Search results for: resistance factor

Authors: Muhammad A. Ashraf, Scott Steinmetz, Matthew J. Dunn, Assaad R. Masri

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This study focuses on the evolution of soot and soot precursors in three different piloted diffusion turbulent flames. The fuel composition is as follow flame A (ethylene/nitrogen, 2:3 by volume), flame B (ethylene/air, 2:3 by volume), and flame C (pure methane). These flames are stabilized using a 4mm diameter jet surrounded by a pilot annulus with an outer diameter of 15 mm. The pilot issues combustion products from stoichiometric premixed flames of hydrogen, acetylene, and air. In all cases, the jet Reynolds number is 10,000, and air flows in the coflow stream at a velocity of 5 m/s. Time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) is collected at two wavelength bands in the visible (445 nm) and UV regions (266 nm) along with laser-induced incandescence (LII). The combined results are employed to study concentration, size, and growth of soot and precursors. A set of four fast photo-multiplier tubes are used to record emission data in temporal domain. A 266nm laser pulse preferentially excites smaller nanoparticles which emit a fluorescence spectrum which is analysed to track the presence, evolution, and destruction of nanoparticles. A 1064nm laser pulse excites sufficiently large soot particles, and the resulting incandescence is collected at 1064nm. At downstream and outer radial locations, intermittency becomes a relevant factor. Therefore, data collected in turbulent flames is conditioned to account for intermittency so that the resulting mean profiles for scattering, fluorescence, and incandescence are shown for the events that contain traces of soot. It is found that in the upstream regions of the ethylene-air and ethylene-nitrogen flames, the presence of soot precursors is rather similar. However, further downstream, soot concentration grows larger in the ethylene-air flames.

Keywords: laser induced incandescence, laser induced fluorescence, soot, nanoparticles

Procedia PDF Downloads 146

Authors: Gianmaria Califano, Júlio Augusto Lucena Maciel, Olfa Zarrouk, Miguel Damasio, Jose Silvestre, Ana Margarida Fortes

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Global warming, with rapid and sudden changes in meteorological conditions, is one of the major constraints to ensuring agricultural and crop resilience in the Mediterranean regions. Several strategies are being adopted to reduce the pressure of drought stress on grapevines at regional and local scales: improvements in the irrigation systems, adoption of interline cover crops, and adaptation of pruning techniques. However, still, more can be achieved if also microbial compartments associated with plants are considered in crop management. It is known that the microbial community change according to several factors such as latitude, plant variety, age, rootstock, soil composition and agricultural management system. Considering the increasing pressure of the biotic and abiotic stresses, it is of utmost necessity to also evaluate the effects of drought on the microbiome associated with the grapevine, which is a commercially important crop worldwide. In this study, we characterize the diversity and the structure of the microbial community under three long-term irrigation levels (100% ETc, 50% ETc and rain-fed) in a drought-tolerant grapevine cultivar present worldwide, Syrah. To avoid the limitations of culture-dependent methods, amplicon sequencing with target primers for bacteria and fungi was applied to the same soil samples. The use of the DNeasy PowerSoil (Qiagen) extraction kit required further optimization with the use of lytic enzymes and heating steps to improve DNA yield and quality systematically across biological treatments. Target regions (16S rRNA and ITS genes) of our samples are being sequenced with Illumina technology. With bioinformatic pipelines, it will be possible to obtain a characterization of the bacterial and fungal diversity, structure and composition. Further, the microbial communities will be assessed for their functional activity, which remains an important metric considering the strong inter-kingdom interactions existing between plants and their associated microbiome. The results of this study will lay the basis for biotechnological applications: in combination with the establishment of a bacterial library, it will be possible to explore the possibility of testing synthetic microbial communities to support plant resistance to water scarcity.

Keywords: microbiome, metabarcoding, soil, vinegrape, syrah, global warming, crop sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 123

Authors: Pahirangan Sivapatham, , Esser Barbara

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The impacts of the asphalt mix design, the properties of aggregates and quality differences in the same type of bitumen, as well as the dosage rate of reclaimed asphalt on the relevant material parameter of the analytical pavement design method are not known. Due to that, in this study, the influence of the above mentioned characteristics on relevant material parameters has been determined and analyzed by means of the analytical pavement calculations method. Therefore, material parameters for several asphalt mixes for asphalt wearing course, asphalt binder course and asphalt base course have been determined. Thereby several bitumens of the same type from different producer’s have been used. In addition, asphalt base course materials with three different dosages of reclaimed asphalt have been produced and tested. As material parameter according to the German analytical pavement design guide(RDO Asphalt), the stiffness’s at different temperatures and fatigue behavior have been determined. The findings of asphalt base course materials produced with several pen graded bitumen from different producers and different dosages of reclaimed asphalt indicate the distinct impact on fatigue behaviors and mechanical properties. The calculated test results of the analytical pavement design method show significant differences in the lifetimes. The pavement design calculation is to carry out by means of the actual material parameter. The calculated lifetime of the asphalt base course materials differentiates by the factor 3.2. The determining test results of bitumen characteristics meet the requirement according to the German Standards. But, further investigations of bitumen in different aging conditions show significant differences in their quality. The fatigue behavior and stiffness of asphalt pavement improves with increasing dosage of reclaimed asphalt. Furthermore, the type of aggregates used shows no significant influences.

Keywords: reclaimed asphalt pavement, quality differences in the bitumen, life time calculation, Asphalt mix with RAP

Procedia PDF Downloads 188

Authors: Seyedmohsen Mortazavi

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The purpose of this research is to investigate the personality types of internal auditors on the quality of financial reporting in companies admitted to the Tehran Stock Exchange. Personality type is one of the issues that emphasizes the field of auditors' behavior, and this field has attracted the attention of shareholders and stock companies today, because the auditors' personality can affect the type of financial reporting and its quality. The research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive and correlational in terms of method, and a researcher-made questionnaire was used to check the research hypotheses. The statistical population of the research is all the auditors, accountants and financial managers of the companies admitted to the Tehran Stock Exchange, and due to their large number and the uncertainty of their exact number, 384 people have been considered as a statistical sample using Morgan's table. The researcher-made questionnaire was approved by experts in the field, and then its validity and reliability were obtained using software. For the validity of the questionnaire, confirmatory factor analysis was first examined, and then using divergent and convergent validity; Fornell-Larker and cross-sectional load test of the validity of the questionnaire were confirmed; Then, the reliability of the questionnaire was examined using Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability, and the results of these two tests showed the appropriate reliability of the questionnaire. After checking the validity and reliability of the research hypotheses, PLS software was used to check the hypotheses. The results of the research showed that the personalities of internal auditors can affect the quality of financial reporting; The personalities investigated in this research include neuroticism, extroversion, flexibility, agreeableness and conscientiousness, all of these personality types can affect the quality of financial reporting.

