Search results for: supply demand model

Authors: David M Gilstrap

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In an online course with a large enrollment, the potential exists for the instructor to become overburdened with having to respond to students’ emails, which consequently decreases the instructor’s efficiency in teaching the course. Repetition of instructions is an effective way of reducing confusion among students, which in turn increases their efficiencies, as well. World of Turf is the largest online course at Michigan State University, which employs Brightspace as its management system (LMS) software. Recently, the LMS upgraded its capabilities to utilize agents, which are auto generated email notifications to students based on certain criteria. Agents are additional tools that can enhance course design. They can be run on-demand or according to a schedule. Agents can be timed to effectively remind students of approaching deadlines. The content of these generated emails can also include reinforced instructions. With a large online course, even a small percentage of students that either do not read or do not comprehend the course syllabus or do not notice instructions on course pages can result in numerous emails to the instructor, often near the deadlines for assignments. Utilizing agents to decrease the number of emails from students has enabled the instructor to efficiently instruct more than one thousand students per semester without any graduate student teaching assistants.

Keywords: agents, Brightspace, large enrollment, learning management system, repetition of instructions

Procedia PDF Downloads 190

Authors: R. B. Patil, B. S. Kothavale, L. Y. Waghmode

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Today, the CNC turning center becomes an important machine tool for manufacturing industry worldwide. However, as the breakdown of a single CNC turning center may result in the production of an entire plant being halted. For this reason, operations and preventive maintenance have to be minimized to ensure availability of the system. Indeed, improving the availability of the CNC turning center as a whole, objectively leads to a substantial reduction in production loss, operating, maintenance and support cost. In this paper, fault tree analysis (FTA) method is used for reliability analysis of CNC turning center. The major faults associated with the system and the causes for the faults are presented graphically. Boolean algebra is used for evaluating fault tree (FT) diagram and for deriving governing reliability model for CNC turning center. Failure data over a period of six years has been collected and used for evaluating the model. Qualitative and quantitative analysis is also carried out to identify critical sub-systems and components of CNC turning center. It is found that, at the end of the warranty period (one year), the reliability of the CNC turning center as a whole is around 0.61628.

Keywords: fault tree analysis (FTA), reliability analysis, risk assessment, hazard analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 391

Authors: Seyed Abolhasan Naeini, Saeideh Mohammadi

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Embankment settlement on soft clays has always been problematic due to the high compaction and low shear strength of the soil. Deep soil mixing and geosynthetics are two soil improvement methods in such fields. Here, a numerical study is conducted on the embankment performance on the soft ground improved by deep soil mixing columns and geosynthetics based on the data of a real project. For this purpose, the finite element method is used in the Plaxis 2D software. The Soft Soil Creep model considers the creep phenomenon in the soft clay layer while the Mohr-Columb model simulates other soil layers. Results are verified using the data of an experimental embankment built on deep mixing columns. The effect of depth and diameter of deep mixing columns and the stiffness of geogrid on the vertical and horizontal movements of embankment on clay subsoil will be investigated in the following.

Keywords: PLAXIS 2D, embankment settlement, horizontal movement, deep soil mixing column, geogrid

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Authors: Vahidullah Tac, Ercan Gurses

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There have been numerous attempts at modelling carbon nanotube – polymer composites micromechanically in recent years, albeit to limited success. One of the major setbacks of the models used in the scientific community is the lack of regard to the different phases present in a nanocomposite. We employ a multi-phase micromechanical model that allows functionally grading certain phases to determine the mechanical properties of nanocomposites. The model has four distinct phases; the nanotube, the interface between the nanotube and polymer, the interphase, and the bulk matrix. Among the four phases, the interphase is functionally graded such that its moduli gradually decrease from some predetermined values to those of the bulk polymer. We find that the interface plays little role in stiffening/softening of the polymer per se , but instead, it is responsible for load transfer between the polymer and the carbon nanotube. Our results indicate that the carbon nanotube, as well as the interphase, have significant roles in stiffening the composite. The results are then compared to experimental findings and the interphase is tuned accordingly.

Keywords: carbon nanotube, composite, interphase, micromechanical modeling

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Authors: Mahmood Mohammed Abdulsattar Aljumaili

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Praise be to Allah and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. Islamic banks have not only made a lot of great achievements in a short period, but they imposed themselves in the global market, not to mention the transformation of some conventional interest-based banks to Islamic banks to the large demand on them, this transformation has pushed the Dow Jones Global Foundation to develop a new economic indicator released it (the Dow Jones Islamic market) for those who wish to invest in Islamic financial institutions. The success of Islamic financial institutions today face significant and serious challenges, that embody the serious consequences created by the current events on Islamic banking industry. This modest study, deals with these serious challenges facing the Islamic banking industry, and reflected on the success recorded in the previous period. The study deals with four main topics: The emergence of Islamic banks, the goals of Islamic banks, International challenges facing Islamic banks, internal challenges facing Islamic banks, and finally it touches on, (Basel 1-2) Agreement and its implications for Islamic banks.

