Search results for: problem space

Authors: Kayode Oshinubi, Brice Kammegne, Jacques Demongeot

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The use of mathematical tools like Partial Differential Equations and Ordinary Differential Equations have become very important to predict the evolution of a viral disease in a population in order to take preventive and curative measures. In December 2019, a novel variety of Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) was identified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China causing a severe and potentially fatal respiratory syndrome, i.e., COVID-19. Since then, it has become a pandemic declared by World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020 which has spread around the globe. A reaction-diffusion system is a mathematical model that describes the evolution of a phenomenon subjected to two processes: a reaction process in which different substances are transformed, and a diffusion process that causes a distribution in space. This article provides a mathematical study of the Susceptible, Exposed, Infected, Recovered, and Vaccinated population model of the COVID-19 pandemic by the bias of reaction-diffusion equations. Both local and global asymptotic stability conditions for disease-free and endemic equilibria are determined using the Lyapunov function are considered and the endemic equilibrium point exists and is stable if it satisfies Routh–Hurwitz criteria. Also, adequate conditions for the existence and uniqueness of the solution of the model have been proved. We showed the spatial distribution of the model compartments when the basic reproduction rate $\mathcal{R}_0 < 1$ and $\mathcal{R}_0 > 1$ and sensitivity analysis is performed in order to determine the most sensitive parameters in the proposed model. We demonstrate the model's effectiveness by performing numerical simulations. We investigate the impact of vaccination and the significance of spatial distribution parameters in the spread of COVID-19. The findings indicate that reducing contact with an infected person and increasing the proportion of susceptible people who receive high-efficacy vaccination will lessen the burden of COVID-19 in the population. To the public health policymakers, we offered a better understanding of the COVID-19 management.

Keywords: COVID-19, SEIRV epidemic model, reaction-diffusion equation, basic reproduction number, vaccination, spatial distribution

Procedia PDF Downloads 105

Authors: Mohamed Djalil Zaafour, Samir Chekchaki, Mohamed Benslama

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The Landfill of El Matrouha is located in El-Tarf town (extreme north east of Algeria), the Landfill is present as a gigantic wild dump. This waste dump occupies an area of over four hectares, tons of rubbish that is sent daily are scattered over kilometers, reaching farmland located west of the town, the landfill is close to a temporary Oued, which supply Oued Guergour the last tributary Oued El Kebir. The landfills are causing serious environmental damage, following the infiltration of leachates, which contribute to the degradation of water quality, in the context of this problem, the purpose of the work is focused on assessing the impact of this landfill on Oued El-Kebir, for this a series of sampling and analysis of the soil and water of this Oued was performed; The results show that the soil collected reveal the sandy texture facilitating infiltration and percolation of leachate from the landfill; the physicochemical analysis of the quality of the river water reveals high levels of sulfates in fact this element is one of the essential constituents of the mineral fraction of the waste presenting a risk of pollution by this element, The recorded values for nutrients are sub-standard, for trace elements analysis shows very low metal load on the river except for lead, which is present at high concentrations exceeding all standard.

Keywords: Algeria, landfill, leachates, Oued El-kebir

Procedia PDF Downloads 354

Authors: Taha Anjamrooz, Sareh Rajabi, Hasan Mahmmud, Ghassan Abulebdeh

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Water availability, as well as water demand, are not uniformly distributed in time and space. Numerous extra-large water diversion projects are launched in Amazon to alleviate water scarcities. This research utilizes statistical analysis to examine the temporal and spatial features of 40 extra-large water diversion projects in Amazon. Using a network analysis method, the correlation between seven major basins is measured, while the impact analysis method is employed to explore the associated economic, environmental, and social impacts. The study unearths that the development of water diversion in Amazon has witnessed four stages, from a preliminary or initial period to a phase of rapid development. It is observed that the length of water diversion channels and the quantity of water transferred have amplified significantly in the past five decades. As of 2015, in Amazon, more than 75 billion m³ of water was transferred amidst 12,000 km long channels. These projects extend over half of the Amazon Area. The River Basin E is currently the most significant source of transferred water. Through inter-basin water diversions, Amazon gains the opportunity to enhance the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 5%. Nevertheless, the construction costs exceed 70 billion US dollars, which is higher than any other country. The average cost of transferred water per unit has amplified with time and scale but reduced from western to eastern Amazon. Additionally, annual total energy consumption for pumping exceeded 40 billion kilowatt-hours, while the associated greenhouse gas emissions are assessed to be 35 million tons. Noteworthy to comprehend that ecological problems initiated by water diversion influence the River Basin B and River Basin D. Due to water diversion, more than 350 thousand individuals have been relocated, away from their homes. In order to enhance water diversion sustainability, four categories of innovative measures are provided for decision-makers: development of water tradeoff projects strategies, improvement of integrated water resource management, the formation of water-saving inducements, and pricing approach, and application of ex-post assessment.