Keywords: flexibility, quality of financial reporting, agreeableness, conscientiousness

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Authors: Sunday Oladele, Joseph Oluwagbeja Simeon

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Subsurface exploration, integrating methods of geotechnics and geophysics, of a planned construction site in the coastal city of Lagos, Nigeria has been carried out with the aim of characterizing the soil properties and their implication for the proposed infrastructural development. Six Standard Penetration Tests (SPT), fourteen Dutch Cone Penetrometer Tests (DCPT) and 2D Electrical Resistivity Imaging employing Dipole-dipole and Pole-dipole arrays were implemented on the site. The topsoil (0 - 4m) consists of highly compacted sandy lateritic clay(10 to 5595Ωm) to 1.25m in some parts and dense sand in other parts to 5.50m depth. This topsoil was characterized as a material of very high shear strength (≤ 150kg/m2) and allowable bearing pressure value of 54kN/m2 to 85kN/m2 and a safety factor of 2.5. Soft amorphous peat/peaty clay (0.1 to 11.4Ωm), 3-6m thick, underlays the lateritic clay to about 18m depth. Grey, medium dense to very dense sand (0.37 to 2387Ωm) with occasional gravels underlies the peaty clay down to 30m depth. Within this layer, the freshwater bearing zones are characterized by high resistivity response (83 to 2387Ωm), while the clayey sand/saline water intruded sand produced subdued resistivity output (0.37 to 40Ωm). The overall ground-bearing pressure for the proposed structure would be 225kN/m2. Bored/cast-in-place pile at 18.00m depth with any of these diameters and respective safe working loads 600mm/1,140KN, 800mm/2,010KN and 1000mm/3,150KN is recommended for the proposed multi-story structure.

Keywords: subsurface exploration, Geotechnical properties, resistivity imaging, pile

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Authors: Gülşen Kocaevli

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This paper aims to conduct a comparative analysis on the reflections of cultural elements such as language, festival, and food both in the case of Turkish immigrants in Germany and Mexican immigrants in the United States within a historical perspective. These reflections will be studied first by giving a certain background information on the migratory history of the two nations, Mexican immigration to the US, and Turkish immigration to Germany, respectively. These two cases were picked as the analytical subjects of this paper because both nations first migrated to the related country to constitute a labor force since there was a huge need for that due to several reasons such as the loss of manpower after certain wars or revolutions. At the end of this comparative study, it is speculated to be found that there are certain parallels between these two immigrant societies in the way that they reflect their cultures in the receiving country since both nations have a conventionalist nature which makes them tend more to protect their cultures and pay less effort to integrate into the society in which they are living. Even though this integration might be realized in certain fields like economic status and exogamy, it does not cover all segments nor is there any desire of the receiving government to integrate the immigrants but rather they make policies to assimilate them. This research paper will use a qualitative method which is fundamentally based on the interpretative data drawn from several sociological or ethnographic studies conducted in the related field. The primary and secondary resources of this paper will cover academic books, journal articles, particularly those reporting interviews with the immigrants, and certain governmental documents as well as publicized statistics regarding the subject of analysis. By the use of the aforementioned methodology and resources, the conventionalist nature of the two immigrant nations is aimed to be presented as the unifying factor in the way that Mexicans in the US and Turks in Germany reflect and protect their cultures in the form of language, festivals, and food.

Keywords: assimilation, culture, German-Turks, immigration, Mexican Americans

Procedia PDF Downloads 170

Authors: M. Bhattarai, B. B. Rana, M. Kamimukai, I. Takamure, T. Kawano, M. Murai

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The sd1-d allele at the sd1 locus on chromosome 1, originating from Taiwanese variety Dee-geo-woo-gen, has been playing important role for developing short-culm and lodging-resistant indica varieties such as IR36 in rice. The dominant allele SD1 for long culm at the locus is differentiated into SD1-in and SD1-ja which are harbored in indica and japonica subspecies’s, respectively. The sd1-d of an indica variety IR36 was substituted with SD1-in or SD1-ja by recurrent backcrosses of 17 times with IR36, and two isogenic tall lines regarding the respective dominant alleles were developed by using an indica variety IR5867 and a japonica one ‘Koshihikari’ as donors, which were denoted by '5867-36' and 'Koshi-36', respectively. The present study was conducted to examine the effect of sd1-d on yield and related traits as compared with SD1-in and SD1-ja, by using the two isogenic tall lines. Seedlings of IR36 and the two isogenic lines were transplanted on an experimental field of Kochi University, by the planting distance of 30 cm × 15 cm with two seedlings per hill, on May 3, 2017. Chemical fertilizers were supplied by basal application and top-dressing at a rate of 8.00, 6.57 and 7.52 g/m², respectively, for N, P₂O₅ and K₂O in total. Yield, yield components, and other traits were measured. Culm length (cm) was in the order of 5867-36 (101.9) > Koshi-36 (80.1) > IR36 (60.0), where '>' indicates statistically significant difference at the 5% level. Accordingly, sd1-d reduced culm by 41.9 and 20.1 cm, compared with SD1-in and SD1-ja, respectively, and the effect of elongating culm was higher in the former allele than in the latter one. Total brown rice yield (g/m²), including unripened grains, was in the order of IR36 (611) ≧ 5867-36 (586) ≧ Koshi-36 (572), indicating non-significant differences among them. Yield-1.5mm sieve (g/m²) was in the order of IR36 (596) ≧ 5867-36 (575) ≧ Koshi-36 (558). Spikelet number per panicle was in the order of 5867-36 (89.2) ≧ IR36 (84.7) ≧ Koshi-36 (79.8), and 5867-36 > Koshi-36. Panicle number per m² was in the order of IR36 (428) ≧ Koshi-36 (403) ≧ 5867-36 (353), and IR36 > 5867-36, suggesting that sd1-d increased number of panicles compared with SD1-in. Ripened-grain percentage-1.5mm sieve was in the order of Koshi-36 (86.0) ≧ 5867-36 (85.0) ≧ IR36 (82.7), and Koshi-36 > IR36. Thousand brown-rice-grain weight-1.5mm sieve (g) was in the order of 5867-36 (21.5) > Koshi-36 (20.2) ≧ IR36 (19.9). Total dry weight at maturity (g/m²) was in the order of 5867-36 (1404 ) ≧ IR36 (1310) ≧ Kosihi-36 (1290). Harvest index of total brown rice (%) was in the order of IR36 (39.6) > Koshi-36 (37.7) > 5867-36 (35.5). Hence, sd1-d did not exert significant effect on yield in indica genetic background. However, lodging was observed from the late stage of maturity in 5867-36 and Koshi-36, particularly in the former, which was principally due to their long culms. Consequently, sd1-d enables higher yield with higher fertilizer application, by enhancing lodging resistance, particularly in indica subspecies.

