Search results for: time temperature superposition

Authors: Carmen Sica, Elena M. Scalisi, Sara Ignoto, Ludovica Palmeri, Martina Contino, Greta Ferruggia, Antonio Salvaggio, Santi C. Pavone, Gino Sorbello, Loreto Di Donato, Roberta Pecoraro, Maria V. Brundo

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Recently, a rise in the use of wireless internet technologies such as Wi-Fi and 5G routers/modems have been demonstrated. These devices emit a considerable amount of electromagnetic radiation (EMR), which could interact with the male reproductive system either by thermal or non-thermal mechanisms. The aim of this study was to investigate the direct in vitro influence of 5G radiation on sperm quality in Mytilus galloprovincialis, considered an excellent model for reproduction studies. The experiments at 27 GHz were conducted by using a no commercial high gain pyramidal horn antenna. To evaluate the specific absorption rate (SAR), a numerical simulation has been performed. The resulting incident power density was significantly lower than the power density limit of 10 mW/cm2 set by the international guidelines as a limit for nonthermal effects above 6 GHz. However, regarding temperature measurements of the aqueous sample, it has been verified an increase of 0.2°C, compared to the control samples. This very low-temperature increase couldn’t interfere with experiments. For experiments, sperm samples taken from sexually mature males of Mytilus galloprovincialis were placed in artificial seawater, salinity 30 + 1% and pH 8.3 filtered with a 0.2 m filter. After evaluating the number and quality of spermatozoa, sperm cells were exposed to electromagnetic fields a 27GHz. The effect of exposure on sperm motility and quality was evaluated after 10, 20, 30 and 40 minutes with a light microscope and also using the Eosin test to verify the vitality of the gametes. All the samples were performed in triplicate and statistical analysis was carried out using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Turkey test for multiple comparations of means to determine differences of sperm motility. A significant decrease (30%) in sperm motility was observed after 10 minutes of exposure and after 30 minutes, all sperms were immobile and not vital. Due to little literature data about this topic, these results could be useful for further studies concerning a great diffusion of these new technologies.

Keywords: mussel, spermatozoa, sperm motility, millimeter waves

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Authors: Ana Elisa Ribeiro Costa, Sónia Daniela Ferreira Miranda, João Pedro De Carvalho Pereira, João Carlos Simões Bernardo

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Elastomeric thermoplastics (TPEs) have been widely used in the footwear industry over the years. Recently this industry has been requesting materials that can combine lightweight and high abrasion resistance. Although there are blowing agents on the market to improve the lightweight, when these are incorporated into molten polymers during the extrusion or injection molding, it is necessary to have some specific processing conditions (e.g. effect of temperature and hydrodynamic stresses) to obtain good properties and acceptable surface appearance on the final products. Therefore, it is a great advantage for the compounder industry to acquire compounds that already include the blowing agents. In this way, they can be handled and processed under the same conditions as a conventional raw material. In this work, the expandable TPEs compounds, namely a TPU and a SEBS, with the incorporation of blowing agents, have been developed through a co-rotating modular twin-screw parallel extruder. Different blowing agents such as thermo-expandable microspheres and an azodicarbonamide were selected and different screw configurations and temperature profiles were evaluated since these parameters have a particular influence on the expansion inhibition of the blowing agents. Furthermore, percentages of incorporation were varied in order to investigate their influence on the final product properties. After the extrusion of these compounds, expansion was tested by the injection process. The mechanical and physical properties were characterized by different analytical methods like tensile, flexural and abrasive tests, determination of hardness and density measurement. Also, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was performed. It was observed that it is possible to incorporate the blowing agents on the TPEs without their expansion on the extrusion process. Only with reprocessing (injection molding) did the expansion of the agents occur. These results are corroborated by SEM micrographs, which show a good distribution of blowing agents in the polymeric matrices. The other experimental results showed a good mechanical performance and its density decrease (30% for SEBS and 35% for TPU). This study suggested that it is possible to develop optimized compounds for footwear applications (e.g., sole shoes), which only will be able to expand during the injection process.

Keywords: blowing agents, expandable thermoplastic elastomeric compounds, low density, footwear applications

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Authors: Nikita Rajendra Sharma, Jai Prakash Kushvah, Gerhard Rinkenauer

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Driving a car is a discrete aiming movement in which drivers aim at successful extraction of relevant information and elimination of potentially distracting one. It is the motor preparation which enables one to react to certain stimuli onsite by allowing perceptual process for optimal adjustment. Drivers prepare their responses according to the available resources of advanced and ongoing information to drive efficiently. It requires constant programming and reprogramming of the motor system. The reaction time (RT) is shorter when a response signal is preceded by a warning signal. The reason behind this reduced time in responding to targets is that the warning signal causes the participant to prepare for the upcoming response by updating the motor program before the execution. While performing the primary task of changing lanes while driving, the simultaneous occurrence of additional information during the presentation of cues (congruent or incongruent with respect to target cue) might impact the motor preparation and execution. The presence of additional information (other than warning or response signal) between warning signal and imperative stimulus influences human motor preparation to a reasonable extent. The present study was aimed to assess the impact of congruent and incongruent additional information (with respect to imperative stimulus) on driving performance (reaction time, steering wheel amplitude, and steering wheel duration) during a lane change task. implementing movement pre-cueing paradigm. 22 young valid car-drivers (Mage = 24.1+/- 3.21 years, M = 10, F = 12, age-range 21-33 years) participated in the study. The study revealed that additional information influenced the overall driving performance as potential distractors and relevant information. Findings suggest that the events of additional information relatively influenced the reaction time and steering wheel angle as potential distractor or irrelevant information. Participants took longer to respond, and higher steering wheel angles were reported for targets coupled with additional information in comparison with warning signs preceded by potential distractors and the participants' response time was more for a higher number of lanes (2 Lanes > 1 Lane). The same additional information appearing interchangeably at warning signals and targets worked as relevant information facilitating the motor programming in the trails where they were congruent with the direction of lane change direction.

