-integrator-derivative fractional order controller is presented using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm in order to improve the behavior of PMSM in its speed control loop. This improvement is simulated in MATLAB software for the proposed optimized proportional-integrator-derivative fractional order controller with a Genetic algorithm and compared with a full order controller with a classic optimization method. Simulation results show the performance improvement of the proposed controller with respect to two other controllers in terms of rising time, overshoot, and settling time.

Keywords: speed control loop of permanent magnet synchronous motor, fractional and full order proportional-integrator-derivative controller, coefficients optimization, particle swarm optimization, improvement of behavior

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Authors: Zurina Shafii, Mohamed Obaidullah, Rochania Ayu Yunanda, Nor Farha Zubair

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Cooperative members (also known as user-owners) are responsible in running the cooperative businesses in order to improve their socio economic well-being. Cooperatives have always been recognized as a vehicle to elevate the standard of living of the poor and low-income earners by improving their ability to mobilize resources among the people within the urban and rural sectors of the population. To improve its performance and role, the cooperative should ensure the existence of its specific governance. Using narrative analysis and quasi-statistics, this paper describes the state of operation, growth and nature of products and services offered in Sakofah Savings Co-op (the largest Islamic cooperative in Krabi), Koperasi Muslimin Malaysia Berhad (KMMB) in Malaysia and KOSPIN Jasa Keuangan in Indonesia. Furthermore, it identifies and evaluates the current governance system in each cooperatives and proposes governance framework which may enhance the performance of the cooperatives. The paper, in turn discusses the challenges to cooperative growth and investment from the aspects of governance and monitoring, transparency and human capital. The paper will be useful for regulators and governance organs of cooperatives, namely Board of Members, Management and Shariah Committee in order for these parties to strengthen the governance within cooperatives to further grow this economic sector.

Keywords: Islamic cooperatives, governance, Shariah governance, case study

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Authors: Joel Santhosh, N. Bhavani Shankar Rao

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Problems associated with construction site have been known for many years. Construction industry has to support a world of continuing population growth and economic development. The rising costs of construction materials and the need to adhere to sustainability, alternative construction techniques and materials are being sought. To increase the applications of concrete paving blocks, greater understanding of products produced with locally available materials and indigenously produced mineral admixtures is essential. In the present investigation, concrete paving blocks may be produced with locally available aggregates, cement, fly ash and waste glass powder as the mineral admixture. The ultimate aim of this work is to ascertain the performance of concrete paving blocks containing fly ash and glass powder and compare it with the performance of conventional concrete paving blocks. Mix design is carried out to form M40 grade of concrete by using IS: 10262: 2009 and specification given by IRC: SP: 63: 2004. The paving blocks are tested in accordance to IS: 15658: 2006. It showed that the partial replacement of cement by fly ash and waste glass powder satisfies the minimum requirement as specified by the Indian standard IS: 15658: 2006 for concrete paving blocks to be used in non traffic, light traffic and medium-heavy traffic areas. The study indicated that fly ash and waste glass powder can effectively be used as cement replacement without substantial change in strength.

Keywords: paving block, fly ash, glass powder, strength, abrasion resistance, durability

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Authors: Shafiullah Soomro

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Active contour is one of the image segmentation techniques and its goal is to capture required object boundaries within an image. In this paper, we propose a novel image segmentation method by using an active contour method based on anisotropic diffusion feature enhancement technique. The traditional active contour methods use only pixel information to perform segmentation, which produces inaccurate results when an image has some noise or complex background. We use Perona and Malik diffusion scheme for feature enhancement, which sharpens the object boundaries and blurs the background variations. Our main contribution is the formulation of a new SPF (signed pressure force) function, which uses global intensity information across the regions. By minimizing an energy function using partial differential framework the proposed method captures semantically meaningful boundaries instead of catching uninterested regions. Finally, we use a Gaussian kernel which eliminates the problem of reinitialization in level set function. We use several synthetic and real images from different modalities to validate the performance of the proposed method. In the experimental section, we have found the proposed method performance is better qualitatively and quantitatively and yield results with higher accuracy compared to other state-of-the-art methods.

