Search results for: plant information management system

Authors: Haiying Zong, Yi Yuan, Pengcheng Li

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Cadmium (Cd), one of the toxic heavy metals, has high solubility and mobility in agricultural soils and is readily taken up by roots and transported to the vegetative and reproductive organs which can cause deleterious effects on crop yield and quality. Excess Cd in plants can interfere with many metabolic processes, such as photosynthesis, transpiration, respiration or nutrients homeostasis. Generally, the main methods to reduce Cd accumulation in plants are to decrease the concentration of Cd in the soil solution through reduction of Cd influx into the soil system, site selection, and management practices. However, these approaches can be very costly and consume a lot of energy Therefore, it is critical to develop effective approaches to reduce the Cd concentration in plants. It is proved that chitooligosaccharide (COS) can enhance the plant's tolerance to abiotic stress including drought stress, salinity stress, and toxic metal stress. However, so far little information is known about whether foliar application with COS modulates Cd-induced toxicity in plants. The metal detoxification processes of plants treated with COS also remain unclear. In this study, edible rape (Brassica rapa L.), one of the most widely consumed leafy vegetables, was selected as an experimental mode plant. The effect of foliar application with COS on reducing Cd accumulation in edible rape was investigated. Moreover, Cd subcellular distribution pattern in response to Cd stress in the rape plant sprayed with COS was further tested in order to explore the potential detoxification mechanisms in plants. The results demonstrated that spraying COS at different concentrations (25, 50,100 and 200 mg L-1) possess diverse functions including growth-promoting,chlorophyll contents-enhancing, malondialdehyde (MDA) level-decreasing in leaves, Cd2+ concentration-decreasingin shoots and roots of edible rape under Cd stress. In addition, it was found that COS can also dramatically improve superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, catalase (CAT) activity and peroxidase (POX) activity of edible rape leaves. The relievingeffect of COS was related to theconcentration and COS with 50-100 mg L-1 displayed the best activity. Furtherly, theexperiments results exhibitedthat COS could decrease the proportion of Cd in the organelle fraction of leaves by 40.1% while enhance the proportion of Cd in the soluble fraction by 13.2% at the concentration of 50 mg L-1. The above results showed that COS may have thepotential to improve plant resistance to Cd via promoting antioxidant enzyme activities and altering Cd subcellular distribution. All the results described here open up a new way to study the protection role of COS in alleviating Cd tolerance and lay the foundation for future research about the detoxification mechanism at subcellular level.

Keywords: chitooligosaccharide, cadmium, edible rape (Brassica rapa L.), subcellular distribution

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Authors: S. K. Kakraliya, R. D. Jat, H. S. Jat, P. C. Sharma, M. L. Jat

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The traditional rice-wheat (RW) system in the IGP of South Asia is tillage, water, energy, and capital intensive. Coupled with more pumping of groundwater over the years to meet the high irrigation water requirement of the RW system has resulted in over-exploitation of groundwater. Replacement of traditional rice with less water crops such as maize under climate-smart agriculture (CSA) based management (tillage, crop establishment and residue management) practices are required to promote sustainable intensification. Furthermore, inefficient nutrient management practices are responsible for low crop yields and nutrient use efficiencies in maize-wheat (MW) system. A 7-year field experiment was conducted in farmer’s participatory strategic research mode at Taraori, Karnal, India to evaluate the effects of tillage and crop establishment (TCE) methods, residue management, mungbean integration, and nutrient management practices on crop yields, water productivity and profitability of MW system. The main plot treatments included four combinations of TCE, residue and mungbean integration [conventional tillage (CT), conventional tillage with mungbean (CT + MB), permanent bed (PB) and permanent bed with MB (PB + MB] with three nutrient management practices [farmer’s fertilizer practice (FFP), recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF) and site-specific nutrient management (SSNM)] using Nutrient Expert® as subplot treatments. System productivity, water use efficiency (WUE) and net returns under PB + MB were significantly increased by 25–30%, 28–31% and 35–40% compared to CT respectively, during seven years of experimentation. The integration of MB in MW system contributed ~25and ~ 28% increases in system productivity and net returns compared with no MB, respectively. SSNM based nutrient management increased the mean (averaged across 7 yrs) system productivity by 12- 15% compared with FFP. The study revealed that CSA based sustainable intensification (PB + MB) and SSNM approach provided opportunities for enhancing crop productivity, WUE and profitability of the MW system in India.