Keywords: Islamic banks, Basel 1-2 agreement, most important contemporary challenges, islamic banking industry, Dow Jones Islamic market

Procedia PDF Downloads 480

Authors: Jixiang Lei, Alexander Fuchs, Franz Pernkopf, Katrin Ellermann

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Within the Space@Sea project, funded by the Horizon 2020 program, an island consisting of multiple platforms was designed. The platforms are connected by ropes and fenders. The connection is critical with respect to the safety of the whole system. Therefore, fault detection systems are investigated, which could detect early warning signs for a possible failure in the connection elements. Previously, a model-based method called Extended Kalman Filter was developed to detect the reduction of rope stiffness. This method detected several types of faults reliably, but some types of faults were much more difficult to detect. Furthermore, the model-based method is sensitive to environmental noise. When the wave height is low, a long time is needed to detect a fault and the accuracy is not always satisfactory. In this sense, it is necessary to develop a more accurate and robust technique that can detect all rope faults under a wide range of operational conditions. Inspired by this work on the Space at Sea design, we introduce a fault diagnosis method based on deep neural networks. Our method cannot only detect rope degradation by using the acceleration data from each platform but also estimate the contributions of the specific acceleration sensors using methods from explainable AI. In order to adapt to different operational conditions, the domain adaptation technique DANN is applied. The proposed model can accurately estimate rope degradation under a wide range of environmental conditions and help users understand the relationship between the output and the contributions of each acceleration sensor.

Keywords: fault diagnosis, deep learning, domain adaptation, explainable AI

Procedia PDF Downloads 163

Authors: Yew Mun Yip, Dawei Zhang

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Proteins are the biological machinery that executes specific vital functions in every cell of the human body by folding into their 3D structures. When a protein misfolds from its native structure, the machinery will malfunction and lead to misfolding diseases. Although in vitro experiments are able to conclude that the mutations of the amino acid sequence lead to incorrectly folded protein structures, these experiments are unable to decipher the folding process. Therefore, molecular dynamic (MD) simulations are employed to simulate the folding process so that our improved understanding of the folding process will enable us to contemplate better treatments for misfolding diseases. MD simulations make use of force fields to simulate the folding process of peptides. Secondary structures are formed via the hydrogen bonds formed between the backbone atoms (C, O, N, H). It is important that the hydrogen bond energy computed during the MD simulation is accurate in order to direct the folding process to the native structure. Since the atoms involved in a hydrogen bond possess very dissimilar electronegativities, the more electronegative atom will attract greater electron density from the less electronegative atom towards itself. This is known as the polarization effect. Since the polarization effect changes the electron density of the two atoms in close proximity, the atomic charges of the two atoms should also vary based on the strength of the polarization effect. However, the fixed atomic charge scheme in force fields does not account for the polarization effect. In this study, we introduce the polarized structure-specific backbone charge (PSBC) model. The PSBC model accounts for the polarization effect in MD simulation by updating the atomic charges of the backbone hydrogen bond atoms according to equations derived between the amount of charge transferred to the atom and the length of the hydrogen bond, which are calculated from quantum-mechanical calculations. Compared to other polarizable models, the PSBC model does not require quantum-mechanical calculations of the peptide simulated at every time-step of the simulation and maintains the dynamic update of atomic charges, thereby reducing the computational cost and time while accounting for the polarization effect dynamically at the same time. The PSBC model is applied to two different β-peptides, namely the Beta3s/GS peptide, a de novo designed three-stranded β-sheet whose structure is folded in vitro and studied by NMR, and the trpzip peptides, a double-stranded β-sheet where a correlation is found between the type of amino acids that constitute the β-turn and the β-propensity.

Keywords: hydrogen bond, polarization effect, protein folding, PSBC

Procedia PDF Downloads 252

Authors: F. R. M. Nascimento, E. E. S. Lora, J. C. E. Palácio

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A mathematical model to investigate the performance of a two stage fixed bed downdraft gasifier operating with air, steam and oxygen mixtures as the gasifying fluid has been developed. The various conditions of mixtures for a double stage fluid entry, have been performed. The model has been validated through a series of experimental tests performed by NEST – The Excellence Group in Thermal and Distributed Generation of the Federal University of Itajubá. Influence of mixtures are analyzed through the Steam to Biomass (SB), Equivalence Ratio (ER) and the Oxygen Concentration (OP) parameters in order to predict the best operating conditions to obtain adequate output gas quality, once is a key parameter for subsequent gas processing in the synthesis of biofuels, heat and electricity generation. Results show that there is an optimal combination in the steam and oxygen content of the gasifying fluid which allows the user find the best conditions to design and operate the equipment according to the desired application.

