Search results for: batched delivery system

Authors: Ali Heidari

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This paper presents the principles for improving flood mitigation operation in multipurpose dams and maximizing reservoir performance during flood occurrence with a focus on the real-time operation of gated spillways. The criteria of operation include the safety of dams during flood management, minimizing the downstream flood risk by decreasing the flood hazard and fulfilling water supply and other purposes of the dam operation in mid and long terms horizons. The parameters deemed to be important include flood inflow, outlet capacity restrictions, downstream flood inundation damages, economic revenue of dam operation, and environmental and sedimentation restrictions. A simulation model was used to determine the real-time release of the Dez dam located in the Dez rivers in southwest Iran, considering the gate regulation curves for the gated spillway. The results of the simulation model show that there is a possibility to improve the current procedures used in the real-time operation of the dams, particularly using gate regulation curves and early flood forecasting system results. The Dez dam operation data shows that in one of the best flood control records, % 17 of the total active volume and flood control pool of the reservoir have not been used in decreasing the downstream flood hazard despite the availability of a flood forecasting system.

Keywords: dam operation, flood control criteria, Dez dam, Iran

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Authors: Gheida J. Shahrour, Martin J. Russell

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The 3D body movement signals captured during human-human conversation include clues not only to the content of people’s communication but also to their culture and personality. This paper is concerned with automatic extraction of this information from body movement signals. For the purpose of this research, we collected a novel corpus from 27 subjects, arranged them into groups according to their culture. We arranged each group into pairs and each pair communicated with each other about different topics. A state-of-art recognition system is applied to the problems of person, culture, and topic recognition. We borrowed modeling, classification, and normalization techniques from speech recognition. We used Gaussian Mixture Modeling (GMM) as the main technique for building our three systems, obtaining 77.78%, 55.47%, and 39.06% from the person, culture, and topic recognition systems respectively. In addition, we combined the above GMM systems with Support Vector Machines (SVM) to obtain 85.42%, 62.50%, and 40.63% accuracy for person, culture, and topic recognition respectively. Although direct comparison among these three recognition systems is difficult, it seems that our person recognition system performs best for both GMM and GMM-SVM, suggesting that inter-subject differences (i.e. subject’s personality traits) are a major source of variation. When removing these traits from culture and topic recognition systems using the Nuisance Attribute Projection (NAP) and the Intersession Variability Compensation (ISVC) techniques, we obtained 73.44% and 46.09% accuracy from culture and topic recognition systems respectively.

Keywords: person recognition, topic recognition, culture recognition, 3D body movement signals, variability compensation

Procedia PDF Downloads 541

Authors: H. Boucheloukh, S. Rouissa, N. Aoun, M. Beloucifa, T. Sehili, F. Parrino, V. Loddo

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To optimize water purification and wastewater treatment by heterogeneous photocatalysis, we used NiFe₂O₄ as a catalyst and solar irradiation as a source of energy. In this concept, an organic substance present in many industrial effluents was chosen: naproxen ((S)-6-methoxy-α-methyl-2-naphthaleneacetic acid or 2-(6-methoxynaphthalenyl) propanoic), a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. The main objective of this study is to degrade naproxen by an iron and nickel catalyst, the degradation of this organic pollutant by nickel ferrite has been studied in a heterogeneous aqueous medium, with the study of the various factors influencing photocatalysis such as the concentration of matter and the acidity of the medium. The photocatalytic activity was followed by HPLC-UV andUV-Vis spectroscopy. A first-order kinetic model appropriately fitted the experimental data. The degradation of naproxen was also studied in the presence of H₂O₂ as well as in an aqueous solution. The new hetero-system NiFe₂O₄/oxalic acid is also discussed. The fastest naproxen degradation was obtained with NiFe₂O₄/H₂O₂. In a first-place, we detailed the characteristics of the material NiFe₂O₄, which was synthesized by the sol-gel methods, using various analytical techniques: visible UV spectrophotometry, X-ray diffraction, FTIR, cyclic voltammetry, luminescent discharge optical emission spectroscopy.

Keywords: naproxen, nickelate, photocatalysis, oxalic acid

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Authors: Seyed Hamed Mousavi, Juha M. Hijmans, Reza Rajabi, Ron Diercks, Johannes Zwerver, Henk van der Worp

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Introduction: Running is one of the most popular sports activity among people. Improper sagittal plane ankle, knee and hip kinematics are considered to be associated with the increase of injury risk in runners. Motion assessing smart-phone applications are increasingly used to measure kinematics both in the field and laboratory setting, as they are cheaper, more portable, accessible, and easier to use relative to 3D motion analysis system. The aims of this study are 1) to compare the results of 3D gait analysis system and CE; 2) to evaluate the test-retest and intra-rater reliability of coach’s eye (CE) app for the sagittal plane hip, knee, and ankle angles in the touchdown and toe-off while running. Method: Twenty subjects participated in this study. Sixteen reflective markers and cluster markers were attached to the subject’s body. Subjects were asked to run at a self-selected speed on a treadmill. Twenty-five seconds of running were collected for analyzing kinematics of interest. To measure sagittal plane hip, knee and ankle joint angles at touchdown (TD) and toe off (TO), the mean of first ten acceptable consecutive strides was calculated for each angle. A smartphone (Samsung Note5, android) was placed on the right side of the subject so that whole body was simultaneously filmed with 3D gait system during running. All subjects repeated the task with the same running speed after a short interval of 5 minutes in between. The CE app, installed on the smartphone, was used to measure the sagittal plane hip, knee and ankle joint angles at touchdown and toe off the stance phase. Results: Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to assess test-retest and intra-rater reliability. To analyze the agreement between 3D and 2D outcomes, the Bland and Altman plot was used. The values of ICC were for Ankle at TD (TRR=0.8,IRR=0.94), ankle at TO (TRR=0.9,IRR=0.97), knee at TD (TRR=0.78,IRR=0.98), knee at TO (TRR=0.9,IRR=0.96), hip at TD (TRR=0.75,IRR=0.97), hip at TO (TRR=0.87,IRR=0.98). The Bland and Altman plots displaying a mean difference (MD) and ±2 standard deviation of MD (2SDMD) of 3D and 2D outcomes were for Ankle at TD (MD=3.71,+2SDMD=8.19, -2SDMD=-0.77), ankle at TO (MD=-1.27, +2SDMD=6.22, -2SDMD=-8.76), knee at TD (MD=1.48, +2SDMD=8.21, -2SDMD=-5.25), knee at TO (MD=-6.63, +2SDMD=3.94, -2SDMD=-17.19), hip at TD (MD=1.51, +2SDMD=9.05, -2SDMD=-6.03), hip at TO (MD=-0.18, +2SDMD=12.22, -2SDMD=-12.59). Discussion: The ability that the measurements are accurately reproduced is valuable in the performance and clinical assessment of outcomes of joint angles. The results of this study showed that the intra-rater and test-retest reliability of CE app for all kinematics measured are excellent (ICC ≥ 0.75). The Bland and Altman plots display that there are high differences of values for ankle at TD and knee at TO. Measuring ankle at TD by 2D gait analysis depends on the plane of movement. Since ankle at TD mostly occurs in the none-sagittal plane, the measurements can be different as foot progression angle at TD increases during running. The difference in values of the knee at TD can depend on how 3D and the rater detect the TO during the stance phase of running.

