Search results for: carbon efficiency

Authors: Maria Altamirano, Alfonso Duran

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Biostimulation has recently become important in order to improve the stability and performance of the anaerobic digestion (AD) process. This strategy involves the addition of nutrients or supplements to improve the rate of degradation of a native microbial consortium. With the aim of biostimulate sytrophism between secondary fermenting bacteria and methanogenic archaea, improving metabolite degradation and efficient conversion to methane, the addition of conductive materials, mainly carbon based have been studied. This research seeks to highlight the effect that coconut biochar (CBC) has on the metanogenic conversion of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW), analyzing the surface chemistry properties that give biochar its capacity to serve as a redox mediator in the anaerobic digestion process. The biochar characterization techniques were electrical conductivity (EC) scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier Transform Infrared Transmission Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Cyclic Voltammetry (CV). Effect of coconut biochar addition was studied using Authomatic Methane Potential Test System (AMPTS II) applying a one-way variance analysis to determine the dose that leads to higher methane performance. The surface chemistry of the CBC could confer properties that enhance the AD process, such as the presence of alkaline and alkaline earth metals and their hydrophobicity that may be related to their buffering capacity and the adsorption of polar and non-polar compounds, such as NH4+ and CO2. It also has aromatic functional groups, just as quinones, whose potential as a redox mediator has been demonstrated and its morphology allows it to form an immobilizing matrix that favors a closer activity among the syntrophic microorganisms, which directly contributed in the oxidation of secondary metabolites and the final reduction to methane, whose yield is increased by 39% compared to controls, with a CBC dose of 1 g/L.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion, biochar, biostimulation, syntrophic metabolism

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Authors: P. M. G. Pathiraja, P. Egodawatta, A. Goonetilleke, V. S. J. Te'o

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The production and use of Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a group of synthetic halogenated hydrocarbons have been restricted worldwide due to its toxicity and categorized as one of the twelve priority persistent organic pollutants (POP) by the Stockholm Convention. Low reactivity and high chemical stability of PCBs have made them highly persistent in the environment and bio-concentration and bio-magnification along the food chain contribute to multiple health impacts in humans and animals. Remediating environments contaminated with PCBs is a challenging task for decades. Use of microorganisms for remediation of PCB contaminated soils and sediments have been widely investigated due to the potential of breakdown these complex contaminants with minimum environmental impacts. To achieve an effective bioremediation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) contaminated environments, microbes were sourced from environmental samples and tested for their ability to hydrolyze PCBs under different conditions. Comparison of PCB degradation efficiencies of four naturally occurring facultative bacterial cultures isolated through selective enrichment under aerobic and anaerobic conditions were simultaneously investigated in minimal salt medium using 50 mg/L Aroclor 1260, a commonly used commercial PCB mixture as the sole source of carbon. The results of a six-week study demonstrated that all the tested facultative Achromobacter, Ochrobactrum, Lysinibacillus and Pseudomonas strains are capable of degrading PCBs under both anaerobic and aerobic conditions while assisting hydrophobic PCBs to make solubilize in the aqueous minimal medium. Overall, the results suggest that some facultative bacteria are capable of effective in degrading PCBs under anaerobic conditions through reductive dechlorination and under aerobic conditions through oxidation. Therefore, use of suitable facultative microorganisms under combined anaerobic-aerobic conditions and combination of such strains capable of solubilization and breakdown of PCBs has high potential in achieving higher PCB removal rates.

Keywords: bioremediation, combined anaerobic-aerobic degradation, facultative microorganisms, polychlorinated biphenyls

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Authors: Jennifer Loar, Jason Montefalcon, Kissy Mae Alimpangog, Miriam Bongo

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The demanding, professional roles that air traffic controllers (ATC) play in air transport operation provided the main motivation of this paper. As the controllers’ workload stress becomes more complex due to various stressors, the challenge to overcome these in the pursuit of improving the efficiency of controllers and safety level of aircrafts has been relevant. Therefore, in order to determine the main stressors and surface the best alternative, two widely-known multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods, DANP and PROMETHEE II, are applied. The proposed method is demonstrated in a case study at Mactan Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP). The results showed that the main stressors are high air traffic volume, extraneous traffic, unforeseen events, limitations and reliability of equipment, noise/distracter, micro climate, bad posture, relations with supervisors and colleagues, private life conditions/relationships, and emotional conditions. In the outranking of alternatives, compartmentalization is believed to be the most preferred alternative to overcome controllers’ workload stress. This implies that compartmentalization can best be applied to reduce controller workload stress.

