Search results for: pyrolysis front

Authors: Abduladim Maitieg

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The oil manufacture is one of the main productive activities in Libya and has a massive infrastructure, including offshore drilling and exploration and wide oil export platform sites that located in coastal area. There is a threat to marine and coastal area of oil spills is greatest in those sites with a high spills comes from urban and industry, parallel to that, monitoring oil spills and risk emergency strategy is weakness, An approach for estimating a coastal resources vulnerability to oil spills is presented based on abundance, environmental and Scio-economic importance, distance to oil spill resources and oil risk likelihood. As many as 10 coastal resources were selected for oil spill assessment at the coast. This study aims to evaluate, determine and establish vulnerable coastal resource maps and estimating the rate of oil spill comes for different oil spill resources in Misratah marine environment. In the study area there are two type of oil spill resources, major oil resources come from offshore oil industries which are 96 km from the Coast and Loading/Uploading oil platform. However, the miner oil resources come from urban sewage pipes and fish ports. In order to analyse the collected database, the Geographic information system software has been used to identify oil spill location, to map oil tracks in front of study area, and developing seasonal vulnerable costal resources maps. This work shows that there is a differential distribution of the degree of vulnerability to oil spills along the coastline, with values ranging from high vulnerability and low vulnerability, and highlights the link between oil spill movement and coastal resources vulnerability. The results of assessment found most of costal freshwater spring sites are highly vulnerable to oil spill due to their location on the intertidal zone and their close to proximity to oil spills recourses such as Zreag coast. Furthermore, the Saltmarsh coastline is highly vulnerable to oil spill risk due to characterisation as it contains a nesting area of sea turtles and feeding places for migratory birds and the . Oil will reach the coast in winter season according to oil spill movement. Coastal tourist beaches in the north coast are considered as highly vulnerable to oil spill due to location and closeness to oil spill resources.

Keywords: coastal recourses vulnerability, oil spill trajectory, gnome software, Misratah coast- Libya, GIS

Procedia PDF Downloads 293

Authors: Rafikoddin Kazi

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Almost all the major religions of the world condemn the transactions based on interest which promotes self-centered and materialistic thinking. Still, it is amazing to note that it has become the tradition of transaction at world level hence it is called traditional financial system. The main feature of this system is that it considers economic aspects of the transaction only. This system supports the economic development and not the welfare of humankind. However, it is worth mentioning the fact that, except Islamic financial system no other financial system stood in front of it as a viable alternative system. Although many countries have tried to create financial infrastructure and system, still the Malaysian Islamic financial system has got its own peculiarity. It has made tremendous progress in creating sound Islamic Financial system. However, the historical aspect of this country which has passed through Islamic and traditional financial system has got its own advantages and disadvantages. The advantageous factor is that, despite having mix and heterogeneous culture, it has succeeded in creating Islamic Financial System based on the dual legal system to satisfy the needs of multi-cultural factors. This fact has proved that Islamic Financial System does not need purely Muslim population. However, due to adoption of the dual legal system, several legal issues have been taken place. According to this system, the application of Islamic Law has been limited only up to some family and religious matters. The rest of the matters are being dealt with under the traditional laws, the principles and practices of which are different from that of the Islamic Legal System. The matter becomes all the more complicated when the cases are partially or simultaneously concerned with traditional vis-à-vis Islamic Laws as it requires expertise in both the legal systems. However, the educational principles and systems are different in respect of both the systems. To face this problem, Shariah Advisory Council has been established. But the Multiplicity of Shariah authorities without judicial power has created confusion at various levels. Therefore, some experts have stressed the need for improving, empowering the Islamic financial, legal system to make it more integrated and holistic. In view of the above, an endeavor has been made in this paper to throw some light on the matters related to the adoption of the dual legal system. The paper is conceptual in nature and the method adopted is the intensive survey of literature thereby all the information has been gathered from the secondary sources.

Keywords: Islamic financial system, Islamic legal system, Islamic capital market (ICM) , traditional financial system

Procedia PDF Downloads 182

Authors: Imad Khan, Imran Shafi, Sarmad Farooq

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Large diameter pipes, barrels, tubes, and ducts are used in a variety of applications covering civil and defense-related technologies. This may include heating/cooling networks, sign poles, bracing, casing, and artillery and tank gun barrels. These large diameter assemblies require regular inspection and cleaning to increase their life and reduce replacement costs. This paper describes the design, development, and testing results of an efficient yet simplified, low maintenance mechanical design controlled with minimal essential electronics using an electric motor for a non-technical staff. The proposed solution provides a simplified user interface and an automated cleaning mechanism that requires a single user to optimally clean pipes and barrels in the range of 105 mm to 203 mm caliber. The proposed system employs linear motion of specially designed brush along the barrel using a chain of specific strength and a pulley anchor attached to both ends of the barrel. A specially designed and manufactured gearbox is coupled with an AC motor to allow movement of contact brush with high torque to allow efficient cleaning. A suitably powered AC motor is fixed to the front adapter mounted on the muzzle side whereas the rear adapter has a pulley-based anchor mounted towards the breach block in case of a gun barrel. A mix of soft nylon and hard copper bristles-based large surface brush is connected through a strong steel chain to motor and anchor pulley. The system is equipped with limit switches to auto switch the direction when one end is reached on its operation. The testing results based on carefully established performance indicators indicate the superiority of the proposed user-friendly cleaning mechanism vis-à-vis its life cycle cost.

Keywords: pipe cleaning mechanism, limiting switch, pipe cleaning robot, large pipes

Procedia PDF Downloads 87

Authors: Albert Mufundirwa, Satoru Yoshioka, K. Ogi, Takeharu Sugiyama, George F. Harrington, Bretislav Smid, Benjamin Cunning, Kazunari Sasaki, Akari Hayashi, Stephen M. Lyth

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Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are electrochemical energy conversion devices used for portable, residential and vehicular applications due to their low emissions, high efficiency, and quick start-up characteristics. However, PEMFCs generally use expensive, Pt-based electrocatalysts as electrode catalysts. Due to the high cost and limited availability of platinum, research and development to either drastically reduce platinum loading, or replace platinum with alternative catalysts is of paramount importance. A combination of high surface area supports and nano-structured active sites is essential for effective operation of catalysts. We synthesize carbon foam supports by thermal decomposition of sodium ethoxide, using a template-free, gram scale, cheap, and scalable pyrolysis method. This carbon foam has a high surface area, highly porous, three-dimensional framework which is ideal for electrochemical applications. These carbon foams can have surface area larger than 2500 m²/g, and electron microscopy reveals that they have micron-scale cells, separated by few-layer graphene-like carbon walls. We applied this carbon foam as a platinum catalyst support, resulting in the improved electrochemical surface area and mass activity for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), compared to carbon black. Similarly, silver-decorated carbon foams showed higher activity and efficiency for electrochemical carbon dioxide conversion than silver-decorated carbon black. A promising alternative to Pt-catalysts for the ORR is iron-impregnated nitrogen-doped carbon catalysts (Fe-N-C). Doping carbon with nitrogen alters the chemical structure and modulates the electronic properties, allowing a degree of control over the catalytic properties. We have adapted our synthesis method to produce nitrogen-doped carbon foams with large surface area, using triethanolamine as a nitrogen feedstock, in a novel bottom-up protocol. These foams are then infiltrated with iron acetate (FeAc) and pyrolysed to form Fe-N-C foams. The resulting Fe-N-C foam catalysts have high initial activity (half-wave potential of 0.68 VRHE), comparable to that of commercially available Pt-free catalysts (e.g., NPC-2000, Pajarito Powder) in acid solution. In alkaline solution, the Fe-N-C carbon foam catalysts have a half-wave potential of 0.89 VRHE, which is higher than that of NPC-2000 by almost 10 mVRHE, and far out-performing platinum. However, the durability is still a problem at present. The lessons learned from X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and electrochemical measurements will be used to carefully design Fe-N-C catalysts for higher performance PEMFCs.

