Search results for: modeling technique
4538 Evaluation of Soil Thermal-Entropy Properties with a Single-Probe Heat-Pulse Technique
Authors: Abdull Halim Abdull, Nasiman Sapari, Mohammad Haikal Asyraf Bin Anuar
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Although soil thermal properties are required in many areas to improve oil recovery, they are seldom measured on a routine basis. Reasons for this are unclear, but may be related to a lack of suitable instrumentation and entropy theory. We integrate single probe thermal gradient for the radial conduction of a short-duration heat pulse away from a single electrode source, and compared it with the theory for an instantaneously heated line source. By measuring the temperature response at a short distance from the line source, and applying short-duration heat-pulse theory, we can extract all the entropy properties, the thermal diffusivity, heat capacity, and conductivity, from a single heat-pulse measurement. Results of initial experiments carried out on air-dry sand and clay materials indicate that this heat-pulse method yields soil thermal properties that compare well with thermal properties measured by single electrode.Keywords: entropy, single probe thermal gradient, soil thermal, probe heat
Procedia PDF Downloads 4494537 Wear Performance of Stellite 21 Cladded Overlay on Aisi 304L
Authors: Sandeep Singh Sandhua, Karanvir Singh Ghuman, Arun Kumar
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Stellite 21 is cobalt based super alloy used in improving the wear performance of stainless steel engineering components subjected to harsh environmental conditions. This piece of research focuses on the wear analysis of satellite 21 cladded on AISI 304 L substrate using SMAW process. Bead on plate experiments were carried out by varying current and electrode manipulation techniques to optimize the dilution and microhardness. 80 Amp current and weaving technique was found to be optimum set of parameters for overlaying which were further used for multipass multilayer cladding of AISI 304 L substrate. The wear performance was examined on pin on dics wear testing machine under room temperature conditions. The results from this study show that Stellite 21 overlays show a significant improvement in the frictional wear resistance after TIG remelting. It is also established that low dilution procedures are important in controlling the metallurgical composition of these overlays which has a consequent effect in enhancing hardness and wear resistance of these overlays.Keywords: surfacing, stellite 21, dilution, SMAW, frictional wear, micro-hardness
Procedia PDF Downloads 2524536 Stochastic Analysis of Linux Operating System through Copula Distribution
Authors: Vijay Vir Singh
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This work is focused studying the Linux operating system connected in a LAN (local area network). The STAR topology (to be called subsystem-1) and BUS topology (to be called subsystem-2) are taken into account, which are placed at two different locations and connected to a server through a hub. In the both topologies BUS topology and STAR topology, we have assumed n clients. The system has two types of failures i.e. partial failure and complete failure. Further, the partial failure has been categorized as minor and major partial failure. It is assumed that the minor partial failure degrades the sub-systems and the major partial failure make the subsystem break down mode. The system may completely fail due to failure of server hacking and blocking etc. The system is studied using supplementary variable technique and Laplace transform by using different types of failure and two types of repair. The various measures of reliability for example, availability of system, reliability of system, MTTF, profit function for different parametric values have been discussed.Keywords: star topology, bus topology, blocking, hacking, Linux operating system, Gumbel-Hougaard family copula, supplementary variable
Procedia PDF Downloads 3724535 Strengthening of Reinforced Concrete Beams Using Steel Plates
Authors: Ghusen al-Kafri, Mohammed Ali Abdallah Elsageer, Ahmed Mohamed Hadya Alsdaai, Abdeimanam Salhien Salih Khalifa
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In this paper, external reinforcement to enhance a reinforced concrete structure performance has been done using externally bonded steel plate. This technique has been reported effective in enhancing the strength of reinforced concrete beam, a study to determine the effectiveness of steel plate as an external reinforcement was carried out. A total of two groups of beams and one group content five beams, each 750 mm long, 150 mm wide, and 150 mm deep were cast, strengthened and tested till failure under two point loads. One beam was act as a control beam without strengthening and other four beams were strengthened with steel plate at a different arrangement. Other group beams were strengthened with steel plate in shear zone and also strengthened at bottom as first group. The behaviours of the strengthened beams were studied through their load-deflection characteristic upon bending, cracking and mode of failure. The results confirmed that all steel plate arrangements enhanced the strength of the reinforced concrete beam, the positioning of the steel plate affect the moment carrying capacity of the beam.Keywords: beams, bending, beflection, steel plates
Procedia PDF Downloads 4174534 Factors Affecting in Soil Analysis Technique Adopted by the Southern Region Farmers, Syria
Authors: Moammar Dayoub
