Search results for: rail track

Authors: Tzen-Ying Ling

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Recently, the resilience of dwellings in urban areas has been deliberated, as to accommodate the growing demand for changing the demography and rapid urbanization. The need to incorporate sustainability and cleaner production thinking have intensified to mitigate climate risks and satisfy the demand for housing. The modular thinking satisfies both the pressing call for fast-tracked housing stocks; while meeting the goal of more sustainable production. In the other side, the importance of the dwelling as a podium for well-being and social connectedness are sought to explore the key human/environment design thinking for the modular system in dwelling. We argue the best practice incorporates the concept of systemic components thinking. The fieldwork reported in this paper illustrates the process of the case study in a modular dwelling unit prototype development; focusing on the systemic frame system design process and adjustment recommendation hereafter. Using a case study method, the study identified that: (1) inclusive human dimensional factoring through systemic design thinking results in affordable implementations possibilities. (2) The environmental dimension encourages the place-based solution suited for the locality and the increasing demand for dwelling in the urban system. (3) Prototype design consideration avails module system component as dwelling construction alternative. (4) Building code often acts as an inhibitor for such dwelling units by the restriction in lot sizes and units placement. The demand for fast-track dwelling construction and cleaner production decisively outweighs the code inhibition; we further underscored the sustainability implication of the alternative prototype as the core of this study. The research suggests that modular thinking results in a resilient solution suited for the locality and the increasing demand for dwelling in the urban system.

Keywords: system prototype, urban resilience, human/environment dimension, modular thinking, dwelling alternative

Procedia PDF Downloads 174

Authors: A. Barratt, M. H. Granat, S. Buttress, B. Roy

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Introduction: Physiotherapy is an essential part of the treatment of patients with shoulder problems. The focus of treatment is usually centred on addressing specific physiotherapy goals, ultimately resulting in the improvement in pain and function. This study investigates if computerised physiotherapy using gamification principles are as effective as standard physiotherapy. Methods: Physiotherapy exergames were created using a combination of commercially available hardware, the Microsoft Kinect, and bespoke software. The exergames used were validated by mapping physiotherapy goals of physiotherapy which included; strength, range of movement, control, speed, and activation of the kinetic chain. A multicenter, randomised prospective controlled trial investigated the use of exergames on patients with Shoulder Impingement Syndrome who had undergone Arthroscopic Subacromial Decompression surgery. The intervention group was provided with the automated sensor-based technology, allowing them to perform exergames and track their rehabilitation progress. The control group was treated with standard physiotherapy protocols. Outcomes from different domains were used to compare the groups. An important metric was the assessment of shoulder range of movement pre- and post-operatively. The range of movement data included abduction, forward flexion and external rotation which were measured by the software, pre-operatively, 6 weeks and 12 weeks post-operatively. Results: Both groups show significant improvement from pre-operative to 12 weeks in elevation in forward flexion and abduction planes. Results for abduction showed an improvement for the interventional group (p < 0.015) as well as the test group (p < 0.003). Forward flexion improvement was interventional group (p < 0.0201) with the control group (p < 0.004). There was however no significant difference between the groups at 12 weeks for abduction (p < 0.118067) , forward flexion (p < 0.189755) or external rotation (p < 0.346967). Conclusion: Exergames may be used as an alternative to standard physiotherapy regimes; however, further analysis is required focusing on patient engagement.

Keywords: shoulder, physiotherapy, exergames, gamification

Procedia PDF Downloads 194

Authors: Tam Viet Hoang

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With a plethora of new mobility services and payment systems found in our cities and across modern public transportation systems, several cities globally have turned to common ticketing systems to help navigate this complexity. Helping to create time and space-differentiated fare structures and tariff schemes, common ticketing systems can optimize transport utilization rates, achieve cost efficiencies, and provide key incentives to specific target groups. However, not all cities and transportation systems have enjoyed a smooth journey towards the adoption, roll-out, and servicing of common ticketing systems, with both the experiences of success and failure being attributed to a wide variety of critical factors. Using case study research as a methodology and cities as the main unit of analysis, this research will seek to address the fundamental question of “what are the critical factors for the success and failure of common ticketing systems?” Using rail/train systems as the entry point for this study will start by providing a background to the evolution of transport ticketing and justify the improvements in operational efficiency that can be achieved through common ticketing systems. Examining the socio-economic benefits of common ticketing, the research will also help to articulate the value derived for different key identified stakeholder groups. By reviewing case studies of the implementation of common ticketing systems in different cities, the research will explore lessons learned from cities with the aim to elicit factors to ensure seamless connectivity integrated e-ticketing platforms. In an increasingly digital age and where cities are now coming online, this paper seeks to unpack these critical factors, undertaking case study research drawing from literature and lived experiences. Offering us a better understanding of the enabling environment and ideal mixture of ingredients to facilitate the successful roll-out of a common ticketing system, interviews will be conducted with transport operators from several selected cities to better appreciate the challenges and strategies employed to overcome those challenges in relation to common ticketing systems. Meanwhile, as we begin to see the introduction of new mobile applications and user interfaces to facilitate ticketing and payment as part of the transport journey, we take stock of numerous policy challenges ahead and implications on city-wide and system-wide urban planning. It is hoped that this study will help to identify the critical factors for the success and failure of common ticketing systems for cities set to embark on their implementation while serving to fine-tune processes in those cities where common ticketing systems are already in place. Outcomes from the study will help to facilitate an improved understanding of common pitfalls and essential milestones towards the roll-out of a common ticketing system for railway systems, especially for emerging countries where mass rapid transit transport systems are being considered or in the process of construction.

Keywords: common ticketing, public transport, urban strategies, Bangkok, Fukuoka, Sydney

Procedia PDF Downloads 88

Authors: Altilio Rosa, Chirico Francesco, Foglia Goffredo

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In recent years, the number of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has significantly increased. The rapid development of commercial and recreational drones makes them an important part of our society. Despite the growing list of their applications, these vehicles pose a huge threat to civil and military installations: detection, classification and neutralization of such flying objects become an urgent need. Radar is an effective remote sensing tool for detecting and tracking flying objects, but scenarios characterized by the presence of a high number of tracks related to flying birds make especially challenging the drone detection task: operator PPI is cluttered with a huge number of potential threats and his reaction time can be severely affected. Flying birds compared to UAVs show similar velocity, RADAR cross-section and, in general, similar characteristics. Building from the absence of a single feature that is able to distinguish UAVs and birds, this paper uses a multiple features approach where an original feature selection technique is developed to feed binary classifiers trained to distinguish birds and UAVs. RADAR tracks acquired on the field and related to different UAVs and birds performing various trajectories were used to extract specifically designed target movement-related features based on velocity, trajectory and signal strength. An optimization strategy based on a genetic algorithm is also introduced to select the optimal subset of features and to estimate the performance of several classification algorithms (Neural network, SVM, Logistic regression…) both in terms of the number of selected features and misclassification error. Results show that the proposed methods are able to reduce the dimension of the data space and to remove almost all non-drone false targets with a suitable classification accuracy (higher than 95%).

Keywords: birds, classification, machine learning, UAVs

Procedia PDF Downloads 221

Authors: Aniketh Ravukutam, Rajath Rao M., Pradyumna S. A.