Keywords: reliability, running, sagittal plane, two dimensional

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Authors: Buse T. Aydin, Enver Ozdemir

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An automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) system has serious security problems. In this study, a double layer authentication scheme between the aircraft and ground station, aircraft to aircraft, ground station to ATC tower is designed to prevent any unauthorized aircrafts from introducing themselves as friends. This method can be used as a solution to the problem of authentication. The method is a combination of classical cryptographic methods and new generation physical layers. The first layer has employed the embedded key of the aircraft. The embedded key is assumed to installed during the construction of the utility. The other layer is a physical attribute (flight path, distance, etc.) between the aircraft and the ATC tower. We create a mathematical model so that two layers’ information is employed and an aircraft is authenticated as a friend or unknown according to the accuracy of the results of the model. The results of the aircraft are compared with the results of the ATC tower and if the values found by the aircraft and ATC tower match within a certain error margin, we mark the aircraft as friend. As a result, the ADS-B messages coming from this authenticated friendly aircraft will be processed. In this method, even if the embedded key is captured by the unknown aircraft, without the information of the second layer, the unknown aircraft can easily be determined. Overall, in this work, we present a reliable system by adding physical layer in the authentication process.

Keywords: ADS-B, authentication, communication with physical layer security, cryptography, identification friend or foe

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Authors: Selma Sbit, Mohamed Bechir Dadi, Belgacem Chibani Rhaimi

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Incorporating Home eNodeB (HeNB) in cellular networks, e.g. Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A), is beneficial for extending coverage and enhancing capacity at low price especially within the non-line-of sight (NLOS) environments such as homes. HeNB or femtocell is a small low powered base station which provides radio coverage to the mobile users in an indoor environment. This deployment results in a heterogeneous network where the available spectrum becomes shared between two layers. Therefore, a problem of Inter Cell Interference (ICI) appears. This issue is the main challenge in LTE-A. To deal with this challenge, various techniques based on frequency, time and power control are proposed. This paper deals with the impact of carrier aggregation and higher order MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) schemes on the LTE-Advanced performance. Simulation results show the advantages of these schemes on the system capacity (4.10⁹ b/s/Hz when bandwidth B=100 MHz and when applying MIMO 8x8 for SINR=30 dB), maximum theoretical peak data rate (more than 4 Gbps for B=100 MHz and when MIMO 8x8 is used) and spectral efficiency (15 b/s/Hz and 30b/s/Hz when MIMO 4x4 and MIMO 8x8 are applying respectively for SINR=30 dB).

Keywords: capacity, carrier aggregation, LTE-Advanced, MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output), peak data rate, spectral efficiency

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Authors: Abdulmutallib U. Baraya, Aishatu M. Chadi, Zainab A. Aliyu, Agatha Samson

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Learning Resources is the field of study that investigates the process of analyzing, designing, developing, implementing, and evaluating learning materials, learners, and the learning process in order to improve teaching and learning in university-level education essential for empowering students and various sectors of Nigeria’s economy to succeed in a fast-changing global economy. Innovation in the information age of the 21st century is the use of educational technologies in the classroom for instructional delivery, it involves the use of appropriate educational technologies like smart boards, computers, projectors and other projected materials to facilitate learning and improve performance. The study examined learning resources as determinants for improving the teaching and learning process in Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, Bauchi state of Nigeria. Three objectives, three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a Survey research design. The population of the study was 880 lecturers. A sample of 260 was obtained using the research advisor table for determining sampling, and 250 from the sample was proportionately selected from the seven faculties. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire. The instrument was subjected to validation by two experts. The reliability of the instrument stood at 0.81, which is reliable. The researchers, assisted by six research assistants, distributed and collected the questionnaire with a 75% return rate. Data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions, whereas simple linear regression was used to test the null hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that physical facilities and digital technology tools significantly improved the teaching and learning process. Also, consumables, supplies and equipment do not significantly improve the teaching and learning process in the faculties. It was recommended that lecturers in the various faculties should strengthen and sustain the use of digital technology tools, and there is a need to strive and continue to properly maintain the available physical facilities. Also, the university management should, as a matter of priority, continue to adequately fund and upgrade equipment, consumables and supplies frequently to enhance the effectiveness of the teaching and learning process.

