Search results for: variable thrust

Authors: Mrinal Mukherjee, Gargi Seal, Bitopan Mazumdar, Prakhar Agarwal

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The central sector of Palghat-Cauvery Shear zone Tamil Nadu, India, had been studied with reference to development, mode of occurrence, interrelationship and variation of structural elements. The litho assemblages of the study area include gneisses migmatites granites and bear signature of multistage deformation patterns. The early deformation D1 is characterized in migmatites and gneisses by the development of tight to isoclinal, recumbent to reclined folds within the compositional bands that are refolded subsequently to produce D2 deformation structures ranging from type-II to type-III superposed geometry. The granite, in general, is undeformed, save a few places where strong mylonitic foliation developed with stretching lineation on it. The D1-D2 structures of gneisses and migmatites were affected by a D3 stage- E-W trending shear zone (Palghat-Cauvery Shear zone) that dips steeply towards north. The shear zone is characterized by the development of mylonite zone with stretching lineation on foliation, shear band structures, modification of geometry and orientation of earlier folds and foliations within the shear zone and development of shear induced folds and foliations. Several anastomosing lenses of shear zones define the larger Palghat-Cauvery Shear zone. The orientation of the shear induced folds and foliations and deflections of earlier foliation and folds within the Palghat-Cauvery shear zone indicate an oblique-slip thrust-shear with north-towards-east sense of displacement. The E-W trending shear zone is further openly folded along N-S in the D4 stage of deformation.

Keywords: deformation, migmatites, mylonites, shear zones

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Authors: Robert Cazar, Nathaly Maza

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Energy drinks and sports drinks are quite popular among young adults and teenagers worldwide. Some concerns regarding their health effects – particularly those of the energy drinks - have been raised based on scientific findings. Differentiating between these two types of drinks by means of their chemical properties seems to be an instructive task. Chemometrics provides the most appropriate strategy to do so. In this study, a discrimination analysis of the energy and sports drinks has been carried out applying chemometric methods. A set of eleven samples of available commercial brands of drinks – seven energy drinks and four sports drinks – were collected. Each sample was characterized by eight chemical variables (carbohydrates, energy, sugar, sodium, pH, degrees Brix, density, and citric acid). The data set was standardized and examined by exploratory chemometric techniques such as clustering and principal component analysis. As a preliminary step, a variable selection was carried out by inspecting the variable correlation matrix. It was detected that some variables are redundant, so they can be safely removed, leaving only five variables that are sufficient for this analysis. They are sugar, sodium, pH, density, and citric acid. Then, a hierarchical clustering `employing the average – linkage criterion and using the Euclidian distance metrics was performed. It perfectly separates the two types of drinks since the resultant dendogram, cut at the 25% similarity level, assorts the samples in two well defined groups, one of them containing the energy drinks and the other one the sports drinks. Further assurance of the complete discrimination is provided by the principal component analysis. The projection of the data set on the first two principal components – which retain the 71% of the data information – permits to visualize the distribution of the samples in the two groups identified in the clustering stage. Since the first principal component is the discriminating one, the inspection of its loadings consents to characterize such groups. The energy drinks group possesses medium to high values of density, citric acid, and sugar. The sports drinks group, on the other hand, exhibits low values of those variables. In conclusion, the application of chemometric methods on a data set that features some chemical properties of a number of energy and sports drinks provides an accurate, dependable way to discriminate between these two types of beverages.

Keywords: chemometrics, clustering, energy drinks, principal component analysis, sports drinks

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Authors: Gülcan Taşkıran, Ülkü Tatar Baykal

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Aim: To identify nurses’ perceived competencies for disaster preparedness. Background: Recently, the number of disasters has increased worldwide. Since disasters often strike without warning, healthcare providers, especially nurses must be prepared with appropriate competencies for disaster procedures. Nurses’ perceptions of their own competencies for disaster preparedness need to be evaluated to aid in the creation of effective national plans and educational programs. Design: This study was conducted with a descriptive and cross-sectional design. Methods: Nurses’ perceptions were assessed using the 13-item Demographic Profile Questionnaire that is based on previous literature and the 45-item Nurses’ Perception of Core Competencies for Disaster Preparedness Scale (NPCDPS). Data were collected from June to September 2014 from 406 (79.9% return rate) Turkish nurses working in the western region of Turkey. Results: At the end of the study, it was found that out of the nurses whose mean age was 31.27 ± 5.86 and mean of working time was 8.07 ± 6.60 by the time vast majority of the nurses were women (85.7%), married (59.4%), bachelor’s degree holder (88.2%) and service nurses (56.2%). The most potential disaster that nurses think is an earthquake (70.9%) by the time majority of nurses consider having a role as a nurse at every stage of disasters. The mean total point score of nurses’ perception of disaster preparedness was 4.62. The mean total point score of the nurses from the Nurses’ Perception of Core Competencies for Disaster Preparedness Scale was 133.96. When the subscales’ mean scores are examined, the highest average of the mean score is for Technical Skills (44.52), and the lowest is for Critical Thinking Skills (10.47). When the subscales of Nurses’ Perception of Core Competencies for Disaster Preparedness Scale compared with sex, marital status and education level out of independent variable of nurses there is no significant difference (p > 0.05); compared with age group, working years, duty and being with a disaster out of independent variable of nurses there is a significant difference (p ≤ 0.05). Conclusion: Nurses generally perceive themselves as sufficient at a ‘medium level’ in terms of meeting the core competencies that are required for disaster preparedness. Nurses are not adequately prepared for disasters, but they are aware of the need for such preparation and disaster education. Disaster management training should be given to all nurses in their basic education.