Keywords: additional information, lane change task, motor preparation, movement pre-cueing, reaction time, steering wheel amplitude

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Authors: Wolfram Jahn, Jose Manuel Munita

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While computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of fire scenarios are commonly used in the design of buildings, less attention has been given to the use of CFD simulations as an operational tool for the fire services. The reason of this lack of attention lies mainly in the fact that CFD simulations typically take large periods of time to complete, and their results would thus not be available in time to be of use during an emergency. Firefighters often face uncertain conditions when entering a building to attack a fire. They would greatly benefit from a technology based on predictive fire simulations, able to assist their decision-making process. The principal constraint to faster CFD simulations is the fine grid necessary to solve accurately the physical processes that govern a fire. This paper explores the possibility of overcoming this constraint and using coarse grid CFD simulations for fire scenarios, and proposes a methodology to use the simulation results in a meaningful way that can be used by the fire fighters during an emergency. Data from real scale compartment fire tests were used to compare CFD fire models with different grid arrangements, and empirical correlations were obtained to interpolate data points into the grids. The results show that the strongly predominant effect of the heat release rate of the fire on the fluid dynamics allows for the use of coarse grids with relatively low overall impact of simulation results. Simulations with an acceptable level of accuracy could be run in real time, thus making them useful as a forecasting tool for emergency response purposes.

Keywords: CFD, fire simulations, emergency response, forecast

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Authors: Antonio Montes, Antonio Cozar, Clara Pereyra, Diego Valor, Enrique Martinez de la Ossa

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Tissues and organs can be damaged because of traumatism, congenital illnesses, or cancer and the traditional therapeutic alternatives, such as surgery, cannot usually completely repair the damaged tissues. Tissue engineering allows regeneration of the patient's tissues, reducing the problems caused by the traditional methods. Scaffolds, polymeric structures with interconnected porosity, can be promoted the proliferation and adhesion of the patient’s cells in the damaged area. Furthermore, by means of impregnation of the scaffold with beneficial active substances, tissue regeneration can be induced through a drug delivery process. The objective of the work is the fabrication of a PVA scaffold coated with Gallic Acid and polypyrrole through a one-step foaming and impregnation process using the SSI technique (Supercritical Solvent Impregnation). In this technique, supercritical CO₂ penetrates into the polymer chains producing the plasticization of the polymer. In the depressurization step a CO₂ cellular nucleation and growing to take place to an interconnected porous structure of the polymer. The foaming process using supercritical CO₂ as solvent and expansion agent presents advantages compared to the traditional scaffolds’ fabrication methods, such as the polymer’s high solubility in the solvent or the possibility of carrying out the process at a low temperature, avoiding the inactivation of the active substance. In this sense, the supercritical CO₂ avoids the use of organic solvents and reduces the solvent residues in the final product. Moreover, this process does not require long processing time that could cause the stratification of substance inside the scaffold reducing the therapeutic efficiency of the formulation. An experimental design has been carried out to optimize the SSI technique operating conditions, as well as a study of the morphological characteristics of the scaffold for its use in tissue engineerings, such as porosity, conductivity or the release profiles of the active substance. It has been proved that the obtained scaffolds are partially porous, conductors of electricity and are able to release Gallic Acid in the long term.

Keywords: scaffold, foaming, supercritical, PVA, polypyrrole, gallic acid

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Authors: Manisha Choudhary, Sudarsan Neogi

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Malachite green (MG), an organic basic dye, has been widely used for the dyeing purpose, as well as a fungicide and antiseptic in aquaculture industry to control fish parasites and disease. However, MG has now turned out to be an extremely controversial compound due to its adverse impact on living beings. Due to high toxicity, proper treatment of wastewater containing MG is utmost important. Among different available technologies, adsorption process is one of the most efficient and cost-effective treatment method due to its simplicity of design, ease of operation and regeneration of used materials. Nonetheless, commercial activated carbon is expensive leading the researchers to focus on utilizing natural resources. In the present work, a species of cactus, Opuntia ficus-indica (OFI), was used to develop a highly efficient, low-cost powdered activated carbon by chemical activation using NaOH. The biosorbent was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscope, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and X-ray diffraction analysis. Batch adsorption studies were performed to remove MG from an aqueous solution as a function of contact time, initial solution pH, initial dye concentration, biosorbent dosages, the presence of salt and temperature. By increasing the initial dye concentration from 100 to 500 mg/l, adsorption capacity increased from 165.45 to 831.58 mg/g. The adsorption kinetics followed the pseudo-second-order model and the chemisorption mechanisms were revealed. The electrostatic attractions and chemical interactions were observed between amino and hydroxyl groups of the biosorbent and amine groups of the dye. The adsorption was solely controlled by film diffusion. Different isotherm models were used to fit the adsorption data. The excellent recovery of adsorption efficiency after the regeneration of biosorbent indicated the high potential of this adsorbent to remove MG from aqueous solution and an excellent cost-effective biosorbent for wide application in wastewater treatment.