Keywords: active contours, anisotropic diffusion, level-set, partial differential equations

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Authors: Iordana Neamtu, Aurica P. Chiriac, Loredana E. Nita, Mihai Asandulesa, Elena Butnaru, Nita Tudorachi, Alina Diaconu

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In the last decade, the attention of many researchers is focused on the synthesis of innovative “intelligent” copolymer structures with great potential for different uses. This considerable scientific interest is stimulated by possibility of the significant improvements in physical, mechanical, thermal and other important specific properties of these materials. Functionalization of polymer in synthesis by designing a suitable composition with the desired properties and applications is recognized as a valuable tool. In this work is presented a comparative study of the properties of the new copolymers poly(maleic anhydride maleic-co-3,9-divinyl-2,4,8,10-tetraoxaspiro[5.5]undecane) and poly(itaconic-anhydride-co-3,9-divinyl-2,4,8,10-tetraoxaspiro[5.5]undecane) obtained by radical polymerization in dioxane, using 2,2′-azobis(2-methylpropionitrile) as free-radical initiator. The comonomers are able for generating special effects as for example network formation, biodegradability and biocompatibility, gel formation capacity, binding properties, amphiphilicity, good oxidative and thermal stability, good film formers, and temperature and pH sensitivity. Maleic anhydride (MA) and also the isostructural analog itaconic anhydride (ITA) as polyfunctional monomers are widely used in the synthesis of reactive macromolecules with linear, hyperbranched and self & assembled structures to prepare high performance engineering, bioengineering and nano engineering materials. The incorporation of spiroacetal groups in polymer structures improves the solubility and the adhesive properties, induce good oxidative and thermal stability, are formers of good fiber or films with good flexibility and tensile strength. Also, the spiroacetal rings induce interactions on ether oxygen such as hydrogen bonds or coordinate bonds with other functional groups determining bulkiness and stiffness. The synthesized copolymers are analyzed by DSC, oscillatory and rotational rheological measurements and dielectric spectroscopy with the aim of underlying the heating behavior, solution viscosity as a function of shear rate and temperature and to investigate the relaxation processes and the motion of functional groups present in side chain around the main chain or bonds of the side chain. Acknowledgments This work was financially supported by the grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research, CNCS-UEFISCDI, project number PN-II-132/2014 “Magnetic biomimetic supports as alternative strategy for bone tissue engineering and repair’’ (MAGBIOTISS).

Keywords: Poly(maleic anhydride-co-3, 9-divinyl-2, 4, 8, 10-tetraoxaspiro (5.5)undecane); Poly(itaconic anhydride-co-3, 9-divinyl-2, 4, 8, 10-tetraoxaspiro (5.5)undecane); DSC; oscillatory and rotational rheological analysis; dielectric spectroscopy

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Authors: A. O. Idris, J. Virgone, A. I. Ibrahim, D. David, E. Vergnault

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In hot countries, the major challenge is the air conditioning. The increase in energy consumption by air conditioning stems from the need to live in more comfortable buildings, which is understandable. But in Djibouti, one of the countries with the most expensive electricity in the world, this need is exacerbated by an architecture that is inappropriate and unsuitable for climatic conditions. This paper discusses the design of the roof which is the surface receiving the most solar radiation. The roof determines the general behavior of the building. The study presents Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling and analysis of the energy performance of a double skin ventilated roof. The particularity of this study is that it considers the climate of Djibouti characterized by hot and humid conditions in winter and very hot and humid in summer. Roof simulations are carried out using the Ansys Fluent software to characterize the flow and the heat transfer induced in the ventilated roof in steady state. This modeling is carried out by comparing the influence of several parameters such as the internal emissivity of the upper surface, the thickness of the insulation of the roof and the thickness of the ventilated channel on heat gain through the roof. The energy saving potential compared to the current construction in Djibouti is also presented.