Keywords: rice, dwarfing gene, sd1-d, SD1-in, SD1-ja, yield

Procedia PDF Downloads 170

Authors: Ajay Mandal, Jitendar Kumar Tiwari, N. Sathish, A. K. Srivastava

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A fundamental investigation is performed on the development of graphene (Gr) reinforced stainless steel 316L (SS 316L) metal matrix composite via selective laser melting (SLM) in order to improve specific strength and wear resistance property of SS 316L. Firstly, SS 316L powder and graphene were mixed in a fixed ratio using low energy planetary ball milling. The milled powder is then subjected to the SLM process to fabricate composite samples at a laser power of 320 W and exposure time of 100 µs. The prepared composite was mechanically tested (hardness and tensile test) at ambient temperature, and obtained results indicate that the properties of the composite increased significantly with the addition of 0.2 wt. % Gr. Increment of about 25% (from 194 to 242 HV) and 70% (from 502 to 850 MPa) is obtained in hardness and yield strength of composite, respectively. Raman mapping and XRD were performed to see the distribution of Gr in the matrix and its effect on the formation of carbide, respectively. Results of Raman mapping show the uniform distribution of graphene inside the matrix. Electron back scatter diffraction (EBSD) map of the prepared composite was analyzed under FESEM in order to understand the microstructure and grain orientation. Due to thermal gradient, elongated grains were observed along the building direction, and grains get finer with the addition of Gr. Most of the mechanical components are subjected to several types of wear conditions. Therefore, it is very necessary to improve the wear property of the component, and hence apart from strength and hardness, a tribological property of composite was also measured under dry sliding condition. Solid lubrication property of Gr plays an important role during the sliding process due to which the wear rate of composite reduces up to 58%. Also, the surface roughness of worn surface reduces up to 70% as measured by 3D surface profilometry. Finally, it can be concluded that SLM is an efficient method of fabricating cutting edge metal matrix nano-composite having Gr like reinforcement, which was very difficult to fabricate through conventional manufacturing techniques. Prepared composite has superior mechanical and tribological properties and can be used for a wide variety of engineering applications. However, due to the unavailability of a considerable amount of literature in a similar domain, more experimental works need to perform, such as thermal property analysis, and is a part of ongoing study.

Keywords: selective laser melting, graphene, composite, mechanical property, tribological property

Procedia PDF Downloads 136

Authors: Hengki Eko Putra, Dennish Ari Putro, Tri Wahyu Hadi, Edi Riawan, Junnaedhi Dewa Gede, Aditia Rojali, Fariza Dian Prasetyo, Yudhistira Satya Pribadi, Dita Fatria Andarini, Mila Khaerunisa, Raditya Hanung Prakoswa

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Catastrophe risk management can only be done if we are able to calculate the exposed risks. Jakarta is an important city economically, socially, and politically and in the same time exposed to severe floods. On the other hand, flood risk calculation is still very limited in the area. This study has calculated the risk of flooding for Jakarta using 2-Dimensional Model ANUGA. 2-Dimensional model ANUGA and 1-Dimensional Model HEC-RAS are used to calculate the risk of flooding from 13 major rivers in Jakarta. ANUGA can simulate physical and dynamical processes between the streamflow against river geometry and land cover to produce a 1-meter resolution inundation map. The value of streamflow as an input for the model obtained from hydrological analysis on rainfall data using hydrologic model HEC-HMS. The probabilistic streamflow derived from probabilistic rainfall using statistical distribution Log-Pearson III, Normal and Gumbel, through compatibility test using Chi Square and Smirnov-Kolmogorov. Flood event on 2007 is used as a comparison to evaluate the accuracy of model output. Property damage estimations were calculated based on flood depth for 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 years return period against housing value data from the BPS-Statistics Indonesia, Centre for Research and Development of Housing and Settlements, Ministry of Public Work Indonesia. The vulnerability factor was derived from flood insurance claim. Jakarta's flood loss estimation for the return period of 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 years, respectively are Rp 1.30 t; Rp 16.18 t; Rp 16.85 t; Rp 21.21 t; Rp 24.32 t; and Rp 24.67 t of the total value of building Rp 434.43 t.

Keywords: 2D hydrodynamic model, ANUGA, flood, flood modeling

Procedia PDF Downloads 275

Authors: Elshymaa A. Abdelnaby, Amal M. Abo El-Maaty

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This study aimed to investigate dynamics of dominant and subordinate follicles change in dimensions, vascularity and angiogenic hormones after completing deviation till ovulation. Five cyclic mares were subjected to daily blood sampling and rectal Doppler ultrasonographic examination along two estrous cycles. Using electronic calipers, three diameters were recorded for each follicle to estimate area and volume. Leptin, Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-1), nitric oxide (NO) and estradiol (E2) were measured. Area of color- and power- Doppler modes with area and circumference of the first (preovulatory) and subordinate follicles were measured in pixels. Follicles were classified into F1O (preovulatory), F2O (subordinate), F3O (third ovulatory) on the dominant ovary and F1C (first contra) and F2C (second contra) on the contralateral ovary. Days before ovulation significantly (P < 0.0001) affected diameter, circumference, area, volume, area/pixel and antrum area of the preovulatory follicle. With the increase of diameter, area, volume area/pixel, antrum area/pixel and circumference of F1O, those of all subordinates were decreasing. The blue blood flow area, power and power minus red blood flow area of F1O increased from day -6 till day of ovulation (day 0), but red blood flow area significantly decreased. F1O had the lowest percent of colored pixels and percent of the colored pixels without antrum. Estradiol and leptin increased from day -6 till day 0 but IGF-1 decreased till day -1 but NO achieved a peak on day -3 then decreased till day 0. In conclusion, antrum growth, blood flow and angiogenic hormones play a role in maturation and ovulation of the dominant follicle in mares.