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In the past few decades there has been great advancement in use of aerodynamics in cars. Now its use has been evident from commercial cars to race cars for achieving higher speeds, stability and efficiency. This paper focusses on studying the effects of aerodynamics in Formula Student car. These cars weigh around 200kgs with an average speed of 60kmph. With increasing competition every year, developing a competitive car is a herculean task. The race track comprises mostly of tight corners and little or no straights thus testing the car’s cornering capabilities. Higher cornering speeds can be achieved by increasing traction at the tires. Studying the aerodynamics helps in achieving higher traction without much addition in overall weight of car. The main focus is to develop an aerodynamic package involving front wing, under tray and body to obtain an optimum value of down force. The initial process involves the detail study of geometrical constraints mentioned in the rule book and calculating the limiting value of drag as per the engine specifications. The successive steps involve conduction of various iterations in ANSYS for selection of airfoils, deciding the number of elements, designing the nose for low drag, channelizing the flow under the body and obtain an optimum value of down force within the limits defined in the initial process. The final step involves design of model using these results in Virtual environment called OptimumLap® for detailed study of performance with and without the presence of aerodynamics. The CFD analysis results showed an overall down force of 377.44N with a drag of 164.08N. The corresponding parameters of the last model were applied in OptimumLap® and an improvement of 3.5 seconds in lap times was observed.

Keywords: aerodynamics, formula student, traction, front wing, undertray, body, rule book, drag, down force, virtual environment, computational fluid dynamics (CFD)

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Authors: Komal Vig

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Cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related deaths occur in 17.3 million people globally each year, accounting for 30% of all deaths worldwide, with a predicted annual incidence of deaths to reach 23.3 million globally by 2030. Autologous bypass grafts remain an important therapeutic option for the treatment of CVD, but the poor quality of the donor patient’s blood vessels, the invasiveness of the resection surgery, and postoperative movement restrictions create issues. The present study is aimed to improve the endothelialization of intimal surface of graft by using low temperature plasma (LTP) to increase the cell attachment and proliferation. Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) was treated with LTP. Air was used as the feed-gas, and the pressure in the plasma chamber was kept at 800 mTorr. Scaffolds were also modified with gelatin and collagen by dipping method. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) were plated on the developed scaffolds, and cell proliferation was determined by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and by microscopy. mRNA expressions levels of different cell markers were investigated using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). XPS confirmed the introduction of oxygenated functionalities from LTP. HUVEC cells showed 80% seeding efficiency on the scaffold. Microscopic and MTT assays indicated increase in cell viability in LTP treated scaffolds, especially when treated with gelatin or collagen, compared to untreated scaffolds. Gene expression studies shows enhanced expression of cell adhesion marker Integrin- α 5 gene after LTP treatment. LTP treated scaffolds exhibited better cell proliferation and viability compared to untreated scaffolds. Protein treatment of scaffold increased cell proliferation. Based on our initial results, more scaffolds alternatives will be developed and investigated for cell growth and vascularization studies. Acknowledgments: This work is supported by the NSF EPSCoR RII-Track-1 Cooperative Agreement OIA-2148653.

Keywords: LTP, HUVEC cells, vascular graft, endothelialization

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Authors: Javad Sarvestan, Zdenek Svoboda

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Force-time (F-T) curvature characteristics are globally referenced as the main indicators of athletic jump performance. Nevertheless, to the best of authors’ knowledge, no investigation tried to deeply study the relationship between F-T curve variables and real-game jump performance among elite volleyball players. To this end, this study was designated to investigate the association between F-T curve variables, including movement timings, force, velocity, power, rate of force development (RFD), modified reactive strength index (RSImod), and net impulse with spike jump height during real-game circumstances. Twelve young elite volleyball players performed 3 countermovement jump (CMJ) and 3 spike jump in real-game circumstances with 1-minute rest intervals to prevent fatigue. Shapiro-Wilk statistical test illustrated the normality of data distribution, and Pearson’s product correlation test portrayed a significant correlation between CMJ height and peak RFD (0.85), average RFD (r=0.81), RSImod (r=0.88) and concentric net impulse (r=0.98), and also significant correlation between spike jump height and peak RFD (0.73), average RFD (r=0.80), RSImod (r=0.62) and concentric net impulse (r=0.71). Multiple regression analysis also reported that these factors have a strong contribution in predicting of CMJ (98%) and spike jump (77%) heights. Outcomes of this study confirm that the RFD, concentric net impulse, and RSImod values could precisely monitor and track the volleyball attackers’ explosive strength, muscular stretch-shortening cycle function efficiency, and ultimate spike jump height. To this effect, volleyball coaches and trainers are advised to have an in-depth focus on their athletes’ progression or the impacts of strength trainings by observing and chasing the F-T curve variables such as RFD, net impulse, and RSImod.

Keywords: net impulse, reactive strength index, rate of force development, stretch-shortening cycle

Procedia PDF Downloads 135

Authors: Mary Hanhoun, Jilla Bamarni, Anne-Sophie Bougard

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INSPIR’ECO is a 18-month research and innovation project that aims to specify and develop a tool to offer new services for industrials and territorial planners/managers based on Industrial Ecology Principles. This project is carried out on the territory of Salaise Sablons and the services are designed to be deployed on other territories. Salaise-Sablons area is located in the limit of 5 departments on a major European economic axis multimodal traffic (river, rail and road). The perimeter of 330 ha includes 90 hectares occupied by 20 companies, with a total of 900 jobs, and represents a significant potential basin of development. The project involves five multi-disciplinary partners (Syndicat Mixte INSPIRA, ENGIE, IDEEL, IDEAs Laboratory and TREDI). INSPIR’ECO project is based on the principles that local stakeholders need services to pool, share their activities/equipment/purchases/materials. These services aims to : 1. initiate and promote exchanges between existing companies and 2. identify synergies between pre-existing industries and future companies that could be implemented in INSPIRA. These eco-industrial synergies can be related to: the recovery / exchange of industrial flows (industrial wastewater, waste, by-products, etc.); the pooling of business services (collective waste management, stormwater collection and reuse, transport, etc.); the sharing of equipments (boiler, steam production, wastewater treatment unit, etc.) or resources (splitting jobs cost, etc.); and the creation of new activities (interface activities necessary for by-product recovery, development of products or services from a newly identified resource, etc.). These services are based on IT tool used by the interested local stakeholders that intends to allow local stakeholders to take decisions. Thus, this IT tool: - include an economic and environmental assessment of each implantation or pooling/sharing scenarios for existing or further industries; - is meant for industrial and territorial manager/planners - is designed to be used for each new industrial project. - The specification of the IT tool is made through an agile process all along INSPIR’ECO project fed with: - Users expectations thanks to workshop sessions where mock-up interfaces are displayed; - Data availability based on local and industrial data inventory. These input allow to specify the tool not only with technical and methodological constraints (notably the ones from economic and environmental assessments) but also with data availability and users expectations. A feedback on innovative resource management initiatives in port areas has been realized in the beginning of the project to feed the designing services step.