Keywords: carbon-foam, polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, platinum, Pt-free, Fe-N-C, ORR

Procedia PDF Downloads 154

Authors: Nasser Al-Azmi, Al-Sabea Salem, Abu-Eida Abdullah, Milan Patra, Mohamed Elyas, Daniel Freile, Larisa Tagarieva

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Well intervention was done along with Production Logging Tools (PLT) to detect sources of water, and to check well integrity for two West Kuwait oil wells started to produce 100 % water. For the first well, to detect the source of water, PLT was performed to check the perforations, no production observed from the bottom two perforation intervals, and an intake of water was observed from the top most perforation. Then a decision was taken to extend the PLT survey from tag depth to the Y-tool. For the second well, the aim was to detect the source of water and if there was a leak in the 7’’liner in front of the upper zones. Data could not be recorded in flowing conditions due to the casing deformation at almost 8300 ft. For the first well from the interpretation of PLT and well integrity data, there was a hole in the 9 5/8'' casing from 8468 ft to 8494 ft producing almost the majority of water, which is 2478 bbl/d. The upper perforation from 10812 ft to 10854 ft was taking 534 stb/d. For the second well, there was a hole in the 7’’liner from 8303 ft MD to 8324 ft MD producing 8334.0 stb/d of water with an intake zone from10322.9-10380.8 ft MD taking the whole fluid. To restore the oil production, W/O rig was mobilized to prevent dump flooding, and during the W/O, the leaking interval was confirmed for both wells. The leakage was cement squeezed and tested at 900-psi positive pressure and 500-psi drawdown pressure. The cement squeeze job was successful. After W/O, the wells kept producing for cleaning, and eventually, the WC reduced to 0%. Regular PLT and well integrity logs are required to study well performance, and well integrity issues, proper cement behind casing is essential to well longevity and well integrity, and the presence of the Y-tool is essential as monitoring of well parameters and ESP to facilitate well intervention tasks. Cost and time optimization in oil and gas and especially during rig operations is crucial. PLT data quality and the accuracy of the interpretations contributed a lot to identify the leakage interval accurately and, in turn, saved a lot of time and reduced the repair cost with almost 35 to 45 %. The added value here was more related to the cost reduction and effective and quick proper decision making based on the economic environment.

Keywords: leak, water shut-off, cement, water leak

Procedia PDF Downloads 101

Authors: K. S. Rao, Ankesh Kumar

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The search for alternative energy sources to petroleum has increased these days because of increase in need and depletion of petroleum reserves. Therefore the importance of oil shales as an economically viable substitute has increased many folds in last 20 years. The technologies like hydro-fracturing have opened the field of oil extraction from these unconventional rocks. Oil shale is a compact laminated rock of sedimentary origin containing organic matter known as kerogen which yields oil when distilled. Oil shales are formed from the contemporaneous deposition of fine grained mineral debris and organic degradation products derived from the breakdown of biota. Conditions required for the formation of oil shales include abundant organic productivity, early development of anaerobic conditions, and a lack of destructive organisms. These rocks are not gown through the high temperature and high pressure conditions in Mother Nature. The most common approach for oil extraction is drastically breaking the bond of the organics which involves retorting process. The two approaches for retorting are surface retorting and in-situ processing. The most environmental friendly approach for extraction is In-situ processing. The three steps involved in this process are fracturing, injection to achieve communication, and fluid migration at the underground location. Upon heating (retorting) oil shale at temperatures in the range of 300 to 400°C, the kerogen decomposes into oil, gas and residual carbon in a process referred to as pyrolysis. Therefore it is very important to understand the physico-mechenical behavior of such rocks, to improve the technology for in-situ extraction. It is clear from the past research and the physical observations that these rocks will behave as an anisotropic rock so it is very important to understand the mechanical behavior under high pressure at different orientation angles for the economical use of these resources. By knowing the engineering behavior under above conditions will allow us to simulate the deep ground retorting conditions numerically and experimentally. Many researchers have investigate the effect of organic content on the engineering behavior of oil shale but the coupled effect of organic and inorganic matrix is yet to be analyzed. The favourable characteristics of Assam coal for conversion to liquid fuels have been known for a long time. Studies have indicated that these coals and carbonaceous shale constitute the principal source rocks that have generated the hydrocarbons produced from the region. Rock cores of the representative samples are collected by performing on site drilling, as coring in laboratory is very difficult due to its highly anisotropic nature. Different tests are performed to understand the petrology of these samples, further the chemical analyses are also done to exactly quantify the organic content in these rocks. The mechanical properties of these rocks are investigated by considering different anisotropic angles. Now the results obtained from petrology and chemical analysis are correlated with the mechanical properties. These properties and correlations will further help in increasing the producibility of these rocks. It is well established that the organic content is negatively correlated to tensile strength, compressive strength and modulus of elasticity.

Keywords: oil shale, producibility, hydro-fracturing, kerogen, petrology, mechanical behavior

Procedia PDF Downloads 328

Authors: Twinkle Sara Joseph

Abstract:

Virtual reality technology has emerged as a revolutionary power that can transform the education sector in many ways. VR environments can break the boundaries of the traditional classroom setting by immersing the students in realistic 3D environments where they can interact with virtual characters without fearing being judged. Communication skills are essential for every profession, and studies suggest the importance of implementing basic-level communication courses at both the school and graduate levels. Interpersonal communication is a skill that gains prominence as it is required in every profession. Traditional means of training have limitations for trainees as well as participants. The fear of being judged, the audience interaction, and other factors can affect the performance of a participant in a traditional classroom setting. Virtual reality offers a unique opportunity for its users to participate in training that does not set any boundaries that prevent the participants from performing in front of an audience. Specialised applications designed in VR headsets offer a range of training and exercises for participants without any time, space, or audience limitations. The present study aims at measuring the effectiveness of VR training in improving interpersonal communication skills among students. The study uses a mixed-method approach, in which a pre-and post-test will be designed to measure effectiveness. A preliminary selection process involving a questionnaire and a screening test will identify suitable candidates based on their current communication proficiency levels. Participants will undergo specialised training through the VR application Virtual Speech tailored for interpersonal communication and public speaking, designed to operate without the traditional constraints of time, space, or audience. The training's impact will subsequently be measured through situational exercises to engage the participants in interpersonal communication tasks, thereby assessing the improvement in their skills. The significance of this study lies in its potential to provide empirical evidence supporting VR technology's role in enhancing communication skills, thereby offering valuable insights for integrating VR-based methodologies into educational frameworks to prepare students more effectively for their professional futures.