Keywords: air traffic controller, DANP, MCDM, PROMETHEE II, workload stress

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Authors: Wann-Ming Wey

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In today's popularity and progress of information technology, the big data set and its analysis are no longer a major conundrum. Now, we could not only use the relevant big data to analysis and emulate the possible status of urban development in the near future, but also provide more comprehensive and reasonable policy implementation basis for government units or decision-makers via the analysis and emulation results as mentioned above. In this research, we set Taipei City as the research scope, and use the relevant big data variables (e.g., population, facility utilization and related social policy ratings) and Analytic Network Process (ANP) approach to implement in-depth research and discussion for the possible reduction of land use in primary and secondary schools of Taipei City. In addition to enhance the prosperous urban activities for the urban public facility utilization, the final results of this research could help improve the efficiency of urban land use in the future. Furthermore, the assessment model and research framework established in this research also provide a good reference for schools or other public facilities land use and adaptive reuse strategies in the future.

Keywords: adaptive reuse, analytic network process, big data, land use strategy

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Authors: Soheib Fergani

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This paper concerns with the formal asymptotic stability guarantees, analysis and evaluation of a nonlinear controlled unmanned aerial vehicles (uav) for trajectory tracking purpose. As the system has been recognised as an under-actuated non linear system, the control strategy has been oriented towards a hierarchical control. The dynamics of the system and the mission purpose make it mandatory to provide an absolute proof of the vehicle stability during the maneuvers. For this sake, this work establishes the complete theoretical proof for an implementable control oriented strategy that asymptotically stabilizes (GAS and LISS) the system and has never been provided in previous works. The considered model is reorganized into two partly decoupled sub-systems. The concidered control strategy is presented into two stages: the first sub-system is controlled by a nonlinear backstepping controller that generates the desired control inputs to stabilize the second sub-system. This methodology is then applied to a harware in the loop uav simulator (SiMoDrones) that reproduces the realistic behaviour of the uav in an indoor environment has been performed to show the efficiency of the proposed strategy.

Keywords: UAV application, trajectory tracking, backstepping, sliding mode control, input to state stability, stability evaluation

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Authors: Bryan Jenkins

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Introduction: The expansion of irrigation in the Canterbury region has led to the sustainability limits being reached for water availability and the cumulative effects of land use intensification. The institutional framework under New Zealand’s Resource Management Act was found to be an inadequate basis for managing water at sustainability limits. An alternative paradigm for water management was developed based on collaborative governance and nested adaptive systems. This led to the formulation and implementation of the Canterbury Water Management Strategy. Methods: The nested adaptive system approach was adopted. Sustainability issues were identified at multiple spatial and time scales and defined potential failure pathways for the water resource system. These included biophysical and socio-economic issues such as water availability, cumulative effects on water quality due to land use intensification, projected changes in climate, public health, institutional arrangements, economic outcomes and externalities, and, social effects of changing technology. This led to the derivation of sustainability strategies to address these failure pathways. The collaborative governance approach involved stakeholder participation and community engagement to decide on a regional strategy; regional and zone committees of community and rūnanga (Māori groups) members to develop implementation programmes for the strategy; and, farmer collectives for operational management. Findings: The strategy identified improvements in the efficiency of use of water already allocated was more effective in improving water availability than a reliance on increased storage alone. New forms of storage with less adverse impacts were introduced, such as managed aquifer recharge and off-river storage. Reductions of nutrients from land use intensification by improving management practices has been a priority. Solutions packages for addressing the degradation of vulnerable lakes and rivers have been prepared. Biodiversity enhancement projects have been initiated. Greater involvement of Māori has led to the incorporation of kaitiakitanga (resource stewardship) into implementation programmes. Emerging issues are the need for improved integration of surface water and groundwater interactions, increased use of modelling of water and financial outcomes to guide decision making, and, equity in allocation among existing users as well as between existing and future users. Conclusions: However, sustainability analysis indicates that the proposed levels of management interventions are not sufficient to achieve community targets for water management. There is a need for more proactive recovery and rehabilitation measures. Managing to environmental limits is not sufficient, rather managing adaptive cycles is needed. Better measurement and management of water use efficiency is required. Proposed implementation packages are not sufficient to deliver desired water quality outcomes. Greater attention to targets important to environmental and recreational interests is needed to maintain trust in the collaborative process. Implementation programmes don’t adequately address climate change adaptations and greenhouse gas mitigation. Affordability is a constraint on adaptive capacity of farmers and communities. More funding mechanisms are required to implement proactive measures. The legislative and institutional framework needs to be changed to incorporate water framework legislation, regional sustainability strategies and water infrastructure coordination.

