Search results for: iterative design process

Authors: William Sidharta, Chin-Tu Lu

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Fluorescent ultraviolet lamp generates ultraviolet light which is commonly used in industrial field with certain purposes especially for curing process. Due to the value of inefficiency, there are changes in energy from electrical energy to the heat energy and this would make a defect on the industrial product caused by high temperature of lamp tube during ultraviolet light emission. The condition of industrial scale is further worsening, since commonly using dozens of fluorescent ultraviolet lamps to support huge production process and then it will generates much more heat energy. The maximum temperature of fluorescent ultraviolet lamp will get affected by arranging the lamp tube reflector and this study presents CFX simulation results of the maximum lamp tube temperature with some different reflector arrangements on purely natural convection phenomena. There exists certain spaces value of the reflector and the lamp tube to obtaining lower maximum temperature of the fluorescent ultraviolet lamp.

Keywords: CFX simulation, fluorescent UV lamp, lamp tube reflector, UV light

Procedia PDF Downloads 455

Authors: Seyedeh Fatemeh Nabavi, Hamid Dalir, Anooshiravan Farshidianfar

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Laser welding is pivotal in modern manufacturing, offering unmatched precision, speed, and efficiency. Its versatility in minimizing heat-affected zones, seamlessly joining dissimilar materials, and working with various metals makes it indispensable for crafting intricate automotive components. Integration into automated systems ensures consistent delivery of high-quality welds, thereby enhancing overall production efficiency. Noteworthy are the safety benefits of laser welding, including reduced fumes and consumable materials, which align with industry standards and environmental sustainability goals. As the automotive sector increasingly demands advanced materials and stringent safety and quality standards, laser welding emerges as a cornerstone technology. A comprehensive model encompassing thermal dynamic and characteristics models accurately predicts geometrical, metallurgical, and mechanical aspects of the laser beam welding process. Notably, Model 2 showcases exceptional accuracy, achieving remarkably low error rates in predicting primary and secondary dendrite arm spacing (PDAS and SDAS). These findings underscore the model's reliability and effectiveness, providing invaluable insights and predictive capabilities crucial for optimizing welding processes and ensuring superior productivity, efficiency, and quality in the automotive industry.

Keywords: laser welding process, geometrical characteristics, mechanical characteristics, metallurgical characteristics, comprehensive model, thermal dynamic

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Authors: Selvakuma Kumaresh, Man Young Kim

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Combustion phenomenon will be accomplished effectively by the development of low emission combustor. One of the significant factors influencing the entire Combustion process is the mixing between a swirling angular jet (Primary Air) and the non-swirling inner jet (fuel). To study this fundamental flow, the chamber had to be designed in such a manner that the combustion process to sustain itself in a continuous manner and the temperature of the products is sufficiently below the maximum working temperature in the turbine. This study is used to develop the effective combustion with low unburned combustion products by adopting the concept of high swirl flow and motility of holes in the secondary chamber. The proper selection of a swirler is needed to reduce emission which can be concluded from the emission of Nox and CO2. The capture of CO2 is necessary to mitigate CO2 emissions from natural gas. Thus the suppression of unburned gases is a meaningful objective for the development of high performance combustor without affecting turbine blade temperature.

Keywords: combustion, emission, can-type combustion chamber, CFD, motility of holes, swirl flow

Procedia PDF Downloads 369

Authors: Javeed Akhtar, R. K. Pandey, Z. R. Azaz Ahmad Azad

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For the purpose of making different uses of food material for the development of extruded foods are produced using single and twin extruders. Extrusion cooking is a useful and economical tool for processing of novel food. This high temperature, short time processing technology causes chemical and physical changes that alter the nutritional and physical quality of the product. Extrusion processing of food ingredients characteristically depends on associating process conditions that influence the product qualities. The process parameters are optimized for extrusion of food material in order to obtain the maximum nutritive value by inactivating the anti-nutritional factors. The processing conditions such as moisture content, temperature and time are controlled to avoid over heating or under heating which otherwise would result in a product of lower nutritional quality.