Keywords: building, double skin roof, CFD, thermo-fluid analysis, energy saving, forced convection, natural convection

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Authors: Yili Liu, Honghao Ren, Mariko Kondo

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In the field of second language (L2) speech learning, it is well-known that that learner’s first language (L1) phonetic and phonological characteristics will be transferred into their L2 production and perception, which lead to foreign accent. For L1 Mandarin learners of Japanese, the confusion of /u/ and /o/ in /CjV/ sequences has been observed in their utterance frequently. L1 transfer is considered to be the cause of this issue, however, other factors which influence the identification of /Cju/ and /Cjo/ sequences still under investigation. This study investigates the perception of Japanese /Cju/ and /Cjo/ units by L1 Mandarin learners of Japanese. It further examined whether learners’ proficiency, syllable position, phonetic features of preceding consonants and background noise affect learners’ performance in perception. Fifty-two Mandarin-speaking learners of Japanese and nine native Japanese speakers were recruited to participate in an identification task. Learners were divided into beginner, intermediate and advanced level according to their Japanese proficiency. The average correct rate was used to evaluate learners’ perceptual performance. Furthermore, the comparison of the correct rate between learners’ groups and the control group was conducted as well to examine learners’ nativelikeness. Results showed that background noise tends to pose an adverse effect on distinguishing /u/ and /o/ in /CjV/ sequences. Secondly, Japanese proficiency has no influence on learners’ perceptual performance in the quiet and in background noise. Then all learners did not reach a native-like level without the distraction of noise. Beginner level learners performed less native-like, although higher level learners appeared to have achieved nativelikeness in the multi-talker babble noise. Finally, syllable position tends to affect distinguishing /Cju/ and /Cjo/ only under the noisy condition. Phonetic features of preceding consonants did not impact learners’ perception in any listening conditions. Findings in this study can give an insight into a further understanding of Japanese vowel acquisition by L1 Mandarin learners of Japanese. In addition, this study indicates that L1 transfer is not the only explanation for the confusion of /u/ and /o/ in /CjV/ sequences, factors such as listening condition and syllable position are also needed to take into consideration in future research. It also suggests the importance of perceiving speech in a noisy environment, which is close to the actual conversation required more attention to pedagogy.

Keywords: background noise, Chinese learners of Japanese, /Cju/ and /Cjo/ sequences, second language perception

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Authors: Mulatu Kassie Birhanu

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Electro-oxidation of glycerol is an important process to convert the less price glycerol into other expensive (essential) and energy-rich chemicals. In this study, nickel was electro-deposited on laboratory-made carbon ceramic electrode (CCE) substrate using electrochemical techniques that is cyclic voltammetry (CV) to prepare an electro-catalyst (Ni/CCE) for electro-oxidation of glycerol. Carbon ceramic electrode was prepared from graphite and methyl tri-methoxy silane (MTMOS) through the processes called hydrolysis and condensation with methanol in acidic media (HCl) by a sol-gel technique. Physico-chemical characterization of bare CCE and modified (deposited) CCE (Ni/CCE) was measured and evaluated by Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Electro-oxidation of glycerol was performed in 0.1 M glycerol in alkaline media (0.5 M NaOH). High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) technique was used to identify and determine the concentration of glycerol, reaction intermediates and oxidized products of glycerol after its electro-oxidation is performed. The conversion (%) of electro-oxidation of glycerol during 9-hour oxidation was 73% and 36% at 1.8V and 1.6V vs. RHE, respectively. Formate, oxalate, glycolate and glycerate are the main oxidation products of glycerol with selectivity (%) of 75%, 8.6%, 1.1% and 0.95 % at 1.8 V vs. RHE and 55.4%, 2.2%, 1.0% and 0.6% at 1.6 V vs. RHE respectively. The result indicates that formate is the main product in the electro-oxidation of glycerol on Ni/CCE using the indicated applied potentials.

Keywords: carbon-ceramic electrode, electrodeposition, electro-oxidation, Methyltrimethoxysilane

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Authors: Leah Ritchie

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By many accounts, the most recent economic recession and subsequent lack-luster recovery has demonstrated that corporate social responsibility is in a state of crisis. This crisis represents an opportunity for CSR scholars to play a role in restoring long-term economic growth and consumer confidence. In its current state however, CSR may not be in a position to facilitate positive change. In an attempt to remain relevant, the field has shifted toward a performance-based agenda that demonstrates in practical terms, how CSR can positively affect the financial and strategic performance of the firm. This paper argues that if CSR is to play a central role in helping to create a more equitable balance of power between industry and society, it must demonstrate the symbiotic nature of the relationship between these two entities, not just in terms of compartmentalized strategic and financial gain for the firm, but also toward maintaining a 'do no harm' imperative. Given the evidence that harm done to society is ultimately turned back on the firm, this is not simply a moralistic imperative. In order to affect change, CSR must also create an activist agenda to raise consciousness among the general citizenry toward mobilizing, uncovering, and repairing breeches in the implicit social contract between business and society.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, multiple stakeholder view, economic recession, housing crisis