Keywords: disaster competencies, disaster management, disaster nursing, disaster preparedness, nursing, nursing administration, Turkish nurses

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Authors: Aslı Yörük, Mevla Yahya, Banu Tavat

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It is well established that bilinguals outperform monolinguals on executive function tasks. However, the effects of bilingualism on prospective memory (PM), which also requires executive functions, have not been investigated vastly. This study aimed to compare bi and monolingual participants' PM performance in focal and non-focal PM tasks. Considering that bilinguals have greater executive function abilities than monolinguals, we predict that bilinguals’ PM performance would be higher than monolinguals on the non-focal PM task, which requires controlled monitoring processes. To investigate these predictions, we administered the focal and non-focal PM task and measured the PM and ongoing task performance. Forty-eight Turkish-English bilinguals residing in North Macedonia and forty-eight Turkish monolinguals living in Turkey between the ages of 18-30 participated in the study. They were instructed to remember responding to rarely appearing PM cues while engaged in an ongoing task, i.e., spatial working memory task. The focality of the task was manipulated by giving different instructions for PM cues. In the focal PM task, participants were asked to remember to press an enter key whenever a particular target stimulus appeared in the working memory task; in the non-focal PM task, instead of responding to a specific target shape, participants were asked to remember to press the enter key whenever the background color of the working memory trials changes to a specific color (yellow). To analyze data, we performed a 2 × 2 mixed factorial ANOVA with the task (focal versus non-focal) as a within-subject variable and language group (bilinguals versus monolinguals) as a between-subject variable. The results showed no direct evidence for a bilingual advantage in PM. That is, the group’s performance did not differ in PM accuracy and ongoing task accuracy. However, bilinguals were overall faster in the ongoing task, yet this was not specific to PM cue’s focality. Moreover, the results showed a reversed effect of PM cue's focality on the ongoing task performance. That is, both bi and monolinguals showed enhanced performance in the non-focal PM cue task. These findings raise skepticism about the literature's prevalent findings and theoretical explanations. Future studies should investigate possible alternative explanations.

Keywords: bilingualism, executive functions, focality, prospective memory

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Authors: J. S. Kim, N. P. Hong

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In this paper, a CMOS vector modulator designed for wireless backhaul system based on 802.11ac is presented. A poly phase filter and sign select switches yield two orthogonal signal paths. Two variable gain amplifiers with strongly reduced phase shift of only ±5 ° are used to weight these paths. It has a phase control range of 360 ° and a gain range of -10 dB to 10 dB. The current drawn from a 1.2 V supply amounts 20.4 mA. Using a 0.13 mm technology, the chip die area amounts 1.47x0.75 mm².

Keywords: CMOS, phase shifter, backhaul, 802.11ac

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Authors: Zhaojun Wang, Zongdi Sun, Qinqin Cui, Xingwan Ren

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Based on multivariate statistical analysis theory, this paper uses the principal component analysis method, Mahalanobis distance analysis method and fitting method to establish the photovoltaic health model to evaluate the health of photovoltaic panels. First of all, according to weather conditions, the photovoltaic panel variable data are classified into five categories: sunny, cloudy, rainy, foggy, overcast. The health of photovoltaic panels in these five types of weather is studied. Secondly, a scatterplot of the relationship between the amount of electricity produced by each kind of weather and other variables was plotted. It was found that the amount of electricity generated by photovoltaic panels has a significant nonlinear relationship with time. The fitting method was used to fit the relationship between the amount of weather generated and the time, and the nonlinear equation was obtained. Then, using the principal component analysis method to analyze the independent variables under five kinds of weather conditions, according to the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test, it was found that three types of weather such as overcast, foggy, and sunny meet the conditions for factor analysis, while cloudy and rainy weather do not satisfy the conditions for factor analysis. Therefore, through the principal component analysis method, the main components of overcast weather are temperature, AQI, and pm2.5. The main component of foggy weather is temperature, and the main components of sunny weather are temperature, AQI, and pm2.5. Cloudy and rainy weather require analysis of all of their variables, namely temperature, AQI, pm2.5, solar radiation intensity and time. Finally, taking the variable values in sunny weather as observed values, taking the main components of cloudy, foggy, overcast and rainy weather as sample data, the Mahalanobis distances between observed value and these sample values are obtained. A comparative analysis was carried out to compare the degree of deviation of the Mahalanobis distance to determine the health of the photovoltaic panels under different weather conditions. It was found that the weather conditions in which the Mahalanobis distance fluctuations ranged from small to large were: foggy, cloudy, overcast and rainy.

Keywords: fitting, principal component analysis, Mahalanobis distance, SPSS, MATLAB

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Authors: A. H. Choudhury

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In this paper, a highly accurate numerical method for the solution of one-dimensional fourth-order wave equation is derived. This hyperbolic problem is solved by using semidiscrete approximations. The space direction is discretized by wavelet-Galerkin method, and the time variable is discretized by using Newmark schemes.

Keywords: hyperbolic problem, semidiscrete approximations, stability, Wavelet-Galerkin Method

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Authors: Tuba Bagatarhan, Digdem Muge Siyez

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The aim of this research is to examine the effects of the psycho-education program on problem-solving skills of parents of high school students in the risk group for Internet addiction. A quasi-experimental design based on the pre-test, post-test and follow up test including experimental and control groups was used in the research. The independent variable of the study was the parent psycho-education program on problem-solving skills; the dependent variable was the problem-solving skills of parents. The research was conducted with the parents of 52 tenth-grade students in the risk group for Internet addiction from two high schools and volunteer to participate research on evaluation of the effectiveness of internet addiction prevention psycho-education program within the scope of another study. In this study, as 26 students were in the experimental groups in the first-high school, the parents of these 26 students were asked if they would like to participate in the parent psycho-education program on parental problem-solving skills. The parents were volunteer to participate in parent psycho-education program assigned experimental group (n=13), the other parents assigned control group 1 (n=13) in the first high school. The parents of the 26 students were randomly assigned to the control group 2 (n=13) and control group 3 (n=13) in the second high school. The data of the research was obtained via the problem behavior scale - coping - parents form and demographic questionnaire. Four-session parent psycho-education program to cope with Internet addiction and other problem behaviors in their children was applied to the experimental group. No program was applied to the control group 1, control group 2 and control group 3. In addition, an internet addiction prevention psycho-education program was applied to the children of the parents in experimental group and control group 1 within the scope of another study. In the analysis of the obtained data, two-factor variance analysis for repeated measures on one factor was used. Bonferroni post-hoc test was used to find the source of intergroup difference. According to the findings, the psycho-education program significantly increases parents’ problem-solving abilities, and the increase has continued throughout the follow-up test.