Keywords: Conservation Agriculture, Precision water and nutrient management, Permanent beds, Crop yields

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Authors: Sameh Ibrahim Ghali Hanna

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Information system (IS) are fairly crucial in the operation of private and public establishments in growing and developed international locations. Growing countries are saddled with many project failures throughout the implementation of records systems. However, successful information systems are greatly wished for in developing nations in an effort to decorate their economies. This paper is extraordinarily critical in view of the high failure fee of data structures in growing nations, which desire to be decreased to minimal proper levels by means of advocated interventions. This paper centers on a review of IS development in developing international locations. The paper gives evidence of the IS successes and screw-ups in developing nations and posits a version to deal with the IS failures. The proposed model can then be utilized by means of growing nations to lessen their IS mission implementation failure fee. A contrast is drawn between IS improvement in growing international locations and evolved international locations. The paper affords valuable records to assist in decreasing IS failure, and growing IS models and theories on IS development for developing countries.

Keywords: research information systems (RIS), research information, heterogeneous sources, data quality, data cleansing, science system, standardization artificial intelligence, AI, enterprise information system, EIS, integration developing countries, information systems, IS development, information systems failure, information systems success, information systems success model

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Authors: G. A. Asciak, C. Camilleri, A. Rizzo

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The waste management in Malta is a national challenge. Coupled with Malta’s recent economic boom, which has seen massive growth in several sectors, especially the construction industry, drastic actions need to be taken. Wood waste, currently being dumped in landfills, is one type of waste which has increased astronomically. This research study aims to carry out a thorough examination on the possibility of using this waste as a biomass resource and adopting a waste-to-energy technology in order to generate electrical energy. This study is composed of three distinct yet interdependent phases, namely, data collection from the local SMEs, thermal analysis using the bomb calorimeter, and generation of energy from wood waste using a micro biomass plant. Data collection from SMEs specializing in wood works was carried out to obtain information regarding the available types of wood waste, the annual weight of imported wood, and to analyse the manner in which wood shavings are used after wood is manufactured. From this analysis, it resulted that five most common types of wood available in Malta which would suitable for generating energy are Oak (hardwood), Beech (hardwood), Red Beech (softwood), African Walnut (softwood) and Iroko (hardwood). Subsequently, based on the information collected, a thermal analysis using a 6200 Isoperibol calorimeter on the five most common types of wood was performed. This analysis was done so as to give a clear indication with regards to the burning potential, which will be valuable when testing the wood in the biomass plant. The experiments carried out in this phase provided a clear indication that the African Walnut generated the highest gross calorific value. This means that this type of wood released the highest amount of heat during the combustion in the calorimeter. This is due to the high presence of extractives and lignin, which accounts for a slightly higher gross calorific value. This is followed by Red Beech and Oak. Moreover, based on the findings of the first phase, both the African Walnut and Red Beech are highly imported in the Maltese Islands for use in various purposes. Oak, which has the third highest gross calorific value is the most imported and common wood used. From the five types of wood, three were chosen for use in the power plant on the basis of their popularity and their heating values. The PP20 biomass plant was used to burn the three types of shavings in order to compare results related to the estimated feedstock consumed by the plant, the high temperatures generated, the time taken by the plant to produce gasification temperatures, and the projected electrical power attributed to each wood type. From the experiments, it emerged that whilst all three types reached the required gasification temperature and thus, are feasible for electrical energy generation. African Walnut was deemed to be the most suitable fast-burning fuel. This is followed by Red-beech and Oak, which required a longer period of time to reach the required gasification temperatures. The results obtained provide a clear indication that wood waste can not only be treated instead of being dumped in dumped in landfill but coupled.

Keywords: biomass, isoperibol calorimeter, waste-to-energy technology, wood

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Authors: Baltazar Ndakidemi

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The resource-constrained farmers, especially those in sub-Saharan Africa, encounter significant challenges related to agriculture, notably diseases and pests. The sustainable means of pest management are not well known to farmers. As a result, some farmers use synthetic pesticides whose environmental impacts, ill health, and other negative impacts of synthetic pesticides on natural enemies have posed a great need for more sustainable means of pest management. Pesticidal plant resources can replace synthetic pesticides because their secondary metabolites can exhibit insecticidal activities such as deterrence, repellence, and pests' mortality. Additionally, the volatiles from these plants can have positive effects of attracting populations of natural enemies. Pesticidal plants can be grown as field margin plants or in strips for supporting natural enemies' populations. However, this is practically undetermined. Hence, there is a need to investigate the roles played by pesticidal plants in supporting natural enemies of pests and their applications in different cropping systems such as legumes. This study investigates different pesticidal plants with a high potential for pest control in agricultural fields. The information sheds light on potential plants that can be used for different crop pests.

Keywords: natural enemies, biological control, synthetic pesticides, pesticidal plants, predators, parasitoids

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Authors: Ali Bakari Mohammed

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Transitioning is a continuous process of radical change in a society which involves co-evolution of institutional, technological, socio-cultural, and ecological developments at different scales and levels. Transition management model is a methodology that influences structural change of complex systems over a period (0-30 years) by experimenting and implementing new techniques. A transition management in the context of groundwater is a radical change from the current operate and control system to a next generation integrated and sustainable system that takes into account quality protection and sustained supply into the future. This study evaluates the transition management model in adopting it as a viable tool for the attainment of sustainable groundwater management. The outcome of the evaluation shows that there are three levels (strategic, tactical and operational) of operating the transition management model. At the strategic level, long-term goals for sustainable groundwater management are formulated, at the tactical level activities such as inter institutional networking, negotiation, planning and financing are carried out, and at the operational level, transition experiments and strategic niche management are carried out at the societal level. Overall, different actors and set of activities are required to partake at each management level. The outcome of this paper will provide basis for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 in Nigeria.