Keywords: angiogenic hormones, blood flow, mare, preovulatory follicle

Procedia PDF Downloads 313

Authors: A. Gürses, T. B. Barın, Ç. Doğar

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Bitumen has been widely used as the binder of aggregate in road pavement due to its good viscoelastic properties, as a viscous organic mixture with various chemical compositions. Bitumen is a liquid at high temperature and it becomes brittle at low temperatures, and this temperature-sensitivity can cause the rutting and cracking of the pavement and limit its application. Therefore, the properties of existing asphalt materials need to be enhanced. The pavement with polymer modified bitumen exhibits greater resistance to rutting and thermal cracking, decreased fatigue damage, as well as stripping and temperature susceptibility; however, they are expensive and their applications have disadvantages. Bituminous mixtures are composed of very irregular aggregates bound together with hydrocarbon-based asphalt, with a low volume fraction of voids dispersed within the matrix. Montmorillonite (MMT) is a layered silicate with low cost and abundance, which consists of layers of tetrahedral silicate and octahedral hydroxide sheets. Recently, the layered silicates have been widely used for the modification of polymers, as well as in many different fields. However, there are not too much studies related with the preparation of the modified asphalt with MMT, currently. In this study, organo-clay-modified bitumen, and calcareous aggregate and organo-clay blends were prepared by hot blending method with OMMT, which has been synthesized using a cationic surfactant (Cetyltrymethylammonium bromide, CTAB) and long chain hydrocarbon, and MMT. When the exchangeable cations in the interlayer region of pristine MMT were exchanged with hydrocarbon attached surfactant ions, the MMT becomes organophilic and more compatible with bitumen. The effects of the super hydrophobic OMMT onto the micro structural and mechanic properties (Marshall Stability and volumetric parameters) of the prepared blends were investigated. Stability and volumetric parameters of the blends prepared were measured using Marshall Test. Also, in order to investigate the morphological and micro structural properties of the organo-clay-modified bitumen and calcareous aggregate and organo-clay blends, their SEM and HRTEM images were taken. It was observed that the stability and volumetric parameters of the prepared mixtures improved significantly compared to the conventional hot mixes and even the stone matrix mixture. A micro structural analysis based on SEM images indicates that the organo-clay platelets dispersed in the bitumen have a dominant role in the increase of effectiveness of bitumen - aggregate interactions.

Keywords: hot mix asphalt, stone matrix asphalt, organo clay, Marshall test, calcareous aggregate, modified bitumen

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Authors: Milad Mirzaei Aminiyan, Abdolreza Akhgar, Farzad Mirzaei Aminiyan

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Water quality is the critical factor that influence on human health and quantity and quality of grain production in semi-humid and semi-arid area. Pistachio is a main crop that accounts for a considerable portion of Iranian agricultural exports. Give that pistachio tree is a tolerant type of tree to saline and alkaline soil and water conditions, but groundwater and irrigation water quality play important roles in main production this crop. For this purpose, 94 well water samples were taken from 25 wells and samples were analyzed. The results showed give that region’s geological, climatic characteristics, statistical analysis, and based on dominant cations and anions in well water samples (piper diagram); four main types of water were found: Na-Cl, K-Cl, Na-SO4, and K-SO4. It seems that most wells in terms of water quality (salinity and alkalinity) and based on Wilcox diagram have critical status. The analysis suggested that more than eighty-seven percentage of the well water samples have high values of EC that these values are higher than into critical limit EC value for irrigation water, which may be due to the sandy soils in this area. Most groundwater were relatively unsuitable for irrigation but it could be used by application of correct management such as removing and reducing the ion concentrations of Cl‾, SO42‾, Na+ and total hardness in groundwater and also the concentrated deep groundwater was required treatment to reduce the salinity and sodium hazard. Given that irrigation water quality in this area was relatively unsuitable for most agriculture production but pistachio tree was adapted to this area conditions. The integrated management of groundwater for irrigation is the way to solve water quality issues not only in Rafsanjan area, but also in other arid and semi-arid areas.

Keywords: groundwater quality, irrigation water quality, salinity, alkalinity, Rafsanjan plain, pistachio

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Authors: Ziqu Ouyang, Kun Su

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A novel efficient and clean coal combustion system, namely the purification-combustion system, was designed by the Institute of Engineering Thermal Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, in 2022. Among them, the purification system was composed of a mesothermal activating unit and a hyperthermal reductive unit, and the combustion system was composed of a mild combustion system. In the purification-combustion system, the deep in-situ removal of coal-N could be realized by matching the temperature and atmosphere in each unit, and thus the NOx emission was controlled effectively. To acquire the methods for realizing the efficient and clean coal combustion, this study investigated the effect of the activating temperature (including 822 °C, 858 °C, 933 °C, 991 °C), which was the key factor affecting the system operation, on combustion and NOx emission characteristics of pulverized coal in a 30 kW purification-combustion test bench. The research result turned out that the activating temperature affected the combustion and NOx emission characteristics significantly. As the activating temperature increased, the temperature increased first and then decreased in the mild combustion unit, and the temperature change in the lower part was much higher than that in the upper part. Moreover, the main combustion region was always located at the top of the unit under different activating temperatures, and the combustion intensity along the unit was weakened gradually. Increasing the activating temperature excessively could destroy the reductive atmosphere early in the upper part of the unit, which wasn’t conducive to the full removal of coal-N in the reductive coal char. As the activating temperature increased, the combustion efficiency increased first and then decreased, while the NOx emission decreased first and then increased, illustrating that increasing the activating temperature properly promoted the efficient and clean coal combustion, but there was a limit to its growth. In this study, the optimal activating temperature was 858 °C. Hence, this research illustrated that increasing the activating temperature properly could realize the mutual matching of improving the combustion efficiency and reducing the NOx emission, and thus guaranteed the clean and efficient coal combustion well.

Keywords: activating temperature, combustion characteristics, nox emission, purification-combustion system

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Authors: Bernardo C. P. Albuquerque, Darym J. F. Campos

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Increasing our ability to solve complex engineering problems is directly related to the processing capacity of computers. By means of such equipments, one is able to fast and accurately run numerical algorithms. Besides the increasing interest in numerical simulations, probabilistic approaches are also of great importance. This way, statistical tools have shown their relevance to the modelling of practical engineering problems. In general, statistical approaches to such problems consider that the random variables involved follow a normal distribution. This assumption tends to provide incorrect results when skew data is present since normal distributions are symmetric about their means. Thus, in order to visualize and quantify this aspect, 9 statistical distributions (symmetric and skew) have been considered to model a hypothetical slope stability problem. The data modeled is the friction angle of a superficial soil in Brasilia, Brazil. Despite the apparent universality, the normal distribution did not qualify as the best fit. In the present effort, data obtained in consolidated-drained triaxial tests and saturated direct shear tests have been modeled and used to analytically derive the probability density function (PDF) of the safety factor of a hypothetical slope based on Mohr-Coulomb rupture criterion. Therefore, based on this analysis, it is possible to explicitly derive the failure probability considering the friction angle as a random variable. Furthermore, it is possible to compare the stability analysis when the friction angle is modelled as a Dagum distribution (distribution that presented the best fit to the histogram) and as a Normal distribution. This comparison leads to relevant differences when analyzed in light of the risk management.