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Authors: Rebiahi Sid Ahmed, Boutarfi Zakaria, Rahmoun Malika, Antonio Galvez

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The objective of this study was to explore the possible correlation between resistance to antibiotics and tolerance to biocides in Gram-negative bacilli isolated from the University Hospital Center of Tlemcen. This study focused on 175 clinical isolates of Gram-negative bacilli, it is a question of exploring: their level and profile of resistance to antibiotics, their tolerance to biocides, as well as the identification of the genetic supports of this resistance. Enterobacter spp. was the most predominant bacterial genus, all isolates harbored at least one of the studied genes with significant resistance capacity. Our results show, in some cases, a possible positive correlation between the presence of biocide tolerance genes and those of antibiotic resistance; in fact, tolerance to biocides could be one of the co-selection factors for antibiotic resistance. The results of this study should encourage the good practice of hygiene measures as well as the rational use of antimicrobials in order to hinder the development and emergence of resistance in our hospital departments.Mots clés : Antibiotiques, Biocides, Enterobacter, Hôpital, Résistance,

Keywords: antibiotic, biocides, enterobacter, hospital, resistance

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Authors: Abderrahmane Soufi

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The building sector is the largest consumer of energy in France, accounting for 44% of French consumption. To reduce energy consumption and improve energy efficiency, France implemented an energy transition law targeting 40% energy savings by 2030 in the tertiary building sector. Building simulation tools are used to predict the energy performance of buildings but the reliability of these tools is hampered by discrepancies between the real and simulated energy performance of a building. This performance gap lies in the simplified assumptions of certain factors, such as the behavior of occupants on air conditioning and heating, which is considered deterministic when setting a fixed operating schedule and a fixed interior comfort temperature. However, the behavior of occupants on air conditioning and heating is stochastic, diverse, and complex because it can be affected by many factors. Probabilistic models are an alternative to deterministic models. These models are usually derived from statistical data and express occupant behavior by assuming a probabilistic relationship to one or more variables. In the literature, logistic regression has been used to model the behavior of occupants with regard to heating and air conditioning systems by considering univariate logistic models in residential buildings; however, few studies have developed multivariate models for higher education and vocational training buildings in a Mediterranean climate. Therefore, in this study, occupant behavior on heating and air conditioning systems was modeled using logistic regression. Occupant behavior related to the turn-on heating and air conditioning systems was studied through experimental measurements collected over a period of one year (June 2023–June 2024) in three classrooms occupied by several groups of students in engineering schools and professional training. Instrumentation was provided to collect indoor temperature and indoor relative humidity in 10-min intervals. Furthermore, the state of the heating/air conditioning system (off or on) and the set point were determined. The outdoor air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed were collected as weather data. The number of occupants, age, and sex were also considered. Logistic regression was used for modeling an occupant turning on the heating and air conditioning systems. The results yielded a proposed model that can be used in building simulation tools to predict the energy performance of teaching buildings. Based on the first months (summer and early autumn) of the investigations, the results illustrate that the occupant behavior of the air conditioning systems is affected by the indoor relative humidity and temperature in June, July, and August and by the indoor relative humidity, temperature, and number of occupants in September and October. Occupant behavior was analyzed monthly, and univariate and multivariate models were developed.