Keywords: education, facilities, learning-resources, technology-tools

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Authors: Franklin Thambi Jose.S

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Computational Linguistics is a branch of linguistics, which deals with the computer and linguistic levels. It is also said, as a branch of language studies which applies computer techniques to linguistics field. In Computational Linguistics, Natural Language Processing plays an important role. This came to exist because of the invention of Information Technology. In computational syntax, the syntactic analyser breaks a sentence into phrases and clauses and identifies the sentence with the syntactic information. Tamil is one of the major Dravidian languages, which has a very long written history of more than 2000 years. It is mainly spoken in Tamilnadu (in India), Srilanka, Malaysia and Singapore. It is an official language in Tamilnadu (in India), Srilanka, Malaysia and Singapore. In Malaysia Tamil speaking people are considered as an ethnic group. In Tamil syntax, the sentences in Tamil are classified into four for this research, namely: 1. Main Sentence 2. Interrogative Sentence 3. Equational Sentence 4. Elliptical Sentence. In computational syntax, the first step is to provide required information regarding the head and its constituent of each sentence. This information will be incorporated to the system using programming languages. Now the system can easily analyse a given sentence with the criteria or mechanisms given to it. Providing needful criteria or mechanisms to the computer to identify the basic types of sentences using Syntactic parser in Tamil language is the major objective of this paper.

Keywords: tamil, syntax, criteria, sentences, parser

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Authors: Seyed Mehrzad Pahlavani, Mozaffar Haji Jafari Anaraki, Sayma Mohammadi

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A total of 34700 day-old broilers were exposed to green, blue and yellow light using a light-emitting diode system for 6 weeks to investigate the effects of light wave length on antibody responses to Newcastle disease by HI test and the correlation with ELISA. 3 poultry house broiler farms with the same conditions was selected and the lightening system of each was set according to the requirement. Blood samples were taken from 20 chicks on days 1, 24 and 46 and the Newcastle virus specific antibody was titered in serum using HI an ELISA test. On day 24, the probability value of more than 0/05 was observed in HI and ELISA tests of all groups while at the end of breeding period, the average HI serum antibody titer was more in the green light than the yellow one while the blue light was not significantly different from both. At the last titration, the green light has got the highest titer of Newcastle antibodies. There were no significant differences of Newcastle antibody titers between all groups and ages in broiler pullets in ELISA. According to the sampling and analysis of HI and ELISA serum tests, there were no significant relationships between all broiler pullets breeding in green, blue and yellow light on days 24 and 46 and the P-value was more than 0/05. It is suggested that the monochromatic light is effective on broilers immunity against Newcastle disease.

Keywords: monochromatic light, Newcastle disease, HI test, ELISA test

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Authors: Laila A. H. F. Dashti, Tom Jackson, Andrew West, Lisa Jackson

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Traceability systems are important in the agri-food and halal food sectors for monitoring ingredient movements, tracking sources, and ensuring food integrity. However, designing a traceability system for the halal food supply chain is challenging due to diverse stakeholder requirements and complex needs. Existing literature on stakeholder mapping and identifying requirements for halal food supply chains is limited. To address this gap, a pilot study was conducted to identify the objectives, requirements, and recommendations of stakeholders in the Kuwaiti halal food industry. The study collected data through semi-structured interviews with an international halal food manufacturer based in Kuwait. The aim was to gain a deep understanding of stakeholders' objectives, requirements, processes, and concerns related to the design of a traceability system in the country's halal food sector. Traceability systems are being developed and tested in the agri-food and halal food sectors due to their ability to monitor ingredient movements, track sources, and detect potential issues related to food integrity. Designing a traceability system for the halal food supply chain poses significant challenges due to diverse stakeholder requirements and the complexity of their needs (including varying food ingredients, different sources, destinations, supplier processes, certifications, etc.). Achieving a halal food traceability solution tailored to stakeholders' requirements within the supply chain necessitates prior knowledge of these needs. Although attempts have been made to address design-related issues in traceability systems, literature on stakeholder mapping and identification of requirements specific to halal food supply chains is scarce. Thus, this pilot study aims to identify the objectives, requirements, and recommendations of stakeholders in the halal food industry. The paper presents insights gained from the pilot study, which utilized semi-structured interviews to collect data from a Kuwait-based international halal food manufacturer. The objective was to gain an in-depth understanding of stakeholders' objectives, requirements, processes, and concerns pertaining to the design of a traceability system in Kuwait's halal food sector. The stakeholder mapping results revealed that government entities, food manufacturers, retailers, and suppliers are key stakeholders in Kuwait's halal food supply chain. Lessons learned from this pilot study regarding requirement capture for traceability systems include the need to streamline communication, focus on communication at each level of the supply chain, leverage innovative technologies to enhance process structuring and operations and reduce halal certification costs. The findings also emphasized the limitations of existing traceability solutions, such as limited cooperation and collaboration among stakeholders, high costs of implementing traceability systems without government support, lack of clarity regarding product routes, and disrupted communication channels between stakeholders. These findings contribute to a broader research program aimed at developing a stakeholder requirements framework that utilizes "business process modelling" to establish a unified model for traceable stakeholder requirements.

Keywords: supply chain, traceability system, halal food, stakeholders’ requirements

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Authors: Rahmayanti, Theresia Simatupang, Ronald H. Sianturi

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Corruption criminal act develops rapidly since in the transition era there is weakness in law. Consequently, there is an opportunity for a few people to do fraud and illegal acts and to misuse their positions and formal functions in order to make them rich, and the criminal acts are done systematically and sophisticatedly. Some people believe that legal provisions which specifically regulate the corruption criminal act; namely, Law No. 31/1999 in conjunction with Law No. 20/2001 on the Eradication of Corruption Criminal Act are not effective any more, especially in onus probandi (the burden of proof) on corruptors. The research was a descriptive analysis, a research method which is used to obtain description on a certain situation or condition by explaining the data, and the conclusion is drawn through some analyses. The research used judicial normative approach since it used secondary data as the main data by conducting library research. The system of the burden of proof, which follows the principles of reversal of the burden of proof stipulated in Article 12B, paragraph 1 a and b, Article 37A, and Article 38B of Law No. 20/2001 on the Amendment of Law No. 31/1999, is used only as supporting evidence when the principal case is proved. Meanwhile, how to maximize the implementation of the burden of proof on the perpetrators of corruption criminal act in which the public prosecutor brings a corruption case to Court, depends upon the nature of the case and the type of indictment. The system of burden of proof can be used to eradicate corruption in the Court if some policies and general principles of justice such as independency, impartiality, and legal certainty, are applied.