Keywords: adsorption, biosorbent, cactus, malachite green

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Authors: Abro Zain-Ul-Aabdin, Naheed Baloch, Khuhro Niaz Hussain, Waseem Akbar, Noor Abid Saeed

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The Melon Fruit Fly Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coq.) belongs to family: Tephritidae order: Diptera and is distributed throughout the vegetable growing areas of Pakistan. The B. cucurbitae is injurious pest of more than 125 species of the vegetables throughout the world. In the present studies we investigated the population of this important pest in cucurbit crops and influence of abiotic parameters such as: temperature, relative humidity and rainfall. The study was carried out at two different locations of District, Hyderabad. The locations were Jeay Shah and Dehli farm where three cucurbit vegetable crops, such as bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria), bitter gourd (Momordica charantia) and ridge gourd (Luffa acutangula) were grown. The traps were baited with Cue-lure and deployed at three meter height in the all locations from 01.01.2015 and up to 30.06.2015. Results revealed that overall significantly higher (P < 0.05) population was recorded on L.acutangula, M.charantia and L.siceraria (130.64, 127.21, and 122.91), respectively. However, significantly higher (P < 0.05) population was observed on L. acutangula (339.4±22.59) during the 4th week of May 2015 followed by M. charantia (334.6±22.76) L. siceraria (333.2±20.13). Whereas; lowest population was recorded on L. siceraria (5.8±1.39) followed by L. acutangula and M. charantia (6.8±0.80g, 8.0±1.30) respectively during the 4th week of January. The population of B. cucurbitae was significantly correlated with the temperature while negatively correlated with relative humidity. Meanwhile in the parasitism preference experiment pupal parasitoid Dirhinus giffardii showed significantly higher (P<0.05) parasitization when the pupae of B.cucurbitae were reared on Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) (24.8±0.48) and also female were yielded from pupae reared on C.sativus under no choice experiment. Similarly higher parasitization and female were recovered when pupae were supplied C. sativus under free choice experiment. Results of the present investigation would be useful in developing a sustainable pest management strategy in the vegetable agro-ecosystem.

Keywords: Dirhinus giffardii, Bactrocera cucurbitae Cucumis sativus, diptera, free choice, parasitization

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Authors: Mishak Rahul, Naveen Kumar, Bharath Kumar

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Conceived as a high-end engine to revolutionise sustainable agri-food production, the intelligent crop circle (ICC) aims to incorporate the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to bolster resource efficiency and prevent waste, increase the volume of production and bring about sustainable solutions with long-term ecosystem conservation as the guiding principle. The operating principle of the ICC relies on bringing together multidisciplinary bottom-up collaborations between producers, researchers and consumers. Key elements of the framework include IoT-based smart sensors for sensing soil moisture, temperature, humidity, nutrient and air quality, which provide short-interval and timely data; blockchain technology for data storage on a private chain, which maintains data integrity, traceability and transparency; and AI-based predictive analysis, which actively predicts resource utilisation, plant growth and environment. This data and AI insights are built into the ICC platform, which uses the resulting DSS (Decision Support System) outlined as help in decision making, delivered through an easy-touse mobile app or web-based interface. Farmers are assumed to use such a decision-making aid behind the power of the logic informed by the data pool. Building on existing data available in the farm management systems, the ICC platform is easily interoperable with other IoT devices. ICC facilitates connections and information sharing in real-time between users, including farmers, researchers and industrial partners, enabling them to cooperate in farming innovation and knowledge exchange. Moreover, ICC supports sustainable practice in agriculture by integrating gamification techniques to stimulate farm adopters, deploying VR technologies to model and visualise 3D farm environments and farm conditions, framing the field scenarios using VR headsets and Real-Time 3D engines, and leveraging edge technologies to facilitate secure and fast communication and collaboration between users involved. And through allowing blockchain-based marketplaces, ICC offers traceability from farm to fork – that is: from producer to consumer. It empowers informed decision-making through tailor-made recommendations generated by means of AI-driven analysis and technology democratisation, enabling small-scale and resource-limited farmers to get their voice heard. It connects with traditional knowledge, brings together multi-stakeholder interactions as well as establishes a participatory ecosystem to incentivise continuous growth and development towards more sustainable agro-ecological food systems. This integrated approach leverages the power of emerging technologies to provide sustainable solutions for a resilient food system, ensuring sustainable agriculture worldwide.

Keywords: blockchain, internet of things, artificial intelligence, decision support system, virtual reality, gamification, traceability, sustainable agriculture

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Authors: Dimitrios Ntardas, Alexandros Tzanetos, Georgios Dounias

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High Voltage Substations (HVS) are the intermediate step between production of power and successfully transmitting it to clients, making them one of the most important checkpoints in power grids. Nowadays - renewable resources and consequently distributed generation are growing fast, the construction of HVS is of high importance both in terms of quality and time completion so that new energy producers can quickly and safely intergrade in power grids. The resources needed, such as machines and workers, should be carefully allocated so that the construction of a HVS is completed on time, with the lowest possible cost (e.g. not spending additional cost that were not taken into consideration, because of project delays), but in the highest quality. In addition, there are milestones and several checkpoints to be precisely achieved during construction to ensure the cost and timeline control and to ensure that the percentage of governmental funding will be granted. The management of such a demanding project is a NP-hard problem that consists of prerequisite constraints and resource limits for each task of the project. In this work, a hybrid meta-heuristic method is implemented to solve this problem. Meta-heuristics have been proven to be quite useful when dealing with high-dimensional constraint optimization problems. Hybridization of them results in boost of their performance.

Keywords: hybrid meta-heuristic methods, substation construction, resource allocation, time-cost efficiency

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Authors: Peter L. Varkonyi, Andras A. Sipos

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The quasi-static growth of elastic fibers is studied in the presence of distributed contact with an immobile surface, subject to isotropic dry or viscous friction. Unlike classical problems of elastic stability modelled by autonomous dynamical systems with multiple time scales (slowly varying bifurcation parameter, and fast system dynamics), this problem can only be formulated as a non-autonomous system without time scale separation. It is found that the fibers initially converge to a trivial, straight configuration, which is later replaced by divergence reminiscent of buckling phenomena. In order to capture the loss of stability, a new definition of exponential stability against infinitesimal perturbations for systems defined over finite time intervals is developed. A semi-analytical method for the determination of the critical length based on eigenvalue analysis is proposed. The post-critical behavior of the fibers is studied numerically by using variational methods. The emerging post-critical shapes and the asymptotic behavior as length goes to infinity are identified for simple spatial distributions of growth. Comparison with physical experiments indicates reasonable accuracy of the theoretical model. Some applications from modeling plant root growth to the design of soft manipulators in robotics are briefly discussed.