Keywords: virtual reality, VR training, interpersonal communication, communication skills, 3D environments

Procedia PDF Downloads 26

Authors: Bencharif Meriem, Sersar Ibrahim, Djaafri Zineb

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Introduction and purpose of the study: Education plays a fundamental role in the lives of young people, but what about their physical well-being as they spend long hours sitting at school? School inactivity is a problem that deserves particular attention because it can have significant repercussions on the health and development of students. The aim of this study was to describe and evaluate the physical activity of students in different practices in class, at recess and in the canteen. Material and methods: A physical activity diary and an anthropometric measurement sheet (weight, height) were provided to 123 school-aged adolescents. The measurements were carried out according to international recommendations. The statistical tests were carried out with the R software. 3.2.4. The significance threshold retained was 0.05. Results and Statistical Analysis: One hundred and twenty-three students agreed to participate in the study. Their average age was 16.5±1.60 years. Overweight was present in 8.13% and obesity in 4.06%. For the practice of physical activity, during physical education and sports classes, all students played sports with an average of 1.94±1.00 hours/week, of which 74.00% sweated or were out of breath during these hours of physical activity. It was also noted that boys practiced sports more than girls (p<0.0001). Each day, on average, students spent 39.78±37.85 min walking or running during recess. On the other hand, they spent, on average 4.25±2.65 hours sitting per day in class, at recess, in the canteen, etc., without counting the time spent in front of a screen. The increasing use of screens has become a major concern for parents and educators. On average, students spent approximately 42.90±38.41 min per day using screens in class, at recess, in the canteen and at home. (computer, tablet, telephone, video games, etc.) and therefore to a prolonged sedentary lifestyle. On average, students sat for more than 1.5 hours without moving for at least 2 minutes in a row approximately 1.72±0.71 times per day. Conclusion: These students spent many hours sitting at school. This prolonged inactivity can have negative consequences on their health, including problems with posture and cardiovascular health. It is crucial that schools, educators and parents collaborate to promote more active learning environments where students can move more and thus contribute to their overall well-being. It's time to rethink how we approach education and student health to give them a healthier, more active future.

Keywords: physical acivity, sedentarity, adolescents, school

Procedia PDF Downloads 44

Authors: M. Ali Mandegari, S. Farzad, , J. F. Görgens

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Sugar is one of the main agricultural industries in South Africa and approximately livelihoods of one million South Africans are indirectly dependent on sugar industry which is economically struggling with some problems and should re-invent in order to ensure a long-term sustainability. Second generation biorefinery is defined as a process to use waste fibrous for the production of biofuel, chemicals animal food, and electricity. Bioethanol is by far the most widely used biofuel for transportation worldwide and many challenges in front of bioethanol production were solved. Biorefinery annexed to the existing sugar mill for production of bioethanol and electricity is proposed to sugar industry and is addressed in this study. Since flowsheet development is the key element of the bioethanol process, in this work, a biorefinery (bioethanol and electricity production) annexed to a typical South African sugar mill considering 65ton/h dry sugarcane bagasse and tops/trash as feedstock was simulated. Aspen PlusTM V8.6 was applied as simulator and realistic simulation development approach was followed to reflect the practical behaviour of the plant. Latest results of other researches considering pretreatment, hydrolysis, fermentation, enzyme production, bioethanol production and other supplementary units such as evaporation, water treatment, boiler, and steam/electricity generation units were adopted to establish a comprehensive biorefinery simulation. Steam explosion with SO2 was selected for pretreatment due to minimum inhibitor production and simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) configuration was adopted for enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation of cellulose and hydrolyze. Bioethanol purification was simulated by two distillation columns with side stream and fuel grade bioethanol (99.5%) was achieved using molecular sieve in order to minimize the capital and operating costs. Also boiler and steam/power generation were completed using industrial design data. Results indicates that the annexed biorefinery can be self-energy sufficient when 35% of feedstock (tops/trash) bypass the biorefinery process and directly be loaded to the boiler to produce sufficient steam and power for sugar mill and biorefinery plant.

Keywords: biorefinery, self-energy sufficiency, tops/trash, bioethanol, electricity

Procedia PDF Downloads 519

Authors: Johanida L. Etado

Abstract:

The study determined the Administrative traits and capabilities of Mindanao State University Heads of office as perceived by their respondents. Specifically, this study attempted to find out: To get the primary data, a self- constructed survey questionnaire which was validated by a panel of experts, including the adviser. Most of the MSU head of office were aware of their duties and responsibilities as a manager. Considering their vast knowledge and expertise on the technical or task aspects of the job, it is not surprising that respondents perceived them to a high degree as work or task oriented. MSU head of office were knowledgeable and capable in performing field-specific, specialized tasks and enabling them to coordinate work, solve problems, communicate effectively, and also understand the big picture in light of the front-line work that must be performed. The significance of coaching or mentoring in this instance may be explained by the less number of Master’s or Doctorate degree holder among employees resulting to close supervision and mentorship of head of office towards the latter; Without comparison, interpersonal or human relation capabilities is a very effective way in dealing with people as it gives them the opportunity to influence their employees. In the case of MSU head of office, the best way of dealing with problematic employees is by establishing trust and allowing them to partake in the decision making even on setting organizational goals as it would make them feel part of the organization; Thus, it is recommended that the success of an organization depends largely with the effectiveness of the head of unit. In this case, being development oriented would mean encouraging both head officers & employees to know not only the technical know hoe of the organisation but also the visions, missions, goals & the latter’s aspirations to establish cooperation & harmonious working environment; hence, orientation & reorientation time to time would enable them to be more development oriented; With respect to human relations, effective interpersonal relationship between head of unit & employee is of paramount importance. In order to strengthen the relationship between the two, the management should establish an upward & downward communication where two parties will have to establish an open & transparent communication, either through verbal & non-verbal one.

Keywords: administrator, administrative traits, leadership traits, work orientation

Procedia PDF Downloads 49

Authors: Kossigan Bernard Dedey, David Grenier, Tiphaine Lucas

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Bread dough is often described as a dispersion of gas cells in a continuous gluten/starch matrix. The final bread crumb structure is strongly related to gas cell walls (GCWs) rupture during baking. At the end of proofing and during baking, part of the thinnest GCWs between expanding gas cells is reduced to a gluten film of about the size of a starch granule. When such size is reached gluten and starch granules must be considered as interacting phases in order to account for heterogeneities and appropriately describe GCW rupture. Among experimental investigations carried out to assess GCW rupture, no experimental work was performed to observe the GCW rupture in the baking conditions at GCW scale. In addition, attempts to numerically understand GCW rupture are usually not performed at the GCW scale and often considered GCWs as continuous. The most relevant paper that accounted for heterogeneities dealt with the gluten/starch interactions and their impact on the mechanical behavior of dough film. However, stress concentration in GCW was not discussed. In this study, both experimental and numerical approaches were used to better understand GCW rupture in bread dough during baking. Experimentally, a macro-scope placed in front of a two-chamber device was used to observe the rupture of a real GCW of 200 micrometers in thickness. Special attention was paid in order to mimic baking conditions as far as possible (temperature, gas pressure and moisture). Various differences in pressure between both sides of GCW were applied and different modes of fracture initiation and propagation in GCWs were observed. Numerically, the impact of gluten/starch interactions (cohesion or non-cohesion) and rheological moduli ratio on the mechanical behavior of GCW under unidirectional extension was assessed in 2D/3D. A non-linear viscoelastic and hyperelastic approach was performed to match the finite strain involved in GCW during baking. Stress concentration within GCW was identified. Simulated stresses concentration was discussed at the light of GCW failure observed in the device. The gluten/starch granule interactions and rheological modulus ratio were found to have a great effect on the amount of stress possibly reached in the GCW.