Keywords: statistical slope stability analysis, skew distributions, probability of failure, functions of random variables

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Authors: Oumaima Khlifati, Khadija Baba

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Pavement distress is the main factor responsible for the deterioration of road structure durability, damage vehicles, and driver comfort. Transportation agencies spend a high proportion of their funds on pavement monitoring and maintenance. The auscultation of pavement distress was based on the manual survey, which was extremely time consuming, labor intensive, and required domain expertise. Therefore, the automatic distress detection is needed to reduce the cost of manual inspection and avoid more serious damage by implementing the appropriate remediation actions at the right time. Inspired by recent deep learning applications, this paper proposes an algorithm for automatic road distress detection and classification using on the Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN). In this study, the types of pavement distress are classified as transverse or longitudinal cracking, alligator, pothole, and intact pavement. The dataset used in this work is composed of public asphalt pavement images. In order to learn the structure of the different type of distress, the DCNN models are trained and tested as a multi-label classification task. In addition, to get the highest accuracy for our model, we adjust the structural optimization hyper parameters such as the number of convolutions and max pooling, filers, size of filters, loss functions, activation functions, and optimizer and fine-tuning hyper parameters that conclude batch size and learning rate. The optimization of the model is executed by checking all feasible combinations and selecting the best performing one. The model, after being optimized, performance metrics is calculated, which describe the training and validation accuracies, precision, recall, and F1 score.

Keywords: distress pavement, hyperparameters, automatic classification, deep learning

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Authors: Destriyanti Sugiarti, Ririn A Wulandari

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Background: Malaria disease was widespread in many countries, both tropical and sub-tropical. Tasikmalaya is a region that experienced an increase in malaria cases over the last 5 years and highest in 2013, a total of 168 positive cases of malaria. Tasikmalaya region consists of coastal and mountain areas, it has a potential place for Anopheles mosquito breeding, i.e swamp, lagoon, andrice fields.The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation of environmental risk factors with the incidence of malaria in Tasikmalaya. Methods: The design of the study is case control study with 140 samples in 5 sub-district (Cineam, Cikatomas, Cipatujah, Salopa, and Jatiwaras). This study examines the environmental factors that influence the incidence of malaria in Tasikmalaya District in 2013. The research used 14 variables: individual characteristics (education, knowledge, occupation) and environmental risk factors (mobility to endemic areas, use mosquito nets, use of wire gauze at home, use mosquito repellent, repellent use, the presence of a large animal in a cage, breeding place, the presence of larvae, temperature and humidity chamber). Results: Results demonstrated an association between occupation (0.22; 0.10-0.47), the mobility of the population to the endemic areas (37.4; 14.29-98.18) ,the presence of larvae (5.26; 1.41-19.74), and the room temperature with optimum temperature for mosquito breeding is 25-30oC (3.25; 1.62- 6.50). Conclusion: The dominant factor affecting the spread of malaria in Tasikmalaya is the mobility of the population to endemic areas. The results of the study suggest migration survey conducted activity and health promotion for preventive efforts against malaria in malaria-endemic areas, and to encourage people to behave healthy life by freeing environment of mosquito larvae and protect themselves from mosquito bites.

Keywords: Environmental risk factors, malaria, correlation, Anopheles

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Authors: O. O. Oguntoye

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Product consumption constitutes an important consideration for sustainable development. Seeing how product consumption could be highly unsustainable, coupled with how existing policies on corporate responsibility do not particularly address the consumption aspect of product lifecycle, conducting this research became necessary. The research makes an attempt to provide a framework by which to gauge corporate responsibility of product suppliers in terms of their commitment towards the sustainable consumption of their products. Through an exploration of relevant literature, independently established ideas with which to assess a given product supplier were galvanised into a four-criterion framework. The criteria are: (1) Embeddedness of consumption as a factor in corporate sustainability policy, (2) Level of understanding of consumption behaviour, (3) Breadth of behaviour-influencing strategies adopted, and (4) Inclusiveness for all main dimensions of sustainability. This resulting framework was then applied in a case study involving a UK-based furniture supplier where interviews and content analysis of corporate documents were used as the mode for primary data collection. From the case study, it was found that the supplier had performed to different levels across the four themes of the assessment. Two major areas for improvement were however identified – one is for the furniture supplier to focus more proactively on understanding consumption behaviour and, two is for it to widen the scope of its current strategies for enhancing sustainable consumption of supplied furniture. As a generalisation, the framework presented here makes it possible for companies to reflect with a sense of guidance, how they have demonstrated commitment towards sustainable consumption through their values, culture, and operations. It also provides a foundation for developing standardized assessment which the current widely used frameworks such as the GRI, the Global Compact, and others do not cover. While these popularly used frameworks mainly focus on sustainability of companies within the production and supply chain management contexts (i.e. mostly ‘upstream’), the framework here provides an extension by bringing the ‘downstream’ or consumer bit into light.

Keywords: corporate sustainability, design for sustainable consumption, extended producer responsibility, sustainable consumer behaviour

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Authors: Sumayya S.

Abstract:

Making cities adaptive and inclusive is one among the inherent goal and challenge for contemporary cities. This is a serious concern when the urban transformations occur in varying magnitude due to visible and invisible factors. One type of visibly invisible factor is ecommerce and its expanding operation that is understood to cause changes to the conventional spatial structure positively and negatively. With the continued growth in e-commerce activities and its future potential, market analysts, media, and even retailers have questioned the importance of a future presence of traditional Brick-and-mortar stores in cities as a critical element, with some even referring to the repeated announcement of the closure of some store chains as the end of the online shopping era. Essentially this raises the question of how adaptive and inclusive the cities are to the dynamics of transformative changes that are often unseen. People have become more comfortable with seating inside and door delivery systems, and this increased change in usage of public spaces, especially the commercial corridors. Through this research helped in presetting a new approach for planning and designing commercial activities centers and also presents the impact of ecommerce on the urban fabric, such as division and fragmentation of space, showroom syndrome, reconceptualization of space, etc., in a critical way. The changes are understood by analyzing the e-commerce logistic process. Based on the inferences reach at the conclusion for the need of an integrated approach in the field of planning and designing of public spaces for the sustainable omnichannel retailing. This study was carried out with the following objectives Monitoring the impact of e commerce on the traditional shopping space. Explore the new challenges and opportunities faced by the urban form. Explore how adaptive and inclusive our cities are to the dynamics of transformative changes caused by ecommerce.