Keywords: burden of proof, perpetrator, corruption criminal act

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Authors: Aasaithambi Kalaiselvi, Michael Gabriel Paulraj, Ekambaram Nakkeeran

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Emergences of mosquito vector-borne diseases are considered as a perpetual problem globally in tropical countries. The outbreak of several diseases such as chikungunya, zika virus infection and dengue fever has created a massive threat towards the living population. Frequent usage of synthetic insecticides like Dichloro Diphenyl Trichloroethane (DDT) eventually had its adverse harmful effects on humans as well as the environment. Since there are no perennial vaccines, prevention, treatment or drugs available for these pathogenic vectors, WHO is more concerned in eradicating their breeding sites effectively without any side effects on humans and environment by approaching plant-derived natural eco-friendly bio-insecticides. The aim of this study is to investigate the larvicidal potency of Cinnamomum verum essential oil (CEO) loaded niosomes. Cholesterol and surfactant variants of Span 20, 60 and 80 were used in synthesizing CEO loaded niosomes using Transmembrane pH gradient method. The synthesized CEO loaded niosomes were characterized by Zeta potential, particle size, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), GC-MS and SEM analysis to evaluate charge, size, functional properties, the composition of secondary metabolites and morphology. The Z-average size of the formed niosomes was 1870.84 nm and had good stability with zeta potential -85.3 meV. The entrapment efficiency of the CEO loaded niosomes was determined by UV-Visible Spectrophotometry. The bio-potency of CEO loaded niosomes was treated and assessed against gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis) and gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria and fungi (Aspergillus fumigatus and Candida albicans) at various concentrations. The larvicidal activity was evaluated against II to IV instar larvae of Aedes aegypti, Anopheles stephensi and Culex quinquefasciatus at various concentrations for 24 h. The mortality rate of LC₅₀ and LC₉₀ values were calculated. The results exhibited that CEO loaded niosomes have greater efficiency against mosquito larvicidal activity. The results suggest that niosomes could be used in various applications of biotechnology and drug delivery systems with greater stability by altering the drug of interest.

Keywords: Cinnamomum verum, niosomes, entrapment efficiency, bactericidal and fungicidal, mosquito larvicidal activity

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Authors: Nico Fuchs, Fabian Wüllhorst, Laura Maier, Dirk Müller

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The decarbonization of building stocks necessitates the modernization of existing buildings. Key measures for this include reducing energy demands through insulation of the building envelope, replacing heat generators, and installing solar systems. Given limited financial resources, it is impractical to modernize all buildings in a portfolio simultaneously; instead, prioritization of buildings and modernization measures for a given planning horizon is essential. Optimization models for modernization pathways can assist portfolio managers in this prioritization. However, modeling and solving these large-scale optimization problems, often represented as mixed-integer problems (MIP), necessitates simplifying the operation of building energy systems particularly with respect to system dynamics and transient behavior. This raises the question of which level of simplification remains sufficient to accurately account for realistic costs and emissions of building energy systems, ensuring a fair comparison of different modernization measures. This study addresses this issue by comparing a two-stage simulation-based optimization approach with a single-stage mathematical optimization in a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) formulation. The simulation-based approach serves as a benchmark for realistic energy system operation but requires a restriction of the solution space to discrete choices of modernization measures, such as the sizing of heating systems. After calculating the operation of different energy systems in terms of the resulting final energy demands in simulation models on a first stage, the results serve as input for a second stage MILP optimization, where the design of each building in the portfolio is optimized. In contrast to the simulation-based approach, the MILP-based approach can capture a broader variety of modernization measures due to the efficiency of MILP solvers but necessitates simplifying the building energy system operation. Both approaches are employed to determine the cost-optimal design and dimensioning of several buildings in a portfolio to meet climate targets within limited yearly budgets, resulting in a modernization pathway for the entire portfolio. The comparison reveals that the MILP formulation successfully captures design decisions of building energy systems, such as the selection of heating systems and the modernization of building envelopes. However, the results regarding the optimal dimensioning of heating technologies differ from the results of the two-stage simulation-based approach, as the MILP model tends to overestimate operational efficiency, highlighting the limitations of the MILP approach.

Keywords: building energy system optimization, model accuracy in optimization, modernization pathways, building stock decarbonization

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Authors: Omar M. Elmabrouk., Roaa Y. Taha., Najat M. Ebrahim, Sabbreen A. Mohammed

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Power transformers are the most crucial part of power electrical system, distribution and transmission grid. This part is maintained using predictive or condition-based maintenance approach. The diagnosis of power transformer condition is performed based on Dissolved Gas Analysis (DGA). There are five main methods utilized for analyzing these gases. These methods are International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) gas ratio, Key Gas, Roger gas ratio, Doernenburg, and Duval Triangle. Moreover, due to the importance of the transformers, there is a need for an accurate technique to diagnose and hence predict the transformer condition. The main objective of this technique is to avoid the transformer faults and hence to maintain the power electrical system, distribution and transmission grid. In this paper, the DGA was utilized based on the data collected from the transformer records available in the General Electricity Company of Libya (GECOL) which is located in Benghazi-Libya. The Fuzzy Logic (FL) technique was implemented as a diagnostic approach based on IEC gas ratio method. The FL technique gave better results and approved to be used as an accurate prediction technique for power transformer faults. Also, this technique is approved to be a quite interesting for the readers and the concern researchers in the area of FL mathematics and power transformer.