Keywords: extrusion processing, single and twin extruder, operating condition of extruders and extruded novel foods, food and agricultural engineering

Procedia PDF Downloads 375

Authors: Ivannys Cappas Perez

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Worldwide the population of older adults is increasing. The World Health Organization (2022) estimates that it will double by 2050. Informal caregivers of older adults may experience contradictory impulses, overload, and multiple losses before the death of the older adult in their care. The general purpose of research was to identify and describe the affective ambivalence in informal caregivers of older adults in the face of loss and grief processes. The dimensions under study were affective ambivalence, informal caregivers of older adults, loss processes and the grieving process. A qualitative approach methodology and an empirical phenomenological design were used through Clark Moustakas' Multiangulation Model to describe, categorize and interpret, intentionality, temporality and intersubjectivity a problem never studied. Among the findings was the feminization of the role. Affective ambivalence is manifested through emotions, feelings, thoughts and behavior, including non-verbal language. The assumption of the role is highly influenced by an affective and moral factor, where a minimum of 35 hours per week are invested in without family and financial support. It was found that the participants experience objective and subjective overload. Furthermore, because of the role, they experienced loss of life, loss of aspects of themselves, loss of objects, emotional losses, and losses linked to development. On the other hand, up to two types of grief were found simultaneously. Finally, the presence of affective ambivalence was found with the same intensity 13 years after the loss of the older adult under care.

Keywords: affective ambivalence, informal caregivers of older adults, loss processes, grief processes

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Authors: Noé D. Lazos-Gallardo, Sonia E. Ruiz, Federico Valenzuela-Beltran

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A simplified mathematical expression to estimate ductility reduction factors of the displacement spectra corresponding to the soft soil zone of Mexico City is proposed. The aim is to allow a better characterization of the displacement spectra and provide a simple expression to be used in displacement based design (DBD). Emphasis is on the Mexico City Building Code. The study is based on the analysis of single degree of freedom (SDOF) systems with elasto-plastic hysteretic behavior. Several seismic ground motions corresponding to subduction events with magnitudes equal to or greater than 6 and recorded in different stations of Mexico City are used. The proposed expression involves the ratio of elastic and inelastic pseudo-aceleration spectra, and depends on factors such the ductility demand and the vibration period of the structural system. The resulting ductility reduction factors obtained in this study are compared with others existing in the literature, and their advantages and disadvantages are discussed.

Keywords: displacement based design, displacements spectrum, ductility reduction factors, soft soil

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Authors: Dasom Kim, Chen Liu, Myungsu Lim, Su-Hyeon Jeon, ByeoungKug Jeon, Kee-Young Kwahk, Namgyu Kim

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Recently, numerous documents including unstructured data and text have been created due to the rapid increase in the usage of social media and the Internet. Each document is usually provided with a specific category for the convenience of the users. In the past, the categorization was performed manually. However, in the case of manual categorization, not only can the accuracy of the categorization be not guaranteed but the categorization also requires a large amount of time and huge costs. Many studies have been conducted towards the automatic creation of categories to solve the limitations of manual categorization. Unfortunately, most of these methods cannot be applied to categorizing complex documents with multiple topics because the methods work by assuming that one document can be categorized into one category only. In order to overcome this limitation, some studies have attempted to categorize each document into multiple categories. However, they are also limited in that their learning process involves training using a multi-categorized document set. These methods therefore cannot be applied to multi-categorization of most documents unless multi-categorized training sets are provided. To overcome the limitation of the requirement of a multi-categorized training set by traditional multi-categorization algorithms, we previously proposed a new methodology that can extend a category of a single-categorized document to multiple categorizes by analyzing relationships among categories, topics, and documents. In this paper, we design a survey-based verification scenario for estimating the accuracy of our automatic categorization methodology.

Keywords: big data analysis, document classification, multi-category, text mining, topic analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 262

Authors: Avi Harel

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Most accidents are commonly attributed in hindsight to human errors, yet most methodologies for safety focus on technical issues. According to the Black Swan theory, this paradox is due to insufficient data about the ways systems fail. The article presents a study of the sources of errors, and proposes a methodology for utility-oriented design, comprising methods for coping with each of the sources identified. Accident analysis indicates that errors typically result from difficulties of operating in exceptional conditions. Therefore, following STAMP, the focus should be on preventing exceptions. Exception analysis indicates that typically they involve an improper account of the operational scenario, due to deficiencies in the system integration. The methodology proposes a model, which is a formal definition of the system operation, as well as principles and guidelines for safety-oriented system integration. The article calls to develop and integrate tools for recording and analysis of the system activity during the operation, required to implement validate the model.

Keywords: accidents, complexity, errors, exceptions, interaction, modeling, resilience, risks

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Authors: Monika Przeor

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The pace of life of modern society promotes the occurrence of affluence diseases. Functional food, which design and consumption by the consumer may be useful in the prevention of occurrence of different diseases, is becoming the alternative of food products available in the market. Design and determination of properties of flat bread of paratha type with the addition of an extract from the leaves of white mulberry became the overriding objective in the presented study. The centuries-old use of mulberry leaves in alternative medicine gave hope to obtain positive effects of the undertaken activity. In the designed product, stability, and content of polyphenols as well as their antioxidant properties were tested. Moreover, in the paper an aqueous extract of mulberry leaves obtained on semi-technical scale was described. It is rich in polyphenols, which results in its antioxidant activity. The addition of the extract significantly increased health-promoting qualities of paratha. The 3% extract addition to the dough turned out to be the most desired by the consumer group.