Keywords: internet addiction, parents, prevention, psyho-education

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Authors: William Castillo, Hugo Viza, Arturo Vargas

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The Pacific Alliance is a trade bloc that is composed of four emerging economies: Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Mexico. These economies have gained macroeconomic stability in the past decade and as a consequence present future economic progress. Under this positive scenario, international business firms have flourished. However, the literature in this region has been widely unexamined. Therefore, it is critical to fill this theoretical gap, especially considering that Latin America is starting to become a global player and it possesses a different institutional context than developed markets. This paper analyzes the effect of international entrepreneurial orientation and institutionalism on international performance, for the Pacific Alliance small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs). The literature considers international entrepreneurial orientation to be a powerful managerial capability – along the resource based view- that firms can leverage to obtain a satisfactory international performance. Thereby, obtaining a competitive advantage through the correct allocation of key resources to exploit the capabilities here involved. Entrepreneurial Orientation is defined around five factors: innovation, proactiveness, risk-taking, competitive aggressiveness, and autonomy. Nevertheless, the institutional environment – both local and foreign, adversely affects International Performance; this is especially the case for emerging markets with uncertain scenarios. In this way, the study analyzes an Entrepreneurial Orientation, key endogenous variable of international performance, and Institutionalism, an exogenous variable. The survey data consists of Pacific Alliance SMEs that have foreign operations in at least another country in the trade bloc. Findings are still in an ongoing research process. Later, the study will undertake a structural equation modeling (SEM) using the variance-based partial least square estimation procedure. The software that is going to be used is the SmartPLS. This research contributes to the theoretical discussion of a largely postponed topic: SMEs in Latin America, that has had limited academic research. Also, it has practical implication for decision-makers and policy-makers, providing insights into what is behind international performance.

Keywords: institutional theory, international entrepreneurial orientation, international performance, SMEs, Pacific Alliance

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Authors: Benjamin Lee Warren

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Many problems exist in additive number theory which is essential to determine the primes that are the sum of two elements from a given single-variable polynomial sequence, and most of them are unattackable in the present day. Here, we determine solutions for this problem to a few certain sequences (certain binomial coefficients and power sums) using only elementary algebra and some algebraic factoring methods (as well as Euclid’s Lemma and Faulhaber’s Formula). In particular, we show that there are finitely many primes as sums of two of these types of elements. Several cases are fully illustrated, and bounds are presented for the cases not fully illustrated.

Keywords: binomial coefficients, power sums, primes, algebra

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Authors: Shrikant Ghadage

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Study of shock waves generated in the Scramjet engine is typically restricted to pressure, temperature, density, entropy and Mach number variation across the shock wave. The present work discusses the impact of inlet shock wave angles on the specific impulse of the Scramjet engine. A mathematical analysis has done for the isentropic hypersonic flow of air flowing through a Scramjet with hydrogen fuel at an altitude of 30 km. Analysis has been done in order to get optimum shock wave angle to achieve maximum impulse. Since external drag has excluded from the analysis, the losses due to friction are not considered for the present analysis. When Mach number of the airflow at the entry of the nozzle reaches unity, then that flow is choked. This condition puts limitations on increasing the inlet shock wave angle. As inlet shock wave angle increases, speed of the flow entering into the nozzle decreases, which results in an increase in the specific impulse of the engine. When the speed of the flow at the entry of the nozzle reduces below sonic speed, then there is no further increase in the specific impulse of the engine. Here the Conclusion is the thrust and specific impulse of a scramjet engine, which increases gradually with an increase in inlet shock wave angle up to the condition when airflow speed reaches sonic velocity at the exit of the combustor. In addition to that, variation in drag force at the inlet of the scramjet and variation in hypersonic flow conditions at every stage of the scramjet also studied in order to understand variation on flow characteristics with respect to flow deflection angle. Essentially, it helps in designing inlet profile for the Scramjet engine to achieve optimum specific impulse.

Keywords: hypersonic flow, scramjet, shock waves, specific impulse, mathematical analysis

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Authors: I Putu Indra Kusuma

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The rapid development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools has improved the implementation of flipped classrooms in English Language Teaching (ELT), especially in speaking course. Flipped classrooms have therefore evolved from the oldest version, which uses recorded videos to the newest one (3.0 version), which combines various materials and enables out-of-class interaction and learning engagement. However, how the latest version of flipped classrooms affects students’ speaking performance and influences students’ learning engagement remains unclear. This study therefore sought (1) to examine the effect of flipped classrooms 3.0 towards students’ speaking performance and (2) to explore the students’ learning engagement during the implementation of flipped classrooms in the speaking course. This study then employed explanatory sequential mixed-method design. This study conducted a quasi-experimental study by recruiting 164 twelfth grade students of a public senior high school in Indonesia as the sample. They were distributed into experimental (80 students) and control (84 students) groups. The experimental group was treated by implementing flipped classrooms with various use of ICT tools such as Schoology, Youtube, websites, and Flipgrid for eight weeks. Meanwhile, the control group implemented a conventional method. Furthermore, there were two variables examined in this study, such as the implementation of flipped classrooms 3.0 as the independent variable and students’ speaking performance as the dependent variable. The data of these two variables were then collected through administering a speaking test to both groups. The data from this experimental study were analyzed by using independent t-test analysis. Also, five students were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews to explore their learning engagement during the implementation of flipped classrooms. The findings revealed that there was a significant difference in students’ speaking performance between experimental where t (df = 162) = 5.810, p < 0.001, d = 0.91 in which experimental group performed better in speaking than the control group. Also, the results of interviews showed that the students had positive learning engagement during the implementation of flipped classrooms 3.0, especially on out-of-class interactions and face-to-face meetings. Some relevant implications to ELT, especially in speaking courses, are also drawn from the data findings. From the findings, it can be concluded that flipped classrooms 3.0 has a significant effect on students’ speaking performance and it promotes students’ learning engagement. Therefore, flipped classrooms 3.0 should be embraced as the newest version of flipped classrooms that promotes interaction outside the classrooms and learning engagement.