Keywords: E-commerce, shopping streets, online environment, offline environment, shopping factors

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Authors: Supat Chaiyakul, Direk Sukkasem, Patnachapa Natthapanpaisith

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Sinlek rice flour beverage or instant product is a dietary supplement for dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing. It is also consumed by individuals who need to consume supplements to maintain their calorific needs. This product provides protein, fat, iron, and a high concentration of carbohydrate from rice flour. However, the application of native flour is limited due to its high viscosity. Starch modification by controlling starch retrogradation was used in this study. The research studies the effects of rice flour concentration and retrogradation treatment on the physical properties of instant Sinlek brown rice. The native rice flour, gelatinized rice flour, and flour gels retrograded under 4 °C for 3 and 7 days were investigated. From the statistical results, significant differences between native and retrograded flour were observed. The concentration of rice flour was the main factor influencing the swelling power, solubility, and pasting properties. With the increase in rice flour content from 10 to 15%, swelling power, peak viscosity, trough, and final viscosity decreased; but, solubility, pasting temperature, peak time, breakdown, and setback increased. The peak time, pasting temperature, peak viscosity, trough, and final viscosity decreased as the storage period increased from 3 to 7 days. The retrograded rice flour powders had lower pasting temperature, peak viscosity, breakdown, and final viscosity than the gelatinized and native flour powders. Reduction of starch viscosity by gelatinization and controlling starch retrogradation could allow for increased quantities of rice flour in instant rice beverages. Also, the treatment could increase the energy and nutrient densities of rice beverages without affecting the viscosity of this product.

Keywords: instant rice, pasting properties, pregelatinization, retrogradation

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Authors: Elham Shakerian, Reza Afarin

Abstract:

The hepatic disease causes approximately 2 million deaths/year worldwide. Liver fibrosis is the last stage of numerous chronic liver diseases, and until now there is no definite cure or drug for it. Activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) is the main reason for fibrosis. Transforming growth factor (TGF-β), as a main profibrogenic cytokine, if increased in these cells, leads to liver fibrosis through smad3 signaling pathways and increasing the expressions of Collagen type I and III, and actin-alpha smooth muscle (αSMA) genes. Curcumin (CUR) is a polyphenolic compound and an active ingredient derived from the rhizome of the turmeric plant that exerts effective antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial activity. It has been shown that daily consumption of curcumin may have a protective effect on the liver against oxidative stress associated with alcohol consumption. In this study, we investigate the role of Curcumin in decreasing HSC activation and treating liver fibrosis. First, the human HSCs were treated with 2 ng/ml of (TGF-β) for 24 hours to become activated, then with Silibinin for 24 hours. Total RNAs were extracted, reversely transcribed into cDNA, Quantitative Real-time PCR, and western blot were performed. The mRNA expression levels of Collagen type I and III, αSMA genes, and the level of smad3 phosphorylation in TGF-β activated human HSCs treated with Curcumin were significantly reduced compared to human HSCs untreated with Curcumin. Curcumin is effective in reducing the expression of fibrogenic genes in the activated human HSCs treated with TGFB through downregulation of the TGF-β/smad3 signaling pathway. Therefore, Curcumin possesses significant antifibrotic properties in hepatic fibrosis

Keywords: hepatic fibrosis, human HSCs, curcumin, fibrogenic genes

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Authors: S. P. Bansal, Mukesh Kumar Sharma, Ankit Prabhakar

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Luhri Hydroelectric Project Stage-I (210 MW) is a run of the river type development with a dam toe surface powerhouse (122m long, 50.50m wide, and 65.50m high) on the right bank of river Satluj in Himachal Pradesh, India. The project is located in the inner lesser Himalaya between Dhauladhar Range in the south and higher Himalaya in the north in the seismically active region. At the project, the location river is confined within narrow V-shaped valleys with little or no flat areas close to the river bed. Nearly 120m high cut slopes behind the powerhouse are proposed from the powerhouse foundation level of 795m to ± 915m to accommodate the surface powerhouse. The stability of 120m high cut slopes is a prime concern for the reason of risk involved. The slopes behind the powerhouse will be excavated in mainly in augen gneiss, fresh to weathered in nature, and biotite rich at places. The foliation joints are favorable and dipping inside the hill. Two valleys dipping steeper joints will be encountered on the slopes, which can cause instability during excavation. Geological exploration plays a vital role in designing and optimization of cut slopes. SWEDGE software has been used to analyze the geometry and stability of surface wedges in cut slopes. The slopes behind powerhouse have been analyzed in three zones for stability analysis by providing a break in the continuity of cut slopes, which shall provide quite substantial relief for slope stabilization measure. Pseudo static analysis has been carried out for the stabilization of wedges. The results indicate that many large wedges are forming, which have a factor of safety less than 1. The stability measures (support system, bench width, slopes) have been planned so that no wedge failure may occur in the future.

Keywords: cut slopes, geotechnical investigations, Himalayan geology, surface powerhouse, wedge failure

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Authors: Marawan Abd Elbaset Mohamed, Hanan A. Ogaly, Rehab F. Abdel-Rahman, Ahmed-Farid O.A., Marwa S. Khattab, Reham M. Abd-Elsalam

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Liver fibrosis is a severe worldwide health concern due to various chronic liver disorders. Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is one of its most common complications affecting liver and brain cognitive function. Beta-Carotene (B-Car) is an organic, strongly colored red-orange pigment abundant in fungi, plants, and fruits. The study attempted to know B-Car neuroprotective potential against thioacetamide (TAA)-induced neurotoxicity and cognitive decline in HE in rats. Hepatic encephalopathy was induced by TAA (100 mg/kg, i.p.) three times per week for two weeks. B-Car was given orally (10 or 20 mg/kg) daily for two weeks after TAA injections. Organ body weight ratio, Serum transaminase activities, liver’s antioxidant parameters, ammonia, and liver histopathology were assessed. Also, the brain’s mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), antioxidant parameters, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), adenosine monophosphate (AMP), norepinephrine (NE), dopamine (DA), serotonin (5-HT), 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) expression and B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) expression were measured. The brain’s cognitive functions (Spontaneous locomotor activity, Rotarod performance test, Object recognition test) were assessed. B-Car prevented alteration of the brain’s cognitive function in a dose-dependent manner. The histopathological outcomes supported these biochemical evidences. Based on these results, it could be established that B-Car could be assigned to treat the brain’s neurotoxicity consequences of HE via downregualtion of MAPK/NF-κB signaling pathways.

Keywords: beta-carotene, liver injury, MAPK, NF-κB, rat, thioacetamide

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Authors: Khaled M. Ali, Ayman A. Mostafa, Soliman M. Soliman

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Objectives: To describe the most common clinical and endoscopic findings associated with complicated corneal ulcers in cats, and to determine the short-term outcomes after surgical treatment of these cats. Animals Eighteen client-owned cats of different breeds (52 females and 28 males), ranging in age from 3 months to 6 years, with corneal ulcers. Procedures: Cats were clinically evaluated to initially determine the concurrent corneal abnormalities. Endoscopic examination was performed to determine the anterior and posterior segments abnormalities. Superficial and deep stromal ulcers were treated using conjunctival flap. Corneal sequestrum was treated by partial keratectomy and conjunctival flap. Anterior synechia was treated via peripheral iridectomy and separation of the adhesion between the iris and the inner cornea. Symblepharon was treated by removal of the adhered conjunctival membrane from the cornea. Incurable endophthalmitis was treated surgically by extirpation. Short-term outcomes after surgical managements of selected corneal abnormalities were then assessed clinically and endoscopically. Results: Deep stromal ulcer with descemetocele, endophthalmitis, symblepharon, corneal sequestration and anterior synechia with secondary glaucoma and corneal scarring were the most common complications of corneal ulcer. FHV-1 was a common etiologic factor of corneal ulceration. Persistent corneal scars of varying shape and size developed in cats with deep stromal ulcer, anterior synechia, and corneal sequestration. Conclusions: Domestic shorthaired and Persian cats were the most predisposed breeds to FHV-1 infection and subsequent corneal ulceration. Immediate management of patients with corneal ulcer would prevent serious complications. No age or sex predisposition to complicated corneal ulceration in cats.