Keywords: collaborative governance, irrigation management, nested adaptive systems, sustainable water management

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Authors: Amar Danial Abd Azis, Shipun Anuar Hamzah, Mohd Noh Dalimin, Khairun Nidzam Ramli, Mohd Sani Yahya, Fauziahanim Che Seman

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This paper discusses the design, simulation results, and testing of a compact dual-band printed dipole antenna operating at frequencies of 916 MHz and 1.57 GHz for LoRa and GPS applications, respectively. The basic design of this antenna uses a linear dipole that operates at 916 MHz and 2.7 GHz. A small triangular-shaped linear balun has been developed as the matching network. Parasitic elements are employed to tune the second frequency to 1.57 GHz through a parametric study. Meanwhile, a stub is used to suppress the undesired 2.6 GHz frequency. This antenna is capable of operating on dual-frequency bands simultaneously with high efficiency in suppressing the unwanted frequency. The antenna exhibits the following parameters: return loss of -18.5 dB at 916 MHz and -14 dB at 1.57 GHz, VSWR of 1.25 at 868 MHz and 1.5 at 1.57 GHz, and gain of 2 dBi at 916 MHz and 2.75 dBi at 1.57 GHz. The radiation pattern of the antenna shows a directional E-plane and an omnidirectional H-plane at both frequencies. With its compact size and dual-band capability, this antenna demonstrates great potential for use in IoT applications that require both LoRa and GPS communication, particularly in applications where a small yet efficient form factor is essential.

Keywords: dual band, dipole antenna, parasitic elements, harmonic suppression, LoRa and Gps

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Authors: Reena Murali, David Peter S.

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The small interfering RNA (siRNA) alters the regulatory role of mRNA during gene expression by translational inhibition. Recent studies shows that up regulation of mRNA cause serious diseases like Cancer. So designing effective siRNA with good knockdown effects play an important role in gene silencing. Various siRNA design tools had been developed earlier. In this work, we are trying to analyze the existing good scoring second generation siRNA predicting tools and to optimize the efficiency of siRNA prediction by designing a computational model using Artificial Neural Network and whole stacking energy (ΔG), which may help in gene silencing and drug design in cancer therapy. Our model is trained and tested against a large data set of siRNA sequences. Validation of our results is done by finding correlation coefficient of experimental versus observed inhibition efficacy of siRNA. We achieved a correlation coefficient of 0.727 in our previous computational model and we could improve the correlation coefficient up to 0.753 when the threshold of whole tacking energy is greater than or equal to -32.5 kcal/mol.

Keywords: artificial neural network, double stranded RNA, RNA interference, short interfering RNA

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Authors: Van Son Huynh, Thanh Huan Nguyen, Tat Thien Do, Thi Mai Thu Nguyen, Thien Vu Giang

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Given the necessity for substantial and all-encompassing educational reform, particularly in elementary Education, it is imperative to prioritize learner-centered instruction at the elementary level. This study focuses on the difficulties encountered in overseeing learner-centered instructional activities for elementary school children in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), the largest city in Vietnam in terms of population. Although learner-centered solutions have been implemented, there are still certain weaknesses, including an emphasis on content and worries about lax monitoring. The purpose of this study, named "Management of Learner-Centered Teaching Activities for Primary School Students in HCMC," is to enhance and advance theories related to the management of learner-centered teaching activities. The study evaluates the present condition of learner-centered teaching activities and management practices in HCMC, aiming to suggest solutions for improving the efficiency of managing such activities in primary schools.

Keywords: primary school, school children in Ho Chi Minh City, learner-centered instructional activities, learner-centered teaching activities and management.

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Authors: Ayşe Nihan Avcı, İpek Memikoğlu

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Lighting systems in interior architecture need to be designed according to the function of the space, the type of task within the space, user comfort and needs. Desired and comfortable lighting levels increase task efficiency. When natural lighting is inadequate in a space, artificial lighting is additionally used to support the level of light. With the technological developments, the characteristics of light are being researched comprehensively and several business segments have focused on its qualitative and quantitative characteristics. These studies have increased awareness and usage of artificial lighting systems and researchers have investigated the effects of lighting on physical and psychological aspects of human in various ways. The aim of this study is to research the effects of illuminance levels of LED lighting on user visual comfort. Eighty participants from the Department of Interior Architecture of Çankaya University participated in three lighting scenarios consisting of 200 lux, 500 lux and 800 lux that are created with LED lighting. Each lighting scenario is evaluated according to six visual comfort criteria in which a reading task is performed. The results of the study indicated that LED lighting with three different illuminance levels affect visual comfort in different ways. The results are limited to the participants and questions that are attended and used in this study.

Keywords: illuminance levels, LED lighting, reading task, visual comfort criteria

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Authors: Mohammed Nishat, Ahmad Ghazali

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This study empirically inspects the corporate governance and firm performance, and attempts to analyze the corporate governance and control related variables which are hypothesized to have effect on firm’s performance. Current study attempts to assess the mechanism and efficiency of corporate governance to achieve high level performance for the listed firms on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) for the period 2005 to 2008. To evaluate the firm performance level this study investigate the firm performance using three measures; Return on assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE) and Tobin’s Q. To check the link between firm performances with the corporate governance three categories of corporate governance variables are tested which includes governance, ownership and control related variables. Fixed effect regression model is used to examine the relation among governance and corporate performance for 267 KSE listed Pakistani firms. The result shows that governance related variables like block shareholding by individuals have positive impact on firm performance. When chief executive officer is also the board chairperson then it is observed that performance of firm is adversely affected. Also negative relationship is found between share held by insiders and performance of firm. Leverage has negative influence on the firm performance and size of firm is positively related with performance of the firm.