Keywords: Flipped Classrooms 3.0, learning engagement, teaching speaking with technology, technology-enhanced language learning

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Authors: Bin Zhou, Tongli Lu, Jianwu Zhang, Hongtao Hao

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Dual clutch transmissions (DCT) offer a high comfort performance in terms of the gearshift. Hydraulic multi-disk clutches are the key components of DCT, its engagement determines the shifting comfort. The prefill of the clutches requests an initial engagement which the clutches just contact against each other but not transmit substantial torque from the engine, this initial clutch engagement point is called the touch point. Open-loop control is typically implemented for the clutch prefill, a lot of uncertainties, such as oil temperature and clutch wear, significantly affects the prefill, probably resulting in an inappropriate touch point. Underfill causes the engine flaring in gearshift while overfill arises clutch tying up, both deteriorating the shifting comfort of DCT. Therefore, it is important to enable an adaptive capacity for the clutch prefills regarding the uncertainties. In this paper, a dynamic model of the hydraulic actuator system is presented, including the variable force solenoid and clutch piston, and validated by a test. Subsequently, the open-loop clutch prefill is simulated based on the proposed model. Two control parameters of the prefill, fast fill time and stable fill pressure is analyzed with regard to the impact on the prefill. The former has great effects on the pressure transients, the latter directly influences the touch point. Finally, an adaptive method is proposed for the clutch prefill during gear shifting, in which clutch fill control parameters are adjusted adaptively and continually. The adaptive strategy is changing the stable fill pressure according to the current clutch slip during a gearshift, improving the next prefill process. The stable fill pressure is increased by means of the clutch slip while underfill and decreased with a constant value for overfill. The entire strategy is designed in the Simulink/Stateflow, and implemented in the transmission control unit with optimization. Road vehicle test results have shown the strategy realized its adaptive capability and proven it improves the shifting comfort.

Keywords: clutch prefill, clutch slip, dual clutch transmission, touch point, variable force solenoid

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Authors: Izzudeen Adetunji

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The intrinsic nexus between man and society is apparently unknown to many people despite understanding the real responsibility and immense roles in society. Amongst the in-depth roles of a man as an agent of the societal reformer is to be a driven force towards installing normalcy and socio-cultural change in society. The paradoxical attitudes of man in engaging in social vices, illicit characters, and unwanted attitudes have given birth to decay and ill-society. However, the need for social change or socio-cultural evolution might be necessary to install normalcy and social order. Nigerian Arabic poets since the 19th century have tremendously engaged in utilizing their poetry for social change through socio-cultural, religious, economic, scientific, or technological forces. This engagement has hitherto yielded a positive outcome for societal reform. The anthology of Ibn Yusuf is one of the compendiums of poetries revealing societal depravity, man’s social vices, and atrocities; which later called to flawlessness. The theoretical framework would be examined through the Heraclitan model, focusing on a parallel to that of a living organism, which, in order to remain alive, must constantly change. Therefore, the thrust of this paper is to examine the societal maladies as elucidated in Ibn Yusuf’s anthology and proffer a contrapuntal criticism of it. Before delving into the main discussion, the paper will examine the concepts of existentialism and realism as a philosophical interface. Likewise, the issues of man and social change, an overview of Nigerian Arabic poetry, will be discussed. Ibn Yusuf’s biography and scholarship and the review of his anthology will be studied. The paper will conclude by critically examining the contrapuntal criticism of societal maladies through Ibn Yusuf’s anthology.

Keywords: societal depravity, existentialism, realism, Nigeria Arabic poetry, Ibn Yusuf’s anthology, contrapuntal criticism

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Authors: Muhammad Asim

Abstract:

Background: Less than half of women in South Asia (SA) use any modern contraceptive method which leads to a huge burden of unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, maternal deaths, and socioeconomic loss. Women empowerment plays a pivotal role in improving various health seeking behaviours, including contraceptive use. The objective of this study to explore the association between women's empowerment and modern contraceptive, among rich and poor segment of population in SA. Methods: We used the most recent, large-scale, demographic health survey data of five South Asian countries, namely Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. The outcome variable was the current use of modern contraceptive methods. The main exposure variable was a combination (interaction) of socio-economic status (SES) and women’s level of empowerment (low, medium, and high), where SES was bifurcated into poor and rich; and women empowerment was divided into three categories: decision making, attitude to violence and social independence. Moreover, overall women empowerment indicator was also created by using three dimensions of women empowerment. We applied both descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression techniques for data analyses. Results: Most of the women possessed ‘medium’ level of empowerment across South Asian Countries. The lowest attitude to violence empowerment was found in Afghanistan, and the lowest social independence empowerment was observed in Bangladesh across SA. However, Pakistani women have the lowest decision-making empowerment in the region. The lowest modern contraceptive use (22.1%) was found in Afghanistan and the highest (53.2%) in Bangladesh. The multivariate results depict that the overall measure of women empowerment does not affect modern contraceptive use among poor and rich women in most of South Asian countries. However, the decision-making empowerment plays a significant role among both poor and rich women to use modern contraceptive methods across South Asian countries. Conclusions: The effect of women’s empowerment on modern contraceptive use is not consistent across countries, and among poor and rich segment of population. Of the three dimensions of women’s empowerment, the autonomy of decision making in household affairs emerged as a stronger determinant of mCPR as compared with social independence and attitude towards violence against women.

Keywords: women empowerment, contraceptive use, South Asia, women autonomy

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Authors: Abdulatif Abdulsalam Mohamed Shaban

Abstract:

A.C motors, in general, have superior performance characteristics to their d.c. counterparts. However, despite these advantage a.c. motors lack the controllability and simplicity and so d.c. motors retain a competitive edge where precise control is required. As part of an overall project to develop an improved cycloconverter control strategy for induction motors. Simulation and modelling techniques have been developed. This contribution describes a method used to simulate an induction motor drive using the SIMULINK toolbox within MATLAB software. The cycloconverter fed induction motor is principally modelled using the d-q axis equations. Results of the simulation for a given set of induction motor parameters are also presented.