Keywords: buckling, elastica, friction, growth

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Authors: Behnaz Farahani, Abbas Mirzaei

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This study explores association between circadian rhythm pattern and some demographic incidences. The participants targeting 193 (97 females and 96 males between the ages of 20-30 years) Iranian bachelor students from Islamic Azad University who completed the self-reported over the 2nd semester 2011-2012 university year. The questionnaire has been tailored amalgamation of Horn & Östberg Questionnaire (MEQ) and Demographic Incidences Questionnaire in order to measure the students circadian rhythm pattern and their Demographic Incidences. The finding of this quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional analysis confirmed the hypothesis in that 'circadian rhythm pattern' was positively associated with the demographic indices like age, marital status, gender, day in week and month of the birth time, and parent’s age and educational level at the time of the birth of the samples.

Keywords: circadian rhythm pattern, demographic incidences, morning type, evening type

Procedia PDF Downloads 523

Authors: T. N. Tran Thi, J. Morse, C. Detlefs, P. K. Cook, C. Yıldırım, A. C. Jakobsen, T. Zhou, J. Hartwig, V. Zurbig, D. Caliste, B. Fernandez, D. Eon, O. Loto, M. L. Hicks, A. Pakpour-Tabrizi, J. Baruchel

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The ability to grow boron-doped diamond epilayers of high crystalline quality is a prerequisite for the fabrication of diamond power electronic devices, in particular high voltage diodes and metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistors. Boron and intrinsic diamond layers are homoepitaxially overgrown by microwave assisted chemical vapour deposition (MWCVD) on single crystal high pressure, high temperature (HPHT) grown bulk diamond substrates. Various epilayer thicknesses were grown, with dopant concentrations ranging from 1021 atom/cm³ at nanometer thickness in the case of 'delta doping', up 1016 atom/cm³ and 50µm thickness or high electric field drift regions. The crystalline quality of these overgrown layers as regards defects, strain, distortion… is critical for the device performance through its relation to the final electrical properties (Hall mobility, breakdown voltage...). In addition to the optimization of the epilayer growth conditions in the MWCVD reactor, other important questions related to the crystalline quality of the overgrown layer(s) are: 1) what is the dependence on the bulk quality and surface preparation methods of the HPHT diamond substrate? 2) how do defects already present in the substrate crystal propagate into the overgrown layer; 3) what types of new defects are created during overgrowth, what are their growth mechanisms, and how can these defects be avoided? 4) how can we relate in a quantitative manner parameters related to the measured crystalline quality of the boron doped layer to the electronic properties of final processed devices? We describe synchrotron-based techniques developed to address these questions. These techniques allow the visualization of local defects and crystal distortion which complements the data obtained by other well-established analysis methods such as AFM, SIMS, Hall conductivity…. We have used Grazing Incidence X-ray Diffraction (GIXRD) at the ID01 beamline of the ESRF to study lattice parameters and damage (strain, tilt and mosaic spread) both in diamond substrate near surface layers and in thick (10–50 µm) overgrown boron doped diamond epi-layers. Micro- and nano-section topography have been carried out at both the BM05 and ID06-ESRF) beamlines using rocking curve imaging techniques to study defects which have propagated from the substrate into the overgrown layer(s) and their influence on final electronic device performance. These studies were performed using various commercially sourced HPHT grown diamond substrates, with the MWCVD overgrowth carried out at the Fraunhofer IAF-Germany. The synchrotron results are in good agreement with low-temperature (5°K) cathodoluminescence spectroscopy carried out on the grown samples using an Inspect F5O FESEM fitted with an IHR spectrometer.

Keywords: synchrotron X-ray diffaction, crystalline quality, defects, diamond overgrowth, rocking curve imaging

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Authors: Juan S. Vera, Miguel A. Gomez, Omar Gelvez

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Water is Earth's most valuable resource, and the lack of it is currently a critical problem in today’s society. Non-treated wastewaters contribute to this situation, especially those coming from industrial activities, as they reduce the quality of the water bodies, annihilating all kind of life and bringing disease to people in contact with them. An effective solution for this problem is distillation, which removes most contaminants. However, this approach must also be energetically efficient in order to appeal to the industry. In this endeavour, most water distillation treatments fail, with the exception of the Mechanical Vapor Compression (MVC) distillation system, which has a great efficiency due to energy input by a compressor and the latent heat exchange. This paper presents the process of design, construction, and evaluation of a Mechanical Vapor Compression (MVC) distillation system for the main Colombian poultry company Avidesa Macpollo SA. The system will be located in the principal slaughterhouse in the state of Santander, and it will work along with the Gas Energy Mixing system (GEM) to treat the wastewaters from the plant. The main goal of the MVC distiller, rarely used in this type of application, is to reduce the chlorides, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) levels according to the state regulations since the GEM cannot decrease them enough. The MVC distillation system works with three components, the evaporator/condenser heat exchanger where the distillation takes place, a low-pressure compressor which gives the energy to create the temperature differential between the evaporator and condenser cavities and a preheater to save the remaining energy in the distillate. The model equations used to describe how the compressor power consumption, heat exchange area and distilled water are related is based on a thermodynamic balance and heat transfer analysis, with correlations taken from the literature. Finally, the design calculations and the measurements of the installation are compared, showing accordance with the predictions in distillate production and power consumption, changing the temperature difference of the evaporator/condenser.