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The study aimed to know the reality of farmers and determine the extent of adoption of the recommendations of the fertilizer and the difficulties and problems they face. The study was conducted on a random sample of farmers consist of 95 farmers who had analysed their field soil in scientific research centres in agricultural southern region through the form specially prepared for this purpose, the results showed that the rate of adoption of the fertilizer recommendations whole amounted to an average of 36.9% in the southern region, The degree of adoption was 34.7% in the region. The results showed that 41% of farmers did not implement the recommendations because of the non-convenient analysis, and 34% due to neglect, and 15% due to the weather and an environment, while 10% of them for lack of manure in the suitable time. The study also revealed that Independent factors affecting the continuing adoption of soil analysis are: farms experience, sampling method in farmer’s schools, irrigated area, and personal knowledge of farmers in analysing the soil. Also, show that the application of fertilizer recommendations led to increased production by 15-20%, this analysis emphasizes the importance of soil analysis and adherence to the recommendations of the research centres.Keywords: adoption, recommendations of the fertilizer, soil analysis, southern region
Procedia PDF Downloads 1704533 Production, Utilization and Marketing of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State, Nigeria
Authors: Nneka M. Chidieber-Mark, Roseline D. Ejike
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Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) have been described as all biological materials, other than timber extracted from natural and managed forests for human subsistence and economic activities. This study focused on the production, utilization and marketing of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was adopted in the selection of respondents for the study. Data were from primary sources only. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistical tools as well as Net Income Analysis. Results show that a vast number of plant based and animal based NTFPs exist in the study area. They are harvested and used for multiple purposes. NTFPs are a source of income for the indigenes that depend on it for their livelihood. Unsustainable production and harvesting as well as poor marketing information was among the constraints impeding the growth and development of NTFPs sub-sector in the study area.Keywords: non-timber forest products, production, utilization, marketing
Procedia PDF Downloads 4534532 A Geospatial Consumer Marketing Campaign Optimization Strategy: Case of Fuzzy Approach in Nigeria Mobile Market
Authors: Adeolu O. Dairo
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Getting the consumer marketing strategy right is a crucial and complex task for firms with a large customer base such as mobile operators in a competitive mobile market. While empirical studies have made efforts to identify key constructs, no geospatial model has been developed to comprehensively assess the viability and interdependency of ground realities regarding the customer, competition, channel and the network quality of mobile operators. With this research, a geo-analytic framework is proposed for strategy formulation and allocation for mobile operators. Firstly, a fuzzy analytic network using a self-organizing feature map clustering technique based on inputs from managers and literature, which depicts the interrelationships amongst ground realities is developed. The model is tested with a mobile operator in the Nigeria mobile market. As a result, a customer-centric geospatial and visualization solution is developed. This provides a consolidated and integrated insight that serves as a transparent, logical and practical guide for strategic, tactical and operational decision making.Keywords: geospatial, geo-analytics, self-organizing map, customer-centric
Procedia PDF Downloads 1844531 Transient/Steady Natural Convective Flow of Reactive Viscous Fluid in Vertical Porous Pipe
Authors: Ahmad K. Samaila, Basant K. Jha
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This paper presents the effects of suction/injection of transient/steady natural convection flow of reactive viscous fluid in a vertical porous pipe. The mathematical model capturing the time dependent flow of viscous reactive fluid is solved using implicit finite difference method while the corresponding steady state model is solved using regular perturbation technique. Results of analytical and numerical solutions are reported for various parametric conditions to illustrate special features of the solutions. The coefficient of skin friction and rate of heat transfer are obtained and illustrated graphically. The numerical solution is shown to be in excellent agreement with the closed form analytical solution. It is interesting to note that time required to reach steady state is higher in case of injection in comparison to suction.Keywords: porous pipe, reactive viscous fluid, transient natural-convective flow, analytical solution
Procedia PDF Downloads 2974530 Characterization of Nanoemulsion Incorporating Crude Cocoa Polyphenol
Authors: Suzannah Sharif, Aznie Aida Ahmad, Maznah Ismail