Keywords: air, equilibrium, downdraft, fixed bed gasification, mathematical modeling, mixtures, oxygen steam

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Authors: Retty Ratnawati, Santi Sri Wulandari, Tulus Sabrina

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Feminine and masculine gender role stress could occur in some work situation. Being manager in health services that is known to be more women’ role in Indonesia, has expected to have feminine stereotype role. In the communities, this has been done in the program kesejahteraan keluarga (welfare family program) since the 1970s, for example through family planning program. The aim of the study was to explore the experience of being a motherhood managerial in health services. Our auto ethnographic study has revealed that motherhood managerial, even though running by a woman, could have some stress conditions whether she has realized or has not. The challenge would occur when the manager did not realize that she needed the eustress. The autonomy concept for a woman to be a manager could be a complex cycle that needs open communication continually and understanding the four elements surround her life. In conclusion, there is a demand to have the eustress when the manager does not realize that she has to be an autonomy person. However, it does not need eustress when the manager understands about how to deal with the complex cycle of being autonomy.

Keywords: motherhood managerial, eustress, feminine gender role stress, masculine gender role stress, autonomy concept in women

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Authors: Arūnas Gudinavičius

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The historiography of scholarly journals in Eastern Europe is fragmented, and so far, the development of scholarly journals in Eastern Europe has not been studied from a publishing point of view in the context of scientific communication. There are only a few general articles on the period before World War II; also, there is hardly any systematic and publicly available information about the Soviet period and the situation of scientific communication in Eastern Europe at the end of the XX century and the beginning of the XXI century. There is a lack of research data on scholarly journals in Lithuania. The existing researches focuses mostly on the specific needs of academic institutions. The publication of scientific journals and papers is analyzed as a part of the scientific communication circle. Formal science communication from the point of view that it is the results formed in the course of communication are examined, which are necessarily characterized by long-term access to a large circle of users. Improved model of scientific communication by supplementing the dissemination of research results with formal and informal communication channels is used, according to which the scientific communication system forms the essence of science, where the social, lasting value of science and the dissemination of scientific results to scientists and the public are the most important. The model covers the science communication process from research initiation to journal publication and citation. We are focusing on the publishing and dissemination stages of the model of scientific communication. The paper is to systematize and analyze the various types of scientific journal publishers from 1907 until 2020 as a means of formal documentary communication in the context of all scientific communication. The research analyses the case of a small European country and presents chronological and geographical characteristics of the publication of scientific periodicals, analyzes the publishers of scientific periodicals and their activities, publishing formats, and dissemination methods.

Keywords: scientific communication, scientific periodicals, scientific journals, publishing

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Authors: Munirah Stapah Salleh, Ahmad Rosly Abbas, Sazalina Zakaria, Nur Iffika Ruslan, Nurfaziera Rahim

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One of the areas that require a massive amount of energy is the airport. Hence, several airports have increased their reliance on renewable energy, specifically solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, to solve the issue. The interest regarding the installations of airport-based solar farms caught much attention. This, at the same time, helps to minimize the reliance on conventional energy sources that are fossil-based. However, many concerns were raised on the solar PV systems, especially on the effect of potential glare occurrence to the pilots during their flies. This paper will be discussing both the positive and negative impact of the large scale solar power plant on airports and aviation. Installing the large scale solar have negative impacts on airport and aviation, such as physical collision hazards, potential interference, or voltage problems with aircraft navigational and surveillance equipment as well as potential glare. On the positive side, it helps to lower environmental footprint, acquiring less energy from the utility provider, which are traditionally highly relying on other energy sources that have larger effects on the environment, and, last but not least, reduce the power supply uncertainty.