Keywords: sustainability, water trade-off projects, environment, Amazon

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Katherine Day

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Non-fiction genres (autobiographies and biographies, true stories and criticism, investigative journalism and narrative journalism) have enjoyed increasing sales in the English-language publishing territories over the last decade, but writing the tell-all or exposé is not without consequences: defamation laws cast a “chilling effect” by regarding reputation above publications with a public interest element. This is evident in the many publications that have been amended or pulped after publication. These communications, alterations and negotiations indicate that the threat of legal action forms part of the editorial decision-making around such publications, the presence of which could be attributed to strict defamation laws. In the UK and Australia, particularly, defamation law has proved notoriously biased in favour of plaintiffs. The legal obstacles have prompted law reform by way of section 4 of the UK Defamation Act, which allows for editorial assessment into whether the statement/s made are in the public interest; as of July 1st 2021, the NSW Government in Australia also implemented reforms to help steer the law towards more flexibility in the digital age – the most interesting of these developments for commercial publishing being the new ‘public interest’ defence (s 29A), which is modelled on the UK’s section 4 and which most states in Australia have now integrated into their respective state laws (Queensland, new South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, with the remaining states committing at a later date). This paper will outline and discuss the preliminary findings of a 1-year project that aims to explore how potentially litigious content is managed in unpublished non-fiction manuscripts in two countries identified as having strict defamation laws: Australia and the UK. Significantly, it expects to indicate the burden of current defamation laws on publishing practice and publishing outputs in these countries by interrogating in-house editorial processes and the likelihood of editorial management in a ‘post negotiation space’, where the activities and communication between authors and editors are reconstructed, if necessary, to correct the author/publisher power balance and affirm the business relationship. In doing so, the project asks: has the threat, explicit or implicit, of defamation action produced a significant chilling effect in trade non-fiction publishing in the UK and Australia?

Keywords: defamation, publishing, socio-legal, authorship, editing, literature

Procedia PDF Downloads 50

Authors: Ilaria Lucrezia Amerise

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The statistical modelling of precipitation data for a given portion of territory is fundamental for the monitoring of climatic conditions and for Hydrogeological Management Plans (HMP). This modelling is rendered particularly complex by the changes taking place in the frequency and intensity of precipitation, presumably to be attributed to the global climate change. This paper applies the Wakeby distribution (with 5 parameters) as a theoretical reference model. The number and the quality of the parameters indicate that this distribution may be the appropriate choice for the interpolations of the hydrological variables and, moreover, the Wakeby is particularly suitable for describing phenomena producing heavy tails. The proposed estimation methods for determining the value of the Wakeby parameters are the same as those used for density functions with heavy tails. The commonly used procedure is the classic method of moments weighed with probabilities (probability weighted moments, PWM) although this has often shown difficulty of convergence, or rather, convergence to a configuration of inappropriate parameters. In this paper, we analyze the problem of the likelihood estimation of a random variable expressed through its quantile function. The method of maximum likelihood, in this case, is more demanding than in the situations of more usual estimation. The reasons for this lie, in the sampling and asymptotic properties of the estimators of maximum likelihood which improve the estimates obtained with indications of their variability and, therefore, their accuracy and reliability. These features are highly appreciated in contexts where poor decisions, attributable to an inefficient or incomplete information base, can cause serious damages.

Keywords: generalized extreme values, likelihood estimation, precipitation data, Wakeby distribution

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: Rezala Houria, Valverde Jose Luis, Romero Amaya, Molinari Alessandra, Maldotti Andrea

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The escalation of oil prices in 1973 confronted the oil industry with the problem of how to maximize the processing of crude oil, especially the heavy fractions, to give gasoline components. Strong impetus was thus given to the development of catalysts with relatively large pore sizes, which were able to deal with larger molecules than the existing molecular sieves, and with good thermal and hydrothermal stability. The oil embargo in 1973 therefore acted as a stimulus for the investigation and development of pillared clays. Iron doped titania-pillared montmorillonite clays was prepared using bentonite from deposits of Maghnia in western-Algeria. The preparation method consists of differents steps (purification of the raw bentonite, preparation of a pillaring agent solution and exchange of the cations located between the clay layers with the previously formed iron/titanium solution). The characterization of this material was carried out by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, X-ray diffraction, textural measures by BET method, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance UV visible spectroscopy, temperature- programmed desorption of ammonia and atomic absorption.This new material was investigated as photocatalyst for selective oxygenation of the liquid alkylaromatics such as: toluene, paraxylene and orthoxylene and the photocatalytic properties of it were compared with those of the titanium-pillared clays.

Keywords: iron doping, montmorillonite clays, pillared clays, oil industry

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Authors: Zahzouh Zoubir, Bouzaouit Azzeddine, Gahgah Mounir

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The use of more and more electronic power switches with a nonlinear behavior generates non-sinusoidal currents in distribution networks, which causes damage to domestic and industrial equipment. The multi-level shunt power active filter is subsequently shown to be an adequate solution to the problem raised. Nevertheless, the difficulty of adjusting the active filter DC supply voltage requires another technology to ensure it. In this article, a photovoltaic generator is associated with the DC bus power terminals of the active filter. The proposed system consists of a field of solar panels, three multi-level voltage inverters connected to the power grid and a non-linear load consisting of a six-diode rectifier bridge supplying a resistive-inductive load. Current control techniques of active and reactive power are used to compensate for both harmonic currents and reactive power as well as to inject active solar power into the distribution network. An algorithm of the search method of the maximum power point of type Perturb and observe is applied. Simulation results of the system proposed under the MATLAB/Simulink environment shows that the performance of control commands that reassure the solar power injection in the network, harmonic current compensation and power factor correction.