Keywords: transition management, groundwater, sustainable management, tool, Nigeria

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Authors: Rasim M. Alguliyev, Alovsat G. Aliyev

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In the paper information on economic development trends in developed countries are analyzed. The current status of information society and economy of the country is reviewed and some recommendations are given for future development. The problems of Information Society and establishment of its innovative economy are studied. In this turn, development trends information economy in developed countries are analyzed.

Keywords: information economy, ICT sector, ICT infrastructure, innovation, innovation system hi-tech products, antimonopoly policy

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Authors: Loreta Axhami

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Media literacy in the digital age emerges not only as a set of skills to generate true knowledge and information but also as a pedagogy methodology, as a kind of educational philosophy. In addition to such innovations as information integration and communication technologies, media infrastructures, and web usage in the educational system, media literacy enables the change in the learning methods, pedagogy, teaching programs, and school curriculum itself. In this framework, this study focuses on ICT's impact on teaching and learning methods and the degree they are reflected in the Albanian education system. The study is based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods of scientific research. Referring to the study findings, it results that student’s limited access to the internet in school, focus on the hardcopy textbooks and the role of the teacher as the only or main source of knowledge and information are some of the main factors contributing to the implementation of authoritarian pedagogical methods in the Albanian education system. In these circumstances, the implementation of media literacy is recommended as an apt educational process for the 21st century, which requires a reconceptualization of textbooks as well as the application of modern teaching and learning methods by integrating information and communication technologies.

Keywords: authoritarian pedagogic model, education system, ICT, media literacy

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Authors: Jyh-Cherng Gu, Ming-Ta Yang, Chao-Fong Yan, Hsin-Yung Chung, Yung-Ruei Chang, Yih-Der Lee, Chen-Min Chan, Chia-Hao Hsu

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There are a number of distributed generations (DGs) installed in microgrid, which may have diverse path and direction of power flow or fault current. The overcurrent protection scheme for the traditional radial type distribution system will no longer meet the needs of microgrid protection. Integrating the intelligent electronic device (IED) and a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) with IEC 61850 communication protocol, the paper proposes a microgrid protection management system (MPMS) to protect power system from the fault. In the proposed method, the MPMS performs logic programming of each IED to coordinate their tripping sequence. The GOOSE message defined in IEC 61850 is used as the transmission information medium among IEDs. Moreover, to cope with the difference in fault current of microgrid between grid-connected mode and islanded mode, the proposed MPMS applies the group setting feature of IED to protect system and robust adaptability. Once the microgrid topology varies, the MPMS will recalculate the fault current and update the group setting of IED. Provided there is a fault, IEDs will isolate the fault at once. Finally, the Matlab/Simulink and Elipse Power Studio software are used to simulate and demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method.

Keywords: IEC 61850, IED, group Setting, microgrid

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Authors: Bryan M. Baltazar, Marjorie V. Remolador, Klathea H. Sevilla, Imee Saladaga, Loureal Camille Inocencio, Ma. Rosario Concepcion O. Ang

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Biomass energy is a traditional source of sustainable energy, which has been widely used in developing countries. The Philippines, specifically Central Luzon, has an abundant source of biomass. Hence, it could supply abundant agricultural residues (rice husks), as feedstock in a biomass power plant. However, locating a potential site for biomass development is a complex process which involves different factors, such as physical, environmental, socio-economic, and risks that are usually diverse and conflicting. Moreover, biomass distribution is highly dispersed geographically. Thus, this study develops an integrated method combining Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and methods for energy planning; Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), for locating suitable site for biomass power plant development in Central Luzon, Philippines by considering different constraints and factors. Using MCDA, a three level hierarchy of factors and constraints was produced, with corresponding weights determined by experts by using AHP. Applying the results, a suitability map for Biomass power plant development in Central Luzon was generated. It showed that the central part of the region has the highest potential for biomass power plant development. It is because of the characteristics of the area such as the abundance of rice fields, with generally flat land surfaces, accessible roads and grid networks, and low risks to flooding and landslide. This study recommends the use of higher accuracy resource maps, and further analysis in selecting the optimum site for biomass power plant development that would account for the cost and transportation of biomass residues.