Keywords: solar photovoltaic systems, large scale solar, airport, glare effects

Procedia PDF Downloads 190

Authors: Ali Kadir, O. Anwar Beg

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Thermal barrier coatings are among the most popular methods for providing corrosion protection in high temperature applications including aircraft engine systems, external spacecraft structures, rocket chambers etc. Many different materials are available for such coatings, of which ceramics generally perform the best. Motivated by these applications, the current investigation presents detailed finite element simulations of coating stress analysis for a 3- dimensional, 3-layered model of a test sample representing a typical gas turbine component scenario. Structural steel is selected for the main inner layer, Titanium (Ti) alloy for the middle layer and Silicon Carbide (SiC) for the outermost layer. The model dimensions are 20 mm (width), 10 mm (height) and three 1mm deep layers. ANSYS software is employed to conduct three types of analysis- static structural, thermal stress analysis and also computational fluid dynamic erosion/corrosion analysis (via ANSYS FLUENT). The specified geometry which corresponds to corrosion test samples exactly is discretized using a body-sizing meshing approach, comprising mainly of tetrahedron cells. Refinements were concentrated at the connection points between the layers to shift the focus towards the static effects dissipated between them. A detailed grid independence study is conducted to confirm the accuracy of the selected mesh densities. To recreate gas turbine scenarios; in the stress analysis simulations, static loading and thermal environment conditions of up to 1000 N and 1000 degrees Kelvin are imposed. The default solver was used to set the controls for the simulation with the fixed support being set as one side of the model while subjecting the opposite side to a tabular force of 500 and 1000 Newtons. Equivalent elastic strain, total deformation, equivalent stress and strain energy were computed for all cases. Each analysis was duplicated twice to remove one of the layers each time, to allow testing of the static and thermal effects with each of the coatings. ANSYS FLUENT simulation was conducted to study the effect of corrosion on the model under similar thermal conditions. The momentum and energy equations were solved and the viscous heating option was applied to represent improved thermal physics of heat transfer between the layers of the structures. A Discrete Phase Model (DPM) in ANSYS FLUENT was employed which allows for the injection of continuous uniform air particles onto the model, thereby enabling an option for calculating the corrosion factor caused by hot air injection (particles prescribed 5 m/s velocity and 1273.15 K). Extensive visualization of results is provided. The simulations reveal interesting features associated with coating response to realistic gas turbine loading conditions including significantly different stress concentrations with different coatings.

Keywords: thermal coating, corrosion, ANSYS FEA, CFD

Procedia PDF Downloads 128

Authors: Chante Van Tonder, Bart Bossink, Chris Schachtebeck, Cecile Nieuwenhuizen

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Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) play a key role in national economies around the world, being contributors to economic and social well-being. Due to this, the success, growth and competitiveness of SMEs are critical. However, there are many factors that undermine this, such as resource constraints, poor information communication infrastructure (ICT), skills shortages and poor management. The Fourth Industrial Revolution offers new tools and opportunities such as digital transformation and business model innovation (BMI) to the SME sector to enhance its competitiveness. Adopting and leveraging digital technologies such as cloud, mobile technologies, big data and analytics can significantly improve business efficiencies, value proposition and customer experiences. Digital transformation can contribute to the growth and competitiveness of SMEs. However, SMEs are lagging behind in the participation of digital transformation. Extant research lacks conceptual and empirical research on how digital transformation drives BMI and the impact it has on the growth and competitiveness of SMEs. The purpose of the study is, therefore, to close this gap by developing and empirically validating a conceptual model to determine if SMEs are achieving BMI through digital transformation and how this is impacting the growth, competitiveness and overall business performance. An empirical study is being conducted on 300 SMEs, consisting of 150 South-African and 150 Dutch SMEs, to achieve this purpose. Structural equation modeling is used, since it is a multivariate statistical analysis technique that is used to analyse structural relationships and is a suitable research method to test the hypotheses in the model. Empirical research is needed to gather more insight into how and if SMEs are digitally transformed and how BMI can be driven through digital transformation. The findings of this study can be used by SME business owners, managers and employees at all levels. The findings will indicate if digital transformation can indeed impact the growth, competitiveness and overall performance of an SME, reiterating the importance and potential benefits of adopting digital technologies. In addition, the findings will also exhibit how BMI can be achieved in light of digital transformation. This study contributes to the body of knowledge in a highly relevant and important topic in management studies by analysing the impact of digital transformation on BMI on a large number of SMEs that are distinctly different in economic and cultural factors

Keywords: business models, business model innovation, digital transformation, SMEs

Procedia PDF Downloads 225

Authors: S. Khakurel, R. P. Dhakal, T. Z. Yeow

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Downtime is one of the major sources (alongside damage and injury/death) of financial loss incurred by a structure in an earthquake. The length of downtime associated with a building after an earthquake varies depending on the time taken for the reaction (to the earthquake), decision (on the future course of action) and execution (of the decided course of action) phases. Post-earthquake assessment of buildings is a key step in the decision making process to decide the appropriate safety placarding as well as to decide whether a damaged building is to be repaired or demolished. The aim of the present study is to develop a model to quantify downtime associated with the post-earthquake building-assessment phase in terms of two parameters; i) duration of the different assessment phase; and ii) probability of different colour tagging. Post-earthquake assessment of buildings includes three stages; Level 1 Rapid Assessment including a fast external inspection shortly after the earthquake, Level 2 Rapid Assessment including a visit inside the building and Detailed Engineering Evaluation (if needed). In this study, the durations of all three assessment phases are first estimated from the total number of damaged buildings, total number of available engineers and the average time needed for assessing each building. Then, probability of different tag colours is computed from the 2010-11 Canterbury earthquake Sequence database. Finally, a downtime model for the post-earthquake building inspection phase is proposed based on the estimated phase length and probability of tag colours. This model is expected to be used for rapid estimation of seismic downtime within the Loss Optimisation Seismic Design (LOSD) framework.

