Search results for: performance measures

Authors: Lucia Ceccherini Nelli, Alessandra Donato

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The ABITA Master course of the University of Florence offered by the Department of Architecture covers nearly all the energy-relevant issues that can arise in public and private companies and sectors. The main purpose of the Master course, active since 2003, is to analyse the energy consumption of building technologies, components, and structures at the conceptual design stage, so it could be very helpful, for designers, when making decisions related to the selection of the most suitable design alternatives and for the materials choice that will be used in an energy-efficient building. The training course provides a solid basis for increasing the knowledge and skills of energy managers and is developed with an emphasis on practical experiences related to the knowledge through case studies, measurements, and verification of energy-efficient solutions in buildings, in the industry and in the cities. The main objectives are: i)To raise the professional standards of those engaged in energy auditing, ii) To improve the practice of energy auditors by encouraging energy auditing professionals in a continuing education program of professional development, iii) Implement in the use of instrumentations for the typical measurements, iv) To propose an integrated methodology that links energy analysis tools with green building certification systems. This methodology will be applied at the early design stage of a project’s life. The final output of the practical training is to achieve an elevated professionalism in the study of environmental design and Energy management in buildings. The results are the redaction of line guides instruction for the energy refurbishment of Public schools in Florence. The school heritage of the Municipality of Florence requires interventions for the control of energy performance, as old construction buildings are often made without taking into account the necessary envelope performance. For this reason, every year, the Master's course aims to study groups of public schools to enable the Municipality to carry out energy redevelopment interventions on the existing building heritage. The future challenges of the education and training program are related to follow-up activities, the development of interactive tools and the curriculum's customization to meet the constantly growing needs of energy experts from industry.

Keywords: expert in energy, energy auditing, public buildings, thermal analysis

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Authors: Noha Mohammed Ismael Awad Eladal, Aala Shoukry Emara

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Background: Wound healing after dental implant surgery is critical to the procedure's success. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of rutin+vitamin C supplementation in wound healing following the placement of dental implants. Methodology: There were 20 participants in this randomized controlled clinical trial who needed dental implants to replace missing teeth. Patients were divided into two groups, and group A received dental implants. Group B received dental implants with vitamin C administration. Follow-up appointments were performed on day 3, day 7, and day 14 post-surgery, during which soft tissue healing and pain response scores were evaluated using the visual analog scale. Postoperative digital panoramas were taken immediately after surgery, 3 months and 6 months postoperatively. Changes in bone density along with the bone-implant interface at the mesial, distal and apical sides were assessed using the digora software. Results: An independent t-test was used to compare the means of variables between the two groups. At the same time, repeated measures were employed to compare the means of variables between two groups. ANOVA was used to compare bone density for the same group at different dates. Significant increased differences were observed at the mesial, distal and apical sides Surrounding the implants of both groups per time. However, the rate of increase was significantly higher in group B The mean difference at the mesial side after 6 months was 21.99 ± 5.48 in the group B and 14.21 ± 4.95 in group A, while it read 21.74 ± 3.56 in the group B and 10.78 ± 3.90 in group A at the distal side and was 18.90 ± 5.91 in the group B and 10.39 ± 3.49 group A at the apical side. Significance was recorded at P = 0.004, P = 0.0001, and 0.001 at the mesial, distal and apical sides respectively. The mean pain score and wound healing were significantly higher in group A as compared to group B, respectively. Conclusion: The rutin c + vitamin c group significantly promoted bone healing and speeded up the osseointegration process and improved soft tissue healing.

Keywords: osseointegration, soft tissue, rutin c, dental implant

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Authors: Louis Hickman

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Stakeholder theory is a powerful conception of the firm based on the notion that a primary focus on shareholders is inadequate and, in fact, detrimental to the long-term health of the firm. As such it represents a departure from prevalent business school teachings with their focus on accounting and cost controls. Herein, it is argued that stakeholder theory can be better conceptualized as a critical theory, or one which represents a fundamental change in business behavior and can transform the behavior of businesses if accepted. By arguing that financial interests underdetermine the success of the firm, stakeholder theory further democratizes business by endorsing an increased awareness of the importance of non-shareholder stakeholders. Stakeholder theory requires new, non-financial, measures of success that provide a new consciousness for management and businesses when conceiving their actions and place in society. Thereby, stakeholder theory can show individuals through self-reflection that the capitalist impulses to generate wealth cannot act as primary drivers of business behavior, but rather, that we would choose to support interests outside ourselves if we made the decision in free discussion. This is due to the false consciousness embedded in our capitalism that the firm’s finances are the foremost concern of modern organizations at the expense of other goals. A focus on non-shareholder stakeholders in addition to shareholders generates greater benefits for society by improving the state of customers, employees, suppliers, the community, and shareholders alike. These positive effects generate further positive gains in well-being for stakeholders and translate into increased health for the future firm. Additionally, shareholders are the only stakeholder group that does not provide long-term firm value since there are not always communities with qualified employees, suppliers capable of providing the quality of product needed, or persons with purchasing power for all conceivable products. Therefore, the firm’s long-term health is benefited most greatly by improving the greatest possible parts of the society in which it inhabits, rather than solely the shareholder.