Keywords: Actif power filter, MPPT, pertub&observe algorithm, PV array, PWM-control

Procedia PDF Downloads 322

Authors: Charuvan Kasemsap

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This research was studied in Bangnampriao District, Chachernsao Province, Thailand. The primary data relating to flooding, drought, and saline intrusion problem on agriculture were collected by surveying, focus group, and in-depth interview with agricultural officers, technical officers of irrigation department, and local government leader of Bangnampriao District. The likelihood and consequence of risk were determined the risk index by risk assessment matrix. In addition, the risk index and the total coping capacity scores were investigated the vulnerability index by vulnerability matrix. It was found that the high-risk drought and saline intrusion was dramatically along Bang Pakong River owing to the end destination of Chao Phraya Irrigation system of Central Thailand. This leads yearly the damage of rice paddy, mango tree, orchard, and fish pond. Therefore, some agriculture avoids rice growing during January to May, and also pumps fresh water from a canal into individual storage pond. However, Bangnampriao District will be strongly affected by the impacts of climate change. Monthly precipitations are expected to decrease in number; dry seasons are expected to be more in number and longer in duration. Thus, the risk and vulnerability of agriculture are also increasing. Adaptation strategies need to be put in place in order to enhance the resilience of the agriculture.

Keywords: agriculture, bangnampriao, climate change, risk assessment

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Authors: Shilpagauri Prasad Ganpule

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The teaching of drama is considered as the most significant and noteworthy area in an ESL classroom. Diverse innovative techniques can be used to make the teaching of drama worthwhile and interesting. The paper presents the different innovative techniques that can be used while teaching Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House [2007]. The innovative techniques facilitate students’ understanding and comprehension of the text. The use of the innovative techniques makes them explore the dramatic text and uncover a multihued arena of meanings hidden in it. They arouse the students’ interest and assist them overcome the difficulties created by the second language. The diverse innovative techniques appeal to the imagination of the students and increase their participation in the classroom. They help the students in the appreciation of the dramatic text and make the teaching learning situation a fruitful experience for both the teacher and students. The students successfully overcome the problem of L2 comprehension and grasp the theme, story line and plot-structure of the play effectively. The innovative techniques encourage a strong sense of participation on the part of the students and persuade them to learn through active participation. In brief, the innovative techniques promote the students to perform various tasks and expedite their learning process. Thus the present paper makes an attempt to present varied innovative techniques that can be used while teaching drama. It strives to demonstrate how the use of innovative techniques improve and enhance the students’ understanding and appreciation of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House [2007].

Keywords: ESL classroom, innovative techniques, students’ participation, teaching of drama

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Authors: V. K. Arora, Amit Rastogi

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To understand the anchor pile behaviour and to predict the capacity of piles under uplift loading are important concerns in foundation analysis. Experimental model tests have been conducted on single anchor pile embedded in cohesionless soil and subjected to pure uplift loading. A gravel-filled geogrid layer was located around the enlarged pile base. The experimental tests were conducted on straight-shafted vertical steel piles with an outer diameter of 20 mm in a steel soil tank. The tested piles have embedment depth-to-diameter ratios (L/D) of 2, 3, and 4. The sand bed is prepared at three different values of density of 1.67, 1.59, and 1.50gm/cc. Single piles embedded in sandy soil were tested and the results are presented and analysed in this paper. The influences of pile embedment ratio, reinforcement, relative density of soil on the uplift capacity of piles were investigated. The study revealed that the behaviour of single piles under uplift loading depends mainly on both the pile embedment depth-to-diameter ratio and the soil density. It is believed that the experimental results presented in this study would be beneficial to the professional understanding of the soil–pile-uplift interaction problem.

Keywords: flat under-reamer anchor pile, geogrid, pullout reinforcement, soil reinforcement

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Authors: Ali Rahnamoun, Adri van Duin

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The concept of high velocity particle impact on the spacecraft surface materials has been one of the important issues in the design of such materials. Among these particles, water clusters might be the most abundant and the most important particles to be studied. The importance of water clusters is that upon impact on the surface of the materials, they can cause damage to the material and also if they are sub-cooled water clusters, they can attach to the surface of the materials and cause ice accumulation on the surface which is very problematic in spacecraft and also aircraft operations. The dynamics of the collisions between amorphous silica structures and water clusters with impact velocities of 1 km/s to 10 km/s are studied using the ReaxFF reactive molecular dynamics simulation method. The initial water clusters include 150 water molecules and the water clusters are collided on the surface of amorphous fully oxidized and suboxide silica structures. These simulations show that the most abundant molecules observed on the silica surfaces, other than reflecting water molecules, are H3O+ and OH- for the water cluster impacts on suboxide and fully oxidized silica structures, respectively. The effect of impact velocity on the change of silica mass is studied. At high impact velocities the water molecules attach to the silica surface through a chemisorption process meaning that water molecule dissociates through the interaction with silica surface. However, at low impact velocities, physisorbed water molecules are also observed, which means water molecule attaches and accumulates on the silica surface. The amount of physisorbed waters molecules at low velocities is higher on the suboxide silica surfaces. The evolution of the temperatures of the water clusters during the collisions indicates that the possibility of electron excitement at impact velocities less than 10 km/s is minimal and ReaxFF reactive molecular dynamics simulation can predict the chemistry of these hypervelocity impacts. However, at impact velocities close to 10 km/s the average temperature of the impacting water clusters increase to about 2000K, with individual molecules oocasionally reaching temperatures of over 8000K and thus will be prudent to consider the concept of electron excitation at these higher impact velocities which goes beyond the current ReaxFF ability.