Keywords: mulberry leaves extract, flat bread, paratha, antioxidant activity

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Authors: Shahab Mirzaean Mahabadi, Elham Ebrahimi

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The urban development process in the historical urban context has predominately witnessed two main approaches: the first is the Preservation and conservation of the urban fabric and its value, and the second approach is urban renewal and redevelopment. The latter is generally supported by political and economic aspirations. These two approaches conflict evidently. The authors go through the history of urban planning in order to review the historical development of the mentioned approaches. In this article, various values which are inherent in the historical fabric of a city are illustrated by emphasizing on cultural identity and activity. In the following, it is tried to find an optimized plan which maximizes economic development and minimizes change in historical-cultural sites simultaneously. In the proposed model, regarding the decision maker’s intention, and the variety of functions, the selected zone is divided into a number of components. For each component, different alternatives can be assigned, namely, renovation, refurbishment, destruction, and change in function. The decision Variable in this model is to choose an alternative for each component. A set of decisions made upon all components results in a plan. A plan developed in this way can be evaluated based on the decision maker’s point of view. That is, interactions between selected alternatives can make a foundation for the assessment of urban context to design a historical-cultural landscape. A genetic algorithm (GA) approach is used to search for optimal future land use within the historical-culture landscape for a sustainable high-growth city.

Keywords: urban sustainability, green city, regeneration, genetic algorithm

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Authors: Chang Su Woo, Hyun Sung Park

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Useful lifetime evaluations of rail-pads were very important in design procedure to assure the safety and reliability. It is, therefore, necessary to establish a suitable criterion for the replacement period of rail pads. In this study, we performed properties and accelerated heat aging tests of rail pads considering degradation factors and all environmental conditions including operation, and then derived a lifetime prediction equation according to changes in hardness, thickness, and static spring constants in the Arrhenius plot to establish how to estimate the aging of rail pads. With the useful lifetime prediction equation, the lifetime of e-clip pads was 2.5 years when the change in hardness was 10% at 25°C; and that of f-clip pads was 1.7 years. When the change in thickness was 10%, the lifetime of e-clip pads and f-clip pads is 2.6 years respectively. The results obtained in this study to estimate the useful lifetime of rail pads for high speed trains can be used for determining the maintenance and replacement schedule for rail pads.

Keywords: rail pads, accelerated test, Arrhenius plot, useful lifetime prediction, mechanical engineering design

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Authors: Yingxu Wang, Jianhua Lu, Jun Peng, Jiawei Zhang

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The fundamental demand in contemporary intelligent science towards Autonomous AI (AI*) is the creation of unprecedented formal means of Intelligent Mathematics (IM). It is discovered that natural intelligence is inductively created rather than exhaustively trained. Therefore, IM is a family of algebraic and denotational mathematics encompassing Inference Algebra, Real-Time Process Algebra, Concept Algebra, Semantic Algebra, Visual Frame Algebra, etc., developed in our labs. IM plays indispensable roles in training-free AI* theories and systems beyond traditional empirical data-driven technologies. A set of applications of IM-driven AI* systems will be demonstrated in contemporary intelligence science, AI*, and cognitive computers.

Keywords: intelligence mathematics, foundations of intelligent science, autonomous AI, cognitive computers, inference algebra, real-time process algebra, concept algebra, semantic algebra, applications

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Authors: Zahreddine Hafsi, Manoranjan Mishra , Sami Elaoud

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Ensuring the maximum recovery rate of oil from reservoir rocks is a challenging task that requires preliminary numerical analysis of different techniques used to enhance the recovery process. After conventional oil recovery processes and in order to retrieve oil left behind after the primary recovery phase, water flooding in one of several techniques used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). In this research work, EOR via water flooding is numerically modeled, and hydrodynamic instabilities resulted from immiscible oil-water flow in reservoir rocks are investigated. An oil reservoir is a porous medium consisted of many fractures of tiny dimensions. For modeling purposes, the oil reservoir is considered as a collection of capillary tubes which provides useful insights into how fluids behave in the reservoir pore spaces. Equations governing oil-water flow in oil reservoir rocks are developed and numerically solved following a finite element scheme. Numerical results are obtained using Comsol Multiphysics software. The two phase Darcy module of COMSOL Multiphysics allows modelling the imbibition process by the injection of water (as wetting phase) into an oil reservoir. Van Genuchten, Brooks Corey and Levrett models were considered as retention models and obtained flow configurations are compared, and the governing parameters are discussed. For the considered retention models it was found that onset of instabilities viz. fingering phenomenon is highly dependent on the capillary pressure as well as the boundary conditions, i.e., the inlet pressure and the injection velocity.