Keywords: capitalism, critical theory, self-reflection, stakeholder theory

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Authors: N. Ben-Mahmoud, M. Elfandi, A. Shallof

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This paper presents a methodology to design multivariable PID controllers for multi-input and multi-output systems. The proposed control strategy, which is centralized, combines of PID controllers. The proportional gains in the P controllers act as tuning parameters of (SISO) in order to modify the behavior of the loops almost independently. The design procedure consists of three steps: first, an ideal decoupler including integral action is determined. Second, the decoupler is approximated with PID controllers. Third, the proportional gains are tuned to achieve the specified performance. The proposed method is applied to representative processes.

Keywords: boiler turbine, MIMO, PID controller, control by decoupling, anti wind-up techniques

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Authors: Myoung-Jin Kim, Yeong-Seop Ahn, Hyun-Jee Yang, Hyoung-Kyu Song

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This paper proposes the new cooperative communication scheme for the wireless communication system. When the receiver is located in the edge of coverage, the signal from the transmitter is distorted by the inter-cell interference (ICI) and power reduction by distance. In order to improve communication performance, the proposed scheme adds the relay. By using the relay, the receiver receives the signal from the transmitter and relay at the same time. Therefore, the new cooperative communication scheme obtains diversity gain and is improved by the relay.

Keywords: cooperative communication, diversity gain, OFDM, MIMO

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Authors: M. Hirani, M. Devine, O. Obisesan, C. Bryant

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Introduction: The use of four or more implants to support a fixed prosthesis in the edentulous mandible is well documented, with high levels of clinical outcomes recorded. Despite this, the use of three implant-supported fixed prostheses offers the potential to deliver a more cost-effective method of oral rehabilitation in the lower arch, an important consideration given that edentulism is most prevalent in low-income subpopulations. The purpose of this study aimed to evaluate the implant and prosthetic survival rate, changes in marginal bone level, and patient satisfaction associated with a three-implant-supported fixed prosthesis for rehabilitation of the edentulous mandible over a follow-up period of at least one year. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was performed to evaluate studies that met the selection criteria. The information extracted included the study design and population, participant demographics, observation period, loading protocol, and the number of implants placed together with the required outcome measures. Mean values and standard deviations (SD) were calculated using SPSS® (IBM Corporation, New York, USA), and the level of statistical significance across all comparative studies described was set at P < 0.05. Results: The eligible studies included a total of 1968 implants that were placed in 652 patients. The subjects ranged in age from 33-89 years, with a mean of 63.2 years. The mean cumulative implant and prosthetic survival rates were 95.5% and 96.2%, respectively, over a mean follow-up period of 3.25 years. The mean marginal bone loss recorded was 1.04 mm, and high patient satisfaction rates were reported across the studies. Conclusion: Current evidence suggests that a three implant-supported fixed prosthesis for the edentulous mandible is a successful treatment strategy presenting high implant and prosthetic survival rates over the short-to-medium term. Further well-designed controlled clinical trials are required to evaluate longer-term outcomes, with supplemental data correlating implant dimensions and prosthetic design.

Keywords: implants, mandible, fixed, prosthesis

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Authors: Jonathan Rodriguez, Dominga Guerrero, Surupa Shaw

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Automobiles are modeled in various forms, and they interact with air when in motion. Aerodynamics is the study of such interactions where solid bodies affect the way air moves around them. The shape of solid bodies can impact the ease at which they move against the flow of air; due to which any additional freightage, or loads, impact its aerodynamics. It is important to transport people and cargo safely. Despite the various safety measures, there are a large number of vehicle-related accidents. This study precisely explores the effects an automobile experiences, with added cargo and covers. The addition of these items changes the original vehicle shape and the approved design for safe driving. This paper showcases the effects of the changed vehicle shape and design via experimental testing conducted on a physical 1:27 scale and CAD model of an F-150 pickup truck, the most common pickup truck in the United States, with differently shaped loads and weight traveling at a constant speed. The additional freightage produces unwanted drag or lift resulting in lower fuel efficiencies and unsafe driving conditions. This study employs an adjustable external shell on the F-150 pickup truck to create a controlled aerodynamic geometry to combat the detrimental effects of additional freightage. The results utilize colored powder [ which acts as a visual medium for the interaction of air with the vehicle], to highlight the impact of the additional freight on the automobile’s external shell. This will be done along with simulation models using Altair CFD software of twelve cases regarding the effects of an added load onto an F-150 pickup truck. This paper is an attempt toward standardizing the geometric design of the external shell, given the uniqueness of every load and its placement on the vehicle; while providing real-time data to be compared to simulation results from the existing literature.

Keywords: aerodynamics, CFD, freightage, pickup cover

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Authors: Akimitsu Kugimiya, Kouhei Iwato, Toru Saito, Jiro Kohda, Yasuhisa Nakano, Yu Takano