Keywords: occupant behavior, logistic regression, behavior model, mediterranean climate, air conditioning, heating

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Authors: Manoj M. Sarode, Sharad P. Jadhav, Mukesh D. Patil, Pushparaj S. Suryawanshi

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Even though the PID controller is widely used in industrial process, tuning of PID parameters are not easy. It is a time consuming and requires expert people. Another drawback of PID controller is that process dynamics might change over time. This can happen due to variation of the process load, normal wear and tear etc. To compensate for process behavior change over time, expert users are required to recalibrate the PID gains. Implementation of model based controllers usually needs a process model. Identification of process model is time consuming job and no guaranty of model accuracy. If the identified model is not accurate, performance of the controller may degrade. Model based controllers are quite expensive and the whole procedure for the implementation is sometimes tedious. To eliminate such issues Autotuning PID controller becomes vital element. Software based Relay Feedback Autotuning Controller proves to be efficient, upgradable and maintenance free controller. In Relay Feedback Autotune controller PID parameters can be achieved with a very short span of time. This paper presents the real time implementation of LabVIEW based Relay Feedback Autotuning PID controller. It is successfully developed and implemented to control level of a laboratory setup. Its performance is analyzed for different setpoints and found satisfactorily.

Keywords: autotuning, PID, liquid level control, recalibrate, labview, controller

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Authors: Bosiacki Mateusz, Anna Lubkowska, Dariusz Chlubek, Irena Baranowska-Bosiacka

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Exposure to cold temperatures can be considered a stressor that can lead to adaptive responses. The present study hypothesized the possibility of a positive effect of cold water exercise on mitochondrial biogenesis and muscle energy metabolism in aging rats. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of cold water exercise on energy status, purine compounds, and mitochondrial biogenesis in the muscles of aging rats as indicators of the effects of cold water exercise and their usefulness in monitoring adaptive changes. The study was conducted on 64 aging rats of both sexes, 15 months old at the time of the experiment. The rats (male and female separately) were randomly assigned to the following study groups: control, sedentary animals; 5°C groups animals - training swimming in cold water at 5°C; 36°C groups - animals training swimming in water at thermal comfort temperature. The study was conducted with the approval of the Local Ethical Committee for Animal Experiments. The animals in the experiment were subjected to swimming training for 9 weeks. During the first week of the study, the duration of the first swimming training was 2 minutes (on the first day), increasing daily by 0.5 minutes up to 4 minutes on the fifth day of the first week. From the second to the eighth week, the swimming training was 4 minutes per day, five days a week. At the end of the study, forty-eight hours after the last swim training, the animals were dissected. In the skeletal muscle tissue of the thighs of the rats, we determined the concentrations of ATP, ADP, AMP, Ado (HPLC), PGC-1a protein expression (Western blot), PGC1A, Mfn1, Mfn2, Opa1, and Drp1 gene expression (qRT PCR). The study showed that swimming in water at a thermally comfortable temperature improved the energy metabolism of the aging rat muscles by increasing the metabolic rate (increase in ATP, ADP, TAN, AEC) and enhancing mitochondrial fusion (increase in mRNA expression of regulatory proteins Mfn1 and Mfn2). Cold water swimming improved muscle energy metabolism in aging rats by increasing the rate of muscle energy metabolism (increase in ATP, ADP, TAN, AEC concentrations) and enhancing mitochondrial biogenesis and dynamics (increase in the mRNA expression of proteins of fusion-regulating factors – Mfn1, Mfn2, and Opa1, and the factor regulating mitochondrial fission – Drp1). The concentration of high-energy compounds and the expression of proteins regulating mitochondrial dynamics in the muscle may be a useful indicator in monitoring adaptive changes occurring in aging muscles under the influence of exercise in cold water. It represents a short-term adaptation to changing environmental conditions and has a beneficial effect on maintaining the bioenergetic capacity of muscles in the long term. Conclusion: exercise in cold water can exert positive effects on energy metabolism, biogenesis and dynamics of mitochondria in aging rat muscles. Enhancement of mitochondrial dynamics under cold water exercise conditions can improve mitochondrial function and optimize the bioenergetic capacity of mitochondria in aging rat muscles.