Keywords: corporate governance, agency cost, KSE, ROA, Tobin’s Q

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Authors: Danah Al-Selahi, Sulaiman Al-Ghunaim, Bashayer Sadiq, Fatma Al-Otaibi, Ali Ameen

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In light of recent changes affecting the Oil & Gas Industry, optimization measures have become imperative for all companies globally, including Kuwait Oil Company (KOC). To keep abreast of the dynamic market, a detailed Integrated Asset Plan (IAP) was developed to drive optimization across the organization, which was facilitated through the in-house developed software “Well Inventory Data Entry” (WIDE). This comprehensive and integrated approach enabled centralization of all planned asset components for better well planning, enhancement of performance, and to facilitate continuous improvement through performance tracking and midterm forecasting. Traditionally, this was hard to achieve as, in the past, various legacy methods were used. This paper briefly describes the methods successfully adopted to meet the company’s objective. IAPs were initially designed using computerized spreadsheets. However, as data captured became more complex and the number of stakeholders requiring and updating this information grew, the need to automate the conventional spreadsheets became apparent. WIDE, existing in other aspects of the company (namely, the Workover Optimization project), was utilized to meet the dynamic requirements of the IAP cycle. With the growth of extensive features to enhance the planning process, the tool evolved into a centralized data-hub for all asset-groups and technical support functions to analyze and infer from, leading WIDE to become the reference two-year operational plan for the entire company. To achieve WIDE’s goal of operational efficiency, asset-groups continuously add their parameters in a series of predefined workflows that enable the creation of a structured process which allows risk factors to be flagged and helps mitigation of the same. This tool dictates assigned responsibilities for all stakeholders in a method that enables continuous updates for daily performance measures and operational use. The reliable availability of WIDE, combined with its user-friendliness and easy accessibility, created a platform of cross-functionality amongst all asset-groups and technical support groups to update contents of their respective planning parameters. The home-grown entity was implemented across the entire company and tailored to feed in internal processes of several stakeholders across the company. Furthermore, the implementation of change management and root cause analysis techniques captured the dysfunctionality of previous plans, which in turn resulted in the improvement of already existing mechanisms of planning within the IAP. The detailed elucidation of the 2 year plan flagged any upcoming risks and shortfalls foreseen in the plan. All results were translated into a series of developments that propelled the tool’s capabilities beyond planning and into operations (such as Asset Production Forecasts, setting KPIs, and estimating operational needs). This process exemplifies the ability and reach of applying advanced development techniques to seamlessly integrated the planning parameters of various assets and technical support groups. These techniques enables the enhancement of integrating planning data workflows that ultimately lay the founding plans towards an epoch of accuracy and reliability. As such, benchmarks of establishing a set of standard goals are created to ensure the constant improvement of the efficiency of the entire planning and operational structure.

Keywords: automation, integration, value, communication

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Authors: Zahra Ramezanpanah, Joachim Carvallo, Aurelien Rodriguez

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This paper aims to detect anomalies in streaming data using machine learning algorithms. In this regard, we designed two separate pipelines and evaluated the effectiveness of each separately. The first pipeline, based on supervised machine learning methods, consists of two phases. In the first phase, we trained several supervised models using the UNSW-NB15 data-set. We measured the efficiency of each using different performance metrics and selected the best model for the second phase. At the beginning of the second phase, we first, using Argus Server, sniffed a local area network. Several types of attacks were simulated and then sent the sniffed data to a running algorithm at short intervals. This algorithm can display the results of each packet of received data in real-time using the trained model. The second pipeline presented in this paper is based on unsupervised algorithms, in which a Temporal Graph Network (TGN) is used to monitor a local network. The TGN is trained to predict the probability of future states of the network based on its past behavior. Our contribution in this section is introducing an indicator to identify anomalies from these predicted probabilities.

Keywords: temporal graph network, anomaly detection, cyber security, IDS

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Authors: Usiobaifo Agharese Rosemary, Osaseri Roseline Oghogho

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Diabetes is a complex group of disease with a variety of causes; it is a disorder of the body metabolism in the digestion of carbohydrates food. The application of machine learning in the field of medical diagnosis has been the focus of many researchers and the use of recognition and classification model as a decision support tools has help the medical expert in diagnosis of diseases. Considering the large volume of medical data which require special techniques, experience, and high diagnostic skill in the diagnosis of diseases, the application of an artificial intelligent system to assist medical personnel in order to enhance their efficiency and accuracy in diagnosis will be an invaluable tool. In this study will propose a diabetes diagnosis model using rough set and K-nearest Neighbor classifier algorithm. The system consists of two modules: the feature extraction module and predictor module, rough data set is used to preprocess the attributes while K-nearest neighbor classifier is used to classify the given data. The dataset used for this model was taken for University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) database. Half of the data was used in the training while the other half was used in testing the system. The proposed model was able to achieve over 80% accuracy.