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The measurement of amino acid content is reported to be useful for the diagnosis of several types of diseases, including lung cancer, gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and diabetes. The conventional detection methods for amino acid are high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), but they have several drawbacks as the equipment is cumbersome and the techniques are costly in terms of time and costs. In contrast, biosensors and biosensing methods provide more rapid and facile detection strategies that use simple equipment. The authors have reported a novel approach for the detection of each amino acid that involved the use of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (aaRS) as a molecular recognition element because aaRS is expected to a selective binding ability for corresponding amino acid. The consecutive enzymatic reactions used in this study are as follows: aaRS binds to its cognate amino acid and releases inorganic pyrophosphate. Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) was produced by the enzyme reactions of inorganic pyrophosphatase and pyruvate oxidase. The Trinder’s reagent was added into the reaction mixture, and the absorbance change at 556 nm was measured using a microplate reader. In this study, an amino acid-sensing method using histidyl-tRNA synthetase (HisRS; histidine-specific aaRS) as molecular recognition element in combination with the Trinder’s reagent spectrophotometric method was developed. The quantitative performance and selectivity of the method were evaluated, and the optimal enzyme reaction and detection conditions were determined. The authors developed a simple and rapid method for detecting histidine with a combination of enzymatic reaction and spectrophotometric detection. In this study, HisRS was used to detect histidine, and the reaction and detection conditions were optimized for quantitation of these amino acids in the ranges of 1–100 µM histidine. The detection limits are sufficient to analyze these amino acids in biological fluids. This work was partly supported by Hiroshima City University Grant for Special Academic Research (General Studies).

Keywords: amino acid, aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase, biosensing, enzyme reaction

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Authors: Yuzhen Hu, Sirui Wang

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As a training base for intellectual talents, universities have a large number of students. Teaching is a primary activity in universities, and during the teaching process, a large number of people gather both inside and outside the teaching buildings, posing a strong risk of close contact. The class schedule is the fundamental basis for teaching activities in universities and plays a crucial role in the management of teaching order. Different class schedules can lead to varying degrees of indoor gatherings and trajectories of class attendees. In recent years, highly contagious diseases have frequently occurred worldwide, and how to reduce the risk of infection has always been a hot issue related to public safety. "Reducing gatherings" is one of the core measures in epidemic prevention and control, and it can be controlled through scientific scheduling in specific environments. Therefore, the scientific prevention and control goal can be achieved by considering the reduction of the risk of excessive gathering of people during the course schedule arrangement. Firstly, we address the issue of personnel gathering in various pathways on campus, with the goal of minimizing congestion and maximizing teaching effectiveness, establishing a nonlinear mathematical model. Next, we design an improved genetic algorithm, incorporating real-time evacuation operations based on tracking search and multidimensional positive gradient cross-mutation operations, considering the characteristics of outdoor crowd evacuation. Finally, we apply undergraduate course data from a university in Harbin to conduct a case study. It compares and analyzes the effects of algorithm improvement and optimization of gathering situations and explores the impact of path blocking on the degree of gathering of individuals on other pathways.

Keywords: the university timetabling problem, risk prevention, genetic algorithm, risk control

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Authors: Alexandra-Veronica Luca, Letitia Petrescu

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Steel production is a major contributor to global warming potential. An average value of 1.83 tons of CO₂ is emitted for every ton of steel produced, resulting in over 3.3 Mt of CO₂ emissions each year. The present paper is focused on the investigation and comparison of two O₂ separation methods and two CO₂ capture technologies applicable to iron and steel industry. The O₂ used in steel production comes from an Air Separation Unit (ASU) using distillation or from air separation using membranes. The CO₂ capture technologies are represented by a two-stage membrane separation process and the gas-liquid absorption using methyl di-ethanol amine (MDEA). Process modelling and simulation tools, as well as environmental tools, are used in the present study. The production capacity of the steel mill is 4,000,000 tones/year. In order to compare the two CO₂ capture technologies in terms of efficiency, performance, and sustainability, the following cases have been investigated: Case 1: steel production using O₂ from ASU and no CO₂ capture; Case 2: steel production using O₂ from ASU and gas-liquid absorption for CO₂ capture; Case 3: steel production using O₂ from ASU and membranes for CO₂ capture; Case 4: steel production using O₂ from membrane separation method and gas-liquid absorption for CO₂ capture and Case-5: steel production using membranes for air separation and CO₂ capture. The O₂ separation rate obtained in the distillation technology was about 96%, and about 33% in the membrane technology. Similarly, the O₂ purity resulting in the conventional process (i.e. distillation) is higher compared to the O₂ purity obtained in the membrane unit (e.g., 99.50% vs. 73.66%). The air flow-rate required for membrane separation is about three times higher compared to the air flow-rate for cryogenic distillation (e.g., 549,096.93 kg/h vs. 189,743.82 kg/h). A CO₂ capture rate of 93.97% was obtained in the membrane case, while the CO₂ capture rate for the gas-liquid absorption was 89.97%. A quantity of 6,626.49 kg/h CO₂ with a purity of 95.45% is separated from the total 23,352.83 kg/h flue-gas in the membrane process, while with absorption of 6,173.94 kg/h CO₂ with a purity of 98.79% is obtained from 21,902.04 kg/h flue-gas and 156,041.80 kg/h MDEA is recycled. The simulation results, performed using ChemCAD process simulator software, lead to the conclusion that membrane-based technology can be a suitable alternative for CO₂ removal for steel production. An environmental evaluation using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was also performed. Considering the electricity consumption, the performance, and environmental indicators, Case 3 can be considered the most effective. The environmental evaluation, performed using GaBi software, shows that membrane technology can lead to lower environmental emissions if membrane production is based on benzene derived from toluene hydrodealkilation and chlorine and sodium hydroxide are produced using mixed technologies.