Keywords: mechanical vapor compression, distillation, wastewater, design, construction, evaluation

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Authors: M. Fry, L. Fitzpatrick, Julie Considine, R. Z. Shaban, Kate Curtis

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Introduction: The vast majority of older Australians lives independently and are self-managing at home, despite a growing number living with a chronic illness that requires health intervention. Evidence shows that between 50% and 80% of people presenting to the emergency department (ED) are in pain. Australian EDs manage 7.2 million attendances every year and 1.4 million of these are people aged 65 years or more. Research shows that 28% of ED patients aged 65 years or more have Cognitive impairment (CI) associated with dementia, delirium and neurological conditions. Background: Traditional ED service delivery may not be suitable for older people who present with multiple, complex and ongoing illnesses. Likewise, ED clinical staff often perceive that their role should be focused more on immediate and potential lifethreatening illness and conditions which are episodic in nature. Therefore, the needs of older people and their family/carers may not be adequately addressed in the context of an ED presentation. Aim: We aimed to explore the utilisation and characteristics of older people presenting to four metropolitan EDs. Method: The findings being presented are part of a program of research exploring pain management practices for older persons with long bone fractures. The study was conducted across four metropolitan emergency departments of older patients (65years and over) and involved a 12-month randomised medical record audit (n=255). Results: ED presentations across four ED sites in 2012 numbered 168021, with 44778 (26.6%) patients aged 65 and over. Of the 44778 patients, the average age was 79.1 years (SD 8.54). There were more females 23932 (53.5%). The majority (26925: 85.0%) of older persons self-referred to the ED and lived independently. The majority arrived by ambulance (n=18553: 41.4%) and were allocated triage category was 3 (n=19,507:43.65%) or Triage category 4 at (n=15,389: 34.43%). The top five triage symptom presentations involved pain (n=8088; 18.25%), dyspnoea (n=4735; 10.7%), falls (n=4032; 9.1%), other (n=3984; 9.0%), cardiac (n=2987; 6.7%). The top five system based diagnostic presentations involved musculoskeletal (n=8902; 20.1%), cardiac (n=6704:15.0%), respiratory (n=4933; 11.0%), neurological (n=4909; 11.0%), gastroenterology (n=4321; 9.7%). On review of one tertiary hospital database the vital signs on average at time triage: Systolic Blood Pressure 143.6mmHg. Heart Rate 83.4 beats/minute; Respiratory Rate 18.5 breaths/ minute; Oxygen saturation 97.0% and Tympanic temperature 36.7 and Blood Glucose Level 7.4mmols/litre. The majority presented with a Glasgow Coma Score of 14 or higher. On average the older person stayed in the ED 4:56 (SD 3:28minutes).The average time to be seen was 39 minutes (SD 48 minutes). The majority of older persons were admitted (n=27562: 61.5%), did not wait for treatment (n= 8879: 0.02%) discharged home (n=16256: 36.0%). Conclusion: The vast majority of older persons are living independently, although many require admission on arrival to the ED. Many arrived in pain and with musculoskeletal injuries and or conditions. New models of care need to be considered, which may better support self-management and independent living of the older person and the National Emergency Access Targets.

Keywords: chronic, older person, aged care, emergency department

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Authors: Liping Qiu, Xiaofeng Zhang

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The ion chromatography method for the rapid determination of four anions (F⁻、Cl⁻、SO₄²⁻、NO₃⁻) in burial ground poles was optimized. The L₉(₃⁴) orthogonal test was used to determine the optimal parameters of sample pretreatment: accurately weigh 2.000g of sample, add 10mL of ultrapure water, and extract for 40min under the conditions of shaking temperature 40℃ and shaking speed 180 r·min-1. The eluent was 25 mmol/L KOH solution, the analytical column was Ion Pac® AS11-SH (250 mm × 4.0 mm), and the purified filtrate was measured by a conductivity detector. Under this method, the detection limit of each ion is 0.066～0.078mg/kg, the relative standard deviation is 0.86%～2.44% (n=7), and the recovery rate is 94.6～101.9.

Keywords: ion chromatography, tomb, anion (F⁻, Cl⁻, SO₄²⁻, NO₃⁻), environmental protection

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Authors: M. Derraz, M.Farhaoui

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In the water treatment processes, the determination of the optimal dose of the coagulant is an issue of particular concern. Coagulant dosing is correlated to raw water quality which depends on some parameters (turbidity, ph, temperature, conductivity…). The objective of this study is to provide water treatment operators with a tool that enables to predict and replace, sometimes, the manual method (jar testing) used in this plant to predict the optimum coagulant dose. The model is constructed using actual process data for a water treatment plant located in the middle of Morocco (Meknes).

Keywords: coagulation process, aluminum sulfate, model, coagulant dose

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Authors: Anil S. Khopkar, Kartik S. Pandya

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Overvoltage in power systems is a phenomenon that cannot be avoided. However, it can be controlled to a certain extent. Power system equipment is to be protected against overvoltage to avoid system failure. Metal Oxide Surge Arresters (MOSA) are connected to the system for the protection of the power system against overvoltages. The MOSA will behave as an insulator under normal working conditions, where it offers a conductive path under voltage conditions. MOSA consists of zinc oxide elements (ZnO Blocks), which have non-linear V-I characteristics. ZnO blocks are connected in series and fitted in ceramic or polymer housing. This degrades due to the aging effect under continuous operation. Degradation of zinc oxide elements increases the leakage current flowing from the surge arresters. This Increased leakage current results in the increased temperature of the surge arrester, which further decreases the resistance of zinc oxide elements. As a result, leakage current increases, which again increases the temperature of a MOSA. This creates thermal runaway conditions for MOSA. Once it reaches the thermal runaway condition, it cannot return to normal working conditions. This condition is a primary cause of premature failure of surge arresters, as MOSA constitutes a core protective device for electrical power systems against transients. It contributes significantly to the reliable operation of the power system network. Hence, the condition monitoring of surge arresters should be done at periodic intervals. Online and Offline condition monitoring techniques are available for surge arresters. Offline condition monitoring techniques are not very popular as they require removing surge arresters from the system, which requires system shutdown. Hence, online condition monitoring techniques are very popular. This paper presents the evaluation technique for the surge arrester condition based on the leakage current analysis. Maximum amplitude of total leakage current (IT), Maximum amplitude of fundamental resistive leakage current (IR) and maximum amplitude of third harmonic resistive leakage current (I3rd) have been analyzed as indicators for surge arrester condition monitoring.