Keywords: analytic hierarchy process, biomass energy, GIS, multi-criteria decision analysis, site suitability analysis

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Authors: Shazia Shamim, Pallavi Gautam

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The present study describes the presence of rare or endangered plants from Poonch Dist., which spread over 1674 Km sq. located between latitude 330 25' N to 340 01' N and longitude 730 58' E to 740 35' E forming a part of the Northwest Himalaya in Jammu and Kashmir state of India, with the aim of suggesting the strategy for the conservation and promotion of cultivation of rare and endangered medicinal plants, as well as developing traditional knowledge of medicinal plants. The main threats to biodiversity and ecosystem are overexploitation, global climate change, habitat loss, fragmentation, pollution, and invasion of alien species and disturbance of community structure. Surveys were carried out during 2015-2016 throughout the Poonch valley. During the field survey, various criteria of International Union for the conservation of nature for categorizing threatened plants, extent of occurrence, area of occupancy, probability of extinction, etc. were measured. The rarity of species was determined by field study, visual estimations, and literature. During the collection, it was observed that few rare and endangered species which were present in the study area, are also mentioned in the prescribed red data book of Indian plants, International Union for conservation of nature, list of threatened species and list of Botanical Survey of India presented by its Northern Regional Centre. The study was based on extensive surveys of the study area and then concluded by preparing a list of plant species occurring in different seasons, the photographs of all these plant species were collected. Actual threats to the population of a selected plant species in a given area were recorded by direct observation. The present paper provides information about 22 rare and endangered medicinal plant species belonging to 18 families that are used by the native of these areas. Information provided includes botanical name, family name, local name, habitat, part used, ethno medicinal uses and brief preparation of the reported plant species is presented in the present work.

Keywords: biodiversity, traditional knowledge, International Union for Conservation of Nature, Botanical Survery of India

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Authors: Ahmad Rouhani, Masood Jabbari, Sima Honarmand

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This paper introduces a method to optimal design of a hybrid Wind/Photovoltaic/Fuel cell generation system for a typical domestic load that is not located near the electricity grid. In this configuration the combination of a battery, an electrolyser, and a hydrogen storage tank are used as the energy storage system. The aim of this design is minimization of overall cost of generation scheme over 20 years of operation. The Matlab/Simulink is applied for choosing the appropriate structure and the optimization of system sizing. A teaching learning based optimization is used to optimize the cost function. An overall power management strategy is designed for the proposed system to manage power flows among the different energy sources and the storage unit in the system. The results have been analyzed in terms of technics and economics. The simulation results indicate that the proposed hybrid system would be a feasible solution for stand-alone applications at remote locations.

Keywords: hybrid energy system, optimum sizing, power management, TLBO

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Authors: Pranay Mathur, Carlo Michelassi, Simi Karatha, Gilda Pedoto

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Industrial plant uptime is top most importance for reliable, profitable & sustainable operation. Trip and failed start has major impact on plant reliability and all plant operators focussed on efforts required to minimise the trips & failed starts. The performance of these CTQs are measured with 2 metrics, MTBT(Mean time between trips) and SR (Starting reliability). These metrics helps to identify top failure modes and identify units need more effort to improve plant reliability. Baker Hughes Trip reduction program structured to reduce these unwanted trip 1. Real time machine operational parameters remotely available and capturing the signature of malfunction including related boundary condition. 2. Real time alerting system based on analytics available remotely. 3. Remote access to trip logs and alarms from control system to identify the cause of events. 4. Continuous support to field engineers by remotely connecting with subject matter expert. 5. Live tracking of key CTQs 6. Benchmark against fleet 7. Break down to the cause of failure to component level 8. Investigate top contributor, identify design and operational root cause 9. Implement corrective and preventive action 10. Assessing effectiveness of implemented solution using reliability growth models. 11. Develop analytics for predictive maintenance With this approach , Baker Hughes team is able to support customer in achieving their Reliability Key performance Indicators for monitored units, huge cost savings for plant operators. This Presentation explains these approach while providing successful case studies, in particular where 12nos. of LNG and Pipeline operators with about 140 gas compressing line-ups has adopted these techniques and significantly reduce the number of trips and improved MTBT

Keywords: reliability, availability, sustainability, digital infrastructure, weibull, effectiveness, automation, trips, fail start

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Authors: Asma Shaheen Hashmi, Omer Riaz, Khalid Mahmood, Fahad Ullah, Tanveer Ahmad

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The urban landscapes are being change with the population growth and advancements in new technologies. The urban sprawl pattern and utilizes are related to the local socioeconomic and physical condition. Urban policy decisions are executed mostly through spatial planning. A decision support system (DSS) is very powerful tool which provides flexible knowledge base method for urban planning. An application was developed using geographical information system (GIS) for urban planning. A scenario based DSS was developed to integrate the hierarchical muti-criteria data of different aspects of urban landscape. These were physical environment, the dumping site, spatial distribution of road network, gas and water supply lines, and urban watershed management, selection criteria for new residential, recreational, commercial and industrial sites. The model provided a framework to incorporate the sustainable future development. The data can be entered dynamically by planners according to the appropriate criteria for the management of urban landscapes.