Keywords: classifier algorithm, diabetes, diagnostic model, machine learning

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Authors: Hyun Chang Kim, Yong Hun Jung, Kyung Woon Jeung

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Background: From the viewpoint of cardiac pump theory, the area of the left ventricle (LV) subjected to compression increases as the LV lies closer to the sternum, possibly resulting in higher blood flow in patients with LV closer to the sternum. However, no study has evaluated LV position during cardiac arrest or its relationship with hemodynamic parameters during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The objectives of this study were to determine whether the position of the LV relative to the anterior-posterior axis representing the direction of chest compression shifts during cardiac arrest and to examine the relationship between LV position and hemodynamic parameters during CPR. Methods: Subcostal view echocardiograms were obtained from 15 pigs with the transducer parallel to the long axis of the sternum before inducing ventricular fibrillation (VF) and during cardiac arrest. Computed tomography was performed in three pigs to objectively observe LV position during cardiac arrest. LV position parameters including the shortest distance between the anterior-posterior axis and the mid-point of the LV chamber (DAP-MidLV), the shortest distance between the anterior-posterior axis and the LV apex (DAP-Apex), and the area fraction of the LV located on the right side of the anterior-posterior axis (LVARight/LVATotal) were measured. Results: DAP-MidLV, DAP-Apex, and LVARight/LVATotal decreased progressively during untreated VF and basic life support (BLS), and then increased during advanced cardiovascular life support (ACLS). A repeated measures analysis of variance revealed significant time effects for these parameters. During BLS, the end-tidal carbon dioxide and systolic right atrial pressure were significantly correlated with the LV position parameters. During ACLS, systolic arterial pressure and systolic right atrial pressure were significantly correlated with DAP-MidLV and DAP-Apex. Conclusions: LV position changed significantly during cardiac arrest compared to the pre-arrest baseline. LV position during CPR had significant correlations with hemodynamic parameters.

Keywords: heart arrest, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, heart ventricle, hemodynamics

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Authors: Seyed Abbas Tabatabaei, Marjan Naderan Tahan, Arman Kadkhodai

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An efficient optimization approach, called feasible gate (FG), is developed to enhance the computation efficiency and solution quality of the previously developed highway alignment optimization (HAO) model. This approach seeks to realistically represent various user preferences and environmentally sensitive areas and consider them along with geometric design constraints in the optimization process. This is done by avoiding the generation of infeasible solutions that violate various constraints and thus focusing the search on the feasible solutions. The proposed method is simple, but improves significantly the model’s computation time and solution quality. On the other, highway alignment optimization through Feasible Gates, eventuates only economic model by considering minimum design constrains includes minimum reduce of circular curves, minimum length of vertical curves and road maximum gradient. This modelling can reduce passenger comfort and road safety. In most of highway optimization models, by adding penalty function for each constraint, final result handles to satisfy minimum constraint. In this paper, we want to propose a safety-function solution by introducing gift function.

Keywords: safety, highway geometry, optimization, alignment

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Authors: Behzad Panahirad, UğUr Atikol

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The current study is based on a combined heat and power system with multi-objectives, driven by biomass. The system consists of a combustion chamber (CC), a single effect absorption cooling system (SEACS), an air conditioning unit (AC), a reheat steam Rankine cycle (RRC), an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) and an electrolyzer. The purpose of this system is to produce hydrogen, electricity, heat, cooling, and air conditioning. All the simulations had been performed by Engineering Equation Solver (EES) software. Pine sawdust is the selected biofuel for the combustion process. The overall utilization factor (εₑₙ) and exergetic efficiency (ψₑₓ) were calculated to be 2.096 and 24.03% respectively. The performed renewable and environmental impact analysis indicated a sustainability index of 1.316 (SI) and a specific CO2 emission of 353.8 kg/MWh. The parametric study is conducted based on the variation of ambient (sink) temperature, biofuel mass flow rate, and boilers outlet temperatures. The parametric simulation showed that the increase in biofuel mass flow rate has a positive effect on the sustainability of the system.

Keywords: biomass, exergy assessment, multi-objective plant, CO₂ emission, irreversibility

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Authors: Lowanika Victor Tibane, David Mamba

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Human body, animals, and plants depend on certain essential metals in permissible quantities for their survival. Excessive metal concentration may cause severe malfunctioning of the organisms and even fatal in extreme cases. Because of gold mining in the Witwatersrand basin in South Africa, enormous untreated mine dumps comprise elevated concentration of essential trace elements. Elevated quantities of trace metal have direct negative impact on the quality of soil for different land use types, reduce soil efficiency for plant growth, and affect the health human and animals. A total of 21 subsoil samples were examined using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry and X-ray fluorescence methods and the results elevated men concentration of Fe (36,433.39) > S (5,071.83) > Cu (1,717,28) > Mn (612.81) > Cr (74.52) > Zn (68.67) > Ni (40.44) > Co (9.63) > P (3.49) > Mo > (2.74), reported in mg/kg. Using various contamination indices, it was discovered that the sites surveyed are on average moderately contaminated with Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, S, and Zn. The ecological risk assessment revealed a low ecological risk for Cr, Ni and Zn, whereas Cu poses a very high ecological risk.