Keywords: metal oxide surge arrester (MOSA), over voltage, total leakage current, resistive leakage current

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Authors: Emmanuel U. Oleka, Anil Khanal, Gary L. Lebby, Ali R. Osareh

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Synchrophasor technology is fast being deployed in electric power grids all over the world and is fast changing the way the grids are managed. This trend is to continue until the entire power grids are fully connected so they can be monitored and controlled in real-time. Much achievement has been made in the synchrophasor technology development and deployment, and much more are yet to be achieved. Real-time power grid control and protection potentials of synchrophasor are yet to be explored. It is of necessity that researchers keep in view the various challenges that still need to be overcome in expanding the frontiers of synchrophasor technology. This paper outlines the major challenges that should be dealt with in order to achieve the goal of total power grid visualization, monitoring and control using synchrophasor technology.

Keywords: electric power grid, grid visualization, phasor measurement unit, synchrophasor

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Authors: Sofia N. Gonçalves, Duarte M. S. Albuquerque, José C. F. Pereira

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The energy transition is spurred by structural changes in energy demand, supply, and prices. Microwave technology was first proposed as a faster alternative for cooking food. It was found that food heated instantly when interacting with high-frequency electromagnetic waves. The dielectric properties account for a material’s ability to absorb electromagnetic energy and dissipate this energy in the form of heat. Many energy-intense industries could benefit from electromagnetic heating since many of the raw materials are dielectric at high temperatures. Limestone sedimentary rock is a dielectric material intensively used in the cement industry to produce unslaked lime. A numerical 3D model was implemented in COMSOL Multiphysics to study the limestone continuous processing under microwave heating. The model solves the two-way coupling between the Energy equation and Maxwell’s equations as well as the coupling between heat transfer and chemical interfaces. Complementary, a controller was implemented to optimize the overall heating efficiency and control the numerical model stability. This was done by continuously matching the cavity impedance and predicting the required energy for the system, avoiding energy inefficiencies. This controller was developed in MATLAB and successfully fulfilled all these goals. The limestone load influence on thermal decomposition and overall process efficiency was the main object of this study. The procedure considered the Verification and Validation of the chemical kinetics model separately from the coupled model. The chemical model was found to correctly describe the chosen kinetic equation, and the coupled model successfully solved the equations describing the numerical model. The interaction between flow of material and electric field Poynting vector revealed to influence limestone decomposition, as a result from the low dielectric properties of limestone. The numerical model considered this effect and took advantage from this interaction. The model was demonstrated to be highly unstable when solving non-linear temperature distributions. Limestone has a dielectric loss response that increases with temperature and has low thermal conductivity. For this reason, limestone is prone to produce thermal runaway under electromagnetic heating, as well as numerical model instabilities. Five different scenarios were tested by considering a material fill ratio of 30%, 50%, 65%, 80%, and 100%. Simulating the tube rotation for mixing enhancement was proven to be beneficial and crucial for all loads considered. When uniform temperature distribution is accomplished, the electromagnetic field and material interaction is facilitated. The results pointed out the inefficient development of the electric field within the bed for 30% fill ratio. The thermal efficiency showed the propensity to stabilize around 90%for loads higher than 50%. The process accomplished a maximum microwave efficiency of 75% for the 80% fill ratio, sustaining that the tube has an optimal fill of material. Electric field peak detachment was observed for the case with 100% fill ratio, justifying the lower efficiencies compared to 80%. Microwave technology has been demonstrated to be an important ally for the decarbonization of the cement industry.

Keywords: CFD numerical simulations, efficiency optimization, electromagnetic heating, impedance matching, limestone continuous processing

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Authors: S. Abdourraziq, M. A. Abdourraziq

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One of the most famous and important applications of solar energy systems is water pumping. It is often used for irrigation or to supply water in countryside or private firm. However, the cost and the efficiency are still a concern, especially with a continued variation of solar radiation and temperature throughout the day. Then, the improvement of the efficiency of the system components is one of the different solutions to reducing the cost. In this paper, we will present a detailed definition of each element of a PV pumping system, and we will present the different MPPT algorithm used in the literature. Our system consists of a PV panel, a boost converter, a motor-pump set, and a storage tank.

Keywords: PV cell, converter, MPPT, MPP, PV pumping system

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Authors: Jing Jiang, Wenhuan XU, Lei Zhang, Shiyi Zhang, Tongli Wang

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Climate data quality significantly affects the reliability of ecological modeling. In the Asia Pacific (AP) region, low-quality climate data hinders ecological modeling. ClimateAP, a software developed in 2017, generates high-quality climate data for the AP region, benefiting researchers in forestry and agriculture. However, its adoption remains limited. This study aims to confirm the validity of biologically relevant variable data generated by ClimateAP during the normal climate period through comparison with the currently available gridded data. Climate data from 2,366 weather stations were used to evaluate the prediction accuracy of ClimateAP in comparison with the commonly used gridded data from WorldClim1.4. Univariate regressions were applied to 48 monthly biologically relevant variables, and the relationship between the observational data and the predictions made by ClimateAP and WorldClim was evaluated using Adjusted R-Squared and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE). Locations were categorized into mountainous and flat landforms, considering elevation, slope, ruggedness, and Topographic Position Index. Univariate regressions were then applied to all biologically relevant variables for each landform category. Random Forest (RF) models were implemented for the climatic niche modeling of Cunninghamia lanceolata. A comparative analysis of the prediction accuracies of RF models constructed with distinct climate data sources was conducted to evaluate their relative effectiveness. Biologically relevant variables were obtained from three unpublished Chinese meteorological datasets. ClimateAPv3.0 and WorldClim predictions were obtained from weather station coordinates and WorldClim1.4 rasters, respectively, for the normal climate period of 1961-1990. Occurrence data for Cunninghamia lanceolata came from integrated biodiversity databases with 3,745 unique points. ClimateAP explains a minimum of 94.74%, 97.77%, 96.89%, and 94.40% of monthly maximum, minimum, average temperature, and precipitation variances, respectively. It outperforms WorldClim in 37 biologically relevant variables with lower RMSE values. ClimateAP achieves higher R-squared values for the 12 monthly minimum temperature variables and consistently higher Adjusted R-squared values across all landforms for precipitation. ClimateAP's temperature data yields lower Adjusted R-squared values than gridded data in high-elevation, rugged, and mountainous areas but achieves higher values in mid-slope drainages, plains, open slopes, and upper slopes. Using ClimateAP improves the prediction accuracy of tree occurrence from 77.90% to 82.77%. The biologically relevant climate data produced by ClimateAP is validated based on evaluations using observations from weather stations. The use of ClimateAP leads to an improvement in data quality, especially in non-mountainous regions. The results also suggest that using biologically relevant variables generated by ClimateAP can slightly enhance climatic niche modeling for tree species, offering a better understanding of tree species adaptation and resilience compared to using gridded data.