Keywords: development opportunities, INSPIR’ECO, INSPIRA, industrial ecology, planification, synergy identification

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Authors: Mustafa Al Sukar, Azzam Sleit, Abdullatif Abu-Dalhoum, Bassam Al-Kasasbeh

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Use and abuse of drugs by teens is very common and can have dangerous consequences. The drugs contribute to physical and sexual aggression such as assault or rape. Some teenagers regularly use drugs to compensate for depression, anxiety or a lack of positive social skills. Teen resort to smoking should not be minimized because it can be "gateway drugs" for other drugs (marijuana, cocaine, hallucinogens, inhalants, and heroin). The combination of teenagers' curiosity, risk taking behavior, and social pressure make it very difficult to say no. This leads most teenagers to the questions: "Will it hurt to try once?" Nowadays, technological advances are changing our lives very rapidly and adding a lot of technologies that help us to track the risk of drug abuse such as smart phones, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), Internet of Things (IoT), etc. This technique may help us to early discovery of drug abuse in order to prevent an aggravation of the influence of drugs on the abuser. In this paper, we have developed a Decision Support System (DSS) for detecting the drug abuse using Artificial Neural Network (ANN); we used a Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) feed-forward neural network in developing the system. The input layer includes 50 variables while the output layer contains one neuron which indicates whether the person is a drug addict. An iterative process is used to determine the number of hidden layers and the number of neurons in each one. We used multiple experiment models that have been completed with Log-Sigmoid transfer function. Particularly, 10-fold cross validation schemes are used to access the generalization of the proposed system. The experiment results have obtained 98.42% classification accuracy for correct diagnosis in our system. The data had been taken from 184 cases in Jordan according to a set of questions compiled from Specialists, and data have been obtained through the families of drug abusers.

Keywords: drug addiction, artificial neural networks, multilayer perceptron (MLP), decision support system

Procedia PDF Downloads 299

Authors: Tamara Jimah, Priscilla Kehoe, Pamela Pimentel, Amir Rahmani, Nikil Dutt, Yuqing Guo

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Ensuring equitable access to maternal health care is critical for public health. Particularly for underserved women, community health workers (CHWs) have been invaluable in providing support through health education and strategies for improved maternal self-care management. Our research aimed to assess the acceptance of technology by CHWs and perinatal women to promote healthy pregnancy and postpartum wellness. This pilot study was conducted at a local community organization in Orange County, California, where CHWs play an important role in supporting low-income women through home visitations. Questionnaires were administered to 14 CHWs and 114 pregnant and postpartum women, literate in English and/or Spanish. CHWs tested two wearable devices (Galaxy watch and Oura ring) and shared their user experience, including potential reception by the perinatal women they served. In addition, perinatal women provided information on access to a smart phone and the internet, as well as their interest in using wearable devices to self-monitor personal health with guidance from a CHW. Over 85% of CHWs agreed that it was useful to track pregnancy with the smart watch and ring. The majority of perinatal women owned a smartphone (97.4%), had access to the internet (80%) and unlimited data plans (78%), expressed interest in using the smart wearable devices to self-monitor health, and were open to receiving guidance from a CHW (87%). Community health workers and perinatal women embraced the use of wearable technology to monitor maternal health. These preliminary findings have formed the basis of an ongoing research study that integrates CHW guidance and technology (i.e., smart watch, smart ring, and a mobile phone app) to promote self-efficacy and self-management among underserved perinatal women.

Keywords: community health workers, health promotion and education, health equity, maternal and child health, technology

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: Umashankar Morya, Somnath Basu

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Metalloids like arsenic are often present as contaminants in industrial effluents. Removal of the same is essential before the safe discharge of the wastewater into the environment. Otherwise, these pollutants tend to percolate into aquifers over a period of time and contaminate drinking water sources. Several adsorbents, including metal powders, carbon nanotubes and zeolites, are being used for this purpose, with varying degrees of success. However, most of these solutions are not only costly but also not always readily available. This restricts their use, especially among financially weaker communities. Slag generated globally from primary steelmaking operations exceeds 200 billion kg every year. Some of it is utilized for applications like road construction, filler in reinforced concrete, railway track ballast and recycled into iron ore agglomeration processes. However, these usually involve low-value addition, and a significant amount of the slag still ends up in a landfill. However, there is a strong possibility that the constituents in the steelmaking slag may immobilize metalloid contaminants present in wastewater through a combination of adsorption and precipitation of insoluble product(s). Preliminary experiments have already indicated that exposure to basic oxygen steelmaking slag does reduce pollutant concentration in wastewater. In addition, the slag is relatively inexpensive and available in large quantities and in several countries across the world. Investigations on the mechanism of interactions at the water-solid interfaces have been in progress for some time. However, at the same time, there are concerns about the possibility of leaching of metal ions from the slag particles in concentrations greater than what exists in the water bodies where the “treated” wastewater would eventually be discharged. The effect of such leached ions on the aquatic flora and fauna is yet uncertain. This has prompted the present investigation, which focuses on the leaching of metal ions from steelmaking slag particles in contact with wastewater, and the influence of these ions on the removal of contaminant species. Experiments were carried out to quantify the leaching behavior of different ionic species upon exposure of the slag particles to simulated wastewater, both with and without specific metalloid contaminants.

Keywords: slag, water, metalloid, heavy metal, wastewater

Procedia PDF Downloads 74

Authors: Ghufran Ahmed, Muhammad Osama Siddiqui, Shahbaz Siddiqui, Rauf Ahmad Shams Malick, Faisal Khan, Mubashir Khan

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In this paper, a machine learning-based approach for early prediction of diseases in cows is proposed. Different ML algos are applied to extract useful patterns from the available dataset. Technology has changed today’s world in every aspect of life. Similarly, advanced technologies have been developed in livestock and dairy farming to monitor dairy cows in various aspects. Dairy cattle monitoring is crucial as it plays a significant role in milk production around the globe. Moreover, it has become necessary for farmers to adopt the latest early prediction technologies as the food demand is increasing with population growth. This highlight the importance of state-ofthe-art technologies in analyzing how important technology is in analyzing dairy cows’ activities. It is not easy to predict the activities of a large number of cows on the farm, so, the system has made it very convenient for the farmers., as it provides all the solutions under one roof. The cattle industry’s productivity is boosted as the early diagnosis of any disease on a cattle farm is detected and hence it is treated early. It is done on behalf of the machine learning output received. The learning models are already set which interpret the data collected in a centralized system. Basically, we will run different algorithms on behalf of the data set received to analyze milk quality, and track cows’ health, location, and safety. This deep learning algorithm draws patterns from the data, which makes it easier for farmers to study any animal’s behavioral changes. With the emergence of machine learning algorithms and the Internet of Things, accurate tracking of animals is possible as the rate of error is minimized. As a result, milk productivity is increased. IoT with ML capability has given a new phase to the cattle farming industry by increasing the yield in the most cost-effective and time-saving manner.