Keywords: CO₂ capture, gas-liquid absorption, Life Cycle Assessment, membrane separation, steel production

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Authors: Humberto Miranda, Haroldo G. Santana, Gabriel A. Paz, Vicente P. Lima, Jeffrey M. Willardson

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Foam rolling is a practice that has increased in popularity before and after strength training. The purpose of this study was to compare the acute effects of different foam rolling periods for the lower body muscles on subsequent performance (total repetitions and training volume), myoelectric activity and rating of perceived exertion in trained men. Fourteen trained men (26.2 ± 3.2 years, 178 ± 0.04 cm height, 82.2 ± 10 kg weight and body mass index 25.9 ± 3.3kg/m2) volunteered for this study. Four repetition maximum (4-RM) loads were determined for hexagonal bar deadlift and 45º angled leg press during test and retest sessions over two nonconsecutive days. Five experimental protocols were applied in a randomized design, which included: a traditional protocol (control)—a resistance training session without prior foam rolling; or resistance training sessions performed following one (P1), two (P2), three (P3), or four (P4) sets of 30 sec. foam rolling for the lower extremity musculature. Subjects were asked to roll over the medial and lateral aspects of each muscle group with as much pressure as possible. All foam rolling was completed at a cadence of 50 bpm. These procedures were performed on both sides unilaterally as described below. Quadriceps: between the apex of the patella and the ASIS; Hamstring: between the gluteal fold and popliteal fossa; Triceps surae: between popliteal fossa and calcaneus tendon. The resistance training consisted of five sets with 4-RM loads and two-minute rest intervals between sets, and a four-minute rest interval between the hexagonal bar deadlift and the 45º angled leg press. The number of repetitions completed, the myoelectric activity of vastus lateralis (VL), vastus medialis oblique (VMO), semitendinosus (SM) and medial gastrocnemius (GM) were recorded, as well as the rating of perceived exertion for each protocol. There were no differences between the protocols in the total repetitions for the hexagonal bar deadlift (Control - 16.2 ± 5.9; P1 - 16.9 ± 5.5; P2 - 19.2 ± 5.7; P3 - 19.4 ± 5.2; P4 - 17.2 ± 8.2) (p > 0.05) and 45º angled leg press (Control - 23.3 ± 9.7; P1 - 25.9 ± 9.5; P2 - 29.1 ± 13.8; P3 - 28.0 ± 11.7; P4 - 30.2 ± 11.2) exercises. Similar results between protocols were also noted for myoelectric activity (p > 0.05) and rating of perceived exertion (p > 0.05). Therefore, the results of the present study indicated no deleterious effects on performance, myoelectric activity and rating of perceived exertion responses during lower body resistance training.

Keywords: self myofascial release, foam rolling, electromyography, resistance training

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Authors: Jonathan R. Olsen, Natalie Nicholls, Jenna Panter, Hannah Burnett, Michael Tornow, Richard Mitchell

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The 20-minute neighborhood is a policy priority for governments worldwide and a key feature of this policy is providing access to natural space within 800 meters of home. The study aims were to (1) examine the association between distance to nearest natural space and frequent use over time and (2) examine whether frequent use and changes in use were patterned by income and housing tenure over time. Bi-annual Scottish Household Survey data were obtained for 2013 to 2019 (n:42128 aged 16+). Adults were asked the walking distance to their nearest natural space, the frequency of visits to this space and their housing tenure, as well as age, sex and income. We examined the association between distance from home of nearest natural space, housing tenure, and the likelihood of frequent natural space use (visited once a week or more). Two-way interaction terms were further applied to explore variation in the association between tenure and frequent natural space use over time. We found that 87% of respondents lived within 10 minute walk of a natural space, meeting the policy specification for a 20-minute neighbourhood. Greater proximity to natural space was associated with increased use; individuals living a 6 to 10 minute walk and over 10 minute walk were respectively 53% and 78% less likely to report frequent natural space use than those living within a 5 minute walk. Housing tenure was an important predictor of frequent natural space use; private renters and homeowners were more likely to report frequent natural space use than social renters. Our findings provide evidence that proximity to natural space is a strong predictor of frequent use. Our study provides important evidence that time-based access measures alone do not consider deep-rooted socioeconomic variation in use of Natural space. Policy makers should ensure a nuanced lens is applied to operationalising and monitoring the 20-minute neighbourhood to safeguard against exacerbating existing inequalities.

Keywords: natural space, housing, inequalities, 20-minute neighbourhood, urban design

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Authors: Jung-In Baik, Seung-Jun Yu, Young-Min Ko, Hyoung-Kyu Song

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This paper proposes an efficient relaying algorithm to obtain diversity for improving the reliability of a signal. The algorithm achieves time or space diversity gain by multiple versions of the same signal through two routes. Relays are separated between a source and destination. The routes between the source and destination are set adaptive in order to deal with different channels and noises. The routes consist of one or more relays and the source transmits its signal to the destination through the routes. The signals from the relays are combined and detected at the destination. The proposed algorithm provides a better performance than the conventional algorithms in bit error rate (BER).