Keywords: climate data validation, data quality, Asia pacific climate, climatic niche modeling, random forest models, tree species

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Authors: Ippei Kamihira, Takashi Nakajima, Taiyo Matsumura, Hikaru Miura, Takashi Ono

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In this research, the goal was construction of a system by which multiple sensors were used to observe the daily life behavior of persons living alone (while respecting their privacy). Using this information to judge such conditions as a bad physical condition or falling in the home, etc., so that these abnormal conditions can be made known to relatives and third parties. The daily life patterns of persons living alone are expressed by the number of responses of sensors each time that a set time period has elapsed. By comparing data for the prior two weeks, it was possible to judge a situation as 'normal' when the person was in a good physical condition or as 'abnormal' when the person was in a bad physical condition.

Keywords: sensors, elderly living alone, abnormality detection, iifestyle habit

Procedia PDF Downloads 243

Authors: Swathi M. Vanniarajan

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Reading research suggests that online contextual vocabulary comprehension while reading is an interactive and integrative process. One’s success in it depends on a variety of factors including the amount and the nature of available linguistic and nonlinguistic cues, his/her analytical and integrative skills, schema memory (content familiarity), and processing speed characterized along the continuum of controlled to automatic processing. The experiment reported here, conducted with 30 native speakers as one group and 30 nonnative speakers as another group (all graduate students), hypothesized that while working on (24) tasks which required them to comprehend an unfamiliar word in real time without backtracking, due to the differences in the nature of their respective reading processes, the nonnative subjects would be less able to construct the meanings of the unknown words by integrating the multiple but sufficient contextual cues provided in the text but the native subjects would be able to. The results indicated that there were significant inter-group as well as intra-group differences in terms of the quality of definitions given. However, when given additional time, while the nonnative speakers could significantly improve the quality of their definitions, the native speakers in general would not, suggesting that all things being equal, time is a significant factor for success in nonnative vocabulary and reading comprehension processes and that accuracy precedes automaticity in the development of nonnative reading processes also.

Keywords: reading, second language processing, vocabulary comprehension

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Authors: Bina Kumari, Subir K. Sarkar, Pradipta Bandyopadhyay

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The autocorrelation function of the density fluctuation is studied in each of the two phases in a Gibbs Ensemble Monte Carlo (GEMC) simulation of the problem of phase separation for a square well potential with various values of its range. We find that the normalized autocorrelation function is described very well as a linear combination of an exponential function with a time scale τ₂ and a stretched exponential function with a time scale τ₁ and an exponent α. Dependence of (α, τ₁, τ₂) on the parameters of the GEMC algorithm and the range of the square well potential is investigated and interpreted. We also analyse the issue of how to choose the parameters of the GEMC simulation optimally.

Keywords: autocorrelation function, density fluctuation, GEMC, simulation

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Authors: Seyedeh Mozhgan Seyed-Talebi, Javad Beheshtian

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The toxicity of lead associated with the lifecycle of perovskite solar cells (PSCs( is a serious concern which may prove to be a major hurdle in the path toward their commercialization. The current proposed lead-free PSCs including Ag(I), Bi(III), Sb(III), Ti(IV), Ge(II), and Sn(II) low-toxicity cations are still plagued with the critical issues of poor stability and low efficiency. This is mainly because of their chemical stability. In the present research, utilization of all inorganic CsSnGeI₃ based materials offers the advantages to enhance resistance of device to degradation, reduce the cost of cells, and minimize the carrier recombination. The presence of inorganic halide perovskite improves the photovoltaic parameters of PCSs via improved surface coverage and stability. The inverted structure of simulated devices using a 1D simulator like solar cell capacitance simulator (SCAPS) version 3308 involves TCOHTL/Perovskite/ETL/Au contact layer. PEDOT:PSS, PCBM, and CsSnGeI₃ used as hole transporting layer (HTL), electron transporting layer (ETL), and perovskite absorber layer in the inverted structure for the first time. The holes are injected from highly stable and air tolerant Sn_0.5Ge_0.5I₃ perovskite composition to HTM and electrons from the perovskite to ETL. Simulation results revealed a great dependence of power conversion efficiency (PCE) on the thickness and defect density of perovskite layer. Here the effect of an increase in operating temperature from 300 K to 400 K on the performance of CsSnGeI₃ based perovskite devices is investigated. Comparison between simulated CsSnGeI₃ based PCSs and similar real testified devices with spiro-OMeTAD as HTL showed that the extraction of carriers at the interfaces of perovskite absorber depends on the energy level mismatches between perovskite and HTL/ETL. We believe that optimization results reported here represent a critical avenue for fabricating the stable, low-cost, efficient, and eco-friendly all-inorganic Cs-Sn-Ge based lead-free perovskite devices.