Keywords: essential trace elements, soil contamination, contamination indices, toxicity, descriptive statistics, ecological risk evaluation

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Authors: Lala Rukh, Muhammad Abbas Choudhary, Saddam Akber Abbasi

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In Pakistan, the privatization of major sector of the national economy i.e. power, telecom, and gas is very strongly advocated since 80s. With varying degree of progress made in these sectors, it has been the government’s approach that the privatization accelerates the sectorial growth, increases operational efficiency and attracts the foreign investment and is of special significance for developing economies. The gas sector was not an exception and the privatization in this sector has moved through various stages during this time within the realms of socio-political agenda. This paper presents the overview of the gas sector in the country. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) Ordinance and privatization commission policy position as depicted in the press briefings provides philosophical foundations to the privatization and sectorial restructuring in this paper. The role of the major players from privatization perspective is discussed with special reference to the importance of natural gas sector. The case study further discusses the economic regulations that are being adopted by utility regulators in Pakistan and elsewhere in the world and some issues that the Regulatory Authority will be concerned are outlined. Major operators in the gas sector including Oil & Gas Development Corporation (OGDC), Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), Sui Southern Gas Pipelines Limited (SSGPL) is also presented.

Keywords: privatization, economic regulation, OGDCL, SSGCL, SNGPL

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Authors: Katarzyna Falkowicz

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The work focused on the original concept of a thin-walled plate element with a cut-out, for use as a spring or load-bearing element. The subject of the study were rectangular plates with a cut-out with variable geometrical parameters and with a variable angle of fiber arrangement, made of a carbon-epoxy composite with high strength properties in an asymmetrical arrangement, subjected to uniform compression. The influence of geometrical parameters of the cut-out and the angle of fiber arrangement on the value of critical load of the structure and buckling form was investigated. Uniform thin plates are relatively cheap to manufacture, however due to their low bending stiffness; they can carry relatively small loads. The lowest form of loss of plate stability, which is the bending form, leads to its rapid destruction due to high deflection increases, with a slight increase in compressive load - low rigidity of the structure. However, the stiffness characteristics of the structure change significantly when the work of plate is forcing according to the higher flexural-torsional form of buckling. The plate is able to carry a much higher compressive load while maintaining much stiffer work characteristics in the post-critical range. The calculations carried out earlier show that plates with forced higher form of buckling are characterized by stable, progressive paths of post-critical equilibrium, enabling their use as elastic elements. The characteristics of such elements can be designed in a wide range by changing the geometrical parameters of the cut-out, i.e. height and width as well as by changing the angle of fiber arrangement The commercial ABAQUS program using the finite element method was used to develop the discrete model and perform numerical calculations. The obtained results are of significant practical importance in the design of structures with elastic elements, allowing to achieve the required maintenance characteristics of the device.

Keywords: buckling mode, numerical method, unsymmetrical laminates, thin-walled elastic elements

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Authors: Néstor Álvarez-Díaz, Pino Caballero-Gil, Héctor Reboso-Morales, Francisco Martín-Fernández

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The recent tendency of "Internet of Things" (IoT) has developed in the last years, causing the emergence of innovative communication methods among multiple devices. The appearance of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) has allowed a push to IoT in relation to smartphones. In this moment, a set of new applications related to several topics like entertainment and advertisement has begun to be developed but not much has been done till now to take advantage of the potential that these technologies can offer on many business areas and in everyday tasks. In the present work, the application of BLE technology and smartphones is proposed on some business areas related to the optimization of resource allocation in huge facilities like airports. An indoor location system has been developed through triangulation methods with the use of BLE beacons. The described system can be used to locate all employees inside the building in such a way that any task can be automatically assigned to a group of employees. It should be noted that this system cannot only be used to link needs with employees according to distances, but it also takes into account other factors like occupation level or category. In addition, it has been endowed with a security system to manage business and personnel sensitive data. The efficiency of communications is another essential characteristic that has been taken into account in this work.