Keywords: IoT, machine learning, health care, dairy cows

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Authors: Hajar Zarei, AliAkbar Zarenejadatashgah, Vuk Uskoković, Hiroshi Watabe

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The reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by radiation in nuclear diagnostic imaging and radiotherapy could damage the structure of the proteins in noncancerous cells surrounding the tumor. The critical factor in many age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer, Parkinson, or Huntington diseases, is the oxidation of proteins by the ROS as molecular triggers of the given pathologies. Our studies by spectroscopic experiments showed doses close to therapeutic ones (1 to 5 Gy) could lead to changes of secondary and tertiary structures in BSA protein macromolecule as a protein model as well as the aggregation of polypeptide chain but without the fragmentation. For this reason, we investigated the radioprotective effects of natural (vitamin C and E) and synthetic materials (CNPs and FIOMPs) on the structural changes in BSA protein induced by gamma irradiation at a therapeutic dose (3Gy). In the presence of both vitamins and synthetic materials, the spectroscopic studies revealed that irradiated BSA was protected from the structural changes caused by ROS, according to in vitro research. The radioprotective property of CNPs and FIOMPs arises from enzyme mimetic activities (catalase, superoxide dismutase, and peroxidase) and their antioxidant capability against hydroxyl radicals. In the case of FIOMPs, a porous structure also leads to increased ROS recombination with each other in the same radiolytic track and subsequently decreased encounters with BSA. The hydrophilicity of vitamin C resulted in the major scavenging of ROS in the solvent, whereas hydrophobic vitamin E localized on the nonpolar patches of the BSA surface, where it did not only neutralize them thanks to the moderate BSA binding constant but also formed a barrier for diffusing ROS. To the best of our knowledge, there has been a persistent lack of studies investigating the radioactive effect of mentioned materials on proteins. Therefore, the results of our studies can open a new widow for application of these common dietary ingredients and new synthetic NPs in improving the safety of radiotherapy.

Keywords: reactive oxygen species, spectroscopy, bovine serum albumin, gamma radiation, radioprotection

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Authors: Nidhi Prabha

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Transportation as a sector is one of the most significant infrastructural elements of the ‘urban.' The distinctness of an urban life in a city is marked by the dynamic movements that it enables within the city-space. Therefore it is important to study the public-transport systems that enable and foster mobility which characterizes the urban. It is also crucial to underscore the way one is examining the urban transport systems - either as an infrastructural unit in a strict physical-structural sense or as a structural unit which acts as a prism refracting multiple experiences depending on the location of the ‘commuter.' In the proposed paper, the attempt is to uncover and investigate the assumption of the neuter-commuter by looking at urban transportation in the secondary sense i.e. as a structural unit which is experienced differently by different kinds of commuters, thus making transportation deeply distributed with various social structures and locations like class or gender which map onto the transport systems. To this end, the public-transit systems operating in Urban Delhi i.e. the Delhi Metros and the Delhi Transport Corporation run public-buses are looked at as case studies. The study is premised on the knowledge and data gained from both primary and secondary sources. Primary sources include data and knowledge collected from fieldwork, the methodology for which has ranged from adopting ‘mixed-methods’ which is ‘Qualitative-then-Quantitative’ as well as borrowing ethnographic techniques. Apart from fieldwork, other primary sources looked at including Annual Reports and policy documents of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), Union and Delhi budgets, Economic Survey of Delhi, press releases, etc. Secondary sources include the vast array of literature available on the critical nodes that inform the research like gender, transport geographies, urban-space, etc. The study indicates a deeply-distributed urban transport system wherein the various social-structural locations or different kinds of commuters map onto the way these different commuters experience mobility or movement within the city space. Mobility or movement, therefore, becomes gendered or has class-based ramifications. The neuter-commuter assumption is thus challenged. Such an understanding enables us to challenge the anonymity which the ‘urban’ otherwise claims it provides over the rural. The rural is opposed to the urban wherein urban ushers a modern way of life, breaking ties of traditional social identities. A careful study of the transport systems through the traveling patterns and choices of the commuters, however, indicate that this does not hold true as even the same ‘public-space’ of the transport systems allocates different places to different kinds of commuters. The central argument made though the research done is therefore that infrastructure like urban-transport-systems has to be studied and examined as seen beyond just a physical structure. The various experiences of daily mobility of different kinds of commuters have to be taken into account in order to design and plan more inclusive transport systems.

Keywords: gender, infrastructure, mobility, urban-transport-systems

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Authors: Xiaowei Zhang, Min Xu, Saeid Habibi, Fengjun Yan, Ryan Ahmed

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Recently, Electric Vehicles (EVs) have received extensive consideration since they offer a more sustainable and greener transportation alternative compared to fossil-fuel propelled vehicles. Lithium-Ion (Li-ion) batteries are increasingly being deployed in EVs because of their high energy density, high cell-level voltage, and low rate of self-discharge. Since Li-ion batteries represent the most expensive component in the EV powertrain, accurate monitoring and control strategies must be executed to ensure their prolonged lifespan. The Battery Management System (BMS) has to accurately estimate parameters such as the battery State-of-Charge (SOC), State-of-Health (SOH), and Remaining Useful Life (RUL). In order for the BMS to estimate these parameters, an accurate and control-oriented battery model has to work collaboratively with a robust state and parameter estimation strategy. Since battery physical parameters, such as the internal resistance and diffusion coefficient change depending on the battery state-of-life (SOL), the BMS has to be adaptive to accommodate for this change. In this paper, an extensive battery aging study has been conducted over 12-months period on 5.4 Ah, 3.7 V Lithium polymer cells. Instead of using fixed charging/discharging aging cycles at fixed C-rate, a set of real-world driving scenarios have been used to age the cells. The test has been interrupted every 5% capacity degradation by a set of reference performance tests to assess the battery degradation and track model parameters. As battery ages, the combined model parameters are optimized and tracked in an offline mode over the entire batteries lifespan. Based on the optimized model, a state and parameter estimation strategy based on the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) and the relatively new Smooth Variable Structure Filter (SVSF) have been applied to estimate the SOC at various states of life.

Keywords: lithium-ion batteries, genetic algorithm optimization, battery aging test, parameter identification

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Authors: Said Benaissa, David Plets, Emmeric Tanghe, Jens Trogh, Luc Martens, Leen Vandaele, Annelies Van Nuffel, Frank A. M. Tuyttens, Bart Sonck, Wout Joseph

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The herd monitoring and managing - in particular the detection of ‘attention animals’ that require care, treatment or assistance is crucial for effective reproduction status, health, and overall well-being of dairy cows. In large sized farms, traditional methods based on direct observation or analysis of video recordings become labour-intensive and time-consuming. Thus, automatic monitoring systems using sensors have become increasingly important to continuously and accurately track the health status of dairy cows. Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) and internet-of-things (IoT) can be effectively used in health tracking of dairy cows to facilitate herd management and enhance the cow welfare. Since on-cow measuring devices are energy-constrained, a proper characterization of the off-body wireless channel between the on-cow sensor nodes and the back-end base station is required for a power-optimized deployment of these networks in barns. The aim of this study was to characterize the off-body wireless channel in indoor (barns) environment at 868 MHz using LoRa nodes. LoRa is an emerging wireless technology mainly targeted at WSNs and IoT networks. Both large scale fading (i.e., path loss) and temporal fading were investigated. The obtained path loss values as a function of the transmitter-receiver separation were well fitted by a lognormal path loss model. The path loss showed an additional increase of 4 dB when the wireless node was actually worn by the cow. The temporal fading due to movement of other cows was well described by Rician distributions with a K-factor of 8.5 dB. Based on this characterization, network planning and energy consumption optimization of the on-body wireless nodes could be performed, which enables the deployment of reliable dairy cow monitoring systems.