Keywords: spacecraft materials, hypervelocity impact, reactive molecular dynamics simulation, amorphous silica

Procedia PDF Downloads 402

Authors: Pavel Shcherban, Viktoria Ivanova, Alexander Neprokin, Vladislav Golovanov

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Currently, LLC «Lukoil-Kaliningradmorneft» is implementing a comprehensive program for the development of offshore fields of the Kaliningrad region. This is largely associated with the depletion of the resource base of land in the region, as well as the positive results of geological investigation surrounding the Baltic Sea area and the data on the volume of hydrocarbon recovery from a single offshore field are working on the Kaliningrad region – D-6 «Kravtsovskoye».The article analyzes the main stages of the LLC «Lukoil-Kaliningradmorneft»’s development program for the development of the hydrocarbon resources of the region's shelf and suggests an optimization algorithm that allows managing a multi-criteria process of development of shelf deposits. The algorithm is formed on the basis of the problem of sequential decision making, which is a section of dynamic programming. Application of the algorithm during the consolidation of the initial data, the elaboration of project documentation, the further exploration and development of offshore fields will allow to optimize the complex of technical and technological solutions and increase the economic efficiency of the field development project implemented by LLC «Lukoil-Kaliningradmorneft».

Keywords: offshore fields of hydrocarbons of the Baltic Sea, development of offshore oil and gas fields, optimization of the field development scheme, solution of multicriteria tasks in oil and gas complex, quality management in oil and gas complex

Procedia PDF Downloads 189

Authors: Omotolani Victoria Somoye

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The paper examines modern approaches to the insurable interest, which is a fundamental principle of insurance law that affects the enforceability of insurance contracts. The study starts by examining the competing definitions of the nature of the insurable interest doctrine. It finds that while legal interest theory is seen to be sufficient as the test of insurable interest, the paper argues on how this approach deprives the insured of a full indemnity of losses suffered. The problem with the Nigerian and English current legislative framework is that it defines insurable interest as a legally recognized interest of the insured in the subject matter of insurance. However, other countries like Australia, the United States, South Africa, and more recently, Canada, have rejected the English test and trodden their own path along the factual expectancy line. The study justifies the rationale behind the departure of similar common law jurisdictions and argues that the English and Nigerian position, which appears to be too rigid, harsh on the insured, and no longer fit for purpose in the 21st century, should be revised. The paper concludes that the common law doctrine does not represent better interests of certainty, justice, and fairness, as well as not meeting the policy behind the requirement of insurable interest. This paper adopts a doctrinal comparative research methodology to examine complex areas of insurable interest in selected countries and work out some suggestions for reforming the Nigerian and English laws by referring to the approaches of other jurisdictions.

Keywords: Australia, common law, English law, insurable interest, insurance, Nigeria

Procedia PDF Downloads 124

Authors: Maria T. Mamba, Febe Marl G. Paat

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The illustrious estimation that psychology majors, psychologists and allied psychology practitioners as expert behavior analysts, if not, “life enthusiasts” spurred two essentially linked endeavors. First, the reconsideration of the time-honored ingenuity and expectations from psychologists such as the ability to perceive ways to undertake a range of difficulties, the ability to apply psychology in order to self-regulate and to display personal integrity, and among others. Second, is to ascertain solid support to uphold aforesaid expectations. This study achieved its goals by having explored how two burgeoning constructs- RQ and EQ play parts in the lives of psychology people. Having involved the total population of psychology majors in Cagayan State University along with the use of Emotional Quotient Test and Resilience Assessment Questionnaire, the study provides a précis of how perceived “champions” of psychological well-being respond emotionally to different situations and deal effectively with and even thrive on the demands of frequently changing environmental circumstances. Significant findings about how the major variables correlated with the population’s demographic profile (e.g. age, sex, and year level) were also accounted. To realize a more academic concept with the present study, significant connections between RQ (self-assurance, personal vision, flexible and adaptable, organized, problem solver, interpersonal competence, socially connected, and active) and EQ (e.g. emotional maturity, emotional sensitivity, and emotional competency) dimensions were uncovered.

Keywords: emotional quotient, resilience quotient, psychology majors, exploring

Procedia PDF Downloads 438

Authors: Chia-Min Lai, Wan-Ching Lin, Hahn-Ming Lee, Ching-Hao Mao

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As world wild internet has non-stop developments, making profit by lending registered domain names emerges as a new business in recent years. Unfortunately, the larger the market scale of domain lending service becomes, the riskier that there exist malicious behaviors or malwares hiding behind parked domains will be. Also, previous work for differentiating parked domain suffers two main defects: 1) too much data-collecting effort and CPU latency needed for features engineering and 2) ineffectiveness when detecting parked domains containing external links that are usually abused by hackers, e.g., drive-by download attack. Aiming for alleviating above defects without sacrificing practical usability, this paper proposes ParkedGuard as an efficient and accurate parked domain detector. Several scripting behavioral features were analyzed, while those with special statistical significance are adopted in ParkedGuard to make feature engineering much more cost-efficient. On the other hand, finding memberships between external links and parked domains was modeled as a graph mining problem, and a coarse-to-fine strategy was elaborately designed by leverage the graphical locality such that ParkedGuard outperforms the state-of-the-art in terms of both recall and precision rates.

Keywords: coarse-to-fine strategy, domain parking service, graphical locality analysis, parked domain