Keywords: bluetooth low energy, indoor location, resource assignment, smartphones

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Authors: Virender Singh Gurau, Akash Deep, Sarbjot S. Sandhu

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Vegetable oils are produced from numerous oil seed crops. While all vegetable oils have high energy content, most require some processing to assure safe use in internal combustion engines. Some of these oils already have been evaluated as substitutes for diesel fuels. In the present research work Bitter Apricot kernel oil was employed as a feedstock for the production of biodiesel. The physicochemical properties of the Bitter Apricot kernel oil methyl ester were investigated as per ASTM D6751. From the series of engine testing, it is concluded that the brake thermal efficiency (BTE) with biodiesel blend was little lower than that of diesel. BSEC is slightly higher for Bitter apricot kernel oil methyl ester blends than neat diesel. For biodiesel blends, CO emission was lower than diesel fuel as B 20 reduced CO emissions by 18.75%. Approximately 11% increase in NOx emission was observed with 20% biodiesel blend. It is observed that HC emissions tend to decrease for biodiesel based fuels and Smoke opacity was found lower for biodiesel blends in comparison to diesel fuel.

Keywords: biodiesel, transesterification, bitter apricot kernel oil, performance and emission testing

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Authors: Athanasios A. Tountas, Geoffrey A. Ozin, Mohini M. Sain

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Renewable hydrogen (H₂) carriers such as methanol (MeOH), dimethyl ether (DME), oxymethylene dimethyl ethers (OMEs), and conceivably ammonia (NH₃) can be reformed back into H₂ and are fundamental chemical conversions for the long-term viability of the H₂ economy due to their higher densities and ease of transportability compared to H₂. MeOH is an especially important carrier as it is a simple C1 chemical that can be produced from green solar-PV-generated H₂ and direct-air-captured CO₂ with a current commercially practical solar-to-fuel efficiency of 10% from renewable solar energy. MeOH steam reforming (MSR) in stationary systems next to H₂ fuel-cell filling stations can eliminate the need for onboard mobile reformers, and the former systems can be more robust in terms of attaining strict H₂ product specifications, and MeOH is a safe, lossless, and compact medium for long-term H₂ storage. Both thermal- and photo-catalysts are viable options for achieving the stable, long-term performance of stationary MSR systems.

Keywords: fuel-cell vehicle filling stations, methanol steam reforming, hydrogen transport and storage, stationary reformer, liquid hydrogen carriers

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Authors: Yu-Chen Wei, Yang-Cheng Lu, I-Chi Lin

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This study examines the impacts of news sentiment and press freedom on abnormal returns during the earnings announcement in greater China including the Shanghai, Shenzhen and Taiwan stock markets. The news sentiment ratio is calculated by using the content analysis of semantic orientation. The empirical results show that news released prior to the event date may decrease the cumulative abnormal returns prior to the earnings announcement regardless of whether it is released in China or Taiwan. By contrast, companies with optimistic financial news may increase the cumulative abnormal returns during the announcement date. Furthermore, the difference in terms of press freedom is considered in greater China to compare the impact of press freedom on abnormal returns. The findings show that, the freer the press is, the more negatively significant will be the impact of news on the abnormal returns, which means that the press freedom may decrease the ability of the news to impact the abnormal returns. The intuition is that investors may receive alternative news related to each company in the market with greater press freedom, which proves the efficiency of the market and reduces the possible excess returns.

Keywords: news, press freedom, Greater China, earnings announcement, abnormal returns

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Authors: T. Boonkang, C. Santhaweesuk, N. Pianthong, P. Neeramon, A. Phimhlo, S. Bangphan

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The objective of this research was to apply metakaolin from northeast of Thailand as a binder in the casting process of rice polishing cylinder in replacement of the imported calcined magnesite cement and to reduce the production cost of the cylinder. Metakaolin was obtained from three different regions (Udon Thani, Nakhon Phanom, and Ubon Ratchathani). The design of experiment analysis using the MINITAB Release 14 based on the compressive strength and tensile strength testing was conducted. According to the analysis results, it was found that the optimal proportions were calcined magnesite cement: metakaolin from Udon Thani, Nakhon Phanom and Ubon Ratchathani equal to 63:37, 71:29, and 100:0, respectively. When used this formula to cast the cylinder and test the rice milling, it was found that the average broken rice percent was 32.52 and 38.29 for the cylinder contained the metakaolin from Udon Thani and Nakhon Phanom, respectively, which implied that the cylinder which contained the metakaolin from Udon Thani has higher efficiency than the cylinder which contained the metakaolin from Nakhon Phanom at 0.05 level of statistical significance. Whereas, the average wear rate of cylinder from both resources were 7.27 and 6.53 g/h, respectively.

Keywords: binder, casting, metakaolin, rice polishing cylinder

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Authors: Aidan J. Bowes, Reaz Hasan

Abstract:

The automotive industry is continually aiming to develop the aerodynamics of car body design. This may be for a variety of beneficial reasons such as to increase speed or fuel efficiency by reducing drag. However recently there has been a greater amount of focus on wind noise produced while driving. Designers in this industry seek a combination of both simplicity of approach and overall effectiveness. This combined with the growing availability of commercial CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) packages is likely to lead to an increase in the use of RANS (Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes) based CFD methods. This is due to these methods often being simpler than other CFD methods, having a lower demand on time and computing power. In this investigation the effectiveness of turbulent flow and acoustic noise prediction using RANS based methods has been assessed for different wing mirror geometries. Three different RANS based models were used, standard k-ε, realizable k-ε and k-ω SST. The merits and limitations of these methods are then discussed, by comparing with both experimental and numerical results found in literature. In general, flow prediction is fairly comparable to more complex LES (Large Eddy Simulation) based methods; in particular for the k-ω SST model. However acoustic noise prediction still leaves opportunities for more improvement using RANS based methods.