Keywords: channel, channel modelling, cow monitoring, dairy cows, health monitoring, IoT, LoRa, off-body propagation, PLF, propagation

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Authors: K. S. Vedasingha, K. K. M. T. Perera, K. I. Hathurusinghe, H. W. I. Akalanka, Nelum Chathuranga Amarasena, Nalaka R. Dissanayake

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Railways provide the most convenient and economically beneficial mode of transportation, and it has been the most popular transportation method among all. According to the past analyzed data, it reveals a considerable number of accidents which occurred at railways and caused damages to not only precious lives but also to the economy of the countries. There are some major issues which need to be addressed in railways of South Asian countries since they fall under the developing category. The goal of this research is to minimize the influencing aspect of railway level crossing accidents by developing the “railway process automation system”, as there are high-risk areas that are prone to accidents, and safety at these places is of utmost significance. This paper describes the implementation methodology and the success of the study. The main purpose of the system is to ensure human safety by using the Internet of Things (IoT) and image processing techniques. The system can detect the current location of the train and close the railway gate automatically. And it is possible to do the above-mentioned process through a decision-making system by using past data. The specialty is both processes working parallel. As usual, if the system fails to close the railway gate due to technical or a network failure, the proposed system can identify the current location and close the railway gate through a decision-making system, which is a revolutionary feature. The proposed system introduces further two features to reduce the causes of railway accidents. Railway track crack detection and motion detection are those features which play a significant role in reducing the risk of railway accidents. Moreover, the system is capable of detecting rule violations at a level crossing by using sensors. The proposed system is implemented through a prototype, and it is tested with real-world scenarios to gain the above 90% of accuracy.

Keywords: crack detection, decision-making, image processing, Internet of Things, motion detection, prototype, sensors

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Authors: Saleh Kasiri Bidhendi, Shiva Tashakori

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With the increasing application of six-wheel robots in various industries, including agriculture and environmental monitoring, there is a growing demand for efficient and reliable control systems that can improve manoeuvrability and at the same time reduce energy consumption. Moving on uneven terrains, various factors such as obstacles or soil heterogeneity can cause the robot to slip. There is limited research addressing this issue. Although the robot is supposed to track a predetermined path, sudden lateral deviation necessitates path planning. To further address this issue, explicit steering is added by activating actuators on steerable wheels, while the SMC controller still commands differential traction forces on all wheels. This integration improves energy efficiency and obstacle traversability while maintaining the merits of skid-steering, such as tight turning manoeuvrability. However, achieving the desired steer angles presents certain challenges. Inverse kinematics was initially employed to achieve the needed steering angles from the desired position, but this approach led to excessive steering without yawing the body. Switching to desired velocity values instead of position limited over-steering but caused zero lateral velocity on horizontal paths, which was problematic for unforeseen skidding. To overcome this, a proportional controller has been employed, using lateral error as its input and providing a proportional yaw angle as output, the P-controller contributes to modifying the steering angles. The controller's robustness has been verified through sensitivity analyses under critical speeds and turning radius conditions. Our findings offer valuable insights into designing more efficient steering controls for rocker-bogie mechanisms in challenging situations, emphasizing the importance of reducing energy¬ consumption.

Keywords: six-wheel robots, inverse kinematics, integrated steering, path following, manoeuvrability, energy efficiency, uneven terrains

Procedia PDF Downloads 32

Authors: Mahnaz Jafari, Parisa Izadpanahi, Francesco Mancini, Muhammad Qureshi

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The advancement in Information Technology (IT) has been an intrinsic element in the developments of the 21st century bringing benefits such as increased economic productivity. However, its widespread application has also been associated with inadvertent negative impacts on society and the environment necessitating selective interventions to mitigate these impacts. This study responded to this need by developing a Green IT Rating Tool (GIRT) for higher education institutions (HEI) in Australia to evaluate the sustainability of IT-related practices from an environmental, social, and economic perspective. Each dimension must be considered equally to achieve sustainability. The development of the GIRT was informed by the views of interviewed IT professionals whose opinions formed the basis of a framework listing Green IT initiatives in order of their importance as perceived by the interviewed professionals. This framework formed the base of the GIRT, which identified Green IT initiatives (such as videoconferencing as a substitute for long-distance travel) and the associated weighting of each practice. The proposed sustainable Green IT model could be integrated into existing IT systems, leading to significant reductions in carbon emissions and e-waste and improvements in energy efficiency. The development of the GIRT and the findings of this study have the potential to inspire other organizations to adopt sustainable IT practices, positively impact the environment, and be used as a reference by IT professionals and decision-makers to evaluate IT-related sustainability practices. The GIRT could also serve as a benchmark for HEIs to compare their performance with other institutions and to track their progress over time. Additionally, the study's results suggest that virtual and cloud-based technologies could reduce e-waste and energy consumption in the higher education sector. Overall, this study highlights the importance of incorporating Green IT practices into the IT systems of HEI to contribute to a more sustainable future.

Keywords: green information technology, international higher-educational institution, sustainable solutions, environmentally friendly IT systems

Procedia PDF Downloads 76

Authors: Shivdayal Patel, Suhail Ahmad

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Safety assurance and failure prediction of composite material component of an offshore structure due to low velocity impact is essential for associated risk assessment. It is important to incorporate uncertainties associated with material properties and load due to an impact. Likelihood of this hazard causing a chain of failure events plays an important role in risk assessment. The material properties of composites mostly exhibit a scatter due to their in-homogeneity and anisotropic characteristics, brittleness of the matrix and fiber and manufacturing defects. In fact, the probability of occurrence of such a scenario is due to large uncertainties arising in the system. Probabilistic finite element analysis of composite plates due to low-velocity impact is carried out considering uncertainties of material properties and initial impact velocity. Impact-induced damage of composite plate is a probabilistic phenomenon due to a wide range of uncertainties arising in material and loading behavior. A typical failure crack initiates and propagates further into the interface causing de-lamination between dissimilar plies. Since individual crack in the ply is difficult to track. The progressive damage model is implemented in the FE code by a user-defined material subroutine (VUMAT) to overcome these problems. The limit state function is accordingly established while the stresses in the lamina are such that the limit state function (g(x)>0). The Gaussian process response surface method is presently adopted to determine the probability of failure. A comparative study is also carried out for different combination of impactor masses and velocities. The sensitivity based probabilistic design optimization procedure is investigated to achieve better strength and lighter weight of composite structures. Chain of failure events due to different modes of failure is considered to estimate the consequences of failure scenario. Frequencies of occurrence of specific impact hazards yield the expected risk due to economic loss.