Procedia PDF Downloads 397

Authors: David Maina Muthegethi

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For decades, archaeological work of Swahili Civilization has mainly concentrated on exploration of economic and political dynamics of City states. This paper moves further and explore how gender roles were formed, maintained, negotiated and re-negotiated through time and space in Gede City. Unlike other Swahili city states, Gede was located around two miles away from the shores of Indian Ocean. Nonetheless, the city was characterized by security walls, stone houses, mosques and tombs typical of Swahili City states such as Kilwa. The study employed several methods of data collection namely: archival research, survey, re-examination of collected materials and excavation of Gede archaeological site. Since, the study aimed to examine gender roles across different social class, a total of three houses were excavated based on their social hierarchy. Thus, the houses were roughly categorized as belonging to elites, middle class and lower class. The house were located in the inner wall, second inner wall and the outer wall of Gede City respectively. Key findings shows that gender roles differed considerably along classes in Gede archaeological site. For instance, the women of the elite and middle class were active participants in Gede international trade through production and consumption of imported goods. This participation corresponded with commercialization of Gede households especially in elite’ areas where they hosted international traders. On the other hand, the middle class houses, women concentrated on running of light industries aimed at supplying goods for the urban community. Thus, they were able to afford exotic goods as their elites counterparts. Lastly, the gender roles of lower class entailed subsistence gender roles with little participation in Gede formal commerce. Interestingly, gender roles in Gede were dynamic in nature and response to cultural diffusion, spread of Islam, intensification of trade, diversification of subsistence patterns and urbanization. Therefore, this findings, demonstrate centrality of gender in reconstruction of social lives of Swahili Civilization.

Keywords: gender roles, Islam, Swahili civilization, urbanization

Procedia PDF Downloads 80

Authors: Hummad Ch. Umar

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Most of the developing economies, including Pakistan, are confronted with high level of external debt which is adversely affecting their economic performance. The hypothesis of debt overhang is often used to assess the negative relationship between foreign debt and the economic growth of the indebted country. As first objective of the present study, this hypothesis is tested by using Pooled OLS (POLS), Generalized Method of Moment (GMM), Random Effect (RE), and Fixed effect (FE) techniques. As second objective, the study uses the concept of debt Laffer Curve to determine the eligibility condition of the indebted countries for the relief programs. According to this approach, countries lying on the right side of the Laffer Curve are stated to be trapped in the strong debt overhang making them unable to come out of the vicious circle of low growth and high foreign debt. The empirical analysis confirms that only two countries out of twenty two completely fulfill the conditions of being eligible for the debt relief. All other countries continue to face debt burden of different magnitudes. The study further confirms that the debt relief alone is not sufficient for overcoming the debt problem. Instead, sound economic policies and conducive investment decisions are required to lay the foundations of long-term growth and development. Debt relief should be the option for only those countries that meet a minimum measurable criterion of good governance, economic freedom, and consistency of policies.

Keywords: external debt, debt burden, debt overhang, debt laffer curve, debt relief, investment decisions

Procedia PDF Downloads 312

Authors: E. Gouya Bozorg

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The issue of ranking of sports teams, in particular soccer teams is of primary importance in the professional sports. However, it is still based on classical statistics and models outside of area of mathematics. Rigorous mathematics and then statistics despite the expectation held of them have not been able to effectively engage in the issue of ranking. It is something that requires serious pathology. The purpose of this study is to change the approach to get closer to mathematics proper for using in the ranking. We recommend using theoretical mathematics as a good option because it can hermeneutically obtain the theoretical concepts and criteria needful for the ranking from everyday language of a League. We have proposed a framework that puts the issue of ranking into a new space that we have applied in soccer as a case study. This is an experimental and theoretical study on the issue of ranking in a professional soccer league based on theoretical mathematics, followed by theoretical statistics. First, we showed the theoretical definition of constant number Є = 1.33 or ‘golden number’ of a soccer league. Then, we have defined the ‘efficiency of a team’ by this number and formula of μ = (Pts / (k.Є)) – 1, in which Pts is a point obtained by a team in k number of games played. Moreover, K.Є index has been used to show the theoretical median line in the league table and to compare top teams and bottom teams. Theoretical coefficient of σ= 1 / (1+ (Ptx / Ptxn)) has also been defined that in every match between the teams x, xn, with respect to the ability of a team and the points of both of them Ptx, Ptxn, and it gives a performance point resulting in a special ranking for the League. And it has been useful particularly in evaluating the performance of weaker teams. The current theory has been examined for the statistical data of 4 major European Leagues during the period of 1998-2014. Results of this study showed that the issue of ranking is dependent on appropriate theoretical indicators of a League. These indicators allowed us to find different forms of ranking of teams in a league including the ‘special table’ of a league. Furthermore, on this basis the issue of a record of team has been revised and amended. In addition, the theory of ranking can be used to compare and classify the different leagues and tournaments. Experimental results obtained from archival statistics of major professional leagues in the world in the past two decades have confirmed the theory. This topic introduces a new theory for ranking of a soccer league. Moreover, this theory can be used to compare different leagues and tournaments.

Keywords: efficiency of a team, ranking, special table, theoretical mathematic

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Authors: N. Guo, C. Xu, Z. C. Yang

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In order to ensure the high reliability of an aircraft, the accurate structural dynamics analysis has become an indispensable part in the design of an aircraft structure. Therefore, the structural finite element model which can be used to accurately calculate the structural dynamics and their transfer relations is the prerequisite in structural dynamic design. A dynamic finite element model updating method is presented to correct the uncertain parameters of the finite element model of a structure using measured modal parameters. The coordinate modal assurance criterion is used to evaluate the correlation level at each coordinate over the experimental and the analytical mode shapes. Then, the weighted summation of the natural frequency residual and the coordinate modal assurance criterion residual is used as the objective function. Moreover, the hybrid pattern search (HPS) optimization technique, which synthesizes the advantages of pattern search (PS) optimization technique and genetic algorithm (GA), is introduced to solve the dynamic FE model updating problem. A numerical simulation and a model updating experiment for GARTEUR aircraft model are performed to validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the present dynamic model updating method, respectively. The updated results show that the proposed method can be successfully used to modify the incorrect parameters with good robustness.