Keywords: urban, GIS, spatial, criteria

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Authors: C. Angel, S. Asha

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Despite the advances made in various new technologies, application of these technologies for agriculture still remains a formidable task, as it involves integration of diverse domains for monitoring the different process involved in agricultural management. Advances in ambient intelligence technology represents one of the most powerful technology for increasing the yield of agricultural crops and to mitigate the impact of water scarcity, climatic change and methods for managing pests, weeds, and diseases. This paper proposes a GPS-assisted, machine to machine solutions that combine information collected by multiple sensors for the automated management of paddy crops. To maintain the economic viability of paddy cultivation, the various techniques used in agriculture are discussed and a novel system which uses ambient intelligence technique is proposed in this paper. The ambient intelligence based agricultural system gives a great scope.

Keywords: ambient intelligence, agricultural technology, smart agriculture, precise farming

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Authors: Andra Blumberga, Uldis Bariss, Anna Kubule, Dagnija Blumberga

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European Union Energy Efficiency Directive provides a set of binding energy efficiency measures to reach. Each of the member states can use either energy efficiency obligation scheme or alternative policy measures or combination of both. Latvian government has decided to divide savings among obligation scheme (65%) and alternative measures (35%). This decision might lead to significant energy tariff increase hence impact on the national economy. To assess impact of alternative policy measures focusing on energy management scheme based on ISO 50001 and ability to decrease share of obligation scheme a System Dynamics modeling was used. Simulation results show that energy efficiency goal can be met with alternative policy measure to large energy consumers in industrial, tertiary and public sectors by applying the energy tax exemption for implementers of energy management system. A delay in applying alternative policy measures plays very important role in reaching the energy efficiency goal. One year delay in implementation of this policy measure reduces cumulative energy savings from 2016 to 2017 from 5200 GWh to 3000 GWh in 2020.

Keywords: system dynamics, energy efficiency, policy measure, energy management system, obligation scheme

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Authors: A. Baloglu, A. Çınar

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Different tools and technologies were implemented for Crisis Response and Management (CRM) which is generally using available network infrastructure for information exchange. Depending on type of disaster or crisis, network infrastructure could be affected and it could not be able to provide reliable connectivity. Thus any tool or technology that depends on the connectivity could not be able to fulfill its functionalities. As a solution, a new message exchange framework has been developed. Framework provides offline/online information exchange platform for CRM Information Systems (CRMIS) and it uses XML compression and packet prioritization algorithms and is based on open source web technologies. By introducing offline capabilities to the web technologies, framework will be able to perform message exchange on unreliable networks. The experiments done on the simulation environment provide promising results on low bandwidth networks (56kbps and 28.8 kbps) with up to 50% packet loss and the solution is to successfully transfer all the information on these low quality networks where the traditional 2 and 3 tier applications failed.

Keywords: crisis response and management, XML messaging, web services, XML compression, mining

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Authors: Faris Elghaish, Sepehr Abrishami, Mark Gaterell, Richard Wise

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The collaboration and integration between all building information management (BIM) processes and tasks are necessary to ensure that all project objectives can be delivered. The literature review has been used to explore the state of the art BIM technologies to manage construction materials as well as the challenges which have faced the construction process using traditional methods. Thus, this paper aims to articulate a framework to integrate traditional material planning methods such as ABC analysis theory (Pareto principle) to analyse and categorise the project materials, as well as using independent material planning methods such as Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) and Fixed Order Point (FOP) into the BIM 4D, and 5D capabilities in order to articulate a dependent material planning cycle into BIM, which relies on the constructability method. Moreover, we build a model to connect between the material planning outputs and the BIM 4D and 5D data to ensure that all project information will be accurately presented throughout integrated and complementary BIM reporting formats. Furthermore, this paper will present a method to integrate between the risk management output and the material management process to ensure that all critical materials are monitored and managed under the all project stages. The paper includes browsers which are proposed to be embedded in any 4D BIM platform in order to predict the EOQ as well as FOP and alarm the user during the construction stage. This enables the planner to check the status of the materials on the site as well as to get alarm when the new order will be requested. Therefore, this will lead to manage all the project information in a single context and avoid missing any information at early design stage. Subsequently, the planner will be capable of building a more reliable 4D schedule by allocating the categorised material with the required EOQ to check the optimum locations for inventory and the temporary construction facilitates.