Keywords: capillary pressure, EOR process, immiscible flow, numerical modelling

Procedia PDF Downloads 122

Authors: Mehrab Masayeed Habib, Tasneem Sanjana, Ahmed Amin Rumel

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Automated car anti-collision system is a trending technology of science. A car anti-collision system is an automobile safety system. The aim of this paper was to describe designing a car anti-collision system device to reduce the severity of an accident. The purpose of this device is to prevent collision among cars and objects to reduce the accidental death of human. This project gives an overview of secure & smooth journey of car as well as the certainty of human life. This system is controlled by microcontroller PIC. Sharp distance sensor is used to detect any object within the danger range. A crystal oscillator is used to produce the oscillation and generates the clock pulse of the microcontroller. An LCD is used to give information about the safe distance and a buzzer is used as alarm. An actuator is used as automatic break and inside the actuator; there is a motor driver that runs the actuator. For coding ‘microC PRO for PIC’ was used and ’Proteus Design Suite version 8 Software’ was used for simulation.

Keywords: sharp distance sensor, microcontroller, MicroC PRO for PIC, proteus, actuator, automobile anti-collision system

Procedia PDF Downloads 465

Authors: Sergio Mauricio Pérez López, Luis Rodrigo Valencia Pérez, Juan Manuel Peña Aguilar, Adelina Morita Alexander

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The culture of continuous improvement in organizations is very important as it represents a source of competitive advantage. This article discusses the transfer of knowledge between companies which formed cross-functional teams and used a dynamic model for knowledge creation as a framework. In addition, the article discusses the structure of cognitive assets in companies and the concept of "stickiness" (which is defined as an obstacle to the transfer of knowledge). The purpose of this analysis is to show that an improvement in the attitude of individual members of an organization creates opportunities, and that an exchange of information and knowledge leads to generating continuous improvements in the company as a whole. This article also discusses the importance of creating the proper conditions for sharing tacit knowledge. By narrowing gaps between people, mutual trust can be created and thus contribute to an increase in sharing. The concept of adapting knowledge to new environments will be highlighted, as it is essential for companies to translate and modify information so that such information can fit the context of receiving organizations. Adaptation will ensure that the transfer process is carried out smoothly by preventing "stickiness". When developing the transfer process on cross-functional teams (as opposed to working groups), the team acquires the flexibility and responsiveness necessary to meet objectives. These types of cross-functional teams also generate synergy due to the array of different work backgrounds of their individuals. When synergy is established, a culture of continuous improvement is created.

Keywords: knowledge transfer, continuous improvement, teamwork, cognitive assets

Procedia PDF Downloads 317

Authors: John Dimopoulos

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This proposal attempts a refabrication of Heidegger’s classic thing-being and object-being analysis in order to provide better ontological tools for understanding contemporary culture, technology, and society. In his work, Heidegger sought to understand and comment on the problem of technology in an era of rampant innovation and increased perils for society and the planet. Today we seem to be at another crossroads in this course, coming after postmodernity, during which dreams and dangers of modernity augmented with critical speculations of the post-war era take shape. The new era which we are now living in, referred to as hypermodernity by researchers in various fields such as architecture and cultural theory, is defined by the horizontal implementation of digital technologies, cybernetic networks, and mixed reality. Technology today is rapidly approaching a turning point, namely the point of no return for humanity’s supervision over its creations. The techno-scientific civilization of the 21st century creates a series of problems, progressively more difficult and complex to solve and impossible to ignore, climate change, data safety, cyber depression, and digital stress being some of the most prevalent. Humans often have no other option than to address technology-induced problems with even more technology, as in the case of neuron networks, machine learning, and AI, thus widening the gap between creating technological artifacts and understanding their broad impact and possible future development. As all technical disciplines and particularly design, become enmeshed in a matrix of digital hyper-objects, a conceptual toolbox that allows us to handle the new reality becomes more and more necessary. Weaponized design, prevalent in many fields, such as social and traditional media, urban planning, industrial design, advertising, and the internet in general, hints towards an increase in conflicts. These conflicts between tech companies, stakeholders, and users with implications in politics, work, education, and production as apparent in the cases of Amazon workers’ strikes, Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, Facebook and Microsoft data scandals, and more are often non-transparent to the wide public’s eye, thus consolidating new elites and technocratic classes and making the public scene less and less democratic. The new category proposed, weapon-being, is outlined in respect to the basic function of reducing complexity, subtracting materials, actants, and parameters, not strictly in favor of a humanistic re-orientation but in a more inclusive ontology of objects and subjects. Utilizing insights of Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO) and its schematization of technological objects, an outline for a radical ontology of technology is approached.