Keywords: model updating, modal parameter, coordinate modal assurance criterion, hybrid genetic/pattern search

Procedia PDF Downloads 143

Authors: Keith D. Nare, Mohau J. Phiri, James Carson, Chris D. Woolard, Shanganyane P. Hlangothi

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In an energy-intensive world, minimizing energy consumption is paramount to cost saving and reducing the carbon footprint. Improving mixture procedures utilizing warm mix additive Fischer-Tropsch (FT) wax in ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) and modified bitumen highlights a greener and sustainable approach to modified bitumen. In this study, the impact of FT wax on optimized EVA/waste crumb rubber modified bitumen is assayed with a maximum loading of 2.5%. The rationale of the FT wax loading is to maintain the original maximum loading of EVA in the optimized mixture. The phase change abilities of FT wax enable EVA co-crystallization with the support of the elastomeric backbone of crumb rubber. Less than 1% loading of FT wax worked in the EVA/crumb rubber modified bitumen energy-sustainability nexus. Response surface methodology approach to the mixture design is implemented amongst the different loadings of FT wax, EVA for a consistent amount of crumb rubber and bitumen. Rheological parameters (complex shear modulus, phase angle and rutting parameter) were the factors used as performance indicators of the different optimized mixtures. The low temperature chemistry of the optimized mixtures is analyzed using elementary beam theory and the elastic-viscoelastic correspondence principle. Master curves and black space diagrams are developed and used to predict age-induced cracking of the different long term aged mixtures. Modified binder rheology reveals that the strain response is not linear and that there is substantial re-arrangement of polymer chains as stress is increased, this is based on the age state of the mixture and the FT wax and EVA loadings. Dominance of individual effects is evident over effects of synergy in co-interaction of EVA and FT wax. All-inclusive FT wax and EVA formulations were best optimized in mixture 4 with mixture 7 reflecting increase in ease of workability. Findings show that interaction chemistry of bitumen, crumb rubber EVA, and FT wax is first and second order in all cases involving individual contributions and co-interaction amongst the components of the mixture.

Keywords: bitumen, crumb rubber, ethylene vinyl acetate, FT wax

Procedia PDF Downloads 158

Authors: Natasha Hazarika, Xiaoling Zhang

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Eco- innovations, unlike regular innovations, are not self-enforcing and are associated with the double externality problem. Therefore, it is emphasized that eco-innovations need government. intervention in the form of supportive policies on priority. Off late, factors like consumer demand, technological advancement as well as the competitiveness of the firms have been considered as equally important. However, the interaction among these driving forces has not been fully traced out. Also, the theory on eco-innovation is found to be at a nascent stage which does not resonate with its dynamics as it is traditionally studied under the neo- classical economics theory. Therefore, to begin with, insights for this research have been derived from the merits of ‘neo- classical economics’, ‘evolutionary approach’, and the ‘resource based view’ which revealed the issues pertaining to technological system lock- ins and firm- based capacities which usually remained undefined by the neo classical approach; it would be followed by determining how the policies (in the national level) and their instruments are designed in order to motivate firms to eco-innovate, by analyzing the innovation ‘friendliness’ of the policy style and the policy instruments as per the indicators provided in innovation literature by means of document review (content analysis) of the relevant policies introduced by the Chinese government. The significance of theoretical analysis lies in its ability to show why certain practices become dominant irrespective of gains or losses, and that of the policy analysis lies in its ability to demonstrate the credibility of govt.’s sticks, carrots and sermons for eco-innovation.

Keywords: firm competency, eco-innovation, policy, theory

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Authors: Ammar Neshati, Elham Hamidi Shishavan

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Statement of Problem: The increase in the use of metal-ceramic restorations and a high prevalence of porcelain chipping entails introducing an alloy which is more compatible with porcelain and which causes a stronger bond between the two. This study is to compare shear bond strength of three base-metal alloys and one noble alloy with the common VMK Master Porcelain. Materials and Method: Three different groups of base-metal alloys (Ni-cr-T3, Super Cast, Verabond) and one group of noble alloy (x-33) were selected. The number of alloys in each group was 15. All the groups went through the casting process and change from wax pattern into metal disks. Then, VMK Master Porcelain was fired on each group. All the specimens were put in the UTM and a shear force was loaded until a fracture occurred. The fracture force was then recorded by the machine. The data was subjected to SPSS Version 16 and One-Way ANOVA was run to compare shear strength between the groups. Furthermore, the groups were compared two by two through running Tukey test. Results: The findings of this study revealed that shear bond strength of Ni-Cr-T3 alloy was higher than the three other alloys (94 Mpa or 330 N). Super Cast alloy had the second greatest shear bond strength (80. 87 Mpa or 283.87 N). Both Verabond (69.66 Mpa or 245 N) and x-33 alloys (66.53 Mpa or 234 N) took the third place. Conclusion: Ni-Cr-T3 with VMK Master Porcelain has the greatest shear bond strength. Therefore, the use of this low-cost alloy is recommended in metal-ceramic restorations.