Keywords: dough, experimental, numerical, rupture

Procedia PDF Downloads 104

Authors: Geun-Yeon Kim, S. P. Praveen Kumar, Kwon-Hee Lee

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A steering knuckle arm is the component that connects the steering system and suspension system. The structural performances such as stiffness, strength, and durability are considered in its design process. The former study suggested the lightweight design of a knuckle arm considering the structural performances and using the metamodel-based optimization. The six shape design variables were defined, and the optimum design was calculated by applying the kriging interpolation method. The finite element method was utilized to predict the structural responses. The suggested knuckle was made of the aluminum Al6082, and its weight was reduced about 60% in comparison with the base steel knuckle, satisfying the design requirements. Then, we investigated its manufacturability by performing foraging analysis. The forging was done as hot process, and the product was made through two-step forging. As a final step of its developing process, the durability is investigated by using the flexible dynamic analysis software, LS-DYNA and the pre and post processor, eta/VPG. Generally, a car make does not provide all the information with the part manufacturer. Thus, the part manufacturer has a limit in predicting the durability performance with the unit of full car. The eta/VPG has the libraries of suspension, tire, and road, which are commonly used parts. That makes a full car modeling. First, the full car is modeled by referencing the following information; Overall Length: 3,595mm, Overall Width: 1,595mm, CVW (Curve Vehicle Weight): 910kg, Front Suspension: MacPherson Strut, Rear Suspension: Torsion Beam Axle, Tire: 235/65R17. Second, the road is selected as the cobblestone. The road condition of the cobblestone is almost 10 times more severe than that of usual paved road. Third, the dynamic finite element analysis using the LS-DYNA is performed to predict the durability performance of the suggested knuckle arm. The life of the suggested knuckle arm is calculated as 350,000km, which satisfies the design requirement set up by the part manufacturer. In this study, the overall design process of a knuckle arm is suggested, and it can be seen that the developed knuckle arm satisfies the design requirement of the durability with the unit of full car. The VPG analysis is successfully performed even though it does not an exact prediction since the full car model is very rough one. Thus, this approach can be used effectively when the detail to full car is not given.

Keywords: knuckle arm, structural optimization, Metamodel, forging, durability, VPG (Virtual Proving Ground)

Procedia PDF Downloads 402

Authors: M. Ali Mandegari, S. Farzad, J. F. Görgens

Abstract:

Sugar is one of the main agricultural industries in South Africa and approximately livelihoods of one million South Africans are indirectly dependent on sugar industry which is economically struggling with some problems and should re-invent in order to ensure a long-term sustainability. Second generation bio-refinery is defined as a process to use waste fibrous for the production of bio-fuel, chemicals animal food, and electricity. Bio-ethanol is by far the most widely used bio-fuel for transportation worldwide and many challenges in front of bio-ethanol production were solved. Bio-refinery annexed to the existing sugar mill for production of bio-ethanol and electricity is proposed to sugar industry and is addressed in this study. Since flow-sheet development is the key element of the bio-ethanol process, in this work, a bio-refinery (bio-ethanol and electricity production) annexed to a typical South African sugar mill considering 65ton/h dry sugarcane bagasse and tops/trash as feedstock was simulated. Aspen PlusTM V8.6 was applied as simulator and realistic simulation development approach was followed to reflect the practical behavior of the plant. Latest results of other researches considering pretreatment, hydrolysis, fermentation, enzyme production, bio-ethanol production and other supplementary units such as evaporation, water treatment, boiler, and steam/electricity generation units were adopted to establish a comprehensive bio-refinery simulation. Steam explosion with SO2 was selected for pretreatment due to minimum inhibitor production and simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) configuration was adopted for enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation of cellulose and hydrolyze. Bio-ethanol purification was simulated by two distillation columns with side stream and fuel grade bio-ethanol (99.5%) was achieved using molecular sieve in order to minimize the capital and operating costs. Also boiler and steam/power generation were completed using industrial design data. Results indicates 256.6 kg bio ethanol per ton of feedstock and 31 MW surplus power were attained from bio-refinery while the process consumes 3.5, 3.38, and 0.164 (GJ/ton per ton of feedstock) hot utility, cold utility and electricity respectively. Developed simulation is a threshold of variety analyses and developments for further studies.

Keywords: bio-refinery, bagasse, tops, trash, bio-ethanol, electricity

Procedia PDF Downloads 504

Authors: Elizabeth Radian

Abstract:

In a challenging era of neoliberalism and managerialism in social services, the status of Canadian social work education at the Bachelor of Social Work level (BSW) was examined to determine how prepared students were to practice in a time of resource cutbacks and insecurity. Curricula in BSW programs was the focus as this generalist degree results in the greatest number of social work graduates in Canada, most of whom work at the front lines in service delivery. The study reviewed the practice frameworks that students in BSW programs were exposed to. Traditionally, schools of social work have embraced two major practice frameworks. The person in environment framework is a well-established practice framework taught in most schools. The framework offers some focus on smaller scale social change, tweaking existing arrangements and is more accepting of the status quo. An alternate practice framework taught in fewer schools has been described as a structural, progressive or anti oppressive framework. This latter framework challenges the status quo, is focused on social justice and social transformation, often incorporating social action strategies to ensure marginalized voices are heard. Using a content analysis methodology of keywords and phrases to delineate framework orientation, practice frameworks articulated in the curricula were determined by reviewing the mission/mandate of schools offering a BSW degree, their core course outlines and core course textbooks. Social action, as one strategy for initiating social change and transformation was considered. Initial research for 28 schools was completed in 2000, with follow up replications of the initial study in 2005 and 2014. These earlier studies displayed that the dominant practice framework taught in BSW programs was the person in environment framework. A lesser number of schools were categorized as primarily offering a structural, progressive or anti oppressive framework. The findings from the current study of 39 Canadian schools of social work are considered to determine how prominent structural, progressive and anti oppressive frameworks exist in current BSW curricula. This study can assist in contemplating the question – are we educating future practitioners for acceptance or action.

Keywords: social work education and pedagogy, social change, social justice, social services

Procedia PDF Downloads 174

Authors: Dor Oppenheim, Yael Edan, Guy Shani

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This paper presents an image analysis algorithm to detect and count yellow tomato flowers in a greenhouse with uneven illumination conditions, complex growth conditions and different flower sizes. The algorithm is designed to be employed on a drone that flies in greenhouses to accomplish several tasks such as pollination and yield estimation. Detecting the flowers can provide useful information for the farmer, such as the number of flowers in a row, and the number of flowers that were pollinated since the last visit to the row. The developed algorithm is designed to handle the real world difficulties in a greenhouse which include varying lighting conditions, shadowing, and occlusion, while considering the computational limitations of the simple processor in the drone. The algorithm identifies flowers using an adaptive global threshold, segmentation over the HSV color space, and morphological cues. The adaptive threshold divides the images into darker and lighter images. Then, segmentation on the hue, saturation and volume is performed accordingly, and classification is done according to size and location of the flowers. 1069 images of greenhouse tomato flowers were acquired in a commercial greenhouse in Israel, using two different RGB Cameras – an LG G4 smartphone and a Canon PowerShot A590. The images were acquired from multiple angles and distances and were sampled manually at various periods along the day to obtain varying lighting conditions. Ground truth was created by manually tagging approximately 25,000 individual flowers in the images. Sensitivity analyses on the acquisition angle of the images, periods throughout the day, different cameras and thresholding types were performed. Precision, recall and their derived F1 score were calculated. Results indicate better performance for the view angle facing the flowers than any other angle. Acquiring images in the afternoon resulted with the best precision and recall results. Applying a global adaptive threshold improved the median F1 score by 3%. Results showed no difference between the two cameras used. Using hue values of 0.12-0.18 in the segmentation process provided the best results in precision and recall, and the best F1 score. The precision and recall average for all the images when using these values was 74% and 75% respectively with an F1 score of 0.73. Further analysis showed a 5% increase in precision and recall when analyzing images acquired in the afternoon and from the front viewpoint.