Keywords: assessment, downtime, LOSD, Loss Optimisation Seismic Design, phase length, tag color

Procedia PDF Downloads 171

Authors: Lei Zhang, Jean-Michel Ghidaglia, Anela Kumbaro

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This work focuses on numerical simulation of two-phase flows based on the bi-fluid six-equation model widely used in many industrial areas, such as nuclear power plant safety analysis. A pressure-based numerical method is adopted in our studies due to the fact that in two-phase flows, it is common to have a large range of Mach numbers because of the mixture of liquid and gas, and density-based solvers experience stiffness problems as well as a loss of accuracy when approaching the low Mach number limit. This work extends the semi-implicit pressure solver in the nuclear component CUPID code, where the governing equations are solved on unstructured grids with co-located variables to accommodate complicated geometries. A conservative version of the solver is developed in order to capture exactly the shock in one-phase flows, and is extended to two-phase situations. An inter-facial pressure term is added to the bi-fluid model to make the system hyperbolic and to establish a well-posed mathematical problem that will allow us to obtain convergent solutions with refined meshes. The ability of the numerical method to treat phase appearance and disappearance as well as the behavior of the scheme at low Mach numbers will be demonstrated through several numerical results. Finally, inter-facial mass and heat transfer models are included to deal with situations when mass and energy transfer between phases is important, and associated industrial numerical benchmarks with tabulated EOS (equations of state) for fluids are performed.

Keywords: two-phase flows, numerical simulation, bi-fluid model, unstructured grids, phase appearance and disappearance

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Authors: Reneiloe Seodigeng, Malwandla Hanabe, Haleden Chiririwa, Hilary Rutto, Tumisang Seodigeng

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Neutralisation of acid-mine drainage (AMD) using limestone is cost effective, and good results can be obtained. However, this process has its limitations; it cannot be used for highly acidic water which consists of Fe(III). When Fe(III) reacts with CaCO₃, it results in armoring. Armoring slows the reaction, and additional alkalinity can no longer be generated. Limestone is easily accessible, so this problem can be easily dealt with. Experiments were carried out to evaluate the effect of PVC pipe length on ferric and ferrous ions. It was found that the shorter the pipe length the more these dissolved metals precipitate. The effect of the pipe length on the hydrogen ions was also studied, and it was found that these two have an inverse relationship. Experimental data were further compared with the model prediction data to see if they behave in a similar fashion. The model was able to predict the behaviour of 1.5m and 2 m pipes in ferric and ferrous ion precipitation.

Keywords: acid mine drainage, neutralisation, limestone, mathematical modelling

Procedia PDF Downloads 353

Authors: Fabrizio Ascione, Martina Borrelli, Rosa Francesca De Masi, Silvia Ruggiero, Giuseppe Peter Vanoli

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The Directive 2010/31/EC 'Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 may 2010 on the energy performance of buildings' moved the targets of the previous version toward more ambitious targets, for instance by establishing that, by 31 December 2020, all new buildings should demand nearly zero-energy. Moreover, the demonstrative role of public buildings is strongly affirmed so that also the target nearly zero-energy buildings is anticipated, in January 2019. On the other hand, given the very low turn-over rate of buildings (in Europe, it ranges between 1-3%/yearly), each policy that does not consider the renovation of the existing building stock cannot be effective in the short and medium periods. According to this proposal, the study provides a novel, holistic approach to design the refurbishment of educational buildings in colder cities of Mediterranean regions enabling stakeholders to understand the uncertainty to use numerical modelling and the real environmental and economic impacts of adopting some energy efficiency technologies. The case study is a university building of Molise region in the centre of Italy. The proposed approach is based on the application of the cost-optimal methodology as it is shown in the Delegate Regulation 244/2012 and Guidelines of the European Commission, for evaluating the cost-optimal level of energy performance with a macroeconomic approach. This means that the refurbishment scenario should correspond to the configuration that leads to lowest global cost during the estimated economic life-cycle, taking into account not only the investment cost but also the operational costs, linked to energy consumption and polluting emissions. The definition of the reference building has been supported by various in-situ surveys, investigations, evaluations of the indoor comfort. Data collection can be divided into five categories: 1) geometrical features; 2) building envelope audit; 3) technical system and equipment characterization; 4) building use and thermal zones definition; 5) energy building data. For each category, the required measures have been indicated with some suggestions for the identifications of spatial distribution and timing of the measurements. With reference to the case study, the collected data, together with a comparison with energy bills, allowed a proper calibration of a numerical model suitable for the hourly energy simulation by means of EnergyPlus. Around 30 measures/packages of energy, efficiency measure has been taken into account both on the envelope than regarding plant systems. Starting from results, two-point will be examined exhaustively: (i) the importance to use validated models to simulate the present performance of building under investigation; (ii) the environmental benefits and the economic implications of a deep energy refurbishment of the educational building in cold climates.