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Cocoa bean is the raw material for products such as cocoa powder and chocolate. Cocoa bean contains polyphenol which has been shown in several clinical studies to confer beneficial health effects. However studies showed that cocoa polyphenol absorption in the human intestinal tracts are very low. Therefore nanoemulsion may be one way to increase the bioavailability of cocoa polyphenol. This study aim to characterize nanoemulsion incorporating crude cocoa polyphenol produced using high energy technique. Cocoa polyphenol was extracted from fresh freeze-dried cocoa beans from Malaysia. The particle distribution, particle size, and zeta potential were determined. The emulsion was also analysed using transmission electron microscope to visualize the particles. Solubilization study was conducted by titrating the nanoemulsion into distilled water or 1% surfactant solution. Result showed that the nanoemulsion contains particle which have narrow size distribution. The particles size average at 112nm with zeta potential of -45mV. The nanoemulsions behave differently in distilled water and surfactant solution.Keywords: cocoa, nanoemulsion, cocoa polyphenol, solubilisation study
Procedia PDF Downloads 4674529 Secure Network Coding against Content Pollution Attacks in Named Data Network
Authors: Tao Feng, Xiaomei Ma, Xian Guo, Jing Wang
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Named Data Network (NDN) is one of the future Internet architecture, all nodes (i.e., hosts, routers) are allowed to have a local cache, used to satisfy incoming requests for content. However, depending on caching allows an adversary to perform attacks that are very effective and relatively easy to implement, such as content pollution attack. In this paper, we use a method of secure network coding based on homomorphic signature system to solve this problem. Firstly ,we use a dynamic public key technique, our scheme for each generation authentication without updating the initial secret key used. Secondly, employing the homomorphism of hash function, intermediate node and destination node verify the signature of the received message. In addition, when the network topology of NDN is simple and fixed, the code coefficients in our scheme are generated in a pseudorandom number generator in each node, so the distribution of the coefficients is also avoided. In short, our scheme not only can efficiently prevent against Intra/Inter-GPAs, but also can against the content poisoning attack in NDN.Keywords: named data networking, content polloution attack, network coding signature, internet architecture
Procedia PDF Downloads 3384528 Bank ATM Monitoring System Using IR Sensor
Authors: P. Saravanakumar, N. Raja, M. Rameshkumar, D. Mohankumar, R. Sateeshkumar, B. Maheshwari
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This research work is designed using Microsoft VB. Net as front end and MySQL as back end. The project deals with secure the user transaction in the ATM system. This application contains the option for sending the failed transaction details to the particular customer by using the SMS. When the customer withdraws the amount from the Bank ATM system, sometimes the amount will not be dispatched but the amount will be debited to the particular account. This application is used to avoid this type of problems in the ATM system. In this proposed system using IR technique to detect the dispatched amount. IR Transmitter and IR Receiver are placed in the path of cash dispatch. It is connected each other through the IR signal. When the customers withdraw the amount in the ATM system then the amount will be dispatched or not is monitored by IR Receiver. If the amount will be dispatched then the signal will be interrupted between the IR Receiver and the IR Transmitter. At that time, the monitoring system will be reduced their particular withdraw amount on their account. If the cash will not be dispatched, the signal will not be interrupted, at that time the particular withdraw amount will not be reduced their account. If the transaction completed successfully, the transaction details such as withdraw amount and current balance can be sent to the customer via the SMS. If the transaction fails, the transaction failed message can be send to the customer.Keywords: ATM system, monitoring system, IR Transmitter, IR Receiver
Procedia PDF Downloads 3114527 Buoyancy Effects in Pressure Retarded Osmosis with Extremely High Draw Solution Concentration
Authors: Ivonne Tshuma, Ralf Cord-Ruwisch, Wendell Ela
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Water crisis is a world-wide problem because of population growth and climate change. Hence, desalination is a solution to water scarcity, which threatens the world. Reverse osmosis (RO) is the most used technique for desalination; unfortunately, this process, usually requires high-pressure requirement hence requires a lot of energy about 3 – 5.5 KWhr/m³ of electrical energy. The pressure requirements of RO can be alleviated by the use of PRO (pressure retarded osmosis) to drive the RO process. This paper proposes a process of utilizing the energy directly from PRO to drive an RO process. The paper mostly analyses the PRO process parameters such as cross-flow velocity, density, and buoyancy and how these have an effect on PRO hence ultimately the RO process. The experimental study of the PRO with various feed solution concentrations and cross-flow velocities at fixed applied pressure with different orientations of the PRO cell was performed. The study revealed that without cross-flow velocity, buoyancy effects were observed but not with cross-flow velocity.Keywords: cross-flow velocity, pressure retarded osmosis, density, buoyancy
Procedia PDF Downloads 1394526 The Impact of Inpatient New Boarding Policy on Emergency Department Overcrowding: A Discrete Event Simulation Study
Authors: Wheyming Tina Song, Chi-Hao Hong