Keywords: design, hypermodernity, object-oriented ontology, weapon-being

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Authors: Mohammad Hedar

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This paper presents selected topics from the area of high-speed electrical machine control with a focus on loss minimization. It focuses on pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) set-up in order to minimize the inrush current peak. An overview of these machines and the control topologies that have been used with these machines are reported. The critical problem that happens when controlling a high-speed electrical motor is the high current peak in the start-up process, which will cause high power-losses. The main goal of this paper is to clarify how the inrush current peak can be minimized in the start-up process. PAM control method is proposed to use in the frequency inverter, simulation results for PAM & PWM control method, and steps to improve the PAM control are reported. The simulations were performed with data for PMSM (nominal speed: 25 000 min-1, power: 3.1 kW, load: 1.2 Nm).

Keywords: control topology, frequency inverter, high-speed electrical machines, PAM, power losses, PWM

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Authors: Lormaine Anne A. Branzuela, Elysa V. Largo, Monet Concepcion M. Detras, Neil C. Concibido

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The electricity demand is still increasing, and currently, the Philippine government is investigating the feasibility of operating the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) to address the country’s energy problem. However, the lack of process safety studies on BNPP focused on the effects of hazardous substances on the integrity of the structure, equipment, and other components, have made the plant operationalization questionable to the public. The three major nuclear power plant incidents – TMI-2, Chernobyl, and Fukushima – have made many people hesitant to include nuclear energy in the energy matrix. This study focused on the safety evaluation of possible operations of a nuclear power plant installed with a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR), which is similar to BNPP. Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is one of the Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) techniques used for the identification of equipment failure modes and minimizing its consequences. Using the FMEA technique, this study was able to recognize 116 different failure modes in total. Upon computation and ranking of the risk priority number (RPN) and criticality rating (CR), it showed that failure of the reactor coolant pump due to earthquakes is the most critical failure mode. This hazard scenario could lead to a nuclear meltdown and radioactive release, as identified by the FMEA team. Safeguards and recommended risk reduction strategies to lower the RPN and CR were identified such that the effects are minimized, the likelihood of occurrence is reduced, and failure detection is improved.

Keywords: PHA, FMEA, nuclear power plant, bataan nuclear power plant

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Kazunori Takai, Weng Kaiwei, Sadao Araki, Hideki Yamamoto

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HFC and PFC gases have been commonly and widely used as refrigerant of air conditioner and as etching agent of semiconductor manufacturing process, because of their higher heat of vaporization and chemical stability. On the other hand, HFCs and PFCs gases have the high global warming effect on the earth. Therefore, we have to be decomposed these gases emitted from chemical apparatus like as refrigerator. Until now, disposal of these gases were carried out by using combustion method like as Rotary kiln treatment mainly. However, this treatment needs extremely high temperature over 1000 °C. In the recent year, in order to reduce the energy consumption, a hydrolytic decomposition method using catalyst and plasma decomposition treatment have been attracted much attention as a new disposal treatment. However, the decomposition of fluorine-containing gases under the wet condition is not able to avoid the generation of hydrofluoric acid. Hydrofluoric acid is corrosive gas and it deteriorates catalysts in the decomposition process. Moreover, an additional process for the neutralization of hydrofluoric acid is also indispensable. In this study, the decomposition of C2F6 using zeolite and zeolite/CaO mixture as reactant was evaluated in the dry condition at 923 K. The effect of the chemical structure of zeolite on the decomposition reaction was confirmed by using H-Y, H-Beta, H-MOR and H-ZSM-5. The formation of CaF2 in zeolite/CaO mixtures after the decomposition reaction was confirmed by XRD measurements. The decomposition of C2F6 using zeolite as reactant showed the closely similar behaviors regardless the type of zeolite (MOR, Y, ZSM-5, Beta type). There was no difference of XRD patterns of each zeolite before and after reaction. On the other hand, the difference in the C2F6 decomposition for each zeolite/CaO mixtures was observed. These results suggested that the rate-determining process for the C2F6 decomposition on zeolite alone is the removal of fluorine from reactive site. In other words, the C2F6 decomposition for the zeolite/CaO improved compared with that for the zeolite alone by the removal of the fluorite from reactive site. HMOR/CaO showed 100% of the decomposition for 3.5 h and significantly improved from zeolite alone. On the other hand, Y type zeolite showed no improvement, that is, the almost same value of Y type zeolite alone. The descending order of C2F6 decomposition was MOR, ZSM-5, beta and Y type zeolite. This order is similar to the acid strength characterized by NH3-TPD. Hence, it is considered that the C-F bond cleavage is closely related to the acid strength.