Keywords: building information management, BIM, economic order quantity, EOQ, fixed order point, FOP, BIM 4D, BIM 5D

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Authors: Ioannis Andrianakis, Vasileios Gkatas, Nikos Eleftheriadis, Alexios Ellinidis, Ermioni Avramidou

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The paper discusses the main aspects involved in the development of a supply chain management system using the newly developed PredictionSCMS software as a basis for the discussion. The discussion is focused on three topics: the first is demand forecasting, where we present the predictive algorithms implemented and discuss related concepts such as the calculation of the safety stock, the effect of out-of-stock days etc. The second topic concerns the design of a supply chain, where the core parameters involved in the process are given, together with a methodology of incorporating these parameters in a meaningful order creation strategy. Finally, the paper discusses some critical events that can happen during the operation of a supply chain management system and how the developed software notifies the end user about their occurrence.

Keywords: demand forecasting, machine learning, risk management, supply chain design

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Authors: Chin-Hsien Yeh, Shao-Wen Chen, Wen-Shu Huang, Chun-Fu Huang, Jong-Rong Wang, Jung-Hua Yang, Yuh-Ming Ferng, Chunkuan Shih

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In this research, a Fukushima-like conditions is simulated with TRACE and RELAP5. Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) occurred the disaster which caused by the earthquake and tsunami. This disaster caused extended loss of all AC power (ELAP). Hence, loss of ultimate heat sink (LUHS) happened finally. In order to handle Fukushima-like conditions, Taiwan Atomic Energy Council (AEC) commanded that Taiwan Power Company should propose strategies to ensure the nuclear power plant safety. One of the diverse and flexible coping strategies (FLEX) is a different water injection strategy. It can execute core injection at 20 Kg/cm2 without depressurization. In this study, TRACE and RELAP5 were used to simulate Maanshan nuclear power plant, which is a three loops PWR in Taiwan, under Fukushima-like conditions and make sure the success criteria of FLEX. Reducing core cooling ability is due to failure of emergency core cooling system (ECCS) in extended loss of all AC power situation. The core water level continues to decline because of the seal leakage, and then FLEX is used to save the core water level and make fuel rods covered by water. The result shows that this mitigation strategy can cool the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) as soon as possible under Fukushima-like conditions, and keep the core water level higher than Top of Active Fuel (TAF). The FLEX can ensure the peak cladding temperature (PCT) below than the criteria 1088.7 K. Finally, the FLEX can provide protection for nuclear power plant and make plant safety.

Keywords: TRACE, RELAP5/MOD3.3, ELAP, FLEX

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Authors: Zehra Aytac, Nurdilek Gulmezoglu

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Safflower has been grown for centuries for many purposes worldwide. Especially it is important for the orange-red dye from its petal and for its high-quality oil obtained from the seeds. The crop is high adaptable to areas with insufficient rainfall and poor soil conditions. The plant has a deep taproot that can draw moisture and plant nutrients from deep to the subsoil. The research was carried out to study the nitrogen (N) uptake of different safflower cultivars and lines at different stages of growth and different plant parts in the experimental field of Faculty of Agriculture, Eskişehir Osmangazi University under semi-arid conditions. Different safflower cultivars and lines of varied origins were used as the material. The cultivars and lines were planted in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Two different growth stages (flowering and harvest) and three different plant parts (head, stem+leaf and seed) were determined. The nitrogen concentration of different plant parts was determined by the Kjeldahl method. Statistical analysis were performed by analysis of variance for each growth stage and plant parts taking a level of p < 0.05 and p < 0.01 as significant according to the LSD test. As a result, N concentration showed significant differences among different plant parts and different growth stages for different safflower genotypes of varied origins.

Keywords: Carthamus tinctorius L., growth stages, head N, leaf N, N uptake, seed N, Safflower

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Authors: Junqi Zou

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As one of the world’s most tech-ready countries, Singapore has initiated the Smart Nation plan to harness the full power and potential of digital technologies to transform the way people live and work, through the more efficient government and business processes, to make the economy more productive. The key evolutions of digital technology transformation in healthcare and the increasing deployment of Internet of Things (IoTs), Big Data, AI/cognitive, Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Electronic Health Record Systems (EHR), Electronic Medical Record Systems (EMR), Warehouse Management System (WMS in the most recent decade have significantly stepped up the move towards an information-driven healthcare ecosystem. The advances in information technology not only bring benefits to patients but also act as a key force in changing management accounting in healthcare sector. The aim of this study is to investigate the impacts of digital technology transformation on Singapore’s healthcare sector from a management accounting perspective. Adopting a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) analysis approach, this paper conducted an exploratory case study of a newly launched Singapore public hospital, which has been recognized as amongst the most digitally advanced healthcare facilities in Asia-Pacific region. Specifically, this study gains insights on how the new technology is changing healthcare organizations’ management accounting from four perspectives under the Balanced Scorecard approach, 1) Financial Perspective, 2) Customer (Patient) Perspective, 3) Internal Processes Perspective, and 4) Learning and Growth Perspective. Based on a thorough review of archival records from the government and public, and the interview reports with the hospital’s CIO, this study finds the improvements from all the four perspectives under the Balanced Scorecard framework as follows: 1) Learning and Growth Perspective: The Government (Ministry of Health) works with the hospital to open up multiple training pathways to health professionals that upgrade and develops new IT skills among the healthcare workforce to support the transformation of healthcare services. 2) Internal Process Perspective: The hospital achieved digital transformation through Project OneCare to integrate clinical, operational, and administrative information systems (e.g., EHR, EMR, WMS, EPIB, RTLS) that enable the seamless flow of data and the implementation of JIT system to help the hospital operate more effectively and efficiently. 3) Customer Perspective: The fully integrated EMR suite enhances the patient’s experiences by achieving the 5 Rights (Right Patient, Right Data, Right Device, Right Entry and Right Time). 4) Financial Perspective: Cost savings are achieved from improved inventory management and effective supply chain management. The use of process automation also results in a reduction of manpower costs and logistics cost. To summarize, these improvements identified under the Balanced Scorecard framework confirm the success of utilizing the integration of advanced ICT to enhance healthcare organization’s customer service, productivity efficiency, and cost savings. Moreover, the Big Data generated from this integrated EMR system can be particularly useful in aiding management control system to optimize decision making and strategic planning. To conclude, the new digital technology transformation has moved the usefulness of management accounting to both financial and non-financial dimensions with new heights in the area of healthcare management.