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In this study, we investigate the effect of a new boarding policy - short stay, on the overcrowding efficiency in emergency department (ED). The decision variables are no. of short stay beds for least acuity ED patients. The performance measurements used are national emergency department overcrowding score (NEDOCS) and ED retention rate (the percentage that patients stay in ED over than 48 hours in one month). Discrete event simulation (DES) is used as an analysis tool to evaluate the strategy. Also, common random number (CRN) technique is applied to enhance the simulation precision. The DES model was based on a census of 6 months' patients who were treated in the ED of the National Taiwan University Hospital Yunlin Branch. Our results show that the new short-stay boarding significantly impacts both the NEDOCS and ED retention rate when the no. of short stay beds is more than three.Keywords: emergency department (ED), common random number (CRN), national emergency department overcrowding score (NEDOCS), discrete event simulation (DES)
Procedia PDF Downloads 3504525 Bottleneck Modeling in Information Technology Service Management
Authors: Abhinay Puvvala, Veerendra Kumar Rai
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A bottleneck situation arises when the outflow is lesser than the inflow in a pipe-like setup. A more practical interpretation of bottlenecks emphasizes on the realization of Service Level Objectives (SLOs) at given workloads. Our approach detects two key aspects of bottlenecks – when and where. To identify ‘when’ we continuously poll on certain key metrics such as resource utilization, processing time, request backlog and throughput at a system level. Further, when the slope of the expected sojourn time at a workload is greater than ‘K’ times the slope of expected sojourn time at the previous step of the workload while the workload is being gradually increased in discrete steps, a bottleneck situation arises. ‘K’ defines the threshold condition and is computed based on the system’s service level objectives. The second aspect of our approach is to identify the location of the bottleneck. In multi-tier systems with a complex network of layers, it is a challenging problem to locate bottleneck that affects the overall system performance. We stage the system by varying workload incrementally to draw a correlation between load increase and system performance to the point where Service Level Objectives are violated. During the staging process, multiple metrics are monitored at hardware and application levels. The correlations are drawn between metrics and the overall system performance. These correlations along with the Service Level Objectives are used to arrive at the threshold conditions for each of these metrics. Subsequently, the same method used to identify when a bottleneck occurs is used on metrics data with threshold conditions to locate bottlenecks.Keywords: bottleneck, workload, service level objectives (SLOs), throughput, system performance
Procedia PDF Downloads 2394524 Bayesian Flexibility Modelling of the Conditional Autoregressive Prior in a Disease Mapping Model
Authors: Davies Obaromi, Qin Yongsong, James Ndege, Azeez Adeboye, Akinwumi Odeyemi
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The basic model usually used in disease mapping, is the Besag, York and Mollie (BYM) model and which combines the spatially structured and spatially unstructured priors as random effects. Bayesian Conditional Autoregressive (CAR) model is a disease mapping method that is commonly used for smoothening the relative risk of any disease as used in the Besag, York and Mollie (BYM) model. This model (CAR), which is also usually assigned as a prior to one of the spatial random effects in the BYM model, successfully uses information from adjacent sites to improve estimates for individual sites. To our knowledge, there are some unrealistic or counter-intuitive consequences on the posterior covariance matrix of the CAR prior for the spatial random effects. In the conventional BYM (Besag, York and Mollie) model, the spatially structured and the unstructured random components cannot be seen independently, and which challenges the prior definitions for the hyperparameters of the two random effects. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to construct and utilize an extended Bayesian spatial CAR model for studying tuberculosis patterns in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, and then compare for flexibility with some existing CAR models. The results of the study revealed the flexibility and robustness of this alternative extended CAR to the commonly used CAR models by comparison, using the deviance information criteria. The extended Bayesian spatial CAR model is proved to be a useful and robust tool for disease modeling and as a prior for the structured spatial random effects because of the inclusion of an extra hyperparameter.Keywords: Besag2, CAR models, disease mapping, INLA, spatial models
Procedia PDF Downloads 2824523 Novel Nanomagnetic Beads Based- Latex Agglutination Assay for Rapid Diagnosis of Human Schistosomiasis Haematobium
Authors: Ibrahim Aly, Rabab Zalat, Bahaa EL Deen W. El Aswad, Ismail M. Moharm, Basam M. Masoud, Tarek Diab
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The objective of the present study was to evaluate the novel nanomagnetic beads based–latex agglutination assay (NMB-LAT) as a simple test for diagnosis of S. haematobium as well as standardize the novel nanomagnetic beads based –ELISA (NMB-ELISA). According to urine examination this study included 85 S. haematobium infected patients, 30 other parasites infected patients and 25 negative control samples. The sensitivity of novel NMB-LAT was 82.4% versus 96.5% and 88.2% for NMB-ELISA and currently used sandwich ELISA respectively. The specificity of NMB-LAT was 83.6% versus 96.3% and 87.3% for NMB-ELISA and currently used sandwich ELISA respectively. In conclusion, the novel NMB-ELISA is a valuable applicable diagnostic technique for diagnosis of human schistosomiasis haematobium. The novel NMB-ELISA assay is a suitable applicable diagnostic method in field survey especially when followed by ELISA as a confirmatory test in query false negative results. Trials are required to increase the sensitivity and specificity of NMB-ELISA assay.Keywords: diagnosis, iatex agglutination, nanomagnetic beads, sandwich ELISA