Keywords: agricultural engineering, image processing, computer vision, flower detection

Procedia PDF Downloads 302

Authors: Brahim Aissa

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Transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) used as front electrodes in solar cells must feature simultaneously high electrical conductivity, low contact resistance with the adjacent layers, and an appropriate refractive index for maximal light in-coupling into the device. However, these properties may conflict with each other, motivating thereby the search for TCOs with high performance. Additionally, due to the presence of temperature sensitive layers in many solar cell designs (for example, in thin-film silicon and silicon heterojunction (SHJ)), low-temperature deposition processes are more suitable. Several deposition techniques have been already explored to fabricate high-mobility TCOs at low temperatures, including sputter deposition, chemical vapor deposition, and atomic layer deposition. Among this variety of methods, to the best of our knowledge, magnetron sputtering deposition is the most established technique, despite the fact that it can lead to damage of underlying layers. The Sn doped In₂O₃ (ITO) is the most commonly used transparent electrode-contact in SHJ technology. In this work, we studied the properties of ITO thin films grown by RF sputtering. Using different oxygen fraction in the argon/oxygen plasma, we prepared ITO films deposited on glass substrates, on one hand, and on a-Si (p and n-types):H/intrinsic a-Si/glass substrates, on the other hand. Hall Effect measurements were systematically conducted together with total-transmittance (TT) and total-reflectance (TR) spectrometry. The electrical properties were drastically affected whereas the TT and TR were found to be slightly impacted by the oxygen variation. Furthermore, the time of flight-secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) technique was used to determine the distribution of various species throughout the thickness of the ITO and at various interfaces. The depth profiling of indium, oxygen, tin, silicon, phosphorous, boron and hydrogen was investigated throughout the various thicknesses and interfaces, and obtained results are discussed accordingly. Finally, the extreme conditions were selected to fabricate rear emitter SHJ devices, and the photovoltaic performance was evaluated; the lower oxygen flow ratio was found to yield the best performance attributed to lower series resistance.

Keywords: solar cell, silicon heterojunction, oxygen content, optoelectronic properties

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Authors: Shrutika Lakshmi

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Gender inequality has been quite evident particularly in the third world economies in different domains like health, education, marriages and personal freedom. Women’s exercise to personal freedom is driven by their financial standing in third world social milieu. However, even after decades of attempt to achieve a socio-economic standing equal to men, their attempts have failed in registering success.This research has been conducted in the national capital of India New Delhi aiming to reflect upon the gendered relations in society on the category of employed women. This particular category of women have been chosen for the study in order to study the gender relations, subordination of such women in household despite having an economic standing of their own, etc. The methodology used for this study is semi-structured interview along with qualitative analysis. Moreover, with the help of direct interaction with these women, we get insight into the kind of gendered relations prevailing inside the household structure which have their roots in age old customs and stereotype of the social milieu. Most importantly, the highlight of the study remains on the point where the hierarchy remains in the subconscious of these women and they never forget their social standing. It has been interesting to note that how even after contributing to the family income successively, their position remains subjugated in front of their male counterparts and thus, they are not ‘free’ in the real sense of the term. Even after attaining an economically stable position, these women did not enjoy the same comfort and freedom of choice as their male counterparts do, this could be gauged from the fact that when asked about ‘time for one’s own self’ they had no sense of it. This is astonishing in today’s world where every individual works and strives for a better livelihood and quality existence. Such findings reflect upon the reality of our society where women are still subjugated and duty bound towards the household even after having the same economic stand as their male counterparts. The burden of household chores and responsibilities fall solely on the shoulders of a women despite being an employed women even in the present times. Cooperation comes primarily from female members of the household and not from males. And thus, we as a society are far away from gender equity. We still suffer from prejudices and stereotypes which prevent us from giving same respect to women which we keep reserved for the man. Given this scenario, it seems, gender equity is a distant goal which we will have to keep striving for even harder even after decades of feminist struggles all over the world.

Keywords: employed women, subjugation in household, gender hierarchy, financial independence,

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Authors: Donghun Lee, Jiyoung Shin, Youjin Kim, Jin Joo Kim

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The sinking of Sewol ferry occurred in Korea on the morning of 16 April 2014 while carrying 476 people. In all, 304 passengers, mostly secondary school students from Danwon High School in Ansan City died in the disaster. The sinking of Sewol ferry has resulted in widespread social and political turmoil within South Korea. Many criticize the actions of the captain and crews of the ferry as well as the ferry operator and the regulators who oversaw its operations. However, huge criticism has been directed at the South Korean government for its national disaster response system. This disaster has made Korean government build up a new disaster management and psychological support system. The purpose of this study was to understand developmental and change process of a female counselor in her late fifties participated in Sewol ferry disaster counseling for a year. She has participated in providing as a counselor counseling and psychological support for the victims' families of Sewol ferry disaster, additionally as a director of community youth counseling center operated by local government by establishing governmental psychological supports plan for recovering collective trauma in the community, through which she have gotten self-reflection of whole her life. For in-depth interview data analysis, Mandelbaum’s three conceptual frameworks were employed; dimensions, turnings, and adaptation. The result of the study indicates extracted categories of life dimension, turning point and adaptation. The details of these categories are ‘having a self-image in youth’, ‘marriage in fairy-tale’, ‘unexpected death of husband’, ‘taking a step forward from darkness’, the way of counselor’, nice grown child’, ‘Sewol ferry disaster’ in life dimension, ‘death in front of life’, ‘milestone in life, counseling’ in turning points, ‘before Sewol ferry disaster’, ‘after Sewol ferry disaster’ in adaptation. Life history methods revealed the counselor’s internal developmental process by analyzing what Sewol ferry disaster influenced on an individual life, especially a counselor's one, what changes she went through, and how she adapted herself to that. Based on the results, discussions and suggestions are provided.

Keywords: development and change, disaster counseling, identity of female counselor, Mandelbaum’s life history, Sewol ferry

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Authors: Álvaro Ramírez Vidal, Martín Muñoz Morales, Francisco Jesús Fernández Morales, Luis Rodríguez Romero, José Villaseñor Camacho, Javier Llanos López

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In recent times, environmental problems have led to the extensive use of biological systems to solve them. Among the different types of biological systems, the use of plants such as aquatic macrophytes in constructed wetlands and terrestrial plant species for treating polluted soils and sludge has gained importance. Though the use of constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment is a well-researched domain, the slowness of pollutant degradation and high biomass production pose some challenges. Plants used in CW participate in different mechanisms for the capture and degradation of pollutants that also can retain some pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) that are very persistent in the environment. Thus, these systems present advantages in line with the guidelines published for the transition towards friendly and ecological procedures as they are environmentally friendly systems, consume low energy, or capture atmospheric CO₂. However, the use of CW presents some drawbacks, as the slowness of pollutant degradation or the production of important amounts of plant biomass, which need to be harvested and managed periodically. Taking this opportunity in mind, it is important to highlight that this residual biomass (of lignocellulosic nature) could be used as the feedstock for the generation of carbonaceous materials using thermochemical transformations such as slow pyrolysis or hydrothermal carbonization to produce high-value biomass-derived carbons through sustainable processes as adsorbents, catalysts…, thereby improving the circular carbon economy. Thus, this work carried out the analysis of some PPCPs commonly found in urban wastewater, as salicylic acid or ibuprofen, to evaluate the remediation carried out for the Phragmites Australis. Then, after the harvesting, this biomass can be used to synthesize electrodes through hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) and produce high-value biomass-derived carbons with electrocatalytic activity to remove heavy metals and persistent pollutants, promoting circular economy concepts. To do this, it was chosen biomass derived from the natural environment in high environmental risk as the Daimiel Wetlands National Park in the center of Spain, and the rest of the biomass developed in a CW specifically designed to remove pollutants. The research emphasizes the impact of the composition of the biomass waste and the synthetic parameters applied during HTC on the electrocatalytic activity. Additionally, this parameter can be related to the physicochemical properties, as porosity, surface functionalization, conductivity, and mass transfer of the electrodes lytic inks. Data revealed that carbon materials synthesized have good surface properties (good conductivities and high specific surface area) that enhance the electro-oxidants generated and promote the removal of PPCPs and the chemical oxygen demand of polluted waters.