Keywords: energy simulation, modelling calibration, cost-optimal retrofit, university building

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Authors: R. Eslami-Farsani, S. M. S. Mousavi Bafrouyi

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During past decades, increasing demand of modified Fiber Metal Laminates (FMLs) has stimulated a strong trend towards the development of these structures. FMLs contain several thin layers of metal bonded with composite materials. Characteristics of FMLs such as low specific mass, high bearing strength, impact resistance, corrosion resistance and high fatigue life are attractive. Nowadays, increasing development can be observed to promote the properties of polymer-based composites by nanofillers. By dispersing strong, nanofillers in polymer matrix, modified composites can be developed and tailored to individual applications. On the other hand, the synergic effects of nanoparticles such as graphene and carbon nanotube can significantly improve the mechanical, electrical and thermal properties of nanocomposites. In present paper, the modifying of FMLs by nanofillers and the dispersing of nanoparticles in the polymers matrix are discussed. The evaluations have revealed that this approach is acceptable. Finally, a prospect is presented. This paper will lead to further work on these modified FML species.

Keywords: fiber metal laminate, nanofiller, polymer matrix, property modification

Procedia PDF Downloads 195

Authors: Karol Konaszewski

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Background: The article is an analysis of the results of the studies conducted among juveniles (boys and girls) in the case of whom the family court applied the educational means of placing them in the youth educational centers. The aim of the study was to find out the correlations between antisocial behaviors, personality traits and the environmental determinants (support factors and risk factors) among juveniles (boys and girls). Methods: The total of 481 juveniles staying in youth educational centers participated in the study. Applied research tools: The Antisocial Behaviors Scale by L. Pytka, NEO-FFI by P. T. Costa and R. R. McCrae was used to diagnose personality traits included in a popular five-factor model (it has been adapted into Polish by B. Zawadzki, J. Strelau, P. Szczepaniak, and M. Śliwińska) and a questionnaire concerning support factors and risk factors was constructed to measure environmental determinants. The data was analysed in a regression model. Findings: The analysis model showed that the significant predictors of antisocial behaviors were neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness and negative relations at school. In girls group, the significant predictors of antisocial behaviors were neuroticism, conscientiousness, family support and negative relations at school, while in boys group the significant predictors of antisocial behaviors were neuroticism, extraversion and negative relations at family. Discussion: The results of this study have important implications. They allow for a better understanding of the factors that contribute to antisocial behaviors among juveniles. Future interventions could be based on the creation of personality traits, strengthening of support factors and correction of risk factors.

Keywords: antisocial behaviours, juveniles, personality, youth

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Authors: Ali Akbar Jabbari

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This study investigates the role of the prior acquired languages, Persian and English, concerning the acquisition of the third language (L3) French and German at the initial stages. The data were collected from two groups of L3 learners: 28 learners of L3 French and 21 learners of L3 German, in order to test the placement of the attributive adjectives and the noun adjuncts through a grammaticality judgment task and an element rearrangement task. The aim of the study was to investigate whether any of the models proposed in the L3 acquisition could account for the case of the present study. The results of the analysis revealed that the learners of L3 German and French were both affected by the typological similarity of the previous languages. The outperformance of the German learners is an indication of the facilitative effect of L2 English (which is typologically more similar to the German than that of French). English had also a non-facilitative role in the acquisition of French and this is proved in the lower performance of the French learners. This study provided evidence for the TPM as the most accepted model of L3 acquisition.

Keywords: cross-linguistic influence, multilingualism, third language acquisition, transfer

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Authors: Rehab Abdulmajed, Amr Hamada, Ahmed Elsaid, Hisashi Hayakawa, Ayman Mahrous

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Solar emissions have a high impact on the Earth’s magnetic field, and the prediction of solar events is of high interest. Various techniques have been used in the prediction of solar wind using mathematical models, MHD models, and neural network (NN) models. This study investigates the coronal hole (CH) derived high-speed streams (HSSs) and their correlation to the CH area and create a neural network model to predict the HSSs. Two different algorithms were used to compare different models to find a model that best simulates the HSSs. A dataset of CH synoptic maps through Carrington rotations 1601 to 2185 along with Omni-data set solar wind speed averaged over the Carrington rotations is used, which covers Solar cycles (sc) 21, 22, 23, and most of 24.