Keywords: hexafluoroethane, zeolite, calcium oxide, decomposition

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Authors: Rundong Li, Peng Wu, Junfeng Zhang, Zhipeng Ren, Chen Yang, Jiahui Gan, Lu Feng, Haibo Tong, Xuemei Xiao, Yuying Chen

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The research of Beidou-3 satellite navigation is on the rise, but in actual work, it is inevitable that satellite data is insecure, research and development is inefficient, and there is no ability to deal with failures in advance. Digital twin technology has obvious advantages in the simulation of life cycle models of aerospace satellite navigation products. In order to meet the increasing demand, this paper builds a Beidou-3 satellite navigation digital twin platform (BDSDTP). The basic establishment of BDSDTP was completed by establishing a digital twin double, Beidou-3 comprehensive digital twin design, predictive maintenance (PdM) mathematical model, and visual interaction design. Finally, this paper provides a time application case of the platform, which provides a reference for the application of BDSDTP in various fields of navigation and provides obvious help for extending the full cycle life of Beidou-3 satellite navigation.

Keywords: BDS-3, digital twin, visualization, PdM

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Authors: Bendjaballah Malek; Makhlouf Mohammed Rabeh; Boukerche Imane; Benhamza Mohammed El Hocine

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In this study, chitosan was derived from Parapenaeus longirostris shrimp shells sourced from a local market in Annaba, eastern Algeria. The extraction process entailed four chemical stages: demineralization, deproteinization, decolorization, and deacetylation. The degree of deacetylation was calculated to be 80.86 %. The extracted chitosan was physically altered to synthesize chitosan beads and characterized via FTIR and XRD analysis. These beads were employed to eliminate cadmium ions from synthetic water. The batch adsorption process was optimized by analyzing the impact of contact time, pH, adsorbent dose, and temperature. The adsorption capacity of and Cd+2 on chitosan beads was found to be 6.83 mg/g and 7.94 mg/g, respectively. The kinetic adsorption of Cd+2 conformed to the pseudo-first-order model, while the isotherm study indicated that the Langmuir Isotherm model well described the adsorption of cadmium . A thermodynamic analysis demonstrated that the adsorption of Cd+2 on chitosan beads is spontaneous and exothermic.

Keywords: Cd, chitosan, chitosanbeds, bioadsorbent

Procedia PDF Downloads 89

Authors: Katie Dolaghan, Christina Tran, Kim Hamilton, Amanda Beresford, Vicky Adams, Jamie Toole, John Marley

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During the Covid 19 pandemic routine outpatient appointments were not possible face to face. That resulted in many branches of healthcare starting virtual clinics. These clinics have continued following the return to face to face patient appointments. With these new types of clinic it is important to ensure that a high standard of patient care is maintained. In order to improve patient and clinician experience of the telephone clinics a quality improvement project was carried out to ensure the patient and clinician experience of these clinics was enhanced whilst remaining a safe, effective and an efficient use of resources. The project began by developing a process map for the consultation process and agreed on the design of a driver diagram and tests of change. In plan do study act (PDSA) cycle1 a single consultant completed an online survey after every patient encounter over a 5 week period. Baseline patient responses were collected using a follow-up telephone survey for each patient. Piloting led to several iterations of both survey designs. Salient results of PDSA1 included; patients not receiving appointment letters, patients feeling more anxious about a virtual appointment and many would prefer a face to face appointment. The initial clinician data showed a positive response with a provisional diagnosis being reached in 96.4% of encounters. PDSA cycle 2 included provision of a patient information sheet and information leaflets relevant to the patients’ conditions were developed and sent following new patient telephone clinics with follow-up survey analysis as before to monitor for signals of change. We also introduced the ability for patients to send an images of their lesion prior to the consultation. Following the changes implemented we noted an improvement in patient satisfaction and, in fact, many patients preferring virtual clinics as it lead to less disruption of their working lives. The extra reading material both before and after the appointments eased patients’ anxiety around virtual clinics and helped them to prepare for their appointment. Following the patient feedback virtual clinics are now used for review patients as well, with all four consultants within the department continuing to utilise virtual clinics. During this presentation the progression of these clinics and the reasons that these clinics are still operating following the return to face to face appointments will be explored. The lessons that have been gained using a QI approach have helped to deliver an optimal service that is valid and reliable as well as being safe, effective and efficient for the patient along with helping reduce the pressures from ever increasing waiting lists. In summary our work in improving the quality of virtual clinics has resulted in improved patient satisfaction along with reduced pressures on the facilities of the health trust.