Keywords: cold water immersion, adaptive responses, muscle energy metabolism, aging

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Authors: S. M. Ali, S. I. Mohamed

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Reduction of feed cost for broiler production is at most importance in decreasing the cost of production. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the use of synthetic amino acids (L-lysine – DL-methionine) instead of super concentrate and groundnut cake versus meat powder as protein sources. A total of 180 male broiler chicks (Cobb – strain) at 15 day of age (DOA) were selected according to their average body weight (380 g) from a broiler chicks flock at Elbashair Farm. The chicks were randomly divided into six groups of 30 chicks. Each group was further sub divided into three replicates with 10 birds. Six experimental diets were formulated. The first diet contained groundnut cake and super concentrate as the control (GNC + C); in the second diet, meat powder and super concentrate (MP + C) were used. The third diet contained groundnut cake and amino acids (GNC + AA); the forth diet contained meat powder and amino acids (MP + AA). The fifth diet contained groundnut cake, meat powder and super concentrate (GNC + MP + C) and the sixth diet contained groundnut cake, meat powder and amino acids (GNC + MP + AA). The formulated rations were randomly assigned for the different sub groups in a completely randomized design of six treatments and three replicates. Weekly feed intake, body weight and mortality were recorded and body weight gain and feed conversion ratio were calculated. At the end of the experiment (49 DOA), nine birds from each treatment were slaughtered. Live body weight, carcass weight, head, shank, and some internal organs (gizzard, heart, liver, small intestine, and abdominal fat pad) weights were taken. For the overall experimental period the (GNC + C +MP) consumed significantly (P≤0.01) the highest cumulative feed while the (MP + AA) group consumed the lowest amount of feed. The (GNC + C) and the (GNC + AA) groups had the heaviest live body weight while (MP + AA) had the lowest live body weight. The overall FCR was significantly (P≤0.01) the best for (GNC + AA) group while the (MP + AA) reported the worst FCR. However, the (GNC + AA) had significantly (P≤0.01) the lowest AFP. The (GNC + MP + Con) group had the highest dressing % while the (MP + AA) group had the lowest dressing %. It is concluded that amino acids can be used instead of super concentrate in broiler feeding with perfect performance and less cost and that meat powder is not advisable to be used with amino acids.

Keywords: broiler chickens, DL-lysine, methionine, performance

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Authors: Iris Vural Gursel, Andrea Ramirez

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Effective utilization of lignin is an important mean for developing economically profitable biorefineries. Current literature suggests that large amounts of lignin will become available in second generation biorefineries. New conversion technologies will, therefore, be needed to carry lignin transformation well beyond combustion to produce energy, but towards high-value products such as chemicals and transportation fuels. In recent years, significant progress on catalysis has been made to improve transformation of lignin, and new catalytic processes are emerging. In this work, a techno-economic assessment of two of these novel conversion routes and comparison with more established lignin pyrolysis route were made. The aim is to provide insights into the potential performance and potential hotspots in order to guide the experimental research and ease the commercialization by early identifying cost drivers, strengths, and challenges. The lignin conversion routes selected for detailed assessment were: (non-catalytic) lignin pyrolysis as the benchmark, direct hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of lignin and hydrothermal lignin depolymerisation. Products generated were mixed oxygenated aromatic monomers (MOAMON), light organics, heavy organics, and char. For the technical assessment, a basis design followed by process modelling in Aspen was done using experimental yields. A design capacity of 200 kt/year lignin feed was chosen that is equivalent to a 1 Mt/y scale lignocellulosic biorefinery. The downstream equipment was modelled to achieve the separation of the product streams defined. For determining external utility requirement, heat integration was considered and when possible gasses were combusted to cover heating demand. The models made were used in generating necessary data on material and energy flows. Next, an economic assessment was carried out by estimating operating and capital costs. Return on investment (ROI) and payback period (PBP) were used as indicators. The results of the process modelling indicate that series of separation steps are required. The downstream processing was found especially demanding in the hydrothermal upgrading process due to the presence of significant amount of unconverted lignin (34%) and water. Also, external utility requirements were found to be high. Due to the complex separations, hydrothermal upgrading process showed the highest capital cost (50 M€ more than benchmark). Whereas operating costs were found the highest for the direct HDO process (20 M€/year more than benchmark) due to the use of hydrogen. Because of high yields to valuable heavy organics (32%) and MOAMON (24%), direct HDO process showed the highest ROI (12%) and the shortest PBP (5 years). This process is found feasible with a positive net present value. However, it is very sensitive to the prices used in the calculation. The assessments at this stage are associated with large uncertainties. Nevertheless, they are useful for comparing alternatives and identifying whether a certain process should be given further consideration. Among the three processes investigated here, the direct HDO process was seen to be the most promising.