Keywords: artificial neural network, coronal hole area, feed-forward neural network models, solar high speed streams

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Authors: Patrick Mbassegue, Mickael Gardoni

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In a market environment centered more and more on services and the digital economy, knowledge management becomes a framework that can help organizations to create value and to improve their overall performance. Based on an optimal allocation of scarce resources, managers are interested in demonstrating the added value generated by knowledge management projects. One of the challenges faced by organizations is the difficulty in measuring impacts and concrete results of knowledge management initiatives. The present article concerns the measure of concrete results coming from knowledge management projects based on balance scorecard model. One of the goals is to underline what can be done based on this model but also to highlight the limits associated. The present article is structured in five parts; 1-knowledge management projects and organizational impacts; 2- a framework and a methodology to measure organizational impacts; 3- application illustrated in two case studies; 4- limits concerning the proposed framework; 5- the proposal of a new framework to measure organizational impacts.

Keywords: knowledge management, project, balance scorecard, impacts

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Authors: Yasser F. Hassan

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Social networking involves use of an online platform or website that enables people to communicate, usually for a social purpose, through a variety of services, most of which are web-based and offer opportunities for people to interact over the internet, e.g. via e-mail and ‘instant messaging’, by analyzing the voting behavior and ratings of judges in a popular comments in social networks. While most of the party literature omits the electorate, this paper presents a model where elites and parties are emergent consequences of the behavior and preferences of voters. The research in artificial intelligence and psychology has provided powerful illustrations of the way in which the emergence of intelligent behavior depends on the development of representational structure. As opposed to the classical voting system (one person – one decision – one vote) a new voting system is designed where agents with opposed preferences are endowed with a given number of votes to freely distribute them among some issues. The paper uses ideas from machine learning, artificial intelligence and soft computing to provide a model of the development of voting system response in a simulated agent. The modeled development process involves (simulated) processes of evolution, learning and representation development. The main value of the model is that it provides an illustration of how simple learning processes may lead to the formation of structure. We employ agent-based computer simulation to demonstrate the formation and interaction of coalitions that arise from individual voter preferences. We are interested in coordinating the local behavior of individual agents to provide an appropriate system-level behavior.

Keywords: voting system, rough sets, multi-agent, social networks, emergence, power indices

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Authors: Man Kyu Kim, Hansu Shin

Abstract:

This study is an analysis on gravel of sand-gravel bar that stretches variously in the Duchon and Naechon stream basins, which are situated on Hong-Cheon River (a well-developed sand-gravel bar in upstream river) basins in Korea. Naechon stream mostly flows through granite zone but Duchon stream mostly flows through gneiss zone. The characteristics of gravel in the sand-gravel bar of these two branches in the upper Hongcheon River were analyzed in this study in order to understand the geomorphic development of streams depending on the differences of bedrock. Through the analysis on the roundness and flatness of gravel, we figured out an irregular trend following the increase in supply of granite gravel and gneiss gravel as we traveled downstream. The result shows that the two basins have uppermost small basin condition reflecting the mountain valley environment although it may be difficult to do an equivalent comparison to other roundness researches in Korea or in Europe. This study conducted an analysis on gravels found in small scale streams unlike the previous studies trend which mostly studies large rivers. The research provides an opportunity to offer basic data for continuous comparison research on various small basins.

Keywords: flatness, geology, roundness, sand-gravel bar

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Authors: Hyojin Lim, Cuong Nguyen Khac, Ho-Youl Jung

Abstract:

In this paper, we propose moving object detection method which is helpful for driver to safely take his/her car out of parking lot. When moving objects such as motorbikes, pedestrians, the other cars and some obstacles are detected at the rear-side of host vehicle, the proposed algorithm can provide to driver warning. We assume that the host vehicle is just before departure. Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) based background subtraction is basically applied. Pre-processing such as smoothing and post-processing as morphological filtering are added.We examine “which color space has better performance for detection of moving objects?” Three color spaces including RGB, YCbCr, and Y are applied and compared, in terms of detection rate. Through simulation, we prove that RGB space is more suitable for moving object detection based on background subtraction.