Keywords: constructed wetlands, carbon materials, heavy metals, pharmaceutical and personal care products, hydrothermal carbonization

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Authors: Yahoel Van Essen, Gordon Ho, Brett Russell, Hans-Georg Worms, Xiao Lin Long, Edward David Cooper, Avner Bachar

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Weeds reduce farm and forest productivity, invade crops, smother pastures and some can harm livestock. Farmers need to spend a significant amount of money to control weeds by means of biological, chemical, cultural, and physical methods. To solve the global agricultural labor shortage and remove poisonous chemicals, a fully autonomous, eco-friendly, and sustainable weeding technology is developed. This takes the form of a weeding robot, ‘Roboweeder’. Roboweeder includes a four-wheel-drive self-driving vehicle, a 4-DOF robotic arm which is mounted on top of the vehicle, an electromagnetic wave generator (magnetron) which is mounted on the “wrist” of the robotic arm, 48V battery packs, and a control/communication system. Cameras are mounted on the front and two sides of the vehicle. Using image processing and recognition, distinguish types of weeds are detected before being eliminated. The electromagnetic wave technology is applied to heat the individual weeds and clusters dielectrically causing them to wilt and die. The 4-DOF robotic arm was modeled mathematically based on its structure/mechanics, each joint’s load, brushless DC motor and worm gear’ characteristics, forward kinematics, and inverse kinematics. The Proportional-Integral-Differential control algorithm is used to control the robotic arm’s motion to ensure the waveguide aperture pointing to the detected weeds. GPS and machine vision are used to traverse the farm and avoid obstacles without the need of supervision. A Roboweeder prototype has been built. Multiple test trials show that Roboweeder is able to detect, point, and kill the pre-defined weeds successfully although further improvements are needed, such as reducing the “weeds killing” time and developing a new waveguide with a smaller waveguide aperture to avoid killing crops surrounded. This technology changes the tedious, time consuming and expensive weeding processes, and allows farmers to grow more, go organic, and eliminate operational headaches. A patent of this technology is pending.

Keywords: autonomous navigation, machine vision, precision heating, sustainable and eco-friendly

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Authors: Taku Numao, Kazu Amimoto, Tomoko Shimada, Kyohei Ichikawa

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Background: Unilateral spatial neglect (USN) is a common syndrome following damage to one hemisphere of the brain (usually the right side), in which a patient fails to report or respond to stimulation from the contralesional side. These symptoms are not due to primary sensory or motor deficits, but instead, reflect an inability to process input from that side of their environment. Prism adaptation (PA) is a therapeutic treatment for USN, wherein a patient’s visual field is artificially shifted laterally, resulting in a sensory-motor adaptation. However, patients with USN also tend to perceive a left-leaning subjective vertical in the frontal plane. The traditional PA cannot be used to correct a tilt in the subjective vertical, because a prism can only polarize, not twist, the surroundings. However, this can be accomplished using a head mounted display (HMD) and a web-camera. Therefore, this study investigated whether an HMD system could be used to correct the spatial perception of USN patients in the frontal as well as the horizontal plane. We recruited healthy subjects in order to collect data for the refinement of USN patient therapy. Methods: Eight healthy subjects sat on a chair wearing a HMD (Oculus rift DK2), with a web-camera (Ovrvision) displaying a 10 degree leftward rotation and a 10 degree counter-clockwise rotation along the frontal plane. Subjects attempted to point a finger at one of four targets, assigned randomly, a total of 48 times. Before and after the intervention, each subject’s body-centre judgment (BCJ) was tested by asking them to point a finger at a touch panel straight in front of their xiphisternum, 10 times sight unseen. Results: Intervention caused the location pointed to during the BCJ to shift 35 ± 17 mm (Ave ± SD) leftward in the horizontal plane, and 46 ± 29 mm downward in the frontal plane. The results in both planes were significant by paired-t-test (p<.01). Conclusions: The results in the horizontal plane are consistent with those observed following PA. Furthermore, the HMD and web-camera were able to elicit 3D effects, including in both the horizontal and frontal planes. Future work will focus on applying this method to patients with and without USN, and investigating whether subject posture is also affected by the HMD system.

Keywords: head mounted display, posture, prism adaptation, unilateral spatial neglect

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Authors: Mathieu Imbert, Sebastien Comas-Cardona, Emmanuelle Abisset-Chavanne, David Prono

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Short cycle time Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) applications appear to be of great interest for the mass production of automotive or aeronautical lightweight structural parts. During the RTM process, the two components of a resin are mixed on-line and injected into the cavity of a mold where a fibrous preform has been placed. Injection and polymerization occur simultaneously in the preform inducing evolutions of temperature, degree of cure and viscosity that furthermore affect flow and curing. In order to adjust the processing conditions to reduce the cycle time, it is, therefore, essential to understand and quantify the physical mechanisms occurring in the part during injection. In a previous study, a dual-scale simulation tool has been developed to help determining the optimum injection parameters. This tool allows tracking finely the repartition of the resin and the evolution of its properties during reactive injections with on-line mixing. Tows and channels of the fibrous material are considered separately to deal with the consequences of the dual-scale morphology of the continuous fiber textiles. The simulation tool reproduces the unsaturated area at the flow front, generated by the tow/channel difference of permeability. Resin “storage” in the tows after saturation is also taken into account as it may significantly affect the repartition and evolution of the temperature, degree of cure and viscosity in the part during reactive injections. The aim of the current study is, thanks to experiments, to understand and quantify the “storage” evolution in the tows to adjust and validate the numerical tool. The presented study is based on four experimental repeats conducted on three different types of textiles: a unidirectional Non Crimp Fabric (NCF), a triaxial NCF and a satin weave. Model fluids, dyes and image analysis, are used to study quantitatively, the resin flow in the saturated area of the samples. Also, textiles characteristics affecting the resin “storage” evolution in the tows are analyzed. Finally, fully coupled on-line mixing reactive injections are conducted to validate the numerical model.