Keywords: simulation, converter, motor, cycloconverter

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Authors: Subir S. Rao

Abstract:

Existing warehouse configurations use non-traditional aisle designs with a central P/D point in their models, which is mathematically simple but less practical. Many warehouses use multiple P/D points to avoid congestion for pickers, and different warehouses have different flow policies and infrastructure for using the P/D points. Many warehouses use multiple P/D points with non-traditional aisle designs in their analytical models. Standard warehouse models introduce one-sided multiple P/D points in a flying-V warehouse and minimize pick distance for a one-way travel between an active P/D point and a pick location with P/D points, assuming uniform flow rates. A simulation of the mathematical model generally uses four fixed configurations of P/D points which are on two different sides of the warehouse. It can be easily proved that if the source and destination P/D points are both chosen randomly, in a uniform way, then minimizing the one-way travel is the same as minimizing the two-way travel. Another warehouse configuration analytically models the warehouse for multiple one-sided P/D points while keeping the angle of the cross-aisles and picking aisles as a decision variable. The minimization of the one-way pick travel distance from the P/D point to the pick location by finding the optimal position/angle of the cross-aisle and picking aisle for warehouses having different numbers of multiple P/D points with variable flow rates is also one of the objectives. Most models of warehouses with multiple P/D points are one-way travel models and we extend these analytical models to minimize the two-way pick travel distance wherein the destination P/D is chosen optimally for the return route, which is not similar to minimizing the one-way travel. In most warehouse models, the return P/D is chosen randomly, but in our research, the return route P/D point is chosen optimally. Such warehouses are common in practice, where the flow rates at the P/D points are flexible and depend totally on the position of the picks. A good warehouse management system is efficient in consolidating orders over multiple P/D points in warehouses where the P/D is flexible in function. In the latter arrangement, pickers and shrink-wrap processes are not assigned to particular P/D points, which ultimately makes the P/D points more flexible and easy to use interchangeably for picking and deposits. The number of P/D points considered in this research uniformly increases from a single-central one to a maximum of each aisle symmetrically having a P/D point below it.

Keywords: non-traditional warehouse, V cross-aisle, multiple P/D point, pick travel distance

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Authors: Muhammad Asim

Abstract:

Background: Less than half of women in South Asia (SA) use any modern contraceptive method which leads to a huge burden of unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, maternal deaths, and socioeconomic loss. Women empowerment plays a pivotal role in improving various health seeking behaviours, including contraceptive use. The objective of this study to explore the association between women's empowerment and modern contraceptive, among rich and poor segment of population in SA. Methods: We used the most recent, large-scale, demographic health survey data of five South Asian countries, namely Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. The outcome variable was the current use of modern contraceptive methods. The main exposure variable was a combination (interaction) of socio-economic status (SES) and women’s level of empowerment (low, medium, and high), where SES was bifurcated into poor and rich; and women empowerment was divided into three categories: decision making, attitude to violence and social independence. Moreover, overall women empowerment indicator was also created by using three dimensions of women empowerment. We applied both descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression techniques for data analyses. Results: Most of the women possessed ‘medium’ level of empowerment across South Asian Countries. The lowest attitude to violence empowerment was found in Afghanistan, and the lowest social independence empowerment was observed in Bangladesh across SA. However, Pakistani women have the lowest decision-making empowerment in the region. The lowest modern contraceptive use (22.1%) was found in Afghanistan and the highest (53.2%) in Bangladesh. The multivariate results depict that the overall measure of women empowerment does not affect modern contraceptive use among poor and rich women in most of South Asian countries. However, the decision-making empowerment plays a significant role among both poor and rich women to use modern contraceptive methods across South Asian countries. Conclusions: The effect of women’s empowerment on modern contraceptive use is not consistent across countries, and among poor and rich segment of population. Of the three dimensions of women’s empowerment, the autonomy of decision making in household affairs emerged as a stronger determinant of mCPR as compared with social independence and attitude towards violence against women.

Keywords: women empowerment, modern contraceptive use, South Asia, women autonomy

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Authors: A. Mohammadi, M. Moghimi, S. Mohammadi

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Engineers need computational methods which could provide solutions less sensitive to the environmental effects, so the techniques should be used which take the uncertainty to account to control and minimize the risk associated with design and operation. In order to consider uncertainty in engineering problem, the optimization problem should be solved for a suitable range of the each uncertain input variable instead of just one estimated point. Using deterministic optimization problem, a large computational burden is required to consider every possible and probable combination of uncertain input variables. Several methods have been reported in the literature to deal with problems under uncertainty. In this paper, different methods presented and analyzed.

Keywords: uncertainty, Monte Carlo simulated, stochastic programming, scenario method

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Authors: Yemane Hailu Fissuh, Zhongzhan Zhang

Abstract:

In biomedical researches and randomized clinical trials, the most commonly interested outcomes are time-to-event so-called survival data. The importance of robust models in this context is to compare the effect of randomly controlled experimental groups that have a sense of causality. Causal estimation is the scientific concept of comparing the pragmatic effect of treatments conditional to the given covariates rather than assessing the simple association of response and predictors. Hence, the causal effect based semiparametric transformation model was proposed to estimate the effect of treatment with the presence of possibly time-varying covariates. Due to its high flexibility and robustness, the semiparametric transformation model which shall be applied in this paper has been given much more attention for estimation of a causal effect in modeling left-truncated and right censored survival data. Despite its wide applications and popularity in estimating unknown parameters, the maximum likelihood estimation technique is quite complex and burdensome in estimating unknown parameters and unspecified transformation function in the presence of possibly time-varying covariates. Thus, to ease the complexity we proposed the modified estimating equations. After intuitive estimation procedures, the consistency and asymptotic properties of the estimators were derived and the characteristics of the estimators in the finite sample performance of the proposed model were illustrated via simulation studies and Stanford heart transplant real data example. To sum up the study, the bias of covariates was adjusted via estimating the density function for truncation variable which was also incorporated in the model as a covariate in order to relax the independence assumption of failure time and truncation time. Moreover, the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm was described for the estimation of iterative unknown parameters and unspecified transformation function. In addition, the causal effect was derived by the ratio of the cumulative hazard function of active and passive experiments after adjusting for bias raised in the model due to the truncation variable.