Keywords: acoustics, aerodynamics, RANS models, turbulent flow

Procedia PDF Downloads 446

Authors: Shokoufeh Abrisham, Seyed Mahmoud Hossieni, Elham Pishbin

Abstract:

In this paper, a hybrid method based on the fault tree analysis (FTA) and Bayesian networks (BNs) are employed to evaluate the team performance quality of advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) procedures in emergency department. According to American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines, a category relying on staff action leading to clinical incidents and also some discussions with emergency medicine experts, a fault tree model for ACLS procedure is obtained based on the human performance. The obtained FTA model is converted into BNs, and some different scenarios are defined to demonstrate the efficiency and flexibility of the presented model of BNs. Also, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to indicate the effects of team leader presence and uncertainty knowledge of experts on the quality of ACLS. The proposed model based on BNs shows that how the results of risk analysis can be closed to reality comparing to the obtained results based on only FTA in medical procedures.

Keywords: advanced cardiac life support, fault tree analysis, Bayesian belief networks, numan performance, healthcare systems

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: K. N. S. Kasi Viswanadham

Abstract:

Coupled system of second order linear and nonlinear boundary value problems occur in various fields of Science and Engineering. In the formulation of the problem, any one of 81 possible types of boundary conditions may occur. These 81 possible boundary conditions are written as a combination of four boundary conditions. To solve a coupled system of boundary value problem with these converted boundary conditions, a collocation method with cubic B-splines as basis functions has been developed. In the collocation method, the mesh points of the space variable domain have been selected as the collocation points. The basis functions have been redefined into a new set of basis functions which in number match with the number of mesh points in the space variable domain. The solution of a non-linear boundary value problem has been obtained as the limit of a sequence of solutions of linear boundary value problems generated by quasilinearization technique. Several linear and nonlinear boundary value problems are presented to test the efficiency of the proposed method and found that numerical results obtained by the present method are in good agreement with the exact solutions available in the literature.

Keywords: collocation method, coupled system, cubic b-splines, mesh points

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Authors: Xiaoyun Zhao, Rami Darwish, Anna Pernestål

Abstract:

Automated vehicles (AVs) have the potential to enhance road capacity, improving road safety and traffic efficiency. Research and development on AVs have been going on for many years. However, when the complicated traffic rules and real situations interacted, AVs fail to make decisions on contradicting situations, and are not able to have control in all conditions due to highly dynamic driving scenarios. This limits AVs’ usage and restricts the full potential benefits that they can bring. Furthermore, regulations, infrastructure development, and public acceptance cannot keep up at the same pace as technology breakthroughs. Facing these challenges, this paper proposes automated vehicle traffic control tower (AVTCT) acting as a safe, efficient and integrated solution for AV control. It introduces a concept of AVTCT for control, management, decision-making, communication and interaction with various aspects in transportation. With the prototype demonstrations and simulations, AVTCT has the potential to overcome the control challenges with AVs and can facilitate AV reaching their full potential. Possible functionalities, benefits as well as challenges of AVTCT are discussed, which set the foundation for the conceptual model, simulation and real application of AVTCT.

Keywords: automated vehicle, connectivity and automation, intelligent transport system, traffic control, traffic safety

Procedia PDF Downloads 138

Authors: Mohammadjavad Mahdavinejad, Hadi Yazdi

Abstract:

The greatest influence we have from the world is shaped through the visual form, thus light is an inseparable element in human life. The use of daylight in visual perception and environment readability is an important issue for users. With regard to the hazards of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels, and in line with the attitudes on the reduction of energy consumption, the correct use of daylight results in lower levels of energy consumed by artificial lighting, heating and cooling systems. Windows are usually the starting points for analysis and simulations to achieve visual comfort and energy optimization; therefore, attention should be paid to the orientation of buildings to minimize electrical energy and maximize the use of daylight. In this paper, by using the Design Builder Software, the effect of the orientation of an 18m²(3m*6m) room with 3m height in city of Tehran has been investigated considering the design constraint limitations. In these simulations, the dimensions of the building have been changed with one degree and the window is located on the smaller face (3m*3m) of the building with 80% ratio. The results indicate that the orientation of building has a lot to do with energy efficiency to meet high-performance architecture and planning goals and objectives.

Keywords: daylight, window, orientation, energy consumption, design builder

Procedia PDF Downloads 233