Keywords: cats, complicated corneal ulceration, clinical, endoscopic diagnosis, FHV-1

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Authors: Rose Vanessa Bandeira Reidel, Bernardo Melai, Pier Luigi Cioni, Luisa Pistelli

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Ziziphus jujuba Miller is a common species of the Ziziphus genus (Rhamnaceae family) native to the tropics and subtropics known for its edible fruits, fresh consumed or used in healthy food, as flavoring and sweetener. Many phytochemicals and biological activities are described for this species. In this work, the aroma profiles emitted in vivo by whole fresh organs (leaf, bud flower, flower, green and red fruits) were analyzed separately by mean of solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) coupled with gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The emitted volatiles from different plant parts were analysed using Supelco SPME device coated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS, 100µm). Fresh plant material was introduced separately into a glass conical flask and allowed to equilibrate for 20 min. After the equilibration time, the fibre was exposed to the headspace for 15 min at room temperature, the fibre was re-inserted into the needle and transferred to the injector of the CG and CG-MS system, where the fibre was desorbed. All the data were submitted to multivariate statistical analysis, evidencing many differences amongst the selected plant parts and their developmental stages. A total of 144 compounds were identified corresponding to 94.6-99.4% of the whole aroma profile of jujube samples. Sesquiterpene hydrocarbons were the main chemical class of compounds in leaves also present in similar percentage in flowers and bud flowers where (E, E)-α-farnesene was the main constituent in all cited plant parts. This behavior can be due to a protection mechanism against pathogens and herbivores as well as resistance to abiotic factors. The aroma of green fruits was characterized by high amount of perillene while the red fruits release a volatile blend mainly constituted by different monoterpenes. The terpenoid emission of flesh fruits has important function in the interaction with animals including attraction of seed dispersers and it is related to a good quality of fruits. This study provides for the first time the chemical composition of the volatile emission from different Ziziphus jujuba organs. The SPME analyses of the collected samples showed different patterns of emission and can contribute to understand their ecological interactions and fruit production management.

Keywords: Rhamnaceae, aroma profile, jujube organs, HS-SPME, GC-MS

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Authors: Kadeejah Alsolami, Zainab Alrefay, Husaam Awad

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Obesity and vitamin D deficiency have both been related to cardiovascular disease. The present work aimed to investigate the possible protective effect of vitamin D on cardiac apoptosis in a rat model of dietary-induced obesity. Methods: 30 male Wistar rats included in this study. They were allocated into 4 groups: Control (n=5), animal were fed standard diet for 3 months: Control + vitamin D (VD) (n=5),animals were fed a standard diet with 400IU VD/kg for 3 months: hypercaloric diets group (n=10), animals were fed a high fat diet for 3 months: hypercaloric diet with VD group (n=10), animals were fed a high fat diet with 400IU VD/kg for 3 months. At the beginning of the experiment, the weight and length were measured to assess body mass index (BMI) and repeated every 45 days. Food intake and body weight were monitored throughout the study period. Then rats were sacrificed and heart tissues collected for Quantitative Real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). qRT-PCR used to detect different genetic markers of apoptosis (anti-apoptotic gene (BCL2), a pro-apoptotic gene(BAX), pro-apoptotic genes (FAS, FAS-L), tumour necrosis factor (TNF), mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK). Results: FAS and FAS-L gene expression were significantly upregulated in rats fed with high fat diet. And FAS-L gene expression was significantly upregulated in all groups on comparison with control. Whereas Bax gene expression was significantly downregulated in rats fed with high-fat diet supplied with vitamin D. TNF was significantly upregulated in rats fed with high-fat diet treated with vitamin D. MAPK was significantly upregulated in rats fed with high fat diet group, and in rats fed with high-fat diet supplied with vitamin D. Conclusion: The cardiac apoptotic pathways were more activated in rats fed with high-fat than lean rats. And vitamin D protect the heart from the cardiac mitochondrial-dependent apoptotic pathway.

Keywords: apoptosis, heart, obesity, Vitamin D

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Authors: Hitesh Gupta, Surender Dabas

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TORS is increasingly gaining widespread use and has been explored as minimally invasive surgery for the treatment of supraglottic cancer (SGC). Being a central critical role of Supraglottis in deglutition, swallowing outcomes post TORS remain a most important factor. Available published studies show inconsistent swallowing outcomes and are deficient in standardized outcome measures, description of swallowing recovery and rehabilitation. So, the objective of this study is to find out swallowing outcomes in SGC patients after TORS provided with early dysphagia management using standardized measures. Prospectively 16 patients were recruited in the study who underwent TORS for primary tumor of Supraglottis, involving one or more sub-sites or invading to sites other than Supraglottis at the BLK Super Specialty Hospital, New Delhi from March 2019 to June 2020. All patients were evaluated for dysphagia with subsequent swallowing rehabilitation on post operative day 3 in the hospital or at the time of discharge, whichever was earlier. Functional oral intake scale (FOIS) and penetration-aspiration score (PAS) were used as outcome measures to quantify swallowing recovery at one month and six month post operatively. Post TORS, patients achieved functional swallow in less than one month, where resection was limited to Supraglottis, while the recovery was delayed in patients with extended resection to tongue base or hypopharynx. Overall, out of Total 16 cases including all supraglottis sub-catagories, 13 (81%) could remove their NG tube (FOIS ≥5 and PAS=1 ) within 6 months. In which 8 cases(62%) achieved functional swallow in less than one month. Swallowing outcomes post TORS supraglottic laryngectomy are favorable if provided with early dysphagia management (or swallowing rehabilitation).