Procedia PDF Downloads 3824522 Study of the Effect of Extraction Solvent on the Content of Total Phenolic, Total Flavonoids and the Antioxidant Activity of an Endemic Medicinal Plant Growing in Morocco
Authors: Aghoutane Basma, Naama Amal, Talbi Hayat, El Manfalouti Hanae, Kartah Badreddine
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Aromatic and medicinal plants are used by man for different needs, including food and medicinal needs for their biological properties attributed mainly to phenolic compounds and for their antioxidant capacity. In our study, the aim is to compare three extraction solvents by evaluating the contents of phenolic compounds, the contents of flavonoids, and the antioxidant activities of extracts from different methods of extracting the aerial part of an endemic medicinal plant from Morocco. This activity was also confirmed by three methods (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), antioxidant reducing power of iron (FRAP), and total antioxidant capacity (CAT)). The results showed that this plant is rich in polyphenols and flavonoids, as well as it has a very important antioxidant capacity in whatever the solvent or the extraction method. This suggests the importance of using extracts from this plant as a new natural source of food additives and potent antioxidants in the food industry.Keywords: endemic plant of Morocco, phenolic compound, solvent, extraction technique, antioxidant activity
Procedia PDF Downloads 2994521 ANA Negative but FANA Positive Patients with Clinical Symptoms of Rheumatic Disease: The Suggestion for Clinicians
Authors: Abdolreza Esmaeilzadeh, Mehri Mirzaei
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Objective: Rheumatic disease is a chronic disease that causes pain, stiffness, swelling and limited motion and function of many joints. RA is the most common form of autoimmune arthritis, affecting more than 1.3 million Americans. Of these, about 75% are women. Materials and Methods: This study was formed due to the misconception about ANA test, which is frequently performed with methods based upon solid phase as ELISA. This experiment was conducted on 430 patients, with clinical symptoms that are likely affected with rheumatic diseases, simultaneously by means of ANA and FANA. Results: 36 cases (8.37%) of patients, despite positive ANA, have demonstrated negative results via Indirect Immunofluorescence Assay (IIFA), (false positive). 116 cases (27%) have demonstrated negative ANA results, by means of the ELISA technique, although they had positive IIFA results. Conclusion: Other advantages of IIFA are antibody titration and specific pattern detection that have the capability of distinguishing positive dsDNA results. According to the restrictions and false negative cases, in patients, IIFA test is highly recommended for these disease's diagnosis.Keywords: autoimmune disease, IIFA, EIA, rheumatic disease
Procedia PDF Downloads 5004520 Profit-Based Artificial Neural Network (ANN) Trained by Migrating Birds Optimization: A Case Study in Credit Card Fraud Detection
Authors: Ashkan Zakaryazad, Ekrem Duman
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A typical classification technique ranks the instances in a data set according to the likelihood of belonging to one (positive) class. A credit card (CC) fraud detection model ranks the transactions in terms of probability of being fraud. In fact, this approach is often criticized, because firms do not care about fraud probability but about the profitability or costliness of detecting a fraudulent transaction. The key contribution in this study is to focus on the profit maximization in the model building step. The artificial neural network proposed in this study works based on profit maximization instead of minimizing the error of prediction. Moreover, some studies have shown that the back propagation algorithm, similar to other gradient–based algorithms, usually gets trapped in local optima and swarm-based algorithms are more successful in this respect. In this study, we train our profit maximization ANN using the Migrating Birds optimization (MBO) which is introduced to literature recently.Keywords: neural network, profit-based neural network, sum of squared errors (SSE), MBO, gradient descent
Procedia PDF Downloads 4764519 Degraded Document Analysis and Extraction of Original Text Document: An Approach without Optical Character Recognition
Authors: L. Hamsaveni, Navya Prakash, Suresha
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Document Image Analysis recognizes text and graphics in documents acquired as images. An approach without Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for degraded document image analysis has been adopted in this paper. The technique involves document imaging methods such as Image Fusing and Speeded Up Robust Features (SURF) Detection to identify and extract the degraded regions from a set of document images to obtain an original document with complete information. In case, degraded document image captured is skewed, it has to be straightened (deskew) to perform further process. A special format of image storing known as YCbCr is used as a tool to convert the Grayscale image to RGB image format. The presented algorithm is tested on various types of degraded documents such as printed documents, handwritten documents, old script documents and handwritten image sketches in documents. The purpose of this research is to obtain an original document for a given set of degraded documents of the same source.Keywords: grayscale image format, image fusing, RGB image format, SURF detection, YCbCr image format