Keywords: clinic, satisfaction, telephone, virtual

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Authors: Tony Mann

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This paper sets out the case for involving and engaging employees/workers/stakeholders/staff in any significant change that is being considered by the senior executives of the organization. It establishes the rationale, the approach, the methodology of engagement and the benefits of a participative approach. It challenges the new norm of imposing change for fear of resistance and instead suggests that involving people has better outcomes and a longer-lasting impact. Various strategic models are introduced and illustrated to explain how the process can be most effective. The paper highlights one model in particular (the Process Iceberg® Organizational Change model) that has proven to be instrumental in developing effective change. Its use is demonstrated in its various forms and explains why so much change fails to address the key elements and how we can be more productive in managing change. ‘Participation’ in change is too often seen as negative, expensive and unwieldy. The paper aims to show that another model: UIA=O+E, can offset the difficulties and, in fact, produce much more positive and effective change.

Keywords: facilitation, stakeholders, buy-in, digital workshops

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Authors: Sau Kam Adeline Chan

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World Health Organization had listed ‘Communication during Patient Care Handovers’ as one of its highest 5 patient safety initiatives. Clinical handover means transfer of accountability and responsibility of clinical information from one health professional to another. The main goal of clinical handover is to convey patient’s current condition and treatment plan accurately. Ineffective communication at point of care is globally regarded as the main cause of the sentinel event. Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation (SBAR), a communication tool, is extensively regarded as an effective communication tool in healthcare setting. Nonetheless, just by scenario-based program in nursing school or attending workshops on SBAR would not be enough for freshly graduated nurses to apply it competently in a complex clinical practice. To what extend and in-depth of information should be conveyed during handover process is not easy to learn. As such, on-site coaching is essential to upgrade their expertise on the usage of SBAR and ultimately to avoid any clinical error. On-site coaching for all freshly graduated nurses on the usage of SBAR in clinical handover was commenced in August 2014. During the preceptorship period, freshly graduated nurses were coached by the preceptor. After that, they were gradually assigned to take care of a group of patients independently. Nurse leaders would join in their shift handover process at patient’s bedside. Feedback and support were given to them accordingly. Discrepancies on their clinical handover process were shared with them and documented for further improvement work. Owing to the constraint of manpower in nurse leader, about coaching for 30 times were provided to a nurse in a year. Staff satisfaction survey was conducted to gauge their feelings about the coaching and look into areas for further improvement. Number of clinical error avoided was documented as well. The nurses reported that there was a significant improvement particularly in their confidence and knowledge in clinical handover process. In addition, the sense of empowerment was developed when liaising with senior and experienced nurses. Their proficiency in applying SBAR was enhanced and they become more alert to the critical criteria of an effective clinical handover. Most importantly, accuracy of transferring patient’s condition was improved and repetition of information was avoided. Clinical errors were prevented and quality patient care was ensured. Using SBAR as a communication tool looks simple. The tool only provides a framework to guide the handover process. Nevertheless, without on-site training, loophole on clinical handover still exists, patient’s safety will be affected and clinical error still happens.

Keywords: freshly graduated nurse, competency of clinical handover, quality, clinical error

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Authors: Maria Isabel Garcia-Planas, Maria Victoria Garcia-Camba

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The use of brain stem auditory evoked potential (BAEP) is a common way to study the auditory function of people, a way to learn the functionality of a part of the brain neuronal groups that intervene in the learning process by studying the behaviour of wave VI. The latest advances in neuroscience have revealed the existence of different brain activity in the learning process that can be highlighted through the use of innocuous, low-cost, and easy-access techniques such as, among others, the BAEP that can help us to detect early possible neurodevelopmental difficulties for their subsequent assessment and cure. To date and to the authors' best knowledge, only the latency data obtained, observing the first to V waves and mainly in the left ear, were taken into account. This work shows that it is essential to take into account both ears; with these latest data, it has been possible had diagnosed more precise some cases than with the previous data had been diagnosed as 'normal' despite showing signs of some alteration that motivated the new consultation to the specialist.

Keywords: ear, neurodevelopment, auditory evoked potentials, intervals of normality, learning disabilities

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Authors: Arslan Ellahi, Syed Amjad Hussain

Abstract:

Software Testing is a vital process in software development life cycle. We can attain the quality of software after passing it through software testing phase. We have tried to find out automatic test data generation techniques that are a key research area of software testing to achieve test automation that can eventually decrease testing time. In this paper, we review some of the approaches presented in the literature which use evolutionary search based algorithms like Genetic Algorithm, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), etc. to validate the test data generation process. We also look into the quality of test data generation which increases or decreases the efficiency of testing. We have proposed test data generation techniques for model-based testing. We have worked on tuning and fitness function of PSO algorithm.