Keywords: dissolved gas-in-oil analysis, fuzzy logic, power transformer, prediction

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Authors: Fatiha Aouabed, Abdelhafid Bayadi, Rabah Boudissa

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Nowadays, silicone rubber insulation materials are widely used in high voltage outdoor insulation systems as they can combat pollution flashover problems. The difference in pollution flashover performance of silicone rubber and other insulating materials is due to the way that water wets their surfaces. It resides as discrete drops on silicone rubber, and the mechanism of flashover is due to the breakdown of the air between the water drops and the distortion of these drops in the direction of the electric field which brings the insulation to degradation and failure. The main objective of this work is to quantify the effect of different types of water drops arrangements, their position and dry bands width on the flashover voltage of the silicone insulating surface with non-uniform electric field systems. The tests were carried out on a rectangular sample under AC voltage. A rod-rod electrode system is used. The findings of this work indicate that the performance of the samples decreases with the presence of water drops on their surfaces. Further, these experimental findings show that there is a limiting number of rows from which the flashover voltage of the insulation is minimal and constant. This minimum is a function of the distance between two successive rows. Finally, it is concluded that the system withstand voltage increases when the row of droplets on the electrode axis is removed.

Keywords: contamination, flashover, testing, silicone rubber insulators, surface wettability, water droplets

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Authors: Ahmet Kayabasi, Ali Akdagli

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In this study, three robust predicting methods, namely artificial neural network (ANN), adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and support vector machine (SVM) were used for computing the resonant frequency of A-shaped compact microstrip antennas (ACMAs) operating at UHF band. Firstly, the resonant frequencies of 144 ACMAs with various dimensions and electrical parameters were simulated with the help of IE3D™ based on method of moment (MoM). The ANN, ANFIS and SVM models for computing the resonant frequency were then built by considering the simulation data. 124 simulated ACMAs were utilized for training and the remaining 20 ACMAs were used for testing the ANN, ANFIS and SVM models. The performance of the ANN, ANFIS and SVM models are compared in the training and test process. The average percentage errors (APE) regarding the computed resonant frequencies for training of the ANN, ANFIS and SVM were obtained as 0.457%, 0.399% and 0.600%, respectively. The constructed models were then tested and APE values as 0.601% for ANN, 0.744% for ANFIS and 0.623% for SVM were achieved. The results obtained here show that ANN, ANFIS and SVM methods can be successfully applied to compute the resonant frequency of ACMAs, since they are useful and versatile methods that yield accurate results.

Keywords: a-shaped compact microstrip antenna, artificial neural network (ANN), adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), support vector machine (SVM)

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Authors: Loong Qing Zhe, Foo Jing Heng

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A variety of data files are now available on the internet due to the advancement of technology across the globe today. As more and more data are being uploaded on the internet, people are becoming more concerned that their private data, particularly medical health records, are being compromised and sold to others for money. Hence, the accessibility and confidentiality of patients' medical records have to be protected through electronic means. Blockchain technology is introduced to offer patients security against adversaries or unauthorised parties. In the blockchain network, only authorised personnel or organisations that have been validated as nodes may share information and data. For any change within the network, including adding a new block or modifying existing information about the block, a majority of two-thirds of the vote is required to confirm its legitimacy. Additionally, a consortium permission blockchain will connect all the entities within the same community. Consequently, all medical data in the network can be safely shared with all authorised entities. Also, synchronization can be performed within the cloud since the data is real-time. This paper discusses an efficient method for storing and sharing electronic health records (EHRs). It also examines the framework of roles within the blockchain and proposes a new approach to maintain EHRs with keyword indexes to search for patients' medical records while ensuring data privacy.

Keywords: healthcare sectors, distributed system, blockchain, electronic health records (EHR)

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Authors: Shivam Yadav, Neelam Atri

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Cyanobacteria, the photosynthetic prokaryotes are indispensable components of paddy soil contribute substantially to the nitrogen economy however often appended with metal load. They are well known to play crucial roles in maintenance of soil fertility and rice productivity. Nickel is one such metal that plays a vital role in the cellular physiology, however at higher concentrations it exerts adverse effects. Arsenic is another toxic metalloid that negatively affects the cyanobacterial proliferation. However species-specific comparative responses under As and Ni is largely unknown. The present study focuses on the comparative effects of nickel (Ni2+) and arsenite (As(III)) on two diazotrophic cyanobacterial species (Anabaena doliolum and Anabaena sp. PCC7120) in terms of antioxidative aspects. Oxidative damage measured in terms of lipid peroxidation and peroxide content was significantly higher after As(III) than Ni treatment as compared to control. Similarly, all the studied enzymatic and non-enzymatic parameters of antioxidative defense system except glutathione reductase (GR) showed greater induction against As(III) than Ni. Moreover, integrating comparative analysis of all studied parameters also demonstrated interspecies variation in terms of stress adaptive strategies reflected through higher sensitivity of Anabaena doliolum over Anabaena PCC7120.

Keywords: antioxidative system, arsenic, cyanobacteria, nickel

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Authors: Nwachi Prosper Louis, Cynthia Ogonna Ikesee

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The urban planning system of cities varies by country, but in general, it is an instrument for establishing long-term sustainable frameworks and plans for social, institutional and economic development. There is limited knowledge, development, and implementation of effective and sustainable urban planning structures and plans that encourage social inclusion in most communities. This has led to social, economic and environmental deficiencies resulting in community isolation and segregation in class, ethnicity, and race. Encouraging public participation in the urban planning process is one of the instruments that cities can utilise to achieve better social inclusion outcomes. This paper explores how public participation can be used as a social inclusion tool in the urban planning process to achieve better outcomes in Abuja urban planning system. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of this approach. Also, a conceptual model was developed which evaluates the relationship between public participation and social inclusion outcomes in the urban planning process. It was seen that every community has its peculiar way of life and challenges, and an understanding of these social societal needs is paramount in the urban planning process. Therefore, the involvement of the public in identifying their needs, selecting priorities and identifying strategies offer better chances for developing solutions that are sustainable, feasible and implementable.