Keywords: shear bond, base-metal alloy, noble alloy, porcelain

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Authors: Masami Usui

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Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day (1989) underlines another holocaust, an imprisonment of human life, dignity, and self in the globalizing sphere of the twentieth century. The Remains of the Day delineates the invisible and cruel space of “lost and found” in the postcolonial and post-imperial discourse of this century, that is, the Holocaust. The context of the concentration camp or wartime imprisonment such as Auschwitz is transplanted into the public sphere of modern England, Darlington Hall. The voice is retrieved and expressed by the young journalist and heir of Darlington Hall, Mr. David Cardinal. The new media of journalism is an intruder at Darlington Hall and plays a role in revealing the wrongly-input ideology. “Lost and Found” consists of the private and public retrieved voices. Stevens’ journey in 1956 is a return to the past, especially the period between 1935 and 1936. Lost time is retrieved on his journey; yet lost life cannot be revived entirely in his remains of life. The supreme days of Darlington Hall are the terrifying days caused by the Nazis. Fascism, terrorism, and militarism destroyed the wholesomeness of the globe. Into blind Stevens, both Miss Kenton and Mr. Cardinal bring out the common issue, that is, the political conflicts caused by Nazis. Miss Kenton expresses her own ideas against anti-Semitism regarding the Jewish maids in the crucial time when Sir Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts organization attacked the Anglo Jews between 1935 and 1936. Miss Kenton’s half-muted statement is reinforced and assured by Cardinal in his mention of the 1934 Olympic Rally threatened by Mosley’s Blackshirts. Cardinal’s invasion of Darlington Hall embodies the increasing tension of international politics related to World War II. Darlington Hall accommodates the crucial political issue that definitely influences the fate of the house, its residents, and the nation itself and that is retrieved in the newly progressive and established media.

Keywords: modern English literature, culture studies, communication, history

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Authors: Wikanda Phaphan

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Mixture generalized gamma distribution is a combination of two distributions: generalized gamma distribution and length biased generalized gamma distribution. These two distributions were presented by Suksaengrakcharoen and Bodhisuwan in 2014. The findings showed that probability density function (pdf) had fairly complexities, so it made problems in estimating parameters. The problem occurred in parameter estimation was that we were unable to calculate estimators in the form of critical expression. Thus, we will use numerical estimation to find the estimators. In this study, we presented a new method of the parameter estimation by using the expectation – maximization algorithm (EM), the conjugate gradient method, and the quasi-Newton method. The data was generated by acceptance-rejection method which is used for estimating α, β, λ and p. λ is the scale parameter, p is the weight parameter, α and β are the shape parameters. We will use Monte Carlo technique to find the estimator's performance. Determining the size of sample equals 10, 30, 100; the simulations were repeated 20 times in each case. We evaluated the effectiveness of the estimators which was introduced by considering values of the mean squared errors and the bias. The findings revealed that the EM-algorithm had proximity to the actual values determined. Also, the maximum likelihood estimators via the conjugate gradient and the quasi-Newton method are less precision than the maximum likelihood estimators via the EM-algorithm.

Keywords: conjugate gradient method, quasi-Newton method, EM-algorithm, generalized gamma distribution, length biased generalized gamma distribution, maximum likelihood method

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Authors: Qiang Zhang, Xiaojian Hu

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In multi-vehicle tracking, based on feature selection, the tracking system efficiently tracks vehicles in a video with minimal error in combination with color attribution, which focuses on presenting a simple and fast, yet accurate and robust solution to the problem such as inaccurately and untimely responses of statistics-based adaptive traffic control system in the intersection scenario. In this study, a real-time tracking system is proposed for multi-vehicle tracking in the intersection scene. Considering the complexity and application feasibility of the algorithm, in the object detection step, the detection result provided by virtual loops were post-processed and then used as the input for the tracker. For the tracker, lightweight methods were designed to extract and select features and incorporate them into the adaptive color tracking (ACT) framework. And the approbatory online feature selection algorithms are integrated on the mature ACT system with good compatibility. The proposed feature selection methods and multi-vehicle tracking method are evaluated on KITTI datasets and show efficient vehicle tracking performance when compared to the other state-of-the-art approaches in the same category. And the system performs excellently on the video sequences recorded at the intersection. Furthermore, the presented vehicle tracking system is suitable for surveillance applications.

Keywords: real-time, multi-vehicle tracking, feature selection, color attribution

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Authors: Yi-Ting Wang, Wen-Shu Lai

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The subject of this paper is the photography in the 1983 film Paris, Texas, directed by Wim Wenders. Wenders is well known as a film director as well as a photographer. We have found that photography is shown as a photographic element in many of his films. Some of these photographs serve as details within the films, while others play important roles that are relevant to the story. This paper aims to consider photographs in film as a specific type of text, which is the output of both still photography and the film itself. In the film Paris, Texas, three sets of important photographs appear whose symbolic meanings are as dialectical as their text types. The relationship between the existence of these photos and the storyline is both dependent and isolated. The film’s images fly by and progress into other images, while the photos in the film serve a unique narrative function by stopping the continuously flowing images thus provide the viewer a space for imagination and contemplation. They are more than just artistic forms; they also contained multiple meanings. The photographs in Paris, Texas play the role of both presence and absence according to their shifting meanings. There are references to their presence: photographs exist between film time and narrative time, so in terms of the interaction between the characters in the film, photographs are a common symbol of the beginning and end of the characters’ journeys. In terms of the audience, the film’s photographs are a link in the viewing frame structure, through which the creative motivation of the film director can be explored. Photographs also point to the absence of certain objects: the scenes in the photos represent an imaginary map of emotion. The town of Paris, Texas is therefore isolated from the physical presence of the photograph, and is far more abstract than the reality in the film. This paper embraces the ambiguous nature of photography and demonstrates its presence and absence in film with regard to the meaning of text. However, it is worth reflecting that the temporary nature of the interpretation of the film’s photographs is far greater than any other type of photographic text: the characteristics of the text cause the interpretation results to change along with the variations in the interpretation process, which makes their meaning a dynamic process. The photographs’ presence or absence in the context of Paris, Texas also demonstrates the presence and absence of the creator, time, the truth, and the imagination. The film becomes more complete as a result of the revelation of the photographs, while the intertextual connection between these two forms simultaneously provides multiple possibilities for the interpretation of the photographs in the film.