Keywords: causal estimation, EM algorithm, semiparametric transformation models, time-to-event outcomes, time-varying covariate

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Authors: Muhammad Usman, Munir Ahmed

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The demand of high-rise buildings has grown fast during the past decades. The design of these buildings by using RC core wall have been widespread nowadays in many countries. The RC core wall (RCCW) buildings encompasses central core wall and boundary columns joined through post tension slab at different floor levels. The core wall often provides greater stiffness as compared to the collective stiffness of the boundary columns. Hence, the core wall dominantly resists lateral loading i.e. wind or earthquake load. Non-linear response history analysis (NLRHA) procedure is the finest seismic design procedure of the times for designing high-rise buildings. The modern design tools for nonlinear response history analysis and performance based design has provided more confidence to design these structures for high-rise buildings. NLRHA requires selection and scaling of ground motions to match design spectrum for site specific conditions. Designers use several techniques for scaling ground motion records (time series). Time domain and frequency domain scaling are most commonly used which comprises their own benefits and drawbacks. Due to lengthy process of NLRHA, application of only one technique is conceivable. To the best of author’s knowledge, no consensus on the best procedures for the selection and scaling of the ground motions is available in literature. This research aims to provide the finest ground motion scaling technique specifically for designing 40 story high-rise RCCW buildings. Seismic response of 40 story RCCW building is checked by applying both the frequency domain and time domain scaling. Variable sites are selected in three critical seismic zones of Pakistan. The results indicates that there is extensive variation in seismic response of building for these scaling. There is still a need to build a consensus on the subjected research by investigating variable sites and buildings heights.

Keywords: 40-storied RC core wall building, nonlinear response history analysis, ground motions, time domain scaling, frequency domain scaling

Procedia PDF Downloads 131

Authors: Manal Elsayed Elkheshin, Rasha Saleh Mansour, Mohamed Fawzy Mohamed Eldnasury, Mamdouh Elbadry Mohamed

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This research Aims to identify the main factors affecting the production and the fish consumption in Egypt, through the econometric estimation for various forms functions of fish production and fish consumption during the period (1991-2014), as the aim of this research to forecast the production and the fish consumption in Egypt until 2020, through determine the best standard methods using (ARIMA).This research also aims to the economic feasibility of the production of fish in aquaculture farms study; investment cost and represents the value of land, buildings, equipment and irrigation. Aquaculture requires three types of fish (Tilapia, carp fish, and mullet fish), and the total area of the farm, about an acre. The annual Fish production from this project about 3.5 tons. The annual investment costs of about 50500 pounds, Find conclude that the project can repay the cost of their investments after about 4 years and 5 months, and therefore recommend the implementation of the project, and internal rate of return reached (IRR) of about 22.1%, where it is clear that the rate of large internal rate of return, and achieves pound invested in this project annual return is estimated at 22.1 pounds, more than the opportunity cost, so we recommend the need to implement the project.Recommendations:1. Increasing the fish agriculture to decrease the gap of animal protein. 2.Increasing the number of mechanism fishing boats, and the provision of transport equipped to maintain the quality of fish production. 3.Encourage and attract the local and foreign investments, providing advice to the investor on the aquaculture field. 4. Action newsletters awareness of the importance of these projects where these projects resulted in a net profit after recovery in less than five years, IRR amounted to about 23%, which is much more than the opportunity cost of a bank interest rate is about 7%, helping to create work and graduates opportunities, and contribute to the reduction of imports of the fish, and improve the performance of the food trade balance.

Keywords: equation model, individual share, red meat, consumption, production, endogenous variable, exogenous variable, financial performance evaluates fish culture, feasibility study, fish production, aquaculture

Procedia PDF Downloads 370

Authors: Christina Williams, Mehari Weldemariam, Ann M. Farese, Thomas J. MacVittie, Maureen A. Kane

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Radiation exposure results in dose-dependent and time-dependent multi-organ damage. Drug development of medical countermeasures (MCM) for radiation-induced injury occurs under the FDA Animal Rule because human efficacy studies are not ethical or feasible. The FDA Animal Rule requires the representation of both sexes and describes several uses for biomarkers in MCM drug development studies. Currently, MCMs are limited and there is no FDA-approved biomarker for any radiation injury. Sex as a variable is essential to identifying biomarkers and developing effective MCMs for acute radiation exposure (ARS) and delayed effects of acute radiation exposure (DEARE). These studies aim to address the death of information on sex differences that have not been determined by studies that included only male, single-sex cohorts. Studies have reported differences in radiosensitivity according to sex. As such, biomarker discovery for radiation-induced damage must consider sex as a variable. This study evaluated the plasma proteomic profile of Rhesus macaque non-human primates after different exposures and doses, as well as time points after radiation. Exposures and doses included total body irradiation between 5-7.5 Gy and partial body irradiation with 5% bone marrow sparing at 9, 9.5 and 10 Gy. Timepoints after irradiation included days 1, 3, 60, and 180, which encompassed both acute radiation syndromes and delayed effects of acute radiation exposure. Bottom-up proteomic analyses of plasma included equal numbers of males and females. In the control animals, few proteomic differences are observed between the sexes. In the irradiated animals, there are a few sex differences, with changes mostly consisting of proteins upregulated in the female animals. Multiple canonical pathways were upregulated in irradiated animals relative to the control animals when subjected to pathway analysis, but differential responses between the sexes are limited. These data provide critical baseline differences according to sex and establish sex differences in non-human primate models relevant to drug development of MCM under the FDA Animal Rule.