Keywords: public participation, social inclusion, urban planning, urban planning process

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Authors: Behnam Habibi Dargah

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The economics of cost-benefit theory seeks to monitor claims and determine their final price. The cost of litigation is important because it is a measure of the efficiency of the justice system. From an economic point of view, the cost of litigation is considered to be the point of equilibrium of litigation, whereby litigation is regarded as a high-risk investment and is initiated when the costs are less than the probable and expected benefits. Costs are economically separated into private and social costs. Private cost includes material (direct and indirect) and spiritual costs. The social costs of litigation are also subsidized-centric due to the public and governmental nature of litigation and cover both types of bureaucratic bureaucracy and the costs of judicial misconduct. Macroeconomic policy in the economics of justice is the reverse engineering of controlling the social costs of litigation by employing selective litigation and working on the judicial culture to achieve rationality in the monopoly system. Procedures for controlling and managing court costs are also circumscribed to economic patterns in the field. Rational cost allocation model and cost transfer model. The rational allocation model deals with cost-tolerance systems, and the transfer model also considers three models of transferability, including legal, judicial and contractual transferability, which will be described and explored in the present article in a comparative manner.

Keywords: cost of litigation, economics of litigation, private cost, social cost, cost of litigation

Procedia PDF Downloads 129

Authors: Yiwei Li, Boyu Tian, Mingyu Gao

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Hybrid main memory systems combine both performance and capacity advantages from heterogeneous memory technologies. With larger capacities, higher associativities, and finer granularities, hybrid memory systems currently exhibit significant metadata storage and lookup overheads for flexibly remapping data blocks between the two memory tiers. To alleviate the inefficiencies of existing designs, we propose Trimma, the combination of a multi-level metadata structure and an efficient metadata cache design. Trimma uses a multilevel metadata table to only track truly necessary address remap entries. The saved memory space is effectively utilized as extra DRAM cache capacity to improve performance. Trimma also uses separate formats to store the entries with non-identity and identity mappings. This improves the overall remap cache hit rate, further boosting the performance. Trimma is transparent to software and compatible with various types of hybrid memory systems. When evaluated on a representative DDR4 + NVM hybrid memory system, Trimma achieves up to 2.4× and on average 58.1% speedup benefits, compared with a state-of-the-art design that only leverages the unallocated fast memory space for caching. Trimma addresses metadata management overheads and targets future scalable large-scale hybrid memory architectures.

Keywords: memory system, data cache, hybrid memory, non-volatile memory

Procedia PDF Downloads 78

Authors: S. R. Dehghani, G. F. Naterer, Y. S. Muzychka

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Wave-impact sea spray creates many droplets which form a spray cloud traveling over marine objects same as marine vessels and offshore structures. In cold climates such as Arctic reigns, sea spray icing, which is ice accretion on cold substrates, is strongly dependent on the wave-impact sea spray. The rate of cooling of droplets affects the process of icing that can yield to dry or wet ice accretion. Trajectories of droplets determine the potential places for ice accretion. Combining two models of trajectories and heat transfer for droplets can predict the risk of ice accretion reasonably. The majority of the cooling of droplets is because of droplet evaporations. In this study, a combined model using trajectory and heat transfer evaluate the situation of a cloud of spray from the generation to impingement. The model uses some known geometry and initial information from the previous case studies. The 3D model is solved numerically using a standard numerical scheme. Droplets are generated in various size ranges from 7 mm to 0.07 mm which is a suggested range for sea spray icing. The initial temperature of droplets is considered to be the sea water temperature. Wind velocities are assumed same as that of the field observations. Evaluations are conducted using some important heading angles and wind velocities. The characteristic of size-velocity dependence is used to establish a relation between initial sizes and velocities of droplets. Time intervals are chosen properly to maintain a stable and fast numerical solution. A statistical process is conducted to evaluate the probability of expected occurrences. The medium size droplets can reach the highest heights. Very small and very large droplets are limited to lower heights. Results show that higher initial velocities create the most expanded cloud of spray. Wind velocities affect the extent of the spray cloud. The rate of droplet cooling at the start of spray formation is higher than the rest of the process. This is because of higher relative velocities and also higher temperature differences. The amount of water delivery and overall temperature for some sample surfaces over a marine vessel are calculated. Comparing results and some field observations show that the model works accurately. This model is suggested as a primary model for ice accretion on marine vessels.

Keywords: evaporation, sea spray, marine icing, numerical solution, trajectory

Procedia PDF Downloads 220

Authors: Madeleine Cox

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Objective: discussion of diagnosis of vernix caseosa peritonitis, recovery and subsequent caesarean seciton Case: 30 year old G4P1 presented in labour at 40 weeks, planning a vaginal birth afterprevious caesarean section. She underwent an emergency caesarean section due to concerns for fetal wellbeing on CTG. She was found to have a thin lower segment with a very small area of dehiscence centrally. The operation was uncomplicated, and she recovered and went home 2 days later. She then represented to the emergency department day 6 post partum feeling very unwell, with significant abdominal pain, tachycardia as well as urinary retention. Raised white cell count of 13.7 with neutrophils of 11.64, CRP of 153. An abdominal ultrasound was poorly tolerated by the patient and did not aide in the diagnosis. Chest and abdominal xray were normal. She underwent a CT chest and abdomen, which found a small volume of free fluid with no apparent collection. Given no obvious cause of her symptoms were found and the patient did not improve, she had a repeat CT 2 days later, which showed progression of free fluid. A diagnostic laparoscopy was performed with general surgeons, which reveled turbid fluid, an inflamed appendix which was removed. The patient improved remarkably post operatively. The histology showed periappendicitis with acute appendicitis with marked serosal inflammatory reaction to vernix caseosa. Following this, the patient went on to recover well. 4 years later, the patient was booked for an elective caesarean section, on entry into the abdomen, there were very minimal adhesions, and the surgery and her subsequent recovery was uncomplicated. Discussion: this case represents the diagnostic dilemma of a patient who presents unwell without a clear cause. In this circumstance, multiple modes of imaging did not aide in her diagnosis, and so she underwent diagnostic surgery. It is important to evaluate if a patient is or is not responding to the typical causes of post operative pain and adjust management accordingly. A multiteam approach can help to provide a diagnosis for these patients. Conclusion: Vernix caseosa peritonitis is a rare cause of acute abdomen post partum. There are few reports in the literature of the initial presentation and no reports on the possible effects on future pregnancies. This patient did not have any complications in her following pregnancy or delivery secondary to her diagnosis of vernix caseosa peritonitis. This may assist in counselling other women who have had this uncommon diagnosis.