Keywords: balanced scorecard, digital technology transformation, healthcare ecosystem, integrated information system

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Authors: Rahul Agarwal, Ashutosh Singh

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Colorectal cancer (CRC) also refers as bowel cancer or colon cancer. It involves the development of abnormal growth of cells in colon or rectum part of the body. This work leads to the development of a miRNA database in colorectal cancer. We named this database- miCoRe. This database comprises of all validated colon-rectal cancer miRNAs information from various published literature with an effectual knowledge based information retrieval system. miRNAs have been collected from various published literature reports. MySQL is used for main-framework of miCoRe while the front-end was developed in PHP script. The aim of developing miCoRe is to create a comprehensive central repository of colorectal carcinoma miRNAs with all germane information of miRNAs and their target genes. The current version of miCoRe consists of 238 miRNAs which are known to be implicated in malignancy of CRC. Alongside with miRNA information, miCoRe also contains the information related to the target genes of these miRNA. miCoRe furnishes the information about the mechanism of incidence and progression of the disease, which would further help the researchers to look for colorectal specific miRNAs therapies and CRC specific targeted drug designing. Moreover, it will also help in development of biomarkers for the better and early detection of CRC and will help in better clinical management of the disease.

Keywords: colorectal cancer, database, miCoRe, miRNAs

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Authors: Oscar Armando González-Marin, Jhon F. Rodríguez-León, Oscar Mota-Pérez, Jorge Pineda-Piñón, Roberto S. Velázquez-González., Julio C. Sosa-Savedra

Abstract:

Over the past six years, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has recorded the warmest years since 1880, primarily attributed to climate change. In addition, the overexploitation of agricultural lands, combined with food and water scarcity, has highlighted the urgent need for sustainable cultivation methods. Hydroponics has emerged as a sustainable farming technique that enables plant cultivation using nutrient solutions without the requirement for traditional soil. Among hydroponic methods, the Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) facilitates plant growth by circulating a nutrient solution continuously. This approach allows the monitoring and precise control of nutritional parameters, with potential for automation and technological integration. This study aims to present the state of the art of automated NFT hydroponic systems, discussing their design methodologies and considerations for implementation. Moreover, a medium-scale NFT system developed at CICATA-QRO is introduced, detailing its current manual management and progress toward automation.

Keywords: automation, hydroponics, nutrient film technique, sustainability

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Authors: Agustin Baidez, Yolanda Ramirez

Abstract:

There is currently a growing interest in the improvement of university governance and the disclosure of information on governance processes as an essential part of the transparency and accountability of universities. This paper aims to examine the extent and quality of voluntary corporate governance disclosure by public Spanish universities on their websites in relation to information need of stakeholders. The results of this study show that Spanish university stakeholders attach great importance to the disclosure of specific information on aspects of corporate governance. However, the quality of disclosed information on university governance in public Spanish universities websites is in the middle level. In order to satisfy the information needs of university stakeholders, Spanish universities can be recommended to focus on reporting higher quality information on university autonomy in financing, autonomy in management, autonomy regarding student selection and assessment, degree of consanguinity of executive directors, report on assigned public funding based on results, and management reports.