Keywords: ionizing radiation, sex differences, plasma proteomics, biomarker discovery

Procedia PDF Downloads 90

Authors: Ali Assoudi, Sabra Habli, Nejla Mahjoub Saïd, Philippe Bournot, Georges Le Palec

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Studying the flow characteristics of a turbulent offset jet is an important topic among researchers across the world because of its various engineering applications. Some of the common examples include: injection and carburetor systems, entrainment and mixing process in gas turbine and boiler combustion chambers, Thrust-augmenting ejectors for V/STOL aircrafts and HVAC systems, environmental dischargers, film cooling and many others. An offset jet is formed when a jet discharges into a medium above a horizontal solid wall parallel to the axis of the jet exit but which is offset by a certain distance. The structure of a turbulent offset-jet can be described by three main regions. Close to the nozzle exit, an offset jet possesses characteristic features similar to those of free jets. Then, the entrainment of fluid between the jet, the offset wall and the bottom wall creates a low pressure zone, forcing the jet to deflect towards the wall and eventually attaches to it at the impingement point. This is referred to as the Coanda effect. Further downstream after the reattachment point, the offset jet has the characteristics of a wall jet flow. Therefore, the offset jet has characteristics of free, impingement and wall jets, and it is relatively more complex compared to these types of flows. The present study examines the dynamic and thermal evolution of a 3D turbulent offset jet with different offset height ratio (the ratio of the distance from the jet exit to the impingement bottom wall and the jet nozzle diameter). To achieve this purpose a numerical study was conducted to investigate a three-dimensional offset jet flow through the resolution of the different governing Navier–Stokes’ equations by means of the finite volume method and the RSM second-order turbulent closure model. A detailed discussion has been provided on the flow and thermal characteristics in the form of streamlines, mean velocity vector, pressure field and Reynolds stresses.

Keywords: offset jet, offset ratio, numerical simulation, RSM

Procedia PDF Downloads 304

Authors: Javier E. García-Gallo, Nelson J. Fonseca-Ruiz, John F. Duitama-Munoz

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Sepsis is a syndrome that occurs with physiological and biochemical abnormalities induced by severe infection and carries a high mortality and morbidity, therefore the severity of its condition must be interpreted quickly. After patient admission in an intensive care unit (ICU), it is necessary to synthesize the large volume of information that is collected from patients in a value that represents the severity of their condition. Traditional severity of illness scores seeks to be applicable to all patient populations, and usually assess in-hospital mortality. However, the use of machine learning techniques and the data of a population that shares a common characteristic could lead to the development of customized mortality prediction scores with better performance. This study presents the development of a score for the one-year mortality prediction of the patients that are admitted to an ICU with a sepsis diagnosis. 5650 ICU admissions extracted from the MIMICIII database were evaluated, divided into two groups: 70% to develop the score and 30% to validate it. Comorbidities, demographics and clinical information of the first 24 hours after the ICU admission were used to develop a mortality prediction score. LASSO (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator) and SGB (Stochastic Gradient Boosting) variable importance methodologies were used to select the set of variables that make up the developed score; each of this variables was dichotomized and a cut-off point that divides the population into two groups with different mean mortalities was found; if the patient is in the group that presents a higher mortality a one is assigned to the particular variable, otherwise a zero is assigned. These binary variables are used in a logistic regression (LR) model, and its coefficients were rounded to the nearest integer. The resulting integers are the point values that make up the score when multiplied with each binary variables and summed. The one-year mortality probability was estimated using the score as the only variable in a LR model. Predictive power of the score, was evaluated using the 1695 admissions of the validation subset obtaining an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.7528, which outperforms the results obtained with Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA), Oxford Acute Severity of Illness Score (OASIS) and Simplified Acute Physiology Score II (SAPSII) scores on the same validation subset. Observed and predicted mortality rates within estimated probabilities deciles were compared graphically and found to be similar, indicating that the risk estimate obtained with the score is close to the observed mortality, it is also observed that the number of events (deaths) is indeed increasing as the outcome go from the decile with the lowest probabilities to the decile with the highest probabilities. Sepsis is a syndrome that carries a high mortality, 43.3% for the patients included in this study; therefore, tools that help clinicians to quickly and accurately predict a worse prognosis are needed. This work demonstrates the importance of customization of mortality prediction scores since the developed score provides better performance than traditional scoring systems.

Keywords: intensive care, logistic regression model, mortality prediction, sepsis, severity of illness, stochastic gradient boosting

Procedia PDF Downloads 222

Authors: Guettal Djaouida, Ziadi Abdelkader

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In this paper, we study a coupling of the Alienor method with the algorithm of Piyavskii-Shubert. The classical multidimensional global optimization methods involves great difficulties for their implementation to high dimensions. The Alienor method allows to transform a multivariable function into a function of a single variable for which it is possible to use efficient and rapid method for calculating the the global optimum. This simplification is based on the using of a reducing transformation called Alienor.

Keywords: global optimization, reducing transformation, α-dense curves, Alienor method, Piyavskii-Shubert algorithm

Procedia PDF Downloads 503

Authors: Janne Engblom, Elias Oikarinen

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The understanding of housing price dynamics is of importance to a great number of agents: to portfolio investors, banks, real estate brokers and construction companies as well as to policy makers and households. A panel dataset is one that follows a given sample of individuals over time, and thus provides multiple observations on each individual in the sample. Panel data models include a variety of fixed and random effects models which form a wide range of linear models. A special case of panel data models is dynamic in nature. A complication regarding a dynamic panel data model that includes the lagged dependent variable is endogeneity bias of estimates. Several approaches have been developed to account for this problem. In this paper, the panel models were estimated using the Common Correlated Effects estimator (CCE) of dynamic panel data which also accounts for cross-sectional dependence which is caused by common structures of the economy. In presence of cross-sectional dependence standard OLS gives biased estimates. In this study, U.S housing price dynamics were examined empirically using the dynamic CCE estimator with first-difference of housing price as the dependent and first-differences of per capita income, interest rate, housing stock and lagged price together with deviation of housing prices from their long-run equilibrium level as independents. These deviations were also estimated from the data. The aim of the analysis was to provide estimates with comparisons of estimates between 1980-1999 and 2000-2012. Based on data of 50 U.S cities over 1980-2012 differences of short-run housing price dynamics estimates were mostly significant when two time periods were compared. Significance tests of differences were provided by the model containing interaction terms of independents and time dummy variable. Residual analysis showed very low cross-sectional correlation of the model residuals compared with the standard OLS approach. This means a good fit of CCE estimator model. Estimates of the dynamic panel data model were in line with the theory of housing price dynamics. Results also suggest that dynamics of a housing market is evolving over time.