Keywords: multi-hop, OFDM, relay, relaying selection

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Authors: Riccardo Patriarca, Giulio Di Gravio, Francesco Costantino, Massimo Tronci

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An accurate inventory management policy acquires a crucial role in the several high-availability sectors. In these sectors, due to the high-cost of spares and backorders, an (S-1, S) replenishment policy is necessary for high-availability items. The policy enables the shipment of a substitute efficient item anytime the inventory size decreases by one. This policy can be modelled following the Multi-Echelon Technique for Recoverable Item Control (METRIC). The METRIC is a system-based technique that allows defining the optimum stock level in a multi-echelon network, adopting measures in line with the decision-maker’s perspective. The METRIC defines an availability-cost function with inventory costs and required service levels, using as inputs data about the demand trend, the supplying and maintenance characteristics of the network and the budget/availability constraints. The traditional METRIC relies on the hypothesis that a Poisson distribution well represents the demand distribution in case of items with a low failure rate. However, in this research, we will explore the effects of using a Poisson distribution to model the demand of low failure rate items characterized by an irregular demand trend. This characteristic of a demand is not included in the traditional METRIC formulation leading to the need of revising its traditional formulation. Using the CV (Coefficient of Variation) and ADI (Average inter-Demand Interval) classification, we will define the inherent flaws of Poisson-based METRIC for irregular demand items, defining an innovative ad hoc distribution which can better fit the irregular demands. This distribution will allow defining proper stock levels to reduce stocking and backorder costs due to the high irregularities in the demand trend. A case study in the aviation domain will clarify the benefits of this innovative METRIC approach.

Keywords: METRIC, inventory management, irregular demand, spare parts

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Authors: Santosh Sharma

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Background: Drug abuse, needle sharing, and risky sexual behaviour are often compounded to increase the risk of HIV transmission. Injecting Drug Users are at the duel risk of needle sharing and risky sexual Behaviour, becoming more vulnerable to STI and HIV. Thus, studying the interface of injecting drug use and risky sexual behaviour is important to curb the pace of HIV epidemic among IDUs. The aim of this study is to determine the factor associated with HIV among injecting drug users in three states of India. Materials and methods: This paper analyzes covariates of multiplicity of risk behavior among injecting drug users. Findings are based on data from Integrated Behavioral and Biological Assessment (IBBA) round 2, 2010. IBBA collects the information of IDUs from the six districts. IDUs were selected on the criteria of those who were 18 years or older, who injected addictive substances/drugs for non-medical purposes at least once in past six month. A total of 1,979 in round 2 were interviewed in the IBBA. The study employs quantitative techniques using standard statistical tools to achieve the above objectives. All results presented in this paper are unweighted univariate measures. Results: Among IDUs, average duration of injecting drugs is 5.2 years. Mean duration between first drug use to first injecting drugs among younger IDUs, belongs to 18-24 years is 2.6 years Needle cleaning practices is common with above two-fifths reporting its every time cleaning. Needle sharing is quite prevalent especially among younger IDUs. Further, IDUs practicing needle sharing exhibit pervasive multi-partner behavior. Condom use with commercial partners is almost 81 %, whereas with intimate partner it is 39 %. Coexistence of needle sharing and unprotected sex enhances STI prevalence (6.8 %), which is further pronounced among divorced/separated/widowed (9.4 %). Conclusion: Working towards risk reduction for IDUs must deal with multiplicity of risk. Interventions should deal with covariates of risk, addressing youth, and risky sexual behavior.

Keywords: IDUs, HIV, STI, behaviour

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Authors: Dolores Sucozhañay, Gustavo Pacheco, Paul Vanegas

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In the context of sustainable development and the transition towards a sustainable circular economy (CE), evaluating the social dimension remains a challenge. Therefore, developing a respective methodology is highly important. First, the change of the economic model may cause significant social effects, which today remain unaddressed. Second, following the current level of globalization, CE implementation requires targeting global material cycles and causes social impacts on potentially vulnerable social groups. A promising methodology is the Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA), which embraces the philosophy of life cycle thinking and provides complementary information to environmental and economic assessments. In this context, the present work uses the updated Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) Guidelines 2020 to assess the social performance of the recycling system of Cuenca, Ecuador, to exemplify a social assessment method. Like many other developing countries, Ecuador heavily depends on the work of informal waste pickers (recyclers), who, even contributing to a CE, face harsh socio-economic circumstances, including inappropriate working conditions, social exclusion, exploitation, etc. Under a Reference Scale approach (Type 1), 12 impact subcategories were assessed through 73 site-specific inventory indicators, using an ascending reference scale ranging from -2 to +2. Findings reveal a social performance below compliance levels with local and international laws, basic societal expectations, and practices in the recycling sector; only eight and five indicators present a positive score. In addition, a social hotspot analysis depicts collection as the most time-consuming lifecycle stage and the one with the most hotspots, mainly related to working hours and health and safety aspects. This study provides an integrated view of the recyclers’ contributions, challenges, and opportunities within the recycling system while highlighting the relevance of assessing the social dimension of CE practices. It also fosters an understanding of the social impact of CE operations in developing countries, highlights the need for a close north-south relationship in CE, and enables the connection among the environmental, economic, and social dimensions.

Keywords: SLCA, circular economy, recycling, social impact assessment

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Authors: Tesfaye Sisay Dessalegn

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The long-term performance of concrete structures is affected by the properties and behavior of concrete at an early age. However, the fundamental mechanisms affecting the early-age behavior of concrete have not yet been fully studied. The effect of water temperature on concrete is not sufficiently studied, and at the same time, the majority of studies focused on the effect of mixing water temperature on the workability and mechanical properties of concrete. However, to the best of the authors' knowledge, the effect of mixing water temperatures on plastic shrinkage cracking of concrete has not been studied yet.