Keywords: composites, damage propagation, low velocity impact, probability of failure, uncertainty modeling

Procedia PDF Downloads 279

Authors: G. Andreutti, G. Saccone, D. Lucariello, C. Pirozzi, S. Franchitti, R. Borrelli, C. Toscano, P. Caso, G. Ferraro, C. Pascarella

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The reduction of greenhouse gases and pollution emissions is a worldwide environmental issue. The amount of CO₂ released by an aircraft is associated with the amount of fuel burned, so the improvement of engine thermo-mechanical efficiency and specific fuel consumption is a significant technological driver for aviation. Moreover, with the prospect that avgas will be phased out, an engine able to use more available and cheaper fuels is an evident advantage. An advanced aeronautical Diesel engine, because of its high efficiency and ability to use widely available and low-cost jet and diesel fuels, is a promising solution to achieve a more fuel-efficient aircraft. On the other hand, a Diesel engine has generally a higher overall weight, if compared with a gasoline one of same power performances. Fixing the MTOW, Max Take-Off Weight, and the operational payload, this extra-weight reduces the aircraft fuel fraction, partially vinifying the associated benefits. Therefore, an effort in weight saving manufacturing technologies is likely desirable. In this work, in order to achieve the mentioned goals, innovative Electron Beam Melting – EBM, Additive Manufacturing – AM technologies were applied to a two-stroke, common rail, GF56 Diesel engine, developed by the CMD Company for aeronautic applications. For this purpose, a consortium of academic, research and industrial partners, including CMD Company, Italian Aerospace Research Centre – CIRA, University of Naples Federico II and the University of Salerno carried out a technological project, funded by the Italian Minister of Education and Research – MIUR. The project aimed to optimize the baseline engine in order to improve its performance and increase its airworthiness features. This project was focused on the definition, design, development, and application of enabling technologies for performance improvement of GF56. Weight saving of this engine was pursued through the application of EBM-AM technologies and in particular using Arcam AB A2X machine, available at CIRA. The 3D printer processes titanium alloy micro-powders and it was employed to realize new connecting rods of the GF56 engine with an additive-oriented design approach. After a preliminary investigation of EBM process parameters and a thermo-mechanical characterization of titanium alloy samples, additive manufactured, innovative connecting rods were fabricated. These engine elements were structurally verified, topologically optimized, 3D printed and suitably post-processed. Finally, the overall performance improvement, on a typical General Aviation aircraft, was estimated, substituting the conventional engine with the optimized GF56 propulsion system.

Keywords: aeronautic propulsion, additive manufacturing, performance improvement, weight saving, piston engine

Procedia PDF Downloads 142

Authors: Aravind Kumar

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The high terrains of Garhwal (Uttarakhand) Himalaya are the niches of a number of rare and endemic plant species of great therapeutic importance. However, the wild flora of the area is still under a constant threat due to rapid upsurge in human interferences, especially through multifarious tourism growth and peri-urban encroachments. After getting the status of a ‘Special State’ of the country since its inception in the year 2000, this newly borne State led to very rapid infrastructural growth and development. Consequently, its townships started expanding in an unmanaged way grabbing nearby agricultural lands and forest areas into peri-urban landscapes. Simultaneously, a boom in tourism and pilgrimage in the state and the infrastructural facilities raised by the government for tourists/pilgrims are destroying its biodiversity. Field survey revealed 242 plant species of therapeutic significance naturally growing in the area and being utilized by local inhabitants as traditional medicines. On conservation scale, 6 species (2.2%) were identified as critically endangered, 19 species (7.1%) as the endangered ones, 8 species (3.0%) under rare category, 17 species (6.4%) as threatened and 14 species (5.2%) as vulnerable. The Government of India has brought mega-biodiversity hot spots of the state under Biosphere Reserve, National Parks, etc. restricting all kinds of human interferences; however, the two most sacred shrines of Hindus and Sikhs viz. Shri Badrinath and Shri Hemkunt Sahib, and two great touristic attractions viz. Valley of Flowers and Auli-Joshimath Skiing Track oblige the government to maintain equilibrium between entries of visitors vis-à-vis biodiversity conservation in high terrains of Uttarakhand Himalaya.

Keywords: biodiversity conservation, ethno-botany, Garhwal (Uttarakhand) Himalaya, peri-urban encroachment, pilgrimage and tourism

Procedia PDF Downloads 227

Authors: Toby Gibbs, Glen Craigie, Suwaree Yordchim

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Using the Speexx Online Language Training Program with Thai students has allowed us to evaluate their learning comprehension and track their progression through the English language program. Speexx sets the standard for excellence and innovation in web-based language training and online coaching services. The program is designed to improve the business communication skills of language learners for Thai students. Speexx consists of English lessons, exercises, tests, web boards, and supplementary lessons to help students practice English. The sample groups are 191 Thai sophomores studying Business English with the department of Humanities and Social Science. The data was received by standard deviation (S.D.) value from questionnaires and samples provided from the Speexx training program. The results found that most Thai sophomores fail the Speexx training program due to their learning comprehension of the English language is below average. With persisted efforts on new training methods, the success of the Speexx Language Training Program can break through the cultural barriers and help future students adopt English as a second language. The Speexx results revealed four main factors affecting the success as follows: 1) Future English training should be pursued in applied Speexx development. 2) Thai students didn’t see the benefit of having an Online Language Training Program. 3) There is a great need to educate the next generation of learners on the benefits of Speexx within the community. 4) A great majority of Thai Sophomores didn't know what Speexx was. A guideline for self-reliance planning consisted of four aspects: 1) Development planning: by arranging groups to further improve English abilities with the Speexx Language Training program and encourage using Speexx every day. Local communities need to develop awareness of the usefulness of Speexx and share the value of using the program among family and friends. 2) Humanities and Social Science staff should develop skills using this Online Language Training Program to expand on the benefits of Speexx within their departments. 3) Further research should be pursued on the Thai Students progression with Speexx and how it helps them improve their language skills with Business English. 4) University’s and Language centers should focus on using Speexx to encourage learning for any language, not just English.

Keywords: ability, comprehension, sophomore, speexx

Procedia PDF Downloads 369

Authors: John Zacharias, Bin Wang

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Travel comfort is increasingly seen as crucial to effecting the switch from private motorized modes to public transit. Surveys suggest that travel comfort is closely related to perceived crowding, that may involve lack of available seating, difficulty entering and exiting, jostling and other physical contacts with strangers. As found in studies on environmental stress, other factors may moderate perceptions of crowding–in this case, we hypothesize that the ambient environment may play a significant role. Travel comfort was measured by applying a structured survey to randomly selected passengers (n=369) on 3 lines of the Beijing metro on workdays. Respondents were standing with all seats occupied and with car occupancy at 14 levels. A second research assistant filmed the metro car while passengers were interviewed, to obtain the total number of passengers. Metro lines 4, 6 and 10 were selected that travel through the central city north-south, east-west and circumferentially. Respondents evaluated the following factors: crowding, noise, smell, air quality, temperature, illumination, vibration and perceived safety as they experienced them at the time of interview, and then were asked to rank these 8 factors according to their importance for their travel comfort. Evaluations were semantic differentials on a 7-point scale from highly unsatisfactory (-3) to highly satisfactory (+3). The control variables included age, sex, annual income and trip purpose. Crowding was assessed most negatively, with 41% of the scores between -3 and -2. Noise and air quality were also assessed negatively, with two-thirds of the evaluations below 0. Illumination was assessed most positively, followed by crime, vibration and temperature, all scoring at indifference (0) or slightly positive. Perception of crowding was linearly and positively related to the number of passengers in the car. Linear regression tested the impact of ambient environmental factors on perception of crowding. Noise intensity accounted for more than the actual number of individuals in the car in the perception of crowding, with smell also contributing. Other variables do not interact with the crowding variable although the evaluations are distinct. In all, only one-third of the perception of crowding (R2=.154) is explained by the number of people, with the other ambient environmental variables accounting for two-thirds of the variance (R2=.316). However, when ranking the factors by their importance to travel comfort, perceived crowding made up 69% of the first rank, followed by noise at 11%. At rank 2, smell dominates (25%), followed by noise and air quality (17%). Commuting to work induces significantly lower evaluations of travel comfort with shopping the most positive. Clearly, travel comfort is particularly important to commuters. Moreover, their perception of crowding while travelling on metro is highly conditioned by the ambient environment in the metro car. Focussing attention on the ambient environmental conditions of the metro is an effective way to address the primary concerns of travellers with overcrowding. In general, the strongly held opinions on travel comfort require more attention in the effort to induce ridership in public transit.