Procedia PDF Downloads 3774518 Dimensionality and Superconducting Parameters of YBa2Cu3O7 Foams
Authors: Michael Koblischka, Anjela Koblischka-Veneva, XianLin Zeng, Essia Hannachi, Yassine Slimani
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Superconducting foams of YBa2Cu3O7 (abbreviated Y-123) were produced using the infiltration growth (IG) technique from Y2BaCuO5 (Y-211) foams. The samples were investigated by SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and electrical resistivity measurements. SEM observations indicated the specific microstructure of the foam struts with numerous tiny Y-211 particles (50-100 nm diameter) embedded in channel-like structures between the Y-123 grains. The investigation of the excess conductivity of different prepared composites was analyzed using Aslamazov-Larkin (AL) model. The investigated samples comprised of five distinct fluctuation regimes, namely short-wave (SWF), one-dimensional (1D), two-dimensional (2D), three-dimensional (3D), and critical (CR) fluctuations regimes. The coherence length along the c-axis at zero-temperature (ξc(0)), lower and upper critical magnetic fields (Bc1 and Bc2), critical current density (Jc) and numerous other superconducting parameters were estimated from the data. The analysis reveals that the presence of the tiny Y-211 particles alters the excess conductivity and the fluctuation behavior observed in standard YBCO samples.Keywords: Excess conductivity, Foam, Microstructure, Superconductor YBa2Cu3Oy
Procedia PDF Downloads 1714517 Estimation of Coefficient of Discharge of Side Trapezoidal Labyrinth Weir Using Group Method of Data Handling Technique
Authors: M. A. Ansari, A. Hussain, A. Uddin
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A side weir is a flow diversion structure provided in the side wall of a channel to divert water from the main channel to a branch channel. The trapezoidal labyrinth weir is a special type of weir in which crest length of the weir is increased to pass higher discharge. Experimental and numerical studies related to the coefficient of discharge of trapezoidal labyrinth weir in an open channel have been presented in the present study. Group Method of Data Handling (GMDH) with the transfer function of quadratic polynomial has been used to predict the coefficient of discharge for the side trapezoidal labyrinth weir. A new model is developed for coefficient of discharge of labyrinth weir by regression method. Generalized models for predicting the coefficient of discharge for labyrinth weir using Group Method of Data Handling (GMDH) network have also been developed. The prediction based on GMDH model is more satisfactory than those given by traditional regression equations.Keywords: discharge coefficient, group method of data handling, open channel, side labyrinth weir
Procedia PDF Downloads 1614516 The Effect of Relationship Marketing on Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction without Service Providers' Emotional Intelligence: The Case of the Insurance Industry in Ghana
Authors: Frank Frimpong Opuni, Michael Mba Allan, Kwame Adu-Gyamfi, Michael Sarkodie Baffoe
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This paper assesses the effect of relationship marketing on service quality and customer satisfaction from the perspective of the moderating role of emotional intelligence in the insurance industry in Ghana. A descriptive quantitative research technique was employed. A random sample of 384 each of customers and service providers in 3 insurance firms in Accra were used as the source of data. According to findings, emotional intelligence makes a strong positive effect on relationship marketing at 5% significance level, r (283) = .817, p = .000. Though relationship marketing makes a strong positive effect on service quality (r = .767, p < .05) and customer satisfaction (r = .647, p < .05), this effect becomes insignificant (p > .05) when the effect of emotional intelligence on relationship marketing is controlled for. It is therefore recommended that insurance firms give priority to equipping their relationship employees with emotional intelligence to maximise service quality and customer satisfaction.Keywords: relationship marketing, service quality, customer satisfaction, emotional intelligence
Procedia PDF Downloads 4824515 Integration of Resistivity and Seismic Refraction Using Combine Inversion for Ancient River Findings at Sungai Batu, Lembah Bujang, Malaysia
Authors: Rais Yusoh, Rosli Saad, Mokhtar Saidin, Fauzi Andika, Sabiu Bala Muhammad
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Resistivity and seismic refraction profiling have become a common method in pre-investigations for visualizing subsurface structure. The integration of the methods could reduce an interpretation ambiguity. Both methods have their individual software packages for data inversion, but potential to combine certain geophysical methods are restricted; however, the research algorithms that have this functionality was existed and are evaluated personally. The interpretation of subsurface were improve by combining inversion data from both methods by influence each other models using closure coupling; thus, by implementing both methods to support each other which could improve the subsurface interpretation. These methods were applied on a field dataset from a pre-investigation for archeology in finding the ancient river. There were no major changes in the inverted model by combining data inversion for this archetype which probably due to complex geology. The combine data analysis provides an additional technique for interpretation such as an alluvium, which can have strong influence on the ancient river findings.Keywords: ancient river, combine inversion, resistivity, seismic refraction