Keywords: water temperature, early age concrete strength, mechanical properties of concrete, strength

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Authors: Ionel Botef

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Studies show that, for viable product realisation and maintenance, a spectrum of novel processing technologies and materials to improve performance and reduce costs and environmental impact must constantly be addressed. One of these technologies, namely the cold spray process, has enabled a broad range of coatings and applications, including many that have not been previously possible or commercially practical, hence its potential for new aerospace, electronics, or medical applications. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to summarise the state of the art of this technology alongside its theoretical and experimental studies, and explore the role and impact of cold spraying on surface engineering.

Keywords: surface engineering, cold spray, ageing aircrafts, corrosion, microchannels, maintenance

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Authors: Lucia Varra, Marzia Timolo

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The interest of scholars towards corporate sustainability has strengthened in recent years in parallel with the growing need to undertake paths of cultural and organizational change, as a way for greater competitiveness and stakeholders’ satisfaction. In fact, studies on the business sustainability, while on the one hand have integrated the three dimensions of sustainability that existed for some time in the economic approaches (economic, environmental and social dimensions), on the other hand did not give rise to an organic construct that puts together the aspects of strategic management with corporate social responsibility and even less with the organizational issues. Therefore some important questions remain open: Which organizational structure and which operational mechanisms are coherent or propitious to a sustainability strategy? Existing studies appear to be fragmented, although some aspects have shared importance: knowledge management, human resource, management, leadership, innovation, etc. The construction of a model of sustainable organization that supports the sustainability strategy no longer seems to be postponed, as is its connection with the main practices of measuring corporate social responsibility performance. The paper aims to identify the organizational characteristics of a sustainable corporate. To this end, from a theoretical point of view the work examines the main existing literary contributions and, from a practical point of view, it presents a business case referring to a service organization that for years has undertaken the sustainability strategy. This paper is divided into two parts: the first part concerns a review of the main articles on the strategic management topic and the main organizational issues raised by the literature, such as knowledge management, leadership, innovation, etc.; later, a modeling of the main variables examined by scholars and an integration of these with the international measurement standards of CSR is proposed. In the second part, using the methodology of the case study company, the hypotheses and the structure of the proposed model that aims to integrate the strategic issues with the organizational aspects and measurement of sustainability performance, are applied to an Italian company, which has some organizational and human resource management interventions are in place to align strategic decisions with the structure and operating mechanisms of the structure. The case presented supports the hypotheses of the model.

Keywords: CSR, strategic management, sustainable leadership, sustainable human resource management, sustainable organization

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Authors: Nur-E-Jannat Tinu

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Water is absolutely vital not only for the survival of human beings but also for plants, animals, and all other living organisms. Water bodies, such as lakes, rivers, ponds, and estuaries, are the source of water supply in domestic, industrial, agriculture, and aquaculture purposes. The Buriganga River flows through the south and west of Dhaka city. The water quality of this river has become a matter of concern due to anthropogenic intervention of vital pollutants such as industrial effluents, urban sewage, and solid wastes in this area. Buriganga River is at risk to contamination from untreated municipal wastes, industrial discharges, runoff from organic and inorganic fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, and oil emission around the river. The residential and commercial establishments along the river discharge wastewater either directly into the river or through drains and canals into the river. However, several regulatory measures and policies have been enforced by the Government to protect the river Buriganga from pollution, in most cases to no affect. Water quality assessment reveals that the water is also not appropriate for irrigation purposes. The physical parameters (pH, TDS, EC, Temperature, DO, COD, BOD) indicated that the water is too poor to be useable for agricultural, drinking, or other purposes. Chemical concentrations showed significant seasonal variations with high-level concentrations during the monsoon season, presumably due to extreme seasonal surface runoff. A comparative study of Electrical Conductivity (EC) and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) indicated a considerable increase over the last five years A change in trend was observed from 2020 June-July, probably due to monsoon and post-monsoon. EC values decreased from 775 to 665 mmho/cm during this period. DO increased significantly from the mid-post-monsoon months to the early monsoon period. The pH value of river water is strongly alkaline, ranging between 6.5 and 7.79. This indicates that ecological organic compounds cause the water to become alkaline after the monsoon and monsoon seasons. As the water pollution level is very high, an effective remediation and pollution control plan should be considered.

Keywords: precipitation, spatial distribution, effluent, remediation

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Authors: Y. Galerkin, L. Marenina

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Stator elements «Vane diffuser + crossover + return channel» of stages with different specific speed were investigated by CFD calculations. The regime parameter was introduced to present efficiency and loss coefficient performance of all elements together. Flow structure demonstrated advantages and disadvantages of design. Flow separation in crossovers was eliminated by its shape modification. Efficiency increased visibly. Calculated CFD performances are in acceptable correlation with predicted ones by engineering design method. The information obtained is useful for design method better calibration.