Keywords: ambient environment, mass rail transit, public transit, travel comfort

Procedia PDF Downloads 262

Authors: Deniz Guven, Wil Ward, Jinming Duan, Li Bai

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Over the past two decades or so, Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) has been used to diagnose retina and optic nerve diseases. The retinal nerve fibre layer, for example, is a powerful diagnostic marker for detecting and staging glaucoma. With the advances in optical imaging hardware, the adoption of OCT is now commonplace in clinics. More and more OCT images are being generated, and for these OCT images to have clinical applicability, accurate automated OCT image segmentation software is needed. Oct image segmentation is still an active research area, as OCT images are inherently noisy, with the multiplicative speckling noise. Simple edge detection algorithms are unsuitable for detecting retinal layer boundaries in OCT images. Intensity fluctuation, motion artefact, and the presence of blood vessels also decrease further OCT image quality. In this paper, we introduce a new method for segmenting three-dimensional (3D) OCT images. This involves the use of a Kalman filter, which is commonly used in computer vision for object tracking. The Kalman filter is applied to the 3D OCT image volume to track the retinal layer boundaries through the slices within the volume and thus segmenting the 3D image. Specifically, after some pre-processing of the OCT images, points on the retinal layer boundaries in the first image are identified, and curve fitting is applied to them such that the layer boundaries can be represented by the coefficients of the curve equations. These coefficients then form the state space for the Kalman Filter. The filter then produces an optimal estimate of the current state of the system by updating its previous state using the measurements available in the form of a feedback control loop. The results show that the algorithm can be used to segment the retinal layers in OCT images. One of the limitations of the current algorithm is that the curve representation of the retinal layer boundary does not work well when the layer boundary is split into two, e.g., at the optic nerve, the layer boundary split into two. This maybe resolved by using a different approach to representing the boundaries, such as b-splines or level sets. The use of a Kalman filter shows promise to developing accurate and effective 3D OCT segmentation methods.

Keywords: optical coherence tomography, image segmentation, Kalman filter, object tracking

Procedia PDF Downloads 482

Authors: Yaghoubi N., Moore Z., Van Der Veen S. M., Pidcoe P. E., Thomas J. S., Dexheimer B.

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Optoelectronic 3D motion capture systems, such as the Vicon kinematic system, are widely utilized in biomedical research to track joint motion. These systems are considered powerful and accurate measurement tools with <2 mm average error. However, these systems are costly and may be difficult to implement and utilize in a clinical setting. 3D virtual reality (VR) is gaining popularity as an affordable and accessible tool to investigate motor control and perception in a controlled, immersive environment. The HTC Vive VR system includes puck-style trackers that seamlessly integrate into its VR environments. These affordable, wireless, lightweight trackers may be more feasible for clinical kinematic data collection. However, the accuracy of HTC Vive Trackers (3.0), when compared to optoelectronic 3D motion capture systems, remains unclear. In this preliminary study, we compared the HTC Vive Tracker system to a Vicon kinematic system in a simulated lumbar flexion task. A 6-DOF robot arm (SCORBOT ER VII, Eshed Robotec/RoboGroup, Rosh Ha’Ayin, Israel) completed various reaching movements to mimic increasing levels of hip flexion (15°, 30°, 45°). Light reflective markers, along with one HTC Vive Tracker (3.0), were placed on the rigid segment separating the elbow and shoulder of the robot. We compared position measures simultaneously collected from both systems. Our preliminary analysis shows no significant differences between the Vicon motion capture system and the HTC Vive tracker in the Z axis, regardless of hip flexion. In the X axis, we found no significant differences between the two systems at 15 degrees of hip flexion but minimal differences at 30 and 45 degrees, ranging from .047 cm ± .02 SE (p = .03) at 30 degrees hip flexion to .194 cm ± .024 SE (p < .0001) at 45 degrees of hip flexion. In the Y axis, we found a minimal difference for 15 degrees of hip flexion only (.743 cm ± .275 SE; p = .007). This preliminary analysis shows that the HTC Vive Tracker may be an appropriate, affordable option for gross motor motion capture when the Vicon system is not available, such as in clinical settings. Further research is needed to compare these two motion capture systems in different body poses and for different body segments.

Keywords: lumbar, vivetracker, viconsystem, 3dmotion, ROM

Procedia PDF Downloads 101

Authors: Kaviyarasan D., Satish Kumar S. R.

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India being vast in area and population with great scope of international business, roadways and railways network connection within the country is expected to have a big growth. There are numerous rail-cum-road bridges constructed across many major rivers in India and few are getting very old. So there is more possibility of repairing or coming up with such new bridges in India. Analysis and design of such bridges are practiced through conventional procedure and end up with heavy and uneconomical sections. Such heavy class steel bridges when subjected to high seismic shaking has more chance to fail by stability because the members are too much rigid and stocky rather than being flexible to dissipate the energy. This work is the collective study of the researches done in the truss bridge and steel concrete composite truss bridges presenting the method of analysis, tools for numerical and analytical modeling which evaluates its seismic behaviour and collapse mechanisms. To ascertain the inelastic and nonlinear behaviour of the structure, generally at research level static pushover analysis is adopted. Though the static pushover analysis is now extensively used for the framed steel and concrete buildings to study its lateral action behaviour, those findings by pushover analysis done for the buildings cannot directly be used for the bridges as such, because the bridges have completely a different performance requirement, behaviour and typology as compared to that of the buildings. Long span steel bridges are mostly the truss bridges. Truss bridges being formed by many members and connections, the failure of the system does not happen suddenly with single event or failure of one member. Failure usually initiates from one member and progresses gradually to the next member and so on when subjected to further loading. This kind of progressive collapse of the truss bridge structure is dependent on many factors, in which the live load distribution and span to length ratio are most significant. The ultimate collapse is anyhow by the buckling of the compression members only. For regular bridges, single step pushover analysis gives results closer to that of the non-linear dynamic analysis. But for a complicated bridge like heavy class steel bridge or the skewed bridges or complicated dynamic behaviour bridges, nonlinear analysis capturing the progressive yielding and collapse pattern is mandatory. With the knowledge of the postelastic behaviour of the bridge and advancements in the computational facility, the current level of analysis and design of bridges has moved to state of ascertaining the performance levels of the bridges based on the damage caused by seismic shaking. This is because the buildings performance levels deals much with the life safety and collapse prevention levels, whereas the bridges mostly deal with the extent damages and how quick it can be repaired with or without disturbing the traffic after a strong earthquake event. The paper would compile the wide spectrum of modeling to analysis of the steel concrete composite truss bridges in general.