Keywords: experimental, on-line mixing, high-speed RTM process, dual-scale flow

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Authors: Anoush Saadatmehr

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Design and build of large clear span structures have always been demanding in the construction industry targeting industrial and commercial buildings around the world. The function of these spectacular structures encompasses distinguished types of building such as aircraft and airship hangars, warehouses, bulk storage buildings, sports and recreation facilities. From an engineering point of view, there are various types of steel structure systems that are often adopted in large-span buildings like conventional trusses, space frames and cable-supported roofs. However, this paper intends to investigate and review an innovative light, economic and quickly erected large span steel structure renowned as “Stressed-Arch,” which has several advantages over the other common types of structures. This patented system integrates the use of cold-formed hollow section steel material with high-strength pre-stressing strands and concrete grout to establish an arch shape truss frame anywhere there is a requirement to construct a cost-effective column-free space for spans within the range of 60m to 180m. In this study and firstly, the main structural properties of the stressed-arch system and its components are discussed technically. These features include nonlinear behavior of truss chords during stress-erection, the effect of erection method on member’s compressive strength, the rigidity of pre-stressed trusses to overcome strict deflection criteria for cases with roof suspended cranes or specialized front doors and more importantly, the prominent lightness of steel structure. Then, the effects of utilizing pre-stressing strands to safeguard a smooth process of installation of main steel members and roof components and cladding are investigated. In conclusion, it is shown that the Stressed-Arch system not only provides an optimized light steel structure up to 30% lighter than its conventional competitors but also streamlines the process of building erection and minimizes the construction time while preventing the risks of working at height.

Keywords: large span structure, pre-stressed steel truss, stressed-arch building, stress-erection, steel structure

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Authors: Qianqian He, Naian Liu, Xiaodong Xie, Linhe Zhang, Yang Zhang, Weidong Yan

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In the wild, the vegetation layer with exceptionally complex fuel composition and heterogeneous spatial distribution strongly affects the rate of fire spread (ROS) and fire intensity. Clarifying the influence of fuel bed structure on fire spread behavior is of great significance to wildland fire management and prediction. The packing ratio is one of the key physical parameters describing the property of the fuel bed. There is a threshold value of the packing ratio for ROS, but little is known about the controlling mechanism. In this study, to address this deficiency, a series of fire spread experiments were performed across a discrete fuel bed composed of some regularly arranged laser-cut cardboards, with constant wind speed and different packing ratios (0.0125-0.0375). The experiment aims to explore the relative importance of the internal and surface heat transfer with packing ratio. The dependence of the measured ROS on the packing ratio was almost consistent with the previous researches. The data of the radiative and total heat fluxes show that the internal heat transfer and surface heat transfer are both enhanced with increasing packing ratio (referred to as ‘Stage 1’). The trend agrees well with the variation of the flame length. The results extracted from the video show that the flame length markedly increases with increasing packing ratio in Stage 1. Combustion intensity is suggested to be increased, which, in turn, enhances the heat radiation. The heat flux data shows that the surface heat transfer appears to be more important than the internal heat transfer (fuel preheating inside the fuel bed) in Stage 1. On the contrary, the internal heat transfer dominates the fuel preheating mechanism when the packing ratio further increases (referred to as ‘Stage 2’) because the surface heat flux keeps almost stable with the packing ratio in Stage 2. As for the heat convection, the flow velocity was measured using Pitot tubes both inside and on the upper surface of the fuel bed during the fire spread. Based on the gas velocity distribution ahead of the flame front, it is found that the airflow inside the fuel bed is restricted in Stage 2, which can reduce the internal heat convection in theory. However, the analysis indicates not the influence of inside flow on convection and combustion, but the decreased internal radiation of per unit fuel is responsible for the decrease of ROS.

Keywords: discrete fuel bed, fire spread, packing ratio, wildfire

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Authors: Ayami Umemura

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The purpose of this paper is to examine the meaning of verbalization in clinical practice using the keywords silence and singularity. A patient's experience of illness and treatment is singular, irreplaceable, and irreproducible and ultimately cannot be compared with that of others. In his book Difference and Repetition, Gilles Deleuze positioned irreplaceable singularity as the opposite concept of particularity as a generalizable and substitutable property and matched the former with universality. He also said that singularity could not be represented because of its irreplaceable nature. Representation or verbalization is a procedure that converts an irreplaceable, idiosyncratic reality into something that can be substituted. Considering the act of verbalizing medical diagnosis based on this, it can be said that diagnosis is the practice of decontextualizing and generalizing the suffering embedded in the patient's irreplaceable life history as a disease. This paper examines the above with the key concept of the practice of "non-verbalization" in traditional medical practices in Sri Lanka. In the practice of Sri Lankan traditional medicine and the inheritance of medical knowledge and care techniques, there is a tendency to avoid verbalizing specific matters or stating them aloud. Specifically, the following should be avoided. The healer informs the patient of the name of the disease, mentions the name of the herb used in front of the patient, explains the patient's condition to the healer, and referring the names of poisonous animals, such as poisonous snakes that have been damaged. And so on. Furthermore, when passing on medical knowledge and skills, it is also possible to avoid verbalizing knowledge of medicinal herbs and medical treatment methods and explaining them verbally. In addition to the local belief that the soul of language in Sri Lanka is deeply involved in this background, Sri Lankan traditional medicine has a unique view of the human body and personality that is rooted in the singularity that appears in the relationship with the movement of celestial bodies and the supernatural realm. It can be pointed out that it is premised on the view. In other words, the “silence” in Sri Lankan indigenous medicine is the reason for emphasizing specificity. Furthermore, we can say that "non-verbalization" is a practice aimed at healing. Based on these discussions, this paper will focus on the unique relationships between practitioners and patients that become invisible due to verbalization, which is overlooked by clinical medicine, where informed consent, ensuring transparency, and audit culture is dominant. We will examine the experience of treatment and aim to relativize clinical medicine, which is based on audit cultures.

Keywords: audit cultures, indigenous medicine, singularity, verbalization

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Authors: Amal G. Kurian

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The use of mathematical modeling has seen a considerable boost in recent times with the development of many advanced algorithms and mathematical modeling capabilities. The advantages this method has over other methods are that they are much closer to standard physics theories and thus represent a better theoretical model. They take lesser solving time and have the ability to change various parameters for optimization, which is a big advantage, especially in automotive industry. This thesis work focuses on a thorough investigation of the effects of vehicle speed and road roughness on a heavy commercial vehicle ride and structural dynamic responses. Since commercial vehicles are kept in operation continuously for longer periods of time, it is important to study effects of various physical conditions on the vehicle and its user. For this purpose, various experimental as well as simulation methodologies, are adopted ranging from experimental transfer path analysis to various road scenario simulations. To effectively investigate and eliminate several causes of unwanted responses, an efficient and robust technique is needed. Carrying forward this motivation, the present work focuses on the development of a mathematical model of a 4-axle configuration heavy commercial vehicle (HCV) capable of calculating responses of the vehicle on different road PSD inputs and vehicle speeds. Outputs from the model will include response transfer functions and PSDs and wheel forces experienced. A MATLAB code will be developed to implement the objectives in a robust and flexible manner which can be exploited further in a study of responses due to various suspension parameters, loading conditions as well as vehicle dimensions. The thesis work resulted in quantifying the effect of various physical conditions on ride comfort of the vehicle. An increase in discomfort is seen with velocity increase; also the effect of road profiles has a considerable effect on comfort of the driver. Details of dominant modes at each frequency are analysed and mentioned in work. The reduction in ride height or deflection of tire and suspension with loading along with load on each axle is analysed and it is seen that the front axle supports a greater portion of vehicle weight while more of payload weight comes on fourth and third axles. The deflection of the vehicle is seen to be well inside acceptable limits.