Keywords: biorefinery, economic assessment, lignin conversion, process design

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Authors: Jianli Jiang, Bai-Chen Xie

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The climate issue has aroused global concern. Achieving sustainable development is a good path for countries to mitigate environmental and climatic pressures, although there are many difficulties. The first step towards sustainable development is to evaluate the environmental efficiency of the energy industry with proper methods. The power sector is a major source of CO2, SO2, and NOx emissions. Evaluating the environmental efficiency (EE) of power systems is the premise to alleviate the terrible situation of energy and the environment. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has been widely used in efficiency studies. However, measuring the efficiency of a system (be it a nation, region, sector, or business) is a challenging task. The classic DEA takes the decision-making units (DMUs) as independent, which neglects the interaction between DMUs. While ignoring these inter-regional links may result in a systematic bias in the efficiency analysis; for instance, the renewable power generated in a certain region may benefit the adjacent regions while the SO2 and CO2 emissions act oppositely. This study proposes a spatial network DEA (SNDEA) with a slack measure that can capture the spatial spillover effects of inputs/outputs among DMUs to measure efficiency. This approach is used to study the EE of China's power system, which consists of generation, transmission, and distribution departments, using a panel dataset from 2014 to 2020. In the empirical example, the energy and patent inputs, the undesirable CO2 output, and the renewable energy (RE) power variables are tested for a significant spatial spillover effect. Compared with the classic network DEA, the SNDEA result shows an obvious difference tested by the global Moran' I index. From a dynamic perspective, the EE of the power system experiences a visible surge from 2015, then a sharp downtrend from 2019, which keeps the same trend with the power transmission department. This phenomenon benefits from the market-oriented reform in the Chinese power grid enacted in 2015. The rapid decline in the environmental efficiency of the transmission department in 2020 was mainly due to the Covid-19 epidemic, which hinders economic development seriously. While the EE of the power generation department witnesses a declining trend overall, this is reasonable, taking the RE power into consideration. The installed capacity of RE power in 2020 is 4.40 times that in 2014, while the power generation is 3.97 times; in other words, the power generation per installed capacity shrank. In addition, the consumption cost of renewable power increases rapidly with the increase of RE power generation. These two aspects make the EE of the power generation department show a declining trend. Incorporation of the interactions among inputs/outputs into the DEA model, this paper proposes an efficiency evaluation method on the basis of the DEA framework, which sheds some light on efficiency evaluation in regional studies. Furthermore, the SNDEA model and the spatial DEA concept can be extended to other fields, such as industry, country, and so on.

Keywords: spatial network DEA, environmental efficiency, sustainable development, power system

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Authors: Sameh Ahmed, Khaled Galal

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Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) sandwich panels are increasingly making their way into structural engineering applications. One of these applications is the blast mitigation. This is attributed to FRP ability of absorbing considerable amount of energy relative to their low density. In this study, FRP sandwich panels are numerically studied using an explicit finite element code ANSYS AUTODYN. The numerical model is then validated with the experimental field tests in the literature. The inner core configurations that have been studied in the experimental field tests were formed from different orientations of the honeycomb shape. On the other hand, the conducted numerical study has proposed a new core configuration. The new core configuration is formulated from a combination of woven and honeycomb shapes. Throughout this study, two performance parameters are considered; the amount of the energy absorbed by the panels and the peak deformation of the panels. Following, a parametric study has been conducted with more variations of the studied parameters to examine the enhancement of the panels' performance. It is found that the numerical results have shown a good agreement with the experimental measurements. Furthermore, the analyses have revealed that using the proposed core configuration obviously enhances the FRP panels’ behavior when subjected to blast loads.

Keywords: blast load, fiber reinforced polymers, finite element modeling, sandwich panels

Procedia PDF Downloads 299

Authors: Fatiha Aouabed, Abdelhafid Bayadi, Rabah Boudissa

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Nowadays, silicone rubber insulation materials are widely used in high voltage outdoor insulation systems as they can combat pollution flashover problems. The difference in pollution flashover performance of silicone rubber and other insulating materials is due to the way that water wets their surfaces. It resides as discrete drops on silicone rubber, and the mechanism of flashover is due to the breakdown of the air between the water drops and the distortion of these drops in the direction of the electric field which brings the insulation to degradation and failure. The main objective of this work is to quantify the effect of different types of water drops arrangements, their position and dry bands width on the flashover voltage of the silicone insulating surface with non-uniform electric field systems. The tests were carried out on a rectangular sample under AC voltage. A rod-rod electrode system is used. The findings of this work indicate that the performance of the samples decreases with the presence of water drops on their surfaces. Further, these experimental findings show that there is a limiting number of rows from which the flashover voltage of the insulation is minimal and constant. This minimum is a function of the distance between two successive rows. Finally, it is concluded that the system withstand voltage increases when the row of droplets on the electrode axis is removed.