Keywords: gaussian mixture model, background subtraction, moving object detection, color space, morphological filtering

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Authors: Takeshi Takemoto, Naoya Suzuki, Naohisa Takagaki, Satoru Komori, Masako Terui, George Truscott

Abstract:

Drag coefficient is an important parameter in order to correctly estimate the air-sea momentum flux. However, The parameterization of the drag coefficient hasn’t been established due to the variation in the field data. Instead, a number of drag coefficient model formulae have been proposed, even though almost all these models haven’t discussed the extreme wind speed range. With regards to such models, it is unclear how the drag coefficient changes in the extreme wind speed range as the wind speed increased. In this study, we investigated the effect of the drag coefficient models concerning the air-sea momentum flux in the extreme wind range on a global scale, comparing two different drag coefficient models. Interestingly, one model didn’t discuss the extreme wind speed range while the other model considered it. We found that the difference of the models in the annual global air-sea momentum flux was small because the occurrence frequency of strong wind was approximately 1% with a wind speed of 20m/s or more. However, we also discovered that the difference of the models was shown in the middle latitude where the annual mean air-sea momentum flux was large and the occurrence frequency of strong wind was high. In addition, the estimated data showed that the difference of the models in the drag coefficient was large in the extreme wind speed range and that the largest difference became 23% with a wind speed of 35m/s or more. These results clearly show that the difference of the two models concerning the drag coefficient has a significant impact on the estimation of a regional air-sea momentum flux in an extreme wind speed range such as that seen in a tropical cyclone environment. Furthermore, we estimated each air-sea momentum flux using several kinds of drag coefficient models. We will also provide data from an observation tower and result from CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) concerning the influence of wind flow at and around the place.

Keywords: air-sea interaction, drag coefficient, air-sea momentum flux, CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics)

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Authors: K. Verlinden

Abstract:

Being the first family member to study is challenging due to the lack of intergenerational support, financial challenges, etc. The often very deficit-oriented view of these first-generation students (FGS) is challenged by assuming that precisely these students have a high degree of resilience, which will be demonstrated by comparing individual resilience factors. First-generation students are disproportionately often found in courses of social work. Correspondingly, this study compares two samples from social work (FGS vs. non-FGS) with regard to certain determinants of resilience, such as grit, social support, self-efficacy, sense of coherence, and emotional intelligence. An online questionnaire was generated from valid psychological instruments and handed out to the sample. The results portray a double mediation model in which gender and being an FGS associate with lower levels of individual resources, which in then associate with social support. This tiered model supports the possibility that individual resources facilitate the recruitment and use of social support and perhaps other related social resources to better cope with academic challenges.

Keywords: resilience, first generation students, grit, self-efficacy

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Authors: G. Santamato, M. Solazzi, A. Frisoli

Abstract:

Systems for detection of damages in railway pantographs effectively reduce the cost of maintenance and improve time scheduling. In this paper, we present an approach to design a monitoring tool fitting strong customer requirements such as portability and ease of use. Pantograph has been modeled to estimate its dynamical properties, since no data are available. With the aim to focus on suspensions health, a two Degrees of Freedom (DOF) scheme has been adopted. Parameters have been calculated by means of analytical dynamics. A Finite Element Method (FEM) modal analysis verified the former model with an acceptable error. The detection strategy seeks phase-plots topology alteration, induced by defects. In order to test the suitability of the method, leakage in the dashpot was simulated on the lumped model. Results are interesting because changes in phase plots are more appreciable than frequency-shift. Further calculations as well as experimental tests will support future developments of this smart strategy.

Keywords: pantograph models, phase plots, structural health monitoring, damage detection

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Authors: Maureen Montalban

Abstract:

The military is a predominantly male-dominated organisation that has entrenched hierarchical and patriarchal norms. Since 1975, women have been allowed to continue active service in the Australian Defence Force during pregnancy and after the birth of a child; prior to this time, pregnancy was grounds for automatic termination. The military and family, as institutions, make great demands on individuals with respect to their commitment, loyalty, time and energy. This research explores what it means to serve in the Australian Army as a woman through a gender lens, overlaid during a specific time period of their service; that is, during pregnancy, birth, and being a mother. It investigates the external demands faced by servicewomen who are mothers, whether it be from society, the Army, their teammates, their partners, or their children; and how they internally make sense of that with respect to their own identity and role as a mother, servicewoman, partner and as an individual. It also seeks to uncover how Australian Army servicewomen who are also mothers attempt to manage the dilemma of serving two greedy institutions when both expect and demand so much and whether this is, in fact, an impossible dilemma.

Keywords: women's health, gender studies, military culture, identity

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Authors: Brahim-Fares Zaidi, Malika Boudraa, Sid-Ahmed Selouani

Abstract:

Our work aims to improve our Automatic Recognition System for Dysarthria Speech (ARSDS) based on the Hidden Models of Markov (HMM) and the Hidden Markov Model Toolkit (HTK) to help people who are sick. With pronunciation problems, we applied two techniques of speech parameterization based on Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC's) and Perceptual Linear Prediction (PLP's) and concatenated them with JITTER and SHIMMER coefficients in order to increase the recognition rate of a dysarthria speech. For our tests, we used the NEMOURS database that represents speakers with dysarthria and normal speakers.

Keywords: hidden Markov model toolkit (HTK), hidden models of Markov (HMM), Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC), perceptual linear prediction (PLP’s)

Procedia PDF Downloads 142