Keywords: bridge engineering, performance based design of steel truss bridge, seismic design of composite bridge, steel-concrete composite bridge

Procedia PDF Downloads 185

Authors: A. A. Purohit, M. M. Vaidya, M. D. Kudale

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Among the various developing countries in the world like China, Malaysia, Korea etc., India is also developing its infrastructures in the form of Road/Rail/Airports and Waterborne facilities at an exponential rate. Mumbai, the financial epicenter of India is overcrowded and to relieve the pressure of congestion, Navi Mumbai suburb is being developed on the east bank of Thane creek near Mumbai. The government due to limited space at existing Mumbai Airports (domestic and international) to cater for the future demand of airborne traffic, proposes to build a new international airport near Panvel at Navi Mumbai. Considering the precedence of extreme rainfall on 26^th July 2005 and nearby townships being in a low-lying area, wherein new airport is proposed, it is inevitable to study this complex confluence area from a hydrodynamic consideration under both tidal and extreme events (predicted discharge hydrographs), to avoid inundation of the surrounding due to the proposed airport reclamation (1160 hectares) and to determine the safe grade elevation (SGE). The model studies conducted using the application of unstructured mesh to simulate the Panvel estuarine area (93 km²), calibration, validation of a model for hydraulic field measurements and determine the maxima water levels around the airport for various extreme hydrodynamic events, namely the simultaneous occurrence of highest tide from the Arabian Sea and peak flood discharges (Probable Maximum Precipitation and 26^th July 2005) from five rivers, the Gadhi, Kalundri, Taloja, Kasadi and Ulwe, meeting at the proposed airport area revealed that: (a) The Ulwe River flowing beneath the proposed airport needs to be diverted. The 120m wide proposed Ulwe diversion channel having a wider base width of 200 m at SH-54 Bridge on the Ulwe River along with the removal of the existing bund in Moha Creek is inevitable to keep the SGE of the airport to a minimum. (b) The clear waterway of 80 m at SH-54 Bridge (Ulwe River) and 120 m at Amra Marg Bridge near Moha Creek is also essential for the Ulwe diversion and (c) The river bank protection works on the right bank of Gadhi River between the NH-4B and SH-54 bridges as well as upstream of the Ulwe River diversion channel are essential to avoid inundation of low lying areas. The maxima water levels predicted around the airport keeps SGE to a minimum of 11m with respect to Chart datum of Ulwe Bundar and thus development is not only technologically-economically feasible but also sustainable. The unstructured mesh modeling is a promising tool to simulate complex extreme hydrodynamic events and provides a reliable solution to evolve optimal SGE of airport.

Keywords: airport, hydrodynamics, safe grade elevation, tides

Procedia PDF Downloads 261

Authors: Gina Longo

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Social media, internet technology, and affordable travel have created avenues like tourism and internet chatrooms for Western women to meet foreign partners without paid, third-party intermediaries in regions like the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where men from mid-level developing countries meet and marry Western women and try to relocate. Foreign nationals who marry U.S. citizens have an expedited track to naturalization. U.S. immigration officials require that “green card” petitioning couples demonstrate that their relationships are “valid and subsisting” (i.e., for love) and not fraudulent (i.e., for immigration papers). These requirements are ostensibly gender- and racially-neutral, but migration itself is not; black and white women petitioners who seek partners from these regions and solicit advice from similar others about the potential obstacles to their petitions’ success online. Using an online ethnography and textual analysis of conversation threads on a large on-line immigration forum where U.S. petitioners exchange such information, this study examines how gendered and racialized standards of legitimacy are applied to family and sexuality and used discursively online among women petitioners differently to achieve “genuineness” and define “red flags” indicating potential marriage fraud. This paper argues that forum-women members police immigration requests even before cases reach an immigration officer, and use this social media platform to reconstruct gendered and racialized hierarchies of U.S. citizenship. Women petitioners use the formal criteria of U.S. immigration in ways that reveal gender and racial ideologies, expectations for conformity to a gendered hegemonic family ideal, and policing of women’s sexual agency, fertility, and desirability. These intersectional norms shape their online discussions about the suitability of marriages and of the migration of non-citizen male partners of color to the United States.

Keywords: marriage fraud, migration, online forums, women

Procedia PDF Downloads 120

Authors: Volodymyr Rombakh

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This article was written to substantiate the possibility of detecting the precursors of catastrophic destruction of a structure or device and stopping operation before it. Damage to solids results from breaking the bond between atoms, which requires energy. Modern theories of strength and fracture assume that such energy is due to stress. However, in a letter to W. Thomson (Lord Kelvin) dated December 18, 1856, J.C. Maxwell provided evidence that elastic energy cannot destroy solids. He proposed an equation for estimating a deformable body's energy, equal to the sum of two energies. Due to symmetrical compression, the first term does not change, but the second term is distortion without compression. Both types of energy are represented in the equation as a quadratic function of strain, but Maxwell repeatedly wrote that it is not stress but strain. Furthermore, he notes that the nature of the energy causing the distortion is unknown to him. An article devoted to theories of elasticity was published in 1850. Maxwell tried to express mechanical properties with the help of optics, which became possible only after the creation of quantum mechanics. However, Maxwell's work on elasticity is not cited in the theories of strength and fracture. The authors of these theories and their associates are still trying to describe the phenomena they observe based on classical mechanics. The study of Faraday's experiments, Maxwell's and Rutherford's ideas, made it possible to discover a previously unknown area of electromagnetic radiation. The properties of photons emitted in this reaction are fundamentally different from those of photons emitted in nuclear reactions and are caused by the transition of electrons in an atom. The photons released during all processes in the universe, including from plants and organs in natural conditions; their penetrating power in metal is millions of times greater than that of one of the gamma rays. However, they are not non-invasive. This apparent contradiction is because the chaotic motion of protons is accompanied by the chaotic radiation of photons in time and space. Such photons are not coherent. The energy of a solitary photon is insufficient to break the bond between atoms, one of the stages of which is ionization. The photographs registered the rail deformation by 113 cars, while the Gaiger Counter did not. The author's studies show that the cause of damage to a solid is the breakage of bonds between a finite number of atoms due to the stimulated emission of metastable atoms. The guarantee of the reliability of the structure is the ratio of the energy dissipation rate to the energy accumulation rate, but not the strength, which is not a physical parameter since it cannot be measured or calculated. The possibility of continuous control of this ratio is due to the spontaneous emission of photons by metastable atoms. The article presents calculation examples of the destruction of energy and photographs due to the action of photons emitted during the atomic-proton reaction.

Keywords: atomic-proton reaction, precursors of man-made disasters, strain, stress

Procedia PDF Downloads 92