Keywords: dynamic model, panel data, cross-sectional dependence, interaction model

Procedia PDF Downloads 251

Authors: Yuanxiaoyue Yang

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Emissions trading, or ‘cap-and-trade', has been long promoted by economists as a more cost-effective pollution control approach than traditional performance standard approaches. While there is a large body of empirical evidence for the overall effectiveness of emissions trading, relatively little attention has been paid to other unintended consequences brought by emissions trading. One important consequence is that cap-and-trade could introduce the risk of creating high-level emission concentrations in areas where emitting facilities purchase a large number of emission allowances, which may cause an unequal distribution of environmental benefits. This study will contribute to the current environmental policy literature by linking trading activity with environmental injustice concerns and empirically analyzing the causal relationship between trading activity and emissions reduction under a cap-and-trade program for the first time. To investigate the potential environmental injustice concern in cap-and-trade, this paper uses a differences-in-differences (DID) with instrumental variable method to identify the causal effect of allowance trading behaviors on emission reduction levels under the clean air interstate rule (CAIR), a cap-and-trade program targeting on the power sector in the eastern US. The major data source is the facility-year level emissions and allowance transaction data collected from US EPA air market databases. While polluting facilities from CAIR are the treatment group under our DID identification, we use non-CAIR facilities from the Acid Rain Program - another NOx control program without a trading scheme – as the control group. To isolate the causal effects of trading behaviors on emissions reduction, we also use eligibility for CAIR participation as the instrumental variable. The DID results indicate that the CAIR program was able to reduce NOx emissions from affected facilities by about 10% more than facilities who did not participate in the CAIR program. Therefore, CAIR achieves excellent overall performance in emissions reduction. The IV regression results also indicate that compared with non-CAIR facilities, purchasing emission permits still decreases a CAIR participating facility’s emissions level significantly. This result implies that even buyers under the cap-and-trade program have achieved a great amount of emissions reduction. Therefore, we conclude little evidence of environmental injustice from the CAIR program.

Keywords: air pollution, cap-and-trade, emissions trading, environmental justice

Procedia PDF Downloads 151

Authors: Päärn Paiste, Margit Kõiv, Riho Mõtlep, Kalle Kirsimäe

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For small-scale wastewater management, the treatment wetlands (TWs) as a low cost alternative to conventional treatment facilities, can be used. However, P removal capacity of TW systems is usually problematic. P removal in TWs is mainly dependent on the physico–chemical and hydrological properties of the filter material. Highest P removal efficiency has been shown trough Ca-phosphate precipitation (i.e. active filtration) in Ca-rich alkaline filter materials, e.g. industrial by-products like hydrated oil shale ash (HOSA), metallurgical slags. In this contribution we report preliminary results of a full-scale TW system using HOSA material for P removal for a municipal wastewater at Nõo site, Estonia. The main goals of this ongoing project are to evaluate: a) the long-term P removal efficiency of HOSA using real waste water; b) the effect of high organic loading rate; c) variable P-loading effects on the P removal mechanism (adsorption/direct precipitation); and d) the form and composition of phosphate precipitates. Onsite full-scale experiment with two concurrent filter systems for treatment of municipal wastewater was established in September 2013. System’s pretreatment steps include septic tank (2 m2) and vertical down-flow LECA filters (3 m2 each), followed by horizontal subsurface HOSA filters (effective volume 8 m3 each). Overall organic and hydraulic loading rates of both systems are the same. However, the first system is operated in a stable hydraulic loading regime and the second in variable loading regime that imitates the wastewater production in an average household. Piezometers for water and perforated sample containers for filter material sampling were incorporated inside the filter beds to allow for continuous in-situ monitoring. During the 18 months of operation the median removal efficiency (inflow to outflow) of both systems were over 99% for TP, 93% for COD and 57% for TN. However, we observed significant differences in the samples collected in different points inside the filter systems. In both systems, we observed development of preferred flow paths and zones with high and low loadings. The filters show formation and a gradual advance of a “dead” zone along the flow path (zone with saturated filter material characterized by ineffective removal rates), which develops more rapidly in the system working under variable loading regime. The formation of the “dead” zone is accompanied by the growth of organic substances on the filter material particles that evidently inhibit the P removal. Phase analysis of used filter materials using X-ray diffraction method reveals formation of minor amounts of amorphous Ca-phosphate precipitates. This finding is supported by ATR-FTIR and SEM-EDS measurements, which also reveal Ca-phosphate and authigenic carbonate precipitation. Our first experimental results demonstrate that organic pollution and loading regime significantly affect the performance of hydrated ash filters. The material analyses also show that P is incorporated into a carbonate substituted hydroxyapatite phase.

Keywords: active filtration, apatite, hydrated oil shale ash, organic pollution, phosphorus

Procedia PDF Downloads 274

Authors: F. Keller, G. Reinhart

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The efficient and economic allocation of resources is one main goal in the field of production planning and control. Nowadays, a new variable gains in importance throughout the planning process: Energy. Energy-efficiency has already been widely discussed in literature, but with a strong focus on reducing the overall amount of energy used in production. This paper provides a brief systematic approach, how energy-supply-orientation can be used for an energy-cost-efficient production planning and thus combining the idea of energy-efficiency and energy-flexibility.

Keywords: production planning, production control, energy-efficiency, energy-flexibility, energy-supply

Procedia PDF Downloads 648