Keywords: contamination, flashover, testing, silicone rubber insulators, surface wettability, water droplets

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Authors: N. Sabiyath Fatima, R. K. Shanmugasundaram

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In Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETS), every node performs both as transmitter and receiver. The existing backoff models do not exactly forecast the performance of the wireless network. Also, the existing models experience elevated packet collisions. Every time a collision happens, the station’s contention window (CW) is doubled till it arrives at the utmost value. The main objective of this paper is to diminish collision by means of contention window Multiplicative Increase Decrease Backoff (CWMIDB) scheme. The intention of rising CW is to shrink the collision possibility by distributing the traffic into an outsized point in time. Within wireless Ad hoc networks, the CWMIDB algorithm dynamically controls the contention window of the nodes experiencing collisions. During packet communication, the backoff counter is evenly selected from the given choice of [0, CW-1]. At this point, CW is recognized as contention window and its significance lies on the amount of unsuccessful transmission that had happened for the packet. On the initial transmission endeavour, CW is put to least amount value (C min), if transmission effort fails, subsequently the value gets doubled, and once more the value is set to least amount on victorious broadcast. CWMIDB is simulated inside NS2 environment and its performance is compared with Binary Exponential Backoff Algorithm. The simulation results show improvement in transmission probability compared to that of the existing backoff algorithm.

Keywords: backoff, contention window, CWMIDB, MANET

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Authors: H. R. Khodaei, M. Moradi, A. H. Tajik

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The type of foundation commonly used today for berthing dolphins is a set of tubular steel piles with large diameters, which are known as monopiles. The design of these monopiles is based on the theories related with laterally loaded piles. One of the most common methods to analyze and design the piles subjected to lateral loads is the p-y curves. In the present study, centrifuge tests are conducted in order to obtain the p-y curves. Series of tests were designed in order to investigate the scaling laws in the centrifuge for monotonic loading. Also, two important parameters, the embedded depth L of the pile in the soil and free length e of the pile, as well as their ratios were studied via five experimental tests. Finally, the p-y curves of API are presented to be compared with the curves obtained from the tests so that the differences could be demonstrated. The results show that the p-y curves proposed by API highly overestimate the lateral load bearing capacity. It suggests that these curves need correction and modification for each site as the soil conditions change.

Keywords: centrifuge modeling, monopile, lateral loading, p-y curves

Procedia PDF Downloads 233

Authors: Bruno Pinto Vieira, Marco Antonio Calijorne Soares, Armando Sérgio de Aguiar Filho

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Nowadays, a massive amount of information has been produced by different data sources, including mobile devices and transactional systems. In this scenario, concerns arise on how to maintain or establish data quality, which is now treated as a product to be defined, measured, analyzed, and improved to meet consumers' needs, which is the one who uses these data in decision making and companies strategies. Information that reaches low levels of quality can lead to issues that can consume time and money, such as missed business opportunities, inadequate decisions, and bad risk management actions. The step of selecting, identifying, evaluating, and selecting data sources with significant quality according to the need has become a costly task for users since the sources do not provide information about their quality. Traditional data quality control methods are based on user experience or business rules limiting performance and slowing down the process with less than desirable accuracy. Using advanced machine learning algorithms, it is possible to take advantage of computational resources to overcome challenges and add value to companies and users. In this study, machine learning is applied to data quality analysis on different datasets, seeking to compare the performance of the techniques according to the dimensions of quality assessment. As a result, we could create a ranking of approaches used, besides a system that is able to carry out automatically, data quality assessment.

Keywords: machine learning, data quality, quality dimension, quality assessment

Procedia PDF Downloads 133