Keywords: vane diffuser, return channel, crossover, efficiency, loss coefficient, inlet flow angle

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Authors: William Waddington, M. Jahir Rizvi

Abstract:

Sail used to propel a vessel functions in a similar way to an aircraft wing. Traditionally, cloth and ropes were used to produce sails. However, there is one major problem with traditional sail design, the increase in turbulence and flow separation when compared to that of an aircraft wing with the same camber. This has led to the development of the solid wing sail focusing mainly on the sail shape. Traditional cloth sails are manufactured as a single element whereas solid wing sail is made of two segments. To the authors’ best knowledge, the phenomena behind the performances of this type of sail at various angles of wind direction with respect to a sailing vessel’s direction (known as the angle of attack) is still an area of mystery. Hence, in this study, the thrusts of a sailing vessel produced by wing sails constructed with various angles (22°, 24°, 26° and 28°) between the two segments have been compared to that of a traditional cloth sail made of carbon-fiber material. The reason for using carbon-fiber material is to achieve the correct and the exact shape of a commercially available mainsail. NACA 0024 and NACA 0016 foils have been used to generate two-segment wing sail shape which incorporates a flap between the first and the second segments. Both the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional sail models designed in commercial CAD software Solidworks have been analyzed through Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) techniques using Ansys CFX considering an apparent wind speed of 20.55 knots with an apparent wind angle of 31°. The results indicate that the thrust from traditional sail increases from 8.18 N to 8.26 N when the angle of attack is increased from 5° to 7°. However, the thrust value decreases if the angle of attack is further increased. A solid wing sail which possesses 20° angle between its two segments, produces thrusts from 7.61 N to 7.74 N with an increase in the angle of attack from 7° to 8°. The thrust remains steady up to 9° angle of attack and drops dramatically beyond 9°. The highest thrust values that can be obtained for the solid wing sails with 22°, 24°, 26° and 28° angle respectively between the two segments are 8.75 N, 9.10 N, 9.29 N and 9.19 N respectively. The optimum angle of attack for each of the solid wing sails is identified as 7° at which these thrust values are obtained. Therefore, it can be concluded that all the thrust values predicted for the solid wing sails of angles between the two segments above 20° are higher compared to the thrust predicted for the traditional sail. However, the best performance from a solid wing sail is expected when the sail is created with an angle between the two segments above 20° but below or equal to 26°. In addition, 1/29th scale models in the wind tunnel have been tested to observe the flow behaviors around the sails. The experimental results support the numerical observations as the flow behaviors are exactly the same.

Keywords: CFD, drag, sailing vessel, thrust, traditional sail, wing sail

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Authors: D. Sankara Reddy, T. Kranthi Kumar, K. Sreevani

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This paper investigates the impact of carrier frequency offset (CFO) on the performance of different MIMO-OFDM schemes with high spectral efficiency for next generation of terrestrial digital TV. We show that all studied MIMO-OFDM schemes are sensitive to CFO when it is greater than 1% of intercarrier spacing. We show also that the Alamouti scheme is the most sensitive MIMO scheme to CFO.

Keywords: modulation and multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM), signal processing for transmission carrier frequency offset, future digital TV, imaging and signal processing

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Authors: Valencia P. L. Rodrigo, Morita A. Adelina, Vargas V. Martin

Abstract:

This proposal consists of an analysis of macro concepts involved within an organization growth using educational technologies, which will relate each concept, in a mathematical way with a vision of harmonic work. Working collaboratively, competitively and cooperatively so that this growth is harmonious and homogenous, coining a new term, Harmonic Work. The Harmonic Work ensures that the organization grows in all business directions, allowing managers to project a much more accurate growth, making clear the contribution of each department, resulting in an algorithm that analyzes each of the variables both endogenous and exogenous, establishing different performance indicators in its process of growth.

Keywords: business projection, collaboration, competitiveness, educational technology, harmonious growth

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Authors: Sadia Imran, Zenab Naseem

Abstract:

Dengue fever is one of the most alarming mosquito-borne viral diseases. Dengue virus has been distributed over the years exponentially throughout the world be it tropical or sub-tropical regions of the world, particularly in the last ten years. Changing topography, climate change in terms of erratic seasonal trends, rainfall, untimely monsoon early or late and longer or shorter incidences of either summer or winter. Globalization, frequent travel throughout the world and viral evolution has lead to more severe forms of Dengue. Global incidence of dengue infections per year have ranged between 50 million and 200 million; however, recent estimates using cartographic approaches suggest this number is closer to almost 400 million. In recent years, Pakistan experienced a deadly outbreak of the disease. The reason could be that they have the maximum exposure outdoors. Public organizations have observed that changing climate, especially lower average summer temperature, and increased vegetation have created tropical-like conditions in the city, which are suitable for Dengue virus growth. We will conduct a time-series analysis to study the interrelationship between dengue incidence and diurnal ranges of temperature and humidity in Pakistan, Lahore being the main focus of our study. We have used annual data from 2005 to 2015. We have investigated the relationship between climatic variables and dengue incidence. We used time series analysis to describe temporal trends. The result shows rising trends of Dengue over the past 10 years along with the rise in temperature & rainfall in Lahore. Hence this seconds the popular statement that the world is suffering due to Climate change and Global warming at different levels. Disease outbreak is one of the most alarming indications of mankind heading towards destruction and we need to think of mitigating measures to control epidemic from spreading and enveloping the cities, countries and regions.