Keywords: peritonitis, obstetrics, caesarean section, pain

Procedia PDF Downloads 104

Authors: Ilze Dimanta, Zane Rutkovska, Vizma Nikolajeva, Janis Kleperis, Indrikis Muiznieks

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Majority of word’s steadily increasing energy consumption is provided by non-renewable fossil resources. Need to find an alternative energy resource is essential for further socio-economic development. Hydrogen is renewable, clean energy carrier with high energy density (142 MJ/kg, accordingly – oil has 42 MJ/kg). Biological hydrogen production is an alternative way to produce hydrogen from renewable resources, e.g. using organic waste material resource fermentation that facilitate recycling of sewage and are environmentally benign. Hydrogen gas is produced during the fermentation process of bacteria in anaerobic conditions. Bacteria are producing hydrogen in the liquid phase and when thermodynamic equilibrium is reached, hydrogen is diffusing from liquid to gaseous phase. Because of large quantities of available crude glycerol and the highly reduced nature of carbon in glycerol per se, microbial conversion of it seems to be economically and environmentally viable possibility. Such industrial organic waste product as crude glycerol is perspective for usage in feedstock for hydrogen producing bacteria. The process of biodiesel production results in 41% (w/w) of crude glycerol. The developed lab-scale test system (experimental bioreactor) with hydrogen micro-electrode (Unisense, Denmark) was used to determine hydrogen production yield and rate in the liquid phase. For hydrogen analysis in the gas phase the RGAPro-100 mass-spectrometer connected to the experimental test-system was used. Fermentative bacteria strains were tested for hydrogen gas production rates. The presence of hydrogen in gaseous phase was measured using mass spectrometer but registered concentrations were comparatively small. To decrease the hydrogen partial pressure in liquid phase reactor with a system for continuous bubbling with inert gas was developed. H2 production rate for the best producer in liquid phase reached 0,40 mmol H2/l, in gaseous phase - 1,32 mmol H2/l. Hydrogen production rate is time dependent – higher rate of hydrogen production is at the fermentation process beginning when concentration increases, but after three hours of fermentation, it decreases.

Keywords: bio-hydrogen, fermentation, experimental bioreactor, crude glycerol

Procedia PDF Downloads 522

Authors: Altayeb Qasem, Mousa Bani Baker, Amani Nawafleh

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The complexity of the sand-bentonite liner barrier system calls for an adequate model that reflects the conditions depending on the barrier materials and the characteristics of the permeates which lead to hydraulic conductivity changes when liners infiltrated with polar, no-polar, miscible and immiscible liquids. This paper is dedicated to developing a model for evaluating the hydraulic conductivity in the form of a simple indicator for the compatibility of the liner versus leachate. Based on two liner compositions (95% sand: 5% bentonite; and 90% sand: 10% bentonite), two pressures (40 kPa and 100 kPa), and three leachates: water, ethanol and biofuel. Two characteristics of the leacahtes were used: viscosity of permeate and its octanol-water partitioning coefficient (Kow). Three characteristics of the liners mixtures were evaluated which had impact on the hydraulic conductivity of the liner system: the initial content of bentonite (%), the free swelling index, and the shrinkage limit of the initial liner’s mixture. Engineers can use this modest tool to predict a potential liner failure in sand-bentonite barriers.

Keywords: liner performance, sand-bentonite barriers, viscosity, free swelling index, shrinkage limit, octanol-water partitioning coefficient, hydraulic conductivity, theoretical modeling

Procedia PDF Downloads 414

Authors: Kinneret Segal

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The work of a midwife is emotionally challenging, both positively and negatively. Midwives share moments of joy when a baby is welcomed into the world, and also attend difficult events of loss and trauma. The relationship that develops with the maternity is the essence of the midwife's care, and it is a fundamental source of motivation and professional satisfaction. This close relationship with the maternity may be used as a double-edged sword in cases of exposure to traumatic events at birth. Birth problems, exposure to emergencies and traumatic events, and loss can affect the professional quality of life and the Compassion satisfaction of the midwife. It seems that the issue of traumatic experiences in the work of midwives, has not been sufficiently explored. The present study examined the associations between exposure to traumatic events, personal resilience and post-traumatic symptoms, professional quality of life and organizational commitment among midwifery nurses in Israeli hospitals. 131 midwives from three hospitals in the country's center in Israel participated in this study. The data were collected during 2021 using a self-report questionnaire that examined sociodemographic characteristics, the degree of exposure to traumatic events in the delivery room, personal resilience, post-traumatic symptoms, professional quality of life, and organizational commitment. The three most difficult traumatic events for the midwives were death or fear of death of a newborn, death or fear of the death of a mother and a quiet birth. The higher the frequency of exposure to traumatic events, the more numerous and intense the onset of post-trauma symptoms. The more numerous and powerful the post-trauma symptoms, the higher the level of professional burnout and/or compassion fatigue, and the lower the level of compassion satisfaction. High levels of compassion satisfaction and/or low professional burnout were expressed in a heightened sense of organizational commitment. Personal resilience, country of birth, traumatic symptoms and organizational commitment, predicted satisfaction from compassion. Midwives are exposed to traumatic events associated with dissatisfaction and impairment of the professional quality of life that accompanies burnout and compassion fatigue. Exposure to traumatic events leads to the appearance of traumatic symptoms, a decrease in organizational commitment, and psychological and mental well-being. The issue needs to be addressed by implementing training programs, organizational support, and policies to improving well-being and quality of care among midwives.