Procedia PDF Downloads 3354514 Physical and Morphological Response to Land Reclamation Projects in a Wave-Dominated Bay
Authors: Florian Monetti, Brett Beamsley, Peter McComb, Simon Weppe
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Land reclamation from the ocean has considerably increased over past decades to support worldwide rapid urban growth. Reshaping the coastline, however, inevitably affects coastal systems. One of the main challenges for coastal oceanographers is to predict the physical and morphological responses for nearshore systems to man-made changes over multiple time-scales. Fully-coupled numerical models are powerful tools for simulating the wide range of interactions between flow field and bedform morphology. Restricted and inconsistent measurements, combined with limited computational resources, typically make this exercise complex and uncertain. In the present study, we investigate the impact of proposed land reclamation within a wave-dominated bay in New Zealand. For this purpose, we first calibrated our morphological model based on the long-term evolution of the bay resulting from land reclamation carried out in the 1950s. This included the application of sedimentological spin-up and reduction techniques based on historical bathymetry datasets. The updated bathymetry, including the proposed modifications of the bay, was then used to predict the effect of the proposed land reclamation on the wave climate and morphology of the bay after one decade. We show that reshaping the bay induces a distinct symmetrical response of the shoreline which likely will modify the nearshore wave patterns and consequently recreational activities in the area.Keywords: coastal waves, impact of land reclamation, long-term coastal evolution, morphodynamic modeling
Procedia PDF Downloads 1774513 Adjustment and Compensation Techniques for the Rotary Axes of Five-axis CNC Machine Tools
Authors: Tung-Hui Hsu, Wen-Yuh Jywe
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Five-axis computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools (three linear and two rotary axes) are ideally suited to the fabrication of complex work pieces, such as dies, turbo blades, and cams. The locations of the axis average line and centerline of the rotary axes strongly influence the performance of these machines; however, techniques to compensate for eccentric error in the rotary axes remain weak. This paper proposes optical (Non-Bar) techniques capable of calibrating five-axis CNC machine tools and compensating for eccentric error in the rotary axes. This approach employs the measurement path in ISO/CD 10791-6 to determine the eccentric error in two rotary axes, for which compensatory measures can be implemented. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed techniques can improve the performance of various five-axis CNC machine tools by more than 90%. Finally, a result of the cutting test using a B-type five-axis CNC machine tool confirmed to the usefulness of this proposed compensation technique.Keywords: calibration, compensation, rotary axis, five-axis computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools, eccentric error, optical calibration system, ISO/CD 10791-6
Procedia PDF Downloads 3854512 Wheat Cluster Farming Approach: Challenges and Prospects for Smallholder Farmers in Ethiopia
Authors: Hanna Mamo Ergando
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Climate change is already having a severe influence on agriculture, affecting crop yields, the nutritional content of main grains, and livestock productivity. Significant adaptation investments will be necessary to sustain existing yields and enhance production and food quality to fulfill demand. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) provides numerous potentials in this regard, combining a focus on enhancing agricultural output and incomes while also strengthening resilience and responding to climate change. To improve agriculture production and productivity, the Ethiopian government has adopted and implemented a series of strategies, including the recent agricultural cluster farming that is practiced as an effort to change, improve, and transform subsistence farming to modern, productive, market-oriented, and climate-smart approach through farmers production cluster. Besides, greater attention and focus have been given to wheat production and productivity by the government, and wheat is the major crop grown in cluster farming. Therefore, the objective of this assessment was to examine various opportunities and challenges farmers face in a cluster farming system. A qualitative research approach was used to generate primary and secondary data. Respondents were chosen using the purposeful sampling technique. Accordingly, experts from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, the Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Institute, the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Institute, and the Ethiopian Environment Protection Authority were interviewed. The assessment result revealed that farming in clusters is an economically viable technique for sustaining small, resource-limited, and socially disadvantaged farmers' agricultural businesses. The method assists farmers in consolidating their products and delivering them in bulk to save on transportation costs while increasing