Keywords: film, Paris, Texas, photography, Wim Wenders

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Authors: Sabri Mrayed, David Maccioni, Greg Leslie

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Seawater desalination has been accepted as one of the most effective solutions to the growing problem of a diminishing clean drinking water supply. Currently, two desalination technologies dominate the market – the thermally driven multi-stage flash distillation (MSF) and the membrane based reverse osmosis (RO). However, in recent years membrane distillation (MD) has emerged as a potential alternative to the established means of desalination. This research project intended to determine the viability of MD as an alternative process to MSF and RO for seawater desalination. Specifically the project involves conducting a thermodynamic analysis of the process based on the second law of thermodynamics to determine the efficiency of the MD. Data was obtained from experiments carried out on a laboratory rig. In order to determine exergy values required for the exergy analysis, two separate models were built in Engineering Equation Solver – the ’Minimum Separation Work Model’ and the ‘Stream Exergy Model’. The efficiency of MD process was found to be 17.3 %, and the energy consumption was determined to be 4.5 kWh to produce one cubic meter of fresh water. The results indicate MD has potential as a technique for seawater desalination compared to RO and MSF. However, it was shown that this was only the case if an alternate energy source such as green or waste energy was available to provide the thermal energy input to the process. If the process was required to power itself, it was shown to be highly inefficient and in no way thermodynamically viable as a commercial desalination process.

Keywords: desalination, exergy, membrane distillation, second law efficiency

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Authors: Reza Babajanivalashedi, Stefania Lo Feudo, Jean-Luc Dion

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Liquid sloshing is a crucial problem for the dynamic of moving containers in the packaging industries. Sloshing issues have been so far mainly modeled within the framework of fluid dynamics or by using equivalent mechanical models with different kinds of movements and shapes of containers. Nevertheless, these approaches do not allow to determinate the shape of the free surface of the liquid in case of the irregular shape of the moving containers, so that experimental measurements may be required. If there is too much slosh in the moving tank, the liquid can be splashed out on the packages. So, the free surface oscillation must be controlled/reduced to eliminate the splashing. The purpose of this research is to propose an optimization algorithm for finding an optimum command law to reduce surface elevation. In the first step, the free surface of the liquid is simulated based on the separation variable and weak formulation models. Then Genetic and Gradient algorithms are developed for finding the optimum command law. The optimum command law is compared with existing command laws, and the results show that there is a significant difference in surface oscillation between optimum and existing command laws. This algorithm is applicable for different varieties of bottles in case of using the camera for detecting the liquid elevation, and it can produce new command laws for different kinds of tanks to reduce the surface oscillation and remove the splashing phenomenon.

Keywords: sloshing phenomenon, separation variables, weak formulation, optimization algorithm, command law

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Authors: Nwaoga, Theresa Chinyere

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The paper examines the impacts of Aso-Ebi, a Yoruba term for ‘uniform’ on the people of south-east Nigeria. Aso-Ebi is used to denote uniform wear which is typical of the people of south-west Nigeria. In the 1980s and 1990s, uniform wears were used only by immediate family members of a deceased person. This is for easy identification by visitors—to know those who are related to the deceased person. Aso-Ebi is now part of a culture that has existed in Nigeria from the Yoruba and transcended to other parts of Nigeria, precisely south-east Nigeria. The buying of Aso-Ebi and attending the occasions in the attire is the only way of showing solidarity and support to the celebrant. Aso-Ebi has led to creating a sense of belonging, opening of doors for marriage by those single, and fundraising. As part of the findings, it was discovered that Aso-Ebi has led to an increase in marital infidelity and divorce, robbery, prostitution, depression, and an increase in enmity between friends in south-east Nigeria. Data was generated through oral interviews, focus group discussion and participant observation. Secondary data were obtained from journals, textbooks, the internet and periodicals. The phenomenological method of research was used as the methodology. This method allows for an objective report and analysis of the research problem. Aso-Ebi has come to stay in Igbo culture, so there should be a proper re-orientation on the uses of Aso-Ebi during occasions like burial in Igbo land. The campaign can start from the church by discouraging people from using Aso-Ebi during burials and wedding ceremonies.

Keywords: Asho Ebi, uniformed women, burial ceremonies, August meetings

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Authors: T. Sattarpour, D. Nazarpour

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This paper investigates the effect of simultaneous placement of DGs and smart meters (SMs), on voltage profile improvement in active distribution networks (ADNs). A substantial center of attention has recently been on responsive loads initiated in power system problem studies such as distributed generations (DGs). Existence of responsive loads in active distribution networks (ADNs) would have undeniable effect on sizing and siting of DGs. For this reason, an optimal framework is proposed for sizing and siting of DGs and SMs in ADNs. SMs are taken into consideration for the sake of successful implementing of demand response programs (DRPs) such as direct load control (DLC) with end-side consumers. Looking for voltage profile improvement, the optimization procedure is solved by genetic algorithm (GA) and tested on IEEE 33-bus distribution test system. Different scenarios with variations in the number of DG units, individual or simultaneous placing of DGs and SMs, and adaptive power factor (APF) mode for DGs to support reactive power have been established. The obtained results confirm the significant effect of DRPs and APF mode in determining the optimal size and site of DGs to be connected in ADN resulting to the improvement of voltage profile as well.

Keywords: active distribution network (ADN), distributed generations (DGs), smart meters (SMs), demand response programs (DRPs), adaptive power factor (APF)

Procedia PDF Downloads 287