Keywords: traumatic experirnces, midwives, quality of life, burnout, organizational commitment, personal resilience

Procedia PDF Downloads 87

Authors: Justin Tang

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Balance tests are frequently used to diagnose concussions on the sidelines of sporting events. Manual scoring, however, is labor intensive and subjective, and many concussions go undetected. This study institutes a novel approach to conducting the Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) more quantitatively using Microsoft’s gaming system Kinect, which uses a contactless sensor and several cameras to receive data and estimate body limb positions. Using a machine learning approach, Visual Gesture Builder, and a deterministic approach, MATLAB, we tested whether the Kinect can differentiate between “correct” and erroneous stances of the BESS. We created the two separate solutions by recording test videos to teach the Kinect correct stances and by developing a code using Java. Twenty-two subjects were asked to perform a series of BESS tests while the Kinect was collecting data. The Kinect recorded the subjects and mapped key joints onto their bodies to obtain angles and measurements that are interpreted by the software. Through VGB and MATLAB, the videos are analyzed to enumerate the number of errors committed during testing. The resulting statistics demonstrate a high correlation between manual scoring and the Kinect approaches, indicating the viability of the use of remote tracking devices in conducting concussion tests.

Keywords: automated, concussion detection, contactless sensors, microsoft kinect

Procedia PDF Downloads 317

Authors: Anabel Fernandez, Leandro Rodriguez-Ortiz, Rosa RodríGuez

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Due to the negative impact of fossil fuels, renewable energies are promising sources to limit global temperature rise and damage to the environment. Also, the development of technology is focused on obtaining energetic products from renewable sources. In this study, a thermodynamic model including Exergy balance and a subsequent Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) were carried out for four subsystems of the integrated gasification-combustion of pinewood. Results of exergy analysis and LCA showed the process feasibility in terms of exergy efficiency and global energy efficiency of the life cycle (GEELC). Moreover, the energy return on investment (EROI) index was calculated. The global exergy efficiency resulted in 67 %. For pretreatment, reaction, cleaning, and electric generation subsystems, the results were 85, 59, 87, and 29 %, respectively. Results of LCA indicated that the emissions from the electric generation caused the most damage to the atmosphere, water, and soil. GEELC resulted in 31.09 % for the global process. This result suggested the environmental feasibility of an integrated gasification-combustion system. EROI resulted in 3.15, which determinates the sustainability of the process.

Keywords: exergy analysis, life cycle assessment (LCA), renewability, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 213

Authors: O. Adjoul, A. Feugier, K. Benfriha, A. Aoussat

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In general, issues related to design and maintenance are considered in an independent manner. However, the decisions made in these two sets influence each other. The design for maintenance is considered an opportunity to optimize the life cycle cost of a product, particularly in the nuclear or aeronautical field, where maintenance expenses represent more than 60% of life cycle costs. The design of large-scale systems starts with product architecture, a choice of components in terms of cost, reliability, weight and other attributes, corresponding to the specifications. On the other hand, the design must take into account maintenance by improving, in particular, real-time monitoring of equipment through the integration of new technologies such as connected sensors and intelligent actuators. We noticed that different approaches used in the Design For Maintenance (DFM) methods are limited to the simultaneous characterization of the reliability and maintainability of a multi-component system. This article proposes a method of DFM that assists designers to propose dynamic maintenance for multi-component industrial systems. The term "dynamic" refers to the ability to integrate available monitoring data to adapt the maintenance decision in real time. The goal is to maximize the availability of the system at a given life cycle cost. This paper presents an approach for simultaneous optimization of the design and maintenance of multi-component systems. Here the design is characterized by four decision variables for each component (reliability level, maintainability level, redundancy level, and level of monitoring data). The maintenance is characterized by two decision variables (the dates of the maintenance stops and the maintenance operations to be performed on the system during these stops). The DFM model helps the designers choose technical solutions for the large-scale industrial products. Large-scale refers to the complex multi-component industrial systems and long life-cycle, such as trains, aircraft, etc. The method is based on a two-level hybrid algorithm for simultaneous optimization of design and maintenance, using genetic algorithms. The first level is to select a design solution for a given system that considers the life cycle cost and the reliability. The second level consists of determining a dynamic and optimal maintenance plan to be deployed for a design solution. This level is based on the Maintenance Free Operating Period (MFOP) concept, which takes into account the decision criteria such as, total reliability, maintenance cost and maintenance time. Depending on the life cycle duration, the desired availability, and the desired business model (sales or rental), this tool provides visibility of overall costs and optimal product architecture.

Keywords: availability, design for maintenance (DFM), dynamic maintenance, life cycle cost (LCC), maintenance free operating period (MFOP), simultaneous optimization

Procedia PDF Downloads 118

Authors: Nickson Kipng’etich Lang’at, Thomas Thoruwa, John Abraham, John Wanyoko

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Green tea is made from the top two leaves and buds of a shrub, Camellia sinensis, of the family Theaceae and the order Theales. The green tea leaves are picked and immediately sent to be dried or steamed to prevent fermentation. Fluid bed drying technique is a common drying method used in drying green tea because of its ease in design and construction and fluidization of fine tea particles. Major problems in this method are significant loss of chemical content of the leaf and green appearance of tea, retention of high moisture content in the leaves and bed channeling and defluidization. The energy associated with the drying technology has been shown to be a vital factor in determining the quality of green tea. As part of the implementation, prototype dryer was built that facilitated sequence of operations involving steaming, cooling, pre-drying and final drying. The major findings of the project were in terms of quality characteristics of tea leaves and energy consumption during processing. The optimal design achieved a moisture content of 4.2 ± 0.84%. With the optimum drying temperature of 100 ºC, the specific energy consumption was 1697.8 kj.Kg^-1 and evaporation rate of 4.272 x 10^-4 Kg.m^-2.s^-1. The energy consumption in a fluidized system can be further reduced by focusing on energy saving designs.

Keywords: evaporation rate, fluid bed dryer, maceration, specific energy consumption

Procedia PDF Downloads 313