Keywords: search based, evolutionary algorithm, particle swarm optimization, genetic algorithm, test data generation

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Authors: Siddegowda, Y. A. Sathish, G. Krishnegowda, T. M. Mohan Kumar

Abstract:

Road accidents are a human tragedy. They involve high human suffering and monetary costs in terms of untimely death, injuries and social problems. India had earned the dubious distinction of having more number of fatalities due to road accidents in the world. Road safety is emerging as a major social concern around the world especially in India because of infrastructure project works. A case study was taken on NH – 07 which connects to various major cities and industries. The study shows that major cases of fatalities are due to bus, trucks and high speed vehicles. The main causes of accidents are due to high density, non-restriction of speed, use of mobile phones, lack of board signs on road parking, visibility restriction, improper geometric design, road use characteristics, environmental aspects, social aspects etc. Data analysis and preventive measures are enlightened in this paper.

Keywords: accidents, environmental aspects, fatalities, geometric design, road user characteristics

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Authors: Slim Naifar, Sonia Bradai, Christian Viehweger, Olfa Kanoun

Abstract:

Vibration provides an interesting source of energy since it is available in many indoor and outdoor applications. Nevertheless, in order to have an efficient design of the harvesting system, vibration converters have to satisfy some criterion in terms of robustness, compactness and energy outcome. In this work, an electromagnetic converter based on mechanical spring principle is proposed. The designed harvester is formed by a coil oscillating around ten ring magnets using a mechanical spring. The proposed design overcomes one of the main limitation of the moving coil by avoiding the contact between the coil wires with the mechanical spring which leads to a better robustness for the converter. In addition, the whole system can be implemented in a cavity of a screw. Different parameters in the harvester were investigated by finite element method including the magnet size, the coil winding number and diameter and the excitation frequency and amplitude. A prototype was realized and tested. Experiments were performed for 0.5 g to 1 g acceleration. The used experimental setup consists of an electrodynamic shaker as an external artificial vibration source controlled by a laser sensor to measure the applied displacement and frequency excitation. Together with the laser sensor, a controller unit, and an amplifier, the shaker is operated in a closed loop which allows controlling the vibration amplitude. The resonance frequency of the proposed designs is in the range of 24 Hz. Results indicate that the harvester can generate 612 mV and 1150 mV maximum open circuit peak to peak voltage at resonance for 0.5 g and 1 g acceleration respectively which correspond to 4.75 mW and 1.34 mW output power. Tuning the frequency to other values is also possible due to the possibility to add mass to the moving part of the or by changing the mechanical spring stiffness.

Keywords: energy harvesting, electromagnetic principle, vibration converter, moving coil

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Authors: Manasi V. Shah

Abstract:

Organizations, in the competitive era, are participating in the competency act. They have discerned that, strategically researched and defined competencies when put up on the shelf, can help in achieving business goals. The research focuses on critical elements of competency-based talent acquisition process from practical vantage, with significant experience in a variety of business settings. The research is exploratory and descriptive in nature. The research conduct and outcome is the hinge on with reference to Indian Industries. It elaborates about the concept, practice and a brief model that human resource practitioner can use for effective talent acquisition process, which in turn would be in alignment with business performance. The research helps to present a prudent understanding of recruiting and selecting apt human capital, that can fit in a given job role and has action oriented competency based assessment approach for measuring the probable success of a job incumbent in a given job role.

Keywords: competency based talent acquisition, competency model, talent acquisition concept, talent acquisition practice

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Authors: V. A. Adzika, D. Ayim-Aboagye, T. Gordh

Abstract:

Background and aims: Prevalence of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is high in Ghana but not much is known in terms of research into non-medical strategies for managing and coping with the pain associated with SCD. This study was carried out to examine effective non-medical related strategies patients use to cope and manage their SCD condition. Methods: SCD patients (387) consisting of 180 males and 204 females between 18-65 years old years participated in the study. A cross-sectional research design was used in which participants completed questionnaires on pain, non-medical coping and management strategies, anxiety, and depression. Results of multiple regression analysis showed that socio-demographic characteristics contributed to the variance in the pain associated with SCD. Results: Over 90% of participants reported that pains associated with SCD were the main reason for seeking treatment in SCD crisis. In terms of non-medical related coping strategies, attending a place of worship and praying were the main coping strategies used in SCD crises, suggesting that patients’ beliefs, particularly in a supernatural being, served as a mitigating factor in the process of coping with the pain associated with SCD crisis. Also, avoidance and withdrawal from people and social activities were reported to be strategies used to cope effectively with the pain associated with SCD crisis. Conclusion: This indicates that it is imperative to incorporate non-medical related coping and management strategies, especially religious beliefs and psychosocial factors, to coping and management of the pain associated with SCD.

Keywords: anxiety, depression, sickle cell disease, quality of life, socio-demographic characteristics, Ghana

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