Keywords: mathematical modeling, HCV, suspension, ride analysis

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Authors: Bartosz Olszanski, Zbigniew Nosal, Jacek Rokicki

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An experimental study of cold-jet (nitrogen) reaction control jet system has been carried out to investigate the flow control efficiency for low to moderate jet pressure ratios (total jet pressure p0jet over free stream static pressure in the wind tunnel p∞) and different angles of attack for infinite Mach number equal to 2. An investigation of jet influence was conducted on a flat plate geometry placed in the test section of intermittent supersonic wind tunnel of Department of Aerodynamics, WUT. Various convergent jet nozzle geometries to obtain different jet momentum ratios were tested on the same test model geometry. Surface static pressure measurements, Schlieren flow visualizations (using continuous and photoflash light source), load cell measurements gave insight into the supersonic crossflow interaction for different jet pressure and jet momentum ratios and their influence on the efficiency of side jet control as described by the amplification factor (actual to theoretical net force generated by the control nozzle). Moreover, the quasi-steady numerical simulations of flow through the same wind tunnel geometry (convergent-divergent nozzle plus test section) were performed using ANSYS Fluent basing on Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) solver incorporated with k-ω Shear Stress Transport (SST) turbulence model to assess the possible spurious influence of test section walls over the jet exit near field area of interest. The strong bow shock, barrel shock, and Mach disk as well as lambda separation region in front of nozzle were observed as images taken by high-speed camera examine the interaction of the jet and the free stream. In addition, the development of large-scale vortex structures (counter-rotating vortex pair) was detected. The history of complex static pressure pattern on the plate was recorded and compared to the force measurement data as well as numerical simulation data. The analysis of the obtained results, especially in the wake of the jet showed important features of the interaction mechanisms between the lateral jet and the flow field.

Keywords: flow visualization techniques, pressure measurements, reaction control jet, supersonic cross flow

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Authors: Karen Boaz, C. R. Charan

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Background: The infiltration of tumour stroma by eosinophils, Tumor-Associated Tissue Eosinophilia (TATE), is known to modulate the progression of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC). Eosinophils have direct tumoricidal activity by release of cytotoxic proteins and indirectly they enhance permeability into tumor cells enabling penetration of tumoricidal cytokines. Also, eosinophils may promote tumor angiogenesis by production of several angiogenic factors. Identification of eosinophils in the inflammatory stroma has been proven to be an important prognosticator in cancers of mouth, oesophagus, larynx, pharynx, breast, lung, and intestine. Therefore, the study aimed to correlate TATE with clinical and histopathological variables, and blood eosinophil count to assess the role of TATE as a prognosticator in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC). Methods: Seventy two biopsy-proven cases of OSCC formed the study cohort. Blood eosinophil counts and TNM stage were obtained from the medical records. Tissue sections (5µm thick) were stained with Haematoxylin and Eosin. The eosinophils were quantified at invasive tumour front (ITF) in 10HPF (40x magnification) with an ocular grid. Bryne’s grading of ITF was also performed. A subset of thirty cases was also assessed for association of TATE with recurrence, involvement of lymph nodes and surgical margins. Results: 1) No statistically significant correlation was found between TATE and TNM stage, blood eosinophil counts and most parameters of Bryne’s grading system. 2) Statistically significant relation of intense degree of TATE was associated with the absence of distant metastasis, increased lympho-plasmacytic response and increased survival (diseasefree and overall) of OSCC patients. 3) In the subset of 30 cases, tissue eosinophil counts were higher in cases with lymph node involvement, decreased survival, without margin involvement and in cases that did not recur. Conclusion: While the role of eosinophils in mediating immune responses seems ambiguous as eosinophils support cell-mediated tumour immunity in early stages while inhibiting the same in advanced stages, TATE may be used as a surrogate marker for determination of prognosis in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Keywords: tumour-associated tissue eosinophilia, oral squamous cell carcinoma, prognosticator, tumoral immunity

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Authors: Jimmy K. C. Lam, Carrie Wong

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One of the key goals on Learning and Teaching as documented in the University strategic plan 2012/13 – 2017/18 is to encourage active learning, the use of innovative teaching approaches and technology, and promoting the adoption of flexible and varied teaching delivery methods. This research reported the recent visited to Prof Eric Mazur at Harvard University on Peer Instruction: Collaborative learning in large class and innovative use of technology to enable new mode of learning. Peer Instruction is a research-based, interactive teaching method developed by Prof. Eric Mazur at Harvard University in the 1990s. It has been adopted across the disciplines, institutional type and throughout the world. One problem with conventional teaching lies in the presentation of the material. Frequently, it comes straight out of textbook/notes, giving students little incentive to attend class. This traditional presentation is always delivered as monologue in front of passive audience. Only exceptional lecturers are capable of holding students’ attention for an entire lecture period. Consequently, lectures simply reinforce students’ feelings that the most important step in mastering the material is memorizing a zoo of unrelated examples. In order to address these misconceptions about learning, Prof Mazur’s Team developed “Peer Instruction”, a method which involves students in their own learning during lectures and focuses their attention on underling concepts. Lectures are interspersed with conceptual questions called Concept Tests, designed to expose common difficulties in understanding the material. The students are given one or two minutes to think about the question and formulate their own answers; they then spend two or three minutes discussing their answers in a group of three or four, attempting to reach consensus on the correct answer. This process forces the students to think through the arguments being developed, and enable them to assess their understanding concepts before they leave the classroom. The findings from Peer Instruction and innovative use of technology on teaching at Harvard University were applied to the first year Textiles and Fashion students in Hong Kong. Survey conducted from 100 students showed that over 80% students enjoyed the flexibility of peer instruction and 70% of them enjoyed the instant feedback from the Clicker system (Student Response System used at Harvard University). Further work will continue to explore the possibility of peer instruction to art and fashion students.

Keywords: peer instruction, education, technology, fashion

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Authors: Djehich Mohamed Yousri

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The national sovereignty of states is now facing a dangerous situation that has witnessed a clear exacerbation of the restrictions that this sovereignty has known for quite some time, if not since the establishment of the sovereign national state in the first place, and things have reached this way to the extent that a group of analysts and commentators are talking about the demise or disappearance of the phenomenon of sovereignty Patriotism, a judgment that some consider exaggerated, although there is agreement on the seriousness of what has afflicted the national sovereignty of medium and small states in particular. In fact, the phenomenon of national sovereignty has not completely ended, as there is still a category of countries that are able to disagree with the American will without disappearing from the world map, as happened with the Soviet Union. China, some European countries, and some countries with leading regional roles are still able to deal with This administration, with rational and complex calculations, makes the restrictions on its sovereignty minimal, or at least draws a red line in front of the vital interests of those countries that the restrictions on sovereignty cannot cross, and it is certain that strengthening internal democratic development in countries will increase their ability to challenge external restrictions. On its sovereignty to the extent that this development creates a cohesive society in the face of external hegemony attempts, as well as to the extent that it eliminates some pretexts for interference in the internal affairs of states, including the claim of a lack of democracy or lack of respect for human rights in it. What led to transformations in the international arena in the wake of globalization and its effects on international aspects, including national sovereignty and the principle of state independence. Which was marred by several currents, which led to affecting it in a negative way, and this is what poor countries suffer from at the expense of rich countries, which led us to research the extent of the presence of national sovereignty on the international arena, and the extent to which the principle of non-interference in affairs is applied or existed. The internal affairs of states, which are stipulated in the Charter of the United Nations in the modern era, the theory of sovereignty has been subjected to substantial criticism and abandonment by many on the grounds that it is inconsistent with the current conditions of the international community. In fact, the theory of sovereignty has been misused to justify internal tyranny and international chaos. This theory has hindered the development of international law, the work of international organizations and the dominance of strong states over weak ones. At the present time, the concept of sovereignty has moved towards direction, as the transformations of the international system in the economic, political and military fields have led to the decline and erosion of the idea of the sovereignty of the national state.

Keywords: sovereignty, intervention, non-interference, globalization, humanitarian intervention

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