Keywords: Dengue, epidemic, globalization, climate change

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Authors: Pavel Zikmund, Robert Popela

Abstract:

Extreme formation is a theoretical concept of self-sustain flight when a big Airliner is followed by a small UAV glider flying in airliner’s wake vortex. The paper presents results of climb analysis with a goal to lift the gliding UAV to airliner’s cruise altitude. Wake vortex models, the UAV drag polar and basic parameters and airliner’s climb profile are introduced at first. Then, flight performance of the UAV in the wake vortex is evaluated by analytical methods. Time history of optimal distance between the airliner and the UAV during the climb is determined. The results are encouraging, therefore available UAV drag margin for electricity generation is figured out for different vortex models.

Keywords: flight in formation, self-sustained flight, UAV, wake vortex

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Authors: Seyed Mohsen Jameii

Abstract:

In the last years, remarkable improvements have been made in the ability of distributed database systems performance. A distributed database is composed of some sites which are connected to each other through network connections. In this system, if good harmonization is not made between different transactions, it may result in database incoherence. Nowadays, because of the complexity of many sites and their connection methods, it is difficult to extend different models in distributed database serially. The principle goal of concurrency control in distributed database is to ensure not interfering in accessibility of common database by different sites. Different concurrency control algorithms have been suggested to use in distributed database systems. In this paper, some available methods have been introduced and compared for concurrency control in distributed database.

Keywords: distributed database, two phase locking protocol, transaction, concurrency

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Authors: Vahid Tabrizi, Reza GHasemi, Ahmadreza Vali

Abstract:

This paper presents robust nonlinear control law for a quadrotor UAV using fast terminal sliding mode control. Fast terminal sliding mode idea is used for introducing a nonlinear sliding variable that guarantees the finite time convergence in sliding phase. Then, in reaching phase for removing chattering and producing smooth control signal, continuous approximation idea is used. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm is robust against parameter uncertainty and has better performance than conventional sliding mode for controlling a quadrotor UAV.

Keywords: quadrotor UAV, fast terminal sliding mode, second order sliding mode t

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Authors: Hediyeh Talebi, Shokoofeh Ghiam, Changiz Eslahchi

Abstract:

Traditionally, Alzheimer’s disease research has focused on genes with significant fold changes, potentially neglecting subtle but biologically important alterations. Our study introduces an integrative approach that highlights genes crucial to underlying biological processes, regardless of their fold change magnitude. Alzheimer's Single-cell RNA-seq data related to the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) was extracted from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). After quality control, normalization, scaling, batch effect correction, and clustering, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified with adjusted p-values less than 0.05. These DEGs were categorized based on cell-type, resulting in four datasets, each corresponding to a distinct cell type. To distinguish between cells from healthy individuals and those with Alzheimer's, an adversarial autoencoder with a classifier was employed. This allowed for the separation of healthy and diseased samples. To identify the most influential genes in this classification, the weight matrices in the network, which includes the encoder and classifier components, were multiplied, and focused on the top 20 genes. The analysis revealed that while some of these genes exhibit a high fold change, others do not. These genes, which may be overlooked by previous methods due to their low fold change, were shown to be significant in our study. The findings highlight the critical role of genes with subtle alterations in diagnosing Alzheimer's disease, a facet frequently overlooked by conventional methods. These genes demonstrate remarkable discriminatory power, underscoring the need to integrate biological relevance with statistical measures in gene prioritization. This integrative approach enhances our understanding of the molecular mechanisms in Alzheimer’s disease and provides a promising direction for identifying potential therapeutic targets.

Keywords: alzheimer's disease, single-cell RNA-seq, neural networks, blood biomarkers

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Authors: Ju Peng Poh, Jun Yu Charles Lee, Jonathan Chew Hoe Khoo

Abstract:

The emergence of digital twin technology, a digital replica of physical world, has improved the real-time access to data from sensors about the performance of buildings. This digital transformation has opened up many opportunities to improve the management of the building by using the data collected to help monitor consumption patterns and energy leakages. One example is the integration of predictive models for anomaly detection. In this paper, we use the GAM (Generalised Additive Model) for the anomaly detection of Air Handling Units (AHU) power consumption pattern. There is ample research work on the use of GAM for the prediction of power consumption at the office building and nation-wide level. However, there is limited illustration of its anomaly detection capabilities, prescriptive analytics case study, and its integration with the latest development of digital twin technology. In this paper, we applied the general GAM modelling framework on the historical data of the AHU power consumption and cooling load of the building between Jan 2018 to Aug 2019 from an education campus in Singapore to train prediction models that, in turn, yield predicted values and ranges. The historical data are seamlessly extracted from the digital twin for modelling purposes. We enhanced the utility of the GAM model by using it to power a real-time anomaly detection system based on the forward predicted ranges. The magnitude of deviation from the upper and lower bounds of the uncertainty intervals is used to inform and identify anomalous data points, all based on historical data, without explicit intervention from domain experts. Notwithstanding, the domain expert fits in through an optional feedback loop through which iterative data cleansing is performed. After an anomalously high or low level of power consumption detected, a set of rule-based conditions are evaluated in real-time to help determine the next course of action for the facilities manager. The performance of GAM is then compared with other approaches to evaluate its effectiveness. Lastly, we discuss the successfully deployment of this approach for the detection of anomalous power consumption pattern and illustrated with real-world use cases.

Keywords: anomaly detection, digital twin, generalised additive model, GAM, power consumption, supervised learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 128