Keywords: dysphagia, supraglottic cancer, swallowing, TORS

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Authors: Ramuel Spirituel Mattathiah A. San Juan, Neil Ambasing

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Background: In lateral medullary strokes, hemiparesis doesn't typically manifest due to the distinct vascular supply to the corticospinal tract located within the medulla's tegmentum. Hemiparesis resulting from a medullary infarct would likely be attributable to a medial medullary stroke characterized by contralateral hemiparesis since the corticospinal tract fibers at this level have yet to cross over. This paper reports a unique case of a lateral medullary stroke variant that presented with ipsilateral hemiparesis. Objective: There have only been 23 other cases of reported Opalski syndrome, making this only the 24th and 25th case reported worldwide. Case Presentation: A 53-year-old male was admitted with slurring of speech with gait instability, numbness on the right face, Horner’s syndrome, and 4/5 motor strength on the right extremities. Hyperreflexia was noted on the right, together with a Babinski’s sign. Cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed an infarct on the right dorsolateral medulla. A 48-year-old male was admitted complaining of dizziness, ataxic gait, veering to the left during ambulation, left facial numbness, left hemiplegia, crossed sensory disturbance, and right limb ataxia. MRI revealed an acute left lateral medullary infarction. Conclusion: A rare type of lateral medullary infarction, the Opalski Syndrome, is a weakness ipsilateral to the lesion of the infarct. The lesion involves the ipsilateral corticospinal tract below the pyramidal decussation. The considerable diversity in the posterior brain circulation serves as a contributing factor to the clinical observation of incomplete textbook syndromes, underscoring the significance of the neurological clinical approach and a solid foundation in neuroanatomy.

Keywords: Opalski syndrome, rare stroke, stroke, Wallenberg's syndrome

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Authors: A. H. Nanher, N. P. Singh

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In India, Agriculture is largely in rice- based cropping system. It has indicated decline in factor productivity along with emergence of multi - nutrient deficiency, buildup of soil pathogen and weed flora because it operates and removes nutrients from the same rooting depth. In designing alternative cropping systems, the common approaches are crop intensification, crop diversification and cultivar options. The intensification leads to the diversification of the cropping system. Intensification is achieved by introducing an additional component crop in a pre-dominant sequential system by desirable adjustments in cultivars of one or all the component crops. Invariably, this results in higher land use efficiency and productivity per unit time Crop Diversification through such crop and inclusion of fodder crops help to improve the economic situation of small and marginal farmers because of higher income. Inclusion of crops in sequential and intercropping systems reduces some obnoxious weeds through formation of canopies due to competitive planting pattern and thus provides an opportunity to utilize cropping systems as a tool of weed management with non-chemical means. Use of organic source not only acts as supplement for fertilizer (nitrogen) but also improve the physico-chemical properties of soils. Production and use of nitrogen rich biomass offer better prospect for supplementing chemical fertilizers on regular basis. Such biological diversity brings yield and economic stability because of its potential for compensation among components of the system. In a particular agro-climatic and resource condition, the identification of most suitable crop sequence is based on its productivity, stability, land use efficiency as well as production efficiency and its performance is chiefly judged in terms of productivity and net return.

Keywords: integrated farming systems, sustainable intensification, system of crop intensification, wheat

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Authors: Stephen W. Wang

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This research aims to explore the multi-faceted structure of airline passengers’ perception of airline sponsorship, and its impact on airline passengers and even consumers on airline brand preferences and brand equity. The connotation of this research is mainly divided into two parts. The first part of the research focuses on exploring the connotation and sub-dimensions of “air passengers’ perception of airline sponsorship”; the second part of the research focuses on integrating “air passengers’ perception on the multi-factor aspect of the corporate sponsorship, “brand transfer theory” and “brand theory”, explores the influence of airlines’ commitment to corporate sponsorship activities on the brand equity and brand preferences of airline passengers, and on passengers’ subsequent behavioral intentions . In addition, in order to clarify the differences between different types of corporate sponsorship activities and events in terms of "air passengers' perception of airline corporate sponsorship activities", brand transfer, brand preference, brand equity and behavioral intentions, this research also focuses on moderating effects of corporate sponsorship events. With the apply of multi-group structural equation model, it is hoped that the effectiveness of the sponsorship activities of airline companies will be improved. In terms of theoretical and practical implications, the aviation industry can follow the results of this research to understand which corporate sponsorship perceptions have a greater impact on consumers, which has important practical significance. The second part of the research project, from the consumer's point of view, understands whether airline corporate sponsorship activities influence behavioral intentions through brand transfer and brand recognition. Through the analysis of the intermediary effect of brand transfer, brand preference and brand equity, the results of this research can provide a more complete and powerful explanation for “why” airlines’ commitment to corporate sponsorship activities can affect airline passengers’ purchase intentions, which will help fill in the gap of the theoretical and practical research on "airline corporate sponsorship", and has its theoretical significance.

Keywords: airline, sponsorship, brand image transfer, brand preference

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Authors: Gela Gelashvili, David Gelenidze, Sulkhan Nanobashvili, Irakli Nanobashvili, George Tavkhelidze, Tsiuri Sitchinava

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Development of new highly efficient plasma arc combustion system of pulverized coal is presented. As it is well-known, coal is one of the main energy carriers by means of which electric and heat energy is produced in thermal power stations. The quality of the extracted coal decreases very rapidly. Therefore, the difficulties associated with its firing and complete combustion arise and thermo-chemical preparation of pulverized coal becomes necessary. Usually, other organic fuels (mazut-fuel oil or natural gas) are added to low-quality coal for this purpose. The fraction of additional organic fuels varies within 35-40% range. This decreases dramatically the economic efficiency of such systems. At the same time, emission of noxious substances in the environment increases. Because of all these, intense development of plasma combustion systems of pulverized coal takes place in whole world. These systems are equipped with Non-Transferred Plasma Arc Torches. They allow practically complete combustion of pulverized coal (without organic additives) in boilers, increase of energetic and financial efficiency. At the same time, emission of noxious substances in the environment decreases dramatically. But, the non-transferred plasma torches have numerous drawbacks, e.g. complicated construction, low service life (especially in the case of high power), instability of plasma arc and most important – up to 30% of energy loss due to anode cooling. Due to these reasons, intense development of new plasma technologies that are free from these shortcomings takes place. In our proposed system, pulverized coal-air mixture passes through plasma arc area that burns between to carbon electrodes directly in pulverized coal muffler burner. Consumption of the carbon electrodes is low and does not need a cooling system, but the main advantage of this method is that radiation of plasma arc directly impacts on coal-air mixture that accelerates the process of thermo-chemical preparation of coal to burn. To ensure the stability of the plasma arc in such difficult conditions, we have developed a power source that provides fixed current during fluctuations in the arc resistance automatically compensated by the voltage change as well as regulation of plasma arc length over a wide range. Our combustion system where plasma arc acts directly on pulverized coal-air mixture is simple. This should allow a significant improvement of pulverized coal combustion (especially low-quality coal) and its economic efficiency. Preliminary experiments demonstrated the successful functioning of the system.

Keywords: coal combustion, plasma arc, plasma torches, pulverized coal

Procedia PDF Downloads 161