Keywords: hole transporting layer, lead-free, perovskite solar cell, SCAPS-1D, Sn-Ge based

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Authors: I. Benhsine, M. Hellou, F. Lominé, Y. Roques

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During the manufacture of fertilizer, it is necessary to add water for granulation purposes. The water content is then removed or reduced using rotary dryers. They are commonly used to dry wet granular materials and they are usually fitted with lifting flights. The transport of granular materials occurs when particles cascade from the lifting flights and fall into the air stream. Each cascade consists of a lifting and a falling cycle. Lifting flights are thus of great importance for the transport of granular materials along the dryer. They also enhance the contact between solid particles and the air stream. Optimization of the drying process needs an understanding of the behavior of granular materials inside a rotary dryer. Different approaches exist to study the movement of granular materials inside the dryer. Most common of them are based on empirical formulations or on study the movement of the bulk material. In the present work, we are interested in the behavior of each particle in the cross section of the dryer using Discrete Element Method (DEM) to understand. In this paper, we focus on studying the hold-up, the cascade patterns, the falling time and the falling length of the particles leaving the flights. We will be using two segment flights. Three different profiles are used: a straight flight (180° between both segments), an angled flight (with an angle of 150°), and a right-angled flight (90°). The profile of the flight affects significantly the movement of the particles in the dryer. Changing the flight angle changes the flight capacity which leads to different discharging profile of the flight, thus affecting the hold-up in the flight. When the angle of the flight is reduced, the range of the discharge angle increases leading to a more uniformed cascade pattern in time. The falling length and the falling time of the particles also increase up to a maximum value then they start decreasing. Moreover, the results show an increase in the falling length and the falling time up to 70% and 50%, respectively, when using a right-angled flight instead of a straight one.

Keywords: discrete element method, granular materials, lifting flight, rotary dryer

Procedia PDF Downloads 317

Authors: M. A. Ashour

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As it is known Egypt is one of the countries having oldest sugarcane industry, which goes back to the year 710 AD. Cane plantations are the main agricultural product in five governorates in Upper Egypt (El-Menia, Sohag, Qena, Luxor, and Aswan), producing not less than 16 million tons a year. Eight factories (Abou-korkas, Gena, Nagaa-Hamadi, Deshna, Kous, Armant, Edfuo, and Komombo), located in such upper Egypt governorates generates huge amount of wastes during the manufacturing stage, the so called bagasse which is the fibrous, and cellulosic materials remaining after the era of the sugarcane and the juice extraction, presents about 30% of such wastes. The amount of bagasse generated yearly through the manufacturing stage of the above mentioned 8 factories is approximately about 2.8 million tons, getting red safely of such huge amount, presents a serious environmental problem. Storage of that material openly in the so hot climate in upper Egypt, may cause its self-ignition under air temperature reaches 50 degrees centigrade in summer, due to the remained residual content of sugar. At the same time preparing places for safely storage for such amount is very expensive with respect to the valueless of it. So the best way for getting rid of bagasse is converting it into an added value environmentally friendly material, especially till now the utilization of it is so limited. Since oil pollution became a serious concern, the issue of environmental cleaning arises. With the structure of sugarcane bagasse, which contains fiber and high content of carbon, it can be an adsorbent to adsorb the oil contamination from the water. The present study is a trail to introduce a new material for the purification of water systems to score two goals at once, the first is getting rid of that harmful waste safely, the second is converting it to a commercial valuable material for cleaning, and purifying the water from oil spills, and petroleum pollution. Introduced the new material proved very good performance, and higher efficiency than other similar materials available in the local market, in both closed and open systems. The introduced modified material can absorb 10 times its weight of oil, while don't absorb any water.

Keywords: environment, water resources, agricultural wastes, oil pollution control, sugarcane

Procedia PDF Downloads 179

Authors: Michele Sinico

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The psychological present has an actual extension. When a sequence of instantaneous stimuli falls in this short interval of time, observers perceive a compresence of events in succession and the temporal order depends on the qualitative relationships between the perceptual properties of the events. Two experiments were carried out to study the influence of perceptual grouping, with and without temporal displacement, on the duration of auditory sequences. The psychophysical method of adjustment was adopted. The first experiment investigated the effect of temporal displacement of a white noise on sequence duration. The second experiment investigated the effect of temporal displacement, along the pitch dimension, on temporal shortening of sequence. The results suggest that the temporal order of sounds, in the case of temporal displacement, is organized along the pitch dimension.

Keywords: time perception, perceptual present, temporal displacement, Gestalt laws of perceptual organization

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Authors: Muhammad Shafiq

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In accelerated life testing approaches life time data is obtained under various conditions which are considered more severe than usual condition. Classical techniques are based on obtained precise measurements, and used to model variation among the observations. In fact, there are two types of uncertainty in data: variation among the observations and the fuzziness. Analysis techniques, which do not consider fuzziness and are only based on precise life time observations, lead to pseudo results. This study was aimed to examine the behavior of empirical acceleration functions using fuzzy lifetimes data. The results showed an increased fuzziness in the transformed life times as compare to the input data.

Keywords: acceleration function, accelerated life testing, fuzzy number, non-precise data

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Authors: Martin Kendra, Jaroslav Mašek, Juraj Čamaj, Matej Babin

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The railway transport is considered as a one of the most environmentally friendly mode of transport. With future prediction of increasing of freight transport there are lines facing problems with demanded capacity. Increase of the track capacity could be achieved by infrastructure constructive adjustments. The contribution shows how the travel time can be minimized and the track capacity increased by changing some of the basic infrastructure and operation parameters, for example, the minimal curve radius of the track, the number of tracks, or the usable track length at stations. Calculation of the necessary parameter changes is based on the fundamental physical laws applied to the train movement, and calculation of the occupation time is dependent on the changes of controlling the traffic between the stations.

Keywords: curve radius, maximum curve speed, track mass capacity, reconstruction

Procedia PDF Downloads 330