income. Smallholders' negotiating power has improved as a result of cluster membership, as has knowledge and information spillover. The key challenges, on the other hand, were identified as a lack of timely provision of modern inputs, insufficient access to credit services, conflict of interest in crop selection, and a lack of output market for agro-processing firms. Furthermore, farmers in the cluster farming approach grow wheat year after year without crop rotation or diversification techniques. Mono-cropping has disadvantages because it raises the likelihood of disease and insect outbreaks. This practice may result in long-term consequences, including soil degradation, reduced biodiversity, and economic risk for farmers. Therefore, the government must devote more resources to addressing the issue of environmental sustainability. Farmers' access to complementary services that promote production and marketing efficiencies through infrastructure and institutional services has to be improved. In general, the assessment begins with some hint that leads to a deeper study into the efficiency of the strategy implementation, upholding existing policy, and scaling up good practices in a sustainable and environmentally viable manner.Keywords: cluster farming, smallholder farmers, wheat, challenges, opportunities
Procedia PDF Downloads 2294511 Numerical Approach to a Mathematical Modeling of Bioconvection Due to Gyrotactic Micro-Organisms over a Nonlinear Inclined Stretching Sheet
Authors: Madhu Aneja, Sapna Sharma
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The water-based bioconvection of a nanofluid containing motile gyrotactic micro-organisms over nonlinear inclined stretching sheet has been investigated. The governing nonlinear boundary layer equations of the model are reduced to a system of ordinary differential equations via Oberbeck-Boussinesq approximation and similarity transformations. Further, the modified set of equations with associated boundary conditions are solved using Finite Element Method. The impact of various pertinent parameters on the velocity, temperature, nanoparticles concentration, density of motile micro-organisms profiles are obtained and analyzed in details. The results show that with the increase in angle of inclination δ, velocity decreases while temperature, nanoparticles concentration, a density of motile micro-organisms increases. Additionally, the skin friction coefficient, Nusselt number, Sherwood number, density number are computed for various thermophysical parameters. It is noticed that increasing Brownian motion and thermophoresis parameter leads to an increase in temperature of fluid which results in a reduction in Nusselt number. On the contrary, Sherwood number rises with an increase in Brownian motion and thermophoresis parameter. The findings have been validated by comparing the results of special cases with existing studies.Keywords: bioconvection, finite element method, gyrotactic micro-organisms, inclined stretching sheet, nanofluid
Procedia PDF Downloads 1904510 ROOP: Translating Sequential Code Fragments to Distributed Code Fragments Using Deep Reinforcement Learning
Authors: Arun Sanjel, Greg Speegle
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Every second, massive amounts of data are generated, and Data Intensive Scalable Computing (DISC) frameworks have evolved into effective tools for analyzing such massive amounts of data. Since the underlying architecture of these distributed computing platforms is often new to users, building a DISC application can often be time-consuming and prone to errors. The automated conversion of a sequential program to a DISC program will consequently significantly improve productivity. However, synthesizing a user’s intended program from an input specification is complex, with several important applications, such as distributed program synthesizing and code refactoring. Existing works such as Tyro and Casper rely entirely on deductive synthesis techniques or similar program synthesis approaches. Our approach is to develop a data-driven synthesis technique to identify sequential components and translate them to equivalent distributed operations. We emphasize using reinforcement learning and unit testing as feedback mechanisms to achieve our objectives.Keywords: program synthesis, distributed computing, reinforcement learning, unit testing, DISC
Procedia PDF Downloads 1114509 A Novel Combined Finger Counting and Finite State Machine Technique for ASL Translation Using Kinect
Authors: Rania Ahmed Kadry Abdel Gawad Birry, Mohamed El-Habrouk
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This paper presents a brief survey of the techniques used for sign language recognition along with the types of sensors used to perform the task. It presents a modified method for identification of an isolated sign language gesture using Microsoft Kinect with the OpenNI framework. It presents the way of extracting robust features from the depth image provided by Microsoft Kinect and the OpenNI interface and to use them in creating a robust and accurate gesture recognition system, for the purpose of ASL translation. The Prime Sense’s Natural Interaction Technology for End-user - NITE™ - was also used in the C++ implementation of the system. The algorithm presents a simple finger counting algorithm for static signs as well as directional Finite State Machine (FSM) description of the hand motion in order to help in translating a sign language gesture. This includes both letters and numbers performed by a user, which in-turn may be used as an input for voice pronunciation systems.Keywords: American sign language, finger counting, hand tracking, Microsoft Kinect
Procedia PDF Downloads 299