Keywords: university, governance, transparency, stakeholders

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Authors: N. Al Khashan, H. Al Shammari, W. Al Bahli

Abstract:

Patients who are eligible to receive treatment at the National Guard Health Affairs (NGHA), Saudi Arabia will typically have four medical record numbers (MRN), one in each of the geographical areas. More hospitals and primary healthcare facilities in other geographical areas will launch soon which means more MRNs. When patients own four MRNs, this will cause major drawbacks in patients’ quality of care such as creating new medical files in different regions for relocated patients and using referral system among regions. Consequently, the access to a patient’s medical record from other regions and the interoperability of health information between the four hospitals’ information system would be challenging. Thus, there is a need to unify medical records among these five facilities. As part of the effort to increase the quality of care, a new Hospital Information Systems (HIS) was implemented in all NGHA facilities by the end of 2016. NGHA’s plan is put to be aligned with the Saudi Arabian national transformation program 2020; whereby 70% citizens and residents of Saudi Arabia would have a unified medical record number that enables transactions between multiple Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) vendors. The aim of the study is to explore the plan, the challenges and barriers of unifying the 4 MRNs into one Enterprise Patient Identifier (EPI) in NGHA hospitals by December 2018. A descriptive study methodology was used. A journey map and a project plan are created to be followed by the project team to ensure a smooth implementation of the EPI. It includes the following: 1) Approved project charter, 2) Project management plan, 3) Change management plan, 4) Project milestone dates. Currently, the HIS is using the regional MRN. Therefore, the HIS and all integrated health care systems in all regions will need modification to move from MRN to EPI without interfering with patient care. For now, the NGHA have successfully implemented an EPI connected with the 4 MRNs that work in the back end in the systems’ database.

Keywords: consumer health, health informatics, hospital information system, universal medical record number

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Authors: Siddhartha Paul, Debabrata Das

Abstract:

Closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) management focuses on integrating forward and reverse flow of material as well as information to maximize value creation over the entire life-cycle of a product. Bullwhip effect in supply chain management refers to the phenomenon where a small variation in customers’ demand results in larger variation of orders at the upstream levels of supply chain. Since the quality and quantity of products returned to the collection centers (as a part of reverse logistics process) are uncertain, bullwhip effect is inevitable in CLSC. Therefore, in the present study, first, through an extensive literature survey, we identify all the important factors related to forward as well as reverse supply chain which causes bullwhip effect in CLSC. Second, we develop a system dynamics model to study the interrelationship among the factors and their effect on the performance of overall CLSC. Finally, the results of the simulation study suggest that demand forecasting, lead times, information sharing, inventory and work in progress adjustment rate, supply shortages, batch ordering, price variations, erratic human behavior, parameter correcting, delivery time delays, return rate of used products, manufacturing and remanufacturing capacity constraints are the important factors which have a significant influence on system’s performance, specifically on bullwhip effect in a CLSC.

Keywords: bullwhip effect, closed-loop supply chain, system dynamics, variance ratio

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Authors: Filomena Lopes, Sandra Fernandes

Abstract:

Active learning strategies are at the center of any change process aimed to improve the development of student skills. This paper aims to analyse the impact of teaching strategies, including problem-based learning (PBL), in the curricular unit of information system for management, based on students’ perceptions of how they contribute to develop the desired learning outcomes of the curricular unit. This course is part of the 1st semester and 3rd year of the graduate degree program in management at a private higher education institution in Portugal. The methodology included an online questionnaire to students (n=40). Findings from students reveal a positive impact of the teaching strategies used. In general, 35% considered that the strategies implemented in the course contributed to the development of courses’ learning objectives. Students considered PBL as the learning strategy that better contributed to enhance the courses’ learning outcomes. This conclusion brings forward the need for further reflection and discussion on the impact of student feedback on teaching and learning processes.

Keywords: higher education, active learning strategies, skills development, student assessment

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Authors: Mohammad Rahmani Rezaiyeh, Mojtaba Rahmani Rezaiyeh, Mehrdad Rahmani Rezaiyeh

Abstract:

Smart speed bump is a new invention and I am invented it. Smart speed bump is a system that can change the position of speed bumps either active or passive in necessary situations. The basic system of smart speed bumps is based on a robotic system which includes mechanic, electronic and artificial intelligence. The smart speed bump is capable of smart decision making and can change its position by anticipating the peak of terrific hours. It can be noted to the advantages of this system such as preventing the waste of petrol while crossing speed bumps, traffic management, accelerating, flowing and securing traffic, reducing accidents and judicial records.

Keywords: invention, smart, robotic system, speed bump, traffic, management

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Authors: Talha Shafiq

Abstract:

The traditional electricity operation in solar thermal plants is designed to operate on a single path initiating at power plant and executes at the consumer. Due to lack of energy storage facilities during this operation, a decrease in the efficiency is often observed with the power plant performance. This paper reviews the significance of energy storage in supply design and elaborates various methods that can be adopted in this regard which are equally cost effective and environmental friendly. Moreover, various parameters in thermal storage technique are also critically analyzed to clarify the pros and cons in this facility. Discussing the different thermal storage system, their technical and economical evaluation has also been reviewed.

Keywords: thermal energy storage, sensible heat storage, latent heat storage, thermochemical heat storage

Procedia PDF Downloads 563